Yes, I Continue To Buy CD's (WARNING! long ramble ahead)

I understand that you can buy music on the net via i-Tunes, I know you get more for your money with bonus tracks and stuff, but I continue to buy CD's because I want the album art. I want to know what they look like, what the words are, and to support the little labels $ distribution companies that print and ship out CD's. I was a music pirate my first few years of college, I amassed a collection of 1,300 songs before my hard drive got wiped by a virus, I deserved that. I think stealing music is wrong, and I think no more of the person who pirates music or movies than I do of the people who break car windows and take things. There is no such thing as a victimless crime. Even though G.W. Bush is really close, no one is deserving of having a crime committed against them. Those of you who say that "they are rich anyway" as an excuse to pirate music, chew on this.... Everyone is rich in this country, compared to those in Gabon, so is it cool if they stroll buy and borrow your wheels for a few months, I mean its cool right, you're rich to them.

Wewh, I cannot understand why you are still reading this, send me a self-addressed envelope and I will refund you what I think the last 5 minutes of your life is worth.

NEW MUSIC

Matt Kearney- Nothing Left To Loose- This album was a surprise right out of the rapper. I had heard his title track single "Nothing Left To Loose" on Sirius and on a friend's myspace. I thought at first that it was the Counting Crows, the distinctive voice had to belong to Adam Duritz, but no, it was Matt Kearney. The first track I put in began with a "cracker-rap" (a-la Linkin Park, Trik Turner, Jason Mraz) song over an acoustic music arrangement. Most of his songs on this record have a little bit of rhyme, making it a new favorite!

{{{ This is where I insert an illogical story that you may skip if you wish. My senior English teacher in high school made everyone write a piece of poetry that we would be forced to read to the class. It was to be an introspective piece that no one in the class would expect from you, the class and teacher had to learn something about you. There was no getting around sharing it with the class. It was at the end of the year, making it much harder to find a topic that you hadn't already shared. Our class decided that the winner of the most "supprising piece" would win a great prize, a pass to skip class the last two days of school. I had it 5th period, but on "B" days that meant first period!!!! Sleeping in was at stake, I took this project seriously. I decided my inner hip-hop star was going to have to shine. I wrote a piece called Kunfewshun (confusion, if ya don't get it) about the complexities of dating as a high school senior. I know it wasn't exactly earth-shattering subject matter, but it was all about delivery. Most of the kids in my class (non-AP advanced) were African American, I knew I didn't want to do their culture any injustice. I rehearsed Kunfewshun over and over, in front of the mirror, I had to control my goofy facial expressions somehow. I finally got the beat down, moved and mixed words so it would flow right. Like Eminem on 8-mile (loosely based on my life in the ghettos of Mint(al) Hill) I stood up and delivered my rhymes.... Perfectly..... That explains why I like white artists who do their own versions of rap music. I think being original, rapping out to acoustic guitars, banjos, and piano is much cooler than Eminem's impersonation of gang-bangin'.}}}

The Fray- How To Save A Life- Who on this planet has not heard "Over My Head, Cable Car???" Hm, anyone, no, kinda what I thought. This huge hit was followed by the equally mellow "How To Save A Life" which was featured on Gray's Anatomy both at the end of last year and in the season premiere last week. This song is catching on all over Sirius and mainstream radio. It is an album full of piano-rich pop rock songs that are almost entirely about the joys and pains of love. (is there anything else to write about... no.... we call that Christian music)

Dashboard Confessional- Dusk & Summer- This is a pop rock album, reminiscent of Train, MB20, or 3EB. I have never bought a DC album before, but everyone at work was talking about how good they are. I have enjoyed the little I have heard of it. I will update you if I think the rest sucks.... if no update, that means I think you should buy it... mmmmmmkay?

Your REWARD for reading this ramble/diatribe/POSt

Hell yeah I won "Most supprising Piece" but I loved Ms. Serenski's class so much, I didn't bother to skip. Little did I know, she used a video of my performance to show the kids in classes behind me how much creative freedom we had with it. She warned them not to copy me, because originality counted and if you rapped, you got a zero. My sophomore year at UNCC, a freshman girl walked up to me and asked if I was "that guy that rapped in Ms. Serenski's class?" I said "Yes, do you want to have dinner with me tonight?" She said "Yes." We went to dinner, needless to say, it didn't work out.

