-Last night I went out with a couple of friends to a dive bar a town over. We were there long enough to watch the Cubs get swept, when an older woman approached us. She told us a really long story about how some college-aged kids give her a hard time, etc. We weren't really listening, until she started talking about how she has no problem fighting anyone, because she keeps an ice pick in her boot at all times.

Needless to say, we got out of there pretty quickly.

-I've been working out pretty frequently (finally got away from machines and switched to free weights!), but it's been a few weeks since I've had a GREAT workout. Tonight I decided to change that and take the timed 100 burpee challenge.

What's a burpee? Think of it as a squat thrust described in this Wikipedia link, but with a couple of additions: 2.5) Do a push up--I do knuckle push ups
3.5) Do an air squat (squat down, feet shoulder width apart and then push yourself back up, with a small hop at the top)

I've tried to break the 10 minute mark for 100, but I haven't been able to yet...tonight was no different. It's a great workout though--I can't raise my arms above my head, and I could barely stand up in the shower.

I highly recommend the burpee as a great full body exercise. Do what works for you to start. 25, 50, 1000...it doesn't really matter as long as you're pushing yourself.

-I'm getting a new phone from Verizon...the LG Dare. It's basically the closest thing you can get to an iPhone, outside of the fact that it isn't a true smartphone (meaning that you can sync it with your computer, big deal) or the fact that it doesn't cost a million dollars to have a data plan and a terrible AT&T network.

I got to the store, where a salesperson told me that it would cost $310 (!). I knew that was wrong, so I went home and called the sales line. They quoted me at $249.99. It should've been $100 less. I then called the executive customer service line, where the guy told me that I would have to pay $70 more to upgrade...and that other customers were able to upgrade a couple of months before me.

I thanked him for his time, then googled "Verizon executive email addresses". I fired off a firm, but polite email to the President of Public Affairs complaining that other customers are allowed to upgrade earlier than me, even though my family has had a Verizon account for 15 years (that's right, back in the days of car phones that you had to mount a huge antenna on your car just to get a terrible analog signal)

Within 5 hours, I had a call from some random Verizon exec falling all over himself apologizing and said that I'll have my new phone ASAP. Now that's the customer service they advertise in their commercials.

-I'm not a big basketball fan at all, but I make sure to check out Gilbert Arenas' blog. For a professional athlete, he is amazingly down to earth and is a solid blogger. Pretty much what I want to be when I grow up and have some super important job.

-Okay, I take back what I said about Metallica's new album. It's taken a few weeks but I'm really, really enjoying a few tracks. I've been trying to find good tabs so I can have a few new songs to learn on guitar.

Speaking of--why are some guitar players so insecure about Guitar Hero? Personally, I play both guitar and guitar hero. I'm not a great guitar player, but I can hold my own across a few different genres if I need to. Yet, if you go on YouTube and watch any Guitar Hero video you'll see a comment of someone saying "Play it on real guitar like I can" or something to that effect.

I know that some people that play GH are overboard, but I'll bet that a majority of people (myself included) can differentiate between a real guitar and what looks like a PLASTIC FISHER PRICE TOY. How dumb can some people be?