On the road again...

Before I get too it, a quick belated THANK YOU to any veterans and current members of the military out there. I have several friends who are currently abroad serving with various branches of the service and I wish them well and want them all to get home safely.

So, tomorrow I begin my Eastward trek to the Big Apple. We have a few things planned for the journey up, including a visit to the St. Louis Gateway Arch. I haven't been to that thing since 6th grade (or maybe 4th grade), so it will be fun to go up to the top again. I just hope that the rain that we've been having these past few days subsides while we visit.

I remember that the elevator tram that takes you up is egg shaped and it goes up like its going up stairs.

We also have a scheduled stop to a little pizza joint called DiCarlo's in Wheeling West Virginia. Its supposed to be a good pie and we should be hitting the Appalachians around dinnertime so it works out well.

We have a ton of options when we get to NYC (obviously), so we'll start picking and choosing where we'll end up. There are a couple "must do" things on my list however. First, its to finally see Wicked. I lolligagged when this was showing in LA and just never scheduled a time to go. However, it will be cool to see it on Broadway. Secondly, we'll be dining at Ninja New York. It looks like a fancy-shmancy sushi place, but it looks pretty ill.

My last must see item on my first road trip of the year is a visit to Gettysburg National Military Park. We'll actually hit this on the way back from New York, but I'm really excited for this part. I've already downloaded about 3 hours worth of guided tours onto my iPod so I'm good to go. Unfortunately, due to time constraints we won't be able to spend the recommended 4 to 5 hours there, so we'll probably do the quick auto tour and check out some of the highlights.

OK, so I've been trying to compile some figures and mileage. As we were planning this voyage I began wondering how many miles have I racked up taking such excursions. My love affair with the open road started at a very young age. Since we had a shotgun blast sprinkling of relatives all over the place our family would often hit the highways each summer and during some winter holidays. I spoke with my mom on many of the numbers from my early childhood to try and get some sort of estimate.

Please note that this is definitely an estimate. I'll really have to sit down one day and try and figure out exactly how many miles its been, but for curiosity's sake, we'll just do a rough break down. Now, I'm only counting trips greater than 4 hours. This will eliminate many visits "home" during my college years (my parents lived about 3 hours from where I went to college). I will also eliminate all of the quick trips from Orange County to Las Vegas.

I'm also not sure at all about how many times I've made the trek to the Bay Area over the past 9 years, so I'll just use a very broad estimate of 30. It may be more, but that's probably a good guess.

So, without any ado, lets take a look. I'll include some mileage estimates courtesy of Google for travel ONE way there, then I'll multiply that by the number of trips and then double that number (so I can account for the miles getting there and coming back).

Destination	# of trips	1-way mileage	Total miles
Childhood through College (from Columbia Missouri)
Disney World Orlando	2	1119	4476
Disney Land Anaheim/LA	2	1743	6972
Jacksonville FL	1	1760	3520
NYC/NJ	6	1072	12864
Toronto Canada	2	897	3588
Yellowstone National Park	1	1337	2674
Ames IA	6	348	4176
Edgerton WI	6	423	5076
Chicago IL	4	387	3096
College Days
Toronto Canada	1	897	1794
Oklahoma City OK	1	471	942
Lake Forest CA (flew back)	1	1836	1836
Chicago IL	3	387	2322
Nashville TN	1	435	870
Minneapolis MN (flew back)	1	557	557
After college (mostly from Irvine CA)
Jersey City NJ (flew back)	1	3031	3031
San Franscisco/Vallejo CA	30	422	25320
Lake Tahoe	1	530	1060
Columbia MO	3	1978	11868
Columbia MO (from SF CA)	1	1996	3992
Phoenix AZ	1	361	722
TOTAL			100756

Dang...that's starting to rack up huh? Hmm, the Moon is around 240,000 miles away from Earth. So, with all of the road trips I've taken, I could have gotten almost halfway to the freakin Moon!



Speaking of which, I need to start getting the rest of my stuff together. I have to pack up all the road trip junk food and Redbulls.

New York City here we come!

First "tick" of the year...

