Susan's Pet Monster

Life is good

2011-06-25T04:51:00.000-07:00

Well, it's done. I graduated from South Plains College School of Nursing with an Associates degree in Nursing and passed my boards. I'm officially an RN and working on a Neurology floor at a local hospital. I stopped posting about school out of paranoia. I heard several stories about people being booted from the program for posting things on the internet, but I'll talk a bit about the rest of my schooling here.

Second semester was by far the hardest thing I've ever been through. It was stressful and I often had to go more than 3 days on literally no sleep. I wouldn't have been able to do it without Susan's help. We had two days of lecture with an exam every Monday, and clincals Wednesday through Friday. I learned so much, and I'm amazed at how much of it I actually retained.

Third semester was all about pediatrics and labor and delivery. It was amazing. It was more relaxing as the tests were more spread out and I was beginning to get into the swing of things. I got to see babies born, which was amazing and I'll always cherish being able to have been there.

The fourth and final semester was much like second, but it felt easier because I kind of knew what to expect and how to manage my time more. The clinical rotations focused on critical care and I loved it. I got a job on one of the floors that I rotated on.

I've only worked a few shifts on the floor, but so far I love it. Everyone I work with is awesome. I feel a bit like my training wheels have been taken off. That scares me because the first time my dad took my real training wheels off I rode head first into a tree. True story. The responsibility of holding people's lives in my hands is a bit daunting, but I'm proud, and I love what I'm doing.

I know it's brief but I don't know how much detail it's safe to go into, but that's it. I've just started my new career and what I feel like is my real life. And that life, as of right now is good.

Half way there!

2010-05-12T17:24:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I lied. I said I was gonna post throughout nursing school, but it's sucked away so much of my time that I haven't had time for things like blog posting. First semester was kindergarten compared to second (I didn't think so at the time, but I know now). I had a lot of things go my way though.

The hardest, most stressful thing about first semester was lab finals. All through the semester we learned how to perform various skills. Everything from hand washing to inserting a catheter. We had to video tape ourselves doing it, then turn it in to be graded. They were really tough on things like sterile fields. If the shadow of your hand crosses something that's supposed to be sterile... FAIL! Fail more than twice then you are kicked from the program. That sucked but I got through it all. Lab finals was a sort of live test of those. You draw a scenario, and perform all of the skills on it in front of the teachers, who watch and grade you live. I lucked out and drew an easy scenario. I had to wash my hands, wrap a stump (amputee), clean a dry, closed wound (easiest one), and give some basic meds (two kinds of insulin mixed, a couple pills, and something else that I can't remember).

I bombed it... the only thing I passed was the stump wrap. I left a little spot of soap on my arm, so I failed hand washing. I let my hand drop below my waist (contaminating my sterile hand), so I failed the wound. I said the wrong number outloud after I drew up an injection, and therefore failed pharm. I was devastated. You only get two chances... if I failed again, that was it for me.

For the second try you draw another random scenario... I walked in and picked a different number hoping for the best. I was so pissed that I blew the first try, since it was the easiest possible scenario for me... now I was probably going to have to do an irrigated open, wet dressed wound or insert a foley with a specimen collection (not that that would phase me this semester, but last semester it was scary). I should have bought a lottery ticket that day because somehow, even though it was random, I drew the EXACT same scenario! Needless to say I nailed it... on to second semester, which I'll post about when I feel less lazy.

Sick!

2009-09-16T16:13:00.000-07:00

I just put that little video in because it makes me smile.

So I haven't been able to post because I've been really busy.... and sick. Anyway, this last week I was able to pass my first 4 skills. The first two were medical hand wash and isolation gear. We had to check off on these in front of a classmate who had demoed it a few days before.

Hand washing is weirdly more difficult than it should be. There are actually people who have failed this skill. It involves washing with your hands, elbows, clothing, nose, and everything in the right positions, not touching ANYTHING, soaping and rinsing several times, and more. I passed it, but was a little nervous.

Isolation gear was difficult for me because I'm so big, and the isolation gear we were given was made for tiny little nursing student girls. So, the paper gown part of it basically came apart at the seams if I moved wrong in it, but I still passed. The picture above is pretty much exactly what I had to put on (except the girl in the picture is not Justin sized).

The next was Asepsis, one big demo of two skills on video. An instructor demoed putting together a sterile field and putting on sterile gloves in front of the class, then we had to practice and individually record ourselves demonstrating it. I don't recognize myself on camera. I recorded, then went back to watch myself and all I can think when I see myself on tape are things like 'who is that guy?' and 'they picked a weird looking actor to play me'. I passed those too, and got it all turned in over a week early so that was a relief, and has made this week much easier. I had my first 'prelim' today, and got a 92. Prelim is just a fancy word for exam, or test.

I'm proud of myself, because I've had some sort of stupid cold / sinus infection throughout it all and have felt pretty bad. My symptoms are fading... so I'm in the convalescence phase of my illness (that's a fun word that was on my prelim). Poor Susan's been sick too, and she's had to work, so I think everyone should take a moment of silence in honor of Susan.... Okay thank you.

This week we're learning about vital signs, and I wanted to get a little head start. So today, I went and watched a video about taking temperatures with different types of thermometers, on various types of patients, and in different parts of the body. By 'in' I mean IN. I know I'm going into nursing, and I know I've got to see, touch, and do things I normally wouldn't want to do... but the last thing I ever expected to see on an educational video at school was various types of thermometers inserted into an elderly man's anus... with closeups. (shudders).

plus

plus

equals

Anyway that's what I've been up to. Oh, we got new glasses, here's a picture:

Coffee Coffee Coffee!!!

2009-09-05T13:31:00.000-07:00

One week of school down. The first week started off easy, the first day mostly consisted of those 'getting to know each other games'... you know where you partner up with someone, learn some things about them, then tell the class about the person you met. We also had to choose an adjective starting with the first letter of our first names... then go around trying to name everyone off with their first names and adjectives... of course I got called on first and I'm terrible with names. My whole life I've hated this game because my only options were things like jovial, jiggly, jubilant, or if you aren't picky about the adjective, jumping. I chose Jerk Justin, I know it's not quite an adjective but I thought it was funny and so did everyone else.

After the first day lecture started. And all of the out of class reading and studying that goes along with that. I love lectures, especially when it's something that I find interesting so it was good. The only thing was, I didn't finish reading / studying until somewhere between 9:30 and 11pm every night so that kind of sucks. Skills start next week, in combination with lecture so the difficulty level / time consumption is going to ramp up substantially. We'll be learning 3 skills that we have to practice, and video tape / demonstrate on our own time. It's gonna be fun :)

I did find that getting up early, in combination with long days has unlocked a need for caffeine in me. Susan got me one of those Keurig coffee makers, and I am in love with it. Now I just have to find out which kind of coffee I like the most (there are so many to choose from).

iPod

2009-08-26T14:51:00.001-07:00

I went in today for my meeting with my adviser, which was fine. He just took all the paper work for my physical and everything, and talked to me about bicycles. He also said 'You better hurry to the computer lab so you can get your iPod.'

