March 27th 2009

(continued from the previous post). At 5:30 A.M. Freddy starts walking around loudly on the wood floor in the next room. Sounds like he was frantically pacing back and forth, loud enough to wake me up from a deep sleep. I called him over and petting him a few times before falling back to sleep. Freddy goes back to his pacing and then I hear him groan and whine while pacing. I asked him if he needed to go outside. Freddy, who understands English quite well, started jumping on me like he was saying "Damn right I need to go outside! It's about time you understood what I was asking you dumbass!" Freddy had a strange look of eager anticipation of relief while he jumped around excitedly as I walked toward the back door. Freddy bolted out the door like the house was afire and immediately took a 5 minute long piss. He then dissapeared into the back yard beyond the porch light to do the "other" thing.

I thought "Screw going back to bed", I'll enjoy the luxury of having 1 1/2 hours to get ready for work!" Freddy came back inside a few minutes later and was so happy that I was capable of understanding that he really had to go pretty bad. Freddy is one hell of a good dog!

Not being in a hurry in the morning was nice. Wish I could fall asleep at 10:00PM so I could wake at 5:30 every morning. I made some fine Darjeeling tea, had a bit of toast with cream cheese and smoked trout (smoked trout is much cheaper than salmon, if you can find it), listened to the news on the radio, took my time getting ready in the bathroom. Got dressed, then briskly walked to school in the cold sunny morning, feeling like I was on top of the world.

The first couple classes went well, but my 4 1/2 hours sleep the previous night was to haunt me for the rest of the afternoon. The students were lively as they usually are on Friday, while I was dazed but patient as I served out the rest of the day's sentence.

I got home in the blazing 39 degree sunny afternoon. Freddy was very excited to see me as usual, so I nixed my plans to take a nap, played with Freddy, then brought the big red beast out of the garage and started it for the first time in a week. Unfortunately my "beast" is a large dirt bike and I really can't ride it in town. After the bike warmed up I thought up a route to the nearby convenience store riding mainly in parking lots, with bits of sidewalk riding to get from lot to lot. I throttled up the beast and the noise shook the walls of my house as I eased her out of the back yard. I took off carefully, since the bike would prefer to do a "wheelie" if allowed to have it's way, and weaved my way though the buildings and old parking lots, occasionally getting to spray gravel while quickly holding back all it's mind numbing power and glory. I had to leave her running in front of the store, because I didn't want to have to kickstart a semi-warm engine and risk a vapor lock, not to mention that I like hearing the bike go "thump, thump, thump" from inside the store. I flirted with the nice, hot looking, older lady (blond, mid 30's) behind the counter, grabbed my quart of Tecate' beer, and threaded my way home, without driving on the street whatsoever.

Logan came back from a job interview and was dressed pretty nice. Usually he is wearing some form of teenage shirt with writing and at least one skull or devil printed on it. He might just get this job after all. Funny how many teenagers hate to read, but like to wear clothing that require reading.

Spent the rest of the evening, tending to my EBAY auctions, watching TV, and sleeping. Hopefully tomorrow will be warm enough to go fly fishing, bike riding, or something fun. There lurks a mean snow event in the Gulf of Alaska which is heading our way.

March 24th - 26th 2009

March 24th PAYDAY! (or so I thought). Since my account said I had been paid on "Pay Day", I went to buy those things we have been needing, but didn't have the money for. I also paid several bills I have been holding off on.

This week is the opposite of last week with highs in the low 30's and lows around 10 degrees, with snow daily from Monday thru Wednesday, which melts in the afternoon.

When I got home I checked out my bank statement and found out that "Wells Fargo" makes extra money by giving your deposit a "PENDING" status. This means that WF did get your money from your employer, your money is right there when you check your balance, but it takes a day or two for that money to perhaps: take a shower, get a nights rest, maybe go out for a couple drinks and see a show. After breakfast, your money tells the receptionist to hold all calls and requests because it is "PENDING" for the next day and a half, and that if anyone attempts to get money, to send the sorry bastard a $35 fee for just for asking. My money was on "pending" status for well of a full day before I could use it without being charged. Their "Pending" times are sure getting longer. I just assumed that since the money was in their bank, I should be able to use it. Bad idea for yours truly folks!

