Macoupin County Special Olympics 2008

It all started with a familiar tune sounding at 6:30: my alarm. This was the earliest I had woken up in a very long time, so it was a little rough. After the rest of my morning routine, I eventually hopped on my bicycle headed to an event I volunteered for. The only catch was, it was at Beaver Dam State Park, and I had never ridden there before.

My best friend, Google Maps, told me it was about 12 ½ miles to my destination. I wrote down the directions and headed to the park. It was a pretty cold morning, maybe upper 40’s, if that. Then again, the sun hadn’t had much time to warm up this earth of ours. Heading south along a dirt country road, the sun flashed like a strobe light in between the tassles of corn. I’m just thankful I wasn’t an epileptic, or else surely I would have had a spell.

I saw a herd of cows that all looked at me as I rode past, which was funny.

Oh, how I love cows!

I also saw a couple of deer leaping through a field of thigh-high brush. It looked like “Flipper” Anderson diving over the linemen, only minus the flip. And yes, there was a moment when I had to call my mother-in-law because I couldn’t find this one particular road. Come to find out, the road I saw on the map and road by another name I saw were actually one in the same. I hate it when that happens!

As I neared the park, I also saw a squirrel fall about 30 feet off of a tree and bounce when it hit the pavement. Without missing a beat, it jumped up and ran up and over the hill. When I crested the hill, I saw a squirrel dead off to the side of the road. I hopped off my bike and stared at its chest to see if it was moving—it wasn’t. Then I got a stick to poke it and see if rigor mortis had set it—it hadn’t. I flipped it over to see if there were any sort of tire or teeth marks on its body—there weren’t. The point I’m trying to make is that I don’t know if it was the same squirrel or not. Strange stuff…

The ride actually was 17.6 miles long, which rather surprised me how “off” Google maps was. Upon arriving, I met up with Kelly, a longtime friend of my wife’s, who was in charge of the event. Apparently I showed up just after they finished setting everything up. Perfect timing! So, we just sat and waited for the athletes to arrive, and boy, they came in droves!

There was a huge group from Jerseyville, some from Girard, and of course, some from Carlinville. Everybody was divided into teams by color. I was on the pink team! Woohoo!!

I was in charge of pushing a wheelchair-bound man by the name of Gary. He was involved in a near fatal car wreck at the age of 18, which left him quadrapalegic. He was a very nice man with a hilarious sense of humor. His “one-on-one (caretaker),” Mandie, was a very nice woman as well. It was definitely a pleasure to hang out with both of them for the day.

The event was started by ceremonial balloon releasing, which was neat to see so many dozens of balloons at once.

There were several events that the athletes could partake in: a soccer ball kick, softball toss, horseshoes, basketball shooting, and of course, redneck golf.

After attending most of the event, we had a sack lunch which was followed by an awards ceremony. It was really fun to see their reactions when they got a new hat and a trophy. The smiles on their faces were absolutely contagious!

Only 2 and a half hours later after the event began at 10:45, it was already over and the groups headed home for the day. Meanwhile, I was faced with a physical dilemma of my own: riding back home! Already excrutiatingly sore from the student/faculty basketball game from the night prior, and pushing around a 170 pound man in a wheelchair after riding 17 miles on a bike, I was a little sore.

Before my journey, I thought that something more than my pop-tarts and granola bar and mt. dew for lunch would be necessary to give me the sufficient energy to survive. *laughs* Okay, it wasn’t going to be that bad, but still… I stopped at the restaurant at Beaver Dam State Park after hearing several people rave about how good the food was. I ordered a grilled beef tenderloin sandwich… and a 20oz. bottle of… well, you know. As I waited for my food, I decided to go snap a couple more photos of the beatiful lake.

True to everybody’s word, the food was delicious!

The ride back was cut short about 3 miles, as I decided to test my fate by riding on Shipman Blacktop instead of heading back the way I came. The road I wanted to get to was only 1 mile down the busy highway, so I gave it a go. Not a single car passed me, which was nice.
The rest of the ride was very beautiful, but not very eventful.

When I got home, I crashed for a good hour or so before working later that evening for 4 hours. It was a very fun event, and I look forward to volunteering once again next year!

The Big Game

Japanese class had ended as I begin my strut to the TRAC. Strut turned to walk, walk turned to shuffle; I was nervous as ever. I hadn’t played on a basketball team since fourth grade – that’s when everyone started growing, and I…well, I didn’t. But that’s okay… small stature, huge heart I say! :)

I put my books into my car and walked into the TRAC where I found a few people on both sides of the court already shooting around. Cool. The north-side bleachers were out and a couple of students were already seated comfortably awaiting the action.

I showed up about an hour early to get plenty of warm-up time in, and to meet my teammates. I was by far the shortest male on team by far. However, I think I may have been taller than the two women on the team, “Socks” and “Speedy.” Again, say it with me: small stature, huge heart! That’s right.

Our coach was Bubsy from 99.7FM, which was cool. He was a nice dude looking to win, but also wanted to have fun. The first half went very well as we headed into half-time with a good lead. With about 2 minutes left in the game, our lead had been as great as 12 when things started to take a turn for the worse. By the time the buzzer sounded, the other team had tied it, forcing us into a 3 minute overtime.

Overtime went…not so well for us. We ended up not winning 51 – 57. However, if it weren’t for the experienced players: Diesel, M-Dub, and Stretch to name a few, it could have been much worse.

