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!!!!!