I Found a Sound in the House One Day...

The verdict

2006-10-06T09:58:00.000-04:00

Spent a night thinking about it. I decided that between going on talking about nothing or starting to share personal thoughts and experiences, I'd rather say nothing. This blog's hyperextended life is at an end.

Beginning of the end?

2006-10-06T01:16:00.000-04:00

As I think about it more and more, I seem to be attracted to the idea of retiring the blog. I don't post much, and when I do, it's normally things of relatively small impact. The usual blog fodder, bikes and cameras, are being pushed to the wayside. That's not all of it. Even the health of my car, which I loved so much, is deteriorating. Schoolwork is redundant and unexciting.

I suppose this the problem with a blog: I am capable of expressing myself freely, but I really can't (or perhaps shouldn't). So now that all these other things are being dropped, there's not much left for me to write about. I'd like to sooner quit writing than write about nothing.

What are the major things that I've learned and have forced me to grow in the last couple of years? Most of them are things I'm not at liberty to let the whole world know, if the whole world even cares. If you can identify with me, learn from me, or teach me, let's skip the blog and get to know each other.

Enigmatic Sayings of the Prodigious

2006-10-02T10:33:00.000-04:00

This is a list of a few of the sayings of Professor James Gothard of my business law class (MGMT 455).

Unfortunately, the list is by no means exhaustive and they lack context.

"I have my hands around Ben's neck, I'm bashing his head on the ground, blood is splattering up on my shirt, he's yelling at me to stop, everyone is screaming, I'm laughing..."

"...Involuntary intoxication. After one hundred years of practicing law, I still don't know what that means."

"There are winners and losers in life. And, well, you're a loser."

"That's a legal term, by the way."

"Satan doesn't get a free bite."

"If you don't understand a test question, don't raise your hand and ask me about it. If it looks stupid, it probably is. That's a legal term."

"Trust me, I'm a lawyer."

"I put both my elbows on my desk, leaned forward, and told my client, 'You're a loser.'"

"So what do we do? Oh, come on, this is America! We sue everyone."

"For those of you in the back, that says one hundred quadrillion dollars."

"I just love the feeling of squeezing Ben's neck in my hands... I want to go and finish the job."

Tool Box Talk

2006-09-19T19:07:00.000-04:00

In BCM 175 we had a toolbox talk. We were being introduced to personal protection equipment. Essentially, it was very boring. "This is a hardhat. These are gloves. These are earplugs...." Anyway, as he started talking about respirators, I couldn't help but think of one fellow laborer and what he said this past summer.

We were tearing out a room and throwing its contents out of a hole in the wall down into a dumptster. We were shoveling old plaster and grout, throwing lath, and various insulating materials. So basically, it was extremely dusty and we were naturally wearing dust masks.

As we paused to take a break, this fellow laborer pulled off his dust mask and took out a cigarette and lit it up. He walked toward the hole in the wall to the fresh air and took a drag on his cigarette. He looks back into the room with all the dust in the air. He looks at me and says, with cigarette in hand, "That's some nasty s&@+, you know it, Pat?"

All I could do was smile at the irony. He then took another drag on his cigarette.

I should be doing homework...

2006-09-13T09:49:00.000-04:00

I'd highly recommend to anyone who enjoys bicycling to give the Hoosier Hills bike tour a try. It's 100k long, so it has enough length that you can feel you've accomplished something, and there are enough hills to provide adequate challenge without being overly burdensome.

I'll grant that it's burdensome enough that I had to give myself a moment to find a second wind, but not so much that I had to walk. It was definitely enough that my quads started talking to me somewhere around the halfway point.

I hate to be one to toot my own horn, but kudos to Bright and myself for finishing faster than this group of sorority girls presumably from IU with their fancy jerseys and uber-expensive Scott and high-end Specialized bikes. Even though it probably wasn't evenly matched between Bright and I and these girls, I still think we can definitively draw from it that Purdue is better than IU.

My birthday brought in all sorts of strange foods. Black olives, peanut butter, and pickles. The not-so-strange foods included 36 cupcakes that a classmate brought in to my physics lecture for me. Plus, I received Blazing Saddles, which is pretty much awesome.

And as for now, the week is going fast and I'm surviving my first battery of exams. This is good for two reasons: if I survive the exam, it means it didn't kill me, and classes typically slow down after exams--so less work!

But more importantly than exams and homework, swing dancing appears to be going relatively smoothly. At least, it's going a lot more smoothly than I anticipated it would! At the very least, the music is awesome. Of course, it's usually jazz, but they occasionally throw in a contemporary song. The best ones is when they put on a rap song. Hilarious.

sulk!

2006-09-08T10:13:00.000-04:00

I should be running around like a chicken with its head cut off, but instead, I think I'll sulk for a bit.

Kudos to anyone who ever put up with four years of this college garbage. I think I'd sooner join the army... or even *gasp* the French Legion. Or something. Man.

Years ago...

2006-08-30T13:38:00.000-04:00

When I was first learning how to shoot trap, an older gentleman got right up behind me and guided my arms as I held a shotgun and started oscillating his hips, repeating, "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing." He was demonstrating the importance of following through when going for a clay pigeon.

I couldn't help but think about that a lot last night at the swing dance callout.

Ha!

2006-08-28T10:05:00.000-04:00

When I was staying with my brother in Chicago, my mom sent me a check to reimburse me for some tuition, and at the time, I had absolutely no cash on me and I needed to fix that. But the problem was I was in Chicago and nowhere near a PEFCU or IMCU, so I couldn't cash that check. But not to worry, I just handed it over to Paul and let him cash part of it, and deposit the rest in his savings account.

Now that I'm back in West Lafayette within walking distance of a PEFCU, Paul has paid me back the remainder of the check. And on the check he wrote to me, he wrote something very amusing.

Prepare to be amused

Failure happens

2006-08-21T15:05:00.000-04:00

On the way back from Wal-Mart today, I saw this unfortunate sight.

I can totally see myself doing something like that.

Botanic Garden

2006-08-21T14:54:00.000-04:00

I was really in my element here. The sandal-wearing hippie within was set free, and it had a camera.

