First of all, that's bullshit …

Thank the dear Lord that DOOK is out of the NCAA tourney. I've mentioned this time and time again, but there is one thing to come out of DOOK that can even remotely be considered classy, and that is my good friend Jacob. See, it isn't Jacob's fault I despise his basketball team. He just had the misfortune of attending one of the best learning institutions in the country that had the biggest jackass for a head basketball coach. Hate isn't a word thrown around much in my vocabulary, but I do hate the DOOK basketball program. Sue me.

If there has ever been a more confusing time in my life, I certainly don't remember. It was so easy growing up; go to school, go to more school, find something outside of school you enjoy, love your family, develop friendships of meaning, and so on. That all leads to me, here, at the tender age of 24 with no clue what is going to happen to me in the next couple of months. So maybe this is a whiney post today, but this is why I have this space. I can say what I want, right?

Jobs

I'm in the second year of my internship in athletics at Wake Forest. I've had my bumps and bruises, but I've learned a lot and feel more than ready to take on the world. So where is it? Where is the open door? It is just days like there where I feel someone has forgotten about me and locked me in. I'm capable, and I know that most jobs in college athletics don't open for another couple of months. I would just like to have some kind of idea where I might end up. I've heard of this and that job opening, but as of now, there is nothing open. I run events. It is what I do. It is what I enjoy. I put on the show. Regardless of a victory or defeat, I walk away knowing that I just successfully put on a national collegiate event. Silly as it may sound, that does it for me.

It's not like I'm in a race to get out of Wake. I'm really not. Aside from the experience, the greatest part has been the people I meet and interact with on a daily basis. I'm not really ready to leave that behind, but when I do leave I'll carry with me some wonderful people.

Women

Utter confusion here … I suppose I've really enjoyed the last two years. I had just gotten out of a serious relationship that I knew wasn't right for me. In this time, I've had the pleasure to meet numerous women who I've really enjoyed hanging out with. Some more so than others, but I'm learning. I'm learning what I like. I'm learning what I don't like. I'm learning how people treat other people, be it negative or positive. I'm learning how to communicate, without leaving misinterpretations. Honestly, I've had a huge change over the past several months. It's been awhile since I've really wanted to be around someone for an extended period of time.

I'm not sure if I can attribute that to one or more persons. I think it is just a matter of growing up. Realizing that it is ok to find relationships almost becomes a born again idea to me. I went through a point where I didn't want a relationship. Hell, I'm no relationship guru. Erich can tell you, I've already made one huge relationship mistake in my day.

But putting all of that behind me has been a process, one driven by time. I've had time to rebuild my heart. I've had time to relearn things about me that I needed to know. I've had time to meet new people and find more interesting qualities.

This all builds up inside of you. Do I want a relationship of meaning? Yes. Am I out clawing and begging for it? No. I don't think marriage after the first date. I decided if this is someone I want to take serious in my life. Is this someone I should attempt spending more time with?

It just gets frustrating. Frustrating when you have no idea what you truly want, but have some idea of what you enjoy. I know it's not easy. I know I'm whining. I know I talked a LOT more about women then jobs today. I'm not going to ask for your forgiveness. You chose to read.

So here's to keeping things in perspective, because what is important in this column today will be something to laugh about 5, 10, 20 years from now.

First of all, that's bullshit …

The number one reason for Jay Lowe to get a job at another major university???? All the teams I oversee are kickin' ass right now. Yesterday, Wake baseball completed a two game sweep of Georgia Tech, women's tennis improved to 2-0 in the ACC with a win over Georgia Tech today, while also dismissing No. 6 Texas Friday and men's tennis keeps rolling, as they notched their 10th straight victory yesterday.

What's the lesson?

Hire Jay Lowe and your teams will win.

Ok, there may not be any truth to that at all, but doesn't change the fact that I still need a job.

So the ASSociate head baseball coach for Tech used to have a similar job on the Wake staff. Last year, he decided to leave the Deacs for the ghetto, errrr I mean, Atlanta and the Jackets. This guy never did anything wrong to me, but always seemed to think highly of himself. Which I suppose isn't a crime, but when it drives everyone else around you nuts, maybe there is a problem. So I'm bringing this up because the funniest thing I heard this weekend came from his wife.

Lots of fans out this weekend, so parking became a problem at Hooks Stadium (which it ALWAYS will until we start choppin' some of those trees down). So this coach's wife pulls up and I direct her to an additional lot. She peers over her sunglasses and says to me:

"Oh parking must be a problem because my husband's back and everyone wants to see the two teams beat each other up."

Because your husband is back?!?!? Are you kidding? I think our Wake baseball fans are informed, and probably most of them realize this coach used to be at Wake and now is on the Tech staff now, but gimme a break. People who think so highly of themselves need to get a life. No one man is bigger than the world.

