HELL HATH FROZEN OVER
That's right, after about four days off, I decided it was time to publish another entry.

It's the last day of april and the year seemed to go by really fast. I mean the Rangers are virtually eliminated from the playoffs and it's not even June! At least I can be fair weather and support the Mavs against the Kings.

Nothing new is going on with me, but it's been a while so here's an update. We have done the impossible at work by make deadline something many days in a row. (I know how many days actually, but I don't want to blow the streak.It's sort of like talking to the pitcher in the middle of the no-hitter. You gotta respect the streak).

Arni

WANTED NEW BIKING PARTNER
With Geoffrey's pending move to DC, I have lost my second mountain biking partner in less than a year. I know I suck and all at it, but what's a guy to do? I'd go by myself but I have the tendancy to crash (like this) and if I really hurt myself I'd never be found in a state park. Damn You G!!! Just when we were starting to have some fun too.

OOPS
I added this great comment script to the blog, but apparently a group of web designers decided that May First would be a good time for a lot of people to redesign their sites. As a result, the site that hosts my comments has been overwritten and my comment function has been temporarily diabled. Grrrrrr! Hopefully they will be back. Until then... you can just e-mail me

THE DAY AFTER

Well I survived the Tour d'Arni -- to celebrate my 29 years of life. Good time were had by all I hope. I know I did at Sullivan's (Good food), Corbett McGee's (Good drink and friends) and Andrew's (More drink (water) and friends). Fear not. I did not get sick, but then again, Stacy was busy packing for MerleFest and couldn't follow through with her threat to make me sick with a shot of birthday cake! HAHA!

I talked to Manny before I went to bed last night. He's moved to New Jersey and works in New York City now. He still works for an event management company called Ignition, and says hello to all who read this site.

Today was a good day. I basically lounged around my apartment and called Taft (For all intents and purposes my big brother) to wish him a happy birthday. My trip to the Indy 500 is a go! I received the papal blessing of the PR director to be on the track PR staff and Paul said I could stay in the corporate apartment with him.

There was some good news/bad news too
Geoffrey called to tell me that he and Stacy will be moving to Washington D.C. at the end of the May. Stacy will be going to work for Stars and Stripes (The military publication). I'm happy that they are moving on to better things, but I'll miss them since they are both good friends.

Well that's about it for now. Here's your weekly dose of something funny; something scary, and something educational

A YEAR OLDER, BUT AM I WISER?

Yep.. today is my birthday. I made it past 12:53 CT so I guess I can officially say that I am... ugh.... 29. It's not that bad is it?

Quote of the day:
Age ain't nuthin' but a number -- Alliyah

CORRECTION
In the quote of the day I spelled Aaliyah wrong (I was going to check spelling at 2 a.m, but I was sleepy). I regret the error.

SURROUNDED BY TALENT
Every day I go to work and I am surrounded by talented journalists. I didn't realize that many of these same people I work with have hidden talents as well.

Poets, writers, musicians and artists exist in all these people and I'm glad they all shared their talents with me. Thanks to Marcus for having such a great idea for having a party to showcase the talents. Want to see it? I have a photo gallery up

Arni

OK... SO I GUESS I STILL NEED HELP...

In making the JAVA work... I erased all my posts but one... UGH!!!!

JAVA, JAVA.... I DON'T NEED NO STEENKIN' JAVA

The comment thing finally works. Stupid JAVA script. All I had to take the possessive out of my blog name.Go figure

Geoffrey and I went to see the Rock's new movie "The Scorpion King." It was OK, and exactly what I expected it to be -- a mindless action movie. The worse part was the people. Although I was prepared for the kids (It's Friday after all) but the rednecks in this town really piss me off sometime.

Arni

ANYONE KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT JAVA?

If this comment thing would work, then I could go about updating my site some more, but alas and alack it don't work quite right....

