Bone Marrow Donation

I was recently informed that I was a match for a 74 year-old woman with leukemia in need of a marrow transplant.  It's a huge honor, but I'm confused why people keep acting like I'm doing something extraordinary. I agree that it's a good deed but if you found out that you could save someone's life, wouldn't you do it?

Its not like they are not going to have to drill into my hip or cut my leg off, so why not?  I'm going to be given a medicine for 5 days that increases my red blood cells and on the 5th day they take out the cells the same way they take plasma or blood.**

As a matter of fact if you are interested in getting signed-up, here is the link.  Be The Match

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So after I found out that I was matched to someone in need of a marrow transplant I was asked to go by the local blood bank for additional tests, which consisted of a couple of tubes of blood being drawn.

A week or so later I was told that the recipient and I were a good match and asked to drive down to Houston for a physical and more blood tests.

So Amanda and I drove down to south Houston to start the process for the bone marrow donation.  We met with a woman at the blood bank that took a couple of blood samples and showed a brief video describing the process that is in store for me and while I am not being paid for this donation, I will not be out any money for the process.  (I'm being reimbursed for travel, food, and lodging as needed.)

After the blood bank, we were sent over to the hospital for the rest of the physical which included a UA, an EKG, and a chest x-ray.  All in all, the whole process only took about 3 hours and it didn't feel like we were there that long.  Everyone involved was really nice and anytime we needed or asked for anything that were right on it.

Now I just have to wait until January 8th to start the medicine and the donation will take place on the 12th.


**The side effects of the medicine include flu like symptoms (headaches, body aches, nausea) and they said that those effects wear off after a week or so.

It's been awhile. Welcome Back!

School has been running a million mph these last few weeks and certain luxuries of excess time have taken a back seat to school and homework.  Specifically the time to write this blog :-/ and the time to play on facebook . . . have you missed me Mr. Zuckerburg?

The end of the semester is in sight though.  10 weeks down, 6 more weeks to go and then only one more year until I graduate.  Whoop!!!  

(finally)

And the end of the semester can't get here soon enough.  Anytime I actually do have a minute of free time, it seems I'm out cold.  I'm beginning to worry that these long hours of studying are taking their toll OR I'm developing narcolepsy.

For More Information on Narcolepsy

The last couple of weeks I've had plenty of things to write about, but no time to do it.  So right now I'm stealing a couple of minutes for some down-time and to write a couple of lines.

I need to be finishing up two Lesson Plans for two different classes, and a research paper.  Wa-frickin-hoo

That does actually remind me of a thought I wanted to put down in writing.  

A week or so back, we (my EDCI 454 class, Curriculum for Young Children) was finishing up a Collaborative Integrated unit lesson plan . . . in short, we had to choose a subject, Weather & Climate in our case,  and built a weeks worth of instruction around the topic using the course subjects to explain the topic . . . anyways, after the project was over our professor asked us if there was anything that she could have done for the project to have made more sense.  

The class had some ideas as to how this project could have been easier, but the over-whelming concern from the class was that we as students had too much to do, and this project took up too much time.  While I do agree that this project took up a lot of time and did become frustrating when so many of our classes were also having us write lesson plans (we cannot submit one paper to two teachers, as this is considered plagiarism); all of these students told the professor that we needed more time to complete the assignment.  

MTV's Real World

My question to all of these classmates was "Do you not think that once we are in the REAL WORLD that we will have to still do all of this stuff but at a real life pace?"

Sorry boys and girls, I'm afraid that it is the case.  Personally, I'd rather be under the time crunch of a college course where only my grade can be affected instead of a classroom where a child's education becomes an issue. 

But what do I know?

So what else was there that I wished I had had time to write about?

There have been a few times over the last few weeks that I have had to just stop and laugh :-D

The first, and I'm sure you had to be there, was a couple I saw in a loving embrace . . . 

. . . I'm talking a real Kodak moment, her head tenderly on his shoulder and his arm firmly around her waist pulling her closer, very touching . . . until I followed their eyes and realized they were both watching their dog take a sh*t.  

So romantic.  I can just picture telling my wife that for our second anniversary we should take the dogs for a walk.  8-()

Wap-Wap-Waaaaaa, in other words FAIL!  

The only explanation I could come up with was "Young Love," I mean otherwise there would have only been one of them out walking the dog.  Right?!?

The second instance that made me laugh so hard I cried was leaving campus after studying.   I hope I can do the story justice . . . NO PRESSURE!

