December
1. The Prince - Niccolò Machiavelli (1513)
A classic political analysis on how to run a country, he covers all of his various opinions and ideas on how it should and shouldn’t be attempted. I wasn’t a big
fan of the story, however, if you like “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu I consider this a good companion reading that would bring up some good compare and contrast discussions.
2. The Jungle – Upton Sinclair (1906)
As opposed to the previous book, I really enjoyed this story. Infact I may end up writing a blog about my thoughts and opinions in more detail. It tells of the social and political journey of an immigrant from Lithuania who comes to Chicago. Though I had issues with the timeline and how the author seems to drop the story at the end to promote his political ideas, the book was defiantly worth my time.
3. Through the Looking Glass – Lewis Carroll (1871)
The sequel to Alice in Wonderland which I had read last month, this book follows Alice through a mirror into the “Looking Glass World”. It had some interesting parts; the jabberwocky, tweedle dee and dum, as well as the lion and the unicorn. However, overall it failed to live up to the original work and left me disappointed at the end.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Decade: 2010
2010:
Song: Bang Bang Bang – Mark Ronson and the Business International – This is a strange little song that I heard on one of the late night talk shows this fall, and then ended up getting. I like it, not sure why but I do.
Video Game: Half-Life series – My Dad had the Orange Box set for half-life awhile back but I didn’t have an Xbox 360 until this spring. This summer however I picked it up to play the game Portal which everyone I knew who had Orange Box loved, and that said Portal is a fun game. However, all of those same people hated Half-Life 2 and never really made it past the 2nd level before quitting on it. Anyway I wanted to give it a try, and ended up loving the entire series, I can’t wait for Half-Life 2 Episode 3 even if they have announced it won’t be coming up until 2012 at the earliest. I think that’s a pretty big accomplishment because this year I really got back into video games after 2-3 years of only being a casual player at most.
News Story: BP Oil Spill – Dominated the news for a long time, and for a good reason. One of BP’s oil rigs experienced an explosion that would cause more oil to leak into the gulf than any previous oil spill. The news updated us nightly as to the latest efforts to stop the flow of oil, as well as stories as to how it was affecting the people and wildlife of the area. That said now that it’s been about 5 months since the leak was stopped we don’t hear much about the damage, so maybe it wasn’t as bad as they thought it would be?
Personal Event: The Hike – I would/could post a whole bunch on this event, but really I already have and it’s probably best to check it out here with pictures:
http://nomadwaystation.blogspot.com/2010/07/hike-or-that-time-i-walked-over.html
It was a great event and something I will remember for a long time.
Song: Bang Bang Bang – Mark Ronson and the Business International – This is a strange little song that I heard on one of the late night talk shows this fall, and then ended up getting. I like it, not sure why but I do.
Video Game: Half-Life series – My Dad had the Orange Box set for half-life awhile back but I didn’t have an Xbox 360 until this spring. This summer however I picked it up to play the game Portal which everyone I knew who had Orange Box loved, and that said Portal is a fun game. However, all of those same people hated Half-Life 2 and never really made it past the 2nd level before quitting on it. Anyway I wanted to give it a try, and ended up loving the entire series, I can’t wait for Half-Life 2 Episode 3 even if they have announced it won’t be coming up until 2012 at the earliest. I think that’s a pretty big accomplishment because this year I really got back into video games after 2-3 years of only being a casual player at most.
News Story: BP Oil Spill – Dominated the news for a long time, and for a good reason. One of BP’s oil rigs experienced an explosion that would cause more oil to leak into the gulf than any previous oil spill. The news updated us nightly as to the latest efforts to stop the flow of oil, as well as stories as to how it was affecting the people and wildlife of the area. That said now that it’s been about 5 months since the leak was stopped we don’t hear much about the damage, so maybe it wasn’t as bad as they thought it would be?
Personal Event: The Hike – I would/could post a whole bunch on this event, but really I already have and it’s probably best to check it out here with pictures:
http://nomadwaystation.blogspot.com/2010/07/hike-or-that-time-i-walked-over.html
It was a great event and something I will remember for a long time.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Year in Review: Part 4
Year in Review
Note: This is the final part of a four part series, the object being to give a quick review of my experiences in the year 2010. In this part I will cover the months of October, November and December.
October – Checking into Work
I actually started my first blog series in about half a year this month with my Experience List series this month so I did a lot more writing than I had in awhile.
At the start of the month I took my car into get its 15,000 mile check up, ended up costing 300 bucks so I wasn’t too thrilled about that. I also got a call from a job I had applied to online asking me to fill out an application in person so I drove up to Indianapolis to do that. I ended up getting an interview, and then later a second interview and then bam I had a new job. I was actually on my way to apply for a job working where my friend Bruce had got on when I was offered the job. In hindsight maybe I should have applied to the other one, as it paid more money, but here I am with the job I did get offered.
Since I started my new job they had me training at a different center in Southport… and thus began the start of me entering the working force and 2 hours a day driving sucking my free time dry…
I trained for a little less than 2 weeks and then they sent me off to run my own store… and ever since then I’ve been doing/trying to do that as successfully as possible.
