The Life and Times of Alann

The move

2010-09-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

So for those who don't know we have moved from Ut and now live in Mo. We moved to Ut for me to go to school, we had planned on being there for 5yrs but through some hard work, luck and no summer vacation we were able to do 2 degrees in 4 yrs and finish early. Now all I have to do is get a job and start making money. The move out here was definitely no picnic, i won't go into too many details (if you want a longer story check out Becca's blog), but it suffices to say that it was very long and painful.

Some of the high lights include me sleeping on a pile of boxes the last night in Ut, because we packed the blow up beds, the truck radiator breaking down within the first 2 hrs of moving and a rainstorm at the end of the trip that I decided to pull over and sleep through because the truck was making an odd noise and it was 12:30 at night. The rest of the trip went as I expected it would with 2 kids, lots of pulling over and rest breaks. I was actually in another vehicle than the kids, but because they had to stop so often I was usually in front even though i was moving slower, so I can guess how it was going in the van.

It is good to finally be done moving and now we just have to unpack everything and settle into a our new lives. Internet access time is kinda limited right now because i am way busy trying to unpack and look for a job, but I should be able to post once or twice a week for now and hopefully more often once things settle into a routine.

First Night

2010-09-02T20:39:00.000-07:00

This is the first night that I don't have to blog about any theft stories! Granted we still have to pack up the garage, but i think it was too messy for him to want to bother going through, so i think we are safe for the most part. Today we did some more packing and yard work to get the house ready for when we leave. We had a lady come by today and look at the house, she said the same thing that we hear every time. Wow this is the nicest house I've seen, but its kinda small. More and more I think about converting our garage into a second living area and just putting a carport off the front of it. We probably wont do it, but it is way tempting.

One possibly exciting thing that happened today is that our Fuji apple tree grew 3 offshoots 2 of which we where able to dig out and trim off. We are going to see if we can't get them to live and take them to Mo with us. We have been semi-joking about taking the tree with us, but if these shoots live then it will be like taking the tree and we will start a little grove somewhere in mo. Becca really wants a little fruit tree groove with 2-3 of a couple trees like apple, pear, fig, peach, and money. I personally am hoping for that last tree so i can just stay home and tinker around on projects. Well thats all for tonight, we have to get up extra early tomorrow and run errands.

Theft story, Part: 6

2010-09-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

Here should be the last submission of our little theft experience. This morning we went over to the public library at 10:30 am as per their requested time (we originally requested 10am) and we found a table to sit at and got all the documents ready to sign. Then we waited.... and waited.... and waited..... and waited. At 10:45 we started to call Janet and leaving her voicemails asking where she was and what was going on. We never get any response and both Becca and I are upset because they are very late for something very important and now it seems that they are ignoring our phone calls and have decided to no longer cooperate.

After 20 min Becca says we need to leave because we have other things to do today and apparently they are not coming. I being an optimist say "Maybe over slept her alarm. She does work nights now and maybe she wanted to try and get in a quick nap before meeting us." Becca said "yeah maybe" and left her a text saying to call us. As we are running errands in the car Becca's phone rings and it is Janet on the line. I pick up and she tells me that she is so sorry, she over slept her alarm and did not mean to miss our appointment. She seemed to honestly be upset and sorry for missing the appointment so we rescheduled with her for later after we are done with our errands. (My question is why didn't Ben wake her up and say it is time to go?)

Around 2:30 we told them we were home from our errands and to come over to the house to sign the paper work, which consisted of a second "Damages Done" document and a corresponding Promissory note. This is the new Damages document is the same as the first except that the payment dates and amounts have been listed and it no longer says we can go after them for financial compensation, however it says nothing about going to the law. It also infers that this will be enacted once all the payments have been made (in 2 months).

"This document affirms that the second party acknowledges responsibility of the first party’s claim of “damages done” and seeks to make the first party financially whole again with the agreed upon sum of $400 to be paid by 2 cashiers checks or money orders the first being to the sum of $100 to be paid no later than September 30^th 2010 and the second check being the sum of $300 to be paid no later than October 15^th 2010 as noted in the accompanying promissory note.

In return for being made financially whole again the first party agrees to not seek any more financial compensation for additional “lost/stolen” items against the second party upon the completion of payment. "

The promissory note is a standard print and fill out the blanks legal document that says they are responsible for paying us a certain amount by a certain date in certain payment methods and that if they default we can legally pursue them and they agree to pay all legal fees if that happens. It also says that if they want to pay off earlier than scheduled that they can and not be penalized, which is important to note because some of the loan documents people fill out have clauses making you pay fees if you pay off early (so check all your loan docs before signing). We also are not charging them interest, but can call the whole amount due immediately if they miss their first payment grace period.

However while we do have some open options to seek legal action Becca and I have decided not to pursue them for any other "lost" items unless they are well above $500, promissory note aside. That is because we know there are no more money stashes around the house to be found missing and that we have a $500 deducible for our home insurance policy so any other loss would need to be above that amount for it to be eligible for compensation. Also I don't think we have anything else worth over a couple hundred dollars that is worth stealing that hasn't already been accounted for. So I would say that if there is still more missing by now we have recovered 80%-90% of it (minus the $400) and that is a pretty good outcome for any theft case.

Becca says: Some people have been asking how long Janet knew Ben before running off and marrying him. I just wanted to clarify that they have been dating for at least a year, and much longer I think, and had planned on getting married back in July. That wedding date got pushed back to Sept. The "sudden" wedding that Alann was referring to was the fact that the wedding date suddenly got pushed up to August. It was a complete surprise to all but immediate family (which we are not). So it wasn't like she met him and married him within a week. Just the actual wedding date was a surprise. Alann says: I don't know if that makes her marrying him better or worse.

We also have made our first replacement purchase and bought me a new leather coat similar to the one stolen and luckily at the same price as the first. I hope that it is the first step to the real end of the torment that has been our lives this past week and that we can finally move on. While the story may hopefully be over, I hope many of you will continue to check mine and Becca's blogs from time to time as we enter into a new phase of our lives where we are renting out the house in UT, living in Mo and I try to start up my own full time Real Estate investment and management business and Becca does the same with her part time sewing store while trying to raise 2 kids. I hope there is no part 7 to this story, but if there is I will say so on Facebook, otherwise see you back here later for more news from The Life and Times of Alann: A collection of my ramblings, stories, rants and excuses to help pass the time.

Theft, Part 5

2010-08-31T20:34:00.000-07:00

So yes, the last story had a twist in it that no one expected or wanted, more money was found missing and our interactions with Janet and Ben were/are not over. Here is the latest in our story now. Becca has wanted to start a small online sewing shop that caters to young mothers who need things like burp clothes, blankets, hats and things. She was able to procure an amount of money (I'm not really sure how much) to enable her to start making her designs, prototypes and marketing strategies for her business when we move. If I had the website address I would post it so everyone could help us in this endeavor but it isn't up yet so you will just have to watch for the address to appear in my sidebar of this blog so you can visit it.

Anyways, she had $400 placed in a nondescript envelop, which was then placed in a locked safe box, which was then hidden under the bed and the key was on a key chain on her dresser under some stuff. Someone had enough time to go through and find everything they needed allowing them to steal the money. WOW! is all I have to say to that. There is no way I could be that patient of a thief, but I guess if you know your victim isn't coming home for a week you don't worry too much about it.

So we sent a polite and to the point letter to Janet letting her know what had happened and that we wanted to be compensated again for it. Because remember in the agreement we are allowed to come after them again for additional items of loss/theft. She sends a text back saying “what do you want us to do, we had to borrow money from my parents to pay last time?”

Of course my thinking is “I want you to take out a loan and get me my money back is what I want you to do!” But Becca and I both know that since we have had to come to them a second time that compensation is going to be harder for us to demand because Janet and Ben have gotten over their initial shock and aren’t going to be as willing to cooperate as they have been, even though the evidence is on our side. They also are going to be upset, like we are, that this situation just won’t go away

So we need to treat this situation delicately and keep the lines of communication open as much as possible. Because after this, the last thing we can do is go to the police. After talking it over we decide to give her some options such as paying it all now by cash or credit or setting up some payment plans. Yes I said payment plans and I will go into why we offered that later. Then we submit the message off to her at 10 pm (Mon) saying we need to know by 5 pm tomorrow (Tue) what they will do and then we wait, .... and wait, .... and wait .... and wait.

4:45 pm (cutting it close I’d say) we get this message and I am quoting here

“If we do pay you this four hundred, I’m asking that you to add to the contract that you won’t charge us for anything else that may turn up missing.”

What do you mean “if” you pay us and what “logic” do you have that says you shouldn’t have to compensate us for things you “lost”, and “may” turn up missing, do you know something we don’t? Needless to say I am a bit put off by this response as it seems my fears have been confirmed and they are starting to get a bit cocky about having to give us money.

We send a message back that we need to know things before agreeing to anything, like cash or credit payment, full up front amount or multiple payments, when we can collect and if they will accept a deadline allowing us to continue to look for more items as we pack the house instead of ending it here and now. We also point out that we found 3 BB holes in our office in the top corners, 1 with a BB still in it, hoping to shake a little of the cockiness out of them. Then at 5:13 pm we get this message (quoting)

“We would need a payment plan, my next paycheck, that I would be able to pay you with, I get the week of Sept 27^th. We admit to the property damage, and we are willing to come and help you fix it. We didn’t steal anything though.”

We now know that Janet has decided to stand with her husband and declare innocence, even though items were found in her car and the obvious time needed to steal these thing means it was someone staying in the house, and that she is a MORON. She then tells us that she will do 1 payment of $100 on Sept 27^th and $300 on Oct 11^th and that as far as the deadline is concerned, (quote) “I’m asking that this 400 be the last of it. We have willing worked with you on everything and have admitted to what we did do.”

Wow, so… suddenly we are burdening them with our problems and they have been gracious enough to humor us so far, but now they are tiring of it. I had no idea I was being such a jerk offering you the opportunity to do the right thing and replace items you are responsible for replacing and not involving you, your friend and your family in a police investigation.

At this point we stop talking to Janet and start thinking about what our real options are because after this they will no longer be willing to pay us financial compenstation. Do we go to the cops or do we agree to the terms. After talking about what is important to us and how we can best achieve the end we want, we decide to agree to their terms and draw up another contract and a payment promissory note.

This is as far as the story has gone for now, because tomorrow is when we will meet them again to sign the documents and finalize the transaction. Now I know some of you want to know why we agreed to payments, their terms and why we didn’t go to the police. I would love to tell you, but as they say, “the walls have ears” and until we receive all the money I am unwilling to go into detail on the matter, until after we have gotten the last check on Oct 14^th-ish, shall we say for Janet’s sake.

Theft story, Part:4

2010-08-30T17:10:00.000-07:00

So Becca opens the the door and lets them in and they walk in kinda apologetic like and get about 3 feet into the doorway where they stop and I am standing in the middle of our family room with my arms crossed, like I have a habit of doing, now I pictured myself looking very stern but reasonable. My wife says i looked more like combination of these 3 pictures, so just keep that in mind while you follow along with the conversation

=Alann

Me:"Well?" (Once again paraphrasing)

Janet: We found Traxx in the back of our car. We don't know how it got there....

Me: And everything else?

Janet: We don't know where anything else is.... We... think it was... our friend who took the stuff..

Ben: We have $600 in cash we can give you right now.

Me: "I don't care who took it. The fact is that regardless if you took it (Ben) or she took it (Janet) you two are now married and are both responsible for the acts of the other and for the actions of anyone you let into our house while you were watching it. And because you found Traxx in your trunk it just proves that you had a part in this and are guilty by association if we have to go to the police. Offering us $600 is offensive to us and to what has happened.

I don't care what you have to do, if you have to take out all your money and give it to us, or go to your parents and ask for the money you will repay every penny you stole."

Now during my talk with them they tried to interrupt me twice (once each) and I had to wave them off with my finger, a glare and a growlish mmmpht noise to let them know that what they had to say to me was insignificant to what I had to say to them until I was done talking. Finally I asked them to leave my house and wait outside while I and my wife talked over what needed to be done to rectify the problem.

They then very meekly walked out the front door and waited on the front porch while me and Becca went into the back room and talked about what had been stolen and how much it was really worth so that we could replace what was gone but not take advantage of them at the same time. We talk about it for 5 min and agree that $1000 really is the amount of money that would be needed to cover the loss of everything. We also want to make sure they know that if they can bring back any of the missing items we will reduce the $1000 by the retail value of that item.

After deciding how much to tell them we go over to the front door and I half step out while Becca kinda hangs out in the door frame and the 2 of them look over at me anxiously to see what we have decided to do.

Me: We talked it over and $1000 really is the amount of money that was stolen and accepting less than that really is an insult.

Ben: I totally understand and if I was you I would feel the same way which is why I went straight to my bank account and took out all $600 to give you (gee, what a coincidence your bank account has just about the same amount of cash that was stolen, what are the odds?) and I promise that I will come over and help repair all the damage around the house. (Let me tell you he isn't coming within a block of my house if I can help it after this)

Janet: I get my paycheck today and it is $400, but I won't get it until 2

They also mention at some point in the conversation that they have not been able to get a hold of their "friend" yet.

So now it is time for the final word on this situation and what is going to happen to make things right. I look them dead in the eyes and say "Fine, you have till 5 pm to get your paycheck and bring all the money back to us and in the mean time try to talk to your "friend" to see if any more items can be return, because we would rather have our things than the money. But after 5pm we are calling the police and we have Traxx back and we know where it was so if we have to go to the police things most likely will not work out so well for you."

After that they say "Yes sir" shake my hand and leave with Becca once again giving Janet a hug and saying some words of sympathy to her. Soon after we leave the house to go and buy some new door locks because who knows if copies were made for later use to steal more. Then later we get a couple of texts asking if they can pay with a money order and if they can get some documentation to go along with the transaction.

We agree to both things and I write up a document for us all to sign that says (and this is the document minus names in the first paragraph, signature spaces and the list of items under "damages done").

This document affirms that the second party acknowledges responsibility to the first party’s claim of “damages done” and seeks to make the first party financially whole again with the agreed upon sum of $1000 to be paid by cashiers check number . In return for being made financially whole again the first party agrees to not seek legal recourse against the second party for the agreed upon “damages done”. Separate action may be taken for supplementary “loss” and/or “harm” found after the signing of this document and not listed below in the “damages done” footnote.

The First party and the Second party willfully and knowingly agree to the terms found within this document and do so by signing their names in the provided spaces below.

So they can feel good that we won't pursue them anymore for the found "missing" items, but we can still go after them for any other "missing" items we may find later after the paper is signed, so we feel better about the document. Around 4:45pm they show up with Janet's dad, for moral support I guess, and with the full amount of money in a check. They fill out the check paperwork and we all sign the documents and they leave the house hopefully for the last time EVER!

Here are some of our after thoughts on the whole thing:

The worst part is never knowing if you are going to open a closet or cabinet and find something missing
We think that it was only because of Janet that we got anything back and that it was Ben who took everything
Always lock up anything expensive when leaving town, regardless of who is watching your place, because you never know

Oh no, Becca just found more (a lot) money missing. Looks like we are not done with this yet, I guess stay tuned.

Theft story, Part:3

2010-08-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

Before I go into detail on confronting Janet and Ben let me go into our basic approach tactic with Janet and for those of you who haven't seen me in a while or my wife our basic character and physical descriptions. This should help you understand some of the reasons we did what we did.

Because Becca is friends with Janet she is going to talk to her first and try to do things as friendly as possible (good cop) and as long as Janet cooperates I will just stay in the kitchen with Alex while Claire sleeps. Becca wants to try and make this conversation as pleasant and friendly as possible and wants to see if maybe her handling it will be enough to get things accomplished. If however things don't go as we want them I will take over and tell Janet how it is (bad cop). After all I have been up all night doing research on UT criminal law and am quite ready to tell them the title #- chapter # - section # of each law that pertains to this issue and what it means for us and to them.

So this is Becca my wife; sweet, caring, trusting and completely unintimidating, she is completely gorgeous and unassuming in every way. She will be the one to talk with Janet first.

This is me, 6'3" 265lbs, broad shouldered, goatee and constantly scruffy looking and according to my wife the "security bouncer" looking type. For those of you who remember me from high school my attitude is pretty much the same, happy, laid back, fun loving, just a great guy to know and hang out with. Same me just bigger and older with a little less hair on top.

So that is us and our basic 1st round tactic with Janet to get her to see some reason and get our stuff back. Around 7:45 we get a text from Janet saying she is going to be late because her car has broken down, but that she will try to be there as soon as she can. So I'm starting to worry that maybe she does have an idea of what is going on and she is going to bail on us and then it is straight to the police (which I was more than willing to do). However around 8:30 am she shows up and I take Alex into the kitchen with me while Becca sits down with Janet on the couch next to where I am.

