Confirmation again and again

-Kyle

Last night I saw for certain that I've found the right woman for me.

I'm studying to get my Microsoft Certification, and to be honest it's been hard going. I keep failing the practice tests and it's getting pretty discouraging. Jeanette and I have talked about it and she offered to help me any way she can.

This past weekend we sat down for an hour or so and went over the book together and she helped me pick up some things that I had missed while studying on my own which was great and EXTREMELY helpful

But last night...
Last night after work she met me at my apartment. We watched cartoons (Invader Zim!)for a little while and ate pizza for dinner. Then we started studying. We did a 45 question test on the computer together, her reading the questions and the possible answers and then I'd try to figure out the right answer. A little background on these questions. These aren't just basic Multiple Guess questions, they're scenarios. You're in this situation, you want to do this this and this, which of these choices best accomplishes these? Jeanette was with me and enthusiastic through the whole thing. Words like SCSI, UDF file, REGEDIT, Dynamic Striped Volume... she stuck with it through the whole thing. I wanted to give up before she did.
A subject she knows little about, a language she doesn't really speak, a job that would drive her insane... she never once complained, she never said it was boring or called me a nerd, she never gave up.
We'll be back doing it again tonight after work.

THAT is love.

It's funny how in my head blogging is. Everywhere I go I see stuff and think... "that would make a great post" and then i walk 10 feet further and see something shiny and forget what i was thinking about.

I'm beginning to hate college people. Not so much the people themselves, but the culture they produce. They create this mini ecosystem all to themselves where they think EVERYTHING is dreadfully important and worth changing the world about. Ofcourse all this does is get the campus up in arms about Something or annoy the general public. I read a recent letter to the editor in the Observer complaining that ND only reserved 1,500 tickets for the 8,000+ student body.

Whoop dee friggin doo.

I'm sorry, I thought you came here to get an education not to go to football games. I love ND football as much as the next guy, but hey - this is an educational establishment first and a sports team second (possibly third... not sure, thats always up for debate around here). The point is you have better than a 1 in 8 chance of getting a ticket. Now the game is in Arizona so not everyone is going to WANT to go, so that cuts it say in half, giving yo a 1 in 4 chance of getting one (this all done through lottery) If you have a problem with a 1 in 4 chance, you have some serious issues. And if you feel like the "Poor Seniors" are being screwed over because they might not get to go... then give up your ticket. trust me, we'll be going next year.

I sometimes feel like people just write things so someone will see their name and think they're cool. Let me tell ya kiddo's, I've been writing for a while now, and it's not very often i'm called cool for complaining about the establishment.

Here's what I've learned since getting out of college into the real world:

What to do when "The Man/Whitey" is getting you down.

• Request change politely and respectfully. No one is going to want to change anything if you're bein a jerk to them. Remember, You aren't that important to them. They don't need your money, YOU need their services.


• Think about who you're complaining to. Is THIS the person who can change things for you? Are you shooting the Messenger, preaching to the choir, or going to the policy creator?
• And lastly, if you don't like the way they treat you, you can always take your business elsewhere. Whether that's changing your bank, your restaurant, your college or moving to Canada, If you can't change the establishment, change the establishment you're at.

Don't even get me started on Cultural Competency

< / Rant >

Thanksgiving weekend

What a great weekend. I'm well rested and ready to bust this week in the groin. (<--Admittedly over graphic statement)

We spent Thursday and Friday at her parents house in Ft. Wayne for Thanksgiving, and then Friday Jeanette and I went downtown to the annual Festival of Trees to see all the Christmas trees decorated for Charities... then we went ice skating and took some pictures. Unfortunately the camera died every time we tried to take a picture of us kissing there at the skating rink... We DID get some cute pictures of us all bundled up, but I'll have to put them up later, I left the camera at her place last night. Then after ice skating i took her to the coolest theater ever! It's a Dinner and a Movie type place. You order your food and they have tables there in the theater. We saw Chicken Little, Very Funny movie. Then we came back to her parent's house and watched tv until bed time.

The next day we drove up to Michigan and spent the weekend with my parents. They took us to the COOLEST restaurant ever. a little place we like to call Rockin' Robin's. I had a Bacon Cheeseburger with (get this) a fried egg on it. Lemme tell ya, that was awesome. Oh, and I failed to mention they have bottomless steak fries like other restaurants have chips and salsa. they were awesome. The next day we went to church with my parents and then I helped my dad hang christmas lights outside on the gazebo. We came back to South Bend and did some Christmas shopping and then planned out these next few weeks.

