I'm back from New Mexico. More updates soon. I promise. But the 'rents are in town- which kills most of my internet time.

There will be retroactive journal updates coming soon. I promise.

Posted by nenie at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two updates for the price of one today- such a deal.

Yesterday Nena left for MPLS. We managed to get out of the house at a decent hour and hustle into town early enough that we introduced my parents to lunch at Loyola's.

Chicago is home to the Greek family restaurant. All the Chicagoans reading know what I'm talking about. These omnipresent open 24 hours, breakfast anytime, everything on the menu's good and terrible for you, family owned diners are an institution back home. I know I've talked about these suckers ad nauseam in the past, but they're just emblematic of home for me. Loyola's is a southwestern version of this institution. Instead of Greek, the owners are hispanic and while the menus seem eerily similar, there is too much "New Mexican" food on there for you to even begin to think you're in Chicago.

Did I mention that everything at Loyola's comes with red or green chiles?

After lunch with the my parents and Nena's mom, it was time to actually get Nena to the airport. We all stood behind her while she got her boarding pass and then proceeded to herd her to the security checkpoint where we stopped for a few minutes. No one wanted anyone to go anywhere, but that just wasn't the deal. It was time for Nena to go back to her life and time for us to be left alone with her parents. With a few tears and a million hugs, Nena was gone and through security.

On our way back out of town I stopped to buy some dehydrated green chiles and then went to show the assembled representatives the dish patterns that Nena and I had picked out. We got back home and immediately headed off to book a room for the rehearsal dinner. That went pretty well, considering how difficult it'd been to get this appointment to talk to someone about the whole thing.

We got home a bit before Nena's dad got in from work, so when he arrived he found us drinking out on the patio. Ahhh, drinking on the patio. When I look back at this trip I wonder what percentage of my memories are going to involve Nena's and my parents drinking together out on the patio.

We had a nice dinner and opened up a bottle of wine Nena's brought her parents from France a million years ago. Before you knew it, it was bedtime. We were getting up at fuck you o'clock in the morning and driving straight to Lawrence. We needed our sleep.

As a rule, my familia doesn't eat at Denny's. Why? Because no matter where you go, Denny's sucks. It's just one of those rules of dining. It sucks because it's so close to being decent that the discrepancy pains you. And since you know that Denny's sucks, you have no one else to blame for your lack of a quality dining experience.

My father and I kept deciding to forgo breakfast in lieu of getting farther along before we ate anything. First, Albuquerque went by. Then Santa Rosa. By the time we got to Tucumcari we realized that there was no way we could get Mom to Amarillo without feeding her. There are a few exits for Tucumcari on I-40 and at each my father told me to keep going on to the next one. Sure enough, when we were down to the last exit, the only place to eat, was Denny's.

Yeah, it sucked. We lost over an hour at Denny's because they lost our order. To make up for it, they took 10% off our meal. WHOO! 10% of $15. Great.

The Denny's was really surreal, though. It has been redone in the "classic diner" motif that Denny's is going with these days. To invoke Americana, they have aluminum everything in the place and then pictures of great jazz musicians. Oddly enough, if you don't think too hard about the actual historical context in which many of these pictures were taken- it works. I know I have more thoughts on the matter, but just not today.

We left Tucumcari after spending more time than I ever thought I'd spend in that town and headed onwards. Amarillo brought us another chance to snap a picture of the Big Texan.

Did I mention that the state of Texas is cheap? They have "picnic areas" every twenty miles or so along I-40. These picnic areas are a chance to rest and sit pull off the road. Great right? Only none of them have bathrooms. We stopped at the ONLY rest area in the Texas panhandle sometime in the morning/early afternoon. Mom left her breakfast behind at the rest area- once again, Denny's blows.

On and on we drove, the miles flying by. Mom slept some, talked some, and stared out the window a lot. I really hope I can be as wide eyed at everything as she is. We joke about my mom a lot in my familia, hell- we joke about each other a ton in my familia. If you don't have a decently thick skin, you're just not going to last very long. But for all of our joking about my mom's wide eyed amazement at the world around her- it really is an incredible attribute. I really hope to carry that with me as I get older.

The trip back brought more of the jokes and conversation that the trip down had brought. And a lot more silence. By the time we stopped at a rest area in Oklahoma we'd pretty much run out of things to talk about. It'd been a long week and we were ready to be home.

We got to OKC and made our hard left to get north as the skies threatened rain. Nothing came down and we started looking for a tourney game on the radio as soon as we were clear of OKC. No games yet, just lots of OSU pregame chatter. We passed Stillwater just before tipoff and kept on going.

The end of this drive is brutal. You keep wanting Stillwater to come up over the horizon and it never does. After Stillwater, you've been on the road 10 hours or so and you're anxious to get off. Only, it's only three more hours to Lawrence, so stopping for the night makes no sense.

You press onward, getting over the border into Kansas and then praying for Wichita, then Emporia, then Topeka, then Lawrence. In retrospect, hanging a right at Emporia to Ottawa and north to Lawrence might have been faster, but we were too tired to try anything new. We just wanted to get to Lawrence, which we did around 9p or so.

We rolled into L-Town and had dinner at Jefferson's, introducing my parents to one of my favorite places in this town. We watched basketball, ate burgers and stumbled home. It'd been a long trip and I'm going to enjoy having my folks around for a few days. Yeah, it's good to be home.

Posted by nenie at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I am never going to be on time for anything ever again.

When I was a kid, my father continually beat punctuality into my head. "If you're on time, your late" was the mentality in my house growing up. Nena, however, doesn't have this strict a sense of time. For her, time is much, much more fluid. She means to be on time to things; it just never happens that she is actually on time. I have come to grips with the fact that I am going to spend the rest of my life waiting for her.

Nena and I had an 11a appointment to get our engagement pictures done. Being that it's 40 minutes to town- we had to be out the door no later than 10a. Yeah, that didn't happen.

I hauled ass into town and we were only like 20 minutes late. Good thing our photographer is supercool. Have I mentioned how much I love our wedding photographer? Kyle rocks my socks off. Besides having a brilliant sense of aesthetic, she's a full on Mac user and a supercool human being. Stopping into Kyle's studio always turns into me geeking with her over Mac hardware and photography, which always ends with us comparing our Mac phalluses. Han normally holds up pretty well in these comparisons, but I think Kyle's new dual G5 is going to beat my boy up sumfin' FIERCE. Oh well.

The pictures were a lot of fun and some of them turned out pretty decent, too. Nena looked incredible as always and Kyle even managed to make me look like not an idiot in some of those pics. If nothing else, it was nice to spend time with Nena, just the two of us. . .and a photographer. The great thing was that Kyle is relatively unobtrusive, she just sets you up and tells you to run with her instructions. Yeah, after all this running around to get things done and worrying over our parents getting along- it was nice to just spend time with each other.

We'd left the 'rents back home with instructions to meet for dinner in town. This wasn't the original plan, but suffice it to say that outlining the original plan would take entirely too much time. Suffice it to say we had two dads trying to band together to make plans for their children when the outside world got in the way. You can only imagine what the subsequent negotiations with reality were like.

After the pictures Nena and I went to meet up with my other mother MaModz for lunch. Thing is, she was an hour late for lunch and so our very carefully constructed schedule went out the window. We'd managed to make up the time we'd lost coming into town late in getting to lunch and now, we were so behind that there was no attempting to get back on schedule.

Lunch was brilliant, as any time spent with MaModz is want to be. I honestly think that MaModz likes Nena more than she likes me, which for those of you who know the dynamic between MaModz and any of her kidz, is saying something. BTW, she says hi to all the Boys of 04A.

