The Thoughts of a Distracted Blogger

Well if you have made your way to my blog (past my sisters) I am impressed because my niece is one cute baby, but if you are looking for some of that ushy gooshy crap you’re going to be disappointed. Don’t get me wrong… I love her to death but that’s Jessica’s thunder and who am I to steal it. So if you are interested in my thoughts there are a lot of them so brace yourself. An insane amount of greatness has happened to me since I spilled on this blog so I am going to try and cover at least most of it.
Washington D.C. - So Dad totally hooked me up on this trip. It was a blast. I don t even really know where to begin but I guess I will try to explain it from my eyes. Okay the thing about the city itself was the subway system. I mean it is really like a little city down there. For a guy from West Texas where the mass transit system is a tractor with a trailer, that was pretty amazing. I am really not that patriotic of a person but being there really stirs up some pride. I don’t care who you voted for last year or what you think of your congressman, when you see those huge white pillars and all the great history commemorated there, you would have to have broken not to get all worked up. It was really interesting that dad and I spent most of the time we were walking around in silence. It’s so breath taking that it feels like words are inappropriate. My favorite day was the day we went and saw the cemetery and the Iwa Jima Monument. The Arlington Cemetery really makes you feel like you take advantage of that freedom you enjoy. The words “Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue” (in gold on the Iwa Jima monument) shoots chills through my spine when I think about everything our country has been through. The whole trip was just amazing. I enjoyed every minute. Great father-son bonding time before father became grand-father.
Baby Cate – I have a gorgeous niece….. Look out there is a new Uncle Bubba in town.
Another Semester Down- I have successfully completed my lower level curriculum at Texas Tech University. That’s right folks I am now half educated. That’s right 66 hours and 12 grand into it and I can get half a feeling of accomplishment. It was close there at the end….. Serious burn out there at the end.
And all the rest- new roommates, tax refund, dominating at risk (that’s right… I conquered the world with no mercy) new friends at school. Pure madness all around me as my friends from high school get engaged and married. Life is good.
And I have to add one complaint to make… AT&T. Now didn’t they get split up about 10 years ago... for monopoly…. Oh but wait there is a new word for it now isn’t there… bundle package. This company has to be the single most frustrating thing I have dealt with since… well… my ex girlfriend….Gah they are ridiculous… I went in there about a week ago and got all the stuff I needed to get high speed internet. They tell me that there will be a person at the house between 8 and 12. I assume (my fault) that they want me present for this because they have every other time they were coming out here. So I take off work and sit at the house for 4 hours only to have no one come out. Okay I’m still okay at this point. I call them and they say that I don’t need someone to come out…. I should just be able to plug it in and go. Now I’m getting a little mad. So I plug it in and go through this painful install process for an hour only to find that I have no DSL signal….Okay now I pissed. I call them up and they tell me that my account is pending until 8pm so I should try after that. Like the stars were going to align and shoot the internet into my house like some weird sci-fi movie. But I humor them and go eat supper with Jess and Cory and try to cool off. At 10 pm it still doesn’t work after another attempt to install it myself. So I call them up and I did well. I kept my cool. She told me that I was going to have to call AND HAVE SOMEONE COME OUT AND WORK ON IT. Sound familiar? Wasn’t that what was supposed to happen during that 4 hour period. But get this… The order center is closed until Monday so I had to wait till then to call them and put in an order. Yah… that poor soul I talked to Monday afternoon….. she had no clue what was coming. I totally lost my cool on that poor woman. I am ashamed to say it but I took my frustration out on her…. I felt bad until she just transferred me to another department… and another… and another until it wasn’t even worth getting into it. So I am posting this from the parking lot of a Best Western. (burn in hell AT&T) Hope you enjoyed it….

You May All Go to Hell..... I'm Going to Mexico

I could have titled this one of several things... The Fever, Mexico or Crazy, Mexican Holiday, among other things. As I looked at pictures of my little slice of paradise on Jessica's TV a couple of days ago, this craze came over me. I have the image of crystal clear water lapping up on white sand etched into my mind. You know that kind of feeling where you can close your eyes and almost feel that coastal wind on your face and smell that ocean air. Palm trees rise up out of the floor around you and that nasty rocker your sitting in becomes a yellow hammock hung from the balcony behind the beach bar at Xpu Ha. All the hectic mess washes away as you find pease in the sound of the surf. That small group of indeviduals (or even that one person) that you want to be there can be found in the hammocks around you. Your postcard-like surroundings make you once again wonder why the hell you would ever go home. You reach for that drink in a coconut sitting on the table next to you. As the cold drink hits your tongue BAM! What is supposed to be a cold citrus beverage turns out to be nasty Lubbock tap water. Just like that you are in your lonely house hundreds of miles away from anything remotely close to that tropical heaven. I know my writing skills are not quite to the caliber to where i can take you there as easily as i can get there. But either way... yes its official, i need a beach. And if you need one too... Close your eyes and come with me... cuz im goin back now.

