Scattered Thoughts

I now have installed threads into my comments. You can now make a subject for your comment, and, if you so desire, comment on a comment made by someone else. It's in the style of livejournal. Gotta give credit to this guy for writing the plugin. Tim's Blog and The Scattered Thoughts Photoblog also use threads.

CONTAINS SPOILERS
Saturday night, Erin and I went to the movies to see The Secret Window, the new movie starring Johnny Depp. I'll start by saying that it was entertaining. I wasn't too impressed with the general plot. It was a typical psycho-thriller (that's what I like to call them). Twenty minutes into the movie, I already knew exactly what was going to happen. Let's analyze this…

The camera work was amazing. Definitely some of the coolest camera work that I've seen in a while. That's really the best part of the movie, sadly.

Since it is based on a novella by Stephen King, you can imagine what the general plot is. Psycho shows up, threatens to kill the main character, ends up "killing" main character's friends, main character ends up being the psycho, realizes this and kills his soon-to-be-ex-wife and her soon-to-be new husband and gets away with the crime becasue there's not enough evidence to convict him.

The movie pretty much follows the Fight Club plot to the letter. I wasn't impressed at all by the plot, but it was an entertaining movie. I guess the fact that the camera work was good was enough to make me enjoy it. I'm really tired of going to the theater to watch a movie and seeing the same stuff regurgitated with new characters and new specific details. Someone needs to write some new material…

END SPOILERS

I've been thinking a lot about camp recently. About being with the campers, touching their lives in the most positive way possible. I wish camp would be a year round thing. John's post from March 27, 2004 has me thinking a lot tonight…

How many campers tell stories about climbing up to the top of the COPE course? How many parents are sick of hearing about the zip line, but are happy that their sons were able to participate in a program designed to foster leadership? I hope that I have an impact on these young men as much as Sox, John, Tim and others do.

I seldom get to hear about it because I don't live in or near Indianapolis and I don't spend much time up north. I did run into two campers the other day, Will and DJ. These two guys were elated to see me, came running up to me and started asking me all kinds of questions. Granted it was a while ago, but they really made me appreciate working at Ransburg, realizing that it's a privilige to be able to touch as many young lives as I do every week.

It puts it all into prospective.

That's all I got for today. Check out the Link Below for the update of my life.

The End-of-the-Blog Rundown

Song of the Day – Everything – Ben Harper

Quote of the Day – "My parents were extremely cruel to me. We had fire drills round the house so that in case of a fire we each had a special duty. My father had to grab the pets, my mother grabbed the jewelry, my sister ran out to get help and they told me to try and save the washer and dryer.." –Luke

Darwin Award Recipient for the Week Begining March 21, 2004
The manager of the Walnut Street Taco Bell a.k.a. Taco Bello. You are the worst manager on the face of the earth. Who staffs only two people after eleven in the evening? That's the time when most college students start getting the munchies. I could run your Taco Bell better than you. If you can't afford to hire staff who will work those hours, don't open your store that late, close it when you run out of money to staff… Wow… truly a "missing link" in the mystery of why stupid people still walk this earth.

Current Mood – – Accomplished because I got the threads to work in my comments

Expect a new design on this site sometime in the next week or so. By new design, I mean new picture and new colors. I love the three columns, so they're going to stick around for a while.

Until the next post…
Be cool, man, just be cool.
Continue Reading »

Ok, so I had something interesting and fun to talk about. I had been thinking about it all day, but nooooo, I have forgotten between the time I was last sitting at a computer and now.

Oh well, whatever.

I think someone has stolen my debit card number and is using it online. I have not used my checking account in more than a week, yet my balance is still dropping. I am going to take a trip to the bank tomorrow and have the card frozen. Then I get to begin the lovely task of finding out what's going on with my money.

In other news, I'm walking around work today and these three skater punks (no offense to Johrdan, cause he's a cool skater) are walking the other direction. They apparently wanted to start something cause they were saying "Who ya talkin to?" "You got a walkie talkie." etc. I wanted to punch them in the face. I should have just whipped out the ol' Benchmade and done some damage.

Oh! I remember what it was. So we had this staff meeting this morning for UITS/STC Support Staff. I'm sitting there, meeting goes until 9:35, no big deal. I was debating skipping my I308 class because I was going to be late. It's a good thing that I went because there was an exam today. Nothing to worry about, it was over database design. It took me a good 20 minutes to complete the thing. What an easy exam.

Well, since the shift is almost over, I'm going to head out. But before I go…

The End-of-the-Blog Rundown

Song of the Day – Diamonds on the Inside – Ben Harper

Hero of the Day – Matt and Andy for making my shift fun toward the end.

Quote of the Day "IU is no longer rated in our top annual party schools list because we feel that it is unfair to include professionals in a list of amateurs" –Playboy

Current Mood – – Happy, just happy

Until the next post…
later days

So I definitely checked every blog that I keep up to date on tonight. If I didn't leave you a comment, it's not because I don't like you, it's because I was trying to get caught up as much as possible in as little time as possible. It took me three hours as it was just because I haven't read the blogs in about a week, only because I was on vacation for a while.

I'm going to start posting every day in this blog, once a week in the lj and as often as possible in the Resolutionsblog since I haven't posted in that for ages. I've had that goal before, so it shouldn't be hard.

Hm… that's the most interesting stuff… Make sure to check out the Link Below for my daily update.

But, now, the long awaited…

The End-of-the-Blog Rundown

Song of the Day – Elias – Dispatch
I've been on a Dispatch kick lately.

Hero of the Day – My Mommy for making me chicken noodles and mashed potatoes

Not-So-Cool Event of the Day – The LEC today at Crowe Chizek. It was possibly the longest meeting that I've ever attended.

