You've got to go through hell before you get to heaven.

I've been meaning to do this for awhile.

2007-10-31T18:39:10Z

rwhip923 @ 2007-10-16T15:47:00

2007-10-16T19:54:35Z

The death of Duke basketball
Posted: 10/15/07
SOURCE

Late Saturday night, a great tragedy befell one of our dearest friends. While many of us were off dancing the night away with President Brodhead and that strangely '70s cover band at the Homecoming Dance, Duke Basketball died peacefully in his sleep.

He was 102 years old.

The immediate cause of his death was from a condition known as SLBJ (Sudden Loss of Basketball Jesus). Duke's would-be program savior, Greg Monroe, verbally committed to Georgetown Saturday night.

For those unaware of Duke's not-so-secret love affair with the 6-foot-10, 226-pound Basketball Adonis out of Harvey, La., Monroe was widely regarded as the nation's top high school senior. The loss of Monroe at this juncture has quite possibly been the most devastating disaster out of Louisiana since the New Orleans Saints' disappointing 0-4 start to this season. (What? I couldn't think of any other recent Louisiana disasters.)

The powerfully built forward was athletic, an excellent passer and left-handed. Greg Monroe was basically the second-coming of Josh McRoberts. So let's face it, Greg Monroe was the first-coming of Josh McRoberts.

SLBJ, while debilitating, is not always fatal. Duke's long-time rival and neighbor Carolina suffered from SLBJ last year with the loss of big-time recruit Kevin Love to UCLA. But by treating Monroe as his primary and pretty much only big man recruit for next year's freshman class, Duke endangered his already troublesome frontcourt. Before his death, friends commented that Duke looked increasingly less like himself and more like the team from "Hoosiers."

But we shouldn't blame the death of our friend on Greg Monroe. Duke Basketball was already engaging in a series of reckless behaviors that led to his untimely death Saturday. The first was the move away from quality big men. Duke has and probably would have always been a guard-oriented team. And that's fine. It's more up-tempo, high-scoring and fun to watch despite the fact that last season's guard-dominant team set offensive basketball back to the pre-shot clock days.

But championship caliber teams need at least one big guy to match up on defense and keep opposing teams from overplaying the guards. In recent years, Duke's apparent vision problem has led to his mistaking large, athletic centers for small, shrimpy white dudes. That makes about as much sense as anointing a former point guard as the big man coach. (At least Lance is extremely skilled at slapping the floor.)

Duke's friends will also recall his arrogance as a contributing factor to his death. Duke would often assume he could continue to recruit the nation's top players without fanfare or pageantry. Up until his death, Duke stubbornly refused to engage in a practice known as Midnight Madness on the first night of NCAA-sanctioned practices. While many of his colleagues including Kentucky, Carolina and (what was that school called...) Georgetown held Midnight Madness this weekend, Duke apparently ran three-man weaves and lay-up drills.

And while Monroe was scheduled to visit Duke during the annual Blue-White Scrimmage, somehow I doubt there's anything the watered-down Crazies section could have done to compete with the entire Georgetown basketball team crankin' dat Soulja Boy with NFL Hall-of-Famer Jerry Rice at the helm while the raucous Hoya crowd chanted his name. But who knows? Maybe we could have thrown in a really solid "Let's Go Duke!"

I know for many of us it will be hard to believe that Duke really gone. It seems like just yesterday we watched him win an astounding four of his last 12 games and almost upset Virginia Commonwealth in the NCAA Tournament. But I gained acceptance this weekend when during our annual football pummeling at the hands of Virginia Tech, I couldn't confidently retort, "We'll get you during basketball season."

But when we remember our friend, we should be thankful of the good times-the three National Championships, the many Final Four appearances and Gerald Henderson's elbow to Tyler Hansbrough's face.

Duke Basketball is survived by his 13 children, his father Mike Krzyzewksi and 6,000 angry fans, most notable of which includes the Class of 2008. It will become only the second class since 1985 to never witness a Final Four appearance.

An ongoing memorial service will be held from November until March and will be called the 2007-2008 Duke Basketball season.

Our coach dances at center court and gets Patrick Ewing Jr. to teach Soulja Boy to Jerry Rice. Duke doesn't even have Midnight Madness. Enough said.

