sailing is funnest of all

not since may?

2009-11-07T19:39:00.003-06:00

so i haven't blogged since MAY? ugh. i'm awful at this. please forgive me. i've had a crazy busy summer (which also means i could have had SO MUCH to write about!) hopefully you have a facebook and have been keeping up with me that way. i haven't retired from this blog entirely; i'm just deciding on when to post, how often, etc.

will keep you posted.

(within the next 6 months...)

:)

voila. HOLA!

2009-05-18T21:05:00.002-05:00

i'm here. and of all the silly things...googlemaps.com has NO idea where i am! can you believe it? if you wanna look me up, look for "hessel, michigan." googlemaps.com thinks cedarville is right on the border with wisconsin. NOT SO. i'm all the way over by canada--on the northernmost shore of lake huron. so anyway, hessel is just a little west of where i really am.

i'll write again soon. AND PICTURES WILL BE ON THE WAY TOO!

moving this pm

2009-05-16T13:59:00.001-05:00

i'm leaving in a few hours. hopefully i'll hit the road before dark. i'll update this more frequently when i arrive. (i hope.) that's the plan, anyway. see y'all on the other side! watch out michigan, here i come.

in all my born days

2009-04-27T01:59:00.007-05:00

i have never laughed so hard. my head still hurts more than 24 hours afterwards. what a fun weekend. nay, what a fun WEEK! being on the farm, being in amish country indiana, yeah. methinks it was just what i needed. and mind you, they were not just "screaming, flying monkeys" as they were last year. they are screaming, flying, AMISH monkeys. irreverent, yes. and for that i apologize. but it was hilarious to the max.

deadliest catch

2009-04-14T23:54:00.002-05:00

okay...so tonight was the season opener for deadliest catch. i watched it and LOVED it. (as usual.) i wrote on my facebook that i was going to watch it and my friend amy (from college) told me her brother was the pastor who gave the bering sea blessing before all the fishing vessels from deadliest catch started their season. (her brother is dan; he is actually my age and was in my class @ eastern.) i miss them both. but it was really cool that amy mentioned that dan was on this episode; i may not have looked so closely otherwise. he shaved his head since i saw him last but otherwise looks the same.

CRAZY!!!

before the show i ran out to chesterton (from laporte where i'm staying) because my friend's 3-year-old locked her closet door shut. and they couldn't figure out how to get the door open. funny, though, it's just a closet door but it was a sturdy one AND had an actual LOCK on it. so we banged out the hinge pins (that what they're called?!) and just took the door off.

what an eventful evening!

rear view mirror

2009-04-08T19:42:00.004-05:00

not in a long time have i watched what was behind me in my outside rear-view mirror. as i drove from valpo to laporte today, the sunset was pretty amazing. i decided to take a pic with my cell phone but that really didn't do it any justice. (as you can tell.) but it was a sweet sunset. you'll have to take my word. (and for any of you who know the route between valpo & laporte fairly well--route 2--this is right at pinhook, where the road goes by a church & cemetery and heads northwest instead of just west.)

but i have to say, this is also the time of day the most picked on deer gets to be the dummy to go see if any cars are coming so any random bunch can cross the road. well...tonight i saw the dummy deer come out to the road and it actually looked both ways. yes. it really did. and after it saw me coming, it still stepped forward onto the shoulder of the road. (hence the name "dummy" i suppose.) but after it somehow got spooked, it ran back to the others who were only about 10-15 feet behind and they ran off. i thought there were only 3 or 4. but then i looked again and saw a LOT more than that.

glad the deer decided not to play chicken tonight. at least with me.

YIKES.

2009-04-01T00:32:00.005-05:00

so i have a new website...well, actually the domain name has been mine for years but i've decided to finally publish to it. and on my homepage i said that i'd update my blog. oh dear. so here's my first post in a long time. hopefully life will get more interesting and i'll be able to have something halfway interesting to write about.

so for now, i'm back. we shall soon see what my material will be.

hope everyone's well.

btw, the picture is of chicago from about 5,000 feet. my friend's a pilot and took this cool shot. hmmm...so who's flying the plane, eh? tsk, tsk.

new website: www.beckyhull.com

HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY! have fun!!!

so we got a lot of snow...

2009-02-05T23:18:00.003-06:00

over the past two days, we got 29 inches of snow. it was CRAZY. just the eastern part of our county and the western part of the county to our east. it was NUTS. it just kept snowing and snowing and snowing and snowing and snowing and snowing. of course, i'd be ok if it kept snowing for fifteen days straight! (but alas, some people look around and would swear that it did!) the picture of my car has only about 14 of the 29 inches on it that fell from 5pm tuesday to about 9am wednesday.

2009-01-08T18:35:00.004-06:00

wow. it's been awhile. SORRY! but i've got a fun video to share from being away at cedar campus during new year's.

i also got to go iceboating for the first time and LOVED LOVED LOVED it.

how sweet, eh?

my uncle al

2008-11-27T23:57:00.001-06:00

i'm sorry to anyone who reads this that i have not blogged sooner. i am quite poor at it now that i'm on facebook a ton more. SO PLEASE FORGIVE ME! and until everyone i know has a facebook, i'll continue to try to update my blog as much as possible.

I'M SORRY uncle al! you rock. and i'll try to do better.

(let me know when you get a facebook!)

and thanks so much for having us out every year for thanksgiving. i love coming out. the food is always awesome and the company is always fun.

happy thanksgiving to all, and to all, a GOOD NIGHT.

1st source bank should be your LAST resort

2008-10-30T21:53:00.002-05:00

first national bank of valparaiso was bought out by first source bank. i've had a checking account with them since my senior year of high school. a good friend of my family's used to be a "higher-up" at the main branch, brian terpstra. i think he lives in texas now; man, do i miss him!

anyway, when the banks switched my account number from FNB to first source's new numbers, apparently someone else got my info as well. i'm just now realizing it and am PISSED. i'm making the big trip to downtown valpo tomorrow to open up a can. (please tell me you know this phrase.) cuz i can't think of a better way to express my anger that this wan't caught. nor was it even MY OWN CHECK. the guy who signed "hull" didn't even spend my last name right. he was trying to pose as my dad, whose name was also on the account. he withdrew money. and apparently first source was happy to oblige.

there is hell to pay for this. i am pissed. and although it's not hundreds of dollars, it's the principle of the matter.

AND I WANT MY MONEY BACK. i'll update my blog tomorrow to let you know what they tell me. i have no problem picketing their dumb bank just for fun. i need to be outside more anyway. and i love to talk to people. but i hope they do the right thing.

funny stuff

2008-10-28T20:58:00.004-05:00

"Huh. So Iran just friended us on Facebook...Like, do I accept?"

lots of blog ideas, no time to blog

2008-09-11T22:08:00.002-05:00

if anyone has been to brown's ice cream in valparaiso, indiana, hopefully you will have had the chance to use the restroom there and read what is on the bathroom door. AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN!!! i just had to interject that!

i've got some great pictures of the popcorn fest so when i find my camera, i'll upload them. yeah, i got there really early so i could run in the lil' kernel puff. it's a race for kids but my friend's three-year-old felt more comfortable with someone running with her & holding her had. so that's what i did.

i am proud to say i came in last place running against a bunch of toddlers. (gosh, i knew i was out of shape but that's ridiculous!) the reason was cuz my little friend was so very excited/distracted with the roaring crowd cheering us all on, she wanted to run slowly and get a good look at everyone who was looking at her.

so we had a blast and i was glad to get up early for my little tike friend.

and i'm tired of blogging so much about the crap in this world. it's getting old and wearing me out! and of politics (heaven forbid mrs. palin takes us to war against russia!) and everything politics entails. so as much as i blog for my own good and have a great place to vent, i also want to blog about fun things. so i'll keep writing about the political crap and my take on things in the world as well as losing a giant race to a bunch of knee-high racers.

oh well.

are you kidding me?

2008-08-26T18:02:00.004-05:00

what a joke. i'm sorry but if you have "CHRISTIAN" anywhere in your name or title, i would like to think you could almost live up to it. or at least be making an effort. instead of all the hypocrisy that surrounds you. the PRETENSE of being upstanding and having good morals, beliefs, or principles.

whatEVER. i was not impressed at all at one of our area "christian" schools and a certain player's performance today at my place of employment. and i use that term loosely. actually, there are two terms associated with this place that i use loosely. "christian" and "school."

what a farce.

get over yourselves. and be careful how you live. because believers who are watching you are EMBARRASSED to be identified in the same "grouping" as you and those who are not believers see you as complete hypocrites. i could not be more embarrassed and pissed off right now. not a chance. sadly. hopefully this school with either fold completely or improve tremendously. cuz i don't know what favors it's doing these kids anyway. and it can't get worse than it already is.

i am so disgusted.

but if certain people EVER come in again the way they came in today with the same horrible attitude and complete disrespect for the gym, their butts will be thrown out so fast it will make your head spin. same will happen to their parents when they come to try to rescue their children. and then the cops will be called.

TRY ME.

@ cedar...

2008-08-16T20:12:00.004-05:00

having fun making a movie up here! (and spending time with people i love!)

fun before i head north

2008-08-09T23:00:00.006-05:00

erin duey got married today...wow. i wish them well. everything was beautiful and fun. meanwhile back at the ranch, evan duey is getting close to being taller than me.

BUT NOT YET!!!

circle Y reunion of sorts...

2008-08-04T07:24:00.003-05:00

saw some old schoolers last night at the beginning of teen week...

in the first picture: me, marque, jacquie, kelly
second picture: marque, chris, me, tyrus

freefallin

2008-07-27T23:18:00.002-05:00

more to come. sorry i've been so awol! here's a fun pic from today!

superslowreflexes

2008-07-06T22:53:00.004-05:00

so i got high last night more than i ever have before from secondhand weed smoke. the joe cocker/steve miller band concert last night at the old tweeter was awesome (even though steve miller forgot some of the words...) but since we got to the concert late, we got to park in the VIP section for free! which was at LEAST a $30 value. which also meant we got to park right behind the motorcycles AND got to be some of the first to leave. i was actually thankful for that cuz i'd rather not be driving around anyone who was in the state of most of the concert-goers. (high AND very drunk.) i could tell i was quite lightheaded and in a daze but flying down 80 with the windows down and music cranked helped. the fresh air was amazing. (as fresh as you can get in this populated of an area....)

surprisingly, there were few old schoolers there. bearded hippies and such. there were disappointedly a LOT of little teenagers there who were just there for a good time. not to enjoy the music. just to get drunk and high and have a little fun outside. so why wouldn't they just stay home and do stuff like that in their backyards? it's a little cheaper, safer, and less annoying to the rest of us. i was also surprised how many teenyboppers showed up with their parents too. it's unbelievable and unforgivable the number of parents who are all about being friends with their kids rather than being parents. that will so bite them in the butt later!

oh yeah, we were late to the concert cuz we decided to hit up the ikea in bolingbrook. that was pretty cool...although i like the one in schaumburg tons better tho! i forgot how small this one was. but i'm sure it was better this way otherwise we would have been REALLY late!

bunch of complainers we are

2008-06-13T03:03:00.005-05:00

most americans are so self-focused. we're very ego-centric. our country can eat whenever. sleep comfortably wherever. entertain ourselves until hell freezes over. (how many billions of dollars go to ENTERTAINING US?) and yet all we do is complain....

Buh-BYE!

2008-06-04T20:02:00.005-05:00

Saturday can't come soon enuf, dear Hillary! Good Grief. You've run a good campaign but you needed to congratulate Barack last night after he got all of his delegates. And CONCEDE. I'm not sure that Barack would make a good president, but I'd rather have him in office than Hillary. She's been in politics for too long. Can't remember what it's like to be a normal citizen. Barack's inexperience and ties to crazy people like Jesse Jackson and his pal Al also frighten me though. And that crazy pastor and that Catholic priest. UGH. How disgusting. I believe everyone knows that he is keeping his distance from them because they would bring him down. And the public is SICK TO DEATH of Al Sharpton & Jesse Jackson. And of all the politics from behind the pulpit.

