a year on a secret robot hunt

so now what?

2007-12-08T18:26:00.000-07:00

so yeah...you guessed it. i'm on sabattical now, but just like backstreet i'll be back. on january 1st specifically.

until then, i'm working packing going to wedding slava-ing bike ganging frisbeeing brewing drinking sleeping talking golfing and lots of mug clubbing.

see you on the flip side

ps the new blog is http://quadrantthreetoquadrantone.blogspot.com - join the robot hunt as it goes all intergalactic and shit

the end of the robot hunt. a little premature. that's what she said.

2007-11-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

092507a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

me, mr. the diamond, and dirty jersey (top) hiked up wrightson last saturday. it was snowy, cold, and super windy. we could only stay at the summit like a few minutes before the cold drove us out.

last year on the same thanksgiving saturday, i took the same hike with mrs. the diamond and action (bottom). it was equally pretty out, but sunny, calm, and generally warmer.

its interesting to me to think about when i posted the bottom picture on last years blog, and think about all the stuff that's happened from last years wrightson hike to this years. and to look back over this blog and see what i thought was fun or neat or whatever this year.

and looking back over the year, its alot of fun with my friends here in tucson. from poker to snowboarding to mustaches and mullets to gladiator fighting to brewing to bachelor parties to polyphonic spree to wives to wizard staff to frisbee to plush to weddings to hiking, its been a memorable year.

which is sort of why this blog has to end. its a few days premature, and nearly a month short of posts. but the train ends.

its like, i've been really busy over the last few months. and part of its been doing stuff like thesis stuff and work stuff. but mostly its been non stop hanging out with my friends, and getting every last bit of tucson and my friends and my life here that i can. to the point that i can't find the time to keep up with it in this blog. nor do i feel like keeping up with it right now. it can be a pain to take your camera everywhere. sometimes its just more fun to enjoy it from in the scene, not from behind the camera lens.

for a while, earlier in the year, i thought when the blog came to an end, i'd have some great metaphor for what the robot was, like related to life, and whether or not i'd actually found it. turns out, the blogs done, and i don't.

but somehow, it still feels like i found it.

robot, consider the quest successful.

yoshimi out.

its because we had to teach the hipsters how to be ironic

2007-11-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

friederich.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

while i'm linking backposts, today my uncle friederich in munich (not really my uncle...can you tell?) and his wife sent me this picture of my family with him when i lived in munich when i was 8.

i sent my mom this picture. as well as one i took of us earlier this year, in march.

my mom: i can't believe you grew a mustache this year.

i'll get to december 1st i swear

2007-11-08T22:05:00.000-07:00

110807a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

brewing for our upcoming contribution to thanksgiving

in brewing our wine-beers we sometimes end up with a little bit of grape juice extract left over. think grape juice flavor, syrup consistency.

jon promised to drink an 8 oz brandy snifter of the stuff.

at least it wasn't a korma chug

i say doha you say doja. its all the same shit.

2007-11-07T22:03:00.000-07:00

110707a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

day of the dead parade in tucson

this kind of parade exemplifies everything thats right about tucson. a bunch of people out walking in this parade, some cool floats, some fresh drum beating, some cool costumes, a little politlcal protest here and there, but mostly alot of fun.

its the kind of parade where you could hypothetically know 10 or so people going. leave your house to go to the parade by yourself. and despite the many thousands of people there, still run into everyone you knew would be there.

tucson really is that small. which can be good in that maybe all your groups of friends sort of cross.

alternatively, to quote the great poet on his take on tucson:
'its a small city so you'll run into the same people. but it aint never gonna be that honey you wanted to see again. its gonna be those tools you never wanted to run into again.'

but you can still give me the pity laugh like 90% of my jokes get

2007-11-06T21:56:00.000-07:00

110607a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

moving mr. and mrs. the diamond into their new house

the collective of us got the diamonds a fresh leather couch and ottoman for their wedding. its comfort level is sublime, and its just wid enough to hold two people if they're down to get all snuggly.

best part of the present: steph and jewface made a card with mrs. the diamond and babies and mr. the diamond all fat with a bucket of chicken with the caption 'for your growing family'

i guess i should have said mrs. the diamond wants babies super bad and mr. the diamond is gonna become a fatty one day with mrs. the diamonds really good cooking.

consider the translation of joke from card to blog failed.

yeah - and this wasn't even a spree song and it was still that good

2007-11-05T16:29:00.000-07:00

just because its worth seeing for real

the spree is the best damn band ever.

2007-11-04T16:20:00.000-07:00

110407a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i've wanted to see the polyphonic spree more than any other band for the past 4 years.

the spree is the kind of band that can cover live and let die and get away with it.

the spree is the kind of band that can cover lithium and get away with it.

the spree is the kind of band that can get rory to come home early from china.

the spree is the kind of band that can put on a show that can get ingrid to describe as 'spiritual'

that and becoming dr. doha

2007-11-03T16:18:00.000-06:00

110307a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

after 4.5 years of sparing amounts of stress, mediocre work, and rarely waking up before 9, i'm not sure i deserved much of a break after my thesis defense. indeed, the entire process was a little anticlimactic, despite being told it would be the third best moment in my life (marriage and baby if ever would be the 1 and two).

that said, spending a day in a field watching blues bands laying in the cool november sun was the perfect way to spend my first day as a doctor.

2007-11-02T19:10:00.000-06:00

110207a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

that's dr. nop.bot to you.

and yes, you're looking at 3 generations of red and white. nothing but

2007-11-01T19:08:00.000-06:00

110107a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

so i know this blog has really sucked alot over the last month. like ALOT alot. but in fairness, i've been busy. i've been traveling alot, i've been hanging out with my friends alot, and i've even been working alot. so much in fact that i literally haven't had enough free time over the last month to sit down and deal with this robot bullshit.

but tonight i wanted a night to myself. this thursday night, of all nights in grad school, i wanted to talk to no one. i wanted myself, some homebrew, some self-medicated medication, an episode of the office. maybe some desperate housewives. and to be asleep by 11.

and i did. and it was glorious.

i'm a badass to hang out with. i should totally do it more often.

like purple sticky icky

2007-10-31T19:04:00.000-06:00

103107a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

a year ago's fall frisbee league, mandy drafted me despite my desire to not be on an orange team. to protest the team color i started to wear all orange to every game.

but, it turns out that wearing long socks is a pretty good idea for diving in a field that can at best be described as asphalt with a few seedlings of grass in it. so i continued to do the same thing on future team colors - blue and purple to be detailed.

today after our playoff game (quarterfinals - WON!) me and action went out to a bar with marie and her friends. i guess it was halloween or something, a fact which totally passed me by.

i think people probalby thought i was dressed up as something stupid in my all purple though.

but god hates me...so...you know. par for the course.

