2010 resolution

After some thought I have come up with my new years resolution for 2010. I am resolving to be more autonomous. Yes, I did have to look that up in the dictionary to be sure of what it meant. I came to this decision after a review of what I was able to accomplish this year. All the things that I achieved were through my efforts. Anytime I thought it would be fun or appealing to involve a friend or family, I was told no. For some of the year last year that meant I stayed home. Towards the end of the year, I quit asking and went and did what I wanted to do. Don't have someone to go with me to a Kings of Leon concert? Went anyways. Couldn't find someone to go with me to a OSU game? Went anyways. Couldn't find someone that wants to go to a Reds game? Gonna go anyways in 2010. Is there a movie out I want to see? Better go see it cause no one else has the time. Would like someone to go to church with me? Wasting my breath asking.

So in affect, 2010 should be a much more enjoyable year. I am going to shed the burden of hearing why people don't want to do something and not involve others. No more sitting at home and carousing the internet when there is something I could be doing. Now that I don't drink much, I have more money for those things anyways.

I am also going to resolve to not buy any full priced video games. From where I am sitting, I can see 6 wii games that I paid full price for. I need to spend less money and actually less time playing wii and ds games, so I am only going to buy bargain priced games in 2010. Unless super mario galaxy 2 comes out, I will pay full price for that.

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Year in Review 2009

2009 has nearly come and gone and with it most events of consequence. Here are some of the highlights and lowlights for me.

-quit abusing alcohol on a weekly basis
-spent several weeks and months this year without a drink

-paid off my truck

-bought a house

-made more money than ever

-spent more money than ever

-seen more concerts in person than past years

-made a more serious effort towards my fitness

-asked for 4 dates or numbers, got 2 yes answers

-read more books and literature for pleasure than previous years

-found some music I liked enough to buy CD's of (Kings of Leon, Silversun Pickups)

-didn't really progress much on banjo playing skill (can play some of smoke on the water though)

-became more responsible via a puppy that I am now in charge of

-became more active in my church community

-changed church communities

-started reading the Bible

-made it another year without health insurance

-seen more movies, watched less TV

-learned more spanish

-improved quality of house (upstairs bedroom, windows in basement)

-ran two 5k's

-bought 5 new pairs of shoes (two pairs of justin cowboy boots, pumas, asics, dress shoes)

-had to buy smaller belts

-spent more time on computer than reasonable (no thanks to blogging there)

-almost have to shave daily now (didn't shave at all until after I was 21)

-went to two OSU football games, didn't travel to any new stadiums

-went to some Bengals games

-went to many of my sisters college basketball games, more than other siblings

-still have never done any illegal drugs

-didn't travel very much

-realized I have more family than friends

-didn't find a vocation, sill rummaging around as a farmer

In review this year did go pretty well for me. If I can continue having years like this, my life will be pretty blessed. The only thing I really think I am missing or would like to have is that special someone. I will find her or romance her eventually though.

Phase 1

Well today I finished phase 1 of my p90x attempt. My before and after pictures have been taken, and I can't tell much of a difference in my physique. I haven't lost much weight since day 1 either. I am at 199 according to my scale today. I have read on their message board that if you are doing the lean routine, the biggest changes don't come until phase 3 comes around. I don't really have a fear of no results, I am more looking forward to being able to say that I am a p90x grad. If the results come that would be fine, if not then I am still going to be active when I finish at the end of february. I haven't followed the diet at all and don't really plan to start. The only thing I can really do is limit my diet. I am going to run into eating fast food all the time after basketball games. Especially towards the end of february when tournament games start.

I also watched the goods live hard sell hard tonight. I thought it was really funny and all the great cameos were uh... great. The Arnett and Ferrell cameos were too good. The best part was the movie didn't take itself too seriously. It was an R rated comedy, but those are some of the best ones some times.

nasty christmas

I managed to convince my family a couple of years ago to switch to a nasty christmas type of gift exchange. This has gone real well and the gift exchange is very fun. The basic premise is that when your turn comes up, you can either open a new present of steal a present that has already been opened. If your present was stolen you have the option of opening a new present or stealing someone else's gift. I need to figure out a way to establish a clearer set of rules though. With the current style of play, a gift can be stolen more than once per round and that kind of dulls the  exchange after a while. A new round starts when a new turn comes up for a selected reason. The first year we went by age, last year we did birthmonths, and this year we did day you were born. I need to think of a new way to take turns for next year. This year we had about 30 people doing the exchange and gifts going around. I brought a mini keg of heineken, my gift of the last three years. I ended up with a dvd of body of lies. I haven't seen it yet so I am optimistic it will be good.

I also broke my 5 week sobriety last night and regretted it today. I am really debating how I can avoid drinking much on new years eve at my sisters place. I hate staying sober at a place and having nothing to do. I also hate having a hangover that last for 14 hours. I don't like staying at a hose long being sober. I usually try to leave or am anxious to leave whenever I go somewhere else.

Christmas finale

Well christmas this year has come and gone. The more I think about what I should be doing during christmas, the more confused I am. As a christian I should be celebrating the birth of Jesus. The message I get from my church and most other religious materials is that the best thing I can do is spend time with my family. During the time I spend with my family, we simply exchange gifts and have a meal together. Jesus is the reason for the season, but I could be doing more for that effort.

Gift wise this year was okay. I got my first ever dog of my own. I also recieved the following:  longaberger OSU basket, season 4 of the office, angels & demons, a monkeyball wii game, a nice plush blanket. an osu foot stool, one sweatervest, an osu painting to hang on the wall, and a money clip. I am going to a nasty christmas exchange tonight so one more gift could be added to the list.

Gifts I bought for others include: a box of funnels, a light up sleigh, two ds games, a sons of anarchy DVD set, a jumbo mailbox, a moonshine jug, a dog grooming kit, an artie lange comedy dvd, a hydraulic jack, a dog OSU jersey, a mini keg of heineken,

Things I bought for myself the past week or so: an OSU rose bowl hoodie, an OSU hat, an OSU long sleeve shirt, a KoL dvd, a black wii remote with motion plus and black nunchuck, a lawn sweeper, a dozen railroad ties for my driveway, a new sirius radio for my truck, and a KoL cd.

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Dog-ged

Well it has been seen fit that I am in need of a dog. My family bought me a 8 week old puppy for christmas. They found Walter, as I named him, at the highland county humane society shelter. He is part lab and about ten pounds right now. I am not sure how big he will get, I'll have to wait and see. They also gave me some dog care gifts and things to get me going. Walter is even house broken a little bit, he will piss once he takes a couple of steps on some grass after leaving the house. He can walk up steps now, but not down steps. He is not jumping onto things yet either.

Overall I am not sure about having a dog. I enjoyed the freedom of not having seomething to watch over. If I got bored or in need of some canine comanionship, they were always at least two other dogs around to play with. Now I have to plan on getting out of bed early, buy food and other things I was free from earlier. I also now have to reposition my stance that dogs are for people who want kids but can't deal or are not in the right spot to have kids. I would much prefer to be in a marriage and taking care of a person to a single guy watching over a dog. I will put some of my DSi pictures up on facebook, and will have to get my real digital camera out for the walter pictures to post on here.

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Midnight Mass

One of the traditions of the catholic religion and possibly other religious factions is a midnight mass service.  The church that I have been going to has theirs at 11, but the theme and message would still be the same. I did witness a new tradition tonight. The father has a child from the congregation place a baby Jesus in the manger of the nativity scene to announce or commemorate the official day of christmas. I did really like the sermon given today. The message was that the best gift you can give someone you love is a hug and to let them know you love them. You never know when you will have your last holiday with your loved ones so letting your feelings be known is important. The church was as full as I have ever seen it also. The CNE christians did show up tonight. I shouldn't make too much fun though, I was a CNE guy for a while myself.

I do wonder if I have estranged myself by this tonight. The first midnight mass I went to was at arnheim, and when I was in high school. The past couple of years we have been going to Saint Thomas More for midnight services. My grandmother goes to that church and is active in that community. Part of the reason we would go was to see her. My sister was married in that church by our local pastor. I told my family that I was going to hillsboro tonight. I am not making an appearance for my grandmother anymore. I regularly go to mass regardless of her knowledge. She even told me this spring that I am the most religous of her grandkids and gave me my grandfathers old rosary. I can pick where I want to go and how I want to worship. I have chosen a church near to me and plan on staying with it. The only way I am going to change that is for marriage or love. I don't really plan on attending any other churches for convenience.

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I want in like a substitute.

Working as a substitute can be a variety of things. Today I am going to talk about how many days I have worked. I have now been subbing since the 07-08 school year. I have a full year of work in the STRS system towards my retirement from my full time work in 06-07. The STRS system is a bit stacked against full time teaching from my point of view. I only have to get 120 days for a full year of work as a sub. The salaried teacher has to work 180 days, at least according to their contract. With that in mind, it would seem I am getting to be a more popular sub. If I use this time of year as a break point to stop counting, I see some interesting numbers. The first year that I subbed,  I didn't work at all this time. The next year I got to be a bit more popular, working 39 days. This year I have 47 days thus far. The main discrepancy is that this year I have only worked at two schools and one of them wouldn't have called me at all if it weren't for a maternity leave. Last year, I got called by the rockets plenty, but haven't gotten one call to work yet this year. Two years ago, I worked plenty of days over in mustang territory, but SS has not called back since the 08 graduating class. The second half of the year is usually the busiest. However if I go by this years trend, I will only work in one district unless an exact person takes off at PHS. This might not be a bad thing, but the point of subbing is to really try or showcase myself for a real job. I can't say that the noslowdown school is going to have any opening that I might qualify for soon. I would like to get out to to other schools, but am going to say yes whenever I am able bodied.

