I’ve noticed some drastic changes happening in my life recently. For starters I’m hagning out with “the guys” less and less and hanging out with Lo more and more. Why? Mainly because beer pong and talking about recent dates isn’t something I live for anymore. Another thing I’ve noticed is that the friends I used to hang out with all the time are changin as well. We used to talk about beer, girls, TV, computers, etc. and crack jokes about everything. Now we come home from work tired and cranky with distorted views of the world. I’m starting a company and talking about business models, business plans, loans, merchant accounts, etc. Who in their right mind wants to play beer pong and talk about their recent frustrations with Bush’s plan for the economy?

Within one circle of friends this trend is becoming alarmingly apparent. A long tradition within this circle was “bros before hoes”. Being a more recent addition to the circle I’m able to play a more objective role in this whole debate.

A little background: The circle is made up of two smaller circles one each revolving around a younger and older brother. The older brother is conservative and has always maintained long standing relationships. The younger has a flare and maintains his bachelorhood like oxygen. All of the older brother’s friends, for the most part, have no direction in life, and to small extend are a little jealous that the older brother is the only one who “got out.” The younger brother’s friends are all at college and working their way through $1.50 pitchers and various courses. With the older brother recently becoming engaged I think it’s causing an unrepairable riff between within the greater circle.

I’m no class warrior, but the truth is when the brothers come home from work and talk about 401k, configuring highly available networks, etc. they aren’t going to be interested in what new flavor crust the old school friend is now serving up at the local pizza place.

The truth is we grow old, we change, and we grow apart. What we should realize is that this isn’t a horrible thing: cherish the time you had together and move on to exciting new things. Or, a more cynical approach, in the famous words of Dennis Leary, “Life sucks get a fucking helmet!”

I went to Taco Bell for lunch today and ordered my new favorite, the Zesty Chicken Bowl with no beans. I sat down to find four clowns. Yes clowns in full clown garb chatting it up eating lunch at Taco Bell.

What I found so odd about this was the topic of their conversation. From what I could gather they were clowns who went around to churches preaching the gospel to youngsters. Futhermore, they were having a discussion about their sex lives. The hilarity of listening to a bunch of bible thumping church clowns talk about their first kiss was enough to make me burst.

Of course my gutter mind starts to wander about the given sex crazed church clowns and I’m soon picturing clowns, in full clown garb, having intimate relations. Maybe this explains why there are so damn many clowns in those cars. It’s hard enough to manage in a regular car, much less a mini. Needless to say I had a shitty grin on my face the whole time I was eating.

I was looking over my formula below and realized there was a fatal flaw that could leave welldoers out in the cold. If B > P then you have serious problem. In fact, you most likely are a prime candidate for debt consolidation. I’m calling this “PF v1.0” and consider this the current stable release:

@@@SMARTY:TRIM:PRE@@@

I hope this helps somebody out there. Moving on now…

I was going through the car wash the other day when my antenna broke off. Somebody told me that I shouldn’t worry about it. Today I went and purchased Sirious sattelite radio. I got a Kenwood CD player with MP3 support. It should make the long trips a lot more bearable. Much to the disgust of my girlfriend Sirious comes A & E, History Channel, and NPR.

A local radio station talk show had a great topic on today. They were talking about how some states are proposing that the ban on purchasing alcohol with food stamps be extended to include junk food as well.

The idea struck me as genius right off the bat. And the argument to justify it makes so much sense: You are using MY money to sustain life’s necessities – a twinkie is NOT one of life’s necessities! I believe that welfare serves a purpose and many people have benefitted greatly from it, but I also think it should have restrictions.

This goes right into another topic I’d like to talk about – people who run up credit or rely on mom & dad to live a live beyond their means. Havine recently rid myself of 90% of my credit card debt I’m happy to say that my spending habits are becoming more and more responsible. I may not be able to have the best, but I live quite well compared to most 22 year olds. It’s simple people – look at your paycheck, take 10% off the top for savings, pay your bills with whats leftover. I’ll break it down into an equation for the math heads in the crowd:

(P * .90) – B = FC

P = Amount on Paycheck,
.90 = 10% to savings / investments,
B = Bills, and
FC = Fun Cash

I usually dump more into savings depending on the value of FC. I’m releasing this formula into public domain with all rights reserved. Feel free to distribute freely.

I’m pretty happy to say that the EMU Greek Social Policy that I helped organize and create is pretty much complete. I think it’s pretty cool that I can say that I helped form university policy. Some people, after doing the longest keg stand of the night, say they’ve left their mark, well mine is in writing.

I’m never having kids. I’ve never like them and if I haven’t already mom, I apologize for being an annoying kid. I bring this up because in my art class today some girl brings her kid to class. Yeah, a crying baby in a lecture hall of college students. I sat there giving her dirty looks the whole class.

Also, in the annoying-people-in-my-classes department was a couple in my art class who were practically making out during class today. They sat next to each other with the girl resting her head on the guys shoulder and caressing his arm. Get a fucking room! So annoying!

Today I walked through the cold breeze finding my way to Pierce Hall. Once in I scanned the registry for University Accounting. I barely notice that the second c in Accounting is tilted while I run up the steps to the second floor, skipping every other step.

I wait for the lady behind the counter to call me up to the counter. I raise my voice slightly as I speak through the bullet proof glass asking her if I can use my Discover card to pay my remaining tuition balance. After replying with a quick yes, she processes the transaction and hands me a reciept.

Following the path I followed into the University Accounting office back to the stairs I run up to another floor to the University Registration office. I quickly fill out the application for graduation, making sure to spell my name legibly and correctly. Once completed with this I hand in my application. The clerk stamps the application with the date and, just like that, another chapter in my life has officially closed.

It’s official. I’m not inspired by school anymore. I fell asleep in my Oracle class while the teacher taught what a “primary key” was. I sit in the class in awe of the people who surround me. I’ll be working with these people someday. Maybe I’m a geek elitist, but I truly think that people who go into IT so they can make good money will be sorely let down. Do they really think they can stumble through an enterprise level system rollout with a few IS classes and a book?

I guess I can look at it in another light: I’ll have lots of people to manage when I graduate. What pains me most is that the teachers are teaching these kids that you should create applications using Access. Sure Access works well for small office situations, but do they expect to run companies off of this? Maybe I’m living in a dream world.

After getting prior approval from Lauren’s parents, we’ve made the decision to move in together. This is a pretty big deal for the both of us. We’re going to look at a few apartments tomorrow. My only requirement is high speed internet. Lauren, on the other hand, is a little more picky. I just hope she won’t complain, like my mom used to, about my dirty underwear on the floor.

Last night was a blast. We spent time having a few beers at one of Lauren’s sister’s apartments and then finished the night at a local dueling piano bar. A great night overall ending in an alcohol induced slumber.

Then at exactly 9:26am the phone rings. Groggily, I pick up the phone. Heeellloooo? It was my boss. The database server was wigging out. I end up strolling in an hour later and fixing the problem. Needless to say I’m pretty tired now.