2007-10-30T18:56:00.000-06:00

103007a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i have this allen wrench tool. its like this rectangular thing with a bunch of allen wrenches on it. like in the picture.

it fell apart today. and, in great irony, the part that holds the wrench tool together...needs an allen wrench to fix it.

how fucking ironic.

sort of like getting destroyed by a long distance girlfriend looking for a change of any sort applying for jobs getting a (dream) job across the country and meeting an unbelievable girl right before you leave ironic.

weird.

that's all those years of watching desperate housewives that learned me

2007-10-29T18:53:00.000-06:00

102908a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

all i know is i deserve a diamond medal for watching the florida georgia game this week with like 700 georgia fans.

maggie: you know when i made that speech at the wedding and mentioned how georgia beat florida, you had this very forced smile on your face. hey, kind of like you just did there!

the answer's action.

2007-10-28T18:51:00.000-06:00

102807a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

in his best man's toast, action leads in with the line 'so...as the single guy at this wedding...'

smart move on his part.

guess who went home with the single girl at the wedding?

2007-10-27T01:18:00.000-06:00

102707a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

big day.

yeah. backpost. knowledge of the future. like biff's sports almanac. woot.

2007-10-26T01:17:00.000-06:00

102607.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

the diamonds wedding week, day 4

the friday before the wedding's been relatively scripted for a while now. rehearsal in the morning. golf in the afternoon, shane and tiff's hosted reception in the evening, and (suprise) catalina magnet high school football game and the shanty in the night time.

i've not beat the diamond at golf in a while now - must be over 5 rounds at least. today, i thought would be my day.

not so. i shot a 116. he shot like 107.

i guess this means florida's destined to win against jawja tomorrow.

i mean october woot

2007-10-25T00:59:00.000-06:00

102607a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

the diamonds wedding week, day three

i bet if aleks and maggie remembered a little better they'd have asked us to dress differently for their wedding

happy birthday to me. and choalsky

2007-10-24T01:44:00.000-06:00

102407a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

the diamonds wedding week, day 2

ive had a picture similar to this up before. at the end of summer frisbee league, when i complained that teams i've been on always go under .500 though statisticallly thats unrealistic.

this season, we're 11-2. as of tonight we're the #1 seed going into playoffs, and in my opinion, decently odded at winning the season outright.

for my last season ever, this isn't so bad.

the thing thats odd is that it sort of takes a little bit of the fun out of frisbee. like, the pleasure of winning all of a sudden adds this pressure to continue to win which takes away a little bit of the fun.

its like winning sucks. but losing also sucks.

frisbee's so fucking stupid.

i've been a georiga fan ever since they won the world series

2007-10-23T09:46:00.000-06:00

102307a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

the diamond's wedding week: day 1

bridal party party at the diamond's parents house (back here in tucson). the diamonds dad, mr the diamond senior was a complete pimp. he literally walked around in a circle the entire night topping everyones drink off until everyone was shitfaced.

unfortuantley, mr. the diamond senior, along with the other diamonds, are georgia fans.

mr. the diamond senior: (to me) you know i can't believe you're a florida fan, and your an okay guy.

i was thinking the same thing about him.

cause i am a doctor of player hating

2007-10-22T09:42:00.000-06:00

planet_hco7-6_alma, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

went by the place i'm gonna be working at here in boston today to sign (apparently hours of) paperwork.

the secretary: 'so...what degrees do you have?'
me: um...a bachelors. in 2003.
secretary: and masters?
me: um...i don't have one.
secretary: phd?
me: nope.
secretary: so how did you get this job?
me: i'm not sure anyone knows that.
secretary: i'm just gonna put down that you have a phd.

sort of like a catalina magnet high school football game

2007-10-21T09:34:00.000-06:00

102207a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

went down to the head of the charles race today with my dad. while it was a zoo, and there were probably thousands of people up and down the river (nearly as many people as the tucson marriot has stories) no one really seemed to be paying that much attention. mostly they were just enjoying a seemingly rare beautiful day outside.

after watching for about half an hour, neither me or my dad could figure out what the rules were to boat racing. despite the fact that its a race, no one seemed to give a shit how fast the people next to them were going. and for some reason that i REALLY couldn't understand, some of them were in motor boats!

after asking

some guy: 'nah i don't know what the rules are either. i just come cause everyone's here'

i also call them both homos, though they oddly appreciate that less

2007-10-20T21:49:00.000-06:00

102107a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

my parents were in town (boston) this weekend, so i hung out with them a bit.

i like to make fun of my parents for their general idiocy. like, my dad asking me if i've heard of 'those ipod things' sometime in late 2006. or something. i refer to them as 'makamma and makappa' sometimes which literally means 'my stupid mom' or 'my stupid dad' in our language.

in the square where my dad proposed to my mom, i caught them in this look. where my dad was saying something stupid and my mom was giving him a look like 'you fucking moron i can't believe i love you'

i thought it was cute.

and ugly girls

2007-10-19T21:42:00.000-06:00

102007a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

flew to boston today. to find a place to live.

weather in tucson when i left: 50s at night, low 80s in the day time
weather in boston when i arrive: 70s at night 90s in the day time

guess which city has no air conditioning?

especially when i tell them how fat manny is

2007-10-18T21:40:00.000-06:00

101907a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

with the anomaly that is college football this year, and the big east being a decent conference, we've gotten in the habit of having mugs at no anchovies on thursday nights and watching football. recently, action and beno have been joining to watch the red sox.

i really hate baseball. actually i can see what there is to love about it, but i love hating it more than i could ever love loving it. so i hate baseball.

and i really hate red sox fans. mostly because most of them (action and beno and suz and some number of redsox fans excluded of course) have no fucking clue what they're talking about.

i'm moving to boston in a few months. i'm not sure i've ever said that on this blog. but i am. just laid out there, just like that. i'm moving to boston.

seeing this as a great opportunity to piss redsox fans everywhere off, the great poet and i have run through the possibilities. we thought maybe

a. i could become a yankees fan
b. i could actively burn red sox paraphanlia

but decided on

c. i'll tell everyone i meet 'i'm the biggest red sox fan ever. ive been a fan ever since they won the national championship. i totally just got mmy girlfriend this really cute pink hat with a 'B' on it.'

i'm gonna be a big fucking hit in boston.

good thing everythings correlated with everything so the kids gonna be fucked no matter what

2007-10-17T21:07:00.000-06:00

101707a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

ghostface show tonight (which, by the way, you should never see. constrain your ghostface listening to cd only...not live. it sucks)

during one of the shitty opening MC's, timmy and i noticed a video game set up in the corner for free so we decided to check it out. but, of course, were too inebriated to get what was going on. it had something to do with a guy walking around cubicles in a very office-space setup.

me: so why's that guy walking around the office aimlessly?
timmy: its weird how he keeps bumping into people make him do something

5 minutes later, i leave. timmy comes up to me after that

timmy: i figured out the point of the game. you're supposed to try kill yourself with staplers and stuff as quickly as possible.

about 10 minutes later, i saw some young mom bring her 2 year old kid over to play the game.

umm. golf. thats the title today.

