Hey y'all, still here.

once again I write

To all I adore,

So yeah I am pretty bad at keeping my blog up to date. I have not had the urge to use the internet lately for some reason unknown to myself. I get on and check emails and there is still a "0" staring at me from my inbox. That is probably one of the cataylst to my non internet useage. Things are going well.

At work I am going back to the group I was originally hired for in January and April by the latest. I am project lead on a few things that need to be wrapped up prior to transferring. I am very excited to go to a new group but sad as well. I have made great friends in the group I am working and it will be sad not to see them everyday but I am excited about the new challenge. I am up for a promotion soon and will hopefully get that before Christmas.

The wedding planning is coming together kind of, we are still patching up gaps we forgot about. Today we selected the songs for the ceremony that our organist/painist will play. She is very talented and I look forward to hearing her on the day. We got our rings and are finalizing our catering. There is a bunch of other stuff but oh well.

My college roommate from UO is staying with us and is about to leave back to school. It has been nice having a friend around here for once. Shane will also be in the wedding. Yesturday the three of us took the Yellowstone tour. It was a long day of driving but we made it to a lot of spots. My personal favorite as normal is the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. We went up to Mammouth hot springs but they were dried out for the summer. That was a waste but we tried.

I am currently reading Philip Pullman's "Dark Materials". They are far better than I predicted them to be. I am trying to read some classics like "Walden" and others but keep getting sucked back into modern. Oh well.

Well maybe this is not as long as I wanted it to be but oh well, at least it is something.

Hugs and kisses,
~Rick

sorry for not posting in awhile, I know I am a jerk and don't deserve people like you to read about my ranting but if you could forgive me thanks!

To all those I adore,

Sorry it has been a long long time since I posted, a really long time. Well things have been busy around here so I have an excuse this time. My birthday went over well, of course I can only speak on behalf of the parts I remember (speaking of the night before). But I had a very good birthday probably the best one I have had in 8 years. I am not sure it could have been better. My parents came down and visited which was awesome. They are coming again in June to visit me and other family.

Hmmm oh yeah Kailey and I bought a house. We have not moved in yet. We closed last Friday and have been painting since. We are finishing it up today, for any of you out there who have not painted before let me tell you to double your expected budget because it is always more than you would predict. The house we bought is three bedrooms upstairs a giant living room and kitchen, it is an open floor plan. We painted the living room and kitchen a very light blue. Downstairs the only part of the basement that is finished is the family room and we painted that a blueish green color and it is very bright and cheerful down there. The house kind of gives you that beachy feel, impossible to explain but that is what we liked. Nice bright soothing colors. Eventually we will finish the master bedroom, the two other bedrooms, and the two baths. But for now we are content with what we have done. The majority of the painting has taken place over 2 days and today we will finish the rest except for the tiny tiny paint brush we will need for some touch up. But that can come later.

Lets see what else is new, oh yeah we are getting a dog on Thursday. We have both been wanting a dog for a very long time but felt it would be cruel to try and raise it in an apartment especially for the type of dog we wanted. It is kind of a funny story yesterday we went to PetCo just to look at some dogs that were up for adoption and we both fell for this 5 month old golden retriever/black lab mix. We both wanted to adopt because it really is saving an animal so we adopted him. We are moving this week into our house and will pick up the pup on Thursday. We are very excited about this.

I am ready to get out of this apartment, I think we have really outgrown this space and need more. Right now it feels very cluttered. So I am excited to start getting over there. At first we were just going to paint our basement and bedroom but after awhile of digging her heels in Kailey convinced me this is the time to paint and we might as well get it over with. So we are painting everything but the rooms and baths now. Anyways I know I am a jerk for not posting pictures of our new bungalow, however I would prefer to have all our crap in there first. So keep your panties on pictures are coming soon.

Well I am not sure when the heck we will have the Internet again in our new house. So I hope to see you soon. Oh yeah and I will probably be getting rid of my cell phone because I do not really use it much at all.

Love and kisses,
~Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"I drank what?"
~Socrates

3.14.1982

To all those I adore,

So yeah my birthday is coming up. Most of you won't even think to get me anything and that is fine I probably do not expect you to so no worries. So this blog concerns those that do want to get me something for my birthday. So here is my list.

- A new bike...I know fat chance but oh well thought I would try.
- A house.
- A new car.

So now here is the realistic list.

