Reflections on my thanksgiving break

Up front, let me say, I really enjoyed the break from school. Nice to sit back and get a breather, but alas, it comes to an end and then back to the daily grind. But this week was not without its events, so let me recap them for you.

Got home on Tuesday and just took it easy. Relaxed, watched TV, and that's about it. Wednesday, took it easy in the morning (movies and laundry), worked on bowling balls in the afternoon, the sister and the Brit got in, bowled that night (669). Thursday, watched some TV in the AM, then helped serve a free thanksgiving lunch at church, Sean and abigail (the sis-in-law) got in, played some video games, went to National Treasure (pretty good flick), then home for more video games. Friday, video games, video games, lunch, the Brit left, video games, supper, a play at the local playhouse, board games w/ friends, and then video games until 2 AM. Saturday, video games, breakfast, video games, bowled in a tournament with Dad (we just missed the cut...boo!), Sean and Abigail left during bowling, then home for pizza and a movie. That's been my break.

Now for a quick note on video gaming. We spent the entire several days playing Star Wars: Battlefront for the PS2. This game rocks!! It was a lot of fun. While everyone should enjoy the classic rebel v. empire thing, I greatly enjoyed the difficulty of the droids v. clones (playing as clones, of course). One friggin' sweet game. Plus, the body count was astronomical.

That's it. Family's cool, foods good, and video games rock. I'm outie.

My giving thanks

I've decided to go ahead and put out a list of what I'm thankful for. This might get a bit mushy, but who cares, tis the truth, yo. So here it is (in no particular order, just as it comes to me).

Family: I have been blessed with about the coolest family. My brother is cool (a bit weird, but that fits the family trend). We get along well and enjoy similar movies and love the video games. I imagine we will be 50 and still play video games at family gatherings. My little sister (aka the young'un) is pretty cool as well. We too get along well, mostly in the joking way. I tease her, but she knows that I will do anything for her. My mom is the sweetest little old lady around (I do mean little and old-- 4'11" and 52). She's about the nicest person you'll ever meet, and it's because of her, I strive to be nice to everyone in all situations. And that brings me to my dad. I could do an entire post about how I love my dad. I can talk to him about anything. He's my father, my best bowling buddy (coach and mentor), my friend, and my minister. Typically we talk bowling, but it's amazing to know I can always go to him.

God: I must give some big props to the "Head Honcho." Without Him there would literally be nothing. I will often disagree and have different views from many people out there about the details, but the foundation remains. I love God, his son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and they in turn love me despite all my faults. God is good....All the time!!!

Friends: I've got a kick butt core group of friends. I'm not exactly a social butterfly, but I can get along with most people. But I have some friends I'm very close to and talk to about anything. I have some friends (one in particular) that I'd like to get to know a little better. But anyway, I'm surrounded by people that will support and push me in most all of my life goals.

My life: I can honestly say that I would not want to trade my life for anyone elses. I know I have faults and shortcomings, but I have been blessed greatly. To name a few: intelligence, wit, humor, niceness, calmness in most situations (speaking, tests, etc.), humility (wouldn't belive that after this list, huh?), and the ability to bowl. I love to bowl. I take it seriously (sometimes too seriously), but it is my passion in life. Everytime I get that oppurtunity, it really is a gift and a joy.

Well, before people begin to think that I'm a bit too mushy let me wrap this puppy up with a great saying: Yippee-ki-yea Mr. Falcon!!

Falling further behind

Behind my dad that is. The man is a bowling stud. This weekend he won a seniors tournament, but more than one he: 1) bowled his 2nd 800 series, 2) led the tournament from start to finish, 3) averaged 254 over 8 games. That's amazing. And by falling behind I'm referring to the 800. My dad has 13 300 games (that's perfect), and prior had 1 800 (now 2). I have 4 300 games and 1 800. So, before this weekend I was tied in the 800 category, but alas, it is not to be. That's ok, I don't mind falling behind the old man. The guy can bowl. I might be as good as he is...maybe.

Speaking of bowling, I bowled well tonight. Games or 181-270-202 = 653. The 270 was worth both singles pots (scratch and handicap) and with a teammate doubles. In all it was worth $160 or so. Always nice to win money. I won all my points, but as a team we pretty much got rolled. Such as life.

On a side note, I love not having school (Today, I got up at 10, did a little laundry and played video games, then went to eat, did a little christmas shopping, and then bowled). I wish all days would go like this. If I hit the lottery that would be a typical day.

Alrighty, I'm out to meet my roomie from last year. Lata yo.

Detroit sucks!

Ok, Quite recap before ranting about Detroit. Clusters are finished and that is awesome. Initial feelings are that I did alright, not as well as I often do, but still decent enough. In other things, I've gotta stop overthinking things. All I do is think up situations that rarely (but generally never happen). Anyway, enough of that.

Now to the heart of the matter. In case, you didn't see it, the Pacers/Piston game ended in a nasty fight. Here's the gist: Artest fouls Ben Wallace hard (it was uncalled for), Wallace pushes Artest, small pushing match betweens teams, then a fan threw a bottle and hit Artest in the head...Artest responded and went into the stands and fought with the guy...from there the fans just went crazy and were throwing stuff and attacking the Pacers all over the place. It was ugly looking. Here's the bottom line, what in the world were the fans thinking? Sore losers perhaps. It was ridiculous. Get over it, you lost, keep you bottles in hand, your mouths shut, and get some intelligence. Detroit fans (not all, but a lot of them) have got to be nearly the lowest kind of people out there. Alright, enough of that. Pacers won the game!!

