Matthew and the Endless Possibilities

El Salvador is Where My Heart Lies

2010-06-05T15:50:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone!

Although I wish I could be writing about myself more often and how my skills at surfing are growing exponentially, I have been putting time into something completely different!

Go to this blog and read about the next seven months of my life and how you can be apart of it (everyone who reads this blog is already apart of my life, it's just a good line).

http://mattandjordan.tumblr.com

iEncantado de conocerlo!

Mr. California

2010-03-29T22:21:00.000-07:00

I went to the NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament in San Jose a week ago and had the privilege of driving up with a good friend of my brother, Jeremiah. On the way back from San Jose Jeremiah didn't accompany me but thankfully a Reese's Ultimate Peanut Butter Candy Bar did. I parked the car to get some dinner at the end of the drive and discovered melted chocolate on the steering wheel. I stepped out of the car, looked down at my crotch, and found what seemed to be an entire block of chocolate melted onto my jeans. Somehow while driving from San Jose to Goleta I had managed to eat a chocolate candy bar with a majority of it not actually going into my mouth but instead falling onto my lap. This incident still confuses me to this day. Was I convulsing during every bite of this candy bar without knowing it? Did I just forget I was eating a candy bar and had put it in my lap unknowingly? Do I even remember eating a Reese's Ultimate Peanut Butter candy bar in the first place? I went into Rudy's to get dinner that night looking like a kid who's mom had bought him a chocolate ice cream cone at the fair and simply dropped it into his lap.

In other news, I am now a Spring Sing Sweepstakes champion. I haven't won at very many things in my life, if anything at all. I'm trying to think of something I have actually been crowned a winner at, and I can't. My varsity baseball team sucked and I couldn't even contribute to their suckiness because I sucked even more. My JV football team sucked and when I actually got an interception I was too nervous to run with the ball so I fell down. I've never won, I've only seen people win. Until Saturday. Some of my friends and I joined up with Armington for Spring Sing this year for our final shot at the title of titles. Everyone in my family that is a man that went to Westmont has a Spring Sing trophy under their belt. I finally have mine and I now know what a true victory really feels like. When the announcer called our dorm name for the sweepstakes, blind joy and innate rage bursted out of me. I ripped my shirt off immediatly, sprinted to the stage trampling anything in my path, and ruthlessly yelled at the top of my lungs while running around in circles. The last four years of heartache and energy finally paid off at the sweetest of times. Winning Spring Sing may just be my most cherished victory of my entire life. I can't think of anything that would surpass this. I have danced around with a bare chest and short shorts many times during my tenure at Westmont, but it has never been as sweet as this.

I have achieved everything I set out to do at Westmont. Though I could have set out to earn academic awards and positive recognition from my professors, I did not. I set out to do the things I could brag about. I will now begin thinking about May and how I might receive my diploma holder in the most exciting way possible.

Hi, This is Matt from HR

2010-03-03T23:43:00.001-08:00

I'm working full time as a Human Resources Assistant at a company that employs school bus drivers across the country. Turns out they're on the Canadian stock exchange and half the office is from Canada, accents and all. I feel at home in a sense. The President of our region yelled today, "Marjorie, you hired another damn Canadian!" after Dave, the thorough bred Canadian that embodies every single joke Americans have against Canada, let him know of my birthplace. Luckily he's Canadian too.

Among other things at the office, I sit on an exercise ball all day. The exercise ball strengthens my abs, back, and shoulders while also forcing me to pee much more frequently. The best part about going to the bathroom is that I get to walk through the entire office every single time. Everyone gets a good look at me and I just know they're thinking this kid needs to stop drinking so much water, eh? Maybe it's the ball that fools me into thinking I'm actually exercising all day and staying hydrated is really important. Any way you slice it, my lower back is five times stronger than it was three weeks ago when I discovered the ball.

Here's to short entries with or without caffeine. Look forward to more of these and for my own personal records this was written at night with little to no energy. Happy birthday Sarah, I can't believe how far we've come since we were babies.

You Think You Know Who I Am?

2009-12-29T12:32:00.000-08:00

Because I'm just finding out. I'm calling this Christmas break, Matthew's Journey of Self Discovery.