One advantage of doing the driving is that I started listening to audio books which has been nice, I have tracked my reading/listening efforts on the blog.
Around Halloween, Megan came up from Bloomington to party with her family, and I went to see “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken” with her and Emily at the old Strand theatre in Shelbyville. The Strand is where we used to go watch movies when I was little. It was old and the floor was always sticky but I have some good memories of watching movies as a little kid there. Anyway they have been restoring it to its original look as a stage theatre, but they decided to play some movies for Halloween. I enjoyed the show.
Bruce came over later that night and we played some chess and just sat around, Casey had some friends out as well. But overall that was Halloween and the month of October.
November - Riding along in my automobile
Yep now that I am in the work force again I was quickly getting used to the daily grind and driving to Indianapolis 5 days a week. Really this shot down the majority of my free time so I was beginning to miss being unemployed. Really I don’t have a lot else to say about working again, other than I had realized that I don’t think this is a job I want long term. (though maybe that sentiment will change?)
Bruce had introduced me to a game called “Heroclix” at the end of October and I bought my first few game pieces this month, actually Bruce got me a Jonah Hex set as well which was cool. I’m not completely sold on the game yet, so I don’t think I’m going to get that much into it. But I don’t mind playing it. Bruce, Brock and Joe are all pretty into the game so that’s cool. Basically the game involves making a team of comic book / super hero figures and having them fight against each other.
Thanksgiving came up next and I had my usual set of Thanksgiving dinners. Dad’s family was the same as always, it’s nice to see Grandma, Grandpa, Pam and then Mom, Dad and Casey. It’s small but nice. I had the day off, but Casey had to work so we had Thanksgiving supper together. I had to wake up early the next day though and work a 12 hour day for Black Friday.
Thanksgiving with Mom’s family was on Saturday in Hagerstown. Fun as always, though I had to watch Purdue lose the old oaken bucket on TV that day, and then Purdue’ basketball team lost our first game to Richmond that night… blah but other than that it was great. Including our Chinese Firedrills at every stop light in Hagerstown. (Clockwise or counter clockwise on the fire drill is the real question…)
December – An End to the Year
Well the start of the month was pretty calm, just the same old working and hanging out with friends. Well, I should add that I talked to my cousin Melissa for the first time in a long time, and found out she was living really close to where I work in Indianapolis now days. So we meet up once and had dinner at Fazoli’s.
On the 12th I had my first family diner, with my Dad’s extended side of the family; we had it at the country club. It was nice, these always feel weird as having them at the country club doesn’t feel like a family get-together, but I’d say this is one of the best ones we have ever had there.
The next day however I was on the road to a training class at work for a full week in Lexington, Kentucky. To be honest, I thought I would hate this… but I ended up enjoying it quite a bit actually. (some pics can be seen in the post about Howie in Lexington) My classmates where a pretty cool group of people and the class ended up being a nice relaxing break from the “real world”. I actually ate a ton of food down there since we had 15 bucks to spend on dinner and they catered in all of our lunches, it was pretty nice, as I even got to be a big tipper a few times as I always wanted to spend the full 15 dollars. The last night we went to this pizza/arcade place which ended up being a fun thing for our group.
Funny thing is that we got a snow day from the classes even because Lexington had a small ice storm on Wednesday night… but it wasn’t bad at all… in fact we rode around with a guy from Florida driving most of the time, just to give you an idea on how bad it was…
The Saturday after my trip I hung out with Steve and a few old friends to play some games of Risk. Steve wanted us to meet his new girlfriend Macy, so he arranged this gathering. He must really like her as he never wanted me to meet any of his other girlfriends. She is nice, and things went well… though she totally had him under her control in those games of risk.
After getting back from classes I had a week of work until Christmas, I ended up finishing the audiobook “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair this week, and really must say it’s been my favorite audiobook thus far this year.
After work on the 23rd I went with and met my family at my Grandma in Knightstown’s house. Mom, Grandma and my cousin Steve had been making candy all day there. I got there last as I came from work and ate some soup and candy. The drive back was foggy but it was a nice gathering.
Christmas Eve I had to work until 4 pm, which was nice to get off early. Then I came home and opened some Christmas with my family. I got some Tabasco Sauce, The Great Mouse Detective on DVD, Madden 2011, some toothpaste, undershirts, a back-up hard drive and a bunch of other items. As well as giving all of the gifts I had got for my parents and Casey of course. It was a great Christmas and I got way more than I needed.
On Christmas Day we went to my Grandma and Grandpa’s and had dinner and presents with them and my Aunt Pam. I got a new video camera! Since I broke mine while hiking over the mountain in July. (Ok this wasn’t a surprise as Grandma had us buy a present, but I’m happy with it.) Again I also got way more than I needed, and it was a great lunch and then dinner later on. Dad and Mom threw in their picks for who would win the NCAA tourney in March as is family tradition, leaving only Grandpa needing to lock in a team and him lamenting that all of his picks got taken before he jumped on them.
