Being Awesome

Hey Oh!
Well, I haven't written in a while, my only excuse is... too busy being awesome.

"Word of Warcraft Buddies"

Yesterday my buddy Tyrone tied the knot. Me being kinda of mentor it was a proud day for me and his parents. Also, Rob and I got his brand new father-in-law with a good joke. As we were walking through the line at the reception you say hi, meet a few new people. And they always ask, "how do you know the groom or bride?" Well, my buddies brand new father-in-law looks at me and rob and posses that same question. We reply, "We are his World of Warcraft buddies." Oh it was good laughs.

The Ferris Theory

As I walk the hall of Big Bend CC a lot of folks ask me what I am studying; when I tell them I am actually a teacher they usually respond with, "Oh, really." Then they reply with, "What do they let you teach?" I usually tell them “they let me dabble in a few different subjects.” One of those happens to be Mass Communications. Most people usually have no idea what that means. Well in mass comms. we talk about, books, movies, TV, ETC. We talk about how your TV ended up with 400 channels, and we also talk a little theory. We talk about how all of this media effects our lives. So we talk about the "Magic Bullet Theory," we talk about the "Cumulative Effects Theory," and even media violence. They are solid but none are sweet of my own little theory. My theory is this; the media works like this, “What is so dangerous about a character like… (The Media) is he gives good kids bad ideas.” Therefore, I call it the "Ferris Bueller Theory."

Let me explain a little more better about this theory; you see the media doesn’t make you go out and throw a hot dog at Tiger Woods although, the guy who did, said the Movie “Drive” made him do it. The media has an effect on each consumer, and it starts at a young age too. I would argue that the media plants in our minds ideas both good and bad. I remember as a kid watching Rick Flair, Jake the Snake, and Jimmy Fly Snuka in many of battle in the ring, I thought to myself that looks fun. So, me and the neighbor kids would get together Saturday mornings for our own royal rumbles. We would all start on the trampoline and once you go thrown off you lost. But, don’t worry we had randomly placed couch cushions on the grass for safety. I am pretty sure we are the reason why they have those silly safety nets now.

That wasn’t the only time the media has planted a sweet idea in my brain. I remember while in college we would devise ways to meet girls. We had all sorts of sweet ideas. But after watching this scene in “The Matrix” we had come up with the best way. http://youtu.be/l4W-M3CGVoU (I couldn’t embed this video, it was disabled by request.) At :21 in the video Neo receives a package; at :33 he pulls a phone out of the package; and at :34 the phone rings. This is amazing! If only I could pull this off, how….

Well, one day while at the Panda Express me and a few friends were eating a little dinner; on the other side of place there were a few Phillies enjoying some orange chicken of their own. So I acted quickly and set the, “Matrix plan” in motion. I sneakily walked by one of the girls and dropped my phone in her purse. And then proceed to the exit. When outside, I yelled to my friend, “Call my phone.” They answered my phone, “Who is this, and whose phone do I have.” Success we were talking to girls! This story didn’t have a happy ending though, she was not as big of Keanu Reeves fan as I hoped.

Therefore, after today’s lesson, let’s make sure we only consume sweet media.

Hawaii Driving Brah

Well, kids today, I am gonna tell you a nice little story and I try and relate it to life. Here's the deal. To me it seems like people are always looking for the next great adventure, always going a million miles an hour, never content to sit still. I think some of the greatest experiences in life can come while "Chillin out, maxin, relaxing all cool." Fresh Prince. Let me elaborate on this thesis. (This fall, I have been an English tutor so I know all about thesis's now. I am way more better at this whole grammar thing now.)

A lot of folks ask me about my days of living on the Hawaiian islands. They ask about the weather, beaches, and what most people think of Hawaii (which is all good.). Today we are gonna chat (well I'll chat, you listen) about one of my favorite things to do while I lived in Hawaii. While I lived their I had this sweet 1989 full loaded Honda Accord, meaning the lights flipped up and I had power windows and locks. (I loved that car, it did get stolen while I was away for Christmas break. But that is a blog for another day.)

Every now again we would go downtown (Honolulu) to see the sights, eat some food, and walk around. It was always good people watching downtown. But, that wasn't even my favorite part of going downtown. On the way back, I always loved to drive Kamehameha Highway around the north shore.

