By now, everyone has probably seen the clip of Karl Rove rapping and dancing at the Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association dinner. It’s one of those rare things that is unbearable to watch yet I’m completely compelled beyond my will to watch it over and over. Viewing it brings out this strange mixture of feelings every time. It’s funny, obviously, but it also makes me really irritated to see such a scumbag enjoying/humiliating himself. The whole episode is quite a site, yes, but what surprised me most about the clip is David Gregory. There is no way that man is straight. No way. You could stick Rufus Wainright up there and he’d probably act more masculine.

After spending a day in Long Island last week, I headed into Manhattan both for work and to spend time with a couple of friends who were celebrating birthdays.  I first met up with my friend Cortney on Tuesday night for dinner and drinks after she got off of work.  She was in the mood for some margaritas so we walked around forever trying to find a decent Mexican restaurant.  We couldn’t find anything.  In New York City, of all places, you’d think you wouldn’t have a problem finding anything.  Well we did, and we ended up settling for Chevy’s on 42nd St., quite possibly my least favorite area in all of New York.  42nd St. is full of chain restaurants like Applebee’s, McDonalds, etc. and it blows my mind that people would travel all the way to New York just to eat at a restaurant they could go to a block away from where they live.  The food was pretty tasty, though, I will admit.  We each had jumbo margaritas and finished the night off with a Birthday Cake Remix (my favorite) from Cold Stone (once again, a chain).

The next night, I met up with my friend Rachel who was also celebrating her birthday.  I told her that we could go wherever she wanted, and she decided she wanted to go to The Spotted Pig in the Village.  The Spotted Pig, quite possibly, has the best burgers I’ve ever had, and it’s a spot that Rachel introduced to me a while back.  It was a fitting place for us to go, and I was excited to eat there once again. 

When we got there, the small place was packed full of people.  We were told it would be a little over an hour to get a table.  We put our name in, went down the street to get a drink, and came back to find that there was still going to be quite a wait.  While ordering another round of drinks during our lengthy wait, Rachel turned to me and goes, “Oh wow.  Look who it is.”  I turned my head in time to see Ryan Reynolds walk past us and sit down at a booth nearby with some friends.  I’ve only seen one Ryan Reynolds movie (Van Wilder) but thought he was pretty funny in it.  I know, though, that most ladies think he’s one hunky man, including my sister.  I immediate called her and she freaked out.  After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, I asked the front desk how long it was going to be before we got sat.  She told me there were only two tables ahead of us.  Soon, one table left and got sat.  Then another left and was sat by two skinny cute girls.  Then, the table next to Ryan Reynolds cleared out.  I turned to Rachel and said, “Lucky you.  Looks like you’re going to get to sit next to Ryan Reynolds for your birthday.”  The next thing I knew, the two skinny skanks that already got seated begged and slipped the host money to get their table switched so they could sit next to the celebrity.  Lame little sluts.  The meal was amazing as usual, and Katie come out to meet us for a couple of drinks, as well.  All in all, a great time, and I’m glad my job allows me to travel to be around for things like this.

Man, this St. Patrick’s Day was definitely one for the books. I would venture to say it may have been one of the best St. Pat’s I’ve had.  The day started in the early afternoon when we got to Westport to begin the festivities.  We were greeted with the sight of a green mob, including long lines at every bar.  For some reason, The Beaumont Club remained line-free so we decided to head there.  There was still a pretty good crowd in there, and we were able to just hang out a little bit.  A guy was going around making balloon hats for everyone (no, it wasn’t THE Wesport balloon guy).  I found one with a mildly phallic bow on the floor and asked my group if they thought I could get it around my waist.  No one thought I could, but I totally proved them wrong.

One of our friends noticed that the patio was open out back so we promptly headed there to take advantage of the clear, blue sky and semi-warm weather.  It didn’t take long for us to occupy the vacant sand volleyball court where we proceeded to play for close to an hour.  Although it’s safe to say none of us will be trying out for the U.S. Olympic Team anytime soon, it was still a lot of fun to have a few drinks and play around in some great weather.

When I’m out, the more random the events that take place the better, in my opinion.  Saturday really had its fair share of random run-ins.  I was able to hang out with some college friends who came in town from Omaha that I hadn’t seen in a long time.  It was great to hang out with them again.  My good friend Natalie also showed up with friends, and they joined us in our advanced game of volleyball.  Luckily, we were able to catch our breath briefly enough to get a picture.