Four years of college has enabled me to figure out who I like to be around and how I should act around certain people, but it hasn't told me who I am in the workplace.

So far I've taken a couple of tests and the results show that I'm the complete opposite of both my father and my brother. My top five "themes" are: Harmony, Includer, Adaptability, Empathy, and Positivity. By all means, this doesn't mean Jonathan and Steve don't possess these traits it just means they're a little farther down than the rest.

My #1 recommended job is a flight attendant. One test says my primary evaluative words include Super, Fantastic, and Marvelous. I'm a man, and when I see such wussy results like this it doesn't necessarily bolster the mental image I have of myself. My dream of becoming the leader of a special ops team is quickly fading. Do I even have what it takes to shoot a gun without earmuffs? Is this because I was the youngest of four and I'm the family Nancy? (The family Nancy is like the boy from Jurassic Park who screams all of the time) Maybe it's because I like cooking sometimes or because I grew up being the imaginary family dog for my sisters (Higgins).

Here's where I think I stand. I have a degree in economics and business from Westmont College, but looking at these tests I should have been in nursing school for the last four years. I'm using this blog post as an employment plug for companies looking for a nice little boy to smile, make jokes, and hug people that don't normally get hugged.

Can I work with an inventory model or interpret a regression analysis? With enough time. It looks to me that I'm going to need some help figuring out where someone like me can actually work.

Aside from these tests and my dad telling me that I really don't have what it takes to become a CEO in the future, Christmas was wonderful. I'm spending New Years with some of my best friends in the City of Magic; Turloc, CA. After New Years my former roommate and great friend is getting married. It's going to be a magical weekend.

I'm going to write again.

2009-12-28T12:03:00.000-08:00

Watch out.

The End of Summer, or the Beginning of the Rest

2009-08-12T21:04:00.000-07:00

I'm only good at writing about what I've done. Let me review the last few months with you.

I'll start with my most recent memory, Gay Town USA.

My dad, brother and I came to the decision a month or two ago that we needed some time together. We decided that the best place for three men to travel to was San Francisco. Without going into a sarcastic tirade full of homosexual jokes I'll outline a couple of the things we did.

We went to the greatest rivalry game on Earth. Giants versus the Dodgers. Was it really the greatest rivalry game? No. Were there more drunk people yelling at each other than any game in the history of Baseball? Probably not, but it seemed like it was.

We were in the eye of the hurricane. Half-naked girls were to our left and --I don't know how I could have seen this mom-- they had GIANTS painted across their stomachs. There were raging alcoholics to our right, a nice Hispanic family behind us (trying their best to keep their six year old daughter from being knocked out by a stray Bud Lite bottle), and most surprisingly, there was an actual baseball game being played right there in front of us.

Our seats in the death zone didn't allow us to see the game because everyone would stand up when a fight broke out. This happened every three minutes. By the eighth inning we decided to move to the SPLASH ZONE. This is in right field where a juiced Bonds would hit balls into the ocean. We sat there for two innings and luckily received the opportunity to be sprayed by the "home run spray jets." We had already been toughing out the sub 20 degree S.F. summer and a nice water jet to the body warmed us right up. The baseball game was awesome and seeing Ramirez get his two hits in was icing on the cake.

We did some other things in that crazy town such as drink beer, eat Chinese food, and sleep in rooms that were only supposed to fit two people. Somehow I got my brother to sleep on the ground the first night and we just so happened to upgrade our room the second night allowing me to sleep in my own pull out bed. You're the best Jonathan.

Boo ya! This post is dedicated to my sister Katie, my sister Sarah, my brother Jonathan, my mother Marlene, my father Steve, my sister-in-law Lesley, and my naked butt spanking new brother-in-law Mike(y).

Here's to my last semester of school and my hunt for a wife!

This Honda Civic is Making Me Civ-Sick!

2009-05-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

Steve Miller and I drove across the entire United States of America last week and it was fun at times.

Steve took a lot of my crap; we snipped at each other when need be and emphasized certain words when speaking to one another at various points of time, but it never got out of hand. It was just pure father-son relations at their best.

