November - Books Read
1. Around the Moon – Jules Verne (1870)
This was the follow up to “From the Earth to the Moon” and tells of the return voyage of the three adventurers. It wrapped up the story nicely, kind of cool to see how someone imagined Space Voyage would be like in 1865 and compared to how it really did happen.
2. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll (1865)
Classic children’s story, though I think I prefer the Disney movie version to the book. It is crazy to think that this whole book was written as a satire on “modern” math and then it ends up as a classic tale.
3. The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde (1890)
Interesting story about a man who is able to live his life however he pleases, with his activities and morals having no effect on his physical beauty, and how that affects him in the end.
4. 39 Steps – John Buchan (1915)
This book is a spy/mystery/adventure novel about a Scottish man who stumbles into a plot that could lead Britain into a 2nd World War with Germany. That is if he is unable to figure out the clues, evade his advisories and save the day.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
100 Things About Me : Final
91. I have filled in as a substitute teacher at both the high school and elementary school level… I prefer High school.
92. I have been to Niagara Falls
93. One of my dreams in life, though totally unrealistic, is to own/fly a blimp
94. One of my biggest flaws is that I sometimes give up on things too easy if I’m not good at them right away.
95. When I was in elementary school, I raised and showed rabbits at contest.
96. I know how to drive/have driven a variety of tractors in my life… John Deere, Minneapolis Moline, International, Alice Chambers, Ford … I believe those are the only brands I have driven. There is an old Oliver at the farm but I don’t think I ever drove it when it was running.
97. I’ve won a Bar-B-Que cooking contest
98. When it comes to Christmas tree’s I follow the strict rules of… 1. They shouldn’t be up before the day after Thanksgiving, and 2. It’s not a good Christmas Tree unless it is taller than myself.
99. I have been to Mammoth Cave, and I really like cave’s even though I’m a larger guy being in them doesn’t bother me. It’s amazing how big some of those caverns are. I think it would be cool to have been around when people used to adventure down into Mammoth cave with torches and picnic for lunch in a random passage way.
100. The first CD I ever owned was an Alan Jackson Greatest hits CD
92. I have been to Niagara Falls
93. One of my dreams in life, though totally unrealistic, is to own/fly a blimp
94. One of my biggest flaws is that I sometimes give up on things too easy if I’m not good at them right away.
95. When I was in elementary school, I raised and showed rabbits at contest.
96. I know how to drive/have driven a variety of tractors in my life… John Deere, Minneapolis Moline, International, Alice Chambers, Ford … I believe those are the only brands I have driven. There is an old Oliver at the farm but I don’t think I ever drove it when it was running.
97. I’ve won a Bar-B-Que cooking contest
98. When it comes to Christmas tree’s I follow the strict rules of… 1. They shouldn’t be up before the day after Thanksgiving, and 2. It’s not a good Christmas Tree unless it is taller than myself.
99. I have been to Mammoth Cave, and I really like cave’s even though I’m a larger guy being in them doesn’t bother me. It’s amazing how big some of those caverns are. I think it would be cool to have been around when people used to adventure down into Mammoth cave with torches and picnic for lunch in a random passage way.
100. The first CD I ever owned was an Alan Jackson Greatest hits CD
Friday, November 26, 2010
Spending
In honor of “Black Friday” I figured I’d write a little about some of the most memorable purchases I’ve made in my life. I’ve never done the whole fight the crowd and try to get the best deals on the day after Thanksgiving, I see that as more of an impulse buy thing, and I hate buying stuff on impulses. I’m the kind of person who will check eBay multiple times a day for 3-4 weeks to get the price I want on something… or just go without. Maybe that tactic is a little obsessive, but it helps weed out the stuff I think I want versus the stuff I really want. Anyway on to some of the things I have bought over the years.
Biggest Purchase:
Kia Soul – My car, pretty much has to kick off the list as it is the most expensive thing I have ever bought and probably will ever buy until I decide to purchase a house. I bought this on my Birthday in 2009 so I’ve only had it for a year and a half. Sometimes I regret spending that much money on something as I have 3.5 more years on the loan, however I did need something to drive and it hasn’t failed me yet. I like the car so overall I’d rate it as a good purchase. Add in the facts that I’m not a mechanic or even mechanically inclined, getting something new a dependable was a good option, plus I know I’m most likely going to end up driving this even after its paid off I don’t think I’ll truly ever regret the purchase. That said I don’t know if I will buy new next time. The one sad thing about the Soul is that now that the car has been on sale for almost two years, I am beginning to see a lot more of them. It was cool when I rarely saw another Soul on the road. Now I see another one almost every day on my commute to Indianapolis.
Worst Purchase:
Car Stereo System – back in 2001 I wanted to get a new sound system for my Monte Carlo (I was running a cassette player), and well being a hoarder of money from way back since I was little I had a nice chuck of change saved up from Christmas’s and Birthdays. For some reason I wanted something flashy and cool… so I picked out this neat looking Pioneer car stereo that even had screen savers! Problem was a didn’t know a thing about installing such a thing, so I talked to a guy I knew from school about getting this set up and after a couple of hours he also had me talked into a subwoofer and amp. I mean really… I did not need that stuff, it’s kind of ridiculous looking back at it. Well long story short the guy really was never good at finishing a project once he started it… and I never ended up having the subs installed correctly, and worst of all…. An electrical short fried my cool stereo. Thus this was by far my worst purchase after I shelled out around 700 dollars on all of the stuff that I never really got the use of. A couple years ago after I quit driving the Monte I was like maybe I should sell the Subs/Amp but water had leaked through the rusty trunk and the sub box was a little warped, plus one of the actually subs rotted out. So sadly worst purchase ever, but I did learn a little about picking only what I want and making sure I get the person I buy from to do all of the installing.
Fun Purchase:
Hulk Hands – For a series of summers in High School through the first year of college I would go to a flea market in Brookville every Wednesday morning. It was always a fun time, even if I never purchased much. One summer I bought basketball cards, a couple summers I bough Magic cards there, I also got a Nixon for President pin there… but by far my best purchase… for a whopping one dollar… from a guy my friends lovingly dubbed “Crazy Box Man” (this was due to the fact that he had all of his stuff just laying in boxes and it was normally priced as one item… one dollar, and was always fun to dig through while the guy would randomly shout stuff like “Your uncle joe has the best deals here, one item, one dollar”) Anyway one day… he had a set of Hulk Hands, sure they had been used, and only had one sound box between the two… but they were awesome… and I had really wanted them when they first came but I was too old to ask for them for Christmas or anything… I am proud to say I still have my Hulk Hands!
Regretted at first, but was a solid purchase in the long run:
HP Laptop – I bought my first computer in the summer of 2004 before I went to Purdue. Oh man I must admit I didn’t know a lot about computers… well not much as into what was a good laptop and what wouldn’t be good. I was honestly overwhelmed add in the fact I was about to spend over $700 on the purchase I was stressed out. My mom took me shopping for the laptop and I remember freaking out and having buyer’s remorse as soon as we left the store and I was sitting in the van with a laptop in a box wishing I had never spent the money. To be honest, I didn’t get a good deal on the laptop, really it was outdated two years later, but man did I get the use out of that thing. I most recently used it as late as this August a full 6 years after I bought it which is good for a computer. Granted it did die once from having water spilt on it in a infamous accident… but I got it fixed by piecing some stuff together. It was a great backup after that, filling in whenever I traveled and couldn’t haul my desktop (that I bought as a replacement after the water spill of summer 2007), pulling through when the power source had to be replaced on that desktop and stepping up big when I moved home and needed its wireless abilities. Sure it was slow as heck this summer, but it was a trooper and looking back I don’t regret the purchase nearly as much as I thought I would the day we bought it.
Biggest Purchase:
Kia Soul – My car, pretty much has to kick off the list as it is the most expensive thing I have ever bought and probably will ever buy until I decide to purchase a house. I bought this on my Birthday in 2009 so I’ve only had it for a year and a half. Sometimes I regret spending that much money on something as I have 3.5 more years on the loan, however I did need something to drive and it hasn’t failed me yet. I like the car so overall I’d rate it as a good purchase. Add in the facts that I’m not a mechanic or even mechanically inclined, getting something new a dependable was a good option, plus I know I’m most likely going to end up driving this even after its paid off I don’t think I’ll truly ever regret the purchase. That said I don’t know if I will buy new next time. The one sad thing about the Soul is that now that the car has been on sale for almost two years, I am beginning to see a lot more of them. It was cool when I rarely saw another Soul on the road. Now I see another one almost every day on my commute to Indianapolis.