We'd planned to run across town and visit out friend Zee who'd gotten married last Wednesday. With our list of things to do and the time we had left to get everything done heading across town to Zee's didn't seem like the smartest idea- but then again- the smartest idea isn't always the best plan.

While at Zee's, the skies opened up. It was amazing. First the clouds rolled in, it got really dark in the middle of the day, then drizzle sent as a warning shot across your nose. Then, the onslaught. Freaking intense. Not quite as cool as an old fashioned Midwestern Thunderstorm, but damn cool nonetheless.

The storm validated our visit and we headed off to take care of the last of our errands when our parents called. They'd changed the timetable for the day and wanted to meet us for dinner RIGHT NOW. I don't know if Nena sensed the dynamic here and I only had a clue about it in realtime. But right then, we decided to take a stand for us and our time right here, right now. We'd made a plan and we were going to stick to that timetable. Nena and I were going to take the time we needed to get our things done.

So we told our parents no, we were busy and we'd meet them at the pre-appointed time.

There wasn't a protest. Just like that, we'd asserted ourselves. It was one of those big moments, in retrospect. At the time, though- it was pretty mundane.

At that moment, a tumbleweed rolled in front of our car. It was the first tumbleweed I'd ever seen. I'd like to think it was an omen of good.

When we finally did catch up with our parents in Old Town, they'd spent their extra time wandering in and out of the shops and talking. It was pretty amazing, rounding the corner and just happening to find them in Old Town. If you didn't know any better, you'd swear you were running into four old friends playing hooky from work on a beautiful March afternoon. There was no indication that these four were barely more than strangers the day before.

Once inside the restaurant for our big farewell dinner we began to trades stories of our day. My dad was sunburned, which meant his story was going to rock. Nena's mom had taken my folks up to Sky City for the day. Sky City is thought to be the hemisphere's longest continually lived in city. The Acoma have been calling this pueblo home for almost 900 years. Though I have yet to actually visit Sky City, all of my reading on it has led me to believe that it'd be a pretty freakin' cool place to visit. My parents fed into this assumption as they told me their story.

When I asked them how it compared to Monday's trip to La Ventana my mother answered it pretty quickly, "no hay comparasion." I'll let y'all figure out what it means from context clues.

My mother has a newfound passion for Acoma pottery and my father an appreciation for how hot the sun gets when its RIGHT THERE on your head.

We've seen some amazing things over the past few days. Monday's trip to La Ventana is a good example of all this. We had some time to kill before Nena's birthday party so I loaded my parents in the Maxima and headed out here. I'd wanted to visit since my first trip out here but Nena, having grown out up here, didn't really see the attraction. There's a story here that I'll spare us all.

La Ventana is a rock formation where the winds have literally blown a hole in the rock. Driving up to La Ventana, though you're inside of El Malpais National Monument. In and of itself, El Malpais is pretty amazing. Incredible views all around you. You can see forever from any point in the area and the whole drive left us all speechless. Granted, it's my family so even when we're speechless- we have something to say. The entire drive, though, we kept thinking how simultaneously good and bad it was that Drieg wasn't with us. It was an amazing experience that we really wish he could have shared in. But at the same time, it was pretty boring unless you're geeky like my parents and I are.

Dinner was wonderful and at the end Nena and I bailed while our fathers argued very politely over who was going to pick up the check. Nena's dad won, which means that he and Nena's mom should expect a really nice gift in the mail in the next few weeks. This Cold War of hospitality is definitely going to keep me entertained over the next thirty years.

After dinner, the parents headed home and Nena and I wandered Old Town by ourselves. We were silent for a lot of that time, but it was the kind of silence that's so reassuring. The kind where silence says more than words could ever do. Whenever the there was a lull in the silence, we'd speak up and talk until we were ready to pick up our conversation again. This really is a beautiful place, one I wouldn't mind someday calling home. But that day is a long while away. There are still too many other places and roads calling us to try them out for us to consider coming back here- or to Chicago, either.

On our way home we swung by Tryst's to say goodbye to him and his gf. Nena's leaving in the morning and it's doubtful that she'll see her brother between now and our wedding. It was a nice visit. Tryst and I have had our differences over the years, but we've come to the point where we actually really respect each other. Dare I even say we like each other? Yes, I do. I really like Tryst and the feeling is pretty mutual.

It was a quick drive home from town, much quicker than the hurried drive in. It'd been a long day, but a good one. Nena's gone in the morning and then my parents and I are gone Thursday morning bright and early. It's been a good trip, sad that it's ending, but it's definitely time to go home.

Posted by nenie at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's funny, whenever we're preparing to travel with my mother, she spends an inordinate amount of time before the trip worrying about how the change in climate is going to effect her. If we're going to be at higher altitude, that's an issue. If we're going to be in a more humid location, a hotter, a colder, a brighter or darker climate- it's an issue. Imagine then a desert in the mountains.

Funny thing is, my mother woke up this morning more rested and relaxed than I'd seen her in forever. It was pretty cool. I think the arrid surrounding are doing her some good. I think, and this is only a supposition because she would never admit this to me or anyone, that she's finally understanding why people retire to the desert. It's not a bad deal- all in all.

Granted, it is March and this is hardly a barren wasteland. But we take these things as they come.

The morning was spent acclimating my family's morning routine with Nena's family's. Her parents went about their business, offering my parents coffee and breakfast while my parents went about their own business offering Nena's parents what they were making. While in most situations this would be a recipe for disaster, it worked incredibly smoothly this morning. Everyone gave each other the space they needed and was actually appreciative of the contributions everyone had to offer to the group. I just sat there in awe of how well things were working out.

After breakfast, it was time to get cleaned up and pay a visit to the family matriarch. Grandma is Nena's 90 year old great-grandmother and visiting her is always incredibly inspiring to me. She's spent most of her almost 91 years in this town, devoting herself to seeing her family grow. I understand and appreciate that I'm oversimplifying Grandma's narrative in stating it this way- but it's the best way I can come up with. Her presence, and she definitely has one, is amazing to me. I grew up without any grandparents or older relatives, so to me visiting Grandma is the kind of experience I'v never had. It's all really new to me, but looking at the way the rest of the family deals with her, I don't think my awe is entirely due to the novelty of the situation.

When I first met Grandma, it was to gain her approval for my marrying Nena. While I never asked her, "hey, is it cool if I marry your great granddaughter?" Having her approve of me as a person was pretty important in my own head. I like to think she liked me almost immediately. Here I was, a Latino who still spoke Spanish, working on Ph.d asking to marry into her family. A family that had forgotten their mother tongue to survive over the years. . .I'm the only one of her great-grandchildren that can speak to her in her native tongue. I'm just going to have to leave it at that, I don't think I can afford to keep crying right now.

Grandma took to my parents immediately.

They sat and talked and asked her questions about the familia. Even Nena's great-uncle sat and talked. It was pretty amazing. Until today, I'd only heard him say a few dozen words to anyone. I've actually sat in the same room as him and only had four words exchanged with him. The rest was a collection of nods. Yet, here he was, talking to my father about the mountains and adobe construction. Yeah, this is going to work out really, really well.

After that we took a quick driving tour of town and Nena and I ran to the county courthouse to get a marriage license. Yes, I am now licensed to be married in the state of New Mexico. All it took was $25 and two driver's licenses.

This is all rather intense, yo.

The best thing about getting the license in New Mexico is the goodie bag you get when you pick up the license. It's all samples of stuff that you'll need now that you're getting married; Excedrin, Tide, Downey, birth control and so on. It's pretty funny, actually. "Congratulations, you're domestic." It was like those Good Stuff(tm) boxes we used to get in college- only, yknow, different.

