Trip

Hey I'm in Niagara Falls NY! I'm going to Canada for the first time ever tomorrow. I loved Boston and saw NYC for the first time. Fun times. I am in the shadiest motel room now...well back to vacation. See you all in my life update later! Peace and love.
PS - Poo on Hard Rock Cafe for shutting down completely by 11:03 with nobody around to hear me knock...I wanted a bear from Niagara but I guess I'll just have to come back. I did get a Boston bear though :-)

Spring Break

Well it has been relaxing if nothing else. The only things of note to report on are Ohio State accepted me for their law school and I am still waiting to hear back from Chicago and Michigan. Jon L has found a girlfrend in Marietta and says if he cannot find a job in 2 weeks he wil permanently move back home. With Berens doing the same after graduation in June, it appears yours truly will be the only resident on the premises over the summer. Great. More bills when I'm not working. Well guess I'll just have to be careful...as in no more buying laptops this quarter. In other words, this should not be a problem. Got my Origins pre-reg book today. Looking forward to it as usual but this year it is sandwiched between our family Florida vacation (looks like we are renting a house near the beach...I'm very excited about that) and Iowa trip. Speaking of, it would be really nice if my dad ever got back to me about the July dates...argh he is so forgetful.
(Note to Kelley: Probably dont want to read this paragraph...I'm open with my journal access to everyone, but just thought I would let you know this would be my favs only section if I had people who actually read my stuff)
Well the only other thing of note is that things between Kelley and I have been on and off the past week or so. It seems like things are good and then I say something and ruin it again. Stressful times switching over to relaxing times has not helped as she is in her time of the month and well, she's got every damn right to be moody over that. I'm glad I don't have to go through that...oh well enough said there. Like the magic comments from last week's fight never really got resolved. It bothers me that I talk to her for over an hour about it and I got maybe 3 sentences back. And every time she gets mad at me she gives me the silent treatment. Some days I wish she would say something. We fought a little bit over me being tired the other night, and I find that to be ridiculous. I was not that tired and then she puts in a movie I was not really into so I started drifting, then she starts picking on me for going to sleep. Then when I finally find out she was being serious about all the little comments that night, I go and put my fucking foot right up my throat by insinuating it was a sex thing. How could I possibly be dumber? It just blurts out and then I knew no matter what I did from there it was an uphill battle. And she eventually says it was because with me falling asleep she feels like an intruder on our house. WTF? She's as close to my mother as I am now basically and to say she's intruding, well I just do not understand it. Unless it was all BS to get us off the subject, but then why's it gotta be like that? And her grandparents give her the damn guilt trip for not staying for one night. Seriously, she's only there because Bruce is a big asshole. Why must they make her even more unhappy? Well enough ranting, it does not get anything done but blow hot air and make me feel better to get stuff off my chest.
So back to reality, I find out this week that Wyatt (a close friend) met a girl and a month later got engaged to be married this month. I am so sick of people like this who just up and marry while I have to wait. I mean I could have waited on the engagement, but God only knows what would've happened if I waited. At the very least Kelley would be upset and impatient for a ring and a committment, but these are the toils of a long engagement I guess. I'm just jealous of Wyatt in that way, but not jealous as I think in the long run Kelley and I will be a lot better off. Just did not expect such a person to get married before me.
Going to Boston area tomorrow to visit one of Kelley's close friends at her school. About as long a drive as it is to Iowa, so no worries there. Just hope a snowstorm doesn't hurt the travel. Should be a fun getaway either way.
Oh a sort of funny story. So we go to Applebee's last night for dinner. Many of our old high school friends work or have worked at this local restaurant since we graduated, so you almost always see a friendly face. Well surprise the hostess on a busy Friday night is none other than Sarah Wittekind, my senior prom date (which was at the time not only because I was interested in her but I also was spiting Kel for breaking up with me...ahhh the petty high school days). So being as the first time I had seen her in a couple years I was nice and asked how she was doing while she took down my name for a table in 15-20 minutes. Nothing more than that, friendly banter. And so we get a table and Kelley sits on one side and I sit on the other which happens to be at the front corner of the restaurant facing right where the hostess and host do their work in the lobby. So during the meal I notice that Sarah is spending an exorbitant amount of time looking at me when she is not helping a customer. Is someone jealous? In a way made me feel awkward but in a way made me feel good as well. Guess it just feels nice having a fiancee and a steady future and others being seemingly jealous of it. Maybe I read too much into things, but I just found the situation funny enough to mention. (In retrospect, I wonder what would have happened had I went to senior prom with Kelley? Could be a whole different story now...but I cannot ponder it. After all, butterflies are causing Tsunamis or something like that all over the world according to this type of thinking).
Well it is off to bed. Short night of sleep, then off to church and Boston. Have a good week everyone!

Thrown for a loop

And just like that...the crappy week gets worse.
I knew last week was too good to be true. Right now I am writing to vent a little bit and then hopefully that will open my brain to writing so I can finish these damn patent search and codes write-ups. Did our presentation today for our senior design project. Totally do not have the report written, but we will all work it out tomorrow hopefully. I don't really want to be working on it when Kelley comes up. Of course sometime I have to study for my final tomorrow. I could just go in cold, because in this class it is just as well. Oh well hopefully things will go better...I have done everything on time so far this week but the work is far from done. I cannot wait until Monday.
And then last night Kelley finally tells me off for talking about Magic. I had it coming, but of course my hobby and my fiancee cannot get along. I just keep checking on the vacation plans because I want to know if I can go to Regionals this year. Now it looks like we will be driving back Saturday on that day. If it were that big of a deal I would make more of an issue, but it is not. I just want to try and go if I can. And of course this is all exacerbated by Extended season which has run for the last month and ends in 2 weeks (but it is over for me due to winning last weekend, besides my last one would have been this weekend). Basically I tried my hardest with this extended season to go visit on Thursday night and come back Friday night so I could go with the guys on Saturday. I have made school weeks awful sometimes this quarter work-wise because I get behind. It is my choice to go spend time with the guys and spend time with Kelley. I want to do those things so that I have a life. I just hate these fights over Magic. I limit myself because of Magic on weekends and she is limited by her church job. I would not want her to give up her job because it is cool and good money, but it puts so much pressure on Saturday then. I'm sorry I was an ass over bringing up Regionals and the Columbus PTQ (the day we leave for Boston) a few times, but I just cannot help but shove my foot in my mouth. Considering I will probably miss the next two weeks, I want to drop by the Guardtower and discuss the Pro Tour format with Mike the other Q'd guy from the shop. I will be back in time for Emily to arrive (I did not know she was arriving so late) and no big deal. And then when we are fighting (Kelley and I), she just goes absolutely quiet. I talk to a wall for a half hour, putting my side of the story and my view and my apology out there and I get silence. Then she says she has toruble expressing herself and she feels guilty over me missing tournaments and quitting the game in the future. What can I do? I stop going to torunaments and then she feels guilty....I keep going and she misses me. I cannot win. I just cannot win. And I know it's not a game to be won or lost, you just put up with life. Whatever, I'm just not dealing with it well right now. I'm going to go write about some useless damn patent search and make something up which will hopefully get us a decent grade.
I just cannot get my head off of it though. I've been thinking about her all day...I hope she comes up tomorrow night. I just need to have her here....to work this out, to be together. I give her the impression sometimes I value MAgic over her, and I just cannot accept myself for doing that. I am just so angry at the world and myself now. Sorry for the bad spelling, I probably messed some stuff up because I typed quickly.
-DF
-> 2 years, 3 months, and 29 days left...it cannot pass by soon enough

Trinity Green Article

Green Deck Wins: Trinity 1st Place at Detroit PTQ
David Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald.89@osu.edu

Hello to everyone out there. While extended season is winding down in the wake of this weekend’s grand prix and PTQ’s, I still wanted to present the deck and story behind how Trinity Green took over the Detroit PTQ. A little background here is probably a good idea. I am a senior in mechanical engineering at The Ohio State University and will be moving on to grad school next year. Regardless I have played the game since 1995 and competitively in the Columbus and Midwest area since 2001. Last extended season when the banning of Tinker changed the format, I had to change my deck to something new and I tried Trinity Green. I picked up the deck the night before a PTQ and proceeded to 7-0 the swiss the next day before losing in the quarterfinals. I had more success with the deck last season, but nothing more than top 8. My roommate Thomas Wood qualified for the Columbus PT, so we worked on Red Deck Wins and Trinity for a long time leading up to the pro tour. Despite my urgings to play Trinity, Tom switched decks the week of the tournament to RDW and then proceeded to go 1-4 or something horrible like that. Then in comes Extended season. We have made small changes throughout the season, but the core has been the same since Grand Prix Boston. Tom won another PTQ with Trinity in Boston after just missing day two of the Grand Prix, so I have continued to persevere through some bad weeks and some bad play mistakes until this weekend. Despite making the worst mistake I have made in over a year of constructed Magic, I still found a way to win with my favorite old deck. Without any further ado, let me present my winning decklist:

Maindeck:
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
4 Living Wish
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Viridian Zealot
3 Call of the Herd
1 Eternal Witness
3 Masticore
4 Skyshroud Poacher
3 Deranged Hermit
3 Plow Under
17 Forest
3 Rishadan Port
2 Gaea’s Cradle

Sideboard:
4 Wall of Blossoms
3 Naturalize
1 Gaea’s Cradle
1 Dust Bowl
1 Masticore
1 Genesis
1 Nantuko Vigilante
1 Eternal Witness
1 Silklash Spider
1 Biorhythm


OK so now a little more on how the deck has developed and the results. I know what a lot of people say, oh this deck has no chance against Desire or Aluren. Well that assumption is completely wrong, and it is all due to Chalice of the Void mostly. This single card has win more games since we put it in the main deck than anything but Hermit and Squirrel tokens. We started with Tangle Wire in the deck, but we found that Chalice of the Void was just better for the local varied metagame. The only matchup we were afraid of was goblins, but even that matchup is winnable if they do not have the nuts draw. Well I already told you that Tom Wood made a top 4 of a PTQ and then two weeks later won a PTQ with the deck, but here is how I have fared to give you a better example of how the deck does against the field:

1/29/05 PTQ in Columbus 2-3
L to RDW 0-2, W vs. WW 2-0, L to Affinity 1-2, L vs. Goblins 1-2, W vs. RDW 2-0.

2/13/05 PTQ in Cleveland 4-1-2
L vs. G/W Cataclysm 1-2, W vs. Rock 2-0, W vs. Affinity 2-0, W vs. Reanimator 2-0, D vs. Rock 1-1-1, W vs. Enchantress 2-1, D vs. Tog (mistake) 1-1-0.

2/19/05 PTQ in Detroit 4-3
W vs. Desire 2-1, L vs. Aluren 1-2 (mistake), L vs. R/G Goblins 0-2, L vs. Rock 1-2, W vs. Life 2-0, W vs. RDW 2-0, W vs. Fecundity Saprolings 2-0.

2/26/05 PTQ in Indianapolis 4-3
W vs. Life 1-0, W vs. Gro-A-Tog 2-1, Desire 1-2 L, Aluren 2-1 W, RDW 0-2 L, Opposition 2-0 W, and Desire 1-2 L.

Overall I was not impressed after the good results the deck had put up last extended season and this year early with my teammates. In Cleveland and Detroit I made critical mistakes which cost me Top 8 berths, so I was determined to play the deck better this time around. One more thing of note was that I found a funny looking St. Patrick’s Day hat the night before the tournament at Wal-Mart, so I decked myself out in full leprechaun style: green sunglasses, silly hat, green shirt and hoodie, green deck box, green sleeves…you name it, it was green. My poor opponents had to stare at some goofball like me in that all day, but the comedic value alone was well worth what I paid at Wal-Mart. So now let’s get on to the actual tournament results. I apologize in advance as my notes are sketchy at the very best, so I will not be able to give too many details of the play-by-play, but I hope to show some helpful facts about playing the deck.

Round 1 vs. Nigel H. playing Aluren
I had played against this same crazy guy two weeks ago in Detroit, and my horrible mistake which cost me that match was not playing Chalice of the Void at the first opportunity, choosing to play Living Wish instead. We joked about the last time and then we began the day. Game 1 I did not have the nuts fast draw, but I did get Viridian Zealot on the table with mana open to stop an Aluren at least once. I play some guys and I finally have enough mana to drop Deranged Hermit while my opponent keeps setting up slowly. He plays Aluren on his turn and passes. I have more than enough to kill him, so on my turn I swing with my whole team. Then I had the worst turn in my last year of tournaments, but I will share the embarrassment. Before blockers he is at 4 life and he drops a Wirewood Savage. I could have responded right then and there and made him go off without the Savage, but I let it resolve and he blocks my Zealot. Remember I have lethal damage ON THE STACK. Anybody with any experience at all knows what fatal mistake I made then: I sacrifice the Zealot. He goes off in response, which I completely deserve. I was so angry I wanted to drop out of the tournament right then and there, but I knew I would be looking out for mistakes better after this obvious one. Game 2 had no real excitement as Nigel drew all four Alurens and no real business. Game 3 he was just a turn quicker than me, so I’m off to the best possible start. Nigel apologizes for winning again, but I know he deserved it more than I did. 0-1, 1-2
SB: -4 Living Wish, -1 Skyshroud Poacher, -3 Call of the Herd, +3 Wall of Blossoms, +3 Naturalize, +1 Nantuko Vigilante, +1 Eternal Witness

Round 2 vs. Jacob G. playing Desire
Jacob is a very good local player, and I did not know what he was playing. It became very apparent after a turn two Sapphire Medallion. I already have Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary on line at this point and I begin disrupting him with a Plow Under. The next turn I play Viridian Zealot and Eternal Witness while keeping one of his lands tapped with a Rishadan Port. The next two turns I Plow Under twice more and that was enough to win. Game 2 I lay the ridiculous Chalice of the Void for two with another Plow Under the next turn which is enough for Jacob to scoop up the cards. 1-1, 3-2
SB: -4 Living Wish, -1 Deranged Hermit, -3 Call of the Herd, +3 Wall of Blossoms, +1 Eternal Witness, +1 Masticore, +3 Naturalize

Round 3 vs. Samuel J. playing Teen Titans
This deck was launched from my home shop The Guardtower in Columbus Ohio, so there have been plenty of local players trying this deck in recent weeks. Game 1 he plays turn 1 Careful Study discarding two lands after a mulligan. Turn two he plays Careful Study discarding Reanimate and another land. I sit amazed at my good fortune and proceed to play Skyshroud Poacher which I use to go get Viridian Zealot and Deranged Hermit for the win. Game 2 went a little better for my opponent as he Reanimated a Bosh Iron Golem into play on turn two. I already have Naturalize and Eternal Witness in my hand, but I decide to play Chalice of the Void for one and pass the turn. Samuel swings me down to 14 life with the Bosh and then passes the turn. I play Naturalize and Eternal Witness. He responds on his turn by playing nothing, so I play Deranged Hermit and proceed to win the match. 2-1, 5-2
SB: -3 Plow Under, -3 Call of the Herd, +3 Naturalize, +3 Wall of Blossoms

Round 4 vs. Di Shi playing Aluren
He watched my loss to Nigel in round 1, but he did not know exactly what my deck did I think. Game 1 I double mulligan and never recover as Aluren does exactly what it is supposed to do. Game two involves some serious shenanigans, but he gets Aluren on the table and tries to combo out. I respond to the announcement of Cavern Harpy with a Naturalize and Di’s subsequent Raven Familiar does not find another Cavern Harpy. Now around the time of middle of my next turn, we realize he did not return a creature when Cavern Harpy finally made it into play. The judge was called and a warning handed out, but Di was allowed to return Raven Familiar to his hand. At this point I did not care as I had a Viridian Zealot on the table thanks to Skyshroud Poacher and Deranged Hermits followed for the win. Game 3 I kept a one land hand with 3 mana accelerators, Wall of Blossoms, and Chalice of the Void. Thankfully Di cannot go off on turn 3, so I am allowed to drop all my creatures followed by Chalice of the Void for two. He Vampiric Tutored up a Pernicious Deed a couple turns later, but I forced him to sacrifice it the turn he played it with Viridian Zealot which left my hand of Deranged Hermit and Eternal Witness in good shape to win the game. 3-1, 7-3
SB: see round 1

Round 5 vs. EDT playing Gro-A-Tog
This was a very interesting match. My first turn was Forest and Birds of Paradise, which incited a Meddling Mage to name Pernicious Deed on his second turn. I agree to ban the card from this game and he groans the next turn when I drop Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary. He goes have a quick draw with Psychatog and Quirion Dryad joining the battle. He also played Fire/Ice to kill my mana creatures. At this point he has no cards in hand but 3 Islands and a Mox Diamond in play. I have a choice between playing a sacrificing Viridian Zealot to stop his Mox or a Skyshroud Poacher and Llanowar Elves. I choose the Poacher and regret it as he topdecks Gush into an Armageddon on the next turn. The mistake did not cost me though as I had a Gaea’s Cradle left in my hand which allowed Poacher to find a Deranged Hermit which turned the game around just enough to stabilize. I win the game sitting at 1 life. Game two was less exciting, but EDT had turn 1 Meddling Mage followed by Psychatog on turns 2, 3, and 4. He named Rofellos with the Mage and I punished the decision with a Skyshroud Poacher. He topdecks Engineered Plague and makes another mistake by calling Squirrel. I poach out a Deranged Hermit which leads to a judge call that affirms the squirrels survive as long as one Hermit is in play. I proceed to poach out two more Hermits to make 3/3 Squirrels and that is enough for the victory. PS – Against Trinity, always call Elf first with Engineered Plague. 4-1, 9-3
SB: -3 Plow Under, +3 Naturalize

