Roll Call for June! How's everyone's summer going so far? Mine has been pretty hectic, as I'm always busy with something going on and there's hardly much time for myself (or for me to spend with Jenn and Michael) anymore. I'm writing this post from the confines of the KLAZ control room, simply because I have no other computer where I can make a post. Consider yourself lucky that I really feel the need for a post, because it would be so easy to skip out at this point!

Well, the final verdict is that I'm never going to be able to use my laptop anymore. My insurance company "told" me that the unit was a total loss and sent me a check instead of the computer. Originally, they told me they were sending me the check so I could fix the LCD screen, but when the check came and not the computer, I grew concerned. Unfortunately, the insurance company told me they were keeping the laptop and I could use the check to buy a new one. It would have been nice if they had told me that they were going to keep it before they sent me the check, because I was never told to back up any information because they initially said I would be getting the laptop back. So now I lose all of my UCA school files, years worth of music, photos, EQ screenshots, and most importantly, my book that I've been working on for a year now. I'm very unhappy with the Safeware Insurance company and I vow never to use them again and recommend to all my readers to stray away from using them. The only good news that comes out of this is that I can get something a lot better at a cheaper price now. I'm losing a lot of good stuff, but I do get to upgrade to something way better.

The good news is that working at KLAZ has been fantastic so far. I'm loving it. I'm doing on-air work for KBHS AM1420 country from 10-2 every day and creating commercials and things for all the stations, as well as learning the mechanics, sales, and other stuff around the station. The bad news is that I'm not being paid a cent for any of it. That's right! All work and no pay makes ME a dull boy. Because Jenn, Michael, and I cannot survive with no income from my part, it was time to take a new step and go get another job. I filled out many applications and got no responses and was really feeling like the weight was tightening on my shoulders even more, but Jenn's dad has bailed me out and given me a job working in the parking garage parking cars at the Arlington Hotel. I kinda told myself I'd never work at a hotel (since my grandmother operated one for decades), but in times like these, you have to put personal preferences aside for what matters most. I actually start today in about two hours, so we'll see how everything goes. I'm really nervous because it's a fast paced job, and if you don't know what you're doing to begin with, theoretically it will be almost impossible getting into the swing of things. I just pray that I can jump right into the position and not have to waste too much of my time and everyone else's time trying to train me. At least this way I'll be getting paychecks and I have the opportunity to earn some tips on the side.

Jenn got her old job back at Central Bowling Lanes and I can tell that she loves being back. I think that having the job may make her feel more "like herself," which is great because she's been through so much lately that she needs a nice easy job where she knows everyone. I'm very proud of her and all the recovery she's went through over the past couple of months, from enduring child birth, a stubborn gall bladder, and braving many sleeping nights with me and Michael. I know she'll read this, so I better put in that I still owe her dinner at the Olive Garden because that's definitely our favorite place to eat out, and hey, doesn't she deserve it? A beautiful woman such as herself deserves a nice meal every once in a while, right?

Last Friday, Jenn and I traveled to the Wal-Mart in Hot Springs Village to participate in the town's first big Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament! I was able to play around in the first statewide tournament on the eve of the game's release, but now I've had a lot more practice and was very excited about testing the competition around Hot Springs. What made things even better was that the tournament was hosted by our very own AKA Yoshi! Jesse did a really great job setting up the tournament and picking the settings. I'm really proud of him. It's very hard to do all of that by yourself (and I offered some help--though I probably offered too much help every now and then--it was his show to run and I may have accidentally stolen the limelight once or twice). I decided to go with the Wiimote+Nunchuk as a control combo, because after practicing so long, it just feels natural to me. I was still stuck between Pikachu and Captain Olimar, but the Pokemon prevailed, and Pikachu propelled me deep into the tournament, where I would eventually lose to a tag-team combo of the infamous Link and Samus from the Melee tournament at the Albert Pike Wal-Mart oh.. six years ago? I was pretty pissed to see them back, because they were pretty cheap, but I laughed as they both were defeated by a 14-year-old boy using Olimar. It really was priceless. I ended up finishing in 6th place out of about 24 entrants, which isn't so bad I suppose. Jennifer didn't do that bad either, using Marth, she lost out shortly before I did, but not before many entrants were eliminated from the tournament. Overall, I think we both felt good about the tournament and if we practice a little more, we just may end up winning the next one!

So what's to come for June? The highly anticipated fourth album from Disturbed, "Indestructible" hit stores Tuesday, June 3rd, and even though I already got the CD (Dylan made me a copy so I didn't have to spend any money), I have yet to listen to it. I've listened to a handful of the songs online, but I haven't had the opportunity to listen to the album in its entirety. I was so sure that I'd be able to this morning on the way to work, but I accidentally left my CD player inside the house. Oh well.