Because I am trying to stay out of it for the first round I kinda stayed in the kitchen and couldn't hear much of the conversation, but I heard that the tone was really soft and meek with a bunch of this is missing and we didn't do it and I promise it wasn't us. The only thing she admitted to was the BB gun holes, saying that it was Ben and they would pay us for that damage. So finally after 4-5 minutes Becca says "Well I guess we have to call the police, can you give me your address please?" and Janet says sure and starts to text her husband for the address because she just moved there (his parents house) and doesn't know it yet.

Now this does not satisfy me at all. There as been a crime in our home by a welcomed person and 1 of the guilty party is sitting on our couch. There is no way I am letting them out of the house with just a small "where is our stuff" talk. So I step out of the kitchen after getting Becca some paper and a pen and say (paraphrasing) "Here is the problem, how long has Ben had that BB gun?"

Janet: He told me a couple months

Me: Well, he lied to you. We have the box for it in our closet where we put it after we found it in our recycling bin. He probably bought it with the money he stole from us out of these envelopes now on the counter which were hidden in a black notebook, which he had to go through one by one. Also the Guitar hero that was stolen was also scattered around the house in different rooms. Someone had to have the time to look around the house and to find all the parts. This wasn't a simple break in and take what you can see thing, this person had plenty of time to find the things they wanted and to take them.

We have talked to the neighbors and know that only you and Ben have been at the house and that Ben has used the truck a couple times and that the small amount of emergency gas money from the truck ash tray is missing. Since only the 2 of you had keys to the truck that means it was one of you who took it. (Some where in here she mentioned they had a friend over, but that they were with them the whole time, so they too couldn't have taken anything.)

I then tell her that even if it was the friend who took things, very doubtful considering the time needed and the fact that only a blind man would miss someone carrying drums out the door, she is still responsible for the theft because she was the one being paid to watch the house to make sure this thing didn't happen and she is an accessory to the crime if she knows about it. I then proceed to tell her that this is a 3rd degree felony punishable by 5yrs in prison and/or $5000 in fines if found guilty.

I then ask her if she ever let Ben stay in the house by himself for a long time and she says yes. So by now I can see fear and doubt creeping into her expression and I know that she is starting to take things seriously and wonder what her husband has been up to. So after what I considered logically and calmly talking to her about "how things are" we once again tell her she has till noon to see if maybe Ben borrowed something and forgot to tell us or if they can get a hold of their friend and see what can be done there, because if things are returned we are willing to forgive and forget and move on with life.

I then went back into the kitchen and got a drink and Becca has me name off again what was stolen so Janet could go look for it. So I say we know Guitar hero was taken, the cash, my jacket and we think a knife, which i described in detail to her, and a remote control car. Becca then showed her to the door with some words of condolence and we waited to see what would happen next.

About an hour later we get a text from Janet asking what the remote controlled car looks like. We describe the picture to the left and hope that maybe something has been found. After about 15 minutes the dogs start to bark and I look out the window and see a car in front of our house. So I put the dogs in the backyard so we can talk and then peek out the window and see Janet AND Ben walking up our drive while Janet is carry...........Traxx (no longer in its original box I might add). So now we know and Janet knows that either Ben or the friend have done this crime and they are BUSTED!

But where is everything else? Where is my birthday leather jacket? Did they bring back all the money they stole? Will Ben leave this house in one piece once i get my hands on him? Do we need to call the police still? You will have to find out later, because this post is already way long and it is bedtime. Check tomorrow for the conclusion.

Theft story, Part:2

2010-08-28T22:05:00.000-07:00

Before we went to bed the night I discovered the BB gun range I also noticed that things in my bedroom closet had been rearranged. Nothing special, a blanket I threw in there was folded and some stuff was moved on the floor to one side. I then in the morning I noticed that the 2 guitars for guitar hero we keep in the closet were missing. I then went into (and this is important to notice the locations) the front entry closet where we kept the drums and peddle and noticed they were also gone. Finally I went over to the front room, which is right off the entry, and looked at the PS2 in the entertainment center and found that the microphone, guitar decals and 3 guitar hero games (1 never opened) were also gone. Odd. How come they borrowed the game and forgot to tell us? We don't mind if they play it or take it home to borrow, but it is only polite to ask first.

So now we are kind of upset because of the damage to our stuff and lack of courtesy when borrowing things. But Janet has always been really great so we send her a text and say "can you bring back guitar hero and anything else you borrowed?" We soon get a reply that says "Yes". Well good everything seems to be working out. We will talk to her about the BB gun damage when she comes over to drop things off and get her pay and we'll deduct the damage from her pay and move on with life. WRONG.

Around 4 or 5 we are dealing with the kids, Alex is eating and Claire is whining about something, so we are a little distracted. Then suddenly there is a knock on the door and there is this guy there that i have never seen before and he starts to make moves to come in.

(Most of this will be paraphrasing) I'm like hi, who are you? He says "oh, I'm Ben I'm Janet's husband. (O.K. where is she?) I came over to drop off these keys and this bottle of car paint touch up we accidentally took off your dresser (Which BTW I swear was still in its packaging when we left). Janet is at work."

Me: Oh o.k. so where is Guitar hero?
Ben: We don't know, we don't have it. We only have ours.
Ben: We thought that it was strange you asked for it back. Are you going to rent the house to us for the (hugely) discounted rate?

Of course at this point I am completely dumbfounded by what her not coming over in person and the denial of having our gaming gear and all I can think to say is, "Uuu, we just got back from vacation so you'll have to let us talk about it first."
Ben: Oh o.k well I'll see you later.

So i then rush into the backroom where Becca is feeding Alex and say "They stole Guitar Hero from us! You need to get Janet over here now so we can talk to her alone about this!"

So Becca texts her and Janet says she can't make it over here till 10am the next day because she works nights. So now I am really upset and paranoid. What else is gone? So the search starts. I said "what else could they have stolen that would be worth taking?"

This little side note is important for the rest of the story. We try to work with cash and not credit so that we don't build up any extra credit debt by being lazy with our spending. So Becca will tell me how much she needs for the month and then cash out parts of it for spending through out the month. She does this by putting the money in different envelopes labeled for their use and using them when she does purchases.

Suddenly Becca realizes that she has left some of our bill money envelopes in a black binder on the counter, which has been mysteriously cleaned and rearranged. Over $500 in CASH is missing from all the different envelopes and from around the house!!!! We start dialing Janet's phone number right then and there telling here she needs to be over here ASAP! We don't mention what is going on, just that she needs to get here now.

By now we have been talking about who could have done this and talked to the neighbors about what they have seen and only Janet and Ben have been seen coming and going from the house and because of Becca's past relationship with Janet we think that Ben has been taking things without her knowing. So by not telling her what we want to talk about we don't give him the chance to make up any lies if she talks to him before coming over. Finally she is scared enough and agrees to come over at 8 am instead of 10.

Well we have all night till Janet get to our house. So what do you think we do? Agonize and talk about what we have to do next and what are our legal choices. While talking about it I go back to the front closet and open it to look in it again to see if they actually got the drum peddle because it was separate from the drum set. Then i notice my leather jacket Becca gave me for my birthday 2 yrs ago is missing. The special hanger is there and so is the scarf I wear with it but the jacket is missing. He stole my jacket too! By now I am livid and ready to go over to his parents house (where they have been living for the first 2 weeks of their marriage) and settle things right now.

But, the hope is that Janet can help us get our stuff back. So I stay home and start looking again for what else could be missing. 2 other things end up missing (so far) a small Bayonet knife I keep in my nightstand and a *yellow RC car with track for wheels* from my closet. (notice its all my stuff going missing). So after doing some research, because I can't sleep, I find out that over $1,000 has been taken from us and that if found guilty the responsible person could be charged with a 3rd degree felony and have to pay $5000 and/or up to 5yrs in jail.

Thus started a very sleepless night and the beginning of the "confronting story" in which the, as my wife says, "Scary, how dare you do this in my house, protective, I will consume your soul" Alann comes out.

Theft story, Part: 1

2010-08-28T18:43:00.000-07:00

We went to California to visit my parents along with the rest of my siblings and their families Aug 20-24 2010 and because we have pets and are trying to rent/sell the house we needed to have a house sitter. We choose a young woman from the stake, we'll call her "Janet", who we had used before to babysit and house sit before. Right before Janet was to watch the house she did a surprise early wedding to her now husband "Ben". We had never met Ben before but with Janet being such an upstanding young women and her now being married we allowed her to bring Ben over to the house. We also were thinking of renting the house to the couple at a discount because they are LDS and said they would take great care of it. Things with the vacation went great and we were happy to get home when the time came.

When we walked in the door the house was spotless and had a nice pleasant smell to it. We also discovered that some stains in the carpet had been removed and that lots of little nice extra things had been done to the house. The first odd thing i noticed was that the evaporator cooler was running but that the belt had slipped off the pulley and that the blades were not turning even it the motor was, so I turned it off. Then Becca notice a "ball bearing" on the floor, which was later determined to be a BB. On the way to the back I saw a paint can lid with a bunch of what appeared to be drilled holes sitting in the recycling bin in the kitchen. Why did they do that?

After that I went into the laundry room and found the light bulb missing from the ceiling fixture in the garage and had to walk through the garage in the dark to let the dogs out. On the way I found a pair of locking pliers holding a long shafted flat head screw driver just laying on my tool bench while a ratchet set was knocked over the back of the bench and wedge behind the wall. Odd, what were they doing?

I opened the door to the backyard and looked to my left and noticed that some small 2'x 4'closet doors we were working on had been moved outside and that some pots that had been stacked were also moved. After some quick investigation I found that someone had set up a BB gun range in our backyard and had shot our watering can, closet doors, and that paint lid. Not only that but they had missed sometimes and put 3 holes in the siding on the house. They had also taken the only light bulb in the garage out to use in some of my spot lights so they could light up the target area and then never put it or the spot lights back in their places.

We have now realized that the "ball bearing" in the house was a BB and that the pliers and screw driver tool were used to pry a BB out in our office were they shot the wall! These are the guys that are supposed to take better care of our place than another person off the street and for a discounted rent?!?! What else have they done to the house that we haven't found yet?

So far this only covers the damage they have done to the house (that we know of) I haven't even started to talk about the other odd things around the house that finally lead us to know that some major theft had happened. But for now, like after I discovered the firing range in our back yard, it is late and I will tell more of the story later after I get some stuff done and get some sleep. Oh i should mention that this story will probably be in 4 parts/days, Damage, Theft, Confronting, and Results

Yard Work

2010-08-27T17:58:00.000-07:00

O.k. so i unintentionally lied I will not tell more about our theft story today. I spent 5 hrs out in the hot sun cleaning up the dog damage, trash and mowing so that the backyard would look somewhat respectable for viewers. So I am sun burnt and sun drained and will attempt to tell our theft story tomorrow.

Graduation

2010-08-26T19:23:00.000-07:00

So after a long time of not writing due to school I have finally graduated and can now spend some time writing on the blog each week. I am completely exhausted because of an incident we had with our house sitter. To keep a long story short we had a house sitter's husband or (very unlikely) friend steal and damage $1000 of cash and property. So I was up all night worrying about the situation and this was after barely getting over a late night drive from Ca to Kearns. I've been posting little bits and pieces of the progression on facebook and will do a bigger post on it later but for now I just wanted to write a little something after such a long absence.

problem fixed

2010-03-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

So apparently the duckhunter game in my game corner had gone bad so everytime someone tried to view my site it would redirect them to another site so i had to go into my layout section and try to hit the remove button before it changed to the other site. Well alot has changed in my life since i last posted and unfortunately it looks like things are going to stay quiet for a while on the blogger front. I just looked at my scheduale for the next month and i have a major test, 2 finals, a 14 page pager, a major project, a new 32hr maintenance job, a scholarship job, a house to remodel and a baby to prep for. SO, I MAY BE A LITTLE BUSY. But the good news is that life goes on and while things are busy they seem to be going well and at this point that is all I ask for. So till next time goodbye and good night.

long time

2010-03-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

Apparently there is something wrong with my blogsite so for all those who can read this before it changes to the other site, I am working on the problem.

Jobs

2010-02-10T09:29:00.000-08:00

I have decided 9not that this is new to anyone) that looking for a job sucks. If you follow me on Facebook you know I had an interview last week with a developer that while pleasant, went nowhere. He was strike number 3 on interviews and strike number whatever on resume submissions. I just had number 4 interview with a small (250 units) property management company. It was a pleasant interview and I met with both the owners who were maybe 2-4 yrs older than me. The 2 things that were big hang ups for them was 1. that they are so small they may not have enough work for me to do and 2. that 6-8 months is a short time and would it be worth teaching me how to do things. Mind you when I say worth it to them this would be a free internship and would cost them nothing but training time.

Now I don't know how many of you readers (I have) have done internships for school, but usually they are a semester long or 3.5 months long. Then after that you have to reapply or move on to another. So 6-8 months is actually a good long time for a free internship to happen. I am pretty sure it would be a good thing for me to get a position with them because they are about where I want to be in 3-4 yrs. My own family sized property management company with 6-7 employees and around 25-50% of the properties being managed owned by me/or another of my family companies. So getting in with them would help me see and learn a lot of what to and not to do. So wish me luck and wish me extra strong luck that maybe they spontaneously decide to pay me for my work, because that would be great!

Done and Done.....Well Almost

2010-01-29T09:48:00.000-08:00

So the bathroom is like 97% done. There are only a few small things left to do, but first the bathroom needs to be used for a week to make sure the fixtures that I put up work and have no problems that need to be addressed. Then I can put the finishing touches on the bathroom and call it done for good. I am not really sure what it is I am going to do next, but I am sure that there is going to be another project around the house for me to work on, after all we aren't lacking in that department.

However before Istart a new project I think the plan is to call in a Real Estate agent to look at the house and give us an estimation on value and sell time so we can decide what to do with the house for when I graduate. With the economy the way it is now it may take the whole 7 months for the house to sell. However we have put in a lot of work into the house and it may be one of the "nicer ones" in the area so it may go faster than the others in the block. Who knows. I just hope we can break even on the money we put in. If we had sold during the good times with all our improvements we would have easily seen additional 20-25k in equity. But now we may have to decide between a faster exit or a higher return.

The third option is to rent it out using a property managment place and hold on to it until the market improves. Which for Ut is expected to be by the end of 2011 or mid 2012. If it comes down to it I am ok with option 3 as long as we can rent it for enough to pay the mortage and the management fee, which may mean we need to refinance. Meanwhile I still need to find a job so we dont eat through all of our loan money before we move. So wish us luck.

Watching Paint Dry

2010-01-23T10:06:00.000-08:00

This will be a quick little post because I am only doing it while I wait for the single coat of paint on the ceiling to dry. Which wont take long because the bathroom is the size of a walk in closet and has a space heater going in it. After that it is really a matter of putting down the vinyl flooring and putting the bathroom fixtures back into place, no problem (I hope!). I just wanted to say that redoing the bathroom has been a lot of fun and has reminded me how much I enjoy working with my hands and solving small remodeling problems. It also has made me grateful that I posses practical skills and am capable of doing things around the house and not having to pay someone. On that note I would like to thank my Dad for teaching me over the years how to do everyday and project related fixes and for being an example of the importance of being self sufficient. If it was not for him I don't think I would be half as capable as I am today.

Gaming

2010-01-17T20:35:00.000-08:00

So for over a year now me and Becca have been playing this online server game called travian. It is a pretty fun game that allows players to create midevil age towns and troops and pit them against each other in real time. You tell the troops and village units what to do and then wait for them to acomplish the task. It is kind of a fun game, except that once you reach a certain size of empire no one will mess with you and there is no new activities/quests to go out and do, so you end up in a rut.

I bring this up because our alliance leader wants to know if we will join the alliance on the next server that opens up since the one we are on now is about to end. I would really like to continue playing but I think i want to try something with a little more action like Age of Empires 3 or WOW. The only problem with that is those games tend to eat up a lot of time per day you play(like 1.5-2 hrs). With travian it really comes down to only putting in as much time as you want per day and still being able to thrive in the game (like 15 minutes). I am at a loss of what to do. Maybe someone out there knows of a mix of the 2 kinds of games one that has long term goals that can be left to tend to themselves with a mix of player started real time battles. I dont know, if anyone has any ideas post them and I'll check them out.

Happy New Year

2010-01-16T20:31:00.001-08:00

Well happy new year everyone. Another year has come and gone and so has the school semester from the underworld. Yes, I am finally free and able to do more with my life than go to class and do homework. That doesn't mean that I will be posting every night or anything, but hopefully it means that i will be posting more often than once every 3 months. Also something I find kind of fitting is that this not only is my first post in the new year and easier semester, but it is also my 100th post meaning I am now entering a new era of blog postings. So for those of you who are left who still check this site soon there will be new things to read and new comments to make and be sure to let others know that things are now up and running. Speaking of i have to go now, tanner just threw up on the rug!