Round 6 vs. Paul N. playing White Weenie
Looking around the top tables, Paul could not have drawn a worse matchup. He does get Mother of Runes and Meddling Mages into play both games, but even naming Masticore was not enough to stop me from victory. His only other loss on the day was to another Trinity player, so he is just very unlucky. 5-1, 11-3
SB: -4 Chalice of the Void, -3 Call of the Herd, +4 Wall of Blossoms, +3 Naturalize

Round 7 vs. Brian B. playing U/G Madness
My opponent shows up two and a half minutes late and then tries to get a draw out of me for another 5 minutes before starting to shuffle. I have to play as a draw will knock me out of the top 8 due to my tiebreakers, while Brian has great tiebreakers and can draw in. We play a long and drawn out first game where the only notable play was swinging a Masticore right into a fresh Roar of the Wurm token I had neglected to realize was untapped (slips of paper for tokens stink as a sidenote). I proceed to lose the Masticore due to running out of mana, and the game falls to him with 20 minutes left on the clock. A judge decided to start watching our match at this point and we play the second game that I win easily in front of the judge. Brian begins to ask for a draw again, but I tell him again I cannot afford a draw and that I have come here to make top 8 and play for the win, not settle for Amateur Prizes. He laments that the loser will not win anything and then shuffles up. He mulligans and pile shuffles. He thinks again and then mulligans, to which the judge watching responds “you do not need to pile shuffle.” Brian is obviously irked at this comment, but shuffles up and we finally get going with 7 minutes left. We play at a considerable pace and he scoops once I get superior board position over his lackluster hand. I did keep a remarkable 1 land hand on the draw again this match, and for the second time I won with that hand. He was lucky to almost pull a draw, but I moved on into the Top 8. On a sidenote, he ended up with amateur prizes anyways.
6-1, 13-4
SB: -4 Chalice of the Void, -1 Viridian Zealot, +1 Eternal Witness, +4 Wall of Blossoms

Quarterfinals vs. Lloyd playing U/R Welder
Game one he double mulligans and proceeds to play two Sun Droplets. That is all though as I have turn 3 Plow Under which I proceed to repeat 2 more times for the victory. Game 2 he Careful Studies a Duplicant into the graveyard on turn one with Goblin Welder on turn two. I cannot get to six mana to play Masticore and shoot Goblin Welder before he sets up a Crucible of Worlds and Mindslaver lock with Tangle Wire and Sundering Titan for backup. Game 3 he plays turn 1 Goblin Welder but I play turn two Chalice of the Void for one. This was the third time I had kept a one land hand game 3 and won with it. He never recovers and I easily move to the semifinals. 7-1, 15-5
SB: +3 Naturalize, +3 Wall of Blossoms, -3 Plow Under, -3 Call of the Herd
(The other quarterfinals saw Trinity Green defeating another U/R Welder deck, Kiki-Jiki Control defeating RDW, and Temporary Solution defeating something unknown)

Semifinals vs. Steven playing 5-color Tradewind Kiki-Jiki Control
Steven is a great local player, so I knew we were in for a good match. I will sum up game 1 by saying an hour and a half later, I finally drew my Gaea’s Cradle to shoot down his 8-counter Spike Weaver. He had 25 turns to draw Armageddon or Tradewind Rider and I had just as long to draw Gaea’s Cradle, but in the meantime I set up the Genesis and Masticore and Eternal Witness lockdown to keep going while disrupting his Kiki Jiki and Eternal Witness silliness whenever it popped up. I do not know if he played the game perfectly, but Masticore was good enough to win. I probably activated his shooting ability 40 times this game. Game 2 was much more uneventful as I played meaningful cards before turn 4 this time and won easily. 8-1, 17-5
SB: +3 Naturalize (for Aether Vial), +4 Wall of Blossoms, -3 Plow Under, -4 Chalice of the Void

Finals vs. Jesse playing Trinity Green
I had been talking to Jesse and so knew he ran Sword of Fire and Ice. In the mirror match this card is amazing, so I offered him the travel award and he offered me the slot and we both walked away happy. This was his first ever PTQ so I probably could have outplayed him, but I chose to take the guaranteed slot and move on to my first Pro-Tour.

In retrospect on this season, I am very happy that I chose to stick with the deck I knew all season. I really think knowing a deck and playing well is rewarded fully in this format. I definitely saw some luck in not playing Goblins all day, but Trinity can beat anything in this format. I would like to mention a couple more things before finishing this long article and report for those who want to play Trinity in the last couple PTQ’s of the season. I know my finals opponent and another Trinity Green player who made top 8 in Denver last weekend played Tangle Wire and Sword of Fire and Ice in their decks, but they cut the consistency of the deck down by removing one of every other good card in the maindeck or Wall of Blossoms from the sideboard. I would rather run a more consistent deck and having 12 mana-producing creatures is an absolute must-have since hands without a mana producer are nearly always mulligans. Tangle Wire used to be in our deck, but Chalice of the Void is necessary in the maindeck since it makes the matchups against Desire, RDW, and Aluren much more winnable. The only card I would consider cutting for Sword of Fire and Ice would be Plow Under, but that card is a last defense against Rock and is almost never a dead draw (late game it stalls the opponent from topdecking a useful card). The sideboard is very well tuned and even Dust Bowl carries its own weight when Living Wishes come into play. If you are looking for a really fun deck to play for the remainder of the extended season while staying very competitive, I recommend tapping the Elves and poaching out Hermits. Best of luck in all your PTQ’s!

-Dave Fitzgerald, The 888 CollectiveFitzgerald.89@osu.edu

PTQ WIN!

My dream has finally come true. I won the PTQ this past weekend in Detroit and will be headed to Pro Tour Philadelphia in May. I cannot dwell on this success too long as this week of school is hell. Probably two finals, final report and final presentation for Senior Design Project among the usual tons of grading and homework. Oh and OSU beating Illinois and runing their perfect basketball season capped off the perfect weekend. Well it's back to the grind or else it will not get done. Have a good week everyone!
-DF

I'm So Bad

am sorry folks. I do not update much, especially this quarter. School is heating up for a big finish this week and I stay busy on weekend between Magic and Athens, so it's all good. Just have to make it to Friday night next week alive and then I'll be good. I wrote down a to-do list for the rest of the quarter (basically next week) and I was shocked to see just how much I'll be getting done. Here's the list...
ME 571: HW 8 (HW 7 took 10 hours), Lab 8 Report all this week. Final Exam Monday next week 7:30 AM
ME 564: Final Report (50-80 pgs), Final Oral Presentation Wednesday, Patent Search Writeup (5-7 page paper), Codes and Standards Writeup (2 pg paper), Meyer-Briggs writeup (1 pg paper)
Grading Job: Grade HW 6, Quiz 6, CAI Project 3, and HW 7 over next week or so
NE 708: HW 4 due Tuesday, Final Exam in class Thursday (or take home because I have all kinds of time next week to do that!)
NE 735: Update slideset I presented when I taught class last month (let's just say this is more than a few tweaks), HW 6 due tuesday, in class Final Exam Thursday.
And I'm in Athens now and in Detroit tomorrow. Well, guess you make your own week bad :-)
So this week was good and bad. I was really busy working 16 hour days Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday went better but I got a waitlist letter from my dream school, so you can expect that did not make me very happy. I mentioned how much I hate waitlisting, so I will not rant more. I really want to pull a 4.0 or 3.9 this quarter so that I can send my new grades to these schools and show them I've been working my ass off. Oh well guess we will wait and see. Any recommendations on how I should go about expressing more interest to these schools so that I have a shot at getting off the waitlist? They say more recommendations and maybe a statement about why I want to go there, but I don't know what to say.
Trinity failed miserably again this week in Indianapolis. I played flawlessly but had bad luck all day. Record was 4-3 and I played Life (1-0 W so lucky no Sanctuary or Biorhythm in my board due to stupidity), Gro-A-Tog (2-1 W despite bad hands), Desire (1-2 L he got lucky), Aluren (2-1 W should have lost with my bad luck but I outplayed my opponent), RDW (0-2 L five Firecats beats Chalice), Opposition (2-0 W), and Desire (1-2 L). I cannot believe I went 0-3 against RDW and Desire. That is so unlikely. Tom's Trinity article hit the web yesterday which means everybody knows my deck and the surprise factor is probably gone completely. So one or two more PTQ's and the run will be over one way or another. I want at least one chance at a top 8...gotta keep playing well and the luck will hopefully turn around this weekend in Detroit. Season record is now 14-10-2.
Well it is time to run. Doubt I'll talk to you again before all my finals and final presentation of our crane project...so wish me luck! Have a great week!
-DF

Waitlisting...WTF?