See videos (shot by my friend/GTown radio statman Evan) on YouTube or here: http://www.scrappernation.com/2007/10/why-greg-monroe-chose-georgetown.html

Georgetown University - Better Than You Since 1789.

rwhip923 @ 2007-09-16T16:05:00

2007-09-16T20:09:06Z

Would anyone be willing to buy me firecoughlin.com for my birthday? I'd love you forever. Thanks.

Computer issues.

2007-09-13T15:12:16Z

My computer won't shut down when I tell it to. No matter how many times I try to do it the right way, it won't take. Instead I have to shut it down manually. Seeing as how that's not a good thing, does anyone know what I can do to fix this? Thanks ahead of time.

rwhip923 @ 2007-09-05T17:48:00

2007-09-05T21:53:31Z

"If Tom Coughlin had not remained as head coach of the Giants, I might still be in a Giants uniform, [Coughlin] robbed me of what had been one of the most important things I had in my life, which was the joy I felt playing football."

- Tiki Barber

rwhip923 @ 2007-08-18T02:50:00

2007-08-18T06:54:11Z

GO. SEE. SUPERBAD. NOW.

Seriously, if you have any desire, any inkling whatsoever, to see it, do so. It's worth it.

McLovin steals the world.

rwhip923 @ 2007-08-16T19:25:00

2007-08-16T23:30:29Z

::gasps::

Springsteen. E Street Band. New album. October 2nd. Tour should follow.

::exhales::

Freaking out.

I have permission from my dad to spend $250 per ticket for any venue within 6 hours of Philly that I can get tickets for. I WILL SEE SPRINGSTEEN. I MUST SEE SPRINGSTEEN.

Please God, let my dad and I cross this off our life's to do list. Kplznthx.

rwhip923 @ 2007-07-05T18:00:00

2007-07-05T22:11:21Z

You know, I thought this was fake when I first saw it but then I went back last night and clicked on the picture links. Nope, it's really. Really really real.

http://willdo.philadelphiaweekly.com/archives/2007/06/this_kind_of_su.html

Apparently John Street, mayor of Philadelphia (the sixth largest city in America) had nothing better to do last week than to sit in a chair 3rd in line for an iPhone. This man is not out of office for 6 more months. He may be a lame duck but umm, there's kind of a lot of shit going down in Philly right now. Record breaking murder numbers? Consistently failing schools? Nope, that's not his concern. He needs a new phone. He's batshit crazy already but this is just a bit too much for me to take. Ed Rendell needs to quit being a shitty governor and come back to be mayor for life. He'd do it and Philly would take him.

In other news, I will be gone 3 out of the next 5 weeks and that makes me happy. OBX on Saturday. Then I have to go home again earlier than planned on July 30th. I was going home the next week to get a new car but my mom told me the other day she needs to have surgery on the 31st. She's not sick or anything, just fixing a long-term problem. So yeah, I'll be home from July 30-August 11 roughly so if possible, I want to see people. (That means you violettandblue and meadowsoprano).

I need this vacation badly. It's gonna be fun though. We're going deep sea fishing, my dad and Pete are going parasailing, good times.

rwhip923 @ 2007-06-27T20:09:00

2007-06-28T00:13:07Z

God does not want me to have that swimsuit I ordered. TWO companies have let me place orders online only to cancel them several days later "oops out of stock, out of season, blah blah blah". I am so pissed. You guys know how hard it is for me to find a suit. I found a website with a print I haven't seen before in my size. I'm gonna order it and hopefully this one won't fuck me over.

I won't even go into my frustrations at work. I'm totally having a Peter Gibbons day here.

Photo Meme from prettyflamingo

2007-06-27T02:21:22Z

I'm bored...indulge me. I even have a new memory card to fill.

Ask me to take a picture of any aspect of my life that you're interested in/curious about - it can be anything from the house I live in to my favorite shoes. Leave your choice here as a comment, and I will reciprocate by taking the pictures and posting them as an LJ entry.

So I may have found a swimsuit after all...

2007-06-22T18:41:39Z

It took a lot of driving and trying on but this may just work. After I got out of work this morning I drove to this store I found in Arlington that is a Speedo dealer. It turned out to basically be a swim team supply store. I tried on a few TYR and Speedo two pieces. The Speedo in the size that my other Speedo two piece is did not fit at all, and I am not any bigger. Turns out, according to the woman at the store, Speedo changed the cut of the two piece and made it a lot skimpier much to the anger of many Speedo customers. The TYR one was borderline on the top but they let me look at their catalog and I saw that I could order it a size up.