Turns out that I tryed to use MY money, which was loafing about in MY bank, and got charged several fees which amounted to $170!!! This my friends, is why Wells Fargo is doing well. They steal from average income and low income people. It's the seeing all that money posted into your account, but getting a hot check fee for trying to use it, that gets me. Why post that the money is in your account before you can use it in the first place?. Other banks I've used would actually put checks on hold, if they arrived one day before you were to get paid. WF does the opposite and worse by dragging out this "Pending" process longer and longer each pay day, and using your own money as BAIT in order to get fees. People warned me about this before I even got the account.

This makes Wells Fargo even worse than Walmart. Walmart makes mistakes which cost you money and aggravation. Wells Fargo, merely steals from the poor, under the guise of fine print on a contract, baits you with a high balance, then rips you off by claiming your money isn't quite ready ("pending") to be used, and fining you $35 each time you try to use your money that is sitting in their frickin' bank! ARRRGGHHHHH...

March 25th, my paycheck was still "Pending" but I had to do some laundry, so I broke out the change jar and found enough quarters to do two loads of mine and Logans laundry. As I mentioned before; I love doing laundry with my son. I will not buy a washer and dryer while he lives in my house. The weather was quite strange. When we left the house it was 35 degrees outside and snowing freely, but the snow would melt as soon as it hit the ground. We went to the laundromat, put our meager two loads in the washer, then drove to McDonalds after scraping up the 2 dollars for 2 double cheese burgers. The McDonalds employee had a look of pity on his face, while sadly watching me count out nickles and dimes to buy Logan and I dinner for the night (meanwhile several grand lays "pending" in my bank account), but we had a good time with it, and the hamburgers were a good after school snack. By then the snow was coming down in big wet snowflakes, that were so waterlogged they kind of looked like domestic turkey's being dropped out of a helicopter or something. We returned to the laundry place and hung out in the camper while watching the freaky snow gather its forces and within a few minutes the ground was covered white with the wet dying snow.

Thursday the 26th was a nice day. My paycheck was finally available. School was great, the sun was out in full force, and the therometer never went above freezing. Quite cold for being 4 days away from April. I made a curried pork chop casserole for dinner, which Freddy enjoyed as much as me. It's nice to have another family member to cook for. Since I got these thick boneless pork chops for $1.49 a pound, Freddy gets served as a dinner guest tonight.

Al's Curried Pork Chops:

Rub curry powder all over your pork chops. Then mix in some soy sauce, some brown sugar, and some tabasco sauce (the amounts are up to you). Marinate as long as you want, then brown the chops in a frying pan, but don't cook em' just yet. Chop up a large onion not too fine but not too chunky and scatter half of the onion across the bottom of the casserole pan. add some olive oil down there as well. Place the pork chops neatly on top of the onions (I used 4 pork chops) then pour the remaining marinade on. Pour a one pound can of Bushes baked beans across the top and down in the spaces between the chops, then top with the other half of chopped onion. Bake in oven at 350 degrees, for 30 mnutes to an hour.

After eating all that Freddy and I slept like babies for nearly the rest of the night.

March 18 - 23, 2009

Not much all at to right about, the weather was great for 4 days. Highs hitting 60 degrees. It's nice to sit in a chair in the back yard and read.

I'm reading "The Appeal", by my favorite Modern author, James Grisham. Reading a great book in a warm afternoon in Cache Valley, hearing the birds and traffic, with the radio playing Frank Sinatra, cold beer in hand, is one of the things I live for.

Been eating lots of steaks, since t-bones/ribeyes/new york strips, were $4.49 a pound. Fresh aspharagus was $1.49! I like to slowly grill a t-bone using only salt and pepper, while sitting outside late at night, then cut small pieces off it while the steak is cooking. This process involves a small charcoal fire, and lasts about an hour. The dog likes it when we eat steak this way, I send him a tough piece every once and a while for which he is grateful for. I love being outside with my small grill at night, when traffic dies, and most of the world is sleeping.