However, I would like to point out that absolutely no faculty played on the opposing team which surely would have secured our win. Honestly, I have no hard feelings at all… it was a very fun game. Although, I do think that at least one current faculty member should play on the team, if only for at least a couple of minutes, so as to incorporate all three facets of the opposing team: Alumni, Staff and Faculty.

As for points scored, I had a big ol’ goose egg. But I did have several assists, which I’ll gladly take credit for. Fellow friend (and opposing player *grr*) Jeremy Wilburn sunk a 3 from darn near half-court, which was awesome. Once the ball made its trip through the net, he pointed to his fiancée’ in the stands. It was ridiculously cheesy, but very fun to see. Lord knows I would have done the exact same thing if my wife was in the stands.

Yup, basketball is most certainly not my calling. Though it was fun to participate, I think I’ll choose to remember and relive my championship game winning RBI single from a recent softball tournament instead. As for next year, I reckon I’ll cover the student/f.a.s. b-ball game from the stands. After all, it’s only been an hour and a half since the game ended and I’m already sore.

And I have a 12 mile bike ride bright and early tomorrow morning as I am helping out with the Macoupin County Special Olympics which should be very fun. I’ll let ya’ll know how that goes.

Hope all is well with everyone out there.

~ N.

Student vs. Faculty B-Ball Game!

So, what do we call it?

The Young vs. The Old?
The Inexperienced vs. The Wise?

Regardless, the students were invited to play in this awesome event. The blurb in the invitational e-mail which stated “No athletic ability required” was definitely noticed by yours truly; subsequently, I signed up to play. Not to worry, I’ve been practicing… sort of.

Upon signing up, I’ve looked forward to this game being played for fun. However, I’ve been informed by a classmate of mine whose boyfriend played in the game last year that both teams really go at it; it’s competitive, not fun. This really irks me.

Of course, no team wants to lose, so some competitiveness is obviously in order. But we are not being paid for this, we are not being graded on this, and come October 3, it will be a memory already somewhat faded. Play for the moment and play for fun, I say. I can only pray my teammates will feel the same…

So when does this event go down? Tomorrow night:

Thursday, October 2nd
7:00PM at the TRAC

Feel free to come out and cheer for us students, and pray that Nick “Paxson" Hanscom, the 5’5” 140lb. mass of hyperactivity from Seattle, drains just one “three” for the team.

For those who can’t make it, please, I beg you, please watch the Vice-Presidential debates and pay attention to what is said. Come November, vote with your brains and not your hearts. I don’t care who you vote for, just vote.

Thanks all!

~N.

The Rush of an Auction...

So, I woke up today a little past a quarter to 10, which was remarkable in and of itself as I didn’t fall asleep until nearly 2am last night. I headed out to the living room and saw Linda sitting on the couch. Rich was nowhere in sight. “Hey Linda, is Rich at coffee?” “No, he’s at the sale.” DOGGONE IT! Over the past couple of weeks, Rich had talked about going to this sale and we had talked a couple of times of going... together!! I could have sworn he was going to wait for me. But nooooo… it was past 9am. Silly me for sleeping in on a Saturday morning!

I took a boot camp style shower, got dressed and headed out to the fairgrounds. All of the furniture had already sold, which was fine – I most certainly didn’t have the money for the useful stuff; I had a goal… a vision... I would play the $1-$3 game on something small. First, I had to stake out something I considered worthy of money. There was only one item: two small plastic bins; the top of which was filled with various shoe and leather cleaning supplies. Mostly, I was in it for the bins; perfect for putting other micellaneous crap in.

After an hour long wait, it was my turn. The auction was headed up by Mike Crabtree. He’s a no-nonsense auctioneer with a witty sense of humor who hails from Atwater. Out of all of the auctions I’ve been to, he’s my favorite auctioneer. For those who haven’t been to auction, it gets intense really fast! The item was announced, “Shoe shine stuff!” I instantly raised my hand, “$1.” Good. Someone else counterbid, “$2.” Another bidder raised it to 3 dollars. DOGGONE IT AGAIN! That was the top of my limit. But no, wait, it was only $2.50. I quickly raised my hand, “$3.” Surely, it was mine. Someone raised it again to $4. NOOOOOO!!! It’s past my limit… I’m done. But then I just had to look up at Mike who was looking at me with those eyes that pleaded, "Nick, you want this item, don't you??" Well, before pulling into the parking lot, I told myself that $5 was the absolute max I would spend on anything. *sigh*…Fine. “$5.” A couple of seconds pass that feel like forever. Soon I heard the magic words, "Sold to number 120!” It was mine! All mine!!! Bwa ha ha ha!

Then it hit me… I spent $2 more than I really wanted to. And all I got was some fairly useless junk.

Damn Mike Crabtree. I hate him. :)

My Newly Purchased "Treasure."

P.S. -- Yes, the wife was mad. :)

Lion's Carnival = The Sugar Rush From Hell!

I received a call from my American Legion post commander asking if I could volunteer at the Lion’s carnival on Friday night. The job was to man up the “cake walk” booth from 7 till 9:30. Sounds simple enough… count me in!

Believing it to be like a recent event that took place here in town in which maybe 5 people would visit the stand at a time, I thought I’d add a little fun to it and create a couple of signs that said, “keeki baiten/shiai/geemu” One for each. "Baiten," if it was an actual cake stand, as in vendor; "shiai," if it was a game, and if I was wrong in saying "shiai", I’d simply put "geemu" below it to cover my rear.

