the mario blog

Last week, Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon Professor who shook up the world with his famous last lecture passed away. Randy died after a battle with pancreatic cancer, which he fought much longer than expected.

Neighbors. Everybody has them. I have a few myself. There is the older lady next door, whose toenails Otto is obsessed with. And then there is the artist lady two windows down who is only seen wearing white gowns. Don’t forget the couple down the hall who oftentimes takes on the duty of sitting other [...]

Today I was going to publish my 1000th entry, until I got some very sad news. My friend Casey Lang was hit by a car, as he was covering an airplane crash for a TV station in Florida. Casey is currently in an induced coma, as he’s battling some major injuries.
I [...]

 
My high school/college/niftytricks buddy Jesse is currently crashing on the loft couch, as he’s making his way across the West Coast to visit old friends. Events in Portland include Bridgeport Brewery, Cha Cha Cha burritos and a night with Otto.

My best childhood friend, Christian (I beliebe his mother still calls him Kiki), arrived from Germany late last night. He brought a giant suitcase (which I had to drag across the steel bridge last night) filled with his bike and skateboard, and the same amount of clothes Jen takes on an overnight trip. Nevermind he’s [...]

I got my dad one of those cool iPod Shuffle for Christmas. Our lives haven’t been the same ever since. At first I was a little bit worried about him even using the iPod, as my dad ain’t exactly an early adapter when it comes to technology. Well, I was wrong. His iPod is on, [...]

My buddy Jesse has started yet another venture, right before heading out to become an extreme sports bum on Costa Rica. The site is called Ski Movie Music and compiles all the different ski movie soundtracks ready to download for you. So you can spend less time searching for the right tunes and more time [...]

After a long life, my last surviving great grandmother Elli passed away this week. For the last few years, her mind had given up while her body kept on going. On Tuesday night she quietly passed away in her sleep.
Oma Elli was arguably my most interesting grandparent as she was extremely opinionated and had an [...]

The University of Montana student newspaper, The Kaimin, wrote a story about my friend Noah and his challenge of not only fighting cancer but all also the medical bills that come along with it. Surviving cancer, surviving the bills

One of my good college friends, Noah  has been battling with brain cancer for the past few years. While the cancer was under control for a few years, Noah’s been battling constant seizures making a normal life impossible. His medical expenses have skyrocketed over the years and his family is in need of financial help. [...]