So I had gone up to campus to finish a paper that was due that evening.  I had just gotten on a roll when the power went out.  I'm sure you can imagine the cussing I was doing.  While I had managed to save the paper to the computer, I couldn't retrieve it >.< and I had no idea how long the power would be out and how much time there would be left to finish when the power actually came back on.  Cussing and grinding my teeth I decided to leave campus in search of an alternative location to finish my paper.  

traffic arm barrier

To leave central campus you have to pass through a traffic arm barrier and in front of me was a car and then a motorcycle.  Well the barrier went up for the car and the guy on the motorcycle behind it thought he would be slick and go through at the same time.  The barrier had a different idea . . . thankfully the arm-barrier is pressure sensitive because it came down right on top of the guy's helmet knocking him sideways.  I was already laughing pretty hard at the sight when I looked up and made eye contact with a girl who was also laughing at this poor guy and completely lost it.  I was laughing so hard that I had to clear the tears from my eyes before I could do anything else.

A few other things that I want to mention now and will have to elaborate on later (or not depending on my summarizing abilities)

Out of nowhere, I got a notification that I needed to accept a scholarship I had received.  After the government decided to cut-back financial aid this year and I was forced to quit my job due to scheduling conflicts, this couldn't have come at a better time. Well I guess it could have, it would have been nice to have it at the beginning of the semester, but believe me when I say "I AM NOT COMPLAINING!"

I had a long drawn out conversation with one of my professors over the need for the use of emoticons in text messages and informal emails.  Smiley faces :)  sad faces :( and any other text picture that is used to indicate the writer's mood have become necessary when sending text and some emails because there are times that it is difficult to infer context from the words alone.

The last topic I wanted to touch on and is probably the most likely to be revisited involves schools.  Specifically grade schools.  I've seen several school buses recently that have advertisements on them.  Car dealerships, fast-food chains, you name it and they are starting to advertise on school buses.

So is this a good or bad thing?  

With this same idea of schools operating with business sense, it occurs to me that our schools (or better yet our communities) need to think about building schools that our kids actually want to go to.  I spend a tremendous amount of time on my college campus because I like to be here; I have the resources available to me to do my homework and numerous locations to sit and relax (if I do get a free minute).  Our public schools need to take a page from this book and start to design schools this way.  Make kids want to be at school!!!  This is where the previous topic and this one meet.  

I think for this to happen effectively, we are going to have to start inviting big business into the schools.  Obviously there are going to have to be some limitations and stipulations involved, and I hate to admit this because I hate the store, but why not have Wal-Mart sponsor the teacher's supplies.  

I don't know how or if it would work but it's something to think about.  

American Eventing Championship - Atlanta, Georgia (pt.4)

Our "cozy" room

I'm trying to get through this post that has turned into a Telemundo novela.  Who would have thought writing about a horse show could be so difficult?


Ok, the end of part three had the five of us in our "COZY" room getting ready for bed on Thursday night.  Well Friday morning came early.  5am, to be exact.  The horses had to be fed by 7am, and the girls had to be tacted up and ready to ride by 9am and 10am respectively.  I'm still confused why I had to be up so early, but no one asked me ;op 


and. . . .
why these crazy horse-girls have to participate in a sport that starts before the day does is beyond me, but here we were pulling into the show grounds as the sun was coming up.


The first day of competition was Dressage, the method of training a horse to perform maneuvers in response to the rider's body signals, which traditionally is Amanda's and Astro's strongest area.  Although they performed well and even scored fairly well, those of us watching did not feel that A&A's score reflected their performance.  


After seeing the scores of other rider with us, we knew for certain that either the judges had ignored the advice of the their seeing-eye dogs or they hadn't watch the same performances we had.  What can you do though?  The girls were proud to be here and I was proud for them.


We hung around the rest of the afternoon watching the other events going on around the grounds and taking care of the horses.  It was quite an adventure seeing some of the higher level horse and rider combos running cross country.  


Picture if you will, a horse running up to an obstacle the size of a Land Rover (just so happened to be the sponsor of the event), leaping it into water immediately followed by another gi-monsterous [aka HUGE] obstacle, oh and being timed to complete this course in a certain amount of time while not running too fast or too slow!?!  Uh huh, yea, NO THANKS.  


This always scares me when Amanda & Astro run, and with people I didn't know it wasn't much different so I ended up napping on the hill over-looking the cross country course while the girls watched.  

Cross Country ended up being the second event for the girls, which went a lot better for both of them. They both ran clear rounds, meaning they didn't have any stops at the obstacles and no time penalties.  Again though we had to be up at 5am.  Crazy-horse girls!!!

After high school, then what? (Hopefully Aggieland!)

I recently had my 17 year-old cousin in town for three days to take his SAT's and to go on a college visit.  I'M EXHAUSTED!!!  I don't know how parents do it.

Mom, Dad. . . THANK YOU!

While he was here I started asking him the normal going to college questions (What do you want to do? Where do you want to go? What is your ultimate goal? ect.) I was a bit taken aback by his answers and the naivety he showed.

First of all when I asked him his ultimate goal, his only response was he wanted to make 6 figures a year!  GREAT! Don't we all?!? 