Best Movie Ever

2009-11-07T21:05:00.000-08:00

No matter how old i get I still think Back to the Future is still one of the best movies ever. Throughout this week i have been making my through the trilligy and even though i now notice some of the cinematic tricks they use for the special effects, i could watch the movie over and over.

Dusting off the spiderwebs

2009-11-02T20:51:00.000-08:00

I know. I know. A post, What?! well don't get too excited i just came in here to dust off the spiderwebs, so leave a message and I'll call you back. Hopefully next semester i will only be doing 9 credit hours instead of 15 and can find some time to breath.

working while not working

2009-08-03T11:29:00.001-07:00

So for about a month now I have been going to work and not getting paid. Due to some internal problems and the economy the consulting firm i work for as dried up on project work that i can do. However they have said "if" i decide to come into the office (which is not required since I'm still an intern) and "if" something pops up that i can work on, then i am more than welcome to do it and get paid. So far i get an average of 10 hours of work a week this way and most of it is one time only and then i never see the project again. This makes it hard to really want to work. Because not only do i tend to sit around trying to do home work while being interrupted with work question i can't charge for but i never get to continue to work on something so i don't really learn anything or remember what i worked on last time if someone has a question on it. While i am semi tempted to leave, i don't know what my graduate work load is going to be and this setup maybe the best thing for me in the upcoming year. So until i find out my school work load i have to keep telling myself it is worth coming in to the office and not staying home playing computer games. Hopefully something good will workout for the fall.

Becca

2009-07-15T08:55:00.000-07:00

So i was the person in our family who originally started to blog. I told Becca about it and she was skeptical about starting her own, but she has really taken off and done well with it. Which i am glad for, because i find it amazingly fun to taunt her on her own blog site by leaving comments that I know she will read and respond to. Also she has used it to inform me of what is for dinner that night so i no longer have to ask her, which I'm sure she finds just as nice as i do. She also has joined me on an online game called travian, which without her to talk to about would not be nearly as fun. (If anyone wants to join us on the game let me or Becca know and we will send an invitation) I don't know how many other couples are out there that share in the virtual experience, but i for one am glad that Becca enjoys it. It gives us the opportunity to stay more connected when we are apart because we can always look for each other at these different websites and with trillian (if i would remember to turn it on). So go read Becca's latest blog and see if you can catch the humor behind the comments!

not much

2009-07-07T17:42:00.000-07:00

So i don't have much to say for this blog. I just feel bad that i have not been able to keep up with it as much as i would have liked. The most interesting thing that has happened to me is that i burned my thumb, forefinger and middle finger on the grill on the 3rd. No, not while grilling something tasty. I had to burn a bunch of the wood we had in the back yard because it was collecting bugs so i was burning it in the grill. As most of you know tanner loves to chew sticks so i put 5 of them to the side and after the majority of them had been burned i put his sticks on the grill racks to be smoked and heated to kill any bugs living in them. However after a couple minutes they caught on fire ( surprise surprise) and instead of just throwing water on them i tried to lift the half closed lid and burned myself on the hot metal handle. The burns aren't painful or serious, but they are big and they make it hard to hold a pencil and write. Other than that i have school work and homework to do most of the time and it keeps me pretty busy

No I havent forgotten you

2009-06-26T19:32:00.000-07:00

Like the title says, i have not forgotten about my blog or the fact that people would like to see it updated occasionally. I just happen to have some summer classes going on right now. That means while i'll get the same amount of credit for doing less i also have to do more in a smaller amount of time. So once again time is not my own. However on the brighter side some of my classes end in a week or two so i can spend more time at home with the family and less time at school. Atlest till the second round of classes starts in mid July.

summer

2009-06-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

So i have been told at work that for this week chandler (my boss) has not been able to keep up with his work load and part of his work load is doing a review of the two papers i am writing. So until he catches up with his work would i please stay home and refrain from coming into work. Ahh... sure?. I could use the break to catch up on my homework because i hurt my neck last week and was unable to do any reading, homework or attending of classes, so having the time off could help me get back on track. However we also don't have a lot of money coming in right now and every hour at work counts. So it is a toss up about how i feel about this situation.

I actually still do come into work, but i sit in a different office at the end of the hall and i just do homework and occasionally talk to anyone who comes to my door. Its kinds odd feeling, being here but not working. I also don't know how productive it really is, because while i know i got a lot done i don't know if i could have gotten more done if i had been left alone at home and been able to relax better when i needed it. My neck still hurts and laying down really helps it rest for a bit and then i can go back to what i was doing. But at the office there is no place to lay down and rest. so i have to try to work through the pain or stop and do a little massage until it is manageable. So i may be doing better than at home or i may be doing worse, i don't know. But i need to get back to homework,so c-ya

Walking Dead

2009-05-30T17:46:00.000-07:00

So yeah. Tired does not even beging to describe how i feel after the first two weeks of school. I feel like the walking dead, just alive enough to feed myself and stumble to my next location.

school

2009-05-20T19:23:00.000-07:00

So yeah! i graduated and now it is time to enjoy a nice well deserved summer break right? Wrong. I must be crazy because i have completely flipped my plans for future schooling and have decided to become a gunipig for a new Masters program. The Masters of Real Estate Development (MRED) was looking for a few good men (no more than 15) to enroll in the new program and be the new poster children. The catch is that there is not internal system setup for class enrollment, you have to take summer classes to stay on track, it is borrowing teachers so all classes are non negotiable, it is super plus full time requirement and there is no one who knows even a majority of the answers the students have. Oh also there is no financial aid and it is recommended you work no more than 10 a week, so pretty much you need to live off loans.

Why take this mad dive into a tumultuous program? 3 reasons

1. Higher pay grade than previous masters
2. Sooner graduation date (assuming survival)
3. More job opertunities available

So that is the update on my life and now i need to get back to reading my other 150pgs for tomorrow. Everyone enjoy your summer a little extra for me,becouse i may too busy to enjoy mine.

Updates

2009-04-30T15:43:00.000-07:00

Lately I have had a touch of the flu, no not the swine flu. Though i guess it could have been, i don't know enough about it to make that call. All i know is Sunday i didn't feel good and i skipped work and school Monday and Tuesday but now i feel much better. I still get a little more tired than usual around the end of the day but other than that i am good.

Yesterday was my last day of class. Now i just have a report to turn in and some projects to finish up and then i will be done with my school work. Then its on to graduation and summer vacation!!!!!!!!!! Also so big news is that i got my acceptance letter from the Master Planning program at the U and they have offered my a part time research assistant scholarship. This means that i get a $2500 lump payment for the semester and 1/2 off my tuition. Now the question is can we scrape together the money to live here while i go to school?

That will be the question for the week. How much will we need and where will we get it from? Then after that i will have to pick out my classes and plan out how long it will take me to graduate and in what sub field to i want to study in. I think i want to go into community development and design which means i will be getting a masters certificate in Real estate development. But who knows and that is a later topic to worry about. Other than that things are good.

Its a funny

2009-04-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

Becca has this picture on her blog and it makes me laugh every time i see it. It is so true about her and Jersey. Oh course what also makes me laugh is the fact that if it were a picture with a second window frame in it, like a cartoon, with me and the cat and I was saying the same thing then Jersey would be saying "Yes daddy" and getting down. It is so funny how differently the cat treats the two of us. She does actually like Becca, but they are on more of a friendship/play level where me and Jerseys are more on a pack leader and subordinate level. So when she is batting at Becca she is purring at me and very rarely does she try to pick a fight with me. In fact, that is what the dogs are for, Especially tanner. He is the one who she likes to pick on the most. Well I need to go, I am a little farther behind on school work than i would like.

school

2009-04-15T16:46:00.000-07:00

I know that i have been doing a school count down, but it just hit me know that i only have 2 weeks left and i am way behind in my school work! I actually have never been this far behind before, mostly it is due to the independant study class that i took. I took 2 weeks off and now i have 4 weeks of work to do on top of my other finals work. I'm sure i will make all the deadlines and get good grades on it, but it will take alot of time out of my day and add a few gray hairs to my head. So ya going back to school work now.

Work

2009-04-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

Today at work i was talking to a fellow planning lab intern (Jon) about whether or not our boss Chandler was coming in today or if he was out of town. In order to solve the dilemma Jon decided to get onto the net calender and look up Chandler's work calender to see if it said anything about where he was. One of the options with this calender is that you can schedule a meeting with someone and write notes/letters to them at the same time. The problem with this is that there is now way to make individual letters private. So if your calender is seen by someone so are all the comments on it as well.

In his calender was a letter to the HR person who works with him on the planning lab system/organization. In this letter he makes some very bold statements about people that are not necessarily the kinds of things they want you to know about. At one point he makes mention of an individual who is labeled by their mentoring partner as incompetent, and while some of us in the lab knew there were problems between these people it still would not be the best for this individual to see the comment about them.

There are also comments about who is rising stars in the company and who beat the odds and did better on their own than anyone would have guessed, once again comments that may cause some strife between colleagues. While i found many of the comments to be interesting regardless if i agreed with them or not, i found the ones that were presumably about me, because of thier context, to be very intriguing. I am not mentioned as a good or a bad but rather an unknown. Not in the context of my quality of work, but as in my position in the company and if i will continue on in the planning lab.

It has been no secret between me or anyone in the company that while i enjoy working for them and doing the work they give me, they have yet to produce a project or introduce to me a project area that really lights my fire. While the other two planning lab people have found niches in the company and have expressed desire to go full time after graduation, i have never tried to get more than an intern position there and don't actively go out and hunt for projects to work on. I am not worried about being let go nor am i offended at the comments that are made about me, i just think that maybe i am being compared too much to the others in the planning lab and not enough on how i am doing on a personal level of achievement and interest.

Since i have started I have become more interested in the work that I do and have always said that if a project area can be found that i like, i have no reservations about joining the WSA team. The problem is that we are only exposed to what projects come down the pipeline to our office for what the "real" employees are interested in doing. The company does way more services than just the things that come into the office, but because of the way the company is setup and they way the planning lab fits into it we never see anymore than what is usually sent to the office. If i were to go to another office i would see more of a different kind of workload, but this planning lab is centered in this office and there is no way to shuffle work from one to another easily.

The company has recently lost its President and Jon and I are hoping that the new leader will take the planning lab idea to the next step and make it a corporate idea so that it is more flexible in the opportunities it can offer the interns/employees in training (as it is really seen as). I really don't have a point to this story, i just thought that the situation would make a good story to read so i typed it out for fun.

In school related news i am trying to get into the masters program and am thinking of getting a masters certificate in real estate finances to accompany my degree in planning. I am doing this with the idea of either working for a land development company, someday starting my own company or being able to round out my education on the built environment so if i join another consulting firm or government planning department i can have a better idea on how the market will drive the future development of the specific area i work in, this way i can make more relevant recommendations for policies and procedures.

As for the family, we are all getting over our colds and everyone is happy. Becca had a job interview as a part time at home seamstress which we will see how it goes and we are continuing our mini biggest loser challenge to lose weight. As soon as we find out about grad school we will let everyone know, but for now i need to go.

Hot snow

2009-04-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

This will be a brief blog since i need to be doing home work, but i couldn't pass up the opportunity to tell this quick story. I was walking from the office building i work at to the train station to get to the campus for class. It was really sunny and bright and i started to feel really hot in my lightweight hoodie because of how warm the sun was. But i couldn't take it off because even though it was warm outside and making me hot, it was still some how snowing at the same time.

There was just enough high altitude cloud cover for it to be snowing while the weather was warm and the sun was shining. It was so weird. I personally think that beats other freak weather conditions like when it is sunny and raining at the same time or when it is sprinkling w/ no clouds in the sky. Because the snow should have turned to rain by the time it hit ground, but no it stayed snow till it melted on the warm sidewalk. In other news i bought my cap and tassle for graduation today, so now i have to send out invites to the ceremony. Actually I guess i better first find out the date huh. I think it is may 8th but it could be the 9th, I'll let everyone know once i find out.

Blogging

2009-03-22T14:02:00.001-07:00

So i finally did some work on my blog page and made it a little more mine. After deleting those pesky dead ad spots on the HTML i think this blog template may workout. so I'll keep it for a bit and see how it goes. This post is going to be real small becuae i already spent an hour and ahalf fixing up the blog page, which has left me kinda computer drained. So i think for now i will just say that we are doing fine, we still don't know what is going to happen to us, but we have enough money in the bank for 2 month of house payments and if approved will have 6 more months from unemployment. We will try to keep everyone updated on what is going on and what we finally decide to do.

What to do

2009-03-05T16:04:00.000-08:00

So as many of you know we are coming to an end of an era of our lives. I am going to be done with my bachelors, Becca wants to stay at home and we now have a baby to take care of. We also have some big decisions to deal with, should i continue in school and get a masters here, somewhere else. Should i try to get a job in this recession. If we stay here should Becca stay home or go back to work, what about Claire? Can we afford to have Becca stay home or pay someone to watch the baby? These are all questions that i have posted about before and that we have been grappling with for a while now.

Its just that now the baby is here and Becca's maternity leave is running out and while i have submitted 6-8 resumes from as far back as early February i have yet to hear back from any of them and time is simply running out for us. It seems like everyday i try and come up with a new way to attack this problem and while i have not given up it is getting overwhelming. For a while we thought we had come up with a fix because a lady in our congregation was willing to watch Claire a couple days out of the week. Then last night she called and said it wasn't worth it to her and if they needed the extra money she would just have her husband get a second part time job. Thanks a lot, there went that little beam of sunshine.

The job i have here is nice and i like my co-workers, its just not the field i want to get into. Doing traffic analysis for the rest of my life is not what i would call exciting. And technically i am an intern-part time employee mix with no benefits, lower pay and a 32 hour cap and i don't think they hire full time people with less than a masters degree. So even if i did want to stay at this company i couldn't without going to more school or taking less pay and part time till i had enough experiance to just kinda fall into a position and that doesn't help us out at all.

I really like working outside and managing and my current boss says that i am really good at doing regional level policy analysis, so i guess if i could find something that fit into all those categories i would be the happiest with my long run job. I think if i could do anything i would want to move back to Columbia get a full or 35+ hour part time job doing some kind of environmental planning where i was in the office 75% of the time and out in the field the rest of the time and then at the same time get my masters from Mizzou in either arch studies, environmental engineering, or some kind of design or environmental degree. For the most part this post is just an outlet for some of my thoughts, just to get them out of there and on to "paper". I wonder if that is how writers feel about writing. Like they just can't get these ideas out of their heads until they write them down and then after that they feel a sense of relief.

Aw well, things aren't really bad and something will work out it's just the waiting that kills me. But i guess if i can't find a job we can always go live with my parents.

Tired

2009-02-23T13:09:00.000-08:00

So, as the title says i am tired, way more tired than i think i should be. Becca is the one that gets up with Claire at night and has to deal with her all day, but i am so tired that i am practically falling asleep at work and school. I usually only wake up once during the night and it is only when Claire is crying at her loudest, but it seems like that one time is enough to throw off the quality of my sleep for the rest of the night. I don't only think that it is Claire though. This semester has turned out to be more stressful and demanding than i thought it would be. I only have a 3 real classes and 2 easy classes, but the 3 real classes are so much more intense than i thought they would be initially. I was really hoping that after all the hustle and bustle i did for my first semesters i would be able to have a nice relaxing last one. But it seems that if i want some down time i will just have to take the summer off this year instead of doing classes like i did last summer.

I guess that is the only other news i have right now is that unless i find some miracle job somewhere i most likely will be going through the masters program here and staying in utah for another year or two. Well unfortunately my laptop is ready to die so i need to stop here, but on the whole life is good and i have started to reconnect with some more of my friends from Il, which is exciting

Claire

2009-02-12T19:12:00.000-08:00

Born on Thursday February 12 2009 at 12:15 Claire Abigail Severinsen joined us with the help of the doctor. She weighed in at 8 lbs 5 ounces and is 20 inches long. This will just be a short blog of pics because i have been up for 36 hours and am just doing this as a courtesy to those that care. Later we will add more.

Inversions, Colds and Ribs

2009-01-24T19:27:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday we had what is called an inversion, if you don't know what that is it is when all the cold air in the valley gets stuck underneath the warmer air higher up in the atmosphere. So any air pollutants that get stuck in the air stay there. It got so bad last week that you could not see the mountains and the sky was this yellow orangish color. Apparently i am fairly sensitive to the air quality around me, we have always lived in more rural type settings so i have never really had too much experience with smog and such...... Hold on Nikki just threw up. OK I'm back. So where was i, oh yes the yellow air. So, lately Becca has started to snore in her sleep (not her fault) which not only keeps me up, but wakes me up too, so my level of sleep right now is pretty low.

