Filed under: Uncategorized
Oh by the way, I finally hunted one down at Circuit City. It was a bit anti-climatic. I know the hunt was what I loved the most. But I’m not complaining… I have a wii and it makes me happy!
Filed under: Chico
Today is Cesar Chavez Day in California. It’s a holiday that only the University system seems to honor. So, college students are running a muck downtown partying like a rockstar. Unfortunately for my fair city, they haven’t really taken the fun out of going to Chico State. When I was an undergrad, it was about Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day. Well the city has effectively taken the fun out of those two holidays. But like when you pop a pimple, three more appear. Hello Cesar Chavez Day. It’s THE drinking holiday of spring semester. Chico treats any non-gift giving holiday as a reason to drink.
Well for me, the working professional, I decided to stay away from the debauchery all together. I just stayed at home and worked. I didn’t shower today until 7p. It was great. However, I must keep in mind that my hair is not short. When I greeted the UPS man this morning, my hair looked like I enjoyed having the hairdryer in the bathtub with me–while plugged in.
I just worked on various projects that I needed to get done. I’m worried about my leadership conference because I don’t have enough students to really fill and make it work. So, I have two choices… cancel it or suck it up and take a loss. This camp is my pet project and I don’t want it to die. Yet, I don’t want to be financially supporting it either. I’m running numbers and I will have to make a decision about it by Friday.
After work today, I got hooked into playing the wii. That darn thing is just too much fun. I got hooked into for an hour or so. But it’s a new toy–so it’s okay. Then I ran with Susan up in Bearhole on a very beautiful run. I love spring minus any allergies I could collect in the next few months. I can feel the days getting longer and the air getting sweeter. I can see summer vacation just around the corner. Oh sweet goodness will that be nice.
Last night I took the evening to recenter myself. Which in normal language means that I just hung out by myself. I call it divine intervention because when I got home, the movie “Across the Universe” was waiting in my mailbox. I had a nice detoxing dinner and popped the movie in my dvd player. I heard the movie was based on the Beatles music. I like the Beatles, but I’m not an avid fan. However, this movie gave me so more appreciation for the influence their music made on so many people.
The movie was wonderful. At times a little dark–but many times making great social commentary about a time in US history that was painful, tragic, and misunderstood. Now after 40 years have passed, people can point out the flaws without stinging so much. We are objectively looking at what happened now that we understand everything that was going on during this era.
The music was performed with beauty and grace. This was a true tribute to the Beatles not to replicate their style, but their influence. The acting was good. But the sets and music is what made this movie what it was. I just a nice break from the hate that our country has now and return to when people were trying to make a difference instead of trying to destroy each other.
All you really do need is love…
The last two days I took three of my former students who have been working for me to Great America as part of a way to show my appreciation for their help. I pay them too, but I guess this was an employee benefit too.
The day started very early on Friday at like 6a. Keep in mind that this is by FAR the earliest that I have been up in nearly two weeks. I picked up Braden, then the Hutter boys and started to head down to San Jose. But before we could leave town, we had to stop by the Evil Empire (aka Wal-Mart) so that Zach could buy socks. I had also left my sunglasses (pick a place cause I still can’t find them) and I needed them for the drive down. For the first time in nearly three years, I shared some of my hard earned income at Wal-Mart. I almost threw up a little. I will say that I needed a shower after going into that hell hole.
We finally got on the road and the trip was pretty fun. Zach got his finger stuck in my ring sizer that I had in my car. So his brother Matt has to do the same thing… twins… go figure.
When we stop to use the restroom I get bombarded with wet tissue as I use the bathroom. This should have been a sign, but I just shake it off. We get to the park and I was completely astonished… no lines. Literally… we rode every major ride, with the exception of the Grizzly which didn’t open until noon, in under an hour and a half! That’s never done at Great America. It was freaking sweet. The only ride that had a line worth noting was the Grizzly for three reasons. One, it was slow as all get out. Two, it was amusing (I know I’m going to hell for saying this) watching all these fat people try to squeeze into these little cars. Finally, it where I parted with my water bottle of two months that fell out of my bag.
