Searching

Work didn't need me again today and this is the 4th out of 5 days that they have either sent me home early, or didn't even have a room for me. Therefore, I am searching for a new job. I'm going to continue with the job that I have, but as it is no longer reliable, I have to at least find another part-time job. I've been checking into the newspapers and other writing-guided jobs, but there doesn't seem to be much out there - unless I wanted to deliver newspapers.

So if anyone sees anything that you think might be worthwhile for a post-college graduate such as myself, please let me know.

The Dream... a Reality?

Hope everyone had a good turkey day last week. I was in Tennessee for a few days with my parents and grandparents. I am positive I ate too much... I had to lay down for awhile Friday after dinner. Altogether had a great time and might go back in January when my parents are down in Tennessee for a longer stay. Our Thanksgiving Dinner here in Kalamazoo was once again a huge success. We had more food than we could handle even though we had a pretty good showing of people this year - I'd say at least 10-12 people were here. I'm actually going to see what we have left here in the fridge after finishing this. I'll try and post some pictures from the party as well - not sure how many turned out. The only downside was our neighbor (in the direction of directly below us) decided that we were too "loud" for her liking and yelled at us from her porch balcony. We received a formal complaint and warning, blah blah... Anyways, we patched everything up and I'm now ready to play some DDR.

I know many of you have doubted me actually making a cross-country trip, but I am closer to making it a reality. Over the break I read an article on the cost-efficient train trips that go across the country. Well, they would save me a bunch of money and although I probably wouldn't be able to hit everything I wanted to, it would save my car and me having to drive 500 miles a day. Here's my go-to plan. I fly out West (either Seattle or San Fran or somewhere) and then drive around in a rental or something for a few days. Definitely going to visit Portland and Rob in Seattle and try and hit whatever else I can on the west coast. Pretty much use up my money and resources and then ride the train home. I have been looking at trips that go from Emeryville (next to San Fran) to Chicago and there are also ones that start in Seattle and end in Chicago. Once in Chicago, I'd either take a train to Detroit or Kalamazoo or find some other means of transportation (friends). Train tickets are cheap and even though the ride would be something like 52 hours, I think it'd be totally worth it. Drew already said he was game for the trip, so I am extending an invitation to anyone else who first of all reads this and secondly, would be willing to give up at least one week in the middle of April (we think anyways). Can't wait.

And if anyone is looking for some good music, everyone should try a little Sigur Ros pie... Sigur Ros is an Icelandic band and even though I have no clue what they are saying in any of their songs, they put my at complete ease whenever I listen to their music. Some of the tastiness music that I have ever listened to... Try a piece of the pie, will you (click on the link below)?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY1danz2G9A

Baseball Anyone?

I know it's November and yes, the Lions are actually putting together a pretty sexy season so far, but I'm starting to get jacked up for baseball again. I've been jogging through games, lineups and even possible Tigers trips for 2008. And they haven't even handed out the MVP Awards for this year yet for 2007. I need a life. That or a girlfriend.

Here's what the Tigers line-up and rotation could look like next season:

CF Curtis Granderson (.302 BA, 117 runs, 23 3B, 26 SB)
2B Placido Polanco (.341 BA, 105 runs)
RF Magglio Ordonez (.363 BA, 28 HR, 139 RBI)
DH Gary Sheffield (25 HR, 75 RBI)
SS Edgar Renteria (.332 BA, 87 runs)
1B Carlos Guillen (.296 BA, 21 HR, 102 RBI)
LF Jacque Jones (.285 BA, 33 2B)
C Pudge Rodriguez (.281 BA, 63 RBI)
3B Brandon Inge (14 HR, 71 RBI)
Bench Marcus Thames (18 HR, 54 RBI)
Bench Ryan Raburn (.304 BA, 27 RBI)

SP Justin Verlander (18-6, 3.66 ERA, 183 K and a No-Hitter)
SP Jeremy Bonderman (11-9, 5.01 ERA, 145 K)
SP Kenny Rogers (3-4, 4.43 ERA)
SP Nate Robertson (9-13, 4.76 ERA)
SP Andrew Miller (5-5, 5.63 ERA)
RP Fernando Rodney (2-6, 4.26 ERA)
RP Todd Jones (38 Saves, 4.26 ERA)

Pretty close to last year's team with a few positive additions to the offense. I'd be nice to see the Tigers go out and get another quality arm for the bullpen and maybe another top-line starter like Dontrelle Willis. There's plenty of time for that as this post is about four months before the season actually starts. If you have made it all the way through this post without losing interest (it is baseball in November afterall), then you'll want to make sure to read this again... in March.