Now, there have been rumblings about a possible 'ipod', but I didn't really think they were true. I thought if it were true, it's probably just an iPod Shuffle with lectures on it or something. But I was wrong, I ran down to the lab, just as they were about to leave and was given a brand new 8GB iPod Touch! Neat! It's got a bunch of my text books on it, a medical dictionary / encyclopedia, a pill book, and a BUNCH more loaded on it. So not only is it a free, new toy, it's saving me a bunch on some of the books that I was going to have to buy! Anyway, that's all for now. I've got a meeting with my 'success coordinator' on Friday, then classes begin Monday at 8am. I feel like I'm speeding toward a brick wall, it's coming so fast, but I'm excited.

iPod Touch

2009-08-26T14:51:00.000-07:00

Nursing orientation

2009-08-19T23:47:00.000-07:00

I think I'm going to try to blog about nursing school as I work my way through it. We will have to see though. The way everyone is talking, I won't have time to pee, much less write a blog.

I had orientation the last two days, which consisted of a bunch of really nice people (current students and instructors) repeating the phrase, 'I'm not trying to overwhelm you or anything' over and over right before saying something terrifyingly overwhelming. They went over everything to expect, told us to kiss our families goodbye for two years, fed us a ton of cookies, and said things that made me feel like hyperventilating.

What? You want an example? Well my books this semester alone will cost somewhere around $900. Yeah... that's what I said too. Some of the current students told me that we were getting it easy. Apparently SPC got a huge grant that's taking care of a large chunk of other stuff that I would have to be buying as well otherwise.

Another panic inducing thing was my schedule. On paper it shows me in class basically from 8am to 3pm Monday thru Thursday. I thought that was a lot (I've been a part time student for a few years), until they told us that lab is open until 7pm Monday thru Thursdays, and Fridays from 9am til 2pm, and we are expected to be there when the lab is open. The students also told us that if we weren't, that our chances of success were nonexistent. We were also told that trying to work while in nursing school practically kills all chance of making it through. Thank goodness my wife and our family are so supportive.

As part of orientation we had to break up into groups and make a 'how to' video. My group got tying a shoe, and it was fun. As it turns out, the uber realistic peeing catheter practice penises are really popular props... they make great telephones, 'packages' to be wrapped, additions to a baby being diapered, and more... My fellow students have odd senses of humor, which makes me happy.

Anyway, all in all I had a great time, met some really cool people who I'm apparently going to be spending most of my time with for the next two years, and learned a lot about what to expect. I'm REALLY nervous, but excited too. This next couple years is going to be crazy, difficult, fun, enlightening, and apparently uber realistic peeing catheter practice penis filled.
I'm going to try to write about it as I go along. Maybe some incoherent rambling, maybe some fleshed out insights... no, probably just incoherent ramblings. We'll have to see.

Made a new site

2009-08-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

I made a new site, and I'm kinda proud of it... even though I just used weebly and clicked and dragged it together. It promotes my Points 2 Shop account, and tells people how to get free Nintendo points / Wii Points. It's at:
Http://freenintendopoints.weebly.com

I just wanted to show it off :P

I got a prize!

2009-08-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

So I got my first prize that I ordered with my points from Points 2 Shop today! It's a memory card for my phone. Anyway I needed to use my blog to host the image so I thought I'd post something with it so you'd know why I took a picture of a memory card. (It's proof!) Again, if you want to try this site out please click my banner below.

Here's a video of me opening my prize!

News

2009-08-06T14:25:00.000-07:00

Nothing much going on here, just on the home stretch before the fall semester starts, which means nursing school starts. I'm so excited! It's just hard because we still have to pay for half of my scrubs and for me to get a physical sometime in the next week or so.

Susan's new job has made her so happy, which makes me happy. We are kind of on opposite schedules, so for 3 to 4 days a week I don't get to see much of her at all which makes me a little sad, but when school starts I'll be too busy to worry about it.

I've also been playing around on this new website called Points 2 shop. You fill out surveys and play games and stuff to earn points that you can spend on Amazon.com. There are some similar websites that are fishy, but I assure you this one is legit. I've already made over $38 worth of points and spent them on some random things. Anyway if you want to check it out please use my link.

Thanks!

2009-07-25T14:26:00.001-07:00

Blackberry

2009-07-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

My contract on my phone went out about a month ago, and I got to upgrade. I got a Blackberry Pearl 8130, and I have to say it's pretty amazing. I never thought I'd really care to use the internet on a phone, but if I'm say, waiting in the car before work starts, or for Susan to go do something, it's so cool to be able to read the news on my phone. I get all of my email on my phone, so if I'm expecting one I don't have to find a computer to get it. It's also got GPS, so I can use Google Maps to find easy directions, and it makes a great music player. I use Pandora Mobile, and I love it. I never understood what people were talking about when they called it their 'Crackberry', but now I fully understand.

Ahhhhh... weekend!

2009-05-16T12:37:00.000-07:00

Wow, I slept entirely too long last night. It was great! I dreamt about parasitic worms, that Susan's bed was outside in a garden, and that I could float like a feather. All in all, I think that was a good start to a weekend. Happy Saturday!

Wow...

2009-05-15T21:54:00.000-07:00

Let's start by watching a short video.

I know right!? First off, how the heck did they get the tiny camera inside the caterpillar to film all that? It can't be real.... but I think it is! And Susan just told me "There could be one laying eggs in you right now!!!" WTF!? Oh and now she walked back into the room and said "When they hatch they will crawl out of your skin". MEAN! I don't know why I said "First off" because that's all I've got. Wait no... you know what? This is a prime example of why we should be terrified. You know all that creepy stuff you see in movies like Aliens? And you tell yourself "Boy howdy that was scary, but at least it's not real." I can't believe you actually say "boy howdy", but anyway... real life is even scarier! I mean, look at those "saw like teeth" that they use to eat their way out. Baaaaaaah! And that wounded caterpillar and one nice guy, isn't he?

Fun speech

2009-05-10T23:54:00.000-07:00

Why I like the band Tool

2009-04-29T18:19:00.001-07:00

Someone put together an awesome video examining the use of the Fibonacci sequence in the song 'Lateralus' by Tool. They set it to images from the Hubble. It's really cool, and I think everyone should give it a gander. Yes I just said gander.

Today

2009-04-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

Today I didn't do much. I wrote an paper on Cattle Ranching, and how it has evolved since the 1800's. Now that that's done, I'm pretty much done with History. I have a good enough grade that I can opt out of the final, and I think I am going to.