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say anything

I watched the movie say anything last night and really liked it. I could relate to the Lloyd character very well. He doesn't know what he wants to do in the next year after graduating or finsihing one part of his life. He takes a chance and gets to meet a girl is such a way that all he wants to do is spend time with her after they find each other. Then the romance is suddenly cut off and he doesn't know what to do with himself. He was very unassuming and kind of meek the whole movie. He tried to get advice from some guy friends and realized they were idiots. Mainly because he knew how it felt when he was with a woman he loved and that couldn't be replaced by hanging out with dudes.

I also watched inglorius basterds last night and didn't really like it. The movie had a very slow pace and not enough activity. I was also surprised that no body in my family knows about tarantino movies. I mentioned once or twice that it was a tarantino film and nobody knew what that meant. I must be the only one in my family who watches movies.

In other news, I had a pof date last night. It went well, but I don't really think this companionship will turn romatic. She was interesting enough and we were able to talk to each other, but it was missing something.

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Outlier

Last night I finished reading a book called "Outliers." The book was about people and their success stories. Then the book showed how the successes were not so much about work and effort as having the oppurtunity and background to achieve the success. The book also explained how the best way to perfect a skill is to spend ten thousand hours practicing that skill. I also found the sections about how the education system needs fixed and reformed very interesting. The book was a very good read and I am going to recommend it to about every one that I know.

hunting part II

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that people that actively hunt are idiots. None of the people I know that go hunting are hurting for food. If that was the case, they would play by the rules and tag the deer they take down. That really is what gets me. At least take the time to be honest. Claim what you shoot and make an effort to play by the rules. They are just out hunting because they need something to do or a reason to get out of the house,

The size of these hunting parties is something else also. The more people that are out there with guns, the more of a chance there is that a bullet will shoot something it was not supposed to. It just makes me really nervous. A single deer can pop up and take off running. Everyone moves to get a better shot, and some end up in places where they might be vulnerable to gun fire. They might even shoot in the direction of my house if they are not paying enough attention.

Opening day of gun season may be the worst. Every one wants to go 100 miles an hour on the first day of the season, then barely do anything the rest of the season. That really confounds me. If you are so committed to hunting, why don't you go everyday all day?

I could see the sport in bow hunting. That would be more of a challenge and closer to a actual contest of preparation and patience. The crowd in the woods we be much less and you would only get one realistic shot at a buck before they take off.

Comeuppance

I actually had to look up this word to make sure that I had the meaning correct. Our youngest mexicano had found some female companions nearby here and decided that he didn't need to go out with his fellow mexicans and known americans. Every saturday or at least once a week, we are committed to take them to the store of their choice. This usually amounts to us taking them to hillsboro and walmart or eastgate/beechmont. Well anyways, last weekend young fellow decided that he was going to go with his lady friends and ditch or abandon the group of people he could trust. It went fine last weekend, but this weekend his comeuppance came about. Young fellow and his lady friend went out to hillsboro and did whatever it is they might do. At any rate he pissed her off and she left him at the pharmacy. Luckily for him, I was in hillsboro with the rest of the amigos. Unlucky for him, we were in the middle of eating and I thought he could just wait it out and think about it some more. He may now realize that he can't trust others the same way that he can trust the people who are responsible for him. We can't just get mad and leave him at a store 20 miles from his place to sleep that we give him. A woman that we don't know can say f off and leave him on his own. Here in a day or two I am going to give him a list of taxis and our address so if he gets brave again, he can pay a taxi and have it hit him where it hurts, in the wallet. He needs to think about what it is going to cost him the next time he is abandoned by someone that is not on his h2a contract.

I am also a bit conflicted by this. Is this a very christian attitude to convey? I feel bad that he got left and ended up where he did, but I really think it is a bit funny. He doesn't have the time to go with us on our committed day. He does have time to ask me to take him to the store after everyone else goes. He does have the money to buy phone cards and pop, and then ask me to loan him 50 dollars. I told him no, but all of a sudden he now has money for beer this week. I don't know if Jesus would feel the same way about the situation, but part of why we are here is to live and learn and make mistakes.

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Tough guy

Today I was watching the buckeyes game and realized another thing about myself. I have no tattoos or piercings. I have this sort of stigma that tattoos are for tough guys. If I got a tattoo, people would just look at me and think, "who is this guy kidding?" I cannot think of a tattoo that I would want either. Nobody terribly important has died that I want to commemorate. A cross or spiritual tattoo would be okay, but they seem a bit attention seeking. I also seem to remember the Bible saying something about keeping the body clean and a tattoo would seem against that. Piercings are not much different. I am not a pretty boy or think that people should be looking at me. I don't want that attention. They seem a bit gaudy and can't really advance my personality any. "So, you thought enough of yourself that you got a ear piercing huh?" "Yep" would be all that I have to say. Sure, piercings and jewelry look good on women, but I don't think they are for men, me in particular. When I was living in the dorms, my cousin got his ear pierced, and a laughed and hee hawed about that a bit. But eventually it got old and I didn't see the point in trying to ridicule him for it.

van by the river sounding friday rant

My favorite thing about fridays is listening to WEBN at or about 5 PM. They play this celebratory/end of the week/I hate my boss thing then play an awesome song to get you in the mood for a good weekend. When I worked construction for my dads cousin, hearing that after a long week of work was a highlight of the week. Nowadays I mainly work for myself, but its still cool to hear. After the rant today, they played a cool christmas song where santa was ambushed and wanted cash instead of silly toys. It was the first time I heard that song and it was pretty cool.

I also got to sell my tobacco today. My landords contract is filled and I sold about 5000 pounds today bringing in a little bit over 8000 dollars. Most of my cut today will be used to pay my labor bill, but I sill have another 6000 pounds I can sell that will be straight profit for me. The tobacco turned out real well, I got a little more than 17000 pounds from 6 acres. Generally, getting 12000 pounds from 6 acres is the norm. I just hope I can still avoid any "cancer merchant" chants where cigarettes are thrown at me like in clerks.

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The Advent season

This Advent or christmas season seems kind of ho hum to me. I don't want to downplay the season or time of year that Christ's birth is celebrated, but this year is a little off in some ways. The gift giving part of what I am accustomed to is now at the point where I just buy and receive a gift from each family member. This is fine but some of the excitement of gift giving is dulled by sitting around and proclaiming who each gift is from.

Maybe its my attitude towards christmas. I haven't put up any lights. I don't have a christmas tree up, nor have I sent out any christmas cards. My house looks the same as it did during the summer and other months of the year. I do attend the church services but a sermon about financial woes and another about forgiveness aren't really tied into the season. At least not what I am used to hearing.

I have also found out something that I didn't know. Only catholics and lutherans describe this season as advent. I am not sure why this is or even the meaning of the word advent. It must be related to christ somehow. I am just not sure or the relation. I call this time of year as advent mainly just from tradition.

I don't know. I like seeing everyone else happy and enjoying themselves. However, I am a bit down this year. Last year I had just broken up with my girlfriend and was still drinking some. This year I don't have a lady friend and no real prospects. Maybe I will just turn into scrooge and become a hermit. I just buy any thing I want the rest of the year and really feel bad about others buying me gifts. I already have most of what I want or think I should have. Most of the gifts I get are based on how someone inconvenienced me throughout the last year. Last year I bout my mom 10 metal folding chairs because I was tired of trucking chairs back and forth between my grandparents and my parents. I have bought my dad and grandpa new shovels, sledgehammers, extension cords, 5 gallon buckets and other assorted farm use items. I bought my brother an extension cord so that he would quit moving around the good one in the barn. I bought my sisters dog care items so they could give them to their dogs.

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5050

I finished reading what I picked to be the best book of my year in 2009, 5050. The book is about a guy who runs 50 marathons in 50 days in 50 states. He has some ups, some downs and completes his goal. What I liked best about this book was that it made running and completing a marathon approachable. He mentions several first timers that completed the marathons with him. He didn't really see them as competitions and more about a journey being the most enjoyable part of any running. He was usually disappointed with reaching the finish line and having a certifiable end. While I haven't quite reached his level of skill and star power, I am looking forward to getting more miles on my shoes. I keep reminding myself of a quote I saw "Running cleans what a shower cannot." I can feel better about eating like an idiot or not being on a diet plan if I know I am going to work later and get that out of my system. Dean, the author of 5050 says that he follows a caveman diet, because when he eats food a caveman would not have had access to, he feels worse at the end of his run. Maybe one day I will reach that level. I also remember another interesting idea from the book. Dean describes how athletes are simply able to regulate how much they sweat better than others. They have trained their bodies to regulate their temperature better than the rest of us. A well trained athlete will sweat more than a regular person on a first workout because their bodies know what to do. Dean also drank a couple of liters of water a day. I also found it interesting that he was able to do all of this on less than 5 hours of sleep a night. Sure, a marathon is small compared to hundred mile runs and other forms of a ultramarathons that he completes, but 5 hours is not much for expending about three thousand calories a run. I had just got up to 600 calories burned when I did my runs and I was usually tired or ready to be done by the end. This guy achieved his goal and only lost one pound. That is something else.

