alex nordenson

...Snow? Yay!

2007-12-03T09:08:22Z

So it snowed yesterday to the tune of three inches...in Seattle? Somehow it managed to go from sunny at 11 am to dumping at 1pm, pretty sweet I figured it was a good excuse not to start on the mountain of homework I have. Instead I decided to light up the fireplace, put on "Let it Snow" and get some hot cocoa then go for a walk. Stereotypical? Not in the least...

In other news I decided I hate UW and will finish out the school year but not return. Maybe I'll take a few quarters or a year off who knows. I will end up at OSU to finish my degree and I'm still sticking with Civil Engineering and considering others like environmental engineering, it'll be some form of engineering at least.

There are a lot of people up here I'll miss and I'd love to stay in Seattle for a year but not while attending UW. I've got zero life here. With all the bullshit work and tests I actually don't have time to go out on the weekends except for an hour or so. Not only that, I'm pretty confident I'm not getting into the CEE program here and I don't care to pay out my ass to attend a school where I'm learning very little. I also attended a department meeting, since I always get the e-mails I figured I'd go to see what it was all about, well I came away really understanding how little they care about anyone but the best students among other things.

But hey, enough of that downer crap, at least this quarter is almost over and Bachelor is getting snow:)

Beer and suits of armor

2007-01-09T07:28:22Z

So everybody should save their bottle caps from nicer brews and give them to me at some point. I have decided that I need a suit of armor (really just a vest) made out of bottle caps to wear to New Belgium's Tour de Fat in august. I plan on riding my 1957 raleigh in the festival.

So fellow beer drinkers, lend me a hand and give me your caps, for I cannot consume(nor afford) the amount of beer that need be drunk to build my suit of armor.

Hooray Beer!

Ohh and I don't want any of that budweiser shit. The lowest I'll go is corona or henry weinhards. Of course PBR caps are welcome if anybody actually buys it in bottles.

Man's best friend.....Guinness.

2007-01-08T04:44:14Z

The first week of school has gone by pretty smoothe except for the lack of sleep the first 3 days. I fell asleep while my math TA was talking to me, but then again you don't really learn anything in the first few weeks anyways.

Friday I went to a sushi bar with a few friends and saturday I "experienced" laser Floyd at the seattle center. Every weekend they play a few laser shows with different albums synched up and saturday was Dark Side of the Moon. Like all good college kids we smoked a bit before hand although not enough. It was a cool experience and I got in for free because my debit card froze the machine and they felt sorry it was taking so long. And to finish off the evening we all came back to my room and drank some 40's of PBR and went on a walk.

This morning I learned that my friend from taiwan bought beer on saturday. He's only 18, but his taiwanese ID says he was born in 77 because they use a different calender. He can't buy hard A or anything from QFC(the local safeway) because they ask for a passport, but it does work at gas stations. Which leads me to this post. I'm siting at my desk eating dinner, listening to wayne shorter(jazz for all who don't know), and drinking a Guinness extra stout while looking over Seattle and Portage Bay with the light red glow of chilli pepper lights. Hell I think I'll just sit on my leather couch and start my homework....nahh that can wait another day or two.

Ahh the life of a college student.

"I walk into the showers tonight and see a crushed miller can slide under the shower divider followed by a loud belch...."sam is that you" and sam steps out of the shower grining"

College...

2006-12-10T23:21:40Z

...or maybe just life in general right now is dismal. I finally got the room switch finished(the evil desk supervisor bitch lost that fight) which made me so happy but yesterday I did very poorly on my math final. Normally those two would cancel each other out but today that just isn't happening. Maybe its the post drunk, post hangover stage I'm in right now, I really don't know. Maybe its the weather(dark and rainy) that is getting me down. Chem should be factored into that equation too since it is like an old ratty rope bridge that could collapse at any moment.

More than anything I just need to be home right now. Everything is really getting to me(something very foreign to me). While at home when anything goes wrong I can go somewhere like the butte or for a drive and the problem goes away. Sure I fucked up on the math final, but I easily passed the class. As for chem if I don't do well on the final I will have to re-take the class, not because I failed it, but because I need a 2.0 for it to count towards my intended major. In a year none of what happened this quarter will matter, but everything is just seemingly imploding all at once and I'm pretty sure I broke my thumb again(that makes 5 times in 18 months). At this point I'm just getting used to it happening.