Books:
- Born Standing Up by Steve Martin, this guy is effing funny incase you did not know that already.
- The Aeneid by Virgil, translated by Robert Fagles, this detail I am particular about I really like this guy's mad translating skills and want this particular one.
- The Odyssey by Homer, once again translated by Robert Fagles, this I am particular about.
- Beowulf...not the movie book, but the poem.
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu the barnes and nobles classic one.
- Paradise Lost by John Milton.
- Some Walt Whitman, maybe like a complete poems book or something.
- Aseops Fables, translator doesn't matter too much.
- Troy: The Fall of Kings by David Gemmel (I am actually waiting for the paper back edition to come out but if you feel like blowing $25 on this book for me feel free to).

Movies:
- Spiderman 3
- The Jerk
- Robin Williams Live at the Met & Ane Evening with Robin Williams Stand-up

Music:
- Against Me! album Reinventing Axl Rose
- Against Me! album As the Eternal Cowboy
- Against Me! album Searching for a Formal Clarity

Pictures:
- Of you.
- Of me.
- Of us.
- Of us with some other people.
- Of you with some other people.
- Of me with some other people.

Well that is about all I can think of for now so yeah enjoy.

Love and kisses,
~Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"I celebrate myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you."
~Walt Whitman

1001 ways to get angry, plan a wedding

To all I adore,

First off this is not meant to make anyone mad, it is just me venting about my frustrations.

Things have been frustrating lately with wedding planning. I am at my ends. We do not have a place to have it yet and it is very frustrating for me. I like to have a plan and be ahead of schedule and be prepared. We want to have it back in Oregon but I am almost to the point of scratching that idea. The more and more I think about it the more and more I get stressed. It would be a thousand times easier to have it here. That way we can plan it here, and hopefully we will have a house by then which would make things even easier. We would not have to fork out a bill to stay in a hotel, even know we will probably end up staying with Kailey's parents. For all the last minute things we would be in a familiar area and would know where to go. We could go and find our own church and not have to rely on photographs and descriptions.

The only thing is if we have it here not all the people we want to have will come. It would make things a lot cheaper, much much cheaper, and less complicated for the future bride and groom but no we are too nice, and are going to give in and have it in Oregon where it makes things harder on us and easier on everyone else. I am realizing how much weddings are not about the bride and groom and how much it is about pleasing every guest. Don't get me wrong I want everyone to come and have a blast and see our union, I just am disappointed on how not understanding people are. I just wish you all would see where we are coming from. We are not made of money. It is frustrating because all the things I thought would be the easiest to come by seem like the most frustrating and complicated. I heard once that when planning a wedding you will always either be angry or make other people angry and I guess that is true. I just wish it was easier, it is hard to get everything we want to get done when we are hundreds of miles away and it is very frustrating.

My parents are going to help us out by searching for a church later this month as soon as I send them an email saying what I want in my church/reception hall. Having the church and reception hall will take a major load off of my mind. Even though I am a non traditionalist when it comes to religion, I would still like to have it in a church. I really dig the dim lighting and stain glass feel to Churches and find it to be an ideal place to get married. I prefer a non-denominational wedding, but Kailey is Lutheran so I do not mind having a Lutheran wedding. I was raised Mormon but am in no way affiliated with LDS (besides living in Idaho). I would not mind a Presbyterian wedding either because I went to youth group there.

For reception halls I wouldn't mind what my brother Jeff did and have it at a hotel where everyone booked their rooms. It makes things easier for people who want to get shitfaced, instead of having to sober up, or take a cab back to their hotel they can just take the elevator to their room and puke their guts out or pass out. The only thing is I would like the place to be able to serve booze, so people will have the opportunity to do this. I would love to have karaoke at the reception because that was a blast at Jeff's wedding. Except I would make it a requirement to either do a keg stand or sing a song, either way I am entertained, Mom I know you will choose the keg stand.

Love and kisses,
Ridicorous

To leave you with a quote:
"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."
~Unknown

Christmas

To all I adore,

I had a wonderful first Christmas away from the rents. However, I did miss the family a lot and was jealous when Caden put on his Batman outfit I bought for him. It was good though. People stuck to "the list" this year and I got a majority of the things on it, so kudos to you all who bought me stuff I loved it. Anyways I just realized I don't feel like writing much so here is another empty promise of more to come.

Love and kisses,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"All you need is love."
~The Beatles

what? a new post

To all those I adore,

Sorry I have been a craptastic blogger, but I just don't find much time to write anymore. Sorry. Anyways work is going well I am finished with training classes and have moved on to my qualifications. I have been doing real work for the past two months and have been taking some qualifications as well. So, what has occurred since my last entry, a lot.

