Backflip

Alaska 8-03-10

Woke up under the stars on a beach. Had some excitement during the night when Jake stopped my tent from blowing into the fire because the wind picked up. No one was in it but I set it up in case someone wanted to use. No one did so I ended up taking it down in the middle of the night and going back to sleep.

Woke up and enjoyed watching the river flow. Woke up the rest of the crew and we packed up the raft. Then waited for the Chalet rafting crew to venture down the river. We nade a water gun out of our pump and also Brian was jumping off a cliff and doing cannonballs. We all took a go at jumping and it was pretty fun. Brian had some great splashes  (see pictures from Day 3, jumped the gun a little bit).

Jumped into the raft and did some more rafting, I took a turn at steering some more as did Amy. I have no clue how to read a river. It takes some getting used to.

Met up with the drop point and headed back to the Chalet. Amy and I did a quick turn around, packed our bags for hiking, grabbed some lunch and food for the hike and headed out to meet Nate and Dana at the Back Country Office (BCO).

Talked to a guy named Alanzo at the BCO and discovered that many of the units were full. The park itself is broken into around 40 different units based on geography and other unknown means. He recommended a unit but Amy wasn’t too keen on taking it. So we reserved it and waited for Nate and Dana to show.

While waiting, Jess (met her at Alex’s neighbors Salmon Bake) came into the BCO and gave us a spectacular recommendation that we ended up taking. Spend the first night in unit 26 on Mt. Margaret and the next night in unit 15 at Wonder Lake.

Dana and Nate showed up and after a joyous greeting we headed over for some food (where we got 50% off, thanks Amy!) at the visitor center before hoping on a shuttle into the park. Departed at Snake River and headed up Mt. Margaret.

The scenery is amazing. Mountains everywhere! So different than Ohio. So exciting and awesome. Hard to describe but truly awe-inspiring.

Also amazing is the fact that there is virtually no path. You can choose any way you want to climb the mountain. Any path at all. It is very strange to not follow a path. To choose your own way. So different than usual. To not have a direct line or way, to choose where you go and how. Not knowing if it’s the best way or even if it will lead you to your destination.

Thankfully, when the destination is the top of a mountain it’s pretty difficult to get lost. If ever in doubt, just keep going up. Which is what we did till we reached the top. It was surprisingly flat and there were plenty of places to setup camp. One factor that was interesting was the wind. It was super windy, I’m no wind expert but I imagine it was winds of 15-20 mph all night long. They never ceased. I was concerned my tent would blow away when I went off to dinner (in a sheltered rock outcropping that blocked the wind). Thankfully no tents went flying and we had a great night.

One thing of note was the sheer amount of food we packed. Amy and I were sharing a bear canister and we didn’t plan too far ahead for the trip so we ended up with a ton of random food. For instance, we had a whole tupperware thing of Fruit Loops (no milk), 4 pieces of pizza (already cooked), beef jerkey, 6 bagels, some fruit, some dried fruit, cheese, trail mix, cheese and peanut butter on crackers, granola bars, twizzlers, and possibly some other odds and ends. This trip was only going to be 3 days and 2 nights so it was a ridiculous amount of food for 2 people. Nate and Dana carried all their own food so we had plenty to go around. One thing we didn’t have that Amy was craving was a Snickers bar. Somehow we overcame this oversight and survived the first night.

I also took some pretty sweet panorama picture. They give a little glimpse of the immense size of the mountains and the breathtaking views we saw. They are huge, so they may do crazy things to your computer. Hopefully they are viewable.

Alaska8-02-10

Yowza, had a busy day.

Writing this on 8-03 while sitting on the side of the river by our camp. Laser, Cupcake, Brian, Mitch, Amy and I went on quite a white water rafting adventure yesterday on the Nanana (I liked calling it the Na-na na-na). We embarked around 10 or 11 pm. It never really gets dark so leaving late wasn’t an issue. Hard to explain all the fun we had, just doesn’t seem like writing it down will give it justice.

