Your New Social Calendar

Events of note:

EVENT #1
What: Road Trip to Carolina-lina
Time: Dunno. Not too early.
Date: Friday, March 11th. Possibly Thursday the 10th too [Atlanta sidetrip]. Return date/time yet to be determined. Just checking interest at this point.
Location: Various interstates in the SE United States
Huh?: I will be taking a carload up to Carrboro, North Carolina ["suburb" of Chapel Hill] to see the band Ash. Alexandria and Andrew will be coming down from Blacksburg, VA and a good time will be had by all. Tickets are only $9, but also remember gas, food, and lodging will be involved. Massive road trip, but it should be fun as hell.

EVENT #2
What: The First Annual "Nine-Ninety-Nine Opening Day" Competition
Time: 730PM for preparation. First pitch is at 805PM on ESPN.
Location: To Be Determined. But somewhere with a good TV and a grill.
Date: Sunday, April 3rd



Huh?: The 999 is something that I've read about and been dying to try. The general premise is that you sit back and watch a baseball game. During each of the game's nine innings, you must consume one beer and one hotdog [including the bun]. So that's nine beers, nine dogs, nine innings. 999. The game of choice is of course the greatest possible matchup for such a momentous occasion: an opening day matchup of the evil, shitty New York Yankees and my beloved WORLD CHAMPION BOSTON RED SOX. Trash talking, krunkatude, and other hilarity and hijinx will ensue. It should be a bitchin' night. CAN YOU HANDLE IT??!? Wear stuff to support your team, even if that means [shudder] pinstripes.

In other news, congrats to GT basketball for pulling back even in the conference at 7-7, surging back to beat [sc]UM tonight. Now just get it together and make some noise in the ACC tournament and make the selection committee's job real easy, okay guys?

And I beat a game. Beat this one, moved on to this one. I'm on a Zelda fix, I guess.

M.D. Jordan, M.D.?

So there's no point keeping the cat in the bag any longer. My big plans?

Medical school. Specifically, to be a doctor of Emergency Medicine.

Today I met with an advisor at the school of medicine at Florida State, and his advice was to drop the current degree-seeking graduate program that I was on, and switch to a non-degree seeking post-baccalaureate track. What this essentially means is that I've dropped out of graduate school, and will start as a "special student" this coming summer, where I will begin to take my pre-requisite classes for medical school. Left to take: Biology 1 and 2, General Chemistry 2, Organic Chemistry 1 and 2, Biochemistry 1 and 2, and Genetics. On the current track that the advisor set out for me, I will take a couple classes a semester for Summer 05, Fall 05, Spring 06, and Summer 06. I will take the MCAT in April 2006, with hopeful entry into medical school in August 2007. Following a typical med-school path, that means 4 years of medical school (graduation 2011) and three years of residency (2014). So that ties up the next 9 years of my life - a substantial commitment, but one I'm very willing to take. I'm passionate about helping people and being a doctor is really the only career option I want to consider at this point. I'm smart enough and passionate enough, and dammit, I think I could be a really good doctor.

For the naysayers, yes, I agree that I'm absolutely crazy for ditching engineering and heading into medicine. Thank you for your opinion, now move along. I know it's a lot of time and money to invest, but what better investment can I make than with my own future? I'm taking charge, it's my life, and if you don't think I'm making the right decision, well I'll listen to your opinion but don't expect me to waver from my decision. Oh, and be sure to refer to me as "Doctor Jordan" in a decade or so.

So key dates: May 2005: Start pre-reqs. April 2006: MCAT. August 2007: Hopefully start med school. 2011-ish: begin residency. 2014: done.

[At least I never need to take another Materials class. I won't miss that one bit.]

TV and Book Round-Up

I blabber from time to time here about movies and music that I like, but television shows I watch and books I read tend not to get really mentioned here. Let's reverse that trend for a day:

Incredible Television Shows that You Should Be Watching [Because I Do]:

• The Simpsons: What do I have to say about this? TV's best sitcom, hands down.
• Family Guy/Futurama: These re-runs on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim remind us that Fox executives have their collective heads in their collective asses sometimes. Genius shot down before its prime.
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force/Sealab 2021: While we're on the subject of Adult Swim, these two original series are well written and pretty damned funny.
• Arrested Development: In my mind, the funniest show on television. It's the "Royal Tenenbaums" of the TV world. Arty, smart, and downright funny. Ron Howard is a genius.
• Curb Your Enthusiasm: CYE is "Seinfeld" as it should've been. It's uncensored, more neurotic, and just a hell of a lot funnier.
• Sex and the City: I know it's over now, but this was a pretty damned good show. Catching reruns on TBS [while missing the er, "steamier" parts] is still a good waste of half an hour or so.
• MXC [Most Extreme Elimination Challenge]: The SpikeTV favorite where American announcers hilariously dub voices over an old Japanese game show. Some of the writing in this show is pure comedic genius. Good mindless filler, always puts a smile on my face.
• Numb3rs: A show still in its infancy [and one I'd never see without TiVo - come on CBS, Friday night?] I have to say I've really fallen for this show. Mathematics is used to solve problems for the FBI. Sounds dull? It's not. Brilliantly acted, great cinematography. It really holds your interest.
• Deadwood: Another HBO Original Series, this one was reviled for its rampant foul language and its less-than-favorable depiction of women in the Old Wild West. Though a little slow-moving in the first few episodes, I thoroughly enjoyed the first season and am eagerly looking forward to the second.
• Carnivale: An HBO show that I've just gotten into. Dust bowl-era fight between good and evil - that's how I'd describe it. Very weird but very good. I can't wait to finish the first season and move on to the 2nd season [currently airing].
• The Sopranos: While we're listing all the good HBO series, how could I forget the best of them all? What a great show. All good things have to come to an end, and the coming season will be the last. Hope it's a good one.
• Gilmore Girls: Stop laughing. This show has great dialogue, cute girls [Lauren Graham! Whoo!] and is just overall entertaining. It seems smarter than the average show, but in a covert way. I enjoy it.
• Trashy Shows I Watch: Real World: Philadelphia, Celebrity Fit Club, Strange Love with Brigitte and Flav, The Surreal Life - they're all trashy, but a good waste of time.
• Around The Horn / Pardon the Interruption: The only two shows that have truly become a daily ritual. At 5pm every day I try to be in front of the tube so I can flip on ESPN and hear the best hour in sports-talk television. ATH is brilliant in concept - sportswriters are given points based on the strength of their arguments and compete for 30 seconds of air time. PTI is two great sportswriters (Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon) yapping like a married couple about all sorts of issues. Both are irreverant, have their funny moments, and do a better job recapping the day in sports than SportsCenter does.
• Lost: This show has some of the best characters I've ever seen. The story is intriguing, and it keeps me tuning in week after week. Just finish the freaking season though already. This 2 weeks between new shows bit pisses me off.
• The Amazing Race: The only reality show worth watching. Damn, I want to be on this show.
• South Park: Well, whenever new episodes roll around. The most irreverant show on TV is still the funniest.
• Shorties Watching Shorties: Initially I wasn't too thrilled with this show, but as they started putting better stand-up shorties on from better comedians, I grew to like this show. The animated version of Dane Cook's "Kool-Aid, Oh No!" skit made me laugh my ass off. Seriously. My ass is now over there in a pile [points].

Damn, that's a lot of TV. I don't really watch all that much TV in a week, but I watch a fair amount.

Books. I usually don't read a lot of books. Though when I get on a kick, I read books by the pound. I read 20 Discworld novels in a semester and a half at Georgia Tech, and recently I read "Angels and Demons" and "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown. Much publicized for a good reason, I enjoyed Mr. Brown's books. I'd highly recommend them to anybody.

Oh, and I beat The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap on GBA today. Next game for me to beat: Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons [GBC].

Two other random points: More people should use Audioscrobbler. Drew Magee's band is really good.

Oh, and Valentine's Day is just another day if you're single. Nothing to get down-hearted about, just another day. My day was wonderful - I found "Tone Soul Evolution" by The Apples in Stereo in the used CD bin at my local CD Warehouse.

An Amazing Group of Friends

So in talking with Alexandria and Andrew tonight, two of my best friends, they brought up a point that I've been absolutely astonished of for quite a while: that my group of friends, all of us from middle-class families and raised in the public school system of Leon County Florida - my group of friends is one of the most amazing group of people ever. In my tight group of friends we've got engineers and scientists, lawyers, teachers and college professors [to be], doctors [to be] and physician assistants, Ivy Leaguers, artists and musicians, politicians, and astute finance and businessmen and women. All from middle class backgrounds, all smart and driven to such great heights.

How did I end up part of this? How did so many amazing people get turned out of a little town in Northern Florida, and how did this happen with so many people all around the same age? I want to thank my teachers and any other educators out there who have devoted their lives to making the lives of their students more prosperous down the road. I know without my phenomenal science and math teachers that I never would have gone to engineering school or picked my current career path, and I owe them not only for the knowledge I gained, but for the drive and inspiration to always want to know more. I want to thank them for helping me realize that I had a mind that was capable of great things, and also thank them for constantly pushing me until I had fully reached my potential.

