Another inadvertant comic about me

I think this comic displays the recent growth I have gone through. I'd be the blond in the green shirt (only for this particular posting, for those of you who read S*P).

So true

I think the strip sums it all up for me.

Crazy Busy

Man, my days have been busy. It’s crazy. Right now I have a full time job, a part time business, night classes, and a TV show editing project. That doesn’t even include any outings with friends or family, household chores, or trying to help plan for the wedding. Now do you see what I mean when I say I’m busy? I think this is just to make up for all that time I spent goofing off while growing up. Actually, I’m very thankful for having gone to Carleton, because it helped me learn about dealing with having to do so much. That’s one thing I noticed about Carleton: most people are very busy, and not with just classes. Those do take up a lot of time, but people have other obligations as well: jobs, clubs, parties, sports, etc. So while I do wish I was able to get more done, I don’t usually feel too frustrated or stressed out. Actually, I think the fact that I’m actually doing things and that our situation is improving has helped in that regard.

So Emily starting working at this little motel in Northfield. She got paid, like yesterday. It wasn’t much but it’s a HUGE help. She can’t understand the people she works for though. We could totally run that place better. If we had the money we would have loved to buy the place off of them and fix it up and get it working right. We’d fix up the front, repair some of their repairs, and replace the Laundromat with a decent pizza place. Actually, we have a lot of plans of things we would do or fix up in Northfield. It’s just right now we don’t really have the means to do such things. We will someday, just not right now.

At Agriliance, my full-time job, my boss, Nancy, seems to really like me and is thinking of hiring me. She’s left some not so subtle hints. It’s actually kind of exciting. I’d be paid more, get some benefits, and work in an environment I don’t despise. Cool, huh?

Oh, here’s something that’ll surprise a bunch of you. I cancelled our TV cable. I can no longer watch TV shows, unless I rent them. How crazy is that? Did you ever think that a day would come when I would give up TV? I bet you didn’t. Honestly, I don’t miss it too much. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes it would be nice to sit back and watch some shows, especially the Inferno, and Good Eats. But most of the time I’m not even home long enough to really watch anything before going to bed. Although, sometimes I would like to be a little less busy, so I could relax a little more and spend more time with Emily. I figure this crazy busy-ness is only temporary though, so I’m not too worried.

Fire it up!

How could you not want to see this? I think I'm going to see it, like, at least twice. It just exudes awesome and kick-ass. Man, I can't wait.

I've Been thinking

At work, there's this guy I hang out and joke around with. His name is Kegan. He is currently going to school to develop his film skills. He has an Uncle out in LA who is in a production company. They do commercials and music videos and such. In fact, Kegan's heading down there this weekend to help film some American Idol spots/music videos. I get along with Kegan pretty well, and have helped him some on his school projects. Just today I was reading over a film proposal of his that he had to write for a class. It wasn't too bad, but it came off a little campy and heavy-handed. I brought up some points about how to make it more subtle that he seemed to like. The thing is, when I was reading over it and making suggestions, I was kinda excited. I've been really thinking that maybe I should think about moving into such a field. It's something I enjoy doing and that I'm good at (or at least that's what I've started thinking). Personally, I think I would be a great sounding board. Someone you could go to to bounce ideas off of and help solidify your ideas. I think I'm really good at taking an idea or theme or something and building upon it and growing it and developing it. The creating it part I'm not so sure about. But once there's something there, whoa baby. Really, I'm torn. I get really excited when I think about helping families and all that I can accomplish in Primerica. But I also get really excited when I think about working on a film and helping and doing that process. I mean, what do I do? I'm so conflicted. Is it even possible to do both? . . . . . . . I think so; I could get something going with Primerica. Build up a business there and then sell my agent number and live off my investments. Then I could start a career in film. But I always think it's ridiculous, the people who build up their base shop and then leave, just when they're really starting to reap their hard earned benefits. I mean, for investment accounts, you get paid on those for as long as the account is active. How could you give that up?

Food for Thought

I haven’t posted in a while, so I’ll try and post something today. Not sure what exactly I’ll post, but it’ll be something. Hmmmm. . . . . .well, my back has gotten better. It still feels a little sore achy, but all in all not that bad.