We've been playing A LOT of Peggle. If you haven't play Peggle, you should, then you'll have to tear yourself away from it 10 hours later.
I'm also thoroughly enjoying my new job at a toy store. I get to do a little bit of everything, and I have fun while I'm there.

Reading habits

2009-04-21T12:12:00.000-07:00

Reading habits
By Dana Kraus

~*~* Okay guys, you know the drill. Please copy this into your own notes or blog, remove my answers, then add your own and share, so we can get to know you better! ~*~*

1. Do you snack while you read?

I can't multitask! If I could, I probably would.

2. Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

Again, I can't do more than one thing at a time, so reading AND writing simultaneously isn't possible.

3. How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?

I use whatever random piece of scrap paper at hand, usually a gum wrapper or and old business card.

4. Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?

Both! I go on kicks where all I read is non-fiction, then switch back to fiction for a while, then back to non-fiction.

5. Hardcopy or audiobooks?

I read at a weird pace, and often go over lines more than once so that I can get the full meaning of them, so audiobooks bother me.

6. Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?

I can stop wherever I need to, but I prefer to read to some sort of stopping point.

7. If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away? Write it down to look it up later?

I usually just ask Susan, but if I can I will look it up.

8. What are you currently reading?

My Texas history book, a book on cattle ranching (also for history), and a cheesy war novel called The Common Defense by Ed Ruggero. It's actually not that cheesy...

9. What is the last book you bought?

George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones from his Song of Fire and Ice series. I can't wait to read it.

10. Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can read more than one at a time?

I'm okay with a few books at once. Well, not like... literally at the same time, you know, the whole multitasking thing.

11. Do you like re-reading books?

Yes, but only if several years have passed, and I have forgotten most of it.

YAAAAAAY!

2009-04-15T17:29:00.003-07:00

I've been accepted into the nursing program. Now in 2 more years I'll be a nurse. Hey, there's even an action figure.

Tiny Kites!

2009-04-14T21:35:00.000-07:00

So we found these awesome tiny kites at Toys 'R' Us the other day. They are just 4 inches across and don't look like they should fly, but surprisingly they do, and well!
We had so much fun flying them, and they were only around $2. I recommend them to anyone looking for a fun toy. Mine looks like a WWII fighter plane and Susan's looks like a butterfly. The birds were actually swooping in like they were going to eat them, but luckily they didn't actually go through with it. Here's a picture I found of one similar to mine.

In the vein of tiny flying things, here's a funny, yet catchy song I found called "Little Wings" by Mark Gormly. I highly recommend you give it a listen.

Oh yeah, RAWK!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T13:19:00.001-07:00

"Eating People" -- King Missile. iPOD game!

2009-04-09T14:33:00.000-07:00

The IPOD/ZUNE Game! Really fun! Read my answers, then erase them and play along.
BE HONEST and DONT PLAY IT A THOUSAND TIMES TILL IT'S "RIGHT"!

1. Put your iPod or iTunes on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS
4. Tag whoever you want including me
5. Have Fun!

I'm adding videos or players for the songs if they are available. It's probably going to be a bunch of Viking Metal... I'm just saying...

1) IF SOMEONE SAYS 'ARE YOU OKAY' YOU SAY....?

"Across the Rainbow Bridge" -- Amon Amarth

2) HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?

"Bastards of a Lying Breed" -- Amon Amarth

(cough)

Great... I have a whole viking metal fest on my mp3 player now.

3) WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GUY/GIRL?

"Mercy, Severity" -- Mudvayne

That's about right. Wait, no I mean..

4) HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?

"Eon Blue Apocalypse" -- Tool

Fantastic song, fantastic video.

5) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?

"Inertiatic ESP" -- The Mars Volta

Mwahaha

6) WHAT'S YOUR MOTTO?

"Rain. Sun. Gone" -- Mudvayne

Awww... but I like rain.

7) WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?

"Disgustipated" -- Tool

Really? I guess there had to be some sort of pooish reference in here somewhere.

8) WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?

"Through the Hosiery" -- Crystal Castles

~Uncomfortable silence~

9) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?

"Sober" -- Tool

I'm going to continue with the uncomfortable silence, thank you.

10) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR FIRST KISS?

"Flatline" -- Living Sacrifice

But in a good way.. really!

11) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?

"Vacant"-- A Perfect Circle

12) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?

"Gay / Not Gay" -- King Missile

That's kind of... (cough)

13) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

"Thor Arise" -- Amon Amarth

I do want to be a viking!

14) WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?

"Mon Ami La Rose" -- Natacha Atlas

It's not a bad dancing song.

15) WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?

"Death in Fire" -- Amon Amarth

I've officially got the creeps. It's actually a sweet song about Ragnarok, so it kind of fits.

16) WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?

"The Package" -- A Perfect Circle

Woah... that sounds naughty! I am waiting on a few deliveries... Wait! No not like that!

17) WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?

"All the Young Dudes" -- Mott the Hoople

That's funny, what a great song!

18) WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?

"Buenas Tardes Amigo" -- Ween

Best... Song... Ever... It's about murder and revenge and... a secret... that's sort of creepy. Susan just showed me a picture of a little girl cutting the head of a Lamb Cake. I'm even more creeped out now.

19) WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?

"Detachable Penis" -- King Missile

~Shifty eyes~

20) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?

"Cry of the Blackbirds" -- Amon Amarth

That's strange.

21) WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?

"Eating People" -- King Missile

Now that's funny.

New?

2009-04-08T12:22:00.000-07:00

I was going to say "there's nothing new" but I guess there is. I have been offered a job at a toy store pending my background check, so that'll be good. It's just part time, so I'll hopefully still be substitute teaching while working there. Working at a toy store should be lots of fun.

I'm still waiting to hear if I got into nursing school. Keeping fingers crossed.

Broken Picture Telephone!

2009-03-29T00:50:00.001-07:00

There's a really cool game called Broken Picture Telephone. It's like the game we played as kids where one kid whispers a message and as it gets passed around the room it changes to something completely different by the time it gets back to the first kid, except with pictures!

Basically the first person types a message, the second draws it, the next person describes what they see, and on and on. The results can be hilarious!

Here are some examples that I participated in (I'm Giant Jerk, and Susan is Susanlee178):
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3

Awesome right? Everyone should play!

BIKES!

2009-03-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

We got a small tax refund that we weren't expecting. Since we had some extra cash we decided to get bicycles! We got blue and pink beach cruisers.

Mine's the blue one. It's a fun, but terrifying experience for me to ride a bike. For one thing, they are not made for people who weigh as much as I do that aren't several thousands of dollars, so I'm just waiting for the wheels to taco or the seat to break off throwing me to the ground in a pile of broken bones. It's also scary because I haven't ridden a bike in around 11 years. As soon as I was able to drive I stopped riding and never looked back.