Then the in version rolls in and my sinuses start running like there is no tomorrow and it feels like someone is pouring Tabasco sauce down the back of my throat. Then at night everything backs up and i have to wake up to cough my airways clear so i can breath again. Well after a couple of nights like this i finally get a real cold, which funny enough is actually better than the inversion because there is less mucus and more breathing, but more coughing. Which leads to my next part the inversion has started to clear and I'm on day 3 of being sick (so far its 1.5 weeks total of the whole thing) and i start to cough so hard that i end up moving 2 of my lower ribs on my right side.

At first they just hurt like if you strained you back and pulled something, so i thought nothing of them. But then the next day i had a meeting i had to go to for school and somehow on the walk over to the building i moved them again and even worse. So for the entire half hour meeting i am sweating up a storm because of the pain I'm in and i seriously thought i would have to ask these complete strangers who i just met to call an ambulance for me. But the meeting ended and i was able to make it back down the stairs to the main hall. The problem now is that i have to get back to my office and get home with my backpack which contains everything valuable and personal in my life. By this point the pain is excruciating. Imagine that you have been hit in the back of the ribs with a baseball bat and have one of the deep, black/blue, swollen bruises now and every time you take a step or try to breath someone takes the rounded handle side of a broom and pushes on that bruise.

To get to my office i have to walk about 3 city blocks get on a train take it to the down town station and then walk another 6 blocks to get to my car and i have to do it all with out being able to take more than a 1/4 of a light breath. So i go over to the men's bathroom get in one of the stalls and take my belt off. Then i put it under my shirt and tighten it down to the smallest hole over my ribcage so that i have something to help me support my self and allow me to breath. I put my shirt down put on my coat and backpack and walked out of the building and started to walk to the train station. I got to the end of the parking lot and had to bend over so i could gasp for air. I had to do this about 2 more times while walking down this back walkway to get to the station. The whole time hoping that i wouldn't pass out in this no mans land from lack of air or pain and get mugged.

But i finally made it to the train where i got on and sat down using the backrest to support my ribs so i could breath. By now i have decided that there is no way i am going back to work and that i really need to see the chiropractor today, right now, instead of tomorrow at our normal time. I also don't know if i can make the even longer walk to my office to get my car and drive there myself. So i called up Becca to get the cell phone number to the doctors and told her between ragged gasps that she might have to meet me at the south train station and take me because i can't breath and don't know if i can walk to my car. So after just talking to Becca right now, she said that she wasn't concerned about me after i got off the phone with her, which i didn't know.

But either way i called my boss and let him know what was happening and he was like o.k, like i had just told him i landed on the moon and was having tea with little purple penguins. Then i called the doctors and set up an appointment for 5 which is his last time available. Then i look at my watch and realize that if i go to the south station i will never make it on time and i have to walk to my car and drive there to make it. So i undid the belt because it was making me sick and got off at the downtown stop and with my hand holding my ribs in place started to walk the 6 blocks to my car. By now the spams have lessened and i can take a 1/2 a light breath and the broom isn't jabbing me as hard. I made it to my car and raced over to the doctors and got there at 4:57 and sat down on a chair as best i could so i could breath.

A few minutes later Dr Dave (our secondary primary doctor) comes by and looks at me and are you OK? I tell him what is going on and he says that he will get a room ready and bring me back in a minute. After i get in there he tries to have me lay on my back which doesn't work because every time i try i spasm. Then we try the front where after a couple of tries we finally have some success. So he adjusts what he can and then tries to move my ribs to no avail. He then puts my on some electro-therapy and says that the muscles are too swollen to move with out first putting me on some suppressants and says all i can do is go home and put some ice on it to help the swelling to go down.

So what adjusting he could do helped me to be able to breath at about 1/2 a normal breath and the spasms have stopped except for when i breath too deeply. So i go home let the dogs out set the couch cushions up to give me some support and got my icepack out and sat down and started my ice down rotation for the night. Finally Becca comes home and we talk about our day and she tortures me by making me laugh which causes me pain, evil woman ;) and i continue to do ice therapy. Around bed time i told her i would have to sleep propped up on the couch so i could breath and could she please take the dogs with her into the bedroom for the night, which she did. Then i went and took some cough depressants and pain killers and luckily went to sleep. And surprisingly only woke up once when i felt light headed from being propped up for so long, so i moved the pillows and went back to sleep.

Then this morning we went back to the chiropractor where he was able to move the ribs back into place. Now i can breath 7/8 normal and only spasm when i try to breath deep enough to cough, which is not often or when Becca makes me laugh, evil woman :) That about wraps up may adventure for the week and I'm hoping next week won't be nearly as exciting.

Claire's room

2009-01-02T10:52:00.000-08:00

Since the last time that I blogged we have done some work on Claire's room. We finally have all the insulation put up and glued in place and we have all the drywall up and ready to be taped. We were able to save 2 pieces of insulation and one piece of drywall so we could return them. Which is good because we forgot to buy a couple things last time we were at Lowe's, so now we have money to buy the rest of what we need. This project has been the fastest and easiest one that we have done so far and if things continue to go the way they are we will be painting sometime this or next Saturday night. I have been testing the room to see how well it retains heat now that we have done the major part of the construction and while it does not get overly warmer than the rest of the house it now is the same temperature as the rest of the house instead of being a good 8 degrees colder. We ended yesterday's project work by going to papa Murphy's and getting some pizza and watching an 80's movie called Ice Pirates.

Then i took a hot bath to try and relax a shoulder muscle that had been bothering me all day and Becca played the wii she borrowed from work (i think she's addicted to it), then we went to bed. All in all it was a very productive and pleasant day. I'm thinking that tonight I will try to get some of the mudding done in the room so we can be a little ahead for when Saturday comes, because we usually have lots of errands to do and I don't think this Saturday will be any different. So maybe if I can get a little more work done tonight we can get things done this weekend and not have anymore projects waiting to get done.

month update

2008-12-30T12:00:00.000-08:00

So it has been like 5 weeks since i posted which is due to my being lazy, finals and the Christmas holiday season. Does this mean that i have a ton of stuff that i can update people on, yes Does it mean that i will do it, no. It all depends on how fast i can type on my lunch break. Luckily though non of the stories i will tell are like the stories from our thanks giving outing to AZ. We had no major break downs or mishaps the worst thing that happened was that on Christmas day we had a winter storm that turn off the power for 2 hours and left almost 2 feet of snow in the front yard. But the power shortage was in the middle of the day and the snow will melt on its own so those two events weren't really that bad after all.

I got my grades for school today and and got 3 A's, 1 A- and 1 B+ which brings my school career GPA to 3.853, not too bad if i say so my self. Now i have one semester left to graduate and will be taking 13 credit hours. 6 hours are semi blow off classes 4 are for a group CAP class that depending on the class members could be time consuming or not and the last 3 are a traditional in the room learning class. So hopefully things will be fairly easy next semester.

Becca and i have decided to call our baby Claire Abigail Severinsen (so far) and she is due on Feb 11 09. We have gone to see the hospital and what kinds of rooms they have there and were all the important rooms are. Becca signed us up for a birthing class that starts next week and goes past when Claire is due so we may not finish the class, but we will be more ready than if we didn't take the class at all.We have started to work on Claire's room and are about 1/3 of the way done with it. We need to install the rest of the insulation and then put up the dry wall, mud, sand, and then paint. We are trying something different for the paint in Claire's room this time, we are going to paint it in a way that I have suggested. Which means instead of doing one full bodied color like the rest of the house we are going to do a full bodied color on the bottom half of the room and then a lighter whitish color on the top of the room. The hope is that this time the full bodied color wont overwhelm the room like the green piant does in the bedroom.

For Christmas i got a lot of tool stuff, a camcorder, a self sufficiency book and some PS2 stuff and we are still waiting to receive our gifts from Becca's family, but so far it was an enjoyable Christmas haul. My parents stayed for about a week and visited with me and my brother, it was fun having them here to visit and mom got to see the new bathroom we just finished. I gained the traditional Christmas 5 lbs and have started going to the gym to lose the weight and stay in better shape. It is especially important for me to keep going because i no longer have the workout classes and my job at WSA is nothing but sitting at a computer. So weight gain is an easy thing to do, I would say almost as easy as when i worked at nothing but noodles ans drank soda all day. So with my high blood pressure it is important that i try and lose some weight and do strenuous exercises to keep in shape.

The goal for this month is to prepare for Becca's soon lose of work hours by finding her another job or new position at her current employers. We are going to try and refinance the house to a lower rate to lwer our monthly payment, but need it to appraise for 165,000 which means we need to finish up the home improvements soon. We also are talking about how many hours i need to maintain and if we can get rid of some of our life style ways in exchange for others, like giving up Becca's cell phone or a home line and Internet access so she can work from home and other such things. We are also playing with the idea of rearranging the whole house and changing the purpose of rooms from one to another to see if it works better functionally. It will also give us a chance to do some deep cleaning and sorting of stuff.

Work is going good and i enjoy being here. I don't think that i will work here full time next semester, but if they want to hire me after i get my masters there is a chance i would accept it. We still hope to move back to the Midwest some where. So far the main candidates are Columbia Mo, because of our past experience with it. Kansas City Mo, because WSA has an office there that i could transfer to. Or to one of the towns located around the greater St Louis area, because there are jobs there and the land type we want and Dan is there. If no in Mo I am pushing for IL, upper AR, lower IA, or western TN. I don't really want to go too far north or into the plains and if you go too far to the east with out getting to the coast you run into the backhills people, which i would like to avoid.

Well thats all i can think of right now so hopefully that is enough updating for everyone and hopefully i'll get back into blogging more often

Friday

2008-11-21T11:24:00.000-08:00

I tried to blog on Wednesday and even though I had the time I did not have the will. I sat down, logged in, looked at the screen for a few minutes, came up with nothing and promptly logged off.
I feel that when you have nothing, you have nothing and you shouldn't have to try and force something out, because it wont be as good as if you had just waited till you have something to say. Though that is not to say that you can get away with never blogging at all because you feel like you never have something to say, ehm you guys know who you are.

I started to read a blog of someone who had just started to write and i started to laugh. I noticed that everyone, including myself, who starts a new blog always starts it off the same with some kind of explanation of why they never thought they would start a blog and then how they somehow got pulled into doing it and not to expect anything from them because they might not keep doing it. It made me wonder why we all have to excuse ourselves and pretty much ask permission from the electronic society in order to start a blog. After blogging for a small time now i think it is perfectly fine to say, hey I’m an awesome, entertaining person and that is why I’m starting a blog, now get over here and start following it!

I'm sure this has happened to other people but today at the store i was in line to buy my goods and this guy gets in line behind me and just starts talking to himself and getting closer and closer to me. He kept mumbling about things under his breath just loud enough to hear him with out being able to understand what it was he was saying. He didn't look crazy, we was fairly well clean and had on a business uniform so I assume he had a job and was a stable individual, but he just crept me out I wanted to turn around and say to him can I have more than 3 inches of personal space and would ya please shut up or finish your conversation with yourself a little quieter. Of course I didn’t say anything because now days you never know who is packing heat and just looking for a chance to use it.

Speaking of packing heat, I registered for my classes next semester and I am going to learn how to pack steel. I signed up for a fencing class and am really looking forward to taking it. I don’t plan on walking around town with a sword strapped to my hip, but I think everyone should get to take at least one fun class in college that they wouldn’t be able to take anywhere else. Maybe someday me and kirk can have a duel, though I think I would need a bigger sword to match his claymore. Anyways my lunch is up and i have a lot of projects due soon so i need to go, till next time!

not much

2008-11-17T10:18:00.000-08:00

Well, i've been able to blog on my break for about 4 weeks now and i am doing a good job as far as i can tell. I have found that the only problem i have is that on mondays i only take a quick 15min lunch break so my blogs have to be real short and on fridays it seems like there is always something ging on and it always happens during our lunch break, so once agina the blog is either short or non existant. I am looking forward to this weekend and next week, it will be nice to get away from school and work for a bit. Though when i come back the finals rush period will be upon me and i will have lots of homework to do everyday. Ah well, thats school for ya nothing but class and homework. Well thats all the time i have for today, hopefully wednesday's blog will be a little longer and more exciting.

Bathrooms and Politics

2008-11-12T13:25:00.000-08:00

So first off i want to thank Craig for reading my blog and then when he saw a camcorder on sale at http://www.woot.com/ letting me know, and while i found out i can get a newer one for cheaper elsewhere, i appreciate the effort.

My arms are all better now and can hang at my side with no problem, though if i stretch them i still feel a little soreness at the elbows. Whether you like Obama or not one of his web pages announced that he is going to make a new position and field of higher level federal jobs dealing with urban design and policy to help the US become better connected, efficient and energy sustainable. This of course means a much brighter, steady, opportunistic and lucrative job field for myself. Because for every 1 gov job that appears 10 more in the private sector are made to support or compete with it. So that is exciting for planners and others who are in a similar job field.

My topic today is about bathrooms and some of what goes on in them. Now i don't know how it is for the girls in the bathroom, but for guys there are a couple of etiquette rules about where to stand and where to look and so on and so forth. Now i don't know if this is an etiquette thing or just a peeve of mine, but i can't stand it when someone is in the public bathroom in the stall and they are doing something other than using the facilities. At every job I've been at, there is some person who thinks the stall is their own little bathroom like at home. Regardless of why i am in the bathroom, i don't want to hear your cellphone conversation with your buddy while your in the stall. Also why are you texting, shouldn't you be trying to get something done so you can go back to the office where work and other conversations are supposed to be?

One that i really couldn't take was a guy at Lowe's who would take the public break room newspaper in to the bathroom with him, read it, lay the read sections on the floor when he was done with them and then return it to the break room table. Eeewwww! Regardless of how the person doing these things feels about others hearing them, they should be considerate of how it makes others feel when they are in the bathroom. Some people refuse to use public bathrooms in the first place, lets not make it anymore uncomfortable for them by making their bodily functions part of the background noise of your phone call. Can't people just say goodbye or hang up their phone for a coupe minutes to get things done. Besides think of what might happen if the phone slipped out of your hand.

T-rex

2008-11-10T10:33:00.000-08:00

For those of you who read my last blog you know that i had some big study and construction plans for this weekend and for those of you who didn't read the last blog, shame on you! Well i never got to do all my plans last weekend in fact i barely did any of it. Why, you ask. Because i spent the entire time with my arms bent at a 90 degree angle trying to keep them from cramping, Becca spent the weekend calling me T-Rex. Thursday of last week we had a sub-teacher for my weight lifting class and he made up do some killer bicep exercises which completely destroyed my ability to use of stretch out my arms. I tried everything from pain killers to muscle relaxants, ointments, hot pads, and supplements. Nothing has worked except for time. Which is no good for me because now i have a 5 page paper to write tonight as well as a a midterm to study for which is also happening tomorrow. My arms still hurt today, but they have dropped to a less funny looking 160 degree angle and almost look normal. I still have to stop and rub/stretch them, but it is now where near as bad. Sufficed to say i am not very happy with the instructor and if he subs again i will ignore his recommendations and do my own lighter version of the workout.

I don't know if Becca will address it in her blog, but here car is in the shop for a leaking water pump and was taken away from us for the whole weekend and cost us more than we were really wanting to pay. The problem with trying to fix anything on her car is that the engine compartment is so small and the engine in sideways and it is way low to the ground. So if we want anything fixed it either has to go to the shop or i have to find a way to spend an entire day on something that would normally take 2 hours to do on another car. Which means it usually goes to the shop.

Today i got a letter from my sister asking what we wanted to do about buying Christmas gifts for each other and i of course said that i would take my normal 5 presents from everyone, thank you very much! No, i think the agreement is to do couples gifts this year, which makes sense, but for those of you who still need to know what to get me, i have one thing in mind now and if you refuse to do it i will post one or two other ideas in a day or two. For this year, i want to buy a camcorder so we can start making videos of our family to send to people or post on the blog and i thought the best way to do this would be to just ask for money from people so i can pool it all together and buy one. Of course if you want to just buy me/us one that is also fine with me, but that is my general plan for getting a camcorder.

New look

2008-11-07T11:37:00.000-08:00

So for some time now i have noticed that the blogger websites have allowed you to do some more things to them then when i first joined and i have really wanted to do an updating of my site. The only problem is that it takes forever to do it and since we don't have Internet at home i cant just work on it in my spare time. The other problem right now is that all the end of the year big projects are coming to the time when they need to be started and i still have a few things to get done around the house before we go to AZ for Thanksgiving. This unfortunately means that my blog look update will have to wait for another couple weekends and that this weekend is officially leave Alann alone so he can get some work done. These are never good weekends, because inevitable something comes up that gets in the way or i can get people/animals to leave me alone for long enough periods to accomplish anything and besides that, they are just not fun. I'd rather be out doing things with Becca around the house or relaxing, but unfortunately those things wont help me to catch up on my work.

