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<description>The blog of Phil Renaud.</description>
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<title>pssst:</title>
<pubDate>Sun, 07 Oct 2007 21:35:57 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[so, it's been a month and a half since I last posted. I missed my two-year blog-anniversary.<br /><br />It's turning around, though. This place needs a facelift, needs a change. I think it'll be for the best.<br /><br />Shouldn't be long. Hope you're looking forward to it....<br /><br />]]></description>
<comments>http://philrenaud.com/307#comments</comments>
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<title>a crowded house</title>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Aug 2007 00:49:25 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[My dad and his wife are down from Canada, as are my sister and her boyfriend. It's a bit of a crowded house.<br /><br />For the first twenty-three years of my life, I mostly stayed in my room when I was at home. I had everything I needed in there, and there were lots of people everywhere else in the house that took up a lot of space. I love them all to death and all, but you get that really confined feeling.<br /><br />Now, I've got room to stretch out a little bit. I've got a lay-z-boy and palm trees out back and patio chairs and a fridge filled with only the food I like to eat.<br /><br />And, all of a sudden, I come home from work today and there are girly-products in my shower. And a towel on the ground. And caffeine-free diet coke in the fridge. And suitcases thrown about the living-room.<br /><br />A bit disconcerting.<br /><br />The funny thing is, for those first twenty-three years, I lived lazy. and messy. There were empty water bottles everywhere in my room, and soda cans, too.<br /><br />I never made my bed.<br /><br />I always kept my clothes piled on my chair,<br /><br />and my textbooks and papers piled on top of my laptop and near the doorway. and prettymuch everywhere else. I had a lot of those, come to think of it.<br /><br />Now, mess disturbs me. I see something out of place, I want to fix it and clean it and then clean it some more.<br /><br />Maybe it's just a living-on-my-own thing. It's hard to say. It's one of those things where, just a few years ago, I'd tell myself "of course I'll be cleaner and less messy when I get my own place", but I didn't think that'd actually be the way it worked out. It's all very strange, I suppose.<br /><br />The five of us went to the baseball game tonight (Cubs were in town to face Arizona). Watching the scoreboard, the Detroit/New York game (note to new readers: I'm a big Detroit Tigers fan) had a long rain delay. 4 hours long. That game finally started, and ours finally ended, and I got home in time to see the score tied at 6-6. I missed Roger Clemens pitching, and A-Rod and Magglio Ordonez homering, but I got to see a great Detroit walkoff win.<br /><br />in the 11th inning! that is to say, the game just ended. at 3:40AM eastern. with a 7:00pm scheduled starting time. Yesterday.<br /><br />I always joked around that how well or poorly my day went was directly proportional to how well or poorly the Tigers played in their game that day. It's one of those things that I just kid about, but maybe is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy.<br /><br />Good things happen to me all the time though. I'm doing well. I won in Vegas last weekend, and had a great week at work. I'm living in a place that I've been enjoying more than I can blog in one post here.<br /><br />and I'm happy about all these things, you know. Even about having a crowded house.<br /><br />Especially about having a crowded house. It's good to see family again.<br /><br />Thanks for the comments: Hana, Babs, <a href="http://QETUOdesigns.com/crater">Fil</a>, <a href="http://resistmedia.net/blog/news">Beth</a>, <a href="http://www.davidairey.com">David Airey</a>, Jasmine....<br /><br />]]></description>
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<title>Vegas, Baby! Vegas!</title>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:58:45 -0700</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I've had The Clash playing on my iPod for about four days straight. Mostly Train in Vain. It's good times.<br /><br />Phoenix is nice. Wish you were here. It was a nice refreshing 104 degrees today. Even the rain feels hot.<br /><br />I went to a baseball game last weekend. Diamondbacks vs. Nationals. 1-0 shutout by Brandon Webb. They actually close the roof because it's too hot out - can you believe that? At the Skydome in Toronto, they used to close it when it's too cold.<br /><br />A lot of things here are the total inverse of what I've known. Like, rollerblading. I like rollerblading. I, in fact, waited all winter for it to be warm out so I could go out and rollerblade again. And then, summer came and I moved to Phoenix, and now I have to wait until Winter before it's cool enough to do any kind of physical activity outdoors. Swimming excluded, because it's really less physical and more floating-around.<br /><br />I'm driving to Vegas on Saturday. It's not too far. Staying on the strip, trying to determine how much money I feel like losing.<br /><br />When I won at Casino Windsor back home, my dad told me that winning was the worse thing that could happen to me. I'd get hooked on it or something. For new year's that year, I gave up gambling.<br /><br />It worked, but mostly because I wasn't making enough money to gamble. That'll do the trick.<br /><br />So - any recommendations? What do I absolutely need to do in Vegas while I'm in town?<br /><br />Thanks for the comments: Jasmine, Trench, Kaps, deSilva, Sean, Babs, and like 200 spammers. dayummmm....<br /><br />]]></description>
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