Black Sunday - Raining on my parade

I took the GRE on Saturday. Like many of these standardized tests, the ability to computerize them has made the process different than it has been in the past. For example, there is not a large group of people all taking the test at the same time. When I showed up, I signed in, got frisked, a mug shot taken, and was on my way. It was pretty wild. You literally cannot have anything in your pockets while taking this test. I guess my plan for domination by osmosis from the cheat sheet in my pocket was foiled!

The test area is basically a bunch of cubicles in rows. Each cubicle is videotaped and you are given a set of headphones that I believe were taken from the baggage workers at the United terminal, perhaps the most ludicrous looking things I've ever laid eyes upon.

Another difference now that the test is electronic is that the exam adapts to your skill level. In other words, as you answer questions, the exam determines on the spot if it was right or wrong and offers the next question based on the accuracy of your response. Get it right and the next question gets more difficult. Get it wrong and the next question is eaiser than the last.

That said, I'm taking the exam and I felt like the questions were quite hard. I guess on the one hand that is good in that it means that maybe I'm getting them right? But I felt like I was doing quite a lot of guessing. And then occasionally an easy one would pop up and I was sure that I was tanking! Overall, the test seemed much more difficult than the practice tests and practice questions I had taken. Since my math score didn't count for admission into my grad program, I spent very little time trying to work out the problems.

At the end of the exam, I was given the option to dismiss my results without sending them to my school for consideration. Basically, if I felt like I bombed, I could just not count the test and try again later. Unfortunately, you're required to do this BEFORE you get to see your score. Since I already paid for it and thought I might have been OK, I didn't consider dismissing the results. I clicked the Accept button and up popped a glorious score that was more than 100 points higher than the minimum needed for entry into my grad program. Woooo-freaking-----hooooooooo! I still have to wait for the writing score to come back because that piece is still human graded. However, I'm not too worried about that. I'm considering this piece of the process complete.

Sunday was the most important day of the baseball season for me and my favorite team, the Mets. The team had stumbled down the stretch and found themselves tied with the Brewers headed into Sunday, the last day of the baseball season. Both teams were trying to snag the final playoff spot available in the National League. Both games happened to be televised locally and were going on at the same time. The games were nip and tuck the whole way, both tied in the late innings. And, just like a microcosm of the Mets season, they coughed it up late, while the Brewers rallied late for the win, clinching the final playoff spot. That makes two years in a row that the Mets have been on the verge of the playoffs and given it up right at the very end of the season. Given the media circus that is New York, it's going to be a long, long winter in Queens. Add to this the Eagles ignominious defeat at the hands of the Bears Sunday night, and it was a sports day I'd care not to remember.

In the interest of ending on an up note, I'll close by saying I managed to win one of my fantasy baseball leagues for a nice payout and went 3-0 in fantasy football this week. So, all is not lost, I'm definitely off to a great start football wise!

Song lyric of the day (with apologies for trivializing the intent of this song) "Sunday, bloody Sunday" - U2

Until next time.

Ace

Coolest website in history?

Just a very quick post here, with props out to my boy Jacob. Click here for what may be the coolest website in history. Don't worry, nothing tawdry or virus infested. And no, I am not rick rolling you people. But you should have the sound on or the point is nearly completely lost.

Song lyric of the day "Been caught stealin' / once, when I was five" Jane's Addiction

Until next time.

Ace

It's On!

Oh yeah, that's right. It is full on this Saturday, excitement the likes of which hasn't been seen in ages. Yep, you got it, GRE in its full glory. I will spend one of the likely last beautiful autumn days cooped up in some high school cafeteria or gymnasium in front of a keyboard. Sweet!!!!

Actually, besides the setting, not too different from last weekend, where I spent most of it in front of the keyboard in my basement practicing for the exam and finishing a practice exam. With some practice (and probably some lucky guessing), I managed to get my score all the way up to the 91st percentile and safely within the acceptance zone for my school's grad program. And while there is no way to get your practice essays graded, there are examples provided of other essays and the scores that they received. I feel like I should be fine there as well. So, I will do the deed on Saturday and hopefully be done with it. I hope I pass because it's a hundred and forty freakin bucks to take this thing. Ugh!

That is all for now.

Song lyric of the day: "I'd take off my shades / And be blinded by the sun" Gym Class Heroes

Until next time.

Ace

Fear the Reptile!

As many of my readers know, I'm not the most religious person you'll ever run across. So, last night's discussion in class centered on a story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne called Rappacini's Daughter. We spent

damn near three hours talking about this story and two others and their relation to specific scriptures in the Old and New Testament, including the Garden of Eden passage in Genesis. It was quite a mental work out, to be sure. Throw in some analysis from literary critics and you've got a recipe for mass confusion, overly dramatic interpretation and general academia-induced nausea.

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The good news is that neither of my big assignments for the course are due until December. This is good as I'll be able to get through the busiest time at work before I have to put in heavy duty time towards my assignments. That means I can focus on other things as well, such as the GRE. I'm planning some study time this weekend (yuk!) and hopefully another practice test that shows some improvement over my last score. Assuming that goes well, I'll schedule the test for sometime in the next couple weeks. When I entered college you had to schedule way in advance but now, since everything is done online, it can be done by simply walking into a testing center. Nice! So that's the latest and greatest schoolwise.

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I also would be remiss if I failed to point out my sheer dominance in 2 of my 3 fantasy football leagues so far. Big game this weekend against the other top team in one of the leagues. We won't talk about my third league, where I'm 0-2 and already on the brink of elimination. Eeek.

