TC: Mr. Heckles

If you have watched enough Friends you know who Mr. Heckles is. The neighbor who lives above Monica's apartment who continually comes down to complain about loud noise levels in the apartment. Since our downstairs neighbor has moved in I feel like I'm now Mr. Heckles.

Every weekend from about 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM our annoying bottom neighbor feels it necessary to blast his tunes while he does whatever he does down there. I'm talking BLAST. If I put a glass of water on the ground its like on Jurassic Park when the T-Rex it tromping through the jungle. The man has got some bass!

Like Mr. Heckles, I have gone down stairs and kindly asked if he'd turn his music down. To which he responds, "Its not even that loud." So I have to deal with these jam sessions in a more creative fashion. Most of the time putting in some headphones does the trick but, when they don't, more extreme measures must be taken. Examples include "exercising" or just running up and down all 38 stairs in the house, "plyometrics" throwing the term light on your feet out the window of course, cranking up our own tunes, recreating the million man march every time I go into the kitchen, vacuuming. You know, anything to show the dude, "Hey, turn your F'ing music down."

Well today, today was different. The downstairs rave started a little late and I had just eaten lunch so I couldn't even think about exercise. But there was something missing from the music today, a decent drummer. So I helped him out by playing the floor drums to the beat of his tunes. I guess he got the hint because after only one song, the music stopped.

"Oh well" I thought, "I would rather study than play the silly floor drums anyway. Read more...

Man's Best Friend

So, Tanner's been laid up for a week. He strained/pulled (not sure) a muscle in his back and is in such fierce pain that he can't even move. Listen how cute...Tanner dropped some chapstick on the ground and was like, "Ah, man!" But didn't try to picking it up, it just wasn't worth it. A bit later he was upstairs and Jack came up with something in his mouth and dropped it on the floor by his feet. It was the chapstick...he brought it upstairs for Tanner. He honestly brought it to him!?! No chew marks or anything. When Tanner told me I died! It's crazy how animals can actually sense how you are feeling and even try to take care of you. Read more...

i heart tanner

I had an urge to watch this video for some reason a few minutes ago. This was one of the very best days of my life and I wanted to share it with everyone again :)



Thanks to Eric Richards for documenting the beautiful day. Read more...

B.Y.O.P.

Okay so Pittsburgh really isn't the pits. Tanner and I are actually kind of glad we had to make the trip. It's funny that after six years (and spending the past month 24/7 with each other) we can still learn new things about each other. For instance, Tanner has never heard of MadLibs until last night. I thought he was lying to me...but oh he wasn't I had to search one out on the internet to explain what it was.

My job on the road-trip was the official flashcard assistant. Come to find out that Tanner uses some pretty crude and racy mnemonics to remember chemistry/biology/physics terms. At moments I was laughing so hard I couldn't think or breathe, it was unbelievable.

All in all the trip over the border into PA has been great. We've had only one Goofy Movie moment...Tanner owes me $1 million bucks for guessing Alabama during radio trivia...and normality is a crazy word.

p.s. Tanner takes the MCAT at noon, so everyone be thinking of him!

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scream this: LACTOSE INTOLERANCE!

Tanner's cousin Brooke got me hooked on a book called "Skinny Bitch." It presents its topics in such a cut and dry, kick you in the shin, while calling you names way but unusually you actually feel good after being yelled at continuously. Because the book really makes you stop and think about all the crap that you put down the hatch everyday while encouraging you to make some simple changes to make yourself feel better.

One topic that really stuck out in my mind was the one that my dad constantly harrasses me about. And that is my addiction to milk...there I said it. Well it isn't so much the milk part so much as it is my inability to digest it that is the issue here. But they make these fancy pills these days that break down the lactose when your body just can't do the job. So, I have been pill popping since high school and the book recommends avoiding pills as well as things that your body doesn't want you to consume.

So I have been avoiding cheeses...replacing that as often as possible with hummus, yeah hummus. It really isn't as bad as it sounds I promise. And when I was at Wegman's a few days ago the "soy milk" was staring at me from the shelf. I nudged it into my cart...I thought "only $1.99 I can try that I guess." I resisted pouring it on my cereal yesterday but this morning I had to do it. I love milk I miss it already. This stuff tasted like warm Breyer's vanilla ice cream mixed with rice and of course my cereal. That's just not right early in the morning.