Speaking of Disturbed, I never got to share with you my concert experience at EdgeFest! Yes, I know that it all happened in April, but with no laptop, I cannot upload any pictures to show you all the fun, sorry! Edge Fest turned out to be quite amazing, as Nathan, Stos, and I journed to the North Shore River Walk in Little Rock, walked nearly a mile and a half to the back of the line and made our way into the show. I didn't run into that many people that I knew, Just Matt and Tabitha Goins, but that was okay. Black Stone Cherry hit the stage first, but as an opening act, I don't think they were that good, and hardly got any recognition from the crowd, who were too busy playing with inflatable beach balls and tossing them all throughout the crowd. When Five Finger Death Punch hit the stage, everything changed. For a newer band, these guys were good, and they brought the energy an opening band is supposed to have, especially to a big music festival as Edge Fest. Nathan and I were both pretty impressed, and I believe that Nathan already went and picked up their CD. I had seen Saliva once before, back when they headlined the show at Henderson State University. They were a lot better back then, as it seemed the lead singer was just not "trying" very hard. Usually if someone's really singing and rocking out, you can see their body straining, but it looked as if he was almost lip syncing this time around. I'm not much of  a Saliva fan to begin with, but I was disappointed with their performance. Sevendust hit the stage next, and I really didn't like them very much (probably because I've never heard any of their stuff). It's very rare to see a rock/metal band with a black lead singer, but Sevendust tried to deliver (and I'd say they did a good job based on the crowd's attentiveness), but as I said, they just weren't my cup of tea.

And then, the fun began.

Disturbed's Set List:
1 Prayer
2 Liberate
3 Perfect Insanity
4 Just Stop
5 Deify
6 Voices
7 Hell
8 10,000 Fists
9 Stupify
10 Land of Confusion 
11 The Game
12 Inside the Fire
13 Stricken
14 Down with the Sickness

Seeing David Draiman on stage is almost like having a religious experience. I know that probably sounds really bad, but that's the only way to describe it. He has this aura around him that just reeks awesomeness. The way he speaks and carries himself sends chills down your spine. Disturbed played an amazing show, from start to finish, and I was very impressed. As a whole, the concert may not have been the best I've ever been to, but Disturbed may have been the best act that I've seen live. The only suggestions to the set list I had were to get rid of "Deify," "The Game," and "Land of Confusion," (even though it's a past single). I dunno, I would have rather heard "Fear," "Remember," and "Darkness," but I'll certainly live. There are some Youtube videos of some of the performances that I'll have to upload for you to see. Overall, for my first concert in over a year, I have to say that I picked a good one. I would definitely say that I've satisfied my need for live music this year (but I'm still crossing my fingers for Mudvayne, Michael Jackson, Michelle Branch, or Chimaira).

In gaming news, the biggest release of this month hits the Nintendo DS in the form of Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift. I've been playing its GBA predecessor like crazy recently, and I'm really stoked for new adventures in the world of Ivalice. The only part I don't like is that the characters have to change (but that's very typical for Final Fantasy games) and that it's rumored that I cannot rename the characters that want to join my party (so I get stuck with people named 'Yolando' etc.). I can easily put that past me and I'm patiently counting down the days until the 24th.

When I'm taking a break from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, I've been playing Wii Fitt (occassionally--we bought it but it's losing its luster the longer we have it), The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on GBA (which I can say I've finally beaten), and our newest addiction, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King. MLAAK is a "Wii Ware" title that we could download off of the Wii Shop channel for a certain number of Wii points and plays like a city-building simulation game with Final Fantasy RPG elements. It's a very innovative touch to the world of Final Fantasy and though I can't guarantee that everyone will love how it plays, I know that me and Jenn can't get enough of it. To make things better, Nintendo will be releasing new downloadable content for the game on a bi-weekly basis so the game will never get too monotonous. Rock on!

GAME OF THE MONTH: MAY


Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King

RUNNER UP:

Wii Fit

P.S. A Special Happy Birthday to Sasha!

-Mark-

Currently Listening Indestructible By Disturbed The Night see related

 Roll Call for May! Summer has officially begun and the break couldn't have come at any better of a time. I do realize that I am very behind on this post, but I have a couple of good excuses this time around and still resolve to make posts in a more timely manner.

First off the bottom half of the LCD screen on my laptop has shorted out which spells NO EverQuest for me this summer (unless of course it gets fixed), but more importantly, almost no way to have a daily attempt at Internet, and therefore, Xanga posts. I have to use the Internet from mom's house (which I'm thankful that she has it installed, because sometimes dial-up is just too slow once you're so used to using cable. It's an addiction, it really is.) to do most anything, so it means limited time for anything online. In a way, it's giving me more fresh air and making me do things that I've been putting off for a while (like getting my car fixed) but I am missing EQ quite a bit. Nevertheless, the laptop is in the shop right now to see if it's fixable. If not, I fear that I will lose a gigantic library of music, as well as a detailed direct archive of all my UCA schoolwork since freshman year, as well as many documents that were backed up from when I had my two desktop PCs.

I've also been pretty sick as of late, and am really just recovering from a nasty cold that had me down for about a week. It came with the strangest symptoms too: I had really bad joint pain (especially in my knees and shoulders) and a continuous nauseated feeling and no appetite. Going to the doctor was really a waste of $45 since they ended up telling me stuff that I already knew, so I just had to commit to bedrest for a few days and now I'm feeling fine.

