Octo-Porn?

Hey all,

So, you know that woman that's been all over the news lately, known as Octo-Mom? Well, this last weeks news was flooded with reports of a possible Octo-Mom adult film! That's just about the grossest thing I've ever heard! Anyway, it would seem that Nadya Suleman (Octo-Mom's real name) was approached by major porn distributor Vivid entertainment and offered one-million dollars to shoot an adult film. If she were to become a contract girl, meaning she would appear in multiple films, she would also be ensured full health and dental insurance for her and her family.

I sat here reading this and was sort of disturbed. Here's what went through my head:

1. Who wants to see that woman naked in the first place?
2. Who is willing to pay her for that? Is this some kind of circus?
3. Come on lady, I know you're used to having 8 people inside of you, but that's just too much.

And then I quickly vomited and moved on.

Just a random side note: it's nearly time for me to turn in my scholarship applications and my sister won't e-mail me some documents I requested about a month ago to help boost my resume. This is making me very irritated.

Also, in other news, earlier in the month, a man named Dustin Dibble (poor guy) was awarded $2.3 million dollars because he got drunk, fell into some train-tracks, and got his leg ran over. His lawyer blamed the train operator, saying that he should have seen that it was a man in the tracks, as well as people are more prone to drinking at night, so he should have been watching out. In my opinion Dustin Dibble is stupid. This man in no way deserves any sort of compensation for his missing limbs. I think he deserves to suffer the consequences of his own actions, something many Americans now-a-day do not/do not have to do. To all of those Dustin Dibbles out there, OWN UP!

Along other lines, I'm sad to say that last Friday the Rocky Mountain News said goodbye to Colorado and all of its faithful readers. Since its first publication in Cherry Creek on April 23, 1859, the Rocky reported on issues local, state-wide, and federal, giving it's readers a view to the world beyond the surrounding peaks. The paper produced it's final edition on February 27th just 55 days before its 150th birthday. This closure has affected many people, not only in the heart of the business, but even those who simply read the paper. My grandparents received it. I read it at work almost daily throughout the summers. Unfortunately, Sydney's dad works for the paper...and her family has had to witness this tragedy from the inside out. I wish you the best, Tanner family.

Well, I was told that I should include a happy story in my blog if I'm going to re-report news. And this is one I thought was just splendid. Apparently a man by the name of Stuart Stemple mixed up a happy batch of food coloring, vegetable oil, and dish-soap, then using helium, he made tons (2000 or more) of little pink floating smiley faces and released them over London. Stemple is a 28 year old artist and he said of his "Happy Cloud": “I just wanted to make a piece of work that could cheer people up a bit. I’ve had enough of the doom and gloom in the air and I wanted to show something completely positive floating up in the sky.”

This is a photo of one of the "Happy Faces."

As for my own personal life, I've been very busy lately with scholarships, Spanish class, and the like. I keep having this recurring realization that college isn't High School. It sort of catches me off-guard every now and then...ugh.

I was just telling some friends about a part-time job I held one summer along with my grocery store adventures. I worked for the Trout Worm company packaging worms. I basically sat in my friend Josh's garage for hours on end and put worms in small cups, filled them with dirt, weighed them, and put a labeled lid on them. It was a pretty boring job. And oh how slimy. Sorry, that was random, but I thought you might like to hear about it.

Now I'm going to take a moment and mention a few people that are here with me.

1. Jack - He lives on the other end of the hall. He is short and has a beard. He's one of the few people I know that has a decent tattoo.
2. Adam - Crazy kid. He rides his bike into my door quite frequently. He also has a beard...that somehow fades down into his t-shirt and becomes a giant man-wig-thing that sort of scares me. His belly-button is a hairy pit of doom that threatens to suck in every piece of stray lint in the surrounding area. It also breeds small trolls who go on to do Travelocity commercials with the gnome. He lives next to Jack.
3. Karl - I think Karl eats too many yams. But that's a personal choice.

I'll tell you more about the guys I live with soon.

Anyway, that's about it for this week. Its been a good time with Mardi Gras, some tests, etc. I hope all of you have had a good weekend so far, and I'll talk to you soon.

Goodnight.

-Brad

Wednesday, Thursday...

Hey all,

I just got back from a nice midnight run. It was raining a little bit, and it smelled sooo good outside that I just couldn't pass it up.

Anyway, since the last time we talked, well, I can tell you this: I've eaten a lot of free food. Tuesday, IHOP was giving out free short-stacks all day, so we went there and had breakfast...and then just yesterday, Wednesday, I recieved a coupon for a free Quiznos sub, so we went there for dinner. The only downside to that was that they only gave out small subs. So we got back here, and we were banking on some free pizza because we had a floor meeting, but there were only two pizza's for about 40 kids. Not a good fit.