HOWEVER, I'm not sure about John McCain either. He's got the experience but he's been in politics for so long (and is subscribing to Dubya's foreign policy--domestic too--for so long) that he might make horrible decisions as well. Besides that, you age SO MUCH and SO FAST in Washington and John McCain is not going to hold up very well. He's too old to begin the oval office thing. He isn't going to get my vote. Yes, even as a registered republican, I cannot in my right mind vote for another republican this time around. NOT GONNA HAPPEN.

I don't know that I'll vote for Obama either. I hate voting for the lesser of two evils. However, it's easier to see the least evil here. But I may vote for my dad again as a write-in like I did during the last presidential election. It's for the principle of the thing. Dangit.

scott mcclellan, "rev" michael pfleger

2008-06-02T00:23:00.002-05:00

what a couple of clowns.

scott mcclellan has every right to write about his days in the white house--but he immersed himself too much in the beltway, i believe. he got sucked in so much that he himself didn't even know the truth. yet he sat and jawed on and on about lies and "misconceptions." (which was painfully obvious to the rest of the world...) so i guess i'm glad he wrote about his experiences. it's a free country. but to me, he's not anymore a newly liberated man than he is a fool to be mocked for standing up and defending all of our dear president's decisions and being super cocky about it when he knew nothing of what he spoke about at all. i suppose the democrats will jump all over this. oh well. the current administration needs to be replaced anyway.

as for mike, i don't have much to say other than WHAT AN IDIOT. since when is the pulpit a place to get political? EVER??? so he likes to be controversial, eh? whatever. nobody's impressed. he hasn't really apologized for what he said either. he just somewhat said he was sorry that people took what he said the wrong way. i don't even like hillary. but i guess he's gotten enough hate mail that he'll prolly back off from such a spirited "sermon" for a good long while.

what a couple of morons.

i'll be gardening?

2008-05-27T11:12:00.004-05:00

here are a few pics of my progress thus far. since i decided to take over a plot of sod about 14x16 square feet in my parent's backyard, i've had to dig out the perimeter so mr. fox would know where to rototill. then i had to rake out the sod and now i'll have to do a little more digging & raking to get out those fern plants that stubbornly remain. but as for the fuzzies, (rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, etc.) if i need to i'll sit outside with a pellet gun to get rid of the varmints that will want to eat my veggies.

today i plan to erect my fence to mainly keep out the rabbits. (my dad's helping me.) but any fuzzies who i catch eating MY veggies will be subject to the hose, water gun, and if i get desperate, a pellet gun. unfortunately i won't be able to stand guard much. so hopefully my fence works really well.

btw, the house next to ours that has my garden flush up against their porch wall-which is actually on our property-has been abandoned for at least ten years. we have no idea what the heck is up with that but all i have to say about it is "no neighbors are better than rotten neighbors!" the house isn't the prettiest house and in fact the porch's reddish roof-awning type thing is quite ugly.

My Fix

2008-05-25T23:32:00.003-05:00

i got my sailing fix last week. hopefully it will last long enough until i get to go out again! because SADLY, who knows when that will be. i'm back in valpo now. but although i'm back in valpotown, i don't have to report back to the barracks until wednesday. basically, i'm still in vacation mode but am slowly readying myself for another long haul. but i'll be ready.

freshest air ever

2008-05-21T21:50:00.005-05:00

with an exception to the U.P., of course. (the air i'm referring to is out on the open water--where the calibogue sound and atlantic meet.) sailing yesterday was the funnest time yet. i went out on a tri-hull boat (four hulls including me! tee hee hee) and the wind was STRONG. in fact, my kayaking got cancelled for today because it was too windy. but i'm not too miffed because i got to sail yesterday and i'd much rather SAIL than kayak. but i do like them both. btw, i did see dolphins while sailing but didn't catch any of them on film. (how do you get saltwater out of a camera, anyway?)

remember how i explained earlier that everything on the island is really hard to find? stuff is very far off the road and just blends in perfectly? i found a very nondescript building today which ended up being a mcdonalds! the little silver sporty car in front is our rental. it's ok--but full of blind spots!

the guy with traci and i is Dennis Van Der Meer. he's a famous tennis coach who moved here from south africa about fifty years ago. he's a very cute old guy. the tennis school traci's at is called the "van der meer tennis university." mr. van der meer walks around a lot just nodding in approval and saying, "good, good." his wife is usually with him walking around and watching all that is going on. there's a guy named tim who works at the courts (my courts--in valpo) on occasion who took lessons from and met dennis van der meer and his right hand man louie. and this was all back in 1975! mr. van der meer is still here (obviously) and so is LOUIE! the van der meer tennis academy is a great little place with a lot of really supportive, kind coaches. it's full of a friendly staff who seems more like a family than a tennis staff of pros.

sorry i didn't post anything yesterday; i was too wiped out after being out on the water (and in the wind) yesterday.

and oops--i see i duplicated two pics. oh well!

dolphins are cute...

2008-05-19T22:21:00.009-05:00

and fun to watch during dinner! our table was the funnest table at the restaurant tonight in sea pines. we had the best view of the sunset, the boats, and the DOLPHINS that came to say hi to us! dinner was good too. above are some of the pictures i took today. there is also a sign marking a spot on the ground where you are to stand if you want to be on their (holiday inn's) live cam. the holiday inn is one door down to the south of us. i went pool hopping today. it was fun. the holiday inn pool is not as warm as our pool here at the condo. but i like all the pools. (we're staying at a place called the "breakers.")

oh yeah, and the lady in yesterday's blog (picture of me and a lady) was my field representative from the chicago teacher's union...she was the one who i was in touch with when my one student decided to make me his gang initiation and shoot me...

anyway, i sat next to her on the flight from chicago to atlanta and we only realized who each other were after we had landed in atlanta! (small world!)

down to 64, up to 85

2008-05-18T21:48:00.003-05:00

that's tonight's low & tomorrow's high. i can dig it. for any of you who are familiar with hilton head, we are staying at a condo on south forest beach. our condo is on the 3rd floor of a building that looks more like a boardwalk. it's very ocean city-ish. our front deck faces the ocean & pool. i'm most amazed at this island by the fact that everything is HIDDEN. for example, there is a walmart here and fast food restaurants, but the building code must have been such that no one can actually see them unless you study the landscape REALLY well and happen to notice a BUILDING back in all the woods/forest/foliage. it's amazing. and when you DO find the mcdonalds & walmart, the buildings are brown. VERY camouflaged. which makes finding things on this island a lot harder. not only is this a new place, they're trying to hide the stuff you're trying to find. not fair.

so of course, after we landed, we got our rental car, went to check out our condo, and went to have dinner. we had dinner at some restaurant in shelter cove in which a drunk guy fell off of a ledge about 10 minutes after we got there. (mind you, we were there at about 5:30 on a sunday evening...) i FELT the thud of his body hitting the ground. he is SO gonna feel that tomorrow! the entire restaurant staff came flying out to see what was going on and to shoo him away. hope he's ok!

we then went to walmart (after we searched & searched & searched) and crammed our little rental car with STUFF. besides the normal stuff like bottled water, snackies, sunscreen and all, i also got ANOTHER boogie board and beach chair. yikes. i spend a LOT at walmart wherever i go. it's disgusting.

so above you will see some pics from today. thankfully, traci has been here before and knows her way around pretty well. she starts at the van der meer tennis university tomorrow and that's when i start sleeping in. (and then going to the beach.) or the pool. it will prolly depend on whether the waves are big enuf to boogieboard on! and depending on whether or not i get my economic stimulus rebate placed generously in my account tonight, i'll be planning a few other fun items for myself later this week. but we'll see.

btw, i'll leave you in suspense till tomorrow about who the lady is that is standing next to me at the atlanta airport.

who could it be???

as i sit at midway--bored out of my mind

2008-05-18T08:08:00.002-05:00

i decided to add a fun video. this was me and mark yesterday with rocks. i mean boulders. the one in this video almost took off my left foot. oops. yeah. that would've been bad! however, in jumping out of the way somewhat, i managed to try to catch the bajillion pound boulder. as, in, catch it with my hands. (actually, my LEFT hand, specifically.) it only took off a little skin. but three of the five fingers on my left hand are pretty stiff this morning. oh well.

cuz moving rocks at the courts is FUN. prolly should have worn work boots too. steel toed work boots. maybe next time.

considering the amount of $$$

2008-05-11T22:27:00.004-05:00

considering the amount of $$$ shawn olson and his wife have spent on the ridiculous amount of mailings i've gotten, you'd also think they would have paid someone to proofread their junkmail. woops, i mean "literature." or maybe the money would have been well spent for them to attend some post-high school English classes since high school must not have done the job....

are you serious? the error is here:

"STANDING FOR THE TAX PAYER'S"

um...the tax payer's rights? the tax payer's hard earned dollar? what?

i think i'll vote for his opponent based on the NUMEROUS pieces of junk mail i've received from him/his campaign and the errors in such. it's the principle of the thing.

does america no longer know how to write well? ugh. i actually don't want to know the answer. but to be honest with you, if you send out numerous letters/mailings to homes in the area, you should REALLY consider sending out materials without such blatant/flagrant errors. have someone proofread them. OR just don't send out this crap.

SOMETHING!!!!!!!

LBC women's retreat 08

2008-05-06T00:42:00.003-05:00

check out our crazy video on youtube!!! be sure the volume's on!

up late...

2008-05-03T03:30:00.003-05:00

and it's one hour later here in this eastern time zone! i gotta go to bed. but i just hafta say i am having a ton of fun at this retreat. we got in trouble tonight from the hotel staff for being too loud. guess we gotta keep up tradition! i'm in the bottom of this pic with jamie costas, (forgot her married name), lisa haislet, bethany drew, holly sutton, and a sally person that i don't know very well. gotta change that!!!

but i duked it out on guitar hero with bette jo. she's fun! but watch out when playing spoons with her. she's VICIOUS! betty marquez and betty stralnic are animals as well and i must say cindy miller plays for blood! ruth fortney and kathy underwood will DEFINITELY be bruised tomorrow! penny sacrificed a necklace as well. too bad it looked like a spoon from afar. ahhhh, what fun.

oh well. (and GOOD NIGHT!)

lover of the north, the weather, the island

2008-04-26T23:40:00.005-05:00

if you know me at all, you know what i'm all about. and what interests me. what i like. if i were to go to college again (or at this point to get my master's) it would be in some form of meteorology. i'm ALL about the weather.

however, the only other thing that interests me as much as the weather (if not more) is the U.P. of michigan, the straits of mackinac, mackinac island, ships & sailing around lake michigan/lake huron and finally, the mighty mac, which is the 5 mile long longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere.

so when i turned on the weather channel tonight to a show called "weather ventures" to find the guy talking of nothing other than the weather around the straits of mackinac, i almost keeled over. i turned on the tv to see what appeared to be my backyard. (this picture was the one shown on my tv tonight! kinda weird seeing your backyard on tv, eh?!) it was actually a video shot of the round island lighthouse from the backside of the mackinac island library; one of my most favorite spots on the island.

