From the BBC, dated January 11, 2006: Levi Makes iPod-Controlling Jeans

From this very LJ, dated April 12, 2005: Dave's Crazy Ideas of the Week (it's Crazy Idea #2)

Now, I have no evidence to prove this, but I'm pretty certain that somebody at Levi's read my journal, and straight up stole the iPod jeans idea. The nerve!! If any of you Levi spies are currently reading, know this: while I'll be a bit preoccupied for the next six months, rest assured that when I get back to the States, I'm gonna make sure you pay. Oh, you will pay. (And by "you" I think I mean "me"...$200, for a pair of those nifty iPod jeans. The concept of which you stole from me!)

...

Also, while I'm in my current conspiracy-theorist mode, now's a good time to share what I'm calling the Corollary to the Evil Pete Carroll Theory. If you'll recall, sometime in October, I suggested that Pete Carroll shoots an innocent little kitten in the locker room at halftime to rally the USC players. These men wouldn't be able to bear the sight of a cute, cuddly kitten being slain for their on-field monkey shines, so they always rallied together and won the game, lest Carroll take the life of another innocent kitten.

Now, my theory still stands, but with this important corollary: yes, Carroll performed this atrocious-yet-necessary deed one final time this season--during halftime at the Rose Bowl--but, unbeknownst to him, he was being watched. Mack Brown had sent over some spies to witness the ritual (dare I call their brilliant scheme "Operation: The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You?" Yes, yes I dare.). They brought word back to Coach Brown, who laughed maniacally upon hearing the news, and then waited until the final minutes of the game, when the Longhorns were down by 12. He then summoned Vince Young to a private pow-wow behind Bevo. In one hand, a gun he'd pulled from out of his boot; in the other, a cute, cuddly kitten that his charges had just picked up from Pasadena Petz...

And, well...you know how this tragic story ends.

While driving back from Athens, I had plenty of time alone to think. And during the drive, I came up with an idea: I'm gonna make a board game.

Now, I know what you're thinking: this is another one of Dave's crazy ideas, the likes of which he always conjures up in his mind but never gets around to bringing to life. To which I respond: yes, it is a bit random, but it's going to happen. Hopefully.

During my time here in Nashville, I've spent a lot of time with one family in particular. They have an adorable little 5-year old rapscallion who's always asking me to draw him pictures of ninjas, pirates, cowboys, and any other characters generally seen wielding weaponry (I told you he's a rapscallion). And of course--being the good role model I am--I oblige by drawing him said characters with some really serious weapons.

So, on the way home yesterday, in thinking about Christmas gifts and what I should give this family in particular, I thought up a brilliant concept for a board game that I could create for their 5-year old and his older brother; it'll be a cross between Sorry, Stratego, and Double Dragon. I got back to my apartment last night, and spent the evening trying to come up with a game board (you want to see a very early draft of this thing, do you? OK...here it is). I think I'll call it something clever and catchy like..."Ninja Gaiden." Either that, or "Attack of the Killer Ninjas (Who Don't Actually Kill)."

The truth is that I've long considered trying my hand at making a board game. Seriously. It may not have been on the last "To-Do List for Life," but it should've been. So I'll give this one a shot and see how it turns out.

Feel free to mock me for my complete and utter nerdiness. I'll get the last laugh when I'm the next Milton Bradley.

Our Trojans have now put together two impressive come-from-behind wins in a row. Though we pulled this last one against Arizona State off, it was quite a nerve-wracking experience the whole way through. Many of the SC folks who'd assembled at the Park Avenue Country Club to watch the game consoled one another during half-time by repeating the now-accepted mantra: it's OK...we're a second-half team. Thankfully, our mantra proved to be true yet again.

But after the game, kuhn and I got to thinking: what exactly is it that Pete Carroll does to rally the troops in the locker room at halftime? Does he deliver a stirring, Knute Rockne-style speech to fire up the men? Throw benches and yell to show the team that he means business? Or perhaps he sits in the corner and sulks until someone asks if something's wrong, to which he childishly responds, "Nope. I'm fine. Just fine. I don't care if we lose. It's only an unprecedented third consecutive national championship that's on the line. Who cares about those kinds of things, anyway? Not me. Not Pete Carroll."

No, Jonathan and I believe it's something much more...sinister. We've come up with a theory that Pete Carroll--though an effervescent and charismatic figure in public--is, in fact, an evil, twisted megalomaniac who will stop at nothing to re-write the college football history books until every last record is his.

( The heart of our theory is rather disturbing...read on only if you dare. )

(Oh, and semi-relatedly: condolences to Meagan for the Gators' saddening defeat this weekend. It would've been fun to watch USC trounce them in the Rose Bowl this year!)