Holy crap. Jeanette has a final paper due next tuesday so I'm not gonna get to see her much at all this next week, but that works for me because I'm studying for my Microsoft Certification, we also need to reschedule our engagement pictures, get on the waiting list for a 2 bedroom apartment at Irish Hills, I need to schedule my Microsoft Test, Jeanette has 3 christmas concerts coming up in the next two weeks.

... aaaaand breathe.

New Email Subscriptions

For those of you who are visiting my site daily (both of you) you've probably noticed the new addition to the sidebar there, Email Subscriptions. If you aren't familiar with RSS or would just rather receive my posts in your email than visiting here daily, you can put your email address in that box and as soon as I post, you'll receive it in your email. How sweet is that?

Very sweet.

Beating the System

Ok before you start... I already know. But I have 2 friends who have done offers on this site and have gotten the stuff. One got an IPod and the other an Xbox game. So i'm serious it works.
I'm trying to get a free Xbox 360 because frankly I don't have the money for it. Yes, i know it's a pyramid scam. I'm ok with that. I'm smarter than the pyramid so I'll give you the trick to beat it so you can help me with this.

Go to the site above, creat an account. it will start asking you to "complete an optional survey" this is a dumb scam, close your browser and go to http://xbox360s.freepay.com(the main page) then click "Complete Offer" Scroll through them, if you see something you like, feel free to sign up for it, but I recommend the one from REAL. you sign up for a free 14 day trial and then after 1 week you discontinue your membership and you're done. That's it. People get caught in the trap when they don't remember to cancel their membership. So I'll help you out. If you do this, and email me when you do it, I'll email you in a week and remind you to cancel your membership. I just did it for a friend and it took me seriously about 5 minutes. I'll set a reminder for a week from today to cancel my REAL account and he'll be one person closer to getting his xbox360 and thats all it takes.
seriously.
So here's the link. click it and follow the above directions to help me get the best Christmas present of the year.
Free Xbox

oh and here's the specs on it:

Xbox 360 - Complete Premium Edition

• Official Release Date: 11/22/05


• Backwards compatible with previous Xbox games


• 20GB detachable hard drive


• Wireless controller


• Wireless Xbox Live headset


• HD game displays on HDTVs


• High-definition AV and Ethernet cables


• Xbox 360 Media Remote Control


• Detachable faceplate


• Xbox Live Silver membership


• Stream media from portable music devices & Windows XP PCs


• 512 MB of GDDR3 RAM


• 3 symmetrical cores - 3.2GHz each


• 500MHz ATI graphics processor


• 12x dual-layer DVD drive that supports: DVD, DVD+-R/RW, CD-R/RW, WMA & MP3


• Built-in Ethernet port


• 2 memory unit slots


• 3 USB 2.0 ports


• Wi-Fi ready: 802.11a, b & g

Why I'm not a teacher

My solution to whiney kids running to the guidance counselor complaining because they were changed from soprano to alto:

"I say you go in there and tell her if she doesnt shut her little yapper you'll switch her to tenor and she can sit between "Billy" and *insert butthead male's name here*. Then you kick her in the shin, and pile drive her through the guidance counselor's desk to the sound of the guidance counselor saying "ahem, umm... lets find a less violent way to let out our aggression." and then you can say "sorry, i just felt that this was a situation for tough love." and then after a short discussion you warn "Lucy" that if she starts cryin' again you'll give her some more tough love through that table there by the door."

*Names changed to protect the brats.

Light and Breezy

Well after the problems I had with that last post (I had made it in flock) I've decided to try something a little different. I'm trying a tool called w.bloggar. It's pretty sweet so far, so enough about it. How bout I get on with what I'm gonna write...



Every morning when I drive to work, I pass these kids waiting for the bus in my apartment complex, and every morning I see the same guy standing there. He looks like Carl from Family Matters, and every morning he smiles at me as I drive by. I really like this guy even though I've never talked to him, because every morning he stands at a bus stop with his 6 year old daughter and holds her giant pink backpack for her while she plays with the other kids. I don't know the guy, but he's one of two fathers who stand and wait for the bus with their kids. I don't know anything else about his parenting, but that's something I want to be able to do with my daughter when she gets to that age.

Congrats to you Carl, you win the father of the morning award. Thanks for setting a good example.

Notre Dame vs Tennessee

Tea and Sympathy

Giving advice is tough because most people either don't want it or aren't planning on implimenting it in the first place. This is hard for me because I think I'm smart and can fix most people's problems.