Well, I guess I can officially kick off my Midwestern summer. You may be wondering, what kind of tick am I eluding to with the title of this blog entry. Is it the tick of the clock as we approach the summer solstice (which is June 21st BTW)? Is it a new nervous tick that I developed when I think about what my new job responsibilities would be after I am a nurse?

Though either option would have been interesting to talk about, I'm actually referencing a tick of an Arachnida kind.

As I took a shower this evening I felt and odd bump on my lower leg. Upon further inspection I noticed that I had an unwanted visitor upon my integumentary system (I'm referring to my silky smooth skin of course).

For any West Coast readers who have never had the pleasure of having an insect stowaway decide to attach themselves onto you, they look like this:

This was probably the least gross picture I found on the Internet.

Don't worry, its doesn't hurt when it bites. I didn't even notice it until a few hours later. And, as long as the little tick bastard isn't carrying something like Lyme Disease, then I should be OK.

I'm pretty sure I know how I got the tick. I went to go toss the ol'frisbee again with my cousin to bask in the sunshine. I'm also trying to get a little color back into my pale visage while enjoying the weather.

Well, during one toss I decided to try and let it rip and go for the distance. As what usually happens to me, when I try to over do it, I lost all semblance of good throwing mechanics and sent the Frisbee disc flying into the woods. I'm sure the little parasite decided to hop on the Strictor Train when I was climbing through the foliage and brambles to retrieve my disc.

So what did the little 8 legged punkass get for his trouble? Probably a few microliters of my tasty Type O and a flush down the toilet.

So I guess I'll go ahead and officially kick off my summer...have I mentioned it's F'ing humid out here?

I haven't compiled the road trip mileage yet, but I should have it down by Tuesday. I'll blog before I start my latest roadtrip adventure to the East. But, to help you kill some more time, here's a quick review of a few movies, new and old, that I recently saw.

Star Trek


This is definitely a very fun movie. With the advent of the technology that can magically make movies (even current releases) appear directly onto my hard drive at home, I tend to reserve the movie going for large action movies or date nights (gotta keep expenses down in this economy!).

However, with the crush of summer blockbuster type movies that are being released I would definitely give this one a big recommendation. 3 Strictorheads for sure!

Its a very cool new take on the entire Star Trek saga. And I like the way they handled the whole time travel aspect. I may be a J. J. Abrams fan boy, but I do like the direction he is taking with this new cast. I've never been a trekkie and was never really a big fan of the Star Trek universe, but I think I can get on board with this iteration.

I really liked the casting job they did with the new crew. Click here to see what they were actually looking at. Crazy Frenchie.

Terminator Salvation

If you're looking for a decent but mindless summer action movie with robots and explosions (and don't want to wait for Transformers 2) then definitely see this movie. This is actually a good movie to appreciate a theater's sound system. But, as far as story telling, I think it got a little bit confusing to try and figure out who really was the "main" character. Also, since there were already 2 good Terminator movies (I refuse to count the 3rd one, Rise of the Machines, as an actual movie), the confusion of events that take place and space time continuum issues kinda make this movie just so-so.

Downfall (Der Untergang)


While I seriously doubt any of you who are reading would actually sit through a subtitled movie about Hitler's final days, I would still recommend this movie. On a more entertaining note, many folks in cyberspace have used one of Hitler's tirades from the movie to make some pretty entertaining viral clips. Here is my favorite, of course it references Big 12 football. Check it out here.

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People

This movie was OK. There are some entertaining parts, but mostly I felt like I was supposed to laugh, but really didn't. There is one awesome redeeming quality of the film, and I'll let you guess.........Yup, Simon Pegg. Funny dude.

This was my favorite scene in the movie. I loved the way the cinematographer was able to capture the lighting reflecting off the pool and the positioning of the water lilies. Amazing. Also, the water was cold.

That's it for me...I'ma go watch a couple more movies tonight. Maybe The Duchess or My Best Friend's Girl.

All done for now...

Well, the last final went well. Both my anatomy and physiology professors emailed me my grade and thankfully I completed the 4.0 sweep. The cool thing is that my physiology professor actually offered to write me a letter of recommendation (which is required for my applications) and he said that I finished the class with the highest grade he's ever given. Word to yo mutha!

