end of an era

Well folks, this will probably be my last blog as an unmarried man. I'm breaking down the computer today and moving it over to the new house. I won't have internet until Thursday, and chances are I'll be pretty busy that day, so this is it. Within the next seven days I'll be fully moved into my first house and be married to a fantastic woman. Why is she fantastic you ask? Well I'll tell you:


Yesterday while I was at work, she had the day off. So did she relax? Nope. She moved damn near our entire apartment carload by carload, making trip after trip out to Albany. All that's left to do is move the furniture pretty much, which should take about one trip, since my dad's bringing down a trailer. Then she spent the entire evening cleaning the kitchen. Are you kidding me? Who does this stuff on their day off? My future wife, that's who.

Keep in mind that this is not the only reason I think she's fantastic. There's many, many more that I don't have the time to write down. You don't have the time to read them either.

In other news, I think I'm applying for a new job. I'm hitting the six month plateau that seems to be a killer for me. Actually I enjoy working here, but this other job is kind of exactly what I want to do, so I figure I'll give it a shot. I'm not too optimistic, but we'll see how things turn out. If I don't get it, at least I have a good job to come back to.

Enjoy your 4th of July! See you all on the married side of life!

OSU our hats are off to you

there's just something fundamentally wrong with sweating when it's 11:15 at night and you're sitting next to an open window in a pair of basketball shorts. That just shouldn't happen. Yet here I sit.


Work was alright today. I was a bit grumpy in the morning because I felt like more than my share of the work was being dumped on me, but I guess it's gotta get done and bitching about it isn't going to make the stack of papers on my desk go away. While I was busy trying to figure out how I could sneak out at 4 to go watch the game, I received an email. The entire office was closing at 3:30 so we could watch! Problem solved.

Never in my wildest dreams did I evision seeing OSU win a national championship in a major sport. Especially baseball. But sitting at Ruby Tuesdays watching Tyler Graham catch the final out with one arm around my fiancee has to be one of the best moments of the year for me. The sense of pride that I get knowing that MY school is the best in the country at something (especially something I love as much as baseball) gives me great joy. Made me proud to be a Beaver. I had some issues with the route we took to get there (leaving Nickerson in too long, playing offensively like we knew they were going to screw up (thank goodness they did), not going to Gunderson to start the 9th.......we came out on top. It is kind of sad that school is out and that most of the students are gone, because it would be one great party tomorrow when the team got home if everyone was there.

In other news, I get married in like 10 days. How cool is that?

Another bear leaves the forest

So last night my friend Steve calls. I had called him earlier regarding his hotel reservation for my wedding, so I figured he was calling to talk about that and possibly the OSU baseball game. So I just start rambling about sports and stuff for about 15 to 20 minutes. Then finally he goes "actually the reason I called is that I got engaged on Saturday, and we're thinking of getting married in September." Talk about coming out of left field! I mean, he'd told me that they were talking about marriage, but Rachel and I probably talked about marriage a year into our relationship, if not sooner, and it still took me another full year to actually get to a point where I felt ready to do it. Plus, trying to plan a wedding in 2 and a half months? Good luck buddy. I have a feeling I won't be talking to him much between now and then.


A lot of people like it when their boss is on vacation. They can coast at work, kind of goof off, sneak out early, whatever. Not me. Nobody was more excited to have their boss back at work than me yesterday. While she was gone, I had to pretty much assume her role, and all of a sudden I have people coming to me asking me all these strange questions and stuff. It was a very stressful week. Yesterday was like a holiday it was so easy. I was able to just sit there and do all my dumb $24,000 a year duties and I loved it (except the part about me making $24,000 a year.) We're going to have to do something about that here sometime

Yep...I'm old

So last night, I'm flipping channels and I come across this musical on OPB. At first I started watching just out of curiosity because the girl singing looked pretty young to be on Broadway (the show was taped at Lincoln Center in New York). Well then I got into the story, and before I knew it, I'd watched the entire thing and it was midnight. And the thing was, I really enjoyed it, like it was the best thing I'd seen on TV in months (not counting World Cup and other sports events). My grandparents would've been so proud of me. The show was called "The Light in the Piazza" for anyone interested in watching it, or anyone traveling to NY anytime soon.


You know you've become an adult when you start watching OPB at night and you enjoy it. I just gave up the last shred of my childhood I think. Maybe I'll reclaim it by playing some video games and eating a cupcake for breakfast.

Things that make you go hmmmm

If a co-worker calls in to say she's stuck in traffic and will be late, should you be upset if she strolls in with a Dutch Bros. cup in her hand?


Love my job!

Anyone wanna hire an athlete?

OSU is now posting the job resumes of student athletes at osubeavers.com. Apparently they're having trouble finding a job on the merits of their working ability, so they're now trying to use the fact that they can hit a golf ball well enough to not make it on the PGA Tour to get them a job.


