Plato slowly made his way up the hill, flogging anything that got in his way. He tried to ward them off with harsh glances and even harsher words but inevitably someone would get too close and he would be forced to beat them mercilessly with the coarse leather strap his grandmother had given him as a child. Tears rolled down his flushed cheeks. This was the worst trip he had ever been on. He looked up and could see the dragons in the distance, breathing firey, molten breath. At that moment, he decided that in the future he would buy two hamsters. He would name one Paco & the other Ron.

For the first time in months, Plato smiled.

Facebook has been re-activated! I’ve got to say, I can’t believe I made it 2 weeks. The first thing I did was hide 90% of the people that appear in my feed. Then I removed all email notifications. We’ll see how it goes.

This week I’m supposed to be detoxing from sugar. I made it to 8:00 & then I had an Edy’s fruit bar. Second ingredient? Sugar. We’ll see how tomorrow goes.

Facebook Activation Clock: 2 hours and counting
Reading: Game of Thrones
Drinking: Olde New England Seltzer

I saw that Addie blogged today so now I have to match her stamina and post something of my own. We’ve been looking at apartments in Minneapolis lately & have definitely found some keepers. It’s too bad we can’t reserve a place 6 months in advance. Well, I suppose we could, but we’d have to pay the rent for two places for the next 6 months and that’s not happening.  Speaking of which, why can’t this place take pets? It might the most beautiful apartment complex I’ve ever seen. Anyhoo, we’ve also been looking at jobs. We need to find something that is part time and has benefits. Easier said than done but with Crohn’s Disease & epilepsy I absolutely can’t be uncovered. Some places that we’ve looked at that fit this particular criteria are Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, the U of Minnesota, ummmm, and a few more that I can’t remember. I’m sure we’ll figure it all out eventually.

Facebook deactivation clock: 12 days
Watching: Game of Thrones
Eating: Pink lady apple (if you’re eating any other variety, I feel sorry for you)
Reading: Crime & Punishment (37% of the way through) & Game of Thrones (2% of the way through!)
Playing: Skyrim
Listening to: Olivia Tremor Control

We finally cracked the cold brew code. 1lb of Starbucks Iced Coffee Blend coffee, 1 1/2 gallons of water, steeping for 14 hours. Our first perfect batch. I see no reason to tinker with the recipe any further.

I’m so hooked on Battlestar Galactica right now. Sometimes I’m in denial of what a nerd I am and I fight the urge to watch a show like that, but it’s no use. I just happen to like RPG’s, MMORPG’s, sci-fi TV (BSG, Dr. Who, etc), and fantasy sports too damn much. I can’t help myself. It’s time to embrace it. And yes, fantasy sports are a TOTAL nerd thing. The non-nerds are out there actually participating in these sports. I’m not sure why people that play fantasy sports like to think they’re in a different class. Let me tell you from experience: spending 3 hours doing a fantasy baseball draft is the EXACT same thing as playing Warcraft for 3 hours. So end the denial. It’s freeing.

We’re trying to figure out how we’re going to cut our expenses for Minneapolis and I think one way is that we’re doing away with cable TV when we get out there. Between NetFlix, Hulu+, MLB.TV for Sox games & Center Ice for Bruins games we’d be covered. Even if we got ALL of those things it would still be less than half the price of cable. The one thing I would miss are Patriots & Celtics games but luckily they both play a lot of games on national TV anyway.

We handed in our Donald Judd project first drafts this week and I think it was a rousing success. Tomorrow we’ll go to the office and work on our second drafts.

Facebook deactivation clock: 10 days and counting…
Watching: Battlestar Galactica & The Killing. And Game of Thrones starts again tomorrow!!!!! (Basically RPG television. hahaha)
Eating: White Chocolate Macadamia Clif Bar. And I think it’s time to refill this iced coffee.
Reading: Crime & Punishment (33% of the way through it, according to my Kindle Fire)
Playing: Skyrim (and rapidly losing interest. Just trying to kill time until Diablo III comes out)
Listening to: Arcade Fire: Neon Bible (btw, is it true that they’re huge assholes? I know it’s old news but please tell me Wayne Coyne is the only one that thinks this because I hate it when bands are dicks)

Maybe we’ll save enough money by not having cable that we can get a sugar glider for our Minneapolis apartment

This afternoon we worked a few more hours on our homework project for our Mini Apples counterparts at the MVA. I can’t believe how hard cutting out letters & pasting them on a piece of paper is. Trying to hide that fact that they were hand cut & glued is excruciating. Spacing, leveling, it’s so much harder than I would have thought. Anyway, we’re slowly getting there but there’s a lot more to do. In fact, we’ve only been working on one of the two designs. I think the second one will only be type so it might be a little easier. I felt at times today that Addie was excelling at things that I was struggling at but she assures me that at times it was the other way around. My specialty is seeing the big picture very quickly. She seems more adept at putting that picture on paper. And then with all my office experience I have little tricks to make that work quicker & more efficient. I never imagined my being a copy machine master would help me in any area other than my current job. It’s kind of like this quote I found a few days ago.