Finally.... A Destination

Amanda knows where she will be teaching for the rest of the year....... McKee Road Elementary School will have the services of this lovely first year teaching phenom. Roughly 10 miles (or half the distance) this school is a geographical powerhouse for Amanda. Also, 96% of the kids pass their E.O.G.'s annually. The upside is strong in this school's history of performance. That being said, she is loosing the diversity of Smithfield which is why she chose to drive to BFSouthCharlotte to begin with. She is going from a 1/3 white, 1/3 black, 1/3 Hispanic school which celebrates diversity to the school where the new-money rich white kids go. I hope she is able to make them celebrate diversity, then you know how good of a teacher Amanda can be. All we ask is that you keep Amanda in your prayers as she makes the transition over. [wow, that is the best segue in this entire blog (that was for you big guy)] The principal will be breaking this news to Amanda's class tomorrow, she will be packing up Monday and Tuesday, then moving into the new school in the middle of the week as an observer. I am not sure but I think the week of the 9th is when she will get her new class. I will be keeping you posted on all displacement news as it comes across the AP wire and from Reuters.

In other news, I had a very interesting day at work. I was appraising a 2003 Mazda MPV van when I hear a little yelp, it was a human yelp, I scanned the lot and saw nothing. Then I heard "can you come here, hurry!" and I saw a female sales consultant respond with look towards the bottom of customer parking and yelled "uh uh, you don't talk to me that way, acting a fool!" I then saw a guy with standing behind his Saab and he just yelled help, I ran down to the bottom of the lot where the guy had his finger caught in the decklid of his car. He was getting something out, the wind shut it, and with his finger in the jamb, the trunklid actually latched shut. I opened the front door and popped the truck. With the pressure of his finger, the latch didn't want to release. I finally got it open and got his finger free. He walked away, shaking his hand, mumbling about a broken finger. He started to walk towards the building when the second by-stander, an inventory associate, addressed the guy. We were in the middle of offering to drive him to the hospital when he decided he would sit on the curb. He exclaimed he was fine and we should leave him alone, he the slumped over and passed out. James (a sales consultant) and Chris (the inventory associate mentioned earlier) lifted him up, I came around the car, saw his eyes roll back, and he began to shake and convulse a lot.. The two guys held on to him while I called 911. As I was giving location and describing the issue, he sort of came to. His heart was racing, he was sweaty and hot. When they asked me for his age, I said "he's in his thirties" and he raised his hand up, middle finger extended, and said "I'm 24." (In my defense, he had less hair than anyone in our family of any age, my bad dude, F U) About 2 minutes later, a bus arrived (that is Gray's Anatomy Speak for ambulance) and they began to treat him. One of the EMT's knew who my mom was and had some positive praise for her. He perked up and ended up driving himself home about a half an hour later. The lesson I learned was this; If you are the first one on the scene, you will end up doing an hours worth of paper work and interviews with associates at Carmax.

We won our softball game because of forfeit, 2-0.

Weight Watchers Meeting

The day I signed up, last Wednesday to be exact, I joined in the Pineville location. I was off and that is the one that Amand and Colton go to. Well, today, I had to venture out on my own, somewhere close to the homestead to attend a meeting. I went to the one across from my house, right next to the K&W cafeteria (irony) to weigh in. In my first week on Weight Watchers program, I lost 4.8lbs!!! It is nice getting weighed in the morning.

My biggest suprise last week was how much you could actually eat. I found myself trying to find a snack at the end of the day just to burn off my last few points. I left 17 weekly bonus points on the table. I go to bed comfortable every night, not starving. I wake up hungry, but that is normal for me. Now I have to focus on making those points more nutritious!!!

Stoopid CMS

I am a product, and I am ashamed, Amanda just called from school and said that she won't even find out where she is moving until October 6th..... um, that is almost a full quarter. They might as well leave her where she is. This does nothing but hurt the students at both schools. Now Amanda will have to pull off the parent-teacher conference with a notebook and a weeks worth of observations. This is so dumb!

