For and Against: Volume 5 - Colorado

For: White-Capped Mountains

Without a hint of protest, I've had to get used to living life against the back drop of the Rockie Mountains. Josh and I have been playing basketball after work and each time we've got to see the sun set behind Pike's Peak. No matter where I am, the mountains are always anchored to my west - it's a beautiful thing.

I went on a hike today with Josh, Aunt Jackie, and her friend at Deer Creek Canyon. At the top of the hike (7200 ft) was a stack of boulders that Josh and I climbed. From the top you could see Denver in front of you and pine-dressed mountains behind you. Peaking over the shoulder of the pines were the white caps of taller mountains. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good picture because they were too far in the distance.

Against: Lack of Lakes

So I took for granted the fact that no matter where I was in TC, I was always within 5 minutes of a lake. There aren't lakes here - just large ponds. Obviously I'm being facetious, but it's hard to be completely land locked. I noticed boats on a reservoir ("lake") and they literally drove back and forth from one end of the "lake" to the other. I thought it was funny and then realized that I miss the water! I will just have to settle for laying by the pool when I can. I will dread the days in dry Pueblo with the temps near 100. Yuck.

For and Against: Volume 4 - April

What I'm for: "April in the 'D'"

Fox Sports Net Detroit has been running an "April in the D" commercial/slogan (see 'Related Videos' above). "The D" is a nickname for Detroit and FSN Detroit has been running the spot because April is an exciting months for sports in the city of Detroit. You have the NHL and NBA playoffs starting and the MLB season commences as well.

I am looking forward to Detroit playing in the NHL playoffs more than anything. My greatest sports memories growing up were watching the Wings win 3 Stanley Cups (that and watching Barry Sanders play on TV and in the Silverdome against the Bears). I also have a special spot for the Wings because they train in Traverse City and I always used to skip to watch them train at Centre ICE in the fall. The Red Wings are the 1 and are up 2-0 on arch rival Colorado - remember how much these two teams hated each other? Each game was a angst-filld-slugfest. Detroit already beat Nashville in round 1 4 games to 2.



Honestly, I couldn't care less about the NBA or the Pistons during the regular season, but I will watch them during the playoffs. If they lose I'll be a little upset, but I won't lose any sleep over it. They are tied 2-2 with the Sixers in their first round match, but they are expected to get to the Conference finals to play against the Boston Celtics! What a classic match-up that would be. Read this article about possible classic playoff match-ups by Bill Simmons.

Finally you have the Tigers. Coming into the season they were almost a lock to win the AL Central, but an 0-7 start thwarted those thoughts. They have turned it around, but they are still a few games under .500. It's only April, so no need to panic. And how fun is it to watch the lineup we have? We dropped 37 runs on the Texas Rangers in a three game series...37!

April is also an exciting sports month outside of Detroit. You have the NFL Draft, the MLS season starts, and the Champions League knockout stages are in full swing. What a month for sports!

What I'm against: April in TC...

...as in Traverse City. The weather is so up and down! It was just in the 70's last week and today it snowed! We have a frost advisory for tonight! This weather is crazy. I've got to play a softball game tonight in 30 degree weather with the chance of snow! If only I were in the islands! Oh well, summer seems to be just around the corner! Hopefully May brings warmer, more consistent weather.

For and Against: Volume 3 - Days

The plan was to write this every Sunday, but I babysat for my Grandma all weekend and had no internet access. Writing F&A weekly is also a bit redundant and I am forced to puke something out. So from here on out maybe expect it bi-weekly. Like your paycheck. Think of F&A like a paycheck: it only comes once every two weeks, but you feel relieved once you get it. Okay maybe not. Here we go...

For: Thursdays

Thursdays are great. First of all, I get paid...who doesn't like that? There is a great TV lineup - Survivor: Micronesia, MLS Primetime Thursday, The Office, Scrubs. Ahhh, too many options may kill a man - as they say. And Thursday means its almost the weekend. Actually, at Michigan Thursday was the beginning of the weekend. Thursday is just an easy day to get through.

Against: April Fool's Day

Accents and sarcasm aside, I'm not much of a prankster. I do, however, enjoy pranks. Nothing was funnier this winter than Dylan's prank phone calls to countless customer service reps, waitresses, and Blockbuster customers (note that their are no longer any Blockbusters in TC). But I really can't stand April Fool's Day; the pranks suck and are predictable. I'm sorry Ryan Seacrest, but telling me American Idol is cancelled when you can clearly see the audience just isn't cutting it, bro.