I'm really looking forward to seeing all of you guys, my family, and eugene in general. The next three days are going to be a total mind fuck but at least at the end of the tunnel there is a light.

I do have one question for everyone. Does anyone think they will end up living in eugene for life? I'm pretty sure I'm going to. It is the only place I really know and as nice as seattle is, it is just too big. And there is sales tax, who wants to pay sales tax?

If one more thing goes wrong.....

2006-11-29T04:59:49Z

...I'm going to flip shit. Over the last two weeks almost all that could go wrong or poorly has, this is just the short list. I'm up to my neck in stress from chem and now a little from math. I'm really wanting to switch dorms and I'm pretty sure I will, but there is this part of me that believes it is all going to fall through. The kid I am supposed to switch with is real flakey about the whole thing. He is moving to a frat, but seems to be having second thoughts now that everybody is really excited to have me move in. He is really hard to read and has been telling stories that make everyone think he might be staying. I think he just wants to have control over something in his life since chem isn't going well for him either. We already started the process but are nowhere near full commitment. That and the chem final/current grade are eating away at me and will be for the next two weeks.
Now for the good.
I missed my alcohol training class yesterday(very bad). I was told originally if I missed it I would have to wait until next quarter and pay a 35$ fee. I went and talked to the RD today and I was able to get into on for today. That was a huge load off my shoulders and it "saved" 35$. Also today I did the official room switch for my current dorm. The lady at the desk, who told me 4 weeks ago that I was going to have to pay a fine(she found out I did the switch illegally), had forgotten so I got everything done in about 1 hour and didn't have to pay a fine. Also a huge load off my shoulders and "saved" 45$. I got two paychecks in a week because I had forgotten to pick the first one up. I promptly bought a bike frame and some other parts blowing all I made plus a little more. The snow is still here although most has turned into a thick sheet of ice covering everything. In two weeks I'll be home for a while and get to see everybody. My car is waiting at home for me.
Although after writing this I received some good news about my chem grade so suddenly I'm in a better mood.

Snow

2006-11-28T02:44:54Z

When I moved to seattle I came to terms with the probable complete lack of snow. Well I was wrong. It snowed yesterday....and again today. I even got to ride my bike around in it doing some two wheel drifting. It's nothing compaired to what eugene got last march but it's still snow......if only I had my volvo here. I almost forgot, I started a snowball fight in my dorm.

College....what a bitch.

2006-11-20T05:14:55Z

Even though finals are 3 1/2 weeks away I'm becoming very overwhelmed with it all. Usually I don't give a shit about these "weed-out" classes they are just there to make sure people who don't belong in the class don't continue but after I got fucked on my last midterm I'm starting to worry. Usually as long as I study I do decent and this time I spent at least 10 hours studying over a few days revewing the practice test and the study guide. Guess what..only half of the problems on the test were in the study guide or practice test, and my score reflected that. As it turns out there are two versions of the test, one is like the practice and one isn't. What a load of shit. Registration...don't get me started on that. And required classes(chem) that don't have anything to do with my major(civil engineering) what the fuck? Anyway enough ranting, now I'm getting mad at myself for bitching so much.

All I can think of is getting back home and seeing everyone even for just a few days. I'm dreading finals, but at the same time I know that once they're over I get to be home for almost three weeks. Three weeks to forget everything I just learned and clear my head for the next couple of months. Unfortunatly that will be the last time I get to see eugene until summer(except when I mysteriously end up in eugene one yet to be determined night in january) since I'm probably going to whistler over spring break(not to bad of a vacation if I might say so myself, too bad it won't be open for biking)

At least I'm not drinking as much as I was earlier this quarter although that will change this over winter break I'm sure. I never was addicted, but at the same time I was getting drunk every weekend for 6 or 7 weeks in a row. Some may say that's nothing but I just feel like it's a waste of money and personally I'd rather have an adventure while sober. I'm actually considering giving it up for winter quarter to save money and keep on top of my classes.