I saw Super Size Me last night. It wasn’t that bad. It certainly confirmed my belief that highly processed food and fast food restaurants are horrible for you. The funny thing was before he started he was in excellent health and got a check-up from 3 different doctors and asked them what they thought would happen to him if he went on this McDonald’s binge. They all said that he’d gain some weight and his fat count would go up some. Near the end there, they were like, “you’ve got to stop. You’re killing yourself.” It was crazy.

He also brought up how the poor diets are infiltrating the schools. He went to this one elementary (maybe it was middle) school where the kids get to pick and choose their lunch. A bunch of kids would just buy fries or potato chips. One kid bought like three bags of chips, a Gatorade, and a candy bar. The worker there was defending the company saying “Most of these kids bring there lunch and just buy the chips or fries to supplement their meals.” (Ok, I’m pretty sure that I added ‘supplement’ but whatever). He then checked out the cafeteria and found the girl you bought all the chips. The “lunch” she brought from home was a can of soda. How sad is that.

Oh, and after it was all over, they calculated that he had consumed about 30 lbs of sugar. 30 LBS!! That’s over 1 lb a day. No wonder you would gain weight. They had this one guy who was getting a gastric by-pass who drank like 2 gallons of soda everyday. That’s just not right. If I drank that much I’d be parked on the can.

One of my favorite parts was an add-on for the DVD. They took some of the sandwiches and fries from McDonalds and placed them in glass jars. They did the same with a real burger and fries. (Everything had their own jar). And just checked on them from time to time. The real food got moldy and gross within the first week; a few of the McDonald’s sandwiches looked no different. They kept showing the changes over the next few weeks. The grossest thing was that after 10 weeks, all the sandwiches were moldy and gooey and nasty. The McDonald’s fries however looked like they were a few days old. There was no mold, no gooeyness, nothing. They just looked a little stale and dried out. The fries got thrown by accident after that, so we’ll never know how long it would take before they started breaking down on their own. That’s just not natural. Whatever those fries are made of, it’s not food, that’s for sure.

Ouch!

Last Sunday I injured my back. It was not fun. I mean I knew it wasn’t fun before, just by watching what Emily goes through. She has hurt her back on a few occasions now. But yeah, not fun. It hurts to move, like at all. Like you roll a little bit and pain shoots through you. I’ve gotten better since then, or maybe have become more accustomed to the pain. No, I think I have gotten some what better at least. You’re probably wondering how I hurt it. Well, we’ve been letting Tricksy outside from time to time lately. She seems to really like it. We just do yard work or talk while we keep an eye on her. Sometimes we use a leash. Lately we’ve been thinking of getting a zip line or a long extendo leash for her (she likes to sprint across the yard. Hmmm, maybe we could just get an invisible fence. Anyways, it was time to go in and she didn’t want to go in so I had to chase under trees and around the yard. When I finally caught her, I picked her up and stood up and my back went all wonky. But I hear it doesn’t take much to hurt a back.

I spent the rest of Sunday on my back as well as Monday. I went back into work feeling better on Tuesday. It is now Wednesday and it still hurts. I’m a little worried because it hurts a little more than it did on Tuesday, probably due to the fact that I didn’t really give it any rest yesterday. I went to work and then went to a Primerica training meeting on variable annuities. Am I going to live the rest of my life with this problem? I hope not but it seems like probably.

I’m not supposed to have back problems. I’m 23 for crying out loud. I’ve barely even had my quarter-life crisis yet. What the hell? Ok, so fine, maybe I have been a bit stressed out lately, and I haven’t been exercising at all, and my diet has only recently started getting better, and I’ve been crazy busy. But that shouldn’t have mattered right?

So. . .How's it going?

Ok, so today I learned/re-learned that it actually helps to work on your problems. See, I've been practicing the "run and hide" technique of dealing with problems. This hasn't worked out so well. In fact, I'm starting to think that it has actually made things worse. Crazy, huh? But now I sort of came to realize that not only does facing and dealing with your problems help to overcome them, but it can also make you feel better as well. I mean, the problems are still there, and I still worry and freak-out about them, but for some reason it doesn't seem as bad as before.