Kailey and I took a trip to Salt Lake City. While there we toured the LDS stuff and it was pretty impressive. I said impressive not convincing ha ha. After touring the LDS part of downtown we went to an outdoor mall and walk around and ate lunch at Panda Express...mmmm orange chicken. After that we went to the planetarium and were going to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas in the IMAX in 3-D but it was not playing so we say something in the dome theatre instead. Kailey got a little sick but I enjoyed it. Later that night we had dinner that the Riddisou with my aunt Ladene, and let me tell you if you have not ate there you are missing out. After a fantastic meal and several hours of conversation with one of my favorite aunts Kailey and I headed back to our hotel. All in all it was a good get away and I am looking forward to the spring so we can go there more often.

Hmmm, what else, oh Thanksgiving. So Kailey had to work the day after Thanksgiving (she works at Wells Fargo now), so we really could not go back to Oregon because it would be a pain in the ass and not much fun. Instead we went to a co-worker/friends house and hand a giant feast with several other co-workers/friends. It was fun we (the boys) played Halo 3 all day after with occasional stuffing's of the guy worked in between game play.

The day after I did my Black Friday fiasco, it was not so bad until about 7 am when I got to Target. Luckily that was my last stop. Later that day and the rest of the weekend we decorated for Christmas. We have slowly been finishing putting up the rest of the decorations and it is looking nice. Recently we unpacked our last box and are completely moved in finally.

We are currently house shopping Kailey and I have decided apartment living is just not for us. We have outgrown our apartment and are entirely too tired of neighbors and their "hobbies", oh and for clarification hobbies means they deal drugs. The housing market here is ridiculous. A house that would cost a $300,000 in Oregon is only about $160,000 here. Everyone we have scoped out has about 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, living room, family room, giant yard, garage, etc etc. The other night we met with a realtor and toured a house, we didn't like it because it was too much work to fix up but it was beautiful, however she did email us about 150 houses that fit what we were looking for. So now we have some work to do to sort out which ones we are really interested in. I am meeting with a bank next Friday to talk about mortgages.

Well anyways not too much has happened but I thought I would keep you all posted. Oh, I forgot we will not be coming to Oregon for Christmas because or work conflicts. Anywho if anyone reads this I would appreciate a comment to see who all reads this still.

Love and kisses,
Ridicorous

To leave you with a quote:
"What is a movie star? A movie star is many things. The can be tall, short, thin, or skinny. They can be democrats...or skinny."
~Steve Martin

finally it has happened...about a month ago

To all I adore,

Sorry for not writing lately life has been insanely busy. On August 31 I asked Kailey to marry me. She said yes. I am working now no longer in training, at least for the next few weeks then I go back to training. That is my biggest news for now. Anyways I know I suck a lot for not writing but we do steal internet and do not have our own, also Kailey is an internet snob and I do not get on much. Ha ha just joking Kailey. But really I just have been really busy lately and find that I would rather spend time with Kailey for the few hours at night before I head off to bed.

This weekend we have big plans, well not plans. We are winging a weekend in SLC, we are going to see several attractions there and I will hopefully write more about that after this weekend. But anywho sorry I am a jerk and have not wrote in forever.

Love and kisses,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"Life is a like a box of chocalates, you never know what you're gonna get."
~Forest Gump

ice devouring sex tornado

To all those I adore,

This weekend I am heading back to The Dalles to visit home for the first time in forever. Kailey is of course coming and she will head home, or shall I say her parents new home in Scio. Her birthday is on the 5th. She will be staying home for a week or two to visit. She has not seen her parents since December so a reunion is over due. I unfortunately have to come back earlier to go back to work.

She opened some of her presents tonight already because I begged her to. I am a horrible gift giver, I always want her to open stuff early. I usually get my way too, so yeah I ruin my own surprises. I know that sounds retarded but you have to realize she can guess what I got her just by looking at me. It is ridiculous, I can't keep secrets well at all, so if she guesses what I got her I can't keep a straight face.

Anywho work is going good I am going to half days of real work next week. What is great about my job is that I am not allowed to talk about it which is wonderful because I hate talking shop with people who don't know what I am talking about. So it is good for everyone I suppose. I have met a lot of interesting people since starting and have made some friends. I am happy to be back in the west, for those that do not know it is too different worlds.