We did hit some big rapids, checked out an old train tunnel, ran from a train (not in the tunnel), did some riding of the bull, some mistrust activities and had a great time. Started a fire with some shavings and a handkerchief. Listened to some ridiculous stories from Jake. One involving a stupid box and a hitchhiker and another one involving a orchestra conductor. Both ridiculous but told very well.

Backing up to the beginning of the day, this was my first day at the Chalet. Hung out with Amy in the morning and picked up some meal tickets. Amy had to work at noon so we grabbed some grub. Amy found out that some peeps were going to go Kayak rolling that day, one of the guys being her good friend Brian. So I gave Brian my number and headed out to give Alex his car back.

Alex was working at the visitors center and so I went in and asked the dude at the front desk where Alex Lindeman worked. He must not have been expecting a question not relating to the park because he just looked at me and said, “huh?” So I repeated the question and he pointed me to an employees only door and said “Go upstairs”. So I did but there were a few different rooms at the top of the stairs. I found it strange that I was allowed to just wander around aimlessly. I took a guess and found Alex on the first try. Gave him his keys and promised to call him once I got out of the back country on Thursday.

Then caught a shuttle back to the Chalet and met up with Brian and Mitch to head out to do some rolling. Headed to a lake (can’t remember the name) and got all suited up in a dry suit (doesn’t let any water in), helmet, life jacket and headed out on the lake.

Rolling a kayak is pretty technical, it is when a kayaker flips his boat and is sitting upside down in the water with his whole body underwater. Obviously this is a bad position to be in so it’s important he knows how to flip himself back over if and when this event occurs.

Mitch is a great teacher and though baby steps and lots of patience I was able to do a hand roll (a roll with no paddle). It was pretty sweet and a lot of it is a mental game. It’s so easy to psych oneself out. The biggest thing is to not panic. It’s quite amazing how long someone can stay underwater.

Ate dinner with the guys and then headed up to see when Amy got off and what was going on that night. Decided to go on the rafting trip mentioned above and ended up chilling down by the river a bit till Amy got off work and we made plans to head out on the river.

Sunday, August 1st. Woke up early to catch the train up to Denali where my cousin Alex is going to pick me up. Train left Anchorage at 8:15 and will arrive in Denali at 3:45. Once in Denali, I hang out with Alex and Amy the rest of the day. Excerpts from my Blackberry journal are below. Random Alaska facts come from either the tour guides on the train or Michener’s book Alaska which I started reading during the trip. It’s very good.

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Dreams – had some pretty interesting dreams last night. One in which I missed the train because I was playing the lead role in a musical I hardly knew and was just ad libbing. Crazy stuff.

Also Eddie arrived and left about 3 times during the night. Not sure what the hork was going on. It wasn’t an issue, I just went back to sleep but it was strange.

My calves are super sore from running yesterday in my 5 fingers. Haha, did it to wear myself out and got more than I bargained. I’m sure they will loosen up as the day progresses.

Headin’ to the train in a bit. That should be pretty sweet.

On the Train from Anchorage to Denali and due to a plane crash at the air force base which the train passes though we had to take a bus ride to the train. And as it turns out we are going to be riding the train backwards. Since the train can’t pass through the base to get to the main depot to turn around. Should be interesting.

I’m sitting next to Emily who is a law student from St. Louis who has an internship in Anchorage for the summer. Her and her parents are traveling to Denali to see the sites.

One of the leading causes of death for Eagles in Alaska is drowning. This is due to the fact that once eagles grab a fish with their talons they cannot let go. Sometimes the salmon is heavy enough and strong enough that it can pull the eagle underwater and drown it.

Which journey sounds more difficult?

• 100 men set out to cross Alaska. They cross 5,000 miles over rough terrain over the course of 3 years and 3 winters. 50 of the men perished.
• 50 men set out across Russia. They crossed 7,000 miles over rough terrain over the course of 3 years and 3 winters. There were no casualties

Interesting how we determine the difficulty of something by the percent of failure.