Such a violent place.

Ornamental peppers.

Amy checks out some really really green pears.

Ethan finds something interactive to play with.

Why yes, I do have a pink flower on my blog.

Ethan gets carried a lot. Paul was complaining of a sore lower back long before this picture was taken.

Adrian gets some free flowers.

I'm not sure if this statue is appropriate, but it came out looking kinda neat.

A very cool looking clover.

A Show-and-tell with Pooh in the background.

A river? Or a mere brook?

buzz

A very brave heron.

Carillons.

The Japanese Garden which we skipped.

I think my sense of humor is waning.

Fermilab

2006-08-21T14:50:00.000-04:00

Then it was off to Fermilab, the largest, fastest, and most powerful particle acclerator in the world (or so I was led to believe). I got a shirt for five bucks. Awesome!

An experiment in constant acceleration.

The place was about to close as we came in, so we were shooed outside.

Adrian checks out a cross-section of the accelerator.

Working a surprisingly accurate sundial

Some random guy biking around the accelerator

A break

2006-08-21T14:49:00.001-04:00

Paul getting ready to bottle some home brewed brewskies.

Petting Zoo

2006-08-21T14:43:00.000-04:00

Myself, Paul, Amy, and my two nephews Adrian and Ethan went to a petting zoo up in Wisconsin. I took a few pictures, Paul took a few more. Here they are.

Adrian and some ducks.

Paul appears to be contemplating something that a duck left behind.

Me trying some milk I had just squeezed out of a cow's udder. It was very warm.

This chicken received my unconditional love because his feathers were on backwards. Poor thing.

Ethan, Adrian, and a very attractive hog.

Paul and a very large hog.

Gimme Three Steps

2006-08-21T14:36:00.000-04:00

I haven't really had steady internet connection lately, and even if I did, I was way too busy doing things other than computering to update anyway. So here are some pictures. These are from my home in Connersville. Recently, some frogs have made their home in the pond. The last count is there are nine frogs.

And this was one of the fruits of boredom. I was actually somewhat pleased with how it turned out, considering there was no finishing, glue, or clamps.

Big ol' potato chip

2006-08-11T00:17:00.001-04:00

My mountain bike's rear rim has turned into a big ol' potato chip.

2006-08-11T00:17:00.000-04:00

waffles

drama

2006-08-09T08:23:00.000-04:00

I've completely edited this post away to say that five minutes after writing it, I started packing away my books and I stumbled upon some old letters. I was going through and reading them, and one had a verse written in it. It was Jer. 29:11 and it was perhaps one of the most profound experiences I've had. Fitting for such a profound promise from God.

Woop!

2006-08-07T09:29:00.000-04:00

Irish barn dance at Southside tonight!

Cliché

2006-08-05T00:08:00.000-04:00

This has been said before many times so I don't know why I feel like I should say it, but it's really satisfying to design and build something.

I hope it fits in my car.

Physics is Over!

2006-08-02T10:25:00.000-04:00

We get it on most every night
When that old moon gets so big and bright
It's a supernatural delight
Everybody was dancing in the moonlight

Everybody here is outta sight
They don't bark and they don't bight
They keep things loose they keep things light
Everybody was dancing in the moonlight

Dancing in the moonlight
Everybody's feeling warm and right
It's such a fine and natural sight
Everybody's dancing in the moonlight

We like our fun and we never fight
You can't dance and stay uptight
It's a supernatural delight
Everybody was dancing in the moonlight

Dancing in the moonlight
Everybody's feeling warm and right
It's such a fine and natural sight
Everybody's dancing in the moonlight

Undersaturation!

2006-07-31T12:17:00.000-04:00

Please excuse the horrible, horrible picture. It's very bright outside and nearly noon when the picture was taken, hence the lack of color.

Anyway, what you're looking at here is two lofts worth of lumber and hardware (a princely sum of money, I found out) loaded into a Focus station wagon.

I tell you what, station wagons are seriously awesome. Not only can you load one down with two lofts worth of lumber, but the hatch accomodates bike racks better than any standard trunk. Plus, you can sit people in the back on top of the lumber (sorry again about those bumps in the road, Eleni). As if all that weren't enough to make station wagons awesome, there's more. This one is a stickshift!

I used to talk big about buying a huge truck when I'm some big time construction manager. I mean, yeah, it'd be cool to have some heavy duty truck jacked up off the ground with some turbodiesel motor or something with so much torque that the cab rocks when you burp the accelerator, but it just wouldn't have the charm of a station wagon.

Yes sir, I think a station wagon is the automocar for me. One with Environment plates.

Color me impressed

2006-07-29T11:03:00.000-04:00

So I was watching Woodwright's Shop as my clothes were drying. I just gotta say--wow. Not only is Roy Underhill skilled with woodworking, but the man knows his culture, art, and mythology.

I'd quote something he said as he was hollowing out a prototype plane, but he was talking too fast about things beyond my scope of understanding. All I know is that he somehow managed to get Saturn and La Jaconde (not Mona Lisa, but La Jaconde) in the same sentence.

PBS is cool.

Riding at night

2006-07-29T00:41:00.000-04:00

Riding at night adds this new element of unknown dangers. The coolest thing has to be the strobing headlight making objects appear to move around as I ride up to them.

Take for instance the cornstalks that blow into the middle of the road. Black tentacles dance and chase after your feet as you pedal furiously away from them. Adds a bit of an adrenaline spike to the same old bike ride.

no title

2006-07-26T16:09:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, I finally found out what the Monon Trail is all about. It's mostly about 32 miles with a couple of detours and getting to where the car is parked. It's actually pretty cool with all the trees and shade and generally pretty landscape. There's also something cool about crossing street after street that people you know live on. The only real problem is wrecking into small children (d'oh) and all the stop signs, which you eventually learn to ignore.

I came home fairly late Sunday night (extended fellowship, you might say). Nathan was back from South Carolina by the time I walked in the house. He asked if I was doing anything on Monday because he had the day off. I said I only had to do homework.

And so, just like that at 11 o'clock at night, we decided that we'd head to King's Island the next morning.