Love and kisses,
Ridicorous

To leave you with a quote:
"He is sex on ice. It's not enough that he must win, he wants to make love to the crowd."
~Blades of Glory

idaho hooray

To all those I adore,

Well finally we are out of North Carolina, thank goodness. I am very glad to be out and back here in Idaho. Words cannot explain how great it feels. The job is great I will be in training for quite some time. Just to let you all know I can't talk about the details of my job so please if I can't tell you do not get mad. One thing that is hard is waking up at 4:30 am everyday but I am getting used to it.

Last night Kailey and i went to the War Bonnet Rodeo, it was pretty fun. One guy got really messed up. He got his hand stuck and fell off the wrong side of the horse, he was dragged around the arena several times before the horse fell on him and he came loose, it was hard to watch especially when he came right next to us and you could see his face in agony. Other than that no one got real hurt. After the rodeo there was a fireworks show that was pretty good but we were right under where they were going off at and it rained scraps of fireworks down on us. Some were hot but it was sure pretty.

Let's see we have been here three weeks and are still not unpacked. Oh well right. Anyways today we get our washer and dryer as well as my new TV. I am psyched about all of these. Anywho we changed telephone numbers also if you don't already have my new number just call my parents house and you can get it. Anywho that is all for now.

Love and kisses,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"I am as sober as a goat."

The Dark Tower...whoa!

To those I adore,

Finally after reading 4592 pages of Stephen Kings Dark Tower epic I have finished. It took me nearly a year of reading with a few books in between to finish. The last book brought out the big guns and the tear jerkers. It was one of the saddest and happiest endings to a series I have ever read, I know that does not make much sense right now but it was. Here is my review of the series.

The first book was called The Gunslinger: The Dark Tower I. It was decent, the beginning was slow and there was a point where I almost put it down and gave up on the beginning but somewhere in the middle it picked up and caught my attention, the ending of the first piece of the Dark Tower epic was a little sad but no where near in comparison to what was to come.

The second installment was The Drawing of Three: The Dark Tower II. This was one of those books I find difficult to read sometimes because you think to yourself, "What can go wrong now?" and bam you turn the page and King has made hell for the gunslinger a little bit more extreme.

The third book was called The Waste Lands: The Dark Tower III. This book picked up directly where the last one ended still with the what else can go wrong mentality. It continued for a majority of the book then it slowed down yet again. But soon it picked right back up and got the fingers turning the pages, only to leave in a cliff hanger, that many fans where pissed about. Lucky for me I started reading the books after all had been published so I just went to the book store and picked up the next one.

The fourth book was called Wizard and Glass: The Dark Tower IV. This book picked up on the cliff hanger like there was not even a skipped beat. Soon however the majority of the book became a flashback to the gunslingers youth, and it turned out to be one of my favorite books in the series if not my favorite. King's story telling in this book was fantastic, it amazed me much like the Green Mile did the first time I read it.

The fifth book was called Wolves of the Calla: The Dark Tower V. This book King's writing grew from the last, it was a page turner from start to finish and although not much had to do with the journey to the Dark Tower it was a great aside. Like many journey's the gunslingers was not linear. Here the Wolves of the Calla takes you on one of the obstacles of his journey.

The sixth book was called the Song of Susannah: The Dark Tower VI. This book makes you itch. It is very frustrating, its like King ran into a writing wall and had this story in his head and just had to tell it in it's own book. Meanwhile the reader is itching to know the Dark Tower and wants to get back on the path towards it. I still liked it but it felt out of place almost, the books have a certain feel to them and this one was lacking that feeling a little bit. However, in the long run it was needed to complete the tale.

The seventh and final book was called The Dark Tower: The Dark Tower VII. This book was amazing. By now i f you are still reading you are 3500 pages into the series and your emotions (unless you have a cold dead heart) are entwined with the characters. This book is amazing, so much to explain. Just know you will smile, you will cheer in triumph, you will be sad, you will cry. The ending many people hated and booed King for, there is a happiness to it in one aspect but a terrible sadness in it as well. However, if it had had a fairy tale ending something would have felt out of place. So the way King ended it was the only way to end it, and for that I say bravo.

Anyways, anyone who is a sci-fi, western, or fantasy fan should read these. If you liked the Lord of the Rings type of journey this epic is just for you, but more exciting and more modern writing. Of curse the hero is a gunslinger not a midget...I mean halfling.

That is all for now folks. Please leave comments I want to know that you are reading this, thanks.

Love and kisses,
~Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."
~Stephen King, The Gunslinger's first line.

absolutley finally

To all those I adore,

Kailey and I will be moving to Idaho Falls shortly. I just got the thumbs up to start on July 16th. Finally.

Love and kisses,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"Yippie!"
~Me an hour ago

good news

To all those I adore,

The good news I was expecting, well I got it finally. That was a huge relief, thank goodness.