If i could pick anything i wanted to do around the house for this weekend i think i would finish cleaning up the garage. Since i started to organize my workbench it has made me realize how messy the rest of the garage is and once it hits winter it is no longer an option to go into it for long periods of time because it isn't insulated or even really finished.I really can't think of anything else i want to write about so i think i'm just gonna end it here. till next week.

Keeping up with the Jones

2008-11-05T12:23:00.000-08:00

This will be a quick blog because I went out to a middle eastern place for lunch with a bunch of colleagues to celebrate the new presidency. It is called Cedar's of Lebanon and it was passing food quality, we did the buffet instead of the regular lunch menu, which may have been better. Apparently it has been there for 23 yrs and features live belly dancers on Friday nights. Things are good at work, and I am trying to get ready for grad school by organizing required paperwork and programs. The bathroom needs to have some trim put in and there is some places around the underside of the sink that need to be caulked then it will be done. I think the biggest thing going on for me now is that i have to get a class program put together for my independent study class next semester and since it is all for and about my needs i want it to be useful and to have something to show for it, which requires a lot of forethought and planning. There are only 6 weeks left in this semester and then i am down to only 16 weeks till i graduate, ya me!

Skipping out early

2008-10-31T11:23:00.000-07:00

I only have time for a short one today because is am going to try to skip out of work a little early today so i can get a jump start on finishing the everlasting bathroom. I just had a couple thoughts today to convey anyways, so here goes.

First, we are going to try and stay here while i go into the masters program, i will turn in all my stuff as soon as i can and hopefully the will accept my application. So if i get accepted all we have to do after that it make sure we are financially stable for another year an a half, which i think we can do.

Second, have ya noticed all the iconic messaging going on lately. things like, c u l8er and :) I saw a comics show briefly on a TV i was passing by and he was doing a bit on these icons and telling a story using only or mostly these symbols and it was easy to intemperate the symbols into what he was trying for. It got me thinking about Egyptian hieroglyphics and wondering if we keep incorporating more and more of these icons, like we are now, will we one day end up like the ancient Egyptians and have half to all of our words be in caricatures

Lastly, we bought a bunch of these Campbell's don't add water soups for me to try and i noticed that even though every soup was a different blend they all had this similar background taste to them. And these soups were way different form each other, i had tomato bisque, Italian meatball, broccoli cheddar with potato and one other one that i can't recall, but every single one of them had this taste. So one, it makes me not want to eat their soup any more two, i wonder if all the soups start off with the same broth and they just add different ingredients to them along the way and three is maybe its the can I'm tasting and what does that mean i could be eating?

Well those are my thoughts for the day, hope you enjoyed them.

Grad school

2008-10-29T11:31:00.000-07:00

So the big "to do" this week has been trying to decide if will I go to graduate school or will I just start working. So far what I have come up with through my research is that if I go to grad school anywhere else or for another field it will take about 2-3 years to get a MA. But if I stay here and do a degree in the program here, it could take me 1.5-2 years or if I tried a dual masters 2-3. Of course that means I'm back in school and not working full time and can we have to decide if we can make it financially with a baby, if Becca only works part time or not at all regardless of where I go to school.

I think the most appealing course of action right now is to stay here and do the degree, because not only is it short, but the dean is willing to allow me to customize the program a little so I can focus more on design and less on policy. Also Becca could keep her job and if not go to a part time or work from home, position, than at least we have some great friends here who we trust, if they were willing, to watch the baby while Becca was gone. Then that allows us to have the income we need and not have to worry about who is watching Claire and can we really trust them. So I feel that is the way I am leaning, I think the biggest catch is that I just want to be done with school. So my rational side and my selfish side are fighting over who will get what they want. Usually it is the rational side that wins, but that is not always true, however if i am going to stay on here I need to decide soon because registration is only a couple days way and then come the late fees. P.s. I don't like this layout, hopefully I can change it soon.

Yay Monday! Oh wait...

2008-10-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

So here we are again, a new Monday a new week of work and school. Over the weekend i worked on the bathroom and started to do the quarterly cleaning of the garage so i can let it fall apart again through winter neglect ( its just too cold to go out there for long). No, unfortunately the bathroom is not finished. Some where along the way the bolt from the floor to the toilet got messed up and after an hour of trying to clean it and just put the nut on i gave up. So today i get to go to home depot on the way home and buy a new toilet setting kit and hopefully by Wednesday the toilet will be back in place and then i can get the walls painted by this coming weekend. What took the most time was waiting for the wall compound to dry so i could sand it and apply a new coat and in fact it is still not done. only the part behind the toilet is done and painted.

While the bathroom may not have gotten finished it still was a good weekend. I have now acquired enough tools that i can start to break them up into categories of work like plumbing and tile and so forth and put them in their own tool boxes, which is what i did. So now i can just grab a tool box for the project I'm doing and be on my way instead of trying to gather it all first. I think i will need to make a general tools box too for the things that go in multiple projects so i don't have to keep switching them around. Also I have told Becca that i would like some kind of organizational system for the garage, she told me that if i can find one i like then maybe we can get it. I have to admit that i have it fairly nice when it comes to the accumulation of tools, as long as i can justify needing the tool for a project, i can have it and for the most part i have never taken advantage and gotten something i didn't really need or use.

Not all men can say that, even when they need the tool they are not allowed to get it because their wife doesn't understand why just a screw driver and hammer wont work. That's one of the reasons i am grateful that Becca was in shop at school, she realizes that the right tool not only makes things faster and easier,but sometimes it is the only way it can get done. I've decided lately that if we end up staying in Utah for a while that this next summer i am going to build or buy a small portable garden tool shed so we can get all the garden tools and supplies out of the garage and grouped together out of the way. Then maybe i will tackle the idea of fixing the back wall to the garage so that the door shuts and i don't have to worry if it is going to fall off the foundation, and think of all the lovely tools i can get for those projects :) When will i find out if we are staying here longer? I'm not sure but hopefully soon, i am talking to people and looking up possible avenues for the future so, well see.

Yeah Friday

2008-10-24T16:47:00.000-07:00

So we had birthday celebrations today during lunch so i am now writing this after i have clocked out of work for the day. The main things going on in my life right now are:

1, I have to finish the bathroom this weekend
2, Decide if i want to do graduate school
a, where
b, what degree
c, what school
d, how to pay for it
3, Do i want to just get a job w/ an undergratuates
a, where
b, in what exact field
c, can we live off it
4, Do more interviews w/ urban design firms to find out what preperations i need to make
5, Start plans on my final semester line up of classes
6, Start working on major papers due at end of school term or before

I think that is all the main things so far, if you guys have any thoughts on these subjects let me know.

Work

2008-10-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

So I’m at work on my lunch break and I decided to see if now would be a good time to do my blogging because it seems like I never have the time to now. Of course this means that I will have to be a little restrictive when it comes to my talking about work, because the boss could be right behind me reading what I am writing. Not that I complain about work a lot, but it just wouldn’t be good for my work atmosphere to be caught complaining. Now the only problem I can think of with this idea of writing during my lunch is that I am a sporadic lunch taker. Sometimes I work while I eat some times I take it early or late or I shorten it or I don’t take one at all. So there is a real chance that I just might not make the time.

Work is going o.k., the project I am working on is nearing its draft date and I am adding all the final touches on it before my boss looks over it and critiques it. I feel like I understand what it is I’m doing a little better, but don’t know how well I would do if I had to start a new paper. I have started to email urban design firms to see if I can get an interview with someone in charge to ask them about what kinds of skills and education they look for. So far I have gotten one response from a secretary asking for more specific information on my situation, but that is about it. Hopefully at least 3-4 of them will respond to me and I can get a good look at the skills I should be trying to develop.

For those who have not heard I put in my graduation application about a week ago, so I should be graduating around May 09. So far I have given myself an easy last semester with only 2 real classes and 2 blow off classes, one is weight training and the other is fencing. If I get some good feedback from the firms I questioned or find a class to take, I will drop the blow off classes, but until then I am keeping them. I have done over loaded semester hours for the last 3 semesters and think that if I can take an easy one than I should.

If you haven’t read becca’s blog then let me now tell you that this last weekend I tore out the main bathroom floor and fixtures so I could replace them and finish repairing the wall. I have no idea why I did this, I just know one minute I was looking at the ugly bathroom floor wondering if it would get done before Claire was born and the next minute I found myself with a crowbar in my hand tearing up linoleum flooring and ripping out the vanity. It started out easy and was going quickly and well until I started to do the plumbing. Like all the projects in the house this one had to have something that wasn’t easy to do. I think if the plumbing had been easy than the bathroom would now be done. But no, I had to cut out a small section of wall, use my power saw to cut the pipe, mount a new wall drain, reconfigure the drainage from the sink 3 times, put together the tailpipe system for the sink and mount the faucet and connect it to the water supply. Then clean up the mess from all the leaking water when it was tested multiple times.

Hopefully the rest of the bathroom will go smoothly and it will be back to working and will be the first fully completed room in the house, YAA! Well i think that is enough for now till next time!

Sick?

2008-10-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

So I've had this pain in the back of my throat since Tuesday and everyday it has gotten worse so today i went to see the doctor to see if it was strep. After being nearly choked by the nurse the doctor came in and examined me and said that the test results were inconclusive and i could have strep or maybe something viral and maybe it is contagious and maybe it isn't. Some help. So he gave me some antibiotics for if it is strep or if it is bacterial and told me to stay home for the day. While it is nice to get to play hooky from work i think i would rather know what it is that i have. Next week is fall break from school and i get the whole week off and during the weekend i get to go camping/deerhunting with my dad and male relatives, hopefully by then my throat will feel better and i'll be able to go. Sorry this isn't that interesting of a post but i dont really feel like writing much today.

What is this time thing?

2008-09-30T13:58:00.000-07:00

Oddly enough, i have found myself with a little bit of time to kill. This is mostly due to the fact that i just got done taking a test that i way over prepared for and got done with in 15min instead of the 75 we were allowed to take. But i feel like i killed the thing and will get a great grade, so I'm not gonna complain. So i said to myself what am i going to do for a little bit before i have to go to my supposed study group. Blog of course!

I recently found out that i am a 3-d visually minded, ISTJ (Introverted Sensing Thinking Judging ), steadfast, perfectionist type of person. Wow what a mouth full! How did i find all this out you say.Well had us do some personality tests at work to help them better understand who we are as the new people they've hired and how to best work with us. Now i really didn't believe the perfectionist part, but Becca insists that it is true. I conceded that it is only true when it comes to things that i decide matter, like grades and projects that i am into. I would be interested to hear from everyone on what they think of my personality and aptitude results.
By the way here is the details to a ISTJ

"ISTJs are often called inspectors. They have a keen sense of right and wrong, especially in their area of interest and/or responsibility. They are noted for devotion to duty. Punctuality is a watchword of the ISTJ. The secretary, clerk, or business(wo)man by whom others set their clocks is likely to be an ISTJ.
As do other Introverted Thinkers, ISTJs often give the initial impression of being aloof and perhaps somewhat cold. Effusive expression of emotional warmth is not something that ISTJs do without considerable energy loss.
ISTJs are most at home with "just the facts, Ma'am." They seem to perform at highest efficiency when employing a step-by-step approach. Once a new procedure has proven itself (i.e., has been shown "to work,") the ISTJ can be depended upon to carry it through, even at the expense of their own health. "

Also I have found that I don't really care for policy planning too much. At least so far, i admit that it has only been 2 weeks and things may change. But so far it is way to much reading and writing (not my strong point, though my professional writing teacher said i did a great job on my last paper and would have made any lawyer proud.) and too little doing or designing which is what i really like to do and went in to apply for. So i plan to stick it out for another week or two and if things don't improve I'll talk to my mentor and supervisor and see if there is another project that i could work on that i might be better suited for.

Other than that life is good, Becca is fine, the baby is healthy and we are making our debt payments. I think the only thing i would change is the fact that right now we are kinda friend deficient and need to have some friend time,which we have been too busy for. But it looks like latter this week there might be some open time or maybe not who knows. Till next time!

Finally

2008-09-25T14:06:00.000-07:00

Yes finally some time to blog!! We had a lab today and i got done early and one of the guys in the class wanted to borrow my notes for an up coming test. So i figured while he was copying them i would write a little. School is going good and for the most part i like my classes. The two physical education or PE classes have not made any large results in my weight or BMI even with the new diet monitoring system i am using on live strong- my plate. So i have had to readjust how i am using the program and try to be more strict on what i can eat. My other 3 conventional education classes are going good, but sometimes i find them to be a bit boring at the end of the class. My new internship with WSA is going just fine and if I can produce the kind of work they hope i can then i may get to stay with them till i graduate and then look for a position within the company. Right now they have me doing a lot of writing for project work. Things like scopes and work proposals and outlines for new books that they are putting together. I like the work, but find it kinda boring. I really want to do something more on the design side. But this is a huge company with many departments and so far i have only been exposed to one and only a little at that so i am sure there are more interesting things that i will get to work on.

This week has been very busy with 2 jobs, full time school and this weekend is a scout camp out. Next week should be much nicer on me with only one job and a weekend to myself or rather designated to Becca's b-day. She seems to think that we have to celebrate it every year or something, selfish is all i have to say on it. ;) Well to end on an entertaining note this week i got spiked in the big toe by a yard sprinkler with a yard spike on the end of it. i was trying to kick it out of the way and it pierced my good black church shoe destroyed the sock and viciously stabbed me. Becca said i deserved it for being mean to the sprinkler, but i think i is just out to get me because i prefer to use the other sprinkler and not it. Well becca's pregnancy is going good and i can't wait to meet my daughter, but she tells me i have to wait another 4ish months, SELFISH! What is with this girl and being so selfish.;) well i am late for work so i gotta go!

yeah so

2008-09-11T16:38:00.001-07:00

Apparently they have changed the welcoming window for when you first sign into your blog, it kinda threw me there for a second. i really didn't know if i had gone to the right site. So while i thought i had lots of free time between classes, i don't. So now if i want to blog i will have to do it after school before i go home, which i will try to do. I know that my desired job field will have me away from home at other activities like meetings, forums, business trips and presentations so i might as well start getting used to the fact that i wont get to be home every night by 5 or 6 and do some blog time. Really this is all i came to say, I just wanted every to know that i'm still alive and trying to blog.

Columbia house

2008-09-03T13:31:00.001-07:00

So today while checking up on the status of my school loans and other things I went to yahoo to see if i had gotten any responses to a couple of emails. While in my inbox I found a letter from Columbia House about a 3-$22 sale they were having, and since i haven't bought any movies for a while i thought i would go ahead and look around for a bit. Now for those who don't know me, i love to own movies even if i only watch them once every 3 years. The fact that i have that movie to watch when i want it brings me a since of comfort and pride. But anyways back to the story, have you ever noticed that movies you may never wanted before suddenly look like they might nicely fit into your collection when they hit the $5 mark? I was scrolling down the page going that looks good, haven't seen that in a while, i remember that one, I probably could have just clicked on every movie in the sale and been quite happy with myself. However i did not buy anything, i just sat here and drooled until i could no longer look at the site for fear of shorting out my laptop.

The big news this week is that i was offered an internship with wilbur smith assoc, which i will begin working at in about 2-3 weeks. Unfortunately that is the only information i have on the job so far because they are still setting up the lab and have not finalized many of the details yet. But since this is a requirement for me to graduate as long as they don't try to pay me $3.00 an hour for 60hrs a week scrubbing floors i will probably be happy with whatever it is they come up with, after all some internships don't pay at all and have little to do with the actual degree. So I will keep everyone posted on what happens there.till next time, c-ya!

I hate high security sites

2008-09-02T15:38:00.000-07:00

So i am trying to get all my financial aid stuff taken care of before they take away my classes and i have to go through this site uheaa and it wants to know all this information and passwords so i can access my account and then i have to put in my fasfa pin number at the end to electronically sign my docs. The problem is that i have not accessed this data in over a year and all the anwers are case sensative and half the questions i have no idea how to answer so now i have 5 days left to get this stuff taken care of and am waiting for a new pin number that may take 1-3 days to get all because these sites are so ultra high security that i can't even get into my own account and end up getting shut out and having to reapply for the accounts. I seriously hate the "electronic age" right now and wish they would just give me a piece of paper at the finacial aid office to sign so i could get it all done in person w/ an ID card instead. But no everything has to be done with email and passwords to save on trees and time. If i have to reapply for my own accounts again after getting this pin i might just take the semester off!!!

not a quikie

2008-08-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

So if you read Becca's blog then you are fairly well up to date on some of the major things going on in my life, if you haven't read her blog i suggest you go over to it and read, because i will not be repeating any of what she said yesterday. School starts in like one week and i need to buy books and figure out where my classes are and if i can make it from one to the next without killing myself. Yes it is nice to have the bike gone from the driveway and i am sad that it didn't work out better, but it seems like i was supposed to use the money for school anyways so it has all probably turned out for the best. I was hoping that the company I'm trying to intern with (Wilbur Smith Associates) was the same one that my friend kirk wing works at, one because maybe he could put in a good word for my with the corporate hirer and two because maybe i could transfer out there to KS. Still WAS does have companies in the Midwest so if i do intern with them and if i like the company and if they want to hire me i may be able to transfer to the Midwest. Of course that's a lot of "ifs" to fulfill.