We noticed traffic was backed up. Wayyyyy up. And they had us parking in the Boomerang Bay area. We should have known something was up. Something was up indeed. That day was "bring a friend" day.. anyone with a season pass could bring a guest for free.

There were so many people at the park that day, they blew a main fuse so that only one ride still worked. We stood in line for a broken down ride for I don't know how long.. it was long enough that the heat was making me lightheaded. The employee we talked to said that they estimated there were three times the number of guests they normally have. She said they thought they had 50,000 guests. It was a busy, busy day.

When I go to Six Flags Great America, I anticipate much shorter lines and much more roller coasting.

Rainy day

2006-07-20T14:25:00.000-04:00

I hate the rain. I doubt the rain will hold off long enough to go for a ride, but it did let up enough to take a picture.

Once again, the price and components on the Giant just could not be beaten. It looks like I'm becoming a loyal Giant fan.

Anyway, here she is. Sixty miles old at the time of this picture and still nameless.

The noteworthy day's summary

2006-07-17T21:35:00.000-04:00

Today, after helping my dad bleed the clutch and brake lines on his Sunbeam, I went shopping.

While shopping, I made some weighty decisions largely due to the gargantuan amounts of time I have on my hands without a job, and also because my dad sort of encouraged it by not discouraging it.

When I was done shopping, I took the most expensive bike ride of my life.

I won't post any pictures since I've already been told that there are too many pictures of such things on here anyway.

The best part of the bike ride had to be riding past a little girl, probably about four years old, sitting on a bike of her own. I would probably have been a slightly intimidating sight to most girls her age, given the bald head and bandana with the sleeveless shirt. However, she didn't recoil in horror, no, but she just shouted this happiest little "Hi!" that I've heard in a good long while. Kids are so cool.

Welp...

2006-07-14T13:40:00.000-04:00

We were scheduled for about four months of demolition work, and it got done in a little over a month. So JR Kelly bought us all pizza for lunch, and then our boss thanked us for working for him and started handing out the checks. Layoffs work a lot like television. You don't know if you're going to make the cut or not, and he hands out the checks one by one as we're all sitting around.

Well, I didn't make the cut. Looks like I have some spare time on my hands.

I got to keep my helmet, though.

Dude

2006-07-13T18:38:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow, there's a layoff, but we don't know who.

In case I'm included, I decided to clean my helmet so I can return it all squeaky clean.

Then I realized...

Helmets are kinda freaky looking.

Seriously

2006-07-11T21:04:00.000-04:00

This video is really funny. Watch it.

Seriously.

The music is cool, too.

This is the link to the video.

That's a lot of dust!

2006-07-10T20:41:00.000-04:00

My bandana got really dusty at work today.

The X is from the straps inside my helmet.

My bandana got this dirty even though it was under my helmet all day.

That's a lot of dust!

Tool of the week: the sledge hammer. The verdict: makes life infinitely easier. Just use your dominant hand to get the hammer swinging, put your body into it, and let your hand slide down to let momentum do its trick. Instant obliteration. But you knew that already.

Pointless!

2006-07-09T08:34:00.000-04:00

So I was just putting on an undershirt that I hadn't worn since living in Cary. It smells like college. It smells like Paul years and years ago when he'd visit home from Purdue. It smells awesome.

Ah, that's funny to think about visiting Paul when he lived in a dorm, and we'd drive home at night, and it would boggle my mind and make me so sad that Paul was already home there at Purdue, and he'd be sleeping there that night, and we were just starting to head home. And now that I'm where Paul was, instead of looking forward like I did so many years ago, all I can do is look back.

I dunno if that makes sense or not. Doesn't really matter. This is a pretty selfish post, and I don't really care who else gets it or reads it.

Here's to a good Lord's Day!

the past few days at work...

2006-07-08T11:23:00.000-04:00

Friday during break at work, the laborer foreman (Ozzy Osbourne) started looking at me as I was checking out a Lull. He was just sitting there, looking at me for about ten seconds. Ten seconds is a long time to have your eyes on someone if you're not talking or anything. It got pretty uncomfortable. Then he finally broke the silence, "You sure are white."

Odd.

I learned another lesson about tools making life easier and harder on Thursday. The tool this time is a wheelbarrow. They seem to be a pretty open and shut case. They make life easier, right? I'm not entirely sure. The problem with wheelbarrows is they are capable of holding very heavy loads--loads which easily outweigh me, possibly even doubling my weight. "But wait," you say. "That's why there is the lever and wheel to make it easy to move around." To this I say, "Correct you are." So you can easily lift this large load thanks to leverage, but you still have to control a large load that wants to throw you around. If the load is not balanced, it can be especially tricky. There isn't much to keep the barrow from tilting to the left or right. And if it begins to tilt, you can pretty much forget it. It's gonna spill, or at least come very very close and you're going to strain yourself to keep it upright.

But then after about five consecutive trips, the wheelbarrow and me sorta clicked. There's a certain fine touch you have to attain to keep it under control at all times. It's sorta like operating a clutch or steering a canoe. It seems easy when you think about it, but you quickly learn that it takes a certain technique. Then it's not so bad.

The verdict: wheelbarrows must make life easier, otherwise they wouldn't still be around.

Then I learned a secret.

Over the course of the past couple of months, I learned a very valuable secret to being able to lift and destroy very heavy and very solid objects. It wasn't easy for me to uncover the secret, and it took some gleaning from what fellow laborers said to figure it out.

The secret isn't anything like "No pain, no gain," or "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." The secret is Wheaties. This cereal has come up about three different times, and it was brought up by three different people.

The first time Wheaties were brought up was at Benton Central. I was trying to push a wheelbarrow to the top of a mound of rubble, but lost balance and it spilled to the side. Jesse says, "What's the matter, didn't you eat your Wheaties this morning?"

The second time was at Sigma Chi. I was carrying a large piece of metal lath and plaster. It was large enough that it was heavy, and had enough sharp corners that it was hard to hold, so I was struggling. Someone, I didn't know his name at the time, says to me, "Did you forget your Wheaties?"