I also am watching a documentary on PBS tonight about Peter and Paul during the rise of Christ. I am finding it very interesting and educational. It will be a while until I get to those sections in the Bible, but it still is good to see something so informative.

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Job

I finally got around to finish my double reading of the book of Job. As with some other stories of the Bible, I have heard of this epic slice of God's wisdom grace. I just don't know all the names and circumstances as well as an honest christian should. All in all, I did very much enjoy the book of Job. I found it a bit hard to keep up with the language being used, especially by the non-Job folks. I really shouldn't stress out about this very much though. People smarter than me have written plainer language versions and studies to make the Bible more accessible to modern day accounts. I was really surprised by a couple of thoughts. By my second read through it became clear that the citizenery of the Old Testament didn't really know about Satan. Job was convinced that God had done this to him and was being punished for reasons beyond his control. Never once did I see that an equally powerful being could have done this to Job. I don't mean equally powerful as in the most powerful, but in such a way that should be known and talked about. I found that a bit odd, but then again the best trick that Satan could do is convince the world he doesn't exist. I also found all the great descriptions and qualifiers of people and God in the book very interesting. It was pretty cool had God showed up and put Job back in his place after talking to him. Job realized that his strife and demanding to know were not important enough for God to be serving Job. I will really have to read a good retelling to get the most important points from the book.

I also have increased my KoL fandom. I bought the because of the times CD the other day and have been listening to that. I don't think it is as good as only by the night, but am enjoying it. The album is a softer listen from what I have gathered so far. I also bought a DVD of a concert they played in london, but haven't watched it yet. I may keep that fresh until after christmas and maintain it as a christmas present.

Well, the book of Psalms is next, and from what I have previewed, it looks every bit intimidating as a read. I suppose that the real challenge of reading the Bible is the willingness to come back to it and study more.

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the last one

Well today I took and passed my last objective exam for graduate school. Now all I have to do is write my research papers and get in my research plan. I am a bit apprehensive about the plan, I am not sure if the teacher I have in mind is willing to go along with the school principal and let me in like I would like. If all goes as plan, I will be doing the classroom stuff in either january or february and the schools around here don't really have consistent days with the snow and weather conditions. I am not really all that keen on having a graduate degree any more, its not really going to help me get a job and I really feel guilty about being away from the farm sometimes. Dad and grandpa depend on me plenty at times.

I also had another thought about why I am not as into drinking as much anymore. The only thing I have really accomplished in my life is that teaching certificate. One bad decision and that could be taken away from me and then I won't have anything like that to my name.

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Uh-oh

Uh-oh #1-yesterday I went to B-dubs out in beechmont and ate a bunch of spicy garlic wings. An hour later my stomach hated me. I must have been eating good lately, because that junk food made me sick. My stomach felt awful and I still have a bit of garlic breath. On the way home, my truck smelled like garlic farts. I barely made it home and to the toilet on time. I am going to have to learn to eat better.

Uh-oh #2-that 21 year old from pof used to date my cousin and knows who I am. She now thinks I should go to the bar in hillsboro with my brother. Its a good thing I can tell her I quit drinking and am not going to start because I am at a bar in hillsboro cruising the single ladies.

Uh-oh #3- I have been messaging a teacher over on pof and found out she works with my aunt. She doesn't know this as of yet, and I probably will tell her. For some reason I am worried about others knowing about my online persona. I don't think I behave differently online, but am worried about how it is perceived by others who aren't online. I will likely end up having a date with this one if things continue at the pace they are, but don't really think it will go much further than that. If she asks or it progresses to that, who am I to refuse her? Am I such a person that I can refuse people who would like a chance to meet me?

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best of the year

I saw a best of 2009 post over on the ex hot girl blog and thought "self, that would be a good blog for you to do." I was already planning on a year in review post closer to the end of the year, but this is going to have a different tone. Here it goes.

Best trip/vacation
I would have to award this to my only trip/vacation. I went to tennessee this summer for my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. Any other free time I spent taking naps and being cooler online.

Best restaurant moment
I had to think hard about this one. I think the best restaurant moment was and is taking my H2A crew out to eat. We usually go to la cascada in hillsboro, and they enjoy it because they get to enjoy good mexican food without cooking it. Treating a group who works for me feels good and is rewarding. I have a meal coming up this weekend and might go to wings and rings, they also like the salitas, or chicken wings.

Best article
I do read newspapers as often as a I can, but nothing comes to mind right away. I may have to give this to the Joe Paterno article I read in SI this year.

Best book
While I don't want to omit the Bible, I am going to pick another book. I did read several books this year, and not only because subbing can be dull. I think the best book I read is the 50/50 book I am reading now about a guy who ran 50 marathons in 50 days in 50 states. The book is very encouraging for me as a person who is an aspiring marathoner.

Best Night Out
While I don't do very much socializing at all this year, the best night out I had was back in february. A friend of mine invited a bunch of her friends out to bar louie in cvegas out to celebrate her birthday. I got to see some old college pals, and then hung around my brothers place for a while. I also got good and drunk, but was into that at the time.

Best workshop or conference
I am not enough of a professional to attend workshop or conferences. I did attend an insurance meeting where I found out I was going to be getting a big check, then got to eat a free dinner afterwards. That was easily the best.

Blog find of the year
Hmmn. I could go with the easy choice and pick a blog I shouldn't have found. However, I will pick a blog that I found since starting my own blog and go with the ex hot girl blogger.com site. She is a photographer who is trying to lose weight after being a hot girl.

Moment of peace
I think my moment of peace may have been when I decided that I was going to drink a whole lot less. I feel healthier, spend less money, and think this may appeal more to girls. Time will tell if I should have just stayed a thirsty guy or not.

Challenge of the year
This is a tough call. Quitting drinking wasn't really that tough and I still occasionally drink. Getting back into running was tough, and P90X is supposed to be tough. I am going to go with my return to running. P90X is not as hard as I thought it would be, but I should be following the diet much more closely.

Album of the year
Only by The Night by The Kings of Leon.

Movie of the year
Well, I didn't see many movies in the theater, but did see several via netflix. I am going to say "The Machinist." I really liked the story and plot and thought it was well done. Others were kind of a waste of time compared to my viewing of that movie.

Concert of the year
I only went to two concerts this year, but the KoL concert at rupp arena was by far my favorite. I should have gone and seen incubus when I had the chance, and really want to see the silversun pickups the next time they are within driving distance.

Post of the year
Well I started in the late spring and now have over 200 of my own posts to pick from. I think either the "perspicacity" post or the "here goes nothing" post were the most thought out posts I did. I ultimately have to go with "here goes nothing," since it got some attention and I now have more conversations with the subject of the post.

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LOLCOPTER

It has now become apparent that BK is now leaving or trading up his coaching status. The thing I don't get is how is ND a better job? A coach there has more scrutiny. ND doesn't have a conference affiliation that guarantees a bowl game. The big east does. ND plays a weird mix of teams in made for TV/money games. It is all very weird to me that ND has this mystique that they are better or more important in todays football game. I don't think that is the case. How is moving to a school with a losing record and no bowl games a move up from two consecutive bowl games and an undefeated season? BK must know that Tebow is gonna whup his old team all over the field in their bowl game. I actually feel sorry for BK now. The talking heads at ND are gonna expect much out of him and he likely won't deliver. Looking at the facts, BK hasn't won a national championship. Thats what ND is going to expect. His teams have made two bowl games, but haven't one either yet. Like foxsports said, ND aimed too low.

The man JT got it right. He started out as an assistant coach, then moved on to a head coaching job at a division II school. There he learned how to run a program and prepared himself for the big times. Todays coaching carosuel doesn't provide that. Look at ND's last coach. They plucked him from the NFL with no experience running a program. He was able to fake it out for a while, then got paid millions of dollars to be fired.

In another case of hilarity, the steel curtain has now lost to the browns. While I would like to laugh at the browns for being such a laughable team, I think it is funnier that the steelers are now below .500.

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haircuts

I generally like to let my hair go a little bit and have some on the top of my head. Ultimately I decided to get a haircut today. My barber is going on vacation until february, so it was now or until then. I usually go at least a month or more between haircuts.

I did get into a little bit of an argument once with the last girlfriend about my hair. She thought that I should get a fresh haircut at every special event, or holiday. I thought I should get my haircut at my leisure. She finally revealed this to me after some protest and the holiday had gone by. She also liked me better with short hair anyways.

My grandma/barber has come to the conclusion that I am starting to get a receding hairline. I have ascertained this also by now and that is one of the reason I like to have a bit of hair on my head. The extra volume disguises the loss somewhat. I also have a weird shaped head to go along with my weird shaped face, so a bit of hair helps that front also. I have pretty much moved out of afro growing territory with my age and hairline now anyways though.