I had a bad experience this week with a former employer, apparently the ops manager didn't think that i was keeping busy enough and i thought that since it was work study that when ever they didn't have something for me to work on that i could study. Well the boss never came to me with his issues and even said i could have the job next year if i wanted it. So when i sent him an email asking to have the job i was SHOCKED to read his response,

"Hi Alann-

Sorry I missed you last week. Paula mentioned that you had come by.

I think that it would be better for us not to rehire you. To be perfectly blunt, my needs for the job are someone who is always on the lookout for something to do, and never willing to sit still. Based on my experience with you last year, I don’t think that really describes you. I don’t really have time to manage one more employee and make sure that I am getting my money’s worth by always assuring that there are tasks waiting.

Thanks for your time with us last year, and best wishes as you finish your schooling.

Tony"

So after a half hour of rewriting very upset and harsh letters, I finally told myself that nothing would change by telling off this guy and wrote the nicest email i could while still telling him a little of how i felt.

Tony,

Could you make sure I am taken off the mailing list for the museum. The random emails about nothing important are a bit irritating to have to erase all the time. Also I don't need to be insulted, you could have just said no thank you, that was my first work-study job and if you wanted something to change while I was there all you had to do was set up a meeting with me and let me know not to spend so much time on school work. I suggest next time you actually talk to your employee once in a while instead of assuming you know what is going on with them, then maybe you will be happier with their performance.

Best of luck with your move and new child.

Alann

If you have ever listened to the comedian Dane Cook these letters reminds me of the joke about the the guy at the cash register telling Dane " just a minute pal." when he wants some katsup for his hot tasty fries (Dan you should know what I'm talking about). For those who don't know what I'm talking about, you have to hear it to get the whole impact of it, maybe Dan will put in my comments which CD it is from so everyone can listen to it themselves if they want and at their own discretion.Mostly I'm just mad because i feel like i was blind sided by this guy and now i have to rethink some decisions i made about work during school if i don't get an internship. I think Becca said it best when she said it was bad management on his part and I think she is right because honestly all he had to do was talk to me and i would have changed what i was doing to better fulfill what he wanted done, but it too late now.

The only other thing i have to write about this week is that lately i have been getting real tired of hearing all the moronic discussions that happen around me at work or while I am out of the house. It seems like all I hear is people talking about things that they have no factual background knowledge of but they seem to know that they are right and nothing else could be true but what they think. I'm not saying that i have a complete knowledge of all the things they are talking about but when the news the night before says that a boy was caught on fire by a stray ember and you are saying that two boys set him on fire to watch him burn and how bad blah blah blah is and yada yada yada, I just want to tell you to shut up and stop talking about things that you only have a partial knowledge of.

It really just drives me nuts to hear two people talking about things they don't understand and act like they do or to hear them talk about pop culture things that have no lasting meaning or significance in life like they are more important then enything else. For once I want to walk into the break room and hear two cashiers talking about how to best conserve world energy and the world economic ramifications of Russia's and Georgia's border war. Instead i get to hear about how so and so had to b-slap her daughter and threaten to not let her go to church if she didn't stop calling her mother's new boyfriend a bas!#$%. I understand that not all conversations need to be deep and sophisticated and that i don't always talk about deep things, but i just want to know, what happened to meaningful conversations? Where did they go? And how do i get them to come back? Well i think that is enough for now, i will go for now c-ya!

Fun stuff

2008-08-02T11:30:00.001-07:00

So today we woke up early to go to Becca's work to let in the carpet cleaning people and then go to the temple. We only had to wait about 10 min for the guys to get here and get setup before we could leave, which was nice. Then we went to the temple to do sealings(marriages) for those who have passed on. It was quite a little adventure after we got there i realized half way through with undressing in the changing room that i forgot my pants for the ceremony and that i didn't have any money on me to rent some, so i got dressed again and went to go find Becca. Luckily as i was waiting for Becca to see if she had any money one of the assistants/guides saw me there and asked what was going on, after i told her what was happening she went to see if she could find my wife after about 5 min of waiting she came back out and said she could not find her but here was the 50 cents to go rent some pants. I thought that was very nice of her and was very grateful. So i went back in and got ready for the ceremony and went to go find Becca who was up stairs wondering where i was. But in the end it all worked out and we had a great time. Now we are waiting for the carpet cleaners to get done so we can leave her work and go back to our house to clean and rearrange the house so when my parents visit they will have a place to stay. That and this whole week i have been preping and painting the kitchen walls, which becca says looks great and not southwestern( though I disagree with the last part), but anyways we need to get that cleaned up as well so we can use the kitchen again. Well the cleaners are done and becca wants to leave so i will see yall later!!!

internship

2008-07-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

So i have been looking for an internship for the past 4 hours and can find nothing in utah that is taking interns, so finally i just started to blanket cover every company i could find on the net and after getting half way through the list i have decided to call it quits for the day. Next time i will finish the list then move on to enginerring, GIS, local Gov groups, then i will start calling places and asking if there are any oppertunities. I can find lots of interships and lots of jobs out of state, but nothing that i could do, because obviously i'm still in school and need to stay here. I hate looking for work.

Verite inc.

2008-07-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

So today i went to work at lowes like usual and for the 3rd time this week our team leader didn't show up for work and no one on the stocking crew knows why. Add to this that there was no truck of frieght to put away means that we had very little to do, so they let those of us who wanted to leave go home early.So I called up Becca and asked her if she wanted to go out to lunch,which she said yes to. We went to Sampan and got lunch and now i am going to hang out at her work for a little while and surf the net to get some work done. Work like find another job, check email, look at vehicles, look at classes and check my grades for this summer's semester (so far i have one A and 2 classes left to get grades for)

The Bowles

2008-07-21T17:58:00.000-07:00

So last Thursday thru Saturday i spent everyday all day working on my friends fence with them. It was nothing special just a wood fence with a front gate and a double gate for car access on the side. We had to dig new post holes ( by machine and hand) put in the poles build the gates measure and put up the arms/ rails and then put on the planks. Over all it went really easy with no major complication and i think the resulting fence will last as long as they want it to and when they are done staining it will look nice. I was happy to help and well compensated for my labor, but man i don't know if I have fully recovered yet i am still tired and a little sore. Of course Becca missed out on the whole thing because she was at camp, but she still got to enjoy one of the perks for loaning me to build the fence. But for the most part that took up all my weekend.
Today i started to do some of the things that i would normally have done like mow the lawn and work on the house. I am currently puttying all the holes and cracks in the kitchen then i will finish the wall next to the cabinets and fix the gap in the wood floor by ripping down two floor boards to make on large one to make up for the shifted wood planks that happened during the mysterious leak episode. Then once that is done its on to the main bath to replace the floor, vanity and sand and paint the walls. Well i gotta go to class!

meez people

2008-07-11T16:21:00.000-07:00

I have another meez slide show, but it wont be ready until later other wise the site has changed some

Stop light speeders

2008-07-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

So yeah, this is like the 3rd post this week from me, but don't get used to it, i just happen to have a little extra time before class today. Also make sure you read the last post and that you respond to it, so i can see what everyone thinks. On my way to school i got passed by this early 90's white truck with an obviously low class driver, was i not doing the speed limit you ask, why no i was doing the limit and was in the correct lane. However what i wasn't doing that made this driver upset and pass me with a mighty rev of his engine was that i was slow starting at all the red to green lights. Basically i was starting off the line slower than everyone else, but the funny thing is that i would get to the next red light at around the same time as the other drivers in my "group".

I have driven this route enough times to know that if you get stuck at one red light you wont make it to the next light while it is still green so i don't even bother trying. But mister "has to speed" didn't seem to feel the same way as i did. I assume that he alsotakes this route fairly often too because he turned into a subdivision on the way. But my thought was even if i didn't know about not being able to make the next light why would i want to race from one light to the other.
All it does is 1 waste gas by getting into higher RPMs just to move a little faster at the beginning of moving 2. add more wear and tear to the engine 3 use up your brakes faster due to harder stopping at the next light. 4 wear out the tread on the tires faster from needed additional traction 5 make you look like an idiot as you race around people just to end up with them at the next light 6 get you upset if you don't make the next light and 7 add more pollution into the air because of the bad energy efficiency of your motor at that speed/power ratio. So really i gotta ask is it really worth speeding off the line just so you can end up next to me again at the next light?

Making up

2008-07-08T15:32:00.001-07:00

So after yesterdays little tiff, i have decided to for give you for being mean to me and making me feel bad. Also as a token of friendship i am doing this blog at the library in a hot cubicle with people all around me, just for you. Not too much is going on right now as far as construction of the site is concerned, i don't have the time to do any major reordering and the only way i will be able to do it is if i take the time on Friday when i get the day off. So i would say if i can't get to the blog before then i will do some renovating on it Friday, so check then for some fun updates. Work is good i got my boss to o.k. me to come in at 6am instead of 4am and the sleep is nice, but i hate knowing that the rest of the crew has gone home at 1 and i have to stay till 3, I guess there is just no pleasing me. Becca has been having odd dreams lately and is having trouble sleeping and i think her sleep problems are bleeding over to me because the last three nights i haven't slept too deeply and end up being tired all day long.

So here is some food for thought for you readers. I have been reading a book about being self sufficient and using your land like a large garden or up to a small farm (5 acres) to provide for most if not all of what a family needs. One of the things it talks about is a making a methane digestor, which in simple terms is a animal waste container that links to a gas container to store the methane gas from the waste, which than can be used to burn for cooking and heating or used in natural gas type engines to power cars and generators. So the question for everyone to think about is,

if you could create enough gas to supply your home cooking and heating, run a generator for all your electrical needs and produce enough natural gas to drive a car around for your work and errands, thus effectively disentangling yourselves from the world energy crisis and price hiking would you be willing to pay the price of installing and converting the equipment and then run a small to medium farm with pigs, cows, horses and the whole lot and everyday go out and get more "fuel" for your methane digestor. Let me know I'm willing to see what everyone thinks.

Dan is correct

2008-07-07T18:09:00.001-07:00

O.K. fine Dan is right, my site has been under construction for a while now with no noticeable updates or major changes. I have this problem of only being able to connect to the net before class and Becca wants to see me or something so that kinda cuts down on the time i have to use the Internet before i go into my statistics class. So mostly the important things get done like checking my email for important documents, transferring money and looking up school "need to do" items. So blogging takes a back seat. "But don't you have Internet access at your local library?" you ask.Why yes i do,but you weren't supposed to remember that, because now i look like a slacker.....which I'm obviously not..... The problem with the library is that i don't like it, it hot, smelly, uncomfortable and there is not a private corner anywhere next to a wall socket so i really don't like to use the net there unless i really have to."But didn't you say you were going to try to start blogging more often? " you say. To which i reply, that boy are you starting to get on my nerves. YES i said that, but sometimes we say things that we don't really think that we will follow through with. " So your a liar then?" you say. Fine, yes i lied to you. I really don't have any intention of writing more until school starts up again and i have down time between classes, are ya happy now?! Yes, you reply to yourself, because by now i have walked away in disgust.

Construction

2008-06-25T11:46:00.000-07:00

Obviously i am redoing somethings so check up avery now and then to see what is new

so ashamed

2008-06-23T17:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, I admit it i have thoroughly slacked off on my responsibility to write a blog everyday.I don't think i have even made it every other week. For all those people who are like me and make the everyday rounds to to see if there is anything new on their friends blog sites, i apologise. It is just so hard to find the time to sit down and type for a half hour to a full hour and then add pics and change around the page. I just don't have the time and i can't stand just posting the little "I'm still alive" blips, because it like well yeah your still alive, but what have you been doing all this time? So I am going to try and do better, I don't know how or when it will start, but hopefully now that i only have evening classes i can find some time between work and class to sit down and type out a paragraph or two. Of course if my typing speed and accuracy were better i may be able to post more often too because it wouldn't take as long to post.

So I guess for a quick update on life i have got a couple things i can talk about. For fathers day Becca gave me a PS2 all on her own, I had no idea what she was getting me. I bought God Of War 2 and love it. For those of you how don't know what it is, the game follows a basic story line were you a fallen Greek god fight your way back into god like power to rise up and fight Zeus. So far i think I'm about half way through. It also can with a bunch of sports games most of which i will eBay off but some that i will keep.

I sold my motorcycle because of lack of funds to fix it and hope to save up for a little bit and get something else by the end of the summer of the beginning of next. I am not quite sure what will happen there because i am not working full time this summer and we may be moving next summer depending on what happens when i graduate.

I have one morning class left and then it is only one night class till the first of august, then i get about 3 weeks off till fall semester starts.Then i will be back to a full load of school and then will only have a cap class, internship and 1 blow off class to complete for spring of 09 to graduate.

We now have a fair amount of grass in our front yard from the seed we planted and now we are going to weed and feed the front to kill of the weeds that have grown and then we will plant more grass seed to help fill in the lawn.

I just put the hard wood floor back in the kitchen, because the mysterious leak went away once we fixed the washing machine hookup pipes. It is a little bumpy even with getting 2 out of 5 boards replaced. Maybe if we have the money and i have the time i will look at going back and replacing the entire middle section of wood flooring, but we have many other projects ahead of that one. I mean they really are small little bumps that aren't noticeable unless you know what it was like before.

The house in Columbia mo is for sale and we hope to sell it before to much longer into the summer. It is a good quality house with the option to have a renter downstairs to help lower rent payments so i think it will sell fairly fast.

Um i think that is it for now, atleast that is all i have time for so hopefully i will be posting a bit more often from now on.

garfield

2008-06-10T14:55:00.000-07:00

Just a quick one today while i wait for my windows to update. I have read Garfield comics before and found them funny but lately i have had to spend some time at the library to use the Internet and while i wait for things to down load i read Garfield comics. Let me tell you they are so much funnier when you own a cat and a dog and can look at the strip and see your animals doing the same thing that Odie and Garfield are doing. Speaking of here is an interesting website i came across it is called Garfield minus Garfield and is at http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/page/1 it shows the strips without Garfield in them and some are pretty funny when you think about them in the context the the website suggest you should. Here is an example of one

I suggest going to the website and checking it out.

Camping

2008-06-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

So last Friday and Saturday we went out to the Jordanelle Lake and took our tent and little 12' fishing boat w/ outboard motor and camped for the night. This was a new experience for me, not that I haven't been camping before but the way the site was setup was very different from what I am used to. At all the sites I have ever been to they tell you what plot to go to and then you decide where to put your tent and usually you are surrounded by trees and insects. This time however they had built a little 12 x 12 gravel pad to setup on and there were 3 trees per site, which obviously had been predetermined by the management, and there were no bugs what so ever and we happened to get a spot about 50 yards away from the lake front. The lack of bugs was very nice, I assume this was due to the cold summer we've had and the high elevation we were camping at and it was kind of pleasant to be able to see all the way across the lake and to see the outhouse instead of having to navigate your way through the forest, though I did miss the cover when it rained that night. I was not too impressed with the gravel pad though, it was way rough on the body even though we brought stuff to sleep on it was still easy to feel the rocks beneath the padding.

