Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Last Night

Well, the girl I spoke of in the post yesterday came over last night. I was pumped!
When she walked in the door the first thing she said was, "I come bearing gifts," as she proceeded to pull out a bag of candy, popcorn and apple cider! Awesome!
We chatted while we made cider and popcorn. A bunch of small-talk really, but not the cumbersome kind. It was really pleasant and smooth flowing.
Once the cider and popcorn were ready we were set to watch the movie. She brought 2 to choose from. We chose one (I don't remember the title, but I do remember the plot) and watched it. It wasn't the "scary" we were going for but it was good as old 1940's movies go. I really like that old theater type acting in those movies.
After the movie we talked for about an hour or so and probably could have talked longer but I was a party pooper and needed to go to bed. We talked about a ton of things; family, friends, high school, short-term plans, etc. I have needed that for a long time. The whole time we talked Sazurak (the cat) kept vying for attention. (this cat is a total heart melter! She's gonna win me over with any cat lovin' girl)
Not a bad little date, I can definitely say I've had much, much worse! In fact this one could have gone south and STILL not been as bad as some of the dates I've been on!
Well, we left it deciding that we will have to watch the other movie sometime this week (do you think she planned that by bringing 2?) because I'm going down to College Station for the OU/A&M football game. That will be a fun road trip! 6 hours in the car all by myself on a Friday afternoon! Believe me I'll take plenty of pictures and post them here and on my facebook profile.
I'm still trying to figure out this blog thing. I wonder if I'm getting too personal. I don't want to put too much of my life out here because people could take advantage of that by gossiping or adding their own little assumptions to what I write. I guess that's the risk you take. Believe me, I'm not going to start getting into feelings or deep emotional reflections or anything like that. I'm sure that's the last thing anyone wants to read. I'll just be sure that I read this from a third person point of view and if it clears that it should be appropriate.
Lastly, here's a Jack Handy quote to lighten the mood and your day:
"Sometimes when I feel like killing someone, I do a little trick to calm myself down. I'll go over to the persons house and ring the doorbell. When the person comes to the door, I'm gone, but you know what I've left on the porch? A jack-o-lantern with a knife stuck in the side of it's head with a note that says 'You.' After that I usually feel a lot better, and no harm done."

Monday, October 30, 2006

Weekend Update (without Tina Faye or Kevin Nealan)

Well, here's a quick update of my weekend. I honestly don't remember what I did on Friday. I don't know what's been going on with me lately but my memory for appointments is really slipping. I had 4 things on 4 different nights last week and didn't make it to any of them. I either totally forgot or I just messed the time up so I missed it anyway. Time to get a planner I guess.
Anyway, Saturday I went to my buddy Jim Hunt's place to watch the football game. We had a great time, especially since OU won! We then got invited by his neighbor Jakie (an ex OU football player and millionaire) to watch the remaining games at his place on his 62" plasma and then simultaneously watch 2 more games on his two 48" plasmas!!! As if that wasn't good enough, in walks the Dean of the College of Engineering!!! This is a guy I will definitely get to know! We watched some good games and then I had to leave to go pick up my new cat. Yup, that's right, I decided to get responsible and get a cat. I thought about a dog but I just don't want to have to take it to the bathroom and all that jazz. A cat can take care of itself. Boy is this one an awesome cat too! She spent nearly every moment I was home this weekend sitting on my lap and purring or playing! Her name is Sazurak (that's what was given and she knows it).
After playing for a bit I decided to go to a costume party. I got a costume together thanks to mom, I went as a missionary (found my old nametags). It went over well and got a good reaction from everyone at the party, and everyone I've told about it!
Sunday was just a regular sunday. I went to church then went to a buddy's place for some grub and to play the guitar. I've got about 5 songs under my belt (not too bad for 2 weeks) and calused fingertips. I've also got a sore shoulder from strumming. Oh well, I'll get used to it I'm sure. That's about it for me. Oh yeah, I'm watching a Hitchcock movie tonight with a cutie from the singles ward. She's not completely my type but no one in the ward is and she's mildly interested in me so... No worries, I'm just looking for someone to have a good time with anyway, don't plan on any wedding bells for a very, very long time, at least from me right Dane?