Love and kisses,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"I read in a book once the best way to avoid a shark attack is to stay out of the water."
~Kailey :)

love reign over me

To those I adore,

I feel it is necessary to apologize for my absence of updates, sorry. Ok so now that that is done with, let's get on to news, or lack of, to start I will tell about progress with my job situation. It sucks, I am in limbo, purgatory whatever you may want to call it. It's like they're fishing, I am the fish, a very willing fish ready to bite, yet they are fumbling with the worm. So yeah I am still waiting on stuff, I am sure most of you know what is going on for those that do not know I probably would tell you but there are a few out there I do not want to disclose this information with.

In other news Rob got married, Kailey and I went, I was in a tux and may I say I look mind blowingly handsome, just look it's true. As for everyone else I guess they looked spiffy. Hey it's my blog deal with my ego boost I need one now. It was a pretty insane little vacation since we arrived on a Thursday and then on Friday I had the longest physical in my life in Pittsburgh and was late for the rehearsal dinner. Then we went to the bachelor party, which never ever have it the night before the wedding, because you wake up a little tired. The wedding was smooth, the reception was fun beside having extremely sore feet. I had an awesome time up there, finally got to see my nephew (Caden/ham) and niece (Melina/chunk). Also look below, more pictures to come sometime.
So since then I have got kicked out of college resigned from my job and have been stuck in limbo living off my beautiful girlfriend Kailey (she was pretty at the wedding too, my blog again). So I am on the last book of the Dark Tower series, many of you know I have been reading the series almost non stop for a year now. It is an excellent series for any of you who like fantasy novels such as Lord of the Rings, or sci-fi novels, or western novels, or romance novels (speaking only about The Wizard and Glass for this one).

Hmm what else...well today I went to the cheap seats and saw Reign Over Me and thought it to be excellent. I think it is one of the best dramas made this year. Many of you know that I have odd taste in movies though. It was good very well done, Adam Sandler is superb in this non-comical role, the soundtrack to the movie is great as well. A lot of 80's hits are in there with some 70's here and there. The ending song is "Love Reign O'er Me" originally a song by The Who, but performed by Pearl Jam.

Well that is all for now sorry this is so short but I am sure if I get good news some time you will hear a much more joyous update but for now just keep on trucking.

Love and kisses,

Rickolicious

To leave you with a quote:

"Only love

Can make it rain

The way the beach

Is kissed by the sea

Only love

Can make it rain

Like the sweat of lovers

Layin' in the fields"

~ The Who

Grey's Anatomy

To all those I adore, and fan's of Grey's Anatomy,

Below is a summary of the last two episodes, as predicted by yours truly. First off let me state that Kailey and I have been fans of the show from the start, but this season the plot has drifted away from medical interns and how they are dealing with mostly patients and co workers. Now the serious has taken the 90210 approach of who is sleeping with who. So after enormous frustration with watching it the past few weeks and one effed up dream I had last night I have come to realize how the series should end...

Remember I dreamt this, so it is weird even for me. Just warning you, this is going to get weird.

Along time ago in a galaxy far far away...
Meridith somehow ends up in space and has become part of the imperial guard under Emperor Palpatine's ruling hand. Darth Vader has been trying to seduce her but failing because she holds her heart for Jedi/brain surgeon Derick Shepard. Anywho Meridith ends up in space so Derick and Meridith's beloved friends lead a rescue mission, i.e. they get am Imperial Cruiser and try to launch from Earth into space, however the bridge of the cruiser falls killing and injuring many crew members.
Some extras tend to the wounded while Derick and his crew launch and old fashion space shuttle into space to latch onto Meridith's ship, i.e. Palpatine's own Imperial Cruiser. They knock out some storm troopers and take their uniforms (see picture below).

Soon after arriving they are separated, Derick and George go off to find Meridith while the rest of the gang is hand out somewhere in my sub conscience. George reveals himself as a Dark Lord of the Sith and duals Derick to the death. As Derick runs his light saber into George's heart, George cries out, "Tell Meridith I never meant to hurt her and I love her, also tell Izzy I never meant to love her and I love her, oh and tell my wife...what's her face she is one cool chick and thanks for the support...ehhhh." Derick holds George's corpse as it vanishes into the nothingness Jedi's go to.

Derick rounds the corner to find...

That's right the Dark Lord Emperor Palpatine is Adison. This is no surprise to our hero Derick since he was married to her and she was such a...well you know...that she should be the cruelest ruler of the galaxy, and who is her half bionic evil apprentice, well no other than Alex, her part time lover and hospital intern.