We saw some pretty southern women (which means I saw some), heard some highly attractive accents that made me forget about the ten hours of driving I just endured (if Taylor Swift ever said something to me in person, I don't even know what would happen to me), and ate Memphis style ribs in Memphis.

With my sister's brand new white civic loaded to the brim with plenty of expensive things, we promptly got a room four blocks from Yankee stadium in the heart of the Bronx and parked that pretty white pearl next to a stolen car lot hidden under the freeway. Completely safe.

The Yankees have the purest fans in the USA. They are my fans. They boo anything and everything that isn't apart of the Yankees universe and they mean it. We watched as an entire section threw beer on a single Red Sox fan and actually got him kicked out of the game. You don't even joke about it. I love it.

We made it home safe. We stopped at a gas station just before our final 17th hour of straight driving and I was not healthy. I got out of the car; my eyes were bloodshot, I noticed that I couldn't walk straight, and I headed to the bathroom. I made it back to the car.

Speaking of bathrooms. Never turn bathtub jets on before the water is comfortably above the holes. Water shoots out very, very fast. Second thing never to do with a bathtub. DONT EVER LEAVE A CONTAINER OF BLEACH NEXT TO THE BATH SALT. I was a second away from imersing myself in an acid wash that would have changed my life forever. Luckily my nose was working and I was able to clean it out and have a relaxing bath. This all happened when we stayed at a friends house in the middle of the week.

My tank is empty, until next time. Happy birthday Levi.

Road Trip

2009-05-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

Woops

Confidential, I Can't Tell You Anything About It

2009-05-05T23:45:00.000-07:00

I got a job for the summer. Wish I could tell you about it. I signed a confidentiality agreement.

I'll give you a broad description of what I'm doing because that's all my confidentiality agreement says I can do.

I defend those harmed by medical accidents. Not the patients. The doctors. I defend the ones holding the scalples and lasers. Will I tell you the firm I'm working at? Of course not. It's confidential.

What more can I tell you about my job? I'm an assist guy. Without me passing the ball around the court to the ones that can score, our team doesn't win. When a defense attorney doesn't win, people get pissed. There could be an entire clinic resting in the hands of one of our attorneys.

There's a difference between an assist man in basketball and an assist man at a lawfirm. The assist man at the lawfirm never shoots. If you were to look at my boxscore for a day at work, it'd look something like 0-0-16; points, rebounds, and assists respectively.

I need to get their paper work filed, and I need to get it filed fast.

Aside from having a pretty secret job this summer I'm going to the beach and having BBQs whenever the temperature is above 60 degrees.

My sister is graduating from Gordon in a few weeks and I'm driving back mono y mono with my dad. There will be some blog posts that you will never forget from that trip, I can feel it.

The Miller family is changing rapidly in the next few months and Sarah and I are more or less onlookers. Let's just say 66.6% (4 of the 6) of our family could be living in a completely new area in four months. What isn't changing about the Miller family? Let's make a list.

1. Our love for each other.

2. Our faith.

3. Our attraction to the opposite sex.

I need to be studying.

The Million Dollar Man

2009-02-13T13:56:00.000-08:00

So I'm done with surgery and somehow I came out of there with a robotic leg and a gun for an arm.

Everything I liked about getting surgery from 10 years ago just about vanished today. Everything went great but it felt more like a bunch of mortitions were running the place. Zero bedside manner save a smile or two. I'm a business guy so I can handle the all business approach to a surgery that's done thousands of times a year but it was almost too business like. The moment I sat on the bed they start hooking me up to crap, taping things to my back, sticking stuff behind my ear, squeezing my bicep like they knew I'd been working out the last two weeks, and shoving IVs into my veins. All within one minute. I was expecting them to yell STAT! and give me a megawatt shock to my chest with those electro paddles.

So I get into the surgery room and they start wrapping me in blankets. I lost count of how many they were wrapping me in and they kept asking if I wanted more. I couldnt help but laugh a little bit because I had no idea what they were doing in the first place. After the burly men got done wrapping me I woke up in post op. Love how that works.

"On a 1 to 10 scale how bad does your knee hurt?" The half-kind nurse says. "Probably a 6" This is me trying to look somewhat manly. "Do you want some more pain medication?" As if she thought I wouldn't want it. "Sure why not."

