There Is Work Enough To Do

Yesterday, my boss's boss sent out an email requesting three of four people to help out in a different department here at work for a month or so, or until they catch up. I'm not sure what possessed me to email him back, but, for some reason, I volunteered. I mean, take into account the fact that it will provide more income for our small family, and that I hardly see my wife anyway, and it doesn't seem so bad. It is a data entry job, which I don't mind, and will help to break up the monotony of my current position. The only thing that makes it difficult is that this is on top of my current work load. I now work from 12 noon until 8 at night. Add to that the full-time school-load and I'm pretty well swamped. I will probably not see my friends ever again and I will do good to even keep up in my classes. My wife laughs at me because she is already working full time with full time school. I don't know what the difference is, but I guess she's a little bit stronger than I am. (Did I just admit that?) Don't get me wrong though. I am pretty excited for this opportunity and I do feel really good about it. Just don't be surprised if you see a headline about me soon... maybe an obituary even...

Enjoying The Journey

Well, Stake Conference was this last weekend and I would like to highlight one thing I appreciated from the vast array of spiritual knowledge that was given. The stake Patriarch spoke about "enjoying the journey". While this may be a fairly oft spoken of topic, I really enjoyed his remarks. He was an older gentleman (not surprisingly) and was very enthusiastic and warm. He, and others that night, from the adult session, talked about being young and newlywed and having so much to do. He quoted people saying, "Well, I'll be able to be happy and satisfied when we have a house." or, "When we have a new car, we can enjoy ourselves." He listed a lot of things that apply there: Children, money, education, etc. It's important to remember that these things aren't "when life finally begins", they ARE life. We're living our life right now. It's already begun. Enjoy it while you can. There will always be a next "when". You'll never run out of things to shoot for so you might as well enjoy yourself getting to the milestones. By no means do I mean be lazy or spend all your money, or do anything unwisely. All things, especially children and other life-changing decisions, take deliberation, and even prayer and fasting, in some cases, to know if you're ready for it. Just don't spend so much time "getting there" that you forget where you're trying to get to.
This is good advice to me. This last month or so has been very busy, very stressful, and very fast. Money is not in abundance and neither has my patience been. Even now, I am lying on the couch, trying to fight off the achy pain in my teeth from the dental work I just had done, feeling bad about the fact that I haven't gotten to cleaning the house yet and my wife is only at work for another five hours.
Well, that's my advice to you. Learn to enjoy your time here. Another thing the Patriarch said was that life isn't a test. When you get done with a test, you say, "Whew! Glad that's over with!"
a more fitting ideal is that this is our chance to Enjoy the Journey, but just don't forget where you're going either. This is definitely made easier when the person I'm traveling with is also the person I plan to spend forever with.

Collegiate Whiners

Well, school is going well, though I won't lie and say it hasn't been overwhelming. My classes are surprisingly light in load, but it has been difficult keeping track of what is due when. This is only compounded by the fact that the professors are constantly changing the syllabus without notifying the students until the day before. However, this blog is not about my whining. Goodness knows that's enough. This is more about the people who sit behind me in my respective classes. Whenever the teacher introduces a concept or runs quickly through something, there is, without fail, a murmur of complaints from behind me. "Oh my gosh...", "Why are we learning this?", etc. I'm not saying I dont, from time to time, complain about things, but it seems silly to me that they would complain about a class that they are taking of their own free will. For example, college algebra, in most cases, is only required if you plan on continuing to calculus. There are other math classes you can take. It just is ignorant for someone to take this class when there are at least two other easier choices for people who hate math and never plan on crunching a number again. If you don't need it, why are you taking it? Anyway, I guess it's not that important of a rant, but I find it relevant as I have decided what I want out of life and I'm going for it. Unlike some people apparently... So it was mean, sue me.

Bottoms Up!

