Is it just me?

Something hit me the other day and it kind of made me sad...

This whole parent thing has turned my world upside down. More so than I expected. But one thing I didn't expect would be that my social life would plummet to a near-zero level.

I mean, I expected the first few weeks to not go hang with folks, but he is 6 weeks old now and still a part of me just wants to stick close to home base.

I mean, after the Sips had Noah (If I remember correctly) they were happy to have us over to their home! I keep thinking in my mind all the peoples homes I want to go to and take Tyler along, or to invite people over, but when Friday or Saturday come, and I see that dishes need washing, clothes need washing, the house is a wreck, and not to mention the baby needs feeding in a few hours, I give up the thought, slip into my pajama pants, and roll up my sleeves (Assuming I am wearing a shirt) to get to work. And if we get to eat our meal along the way, that's just a plus.

Believe me Sip, we want to come to yalls home. We want to go to several folk's home and we want to have people over. But when does the fear of leaving home base end? Am I a freak for feeling this way? I mean, I have never been Mr. Socialite, but I do like to hang with my closest friends from time to time and it frankly feels like ages since I have done so!

Four Days

Four days from this moment I will be flying over some part of Canada heading north and west. We leave Tulsa in the wee hours of the morning to Chicago. From there it is all the way to Shanghai. Twenty odd hours of travel, 14 from Chicago to Shanghai.

That's a long time no matter how you shake it. I've loaded my carry on with books and magazines. I've checked the airline for what movies will be showing. The iPod contains some 18,000 songs, several audio books, two movies and a television program. I'm going to carry some Tylenol PM with me so that I might sleep a few hours, and heavier prescription sleep medicine in case I decide to knock myself out.

We are mostly ready to go. The bags have been packed and repacked and repacked. We have a box of winter clothes to mail. And some reserve books in boxes in case we need to mail those. We have scanned a million articles and books to help Amy with her research. We have loaded every song we've ever heard on to the hard drives. We have chosen books and movies to take. We have had long debates over which clothes to pack, what toiletries we'll need, etc.

We already have an apartment there. Brian and Bethany took a gander at it and said it was ok, it even has an American toilet and a real bathtub. They have bought us a bed, couch, comfy chair, kitchen table and other things. We will stay in a hotel for a few days while all of this is moved in, but soon should be settled.

The school pays for the hotel, will reimburse us 80% of our flight and give us a grand to help settle in.

I'm nervous. Nervous as crap. And yet I am so ready to go and get it done. This waiting around is killing me. I know we will have a good time. I know it will be a meaningful experience. I have no idea what to expect.

I plan to create a new blog just for my daily ramblings about china. I'll keep my regular blog up for the pop culture explorations, and the occasional long form essay about life, but I figure it's better to have a separate one for the normal day-to-day activities.

Any suggestions on what cool, quirky, ironic name I should give this blog?

Of course I'll keep you guys up to date here as well, even if it is just a link over to my place.

Also I don't know when I'll get an internet connection over there, so I may be intermittent for awhile.

My night with Hydrocodone

A few months ago, I had an ingrown toenail removed. The surgeon did not give the medicine enough time to fully numb my toe so I was screaming in pain through most of the surgery.

As a result, the doctor felt sorry for me and gave me a perscription for Hydrocodone; a stong pain killer that blocks the pain feeling from the brain. It turned out that my toe healed nicely and I never used any of the pills. It was interesting that at the pharmacy, they asked for my social security number because of the highly addictive nature of the pill.

I have kept the pills, since you never know when you may really hurt yourself, but have never used them. I gave some to some friends suffering from neck and back pain that their chiropractor was not able to fix, but mostly they have sat unused.

Saturday night, i decided to take half of one. They are easy to break in half. My justification was that we had driven to Birmingham that afternoon for someones baby shower. The drivers seat in my wifes car kills my back after an hour of sitting in it. In addition, holding a baby can stress ones muscles out more than you would think. I took hald of one at about 10pm and laid down to sleep. Here are some things I noticed about it...

Dreams; I remember NONE of my dreams that night. This is HIGHLY unusual for me. That is no sign of deep sleep for me. In fact, I woke up often hearing the baby cry. And when I got out of bed to walk, I was not dizzy or confusded or 'drunk' like I get with a muscle relaxer.