Logan went snowboarding on Friday (no school for students) after spending a night in his friend "Johnnies" cabin in the resort area of Bear Lake, which is near the ski area. Johnnys father is a bishop of the Mormon church, from what I can tell, this has little effect on Logan.

Saturday, Logan and I drove around to find a place to ride my new to me, dirtbike. Although, all the snow was gone from the valley, the snow was much deeper 1000 feet up into the mountains, where we went.
I got the chance to ride the bike a mile before hitting the real deep snow, which caused me to turn around and come back to the truck 10 minutes later. Damn this bike is FAST! The engine roars as it unleashes 50 horsepower to the back tire. I better respect this beast if I wish to live. It is faster than my mom's souped up Infiniti hotrod!

Sunday, nice weather is over. Cold rain, highs in the 30's. Never left the house, but nice to get lots of rest.

Today, there was an inch of snow on the ground. Students all day bitching about the snow which continued to fall slowly all day. This is not a snow event, just an unloved afterthought of a long long winter.
Two more weeks before Spring Break, then 6 weeks until the summer. I can hardly wait.

March 18th, 2009

Had a great day, casted 15 pieces of Jewelry after school, all turned out quite well. I also made great progress carving out a wax figurine of "Quetzalcoatl" (The Aztec Feathered Serpent). I'm going to use the carving for an end cap for the Celtic "Torc" I am making. The Ancient Celtic Chief tans, would wear a twisted, thick, rope made of bronze, silver, or even gold (depending on their wealth), with end caps depicting stylized figures, like falcons, lions, snakes, etc... Mine will have an Aztec Quetzal for one end cap, and the stylized rattle for the other one. I plan to cast the end caps out of silver with sapphires for the eyes. I should be finished in a couple weeks.

Got home at 4 PM, which is late, and fell asleep for TWO HOURS, which is a record after work nap. Fortunately one of the kids next door woke me up by knocking at my door. The kid kicked her ball in my back yard so I went and got it.

Logan and I took Freddy up to Providence canyon to scout out a place to camp this weekend. It was getting dark when we climbed the Hell Bitch to an altitude of 5400 ft, we were the only ones up there, it was like being in another world, with plenty of snow on the ground still.

Freddy was soooo excited, and since no one was around, I turned him loose and let him go exploring, which he ecstatically did. Freddy was running hither and thither, jumping in the icy stream, jumping into snow banks, and paying careful attention to mark every tree in sight. When he would get to far, all I had to do was whistle and he would come running back to me with a huge smile on his face and in his eyes. Logan who was wearing a t-shirt opted to stay in the cab since the air was 15 degrees colder than down in the valley from whence we came. I did have a beer (just one), while waiting on Freddy to get his fill of scenery, Logan had one also (just one). Damn that boy is growing up, he's 18.5 years old now, and enjoys a beer on occasion. I sure hope his thirst for beer never comes close to mine. Although, living up here in the great white north, and since I'm older, I don't care for drinking nearly as much as in the old days. Too much fun stuff to do up here I guess.

March 12th - 17th

After three days of lack of sleep, accompanied by copious amounts of coffee, I became a zombie. I not only couldn't get much sleep I had a massive headache that lasted 5 days. I also ran out of blood pressure medication.

I took Monday the 16th off, got some more blood pressure medication, went swimming, avoided all forms of caffeine, and caught up on some well needed sleep. Tuesday, was much much better and the headache started to go away. It sucks being in tune with the rising and setting of the sun. It does come in handy, because I can usually tell what time it is without using a watch.

Tuesday the 17th, I withdrew half of my gold and silver savings from my deposit box and bought a 1999 Honda XR600r, which is a very well made dirt bike, which I will use as a shuttle vehicle for the Hell Bitch (truck and camper), for my journies this summer. This bike won the Baja 1000 many times, and can climb straight up a wall. Now I need a platform hitch so I can attach the bike to Hell Bitch, when Freddy and I go camping. Hopefully Freddy will be good in the camper when I go riding. I can't leave him chained outside because our local mountain range is full of mountain lions, and Freddy could become their lunch!