Met Alex at the train station and he met me with a hug. It was great to see him. We caught up on each others lives a bit as we waited for my luggage and then jumped in his jeep with his dog scout to head to the McKinley Chalet where Amy works.

Seeing Amy was great. She got super excited and I was able to introduce her to Alex. The plans for the evening involved going over to Alex’s and helping his neighbors package the 100 Salmon they caught and then having a fish fry. Amy was gonna get off early so Alex and I headed out to get drinks while she finished her shift.

Hanging out with Alex is sweet. I haven’t seen him in about 5 years and didn’t know him too well as he was growing up. But we found plenty to discuss and it was good to hear how he was doing.

Amy caught up with us and we headed up past Healy to Alex’s place. Checked out his sweet house, his green house and then headed over to his neighbors, Jared and Bridgets. There we joined in a fish packaging operation with lots of Alex’s friends that I can’t recall all their names. But it was a good time. 4 people had caught and cleaned over 100 Salmon and we were packaging them up to be stored in the freezer. We were also smoking some and baking some to be eaten. It was delicious.

While at Jared and Bridget’s we checked out their dog kennel operation which was pretty sweet. Tons of dogs (perhaps 15 or so) were all chilling together and it was something to experience.

It was interesting meeting so many peeps. All of whom were not native to Alaska. Still have yet to meet a native. But people come here from other states with a high majority seeming to originate from the west. Not sure why that is the trend.

Alex let Amy and I borrow his car and we gave Stephanie a lift back to her cabin since it was on the way.

Once back at McKinley Chalet we met up with Becca and Brian to form a funeral procession for their friend Thanksgiving. He (or she) was a small bunny they found while camping. It had a broken leg and they were going to try to nurse it back to health. But it perished after a few nights. Becca made a funeral boat so we marched to the river where there was a group of their friends celebrating a birthday. We momentarily interrupted the birthday bash and after some debate decided to put Thanksgiving on the roaring bonfire instead of the burning ship. The bunny returned to the earth from where it came.

And we returned to the chalet and ended up watching an old James Bond movie. Went to bed around 2ish.

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I left for Alaska at 11:30 am on Saturday, July 31st. My parents picked me up at the house and we headed on over to Dayton International. I was flying Delta from Dayton to Minneapolis and then Minneapolis to Anchorage. In Anchorage I spent the night in a hostel called Alaska Backpackers Inn which was excellent. The plan was to travel up to Denali by train on Sunday and meet my cousin Alex and friend Amy. Below are notes taken on my Blackberry throughout the trip:

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Trip so far is great. Plane ride was a bit long but sat next to Arron from Day to Minn. He’s a defense contractor for the airforce and goes to AFG to work for extra moolah. Talked about daily rocket attacks against his base. The Base over there is the size of Troy. Crazy! He was going to his friends wedding in Troy. Paul Atkins. Drives a red and white charger type car and lives on Heather road. I don’t know him but apparently he went to Troy High School and is my age. Interesting stuff.

Thing I wouldn’t see in Troy – 3 High School age girls standing outside a coffee shop in Anchorage. Dually truck with full tailer with army-type jeep vehicle on the trailer and room to spare pulls up. The girls excitedly jump in and drive off.

Ate dinner at the Downtown Deli. Had Halibut Fish and chips, coleslaw and tarter sauce. It was all delicious. Interestingly, I have never liked coleslaw but decided to try it out and found it quite agreeable.

Gonna try to stay up till 9. Timezone is 4 hours behind so 9 is about 1am eastern time. Gotta catch a train at 8:15 tomorrow so I’ll be up early.

MOUNTAINS! So cool.

Roomate is named Eddie. He’s a dock worker up north and in town for his daughters birthday. Cool guy, talked about seeing a bear at work and how he’s never been to Denali. He also really wants to visit Cleveland and Akrin to see where they make the Goodyear blimps. Didn’t realize that was an attraction.