Japanese is different; most certainly eye catching in such a small town. Eye catching equates to more visitors… or so I thought.

As I was walking toward this supposed stand with my wife and mother-in-law, I noticed a large crowd. Not large: HUGE! And it wasn’t a cake walk… it was more like a cake gamble. There were 40 some-odd numbers randomly placed on a 3 huge tables creating 3 sides of a rectangle. The fourth side simply acted as a barrier between the workers and the crowd.

The lines around the tables sometimes went two or three people deep. The game was that people were supposed to put a quarter on a number. Up to two quarters may be played on any number. A wheel was spun and whatever number it landed on, the winner would gets to choose a cake of their choice.

It was very fast paced and very fun. So much so, that I ended up playing, too! Bob Little told me that #1 was overdue to win. So I threw down and we’ve been best friends ever since! :) The cake I chose was all chocolate with chocolate frosting: quite delicious, I dare say!

Eventually a small group of about 6 kids from Carlinville Middle School came to play the game: Cassidy, Adelmo, Kyle, Kory, Kris and Maddie. It was unbelievable how much they won. By the end of the evening, the group of 6 ended up leaving with 15 cakes. Tragically, one was dropped, one was stolen and four were given away. However, since they left towards the end, I managed to talk them into waiting so that I could take a picture of the group with what remained of their winnings.

When I caught up with them, I noticed Cassidy’s mother looking rather not-so-happy. The first words out of her mouth were something along the lines of, “What the heck are we going to do with all of these cakes?!” Honestly, I couldn’t blame her. The imminent sugar rush of 6 teenagers would seem to be a task more suitable for the National Guard rather than a single mother! I don’t know how she faired that evening, but the happiness on the faces of those kids would make any task worth suffering… at least, I think.

Kody, Adelmo, Kyle, Maddie, Kris and Cassidy show off their winnings.

"The Gang"... in a nice picture!

STUPID GUSTAV!!!

It's one thing to live on campus and face this absolutely horrendous weather we got goin' on today.

It's a completely different thing if you have to drive nearly 50 miles with a deadline!

I've never been so scared driving to school in my life. Visibility was terrible, puddles extended a good 2 feet into the road, and semi's... I have nothing against the drivers as they're just doing their job. But the trucks they drive make visibility that's already bad next to zero! Thus, passing them was ridiculously scary!

Suffice it to say, I'll be glad when every last remnant of Gustav is dead and gone!!!

Amen.

~N.

The ISA Welcome Party!

Finally! There is a shindig I can attend that works with my schedule: the International Students’ Association Welcome Party!

The party was held out on the patio outside the student life building and featured a good mixture of students and faculty, most of the students hailing from either Japan or India. Snacks were available featuring lemonade or iced tea, cookies, and cheese ‘n cracker/mixed veggie platters. They were perfect snacks to tide you over for a late supper!

After we hung out and met one another for awhile, Mr. Lane gave a series of announcements that, unfortunately, quickly lost most of the audiences’ attention.

Eventually, we were all given a piece of a postcard and were instructed to find the others that had the matching pieces in order to form the complete picture. Each group consisted of seven people and we all introduced ourselves to each other.

After that was completed, we flipped over our pieces of the card and saw a star shaped sticker. Our next task was to find everyone else who had the same color of star and repeat the introduction process. Then it was game time!

A miscellaneous item was read off of a list and each group had to find this item and give it to a designated runner who would then take it to Mr. Lane for “validation.” I ran my butt off trying to get several items, but every time I did, somebody else found one quicker. I hate it when that happens!

Around the time the game started, the humidity started to rapidly increase as well. By the time the game was over, practically everyone was covered with sweat. I guess these things happen in the Midwest.

By the time this particular game ended, it was just past 8 – 45 minutes later than I told my wife I would be heading home. Thus, I had to make my exit. Upon departing, Dana asked me to mark times that work to meet on campus for the newly reformed ISA. We’ll soon see if I can keep attending or not.

It was a lot of fun to hang out and meet new people. One particular freshman, a girl named Ashley from Farmersville, was very pleasant to meet! She’s studying Russian. Personally, I think she should take Japanese (no offense to you Russian speaking people out there!).

Here’s hoping that I will meet those people from the ISA Welcome Party in the days to come!

~N.

The First Week...

Well, the first week has come and gone. Honestly, it may take another week to get a more definitive feel as to how this semester is going to turn up. It’s been okay so far, but it could’ve been much better.

Again, my classes are only on Tuesday and Thursday. My first class starts at noon. It is a weird feeling walking into class in the dead middle of the day, but it’s not too bad. The class is Intro. to Mass Media Communication. The professor, Dr. Jamison, seems to be nice and knows what she’s doing. However, we didn’t have any sort of class introduction, so nobody knew anybody during that first day; yet we still had to sign up for a partner project due later in the semester. Point being, you don’t know if the person you signed up with is going to be a studious partner or one who really doesn’t care. Here’s praying mine is the former.

During our first day, Dr. Jamison noticed that many students had two books with them. The UIS bookstore’s website listed two books with two completely different titles. Suffice it to say, many students went ahead and got both books. Come to find out, one of the books was an earlier version of the book actually required for the class. Of course, I got my books online and therefore cannot return it for a full refund, which is entirely not fair an error which should be put on the shoulders of those running the bookstore’s website.