Unfortunately, two people that are not feeling so fine are my wife and my mom. For her very first mother's day, I had to take Jennifer to the Emergency Room, where she was later admitted for having gall bladder troubles. I feel so bad for her because she had such a rotten mother's day (especially for her first one ever), but I promised her that I would make it up to her for her next mother's day so she can really enjoy it. We ended up staying in the hospital for three days or so while she had her gall bladder removed. Now she's home, but very fragile and slowly regaining her strength. The really bad thing about her being in a weakened state is that our anniversary is coming up shortly and I don't want it to be ruined because of her condition too. I'll go into that a little bit later.

Mom hasn't had things any better either as she has had to undergo "re-surgery" on her surgically repaired left eye. I honestly can't think of many things worse than not being able to see. Your eyes are your window to the world, and without them, I imagine that the world can be a very scary place. The surgery had to be split into two segments carried out over two days (day one: cut/drain eye ; day two: operate) and she's pretty sick over the whole ordeal. I'm actually over here right now taking care of her and letting her rest up a bit. Hell, she's done it for me all those years that I was sick as a kid, I figure it's the only way I can repay her, especially since I didn't really get her much for mother's day.

May means that school is out (I actually finished on the 30th of April) and grades are back! I really feel like I lucked out this time, because, well, just being honest, I slacked off a little bit there on the home stretch and accidentally forgot to turn in a 100 point project in one of my classes. It's not like the 4.0 GPA matters that much to me anymore (unless, of course, I can use grade forgiveness to retake Psychology), but it is something that I do like to try to attain (for my personal reasons).

Undergraduate Course work

CRN	Subject	Course	Section	Course Title	Campus	Final Grade	Attempted	Earned	GPA Hours	Quality Points
20124	ENGL	2305	0	WORLD LITERATURE I	Main	A	3.000	3.000	3.000	12.000
22124	MCOM	3308	0	NEWS EDITING	Main	A	3.000	3.000	3.000	12.000
22236	MCOM	4391	0	TPCS IN MCOM: Sports Reporting	Main	A	3.000	3.000	3.000	12.000
22580	WRTG	3300	0	CREATIVE WRITING	Main	A	3.000	3.000	3.000	12.000
22585	WRTG	3300	0	CREATIVE WRITING	Main	A	3.000	3.000	3.000	12.000

Undergraduate Summary

		Attempted	Earned	GPA Hours	Quality Points	GPA
Current Term:		15.000	15.000	15.000	60.000	4.000
Cumulative:		99.000	99.000	99.000	393.000	3.970
Transfer:		12.000	12.000	0.000	0.000	0.000
Overall:		111.000	111.000	99.000	393.000	3.970

I start work at KLAZ 105.9 FM once again on Monday, and I'll be going through my internship procedures for my graduation requirement at UCA. I think that they're going to have me doing everything, from being "front desk bitch" to billing, audio production, and, of course, on-air duty. Rumor has it that I'm replacing Blake Townshend for the "High 5 at 9" and I hope it's true, because I've been telling everyone it's true. Growing up, I remember that Dylan and I always listened to the "High 5 at 9" every single night and dreamed about doing it one day. Now, here I stand, with a very good chance to do it. I never would have dreamed that I'd actually get the chance to do it, but if I pull a quote from Angels in the Outfield, "It can happen, right?"

So what's to come for May? The real question is this: since it's the middle of the month, what hasn't happened already? Well to start things off, Jennifer and I will be celebrating our one year anniversary this upcoming Sunday (which is two days from when I'm writing this)! I can't believe that we've really only known each other for only two years, but so much has already happened for us and I think it is safe to say that we are really gracious and lucky for the kind of relationship we have and will continue to have for many years to come. Having Michael in our lives will only strengthen our bond as a family, and I'm looking forward to many more May 18ths with the one woman who finally gave me a chance. It is really unfortunate that she has had so much bad luck lately because the two of us had plans that have fallen through because of her surgery and recovery time. Nevertheless, I feel as if I can make it a special day and night for us without getting too fancy. When you're in love, there's always time to figure it out! I love you Jennifer, thank you for everything that we have together and I hope that our love will carry us through forever and ever.

Also scheduled for May is Nathan's 23rd birthday and a Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament up in Hot Springs Village at Wal-Mart, hosted by our very own AKA YOSHI! In his first official tournament hosting spot, Jesse will try to pull off the first big Brawl tournament in the state since the game released. I have high hopes for him, because he knows what he would want in a tournament, and he knows what we would want in a tournament, so it may be safe to say that Eric, Nathan, Jenn, and I would have the upper hand when it comes to the competition. Now the real question is this: do I use Pikachu or do I use Pikmin & Olimar? Decisions, decisions.

Since I haven't had any EQ capabilities, I've been playing Brawl and Mario Kart Wii every chance I get, but I'm almost to the point where I'm burned out on both of those (which isn't good because of the upcoming Brawl tournament). So to cool down some, I've been playing the hell out of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. With the sequel: FFTA2: Grimoire of the Rift set to come out next month, I figured that I'd try to 100% the game while I was waiting. I'm telling you, FFTA is one of the best games ever made because it has the most replay value out of any game I've ever played that isn't strictly multiplayer--ala Halo, Goldeneye, Mario Kart, Smash, etc--with the possible exception of Pokemon Red/Blue. I'm not too much of a Final Fantasy buff, I mean, I love the games, but they're not my favorite franchise or anything, but playing FFTA really makes me want to pick up the GBA/DS remakes of the first six Final Fantasy games.

