Fishing

My buddy Andrew has called me up a lot recently to go fishing. This is awesome because he has a boat and it's much better than fishing from the shore.

Well, we went last Thursday and I caught 2-3 lb saugeye and a 1.5 lb saugeye. It was only after getting home that I realized that saugeye are supposed to be pretty good tablefare! Who knew something that ugly could taste good? I don't yet know and they've stopped biting, so I may never know.

On Saturday afternoon once the rain let up, we headed out again, this time to a different lake. Andrew loves catching bass, so he decided to mix it up and go somewhere else.

Well, it wasn't long and I snagged a tiny little large mouth, this was a good sign because the little guys always bite first, we just had to be patient. In the end, it paid off. I netted a 3.5 lb large mouth that jumped out of the water 3 times before coming into the boat. At first, I didn't even realize I had a fish. You see, I'm the snag king at any lake, and I thought I had a stick on the line. The fish was swimming with the line. That changed once he got hooked though. That's when the fight was on. I brought him home and cooked him up, but I'm just not that big of a fan of largemouth bass. It's pretty bitter tasting and nothing really kills it. From now on, it's saugeye, white bass, or striped bass only that's going on my plate! No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to get into the southern catfish craze. Maybe someday!

No Rules Pinewood Derby or "Extreme" Pinewood Derby

This is SUPER nerdy I know, but the OU LDSSA held a "No Rules Pinewood Derby" and I really got into it. Below are pics of my car and a bit about how I did it. It blew the competition away! It did the length of the track in just over a second. The only things that could have been faster are a CO2 or compressed air design, both of which I am considering for next year! Either that or a 5000-10000 RPM brushless motor that runs on a smaller, lighter LiPO battery. I'm not sure that even compressed air or CO2 could beat it. We'll see!


Obviously, this is the bottom of the car. You can see the battery connection (little red box) and the wiring to the motor and switches.


This was the first "complete" car. I replaced the crappy looking homemade wheels and stablized the motor/gear box mounting with a plate rather than brackets.

(I'm going to get a clearer picture soon.)

This is the final-final car with alkaline batteries. I jacked the back wheels off of a toy I found at Wal-mart. They were rubber and a lot better looking than my homemade ones. I bought the toy, shredded everything to get the 4 wheels, then carefully drilled new centered holes to mount on the axle. They really are just for looks. They had a smaller diameter so they reduced the speed and didn't give much more traction either, but at least they don't look like they are from hillbilly hell. The front wheels are just the standard pinewood derby car wheels mounted on a block to keep the switch off the track.

For the first two races I used the alkaline batteries I had spent a week and a half testing with. They were half dead but everyone was amazed at the speed of the car. For the higher end of the bracket (elite 8, final 4, and championship races) I switched to brand new lithium batteries (half the weight and full of juice) and blew EVERYONE away!!! It was close to twice as fast!

Adam at Home Depot helped me with getting the rear axle 90 degrees to the frame of the car with this plate. I had to pop 2 holes in the front through the wood to stablize the rear axle. After every race I had to tighten the nuts because they had vibrated loose; one of the wheel holes wasn't exactly on center so there was some vibration.

There are 2 switches, a toggle switch on the top of the car and a lever switch on the nose. I wired them in line so that the car had a double off position. This helped me place the car on the track without the car being in the "on" position until the starting pin dropped.

This was the first modified gearing. You can see the slight torque on the red gear. It ran smoothly enough and I estimated the ratio at around 25-30:1 although I didn't count all the teeth.

This is the second gear configuration I came up with. The ratio here is 6.6:1, much, much faster than the previous configuration. As with every modification I made, there was always some conflict. You can see the scrapes made on the motor casing from cutting it to clear a path for the tightening screw on the axle nut. I also had to drill a hole for the axle and glue a couple gears together to get everything to work together. The hole for the axle had to be in exactly the right place as well as perpendicular to the casing and body of the car. Try doing that with a handheld cordless drill. I should have used a drill press, but since I couldn't get access, I made due. It hit right on the money and the result was pure speed baby! :)

All-in-all the car took about 40 hours to build. This includes all the time spent at the hobby shop, Radio Shack, and Ace Hardware asking questions to be sure I got the right parts, as well as the design (didn't do as much of this as I should have), building, and testing. It was a fun little project that looks cool too. I think I'll have my artist friend paint it though.