An epic battle ensues in which Derick eliminates Adison by decapitation, Alex feeding off anger and the taste of revenge in his mouth takes the left hand of Derick and amputates it, cauterising the wound as his surgical light saber passes through his wrist, wounded and sobbing like a little baby Derick calls out for Yoda to help him. And Yoda shows...

Yoda also known as Bailey uses the force to take away Alex's weapon and subdues him with a Jedi mind melt. But not before pulling him off scene with a hilarious ear pull. Derick finds that Meridith had been posing as an Imperial Guard and had watched the entire thing. They run to each other kiss. They laugh and giggle for a few more episodes but eventually Meridith runs herself through with Derick's light saber. Derick not terribly upset by this moves on and gets his own spin off, Jedi Shepard, a New Hope.

Oh, and the rest of the cast took a wrong turn and were compressed in a giant trash compressor.

That is all, I know messed up dream but what are we to do, hope it made you giggle.

Love and kisses,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"May the force be with you."
~Duh

Finally a decision

To all those I adore,

The decision has been made. Bettis has finally called me back and I was offered a job. They offered me the salary I desired, in fact they offered more than I put on the application, so maybe I low-balled myself. Ha, ha, now it is very reasonable for a starting salary, and I am very happy to accept it. I would tell everyone what they offered me, but it is sometimes rude to talk about how much you make, you never know who you are going to offend, but if you are inclined and curious write or call me and I may tell you.

They will be sending the paper work to me and it should be here next week. I am very relieved to be heading back west. I love Idaho Falls and the area. The first summer I was there I do not think I liked it because I let someone else influence my opinion. However, this past summer with my head on straight I loved it. My favorite parts of the summer are when Kailey came and now we can both be there for a long time. This is a picture of where I will be working in the future, it was found online, no sorry not one of mine. I can't afford to hire a helicopter to fly me around no fly zones. Just try to tell me that isn't a view there, it is really beautiful in the mornings when you come in on the bus and the sun is rising and hits the mountains just right, gives you a little wake up call. For those that do not know this is located just down the highway from where I worked the past two summers so it is about the same bus ride give an extra 20 minutes.

When I first heard on Thursday I was excited but not as giddy as I thought I would be. This morning however I think it finally kicked in I woke up and was just happy. Happier than I have been this entire time being here. I wanted to get up, pack the bags and get the heck out of here. But it will still take another month or two before we can do that. I am uncertain when they want me to start, I think probably sometime Late May or in June would be right for me, that way I can go to Rob's wedding move, visit home, and have time to unpack and get settled.

Kailey is scared to tell her work because she knows the girls there will be mean to her. It is not like she planned to work there for the rest of her life so I do not see the big deal, those people need to get over themselves. But at the same time I can see it from Kailey's point of view that she does not want to let anyone down. Kailey is an awesome worker and to be honest they need her, mainly because she actually works instead of standing around doing nothing. Oh well Kailey will have school to look forward to. I think the day we get to Idaho Falls she needs to start working on residency. I want her to go back and finish her degree.

I spent a majority of yesterday day dreaming about the things I like the most there. I can't wait to take Kailey up to Yellowstone, or to go camping and hiking. Every week there is something to do in town. It is a nice place to live. Sure it may not be much but it feels more like home than North Carolina ever would. It will be nice to be within a days drive, literally a days drive from home, or an hour flight home. Family can come and see us, we can go see family. I think we will be much more happy there.

Let's see what else in other news I will be a part of Rob's wedding as a groom's man, how cool is that? Let's see what else...well not much that was mainly what I wanted to say. I am excited to be heading back to Idaho, we will be closer to family and we already have friends there. Anyways I thank all of you who supported me and cheered me on the past few weeks, it helped.

Love and kisses,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"Think of beauty still left around you and be happy."
~Anne Frank

it's on again

To those I adore,

It has been awhile since I have wrote, for that I am sorry. I have been well busy. Many of you know that over Spring Break I went to Idaho for a job interview, and many of you are anxious to hear how it went. So to recap for those who have not heard in person it went well enough. The one thing I was concerned about was when the guy interviewing me said I may be over qualified, i.e. I would get bored with the job. This is not the case, in fact this is a job I would really enjoy and am still really hoping for. I was supposed to hear back within a week, but I called last Thursday and they were suppose to get back to me this week. I am still hoping to get the job but who knows at this point. I know that last Friday they called some of my contacts I put on the application which is a good sign I suppose. I just hope all of them know how much I want this job.