GAME OF THE MONTH: APRIL

Grand Theft Auto IV

RUNNER UP:

Mario Kart Wii

-Mark-

Currently Gaming Final Fantasy Tactics Advance By Nintendo see related

 Roll Call for April!

Michael Alexander Oliver was born March 28, 2008 at 4:52 p.m. in Hot Springs. He was 6 pounds 1 ounce, and obviously had a full head of hair. Jennifer and I are very excited to finally have him here—and even though he was three weeks early, all it took was a week’s worth of oxygen for him to be able to come home. We all love him very much!

Yes, I know what day it is, and I haven’t had a post for April yet. I really do have a good excuse though: my laptop has been on the fritz lately and I haven’t been able to load Xanga. (For some reason, the bottom third of my monitor is shorting out, which includes the start button, taskbar, and other things, so it’s very hard to maneuver websites now.) Nevertheless, I’ll never leave you without an update, so here we go.. the extended version!

March was colossal. That’s all you can say about it. Wow. A baby shower, a 21^st birthday, and a baby: that could be an awesome title to a movie one day. Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out on the 10^th and the big celebration party was immense (though not as immense as Halo 2 or 3’s party). Also, I had my first trip out of the state of Arkansas in 10 years as I traveled with Steve Owens to Huntsville, Texas to broadcast three UCA baseball games. There was also a Halo 3 doubles tournament thrown in there, as well as an Avenged Sevenfold concert (though I missed it on the account of Michael being born—which is completely fine with me, it rained all day anyway).

Now it’s time for April. Let’s catch you up:

My mom is finally home from the Arkansas State Hospital. After being out of action since August, she finally can return to a “free life,” away from police/state custody. Everyone (well, almost everyone) was really happy to see her return, and we all wish her the best on her recovery (and hope that she doesn’t stray from her recovery).

All I know is that September doesn’t have to be so alone at the house any more. If I could get her a medal to wear around her neck, I would. She has been the best watchdog that I have ever known, and to stick around, basically by herself, for that many months with minimal human interaction shows extreme loyalty. I love that pup.

Last Sunday was Dylan’s 24^th birthday party and we all had a really great time. It was also sort of a celebration for my mom’s return, and she was very happy to see all of us (well most of us) reunited as a family again. After dinner, all of us kids, (which involves me, Jennifer, Natasha, Dylan, Malachi, and Zach) went outside and played around with a magnifying glass, burning ants and stuff. Childlike, but fun!

Last week, there was a big Guitar Hero 3 tournament over in McCastlain Hall. Yes, I went. Now you may ask why, and that’s okay, because I’m terrible at Guitar Hero 3 (let alone any Guitar Hero game now) and my spirits have been dashed ever since the horrendous defeat at the Cortex many months ago. Still, I went. The tournament wasn’t publicized very much, and the only way I found out about the tournament was a flyer on the 4^th Floor of Irby—the teacher’s offices. Nobody would go up there and read a flyer, come on! Either way, I stole the flyer so nobody else could find it. Of course, there are going to be door prizes given away, which is always a plus, and for the people that lose out early, they had Nintendo 64s and Super Nintendos hooked up for people to reminisce on while the true Guitar Heroes carry on through the fire and flames. The tournament wasn’t a complete bust for me: I placed ninth out of 16, and breaking the top 10 is always a plus, no matter how many people entered. The competition, to be honest, wasn’t all that great, but there were a select few that were dominant and they really grabbed the top spots easily.

More great news for me: I was browsing Facebook at about 2:30 last week and stumbled across some guys that need one more man for their Intramural Softball team. I’ve been so bummed lately because I hadn’t found a team for two semesters in a row now, and though it may sound stupid, it really hits me hard when I have to walk to my car every night after work and see the lights and hear the sounds of the stadium where everyone else is playing softball and I’m not. There was only one catch to being on the team: I had to be the catcher. I’ve played every position on the baseball diamond except catcher, and even though it’s intramural softball and the catcher hardly does anything, I’m still nervous about it. It’s never a big deal when you’re batting, but when you’re the catcher, you have to always worry about the batter swinging too hard and hitting you in the face. Maybe it’s not that bad, I’m not sure. Nevertheless, I suited up and took the field on Monday at 10 p.m. for “El Diablo!” These guys are good. I mean, really good. They were undefeated going into the game, and we were playing the only other team in our division that was supposed to be any good. Needless to say, we had no problem dealing with them as we ran away with a 14-3 victory. I went 1-3 with 2 RBI which I consider to be a good outing since I’ve been on a yearlong hiatus from any kind of baseball or softball. So now, going into the playoffs, we remain undefeated, and not only get a bye to the second round, but get to face off against one of the weaker teams (out of whichever teams win) in the entire league in the semifinals. We play again Sunday April 20 bright and early at 11 a.m. This time, Jennifer gets to come up and watch me play and she an actually see me get a good hit for her, rather than just hearing it over the phone.