Thirst; I would wake up with the DRIEST mouth I have ever had. I could have drank a gallon of water if it was near me. My skin also felt very dry.

Dizziness: I wasn't dizzy at all. Nor did I feel "drugged" throughout this period.

Numbness; The interesting thing is that my body did NOT feel numb and it did NOT feel relaxed. As I woke up to pee around 2 or 3 am, I tested its effectiveness. I have a fever blister in my mouth. Always hurts to touch it with my tounge since it formed a few days ago. I touched it with my tounge as I walked to the potty and an immediate 'numb' feeling took the place of the normal pain. When I stopped pressing the sore, the numb feeling went away. I tried to pinch myself with my long index fingernail that I had yet to cut off. No pain, just a quick numb feeling.

It was kind of scary. Got up, went to church, and in church, I tried a few pain tricks again and the numbing thing still happened. This went on till about 10 or 11am Sunday.

So for about 12 hours, half a hydrocodone kept me from feeling any pain. I mean, I KNEW I was hurting myself (relatively) but the pain wasn't there.

So in case you care to take any Hydrocodone for pleasure, I am here to tell you that it really isn;t that fun. And not as relaxing as a muscle relaxer is. Or even an anti-inflamatory for that matter. And no, I don't have any left to give you. All trashed.

We'll Never Get Out Of This Place

The furnace at our apartment has not worked properly since last November. Over the winter the heat worked sporadically. It would blow hot air for maybe thirty minutes and then the air would turn coolish - not really cold, but not enough to properly heat either. After a few hours we could turn the heat back on and it would be warm again.

As our winter was mostly mild, and the thirty minutes was enough to keep the house relatively warm, and I'm not afraid of a bit of cold weather I never complained about it.

As it turned warm, however, we have learned out AC does not work either. In the Spring when we first needed to use the coolness of the air conditioner, we found that the unit wasn't really producing cold air. It was more like a perpetual fan. At first I didn't complain about this, because it wouldn't really bother me so much until night, and by then the office was closed. Then the next day would wind up being cooler and everything was OK.

For awhile.

Eventually there were several warm days in a row and I complained. Nothing really happened, but it would again get cooler and I would let it passed. This series - warm weather hitting, me complaining, nothing being done, cool weather - reoccurred several times over a couple of months.

Then it got very warm, and I complained a lot. Then the stories began coming. The maintenance man would look at it, adjust something and think he had it fixed. The problem was he would come on days that weren't too terribly hot and feel the air coming trough the vent and decide it was cool air, when in fact it was more like fan air.

It would get warmer, I'd complain more, he'd come back and adjust something else. This went on for a few weeks. Then he needed to order a part, but our units are so old finding parts are difficult. There were a lot of things said, and I won't flat out call them lies but in the end a lot of things didn't happen like they said they would.

Eventually the mystery part came and our air did work.

For awhile.

And by work I mean there was cool air, but it was weird. If I set the temperature gage at something normal, say 70 degrees, when the actual temperature arrived near that temperature, the pipes would freeze.

The only way the unit would work is if we ran it down at 50 degrees. Sweet cold air flowed. And flowed. And flowed. We would wake up in the middle of the night and it would be like 54 degrees inside. I worked out a system where I would run it like that then turn off the unit. It wouldn't get warm again until late in the afternoon the following day at which time I would crank it back down again.

This lasted maybe a month. One day the air was only semi-cool. It would get the temperature to about 72 degrees but no lower. Then the next day it was back to fan air again.

I complained everyday for a week and finally the maintenance came out and recharged the unit. It was cool for a day and then went back to fan air.

That was three weeks ago. Everyday I have complained since then. Everyday they tell me they will get it fixed.

It is currently 80 degrees in my apartment. This is cool to me now, as usually at this time it is close to 90 degrees. It rained today though, so it is a little cooler.

A few side notes:

The maintenance man is not certified. He likes to tinker with the units, but is not really qualified to fix them. Until yesterday they had never thought to call a qualified, certified HVAC person. The maintenance man also likes to take his time. If he says he'll be by in the morning we're lucky to see him the next day. He is horrible at communications too. He comes in, piddles with the switches then leaves for long stretches. He never tells us what he's doing.

He also doesn't tell the staff what he is doing, as they never, ever know.