Other than waiting and hoping not much has been going on besides school stuff. I came back from Idaho and caught Kailey's cold which still lingers with me. I ran a fever of 102.5 a week ago and Kailey said I was faking it. Jeff came the weekend I was really sick but we hung out played some vids and kicked backed and relaxed. We saw Casino Royal in the cheap seats it was pretty good. Earlier Jeff and I saw 300 which was an absolutely kick ass action movie.

Oh, I almost forgot I celebrated my quarter century birthday last week. It was good, Kailey got me a football which is what I wanted most. I also got from her a cool outdoor activities thingy which has like horseshoes, bad mitten, tennis, and a volleyball in it, with the net. She made me a delicious German chocolate cake. My friends John and Harmony got me an X-men puzzle and graphic novel. Surprisingly I have reinstated my comic book habit. I have started to actually collect. I am not a back issue freak, I just picked up a few books and have been collecting them for awhile now. Especially since the Dark Tower is now on it's second issue under Marvel. Kailey boarded and bagged all my comics so I no longer keep them in binders now I have a box full of them. It is pretty neat.

Well that is all for now. I will let you know how the job thing goes. I hope all of you are well.

Smooches,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"Always look on the bright side of life."
~Monte Python

it's over for now

To all those I adore,

Midterms are over for now. I feel relieved big time.

That is all.

Smooches,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"All science is either physics or stamp collecting."
~Ernest Rutherford

a bad week

To all those I adore,

This week is pretty bad so far, it is just one of those crappy weeks were everything seems to go wrong. Every time I open my mouth I just blurt out something that doesn't sound like me. So for the rest of the week I will keep to myself as much as possible in other words, trying not to shove my foot in my mouth (see picture below for diagram).

I have two exams this week I took the first of the two yesterday. It was not so bad, I am lucky to have got to school a little early though because otherwise I would not have reviewed an essential part of the course. My next exam is tomorrow night from 6 pm to 10 pm, I fear it like the reaper. It is for my adviser's class and he is somewhat not at all sane as far as length of problems are concerned.

Next week I leave for Idaho for an interview. I really am hoping to get the job. Some days I think to myself, "WOW I could have a master's degree" the other/majority of the days I dread going to class and taking even more exams. I am tired of going through the grading process, of doing a lot of homework and getting great grades on homeworks but not so great on exams and having a crappy grade to show for all the effort. I have never been one to agree with the basis of grading in college. I think it is a bunch of shit to speak bluntly.

College is in semesters or quarters, so either 16 weeks of courses, or 10 weeks at a time. Typically a undergraduate student takes 4 to 5 classes per term. Taking 4 to 5 classes is not so bad, the workload (homework, projects, etc) can be intense at times. However, the way classes are graded typically comes down to only 4-7 hours of that entire 16 or 10 weeks. A typical 4 credit class requires 8-12 hours of homework/project time a week, so that accumulates to an average of 10 hours a week for 10 weeks is 100 hours. Then add in the time in class which is 4 hours a week and that is 40 more hours. Totallying 140 hours of which only 7 determine over half of your grade, time well spent? I will let you decide.

In a standard undergraduate class home works are worth about 10-15% of your grade, and many classes will have projects worth about 5% and if you are damn lucky 10%. So that leaves anywhere from 75% up to 85% of your class grade dependent on your exam grades. Usually if 85% of the grade is exams you will have two midterms worth 25% and one final worth 35%. Typically you can have about 1.5 hours per midterm and about 3 hours for a final. So 85% of your grade for one class is determined in 6 hours out of a 10 week course. Take into account now that most of the 4 or 5 classes you take all have exams in the same week. That is a lot of stress to take on in 3 weeks out of the 10 week course. Then if you have have 4 or 5 classes it is likely you will have more than 1 exam on the same day. Thus boosting your stress higher.

Now I will attempt to quantify stress of a college student. First, we need a control case to compare with. So let us consider a normal person of age 28 that has a wife and child with a middle income for both parents. Both parents have already gone through college and have decent white collared jobs. For each stress I will try to be liberal. High stress is 10 while a low stress is 1. I am considering a typical day for a healthy male here, so having a wife adds 6 points (newlyweds still). Working causes 5 points (remember he is not a drone to work environment yet). The child is another 4 points. Bills/taxes 2 points (believing they live moderately). Chores at home 1 point. Health worries 1 point. Car issues 1 point. Living environment 1 point. So in total a healthy male with a child and wife with a higher education and decent jobs typical stress level for one day is 21.