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Generic Update

I guess it's been a couple of days since I've written anything so here's what's been happening.
I spent the weekend with Jarom and as usual it was busy. We went to Jim and Kathy Hunts which is a regular occurrence when Jarom is in town and there is a home game. Jarom got his fill of the toys at their place and I got my fill of Kathy's cooking (she has had recipes published in Southern Living Magazine)!!
We then started to go to the family fun zone that the institute puts on a couple of hours before game time. The institute building is only 2 blocks from the stadium so they give out free hot dogs, brauts and water to passers by. They also have 3-54" HD televisions showing all the college games that are on for that adults. The kids can play on the giant air-field fun-houses and there is no alcohol or smoking allowed on the property! It's a ton of fun.
Well, as I said Jarom and I headed out but I realized that the temperature had dropped about 20 degrees from earlier that morning and we were not dressed for it.
We went home and bundled up in T-shirts, sweatshirts, coats and hats and headed on our way. We got there and found the free hotdogs and brauts but no fun houses! Well the wind was blowing from the north at about 20-30 mph so I guess they decided not to set them up :(
Well, Jarom and I went to dinner and found that the service is great during the game because the restaurants are empty! We played around for a while longer and then he went to bed and I hit the books.
It's a good thing I did too! I had a calculus test yesterday that was brutal! I fought through it and I actually think I did well. I tanked the question about finding the area of a non-right triangle with only two sides and an angle in radians given, then differentiating that equation to find the rate of change of the area as the angle increased by .05 radians/sec (huh, go figure, I bombed that one?)
This class has really challenged me. I'm going to do my best to get an A so that I can raise my GPA to over 3.4 and I can join the Honors Society on campus. The perks of that are smaller classes and better instructors so there's real incentive for me. The only draw back is the times of the classes but it might be a good trade off, especially since the math professors here are GENIUS' but they SUCK at teaching!
We'll see. Wish me luck that I did well!
Oh yeah, there is something really cool happening this Wednesday. Here's the background. There is this group on campus called the EWB and they donate their time and engineering knowledge to the community and also to help one international community per year. They are new here on campus and in need of funding. Well I really liked their goals and it just happened that PBS&J has a Foundation that gives money to these causes. We sent in an application and the company awarded $3000 to the EWB! We make the presentation tomorrow! I'll post pictures.
The other thing that came of it was that PBS&J felt that this was a cause that they wanted to support nation-wide and they want it to be an organized attempt so they needed someone to head it up. The amazing thing is they asked me to do that!!! I was shocked! So far it hasn't been anything but I'm working on making it something. We'll see how it goes.
Boy, that's a novel, sorry.

Friday, October 20, 2006

A civil engineer much, much sooner than later!

Something really funny happened to me in my Civil Engineering class today. To give some background though, on Monday our professor sent out an email and asked us to go to the USGS website and see how much the local reservoir had filled with the heavy rains we had received over the weekend. Well, I haven't had anything to do at work for over a week and I was bored to tears, so I checked it out. (okay so maybe it's true that I was a bit bored but it's probably more true that I really was interested to know how much rain we got!)

So, today I was in class and the professor asked if anyone had done what he had suggested. No one raised their hand and I knew that he knew that I had done as suggested so I just left well enough alone and kept my mouth shut and hand down. In an attempt to be nonchalant and inconspicuous, I was having a quiet conversation with the guy next to me. Well, he heard the professor's question and in response said, "What kind of a nerd would you have to be to have gone and done that?"
Just then the instructor said, "I know one of you looked at this," then he looked directly at me and continued, "JD, you looked this up didn't you?"

I guess I knew I was tagged on both accounts, so I raised my hand and said, "Yes I did. I know I'm a loser!"
Well, I probably don't have to tell you that the guy next to me was really embarrassed. The good news is we kind of know one another pretty well so we had a good laugh over it. I mean, really, what are the chances that he would say that to me and I was the only one that was the "nerd" in class? (I can hear my brother and sisters saying, "We always knew he was a nerd!")

So I guess this is just more proof that I'm in the right profession. It's also proof that I will be a Civil Engineer much, much sooner than later!

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Pictures



This is Kate and me at the races over the summer






This is Erin making sure the end of this 2x4 is level. That's me in the background supervising.


This is some kid that kept calling me "Dad". He's cute and smart so I kept him, not sure what his name is though :p

Jarom is a blossoming photographer (he took this)!

I took this not too far from where I live. Not bad huh? I have it framed and on my wall along with two others.

This is me at Turner Falls. As it turns out Turner Falls is a weekend hotspot for the Hispanic community all over Texas. The only people we saw were hispanics with Texas license plates.

If the pants fit???