We've been talking about getting bikes for a while because it would be fun, good exercise, and a cheap gas-less way to get around; but we haven't had the money to get them. So far nothing has broken off under my weight, but my legs and arms feel like jell-o! We haven't even ridden that far, just up and down the street over and over, like little kids who aren't allowed to go off the block. But it's so much fun! I wish now that I had not stopped riding my bike all those years ago.

On a funny note the terms for people who weigh over 200 pounds and ride bikes are 'clydesdales' for men and 'Athenas' for women. That's kinda fun. Anyway here's some more pictures:

Me with my blue bike

Susan and her pink bike

You might want to get out of the way!

The bad thing was that the day after we got them a snowstorm came in, so we haven't been able to ride since that first day. But it's a little nicer today, so maybe we'll get out and ride some more! I can't wait!

High Fashion coming along...

2009-03-23T20:13:00.001-07:00

2009-03-22T01:32:00.001-07:00

That guy just wiped off his mustache.

WALRUSES! Or is it Walri...

2009-03-21T12:25:00.001-07:00

National Geographic posted this awesome picture of walruses at rush hour. It looks dangerous, like a room full of people running around with scissors.

I like beards...

2009-03-20T19:47:00.001-07:00

Vikings have beards, and now... so does the alphabet!

Nicely done beard alphabet by TimYarzhombeck - Link

Hungry ghost?

2009-03-19T12:11:00.001-07:00

Last night I was standing in the kitchen drinking a glass of water, when the pantry door swung open. A can of Ranch Style beans (I'm glad it wasn't something embarrassing) fell off the shelf and hit the floor, hard. A second later it shot across the room. It didn't roll, it slid length wise, you know like flat side first across the room really fast and slammed into the clothes dryer. I don't know how this happened, and if it had rolled I would just blow it off, but how the hell does a can go flying across a room like that?

Sick

2009-03-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

For the first time ever I have a job that gives me spring break off, and guess what. I caught a cold!
I caught it from our dog Maybe. She was sick last week, and one night I woke up and her nose was practically in my mouth and she was breathing very heavily. A couple days later I woke up with a sore throat. I don't think it was a coincidence. So now half way through spring break I am still sick, coughing a lot, but possibly feeling better? I don't know how to tell since I feel different every day.

Elimae

2009-03-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

I found a website that has a lot of good short stories, poetry, and prose. It's elimae.com. If you need something to read you should check it out. I liked "The Slug Trail" by Brian Allen Carr, it's strange.
I found the site via Christopher Walken, who tweeted about it on Twitter.

This is one of the coolest things I've ever seen!

2009-03-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Twitterdidit

2009-03-12T18:20:00.000-07:00

I've gotten pretty lazy about my blog, and I fully lay the blame on Twitter. I've been tweeting a lot. So if you want to really know what I'm up to, I suggest you follow me there at Twitter.com. Thanks!

EDIT
Actually I just remembered, my twitter feed is over there on the right. It's under the TWIT WIT over there, so you can just read it there if you want to.

Beagly

2009-03-04T19:01:00.000-08:00

I've heard the term "Regal Beagle" used before, but I'd like to be the first person on the internet to use the term "Arch-Beagle". As in the Arch-Beagle, similar to Arch-Duke. There, I've done it. Thank you.

Pssst!

2009-03-04T12:51:00.001-08:00

I never understood that whole "psssst!" thing, because usually it would be used to get someone's attention, while not drawing public attention to yourself. But going "Psssst!" just causes everyone around you to look in your general direction. Maybe it's just me, being giant, but people notice. Anyway, I found some fun games on a site called Pencilkids.com, and wanted to share.

Oh... I'm supposed to be doing history homework right now... yes... (cough) as I was saying the battle for Texas' independence mostly consisted of Texans getting massacred until they got angry and killed the Mexican army in 18 minutes. That's actually true... in 18 minutes! In the time it takes to... do something that generally takes approximately 18 minutes, Sam Houston's 900 men killed, captured, or scattered Santa Anna's 1300. And that concludes today's history lesson.

Uh..

2009-03-03T20:27:00.000-08:00

Nothing really new going on here. Still substitutin' and job huntin'. I don't have anything clever to... GAHHH!! Why for the love of god why!? It can't be real!

I love the sounds that camels make... but why are they in a car!?

2009-03-02T15:51:00.000-08:00

This thing is freaking awesome!

2009-02-26T18:31:00.000-08:00

Pandas Sneezing!

2009-02-25T15:33:00.000-08:00

I believe!

2009-02-25T15:19:00.000-08:00

Weekend

2009-02-22T22:18:00.000-08:00

I had a really good birthday weekend. My family came from Amarillo to visit, which was really nice. I got a cake and presents, which was also fun. And Susan and I watched the Academy Awards, which was nice and relaxing.

I had to take a History exam tonight, for some reason my instructor makes us take our tests on Sundays (it's an online course)... there should be a rule against that! Tomorrow morning I have a First Aid exam. Two exams in two days... bugh!

This last Thursday, I went in with Susan when I dropped her off to sub at the high school, to introduce myself to the secretary, in hopes that she would start calling me. So far all I've had is a few middle school classes. Just as I walked in a stressed out teacher came in too. She was stressed because she had a family emergency and had to leave, and didn't have a sub lined up. So, I got to sub my first high school class! It was easy, we just watched movies all day. I never realized this, but apparently when a teacher shows a movie, if it's the same movie all day, he or she has to watch the first half of that movie up to 8 times in a row... Yeah that sucks! Luckily my teacher left me a bunch for the classes to choose from, so I got to watch the first half of October Sky, Sister Act 2, Encino Man, and Radio twice. Just watching the first half of a movie is sort of frustrating, but not as bad as having to watch the same one over and over. Anyway, that's my update.... goodnight.

Hey what's going on in there!?

2009-02-16T13:41:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's day!

2009-02-13T20:16:00.000-08:00

Would you like to see...

2009-02-13T13:15:00.000-08:00

Foxes jumping on a Trampoline?

The Middle Wife

2009-02-13T10:09:00.000-08:00

(By an Anonymous second grade teacher)

I've been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself, but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second-grade classroom a few years back.

When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness. Usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they catch and stuff like that. And I never, ever place any boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it to school and talk about it, they're welcome.

Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater. She holds up a snapshot of an infant.

"This is Luke, my baby brother, and I'm going to tell you about his birthday."

"First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord."

She's standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I'm trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me. The kids are watching her in amazement. "Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying and going, 'Oh, oh, oh!'" Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans. "She walked around the house for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh!'" Now the kid was doing this hysterical duck walk, holding her back and groaning.

"My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn't have a sign on the car like the Domino's man."

"They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this." Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall. "And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!". This kid has her legs spread and her little hands are miming water flowing away. It was too much!