Emily and I were at Target tonight looking for a sweatshirt (hoodies if you must know). Oddly enough, there weren't that many there. There were like 3, and they were on the clearance rack. Since when did the sweatshirt season end? I mean spring is just starting here, and it still gets damn cold at night here. Hell, it almost always gets cold at night here in Minnesota. We used to go to Jacobsen's here in town (before they closed) and they always had sweatshirts available. I guess we were spoiled.

For those curious, work is going good (at Agriliance, the order-taking-for-farmers job). I seem to be impressing my supervisor, like every day. I guess they just don't know what a great catch they have. And the funny thing is, I can tell I'm becoming more responsible at work. I know that may seem hard to believe, but I used to just want to goof off all the time at work. Now, not so much. I still joke around with my colleagues and don't take it too seriously, but I actually attempt to get my work done as well. We got this new guy (Kevin) at work who was supposed to be taking over my area, but on Tuesday Kegan (a cool co-worker of mine) lost his voice and couldn't come into work, so I had to take over his area as well as mine (Kevin was just starting his training). I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself. After that they decided to have Kevin take over Kegan's area and to let me continuing handling my area. I think this is great. I didn't want to give up my area anyways. I'm just started getting the hang of the area and I've built some report with managers I order for. Between you and me, part of me hopes the new guy doesn't do so well and they just hire me on full-time. Actually, I just hope they hire me on full-time regardless of who remains. I mean, I'm awesome, why wouldn't they want to hire me?

Ruminations

I figured out at work today that I’ve been alive for 9,037 days already. I’ve been alive for close to a quarter of my life already. That’s a scary concept. It’s crazy how the time flies. The days can go by so slowly but the years fly by so fast. If you want to do something, or make something, or be something, you really have to start now. Those are 9,037 days I won’t ever get back. I’ll never get a chance to redo them. What’s done is done. Wow.

It’s weird because part of me feels, “Be young, this is the only chance you’ll get.” But another part of me is all, “Get to work. It’ll all be over before you know and it’s better to start early then try to catch up.” What a conflicting mindset. Maybe I’ll figure out a way to satisfy both sides. It’s not like they’re directly opposing viewpoints.

Oh, so in case any of you were wondering, we got the cats some de-worming medicine and we were able to get it down their gullets. It seems to be helping. They’re all getting a little fatter, especially Tricksy. They’re even behaving a little better, in fact, the other day I saw Tricksy finish her food and just sit and wait for the other cats to finish, instead of smacking them out of the way. I was so proud; I gave her a little extra bit of food. So I’m very happy about that. Although, I did catch Oscar trying to go into the cabinets to get at some cookies the other day. Oh well, I guess we take our victories where we can.

Calling all guests

Many of you know that Emily and I are getting married (if not, well, now you do). We don't exactly have the best address book, in fact it's kind of old and pieced together. So if you would like to get an invitation to our wedding in the summer, or know someone who might, please send me your/their name and address. Now, this isn't a guarantee that an invite will be sent, but if we have your address on record it certainly makes it easier for us to send one. If nothing else, I'll add you to the Christmas/holiday card list. Thanks.

Ewwww, Gross

One of our cats has tapeworms. We’re not sure which, but we think it’s Tricksie, since always desperate for food. We know one of our cats has tapeworms because one of them puked a tapeworm up on the windowsill in the office. We just saw it laying there yesterday. And yes, we’re sure it’s a tapeworm, Emily did extensive research into the problem. Here’s the thing though, after doing such extensive research, Emily’s hypochondria is kicking in and she’s freaking out that she might have worms as well. I really doubt that she does, but she told me that she had worms once before when she was a kid, so she has more real-life experience to draw upon than I do. Unfortunately, she’s got me a little paranoid now too. My stomach grumbles and I think “Is that because I have worms?” even though I know it’s like 20 minutes before lunch. Hopefully when the cats are cured they won’t be so desperate for food. That’d be nice.

Let's get it started in here

So, the other day I got a George hit from Williston, ND, which happens to be where a service center that I order for is located. How crazy is that?

Speaking of work, I finally got a badge along with email and log-ins for all the programs I need. I guess they figured, “He’s shown up for the past few weeks, I guess he’s going to stick around for the season.”