2007-10-16T20:43:00.000-06:00

101607a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

golfing sunday

we really really really suck at golf. like alot. like a whole lot. like at least every one of us had a hole where we scored double digits. jewface had to pick up the ball once. the diamond started a few holes with 5 strokes in the bank already. i 5-putted at least 3 holes. and god help action who golfs like he skiis.

a normal round of golf should take no more than 4 hours, including a break at the turn for a beer. we take close to six. granted we spend time fucking around, sometimes shooting balls into the water on purpose. but we take a long long time mostly cause we suck.

the golf ranger noting this:

ranger: you guys need to all have your own clubs to speed things up some.

me: uh, thats not why we're slow. we're slow cause we all hit the balls differerent directions

ranger: get your own clubs.

can't wait to see this guy next week.

its cause they know i'm the biggest player hater there is

2007-10-15T20:19:00.000-06:00

101507a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

so i'm teaching this class. like on fridays i get half the students. plus on wednesdays ive started running a volunteer class to help the dipshits who can't seem ot get it right.

for the first few months its been all this bullshit like how phases of the moon work, and why every new/full moon isn't an eclipse and the planets and all that stuff that i know very little to nothing about. the kids have cautght on, and even started correcting me when i fuck up, which is often. i've like, had to start studying before i go in front of them.

whats weird is that they have a choice of going to me, or the prof, e, on
fridays. and even though i'm an idiot, they choose me.

last friday, i got a little sick of talking about boring shit that i hardly knew about, so started shooting the shit about college football. turns out i got a little excited and started going off on both pac-ten football, and how most other sports really suck. especailly baseball. turns out even more the az d-tackle and az starting pitcher are both in my class.

after explaning this to brandon and dirtyjersey (i'm boycotting jewtangclan after the horrific ghostface concert...see post in a few days)

jersey: thats why they choose you over (the prof) e! cause you talk about sports the whole time!

brandon: god, i can't believe they're gonna give you a phd in astronomy.

we vice thanks to the vice anyways.

2007-10-14T19:53:00.000-06:00

101407a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

probably you already know, but i was in this improv group for a long time while in tucson. new kevin. we weren't the best group in the history of comedy, but we had a memorable show here and there. either way, hanging out, not rehearsing, and drinking with these guys (like we'd let a girl in the group...or more likely, like a girl would stay with us even if we begged her...) was a grand old time.

the group changed in number here and there, and by the end had 7 or 8 people. becuase the group was made up of a bunch of slackers like us, not all of us ever came to rehearsal ever. like not once. we had extensive drunken conversations about whether or not the 7 or 8 of us were ever even all in one room at the same time ever, like in the history of the world. or new kevin. same thing. we all went to alot of the same parties, but no one could ever remember.

at maya and joe's wedding yesterday (watch the video) we were all there. and rememberd. for the first time in history.

shaun: maybe the reason we can't ever figure out if we were all there is becuase when we get together we get really drunk and high. and like, forget.

only thing missing was a happy birthday jesus

2007-10-13T18:49:00.000-06:00

inclusion of quantum mechanics = best wedding ceremony ever!

plus this episode reintroduced the word dumdum to the world. dumdum.

2007-10-12T09:58:00.000-06:00

101207a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i own the same fleece as larry david.

it was cold enough tonight to wear said fleece.

you have no idea how happy both of those make me.

mostly the former.

cheese(cake) sandwich post

2007-10-11T23:29:00.000-06:00

101107a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

today's schedule

930: wake up

10:30 get to school

11:00 dirtyjersey shows up in the office to figure out if we can leave right then to go drinking for swifts birthday

12:00 we go drinking

2:00 decide the day's a wash and go to jersey and swifts to drink, play nba streets, and make portland trail blazers jokes

4:00 decide we're gonna need some cheese and buy cheese

6:00 drinking red and whites eating cheese.

7:00 swifts advisor comes up with cheesecake. me and skemer decide it would be horrible for everyone involved if three dudes sing happy birthday to swift. we turn off lights, put lighter in the air and sing.

rinse, wash, repeat.

god i love grad school.

two blunts up.

2007-10-10T23:18:00.000-06:00

101007a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i'm pretty sure i've said this before.

but when the boss puts it out, its time to listen.

official yoshimi review of the first album with E-street since the rising:

overall E-streeet ness: not very E-street at all, really. its a good album in its own right, but if you're looking for born to run, don't buy this. but if you're looking for an evolution in e-street, buy it.

most E-street esque lyrics:

Frankie's Diner's
Over on the edge of town
Neon sign spinnin' round

potential for getting chunky pam to go home with you if caught listening to the album: 4 out of 5.

better than the rising? not by a long shot.

potential for getting high and listening to: great. lots of instrumentals, if short. no harshness in the vocals despite a clear aging.

would i rather be listening to thunder road or racing in the streets? absolutley.

where retard is used in the 'god i'm such a fucking retard' way - not the offensive way

2007-10-09T23:09:00.000-06:00

100907a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i had this great post all ready to go. about how me and AJ were ready to fight to the death to win the love of jenny lewis from rilo kiley. and how we went to the concert, and as usual, were full of shit, and neither of us are currently making tons of babies with her.

i even had this great picture i took. lots of them actually. but the best was of the marquee showing their name outside the theatre.

but then i erased all the pictures from my camera before uploading them.

and i even thought before i did it, i wonder if there's any pictures on here that aren't uploaded yet? nah. probably not.

so instead you have this picture of AJ in the desert. looking for a map.

god i'm such a fucking retard.

t minus one day till i marry jenny lewis and kill action

2007-10-08T01:28:00.000-06:00

100807a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

marie, who doesn't hang out with all of us all that often came to the diamond's bbq last night. at said bbq we were, as is often the case when we get comfortable, kind of not pc.

indeed, a random sampling of the things that flew around

'i'm so glad you're a jew so i can make fun of you'

'fuck...we called you a monkey retard homo but there was something else in there too...'

'why is it wrong to call someone an oreo? if they're black on the outside and white on the inside thats what they are'

'i used to be offended by calling someone a retard. but then i realized it was funny'

'he calls chinese people who're white on the inside twinkies. i think bananas is a better term'

'i don't like the word titties'

i always imagine its weird for someone whose not in a group of friends to acclimate to the way they talk. in college my friends and i had abbreviations and slang for everything to the point that it was our own language. people would say they'd watch us talk for minutes and not be able to understand a word. that said, whenever i hang out with someone else's friends its always pretty simple to get their way of talking and their form of jokes.

maybe other people tone themselves down in front of a stranger.

we don't. and to quote lessthanjake, because its always a fine time to quote lessthanjake, i wouldn't have it any other way.

its like the perfect food pairing to a rooster ale

2007-10-07T01:18:00.000-06:00

100607a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

a large chunk of time and many wasted electrons were spent trying to capture an image of action eating a sausage at a barbeque tonight.

eventually, it was finally captured, yet again, by the master surveillance techniques of captain caveman aka the diamond.

mrs the caveman: ummm...less teeth.

the girl. not three balls.

2007-10-06T01:14:00.000-06:00

100607a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

only consolation to two gator losses in a row: a sighting of the robot by the great poet and indepth surveilance by the diamond.

well done robot hunting team.

i wonder if i can be sued for posting random pictures of a random girl in random places?

t-t-t-r-o-j-j-j-a-n-t-r-o-j-a-n-troooojjaaaaans

2007-10-05T01:10:00.000-06:00

100507a,jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

catalina magnet high football game

we played the *other* magnet school. they were 0-5 coming into this game. we fucked them up.

we taught the cheerleaders a new cheer.

we directed the entire crowd in the cheer.

we got a mom with two babies to love us.

the band and dance squad made up a cheer for us.

eichenbergerberry pointed at us when he scored.

its like being back in high school again. except this time one of the cool kids.

and thus, the jokes on you for reading this post. sort of like it is for reading the whole blog at all.

