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Privacy Lock

One of the things that I think you have to be very careful about posting things online.

Once it is online, you can never take it back.  You have litte control over who sees it and once it is out there it it can run rampant.

This, combined with the fact that I’m somewhat of a private person, makes me very hesitant to put anything besides objective facts online.  Sure, I talk about trips, events, things in the news.  But, I am careful not to ever put anything on the internet that I am not ok with everyone (literally) in the world reading.  I leave out details, I water stuff down, I say things in very ambiguous terms.

Maybe I’m a little paranoid.  I know that there’s not that much in my life that I keep from people.  My life is really pretty boring.  But with Facebook being as big as it is, I’ve had to be more careful.  Before, it was just this blog (going strong since June 2004 - over 5 years), but now everyone’s on facebook.  Family, friends, work people.  It’s become pretty commonplace for bosses to look you up on Facebook or MySpace as part of the hiring practice to see what they will find.  So I make it a point to be extremely careful what I put online.

So, to follow my same trait, here’s an update.  I’ve started working on a new girl.  I’ve known her for awhile, and we have been friends for around 6 months.  We’ve started talking a lot more recently.  We have tentative plans to go out on a date.  I’ve decided that no matter what happens with this girl, when everything is said and done, I am going to be able to walk away with my head held high knowing that I gave it everything I had.  I can’t control the future, but I can control how I will be able to deal with how hard I tried.  I guess if she reads this (which is a possible, but very remote), she’ll know that this post is referring to her.  But I think I’ve been ambiguous enough about this that short of her reading this, no one besides me would know.

Nonstop Rain

It seems like almost every day for the last couple weeks it has rained.  It’s starting to get a little old.  It’s raining as I type this.

I mentioned in the last post that I was opening myself to younger girls again.  I haven’t exactly changed my mind, but I’m considering it.  I think I’m starting to see that I am quite a bit different than a 19 year old.

Memorial Day weekend was really fun.  We played softball.  I play softball about once every 3 years, so I was due.  After that we just ate and drank pretty much all night.  I also learned the next day that there are tons of cops in Mt. Carmel.  A disturbingly high amount of cops.

That Friday we had the Shriner’s parade with the band.  It was a TON of work and a lot of fun.  We tried some new stuff with the lights.  Some worked well, some didn’t.  After that I started feeling a little burnout.  I haven’t had to do much with the band that last couple weeks and that has seemed to help.  I’m thinking that I’d like to retire a lot of songs next year and start new.  I’m getting tired of a lot of them.  Hopefully some new songs will help.

Friday I saw Rascal Flatts.  They were really good.  Darius Rucker opened up for them and he was surprisingly good.  He even did his famous Hootie songs.  I counted at least 8 guitars for Joe Don.  Almost every song.

Slacking, I Know

So, I have to admit, I have been slacking lately.  I haven’t posted in like 3 weeks, and that post was like sentences.

Some somewhat updates.  Given that most of the girls I’m around are at Wild Country, I end up chasing girls over there.  That sounds good and well, but the problem is that most of the girls I know there and meet there tend to be a bit young.  A lot of 19 and 20 year olds.  There is this particular 19 year old I have been chasing.  I thought I was making some headway, but turns out she’s moving to Arkansas with a friend of hers of the same name.

I used to be opposed to dating girls that young.  But, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve been forced to reevaluate my pursuits.  Some people like to call that lowering my girl standards, but I don’t.  When I was younger, I thought I had all the time in the world.  As I’ve gotten older, I’ve had to look at what I consider a deal breaker.  Why couldn’t I date a 19 year old.  Maybe we don’t have a lot in common, but maybe we do.  She’s old enough to be old enough.  So that’s my comment on that.

Another update has to do with this guy I met at Wild Country the other night.  He started telling me just how much he does.  And then he made a remark to the extent of “You’re only given so much time in this life”.  I always knew that, but I also haven’t thought about it in awhile.  I started thinking more about my life and what I want to get done before my days are over.  It really helped reinvigorate me.  I think I owe that guy a lot.

Tomorrow, Darren, Jon, and I are heading out to Mt. Carmel for some Memorial Day fun with Jen, Aaron, and Carson Crummley.  There are some talks of softball and poker.  I have a feeling most of the time will be spent drinking beer.  I told Aaron to invite his sister (inside joke).  He said he would if I invited my Mom.