We kept just going around and around riding pretty much anything we wanted. We went on water rides when it was raining. I got lucky because the swinging ship that does a complete revolution was shut down because of the weather. Then when the guys finally convinced me to get wet, they shut down the park. Two for two in the department.
We got tired of the park and decided to head to the hotel. By now, I’m tired, getting ragged on by three teenagers, and hungry. NOT a good combo for anyone to be around me. I booked us at a residential suite hotel because it gave us more room to move. When we got there, Zach started to complain about the hotel. I think that was it. I snapped back and said well I could just drive us home instead.
Now I’ve worked with teenagers pretty much my entire life. Yet, I’ve been out of the camp business for about three years now. I’m out of shape when it comes to dealing with teenage boys residentially. It’s exhausting, frustrating, and annoying all at the same time. From my prospective, I organized this trip, paid for their hotel, most of their food, the gas, my time, and energy so that they could have this experience. True, I wanted to go too… which is part of the reason why I put it together. However, I forget just how ungrateful teenagers can be. Not all of course… and I’m not saying these guys were not grateful for trip. But its sooooo much taking and very little giving.
By about 8:30 after trying to play poker, I was done. I had hit my wall. I suggested they go play basketball outside. I just regrouped and watched a movie. When they came back I was fine. But I was just about ready to go off before they left. I think it’s kind of weird for them too because I was their teacher before being their friend. Now, they are comfortable with being friend, but now don’t respect boundaries of authority with me. They were blowing me off last night when I was asking them not to bounce the basketball in the room and that just sent me over. Then again this morning when I said we needed to get going and they were like fine just leave us, I got my things and headed out the door. It’s amazing how far a thank you will get you.
On the way home today, I suggested we stop at Ikea and play one of my favorite games… hide and seek. Ikea is great because it comes with all the fun pieces to play the game… decoys, lots of hiding places, and designated boundaries. We played for nearly two hours moving from area to area so we would get detected by Ikea employees. So much fun. But when it was enough, they kept pushing me. I hate getting pushed because I’m become a prick. But by then, I didn’t care. Boundaries were going to be established.
The rest of the ride home was pretty uneventful and overall the trip was great. I’m just going to regroup and exercise myself out so I can just get back to groove next week.
RIP Water bottle…. you will be missed.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Today was pretty cool. Braden came over to help me file and do my paper audit for this year’s orders. It was nice to have him over because it made a very tedious task pretty fun. We talked and processed most of the orders in a good fashion. What was really cool about Braden is that he even offered to pay for his lunch. Though I was planning on taking him to lunch, he insisted on paying. He’s a good guy and got some great manners for an eighth grader.
We got back and played some old school Mario for a bit before getting back to work. I must admit that I am the master of Mario at this moment. I just need to focus long enough to actually beat it again. But alas we had to get back to work and finished in time for my appointment with Dr. Rich.
At my appointment today with Dr. Rich, I got pretty excited about my Master’s project. He helped me outline what I needed to do to finish the project. I have plans to finish most of it during the summer and complete the rest of it in the spring of next year. I think if I buckle down , I can get most of it done when I’m not doing much else.
Then, it was a lovely family dinner night at Susan’s. I got to catch up with everyone and just chill. I also helped Michael shop for Australia tickets for December.
So overall a good day with good people.
What a lovely day. I woke up and started cleaning my house because…well I’m OCD about it and I saw crumbs on the counter. So as I have mentioned before, I therefore have to clean the whole house. Which is exactly what I did. Then, I met my friend Josh for lunch at Hula’s. While I built my monstrous mountain of food as only few can, I took a picture of it with my phone. I then sent it to all my friends that lived in Chico and no longer do. I said “Hula’s misses you.” I hope it gave some people a chuckle.
