Big 12 Picks: Week 8 Betting Edition

A little variation to my picking style but here's your betting guide to this week's Big 12 games. If you win any money off my pick's, I think I'm entitled to at least 25% of your winnings so I'll accept cash, check or beer as payment. 

1. Oklahoma State @ Missouri
1. Straight-up: Straight up I'm taking Oklahoma State, Missouri hasn't proven they can play consistently enough to beat a team like Oklahoma State. They have the talent and the offense to challenge Ok. State but it depends on which Missouri team shows up.
2. Line: Oklahoma State is a 7-point favorite and I believe they will cover that. I don't think this game will be a blowout but Oklahoma State will win by at least 10 points.
3. Over/under: 69.5 points is the over/under, I would take the under in this game. Just a gut feeling/guess. 
4. Score prediction: Oklahoma State 37, Missouri 27. 
2. Kansas State @ Kansas

1. Straight-up: Bias or no bias, I'm taking the Cats. Bill Snyder has taken this team too far to have a let down against his most hated opponent. 
2. Line: Kansas State is favored by 10.5 points, once again I'm taking the favorite to cover the spread. If K-State's offense is on top of its game from the get go, Kansas will not stand a chance. 
3. Over/under: 59.5 points is the over/under, I'm taking the over in this one. KU's offense is no joke and will score some points to keep the game somewhat close. 
4. Score prediction: Kansas State 37, KU 24. 
3. Texas A&M  @ Iowa State

1. Straight-up: Texas A&M...no explanation needed, they are playing Iowa State!
2. Line: Texas A&M is favored by 20.5 points. I'm changing my streak of picking the favorite to cover and taking Iowa State to keep this within 3 scores at home. 
3. Over/under: 66.5 points, I'm taking the under in this one. I think Iowa State will try to control the ball to keep A&M's offense off the field. It will work for the most part, but not enough to get the win.
4. Score prediction: Texas A&M 35, Iowa State 17. 
4. Texas Tech @ Oklahoma

1. Straight-up: Oklahoma, Sooners will get off to a better start than last week at home to win by a more convincing score. 
2. Line: Oklahoma is favored by 28.5. I'm taking the under in this one. I think Texas Tech will move the ball enough to keep Oklahoma from putting up too many points. 
3. Over/under: 71 points, I'm taking the over in this game, these offenses are going to continue to do what they do best, score. 
4. Score prediction: Oklahoma 52, Texas Tech 35. 

What I Learned From This Weekend

I have many things to talk about and not enough motivation to give them each their own post. So I'm going to give you the shortened version of all the things I learned from this weekend. Just keep in mind that the shortened version of what I learned over the weekend is probably longer than what I learn during the week. That's because I spend all of my weekend studying, not watching sports and laying around (sarcasm). But in all seriousness, sports can teach you a thing or two you'll never read in a book. Here's my report:

• I learned that the K-State football team is having a special type of year: I had the feeling after the Baylor game but wasn't completely sold until this last week's game against Texas Tech. Snyder has pulled off more magic in this season than all the Harry Potter movies combined. In the game vs. Tech, K-State had under 100 yards total offense while giving up over 300 in the first half. Despite that, K-State "Snydered" their way to a close score at half. Two blocked kicks and a kick return for a touchdown kept K-State in the game in the first half. K-State found a way to make the game intense from beginning to end, keeping their fans on the edge of their seats throughout the game (particularly me!) The Wildcats are now ranked 11th in BCS, 12th in the AP Poll and 16th in the Coaches Poll, the highest they've been in most, if not all, of those polls since 2003. The roughest part of their schedule has yet to come but I think Snyder will find a way to keep surprising people until the day he's done coaching football, so stay tuned.
• I learned that Tony La Russa is the best manager in the MLB right now and maybe ever: The St. Louis Cardinals clinched their birth in to World Series tonight with another explosive offensive performance and bullpen led pitching staff. The Cardinals were down almost 10 game on the 1st of September and got hot late to steal the Wild Card spot from the Atlanta Braves on the last day of the regular season. La Russa is trying for his 3rd world series and his 2nd as a Cardinals manager. His ability to manage and use his bullpen affectively stood out especially in this series as the Cardinal's bullpen pitched more innings than their actual pitchers did. It was unorthodox but still a typical La Russa managed series as the Cardinals were sound on defense (especially compared to the Brewers), had timely hitting and were discipline hitters at the plate. The Cardinals will play the Nolan Ryan run Texas Rangers, I will hopefully have a preview of the World Series by today but no later than Tuesday. 
• I learned Jim Harbaugh needs to take hand-shaking classes: If you have not seen the post-game-power handshake Jim Harbaugh gave Jim Schwartz, I have the video of it posted. I understand he is a first-year NFL coach and is used to the college atmosphere and excitement of things, but there comes a time and place for celebration as a coach. The middle of an opponents field in week 6 is not the time or place. Now I am not saying that Jim Schwartz was right in any way or form, he is no better than Harbaugh in that coaches always preach "Be the bigger man, we'll get em next time" and "the second guy always gets caught." Well he followed neither of these philosophies and made himself look like a fool on national television. I don't find this as a huge deal in my mind so long as some sort of apology comes from both coaches comes out for their organization, players and the NFL. We'll see how Roger Goodell feels about this rare type of incident soon if any fines  come out this week. 