So today I've decided to try this a different way. Instead of thinking what I would do in their situation, I'm gonna first try to empathize with the person's situation.

So here we go.
The problem is huge to them. Giant. They're trapped in it and can't get out of it. Everyone knows about it and feels sorry for them and everyone is more than happy to offer one more piece of advice about how you can do "this" or have you tried "that?" and the person HAS tried This or knows That would never work for this situation. They want help, they want to hide, they want out... but they can't Get Out. Thoughts of Perserverance and Trying Again and Getting Up and facing Tomorrow only make things more difficult for them. Yesterday was tough, the day before was tough and even though the day before that might have been ok, they don't remember that. They're focused on the now and the hopelessness of tomorrow.

The part that baffles them is that they remember being good at something very similar to this. "I was able to handle X why can't I handle Y?" Thoughts of failure and impotence flood their mind. They can't do it. It doesn't matter what or how they try... They are going to fail tomorrow. Just like today.

They ask for help, people assume they mean advice, but what they really want is a way out. Immediate comfort is nice for the right now, but it won't help them tomorrow when they have to face it again. And they feel like such a burden bringing this up all the time. They're supposed to have their life all figured out by now, and the reality is that under it all they're looking for that child who always hid behind the furnace downstairs to cry... but the child is gone. There's an adult standing there who won't fit in the cubby hole anymore.

I'm a fixer. I want to help, it's my nature as a man. It's hard when I can do nothing, sometimes the person has to and sometimes the person wants to do it on their own.

Maybe I'll just sit still and shut up.

Technorati Tags: advice, problem

Post take 2

Ever start writing a post and get about half way through it and realize it's really stupid? Man, I just wrote a really crappy post. Ick.

So, Jeanette and I came up with this fun game awhile back, when we see someone who really catches our eye, we make up some dramatic tragic story about them and how they ended up here. Like the mexican guy who walked up and down the road in our apt. complex every day on crutches. He became more than just "That Mexican on Crutches" he was Miguel, who broke his leg after saving 4 children from a burning apartment building on the 3rd floor. The crazy guy i see most mornings leaving that gas station talking to himself becomes Steve, the genius who worked out for himself a working do it yourself cold fusion reactor but because he looks crazy no one will listen when he tries to tell them about it.

It's a lot of fun and if I ever get time to be a famous writer I'll totally write it all in a book and make 100's of dollars.

Technorati Tags: Jeanette, Games

Flock!!

Ok I just found this.www.flock.com. It's a new browser, and for those of you that blog this thing is great! It has a built in Blog editor that you just give it your blog URL and your user name and password and you're in! THEN when you get in, you can switch the TOPBAR to Flickr and you can login to your flickr pictures!

Ya this is seriously cool.

How can we understand our path?

This verse popped up this morning in Proverbs 20 and it caught my eye because it's totally what i need today.

"How can we understand our path, when it is God who directs our steps?"
It made me stop and think about what that means.
When you go somewhere, it's not the path that matters, it's the destination that you're concerned about. The path is a temporary thing. It's the constantly changing circumstances that we're surrounded with. As we walk we start looking down at the path and wonder how the heck we got here and why we have to walk through this mess...

A job we hate
A job we don't have
Losing a loved one
Sickness
Fear
Depression

The list goes on, but we're all there. Life doesn't make sense to us if we're looking at the path.

But the problem comes when we forget the other half of the verse, "...when it is God who directs our steps." God doesn't just give us an address and tell us to find our own way. He'll never say "well just head up over that hill there, then take a left, then you're gonna head on that way for a fur peace then you're gonna come to a fork in the road..." It says He directs our steps. He takes you to the destination but he tells you where to step every step of the way. "Step here. ok, here. alright step here..." God isn't the Yellow Pages, that give you an address and makes you figure it out for yourself. God isn't the old codger at the gas station that gives you directions based on markers. God is more like the Seeing Eye Dog for the blind guy, He knows the destination and how to get there and He sees things you don't. Sometimes He'll take you the long way 'round, and sometimes he'll shortcut you through the woods... But He knows what He's doing, and He's not going to leave you.

Even if you let go of the leash.

The State of The World

Tibet may never become a fully recognized country. China keeps saying "Solly we waiting on paypa' wok"

What China doesn't seem to get is that Tibet's been going through the ringer on this for along time now and is gettin pretty fed up with getting pushed aside. China would benefit greatly from recognizing Tibet, but the way it's going it might not happen.

Tibet just might stop caring what China thinks and start talking to the U.S.
Tibet really likes China though.