I'm also saddened to hear about Lloyd Carr's retirement following Michigan's disappointing loss to Ohio State this past Saturday. Many fans and media guys only see who he is on the field of football. They don't see him making numerous visits to the Michigan Hospital or spending time with his players, encouraging them and making life-connections. He even made sure last year that his assistants received two-year contracts so that if he did retire this year, they would be able to continue on at the program. I grew up watching his teams and it will be hard to see another head coach on the sideline next year.

Hail to the Victors!

Go Michigan tomorrow! I'm going to be at work during the game, but hopefully I'll be able to watch it - and I should be home in time to watch the end. Tomorrow's game determines who wins the big ten this year as both Ohio State and Michigan come into tomorrows game as the only teams with one loss. It's definitely going to help that it is being played in the Big House where there will be 110,000 screaming, mostly Michigan fans. My prediction for tomorrow's game is 24-17 Michigan, winning it in a defensive battle that's decided in the 4th quarter. Hopefully Mike Hart and Chad Henne are able to play because we definitely need their leadership in a game like this. Who would have thought that Michigan would be in a position to go to the Rose Bowl after their 0-2 start this year? Let's go Blue!

Thanksgiving at Western

It fell right off the bone!

Feast in the Study Lounge

Bek, Cait and Nate eating delicious food

This coming Tuesday is our 5th Annual Thanksgiving Dinner. Even though many previous members of this yearly affair have moved out of the area, those of us who are still here continue the tradition - and thankfully we still have some. This pre-holiday Thanksgiving dinner (usually two or three days before the actual day) all started 5 years ago in the dorms. Ever since that time, I have made it my duty to keep it alive and have re-kindled this event every year - no matter what. It all started 5 years ago, in French Hall. I attended a Western hockey game with some friends and as usual, signed up for the contests during the period intermissions. I was (for once) chosen to try and toss the turkey down the ice and into the goal. Succeeding, I earned a gift certificate to Hardings to collect a free turkey and a variety of other Thanksgiving-related items like corn, beans, gravy, etc. Our tradition was born.

The turkey didn't fit very well in our small, dorm fridge, so obviously it sat in our bathroom sink, de-frosting. The next morning, we basically took over the third floor study lounge. I remember Rob and I camped out all day in the study lounge, constantly studying the turkey to make sure we didn't burn it. Of course, we didn't know how to make stuffing and cooked it once and then put it in the turkey while the turkey cooked. It pretty much looked like mush and tasted even worse. Luckily, that wasn't the only side we had, even though it was pretty close. Mashed potatoes of course were plentiful and has pretty much been a staple of Steph's at our dinners ever since. The turkey came out so good that when it came out, I pulled up the bone and the turkey fell right off. I remember many of the other kids on our floor trying to buddy up that day because the food smelled so good. We filled the floor and maybe all of French Hall with the smell of turkey that day.

Our dinner's have improved dramatically since the first one. We had two at Sterling, one at the little red house last year and our fifth will be at my current apartment at Ramblewood. We have the same base people every year with a few different friends thrown in there, but always have a wide assortment of food to compliment the turkey and mashed potatoes. Last year we had so much food, that our fridge was filled with leftovers for over a week. Last year was also the year that we gave the turkey's bones to the cat that lived on our porch and we promptley never saw that cat again. I refuse to agree with the view that it choked on one of those bones, but that seems like the most likely conclusion.

This year promises to be just as good as any. I'm going out to buy the turkey this weekend and have received commitments from several friends still in the area on side dishes and desserts. I fear that seeing how this is my last year in Kalamazoo (most likely), this will also be the last Thanksgiving dinner for my friends and I, however I am not ruling out next year's dinner, wherever I am.

Pain Train

I was just looking through all my pictures this morning and found some rather interesting ones from our Pain Train teams. During our sophmore year in college, many of my friends and I played various intermural sports at Western. We played all sorts of different sports (some that we did much better than others) and had a lot of fun doing it. We played football mostly every year and although we mostly struggled, we did get a win one of the years. Our sport was whiffleball. For some reason, we just clicked and ended up making it all the way to the championship game. What all intermural sports participants vie for at Western is the IM Champion tee-shirt and that was on the line when we played in the championship game. We had beat the team we played that night, but they had a new guy on their team and were able to come away with the victory. We made a good run at it, but feel short. It was fun regardless. The sport we never should have tried was basketball. We had a few guys that had played basketball before (myself included), but we just didn't have what many of the other teams had - guys that could dunk. Our last game, we played another 0-3 team and fell in a close one and that pretty much closed the chapter on basketball for us.