Now as you can see from this pic I stole from the Google, you can easily see the road I am talking about. Well, anyways, after an adventure down town I would always like to drive the North Shore. Now one thing you have to keep in mind, they call it a highway, but it's nothing like a highway we are used to driving on in the mainland. This is a very narrow road, and max speed is 35 MPH. (56.3 KPH for my foreign readers, I know your out there. Target market is Earth.)

OK, back to Kam highway; at night while driving down this winndy road, the ocean on your left, so close you can hear the waves break and smell the salt water. On the right side are mountains, but it's pitch black so you can't see anything. Every now again they have a few lamp posts, and an occasional passing car, but for the most part you are in your own world. And that's the beauty of it all. Looking back on my time in Hawaii, those drives were some of my favorite memories. It was a chance to escape real life, forget about school, and the day to day to do list and just enjoy a peaceful drive.

It's important for each of us to take time out of our busy lives and find our own Kam highways. A place to escape our day to day lives and reflect on how's life going, self introspection, look at what makes us happy and do more of that, think of the things that don't make us happy and do less of that, and the like.

A Sad Day For Basketball Fans

Throughout each one of our lives, we all have those days that standout. Those days we can recall exactly what happened, where we were at and how we felt. 20 years ago today for me, is one of those days. I was only 11 years old, it was November 7th 1991. I remember that evening I was at home and everyone was talking about "the big news." I watch the news and heard that Magic Johnson, had HIV. I really don't know what HIV was. Friends were talking about how sad it was, one of their favorite sports stars was retiring from the game of basketball. I remember later that night playing basketball in my friends driveway and that is what we all talked about. We thought he'd pass away within a few years, because we didn't really know anything about it. Here is a clip from the news conference. This was not only huge in the sports world but in America culture.

Click Here to watch the video.

Picture Perfect (Kinda)

“I always thought good photos were like good jokes. If you have to explain it, it just isn't that good.” – Anonymous

For the last couple of years, I have enjoyed taking a few pictures. Back in school for part of my Communications degree, I even took a photo journalism class. Too bad I didn’t pa

y any attention in there. It wasn't until a few years ago that I have started to get into photography. This past year, I have tried to shoot our wakeboard adventures. I have noticed it’s enjoyable to see what action you can freeze in a frame. After a day on the water it’s been enjoyable to plug my little scan disk into my computer to see what I got. I have loaded just a few of my favorites that my buddies and I shot from the 2011 summer season.

Best Way to Waste Your Time

So the other day me and my buddy Andrew were in Big Bend library and homework is never done there, back in the day we'd play yahoo Internet pool waiting for class. So Andrew was about to do homework, and I was like, "wo wo, not too fast their Drew." I was like just check out this right here real fast. 15 minutes later he was hooked! Army of Darkness Defense had taken over; happens to the best of us.

Another sweet tidbit of knowledge it's free! It's sooo good you can't put a price tag on priceless.

Status Update: "I'm bored."

Throughout my years of living I have developed a few pet peeves, (how did pets get thrown in with peeves, PITA should really look into that.) Well, today I am going to elaborate on one of these peeves. Many of time with high hopes of reading something clever, interesting, or perhaps seeing a funny pic of a friend in my status newsfeed I am disappointed and blasted by, “I’m bored” status updates. I think to myself, you could have written anything, and you came up with that. I no longer read that as an adjective but a noun. (Wow, look at my showcase my English skills!) I wonder when people thought that they had to be entertained around the clock. Or, when it was societies, or me your Facebook friend to save you from this state of “boredom.”

I wonder if 1,000 years ago people carved posts like this into wooden tablets. Stuff like, “Had to go to blacksmith, and then re-thatch the house… now bored.” Or, “Sword battle FTW. Now at carriage bored, epistle me plz.” Yeah, I know it sounds ridiculous. Never in the world have people had more free time on their hands, or resources at their fingertips. And how do they waste it… sitting in front of a computer screen, hoping something fun and exciting will happen on their “wall.” One thing I noticed about these habitual bored posters is it doesn’t matter the time of year, where they live; they will sour your newsfeed with “bored” posts.