Update? Update THIS!!!

Hey wanna know what went on this weekend? Check out the Wedding Blog! You can be the first to comment!! Do it. Do it.

Anything for a friend

Today a very close friend asked me to post something funny. So i will forego my usually rants about employment and lack there of, and give what i can.

I'd like to start off with a quote from Jeanette, tonight while talking about the new movie "Just like Heaven" she said that Reese Witherspoon was totally "Anal Redemptive." I haven't seen the movie yet, but evidently her butt is able to forgive sins. (I'd now like to welcome the perverts who searched for Reese Witherspoon +Anal to my site, you're not gonna find what you were looking for, but hopefully you'll enjoy your stay)

Here's an unrelated link to a friend's site with thought's on Women's hair loss This is very funny. Read it.

ok i'm really not that funny today, so i'm stealin from others. I attribute it to an overly intense drama this weekend, filming last night in the rain for 4 and a half hours and then filming a commercial tonight.

Love ya Jon, We're praying for you both.

The sound of impending good?

It's been a rollercoaster ride these last few months, let me tell you, but things could soon turn around. Right now I'm working in the main help desk at ND and loving it. The job will go full time eventually (waiting on someone else to move fully to another department) but right now I'm working 40hrs at a paycut from my old job... so we're hoping this goes full time as fast as possible.
I've also decided that I've finally learned my lesson and will be pursuing some Microsoft Certification over the next 3 months so i can be more marketable and become more proficient in my job. My mom said she'd buy the book for me and pay for the test if i take it in the next 3 months, but if I don't I have to pay her back, so there's some good incentive.
Also!!! as of last night I now have a wedding blog!! check it out Kyle and Jeanette's wedding blog I've got a few pictures up so far and an initial post. Check it out won't you?

God seems slower than i want Him to be

Ok, so I lost the job at ND a while back, we all know that. Since before that ended i've been searching for a new job, with ups and downs along the way. This job looks great, he definitely wants to hire me... a month later he wont return my calls or emails and im told by their hiring manager that they've decided to take some other canidates to the next round of interviews. One place hasn't contacted me in almost 2 months now and i've pretty well given up hope on them. The part time job i'm in now will eventually go full time... when that happens and if i'm the one she decides to hire... who knows? I've applied online, i've sent resumes, i've talked to friends, i've networked, i'm doing everything i know to do... and so far, i seem to have squat.

I have a severance package that will suppliment my part time job until the end of this month, and then i'm in trouble. I have about 16 days of full time work left and then... i don't know what's going to happen.

Ok, so what God's done for me: Let me stay at my old job 2 whole months after they made the decision, got me part time work there at the University with people i really enjoy, got me a severance package that gives me my benefits and full time pay until the end of september.
So ya, He's definitely taking care of me, i don't doubt/deny or question that. I'm just afraid of what's going to happen october 1st. He's never let me down yet... and i dont think he will. I have no problem trusting God, it's all these idiots He put me here with that i'm concerned about.
I don't know if my feeling that I should be doing more comes from my parents pushing me constantly to go door to door with my resume, or if i'm really supposed to be doing something else here.
"Hope Deferred is a rotting in the bones" and let me just say, i can feel it.

Hello Mike, Thanks for Reading

This is the middle afternoon of the first day of the rest of my life.
Time ticks away as five o'clock moves closer.
Waiting for the phone to ring, glad that i can answer most of the questions.
Upset that i'm not logging enough of my calls.
Beating myself down is familiar, don't have the energy to do it again.
Gotta stop that.
Not sure how.
The sun glints off the angular leaves outside my window,
Wish i was out there.
Glad i have windows and can enjoy them.
Notre Dame's win over Pitt heralds the coming of Fall,
the leaves haven't changed yet but my eye's open for it.
My four favorite seasons are in order: Summer, Fall, Spring and Matt Damon.

Will these updates never end?

Yes yes I know it’s been a while. Believe me, I’ve missed this more than you know. I had to write something today though, for a few reasons, first of all I just came upon a verse that I really like, and I wanted to write it out to help me memorize it, AND because a lot is going on right now.
First the verse: Romans 6:13 “Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning. Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.” I read this a few minutes ago and really got hit by that.