I am also at a bit of a crossroads. I caught a 21 year old girl from hillsboro looking at my pof profile. I messaged her and she is now certain of who I am. Six years younger and my youngest brothers age is a novel territory to be in. However, the last girlfriend I had was six years older than me and that wasn't terribly odd either.

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in oder aus

I first watched the ali g show after picking up the season 1 dvd at a blockbuster. I had heard some good things about it, and it turned out to be a good buy. Sacha Baron Cohen mockery of societys ignorance and intolerance is very good good comedy. I would have to say that the borat character and scenes are my favorite. I watched the bruno movie tonight, and was a bit disappointed by it. Most of the scenarios I had already seen done on the main show and the plot was pretty weak. The borat movie was done much better and had more original material. Sacha has turned out to be a pretty reliable actor, playing the french guy in talledega nights and doing the voice work of the meerkat in madagascar as well.

I have also got back into listening to my one of my favorite songs ever, "wind" from akeboshi. I came to know this song since it played on the ending credits on the naruto cartoons. iTunes doesn't have it, so when I want to listen I have to search it out on you tube. Best lyrics? Here they are.

don't try to live so wise,
don't cry cause your so right,
don't dry with fakes or fears,
cause you will hate yourself in the end

back to neutral

Well it would seem that the girl I went out on a date with has given up on me. I didn't call her on the schedule that I thought I would, which may be the main problem there. The last time I called her, I left a message saying she could call me back. She hasn't called back and its been about two weeks since we last talked on the phone. I can take a hint and give up on a person that I got to meet and had my chance with. Being back in neutral, I am going to sign up for another dating site, I saw a catholic based site on pof site.

It has also become apparent to me that some of my blog opinions have been made more public. While I haven't imagined keeping this site a secret forever, I was a bit surprised by what I heard today. At any rate, I meant what I typed and have to maintain a high standard of dress for myself. This isn't much of a problem as I was doing that anyways. I don't think I am making attacks when I describe something on this blog. If anything I am jealous of people who have full time work, even more so if they have found someone and are married. I really don't do anything that stands up to those achievements.

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then don't draw one

Today I did go and see the new moon movie. I actually liked the book better but did really enjoy some parts of the movie. The fight scenes with the werewolves were pretty cool as well as the vampire action scenes also. I am still not impressed with the vampire attitude. All the moping around and longing to be a vampire is a bit much for me. The vampires are just very keen on themselves and its too much for me. The Jacob character was much better and more interesting. The movie skipped out on several parts, but the ending was better than what happened in the book.

Today at church we got a special homily. The homily was special in that Father Mike didn't deliver it. Instead we got to hear a synopsis on the church's financial strain. Essentially, they took out a loan to develop a school and don't quite have enough funds to pay it back in a timely fashion. The message or advice they are getting from the diocese is that they need to focus more on their mission than the debt they owe. It has come down to providing a good quality christian education for the young people of our parish. I like the goal well enough, I am an educator myself. Well, maybe only an educator in my own mind, but a willing educator when the job ever comes along. The thing that struck my interest at the end was a fundraiser Father Mike was promoting. The fundraiser was to raise money for the mission work of the students. How can we be expected to give money to the church that won't go towards their apparent mission? Any money that doesn't go towards the church itself or the school they have in place shouldn't be asked for. I don't want to get lectured about money woes only to give more money to something that won't help the money woes. I did put 60 in the collection this week. I do think that 20 might not accurately represent 10% of my income, so I should be putting more in anyways.

I did go to the bengals game today. I also finished reading the book of Job for the first time through. My recap will have to wait until my second read for that to happen as promised.

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The Vest's Birthday

Today I received the unexpected news that it was JT's birthday. I found this out at halftime of the basketball game that I went to. The football team came out and was presented with their big ten championship trophy, and we got to hear some from the captains of the football team. They said they are working hard and coming back from the rose bowl with a win this year.

The basketball game was pretty cool. The buckeyes won by 51 and my favorite player Jon Diebler was the high point man for the buckeyes. The worst possible news and event was that the villian hurt his back and is going to miss the next 8 weeks. The team may get along without him for a while, but he is going to be needed during big ten play. I did get to see mark "club trillion" titus play and almost record another trillion. He had to shoot and miss, but that is part of the excitement of being a trillionaire.

I did got out and see some friends from columbus today. The two are engaged, but I think I have annoyed the girl for some reason. The last time I seen them, I drank some of her stoli vodka after she said that I could have a drink from whatever they had. It was cool to see them again, but much like me they don't drink as much anymore partly because they are buying a house and are saving a bit of money.

I also went to my brothers fraternity function and hung around for a while.

I also caught up with an old friend from college. I am really beginning to wonder why I never asked her out for a date or anything of the sort. Well wonder might not be the right word, I was a drunk and didn't really deserve anything of that sort. She is a nice girl and I really should give her a chance now that we have caught up some.

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cattle wrangler

Today we had the chance to move our cattle around. During the winter we isolate and group off some of the cattle. We put the bull in a pen by himself. We put the baby calves away from their mothers and by themselves in a barn. We put some of the expecting heifers by themselves so we can watch them and see when they might have a calf and move up to the cow rank. The rest of the cows are in pasture for the rest of the winter, grazing in the fields with no real protection from the elements.

Cows really are pretty tame and fun to watch and try to pet sometimes. Some of them do have some personality and are especially friendly. Usually all you have to do is give them a head rub and they are happy as can be. With that being said, I don't really like having cows around. Because of them we have to bale hay in the summer. We have to feed them everyday in the winter. We have to grind feed for them almost twice a week. They really are a bunch of work for the small return I see. Especially when they find a bad spot in the fence and get loose. Then we have to go out with flashlights and whatever else and get them back in. My opinion is that we should get rid of the cows, grow more tobacco and have more money from that. I really don't like having livestock on the farm. I would much prefer to grow crops. We can always get more mexicans and be able to grow more tobacco. Especially if we don't have cattle inthe barns we already have.

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Mush mouth

I have gotten two calls the past two night where the callers have had to wonder what I am on. I have been hitting the sack by about 9:30 or so lately, and the calls come right before 11. I barely wake up during the calls and mumble my way through them. The first time I thought my alarm went off at 5 am and wondered why I was being called that early. It took me some time to realize that my phone woke me up and not my alarm. Last night was nearly the same case, but I had to have been just as incoherent on the other end. My brother might quit calling me that late if that keeps happening.

I have also been invited to be a known reader of a blog now. I am not sure how much I should read into the invite, but I better be sure to not wear out my welcome. I am probably on the wrong side of interested party/stalker as it is. I need to stay in the neutral, but still interesting side of things. I did do some catching up and must say that some things that I read are a bit disheartening. I would never make a girl drive to see me outside of her town on a first date. I would also welcome the chance to spend money on others and myself, especially if it gets me out of the house for an evening. Pretty much it is a bit hard to read the blog and not see myself being able to do the things that she is wanting and deliberating on. I think I chose my words carefully here, though I have misspoke before.

I also finally found an out of town friend that is willing to say yes to me. I have found someone that is willing to go to the buckeyes game with me on saturday. We are meeting in a neutral location and we both have things to do after the game, so I can't say that this lady friend and I are going on a date. But it is gonna be pretty cool to get to see her and take in a basketball game. I just need to find a grey #33 Diebler jersey that I have been wanting for a while now. That way I will have something to wear for all the buckeye sports that are cool to watch. I also want to make a poster board that says something about club trillion and the villian, but don't think i will have enough time.

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let there be heat

I have finally upgraded the heating system in my house. The two winters that I have lived here, I have had all electric heat. This keep the house reasonable, but my electric bill was as high as 500 dollars once or twice. I have now installed and am operating a propane heater in my house. It is mounted to the wall and is keeping the room it is in nice and warm. I now have to determine how to change the setting so that the electric furnace still runs and heats the entire house. I don't think the electric furnace has been on since I ignited the propane heater. I also have to see how much propane and how much it is going to cost me to run propane is going to bee. Ideally I would get an outdoor woodburning furnace, but have decided to hold off on that until I get some other debts paid off.

I also bought my first pair of asics running shoes tonight. Should be fun to see what all the hype is about. I looked at some of the results for the turkey trot I ran and wasn't all that far off from the front of the pack. The first place runner was only about 6 minutes ahead of me, and no one went under the 20 minute mark.

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day 1

Well today was day 1 of my p90x experiment. It took me some time to decide to call it an experiment. I'll see how it turns out in 90 days. I plan on not talking about this much, the next updates will be at 30, 60, and 90 days. I was going to put my before pictures up along with this post, but my internet has been haphazard all day long so I think I am going to knock off early and get to my bible reading.

I didn't think the workout I did today was terribly difficult. There were times that I couldn't keep up and my technique was not up to par. Some of the exercises were new to me, so I had to watch for a bit also. I still have enough energy for a treadmill run, but am going to put that off for a while.

Esther

I read a second book based on a woman in the Bible now. I actually enjoyed this book moreso than some of the other ones I read. It told a story and showed how people lived in those days. I keep thinking that those were hard times back then, but after reading about king xerxes lavish feast that lasted for such a long time, some of the people didn't have it so bad. It was a bit cool to see how the Jews are able to stand up for themselves when they know they have God on their side. Queen Esther must have been quite the beauty to have Xerxes that much at her will.