Did I mention that today's Nena's 25th birthday? Yeah, it is.

To celebrate the family threw her a party down at the bar. It was pretty cool, everyone turned out for it and within a few minutes my parents were completely overwhelmed by the sea of new people that were clamoring to meet them. I could only stand in the distance and wave at my own parents as the droves came up to say hi. I was old news, my parents were the cool kids now.

Nena and I stayed at the party much later than any of our parents did and as we walked out of the bar I stopped to take in the stars that framed the silhouette of Flower Mountain. I stood there and thought about this matriarchy that I was marrying into. Yes, there is a ton of machismo out here and the men like to think they run everything- but when you get down to it, it's the women who have all the power.

That's what I'm reminded of whenever I come to visit. Everyone here thinks Nena is as special as I do. Though, we see different things. In Nena, they see the future of the matriarchy. She's the oldest woman of her generation and the heir to all that Grandma has within her heart and all that Nana has within her hands. It's an amazing burden and I'm constantly awed at how gracefully and powerfully Nena manages it all.

Posted by nenie at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I slept maybe 30 minutes last night. It really sucked.

I don't know what the problem was, OK I think I know what the problem was. It was a combination of Cracker Barrel bloat and not having heard from Nena all night. I should have realized that with Zee's wedding she wouldn't have time to actually stop and call me- but she didn't and I didn't sleep so hot. I watched Old School on HBO, though. Pretty funny. I'd assume it could only get better if I could hear it while watching.

Thankfully, we got moving pretty early. We hit the hotel's free breakfast and rolled on out of OKC as the sun was just starting to warm everything up. I started out the driving, getting on I-40 and flooring it. Problem was, I hadn't slept a whole lot the night before. I was good driving until we hit the Texas border. Then, it just wasn't bueno. We stopped in Shamrock, TX for gas and I took the opportunity to hand the keys over to my dad.

The gas station was pretty new but it totally lived up to everything you'd expect from a gas station in the middle of the Texas panhandle. Couple of regulars hanging out by the door- looking at everyone that pulls up and smiling, guys with big boots pulling up in ginormous pickups putting gas in their cars and wind. Shit was it windy out there. I braved the wind in my shorts and birks long enough to get into the gas station, buy a few winning Pepsis and get back in the car. We pulled out and as soon as we were back onto I-40, I was asleep.

I woke up in time to see Amarillo go by. My mother kept laughing, thinking back to the western novellas she'd read as a child. Apparently all the cowboys would end up in Amarillo while the "moon was high" in those books. Which meant that the entire trip through Amarillo my mother would repeat, "in Amarillo, when the moon is high," apropos of nothing. It was brilliant, she'd just stop the conversation to say, "in Amarillo, when the moon is high." Maybe you just had to be there.

Another Amarillo highlight was The Big Texan. We'd been seeing ads for this place from OKC on. The Big Texan features a 72oz. steak. The deal is if you can eat the whole thing (sides too) in under an hour- your meal is free. Seeing the Big Texan in the flesh as it were, totally lived up to the hype. You really should check out the site. They have a 72oz. steak Hall of Fame. It's intense.

We rolled on through and at some point my mother caught onto the fact that Route 66 ran pretty much parallel to the road we were traveling. Yup, throw one more quasi-historic log on the fire, yo. We ran along the Mother Road and eventually made our way across the border to New Mexico. The closer we got, the better time we were making. The closer we got, the realer the reason for this trip got. We were driving so the in-laws could meet each other. No one had any reason to think the families wouldn't get along. . .but yeah.

Slowly, the landscape changed and before you knew it, the Sandias were in front of us. Albuquerque was beckoning.

We ripped through Albuquerque and I pointed things out to my folks. Then, Nine Mile Hill, the Rio Puerco Bridge, the rez and then we were there.

A good day, a decent drive and we were there by 3p or so.

We hung out for a while, made dinner and had a quiet night at home. I'm staying with the in-laws and my folks under one roof for a few days. I think I should actually keep my shit together under these conditions. If not, it'll be an interesting story to tell.

Posted by nenie at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

It's been a long day.

After running all around town to get ready for this trip, I sat around at home and waited for my parents. It's amazing how slowly time moves when you're waiting to get moving. I think it's made all the worse when you're sitting around waiting for your parents. I haven't consistently had to sit around and wait for them for ten years or so. Yet, whenever they come to visit- there I am, waiting. It kills me, this waiting, I just want them to show up. It doesn't help that my mother refuses to fly, either. With a plane, you know when they're going to show up. But the way they drive, you never really know. They might have seen an outlet mall or something along the way. Around 3, my folks finally rolled into my parking lot.

I've been looking forward to this trip for a really long time. There's something special about road tripping with my parents. I'm reminded of the trips to Florida or Wisconsin when I was a kid. Then there's the legendary trip to Minnesota with my dad- the trip where he convinced me to go to Carleton. And of course, the greatest trip ever with just the three of us- the time we drove to Utah to see Drieg. Looking back at all of these memories, I realize how good I've had it. It's been a good life, yo.

We rolled out of Lawrence at about 3:30p. I took the wheel of my mother's Maxima and didn't let go. The Flint Hills rolled by and the range opened up all around us in a display of panoramic excess that has become part of the reason we go on these trips. The miles ticked by and my mother stared out her window, awed by all that blurred past her at 90mph.

I love making these trips with my parents. They're both so happy to see this country; to them it's as if they're living the western novels and movies of their youth. While most of us would be driven slowly mad by signs advertising Tulsa or Wichita coming up at the next exit- they live for these exits. I don't think any of them ever imagined driving across Oklahoma when they were kids reading devouring images of cowboys and the range from their homes in South America. Yet, here they are, driving across the plains with their son. Their son who's about to get married. Sometimes it gets to be a bit much for all of us.

I'm fortunate to have my parents. All of their enthusiasm for this country has rubbed off on me and it's nice to travel with them, with people who understand the enthusiasm I have for the plains.

After a quick drive we pulled into Oklahoma City. We normally stop at the local Motel 6, since my mother long ago fell in love with the fictional Tom Beaudette who promises to "leave the light on for you." Thing was, the Motel 6 was out of non-smoking rooms. There was some state youth convention and some Pinto Horse association meeting in town and as a result non-smoking rooms were hard to come by. Stupid us had stopped at the OKC Airport exit and even with all those hotels on the strip, there were few non-smoking rooms. The Motel 6 clerk sent us next door to the Red Roof Inn telling us that they have the same parent company so it'll be pretty much the same room.

My dad head next door and gets a room, we pull up to it, drop our stuff of and go in search of dinner.

Saturday night at the Cracker Barrel in Oklahoma City- it was a party. The waitress had a hard time understanding my parents' accents and I ended up translating English to English for all the involved parties. The cowboys were also out, which delighted my mother to no end. They were wearing their black hats and best belt buckles- it was intense, yo. After some country fried steak and assorted other fixin's we went back to the Red Roof.

We changed for bed and I looked at all the damage that had been done to my bracket when we started to notice that the room smelled. It smelled bad. We looked around and saw a few ashtrays. . .yeah, this was not a non-smoking room.

My dad called down to the front desk who informed us that there was nothing that could be done for us. Finding this unacceptable my dad called the corporate complaint number to, yknow, complain. He's on hold for 20 minutes and eventually he's released from voicemail hell and is allowed to actually speak to a real, live person. After a few minutes of quite loud conversation he's told there's nothing that can be done for him and that he'll just have to call back on Monday when people who can help him are in the office.