Well as bad as this past week has been with Ryan's passing and just about everything going wrong at school, things are looking up a little. First off I'm going to see my friends and family. I'll get to ride my mountain bikes, this may seem trivial but not getting to ride them is driving me nuts. I'll be able to drive my bimmer with all of the new parts. Hike the butte, I knew I'd miss having woods everywhere but I'm really starting to go crazy. I rode my new cruiser through a park similar to hendricks and it instantly cheered me up.

So watch out Eugene, George and I are coming to town.

Cars and beer

2006-10-06T05:04:37Z

Today I transported a car to the airport for a friend and he bought me beer....if only it were that simple. I was following him as he was driving one of his parents cars to the sirport except I wasn't able to merge because of this fucking stupid person in a massive lexus suv driving slow and a semi that wouldn't let me in so this exit came out of nowhere and in a failed last-ditch attempt to stay ion the highway I ended up in the media which was slightly larger than the volvo I was driving(his parents other car) between the exit ramp and the highway in heavy traffic. So eventually I got off on the exit and called him to find out that he didn't have his phone with him...great. I asked directions to the sirport and ended up in a boewing parking lot where I asked directions again and this time I ended up high in the hills near the airport(i think) where I asked directions again. By this point I was freaking out a little(which makes for a fun drive in a turbo-charged car) and I continued down this road for 15 minutes finally finding the airport it took about 25 extra minutes with me not knowing where the fuck I was. eventually we meet up in the parking garage and I was going like 20 or 25 up one of those tight circle towers with the tires squealing...awesome. I even found a wheelchair and wheeled around in it. When we caught a taxi,the driver asked if he could help and my friend said I had hurt my foot badly so when I got up I pretended to limp and the taxi driver was trying to help me get into the cab and even tried to put the chair in the taxi(which clearly had airport markings on it). it was sweet, he believed it until I got out of the cab and forgot to do my limp then I proceded to jump up on a ledge.
Part 2...of to get beer.
Most people ask you what you want, then go in and buy it for you. he told me to come in and pick everything out and he would walk through the register with it. No one even questioned him after doing it at two stores. So all in all I ended up with 3 6 packs new belgium tripple, 1554, and pyramid hefe weizen, a 22 of arrogant bastard and a bottle of irish cream. Sweet, next week I'll get some liquor, pbr, and some other micro brews. This is so much easier than getting stuff in eugene.

Classes started...damn

2006-09-28T05:06:13Z

So classes started today and I got up early because I hadn't bought my books yet(375$ with tax)....that was so fucking nerve-racking. Anyway I got to my math class and the teacher seemed nice and the class was fairly large(81). Quizzes, tests, mid-terms, and the final are 80% of my grade...last year my test/quiz average was around 50%. My next class chem was in a lecture hall of 580 students....580 FUCKING PEOPLE. That class worries me since the average is 2.6 /- .2... and I need a 3.6 to get into the engineering school. Both classes have quizzes every week, 100% no late work, and test are 80% of the grade. Right now I feel fucked. I guess we'll see what it's like after the first couple of weeks.

Well my lame-o roommate was up until 5:30 and I know this because I woke up during a dream and he was still on his fucking computer. As I write this he is on his fucking computer...what the hell is wrong with him? Every time I leave the dorm he closes and locks the door and turns the lights off...then sits in here playing whatever stupid game he plays. My dorm(McCarty) is nice, but my roommate is very anti-social, so I haven't met anyone in here yet. I do have a third, but he is rarely here(nerdy asian senior) Having a roommate with no friends doesn't help in making friends either. Everyone else can go out and do stuff with their roommate...not me though. I want to move back to lander even though the dorm isn't as nice, I would probably have a view. It is so much fun in that dorm, people are always walking around and up until late. Since the school accepted too many people into the dorms again I probably won't be able to switch out of this room until next quarter, if at all. McMahon(my first choice) turned out to be a shitty place. The clusters smell weird, the rooms are small, and the doors are always closed, so meeting people is hard. After being in their I'm glad I wasn't assigned a room there. I'll just join a lot of clubs and hope for the best. So unfortunately college isn't very fun so far. Oh and I say roommate because the other one is never here.