Things have been going OK since I last wrote this thing. I'm not as good as Geoffrey at updating my blog, but I'll get to the point where I can throw some stuff up more often.

Today was my first day off since I got back from Texas. Predictably, I laid around all day and didn't do anything. I should have worked on this site, but I'm lazy.

In the last week, I've gone on a bike ride to Sadler's Creek State Park on Hartwell Lake (Click here for pictures), almost blown the long deadline streak we have at work and watched the Ireland-U.S. soccer match with genuine Irishmen and Irishwomen.

First the bike ride... Jake joined Geoffrey (aka Mr. Frodo) for our ride through the state park. The trail was quite fun and it's nice to have three or four places to ride and people to ride with. Perhaps one day I'll actually get a little bit more fitness.

My friend Shane's parents visited from Ireland this week. Since the U.S. was playing Ireland in a friendly this week, we went to the local Irish pub (Corbett McGee's) and watched the match. It was a good match all around and Ireland won, so all the Dowlers were quite happy.

Well that's all for today.

Arni

Testing the comment thing on this blog....still testing

THE DAY EVERYONE IS A GOLF GEEK....

It's the opening day of the Masters and even though I'd rather watch paint dry than watch golf on TV, our TV in the sports department always seems to find its way on to that channel. Maybe it's because of Tiger Woods, who hasn't been on the broadcast today.

I'll spare you the details of how or why I watch the golf, but Augusta in April is a place I've wanted to go. It's what the Month of May is to an Indy car fan or Derby day is to a horse racing fan. The Masters has that kind of pull right now. MENTAL NOTE: Make sure golf clubs still work.

Since it's been nearly a week since I've posted, here's a recap of what's been going up with your pal Arni:

MONDAY: The trip home was rotten. Not only did I want to be at the race, but DFW Airport was a madhouse because of the weather the night before. Needless to say, I showed up for work about four hours later that I intended -- thanks American Airlines.

TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY: These days were such a blur, that I can't even remember what happened. I think I watched the West Wing before I went to bed and I'm pretty sure I e-filed my taxes.

QUIT RAINING ALREADY

Welcome to race day at Texas Motor Speedway... After a three-and-half hour delay yesterday, the Busch race made to just past halfway and then it rained. We may not be that lucky today... stay tuned for more information.

GONE TO TEXAS

Well I survived March Madness and got through the golf section and now I'm off to see the family and head to Texas Motor Speedway for this weekend's NASCAR races. More updates on the trip to come.

Arni

I THINK I'M A FULL BLOWN ADDICT!

Saturday I followed the advice of a friend and bought World of Outlaws Sprint Cars for my PS2. I started playing it for real on Sunday night after work and just stopped another session of play just before I posted this entry. The game is that good and I won my first two races on the game tonight. I was on a high, so I quit before I was shown the door by the better AI opponents.

Between WoO, High Heat Baseball for the PS2 and Championship Manager for the PC, I may never leave home again!!!! Except maybe for the races. Two days until Texas

Arni

CONGRATULATIONS TO MARYLAND ON ITS FIRST NATIONAL TITLE

I usually look forward to "One Shining Moment," CBS' sappy look back at the highlights and lowlights of the tournament, but I have to say I am disappointed at this year's version. The "One Shining Moment" of my youth had no sound effects or fancy video editing tricks, and it was a whole lot more entertaining. This presentation was anything but a shining moment.

Well I'm currently trapped in the office waiting for the game to end so we can print our first edition of the paper. There's an interesting little sidenote to the game. Two of my friends from work are from the two schools -- My friend Chris is from Indiana and my friend Jon is from Maryland.

Another co-worker placed a little wager for me in Vegas, so I do have a little cash riding on the game. I'd tell who I was cheering for, but then it would take away all of the mystery.

Well it's Monday night, so it's time for something funny, something scary and something educational.

Quote of the day: "You never really grow up. You just learn how to act in public." -- Unknown.

Arni