New Blog

Finally switched over.

Here is the new and improved version:

http://abouton.wordpress.com/

Hope it makes me want to write more often. I guess we'll find out.

Check it out! Have a good X-mas everyone!

Switching Sites

It's time.

Blogger.com has been great, but I think I'm ready to switch blogging homes. I know I have some followers of this site and I'll hopefully make sure to notify all of you when I do indeed start blogging somewhere else.

Now that I have a good internet connection and I'm writing for a living, I'm in the groove much more often these days. Hence why I'm trying to find a new, upgraded site.

I'll let everyone know when I get the new one up and running.

5-7

It's been a horrible decade against Ohio State for Michigan. They've not lost eight out of the last nine against the Buckeyes.

Today, turnovers at key moments killed the Wolverines and the squad will finish another season under .500 and without a bowl bid.

I believe Rich Rodriguez's job is safe, but he needs to start winning in the conference if he's going to be in Ann Arbor much longer. He's gone 8-18 in his first two seasons.

Let's hope that some of the recruiting classes shine in the years to come, especially incoming Inkster quarterback Devin Gardner. They have another top class coming in next year, so as long as players stay and believe that things will be better in the future, Michigan should again resemble the program that has the most wins in NCAA football history.

Year three is in 2010 for Rodriguez and his different brand of football.

Hopefully it'll be better than the previous two.

Thoughts on my new job

Well, here we are.

Months of waiting and I finally found a job in Michigan in the field I want to be in.

Moving to Saginaw was a little weird because I've never really visited the place. I go by it all the time on I-75 but I've never even saw the city until my interview. I haven't explored too much, but the area that I live in doesn't appear to be too bad and the complex I live in seems to be safe.

So far, so good.

The job has gone well thus far even though I really haven't been asked to do too much and I walked into the job during the slow period for Saginaw sports. Everyone that I've worked with has been pretty cool and has helped me out a lot. Once high school basketball (boys and girls) swings into full gear, I'll find out really what it's all about to work the sports desk on a week night.

We cover 45 high schools in the Saginaw area and also cover Central Michigan, the Saginaw Spirit, the Great Lake Loons, Alma college and Saginaw Valley State University, along with some other smaller local colleges.

Again, everything is pretty good so far.

I'm trying to find another job in the area as well. It would be something for during the day. I work a lot of nights and weekends now and have uber amounts of time to spare. Not sure what the job market is like in this area, but if it's like the rest of Michigan, it probably isn't very good. Maybe I'll find something in this busy holiday season.

I'm hopefully heading back to Harbor Springs for Thanksgiving next week. My sister and Steve are having a family dinner at her new house. It'll be the first time we won't be heading down to Tennessee in a long time. Going to miss it.

Have a safe holidays everyone. Cheers!

Officially Fa... err... Winter

Looks like Fall was bypassed this year.

Snowflakes made a cameo appearance just yesterday and it looks like the white stuff could beat the colorful leaves to the ground in 2009. It has been dipping well below 30 most nights and I could see my breath while sitting in my sister's house today -- not fun.

Speaking of which, my kid sister just closed on a new house. She and Steve bought a house in Harbor Springs, outside of the city and it's a nice starter home. They officially move all their stuff in tomorrow with painting not far behind. For those of you that know that Harbor area, she lives at the end of Five Mile Creek, right where the road T's with the adjoining road. The house is built into a hill with the basement flowing out in the front and a big deck overhanging from the front of the one story house. There is also a two-car garage in front of the house.

It seems everyone is buying a house these days. Two of my friends, Matt and Drew, have also purchased homes recently and are fine tuning their establishments. It's a good time to buy, especially if you live in the Detroit area or Michigan in general.

I'm heading back to Kalamazoo next weekend for a long overdue return to the city I called home for seven years. Homecoming is next Saturday and this will be the first time I've been back in quite some time. I've missed Kalamazoo a lot, and some of the people there, so I'm looking forward to visiting.

I've got a couple of prospective jobs on the horizon.

Hopefully one of them pans out pretty soon. I'm getting a little anxious sitting here at home and I'm ready to get back to writing. One might be a bridge to the other and that is always a good opportunity.

Hopefully I'll be on here blogging a little more. I'd like to blog more than give monthly updates, but that's all it seems to be these days.

Michigan Football

Hey everyone.

Sorry I haven't really posted anything in awhile, but my internet is spotty at best because I'm living at home with not much more than a dial-up connection. Plus, most of my time I spend writing has been exhausted over here: http://bleacherreport.com/users/111435-adam-bouton

Check it out.

I've been mostly on Michigan and Western Michigan football recently with the new college football season on the horizon, but I've wrote some other articles as well.