In other news, I will be reading the book of Job next. I might read it twice in a row from the excitement and good things I have heard about it. I don't want to miss any good parts either, so a double reading will be in order.

can't complain

I don't know what to say when people ask how my thanksgiving was. Are they expecting some grand description of who was there, what we ate and the topics of discussion? I generally say that I can't complain and that satisfies most people. I don't really like asking other people how their thanksgiving went, but feel that some of them just can't wait to talk about themselves. What is really the whole scene beyond gathering the family together for dinner? Are we supposed to accomplish something? I am content with seeing everyone and eating. My family may be a bit different though since I see my paternal side every day. We almost see too much of each other. I shouldn't complain though, some families and people would do almost anything to be like us.

This saturday was likely the most boring thanksgiving I have went to in a while. After I ate my meal, I sat on the couch and watched dirty jobs until college football and then Elf came on. After Elf was over, I went home. Two years ago, the best thanksgiving party occurred. I had a girlfriend, we played flip cup, drank two mini kegs of heineken, and played apples to apples until real late at night. This year I am sober, so I didn't bring any beer and the house was about as dull as can be.

Speaking of Elf, I watched that for the first time last night. The end of the movie made me a bit sad, I almost teared up.  Movies like that are great. I remember watching august rush and almost crying at the end also. I just need to think of some other movies that made me a bit sad at the end, albeit for sad or happy reasons.

I am also getting to be a bit discriminatory on pof. If I see a girl describe herself as non religious, I lose interest. It may also be wrong to do this, but I also don't much care for larger women. I am making the effort to get on the treadmill and lose weight and maintain some fitness. Why can't other people? This may be a bad thing to say though. I don't know a persons genetic background. I might be rejecting a person that has been that way since birth. Maybe they are happy that way and don't take issue with my lack of interest. This attitude might be costing me in terms of meeting the right person, but I don't think I am desperate enough to lower my standards yet. Some girls probably see my ugly mug and get turned off the same way.

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Nehemiah

Well I finished reading another book of the Bible. By the time I finished reading Nehemiah, I was kind of excited. I think it would have been pretty cool to be in Jerusalem at that time. The rebuilding and the enthusiasm that the builders and Israelites showed was pretty cool. I am kind of thrown off by the use of I in the Bible. It took me a bit of time to realize that the book was being written from that perspective. Most of what I had read up until that point was being wrote from the third person.

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Ezra

I have a couple of Biblical thoughts after reading Ezra in the Bible. I know that God decreed a temple be built in his honor, but the people seem a bit eager in my opinion. I can't decide why this seems to be the case. I think it may be that people were eager to please a God after during such a confusing and turbulent period. You had or wanted to be able to see that your God and His decisions were better than a neighbors beliefs. The temple might have been a type of status symbol. It was important to have so that you could begin to understand how great and glorious your God actually is. I am still not quite sold on it though. Such magnificence is not really necessary to be a believer. This issue is probably worked out later in the Bible, I have to keep the bigger picture in mind. I was going to write sentence or two out here about the whole marrying of other countries thing, but have now talked myself out of it.

I have another religious theme that I want to touch upon here. I have lightly considered the priesthood before. I remember once after I graduated high school and was still in limbo about what I was going to go to college for I listened to a sermon about serving God. I began to wonder if being a preacher was a good thing for me. I remember hearing similar sermons a time or two in the past since then. I am glad that I am in the place I am in now, but would consider being a catholic priest if I thought that was my calling. I had a priest once tell me he didn't start his path until he was in his mid twenties and working on his fathers farm also. I think I would enjoy such a vocation. I would get to sit and reflect on readings, share my thoughts with an audience and have a clear goal or ambition each day. The only downside would be the amount of training I would have to take to achieve that status. While that might not be all that much, I have already spent some time and effort on what I have achieved so far.

I also have the more fun of my families thanksgiving celebrations tonight. Should be more fun, but my aunts and uncles are really the ones that enjoy it. Hopefully I can sit and watch some good sports for most of the night. I am almost past this feast time and haven't put on much weight yet. With my workout routine as it is, I was up over 201 once again, but have done enough now to get myself back down to 198. Heres to eating reasonably and getting back to work once the fun is over.

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addtion by subtraction

Now that I have had some time to review what I need to do for the p90x program, I have come to some realizations. The first thing is that the diet is going to be the most difficult part of the program for me. I may eventually figure it out, but it seems a bit challenging at first glance. Its not that the food seems exotic or unusual, I am going to have to expand more energy and effort in preparing and planning my meals. I have also come to another realization. I am going to have to cut something out of my life for the next 90 days. Currently I can divide my activities into small segments of my day.
-blogging
-watching TV
-netflix movies
-jogging
-internet
-practicing banjo
-farming
-school/subbing
-grad school
-basketball games
-Bible reading
-other reading
-video games

After some thought, TV watching is going to have to be the first to go. I need at least 50 minutes each day to for p90x. I am not sure if I will still run on the treadmill or not once I get started. Reading is more of a leisure activity, as is blogging and internet. I can probably cut my internet time way down if I just try to spend less time on facebook. I am going to miss watching some of my favorite shows, but I can catch up pretty easy nowadays with the availability of season DVD's that are available everywhere DVD's are sold. So goodbye big bang theory, how I meet your mother, Glee, The office, Numbers, LOST, other shows I occasionaly watch.

I am also really getting into the band "rise against." I have had their thrash unreal song on my s50 for a long while now, and they have some other awesome singles out now. That song about what happens after two people who decide they aren't for each other and go different ways is really good.
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turkey trotter

This morning I ran another 5k. This was some type of thanksgiving day turkey trot in which the friends of the parks of wilmington benefited. I knocked about two minutes off of my time from my last 5k, finishing around 26:14. I only was passed by one person, right in the last part before the finish line. I think I finished 40th, I was given an index card with that number to fill out at the end of the race. I am not sure where I finished otherwise, I didn't think I did well enough to finish in the top two in my age group, and didn't really care to get any prize they wanted anyways. I'm sure the results will be posted online in a day or two, so I will double check then. The main thing was that I got another t-shirt, which is the best part about running local 5k's anyways. There was a pretty large crowd, the emcee said they had 159 pre register. I did get to see part of wilmington that I had never seen before. I never realized they had a park that close to the college. The worst part was when we ran by the duck pond. I had to be careful not to step in much duck shat.

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The blueprint

I have bought into the hype and read a book that I honest man would not admit to reading. Due to this and other books I have read, I have figured out how to write a story and sell it.
1. Make the protagonist and the setting as boring and dull as possible. This way you audience is teenagers who think their lives are dull and boring.
2. Put the protagonist in an unbelievable situation. The two books that I am drawing from have the protagonist buddying around with vampires or finding long lost clone/twins/sisters that had increasingly better mental powers.
3. The protagonist then should develop a close friendship or fall in love with at least one of the foils, by the end of the book.
4. Profit.

I am also annoyed now that I have read two books of the twilight series. For starters, why is it the twilight series if that only refers to the title of the first book? All of Herman Melville's books aren't called the Moby Dick series or saga. Also, the protagonist is a dipshit. She can't wait to dump her safe harbor, a good friend, that can protect her, and does want her, at a moments notice for someone who is willing to abandon her and his adopted family. What kind of message is this sending girls? Only be friends with boys when you have abandoned hope that someone who you thought is your soulmate jumps ship. I never see dating profiles where girls say they are looking for their soulmate. They always want to be friends first. Way to go Mrs. Meyers, guys everywhere are doomed. The book also sends the message that is okay to mope around and lie to your parents as much as possible. I will still read the other books, but find these faults to be funny.

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STATMAN

I am a statistician for my alma mata's high school girls basketball team. I agreed to do this when I was an employee there. My sister was playing and the guy that did it the year before got promoted to college track coach at kansas state or somewhere like that. My sister has since graduated, and I find myself still doing the job. I would like to complain, but I really do enjoy it. I get to leave the house at least twice a week to do it. I get to go to games and have something to do besides sit by myself and not talk to anyone. My dad helps me and most of the parents appreciate my effort. For some reason, the head coach has money to give for my work and I even get paid twenty dollars a game. I now have all the career stats of every varsity player he has coached on my laptop. I will probably keep doing this for some time now. I am almost good enough tot keep up with the whole game myself, but do need good 'ole dad there to be a second pair of eyes sometimes.

I also feel the need to talk about something else that I need to get on virtual paper. I feel very uncomfortable around the guy who replaced me at this school. I think it might be animosity, but that is wrong and I try to avoid such thinking. Its not his fault that I wasn't going to get renewed and have to find another job. I have never told anyone this or really realized this until some time after I wasn't working there. One day in class, the teachers aide came in for some of the slower learners for my lack of a better word. I only had such an aide one period of the day. At any rate, she sat down in her seat at the back and then quickly came up and asked me a question. I told her that "kid1" sat there and she said she needed to go to the office for something. Soon later "kid1" was called to the office and my aide was back in the classroom. I thought nothing of it at the time. I don't know if what happened next was the same day or not. I do remember my principal coming in during my 7th period planning and pointing out to me a burn spot on one of the tables. I also remember "kid1" not being in my class again. It is now obvious to me that "kid1" burnt the table, the spot was found by the aide next period, reported to the principal, investigated by the principal, and "kid1" might have been expelled. Now wonder I didn't get renewed, I was a bit of a liability if such a thing could happen in a chemistry lab room. So while I can't really fault them for not hiring me back, I just have to wonder what kind of things they told the new hire during his interview. I had an interview once there for the ag job, and some not nice things were said about the guy I might be replacing.