Last Friday, for my Sports Reporting class, I had to cover a high school baseball game, so what better place to pick than my hometown Mountain Pine Red Devils? That’s right, for the first time since I graduated, I attended a Red Devils game, and to my surprise, more people recognized me than I thought would. I really felt at home again. All I did was walk to the concession stand and everyone started giving me shout outs. Wow. Jennifer got to come with me too and experience baseball from a 5-2A standpoint and I actually feel like she had a lot of fun. The Red Devils had brand new jerseys and batting helmets, and they looked really good, which made me jealous, but it also opened up the possibility of me getting my old jersey from out of the archives. That was exciting. I need to look into it more because I have to have that jersey. It means that much to me. Afterwards, Jenn and I had a very nice dinner at the Olive Garden and migrated to Eric’s to play Brawl with Jesse!

On Tuesday, I had to get dressed up and travel to Little Rock for a “personal interview” with the committee for the Jim Elder Good Sport Scholarship fund. To my surprise, even though Levi was turned down, I was chosen as one of the three finalists for the $3,500 scholarship. Wow! I was so surprised, but also very scared. Basically, I had to prove to a committee that I was better than three other Mass Communication majors that obviously are very qualified as well. I went down to Little Rock early, and I met another one of the finalists, named Caroline from UALR. She was really nice and we talked for a while before she was called back. I ran my thoughts through my head while she was being interviewed and when she finally came out, it was my turn. Going in and sitting down, the very first things that were asked to me were, “So, Mr. Oliver is Psychology your favorite subject?” (Because it’s my only B at UCA) and “Where in the world did ‘MasterMooCow’ come from?” They were all very nice and I spent a lot of my time talking about personal experiences and how living with a wife and newborn child has been. Between all of the normal, personal questions, they decided to throw a curveball into the mix when they asked me how to calculate earned run average (ERA) out of the blue. I have to say, they really stunned me and even though I know how to do it, I couldn’t think of it when I was sitting in that chair. Embarassing! I really thought that I blew the interview based on that one question. No lie. After the interview was over, I headed back home, thinking that I blew a chance at getting $3,500 dollars for school and all I had to do was answer one simple baseball question.

From: Susan Elder

To: Moocow Milkblaster

Mark,

Congratulations! You have been chosen as one of two Jim Elder Good Sport Fund scholarship winners. And since tuition rates are rising, we’re changing the amount of the scholarship from $3,000 to $3,500. This will be credited to your account at UCA late this summer for the Fall 08 term.

We all enjoyed meeting you very much, and we admire your determination to succeed. We look forward to following your career with great interest, and we are sure that your attitude and sense of humor will always work well for you. We also hope that you will keep us up on your activities and whereabouts as you begin your professional career.

Next Tuesday, Levi, RJ, and I will be part of UCA’s annual “Bear Sports in Review.” Bear Sports in Review is an ESPN Sports Center-esque show featured on Channel 6 that summarizes all of the action of UCA sports throughout the whole year. RJ and I will be hosting the baseball segment and I’m pretty excited about it. I’m going to start working hard on gathering stats so I can sound somewhat coherent when doing the show.

I've been playing a hell of a lot of EverQuest lately to pass the time of the lonely last weeks of the semester and me and Team Slithinknott have been busting ass all over the Secrets of Faydwer expansion. Callipso is close to level 80 (and he may actually reach 80 tonight, depending on what kind of force we get). Today is patch day and the new change to AA experience has went in, making it super easy to gain AA points (which is great for me because I'm very far behind). Also, all of the key/flag requirements to most older zones have been removed. That's right, from Veeshan's Peak to Deathknell, all flags have been removed and now entrance to these zones is based on level requirements. Amazing. I'll finally get to go to some of the zones that I never had a chance to raid and visit during EQ's prime.

So what’s to come for April? Gamewise, the big dogs this month are Grand Theft Auto IV and Mario Kart Wii. I won’t have the cash to pick up Mario Kart when it’s released, but that’s okay with me. I have a hunch that it will actually give Brawl a run for its money. The inclusion of online 12-cart races and online battle mode make this game very desirable.

Saturday, April 26, Disturbed will be coming to town as they co-headline Edge Fest 2008 with Kid Rock. Disturbed has a lot of new stuff out now from their upcoming album and I’m really enjoying what I’m hearing so far. I’ve always said that I thought that Disturbed would be one of the best bands to see play live, and I’ll finally get to know if I’m right or not come Saturday. I’m super excited. Nathan has tickets too, and I think Eric is trying to pick some up as well. It’ll kinda be a “guys day out,” and I can’t wait to see David Draiman hit the stage. The warm-up bands aren’t really that bad either: Black-Stone Cherry, Five Finger Death Punch, Saliva, and Sevendust. As soon as Disturbed’s set ends, I can peace out, and get out of there before Kid Rock even hits the stage. Is this the concert of the year? I say yes. Is this the concert of the past three years? Most likely. Disturbed is that big.

t.A.T.u., is scheduled to release their newest album, Waste Management sometime around the end of the month. I’m a bit worried about this release as there is still no official release date on the CD. Chances are that it will be pushed back, but as of right now, it’s scheduled for an April release. I can’t wait to hear some of the stuff in English, because it sounds really good in Russian—I just can’t understand the words.

