Our house

Home is home, though it be never so homely.
- John Clarke, Paroemiologia

I likemy house. Yeah it has ugly pink colored trim. And it's old. And it seems like stuff is always in need of repair. But it also gives me the opportunity to spend great time with friends. There is enough space so that people feel comfortable spending time here. Mary has done a great job turning it into a home. Our house rules!

Disneyland

It's kind of fun to do the impossible.
- Walt Disney

Went to Disneyland with Mary's family on Sunday. We got both of her brothers to go and have fun which is why the reference to the impossible. We spent the first part of the day at California Adventure which was fun. Another impossible thing happened when Mary went on Tower of Terror again. After a few more times she will insist on going on this ride I just know it.

After this we went to Disneyland. It was fun. we all pooped out before the fireworks which was kinda sad. All in all I would say it was a fun day although I was gassy.

The only down side was that I had to wait 30 minutes for a stall in the bathroom because some hoodlum put graffiti all over the stall. I think that people who tag things should just be immediately put to death. Think how much we could save as a society if we just nipped all these criminals in the bud before they go on to commit worse crimes. Anyway that was a tangent. We took a buttload of pics. To see more you can check out Mary's Myspace.

refusal

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.
- Mark Twain

I refuse to live in denial. I know that can put me in a minority in some circles. I want to live life with my eyes open. Even when it's painful, I pledge to be honest with myself and others. Authenticity Above All.

Deck the halls...FA RA RA RA RA RA RA RA RA

A family is a tyranny ruled over by it's weakest member.
- George Bernard Shaw


My holiday season is going to be different this year. We are celebrating with Mary's mom on Christmas day. Then we are heading up to Sacramento to visit our friends Mark and Lisa. We are spending 3 days with them and finally getting to see their house. We are really looking forward to spending time with them.

Unfortunately things on my side of the family are more drama-rific. We have decided to take this year off from celebrating with my family. We are sad that we won't get to see my aunts (Corinne, Beck, and Darlene) but we really need a break from all the junk that's happening. I hope that by next year things will be different and we will be able to see my family.

Thanksgiving

Most turkeys taste better the day after, my mother's tasted better the day before.
- Rita Rudner

I had a pleasant Thanksgiving. Mary's aunt and uncle hosted a wonderful meal at their home. Her aunt Jayme throws a great shindig. I always feel very welcome in their home. We started off with appetizers (which were amazing) followed by a dinner with all the trimmings. Then we watched USC blow out ASU which was fun because apparently I am a USC fan. I didn't know I liked USC until this season.

My parents were in town. I went fishing on Friday with my dad but we didn't catch anything. They stayed with us on Friday night befre heading home on Saturday. This weekend has been soo long...I may actually be ready to go back to work on Monday.

Call Me Master

I finished my Master's paper and presentation. It feels good to be done with it. Although my degree doesn't post until January I insist that you call me Master from this point forward.

This month has probably been the busiest of my life. My paper was about teacher job satisfaction. I put a lot of time into it. It was 88 pages long. That is too much. But I guess it's worth it. Next year I should get a 7,000 dollar raise. Then another 5,000 the following year. If I go get my level 2 credential I could be making even more. That's pretty sweet can huh?

I will leave you with a quote about education:

Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts.
- Henry Brooks Adams

can't sleep...might as well blog

This is a silly picture.

This has been a busy week for me. I have had 3 IEP's this week. All 3 after school. After school IEP's are brutal. Two of my meeting were triennial evaluations. That means that the meeting take at least twice as long. Today I was at work until 6:00. I was definitely a little bleary eyed by the end of the meeting.

Add to this that I have been frantically working to finish my master's paper. I finished it and sent it out to my professor. Tonight I did the PowerPoint for the oral presentation part. I just have to present it to someone and get feedback. Once I have done this I will submit it and then I will be a Master.

After all this I am pretty tired but for some reason I just keep staying up. I guess maybe I'll try to go to bed now.

Love, peace, and chicken grease.

A

This is how I feel

Lately I've been feeling ...

Drama For Your Mama

Here's the most recent drama...

Mary found my sister's husband on Myspace...wait a minute let me back up a little.

This guy cheated on my sister multiple times before they were married; including once the week before the wedding. He had told the girl he was sleeping with that he had called off the wedding. Then on the honeymoon he was taking calls from the other girl. After 2 weeks of marriage he told my sister that he was leaving her because he was in love with the other girl. He then left to go meet the other girl. I helped my sister cut off his phone and credit cards that they shared because her name was on the account. My dad also flew down to SoCal to help her get out of her lease. My sister's loser husband then began all his manipulative BS again and by the time I got back with my dad from the airport she was back with him. She claimed that God wanted her to work it out. (God is not a moron like my sister so why would he want this?) Anyway she took him back and moved to North Carolina with him. She got a teaching job and he got one for a week until he got fired. He has a hard time keeping a job because he is kind of a loser. So now I think we are up to date.

Back to the Myspace. Mary found him on there last night which was somewhat surprising because he had deleted his account. Mary noticed that the girl he cheated with was in his top friends and his status was divorced. So Mary wrote him a note that said she thought he was unbelievable and what the hell is wrong with him. This is the reply he sent back:

Warning: This is a direct quote with some extremely offensive language and atrocious spelling.

"mind you fucking bussiness i was told that you would not be invloled in our lives that you could not stand the drama you turned your becky noe you are all concred with her....fuck you and andy with aids dick"

What a charmer huh?

Anyway Mary and I have decided that if this guy will be around for Christmas we will not be. We may just be going up north to visit our friends instead. I am done with this loser. To me he is subhuman. He lies about everything and he is a complete A-hole.

Here's a picture of him.

Birthday Fun

Last weekend I went down to my dear friend Tammy's 30th birthday party in Phoenix. It was a great chance to see friends that I don't get to see as often as I would like.

It was a fun night. Tammy wanted a costume party so everyone was dressed up. I even won a prize...for the costume that will haunt the dreams of the judges. That sounds like a strange prize but it was the goal of my costume so I count it a success. I was a former junior high baller that now lives and plays at the "Y". Mary was a Woopie Cushion complete with fart noises.

The costume that made me laugh the most was my friend Mark as Magnum PI. The costume was complete with 80's style short shorts, mustache, and transplanted beard hair as chest hair. It was great.

Tammy's parents were gracious enough to open up their home to all of us. It is a wonderful house and they are wonderful people. Mary and I even got to use the 2 person shower in the master bathroom. And Rick has a sweet set up down in the basement with an HD projector and giant screen. I had a hard time watching football this week on my regular old TV after seeing it in HD.

I love my friends and I truly believe that God has blessed me.

First one

This is the first blog for me. I have decided to call my blog Authenticity Above All because that has become my personal motto. My goal with this blog is to share myself with friends and family that are interested. I would also like this to be a forum that people can share what's going on in their lives. I want connection in my life and this is an attempt to have more connection. Hopefully I can keep up this blog and it won't become one of those empty spaces relegated to random Google searches.