(for anyone who hasn't seen my messy room, i've basically wallpapered it with sailing charts of the mackinac island area, the straits, and the les cheneaux islands. i've sailed to mackinac once in 1995 from the cedarville area (michigan). i could live there. anywhere in the U.P. live on a sailboat docked, moored in the harbour, or in a cabin by the water. i could never sail enough. (hence the name of my blog...)

so with my little eyeballs GLUED to the tv, i watched a show about mackinac island, the straits & great lakes, and the weather that i had never seen before. LOVED IT. i'm inspired now to watch my "making of the bridge" dvd i got last year while on the island. did you know the bridge is 200 feet above the water? the bridge supports are also amazing--they go down twenty stories into the bedrock. (which is mostly limestone.) did you know that when the winds exceed 60mph they close the bridge? did you know there are 42,000 miles of cable holding up the bridge...if it were all stretched out, it would go around the earth 1.5 times! if there's anyone too scared to drive across the bridge the mackinac bridge authority will take your car across for you. if winds get up to or exceed 100mph, the bridge can sway (very gradually) up to 25 feet in the middle! there are metal grates that make up the inside lanes of the bridge to allow for the wind to pass through so that the bridge doesn't have to withstand more than it is able. the fun fact of the day is this: as the expansion joints move , they sing! any civil engineers out there would know what this means...

only one car has ever blown off the bridge and only one airplane has ever crashed into it. (it can be very WINDY and lighter cars are a bit of a threat...many trucks and campers have been blown over on their sides, but to my knowledge, only one car has ever been blown OFF the actual bridge structure.) as for the airplane, as i learned more tonight, the fog in the area can be INCREDIBLY dense during certain seasons which makes the bridge supports VERY hard to see. although the road part of the bridge is 200 feet above the water, i believe i heard the tops of the towers are 500 feet up. you can see the problem.

mackinac island has only about 400 residents year-round but can have 15,000 or more people on the island at any one time (workers/visitors/etc.) during the summer.

the great lakes makes up one fifth of our world's fresh water. the chicago to mackinac freshwater sailing regatta is the LONGEST freshwater regatta in the WHOLE WORLD! this year marks the ONE HUNDREDTH chicago to mackinac race. HOW AMAZING. i would give ANYTHING to be crew on someone's boat for this race!!!!!!!

in the northern great lakes, the visibility underwater can be up to 100 feet!!! (btw, i drank water out of lake huron while brushing my teeth in the lake off the starboard side of our sailboat, the Dawn Treader, and i was ok! but i wouldn't recommend drinking a LOT of water out of any of the great lakes--especially lakes erie & michigan...) and one thing i left out about mackinac island is that the ONLY highway in the state of MICHIGAN that does not allow cars is on mackinac island. only horses and bikes!

okay...so now i've likely bored prolly most anyone reading this. but if you've gotten this far at least you know a bit more about the state just to the north of indiana! and that i'm a LOVER of the northern great lakes, the mackinac straits, and weather!

new bike

2008-04-17T23:32:00.003-05:00

i have a sweet new ride. it's one i have to power myself but i'm glad to have it. it'll be another fun thing to do this summer. i haven't had a bike for 2 years...after having one for about 13 years. it's a good thing. especially if gas prices keep going up. my other option was my old skool skateboard.

The Center

2008-04-13T12:57:00.003-05:00

of the Atlanta Falcons visited The Courts last week. he's a really big guy. i could give or take the hair. his NFL pics aren't that great but i like his eyes!

check out our new borders!

2008-03-27T23:35:00.005-05:00

we are going to outsource ourselves to death. literally. my gosh. can we be more stupid??? i'm so sick of the embarrassment of being here! i'm TIRED of our government and TIRED of the politics. i'm at a loss here. are our passports going to be american passports? american passports "made in thailand?" or are we selling out our country bit by bit so that we won't have a country left???

welcome to our new homeland! looks like our boundary lines look like the ones on this map i've attached.

UGH.

are you KIDDING me?

2008-03-14T06:12:00.002-05:00

okay. so i went to get gas yesterday but i waited longer than i normally would have because i was waiting for gas prices to go DOWN. yeah. well, that didn't at all happen. i paid $3.39 for gas last night. i was at about an 8th of a tank and still paid $55 bucks. i'm so pissed. this is ridiculous. our country produces 7% of the world's oil. yet we act like we produce nearly all of it. but none of our oil refineries have been built/seriously revamped in more than 30 years. are we living in a black hole? or like those birds who bury their heads in the sand? i think we do.

our dollar every day is reaching an all-time low. i guess all i can say is DON'T TRAVEL TO EUROPE! or anywhere else for that matter. unless you also plan on living there and getting a job there as well. the american dollar has tanked and continues to do so. maybe our illustrious politicians can find a way to solve these problems.

HA!

george bush as of about two weeks ago IN A PRESS CONFERENCE had no idea the projected price for a gallon of gas was $4.00. he voiced, AUDIBLY, that he had no idea this was the case. he said "no one told him." apparently the government is no longer "of the people, for the people, by the people." anymore, our "democracy" means whomever has the most money gets into washington. to run the country. we must look like an absolute CIRCUS to those whom we are trying to convince a democracy is the way to go. every vote counts? really? then what about these superdelegates? and now what about michigan and florida?

in my opinion the idea of the electoral college needs to be revisited. the popular vote must stand for something. because as it is, each individual vote does NOT count.

and in a parting note for my fun and uplifting entry today: they're saying my new ipod shuffle as well as other new ipods, navigation systems and other electronics could be full of viruses before the packaging is even opened. they're brand new. not even out of the box yet. this due to the fact that (because we've outsourced our jobs-mostly to china) the carelessness of the workers are putting us all at risk.

and we're outsourcing our military stuff too? are you KIDDING me??? yeah, i guess that seems SAFE. and LOGICAL. who are the boneheads making these decisions???

does this mean we're still a world power? cuz from what i can tell we must be the laughing stock of the world. once again...this is embarrassing.

who can fix it? and is it too late?

time for a new post...

2008-03-04T13:30:00.004-06:00

not much going on here! although i do believe i'm too old to pull all-nighters...even IF it was for fun! emily came over last night after work and we were going to make shirts to help encourage shane at his first home baseball game today. it was a long and tedious process. and emily had several mishaps. oh dear. and then i finally went to bed around 6:30 hoping emily would do ok. anyhow, i'm completely unhappy because shane just wrote on her facebook and told her the GAME WAS CANCELLED ON ACCOUNT OF THE WEATHER!!! i am so mad! and i want everyone to know i pulled an all-nighter and it was for NOTHING! i'll get you shane!!!

how 'bout this weather?!??

2008-02-06T21:58:00.000-06:00

wow. just a few measly snowflakes here in valpo. mostly RAIN. drenching, soaking rain. a few degrees cooler towards chicago, they got 3ish inches. north of chicago got 6-12 and some places in wisconsin were lucky enuf to get 20. and we don't even have a dusting. i'm not sad or depressed due to the fact that at this point in time, we've only had eleven minutes of sunlight for the past six days (all of february) but becuz we have no snow. they keep talking about how we're getting more snow than we have in a long time but aren't acknowledging the fact that even though that may be true, it melts so fast that we don't even know it was here! i still haven't gone skiing OR sledding yet this year.

then there's those tornadoes. i'm not sure about the new fujita scale though, with the "enhanced" numbers. i'll need to take some meteorology classes or attend a lecture or something. i don't know if mr. fujita (the inventor) would appreciate this. but anyway, the "EF4" tornado must've been huge. i can't imagine a tornado or any other such natural disaster blowing away my college. that would suck. but i wonder where these poor kids will go for two weeks. (why are they only closing union university or whatever it's called for two weeks when the entire campus was destroyed?) wow.

now FEMA and the joke that it is can actually try to make a difference. and restore our hope in our own lousy government. if they can provide for the needs of these students and these towns, my faith will be marginally renewed. but whatever. i'll have to see it to believe it.

okay, i suppose that's about it. oh, and if you live around here, watch out for the potholes. they're everywhere. especially on route 6. your whole car might fall into a pothole. and no one would be able to find you.

YIKES!

cheaters never prosper...giants deserved it

2008-02-04T03:06:00.000-06:00

not sure why the giants won other than the fact that eli manning is AMAZING. the last two minutes of the game were fabulous. and it's fitting that new england LOST. how ridiculous of a coach they have!!! how can he sleep at night living/coaching the way he is? and trying to cheat as much as he is? i mean, i know he's getting paid a ton, (relative to me) but these are men throwing and catching a ball on a field. if you can't coach fairly and be a good sport, even if your season & post-season records are perfect, you do not deserve to win. too bad for you. wonder how many other times you taped the signals and didn't get caught.

you go eli. manning bros rock! thanks for making the patriots send all their super bowl championship garb (hats, shirts, etc.) to a third world country.

buh-bye.

GOOD GRIEF, MAN!

2008-01-25T20:06:00.001-06:00

well...this afternoon's open gym was rather interesting...

a bunch of guys came to play this afternoon. some of them are on our men's league but i don't believe all of them are. anyway, they brought in the sorriest looking basketball i've ever seen. the one dude asked if he could use our ball pump and we inflated his sorry ball so that he and his friends could use it. we explained that they could go full-court until 4pm and then again from 5-6pm. i explained that we had to cut them down to half-court from 4-5pm since another team would be practicing on the other half of the court at that time.

they were cool with that.

well, another dude shows up and pretty much refuses to use the sorry-looking basketball and offers his driver's license to me to borrow one of our wilson evolution balls. i politely declined, explaining that we have had 46 of our nice basketballs already ripped off and the only way he could borrow one of our balls is if he leaves us $50 to hold for him to use the ball. he provided me with two twentys and i went back and gave him a ball.

around time for him to leave, he came back up to the desk and asked for his money back. i told him to bring back his ball. we switched goods and he left. next thing, i turn around and this one stoopid-looking dude is asking me why i took our wilson evolution back. i explained that his friend who had to leave took his money back and so we needed to put the ball away. he started to get all crazy and began to say, "what, are you serious? UGH! you must be..." and i cut him off with, "EXCUSE ME???"

he stormed off all mad. i reminded him that he brought a ball and that he should use that one.

next thing, a bunch of other guys come up and demand to see a written list of rules, guidelines, and procedures. i asked them if there was anything i could help them with and the one goes on and on and on about how he paid to get into open gym and we should provide him with a ball. my response was, "we've got everything posted online about our guidelines for open gym and it is also posted that we no longer--SINCE LAST MAY--provide basketballs. we've had 46 ripped off already and just don't lend out balls anymore. sorry."

he was floored. began talking about how he was being degraded. and freaked out on why i made that other poor guy fork over forty bucks to use one of our balls that we should be otherwise lending him as it is. i tried to explain to him that this was the other guy's business. if he wanted to fork over the dough, i was more comfortable lending a ball. furthermore, (smiling), i explained that i was being NICE in letting the dude borrow a ball. i told him i shouldn't have even let him use a ball PERIOD.

he hit the roof. asking "didn't he pay the same amount to get in as everyone else," yadda yadda yadda. i then had to explain further that the kids on the other courts with their rack of balls were there in PRACTICES and we provided them with our balls because this is our way of operating and YES, because they rent the court and they actually DO pay more. once you get to the front counter of our facility, you've already passed THREE SIGNS explaining that "YOU ARE TO BRING YOUR OWN BALL TO OPEN GYM."

this guy's logic was WHACK. yup. i said whack. i went inner-city on ya! and i had to keep explaining to this poor man (and i use the term "man" loosely) how we operate and that he would have to bring his own ball next time. he continued to ask me the same question over and over. and i continued to repeat, "sir, just bring your own ball! it's that simple!" wow. idiots.

i'm surrounded by people like this most of the time i'm at the courts. everyone complains to ME. (i usually don't mind the logical complaints, though. but it is still a downer.) but stuff like this gets tiring. and draining. i hate dealing with people who are just like my little kids from the projects but are in grown-up bodies--acting like i OWE THEM SOMETHING.

please.

i hope this guy only ever comes back when i'm there. i'd love to discuss the topic more. or do i mean talk myself in circles with him? what a turd. so as for my title to this post, "GOOD GRIEF, MAN!" this is the reason i write. i spoke to a brainless creature today. someone with a lack of reason. maybe none. ignorant. no sense. hard-headed. whatever you wanna call it. listen dude, maybe you should ask your mommy or granma for a basketball for your next birthday. or next christmas. heavens knows you'll prolly never buy your own ball so you can come and complain to me. about how we owe it to you. or about how you're entitled.