I also found some interesting stats on my wii fit channel today. I now have my BMI down to 26.21. At one point it was over 29. A BMI of 30 would have made me obese. I am making some progress. I have lost about 20 pounds in the last 11 months. I did get my wii fit age down to 25, but managed to be 38 after todays test. If I lose 12 more pounds, I will be in the normal catergory. I just wish I could thank a certain blogger for giving me a good reason to cut back my drinking so I thought I could have a chance with a decent woman. It was only about a month after I read those wants in a man that my mom and grandma noticed that I was starting to lose weight. I wasn't even exercising then, just not drinking at all. Of course, now I have increased my fitness level, but I am doing that more for myself. I was really a slob and not enjoying much of anything I found to do. I do like running and the challenge it gives me.

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camel

I am practically a camel. When I have lunch or dinner, I drink as much as I can. There have been several times at my parents when I have drank a whole gallon of kool-aid at lunch. I drink glass after glass of water and lemonade at my grandparents during dinner. When we go to a restaurant, I usually drink at least three glasses of pop, maybe more if the service is good. Unfortunately, this also applied to beer when I didn't want to stay sober.

I think my fear is that I don't know when I will get my next round of thirst quenched if I am not safely in my house. During the summer this is rational, as we may work from 1-9 in the evening with very few if any water breaks. I have to stock up with as much as I can when I can. During the winter this is not as logical, but I still drink as much fluid as I can.

I am also now doomed. I might as well channel my inner dennis leary and learn to play "lifes gonna suck" on my banjo.

2 chronicles

Well I finally got around to reading another book of the Bible. For most of the chapter, I kept thinking that I had already read this part, but didn't really think that I had until I got to the end and saw a name that I was sure I knew. I did remember some things I wanted to say here. Were there really male prostitutes in those times? What do they mean by "high places?" Is that just a hill, or did they go up on a mountain? How were peoples so influenced by false idols? They seem very reactive to signs, but those other false gods seemed to gain ground very quickly at times. I had another question that I was going to put on here, but couldn't think of it in the time it took me to blog this post.

I am hoping to run in another 5k thanksgiving morning. I was considering one in cincinnati that starts and ends in paul brown stadium. But then I read this morning that about 6000 people might run that. I would like to go, but don't really want to put up with such a large crowd. I may go to a 5k in wilmington that is to benefit the parks or something or another. That might be a smaller crowd and I could get home sooner to gorge myself on thanksgiving items. The only hitch will be whether or not dad and grandpa will want to work. I like to get out and be active, but would feel bad about ditching them when they are working.

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hardcore gamer

I like to consider myself a bit of a video game enthusiast. One of the current arguments about video games is that nintendo is catering to a non hardcore audience and that they should be making more mature games for the consumer. I don't know about this. Most of the mature theme games are about war or a nuclear fallout shelter. Those games don't really appeal to me. I like to play games of things that I wouldn't necessarily be able to do in real life. Most mario theme games fall into this catergory. I have mario kart, super mario galaxy, super smash brothers, and other nintendo brand games. I don't have any sports games. Well, wii sports resort might count, but I don't really play any of the sports I could actually go out and do.

Sega has made an attempt to make some hardcore games for the wii audience. I have bought all three of them at this point. House of the dead may be the most fun, but it is has the worst language. Madworld was an okay game, but not really as much fun as advertised. The conduit was an excellent game, the language is very tame compared to the first two. The Conduit might be my favorite of the three, but I haven't played it enough yet to beat it. Sega did make some good games, but I don't know if they had the sales they were looking for.

Also my mexicans are a fueding. Elstaquio is much slower at stripping tobacco than what the fast guy is used to. We have it arranged so that they are paid by the pound. This works out well, since they get paid more for working more efficiently. This usually amounts to them splitting the days work in fourths. They have found out, or at least think that two of them can strip enough in a day to make more than what they make as a larger group. It is like would having a half a pie to yourself or a quarter pie to yourself. Anyways, the newest guy is what amounts to being old, slow and tired. I told them they need to work out some arrangement between themselves. I also told them that they both had the chance to get someone else over to work. Both of their leads didn't turn out and we got a very old, very short man instead. They are also severely aggravated because that my dad has now decreed that they are not working on sundays. This means that the one guy is now taking two days off every week, and the rest have to sit around and see a pile of tobacco they could be making money off of. I am a bit concerned this is going to cause some trouble for me. They have two months two finish all the rest of our tobacco, and I am not sure they will get it done. This means I will have to do it. I do feel bad about the forced day off thing. They make enough in a good days work here to last a week in mexico.

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skinny jeans

I have now lost enough weight that I fit my skinny jeans. My wii fit scale says I am down to 198, so the progress is happening. I had two pairs of jeans that I used to wear when I went to nyoh's and tried to boot scoot boogy. I got okay and line dancing, but really only learned how to imitate the moves that my lady friends were doing. I wasn't able to commit any routines to memory.

They were boot cut straight leg jeans. I was able to wear them even when I was up to 240, but the one pair was really tight around the waist. I now comfortably fit them. The one pair was a 34 waist, and I when I wore them the other night, I needed a belt to keep them up and right the whole night. I wore the other pair tonight and they had a 32 waist. They were a bit tighter, but not as much as they used to be. The only thing I really don't like about either of the jeans is that they are button fly. When I bought them I neglected to look at the fly area and realized when I got home that they were button fly. This really got to be an annoyance when I was drinking and had to piss every 30 minutes or so. They are my only hollister and ralph lauren jeans though. I bought the ralph lauren jeans because they were named after the founder of my ag fraternity, townshend. I bought the hollister jeans because I wanted a pair that wasn't button fly, then forgot to look and seen that I had been had when I got home.

The date went well tonight. We sat and ate and talked for about an hour and twenty minutes. She was a nice girl, but I don't know if I will attempt or pursue a romantic relationship. Didn't quite get that from tonight, but how much can I really learn from a single date?

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a threshold

Tonight I am venturing into new territory. I have made acquaintance with someone due to an online dating site and am venturing out to meet her and have dinner. The girl seems very nice and normal enough. At this point, the only way to decide or see what more we have in common is to meet and talk. We have exchanged enough emails and had enough phone conversations that a person to person date was the next thing to do. We never can know if we have enough in common or not without setting down and talking to each other. Who am I to refuse someone that would like to meet me?

For whatever reason I am not very apprehensive about going to someplace strange and meeting someone new. These type of activities don't much worry me. I am not much of a worrywart anyways. I could see where the risk or caution would come from, but those concerns don't bother me. I kind of enjoy getting out there and seeing how things go.

I have now been tasked with a tough question twice. I am not real sure how to answer, because of the ambiguity behind what you consider meet. I have been asked if I have ever meet someone from a dating site. I am not sure if I should answer yes or no to this. I did meet or come to know someone that I didn't know had an online status of profile. I knew who they were once I saw the profile, but had never said much of a word to her before then. Thats what happens when you are dating someone and then are not dating someone I suppose. You start paying more attention to the other people around you. I am not sure if this means I have meet someone from a dating site or not. I would hate to say no, then get found out later as being less than truthful, say I have said that I have meet someone else from a dating site.

I am also in new territory because of a goal that I set for myself. I had hoped to get a years worth of posts here on my blog before announcing to family and friends that I was keeping a blog. This is post 183, and I am now a touch past halfway there. I don't know if I will still publicize my blogging status or not. I did once read that you can order a book of your blog, and will consider that as a cool option for the future.

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mirror lake jumper inner

One of the greatest college traditions is happening tonight. The mirror lake jump is happening at ohio state. I have one pretty good story about the event. My freshman year of college I was at sscc, so I didn't jump. My sophomore year of college, I was living in the dorms, but didn't go. My roommates were not all that much fun, so we just kind of stayed in and heard other people talk about it. My junior year, I had an afro and went and dove in and had a great laugh. The northwood guys, by which I mean vegasbob, nasamatt, scatterbrain, hellboy, and CPAterry, stole a grocery cart from giant eagle or somewhere. So we got good and liquored up and carted in the lake jackass style. It was glorious. I did nearly lose my glasses, and got my afro wet. I literally was swinging my hands around in the water when they fell in them before sinking to the bottom. It was a very close call. The next day me and vegasbob went to cleveland to catch a cavs game then drove to ann arbor on saturday to tailgate at the michigan game. Then we went to canada and drank because the rest of the crew wasn't yet 21 at the time. My senior year I was done student teaching but had moved back home until the start of winter quarter and didn't go. My second senior year I had a girlfriend and was a bit sick so I just went and watched. All good times.

