I haven't posted in a while. I guess me and the blog are on a break. That means it can go sleep with the copy place girl. If it does though... oh man... it's over!

I'll begin posting again in a few days probably... just needed a break.

Happy independence day to you. We're free?

Yesterday Ken and his boys came over to swim in the afternoon for awhile. While we were in the pool talking, the subject of the pool itself came up, and how the bottom drain of the pool must've been clogged somehow as it would not work when you opened it's valve. I had swam down there before to check if there was a winterizing plug in it or if I could see some other blockage, but the drain site looked clear, indicating that the clog was somewhere in the piping.

Ken encouraged me to take the grate off the drain (which only had two screws whereas I had previously thought there were eight for the grate itself). I had Hannah run and get me a screwdriver and the snake (auger) that I had bought a month or so ago so I could try to fix the drain. We swam down to the bottom of the pool (not a hard feat as it's only five and a half feet deep) and began to unscrew the grate. That's not such an easy thing to do as every time you try to push the screwdriver into the screw, you end up pushing yourself toward the water's surface. So, I had Ken's son, Brandon, come stand on my back to weigh me down.

After a few breath-holdings, we had the grate off. Next, I took the snake down to the bottom and began to feed the auger into the drain line. I got about 10 or so feet in and felt a clog. After another breath, I began to work at the clog. I didn't have to work long and I felt the stoppage loosen. Hannah went and turned the bottom drain's valve, and... it worked!

We screwed the grate back on, and felt like very accomplished underwater plumbers. So, if you need an underwater plumber for some reason, give me a call. I'd be happy to take your money for trying to fix your underwater undertaking!

Turns out that Colorado State University here in Fort Collins has a radio station. It's a lovely radio station. They play all that college indie-rock that I'm into. It's fun to hear bands that I listen to actually get played over the air. They also play a variety of other types of music that you wouldn't get on a one-trick-pony radio station controlled by a larger organization. One of the great things about it is that the station is commercial free! The station is also powerful enough to be picked up by my car radio no matter where I go in the town (unlike KROQ).

If you'd like to listen to KCSU, you may tune in online at: KCSU. Enjoy... I am.

That's now much weight I've lost since we moved to Colorado. I'm not even exercising! Well, I am running up and down a couple flight of stairs multiple times every day, so I guess that helps. We have been eating a lot healthier too. The vast majority of our meals are made at home and we only go out to eat probably once a week now. I guess I'm drinking a bit less soda now as well.

I'm hoping that it's not just the fact that I'm at a higher altitude so gravity doesn't have as great an effect on me. Of course, I do keep losing weight, so I'm guessing it's not a question of gravitational pull. I'd like to lose ten more pounds or so. That'd be keen. Perhaps I should start working out again... then I'll lose weight and burn fat too!

Thank you to Kelly for another most interesting question:

"Pirates vs. Ninjas... Who do you put your money on?"

I'll begin my response with this simple observation: Pirates still sail the seas; ninjas no longer lurk in the shadows.

If we're talking about who I put my money for the long haul of survival and actual existence, I'm going with pirates. With all the recent pirate attacks on the open seas near Somalia and in the Indian Ocean, true ocean pirates still obviously exist. Piracy has also manifested itself in the past century with the intangible media of music and moving pictures, which gives it double points over... ninjacy?... ninjamancy?... ninjocity? Whatever... pirates have longevity.

If you are however asking about who I would put my money on in a fight, I don't really know.

Ninjas are obviously very skilled and very crafty warriors. They're sneaky, ruthless, and flip-out all the time. They're trained in the martial arts and in the use of blades and throwing stars. You usually don't see ninjas working as a team though; generally they seem to be on solo missions.

Most people would just say that a ninja would win in a fight hands down as they are the most obviously trained in combat. Those persons would be failing to look at the pirate as more than just a scruffy, rum-loving thief though.

Pirates have their own set of qualities that may make them the victor in a fight. For one thing, they have guns. Pistols, muskets, cannons... firepower. They also are pretty handy with swords and knives as well. They are also stealthy in their own. They sneak up on whole ships and take them over by force! They may not be trained in any specific martial arts, but they do have the advantage of having a whole ship's crew of pirates to enter into battle with. If a pirate captain were up against a ninja, he could throw a low-level deck hand at the ninja as a diversion... or just as a red shirt.

Looking at both dueling parties, I'm at a loss of who would win in a fight. If pitted against each other (which probably wouldn't have happened while ninjas were still readily available as they lurked in different parts of the world), they may just engage in a battle that never ends, matching one another's technique with their own style throughout the fight.

But, for the sake of putting my money on one side or the other, I'll take pirates. They're so much more diverse than ninjas. Ninjas are always dark and sulky... always blatantly the bad guys. Pirates are a jolly bunch. They may not be the nicest guys on the seas, but at least they're jovial!

Who would you put your money on?

I forgot to mention in my post yesterday how much the Sunny Day Real Estate ticket actually cost me. The ticket itself cost $25. Not bad at all for seeing Sunny Day. Ticketmaster however charges $8.50 on top of that for some unnamed fees. They then tack on $5.40 for some other unnamed fees. We're now up to $38.90 (which is what I ultimately paid).

If I had wanted to print my tickets, using my own ink and paper, they were going to charge me another $2.50! I opted for them to print the tickets and mail them to me. So, it actually cost them more in paper, ink and postage to send me physical tickets, but they don't charge me for that. I don't really understand that, but oh well.

If I were to have opted for the "print your own" scam, I'd have paid $41.40 for a $25 ticket. That's sad. If it had been like back in the day where one only paid like $10-$15 to see Sunny Day or Fugazi or the likes, those fees would have been more than the tickets. That's just ludicrous.

Ticketmaster bloooowwwwwws. And that's all I have to say about that.