But all in all the site was very pretty and I took a picture of it using my old school film camera, so maybe in a few months when we use up the film I will post a picture of the campsite. So after a fairly cold night we woke up to a drizzling morning and decided to tough it out and go fishing on the boat. We drove to the boat launch and after some comunication problems between Becca and i we got the boat launched and went out to go get some fish. To make an entire day event short we never caught a thing though, Becca almost caught a bird and I got a couple of bites while Becca was back at camp making breakfast. Becca's new fishing equipment I bought her worked great and my older equipment failed me miserably by continuously breaking and getting the line tangled in the reel. We boated into a cove to fish and found a family of 7-9 beavers? woodchucks? Muskrats? Something. They were cute though, they ran up and down the hill and played in the grass while me and Becca fished and caught nothing. After that we needed to go in so we could clean up camp and I showed Becca how to operate the boat. She grasped the concepts just fine and only had problems when it came to pull starting the motor, but on the 5-6 time she got it started and she "drove" us back to the boat ramp where we loaded the boat and went back to the site. There we cleaned up the camp in about 15 minutes and made it back home around 3pm on Saturday in time to go to the church pig roast. Then we went home and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

All in all it was a good trip, i told Becca to make a list of things she felt needed improvement for next trip and we would try to accomplish them before next time we go out. My list so far is 1. Get new fishing gear 2. Get better sleeping pads 3. Buy camp stove (we borrowed one) 4. Get new sleeping bags for us 5. Buy small hatchet 6. Remember to drink more water and wear suntan lotion, I got burned and a little dehydrated.

sprinklers and tears

2008-06-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

So we put in the grass seed this week and went into the back yard where i was assembling the 50' section of sprinkler pipe. first we tired to bring it up in one whole piece but it was too big for just the two of us to move with out having mass frustration or something breaking on the way. So i cut it into 3 sections and put on the joining adapters so that when all the pieces were up front it could be put back togeather and used. I had planned on dsing this anyways but wanted to do it later in the year when we were taking in for the winter. So we go it up to the front put together and all postioned and hooked up to the hose. The sprinkler heads i bought are ment to cover 11' each and are spaced 10' apart giving complete and comprhensive coverage to all the lawn area. However when we turned the hose on each sprinkler only cover ready....1'. what happened to the 0 behind that 1? It left when it found out that the water pressure behind the hose was less than origionally thought. So about 6hrs of work and 3hrs of planning were all for nothing. We ended going back to lowes buying 4 srinkler heads attaching them to lawn spikes and running individual hoses to each of them and then getting about half the range out of each that they are capable of. So now about 80% of the yard is getting watered and we have all the pipe we need to build becca a fancy new green house for her garden. So while the supplies are not a waste the time and energy put into it were. But oh well.

Weather?

2008-05-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

So this has to be a quick one because i am doing it on the booses dollar and i am leaving sooner than i thought because the place i need to go is closing a whole hour earlier than i thought. Today's Blog report shows sunny skys with a chance of lazing around tonight followed by some homework and house chores tomorrow and then some more lazing around in the evening. Then on Sunday a chance of friend time with the Bowles and then back to school on monday. I give this forcast a 75% chance of happening with a standard deviation of 1-2 bowls of ice cream for snackies. Have a good weekend everyone!!!!!

Pepperoni pizza w/ ranch, who knew?

2008-05-27T13:59:00.000-07:00

Yeah happy over a thousand visits to me!! So the lappy is still at home but will be turned in on Thursday back to the evil gateway people who sold it to me. This past weekend we took a c+ yard and completely tilled it under and made it into an A+ muddle puddle thanks to the rain. However we did make the side yard much nicer we took out the weeds, put a border up, laid down weed cloth, put down mulch, laid out a stepping stone path and planted some young bushes. All in all it went from being a D- to a B+ in my book. The project also broke me of any desire to do more projects for a week or two. Both me and Becca were so sore that our hands hurt and mine cramped a couple times while I slept. But now all that needs to be done is putting in the grass seed and me finishing up the above ground sprinkler system to water it and then we have to wait and water to see if we get a new lawn or have to start saving up for a new sod yard next year.

Back in the saddle again

2008-05-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

So today's post will be like all my other posts and be short and sweet. I think i will do a quick update on life. Since Becca will probably go into detail on Craig's wedding i will just say that the trip and wedding were fun and quick. When we got home and i previewed the yard i found that there had been some hot dry days while we were gone. All the grass had died and any new leaves on our plants were yellow and some plants didn't make it. I dropped one of my summer classes in favor of taking it during the fall so i can get full time status and all the loans and work study that goes with it. Besides with out that one class i can now see Becca more than once a week. I got one of my 2 school books and now am only slightly behind in that class and i am still waiting on my statistics book so i can start doing the problems in it so i can better retain the lesson from class. I called the gateway peoples support line and talked to a rep who was much more thorough about what was wrong with my laptop and scheduled another send in time. So hopefully this time it will get fixed, because if it doesn't i may just have to go "Becca" all over them. Other than that the weather is now cool and rainy and looks like it will stay that way for the weekend, which is fine with me because we plan to tear out and reseed the front lawn and the heat would not be very welcome. But i will leave you now because i have been in this chair for 4 hrs and if i don't get up now it will be another 4 hours till i get the chance again.

Now official

2008-05-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

They say that to become a real skater or blader or bmx-er you have to wipe out pretty good and do some damage. Well today i became an official scooterer. About 3 weeks ago i found a razor scooter some kid had left behind because they had broken the front wheel, bent the forks and messed up the pole that leads to the handles. Well i had been wanting to find a new way of getting around the campus using some wheels but can't skateboard, don't want to hassle w/ a bike and don't want to take on and off roller blades, so i thought this scooter might be the solution. I toke it home bought a new wheel straitened the forks and the pole was only keeping the handles from retracting, no big deal. So i took it to school to my job on campus and road it to and from work and other than it being a little short i had no problems. Than today i took it to class with me and getting to the school was fine i was on a side walk and would have to get off every now and then so i didn't run over people and had no problem. Then on the way back from class i had to go across a couple of different types of concrete pourings. This was the first place the scooter failed the wheels are so small it would get stuck in groves and i would have to get off it to pull it out of this 1/4 inch groove then later on a parking lot i found that it doesn't turn very well either.

Then came the time of my christening. There is this semi long and steep hill to get to the train stop and last time i had ridden down half of it from work. This time i decided to start at the top. Two skinned palms, one skinned knee and a skinned elbow later i found out that the brakes don't work that great either and that i can not run as fast as a scooter can roll down hill. Yes, of course i lost it in front of a group of people walking up the side of the parking lot and one guy actually stopped and asked if i was o.k. So did i feel embarrassed and stupid? Why no actually my adrenaline was running so hard and i was having so much fun that i actually was laughing and having a good time despite the blood oozing out of my body and the knowledge that tomorrow i will be totally sore. It has been so long since i got out and did anything like that, that i had a great time. however the scooter has shown me that it can not do what i need it to. So i have decided that i need to look elsewhere for my new form of transportation and maybe I'll just pawn the free scooter.

unbelievable!

2008-05-13T16:06:00.001-07:00

So my laptop has been having problems so i sent it in to get fixed before my warranty runs out on it. yesterday i got it back and the second i cut the tape on the box i realized i had forgot to remove the pass word to my windows when i sent it in! So i knew they must have reformatted my drive and reloaded window. Sure enough i turn it on and it is no longer my computer it has lost all its personality and is now a blank slat that i must now try to rebuild again. So that was soooo frustrating and saddening for me. But then today i put on some of my backed up files and left for school a little early so i could download some updates for the lappy and guess what i find. THEY DIDN'T FIX THE PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They completely deleted my files, ruined years of personalizing and not only sent it back unfixed but it is coming up with errors it never had before i sent it! If i could get the guy on the phone who did this to me I'd really let him have it. However since it will be a call center operator who gets the call i will be much nicer but still very upset about the situation. I still have till June 27 then my warranty expires and if its not fixed by then (which I'm sure it will be) then they will be fixing it with their own dollar. Well i must go to class now and see if i can concentrate on my school work.

still alive

2008-05-09T15:37:00.001-07:00

I know i have not posted in a while and wont for about a week till my laptop comes backa dn i start summer school. i just wanted everyone to know that i am still here and alive and hopefully will be posting again soon.

Bloggerific

2008-04-30T11:52:00.000-07:00

Alright first of all let me say FINALS ARE OVER!!!!!!! Man it feels so good to say that! So how did I do you ask. Well if you becca what I tell her it’s” not good enough”, I am always fanaticizing about getting A’s. But honestly it feels like it will get a mix of A’s and B’s out of 5 classes maybe 2-a and 3-b. Though right now it could be 5-cs and I’d be ok. Of course I still have summer school starting in a week, but till then I am going to enjoy the time off. That and the summer section ends the last week in July so I’ll still have august to myself. So I am trying to sell my motorcycle for $800 and this is how it is listed on Craig’s list.

goods

1982 Honda Sabre, 750cc, 36k mi, electric start, liquid cooled, rear axle drive, brand new battery, cleaned air filter, great first time bike

reasons
I bought this motorcycle in October and was only able to ride it about a dozen+ times before it got too cold. I planned on getting it registered this summer when I worked full time but now I am going to summer school and don’t have the time or money.

bads

I had its engine checked and they said it was fine and would last another 8-10k mi easily. I have not gotten it registered and don't know if it will pass inspections. It needs a new back tire, I need to replace a light cover (which i have), needs a new 25 cent gasket to put on the oil screw to stop the leak and has light superficial damage that’s all I know, but it needs to be officially inspected first to know of any other problems, which i will not do. It’s worth $1000 running in fair shape, but I’m only asking for $800 that’s a $1.06 per cc, if interested email me

Now I know your saying, why did you list so many bads? Because so many people are asking about it and if it is registered and blah blah blah , so I want to make sure they understand, no it wont pass and two I don’t know all the problems that’s why its cheep! Now as for a longer explanation of why it is being sold 1. The money set aside to fix it up is now going to school 2. I am not actively selling it and will keep it till it sells 3. The money from the sell will buy a working scooter that I can use now So those are the additional reasons and someday if I like riding the scooter I will give it to becca and get myself another, but working, motorcycle. Sometimes dreams just have to wait or be only partially completed until a better time comes along, and this is one of those dreams.

Also today or tomorrow I will be calling gateway to have them send out a box for my laptop so it can get fixed (again) so that I can enjoy it for another year of school (hopefully). I told becca that I think the next laptop I get will be a tablet pc depending on how much writing my job or schooling requires. I don’t really use much on my laptop except for the wireless internet, music/ video player, USB port and for the Microsoft office program. I don’t really even use the CD/DVD player that much. So a tablet should have what I need with the writable screen and light weight I want.

Well I should go my brain is getting fuzzy and I still have to walk up hill to get to the station to wait for the train to get to the next station to wait for the next train to get to my station to drive across town to get home to do house work to get ready for the scout program tonight. Wait……. do I really want to leave?

Finals

2008-04-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

So i have taken one final so far and i think that it went fairly well. Now I have two major projects and two final test to study for and then i will be done. Of course i have to get all this done by this next Mon-wed, so it is a little cramped as far as how much time i can commit to each subject. i actually thought i had another week to prepare, but it ends up that i was living one week later than i thought it was. I guess i need to stop doing those time experiments, it keeps messing up my ability to know what time I'm in, besides my flux capacitor has been giving me guff lately. now you may be asking yourself, " if he is so busy why is he blogging?" well that's easy i just sent an email to one of my teachers with a question about the project I've been working on for the last 3HRS and i am waiting for a response and taking a quick break. Though i am seriously thinking of switching to the other project for a while because it is less computer intense and i and tired of staring at the screen. Well i just got my response so now i have to go and spend what is left of my mind on the project.

quick update

2008-04-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

So here are the major things going on with me and us. Finals week is upon me and i have one final today and the rest next week. Then i get one week off and then summer school starts and its off to the races again. My laptop is still now the fritz but now has been backed up on Becca's mega 300 gig external drive so when finals is over i will send it in, till then it sits on my desk stuck in the on position, because if i turn it off it may not turn on again. We still no clue to where the leak is exactly but we tore up the floor boards and are waiting for it to show up again. i think that is about it for now.

extended construction

2008-04-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

so my laptops networking card just broke so now i can only get on the internet at school so the construction of my website is going to take a while. But i will still try to post when i can.

construction

2008-04-16T12:36:00.000-07:00

so i want to redo the look of my blog but that intails wiping the slate clean and starting over again witch i have no time for right now. But hopefully soon after finals are over and the plumbing is fixed i will be able to find the time i need to do it. Until then i will have to be content with doing minor changes to it and posting a few small post here and there, like this one. My latest attempt to add something to my blog will be adding a slideshow, which includes signing up for more web based sites so hopefully it all works out. so be on the look out for my Blog friends slide show and let me know on this post what you think of the people and if you want to be added.

pipes

2008-04-15T07:35:00.000-07:00

I sure that if you read Becca's and my blog that you will have heard this story before. Lately we have been fighting the mysterious wet puddle that likes to appear in our laundry room behind the washer. We tore out the a section of wall and redid the valves and cleaned everything up and thought that we had fixed the problem and for about three days we had. Then yesterday i came home to find that the mysterious wet puddle had reappeared but this time it had migrated to underneath the kitchens wood floor and was causing the floor boards to buckle. We originally thought that maybe it was a leak from a drain pipe or it was the bad valves dripping. But there was too much water under the floor for it to be that.

My guess is that we have a leaking supply pipe behind our newly tiled kitchen wall behind the sink. So i went and turned off the water to the house. and started pushing on the floor boards listening for the water underneath to gurgle so i could find the source of the problem, and sure enough as i got closer to the wall with the sink on it the worse the water sound got. So now we are looking at tearing out a possible two walls to try and find this leak so i can fix it and turn the water back on permanently, because till then we are only turning on the water when we need it. Becca made the comment yesterday that it seems like once we think we are done fixing up the house something else breaks or need to be worked on and she is getting tired of it, and i totally agree. I just got done putting in the new venting to through the roof for the stove hood when the mysterious wet puddle showed up and we took out the old valves, now the mysterious wet puddle has moved and a new "rush" project with no money has started and it is right at the beginning of finals time. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to own the home you live in.

My shoe

2008-04-10T14:35:00.000-07:00

So i am a big guy, and as such i have big feet. Not just long feet but wide feet, i have a size 13 wide in men's shoes. This causes no end of trouble when it comes to finding shoes for me. Usually i just have to settle on whatever shoe i can find that fits regardless of its looks. So the last pair of shoes i bought were only a 13 not a wide, and within the last month the front insides of the shoes where my big toes are have given out and so the sides of my big toes get a nice breeze. So last Friday we went and spent 2 hrs at the store looking for shoes that would fit me and found 2 pair, one of which i bought. But after only 2 days of wearing them the top of the left shoe blew a few stitches due to faulty materials ( not because of my foot size). So for the moment until i can take them back i have to wear my last pair of shoes. Today while walking to my class i looked down and not only saw that the front of my left shoe had given out, but so had that sock! So now when i walk not only does my left toe get a breeze, but it check out the view too!

school loans

2008-04-10T11:08:00.000-07:00

So i filled out my fasfa worksheet so i could get some loans for next semesters schooling. And today i got the basic reply in the mail telling me that the school had my information and would contact me with what loans i could take out. Loans you ask, no grants? Nope once again no grants. I have not received a single grant my entire college career. It always comes back and says that i have made too much money to qualify for even a small one. It's like we how much do i have to not make in order to get these stupid grants? And I'm sure even if i found out there is no way i could drop down to that level and still survive. I think they need to take in more financial information than just how much you have earned last year. I think they should compile a debt to income ratio to help determine who gets a grant. I believe if they did this than families with a significant debt ratio would be more likely to get a grant. I'm not saying they should base the whole decision off it, but it should be a factor.

I am hoping that i will at least get a big enough loan from the school this year to cover all my classes. Last year i had to take out an additional loan for books and luckily there is enough left to help pay for this summer semester too. I still will probably have to either use our credit cards or take out another loan for the summers books though, but i guess that is the price you pay to go to school. I can't remember how much it is but one of the blogs that Becca reads talked about how much school loan is advisable for the kind of job you will get, I'm positive that i am under the recommended amount, but at times it feels like i will never get this debt payed off, especially since it is still accruing. I know a couple of people who have graduated and now have jobs and it seems to be a mixed bag on whether or not paying off the school loans comes fast and easy or long and tediously. I am guessing that between meine and Becca's loans it will be long and tedious, though i would think that even if my first job was over 80k a year. So now i just have to wait and see what the school tells me it is willing to spend on me to get through these last 3 semesters, wish me luck!

3-d me

2008-04-08T16:43:00.000-07:00

so by complete accident i found this website that allows you to make a 3-d avatar for your blog page. I have only given it a quick glance and use but so far it seems to be fun. If nothing else it is one of those things were you can make up an alternative you just for fun. Today i have been trying to think about what i have learned this semester (because its ending soon) and every time i think of the semester it just feels like I've lost in a dream or something because none of the class periods seem to have stuck and i can only recall the slightest things that i have learned, which is not good for finals. This has definitely been the fastest semester i have had in my school career and i wonder if it is because my classes were only Tue and Thur or if it is because I'm getting use to going to school. Either way i hope the rest of my school career goes this fast, because then i will be graduated before i completely burn out. School seems to be the only thing i have to think about lately and it is kinda boring because it really is like being lost in sleep for a whole day and then trying to figure out what it is i was supposed to learn the rest of the week. Well class is starting so i gotta go

school

2008-04-03T14:36:00.001-07:00

So i was going over my school schedule and i found out a great thing. I can graduate a whole semester earlier than i thought i could. Then today as i was going over my summer and fall semesters to make sure i wasn't repeating anything and i found out that i could graduate even earlier, by another whole semester.
The problem with that plan is that i would have to take 5 classes every semester from here on out, which might just kill me. It is really hard to go to school for 12hrs a day 2times a week and work 25 hour plus do the homework. So now the question is, do i want to get it all over with as soon as possible and lose my sanity or do i want to go at a more leisurely pace and finish only 1 semester later than if i force marched myself. Right now i am leaning toward just graduating one semester early instead of two. This semester has really burned me out and i kinda just want to go at a slower pace, at least for the next semester, but if i take it easy next semester than it no longer matters and it will only be one semester early. It really is at an all or nothing situation right now to graduate extra early. So after my last class today i think i am going to gather up all the info and do some alternative schedule and see which way i want to go

My ABC's

2008-03-27T08:11:00.000-07:00

I will be doing this between classes and at work because it is so long so if you read this and it is not complete it is not because i don't know the alphabet, it is because I'm not done yet.