Now take a single male college student during exams week. Let's say he has a girlfriend that adds 6 points, in my experience guys with girlfriends are more stressed than married ones. Even ones who marry their long time girlfriend seem less stressed afterwards. No child so that is a 0 pointer. Working part time adds 5 points because it is taking away from time you could be studying. Bills/taxes 4 points, during exams week one starts to worry about everything in order to avoid worrying about the exam, somewhat like substituting lower worries for the higher worry. Chores at home -1 points, no one does chores during exams week and if you do it is a stress relief to not be studying. Living environment 5 points, let's face it apartment living/dorm living is not a nice quiet place to study. Health stress 3, exams week once again you substitute a lower worry for the higher. Car issues 0 points, if you have a car you are ahead in the game. Now the exam stress gets a big ole 9, while it may be extremely stressful it is not as high as a stress as you can get. So in total on exams week a college student has a stress level of 31. So next time you are talking to a college student saying oh these are the best years of your life. Just remember not mention that during exams week.

In other news I figure out how to post links on this thingy. The Dark Tower series I am reading is based off of Robert Browning's poem Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came. You can read it by clicking on the link there. It is pretty dark, a lot of the events that occur in the poem are similar to events in the series. Browning said that the poem came to him in a dream from God, and only he and God knew what it meant and now only God knows what it means. Try that on for crazy. Anyways to see my obsession you can read this poem if you like. It is pretty good but Browning sometimes gets lost in the Shakespeare. The poem was also inspired by a scene in King Lear, by a song sung by Edgar while he pretend to be a madman. Browning tries to adapt of lot of the lingo but somewhat fails. Anyways it is there for you to judge.

Well this is getting pretty long so I will let you go for now. Anywho if you have read this far you should spend a few more seconds and LEAVE A COMMENT on this blog it would be much appreciated.

Love and kisses,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"I will show you fear in a handful of dust."
~T.S. Elliot

p.s. I no longer have faith in the academy awards.

p.s.s. If anyone wants to watch Stephen Colbert rip G.W. for 24 minutes straight here is the link.

nothing better to do

To those I adore,

So many of you are probably scratching your heads about my last blog wondering what the hell I was talking about. Well I was just bored and thought I would tell you all why it is impossible to time travel. Also, the entire theory of time and physics is a bunch of B.S. once you are far enough away from Earth (i.e. relativity) but proving time (how we know it) does not exist is an easy enough task, that I will leave to the reader.

As for an update I will try to be brief. Jeff is here in Raleigh for the next three weeks doing some training for his new job, I am really proud that he finally got a new job. The other company he worked for was just crap. Rob has started blogging as well his site is at the following address http://rob-wingfield.blogspot.com/. There are some pictures of his new baby girl Milina up on it so go check it out.

As for me it is the same shit different day. I am looking forward to the 6th with my fingers crossed. I would really like to start working and have Kailey finish her degree. I am ready to move on with life, get married, travel around a little, and eventually have kids. I am hoping that this job in Idaho will allow for that. One thing that is good is that it is for Naval Reactors and hopefully sometime in the future I could transfer to Washington up at the shipyards there. However, I am somewhat nervous because I got caught up in a weird information exchange. When the fellow called me for the first phone interview he was from the radiation protection part of NRF, that job was not really what my background is focused on so he said he would have someone from their fuel development section call me. The next phone call I received was about flying me out and when I could come out from a personnel manager. So what job am I interviewing for, I am not sure, but I will cram on both subjects before I head out. I am confident with my radiation protection skills but fuels is a vast volume of information.

In other news I just finished reading Stephen King's fourth instalment of the Dark Tower series. His self proclaimed masterpiece his magnum opus. It is a relationship I have delved my mind into and somehow cannot get out of until I finish reading all of them. They just came out with a comic book version of this series two weeks ago and of course I bought the first issue. They are in talks with J.J. Abrams the director of the hit T.V. series "Lost" to do either a series of movies, or mini-series based on the Dark Tower series. That I would be super pumped for, but at the same time dread it because the books are so long and so detailed I do not think they would do it justice unless you ended up with "Lord of the Rings"-ish type of movies where you can run the Boston Marathon in a shorter time than watching all three movies. For Dad, J.J. Abrams is producing the next Star Trek movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0796366/). Anywho I am a huge fan of this series and the fourth installment was one of the better ones so far. I only have three more books to go now and started the fifth last night.

Well that is all for now I think.

Love and kisses,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"No price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself."
~Friedrich Nietzsche