I'm back.

Hi!  Been awhile.  Its the best of times, its the worst of times.  Okay not really but name that novel...  Anyway, went to a Newsboys concert on Friday with Tiffany Chris Nathan, going to an Angels and Airwaves concert tonight with Tiffany Nathan and a bunch of emo high school kids that are gonna want to push a lot.  My shaved head will save the day.  I wear Chuck Norris pajamas.

I've settled in to accepting the amount of work I have each week.  I've managed to keep my Sundays and Thursday open for life to happen, and the rest is primarily school work time.   Other notable events- started running for the triathlon- doing about 7 minutes a mile for 3-5 miles.  Going to try running longer and faster, but not both at the same time :)  Also started a fundraising page for the event, check it out:

http://www.firstgiving.com/carlsergio

Trying to raise $1,000 for Cherish Our Children International.

Its only a matter of (short) time before this bloody weather turns, right?  I gotta get outside and play some Cornhole.  Chicago's second annual Cornhole Classic is this summer, gotta prepare for me and Josh to show em how its done.  Hopefully we'll also be showing em how its done in the Great Urban Race and the City Chase.  Basically like Amazing Race, but for one day, in cities around the country:

www.citychase.com

www.greaturbanrace.com

So anyway, I gotta go get another piece of Valentine's Day candy.  I managed to stretch out Christmas candy until then, so I'll just stretch this out until Easter sound good?  You know what they say- chocolate a day keeps the...something something.

I'm also, in my copious free time, trying to finish my resume for the upcoming job fair so I can have positive cash flow this summer- need funding for my iPhone :)  I gotta re-do my portfolio too, since the first time it took me four hours late at night at Aunt Roe's and I printed it out when I picked up grandma's funeral programs.  Yeah that was good.  There was a $500 and $1000 cash prize at school for best portfolios, so I gotta think ahead next year.  I'm out.

New Years Resolutions.

A brief one.   Or at least I always set out with that intention.

Last night I finally went to the mustache party.  Oh the disgustingness.  It was glorious.  It felt like being at a bowling tournament in the 70s.  I proceeded to shave the fu manchu I attended the party with into a few other iterations before killing it altogether.  See below.

I also finally went to the school rec center to...rec, I guess.  Tiffany came on my friend Jessica's ID so she didn't hafta pay.  I ran 4 miles in 29:30, not bad for not running in 9 months or so.  Course then I was spitting in the trash can and about to pass out.  But then we hit the sauna and steam room and pool, and I discovered there's no way on Allah's Green Earth that I'm gonna swim in the triathlon (newsflash- I'm running a mini-triathlon in Houston at the end of March, hence the training) without goggles.  

Good to get back to running though, cause its part of my plans for the year, formerly known as Prince-I-mean as my New Year resolutions.  This year I'm also gonna finish reading the Bible front to back, finish off my movies list (down to 75, thanks to miscounting and to watching movies while building models) and being selfless.  The last part is sorta unmeasurable but hey a guy can try.

Speaking of resolutions, I think New Years' and Lenten ones are kinda bogus.  They're set up for failure (which usually occurs inside of a week after New Years) and once people fail once, they bail.  Lame.  Lent on the other hand- does it really improve your life or self in any way to give up eating chocolate for 40 days?  Especially for those who just gorge themselves on the cop-out doesn't-count-on-Sundays rule.  Catholics and their rules :)  

Anyway this isn't short.  But here's some pictures.  I got work to do.  Tomorrow is the Chicago Auto Show, brunch in China Town, and U2 3D at the IMAX.  Sweet.  Good thing I got my extra model finished yesterday, given to me to do "since I was ahead" because I stayed at school til 9:15 on Wednesday so my weekend didn't suck.  Pictures:

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The fu manchu: 

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The Joe Sergio:

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The Closeup:

Chance Meetings Are Weird.

First, if you want to read the maniacal ravings of Mr. Hyde, check out csergio.blogspot.com :)

So I spent my Friday night as now usual.  Stayed at school until 11:30 working on a project, and got up at 9:30 Saturday morning to finish it, so I could come to South Bend for my mom's birthday, except yeah I didn't finish the project.  I guess this is gonna be the weed-out semester.  Well I'm not going anywhere.  I'll hafta stay up on Sunday night when I get back to finish.