Grandma went first and got Duke back in November; Pam took Michigan State, Casey Syracuse, Me Kansas, Mom Purdue, Dad Ohio St…. Grandpa has until the 31st to make his pick.
Between lunch and dinner Dad and I went to visit my great grandma in the nursing home… and sadly she is in much worse shape than the last time I saw her.
The 26th was my final Christmas dinner this time with my Mom’s extended family. Again a great time, Casey had to work so Derek, Erika and I ended up going back and getting her when she got off work. I got a new tie and then of course had a great time hanging out with family. We were going to play Derek’s version of Purdue monopoly but never got around to it.
I must say it was a great Christmas when it was all said and done, I felt sort of sad and very tired when I rolled out of bed on the 27th and headed into work. I even commented on how I was sad all of the Christmas songs were gone until next year, even though I was sick of them on the 24th. Funny how things like that work out sometimes.
Now all that is left is figuring out my New Year’s plans… and that has been yet to be determined as per this writing.
Note: This is the final part of a four part series, the object being to give a quick review of my experiences in the year 2010. In this part I will cover the months of October, November and December.
October – Checking into Work
I actually started my first blog series in about half a year this month with my Experience List series this month so I did a lot more writing than I had in awhile.
At the start of the month I took my car into get its 15,000 mile check up, ended up costing 300 bucks so I wasn’t too thrilled about that. I also got a call from a job I had applied to online asking me to fill out an application in person so I drove up to Indianapolis to do that. I ended up getting an interview, and then later a second interview and then bam I had a new job. I was actually on my way to apply for a job working where my friend Bruce had got on when I was offered the job. In hindsight maybe I should have applied to the other one, as it paid more money, but here I am with the job I did get offered.
Since I started my new job they had me training at a different center in Southport… and thus began the start of me entering the working force and 2 hours a day driving sucking my free time dry…
I trained for a little less than 2 weeks and then they sent me off to run my own store… and ever since then I’ve been doing/trying to do that as successfully as possible.
One advantage of doing the driving is that I started listening to audio books which has been nice, I have tracked my reading/listening efforts on the blog.
Around Halloween, Megan came up from Bloomington to party with her family, and I went to see “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken” with her and Emily at the old Strand theatre in Shelbyville. The Strand is where we used to go watch movies when I was little. It was old and the floor was always sticky but I have some good memories of watching movies as a little kid there. Anyway they have been restoring it to its original look as a stage theatre, but they decided to play some movies for Halloween. I enjoyed the show.
Bruce came over later that night and we played some chess and just sat around, Casey had some friends out as well. But overall that was Halloween and the month of October.
November - Riding along in my automobile
Yep now that I am in the work force again I was quickly getting used to the daily grind and driving to Indianapolis 5 days a week. Really this shot down the majority of my free time so I was beginning to miss being unemployed. Really I don’t have a lot else to say about working again, other than I had realized that I don’t think this is a job I want long term. (though maybe that sentiment will change?)
Bruce had introduced me to a game called “Heroclix” at the end of October and I bought my first few game pieces this month, actually Bruce got me a Jonah Hex set as well which was cool. I’m not completely sold on the game yet, so I don’t think I’m going to get that much into it. But I don’t mind playing it. Bruce, Brock and Joe are all pretty into the game so that’s cool. Basically the game involves making a team of comic book / super hero figures and having them fight against each other.
Thanksgiving came up next and I had my usual set of Thanksgiving dinners. Dad’s family was the same as always, it’s nice to see Grandma, Grandpa, Pam and then Mom, Dad and Casey. It’s small but nice. I had the day off, but Casey had to work so we had Thanksgiving supper together. I had to wake up early the next day though and work a 12 hour day for Black Friday.
Thanksgiving with Mom’s family was on Saturday in Hagerstown. Fun as always, though I had to watch Purdue lose the old oaken bucket on TV that day, and then Purdue’ basketball team lost our first game to Richmond that night… blah but other than that it was great. Including our Chinese Firedrills at every stop light in Hagerstown. (Clockwise or counter clockwise on the fire drill is the real question…)
December – An End to the Year
Well the start of the month was pretty calm, just the same old working and hanging out with friends. Well, I should add that I talked to my cousin Melissa for the first time in a long time, and found out she was living really close to where I work in Indianapolis now days. So we meet up once and had dinner at Fazoli’s.
On the 12th I had my first family diner, with my Dad’s extended side of the family; we had it at the country club. It was nice, these always feel weird as having them at the country club doesn’t feel like a family get-together, but I’d say this is one of the best ones we have ever had there.
The next day however I was on the road to a training class at work for a full week in Lexington, Kentucky. To be honest, I thought I would hate this… but I ended up enjoying it quite a bit actually. (some pics can be seen in the post about Howie in Lexington) My classmates where a pretty cool group of people and the class ended up being a nice relaxing break from the “real world”. I actually ate a ton of food down there since we had 15 bucks to spend on dinner and they catered in all of our lunches, it was pretty nice, as I even got to be a big tipper a few times as I always wanted to spend the full 15 dollars. The last night we went to this pizza/arcade place which ended up being a fun thing for our group.