2007-10-04T23:57:00.000-06:00

100407a, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

joe and maya, who're getting married this coming weekend put along with, and as a potential alternative to a registry, a list of charties you can donate to. a few weeks ago, mrs. the diamond told us about kiva.org - a site that oversees microloans to poor people in south america, se asia and africa to help them with their buisness startups. apparently they have a 100% repayment rate. so i thought since i found out about the website and what they'd like for a present like back to back in a few days, maybe i might give joe and maya's wedding present as a microloan through kiva. then when it comes back, reloan it out. it'd be like the wedding present that never ends.

kind of like if i gave them a mobius strip. or meth.

fernee (on the wedding): it was a bad idea for them to invite a bunch of improvisers. one of us is definitly gonna call them homos accidently during a toast. and then the toast is gonna turn into a roast.

hey toast and roast rhyme. and the microloan thing and the fact that they wanted charity donations were both told to me on the same day. its like the whole thing is blessed by jesus.

i guess i was sort of hoping all these random thoughts on their wedding would come together at the end. but nope...couldn't make it happen. without jesus that is.

happy birthday jesus.

artist of the month: kanye

2007-10-03T23:47:00.000-06:00

100307a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

its actually so easy that all you have to do is read time magazine to figure it out.

and yes. just because i dont take my camera out places doesn't mean the pictures wont completley rock. mrs the diamonds on the right by the way.

2007-10-02T18:57:00.000-06:00

100207a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

some number of easters ago, the diamonds had us over for dinner. i got super drunk, and being a heathen, didn't really know why easter existed. i assumed it was jesus's birthday, and kept screaming happy birthday jesus. its like a running joke in our group of friends to wish jesus a happy birthday anytime anything good happens. i turn my thesis in. happy birthday jesus! georigawins a football game. happy birthday jesus! action catches a frisbee without falling over. happy birthday jesus!

at the diamond's wedding, i'm talking at the beginning. i'm not sure what i'll say exactly. probably i'll use the word fornicate a few times.

mrs the diamond (right) - you know we don't want to censor you. you can say whatever you want. you can even say happy birthday jesus. you just can't say go gators.

oh yeah, i guess i should have said the diamond is a jawja fan. that would help.

man this story was way too complicated. its like impossible to tell an inside joke on a blog. eh. at least i tried.

no title. thats how bad i suck.

2007-10-01T18:51:00.000-06:00

100107a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

yeah i know. i suck. i never update, and my updates suck. its like this circular problem - i don't feel like taking my camera out somewhere. so then i don't update. and then becuase i have this ocd need to fill in every single day, even when shit does happen, i can't do anything till i fill in the missing days. then i get a week behind. then i think god how am i gonna catch up. even though stuffs happening, and i even have pictures sometimes. but then there's like a whole weeks worth of shit to update.

maybe i'll just quit. nah. i wont. but i guess i should go ahead and pick an end date. i started on january 1st. lets say december 1st maybe? that seems fair. yeah. 11 months of hard work. one month off.

december 1st.

i mean post-thesis woot.

2007-09-30T01:04:00.000-06:00

09307a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

first post thesis weekend:

1. yesterday i woke up at noon because action was calling. he called to brew
2. we brewed all afternoon. with dirtyjersey while we watched football. and drank all day.
3. then went to bratfest. and we ate alot. and drank alot.

consequence of #3 yesterday lead to
4. slept until noon today.
5. woke up and went to rory's house under the guise of sledgehammering a wall down. really just drank and watched action do all the work.
6. drinking/sledgehammering followed by more drinking at shane and tiffany's and playing capture the flag water balloon fight.
7. call to mugs at no anchovies by brandon
8. call to port and dessert from no anchovies by marie

post thesis verdict: woot.

i'm on vacation.

goddamned sec west

2007-09-29T00:59:00.000-06:00

092907a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i've recieved a variety of responses regarding our tragic loss to fucking auburn. ranging from 'so...interesting day in college football yesterday, huh?' from brandon to a sarcastic 'so...how'd florida do today?' from marie.

the cherry was a lovely message i recieved from the great poet, however. the great poet and i spar back and forth about how shitty the pac ten is (says me) versus how shitty the sec is (says him). on my voicemail

the great poet: 'waaaarrrrr eagle! waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrr EAGLE! let me just ask you...how many top ten pac ten teams lost today? and how many top ten sec teams lost today? and let me note, the one top ten pac ten team that lost today...they lost to ANOTHER pac ten top ten team. WAAARRRR EAGLE!'

let me remind you, dear reader, that the last time florida lost to auburn, we won a fucking national championship.

i mean boom dynamite........boom boom dynamite!

2007-09-28T21:56:00.000-06:00

092807a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i submitted today.

boo.yah.kah.shah.

or counting today, 20. but i'm no numericist. or at least not a good one

2007-09-27T21:52:00.000-06:00

092707a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

at frisbee yesterday

jewtangclan (left): i have two things to say about your blog. first, i like it because i don't have to remember what happens in my life since every post is about me. second, how come you use my real name? if you google search [jewtangclan]+astronomy, your blog comes up on the first page.

it was true. so i went back and searched. and replaced all instances of jewtangclan's name with...you guessed it...jewtangclan.

it may switch back and forth between that, dirty jersey, and on rare ocassion, chunky pam.

oh, and in the search+replace, i found 19 instances of jewtangclans name. given that today is the 270th day of the year, that makes 7% of all posts. suprisingly nonnegligible.

shit he shaved like 5 minutes before that picture was taken...

2007-09-26T01:22:00.000-06:00

092607a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

when we were growing our mustaches ~6 months ago, three balls had the sickest stache ever. the best part was how he grew it in like a day and a half.

with the testosterone of at least 1.5 men, three balls became dubbed three balls.

yesterday and today, all third years passed their prelims. three balls threw down ten men's worth of alcohol.

tb: i'm just storing in my third ball. like its a camel's hump, ready to to be used in times of sobriety.

*but i also think the marriott is a hundred stories high

2007-09-25T01:15:00.000-06:00

092507a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

dave matthews. i think i've been to maybe 10 or more dave matthews shows in my life*.

today at the concert, for the first time, i thought, 'maybe i'm done with dave matthews...its somewhat played'

but then the show was awesome and i realized i'm not. and its not.

happy birthday to me.

probably because im like...part of the public and stuff

2007-09-24T01:12:00.000-06:00

092407a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

after a review session i gave tonight i swung by the auditorium and caught the end of a public lecture.

i always learn a ridiculous amount at public lectures. they're awesome.

but like actual top five - like numerically - not in that college dorms kind of movie way

2007-09-23T00:44:00.000-06:00

092307a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

top five songs listened to over the last two years, two months and twenty three days

1. camera obscura - 'tears for affairs'
2. the polyphonic spree - 'light & day/reach for the sun'
3. camera obscura - 'lloyd, i'm ready to be heartbroken'
4. the postal service - 'the district sleeps alone tonight'
5. amadou and mariam - 'senegal fast food'

yeah - two days in a row relying on the archive for pictures. trust me. there'll be more.