The third time, Jason was dragging a floor joist for me to carry out of a window. He lifts up one end for me to grab, smiles, and says, "I hope you ate your Wheaties this morning."

Despite how it seems to be pretty common knowledge that all you need is Wheaties to get the job done, a lot of guys still insist that cussing is the way to get the job done.

Dead Man's Chest and Dreams

2006-07-08T09:29:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the premiere of Dead Man's Chest, and at work, the dude who looks like Jack Sparrow was nowhere to be found.

Coincidence?

And I've reaffirmed that Finnish music gives me nightmares. It's not quite the traditional demon-sitting-on-your-head type nightmare, but more like finding myself in some unwelcome circumstances. But then the night goes on to give me more typical dreams, like taking pictures of an egg in creative perspectives that give the appearance of the egg being crushed in various clever ways. This somehow leads to a rhinocerous falling out of the sky from some cable harness, which then gets ridden into the American Southwest. Typical.

On a side note of dreams, I have definitively busted the myth that we dream in black and white. I very vividly remember seeing color.

I need to go take care of some things (like breakfast) and I'll be back to post more because I'd rather do that than Physics. Sorry, I'm not posting for anyone's benefit, I'm just procrastinating.

brb lol

Attack by the jungle woman

2006-07-06T20:08:00.000-04:00

I'll preface this post with the story of Josh Sturm and his narrow escape.

I don't have any stories nearly that exciting. Usually, the only thing that ever happens is the occasional giggly girl. These are no problem, though, because the situation can be taken care of before it even becomes a situation. All you have to do is avoid eye contact.

I did just meet an aggressive one, though. I was out at the mall getting my glasses fixed (saying oculus repairum didn't work) when this blonde jumps out from the crowd at me. She's all bright and smiley, and she says "Hey!" all cheerful-like. I check her hands to see if they're holding a clipboard. At the mall, you might get accosted by clipboard-holding types who conduct surveys. But she was empty handed. No survey. I immediately think to myself, "It's one of those fast types that Sturm blogged about. Better stay cool so as not to let her smell my fear."

I couldn't ignore her, so I did the only thing that made sense. I said, "Good evening" and kept on walking without breaking stride.

She must have been a noob with the whole pursuing thing, because she just stopped, gave me a slightly puzzled look, and laughed. I'm not sure why she laughed, or even if she was laughing at me or herself, but in any case....

CRISIS AVERTED

Out of 211 pictures...

2006-07-06T18:24:00.000-04:00

I'll only post these.

The water lilies in the pond promptly died after I took these pictures. Seriously. They closed right up and submerged to a watery death. I felt sorta bad about it.

The house reflected in the pond

One of the goldfish that sat still long enough to not get all blurred.

This is an awesome picture of Ethan.

Paul and Adrian on the Whitewater Valley train to Metamora, Indiana.

The passenger cars were built in the 1920s and weighed something like 92,000 lbs apiece. I believe it, too. The floors were made of concrete.

I forget the name of this river/creek.

Our destination: Metamora. There's the canal with the water mill that goes over to the corn mill.

Neither of my nephews could climb this branch. I was only slightly disappointed in them.

The gear room under the corn mill.

Gordon's Lock

Aqueduct.

Stand By Me, anyone?

A couple of draft horses pulling a boat along the canal. The folks guiding the horses had broken more of a sweat than the horses did.

Paul, Ethan, and I spending some time together at Connersville's park. Adrian wasn't there because he opted to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's house to watch Nickelodeon.

Ethan giving Paul and me a ride.

I dunno what kind of flower this is, but it's pretty even though it's terribly common.

This dragonfly kept pestering me, so I took his picture. Several times. Each time, I got a little closer. He let me get close enough I had to put the camera on macro.

Some man fishing in the tailwaters at Whitewater Memorial Park.

"home"

Here are the people of Richmond waiting for fireworks.

Water! Coke! Sprite!

The grand finale. There were about five half-sticks of dynamite or something that went off. You could feel the explosions in your gut. Maybe I've been sheltered all my life, but I've never seen or heard anything like it at a fireworks show.

Happy 4th!

2006-07-04T22:37:00.000-04:00

I just got back from "home" (i.e. Connersville). I'd add pictures tonight, but it's too late for me to be uploading them and everything...maybe I'll get them up on Thursday.

Anyway! Brief recap:

Friday: Watched Cast Away at the Mauser's. David Whitla was nowhere to be seen, so Ryan Cerbus was in charge. Only one point was brought up where I and probably several others could say, "Hey, that's flat out wrong." He handled the situation like a pro.

I drove the rest of the way to Connersville that night. I was really really tired. Ethan, my youngest nephew, was asleep under his cot. He must have been pretty tired, too.

Saturday: Paul and his boys and my parents and myself took a train ride to Metamora, Indiana. The train was limited to 15 mph, and Paul and I agreed that we could probably beat the train to its destination if we were on bicycles.

Metamora is a neat town if touristy tourist traps are your thing. There are some interesting sights, like a working grain mill and a canal lock.

Sunday: I drove over to Southside where I was reunited with brothers and sisters I hadn't seen in quite some time. Mrs. Keddie invited me over to dinner, and then I received about two more dinner invitations after that. It's rough being missed.

Ryan led Truth Group after the evening service. The question was what book has influenced us the most, and how. After all the fun and fellowship of that, Nick Ritenour invited me over to his apartment to crash on his couch. Many thanks go to Nick for that, and to Anna for making the blanket which kept me warm when I woke up freezing cold at 4 a.m.

Monday: I drove around Indianapolis a bit. I planned on taking pictures around Monument Circle, but it was so hazy that the colors were dull and I ditched the idea. When I was driving along, I hit a wormhole that took me to the eastern coast of Virginia. There was some yacht-type building, little narrow winding roads with lots of overgrowth, tiny lived-in houses, rebel flags, and little bodies of water. It was sorta creepy.

After stopping at Best Buy, I realized that my aunt was right about something she told me when I was younger. At the time, I blew it off as an impossibility. But it's quite possible, and becoming rather common. And annoying.

Then I went to Connersville where I sat around until I decided on something to do.. go check out Whitewater Park. I was swarmed by dragonflies, and got a few good pictures.