I'm writing this now with my friend Vicodin just like I siad I would. It definitely makes me feel good but I think it actually improves my writing.

Mom and I are straight chillin. She picked up some liquor to dull the pain (come on). I've got my legged propped up sipping on prune juice and eating whatever mom buys me. Prune juice is not what I thought it was by the way. I thought cranberry and prune juice were one in the same, not true. Mash up one of my least favorite things, raisins, and make it into a juice. Mmmmm. I don't even know why I'm drinking it because I'm horrified to go to the bathroom while my left leg is stiff.

Well I've written enough. Nothing out of the ordinary going on here. I feel pretty good and I have a bed full of food. Life is great. Movie of the surgery coming soon.

The Spectrum

2009-02-10T01:26:00.000-08:00

Europe = Fast
Westmont = Slow

Now I knew second semester would be different but once the whole two ends of the spectrum thing came into my head I just laughed. I think it just makes too much sense to go from such a ridiculously nuts pace on Europe Semester to a ridiculously different pace at Westmont; now with a bum knee. Some may attribute this to Karma; there was so much good stuff in Europe that I was bound to encounter the butt end of the deal back at Westmont. Some may attribute it to a sense of humor by the hands of God; "Here's four raucous months in Europe, now here's a few months of rehab so you can stop doing things and actually start thinking about Me again."

It seems like right now is a time for everyone to think about what their life is really about. My brother and his wife are struggling to get a foundation built for their future while my parents are struggling to keep the house they're living in. I hurt my knee so I'm forced to sit more (boohoo). I think it's prime time for Christians to open their Bibles and read about the One who has the grace and mercy to have even created us.

Francis Chan spoke in chapel today about a group of missionaries who were captured by the Taliban and all but a few were executed in front of their eyes. After the surviving missionaries managed to get home they had wished that they could go back to being captured because they had never been so close to God like they were in that situation of supreme anguish.

I hope we can each acknowledge the times we are in and strengthen our relationship with God before we must battle comfort once again. It's almost like God has a huge flashing neon arrow pointing to him right now and all we have to do is look away from the bank statements and up towards Him.

It's late and this post is pretty different from the others. I'm not trying to show some deep side to my thinking or share ways I think will make everyone get better. I just wanted to write and this is what came to my head.

My next post I will be accompanied by my friends Vicodin and Percocet. I'm positive it will be more fun to read.

Snap, Crackle, and oh Crap

2009-01-17T09:44:00.000-08:00

I brought a coffee maker for our dorm room this semester. I'm roomin with my good buddies Curtis and Jake. Jake bought us a bag of Peet's Arabian Mocha Java Coffee (Caffeinated). I wouldn't be writing this if he hadn't. If you're an avid reader of this blog you would remember way back in July when I wandered to Peet's Coffee in Sacramento when I was visiting my brother and sister in-law. I ordered thier medium sized house brew and it pretty much turned my body into a cocaine indused frenzy. Let's not forget the most exciting part when I turned into Lloyd when he's at the girls house in Dumb and Dumber (explicit). I could flush the toilet though.

So here I am drinking some home brewed Peets coffee and enjoying it's sweet caffeine and Arabian mocha java with slight dark chocolate undertones. Another major reason I'm writing a new post is my knee. Picture this: It's a Wednesday night and everybody who's anybody is at the black top (Murchison Gym) ready for some hoops. Little did they know this would be the game of their lives. First to 15 with one and two point shots. We're battling back and forth and we manage to get a five point lead making it 13-8. I'm thinking to myself, "I'm playing lights out defense right now and there's no way we can let this lead slip away." We let the lead slip away. It's tied 14-14 and both teams are throwing up shots like the basket is going to move to the ball. Even more so, guys are driving through the middle attempting lay ups with quadruple teams not even getting the ball to hit the glass. It's an embarrassing picture. By this time there's at least twenty guys watching us play so they can play the winner when we finish. I'm so jacked up on this game it was like I had just drank an entire store worth of Peets Coffee.