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One interesting experience is eating dinner alone in public. I didn’t have any problems but it was a bit strange. I’d recommend trying it out just because it’s so different. It’s as if all the things society expects one to do while eating are gone and it’s interesting discovering ways of staying occupied throughout the meal. I solved this by people watching, luckily I was by a window and has a whole street full of people to watch.

My first night in Alaska went great. Adjusting the the almost eternal daylight wasn’t a big issue. I usually don’t have an issue falling asleep and this trip was no exception. I did wake up a few times when Eddie came in and out of the room. I can’t quite remember what times but it was very strange, seemed like it was around 11, around 1 and then at 4. When I woke up in the morning he was gone but his stuff was still in the room. No idea what was going on with that and I never saw him again so it’s going to be a mystery. It didn’t bother me since I just rolled over and went back to sleep each time I awoke.

Well this place has sure been quiet for a while. But, that is soon to change.

Let’s see, where did I leave off? Whoa, back in March.

Quick update on life in no particular order.

Visited Greg – Settlers, XBox and Pay Per View
Kings Island – Greg, Nate and Glenn, good times
Moonlight and Magnolias (Play) – Lame-o
Sogeti Soccer win – Finally a win!
Clodbusters (Vintage Baseball) first game – 1 win, 2 losses, lots of fun
A Chorus Line (Musical) – Decent, more of a ballet type thing than a musical, 4 out of the 8 I picked made it at the end
Lake Loramie – Lake, food and XBox 360 fun
Painting Dave’s – Never going to be a handyman
Red’s Game and Fireworks – Parents and Drew
Dayton Dragons Game – Cub Scouts
Lydia’s (cousin) Graduation – Cornhole challenge (me vs. Drew, he won but it was close)
Extension at WF1 – woo!
Dojo – still going pseudo strong
D&D – Healing rox
Mother’s Day – Spent in Cincinnati with the fam

I was planning on going into more detail but lost all motivation. That’s gonna have to do.

A few weekends ago I spend a few days in Michigan on the annual Tour of Leelanau. It’s a week where a few friends from my church and I head up to Leelanau County in Michigan and spend a few days riding our bikes around, camping and eating great food. It was 4 days with 2 1/2 days. We went around 200 miles. The trip was great, lots of fun. Some observations that hit me while riding are below:

Independence – 2 days into the riding I realized that I had nothing to prove and that I should be comfortable with myself. Go at my own pace and enjoy myself. Before this moment I was unconsciously pushing myself past my limits in an effort to impress those I was with and to not get shown up. Thankfully I realized this is dumb, and was able to take it easy for the rest of the trip.

Diversity is healthy – the trip consisted of the following professions – Architect, Electronic Device Salesman, Teacher, Engineer, Welding Manager, Student, Consultant, Quality Expert, Plastics Salesman, Business Owner, IT professional, Duck Farmer, Parks Manager, Arborist, and a Data Architect. While it’s not the most diverse group in the world it was still an interesting conglomerate of different people. While I normally see these people on a weekly basis it was great to spend a weekend with them and to see a bit of how they see the world.

Going along with the above point. It’s very interesting to see how different group dynamics work. How there is strength and confidence in numbers but also pressures and expectations. At one point in the trip my friend Dan and I got separated from the group and then partially lost. This actually turned out to be one of the best parts of the trip. We just biked around at a leisurely pace. This made me realize how rushed I felt when I was with the group. Similar to the independence piece above, I was letting the group will effect how I was enjoying the trip. It was well within my power to go at my own pace and my own time but I was feeling rushed with the group. So it was nice to be split off from it for a while.

Physical and mental hardships are opportunities to grow. Perseverance, mind over matter, confidence and fighting through the pain are all good lessons to learn. At one point on the second day I was alone, out of water, unsure of how far I had to travel, tired and hungry. Looking back it’s hard to capture the moment but it was pretty intense. I had the choice to stop and get help (call the truck to come and get me) or to keep going. I decided to keep going and even though I got slower and slower, I made it to the next town, food and rest. It sounds like a simple life lesson, but it’s been a while since I’ve been pushed in such a way and it felt great to work through the hardship and emerge victorious on the other end.