Worst Purchase:
Car Stereo System – back in 2001 I wanted to get a new sound system for my Monte Carlo (I was running a cassette player), and well being a hoarder of money from way back since I was little I had a nice chuck of change saved up from Christmas’s and Birthdays. For some reason I wanted something flashy and cool… so I picked out this neat looking Pioneer car stereo that even had screen savers! Problem was a didn’t know a thing about installing such a thing, so I talked to a guy I knew from school about getting this set up and after a couple of hours he also had me talked into a subwoofer and amp. I mean really… I did not need that stuff, it’s kind of ridiculous looking back at it. Well long story short the guy really was never good at finishing a project once he started it… and I never ended up having the subs installed correctly, and worst of all…. An electrical short fried my cool stereo. Thus this was by far my worst purchase after I shelled out around 700 dollars on all of the stuff that I never really got the use of. A couple years ago after I quit driving the Monte I was like maybe I should sell the Subs/Amp but water had leaked through the rusty trunk and the sub box was a little warped, plus one of the actually subs rotted out. So sadly worst purchase ever, but I did learn a little about picking only what I want and making sure I get the person I buy from to do all of the installing.
Fun Purchase:
Hulk Hands – For a series of summers in High School through the first year of college I would go to a flea market in Brookville every Wednesday morning. It was always a fun time, even if I never purchased much. One summer I bought basketball cards, a couple summers I bough Magic cards there, I also got a Nixon for President pin there… but by far my best purchase… for a whopping one dollar… from a guy my friends lovingly dubbed “Crazy Box Man” (this was due to the fact that he had all of his stuff just laying in boxes and it was normally priced as one item… one dollar, and was always fun to dig through while the guy would randomly shout stuff like “Your uncle joe has the best deals here, one item, one dollar”) Anyway one day… he had a set of Hulk Hands, sure they had been used, and only had one sound box between the two… but they were awesome… and I had really wanted them when they first came but I was too old to ask for them for Christmas or anything… I am proud to say I still have my Hulk Hands!
Regretted at first, but was a solid purchase in the long run:
HP Laptop – I bought my first computer in the summer of 2004 before I went to Purdue. Oh man I must admit I didn’t know a lot about computers… well not much as into what was a good laptop and what wouldn’t be good. I was honestly overwhelmed add in the fact I was about to spend over $700 on the purchase I was stressed out. My mom took me shopping for the laptop and I remember freaking out and having buyer’s remorse as soon as we left the store and I was sitting in the van with a laptop in a box wishing I had never spent the money. To be honest, I didn’t get a good deal on the laptop, really it was outdated two years later, but man did I get the use out of that thing. I most recently used it as late as this August a full 6 years after I bought it which is good for a computer. Granted it did die once from having water spilt on it in a infamous accident… but I got it fixed by piecing some stuff together. It was a great backup after that, filling in whenever I traveled and couldn’t haul my desktop (that I bought as a replacement after the water spill of summer 2007), pulling through when the power source had to be replaced on that desktop and stepping up big when I moved home and needed its wireless abilities. Sure it was slow as heck this summer, but it was a trooper and looking back I don’t regret the purchase nearly as much as I thought I would the day we bought it.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
100 Things About Me : Part 6
Part 6: only one more to go and I'll have this all wrapped up....
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76. I was in 4-H for the full 10 years, and completed over 100 projects over that course of time.
77. I was even 4-H King in 2004
78. I hate it when people my age talk about how it sucks being “grown up”, its true… but unless you have a kid it seems kind of silly of us complaining about being an adult when we are still in our 20’s.
79. My favorite cartoon currently on TV – Phenis and Ferb, but South Park is in the running as well.
80. Speaking of cartoons, I’ve found its best to leave nostalgia alone when it comes to going back and watching cartoons of my childhood. When I go back and try watching them… not quite as good… though when I have a kid I’ll still probably make him watch some classics like DarkWing Duck.
81. The Office is my favorite regular TV show currently running, though I have tried to watch the British version and totally do not get it.
82. I like musicals
83. I also like watching live play productions, even if they aren’t that good and put together by a high school drama department. But I don’t get that many opportunities to see them because it’s hard to find people to go with.
84. I have been in a few plays…. In 6th grade I was “Surfing Santa” also while in high school I played Glenn Cooper in “Rumors” (great play), as well as several roles in a series of One Act shorts. That said I am not a good actor at all. But seriously, highly recommend “Rumors” to anyone who wants to see a good stage play.
85. I have a Zune and I like it better than the Ipod, that said I think it’s fairly certain that the Ipod never lost market share to the Zune.
86. Tabasco sauce is my favorite condiment… seriously no debate here.
87. http://www.goblinscomic.com is my favorite webcomic
88. The Hippopotamus is my favorite animal
89. In fact I have a plastic hippopotamus named Howie that I like to take pictures of whenever I go to interesting places. There is a whole blog series on this, July 2009 but I don’t have it transferred over here quite yet. (Check back in a month or so, it’s a slow process)
90. I never make my bed, unless in a super rare occasion I’d be trying to impress someone maybe I would. But honestly if my sheets and mattress pad are actually still on all four corners I’m doing good.
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76. I was in 4-H for the full 10 years, and completed over 100 projects over that course of time.
77. I was even 4-H King in 2004
78. I hate it when people my age talk about how it sucks being “grown up”, its true… but unless you have a kid it seems kind of silly of us complaining about being an adult when we are still in our 20’s.
79. My favorite cartoon currently on TV – Phenis and Ferb, but South Park is in the running as well.
80. Speaking of cartoons, I’ve found its best to leave nostalgia alone when it comes to going back and watching cartoons of my childhood. When I go back and try watching them… not quite as good… though when I have a kid I’ll still probably make him watch some classics like DarkWing Duck.
81. The Office is my favorite regular TV show currently running, though I have tried to watch the British version and totally do not get it.
82. I like musicals
83. I also like watching live play productions, even if they aren’t that good and put together by a high school drama department. But I don’t get that many opportunities to see them because it’s hard to find people to go with.
84. I have been in a few plays…. In 6th grade I was “Surfing Santa” also while in high school I played Glenn Cooper in “Rumors” (great play), as well as several roles in a series of One Act shorts. That said I am not a good actor at all. But seriously, highly recommend “Rumors” to anyone who wants to see a good stage play.
85. I have a Zune and I like it better than the Ipod, that said I think it’s fairly certain that the Ipod never lost market share to the Zune.
86. Tabasco sauce is my favorite condiment… seriously no debate here.
87. http://www.goblinscomic.com is my favorite webcomic
88. The Hippopotamus is my favorite animal
89. In fact I have a plastic hippopotamus named Howie that I like to take pictures of whenever I go to interesting places. There is a whole blog series on this, July 2009 but I don’t have it transferred over here quite yet. (Check back in a month or so, it’s a slow process)
90. I never make my bed, unless in a super rare occasion I’d be trying to impress someone maybe I would. But honestly if my sheets and mattress pad are actually still on all four corners I’m doing good.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Howie and the Woodpile
Dad switched away from the corn stove and back to burning wood for heat... Howie is checking out the woodpile to get us through the winter.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
100 things about me : Part 5
61. Apparently a lot of my childhood stories have depressing endings, or so I’ve been told. However, I feel I had a really good childhood.
62. I’m not a fan of pitch-in dinners, just never really enjoy they way those always work out.
63. I have a cat named Kong
64. I also have two dogs, Pepper and Sparky
65. I think it would be fun to be in a riot sometime
66. I’m not a touchy person really, like I’m not going to hug you randomly. But being touched doesn’t really like me. Like with the above item if I’m surrounded by people in a crowd being bumped into / rubbed against doesn’t upset me.
67. I always say my favorite color is clear, but really it’s mainly because my favorite color changes depending on how I feel so clear is good. If forced to pick a normal color I’d go with green or yellow.
68. Same thing goes with numbers, I don’t have a favorite number.. though I prefer prime numbers over others I guess.
69. My first “real” job was working at a factory making trunk door latches for Honda Civics.
70. I also have worked at several hotels – both IHG and Hilton brands
71. I have ridden on a train before
72. I have also been on several planes
73. However the biggest boat I have ever been on was just a ferry across a lake, at Disney World, it was big but I don’t know if I would count it as a real boating experience.
74. I have been to Canada once, but that was the only time I was out of the United States.
75. When I was in high school my friends and I had what you could call a club of sorts known as the “Trailer Society” since we hung out in an old trailer home… we even had a constitution.. yeah we weren’t the cool kids.
62. I’m not a fan of pitch-in dinners, just never really enjoy they way those always work out.
63. I have a cat named Kong
64. I also have two dogs, Pepper and Sparky
65. I think it would be fun to be in a riot sometime
66. I’m not a touchy person really, like I’m not going to hug you randomly. But being touched doesn’t really like me. Like with the above item if I’m surrounded by people in a crowd being bumped into / rubbed against doesn’t upset me.
67. I always say my favorite color is clear, but really it’s mainly because my favorite color changes depending on how I feel so clear is good. If forced to pick a normal color I’d go with green or yellow.