A quick aside here. Let's say you run a hotel company, a rather large hotel company. What sense does it make to only have dealmakers in the office from 9-5 on M-F? Do people not spend nights in your hotels? Do people not spend weekends in your hotels? It just strikes me as a really bad business model to have a disgruntled customer in your hotel who cannot get any satisfaction for their complaint for 36 hours.

Dad gets off the phone with corporate when the phone in our room rings. It's the owner of this particular hotel. He wants to know what the hell we think we're doing calling corporate to complain. He's also yelling this into his phone, which causes me to hold the phone away from my ear. He's so loud that both of my parents can hear him. This is not going to go well, I can feel it.

"We run a reputable business here," he yells. "Why in the hell are you calling corporate to complain about your room? This is the room you rented for the night, isn't it?"

I tell him that we had, in fact rented this room, but that my father didn't know that it was a smoking room.

He yells some more.

"Yes, but in the over 20 years I've been traveling with my father I've known him to drive 20 miles down the road rather than stay in a smoking room. So you have to understand my skepticism at his knowingly renting a smoking room." I reply.

This is where it gets interesting. I'm asked why we're accusing the night manager of deception. When I reply that we're not accusing anyone of anything the owner gets even more belligerent. It's amazing, really. "Yes you are. You're saying we did not rent you the room we said we'd rent you. That's deception to me, we run a reputable business here. We don't deceive anyone, why are you causing trouble for us?"

"We didn't mean to cause trouble. We just didn't want a smoking room and now we're in one so we're trying to find a way out, that's all." I say, keeping my cool and attempting to console the irate owner.

That's when he unloaded upon me, what I thought to be, the coup de grace.

"I know the boy that checked you in, he's a fine young man and a good Christian studying to be a preacher, why would he lie to your father?"

What? I think. He's telling me that preachers and Christians don't lie? Is he telling me that I'm NOT a Christian? That I'm a liar? I was just in awe, I didn't know what to say to that. This is when he one ups his previous comment.

"Does your father have a hearing problem? A mental problem?"

Wow, what the hell do you say to that?

"Actually, my father holds two masters degrees and is a respected elementary school teacher and I resent your comments and implications," was the best I could come up with that didn't involve profanity and a general new asshole ripping.

He yells at me some more and then invokes a tape that apparently exists of my father and the night manager. "So what you're telling me is that when we go back and look at the tape of your father talking to the night manager we're going to see your father insisting on a non-smoking room?"

What tape? What the FUCK? They TAPE all of their conversations in the lobby? With sound? Yeah, right. Of course, I don't say any of this, I just very politely tiptoe around this part of the conversation until he offers me the opportunity for a full refund if we leave his hotel RIGHT NOW! When my mother hears him make his offer she bolts out of bed and we're gone.

We pack up and get the hell out of the room quicker than I'd ever thought possible for the three of us; it was amazing.

My dad walks into the lobby to get the refund while I sit behind the wheel of our idling car, just behind the front door so that we can make a quick get away. I have no reason to believe that we're going to need a quick get away, but it never hurts to be prepared. I call around trying to find another room at one of the hotels nearby. I strike out at place after place when my father comes out and calmly tells us that we have a room reserved at the Best Western across the street.

Apparently, my father asked for a copy of the receipt that resulted in the charge being taken off his credit card. When they told him they needed the original for their records he replied with, "that's fine, my attorney will be happy with just a photocopy."

"Your attorney?"

"Yes, when I return to Chicago next week I plan to turn all of this over to my attorney."

That's when the owner picked up the phone and called the Best Western.

Needless to say- ACCOR Hotels blow. The Best Western was much, much pimper. If only I'd packed my swimsuit.

Posted by nenie at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Spring Break is finally upon me. It seems like a lifetime ago that this semester started. I really, really need a break right now. I've been really tense for the past week and unable to calm the fuck down. I think time in the desert will do me some good. I had a nice long chat with Nena's dad tonight. I think the weather they have out there will be really, really good for me. I'm looking forward to it.

My parents are driving down to L-Town tomorrow from Chicago. If Papo has his way, and he normally does in these things, he and Mom will be on the road by 6a. They'll stop for a nice long breakfast at the world's largest truck stop and then be in L-Town between 2-3p. We're going to OKC tomorrow night and then on to New Mexico in the morning.

The blog will be updated sketchily, if at all over the next week. But expect a long update once I'm back. You know how it goes every time I go down there. Expect lots of great stories.

I'm tired. I've spent the past two days grading the midterm essays for my class. I have 70ish students. Average of 3 pages apiece. If I have to read about racism again anytime soon- someone's gonna get really, really hurt. But I ripped through all the papers in two long assed days. Days so long I've had three alcoholic beverages in two days. Yeah, I'm that stressed.

I took my digital camera to campus today in an effort to get a pic of the Rock Chalk statue for GMS, in honor of KU's game tonight. (More on that later.) I didn't manage to get to the union to take a picture before dark so there's gonna be nothing until next weekend. It was lucky that I had my camera with me, though. As I was hiking up the hill to The Vern I saw the image at the right.

I'm not a fan of the Pissing Calvin Windowstickers. I'm even less a fan of the Praying Calvin Windowstickers, but this one got me to laugh out loud. I find it subversive on so many levels. A lot of the Pissing Calvin stuff strikes me as coming from a specific position that embraces whiteness in some uncomfortable ways. Seeing this Calvin, though. . .that was really cool. Subversive of the government and the dominant Pissing Calvin paradigm. Yeah.

Then there's Almejor. Al is applying to Masters of Public Policy programs around the country. A while back she got into the University of Michigan's program and I made a graphic that had her head on Chris Benoit's body. Benoit is a wrestler who was nicknamed the "Rabid Wolverine" for a while. With UM's mascot being the Wolverines it seemed like a natural fit for Al.

This past weekend Benoit won the World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. Some morning this week I thought that I should find a picture of Benoit with the belt and put Al's head on it again. So I used the same head and put it on this picture of Benoit being presented the BIG GOLD BELT (TM) for the first time.

Later that day, Al finds out that UM is giving her hellamoney.

Do you believe in premonitions? I do.

Have a good break, yo. See y'all soon.

Posted by nenie at 12:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Well, the day two scores are up.

Thoughts?

Posted by nenie at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

The first day of play has ended for this year's NCAA Tournament and as such I have the results for this day's activities.

Mind you, I'll be able to do today's activities and tomorrow's and then I leave for New Mexico until the the 25th or so. When in NM, I don't have the tools needed to make nice little graphics like this, so. . .yeah.

Without further adieu

Let the shit talk commence.

Posted by nenie at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

I'm sure folks are wondering what the hell is up with all the wrestling posts as of late. It's probably because I'm thinking about wrestling analytically again for the first time in a really, really long time. I have two papers debuting in the next month, so I'm analyzing EVERYTHING. Professional hazard, I guess.

At any rate, I've been thinking about this week's Raw and there are a few things that've crossed my mind.

Watching the new bad girl version of Trish I'm struck by how little chemistry she has with Christian. Every time they have to be near each other there's this uneasyness there. C'mon people, it's called acting. I'm just not believing that there's actually a relationship between these two. Though, I'm sure Mrs. Christian, at home in Tampa is relieved to see the lack of chemistry between Christian and Trish.

Next is the draft lottery. Cody and I were talking about this last night and he reminded me of something really kinda important. The WWE screwed up the draft last time they did it and this time, they're screwing it up again- methinks. Granted, they haven't been all too forthcoming with exactly how this whole thing is going to work, other than to say it'll be "a lottery." That's part of the problem, though. They're building hype via poorly constructed mystery and that's never a good idea.

Call me crazy, but I don't think people would be as hyped about the NFL or NBA Drafts if people didn't know EXACTLY how they work well in advance of the actual day. The WWE is blowing a great opportunity here. How great would it have been to have Mel Kiper Jr. discussing the WWE lottery?