Amanda's Displacement Announcement

Will be broadcast on this blog tomorrow, because the HR department of Char-Meck Schools cannot be bothered to make a phone call with some life changing information..... stay tuned friends!

Sunday Wrap Up

So, the Steelers lost, that sucks, but the offense moved the ball and we just had too many turn overs, not too bad.

I missed Maggie's party, I thought I would be okay with it, but I was kinda bitter at work today. Retail schedule really gets under your skin on a day like today. The weather was perfect, Amanda went to Troutman to go to her late Grandfather's old church's homecoming week. I have gone reluctantly the last two years and have never failed to have a great time, so I am kinda bummed about missing that one. Then I had to miss Maggie's first birthday party. So here I am at the South Blvd. store, stewing because I know my beloved family is off having a good time and I am driving a 94 Mustang with 246k, grrrr.. I bought it though for $350. From all accounts (okay, so Amanda says) Maggie was well behaved, didn't even cry during the Malady remix of "The Birthday Song." I love my family, they are all so welcoming, they treat Amanda so well, actually, they treat her better than me:-)

The Weight Watchers is going good, I used some of my weekly bonus points today, but every other day I have hit my points target a little short or right on the nose. I am not starving like I thought I would, I think that is going to make it easier to keep up with and on this diet. I am learning how to make some better decisions with this diet. I know that my vice is not really the types of food I eat but more the quantity in which I eat it. Why stick to 11 chips when a half-bag will do. Why only have 2 slices of pizza when the whole pie will do. Just changing my philosophy from eat-all-you-can to eat-what-you-NEED is going to go a long way to a healthier lifestyle. I write about the diet for the purpose of accountability, ANYONE who reads this blog has the right to call me out when I am over-eating or making bad food choices, ANYONE!!!!

I will blog about Amanda's teaching assignment and timeline tomorroe, stay tuned!!!

Fatty McFatFat

So I joined weight watchers today.... mixed emotions as listed below.

1. Happy, for once I am going outside of myself to help loose weight, I have always done it on my own, obviously, not with a lot of success.

2. Embarassed, I am embarassed that I am not in control, I have been chubby since the second grade, and I always felt I would loose the weight, it just took 20 years to do something about it.

3. Scared, I am scared that I will sabotage this to make it not work.

4. Taxed, weight watchers program fee is a tax on being fat, but sometime financial motivation is good.

5. Unattractive, If I were so good looking, then I wouldn't need to loose weight. (Sounds kinda girlie, I know)

6. Responsible, I am taking responsibility for my personal health and my future by getting down to a healthier weight.

Still waiting on word about Amanda's teaching assignment. She was thinking she would know this week, but the principal pulled her in the office today just to discuss preferences, that leads me to believe that we will not know until late this week or maybe even next week. Mid-quarter is coming up and Amanda is going to have to do progress reports, that seems like it is a little late to be moving people around still. This is the kind of thing you need resolved in the first two or three weeks. Enough about Amanda's beloved employer.

The weather, the weather looks good, should be getting down in the 40's Thursday night, during my SOFTBALL game. I am very excited about this season.... that's all I got to say 'bout that.

I am so bummed about my schedule this week. I am off Wednesday and Thursday but cannot get anyone to switch with me so I can have Sunday off. Maggie's first birthday party is Sunday, there are weeks when working a retail schedule blows, this just happens to be one of them. In case you were wondering, it doesn't blow when you have to get stuff at the bank, DMV, or post office done because there are no lines at 10:30am on a Thursday morning, everyone else is at work.

I just found out today that my favorite band, Weekend Excursion, will be playing a reunion show in Raliegh, NC on December 22nd. They broke up about 2 years ago and have only played once since. Amanda and I were planning on driving up to Pittsburgh that night but if she is willing, we might make an overnight stop in Raliegh to catch the show.

So I have shifted my 10-midnight obsession from Ebay to MySpace. This is of course much better because it is a lot cheaper. The sad thing is that MySpace is much more addicting. I am looking up old friends, co-workers, it is almost leagalized spying. Of course you should only share what you want others to know. I found out about the Weekend Excursion show through MySpace. Here is a list of some random stuff that appears on MySpace.