After lunch, I went to Safeway to go grocery shopping. I got yelled at by some chick for driving down the wrong way. Though I accept my role in the issue, the other road was blocked and I had to find a different route. People don’t have to be rude about it. TOLERANCE! While shopping on a VERY full stomach, I bought things for fajitas for dinner. Why? Because I had two bellpeppers at home and I felt guilty about throwing them away.
So instead of throwing away $1.50 worth the bellpeppers, I made a whole meal for the savior of thy bellpeppers. Don’t get me wrong… it was quite delish. However I could have ate my leftover and been quite content. But I pat myself on the back for not wasting food. Just don’t look at the meat, milk, and other things I threw away because I forgot about them…
I have spent the last few days traveling and visiting friends and family in the Manteca/Tracy area. It been pretty fun so far. I’ve been bouncing around from house to house visiting and catching up. I started visiting my friends Justin and Deanna on Friday with their little guy Tristan. That kid is the most mellow, agreeable two-year old I’ve ever met. He only cried once; Never resisted going to sleep; and was a little chatterbox. The perfect child. I told them both to stop while they were ahead.
I then did what has become my new hobby–hunting for a wii. I really don’t want a wii. I am enjoying the hunt looking for them. When I got to Tracy, I stopped by the usual suspect–Best Buy, Target, and Circuit City–to see if I can find one. No luck. That’s okay. The hunt is what I am enjoying. I don’t know what I am actually going to do when I find one. Of course I could just over pay for one on ebay, but that’s not any fun. I will have to say that Nintendo had created a wonderful supply/demand frenzy over these gaming system. Not even the Xbox 360 or PS2 (the ps3 sucks) had this long of a backlog after the release. Well done to Nintendo for coming from behind to dominate the bunch.
Yesterday and today I’ve been spending time with time with my cousins and g-ma. It’s funny to hang out with these guys… they are hella drama, hella madness. Which is funny because in Chicoland, there is no drama in my life. I went over to my cousins house last night in Manteca. My cousin David bought a HUGE five bedroom mcmansion and his sister and her family moved in with him. The main problem is my cousin’s girlfriend is a bitch. I don’t use that word often to describe a person, but she is just that. She’s rude, ungrateful, and degrading. Well, it’s going to cause a huge rift between the two of them and it’s just going to get ugly. Thankfully, I have no investment in the argument. But it makes me think of the movie, “War of the Roses.” A classic 80s movie if you haven’t seen it.
When I get back, I get to be a bum for a few days. I told some of my former students I would go to Great America. So that’s my big trip for Spring break. I’m going to try to save money for the house project come October.
Filed under: Uncategorized
And now it’s here! I don’t know why I am dragging so much lately, but I have just been dead. I am officially on vacation for about a week. During this time, I am going to go on a few little adventures. One of these adventures is going down to Manteca/Tracy to visit family and friends. It will be nice to get out of Chico on a non-work related roadtrip.
I also got the urge to go to Great America. And since my eighth graders who were are graduating from Notre Dame. So I thought it would be fun to take some of the kids who I’ve known forever down there. It would be fun to just be a kid and run around the park. We’ll shall see.
I’m also excited to roll into this break to play nintendo, exercise, and read. I don’t want to see the inner works of my office for a while….
Here’s to vacation!
I am working through my TIME for the week. This issue is a pretty big downer. The headline article is outlining all the crap this is going wrong in our world–global warming, lack of food, fighting for resources, etc. It’s scary. One part mentioned that the Arctic ice caps are going to be completely gone by 2013–nearly 10 years earlier than predicted. Boy, we got ourselves in a nice little pickle didn’t we?
As I was enjoying my bacon and waffles this morning, I had to start thinking how long am I going to be able to enjoy a day like this? Will my children be fighting for resources? Will there be water for my grandchildren to enjoy? Will my great-grandchildren even be able to go outside to enjoy the cool spring breeze that I did today? It kind of freaks me out. We are running out of time it seems. I think we are on last strike here. If we don’t do something quickly to correct the problem, all the money and power those that have it are trying to protect will be gone. Remember guys, you can’t take it with you. If the world or our country falls apart over food riots or energy, all the money and power you had will get you nothing. Power and money is all based on the people supporting it. When it comes to a person’s family, believe me, they will rob you blind if it means their son or daughter is eating. Despair brings out the survivor in people
So I don’t sound hypocritical, I drive an SUV purely because of work needs. I would happily trade it in for something that will meet my work needs and help the environment. I think many people are in the same situation.