My friends are the future leaders of communities. As a group of kids with similar upbringings and a world of opportunity staring us in the face we accepted life's challenges and only now, in our early and mid-twenties, are we starting to see where life has put us. We've worked hard for years, and things are starting to pan out. The world's going to be in our hands one day, and I can't wait for that day. I've figured out my role and can't wait to play the part. The only bad part about growing up is having friends move away.

I love my friends. What an amazing group of people.

Super Bowl XXXIX

So Super Bowl XXXIX has come and gone in Jacksonville, the Gateway City of the South. What happened? Tom Brady and the New England Patriots fended off yet another late charge, this time from the Philadelphia Eagles, and won their 3rd Lombardi Trophy in the last 4 years. I for one was happy to see this happen for two reasons:

1. I'm a big Boston fan. Sox rule, and the Patriots deserve respect.
2. I really, really hate the Eagles.

For all the talk this week, Terrell Owens sure proved his doubters wrong. He wasn't the reason the Eagles lost the game. For a guy who shouldn't even be walking on an ankle as broken as his, he was running and doing his thing at full speed. Congrats to him. The best part about his repaired ankle was that he was able to stand up and walk off the field with his head down as the Patriots celebrated on the field:


T.O. is sad. T.O. is a runner-up.

So with 3 Super Bowls, the talk of whether or not the Patriots are a dynasty has now been cemented. My answer? Hell yes they are.


Teddy Bruschi holds up one finger for each NFL championship ring he has. Pats a dynasty? I'd say so.

Better QB: Joe Montana or Tom Brady? Isn't it mind blowing that you have to think about that now? And that the answer very well might be Tom Brady? How many more does he have in him?


Tom Brady with the Lombardi Trophy.


What a year for the city of Boston. The Patriots win the Super Bowl and the Red Sox hold the World Series crown:


Dave Roberts holds the World Series Trophy. Go Sox.

Every time I see that picture, I smile. I smile very, very large.

So how long till I can fully declare myself a Patriots fan? I like my Bucs, but if they don't get rid of Gruden (who I'm not a big fan of - I liked Dungy more) or if they do get rid of my favorite player (Derrick Brooks), then I'm automatically a Pats fan. Go Beantown.

24.0082

Okay, so I've got a few pictures from the birthday party. What happened? I got drunk. Very, very, very drunk. Tuesday the 1st was great, lots of fun. Wednesday the 2nd was a lot of miserable pain. Ugh. Thanks to Drew Magee for taking the pictures, because I obviously wasn't going to take them:



This picture sets the tone for the night. Booze. More specifically, empty glasses of booze.


Mike and I take up one end of the table at Gill's Tavern.


Will, Drew, and Paul enjoy the night's festivities.


Ken and Maureen were there, aiding my quest for a drunk Matt. [Smile, Ken.]


Amanda (left) and Jenny (right), looking cute as usual.


After enough drinks, this time-lapse photo sure did capture the mood: my mind was a blur.


The Village Inn sure felt like a blur. Whose idea was that, anyway?

What a great night. After getting smashed on January 1st and now February 1st, I think the month of March deserves a reprieve. Again, thanks to Drew Magee for the pictures.

[And in case you're wondering, 0.0082 is about 3/365]

24

So today is birthday #24. Plans are for celebrations over at Pockets at 9pm. Bring your money, your drinking acumen, and any friends that are cool. I'll post some pictures here in a couple days or so.

In other news, I have picked a very unexpected career goal for myself. I'm not going to really discuss what I've decided to do with my life [only a couple people know: my dad and the two people who suggested the idea to me] but I will tell you that a) it's a long term plan and b) won't really go into effect until say, mid-to-late 2007 [well after I've earned my MS in Mechanical Engineering]. So wait a couple years - you'll be shocked and suprised. Why wait so long? Simply put, it'll take at least 2 years to get everything together for this career goal. I can't wait to see how many people call me completely crazy for doing it.

School is going well (my MATLAB and Calculus skills still are top-notch, who knew?) but the whole working full-time and schooling full-time bit sure as hell does take up a lot of your time. It seems like all my free time is gobbled up with homework. And here I thought grad school was like undergrad with all the busy work supplanted with research. [Damn was I wrong!]

Oh, and after fooling around with one at CompUSA today, I'm about 99% sure that I'm gonna buy a 12" Apple G4 iBook sometime this year.