A clip of carmax employees running into a garage door, also a clip of the Buyer's office soaking a co-worker's chair with water and filming her sitting down on the chair.

Two clips of my favorite comedian Mitch Hedberg, one from Comedy Central and the other from Conan O'Brian's show.

A video of BNL performing "Break Your Heart" live during the 1999 Stunt tour, this is by far and away my favorite song ever recorded by anyone.

The "Evolution of Dance" video that I think all of America has seen and enjoyed

Weird Al Yankovic's parody of Chamillionaire's Riding Dirty, White & Nerdy

The Charlotte 49er's mens basketball schedule

A calendar with some concerts coming up in and around the Charlotte area.

Check out my MySpace at www.myspace.com/chimsquare

Please enjoy responsibly!!!

Maggie in 'Merica

This IS the absolute first picture of Maggie Malady on American soil on the world wide web. I win!!! (prize to be determined)

Idiot!!!

Banana Pancakes

So the yard is done, the office is cleaned up, 4 loads of laundry are done, the end result of 11 days of consecutive shifts. I sometimes have no clue how my mom does this more often than not. I am so tired and worn out. I have so many things to catch up in life, family, friends. I sometimes take my days off for granted until of course, they are poof! Gone. Amanda and I have decided that the rest of the day is dedicated to rest, nothing more than shopping and moping around. I need to pick up shop supplies from the Celtic Trader, a TV from Re's, and both are cars need baths in the worst way. It will all wait. More important fish to fry. Maggie comes home in about 30 hours and it could not be too soon. I wish they were here now.

I have Grey's Anatomy Season 2 on DVD, I need to catch up before it starts next week!

I also have Grey's Anatomy soundtrack vol. 2, the new BNL album, Barenaked Ladies Are Me, and I got Jack Johnson's latest effort In Between Dreams. All are good, especially JJ. Last week I bought Keane's Under the Iron Sea for Amanda, I like it, I will let you know when she actually listens to it.

Gonna work backwards here, no, this is not Pulp Fiction,

Yesterday I got to have drinks with Emily, okay multiple drinks over a 4 hour span with a jewel in my life. We caught up on life, love, and other various grown up things. I cannot believe she and I have been friends for a decade now, such a long time. I am so blessed to have such a strong group of friends who will always be there for me. Before that, I went to Amanda's school (that she will be leaving next week) picnic at Park Road Park. We had some Penn Station subs and she was the only person who made a home made dish. We had a good time chatting with her fellow teachers, can't wait to meet the NEW group.

Thursday, sucked (softball canceled, I know you care B.)

Wednesday, sucked w/ rain

Tuesday, I don't remember...

A little toooooo ironic, and yeah I really do think....

its like rain on your wedding day.....

Enough Alanis, anyway. I intentionally omitted a post on 9/11 so that I spend one day free of Bush-bashing and just focus on loving my country!!! A country I will mention is run by a monkey in a neck tie, but it is no longer 9/11, so FU W.

Wow, that paragraph did not match the title or lead in, so allow me to segway into the truly ironic...

I have been trying to move from Charlotte for three years now, just some kind of relocation with work and I am out. No dice. Amanda had finally gotten settled into her school, classroom, and kids... poof, she has been DIS (fucking) PLACED. For those who do not know, that means that class sizes in her school are too small (because small=good for students, god forbid) and that Smithfield must drop 4 teachers. Well, last hired, first fired. She will be moving schools next week, she will know where she is going by the end of this week. She has handled the news very well, better than most in fact, but it sucks. She is not allowed to tell the kids until her class room as been divided up and their parents have been notified. Poor Amanda has little to no control over where she goes. I think only 5 schools have available positions open. On the bright side, there are two good schools on that list that are closer to our house than Smithfield. One is McKee road right off of Providence and Ballantyne Commons Parkway and the other is about a mile down Providence Road from there at Providence Springs. I hope she gets one of those schools so she will be closer to me, home, and the kitties. I will keep you updated on news as I am informed.