2007-09-22T00:34:00.000-06:00

092207a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

after the games today

marie (a clemson...gasp! fan): so i um...noticed that florida score today.

me: yeah the sec west is a tough conference to play against

marie: please - the sec west sucks this year and you know it! you have to give me any chance i can to rib you guys. you never do anything to deserve it.

earlier that day, to jon
me: its actually a little known fact but by virtue of being born to people who made florida their home and consequently becoming a florida fan, i am actually a better human being than either you or brandon.

that one was free but the next time i'm charging

2007-09-21T00:27:00.000-06:00

092107a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

it always turns back into fall.

but i'll have my camera when i do

2007-09-20T23:03:00.000-06:00

092007a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

out for a couple of beers tonight at ches. i sit down. who should be at the next table?

THE ROBOT!!!!

and, of course, who should forget his camera.

yeah. me.

information collected: the robot has a boyfriend. he's fat. the robot has parents. or perhaps the robot's boyfriend has parents. i couldn't tell. the robot apparently has no sense of interpersonal skills for bringing 50+ year olds to che's.

either that or the robot is a hipster asshole.

sometime back

action: so, do you want to sleep with the robot or kill her?
me: i haven't figured that out yet

luckily the gimps/monkeys/retards on our team help out with that

2007-09-19T22:49:00.000-06:00

DSC01093.JPG, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

in the limited time i've been playing league frisbee, falls have turned into a pattern of being the toughest season for me to play in.

i joined for the first time two falls ago - fall of 2005. at th etime i was in between the written and oral prelims, stressed about starting the research that would make my thesis right, and trying to not fuck up my personal life. i went to most of my frisbee games, and it served well as an escape but at times i'd have to leave early or skip.

in the next fall, 2006, i had just gone through a pretty tough breakup, and again, frisbee served as an outlet/escape. but, again, as fun as frisbee is, there was a lot of times i just wasn't that into it, and would just sit and drink and watch.

this fall i'm writing my thesis. its not as hard as the written/oral prelims were. and its nowhere near the emotional vice a breakup can be. but it can be stressful here and there. mostly there, but sometimes here. but this fall, for my last season, i'm captaining (with mandy), so i'm not really in a position to skip, be non-cheerful, or lame in any other depressing way.

i guess i might actually have to try and have fun for once.

weird.

and all the women it buys you afteward when you tell them you got a physics degree there

2007-09-18T10:21:00.000-06:00

091707a, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

best part about going to the university of florida

1. ~~the national championships~~
2. ~~the partyschool atmosphere~~
3. all the great taser jokes you're allowed to tell years later

and yes, i'm back posting for something that happened two days later. you caught me.

2007-09-17T01:02:00.000-06:00

DSC01098.JPG, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

damn - no love if you decide not to go out for a night

had to be there? or a dorf story. you decide.

2007-09-16T00:58:00.000-06:00

DSC01092.JPG, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

the last night (or second to last night or something) in garhching, we went to a restauraunt near where we were all staying. on the menu, something got lost in translation, and every instance of 'suckling pig' was turned into 'sucking pig'.

so of course, as immature as we all were, everyone got called a sucking pig all night for the slightest of trespasses. someone leaves a crumb on the table - 'damned sucking pig'. someone has to get up from the middle of a crowded table to piss - 'hold it in sucking pig'. someone orders a beer - 'i'll take a weis bier and a sucking pig'

in the end, after liters of beer, it was decided that m, the guy from new york, who was giving a talk the next morning, had to somehow work 'sucking pig into his talk.

the next morning, he had a parody cnn slide on the front about a bunch of astronomy stuff. in the corner, on the bottom - 'sucking pig in garching'

i think only me and another kid caught it. but we got a few looks as we laughed out loud.

wihch is a shame considering how its all the great hater above lets me have

2007-09-15T00:40:00.000-06:00

DSC01047.JPG, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

so i flew back to tucson today - a week early. so yeah, i'm not going to zurich this week. since i'm back in tucson and all.

when emailing e, the guy i'm ta'ing for, and letting him know i'm back a week early and why (guess...)

via email

e: thesis is the most important thing right now. no basketball. no women. no drinking.

almost immediately he followed up with a subsequent email

e: actually no, women are good. one of the things i did with my then-girlfriend during thesis crunch was to have dinner with her every night. then, i'd go back to work.

but no basketball or drinking.

real fun.especiallywhentheyallowyoutodrinksnowboardseemadridvisitwallawallaanddrinksomemore

2007-09-14T00:32:00.000-06:00

DSC01073.JPG, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

a night or two ago we went into munich and got some beer. (we're staying like 10 miles outside munich so 'going into munich' on the subway is like a thing that has to be done). on the way back, we decided we needed another beer at my hotel bar. g, a student from a nearby desert state was staying a subway stop away, and if he stayed with us, he'd miss the last train (which we were on) and have to walk 20 minutes home.

he opted out of said drink and to take the train home.

at the last second, though, lhe decided beer was more important and tried to climb out the window to jump out.

and it was kind of funny 3 liters deep.

i guess you had to be there.

but thats the cool thing about conferences. its nothing but 'you had to be there' moments with a bunch of people you don' tknow, and wont see again for another year or so.

conventions are fun.

but not as weird as being defined as your kid brother's older brother

2007-09-13T22:05:00.000-06:00

DSC01027.JPG, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i used to think it was just tucson that was hella small. med students knew frisbee players knew sisters of girls who were trying to get in bed with action or something. seemed like everyone knew everyone.

but now i think its just all over the world.

today, talking with j, a grad student from a new england school,

j: 'you live in tucson - i know some people from tucson. do you know anyone in roller derby?'

me: uh yeah, actually i do! my friend annie's in it

j: cool! i know fisty cuffs!

who of course happens to be someone annie knows.

later that night, 3 liters of beer deep in a beer hall (in fairness, the only size they sell is a liter), some girl walks by and does a double take. then she yells at me - 'hey! are you venki's older brother?!!!'

weird.

which is the smart move considering their normal disposition towards people of color in bavaria

2007-09-12T05:40:00.000-06:00

071207a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

what has two thumbs and got faded and absconded with 6 beautiful german stein's from dinner?

this guy.