GOOD GRIEF, MAN!

sometimes you have to be told no; someone's always gotta lose

2008-01-22T11:10:00.000-06:00

i am sick to death of the way we're babying our youth and young adults of this nation. are we already not screwed with a dysfunctional government? and this two-party political system? our society is going down the tube fast. good thing most people live less than 100 years...so we all don't have to put up with too much of this.

my reason for writing today: check the title. when people play a basketball game or any other game for that matter, someone wins and someone loses. there's hardly ever a draw. but no doubt, those who lose complain. the reffing was one-sided. my kid didn't get to play enuf. so-and-so played for too long. we didn't get all our fouls called.

and what about the whole "social promotion" thing? good grief. well of course! we wouldn't want some poor lazy kid to have hurt feelings! everyone regardless of capability, motivation and progress must be moved to the next grade each year so they don't get left behind and feel sad their friends moved on without them. never mind the kid named diante who missed 98.5 days of school. he must move on to the next grade so that he can stay with his friends! (what the heck? he dropped out of sixth grade anyway!)
and what about that kid tony who made no effort at all? he turned in ONE-HALF OF AN ASSIGNMENT ALL YEAR! but even after the fit that i threw in the principal's office, he was of course moved up to the sixth grade as well.

we're not teaching anyone ANYTHING important. i believe old school is the way to go. you must WORK and take INITIATIVE. you must have some sort of motivation and be DRIVEN in order to move up in any aspect of life. these kids are not dumb. (well...) they know they don't have to do a dang thing in school in order to progress up through the ranks. is anyone aware that the city of chicago is graduating seniors from high school who can't even read? not that they're NOT CAPABLE, but they're unwilling. and since we are rewarding their indifference and whiney attitudes, this'll continue.

the message is: we need to keep everything moving without causing a blip. a bump. a disturbance. we need to try to keep everyone happy. and i for one don't think that ANYONE is benefitting in the end. the children involved nor the society we're graduating them into.

i wonder what will happen when the presidential candidates are told they haven't won and that so-and-so has taken the majority of votes. maybe in the not so far away future we'll have a "joint-presidency" because some of these children who were never told "no" as children won't be able to accept "no" as adults.

and this whole post began because of parents complaining at my place of employment. it got me to thinking.

any thoughts?

getting sleepy...

2008-01-14T00:59:00.001-06:00

i'll be off to bed soon but i had to include this pic before i turned in. one day during our international houseparty, (during new year's week when we were in michigan) we had a hayride for the students. when all was said and done and the students had left the area to go back to mariner's cove, i drove back over to old mill point to check on the sauna. as i turned into the old mill point drive, i saw several deer scatter--but one stayed. it just stared at me. i hit the brakes and just watched. i saw that the deer had all been munching on the hay that had fallen off the haywagon. but i guess the one was so hungry it didn't care if i stayed or not. so it continued to munch a bit before wandering slowly off. and i definitely shot it. (with my CAMERA!)

GOOD night.

sickened with sikkens

2008-01-10T02:46:00.000-06:00

note to self: next time i use a wood stain or anything of the like, i'll be sure to do it in warmer weather where i can stain it OUTDOORS. i was interestingly sickened on wednesday and i traced it back to breathing amazing fumes from staining my new fun adirondack chair on tues. night that my friend chad made. my chair looks awesome but my roomie & i were not the healthiest of people on wednesday. (and kinda right now...) still not feeling 100 percent. i had the sliding glass door open the entire time with fans on but apparently it wasn't enuf. but i STILL love bringing furniture down from the U.P. that is made out of white CEDAR! (i also have a log bed made of cedar...)

oh, and i hit a deer tuesday night! it was lying in the road--i'm thinking it was already dead--but i was on a two-lane highway (on my way back from the thomae's in laporte on route 2) and there was traffic coming the other direction so i couldn't swerve to avoid it. it was a large deer and my car sorta jumped and skidded into the other lane anyway, but thankfully the oncoming cars i had been trying to initially avoid had just passed.

car's all right. me too.

oh yeah, and "sikkens" is the brand of stain that was recommended to me. it's good quality and my chair looks awesome! i will just need more ventilation next time.

back home again

2008-01-03T22:49:00.001-06:00

i'm back and i'm sleepy. AND i'm dogsitting in laporte till january 8th. whew. can't wait to go to bed tonite! more pictures will be coming soon but for now, i'll just add one more from the end of my time up north. we're standing on beaver pond, across m134 from camp. beaver pond is usually a better option for ice skating/hockey. prentiss bay hardly ever freezes enuf to skate on anymore. even the inner bay. sigh. anyway, in this pic from left to right is: andy, abby, me, and chad.

see you again soon with some more pics.

happy new year!

2007-12-31T23:35:00.000-06:00

we've been celebrating now for about half-an-hour. (remember, my computer has no idea yet that i'm in michigan and on michigan time. it still thinks it's in indiana.) poor thing. so happy new year! whee!

anyway, today we went to drummond island--take m-134 as far east as it goes and it leads to a car ferry dock. we crossed over to the island on the 11:40am ferry. we then drove around the island, had lunch there, went shopping, and came back. it was cool. the pictures here are mostly of the trip to drummond island. there's a pic of our car waiting to get on the ferry, (the one behind the fedex truck), and a pic of "the northwood," the restaurant we ate at today. oh, and that's a picture of us on the ferry. unfortunately, the deckhands were nowhere to be found when we wanted a group picture. but the captain TRIED to find one. (he even announced it on the loudspeaker!) there were 5 of us that went today: me, marge, farouk, chrysta, and greg.

happy new year...STILL HOPING FOR MORE SNOW! i think valpo is supposed to get 2-4 inches, my friend erica said, and hopefully we'll get even more up here tomorrow. the ski trails could use another dose of white. but i actually heard that it's supposed to be up to 49 degrees here in the U.P. this weekend. YUCK.

yeah, i've been busy outside!

2007-12-30T10:08:00.000-06:00

hence the couple of days with no post! two nights ago i was too busy to come into town to blog and last night i had been invited to mike & sue vaal's to hang out (which was hugely awesome) and so now, being that it's sunday morning, i can write while everyone's either at church or sleepin in back at camp.

anyway, yesterday i spent most of my time outside playing and getting video/pics for the dvd at the end of the week. we got about 6 inches of snow two nights ago which was really great. it's actually been snowing CONSTANTLY since we've been here but some flakes are fewer and farther between and others are ginormous and pile up fast. yesterday everyone went skiing (cross country), ice skating on beaver pond, and to the sauna. thankfully there's a huge square hole cut into the ice so that people could actually jump into the water instead of just wading in. it's more fun and dramatic that way. i'll see what i can do to post a video; i don't have any stills of the people at the sauna.

here's what you're seeing: a sign to the skating rink and the path through the woods to beaver pond, which is where we are ice skating this year. lake huron needs more severe weather and frigid cold in order to freeze over solid enuf to skate on. (even the inner bay...) so beaver pond is a great alternative. there's a pic of andy's dog piper and her shadow, me and my fire, (i had just started it so YES, it got bigger!), and a few pics of the skis and skates we have been using. we don't have ski racks outside so we do it old school--pile up a bunch of snow and stick the skis in! seems to work out.

okay, well i have to make sure bob zeeb did ok firing the sauna; it needs to be between 150-180 degrees for this afternoon. i may need to stir the fire a bit and toss in some more logs. see ya later! (just as i wrote "see ya later," a couple of snowmobiles buzzed by me on the main road here in town.) I COULD SO LIVE HERE!!! sigh.

finally up NORTH!

2007-12-27T23:30:00.000-06:00

okay. we're here; driving was not too bad. but the entire trip took 9 hours which is kinda disappointing when i've been known to do it in 6.5 hours. oh well. the snow wasn't too bad; i tried to learn how to work my new camera as i drove so here are a few pics of the road conditions. and the EVER-SLOW salt truck that was ahead of me as soon as i got east of spring hill (camp) on route 10. ugh. hopefully HOPEFULLY HOPEFULLY we'll get snow tomorrow. a LOT. that's part of the reason i dragged my cold self out of my warm cabin to check the weather online. i'm hoping for a true blizzard! btw, did i mention that someone else is here mooching off the little log library's wireless? first time i've been here and have had company! some guys in a pickup truck in front of me...

and didja see what shirt ANDY is wearing? i had to get a pic of him in it. i wonder if he did that on purpose. anyway, he's heading to a wedding tomorrow in grand haven. the rest of us are all going to the soo (sault ste. marie) to go ice skating, check out the soo locks, and hang out in the town. it's always a good time.

this is the first time that our winter gathering has been on the "mariner's cove" side of camp. usually it's on the side called "old mill point." anyhoo, i kinda like it better here at cove side. here's a wreath on the taylor lodge sign. well, i'm gonna sign off and check out the weather.

p.s. i HATE that benezir bhutto (sp?) was assassinated. i think we're really screwed now. but it was bound to happen; with all her protests and gatherings and such. ah well, time shall tell exactly how screwed we are!

leaving in an hour or two

2007-12-27T05:46:00.000-06:00

i see we had freezing rain last night. poo. oh well. we (dad and i) tried to get a suburban (or other LARGE suv) to rent to go up north but instead got two smaller 4-wheel drive vehicles. we're considering shoving everybody and all their luggage in one, however. we can return one to enterprise this morning @ 7:30 if it ends up we don't need it. but we'll see. i guess it's better to have two and need ONE than to have one and need TWO.

i'll try to post regularly while i'm gone. blogging is no fun unless you have something fun to write about. i'm hoping for a major MAJOR MAJOR snowstorm once we're there. it's about 7.5-9 hours north of here. (about 45 minutes northeast of the mackinac bridge.)

happy trails to me!

heading north soon

2007-12-25T23:21:00.000-06:00

well...sorry i took such a hiatus from my blog. i've been insanely busy and with two break-ins at my place of business and a ton of other things going on, (holidays too) i've not had much time to be on the computer at all. anyway, this is just a random update and to alert my avid blog readers that i actually AM still on the planet. (it can also be hard blogging when nothing exciting is going on.)

if i get into town while in the U.P. in the middle of the night, i may blog then--and post some pictures. let me explain that last statement: while in cedarville, michigan, the place we're staying at doesn't have great internet access. in fact, there's none. it's kinda hard in the middle of nowhere to get a signal or even dial-up. so late at night after everyone's gone to bed, i often drive into town and park next to the library and mooch off of the wireless there. usually works great. hopefully they haven't put passwords on it yet or anything. i've been doing this for two years now. usually i like to go during the day and sign in, because that way this new little log library can show that its grant is being used. (they're more likely to be able to keep their wireless internet that way--they got a grant from the state or something.) but since i'm crew this time around (working at cedar campus), i won't have much time during the day to disappear into town for any length of time. oh, and besides that, this little library has rather limited hours anyway.

this little log library is rather new and very cute. i think it was built 2003 or 4ish. after all, it's a small town. yup. a small harbor town. across the street, the marina sells boats & jetskis in summer and snowmobiles all winter. sigh. i could SO LIVE THERE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLY GRAHAM!

2007-11-07T21:00:00.000-06:00

YOU ROCK. have a wonderful 89th birthday. you deserve the best.

the dictionary changes for idiots???

2007-11-06T04:13:00.000-06:00

this is news to me! there are three words that were highlighted recently that people don't know the proper spelling of (and i'm not sure which dictionary or dictionaries...) but the dictionary is adding extra spellings. so people who are confused and don't know how to spell still are right. I HATE HATE HATE THE POLITICALLY CORRECT WORLD WE LIVE IN SO MUCH. hate it. our society is in the biggest downward spiral! but i don't think we'll die of stupidity like originally suspected; i think we'll finish ourselves off in world war III the way pakistan has recently been ending up. and bush is trying to say that musharraf is undermining democracy? the "president" of pakistan is a freaking dictator! he was never voted in! he just took power! our president is so full of double standards! maybe some of the dictionary "revisions" are for his benefit too.

back to the subject at hand: for example, "vocal cord" shall also now be spelled "vocal chord." some people never did apparently learn to spell the word correctly and they just imagined it as a cHord as in a tone. or a tune. or part of a song.

then there's a "shoe-in." a "shoe-in" means for example, that a candidate will have no trouble winning an election. but i suppose there are so many flies in our country that this spelling has now been added: "shoo-in."

lastly, there's "free reign." example: she has free reign of the house while her parents are away. but now we are including the spelling, "free rein" as in REINS on a horse! how does that even work? REIGN is when you dominate something. you rule. having FREE REIGN makes sense. free REIN is IDIOTIC.

is there anyone else in our english speaking country who has an issue with this? i'm telling you. we've gone from worse to worser.