I’ve been reading a few books lately, and have gotten into a goal-setting craze as of late. It’s actually kinda cool. Even now, in the little time that I’ve spent setting and planning, I’ve already seen a major difference. I’ve become more motivated, more responsible; heck, I’ve even started to see some small progress being made towards my goals. Man, this stuff is cool. It helps keep me going with my hectic schedule of a full-time job, a part-time job, and going to school. In fact, lately I’ve become restless when watching TV, especially when I haven’t done anything. Another thing helping me out with all this are the Primerica CDs I’ve been listening to in the car during the commute.

Oh, I don’t think I’ve mentioned it, but Emily and I have started planning a wedding. It’s going to be fairly modest, and we would appreciate any donations to help fund it. We’ve set a loose date for the summer, probably July or August. We’re going to set the actual date once we’ve figured out where we’re going to have it, which we will have done by the end of this month. So keep an eye out for that.

Ah, also, I got a new email address. It’s through gmail, the new email server through google. It’s pretty cool. It tracks emails as conversations for the massive replying back and forth conversations that occur, it lets you google search your emails, and the best part, it gives you like a gig of storage. It’s not open directly to the public yet, but if you look hard enough you can find an invite.

Well, Let's See Here. . .

So the other day the cats figured out how to open the fridge. How crazy is that? They opened the door on their own. They opened the freezer later as well. So now I've resorted to tying the doors together with an old towel. I mean really, what more can I do? I just don't understand why they act like this. I know they get fed enough. They're healthy, overly active, heck I've even increased the amount of food I give them since we started their diet. They're just so frustrating. I think part of it has to do with the fact that we're tackling the dishes now and there aren't any dirty dishes around for them to lick.

Now it seems we actually need a new fridge. Before we just wanted a new one because the one we have is small and cramp and we end stuffing food into the back where it's forgotten until it turns moldy. Really there's just no good way of arrange things in that space. Also, we really like the idea of the freezer being on the bottom, since we don't use it all that much and it'd be easier on Emily's back if she didn't always have to bend down to reach food.

Speaking of which, Emily's back pain flared up again this week. The past week she's been bed-ridden because of it. For a while she would take it easy and heal for a day then feel better and go out and be active, then be in so much pain the next day she couldn't move again. She followed this process for almost week. Now she's decided to not try to rush it and take it much slower. So she's been confined to the couch the past couple of days, surrounded by cats and pillows. I wish there was something I could do to help her, but there really isn't. We don't have any medical insurance and even if we did, we have no money.

I mean dead broke, paycheck is all used up to pay at least a few of our overdue bills. Don't get me wrong, I do have a job, which makes the situation tons better. And there are a few prospective jobs in Northfield for Emily (provide her back will allow her to work), so we could be worse. I'm just so tired of living like this. It's so stressful and disconcerting. At least it's helped me get over my shopping-to-feel-better complex, even if it is only by the fact that I have no way of buying things.

Actually, that's one of the reasons Emily thinks I should get counseling/therapy. Most of the time I agree with her, but then it just brings up the money problem again. Where could I go to get free therapy? So it's just another thing sent to "once we're doing better financially" land.

Oh, the other day I cut my toe. (Technically the connecting part between my pinkie toe and the next toe). We're guessing I stepped on a piece of glass that wasn't cleaned up from when one of the cats knocked one of our glasses of a table. This morning I stabbed my finger while putting some receipts on our receipt spike. What a doofus, huh?

Kinda Lame, but . . .

So, Emily post some pics of our cats:
Sketch (Sketchy) - She's kind of the queen cat around the house.
Oscar - Not only is he the only male cat, but he also happens to be the cutest, and the most likely to run away.
Tricksy - The cat you love and hate. The most annoying out of all of them, but also the most lovey (especially when she curls up in the crook of you arm). Oh, Emily has told me stories about her jumping into her arms on command now. (All together now, aaawwwww).
Sophia (Sophie) - The pointy grey cat. She's very affectionate but only plays with humans, luckily we've toned down her viciousness some. She doesn't get along with our other cats, probably because she's not black and white. Also, she was rescued off the streets, so that might have something to do it.

Shhhhh!