I had a great time in Michigan hanging out with the guys. I neglected to take many pictures because 2 photographers were riding, however if I run across some good pics I’ll post ‘em.

In other news, I have a girlfriend (for realz this time). Her name is Steph and she is great. I also just started on a billing project and it’s working with folks I’ve had the pleasure of working with in the past which is great. It’s a 6 month gig so I’ll be there for the long haul which is excellent. I’ll let ya know how it’s treatin’ me.

Time. Such a strange phenomenon.  Today we measure it using sophisticated clocks. Our ancestors used the placement of the sun and start to tell time. However telling time itself remains elusive.

Two people can be doing the same task in the same space and can take the same amount on minutes. However their perceptions of the time spend completing the task can be completely different. Instances such as this are where we get the saying “Time flies when you’re having fun”.

I can’t pretend like I understand time or how it works for different people. However I did want to share an interesting weekend dealing with time.

Last weekend was Family Camp 2009 which is a weekend my whole church (TLJC) heads out to a camp and spends the long weekend together. It’s always a great time and something to look forward to. This year had an extra bonus of going someplace new which I found exciting. I was not disappointed.

I had a great weekend at camp, hanging out with friends, goin to fires, eatin’ great food, having fun, fellowship, playing sports and being out in nature. It always seemed like there was something to do if I wanted but I never felt rushed or pressed for time.

Which brings me back to the topic at hand. This weekend seemed to last extremely long. There was plenty of time to hang out and participate in all the events I wanted. There was also time to sit around and read or wander around in the woods. Time to do everything I wanted and still time left over for extra enjoyment.

It seemed like I got to camp and time froze. I didn’t have to get up at x hour or be somewhere at x hour if I didn’t want to. I didn’t have to drop something and go do something else. I felt suspended and free. I didn’t have to acknowledge time.

If I had to guess I’d say not having a set schedule made time appear to last longer. I definitely wasn’t contemplating what I was going to do after work or for dinner or that night. It was all just going to happen when it happened and I didn’t have to worry about it. It was great not having to be somewhere and to just be in the present. In the current moment.

This doesn’t really get me any closer to understanding how time works. But it was a great feeling to be present and to enjoy the current moment instead of thinking on what was around the next tick of the hour hand.

Any thoughts out there on time? How can is “slow down” and “speed up” for different people? Is it possible to live in “slow down” mode all the time? Would we want to if we could? Seems like this idea spawns more questions than it answers.

Hello dear readers. It’s been a few moons since I’ve last posted here and quite a lot has been going on.

I’ll start out with Settlers of Catan on the Levi and Ice Cream. Yum! Scruff, Jordan, Amy and I had a rousing game of Settlers of Catan on the Troy Levi. It was a great day and we brought food for a picnic. Randomly Nate and Dana saw us playing and decided to hang out. We all headed over to Dan’s for a movie and were surprised to receive ice cream cones. They were very tasty!

Next is my family vacation to Detroit which was mucho fun.

If you’re wondering if you read that correctly, you did. We went to Detroit to see a Tigers ballgame, to check out the city, to visit the Henry Ford Museum, Deerfield Village and to see G.I. Joe (which I’ll have you know, can be done other places besides Detroit, unlike the other activities). Unfortunately G.I. Joe followed the same path as many movies today and completely destroyed the G.I. Joe story and put some strange impostor in it’s place. But that’s a topic for another time. I had an excellent time hanging out with the family in Detroit and staying in the Pink Palace, which sounds quite scandalous but in reality is quite harmless.

Some pics from the museum are below:

It was a great vacation and I’m glad everyone could make it this year. On the trip up and back I also got to spend lots of time with my girlfriend which was x-cellent.

Since vacation there has been lots of hanging out with friends (seems like there is a Sogeti birthday every other week), going to Kings Island with Sogeti, reading Harry Potter (I’m on the 6th book, so addicting!), men’s night out, visiting Lis and Brian in Cincy, buying some suits (ye-yeah!) and generally taking it easy.