*deep breath*

During my 2 hr, 45 min. break, I went to check on textbooks deemed close enough to online-used cost to go ahead and purchase, including my Japanese textbooks. You have no idea how stoked I am about that class. Moving on…

My break was fairly short lived, but in the future, it will be nice to sit in the lounge area on the second floor of UHB and have lunch while dabbling with various homework assignments or browsing the Internet.

Japanese class!

The first day of Japanese class felt very rough and little somber due to a tragedy suffered by someone in the classroom over summer break. The course review was nice and very much needed as many of us have forgotten quite a bit of material *grimace*. However, the second day felt like the Japanese class I remember from last year. Some of us joked here and there, and for the most part, we had fun. The second day consisted of grammatical review which again was rough, but very much needed. Now that we’ve gone back over it, we should be okay. Key word: should. J We’ll see.

My third on campus class only meets on Tuesdays from 6 – 9:30. Ugh. But it should be okay as there are times where we don’t meet at all during the week. Read: it’s a blended class. The professor we have for the class was attending a family matter and so we had a substitute teacher by the name of Nan. No, she’s not an Australian grandmother… her name really is Nan. She is a delightful woman who had us introduce ourselves to other classmates by filling out a sheet of various topics and finding people to fulfill that topic. For example, one of the topics was “Is left handed,” and so you would find someone who fit that bill. It was actually kind of fun, and now that the class knows one another, it could be a very enjoyable class.

Oh yes, I’m also taking an online class – Introduction to the Teacher’s Education Program, which is run by Professor Dunn. Our first week consisted of online introductions answering several different questions: where are we from, what type of community is it, what do you find are problems facing today’s schools, etc. Many of the students in this class seem very outgoing and friendly, which is awesome.

This is also the class that I have yet to receive my textbook for. It’s been nearly 2 weeks. Needless to say, the person I ordered it from is going to get hammered for this! Thankfully, Professor Dunn is a God-send who has put up online PowerPoint lectures that go over the first couple of chapters!! Because of this, I was still able to participate in our first class discussion question: What is a school?

Other projects for this class seem interesting, such as a family tree going back three generations, including what education they achieved. Also, there is a movie review where the plot has to be based on education. Oh, “Mr. Holland’s Opus.”

School is shaping up okay. It is currently Friday evening, and I am about to go volunteer at the American Legion again before going in to work a little early in order to get LEADS certified. Work today is from 11p – 3a. It should be interesting. J Wish me luck!

My question for you is: What do *you* think a school is?

Take care all!

~N.

The Day Before...

Well, I guess technically it’s not; it’s the day of. It’s nearing 3am and I am unable to fall asleep. I tried thinking of nothing… thinking of work… thinking of the dream house… all to no avail. So I came out to the living room and played some Counter-Strike: Source in the hopes that maybe violence would somehow rid of my nerves. Killing computerized terrorists would do that, right? *sigh* So here I sit, still unable to get my mind off of what’s to come. Mortal Kombat is on TBS: SWEET! J

So what’s my deal? Why be nervous? I’ve done this before, so why isn’t it easier? A part of me wonders who else out there is going through the same thing. Anyone? Maybe I’ll ask some people tomorrow.

I’ve got 3 on-campus classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays: Intro. to Mass Media Comm from 12 – 1:40, Japanese (of course) from 4-5:40 and Intro. to Interpersonal Comm. from 6 - 9:30 (only on Tuesdays). I also have an online class: Intro. to the Teacher’s Education Program. Upon reading over the syllabi for two of the classes, a part of me wonders if they are going to be as difficult as they seem. Are the professors going to be cool or are they going to suck? So far, the professors have been outstanding! Here’s hoping that trend continues…

It’s the unknown that gets to me. I guess after tomorrow things will be easier…

Here’s hoping. The final battle of Mortal Kombat is about to start. Then it’s off to bed for me.

I’ll keep ya’ll posted…

Round 2 *ding, ding!*

Okay, so it’s time for my sophomore year to begin. I can honestly say that I’ve felt my stress slowly rise over the past couple of weeks in anticipation of the unknown: what are my professors going to be like (save for Maeda Sensei, who—and I’m sure all of his students will attest—freakin’ ROCKS), and will my schedule be survivable?

I’ve managed to cram all of my classes into two days per week to cut down on commuting costs again, which is cool.

However, the financial miracle my wife and I are trying to do is to pay for this semester out of pocket. Well, why the heck would we wanna do that? Well! The G.I. Bill is being revamped, and my wife and I want to reap as many benefits from the updated G.I. Bill as possible. They are adding BAH (basic allowance for housing), cover 100% of tuition costs and also allow pay $1,000/year towards books and/or other misc. academic fees.

We’ll see how it all pans out. As it stands, the updated G.I. Bill will go into effect next September.

Suffice it to say, I’m pretty stoked.

Hope everyone else’s first semester back goes well! For those new students, welcome to UIS!

10-4 (good buddy).

Finally, I am employed!

I am now a part-time dispatcher for the Carlinville police department.

Now, many of you may think that a town of 6,000 cannot possibly be busy. You would be surprised just how busy it can get. And for those times where not much is going on, certain officers will make it busy for you.

There is a ton to learn and you always have to be prepared for anything.

Many are quick to ask, “Which day is your busiest day? What times are busiest?” Honestly, there is no answer for that. Anything can happen at any time. Such is the life for police officers and their dispatchers.