Funny thing is that we got a snow day from the classes even because Lexington had a small ice storm on Wednesday night… but it wasn’t bad at all… in fact we rode around with a guy from Florida driving most of the time, just to give you an idea on how bad it was…
The Saturday after my trip I hung out with Steve and a few old friends to play some games of Risk. Steve wanted us to meet his new girlfriend Macy, so he arranged this gathering. He must really like her as he never wanted me to meet any of his other girlfriends. She is nice, and things went well… though she totally had him under her control in those games of risk.
After getting back from classes I had a week of work until Christmas, I ended up finishing the audiobook “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair this week, and really must say it’s been my favorite audiobook thus far this year.
After work on the 23rd I went with and met my family at my Grandma in Knightstown’s house. Mom, Grandma and my cousin Steve had been making candy all day there. I got there last as I came from work and ate some soup and candy. The drive back was foggy but it was a nice gathering.
Christmas Eve I had to work until 4 pm, which was nice to get off early. Then I came home and opened some Christmas with my family. I got some Tabasco Sauce, The Great Mouse Detective on DVD, Madden 2011, some toothpaste, undershirts, a back-up hard drive and a bunch of other items. As well as giving all of the gifts I had got for my parents and Casey of course. It was a great Christmas and I got way more than I needed.
On Christmas Day we went to my Grandma and Grandpa’s and had dinner and presents with them and my Aunt Pam. I got a new video camera! Since I broke mine while hiking over the mountain in July. (Ok this wasn’t a surprise as Grandma had us buy a present, but I’m happy with it.) Again I also got way more than I needed, and it was a great lunch and then dinner later on. Dad and Mom threw in their picks for who would win the NCAA tourney in March as is family tradition, leaving only Grandpa needing to lock in a team and him lamenting that all of his picks got taken before he jumped on them.
Grandma went first and got Duke back in November; Pam took Michigan State, Casey Syracuse, Me Kansas, Mom Purdue, Dad Ohio St…. Grandpa has until the 31st to make his pick.
Between lunch and dinner Dad and I went to visit my great grandma in the nursing home… and sadly she is in much worse shape than the last time I saw her.
The 26th was my final Christmas dinner this time with my Mom’s extended family. Again a great time, Casey had to work so Derek, Erika and I ended up going back and getting her when she got off work. I got a new tie and then of course had a great time hanging out with family. We were going to play Derek’s version of Purdue monopoly but never got around to it.
I must say it was a great Christmas when it was all said and done, I felt sort of sad and very tired when I rolled out of bed on the 27th and headed into work. I even commented on how I was sad all of the Christmas songs were gone until next year, even though I was sick of them on the 24th. Funny how things like that work out sometimes.
Now all that is left is figuring out my New Year’s plans… and that has been yet to be determined as per this writing.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Decade: 2009
2009:
Song: Fireflies – Owl City – I’m not really that big of a fan of this song , it is catchy and a good listen. Really wasn’t feeling much for a song for 2009 it came down to this and “I’ve got a feeling” by the black eye peas.
Video Game: Madden 2009 – I’ve always been a fan of the Madden Series and since I moved out and to a place where I had high speed internet I was able to play games online for the first time. Only problem was that it was the Wii version of the game, which was a slimmed down version of Madden.
News Story: Michael Jackson dies…. Say what you want but this was the news back in June of 2009, Sure the guys life had been in a downward spiral but the news of his death sweep the nation and everyone remembered “hey that weird guy had some good songs”…
Personal Event: Kia Soul – I had been looking for a new car for quite some time as I had been driving Mom and Dad’s old mini-van since the summer before when I gave up driving the Monte Carlo due to gas mileage (15 mpg). So I’d moved out that Feburary and had been looking pretty hard when I finally pulled the trigger on June 1st (my birthday). Scary moment but I knew if I didn’t buy it then I wouldn’t buy it. I really like the car though.
Song: Fireflies – Owl City – I’m not really that big of a fan of this song , it is catchy and a good listen. Really wasn’t feeling much for a song for 2009 it came down to this and “I’ve got a feeling” by the black eye peas.
Video Game: Madden 2009 – I’ve always been a fan of the Madden Series and since I moved out and to a place where I had high speed internet I was able to play games online for the first time. Only problem was that it was the Wii version of the game, which was a slimmed down version of Madden.
News Story: Michael Jackson dies…. Say what you want but this was the news back in June of 2009, Sure the guys life had been in a downward spiral but the news of his death sweep the nation and everyone remembered “hey that weird guy had some good songs”…
Personal Event: Kia Soul – I had been looking for a new car for quite some time as I had been driving Mom and Dad’s old mini-van since the summer before when I gave up driving the Monte Carlo due to gas mileage (15 mpg). So I’d moved out that Feburary and had been looking pretty hard when I finally pulled the trigger on June 1st (my birthday). Scary moment but I knew if I didn’t buy it then I wouldn’t buy it. I really like the car though.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Christmas Eve
Photos from our Christmas Eve gift opening, it was a great Christmas. Even Kong had fun playing in the wrapping paper.