 

• I learned that sometimes, people need to remember that sports' figures are people too: No matter how much you hate an opposing player because of the team he/she plays on, the trouble they got into, the celebrations they do, the smack they talk or any other reason really, you should keep in mind that tomorrow is not promised for anyone. The Racing World lost a great driver in Dan Wheldon today in a disastrous crash at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. I'm not even a racing fan and this made me think a little. Don't be afraid to root against opposing teams/players, just keep in mind the ways you do it, don't take it farther than it needs to be. Most of the time, fans' outlook on player's is wrong anyway but yell blatantly beer-influenced ignorance none the less. 
• I learned that NCAA football needs a playoff: Oh wait, I learned that 5 years ago. Seriously though, there are so many teams this year that I believe could legitimately win the championship: Alabama, LSU, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Oregon (maybe stretching it with injuries but I'm trying to make a point!) Only 2 of these teams will play for the National Championship, I'm guessing Oklahoma and LSU, while the other 3 have no shot to redeem themselves in the post-season.

That's what I learned this week, if you feel I missed anything, the comment section is straight down. If not, I'll try to get that World Series breakdown done today 

NFL Week 6 Predictions

My first week of predicting Big 12 football games went so well (4-1) that I decided to test my luck on the NFL. I've had 5 weeks to watch the NFL so I should have no excuses (not that I can't come up with some) for a bad week of picks. I thought about not giving a points prediction since my college predictions for points was as close to the real thing as Bill Self's hair. Now that I've put my one required KU shot in my post, lets get to the games.

Detroit 24, San Francisco 23: This one was a coin-flip for me, I feel like the dynamic-duo of Suh and Fairley will give the Lions the pressure they need to keep Frank Gore and Alex Smith in check. Lions remain undefeated for another week.

Green Bay 31, St. Louis 10: Aaron Rodgers is building his MVP resume as each week goes by. I doubt the winless Rams will be able to do enough on either side of the ball on the road to give the Packers their first loss. Packers win easy to go 6-0.

Atlanta 27, Carolina 17: Look for Michael Turner to have a breakout game against the Panthers. Cam Newton and Steve Smith will have a good day but I think turnovers will keep them from finishing long drives like they have for most of the year. Atlanta pulls away late for the win.

Indianapolis 31, Cincinnati 28: Look for Curtis Painter to end the losing streak and finish a game strong on the road after the fall-apart game last week against KC. Painter makes key passes late to get the first win of the season and hurt the Colts quest for Andrew Luck.

NY Giants 33, Buffalo 21: The stout defensive line of the Giants will disrupt Fitzpatrick's passing game for the Bills and limit their running game enough to get a bounce-back victory.

Pittsburg 30, Jacksonville 10: Pittsburg's defense dominates Jacksonville throughout the game. Big Ben will make enough plays to keep game from being close.

Washington 21, Philadelphia 19: The "Dream Team" continues to crumble as the fundamental football of the Redskins keeps Vick and company from breaking any big plays off.

Baltimore 28, Houston 17: Ray Rice has a big day against the weakened Texan D-Line after they lost star defensive end Mario Williams last week to a pectoral injury.

Oakland 34, Cleveland 10: Oakland continues its miraculous season on the back of Darren McFadden against a suspect Cleveland team.

New England 27, Dallas 24: A large, early lead by New England keeps a late Dallas comeback from stealing a win at home.

New Orleans 34, Tampa Bay 24: After a blow-out loss, Tampa Bay plays better but has major weaknesses in the secondary exposed against a high-powered Saints' offense, led by Drew Brees.

Minnesota 24, Chicago 20: Adrian Peterson has a field day against the struggling Bears' defense and Jay Cutler is under constant pressure as the Vikings take one on the road against a division rival.

NY Jets 27, Miami 10: Mark Sanchez plays his best game of the season to silence doubters (for now) and Miami's quarterback issues continue against the improving Jets' defense.



Let's see if I have any psychic abilities or am just plain lucky, but most likely I'll just wish I wouldn't have picked the games after missing most of them. Only time will tell.

Oh yeah and K-State is 6-0. EMAW

College Football Predictions: Big 12 Edition

Since I've got the blog back up and running, I'm going to try and throw in some more sports-related topics since sports writing is my passion. So here's my predictions for tomorrow's Big 12 games, I was not sure whether to include Missouri in my conference picks since they are like the nerd trying to get into the jocks inner circle, only to get a wedgie and stuffed into a locker but they think the jocks are just playing hard to get. Get the message Missouri, no one wants you, the Mountain West might have taken you until they merged with Conference USA. So stick with what your good at, being mediocre at every sport and never winning any conference championships. It could be worse though, just ask Nebraska, Colorado and Texas A&M in a year.

Now that I'm done ranting about that, here's my picks.

Baylor 35, Texas A&M 27: I haven't got to see a lot of Texas A&M but have seen enough RG3 to know that he is a straight-up stud. A little Big 12 bias comes into play on this pick as I have more love for Missouri that I do for Texas A&M. I think A&M will play like the cow shit that Texas Tech filled their bus with last week and only keep close because of the great home crowd they always draw. Baylor 35, Texas A&M 27.