No, that's not a reference to anything having to do with someone's buttocks.
Yesterday I went to the doctor to see if he could prescribe something new for my terrible acid reflux. He replied by prescribing me to go to the hospital today to have what he so ominously called a "Barium Swallow"
Well, I went to my appointment this morning and, after waiting an hour for the doctor, I became more informed as to what was needing to happen. I was asked to lay down on the table and the doctor scanned my chest with a large x-ray machine. The coolest part was seeing inside of my own body and seeing my organs pulsating and my spine moving as he asked me to turn on my side an whatnot. the nasty party was the barium. Apparently it acts like a dye so they can see what is going on inside of me. The doctor had me drink it, sip it, gulp it, etc, while he watched onscreen. It was pretty neat to see it enter my stomach and slide down my throat, but it sure didn't taste very great. imagine chalk and elmer's glue with a sickly sweet (almost like cherry) taste and very thick and gritty texture. I just get to wait for the results now... Also, I was late to work and still have to make up for yesterday's hours (My wife and I both got food poisoning and spent pretty much the whole day in bed.)
But all-in-all it was an interesting experience. I got to watch Friends in the waiting room too. That was fun...

Red Tape Replaces Red Hair

I understand the reasons for bureaucracy and their rules. I really do.
But, yesterday was possibly one of the most annoying days of my life. School has been going well and I am really enjoying my classes. The only problem now is how to pay for it. Here's the story: In January, I began filling out a form for financial aid for 09-10. I was, at the time, single. I then realized I was filling out the wrong year and in March I finished my 08-09 form as a married student.. Summer semester was thus paid for. When I went to file my 09-10 form I refilled it out and submitted it as being married. Well, when I went in to speak with the adviser, he didn't like that. I was informed I would have to go back and refill it out as being single even though I currently am married. *insert roll of the eyes here*
So, I did that. Yesterday I went back in to ask about the award. I was given another two forms to fill out and I did as they asked. I even brought my tax return! Well, when I turned in the last of the forms, I was notified I had done it all wrong. "You need to fill out this one, and bring in your parent's tax return as well."
At this point I began to be frustrated. I was already late for work and now I had to go get my parents' return, copy it, and take it back in. (I even went behind my wife's back to the rival copy center from the one where she works.) Well, everything was finally submitted on time and correctly. I hope.
Now I have to wait a month for it to come through which means I had to pay tuition anyway. *sigh* Apparently the bureaucrats would rather me be single and a liar, than married. Well, there's the rant. Take it for what it's worth.

You Get What You Pay For... Or Do You?

I see the need for places to close when there aren't enough people to keep it open and running. Especially in this economy, it's important to do what's best for your company. This doesn't change how bummed I was earlier this week. My wife and I had been planning on going to the amusement park for at least a couple of weeks. She had the day off from work and school hadn't started yet for her. Because of this, I decided to take the day off from work so we could have a fun day together. Tuesday I was looking around for discounts, as this park of amusement is quite exorbitantly priced. In calling around, I finally was directed to the park itself and informed that they are now open only on weekends. Well, I had already made up the time for work, so we decided to take it off anyway and do something else fun. Of course, we ended up watching TV all day and doing nothing, but I'm not complaining. It was a great day with my wife and a nice break. I am still a little bummed however. I was really kind of looking forward to spending close to 100 dollars on entertainment.

The Boring Story Of My Life

The quest for proper education is a stressful one. I say "proper" because anyone can get an "education". Online schools and tiny 2-year community colleges have made the whole process almost too easy. I tend to question the quality of such an education, but that's not my point here.
Yesterday was a very triumphant day in my life. It may seem trivial, but I was very excited when I finally got everything settled as far as my schedule goes. I had been signed up for a class that even the syllabus stated was not for me. In trying to switch around, I realized the pain of last minute registering. How can you sign up for a class you need when, not only is it closed and overfull, but it doesn't even fit in the hourly schedule they give you and all the classes overlap? Well, after much stress and annoyance, I was about to give up. I pushed the refresh button one last time and the one class in the perfect time and place popped up with 1 free seat. I frantically added it to my list and hit the submit button. Well, by the time I had done that, it had already filled again. Fortunately, this happened twice more, and the final time, I got the class. Don't judge me when I say that this was one of the most triumphant moments of my life. It was such a relief as I had really been stressing over it. Anyway, I'm very excited for this semester, though I know it's going to ber very stressful too. I'm especially stoked for my engineering class. We get to build things and take things apart!

