andy reagan only the interesting stuff

Lots of Stuff! (Updates galore!)

First, I'd like to throw some cred to my homie Eric for providing me with his Slacker.com internet radio station to provide the tunes while I'm writing. I'm listening his "rock" station now, and it's pretty solid, nice work Eric lol!

Triathlon & BBall & VBall

Well, I've swam a total of three times these past two weeks, which I guess is a pretty good start. The first two times I did a warm-up, a bunch of drills, and a cool-down. Today, I swam 8x50m and I think that I can definitely feel an improvement from the first day. Making a 50 without being out of breath or completing a 100m will be the next accomplishment haha. I haven't really biked or ran, since biking four days straight last Thursday-Sunday...but I have been counting basketball as my aerobic workout. The 3v3 league got underway Thursday, and with Big Del, John Ellis, and Mike Rabe we went 3-1. We really shouldv'e won that fourth game too, losing to Caster and Rudy 15-13 in a game we never should have lost...I haven't been playing that well but I think it might've been because of how tired I have been. Tuesday, Bonesaw faced the fiercest competition to date, but REMAINED UNDEFEATED with only 5 players! The team we beat in the winner's bracket final in a close game came back through the loser's bracket to force a tough 30-28 battle, which we got out of after facing three game-points. It was really intense, definitely the most challenging and intense games so far...Lauren F and her D1 college vball friend were supposed to come, but they went to the movies instead...wth lol.

Thoughts on government

I've been meaning to put this up for so long, I'm going to at least get something down, even though it won't be "complete"...it'll never be complete.

Quickly: I definitely consider myself a conversative, through and through, and this is based in a firm belief of individualism and the American Way. And please do not confuse traditional conservative views with the "conservative" (i.e. centrist) Republican Party. Now "American Way" sounds corny, but I think that the most that you can ever offer someone is opportunity. In most cases, this is education, and education solves all sorts of problems...ranging from poverty, population control, and sustainability. The latter two are actually quite intertwined too... And call it being selfish it you will but read on before jumping to conclusions please, cuz I don't think that is right when government taxes consume nearly half of an individual's income, and here are just a few of the reasons: the graduated income tax system we deal with creates DISINCENTIVE to make more money and work harder, encourages debt as a WAY OF LIFE, and requires the federal government make decisions that should be the right of individuals to make. I also believe that in many ways, those opportunities are completely available today. Here's some stats that I would love to elaborate on, but I'll let you do the thinking: As of 2002, the American Federal Government paid $0.49 of every dollar spent on healthcare...think about that when Obama talks about "Nation Healthcare..." it pretty much already is. And the lower half of the household income bracket pays 1% of the national income taxes. That means 50% of the nation is paying only 1%....c'mon now people, how could that possibly be fair? FYI, the median household income in the US when I read that article (a year or two ago in AP Gov) was $44,000... well not that quick, but it's a good start.

Ah, that's why they call it a "crackberry..."

So basically I'm running out of time...but I've been playing around with my phone and downloading apps and it is pretty sweet. It's addicting, like crack, hence the name lol.Crackberry.com has some good forums and has a mobile site for downloading applications. There are some pretty cool ones, like a flashlight app and unit converter and stuff...

Syracuse Rescue Mission

I've served at the RM a few times before, and last summer with OBG I put in a whole day doing physical labor at the B'Ville Thrifty Shopper where we pulled up carpet and had to scrape the glue off the floor... So anyway, today I served lunch at the RM with OBG, it was me and three other interns and Jeanne Korchak. She said they OBG volunteers the second Friday of every month, and she is pretty involved apparently. TOday consisted of washing dishes for a few hours really haha. And next Friday, like last summer, all of the interns in Syracuse from OBG are going to spend a day working with the RM. Everyone said that Jeff (finance intern, back this summer too) and Jim (HR guy) and I got the short straw scraping floors, but really I didn't mind the one day of labor. That said, I couldn't do it five days a week, poor Del haha... And the following Saturday, the one a week from tomorrow, I'm goin to be participating in the "Ride for the Rescue." It's the RM's biggest fundraiser, and I heard about from a pamplet that was at OBG. I wanted to do it last summer, I just never got around to it I guess. So I contacted some people and found OBG had a team in it, and decided to do the 62-mile metric century ride, actually the ride that OBG is sponsoring. They also have 2, 10, 20, and 40 miles rides too. The goal is to raise $100 for each rider, and I already put $20 in myself. I think I'm counting on the Reagan Scholarship (my parents) for the rest, and considering that it is not just a race, it's for a good cause, and any donations are tax-deductable, I really don't think they'll mind (they offered to when I told them about the ride at the beginning of the summer too).

Projects update (Toaster and Website)

Well this is going to be a short one, I haven't done anything with the toaster, I was hoping Dave would get back to me but he has probably been busy...I think Del did mention that his dad had an alternator for me though, so I gotta ask about that. As for the website, the transition from blog --> journal is now complete with updated titles on every page...and I have been making other small additions...like the Facebook link on the resume page is new. I did that one just b/c I thought that logo was really cool haha, and so I stole it (shhhh!) for my link. And I think that it does kinda apply. Next to come is either a Google Maps API or some sort of Twitter/Facebook feed integrated in... and eventually then I'll make m.andyreagan.com, a mobile site haha.