Blog of Josh Hall

on trying to motivate a friend to run, and she says she’ll be motivated one day…

"Why just one day?  Why not two day?"

I can’t remember the last time i had a shamrock shake.  or anything from mcdonald’s for that fact.  call it nostalgia, call it curiousity, call it whatever, the fact remains, i want an effing shamrock shake, and i’m not getting satisfaction.  Every year when mcdonald’s offers the shake, i hear someone talk about it, and it gets me slowly thinking about going and getting one, but i never do, and i forget about it.  One of my friends started a group on facebook related to loving this time of year because of the shamrock shake, and this time it really struck a note in me to go friggin try one.  I was out with friends last wednesday and i had mentioned the idea of stopping by the drive thru for some, and they were half interested at least, but it didnt pan out.  So sunday, the day after St. Patrick’s day, I drive by a mcdonalds, get inspired, pull up to the drive thru, say, "can i have a medium shamrock please?" and i feel such a sense of exuberance, finally, i’m going to do it.  Then the voice behind the speaker retorts, "sorry, we’re all out of shamrock shake."  I was thrown for a second on his grammatical structuring of "shake" compared to "shakes", but I  was not deterred from my mission to acquire a shamrock shake.  Being the cartographer that I am, I know that there’s another mickey D’s about 2 miles down the road.  I engage in my second pursuit for this green delicacy.  I’m beginning to think i’m on to their marketing scheme, create a low supply, causing "buzz" publicity.  It’s no a new strategy; we’ve seen it before.  So I pull up to the second distributor of this irish themed delight, and inquire on the availabilty of said pleasure.  Again, i reach an impasse.  They are all out of shamrock shakes.  This time, i’m a little stunned.  I panic for a plan C.  I was not prepared for this disappointment.  There is yet another McDonald’s about 5 miles away…it’s out of my way…but maybe….maybe they have a bountiful supply of the verde substance that i crave.  I check the clock.  Time is of the essence, and if i make the trek, i’ll be late meeting my girlfriend.  And i think it goes without saying, she is worth more than a thousand shamrock shakes.  I shake my fist at the establishment and let out a "Next time! McDonald’s, NEXT TIME!" that even Doctor Claw would envy.  When I meet my girlfriend, i test the waters with hints of going on a shamrock shake expedition, but the interest seems nil.  I drop the issue…for now.

tonight, a surprise attack!  in a knee jerk reaction, almost late for work, i spot a mcdonald’s.  Sharp right into the drive thru lane (the RIGHT drive thru lane i might add, I paused a second to marvel at the existence of 2 lanes.  What innovation!)  I’ve got butterflies, but I don’t let the vixen on the other side of the communicator sense my anticipation.  I gather composure and coyly catechize on their shamrock shake inventory…DRAT!  She must have seen me coming!  surely they’ve had enough time to replenish the stock by now?!  I scoff and drive away in wrecklessness.  Shamrock shakeless wrecklessness…

Mom reserved a castle (more like a villa) for the Italy trip. http://www.rentalcastles.com/scandeluzza.htm We have the Madonne and Pelligrini suites. They look pretty nice. looks like it will cost me about $500 for the week. Still have to work out when I wan to go to london, but the flight to rome leaves wednesda may 16th, and comes back saturday the 26th, so i have lots of time to do whatever. There is talk about taking a train to paris, then the chunnel over to london. We’ll see how that goes.

In local news, the peguins signed a deal for a new arena the other day. There will be lots of development to come for the hill district and pittsburgh. the Post-Gazette has a nice little write-up about what’s expected for the hill. I have been meaning for a while to go down to the hill house and ask about volunteering opportunities, and twice they told me to call back another day. This is really a great opportunity to get involved in the community.