GAME OF THE MONTH: MARCH

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

RUNNER UP:

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

-Mark-

Currently Reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) By Jeff Kinney see related

A lot has happened so far this month that I need to catch you up on, so be prepared for a gigantic Xanga post; perhaps the biggest one ever? Why don’t we just start in chronological order, shall we? 

March 10, 2008 was a very big day for Jennifer and me because it was the day of Michael’s Baby Shower! Isn’t it crazy to believe that he’s almost here already? Wow! Well, I was really excited about the gathering, even though I knew I would be the only male around that day (which didn’t bother me any—it was the same way at our wedding shower!). We held the shower at Mt. Tabor Community Church, which is also the church that the two of us were married in. The theme of our party was in Winnie the Pooh, and the entire place was littered with stuffed animals, figurines, and the big centerpiece: a 1,000-piece photo mosaic puzzle of Winnie the Pooh that Jennifer worked really hard on creating. Everyone loved it, and I have to say that she did an amazing job on the project. I suppose this means that I have to make amends with her by getting her the other 1,000-piece puzzle that she wants, because she has proved to me that she can tackle the project if she puts her mind to it.

I’m pretty sure that my son owns more clothes than I do, but that’s ok with me. We got so many different things from everyone at the shower, and I’m glad Jennifer is working as hard as she is, or else I would probably get lost in the mounds of clothes and items that we have and the items that we still need. I can’t even begin to list all the different things that we received at the shower, but we basically got everything we needed other than a car seat and not very many duplicates at all which is really nice. I had a really great time and it was very nice to see all of our family members come and spend some time together.

Shortly after the baby shower, I found myself on the road back to Conway, as I had to be at the midnight release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl at Gamestop to film for Channel 6. The release party was not half as big as the one for Halo 3 was, but it was still pretty fun; as there was a Brawl tournament that went down to keep everyone busy while they waited in the blistering cold temperatures. The winner of the tournament would have the opportunity to advance to round two as Nintendo was trying to find the ultimate brawler in the entire country! I was lucky enough to be able to enter, and I chose King Dedede and had to face off against someone with Lucas. The hard thing about the tournament is that the matchers were only 60 seconds long and took place on Final Destination. The level didn’t bother me much, but you had to choose a character that could even get a KO in one minute! Dedede is very powerful, so I decided to use him and the two of us ended up trading lives just before time ran out, sending us into Super Sudden Death. To be honest, I would have won, had it not have been for an explosive item capsule that he hit me with. Nevertheless, we went to Sudden Death and I tried to throw a Waddle Dee at Lucas, but it came up just short and he pounded me with PK Thunder. Match over. Unfortunately, I lost, but it was still pretty fun to get to play the game (even though I had played it two nights before, courtesy of my favorite GameStop employee!). I finally got my game at the stroke of midnight (I was 8^th in line), and made it home to play a little bit. However, I was so cold from standing outside for 3.5 hours that I could barely move my hands and decided to start the unlocking grind the following day.

I played Brawl nonstop the following day, defeating the SubSpace Emissary in a little over seven hours (when it seems to take most others close to ten hours. The gameplay for the campaign is a little monotonous and repetitive at times, but the storyline, cutscenes, and various character combinations seem to make up for it. Playing through the campaign unlocks every character in the game except for Jigglypuff and Toon Link, so it really paid to play the campaign first. By the end of the day, I had all the characters unlocked and all of the levels including one (which I unlocked shortly thereafter). I felt a little bad for plowing through the content (as I always seem to do with games I really want to play), but I wanted to get everything out of the way so I could start playing online and have all options open to me.

Eric, Jesse, and I have been playing online matches for a few hours every night and trying to find out which characters we like the most/least, as well as trying to determine our main characters for this third installment in the Smash Bros. series. Nathan also took advantage of some days off to come up to Conway and try his hand at the game. I would say that he really likes Ike, even though he’s still very attuned to Samus and her Zero Suit counterpart. Eric seems to like Pit and Snake, while Jesse has been playing Metaknight almost religiously. So far, I’m really liking King Dedede, although I’ve been working with Captain Olimar a lot lately. Yoshi is still very solid, and while Pikachu has gotten so much better, Peach has gotten a hell of a lot worse, and I’m afraid that I won’t play her much anymore because Nintendo swung the nerf bat at her. Other fun characters that I like to play around with are Wolf and Wario.