OK so let me start by describing the Detroit trip. For the record from my previous entry, I am currently 6-4-2 on the PTQ season with Trinity. (Skip this section if you don't want to hear about Magic...but it's my journal lol). I "Improved" that to 10-7-2 with a 4-3 finish in Detroit. Tom barely missed top 8, but I was never in it after my only mistake on the day. How crappy. Here were the results: W vs. Desire 2-1, L vs. Aluren 1-2 (mistake), L vs. R/G Goblins 0-2, L vs. Rock 1-2, W vs. Life 2-0, W vs. RDW 2-0, W vs. Fecundity Saprolings? 2-0. Woo-ee what a great showing. Of course if I want to make top 8's and ever make a pro tour, the time to stop making mistakes would be THE NEXT TWO WEEKS! Next week is the Indy trip. Speaking of, there might be a jaunt across town tonight to drop off 1 DAMN WALL OF BLOSSOMS because apparently Mike's collection which he is selling to Star City Games has to have this card and a few others I wanted to buy from him. I do not understand the problem, but whatever he can be an ass sometimes. So on to not-so-better things...
Actually let me start with the good news. Midterms came back and as usual my classmates were stunningly bad in ME. The Controls midterm average was 67 (the one I was 0 minutes late to and nobody in the class finished when time was called) and I got 88. Top grade was 90. Only 2 A-'s, 7 B's out of 55 students. Guess I will put that class on the backburner. Oh wait we have a long HW and lab report due every week in there, guess not blowing it off. Then today we get back the tough nuclear power plant operations midterm. He was really unfair in what he tested us on and I made a couple stupid mistakes which probably cost me 10-12 percent. But I digress there are 5 people in the class and the grades were 84.5, 83, 83, 66, 58. I got an 83. Well can't be too mad then. Have not got the take home one back yet, what a shocker considering that professor cannot seem to have HW's returned in a timely fashion. That one should go well, but watch it go poorly. Darn karma.
Now the bad news. So Sunday night and all day seemingly Monday I worked on the design of the rotational base of the crane for our senior design project. My design is very simple because I cannot spend any more time on it and I have to get something down that will theoretically work (even if I could use more detailed analysis or better bearings etc). My professor keeps telling me not to kill myself because we only have a limited amount of time left to complete this project...but I cannot help thinking I'm bringing the group down. Of course if Samples had not taken 5 weeks of the quarter to design the boom (which I was waiting on) then maybe I could not be so rushed. And I still have the patent search and codes and standards write ups to do as well as the final report. This sucks, but I'm still confident we will get something of decent quality for design and we should get a decent grade in the class because our project is the hardest in the class by far. But I'm totally stressed out on that...which makes spending time on my lab report and tonight my controls class HW (for 5 hours damn professor...we keep telling him to make the HW shorter and he keeps making it longer) seem like it is taking away design project time. Oh well you dig your own grave and school is not really that bad. I'm just bitching to relieve the stress...I feel so much better now.
And then today, I got my letter from Notre Dame. It did not look good as it was thin. Acceptance forms and papers don't come in thin letters. I open it up to find I got put on the provisional list. Calling it what it is, I am on the waitlist. Which means if I had applied say a month earlier, they probably would have made a decision one way or another but now I am an unknown. I pay these Catholic bastards (sorry for the religious slam) 65 dollars to tell me whether I am in or out, and they say "We Don't Know." So now I have to contact them, let them know I'm still interested (duh) and wait for another decision in April. Just for reference, I am supposed to let Cincinnati know by April 1 if I want to go there by submitting a deposit. This is bullshit. Waitlisting or provisional listing or whatever you call it, it's bullshit. I understand I was probably good enough to make the incoming class, but now they are kind of full and I am borderline. But still...they don't realize how bad this messes up your plans. What if I get waitlisted on my other good schools or not get in at all? What do I do then? Mumble Grumble Grumble Rabble Rabble Rabble!
So the update for those not paying so close attention:
ACCEPTED: Cincinnati
STILL PENDING: Michigan, Chicago, Northwestern, Ohio State
WAITLISTED: Notre Dame
DENIED: none yet (I'd like it to stay that way, but it probably will not)
So it's back to the grind. At least after some well deserved relaxing. I'm looking forward to our plant simulator tour this week as we get to actually do some cool stuff in school for the first time in a while. Well I hope it is cool. Our professor today told us the classes we are teaching and the slidesets we make have been sent to Cincinnati University where they have a similar class which uses our notesets about a week after we make them. This is funny because they are going on the tour with us...will have to apologize for the crappy powerpoint slides lol.
Have a good week everyone. Don't know when I'll be back again.
-DF

Middle of February, Long Update Time

Well it has been a hell of a week. Let’s see where to begin? How bout I go all the way back to Sunday, that seems appropriate since that’s where my week went downhill. Well it was bound to happen this week, but my sleep deprivation and crappy work did not start until Sunday. So Sunday our Tuesday afternoon midterm becomes a take-home assigned Monday afternoon and due in class on Thursday. It looked like a harder HW set with just as many problems and the same type, but the turned out to be pretty hard (well one of them)…but that’s getting ahead of myself.
In retrospect, let’s go back to Saturday. Kelley and I had a disagreement (it was not really a fight) over how I might not be able to come down tonight (Thursday) and Friday due to volunteering and work. So I was not in the best of spirits when Mom showed up, but it was cool for her to finally see the apartment I’ve been living in since AUGUST! She was astounded at how large my room was…it really is huge. And it’s the biggest room I will ever have for sure. But that’s OK because I have a lot of crap to fill space. Wow I cannot stay on track. Anyways, Mom came up and we went out to BD’s Mongolian BBQ but they were very busy so we decided to grab some Wendy’s before the hockey game and eat out afterwards. We won the game and swept BGSU, so that was cool. It was a very good game though, perhaps the best one I’ve seen at least for edge of your seat finish. We came back and Mom slept on the futon. I offered the bed, she refused. Oh well. While I’m thinking of it, I want to mention how awesome the sports teams are for winter quarter at OSU. Our women’s basketball team has been #2 in the nation for a long time and is one LSU loss away from the top for the first time ever. Our men’s basketball team has taken a disappointing season (postseason ban, thanks Jim O’Brien) and turned it into a proving grounds that Thad Matta our new coach can turn the team around. It is the same guys as last year but we are playing so much better. We are 7-5 after beating Indiana on Tuesday and we have 4th in the conference currently…a far cry from last season’s horrible 9th place finish and embarrassing losing record. I will see my first basketball game of the year hopefully in our last game of the season against #1 national powerhouse Illinois. I hope we ruin their undefeated season, that would be so sweet. Our hockey team is one point back or tied for the conference lead with Michigan, and that is amazing. We will be getting at worst the second seed in our 12 team conference tournament so we have a great shot to play Michigan for the title which we wrested from them last year. Go Bucks!
Sunday Sunday Sunday! I woke up very early thanks to a call from my irritating friend, the man, the legend, back in black, Akil Romeo Steele. Yes his name is real. Yes his first name rhymes with his last. And yes he goes by Romeo. Anyways, he calls me at 5:50, an hour before I intend to leave to tell me he will be meeting us at Cleveland instead of riding with us. Thanks. So we all get to Cleveland. It was fun, but none of us made top 8 and Chris and I should have. (This next sentence is for me and can be ignored my non-Magic dorks out there). So after going to the Columbus PTQ and having the following results (L to RDW 0-2, W vs. WW 2-0, L to Affinity 1-2, L vs. Goblins 1-2, W vs. RDW 2-0) and the Friday Night Magic this week where I met some good new friends (W vs. Goblins 2-1, W vs. RDW 2-1, L vs. Teen Titans 0-2, L vs. Teen Titans 0-2, W vs. Enchantress 2-0)…I was feeling pretty confident about my old Elf deck. Here’s how it went in a nutshell: (L vs. G/W Aggro-Cataclysm 1-2, W vs. Rock 2-0, W vs. Affinity 2-0, W vs. Reanimator 2-0, D vs. Rock 1-1-1, W vs. Enchantress 2-1, D vs. Tog 1-1-0). The last round I was up a game and had the match until the opponent won in extra turns to make it a draw. A similar thing happened to Chris in a win and get into top 8 match. In my case it was a mistake of not tapping down a swamp. Me and my opponent came in 13th and 14th which was not top 12 where the prizes were. How lucky. He was a real jerk at the end of the meatch and is badmouthing me on the Magic websites for slow playing him which I did not really do. Oh well. (End Magic Rant…sorry much more than one sentence!)
So off to the week. It all starts with a Monday I do not remember much. But I know there was a lot of wank wank going on at the last minute to throw together another progress report and presentation for our senior design project. Berens gave this one and it was ok. I should do better the next two weeks, but we’ll see. Then it was off to Lancaster to Valentine’s Day dinner with Kelley at Olive Garden. We had a 2 hour wait, but I showed up a lot sooner than Kelley so I got to start studying for my NE power plant midterm then. The dinner was fantastic and I got a bunch of new DVD’s, so I cannot complain. It was a nice break from the hustle bustle that was only beginning. I got back and studied until 1 AM then passed out. I wake up and take the midterm at 8 AM. It did not go very well, at least by my standards. I really could have messed up this flow diagram or I might have gotten it all right. I do know a few things I did miss and those add up quickly on this test. After that test I did some more work and started working on my take home midterm. I got the first three problems done and started working on the fourth one but could not figure it out. This took many hours. Then I had to start studying for my ME midterm Wednesday morning. I did as much as I could, but I really did not spend much time on this one. So I wake up the next day at 7:22 AM. Class is 7:30 and is about a 12 minute trip from leaving the apartment to walking into class. I run upstairs, wake up my roommate and tell him to move his butt. Then we get out and rush to class. 10 minutes late, but the professor did not start the test until 3 minutes before we walked in. Nobody in the class got done with the test. Again this test did not go well as I rushed through the last problem and will lose around 10 points for dropping one term out of an equation at one step of the long problem, I skipped an 8 point problem, and 12 more points were guesses on a hard problem (looks like 70-80…which is only disappointing because I know I am above average in this class and might lose that on this exam). So then it was off to lab which is useless every week and then we had a project team meeting. If we get this stuff together it will be a miracle. Then I worked on the take home midterm for another 5 hours. I was not working hard at this point because I was sleep-deprived, sitting in front of the TV with the guys, and just not feeling great, so 1 hour of work took 5. Then it was off to small group where we talked about prayer. Yay! Berens had to wake me up the following morning to go to our 7:30 AM class late…I really need to catch up on sleep.
So finally Thursday has arrived, and our morning class sucked. After class we worked on doing the lab report calculations and graphs for next week. 4 grueling hours later, we are off to Moe’s in a blizzard. Absolute white-out. 20 minutes later we are going back to class and it is sunny and beautiful. God, that irony has got to stop this quarter in Ohio. We sat through the first hour of class and then left during the break, leaving our midterms on his desk. A couple other people were doing the same thing so I do not feel so bad. He knows he bores us, so oh well. Then back to the apartment where I get everything packed and start my journey to Athens. I get there about 5:30 through crappy traffic and Kelley and I head out for Marietta. While she did choir practice I did schoolwork and graded papers. We finally leave Marietta, dropping by a local shop for a bachelorette party Kelley is attending this weekend (gifts for the future wedded lady) and Wendy’s because we were starving. We laid down to bed around 10 PM. Let’s just say we were sleeping or watching movies or being lazy until 6 PM tonight. Heh I needed that and it was great to spend time with her. Then we had to rush off to dinner (yummy sex on the beach in large sizes J) and I left town. I almost cried on the drive back because I did not want to leave. It’s only going to get worse, but at least in 2 years and 5 months we will never have to say goodbye again like this hopefully. So I rush up to Columbus, making it to my professor’s house on the north side at 9:20 which was just in time to pick up the papers I wanted to work on tomorrow (as opposed to not getting them until Sunday). Of course this was before I realized I was driving to Detroit tomorrow for the PTQ. So much for doing work on the way up. Hopefully Tom Lapille and I have plenty to talk about, as we have over 6 hours facing us on the way up and back tomorrow. I hope I win the whole darn thing, especially after getting screwed last weekend. I’ll write another entry at some point, but you never know when so just leave messages if you got a minute. I love reading them. Have a good week! I know mine has to be better than this one.Oh BTW, I got into Cincinnati Law School this week. Still have not heard from the other 5 schools, will keep updated.