Now, to tie in school to the jobby-job, I brought my English-Japanese/Japanese-English dictionary in to work the other day just to look up words and get reacquainted with looking at Japanese characters. Suffice it to say, the officers were rather impressed to hear what their jobs are in Japanese. Police officer = keisatsu-kan.

For awhile I was tempted to go into law enforcement myself. However, I keep thinking about my 64” 135 pound frame, chuckling as I imagine myself saying, “RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!!”

What to do, what to do…

Well, for now – stick it out as a dispatcher and see what else happens!

Just When I Thought I Had Seen The World...

For those of you who haven’t met me, I spent nearly 8 years in the United States Navy (for more material, read the first blog). The military provided me with wonderful experiences—some good and some bad. It also provided a very cool opportunity to travel. Now of course it’s not the most recommended method of seeing the world if all you want to do is travel, but while serving the country, it proves to be a good perk. I’ve been to many countries most people here in the U.S. would never travel to. On the flip side, I’ve also visited some rather touristy destinations.

I’ve been to Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia – three times at least. I’ve also been to Mazatlan (only once *sigh*) courtesy of the floating city named the U.S.S. Constellation.

After I got out of the military, I thought I had seen the world. I had… but only to a small extent. Per my most recent blog, the trip to Europe has since come and gone. They call it a “European Whirl” for good reason! In less than two weeks we visited 7 countries by bus. The experiences provided by this trip have ignited in interest in European history. For example, what was Henry VIII’s deal? When did the Spanish Armada decide to attack England in 1588? Marie Antoinette was a great queen, or so I thought… so why was she beheaded? The Romans… why did they expand their empire so far, only to fall back so much? Interesting stuff, huh?

My favorite parts of the trip have to be touring London, walking through Rome with my wife, brother-in-law and his wife by ourselves, and everything about Paris. Good Lord, Paris is amazing… and surprisingly was one of the cheapest places we visited! However, the main highlight for me (aside from a show at the Moulin Rouge) was meeting up with my Navy buddy Mike and his family. He was stationed with me while I was in Everett and since has transferred to Germany, so to meet up with him was wonderful!

I would have loved to include some photos from our adventure, but the stupid server keeps timing out on me. My apologies. Anyhow, while the company on the bus was good (can’t go wrong with 24 Aussies, can ya?), taking a bus tour was not really ideal. However, it did give us a taste of what to expect should we choose to visit those countries again.

But there are a couple of countries I would like to visit that we haven’t yet seen: Japan, Ireland, Scotland, Denmark and Sweden. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of England, Germany or France either.

You know, we may be a small speck on this earth, and this earth may be a small speck in this galaxy… but there sure is a heck of a lot to see! My questions to you are:

1) If you have been overseas, where have you been? Would you go back?
2) If you haven’t yet been overseas, where would you like to go, if anywhere?

Take care all!

~ N.

The Final Stretch (SLIGHTLY Belated -- Sorry!)

“The Final Stretch”

Four finals down—one to go. I have to admit that I find myself becoming a little sappy over this. Furthermore, being a 28 year old student in college classifies me as “old.” Hence, I’m an old sap. I feel sorry for my wife for having to deal with my sappiness, and hereby apologize to her for any future incidences. Now, how do I feel about this?
Truth be told, at the start of the semester, some of those I would have called friends from fall semester pretty much disappeared, which I found to be odd. Then, when attempting to be involved in any of their conversations, it was really weird. Not to say I’m superior to them in any way, shape or form, but most of their conversations seemed to be rather immature; this, coming from the guy who gets all cracked up on Mountain Dew before Japanese class and bounces across the walls. I wonder if there are too many times when I act childish. *ponders* I suppose a part of me really doesn’t want to grow up and be “old.” But I do think that’s something I need to change. Sorry… back to the topic at hand…
There were two classes I took this past semester that were taught by the same professors as fall semester. I look up to these two professors immensely, and find myself sad that, for one of them, I will not be in any classes taught by him next semester. The weird thing is, it’s not like “well, that sucks,” and move on sad. I view it more like a master-mentor type of relationship. And realizing that even after summer break there will be no classes taught by him, it really does make me sad. As for Japanese—oh, it’s on like Donkey Kong!!
Again, I will miss the routine of attending class as we enter summer break. But that’s okay ‘cause Nicky-boy here’s gonna get himself a job, which will certainly help pass the time more quickly! J As for where… well, I have no clue, yet. I’ll keep you posted on that…
Today was by far my least favorite final. Like I tell my wife, I absolutely love the professor and her enthusiasm, I hate the curriculum. I suppose it’s my fault that I live nearly an hour away, but the final was at 8am. I left the house at 6:30 to get some more cramming in before the big showdown. The final itself could have been much shorter had we not had to write our own speeches. Granted, they were 2 minute speeches, but you have some students who went over the time limit (I’m sure I was one of them), and before you know it, an hour has already gone by. While it was very nice that the speeches were first (thereby acting as a last minute “refresher”), it could have been nicer to…ohhh…maybe omit that portion? Just one complaint. If it’s the professor who wrote the curriculum, I humbly apologize. I’m cranky. Good excuse, yeah?
So my last final is due Friday by noon. I’m really stoked for it, actually. After that, it’s all about contacting some company called ManPower and seeing what they have to offer. For any potential employers out there who may view this blog, I’ll be available to work full time during the summer starting June 9.
I’m sure some of you are wondering – well if your last final is due on May 9 – what’s going on for a month? Well. My wife’s mother and father are celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary and are taking my wife and I, my wife’s brother and his wife on a “European Whirl” for 15 days. You have absolutely no idea how much I’m looking forward to being ridiculously photo happy. Thankfully, I recently purchased a small digital point-and-shoot camera so my antics won’t be too terribly “touristy,” I hope. Odd thing is, I think the thing I’m most looking forward to is seeing one of my best friends – Mike Bullis (and his family), who is stationed in Germany. Any requests as to what I should take photos of?
This is certainly long enough. For those who read it all the way through, I thank you. Now if you wouldn’t mind COMMENTING, that’d be great *s*! I hope that you all have a fantabulous summer. Please stay safe!
Oh, worry not. This blog shall go on. There’s been a lot on my mind lately, so I’m sure I’ll blog again soon. If there are any topics out there you feel I should blog about, let me know!
Thanks for viewing so far. I’ll write again soon.

