Balling in the WIC

12-8-17

#myDecemberGoal

Balling in the WIC

            If you go to Indiana University, you will come across a building called the WIC. It stands for Wildermuth Intramural Center and it has two pools, multiple dance rooms, and of course 10 basketball courts. How can basketball-crazed Indiana expect anything less?

            This evening I went with my roommates and played some pickup basketball there. Here’s the thing about basketball at the WIC. If you are super talented or are an actual IU athlete, you’ll most likely be playing on courts 1 or 2. If you don’t fall into that category, you try to find the next court open. Soooo, my team and I eventually found a court other than numbers 1 and 2 and started playing. I think it’s hilarious to see the different playing mindsets of college students. Those who played in high school still play with fundamentals. Then there are those players who just shoot every chance they get. And of course, there are the ultra competitive players who can’t fathom not winning.

            We ended up playing five games, and we won four of them. It was a fun time. One of my favorite moments was posting up down low and scoring even though I was shorter than everybody there.

To conclude, this post was just to give you a head’s up of what to expect if you ever find yourself balling in the WIC. Here’s to the beginning of a slam-dunk weekend.

-Brody

Too Much Football

12-7-17

#myDecemberGoal

Too Much Football

            Football is my favorite sport. However, let me enlighten you on why nowadays there is too much football. To begin, let’s count the days when football can be watched. It's currently Thursday night, and the NFL first introduced a game on Thursday night starting in 2006. Friday nights are obviously designated for high school football. The long tradition of college football Saturdays is also notorious. Sunday is when most of the NFL teams play. Finally, Monday Night Football is the NFL’s primetime game of the week.

            If you’re counting, then you’ll realize that there are 5 out of the 7 days of the week in which you could watch football. That’s too much. At some point, when you eat too much candy, it starts not to taste good anymore. This is also called the Cheez-It effect. Eventually, if you have too much it becomes tasteless. Specifically, the NFL needs to sacrifice some profit and just pick one day. Good things come in 3’s. Friday, Saturday, Sunday is all we need for our football fandom. Go Colts.    

-Brody

Bright Lights of Bloomington

12-6-17

#myDecemberGoal

Bright Lights of Bloomington

            One aspect I love about December is the Christmas lights. If you ever go to Bloomington in the winter, then you have to check out the downtown square. The city hangs up Christmas lights from the top of the courthouse that sprawl out and attach to the roofs of the neighboring shops in each direction. When you walk under them, you feel like you are under a floating tent of lights. It’s beautiful.

            My other favorite lit-up area is the union on campus. The university hangs two vertical candles that span the whole wall of the union, top to bottom. The candlestick part is red and the flame is yellow. It’s pretty incredible how large these displays are. These are just two examples of Bloomington's bright December, and I can’t wait to see the city pop up with more lights as the month continues.

-Brody

(Courthouse Canopy of Lights)

(Candle on the outside of the Union)

Potato on Potato

12-5-17

#myDecemberGoal

Potato on Potato

            When’s the last time you’ve had a can of Pringles potato chips? Today I went to the grocery store which meant that it was time to continue my recent tradition of trying all the Pringles flavors. If you don’t know, Pringles has tried to put any and every flavor onto their chips. For example, some recent flavors I’ve tried are “Dill Pickle”, “Pizza”, “Honey Mustard”, “Buffalo Ranch” etc.

            So what was the lucky flavor I selected today? It was called “Loaded Baked Potato.” It sounded better than “French Onion Dip.” I didn’t think anything of the name until I got home and took my first bite. As the crunch moved from my teeth to my taste buds, I realized something crazy. Pringles tried to artificially flavor a potato onto a potato. Let me say that again. Pringles tried to ARTIFICIALLY flavor a baked potato onto a potato chip.
            To me, this is a potato scandal. Pringles tried to cover up their creativity mishap by saying it was a “Loaded” baked potato flavor. Thus, they tried to add some cheese and sour cream in there. I wasn’t fooled though. The only difference between a baked potato and a potato chip is that one is usually served hot on a plate and another is usually served at room temperature in some sort of can or bag. Therefore, the only real thing Pringles needed to do to accomplish their baked potato flavor was put little toaster-like heating strips inside their can so that the regular potato chips could be served hot like a baked potato.

            My Pringles journey this semester has been tasty. But after trying the loaded baked potato flavor, I am beginning to think that the flavoring bonanza by Pringles has gone too far. The only reason I'm not outraged after this taste session is because at least they still tasted like potato chips.

            To conclude, if you were to come up with a potato chip flavor what would it be? If you’re interested, here is a list someone made that ranks most of the Pringles flavors: https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/ranking-every-pringles-flavor-reviews-of-all-29-pringles-flavors Whatever your tasty concoction is, please don’t say loaded baked potato. That flavor is just a load of *$#!.

-Brody

Flexin' and Flixin'

12-4-17

#myDecemberGoal

Flexin’ and Flixin’

            Do you like to work out listening to music or watching Netflix? For some reason I don’t. My phone bothers me during workouts because I don’t like carrying it or attaching it to my arm. It’s just annoying. And the cord to my headphones always gets in my way. Even if I’m wearing my wireless headphones, they usually fall out of my ears when I’m running intensely.