I even drove all the way to Potomac Mills (about 35-40 minutes away) to try a store that I was also recommended but that was a total bust. In anything other than a racing style bikini, you can only really find tops in my size with an underwire. I can't deal with that in a swimsuit. I'm active and busy in my suits, I don't just sit around. I don't want to feel like I'm wearing a bra at the beach.

So going back, I ordered the TYR bikini in my size and it should arrive in the next week or two. The print is really cute, and well, me.

::fingers crossed:: I hope it works. And that it'll be like my current Speedo two piece in that the top fits and the bottoms are a little big, but I'm willing to have that for a fitting top. I don't mind not having a string or halter top...I just don't always like wearing a one piece. I like having my stomach and back tan. If it doesn't work, the place in Arlington does have a ton of one piece Speedos on sale though.

In other news, I got a call just as I got out of work yesterday from my dad. He called to ask me what I was doing for dinner Monday. Turns out his entire schedule cleared for two days and he's coming to DC to see me. He's gonna pick me up from work Monday (I'm doing an early half day) and we're gonna hang out until he goes back on Tuesday. I'm excited. He hasn't been down here in almost a year and it'll be just like old times doing our thing around DC. Can't wait.

In the meantime, I seem to have strained my right pectoral muscle. Ever since last night it has felt like someone has been stabbing me under my boob with a really sharp knife every few minutes. Not fun. Hopefully I didn't crack a rib instead.

It took me a few tries to get it but...

2007-06-20T20:43:26Z

You're Georgetown University!

A bit of a lapsed Catholic, you still pay lip service to the faith,
depending on who you're talking to. At the same time, you're more interested in
politics than religion and can't help but be swept away by patriotism from time
to time. While you aren't that soft-spoken, you still seem like a good candidate
for diplomacy. Though you love bulldogs, you'd never admit that that's what
they're called.

Take the University Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Music Survey From Katums

2007-06-14T01:12:44Z

Doing this to distract my frustration that the shoes I wanted to order from Merrell 4 days ago are no longer available. GRRRRRRRRRRRR. I want my navy Mangroves damnit!

Body: 1. Of which band(s)/artist(s) do you own the most albums?
ANSWER: Fleetwood Mac, The Who, The Moody Blues, Chris Isaak

2. What was the last song you listened to?
ANSWER: "Rocky Mountain Way" by Joe Walsh

3. What's in your CD player right now?
ANSWER: Nothing lately.

4. What was the last show you attended?
ANSWER: The Who @ MCI

5. What was the greatest show you've ever attended?
ANSWER: Jeebus. Fleetwood Mac @ Boardwalk Hall in 1997, Brian Wilson @ Tower Theater in 1999, Steve Winwood @ Musikfest in 2003 or The Who @ Wachovia Center in 2006.

6. What's the worst show you've ever been to?
ANSWER: Yes...they played ONE hit ("Roundabout" was like the next to last song) and a shitload of new stuff. Guess what, no one wants to hear anything you've put out since 1984 thanks.

7. What's the most musically involved you have ever been?
ANSWER: just band and choir in school, piano lessons

8. What show are you looking forward to?
ANSWER: Moody Blues @ Musikfest (and Black Crowes and Joe Walsh if I can get someone to go with me)

10. What is your favorite band shirt?
ANSWER: I used to live in my green Fleetwood Mac shirt with the penguin on the front. Now it's my black Who shirt with a Union Jack WHO and Pete doing a jumping split on the front.

11. What musician would you like to hang out with for a day?
ANSWER: Pete Townshend. Seeing as how he's my hero and all.

12. Who is one musician or group you wish would make a comeback?
ANSWER: Jefferson Airplane, but Gracie will never have it.

