apple o' my eye

ah, thursday. i bought one of these today.





i had a wireless router before, but it screwed up @ some point. and, the conversations i had with a very nice lady @ some outsourced location helped but couldn't fix the problem. so, i figured i would go w/the matching apple one. so i can now walk wirelessly around the apartment connected to the internet.

also did a little memory upgrade. did a partial one when i bought my lapper, but finished the job today.

still not sure about getting one of these yet:

to all you construction heads out there

would you rather have a heavy duty jigsaw or a heavy duty reciprocating saw? both are dewalt.

memorial day haikus

day trip to berkeley
round trip to shop and hang out
good traffic both ways


slip on adidas
super long chinos bought too
but no matching hat


had breakfast for lunch
strange lady flashed her boob
our homeless just yell


day to remember
cost of life paid by many
we're just consumers

booyah!

we finished well.

our girls all scored in the shot put, which makes up for their disappointing showing in the discus. they finished 1st, 2nd, and 8th. really good. really good. so, based on the showing of our throw girls, and one triple jumper, our female team finished in a tie for 4th place. i'm pretty sure this is our best showing ever.

the final results for the top ten schools

   NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships - 5/24/2007 to 5/26/2007
                                 Results at www.cfpitiming.com
                            Fresno Pacific University @ Fresno, CA
                               Team Rankings - Through Event 48
                                      Female Team Scores
 Place        School                                                                 Points

     1        Azusa Pacific University (Ca)                APU                          45
     2        Cedarville University (Oh)                   CEDU                         23
     3        Point Loma Nazarene University               PLNU                         22
     4        Goshen College (In)                          GOSH                         20
     4        Fresno Pacific University (Ca)               FPU                          20
     4        Wayland Baptist Univ. (Tx)                   WBU                          20
     7        Doane College (Ne)                           DOAN                         19
     7        Concordia University (Or)                    CON                          19
     9        Aquinas College (Mi)                         AQU                          18
    10        Hastings College (Ne)                        HAST                         17

track meet stuff

naia track and field day 1
our girls delivered. 1st and 4th in the hammer. very good showing. so, after one event, fpu women leading the nation. some other interesting stuff happened. a plane circled during the opening ceremonies, pulling a huge banner welcoming everyone to cockerham field. ummm, guerrilla alumni anyone?

check me out

newsworthy. that's me. i've got the video on vhs. maybe they'll post in on their website too

make a left at albuquerque

so, it's been about a year. a year since what you say? well, since i graduated from seminary. i went to seminary to really figure out what i wanted to do next in life. i also needed space to really weigh options while i furthered my education.

so, did i figure out what i want to do? sure. am i convinced that this is what i'll be doing for any substantial point in my life? not at all.

now, i don't feel like i'm on a road to nowhere. i've definitely got irons in the fire (speaking of irons, today is a golf tourney i usually play in. but not this year. it's been so long since i've had the clubs out. dang. need to at least get to a driving range or something. back to the story.) see, i'm teaching this weekend. which is a great thing. in fact, it's what i really want to do, teach @ the university level. throw in working with track athletes and it's pretty much where i hoped to be.

i guess i get the point where i feel like i'm spinning my wheels is that both of those previous two things are very part time. then, you mix in another part time teaching job. so, i'm busy doing things, as illustrated by recent posts. but it doesn't feel like i'm moving towards a goal. i don't have graduation or adulthood to look forward to, although i'm not sure i've ever really reached that latter one.

when i look @ it, i think i am moving forward. i have my foot in the door like i hoped, and am still hoping it leads to further opportunities to teach, and work. but, the whole part time nature still leaves you up in the air, thinking, "i hope i'm working next term." there are no guarantees, and looking @ my next term @ the j.c. level, no classes. that's only five weeks off, and i know that i will be subbing a 40 hour week in there, so it's really only four weeks of potentially not working. but, i won't know for another month or three if i've got any classes @ the university.

then, mix in working with a church. now, i'm not in any sort of vocational position or opportunity right now. but, i have had a chance recently to speak more, be more involved in the things we're doing right now, to give some more leadership. and you, it feels good. it feels right at points. but it's not anywhere close to a job, and i'm pretty sure that it shouldn't be.