Quote of the Day – "Call me the urine girl!" – Eileen, after she and I compared jobs this evening.

Current Mood – – Exhausted, but extremely happy

Until the next post…
peace
Continue Reading »

Wow! What a beautiful day down here in Bloomington! Sixty-one degrees outside, high scheduled for sixty-eight with THUNDERSTORMS! YAY! I'm so excited!

I've got nothing important to post about today. Check out the Link Below for the daily update.

I posted the spring break pictures in my Photoblog. Hope you enjoy them.

As always, if you want a high resolution copy of a picture, e-mail me the URL as it appears in the address bar and I will e-mail you the pic.

I'll update the LJ sometime today or tomorrow. I've learned some new tricks, so I'll be using it a little more often.

As for now…

The End-of-the-Blog Rundown

Song of the Day – The Open Road Song – Eve6

Hero of the Day – Erin, for keeping me awake on the drive home as well as just generally making me happy

Dumbass Moment of the Day – Watching the Jehova's Witnesses walk around the Information Commons talking to people trying to study about their religion… Why can't they just leave people alone? They knock on my door, try to convince me that their way is the only way… What happened to the protection of my right to practice religion as I please? Maybe I'm over-reacting, but maybe I'm really not.

Quote of the Day – "It's the kind of training that makes us all want to quit our jobs." — Scott when talking about the PeopleSoft/SIS/HMRS training that I had to sit through today.

Current Mood – – Happy

Until the next post…
peace
Continue Reading »

Definitely the theme of our trip. So sit back, relax, put your feet up on the nearest The Cheat, grab a Cold One and listen as I recant for you the story of the best spring break gone wrong EVER.

It all started pretty normal…

Erin John and I showed up at Ashleigh's house around 7:00 on Saturday morning. We unpacked John's Rubicon into Ashleigh's living room, started dividing up the gear. We had to call Nick to get him to come over, so he got there at 8. When all was said and done, we ended up departing from Bloomington at 9:30am; two and a half hours after we had planned.

This should have been the first sign.

We stopped for lunch in Zanesville Ohio, same place that we stopped on the best spring break ever… the trip to New York City and Washington DC. After lunch we continued on our way.

When we got closer to the Dolly Sods Wilderness, we had to travel up a mountain using Forest Service roads. When we neared the Dolly Sods Picnic Area, we came upon this PICTURE COMING SOON. Who would have thought there would be snow on the top of a mountain in March?

So after discussing our options, we discovered that there were a couple people in the crew who did not want to hike or camp in snow. We also decided to head over to the nearest town, Petersburg WV, with the hopes of finding a 24-hour eating place. Well, Good Ol' Petersburg WV didn't have said 24-hour joint, so we had to travel an extra 20 minutes North to Morefield WV.

When we arrived in Morefield, we found a McDonald's and had a snack and tried to discuss plans there, but they were closing. Our journey led us straight to the Wal-Mart. Amidst one of our party disapearing in the toy section, a bit of drama that came as a result, some tempers flaring and me purchasing a tripod, we ended up deciding that it was best that we stay in the Wal-Mart parking lot for the night.

We woke up the next morning, headed to a park on the Patomic River, and ate breakfast. This park had the BEST TASTING water that I have EVER had to drink.

After breakfast, we packed up and headed for the New River Gorge, about a four hour drive. We started a search for a campsite around the Cunard trailhead, but were unsucessful. It has been determined that said campsite had been demolished by some road construction.

Admiting defeat, we retreated to the New River Gorge Bridge for a while, took many pictures and surrendered to the fact that we were going to have to spend one night in a hotel to re-group. The lady at the front desk of the hotel, after hearing our story decided to give us a discount for being at a funeral for the night. The Funeral For Our Spring Break is what the night became known as. Luckily the hotel had a pool and a hot tub .

That night, we discovered that Mom Byer had done some calling around and found us a very kind gentleman, Randy Robertson, who allowed us to camp on his property for $5 a night. He was the savior of our spring break.

We set up camp, played on the stick, made dinner and slept. It was a relief to sleep somewhere outside and not a car seat or a hotel bed. Tuesday rolls around and we wake up to a sick Nick and rain with the promise of sleet on Wednesday. The decision was made that because of the circumstances, we were going to pack up, admit total defeat by the Not-So-Great State of West Virginia, and head back to Bloomington.

That's about it. Besides the bad circumstances, it was a really good trip. You all will be able to see in my Photoblog pictures of some of the most beautiful places that I have ever traveled through. Some of us also had an amazingly fun time regardless of what was happening around us.

anyway, I apologize for the long pinKUS-esque post. I hope you all read it.

I'm back, and ready to catch up on the blogging that I've missed, so I'll be reading at a furious rate the next few days catching up.

The End-of-the-Blog Rundown

Song of the Day – The Long and Winding Road – The Beatles

Quote of the Day – "What part of 'meet us at the stick' did you not understand?" – Everyone on the trip… it seemed to be a re-occuring theme.

Hero of the Day – Randy Robertson for letting us stay on his property.

Darwin Award Recipient for the week of March 8, 2004
Whoever thought it was a good idea to add onto a trailer to make it look as if the trailer was being consumed by a house… You are the winner. I don't know who you are, but I know that you ran a trading post in West Virginia out of your trailer/house.

Current Mood – – Exhausted… It's been a really long week.

If I feel like it, I'll update the LJ sometime this week, I just discovered some new tricks with it, so I will be updating it more frequently. I will also let you into my new hobby, maybe even start a blog for it as well as update my Photoblog and Resolutionsblog.

Until the next post…
peace out yo!