Instead of quality buildup and payoff- we don't even know how this thing is gonna work. Do people with titles get to stay on their show? I'm guessing no because of McMahon's wording on Raw, "Everyone and I mean everyone will be in the lottery. No one is safe." OK, that works. So will titles stay on the show they're on? If Orton goes over to Smackdown, will he be stripped of a pointless IC Title that he's never really had to defend?

More importantly, if Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit end up on the same show will they have to fight each other for that show's heavyweight title? How much would that suck?

After months of building up elaborate quasi-shoot storylines centering around how these two have finally, after years of neglect, reached the top of the mountain- the WWE is going to throw this all away by saying only one of these two friends (and fan favoritees) can hold the BIG GOLD BELT (TM). Sure, it's an attractive storyline, but not A WEEK AFTER WRESTLEMANIA. There's no build, no dramatic reason for doing that. It just looks like your writers got bored and that's offensive to the fans.

Then there's the way they've been complicating the face/heel contiuum. Eddie's positioning as a face who cheats is intriguing and innovative. This makes him an attractive champion because I keep tuning in every week to see how he's going to beat this week's seemingly insurmountable odds. And the fact is that he's beating these odds in ways that faces haven't done before. THAT'S how you get out of a creative slump, break the rules.

I like a WWE where Benoit and Guerrero are the champions and it would be one helluvan unhappy ending to have them fight each other. Yes, I love professional wrestling's tendancy to give fans the unhappy ending, however there is a point when the unhappy ending is insulting. And this unhappy ending would be insulting to fans.

Posted by nenie at 08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, this is long. Sorry.
Yes, this took me forever to write. Sorry.

But, here it be.

Wrestlemania, the showcase of the immortals. Man, I love me some Wrestlemania. The funny part is that XX made only the second one I've ever seen. Yeah, I'm a real big dorque. But that's OK.

I got home around 5:15 and called my dad to talk about the NCAA selection special. All of our teams made it in. Dad was sweating DePaul's viability. He was sure they were headed to the NIT, if that. Silly Dad, freaking about his alma mater.

After that elongated conversation I put my cheese dip in the microwave and got ready for the biggest spectacle in sports entertainment history. Man, was I not disappointed.

I'd invited 20 or so people to the PPV and by 6p when the Boys Choir of Harlem started up with "America the Beautiful" no one had shown up yet. Yup, all that Nutella and cheese dip and no one to share it with. You didn't need a crystal ball to see that I had some weight gain in my future.

After the boys had their moment, the intro package started up. I've always had a large amount of respect for the crew that puts together these montage packages for the WWE. They really do Eisenstein proud, the range of emotions they're able to elicit in a two minute span is really, really incredible. This package, while not their greatest work (see the "Lonely Road of Faith" and "My Way" packages for this honor) was definitely serviceable. It got me in the mood and DAMN if that shot of Vince, Shane and Shane's kid didn't get me. Fucking great touch.

Enough of that, time for the matches.

Big Show v. John Cena (U.S. Title)

I like Cena. I like Cena a lot. His Marky Mark gimmick is great and it makes me really want a pair of Reebok Omnis. Cuz, I'd love to pump up before I teach.

That said, this match pissed me off. I was pissed because the Show is suck a big, fat, slow, out of shape piece of crap that he ruined this match. It ran something like 7 minutes. For $50, I'd better get at least a 15 minute match out of these two. But alas, the Show can't hack it for that long, so we got a 7 minute match full of rest holds.

I liked the match, it was solid work but I wanted more of it. This is Wrestlemania for crissakes. Don't wimp out on me on match length. Leave it all on the table. The crowd made up for this, though. They were a hott crowd, happy to be there and solidly behind Cena. They appreciated what little wrestling there was and knew they were seeing a match that'll people will be talking about when Cena's a big time superstar.

Then there's the finish. I like that Cena hit the FU on the Show and Show kicked out. No one'd ever kicked out of that move before and Cena sold the shock brilliantly. But rather than have him dig deep to find it within himself to win. He hits Show with the knux for the dirty win. That sucked. I don't want to see the face get the cheap win and I don't want to see Cena as a heel. A hip hop hee? That seriously can't go anyplace good. It'd be worse if Lawler were this guy's announcer, but that doesn't make it OK to turn Cena.

With as much pop as Cena was getting, this ending struck me as a really, really bad move. Yes, I understand needing to have Show constructed as a monster. But, a cheap win for a rising face is stupid.

RVD/Booker T v. Jindrak/Cade v. La Resistance v. The Dudleyz (World Tag Titles)
I pulled my shit together enough to be able to lock into the next match, the all too short Word Tag Title Fatal Fourway. I loved seeing Booker go through hell to hang onto this title. I like seeing him paired with RVD. I'd love to see both of them in a serious title hunt more. I'd love to see either of them beat the holy hell out of Evolution, but with a Latino as WWE Champ, Booker's gonna have to wait his turn. And with Benoit in the World Title match, RVD's gonna have to hit the juice.

Sadly, though this match was kinda flat. I liked the ending I didn't see coming (RVD/Booker retaining) but I didn't like how they played up the Dudley homecoming poorly and then didn't let them get a 3D in. These guys are the most decorated tag team in WWE history. The only men to hold the ECW, WWE and WCW titles. And they get buried at Wrestlemania? Sad, yo. Sad.

At this, or some other point the Coach goes looking for 'Taker at Bischoff's request. (Thankfully, Bischoff's only appearance for the night. It also makes me wonder where Heyman was.) Coach doesn't find 'Taker, but he does find Mean Gene and Bobby Heenan making out with Mae Young and Moolah. Yup, that's entertainment, people. Gorilla Monsoon must be rolling over in his grave.

Chris Jericho v. Christian
As we came up on the hour I'd gone through about half of a batch of my cheese dip and I realized that my stomach was going to hate me for it. I didn't care, I kept eating as none of my friends had shown yet. This match was pretty solid and I like the way they're building this storyline. Yes, Y2J is too solid a wrestler (see my Booker T and RVD comments above) to be buried in a love triangle storyline, but it's nice to see him around. Christian's nice to have around as well.

Some good back and forth wrestling, showcasing the things both of these guys do really well. Then Trish shows up out of nowhere. Honestly though my first reaction when I saw her was, "wait, she looks different. That's a new look for her, the little satin jacket and black pants. And are those her initials on pendants hanging from her belt? Wait a minute, she's dressed like a bad girl."

Sure enough, Trish turned heel costing Jericho the win and helping Christian beat Jericho down. Yup, she's a bad girl who likes the rough stuff. Christian pulled her hair and she smiled and licked her lips. I should have seen this coming when Victoria turned face in her win over Molly. The Women's Division needed something big to happen to balance that out. Sure enough, there it was.

Two thoughts at this point: 1) It must suck to be Matt Hardy. Where is he? Nowhere. Think back to the TLC matches of a few years ago. Where are the major players? The Dudleys were buried in a fatal fourway in hour one. Jeff's gone and hopefully in rehab. Edge is injured and Christian's in this match. Poor Matt, yo.

2) This totally sets the table for Edge's return. Christian and Trish torment Jericho and who comes to Jericho's aide? Edge, baby. Edge.

3) I really covet those Sexy Beast shirts.

Rock and Sock v. Evolution
It's right before this match that my first friend shows up. Finally, not alone. It was starting to get depressing, truth be told.