Now, I don't have a problem with the university doing this for their athletes. What I do have a problem with is that they don't do this for all students. They could just as easily post resumes of all graduating seniors on the regular website. The point is that if Prudential is looking for a good accountant, their first idea isn't going to be "hey, you know who would be good for this job? A gymnast!" But if the Prudential's CEO is an OSU alum who saw you get a 9.8 on the beam against Stanford last fall, he might say "hey I like her, she looks good in a unitard" and offer her a job. It's stupid.

Speaking of stupid, some of these resumes are downright pathetic. A lot of them have little or no work experience, which is to be expected because of NCAA regulations. Kyle Jeffers, for example, has "played varsity basketball at OSU" under his 'experience' section. Of course, he's also got someone else's email address and phone number at the top of his resume. Apparently when he was cutting and pasting over someone elses work, he missed that section. He also lists "honorable mention all-freshman Pac-10" as a way to highlight his "experience." Under the heading "SAAC representative, he has a bullet that says "vote on actions." What the hell does that mean? He's also part of something called the Student Alumni Association. I'm not sure how you can be a student and an alumni, but ok.

Another athlete who lists his objective as "seeking a position in team oriented business to utilize my communication and leadership skills." He then lists his experience at a marketing company, where he "sold kitchen cutlery to a variety of Oregon State Alumni." What people who didn't go to OSU don't get knives? Or were baseball boosters the only people who would accept your shitty pitch for the ginsu set? He also says that he "drove a variety of automobiles" as a grounds crew worker. Yeah, that's an important skill that highlights your communication and leadership skills.

I'm not sure this is the best way to get these kids jobs. I think they'd be better off calling successful boosters and just saying "please."

Beckham vs. Snacks

Conversation during the first half of the England soccer match this morning between Rachel and me:


Rach: I just have to say that the English soccer team is very attractive. And with those accents, ooooh boy.

Andy: Oh yeah?

Rach: But just remember, I'm here in bed with you, baby

Andy: Only because they're in Germany playing soccer right now.

Rach: (No response, just laughs)

Good Day

Today was filled with strange things. Even though it seemed like there wasn't a whole lot to do at work, I still felt like I was rushing to get everything done on time. Maybe that's just because I was ready for the week to be over. My coworker who shall remain nameless left early again....but not before she told me she's coming in late on Monday.


At lunch I went to the Corvallis Sports Park to take in a little World Cup Soccer. I learned one important thing....either Ecuadorians care way more about their soccer than the Polish, or a lot more people move here from South America than Europe. The crowd was decidedly pro-Ecuador. There were a few guys with Ecuador jerseys on. That's what makes the world cup so great.....you don't find that kind of passion about other sports at all. I think the closest thing in the US to the pandemonium seen in other countries for the World Cup would be March Madness....only it doesn't even come close to comparing.

After work, Robyn and I went to the driving range, where I peppered the netting along the left side of the range with shocking regularity. Quite a few of my balls cleared the net, and the sound of ball striking tree was heard fairly often. When I was leaving, I wondered how many of the little yellow balls in the field to the left of the road had my name on them.

Then, as I pulled onto 34, the girl in the car in front of me seemed to be flailing her right arm violently as she was driving. I mean, she was really whipping that arm around. It looked like she was trying to fight off some killer mosquito or something. Then I got a little closer and realized that her "arm" was really her dog's tail, which from a distance seemed to look like her arm to me. It might be time for new glasses.

But the funniest thing was the letter Rachel got in the mail. She had ordered a gift certificate from a restaurant for her parents. The address should've looked like this:

Rachel Persinger

2614 NW Garryanna Dr. Apt 5

Corvallis, OR 97330

What the address said was :

Racheal Sterginger

2614 NW Garriay Dr. Apt 5

Corzallis, OR 97330

How that found us, I have no clue, but just reading it makes me crack up.

The evening was fairly ho hum, until I got a call from Garth telling me that the hotel had told him they're booked for the night of our wedding. This just isn't true, and I'm about to rip the head off the next Salbasgeon Suites employee who tells someone this. This is the one thing that doesn't seem to be going right for the wedding, no matter how much effort we put into it, and I'm not happy. I'd highly recommend boycotting. Now that Arby's is off the banned Corvallis establishments list, I suppose there's room for a hotel.

I can contain myself no longer

Ok, I've been sitting here working while my co-worker has been talking about her personal life on the phone for the past 30 minutes. It's been killing me. I want to just put my headphones on and ignore it, but like a horrific car wreck, I can't seem to turn away. What's great is half an hour into the conversation she just goes "oh so how are you doing?" As if it never occurred to her until that moment that someone else was in the conversation. They just talked about the other person's life for about 30 seconds, and now she's ending the conversation by saying "Well call me sometime just to chat." AMAZING! Now she's dialing someone else! This is really funny to me for some reason. Ok, had to get that off my chest.

