I'm Poor Now

Hey everyone. Check out what I just bought. I figured since I always seem to want to take pictures of people and events, but never have a camera, it was time to buy one.

Features:

• 4.0-megapixel CCD for high-resolution images
• 3x optical/3.6x digital zoom (11x combined zoom)
• 1.5" color TFT-LCD monitor and real-image optical zoom viewfinder

Weekend in Dayton

This weekend was the first time I had driven from Louisville, KY to Dayton, OH. Earlier in the summer, Anson had invited me up to UD this weekend to have a Summer Birthday Party Bash. Well, I think they had decided to do that the week before. But anyway, I still had a good time up there.
Friday night when I arrived at Anson's on campus house, everyone welcomed me in and served me some delicious hamburgers. After dinner, we went outside and played some corn hole. That game is so much fun. I showed the Ohioans how to play Kentucky style by woopin' their @sses twice in a row. After that, I walked around the neighborhood with Anson and Alicia (Anson's friend). Let me tell you about this neighborhood. It is unlike anything I have ever seen. It is very different from UofL. There are many blocks of houses that belong to the university where, I believe, mostly juniors and seniors live. Under classmen I think have to live in the dorms. But every weekend, especially the first few weekends, there are so many parties going on at the same time. You can just walk from house to house and bammo, there's are party. Anyway, I met about 5 million and 2 people that night. I recongnized maybe one or two of them. Lisa Price was one of them. She ran the Relay Marathon in the flying pig last May with Anson, Kris, and I. By the way, we did really awesome in that race.
Saturday, I got up and tried to work on my art paper, but didn't get very far. I pretty much just hung out and got to know Anson's roommate Katherine, and her boyfriend, Eric. I really liked those two. They were really nice and cool to talk to. When Anson got back from practice, she helped me exercise my leg (I'm still healing from my stress fracture) and I helped her organize her UD Varsity Women's Crew Scavenger Hunt, and make a work wheel.
Recently I have learned two things about restaurants. Dave has taught me that Heine Bros. is superior to Starbuck's. Now Anson has taught me about the 2 for $5.99 deal at Panera Bread. As you may have guessed, Anson, Alicia, and I went out to Panera Bread for dinner. After that, UD was showing a movie (The School of Rock). I'm really glad I got to see this. The last time I went to see this they were sold out. :)

Back in School

I'm back everyone. I'm sorry that I've been a slacker on blogging, but I've been really busy this week. Classes are going to be nuts this semester. But that's ok. I'm really glad to be back and seeing everybody again. It is so nice to have everyone back together again. I love it.

Classes are going to be rough. Doing steel design homework I'm thinking might turn out to be like doing Paz's structural homework, only this time it's graded. So uh...yea. Geomechanics is a toss up for me. I had Bob Ulrich before for statics and that was cake. I think he teaches in a way that is easy to understand and pick up on the material. I'm hoping it won't be too hard, and if it is, oh well. It will definitely be interesting to me, since I'm hoping on going for an environmental degree. Surface water hydrology will definately be a cool class not only because of the material, but because Dr. French rules. Art History, World Religions, and Professional Practice...lol. Co-op seminar...Leanne, you can just....oh, I better stop there.

Other than that, I'm trying to stay in shape by going to the gym. As soon as my leg gets better it's back to running as well, and of course, playing ultimate. I'm also planning on going out and buying a digital camera as well. If you have any suggestions, please suggest. Talk to you later guys. I'm gone.

Not A Normal Night

I just got home from my last day of co-op. Boy does it feel good. Phew, it was quite an interesting last day of work too. Here, let me tell you about it...

Well, the day started out normal and remained normal right up until "lunch" time. Then Chris and Jeff decided they would take me out to get some lunch. We went to Wicks Pizza on Bardstown road, but they weren't serving pizza at 1 AM, so we went to BW3's. I got an order of spicy garlic wings, which were really good. So basically, item number one that wasn't normal was about an hour lunch.
Item number two that wasn't normal happened when we were driving back from B-Dubs. We were on 264 W, and right before we passed the ramp to get onto 65, this girl in front of us driving a Ford Escort decided to do something crazy. She was driving in the lane second from the left, and right at the last second swerves across a few lanes to take the ramp to get onto 65. She barely missed the guardrail dividing 264 from the ramp, lost control, and slams into the guardrail on the right of the ramp, and bounced off. We pulled over to make sure she was ok. Chris and I walked over to her car and she is a nervous wreck (to be expected) and starts yelling at us to go away and get back into our cars. I started telling her to get out of her car because it was pretty much sitting in the middle of the road and that she would get hit if she stayed in there. After arguing with me for a couple minutes she finally decided to get out. I had to pull the door open for her because it was stuck because the whole car frame was bent. Well, after we got her safely to the side of the road, she met up with what I guess was one of her friends she said she was following. Well, we left after that. But it was quite an interesting lunch break.
Number three on the "not a normal night list" came from just about everyone I work with. All of the construction workers decided to play a practical joke on me. Every night I have to make sure the subs clean up their messes so that the airport can stay clean for the passengers. All of the subs decided they would play a joke on me by telling me they would not clean up a mess they had made because "they didn't make it". Well after arguing with them for about ten minutes they finally let me in on the joke. What can I say, I was Punk'd.
Well that's pretty much all I have for this post. I have the weekend for a vacation and to adjust back to a normal schedule before classes start on Monday. Woo doggy.