I dug this match. It was everything I expected, except the ending. I can't believe that Rock and Sock did the job. Why the hell do you bring Rocky back to have him job to Evolution? Why the fuck isn't the IC belt being defended at Wrestlemania. It was the only title not being defended, yo. I was outraged. That's when I remembered why I love professional wrestling. They're the only mainstream media storyteller that isn't afraid to give you the unhappy ending. This is not the ending I paid $50 to see, this is not the ending that makes me happy and squeal like a little kid again. But this is the ending I got.

But yeah, the move stealing, the showmanship. Awesome. Flair proved why he's been around forever, Foley proved why he's so beloved and I remembered how much I miss The Rock. Yeah, not the greatest grappler ever. But damn is he fun to watch or what? Just freaking great fun to watch. The man has to have Muppet blood coursing through his veins.

And Rocky shaking Foley's hand at the end: classy.

Playboy Evening Gown Match
Women got naked. Thankfully they looked like they'd maybe eaten a sandwich each in the last week. After I ooh'd and ahh'd at their really pretty evening gowns, I went to the bathroom.

When I came out, the match was over. Perfect timing for a well placed match. This Wrestlemania was proving to be wonderfully paced.

Cruiserweight Open
Brady'd shown up before the above described nudity ensued and we geeked out over this match. As other friends have mentioned in pWo, there was a noticeable lack of high flying in this match, but it delivered the goods. I really, really liked the format, match ends, and another guy jumps in the ring immediately with no one knowing who the next guy was going to be. This is a brilliant, brilliant way to do this.

I was sad to see Ultimo slip on his way out. The man doesn't deserve that, or to be buried the way he has. It's sad, yo. The man is a legend, he was such a big deal when they brought him up and then. . .nothing. They didn't even let him hang around too long here. I wanted to see him and Rey go at it for a while. Alas. . .

None of the individual matchups went as long as I would have liked and the entire match was WAY too short- but I was happy. I like where this Rey/Chavo feud is going. Chavo retained, but the rematch is gonna RULE.

Brock Lesnar v. Goldberg (Stone Cold Steve Austin, Special Guest Referee)
The crowd totally made this match for me. They kept chanting "you sold out" throughout the match. Brady made an excellent observation as well. The crowd wasn't for Goldberg at all. They just hated on Lesnar. I don't know if this is a good thing for Goldberg or the company, really. Unless this NFL thing is an elaborate work to get more heat for Lesnar.

Also, memo to the set designer. YOU'RE FIRED! Seriously, all throughout the night, the really cool looking stage kept getting in the way of great entrances. Booker T has a great entrance- but the stage ruined it. Rey Mysterio has a BRILLIANT entrance, which the stage ate up. And then, Goldberg. Man, Goldberg has one of the most amazing looking entrances EVER. He's being forged on stage, EVERY NIGHT. Only, this entrance area is wider than the normal one. So when Goldberg came out the door, there weren't enough sparks to make the whole thing look as cool as it normally does. You could see too much of the man as he was being forged. Just LAME. And he didn't even breathe smoke as he walked down the ramp. Way to screw up the biggest show of the year, set designer.

But yeah, it was the match I was expecting. Power move. Pause. Power move. Pause. These guys know what they can do and they didn't try more than that. A surprising part of this match was how big a non-factor Austin was. After Goldberg Jackhammered for the win, Austin stunned Lesnar and then he stunned Goldberg as Goldberg was drinking beer with Austin. Thankfully, there was no Austin heel turn. I think the universe (or at least the folks over on modulate) heard me.

Rikishi/Scotty 2 Hotty v. Basham Bros. v. APA v. Self Proclaimed World's Greatest Tag Team (WWE Tag Titles)
The crowd was really dead after the Brock/Berg match and this match had little to wake them up with. Not a whole lot going on here. There was a Stinkface and a Last Call (which is a freakin' great move. A modified Samoan Drop. Just killer.) The Bashams just have never done anything for me, and the SPWGTT are talented, but. . .well, not inspiring. It's sad, really. When I think back to all the really great tag matches in Wrestlemania history and then I look at this one. It was totally a bathroom match.

I appreciate that Rikishi and Scotty are running with the ball and I love watching them run with the ball. But, well, there really isn't anyone else entertaining to watch in this division.

After this match, Brady and I were the only ones left watching and that's a totally OK thing. Especially since the hardcore stuff was about to start.

Victoria v. Molly Holly (WWE Women's Title)
Before the real insanity though came the Women's title match. I really like the Women's division and I wish the WWE would develop it more than they have Chris Benoit (read: not at all). There isn't much internal logic amongst the ladies and the product suffers for it. It seems to be all heels and Lita. Yeah, before tonight Trish was a face, but she's been out of the Women's Title picture for long enough that she really doesn't factor in.

A lot of quality back and forth in this match that began to showcase how good these two are at doing what's on the marquee out front. I just wish that WWE fans as a whole were ready for a solid Women's division that didn't depend on cheesecake. Yes, Molly and Victoria are fine looking women and there's nothing wrong with that. I just wish their fineness was as important to their being taken seriously as The Rock's fineness is. What? Yes, I think Rocky is one fine looking man. The goatee doesn't do much for me, but those thighs. Don't tell me he doesn't have the most electrifying thighs in sports entertainment.

Back, forth, back, forth and Victoria retained her title. Then came the strange head shaving portion of this match. There was a head shaving stipulation on this match if Molly failed to recapture the title. It all stemmed from when she pulled clumps of Victoria's hair out a few weeks ago. After this match, there was a scuffle during which Molly was incapacitated. She awoke to find herself strapped into a barber's chair. In a total prop failure, the shaver wasn't working at first, then it worked poorly. Clearly no one bothered to show Victoria how to shave a head before the match. Yknow, it's the little things that the WWE isn't doing these days. Three years ago someone would have thought to show Victoria how to shave someone's head quickly and with maximum effectiveness. These days. . .sad.

Eddie Guerrero v. Kurt Angle (WWE Championship)
Finally, one of the matches I was waiting for. I liked it. I know lots of other folks out there in internetland didn't But it did the trick for me. Angle and Eddie went back and forth, and while Red is right in saying they never hit their stride- it really didn't matter. There was a lot of good mat work and a great cheating finish by Eddie.

While ordinarily I'm not a big fan of encoding Latinos as liars or cheaters (FUCK YOU OBERWEIS) I kinda like what they're doing with Eddie. As someone who studies the binary nature of the WWE, it's totally complicating the hell out of my models. But that's OK. He's cheating, he's lying, he's acting like a heel in every way. EXCEPT he likes and respects the fans. It's an interesting way to twist the binaries up and I, for one, am eating it up. No clue what I was just talking about? Care that you don't know? Ask me.

Undertaker v. Kane
Now for the nostalgia match. Yes, 'Taker is now 12-0 at Wrestlemania. Yes, he's back as the dead man. Yes, he's combining both gimmicks. Yes, one of the Druids caught fire backstage. Yes, Paul Bearer is back. Yes, 'Taker looks to be in incredible shape.

Yeah. It was cool. It hit the nostalgia buttons and was a surprisingly effective palette cleanser for. . .

Triple H v. Shawn Michaels v. Chris Benoit (World Heavyweight Championship)
DAMN. THIS was a match. I really need to go back and watch this again and again. It was fucking excellent. It was as if everyone involved sat down and read the textbook on how to have a really, really great triple threat match that doesn't end up as a gi-nourmous clusterfuck. There was tension and double teaming. There was back and forth. There was some great, great wrestling. I'm almost tempted to take back every mean thing I've ever said about Triple H. However, as Brady reminds me- this was the exception that proves the rule.