Decade: 2008
2008
Song: Reptilla – The Strokes – To be honest not sure what year this song came out, but I heard it on a guitar hero game and had it on my computer, it was on a playlist I played when I got back from working out at night and would be making a snack of pancakes to eat before I went to bed.
Video Game: Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess – for the Wii, great game in the Zelda series and to be honest was the first game in quite awhile that I really sat down and put a lot of time into. Wind Walker the last major console game was a bit of a disappointment in the Zelda series. (would have been considered a solid game had it not been associated with Zelda) Twilight Princess though, despite the lame name was a good game all around.
News Story: Housing Market Crisis – Yep so I find a job in the summer and then a few months later the bottom falls out of the housing market, banks are in trouble, the Car companies need to be bailed out, and everyone is in a panic. The stock market crashes, the government is pumping money into everything…. Yep pretty big news and the ripple effects are still being felt today, as evidence by November’s elections.
Personal Event: Graduated From Purdue – 4 years and a big moment, not because I ever doubted graduating, but because this threw me out into the “real world” and to be honest without a lot of a plan. What was I going to do with a history degree… to be honest I still don’t know, but it was a finish to an important chapter in my life.
Song: Reptilla – The Strokes – To be honest not sure what year this song came out, but I heard it on a guitar hero game and had it on my computer, it was on a playlist I played when I got back from working out at night and would be making a snack of pancakes to eat before I went to bed.
Video Game: Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess – for the Wii, great game in the Zelda series and to be honest was the first game in quite awhile that I really sat down and put a lot of time into. Wind Walker the last major console game was a bit of a disappointment in the Zelda series. (would have been considered a solid game had it not been associated with Zelda) Twilight Princess though, despite the lame name was a good game all around.
News Story: Housing Market Crisis – Yep so I find a job in the summer and then a few months later the bottom falls out of the housing market, banks are in trouble, the Car companies need to be bailed out, and everyone is in a panic. The stock market crashes, the government is pumping money into everything…. Yep pretty big news and the ripple effects are still being felt today, as evidence by November’s elections.
Personal Event: Graduated From Purdue – 4 years and a big moment, not because I ever doubted graduating, but because this threw me out into the “real world” and to be honest without a lot of a plan. What was I going to do with a history degree… to be honest I still don’t know, but it was a finish to an important chapter in my life.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Year in Review: Part 3
Year in Review
Note: This is the 3rd part of a four part series, the object being to give a quick review of my experiences in the year 2010. In this part I will cover the months of July, August, and September.
July – The Hike
At the start of this month Casey and I went with our Grandma to a family Reunion for my Grandpa on my Mom’s side of the family. Case and I didn’t really know that side of our family that well since we never met our Mom’s dad.
Mom wasn’t able to go to that family reunion because she was in Europe, visiting England, France and Italy. You can see some pictures of that trip featuring Howie by clicking to post from July of this year.
The 4-H fair came and went, still isn’t the same when you aren’t in 4-H but I went to it a couple nights and watched the Demolition Derby.
A big story this month was the return of Kong! He had went missing back in June and miraculously returning 5 weeks later. He was really skinny when he came back, but he was alive. I took him to the vet and everything checked out and he has been happily living inside with us again.
In pet news Pepper was still doing good, mom bought her a new soccer ball and she has gotten really good at playing ball.
Then of course the main event of the month was the Hike over Mount LeConte which I have reviewed in detail here: http://nomadwaystation.blogspot.com/2010/07/hike-or-that-time-i-walked-over.html
I had gotten pretty good at doing my walks here at home, regularly doing 10-11 mile walks in 90+ degree heat so I was pretty prepared but it was a tough trek for sure. The rest of vacation was good as well, Casey and I saw Ramsey Cascades, and we played putt putt golf and all of the rest of the great Gatlinburg things.
August – End of Summer
Well as we transitioned into August I began to walk less, I guess it was because the Hike was over, but I kind of wish I had kept up better with it.
Dad had his Power of the Past, he didn’t seem to enjoy it as much this year but it is a lot of work for him. I went a few days of the show but it was about the same as always. I hadn’t been the year before though since I was living in Indy.
Megan Brant had a party at her new place now that she had moved to Bloomington, it was a good time. I was going to take Bruce and Megan S. down but Bruce bailed on us so it was just me and Megan heading down to hang out with Megan, Emily and Amanda. We played board games, talked and just hung out that night.
D&D games were still going strong throughout August, but people’s schedules where changing so we could see the beginning of the end on that front. I also remember hanging out with Bruce and company one night at his wife Megan’s place that turned into a great night in which we ended up at Denny’s and someone took a syrup shot… lots of great quotes from that night.