Ok kiddo, how are you going to do it?  I don't know! 
Well, what do you want to do?  I don't know!
Ok, an easier question then.  Where do you want to go to college?  I don't know!

??????????????????????????????????????????
Now this is a real smart kid.  In the top-ten of his class.  And it's not like he cannot talk to me because believe me when I say that we have had our fair-share of unusual talks. 

The sad part is, he really doesn't know.  No one has discussed with him the reality of life after high school.  He has only gotten as far as wanting to be rich, because it will make his life easier.

Thats great.  It really is.  If you think that money is going to solve all of your problems, then you might as well set high goals for yourself.  But how are you going to get there? 

In the real world, there isn't some person or commitee that comes around knocking on doors handing out cash. Well there was, but Ed McMahon died. :(

I think this is a question that every young person faces.  What am I going to do when I grow up?  And how am I going to get there?  We all know that we want to be successful when we grow-up, but what defines success? Money?!? For that matter what defines "grown-up"? Turning 18 does not mean that you are grown, I'm 30 and still feel like a kid.

American Eventing Championship - Atlanta Georgia (pt.3)

This was not meant to be a weekly mini-series, but upon reflection there is a lot that happened that needs to be explained so you can totally understand. . . and then explain it to me.

I am definitely ADD!

Alright, so you remember at the end of last week's episode Marlena had been visited by the ghost . .
Sorry! My mind is wandering again already.  I can only imagine how you feel reading this.  What a dumb @$$!!

The plane ride was uneventful, cramped but uneventful.  I made it into Atlanta around 10p local time, and thinking I was slick having not checked any bags I started walking towards baggage claim and the exit.  There was a tram there to take you to baggage claim, but I figured that the airport had those moving sidewalks and I could be just as quick getting there.  HA!  Apparently I had gotten off the plane in Terminal Z, because I literally walked across the airport for like 35-40 minutes.  Everytime I came across another spot to get on the tram I thought to myself, if you get on now the next stop is probably the one you are going to have to get out at so why not finish walking it.  Again, HA!

Word to the wise, if there is a tram available it's available for a reason.

So I finally made in to the other end of Atlanta and the airport that traversed it, trudging my loaded down book bag the entire way and start looking for an exit.  Amanda wasn't there yet and said she was still about 10 minutes away so I exited a door near the end that would be closest to the way she was coming from.  So I sat there for a couple of minutes before Amanda calls.  She tells me that she is outside of my terminal parked at the curb.

??? What? WHERE?  I'm sitting at the end of the terminal.  You would have had to drive by me.
And I don't remember if I mentioned it before but she was driving a Fire Engine Red 1-ton dually diesel.  You don't sneak anywhere in this thing, and it definitely did not blend inconspicuously in with the other vehicles at the airport.  There aren't as many duallies crusing the airport as you would think.
So Amanda, where are you now? 

Her answer (and this is why I love my wife), "Sitting out in front of the airport." 

Thank you baby.  That clearifies everything!

So after a couple minutes of walking around the terminal for a second time this evening we eventually figure it out and I head towards the truck. When I get to the truck I find that for the next three days, my wife and I and 3 people I don't know from JACK will be in close quaters.
*After thought:  I almost forgot Guiness aka Greg aka G-Money, the dachshund.  Sorry Greg!*

Now I'm not saying that I'm anti-social, I just really don't like people.  And I'm seriously not claustrophobic, but 5 people in small spaces can change that very quickly. 

(All joking aside, they turned out to be nice entertaining bearable :)

So leaving the airport, everyone is trying to decide on whats for dinner within all of our meger budgets.

McD's? No

Arby's? No

Burger King? No

Taco Bell? ................................. OK 

Done.

This is where the real entertainment started. 

Remember, 1-ton dually deisel.  Well we though it would be easier if we all went in to order since we had seperate orders and huge truck.  No go!  Dining room closes at ??, you guessed it, 10p. 

Drive-thru it is.

Not my truck but I wish it was!

I have managed to travel quite a bit, but this is honestly the first time I could ever say that the vehicle I was in may or may-not fit through the drive-thru, and not just because of the duals.  Apparently Texans take full advantage of our wide open spaces including drive-thrus that are built to accomodate anything but a jumbo jet.  Atlanta Taco Bell's, not so much.  We had to pop a curb to get into the drive-thru lane, pull the mirrors in and cut the engine. 

To make it even better when we had gotten out to go inside and realized the door was locked, instead of all 5 of us piling back into the truck (one of the strangers) Sarah decided to ride in the back of the truck.  When we pulled up to the intercom we had two seperate orders (Yea, we were those people) and voices coming from every direction.  I think everyone literally ordered their own food rather than just telling one person.  You should have seen the look on the guy's face when we pulled up to the window.  Four people in a loaded down truck and a weiner dog and a lady riding in the back on a bale of hay.  The scene definitely looked like the Beverly Hillbillies visit Atlanta Taco Bell.