"Then the middle wife starts saying 'push, push, and breathe, breathe.' They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff they all said was from Mom's play-center, so there must be a lot of stuff inside there."

Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat. I'm sure I applauded the loudest. Ever since then, if it's show-and-tell-day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another Erica comes along.

(taken from http://kauaimark.blogspot.com)

Nom Nom Nom!

2009-02-10T18:37:00.001-08:00

Kitten Eating a Graham Cracker - watch more funny videos

2009-02-10T09:45:00.001-08:00

uh oh...

2009-02-09T18:18:00.001-08:00

That video doesn't fit... hmmm...

Hi five!

2009-02-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

First a video...

So, I'm a huge nerd, so I think high fives are awesome. I don't know what it is about them, but it makes me smile. So last Friday, A LOT of the middle school boys high fived me when they walked in the room... and several times throughout each class. I don't know what it was about. I worried at the time that I was the butt of some kind of joke, because they would smile, walk over, and high five me, and then walk back to their desks. I still don't know if it was some kind of joke, but it made me laugh, so it's fine with me.

And now... Animals eating stuff!

2009-02-09T10:14:00.000-08:00

Anti-theft sandwich bag

2009-02-08T18:39:00.000-08:00

These things are genius!

And now....

2009-02-08T16:34:00.001-08:00

This image was taken from http://sporkinthedrawer.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/08/26/cownose.jpg

My first day

2009-02-07T19:59:00.001-08:00

My first day as a substitute teacher was awesome. It was a 7th and 8th grade computer class. I didn't really have to do much teaching, since the students just played internet games all day. I was basically just a glorified babysitter, but it was fun. I talked with some of the boys about video games, and to the girls about random stuff. Some of those girls could REALLY draw in MS Paint. I was expecting middle school kids to be all bad, or hard to control, but they weren't bad at all. No blood, no guts, no tears... I came home in one piece. I know that every day won't be that easy or as much fun, but I can only hope.

Joshua Radin's "Brand New Day"

2009-02-05T17:01:00.000-08:00

I put this here so Susan can listen to it.

Monsters are real!!!

2009-02-04T13:39:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to share with you a little something that I stumbled upon today while perusing the interwebs.

Looks like a closeup of some kind of bug right? NO! It's called a giant isopod! Here is some poor fool who picked one up and is probably about to be eaten alive!

Okay so in case you aren't going to have nightmares yet, here's a video.

I'm going to go crawl into my closet and hide now...

25 things about me

2009-02-03T13:32:00.000-08:00

1. I love my wife more than anything. I don't think I'm very good at showing her that though. Sometimes she thinks she's bad for me, and that really hurts my feelings. I think she's made my life so much better than it was before. I put the "I love my wife" thing first because that earns those illusive "brownie points". Wait... what's a brownie point?

2. I really like to try new things, but it's really hard for me to get motivated sometimes. Once I get motivated I can be hard to stop. I guess you could say I'm pretty damn lazy. But I like it that way.

3. I love change. One of my favorite things to do is rearrange a room. It lets me clean all the places that I couldn't get to before, and basically turns it into a new room. I just did the living room this last weekend, and it's almost like having a new house.

4. I love being back in school. It took me such a long time to go back after high school. Part of that was because I couldn't figure out financial aid, part of it was fear, and a large part of it was that whole lack of motivation thing.

5. I'm slow. Not mentally. Physically... like a sloth. Susan says "look at that" and my head starts to turn immediately. By the time I "look at that" it's been gone for a while. Of course that leads to trouble with Susan :)

6. Video games are one of my favorite things. It's just nice to get away and fly a starship or fighterplane once in a while and not have to worry about bills and whatnot. One of my earliest real memories is of playing Atari at my grandparents' house.

7. I call my dad's mom, "Green Grandma". I am not sure why. I've called her this ever since before I can remember. One day I just blurted out "are we going to Green Grandma's house?", and it stuck. I think it's because she used to wear a green dress with white flowers on it, or at least she did once when I was very small.

8. Speaking of me being very small, I'm not. I'm just big. That's the best way to describe me. Big, like an elephant, a great dane, or a building. I take up a lot of space in every direction, and I like it that way. Susan say's it makes me "real".

9. I REALLY love our dogs. In particularly our Miniature Beagle / Australian Shepherd mix "Maybe". She's a very good dog. Not to say our boy "Marlowe" isn't. But Maybe is my buddy. She likes a good smell (or a bad one), she will eat anything, and she's lazy like me. I used to think I was a cat person, but we've had terrible luck with those lately.

10. I hate video montages. You know, when they play the music and show pictures and video clips. I don't really know why I hate them, I just do. Susan's watching one right now, so I thought it deserved mention.

11. I love Viking metal. Bands like Amon Amaroth. It's basically heavy metal, but they sing about viking battles and Norse mythology and what not. It's fantastic, and maybe slightly embarassing.

12. I am clumsy. I will stub, drop, break, smash, fall on anything near, attached, or around me. I have a big toe with no nail to attest to this.

13. Because of the previous thing, I DO NOT like to hold other people's babies. Don't get me wrong, I think babies are great! But I don't want to be the jerk who dropped the baby resulting in her lifetime disfigurement / disability. It terrifies me when people are like "here hold the baby!". Often I end up holding the baby because I don't like to disappoint, but it's usually several minutes of sheer terror for me, and probably the baby.

14. I like to read. I will read anything from text books to cheesy sci-fi novels. It always bothers me when someone says that they don't read, and are proud of it. Gross!

15. I really like noses. Particularly animal ones. When my dogs walk by I can't help but poke a nose. Now don't go crying animal cruelty! It's not like I walk up on them when they are sleeping and poke their noses... oh wait...

16. Speaking of animals, I also like to watch them eat! When I watch a small animal eat something it always makes me smile. I mean, have you seen the turtle eating a tomato? The rabbit eating the spinach? The python eating a real huma... wait, maybe not that one.

17. You know what I hate? Food! Well, no not food. I love food. But I hate it when little kids have it all over their faces. I think they should have to wear some sort of device that sprays it all off on command. Like when you see a child with tomato sauce all over their face, you can clap your hands 3 times and a high pressure jet of water will come out of nowhere and wash the food off. Woah... not only would that be practical, it would be HILARIOUS!

18. I love casseroles. I also love pot luck dinners. I've never figured out whether I love casseroles because you get them at pot luck dinners, or if I love pot luck dinners because they usually consist of a bunch of casseroles. But count me in either way!

19. I like to sing, but I don't know the lyrics to any song. When I say I like to sing, I mean that I just sing about everything going on around me. If you see me driving and singing, I'm not singing along with the radio, I'm probably singing about broccoli or tax exemptions. Usually I end up singing about Susan or the dogs though.