Wedding

Looking back on my timestamps, it appears I haven’t posted in awhile.  Looks like over a month.  I’ll try to catch up.

I went to Jason and Jackie’s wedding a few weeks ago.  It was a really good time.  We drank, a lot.  Friday night we drank at the La Quinta we were staying at.  Some guy at the 7-11 tried to sell us drugs.  He’s all — “You guys like pills?”.  That was definitely the quote of the weekend.  Saturday was the wedding itself.  6 hours of fully open bar.  Beer, mixed drinks, whatever you want.  Needless to say, most of us drank a whole lot.

Sunday I had to leave early to I could be back in time for Club.  I was really dragging that day.  Super hungover and tired, not a good combination.

TFD Unlimited had it’s next milestone last night.  TFD Ads. I was pretty stoked.

Personally, there have been a few ups and down.  Right now though, I’m think I’m in an up.  I have plans to go out with a new girl tomorrow night.  I’ve known her for awhile from Wild Country.  Things seem to finally line up with neither of us seeing anyone.

One thing I try to do in life is hope for the best and expect the worst.  I do that both personally and professionally.

Bachelor Party

This pas weekend I went to Chicago for Jason’s bachelor party.  Darren and I carpooled up on Friday.  We got to his apartment at around 9.  We went out to downtown St. Charles.  We found this nice pub with $2.50 Coronas and free popcorn.  We also learned about odd county ordinances in that county.

We crashed at his apartment that night.  The real bachelor party started on Saturday.  We were picked up around 11:30 by the best man.  After seeing Jason’s childhood house, I learned that I had no idea how into Monster Trucks he really is.

The first stop was IHOP for lunch.  Jason, his dad, his cousin, best man, Darren, and I were there.  After there we went to Chicago Indoor Racing.  It is basically glorified go karts.  I think they cater to high end clients.  You walk in, they don’t have any board or sign showing the prices or how anything works.  And to boot, they have these young hot girls that work there that are total b**ches.  So anyway, this place has pretty fast go karts.  You have this whole experience thing.  You have to put on this bright red jumpsuit, helmet, neck brace, this whole thing.  It is pretty fun.  We did three races total, and I was 2nd to Jason every time.  It’s pretty high tech: they have times for every lap, average times, big leader board thing.  Pretty cool.

After the first race we went to Fox and Hounds to have a few beers, play some pool and drink some beer.  I learned I’m not nearly as bad at darts as I thought I was.  After that we headed back to CIR for our 2nd and third race.

After that we headed to the Casino.  We stopped at a Subway and local grill place for dinner on the way.  I found out the Casino up there really sucks compared to the Queen.  The queen is bigger, nicer, and has lower minimums.  This place had $15 minimums for roulette.  That’s the kind of minimums the Bellagio has. I did hit my biggest payout ever on the first spin when we sat down.  I did end up losing it all again, but I expected as much at a casino.

We left the casino and went back to downtown St. Charles.  We all went back to the bar we had been to the night before.  Later we went to a different place and stayed there until close.  We went back to Jason’s mom’s house and crashed there.  Jason threw up, so I know he had a good time.

Darren and I left Sunday morning in a light snow.  Very uneventful drive but very enjoyable weekend.  It was nice to get away and I don’t see Jason very often at all.

Out with the old and in with the new

I guess I’m not seeing Lauren anymore.  It turns out I had thought that we were at least kind of seeing each other.  It seems as if she disagreed.  It’s fine.  It’s for the best.  I could tell that neither one of us was all that into the other.  Better to cut it off towards the beginning than later on.

I’m eyeing a new girl.  No names yet.  I know her from Wild Country, so it seems like a fitting choice.  At least we have one thing in common.  We’ll see what happens.

Those of you that know me know that I like backups.  I have backups for most anything - especially things that can go wrong.  As a result, I found it neccessary the other day to have a backup acoustic guitar.  Whenever I play guitar, it is normally in front of people.  If I break a string, it’s a problem.  I need something swappable.  I already had a backup electric, it was time for a backup acoustic.