After we finally managed to get our food we made our way to the hotel, which consisted of us cutting across a Wal-Mart parking lot.  Not surprisingly no one there looked at us strange at all.  Back at the hotel with food in hand we had to sneak Guiness into the room under a coat which he was not happy about, and all 5 of us plus the dog settled into our nice little, cozy room for the night. 

Tomorrow was the big day!!!  What all the work was for. . . AHHHHHHHHHHH!  The pressure is killing me.

Ok, enough for this part of the mini-series.  You'll have to join us again next week as I try to finish telling this saga.  Good news though, we are actually finally getting to the horse stuff and I got some really cool pictures for that.

American Eventing Championships - Atlanta Georgia (pt.2)

*Hopefully I can get this done today but my mind seems to be scattered lately, like little kids running through a pile of leaves my thoughts too seem to be riding on the winds*

So Thursday finally came around and I had two classes in the morning afternoon that I had to go to before my AWESOME! parents drove me down to IAH (Houston International Airport) to catch a late flight to Atlatnta, GA. 

I don't know if anyone else experiences this, but everytime I go anywhere with my parents that may involve traffic or directions they are always kind enough to let me drive.

So I drive us down to Houston, and fearing that I would miss my flight we got there early.  Well, we got there REAL early.  2 hours early!  So my mother has the bright idea that we should go find a bar and have a drink before I get on the plane.  I am not a fan of flying.  If I was meant to fly, I would have wings and feathers or a rocket coming out of my butt.  Well we try to find a bar and on one side of the airport is a plethora of construction and by the time we managed to get out of it nearly an hour had passed.  So rather than press my luck at this point we headed back to the airport.

We arrive at the terminal that I would be flying out of and I grab my book bag. 

*Ok, the whole scattered thoughts thing is kicking in here too.  I have a side story about my book bag or backpack if you'll permit me a moment to wander.*

[Thursday before leaving the house I had to go through my entire backpack to make sure that I didn't have anything in there that airport security was going to flag me for.  I was already a little nervous about flying, coupled with the fact that I had a one way ticket and all I was carrying with me were a ton of books and flying on the weekend of the ten-year anniversary of 9-11.  I did not want to look like I wasn't planning on coming back if you catch my drift.]

Ok, book bag out of the car. . . Dad hands me $10 and tells me to go grab a beer and a bite to eat before my flight.  Thanks pop! I walk into the airport carrying my bag and immediately walk past 4 police officers and their drug dog.  Nice doggie, don't bite me.  I get in line for the security check and was not in line for a minute when I guy came up to me and asked me to follow him. . . Yippee! Body cavity search :-O They were opening up another line and I got to go first, Wahoo!.  I toss my ginormous backpack in one of those itty bitty cat litter trays and try to fit my shoes in there somewhere and head through the scan. 

BEEP! BEEP!  Oopps, forgot my cell phone.  "Sir please step back."
Again through the scan.  BEEP! BEEP!  Nothing left in my pockets.  "Sir please step back.  "
Oh man, this is going to be bad. "Sir please walk through again." 
All clear.  Hallelujah!



Finally I head off to go find my gate.  By the way I'm still more than an hour early for my now delayed flight.  I find my gate which isn't too far from a bar.  Not wasting anytime I head into the bar and order the biggest Shiner they have and drink half of it in one gulp.  Told you, not the biggest fan of flying.  Feeling a little better, and definitely more prepared for my flight I ask the bartender for my tab.  $9.25, well there goes dad's $10.

My plane finally gets there after a second delay, and I board an already full plane.  Apparently everyone I was flying with had preferred passenger status.  I don't really understand why you want to be on the plane first anyways.  I know I have a seat, I chose it when I did my check-in.  So why is everyone always in such a hurry to be first.  Personally I'd rather get on last.

So on the plane, I get seated and almost immediately fall asleep.  This is a trick that I have to thank my wife for.  When she gets on a plane, as soon as her butt hits the seat she is asleep and she usually doesn't wake up until the plane is on final descent.  I have learned this trick from her and I'm sure chugging a huge beer in a minute helped.

*to be continued . . .*

American Eventing Championships - Atlanta Georgia (pt 1)

I've been meaning to write this entry since we got back from Georgia but I felt that I first needed to recover and absorb all that had happened while we were there.  Now Amanda and the other girls that went probably saw things differently and not forgetting that they were there (in Georgia) for two days before I got there, but this is what I recall.