March 11 2009

(utah state capitol)


Five Degrees this morning. I hated to put the dog out for the day. Funny, I have never seen Freddy in his dog house and I always worry about him, or walk home during my off hour to let him inside to warm up. But every since this past snow event, I noticed a well worn trail of dog tracks leading into his dog house. I guess Freddy knows where to go to get warm.

After writing yesterdays blah blog (I do make a point to keep things honest), I saw an interesting story on Yahoo internet news: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090311/ap_on_re_us/states_of_happiness

Guess which state ranked first in overall happiness? You guessed it! Utah is ranked number 1, with Hawaii and Wyoming second and third.
The deep south didn't fare too well, thank god I got out of that part of the country. Utah is a very happy place indeed.

March 10, 2009

Cold day for March, never got above 25 degrees. The ring that I was making came out bad, due to excess slag in the crucible. Walked home in the snow feeling defeated. I'll just have to make a better ring tomorrow.

Still not adjusted to the daylight savings time so I have been dragging ass all week.

Went to the gym to swim but all the lanes were full at 7:00 PM, usually the pool is empty at that time, I guess I'm not the only one off schedule.
The outdoor jacuzzi happened to be vacant, so I got to sooth my tired muscles from the previous days weight lifting session. Nothing like a hot jacuzzi when the air around you is 20 degrees. Plus the view of the mountains from the jacuzzi was incredible.

Freddy and I drove back home and I managed to heat up the "Koshari" that we ate the day before. As with many things; koshari is better on the second day.

Although I was dead tired, I couldn't get to sleep until 2 AM, I will be dead again tomorrow. It wasn't really a bad day, just not a very good day.

March 9, 2009

Nearly all the snow had melted by Sunday night. My driveway was finally clear of snow and ice, and the BBQ grill has been in use the past two nights. I woke up this morning and there was 8 inches of snow on the ground, by the time I got off work there was 12 to 15 inches. This is the most snow I've ever seen fall in 1/2 a day. The dog loves it even more than Logan and I! Freddy leaps up high in the air and hits the snow with a swan dive then pounces up and down like a ferret trying to catch prairie dogs or something. (check back later for more).


After 20 minutes of shoveling snow in a snowstorm, I had to drive to the utility dept. in order to pay the ole electric bill. I brought my dog Freddie with me (did I tell you how much he loves the snow?). After threading my way through the police station parking lot, in the screaming blizzard, w/o hitting a single police car or cop, I managed to pay my bill!

Then we barely managed to get out and nearly nailed a cop car this time while leaving the parking lot. Some people drive like shit in the snow. Freddy and I didn't want to go back home in this interesting weather so we decided to go to the gym, way up in North Logan. I entered the gym, scheduled a tan, then proceeded to dress for the weight room, since I left my swim skivveys in the snow-buried Volvo, which was inundated by the bloody snow plows during the night. I lifted and worked my legs out mainly, my upper body is strong enough due to all the swimming I do. Tanned for a full 20 minutes and now am looking like a respectable light skinned Mexican!

We drove on home, Freddy still being cool about getting to watch the truck cab for an hour.


Now it's time to make the Koshari, that I bought the ingrediants for a few days ago, before all those steaks made it into my fridge. Here is the recipe that I am making tonight:

by Shirley Elmokadem
Egyptian recipe for Koshari'
I love eating Koshari' when I stay in Egypt. It's made of lentils, macaroni, chick peas and lentils. It's a perfect vegetarian fast food. Try this simple recipe.
Ingredients 1 cup black lentils 1 cup white rice 1 cup of chick peas, (these can be bought in a tin or soak some overnight) 1 cup uncooked macaroni 2 onions 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 cloves garlic, crushed 2 cups tomato sauce Pinch of chilli powder or teaspoon of hot sauce. ( Add according to taste. I like my sauce hot!)
Simmer the lentils and chick peas, (if uncooked), on a low heat for about thirty minutes or until they are tender. Cook the rice and macaroni. Then mix all four together in a large bowl. Fry the onions, ( save some for the topping), and garlic gently in the olive oil. Add the tomato sauce to this mixture and heat until boiling. Then remove from heat. Put the lentil mixture in a dish and cover it with the sauce and onion. Mumtaz!