2007-09-11T06:47:00.000-06:00

091107a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

at a nearby pub tonight, chatting with m, who lived in new york for the last so many years

me: its pretty interesting, when i checked the new york times this morning, i didn't see anything about today being september 11th

m: theres a real feeling you get in ny about how long should we remember 9/11? i mean, not that we shouldn't remember it, but there's a feeling of how long is it supposed to be at the forefront of us?

my aunt, via email today (who lost her son, my cousin in the trade center): 'not a day goes by that i don't think of him...'

like hey dude which was incidentally shot in tucson

2007-09-10T00:46:00.000-06:00

DSC01025.JPG, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

best part of germany:

they still show all those shows you watched when you were like 10. and you remember you still like them.

underwearwootdotcom

2007-09-08T00:44:00.000-06:00

DSC01015.JPG, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

guess who got rerouted west instead of going east

guess whose bag didn't show up

guess whose wearing the same underwear for 2 weeks

and we're gonna get dates to prom

2007-09-07T00:43:00.000-06:00

DSC01010.JPG, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

catalina magnet high school football game:

jewtangclan: who's that kid number 24? all i know is if he's in academic trouble let me know - i'll tutor him for free. we're they're biggest fans!

unless you see me first

2007-09-06T03:05:00.000-06:00

DSC00183.JPG, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i'm going to europe for a few days. which means i wont post for a few days. but i'm sure you'll live with it.

bye.

see you next week

and the other team deemed him such a retard they stuck a girl on him. by the way, if you want to learn how to be a misogynist, email me.

2007-09-05T15:16:00.000-06:00

, originally uploaded by Mike Lewis2.

after suprisingly finding this picture of jewtangclan on someone else's flickr site from the easter frisbee tournament

in an email conversation with jewtangclan and brandon:

me: 'jtc looks like a retard in this picture!'

brandon (responding): 'thats going to be my new desktop'

jtc (responding to both): 'i think i look pretty awesome'

but at least now i know i can't be stinky but i can sleep with a student

2007-09-04T15:09:00.000-06:00

090407a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

for TA training, we had to go through this day long sit and be taught course a few weeks ago. there, they taught us how to not suck at teaching. but we never learned the stuff like, 'can you sleep with your students' and stuff like that. to 'save time' they make you learn that online from these tutorials, and then take a test to see if you learned it. the way it works is you get 25 questions, and you can miss one. you get 3 chances (at 3 different tests) or they kick you out of TA'ing and you're poor for a semester.

but its not really as simple as that. some of the questions have multiple parts. if you miss one part, you lose points. some of the questions are retardedly opinion based like, 'is being stinky disrputive to the class'. and some are flat out misleading, linking you to a 'hint' which links you to some webstie which feeds you disinformation which, if you believe, will actually cause you to miss the question. and since you can only miss one question...

after wasting probably 6 hours on this bullshit, i was down to my third and final test try last week sometime. already being of the opinion that it was a huge waste of time that i didnt' have, i got the head of our TA'ing in the dept. to sit over my shoulder while we took the test together.

we ended up passing by 0.1 points.

turns out, being stinky is in fact disruptive to class.

i missed that one.

today, via email from the graduate college:
'Although the Policies Module pilot test was pre-tested extensivelyl, we have still found a few kinks....[grad students who have failed] will NOT be asked to resign their TA'

and so the 2008 mullet growing season begins TODAY.

2007-09-03T01:21:00.000-06:00

090307a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

last week would have been my grandfather's 80th birthday. except that he died about 10 years ago. because my other grandpa died 20 years before i was born, this one was the only one that i knew.

when i look back at family resemblances, i see more of my grandpa's genes in me than any of my parents or uncles or aunts or anyone. he was the only tall, slender person in the family. he had a pretty crude sense of humour, a ridiculous intolerance for anyone the slightest bit stupid and a love for beer and scotch. he loved to tell stories ad naseum, no matter who was (or usually wasn't) listening, and was pretty good about saying hey to people he saw every day, whether or not he knew their name. he loved being crotchety sometimes just because it was fun. and more than anything, like me, he loved his fatties. fried cashews. fried eggs. cheesy anything. we love fatties.

when i was showing his picture to someone tonight, the first thing i realized was homeboy held on to his hair for a bit of life - he was only halfway to 2/3 bald by the time he was 65 or so.

and for me, that means i got a few more years.

but at least that hot hot hot youtube video got famous from it

2007-09-02T01:10:00.000-06:00

090207a.png, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

after yesterday's michigan-app state game, on brandon, whose a michigan fan

jewtangclan: 'someone better call annie and put brandon on suicide watch'

except that homeboy shoots in the upper 70s...

2007-09-01T00:59:00.000-06:00

070107a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

got up super early after a late night out to go to a breakfast at the desert museum for some benefit or something with my aunt and uncle.

while nursing my headache in the morning, i watched some of the bill maher show. while at the desert museum

my uncle: so did you see how leona helmsley left some 10 or 11 million dollars to her dog? how ridiculous. you know i was watching some show last night, and the comedian was like, "yeah now that dog is empowered. and..."

me: now michael vick is fucked

my uncle: "yeah, how'd you know?"

me: i just watched that bill maher episode this morning

my aunt: you boys from your side of the family are all the same.

and while we're at it, for good measure, happy birthday jesus!

2007-08-31T00:54:00.000-06:00

073107a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

r.i.p. micheal jackson.

i hope for your sake they have red and white in heaven.

this post is longer than what i wrote for my thesis tonight

2007-08-30T01:15:00.000-06:00

083007a, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i don't check who checks this blog. not that it would really matter since it would just say a few 'tucson arizona's' plus 'tha dav'. but i do keep a research website, and occasionally log in to see whose been google stalking me. you can't tell too much from the simple software i have. a location. domain name. what .edu address they're coming from. but usually that's enough. its kind of fun, say, when you submit a paper, to see what insitution starts checking you out, and you can figure out who your referee is.

once in a while, i'll get a hit from a city that doesn't have a major research institution in it. and i'll wonder who it is. if its some old friend of mine googling my name. except they would have realized they live in 2007 and just facebooked me so that couldn't be it. maybe an ex-girlfriend wondering what i've been up to, but they're afraid to add me on facebook. or someone.

every now and then i google people i used to date. to see what they're up to. but turns out there's alot of people with their names. and its never really worth the combing through google pages to figure it out.

i did find out one is in med school. at least i think. one's working for a nonprofit in atlanta. the rest remained anonymous. i mean its not like there's alot in the rest. but the few that were - they're forever hidden from me.

i bet i'd be depressed to find out how not often i get google stalked.

i guess i'm just one of six billion.

one billion of which look exactly like me.

actually, while on that note, and since i'm thinking. and not working. if about 20% of the worlds population is brown like me. and half of them are male, 10% of the world is just like me. assuming people live to 80, and (wrongly) assuming there's a constant birthrate, that means 1/80th of them are my age. that makes 7.5 million indian males who are 27 out there.

wow. i'm really fucking special.

worth googling anyways.

caught up on the right date. woot. woot off even.

2007-08-29T01:08:00.000-06:00

082907a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

poker tonight.

i was not gonna go. i even had this post written. it was about how i was not gonna go because i'm super under the gun for finishing this last chapter in the next two days and life is horrible and woe is me and i hate tucson and the great hater above hates me and all that.

but then i went to poker. and it was pretty fun. and i lost 15 cents. and my blog post for the evening.

jewtangclan: ben looks like a president in that picture

which is the name on my wine mug - 'dirty bordeaux'

2007-08-27T00:33:00.000-06:00

082807a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

marie: i really really hate those earthy wines. you know, the ones that taste like terroir or whatever. like dirt. if i taste green peppers in them, that's the worst. and all these total hoity toity people always talk about the earthy dirty bordeauxs. what about you - whats your absolute favorite?

me: really earthy mushroomy dirty dirty browner than me has mud in them bordeauxs.

the astute reader will note this is a different sign than last time. incidentally, i have a whole collection of fahrt signs from last time.