Awesome.  

The weird thing is that I was standing in Jamba Juice (NASDAQ: JMBA) waiting for my flippin' sweet smoothie, staring out the window cause Tiffany was talking my ear off again (okay that's not true and I hope she's laughing right now) and I see people walking by, except one of em looks a lot like my cousin Brian.  And the more I double and triple take and stare, the more I realize it IS my cousin Brian.  

So as I'm frozen in place by my own confusion at what he's doing here, I realize I don't recognize anyone he's with, and I look again, and sure enough, its still Brian.  And then Jimmy walks by.  At this point I regain motor control as confusion turns to shock and I dash out the door, "JIMMY!" and realize that Davey and friend Kevin Walorski are with them.  Weird.  Turns out they were in town for the auto show (also flippin' sweet) and needed to be directed to the nearest pizza place.  Lucky for them my favorite place in town was three blocks away.

But the real point is- this happens enough, randomly enough, that I got to wondering how often you actually just miss occasions like this.  I only saw em cause I decided to go get a Caribbean Passion before I headed outta town.  But seriously.  Think about that.  Makes you wonder.

 Hopefully Helio phones will answer that question for us someday, since they're fitted with GPS and can be set to ping your phone anytime your friends and their phones are within whatever radius of you, and you can Google Map them and go say hi.  Now that's technology.

Sidetracked.

I forgot to mention.  Tiffany went home for the weekend.  Flight got delayed on Sunday night because of the snow, so she opted for a Monday morning flight and went to bed.  Aaaaaaaand that flight couldn't land so an hour outside of Chicago she's informed they're going to land in Buffalo.  She finds a flight to get on in Buffalo, at like 7pm (keep in mind she left 12 hours earlier).  So she takes a little sidetrip to Niagara for the afternoon.  Sweet.  Then she gets back, and her flight gets CANCELLED.  So she gets a hotel room in bloody Buffalo, and finally made it back successfully this morning.  

ELECTION!

Every time I think about it, my mind can't really grasp the concept of her being gone. The view times I think about it long enough to start to feel it, I get an enormous sinking feeling, almost like vertigo, the same sick feeling I get when I try to wrap my mind around the idea of infinity. I'm sorry for the painful talk but its cathartic.

This is gonna be short cause time is short.  I voted today.  It was fun.  It felt good to be part of the process, and its sure to be an exciting one this year, as long as we get to watch Hilary lose soon...

My project that was due Monday got finished, Sunday night DURING the Super Bowl.  Someone tell me who won.  Okay no I saw the reedick-ulous scramble of Eli and crazy leaping catch against his helmet by...Giants receiver.  Truthfully would have been interested to see a record in the making, but two brothers winning two Super Bowls consecutively I guess is cool too.

Now I'm working on another project, due Thursday, and despite the insistence of my other professor that our NEW assignment given Monday would be quick and easy, DESPITE my insistence that I literally had NO time to do any assignment for her class until my other project was done, I will be doing little else for any other class until this project is done.  I did enjoy spending my weekend in my room of course.  If there's a problem, I already told her I wouldn't have anything done for tomorrow because of aforementioned project, and I'll cite civil duty and religious obligation (tomorrow) if she needs more reasons why I didn't have time.

Also, this weekend is my mom's birthday.  That's right.  Shower her with affection.  The 10th.  My little girl is all growns up.  8 minutes until 6pm.  That's my deadline.  For stopping writing this.  I do plan on watching Super Tuesday festivities though.  Sweet. 

In other news, I have a goatee.  Very itchy and annoying.  But you gots to do what you gots to do, when there's a mustache party to attend.  Or moustache, if you prefer the English spelling.  But I don't prefer most things English.  Except the language, I guess.  What was I talking about?  Oh yeah- I'm going to a mauexstache party.  So I'm growing a goatee until that time comes.  Pictures forthcoming.  

Okay its 5:59.  Gotta go.  More later.  Lemme find a picture to post...ah yes me and my matching somethingsomething cousin Ross...

I hate.  Picture won't upload.