The Lil Ninot

I found him hiding in Barcelona in a very strange place next to two flirtatious chicks.

With his Amherst degree in one hand and his sailor cap in the other, I'd say this little sport is ready to keep ish live!

A New Legend

It has been less than six hours since I finished the first of many practice LSAT's that I will be taking over the next four months, so I aplogize if this post sucks...my brain is fried. My initial reaction to the test is that it isn't that terribly difficult, but I'm sure my attitude will chance once I see the embarrassingly low score it got. Some of the questions will absolutely tie your brain in knots, observe...

There are exactly five pieces of mail in a mailbox:a flyer, a letter, a magazine, a postcard and a survey. Each piece of mail is addressed to exactly of of three housemates: Georgette, Jana, or Rini. Each housemate has at least one of the pieces of mail addressed to her. The following conditions must apply:

Neither the letter nor the magazine is addressed to Georgette.

If the letter is addressed to Rini, then the postcard is addressed to Jana.

The housemate to whom the flyer is addressed has at least one of the other pieces of mail addressed to her as well.

Which of the following is a complete and accurate list of the pieces of mail, any one of which could be the only piece of mail addressed to Jana?

A. the postcard

B. the letter, the survey

C. the letter, the postcard,

D. the magazine, the survey

E. the letter, the magazine, the postcard

Good luck. I should add that this is from the Logic Games section, which I found to be kind of enjoyable. Reading comprehension was easy, and one of the logical reasoning sections took me a while, so I had to fill some bubbles in at the buzzer. Hopefully the Kaplan course I'm taking will be a sound investment.

After the class, I went of to my friend Katy's apartment to unwind. She works with me and the class is in her hood. After a few beers and some pizza, I dominated Katy and her roommate, Danielle, in some MarioKart on Wii and a trivia game called Smartypants. Once my dominance on the sticks was obvious, we settled down to watch some TV. We came across a show on MTV called Fantasy Factory starring Rob Dyrdek. I don't know that I've ever met anyone who has seen and loved Dyrdek's other show (now cancelled) Rob and Big. Fantasy Factory is basically the same show, but without Rob and Big co-star, Christopher "Big Black" Boykin. Rob works/chills in a warehouse that has been tricked out and customized to be a skateboarder's dream; skate park, foam pit, basketball hoops, etc. The absence of Big Black, Rob's best friend, body guard and partner in crime leaves Fantasy Factory with an enormous (literally) hole to fill. Consider that hole filled. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Beefy.

Yes, she? is adorable. Even more so when seen next to Meaty, Rob's other bulldog. Both dogs come from here. Seems like these people really know what they are doing when it comes to breeding bulldogs, but their website blows. Watch out for the incredibly annoying pop up videos.

Death in a Jar!

Anyone who knows me well can tell you that I don't have a very diverse palette. Back in the 'Herst days, I got one meal at the diner so often that we nicknamed it "The Jones Special": a cheeseburger deluxe, with waffle fries instead of normal ones, mayo, no fruits or vegetables, and a strawberry milkshake (with the wrapper twirled around the straw, of course). If I didn't have that, you only needed one hand to count the total number of other options I would consider; and depending on the time of day (or night), that number was probably even smaller.

In the spirit of broadening my horizons, last night I decided to try pesto with my pasta (really adventurous, I know). The stuff is green, so I decided that I didn't have to check the ingredients for pork (my body rejects and ejects all things pig...really far). I took a healthy helping and mixed it in with the noodles, took a bite, and yum. I was pleasantly surprised at the taste. About 30 seconds later, the itching started.

It started with my tongue, then my lips, then my throat, then my inner ears. Lots of itching going on. As my head start to involuntarily tremor, I decided to look at the ingredients. My wonderful German lessons helped me recognize that cashews were in the sauce. Most nuts have that effect on me (pause) but at least I kept it live.

-Brandon

We Suck At Blogging, but We Know How to Party

As you can see, we were one man short of a full blown reunion, but I assure you that did not stop us from Keepin'-it-oh-so-live. On behalf of my associates and I, Happy New Year! Hope everybody had a fun and safe holiday season. Serious shout out and congrats to Tom and Debbie.

The Star Spangled Banner pt.2

One thing that I have really missed since I have left my home in the United States is the Star Spangled Banner. It is quite strange now that I am playing in Germany to not hear the National Anthem before a sporting event like I have my entire life in the US. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there is something missing when you go from warm-up's listening to "I kissed a girl and I liked it!" and go straight into your league game. There is no time to step back, take a deep breath, and remind yourself that there is a reason that this game is able to take place. I would still like to pay tribute to the German military (which one teammate of mine actually spent 6 years serving for) even if the free government is relatively young but I guess the only remedy is to repeat in my head, "God Bless the USA."

The Star Spangled Banner

We are 4 games into this year's World Series, and I'm still waiting for somebody to sing a decent version of of the National Anthem. The Rays brought in the star power of the Backstreet Boys and Los Lonely Boys to sing the anthem for games 1 and 2, respectively. BSB embarrassed themselves, pretty much ending any shot they had at a comeback. Los Lonely Boys were forgettable, at best. After seeing consecutive pre-game train wrecks in Tampa, the series moved to Philly, a town with a music rich tradition. The Phillys countered the Backstreet Boys with hometown girl/music superstar Taylor Swift. Try as she might (e.g. rhinestone covered guitar and terrible vocals), she couldn't seem to embarrass herself as much as the BSB did. The game is about to start, so I'm going to cut this post short. Just know that the legendary Patti Labelle stepped up to the mic and absolutely butchered the National anthem, probably the worst rendition thus far. Go Rays.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOoNgzZZLEA

Werne meets Funpark

Saturday night was a night of 3 Birthday celebrations (Goldy, Trevor, and my 22nd). As Goldy explained, strategic war was the game of the night however he forgot to mention was how live we kept it. One of the strategic war players (I won't say names) somehow found his way into a state of silence. One very similar to the character "E" from Entourage had found himself during an episode a few weeks ago. He literally wouldn't talk for an entire 2 and a half hours and so rightfully so he was dubbed E for the entire night. We played strategic war, he didn't talk. We played a game of darts, didn't talk. We walked to Funpark where this guy somehow broke his drink card, and he still didn't talk. He even ordered a doner without talking. I had never experience this kind of liveliness before but I must admit I was quite impressed. Here's to you E for keeping it live!