It's been forever

I can't believe it's been 2 months since my last post. A ton has happened while at the same time nothing has changed. I'll try to fill you in as best I can.
Let's see, I'm still dating LaRee. We see each other 4 or 5 times a week, mostly on weekends. During the week it's not for very long because we have our stupid 10 o'clock curfew. On the weekends we usually go out for dinner. We try to make it a double but for some reason people bail. Because LaRee looks so good and smells so good I'm forced to ask myself, "do I smell bad?"
Over the weekend our ward hosted a concert called "I Believe in Christ". It was supposed to be an inter-faith thing, and it was but just not like they had hoped. You see, we called around to all of the other faiths on campus and asked them to participate. We rented one of the concert halls on campus so it was in a non-partial location. Well, all of the leaders of other faiths felt we didn't believe in the same Christ so they politely declined. I just don't get it. Do they realize that even though we don't all have the same views on things surrounding Christ (plan of salvation, immortality, life after death, grace/works) we still all believe very much in the same Christ? I just don't get it.
I invited Jim and Cathy and they came! They said they really enjoyed it. In fact, they said it several times. They are such wonderful people and they love God so much I knew they would love it.
Like I said before, a lot has happened but nothing has changed. I'm still going to school in spite of wanting to drop out several times this semester. I stayed in partly because of a certain someone giving me a kick in the pants! Thank you!
I have a calculus final Thursday of next week and a Physics final the following Thursday. Last day of class is Friday next week!!! Wooohooo! I am so sick of class and I need a break.
In case you're interested my summer schedule is Calculus 3 every day from 9:30-10:20 and technical writing from 10:30-11:20 every day. I think every day for 2 months will be much more manageable than every day for 4, although it is 2 hours instead of 1. We'll see. Someone also told me the tech writing was a breeze so I'm banking on that.
Oh yes, registration also happened for the fall. Provided I pass calc 3 I will be taking calculus 4 (believe it or not there are 4 calc classes!) and I will be taking Computer Applications for Civil Engineers (Excel, drafting and Java programming). This one should be a piece of cake considering I use excel and draft for a living. I'm pumped about the Java programming. I tried to talk the professor into letting me out of the class and he wanted to but I found out that I still have to get the 3 credit hours. Rather than spending them in another possibly harder class I opted to take his course and fly through it.
I will also finally be taking the required Civil engineering lecture course. There is no credit but it's required (hmmm?) but at least I'll be with other students in my discipline. I'm looking forward to it.
What else? I'm really looking forward to my class reunion. You'd think I might be embarassed that anyone who is going to graduate from college alread has except for me but I'm not. I'm super excited that I'm getting it done now and I'm a much better student than I ever would have been. I'm also very, very excited to come in May to see Jarom and everybody. I talk to the little guy 4+ times a week. He is such a conversationalist. It's always funny because we'll be having a great conversation then he says, "I love you Dad! Bye!" and that's it! Usually it's after we had spoken for a while though.
Oh man, I think that's enough for now. Please leave a comment or email me if there's more you want to know.

A bit more about me!

A Man's Mind

Kind of long but shortened by the laughter it causes. Enjoy!