Curtis (he's on the other team) gets the inbound pass after we miss another shot and begins his journey to our basket. Awaiting to ambush his journey is a warrior of old named Matthew. Curtis is running full speed to the basket and I'm running full speed at him so I can do a body slam and get a foul. He jumps up, I jump up, he shoots, I swat, he lands, I pop. My left knee shoots out sideways and I'm on the ground yelling language my mother would disown me for. So I'm like cool I just heard my knee pop like a flat tire on a Toyota Corolla. After I roll around a bit my friends help me up and I walk back to my room limping very nicely. The rest is history.

Monday I go in for an examination and hopefully hear it's just a strain. The olympic trainer at Westmont says I have a "60-70%" chance that my acl is either torn or completely blown up. I told my pre-med friend Jordan this and he translated it for me, "that basically means a 100% chance." I guess we'll see.

So my knee's a mess and the weather is beyond perfect here in Santa Barbara. Everything fun in the sun requires two good knees by the way. The worst thing about this is that it doesn't even hurt so I get zero pain medication to play around with.

Anyways, my left butt cheek is going numb because I have to sit sideways to write this.

Life has been beyond good back at Westmont but it's also more work than ever before. Work wise, you could say Europe semester is the complete opposite.

It's another sunny day and how could I not be happy.

Under Improved Management

2008-12-23T22:05:00.001-08:00

I am home and I am wise. I have crossed meadows and valleys and seen many people and places. I have drank alchohol, I have eaten German bratwurst, I have made a few more friends, I have learned a little bit about myself, and I have become a proud, Obama supporting American.

Merry Christmas

IMG_2104

2008-12-08T20:44:00.001-08:00

IMG_2104
Originally uploaded by Gievea

Let's Get Schlossed

2008-10-24T05:48:00.000-07:00

Schloss Mittersill
We're in this little castle on top of a little hill looking over a little town. Man it's a good view, maybe it's the best view.

This little castle is a Christian conference center you could say but it has some pretty funny aspects to it. For one thing there's a tavern that opens every night. Every night that we've been here 90% of europe semester is down there causing ruckus, along with the professors. Last night we had to do project presentations (which I have a funny story about) and Vandermey rushed the last part so we could have time to get down there before it closed. He was applauded.

I had a nice conversation with him. Let's just say he pulled the "don't quote me on that" line a few too many times. Hans, the bartender, made sure Vandermey had a full glass of wine in his hand at all times. This was truely Europe Semester.

About those project presentations. Me, Gieve, and Adam created a sweeping, epic story about a man named Norman. We had our shirts off two minutes in. It was a 20 minute performance. I put pink ski boots on my hands and wore a bike helmet. Gieve poured a liter of water on himself while he was half naked. We also used the Batman Begins soundtrack as much as we could. This could have been the best art project anyone has ever seen and the best part was that it's around 20 to 25% of our grade. Will I be surprised when I get an A in this class? No.

Gas update. I had the goulash soup for the first time a couple days ago. This is basically a beef stew and everybody loves it in Austra and Germany. Well I had it for lunch and when night time came around I thought someone had secretly lit off fireworks in my butt. Huge fireworks, like the ones at Disney Land. This was the loudest, smelliest, most explosive gas I had ever had. What did they put in that soup? It was a great contrast though becuase we ate it on an outdoor cliffside restraunt overlooking Salzburg, home of the Sound of Music. The hills were certainly alive with the sound of gas that night.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Yiddish

2008-10-15T14:07:00.000-07:00

Hello mother, father, sisters, brother, friends.

Went to Auschwitz today. How faith in God survived after the holocaust has baffled my mind. I've been learning so much about WWII and everything surrounding it that I think I have quite a good picture of the last one hundred years and they have not been good.

Which presidential candidate was anti-war again?

Anyways, the national food of Poland is the Pirogi. It's a pot sticker basically filled with either meat, potatoes and cheese, or mushrooms and something. It's tasty. Krakow, Poland (where we are right now) has the most bars per sq km than anywhere in the world as well as the most good looking women per square foot than anywhere in the world. Who knew.

Time is flying faster than it ever has in my life. My humor level is a little low right now as I had to lead a few women back from dinner who wanted to go to bed just a little bit more than I did. Europe semester needs to add a yoga or zen class ASAP.