~ N.

It was YOU!!!!

"Everybody outta my way! Commuting student coming through!"

That's my mentality, well, sort of. Okay, not really. I'm a nice driver. In fact, today I went out of my way to let somebody into my lane, knowing that he would have wanted to hop over by the time I would have been side by side with him. I don't like those situations. So instead, I slowed up and let him in, no doubt irritating the drivers behind me. But something happened today that had me up in arms. However, the outcome proved to not be in my favor.

I was driving along the road that runs between the townhouses and the outdoor basketball courts when I noticed 2 students walking toward campus. One of them was walking right next to the curb; the other, far enough into the road that I could not pass.

The two students had a good thirty feet to go until the stop sign, which is close enough so that, even if I did go way out of my way to pass, I wouldn't have enough time to get back into my lane. I don't doubt for a second that they heard my car approaching from behind. So I slowed up, expecting the one in the road to, oh I dunno, get the heck out of the way. But no. She didn't. They kept walking at a snail's pace to the stop sign. Once I got to the sign, a car across the intersection also pulled up. The other car thought they stopped first, when clearly it was me. So I started to go, and at the same time, the other car moved, too. At this point, the two girls turned around and looked at me as though I was an idiot, smiled and laughed.

I lost it. I was going to go park my car, track them down, and dress them down for walking in the middle of the road and being rude. They were walking slow enough that I saw they entered UHB. Fair enough--I was heading there, too. When I entered the building, I saw they hopped onto the elevator... possibly heading to the third or fourth floors. Crap.

As I topped the stairs to the second level while heading towards my first class - there they were, heading the same direction as me.

Do I say something to them right now? No... I wait. See where they go. Of course, they entered the same classroom I was heading to. Crap (again). So I chose not to dress them down as I had planned and instead let it go. I noticed that whenever I looked over at them with disappointing eyes, they immediately looked away. Maybe that's enough. I just didn't want to start any classroom drama.

So that's how my Wednesday started. I wasn't too pleased. College kids need to realize that they're actually adults need to start acting their age.

~N.

That’s It, Mother Nature – I Give Up

One of the reasons why my wife and I decided it best to move back to Illinois was to experience four definitive seasons. I absolutely LOVE the ridiculously hot and humid weather. I’m not being sarcastic in the slightest – hot weather is good weather! Winter, however, has quickly become another story altogether.

Winter…where do I begin, here? So far, 2008 has been pretty freakin’ crappy! I’ve had emergency surgery done and I was one of the millions of people who got the flu. While my temperature is back to normal, I now have this lingering cough which absolutely refuses to go away. It’s maddening at times! I feel sorry for my classmates and professors who have to hear me hack at least 15 times per class. That said, I blame the flu which was caused by WINTER!!!!

Another thing - to experience four seasons is great, especially when the seasons stick to their time period. While spring doesn’t technically start until mid-March, in my mind, winter is December through February. March should be warm and in the 50’s. The snowstorm we had last week was just plain ridiculous. I shoveled snow for a good two hours yesterday when I should’ve been studying for my mid-terms! Okay, so that’s my excuse should I be proven to have done poorly on them. But… seriously, it snowed from 9am until 7pm yesterday. And it made me think of something really mean, too! While I love her, Mother Nature is most certainly a witch-with-a-‘b’!

Here’s hoping that spring comes soon!

Stupid Punxsutawney Phil, too! He SUCKS! Here I am wishing that Phil Connors really had killed that stupid groundhog!

Ugh. That’s it. I’m done and am now off my soapbox! I am curious – what do you guys think about experiencing all four seasons? Pros? Cons? Let me know! Until next time…

~ N.

2 Years Down, 48 To Go

*raises his arms in triumph*
We did it!

As of about 4:45 yesterday afternoon, my wife and I have been married for 2 years.

Looking back, it really doesn’t feel like it has been that long. In fact, it’s a blur. During this time frame, we’ve done a lot: We got our first apartment together, hiked to Lake Serene [affectionately dubbed by yours truly as “Lake Poopene”], went on a couple of road trips (Leavenworth [WA], Big Fork [MT], the big one to Carlinville [IL]), played on a softball team (Go Bombers!), survived WFV (Walden Family Vacation) 2007, rode mopeds on the beach along the ocean… it’s been a blast so far!

So I approached my third class professor who has a very casual, laid back, funny method of teaching. When he introduced himself to the class, he had stated that he'd been married for 5 years. After class yesterday, I approached and informed him that it was my 2 year anniversary with my wife. I expected something funny... along the lines of, "Welcome to the dog pound! It's all downhill from there..." kind of persepective.

Nada.