Operation Urine
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE MOLD GROWING IN MY SHOWER-STALL:
Dear Phytophthora Mold Growing in My Shower Stall, (Actually, while the Phytophthora may technically be your correct name, may I just call you "Mold"? After all, you've seen me naked.) Mold, we have been living together now for quite some time and I think its fair to say that we have had a stable, but adversarial relationship. I kill you, you grow back. I kill you again, you grow back again. I kill you yet again, you grow back, and so on. For the most part things have proceeded along these lines quite nicely. I don't spend too much time killing you and you don't grow back too quickly. We had reached a state of equilibrium. Oh sure, my methods of getting rid of you have varied over the years, I remember the early days when the weapon of choice was Windex and paper towels, which as you know is the traditional male method for dealing with any and all cleaning jobs ranging from spilled soda to cleaning-up a major crime scene involving disembowelment and ritual sacrifice. I used to believe that if you can't clean it with Windex and paper towels then you're just not using enough Windex and paper towels. If a particular stain proved especially difficult I'd use name-brand Windex and not the store brand. That just how I was raised, God Bless America. And for the most part things progressed along these lines quite nicely, and by that I mean the shower stall got clean enough to keep Mrs. Soap Box happy and I didn't feel the need to take a shower when I was taking my shower, if you know what I mean. Now Mold, I have always understood your need and desire to grow and exist, and I'm pretty sure you're aware that I will do whatever I need to do you kill you so long as it does not require any real effort on my part whatsoever. I'm dedicated, but lazy. But lately something has changed, YOU have changed. Whereas before you would retreat in horror and disappear after one of my cleaning attacks, lately it seems you have grown stronger. You have found the strength to gain a foot-hold at the bottom left corner of the shower stall. I've scrubbed and scrubbed, but yet you remain. Perhaps my friend, you have grown weary of our battle and are putting all your efforts into one last fight for shower stall superiority. Or perhaps you sense some weakness on my part and feel the time is right to lead an all-out frontal assault and chase me to the spare bathroom where the water pressure is less than adequate. But either way, only a fool couldn't see that your strategy to seize the bottom left corner of my shower stall is working. I must also admit that you have forced me to go deeper into my arsenal of weapons - deeper that I ever feared would be necessary. Beyond what even Windex and paper towels can accomplish. First, I started off by looking at you while I showered and thinking "Got to do something about that mold at some point." This, like all peaceful means failed miserably. Next, I brought out the big boy, the big gun, the peace maker. Name-brand Windex and Brawny paper towels. I sprayed and wiped, wiped and sprayed, sprayed and wiped. This battle went on for literally seconds, yet you remained. Possessing a short attention span and strong desire to be doing something else, I declared "mission accomplished" and watched a 3 hour marathon of "Ghost Hunters" on the Sci-Fi channel. I spent the next 2 weeks listening to Mrs. Soap Box saying things like "The mold is back in the shower". Now since I already knew that the mold had returned I found her repeated statement of the obvious to be somewhat perplexing. Only later did I learn that I was supposed to interpret this as a request to return to battle. Who knew? I was always taught that questions ended with your voice going up at the end and included the word "please", as in "Would you please stop watching "Ghost Hunters" and clean the shower?" So back to the front! Seeing as how my name-brand Windex solution had proved ineffective, I was forced to improvise and decided to try Oven-Off. If it can remove old baked on macaroni and cheese which has dried to the consistency of cement, then how can it fail to get rid of YOU Mr. Mold? Well, while the tile shined like never before, it appears that Oven-Off too has failed, since you remain firmly entrenched in the grout. Now I sense that you grow stronger with each of my failed efforts. In fact, I'm pretty sure I heard you laughing at me while I showered. Not the first time I have been laughed at in the shower, but still, it hurt. And then an idea pops into my head! Windex contains ammonia, and I know that a lot of other cleaning products contain ammonia, so ammonia MUST be a great cleaner. But the stuff you get at the store is probably watered down, little-girl ammonia like the kind they use to make the "special sauce" at certain national burger places. No, I need full-strength ammonia from a reliable production source who isn't out to make a quick buck by selling the cheap stuff to an unsuspecting public. Then it hit me! Urine! Urine contains ammonia! And while I've never been tested, I'm pretty sure that my ammonia production is