Tuesday morning I texted Amanda asking her how things were going (the ride, the horses, ect).  Her response, "Not good.  I'll call you in a minute."  All I could think was $h!t, what happened?  Turns out, even thinking worse case scenario the way I usually do I wasn't very far off.  The truck they were using to haul to Georgia (our truck) was broken down on the side of the road outside of Buffalo, Tx.  They made all of an hour and a half before the truck broke down.  *heavy sigh* 

So what are we going to do?  There are two horses on a trailer, and no more options for trucks to haul to Georgia.  Thankfully Amanda's mother (my most outstanding mother-n-law!) has a diesel dully but she is on the other side of Fort Worth.  Well mom-n-law volunteers that the girls take her truck to Georgia, but it is going to take her about three hours to get down to Buffalo. 

Ok.

Well she can't drive the broken truck back three hours to Ft. Worth which means that I have to clean Amanda's car and put gas in it to pull a three-way trade with the girls and mom-n-law.  So I get the car cleaned out and gased up and head to Buffalo.

I get to where the girls are and find that there is NO WAY (I mean HEAVY HEAVY emphasis on NO WAY) that our truck is going to make it to Georgia, 15 hours away hauling a goose-neck and two horses.  So eventually mom-n-law makes it to Buffalo and we all swap vehicles.

At this point in the story I have to leave if there is any chance of making it back to College Station in time to get to class.  Coincidentally I did make it to class, but only for the last 30 minutes.  Whatever, I made it. 

After 24 hours of being on the road of the horses being on the trailer and the girls attempting to be on the road, the girls finally made it to Georgia. 

I would be flying out on Thursday to meet up with them. 

*gotta stop here, because I have to go to class*

We Will Never Forget

I'm not even going to ask the question.  I know that we all remember where we were when the towers fell on September 11th, 2001.  I just wanted to take a minute to remember those we lost and those that have sacrificed their lives for our freedoms.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was two days from graduating basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C.  We were in the process of cleaning our gear when the drill sergeant called us into the barracks and told us what we were seeing was going to change all of our lives forever. 

I had no idea how right he was. 

This is not about me though. 

THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN (PAST AND PRESENT AND EVEN FUTURE) WHO LAY THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE!  I AND EVERY OTHER AMERICAN ARE FOREVER IN YOUR DEBT.

Miss America?

I Miss America.  

*The following is my opinion.  If you don't want to read what I have to say, then please stop reading here.  If you disagree with what I have to say, thank a soldier, and then voice your opinion.*

**Just to reiterate, in case you missed it the first time, these are my opinions; this is not meant to be a political blog or a political attack against any party or person(s)**

I miss what America used to stand for.  Hard-worker men and women willing to do whatever it took to support their families.  Men who went to war to protect freedoms that we now take for granted; Women working in steel-mills doing jobs that previously had only been suitable for men.

I miss the Reaganomics-era ideas of America.  When Americans were proud enough to go to work, no matter how much they were making.  Now it seems that many Americans would rather sit on the @$$e$ collecting welfare than go to work at a fast-food chain and make minimum wage. When did we become to proud too make minimum wage?  What happened that "hard-work" is less acceptable than taking hand-outs?

*If you are on welfare and are still working [at a job or school], I'm not talking about you.*

Are you to good to support your family?  Does your family not deserve anything/everything that you can give?

Personally, I'll gladly work 3 jobs if it means that I can support my family (thankfully, at the moment, we are limited to my wife & I and three dogs).  And even now, I love them enough to swallow my pride with a  smile on my face (ok, that's stretching it) and call in favors from ex-employers and former co-workers if it means that I can contribute something to my household.  I'm willing to do whatever it takes to support my family even if it is not my most ideal situation.
 

*Just to clarify, an ideal situation for me does not necessarily mean that I have to be the "bread winner," because I really don't give a two $h!t$ who makes the most, but rather my ideal situation would be my wife and I both doing jobs that we are good at and that makes us happy*  

I could have gone at any point and found another, better paying job.  I'm so close to finishing my bachelor's degree through, that at this point in my life my job(s) are school [#1], making sure my wife is happy [also #1 and definitely interchangeable depending on the day of the week] and any job that will work with my school schedule [anywhere on the list after #1]. When Amanda decided to quit her job and was getting started with Anchor Equestrian, I had every intention of supporting her, but the fact of the matter was, the job I had was no longer going to be able to work with my school schedule.

*I, and my wife, realize that finishing my bachelor's degree will allow me to earn more money in the long run versus staying at a job making just enough to stay above the poverty line.  It does unfortunately mean that Amanda will have to go back to work for the time being; It also means that I will have to find a different job making less than I was already making, but will be able to work around my school schedule.*

Who the hell cares who makes the most money in a house?  Supposedly everyone in a house is working towards the same goal in regards to money.  Pay the bills! Save up if you can! And eventually try to get in a better place then you are currently in!