In there was also a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) night with Tayo and Justin who work with me at Sogeti. It was a pretty fun time where they taught me some submission holds and we spared a bit. Check out some of the amazing pics below:



The MMA session was very enjoyable and informative. Unfortunately Tayo is out for a few weeks recovering. Recovering from a surgery, not the MMA sparing. At least I think so. Keep your eyes glued to the UFC to check out our respective climbs to world champions.

In other news, I am in the midst of switching clients which makes life pretty interesting. It’s crazy knowing that whatever client I end up at will determine a large portion of my life for the next few months or years. Thankfully I’m not worrying about it too much and trusting in God to open the doors to where He wants me to go. It’s really peaceful being able to give something my best effort and accept the outcome even if it’s not the one I desire.

O, almost forgot. My friend Esther just started a blog. She is spending a semester studying abroad in Costa Rico which is sweet! Check out her blog here http://unsemestreencostarica.blogspot.com/. It has also been added to the links on the right. Have fun readin’.

WARNING: Super, x-tra long post ahead. Continue at your own risk!

What an awesome weekend.

It all started on Thursday after work when I stopped over at Glenn’s house to hang out for a bit and then head down to Cincy to meet Greg and Nate. The plan was to go to Kings Island on Friday and hopefully avoid the crowds since it was a work day.

Let’s start back at Glenn’s. Right before we left I was super surprised to hear Glenn ask, “Should I bring Settlers?” He was speaking of Settlers of Catan which is this x-cellent board game that I was introduced to a few weekends ago by Josiah. The real excitement was that I had ordered the game in hopes of taking it to Cincy but it hadn’t arrived in the mail yet. The big rush was due to the fact that Nate refused to play the game due to circumstances at work and it would be a good prank to bring the game (especially since he knew I wasn’t getting my copy in time). Glenn knew nothing of all this so it was pretty horkin’ amazing he mentioned bringing it. Armed with Settlers and some other gear we headed down to Cincy.

After some good conversation and music we arrived in Cincy and hung out with Greg and Nate. Eating at B-Dubs and playing some Rock Band made the night very enjoyable. But the real fun started when we broke out Settlers and had a go. I know inside jokes are only fun if you know the joke but I have to make a record of the events for future reference. Apologies for not explaining, this post is already super long and it’s still only Thursday night. New lingo for Settlers – shale (instead of ore), forest (not lumber), brick (supposed to be clay), wheat (instead of grain), sheep (for wool) (we actually didn’t get any of them correct, whoops), Soldier Boi, Indiana Jones Theme Song (this became a re-occuring song for the whole weekend), House (for settlement), and Hotel (not city). Heh heh. Good times.

We awoke pretty early and headed to McD’s then to Kings Island to ride the new coaster named Diamondback. It was pretty sweet. Super smooth and fun. The wait wasn’t bad at all either (just 45 min.). Another sweet ride is the Firehawk which has riders lying on their backs or stomachs and moving parallel to the ground. Completely different than any other coaster and very enjoyable. Other happenings at KI included us stopping some line cutters and getting into an argument, an interesting discussion about being prudent, the Indiana Jones Theme Song, the line – “She was with another man” – from a song by some guy with a crazy voice, picking up a balloon with my 5-finger shoes while on a ride only to get it taken away by a nice KI worker named Emily, accidentally popping the same balloon in line and people freaking out, bing! bing! bing! (watch the commercials for the Palm Pre and you’ll know where this comes from), some comments on my 5-finger shoes, a sweet ride called the Crypt, stealing a table from a kid (me, not one of my prouder moments), giving it back to him (thanks Glenn) only to have a different group of people take it (ah well), perfect weather (cloudy and cool), beating Greg and Nate on the Racers and talking smack to ‘em the n-tire time on the ride, and conquering the park by 4:30. All in all it was a great time.