This is great stuff, many people leave out the chickpeas which I will probably do next time. I used Classico pasta sauce, and put a layer of it between the layers of rice, lentils, and pasta. I also used a lot of cayenne pepper and curry powder with the lentils. Logan ate a ton of this stuff. I'd make it more but it uses a lot of pots and pans, which I don't like to clean.

March 7th and 8th

Saturday, I drove logan to the highway that the ski resort is on. I dropped him off and he hitchhiked the 27 miles to the lifts. It only takes a guy with a snowboard about 3 minutes to capture a ride from fellow snowboarders. Nothing like my younger days hitchiking around Texas and England.

I ate a bagel with lox at Einsteins, and it was pretty good. The bagel and large cup of excellent coffee was about 7 bucks. I could get a cheaper cream cheese and fruit bagel for 3 dollars less. It was my first time at the bagel place, and it looks like a great place to hang out and read the paper for an hour or so. Lots of cool cheap coffeehouses to go to around here. In Texas I mainly hung out in bars, now I do the laundromat/coffeehouse thing. Life is good here.

I drove home and slepped the bagle off for a couple hours then decided to take Freddy with me and run some errands. Some dum ass (me) left the headlights on and the truck would not start. So I put the Volvo's new battery in and had to back up through my snow covered front yard at a good speed so the wheels wouldnt get stuck in the hard crusty snow, in order to avoid the big truck that was now blocking my driveway.

The shop I had the Volvo at a few months ago said that "all the car needed was a new battery and it would run good again". He was mistaken. Freddie and I drove north for a few miles and I stopped for gas and a well needed carwash. My engine died in the carwash, but I managed to get it restarted and after an hour I got it running good enough to crawl out of the gas station and try to make it all the way home. While coasting in neutral, while applying the gas in order to keep the car running, while modulating my speed with the hand-held emergency brake, I was able to cough and slink my way home.

So now I have the Volvo in the street and it really can't run, and a truck in my drive with a flat battery, and my battery charger and extension cord in my other truck, which sits in a field 7 miles away. I was down to the motorcycle for transportation. It got me through the not so warm day.

That night I drank a little tequila and lime, while cooking rib-eyes on the grill at 22 degrees, while watching the star filled sky. Logan caught a late movie, so I ate two 12 oz steaks, which reeked havoc on my too full stomach the entire night. One should only have so much protein I guess.

Sunday,

Logan and I walked to another coffee place (and one of the few places open downtown on Sundays. The singer/guitar player sounded like a bucket of cats in a clothes dryer so we ate outside in the balmy 35 degree weather. No wind as usual, and we never got cold.

Hung out in the house the rest of the day, doing nothing, a little cleaning maybe, till I spent 2 hours making grilled pork chops and my special baked beans.

Bean recipe: chop up an onion into long narrow strips. Spray oil in cooking pot, grill the onions slowly until brown. Add crushed red pepper and a tea spoon of curry powder. Add a can of Bushs origional recipe and pour 4 tablespoons of dijon mustard, and pour a bit of A1 Steak Sauce into the mix. Stir and simmer for an hour. We marinated the pork chops in italian dressing the night before and let it sit in a ziplock bag until ready to grill. Damn good dinner we all agree!