Next stop is Vienna. Luckily we have a two day break this weekend but unfortunately two main projects are due just a few days after. The good student would take those two days to do a great job on the projects and finish everything early for a stress free week. The Matt Miller student will have as much fun as possible and completely avoid the projects until the day before they are due in order that he might fully experience the local he currently resides in. Father do not worry. It's been working quite well.

We have this tour guide named Gabrielle. Never in my life have I liked learning history so much than hearing it from this 30 something year old guy. I actually thought about switching to a history major for a couple minutes. Who was I kidding, I have to lead the U.S. out of the recession once I get back from Europe and only someone with a B.A. in economics out of Westmont can do that.

Let me know how you're all doing if you comment.

Until next time I wish everyone in America a comfortable financial ride. The weather has been great over here if anybody is thinking about jumping ship for awhile.

Love Matthew

Frites, Deustch, Waffles, Chocolate, I Will Take Them All and Can I Please Have Another Quiche Lorraine?

2008-09-18T13:17:00.000-07:00

To my avid fans,

I have been named by Brad that I am the gasiest person on the trip. I am farting a lot in Europe.

I came into Brugge thinking it would just suck but I ended up spending a whole load of money on food and bikes. Man we went bike riding today and I'm telling you, this was the most picturesque bike ride I have ever been on. We ended up in a town outside of Brugges called Damme. Man we had a Damme good time. We passed pasture after pasture of grazing cows and sheep and everything under the clear blue sky with the low sun shining a golden hue onto everything. Is that detailed or what. So since we saw all these happy cows we bought some local cheese and bread and went to town. Best cheese yet. Oh and my lactose problem has been pretty nonexistent except for massive amounts of farting that by now I just let em rip no matter the area. Especially elevators.

Tommorow we head out to Leiden and Amsertdam. I will be keeping a tally of the people who get in a little trouble. I heard there were 100 musuems there, man do I love massive musuem marathons.

Did I mention I swam on Omaha beach in my underwear? No big deal. Oh and as I write this I have a Belgian waffle with a scoop of vanilla pecan ice cream and warm chocolate sauce in my stomach. And Im farting.

Mind Your Head

2008-09-01T06:53:00.000-07:00

I'm in London at a cafe. London is the most action packed city I've ever been to. People everywhere. Man blogging is hard.

Went to Canterbury Cathedral for church yesterday and sat between two lovely ladies and had a great chat with one over wine right after the service (they love their alcohol in Europe). Turns out she was a priest in the Anglican church but just retired a year ago. Best choir I have ever heard, I felt like I was in Lord of the Rings. This cathedral is the center of the whole Anglican church in the entire world. Contemporary churches of America: please go to Europe and attend a service at any of the cathedrals, Presbyterian or Anglican or Catholic. Attending a church with a five part band and a pastor who spends more time making jokes than preaching the word needs to remember who they're doing all of it for. Tradition and being religious need to be much more heavily emphasized in America. Those are my thoughts so far dad.

I think I'm going to just start uploading pictures and writing almost nothing because I have so much recorded in my journal that it's just too much to pick out a few things.

Pictures later.

There's No Place Like Homo

2008-08-24T08:23:00.001-07:00

The Fringe Festival is the gathering of all the weird and gay people of Scotland. We went to this show yesterday that was so unbelievably not straight that I had to look at my shoes half the time. We thanked Vandermey for the expert selection. After that we went to a ridiculous orchestra that had the best Gypsy violinists in the world. Still don't know what a Gypsy is though. Had a great five minute nap on one of the longer songs.

Heading out to York and Straford then to London. Stonehendge on the way.

More pictures coming.

Sure

2008-08-21T06:36:00.001-07:00

Here's a short snippet.

I'm in Edinburgh and it is awesome. There's the HUGE fringe festival going on as well as the "Festival". Two separate festivals all in one place and there are just tons of cool European people. Scotland accent is just awesome and I'm just gonna say it, the waitresses can swoon me just by saying, "here's your potato."