4 times in less than 4 months....

2007-10-30T20:06:00.000-05:00

bank very nearby my apartment got robbed today around 10am. in broad daylight. this mexican dude is the same dude who keeps hittin it. he never brings a gun; just hands the tellers a note. then he gets away on foot; never has a getaway car.

here's another fun twist. (read on; it's related) my place of business, the courts, has decided to see what kind of numbers a new method of marketing would bring in. we've tried placing yard signs all over the place at busy intersections. sweet. we've actually had a LOT of calls from those signs. it's been crazy. but anyhoo, we've had a few TOO many calls and our one program is full and can't accept any more registrants. so today on my day off, i decided to go ahead and take down the second of two signs i had put up near my apt. i wandered out about 10:30 and watched an unmarked cop car parusing our parking lot. i figured he had just decided to take a break. or something. but then as i approached the sign and got out of my car to uproot the sign and throw it in the back seat, i see three fbi guys and an ADORABLE bloodhound walking down the middle of route 2. (or laporte ave. whichever u wanna call it.) so i stood there and watched them. apparently the robber had run right by where i was standing cuz the little bloodhound came up to me, sniffed my jeans and my shoes, and then kept going. i knew i couldn't pet the pup--as much as i had wanted to, i knew one of the three fbi guys would have prolly shot ME cuz they were so pissed for looking so DUMB. so i just stood there and watched the floppy-eared fellow sniff my shoes and continue on with his guys.

so anyway, i am supposing that my position on this whole thing is that this little dude DESERVES the $$$ if our little law enforcement in valpo/porter county is too SLOW to catch this guy. good grief. he's making monthly withdrawals! maybe i should try making withdrawals the same way he is doing it! i mean, it IS actually my own bank, anyway!

HOW EMBARRASSING. way to get on the map, valpo. oh yes, there is one more thing...why is it the DNR showed up? was it a deer, no wait...a SQUIRREL who ran off with the money? ahhh, maybe it was a raccoon or an opossum. their eyes look sorta shifty sometimes. i can understand why the DNR would want to get involved.

i luv VAN HALEN!

2007-10-21T00:40:00.000-05:00

never saw them before but loved their music growing up. saw them for the first time thursday night at the united center. they were AWESOME. eddie van halen makes me want to go out and buy a guitar. i just wanna learn to play it! he's so amazing. these guys are still pretty hot (despite the fact that they're in their mid FIFTIES now...)

they are clean cut and clean shaven. mostly. and michael anthony is out as bassist and eddie van halen's boy wolfgang is IN. he's a 16-year-old kid and he's pretty musically talented. wolfgang van halen is called "wolf" for short and was named after wolfgang amadeus mozart. (eddie and alex were born in amsterdam and lived there for nearly the first ten years of their lives.) they were both trained as classical pianists when they were young.

apparently when they were young, eddie wanted to learn drums so he started a paper route so that he could pay for his new drum set. alex started out playing guitar. meanwhile, alex (AS EDDIE WAS DELIVERING THE NEWSPAPERS) was practicing on eddie's new drum set and got really good REALLY fast. eddie decided to not do drums anymore and went ahead learning guitar.

i also learned a few things about the band over the past week: did you know eddie had hip replacement surgery in 1999? he also is missing half of his tongue due to cancer. but he still smokes. david lee roth is an EMT in new york. alex van halen has a son named aric who is in high school and runs cross country at oakwood high.

i love van halen!

sing it, say it, shout it. but no one believes you, larry.

2007-10-16T19:57:00.001-05:00

anyone else watch the matt lauer interview with larry craig (and suzanne craig)? holy cow. poor idaho. they are SO the country's laughing stock. what the heck? larry craig is the biggest freaking liar i've ever watched on t.v. to my knowledge. matt lauer is asking good and fair questions. i appreciate his finesse. but i just wanna smack larry. or something.

he pleaded guilty because he knew he was wrong. he followed a very orchestrated set of movements set in place to solicit gay sex that i firmly believe he couldn't have done without knowing the movements and the order of the gestures. just come on out of the closet already. and your poor wife...she is trusting your lies and is looking like the biggest naive fool ever. put everyone out of their misery. and tell the truth. WHY IN HEAVEN'S NAME WOULD YOU PLEAD GUILTY IF YOU WERE INNOCENT? you've implicated yourself. please be truthful to yourself. and be truthful to your family. you're perceived as a punk and don't have the credibility any longer to represent your state. step down.

and for anyone who's interested...go to youtube and enter in the search box "if larry craig were gay." it's quite amusing.

but also, to be quite honest, since i've been away from all my gay friends in philly and on the east coast, i'm becoming a bit of a homophobe again. and i'm not liking that. but whatever. my issue is with larry craig LYING LIKE A RUG. for all that he stands for, he's the biggest hypocrite ever. he needs to tell the truth. and only then can he really get on with his life. because otherwise, this will haunt him until he dies.

geez. how can you even live with yourself?????

V.U. Basketball

2007-10-14T23:50:00.000-05:00

i am so glad homer drew and his coaching staff are so organized. love that. it made my life a LOT easier when they came to run a basketball camp for kids grades 1-5 yesterday. it was from 9:30-11am and the kids loved it. i will say, however, that the V.U. team is prolly (HIGHLY LIKELY) gonna have to work on their 3-point shots at practice this week. good grief. maybe it was cuz they weren't warmed up. but anyway, good times. here's a pic of me and homer, head coach at Valparaiso University.

who's the dumb one?

2007-10-09T18:21:00.000-05:00

well...

got a lady into the courts today who lied about the premise of her even being there. nevermind that she came with her 22-year-old son who must have been too much of a wuss to take care of himself. apparently, there's a guy out of texas who had wanted to have a men's tournament at the courts. okay, fine. he called us to see if we would rent him the building. again, fine. but these people (the 22-year-old and his mommy) were dumb enuf to wire $250 cash to this guy in texas. the tournament was cancelled. so either he's running a scam out of texas or its legit. but she wants her $250 back and expects us to coff it up.

EXCUSE ME?

we didn't take her money. and we're certainly not giving her $250 of ours. ew. so she said she's going to the papers. mark, (the owner) said fine. she asked for someone more higher-up than him. he mentioned to her that he owned the place and she was already at the top. she was befuddled and disgruntled.

about the newspaper thingy...the nwi times published an ad about the tournament that was to take place at our facility. she is trying to say that we are at fault because we are connected to them. yeah, we wrote about it on our website but clearly left the texas man's phone number so they would know he is the contact. and next, it is rather irresponsible to publish something in the newspaper about a local business without that business' approval.

THE NWI TIMES SUCKS. repeatedly for years the grammar in this so-called newspaper is such that my inner-city 5th graders could have written a better paper easily. the articles sometimes are incomplete and that is just the beginning of it all. good grief. nevermind all the incorrect information and lack of responsible reporting. ugh.

no wonder jerry davich has moved on to the post tribune. TIMES, YOU SUCK!

tired of it!

2007-10-04T22:29:00.000-05:00

i have a gift. a SPECIAL gift. something that i'm very good at. or at least this past week, anyway. wanna know what it is? i'm good at conversing with people when they're stressed out. i've just picked random BAD times to chitchat with people and have had them blow up and freak out on me. for no apparent reason. not sure why this has been happening this week, but it's stressing me out. and pissing me off. but such is life and i will need to get over it.

this is also why i joined the most recent group that i did on facebook....

Fernando inching by

2007-09-23T00:21:00.001-05:00

so we have a family friend attending v.u.'s law skool who is celebrating ramadan this month. ok, cool. ramadan is a month in muslim beliefs of fasting during the day, breaking the fast at sunset by eating some dates, and then eating, partying, smoking bongs, and having sex till sunup. well--not for everyone. but for some of my arab friends, this is how many celebrate ramadan. so many from the west don't understand this muslim tradition and for that, poop on us.

so we took out our friend after sunset tonight to aladdin pita, a restaurant in merrillville. they usually only have the buffet on thursday and saturday nights, i believe, but with all the hungry muslims, this entire month (in the evening) there is a buffet. seeing as how i've been to the middle east--on several occasions--i am a FAN of middle eastern food. didn't used to be that way but throughout life with a boyfriend from my past and his mother holding me down and shoving hummus and pita down my throat, i've grown to love the stuff. but never would i have tasted it cuz it LOOKS LIKE CRAP. but it's quite delicious with the perfect amount of olive oil and garlic. mmmmmmm.

but as i gorged myself (like i need to) on this awesome and quite yummy food, i noticed that the dates my mom had mentioned earlier in the night were not yet to be found--neither on her plate nor on the buffet table. on my way back up to the buffet, i saw some and i grabbed a date out of a container near the appetizers and put it on the corner of my plate for her. the place was crowded and they honestly had a hard time cooking enuf stuff and displaying the stuff in enuf time for people to scoop it all up and munch it down.

well...the date that i had put on my plate for my mom had a guest. a house guest. i noticed him scrunching up, stretching out...scrunching up, stretching out--ON MY PLATE. he had left his home (the date, i'm guessing) and had begun the long trek to familiar lands--ACROSS MY PLATE.

ahem...well, with me HATING bugs and creepy crawlies of any kind and being terrified even of the very smallest ones (but at the same time not wanting to cause a scene), i walked briskly over to where my parents were sitting with Fernando, and told them of my dilemma. i explained to my mom how i had found the replenished date container at the buffet but this little inchworm named Fernando had decided to come out and play. i told her everything. here's what she did: she immediately KILLED FERNANDO and proceeded to gulp down the date. i mean, come ON! Fernando could have been having a party! friends may have been over!

that's gross. moral of the story: if there is a little worm in your fruit, kill him instantly and GET RID OF THAT FRUIT! and don't ever eat that type of fruit again. how incredibly disgusting. my mom was proud of her feat and smiled at me as if to say, "woohoo! more protein!" well no wait...she actually may have said that.

so faretheewell to Fernando and co. hopefully he (and maybe they) will have a happy inchworm afterlife.

ta ta.

anyone else?

2007-09-20T20:55:00.001-05:00

anyone else out there tired to death of orenthal james simpson? what a circus. what a nuisance. what a sociopath. good grief. i actually have nothing else to say about that.

but how about them cars in iceland? yeah, that's my native land. i'm excited to read about all their "green" activities and such. and how they're not gonna rely on fossil fuels too much longer. how sweet. i really need to go there.

oh and about the garlic bread episode a few days ago...we tried it again last night and it was delicious. our garlic bread did NOT catch fire and we had an enjoyable meal.