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Song lyric of the day "There's no one's gonna believe this / But we're lost in the garden of Eden /This fire is burnin' and it's out of control /It's not a problem you can stop/ It's rock n' roll /Suck on that" Guns N Roses (hi Axl!)

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Until next time.

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Ace

Whoa!

Check this sweet picture out....

Two words for you: Gators.

Song lyric of the day: "We were hopping and bopping to the Crocodile Rock" Elton John

Until next time.

Ace

Hungry hungry hippo

Anyone remember King Hippo? I had occasion the other day to think about this strange character, originally from Mike Tyson's Punch Out, a Nintendo game that came out in the late '80s I suppose. His heft was great, leading to his easily knocking out Mac (you, the player) if you were inexperienced or didn't bother to deal with his assaults. But alas, he was a pretty easy foe to vanquish once you figured out how to attack his weak underbelly region. Good times.

Times are very busy, spent a nice weekend celebrating the better half's bday. It was fun to hang out with some friends and do some fun stuff. There was a surreal moment where we realized that all the guys in our party were dressed nearly identically, jeans and a blue polo. Thankfully, the establishment was dark enough that I doubt anyone noticed the fashion faux pas.

Otherwise, class really hasn't been too busy, a lot of reading and writing short responses but nothing too overwhelming. I felt a little less lost in the second night of class than the first. Hopefully the trend continues. The professor is pretty cool. This week I got to read a bunch of Nathaniel Hawthorne, including a few short stories that are overwhelmingly depressing. Should be a great deal of fun to discuss in class. I'm looking at taking the GRE by the end of this month, which, if all goes well, will be the last step in my admission to the graduate program. I'll be glad to complete that part of the process.

Enough for now!

Song lyric of the day "Hittin' where it hurts / You're doing dirty work" Webb Wilder

Until next time.

Ace

Off to class tonight. This will be my second class of the semester and wow! For the record, the class is titled American Lit 1830-1865, so you know it's going to attract the diehards. Well, no doubt, for this is like a sitcom version of a graduate level lit class. You've got the long-haired, crazy theoried, Lone Gunmen high school English teacher guy, the little gnome looking dude with his rock concert t-shirt, the overthoughtful baby boomer snob dude, several hippie mamas and the instructor who appears to know more about what was going on in 1830 than is healthy. I'm in way over my head in this one. I think I'm going to have to rely on what I believe is official school policy that no grad student who gives at least half an effort is allowed to receive a grade lower than a B. Hopefully it will get better.

This weekend is the better half's bday so kind wishes would be appreciated. I've got some fun stuff planned that many of you know about but they are a surprise so don't spill the beans. I just hope I'm able to get enough sleep to pull it all off, it's looking like a long weekend. We'll see.

I will report back if I survive.

Song lyric of the day: "Go state the overstated / Keep it complicated / The over educated /That hope you'll never make it/ Can you take the final blow and know they won't be shutting up" Local H

Until next time.

Ace

For the love of God, hide the women and children! It's Sally!

As alluded to here, I recently attended a wedding. I would like to say for those of you who read this and have never seen me, I am not included in any of the following photos, thank God! This might make more sense if I provided some context but I'm not going to. Long live Sally!

Song lyric of the day: "Dude looks like a lady" Aerosmith

Until next time.

Ace.

Hi-larious

Real life exchange this evening between the better half and me:

Me (just returning from lengthy run and doing some stretches): "My groin feels tight"

Better half (disinterestedly): "Uh-huh"

Me (inspired with a great idea): "Wanna feel it?"

Pause

Me (amused): "That was a good one"

Better half (not nearly as amused, in fact a bit snarky): "Why don't you put that in your blog?"

Me: "Good idea!"

Song lyric of the day: "She liked the look of my johnson" Red Hot Chili Peppers

Until next time.

Ace

At the movies

I hope everyone had a great, long weekend. Nothing extravagant to report here but it was nice to have some time off before work and school really kick in. It was quite hot in our area but otherwise uneventful.

One thing I have been able to do a bit of during the break was catch up on movies that we've had on the list to watch. So, I thought I'd talk about them here.

First up was a movie called Lucky You, starring Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore. The story is about a deadbeat poker player (Bana) living in Vegas who meets and falls for a starry eyed innocent girl (Barrymore) from California. Bana also has serious dad issues and is a complete gambling addict. At times, the movie seems sincere and keeps from getting too cliche. But, Barrymore plays the same character she's played in a million other romance movies, which is annoying. But the poker action is good and Robert Duvall is excellent in his role as Bana's father, a world class poker player. The final scenes at the World Series of Poker are a little silly and at the end of the movie, I was pretty disappointed. But, it wasn't the worst movie in the world, unlike some reviews of it I had read.

I also went to the theater to check out the new Ben Stiller movie Tropic Thunder, thanks to a free ticket I was able to land (thx!). This movie was everything I expected it to be, absolutely ridiculous but a whole heckuva lot of fun. Robert Downey Jr was great, Nick Nolte and Tom Cruise were brilliant in small roles and the fake previews at the beginning of the movie were low brow hilarity at it's best (worst?). I'm glad I saw this one and really could not beat the price!

Finally, this weekend I was able to catch up on Superbad, a movie I had heard a lot of great things about. I'm sure most readers have seen this movie - it was great! The story is of a couple of loser high school seniors and their escapades leading up to a party a few weeks before graduation. The cop roles played by Bill Hader (from SNL) and Seth Rogen (40 Yr Old Virgin, Knocked Up) were fantastic and McLovin is one of the best movie characters since Napoleon Dynamite. Highly recommended.

That's all for now!

Song lyric of the day "Yes/I love technology/but not as much as you" Kip from Napoleon Dynamite

Until next time.

Ace