This brings me up to 4. This justified a new mounting system on the wall.  It looks pretty sweet.  I have all 4 wall mounted on the same wall in a 2 by 2 pattern.  The important part is that it is expandable.  I could definitely fit 6 - maybe 8.  So it will last me for awhile.

Advice

I’m normally not one to give advice, but today I am.

I think I have come across the most useful thing ever-dry erase boards.  I had this idea a few weeks ago that if I got a dry erase board it might help me organize my ideas.  Boy was I right.  I got this small one at office depot.  It worked very well.  So, I ordered a big one online.  5′ x 3′.  It is so great for me.  It helps me  brainstorm and organize my ideas.  When I can just jot down ideas as I get them, it helps me generate new ideas.  Very cool.

Lots and Little Changes

It’s been a few weeks since my last post which was about President Obama.

Little has changed in the world (or at least the world as it pertains to me) since Obama’s term started.  The economy still sucks, people are getting laid off everyday, housing prices are still falling, companies are still lining up for bailouts, and it goes on.  I don’t think too many people actually expected him to be able to fix any of those things in a few weeks, but maybe hoped.

On a related note, in the area of big changes, some of Obama’s appointments seem to have trouble paying their taxes.  While that is not that big of a change, what was weird is when Obama was on national TV, and actually said the words “I screwed up”.  It really caught me off guard–in a good way.  Everyone knows that everyone makes mistakes.  It’s much easier to respect people that admit their mistakes and do their best to fix them.  This caught me so off guard, because in the words of Jon Stewart, “It’s been 8 years since the buck stopped anywhere near the White House, or even anywhere near Pennsylvania Ave.”  I kind of like the President taking blame for his own actions.

In the area of big change, I’ve kind of been seeing this girl.  I know people read this so I won’t give out her name yet, but we’ve kind of been dating.  Nothing serious yet.  With this weekend being Valentine’s day, it seemed like a good time to bring this up.

The 44th President - Barack Obama

Yesterday was a rather historic day.  Yesterday, Barack Obama became the 44th president.  I have several comments pertaining to this.

1)  He is referred to as being the first black or African American president.  I have to point out that he is half black and half white.  This means he is as black as he is white and as white as he is black.

2) I think most Americans–most good Americans anyway–want Obama to succeed.  Maybe you voted for him or maybe you didn’t.  Maybe you like his politics or maybe you don’t.  Regardless of these, he is now our president.  If you’re a good American, you want him to make the country–and world–better.

3) I felt a distinct sense of pride yesterday knowing that our president is no longer the laughing stock of much of the world.

4) I thought about my nephew, Alex.  He is 6.  When he grows up, he will never know a time when a black person hadn’t been president.  It will be totally normal for him.  That really strikes me.  The same way he will never remember a time before cell phones, DVRs for TV, HD TVs, or the internet.  It makes me feel good.

5) I watched the swearing in and the inauguration on TV.  My teacher friend, Lindsey, told me she wanted her kids at school to watch it on TV.  She thought it would be one of those things that you will look back when you’re older and think back where you were when it happened.  I figured I better watch it.  Like Kennedy’s assasination or Sept 11th.  I remember exactly where I was on Sept 11, 2001.  I have a feeling when I get older, I will tell my kids or grandkids about watching it on TV.

So, Barack Obama.  A lot of people have put a lot of hopes and expectations on your shoulders.  The country is is facing challenges on several fronts.  Will you fix it?  Can you fix it? Only time will tell.  But I know there are billions (yes, billions) or people hoping that you do.

It is 2009

I have been struggling to get myself to post lately, but better late than never.

It is now 2009.  All in all, the year is looking pretty good so far.  But first, I have a few reflections.

I have realized now more than ever I really need day commitments. With Christmas and New Years, I had a 5 day weekend and then a 4 day weekend.  Having days off without some actual event to do just messes me up.  I lose track of what day is what and what I’m doing.  Needless to say, I am glad to be back at work.

I also think I’m getting older.  New Year’s Eve, I didn’t go out.  I could have.  There were 2 parties I didn’t go to, I didn’t go to my parents’, and I didn’t go to Wild Country.  With those things at my fingers, I chose to stay in and watch movies.  I watched a Back to the Future marathon.  All 3 movies back to back.  It was great.  I really enjoyed it.

Now it is 2009, and it feels pretty much the same as 2008.