What a week it was and will be

This week we have 3 midterms in two days fitting around going to Lancaster to see my sweeite on V-Day and Tuesday's basketball game (if I go but I'd been planning on i for a couple months). When I left you I was in Athens....I now feel a million miles removed from there. And that blows. The guys did well in Boston, Chris took 32nd in the grand prix (250 bucks) and Tom Wood took my damn elf deck I designed and won the sunday PTQ. So he's qualified for Pro Tour Philly in May and I get to be shit on again. I swear I am just as good a player as him (and he says so too) but I just cannot seem to even make the finals of a PTQ. Guess my dream of making one pro tour was just a joke, but I'm still pursuing it for a while yet.
The week was ok. maybe more details later but Kelley called. She's getting shitted on at school and I made her even more mad today by saying I might not be able to come down next weekend. Argh to my job....well I gotta go or else I will fail miseably at the PTQ tomorrow. Maybe more of an update later...sorry so short.
-DF

Kent State sucks

Well at least their hockey team. OU beat them again tonight 7-1 for the weekend sweep and that means OU wins the regular season conference crown. Now they just have the conference tournament and national playoffs left. My Buckeyes also completed a sweep of Lake Superior State tonight and with MSU tieing UM twice this weekend, OSU is within 1 point of the conference lead. It really does not matter, we just want to stay top 2 and we will lock that up if we sweep Bowling Green at home next weekend. Sorry Em, I hope we kick your butts.
Two straight nights of dinner at Skipper's, and two straight nights of 42-ouncer Sex on the Beach. Yummy...wish I could get drunk off it but I'll save that for Halloween or something. Mom came to watch hockey with us tonight, and she'll get another dose of hockey when we go to the OSU-BG game next Saturday. The boys in Boston are doing pretty well, Shep 4-3 out, Akil 6-1-2 out, Wood 6-2-1 out (6-0 against everything but our worst matchup go figure), and Prochak made it in at 8-1 and Lapille made it in at 7-1-1. On the day the record was 31-8-4, very impressive team outing. Too bad one more player (Wood) should have made day 2, but we'll see if Prochak or Lapille can bring home some Boston cash tomorrow. So I gotta get off here and go to bed soon, early wake up call for church. Tomorrow I have a bunch of work to do on the senior design project...I'll probably be grading papers during the Super Bowl. Oh well I've had a good weekend so I'll accept grading papers for one last football game. Have a good one.

The Next Weekend

So I'm back. I don't know if anoyone out there is reading, but I'm back. Back to Athens and since dork over there has been writing in her diary for a half hour, I figured I would join the fun :-) Of course she put up some cute pictures...except the ones of senior prom. It's ok because I could have been there, but I spitefully got another date and I have an albumful of senior prom pictures back in my house somewhere. Oh well...the days before I realized what I had. Well you may not be able to tell, but I am in a pretty chipper mood.
So I survived the hell week. Here's how it all went down. So I told myself to get over being pissed at school work and professors, and just put up with it like always. Monday and Tuesday were long days, but I got all the HW and lab reports done. Wednesday was also busy as I had to lead my first small group for Chi Alpha. Ken was out of town due to a death in his family. Anyways, I lead the matter on The Lord's Prayer (so easy you could spend a month-long set of sermons on it alone, but I just linked it to prayer in over an hour of discussion) and a follow up on purity. Heh, me leading a discussion on purity. Almost as funny as me leading the prayer discussion into spirit-filled prayer territory. Or leading a small group funny. But it was a good time and we went out for smoothies afterwards. We'e going to start a revolution...either Ken takes us out for smoothies or we revolt and I become leader. OK just kidding but we were talking about laying the ultimatum down for him...just to give him a hard time.
Just over 7 hours later...an a little bit of sleep...I taught a 2 hour class at 7:30 in the morning on electrical systems of nuclear power plants. Hajek (the prof) did not correct me but twice I think and added to the discussion a few times but it was ok. He said I set a pretty good precedent for the others in the class to follow since everyone else has to teach on another topic through the rest of the quarter. It was worth 30 percent of my grade, but the prof seemed to like what I did...hopefully an A/B. I would be ok getting a B in his class as it is very hard but very interesting. senioritis has definitely set in...as my grades will not affect my law school entry anymore. So that's a good thing. But I survived the week, and next week should not be as bad. Over the weekend I have to grade a HW and a quiz for work, but I get paid for that. I also need to find time to research this weekend since our midterm report is due Monday with an oral presentation on our senior design project. Yuck...our crane has so many problems it hurts. It is like the professor gave us very hard specs to meet on purpose to challenge us. Well we are officially challenged lol. Of course I don't really care...but I have to do my part or else John Samples (our third teammate) will shaft me in team evaluations. I don't think he respects the work I do like all the bullshit reporting. I'm writing over half the report which is what I have always done on these engineering projects. I'll put in a fair share of the work, but my strength is writing technical reports so I put a lot of effort into those tasks and menial tasks like the patent search and code and regulations search we have to do. Oh well I would rather have him because he is a good guy and he cares about these projects.
So life is good overall. I'm in Athens like I said and that makes all things better. Especially considering I had to miss the trip to Grand Prix Boston because of earlier mentioned midterm report. If you want to follow the guys, their names are Wood, Steele, Schoeppner, Lapille, and Prochak and the coverage is on the magicthegathering.com webpage all weekend. Prochak and Shep are borrowing my favorite two decks, so I hope they do well. I actually listened to the Ludacris song with the video where he has popeye arms today. I love that background music...it actually gets me bumpin. Metallica is still better, but I gotta have my occassional rap song. So I think I'm going to wrap it up here. Have a good weekend everyone. I get to see the OU hockey game tomorrow night and then go home for the Super Bowl. Then back up to Columbus for the new week. I'm thirsty so I'm going to go have a drink. Of Water you dirty minds :-)

The Week...Etc.

