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.

'Merica!

I just changed the classification of this blog from that of a "blog" to a "journal." So, I still need to update the link on other pages...but I definitely think that this is more of a "journal" than a blog, for sure. I looked up the difference, which is that blogs are typically less about the writer and more about other events and linking to information, almost like news. Well, this is definitely not that, since I pretty much just write about myself haha. I am still planning a "blog" entry on libertarianism and some others that I forgot about at the moment that I think would classify as more blog-style entries. But yeah, now, you're officially reading a journal!

The Weekend: Sun's out, guns out....Stars out, cigars out.

Let me start out by saying that I rode my bike every day Thursday through Sunday, which is a pretty good start back into training. And that I came up with the latter rule in this title, both of which I followed at some point. Thursday I rode on the trainer, since it was raining, and I ended up doing an out and back on Frank Gay for a cool-down since the rain had let up, and then ran up and down the street a few times, totalling like 2.5miles running. It was funny, every time I ran/biked by Del's house, Sarah yelled my name and I waved back but I don't think she ever saw me wave b/c she kept yelling every time haha. Then Thursday night the usual gang hung out at Del's, Hannah was there with Dan and she didn't talk much but I think she had fun too. Friday I fit in an extended-Pleasant Valley loop bike ride, taking Frank Gay to Howlett to Cervale through the 13 curves to Pleasant Valley as usual, but feeling ambitious went up Stevens to Seal and back Slate Hill. Then from the village, instead of going up the Turnpike or Howlett, I took the Gorge to that road that connect to Munro below the big hill, which is a really nice road to ride on, and took that to Munro, up the "big" hill on Munro, and Frank Gay home. I think that map would definitely help haha. I stopped to talk to Meghan about possibly heading to Geneseo/Letchworth this weekend, and might've helped her dad fix her bike, but I don't think I did much lol. Then I saw Kaelyn driving, as I was about to turn left onto the Turnpike from Frank Gay she was turning onto FG, and so she stopped and we talked for like 20 minutes, even though I knew Zdan was already at my house for my "cookout" haha. I think I talked about a lot of this in my last blog about triathlon, actually....wait, I mean my last "entry" haha. But yeah then me and Dan went to Kaelyn's that night and she had some awesome fireworks, even though she said that they weren't gonna be that cool this year. I know that last year at her grad party I was like blown away... it is pretty cool how the whole lake does the campfire around the lake thing and they do fireworks all around on the 3rd. Saturday, my bike "ride" wasn't so much of a training ride as it was a means of transportation. I rode down to the Park for BP09, which was a "bust" with only 8 people, but it was fun even though it wasn't a huge party...we ended up going up to Kyle Blackmer's house to grill and hang out by his pool. After biking up New Seneca and Limeledge, jumping in that pool felt great! At about 3, I headed out and biked over to Steph Bingham's grad party and hung out there for awhile before biking home and going to Jack's. I think that altogether I put in about 15 miles just biking around town, so I guess it saved me like $2!! Jack's was a ton of fun, with Slade and Shields there. A lot of his ACP, Albany College of Pharmacy, friends were there and they were pretty cool. And nothing beats being able to walk home and spend the night in my own bed...Shields slept in our guest bed too. I told Slade that he could probably grab a couch if he wanted but he was fine with his car haha. And then Sunday, I slept in till 11:30, which is definitely a record for the past few months. I went to mass, and then for a 38 mile ride around Otisco Lake, taking well more than 2 hours this time. I met a guy named Bob who I caught up to going along the east side of the lake, and talked to him for 7 miles or so, before I took off. I wish more of my closer friends biked, but I think that the "Marcellus Tri Club" fbook group that I decided I'm going to create may give me some people to ride with! The only guy I thought of who might do it is Dan Z, I suppose Shields could too but he'd be gone for the race, and I guess I'm not sure that he can run. So other than that bike ride, I didn't really do anything at all Sunday...got to bed at 10ish but it still sucked getting up this morning, ugh. Well I suppose that's it for the weekend, Steph said that she might try to do a bonfire thing tonight and I suppose I'll go to that if Dan can come. I brought my swim stuff today too, so I think I'll probably be stopping by the pool on my way home!