Missouri 37, Iowa State 21: As much as it hurts me to put this, coming off a loss, I think Missouri will get the high-powered offense it saw early in the season back on track against a so-so Iowa State team.

Oklahoma State 45, Texas 28: I'm not sure how Texas is ranked after Oklahoma gave them what looked like the shower scene from American History X. As good as Oklahoma's offense may be, the poke's offense may be better. Texas plays better at home but inevitably can't match up with the hemi-powered offense of Oklahoma State, Ok-State 45, Texas 28.

Oklahoma 63, Kansas 10: I don't think Turner Gill is a great coach, but I think he'll get his players motivated enough to stop the embarrassing play his team calls a defense. Even though their on pace to break defensive records that get more coaches fired than a ponzi scheme (cough Miami), I think they keep the sooners from matching what Oklahoma State put up last week.

Kansas State 24, Texas Tech 21: In what I believe will be the best Big 12 game of the week, I think K-State's ability to control the clock, ball and the conference (Kirk Schulz/2-0 in Big 12) will give the narrow victory. I look for Tech to attack the Wildcats safeties and secondary since they've lost their starting running back for the season. Anthony Cantele takes his clutch kicking shoes on the road and gives the Wildcats a late field goal late in the game for the win.

Catch Up Remix

I think I finally realized I can't blog as much as I want to. That being said, I will continue to blog, just not everyday. So to get the fingers used to the keyboard again, I'm just going to give you all a recap of what's happened since my last post.

1. K-State football is back. My last post was about not making the SportsCenter not-top 10. After 4 impressive wins against 3 solid teams, its looking more like the team will be making the Top 10 rankings before a Friday Sportscenter special. Despite losing highly touted Bryce Brown, there was very minimal noise about it, which shouldn't surprise fans who know Bill Snyder. The team has gotten better every week and the defense is the shining achievement of another miraculous turnaround. They are currently ranked 17th and 18th in the AP and Coaches polls respectively, yet go into this week's game against Texas Tech as underdogs. This teams has thrived as underdogs so far and I won't expect any different this week. 
2. I am currently writing sports for the K-State sponsored newspaper, The Collegian. I have only written two Volleyball stories so far but will probably start to get more articles soon. The volleyball team has been a blast to watch and a fun experience to cover. The head coach Susie Fritz is easy to talk to and all the girls are as well. I will continue to cover some volleyball games the rest of the season. 
3. The Packers are 5-0 (so are the Lions?) and the Cardinals are in the NLCS after making the playoffs on the last day of the regular season. 
4. My fantasy football team is 1-4. No wonder I didn't do a league last year. I suck! 
5. School is in full swing. Tests, tests, essays, tests, papers, am I forgetting something? Oh yeah, more tests! Counting down the days to Thanksgiving! 
6. I am also working for the Athletic Operations Department, more specifically I am working for the baseball maintenance crew. It's an easy-going and enjoyable job with good guys and flexible hours, what more is there to ask for? Plus they pay me for it, SCORE. 

That's all I can think of right now, I'll try to be more consistent on my blogging schedule but am making no promises people, I'm a busy man if you can't tell! Til next time, stay tuned people. 

Catch Up

With every season comes a shift (big or small) in our lives. People start preparing for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. No grace period or halftime in between Americans' holidays. We are all just on to the next biggest event. Football season changes people's weekend agendas for a solid 6 months. That's half a year for you mathematicians. Just like summer brings bikinis, winter brings Uggs, spring brings baseball, and the fourth of july brings the words idiots and severed fingers to coexist, September brings happiness to millions of Americans. And I'm not just talking about football.

September brings back the people we love, hate and record each week on our DVR's (greatest invention ever). The end of september is when most of the major networks (CBS, NBC, KAKE) start their new seasons for their respective shows. I, being a TV show fanatic, love this time of the year. It's a time to see shows (happens to most shows) you once loved start to fade away (Two and a Half Men, The Office, Weeds). September is also a time for new found shows.

Normally, a newfound show would be one that is having its 1st season air this fall. However, thanks to Netflix, I come across a few shows that are fairly new (within their first 3-4 seasons) that catch my eye and then eventually hook me into the story. A few shows I still am currently watching that I got started watching from Netflix include Weeds, Sons of Anarchy, and most recently Breaking Bad. Of these three, Sons of Anarchy and Breaking Bad are still in my opinion on the rise in the quality of shows they are producing. Not anything against Weeds but they have just ran out of great plot ideas to go to but they are in their 7th season which is an impressive statistic in today's TV age.

The TV shows I'm most looking forward for their new seasons (spoiler alert, all of the ones I watch) include the following.

Two and a Half Men: Although I feel very twisted and saddened to see the path Charlie Sheen took in the last year, this show was a personal favorite of mine during the first 5-6 seasons. I have no real expectations for Ashton Kutcher coming onto the show but I will give it a change nonetheless. Nothing against Ashton personally but I liked in That 70's Show and that is about it. I just don't expect the fan base for the show to respond to the replacement and more importantly the loss of Charlie Sheen. Hopefully I am wrong and the show continues to be great.