So I had no idea how good last week was. I had some early week work (it gets piled onto monday and tuesday this quarter it seems) and then actually got to go to Athens Thursday night to spend time with Kelley. It was a blast and we saw In Good Company this weekend. It is actually a good movie, for people with the same sense of humor as me. Which most of you fit that quality, but whatever. I'm not going to spend too much time on here tonight but I might have a long entry because I've got some serious bitching to do. Anyways, the rest of the weekend was ok. I did very poorly at the magic tournament, going 2-3 in the pro tour qualifier and 2-2 in a side event. Tom played the same deck card for card (which I did well with last year in this format and I was the only person on our team to do well) as I did, and he went 6-1-2, losing in the semifinals barely. Had he won that macth he would have own the whole event I am pretty sure, and I would have to watch as he got the pro tour again. As it is I am just disgusted about the fact that he always seems to be more lucky in pro tour qualifiers. We play against the same people, we both play flawlessly...and I lose because of luck. Guess that's the game and I'm not really that pissed in retrospect. Just irritated as usual, same as always when I'm doing horrible at my hobby. The boys are going to Boston this upcoming weekend. I wish I could, but I bought my laptop so I have no money (personal choice and I LOVE my new laptop so it makes up for it lol) and I cannot go anyways due to school obligations on next Monday. Oh well the way my luck is going I'd probably suck there anyways. And I will go home to spend time with Kelley this weekend for sure...I just hope I do not have to go right back up after church since I want to watch the super bowl with my mom and my fiancee before I come back up. We have our senior design midterm oral and written reports due the next day so that's why I might have to come back. I feel so guilty about never doing enough work on that over weekends so far, but that's the only time I live since school sucks up most of my life here. The only things keeping me sane here are the occassional Xbox game, my Chi Alpha guys, and Magic on the weekends. If it were not for Kelley I do not know how I would stay motivated. Anyways, I did not do well at the tournament. Today I woke up late around 11 and basically did no good work until 5. 6 hours wasted...I mean 1.5 of it was a little cleaning up and eating and another 2 was spent on the xbox...but I still wasted time today. Guess that's life. I started working on my NE 735 hw tonight and only got about half of it done in 5 hours. I hope the rest of it goes quicker. On the bright side I am learning a fair amount about the material, but it seems like a lot of bullshit to get us there. That is due Tuesday at 7:30 AM. I will have 4 days a week of 7:30 AM every week for the rest of the quarter, and staying up late like tonight will kill me. I'll learn or I'll cope. I just cannot get my body to relax and go to sleep earlier some nights. So back to the complaining. I watched Eyes Wide Shut (effed up like all good Kubrick movies) with the guys while doing some hw on the laptop for the rest of the evening.
What I have to do this week is the following. I have to get NE 735 HW done by Tuesday morning and I already explained how much that sucks. I also have to update and revise an entire presentation on electrical systems of nuclear power plants for the same class by Tuesday morning since I am presenting that material to the class on Thursday. I still have no clue what I am talking about in that area and I haven't even started to update the slides. Tomorrow will be interesting just with that. But to top it off, our third teammate on the senior design project will have undoubtedly spent a lot of time over the weekend on the project which will make me feel like a slacker for doing nothing (Berens did not do anything either). I also have to pick up CAI problems to grade (money money money...thank god I get paid for something) god knows when this week. I will also have a one-on-one with Ken and this will suck because he cannot come to small group bible study on Wednesday. Which means I will have to lead it by myself for the first time. I am not ready for this, and so did not want it to happen on this week. I also have a length ME 571 HW and lab report due Wednesday. Funny how I really only have 2 classes worth of work (senior design is pretty independant as you can tell by our group's slacking and my other nuclear class has had 1 hw assignment and nothing else all quarter so far), but yet I find a way to screw myself being busy. This week if I survive through the presentation worth 30 PERCENT OF MY DAMN GRADE in NE 735 on electrical systems AT 7:30 IN THE MORNING on thursday, it will be time to catch up on the grading I will ubdoubtedly neglect over the week and try to get some of next week's work done before I go home for the weekend or else....I'll be back up here to watch the super bowl by myself.
Another bitch...when I was doing work tonight Tom called me and I was pretty short as I was working. The same thing happened when Kelley called...but more because Shep and Akil called during that phone call so I was balancing two calls at once and doing HW at the same time for whatever reason. I ended up being short with everyone I think. Why do I distance myself from society and the ones I love when I do work? I can be such an asshole. I guess I'll just try to do better but I realized I was such a jerk after hanging up with Kelley. And she was the only person I did not really get snappy with! She was the bright point of my day when she called me, and all I can do is be pissy. Her stepfather is being a real a-hole to her right now...she does not need that. I wish her family were less dysfunctional, as they make my family look somewhat normal (ha maybe not). While I'm on complaining about others, why the hell does my nuclear professor assign so much busy work over a weekend? Why does my dad completely ignore my emails about him helpng me pay for law school applications? Why did my old boss not at least give me a call back to tell me whether he wrote a letter or recommendation for me or not? Why can't the same company send me a W-2 for the second straight year? Why is my roommate borrowing money to pay the rent again? Why why why why why....
On another note, while I'm feeling depressed I'd like to take the time to mention how guilty I've been feeling about being overweight. My Mom is losing weight successfully, Kelley is on drugs which will help her...and I am just being a lardass. And it's because I'm lazy and do schoolwork all the time. When I'm not doing schoolwork I'm not out jogging, especially this time of year. I probably overeat...or if I do not then I eat on an unbalanced schedule which probably is not good. I'm 250-255 pounds...and I almost still look normal. I cannot suck it in like I could 30 pounds ago (a year and a half ago). I do not really have a huge belly, but my thighs and butt are so large that my size 38 jeans sometimes feel so tight. Sometimes they feel loose, but I should be wearing 36's or 34's easily. I have motivation...it's right in front of me. And I want to be the best looking guy for Kelley because she deserves someone much better than me, at least in appearance. Self-worth issues I know I know. I just cannot shake the feeling.
I've been stuffy in the nose all week and it's getting worse. Not a cold but just messed up stffiness and blah because of it all day. I'm so sick of it. Screw this Ohio weather.
Then tonight Kelley gave me a snippet of her latest private OD entry. BAsically said her fears about me finding some chic at law school and leaving her. How her life would be over and she would have to start from scratch. I made a committment...a lifelong committment to her. I'm not one to break promises like that, and anyone who knows me knows this is true. I will never cheat on her because if I do then I deserve a ruined life for giving up the best thing that has ever happened to me. I'm in a true loving relationship. We are far from perfect, we fight, we have our problems...but we communicate and we survive this long distance well. That made me beleve I want to be in the foxhole with this woman for the rest of my life, and I can only hope to give her what she deserves in a man. I have no diea where I will be for the next three years, but I know we will make it. I will not leave true love for probable failure at the hands of some lawyer girl. I just hope she understands that while she was into me way deeper than I was into her sophomore year before we got back together...I am just as invested now as she is in me. If something happened to her I would be devastated. She is one of the only reasons I have motivation every day to finish work and be a good Christian man. And I hope she understands this and takes hope in it for the future. I love my princess, and I will spend the rest of my life with her no matter what happens.
I don't think I have much else to complain about. I mean life is so good at college, but I yearn for a day where I can spend time with Kelley every day and not worry about homework catching up to me and killing me all week. And I only have 2 heavy workload classes! I feel like I'm such a lazy-butt. If I make it out of this week I'll be ok. I just need to calm down and go to sleep. Getting this off my chest has helped...any comments appreciated although I do not know if anyone could make it through all this bitching. I thank you if you did. Have a good week.

Weekends

Man I hate leaving Kelley. Gets harder every time. At least we see each other about every week. First PTQ in Extended tomorrow...praying the elf mojo from last season continues and I can repeat my two top 8 performances. Except this time I want to win the event and go to Pro Tour Philadelphia of course. More updates tomorrow.