A-1, prime stuff - PURE! All I have to do is pee on the mold for a week or so with my home-made “super ammonia” and nature will work its magic. Good bye mold! At least that was the theory. You see, Mrs. Soap Box decided that my idea was "gross" and that peeing on the shower wall does not constitute "cleaning" and would not in fact lead to a cleaner shower. I said, "But look at the toilets. They're always clean and I pee in there all the time!" Mrs. Soap Box then gently reminded me that cleaning toilets was her job and that's why they're clean. Now while I was mentally wrestling with whether or not to inform Mrs. Soap Box that I had in fact – although unwittingly – been covertly participating in “Operation Urine” with regard to the shower floor each morning and that we would merely be changing our trajectory, Mr. Soap Box made it quite clear that "Operation Urine" was scrubbed for a more conventional strategy. This is getting like the Korean War, everyone back home wants me to win, but won't let me do what is necessary to achieve victory. Now while the “official” answer was "I don't want you pissing on the shower wall and telling me that you've done your part to clean the bathroom" I think the real answer is that she was just jealous. Jealous that if "Operation Urine" worked, she wouldn't be able to keep her things as clean as I could keep my things clean because she lacks aim. Not her fault, but unless the stain is on the floor directly beneath her and no one is looking and there is no noise and the faucet is running, and I swear to God that I’m not peeking (although I am) then she has no hope of getting her homemade ammonia to where its needed – while she has the weapon, she lacks a reliable delivery system. I also think she was afraid that my things would be home-made ammonia-clean and that her things would get grimier by the day while she pathetically peed all over herself in an attempt to clean her half of the house. I would be the hero, the guy they call in when something needs to be peed on and cleaned. I would get all the glory and she would have to live in my urine soaked shadow. So for her own selfish reasons she killed "Operation Urine", she's spiteful like that. OK since "Operation Urine" was off the table, I was down to the bottom of the barrel, I had to take desperate action. There was no doubt about it, I would have to do the one thing I have always avoided. I'm going to have to use elbow-grease. Yup, going to actually scrub. You've pissed me off now Mold, this is now requiring EFFORT! So I moved up a notch on the guy cleaning ladder and got myself an SOS pad. Hard steel wool and powdery blue stuff - this is the kind of cleaning grandma used to do! So I start scrubbing with the SOS pad but from the start its clear that the mission is doomed. Now in addition to mold, my grout is blue from the SOS pad and the tile looks sort of scratched. "Operation Urine" would never have ended in disgrace like this!! So I decide "Screw it, I'm going nuclear." I going to get ALL the cleaning fluids in the house, Windex, Oven-Off, Tile X, bleach - all of them - and hit you with everything I got all at once. I pour it all on and I scrub, and I scrub - I scrub like the wind! Of course, the doctor said that the fumes from all those chemicals mixed together is what probably caused me to pass out hit my head on the toilet and lose control of various bodily functions. Now I don't want to go into too much detail about the loss of bodily functions, but lets just say that had "Operation Urine" not been scrubbed by the brass back at headquarters, it would have been a complete success, for when those blue jeans came out of the washing machine the next day they were like new! So I stand here before you now a defeated man looking over the battle field where his hopes were dashed and I can see that you have won. Mold, you remain firmly entrenched in the lower left corner of my shower stall. I am beaten and my only viable option is to try and make the best deal possible, so in my own Neville Chamberline-like way I offer to give you the bottom left of the shower stall permanently and in exchange I won't regrout the shower in any further attempt to kill you. You may occupy the space up and including to the 4th tile from the floor and up to and including the 3rd tile in from the corner. That space is yours now, you may rest easy on your side of the border. The war is over. I’m not sure how I’ll sell this back home, how to make Mrs. Soap Box understand that appeasement is our only option. I’ll probably do what I always do, tell her I need a special tool and that I’ll get to it “tomorrow”. Side note – this can often be an effective strategy as witnessed by those rolls of wallpaper I was supposed to hang several years ago. “Need a special wallpaper tool honey, I’ll get it tomorrow!” You know Mold, now that the battle is over, I can see you and I are not so different after all. Neither of us gains energy through photosynthesis, and we both enjoy warm, dark, moist places. So live in peace my slimy friend, and in the future, if I happen to pee on you, take no offense, my aim in the morning isn't that great. Yours truly, Soap Box