I have begun to ponder what the phrase "you meet decent people in decent places." I always took this to mean that a good quality person was not going to be somewhere after eleven at night. Decent places for me would mean church activities, festivals that only happen during the day, an outdoor concert. You know, things that don't require alcohol to attend. I am still debating if this applies to the internet dating scenario. Many people on there are good, faith based people. Some of them may be people that you wouldn't normally associate with. If I want to meet a good person outside of the internet medium, I would be going to church, or being seen in public at sporting events. I don't consider a bar a good option to meet people. My agenda when I go to a bar is to keep drinking as much as I can. This is why I avoid bars as much as possible now. I'm not gonna meet someone there and hold a conversation with them. I am going to drink and regret it the next day. I haven't been to a bar since the end of august and don't really miss it. If it wasn't for my brother and his 21st birthday, I wouldn't have been to a bar since last spring when scatterbrain told me they were going on a bar crawl in the german village in c-vegas. We only went to two bars.

working for the weekend

Well I managed to aggravate a friend last night. I had been making some comments in casual conversation that finally got to my friend and I got to hear about it. The worst part for me was that I made someone angry. I spent half the night with a queasy stomach wondering how I did that.

I had noticed that this friend was generally looking forward to being done with their job for the day, or looking forward to the weekend to be more exact. Said friend was interpreting my remarks as an indicator of their work satisfaction. I am sure that the friend does enjoy their job. From what I have gathered, said person simply enjoys what they have planned after the paid job as much as the paid job. Maybe they are putting up their weekend countdowns as a way to remind themselves of what they also enjoy. At any rate, I misspoke in such a way that finally got them riled up. I will have to be more cautious about what I say in the future. The boiling point was when I suggested that their life might mirror a sitcom characters. In this sitcom, the woman character suggested to her cohort that she was done dating for a while and was only going to be concerned about her job. Her male friends scoffed at this and gave examples of other people who said the same thing and were married six months later. My friend interpreted this and things I have said in the past as them not caring about their job. This was not my goal, but I will have to stick to more generic, safe, items in the future.

I enjoyed my job when I had it and there was some times that I was anxious about being in a classroom. I do miss getting to interact with the students. Being a sub is not the same thing. The students know that I can't be trusted to teach them what their regular teacher wants known. My best bet it to present what was left for me and act as dumb as possible for the rest of class. When I was a full time teacher, I had the students attention much more than I do as a sub. It was pretty cool to have a group of people depend on me for an interpretation of their textbook.

The weekend or end of day assumption was a fault of mine. When I grew up, the weekends were not all that different from the weekdays. I rarely looked forward to a day of rest on the weekend. Or getting to do something special because it was the weekend. Sundays were rarely cased or planned as a day of rest. Sure, during the school year we had our religion classes in the morning, but as soon as we got home it was back to business as usual. When I got my one and still only full time work away from my family, a weekend wasn't that special. I would still have just as much work to do on the weekend as any other day of the week. If and when I got all the farm work done, I would do my planning. There were several weeks that I did no planning at all until late sunday or early monday morning.

One time I was tasked with a tough question by my superintendent. For whatever reason or technique of his, he gave me an ultimatum. I was asked if I did want to teach science or ag. Because of my ag degree, he might have decided that I was slouching on my science teaching as an indicator of my work desire. Anyways he told me that if I wanted to be an ag teacher, I would be taken out of my current classroom and work the remaining duration of my contract as a tutor or something else. I told him that I wanted to be a science teacher. Currently I would take a job as an ag teacher, but would use that as a stepping stone to a science education position. Sometimes jobs are posted internally first and I may have to work as one to get the other. A science teaching position is much more stable. There is no future in teaching ag. Schools are looking for ways to cut money, and ag programs are going to be gone in my lifetime. That program is not necessary for a high school diploma and will be out of the picture if need be. The schools will lose many students to the career centers, but if they were concerned about student retention, they wouldn't allow the PSO program.

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profile profiler

I was thinking today about some of the dating profiles I come across. I find that many girls seem to love the city life and can't wait to run down where they are at and say someplace is boring or dull. I like where I live and list my town as. Sure, I get a chuckle out of listing a very discreet town, but like being in such a unpopulated place. I get to come and relax in the evenings without having to plan any more of my day. In college, sometimes as soon as I got back from class, I was out the door doing some non resting activity. Now that I am home, I get to rest and get to bed when I want to. To much activity was not a good thing for me. I just don't see the appeal of full time city living. Sure the dating pool may be larger and more convenient, but the hassle of constant opportunity and distractions are too much for me. I much prefer the settling in for the evening now. The weekends I usually would like to get out, but with my occupation I can't always plan that far ahead.

I also find it funny that almost every girl says they are willing to dress up to go out and also dress down and stay in for a home movie. Many girls also say they don't want cheaters or any number of bad qualities imaginable. While I am not claiming to not be those things in my profile, I don't think I am those things. Its such a paradox for the profiles I see on there, they want so much but are willing to be so unresponsive towards messages. Its as if they know that a person is going to treat them wrong before giving a person a chance.

I usually try to read a profile and think of something clever that shows that I read their profile. I went on a forum and read a whole thread about the pros and cons of doing so. On the pro side, if girls might like that you took the time to read their profile and may have found my message interesting. On the con side, if they aren't interested, it doesn't matter what I say in a clever letter, they aren't responding.

I also ordered my copy of p90x tonight. I will soon have my hunky farmer physique. Now I just have to find my buxom teacher that fb said would be a good match for me.

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third time not the charm

I saw that a friend made it down on the field after the ohio state win on saturday. I had the option of rushing the field and taking in all the glory, but did not for a couple of reasons. First, my sister had to get going so that she could go to the bathroom. She made the mistake of not going to the bathroom before going to the game. She was really aggravated when the game went into overtime. I had also already made my way to on the field twice. The first time was when Ohio State finished their undefeated season back in 2002, and got to go to the Fiesta Bowl and put a hurting on miami of florida. I was on the field and heading towards the goal post when the cops had enough and let the pepper spray loose. There was a crowd up on the goal post in the south end zone, and I didn't want any more trouble so I headed back to the dorms. I ended up living with Zito, who was one of the identified rioters, the next year when we moved in the place on oakland. The second time I was on the field celebrating a OSU big ten championship was in 2006 when they beat michigan 42-39. The game was hyped up and deserved all the attention it received. I was on the field for a while. I eventually got off the field. I did find a cell phone on the field, but handed it over to an officer and went on my way. On the sportscenter footage we later seen the accountant rushing the field and waving around his goofy arms. Good times. This big ten win did not seem as triumphant as the other two opportunities that I was witness too.

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say it aint so

I think God might be a michigan fan. I have put up two flag pole holders on my front porch, and both of them have blown down. My Ohio State theme flag has been broken twice by excessive wind. I see a pattern there.

I am also confused about something I seen yesterday. After one of my blog posts, I decided that I needed to put up a pro OSU facebook message every saturday. Between all of my friends, I was usually the only one that had such a message up. This was fun at times, it gave some of my friends a chance to show that they are for the buckeyes without committing to the larger audience of their social network. However, yesterday when I got back, I was surprised at all of the buckeye theme messages. Some of the people I hadn't seen say anything positive about the buckeyes since before the USC game, suddenly were on the bandwagon. Now that they knew the bucks were going to be a BCS contender, they were willing to publicly announce their fandom. Maybe I just need to spend less time Fbooking.

I also now have a cat on a probationary period. Since the field behind my house has been combined, the field mice have migrated in. This new type is apparently to clever for mouse traps, so I have moved in a cat for two weeks at the most. Right now the cat is hiding behind the couch, but will get out and move around some when he gets hungry enough.

The church service was good today. I am now bringing a crowd with me, me and three of our mexicans. I did get to sit by a decent looking girl today. She moved in next to an older lady after the mass was about half over. She wasn't wearing a ring and had her own set of car keys, so she probably was in my age range. I just wonder how old I look to people. I have had high schoolers tell me I look like I am just out of college. I was taking a spanish class at OSU my last undergrad quarter, and no one in the class believed that I was 23. In another sign of bad news, bobby hill was complimenting me saying that I am skinny now. I told him he was a homo and that I still weighed 200 pounds.

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seven nation army

Well today I made it to last home football game Ohio States 2009 season. The crowd was good, and the buckeyes got their win and a guaranteed share of the big ten title. I do have a complaint though. The white stripes song "seven nation army" is being used in a way I don't like. I do like the song, and think it is a good rocking out, head banging song. However, when the song is played at the shoe, the fans do this chant that doesn't match up with the beat of the song. The chant is actually better on its own, and the song is awesome on its own. However, together I don't think it is a good combination. Maybe the stadium or fan base can work on my complaint during the non football season.

I ended up taking my younger sister with me. That made some extra driving for me, but she did buy my meals today. She did manage to leave her only bank card at my brothers room. Scatterbrain told me he was gonna spend to day with his cousin, and I didn't bother any of the girls I know that still live in columbus. I am trying to think of a way to pique some of their attention.