The Weekend of Betrayers

This was pre-release weekend for "Betrayers of Kamigawa" in case you wondered about the title. But since you all probably ignored the last entry (and rightly so because it was more for me)...let's review the rest of the weekend. Definitely did not get much work done, so I'll be working like a dog over the next week. That's school. So anyways Friday was not bad except Kelley was not able to come up until way later than we had planned. We still went out to Lone Star for dinner and out to see Coach Carter. Coach Carter is not bad...here's my review written for my Chi Alpha webpage: "Well a mediocre movie at best here guys. The gist of the story if you could not tell from the obscene overhyped commercials is a retelling of a true story of a high school basketball coach who locked out his players and forfetied some games when his team was undefeated and looking for a state title. Of course while set in Cali, the main problems the players have other than grades is discipline outside of school. We have a drug dealer, a player who is dealing with his girlfriend being pregnant, and other less impressive people. A cute premise for a based on a true story movie, but as a rule those movies usually suck. Although Eric is all about telling you how much sexual content or f-bombs we have in the movie, I generally do not care enough to warn you. Obviously if I go see another pulp fiction then I'll let you know but don't shy away form the story if you are interested. Samuel L Jackson makes this movie not just watchable, but enjoyable. You really feel like he is the main character turning these boys around into men. Some decent plot twists arise, but nothing you will not expect. The best scenes are seeing how the parents react to Coach Carter's tough resolve in the first weeks of practice and the scenes pertaining to the relationship between a player and his pregnant girlfriend. The one other point I would bring up is that the movie pace is dragging a bit, clocking in at almost 2 and a half hours to cover a story better said in 1:40. So I give Coach Carter a 4 out of 10, which on my scale is just out of buying range when it comes out on DVD." The dinner was expensive but very good at Lone Star as well. I love a fantastic steak dinner and it had been over a year since I went there (I had never gone to the one in Ohio but used to go every sumer in Iowa at least once). So Saturday we hung out, went to Old Navy, and went to the hockey game. Well at least no Michigan team left Ohio with a winning record this weekend. OU choked at home to Eastern Michigan 1-0 on Friday but won Saturday 3-2. OSU beat Michigan 4-1 Friday but lost 3-6 on Saturday when we went to see them. Man that walk from the campus parking lots across the river to the Schott was absurd with the wind and snowstorm and cold. The game we went to was scoreless after one period and then Michigan went ahead 5-0 in the second. Our team looked so bad it was pathetic. In the third period we came out swinging and got it back to 3-5 with 8 minutes left and a full power play ensued right about then. We had about 4-5 great shots but could not cut the defecit to one. Michigan put in one more in irrelevant time to ice the victory. It was fun and hopefully we will get to use our tickets to the Miami game since neither of us can make it to the Bowling Green game in February. Well that's about all to say because then Kelley left for home and I went to Tom's tok playtest and hang out with the boys for the rest of Saturday night. Then came Sunday and the pre-release which I described already. So there ya go. Hope you start your week well everyone and I'll see you sometime.

Pre-Release

I'll try to catch the rest of the weekend up later, but I wanted to write about the Magic pre-release today. We played in the team event, and for the first time in 5 tries we did not get top 4 and prizes. I went 5-0, 10-0 in games over the day so it was not my fault since I was having an absurd day playing. I even won in our between round playtesting for next weekend and found the old cards I needed from people trading (I thought I might have some real trouble finishing my deck)...yay! But round 1 Tom and Shep lost (the team was not good but the stuff they opeend in their sealed deck was amazing (we registered those cards)). Round 2, 3, and 4 maybe lasted 15 minutes apiece as we swept 3-0 every time quickly. Round 5 we were playing for the top 4 against our nemesis Vegeta (they have played against us the last 3 pre-releases and were 1-2 against us in that span) and Shep and tom got mana screwed. Both of them...I watched it. So we finished 3-2 and 7th place which is nothing. Very disappointing, but I hope my absurd luck continues into next weekend's PTQ and beyond as I have not had good luck recently (until today anyways). Our whole team walked away with NOTHING in this 2-day pre-release and other than Tom Saturday and our team today, nobody even came close to winning prizes. First time that's ever happened...we usually all walk away winners because of the low skill level at these events. Oh well it was still a blast and the new set is not too shabby. Moving on...

Chi Night

So how is everyone? Don't be afraid to note...I'm always interested to meet other diarists and I swear I will not bite :-)
Well I think senioritis has hit full swing. I stay ahead some on some things and on other things I don't want to touch them until the last minute. I seem to get everything done, so let's hope that continues. I'm going to busy playing a lot of Magic and seeing Kelley this quarter on every weekend (no kidding....it's either one or the other or both every weekend but that's good because that's getting to spend my fun time with my guy friends and my fiancee). So last I left you we were going into the short week, but it certainly did not seem short. The Tu-Th class I have at 8 or 7:30 AM every other week sucks because it is every other week. In two weeks I have to give my class presentation on Electrical systems of a nuclear power plant and it is worth 40 percent of my grade. Can you say stress? After I get that done the rest of that class comes in little manageable chunks (like 20 percent tests etc). I also feel like the least experienced out of the 6 people in the class by far. 3 are graduate students, 1 girl I cannot tell, and my roommate who has taken at least one more class in NE than me. My other nuclear class was bearable this week but I still do not really understand the messy formulas he explains in the notes...but at least the first HW has been easy. Speaking of HW for nuclear, in my every other week class we have about 18 written problems and my presentation which all has to be turned in Tuesday Feb 1 for review...let me tell you that's a lot of stupid HW. Hopefully I'll learn something and it still is my favorite class. Almost wish we had it every week, but at a different time. Overall my classes are going well...our proposal presentation for our senior design project was so much better than the other 4 groups in our class. (And the powerpoint slides actually worked this time around, but we had my laptop just in case lol) So classes have kept me busy, but I've actually had a little time to breathe this week. The big thing was getting the law school applications done, I've seemed so less busy since then.
Today was a good day but I woke up at 7:20 for my 7:30 class. Let's just say we were not quite on time but close. It stared snowing again today and the weather people say perhaps 6-8 inches in accumulation more. I love snow and it is fun to drive in it with my truck (I fishtail at will basically). I hope it snows enough this winter quarter to keep it white all the time...makes me feel happy for some reason :-)
Tonight I finished watching Welcome to Mooseport. Just like most comedy movies in the past year, it unjustly got hammered by the critics. It was very funny and not horrible at all. Then I went to Chi Alpha and that was ok. Nothing special, but Jeff preached that Jesus is The Light of The World tonight and gave us some interesting ways to look at that simple lesson that is so common in church. I love it when he puts a good spin on things and makes us all think a lot. Looks like I might be leading our small group sometime this quarter and maybe take on leading a 1-on-1 with one of the guys in our small group. Basically we have a small goup which is a bible study for 5 guys (for now) every week and we are a closer group of friends within the large Chi Alpha fellowship. Then our small group leader Ken meets with each of us one per week for lunch or dinner just to chat and go over whatever we need to address spiritually. It's good times, but beginning to lead these somewhat freaks me out. I'm sure I'll adjust to it as Ken and I started the small group together and he took the leadership role only because he has more time to lead it this year. But that's what consumes my mid-to-late week evenings and I'm living it up. Go God lol.
Well off to popcorn and perhaps a little grading papers before bedtime. Have a good one.

A Monday Off

Well let me start by showing you the pictures of my new laptop I am working on now. I will get to know this baby very well over law school when I plan on using it a lot. Also shown is my new desk area after I moved my desktop monitor over. It is SO NICE to have space to work finally.
Anyways, today Kelley and I woke up really late and finally got a move on for a late lunch. Moe Mondays is 5 dollars for a big burrito and chips and a drink. Then we went to see Phantom of the Opera. Musicals are not my cup of tea really, but this was really good. I enjoyed it but pretended not to just to bug Kelley :-) It really was a good story...kind of wished I could have seen it for the first time in a Broadway setting, but oh well. Eventually we'll have the money to go do stuff like that quite often (and hopefully we will be in a big enough city to do such things). We'll be the only couple I know who is just as likely to go to a heavy metal concert as go to a Broadway show. But I recommend seeing Phantom if you are in a big enough city to see it (limited theatrical release). Next weekend I will bring you my review of Coach Carter. I was going to go see Elektra this week but it got abysmal rottentomatoes ratings. So then we go to Old Navy for over an hour. My God Kelley can shop at that store all day, but she gets so many good clothes for so little money. She even got me another hoodie for being her shopping cart around the store. I like it because it is exactly like my favorite old navy hoodie except this one is green instead of maroon. Then we went out to dinner at TGI Friday's and are now lounging on my bed because it snowed and she does not want to drive in it until morning. So she will leave Tuesday morning and come back Friday night...some weeks are good :-)
So we are watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding tonight...our wedding will be crazy like that but in a different way I suspect. I better get off here since I have early class tomorrow and the next couple days. TTFN.