Second the happenings in my life.
Ok wait, I gotta apologize for all of these short updates on me, as soon as things calm down I promise to get back to writing like I used to.
Anywho… Still waiting to find out about a new job. I’m working part time at the University in the afternoons, and that will eventually go full time, we’re just not sure if it will be in time. Wedding date had to be moved back because of a mistake on our part to the 24th of June instead of the 17th.
At church I've graduated from "Script Writer" to "Screen Writer" as i helped write my first video/drama for the upcoming LOST series. It was a lot of fun because with video you have so much more room for creativity, and with GCC you have a plethora of people to tap for everything from iron working to burned out Cessnas. For those of you interested check out gccwired.com and then click media player to see some of the drama work that we've done.

I'd like to also give a shout out to an old friend who i've found again, Lindsay from Michigan who's in in Texas again because she can't get enough of the Red Dirt. Good to hear from you again. Pre-Congrats on what should be happening soon.

Spiraling

A quick break here, as things start spiraling faster and faster.

Wedding stuff is starting, her mom is looking at halls already, and I’m going to talk to the guy we want to do our wedding tonight. I’m saving for the ring (or am I saving for unemployment? Still not sure yet), and things are as usual pretty tight. Sunday night we celebrated 6 months together by driving back from Ft Wayne from her parents and reading the new Harry Potter book together in the car and eating homemade Skyline chili at my apartment. Wait, no that was last night… everything runs together.

Hey, speaking of last night, I had a little taste of nostalgia that very few here in the States would have any idea about. I had Thumbs Up Cola. It’s made by Coca Cola in India, in the same factory as Coca Cola, and has an extremely similar flavor to Coca Cola. How, you may rightly ask, did I procure such a thing when I haven’t been to India in 7 years? When I was down in Cincinnati visiting J’s brother and his wife we went to Jungle Jim’s where I picked up 2 bottles. Deeeelicious

Tonight I have my 201 class at GCC taught by Dr Bob which is gonna run from 5:30 to 10:00 tonight. I probably wouldn’t have done it if my good friend Luke hadn’t talked me into it, at least I’ll have someone to sit next to, AND a great speaker and friend to learn from.

My brother just went for some testing today because of some problems he was having and got the results back. He has something weird, but at least they know what it is, he isn’t in any pain or anything, but… it’s just not good. He’ll have to take medicine for the rest of his life. I’m not listing the name of what it is for 2 reasons, 1, it’s a pretty personal issue, and 2, I have NO idea how to spell it. Suffice to say, he needs prayer as he learns to adapt to this. I know I would have a hard time coping with this for awhile, but he’s tougher and smarter than I am so I’m sure he’ll do fine.

On the job front… I wait more. A new opportunity has arisen, but as with just about anything employment related it gets tied up in HR for undefined amounts of time. I need money, somebody better not be playin solitaire when they could be working on my stuff.

Ever feel like your feet are moving faster than the rest of your body, like when you try to sprint down a hill and slow yourself down at the same time? I’m kinda there right now, and I like it.

Wait, you wanna give me WHAT??

Did you predict i'd forget to take my camera on the camping trip? Cuz I did.

Anyway, this is cooler than all that.

Just found out about an oppurtunity here that would make me a GOOD size chunk of change atleast temporarily and potentially long term. Add this to the two jobs I'm interviewing for right now, and things are starting to get interesting...

more details later...

God just sorta has a way of working things out better than i thought He would.

Man, i'm stupid.

The Tail

This weekend will be the first convening of The Tail of the Sagarsee Lineage. My brother's and I are the last Sagarsee male's in our family to the best of our knowledge, and currently there are none coming after us. While we hope to remedy that, the solution is a ways off.

We're going camping at Potato Creek State Park here in in Indiana. Thing's are a lot more expensive than I remember them being last time i went camping at a state park, but it will be with it to spend a weekend with my brothers out in the woods.
Hopefully we'll have some pictures to post of the trip when we get back.
I'm hoping this turns out to be at least an annual thing, now that we've all moved so far apart it's becoming more and more important to schedule time together. No one would have thought we'd eventually grow up when we were hanging upside down from the pine tree out front,but here we are, grown men.

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once and awhile you could miss it." -Ferris Bueller