i don't know where i'm going with all this. i know that it's saturday morning @ 7:45 a.m., and i've got to finish getting ready for my class today. 8:30 start. looks like we'll do a working lunch, and stuff never quite goes as long as it should, so i hope to be done by 4 at the latest (if not maybe 3:30!). this class is interesting for many reasons, and one is that i'm team teaching it with the dean of my department. no pressure like working with the guy that controls your job.

anyhow, thanks for letting me throw this all out there. wait a minute, why am i thanking you? this is my blog. shoot, you should thank me for giving you all insight into what i'm thinking.


wink wink

so, if i don't pick up the phone

it's getting hectic. well, as least for a few days.

today and tomorrow i'm teaching a weekend class.
next week is the final week of the term for my j.c. class - this means a paper, a final, and a bunch of scrambling by students.
next week is also the naia national championships for track. so, we're going to have our hands full as we finish prepping for the event. i'm in charge of weights & measures again, so i'll be spending almost all of wednesday through saturday over at the track.

but, when the week is all done, it's a whole lot of free time on my hands. i don't have another weekend class until mid-june. i'm not teaching @ the j.c. for the next 5 weeks, although i'll be doing some sub duties. and, track will be done for the year.

do you know where that cookie's been?

this is a really cool psa. well done, catchy, drives home a good point. and it's more than just one to grow on. it reminds me of of an old urban legend about going to a sex ed talk.

what smells?

so, i know everyone likes to feel so fresh and so clean (clean). i wouldn't suggest using lysol however. but, at one point, they did.

scary. don't try that at home. but hey, do what you want to do.

btw, the last two episodes of the office have been very good. super funny. don't miss the season finale this week.

for you comicphiles

wondering if you've seen this?

when the pimp's in the crib

i don't care if you've ever seen this before. click on the link and enjoy. let it load.



btw, blogger's advanced a little. now i can change fonts. ooh. and some other stuff, too, i'm sure.

what a weekend

so, as i mentioned the other day, we were going to a wedding up in san francisco. it was for heather's cousin. those of you who know heather's family, they accept people in close, and so heather's cousin is loosely her cousin. she's the daughter of heather's aunt's previous husband. but, we'd hung out with her when we were in college. really nice girl, from norway. so, we thought that the wedding was mainly for family, friends, etc here. well, they had only had a civil ceremony in norway, and this wedding was for all the family and friends. we knew it was at a norwegian church, but we never figured that it would be in norwegian. the whole ceremony. a few english stuff, but the priest was norwegian (been stateside for 3 years) and the whole deal went down in norwegian. which was cool.


here's heather outside the church


the view from the church


the trinity. i always love taking photos of art in churches.

so, like i was saying earlier, it was a norwegian ceremony. the couple came down the aisle together, and then sat in chairs facing the priest, just like the rest of us. they were at the front, but this was an interesting little touch.



two more pics of the scenery. you can see how close alcatraz was.


the reception was here. it was a really nice place, right on the edge of golden gate park, near haight ashbury.


in their tradition, they stand on a chair and kiss when you click on the glasses.




we got one of the new dollar coins. i don't really care about dollar coins, and generally don't use them. i thought these were pretty cool because the writing (e pluribis unim, etc) are all on the edge of the coin.


we had breakfast with some of the family the next morning. her's heather & her cousin.

we skipped out on going to the moma. got lazy. but, we still headed to the zoo. on the way, we came across beautiful scenery. and, we stumbled upon something i'd seen on california's gold. "that's amazing!"

this was an old water park/public baths/water park dealy. it's no longer there, but you can wander around the where they used to be. frankly, i can't imagine going here and getting in the water because it was freakin cold and windy.









so, we were walking around the ruins, and were on what used to be a wall of sorts. there was a little drop off on both sides (a few feet). fall either way and you're getting wet. anyhow, i was walking in front, and heather was 3-5' behind me. now, the deal we were walking on was about 2' wide. as i walked along, i came to a square hole, about 1.5'x1.5'. I stepped over it, and continued on. i was stepping up onto a higher level when i heard something behind me.