Only Three More Days

My last week of co-op is here. Only three more days (I guess I should say nights) left until I am finally done. Why I am so anxious, you may ask. Well, I am ready to start classes and live a normally scheduled life. But there is also another reason: am I really not too fond of the work environment. I don't know if I can say that the people I work with are a bad influence, because I don't think that they really influence me all that much. However, sometimes I just get really uncomfortable working around them. Many of them always try to get me to go to bars with them to get drunk and get laid. Others tell me to watch out for the Jesus lovers. It's rough to work there, not only because I am a Christian, but because construction is a prime example of a "dog eat dog" business. I feel kinda bad too because I wish there was something I could do to change the mindset of these people, but I don't think there is any way (at least a way in which I am capable) to do that. I think the best I can do in this situation is try to set a good example. Many are surprised and probably think I'm weird that I don't go out to get drunk and get laid, and that I go to church. Oh well. I'll get through this. I've come this far. Only three more days....only three more days.

Big Time Bummer

Well, Adam was right after all. Since my leg has not gotten better in a while, I guess almost two months, I started to wonder if I really had shin splints. I was kinda confused considering that the symptoms I read about on the internet were exactly what I had. Come to find out, stress fractures have similar symptoms. I went to the doctor Friday afternoon, and got six x-rays. Well, they didn't tell me for sure, but I'm pretty sure that's what I have. Which is definitely not good. This totally messes up plans to play ultimate, my favoritest thing to do, ever, I think. It also makes me feel less athletic, like I'm just not cut out for this sport......Well, I have to go. I'm going to listen to some Dashboard and hang out of a window. :)

Staring into the Cosmos

It was nearing time to leave work (5:20 am to be exact because that's when I go outside to let Marine Electric through the gate) when I looked up into the sky and saw evidence of the sun nearing the horizon from below. The previously dark navy blue dome was slowly changing to a lighter shade. The waning crescent moon shone brightly as did Venus not too far away with a magnitude
of -4.4. It felt great outside. The temperature was right around 60 degrees and there was not a cloud in the sky. At that moment, I made plans to sit out under the stars Friday night in good old NKY. I have not been able to do that in a while. There is nothing better than a clear, moonless night in Grant's Lick. Feel free to join me. It should be enjoyable.

Recent Past, Near Future

Another great weekend was spent with some people close to my heart. Marissa, Dave, and Michael came down Friday and stayed the night until early Saturday afternoon. During that time we enjoyed the spacious (1/100,000 acre), and peaceful (Huh, what's that? Wait till this semi goes by) "backyard," cooked some wonderful "mama's recipe" chili, and afterwards, spent quite a splendid time at the waterfront playing some ultimate. Michael commented on how he had a wonderful time. I'm really glad they were able to come down. This time Momo and Ashley actually stayed and hung out with us. It was amazing to see enemies coming together.

I got an "A" in my History 102 class. I'm happy about that, obviously. I guess I should start working on my co-op report here soon. Man, I really do not like doing co-op reports. I'm just going to copy and paste from my previous reports, and pretty much just BS the whole thing. That's pretty much sums up what everyone does, unless you're Adam who tries to write the best report. What a tool.

T-minus 9 work days left of co-op forever. I am so ready to get back to living a normal shift and not working for Messer anymore. Plus I'm excited about starting classes. I like to be busy (at work I'm not busy at all) and because I think these classes are going to be very interesting, at least my speed classes. Here are my classes for the Fall 2004 semester. Ahhh...Fall. I love the Fall.

• ARTH 203: Introduction to Art


• CEE 401: Professional Practice


• CEE 402: CEE Seminar


• CEE 422: Steel Design


• CEE 450: Geomechanics


• CEE 451: Geomechanics Lab


• CEE 470: Surface Water Hydrology


• HUM 216: Introduction to World Religions

Today, Tomorrow

Today was my last day of History 102, the history of civilizations from 1500 to the present. That class wasn’t too bad. It was only three days a week for a month. I guess the only thing that was rough about the class was sitting in it for two and a half hours. Other than that this class was a piece of cake…having three tests of multiple-choice questions (gosh I love A&S classes) as our only grades. Another reason to love A&S classes is the insane amount of hot girls that are present in them. It is quite a change from Speed classes, let me tell ya.

Today was a very nice day…the sun shining bright and the temperature a mild 76 degrees. It reminded me of fall, a season that I love, especially the beginning of it, when the leaves are beginning to change and it is not too cold. I was sitting in my car with the windows rolled down studying and listening to O.A.R. before my class. I started to stare through my front window. I watched the rustling leaves and as I listened to them, a breeze entered my car. I was overtaken with a feeling of total freedom. I felt young again, enjoying the outdoors at my childhood country home. I didn’t care about the upcoming test anymore. All my worries disappeared. I was totally caught up in the moment and high on life. Wow, O.A.R. must be some crazy stuff...lol.

Tomorrow Marissa, Dave, and Michael are coming down from NKY to see me. It should be a blast. I’ll show off my new apartment and we’ll just hang out, REAL friends style.

AC Is Alive!!

Until last night, it has been about 3 months since I have seen my good pal AC. For the past week or two we have been playing phone tag trying to get in touch with one another and finally, after success, we made plans to go play some putt putt. Before hand however, we went to eat at a Chinese buffet. Then off to play putt putt. After playing two rounds, the score was 1-1. We'll play the deciding round one of these days. We left before playing a third round because we both wanted to play some ultimate down at the waterfront. Now these were some intense games for the waterfront. It was rather enjoyable. I really needed that because it has been a while since I've played a good game. Adam is hooked now by the way. He wants me to let him know whenever we play so he can come too. He played well. He hasn't played much, so he still needs to work on his throws, but if he comes to play regularly with us, he'll be awesome in no time.

That was a fun night. I'm glad we were able to bond again. :)