There were fireworks in Richmond that night, so we headed over to check them out. I'd say about 98% of the pictures I took did not turn out.

Tuesday: I did basically nothing until I headed back to West Lafayette. I got rid of some hair, cleaned out my car (finally), and changed the oil. There were only two quarts of oil left in my car. That means there is a fair amount of oil being burned. Is this the beginning of the end?

I'll leave on that suspenseful note because I'm really tired.

Sigma Chi

2006-06-27T21:35:00.000-04:00

On the crew we have two celebrities. They are Ozzie Osbourne and Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow (complete with eye makeup). It's a little unnerving.

The major downside of this new project is that few of the tools we're dealing with now weigh less than 60 lbs. The major upside is we're tearing apart a frat house, and Charley's there.

2006-06-27T21:34:00.000-04:00

The Back

2006-06-27T21:32:00.000-04:00

The Dumpster.

It has a ramp over it. The ramp is usually wet and muddy. You're expected to carry a wheelbarrow down it and dump the load into the dumpster. The problem is that wet inclines and 200+ lb loads tend to pull you into the abyss that is a dumpster full of jagged edges.

2006-06-27T21:31:00.000-04:00

Blurry house

2006-06-27T21:29:00.000-04:00

Sigma Chi signs

A Visit From Paul

2006-06-27T21:13:00.000-04:00

Paul and the boys stopped by after I got off work. After hanging out the engineering fountain until it started raining, we headed over to a Chinese restaurant and had dinner.

I can still taste the crab rangoon, Stephen. It was delicious.

Change of pace

2006-06-26T19:49:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow I get moved from working at Benton Central to Sigma Chi here in West Lafayette.

At long last, I get to tear apart a frat house.

I'm told that this is going to be much more than what's going on at Benton Central. Benton Central had five laborers, including me. The work we did at Benton Central is trivial compared to the work being done at Sigma Chi. Benton Central has some non-structural walls being torn out, closets being torn out, carpet torn up, and ceilings being taken out. Sigma Chi, on the other hand, has about 20 laborers. They are having everything taken out except the outside walls. If they were to do any more demolition to Sigma Chi, they would raze the building. It's a crazy huge project and I get to start on it tomorrow.

That's not even the last of it. I was somewhat disappointed to be moving to another project because I'd not see my regular co-workers. I would have especially missed Clint. Then what should I find out, but Clint is being moved to Sigma Chi with me!

And now I just found out Paul is swinging by West Lafayette tomorrow and I'm going to have dinner with him, and later this summer I'll spend about a week up with his family and do various awesome things like go to Six Flags. I am so pumped, not even my physics class will drag me down.

2006-06-26T19:47:00.000-04:00

Setting out on the canoe trip on Sugar Creek.

2006-06-26T19:46:00.000-04:00

Jon and Abram

2006-06-26T19:45:00.000-04:00

I was being yelled at when this picture was being taken.

2006-06-26T19:41:00.000-04:00

This turtle was much friendlier than the last one.

2006-06-26T19:40:00.000-04:00

Some cool graffiti under and overpass.

2006-06-26T19:38:00.001-04:00

For this shot, the canoe was turned backward. This helped in two ways: first, it put the covered bridge in view and second, it made me smile a lot because it feels very strange to paddle backwards.

2006-06-26T19:38:00.000-04:00

Stephen!

2006-06-26T19:37:00.001-04:00

Tucker seems to have found that rolling around on thorny branches does a good job of scratching the back.

2006-06-26T19:37:00.000-04:00

Peter and Paul on the waterwheel

If only...

2006-06-19T17:44:00.001-04:00

For just one day, I'd like to have long hair again.

Aural Idiosyncrasy

2006-06-19T16:19:00.000-04:00

In the movie Stand By Me, there is a scene in which young Gordie is being chased out of a junkyard by the guard dog, Chopper. As Gordie runs away, the junkyard owner shouts to Chopper, "Sic 'em, boy!" Then Gordie's adult voice interrupts the scene and the chase goes into slow motion with the camera focused on the scared and twisted face of Gordie and narrates: "Now he said, 'Sic 'em, boy,' but what I heard was, 'Chopper, sic [certain parts of the anatomy],'" and then the chase resumes at full speed.

It's an amusing little scene, and it's executed extremely well. But then we think about the scene rationally. How likely is it that a person shouts one thing, and we hear something totally different? It's just a play on the popular legend that Chopper was trained to sic certain parts of a person.

I always thought this until today. You see, today, my boss came up to me and said, "Hey Patrick, do you think you could drive out to the hospital?" but what I heard was, "Hey Patrick, how would you like thirty bucks to sit in a waiting room for a bit?"

I attribute the mishearings to high levels of adrenaline.

The trip home

2006-06-18T15:43:00.000-04:00

Friday night, I headed down to Indy to watch Cinderella Man at the Ray house.

Cinderella Man, aside from the excessive use of God's name in vain and some humanist undertones, it's a very well done movie that contrasts good strong relationships with weak and strained ones. I won't go too deep into what all was in the movie. If you didn't hear the discussion afterward, you'll just have to deal with it. But I will say it's a good movie, filled with laughter! tears! and characters that will leave you fightin' mad!

On Saturday, I was briefly able to reacquaint myself with the joys of welding. All that had to be done was to fix a bracket to the rear axle. I'm just kinda sad that the job was as small as it was. But I was slightly excited to see how far along the Sunbeam is coming.

The engine, painted an obnoxious Chevy orange, despite the fact that it's a Ford block. But oh well.. the turbocharger makes up for it a little.

Check out the front brakes. A definite upgrade from the stock ones. Notice how the discs just about fill up the rims, and how the caliper barely clears the inner edge of the rim. I predict that this car will stop 239423 times faster than a stock Sunbeam.

After that, my dad and I went over to Indy to get some breakfast and then killed some time looking at guns and other various sporting items. To my dismay, Popguns has been transformed from a warm and friendly hunter's lodge with good ol' new and used rifles and shotguns to a cop wannabe urban assault haven.