The staff is incompetent. There are at least half a dozen girls working in the office. They work 9 in the morning to 8 at night, but there shifts are strange and interchangeable. They don't communicate together. So when one day I tell one girl the problem she will swear it will get fixed. To prove it she writes it down on a little pad. But then the next day I come to complain it isn't fixed another girl is sitting there and has no idea what I am talking about.

On and on it goes. At this point since I have been complaining every single day for three weeks a couple of the girls know me, and one of them remembers my problems, but the other one knows who I am but not my problem.

They all look at me like I'm crazy when I complain that it is freaking hot in my apartment.

The manager is certifiable. I'd guess she was in her 40s but it is hard to tell. She is full of wrinkles and her skin is full of leather. She is one of those ladies who spent her formative years fake baking in a tanning booth so that now her skin looks terrible. She is also one of those ladies who doesn't understand this concept.

I have never seen her in anything then a very short skirt with a top that squishes her breasts together and pokes them out. Today, I kid you not, her skirt was maybe 2 inches from her butt cheeks, it was see through enough to reveal her under garmets and I saw more leathery cleavage than I would ever wish upon a man.

Yesterday, a poor girl who I have only seen once before got a bit of my wrath. I demanded a real HVAC guy and she had to call the maintenance man twice. Promises were made that a real one would be here tomorrow at 2 in the pm.

It is currently five and no one has showed. Half an hour ago I saw the manager who had no idea what I was talking about. She was however, very concerned about her dog. She pointed me in the direction of the maintenance guy who was working on his truck. I had to go talk to him by myself. He promised the AC guy would be here today because, and I quote "he gets paid today."

When I asked him if he could make sure this man would check on my unit he gave a very vague response and then made an inside joke to his partner.

We are moving to Oklahoma soon. Our furniture is already moved out, but Amy needs to do some things at the library so she'll have materials for her dissertation. I'm ready to burn the place down and forget about it all.

Sorry for the long rant, but I'm super pissed but am such a weenie that I can't really curse the apartment people out.

3 things I have learned from being an almost-father..

Being that my dear wife is having our child soon, I thought I would post some things I have learned about having a baby. Not about giving birth to a child, but 3 things I have learned from all the gifts we have received from the baby showers that our beautiful family and friends have thrown for us... Please know that nothing listed is a complaint, but amusing observations. Let me know if you too have found these to be true;

1. Everything requires batteries. And I am not talking about items you would classify as electronics. I am talking about virtually everything that doesn't fall under the category of "stuffed animal", though, many of them do. We got a pack and play and it came with this light that vibrates and plays music. We ended up trashing it. A bouncy-seat... batteries. Oh, and don't think that these battery compartments open as easily as the battery compartment on your TV remote. You actually need a screwdriver to open this thing to get batteries in. Oh, and batteries are NOT included... see ya when you get back from Radio Shack... for the 5th time this week...
   


2. Few, if any noise-making toys have on/off switches. If a toy or item plays "Old MacDonald Had A Farm"*, you can rest easy at night knowing that there will not be an on/off switch... much less a volume knob. What is ironic is that while so many items need batteries, the most annoying ones that play loud music require none! This has to be a joke. Not only can you not turn them down, not only can you not turn them off, but by golly, you can't even take the batteries out to shut it up!
   *"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "Camp town Races", and "Rock-a-bye Baby" can also be added to this list.
   


3. Toy manufacturers do not want your child playing with the toys they make. Stay with me here. No matter how soft, how safe, or how non-dangerous a toy may be, toy manufacturers will always attach them to the toy packaging tighter than a medieval heretic by Catholic clerics. You literally need scissors to get a teething ring of its cardboard backing. It is as if they just wanted to sell the item, not expecting it to ever be used.

By the way, the Computer Lady offered up some labor advice to me the other day. She was telling me the story of how Ms Elizabeth (Elizabeth Wright Smith for all those who went to Faulkner. A beautiful older lady who beat cancer naturally and has to be 90 but looks and acts 70) induced her first child...

"Ms. Elizabeth told me she wanted to have her baby a month early on her father's birthday so she got up that morning, drank an entire bottle of caster oil, scrubbed the kitchen floor on her hands and knees, took her gun and her dog to go hunting and promptly went into labor that night. So if you just buy Larissa some caster oil and possibly a hound dog, you could have a baby this weekend. "

P.R.

So I know this isn't a good post, and I would have emailed it to you guys, but I figured this blog is read by more than those I will email and alot of prayer is needed...