So bored posters, I say, Do Better! At least pick up a hobby.

"The quack attack is back, Jack!"

Wow, Bob, I am back!

Well today, I want to start with a story. Growing up one of my favorite movies was "The Mighty Ducks." I don't think I was alone, who didn't want Goldberg as their goalie and that super sweet old guy sharping their skates.

So I went out and got me a pair of some CMM hockey skates, and thought to myself, "I am gonna learn to do a hockey stop." I loved those skates, they were black and white, with fat laces. I took them out a few times, but honestly never mastered the classic "hockey stop." Rather then selling them, I kept those skates, I stored them on my shelf and i'd look at them and they'd remind me of my Jaromír Jágr (I have no idea who this Jagr is but, I remember hearing his name from Sportscenter and I was like that guy has a sweet name. Well done Jagr's parents.) skating days, but those days ended the day I went on my mission and my sister sold them at her garage sale for a few bucks.

I think my blog and those skates have some similarities, like... they're favorite color is blue and they both Tivo One Tree Hill. (I think Old School does too, but came you blame him.) LoL's, no, but you know this blog has kinda been sitting on the shelf and it's fun to look at and remember the times I wrote about The Resource Room or the Laser Light show blog. It's kind nice to look at my blog as a thing of the past, or the good ole days of my news letter.

I am gonna try to resurrect my blog. I do worry about what if I write lame post: Will the Dirty South kick me out of the Croquet club, and I will be subject to lawn darts by myself. I just don't want to put sub-pair blogs out there. So hopefully, I can get back into the blog game. I have been thinking about doing some video blogs. I just think I am missing a key demographic with this blog. HELLO, the people that can't read. Well I hope to talk to you soon.

The American Dream

The Master Kong AKA Confucius once said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” But this quote came before video games so it’s a little dated.

Growing up we are all asked the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I think many of us have said at one time, “I want to do very little and make a lot of money.” Most of us we think this is “The American Dream.” This vague phrase has been used to motivate people to learn spelling words, earn degrees, to give acclaim to working 40 hours a week, starting your own business and countless other circumstances. I believe our forefathers and even our fifth ones too would be rolling in their graves if they knew the types of dreams Americans have.
Well today I’m not going to tell you what it should mean to you, but rather share an experience from my own personal life in hopes to give you another perspective of “The American Dream.”

My story begins a few years ago while I was a college student at Brigham Young University. (Yeah, I also wonder how they ever let me into their school too.) This was a busy time in my life; I had school, studying, and a part-time job here and there. I woke up to an alarm went to classes, all morning took a short lunch break; studied mostly pretended to study and then around 4:00 in the afternoon I would walk home. On my way home I had to pass by a Little Caesars pizzeria. Many times as I passed by this establishment there would be a kid about my age standing in front holding a sign that said, “5 dollar hot n’ready pizza.” (Perhaps you have been lucky enough to see a Little Caesars sign holder.) But, there was something else that caught my eye about this sign holder. This guy was doing job that many of us would deem, “A dead-end Job.” I don’t think too many sign holders are making their way up the corporate ladder. But, this isn’t the point. As I walked by this guy on almost on a weekday basis, he always brought his A game to the table. He was out there in the heat, the cold, Tsunami didn’t matter he was there. He always had his headphones on and for most of the time dancing to whatever beats that were thumping in his head. Many of us drove or walked by and thought to ourselves, if only he had an education or, some type of technical degree then he wouldn’t have to suffer through this humiliating job. Many may argue that Confucius statement about choosing a job you’ll love and you’ll never work a day can’t apply to him. I ask why not? If you saw the smile on his face you’d think he was paying Caesar to hold his sign for him. Hasn’t he accomplished one of highest steps in Maslow Hierarchy of Needs? Self-esteem. Being comfortable enough in his own skin to dance by himself on a busy street corner; shoot, I can’t even go to the movies by myself; in fear of what if someone sees me, and I'm by myself!

Mr. Dancing sign holder, I’ll never know his name. But, he taught me a valuable lesson, about the American Dream. We live in a free nation where we can pursue jobs, careers, hobbies, develop talents that bring us joy. This freedom to pursuit of happiness is the “The American Dream.”

It’s hard to argue that this dude isn’t loving his job.