March 16, 2008 marked the second time in my life that I had ever exited the state of Arkansas. I was invited to Huntsville, Texas by the radio station to go and do color commentary for my first trio of baseball games with Steve Owens! Wow! I was very excited about the trip, as it would be the only real Spring Break vacation I’ve had in many years. I skipped my second class on that Thursday (yes, Mark skipped a class! Don’t faint, okay?) and Steve O and I hit the road in UCA’s very own 1989 Chrysler Shadow! There really is no need for excitement, as it was probably the biggest piece-of-crap car that I’ve ever ridden in, but at least it got us to and from our location, right? The trip down to Huntsville took around 7.5 hours, but the time seemed to go pretty quickly with all of the sights, sounds, and smells we endured en route to our destination. We also had a GPS system with us that we’ll call “Garmin” that provided no help to us at all, as it wanted us to turn down these strange roads in the ghetto, thus prolonging our trip even longer! As we passed through Texarkana, Arkansas, I remember the awful smell that hit us, as the whole town smells like waste, and from now on, I’ll remember to bring a gas mask if I ever have to travel through that town again.

My first steps in the Lone Star State happened to be in a huge dirt patch in the parking lot of Whataburger in Marshall, Texas. Whataburger is a fast food hamburger chain that’s almost exclusive to Texas, and it should not be confused with “Whattaburger” (2 Ts) in Russellville, Arkansas, because they are not the same place at all. I ordered a “Whatachicken” which turned out to be the best chicken sandwich I had ever eaten from a restaurant before, but I underwent much scrutiny for the rest of the weekend because apparently I was suppose to order a “Whataburger” and not a “Whatachicken” for my first time at the restaurant. Oops!

It took us about an hour driving through Texas before we saw our first cow. Unfortunately, it was just a normal cow and not one of the fabled longhorn cattle. Against popular opinion, the parts of Texas that we drove through (basically down the eastern border) were mostly forest and not so much flatlands. We saw a lot of interesting sights along the way, including bars with giant holes in the walls (used for entrances no doubt), horribly-misspelled businesses (The “Waush Haus,” a coin-operated laundry), and even a mysterious forest fire out in the middle of nowhere (that Steve O still believes the KKK had some involvement in). When we finally arrived in Hunstville, Garmin (the GPS) took us to a closed Shipley’s Donuts in the middle of the ghetto instead of taking us to our hotel, which was slightly more irritating than comical. We decided to scrap the GPS and use our eyes to find the place, and shortly after, we found ourselves nestled in at the La Quinta inn, conveniently located across the street from the Texas State Penitentiary. How lovely?

For the next three days, our day consisted of waking up, going to find food, and spending most of the remainder of the day at Don Sanders Stadium, home of the Sam Houston State University Bearkats. The stadium was huge and very visually pleasing. One look at the place made me finally realize how shitty UCA’s field really is. We really need a lot of work on our stadium if we are ever going to stop being the laughing stock of Division 1 baseball. Steve O and I had our very own announcing booth and throughout the weekend, I slowly became immersed in the world of baseball broadcasting (which is really what I want to do when I get out of college.) I did play by play and color commentary for a UCA basketball game a few months ago, but only for one half, and never as long as these three baseball games were. It was an amazing experience, and if anyone missed hearing it online, I’d be more than happy to burn the games onto a CD for all to listen to. Who knows, I may be famous one day! We ended up losing all three games, and Steve O was pretty depressed the entire weekend because of it, but I still kept my head up high because I was having fun doing what I wanted to do and getting to see a new part of the country that I had never even thought I’d ever get to see before.

One funny experience that I took from Texas was the fact that pizza subs are nonexistent at Subways. That’s right, when I went into Subway and asked for a foot long pizza sub, the lady behind the counter dropped her jaw and was like “huh?” I said “Yes, one foot long pizza sub please!” and then she leaned over the counter, looked me straight in the eye and said, “Sir, we don’t have any pizza subs here. You must not be from around here, are you?” And then I gave up and had to settle for something else on the menu. I can’t specifically remember what I got, but it wasn’t that good. Apparently pizza subs aren’t on the menu in many places, so beware if you’re traveling and want to pick one up!

Before I knew it, my first trip to Texas was over, and Steve O and I were on the long car ride home. We stopped through Nacogdoches, Texas on the way home and I got to browse past the campus of Stephen F. Austin University, and eat at a place called “Raising Cain’s” which had really good chicken, but gave both of us the shits by the time we reached Marshall once again. Overall, it was a pretty good trip, and definitely something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. So without further ado, here’s some of the better pictures from the trip!

The "Brown" lake outside of Huntsville. Yes, there is no blue in the water, it's all brown!

The hotel room, from the inside. At least Steve O's bed is halfway made.

Steve Owens in action!

Me in action!

Traveling through Nacogdoches.

For the first time in my entire life, I had to go to school on my birthday. Usually my birthday falls on Spring Break and I get a “week-long celebration” but that did not turn out to be the case this time around. To be quite honest, Tuesday the 18^th was a pretty miserable day. As I’ve mentioned, I had to go to class, and once I got done with classes I had to go straight to work. Did I forget to mention that it rained? And as you know by now, when it rains in Conway, it floods. After work, as Levi and I were leaving, we noticed the large puddles of water gathering in the hallways as we were leaving. The ceilings were leaking, and that was just the beginning of our problems. The next morning, parts of the ceiling had caved in and created more water damage, and the production room began to reek of mold and mildew (and still does almost a week later). I don’t know how we’re ever going to fix that problem, but it is torture being down there now. I think I’ll call it “The Great Radio Station Flood of 2008” (and let’s hope that there won’t be a ’09 version either!). And last, but not least, I was all by myself for my birthday, and that’s one thing I would never wish on anybody. I don’t really even care about the whole “being 21” thing because alcohol doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest bit, but the thing that depressed me the most of all was that I couldn’t really see or be with any of my loved ones. Being alone on my birthday really dampened the mood (no pun intended) to say the least.