MILK Weekend

Well I guess you are wondering why my entry is titled like it is. Well on my planner it looks like it says MILK weekend and so that's what I call this extended break from work and school.
So anyways, my classes seem kind of hard this quarter. I have Nuclear 708 - Reactor Theory which is a really boring mathematical based class. Nuclear 735 - Power Plant Operations looks like a cool class because it has a great professor and we get to run a simulator at a power plant for 2 days in late Feb early March. The buildup to doing this seems like a ton of memorization and reading...so we'll see how hard this gets. Mechanical 571 - Automatic Controls covers how feedback control systems such as flush toliets and cruise control and thermostat-furnace systems respond to certain inputs. This is also a math based analytical class but not as boring except it is at 730 AM. My last class is Mechanical 564 - Senior Group Design Project. We are designing a lightweight portable crane to lift roofing shingles or something onto house rooves. We must build it so that it can hold 500 lbs up to 30 feet in the air and 15 feet horizontal reach. Oh and the crane has to be mounted on a regular or superduty size pickup truck (AKA not my Ranger). It should be a lot of fun for a design project even though we do not get to build anything, but it is a lot of paperwork and presentations and BS. Should be an interesting quarter but now you know the background info in case I start complaining. Oh and I have a weekly lab with ME 571 which will suck but not like last quarter...and this is my last lab ever.
So I did get my law school applications out this week. I will keep you updated as well as my webpage on whether I got into the schools and what kind of financial aid I get. Should be an ineresting next 3 months or so as I decide just where the heck I will be for the next three years (including the first year I am married).
Last team PTQ of the Pro Tour Atlanta qualifying season was yesterday. We went 1-2. On the whole the season was bad for The 888 Collective (Shep, Tom, and I) as we won a Grand Prix Trial (went 6-1) in Columbus, went 1-3 at Grand Prix Chciago, went 5-2 and missed the top 4 on tiebreakers with insane decks at the PTQ in Chicago, and 1-2 at a Detroit PTQ. Overall record on the season was 13-8...and we got crappy luck every ime except for the grand prix trial. Our main local nemesis from Detroit got 5th at GP Chicago carrying away an invitation to the pro tour in Atlanta and $900...and we beat THEM in the trial handily. Oh well. Next week is the pre-release of the new set and for the first time in a long time (since Torment came out in January 2002) I will only be playing in one event over the 2 day weekend. The 888 Collective will try to defend our absurd pre-release dominance and we'll actually have our usual team of Tom Shep and I to do it. We won the Mirrodin team event, won the Darksteel team event, got 4th in the Fifth Dawn team event, got 3rd in the Champions team event...so we are 4 for 4 for winning prizes at these events. Extended season started today with a grand prix trial in Delaware. I did not go because Kelley is here with me and I do not want to win byes to Boston as I decided to not go due to money (new laptop, cruise, summer, Origins, truck tune up, law school apps, etc) and school (midterm report and presentation due monday morning for senior design project after that weekend) and other reasons (Super Bowl Sunday, going to Boston for spring break). Anyways, 7 teammates made the trip and 5 of them made top 8 which is very impressive. Apparently Tom W (trinity) and Burton (goblins) did not make it at 3-2 as well which means the whole team had winning records on the day. Tom L (tog), Shep (trinity) lost in the quarterfinals. Villa (goblins) lost in the semis. Chris P (desire) beat Akil (new rock) in the finals for the byes which means he will go to Boston and he did not plan on going initially. Assuming Chris N. and the BG boys made it down for the tournament, they probably go thwacked by my teammates since so many of them made top 8 and all of them did well. Of course it had to be funny if Chris N played Shep since we all drafted together all summer in Marietta and we all go to school across the state from each other. After the pre-release the next weekend is the first PTQ for Philadelphia pro tour and I will be there. I love this format and this is the only format I have ever made a top 8 playoff in (twice last year). We'll see if I can finally make it to the pro tour...it's my last big goal as a Magic player. I love the game and it will be hard but eventually I will have to give it up. Well that was more than enough magic wasn't it?
I see all 4 top seeds won in NFL today. I hope Pittsburgh beats New England and Philadelphia again for the title because I really do not like anyone left except them. I was cheering for Indianapolis but they cannot seem to win at New England ever and my Packers got canned by the lowly Vikings last week (and my other team the Buffalo Bills just missed the playoffs this year). Should make for an interesting couple of games next weekend.
So the rest of the weekend has gone well. After the PTQ I stayed at Tom's for a bit and we all played MArio Party 6. Very impressive new version of the game. Today I went in to the lab to work on our senior group project for 3 hours and then Kelley came up. We watched football while she played on her laptop and I graded my large stack of papers for the first time this quarter. Tonight we went out to Mongolian BBQ and while I was full I did not kill my belly and steps like this are good for my losing weight. I want to get more healthy but I will struggle because I have no motivation yet to excercise and eat better. It doesn't help that I look a lot better than I am. I am so far overweight and most of it is in my legs so I do not look too bad at all. Just don't want health problems...and I'd like to do it for myself and for Kelley. Then tonight we've been playing on our new laptops on the bed for a couple hours like a married couple lol. A good day overall. Chris P cancelled the practice draft we were all doing tomorrow before his trip to Japan for the pro tour next weekend so Kelley and I get to hang out all day. I only have 571 HW and our proposal and oral presentation due for our senior design class on Wednesday this week (I have all the other work done) so I can probably not do much tomorrow and be fine this week.
We are watching legally blonde right now. I giggle whenever I think about the main character sending in a video personal statement. It's so unrealistic but the movie apparently started a short fad over the past few years of people doing just that instead of an essay. Anyways, I probably should get off here since this is getting long. TTFN.

Finally an Update!

I think I'm going to try and write in this just a little more lol. I got my law school applications out this week and I really have no clue where I will get in. I think I have the qualifications and good essay to get into all the schools, but they are looking for perfect fits or gaps in their classes to fill. We'll just see where I fit in according to admissions councils. I am guessing I will get into 2 of the 4 great schools (Northwestern, Chicago, Michigan, and Notre Dame) and both of the OK schools (Ohio State and Cincinnati). Then I'll have a decision to make. Well for magic team limited season is over as of today. We basically had a disappointing season with a complete failure at the GP in Chicago and again today at a PTQ. On to extended, the only format where I have top 8'd a pro tour qualifier...I'm hoping I will make it at least once more this season. Things with Kelley and I are going well...we are trying to see as much of each other as possible around school and my magic and her choir/church obligations. This weekend we had the PTQ in Detroit, then Kelley is coming up tomorrow afternoon after our senior design project meeting and hanging out until monday early evening...then we are helping Chris P do one more draft before he heads to next week's pro tour in Japan. Somewhere in there I'll get my work done LOL. I got a laptop this week...I love it. It's a dell with a red cover. Maybe I'll post some pictures on here later. School is going ok...but this quarter looks like it will be relatively tough. All of the professors seem to expect quite a bit, so we'll see how haggard I am by spring break. At least I have my weekends with Kelley and lab reports and the guys. I need to update this more...so hopefully I can do it at least every other day or so...would like to remember all of this jazz when the work seems ridiculous next year. Have a good weekend everyone! Happy MLK Day!

Finals Week and Xmas Break

Hey not going to talk for long (when would I?), but here's the scoop for those who read my diary. Finals week went well. Got the final graded and got paid for my job. I really must have done a poor job of managing my money this quarter or I just don't realize how much fun money was spent...but Xmas is always a hit and I only ended up down 100 dollars for the quarter. It's just I usually gain 2-5 hundred from work and scholarships minus school, living expenses, and whatever I spend on me. Oh well...I'll just keep working grading jobs to save up for the cruise and laptop. I think I am going to try and put all the money I get from my job away into my savings account next quarter so that I will not touch it before those things are bought. Fun fun fun. Souinds like we are doing same exact cruise as last summer which kind of sucks but I'd rather do that than spend 200 more or drive an extra 3-4 hours down to Miami. We should get the full cruise this time, no hurricane season lol...so that's a plus. As for the rest of finals week, Kelley was up here with me so it went very well. I probably did well on my finals as I got A's in both of those classes and another A and A- to finish off my grades for the quarter. I want a 4.0 one more time before I graduate...but if I don't get it oh well. Now that I am applying to law schools the GPA is virtually set where it is and nothing can change it too much. Speaking of, that's not progressing well. Hopefully with some time in Iowa I can focus. My big interview with Northwestern is Friday...any tips? I'll just try to show I can be a team player with job experience even coming straight out of undergraduate because that is what they like. Engineers know nothing about teamwork...ha! The past week was spent at home in Ohio. My Mom and Kelley will miss me bunches while I am in Iowa Christmas day, but hopefully I'll be back at a decent hour Sunday evening to spend time with them (and the whole next week). I'm already missing Kelley but hopefully this weekend will be busy enough to keep my mind from it. This weekend goes like this. I leave tomorrow at 9 AM Eastern time to go to Chicago Ohare airport around 2 PM Central time. Then I will meet my Malaysian relatives who are flying to Miami but have a bag to give me to take to my stepmom in Iowa. Then I will backtrack to Valparaiso Indiana hopefully arriving at 5-6 PM (originally planned to be there at 4) to visit my Uncle Jack and aunt Peggy on my mom's side. Then Friday off to Northwestern and U of Chicago for visits and then off to Ohare around 5 to a local hotel where the Magic Grand Prix is this weekend. Saturday and Sunday will be spent playing cards with the guys (The 888 Collective is the team name if you want to follow the live coverage on magicthegathering.com), and then Sunday night to Iowa. Sometime next week I will go back to Ohare to pick up relatives and take them back to Iowa. Then day after Christmas I come back form Iowa to Marietta in the marathon drive. I will probably not be back online until then so have a good one guys. Have a safe and Merry christmas, and don't forget the true reason for the season. God bless. -DFitz PS - 7/7/07, cannot come soon enough :-)