In my house when Amanda made more money, she did so at the expense of being home.  She made more because she had to be gone more often.  She was having to travel all over Texas visiting high schools, and if she was lucky she would be home Sunday night and not have to travel again until Tuesday evening.  I on the other hand worked closer to home and spent more time at home.  So in exchange I did more of the house work.  It seemed only fair.  I mean who wants to come home and do the dishes after having been on the rode for the last three days.  If you've been out of the house for the past three days, it is very unlikely that the dishes in the sink are your's anyways.

So what happened?

Well, in my opinion, Americans heard that they were better than every other country in the world so many times that they we started to believe it as truth.  If I was the best sprinter in the world, that means I win gold every time I race and end of story.  Right?  What about the next race?

Current world record holder, Usain Bolt was recently disqualified for a false start.  What about the sprinter next to him?  Do you not think that the first thing that went through his mind was "My chances for first just got better."  You don't seriously think that person was OK with being second best do you?  The other sprinters in that race did not quit competing just because Bolt was out.

I am definitely not a runner, but if I was a runner who had just placed second in a race, you better believe that I'd head home thinking of ways to to get back in first, improve my jump off of the starting block, buy lighter shoes, shave my head to be more aerodynamic, SOMETHING!

So, if you are already the best, why try to be better?  Because their is someone out there that wasn't the best and wants their chance to stand at the top of the podium.  You try to be better because when you are at the at the top, everyone else is looking for a way to take your place.

That is where we are now.  We as Americans are down, and we even though we want to quit, it does not mean that we are out of the race or that we are not capable of giving the current gold medalist a run for their money.  What it does mean, is that we need to get off of our @$$e$ and find some way to improve our situation rather than hoping everyone else in the race is going to quit too.

First Week of School

I was going to write about my first day of school, but I managed to miss my first class on the first day so instead I decided to cover the week.  Besides, the majority of my classes this semester only meet once a week.

Monday
MWF 8a-8:50a
Dynamics and Management in Multicultural/Inclusionary Learning Environments TEFB 471

Like I said I missed this class, and honestly it wasn't because I over slept.  I actually thought that this class was at 10a.  Either way I managed to miss my first class of a new semester.  I hope this is not a sign of things to come.

M 12p-3p
Planning and Curriculum Development in the Early Childhood Classroom EDCI 454

This looks like it is going to be a cool class, EXCEPT that it is 3 hours long and at lunch time.  We also received a bag with one of each of the following items and a little saying for what a teacher needs:

A FUTURE TEACHER NEEDS:

• A Rubber Band -- to stretch yourself to learn each day
• A Penny -- for heads up good luck
• An Eraser -- to know that your mistakes can be fixed
• A String -- to tie it all together
• A Marble -- in case you think you lose yours
• Smarties -- to remind you that you really are
• A Life Saver -- because you will be one for many children

It's a great idea and could actually be modified to a lot of different jobs.

Tuesday
TR 2:20p-3:35p
Structure of Math I MATH 365

This is a class that unfourtunately I have sat through once before.  I took this class last semester and it involves a lot of theorems on how and why math works.  I got bogged down last time trying to memorize the theorems and ultimately had to drop the class.  Good news is I have a different teacher this semester that believes that a more hands-on approach is necessary for this class.

T 5:45p-8:15p
Reading Writing in Middle Grade Curriculum

I am very excited about this class as I've had this professor once before for another class.  She is an awesome prof and she makes the class exciting and fun.

Wednesday
I only have one class and it's the same one as Monday morning 8a-8:50a. . .

I actually made it to this class finally.  The teacher seems pretty cool.  She was actually talking about her time in the middle school classroom and said that when you get there to punch them in the head and let them know who is the boss (Tony Danza?).  *LoL*

Thursday

8a-12p
Dynamics and Management in Multicultural/Inclusionary Learning Environments TEFB 471

This is actually the field base part of the same class on MWF.  This part is a little nerve racking I must admit.  It is getting to a point that I have to start doing mini-lessons and being more involved in the class and while this is ABSOLUTELY what I want to do for a living, the idea really scares the $h!t out of me.

Thankfully that part of the class doesn't start for a couple of weeks.

Friday

8a-8:50a
Lucked out this first week and didn't have class on Friday, but was told (as was the entire class) not to get used to this because more often than not we will have class.


I can do this.  This time next year I will be preparing for graduation.  WHOOOP!!!!!

Hello 30

This past weekend we (Amanda, my brother & his girlfriend and myself) went down to New Braunfels to float the river to celebrate my 30th birthday.  Amanda's sister and a friend were coming down late Friday evening.

We found this awesome little cottage south of town that could comfortably sleep 8 people (well maybe not all 8 comfortably, but 6 for sure). There was 3 beds and a pull out couch and you all know how that goes. The coolest part was the playground area. They had a bouncy blob thing and a bunch of other cool things that any big kid would love (small kids too).