New Colors And Picture

Got tired of doing homework today so I did a little redecorating. Oh and look at my awesome new picture.... Professionally done.

Thanks Cory and Jess for taking those they look amazing!!!

A Stroke of Bad Luck

Those of you that are close to me know what all is going on with me but for anyone who is out of the loop...you might want to go to the next reading because this is going to be my own personal pity party. And yes, i am fully aware of the fact that in a time where thousands of people are getting laid off and going without, that I really have no room to complain about anything. But that is what makes this country so great, we can whine even when we don't have it bad at all. So here goes. About two weeks ago my great adventure started. I was on my way home from Micah's house (a little outside of town) when this dog ran out in front of me and I hit it. My immediate feelings about the incident were of sadness for killing one man's best friend. Then i realized that this was one of a pack of about 10 puppies that an owner lets run free. I am not the first to have the problem of hitting one apparently. And this little dog did about $1000 worth of damage to the front end of my car. Anyway i told you all that to let you know that my car is in the shop so i am driving around Poppa's jeep. Not a big deal if its only a couple of days but on Monday i found out that my car still wasn't ready due to a hose that my repair man is having a hard time getting a hold of. So prolly another week of fun in the jeep. The jeep is great except that its a little loud on the road... the radio cuts in and out... and it doesn't exactly stop as quickly as my car. (see where I'm going with this). So Tuesday i was leavin work to go to Lacey's ball game when i hit a bump in the road and the radio shut off. I looked down to push a button on it and by the time i looked up... it was too late. BAM! right into the back of a white Oldsmobile Intrigue. I'm fine, the other guy is fine, It just really sucks. And then yesterday my roommate informed me that he is moving home and I get to fine 2 new ones now. So all this is happening during my first set of tests here on campus. Yes, Its been a bad week. I hope it gets better. I am sorry to those of you that I have offended because even as I type this I can think of some people whose entire year has been pretty much hell. Anyway in the mean time, if you know someone lookin for a place to live here in town, let me know...

Don't You People Sleep?

Okay... first things first, sorry for my disappearance on this thing...it's been an insane month or two... for those of you who are wondering... yes i am feeling much better, not on top of my game but much much better. Anyway so over the past two months I have had the pleasure of encountering many things that have made me laugh.
To begin with, I don't understand what it is about college kids but we seem to wear around our lack of sleep like some medallion that qualifies us as students. Okay good example... its Friday morning and my first class is at nine in the morning. Its all group work. A girl in my group sits down beside me and the first thing she feels compelled to tell her friend is that she didn't go to sleep until six in the morning. Now... whether this is true or not is irrelevant. The fact that she prides herself on the fact that she can go on 2 hours of sleep is what gets me. I mean geez... don't you people sleep? Dont get me wrong i do it too but its usually like me tellin my buddies that i am beat cuz i was up doin homework till 2 a.m.... After this they look at me and tell me that's nothing and that i got way too much sleep. Apparently I'm not qualified to attend classes here on account of the fact that i pretty much need a solid 7 or 8 hours of sleep to function well.
Okay moving on to my second college rant. I know everyone has heard this one a hundred times (possible once or twice from me) but i gotta get this one out. TEXT BOOKS ARE WAY OVER PRICED. I mean really... I spent $700 on books alone this semester. As much as tuition runs these days i should be getting these things for free. And the common thought process would be that e-books and Internet curriculum would make this easier on the student but that's no the truth either. A lot of books now come with an e-class portion that you are supposed to get into. You have to have a code to get into the class and unfortunately that code only comes shrink wrapped with the new version of the book. So now for my accounting class... instead of buying the $110 version of the book i got to fork over $220 for the new Binder Ready edition that has the code with it that my teacher decided to make an optional addition after i had unwrapped the book. Ugh... oh well.
Anyway moving on... two historical things are already happening this year that i thought i would never see. It is amazing how our world is ready for this to happen. I know what you're thinking... The Cardinals going to the Super Bowl isnt that big of a deal but i guarantee you i would have never thought i would see it happen in my life time. I mean there was a time where you could see the Cardinals play on TV if you wanted to. Now we are talkin big time. Oh yeah, and we have a black president, which is pretty exciting too. If he's half as good at leading as he is at public speaking... its going to be a good 4 years for America.
Okay well that's all I have for now... I'll try and get something else worked up soon and get back into this. Anyway thanks for reading.