My brother lives in a house that has a chimney that is occupied by racoons. A cute story of these racoons is that a baby racoon fell and was in his fireplace. He is a gentle man so he kept the baby in a cage, hoping he could nurse it back to health. His neighbor had run the 'mama' racoon off into the woods. Days went by and this baby ate nothing and only stayed huddled in a corner. He was told by friends to let the baby go or it will die, but he was afraid an owl or some beast would take it and eat it.

So that eve, he releases the baby and the mama racoon appears out from behind a tree and the two run off together. She was waiting for her baby the whole time...

Well, the racoons came back. At some point when they left to find food, my brother decided to get on the roof and cover the chimey top... so as to avoid another falling of the 'coon.

Well, he fell off and broke many ribs and punctured his lung and is in ICU.

So please, say a prayer for him and the doctors and nurse staff.

Thanks, love you all.

Wierdest Day Of My Life

Of course when I want to bring a little life into the blog by posting some old posts, Chuck would post a new one and mine would push his down... NOT INTEDED MY FRIEND!

I had this idea to do some old posts that were really good. We have alot of new readers and figured that they'd like to share in the good stories we have all read in the past. I am now posting one of my favorite blogs from Di....

I've never had to call Mall security until yesterday. A manager in our other BBW store was "let go" on Friday.

I'm not really sure of the details of why, but let's just say she didn't take it well. She threw her keys at the co manager and proceeded to say things about the store manager that I wouldn’t wish on anybody. She also said a lot of words I've only heard used on Sex and the City. Of course, guess who gets to go clean up the mess.

Before Charlie and I left for our Wilmington trip on Friday, I got a call from my store manager asking if I'd help out. I said yes, because I was already scheduled to go down there and help in a few weeks when the store manager has her baby. I left early yesterday so I had a chance to go by my mall and get the keys to the other store and ask my boss questions about the store. She left me with a warning " ***** has not been taking her termination well. She has been very verbally abusive, she's come by the store a few times, and she has said some pretty terrifying things. If she comes in the store to cause trouble, ask her to leave. If she doesn't leave, call Mall Security and have her removed from the store.

I was scheduled to work at 1-10 shift. When I got there, the co manager gave me the run down and I got acquainted with the layout of the store. Then she left to go on break. About 20 minutes later, ****** walks in the store. I didn't want to ask her to leave right away, so I watched her for a minute. She was talking to the associate about the store manager, walking behind the counter, being loud. I wanted to call my boss to make sure it was ok to ask her to go, but she kept walking in the back room! Then she said she'd be back later, and she left. I went to the back to call my boss to see what to do if she comes back. I was told to ask her to leave when she returned. As my co manager is asking me questions, my associate walks in the back door. "She's back and is demanding to know who you're talking to." I hang up the phone and walk out to talk to her. "*****, I'm so sorry, but I've been instructed that if I see you in the store, I'm going to have to ask you to leave.""By who?", "By the people above me. I'm sorry, those are just my orders." "Well, you can just tell them that [the store manager] is a F&%!ING LIAR and that I know what she did! (And here she gets in my face) I also know that they did this so you can get my job, so you just better watch you F&*#ing back!" and she walks out and sits on a bench right in front of the store.

First of all, the whole thing had nothing to do with me. Second of all, I can tell when somebody is saying things because they're mad, and when somebody is serious and wants to mess you up. She scared the crap out of me. I stood there a second and went to the back to call my boss. I explained the situation (shaking like a leaf!) and she said she would call the DM. He calls a minute later and says that I need to call Mall Security and have her removed. Mind you this is not my store, so I don't even know where the number is. I found it, called and they responded. About 4 of them. The mall I was working at is like a ghost town, so I'm sure they all sit around waiting for calls like this. I explained the situation and they said they can't take her out of the mall, but they can make sure she doesn't come back in the store. So they stood outside the door in front of her for about an hour. In the middle of all this, the co manager comes back from break and sees security guards everywhere. I explain the whole thing and the next hour she gets calls from ***** and her husband, yelling at her. Our DM calls and instructs the co manager to tell her she's not welcome in any of the BBW stores in the area.