We went to an improv play in the bottom of a cathedral with no ventilation. Good clean humor, but man it was hot. The cathedrals are rented out for haunted ghost tours year round, I'm starting to realize they aren't really cathedrals.

Tonight I'll be attending rock kareoke. Bon Jovi and Journey are sure fire hits here in Edinburgh. I'll update later with some meatier content but right now the overcast skies aren't evoking my blogging energy.

Cheers

Get Me On That Plane

2008-08-13T19:06:00.000-07:00

My next post should be from Europe.

I will not talk about my stomach or the bathroom in this post.

I went to K-mart and bought out the drug store. For some reason I think I'm going to need all kinds of medicine when I have never before used it in my life such as Gas X and stool softener (thanks mom).

The last six months have led up to this journey. It is a battle against the stomach, against the mind, and against the feet. My patience will be tested with: 34 woman, learning, french people, gypsies, and cheese.

I don't think I'll be ready to leave until I'm on the plane headed to Edinburgh.

I've watched enough Olympics to be completely satisfied with my American patriotism but I'm still going to say I'm from Canada while in Europe (I was born in Canada--are they even in the Olympics?).

This blog should be updated every so often with pictures and stuff.

Off I go into the mystical uncharted lands of Europe! 24/7 fun awaits me.

Watch it Baby!

2008-08-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

I just got back from another horrible trip to Del Taco.
As I was walking down the hall looking at my white shoes I forgot to realize that the Spaulding Circuit was already in progress. Just as I had slightly pulled my head up Lori comes FLYING by, nipping the sleeve of my t-shirt (this is the Shelly I wrote about before. I know her name now and I've actually said a few words to her outside of her daily laps). When I say flying I mean flying. Book in hand, she was setting a new course record today. If I hadn't had looked up just as she had got her nose out of Pride and Prejudice, one of us would definitely be in the hospital for a countless amount of injuries. Countless.

Fast food is just terrible for my body. I can't remember a day in the last two weeks when I haven't had to do a Spaulding Sprint to the little boys room after lunch. I'm either allergic to something in the food or my stomach is finally realizing I can't eat all this crap now that I'm no longer a teenager. Whatever it is, I only have to suffer for two more lunches.

About the bathroom. There's two ways to get there; take the long route and go around the back or take the short route and go past the ladies in the office. Because of this fast food and my desire to uphold my high prestige at Spaulding, I take the longer route when I have stomach issues because I don't want the ladies making jokes about me because I go to the bathroom so much.

They do make jokes. One woman in particular whos name I will withhold likes to laugh at me very loudly, right after I leave their office. Does she realize the door is wide open and I've only taken two steps outside? At least three times a week the trio of office women get a boisterous laugh out of me, after I leave the room. It's awesome.

Two days left.

Put Me in Coach! There's Just Too Much Action!

2008-07-31T22:17:00.001-07:00

My friends and family are writing blog entries every fifteen minutes so I feel like I need to drop some knowledge.

In my historic first post on this blog I talked about getting it done in the mud so I could play in the clouds (Europe). I am out of the mud but there's still a layer dried dirt on me that should be loofahed off in a week or so.

These posts just aren't as exciting if I'm not completely PUMPED from coffee. I'm taking a more somber approach because I feel pressured and it's nice to write without pooping between sentences. I gave up coffee about a week ago so I can drink espressos while eating crepes with nutella and banana while I'm in Europe.

I have a stat tracker on this mother and I can see that more people are reading this than just the people I can count on both my hands; I am very prideful about this. Someone from Iran read this blog. You could say I have reached international blog manhood.

I have no idea how often I will be updating this blog when I am actually in Europe. It's pretty fun to talk about my life and all the cool things I do but when I get to Europe I just don't think I'll have the same vigor.

My feelings about having a blog have minimally changed. I still think it's mainly for girls and I still feel like a girl when I write these. To all my bros, I don't think you're girly.

I am golfer. I get blisters on my right hand after the driving range (you only need to wear a glove on the left because your right shouldn't be getting blisters unless you suck).

I have one more week left at Spaulding Equipment Company and with how many different people will read this blog I will say that I have THOROUGHLY enjoyed my internship and have had the absolute best time of my life and I loved doing data entry and I loved cleaning up the machine shop and I loved cleaning every single florescent light covering and everything was just wonderful every second of every hour I worked there.