Now we were feeling hungry and discouraged, and since at that point the dining hall was closed, Pat and I decided to order a pizza. Since we're college kids, we get these fun coupon books that get us wonderful deals witht the local businesses, so we ordered an extra large from Dominos for 8 bucks. Well, it ended up being free since it was an hour and a half late. So that was nice.

It was also my friend Meghan's birthday this week, and I just want to wish her a happy 19th birthday publicly. Here's to many more Meghan!

In other news, did anyone hear about that poor woman who was attacked by her friends 200 pound pet chimpanzee? For those of you who don't know, a resident of Stamford, CT is currently in a medically induced coma subsequent to an attack perpetrated by a chimpanzee. Said chimp was named Travis and lived quite the luxurious life. He was fed steak, lobster, wine and cheese. He was 14 at the time of the attack and he had appeared in many commercials for companies like Old Navy and Coca-Cola. No one knows for sure what triggered the attack on his owners friend, but the owner, a woman named Sandra Herold, thinks it might have been out of protection for her. Apparently she had asked the victim, Charla Nash, to come over and help lure Travis back inside the house, but Charla had changed her hairstyle...and he may have not recognized her. Which to me seems like absolute bullshit, but hey, I guess anything is possible. At any rate, the chimp proceeded to maul Ms. Nash for 12 minutes. In that time he more or less literally ripped off her face and injured her hands. Herold reportedly tried to stab Travis with a butcher knife and beat him with a shovel before the police showed up and shot and killed him. Since the attack, Herold has made conflicting statements about whether or not she had given Travis some Xanax prior to the attack. Apparently the chimp also suffered from Lyme disease. Anyway, Travis has been cremated, and Nash is to soon undergo facial reconstructive surgery, possibly even an entire facial transplant.

In response to these events, the House passed a bill banning the transport of monkeys or apes across state lines with the intent to sell them as pets.

I just thought you guys might like that.

Also, since I'm on the topic of disturbing news stories, I came across another article today concerning a pair of Arizona teens who are now being considered as "pimps." Said "pimps" are both 16 year old girls who have reportedly been running a smalltime brothel out of a rented apartment. After a 5 month investigation, the teens are being charged collectively with 10 counts of child prostitution, 4 counts of pandering (or serving as a liasson for sex), and two counts of recieving earnings of a prostitute. All of the above charges are felonies. Anyway, I guess the two were recruiting 14-17 year old girls at their respective high schools. Their tactic was to tell the potential victims of all the money they would make, and it would be better than male pimps who are apparently more prone to beating their prostitutes. I don't really have any judgement to pass, because I don't know all the facts and I think these girls have to be in a rough spot to commit these kinds of crimes. I just hope all that were involved end up getting what they deserve.

Anyway, never to leave you on a sour note, here is a funny little Youtube video for you all. Thank you Forrest! (by the way, this is not for little people's ears...)



Well, I hope you all are well and continue to be. As usual, please vote on both of the polls, one is in the upper right hand corner, the other is below the Youtube widget on the right as well. Oh, and comment please! If you need help, please refer to the previous post. And whoever left that last comment, yes, I want comments, and I want them on my blog. Not on Facebook. Thank you!

Goodnight,

-Brad

FYI

Hey all,

As you've noticed, there have been some changes made to the blog.
The color scheme and layout are different. I want your opinion. There is a poll in the upper right-hand corner for you to share your opinion.

Also, for those of you who would like to comment on a post, please click on the comment link at the bottom of the post, then comment, and where it tells you to choose a profile, either submit anonymously, or click name/URL and put in your name. It's that easy. I'm sort of sick of people either not commenting, or commenting on the Facebook notices I post. But if it's too hard for you, you can always do the latter.

Thank you,

Brad

This week...