The semester really flew by. I remember the semesters during my first stint in undergrad seemed to drag as I only waited for the summer or winter breaks. I guess my advanced age makes time speed up and makes my childhood seem that much further away. F that! I'm holding onto my Peter Pan complex for as long as I can!

I'm not sure if I'm making a Disney appropriate face...

Oh well, I just wanted to share my good news out to cyberspace.

Another awesome weather day today and I actually went out and enjoyed it. Its funny, when I lived in Southern California we had days like these about 355 times a year, but now that I know it won't be like this for long, I'm making more of a point to get out there.

I went and tossed the Frisbee with my cousins. I think my younger cousin might be a disc golf prodigy. She was already a state qualifier in real golf, but I think disc golf may be her actual calling. She was chucking it straight on for 30-40 yards, her accuracy was uncanny. Hmm, I wonder if there is any money to be made as a disc golf manager/caddie.

Also, since I have a big East coast road trip lined up next week its gotten me thinking about how many miles I have traveled on such road trips. I've started to compile the numbers and will blog about that later...its gonna be a lot. I probably should'a gotten a job as a long haul truck driver.

Time to grab some grub...

SLTSFFM

Like a bullet, meant to be shot
You're the target, dead on the spot
When I focus, I never miss
It starts with a kiss

"Ricochet" by Shiny Toy Guns

A perfect Spring day...

The weather today was pretty awesome. With the big storm that passed the other day the humidity was way down and while there were some clouds, there was ample amounts of sunshine and a nice cool breeze. Ahhh...too bad it isn't like this every day.

However, I did do my best to ruin the perfect day. What did I do you ask? I decided to go for a run outside with my cousin. EPIC FAIL!!!

I think my lack of cardiovascular exercise will be the downfall of my "Fine in 09" strategy. We'll I probably got in a good mile before my lungs decided to stop working and my throat felt like it was filling with blood. Nice. We'll see if I can drag myself out again tomorrow and run some more. Its supposed to be nice for the next few days.

Side note: I had forgotten how gnarly these Midwestern storms can get. Pretty scary!

I have my last final in about 12 hours. As you can tell, I'm evidently not too worried about it. I am studying, but I'm relatively confident that I'll get the points I need to keep my A. Honestly, I'm more worried about not waking up in time and missing the final entirely. I also have to go resell my books after the test. I know I'm going to get jobbed on the resale value.

I'm taking a quick break while I eat a protein bar. Actually, while studying I'm actually playing the movie Der Undergang (Downfall in German). It's a movie about the final days of Hitler at the end of World War II. I'll probably have to rewatch it after my final as it is in German and I'm not really looking at the subtitles.

Eh, I'll probably stop it and just listen to some Celtic Woman whilst I study. Only 3 more chapters to review then gotta look at some comprehensive materials.

But, it got me thinking about my favorite World War II movies. Here's a quick list in no particular order. I'd suggest checking them out...but I'm sure most of you won't. =)

Reset Button's favorite World War II movies (granted some very good movies got left off, but I wanted to limit it to 10):

Lets get the sad ones out of the way first:

Grave of the Fireflies

Want to have a good cry? Watch this movie and don't let the fact that its an Anime (cartoon) fool you. The first time I watched it I was actually pissed off that an F'ing cartoon could make me so sad. Its about a brother and sister who are trying to survive the firebombings in Japan.

Just wait till you get to the part with the rocks. Be ready for the waterworks!

Schindler's List

Liam Neeson is probably one of my favorite actors.


Malena

Not all together sad, but has sad moments. Great story though about some other sides of war that we don't often think about.

Three words: Monica. Bellucci. Boobies.

Now on to more Action movies. I'll do some of the older movies first:

A Bridge too Far

A great movie about Operation Market Garden in which the Allies tried to utilize paratroopers to take strategic bridges on the road to Germany. As with most wartime plans, a lot of sh!t went wrong. Tons of great actors in this movie too, would be a good one for a movie trivia game.

Dammit, I said no double parking on the bridge!

The Dirty Dozen

Need a crack team to operatives to go on a suicide mission behind enemy lines? Send in a bunch of prisoners with life sentences. Also, Jim Brown does a cool football drill with grenades!


Das Boot

This movie made me want to become a Naval Submariner for about 15 minutes. Then I learned about water pressure and implosion.