But let’s get back on track here. My birthday wasn’t all bad, because there were two things that brightened the day for me. For starters, at work, UCA won an extra innings ballgame against the #8 team in the nation: Ole Miss! I couldn’t believe it either. UCA played a very close game and came through to win it in the tenth inning! It was UCA’s biggest victory in any sport, hands down and it will be a very memorable ballgame because it was played and won on my birthday! How neat is that?

Another good thing about my birthday was that the Student Activities Board was holding a Halo 3 tournament on the second floor of the student center that night. I hadn’t played Halo 3 in a while, and I’ve really packed up my Xbox 360 for a while, but I figured I would go ahead and test the competition anyway (because there wasn’t anything better to do anyway.) When I arrived, I tried to register, but I learned that the tournament was for 2-man teams only, and I was but one man. I was bummed, because it was more bad news for an already shitty day, but I decided to wait around until the tournament began to see if someone would come straggling in and need a teammate. And just my luck, right before they called attendance, some free agent came walking in and I was redeemed! I didn’t care who he was or how good he was, because I was desperate and I would have taken the first person that walked through the door and wanted to play because I wanted to play! And I also thought that in the worst-case scenario, I would just follow him and have his back if he was awful.

So the tournament began, and we didn’t have to play for a long while (since we were the last team to enter), which was good because a lot of good competition was eliminated early on. It turned out that my teammate really hadn’t played Halo 3 much, but he knew the controls from playing Halo 1 and 2 a lot. Basically, I knew that it was going to be a long shot, and I tried to explain all the maps to him beforehand, but it was a futile effort. I do feel as if he got the idea down somewhat, which I have to give him credit for, but overall his skills just couldn’t compare to the rest of the people who have been playing a lot like I have. We ended up losing the first round in two games in a best 2-of-3 style, but the scores were 25-19 and 25-16. Not exactly blow outs, but not Ws either. Regardless of how my teammate did, I was very glad to have him, because without him, I wouldn’t have been able to enter the tournament and play at all. I was definitely rusty, but I had a blast just being there with the atmosphere; the people that love videogames, and just doing something I enjoyed on my birthday. After all, it was raining like balls outside, what else was there to do? We ended up finishing 9^th of 19, which really isn’t even half bad. After all, it’s considered a top ten finish still, right? :p

Well, I knew it was only a matter of time before I’d be back on EverQuest again, but I did need a slight break from the game to say the least. Now, Nathan and I have been playing on a nightly basis, leveling our alts up and having a lot of fun as he’s been playing Nabr (currently 59 Druid) and I’ve been leveling Zaser (currently 61 Necromancer) and have been soloing in the Planes of Power. Necromancers are so powerful after 60, it’s insane, but I love it, and I feel that before too long, Zaser is going to be passing up both Bakkup and Taiden and break the level 70 barrier in no time. We’ve been trying to get Andrew and David playing again, but they’ve been so busy with whatever they have going on that they haven’t been able to. I’m really not sure what Andrew’s deal is right now, but I’m sure that he’ll have to figure things out on his own. If he strays down the wrong path, which seems to be a matter of time at this rate, I just hope that he can find a way to back himself out of a hole before he gets in too deep.

In music news, Michelle Branch has popped back onto the music scene to announce that she will be returning to the studio to record her third album! (Yes and Jessica Harp will be nowhere on it, we presume.) It has been confirmed to be a solo album, which probably brightened my face like a Christmas tree, but to be serious; I’m extremely excited about it because I feared that there would be a lack of good music coming out this year, since a lot of good stuff has come out over the past two years.

Disturbed is also making more music news, as they are not only co-headlining Edge Fest this year with Kid Rock, but they are also going to be the main act at this year’s Beale Street Music Festival at Memphis in May! Although it would be another great opportunity to see the band, I’m not interested in going to Memphis in May, because it basically sounds like the modern-day Woodstock, and apparently things get a little too crazy up there. It’s good music, but I don’t think it’s worth the risk. Regardless, I’m excited about seeing Disturbed at Edge Fest (and let’s not forget Avenged Sevenfold one week from today!). Disturbed’s newest album, “Indestructable” has been pushed back, however, and will now release on June 3, 2008, instead of mid May. Disturbed's newest single, Inside the Fire has also debuted on the radio airwaves, so tune in and check it out! If you can't wait that long, you can check it out atop the site!

Metroid Metal has also emerged from hibernation, as the latest track, coming from Metroid Prime 3, has hit the Internet. It's called "Theme and Bryyo." It's ok, but not as good as the past few songs have been. I guess the ongoing trend with Metroid Metal music is to listen to it a few days to become attuned to the new sound. Nevertheless, you can go to www.metroidmetal.com and download it for yourself!

-Mark-

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