68. Same thing goes with numbers, I don’t have a favorite number.. though I prefer prime numbers over others I guess.
69. My first “real” job was working at a factory making trunk door latches for Honda Civics.
70. I also have worked at several hotels – both IHG and Hilton brands
71. I have ridden on a train before
72. I have also been on several planes
73. However the biggest boat I have ever been on was just a ferry across a lake, at Disney World, it was big but I don’t know if I would count it as a real boating experience.
74. I have been to Canada once, but that was the only time I was out of the United States.
75. When I was in high school my friends and I had what you could call a club of sorts known as the “Trailer Society” since we hung out in an old trailer home… we even had a constitution.. yeah we weren’t the cool kids.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
100 things about me : Part 4
46. I think Spirals’ make the best Mac’n’Cheese… shells are the worst, also I’m a fan of kraft… I don’t really care for Velveeta .
47. I used to not like coffee, until my Sr. year at Purdue, when I went through a patch of not being able to sleep through the night… so I started drinking coffee at lunch and dinner to keep me going.
48. When Walmart changed the labeling on their great value brand canned vegetables… it really bothered me, I liked their bright colorful labels. The bland white labels they currently use bore and disappoint me.
49. I have a little sister named Casey, she is 23.
50. My Dad farms for a living, so I grew up on a farm
51. He doesn’t have any livestock now, but we had pigs until I was in fifth grade. He got out during the
51. My mom is a librarian at an elementary and high school
52. I’ve always been amazed they have kept the same jobs for so long, while I am working at my 3rd different company (4th different location) in just the 2 years I’ve been out of college.
53. I’ve been told that a lot of my stories from my childhood are depressing, but I think I had a good childhood.
54. When I was little and would play basketball by myself, I had invented a whole team of imaginary players to play with.
55. I was also lucky enough to have an indoor basketball court up in the haymow, even if it was blocked by bales of hay like half the time.
56. When I Casey and I were little our Dad played this game with us called Dogs and Rabbits, that involved running around the house trying not to be tagged with a ball. It was a pretty fun game.
57. We also played this game involving rope bridges and trying to knock each other off of the rope bridge.
58. When Casey and I played games together as kids we had to make compromises to fit both our styles… basically this meant making her “girl” toys fight in more “boy” like scenarios…. Such as littlest petshop pirates.
59. I don’t know how to snap my fingers, I never could make that work.
60. I’ve been told that some of the things I do make me seem like a serial killer… things in question involve having lived in an apartment for a year with a stool, a lawn chair and a bed as my only furniture, and having surgical mask and gloves in the trunk of my car…. I’m not a serial killer though….
47. I used to not like coffee, until my Sr. year at Purdue, when I went through a patch of not being able to sleep through the night… so I started drinking coffee at lunch and dinner to keep me going.
48. When Walmart changed the labeling on their great value brand canned vegetables… it really bothered me, I liked their bright colorful labels. The bland white labels they currently use bore and disappoint me.
49. I have a little sister named Casey, she is 23.
50. My Dad farms for a living, so I grew up on a farm
51. He doesn’t have any livestock now, but we had pigs until I was in fifth grade. He got out during the
51. My mom is a librarian at an elementary and high school
52. I’ve always been amazed they have kept the same jobs for so long, while I am working at my 3rd different company (4th different location) in just the 2 years I’ve been out of college.
53. I’ve been told that a lot of my stories from my childhood are depressing, but I think I had a good childhood.
54. When I was little and would play basketball by myself, I had invented a whole team of imaginary players to play with.
55. I was also lucky enough to have an indoor basketball court up in the haymow, even if it was blocked by bales of hay like half the time.
56. When I Casey and I were little our Dad played this game with us called Dogs and Rabbits, that involved running around the house trying not to be tagged with a ball. It was a pretty fun game.
57. We also played this game involving rope bridges and trying to knock each other off of the rope bridge.
58. When Casey and I played games together as kids we had to make compromises to fit both our styles… basically this meant making her “girl” toys fight in more “boy” like scenarios…. Such as littlest petshop pirates.
59. I don’t know how to snap my fingers, I never could make that work.
60. I’ve been told that some of the things I do make me seem like a serial killer… things in question involve having lived in an apartment for a year with a stool, a lawn chair and a bed as my only furniture, and having surgical mask and gloves in the trunk of my car…. I’m not a serial killer though….
Sunday, November 14, 2010
50 things about Emily
The 2nd and last part of my challenge (unless someone else is able to get me to do this for them) to post things about other people I know. Unlike the 100 things I did about her sister Megan I only agreed to do 50 things about Emily as I don't know her as well, and to be honest while filling this out I came to realize I know a lot more about things she doesn't like than about things that she does enjoy and identify with. This realization was kind of disappointing to me as it seemed like I was focusing on things she saw as negative over positive things. So Emily... you need to tell me more about the positive things in your life in the future.
50 things about Emily
1. Her name is Emily
2. By the time I post this she will be 17 years old
3. We had a birthday party for her and Megan at the hotel I worked at in Indianapolis last year.
4. She has 3 sisters and 0 brothers
5. Her oldest sister is named Amanda
6. Her 2nd oldest sister is named Megan
7. Her 3rd oldest sister is Morgan
8. She is on the record as saying one of her life goals is to make it on an episode of Cops
9. She doesn’t have her drivers license yet
10. She has a confederate flag belt buckle, though she claims to hate it.
11. She has thought about being a professional trucker when she grows up
12. She doesn’t know how to whistle yet
13. She is more attracted to African-American men than any other race
14. She likes the color purple
15. If she has a cell phone… she will text like crazy, probably because she is a teenage girl
16. She is a Jr. at school
17. Her bus drivers name is Mark
18. She thinks she could beat me at a wilderness survival challenge
19. She has a game called “Dream Date” and I think she cheated to beat me at it ;)
20. Her nickname is “Jane Austen”
21. However, she has never read any of Jane Austen’s novels.
22. Sometimes she is melodramatic
23. She has a lot more potential than she believes she has
24. She partakes in recreational drugs, at a rate in which I think she should cut back on
25. She hates people of the Catholic religion
26. She likes Ritter’s ice cream.
27. She claims that she hates school
28. She also claims that all of her friends have issues
29. She thinks the majority of my stories are sad/depressing
30. When she gets upset at someone she will likely talk about how she wants to kick their ass, though I don’t think she would actually ever fight someone.
31. She hasn’t ever had a job yet
32. She loves animals, though she is not a vegetarian like some of her sisters
33. When she listens to the radio, she loves to flip stations like crazy.
34. She seems to have a downer outlook on life in general having a pessimistic attitude on almost everything. I think if she was able to have a more positive attitude she would really branch out and enjoy herself more instead of staying in the same pattern that makes her sad/depressed.
35. She has a lot more creative energy than she admits too, she just needs to believe in herself.
36. She hates Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin
37. She has brown hair
38. While she is totally pro women’s rights for most things like abortions… she doesn’t think they should be able to breast feed in public. Even if they use the little towel thing.
39. She claims to hate Ginger’s… but I don’t think that she really hates them that much…
40. Since a lot of this has been about things she hates… she does like the Golden Girls TV show.
41. She is atheist
42. She likes Opossums
43. One of her best quotes ever “You can be yellow…. LIKE PISS”
44. She really like Tupac
45. She likes going to drive-in movies
46. She really likes breadsticks
47. She wants to live in the country and be “country” yet she hates rednecks and hillbillies
48. She loves the Tyler Perry Madea series
49. She doesn’t like bugs and one time flipped out because a tiny little gnat was on her nachos and then she couldn’t eat any more on her plate.
50. Oh also she loves nachos and most mexican food.
50 things about Emily
1. Her name is Emily
2. By the time I post this she will be 17 years old
3. We had a birthday party for her and Megan at the hotel I worked at in Indianapolis last year.
4. She has 3 sisters and 0 brothers
5. Her oldest sister is named Amanda
6. Her 2nd oldest sister is named Megan
7. Her 3rd oldest sister is Morgan
8. She is on the record as saying one of her life goals is to make it on an episode of Cops
9. She doesn’t have her drivers license yet
10. She has a confederate flag belt buckle, though she claims to hate it.
11. She has thought about being a professional trucker when she grows up
12. She doesn’t know how to whistle yet
13. She is more attracted to African-American men than any other race
14. She likes the color purple
15. If she has a cell phone… she will text like crazy, probably because she is a teenage girl
16. She is a Jr. at school
17. Her bus drivers name is Mark
18. She thinks she could beat me at a wilderness survival challenge
19. She has a game called “Dream Date” and I think she cheated to beat me at it ;)
20. Her nickname is “Jane Austen”
21. However, she has never read any of Jane Austen’s novels.
22. Sometimes she is melodramatic
23. She has a lot more potential than she believes she has
24. She partakes in recreational drugs, at a rate in which I think she should cut back on
25. She hates people of the Catholic religion
26. She likes Ritter’s ice cream.
27. She claims that she hates school
28. She also claims that all of her friends have issues
29. She thinks the majority of my stories are sad/depressing
30. When she gets upset at someone she will likely talk about how she wants to kick their ass, though I don’t think she would actually ever fight someone.