The ending was brilliant. A few times, earlier in the match, Benoit would get Triple H locked into some hold or another. Just when it looked like Triple H would submit, in flew HBK with a BIG kick to break it up. Every time he broke up the hold it would take him juuuust a little bit longer to get in there to break it up. When Benoit had Triple H locked into the crossface for the last time, I was watching the edge of the screen, waiting for HBK to come in and break this up. When he didn't come and Triple H tapped out, I was so freakin' pumped. That's why I watch wrestling, the catharsis, to see the underdog come out on top. That's drama, that's passion. The crowd went insane at this point. They'd be solidly behind Benoit all night, they could tell it was his turn.

Then, Eddie Guerrero came out to congratulate his old friend. It was an amazing moment. As the two old friends hugged, title belts tossed over their shoulders, I nearly started crying. Had I been with the Carleton Crew for this PPV, I probably would have. It was a really incredible moment. One of those moments that makes all of the other shitty, shitty things that the WWE has done to me as a fan worthwhile.

A really, really great card. I have a tape if folks want to watch. I'd watch this PPV again in a heartbeat.

Posted by nenie at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Word up my people.

Lots going on at my desk. So much that I'm not drinking water, I've moved up to ORANGE SODA!!!! Yeah, I know. Craziness.

The reason I'm not updating right now with my big 'Mania recap is that I'm working on my graded blog. I keep a blog for one of my classes and I have a due date coming up. With that in mind I'm going through and cleaning up my posts and such. This of course means a lot of rereading of stuff and postulating.

The blog is at www.cruzcaceres.org/jazz if you're interested. There isn't a ton up right now. But it should blow up in the next twelve hours.

Enough of that. As a study break from writing the journal I've created a league at bracketmanager.com. Without further adieu I'd like to announce:

Now, the basics.

1) Entry is open to any and all readers of nenie.net be they known to me or not. The only condition is you have to stop lurking to enter.

2) One bracket per person, please.

3) No money, yo. This is for pride and maybe some sort of less than fabulous prize.

4) This is fun, so talk shit and such. But don't take anything personally.

5) Ummm, ummmm. RIGHT! At the moment you can continue to tinker with your entries. If they don't ever lock people from doing this, we're gonna go on honor that no one will touch NOTHING after 12p EST on Thursday. OK?

How to enter:

1) Go to bracketmanager.com and fill out a bracket. The instructions are on the site and pretty easy.

2) After you enter your bracket it'll have your name and then the league you've entered your bracket in. Since you've not entered it yet it'll say "add" click "add."

3) This league is number 161, the password is nenie.net

4) Let the smack begin.

I'll post scoring updates as I get them, Feel free to talk shit starting. . .now.

Posted by nenie at 02:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (30)

Wow, lots of stuff going on in la Republica Deportiva. Only, in this version the women wear clothes.

Two big things

1) Wrestlemania.

Yes, I have thoughts. No, they aren't in this post. Check back later. Watching 'Mania last night means I'm a touch behind on work. Once I get back to a point where I can get my thoughts out. . .yeah. Maybe I'll go back and look at my tape.

2) Tourney Time.

All three of my boys made it in, 4,5,7 seeds. Not bad. And KU has UIC in the first round. Let the shit talking commence (Red, Charlie, Gunder. . .) Grandmastah, you've got my back, right?

Yes, there will be a nenie.net bracket contest. I'm currently looking for a web interface that makes me happy. If someone finds something they like that will let me run this bracket quickly and efficiently, let me know. Right now, I'm liking bracketmanager.com But if anyone finds something better. . .I'm open to suggestions.

3) KC Regional

I wanted to go to the KC regional. But at $150 a session. Screw that. I'm hoping there'll be some kinda student section discount dealie. But I'm not optimistic.

Now, I work. . .

Posted by nenie at 09:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

I can't help it. I really can't. I haven't been this excited about Wrestlemania, or wrestling in general, in years.

I know better, really I do. I know I shouldn't get this excited about what will more than likely be a completely lackluster PPV. I know that setting my expectations so high will only give me more room to crash. But I can't help it. I genuinely excited about this event. I'm just giddy, I'm reminded of why I watch wrestling (other than for academic purposes) in the first place. It's to be giddy, it's to be a little kid who gets entirely too wrapped up in the theatricality of it. For the first time in a long time, I'm getting caught up again.

I don't know which match I'm most excited about. Least excited is easy, but most is really, really hard.

Yes, Goldberg v. Lesnar will be two guys with limited move sets and a penchant for doing one rep too many in the gym going at it. But as power move festivals go, this one is going to be one hell of a power move fest. My only worry is Austin. I'm afraid this whole thing is going to end up being a setup of Goldberg by him and Lesnar. This means another Austin heel turn- did we not learn anything the last time Austin turned heel? It doesn't work.

I'm marking out for 'Taker's return. I didn't ever see him as the deadman, but if there's one character who's return they always do well- it's 'Taker. When he came back in 2000, it was brilliant. Even better than this one. They had the unexplained creepy little girl footage and then BOOM, he appears to interfere in the title match at Backlash. Brilliant. This comeback is pretty good, they're turning the hype way up, but the problem is that if they don't really, really nail 'Taker's intro into MSG on Sunday. . .this whole thing will be wasted. The levitation, the smoke, the fire and rain. All of it will be wasted. I don't think Mean Mark's gonna let that happen, though.

The title matches are pretty hott as well. I really, really hope we get two Radicalz as champs on Monday morning. That'd be hellasweet- I don't like the idea of Eddie hotshotting the title. Let the man hang onto it for a while, he's earned it. There are a ton of heels Eddie can work through before dropping the strap at Summerslam. That'd be fitting after years of borderline racist gimmicks and bad mullets, he's earned that much. Hell, we've earned that much.

If nothing else, Triple H will make an effective heel if he wins on Sunday. I'll hate him, I'll hate him a lot. If I have one issue here it's that they've droped the ball with Evolution. Where's the continuity? Where's the discussion about how Benoit shattered Flair's record in the Rumble? Where's the discussion of Benoit's history with Flair? Where's the intereaction amongst Evolution? I didn't ever get to really see the Horsemen in their hey day, but based on what I HAVE seen, this isn't the way the gimmick works, yo.

And so on and so forth, I could talk about this PPV for a really long time, and that's totally a good thing. The only match I'm not looking forward to is the Playboy Evening Gown Match. If ever there was a smoke/bathroom break, that's it, yo.

OK, enough being geeky. . .unless someone wants to comment on this rambling.

Posted by nenie at 08:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Every morning, when I walk into my kitchen to make my morning wakeup beverage, I'm enveloped in this warm, orange light. It's the most amazing sunlight I've ever seen- it pours through my orange roman shades and into my apartment, coloring everything in its path. It's incredible.

As the morning wears on more and more of my apartment glows with this orange tinge that makes everything beautiful. I's a great way to start your day, with the whole world looking shiny, new and beautiful.

Am I the only one who thinks about light, who sees it and thinks about its weight and color and power? Am I the only one who contemplates light? It's an amazing thing, and we miss it when it's gone. Anyone else? Anything at all?

I don't really know why this post is up here, other than to record somewhere, someplace how beautiful this light is.

Posted by nenie at 08:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Interesting poll being run by USA Today. Totally non-scientific, but I don't think that's going to matter.

It's on whether or not you think there should be a Constitutional Amendment to ban gay marriage. Head over and click, yo

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-02-24-gay-marriage-survey.htm

Posted by nenie at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Damn, it was nice here yesterday. The kind of weather that teases you, makes you think there's something worth living for. Then you wake up, and realize that there is something to live for. Yeah, beautiful day.

I left NFLD 'round 9:30a yesterday. I won't go into how much it sucked to leave Nena behind, because it's kinda like the subject in interogative sentences. Understood, yo.