Then we headed out to my Aunt Ann and Uncle Jim's place where we ate supper at Lakeview, a restaurant I haven't been to since I was about five. I remember quite vividly going there when I was younger since the restaurant overlooks a large pond with ducks and geese that you can go out and feed leftovers to.

After that, we hung out on my aunt and uncle's back porch talking.

I tried very hard to digitally catch the elusive hummingbird.

Success!

On the way back, I thought I saw a severed goat head tied to a fence. I figured it must have been a leftover from the recent June 6, 2006 superstition. Turns out it wasn't a goat head after all, but a possum.

Though it's not quite as exciting as a severed goat head, it's still sorta unusual that he is draped over the fence. You can't tell from the picture, but inside the fence is a small graveyard. Creepy, eh?

A little further down McConaha Road is this old one lane bridge.

I guess I took a little too long to take the pictures, because my dad ventured out to check up on me. In retrospect, I probably did take too long. In fact, I took so much time, I didn't head back to Lafayette until about 11 that night. I was so tired, I had to stop two times to take a nap on the way back because I was drifting off into the land of nod. I made it home at about 3 a.m.

Longest. Trip. To. Lafayette. Ever.

Random pictures

2006-06-14T16:40:00.000-04:00

In case no one could figure it out, those pictures were posted randomly and just for the fun of it. There are no titles or anything because it was late and I didn't feel like messing with it.

Speaking of not feeling like doing things, I don't really want to go to my physics lecture tonight. I wonder if it will really do me any good, since I can't hear very well. My ears are still ringing from using the Hilti today... and I stopped using it two hours ago.

Whenever someone talks, there's a weird ringing reverb effect that goes on in my head. And all the rest of the time, there's a 10,000 Hz peal.

2006-06-13T22:04:00.004-04:00

2006-06-13T22:04:00.003-04:00

2006-06-13T22:04:00.002-04:00

2006-06-13T22:04:00.001-04:00

2006-06-13T22:04:00.000-04:00

You don't have to touch this water fountain. The botanists at Purdue have it all figured out.

2006-06-13T22:03:00.003-04:00

"HELLO CLEVELAND!!!!!!!!" says Stephen.

2006-06-13T22:03:00.002-04:00

TJ Fisher in Montmartre, Paris

2006-06-13T22:03:00.001-04:00

2006-06-13T22:03:00.000-04:00

2006-06-13T22:02:00.004-04:00

2006-06-13T22:02:00.003-04:00

2006-06-13T22:02:00.002-04:00

Triton Central High School

2006-06-13T22:02:00.001-04:00

"hi"

2006-06-13T22:02:00.000-04:00

2006-06-13T22:01:00.002-04:00

2006-06-13T22:01:00.001-04:00

2006-06-13T22:01:00.000-04:00

The Amazing Ross. Deadeye.

this was funny

2006-06-12T19:08:00.000-04:00

On Friday, I was somewhat wound up and happy to be getting off work. So on the way out, I might have spun my tires a little bit. The weekend passed and I didn't really think about it.

However, my boss apparently spent his weekend thinking about the rubber I left behind on that Friday.

This morning, he comes up to me and asks, "Hey Pat, Whaddaya got in that little thing?" I looked at him for a second and all I could do was laugh.

Clint asks, "What are you talking about?"

"Well, Pat here was barkin' his tires on the way out on Friday, his back end sliding out and everything! What did you do, stick some kinda V8 in there?"

I was still laughing. My boss's expression was that great. I guess that happens sometimes when people underestimate the "humble" little Topaz.

New toy

2006-06-10T23:20:00.000-04:00

With my trusty Canon SD400 passing into the realm of lost cameras, I decided it was time to move on and accept the fact that my camera is gone. So I went out to shop for a new one. I really really loved that SD400. It was small and easy to take quick pictures with, and it was powerful enough to take some really nice pictures at the same time. So it didn't take me much time to decide I'd stick with the Canon PowerShot SD series. I ended up getting today's equivalent of what the SD400 was a year ago when I got it.

Behold, the Canon SD630. I bought it at Best Buy after they price matched Circuit City and then took off an additional 10% of the difference, and threw in a $40 gift card. How awesome is that? Best Buy just about made me a loyal customer.

Then I went out tonight to break the new camera in a bit.

This fencing is erected thanks to me. Early in the mornings, I'd help my first boss with the preliminaries for project Hovde High Voltage. So I got to drive stakes that marked where the fence would go, and spray paint the ground and stuff. It felt like vandalism, but no one cared! How great was that. Plus, I got to go down into the basement of Hovde in all the restricted areas. I wish I had a camera then. It was cool. Anyway, I'm getting off topic.

I would have taken more pictures in Lafayette, but it started raining. Maybe I'll get it next week.

soda is bad

2006-06-09T16:00:00.000-04:00

So I got thirsty while working today. My jug of water was out in my car on the other side of the school, so I decided to buy a soda from a nearby vending machine. Huge mistake.

This is where I inform the world that soda is evil. Instead of quenching my thirst, it gave me this nasty stomach ache and I was sloshing around the rest of the day, highly unmotivated because I felt like I would puke fizzy sugar water at any moment.

Soda is bad. Don't drink it.

Water is your friend.

smoke and ants

2006-06-01T20:14:00.000-04:00

For a second, I thought I ran across an enigma today, but it was a false alarm. I decided it was simply a dichotomy. Anyway, it goes like this:

Working construction has been pretty good for my health. It allows me to get up in the morning and be active. I interact with new people. It's a good learning experience, as these men are very different from myself. It's probably also good for them, because they've said they expect me to become "like them" (i.e. use bad language, talk about crude things) but in time, they'll learn that they're wrong since God has a much stronger grip on my life than they do. I've also slimmed down a bit and gained some mass. Overall, it's a very good thing.

Even though it's good for me, it's killing me, and here's why: everyone smokes. I probably end up taking in a cigarette and a half in second-hand smoke since I'm out there with them when they take smoke breaks.

I decided this isn't really an enigma since it's not very mysterious. It just has two seemingly mutually-exclusive ideas.