March 6th 2008

Left for the field trip at 7:45 AM headed toward Provo town! As the bus slowly chugged its way up "Sardine Canyon" pass, I noticed on my watch/altimeter that we went from 4200 ft elevation up to 6020 ft at the top of the pass. Cache Valley, were I live was still covered with snow, but after Sardine pass, we careemed down to the giant "Utah Valley" where the snow was pretty much gone. Utah valley from Brigham City (in the North), to Provo (to the south), is about 100 miles of nearly solid citys, towns, and suburbs. Utah Valley contains most of the populus of the entire state. The Great Salt Lake is a few miles to the left of the Northern Utah Valley. Seismologists say that if the next earthquake reaches a magnitude of 7 or more, much of the Great Salt Lake will spill over and flood this valley. The "Wasatch Fault" runs along the East side of the valley, and usually moves every couple thousand years or so. It is currently overdue by a few hundred years.

After 1 1/2 more hours of driving we finally reach the Springville Art Museum where the state-wide high school art competition is being held. My god some of these Utah students are talented and creative. Much of the work is as good or better than College level or even than many professional artists. I guess this is due to the fact that most high school Art students haven't been ruined by having too much Art History crammed down their throats.

The Jewelry display was abyssmal, with my top students pretty much dominating the rest of the jewelry entrys, and the only one that won an award. We have another competition next week, and I'll be able to show off more of my student's work!

Got back home at 3:00 P.M. and was too beat to go anywhere else. Hung around Logan and Freddy the rest of the evening, made some steaks and beans (I forgot to buy potatoes which to me go better with steak), then washed it down with some local "Provo Girl" beer!

Went to bed around 10:00 PM. I plan to wake up early so I can get things done.

March 5th 2009

Nothing too eventful happened on Thursday, March 5th. Finishing on my latest jewelry endeavor, which is a silver ring inlayed with a piece of blue abalone shell. Hope it turns out ok, I'll add a pic next week when completed.

School went great, had to stay after school in order to get ready for tomorrows field trip down to "Springville" which is just past the great town of "Provo" Utah. Provo is the home of Brigham Young University, named for the man who settled Utah in the 1840's. I watched a historical video of the History of Utah, and Young pretty much settled the entire state all by himself. At one point he faced down the entire army of the United States. Brigham had lots of courage, and lots of wives. Anyone willing to put up with more than one wife has my greatest respect.

Went shopping for ingredients to make the national dish of Egypt called "Koshari", which consists of layers of rice, lentles, chickpeas, macoroni, with layers of a spicy tomato sauce and topped with grilled onions. Egyptians eat this meal every day, where are Koshari restaurants and fast food stalls all over the country from what I hear. Hopefully, I will make the trip someday.

So I was shopping for some chickpeas, lentils, and onions, and walked out $120 poorer. Seems that T-bone steaks and rib-eyes were only $4.49 per pound and thick slices of pork loin was $1.99! Combine that with some other stuff I really didn't need, and a $5. grocery trip became quite expensive. Oh well, at least I have enough meat to last until June.

March 4th 2009

Drove the bike to work in a short sleeve shirt today. Man it's getting to be quite the sweat box around here. 45 degrees this morning and the afternoon should be around 55..... Then the shit will hit the fan! We are slated to have three back to back snowstorms, first one hitting tonight. Shouldn't get too cold though with afternoons in the mid 30's.

Went to the Wednesday morning pointless department meeting, it was nice and short. Then I loaded up 5 molds to bake in the old back up kiln and now have to manually adjust the temperature every hour till we reach casting temperature (1350 degrees). The smell of a baking jewelry mold with wax evaporating permeates my classroom as we speak. My broken brand new, state of the art kiln was much nicer. Just set it in the afternoon and it bakes all night on its own, while ramping up the temperature by itself. The ceramics teacher helped me diagnose the problem the good kiln was having, turns out that it is a two dollar on/off toggle switch, which I can replace easily. Next firing will be much nicer.

Gawd this day keeps getting better. The kids were all in positive moods and nearly all of them had jokes up their sleeves. One of my most talented kids couldn't help singing obnoxious songs, which he thought up as he sang them. This particular student seems to do well at everything he does, without being conceited about it. He can draw, write, sing, do math, is athletic as hell, and seems to love everyone. He is funny as anything and all the other students find him most entertaining. I'll just call him Leonardo De Vinci, as he is the most multi-talented kid I've had the good fortune to meet. People like Leonardo, help cut through the daily bullshit, and just seem to infect everyone to enjoy life. I just hope he never realizes his genious and becomes an asshole or something.