To save some money, Amanda and I decided to buy and take groceries with us. We also decided to make 100 jello shots to take with us (yea, we made 100 jello shots for the weekend).  We thought it best if we kept the weekend low-key at the cottage as much as possible.

Friday night, the plan was to stay at the cottage drinking beer and eating jello. Amanda and I also had some friends in the area that we were looking forward to seeing (we had met them in Mexico while on our honeymoon, and that's another long story), but they were dead set on heading to the bar and by midnight i had already had to much jello.  Besides I'm not a big fan of bar hopping in an area I'm unfamiliar with. Sorry!  Thanks!  PASS!

So Saturday comes and we head out to meet my best friend (Bert) her husband and some of their friends to float the river.  Of course with this record draught we been having, the river was not exactly flowing. Rather the river was more of a slow moving wide brook, but we manage. We actually were able to float the horseshoe twice, but only after we had to walk back up to where we had originally started.   Not a long walk exactly, but if you have ever floated the river you know that between the water, sun and 'beverages' it turns into quite a hike. Oh and one of the additional friends had recently broken his ankle, so YEA!

Anyways, on the river for a second time we again, very slowly make our way around the horseshoe. After the second go, we were ka-put aka done.

Back at the cottage, we made dinner and hung out and despite it being a birthday celebration, our night was over way before midnight.

Sunday morning we were up early, headed back to CS so I could start back to school on Monday.   The weekend over and the remnants of my 20's left behind.

It's really not the number that makes me feel older, but the countless random acts of stupidity youthful indiscretion that I have no desire to repeat that make me feel my age.

Who knows? Maybe I'm growing up?!?

NAH!!!

You're Welcome College Station ;o)

Of course it had to finally rain here, but on a day I decided (pay) to water both the front and the back yards. 

It's my ESPN.  Yea, you read it right. 
Girls have ESP, guys have ESPN :)

It's been so long since there has been rain in our area that this storm caught everyone's atttention.  Even the dogs were confused by 'the water from the sky.'

It was nice though to play in the rain like a little kid. 

Once the Texas sky remembered how to rain, it just kept coming.  It rained here for a day and half, and it was so nice not to be sweating on the way to work at 8a in the morning.

Hopefully now that the sky has figured it out, maybe it will continue.

Buck Davidson Clinic at Texas Rose Horse Park

Amanda is less than 3 weeks away from going to Atlanta to compete in the AEC’s (American Eventing Championships) and besides stressing herself out, she has been working really hard to make sure that she is prepared to compete in September.  

http://www.texasrosehorsepark.com/

In preparation for AEC’s, Amanda and I took a trip this weekend to the Texas Rose Horse Park in Tyler, Texas so that she school with Olympic Gold medalist rider Buck Davidson.  It ended up being an interesting weekend from the time we left College Station Friday afternoon until we got home Sunday night.

We should have known that the weekend was not going to go exactly as planned when 30 minutes outside of town, while heading down a farm-to-market country road we had a blow-out on the horse trailer.  The tread was literally blown off of the tire.  We had no more pulled down a country dirt road and got the trailer and tire off of the ground when a famer in the area stopped to see if we needed any help.  This guy had passed by us, turned around and came back to check on us. 

I didn’t catch this guy’s name, but “Thank You” anyways.  It’s nice to know that there are still people out there that will go out of their way to help a stranger.

So like I said, we got the trailer up and started to get the tire changed only to realize that the spare that we had with us was also flat.  Yippee!  The valve on the tire leaked air, but at least this one had some tread on it.  We limped the trailer back up to a gas station we had passed about a quarter of a mile back and using duct tape, string, and Aggie ingenuity secure the valve well enough to get some air in the tire until we could get to a tire shop. 

We drove the next 20 miles down this back-road going 45 mph trying to find a tire shop ‘around me’.  Every place we called told us that they were on at least an hour wait and we could not put our names on the list until we got there.  Keep in mind we had the horse with us.  We continued on until we got to a little town that had one of those full service gas stations, with signs saying they can take care of your car, including tire repair.  So we pulled into the gas station, hopped out of the truck and asked if there was any way that they could get us in fairly quickly because of the horse on the trailer.  Two guys came out to the truck, took one look, grabbed a jack, had the tire off of the trailer, valve repaired and tire back on the trailer in less than 10 minutes. 

The best part was it was only $10. 

Alright, the trip started bad but it had to get better.  Right?  Thankfully we made it the rest of the way to Tyler with no further detriment. 

So we got to Texas Rose, got the horse settled and Amanda rode the horse quickly to let him stretch his legs and get familiar with his surroundings.  After we got done there, we headed back to Coffee City (between Palestine and Tyler) where we were staying for the weekend with my aunt and her boyfriend.



The next part of this has been edited to protect the idiots involved.