Mom went back to work at school, and Dad was getting ready for the harvest. It had been super dry this summer so he was going to be starting right away. Really I don’t know if we had a real rain all August.
September – Farming
While my August wasn’t very eventful, September started off with me doing a lot of farming. Dad was hitting the fields and since I wasn’t doing anything I spent the biggest part of the first 3 weeks helping him by hauling wagons and emptying them. Grandpa hurt his back so Dad did really need me a little this year. Honestly not a lot to say about that, other than I listened to a lot of talk radio those weeks.
Here are a bunch of photos from farming: http://nomadwaystation.blogspot.com/2010/09/september-photographs.html
Also during September Mom, Casey, and I went to a Purdue game with our cousins since Derek had just started his freshman year at Purdue. Purdue won the game vs Ball State. We all had a good time. (Again a pic is in the above link) Dad had stayed home to fix some of the machinery we had broken while working in the fields. It was actually good for him to have a day to fix things since the weather had been so good, we hadn’t had any reason to stop since no major breakdowns had occurred.
Earlier in the month I had began putting books on half.com, books I had from school and wasn’t ever going to use again. I did pretty good selling them and made a little money.
I also bought a new laptop this month. Since moving home I had been having some trouble with my desktops hard drive. As well as the fact I don’t have wireless on my desktop I was back to using my old laptop, which was a middle of the line laptop from before I went to Purdue (2004). Needless to say it was very outdated. So…. After about three weeks of looking over computers and thinking about what I wanted. I pulled the trigger on the Dell laptop I’m using now.
Since school had started I had put in an application to substitute teach and this month I had my first class. A half day for my old Biology teacher in high school, it was easy… had them watch TV and that was about it. It was nice to do some I guess real work that I got paid for, even if it wasn’t much, and would lead to me having to fax like four papers to the unemployment office telling them that this wasn’t a full time job.
I was also searching a lot more for jobs this month, going to the truck stop at least once a week just to upload applications. I knew my unemployment would be out in November so I needed to get something by then.
On the entertainment side of things, a cousin of Bruce’s came home for Labor Day weekend and ran a one shot D&D game, but this was pretty much the end of the summer of D&D for my group of friends. All of our schedules had begun to change and getting together late at night wasn’t going to work anymore.
I did also start his blog in September, and began the tedious efforts to import all of my old MySpace blogs over here, since Myspace and Blogger don’t work well with each other, this is a time consuming process. But I’m glad I started when I did now that Myspace’s Blogs are set up differently. (I don’t know if I will ever be able to see my oldest myspace blogs so they may never get over here)
Note: This is the 3rd part of a four part series, the object being to give a quick review of my experiences in the year 2010. In this part I will cover the months of July, August, and September.
July – The Hike
At the start of this month Casey and I went with our Grandma to a family Reunion for my Grandpa on my Mom’s side of the family. Case and I didn’t really know that side of our family that well since we never met our Mom’s dad.
Mom wasn’t able to go to that family reunion because she was in Europe, visiting England, France and Italy. You can see some pictures of that trip featuring Howie by clicking to post from July of this year.
The 4-H fair came and went, still isn’t the same when you aren’t in 4-H but I went to it a couple nights and watched the Demolition Derby.
A big story this month was the return of Kong! He had went missing back in June and miraculously returning 5 weeks later. He was really skinny when he came back, but he was alive. I took him to the vet and everything checked out and he has been happily living inside with us again.
In pet news Pepper was still doing good, mom bought her a new soccer ball and she has gotten really good at playing ball.
Then of course the main event of the month was the Hike over Mount LeConte which I have reviewed in detail here: http://nomadwaystation.blogspot.com/2010/07/hike-or-that-time-i-walked-over.html
I had gotten pretty good at doing my walks here at home, regularly doing 10-11 mile walks in 90+ degree heat so I was pretty prepared but it was a tough trek for sure. The rest of vacation was good as well, Casey and I saw Ramsey Cascades, and we played putt putt golf and all of the rest of the great Gatlinburg things.
August – End of Summer
Well as we transitioned into August I began to walk less, I guess it was because the Hike was over, but I kind of wish I had kept up better with it.
Dad had his Power of the Past, he didn’t seem to enjoy it as much this year but it is a lot of work for him. I went a few days of the show but it was about the same as always. I hadn’t been the year before though since I was living in Indy.
Megan Brant had a party at her new place now that she had moved to Bloomington, it was a good time. I was going to take Bruce and Megan S. down but Bruce bailed on us so it was just me and Megan heading down to hang out with Megan, Emily and Amanda. We played board games, talked and just hung out that night.
D&D games were still going strong throughout August, but people’s schedules where changing so we could see the beginning of the end on that front. I also remember hanging out with Bruce and company one night at his wife Megan’s place that turned into a great night in which we ended up at Denny’s and someone took a syrup shot… lots of great quotes from that night.
Mom went back to work at school, and Dad was getting ready for the harvest. It had been super dry this summer so he was going to be starting right away. Really I don’t know if we had a real rain all August.