Pickles and Stuff

2008-07-18T12:04:00.000-07:00

My heart goes out to two people; my mother who just had surgery and is sitting at home doing nothing (you better not be doing anything), and my good friend Barret who is getting fed quite a large pile of bad luck right now in Boston.

I had a medium coffee at Peets a couple hours ago (I'm in Sac town) and my body is going nuts right now. My brother just told me their coffee is just about twice as strong as the competing markets. I've pooped twice already.

I'm going to Coldplay tonight my brother and sister-in-law (sup Lesley). Lesley is going to a blog conference this weekend. There will be a mass gathering of female bloggers listening to stuff about blogging. I see it going like this: the female speaker for the hour gets up and says, "Blogging is so awesome!" and the whole female audience turns to each other and yells "Yea!" and they begin talking very rapidly with each other about what they blog about. Awesome. I wish they let men go to this conference.

Sac town is awesome. I walked around by myself this morning after I got coffee and started to think of how awesome Europe is going to be when I'll be walking around.

Screw teaching contracts in Boston. Screw kayaking down the river. Screw extra strong coffee. Screw uterises.

It took us three hours to get kayaks and paddle down the river last night. We finished at 9:00 PM.

Life is good, online classes are a joke, Lesley makes bomb chocolate crussants even if they're rediculously easy to make (she put chocolate chips inside crussant dough then baked them), and my brother prosecutes people like it's his day job (oh wait, it is).

If Brett Favre goes to Minnesota they will win the Superbowl.

Hope you're doing well mom, love ya.

Office MVP of the Day is...

2008-07-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

Sherry! During her lunch breaks she likes to read her favorite book while walking at least fifteen laps around the office. I call it the Spaulding Circuit. I found out she did this when I finally asked her if she was actually doing laps around the office when she had passed by my door for the sixth time. My question probably made her feel really stupid because I asked it as a joke and I laughed a little bit when I said it, oh well. She's about fifty years old I'd say. Sarah, Katie, Marlene, Steve, see you in two hours.

Days Blend Like a Bowl of Delux Double Chocolate Chocolate Chip Brownie Mix

2008-06-27T22:29:00.000-07:00

The boss is givin me some great hours so I'm really workin my butt off most of the time. Spaulding Equipment Company is treating me like one of their sons. He takes me out to lunch with all the boys during the week. It's either mexican food or Hawaiian barbecue, every time (they've been going to this particular mexican place for only five years straight now, it wasn't until the old place, which they went to for about 15 years straight, got a new manager and made all the food taste like crap that they started going to the current mexican place). Today we actually went to this terrible restaurant called Cocos because some hotshot paint salesman that gives Spaulding all their stuff wanted to take my boss out to lunch. Little did he know that if you take one guy from the office out to lunch, seven other guys come with. We ended up taking him out to lunch. During these times when I'm out with the boys 97% of the time I just eat my food and sit there while the GMs talk about just some super boring transaction that went down or some stupid engineer at a rock plant that did some stupid thing to totally break his rock crusher (that's how I translate it). That other 3% is me bringing up completely off the topic stuff like "did you guys see the draft last night?" or "Lost is such a ridiculous show, do you guys even know whats going on?" or I talk about football with Jan, the resident die hard Packers fan who somehow made it to the middle of nowhere (Perris, CA) creating blue prints for Rock Crushing machines. Let me make it clear, all I do is bring the topics up. In about 30 seconds my opinion gets dominated by the three salespersons at the table and I sit there listening again. It makes me feel really good though, knowing that I got them to talk about something I brought up.

Keeping my eyes on the four month prize.

Getting it done in the Mud so I can play in the Clouds.... Summer Homework

2008-05-24T22:20:00.000-07:00

I just ate waffles and drank four cups of tea at our dining room table. The only women that I love accompanied me. I began my summer homework for Europe last night and continued with it today. It's boring and tedious, and I would rather do something else but I end up never having anything to do. I continue to mull over drinking coffee and eating in Europe every day, and I am excited to see if anything exciting happens this summer.