31. She hasn’t ever had a job yet
32. She loves animals, though she is not a vegetarian like some of her sisters
33. When she listens to the radio, she loves to flip stations like crazy.
34. She seems to have a downer outlook on life in general having a pessimistic attitude on almost everything. I think if she was able to have a more positive attitude she would really branch out and enjoy herself more instead of staying in the same pattern that makes her sad/depressed.
35. She has a lot more creative energy than she admits too, she just needs to believe in herself.
36. She hates Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin
37. She has brown hair
38. While she is totally pro women’s rights for most things like abortions… she doesn’t think they should be able to breast feed in public. Even if they use the little towel thing.
39. She claims to hate Ginger’s… but I don’t think that she really hates them that much…
40. Since a lot of this has been about things she hates… she does like the Golden Girls TV show.
41. She is atheist
42. She likes Opossums
43. One of her best quotes ever “You can be yellow…. LIKE PISS”
44. She really like Tupac
45. She likes going to drive-in movies
46. She really likes breadsticks
47. She wants to live in the country and be “country” yet she hates rednecks and hillbillies
48. She loves the Tyler Perry Madea series
49. She doesn’t like bugs and one time flipped out because a tiny little gnat was on her nachos and then she couldn’t eat any more on her plate.
50. Oh also she loves nachos and most mexican food.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
100 things about Megan
So one of my best friends heard about my 100 things about me blog, and as she has done some blog series herself, I attempted to get her to join in. Well, simply put she refused, and I ended up being challenged to come up with 100 things about her to post. I accepted said challenge and this is the result: 100 things about Megan. I even finished this before I completely finished the 100 things about myself (still have like 30 to go, but I’m still breaking it up into 6-7 post throughout the month), and it wasn’t too hard…. Just tough finding a balance on what I wanted to post as I wanted to give a variety and not just bland facts about her, I guess to give you a bigger picture so to speak. Also I was told not to put anything too embarrassing… Now I need to move on to 50 things about her sister Emily, only 50 though because honestly I know much less about her, thus her 50 things will probably be a lot more basic. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this Megan.
100 things about Megan
1. Her name is Megan
2. By the time I post this she will be 24 years old
3. She is the 2nd oldest of 4 sisters and has no brothers
4. Her older sister is named Amanda
5. Her oldest little sister is named Morgan
6. Her youngest sister is named Emily
7. She loves her family and tries to keep in contact with them as much as possible, even though she has spent the last several years living in other cities; in fact she talks to her Dad on the phone almost every night around 10 pm.
8. Of her sisters she is the closest with Emily
9. Her first job was working at a Nursing Home
10. This is one of the reasons she loves and feels close to elderly people, even if one of her stories involving working at a nursing home is that an old man once peed on her shoe.
11. Also, she has bathed old people… I find this strange/gross
12. She once adopted an elderly woman, who was going to be moving into a nursing home, cat named Gus.
13. Megan’s first car was a teal Ford Probe
14. She still has the Probe even though it isn’t currently running, she also keeps insurance on it because she believes if she takes the insurance off it will be a sign of her giving in to the idea she will never drive it again.
15. Currently she drives a black Chrysler 300.
16. Megan has been to a couple colleges, she began her college career at Franklin where she commuted every day from her home.
17. Later she transferred to USI and moved to Evansville
18. Megan was a History major at USI and graduated in the fall of 2009.
19. She prefers American History from post Civil War onward, with emphasis on Women’s and Civil Rights movements.
20. She admires the work of Emma Goldman, who I still find to be a very creepy/scary looking woman.
21. She is now at Grad School at IU
22. She believes in ghost and spirits, and says one of the houses she lived in while in Evansville was haunted by an evil spirit.
23. She is atheist so I wonder if she thinks ghost are trapped souls, or imprinted memories? The whole trapped spirit idea is tough to go with unless you are open to the idea of a higher power, at least I think. edited: she claims to be agnostic
24. She is a Vegetarian
25. Even though she is a vegetarian she doesn’t like very many vegetables and mainly survives on grains, with cheese and beans thrown in their as well.
26. She loves animals, more than people…. She would probably save a dog’s life over a human if she had to make the choice.
27. She has a pet dog named Ralphie
28. A pet rabbit named Poppy
29. And a couple pet cats; Luna, Gus, and her boyfriend’s cat Simba.
30. Gus is diabetic so she has to give him insulin shots
31. Last year she donated to an animal farm to save the life of a turkey
32. Megan would love to own her own farm sanctuary sometime
33. Megan studied French in high school as well as briefly in college; however she doesn’t consider herself very fluent in the language.
34. She has visited both Spain and France though.
35. She is a former member of the chargerettes dance team
36. Her bus drivers name was Mark
37. She hates riding public transportation – to many people/germs
38. She loves to read books, particularly memoirs
39. She owns a Kindle on which she reads sometimes.
40. Going along with her love of reading…. She has worked in a haunted library… but never saw the ghost.
41. Megan has visited Washington D.C. where she did some protest marching and all that jazz
42. She hates republicans/conservatives
43. But She also isn’t a big fan of democrats, as she doesn’t feel they are liberal enough
44. If I had to paint her into a political stereotype… probably communist edging out socialist
45. Also sadly she hates Rush Limbaugh
46. Interestingly enough we can both agree to be friends despite totally different political views, actually we have pretty varying views on most things, so its cool that we can still get along… by just understanding we will never change each other’s mind, and just listen to what we say when we go on a long rant about something we disagree on completely.
47. She doesn’t like to be called “Big Beaver”
48. Though she is cool with the nickname ”Meaty”
49. Megan likes listening to classic country music
50. She has partaken in some mind altering substances
51. One of her favorite vacations’ of all time was renting a cabin in Georgia with Morgan and Emily.
52. Also she once went on vacation with her family to Tulsa to see a classic car time capsule dug up… unfortunately… the car was all rusted when the unveiled it.
53. One of her goals/dreams in life is to travel old route 66 in its entirety.
54. When she gets mad at people while driving… she honks her horn all angry like, I imagine she probably shakes her fist as well.
55. I think her dream job would probably honestly be to become a career student
56. She doesn’t like making new friends
57. She also feels left out from her friends a lot of time since she was the one who moved away, and now has to drive and work to keep up with everyone.
58. She is allergic to aspartame.
59. Last Halloween she dressed up as DOG the Bounty Hunter
60. She loves family traditions, and hates when they don’t happen/end
61. She hates renting, and would like to own her own home… however when that happens she wants it to be a big and nice home, she won’t just settle for anything.
62. She is scared of the idea of child birth, and thinks of it as “alien” even though she does want a child someday.
63. She loves Mexican food
64. She helped research for the book “A Pictorial History of Mesker Park Zoo.”
65. King of the Hill is her favorite TV show
66. She dislikes birds/foul and has since she was little… well maybe not dislike.. but is scared of them.
67. She is also scared of centipedes… and even though she loves animals it is alright to kill bugs because she doesn’t believe they have feelings/ can feel pain.
68. She prefers winter over summer, and fall is her favorite season.
69. She pretty much only wears long pants… I don’t think I’ve EVER seen her legs, which now to think about it is kind of weird :P
70. One Day she called me out of the blue to ask me if I wanted to come with her to hop a fence and sneak into a graveyard. That was the first time we hung out outside of school.
71. She wants to live in the country, she doesn’t like living in the city with a lot of neighbors
72. She does do light spying/stalking on her neighbors.
73. While living in Evansville her house was robbed.
74. She is afraid I will be robbed and or shot while working at my job, so I guess that means she is caring and/or a worrywart ;)
75. She has seen the Pacific Ocean
76. She is really swayed by nostalgia
77. Megan is a fan of the comic strip “Peanuts” and the Charlie Brown holiday movies
78. She likes the cartoon Sponge Bob
79. She claims to like football, though she doesn’t have a favorite team and never watches it so I am skeptical as to this claim.
80. She doesn’t like roller coasters, though she has been to Kings Island multiple times
81. She is much more attractive than she will admit to, and sometimes has a negative self image
82. She owns an elliptical exercise machine
83. She dislikes it when non-Irish people celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day
84. She likes to sew and do other “crafty” things.
85. She wants to work a job where she gets regular breaks or vacations, she can get burnt out easily sometimes.
86. She doesn’t like the taste of beer, she does like some vodka and rum though.
87. She has a poster of Tupac corrected: she used to have a Tupac poster
88. She loves board games, and has a bunch.
89. She knows how to can food
90. She listens to Pandora radio a lot… enough that she has actually tripped the usage amount in a month and had to pay to use the service.