September – Farming
While my August wasn’t very eventful, September started off with me doing a lot of farming. Dad was hitting the fields and since I wasn’t doing anything I spent the biggest part of the first 3 weeks helping him by hauling wagons and emptying them. Grandpa hurt his back so Dad did really need me a little this year. Honestly not a lot to say about that, other than I listened to a lot of talk radio those weeks.
Here are a bunch of photos from farming: http://nomadwaystation.blogspot.com/2010/09/september-photographs.html
Also during September Mom, Casey, and I went to a Purdue game with our cousins since Derek had just started his freshman year at Purdue. Purdue won the game vs Ball State. We all had a good time. (Again a pic is in the above link) Dad had stayed home to fix some of the machinery we had broken while working in the fields. It was actually good for him to have a day to fix things since the weather had been so good, we hadn’t had any reason to stop since no major breakdowns had occurred.
Earlier in the month I had began putting books on half.com, books I had from school and wasn’t ever going to use again. I did pretty good selling them and made a little money.
I also bought a new laptop this month. Since moving home I had been having some trouble with my desktops hard drive. As well as the fact I don’t have wireless on my desktop I was back to using my old laptop, which was a middle of the line laptop from before I went to Purdue (2004). Needless to say it was very outdated. So…. After about three weeks of looking over computers and thinking about what I wanted. I pulled the trigger on the Dell laptop I’m using now.
Since school had started I had put in an application to substitute teach and this month I had my first class. A half day for my old Biology teacher in high school, it was easy… had them watch TV and that was about it. It was nice to do some I guess real work that I got paid for, even if it wasn’t much, and would lead to me having to fax like four papers to the unemployment office telling them that this wasn’t a full time job.
I was also searching a lot more for jobs this month, going to the truck stop at least once a week just to upload applications. I knew my unemployment would be out in November so I needed to get something by then.
On the entertainment side of things, a cousin of Bruce’s came home for Labor Day weekend and ran a one shot D&D game, but this was pretty much the end of the summer of D&D for my group of friends. All of our schedules had begun to change and getting together late at night wasn’t going to work anymore.
I did also start his blog in September, and began the tedious efforts to import all of my old MySpace blogs over here, since Myspace and Blogger don’t work well with each other, this is a time consuming process. But I’m glad I started when I did now that Myspace’s Blogs are set up differently. (I don’t know if I will ever be able to see my oldest myspace blogs so they may never get over here)
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Decade: 2007
2007
Song: Paralyzer – Finger 11 this was a cool catchy song, really I don’t know how you can not like it. I’m humming it in my head now. I also thought about putting Harvey Danger’s flag pole sitter as this one, because it was on my playlist when I’d go for walks as this was the year I started losing weight by going on 3 mile walks every day.
Video Game: Guitar Hero II – I honestly wasn’t playing a lot of video games this year, I was still addicted to Hobowars, but console wise things where pretty much dead until next year when I got my Wii. However my roommate at Guitar Hero II and we would play that from time to time, as well as Bruce having is Guitar Hero II release party at the end of 2006, so that carried on some momentum into this year.
News Story: Writers Guild Strike – If you watched TV shows you noticed this, all of the writers went on a strike due to debates on revenue sharing of online sales as well as a few other things and this lead to lots of reruns being played and new reality TV shows (no writers needed) popping up. Many point to this event as the thing that “killed” their favorite series, as many shows such as the hit Heroes never bounced back after the strike.
Personal Event: Family Vacation Arkansas – This summer our family was all home and we figured this might be our last chance for a full family vacation (see 2005 and 2010) so we packed up the car and went on what was probably our most random and one of the most memorable trips we ever took together. The main destination was Carter of Diamonds National Park in Akansas, which is an actual diamond mine where anyone can come and mine and keep whatever they find. Now several business men throughout the years had tried to turn a profit on this land (including Henry Ford) but there just weren’t enough quantity to be mined so it ended up in government hands, and is now a park for everyone. We mined two days, however we found nothing…
But the diamond mine wasn’t our only stops, I picked James K. Polk’s house as my choice on the trip, Casey picked Graceland, and Mom picked Historic Washington, Arkansas as well as the Gateway Arc in St. Louis and Grant’s farm. So we had a lot of fun stops along the way! I video taped the vacation and I have to say this was my favorite vacation of all time. Also before I wrap this up I feel compelled to mention Lambert’s Café home of the Thrown Roll (awesome food) and
Song: Paralyzer – Finger 11 this was a cool catchy song, really I don’t know how you can not like it. I’m humming it in my head now. I also thought about putting Harvey Danger’s flag pole sitter as this one, because it was on my playlist when I’d go for walks as this was the year I started losing weight by going on 3 mile walks every day.
Video Game: Guitar Hero II – I honestly wasn’t playing a lot of video games this year, I was still addicted to Hobowars, but console wise things where pretty much dead until next year when I got my Wii. However my roommate at Guitar Hero II and we would play that from time to time, as well as Bruce having is Guitar Hero II release party at the end of 2006, so that carried on some momentum into this year.