An interesting event took place last night, here's the story:

I had to stay home and do homework so I decided it was a great time to do laundry as well. Laundry is a laborious task because I have to go to the Laundromat in my complex but before that I usually have to get quarters and in order to get quarters I have to go get cash, so you can see how much of a chore this is.
After getting quarters, separating out my clothes and getting to the Laundromat, I loaded my clothes into the washers and went to do some homework. 45 minutes went by and I went back to change them from washer to dryer. Well, someone had left their clothing in the dryers thus occupying them all, except for one. This suited me just fine because jeans always need more time to dry. I promptly put them in the dryer and waited for the return of the dryer hog to claim their now dry clothes.
When the lady finally arrived around 9PM I tagged right behind her and as she emptied a dryer I filled it and started it. I also checked that my jeans were still drying.
I left for about an hour and upon my return found that my clothes were completely dry. I started pulling them out to take home and fold and as I approached the last dryer, the one with my jeans, I found it to be empty!!!
"Surely someone simply moved my clothes to another dryer," I thought.
Checking all of the dryers I came up empty for my clothing but found another dryer to still contain someone else's clothes. I contemplated taking those clothes and holding them for ransom (assuming they whose clothes these were possessed mine). I decided against that and came to the frightful realization that every last pair of nice jeans that I owned, minus what I had on, was gone along with a nice pair of new shorts!
I was really upset but the only conclusion I came to that would give me any closure and peace is that whoever took them must have a greater need for them than I did. I really believe that to be true and had they asked I would like to think that I would have given up every last thing I owned in the Laundromat! I'm working on being able to believe that 100%.
In the mean time, I will be going to Ross or TJ Maxx to purchase some new pants. I will also be taking back the new OU Hoodie I just purchased. A bit more good news is that I actually have a bit of cash in the kitty that I can use to take care of this unforeseen need (just can't seem to keep it there).

Monday, October 16, 2006

Sooner or later a Civil Engineer

Sooner or later a Civil Engineer

Man, what a weekend!
It started with LaRisa's birthday party. There was guitar hero and kareoke party! It was a lot of fun and I met a lot of cool people.
The next day was OU football. The game was awesome except for the fact that AD broke his collarbone and is out for the rest of the season, bye bye AD!!!
I went to Jim's place for more football watching and food. Those folks are awesome.
While I was there I got a phone call from a buddy of mine wanting me to double with him and his girlfriend. His girlfriends best friend was in town and they didn't want her to feel like a tag-along. No problem, right? I no sooner accepted the offer than I was informed of the "situation". She had a boyfriend!
"Well," I thought, "the only way this could get worse is if she is cute." I guess I should have known that I was jinxing myself because she was CUTE! 5'3", strawberry blonde, slim, well dressed and personality!
Now I had a decision to make, go in guns blazing and turn on the charm (it's a little rusty but I think I've still got it) or "just be friendly". The pacifist in me took over and I went the friendly route and I'm glad I did because she was as "cold as ice" (http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/foreigner/cold+as+ice_20054885.html)
I ended up having a very pleasant conversation with my friends girlfriend and enjoying the bricktown area of OKC and the scenery that was accompanying me, if by definition only.
We exchanged pleasantries and they were on their way! Whew, that was brutal.
Sunday was pretty cool except for one thing, I woke up to my apartment leaking like a sieve!!! Called maintenance and there was nothing they could do until it stopped raining. I put down towels and buckets until today. I secretly hope they can't fix it so I can get out of that place and move somewhere with washers and dryers in the apartment! I HATE laudrimats!

Friday, October 13, 2006

First posting

Well, here we go! I've never done this before but it's so easy!
First things first though, a bit about me.
I'm 27 yrs old and I work for a civil engineering firm where I design roads to put it in simple terms. I love my job! I can't believe they actually pay me to do this. I learn something every day. The company is great and the folks I work with are great.
I'm a divorcee of about a year and I have a 3 yr old son named Jarom. He is the smartest 3 yr old you'll ever meet and I plan to post a lot of what he says and does. He lives in Dallas with his mother. I get to see him every other weekend or so which is definitely not enough. I can't wait to be done with work and school so I can see much, much more of him.
I moved to Norman, Oklahoma about 4 months ago to pursue a Bachelor's of Science in Civil Engineering (BSCE) and to help my company start an office in the Oklahoma City area. It's an amazing opportunity that I am so thankful for. Again, I can't believe they are actually paying me to do this!
Although I enjoy school and work, I enjoy being away from them even more. In the free time that I have (not much) I play disc golf, golf, hang out at the institute, watch Seinfeld episodes, and just try to stay out of my apartment.
I've met a lot of very cool and interesting people since being in Norman. I'll be sure to post pics of all my friends here.
Anyway, I plan to be in Norman until I finish school in about 6 years (part-time studend). After that I will be moving to whatever state my son lives in.
Well, I think that's a good start. We'll see how this things develops.