A - Attached or Single? I assume we are talking about personal relations and not house style here so i have to go with arched.
B- Best Friends? Becca first and then Dan Story and Ian
C- Cake or Pie? Pie, especially pineapple pie
D- Day of Choice? 3 day weekend
E- Essential Item? watch, it drives me nuts not having one, even if i ordinarily wouldn't look at the time when i don't have my watch i am constantly trying to look at the time
F- Favorite Color? forrest green
G- Gummy Bears or Worms? Yuck
H-Hometown? Le Roy IL, where i grew up in my teen years and had great friends in all may classes at school
I- Favorite Indulgence? Chocolate (I blame mom), Video games and Movies
J- January or July? July i suppose, at least in Utah, where in January you have to be crazy to leave the house
K- Kids? not yet but maybe 3-4 someday with an equal amount of boys and girls
L- Life isn't complete without? a reason to get out of bed
M- Marriage date? 12/2/04
N- Number of brothers and sisters? 1 bro 1 sis both younger
P- Phobias and Fears? Nothing i have come across yet, but i don't really care for praying mantises or walking sticks much, they just look gross and creepy
Q- Quote? I like the ones on despair.com
R- Reason to smile? i usually do it when around friends and fam, i find most things in life pleasing
S- Season of choice? spring or fall i like the cool weather and crisp air
T- Tag three people? they have already been hit but maybe their spouses so Ginny, Shannon and Dan
U- Unknown fact about me? I have a scar running along the back of my left thigh where i tried to jump a chain length fence and didn't quite make it
V- Vegetable? potato, is there a more versatile vegetable in the world, i think not
W- Worst Habit? I have this underlying subconscious thought that work is for working and home is for resting and having fun, which leads me to not work around the house as much as i should
X-ray or Ultrasound? i think it would be cool to own a full body x-ray
Y- Your favorite food? pizza!!!!!!!
Z- Zodiac Sign? Aquarius-Those born under the sign of Aquarius not only march to a different drummer, they make up new music as they go along. They are 'mind oriented' individuals, whose thoughts never stop tick-tocking over. Because of their high focus on intellectual exploration, many inventors, eccentrics and highly original trailblazers are born under this sign. Their intense ability to live on many mental levels, holds both pain and pleasure for Aquarians. For example, in the American Hall of Fame there are more Aquarians than any other sign, yet statistics reveal that in mental institutions there are more Aquarians than any other sign too. Many extremes can surround this sign and these extremes can take them to both heaven and hell. But in everyday terms, most Aquarians are extremely humanitarian and often involved in social programs that assist others. They can also be objective in judgement, for they never let their emotions get in the way. Outgoing and amiable, Aquarians attract friends wherever they go and those whom Aquarians befriend have their unswerving loyalty.

Aquarians are the zodiac's most mysterious and unusual people - and no two are anything alike. Those born under this sign - ruled by innovative and non-conformist Uranus - march to the beat of their own drum. They see life in a different way. Others quite frequently think their habits and ideas are eccentric or crazy in some way, but it is this uniqueness that makes them so special. The Aquarian mind is extremely quick and they never seem to stop thinking (it is interesting to note that many born under this sign suffer from insomnia.) Aquarians usually have strong political, environmental or social beliefs. But whether it is a relationship, career or cause - Aquarians are happiest when they have "something" to believe in and nurture.

future plans

2008-03-25T16:16:00.000-07:00

So a couple of people have wanted to know what my future plans are so i thought i would just go over a quick snapshot of what i hope will happen. Hopefully at the end of the December if not before i can quit my Lowe's job and be interning at a planning firm of some sort. then by the end of may 09 i hope to have my BS in planning. I would like to then move out of Utah to a more hospitable environment like in the middle to eastern states where land is more plentiful and the cost of living lower. Also i don't really enjoy the dry heat here and i think there is something growing in the desert areas that I'm allergic to, because in TX and UT i get something like hay fever, but not in IL or Mo where i last came from. Becca claims to be a "sun child" so we will probably have to find a fairly sunny place to live. Mostly the job i get will decide on what state we live in.

In what ever state we move to we would like to buy a parcel of land, w/ or w/o a house on it, from 1-8+ acres so we can have a large garden - small farmett. We don't really want to be farmers, but some of the things we enjoy and want to do resemble that type of lifestyle. Hopefully this land would be close enough to the area i work and to local stores that it would only be 15 min or less to get into the city area. We would like to live in a 80,000 +/- 15,000 type city. I would like for it to be a college town, because i think i would enjoy doing some part time teaching at a local community college or university. I also would like to have a small library room for myself and Becca to study and read in piece, man shed/ tinkering shop and small fishing stream/pond on the property whether natural or artificial. I know Becca has somethings she would like too, like a nice sewing/ crafts room, established garden beds with green houses, nice indoor kitchen and a small outdoor one for nice days, to name a few. Obviously most of these things will take time to get and build and some we may never see.

A nice transit system around town and to local outlying areas and lots of people and dog parks, natural trails and camping would also make it a better place to be . I would like to stay with the same company for a while and move up through the ranks, but that is not a major concern of mine. I think i would like to work for/run a private company as a consultant to other government planning organizations. I have heard private companies have more flexibility, larger pay and a bigger assortment of job projects. Still being this far down the work ladder i am still open to other jobs and positions. Being close to family would be nice, but since most of us are still in a moving stage of our lives it would be hard to plan our moving around family, though i suppose if family or close friends wanted to buy/rent land from us to live on that could be arranged.

Kids would be nice to have, ya know to entertain guest and do chores j/k. But hopefully sometime between now and then we will either have one or be on the way of having one. If we timed it right and nature was willing we could have a child just about the time i graduate. Then Becca would still have health insurance and could quit when the baby was born and i could start working. Of course that's all luck and circumstance at this point. Being out of credit card debt is also a goal we have and hopefully that one will happen before i graduate.

I don't know if i have any other large goals besides those at this moment, i really just want out of my college kid life of half work, half school, no money or ability to get more and no permanent plans. i guess the only other "big" goal i have for us is to try and go on another cruise for our 5 year anniversary and the only reason that's a big one is because i need to start saving for it now. Well for anyone who read this whole things i applaud you, i believe this is the biggest blog i have ever written.

spring break and sickness

2008-03-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

So my break has ended and i am now back at school. I also ended my break by getting a cold, it is not the kind like my wife has with the sinus and throught problems,i have the belly flux and no energy problems. So I am skipping the classes i can and trying to make it through the ones i need to be at. So far my mind tends to wander off every 5-8 min and i have to refocus myself on the teacher. One of the ways i can tell i am sick is that i get upset or fall into dark moods easily and for no reason, i think it comes from being overly tired and just wanting to sleep and not understanding why the rest of the world can't just leave me alone to do it. I have twice found myself upset with random strangers who are not even directly interacting with me. They are just doing something in my general area and it bothers me that they are there. I know this is silly and i shouldn't do it, so i make myself stop focusing on them and try to do something else. For the most part its not a problem but i have noticed it gets worse as i stay awake longer.

Break was good. I got my motorcycle title replaced so now i can get it registered. I got the boat registered so we can take it out when ever we want to. I put up another door in the house,which doesn't sound like much, but it takes 3-4 hours to do one with little or no trouble. I also cut holes in our cabinets ceiling and roof to vent outside our stove top hood in case something ever burns and that was a 2 day project by itself. I have to admit that i like doing things around the house. What i don't like doing is being rushed to get it done or having to try and squeeze it into the few minutes i have between work and school. i like to do the projects for the sheer joy of doing them. not so i can get them done and have it beautify or add accessibility to anything. Well I'm gonna stop here because i am losing interest and focus more and more. so c-ya later

Spring break

2008-03-14T15:42:00.000-07:00

So it is finally spring break and i am away from school long enough to catch my breath and hopefully some sleep. I am so glad that it is break that when i got home i attually did some prespring yard cleaning like clean out and test run the fountains we built, put some air in the firebirds tires and run the motorcycle to charge the battery after its winter sleep. I even let the animals out to play with me, even our cat. Which is atually kind of funny because we have a little harness for her and we put her on a leash on a tree, but she is so small if she moves too much and the grass is tall she gets it caught on clumps of grass and gets stuck. Well this is all for now i have to get ready to go over to a friends house tonight so c-ya!

2008-03-13T14:38:00.000-07:00

I have no title for this page because i don't know what i would call it. Also i need to be as careful as i can about this subject because i don't want to hurt my wife's feelings and i don't want her to think i am picking on her. I find that I don't always enjoy viewing her site and I will say why. While i have never quoted her, said she does this or that or brought into my blog anything about our personal life together, I have found that this is not always the case with her.

Now that I've said that let me say that i really enjoy reading about her opinion of what goes on in our life together and it is nice to have the insight into her thoughts on the many different subjects we deal with togeather. Also she has the right, and i completely support her right to use her freedom of speech. But on occasion i have found that she expresses ideas, opinions or actions that she says are mine that i do not believe to be true or that i feel that i need to defend against. I feel that some of the stuff she puts in doesn't need to be specifically aimed at me, she could just as easily use a grouping pronoun like "we". This would make the text less attacking while still getting the message across and then does not say that it is my idea specifically when it may in fact not be, but is an idea she thinks i have.

I have thought about posting a response every time but then its like having a public argument permanently online for everyone to see or it makes me feel whiny. So for the most part i just don't say any thing and life goes on just fine. So what i am really doing here is creating a rebuttal to some of her blogs and saying just because you read it on Becca's blog doesn't mean it's true. Not that you can come to my blog and find the "truth", because I (so far) don't talk about our family life, only about my own insights on life. So if you want to get snap shots of our life you really do have to go to her site, just remember I don't write the parts about me so take those parts with a grain of salt.

Still going

2008-03-11T17:15:00.000-07:00

So, things have not slowed down yet for school. The best thing that has happened is that i changed my evening work study job into a morning job so i now have a few more study hours in the week. But, be that as it may, i still am way too far behind in my school projects to stop and smell (or blog) the roses just yet. That is going to have to wait until next week when midterms are over and i am in spring break. So until then i leave you with these words of wisdom. Never put a banana in your back pocket before getting into a car. Have a good week!

much more than i want

2008-03-06T08:13:00.000-08:00

So some of you are probably wondering why I haven't been posting more often now that my laptop is back. Well the answer is simple, life if busy. Don't believe me ask my wife. I told her last night that for the rest of this week i would be home late from school and that for the next week i will have to dedicate alot of our family time over to study time for some big projects. So while i would love to write ling blogs everyday, i think i will only be able to do short ones everynow and again while i take a quick break from my homework and projects. But i promise to try and make my little blogs as interesting as i can.

Oh Happy day

2008-02-29T14:26:00.000-08:00

So the good news is that midterms are over and I feel like I did a good job on them. Though the law test was something else, I studied for 2.5 hours straight till it felt like there was literally no more physical room for the information i was trying to study, then for the essay part of the test we are suppose to write down as much of the legal principles that we can that pertain to the case even if they don't lead to a winning argument. It honestly felt like turning on the spigot and letting the information flow out till I felt empty. It was such a weird feeling to be so quickly and totally drain of all knowledge on a subject that I couldn’t even think afterwards.
The better news is that it is starting to feel like spring and I got my laptop back and it is working just fine. So know I can start keeping my school work on it again and hopefully start blogging on a regular basis. I would love to write more but right now I’m at work so I need to get off so see ya folks soon.

Invention

2008-02-27T13:08:00.000-08:00

So i have this idea about a security invention that i know would be great at lowes. The problem is that while i can't seem to find my exact idea there are a couple other ideas that are similar to mine that would also work. Also just because i couldn't find it doesn't mean that its not out there. And while the product is way simple and easy to use and make, i have no idea how i would even begin to sell the idea. Would i go to the lowes corporate office and try to sell them, try to have an already established company buy the idea from me and do royalty fees, i have no idea. Still i'll keep looking around to see if my idea exist else where and if it doesn't maybe then i'll take it to the next step.

Birthday gift

2008-02-26T15:17:00.000-08:00

so I got a brown, classic cut leather coat this saturday for my birthday present, and it looks really good. Today is the first day that i have worn it out of the house to the school and it also happens to be the first day where it was warm enough to not wrap my scarf around my head and be able to look up and around at who was at the stop with me. i never relized how many other people were wearing leather clothes of somekind or another. Probaly one out of five people, so 20 out of the 100 or so people on the platform had on a leather coat. It made me feel a little less special and kinda like one of the socitial sheep. Which for those of you who know me, know that i don't mind following along the main path with the other sheep, but i hate to be in the middle of them doing exactly what they are doing. So for me this was kind of a sad relization. But the one things that made it better was that out of those 100 people only 2 had a brown coat like mine and I was one of those two.

MIDTERMS!!!!!!

2008-02-25T13:13:00.000-08:00

It's like this every half semester when the big tests come up and even if i'v been paying attention and keeping good notes and doing the reading, i always end up rereading half the material again and streesing out and trying to lock myself in the office to cram in as many study hours as possible. Usually i do fairly well, but i wonder if the grades are worth the headache and stress.

laptop update

2008-02-21T15:54:00.000-08:00

So last night i packed up my laptop and sent it off to get repaired and had becca mail it off today. i have to admit that a couple of times i have had to stop and take some deep breaths. Mostly because the timing is way bad, i have all these midterms and projects that require software that is on my laptop and now i have to try and scrounge it all together and do what i can with it. i'm hoping that i will get it back by the end of this next week or prefferably the middle. So thats it for now but hopefully i'll be whole again and i'll start posting more often again.

No ticket , No Ride

2008-02-15T13:55:00.000-08:00

So give me some feed back on this one guys about what you would have done.

I ride the train up to the school everyday and have a pass to ride. Well when I got to the station and got my stuff together I found out that I didn’t have my pass and only had enough money for a one way ride. Now the police only occasionally enforce the ridership fee by getting on the train and asking to see tickets. So I decide to take the chance and take a free ride up to the school and pay for the way back. So i get on the train and sit next to the door facing the window so I can see if any cops are getting on so I can get off like it was my stop the whole time.

Things are going good and Becca calls me and I tell her what I am doing and we talk for a bit and I completely forget to check for the police for two stops. Luckily I remember to start looking again. At the second to last stop I start watching and there are no cops on the waiting pad and the doors all shut. Then suddenly the door across and down from me opens and a cop gets on while I’m talking to Becca. then it starts beeping, which means in 3 seconds it will close. Now remember all the other doors have shut, so any one getting off has most likely already done it.

I casually stand up and go straight to the door across from me like I planed, but it is so late that I don't know if I can pull it off that this is my stop and that I’m not just running from him, like I am. Out of the corner of my eye I see him start walking towards me, so I try to make it seem like this is my stop by saying to Becca rather abruptly if you ask her, “So you want me to meet you at the Taco Bell across the street”? She of course is like uhhhh… sure. But it works and the cop stops coming at me and I walk onto the waiting ramp no problems. Then I just walk to the next stop wait 10 min and catch the next train.

Now Becca said if it was her she would have just stayed on the train and taken the ticket and maybe if she had gone to the court or whatever she could show she had a pass the whole time and maybe they would have gotten rid of the ticket. I think I did the better thing. What would you guys have done?

Just to say hi

2008-02-11T14:39:00.000-08:00

So the laptop is still down, but i just wanted everyone to know i am still alive and doing good in school, i got my first test back and it was an A, so yay me!

me at school

A loss in the family

2008-02-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

No, no one died. But to see the reactions I get when I tell people what happened, you would think someone did.

Recently I have experienced something that no one on a paperless college campus should have to go through. Tuesday while opening up my laptop, which is like a part of me at this point, the left hinge support snapped and now no longer sufficiently supports the screen. I am now no longer able to use it at school and must mail it in to get fixed before my 3yr warranty runs out on 6/27/08.

So other than the sad looks and sympathies I get from the people I tell this means that my blogging is going to become a bit more crazy since I don’t have access to a computer lab on campus that isn’t one I’m taking a class in. I think the biggest things I am worried about are one, if I can survive without it for a couple weeks and two if it will leave and get back to me in one working piece with all its data. So wish me luck and I will write when I can.