Sparta concert with old friends from the pitt helpdesk this friday. should be fun to reiunite. then rachel’s friend is getting married on saturday, and saturday is also St. patrick’s day, so should be some fun there, and also my other new roommate, alex, is moving in sometimes saturday. a lot going on, and really, a lot still to do before hand.

registered for 2 summer classes. assuming i pass those, that leave 4 classes to take in the fall and then i’m all done. hopefully i don’t reach snags like the courses not being offered or something. It will be nice to know that i graduated. I think keren is on time to graduate in the spring of 2008, so that’s some added pressure to finish before her.

no new word on the mellon merger or what it means to me. I was admitted into the formal mentorship this past tuesday, so now i have a guy a few ranks above me to ask for advice and seek knowledge and what not. hopefully i’ll be able to utilize that.

about 10 years or more ago, my sisters and I were riding in the big red van with my dad driving. We were on some trip somewhere, and back on some windy roads in the middle of no where. We came across this place, and only 1 word can describe it. Amazing. It was this huge, beautiful, turn-of-the-20th century club house. I remember it having a green roof, 5 floors, with outside porch-walkways wrapping the entire building on all floors, and the building stretched for what seemed like a mile.

and it was closed.

a travesty. such an amazing accomplishment in architecture and luxury and it was closed. Why? I don’t think my dad knew anything about it. The place had been stuck in my mind ever since, and i often thought about it, and wondered how i’d find my way back to it, or at least find out how to find it. Looks like it found me. this article was in the post gazette today: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07068/768095-85.stm. I can’t wait. I want to go there now. here are some pics of the place i found through a google image search:

http://www.pa-roots.org/gallery/albums/audrienlongenecker/Bedford_Springs_Hotel_E_Wing.jpg
http://image.hospitalityonline.com/e/2179/217984_2.jpg
http://www.personaliz-it.net/graphics/BEDFORD%20SPRINGS%20HOTEL%2020%204.25X4.25%20TILE.jpg
http://www.pumpwarehouse.com/image/bedspringsinside.jpg

Here‘s the official site. This place looks so interesting. So much history. Presidents stayed there, often. I don’t know if you’re getting the impact this place had on me or not, but just seeing it that 1 time really instilled such wonder in me, i can’t describe it. Bedford Springs, I have found you. You can see how large it is with google maps. From my memory, it seemed like the entire length of property along 220 was the clubhouse. It was so huge.

off the boot and back to 90% normal. Still can feel the ankle being a little weak, but i like to push it. Probably try and run a little later in the week. Not working out for the past 2 months is not good!

Ticket bought for italy with the family. I’m flying over wed may 16th and leaving saturday the 26th. during that time, i plan on taking a trip to paris and london as well since it’ll be so cheap to do so and i won’t want to spend so much time in italy. I’m excited!

took a road trip with friends to philly this weekend to a beer fest. Not really my scene, but we ended up having a really great time. Lots of friendship bonding and such. I need to get a camera. I wanted to wait until right before italy, but as soon as i pay off money that i owe to the estate and to j’aime for the italy ticket, i’ll get one as soon as i see the need and a good deal.

Rachel met my mother and Deirdre last wednesday when we went back home to see Deirdre as Mame in the musical Mame. So much talent there. It was weird seeing Rachel hug my mother though……..heh. Hi mom 😉

One of the new housemates, craig, moved in yesterday. Pretty cool dude. He just proposed to his girlfriend of 5 years over the weekend too. Both are from Morgantown, transplanted to chicago, and now moving back. Craig will stick around til at least sometime april as they both find new living quarters, and I’m glad to have him/them. The other dude, Alex, has an architecture internship from march 17th-june 17th, and he’ll live across the hall from me. ’bout time that room got some good use.

I’m just sitting here thinking how fast money goes down the drain. since i’m not taking classes this semester, my school loans picked up payments, then i have the truck registration and inspection coming up, estate money i owe, tickets to italy, doctor bills from the ankle, blah blah blah. Why am i always feeling like i live paycheck to paycheck? I shouldnt have that.

I used “Meaningness” in a sentence yesterday, and the other person questioned the existence of that word. I faltered, thought about it, and we came to the conclusion that it was not a word, and that i should have just used “meaning.” Post-conversation thoughts made me think of why I used that word. I swear It’s in songs somewhere, but I can’t find any lyrics (that i know) through a google search. But i felt vindicated that my instincts were right, even though they were also second guessed. Further thoughts on the word though make me try to think of a time when  “meaningness” is necessary and not able to be replaced with “meaning.”   so meaningness is meaningless.