Pain Train wasn't really about wins and losses though. One of the best things about Pain Train was how much we and our fans got into it. Just getting ready for the games, all wearing the high orange socks and joking around before the games was the best. We always had the most fans at football games, even though we usually were getting dominated. It was kind of like a high school feel - many of the girls would make little cards and put them on our dorm doors. One of our members Colin even started a Pain Train appearel website with a logo that he created. We would all come in together with out orange jerseys and although we probably didn't strike fear in anyone, we certainly made a few heads turn. I remember sitting in class once and a kid was talking about IM Football and said, "those kids with the orange jerseys looked like they were having fun." Those games were some of the best times that we had. We looked forward to those nights of Pain Train games, even though most times we knew the outcome would be a loss.

One Crazy Night

One of the things that I wanted to do with this blog is post pictures. I've had a camera since sophmore year of college and have captured much of my college craziness on my Canon (which is now half-broken). This picture is one of my favorite pictures from college. This was one crazy night at Sterling (where I lived for 2 years). I remember there was just three of us at our house, Matt, myself and Little Mel. We were watching the remaining minutes of a Pistons playoff game (in which I believe they won - it was during their championship run) and were getting a little bored just sitting there. Matt, my roommate (the one in the grey shirt) asked me if I wanted to be wrapped in graph paper. Sure, why not? So, Mel (in the green sweatshirt) and Matt proceeded to wrap me and tape me in graph paper for the next half an hour. They made me a ninja hat and even a sword. Then they but "A" on the front for Adam and "B" on the back for Bouton. As we were pleased with our accomplishment, we took our show outside and succeeded in scaring most of the neighbors (who thought we were drunk - we weren't). We then went over to the girl's apartment which was across the complex to show them what we had done. When they answered the door, they screamed because they had no idea who or what I was. It took Matt laughing his head off for them to realize that something was going on. This picture is all of us laughing about where boredom leads on a summer night such as this one. Boy we had some good times.

Booo Central!

Western lost a close game last night to our rivals, Central Michigan. I attended the game and suffered through near-freezing temperatures most of the game. It actually started to snow near the end of the game. The game was close for the most part. We led 7-3 at halftime and then the scoring picked up a bunch after the break. The big hit for was that we lost our leader and leading receiver, Simmons in the first quarter after he alledgedly kicked a Central player (I've heard he was trying to shake his foot free). Our offense didn't look quite the same after that. The defense played surprisingly well and kept us in the game throughout. The game looked over after Central scored to lead 27-17 with about 4 minutes left. We pushed the ball down the field quickly to make it 27-24 and forced Central into a fumble on their next possession. We scored almost instantly (almost too soon) to lead 31-27. In the back of my mind I knew that Central had way too much time left. They pushed the ball down the field in plenty of time (and with more than a few calls going their way) and scored after a couple goal-line tries with mere seconds remaining. Final score: Central 34, Western 31

The refs were pretty bad in this game. They made some bad all-around calls and it seemed like most of them went against the Broncos. The last drive saw a horrible pass-interference call against Western and some very questionable calls at the goal-line, especially the last one which clearly looked like the Central QB fumbled before reaching the end-zone. However, upon further review, the call stood as a touchdown and iced the game for Central. Oh well. Our season was pretty much shot anyways and the only satisfaction would have been ending Central's perfect conference record. Central clinched a MAC Championship bearth after beating us last night. This was also the first time they beat us hear in Kalamazoo since 1993.

Moving away from that depressing game, I didn't make it to advising today to talk about signing up for classes next year. Friday looks to be the big day and that is my goal now. I'm working tonight and tomorrow morning and Friday looks to be the first time that I can get onto campus to talk with an advisor (they have some weird hours).

Sick....

Right now I am bordering that edge of being full-fledged sick. I think I have one reason why I might be getting sick. My head sleeps next to the window, which quite recently has begun to become very cold at night. I now wake up pretty much every morning with a sore throat. Throughout the day I seem to get rid of it, but sure enough next morning it seems to come creeping back. I am seriously plotting the move of my bed to a more safe area in my room.

I've been having some very strange dreams recently. Dreams about the future and none of them involve me. All of them, or most of them are dreams about my friends and family in the future. They are usually glimpses of my friends in the future, married or with children. At least they don't include me, otherwise I might wake up in a cold sweat. Last night's version included my sister and a baby. I'm not sure if it was my sister's kid, but mom, dad and I were there, so I am gathering that it was. Freaky, let me tell you. It seems like yesterday I was starting college.

So, within the next week or so, I am going to attempt to re-enroll into Western. If this is even possible, I am not sure, but I am going to try and enroll into some writing classes. I took one Journalism class when I was a sophmore in college and it was a pretty good class. I found myself enjoying the work that I was doing, so maybe if I try a few more classes, it will push my interest even further. I guess we will see.