3. Who is one band/artist you've never seen live but always wanted to?
ANSWER: Bruce Hornsby, Chris Isaak, Springsteen, REM, Clapton

14. Name 4 or MORE flawless albums:
ANSWER:
The Who - Quadrophenia
The Who - Who's Next
Bruce Hornsby - The Way It Is
Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
Lindsey Buckingham - Out of the Cradle
Chris Isaak - Forever Blue
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
REM - Automatic For The People
Blind Faith - Blind Faith
Stone Temple Pilots - Purple
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow
The Eagles - Hotel California

15. How many music related videos/DVDs do you own?
ANSWER: Probably 20-25. Mostly Fleetwood Mac.

16. How many concerts/shows have you been to, total?
ANSWER: Probably around 25...I can count 21 off the top of my head and I'm sure I've forgotten a few

17. Who have you seen the most live?
ANSWER: The Who (5), Moody Blues (Musikfest will be 4), Stevie Nicks (4 if you count FM and solo shows)

18. What is your favorite movie soundtrack?
ANSWER: Singles

19. In what musical "phase" did you last indulge before wisdom gained control of your sensibilities?
ANSWER: Nothing recently. Although I will confess to watching "The Dance" by Fleetwood Mac EVERY SINGLE DAY for 3 straight months.

20. What's your "guilty pleasure" that you hate to admit to liking?
ANSWER: ABBA...I don't hate to admit it, I openly admit it. But I still get shit for it. I don't care. I fucking love ABBA. And I've seen "ABBA the Movie" probably 10 times.

Need computer help!

2007-06-09T06:30:07Z

I seem to be having a cookie problem, especially with LJ. Sites are not keeping me logged in. I changed a lot of passwords including LJ but I'm still having the problem here. Any idea what I should do?

rwhip923 @ 2007-05-19T01:43:00

2007-05-19T05:53:01Z

I'm getting constant popups saying:

"the file or directory C:\WINDOWS\system32 is corrupt and unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility."

Can anyone lend a hand?

***************************

In other news I'm tired and bored. JH has been in Florida since Monday. I was fine during the week because I had work and other things to occupy me but now I'm just lonely. All my Hoyas are either gone or occupied by graduation (which starts in just a few hours). I'm already running out of ideas of how to occupy myself and cleaning gets tedious after awhile. Maybe I'll go to a movie...maybe the Nats game Sunday. I have no idea. I just wish I didn't have to worry about my computer on top of everything else. Namely my body rebelling against me. My carpal tunnel has been acting up in my left hand, my neck and back are shot, my feet hurt constantly, my allergies have led to a likely sinus infection or bronchitis and I fell asleep at 7:30 last night. So yeah, things are kinda sucky right now.

At least I get to go to Puerto Rico on Thursday.

Lastly, congrats go out to two of the awesomest graduates out there: meadowsoprano and merfdawg. I'm so proud of both of you!

rwhip923 @ 2007-05-09T10:44:00

2007-05-09T14:49:10Z

Sick as a dog but nevertheless returning to Pennsylvania until Saturday. I am SO sick of being sick it's not even funny anymore. Seriously, every 2-3 weeks now. Jeebus.

rwhip923 @ 2007-05-04T17:27:00

2007-05-04T21:32:36Z

I now officially know someone killed in Iraq. This shit has gotta end.

Update

2007-04-20T20:47:32Z

Thought I'd let you guys know I'm still alive. Surgery went fine. Been enjoying being home resting and being spoiled by my mom. Got the stitches out yesterday but I still have a lot of swelling so I still can't drive or lift yet (nor do I want to do either). Hopefully back to DC in a few days and then back here in 3 weeks for mom's birthday, Mothers Day and a followup with my orthopod. At least I'm out of the house today and I'm going to see Lewis Black up at Lehigh tonight.

ONE MORE DAY.

2007-03-29T15:17:00Z

Leaving for Atlanta tomorrow night.

- Transportation (properly decorated) CHECK

- Place to crash halfway (thanks merfdawg CHECK

- Final Four first session tickets in possession CHECK (I almost cried when I saw the tickets)

- Hotel in ATL CHECK

Of course I have to be wickedly sick for all this though. I started getting sick Monday, fever came back Tuesday, I slogged through yesterday and had no chance of going anywhere today. My entire head is clogged up. Even putting regular clothes on is making me sweat. Ugh. The good thing is that I had similar symptoms when I left for Winston-Salem and that turned out well (although I can do without the stomach virus in Atlanta). So here's hoping my shitty health leads to basketball victory. The only thing I have left to do is getting my eyebrows waxed cause they're a mess...thankfully the salon is in the basement of my building cause otherwise, it would be me and some scissors - BAD IDEA heh.