Life isn't fair, but you never know, this could work out wonderfully! (not sunshine attitude, you might want to document that, it will be worth something someday!)

Bored Kind Of Life

Sometimes I think my life is rather bland and dull. Here are some headlines.

Amanda has been house sitting for the Cribbs, I am patheticly lonely.

I am going to Greenville SC to work at their store while they have Buyer's Day Out

Grandma Grace's bofriend of 40+ (or more) years, Ted Kalman, died of cancer, he was as much a part of our family as anyone!

Maggie is in our grasps, we just have to get her all legal and stuff and she can come home to her forever family.

My new Car & Driver arrived today, it is my most favorite part of the month (that is pathetic)

Church softball is starting up, you will see updates as to my progress during the course of the season.

Amanda and I MIGHT do weight watchers... I know I am skinny but you know, it is just moral support for Amanda.... damn lexdysia.



When you treat your life like a newspaper, maybe you find yourself a little more interesting and a little less dull.

Sister Hazel Show

So, the show was fantastic, made even better by the lack of an admission price. Really though, it was smart of them because they still got my $20, I spent it on a shirt instead of on admission. Where I really saved the dough was not buying any alcohol, I negated that by going to wal-mart after the show and buying some crap I really didn't need. Needless to say, I spent the same ammount of money tonight as I was supposed to, I just got to reallocate funds around.

Sister Hazel rocked out, Matt and his wife-to-be came out to keep me from being the lone loser guy singing every word to every song and going home to blog about it and hang out with his cats. Oh crap, that happened except for the alone during the show part. I ran into an old high school friend, Brad Broders. He looked happy and healthy. I got his number, in my heart of hearts, I don't think I will call him. I am too afraid that there will be this awkward realization that we have nothing in common anymore, and what fun is that? The cool part is that I might call him just to spite myself. He is currently living in Dilworth and reporting the new for News 14 Carolina. He is a natural in front of the camera, he was so psyched about covering the hurricane/ tropical storm.

For you music fans that read this blog, Sister Hazel has a new album coming out on October 10th, from the stuff they played at the show, it will be a little more upbeat than their last album "lift." It sounded like old skool stuff off of "fortress." More pressing excitement is over the Barenaked Ladies new album coming out this Tuesday, September 12th.

Can you believe it has been five years since the Terrorist Attacks, America is the only country since then to successfully launch terrorist attacks. Yeah us! Please vote for someone in the next election who believes in rebuilding Iraq and the region but also believes in not invading sovereign nations during a time of peace. Thanks!

Thats about it, as you can tell I am very lonely because Amanda is house sitting for the Cribbs so I am all alone. Feel free to call me. I work the rest of this week including a Sunday stint in Greenville South Carolina. Have a good rest of the week. Don't forget my "myspace" link as well as the Adoption page for Lil Maggie, she's coming home from China on the 17th. Love you David, Allison, and Maggie!!!!

Charlotte + Free + Fun

Yeah, I know that combo doesn't happen very often in this town, but there is a cool event coming up for free. One of my favorite bands, Siste Hazel, will be playing the Carolina Panthers Kickoff Party uptown on the block between 2nd&3rd and Graham&Mint. The party starts at 5pm, I work to 6, so I will be there in time for SH to take the stage at 7:30pm. Join me if you wish!!!

New Way to Jon-Track

I have created a profile on Myspace, primarily for the purpose of catching up with long lost friends, feel free to check it out though!!!

www.myspace.com/chimsquare

I will continue to make this my primary blog!!!

Families Grow

And mine is growing in a way we have never seen before. My cousins David and Allison are going to be parents at 3:30 this morning, they are in China, in route to meet Maggie. Track their progress at www.missmaggieinchina.blogspot.com. Oh we could not be more excitied.

Football Friday Night

In general, I do not care too much about High School Football, I usually make fun of anyone who wears their high school ring after they start their freshman year of college. But Independece, my school, is on a 94 game winning streak, longest in the country. That said, tonight was a big night because it pitted Amanda's Olympic Tojans against my Independece Patriots.

Independence - 55
Olympic - 14

Oh yeah, make that 95 games in a row!