I've been waiting for the "perfect moment" to make this huge announcement for a long while now, but I've come to the conclusion that such a thing doesn't exist. So no more delays. Here's what's about to happen with me:

I'm leaving New York.

Yeah, I know. If you've read even a fraction of what I've written here in the last two years, you'd think I was crazy for leaving a city that I love so dearly. Well, it gets better...or, as some might suggest, crazier:

I'm going to Iraq.

No, you read that right. I'm going to Iraq. If it's hard for you to believe that I just said that, you can imagine how hard it is for me to believe that I just said that, but that's exactly what I plan to do. I'm going to the northern (and relatively secure) part of Iraq to teach at a Christian K-8 school for the next year and a half.

What on earth made me come to this decision, you ask? Well, as you may know from reading certain lists that I've posted, I've long had a strong desire to either teach, do humanitarian work, or serve as a missionary in a third world country. I believe it's not just a strong desire, but moreover, a calling from the Lord to serve in this capacity for a period of my life. And I believe that period is now. Personally, I'm at the point where I can make this kind of short-term commitment. And I believe it's an important time to invest in the country of Iraq. The country has suffered through so much over the past three decades, and as violence screams from out of our television sets and newspapers on a near-daily basis, it's hard not to be moved with compassion for the Iraqi people. The people of the country are now rebuilding their society and regaining a sense of their identity and purpose that was taken from them during Saddam's regime, and one of the areas that will be vital to the reconstruction efforts is education.

So I intend to assist in the rebuilding of Iraq by teaching at this Christian school. I will work alongside fellow brothers and sisters in Christ--both American and Iraqi--to offer children a solid education in the Classical model in which they learn to think critically and express freely, and beyond that, to offer them an opportunity to learn of God's unending love for them.

The plan for me is this: I'm leaving New York in the beginning of November to relocate to Nashville, where I will undergo training at the organization's home office. Then, in January, I'll be deployed to Iraq. I'll work the spring semester, and get a teacher's vacation over the summer (I intend to come back to the States and just chill; maybe make another epic roadtrip, hopefully spend lots of time chillin' in NYC...Lord knows how much I'll miss this place!). Then, in September, I'll head back to Iraq, where I'll spend the entire school year on staff at CSM. I'll return from this short-term mission right around June 2007 (though I'm also envisioning a nice, lengthy excursion through Europe once I'm done with my duties at the school).

So, I know that that's a TON of information and you may still be in disbelief that I've decided to do this in the first place. One last thing I need to share with you for now: as is the case with most missionaries, I will need to raise my own financial support. All told, it'll be nearly $2,000 a month to cover my salary and various expenses--yeah, if you do the math you realize it's a LOT of money to raise, but I trust that God will provide. Here's what I'd like for you, my readers, to consider: if you, someone you know, or a church you attend might be willing to support me financially and be a part of the work I'll be doing in Iraq, please e-mail me at dave@usctrojans.com and let me know. If you can't support financially but can do so through prayer and emotional/spiritual support, please e-mail me as well. Either way, I would be so very blessed and honored to have your support.

This is easily the biggest (and yes, the craziest) decision I've made in my life--you'll surely be hearing about it more as time goes along. Excited? You bet I am. Scared? More than you can imagine (though not for the reasons that you might suspect). Needless to say, this will be quite the exercise in faith.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

This time, of Central Park. I spent my Friday afternoon/evening chillin' in the Park, and I was smart enough to bring my camera (now if I could only learn to use the stupid thing). At any rate, I picked my five favorites and posted 'em here.

( My favorite of the bunch happens to be this one. )

All the picture-taking yesterday got me thinking (and yes, this qualifies as Dave's Crazy Idea of the Week): seeing as how I take a ton of cityscape pictures, I should take the best shots and compile them in a nice little book. Y'know, something cutesy that'll highlight some of my favorite New York visuals. It might end up being something I do for myself, OR, it might make a nice little fundraiser for future endeavors. Granted, I probably wouldn't make a lot of money with a book of amateur photography, and that was never my intention, really...so maybe, yeah, scratch the whole fundraiser idea. But creating a book of my favorite cityscape shots for personal enjoyment still seems like a pretty cool idea that I think I'll attempt at some point here.

Wait wait wait...fundraiser? Future endeavors? Uh, yeah. I'm being purposefully vague right now, but I promise I'll explain it all very soon. All in good time, my friends. All in good time.