I did see nasamatt after the game. He decided to stop and see my brother and talk some hunting. For some reason he liked to poke fun at my weight loss. I am pretty proud that I have lost 40 pounds in about  3 years. I was only about 219 more or less this time last year, but still more than I should have been. I kind of felt bad for the guy though. He has a good looking girlfriend, and manages to drink about a dozen beers during the game in her company. She stayed sober on purpose. I don't know what to think. A girlfriend that would watch a football game with me would be great. Not having anything better to do than drink several beers around her would not be very good. What kind of relationship do they have where they come to columbus and drink on the weekends? Can't a couple plan on doing any more than going to a bar? I may be a bit of a old timer in attitude now, but are they really gonna spend an entire evening in a bar waiting to be seen by someone? I couldn't wait to get back home so I could watch snl and read up on the days news. I think columbus is a fun place, but to much of anyones focus is drinking alcohol. If I went there with a girlfriend again, I would try to avoid bars. Nasamatt seemed kind of disappointed that I had to leave early, but I can't wake up and get going with a hangover like I used to. I kind of think he just wanted me around to have a drinking buddy, but I had to get my sister back home so she could work in the morning. We use to be good drinking buddies, but tonight was not the night for a return. I did break my sobriety by drinking three Busch lights before the game, but I feel pretty good about my restraint towards alcohol consumptions. Six beers in about 10 weeks is not bad at all.

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Reasons Lists

I recently read three different list over on my favorite spirtual website. This site doesn't really condemn or condone some behaviors that are done by christians and non christians. It does talk about topics that I wouldn't hear from a preacher or even a local church leader. If I ever come to have some position of influence in my church community, I am going to recommend this site to my audience.

Anyways, two of the lists were about cons of dating christians and pros of dating christians. I have read the eight reasons between the two lists and feel pretty good about what is said. I may be in practice of some of the reasons. One of the main points is that christians are eager to advance in their life as God outlined for them in the Bible and do push some of the issues at times. This may be a good thing between two eager and like minded individuals. The problem is finding the person that is willing and ready to commit in a way that satisfies both parties.

The other list was about some of the things that teachers have done to disenfranchise their students. Some of the horror stories that happened have occurred in my student era. I read the list and realized that there are some things that I would need to change if and when I am able to get a full time job. One item that struck me was incompetent teachers who don't prepare and have poor classroom management. Those were my main issues in my tenure. I made poor lesson plans. I was afraid to take a day off, because I would have to make excellent plans that a sub could achieve. That seemed like more work than having a day off was worth. I did get better at making and writing plans by the end of the year, but it had more to do with my principal and superintendent requiring them every monday. I also really lacked classroom management. I generally let things go until I decided they had to be sent away. I never gave one detention in my one year of full time employment. My principal noticed this and called me out on it. I have the philosophy that students in the age group I had are curious and should get some leeway in their questions and interest. Many students take chemistry because it seems like the thing to do. After a while, they realize what work they had to do and gave up on some of the harder concepts. This wasn't really any fault of mine or the students. I should have been more authoritative, but in retrospect the administration knew I was going to be there for one year and knew who they were gonna hire after I was gone before they hired me. There wasn't much I could have done in that year to improve my standing anyways.

In other news, I may move in a house cat here soon. The mice are not falling for my peanut butter/mousetrap combination. I keep seeing mice run along the floorboards and its starting to creep me out. Maybe I can borrow one of my parents house cats for a month or so and see how satisfied I am.

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The Gayness

In reflection of yesterdays post, I realized how much I dislike soccer. All of my brothers and sisters played soccer and thought they were glorious all stars. I look at soccer and see a game where about one or two people are actively moving or running. Everyone else is just standing around waiting for the action to come to them. How is that such a great time? Even when a person is on the field, they can spend most of it standing around and doing very little. They also have half times, which are a reason to laze around for however long half time is. Not in a race. You run as fast as you can until you finish. Its you against the clock.

Because of my dissatisfaction with soccer, I had to come up with a stance that allowed me to hate on soccer and be in support of my sport, cross country. I came up with a distinguishment between game and sport. In order for something to be a true sport, you can't play that activity. This meant that the only real sports were track &field, and cross country. All other so called activities were therefore things that were played, and not really a sport. I compared them to a board game at this point. I had to include basketball in this category. This was worth it though. I got to laugh at my brothers and sisters for thinking soccer was the greatest thing around.

This is part of the problem with our soccer as a whole. I want to see a competitive game where the action is really back and forth. Soccer games are very low scoring and can end in ties. What kind of game is there where a tie is a satisfactory end to a contest? That is hardly what anyone wants to see. How is that type of game enjoyable?

Running and cross country are so much better. Everyone is competing to do their best. You are racing against the guy ahead of you. You determine your level of success. Don't want to try as hard? You lose. Didn't do as well as you had hoped? You have yourself to blame. Try harder. Train more. Learn how to perform better. If a soccer team has a bad game, to much of the blame can be on any of the 11 players on the field at any time.

This post came across as a rambling mess. I very much dislike soccer and think the only true sport is something you don't play.

I tried watching observe and report tonight, but it was very unfocused and not as funny as I hoped it would be. Some of Seth Rogens movies I like, but some of them are not that great. This was one of the not so great ones that I didn't much care for.

College athletes

I have a sister that is a college athlete. She plays basketball for a non scholarship team that is around here. Last winter she was a freshman and started most all the games by the end of the season. Her team finished third in some national tournament and had a pretty successful season. They beat plenty of teams that had players on the roster that were on scholarship. She really had all kinds of fun playing, and is playing again this year. She might play all four years, but the nursing program gets a lot tougher after the second year and she might quit to focus more on her studies after this season.

My other sister was going to be a college athlete also. She considered herself a good soccer player in high school and got herself a tryout on the onu soccer team. However, they wanted her to arrive on campus two weeks early for conditioning. She wasn't going to have any of that, so she quit. One time that summer she borrowed my stopwatch so she could do a training mile run. I started it for her, and she brought it back after five minutes. It was still running. She thought she could play soccer at a higher level and couldn't run for more than 5 minutes straight. Needless to say, she didn't tryout and played on club teams for her fix. She even played on a club basketball team up there and was the tallest player on her team. She is only about 5'5".

My dad is really glad that my youngest sister is playing basketball. Besides the fact that he gets to go watch a bunch of basketball games, he thinks it helps the girl stay in school. My younger sister was ready to quit after her sophomore year for a couple of reasons. She lived alone that year and became really lonely. In high school she played all kinds of sports and always had a friend around. She came to miss that in college and was ready to move to UC and start school. Her now husband and my dad talked her into staying and things turned out well. She did find some good friends to live with for the other four years of her college career. My dad is of the opinion that girls need a support group to get them through school. My younger sister playing basketball gives her this group so she is happy.

My youngest brother claims that some schools talked to him about playing soccer, but he doesn't always tell the whole truth.

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I Chronicles

I finally finished the next book in my bible reading odyssey. I realize that chronicles means retelling or a list of things that happened in the past. This is pretty much what I got out of the book. I was a bit confused at times though. With my relative inexperience, I found it difficult to remember what had and hadn't happened. I would read about King David and Solomon and had to wonder if I was reading new material or not. I did get a bit of a chill reading this book. Satan was mentioned for the first time in the book and it kind of gave me a chill. I know that Satan is bad news and all, but nothing very extreme happened due to his mention.

And yes, I do know that I need to think about the big picture. And yes, I know that the book of Jobs is coming up soon enough. I will get to it eventually. I decided that I was going to read the Bible in order and will start picking and choosing after I get the entirety of the Old Testament read.

In other news, we should finish all the bean fields here in the next two or three days. We have just over a hundred acres left, so that is good news.

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Dorm days

I lived in the dorms at Ohio State for one school year. I lived in the dorms with my cousin, Fresh. He was concerned that he wouldn't know anyone up there, so we signed a paper and got the dorm rooming people to put us together. This kind of screwed our other two roommates. LeFever was likely matched up with me based on my rooming survey answers. Thom was likely matched up with Fresh based on his answers. I got along with all of them, but Thom was a city boy and didn't much care for any of LeFever personality. LeFever ended up going home and studying every weekend. He was a little more motivated than the rest of us and wanted to be a veterinarian. So I perceived any disgruntledness to really be mine and Fresh's fault. If we hadn't decided to become roommates, we would have been matched up with a roomful of people who fit our personalities a little better.

At any rate, I alluded to a problem a couple of posts ago and here is where I am going to talk about it. Fresh started college as a freshman with a girlfriend who was a college junior. By the end of the fall quarter, he had broken up with her for good. By the end of the winter quarter he was heavily drinking whiskey every night. He finally decided that the hangovers weren't worth the effort, but wanted some escape from reality. He tried weed and that was what he wanted. The hangover wasn't there, and he felt better about his lot in life at that point. By the time the next fall came around, Fresh, Thom, and me had moved into an off campus house with Zito, he was smoking everyday. Zito also became a smoking buddy. I went to brazil for a study abroad winter quarter. That spring Fresh decided that he was going to grow his own stock. So by the end of the spring quarter, the whole house smelled like that and I couldn't wait to get out. I was 21 by the start of that school year, so I didn't need another vice beside alcohol at any time.

By the time my senior year came around, I knew I didn't really want to live with that group of guys. Fresh failed out of OSU and moved to cincy to try and get a degree. I student taught that fall and didn't need a place in columbus. Winter quarter I lived with nasamatt, vegasbob, and scatterbrain. One of their roommates was interning in NYC somewhere. Spring quarter I lived in an apartment at lane and high with a friend. Then my 2nd senior year I lived with nasamatt and scatterbrain in a house on northwood.

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