BLACKWATER! LET'S GET OUT NOW! (and a garlic bread mishap)

2007-09-20T00:08:00.000-05:00

okay. HELLO! WAKE UP USA! here's our opportunity! if iraq wants blackwater out, and if blackwater is who protects our diplomats and certain other important people, let's go! iraq has every authority to get rid of blackwater. and yes, i believe blackwater answers to no one. i feel that at first, blackwater did a good deed. initially they kept US interests safe in iraq. but now, it's like it's gone to their heads. shooting up random taxis if they get "too close" to a convoy doesn't protect anyone. and killing civilians? what does that accomplish? if you are not judged here on earth, there will be a doozy waiting for you later on. (and even if you are held accountable in this life, you are STILL screwed later.)

let me qualify this, though. yes, i know many civilians are armed. and many taxis DO have car bombs inside their trunks. i know this. but blackwater seems to have turned into a bunch of mercenaries, and whether or not they are justified in what they're doing, this is our time to bow out. let's get out of iraq! we've screwed up their country enough. maybe we should even pay reparations. BUT LET'S GET OUT!

once again the arrogance of the west (for anyone who is confused, that's us, my american friends) has continued to turn others away from us and make yet more enemies. iraq's people (and people groups) have been around for thousands of years. who are we to try to throw a quick fix in to "help" out this country? good grief.

but on a lighter note, last night we had lasagna for dinner (parent's house) and as we waited for the garlic bread to get done, we forgot about the garlic bread. and then we had garlic bread en FLAMBE. yeah, i finally got to use the fire extinguisher that had been sitting in the hall closet for years. and we MOURNED our black garlic bread. and our smoke filled kitchen. and our smelly upstairs. (but mostly we mourned our lack of tasty garlic bread.) but as a consolation prize, my dad took us out for ice cream at oberweis. that was good.

i am so freaking tired of the whole iraq thing

2007-09-10T10:41:00.000-05:00

okay. i maybe like the new little slogan..."general petraeus or general 'betray us.'"

i guess this depends on whether or not he is HONEST or instead is another one of our dear little president's puppets--who will say whatever bush tells him to. but first of all, has he even had enuf time to take things in? does he know enuf about the war to give such recommendations?

i just wonder (once again, SIGH) how we could be so dumb. i mean, come ON. we just had the whole balkan conflict in the early-mid-late 1990's. why can we not learn from the past? before we go to war, unsmart presidents should have to take a few high school classes on history, foreign policy, europe, and specifically, european history. for example: yugoslavia has always had three people-groups residing within its borders. muslim, croat (catholic), and serb orthodox. okay. so why do we thing throwing a democracy together will be so easy? it doesn't work for everyone! they had a tri-presidency for the longest time and who really knows how their government is working now. nevermind the mafia and all the corrupt officials who took/are taking the donations made by so many countries and individuals.

if we had done any research into the country of iraq, we would KNOW there are also three people groups. yeah, maybe all MUSLIM, but still so very different. there are the shiites, sunnis, and the kurds. how can we expect one president to unite what was only united before in a dictatorship? that's the only way it COULD operate as one country before! and saddam obviously sucked as a leader, to put it nicely. you can't just go and kill off major people groups. that's ethnic cleansing. bad choice.

does anyone see a similarity? we are STILL occupying bosnia--even if only in tuzla today--but still, AMERICANS ARE THERE. nato is to some degree still there. the EUFOR is THERE. there are "occupiers" in that country. maybe not as visible, but still existing. i believe we went into iraq with the intention of being known as the "LIBERATORS." woohoo! liberators! people that give freedom! yessssssss! but we were never seen as liberators and never will be. we have made too many mistakes. we are definitely "OCCUPIERS." and there are no good connotations with such a title.

i firmly believe if anyone had a brain, they would have advised our non-smart president to not rush into such a war and to take a few high school classes and get a bit of a background knowledge first. not try to finish what daddy-dearest couldn't do in an earlier presidency. there are high schools not far away from the d.c. schools if bush really wanted to get a high school education out of the inner-city. may i recommend, falls church, virginia? i have friends from college who went to those schools growing up and were able to get a great education.

maybe it would be silly to send an "educated" president to high school, but i'm afraid there are high schoolers in our country who could do a better job than our current and unfortunate president. at least they could make more informed decisions.

but don't get me wrong, i do pray for bush as the Lord brings him to mind. i always roll my eyes first and tell God i still don't understand how this could have been allowed to happen, but i do pray that he would make good decisions as often as possible and would LISTEN TO WELL-INFORMED ADVISORS. that's all that can be done at this point. i'm just really not a fan of having a lame duck lead our country. a canadian goose may be a better choice. but God allows things to happen for a reason. and again, i'll just have to trust Him on this one. and i pray that His will is done.

i went AWOL for labor day weekend...

2007-09-04T21:55:00.000-05:00

but i'm back now! where i went there was no easy access to the internet. but i took a bunch of pics. here are a few now. for labor day weekend i went to canada, hung out in the U.P. of michigan at cedar campus, and went to mackinac island for a day. it was good. parts of it were sad but i am super-very-entirely glad i went. it will make what is bad not so bad later. i can get used to the idea, maybe.

but in the meantime, i'm writing a huge letter of disappointment and regret to madison--intervarsity christian fellowship's mothership. i'm incredibly surprised at IV's poor decision-making skills. one person in particular. they're (she's) gonna tear the camp apart. and in the meantime...who is gonna take care of the place? good grief. if cedar can take this blow and still be in existence 3 or 4 years from now, great. but i'll be surprised. but i'm also afraid for the staff that remain. they work so hard as it is. are they gonna be able to pick up the slack for the at least FOUR staff who are now gone? stupid stupid stupid. i am no longer a fan of IVCF. not at all. and about donations? FORGET IT. if i am able to donate, it'll be directly to my friends who remain up there. I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH INTERVARSITY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP. their fellowSHIP is sinking.

rove's ride trashed...

2007-08-29T18:54:00.001-05:00

sweet. at least someone has a sense of humour in washington. and at least the secret service/security around the white house decided for once what is really important. only thing that would be funnier is if a security camera would've caught a lame duck being the one doing the decorating.

and as for this senator craig guy...what the heck? that's gross. i mean, he's that desperate for what, anal sex? ugh. and in a public restroom? double ugh. especially as a hard core republican AND considering that he pleaded guilty--he DEFINITELY needs to be replaced. no question about it. i think he'll suffer embarrassment for a long time, tho, considering what craziness is on youtube, the news, late night shows, letterman & leno, etc. good grief. i almost feel sorry for the guy. but not really. i'm sure he's not sorry it happened, but for as much as what most are apologitic for, he's sorry he got caught.

EMBARRASSED TO BE AN AMERICAN! (yet again)

2007-08-26T23:20:00.000-05:00

check out this website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6964564.stm

in short, here's what's up. we've been in afghanistan for six years now and STILL haven't a clue about the culture/religion of muslims. how are we gonna reach them if we continue to be STOOPID? our beloved american soldiers dropped a bunch of soccer balls (mostly for the children) out of helicopters in the khost province of afghanistan. the soccer balls had flags all over them.

unfortunately for us, we included the saudi arabian flag which is a bit more sacred than the rest. saudi arabia's flag includes the "shahada" which is one of the 5 pillars of islam--it's actually their declaration of faith. in the exact words, the word "allah" is included. since allah's name is on it and these words are super sacred, it is totally offensive to muslims who are very sensitive about how and where they're used--to have people kick around the equivalent to the koran. what the heck.

WHY ARE AMERICANS SO IGNORANT? i know people make mistakes. but how much longer are we going to continue to offend the world around us--especially when we are a country who is trying desperately (AND FAILING MISERABLY) to play GOD.

let me further mention that none of this was in any of american's news stuff. i found it on the bbc. the britich broadcasting company. why? because it's a total embarrassment of both political parties? we can't point the finger at one and blame them? yeah. it's all of us. but while i'm on the subject, united we stand, divided we fall. we are a country more divided than EVER before. it's all republican or democrat. I AM PROUD TO SAY THAT I'M NEITHER. neither neither neither.

let me go throw up now.

the cream of the crop of our country...

2007-08-25T01:05:00.000-05:00

astronauts. yeah, they're supposedly the best and the brightest.

she wants her ankle bracelet off BUT WILL SIT IN HER OWN PEE BY CHOICE? (my, how uncomfortable, miss double standard!)

she's not really a flight risk? SHE'S A FREAKING ASTRONAUT!

makes me think it's not so much what you know but who you know. anyone could become an astronaut. especially if all they are saying about them is true. recently, the truth has come out about their trips away from our little round watery planet and how they "prepare" for those trips. i know this does not apply to all, but it sure does make the good ones look like CRAP!!!

nice job, lisa novak. think before you act next time, you psycho! and every fifteen hours, you dang well better change that battery. cuz your GPS ankle monitor had BETTER not come off.

our poor widdle twees

2007-08-25T00:27:00.001-05:00

all around us, the weather reports from last night's insane weather cited wind speeds of between 70-84mph. and i can attest to that because i was crazy enuf (or stupid enuf) to climb up to the roof of the building i work at which is a huge building that is at the highest point in porter county. man, i could have blown right off if i had wanted to. oh yeah, then there was lightning too. AHA! so i decided toasted pop tart becky was not a good idea so i came right back down again.

anyway, our somewhat little trees in our newly landscaped parking lot fell over. so since we didn't have power all day today, we fixed our little trees and did landscaping stuff this morning. it's hard to work in a building with no windows! i ran over to our church to pee (the property next to us) but they had no power either. i walked around and said hi to everyone and saw bob had no problem working in HIS office. yeah, he has two windows and when i stopped by, he had a precious hour left on his laptop. greg carter was cleaning out his files; he has a window too.

anyway, it was an interesting-ish day. and then we were on the roof again today: 1. to see why water is coming in near or through our a/c and heating units, and 2. to hang out cuz there was nothing else to do.

so this was my day. and i know we got power back today somewhere between 7-10pm. cuz the voicemail at the building is answering our fones again.

spiritual warfare in chicago's inner-city

2007-08-24T23:46:00.001-05:00

i don't really care to share much about this till i can post the pics that go with it. tune in a little later.

sigh, my girls are old and in college

2007-08-22T22:01:00.001-05:00

yesterday me and kylie went up to visit christin at albion college in michigan.(and i DO NOT have to be grammatically correct ANYMORE. i am not a teacher. ANYMORE.)

i can't believe four years have gone by. i WILL say however, that it will be a refreshing thing for the profs to have freshmen in class that have perfectly capable, well-used, ready-for-a-challenge brains for a change. i have heard from my dad how new college students are getting worse and WORSE. this too says a lot about or diminishing society. but thankfully, my girls are very pro-active about lots of stuff. including bettering themselves, making the world a better place for everyone, and making the most of their education. woohoo and congratulations!

the pic is of me, kylie and christin in front of christin's dorm.

stupid ESPN guy

2007-08-21T23:01:00.000-05:00

the show was on tonight, tuesday, august 21, 2007. anderson cooper's show on CNN.

okay. for real. michael vick done wrong. yessur. but first of all, why is hurting dogs all of a sudden more important (and seemingly worse) than all these pro athletes who physically abuse their wives/girlfriends? are they really too dumb to talk things out and be logical about their issues? oh yeah...guess you gotta have a BRAIN to be logical. but to the person with the argument that a woman can leave the situation and a dog has no choice, GROW A FREAKING BRAIN. maybe you need a petri dish to help the process. especially since most of you actually are starting unfortunately with microorganisms. let me know; i have connections. but number one: no, a woman is NOT always able to leave a troubled relationship. not with her life, anyway. and number two: the woman is still the victim. these dumb jocks with hot tempers. WHAT ever.

and to the ESPN idiot who was on my boyfriend's show on CNN tonight, (anderson cooper--what a hottie) you are shamefully stupid. there is no hypocrisy. NONE. zero. these pro athletes get paid a gazillion dollars to throw a ball, hit a ball with a stick, OR throw a ball AND hit a ball with a stick. did i confuse you? unfortunately too many little kids in our country hold these dumb jocks in high esteem and YES, THEY ARE TO BE HELD TO A HIGHER STANDARD. and yes, michael vick is to be made an example of. (i believe you called him the "poster boy" for dogfighting.) okay, YES. michael vick sucks and ANYONE should serve some sort of a jail term for hurting defenseless animals and doing all the crap vick did to them. and SINCE michael vick is a large profile person, he needs the royal discipline--whatever that may be. so yeah, all the athletes that you "cover" and "interview" (which is another story in and of itself) are to be held to a much higher standard.

i would like to have thought higher of ESPN but i suppose you're not too much smarter than the athletes you interview. maybe getting a subject and verb to agree in your sentences is difficult. and heaven knows you'll never be able to enunciate. and TO ALL THE PRO ATHLETES IN THE WORLD: please stop uttering "know what i'm sayin" because i (thankfully) don't relate to you at all. learn to articulate. if you're not sure what "articulate" means, look it up. it's under "A" which in case that doens't help...is in the FRONT of the dictionary. and oh yeah, a dictionary is a BOOK. you might be able to find one in a library--oh forget it.

i truly feel sorry for you. it probably has something to do with your microorganism of a brain.

wedding @ aberdeen

2007-08-18T22:49:00.000-05:00

so my friends chris & ellison got married last night and will be cruising in the northern pacific between seattle and alaska soon. man, does that sound like a TON of fun! so these two pics are of me and cindy, (old friend i haven't seen in FOREVER) and here's a pic of ellison and her dad mike.

here's a pic from the entry before

2007-08-16T15:34:00.000-05:00

but bigger and funner news is that we had a tornado last night! woohoo! i actually didn't get to see it or anything but it was in our county--just south of valpo. we were totally on the weather channel and all! but unfortunately, they kept repeating that "portage county" needed to run away and hide rather than "porTER county." oh well. we knew what they meant.

here's the tire tracks that IDIOT semi left after slamming into the little old man's car that i helped earlier this week. freaking unbelievable.

what's wrong with people anymore?