Happy Days

Just as you could deduce from the title, I'm happy. In spite of work being hectic, classes being tough and Jarom being so far away I am really happy. There are two main reasons for this. The first is that I am really living my life the way I feel like I should, close to God. I read my scriptures every day and pray many times a day. I also look at everyone as a child of God. I honestly don't have any hard feelings toward anyone. I know there are some that might scoff but that's fine. I don't and won't force it on anyone to live like me.
Before I get to the second reason I'll go over my weekend for anyone interested in what I did.
This weekend there was a semi-formal dance that the Engineering Club was putting on. I know, I know a bunch of engineers in a little ballroom with rap, R&B, and Pop music playing, EXCITING!
Hey, I was just happy to have an excuse to go out and buy a new shirt and tie and take LaRee to a nice restaurant. We had a great time at dinner but it turned out that we found a down side to living outside of Utah or another area with a high concentration of LDS people; women dress like skanks and people dance WAAAAAY too provocatively for me to see on a Friday night. So, we left early. But we ended up playing games at my place and watching a movie until late. It was fun.
I also picked up the guitar and jammed with James for a while. He taught me a new little riff by Collective Soul so now I know 4 songs! I'm really liking this guitar thing, I'm learning pretty quickly too.
Oh yeah, I also learned another important piece of information that totally wrecks all thoughts I had about sales in the past. This tidbit is, "If it's on sale either buy it or find out when it's going off sale!" I got bit in the butt by this one. Khols had all of their men's shirts and ties on a great sale on Wed but I decided to wait a day to buy. Upon returning the sale was off and I had to pay full price for a shirt and tie combo!!! Boy, if Kara ever got wind of that I'd get an earful, but my next wife (should there be one) will only benefit.
Okay now, on to the second reason that I am so happy. It is LaRee. (WARNING: Following will be a graphic depiction of how I feel about my girlfriend. If you have any allergies to public expression of feelings, don't care about those types of things or you are just plain tuckered out from reading, please stop reading now.) She makes me so happy. I have been myself from day one and she still likes me. I can't believe it but I'm sure happy with it. It's really nice to know that no matter what, she cares for me. True, the reason I feel this way is mostly because I have a very long, documented history of inadvertently doing really, really dumb stuff that hurts people's feelings, that and the fact that I'm just an idiot sometimes. I digress, it's nice to know that she will still care for me even if I accidentally do that stuff (let's face it, it's bound to happen). I've never felt like she feels that she's dragging me along with her or I'm just good enough to be with her. We are both just figuring life out and accept that when we are with each other we are with each other's mistakes too. We both feel lucky to have each other.

Now, I'll be honest, I'm not ready for marriage or anything and we have not been dating long enough to know each other well enough to get married, but things are very positive and we are both very happy and even in extreme like. It's exciting. It's fun. It's unexpected.

It's been a long time, oh yeah ain't that right

You might recognize the title of this blog from a matchbox 20 song, or maybe you won't.
Okay, okay, so it has been a while since I posted anything, so sue me! I've been busy. In my business I have some venting that I must do.

I can't go on like this anymore! School is a joke. It is nothing more than a business. It is not a way to help broaden our intelligence as a society. I used to think it was just in textbooks and tuition that they got us but it seems more and more they are broadening the ways that students are asked to get screwed.
This all stems from the physics class I am taking this semester. I had anticipated spending about $100 for the book (which is paperback if you can believe it) and I was right on the money (pun intended). What I had not anticipated was the cost of a H-ITT clicker that would be used for quizzes and tests. This clicker is a couple notches down from a standard remote control but unlike a standard remote control this little baby cost $33 and that doesn't even include the battery!!! That's right folks, step right up and get some snake water while you're at it because at OU you can't have a remote without snake water, it just won't work!
This remote is a glorified SCANTRON but because our professors have gotten lazy and don't want to take all 30 minutes of their valuable research time (or rather 30 minutes of their TA's beer drinking time) to feed SCANTRON through a machine they decided students had to spend $33 to answer a question and have the answer recorded electronically immediately! More than that, there is no option to take a SCANTRON instead of purchasing the remote. If you don't get one of your own (because they are coded to match your student ID) you don't pass the class, period!
How ridiculous are we getting with our technology? Technology is great but it seems that in our drive to get immediate results we are neglecting at what cost we are getting those results not to mention personability! I guess the day is soon coming that in order to save classroom space, students will have to spend $350 for an iPod that is coded with their student number and broadcasts the professor’s voice during a scheduled time. The professor will give the lecture and homework assignments. The student then must upload the completed homework to the iPod. Automatically the answers will be given and the professors voice will tell if the answers were right and if not will explain what was done wrong. Oh yeah, Not to mention that there will be a required text that students will have to spend another $300 to buy. But instead of an actual book they will get a password to download an e-book onto the iPod. Seriously, where does it end? I'll tell you where it ends, right in the studends' collective END!

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

From the last post you all know that I was taking a trip to Utah to send Jarom off and to see my family. I'm back now and I just got some pictures from the trip.


Uncle Danegus


Jarom got me a Tabletop football game for Christmas


His new favorite shirt


Me and Mo


Mo and Uncle Cracker


Grandma Betty


Aspen

All-in-all it was a pretty good trip. There was a bit of snow but not too much. There was a lot of family and friends and it was great to get to see everyone.