So yeah, 6:07 PM Saturday night I will be in Section 332 of the Georgia Dome in Atlanta seeing my Hoyas hopefully destroy Ohio State for the second NCAA tournament in a row.

rwhip923 @ 2007-03-25T19:34:00

2007-03-25T23:41:00Z

THE HOYAS AND I ARE GOING TO THE FINAL FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UNC gave us an amazing fight but my Hoyas fought until the very end. Ohio State beware, my Hoyas are hittin' the ATL.

rwhip923 @ 2007-03-18T22:16:00

2007-03-19T02:24:28Z

It was a weekend of the Dudley Cosmetolgical University and Inn, MD 20/20 hobo wine, Rap Snacks, "I sexed Mutombo and it was painful", Busch Light showers, the evil bitch goddess that is Prissy Polly's, the new Vern for ya, the Pop Shoppe, Waffle House runs, three holes in the wall, Kernersville - Make Your Own Fun, another lack of pants, the $9.83 XL brandy glass, Hero House, the Pizza Hut lunch buffet, fat and happy fans, Scooby Doo, two people worshipping the porcelain gods, The 7'2" Experience, "Love Generation", ranch Doritos, safe rooms, Green motherfuckers and of course, TWO HOYAS NCAA TOURNAMENT WINS.

And as all weekends surrounded by my crazy, dysfunctional, lovable Hoya Blue family are, it was wonderful.

Here's to Winston-Salem and more imporantly, FOUR MORE WINS.

Hoya fucking saxa.

It's always a great day to be a Hoya, but some are just better than others.

2007-03-11T23:15:14Z

Yeah, that's right, my team won the fucking Big East Championship in spectactular fashion yesterday. And Roy Hibbert totally made Aaron (Emmaus sucks) Gray his bitch.

The game was amazing. Closing down a bar with Jeff Green's family across from Madison Square Garden was amazing. And doing all of it in 25 hours? Freaking crazy. (Seriously, I left DC at 3:30 yesterday and got back into DC at 4:30 today).

Now it's a #2 seed and on to Winston Salem! I will (most likely) be there Thursday to see us dismantle Belmont and then Saturday to see us play the winner of BC and Texas Tech. SIX MORE WINS BABY. SIX. MORE. WINS.

rwhip923 @ 2007-03-09T21:50:00

2007-03-10T02:54:13Z

I AM GOING TO THE BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN TOMORROW.

AND MY TEAM IS GONNA WIN.

rwhip923 @ 2007-03-08T23:41:00

2007-03-09T04:46:29Z

I got free tickets to see The Who tonight. I'm not kidding. Free tickets to see my favorite band? FUCK YEAH.

And they played "Eminence Front" and "Naked Eye". So I'm beyond happy.

Georgetown vs. Notre Dame tomorrow night - we win and I'm going to NYC Saturday night for the Big East championship game. We lose and I'm home doing laundry instead.

rwhip923 @ 2007-03-06T16:39:00

2007-03-06T21:54:24Z

So yeah...how are y'all? I'm sore and tired and exhausted as always. My boss has been saying for awhile that she still needs to cut hours and today I decided to volunteer myself. It's a trial schedule for now but probably starting next week I get to come in later and leave at the same time. It saves her hours and lets me sleep more which I really need. Between my hands, my insomnia and every other sore part of my body I'm just physically spent by this job. I'm dead when I come home and even more so on weekend. And I'm tired of feeling like crap.

Hopefully working 7 hours a day will be a little less stressful on my body than 8.5. Besides, unless we have shipments or floor moves, it's silly for me to come in two hours before opening. As much as I can use the money (and I really can) there's no use. I sit there with nothing to do...I've started bringing books to work as a result. There's no use for them to pay me for 2 hours of me sitting and reading in the back and no use for me to be up at 7AM to race into work. If the money or work situation changes we can always go back but it's definitely worthwhile to try now. I want to do things at night and on weekends and as it is now, I just can't. I either need to sleep or put my feet up or whatever. I'm hoping that the two weeks I have off soon for my surgery will do me some good.

I also have (hopefully) lots of basketball to look forward to in the next few weeks. God willing I'll be in NYC Saturday night...I won't say more about that lest I jinx it. And next week hopefully the NCAA tournament. There's 4 first/second round sites that are accessible and 4 that are not. The 4 good ones are Winston Salem (which would be absolutely PERFECT for 138937838735 reasons), Buffalo, Columbus and Lexington. The other 4 are impossible (namely Spokane, WA). So God willing again, I'm heading out of town Wednesday/Thursday of next week.

And for those of you who inquired about me after my post Friday night, things are much better. Not perfect, but getting better than it was.