An hour and a half remained until he was free to leave; no cutting out early today as he had to man the phones from 1 to 5 instead of his prefered 8 to 12. This was the day he'd waited for all week. Friday, the day the love of his life and he would take the trip south to Cincinatti Ohio, home of the famous WKRP. He sat in his chair staring at the computer screen hoping the phone would ring or he would receive an email or an IM... anything to keep him occupied for this last little bit of time. Sure he could have cleaned his desk, but it always seemed pointless until he lost sight of his keyboard. That also was his attitude on washing dishes and doing laundry, both of which he hated doing, but begrudgingly always did. As he looked at his desk he realized he'd forgotten to take his Nexium and knew with the long trip ahead of him he'd best take it now or else this would turn out to be a very unpleasant trip. He popped the purple pill and sipped from the lemonade he had bought at lunch from sbarro. Now that his ulcer is on the way he can't drink caffeine. Don McLean swaggered from his speakers singing about the day that he'll die; if he had died after this song had came out he'd have been an enormous hit and all would have mourned him, but instead he'd gone on to make a load of crappy albums that never went anywhere near American Pie. "eighty degrees" he thought to himself as he checked the weather for the fiftieth time today and looked out the window at the sky littered with clouds and the trees waiving silently in the gentle breeze that must be just outside his window. Behind him he heard his fellow employees discussing things they could have asked him about but didn't. He decided not to chime in because they wouldn't listen anyway. The taste of his cheap lemonade lingered on the roof of his mouth so he went for water. "what is that smell??" he wondered to himself. He had a nose that was stronger than most, and thus was privy to things that most would never notice until they had stepped in it. Something smelled sweaty and kind of like vinegar. He was pretty sure it wasn't him. "still eighty degrees."

an hour and ten left.

Constant Upheaval

A few weeks ago I would have told you my life was nearly perfect, I was looking to get a new job doing the thing I’ve always wanted to do, I was about to talk to the father of the girl I’m in love with, the sky was blue, the birds were chirping… all was well with the world.

Oddly, this scared me. I mean, if everything had gone as well as it looked like it was going to, life would have been perfect… and that’s NEVER been the case for me.

Luckily, something fell through. The job I’ve always wanted fell through, leaving me soon to be unemployed. Right now it’s just a count down until my last day here (Aug 31) and let me tell you it’s hard to stay dedicated when there’s nothing keeping you here. I’m doing it, mind you, but I constantly have to check my attitude.

So I’m job hunting again, I have a few good leads and granted the ND Human Resources Dept IS helping me all they can. I spoke with a lady on Monday, and she’s going to push me to businesses outside of ND that they have good relationships with. I’m pretty stressed about the whole thing of course as this couldn’t have come at a worse time (attempting to save up for a ring).

So, as strange as this sounds, I sort of feel more comfortable this way. That’s probably a lie, I really do hate all this stress, but if things all of a sudden became perfect I’m not sure what I’d do. Maybe I’m not comfortable; maybe the correct word is familiar.

On the super bright side though, her dad gave me the thumbs up to marry his daughter. I feel ridiculously honored and humbled. It’s strange to have a great family on my side and one on her side as well. This is what people always told me to wait for. “She’s out there. Just wait for her. You’ll find her. The perfect girl.”

Believe me, I’ve found her.

A Few Thoughts on Leadership

Ok granted, the buzzword in business and churches alike for the past 10+ years has been “Leadership” and developing leadership, and synergizing leadership and blah blah blah… but what is this creating? Massive amounts of Middle Management. The chance to manage even one or two people is jumped at faster than a $20 on the sidewalk. People would rather have Mgr. before their name than make another $5k. Why? Because we’re told we’re supposed to.

Now I’m not saying John Maxwell isn’t great, and that he doesn’t teach good leadership principles, because he is and does. I like John a lot, but eventually the pendulum he started needs to swing the other way.

Ok, we’ve developed our leaders, but what about our followers?

What are the “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Followers”? Rather than pushing them to perform just for a raise or a new title and some power, shouldn’t we be pushing them to follow because that’s the way you’re supposed to work?

I think the topic has some merit, and over the next few weeks I want to look at it more. Somebody should write a book on this, preferably someone with a longer attention span than mine though…

I think this is especially important for people my age. We come out of college and we’re expecting some high paying job as a CEO. This however seems to be the exception instead of the rule. This leaves us discouraged and disappointed as we assume a role with “Assistant” tagged on the end. How do we become the good followers that our employers will keep on board long enough that we can get rid of that Assistant tag and become Managers? Another question, what’s wrong with being an assistant?

Right now they’re just thoughts to ponder. I want to start down this road though; I’m hoping it doesn’t turn out too much like “Brave New World”

Ole' Kentucky Home

Ok so as promised, here are the pictures from Kentucky.
This is me driving my jeep down the creek. It was really cool, the creek actually crossed the road, in 2 places. note: i didn't say the road crossed the creek, i said the creek crossed the road. Nate and I turned down it and drove up a ways in both directions. This was a pretty shallow part, but still really cool.