I hope to be living somewhere else pretty soon. Living at home is great and the rent is ridiculously cheap, but being out on my own is something I feel pretty strongly about. Hopefully some kind of job falls into place pretty soon.

I'll try to get on here more often, but it could be September before you hear from me again.

Wedding Pictures

Here are some photos from Drew and Emily's wedding on July 12.

The wedding was in Chicago and it was a very successful and excellent weekend. It's a bummer that it went by so fast.

Goodbye Kalamazoo

Goodbye Kalamazoo. Goodbye my home.

Well, my time living here has come to a close. I'm deeply saddened because this has grown to be my home and one of the best places to live. Harbor Springs will always be the place where I grew up, but Kalamazoo is the place where I became independent and an adult.

I'm pretty lucky to have called this home for the past seven years. I remember coming here a tentative college student, not certain whether I would survive my first year. I leave ready to tackle the world and ready for whatever life has to throw at me. I realize this could be the last time I live here, but it certainly won't be the last time I go to Kalamazoo—that is for sure.

I loved Kalamazoo so much I went back to get a second major at WMU. I could have easily left and gone somewhere else, but WMU was going to be my only college and it was. I loved it so much that even when most of my friends left, I stayed behind and searched for more...

I lived in several different places in the city and loved them all for several different reasons. There isn't much I have bad to say about Kalamazoo and for that reason, I'm going to miss it all.

Not many people realize the uniqueness this city has to offer and even though the winters can absolutely be brutal, I wouldn't mind staying here forever.

My first go-around in college was amazing and the second wasn't far behind. I met some of the best friends I will ever know during my six and half years in college and while I might never use the first degree, the second major will be used and I was lucky enough to work at WMU's newspaper during my latter stages in college. I met some good folk there as well and I know that all the relationships I made during my stay in Kalamazoo is part of the reason that makes my time here special.

It's safe to say that all seven years were great, even the up-and-down freshman year.

I won't list all the things I love about Kalamazoo because frankly, there are just too many. I will miss just about all of it though. I'll miss the different parts of Kalamazoo, the way it's exactly between Chicago and Detroit and all of the little quirks and excellent attributes that make it Kalamazoo. I'll even miss writing Kalamazoo down as my address.

Something about the name always seemed cool to me.

I'll miss Maggies, Burdicks, East Hall, WMU's campus, Waldo Stadium, Tiffanys, the Den and several other places that are absent from my memory at this moment.

I'll even miss the insanely loud train that runs through the heart of the city. I'm probably the only one.

Hopefully I can relocate somewhere in Michigan so that trips to Kalamazoo aren't completely foreign. I'd love to make it back here often—especially this fall when school is in session and sporting events are once again in full swing.

We'll just have to wait and see what happens, I guess.

It won't be long before I'm down here once again—actually it's just next weekend for a reunion party.

I guess it's not really goodbye at all. It's more like see you later.

Ohh maybe I should tell you where I'm headed. I'm actually heading home to where it all started. I vowed strongly several times that I would never move home again, but that's where I'm ending up, haha. It's short-term and until I find a job in Michigan or elsewhere.

New Computer

Hooray, I got a new computer! I'm typing this from my new laptop. My parents are inheriting my old Dell laptop (they seem to like collecting my old computers...). My old desktop is way past it's prime and my huge laptop is still in good shape, so that's the reason they are taking that one. Plus, I get a smaller laptop that should be easier with the occupation I'm in -- journalism.

I've got some new updates and possibly a couple new jobs, so everything is going well right now. I had a job interview in Saginaw yesterday and I think it's a good possibility that I'm going to be moving there at the end of July/beginning of August.

I'm heading to Detroit this weekend for Drew's bachelor party. It's going to most likely be a crazy day on Saturday. Golfing, Tigers game, limo and I'm sure a lot of madness (knowing my group of friends).

I'll hopefully have some "decent" photos to get online here at the beginning of next week.

Until then, cheers!

End of June Update

Man is this summer flying by.

I can't believe that it's almost July already.

I'm heading home to Harbor Springs for the first time this summer for the fourth of July. I haven't been back up north in a long time, so I'm looking forward to it. It'll definitely be good to see the family once again.

I was just in Detroit for almost a week and was able to take in four straight Tigers games. They won all four, including a sweep of the Chicago Cubs. It was fun to be there for all of those games.

The job hunt is still just that. I haven't really heard much from anybody, so it's not looking too great right now. I might have to start searching for other jobs, so that I have some sort of cash flow while I try and find a job in journalism.

Hopefully something pops up before my lease ends in July.

Hope everyone is doing good. I'm trying to have as much fun as I can this summer because I know that this could be my last in terms of having a generally open schedule.

If you're in HS this weekend, give me a shout, otherwise I hope everyone else has a good holiday. Cheers!