2007-08-13T16:56:00.000-05:00

so there was a little mishap on northbound IN 49.

on my way to work this morning there was a bit of a jam northbound at the stoplight at 500. when i finally inched up there, i saw a little old man trying to push his car out of traffic. his car had obviously overhetad and smoke was pouring out from under his hood. ALL KINDS OF TRAFFIC just drove around him--a little old man clearly in need of assistance.

so all pissed off, i pulled over, threw my car into park, and ran out to help him amidst the traffic on the highway. everyone just continued to drive around us and our efforts to remove the car from the road. (what the heck? do i live in a crappy place where everyone is so self-absorbed they can't help out a fellow human being that is in trouble?)

that aside, i let the man (his name is dale) use my cell fone to call ahead to the caravan that he was traveling with to let them know he didn't make it through the light. they agreed to circle back. since i knew he got a hold of his wife and son-in-law, i asked the man if there was anyone else he needed to call or anything. i also asked if he wanted me to stick around until they got there. he said he was ok and felt fine knowing they were on their way.

i stuck around for a few minutes but felt comfortable leaving him, knowing that he had reached his wife. i wished a good day upon him and headed back on the beaten path to work.

in my office a bit later, i heard my cell fone ringing. i don't usually get a signal in my office so i didn't even bother to answer. when i left for lunch, (jimmy johns...woohoo!) i checked my messages as i drove.

dale's wife was that one whose number i did not recognize. she had called twice and left a message once. here was her message: "i just wanted to thank you so much for helping my husband get his car off to the shoulder and to let him use your cell phone. i'm also thankful you didn't stay any longer than you did to help him. please call me when you get this message."

i was seriously like, WHAT THE HECK??? so i called her back immediately and asked if everything was ok. she explained to me that just as soon as i had left, they pulled up. instantaneously as her husband and son-in-law popped the hood to see what was wrong, a semi that wasn't able to stop at the light (for whatever reason) came barreling into them and ran them both over. the little old man (dale) was released from the hospital around 1 or 2 p.m. but his son-in-law didn't fare so well.

please pray for their family. and luckily, i didn't stick around cuz i could've been a pancake myself as well today.

but just a thought...what the h-e-double-hockey-stix is wrong with people today? i've not ever been so mad in a VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY long time. (thankfully, this is a righteous anger.) i'd love to go through life not being so cynical but unfortunately, more and more i'm seeing the worst of my fellow humans. good grief.

WHO ME?

2007-08-09T22:45:00.001-05:00

yeah, YOU. i know you were just trying to help...but did you really want the big red fire trucks to show up?

so brynn was trying to help mommy cook dinner tonight without mommy knowing. somehow, deb had turned on the broiler for a pizza for dinner and in a split second, brynn cooked a plastic hamburger bun, potato chip, and cell phone. i understand her cooking food but the cell phone? anyway, there's soot and ash everywhere on the main level of their house. in my opinion, the basement is FINE but i'm not sure about the upstairs. so the fire department came and put a huge fan at the door to suck out all the bad black smoke. the fire had already been put out by the time they got there. (and the really bad black smoke was from the cell fone battery, most likely.) a neighbor person, grandpa-type-person, ran in and supposedly extinguished the fire in the broiler/oven but the house was full of black smoke.

so thanx to the fire dept for the big fan. and thanx to the grandpa-person for helping out. and thanx to brynn for a fun evening.

barry bonds is the most well known CHEAT ever

2007-08-04T22:11:00.000-05:00

sick to death of him. and all the media hype. thankfully the BREAKING news i've heard is mostly from sportscasters bashing him. he knew what he was doing. he knows he was being illegal. what a sham.

in OTHER news, i'm dogsitting again. i'll actually not sleep in my own bed for about a month. the sad and pathetic thing about that is that i'm not on vacation or anything. i'm still in northwest indiana. ish. (except for the one night we stayed at my friend's lake house in michigan.) and unfortunately, this one dog is pretty gassy tonite. even worse is that it thinks it likes me so it hasn't left my side since i came in tonight. i need a gas mask.

ZOOB

2007-07-29T00:07:00.001-05:00

it's been a year now! we were on our way back to the states from china this time last year. and with one more person! it's been cool to see the kids one year later. we're in noblesville for the one-year reunion with our travel group. pretty interesting. some of these kiddos can talk, some definitely cannot. anyhow, here's brynn...one year later. her birthday is on monday...she'll be TWO! she's pretty silly. understands pretty much all of what you say but can't say much yet herself. i don't suppose it helps that i make up random words all the time either. the word of the day today was "ZOOB." and of course i try to get her to pronounce these words. and the poor kid, she always tries.

this is her in her carseat; pic was taken today. er...rather...saturday.

anyone heard of dierks bentley?

2007-07-23T13:35:00.001-05:00

apparently he's quite popular with country music fans. he definitely is hot...i'm just not a fan of that music. btw...how many country western singers does it take to change a light bulb?

FIVE. it takes one to actually change and replace it, and four to sing about how much they miss the old one.

my new friends are so cute!

2007-07-23T12:27:00.000-05:00

aren't my new bffs so cute? brings new meaning to bart simpson's "eat my shorts!"

no picture yet...

2007-07-22T21:38:00.000-05:00

i'm too tired to go in search of my camera with the pics from tonight...it probably ran off with my cell phone. but my cell is actually MIA and has been for a few days now. my mom and my employer person think i lost it on purpose cuz i hated that fone. anyway, i've already ordered a new one but won't get it till wednesday, so i'm told. thankfully, everything's backed up online. (seeing as how i have more than 400 contacts in my fone.)

anyway, i made best friends tonight with a 3-week-old jersey calf. he is soooooooooooo cute. and nibbly. when i got home a good third of my shirt was soaking wet. he licked my arm and sucked on my fingers. it is a good idea for 3-week-old calves to have a salt-lick? i dunno but i'm sure i provided that service tonight. man, i could take him home. i've got pics, but like i said, they're still in my camera. which is who-knows-where.

oh yeah, and i met some country singer named "dierks bentley." i had never heard of him before tonight but got a pic with him anyway cuz my friend went NUTS over him. he's in concert tonight at the good ol' porter county fair. and seeing as how he wanted to go hang out for a few minutes in between some parked trucks in the parking lot of the fair, it was obvious he was trying to keep a low profile. (he was sneaking around with a hat and sunglasses on too.) after a large herd of girls/women saw him, they drew a crowd and started heading over towards us in the parking lot. he saw them, greeted them kindly, said goodbye to us, and made a mad dash back to his "safe area" which was between his tour buses. so i guess i somehow am a lucky person! but he WAS totally hot. i'll say that for him. too bad i don't like country music.

the good ol' county fair

2007-07-21T21:48:00.001-05:00

anyway, instead of working at the courts, i'm trying to PROMOTE the courts at our county fair. woo hoo. not woohoo, but WOO hoo. not super fun is what i'm trying to say. i think it's good for us though. but man, i've never seen so many mullets since the eighties! besides that, we've got more rednecks around here than i last remembered. but then again, they do always come out for things like this. all i can say right now is...the poor, poor offspring of people such as these. (and unfortunately, there are a lot.)

it's been awhile

2007-07-10T01:19:00.000-05:00

i posted a comment on a friend's blog and found myself signing in to my own. i don't have a ton to write about or even mention. it's my first summer working. i don't teach anymore. and this is the ONLY thing i miss about teaching. stuff is ok but i miss traveling. i miss my freedom in the summer. saturday i had an enjoyable day, tho. i went to play wii at a friend's house, we swam and floated in the pool, had dinner, and then i went out with another friend on his boat to watch the fireworks.

sigh.

i miss the great white north too. anyhow i guess it would be the great brown north. the midwest has had a serious lack of rain. but i usually get to cedar during the summer. couple times. i still had fun on memorial day weekend when i forced myself up north even though i felt crappy. sore throat, etc. but i still had a good time. went sailing and slept a lot. both were muchly needed. i miss my friends up there and the water. miss the boats. miss sailing. and the trees and the lack of people. but again, that was basically my last post.

the pic is of a friend's dog. he lives on a farm. in ohio.

SAW MY FIRST MOOSE!!!

2007-06-01T23:30:00.000-05:00

unless it was an elk. i was going southbound at about 85 and these two huge horse-type things were going north about probably about 20. enormous. i had just crossed the bridge (the mackinac bridge) and was on my way home from spending some time with my friends in the U.P. we slept and sailed. it was a good time. but it got chily when the sun wasn't around. i also bought a new game called "snorta." it's quite a fun game. anyone wanna play?

fun times, happy wedding

2007-05-20T11:28:00.000-05:00

kim carter got married last night. it was pretty classy. bridesmaids wore black and the bouquets were red roses. kim and sean faced us as an audience rather than have their backs to us. there was a really cool video shown at the beginning of the wedding. anyhow, it was fun and i have fun pics to post. and yeah, i'm wearing a dress. the reception was at sand creek and was quite fun as well. i had a great table of people to sit with and we danced and took lotsa great pics.

and again, SORRY i've been away for so long if anyone even looks at this anymore. i have been so busy at work and stuff!

sheryl crow vs. karl rove

2007-04-23T10:17:00.000-05:00

you go, sheryl! i love how she got karl's goat. furthermore, it shows how badly the white house administration is in denial about our environment and global warming. honestly, sheryl has some very interesting ideas that i wouldn't necessarily agree with to help cut down on waste, but she did well to embarrass our unfortunate president's top advisor. she's right--just a little bit too extreme for me.

oooh wheeee!

VT

2007-04-21T12:33:00.000-05:00

virginia tech got a raw deal. blacksburg, VA did too. apparently the people cho meant to kill (some rich, whiny, spoiled kids) were not the ones he did away with. unfortunately, he was tossed aside by society and even though there were warnings from his professors to their administrators, and even to the police, nothing was done.

as a former teacher, i feel that i have every right to say that as a society we have failed him. if he acted strangely as a younger child and was bullied, his teachers and other adults in his life are at fault for not intervening. he moved to this country when he was 8 and apparently had a ruff time adjusting. too bad for us--esp. the families directly affected who had family members killed earlier this week--not enuf was done to help him. our country is great at standing by and watching children get bullied. "they'll grow out of being the smallest kid," they'll say, or "someday he'll really fight back."

so although cho is completely guilty and WRONG to do what he did, he is not completely at fault. we can't hold him personally responsible either, because he is dead too. but when all these interviews on t.v. have all these people saying, "of course we'll learn a lot from this..." I DISAGREE. we don't learn from much. our society is ego driven--not many think of others first. if we continue down this path as a bunch of self-absorbed people, we won't learn anything at all.

we are a screwed up society.

oh yeah, COLBERT FOR PRESIDENT!!!

imus

2007-04-21T12:22:00.000-05:00

i'll have fun pics someday--from when i was in amish country last weekend. i've just been busy 24/7 since i've been back.

this whole imus thing, however, is something i feel i finally need to speak about. first of all, what he said was pretty low. he must have been thinking it but accidentally said it out loud. shame on him for even thinking that. however, what happened to free speech? if imus has been on the radio for ~30 years as a SHOCK JOCK, why is everyone surprised he actually said something like this? now all dj's are gonna put a cap on everything they may want to say for fear of getting in trouble. i've heard that his firing was a mistake--only because cbs acted too swiftly. you wanna know why? cuz of those dang people named "REVEREND" al sharpton and "REVEREND" jesse jackson freaking out on the poor network. (as for al sharpton--i question ANY person who was ordained at age TEN. what the heck is that?????) and jesse jackson is just a punk. he's a MLK wannabe. but far from the real thing. what the heck is "rainbow push," anyway? at first glance it sounds like a gay/lesbian rights group. all we need are these two "men" thinking they're God's gift to our current society and trying to tell people that certain others owe them something.

i'm getting tired of AL and JESSE.

and what about the hypocrisy? the double standard? check out some of the hiphop/rap lyrics of today's "artists." you might be surprised at the profanity and degrading of women.

heading to amish country

2007-04-09T00:06:00.000-05:00

i'm leaving on friday to go to middlebury, indiana for a thing. unfortunately the weather is supposed to be lousy. so i'm considering getting a nintendo wii so we can at least have SOME fun. i was hoping to play outside and maybe even get a new bike for my birthday to ride around on. however, since the weather is supposed to be crap and i had been contemplating a wii anyway, i might just go with that. i'll let ya know.

extreme, nearly CRIMINAL incompetence

2007-03-06T16:37:00.000-06:00

libby got caught. dick cheney now has a huge cloud over his own head. and our dear president who has been seen "praying" in public and speaking outwardly about being a follower of God looks even worse. how can this administration claim to be "faith-based?"