These were some of the horses that my cousins own. They had a lot of em. I was really hopin to get to ride one, but the one guy was gone and the other had messed up his back pretty good, but he promised to let me ride next time I come down. These were the mommy and the baby horses. There were probably 6 or 7 pairs in this field.







These were the stallions. Evidently they're pretty virile, as they have like 6 or 7 kids between
the two of 'em. As you can see in the picture, the one on the right is giving the other one a firm pat on the back. Or, he's trying to kick him in the face. Either way they were really cool.









And here's Nate. He's looking as sexy as ever posed on top of a waterfall. You can't really see the
waterfall from this picture, but trust me; it's like a hundred feet tall. This was taken down in the "Holler" where Nate and i spent the night in a cabin my cousin built with a chain saw. WAY cool. The place was seriously neat, they had 3 beds, a fridge, an old wood stove and a disgusting outhouse!! it was just like home! .... ok well i really only have one bed at home, but it's pretty close.



Ok, so i lied it's not really a hundred feet tall, but it's a really cool waterfall. The water level was
down because they hadn't had much rain, but there was still enough water for me to wash my hair in (wash: rinse grease and smoke out from the night before).

Kentucky is a BEAUTIFUL state, if it werent for the complete lack of civilization, i would totally move there. The people there are so much nicer than northerners, land is cheap and brimming with oil (my cousin is an oil rancher in KY) and i could have a dog named Opie if i lived there. I think that's pretty sweet.


Ok, so this one requires some explaining. Nate and I were driving home from Kentucky and since my stereo got stolen, we had to listen to a CD player and ear phones. That song by Michael Jackson was on, the one about butterflies or somethin, and this is the picture Nate took of my interpretive dance. This is the international symbol for "Butterfly".


How DO the ladies control themselves?

Just gimme a minute here

It’s been a long last few weeks for me. Lots of stress and very little rest. Tonight J and I are gonna lay around and probably fall asleep watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

In the last 2 weeks I’ve lost my job, seen friends, seen LOTS of friends, been without J for almost 2 weeks, driven to and from Russell Springs, KY, hung out with my brother at ONU in Ada OH, 4th of July party, made a kung fu video for church, welcomed J home (see previous entry) and killed her the fish I was fish-sitting.

I need a nap. Preferably a nap with the woman I love. My plan for tonight is to fall asleep watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, then wake up and maybe get some pizza hut ordered in… nope nope… I’m broke, no pizza. *sigh* I spent a ton of money on gas getting to KY and back. It sucks when you can’t plan for expenses.

Ok so anyway, this is my last complaining post for awhile I promise. Tonight I’m gonna post my pictures from KY. They’re really cool.

King of Woo

My girl is home.

Wow. It’s funny how much you can miss someone. I mean, sure she’s just “a girl” but… she’s more than that. We’ve spent pretty much every evening together for the past 4 months, and being without that for 2 weeks is like someone coming in and taking the toilet out of your bathroom and saying “hey Bub, I’ll bring this back in a few weeks.” Sure you can get by without it, but do you want to?

Yes. I just realized I compared my girlfriend to a toilet.

I welcomed her home properly; she came over to my place filled with candles and soft music playing in the background. After saying our hellos, I gave her a foot massage as she told me about her drive home. It was so good to see her and just be near her again.

I am the King of Woo.
Woo: Population 2.


There’s a problem with this though.
I’m sitting a really high standard. I mean, if I do stuff like this “Just Because” how do I handle the big things? Can I keep this up for the next 80yrs+? I think I can pull it off at least for another 20 or so before I start to lose my creativity, but… whatever. Right now is good. That’s all that matters.

On a sadder note because of the terrorist attacks that happened this morning her dad wont be able to take his trip to Oxford to present his speech on “The elements of law and religion in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Jack London’s Martin Eden.” He’s of course sympathetic to those in England, but this was a big opportunity for him. He was invited about a month or so ago and it was a great honor, now things are postponed indefinitely.

Pray first for the families of those hurt and killed in the attacks, then pray for him; this would be a tough one.

Lightning Rod

Well before I get into my weekend, let me tell you about my job.

To quote a post 8 months ago “It is finished.”

That’s right kids, Kyle lost his job again. Feel free to start calling me “Lightning rod” as I tend to attract these sort of things.

