W-2's

The W-2, that sheet of paper you get near tax time so you can file your taxes. On some level I think that they tell a story, they say what you have been up to the past year and how much your effort was worth. If that is the case, mine tell a very interesting story. I received 4 of them in the mail showing that in one year I have worked for 4 different companies. One of them was for a single job or two working as a temp, another was when I worked a job in the summer time. The final 2 have been the school districts, one I worked in and the other I am involved with right now. Kind of funny to think of all the different responsibilities and tasks I got paid for within a year for the different roles I filled.

Information and photos

All righty, like I promised I am going to show off some pictures from the recent day trip me and Wendy took. You can find the pictures here, but since I couldn't post that much info about them I will do some explaining on here. The first few pictures where taken as a bit of a joke, it turns out there was a street in the city called "Calvary". The pictures I took with the street sign are to prove that me and her actually made it to Calvary, lol. After that you will see some pictures of their main street, a part of town where you can tell it is old but they are trying to rebuild parts of it. We even saw where they had built a small water geyser display (not sure if that is the proper term), so we decided to check it out. After that you will see some pictures of the Chinese Restaurant that we ordered take out food from. Pictures of the park we took our food to are next up, we both liked the pond they created at one side of the park, and there were a lot of ducks and even some geese swimming around in the water. After the park you will see some pictures of the mall they have there, very nice and a good size for the size of town it was in. One funny thing that happened is one lady selling a finger nail polish kit stopped us and demonstrated to Wendy what it could do on her nails. After a movie our last stop of the day was Millie's Kitchen, a very nice and relaxed place to eat dinner at. So, now that you know more about the trip go check out the tourist-like photos I took.

Greetings!

Sorry once again for the lack of updates, I was busy with different things. The main thing that kept me busy this weekend was a trip I got to take with Wendy. We left town about 8:40am this morning and went to a nearby town to spend the day in and roam around looking for things to do. We both had a blast and I promise to upload some pictures to the internet for everyone to see (keep me honest on that one Melissa, lol). To pass time on the journey between the towns we recalled different stories from the bible and what they meant to us, all I can say is that it is always a good thing to be reminded of just how good God is and that you can trust in Him and the promises He makes.

To those about to blog, we salute you

Howdy peoples, its me again. I realized I have been neglecting this site for the past few days, so here I am to entertain you. Lets see, oh yeah, if you got the time check out The Shopping Nest, I know the folks who make that stuff and they are super friendly and have a good idea they are trying to sell. So Super Bowl is coming up, but I have not been into the hype as much this year. I didn't catch a game all year, and during the playoffs when all the guys I knew where parked in front of the TV I decided to go help Wendy make copies and stuff for her student teaching. I was wondering if I was a "girlie man" since I wasn't getting all excited over it, but I guess I am all right. I will be attending a Super Bowl party when the game comes and eat food and go crazy, but until then I am not paying much attention to it.

Takahishi story continued

Part one of this story is here

Chapter 2: From the sidelines

She watched the two cars leave the line at the same time, but obviously the SRT-4 was quickly getting an early lead. She watched the race with both intrigue and guilt. Why? Well, she was the car that was caught in the middle of the fight that started the race: she was the Supra. Ellie was basically a stock 1988 Toyota Supra hardtop, 3.0 inline six under the hood with no turbo, she was from the generation known as “MK3”. She was always a little self conscious about herself, which might explain how she ended up with the SRT-4. Her paint had been redone, but her design and performance was nothing like the forth generation Supra’s that everyone made such a big deal over. As a result she would feel out of place and even ashamed when someone would mention what kind of car she was, she always felt like she was being compared to the better cars of the newer generation and being looked down upon. When she first met Tony, the SRT-4, she thought she found something good. She was drawn by the fact that he was American made but could run against the imports she knew, and had potential for a whole lot more. What she didn’t plan on was him being a little rowdy and also a bit of a showoff; she felt he was turning into a loud blow-off. She thought the hatchback had done nothing wrong; in fact she had spotted him first. She was surprised to see another car from around the time she was made there at the races and looking pretty much stock. She wouldn’t admit it right away, but she even found him a little cute, and liked how he seemed to be low key. That was why she was a little uneasy about watching this race unfold before her, she wanted so bad to see the hatchback stomp Tony into the ground, but still felt like she needed to be loyal to Tony even though she was having serious doubts about the two of them. The sounds of engines being taken to the edge of their braking point snapped her back to reality, no matter what she chose to do next there was still a race to watch, no matter which side she cheered for…..

Coming sometime soon: Chapter 3: Do not adjust your radio

I wonder why

I had a thought this evening while I was over at a friend's house. Why is it that we burp babies and let them know it is a good thing, but yet when the kid grows up and burps it is looked down at? Hey, you can't blame the kid, he is just doing what he was taught. :-D In other news I think I will post chapter two of my story tomorrow after I get home from work.

Stuck

My updates lately have been getting a little spaced out, going several days before writing, and even then it feels like it is just mindless babble that wouldn't even hold my attention. I guess you could say that I probably have all kinds of things I could write out right now on here, but I have always had a hard time with expression, always struggled with being able to turn my thoughts and feelings into words. I feel that this also applies to my life outside of this blog at times, I lack the words or I fail to express myself the way I wanted. Sometimes it is no big deal, other times I really wish I would have kept my mouth shut because I was doing nothing but harm with it. Oh well, that's life I suppose, we all may have little things that we might want to work at, this is one of those things for me. In other news, I was hearing some positive feedback on the first chapter of the mini-story I posted a few days back about a Honda named Takahishi. I liked the reviews enough to write up a second chapter, and have ideas on how to write up a few more to complete the story. When will I post it? All I can say is stay tuned.

