You know its the end of the semester when...

…I update my blog more frequently than everybody else!

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, the real semester starts.  Its time for last minute paper writing (or last minute tweaking of long since finished projects), spending every free moment studying, ignoring your friends for the sake of grades and generally panicking about your future.  The world comes to a halt and the only thing that remains are your class, and the glimmer of hope that is the minute after your last final.  Thank God that I don’t have to worry about that.  My prof quit teaching weeks ago, and he’s contemplating not even having a final!  I know, you are all jealous and are harboring thoughts of killing me, but that’s something I’m willing to deal with.

I would like to wish everybody well going into these last weeks of the semester.  And if I may offer just a small piece of advice…acknowledge your friend’s existance, and take at least a little time to hang out and relax.  Too much stress is not good for you!  Good Luck.

A Day Off

It is Wednesday night and I’m at home with nothing going on!!!!!

 

The students are off for Thanksgiving break so we don’t have CCM tonight.  Cat didn’t have any meetings this week either, so for the first time in a very long while, we’ve been able to spend three consecutive weeknights home alone together.  Gotta tell ya, its been nice.

Tonight consists of doing some much need laundry, a little backing for our trip this weekend, and relaxing.  I am currently having a beer and flipping between “Show Me the Money” (which is a pretty odd show) and the Madonna concert (which is pretty odd too, but in a completely different way). 

Tomorrow we head to Iron Mt. to spend Thanksgiving with the in-laws, and then on to Wasaua for the weekend to spend time with the entire in-law family.  It will be nice to see everybody (except that I have to share my Godson Christopher with everybody, and I want him all to myself!) (side note…seeing William Shatner dancing with a large black woman and a bunch of skinny models is way trippy) Ok, back to reality.  (wait, another side note…the Shat just got jumped by a very large, very very large, black woman who just won $720,000.  Very Very Very Trippy.  I think I need to drink more to watch this show) Ok, really, now I’m back.  All of Cat’s brothers and sisters will be at the hotel this weekend, which is the only time each year they all get to be together, and the only time each year that we get to see some of them.  It’s nice to play cards and visit (and dinner at Tony Roma’s isn’t bad either).  It’s also great to get away and have some good quality alone time with Cat, when we don’t have to worry about anything.

Ok, so I have to go get the laundry, so I’m outta here!

Unleash the Inner Bridget

I came to a realization today.  We all have an inner Bridget, some more than others.

Bridget is one of the most competitive people I know.  Of course there are the games of foosball, and who can forget they way she gets while playing Catch Phrase!  But Bridget can make anything a competition; obviously her school work, but also things like driving, pumpkin carving and even eating.  Don’t even joke about challenging her unless you are ready to put your money where your mouth is right then and there.  But I digress, this blog isn’t supposed to be about Bridget; it’s supposed to be about me. 

I have always been a competitive person (just ask my wife).  I like to win and I hate losing.  I have always had that little monster that comes out when I’m competing.  This morning Kaitlyn and I went to play racquetball.  We have been several other times, but Kaitlyn was just learning so we never played an actual game.  We started out just hitting the ball around and having fun.  Then we decided it was time to actually play a game.  The instant Kaitlyn served the first ball I could tell something was different.  I no longer wanted to have fun, I wanted to crush her.  I wanted to win.  I started hitting the ball harder, running faster to return it, slamming into the walls and generally becoming more and more competitive.  My inner Bridget had been unleashed! 

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

On another note…Dan and I have been talking about the climbing wall all semester.  Today we finally went.  Ben, Kaitlyn, Dan and I went to the wall after racquetball and got belay trained.  We learned how to tie the proper knots and how to keep each other from crashing to the ground.  It has been 8 or 9 years since I last climbed and I forgot how hard it is.  I was the only one of the 4 of us that didn’t make it to the top of the wall.  I guess that just means that I will have to keep going back and practicing!  Perhaps I’ll have to let my inner Bridget out on the wall!!!!!

 

Vote to have younger volunteers

I VOTED

 

Has anyone ever noticed how all the workers at the polling place are old and cranky?  Well, not all of them.  The guy at the first table where you fill out the little card with your name and address on it was actually funny.  He we teasing us (Cat and I) and joking with us.  Then we went down to get “checked in”.  The old women there were cranky and very unhelpful.  Two of them actually argued about “when” they could give Cat her ballot (apparently if there is a line you aren’t allowed to hold a blank ballot, or something like that).  Perhaps spending all day at a desk helping people perform their civic duty is more than a 70 year old woman can handle.

Anyway, I just thought I’d complain about old people.  I haven’t had a real good experience with them this week (insert work story that I’m not allowed to talk about because of confidentiality).  Let’s just say, this week OLD PEOPLE SUCK.  They don’t always suck, just this week.  Next week I might love them.

Ok, I’m out. 

Isn't it too soon for Christmas?

Ok, Halloween happened less than one week ago and already Christmas has begun to invade my house.  As I write this Cat is digging through the movies so she can put one in.  The selection…Christmas Vacation.  Ok, Chevy and the gang is really one of my favorite movies but shouldn’t we wait until Thanksgiving until we start digging out all things Christmas?  The reason for the movie, Cat has begun to address our Christmas cards.  It is always our (i.e. her) goal to have them out the first week of December, and that requires writing a letter to put in them and addressing them all before Thanksgiving.  To Cat’s credit, the decorations haven’t come out yet.  They are still safely packed in the attic (and will stay there for some time if I’m lucky).

Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t really like Christmas.  I’m sure there is some psychological repression of something in my past that I can’t get over that makes me dislike it so much.  So the fact that the “season” has begun this early in November (and will last until mid-January) is like torture.  Ten weeks of Christmas is like 9 weeks too much.  There are some things about Christmas I do like.  I like the movies (Christmas Vacation, Christmas Story, The Grinch (the cartoon)).  I love the food, but then again who doesn’t.  And I do have this weird passion for our Department 56 North Pole and Elfland Village (it’s the one thing I really get into.  If I could I would let it take over every surface in the house, but Cat won’t let me go that far).  Even then, I can really only handle two weeks of Christmas Cheer without goining into “Bah Humbug” mode.  So, fork over the Prozac so I can make it through the next two months.

Merry Christmas, or something like that.