Yo, yo, yo! Merry Chris"sizzle"!

Yeah, that's my best attempt, whatever.
I guess it's been a week since writing so I thought I'd put up another post for your viewing pleasure.
Starting with recent events, I woke up this morning at 5 AM. This was not just any wake up, it was an "eyes wide open, brain fully functioning, you're not going back to sleep" wake up. I don't know what happened but I decided to get going. Now that I've almost put in a full day (getting in at 6 AM will do that by 11) I'm taking a break to write a bit, you can thank me later!
Let's see...I had Jarom this past weekend for the last time. I know I said that last weekend but Kara called and there was no way I was turning this down.
We didn't do much. We went over to Jim and Kathy Hunt's to visit them one last time. They are so nice. They are going to miss Jarom almost as much as I am. They are almost like another set of grandparents to him. I'm so glad to have friends like that. They are wonderful people.
It was 70 degrees so we went to the park and played for a while but that was about the extent of our weekend.
Sunday my stomach was just turning over and over while I thought of taking Jarom back, and it didn't stop until I dropped him off. I'm really torn up about this. He's such a huge part of my life that not having him close is just going to tear me up. It's going to be a big adjustment to not have him on the weekends. This kind of means I have to start attending the singles ward <>! The good news is I'm going in armed with a girlfriend! That dark and lonely wilderness will have a bit of light because I don't have to face the "meat marketeers". Okay, it's not really that bad. I know a lot of people there and they are great so it'll be good. Plus they just got a new bishop and that can only breathe more life into the ward.
On the personal side, things with LaRee are going great! She's a real sweetie. She's as into me as I am her and we each know where the other stands so there's no (or less) insecurities about hanging out with other people. Okay, that's enough about that, ya'll don't want to know any more than that.
School's out and I pulled a C in calculus which I'm disappointed about but I'll just say I passed and move on. I did get an A in my civil engineering class so there ya go! Next semester doesn't start until Jan 12 so I've got a month of evenings all to myself (any guesses where those are going?) I'll be taking Physics for Engineers and Calculus II next semester. It's 7 credit hours as opposed to the 4 this semester (they were equivalent to 5 or 6). The other difference is that the physics is from 11:30-1 4 days a week which means evenings at the office. I'm a bit concerned about that but I'll adjust I'm sure. On the bright side (if you can call it that) I'll have my weekends to recover!
Alrighty, that's all I got. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (that's probably when I'll write again)

Arms Up, Pants Down! You Know the Drill!