So, I'm not going to lie, I was pretty jittery yesterday. It took a few hours to get my heart rate back to normal. I was afraid to go on break, let alone leave in a dark parking lot! We had a security guard walk us out. But then in my car I kept looking in my rear view mirror to make sure no one was about to shoot me.I don't have to work in their store until Saturday, so hopefully the whole thing will have blown over.The end. :)

Can I Get a Receipt?

It's bad enough that gas prices are way too high, but it seems like gas stations everywhere are trying to save money (or make money). Am I crazy?

Lately when I go to the pump, I get frustrated because I never know if I'm going to have to either dig for a pen and piece of paper or walk inside to request a receipt from the cashier. And, it doesn't matter where I stop for gas. It seems that more often gas stations aren't refilling receipt paper at the pumps. I don't know if they are trying to get me to walk in and make an "impulse purchase" or what. But it's driving me nuts! I just want to pull up to the pump, swipe my card, press "YES" for receipt, finish pumping, yank receipt from pump, and drive away. Is that too much to ask? I know this much, I refuse to purchase anything if I do walk in for a receipt.

Jamison did not write this.

May 24th, 1997

My life is complete,
And my heart is full.

Memories along with future memories
Make me love you all the more.

With you, I could attain any goal I desire,
And with you I will.

"Without you" is a thought far from my mind.
And each day, God grants my wish to be with you.

Had I never met you, I would have never known
how much I need you as I do today.

Stay with me,
Wholly one,
Forever in love,
And I promise to do the same.

A couple of you may recognize this. 10 years ago on the date above Jodi and I said "I Do and I will." (The "and I will" was my spontaneous reaction to her Grandfather's "I Do" question. After hearing my response, Jodi added "and I will" to her "I Do.") During that ceremony I had my friend and Groomsman, Jeff, read that poem aloud. I penned it for Jodi's 19th birthday card. We had nothing at that point, literally. I could barely afford the card.

It's amazing where God takes you in life, but as I typed those words a moment ago. I recalled the emotion of the original ink. I wish I could write such beautiful words today, but alas my feelings don't flow onto paper as well as they once did.

I just wanted to share with everyone a special memory.

Castor Oil

Here I am. The nursery is finished, the house is clean, the bags are packed, the birth plan written. Every thing is ready. I desperately miss sleeping normally, painting my toe nails, and, oh yeah, not being huge. So it’s easy to figure out why in a moment of desperation Monday night I tried one of the oldest old wives tails in the book. I drank some castor oil.

Castor oil, for those who don’t know, is a laxative. It is thought to “induce” labor by causing your intestines to spasm, which in turn, causes the uterus to contract. After researching it online, I learned that one of two things would happen. Either I would need to go to the bathroom A LOT or I would need to go to the bathroom A LOT and I would have a baby. Again, I’m a desperate woman.

I took the stuff about 9 pm. I mixed a two oz. bottle with half a can of coke (something someone online recommended.) It wasn’t too bad. I mean I’m not going to go to a restaurant and order it, but it wasn’t horrible. The worst part was my last swallow because some of the oil had already settled at the bottom and I got a swig of just castor oil. Ugh.

So we sat around, watched some special on the History Channel about Star Wars, and about 11 pm I got sleepy. I went to bed, only to wake up an hour later needing to…well you know. Then about 2 am, they started. I’ve already had contractions here and there, so I knew what they were. They weren’t bad but I started having a lot.

I walked into the living room where Charlie was reading and watching T.V. “Honey,” I said, “I’m having a lot of contractions, and they’re no big deal, but I think we should start timing them.” Well that got him excited. He got out his watch and a little notebook and started writing them down. My doctor has advised me to go to the hospital when contractions are about 5 minutes apart and about 45 seconds long. Other doctors may suggest something else. After about 30 minutes, mine were averaging about 3 minutes apart and about 45 seconds long. However, even though I was uncomfortable, I didn’t really feel in labor. So we called the hospital. The nurse said to stay home until contractions began to intensify. Then, we needed to go to the hospital.

I decided I just wanted to relax and watch The Little Mermaid. Charlie started to get ready. He got dressed, he made sure his bag was packed, he practiced cutting the umbilical cord on a hot dog. I just sat there watching Ariel, nothing changing, nothing getting more intense, and no baby coming.

Needless to say, nothing every happened. At about 8 am, my contractions fizzled out and I realized that Harrison was not coming after all.

The moral of the story: If you’re pregnant and you want your baby to come, don’t drink castor oil unless you want to poo a lot and want a big let down.