Hey all,

So this past week has been busy busy busy.
Monday I had a history exam, which I feel pretty good about...
Tuesday was decent, nothing too big to report.
Wednesday, I decided to go out with Sydney and get some Qdoba, which worked pretty good, considering we had a fire drill at about the same time. After we picked up our food, I drove her over to the Environmental Design building so she could work in studio. I sat around and read my history book for a bit, and then went to play racquetball with Lissa, Meghan, and this time, Pat. I was dying of hunger, but didn't want to eat my Qdoba before exerting myself physically, you know, because I sort of don't like to puke. Anyway, I met with them at the rec center and realized that I'd forgotten my student ID, which is key to getting in. So then Pat had to pay five dollars for me to get in. I at this point was feeling sort of irritated with myself, but it was going to be fine. Once we proceeded to start playing, I felt a lot better, and smashing that little blue ball into the wall was a good release. Unfortunately, I then got nailed in the side of the head. It hurt. But it's okay. Accidents happen, and I still love you Lissa. :)
After all that, I went back to the studio and hung out with Sydney for a bit. When we walked back to my car, I found a nice little parking ticket on it...that just capped off the evening. I hadn't eaten all day, I had a headache, and now a parking ticket. I had parked in an empty lot near the studio, and it was after five, so we assumed no one would monitor it, but we were wrong. So we headed back to my room, where I dug into my burrito. I ate it too fast and got a stomach ache. That was Wednesday.
Thursday's only newsworthy event was my oral exam in Spanish, which went surprisingly well. I was stoked on that. The next day I didn't have to go to that class either, which was exciting.
Friday, I went to history recitation, helped Janelle with a paper, and only had one other class, being Theatre. It was a splendid day. Friday night was good too, had some friends over, stayed up too late, and just had a good time.
Saturday morning, I got up early and headed to Windsor to see my great aunt and uncle as well as my grandparents, which was waaay cool. Grandma and Aunt Arlene cooked me a full on Thanksgiving dinner for lunch, and sent home cookies and stuff. I was stoked. Also, my sister sent a painting, which I'm in love with. It's going up on my wall today.
Saturday night, I ended up going to bed before 10, which does not happen, and I slept like a rock. I got up at about 7:50 this morning, and I felt really good. Other than the fact that I'm hungry and the dining hall doesn't open till 11. I can wait though...

Well, that's life right now. I have some tests to study for today, and scholarship applications to do. It's gonna be a good day.

Before I go, here's some observations from the week:

- Sometimes friendships can happen so quickly that its scary.
- Sometimes it's okay to think about yourself before someone else.
- Sometimes you don't realize who your real friends are till you're stuck in a bind.
- I have found that I'm not a fan of artificial lighting. When I walk into a room, I don't really mind if the light is dependent on the sun. Especially in the bathroom for some reason. That is unless it's night, and I do appreciate the light.
- It really bothers me when I find a cut somewhere on my body and I don't know where or how i got it.

I guess that's it for now.

Oh, by the way, does anyone else remember this show?



-Brad

I'm a slacker.

Hey all,

So, its officially Saturday. And I'm a slacker. I promise I'll fill you in on the week at a later point in the day. :D

I love you.

-King Zog AKA Brad Iverson

Urgh.

Hey all,

It's been quite the week.

I'll make another post tonight.

But till then, watch this!



I really like the song, and flatland bike tricks are just really cool anyway....

-Brad

Happy "Slap your woman with a bloody goat hide" day!

(This post was initially started on February 14th, at 10:30 PM. I just got distracted, and ended up going to bed, so I finished it on the morning of the 15th.)

Hey all,

Well, today is Valentines day. I personally detest the holiday, not only because it's a highly commercialized holiday, but also, I had a family member die on February 14th. Anyway, enough of that...

Some history on the holiday:

There is a lot of mystery surrounding this man we know as "Saint Valentine." Some say that he was a priest who served in third century Rome under Emperor Claudius II. Now, Emperor Claudius wasn't such a nice guy, and he decreed that single men were better fit to go to war than those with a wife and children. You might think, "Brad, that seems pretty nice to me!" but you just wait. Dear old Claudius, he also outlawed marriage, which basically gave him a whole generation of fresh, ripe soldiers. Now here is where the mysterious St. Valentine comes in. It is thought that Valentine frequently married young lovers in secret to defy the injustice Claudius had imposed. Once these secret marriages were discovered, Valentine was of course put to death. It is for this reason that we celebrate the holiday some say.

Now, others believe that Valentine was killed because he tried to help persecuted Christians escape scary Roman prisons. One legend has it that while in prison for this crime, he wrote the first "Valentine" himself. It is thought that he had fallen in love with a girl who frequently visited him in jail, probably the jail-keepers daughter, and before he died his heroic death, he wrote her a little love letter signed, "From your Valentine" thus bringing about the expression.

In my opinion, just looking at papal decree and how so many holidays come about, this next theory seems the most reliable to me: Most think that Valentine's day was celebrated near the middle of February in order to commemorate the burial of Saint Valentine, which occurred about 270 AD, but I and many others thing that the time of the celebration was an attempt to "Christianize" the existing pagan festival of Lupercalia. In ancient Rome, February was considered the beginning of spring, and a time for purification. Ritual house cleaning took place (spring cleaning?), and salt and wheat spelt where sprinkled around the inside of the house. Lupercalia officially began on February 15th. This festival was dedicated to the Roman god of agriculture, Faunus, as well as Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

To begin the festival, the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at the sacred cave where Romulus and Remus were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf. There they would sacrifice a goat for fertility and a dog for purification. The young priests would then slice the goat hide into strips, dip them in the sacrificial blood, and take to the streets, gently slapping the women and the crops to ensure future fertility. Contrary to what you might think, the women and girls actually liked and encouraged being slapped with these bloody hides, because evidently, everyone was into getting pregnant.