91. She doesn’t like Christopher Columbus
92. She is firmly on the anti-book burning side of any book burning argument
93. She has a tattoo
94. She also has piercings… but only in the ears. correction: she also has had her belly button pierced
95. She has never broken a bone
96. She wants to buy back her families old 1970’s camper, if she can find it since her Dad sold it.
97. He likes works by the animator Hayao Miyazaki, such as “Ponyo”
98. One time her car broke down at a place called “Opossum Junction”
99. She would refuse to hitchhike or pick up a hitchhiker, or even bum a ride from a stranger
100. She has a family tradition of going to the Circus every Spring at the Pepsi Coliseum.
101. Bonus: She has a cool friend named Dustin ;)
--------------------------
11/14 - added 3 edits/corrections after Megan read the list.
100 things about Megan
1. Her name is Megan
2. By the time I post this she will be 24 years old
3. She is the 2nd oldest of 4 sisters and has no brothers
4. Her older sister is named Amanda
5. Her oldest little sister is named Morgan
6. Her youngest sister is named Emily
7. She loves her family and tries to keep in contact with them as much as possible, even though she has spent the last several years living in other cities; in fact she talks to her Dad on the phone almost every night around 10 pm.
8. Of her sisters she is the closest with Emily
9. Her first job was working at a Nursing Home
10. This is one of the reasons she loves and feels close to elderly people, even if one of her stories involving working at a nursing home is that an old man once peed on her shoe.
11. Also, she has bathed old people… I find this strange/gross
12. She once adopted an elderly woman, who was going to be moving into a nursing home, cat named Gus.
13. Megan’s first car was a teal Ford Probe
14. She still has the Probe even though it isn’t currently running, she also keeps insurance on it because she believes if she takes the insurance off it will be a sign of her giving in to the idea she will never drive it again.
15. Currently she drives a black Chrysler 300.
16. Megan has been to a couple colleges, she began her college career at Franklin where she commuted every day from her home.
17. Later she transferred to USI and moved to Evansville
18. Megan was a History major at USI and graduated in the fall of 2009.
19. She prefers American History from post Civil War onward, with emphasis on Women’s and Civil Rights movements.
20. She admires the work of Emma Goldman, who I still find to be a very creepy/scary looking woman.
21. She is now at Grad School at IU
22. She believes in ghost and spirits, and says one of the houses she lived in while in Evansville was haunted by an evil spirit.
23. She is atheist so I wonder if she thinks ghost are trapped souls, or imprinted memories? The whole trapped spirit idea is tough to go with unless you are open to the idea of a higher power, at least I think. edited: she claims to be agnostic
24. She is a Vegetarian
25. Even though she is a vegetarian she doesn’t like very many vegetables and mainly survives on grains, with cheese and beans thrown in their as well.
26. She loves animals, more than people…. She would probably save a dog’s life over a human if she had to make the choice.
27. She has a pet dog named Ralphie
28. A pet rabbit named Poppy
29. And a couple pet cats; Luna, Gus, and her boyfriend’s cat Simba.
30. Gus is diabetic so she has to give him insulin shots
31. Last year she donated to an animal farm to save the life of a turkey
32. Megan would love to own her own farm sanctuary sometime
33. Megan studied French in high school as well as briefly in college; however she doesn’t consider herself very fluent in the language.
34. She has visited both Spain and France though.
35. She is a former member of the chargerettes dance team
36. Her bus drivers name was Mark
37. She hates riding public transportation – to many people/germs
38. She loves to read books, particularly memoirs
39. She owns a Kindle on which she reads sometimes.
40. Going along with her love of reading…. She has worked in a haunted library… but never saw the ghost.
41. Megan has visited Washington D.C. where she did some protest marching and all that jazz
42. She hates republicans/conservatives
43. But She also isn’t a big fan of democrats, as she doesn’t feel they are liberal enough
44. If I had to paint her into a political stereotype… probably communist edging out socialist
45. Also sadly she hates Rush Limbaugh
46. Interestingly enough we can both agree to be friends despite totally different political views, actually we have pretty varying views on most things, so its cool that we can still get along… by just understanding we will never change each other’s mind, and just listen to what we say when we go on a long rant about something we disagree on completely.
47. She doesn’t like to be called “Big Beaver”
48. Though she is cool with the nickname ”Meaty”
49. Megan likes listening to classic country music
50. She has partaken in some mind altering substances
51. One of her favorite vacations’ of all time was renting a cabin in Georgia with Morgan and Emily.
52. Also she once went on vacation with her family to Tulsa to see a classic car time capsule dug up… unfortunately… the car was all rusted when the unveiled it.
53. One of her goals/dreams in life is to travel old route 66 in its entirety.
54. When she gets mad at people while driving… she honks her horn all angry like, I imagine she probably shakes her fist as well.
55. I think her dream job would probably honestly be to become a career student
56. She doesn’t like making new friends
57. She also feels left out from her friends a lot of time since she was the one who moved away, and now has to drive and work to keep up with everyone.
58. She is allergic to aspartame.
59. Last Halloween she dressed up as DOG the Bounty Hunter
60. She loves family traditions, and hates when they don’t happen/end
61. She hates renting, and would like to own her own home… however when that happens she wants it to be a big and nice home, she won’t just settle for anything.
62. She is scared of the idea of child birth, and thinks of it as “alien” even though she does want a child someday.
63. She loves Mexican food
64. She helped research for the book “A Pictorial History of Mesker Park Zoo.”
65. King of the Hill is her favorite TV show
66. She dislikes birds/foul and has since she was little… well maybe not dislike.. but is scared of them.
67. She is also scared of centipedes… and even though she loves animals it is alright to kill bugs because she doesn’t believe they have feelings/ can feel pain.
68. She prefers winter over summer, and fall is her favorite season.
69. She pretty much only wears long pants… I don’t think I’ve EVER seen her legs, which now to think about it is kind of weird :P
70. One Day she called me out of the blue to ask me if I wanted to come with her to hop a fence and sneak into a graveyard. That was the first time we hung out outside of school.
71. She wants to live in the country, she doesn’t like living in the city with a lot of neighbors
72. She does do light spying/stalking on her neighbors.
73. While living in Evansville her house was robbed.
74. She is afraid I will be robbed and or shot while working at my job, so I guess that means she is caring and/or a worrywart ;)
75. She has seen the Pacific Ocean
76. She is really swayed by nostalgia
77. Megan is a fan of the comic strip “Peanuts” and the Charlie Brown holiday movies
78. She likes the cartoon Sponge Bob
79. She claims to like football, though she doesn’t have a favorite team and never watches it so I am skeptical as to this claim.
80. She doesn’t like roller coasters, though she has been to Kings Island multiple times
81. She is much more attractive than she will admit to, and sometimes has a negative self image
82. She owns an elliptical exercise machine
83. She dislikes it when non-Irish people celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day
84. She likes to sew and do other “crafty” things.
85. She wants to work a job where she gets regular breaks or vacations, she can get burnt out easily sometimes.
86. She doesn’t like the taste of beer, she does like some vodka and rum though.
87. She has a poster of Tupac corrected: she used to have a Tupac poster
88. She loves board games, and has a bunch.
89. She knows how to can food
90. She listens to Pandora radio a lot… enough that she has actually tripped the usage amount in a month and had to pay to use the service.
91. She doesn’t like Christopher Columbus
92. She is firmly on the anti-book burning side of any book burning argument
93. She has a tattoo
94. She also has piercings… but only in the ears. correction: she also has had her belly button pierced
95. She has never broken a bone
96. She wants to buy back her families old 1970’s camper, if she can find it since her Dad sold it.
97. He likes works by the animator Hayao Miyazaki, such as “Ponyo”
98. One time her car broke down at a place called “Opossum Junction”
99. She would refuse to hitchhike or pick up a hitchhiker, or even bum a ride from a stranger
100. She has a family tradition of going to the Circus every Spring at the Pepsi Coliseum.
101. Bonus: She has a cool friend named Dustin ;)
--------------------------
11/14 - added 3 edits/corrections after Megan read the list.
Friday, November 12, 2010
100 things - Part 3
31. I did enjoy being a part of the choir for the Madrigal dinner – play/musical the Choir always put on in the winter though.
32. While I’m not a good singer… I love to sing while I’m in the car, and I’ll sing to whatever is on the radio, even if I don’t like the song.
33. If you are riding in the car with me and I’m not singing along, and their isn’t a discussion going on, I’m making a conscious effort not be singing… probably because I don’t want to embarrass myself.
34. My favorite song of all time is “Hotel California” by the Eagles
35. I think this is from the good memories I have from the Sr. year of High School cruising around in my car with the windows down afterschool almost every night with Steve and Michael, as well as Bruce when he wasn’t working.
36. My first car was a 1986 Monte Carlo SS with T-Tops
37. My first car wreck was on my 13th birthday… I totaled my Dad’s truck, by sideswiping a limestone post in my Grandpa’s driveway.