Here are a few of my solutions:
1. Build high speed rail. The California Valley is one of the biggest, vast valleys in the world. It’s long and flat. Perfect for high speed rail. Get over all the politics of the crap. Build the best rail that will serve the most people. Use buses to connect people to stops. I would jump on a train that would take me YC each day and ride the bus if I knew I could still do my job. I would FOR sure take a train to Sac, SF, or LA. Make it fast, reliable, and priced correctly and people will ride.
2. Be smarter with water. I read in an article that we waste a ton of rainwater on roofs and roads. There is technology that captures more rainwater for consumption and processing. Spend the money and use it.
3. Flat out ban products and processes that are wasteful. Americans have evolved and invented with the times. Ban something and they will create something new that is better.
4. Up our production of renewable energy—water, solar, and wind. Get on it. Tons of energy going to waste. Speaking of which, this always baffled me… with all these treadmills running at gyms, isn’t there a way to harness that energy to at LEAST power the treadmill itself?
5. Reject people’s business licenses for polluting. Screw fining them. Shut their business down. I think they will think twice about getting caught dumping waste in the river.
I don’t want my kids to be left with this mess… we need to own up to it. Let’s do it together and fix the problems. We are already going to pass on trillions of dollars of debt to our kids. We owe it to them to give it a clean country and world to pay it off.
My title is a nice way to say fuck. My day started out pretty crappy. Every day I run through the same damn routine… I scramble around because I didn’t plan the night before. And unlike teaching when I can wing it most of the time, I forget important stuff I need to do my job.. cash box, receipts, or order forms. Little things that make a big difference in my job. Of course it’s not going to destroy me; it will just make my day a little bit more difficult than it has to be. Then, I usually get to spend an hour on the road driving festering about what I left at home. No one notices that I’m missing it, but I know–that’s all the matters to me. Today it was a letter of recommendation for a friend and pens. On occasion, there are days where I out smart myself and put everything in the night before and in the morning scramble around the house looking for the said object. Finally, I find it right where it should be… packed and ready for the day. I amaze myself.
Today was exceptionally bad. I was opening my mail for yesterday when I noticed that I got an invoice for a ring that I didn’t think I received. I mean, I think it wasn’t here. But who knows. I faintly remember seeing it, but then again, someone could have stolen it from my doorstep before I got home. I have the feeling that I lost it somewhere. I didn’t just lose a ring, I lost a 14k gold ring. Shit. $500 out the window. It just started my day off poorly and then went down hill from there.
For the second day in a row, I was running late. I barely got to my school in time to get set up. Then, I spent the entire lunch period rushed and miserable. I am a person of routine and if I can’t set up, then I’m screwed–today being a great example.
Yet, by mid-afternoon, I had pulled it together. I had a good presentation at one school and got to hang out and work with one of my customers. Then, I traveled home and met my friends for drinks and dinner. We had our 20/30 Club meeting and heading home. My legs are still sore from last night. So, I went to the hot tub and chilled out. I am now in my bliss of a bed winding down before bed.
But in a distance I can hear the booming voice of my new roommate. I am not liking this living situation. As social as I am, when I am home, I am the most anti-social person you can meet. I’m tired of interacting with people and I just want to read, relax, and eat. Because he doesn’t have a social network here, he relies on me for all human interaction. Yet, I don’t want to be the network. Roommates and friends are very different words in my world–one I socialize and one I live–you guess which one is which. It’s just the way he communicates is what drives me crazy. It’s like he needs constant affirmation that’s he’s okay. Something I don’t have the energy to invest–I have other things I need focus… and my next appointment for therapy is in April. Linda keeps taking all my slots.
