Mark Sickmiller

joke i heard

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 00:54:03 GMT

"my mom's such a shopaholic. she likes to buy a lot of alcohol."

"i hate racists. they don't even make any sense. are mexicans lazy or are they stealing our jobs? it can't be both."

those came from nbc's last comic standing. i'm not sure why i've never seen this show before. it's the best of those 'eliminate-someone' shows. I think i even like it better than 'america's next top model.'

Greg & Jenna's Wedding

Sat, 20 May 2006 14:21:19 GMT

CLICK FOR PHOTO GALLERY

Mr. and Mrs. Greg and Jenna Wasz!

They were wed on May 13th, 2006 at the Verdin Bell and Clock Museum.

mine field of ripoffs

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 03:21:05 GMT

I went to the Bellevue Kroger tonight and was stupefied by the prices.

I concluded that it was a mine field of ripoffs. It seemed that every aisle was rigged with some sort of pricing scam explosion.

First, I'm fairly certain that Kroger has this approach to getting rid of inventory: put a ton of "sale" stickers on any given product (for example, pasta sauce). But, jack up the sale prices so nothing is really cheaper than usual. Then, make one of the products an obviously better deal than the others. But it's still not a good deal because the other prices are jacked up.

Secondly, Kroger is so annoying with their 3 for $5, 6 for $10, 17 for $22 pricing scheme. While I am able to do the math and figure out how much one item costs, I'm guessing that not everyone can. And also, some people might not realize you don't actually have to buy 3 for $5, you can just get one.

If Kroger is really trying to be a friend of the consumer, why don't they just price things PER ITEM, so the prices make sense to all consumers?

Because they're not a friend of the consumer. At all.

If only I could start a garden that would grow pizzas.

Opening Day 2006

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 23:59:10 GMT

Opening Day 2006 included the following sightings/meetings (in chronological order):

-Bob Huggins
-Luke Ellwood & friends (from OU)
-Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory
-Nick Lachey (who apparently attempted to enter a club area but was denied)
-President George HW Bush
-Adam Dunn bobbling/dropping several balls

Here are pictures:

CLICK FOR COMMENTED PHOTO GALLERY

In the end, the Reds lost by like 2341 runs.

After the game Jen and I went to a downtown pub called ZA where we warmed up.

Then we went back to my apartment and tried to write a blog entry together which took about three times as long as if one of us had written it on our own.

It's opening day!

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:55:52 GMT

Jen and I are getting ready to head downtown for Cincy's opening day celebration, considered to be the largest opening day gathering in the US!

We have standing room only tickets, whatever that means. I guess we'll find out.

President Bush is throwing out the first pitch, which will be sure to cause a myriad of security slowdowns for people getting into the ball park.

I'm taking the camera and I'll be sure to post pictures.

Gifts from Athens

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 17:35:32 GMT

I received birthday gifts from Adam and Danielle today! They were apparently purchased during Adam and Dani's recent vacation to Greece.

Adam made me aware that I was going to get something in the mail. At first, he said he was slightly concerned about the perishables in the package.

Then, yesterday, he said on IM "i'm a little worried about the cheese." "er, perishables. oh, crap."

They sent me a block of cheese, a package of marinated olives and an iron statue of a historic Greek warrior. It's really cool, here is the picture of everything:

Click for 800x600 image in new window

The cheese and olives came in sealed plastic packaging with liquid inside to keep the items from drying out.

Of course, I had to open both items and try them immediately. They're both awesome. The cheese is sort of like feta but not as dry. The olives have pits and taste very good.

The soldier is watching guard over the items, which I put in the refrigerator in tupperware.

I gave a small crumble of cheese to each of the cats and Chelsea tried to bury hers, so I don't think she was too fond. Bear sniffed and then ignored.

I'll be 27 on April 16th.

commander in chief & pictures

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 04:49:08 GMT

This morning, President George W. Bush held a news conference on national TV. Now, I'm not sure how this works, exactly, but since his poll numbers are slipping, I'm guessing his advisors are trying to improve the numbers.

But, this morning, all President Bush did was say the same things he always does, but with an increasing angry and defensive tone. Is this supposed to improve ratings?

Meanwhile, it looks like the President is going to be throwing out the first pitch at Reds' opening day on April 3rd. Apparently, the new Reds owner is best buds with the President. And I have tickets to the game. Remember in high school when the home team would have newspapers to hold in front of their faces when the visiting team would take the field?

Anyway, I have some pictures to post:

upper left: It snowed about 3 inches today, a record for cincinnati on march 21, when the average high temperature is 56 degrees.

upper right: chelsea dressed up for st. patrick's day

lower left: it wouldn't be fair if i didn't include a handsome pose of bear

lower right: a night picture from the eden park overlook, a few minute walk from my apartment. it's rather dark but i made it my desktop. the moon was rising over kentucky and was quite beautiful.