"What the hell do all of these gauges mean? AHHHHH!"

Memphis Belle

A great movie about the final required bombing mission of a U.S. bomber crew before they are discharged and allowed to go back home.


Enemy at the Gates

Talk about some tense moments. This movie revolves around the battle of Stalingrad between German and Russian troops. Craziness. You pop your head up from behind a wall and its liable to get popped off, F'ing snipers.

Who you checking out Jude Law? Is it the nanny? Niiiiice.

Letters from Iwo Jima

Another cool movie that explores a side of the conflict that we rarely learn about. It points out that most soliders are just kids who end up at the wrong place at the wrong time and have to do what they can to survive.

I guess he did in fact, bring a knife to a gun fight.

Saving Private Ryan

The opening beach sequence is enough to put this movie on any top ten list.



Ok, enough of this. Time to get back to the Renin-angiotensin system. Good times!

One more to go!

Last night was my Anatomy final. I only needed 22 points out of a 100 to secure my A in the class. I'm sure I scored at least 60 points in the cumulative section (for some reason the bones and muscles stuck in my memory) so I should have my A in Anatomy. All that's left is Physiology which isn't until next Monday.

I just checked my grade for Microbiology and thankfully I kept my A. I had a few qualms after the lecture final, but it looks like I scored high enough.

I haven't rocked a 4.0 grade point average since high school. Sweet!

All I have left is to take the TEAS test in July and my application will be complete. The TEAS is a standardized test much like the SAT or ACT that high schoolers take prior to graduating. Its just another quantifiable measurement that nursing programs can use for admission standards. I purchased a study guide for it already and am doing well on the practice tests so I'm not too worried about it.

The acceptance rates here for the various programs I'm applying for range from 20% to 35%. Other than the grades and TEAS test score, there are also interviews, letters of recommendation and the swim suit competition (which I plan to win with my classy yet very fetching 2 piece bikini ensemble).

Enough about that...let me finish my "guy" movie listing from before (I have to hurry because a storm is on its way and I want to unplug my computer).

Can't Buy Me Love

This was Patrick Dempsey in all of his pre-McDreamy heyday. This movie character is one that many guys can relate too. For those that don't know/remember the plot; it revolves around a nerdy fellow that uses his hard earned lawn mowing job money to help out the most popular girl in school. They use that money to buy a replacement dress before her mom knows she used it without permission. In hind sight, they should have just burned that dress...gotta love 80's fashion! In return, the popular girl helps our nerdy hero to assimilate into the in-crowd and hilarity ensues. A classic pygmalian tale. You know what, I will single handedly bring back the African Anteater Dance back here in Mid-Missouri.

The moral of this story? You too can get the girl of your dreams...you'd just better have lots of money!

Money. Cash. Hoes. Cash rules everything around me, CREAM get the money!

Risky Business

Ah, another great story about entreprenuership and the pitfalls of small business ownership. Also, nothing says future CEO than sex on the Chicago L. I remember trying to sneak into the room as a kid while the adults were watching this movie, only to get caught, scolded and sent back to my room. Dammit, I was just trying to learn about economics and the laws of supply and demand.

The lesson to be taken from this movie? You can make a lot of money by exploting the horniness of male consumers between the ages of 16 to 24. Come on people, thats just Marketing 101. Hmm, between Pretty Woman, Risky Business and True Romance, movie prostitutes are actually very attractive.

Look how diligently she is taking notes. I'm pretty sure the dialogue in this scene went something like this:

"So you see, equilibrium is reached when the allocation of goods is at its most efficient because the amount of goods supplied is exactly the same amount demanded. Thus, the pricing model can be adjusted appropriately to maximize the movement of goods at the optimum price."

Top Gun

Yes, I realize that I've just selected 2 Tom Cruise movies back to back (just feel lucky that I didn't select Legend, which I did like BTW). But these movies were back in his glory days, and before anyone really knew that he was batshit crazy.

Top Gun epitomizes 3 aspects of the movie types we're trying to quantify:

1) Its got the "sexy/taboo" romance between Maverick and Charlie (and yes, Charlie is the call sign for the instructor lady).
2) Its got the "wedding bliss/family" love between Goose and Meg Ryan (no one knows Meg Ryan's character name in this movie).
3) Its got some good bromance, damn near hovering around homoeroticism between all of the naval aviators.