38. I have played a variety of nerd games in my life… D&D, Magic the Gathering, Warhammer 40k but I enjoyed them all.
39. One summer my group of friends got into paintball and that was fun, but we have never been able to make it work with everyone since that summer (2006)
40. Back to nerd games… I was on the Academic teams at my high school… we went to the State Finals twice for Social Studies.
41. I always loved basketball, but I never made a team after 6th grade (when everyone made the team).
42. So I’ve had to settle for just watching it… I’m a huge Purdue University Basketball fan.
43. Purdue’s basketball team was my #1 reason for choosing them as my college choice, even though they ended up being horrible my first two years there, average my Jr. year and good my Sr. year… which unfortunately happened to be the year they switched from Seniority seating in the student block (Paint Crew) to first come first serve.
44. The longest I waited in line for good seats at a Purdue game, over 8 hrs… with snow on the ground, in January…
45. My other sports teams are the Colts for NFL, the Pacers in the NBA while I don’t really follow any team in the NHL or MLB… But I’m a firm believer you can only have one team to be a fan of.
32. While I’m not a good singer… I love to sing while I’m in the car, and I’ll sing to whatever is on the radio, even if I don’t like the song.
33. If you are riding in the car with me and I’m not singing along, and their isn’t a discussion going on, I’m making a conscious effort not be singing… probably because I don’t want to embarrass myself.
34. My favorite song of all time is “Hotel California” by the Eagles
35. I think this is from the good memories I have from the Sr. year of High School cruising around in my car with the windows down afterschool almost every night with Steve and Michael, as well as Bruce when he wasn’t working.
36. My first car was a 1986 Monte Carlo SS with T-Tops
37. My first car wreck was on my 13th birthday… I totaled my Dad’s truck, by sideswiping a limestone post in my Grandpa’s driveway.
38. I have played a variety of nerd games in my life… D&D, Magic the Gathering, Warhammer 40k but I enjoyed them all.
39. One summer my group of friends got into paintball and that was fun, but we have never been able to make it work with everyone since that summer (2006)
40. Back to nerd games… I was on the Academic teams at my high school… we went to the State Finals twice for Social Studies.
41. I always loved basketball, but I never made a team after 6th grade (when everyone made the team).
42. So I’ve had to settle for just watching it… I’m a huge Purdue University Basketball fan.
43. Purdue’s basketball team was my #1 reason for choosing them as my college choice, even though they ended up being horrible my first two years there, average my Jr. year and good my Sr. year… which unfortunately happened to be the year they switched from Seniority seating in the student block (Paint Crew) to first come first serve.
44. The longest I waited in line for good seats at a Purdue game, over 8 hrs… with snow on the ground, in January…
45. My other sports teams are the Colts for NFL, the Pacers in the NBA while I don’t really follow any team in the NHL or MLB… But I’m a firm believer you can only have one team to be a fan of.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Work vs Unemployment
Work vs Unemployment
So this is a blog I have had on the back burner for a little while. I originally intended to write this up back in October, however I had the whole “Experience List” series going on at the time and this just ended up getting pushed back. However, here we are on the day I receive my second paycheck from my new job. How does that feel, you might ask? Well not that great since it only pays a grand total of $10 more a week than what I was netting pay wise on unemployment benefits… yeah just magnificent.
Granted my job here does has a commission/bonus system that would up my base pay considerably, but you don’t qualify for a bonus until you have worked for the company for 30 days, and even then with the mess I inherited at the center I’m managing…. Well it’ll probably be January or February before I have a legitimate shot at receiving any bonus money.
Of course the real reason for this blog (and I apologize in advance if this ends up rambling) isn’t to rip completely on my new job* However, when I think about it, what is/was my real incentive of getting off of unemployment? To be completely honest, I would have looked for work hardier and earlier if I had not known how well my unemployment benefits would be taking care of me. Truly It was only when I knew I would be running out of benefits for real (as I hit the first extension in July, but I knew that would come), that I really start searching hard for a job.
The worst part about being on unemployment was having the feeling of being a hypocrite, as I am one for a very limited government, without public safety nets like long term unemployment or social security. And there I was for roughly eight months surviving on one of those safety nets I oppose. Of course I had money saved up from my working days that I would have lived on, but unemployment benefits meant that I didn’t have to spend any of my savings. This honestly left little incentive to go out and find a job where I’d have to work 40 hours a week, when I was making decent money by just applying for a handful of jobs a week.
I justified the hypocrite feeling to myself by spinning it as I was proving my own point…. That unemployment encourages people to stay out of work.^ I fully believed and still do believe that I could have found a job much faster than I did, granted it wouldn’t have been a great job… or even a good job, but I could have found a job in three months. And really the job I have now is far from “great” at least that is my thought one month into my employment, so what I took in a rush might not have been that much worse.
Sure there was also the negative of having to tell people you were unemployed when people asked what you were doing now days, and you had no choice but to answer that you are unemployed. However, when the unemployment rate has been hovering around 10% for the last 18 months, you have a lot of company in your field which makes it a lot less of a negative. In fact my current job has more of a negative stereotype attached to it than I ever felt from being unemployed. I’ve had to defend my employment at a payday loan job as a legit business way more than I was ever hounded about being on unemployment, its hands down no contest in that regard. I actually honestly feel worse about explaining/justifying my job now; when I know I shouldn’t feel bad at all.
What does this all mean… I’m not sure, I did end up rambling a lot, but I guess the moral of this blog is that unemployment is a problem currently affecting us, however, with our current unemployment system and sentiments of the population it doesn’t seem like there is that much of an encouraging factor for people to get off of the benefits, other than the fear of them running out. And even then we are greeted with jobs we won’t be that excited for and that may even been as openly acceptable as surviving off of a government safety net. And this doesn’t quite sit right to me looking back on my personal experience.
*Ok mini rant… So Yesterday I had to come into work on my day off because the other girl I work with called in sick yet again. I call my boss hoping I won’t have to come in as this is the last day in our pay period and any work I did that day would be Overtime… Which I need to mention overtime is paid at half pay… so I’m making less than minimum wage if I have to go in, and it cost me $10 in gas to get to work and back on any day I work. Anyway, my boss never responds so I end up going into work, where I see she faxed everyone saying she wasn’t available today. Ugh. So I end up working all day, I was so pissed. Giving up my day off in order to make 45 bucks before gas and taxes… And yes I realize I shouldn’t have been mad at my co-worker for being sick, but I was. – End Rant –
^Now don’t get me wrong, I see the need for unemployment benefits on the short term, maybe 3 months tops but a very limited amount of money a week. Also it would probably be better to make it harder, like make people actually go to the unemployment office rather than apply for benefits at their leisure from the comfort of their own home, like I did online every week. Add in the fact that I just withdrew the money off of my unemployment debit card and deposited it in my bank every week, no one had to know I was unemployed so I never really felt bad/ashamed of unemployment.
So this is a blog I have had on the back burner for a little while. I originally intended to write this up back in October, however I had the whole “Experience List” series going on at the time and this just ended up getting pushed back. However, here we are on the day I receive my second paycheck from my new job. How does that feel, you might ask? Well not that great since it only pays a grand total of $10 more a week than what I was netting pay wise on unemployment benefits… yeah just magnificent.
Granted my job here does has a commission/bonus system that would up my base pay considerably, but you don’t qualify for a bonus until you have worked for the company for 30 days, and even then with the mess I inherited at the center I’m managing…. Well it’ll probably be January or February before I have a legitimate shot at receiving any bonus money.
Of course the real reason for this blog (and I apologize in advance if this ends up rambling) isn’t to rip completely on my new job* However, when I think about it, what is/was my real incentive of getting off of unemployment? To be completely honest, I would have looked for work hardier and earlier if I had not known how well my unemployment benefits would be taking care of me. Truly It was only when I knew I would be running out of benefits for real (as I hit the first extension in July, but I knew that would come), that I really start searching hard for a job.
The worst part about being on unemployment was having the feeling of being a hypocrite, as I am one for a very limited government, without public safety nets like long term unemployment or social security. And there I was for roughly eight months surviving on one of those safety nets I oppose. Of course I had money saved up from my working days that I would have lived on, but unemployment benefits meant that I didn’t have to spend any of my savings. This honestly left little incentive to go out and find a job where I’d have to work 40 hours a week, when I was making decent money by just applying for a handful of jobs a week.
I justified the hypocrite feeling to myself by spinning it as I was proving my own point…. That unemployment encourages people to stay out of work.^ I fully believed and still do believe that I could have found a job much faster than I did, granted it wouldn’t have been a great job… or even a good job, but I could have found a job in three months. And really the job I have now is far from “great” at least that is my thought one month into my employment, so what I took in a rush might not have been that much worse.
Sure there was also the negative of having to tell people you were unemployed when people asked what you were doing now days, and you had no choice but to answer that you are unemployed. However, when the unemployment rate has been hovering around 10% for the last 18 months, you have a lot of company in your field which makes it a lot less of a negative. In fact my current job has more of a negative stereotype attached to it than I ever felt from being unemployed. I’ve had to defend my employment at a payday loan job as a legit business way more than I was ever hounded about being on unemployment, its hands down no contest in that regard. I actually honestly feel worse about explaining/justifying my job now; when I know I shouldn’t feel bad at all.