I'm at work right but everyone else is in a meeting or on a conference call, so I have nothing to do now. Hence the blogging. I dont think I mentioned it before but Emily recently started her own blog, (some actually know that this is her like second blog, the previous one was secret). This one she's showing to the public, or more to the point, the public that knows her or of her.
I'm actually starting to get the hang of the fundamentals of my job here. I could grow comfortable working here.

AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!

GOD DAMN THOSE CATS!!!!! Ok, here's the deal, the cats have been getting on my nerves lately, more than they've been calming them. Ever since we got Sophie, the little grey one, they have been annoying. She doesn't get along with, well, any of them really. Probably from that year of living on the streets. She especially doesn't get along with Tricksy. These two will cross a room just to start a fight, but not always. Plus, and here's what's been getting at me lately, Tricksy is always scrounging around for food and knock stuff down. What's the worst about it is that she's gotten Oscar involved as well. They're always jumping up on our counters and licking dirty dishes or counters. Tricksy will even lick a clean plate in the hopes that she finds some small morsel. I just don't get it. We feed her plenty, she's not starving. We squirt them when they're caught doing bad things, we've even resorted to putting them in time-out (which seems to have more affect on Oscar since he doesn't like being left alone or locked away anywhere). They continue to misbehave though. At least Tricksy runs away now when she knows you've caught her. It's small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

Ranting and Raving

So, today I started work at a long-term position today. It's with Agriliance (like you know who they are). Anyways, my job is basically going to be taking orders from warehouses and retail stores and placing the purchase orders into the system. Really, in my opinion, it all seems like a needless position and one that could be handled by computers. Of course the ordering process is muddled and confusing that only a human could keep most of it straight. Well, it's work. It doesn't really pay nearly enough, but it pays something. Plus the people there are pretty cool and it's fairly easy-going as well.
Emily and I are a little down lately, not just do to money though. We kinda were hoping to have a wedding, but it really doesn't seem like we'll be able to afford one. Of course by the time we could, few would care anymore because we would have been living together for so long. Just one of those things I guess.
Life's not all bad though. I'm doing well in school, and every time I go to class I'm reminded of how smart I actually am. It's one of the down sides of going to Carleton, being surround by so many smart people, you start to feel like you're not that smart. Which also has it good points, being you don't get an inflated head.
Oh, have you checked out the EBay contest going on? It's kinda like a scavenger hunt with clues and all. It won't be around much longer, like until the 23rd, but if you read this in time check it out.
I've got a Econ presentation about the European Union to give tomorrow, so I'm going to catch some sleep now.

Living in the Land of Hardship

Yeah, so all of our saving have been depleted. Emily is still looking for a job, and I still have no full-time employment. Lots of fun. But wait, it gets better, I did some calculations and I figured that to live the lifestyle we have been (which is not extravagant in the least) I would need to have a job that pays $31.25/hr. This figures seems unattainable. If we both had jobs we would only need jobs that pay like$15/hr or so, more realistically for me but not so much for Emily. Honestly, I'm not sure about this being possible either. This would bring in enough money to pay all our credit card bills, utilities, housing, food, etc. Of course if we wanted to get ahead, we'd have to make more. The not so bad news is that if I combine possible earnings from Primerica, then I wouldn't have to earn as much (tax reasons). Plus on Monday I'm meeting with a possible client, which could lead to doing some business and getting referrals and moving my business forward. So the future seems very bleak, but not without any light, so far anyways.

On the world front I've come across some crazy stories. One was about a Casino implementing rules where waitress or bartenders who gain more than 7% of their body weight could be fired. How ridiculous is that? On a scarier note, Bush passed legislation stating that any class action lawsuit seeking more than $5 million will be tried in the federal courts, which are less friendly towards such cases. The item not mentioned in this article but was mentioned in MPR, is that in the federal courts, when they try these cases for plaintiffs in multiple states, and the state laws don't match up in regards to the severity of the "crime," the case just gets thrown out. Think about that. This gives large corporations the chance to do whatever they want to their products or services with little legal recourse for the consumer. And I always thought that government was supposed to protect the consumer from big business, not the other way around. Go figure.