From Beaumont, we trekked over to Harpo’s to meet up with another group of friends.  The bar was a madhouse.  I can’t believe that place was operating at capacity because people were rendered completely unable to move. Being there was just too much for me so we headed over to Kelly’s to continue the festivities and to grab a couple of slices of pizza.  Once there, we ran into yet another group of friends that were there partying it up.  The funny thing about running into so many people is that I really don’t feel like I know that many people in the city yet I seemed to bump into most of everyone I happen to know here.  Looking back, I probably shouldn’t have stayed out so long that night, but it was just too much fun. 

At one point, I ended up getting a glowstick and found that it would only fit up my right nostril and not my left.  Why I decided to try it I’m not exactly sure, but I found it a tad interesting to know that my nostrils were not proportional.

To close the night, I ended up at The Quaff, a bar just down the street from where I live.  Several friends were there so I wanted to see them before I went home.  Thinking back, this was probably not the smartest move considering I’d been out for so long.  I didn’t end up getting home until two in the morning, but it was definitely worth the extreme fatigue I felt the following morning. 

Back when I did my Best Of list from last year, I mentioned that Malajube was my favorite new band of 2006 and that I thought they’d be great live.  Keeping this in mind, I was pretty excited when I found out they’d be playing at Record Bar as an opener for Snowden.  Even though I’m not a very big fan of Snowden, there was no way I was going to pass up the $10 ticket to see Malajube play in a bar that only holds 200 people.  I was originally just going to go alone but found out that my friend Courtney was going with a couple of her friends to see Snowden so we all met up when we got there.

Even though I had high hopes, I can safely say that the band didn’t disappoint one bit.  I’d venture to say they put on one of the better shows I’ve seen in quite a while.  I’d be curious to know what others who hadn’t heard of the band thought of everything because their songs pack a lot of melodies that shift frequently.  I would think it may be hard to grasp live without being familiar with their material ahead of time. 

I got a new camera a little while ago and was excited to test out the video capabilities on it.  My old camera took awful video and the sound was always completely distorted.  I was hoping to take some video of when they played Le Crabe because it rocks so hard.  That ended up being the only song they didn’t play from their newest album which was kind of a bummer.  I thought maybe they’d save it until the end, but they ended up playing “Étienne d’Août” instead so I took video of that.  It’s easily their most mellow song, but I’m happy with the image quality and sound taken from my camera even though the lighting was really dark in the place. 

I stayed around for most of Snowden’s set which, I will admit, was quite a bit better than I expected.  I ended up leaving a little early to meet up with some people out to celebrate a friend’s birthday.  Courtney and her friends stayed to watch the rest of Snowden’s set and ended up actually meeting the band afterwards.  The funny part about this is that Courtney didn’t know the band but her friends did, but the lead singer kept talking to Courtney.  He got her phone number and ended up texting her while we were out after the show.  When she looked at the text it read, “Well, i could use a place to stay…i’m loading up at rec bar.”  We definitely had a good laugh over that one.  I’m sure the Snowden singer just wanted a cuddle buddy while out on the road.

I’ve used the same computer chair I’ve used since college despite the fact that it’s uncomfortable, rickety, and sometimes causes my legs to fall asleep for some odd reason.  I really don’t know why I haven’t sucked it up and bought another chair.  I guess I’ve stuck with the approach that if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. 

Yesterday, I was uncomfortably sitting at my computer reading about the possibility of the Penguins relocating to Kansas City when I leaned back just a little.  The next thing I knew, the back of my desk chair was halfway across the room, and I had to catch my balance to prevent me from falling to the ground.  Had a camera captured the whole thing take place I would imagine it’d be pretty darn funny to watch.  Looking closer, I found that a part to the chair was damaged which meant I had to set out and get a new one.

I sprung for a snazzy leather chair at Walmart, and I’m happy to report that I’m extremely comfortable as I type this.  It’s really amazing how something so little can really impact your life in a positive way.  In the past few months I’ve gotten a Ultracare Toothbrush, a down comforter for my bed, and now a nice desk chair.  All three of these things have rocked my world thus far.

I went with my buddy Josh to see the Cold War Kids at The Bottleneck in Lawrence.  I would consider myself to be a very average fan of their music, but Tokyo Police Club was supposed to be opening for them, as well.  I was told by a friend who lives in Austin that they were pretty amazing at SXSW last year.  When we got there, the doorman said that Tokyo Police Club wasn’t able to make it which was a definite disappointment.