Add in jets, missles and motorcycles and you've got yourself one good movie. They probably could have cut the volleyball scene though. Who the F plays sand volleyball in jeans? This movie also provided a slew of memorable quotes.

I'm pretty sure the dialogue in this scene went something like this:

"One of these days, Iceman. POW, right in the kisser."

Forest Gump

I may be getting amibiguous with my selection criteria, but what the hell, its my list right? I don't think that it can be argued that this isn't a great movie. Its has a ton of very cool historical aspects and pokes lightly at a lot of past events. But, underlying it all, is a man's quest to win the heart of this childhood love. It just so happens that he does a ton of crazy sh!t along the way. It gets a check mark in all of the major categories: love, war, bromance. It also gets extra credit for shrimp. I happen to like shrimp a lot. Lastly, if I were ever to get shot, I hope its also in my gluteus maximus.

Damn dirty hippies. Always breaking hearts.

Slumdog Millionaire

If you added all of the factors we've been using and throw in a game show...you'd get Slumdog Millionaire. Talk about literally having to go through some sh!t to finally get your lady friend. All I know is that if I went through all of that stuff for a girl, the very first thing I would do be to break out into an intricate choreographed dance. But thats just me I guess.

MMM...whats that lovely aroma? Is someone making curry?

Oh well, that's it for me right now. I need to go work out then study for Physiology.

SLTSFFM

So when your man don't treat you like he used to,
I kick in like a turbo booster.
You want lovin' you don't have to ask
When your man's a headache, I'll be your aspirin

"I gotta man" by Positive K

Damn, my hands are sticky...

Ok hold on, get your mind out of the gutter. I just ate a Stretch Island Fruit Co. Harvest Grape Fruit Leather. Mmmm....good stuff. Its like a thicker and tastier fruit roll-up. Wait, let me wash my hands.

Right, I'm back. How I got the tops of my fingers sticky I'll never know. Maybe I was eating the fruit leather too hastily and with too much gusto. I blog because I don't want to study. Here is what I'm supposed to be looking at right now.

Neptune?

Mars?

Jupiter?

Unfortunately No. I'm taking Anatomy not Astronomy. The three slides are your Pineal Gland, Spleen and Pancreas as seen at 400x magnification. I have my 2nd Anatomy lab practical in roughly 4 hours.

I'm pretty confident about it. In fact, I feel that I'm going to Hattonize the test.

That punch would have ENDED my life. Seriously, I would be dead.

I am in the midst of finals. I finished up Microbiology yesterday. I know I received a 95% in the lab portion, but I won't know about the lecture portion until Monday. I don't really feel all to good about the final, but fortunately, all I needed was a high C on the final to keep my A in the class. Hopefully I didn't funk it up too badly.

After tonight, I'll have the Anatomy lecture final on next Tuesday and then my semester wraps up with my Physiology final the subsequent Monday. Once that's complete...SUMMER VACATION!

Eh, its not like I haven't been on vacation for the past 2 years, so I don't really have much to complain about in that regard. I do have a road trip planned for New York City at the end of the month. I've also heard trickling of a rumor about some folks going to Chicago which may prompt a quick road trip for me up there as well. To give you a bearing: Driving from here to Chicago is akin to driving from LA to the Bay Area. Very doable for a weekend. We'll see whats crackin...

Ok, better get back to some review (I'm kinda half-assing it since I only need a 38% on the lab practical).

Been listening to a lot of late 90's & early 2000's music lately so...

SLTSFFM

The club we went in,
We go down bounced, bounced to the rhythm
Saw it was early morning
Thought we'd better be leaving
So I gave you my jacket for you to hold
Told you to wear it cause you felt cold

"Fill me in" by Craig David

City of Angels? Really?

So I was lurking over on a message board that I frequent often and the topic of "Guy Movies" came up. Someone then suggested City of Angels with Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage. Really? This movie was a guy movie? Hmm...I dunno about that and its definitely not a top 10.