Two Wrongs And A Right?

Well, the crisis has been averted. Felix came out of his coma just before we decided to let him go.
Apparently, the mechanic we had chosen to repair our car (because of his close acquaintanceship with my father-in-law) misunderstood my decision, and he went ahead and fixed Felix. Now, dropping the gas tank, taking the car apart, and fixing a fuel pump is not an easy job, so I've heard. However, because of the misunderstanding, he decided to drop the labor and charge us a very minimal price for the part. This is good news as we now have a car to drive and, probably eventually, trade in. The other good news is that we've been able to work something out for the payment as well.
So... Woohoo!

My Views On "Life Support"

Sometimes, we are faced with tough decisions that cause us to really rethink our lives. We are currently faced with such a decision.
Felix, our beloved car is currently in the shop for a repair that would cost up to $500 or more. Over the past year we've put close to $1500 into an automobile with over 220 k miles on it. Our dilemma: Do we pay for the repairs and risk all the other factory parts breaking down over the next few months, or do we, well... "pull the plug"? Fortunately, an automobile's life is a little more expendable than say, a family member's. It's also a lot more replaceable.
With school and and everything else in place, we're fairly confident in our ability to replace the car, but the problem is the current lack of transportation. That, and we love Felix almost like a member of the family. Ah well, death is a part of life right?
The question then remains however, will we see him again?

A Shudder, A Wheeze, A Sob, And A Snake

I obtained my car from my brother and sister who moved to the far off land of Ohio and bought a new car for the trip. I have loved this car and would like to think that I have treated it well. Felix is his name. He may be an old man, but he gets us from A to B.
Today as I was driving home for lunch to see my beautiful wife, Felix shuddered and the engine died. I lost power so I had to pull off to the side of the road and wait for help. Luckilly my friend came to help and my Father-in-law and his friend came with a tow cable. Felix should be fine, but I'm a bit bummed. It is going to cost money to fix him and I didn't even get to see my wife.
We're both working full time and we sometimes work different shifts so the only glimpse we get somtimes is when she gets off work before we go to bed.
Anyway, Felix is in the shop now and I'm driving my father-in-law's car until he's out. Something about a fuel injector or distributors... can you tell I know a lot about cars?
Well, at least we found a huge garter snake while we were waiting. That was pretty cool.

Six Months and Counting...

In response to a recent letter written to me by my beautiful wife, I would like to post this song.
This has been the best six months of my life up to this point, and I expect that my expectations will just continue to be exceeded.
I'm happier than I've ever been and I am extraordinarily glad this will last forever.
Who knows? Maybe there will be some other music to accompany this event too...
To my beautiful, amazing wife:

6 Months

By - Hey Monday

You're the direction I follow to get home
When I feel like I can't go on, you tell me to go
And it's like I can't feel a thing without you around
And don't mind me if I get weak in the knees
'Cause you have that effect on me, you do

Everything you say
Every time we kiss, I can't think straight
But I'm okay
And I can't think of anybody else
Who I hate to miss as much as I hate missing you

Months going strong now, and no goodbye
Unconditional, unoriginal
Always by my side
Meant to be together
Meant for no one but each other
You love me, I love you harder so

Everything you say
Every time we kiss, I can't think straight
But I'm okay
And I can't think of anybody else
Who I hate to miss as much as I hate missing you

So please, give me a hint
So please, give me a lesson on how to steal, steal a heart
As fast as you stole mine, as you stole mine

Oh and everything you say
Every time we kiss, I can't think straight
But I'm okay
And I can't think of anybody else
Who I hate to miss as much as I hate missing you

So please, give me a hint
So please, just take my hand.