The Early Bird gets the worm, but what if the worm sleeps in?

So I decided today would be a good day to come into work early and get some stuff done. I figured I'd enjoy coming in early more than staying late. So what happens? Usually everything from the previous day posts in the system by 3am. Today however, is not a usual day. Basically the system is running 5 hours behind. So me being here right now is pointless. I can't do the stuff I came in early to do. That's what I get for trying to get ahead.....I'm gonna get swamped anyways. Woo-frickin-hoo.


It's now one month and counting until the wedding. I feel that Rachel and I are on top of things. I've got a few things to do today, but then it's just kind of little stuff and making sure other people are on top of their part (the hotel, the dj, the reception site, etc.)

We went and saw the breakup last night. Not a bad movie. Jon Favreau is hilarious, and I thought they did a great job of capturing the uncomfortableness of a break-up while still keeping it humorous. Only problem was the ending. The movie went from about to 4th gear to 1st gear for the last 15 minutes. It slowed way down, and except for a brief scene stolen by Favreau, there's really nothing. I was warned about this ending, but once I thought about it, there really wasn't another way to end the movie. I'm about to give away the ending, so if you haven't seen it, skip the next paragraph.

You can't have a movie called "The Break-Up" that ends with people getting back together. Furthermore, they painted themselves into a corner by making the movie a comedy. It's not like finally breaking up with someone is hilarious. Yes, the stupid little games you play trying to one-up your significant other on the way out are funny, but actually ending a serious relationship isn't. So they had to end the movie on a serious note, which really killed the mood they'd built up. I just don't see how you end the movie otherwise.......unless you show them when they're 70 years old still pulling pranks and trying to make each other jealous.

Well I've been here for about half an hour now, and I'm still no closer to getting any work done thanks to this stupid system. Since we upgraded, my work productivity has been seriously downgraded thanks to this crap. Time to find something else to waste time.

Benefits of work and blogging

while i was working today, I came to a stark realization: I enjoyed working because it took my mind off everything else.


I didn't think about how I was buying a house without fully understanding what I was doing, (Grant, you've done an admirable job, and I definitely understand that this would be easier if both Jeanne and I were using realtors.) I didn't think about who hasn't RSVP'ed to the wedding, who forgot to write down guests names, why the hotel was telling our guests they're booked when they're not, who hasn't got fitted for tuxes, or what's being served at the rehersal dinner. I didn't worry about who is sitting where at the reception, if people are going to have fun, or if all the money we were spending was really worth it. (FYI, it totally is. It just doesn't seem like it sometimes.)

The only thing I thought about was rocking the shit out of some donations. I busted ass all day because Carla was gone again. That's alright, she can work by herself and stress out all summer while I'm getting married, sitting on a beach in Hawaii or having a second reception in Wisconsin. I almost stayed late just so I could not think. Then I realized I could come home and MySpace myself into a coma.

A few questions about myspace: Why is it that when someone deletes their profile, you still have the same amount of friends? I have 72 friends but when I count, there's only like 68. Furthermore, I can't figure out who deleted themselves. It's maddening!

I also wish that it was a requirement that people blog. Even reading inane things about peoples day is more fun than not knowing what they're thinking at all. I love the fact that Grant started blogging, and am deeply saddened that Joel doesn't have the time or the desire to tell me why Barry Bonds is a douchebag anymore. I even liked it when he tried to write "grown-up" blogs about the problems with the gov't or how Wal-Mart is killing the little man. But mostly, I like it when people write about the screaming baby at the movie theater or fill out some survey with questions we've all answered a hundred times. Bloggers unite!

Turning the corner

Last night was a big one....I went from thinking "I might be getting a house and getting married," to thinking "I am getting a house and getting married." It's much more relaxing. It sounds like everything is going to work out great. We met with our mortgage guy last night and signed the papers. Funny thing was that on all the papers, the guy had written my last name as Persinger. I kept looking at it and thinking "boy that looks really weird." Rachel kept making jokes about how she didn't realize that I was taking her last name. That's when I realized just how big of a commitment she was making. She's not just marrying me, she's actually giving up a part of who she is. She's giving up the only name she's known for her entire life to take mine. It's quite a strange thing to think about, especially for a man. You think, oh wow, she's going to have my last name, that's awesome. You don't realize that she's CHANGING HER NAME FOR YOU. Very very humbling, and it just reaffirms why I'm happy I'm marrying her.


Not sure what my plan is for the weekend yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something. This time next month, I'll be moving into my very own home! How cool is that?