How I Met Your Mother: I just got into this show within the last 2 months but have seen nearly every episode already (thank you syndicated television). Neil Patrick Harris does an awesome job in this show in about every episode. A great storyline that may seem to drag on is covered up by the bonding group of friends and the sometimes separate and sometimes shared plot.

New boss, James Spader, known from shows such as Boston Legal

The Office: Probably the show I'm least interested in. The loss of Steve Carrell would be like if Seinfeld Jerry Seinfeld. No one else can play the character like Steve Carrell played his or fill the void that the show has without him. Like Two and a Half Men, I do not have high hopes for the future of this show but I have been wrong before.

Tosh.O: Nothing new here, just great videos of why you can't stop people from being stupid. If you've never watched this show, Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Comedy Central. Watching this show will make your "shitty day" seem like you got a free weeks paid vacation.

Sons of Anarchy: This show has already begun its new season and I'm currently watching the previous season that just recently was released to Netflix on DVD. Thus the blog title "Catch Up", I am trying to get caught up on the shows that are currently or are starting their new season soon. The show centers around a biker gang that has chapters all across the country and in foreign countries as well (Ireland). They work the black market and the local law enforcement to make a living, a modern day group of outlaws.

Weeds: A Showtime production. Netflix hooked me on this show last year. The seasons are starting to lost the need for more after each episode but a good show for anyone looking for a drama-filled and climatic TV show. The show is based around a suburban mom who loses her husband and is left with bills to the ceiling. She finds that she has a 6th sense for the sales trade. Her sales trade is specifically strongest in selling marijuana. Thus the title of the show.

Modern Family: This show has been great in its first few seasons. A great play off modern-day society with it's characters: a gay couple raising an adopted baby, a wealthy and elderly man married to a young and beautiful woman, and a "traditional" family that is far from perfect. All these characters in the show are related and make for great family fun.

The Big Bang Theory: Sheldon Cooper and "Bazzinga" are all that really needs to be said about this show. This show has nearly had me crying laughing multiple times. The basic premise of the show is 4 super intelligent and very nerdy friends that hang out constantly but interact with the polar opposite type of person that is an extremely more good-looking girl that can't help but like being around these four guys.

Breaking Bad: Another Netflix fire-starter, Breaking Bad is a show I've just started to watch. I'm about halfway through season 2 and can officially say I'm hooked. The show is about an overly-qualified high school Chemistry teacher that finds out he has lung cancer. His brother-in-law, a DEA agent, takes the main character on a bust of a meth-lab. Once the chemistry teacher sees how much money is in the meth business and understands that he has the knowledge, tools and ability to cook meth to near perfection. His main objective for this is not leave his family with a ton of debt from his cancer bills. He learns early that his is in over his head in the drug game but uses his smarts to get him out of many tight situations.

These are all the shows I currently am watching but I will be looking for completely new shows to start watching and will fill you in with what I find. Until then, stay tuned.

The Carter IV

It's been a while since I've given a music update. This is because of two reasons: 1) sometimes I become a little lazy (sometimes) and 2) because I've been waiting for the Carter IV for almost a year and wanted to give it a good listen, aka 2 weeks of listening, before I gave my opinion on the much anticipated album. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, Lil Wayne, a polarizing rapper, came out with the fourth edition of The Carter series. Not short of controversy, Lil Wayne (aka Dwayne Carter), had his long-awaited album pushed back numerous times as his time to prepare the album was limited by his stint in prison last year. 


I had mixed feelings about my expectations for this new album. I had been a huge fan of his previous album, The Carter III, and wasn't sure if he could match the quality of that album. To my surprise, he didn't disappoint. The album didn't disappoint many other fans as well, as he almost made history as the first rap act to open with back-to-back million-selling albums. Thanks to record-setting iTunes sales of 300,000, plus the push provided by a post-VMA on-sale stunt, Weezy's eagerly anticipated Tha Carter IV will debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart next week on sales of 964,000, according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan.


I'll warn you now, Lil Wayne's music is very vulgar but yet deep at the same time. If you can get past his vulgarity and listen to what he is trying to actually get across, you'll most likely be able to enjoy his music. A great website I have used to study rap music is rapgenius.com, it will walk you through each stanza with a translation into a more literal meaning. I highly suggest using this website if you get the chance. But again, The Carter IV is very vulgar in some songs, so prepare yourself if you decide to listen. 


I'm going to give you my top 5 songs off the album and a brief description of why I liked them. So here we go. 

1.President Carter

This song really intrigued me because of the pure creation of the song. It uses the presidential inauguration of former president Jimmy Carter in the song as well as a voice modifier at the end of the song to reflect a presidential speech. 

2. Mirror (feat. Bruno Mars)

This self-aimed song is Wayne's way of showing his intellectual independence and do-or-die attitude. As great as the actual lyrics are in this song, Bruno Mars' singing may have been even better. Overall this song is a great listen for most anyone. 