What does this all mean… I’m not sure, I did end up rambling a lot, but I guess the moral of this blog is that unemployment is a problem currently affecting us, however, with our current unemployment system and sentiments of the population it doesn’t seem like there is that much of an encouraging factor for people to get off of the benefits, other than the fear of them running out. And even then we are greeted with jobs we won’t be that excited for and that may even been as openly acceptable as surviving off of a government safety net. And this doesn’t quite sit right to me looking back on my personal experience.
*Ok mini rant… So Yesterday I had to come into work on my day off because the other girl I work with called in sick yet again. I call my boss hoping I won’t have to come in as this is the last day in our pay period and any work I did that day would be Overtime… Which I need to mention overtime is paid at half pay… so I’m making less than minimum wage if I have to go in, and it cost me $10 in gas to get to work and back on any day I work. Anyway, my boss never responds so I end up going into work, where I see she faxed everyone saying she wasn’t available today. Ugh. So I end up working all day, I was so pissed. Giving up my day off in order to make 45 bucks before gas and taxes… And yes I realize I shouldn’t have been mad at my co-worker for being sick, but I was. – End Rant –
^Now don’t get me wrong, I see the need for unemployment benefits on the short term, maybe 3 months tops but a very limited amount of money a week. Also it would probably be better to make it harder, like make people actually go to the unemployment office rather than apply for benefits at their leisure from the comfort of their own home, like I did online every week. Add in the fact that I just withdrew the money off of my unemployment debit card and deposited it in my bank every week, no one had to know I was unemployed so I never really felt bad/ashamed of unemployment.
Monday, November 8, 2010
100 things about me : Part 2
16. I dislike Daylights savings time… so much that I won’t vote for anyone who supported Indiana switching back onto it. I preferred it when Indiana had its own time.
17. I have never broken a bone in my body
18. I still have my Wisdom teeth… but I only have three of them
19. I wear a size 15 shoe in most brands… though 16’s in some like Nike.
20. I HATE shoe shopping, so much that I buy my shoes online now, I think this is because since I always had big feet I felt embarrassed when my parents would ask them what they had in my size instead of letting me pick out what I wanted.
21. Also I have a vow to never buy another pair of new balance shoes, not because they are bad shoes… it’s just that they carry all the way up to size 16 in stock all the time and once my parents found that out they always took me there for new shoes.
22. As for keeping vows.. I’m pretty good at it due to my stubbornness… I once went 2 years without playing on the same team during a video game with one of my friends due to a disagreement that came up while playing a game of Conker’s Bad Fur Day… Not buying a pair of New Balance shoes will be much easier to keep than that one was.
23. When playing video games I’ve been somewhat of a Nintendo loyalist; NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, and Wii I have all owned.
24. Though lately I’ve been won over by Microsoft – Xbox and Xbox360, and the only handheld I’ve owned was a Sega GameGear.
25. I think my favorite video game of all time is a “Zelda” title – Ocarina of Time, though the Eternal Darkness and Resident Evil for the GameCube are up there in the ranking as well.
26. EarthBound a game for SNES is the game I have always wanted to play but never got around too playing.
27. I want to learn how to play the Harmonica… I have one but am not very good at it, and never have put the effort into learning how to play properly/well.
28. I was however in the 5th and 6th grade band as a percussionist… but I wasn’t very good at that either, and like before never really put in the effort… though really I had no desire to ever be in the high school band so I dropped out when I got to Jr. High (7th grade).
29. As you may have noticed from the last two entries, and what I’m sure will pop up again later, I’m not very good at sticking with things that I’m not at least somewhat competent at from early on…
30. I was in the high school choir though, the top one actually, but this was more due to the fact I was a male and not because I was a good singer… in fact my 7th grade year I got an award for being the only guy in choir. I would have quit but didn’t have the heart to tell them no after every other guy had already quit.
17. I have never broken a bone in my body
18. I still have my Wisdom teeth… but I only have three of them
19. I wear a size 15 shoe in most brands… though 16’s in some like Nike.
20. I HATE shoe shopping, so much that I buy my shoes online now, I think this is because since I always had big feet I felt embarrassed when my parents would ask them what they had in my size instead of letting me pick out what I wanted.
21. Also I have a vow to never buy another pair of new balance shoes, not because they are bad shoes… it’s just that they carry all the way up to size 16 in stock all the time and once my parents found that out they always took me there for new shoes.
22. As for keeping vows.. I’m pretty good at it due to my stubbornness… I once went 2 years without playing on the same team during a video game with one of my friends due to a disagreement that came up while playing a game of Conker’s Bad Fur Day… Not buying a pair of New Balance shoes will be much easier to keep than that one was.
23. When playing video games I’ve been somewhat of a Nintendo loyalist; NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, and Wii I have all owned.
24. Though lately I’ve been won over by Microsoft – Xbox and Xbox360, and the only handheld I’ve owned was a Sega GameGear.
25. I think my favorite video game of all time is a “Zelda” title – Ocarina of Time, though the Eternal Darkness and Resident Evil for the GameCube are up there in the ranking as well.
26. EarthBound a game for SNES is the game I have always wanted to play but never got around too playing.
27. I want to learn how to play the Harmonica… I have one but am not very good at it, and never have put the effort into learning how to play properly/well.
28. I was however in the 5th and 6th grade band as a percussionist… but I wasn’t very good at that either, and like before never really put in the effort… though really I had no desire to ever be in the high school band so I dropped out when I got to Jr. High (7th grade).
29. As you may have noticed from the last two entries, and what I’m sure will pop up again later, I’m not very good at sticking with things that I’m not at least somewhat competent at from early on…
30. I was in the high school choir though, the top one actually, but this was more due to the fact I was a male and not because I was a good singer… in fact my 7th grade year I got an award for being the only guy in choir. I would have quit but didn’t have the heart to tell them no after every other guy had already quit.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Off the Road
Off the Road
Well today I sold my first car, it was a 1986 Monte Carlo SS with T-Tops that my Dad bought me when I turned 16. It was a fun car; loud, sporty, and had good top end speed, even if it never really shifted the smoothest. I drove it from 2000 – 2008 and have many memories of the car, even if I’ve never been a “car person.”
Sure the interior is pretty much shot right now, the decal stripe has come off on the passenger side, the passenger side fender’s paint job isn’t as good as the rest (wreck), starting to rust and then of course it only gets 15 mpg which is why I retired it to the side yard. I’ve had a couple people come and look at it, but this was the first guy to actually bring the money.
So in honor of the Monte Carlo heading for a new life some memories:
Jamming out to the Eagles with the Trailer crew with our hands out the window cruising down 421.
The time Ferrell, Steve and I stuffed all of those aluminum cans in the car
Laughing at whoever got stuck in the backseat when the T-Tops were off
The time the transmission went out on me while I was driving to school and I had to walk the last ½ mile or so.
The time I wrecked it on ice going like 5 mph
Driving it down the Methlab road
Signing
Trying to go Toilet Papering all sneaky like while it roared loud enough anyone/everyone could hear it.
Well that’s about all I have to say, it just seemed like I should say something about it as it was such a major part of my life for those 8 years.
Well today I sold my first car, it was a 1986 Monte Carlo SS with T-Tops that my Dad bought me when I turned 16. It was a fun car; loud, sporty, and had good top end speed, even if it never really shifted the smoothest. I drove it from 2000 – 2008 and have many memories of the car, even if I’ve never been a “car person.”
Sure the interior is pretty much shot right now, the decal stripe has come off on the passenger side, the passenger side fender’s paint job isn’t as good as the rest (wreck), starting to rust and then of course it only gets 15 mpg which is why I retired it to the side yard. I’ve had a couple people come and look at it, but this was the first guy to actually bring the money.
So in honor of the Monte Carlo heading for a new life some memories:
Jamming out to the Eagles with the Trailer crew with our hands out the window cruising down 421.
The time Ferrell, Steve and I stuffed all of those aluminum cans in the car
Laughing at whoever got stuck in the backseat when the T-Tops were off
The time the transmission went out on me while I was driving to school and I had to walk the last ½ mile or so.
The time I wrecked it on ice going like 5 mph
Driving it down the Methlab road
Signing
Trying to go Toilet Papering all sneaky like while it roared loud enough anyone/everyone could hear it.
Well that’s about all I have to say, it just seemed like I should say something about it as it was such a major part of my life for those 8 years.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
100 Things About Me - Part 1
So I saw this on several other blogs and decided I'd make it into a mini-series for this month. Its pretty simple.. I'll post 100 things about myself, they can be anything as long as they are true. I haven't planned this one out in anyway yet, so I'm pretty much just going to wing it. I figure this will end up being a 5-10 post series which will have no set on time frame other than I plan on being done by the end of the month, or atleast before Christmas at the very latest. So without further ado....