I've been thinking a lot about ants lately. On the job, aside from being called Pat, I'm called a "laborer." That means I have no special skills or formal training. You just give me an order and a tool and I toil away. With a purpose like that and a name like "laborer," one really does get to feeling like an ant. That leads me to think about times that ants are used in scripture.

Being the shortest guy on the job usually compounds my feeling like an ant. On the phone today, without me mentioning anything about height, my dad just tells me, "Short people either get strong or they die." I thought it was kinda funny that he knew the issue of height was on my mind. It's probably on his mind a lot, too, since he's not very tall himself.

My dad further validated his statement by explaining that short guys don't have the mechanical advantages that taller guys have. When a short guy picks up or reaches for something, he has to extend himself and exert more energy. I hadn't really considered this, but it's probably true. Anyway, I'm getting off the topic of ants.

On top of being short making me think of ants, when I eat lunch under a tree, ants usually end up swarming me and my lunchbox. This usually makes me think about flicking them into a creek where fish devour them. It's not very scriptural, but it's amusing.

It's almost 9 o'clock and I need to go to bed. Goodnight folks.

Another boring post

2006-05-30T16:09:00.000-04:00

So I'm now back from Bloomington. Away from my biggest fan(s) and back in the routine of waking up at 5 in the morning to work and then being whisked away at 5 in the afternoon to school.

I started a new project at work. I'm at Benton Central Schools tearing it down for new lockers and flooring. You can only imagine how satisfying it is to go through a high school and rip out old banks of lockers and fill up a huge dumpster with them. If you haven't gone to a public school, there's no use in even trying to imagine it.

In other news, tragedy has befallen me. I cannot find my camera.

:(

But I'm about done eating, so I must be off to do more productive things.

blip

2006-05-23T20:21:00.000-04:00

I have found the exact opposite of the fence post driver.

Fence post drivers, as noted earlier, make life difficult no matter what. If you're dealing with a fence post driver, you're pretty much screwed.

On the other hand, leaf blowers make everything easier. I don't care what it is. There is a way that a leaf blower will make it easier.

That's all.

Mr. E. Nygma

2006-05-22T21:16:00.000-04:00

Enigmas are neat things. I'd make "Enigma of the Week" a regular feature of this blog if only I were clever enough to come up with one every week.

Anyway, I did find one today. I found an enigma in fence post drivers. Fence post drivers are big metal tubes with metal slabs welded to the top. You slide the post into the post driver, lift up the driver, and drop it. This drives the post into the ground. They make life a lot easier if your life consists of driving posts. However, they're very heavy and make life very difficult.

That's your enigma of the week. Or month. Or year.

...

I liked Calvin and Hobbes today. It's not an enigma, but it's really cool.

Employment Roller Coaster

2006-05-19T18:07:00.000-04:00

Originally, I was going to begin working with Charley on the Sigma Chi frat house either on 5/15 or 5/22.

In the time between school letting out and the project beginning, I planned on working at the car wash. However, the car wash told me they couldn't give me any work to do for such a short amount of time.

Then when budgeting difficulties arose with Sigma Chi, the project got delayed for an undetermined amount of time. This means no work for Patrick for a while.

But lo! It wasn't long after this that I got an email from Charley telling me that they found another project that I could start on 5/31 or 6/1. For me, this was very good news indeed. I'd be starting a bit later than originally planned, but hey, stuff comes up and doesn't always work the way we plan, right?

Then, on May 19, 2005, at approximately 3:40 pm, unbeknownst to me, the following (paraphrased) conversation takes place:

Some guy: I need a laboror now!
Charley: Hold on just one minute

Then my phone rings.

Charley: You're not in the middle of anything, are you?
Me: No.
Charley: Alright, do you think you can get to the laborer's union, like, now?

A position opened up for me to start working on Monday. So after a trip to the union, and after being stripped of a substantial wad of cash, and after peeing in a cup, I am officially ready to begin working.

No more sleeping in and lazily reading all day for me.

YES

Mighty Wabash

2006-05-19T15:26:00.000-04:00

If it keeps on rainin, levee's gonna break.

Return of the Rain

2006-05-16T20:50:00.000-04:00

Anyone in Indiana knows that it has been raining for the past week or so. Today was the first day it let up. I decided I would take advantage of the fair weather by going for a bike ride.

I was riding down a bike trail that goes along the Wabash River when I came upon a flooded section. Now, I had just passed a lady walking her dog and she was not soaked or anything, so I didn't imagine the water could be very deep. I quickly looked at the railing along the trail and determined that it couldn't be any more than six inches deep, so I decided to slowly ride through it.

Things were good for about twenty feet, then I started to notice that my shoes were dipping into the water as I pedaled. Then suddenly, FWOOSH. I was up to my knees in water and I decided I should get off the bike and carry it the rest of the way.

There must have been at least 30" of water. My initial guess of 6" was way off.

I guess I have to be kept humble sometimes.

After getting out of the water, I stopped to inspect my bike and make sure everything was in working order. I popped the wheels off to clean the dirt out of my brakes, and what should happen, but it starts to rain!

For your amusement, here are my pants.

Woop!

2006-05-16T15:48:00.000-04:00

It has stopped raining long enough to go outside and do something!

Time for me to close my mouth

2006-05-12T14:18:00.000-04:00

..and put forth pictures.

This is me studying for my econ exam I had the next morning.

In Connersville.

She stinks and she's oily but she's really loveable.. just watch out for the breath.

Connersville = hills

2006-05-10T23:32:00.000-04:00

It is kind of funny. In a car, you never notice stuff like how an entire geographic region is a continuous incline, punctuated with the occasional impossible hill. But on a bicycle, it's painfully obvious.

And we all know how the grayhairs would say something like, "I had to walk fifteen miles in the snow to school, and it was uphill both ways." Well, I used to think that the uphill-both-ways part was a gross exaggeration. But I've learned after biking in Connersville that, somehow, they can go uphill both ways.

I would have stopped to take pictures, I didn't want to have to get started moving again.

So the freshman year is over..

2006-05-08T20:31:00.000-04:00

Since everyone deserted Cair Paravel for a while, I decided I may as well go home for a bit.