            This afternoon though, I tried to get my flexin’ and flixin’ on. I went to the gym around 4 pm hoping that this would be the day I could enjoy working out and watching Netflix at the same time. However, I quickly realized that 4 pm must be prime time because it was PACKED. Nevertheless, I meandered my way to the back workout room. I figured my best chance to enjoy Netflix would be either on the bike or the treadmill. I chose the bike but faced my first obstacle not a second later. I couldn’t move the bike up to a good position for my legs.

            Tired of trying to figure out how to adjust the machine, I made the march upstairs where the other equipment was located. There weren’t as many people and I began to think that my quest might actually happen. I sat down on the nearest bike and everything felt right. My legs could actually extend when I pedaled. I pulled out my phone, plugged in my headphones, and began watching some video about bitcoin curious to see how this workout duet would work. Twenty minutes later I realized I was barely pedaling. That’s the other reason I don’t like listening to music or watching Netflix while I exercise. It distracts me and I end up barely doing anything physical. Happy that I tried it but still not content, I decided it was time to head home. My little experiment was successful but not enjoyable. After I changed clothes, I hopped on my real bike and made the journey home. There were no headphones, no Netflix, and no distractions. And it was wonderful.

-Brody           

Playing Ladder Tetris

12-3-17

#myDecemberGoal

Playing Ladder Tetris

            Have you ever cleaned out your houses’s gutters? My brother Keegan and I did that this afternoon. Our journey began though as we made the crosstown drive to Lowe’s. We had to buy a ladder so that we could reach the gutters. When we got there, we realized that we might have a problem. How were we going to fit a ladder in our little Honda car? Our regular college minivan, which doubles as our pickup truck, is currently in the shop. We ended up selecting a 6-foot ladder, and hoped that we could somehow squeeze it into our cozy car.

As we carried the ladder through the store, we ultimately got to the check out lane. Putting our best persuasive voices on, we asked the cashier if we could attempt to fit the ladder in our car before we bought it. He looked at us with a confused expression, but ultimately agreed. So we walked him out to our car where he proceeded to watch my brother and I play our best game of ladder tetris. We first tried to fit the ladder horizontally along the backseats. It was too long. We then tried to fit it diagonally, but the feet of the ladder barely poked out the door. Can’t drive like that. We finally pushed up the front passenger’s seat, took off a headrest, and repositioned the ladder’s diagonal position. It worked! We were so relieved. The cashier reached into our car, took a picture of the barcode with his phone, and all was well. So next time you need to buy a ladder, make sure you can somehow get it home.

-Brody 

Story is King

12-2-17

#myDecemberGoal

Story is King

            Last night, I watched the movie Coco. It’s Pixar’s newest original movie and I’d recommend going to see it. I’ve always liked Pixar movies. As a matter of fact, Bug’s Life was my first ever movie that I saw in theaters. However, I became a big Pixar fan during the summer of 2016. I was a unit coordinator at Camp Tecumseh and during our pre-summer training the directors explained what the theme would be for the summer. My fellow coordinators and I were all sitting in the basement of the leadership center (TLC) when the directors played a youtube video for us about how Pixar approaches its storytelling. Here’s that video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTM-AdrIpaE

After watching it, the directors told us that the summer’s theme would be “Story is King.” As a camp counselor, I learned to apply storytelling both to how I approached getting to know my campers and teaching them life lessons. It’s easy to judge kids behavior on silly things like sugar rushes and wanting to fit in. However, when I took the time to hear my campers’ stories and what they’d been through, I began to understand why they behaved the way they did. By listening to their stories and sharing my own, we gained each other’s respect. And that made me a better counselor.

I think hearing people’s stories is a good approach to building any relationship, whether it’s with our friends, family, or random strangers. When we decide to judge people quickly, whether it's because they have disabilities like Nemo or are an angry old man like Carl from Up, we’ll never be able to truly understand them. And when we don’t understand them, we won’t be able to treat them the way they deserve.

To conclude, I could write an even longer post about why I love Pixar, but I promised to keep these short. I’ll attach below my list of favorite Pixar movies and when each was released. As we go forth, let’s strive to ask people what their stories are before we judge them. I believe it’s a better way to love each other. And if story is king, then love is the kingdom.

-Brody

 

My Favorite Pixar Movies:

1.     Wall-E – 2008

2.     Inside Out - 2015

3.     Up – 2009

4.     Ratatouille - 2007

5.     Finding Nemo - 2003

6.     Toy Story – 1995

7.     A Bug’s Life - 1998

8.     Coco - 2017

9.     Monsters, Inc. - 2001

10.  The Incredibles – 2004

11.  Toy Story 2 - 1999

12.  Toy Story 3 – 2010

13.  Cars – 2006

14.  Monster’s University – 2013

15.  Brave - 2012

16.  Cars 3 – 2017

17.  Finding Dory - 2016

18.  The Good Dinosaur – 2015

19.  Cars 2 – 2011

In Chronological Order:

1.     Toy Story – 1995

2.     A Bug’s Life - 1998

3.     Toy Story 2 - 1999

4.     Monsters, Inc. - 2001

5.     Finding Nemo – 2003

6.     The Incredibles - 2004

7.     Cars – 2006

8.     Ratatouille - 2007

9.     Wall-E – 2008

10.  Up – 2009

11.  Toy Story 3 – 2010

12.  Cars 2 – 2011

13.  Brave - 2012

14.  Monster’s University – 2013

15.  Inside Out - 2015

16.  The Good Dinosaur – 2015

17.  Finding Dory – 2016

18.  Cars 3 – 2017

19.  Coco - 2017