It's been hard but I am definitely cutting back my dairy intake...I am not going cold turkey no way...baby steps.

click to enlarge this comic. Read more...

Pittsburgh is the Pits

Our nearly life altering experience summed up in twelve seconds...

Tanner procrastinated signing up for the MCAT, there were no seats left in America, we stopped breathing, one opened up in Pittsburgh, and now we are making the four hour drive for him to take his four hour test next Friday. Good luck Tanner! Read more...

We got it!

We were at the Nationals game Friday and our realtor called Tanner and he didn't have to say anything...I knew. They accepted our counter-offer! We have not been this excited for anything in a long time it was reason for lots of high-fives and hugs. They will be done building September 26th and we will be able to move in soon after.

We finally got to go back to visit (we couldn't let them know how much we loved it for bargaining purposes) yesterday and I snapped a few more photos. The model gives us so many ideas for decorating...we love the house and are so excited to make it our own.

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Our Nerf Life in Redskins Country

Interesting things have been happening that are pretty out of the ordinary. Living here has been an adventure to say the least. Being in VA has allowed Tanner to become more involved with the website...(not like he wasn't already, huh Ryan?)

It's been good though. Between studying and trying to normalize ourselves we have found ourselves at many a business luncheon. We've met with many random people from movie producers, to newswriters, to sportscasters, to Comcast marketing people, etc. People are really interested in what Chris and Tanner are trying to accomplish. They are enjoying this while it lasts because in all actuality who knows how long that may be.

An entertaining event that occurred that caused me to laugh until my abs killed included the creation of a homemade "Fantasy Files" commercial. Chris and a masked friend whose name we will not mention dressed up as rival Cowboy players Romo and Whitten.

These two were hilarious during the production of this spoof. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. It felt good and it was great to see the footage that came out of the frivolous night.

Here is Chris's REAL NFL.com Fantasy File commercial for those of you who may not know what I am talking about.


I have never been around so many diehard sports fans. Anything Redskins related is on the 5 o'clock news or in the Washington Post....The most recent story "Unofficial Redskins Mascot's Tomahawk Stolen." This title may seem silly but it was not taken lightly. While reading the Post at Starbuck's Christy noticed the headline told Chris and instantly had Tanner post a reward (a signed jersey) on Chris's blog for the safe recovery of the Tomahawk.

The results follow in an excerpt from Tanner:

"OH man, oh man, oh man, oh man, OH MAN!" Is what I heard on the other line when I called to tell the Chief that we retrieved his stolen tomahawk. I can't even begin to explain the excitement that brought me. Being able to send out this "APB" and have the missing item returned in less than 6 hours...WOW!

Chief Zee is at every Skins game and is a faithful fan...he's been carrying that tomahawk for the past 30 years and said he felt naked without it. It was heartwarming to see how grateful he was to the Cooley's for getting it back.

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All Kinds.

Tanner recently got a new job creating a blog for a car company out here called Eastern Motors. They gave him the option of either being paid with a regular salary or with a new car. We weighed the options and decided to take the car. So every month he gets to trade in for a new one...here is this month's ride.

Tanner was so excited about this especially because we had to leave his life-long love (the Durango) in Logan. While we were waiting at Eastern Motors Hyundai for the paperwork to get done etc. I decided I would call Eastern Motors in Tysons Corner to see what they had available over there. Here is how it all played out.

Kirsten: "Hi, what type of cars do you carry?"

Receptionist: "All kinds."

Kirsten: "Like...what brands? Can you tell me?"

Receptionist: "All brands."

Kirsten: "Like you have Lexus...BMW...and Mazda?"

Receptionist: "Let me transfer you."

Salesman: "Hello."

Kirsten: "Hi, what brands of cars do you carry?"

Salesman: "All kinds."

Eastern Motors employees and their complacent statement made me feel like a complete idiot. Tanner and I couldn't stop laughing about it in the waiting room. But, apparently they have everything Tanner could ever wish for at Eastern Motors in Tysons Corner.

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