2007-08-27T00:25:00.000-06:00

082707a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i'm heading back to munich and zurich for a couple of weeks in a couple of weeks. with maybe a few stops in between.

i know i've written about this before, but i'm pretty excited about seeing all the signs with the word 'fahrt' in them.

enough to write about it again anyways.

as if being a grad student alone wasn't enough to lose credibility with them

2007-08-26T00:18:00.000-06:00

082607a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

TA'ing with E: day 3 (a few days ago)

e decides he wants to tell the story of brian may, the guitarist from queen who just got his phd in astronomy. turns out he was in grad school for astronomy so many years ago, decided queen was a better gig, and took a leave of absence. he just came back and finished his degree up.

anyways, to tell the story, e starts by singing we will rock you and stomping around the room. 'weee will weee will rock you. weeee will weee will rock you. man i hate this song. weeee willl weeee will rock you!'

then

e: - 'beloved ta, d, why aren't you singing with me?'

i look up from the paper i'm reading in the back row and humor him. i start singing we will rock you in front of the 150 person class.

e decides at that moment to stop singing leaving me to croon by myself.

my score was 120. in case you were wondering. but i'm sure you weren't. which means i just embarassed myself for no reason.

2007-08-25T01:00:00.000-06:00

082507a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

we took the diamond out tonight (who, incidentally, shot damn near 100 at golf today) for his 25th birthday. being on the 25th, its apparently his golden birthday, which, incidentally, doesn't equate to a golden shower birthday.

after a few bars, we ended up at the buffet with the diamond reasonably en route to fadedism. with said fadedism, the diamond repeated the same things at least three times each to me:

-damn i'm so good at pool! i'm kicking maggies ass! i sunk like 3 of her balls in and i'm destroying her!

-penis! (that was to the whole bar)

-wow, i can't believe this girl saw me here, said 'hey, the diamond, i have your frisbee in my car' and then went out into the car to get it for me. that's so random.

backposting woot.

2007-08-24T00:53:00.000-06:00

082407a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i took this picture today. no, actually, i took it tomorrow. either way i thought it looked pretty fresh.

i'd say cool shit like this proves the existence of a god. but if there was a god, he wouldn't have let me shoot the piece of shit golf score i'm gonna shoot tomorrow.

just wait till the 'we will rock you' story...

2007-08-23T01:40:00.000-06:00

082307a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

along with my potential last first day of school ever this monday, it was my first day of TA'ing ever. i'm TA'ing with e - an old (like 50 or 60 or something) prof who also plays basketball with us on sunday.

yesterday, in the middle of class

e: 'so i realize i forgot to tell you about my beloved ta d---. he's an astronomy phd student doing X,Y and Z. but more than that, he's a lean mean dunking machine. except for when he pits up against me. he can't get the ball by me.'

later that class, on how to become famous in science

e: 'so take my beloved ta, d---. if he wants to become famous, all he has to do is publish a paper saying 'einstein's theory of relativity is wrong. then if they prove him right, he'll have everything he wants. fame. fortune. money. girls. but not a jump shot. he couldn't buy a bucket.'

until tomorrow when i take orlando to the first date place

2007-08-22T18:11:00.000-06:00

082207a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i went to get some coffee today, and found this notebook on my desk when i came back.

its signed

'XOXO - Orlando'

in the words of kelly kapur - 'this day is bananas! b-a-na-na-s this day is bananas!'

and super oddly, they only started on the first day of school, leaving

2007-08-21T18:10:00.000-06:00

082107a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i hear people move to the desert to avoid allergies.

oddly, i never had them till i moved here.

and the countdown begins

2007-08-20T19:42:00.000-06:00

082007a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

my last first day of school. ever.

a week before my first first day of school, my kindergarten teacher sent us each a paper apple with a ribbon around it to wear. on the apple was our name, and we were supposed to wear it to school.

on that first first day of school, my mom took a picture of me standing in front of our front door, with the apple around my neck. green striped shirt tucked into my shorts, socks pulled up high. its one of those pictures that seems to have stuck through the ages in my family, and resurfaces just when you don't expect it.

for the remaining 12 grades, she took a picture of me on the first day of school, standing in front of the front door of wherever we happened to live at the time. the pictures started to fade a bit as i went to college and grad school.

my mom sent me a paper apple in the mail, and tied it to the ribbon. on it, she wrote my name.

via email, my mom - '' put the apple on and take a picture of yourself on the first day of school and send it to me. You were told to put the apple on on your first day so you knew who you were. Do you?'

i wore a green shirt that first day of school too.

uh oh...am i finally catching up on all my backposting?!!!

2007-08-19T21:03:00.000-06:00

081907a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

at the tux shop yesterday

brandon (while trying on a nehru jacket): man if i owned this i'd sell all my clothes and just wear this all the time. and these glasses too.

only thing missing was the la fin du monde

2007-08-18T21:01:00.000-06:00

n
081807a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i woke up late today and enjoyed a phenomenal breakfast at bobo's with everyone

i saw a guy in a w00t! monkey shirt. we shared a moment.

we went to nimbus to have some beer

got to fuck around trying on tuxes for a while

had a great night out where everyone in the entire city of tucson ever who i've like ever met ever were there.

today was a great fucking day.

and its rainbow colored. just to make jewtangclan happy.

2007-08-17T16:45:00.000-06:00

081707a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i've worked on a sample of different projects while in grad school, some pretty interesting, some a little less so. alot of the stuff i'd been working on was leading up to working on one project that i've been wanting to do for 3 years now. but it took alot of intermediate steps before i could do it.

like writing a single piece of code for two years.

sometimes, actually most of the time, when i would think about how i'd like to be working on this project, it would be depressing thinking of how far away i was, and how many little steps there were before i could even start thinking about it.

this june, stuff finally closed up enough that i could start the project. its the theory version of the first (observational) project i did here in grad school.

today (or last night, rather) i finally got the main plot together that tells the story of the project.

i know astronomy is for wankers, and i hate talking about it here.

still, yesterday was kind of a big day for me.

i slept well last night.

homeboy's a tease

2007-08-16T16:29:00.000-06:00

081607a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

grabbed a few drinks with dickface, sand and a few others for dickface's birthday. in the lounge was this toally hot girl playing guitar and harmonica and singing and stuff. later, when we see she's with a guy with a disgusting rattail

sand: this is just proof that there's no god. or if there is, homeboy upstairs is a hater.

later today, at work, there was a sorority meeting in one of the rooms downstairs.

via text message:

sand: so many girls! my god!

i mean ZOMG sl3Ep!! w00t

2007-08-15T01:16:00.000-06:00

081507a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

guess who i saw crawling across my kitchen floor today?

i took him safely outside.

i might sleep without the earplugs in tonight.

though i never got to make it to the august 2006 picture...