By accident I found the college that angelo, dewey, etc... are attending, and I ran into to dewey. I was meeting some guys to go ride on college hill and we went to the campus. There is some crazy riding in seattle, but most of it is spread around on hills. And I found out I do get wholesale on parts from QBP which will save some $$.

Hopefully when school starts there will be more to do and meeting people should be easier since I'm not good at that in unfamiliar places. I don't think I will be able to stand living with my nerdy roommate for a year, I might actually go insane.

alexnordenson @ 2006-09-25T11:50:00

2006-09-25T19:58:02Z

So here I am at college finally. That early fall start thing I did didn't feel at all like college because I went home every two weeks, but now I'm here for good.I'm moved in to my room and one of the roommates showed up and left his sheets, a book, and a printer yesterday and then left. He was here for about 2 minutes according to my other roommate. I have yet to see him. The other roommate spend ALL of his day on his computer, from the time he gets up(about 12:30-1) until 3 am. Mostly playing some game or reading on-line cartoons. I don't think he has showered or brushed his teeth in the last 2 days. All he listens to is bad 80's metal, although he did listen to some of my swing and I played some techno since he said he liked some of it. I really hope noah and I can get into a room together because I don't think I'll be able to last if the 24/7 gaming and being in the room continues. Ar least he is nice...well he doesn't make any rude or stupid remarks or talk much for that matter. FUCK HFS they are horrible at matching people up, and they make it hard to switch. There are more doubles than triples and yet I end up ina triple both times and I've been next to the RA three times. At least I was able to hook my sega up to my laptop.
Last week I went to whistler for two days and it was awesome except for the 3 flats, 2 times I had to fix my brakes, 6 times my seat came loose, my headset lock breaking, and the 2am wheel swap. The mountain kicked the shit out of me even though I only went over the bars once. All of my fingers were bruised and swollen(I couldn't make fist), my ass and legs were so sore I couldn't walk right, and my back hurt for a few days afterwards. All in all the pain was 100% worth it. My parents left the mountain late as usual even though we were ready and they drove slow causing me to miss the 2:30 train to eugene. My mom also didn't want to reserve a ticket and thought just showing up at the station 45 minutes before the 5:30 there would be seats.....WRONG. So I had to stay the night with them and catch one the next morning. The whole reason for taking the train was to spend as much time with my friends as possible before I left for good and leaving 45 minutes late from whistler + the slow driving left me with one less day. My parents were staying in seattle for parent orientation until late tuesday and I would have only had two days at home if I stayed with them.
Being in Eugene for those 3 days was nice, but with most people working and some gone(matt, morgan, bryan, george, dario) it just wasn't the same. Christmas break should be sweet and I can't wait for it. I know most people leaving wrote some sad note the day they left but I'm just going to miss the fun times we all had together even the little things like hanging out in the court yard. Damn, that saying "all good things must come to an end" is true.
On the positive side Flogging molly is playing in 3 1/2 hours and it is free, also I'm going to a free, hour-long swing dancing class.

alexnordenson @ 2006-09-13T18:43:00

2006-09-14T01:44:05Z

So today I got up about 30 minutes earlier than I had to just so I could get drunk before class. So I ate as little as possible, because I only have 8 PBR’s. Well I was able to drink 4 before class and now I realize how stupid that was. We’re watching a video as I write this and I’m bored as hell. Time moves so slowly when you’re only tipsy in class. Shit I still have an hour before class ends. Horrible idea, I’m never coming to class drunk again..gaaahh horrible waste of beer. (5 hours later) Ok, so the two guys I was supposed to room with are MAJOR jocks. We have absolutely nothing in common, but luckily one of their friends is on the floor above me and they want me to switch with him. After receiving an e-mail from the other roommate I decided to switch. Here’s some of it
“Yes me and kevin talk alot and all i ask is that you consider kevin's proposal cuz we r not against meeting new people its just we prefer to have our room be chill and we r really close with Nick….And if your still wondering about my interests i am more of, well for lack of a better term, a jock. I am messy as hell in my own room, i like to lift weights, play football and basketball and i also am a HUGE football fan so that means whenever a game is on tv that is wat will be watched on tv when i am present. Sorry thats just how it goes, cuz when football is on there is no compromising….I am a guys guy. I live sports, work hard, love girls and am not a guy for pussy stuff such as hiking or birdwatching.”
Along with the other bad grammar the whole message made me not want to ever be around this guy. Maybe that’s what they wanted, but I don’t really care. At least the other kid seems a little more reasonable.
Now I’m preparing a few play lists for the dance party in my room. Time to ride my bike….and I’m off…….zoooooom.