Rather, he completely lightened up and in a warm, caring manner said, "Congratulations..." He talked about how his wife and he typically take vacations on their anniversaries... I didn't have the guts to tell him I was expecting something funny. That's alright, though. The class is gonna be fun!

Back to the story...

To celebrate, we were going to go to the same very nice restaurant in Springfield that we went to during our first anniversary, but my wife’s vision was bugging her and I didn’t want her to drive at night and suffer just to go to a restaurant. SO! Instead of that, I drove back home to Carlinville, picked her up and we went to an awesome Chinese restaurant in Litchfield. We swapped our gifts, ate till we got absolutely stuffed and headed home. Nice and simple, nothing extravagant.

I’ll save the extravagant anniversaries for the fives (5, 10, 15, etc.).

Lori, if you read this, I love you with all I have! *raises Mt. Dew* Here’s to us, and the upcoming year!

Spring 2008 Classes! :)

Spring 2008 Classes!

So a new friend recently asked me which classes I’m currently in… so here’s the breakdown of my schedule:

First off, all of the following classes on are Mondays and Wednesdays.

Class 1 is Speech (COM 112) with a professor who is seemingly very giddy and happy. I tell people that if anyone had a pessimistic view of life and had her as a professor, they’d probably think, “Oh, GAG me!” Personally, I enjoy her bubbly personality. Not to mention it’s always better to have a happy, nice teacher than a witch. (edited for content)

Class 2 is English Comp. 102 with a professor I had last semester. I enjoyed his teachings so much, I wanted to continue to learn. When I asked which section of English Comp. he was going to teach, he told me which section, but then was quick to say, “…but I’m tough!” I was very quick to reply, “Yeah, but you’re good!” Indeed, he is probably the best English teacher I’ve ever had. Most traditional freshmen straight out of high school may find his humor to be slightly boring at times. He is a very eloquent speaker; however, he is a phenomenal English teacher should you wish to learn. That’s why I’m here (at UIS).

Class 3 is Class, Race and Gender in Criminal Justice with the most casual professor I’ve ever met. However, he is quick to warn students not to undermine his casual attitude. The class readings thus far seem to be rather long, but then again, it is a 300 level class. I guess as long as I stay on top of the coursework, I should be fine.

Class 4... *happy sigh* Japanese 152 with the one and only Maeda Sensei. Lovin’ this class nearly as much as last semester. I say “nearly” out of love for the two classmates who couldn’t stay in the same section this semester. Kelsey and Emily, we still got love for ya! ;)

And then…

I’m also taking an online class called Jazz in American Culture. Glancing at the syllabus led to me be rather overwhelmed by everything that was required throughout the course. This coupled with the first week reading of nearly 50 pages was a turn-off. However, one of the books we’re reading is an AWESOME read! And after taking everything into consideration (having to attend a jazz concert, conduct a book review, etc.), I’ve come to a consensus with myself (not to fear--it’s an inside joke) that this class will be a TON of fun.

I’ll keep you guys posted!

So that’s my story--what’s yours? What classes are you guys taking? Do you enjoy ALL of them? Let me know… I’d love to hear!

Until next time…

~ Nick

Help me find a good camera... please?

(read: Jeremy... HELP!)

Okay, this may seem silly to blog about... but it's necessary.

After this semester, my wife's family and I will be going to Europe for 2 weeks! I'm looking immensely forward to it, but I have a problem: my camera.

I currently have a very good Nikon, which is a 35mm camera. Truth be told, I'm sick of buying film. ALSO, it's cheaper to get digital prints than a roll of film developed.

That said, I'm in the market for a digital camera!

I do LOVE taking pictures, but I don't think it will amount to anything more than an occasional hobby. So while I was looking at a digital SLR for a little while, the bulkiness of the camera would end up irritating the crap out of me. Not to mention the fact that having a big ol' camera around my neck would just SCREAM out, "HEY! LOOK AT ME! I'M A TOURIST!!!" Not cool.

So I have a couple of options, but I don't know which to go for. Here's where you come in, friends...

First off... brand: is there a brand out there that I should completely avoid? Is there a brand that I absolutely should get?

Megapixel quality: A friend told me back in the day that anything over 3 or 4 is pretty much overkill unless you're looking to edit the photo. Is there truth to this?

Here are my current options:

~ Canon - PowerShot 7.1MP Digital ELPH Camera - Silver
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8266191&type=product&id=1170290185723
$249.99

Super slim, but only has a 3x optical zoom.

~ Canon - PowerShot 8.0MP Digital Camera - Black
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8510989&type=product&id=1186005750966
$299.99

Has a 10x optical zoom, which ain't bad.

~ Canon - PowerShot 8.0MP Digital Camera - Black
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8297513&type=product&id=1172881524725
$399.99

Note the 12x optical, which is really good. Downside on this one is that it's still a little bulky.

~ Sony - Cyber-shot 8.1MP Digital Camera - Black
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8266574&type=product&id=1170290214776
$429.99

Definitely at the top of my price range. Possibly too expensive, but has a heck of a lot of features! Downside is that it's probably the biggest camera of this lot.

~ Sony - Cyber-shot 8.1MP Digital Camera - Black
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8440234&type=product&id=1183160354020
$399.99

~ Note the 5x optical. This is also probably the slimmest camera I've ever seen.

Right. So. Anyone out there have any advice? HELP! :D

Until next time...

~ Nick

New Year Resolutions... where did they go?