Opening up was The Colours who, despite having a fairly derivative sound, performed with quite a bit of energy.  Their debut album has received less-than-stellar reviews but seeing those songs live was pretty entertaining.  I may have to listen to their album anyway just to see how the songs come across on record.

The Cold War Kids came on at around 10:15 and opened with “We Used to Vacation’ which is probably my favorite song by them.  It sounded great except they slowed the tempo down at parts which prevented them from really rocking out.  All in all, it was a decent show.  Not great but decent.  I think it’ll be interesting to see if these guys get big.  I get the feeling they’re on the cusp.

I was about to hop in the shower yesterday after a somewhat productive workout at the gym in my apartment complex when I heard someone pounding on my door.  I then heard the door open and two people shout, “Maintenance!  Anyone here?  Maintenance!”  I hadn’t called maintenance about any problems in our apartment so I was a tad perplexed about why they’d come into my place. 

I was greeted by two maintenance workers and a female.  The female lived in my apartment building and was at the condos across the street when she looked down at the ledge on our building and saw a “giant lizard” outside of my apartment window.  She had notified the people in our building, and these guys were here to get it.  They had equipment with them, including a bag, in case the amphibian was alive, but the worker decided to take matters into his own hands.  He crawled out the window, grabbed the thing, and brought him into my living room.  

I will admit, I was a little weirded out to hear a lizard had been just chillin’ outside of where I lived.  Luckily, it was just an iguana (which is still an animal that freaks the heck out of me).  I was pretty darn nervous that the thing was going to break loose and run around my apartment.  The mere thought of it raised my heartrate considerably.  We soon found that that wouldn’t be the case as the iguana had likely died in the below-freezing temperature outside.

I live on the 8th floor of a 10 story building, and my floor happens to be the only floor with a small ledge wrapping around the building.  That being the case, I really don’t know how the big guy couldn’t have gotten to the ledge.  The only thing I can think of is that maybe someone on my floor owned it, had a window open during one of the nice days this week, and the iguana made a break for it.  I have a friend who keeps tabs with his roommates on how many rodents they have seen and killed in their house.  I, on the other hand, get random iguanas roaming around my apartment.  It’s pretty tough to top that.

Update (5/5/07): While walking into my apartment yesterday, I saw a hand-written sign on computer paper posted by the entrance.  The paper basically said the following: “Missing Iguana — 4 foot long iguana missing since Saturday.  Please contact me if you might know about where it may be.”  A phone number was also listed.  Of course, I felt obligated to do the right thing and call the guy to break the news to him.  He sounded pretty bummed about it.  He said he lived on the 10th floor and that he had a friend staying with him this past week, and he left the window open.  The crazy thing to me is that the iguana had to have fallen two stories into our ledge on the 8th floor.  Sucks to be that guy.

I was pretty excited about this week because, after a considerable dry spell around the music scene over the winter months, some good shows were starting to pop back into town.  I was first planning on going to see Gomez and Ben Kweller play at The Beaumont on Tuesday, but I ended up getting sick and had to miss it.  I wasn’t super disappointed, though, because I have seen Gomez a couple times in the past year.  Upon getting sick, I became worried that it might mean that I’d have to miss the Apples in Stereo show at the Record Bar last night, too.  As luck would have it, I broke my fever the night before and was ready to see a pretty good band that I was genuinely pumped about.  Lo and behold, I walked into the Record Bar to find a sign saying, “Apples in Stereo show canceled”.  My heart sank.  The guy at the door explained to me that they had played in Omaha the night before and were stuck there due to bad weather.  Definite bummer.

My doctor called today to inform me that I did, indeed, have strep throat.  She was initially going to wait until she got the test results 48 hours later to prescribe medication to me.  Thank goodness I convinced her to just let me start taking the antibiotics that day with the promise that I’d stop taking them if my test became negative.  Not only I am no longer contagious but I barely feel any signs of a sore throat.  Had I waited like she originally proposed, I wouldn’t have felt this way until after the weekend, and that wouldn’t have been very fun.  I know that I should probably stay in and take it easy one more night, but part of me feels like I should go out and party a little because I originally would have been cooped up with a sore throat for the next couple of days.  I guess we’ll just have to see what the weekend holds.