Well my Aunt and her boyfriend kept telling us that they wanted to come and watch Amanda jump.  So Amanda and I mentioned that we had to be up early the next day to go out and feed the horse, so we were going to bed early.  Amanda was in bed before 10p and I followed later closer to midnight.

Shortly after falling asleep I was awakened to my aunt and her boyfriend being loud in the other room, and every time I started to get up they would get quiet.  I was getting a little bothered by this, but eventually fell back to sleep.

Around 1a I was woken again to someone taking heavy steps around the house, but as I went to get up it again stopped.  My other hesitation to getting up and saying something included the understanding that if I got up to say anything it would turn into a conversation and I had to be up in less than 5 hours, so I did my best to ignore it.

5:30a came early, and we were out of the house before 6a.  It was everything I could do not to go stomping around the house and be as loud as I could possibly manage, but my sense of decency prevailed.

Saturday was a L-O-N-G and HOT BLAZING day and we were out there from 6a until around 3p before heading back to my aunt’s.  When we got back to her place, she asked how the day went. 

My comment was “it wouldn’t have sucked so bad if I had been able to sleep last night.”

She responded with “Well then you should have stayed somewhere else!”

WTH? Are you kidding me?  You told me that you wanted me to stay there.  From here we skipped over agitated straight to frustrated!

After that, Amanda and grabbed all of our stuff and were out of the house in under two minutes.  I’m talking bags repacked, ice chest reloaded and we were out of there and headed to grandma’s house in Palestine.

When we got to Palestine I told my mother, who happened to be in town also to visit, what had happened and she was floored, but told me not to worry about it.  She said if my aunt had any sense she would just drop it.

Apparently she (my aunt) lacked the sense to drop it.  When she came to my grandmother’s house later, she kept trying to egg me on by making snide remarks.  I did my best to ignore her.  Until later in the evening we were looking for something that she had in her possession.

We kept asking if anyone knew where the air pump for the blow-up mattress was.  No response.  Well we kept looking.  A couple of minutes later my aunt comes around the corner, snaps her fingers at me and motions for me to follow her.  OK!  I follow down the hall to her room where she rounds on me and asks me “What the f is your problem with me?  Are you mad just because I didn’t come watch your little princess ride?”

There is not a ranking on the chart above to express how mad I got when she said that.  PISSED with a side of duck because I’m about to beat your @$$, would be the closet ranking.

I’ve never been so mad in my life and I told my aunt exactly what I thought of her, her comment and her disrespectful behavior.  The funniest part was that she tried to defend her actions, which I was not about to hear.

She left shortly after this confrontation and the rest of our stay at Grandma’s was uneventful (in comparison).  The trip was not over however.

We got back to Texas Rose Horse Park Sunday morning around 6:30a to feed the horse so he had time to digest before he had to run cross country training clinic.  While we waited for Amanda’s clinic time at 10a she went to watch a friend/student ride.  Unfortunately this student got jumped from her tack at the beginning of her clinic lesson, and the horse ran back to the barn.  After the horse had been caught Amanda was asked to get on the horse and finish the schooling.

I still need someone to explain to me how the horse knew where the barn was because we were not close to it.

This poor girl (see also lady) had a grapefruit sized hematoma on the back of her leg from where the horse had accidentally kicked her, but thankfully her jump vest had inflated and this was her only injury.

So now Amanda is on this other horse schooling and she has a lesson of her own immediately following this one.  I had to go back to the barn and find another rider to help me tact up Amanda’s horse for her lesson and had to take the horse she was riding back to barn and cool him off.

Oh yea, the horse she was riding quit sweating so we had to make sure he cooled down before just putting him back in his stall.

I can't say it was a bad weekend, because Amanda and I worked really well together.  I really don’t know if you were able to follow any of this adventure because there was so much that happened over those three days, but let me tell you it was interesting.

Neighborhood Sprinkler Inspector

I mentioned in the beginning that watering my lawn was less stressful than trying to write and keep up with this blog.  Well the reason it is less stresfull is because I have a friend that comes by to help me make sure that I water the lawn correctly.  Bet you didn't know that there was someone out there checking on your lawn for you.

I wanted to introduce you guys to this friend of mine.  This is my neighborhood sprinkler and yard inspector.  I usually call him Fred, but only because he has never actually told me his name.

Every night when I go to put the spinkler out to water my lawn, this guy will show up out of no where and come over to check things out.  He has a routine of things that have to be checked out and up to his standards. 

First, he must . . .


. . .survey the yard. . .

  





Then he spends a couple of minutes. . . 

. . .test the soil saturation. . .



Followed by several minutes of . . . 



. . . checking the pH of the water. . .

And if everything is in order. . .

. . . finishing up with a bath.

I know that it looks like Fred is bathing when he should be checking the pH, but this is a very long a drawn out process.  Believe me when I say that this guy really immerses himself in his work.