After work I went home and cleaned Freddy up to go on a small road trip to the gym. Swimming 500 yards isn't much, but it makes my day and night a happy one. After swimming, and tanning, I made macaroni and tuna for dinner. This is one of the simplest high protein meals one can possibly make. No recipe really, just make your mac and cheese and add tuna, black pepper, a bit of lemon pepper eliminates the tuna funk, and I put in a liberal dose of cayenne pepper, just to piss off Logan!

All the while my perfect dog lays on his kitchen rug and watches every move I make, until he gets to clean out the bowl. Freddy seems to understand English quite well, and is becoming my best friend. He has stopped the bad behavior and follows me closely everywhere I go. It is nice to have his adoration, and I return it by giving him the best life I can possibly offer.

Later we hung out in the camper. He loves to lay down by the heater. Tonight there was a gentle rain landing on the roof of the camper as I listened to the National Public Radio broadcast and had a couple glasses of cheap French wine. The radio stops every hour (battery saving device) and I just listened to the rain, watched the rain drops cutting through the fog on the windows while different colors of car lights entered and left each window at random, and my mind started drifting toward old poems I had written. Here's one:


My love crys out to you.

Across the broad expanse of Western skys it screams!
Borne in the ocean tide and stuck to your rubber soles.

It glistens in the moonlight before it scatters.
On a long and boring day it always returns.

But tonight my love is neverending,

it sings thru the wires and flashing lights
while it calls out to you across the waves
as it flows hither and thither and smashes into you
crashing out good fortune as it thunders out joy and freedom.

The gentle rains continue to fall.
And all is right with the world.

March 2nd and 3rd 2009

I missed a day, must be that either Spring is coming, or I have ran out of things to talk about.

Yesterday was a short day at school. The classes were only 30 minutes long and the school let out at noon. But teachers had to return from 4:30 to 7:00 in order to "Meet the Parents". As usual we had the grill going outside with refreshments, the ceramics teacher had parents making pottery with their kids. Doing this wasn't really possible for the Painting and Photo teachers. But we all had fun anyway. Wound up having the night from hell after I got home. Every time I went to sleep it seemed that something new would drag my tired arse out of bed. First there was the hunt for the cell phone charger (my alarm clock), then 30 minutes later, a smoke detector started beeping every 5 minutes to let me know the battery was old. Imagine, being nearly asleep for an hour while a loud BEEP would sound every 5 minutes. The worst thing about it was that the detector was positioned 10 feet above my head and I had to think about how I was going to reach the bastard! I tried ignoring it for a long time, before getting up and standing on a couch, trying not to fall, while unscrewing the damn thing.

After all that, I was wide awake again until 3 in the morning.

March 3rd: 6 AM!!! Wakey Wakey Time!!!! my alarm cruelly announces. I dragged my tired self out of bed, did the three "S's" and made some mean thick coffee to wash down my eggs and toast.

Leaving to school in a sweltering 40 degrees was odd. Spring apparently has arrived with a vengeance. School went ok (I took a nap during one of my off hours), then I headed home.

My dog was covered in mud again, and I hated to even allow him into the utility room. I napped for another hour and drove my little motorcycle down a busy main street in order to go to the gym. At 55 degrees in the afternoon, riding through traffic without a care in the world tasted like Freedom! My hands didn't even freeze.

Got back home, did some cleaning, hung out with the smelly muddy dog for a few hours, and decided to catch up on my writing. This is where we are right now as I type.

March 1st 2009

Sunday again. Blah. Logan and I did a months worth of laundry at the "Wash Tub" laundromat! Had lunch at Subway, then returned home to clean the house for an hour. Picked up a few pound of dog hair with the vacumn. Spent the rest of the night playing "Mobsters" on the internet with Logan. Thats it. A pretty good Sunday compared to most.