So a friend *wink* asked me recently what my resolutions were. Rather than responding to her directly, I felt inspired enough to blog about it. So here I am.

I had several resolutions in mind...

ALL of them I've already failed on.

Admitted, some of them were pretty stupid: I was going to briefly write what I did on what day and then rate it on a scale of 1-10 so that, come the end up '08, I could tally everything up and see what the average daily "score" was. Lame. Failed.

I also wanted to write what I ate every day for a year to see how much soda I drank, amongst other foods (i.e. JUNK) I ate throughout the year. Lame. Failed.

Ooh! I know... I'll get a pedometer and see how many steps I take in a year. BUZZZZ!!! Never purchased one.

Aha! I'll see how much I drive this year... nope! Already skipped one log entry on that.

So, you know what? Heck with New Year Resolutions!! I 'spose if I really wanted to do something, I'd just do it. So here's my newly thought of resolution: Blog more! Achieved! :)

I also want to volunteer at a primary school in town which has a program that helps kids learn to read. I like that idea a lot! Hopefully I'll be doing that soon, I'll let you guys know.

Anyone else out there wanna share their New Year Resolutions? Anyone else in the same boat with me? Let me know. :) Until next time...

~ Nick

Winter Break 2007

Wow... how do I begin?

I may be called a "nerd" for this, but so be it:

I admit it, I missed school somethin' fierce! For 4 months, the schedule was set. We attended classes and we learned a lot. We met new friends and experienced a lot in that time. Eventually came finals, and then... poof! For an entire month, school didn't exist.

Now I don't know how any of you out there feel about this, and I'm curious to know, but I feel that 1 month is entirely too long. How about... 2 weeks? I'm just sayin'... I was in a rhythm and enjoying the heck out of it and it's like I'm a computer and somebody pressed "reboot" right in the middle of a game.

Then again, a part of me thinks that it's kinda cool to have that long of break, so that when you return, it's like you're starting out all over again. It doesn't feel like this is my second semester... it feels like my first. The only difference is, I know some people now.

Maybe we can compromise and meet in the middle: a 3 week break sounds perfect!

Anyhow, it's good to return to school and catch up with those we haven't seen in a month. I'll keep you posted on my new classes.

Until next time...

~ Nick

Thank God for student health insurance!

First and foremost, I apologize if there are any spelling errors in this blog as I am a little loopy. Here's why:

It was Tuesday night and I was watching the end of The Andy Griffith Show and my stomach started to hurt. I told my father-in-law that I ate too much, too quickly for dinner and was thinking that maybe a piece of bread (i.e. bagel) would sop up any yucky stomach acid I may have had.

After eating the bagel, the pain then moved into my intestines. I'd get a sharp pain in the "upper left" portion of the intestines followed by a "squishy" sound that would relieve the pain... for about 5 seconds. This continued over the next hour and a half, where it was then replaced by severe pain throughout my instestines and an occasional sharp pain.

This new pain would go on for the next 2 hours and I was praying it would pass. No dice. So here I was, in the most excruciating pain I've experienced since I've been born. I couldn't stand, couldn't sit, couldn't lay down - nothing. I was crawling around the house because that's all I could do.

Around 2am, I found myself reflecting on a visit to my pediatrician. I must've been about 8 years old or so. My doc told me that most kids would be screaming in agony if they had the ear infection I had. My mother has also told me time and time again that my tolerance for pain was exceptionally high. Being it that I was crawling on the floor for darn near 4 hours and I wasn't getting any better, I told my wife that we had better go to the E.R.

I won't go into detail about the tests they ran on me, but the short story version is that I was born 3 months premature and my intestines weren't fully developed. So they cut me open, fixed the intestines and went on my merry way. Well, 28 years later, the scarring from that operation became enough to block my intestines and nothing was goin' down. The doc said that the blocked portion of the small intestine was the diameter of a bratwurst. That, my friends, is no good.

The doc then performed a type of surgery using a camera vice slicing me open again. I asked if he would just cut open the big horizontal scar from birth, perform the surgery and then stitch it up to look nicer. He declined and now I have 3 new scars. Joy of joys!

There's a lot more to the story than what I've shared here. I'm just incredibly grateful that UIS has student insurance. If this had happened prior to school starting this past fall, my wife and I would be financially screwed. Admitted, we haven't seen the bill yet, but regardless of what it will be, we'll make it through.

Anyhow, if any of you out there have any interesting surgery stories, I'd love to hear them.

At this point, I have to return home and take some more pain killers.

Hope everyone's '08 is going well! Until next time...

~ Nick

Merry Commercialized Christmas!

I've been thinking about the whole idea behind gift giving on Christmas for the past several days and am now fed up with the idea. Here's why:

What is Christmas all about? Originally it was the birth of Christ... but now, with the existence of Santa and his "naughty or nice" list, kids get presents on Christmas. Right.

But we're adults now...

Okay, someone wants something for Christmas, right? I figure, if they want it, they should just go out and get it themselves!

If you want to give a gift, give to those who can't afford to live the lives we have. Give to those less fortunate!

That said, I'm quite tempted to tell my family next year not to get me anything and if they REALLY want to get something for me, help out at a homeless shelter or a food bank.

I know this blog isn't very well constructed and for that, I do apologize. However, I'm must ask: what do you guys think about this? Is it something you'd consider? I'm interested to hear your thoughts.

That said, Happy Holidays to all of you out there and a Happy New Year, too!

Take Care,
Nick