I like to meander. More specifically, I like to meander around Manhattan. Tonight, for example: I took the subway to Grand Central, walked down 42nd Street to get a few slices of pizza, then walked down 5th, over to 6th, down some more until I got to 25th or so and found a deli to buy a Code Red from, turned around and walked back up to 34th Street, walked over to 11th Ave.--nearly to the west end of the island (trying to find the hotel my parents'll be staying at when they get here, but to no avail), past the proposed location of the recently-rejected West Side Jets Stadium (I could actually picture the ginormous stadium sitting on that plot of land...it's kinda sad to think that it's not gonna happen, even if it was a bad idea), then eastbound on 31st Street, and up to 32nd and 6th, where I picked up the Q32 bus that shuttled me back into Queens.

And that was a fairly brief outing!

So, here comes Dave's Crazy Idea of the Week (which, I must confess, I've been kinda thinking about for a while now): you know how Bill Keane's Family Circus comics often have those dotted trail lines to show the path the kids would take to get somewhere? Of course you do. Well, I think someone should design a computer program (maybe using javascript?) in which you import a map or picture or something, and then you can trace the path you took and play it back as a movie that recreates your journey with those dotted trail lines. Would this serve any purpose whatsoever? Probably not. (Though I'll bet the folks at Mapquest could use this sort of thing to create interactive map movies.)

Come to think of it, the only reason I thought of this whole thing in the first place was so that I could post these little "map movies" (or whatever you want to call 'em) up on my LJ, and you could see how much walking around in circles I do, especially in Manhattan. A ridiculous idea...but that's the way me brain works.

A few new music purchases--most of which I bought this evening--for those who are interested:

• Ryan Adams - Gold
  
• Doves - Some Cities (last week...from iTunes)
  
• Ben Folds - Songs for Silverman
  
• Idlewild - The Remote Part
  
• Low - The Great Destroyer
  
• Springsteen - Nebraska (last week, also from iTunes)

I was also this close to picking up The Bravery's self-titled release, thanks in part to shaggy's mention of it here.

( Read more if you'd like...I start to ramble a bit. )

It's been a while since I've posted some of these examples of my complete and utter randomness. Here we go:

1. I've decided that I want to try kite aerial photography, thanks to the tempting cover article I read in MakeZine. Why, you ask, would you want to try that? Isn't flying kites something you do when you're five? My responses: I have a thing--not quite an obsession, perhaps, but definitely getting to that point--about taking pictures of New York City. Especially the Manhattan skyline. I think it would be AWESOME to fly a kite in Central Park that doubles as a camera, taking photos of the City at an otherwise-unattainable angle. Not only there, but I'd go to Roosevelt Island, Socrates Sculpture Park, Madison Square Park, and other places that I love to stop at and snap cityscape shots.

And yes, flying kites is most-assuredly for five-year olds. I certainly haven't flown one in ages. So this should be fun.

2. Now that the weather is nice and spring-like here (finally!), I don't need to wear my jacket much these days, and hence my iPod now resides in my jeans pocket during the morning/evening commutes. And though I certainly have no desire and even less ability to do this, the thought crossed my mind: there should be a pair of jeans created with a special iPod pocket. It would fit just perfectly into the pocket, with some material on the outside to show you where the Click Wheel and buttons are, so that you can control the iPod without having to fish it out of your pocket (never mind the fact that there's a headphone set that you can buy that has a control pad). So...does anyone have either Kenneth Cole's or J.C. Penney's number? This could be HUGE if it got into the right hands.

3. Slightly more plausible than the last idea, but not as plausible as the first--there's a tiny vacant store that sits right next to the church on Skillman Ave. It's absolutely miniscule--probably 10 feet wide, maybe 25 deep. And there's a sign in the window that says it's available to rent. And, well...you know me...the thought has crossed my mind to go into business and open up shop in that little (and literal) hole in the wall. A short brainstorming session left me with a few ideas that would probably never work, but I like them just the same: a. turn it into a tiny recording studio for small-time musicians in the neighborhood (such as myself); b. turn it into a used bookstore and coffee shop; c. turn it into a Christian bookstore and coffee shop. Anyone have any other ideas or thoughts?

Never mind the fact that I don't know the first thing about starting a business.

I imagine that statement/question will be posed to me if when the good folks at Mister Softee give me a call back.

Yeah, you guessed it--I contacted Mister Softee today to see if I could get a truck-drivin', ice cream-slingin' gig with them. As some of you may or may not know, I decided roughly two years ago (along with my dear friend Charlie P.) that I wanted to drive an ice cream truck at some point in my life. Well, today I figured I needed to stop being so wishy-washy and apply for the job again (I faxed them my info last year, but never heard back)...I mean, really, what better job to start off my post- 9-to-5/office gig career?

I'll keep you posted...I've got this great idea where I take the ice cream truck, splash the exterior with paint in all sorts of wild colors to give it a psychedelic look, and then drive it around the countryside as I pick up hitchhikers and sing at the top of my lungs.

Oh wait...that's been done already. Drat.