and heather had fallen into this whole. now, she'll admit that she's sorta clumsy, and balance and athleticism haven't been strengths of her life. she just didn't see this whole in the thing we were walking on, and fell right in. and sat there for a bit. i quickly asked if she was alright, and kept asking to make sure. unlike some of you, i didn't just laugh at her (you know who you are, laughing when i fell down some stairs. okay, it was just two stairs and i didn't care.)


she's got a bit of a scrape on her leg. and some bruises. but, she was pretty much alright. and, a few other people also asked if she was alright.



then it was off to the zoo where we met eleanore.


i thought this was a cool shot where you could see some of the zoo set up, as well as the ocean in the background. beautiful day to be wandering around.

as we watched the penguins get fed (no, those aren't happy feet. they are penguins) i saw this fashion statement. this girl had on a short denim skirt, a pullover fleece, flip flops and knit leg warmer/sock things. wha?

heather got cuddly with a big cat & kitten.

we saw a grizzly. i'm shooting this from over a fence, as the grizzly exhibit isn't open yet. but i also got video of the bears playing with each other, chasing about. i also have a video where heather tries to catch a peacock.

so, if you molest a tarantula, it will inflict a painful something. not quite sure what painful thing it will do, as that part of the sentence was left out. but, i understand. i might also do something painful if molested.

ah, meerkats (not timon). i've got video of them play fighting.

after the zoo, we dropped eleanor (does your name have an "e" @ the end?) across from her apartment. we took the detour due to the melted bay bridge, but since i was driving i couldn't see the damage. adam tells me you can if you look quickly. and aren't driving. we then made good time back to fresno, and i met up with nick & adam and played some wii. i'm sure he'll post funny video of that at some point.

taking a stand for the little guy?

wow. i just read an amazing article about a businessman putting himself out of business to make a point. he didn't like the business practice of the multinational corp he worked for, and so he did something about it.

although this seem like a stupid idea, it's the sort of thing you can do when you've already made it.

"I'm going out with a bang,'' says Oyster.

plans

so, this weekend we're hoping to do some cool stuff. first, we're going to a wedding in sf. heather's cousin from norway is getting married. well, she already got married over there, but is having a ceremony for family, friends, whoever out here. so, we're doing that on friday.

then, we're staying the night at this hotel. got a good deal through hotwire.com, think it's rated like 4.5 stars out of 5. when we head up that ways we like to stay @ hotels like that. maybe it makes up for all the places we've stayed in vegas.

on saturday, it looks like we'll try and get up sorta early (well, for a saturday) and hit up the sf zoo. we really dig going to zoos, and sf zoo is actually one of our favs.

after the zoo, i think we'll try and hit the moma. they have a picasso show going (one of my favs), and i always love the chance to hit up museums in big cities. fresno actually gets pretty cool art shows sometimes, but usually not quite like sf.

then, we'll head back to fresno. i imagine we'll be home around 8:30 or 9, and we'll be ready to hang out with you all.

peta @ fig garden

just thought i'd put up one of pictures i took today from peta's "protest." it didn't seem like too much of a protest, and they weren't really focused on anything, or any store in particular. just holding some signs. i also thought it was a bit disengenuous that the protester only wearing skin really was also wearing undergarments. hey, if you want to be all bad and bold, go for it. but don't talk all big and not deliver. or something like that.

(or, maybe this is a shameless ploy for more blog hits by putting out terms like nude girl. maybe if it was evangeline lily, kandice, jay z's sister, candice and dustin, muffin top pants, or other terms that people have got to my blog by in the past. sorry, unlike eleanor i've never gotten a search for a self-fellating fetus*.)

*disclaimer: eleanor sometimes uses "colorful" language. in fact, that post i linked to might offend you if you. or it might not. especially if you searched for that.

video video

so, i saw an interesting story on fresno famous. there was going to be a peta protest over @ fig garden village today. they offered $5 to the first person to upload some photos to their flicker group. i thought, "i'm not doing anything @ this second, why not cruise over there and shoot a few pics?" so i hopped on the bike and did. on the way home, i thought i'd catch some video of me driving my vegas, and so i did that too. it's not the greatest, but it's interesting. there's a few seconds where i reach over with my left hand and grab the camera so it's steady.

nuts for oil!

just read the most amazing story about an alternative fuel: coconuts! papua new guinea has long suffered the tremendous cost of importing oil based fuels, and has developed a viable solution.