20. I like to watch people smacking into stuff. SO you can probably guess that one of my favorite shows is MXE. It's a Japanese TV show that basically has people running into giant Nerf balls, falling off stuff into water, or running into solid walls... you get the idea. It's wonderful.

21. Speaking of the Japanese... You can just put them and most of the stuff they do on my list. I won't even go into detail, just think Japanese = YAY! They have all the cool toys, robots, games... wait I guess I did make a list.

22. I have to mention those fainting goats. They are awesome. I know it sounds mean, but I want one so bad. It's just so funny to watch them fall over when you shout "boo!"

23. I like to play disc golf, or Frisbee golf. It's so relaxing to get outside and take a walk in the park, while throwing Frisbees. I don't do it often enough, and Levelland has a surprisingly good course.

24. Did I mention that I love my wife. She is incredible. She makes the best food, she sings pretty, looks pretty, takes pretty pictures, makes our house feel like home, and this list could go on and on. Anyway, Susan is the best girl in the world!

25. I'm glad this is the 25th thing on the list of 25 things. I was having a really hard time thinking of stuff to put on here. I guess if I have to list one more thing it will be miniature animals. Not dogs, but like miniature donkeys, horses, goats, pigs, and stuff like that. I wish they made miniature elephants. I don't know who "they" are, but miniature elephants should be on their list of stuff to make.

Gone Country?

2009-02-03T07:36:00.000-08:00

Susan's aunt took us to what was my first country concert ever last weekend. It was a lot of fun! I don't know any of the songs, at least I won't admit to it, but I loved watching Susan sing and dance. I usually count mullets and mowhawks when I go to a concert, as I usually attend some sort of metal show. I figured I'd at least be able to count mullets, but no. Not one single mullet. There were a BUNCH of girls wearing very little except cowboy boots. So I just counted those instead. The artists playing at the concert were Darius "don't call me Hootie" Rucker, who Susan has a crush on. He and his new band did a bunch of new songs, and some of his old Blowfish tunes, which was pretty cool. Here's a picture of him dancing, or something, with an Xbox360 controller, which earns my respect.

Then there was Dierks Bentley, who basically sang about sex in many different ways. That was fun. And finally the headliner, uh oh... I can't remember his name. He was wearing a Star Trek shirt, which I thought was cool... but what was his name... hold on I'll go look...Brad Paisley! He put on a fun show, with lots of cool lights and videos and stuff going on all over the place. In one song they had cartoon versions of themselves running around on screens behind them and the band interacted with them. That was actually very cool. Anyway, that was my first country concert, and I had fun! The music was fun, and I might be more apt to pay attention to it from now on. But for now I think I'll stick to viking metal...

I actually had that helmet when I was little :)

Mr. Brinkley

2009-02-02T18:35:00.000-08:00

So I'm officially a substitute teacher now. Scary huh? It's so much responsibility... I don't even know how to use a comma! My first day is going to be sooooo surreal.

And now... Animals eating stuff!

2009-02-01T21:38:00.001-08:00

Today we have for you, a rabbit eating parsley:

Poor Koala!

2009-01-28T18:29:00.000-08:00

I found this picture on Digg.com .

My wife's blog

2009-01-28T12:23:00.001-08:00

If anybody stumbles upon this blog and want's a good one to read, check out my wife's blog. It's so much better than mine. It's at:
http://aflawedbeauty.blogspot.com/
Enjoy!

Tooting my horn!

2009-01-27T17:11:00.000-08:00

I took my nursing entrance exam, the TEAS test, last Friday, and it wasn't too bad. I did a lot of practice questions to study, and it seems to have helped. On the reading portion I scored a 95%. I only needed a 85% to qualify for the program and the average grade of everyone who takes the test is a 87%. I'm in the 87th percentile in the nation. So, that was pretty good.

On the math part of the test I scored a 93.3% out of a required 85%. The average grade of everyone who takes the test is a 64.8%, and I'm in the 99th percentile. So I actually did better on that than 99% of people who take it. Awesome!

My worst section was the English section. Anyone who has read any of my writing and knows grammar knows I don't know how to use a comma. Comma's are my worst enemy. Anyway, I got an 80% out of a required 70% on this section. The average in the country on this section is a 77%. I actually did really well on the English section, except for the comma part, where I did bad enough that it pulled my grade down. But I'm still in the 58h percentile on that one, so it's better than average. I wanted to retake it but the recruiter told me my grades are great and that I shouldn't waste my money and time. Last year the highest grade on that section at SPC was a 75%.

All in all I think I have a pretty good chance of getting into the program, but you never know. Keep your fingers crossed :)

Rastlin'!

2009-01-22T12:35:00.000-08:00

So I used to like "pro" wrestling when I was younger. I lost interest in it about the same time I reached puberty. I just don't understand it. Now I'm all for a good kung fu flick; yeah I know the story is usually pretty generic, but I love to watch the fight scenes. The choreography is awesome. "Pro" wrestling, not so much. Just oily guys in their underwear reacting to "air" punches and body slams. While I know it takes athletic ability that I'll never have to do some of that stuff, it's still just play fighting. BUT, I love to watch the Lucha Libre! I don't watch it often, but if I'm channel surfing and see it on one of the Spanish channels I'll stop and watch it for a few minutes. I know, I know, it's still just guys in their underwear, fake fighting. But in Lucha Libre, they generally wear more clothing, AND cool masks. I know, cool masks is a boy thing, I'd totally wear one around if Susan would let me. These guys also throw themselves around like crazy. They do some acrobatics that are just mind blowing. I ask you please to take a few seconds to view the following video before I continue:

Awesome right!? I know I teased with a continuance but my dogs need to go outside. Thanks for reading!

No way!

2009-01-17T19:12:00.000-08:00

Now I know there is such a thing as women's tackle football, and the women who play it often look a lot like me.

SO... apparently there's a Lingerie Football League. I mean full contact football played by women in lingerie uniforms. Don't believe me?

See I told you! Wait... still don't believe me? Here's some video:

Crazy right?

Nights

2009-01-17T04:52:00.000-08:00

Susan got upset with me because I told someone that I wanted to continue working nights after I got done with school and went into the nursing field. I like working at night, I seem to get to spend more time outside than I do when I work during the day. I don't seem to have the problems that a lot of people have with adjusting to it. But I understand that she wants to have a "normal" schedule. It would be nice to have dinner at dinner time and go to bed when the sun goes down and not the other way around. We'll just have to see what happens. Anyway, I mostly made this blog post as an excuse to post this pic of an angry little thing that I found. By the way, Susan made my new blog template and I think it looks great. Thanks bee!

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

2009-01-13T08:59:00.000-08:00

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Potty humor?