3. It's Good (feat. Drake and Jadakiss)

Just a cool song setup. An old-school rap legend, Jadakiss, starts the song out. The new school artist and member of Wayne's label Young Money, Drake, follows up Jadakiss and sets up Lil Wayne to bridge the gap between the old and the new. The song is meant to assure all doubters that Lil Wayne is far from done in the rap game. 

4. She Will (feat. Drake)

Very vulgar song, the metaphors and personified lyrics are what makes this song great. Probably a song you'll need to listen to more than once to get a solid feeling for, I know I had to. 

5. Blunt Blowin'

Tried to leave this song off the top 5 but couldn't convince myself, if your offended by the title, try to remember that the song is not actually about blowing blunts. Give it a try with as little bias as possible and see how you like it. 

Some things to leave you with. These youtube videos, due to copywriting laws, are not of the best quality so if you like the songs but would like to listen to the real-album versions, I would definitely suggest buying the album or if you can't afford a $14 CD, I'll give you a copy of mine. So no excuses! Also, studies show that people typically don't know for sure whether they like a CD after the first time but typically can make a better judgement after 2 or 3 times through the CD. If you hate it the first time, give it a day to soak in, and try it again. If the second time isn't any better, don't worry, not everyone likes rap and even less like Lil Wayne. For those who end up not liking the above songs, don't give up on me yet, I'll bring country back to the music posts very soon.  

Avoiding Friday Sports Center

If your a loyal, regular viewer of ESPN's staple program, Sports Center, then you'll know that on Friday they air their Not Top Ten Plays of the week. Where they show the most embarrassing sports-related moments of the week. Kansas State almost landed itself a guaranteed top-5 spot in this Friday's list. And I'm not even talking about the Eco-Cat fiasco that broke out last week on the internet. I'm talking about something much worse.

Avoided SI too? 

Kansas State about became the latest BCS school to fall to a FCS opponent. A feat that has been occurring more often in the last 5 years (Appalachian State over Michigan, North Dakota State over Kansas, Sacramento State over Oregon State, and Jacksonville State over Ole Miss). Although this does show a minor shrink in the talent gap between FCS schools and BCS schools, talent was not the issue in Kansas State's troubles. The majority of K-State's problems were self-inflicted and mental mistakes.

Despite more than doubling Eastern Kentucky's total yardage, having 3 times the amount of first downs and having 9 times the yards per rush, K-State trailed the game with just few minutes left in the 4th quarter. This was because the Wildcats managed to rack up 5 turnovers to Eastern Kentucky's 2. The key turnover was a fumble by Bryce Brown that was returned to the 1 yard line. The defense then gave up its only score; which Bill Snyder doesn't exactly consider to be a touchdown against the defense, like many fans.

On a more positive note, K-State's biggest question mark coming into this season was its defense, who performed more like the pre-retirement, Snyder defenses than the post-retirement ones. The defense fought a short field many times, offensive and special team turnovers, but did not give in to the adversity they faced. The front 7 put pressure on the quarterback multiple times including 4 sacks including 2 from   Senior DE, Jordan Voelker. The secondary withstood a setback after Tysyn Hartman came out of the game permanently early in the game. Hartman's absence didn't seem to affect the defense or the secondary at all for that matter. Nigel Malone filled the void with his 2 interceptions, one to seal the game. Newcomer, Arthur Brown, led the defense in tackles and looks like a leader both on and off the field.
I'm not ready to push the panic button quite yet, K-State had to replace many key positions. They had to replace a 2nd round draft pick in Daniel Thomas along with having to get used to only seeing one man behind center, which has become a rarity in Bill Snyder's recent years. Overall, the defense is much improved from last years (not saying much) and the offense has the talent in place. As long as the leadership and drive to get better is in the locker room, Bill Snyder will get them going in the right direction. With two weeks to prepare for the next game against Kent State, this game will be more to write about. If the offensive unit can't find a way to coincide and erase silly turnovers, then these concerns being shouted out will become louder.

Arthur Brown attempting a tackle

Until then, I will focus on the positive (solid defense and an offense that just underperformed) of last weeks game with a shade of concern (weak offensive line, killer turnovers/penalties, and inconsistent quarterback play). I expect the season to be competitive and hard fought, just by the first game, I can tell there is a fire on the defensive end that wasn't within 30 miles of last years defense. Defense is what wins in any sport, so if we can get the ball into the hands of our playmakers more consistently and not have 5 turnovers (not asking too much), K-State will be right back on the fans' good gracious before Big 12 season even starts.

Movie Mania

Ever since The Lion King, I have been a movie person. It started with a small hobby, something to buy time with, but it would grow into something much, much bigger. Thanks to modern-day technology, I can access  thousands of movie options with the click of a button.

For the longest time, I've been a member of Netflix. For those who haven't heard or haven't turned on a TV in the last 5 years, Netflix is basically a more convenient version of blockbuster. Instead of having to go to the store to pick out a movie, you can do it on your computer or even on your gaming console (Xbox 360, Playstation 3, or Wii). There are no late fees, keep the DVD as long as you need to. This feature is probably my favorite, because when I get busy with school and just tied up in a lot of things (aka, I procrastinated a little), I can just keep the DVD until I have some spare time to watch it and then return it afterwards.