it's all about the oil. pretty much, this seems like a different biodiesel. but it seems like we can grow a tree, and then take the coconut and make fuel. that sounds tremendously safer, cheaper & and more eco friendly than drilling wells, and so on.

fun times

doing my monday night t.a. gig right now. the first hour of class, the teleconference stuff wasn't working. pretty much the only reason they have ta's @ the different centers is in the event that there is a problem such as this. the thing is, no one is really trained on how to trouble shoot the system. so, we kept trying to call the other classrooms to no avail. then, we gave up for like a half hour (after a half hour of trying). on a whim, we called again, and it worked. smooth.

so, i'm also grading papers during this time (for a completely unrelated deal). there should have been 26 papers submitted. 15 actually turned in. 5 of which contain elements of plagiarism. good times. i'm not sure if people don't know how to write papers or what. well, i do know that most understand how to write and could at least attempt to give credit. heck, at least improperly give credit. but, there is so much cut & paste going on. heck, i even found someone using a pdf file that i could find on the 'net.

for all writers out there: if you can find your info with a google search, so can i. really, that's all i do. google sentences. and when it pops up, and you haven't quoted or cited it, you're in trouble.

amazing race all stars finale

so, tonight was the finale of the amazing race all stars. mike joined heather and i in watching it. let's refresh our memories of
who we picked

mike picked rob & amber, and candice & dustin
heather picked charla & mirna, and oswaldo and danny
i picked eric & danielle, and candice & dustin

the final three: charla & mirna, candice & dustin, eric & danielle, so we all had a chance to win. and i had two of the final three right, much better than the previous season.

(spoiler for you t-vo people)



and the winner is
eric & danielle. the funny thing is, i don't remember picking them, so i'm glad that i blogged about it. candice & danielle came in 2nd, charla & mirna (the team i despise) finished third.


booyakasha respect.

a post for lefty (and all you other comic book heads too)

hey, so while i watched spider man an idea popped in my head. but, i forgot it. now, i'm watching the batman and it came to mind again.

who pays for all the damage done by these superhero fights? have they covered that in any comics, even if briefly?

601 = drunk hoff, spidey sense

for my 601st post, a little interesting story about david hasselhoff. it seems that he has a bit of a drinking problem. and, he's attempting to shut it down. there's a video out there of him drunk, that he made. i guess it's working, because he says he's "back on his game."

i haven't found the video yet online, but it's all over the celebrity news shows.

in other news, i will be going to see spider man 3 at the recockulously early time of 3:15 a.m. i'm not really sure why, as i didn't even see the second one yet. but, for some reason, it sounded like something fun to do. maybe because of the black suit storyline.

safer roads ahead

generally i don't revel in someone else's potential downfall, but this would be very good.

boo hoo man u

so, i was greatly disappointed today in manchester united. it's not that i'm a big fan of theirs, it just that i despise italian teams. so, when milan crushed them 3-0, i was upset. although, i must admit that the first two goals were amazing shots. so, kudos to liverpool and ac milan for making it to the champions league final.

triumph rocket 3

the la times has a spiffy review of the new triumph motorcycle. and holy crap, i thought my vegas' 1634 cc was a big beast of an engine. this thing has 2294 cc engine. yow! watch the video, too. it's actually a better review than the article, in my opinion. i'd be curious to actually see the bike in person, get an idea about size. the reviewer, a lady, seems very small in comparison to the bike. i mean, i think this bike is probably a big ol' beast (bigger engine & weight that my vegas) but how much bigger?

bush vetoes spending bill as promised

president defies will of people. that is, if you believe that we are a representative democracy, and that the last election voiced the will of the people on key issues that are country is facing, like, say...the war.

and let us never forget that victory was declared years ago by this same president. now, president says that we will be defeatists, that we will let the terrorists win if we set a time table for withdrawal. so, we're defeatists if we withdraw troops from an area where war is over? oh, does that mean the war never was over? or are we saying that the "sectarian violence" is civil war now?

btw, as much as i have been wholeheartedly against this war, i also don't agree with the proposed timetable. not that i'm against timetables, but i don't see how this particular one actually accomplishes any sort of stability in the area. i also disagree with a president that says he will veto and bill that has a timetable.