2007-08-14T01:11:00.000-06:00

081407a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

a little after 6 am today - an unusual time for me to be at work- i was walking around on the 5th floor (where the coffee machine is), i got a rare peek into the girl's bathroom where the door was propped open after the janitors had just finished mopping.

taped to the wall were two pictures of my boy, orlando bloom. one as him in lotr, one with a sick mustache in an orlando bloom calender...

i'm not sure if the janitor's knew of my man-crush with orlando bloom. or if there's a higher power who knew at that desperate hour when i needed coffee and felt like shit only a suprise orlando could make me feel better. but it gave me the rally card i needed.

enough to go down the two flights of stairs, get my camera, and come back up and avoid work for 15 more minutes anyways...

which is information i could've used this time a year ago...

2007-08-13T23:35:00.000-06:00

081307a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

went for a hike on mt. lemmon today with my brother who's visiting from florida.

on the top of the mountain is a bunch of burned aspens from a major wildfire 4 summers ago. there's also a ton of tall green grass and bright fresh flowers which've bloomed over the last few months in the heavy rains we've been getting this monsoon season. it resulted in a pretty stark contrast of colors.

my brother: its pretty neat how deep blue the sky is. i've never seen anything like it. and its weird the contrast between the black and white scarred trees, the fresh green grass and the bright red flowers. you couldn't possibly make colors like this up. arizona's awesome!

or maybe 'the team captained by the guy who used his last wish to wish for a thousand more wishes'

2007-08-12T19:50:00.000-06:00

081207a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

mandy asked me if i'd co-captain a team with her this fall for frisbee league - my last season. i agreed. via email

me: okay sure. i'll captain provided you're okay with the following conditions

0. i'll be absent 2, maybe 3 weeks.
1. i pick the team color. or at least have veto power over your choice. either one.
2. kevin [her best friend] can't be [drafted] until at least 5th round. maybe 4th depending on how it looks.
3. i get to collect the voting on our team name. and im gonna cheat.
4. you send all the emails.
5. free space here for me to make a mid-season condition

my brother on hearing condition #3: your team name should be "disk in a box"

its almost like i spent a new years in tucson or something...

2007-08-11T21:34:00.000-06:00

081107a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

the fact that action wears shirts too small for a 10 year old - that's normal.

the fact that steph bought him a toddler's shirt to wear instead - that's funny.

the fact that action took his shirt off at a party to try it on - that's predictable.

the fact that he paused en medias strip to take a call - now that's something different.

i feel like only in tucson could you be so starved for anything different to happen.

but what if i'd suggested maya quetzal followed by a hold steady show?!!!

2007-08-10T21:24:00.000-06:00

081007b.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i met gerry the mexcian at a party about 10 months ago. i noticed him because we were wearing similar puma track jackets. until then i had never seen anyone wearing the same jacket - in fact i think i even blogged about it last year when i met him. actually, come to think of it, i probably used this picture from when we met.

part of the reason we got along well since then was our similar sense of humor.

tonight, gerry offered to take me out on a man-date for dinner at magpies as a belated birthday present. i suggested we go to b-line first to grab a couple of drinks.

walking into b-line

gerry: wow, this place is nice. man, there's a lot of honeys here. this would be a great date place.

me: uhhh yeah. i guess it actually is kind of a first date kind of place.

gerry: so that's why you suggested it. you want me to throw you a quick handy under the table then?

or just entitle the next blog 'thequesttonotdrinkthisbeer.blogspot.com'

2007-08-09T12:24:00.000-06:00

080907a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

i got these stone epic vertical beer's today. they're released by stone every year on its 'magic day' - so like, 02/02/02, and 03/03/03. i got this year's july 7th batch.

they're releasing it every year on the magic day until 12/12/12. the idea is they get better with age, so you're supposed to hold on to them until 12/12/12, and have a 'vertical tasting' with all the ones you've bought. i got started a little late in the game, but thought i'd get this years set and onwards.

when i got home i realized, i probably should have thought a little more carefully before paying for these. 12/12/12 is really far away. like 5 years away. like, i'll be 32. will i be married 5 years from now? will i be dead? will i still be in astronomy? what city will i be living in? and most importantly, will i want to be carting these beers around across the country or even world while i figure this stuff out?

maybe i'd better drink them soon.

action and nopbot birhday: day 2

2007-08-08T11:57:00.000-06:00

080807a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

wizard staff at che's. the game - drink as much pbr as you can, and
duct tape your cans together to make a wizard staff. the person with
the longest staff is the best wizard ever.

while we didn't think che's would let us stay for incredibly long playing this dumbshit game, they seemed pretty cool about it. there was a moment of nervousness, though, when we realized the bouncer
hates me.

some of my loyal faithful may remember my blog last year. and in that, they may remember me recounting a time when i went more than a little inebriated to the wench. upon finding out there was a cover, i told the bouncer that the wench was full of fat ugly girls and they should pay me to go in there and deal with that.

i was banned from the wench after that night by the bouncer.

to my chagrin, i found out the same bouncer works at che's, which at first caused some worry until we figureth out that he was letting us slide.

the bouncer: look, you and my gripe lies at the wench. you still aren't allowed in that place if i'm working there. but you can do what you want at che's until you fuck up here. which i'm sure you will.

i didn't fuck up.

action and nopbot birthday: day 1

2007-08-07T11:51:00.000-06:00

080707a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

from action's email announcing the first night:

BBQ hosted by maggie and aleks. Featuring: Maggie's cake; with hula hooping, nop.bot wishing jesus a happy birthday, and me chalenging women to pull-ups.

only the last one didn't happen.

i think after years of tucson, we've all become very predictable people.

the view from the tailgating spot come 3 weeks from now

2007-08-06T00:46:00.000-06:00

080607a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

five things

1. i was walking home from basketball last week and got stuck waiting out a monsoon. 20 minutes later i walked home and had to wade through high-shin deep water to cross the street. ridic.

2. that goddamned cricket's still alive. like, seriously.

3. my hair's getting longer again. maybe i should grow a mullet

4. being stupid and faded on my bike last thursday night i ran into a wall. twice. two different walls. i twisted my ankle and got road rash on my shoulder.

5. ben and i are having a farting competition. he's losing. by like, alot. i don't understand why any girl would date him.

just cause

2007-08-05T00:40:00.000-06:00

080507a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

my mom sent me a rainbow today

i wonder why i had to be listed in the girl's spot...

2007-08-04T01:17:00.000-06:00

080407a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

maggie and the diamond are getting married in october. among others, action and i are in the wedding, and, consequently, on the wedding website.

at one point maggie joked around with me that she was gonna make me and action look gay together on the website. she described wanting to post picture of us with our arms around each other after the marathon last year. looking through my iphoto thing, i think this is the one.

it does sort of make us look hot and sweaty for each other.

yesterday at brewing, jtc noticed where we were on on the wedding website. under the link of family friends of the wedding people. after the family listed were alot of our friends, listed as couples. 'brandon and annie', 'shane and tiffany'. then...'action and nop.bot'.

thankfully the picture up was just of us running.

like buy a school bus

2007-08-03T01:02:00.000-06:00

080307a.jpg, originally uploaded by nop.bot.

brewing today

kat: did you know they get little kids throw up when they need to by making them drink milk and mustard?

jtc: i bet i can do it

he didn't throw up.

kat: i like how we can dare you to do stupid things.