1. My name is Dustin
2. I'm 6 foot 3 inches tall, and nope I haven't grown recently... I hit this height when I was a freshman in highschool and everyone else then started to catch up with me.
3. I'm 25 years old, which is a quarter-century.... I think it sounds cooler that way.
4. I have brown eyes
5. I have black hair
6. I wear glasses all the time because I'm pretty much blind without them.... I have to squint to see the big "E"
7. I tried contacts for about 2 weeks in 8th grade, but I was horribly slow at putting them in and pretty much gave up. Also I think I look better with glasses than without.
8. Another reason I gave up trying on wearing contacts is that my sister was trying them at the same time and was much better at putting them on.
9. I weigh 208 lbs, though I have weighed a lot more and a lot less in the last 2 years.
10. Infact I weighed 298 lbs in March of 2007 and then went on a hardcore weightloss mission that I pretty much made up / did on my own to lose weight.... though I went a little to far and ended up weighing as little as 153 lbs in January of 2009.
11. Speaking of going to far, I ended up gaining way to much of it back when I got sort of bummed out and stressed with my job/life in the fall of 2009 and I ended up having to lose weight again in the summer of 2010 to get back down to 2010
12. Last summer I did a lot of walking, I got in the routine of walking to Adams firedepartment, buying a pop, and then walking back... it was about 9 miles round trip.
13. Also last summer I hiked over a mountain with my Dad, it was Mount LeConte in the App. Mountains from Smokemont, North Carolina to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It was a great trip that had us walking for 18 hrs to cover 25 miles, I'll always have good memories of it, even if it pretty much kicked our butts.
14. One of my favorite family vacations involved going to the Crater Diamond Mine in Arkansas, we also stopped at Graceland, James K. Polk Museum, and the Gateway arch in St. Louis. Though we did not find a diamond at the mine.
15. As for a fun trip with friends... hands down Spring Break 2004 with Ferrell and Steve when we stayed in a cabin at Brown County Indiana for 3 days. It was a great time just hanging out with those guys in this huge cabin we had rented.
1. My name is Dustin
2. I'm 6 foot 3 inches tall, and nope I haven't grown recently... I hit this height when I was a freshman in highschool and everyone else then started to catch up with me.
3. I'm 25 years old, which is a quarter-century.... I think it sounds cooler that way.
4. I have brown eyes
5. I have black hair
6. I wear glasses all the time because I'm pretty much blind without them.... I have to squint to see the big "E"
7. I tried contacts for about 2 weeks in 8th grade, but I was horribly slow at putting them in and pretty much gave up. Also I think I look better with glasses than without.
8. Another reason I gave up trying on wearing contacts is that my sister was trying them at the same time and was much better at putting them on.
9. I weigh 208 lbs, though I have weighed a lot more and a lot less in the last 2 years.
10. Infact I weighed 298 lbs in March of 2007 and then went on a hardcore weightloss mission that I pretty much made up / did on my own to lose weight.... though I went a little to far and ended up weighing as little as 153 lbs in January of 2009.
11. Speaking of going to far, I ended up gaining way to much of it back when I got sort of bummed out and stressed with my job/life in the fall of 2009 and I ended up having to lose weight again in the summer of 2010 to get back down to 2010
12. Last summer I did a lot of walking, I got in the routine of walking to Adams firedepartment, buying a pop, and then walking back... it was about 9 miles round trip.
13. Also last summer I hiked over a mountain with my Dad, it was Mount LeConte in the App. Mountains from Smokemont, North Carolina to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It was a great trip that had us walking for 18 hrs to cover 25 miles, I'll always have good memories of it, even if it pretty much kicked our butts.
14. One of my favorite family vacations involved going to the Crater Diamond Mine in Arkansas, we also stopped at Graceland, James K. Polk Museum, and the Gateway arch in St. Louis. Though we did not find a diamond at the mine.
15. As for a fun trip with friends... hands down Spring Break 2004 with Ferrell and Steve when we stayed in a cabin at Brown County Indiana for 3 days. It was a great time just hanging out with those guys in this huge cabin we had rented.
Monday, November 1, 2010
October Review / November Preview
Experience List Recap:
Well the series is finally finished; I enjoyed doing this blog series. As with all of my series I started out strong thinking it would be easy to come up with enough ideas to knock this out smoothly all month. However, after about 10 days in I started having to think about what I really would want to experience. To be honest I really wanted to put more detail into some of the post, such as the Blimp or Secret Society but time constraints caught up with me so hopefully I’ll find time to revisit those ideas in a future blog. The only day looking back that I would change or redo would be Oct. 20th, developing an eccentric trait… I don’t know if that is really that great of a thing… but I was out of ideas and running out of time to post for that day. So yeah that is the one I would change.
The List in Review
Oct. 1st – Have a Strange Tombstone
Oct. 2nd – Serve on a Jury
Oct. 3rd – Make Moonshine
Oct. 4th – Own a Laser Disc Player
Oct. 5th – Get a Job/Career I love
Oct. 6th – See Purdue win a Men’s Basketball NCAA Championship
Oct. 7th – Run a Marathon
Oct. 8th- Be on Gameshow
Oct. 9th- Run with the Bulls
Oct. 10th – Keep an Journal for an entire Year
Oct. 11th- Visit Ankor Wat
Oct. 12th- See Washington D.C.
Oct. 13th- Have Something Named after Myself
Oct. 14th- Run for President
Oct. 15th- Learn how to Play Warhammer 40k again
Oct. 16th- Learn how to play the Harmonica
Oct. 17th- Have a Kid
Oct. 18th- Raft down the Amazon River
Oct. 19th- See a Ghost
Oct. 20th- Develop an Eccentric Trait
Oct. 21st- Go to the Moon
Oct. 22nd- Live as a Nomad
Oct. 23rd- Have a Lair
Oct. 24th- See the opening ceremonies of an Olympic Games
Oct. 25th- Own a Blimp
Oct. 26th- Be in a Riot
Oct. 27th- See the Great Wall of China
Oct. 28th- Own a Home
Oct. 29th- Create a Secret Society
Oct. 30th- An unplanned trip
Oct. 31st – Finish Cinco De Murder
November:
So what does November have in store? Not a full-fledged Blog Series, I have a few topics I plan on posting on as well as possibly doing a mini-series of 100 things about me. (Possibly broken into 4-5 post). So probably just a post or two a week for November instead of everyday, then hopefully I’ll come up with a new blog series idea for December.
Well the series is finally finished; I enjoyed doing this blog series. As with all of my series I started out strong thinking it would be easy to come up with enough ideas to knock this out smoothly all month. However, after about 10 days in I started having to think about what I really would want to experience. To be honest I really wanted to put more detail into some of the post, such as the Blimp or Secret Society but time constraints caught up with me so hopefully I’ll find time to revisit those ideas in a future blog. The only day looking back that I would change or redo would be Oct. 20th, developing an eccentric trait… I don’t know if that is really that great of a thing… but I was out of ideas and running out of time to post for that day. So yeah that is the one I would change.
The List in Review
Oct. 1st – Have a Strange Tombstone
Oct. 2nd – Serve on a Jury
Oct. 3rd – Make Moonshine
Oct. 4th – Own a Laser Disc Player
Oct. 5th – Get a Job/Career I love
Oct. 6th – See Purdue win a Men’s Basketball NCAA Championship
Oct. 7th – Run a Marathon
Oct. 8th- Be on Gameshow
Oct. 9th- Run with the Bulls
Oct. 10th – Keep an Journal for an entire Year
Oct. 11th- Visit Ankor Wat
Oct. 12th- See Washington D.C.
Oct. 13th- Have Something Named after Myself
Oct. 14th- Run for President
Oct. 15th- Learn how to Play Warhammer 40k again
Oct. 16th- Learn how to play the Harmonica
Oct. 17th- Have a Kid
Oct. 18th- Raft down the Amazon River
Oct. 19th- See a Ghost
Oct. 20th- Develop an Eccentric Trait
Oct. 21st- Go to the Moon
Oct. 22nd- Live as a Nomad
Oct. 23rd- Have a Lair
Oct. 24th- See the opening ceremonies of an Olympic Games
Oct. 25th- Own a Blimp
Oct. 26th- Be in a Riot
Oct. 27th- See the Great Wall of China
Oct. 28th- Own a Home
Oct. 29th- Create a Secret Society
Oct. 30th- An unplanned trip
Oct. 31st – Finish Cinco De Murder
November:
So what does November have in store? Not a full-fledged Blog Series, I have a few topics I plan on posting on as well as possibly doing a mini-series of 100 things about me. (Possibly broken into 4-5 post). So probably just a post or two a week for November instead of everyday, then hopefully I’ll come up with a new blog series idea for December.
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