After grabbing dinner at BD’s Mongolian grill Nate headed back to C-bus (boo!) and Greg, Glenn and I headed back to Greg’s and then into downtown Cincy to look for a hotel. Using technology (laptop computer getting free wifi + a GPS) we ended up in a decent hotel (even for Kentucky, haha!). We played some Settlers and then headed out to meet some of Glenn’s friends at Bar Louie. We hung out there most of the night and had a good time. Parted ways with Glenn’s friends and Greg and headed back to the hotel for some more Settlers (1v1) and some pizza (yum!).

Saturday morning we got up early and headed over to Lis and Brian’s house to help them move. A tree fell on their house on the 4th of July and they were finally able to get in to move all their belongings. This also meant that nothing was packed. So we moved from 9:45ish to 4:30ish. It was tough work but there was lots of help (thanks Glenn, Dan and Allison!). And it was a pretty fun move. Dan and Glenn are x-cellent at keeping things light and funny. This helped time pass uber quickly and we got Lis and Brian all moved into their super nice house (quite an upgrade in my opinion) safely. I was pretty toasted after the move and after an enlightening car ride back to Dayton to drop Glenn off I headed home and vegged out the rest of the night.

I did start reading a book titled “Scratch Beginnings” by Adam Shepard. It’s a story about a middle class guy who sells everything and tries to make a living with just the clothes on his back and $25 in a completely foreign city. His goal is to get out of poverty and to show that the American Dream is still alive. He’s sick of hearing crap from Barbara Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed) about how the American Dream is dead. So he sets out to prove it’s still alive. It’s a very intriguing story and I ended up finishing it on Sunday. More on that later.

Saturday night also heralded the arrival of my friend Josiah. We hung out for a bit, watched some TLJC movie previews  with Jordan (which are x-cellent) and then called it a night.

Sunday was church (“Faith comes first – everything else follows”), the rootbeer stand with my parents, and bowling with peeps from Sogeti. I bowled a 160 and felt pretty good about it but didn’t come close to Glenn or Todd who both bowled a 212. Sogeti bowling team anyone?

The rest of Sunday was spent doing laundry, going to the grocery, grilling (no burnage!) and reading. I finished Scratch Beginnings and had a great conversation with Jordan R. about poverty and class differences. Some startling revelations from the book and convo are included below:

Speaking about why people aren’t happy, “So many of us don’t have five-year plans on how we are going to better our lot over time rather than search for quick fixes. A five-year plan is invaluable. It gives us a sense of purpose in our present lives, the peace of mind every day that what we are doing has a purpose, a means to an end.”

“Unfortunately, few of us take ownership of our lives. We live in an “It ain’t my fault” society. Nothing is our fault. Ever. We’re fat because of genetics, we suck at math because we had a bad teacher… it has nothing to do with the fact that we aren’t eating right or exercising, or that we aren’t doing our homework… It’s everybody else’s fault. It ain’t ours.”

“3 types of people in life:
1. Those who make things happen
2. Those who watch things happen
3. Those who sit back, scratch their heads and think, “What the in the hork just happened?”

There are actual differences in speach patterns in different classes. Lower classes tend to speak in circular patterns, never getting the their point. Middle class people are usually direct and don’t waste time.

Pretty interesting eh? It is a great book and a quick read. The whole poverty topic is very strange to me and I look forward to finding out more about it.

As a good end to a great weekend my Monday has gone super well. To start things off I began billing at AO Smith in Tipp City today. I’m doing some Project Management and Business Analyst work for their Matrix One system. Billing rox (I’m a productive member of society once more!) but what really made my day happened in the lobby at 8 a.m. I was signing in when a lady who must have been behind me while walking in stops and stares at me.

“You must be a Lindeman.”

Shocked, I look up and don’t recognize who was speaking. Then she introduces herself, she’s the daughter of a guy that goes to my church. I have seen her a few times at picnics and such but had never talked to her. She was happy to see me and I her. It was a great start to a great day.