I mean, Meg Ryan is still one of the actresses I was in love with growing up; though she is in danger of falling off my list ever since her lips got weird. It was a decent movie, but its more likely to end up on Nicolas Cage's top 10 list, rather than a top 10 Guy Movie. It would probably rank somewhere behind Bangkok Dangerous on Cage's list (please note obvious sarcasm).

Don't get me wrong, I liked City of Angels, but that praise may have been too high. Speaking of the movie, I think I would have been hella pissed off if I was that Angel. He must have been pretty upset at the end of the movie.

What could he have been thinking: I just gave up my immortality for you and how do you decide to celebrate our first night together? You decide to bike down hill with your eyes closed and use no hands on a mountain road that's crowded with huge logging trucks!

Probably would have been better to stay in bed and watch some TV, don't ya think?

WATCH OUT FOR THAT LOG! Wait...maybe that's what happened to her lips?

Ok, so I decided to create a list of female related Guy Movies. Typically "Guy Movies" are all about blowing shit up so we'll somewhat refrain from those movies and focus on more romantic type guy movies. I wanted to list movies, while not necessarily a "Romatic" style, but had enough about relationships or love while keeping in line with being a "Guy Movie".

So faithful readers, in no particular ranking or order please enjoy Reset Buttons'
TOP TEN WOMEN RELATED GUY MOVIES (I really had no idea what to call this list)

BraveHeart

This movie has it all. Not just one, but two romances, lots of swords and hacked off limbs, and also lots of guy bonding. Its also gives a bit of history, a cute French princess and did I mention swords? This is a movie about a guy who goes to WAR with an entire country because they murdered his lady friend. I think we'll probably start to see a trend here. And all this was filmed before the world knew how big of an Antisemite Mel Gibson was. FANTASTIC!

Notice I used a picture of one of the romances (ala cute French princess) instead of any number of battle scenes featuring mutilated and amputated limbs.

Last of the Mohicans

Another movie that has it all. Lots of guns and tomahawks, lots of running through the woods, girls in petticoats and someone gets burned alive at the stake. Hmm, I guess I do like the period peices, full of costumes and people speaking with an English accent. This is about a guy who inadvertantly gets caught in a war while trying to get his lady friend back (whats up with these lady friends always getting into trouble?).

Again, I used a picture with lots of hugging...OK, OK, I couldn't find the "burning at the stake" picture on the Internet.

Princess Bride

Talk about having to utilize all of your faculties to get your lady friend back. The hero has to use speed and skill, strength and endurance, then intelligence and guile to overcome all his obstacles. That's pretty much what I have to do every time I want to get to the shortest check out line at Wal-Mart.

This is after Wesley's battle with the R.O.U.S. - Rodents of Unusual Size. I think I saw one at Wal-Mart.

Swingers

Ok, so this one veers somewhat off the path of a romance, but it is such a quintesential guy movie about bromance and the positive/negative influence guys can have on each other when it comes to the ladies. "You're like a big bear, with claws and fangs (big fucking teeth!) and she's just like a little bunny that's cowering in the corner", any guy can tell you, he's either heard that speech or given it.

Come on, they played NHL Hockey 93 on a Sega Genesis in the movie. It makes the list for that reason alone!

True Romance

Quick synopsis: fall in love with a hooker, guns, guns, fight, Gary Oldman plays a black guy, fight, guns, cocaine, guns, Christopher Walken, guns, fight, hooker gets beat up, fight, guns, Brad Pitt as a stoner, guns, guns, wire tap set up, guns, guns, guns, safe in Mexico. A formula like that only has one solution = AWESOME.

There are two things in this image that bother me. 1) You really can't find any public phone booths like this to mess around in anymore (damn cellphones!) 2) By the laws of fashion which state that styles will come back every 20/30 years, cow print mini skirts will be back! Wait a minute...I think I've already seen them at Wal-Mart!!!

Shoot, its almost 2 AM and I have a physiology lab in the morning that I should be somewhat coherent for so I'll have to stop the list there for now. I'll continue in the next entry.

My parents are actually heading into town tomorrow, which is cool for my dad since we're getting the Pacman fight. I'm thinking Manny wins by KO in the 9th. Mabuhay muthafuckas!


SLTSFMM

Oh I am young, but I have aged
Waited long, to seize the day
All things said, and plenty done
Life is short

"Life is short" by Butterfly Boucher