MARCH MADNESS

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 04:25:34 GMT

Last year I spent like 20 bucks submitting brackets and ended up winning about $50, so it was a decent investment... financially.

However, I found that I spent all day wondering who would win and looking up scores. So, basically I got $30 for three weeks worth of work. Translation: I'm not really much of a basketball fan. I might not do any brackets this year and just ignore the whole thing.

I'm not really sure why I don't like basketball much. Probably because I'm terrible at it. And, I had nightmares about basketball when I was in the 7th grade, because I joined the team and hated it so much that I quit after like two weeks. It was the only thing I had ever started and not finished up to that point.

i will never buy frozen pizza again

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 00:49:39 GMT

I got a "make your own pizza" kit at Save a Lot the other week for $2.50. It came with packets of powder that you mix with water to make the crust, and it also had sauce and some parmesan cheese.

I remember "making your own pizza" as not being very good when we made it at home as a kid, so I was skeptical.

Friday night, i made one of the pizzas, and it was unbelievable. The crust was perfect and tasted like something at a restaurant, and the only topping i had was cheese.

I'm going to look up some recipes on making my own crust. I can probably do so for pretty cheap, probably just flour and yeast and sauce is dirt cheap. cheese is usually on sale. I'm pretty excited about this.

Sorry. Back now.

Fri, 03 Mar 2006 04:42:20 GMT

If you're still checking this regularly, I apologize and I intend to change these lulls in content.

That said, what's going on?

Currently I'm sitting in my sofa/recliner with headphones on listening to Griffin House, whom I'm going to see this weekend up the street in Oakley. I recommend taking a gander at his music at http://www.griffinhousemusic.com. He's fairly new and is gaining more popularity every day, which spiked when CBS Sunday Morning mentioned him a couple of months ago.

Earlier tonight I was at RCIA, which I don't believe I've mentioned on here, but it's the group I've met with every Thursday night since early January regarding joining the Catholic church. It's just a few of us and we discuss scripture, faith and Catholic practice. This coming weekend is a big one in terms of our process in joining the church. It's the Rite of Election, which basically means the Archbishop grants us peace in our journey in faith. Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation take place on April 15, the day before Easter.

This tradition stems from early Christianity when the church was heavily persecuted. Those interested in joining would have to endure a process meant to show their true intentions so the church could avoid "members" who would join only to alert authorities to the identities of Christian leaders. Is this process necessary to be a Christian these days? Of course not. The importance of various practices lies in the individual and how he or she chooses to express his or her faith.

Jen's in Vail, Colorado, this weekend, visiting two college roommates and skiing. The trip was low-cost because of two reasons: our friend is a ski instructor in Vail and acquires free lift tickets and the second reason is Jen's dad has approximately 1 billion frequent flier miles which were incorporated in the trip. I drove jen to the airport at 5:30 a.m. today, apparently. I wasn't too awake and once I came home, went to sleep and woke up, it all seemed like a dream.

Chelsea, get off my head... oh, ouch, crap.

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 01:16:52 GMT

Since getting this new apartment, Chelsea the cat has an affection to the loft area because Bear can't get there.

With her affection for her new den comes some peculiar new behavior, including partially standing on my head between 6-7:30 a.m.

In the past, this has been a bit of a pain, but this morning it became an actual pain when in my sleepy attempt to shove her from my head, she pulled out her claws and dragged one from my hairline halfway down my left cheek, missing my eyeball.

Now I have a bunch of this goop on my face in an attempt to limit the amount of time I have to go around explaining my appearance.

Cincinnati History Museum

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 02:43:46 GMT

Jen and I had a great date and trip to the Cincinnati History Museum on Saturday. I took my trusty ol' camera and snapped some photos --

CLICK FOR COMMENTED PHOTO GALLERY

The museum was awesome, expansive and quite educational. We were there for a couple of hours and then went and had dinner at the Mt. Adams Bar and Grill, one of our new favorite hangout, which serves the best meal deal in Cincinnati. A Turkey burger with the fixings plus chips for $3.75. Beautiful!

Cincy news on Letterman

Wed, 11 Jan 2006 04:43:33 GMT

Joked that ended Letterman's monologue tonight:

"Oh, this is creepy. Police in Cincinnati, Ohio, get a report of a body in a home. They bust inside and find a woman who's dead, she's been dead in front of her TV for two and a half years.

Well, there goes another CBS viewer!"

True story.

Also, new and improved image hosting is coming soon!

Oh and New Year's Eve 2005 pictures too

Thu, 05 Jan 2006 01:53:20 GMT

This year we went to Bar Louie in Newport, Kentucky.

Oh wait, that's where we went last year too.

Last year's service was better, but this year was just as much fun.

Happy new year.

CLICK FOR PHOTO GALLERY

Christmas 2005 pictures

Thu, 05 Jan 2006 01:49:14 GMT

Finally, I'm posting Christmas pictures.

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Christmas enjoyment

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 03:11:57 GMT

Christmas was awesome... I'll have some pictures to post in the very near future (probably tomorrow night)...