News Story: Writers Guild Strike – If you watched TV shows you noticed this, all of the writers went on a strike due to debates on revenue sharing of online sales as well as a few other things and this lead to lots of reruns being played and new reality TV shows (no writers needed) popping up. Many point to this event as the thing that “killed” their favorite series, as many shows such as the hit Heroes never bounced back after the strike.
Personal Event: Family Vacation Arkansas – This summer our family was all home and we figured this might be our last chance for a full family vacation (see 2005 and 2010) so we packed up the car and went on what was probably our most random and one of the most memorable trips we ever took together. The main destination was Carter of Diamonds National Park in Akansas, which is an actual diamond mine where anyone can come and mine and keep whatever they find. Now several business men throughout the years had tried to turn a profit on this land (including Henry Ford) but there just weren’t enough quantity to be mined so it ended up in government hands, and is now a park for everyone. We mined two days, however we found nothing…
But the diamond mine wasn’t our only stops, I picked James K. Polk’s house as my choice on the trip, Casey picked Graceland, and Mom picked Historic Washington, Arkansas as well as the Gateway Arc in St. Louis and Grant’s farm. So we had a lot of fun stops along the way! I video taped the vacation and I have to say this was my favorite vacation of all time. Also before I wrap this up I feel compelled to mention Lambert’s Café home of the Thrown Roll (awesome food) and
Monday, December 20, 2010
Winter Pictures and Putting up the Christmas Tree 2010
Winter
Pepper
Howie
Putting up the Tree 12-5-10
Casey
Mom and Casey
Howie
My Hippo Ornament
Pepper
Howie
Putting up the Tree 12-5-10
Casey
Mom and Casey
Howie
My Hippo Ornament
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Decade: 2006
2006
Song: - Lips of an Angel – Hinder… this was one of those songs, I liked it the first maybe 10 times I heard it, then for the rest of the year it just wore you down until you couldn’t stand it. This was Hinder’s huge hit, then they pretty much fell off the map, at least as far as I know.
Video Game: KingoftheBling – this was an online game, and not a popular one at that… I think maybe 100 serious players tops. It was an offshoot of Hobowars.com that I mention previously. Some former players of that kicked this off, and it was pretty much the same idea. It was fun while it lasted and I was one of the top players in the game. A great group of players and we became a nice little community but as I said it never took off or got popular enough to keep itself running. Once the owner of the site got addicted to WoW that was the end.
News Event: Saddam Hussein Executed – The man whose threats and doings were blamed for provoking the Iraq War was executed after being tried in Iraq. However, in the grand scheme this didn’t mean a lot to the war effort as people here in the U.S. still remained heavily divided and the rebuilding efforts would go on for years.
Personal Event: Gecom – My first real job. This summer break from school I got my first “real” job. Working at a factory making trunk door latches for Honda Civics…. Yep not exciting, I remember a “game” I used to play with myself would be to try and go as long as possible without looking at the clock. It didn’t pay great and it wasn’t fun waking up at 5:30 every morning to go to work, but I learned a lot from the experience and am glad I did it.
Song: - Lips of an Angel – Hinder… this was one of those songs, I liked it the first maybe 10 times I heard it, then for the rest of the year it just wore you down until you couldn’t stand it. This was Hinder’s huge hit, then they pretty much fell off the map, at least as far as I know.
Video Game: KingoftheBling – this was an online game, and not a popular one at that… I think maybe 100 serious players tops. It was an offshoot of Hobowars.com that I mention previously. Some former players of that kicked this off, and it was pretty much the same idea. It was fun while it lasted and I was one of the top players in the game. A great group of players and we became a nice little community but as I said it never took off or got popular enough to keep itself running. Once the owner of the site got addicted to WoW that was the end.
News Event: Saddam Hussein Executed – The man whose threats and doings were blamed for provoking the Iraq War was executed after being tried in Iraq. However, in the grand scheme this didn’t mean a lot to the war effort as people here in the U.S. still remained heavily divided and the rebuilding efforts would go on for years.
Personal Event: Gecom – My first real job. This summer break from school I got my first “real” job. Working at a factory making trunk door latches for Honda Civics…. Yep not exciting, I remember a “game” I used to play with myself would be to try and go as long as possible without looking at the clock. It didn’t pay great and it wasn’t fun waking up at 5:30 every morning to go to work, but I learned a lot from the experience and am glad I did it.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Howie In Lexington
Howie and I went down to Lexington this week for some training with my job. Meet some great people and had a great time. Here are some pictures of Howie.
Hotel Room
Red Star Chilli
BD's Mongolian Grill
Hotel Lobby
Hotel Conference Room
Carrabbas
Start of Snow
Creepy Dolls
Gatti's
Hotel Room
Red Star Chilli
BD's Mongolian Grill
Hotel Lobby
Hotel Conference Room
Carrabbas
Start of Snow
Creepy Dolls
Gatti's
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