alexnordenson @ 2006-09-11T20:14:00

2006-09-12T03:24:09Z

So in honor of starting my 7 page essay a little while ago(due in <3 days)I decided that I will go to class messed up on wednesday(I also need to finish off the pbr before my parents get here). I just have to finish the essay tomorrow and set up my web site tonight. Then wednesday is party day, with a dance party in my room to cap off early fall start. Then it's off to whistler for a few days......excuse me while I vent my excitement...FUCK YEAH, I'M GOING TO WHISTLER, THAT'S RIGHT WHISTLER BITCH!!! OOH YEAH!! Since I'm going late this year, the lifts will only be open from 10 to 5, so I'll have to go with out eating lunch to maximize my riding time.

homework and naps

2006-09-10T06:06:23Z

So as of now I have only done about 1/10th of my graded homework....and it's all due this thursday. Including a 7 page essay(I don't even have a topic yet), a food diary(I've done a little of it), a website(I've uploaded pics, but no writing or organization), a scrapbook of all of the farmers markets I've been to, and I have to read 6 more info packets. I'd rather be naping, but I seriously have to start. I've taken procrastinating to a level I've never been to before. Well last night I had a 6 person party in my room and I have plans for a larger one at some point. Around 1am we left and continued our social on the Ave(main campus street). On our way up to pita pit we came across a group of cops and a fire truck with medics tending to someone who had gotten in a bar fight. I must be in college now.
Yesterday I had an early night riding session with three bmxers I met last week. It was cool especially because they are 21 or older but don't act better than me(which you get sometimes) and we are all around the same skill level, which makes things so much easier and less stressful. We ran across some crazy lady at a bank under a bridge. She kept yelling that we were "ruining her"? at one point she started walking towards us yelling, then just stopped and sat down after walking 10 feet.
One of the guys is moving into an open room in a house 20 blocks from me and the people who are already living there runa frame building shop out of their basement and might be able to get parts from QBP at wholesale prices for us. The house is sweet and next year aparently there will be parties there. If you've ever read an issue of Bike and seen the house parties it will be exactally like that. Sweet.
Time to begin earning that grade I need.

moobs

2006-09-08T23:53:32Z

I was at Marra Farms in Seattle for a field trip and I saw a man with real boobs. I'm going to post a pic of it in my facebook under random so people can see. It was crazy, I thought he must have that gene which some men have that causes small breasts to grow, but then he took off his long sleeve shirt and he had a girls striped top which exposed his bellybutton and a bra. He must be around 65+ and he had a 10" long white beard. "he must have a solid b cup"-classmate quote. And I cut my finger with a hacksaw.
I found out I might not have any roommates, since they both decided to join a frat recently and I haven't been reassigned roommates yet with only 13 days until move in time.

Why is it so fucking hot in my room?

2006-09-08T07:11:29Z

Here I am at midnight, sweating in my room. The fan is on full blast, my windows are all open and it's 60 according to accuweather. Yet my room is still around 80+. I hate the 8th floor, the 7th is much cooler and has more people. I'm on the lame floor with only 35 kids....there are over 80 rooms and the other floors are chock full o' kids. Give us some please. Anyway I only have 7 more days in this room, then it's off to whistler for a few days, then eugene, then back here on the 22nd or so. I'll be living in McCarty on the engineering floor with 2 guys I still don't know despite my best efforts to get a hold of them through e-mail. I'm still putting off my 7 page essay(due next week), my food diary, my scrapbook, and my website. Only 6 days left to work.........shit I....well......I fucked this up....again. 100% of my grade relies on the next 6 days.....crunch time. At least I'm no the only one in my class in this situation. Today I spent 140$ in the convenience store, and I still have 145$ left, my food armoir is amazing. Oh and since matt is probably the only one who will see this, I'm glad you're listening to the music I gave you. p.s. three cent stomp is awesome.