“After all, the work isn’t the point; the piece is” – Donald Judd

What does that quote mean to me in this context? It means that when Addie & I finish the project, we’re not going to care who did what, as long as we know we both put work into it & neither of us was pawning work off onto the other one. (It also means that maybe I should stop telling everyone what a bum Chihuly is for having his students construct his pieces for him, but that’s another story for another time)

What else? Still off of Facebook. Still feeling like it was a fantastic decision.

Still drinking homemade iced coffee. This latest brew came out great, if a tad strong.

Still looking at Minneapolis apartments & still counting the days until we’re out there. It’s nice that the people at my work are finally talking about hiring a replacement. It’s like they’ve finally given in to the fact that this isn’t some flight of fancy that I’m going to forget about in a few days.

This goat is eating Italian food at a sidewalk cafe.

I’ve temporarily deactivated my Facebook account. I’m really bad at Facebook. Until I can stop telling people who are full of shit that they are full of shit I’ve banned myself.

This should open up a good 2-3 hours of free time every day. I have no idea what to do with this time. Read, I suppose? No other social networking site really appeals to me. Google+ is a train wreck. Twitter & Pinterest are ok I suppose. At least I’m guaranteed not to waste too much time on those two. They just don’t suck me in like Facebook did/does.

BTW, what’s up with Harriet? Why does she keep pooping in the house now that Steve moved out? She’s never acted like this before. Is she punishing us? Will someone please talk to her? She’s got too much going for her in life to start this shit. Go ahead, click on the picture of her. Take a good look at her face. Is that the face of a bad dog?

Harriet

Listening to: Nothing at the moment but there’s tons of good new albums out that I’ve been listening to a lot (Delta Spirit, Andrew Bird, The Shins, etc)
Eating: Spearmint gum
Reading: Crime & Punishment
Playing: Skyrim

We started cold brewing our own iced coffee this week. We got the recipe from a pioneer woman. The first batch (1.5 gallons) was a little weak but we’re still tinkering with the recipe. We’ll be sure to make the next batch strong enough to make us physically ill & cause heart palpitations, which is the effect we’re aiming for.

What else is new? Walked 5 miles today. That’s a long walk for us. We normally just do the 2.5mi loop at Sachuest but we wanted to walk the Bristol bike path because we’d never done it. Now we’ve done it. Well, 2.5mi out of 15mi. We’ve got time to see the rest though.

Minneapolis stuff – We’re starting our first graphic design homework this week, which is exciting. The prevailing thought is that if we keep working on graphic design assignments, by the time we get out to Minneapolis & start at the MVA we’ll know which way is up. Conveniently, my brother teaches graphic design at the Minneapolis College of Design & he has lots of assignments he gives to his students that he can pass on to us. No grades for us, just feedback.

Listening to: The Shins
Eating: Chile pepper Triscuit thins
Reading: Crime & Punishment
Playing: Skyrim (at a much healthier rate than last week)

Today my gang, The Bok Choy Boys, is getting together for brunch. It consists of me, my brother Nic & his son (my nephew Jonah). Of course, Addie will also be attending. None of us were sure what we wanted to eat so we have pancakes, eggs, bacon (low sodium, for the ticker), bagels, lox & cream cheese. Oh, and Nic also brought Girl Scout cookies (Samoas). After brunch it’s off to Sachuest for a deer-watching excursion. Here’s what usually happens on these excursions…

Come at me, doe.

Listening to: Black Angels
Drinking: Iced coffee
Reading: Crime & Punishment
Playing: Skyrim (until my eyes bleed)

St Patrick’s Day. This has got to be one of the worst things about living on Aquidneck Island. For one day a year the locals act just as bad as the tourists. Strike that. For one day a year, the locals act even worse than the tourists. Want to see a friend from work or the person who bags your groceries at Stop & Shop vomiting into the gutter? Today is the day. Want to see two Italian-American students from Salve Regina dressed in green, wearing “Fuck Me I’m Irish” buttons & trading haymakers? Today is the day. There is nothing further from Irish pride than St Patrick’s Day in Newport, RI. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

"Come at me, Bro"

Listening to: Trampled by Turtles
Drinking: Chocolate banana smoothie
Reading: Nothing really at the moment. The Life of Pi every now & then I suppose
Playing: Skyrim

…if you want to win Criterion & Bill Murray Swag. I know I do. Click the damn picture.

Yes, I know it isn’t popping up in a new tab & that it’s actually making you leave my site, but I’m just a simple man with limited interweb skills.