Not only can you receive DVD's through Netflix, but they have thousands of movies and TV shows available to watch via an online streaming method (gaming consoles previously mentioned or a computer/laptop). Personally, I stream through my Xbox 360, which is ironic since I bought it to play video games but now I have no time or desire to play video games, so it serves as my DVD player and Netflix access device.

The best thing I'd say about the instant option through netflix is the TV shows. You can watch just about any type of show. If your looking for a funny TV show, your options are pretty wide. Some of my favorites to check out are The Office (first 7 seasons), South Park (14 seasons), Family Guy (8 seasons), That 70's Show (8 seasons), and even Cheers for you old folks. Not looking to laugh, but instead want a serious, suspenseful dram TV show to watch, your in luck. Some popular dramas Netflix offers are Law and Order SVU (12 seasons), Law and Order Criminal Intent, Heroes (Seasons 1-4),  24 (8 seasons), and many more.

The movie side of the instant option through Netflix is not quite as great as the TV side, but there is a lot of great movies available. The best perk is that any movie available on the movie network Starz, is available on Netflix, thanks to a contract between the two companies. So along with a few movies sprinkled into the mix, the majority of the good movies available instantly are mostly older movies. Some of the best older movies I've seen on Netflix include Full Metal Jacket, 8 Mile, Memento, The Beach, Gone Baby Gone, No Country For All Men, Black Hawk Down, Angels and Demons, The Boondock Saints, Shutter Island, among many, many more. So when I say the options aren't as good, that is not necessarily a bad thing but just a not as good thing, if that makes sense.

There are, however, some downfalls to Netflix. The first being a minor one that has only affected me a handful of times in the three-plus years I've had Netflix, the downfall being scratched or damaged DVD's. In the process of mailing back and forth hundreds of times, DVD's take a beating. Netflix realizes this and has a good system for keeping customers, that being if you receive a damaged disc, all you have to do is go to your online account, click on the "Damaged DVD" icon and they'll send you a new disc as soon as possible. Another downfall is that you have to have a decent internet connection to stream Netflix instantly. This is not a problem for me at my house, because there are only three people possibly using the internet at the same time. Consequently, I can't watch Family Guy during class or even in the library for that matter. At first, I thought this was truly a downfall, but I realized I wouldn't get anything done if I could watch Netflix in class and in the library, so I'm thankful for the 10,000 or so other people using K-State's internet and dedicate my GPA to each and every one of them. The final downfall to Netflix is a more recent one, and that is that they are raising their prices for each option of service. For the longest time they kept their prices constant, but as a result of about every video store going out of business, Blockbuster being the latest and biggest of the video stores, Netflix has started to raise their prices. It's a smart business strategy, with their customers having less options to pursue (i.e. Redbox and???), and I personally still value the service-plan I use more than I pay for it so it's worth it to me.

I'm going to start trying to do a movie review about weekly, hopefully, the movies will either be new movies or older movies I've never seen before. I may even drop a new TV show or documentary into the mix that really caught my attention. I'm starting to get used to my schedule for this semester and am going to do my best to update the blog more frequently.

In other news, I got to see my mother, father, both brothers and my two favorite sister-in-laws for the opening weekend of K-State football. The game wasn't what I was hoping for but that I'll leave that for a different post (maybe tomorrow?). Besides the actual game, the weekend turned out to be a great one, I got to see my family, eat great tailgating food, and just hang out with old friends and classmates. Hopefully, the next game in two weeks, will be better and complete the weekend to its full potential.

Stay tuned people.

Love these people! (Sorry Abby for stealing this picture off your blog)

Back To School

I thought this video was appropriate for my return to school. If only when I graduate, I could take over a fortune 500 company, damn you Adam Sandler. Back to the point, this week was the start of my second year of college. After a year of adjusting and getting used to life on campus, I get to do it all over again by learning how to live off campus. I've learned there is a major difference. First off, no rolling out of bed 15 minutes before class and getting there on time. 30 minutes for that matter.

Today I found out the hard way about the fun of parking on campus. I got up about 45 minutes before my class, showered, ate breakfast and headed out with about 30 minutes to spare. After checking the parking garage, twice, I gave up on it. So my next thought was "what other lot can I park in?". Shoot! I had no idea, so I drove around until I found a lot sign the same color as my parking permit and whipped it in. To no avail, I unsuccessfully circled that lot at least 3 times, no spots. At this point, making it to my first class on time was out of the question. So my next goal was just to get parked, because my gas was about as close to "E" as it can before it starts puttering.

I decided to re-check the parking garage, just in case. Bingo! There is room, for the public, but not students. Fail! I proceeded to say some choice words and just gave in, got a public parking pass ($4.50) and parked. I would like to rant about how it shouldn't be a problem to find parking when you pay the University $7,000 a year but that's another post on its own.

Other than that, school has gone smoothly so far. I like most of my teachers and think I will fare just fine this semester. I have even decided to pick up a part-time job, carrying on the tradition of the McGuire's working for the maintenance division of the athletic department. I will also be, hopefully, working for The Collegian, K-State's school newspaper. I've had way too many people in my major or in my future career field tell me that the sooner you get experience and clips, the better. I will be able to work as many or as few stories as I want. So hopefully that goes well, I'll let everyone know if I get anything published.