More importantly it's March Madness time, probably my favorite time of the year. My Georgia Bulldogs are trying to make their first trip to the sweet 16 since 1996. Since CBS is an evil regime, I am not allowed to watch this game on TV unless I head over to the one pub in town that is showing it. I declined, and am now sitting in front of my computer biting my nails as my dogs are down 6 to Southern Illinois. Who? I don't know, but I'll keep you posted.

So here are my top five favorite albums right now. If you are a fan of sting or live music, I highly suggest Sting's latest CD, "…all this time." It is a collection of Sting's originals and a couple of Police tunes, but done at a much different pace. The entire album has a very classy jazz feel to it. Never have been a huge solo-Sting fan, but this disc is worth it.

The gentleman who plays trumpet on "…all this time," is a man by the name of Chris Botti. His latest album is entitled, "Night Sessions." Again, this is more of the smooth jazz music that I've been getting into a lot lately. There are only two vocal tracks on this CD, with one featuring Shawn Colvin. If you are into modern jazz at all, buy this disc.

A newcomer to the music scene is Graham Colton. Hailing from the lone star state, Colton's debut CD is self-titled and features only nine tracks. Two of the tracks, "Jessica" and "Best Thing" have been spinning on my Win Amp player since I downloaded them back in December. I suggest you check out this CD if you are into modern rock.

Colton has been the under study to one of my favorite musicians, Cary Pierce. Formerly of the band Jackopierce, Cary is just about to release his latest album, "For Everything, Volume 2." This has been pre-ordered, so I am not technically listening to it now, but guarantee this will be played in my car for weeks once I get it. Jackopierce is a huge influence of mine, so I'm always interested the check out any new music from the former members.

Dogs down by 5 with just under 6 minutes to go. Damnit.

The last cd I'll include on this list is a few years old. The band is called Rockwell Church. No, they aren't religious music. They are extremely talented guitar players and lyricists. "Through the Fall," was released back in 1997, but has recently made a reappearance in my CD changer. This was a disc that, at the time, had some special meaning. This next go-around has caused me to really pay attention to the lyrics and the incredibly talented guitar work (dogs down 3 with 3 minutes). This is one of those discs where I actually listen to every song on the disc.

It is CDs like these that really make me wish Argus had tried a little harder. Not to say we'd ever be as successful as a Sting or even half successful as I'm sure Graham Colton will end up being, but still makes me miss playing. So that is why I'll use this to make the announcement that Argus will be returning to Shorty's (on the campus of Wake Forest), Tuesday, April 23 at 7pm. I know we always say this might be the last Argus show, but this is at least one of the last few. Erich has been accepted to the highly competitive Wake Forest P.A. program, and hopefully … hopefully … I'll have a good job somewhere by June or July. So come check out some Argus action on April 23rd.

Dogs bow out of the tourney, 77-75. Thanks Dogs, thanks for a great season and a SEC East Title.

THIS IS A PSA ... a Pissed-off Service Announcement

The web page that used to be the home of my band, ARGUS, has been taken over by new ownership. I have no problem with that, simply because we gave it up.

BUT, I do have a problem with what the new owner has down. The page is basically a search engine ... a search engine with links to sites your mother wouldn't want you to be looking at right now ... NEWPY! You are at WORK!

So i don't have a problem with them taking the ever so popular domain name, but the likeness they have put on the main page is sick. There is a photo of a guy playing guitar ... some guy that looks a cross between Fred Durst and some tool from the Calling. Underneath this toolbox is a caption that reads "Argus - ready and willing to rock your face off." For those of you that do not know, that was OUR slogan. OURS! And the logo that is next to the toolbox is strikingly close to the ARGUS logo that can be seen here.

Now, we had no copyright to this stuff ... not the slogan, not the logo ... hell, not even our lyrics. But this just tans my hide. So here is what I ask of you fine people. Let's put our differences aside with this new owners of this web page and tell them just how much we appreciate them stealing our likeness. We can simply do this by emailing these strange people.

I'm not saying go off the deep end, because I don't want anyone getting in trouble. But just let 'em know YOU know ARGUS and YOU don't appreciate what they've done.

Thanks for listening ...

First of all, that's bullshit …

So it's been about a week since I last wrote. I wish I had a viable excuse, an excuse that really made me seem like I was almost too important to write all the time. An excuse that made me mysterious and more attractive to women. But alas, my excuse is an old standard for self-proclaimed writers: writer's block.

I was bitching about this to Erich last night on instant messenger. Again, another sign that too much of my life is spent in front of a computer; I talk to Erich on IM, not on the phone. Erich made a suggestion to do a piece on writers block. It is an epidemic that has cursed me for years.

It really dates back to college, when papers were a way of life. Write this paper for English, write that article for journalism, write this feature story for the paper, write that game day piece for the football program. Never once did the article or paper just start itself. It was like a ritual.