So until someone comes up with a creative, believable, or hilarious prank on April 1, I'm against April Fool's Day

For and Against: Volume 2

I'm just gonna jump right into this one.

What I'm for: Humor

I had a great weekend in Kalamazoo with a bunch of friends. The whole weekend was one big laugh and it felt great. We laughed at nicknames, diseases, jokes, art, everything. You name it, we laughed about it. Saturday night we saw Tracy Morgan. That man's stand up is so incredibly dirty, but hilarious nonetheless. I laughed so much this weekend that my face hurts.

I feel bad for those people that are so uptight that they can't laugh. Humor is such a great way to forget about any sort of troubles. Humor and laughing is good for you. Humor can be such and absurd escape from reality or the spot-on truth, and either way you can laugh. I was thinking about quoting a line from "Garden State", but that would just be lame. If you know it, you know it, if not...you can look it up on this page. It's pretty far down there.

Anyway, enjoy this video of Zac. Something I found funny.

What I'm against: Drinking too much

Monday was St. Patrick's Day and Zac and I decided to celebrate, as we have done for years at college. We started with an Irish breakfast at Kilkenny's and a few beers. Drinking beer at 9:00 am is easier than it sounds. We met up with a pub-crawl at noon and continued our binge.

Unfortunately, I drank way too much. Don't get me wrong, I had a fun time and met a ton of people, but I didn't need to drink as much as I did. As a result, my whole week has been thrown off. I wasn't able to work Tuesday because I was feeling the effects of Monday's gluttony. I had to peel myself out of bed just to get in the shower. Wednesday still felt weird and I couldn't find a job.

In a way I'm glad it happened because it reminded me of how much I hate being hungover. It was reminiscent of my days in college, but I'm not in college any more. The consequences of drinking are greater now. It costs more, its unhealthy, and I always feel down the next few days. So from here on out, I'm going to be taking it much easier.

For and Against: Volume 1

Welcome to the inaugural "For and Against" post. "What is 'For and Against'" you might ask? Well its my attempt to tell about the things I appreciate, enjoy, like and those things I am against, hate, or am annoyed by. I hope to bring you "For and Against" every Sunday and write about events or things relevant to my week. In that capacity, "For and Against" will also update you on some of the things I've been up to or some of those things I experienced that may not get their own post. Some will be humorous (at least I hope), some will be deep, and some may be boring (I hope not). Comprende? So without further adieu...

For and Against: Volume 1 --

What I'm for: Chicago/Chicagoland


What a great city! I got a chance to go visit my nohnoh at my Aunt Kimiya's house in St. Charles - a suburb of Chicago. (More on the visit in a bit) We took a wrong exit and instead of bypassing Chicago we ended up on the Chicago Skyway. While it took us an hour out of the way, we got a chance to drive next to the city.

The Chicago skyline is THE original skyline of America; the skyscraper was was first built and popularized in Chicago. From the Sears Tower to the Hancock Center and all buildings in between, downtown Chicago just looks like a city with a lot going on. I think of it as New York City with a Midwest attitude.

Driving by reminded me of my high school spring break trips with my siblings and my grandma. We went every spring break and explored the city. We went to plays and musicals, we went shopping at on Michigan Avenue and the Water Tower Place, and we always ate at restaurants - some new and some favorites.

Chicago is clean, fun, and relatively safe. Even metro-Chicago is nice. It is clean, plenty of shopping and restaurants, and they all have a small town feel.


My Aunt Kimiya and Uncle John live in St. Charles which is 40 miles due West of Chicago. Unfortunately my Grandma has had to fly all the way from Guam to have more work done on her heart. The good thing (maybe selfishly) is that I got to visit my Grandma for the first time since this summer. We talked for the longest time and her voice immediately reminded me of our late night talks from this summer.

It was the first time I've seen my Aunt since before the trip and I enjoyed talking with her about my experience and showing her my pictures. Hopefully I'll get a chance to visit them soon.

What I'm against: Winter

The drive down was beautiful. It was sunny and the temperature was between 55 and 60 degrees; you could smell Spring. It was so refreshing.

The drive home was not so pleasant. The further north we drove the thicker the snow became. Thankfully it was sunny, but it is still depressing to see all this snow (especially after the tease of aforementioned weather). I don't need to go on about this as you can read my thoughts below.