 

So God is freakin awesome, and I don’t deserve to be called his son. Here’s why:

So big boss calls me and gives me the news. I get pissed. Really pissed, (for the sake of time I wont explain, but I had good reason to be) walk out to my jeep and call and talk to my mom and dad (always a good idea) and they calm me down some. I then had to go to a luncheon for our department. That was uncomfortable. I didn’t talk at all. If you know me that’s rare. My big big big boss at the end of the luncheon gave us the afternoon off and as I was walking out, my boss stops me in the parking lot. She apologizes over and over about how sorry she was that it happened like this, she feels terrible, knows I’ll do fine and will get another job and offers to let me have Friday off. I take it. I get in the jeep and sit there for a minute. Crap. I can’t be mad at her now. She said sorry. But I could still be mad at my big boss, so fine. I just needed to be mad, and that’s ok. So I head back to the office to finish up some stuff. My boss is there. We start talking again, and she mentions that she talked to a lady in HR on her way in and that she’s going to do everything in her power to get me a job here so that I don’t end up unemployed. She has since followed through on that and is going above and beyond what she needs to do to help me out.

 

Now here’s the thing. This all happened within a 3 hour span of time. I’m in shock and awe and anger and various other emotions and then I can’t be mad like I want to be, and then I can’t even worry like I wanted to because I have someone helping me.

 

I read this morning in Purpose Driven Life (Day 18) that we are to forgive right away. Forgiveness isn’t trust, forgiveness is letting go of the past, trust is about future events and it takes a track record to build. So I have to forgive my big boss. So I did that. And im cool now.

 

Moral of my story: When something bad happens, keep your eyes open right away because God can bless you faster than you think. I wanted a good day to mope and be angry, He came through in under 3 hours. God cares more than you think.

I'm Tired

Oh so tired.
I'm supposed to find out today if i get to keep my job or not, and i don't know if I'll even hear today. I'm stressed about that.

I haven't heard anything about the other job that i applied for that is hung up in HR. I'm stressed about that.

There are some projects that i'm working on right now that are for really important people. I messed it up, and now i'm fixing it on a time crunch. I'm stressed about that.

Last night i was at church from 5:30 until 1:15am making a kung fu movie. I'm tired and grouchy. I'm stressed about that.

My grandmother who just found out she has stomach cancer and had most of her stomach removed now will most likely have to take the chemo that they said she probably wouldnt need and just found out that her blind husband has been charging thousands of dollars on credit cards that they cant afford. We're going down there this weekend. I'm stressed about that.

I have no money. None. at all. Yesterday i checked my balance and i was negative a bunch because my insurance direct withdrew my payment. I have overdraft coverage, but because of the timing that's gonna cost me $64 that i didnt want to waste. I'm stressed about that.

My ankle hurts now, even though i haven't twisted it. This is usually caused by heavy stress. I'm stressed about that.

All this stress... is making me a very angry person. If it weren't for self control, i would swear a lot and hit people. Thank you God for that.

My girl is on Prince Edward Island right now.
I wish i were with her.

Another day in paradise

Today is another momentous day for me. They all seem to be as of late. This afternoon I have a meeting to find out if I get my job back(I was RIFed) and then I think I have another one next Tuesday and that will be more about that. ALSO today is my mom’s 43rd birthday so happy birthday to her. ALSO this morning Jeanette left for 2 weeks on a road trip with her mom to Prince Edward Island in Canada. Ya, granted in the grand scheme of things, 2 weeks really isn’t that long, but hey, I’m allowed to miss my girl. Let me tell ya, this whole “Relationship” thing is great. I can’t say it’s been easy, because they never are; but it’s been good. We have our challenges, and our struggles, but we’re both committed to this and we aren’t giving up. For those of you that are counting we’re at 4.5 months. To quell your naysaying (those of you who naysay) who might say things like “oh, you hardly know each other! You probably don’t even get on each other’s nerves yet! It’ll never last! Just wait until she sees how annoying and messy and and and… whatever else you are!!” well to you, I’d like to do a little naysaying of my own…. “Hey! Shut up! Trust me, we get on each other’s nerves, we push each other, we get mad, we forgive, we laugh, we cry (well I mean… SHE does… I’m a man. I don’t cry), we grill out together. So there ya go. My daily quota of nay is now said. (Naysay is one of the best verbs EVER!) Ok so anyway things are going well. Gwyn is gonna mail me her Cable modem so I can get internet up at home and then my blogging revolution will begin anew. Whether or not I’ll stay on xanga is yet to be determined, but I’m leaning away from it strongly. I’ll encourage you all to come follow. It’ll be fun out there. We’ll all go together. Once again a Welshmnky shall lead them. I don’t call you my followers for nothing. Oh and if you are from work and you’re spying on me, I wrote this at lunch and posted it during some free time I had. Thought you should know.