- Do research or interview
- Sit in front of computer
- Rewrite notes in order you want the paper to flow
- Realize you have no idea how to start paper, get up and go play Playstation with friends
- Find something to eat
- Talk to friends in the house
- Call other friends
- Sit in front of computer again at 1in the morning and begin writing


It's wasn't a well thought out plan, mind you. Somehow, it worked.

Never has this lack of ideas hit me more than in the last 6 or 7 months. It has been apparent in my lack of lyrics written over this time. Honestly, my last full written song was done back in May of 2001. Of course there are times (namely at women's basketball games when I'm bored out of my mind) that something will be scratched down on a piece of a stat sheet. Then there are the times where lyrics will pop in my head, walking down the street. But a full song? No. Why not? Simply put, lack of inspiration.

Probably sounds a little harsher than it should. I've continued to meet interesting people and my future seems to still be up in the air, so I should have plenty to write about.

Recently I decided that I was not putting enough effort into it (similar to this column over the past week). So I took this past weekend to really clear my head, and start writing. Where does the inspiration come from? Relationships, friends, family, feelings that go unshared … so many things needed to be said, there might not be enough paper.

Why is that important? It really isn't to people who don't care. But for someone else out there that has trouble expressing emotion or feeling, that person can write. I once had a friend tell me she thought she could never write songs, that she had enough trouble with paper in college.

Writing lyrics or poetry isn't at all like writing a paper. Papers mainly consist of other peoples' ideas. Poetry and lyrics are your ideas. YOURS! No one else owns them. Granted sometimes someone else may have similar ideas, but your words are your words.

There may not be a better feeling for me than to write a song, put it to music and play it in front of people. I know not everyone comes to hear Argus based on the lyrics. People come watch to support Erich and me. They are our friends. Sometimes the music and the people connect. That is when it is truly special to me. That is when I finally feel good about something I've done.

So that is one of the reasons more lyrics are being written as we speak. Not to mention, I've been more inspired over the last month or two than I have in awhile. What's the basis of that?

Relationships, friends, family, feelings that go unshared … so many things needed to be said, there might not be enough paper.

First of all, that's bullshit …

Today is a first for The Lowe Down. I have to make my first retraction. Back in the good old j-school at Georgia, I was always taught to print what is fact, not what you think is fact. So I made a slight error in my last column when I said my buddy Alex was the biggest wrestling enthusiast I know. While Alex is a huge fan of professional wrestling, my buddy Jamie Jones lives and breathes wrestling.

Jamie has a weekly column that runs in the Dalton, GA., newspaper. He's performed in the local wrestling scene there as The Paper Boy, and even held a championship title. So while I may be a fan, Alex may be a fan, it is Jamie who reigns supreme in pro wrestling fandom.

Speaking of fans, Spring street has it's own set of rowdy fans. In case you didn't know, Spring Street is where my roommate and I live. 619 North Spring Street, to be exact. Since last July it has been my home. Once in awhile, when we feel the urge, we throw parties. They are more like tea parties, where all of our friends come dressed up and we sit around listening to classical music.

Wait a minute. That's wrong

They are the exact opposite. Ragin' parties that leave me harkening back to my days living on Milledge Avenue in Athens. The music is blasting. People are drinking, dancing and talking. Basically it is an excuse to cut loose and ensure we all don't lose our minds in "the real world."

So this past Saturday's installment of "parties your mother wouldn't want you to attend," was simply a celebration of nothing. People kept asking during the week: "So what's the occasion? Why the party?" WHAT? Just because we are all out of college, means we have to have a reason to party? It has to be someone's birthday? Or a special event? Hell no! It was just a party.

So as the mature tea party raged on into the night, we were paid a visit by three of Winston-Salem's finest. The gentlemen calmly asked me my name, phone number and if I knew who owned the house I was renting. In one of my greatest comebacks ever, I said, "Oh yes sir. He's in my den drinking a beer." Needless to say, they didn't find it funny.

But as I did in my days on Milledge Avenue, I wooed the officers with my charm and great demeanor, and convinced them to return to their vehicles. Of course, I had to give up a little. I turned the music down.

When I looked at the clock and realized it was roughly 2 am, I realized maybe we were a little too loud for the neighbors and they three kids. Did I feel bad? Not really. But I handled the situation.

All in all, it was a great time. I suppose I thrive in situations like there. I love being surrounded by good friends. It makes time fly, and it makes you realize why you take the time to develop friendships. You do it so you can enjoy life more and more.

Yeah the house is a little trashed. Yeah the garbage men are going to curse us when they see the tower or beverage bottles and cans Wednesday morning. But it is worth it to me, just so I can enjoy cutting up and being around some good people.

Hope you kids had fun … I know I did.