No other news here, almost to a week until game day! I need some help with tailgating music, any suggestions are more than welcome.

Change Up

It's been a while since I have given you a taste of what I'm listening to, so here you go.

The first is an up and coming country artist by the name of Eric Church. I wasn't fortunate to see him at country stampede but everyone that I've talked to that was there said he was hands down the best performer there. This first song is his most popular, if you listen to any country radio, you've probably heard it. The second song isn't an actual music video but it is one my favorite Eric Church song's, I think you'll enjoy it.

Homeboy

Sinners Like Me

Keeping the country theme, here's some T-Swift. This music video has been getting a lot of attention. This does not mean I'm a Taylor Swift fan (even though I might be).

Back To December

Last song I'll leave you with. A little bit of a segway into tailgating season which is right around the corner. 

My Kinda Party 

Ranch

In the 20 years I've lived on this earth, I have ate my fair share of food. From apple sauce to zucchini and everything in between. I've spilt food, thrown food, choked on food, played with food, and even ate it from time to time. What I've found in my strenuous study of food is that there is no sauce or seasoning more universal than ranch dressing. Now, most people will agree that ranch is a tasty addition to a salad or even a smaller group will eat it with their pizza. I however, take ranch to a whole new level, or obsession.

I eat ranch with anything that I can think of. Pizza, salad, wings, chicken, burgers, fries, onion rings, mac and cheese, tacos, eggs, and the list is growing everyday. I don't know what it is about ranch that has me hooked but I don't care. If ranch was a drug, I'd be in therapy for a long time. I'd run an illegal ranch distribution ring and fight off the DEA to the death. If ranch was a girl, I'd marry it or at least dream about it.

This will be at my wedding!

I'm kidding of course, as much as I like ranch, if it were to go away I wouldn't have to worry about how I would cope. This is because the disappearance of ranch from the world would ultimately result in the end of the world. Let me connect the dots for you naysayers. Without ranch, the salad business goes in flux. When the salad business goes out, buffets are the next victim. No one wants to eat a buffet without a salad, right? Once buffets fall apart, Las Vegas goes down with it, no one knows what to eat and the city falls apart. With no gambling, people don't know what to waste their money on. People start going bankrupt at a all time low. Our country would start to make money instead of digging the debt even deeper. At this point in time, the world is at a place where no one can handle themselves. People are overwhelmed with boringness and nothing to complain about in terms of the government. And Justin Bieber disappears forever. As much as some may wish for some of these things to happen, they will never happen in this world, so them occurring obviously means that the world will blow up from confusion. It's science.

As you can see, I obviously have way too much time on my hands. A blog about ranch that leads to the end of the world? Yes I am ready for school to start. I need to get in a regular routine of going to bed and waking up. But I'm sure as soon as school starts I'll be ready for a break, it's the nature of the beast. Can't have your cake and eat it too, right? Other than school and trying to find some work to make some money, my life is been pretty bland lately, which is not a bad thing. Other than that, I'm just anxious for football (professional and college). Stay tuned people.

Operation Migration

If I had to go without a pinky toe or TV the rest of my life, I would probably choose to have TV and get rid of my pinky toe. Who needs that toe anyway? This comes after two day's without TV or internet. I haven't been so bored and mad at the same time. Bored because I knew every time one of my shows came, I couldn't watch it. Mad because I had to stare at a blank 60 inch TV. Luckily, I had some tasks to do at my new house. Oh I forgot to tell you, I AM BACK IN MANHATTAN. I moved back Last Wednesday and my roommates and I got the house all together. This came with time however.

There are many things about living at a house that you take for granted. For instance, there is no "cleaning fairy" to pick up your clothes, empty gatorade bottles, and dirty plates. No one does your laundry for you and folds them as well. Fortunately for me, I have a basic background in cleaning house. I cleaned when I was a little kid, so it's still a little fuzzy. Laundry isn't too big of a problem, finding the motivation and energy to actually do it is a problem, for me at least.

Reminded of cable company

I got to find out how awesome (and when I say awesome, I mean not awesome) it is to deal with the cable company. Not to mention all of the random charges that I never would have thought was even legal. Apparently they charge you $45 dollars just to turn on your cable. Not even to set it up, that is an additional $50. So I told them we could figure out how to set up the cable and internet by ourselves. It took me about 30 minutes to figure out. And an additional 30 minutes of talking to a mumbling-quiet talking Cox support person because they didn't turn on our HD channels. I wouldn't have minded them not turning on CNBC or Fox News but HD is a whole other problem.

Our next adventure was to Wal Mart, to stock up on all essentials. We even made a list, however, when your buying things with your own money, the word essential takes on a smaller meaning. I learned how to shop for bargains and forget expensive items. Also, don't go shopping at Wal Mart on a Sunday afternoon. Stick to weekday nights, you won't have a problem with waiting on checkout lanes and it seems that is when all other college students shop.

Other than that, schools starts in 6 days. Bummer. I have to get my books and all other school essentials soon I guess. The only real countdown I have is for football, that can't come soon enough. Tailgates, beer, food, football, girls, and nothing else is needed.