Charlie Brown song

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 03:07:15 GMT

Is this song supposed to be taken seriously, or is it more of a light-hearted, tounge in cheek type of thing? You know, the piano song from Charlie Brown.

It was played during dinner at the Channel 9 Christmas party, and I also just heard it in a fairly serious car commercial.

St. James avenue apartment

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 05:08:02 GMT

I'm in my new apartment, saving $200/month compared to my place on Fleming Street... this new place is $325 mo.

It took all day to get everything moved and situated (and that was after I got rid of like half of my stuff).

CLICK FOR COMMENTED PHOTO GALLERY!

Jen wins the award for the best performance on moving day. She's a very hard worker who stays on task and keeps me motivated. I tend to get distracted.

Bear wins the award for most improved. In the past, Bear had peed during attempts to put him in his travel carrier. This time he practically walked right into it. And he didn't slink around the new place all scared. Instead, he proudly explored.

Chelsea apparently had a breakdown since the last move, she didn't handle this one too well. Today, I think they've completely forgotten about the old place. They have a nice kitty-height window to look out and monitor all outside movement.

Kara and Andy win the award for most dedicated friends with an S10 pickup truck. They were prompt and helpful. Would not have been possible without them.

Andy wins the award for the Best Use of a Small Block of Wood.

Kara wins the award for Most Enthusiastic About an Efficiency Apartment.

My old dresser wins the award for Most Amusement From a Piece of Furniture. Jen and I decided there wasn't room for it in this new place, so we emptied it and put the content in those bins you see in the pictures. Unsure of what to do with the old dresser, we put it on the curb in the cover of darkness Saturday night. 24 hours later, the dresser was gone -- but a DIFFERENT, crappier dresser was in its exact spot on the curb!

moving... everyone's favorite thing

Wed, 14 Dec 2005 04:01:33 GMT

A week from now, I guess I'll be in my new apartment... it's about a mile from here and just $325/month. With the help of two abusurdly generous friends, we'll be moving my large (non-jetta) items Saturday morning-ish.

I'll be able to save $200/month in rent... money that won't actually be saved... it will instead go to pay off debt. I hope to have it taken care of by 11/10/06, a somewhat important date.

I know, I know

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 05:06:09 GMT

It's been way too long since I've posted and for that I apologize. I've just been SO BUSY. I'm joking, that's not really the case. That's an excuse generally reserved for people who are less busy than they are dramatic.

It snowed four inches in Cincinnati today and I'm fairly certain the world ended. Not sure where we go from here, I'm thinking I must be living in some alien's imagination at this point.

For most people, more snow means less working. For me, more snow means more working. Yep, I drive a snowplow. Man, I wish I drove a snowplow. I'd have most of the year off.

Annoying Ford Commercial Plus 9/11 info

Thu, 17 Nov 2005 05:13:10 GMT

Brilliant lyrical work in recent ford ad starring some country singer:

I'm a Ford truck man
That's all I drive
I ain't got no boundaries
I don't compromise

Now, clearly, you have boundaries if all you will drive are Ford Trucks.

Anyway...

The theory about the 9/11 controlled demolition seems to be gaining momentum, and even some mainstream news coverage, including a packaged report on CBS 2 News.

Here's the general idea, summed up nicely by a well-respected BYU physics professor:

http://www.physics.byu.edu/research/energy/htm7.html

Get more at:

http://www.911truth.org

Dad's Visit to Cincinnati

Sat, 12 Nov 2005 16:43:57 GMT

I was a bit slow to post this, but Dad came to visit last weekend, November 5th and 6th. He drove down Saturday morning, then we:

--Walked through Eden Park
--Went to the Conservatory
--Took a tour of WCPO
--Walked through the Hall of Mirrors
--Ordered pizza
--Watched Batman Begins
--Other various fun things

I was happy to finally get to show papa my life here, so I took some pictures and made a...

COMMENTED PHOTO GALLERY! (Click)

Mark & Jen's Cincinnati Wedding BLOG

Thu, 10 Nov 2005 14:09:16 GMT

Jen and I have put together a blog relating to the progress of our engagement/wedding!

http://cincinnatiwedding.blogspot.com/

We plan to update once or twice a week... so add it to your bookmarks!

sorry, no pictures :(

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 17:18:24 GMT

Sorry the pictures on my LJ aren't working right now.. we're having a server issue. I'm hoping to get things switched to a different server soon.

In the meantime, ponder what the phrase "first annual" means. How could such a thing exist?

cold spring, KY is #1!

Sat, 29 Oct 2005 14:38:17 GMT

along with jen, javan, megan, andy, kara, marty and angel, we led the Cold Spring BWW to a #1 national ranking during NTN abused news friday night!

I decided it was the first time Cold Spring, KY has ever been #1 in anything.

our average was something like 14,100 -- megan was #2 in the country with 14471.

WE'RE HUGE DORKS