My driving was wicked unfocused, though. Unlike the drive up on Friday, I wasn't meticulously counting miles and gas mileage and calculating average speeds. I just drove fast when I felt like it, slower when I didn't. On the way I called my family, Nena and straightened things out with Target. C'mon, yo. I told the woman to put the scanner in the cradle. She NEVER did. Once her manager did it, BOOM- registry updated.

When I left The Minny it was cold. I don't know how cold, but it was cold. Definately a late winter cold. Somewhere near Des Moines I had to take my sweatshirt off. It was too damn hot for it. By the time I rolled into L-Town, it was 70 degrees. Beautiful, yo.

I got home and opened all my windows and shades and let the sun and air in. It was really, really nice. If ever anything announced that this was where I was supposed to be- that was it. Now I only need Nena here. And the day when she's in the same town as me again are drawing close. Yeah, all good things.

It was a bit after I'd settled back in at home that my phone rang. I was going to have to lead practice alone. The head coach couldn't make it. It was my show.

All in all, things didn't go too badly at practice. The kids weren't too bad. Although you could tell that they really weren't used to taking orders from me. A few of them even questioned why I was leading practice and not Coach Nic. "Where's the other coach?" A few of them asked. Eventually, peer pressure took over and the dissenters decided that they should listen to me, lest their peers (my defenders) turn on them. Yeah, this coaching thing is gonna go well. Los Lobos even won on Saturday. Not that there are any official scores kept or records or trophies. But the kids know.

All of this brings me to my closing point, which I won't articulate as well as I'd like. This isn't the life I imagined for myself. I know I've talked about this ad nasueum, but it really, really isn't. I never imagined I'd be 25, engaged and living in Kansas. I totally thought I'd be in Chicago being anything but attached. That was the whole point of Gunder's wedding, it was my arrival into enjoying being single. It was an affirmation of my playa life. Funny how things change. Because even though this isn't the life I planned, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Not after a day like yesterday.

Posted by nenie at 08:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For all the interested parties, yes- I am in The Minny right now.

To all those who live up here who I haven't called to tell- sorry. This trip was about seeing Nena and getting caught up with our life together. As it is, we're back to being a normal couple now. She's just left for work and I'm blogging before I head to The Monday to read. The more things change. . .

The trip up was rather uneventful. I left straight from teaching in JRP on Friday. I get to campus before 8a on Fridays so the JRP lot was freakin' empty. I parked in a great spot and hiked to The Vern. Teaching went well on Friday. The first (of two) midterm(s) is this coming Friday. So we spent the period going over Tuesday's lecture and then playing a Nenie-ized verion of Jeopardy to review for the midterm.

I gave each team 5 minutes to write the questions for the game. They would ask the questions of the other team. If the other team got the question, they'd get a point. There was no penalty for not knowing. However, if the team that asked the question didn't have the answer to their own question- they lost two points. When people heard this rule they were crushed. "You mean we can't ask impossible questions?"

Well, no. Because then no one learns.

I was on I-70 by 12:45 and racing towards Kansas City.

I'm goin' t'Kansas City
Kansas City here I come
I'm goin' t'Kansas City
They got some crazy little women there
I'm gonna get me one

Man, was a I flying. My average speed was definitely higher than the limit for said speeds. But it was Friday and the truck drivers wanted to spend the weekend at home, so they flew. I used the wind break and jumped in.

I would have made it to The Minny in record time had it not been for my two stops along the way. One in Missouri for my Lenten Friday roadtrip compromise meal of fries and a shamrock shake, the other in Ames for gas, a bathroom break and Pepsi.

What really made the stop so long was the time I spent selecting only winning bottles of Pepsi out of the cooler. Yup, I picked only winners. I think it was worth the time. And since I was going to buy a caffinated beverage anyway- why not make it a Pepsi and get the free song out of the deal?

I showed up in Nena's office WAY earlier than she was expecting me. So early that she had to work past when I arrived (which had not been her plan).

Saturday was spent taking care of wedding stuff. We worked on guest list related issues and then went downtown to finish registering at the expensive store.

Wanje had told me all about how cool it was when she registered with The Bear. It sounded kinda cool and over rockin' (in that way that Wanje has for making everything sound supercool.) However, there was no embellishment here.

Nena and I had started up this registry when we were in Chicago for Valentine's day. But that was such a disorganized rush job. The one good thing that came out of that trip was picking a china pattern. This trip we HAD to pick crystal and silver, which we did. We're totally aware that we're not going to get a whole lot of china or silver as wedding presents. But at least we have something to collect afterwards.

We're also pretty pumped that save for the crystal- our formal settings are all made in the U.S.

But registering, totally a bizarre and fun experience. Bizarre because you're asking people to buy you stuff, which was uncomfortable for both of us to acclimate to. Fun, because you're picking out stuff for your new life together. Yes, it's silly and materialistic and all that. But it's like being a kid in a candy store and you have a scanner that enables you to list all the candy you could possibly want.

After 3+ hours of wandering around and scanning stuff and talking to the consultant to eliminate redundancy and complete collections and playing house. We went homeward.

OH! Playing house. This ruled.

So we had our china and our crystal picked. But we needed silver. For situations like this they have a special table tucked away where you can play house. We set our china and our crystal and then we kept going back to the silver cabinet and taking silver out of it to match with the rest of the place setting. It was so freakin' cool. It was like playing house, but not. Cuz it was real.

Yeah, it ruled. OK, enough of that gushing, I'm starting to sound like Nena.

We wandered homeward, hitting a few more places on the way. We stopped so Nena could get me my birthday present. I'm now the proud owner of a Norelco Quadra 7 series shaver. Damn, this thing is a vast improvement over my last electric. It's also an improvement over the oldskool aesthetic I used to rock. But that's neither here nor there.

Yup, by the time we got home and settled in to watch the last two weeks worth of The O.C. episodes I'd taped for us to watch next time we were together, we'd had a pretty full day.

I'm glad I made the trip out here. we really needed the time together.

Posted by nenie at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Maybe, maybe not. Sorry for taking that unexpected vacation from blogging. Not that anyone particularly cared, OK- I did.

At some point in the last few weeks I lost control of my life. As I've said before, when I go a few days without blogging assume that my life has gotten beyond crazy. I think I'm back in control, or at least I'm telling myself that I'm in control. I'm not going to be driven by deadlines and the like. I've done it before and it didn't work so well for me. I don't know why I keep thinking I should change the way I approach the game. But I keep doing that.

This whole not seeing Nena thing is really, really starting to wear on me. It's the only thing I can think of. The longer I go without seeing her, the more work I have to put into being a part of her life. It's the nature of distance and one of the reasons I'll be really happy when Nena and I live in the same place. I've resolved to go see her this weekend. The weather will be iffy at best but I really, really don't care anymore. If I don't go this weekend I don't see her until we're with both of our families in New Mexico over Spring Break and that's just unacceptable.

I'll take books to read and get work done while she's working. It'll be all good, yo. Who knows, I might even get some of my PCA and MAASA papers written.

Life hasn't been all bad, though.

Red got gave me The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection on DVD for my birthday. It was pretty fucking cool. I checked my mail last weekend and there it was. Totally unexpected and uncalled for. But it's been making the insanity of the past week a bit more bearable.

And then there's the Carleton Women's basketball team. These ladies rule, as they've been doing for a few years now. They' pulled out another MIAC Championship this year and last night they won their First Round game in the NCAA Tournament. Go Knights.

It's nice to have one of my alma mater's teams doing well in the tourney. As it stands I think the Knights will go farther than the Jayhawks.

OK, enough of this. Time to get on with my life.

Posted by nenie at 08:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)