Technology Fail

Usually I would consider myself very technologically savvy. However, in the last week I have gone into a "technologically challenged" state. Fortunately, I have lots of time on my hand due to the fact that I'm done working for the time being and will have about a week to fix my technology headaches.

The first problem that occurred was probably the more important of the two, but I still am more mad about the second one. The first was a problem that resulted from my procrastination (see "Procrastination Pro" post) and the fact that I own a MacBook Pro. As I have explained in a previous post, I am a procrastinator to the core. The final paper that makes up 40% of my grade in the Composition 2 class I took this summer ,via Cowley County Community College online courses, was put off until the final 3 days before it was due. Keep in mind that the paper had to be at minimum 7 pages, so this was no small task. This part of the problem is not what really set me back in the end as I finished the day before it was due. However, I was going on vacation to Arizona the day that the instructor would be grading the papers. So if anything were to go wrong, like he was unable to download the document you sent him, I wouldn't have known until I got back. The thought of bringing my laptop on vacation for this very reason did cross my mind but I assured myself that there would be some sort of computer use at the resort we were staying at. Of course there were no computers, just free wifi. Free wifi only helps when you have a laptop to use it with. FAIL! After finding this out, I just had to cross my fingers and hope for the best. Hope that he received the papers and that he was able to download them without any problems. Not so much. After getting home from vacation, I made sure to check my e-mail first to see if he had e-mailed me about my paper, hoping to see my grade. As it happens, he was unable to download it in the format I sent the paper to him. This is the one downfall to having a MacBook, you have to remember that the formats you use Microsoft word will not always work with other, inferior operating systems ("Cough" Windows). I proceeded by immediately sending him the paper again in a more convenient format but was disappointed two days later after finding out he never received the e-mail. FAIL! Luck for me, my professor was very understanding about the situation and the heartaches of running an online class. He allowed me to re-email him my paper, almost two weeks late, with no penalty. So after all this frustrating and hair-pulling computer issues, I got my paper graded and my mind at ease. As Borat would say, "GREAT SUCCESS!".

The next problem I had was more of my stupidity then it was technological confusion. My Ipod, that I've had for about 3 years, has music on it from my previous computer which has since bit the dust. I've always wanted to get the songs off my Ipod and get them onto my new laptop so I would have them in case anything were to happen to my Ipod (i.e. losing it, breaking it, or accidentally losing all the songs on it). Turns out, I ended up doing the last of those examples in the process of trying to save my music. Kind of ironic right? Theres a program to do this, it's called JailBreak and it's suppose to be a simple process. Not for me, when I tried to run the program, it told me that I needed a newer version of the Ipod firmware. I updated it and tried again. To my surprise however, when I updated my Ipod firmware, Itunes took the liberty of erasing all of my music that I had previously had on my Ipod. FAIL! I knew I should have listened to the South Park episode that was a satire of the Itunes terms and agreements that nobody reads but just clicks agree to. If I had, I might have realized that it said in Bold letters, "By updating your firmware, all previous music, videos, and apps will be erased so make sure to back up your data before updating" Problem was that  I couldn't back up all my music because it wasn't all from the same computer. So after an ambitious and confident attempt to Jailbreak my Ipod, I lost almost all of my music. Fortunately in today's age, you can get music with the click of a button. Whether it be Itunes, mixtape websites, or P2P downloading applications like Frostwire, getting music has never been so simple and fast to do. Consequently, I have been rigorously downloading music to refill my Ipod before I go back to Manhattan, because the radio can't keep me entertained for more than 30 minutes. I am currently at about 350 songs, which is about a 1/3 of the songs I had previously but I have confidence I can get this done and have an even better collection of songs than before. As long as I don't delete them all off my computer (knocking on wood).

That is all I got for now, only 5 days until I move back to Manhattan for my second year at the Kansas State University. Stay tuned.

Vacation Recap

So my plan of updating a daily recap of our vacation to Scottsdale, Arizona was ruined when I found out our resort did not have any computers but had free wifi instead. Of course I didn't bring my laptop for some reason I can't remember. So you get the full trip in one post, buckle your seat belts.

I'll post some pictures and try to explain where they were take and what we were doing there.

This picture was taken on our bike ride, kind of disturbing and scary. Makes you pedal faster or stop and take a picture.

Also on the bike ride, cool scenery

The first golf course my Dad and I played, first hole as well. Not to mention the random guy in the corner. Good thing I'm not a professional photographer.

Same picture, minus the random golfer.

Just B.A houses, on a pond. 

Funny story, my Dad and I thought this was a dog at first roaming the golf course. Turns out it was a fox or coyote. Whatever it was, it wasn't a dog. But I caught it on camera.

More from 1st golf course

Dad watching his shot

Shot of mountain in background of the second golf course we played

Pizza place on mills street. A similar venue to Aggieville, but bigger and nicer. Pizza was awesome, along with Arizona State campus that we then proceeded to check out. 

Camelback Mountain Shot

Higher up on Camelback Mountain

So tired by now, ready to jump off mountain.

More mountain shots

Highest point...I think

Probably one of my favorite pictures. 

Cool view from the second golf course we played

More of a detailed recap tomorrow, stay tuned people.