As a side note. That was the second time I had been pegged as a Lindeman in just about as many weeks. So strange and so flattering – or should it be embarrassing? Haha, who knows?

Memorial Day weekend. A time to remember those who’ve served our country and to pay them respect.

It’s also a 3 day weekend which is great for going on trips, hanging out and gettin’ a lot o’ stuff done. Which is precisely what I did. I headed up to Lake Loramie with the guys for a 2 day stay at Steve’s Cottage. It was great to get away and relax. There were boat rides, swimming, kayaking, movies, food, Dairy King, Bud’s Pizza and most importantly quality time spent with my brothers in arms. While most of the trip was not very ’spiritual’ (I didn’t go in search of my power animal) there were those great moments when topics would shift, bonds were created and life was shared. They are little boosts that keep me goin.

A big thanks for Steve for opening up his cottage and to all the wives that let their husbands go (a rare occurrence to be sure).

It was interesting that there were 10 married men and only 4 of us left still free (heh heh). This also made me think about my 6th grade class (small Christian School, we were pretty close) and how most of them are married as well. I can’t speak for any of those marriages but it’s quite obvious there a pressure in our society to get married as quickly as possible. Marriage is fine and I’m sure I’ll be married someday but I want to get married because it’s what I want, not because everyone around me thinks it’s what I should do. I’m no sociology major but it seems to me that people would be a lot better off not marrying so quickly/casually. These marriages seem to lead to divorces which are especially difficult if kids are involved. From my view if people just chilled out and made sure marriage is what they want then more of them would hold strong.

Anyway, the Lake was x-cellent as was the food and company.

You may be wondering why the title of this post is completion. Well wonder no more. On Sunday I finally got my Priest (in World of Warcraft) to the highest level, level 80. Some people say the game actually starts one you reach the level cap. This maybe true. However it’s also a good place to end. I haven’t quite decided yet what I’m gonna do but it sure is temping to drop WoW and it’s 3 year stranglehold on me to pick up some other games I’ve been missing out on.

I also finished Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. It was a very interesting book. She presents some really refreshing ideas. The one major theme that I enjoyed could be termed proactive. The hero’s in the book are the people who know what they want and take steps to achieve their desires. This seems like a no-brainer, but it was flushed out quite a bit in the book and it made a lot of sense to me. The villains in the book are constantly talking about generalities, vague truths and overall ideas without having any action or direction behind them. This makes for wishy-washy people who aren’t going anywhere but don’t seem to care as long as they can make themselves think they are moving.

The book is discussing extremes but it was pretty refreshing to see how naked honesty could be put into practice and that valuing my time and energy isn’t evil or wrong. It spoke to the philosophy in life that if you want something then go out and get it. Which struck a note of truth for me. I get annoyed with people who talk about how they wished they were here or wish they could go there or how they hate where they are right now and want a change, then they never do anything about it.

One very apparent example is weather. People in Ohio (and I’m sure everywhere else) complain about the weather all the time. It’s too cold, too hot, too snowy, too blah blah blah. Well if you don’t like the weather so much, then get out of the state and let those who do enjoy it live in peace. Yes, there are complications. Yes, there are circumstances. But if they really hate the weather that much then they would make it possible to get out. Instead they just like to complain about it without taking any actions to resolve the situation.

I like to rant and rave about this type of behavior mostly because I see myself doing the same thing and I don’t like it. It can be difficult to match actions and talk. But I want to build that honesty and trust. The book gave some neat situations and examples of fictional characters standing up for the truth and it was neat to experience. If you have time to read 1000+ pages I’d recommend the book.

Speaking of long, this post turned out a log lengthier then planned. On Monday I had a cookout at the church with the fam and got to hang out with all the kiddies. There was me and about 8 or 9 of ‘em playing cornhole, on one set o’ boards, at the same time. It was pretty sweet.

’twas a great weekend. Lots of food for thought and food for the belly to boot. I’m also lookin’ forward to a short week and hopefully gettin’ sold to a new client. Keep your fingers crossed.