It is thought that later in the day the Roman lottery system was put to work. All the women and girls of age in the city would write their names on a slip of paper and put them in a large urn. After that, all the city's bachelors would draw a name from the urn. Whoever they drew was to be there mate for the year. These pairing often led to marriage, and the practice was widely supported for years.

Then the Christians came and ruined everything.

Pope Gelasius declared February 14th St. Valentine's Day, and the Roman lottery was declared as un-Christian, and outlawed. Later on during the Middle Ages in France, when people actually started studying birds, they determined for some reason that February 14th was the official start of all birds' mating season. This idea brought about the notion that Valentine's Day should be a romantic holiday. Which is ironic, considering the root word in romantic.

Valentine's Day has since progressed into one of the biggest cash holidays of the year. According the American Greeting Card Association (What the hell? Who starts an association for greeting cards? That is so stupid!), an estimated one billion Valentine's cards are sent every year. This makes Valentine's day the second largest card-selling holiday, just behind Christmas.

If this doesn't say something about our society, I don't know what does.

Anyway, as for my own Valentine's day, it was spent in my room, alone. How sad. Sydney is out of town, but she's got a surprise in store for when she gets back.

I'll keep you updated.

Speaking of which, I'd like to take a moment to say that Ms. L. Sydney Tanner is one of the best things that's ever happened to me. I don't deserve her or the kindness, generosity and stubborn beauty she presents to the world. She puts up with me and my oddities better than a lot of people, and I really just want to tell everyone how much I appreciate her. She's influenced me in great ways, and I can never repay her. So Sydney, here's to you. Here's to your strong will, your hard-to-crack shell. Here's to your beauty, and to your strength. I hope to go with you on whatever journey life presents, and I hope to grow with you, no matter how hard it gets.

Thanks for being there.

-Brad




P.S. This video is not related to Valentine's day, but it's still really cool. I hope you appreciate it as much as I do.

Okay for real this time...

Hey all,

This is my second posting for Thursday. This week has been busy, and I'm ready for the weekend. That's really all I'm going to say about it.

Today I was walking across campus on my way to lunch and I glanced up at the guy walking in front of me. As we walked, I watched a dryer sheet slowly inch it's way out of his sleeve. Then it just sort of fluttered to the ground without him ever noticing. It was sort of silly.

Anyway, I forgot to mention a couple of posts back, but I have a little story for you guys.

So, Sydney and I were on our way to Lyons for the aforementioned pinballing, and we needed some gas. When we pulled up, the gas station parking lot was a big giant charlie fox. For those of you who don't know that means, it's another, safer family term for "cluster f***." Anyway, after we found our way to a pump and Sydney was filling up her car, I watched this woman who had parked the wrong way and had to drag the hose over the roof of her car and then put the handle in at a wrong angle to fill up her tank. That in itself was amusing enough, but then I noticed that she was talking on her cell phone. Now, it's been more or less disproven that cellphones actually cause fire in automobiles while pumping gas, except in very strange circumstances, but I still don't do it, and most gas stations recommend that you don't either. I kept watching, and as she pulled away from the pump, still on her phone, Sydney noticed that her gas cap was just hanging there and the hatch was open. This made me laugh a little too. But on top of all of that, she ended up driving into the automated car wash. That was the biggest laugh. I can only imagine what she did when she got home. Or when her check engine light came on. Or when her car stopped running...

Oh, by the way, I shaved. I have a goatee now. Just so you know. (see previous post)

What else...

Overall, things are good. School is challenging, but it's very rewarding, and I'm still enjoying it.

Lastly, I think I'd like to mention my new friend Janelle. She's in my Spanish class, and she's nothing short of awesome. She's helped me out with a bunch of stuff...and she's just really easy to talk to. So here's to you Janelle! You rock!

Well, that's about it for now. Tonight I'm leaving you with a song, rather than a video. I've been listening to it a lot lately...It's a great song. I first came across it while watching Fight Club. It's a perfect credit song. I just love it. So just listen to it.

Okay then.

You all have a wonderful night.

We'll talk again tomorrow.