The Brewster's Are Going To China

We got the offer to go to China today. We will accept tomorrow. We have to be there early August.

Holy Crap!

We have talked about this for so long now it is unbelievable that it is actually happening now. It feels a little like we’re being whisked along without much control. When I sent our resumes I just wanted to see what would happen, or how we would react if we got a response. Then we got a response and now and offer, and I can’t think of what else we would do, so we go.

I’m really excited, and incredibly nervous.

There is so much to do, too. We have to get work Visas. Amy has to have her dissertation proposal approved. I plan to sell most of our furniture and haven’t the slightest idea how much to ask for anything, or how to even go about it. My dad says he can store anything else. We have a car to sell, insurance to obtain, packing to do….and more things I can even imagine at the moment.

China. Unbelievable.

The Chinese Dilemma

A little background information for the old guys who are new to the blog: My wife and I are currently living in Bloomington, Indiana. The wife is wrapping up a PhD in French Linguistics – she has finished all of her course work, passed her exams and has only but the dissertation to write.

I recently got laid off from my job, and this being a small town filled with a large college, career options are few. With the dissertation being able to be written anywhere, and my job worries, we feel it is time for a move.

My sister and her husband (Bethany and Brian Bates for those of you who were at Faulkner long enough) are currently residing in Shanghai, China. They work at a high school for international students. They’ve been in China for about three years now and absolutely love it.

Amy and I have talked about traveling over there ourselves and working for a year or two. The thing is, it’s always been talk – a pipe dream if you will - something that sounds exotic and fun, but nothing more than that. The thing is with us being in what you might call a transitional period, I’ve kicked it up a little and we sent our resumes to Brian.

I got an e-mail from my sister this morning saying they had given the resumes to the administrators at the school. She also said they were eager to get somebody to teach their English as a Second Language classes. Amy, though not certified in ESL, has taken some courses in it. She also tutors foreign students in English at the local library, and she taught ESL during our year in France.

The sister also said if they like Amy they’d find me a spot. We’re expecting a call in the next week.

Now, the question remains whether or not we would take this job if we were offered it. That’s a big move. It sounds great in a lot of ways. But we do want to start a family soon. It would be more difficult for Amy to do her research. And we’re not sure how this would effect Amy’s ability to move into a full time job at a US university. In part she’d have some real ESL experience, which is a field she loves. But it would still be out of the US market which could be detrimental (most universities expect you to jump right into your field and complete your dissertation quickly.)

Who knows if we’ll even be offered the gig. Much to think about, and I request your prayers that it will not only be offered but that we’ll make the right decision concerning it.

The stress of garbage day

Driving home last night after our child birthing class, I passed the homes in our neighborhood with their garbage cans neatly placed at the end of their driveway...

As I progressed further into the subdivision, I noticed fewer and fewer garbage cans... by the time I was on my street, there were only about 3 or 4 people who had their garbage cans by the road.

Then it occurred to me... I am only reminded of Wednesdays being garbage day because I see others with their garbage cans by the road. I certainly don't have a reminder on my Outlook calender, my phone doesn't remind me, and I don't put a note on the refrigerator reminding me... I depend on my neighbors.

But what about the house at the very beginning of the neighborhood? Who reminds him/her/them? No one! They are essentially fully responsible for reminding the entire 500+ home neighborhood that tomorrow morning is trash day! They don't pass any other homes in our neighborhood and the surrounding homes outside our neighborhood have a different trash day! I can't begin to imagine the stress level in this home! They must have notes littering the living room. Notes on the dashboard of the car. Notes on door knobs. "I can't forget, everyone is relying on me!"

The first home in the neighborhood is a very nice home, but brothers and sisters, I wouldn't take it for all the money in the world if it helps me avoid such stress.

My Dilemma

Hey guys! I hope everyone is doing well. Sorry I’ve been MIA for a while. I’ve been student teaching and therefore have been very busy. I thought I’d send an update your way about what’s going on in the lives of the Stubbs’s.

1. Charlie’s doing great. I’ve never been more proud of him. Last Friday, he made his directorial debut. He has been working on the play Beau Jest for the past few months and it just opened. The show is great. He did an amazing job directing.

2. Harrison’s doing great. I’m 29 weeks along now. He moves a lot, especially when music is playing. The pregnancy has gone well. My biggest complaint is a lot of lower back pain thanks to the baby being on the sciatic nerve and driving two hours a day.

