Now THIS is the Life...

You never realize how much crap you've been doing until you aren't doing it anymore.

I just finished a spring semester of work in Houston, and right as that ended, I had to begin summer school. Of course, in between and after each one of those, I was driving and moving across vast distance of highways.

Now I am in Paris, TN, and things probably couldn't get any more relaxing. Let me illustrate this fact. Until today(when Dennis the Menace decided to pay the entire southeast a visit), here was our typical daily schedule:

11:30 am---Wake up
12:00 pm---Eat Lunch
12:15-5:00pm---Lay out by the pool, soak some sun, swim some, talk some, all the while consuming countless fruity frozen beverages
6:00pm---Dinner here or somehwere
6:45-8:00pm---Chill time
8:00-9:00pm---Workout/run
9:15pm---Shower
9:30pm - ???am --- Something exciting, usually a "Nicholas Stutzman Old-Fashioned" pool party, a movie, hanging out with the boyz, or something completely different(like tonight, The 2005 Home-Run Derby)
???am-11:30 --- Sleep
And the process repeats.

See? This is exactly what I needed, and it's only going to get better in the coming days, as everyone comes back into town. Nick is returning this coming weekend as well, so we're sure to have an "event" here at his place this weekend.

Yeh, as I said, Dennis has kind of killed the summer vibe, what with the constant rain and overcast skies since 6pm yesterday. Not a huge deal, though. I have just chilled at the house most of the day today. I have cleaned up a bit from this weekend's activities, fixed a few meals, and have even sat down to make time to write this post.

We are mere days from the Return to Flight launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery and her crew. The launch is set for 3:51 EDT this wednesday. That is less than 48 hours away! The Stutzman's don't have NASA Tv, but I'm sure most, if not all, of the networks will be covering the launch, so I shouldn't have a problem watching it. There is a 30% chance of unfavorable conditions for launch on Wednesday, and the next two days will not be much better. Worst case scenario, Discovery will launch on Saturday afternoon. That would be another reason to have a party on Saturday, haha.

We ate at the Olive Pit, Paris' new Italian restaurant, last Friday. I would have to say that this is the best restaurant in Paris, hands-down. It is the FIRST place in Paris that serves grilled salmon, and being the salmon savant that I am, I was very excited and pleased with the results. I will definitely be visiting the Pit again before I am gone.

Josh, Nick, Travis, and I went to see Fantastic Four last night...boy was that a big disappointment. Okay, I understand that this IS based on a comic book, but there were WAY WAY WAY too many one-liners, and there was entirely too much campy dialogue. In addition, hardly any of the exciting scenes were new, because they showed them ALL in the trailers and previews. Other than that, though, the movie started off quickly, and Dr. Doom is by far the BEST villain in any of the comic book movies made so far. He was very well done. Too bad he didn't get to fight much; however, they have left it open for a sequel and/or trilogy with Dr. Doom returning. Hopefully, they will fix the problems in the next movie.

Speaking of trilogies, I think that all movies made from now on should be made into trilogies(except maybe comedies and documentaries). Seriously. Two hours is just not enough time to really flesh out the characters and provide a thorough look into these imaginary worlds. It just makes sense to me. Why not expand the story, while making more money as you do it?

This brings me to my rant of the day....eh hem...
Ladies and gentlemen at the theaters, JUST TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONES IN THE THEATER. Thankfully, it's been awhile since someone has answered a call on their phone during a movie that I attended. What could be even more annoying is the people that open their phones, with those bright-as-hell back lights, and type a 2 paragraph long text message during the movie, not only once, but countless times after that! One, is that message REALLY that important? Two, are you so lame that you cannot leave your phone alone for two hours to enjoy a movie? Oh, and the people that look at their phones every 15 minutes to see what time it is, what the crap is your deal? If you are in a hurry to be somewhere, then don't come to the movie at all. Why not enjoy the movie, rather than seeing how close it is coming to ending?

Okay, I'm done. Let's recap quickly:

If you go to see a movie:
1) just turn your phone OFF. Not vibrate, not silent, but OFF. Just get away from your precious mobile mate for just a few hours, while enjoying a movie at the same time. Is it really that much to ask?
2)If you do happen to not follow #1, then don't text during the movie. I'm sure it is rather important that you answer "what r u 2 doing tonight?" AT THAT MOMENT, but just hold off until the end of the movie.
3)If you have somewhere to be or are not enjoying the movie, just leave. If you don't leave, then just quit sighing and constantly looking at your multi-colored clock display on your phone every quarter hour.

I figure it's been awhile since my last good rant, so I thought the timing was right.

I think I will take a shower and get cleaned up. I look like Tom Hanks on the set of Cast Away.

Everyone watch the Century 21 Home Run Derby on ESPN at 7pm CST tonight. LET'S GO DAVID ORTIZ!!

-The H