First thing I did upon getting home was unload my car and take the bike for a victory lap around the Triton Central school district. Well... all of it except Lakeview and Boggstown. No one ever needed to visit those places. Then I went out for a little trip to the south side of Indianapolis to get some pants. It feels like it's been a really long time since I've been around there. It feels all different and stuff.

On Sunday Pastor Keddie preached on Christ's authority from Mark 11:27-12:12. And after that, Nathan and I headed out to Centerville to see our Aunt Ann and Uncle Jim.

We were wondering what ever became of Grandma's house on Fifth Street out in Richmond. Nathan and I asked Aunt Ann who was living there now, and we found out our cousin Jason bought it off the guy who won it at the auction and is living there now. So Nathan and I swung by there. It looks really different now, but at the same time, it's pretty much the same. It's kinda strange, but really neat to see a house go from an old person's house to a 20-something year old's house.

There was talk of the old farmhouse my grandparents used to own. That made me all nostalgic. They were having a virtual walkthrough of the house by talking about it, and I was surprised how much of it I actually remembered since I was about five years old when they sold the house and property. I most vividly remember the twisting stairs and how white it was. I vividly remember being creeped out every time I walked up them to the bedroom. And I remember the slave quarters beneath those stairs.. I think they were beneath the stairs, anyway.. Ah, I'd like to walk through that old house again.

We didn't get back from Richmond until something like 12:30. And naturally I woke up all bright and early at 6:30 that morning so I could bike down to the high school and see an old favorite teacher. Then I loaded my stuff into my dad's car and we headed down to Connersville where we planted some crown vetch and unloaded some concrete blocks.. then it was off to a local hardware store to get the boots.

Then I had a nap. And after my dad left, I climbed up on the roof to check out the view. I dunno if I'll do that again.. the roof is really really steep. At least I won't do it in sandals again.

And now here I am sitting in my new home that I never had. All I can really think of is how I don't have any homework, and it's a wonderful feeling.

Achilles got smart

2006-05-08T19:48:00.000-04:00

If only they had been around in 1200 BC...

I sadly realized that in order to work this summer, I'll have to kick off the faux-Birks.

Wabash at Night

2006-05-03T01:11:00.000-04:00

The secret to getting one decent picture is to take 1,000 and throw out 999 of them.

Playing with the camera

2006-05-01T20:52:00.000-04:00

Last week, I didn't play wallyball due to my janked ankle.

Instead, I edited my old English papers and took some pictures.

I was messing with the color settings on my camera. They really didn't turn out terribly great for the most part, but it was interesting.

Work

2006-05-01T20:39:00.000-04:00

It is true, I will probably work at the car wash a few weeks into the summer. But for the most part, it looks like the days of working at the car wash are over. I doubt I'll start working there again at the start of next semester.

Let us reflect in pictures upon the good ol' transportation maintenance building.

Someone forgot to pull the little yellow string that says "Remove before first use" from this washing machine. As a result, it vibrates and scuttles across the floor when it goes into the spin cycle. As this picture was taken, the radio was singing, "Do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight..."

This is the coolest truck ever. It's old, and it has a big metal structure affixed to the grill. The steering is loose and easy, but oddly, it doesn't have any play. And the brakes are really really strong. The first time I came to a sudden stop, I accidently made the tires skid and the back end swing out. I love this old truck, and I will miss driving it through Lafayette.

One down

2006-05-01T20:12:00.000-04:00

Two to go.

My Math 154 is officially OVER! It might be too soon for me to start celebrating just yet, but I feel like there's a distinct possibility I aced the final. Everything was like the practice final, except easier. And I had more than enough time left over at the end, so I was able to work through the entire test again and I even fixed a couple of stupid mistakes I made. Dumb stuff, like forgetting that cosine in the second quadrant is negative and another was a simple arithmetic error.

Also,

Think of me like Achilles or not, this particular wound has not done me in. On the contrary, it has finally scabbed over and stopped seeping. I was able to make it through the whole day without gauze. Oo-rah!

Finals week is great

2006-05-01T14:31:00.000-04:00

What other week of the school year would we hide in the turns of the bathroom to jump out at people?

ahhhhhhh

2006-05-01T13:32:00.000-04:00

So I was taking this totally awesome break by going through some old pictures and not thinking about finals when I stumbled upon this photo of Robert trying to pick a lock when he was down at my house.

AhhhhhhH!

MA 154

2006-04-30T00:04:00.000-04:00

Math isn't very cool. I spent most of the day today going over most of the stuff we did through the semester. I would have had a better day had it been math-free.

I don't want to take the math final.

I want the math final to be over.

When I think of math, my forehead gets kinda clammy and I get the urge to nervously crack my neck.

Other than that...

I shoud go to bed for worship in the morning.

School wraps up

2006-04-27T17:20:00.000-04:00

I have nothing left until finals. Apparently, my floormates are in similar situations. The free time has afforded some interesting sights.

Cair Paravel gets hitched

2006-04-25T11:12:00.000-04:00

29 rolls of toilet paper
15 aluminum cans
4 cans of shaving cream
2 mischevious girls
1 of their sisters
me

I must admit, none of it was my idea. And I really didn't contribute that much. But I did have a camera.

Foot!

2006-04-25T10:55:00.000-04:00

I hate foot injuries. Just thinking about them makes my stomach turn. So last night after Christie and Ling returned my bike, I was seeing if I could make the bike hop. I lost my footing and sorta injured myself in a couple of spots, but the one spot that really bugs me is my heel. I was wearing sandals, so my heel got scraped up pretty good.

Of course I took a picture. I won't put up a thumbnail of it since it might bug sensitive viewers (especially ones sensitive to foot injuries, such as myself). So here's the link to the pretty picture

Note: The pretty picture isn't very pretty.

Good news!

2006-04-24T15:04:00.000-04:00

I just got a very happy (though somewhat intimidating) email from Charley Moore informing me that I have a job for the summer! This is definitely a huge blessing from God!

(giggling maniacally)

Calvin and Hobbes is cool

2006-04-22T15:27:00.000-04:00

No explanation necessary.

Click to enlarge