3. Why are you driving two hours a day, Diana? Because the school I’m doing my student teaching is an hour a way. I was at a much closer school but I was in a horrible situation and MISERABLE. Now I’m at a different school the next county over. I only have two more weeks of student teaching left. I’ve had a great experience and can’t wait to get my own classroom.

4. This leads me to my dilemma. I had a job interview today. I have given my résumé to the county and have been patiently waiting for a call from a school. Today I interviewed at a school about an hour from our apartment. The interview went very well. The principal asked if I was interested in working at the school. I told her I needed a week to think about the job. She said she will call me then because she’s “very interested” in me.

Why I should take the job

-Duh, it’s a job.
-It’s a school a lot like my internship school. I’d be used to the demographics and what-not.
-The school is getting a grant to keep their class size under 15 children.
-Since she’s hiring so many teachers, I can pick about any grade I want.
-Based on what the principal said in the interview, it sounds like a school I would want to work at. For the most part, our philosophies match.
-Who knows if there will be another offer?

Why I shouldn’t take the job

-It’s an hour away. Charlie and I would probably move. Ew.
-The principal at my school doesn’t think very highly of this principal. I’m not sure the exact reason why. All I was told was it was because this principal was really tough and not always very friendly. I really respect the principal at my school, so her opinion is valued. Also, they have high teacher turn-over at the school I interviewed at.
-There probably will be another offer. Our district is hiring hundreds of teachers so I could get a call from a closer/friendlier school.

Any thoughts?

Bigfoot and UFOs

As a child, I adored the idea of UFOs existing. Among other things; Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster, Abominable Snowman, etc...

I would literally check books out at the library on said subjects, hopeing to see some great new photograph of one of them.

I would always stop at the Discovery channel or what-have-you if these mysterious beings were being featured...

I would imagine how wonderful life would be if aliens allowed us access to their knowledge. If we were able to mate Nessie and produce little dinosaurs to display in zoos.

I have finally come to a sad conclusion... none of them exist.

How did I come to this conclusion? All religious and scientific reasoning aside, it was simple deductive reasoning my friends…

First off, back in the day, few people had cameras… and those that did didn't take them EVERYWHERE they went. So back then, you had to be in the right place at the right time, but you also had to have a camera on you! What are the chances...?

Today, urban sprawl has taken over, there are more people in more places. And EVERYONE has a camera. Even if it is not a point and click camera, everyone (pretty much) has a camera on their cell phone and they take it everywhere.

So, we have more people, in more places, the majority of which have a handy phone on hand.
So why is YouTube not filled to the gills with footage of Bigfoot or UFOs? Sure, the chances of seeing a drunk 17 year old girl dancing to "Getting' Jiggy With It" are greater than that of seeing Bigfoot, but I am no longer convinced he exists.

I swear I saw a show on one of the cable channels with this team of 'experts' dedicated to finding Bigfoot. The promo hailed it as being the end all, be all of Bigfoot footage. I NEVER saw Bigfoot, I heard a strange growling in the forest, I heard someone CLAIIM a rock was thrown at them, and back at the "home base" some guy had all the fancy equipment out and on his laptop screen was Microsoft Streets and Trips…

Just like the giant squid hoopla… show me some real, high quality footage, until then, let me watch Seinfeld reruns.

What Happened to the Blogathon?

Indeed, I cannot blog at work any longer. So sorry to be gone so long, but there are a few good excuses/reasons:

1. I have a new job where I work in a secure environment and things like Blogger, MySpace, and pretty much every other fun thing on the internet are blocked. This is a good thing in many ways, though since I really enjoy the work I'm doing. Have I explained what it is I am doing? Well, here goes: I am in charge of writing and enforcing the standards used to protect the entire Air Force network. No small task, but one that has been actually fun for me. I work with some very nice and fun people, too, which makes the job even better.

2. I have 2 little boys now. Luke just turned 3 on March 4th. He's lots of fun. Every afternoon, I come home and we play with his train set or in the backyard or something. By the time he and Noah are asleep, I just don't think about the blog...Noah is beautiful. He's growing way too fast, but strong and well.

3. We're about to renovate our kitchen and family room. This entails so much more than I can mention here. We're doing it ourselves, though, with the help of my dear old Dad. It's going to add some significant space and open up the rooms quite a bit. Lots to do, lots to do...