-Brad

Where Is My Mind? - Pixies

Oh, also, go use the stupid poll that I set up to determine my reader demographic. Do it now.
It's right over there ------------->

Oh...and on another note, none of you seem to be able to figure out how to commment on this page itself. Just click on the link down there that has the word comment or comments in it. You can figure it out I'm sure.

Opinion time...

Hey all,

I'd just like your opinion on something...



Beard or no beard?

Leave me some feedback.

As always, click the who are you poll on the right side, below the youtube module.

New post later on.

-Brad

The weeks end...

Hey all,

Lately I've come to realize how many people actually read this thing. Mom, Dad, Chance, Ginny, Kyle, Katie, Hannah, Chris, Lissa, Meghan...the list just goes on and on. Well, I would like to tell each and every one of you thank you. I appreciate it.

Also, people have asked me, "Brad, why do you blog?"

The answer to this question is:

-To keep my family updated on what's going on in my life.
-To rant.
-To put my opinion out there where it might be heard.
And lastly...
-To review and decompress.

These are the reasons I do this at least three times a week. I know some people thing blogging is dumb, but I enjoy it. Well, until my girlfriend tells me that she skips over the parts where I pointlessly rant about stuff. That's sort of discouraging, but I have to give it to her...she makes a valid point. Half of the stuff that I rant about is pretty pointless, and my rants really never serve to change anything.

I suppose it's not the most proactive activity, but it helps me develop my thoughts and opinions. I don't know. It just makes me feel good.

Well, anyway, this weekend has been devoted to sleeping and homework. It's been very relaxing actually, and I've gotten done with a lot of my work for this coming week.

I guess that's really all for now. I'll probably make a post tomorrow...but until then....



Have a good night.

-Brad

Technically I'm wearing pants...

Hey all,

Here's a catch up for you all.

Since my last big post, a lot has happened...

For starters, I've been reminded of some big things in life, mostly thanks to my dad. For one, it's not fair for me to rant about things like custodians in my blog because I'm borrowing money to pay for college. I should appreciate the fact that I'm going instead of whining about how that money is being spent. It's difficult sometimes for me to keep in mind that I really am a poor college kid. For those of you who don't know, CU Boulder is home to many, many rich kids...and their attitude can be infectious. Watching people get whatever they want, whenever they want and not have to consider the consequences is part of my day to day life, and well, it's pretty easy to mold to your environment sometimes. Dad and I also talked about the fact that I don't have to stay here either, mainly because I have decided to take a different path in life than originally intended. What I'm talking about mainly is the fact that I came to school here to become an architect, and now I want to be an English major. You may ask, what difference does it make? Well, CU is the only accredited architecture school in Colorado, and that was the big draw. Unfortunately, this big draw comes with a big price tag. Now I'm at the point where I have to evaluate whether or not I want to stay here in Boulder and continue my education. On one hand, going somewhere else would be much cheaper, especially in the areas of housing and living expenses, not to mention tuition itself, but on the other hand, I have grown to love this community. Boulder is such a place of self expression, unheard-of traditions, and unique people that I don't want to leave. This town has grown on me quite a bit. Granted, I've only ever lived in Pagosa, but man, this is a great place.

Anyway, I'm done with the heavy stuff for now. In other news, this last Friday, Sydney took me to Lyons, and for a belated Christmas gift, we went pin-balling. It was an awesome time. I got to play about 20 different machines and listen to Elton John, The Beatles, The Eagles, Tom Petty, and the like for a couple of hours. After that we rented some movies and just hung out. It was a great Friday night. All except this movie we watched - The Aristocrats. I do NOT recommend this movie to anyone not in a vegetative state. It was a huge waste of time.

Anyway, this week has been full mainly of history and physics homework so far. I've also been actively looking for a job on campus, so I'll let you know how that turns out.

As for the random observations I always throw out, here is a copy of a flyer handed to me on campus today:





I thought the concept was interesting to say the least.

Also, I would like to address a few changes to the blog. There is a different header now, as well as fewer posts being shown. If you want to access my older posts, please use the blog archive on the right hand side of the screen. Also, thank you to all of you who actually did the poll last month, I put up a new one, so please use it. It is located underneath the youtube box, and I need your input please. Below that, you'll find a couple new additives, such as the super fun Mario game I've included. Try it out. You'll like it.

Oh, one last thing, I will be trying to upload a video blog, or vlog, once a week from now on. It should be a good time.

Now, I need to go wrap up my homework.

Have a good night.

-Brad

First Vlog

Hey all,

It's late, and I just want to go to sleep.
But I thought I'd share this with you.



This is my first video blog. It really sucks, but it's a decent attempt so far...

More to come tomorrow or the next day.

-Brad