It's one of AJ's buzz phrases. AJ is of course my buddy and a cousin of my best friend Kylan who masterminded the whole Jamaican adventure I'm about to chronicle in this here blog. He likes to emphasize the truthfulness of what he's about to say or to diffuse the bluntness of what he just blurted out with those 4 words. So, I too am not gonna lie.... * it's been a helluva long time since I posted. Forgive me. * it's been over a week since I got back from Jamaica and I've been too exhausted/busy/lazy to catch up * [View Full Entry]

---

---

I made one rule for myself for my ski trip to Germany: don't try anything stupid. But much like bones, rules are meant to be broken. Fortunately, my one foray into snoboard hotdogging ended without any serious injury and much like Lindsey Jacobellis' silver medal boardcross run: humiliating, but surmountable with enough BS and the whole "yeah, well I don't see you trying it" factor. There was a split second of a "My knee hurts and I want my mommy" moment when I thought I tore something, but af [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well, one more week down and I'm starting to feel a little fat and sassy, to quote a Don Hertzfeldt cartoon. I sit around at work all day, I'm helpless to resist the variety of the Shell cafeteria at lunch, and living out of a hotel forces me to eat out every night. No such thing as a hotel gym in the Netherlands, and I'd rather buy all new pants instead of going joggin around The Hague in rainy, near freezing weather! Case in point: today I had half a chicken for lunch and in the course of this week I [View Full Entry]

---

---

...SSDD was also another potential entry title, but it was rejected for possible negative connotations that I feel degrade the cheerful spirit of my ongoing European adventures. And go on we shall. I'm back again for the third time. First it was 6 months in 2005, then 2 weeks in January 2006, and now another month (or maybe more) here in March. I'm here so much it's getting comical. I've run into a few people at work who are like, "hey, I didn't know you were still here!" and "wait, aren't you based in Houston?" Deja vu seems more fitting. I've [View Full Entry]

---

---

...and the party never ends. At least it didn't this week. It's now almost 4 on Saturday and all I've managed to do is check email and eat some cashews. I finally had the opportunity and ability to get in a full 12 hours of sleep, so sleep I did. It feels good, since it's been a busy week. Monday After 3 months away, the Shoarma pizza from Pizza Dennis never tasted so good. The sweet taste of victory, however, was not ours to be had, as we came in 3rd place with 57 points, which really stinks since the other [View Full Entry]

---

---

'Belgium'...well, maybe it's 'Girl All the Bad Guys Want', but nothing ruins a song's appeal like too much Grammy praise and radio overplay...except maybe if it's being performed by Nickelback. Those guys are no-talent-ass-clowns. In any event, let's go with Belgium, since that's where this is all leading anyways. As options are limited for a weekend trip, medieval city hopping next door in Belgium seemed like a good idea. A three hour train ride on Friday night got Eugene, Bec, Shruti, Lesley, and I to the hometown of Spurs guard Tony Parker and supposedly the ever quotable Dr. Evil. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ok, so you'd think that for something as simple as a few paragraphs of attempted wittiness that I could keep this thing updated at least a few times a week, but here I go again falling into weekly reviews. I have my reasons. That being said, here's as painless of a recap of the first work week of the trip as I can muster: First, the whining: About the blog title... I think those guys said it best in 'Pinch Me.' (Ah, such high hopes for an interesting entry crushed so quickly!) "It's the perfect time of year Somewhere far away [View Full Entry]

---

---

Duty calls, and Brian answers. Especially when it involves an expense account, business class travel, and catching up with the NL gang. For lack of a full line of American television, and thanks to the marvel of hotel WiFi, the blog is back in action. So yup, at the request of my 'colleagues,' I'm back in the Netherlands for a quick 2-week stint to try and kick some ass and take some names. Thanks to the help of a seasoned last-minute packer and Village shopping veteran (Katherine, you're my hero), I was able to get packed up and ready for the [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well, the European adventure is finally over and I'm back home in good 'ol Texas. I got back on Friday, Oct 7th. It's been a couple of weeks, so I figured I needed to close out the trip with at least a lil sumthin' sumthin', cuz nobody likes an unfinished story. My last week in the Netherlands was a blast. That Monday was the last quiz night, so the shoarma pizza tasted extra good, as did the sweet victory we pulled on the rest of the teams. Sure, I forgot that Nelly Furtado is the artist for 'I'm Like a Bird' [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well, not just yet, but pretty soon. I threw some dates out earlier, but nevermind, cuz I booked my flight, and unless my 'leaving do' (that's European for 'going away party') gets ridiculously out of hand, I'll be snuggled into my cushy business class seat on October 7th at 10:30 AM, Central European Time and bound for that good ol' IAH airport we all know and love. As I'm writing this, that's a 10 day countdown until this whole European adventure chapter of my life comes to a close. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. There's about 2 weeks of [View Full Entry]

---

---