River City Ruminations

Life is Strange

2010-08-07T07:39:00.000-07:00

So, I graduated last May with intentions of going to law school. This coming Monday, I have a meeting with the MBA advisor at the U of M. It's funny how things can change in such a short amount of time. I got into the three schools at the bottom of my list and was wait-listed from the three at the top. Having decided not to attend any of the schools that accepted me because I assumed I'd get into at least one of my top three, I had to come up with a new plan. That plan is to get my MBA. It's going to be extremely different than my undergrad English curriculum, but I'm pretty excited about.

If all things go well, I will start classes at the end of the month. The start of school means college football and cooler weather are on their way. I'm actually looking forward to Tiger football for the first time in 9 years. We finally got rid of that asshat Tommy West and brought in one of our former players who has been an assistant with Les Miles for a while now. Larry Porter also happens to have been named National Recruiter of the Year a couple times. And that cooler weather I mentioned? I'm getting pretty excited about that, too. I'm usually a much bigger fan of Summer than Fall, but it has been unbearably hot as of late with the heat indexes reaching 120. I'm also pretty excited about Fall clothing. I made several purchases last winter that I didn't get to wear very often, so it'll be nice to break those out.

I need to post more often. Even though no one really reads this thing, it's kind of relaxing to sit down and bang out a post.

Heat

2009-08-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went with my girlfriend to an Intro to Handguns class at Range USA. I have no interest in carrying a gun and I won't want one in my home in the future (and if I did I'd get a shotgun for that purpose). There was a classroom portion where we went though gun anatomy, safety, proper use, and things like that. Then we went into the range and were able to try out several different guns. Of these, I definitely liked the Smith & Wesson .357

and the Wilson Combat .45ACP

that I shot.

As it turns out, that WC .45ACP is at least a $3,000 gun. Personally, the risks of carrying a gun outweigh the advantages. I will keep shooting though, as it is fairly inexpensive to just rent a gun at the range and buy some ammo and targets. One of these days I might even get my own gun to keep at the range. If you live in or around Memphis and are interested in going to a shooting range, taking a myriad of gun classes, or purchasing a gun, all can be done at Range USA and I can all but guarantee that you will have a great experience. I know I did.

The Sartorialist

2009-07-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

What a prick.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/style/sex-and-the-sartorialist/article1230353/

Mountain Biking

2009-07-30T07:41:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I had my first experience mountain biking. I took my bike, which basically is another color of this one:

My bike is really not made for the abuse that mountain bike trails can serve up. Luckily, mine held up fine and despite the bruises, blisters and cuts I had an awesome time. I rode a trail called the Tour de Wolf that's located in Shelby Farms. Shelby Farms is the largest urban park in the US and is about 5x bigger than Central Park. The only picture of the TDW that I could find that at least somewhat displays it's difficulty (although it's not that difficult) is below.

I get some leftover scholarship money in about a month and I'm considering using some of it to buy an actual mountain bike. I don't want to spend too much and have my eye on this one from Trek that looks reasonably priced and is a pretty good-looking bike. It also has gotten pretty good reviews given the price point.

However, this may not happen because the start of school in both the fall and spring means a fair amount of money coming my way. For the last couple years that money coming my way has meant new clothes coming my way. As much fun as mountain biking is, I can't help feeling like I would be sick at all the clothes I passed on in order to get the bike. I mean, the bike would end up being about $500. I think clothing will prevail. Someday soon I'll post a wish list for F/W.

Been a while

2009-07-29T00:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post. I think I'm going to actually post with regularity and hopefully I can turn this thing into something I can be proud of. The summer is almost over. It's been a relatively calm one with a couple summer classes and a trip to Sandestin thrown in for good measure. I actually developed somewhat of a tan this year. I'm actually looking forward to school and work starting back up this year. My classes should be interesting and I desperately need the money that comes from my job and from my leftover scholarship money. I'm going to turn in now because I'm supposed to get up early in the morning to bike.

Live and Learn

2009-03-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

For Christmas of 2007 I really only wanted one thing. I wanted this pair of Gucci driving mocs that I had been eyeing since the summer.

I got the shoes after offering to split the cost with my parents and wore them quite a bit over the next year. Lately though, my taste in clothes has changed for the better and I have begun to regret my purchase. The toes are decidedly square and sort of long. I'll probably still wear them this summer, but I imagine it won't be with as much pride as last year. I could have saved a lot of money and just gotten these pretty good-looking drivers from Minnetonka.

I've come a loooong way (but still have a ways to go).

2009-03-12T06:41:00.000-07:00

Back in the day, or 5th-7th grade to be exact, I was enthralled with what can be best described as hip-hop culture. So much in fact, that I actually bought and wore said clothing. Actually my interest goes much farther back to the days of MC Hammer and Kris Kross . I even had parachute pants and wore my clothes backward. I loved the music and the clothes. This was particularly odd considering that 1. I'm very white 2. I have lived in a nearly all white suburb of Memphis all of my life 3. I only had one African American friend. Looking back on it now is both funny and slightly embarrassing. Examples of the clothes I wore are as follows:

I soon learned the error of my ways and over the next seven or eight years have been improving how I dress. These days I can be seen most of the time in clothes such as these:

(Though usually without a tie)