Okay, so the title, although true is simply to get your attention. I felt I needed something a little snazzy to get this party going.
It's that time of year again. The time of year I get scolded for not having made my checkup appointment. For those of you that wonder why I put this off, let me tell you my experience thus far and then let you contemplate that question.
Last week I went to a new doctor here in OKC (just think SLC with OK instead of SL) just to get him to order the C/T scan. His name is Dr. Rodney Miles. He is an OU graduate and has been practicing for 20+ years (all this was in the profile that my insurance gives of doctors). Other than this information and the fact that his office was close to my work, I had no reason for choosing him over any other Dr in the area. Everything was going fine, my appointment was for 2:30 and I arrived at 2:15 knowing that I had a lot of paperwork to fill out. I got the paperwork, scanned the room and estimated that I should be in this waiting room for no more than 20 minutes.
I filled out my information (DOB, SSN, IGN, DOA, CYA, SOB, LOL, etc.) and watched several people go back. I made it to the finals, just me and one other person, and I was right on track for my estimation. This was when things came to a grinding halt! We waited and waited. It was like a staring contest except instead of staring at each other we had to stare at everything else (BTW I'm sure I won)! The clock ticked by, it was 3 o'clock and finally that mystical portal to the wonderful world of wisdom opened. We, the two finalists, sat up in our chairs in great anticipation of whose name would be called, who would win this contest we had never signed up for, who would get to GO SEE THE DOCTOR!
Alas, in the end there are no winners and losers at this office. Only those who are sick and the rare hypocondriac desporately trying to be ill. Once more I wait, but now I wait alone. Once again I attempt to practice my skills of staring from floor to ceiling and wall to wall without moving my head. The clock ticks.
Another half of a century goes by in waiting room time (this equates to roughly half an hour normal time) and finally, one hour after my scheduled appointment time, I go back to see the doctor. Once again I judge amiss. It is not to see the doctor but the Physicians Assistant. She speaks with me for a moment and then leaves me. Once again alone and having lost the epic battle in the waiting room I again practice my staring skills. Side to side, up and down I look keeping my head and neck rigid. Just as I'm getting good the door opens and the doctor enters.
We spoke about something, probably the reason I was there, and he babbled about all that he had seen in the last 20+ years and how whenever he sees something new like this he can't wait to examine it, I don't remember if he said it word for word but in summary he said, "You are a laboratory rat that I will poke and prod and examine until I am satisfied!"
After looking at the scar and pretending to actually feel for any lumps he finally ordered the C/T scan and sent me on my way.
Well, today was the day of the scan. I went to the hospital knowing what to expect having done this 5 or 6 times now.
I went to admissions filled out paperwork and waited. Then I went to imaging, filled out paperwork and waited. Finally I got back to the C/T scan and the first thing I'm told is, "Lie down, arms up and pants down to your hips!"
Aparently the nurse had seen that I had done this before and thought she would be a drill seargent and bark out orders. This didn't phase me becuase there's not much that can make the experience worse. The whole ordeal consists of first a mixture of saline solution and iodine being injected into my bloodstream. This mixture causes everywhere that has a high blood flow to feel warm and to tingle. My face feels flushed, head and ears feel hot, hands and toes tingle etc. Next, with the IV in I had to place my arms above my head and bend them so I can be slid back and forth through a little hole, all while being asked to hold my breath for 30 -45 seconds at a time. Needless to say, the nurse almost made it an inviting experience!
All this said, nothing compares to the waiting of the results. The "what could be's", the analyzing of all my bodily functions for any abnormalities. It's enough to drive someone to write about it all on a blog so that others would understand! :)
Whew! What a long entry. Oh well, the scan is done and the doctor will have the verdict in by the end of the week. I'll let everyone know what I find out.

Weekend With Jarom

This weekend was a bitter sweet one. Since Kara is moving to Utah I realized this would be my last weekend with him before coming to Utah and leaving him there. I had myself all psyched up and ready for that. I had run through all of the emotions and was ready to accept it when Kara called and asked if I could take him this coming weekend. Of course I will but man, I've gotta go through another week of torture!
Anyway, on our way back from Gainesville we stopped in Ardmore to see the outdoor light display they have. Jarom LOVED it! We drove really slow for about 30 minutes through a great display, then hit the road back to Norman. We didn't get back until after 9 so it was straight to bed.
Saturday morning was watching Superman cartoons, courtesy of LaRee, then we went to the Museum of Natural History. This has become a tradition. Unfortunately so has leaving with Jarom kicking and screaming because he is acting up. It starts out small but then quickly escalates.
The good news is once we got home he calmed down, did his time in time-out and was good to go for the rest of the night. We took what turned out to be a 2.5 hour nap and then we made some dinner and then made chocolate chip cookies. They weren't the best but it was just the experience that we were after anyway. Jarom is the sweetest and most thoughtful 3 year old I have ever known. He says and does stuff that is so beyond his age. Compliments and timely comments are so out of character for a kid his age.
So Sunday rolled around and we went to church and then had some lunch. He then asked to watch the "Joseph Smith Movie". It's called The Restoration and it's what we watch on Sundays but usually it's a compromise because he wants to watch Superman or Toy Story. This time it was by his request.
After this we headed back to Gainesville, reluctantly. After dropping him off I had a nice conversation with Chris (Kara's fiance) and then Kara called me and asked an interesting question, "Did Jarom tell you he swallowed a penny?"
I was pretty sure I took the change off of my night stand in the bedroom because when he's not sleeping, Jarom gets into a lot of mischief. Like yesterday I was climbing into bed and found on the bed a pen missing a cap, 4 books from the bookshelf and ALL of the pillows curiously stacked as high as they would go. Not to mention the cord on the horizontal blinds tied in knots! He did this all without a peep to indicate that he was awake.
Back to the penny thing, Kara told him not to ever do that again and threatened to "take away all of his 'money's' and go to the hospital"! She said he really didn't like that! Hard to say what he liked least, the hospital threat or losing his change. Well, do what works I guess. He's a funny kid.


I really like this picture of us


He's a Cheese!