Salutations

Greetings everyone. The beginning of the year has been pretty good to me so far. I am typing this post up from work, its my lunch break and the school's internet is really fast. Not sure what else to say, the kids here are going a little crazy so I guess I better publish this while I still can. Kind of a pointless entry, but I will do something better in a day or two.

Mini story

I joined in with the students the other day when they where having to type a story. I decided to be a little strange and just let my mind wander. What I am going to post here is what came out, and if I get a good enough response (hint: comments) I might be wiling to continue the story over a few blog posts here and there.

Takahishi: The little Honda that could.

There once was a 1985 Honda Civic DX hatchback named Takahishi. He wasn't much to look at, but he had heart, and a n/a 1.3 liter engine. His owner never knew it, but he used to sneak out of the house at night and observe the street racing and drifting that was taking place on the outskirts of town. He marveled in awe at the performance cars he saw there: Integra's with shopping cart wings and fart cannon mufflers, Del Sol's with body kits and neon under glow. Little Taka always knew these guys where serious, poor Taka didn't even have Naaaws. One day he got caught checking out a Supra that was going steady with an SRT-4 with a really bad jealous streak. The Neon called out to Taka, "You want a piece of this, stock boy!?" Taka was scared, the crowd was closing in around him and he was afraid these guys would rip him a new exhaust manifold for sure. He couldn't back down, but he couldn't make a run for it either, and he also knew there was no way he could take an SRT-4 that had on aftermarket rims. Taka agreed to a race, and the two of them lined up, the course would take them straight for a while slightly downhill, then through some hairpin curves, then back uphill to where they started. The Neon was revving so hard he was bouncing the engine off the rev limiter, Taka was afraid he was going to leak oil right there in front of everybody. They would go after a countdown of three honks. They both heard the first one, then a second one after what felt like an eternity, then finally the third honk broke the silence and the tension in the air. The SRT-4 tore off the line and his front wheels erupted in clouds of tire smoke. Taka managed to chirp his Wal-Mart brand tires and tried to do all he could in first gear. Questions flashed through his main CPU: Will he make it? Will he crash? Will his engine stay in one piece? All these questions will be answered once the race is over...

Another Tyte Ride

First off, my apologies, the days I plan to do this have been finding away of sneaking up on me and laughing at me when I forget them. This is part two of the rice feast I saw going on one night at Hastings. This civic reminds me of a cross between a snow plow and a rocket. Read on to find out why.


Whoa, got body kit? This thing looks wide and big enough to be substituted as a cow catcher, or (as I first thought) a snow plow. Too bad it doesn't snow here, he could make enough money in one day plowing snow with it to pay that thing off.


Bondo? Glue? I dunno what it is. A closer look revealed some kind of patch that was put on just below this odd colored spot and painted over. The same odd colored substance could be found in the wheel well where the lower skirt met up with the body.


Bling bling. LED windshield washers are so retro now, its all about chrome plated windshield washers.


Houston, we are ready for take off. With the stock wing firmly in place and a sport styled huge rear bumper this car almost looks like it could take flight. If you remember that fact that it is still a Honda you are quicker to laugh then be in awe.

Awwww

Yesterday afternoon I saw a friend of mine and his fiance get married. It was a very nice ceremony, and I have to say congratulations to both Jon and Lara once again. The people that know them have all heard the story of how they met, but for those that don't I will give a brief re-telling. Him and some friends decided one weekend to go to a neighboring town to watch a friend of theirs compete in a rodeo. Now, Jon knew Lara when they where little kids, but her and her family had moved to that town. He decided to maybe drop in and say hello, but it turns out she was out of town until Monday. Well, when he was getting ready to leave town his truck broke down, and the guys where told it would not be ready until about Monday. His friends found a way back home, and he took a chance and called Lara's place to see if he could stay there. Her parents said yes, and on Monday him and Lara met for the first time in a few years and spent hours talking (and I heard he maxed out the memory on his camera phone taking pictures of her). The rest as they say is history, she moved into town with her grandparents to attend college, the two of them grew in a relationship together, and now they are happily married.

Back to the grind

Decorations are being put away, the mall is getting back to normal, and I went back to work today for school district I work in. I guess you can say the end of the year holidays and festivities are over. I hear on the radio and in the news how some people get the post-holiday blues after all is said and done. I can see why it could get someone down, but I also see that just because there is no big celebration going on doesn't mean we have nothing to be happy about. Each day is a gift, something we can unwrap every morning and see what it holds for us. Why can't we get a little excited and happy about life during periods of the calendar when there is nothing major going on? Carpe Diem.

Holiday recovery

Salutations, and welcome to my first post of 2006. First off I want to tell you that if you haven't seen "The Chronicles of Narnia", you need to, very good movie. I also feel I need to say that just because its been looked at as a family film, do people a favor and leave the little kids at home. It might hold their attention for a little while, but this is not some cartoon or animation. When I went I had the unfortunate experience of sitting in a row that was just in front of a guy who had his son with him who had to be about 3 or 4 years old. This kids kept talking and running up and down the row he was in and even the stairway next to it through out the whole movie! Never fazed dad one bit, and even at one point he was encouraging the boy that if he must talk then he needed to whisper. How much do you want to bet that the little boy understood that concept and applied it? What irked me the most, was the fact that the dad never got the clue that his kid would be better off somewhere else then having to sit and watch a movie he wouldn't understand, and no usher ever came along to drop this clue on him. All complaining aside the movie was excellent, and I recommend it. My baby went under the knife, err, I mean, my car went under the wrench this morning. Needed the transmission fluid drained out and a new filter installed. Shifts a lot smoother now, but I am still worried I might have some problems with it down the road.