Coming Attractions

So I was procrastinating some today and checking out trailers. I found some and thought I'd share them with you.
Old Boy: Looks like a cool drama out of Japan. Definitely something I would want to see. This guy has been locked away for like 15 years for no reason and then he's freed. Now he's trying to find out why he was locked away, and exact his revenge on those who did it to him. Cool!
Batman Begins: The story of Batman's beginning starring Christian Bale. I've been stoked about this one for years now. Ever since I first heard about it. After watching the trailers, I'm only more excited about it. I mean come on, it's going to have Ra's Al Ghul and the Scarecrow, how awesome is that?
Fantastic Four: There's been talk about this movie, about how it hasn't been produced as well as it deserves, which is probably true. The studios know they could give a half-hearted effort on this one and still make a bundle, but if they want sequels then they need to make worth our while to come back. I mean I don't think the Spiderman movies would have done so well if they weren't made so well.
Sin City: Another comic book movie, but of a comic book few know about it. The comic is by a master, Frank Miller, who is also involved in the movie. The movie itself looks worth going to for it's style alone, very comic noir.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: A remake by Tim Burton, who I love. It looks to add that bit of zany creepiness to the story that is inherent in most of Roald Dahl stories. If you've ever read them as an adult you'll know what I'm talking about. And Johnny Depp looks to pull off another fabulous bit of acting as usual.
Corpse Bride: Speaking of Tim Burton, looks like he has plans for a love story like only he could dream up. This stars, surprise surprise, Johnny Depp, and is shot in the style of Nightmare Before Christmas, one of my most absolute favorite Christmas movies. So of course I'm going to checking this one out.
Steamboy: This is another animated film I found. It takes place during the first World Expo, the one where Jules Verne and H. G. Wells met up, and it's sort of a steam powered future of sorts. Very cool. Also it's directed by the same director of Akira, a phenomenal anime.
The Pink Panther: Another of Hollywood's remakes, this one starring Steve Martin. It looks funny, and is throw back for Martin to his early years of prat-falls crazy humor.
Mindhunters: A Hollywood suspense movie, inline with Along Came a Spider and movies of that caliber. It stars some interesting actors though: Val Kilmer, LL Cool J, and Christian Slater.
Kingdom of Heaven: Here's a movie I have a problem with. It seems to be romanticizing the Crusades. It's directed by Ridley Scott so we can get an idea of what kid of film this'll be. Honestly, I'm not too keen on it myself.
Imaginary Heroes: A family drama of sorts. This seemed to me like a Igby Goes Down but with the middle class instead of high society. Also starring some high class actors. Definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Uncle Nino: Another family drama, but this one is aimed to bring America's corporate sensibilities more in line with Europe's ease going caring style. A feeling good movie with message we could all benefit from hearing.
Kung Fu Hustle: An over-the-top kung-fu musical. How can movie like that not be good? If you like Shoalin Soccer (at least part of you had to have) then you'll want to check this one out, because it's by the same director.
Colour Me Kubrick: A movie based on a real life event where a man posed as the actual director during the production of Eyes Wide Shut. It stars John Malkovich, so it's got that going for it. Certainly an interesting story.
Mail Order Wife: A mockumentary about a fat doorman who purchases a mail order bride and the documentary shot about it. As the film goes on the director of this "documentary" ends up getting more and more entangle with his subjects' lives.
Naked Fame: An actual documentary about an adult gay porn star, Colton Ford, who is attempting to break into the dance music industry. It looked like a very well put together movie.

That's all I have now, I think I've done enough procrastinating for today.

Howard in the House!!!

w00t! So, to no real surprise, Howard Dean is the new DNC chair. This is a good thing. We need someone in there that'll stir things up and light a fire under this party. This is so awesome!!!

Oh, and on a related note, I helped pass the by-laws for DFM. It was actually a good meeting. Some of these DFM organizational-planning meeting can be a little droll and tedious. This is usually because it attracts self-important long winded speakers. Oddly enough, they didn't show up to this meeting (They were all involved in creating the by-laws). I guess they figured the important work was done. Fine by me. Really I prefer the meet-ups, but Emily and I haven't gotten around to starting one in Northfield (It's mostly an Emily project but I'm definitely going to help). We have plans for one in March though. We'll see how that goes.