2009-01-13T07:26:00.000-08:00

So Susan judged a speech tournament thing this past weekend and as usual I went with her to watch. They are always a lot of fun, but this time the room she was in had a broken thermostat and the heater was on full blast. I looked and the temperature was slowly climbing, by the time we left the needle had passed 90. This is tolerable outside for most people, but I like my climates nice and cool so even with a breeze I can't handle it. Anyway, so I left poor Susan to listen to speeches in her sauna for 5 hours while I wandered the halls of Lubbock High school. It's an old school and has some spectacular architecture and lots of history, Buddy Holly went there. Here's a pic.

Inevitably I had to use the restroom and was shocked to discover something about this very old building. The toilets do not have stalls... In the first bathroom I entered this is what I found:

That's right, just toilets basically out in the open with minimal privacy. I was curious so I wandered into a few more just to see and:

Yes, apparently none of the toilets in this school have any privacy! What if I had to "sit down to go" so to speak? Anyone coming into the bathroom would get a view of me from about shoulders up, and my legs sticking out the front of the stall. And that's if they didn't decide to continue into the bathroom. If they walked all the way in they would be forced to look at me in all my (fat guy on a toilet) glory. SO what the heck!? That's what I'm forced to ask. Did people in the olden days not care about pooing in private? Someone could have just walked in and seen Buddy Holly on the pot. Weird...

Fun!

2009-01-11T20:13:00.000-08:00

I love Muppets, so Susan got bored and photoshopped me into a pile of them. Yeah!

Fantastic Mustaches!

2009-01-10T18:52:00.000-08:00

Stuff that scares me

2009-01-08T13:25:00.001-08:00

So there are many things which do, have, or will give me the creeps. And one of those things is this muppet:

I'm not exactly sure why, but when I was little I used to have nightmares where she was trying to eat me. I still get a little shot of the chills when I see her, but it's not so bad. Thank you...

Nerd Lord!

2009-01-08T13:19:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking of playing World of Warcraft again... Time to get out my nerd costume.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson: death by black hole

2009-01-08T11:10:00.001-08:00

This guy is very interesting and extremely funny.

Comics

2009-01-06T17:55:00.001-08:00

http://dustinland.com/archives/archives366.html

http://abstrusegoose.com/99

Click it to view a non blurry version.

Animals eating things

2009-01-06T17:47:00.000-08:00

I don't have anything to talk about really. I know I'm pretty boring most of the time and I actually enjoy that about myself. So, here's a picture of a lizard eating it's tail.

My obligitory update

2009-01-05T12:36:00.001-08:00

Not much new going on... it's been a good winter break. I've been sick most of it, but I got some fun presents from my various in-laws. One was a hot dog machine, which is pretty dang funny, I like it :)

I just went and signed up to take my nursing entrance exam. It'll be Friday the 23rd. I think it will be easy, as the practice test I've looked at seems to be composed of pretty basic questions. I've revamped my spring schedule to make it a little more palatable. Instead of having class or working or both every day, now I just have class on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesdays and online.. so I'll get all the work and school over with at the same time and have actual days off. I'll be taking first aid on Mondays and Wednesdays. I think it'll be a fun class, and it will get me certified, which I have to get done before entering the program anyway. I'll be taking Medical Terminology on Tuesday afternoons. It's not required fare, but is recommended and will be helpful anyway. And finally I'm taking Texas History online, because I like history classes, and it will take care of my humanities elective credit. So, it should be a good semester.
I'll have to take microbiology during the summer, but that's okay. I feel like I'm making progress, but it's taking SO LONG.

Other than that there's nothing much new going on here. I like to post things that I find that make me smile so here's what I found today. Thanks for reading.. if anyone was reading.

The Brinkley crest and coat of arms

2009-01-03T08:38:00.001-08:00

The Brinkley crest:
The Brinkley coat of arms:

And the Bell one too...creative weren't they?

Happy deer!

2008-12-28T09:44:00.000-08:00

And now (drum roll)... an animal eating!

2008-12-27T01:20:00.001-08:00

Mike Tyson got all pudgy... weird!

2008-12-18T16:05:00.001-08:00

I bet he could still punch out Little Mac in one shot though.

Ugh... overtime

2008-12-17T07:39:00.000-08:00

Today is normally the first day of my weekend... Well I usually get off at 8:30am and start my days off... but not today. Since school's out, and we need money I'm going to have to start working extra... I'm not looking forward to it :(

Speaking of Jesus...

2008-12-12T20:55:00.000-08:00

Hey I was puttering around and happened upon this picture of Jesus, which I have a framed copy of, but it fell and broke so it no longer hangs around on my wall. It always reminded me of the E.T. poster that I also had in my room growing up because E.T.'s chest glowed too.

Speaking of scary E.T. posters, while looking for the above picture I found this.

Ahhhhhhhh! I'm glad I didn't have that poster!

School's out.... for now...

2008-12-12T19:53:00.000-08:00

Another semester is out of the way. I ended up with a B in Chemistry, which I am a little disappointed with, but oh well. I also got an A in Human Growth and Development. So for the semester my GPA is a 3.43, which brings my overall GPA down to a 3.73. A 3.73 isn't too bad. Next semester will be interesting, I'm taking medical terminology on Tuesday afternoons, nutrition on Fridays, and Humanities online. Fun. Also here's a picture of my one true love in a hat!

2008-12-05T22:09:00.001-08:00

Chemistry final.

2008-12-05T14:09:00.000-08:00

Boy I guessed my ass off today at my chemistry final. I'm kind of ashamed of that, but it's true. As I tallied my grade to see what I would need to make on the final I found that it was not possible for me to fail the course, even if I didn't take the final, and I only needed to get 49 out of the 100 questions right to get a B. The B is also the highest I am able to make, even if I aced the final. So basically I had a goal of 49% to aim for. This made me lazy. I did study, quite a bit, but I guess I could have done more. I showed up this morning feeling very confident because again, I DID study. I looked at the test and drew a very large blank. I knew a lot of the answers, but guessed on a very large proportion of them. I guessed on enough of them that I was actually worried that I might not get that 49%. I fretted all morning until just now. I got 86 out of 100 of them right. Now that was some masterful guess work if I do say so myself!

(EDIT)

Susan pointed out that I fibbed a little, and I didn't do it on purpose. I forgot that the teacher added 15 points to our final exam score due to grading on a curve, so I actually got a 71... not so good. But, I guess it's the final score that matters the most.

Nevermind...

2008-12-05T10:38:00.000-08:00

Things seem to be looking up today.

Almost done!

2008-12-04T17:23:00.000-08:00

Whew... chemistry final exam is tomorrow morning, then I have the week of death!( dun dun dun!!!!) I call it that because it's the final chapter in Human Growth and Development, and it's all about death. Yeah, perfect for the holidays!

Prop 8: the musical! It's a MUST WATCH

2008-12-03T18:57:00.001-08:00

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Size matters?