He just wants me to leave him alone


LaRee, in case anyone wants to know what she looks like.

Christmas Tree

The Christmas tree is finally finished. LaRee and I went to Wally World last night and got the packing tape I needed to finish my tree. Jarom did the faces of the snowmen and helped put them on the tree. LaRee and I did the little balls and put them on last night. I'm pumped to have a tree. I also got those pine cones that smell like cinamon and put them in my place so now it smells like Christmas when I walk in. I'm not sure what Sazurak thinks of it all but she's good to leave the tree alone so that's all I can ask for.



Here's the tree



LaRee made this in the snow we got last week. It was a lot of snow!


This is my crazy cat!

All Work and No Play...?Whatever!

Well, somehow between work, school, Jarom every other weekend and life in general I managed to do it! I now officially have a girlfriend. I know, I know, I was the first one saying this wouldn't/couldn't happen, but somehow it did. No worries, it's not like I'm going to go off and get married or anything rash like that, I'm not ready for that. I'm taking baby steps. It took me a while to get back on the horse, then it took me a while to get used to getting bucked off of the horse, now I'm on a new horse and I'm just going to ride this one at a nice and slow stroll. Wow, that horse analogy went way too far! I'm sure if she reads this I'll be hearing about it.
You probably want some juicy details so I'll tease you with a few. Her name is LaRee. She's a blonde. (not sure why I decided that was a juicy detail but whatever) She's a very good artist, painting and drawing. She has a pretty heavy crush on Superman, but I'm okay with that. Everyone has to have something they are moderately obsessed with, for some it's shoes, for other's sports yet other's with getting into others' business, hers is Superman. Could be worse, right? She is from Arizona but moved out here to live with her brother who is attending OU. We met playing volleyball on Wednesday nights a couple of months ago. She's got a great sense of humor but she can also get serious (but not too serious).
I'll be honest, getting to this stage was tough. You don't get much practice at almost being a couple. Now that we're over that hump it should be smooth sailing. I feel pretty comfortable with "Relationship JD" and "Independent JD" is doing well for himself too. As long as I can keep the two worlds from colliding I'll be just fine.
It's really nice to have someone who thinks your special, someone to think about in dull moments, a shoulder to cry on (metaphorically of course, I don't cry...ehem, uh can we change the subject?) I had almost forgotten how nice it is. Because of the divorce and because I took some time to be away from women I think I got my head right and I'm in a good, healthy relationship. It's been a long time in the making but it's great!

Winter Wonder Wha...???

Living in Norman, Oklahoma, the weather capital of the world, I have come to understand a few things about weather. First is, when they say "chance of rain" it usually means torential downpour in some locations but sunny skies for most. When they say "sunny and warm", they mean no clouds with gale force winds. More recently I have learned that when they say "BLIZZARD CONDITIONS" you had better stock up on groceries, get a couple movies and bust out the cribbage board cause you're stayin' home. Oh no, no, not because you couldn't get to where you wanted to go, but because all of the other people that are out are out for blood! I don't know exactly what they are thinking but I'm sure it's something along the lines of, "Awe gosh darn fiddlesticks, I got me this hya fo-wheel drav, I'll git er done!"
I can understand that for someone of this level of intelligence it would seem logical that because you can accelerate on any surface with relative ease, you would also be able to decelerate on any surface. However, I feel it my duty to tell anyone living in an area that has yet to discover the chemical reaction that salt has on ice (hint: it's not a chemical reaction), you still have only the same four wheel brakes that anyone out there has, and if you're going 300 mph you will need much, much more room to stop!
I also discovered another thing that fascinates me, in these blizzard conditions bars can still legally be open! Oh yeah, this is what we need, idiots adding liquid courage to there arsenal of cold weather driving gear! Maybe I'm wrong, maybe we should allow the bars to stay open during winter blizzards. We should even give everyone that goes in gets the keys to a brand new, two-wheel drive, half-ton pickup. "Yeah, you get your choice, the one out back in stuck in the snow drift or the one turned sideways on the hill side just outside of town!"
Anyway, the point is that without even knowing it, the National Weather Service, while trying to predict the weather, is actually predicting human behavior. Next time they call for blizzard conditions I'll understand completely. It's not a blizzard of snow and ice, it's a blizzard of complete morons!