OK, 3 reasons are enough, right? Wrong. I feel bad about not visiting my dearest friends. Hopefully, this post will expunge my trespass from the blog record. But, I do hope to chronicle a few more things here. I miss writing, too. So many things must move to make space, but for the best, my dear friends.

Oh, I almost forgot! Some of you know this already, but Rachel is working from home now! I'm very proud of her, and the extra cash helps, too.

Alright, that's it for now. I'll write again as soon as I can think of something to write about and have time to do it. Love and peace, my brothers.

Breathing easy

I am very proud of my wife and you all should be too.

As many of you know Jules has smoked for the past couple of years. She stopped when pregnant (thankfully) but has been a slow burning chimney none the less for quite some time.

Recently I had to play nursemaid to a sick wife who was too wiped out to do much of anything including smoke. After just over a week the illness passed and Jules was already most of the way through her de-toxing without having put too much thought into the whole process.

The next week was pretty tough because her routine at work was shaped by her need to smoke: lunch, breaks, trip in and back home all with smokes in place.

On a weekend shopping excursion Jules asked if she could buy one pack, smoke one and let me hold the rest for her. I told her if she bought a pack she would have to give the rest to me and I would instantly throw them away.

She continued to be smoke free for another day. To date my wife has continued to be smoke free. What that really (selfishly) means is that Isaac, Caleb and I don’t have to be unwilling second-hand smokers anymore and for that I’m very thankful.

I don’t know that you guys really know what it is to quit one of the most addictive and socially accepted drugs in history so please take a moment and let her know how happy you are for her determination, strength and courage to fight this addiction.

Julie, I love you and am very proud, thank you.

Grove Park Inn

The Mulls and The Brals had a grand ole time in Asheville, NC.

Sometimes I forget how much I can laugh, and sometimes I forget how much I can make other people laugh, but apparently I had because we all laughed alot... likewise, we rested alot.

I won't go into how good the food was, and how nice the spa was, nor about how nice it was to stay up late in the grand hall by a fireplace that 15 men could fit in while I tried to convince Mullins to use some of my material in his standup routine. I will also pass over the part about getting a box of chocolate (And the box was made of chocolate) delivered to our room by a guy Mullins had befriended that worked there...

But, I will leave you with a few pics... I have some awesome ones of all 4 of us, of the Mulls, and of just me and my wife, (another one) but this is all I had at work. The rest are at home.

I am really relaxed in this first picture...

Saying something I never thought I'd say

Jamboree has come a long way.
Sure, the hosts and hostesses aren't going to win grammys anytime soon.
Sure, the club shows can be cheesy and repeatative.
But this year, I actually had ... FUN!
And next year, I actually HOPE I can do it!
The students at Faulkner (At least the ones in clubs) were a pleasure to work with. They were all fun, well behaved, and extreemly nice and welcoming. And ALL the shows were actually GOOD!
Gone are the days where you have one club show that is really good, 2 that suck, and one that doesn't even exist. The clubs work VERY hard on their shows, and honestly, few really care if they win or lose, they just have fun and do really great shows!
I did a video. Unfortunately, there are no shots of the new clubs show (cant remember their name... basically they are Mu Beta Sigma with alot of Kappa members in them) who did an awesome Alladin show, complete with the blue and red genie! I also didnt get any shots of the Zeta and AAA show, who did a fun pirate show. The two best shows were Kappas and Epsilons... and guess what? Epsilon didn't win this year, shocker! But both clubs did great shows!

Enjoy the film! If you have MySpace, check out all my photos from Jamboree on my page...

Ban the bridge

The toll bridge near my neighborhood (that turns a 40 minute drive to work into a 22 minute drive) was sold. Sold to a company in Australia. the first thing this new company does is raise the toll from $1.00 to $1.50.

I thought I would be the only person upset about this, but I get a flyer on my mailbox every other day, picketing lines are being formed every weekend, and there is an unoffical boycott of the toll bridge the day that it will first go to $1.50.

I listen to local talk radio alot and people call in all the time about it.

So I did my part...

www.banthebridge.com

it is not done yet, but almost finished, check it out! I certainly will not be able to not use the bridge every day, but I can cut my usage down by 50% easily, saving me money! So it is really a good thing!