2008-11-28T19:20:00.000-08:00

It's been pointed out to me that the grasshopper that I talked about in a previous post wasn't really all that big, and is just a normal sized grasshopper. I guess I should point out that I'm sort of afraid of bugs, and that if it has more than 4 legs, it probably looks about 4 to 10 times it's size or more to me.

Oh yeah...

2008-11-21T17:23:00.000-08:00

They also come in "Pig" shape.

Bacon + chocolate = fantastic!

2008-11-21T17:18:00.000-08:00

Susan brought be a Mo's bacon bar back as a gift from San Francisco. To the uninitiated it's applewood smoked bacon and alderwood smoked salt in deep milk chocolate. Yeah, that's right, a bacon chocolate bar! It may sound like a weird combination, but it is yummy and I recommend it to everyone to at least try.

Ed Hochuli

2008-11-13T19:09:00.000-08:00

I always thought NFL referee Ed Hochuli looked a lot like Robin Williams.

Super name!

2008-11-04T11:51:00.000-08:00

A 19 year old British kid officially had his name changed from George Garrett, to "Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine Hulk And The Flash Combined." Hell yeah! Good job Mr. Combined, hell of an improvement... but I don't think most of those are known particularly for speed.

From http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2008/11/03/Teens_Fantastic_new_name_Super_long/UPI-90361225751268/

Gigantor

2008-10-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

These pictures don't do this thing justice. It's a gigantic grasshopper that is hanging out on my mailbox, I have dubbed him, Gigantor. His full name is Gigantorus Maximus III.

Stuff that creeps the hell out of me!

2008-10-29T11:53:00.001-07:00

1. Penguins: Not really just penguins, but more specifically the fact that they are four feet tall. Think about it... I always thought they were little and cute, but no... four feet tall! FOUR FEET TALL! I dunno, but that creeps me out.

2. The fact that on the other side of the world there are people walking around basically upside down. Know what I mean? Think about it... yeah... there's people down there...

3. Bugs.

4. There's a coffin in Susan's room. Yeah, seriously. Susan's dad is going to use it for Halloween at the fire department. They are going to put the candy in it and make the little kids reach in to get the candy. I think they should hide a penguin or something in there to jump out at them, but hey. Anyway, they needed a place to keep it and so I volunteered Susan's bedroom. She' out of town and not using it anyway.

5. The fact that the coffin is made of card board! It's just felt covered card board with metal handles. It's not that it would biodegrade, or that bugs can get through, whatever. But I'd be afraid if you were carrying it with the body in it, that it would break. It's totally flimsy! I mean, I had heard of card board coffins, but I didn't know they were real! I just thought it was a turn of phrase or something. Susan's dad says they cave in when they put the dirt on top. That's kind of sad. I'm getting turned into a diamond anyway.

Oh no!!!

2008-10-25T04:39:00.001-07:00

Glow in the dark cat!

2008-10-24T21:18:00.000-07:00

ICYMI - Mr. Green Genes The Glow in the Dark Cat @ Yahoo! Video

This video is amazing

2008-10-23T01:53:00.001-07:00

She's completely computer generated!!

Surprise ending... Must watch!

2008-10-19T08:42:00.001-07:00

Political survey thing

2008-10-08T23:58:00.000-07:00

Stole this from Susan and I'm bored.

01] Do you have the guts to answer these questions and re-post as The Controversial Survey?
Yes.

[02] Would you do meth if it was legalized?
Meth is disgusting and it causes physical and mental problems that will ruin your life. Of course not.

[03] Abortion: for or against it?
Saying you are for abortion sounds wrong. I'm not for going out and aborting fetuses for fun. But I think a woman has the right to choose what happens in her body. And if the situation warrants it, abortion I think it should definitely be considered as a viable option in our overpopulated world.

[04] Do you think the world would fail with a female president?
Of course not, some of the worlds greatest leaders have, historically, been women.

[05] Do you believe in the death penalty?
I don't fear death, so I think the death penalty is letting people off easy. I also think we have given the death penalty to many innocent people. Life in prison, to me, is much worse a fate than death.

[06] Do you think marijuana should be legalized?
Of course, I think it should be legalized, regulated, and taxed. It doesn't hurt anybody any more than cigarettes do, and could be a huge source of tax revenue to fund things like health care.

[07] Are you for or against premarital sex?
I think it's important for couples to know if they are sexually compatible before they get married. I don't believe teenage sex is okay, but between adults absolutely. How many marriages fail because the couple isn't compatible that way?

[08] Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized?
Yeah. Of course it should.

[09] Do you think it's wrong that so many Hispanics are illegally moving to the USA?
I think it's wrong that it's illegal for them to come here. Unless you are Native American, your ancestors were "illegal" immigrants too.

[10] A twelve year old girl gets pregnant, should she keep it?
Of course not! A twelve year old girl wasn't old enough to have sex, she certainly isn't old enough to raise a child. If her parents let her get pregnant, then they obviously can't help raise that child. It should be aborted, or put up for adoption.

[11] Should the drinking age be lowered to 18?
I'm leaving Susan's answer...
No, and here's why: the laws about alcohol are in place for a reason, it's not
because we don't want 18 year-olds to have fun, it's because the body is not able to properly process alcohol at 18. Furthermore, the brain is still developing until 23. If anything, the drinking age should be raised to 23. Also, as for the argument that if an 18 year old can fight a war he can have a beer, that's ridiculous. The age that it's possible to enlist in the military should also be raised to 23. Teenagers should not be fighting in wars. And until the brain is fully developed, they should not be allowed to make that sort of life altering decision.

[12] Should the war in Iraq be called off?
Iraqis don't want us, we don't want to be there, of course we should leave. The real fight should be with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

[13] Assisted suicide is illegal do you agree?
Again, leaving Susan's answer. I agree that it's illegal, (except in Oregon). I do not agree that it should be. People shouldn't be made to suffer when they are no longer able to live their lives.

[14] Do you believe in spanking your children?
Hmmm Susan's answer again... I'm lazy. I believe that it's okay to swat a child, once, on their bottom, preferably with a flyswatter, to get their attention, I don't believe in spanking as a punishment. It's been proven not to work, and I don't think it's okay to tell a child not to hit, and then hit them. Teach by example.

[15] Would you burn an American flag for a million dollars?
Sure, pass the lighter.

[16] Who do you think would make a better president? McCain or Obama?
GoooooooooObama!

[17] Do you think Obama will be killed?
I hope not, but I'm sure some whacko racist is going to think about it.

[18] Should child predators be forced to wear signs identifying themselves?
There was recently a case where two teenagers had sex and were both charged with "having sex with a minor". They were both underage. They are both now classified as sex offenders, or child predators, for the rest of their lives. I think if it is a real creepo who has sex with a child, he should be chemically castrated. Problem solved.

[19] Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers?
About what? I really expected something more controversial. I'm quite frankly, slightly disapointed.