my uncle al

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

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

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

lots of blog ideas, no time to blog

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?

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...

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

fun before i head north

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...

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

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

superslowreflexes

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

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!

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

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?

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

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

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...

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

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

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 $$$

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!!!!!!!