EVERYTHING in this administration's wake helps the public to see clearly that our "leaders" are unable to lead. and most everything is based around LIES. all i have to say is this: if "W" decides to go ahead and pardon libby in about a year-and-a-half, his term in office has been nothing but a joke. that will just seal it. nobody's held accountable. and what's worse: christians get yet another bad rap because of his complete and undeniable hypocrisy. i believe he's doing more harm than he could ever imagine. once you start (START?) thinking you're above the law and have to answer to no one, you're screwed.

big red truck

2007-03-05T09:42:00.000-06:00

went to crown point last nite with tony & deb to try to move a stage set for a play my roommate is putting on at our church in august. we had wanted to store the set in the barn at church but apparently it needs a bit of housekeeping first. so we got this guy rick to let us borrow some of his barn in hebron.

we were told 3 pickup-trucks would do the trick. i showed up with mark's truck and deb & tony showed up with theirs. okay. so that's TWO pickup trucks. once we got there at 6pm, we were immediately told to not return till 7:30. once we did, it was laughable. there was no way EIGHT pickup trucks would haul all this stuff.

so thankfully rick is a very cool guy and was willing to drag out his semi and flatbed out on a sunday night to haul all this stuff to his barn. AND we got lucky. he said the stuff can just stay on the flatbed till about may. then hopefully we can store it in the church barn till august.

whew. thanks to deb & tony & rick.

leaving...on a jet plane

2007-03-01T00:58:00.000-06:00

i'm back. back in freezinger indiana. (freezinger than san diego, anyway.) according to the weather channel it's freezing raining right now. that must be what's banging against my window. hmm. the bright lights and loud sounds must be thunder and lightning already! they said tomorrow we're supposed to have "strong" thunderstorms. sigh. i love violent weather but i'm still sad about freezing and drippy san diego. and no sailing too. snif. oh well.

left today from the san diego airport around one-ish p.m. it was chilly again today. i'm not sure why but i wanted to sit by the window on the plane. glad i did. took some mighty cool pics...the only way they'd be better is if there were less/no clouds. there's point loma, the north part of the island (with the naval base), and facing east off the coast of coronado island. you can even see where we stayed. see? i'm pointing to it. see? see?

okay. back to work tomorrow. back to the old grind. my mom and pop are leaving for africa on friday. wow. bizzy bizzy bizzy.

last day

2007-02-27T23:50:00.000-06:00

weather is awful. it's been ridiculous. i couldn't even go sailing today on my AMERICA'S CUP boat due to excessive wind. something crazy like 24 knots. the coast guard was going nuts and didn't want anyone to go out. BUMMER. as i got to the dock--mind you it was cold and rainy anyway and i was soaked by the time i got there--this guy chad told me about the wind issues and told me to call his cell around one to see what may be going on later today. nothing happened. the wind was too insane. they did take out the "abracadabra" which is the america's cup boat painted by WYLAND. dolphins all over the sides of it. but it was for the OLN channel/network because they were doing a documentary for the upcoming america's cup. i sadly SADLY watched it go. i was supposed to go out on the "stars & stripes" but i wached this dude chad put on this MASSIVE sail cover and walked back to seaport village where i had parked my car. he had told me to come down and hang out on the dock for as long as i wanted though, so that was cool.

i moved up my appt. at the salon (called "roses") and went and got a new foil. here are two pics. like it? after that i showed my mom around the del and we hung out a bit. but there was no awesome sailing for me today. very sad. i might get over it. maybe with lots of therapy.

we're coming home tomorrow. it's been freezing here and rainy. QUITE windy as well. too windy. what luck.

sunny & a little warmer

2007-02-27T00:42:00.000-06:00

hung out poolside today. worked on my book. did a little shopping. going sailing tomorrow.

glorietta bay inn

2007-02-25T23:51:00.000-06:00

like i said, i'm staying at the glorietta bay inn--which as you can see above--is right across the street from hotel del coronado. i went to the beach today. brought a little picnic lunch. a hummus bagel sandwich with tomato, cucmber, lettuce, and onion. i almost had to wrestle down two seagulls in order to eat it. dumb birds. anyway, the wind was quite strong so i didn't spend too much more time there. the weather here is the biggest bummer ever. at least the wind might help for sailing on tuesday.

i wanna meerkat

2007-02-25T18:34:00.000-06:00

after a while of being on the fone with some guy in st. louis and a guy here at this hotel, i'm finally online. these rooms don't have wireless and the ethernet connection was screwed up. the guy here in ca had to go to the basement of the hotel to fix it. i don't care how he did it but he did. crazy all the stuff i had to go through this afternoon. the fone stopped working too. (i called the 24/7 tech support guy in st. louis on my cell fone while i waited for the dude here to reset stuff and get new cables. what the heck?) anyway, we're at the Glorietta Bay Inn. it's on coronado island right across from hotel del. tell ya more about that later.

me and mom went to the san diego zoo yesterday. we had lunch at albert's--which we had trouble finding. but it was worth it. i had baked chicken with rosemary and lemon with mashed potatoes and grilled veggies. mom had a crabcake thing with fries. (we switched veggies & fries.)

the polar bear was my favorite because he was so cute. (or she?) anyway, all it did was eat carrots and sweet potatoes. it liked its audience too. you could tell.

we saw the elephants and giraffes have lunch too. the meerkats were my second favorite. i want one. hope you liked the pics!

ford stinks

2007-02-23T13:19:00.000-06:00

literally. i'm not sure what they masked the odor with for four days but yesterday our little ford fusion was FOUL. smelled like something crawled up in there and died. i bought some febreeze this morning and sprayed down the car completely but that didn't help much. so after i dropped my mom off at the conference, i showered, packed the car, and checked out. i headed west on el cajon blvd. where i knew i saw an enterprise earlier. the lady directed me all the way back to the airport locaiton where i ran into a dude named judd who apologized and switched me into a jeep liberty. yeah, a little upgrade at no extra charge. better not be an extra charge! they're handing out funky fords! P.U. anyway, i'm waiting for my mom to call to let me know she needs to be picked up. she prolly won't know it's me in a different car. she'll figure it out. anyway, since there's still a chance of showers today, we're shopping at fashion valley mall. (where there's a nordstrom, saks, etc.) no jcpenney or sears. ew. tomorrow we're planning on heading for the zoo.

something else...out here they have to give FOUR seperate forecasts for the san diego area! there's a coastal forecast, inland, mountain, and desert. after watching the mountain forecast i feel like i'm back at home. rats. anyway, it's supposed to be mid-60's and sunny for the next ~3 days. later!

got rained out

2007-02-22T19:18:00.000-06:00

went to old town today but only stayed till about lunch. started sprinkling just enuf that you don't wanna be out in it. here are a few pics. oh yeah-and 2 years ago when i was here with 3 of my friends, we went to the old town surf shop. i went again today. got reefs. later.

brrrr in san diego which is NOT sunny

2007-02-22T12:03:00.000-06:00

i'm in san diego with my mom who has two conferences to go to. anyway, she's at one right now and i don't need to pick her up till about 5pm tonite for dinner. anyway, when we got here it was POURING like i haven't seen in a long time. san diego had a major cold front come thru on monday. well guess what. it's cloudy out right now and they're slated to have a DILLY come in later today. even with thunderstorms. they're talking on the news about the flood control problems and how they're likely to get several FEET of snow in the mountains. ANOTHER cold front. can i just say that after leaving valpo which was at about 5 degrees upon departure that we're in not-so-sunny san diego at 55 degrees? it TOTALLY sucks. i just got off mapquest cuz i was trying to get directions to old town from here. i'm a bit northeast of old town. i guess i'll go hang out there till the weather gets really crappy. i guess i'll go back to the hotel then. everything i wanna do is outside!!! i gotta say, i brought 2 hoodies and a fleece jacket cuz i knew it was supposed to be cold. but good grief! i've gotten both of my hoodies dirty AND my fleece! one of my hoodies got soaked in the first rainstorm and once it couldn't take in any more water, (and i was more than wet) i took it off and tied to my suitcase during the whole "looking for a rental car" thing. now i'm looking for a new and clean hoodie. (what's new?)

anyway, just thought i'd say hello from not sunny san diego.

brrrrr!

wagon wheel ranch

2007-02-21T21:14:00.000-06:00

finally have the internet. we're on the north side of san diego sort of. very close to san diego state university. anyway, i got to hold puppies! too bad they're still too little to play. just under 2 weeks old. this place we stayed at--my mom's friend of 40+ years (who also sorta got me my first teaching job in chicago) is called "wagon wheel ranch." it is in perris, california. it was a lookout in the spanish-american war and was used as a telegraph office after that. it has a tower and everything!

bleah

2007-02-17T22:55:00.000-06:00

sicker than a sick pup. fever is around 102 when i don't remember to take my advil in regular increments. or if i finally fall asleep and can rest--but again--don't take the advil. my THROAT is KILLING me. my ears are not my friends either. i have whatever this is because i was being a punk. my boss' kid was playing on my computer one day and left her nestle crunch bar sitting next to my keyboard. i knew she had been out of school sick and she had even lost her voice--for nearly a week. but i wasn't thinking of that when i tried to be a smart aleck took a bite of it. (and made fun of her for not being more protective of her chocolate. usually she's insanely protective of the cocoa bean and food that it provides...)

anyway, i think i'll survive. my dad picked up some theraflu yesterday and fox brought me some orange joos today. tris came by tonight with some of those cepacol throat lozenges. anyway, i have got to get better before monday. (when me and mom head out to san diego for her conferences. problem is that for the first two days we're staying with some of our old friends from our chicago days who are a bit elderly. they CANNOT get sick with this.) not only that, but i'm missing the high school retreat that i'm supposed to be on RIGHT NOW. my kids are seniors this year and it's their last retreat! ugh. but with my head throbbing as it has been, i would be of no use there. prolly couldn't even sleep cuz of all the noise, too. i guess it's better i stayed home. but it was not NOT the plan. ish. today i'm feeling well enuf to watch a little t.v. and check my email. (my laptop had a full charge so it's here in bed with me.) my floor is a littered mess of dirty kleenexes and empty water and gatorade bottles.

my old teachers!!!

2007-02-11T20:42:00.000-06:00

tonite at the courts we had a dodgeball tournament to benefit PATH. it was a fun charity dodgeball thing and the whole town came out. it was GREAT. tons of people--including my 3rd grade math teacher mrs. wolf! she was the coolest. and my 7th grade p.e. teacher was there too. (her identical twin sister is the PATH director.) here are pics of me and my old teachers. it was SOOOOOOO good to see them! oh yeah...and in a blog yet to come...i will be in southern california in about ONE WEEK from right now. WITH TWENTY 2-week-old puppies! long story, check upcoming posts for more. puppies are my favorite.

astronut

2007-02-11T20:35:00.000-06:00

yeah, i spelled it like that on purpose. astronauts are just people. so are senators. and presidents. and nuclear physicists. JUST people. and they're all gonna screw up too. there is no longer a higher standard for astronauts. or senators. or nuclear physicists. or ESPECIALLY presidents.