Well, I should probably be hitting the ole dusty trail.

A bunch of randomness

First a quick recap of what's up. Spent the weekend in New Lisbon doing a fair amount of learning (that's right, its cluster time again!!). Bowled tonight, 257-204-191=652. Threw the ball well, won all my points, and $40 for that first game. Alright, now for the randomness.

I think the new Mustang's are frickin' awesome looking. And the coolest thing is, about the time I have the funding and ability to buy a car of my own, they will be 4 years old and getting to my price range. That thought just rocks!!!

I really need to slow my mind down. It just gets an idea/topic in there and does not stop thinking about it. I think out all kinds of possibilities that could happen. Get myself a bit worked up, and then alas, it never goes as I think it and I get myself a bit disappointed.

Next, why in the world to people stress themselves out over tests. I understand that is very important to do well. I understand that I stress about as little as anybody, but on the flip side, it is not worth getting as stressed as a lot of people do. They almost literally get sick with worry and stress. Ridiculous. Take it easy and study and do your best.

Finally, do you know how annoying it is to listen to people talk about stuff they know very little about, but think they are experts? For example, tonight at bowling, here's what I kept hearing. Somebody with 30 pins of handicap (about a 175 average) was telling a teammate what needed to be down. It was crazy. The guy knew absolutely nothing. He threw the ball terrible and his "advice" was not going to be helpful. It's stupid. Why do people think they know everything when they know nothing? Is it just wrong to say "I don't know"?

Alright, randomness done for now.

One final thought: A cow's spots are only as clear as the toads croak at midnight.

Funny comments from class

Quick little context. In my Drug information "lab" session, we had 45 minutes to do a group case worksheet. My randomly assigned group consisted of 3 good friends and 1 acquaintance (who is quite the fun little girl...but I digress). We had our 9 questions done in about 15 minutes, leaving us with 30 minutes to goof off. This being said we started doing some state capital trivia. I asked Jamie (the acquaintance) to name the 4 states with capitals that have the same name as former Presidents [answers at the end of post...so think hard]. She began thinking, when Meredith threw out the question to name the 4 states whose capital starts with the same letter as the state. So, here we are discussing capitals, probably a bit louder than we should, and the other 4 groups are hard at work. Here are the great comments:

Jamie - "There's Columbus Ohio....wait, Columbus wasn't a president."

Meredith - (trying to give a hint of a states location) "It's a southern Midwest state." Sadly, she was referring to Mississippi.

Newsflash!!! Mississippi is not, nor has ever been, considered to be a Midwestern state. It is Deep South, South, Southeastern, or Gulf Coast...not Midwest. Needless to say, Meredith will not be my lifeline on a geography question.

Great stuff. I love group work with friends. Get done quick and goof off!!

Answers to the state capital questions:

Named after Presidents: Jefferson City, MO; Jackson, MS; Madison, WS; Lincoln, NE

Same letter as State: Indianapolis, IN; Oklahoma City, OK; Dover, DE; Honolulu, HI


I hope you enjoyed and got a bit of a chuckle (if not, I understand...you kinda had to be there).

That's it. Later, yo!!

Kyle

Grade update

Well, as of Friday, I have gotten all of my grades back from this past set of clusters (that ended 2 weeks ago...yep, some of my professors are a bit slow in grading, but that's cool, right?). Here's the rundown:

Principles of Drug Action - 93%
Therapeutics - 93%
Case presentation - 44/45
Self Care - 88%
Kinetics - 92%
Drug Information - 97%

I will take those kind of grades from now until the cows come home.

Study hard to party hard, yo!

I'm the victim

I'm sure your first thought is I'm going to complain about something arbitrary and just whine....but that is far from the truth. This time I truly was a victim (along with my 3 housemates). At about 10:15ish on Friday morning, our house was broken into and burglarized. I left for class about 9:15-30. My roommate Scott returned at 11 to find the mess. Timing almost seems like the guys were casing the place. A neighbor said he saw a white truck parked in our car port. He said that he'd seen the truck around our house before and just figured it to be a friend of ours...NOT quite. Anyway, here's the list of currently missing stuff: 2 guitars, 2 laptop computers (thankfully not mine), 1 TV (again not mine), a DVD player, an ampliphier, and here's the stuff of mine they got -- my 3oo rings, 800 series watch, and my ESPN sportscenter watch. I believe that's it. Alas, bad things happen to good people. Good news is no one was hurt, we can all manage with what was lost, just kinda sucks.

Any information leading to return of our goods results in the reward. Most likely graditude (we our poor college students).

Stupid punk jerks...Boo!

My election thoughts

Alright, here goes my opinions on the elections. I stayed up late into the night only to find that no winner had been declared. Even upon rising in the morning, some stations did not have a projected winner. Things looked bleek for Kerry and the democrats and quite promising for Bush and the republicans. I was pleased to see that we will not have any controversy this time around and that a canidate finally got >50% of the vote (barely). Here's my voting and some reasoning (like it or not):

President - Kerry. This was not much of a contest for me. I think Bush has not been a good president, and I agree with very little that he says/does. I believe his economic plans (deficit spending and tax cuts) are driving the nation down, his foreign policy is nearly non-existent, and the justification for (what weapons?) and relentless defending of the war in Iraq is ridiculous. On the "moral" front, I still don't agree with much. While I will never actively encourage abortion or the gay lifestyle (might post more later about the marriage issue), I feel that people should have the right to both and not be restricted or persecuted for them (PS. I am a Christian and love my faith). As a health-care professional (to-be), Stem cell research is a fascinating field that should be further studied. Questions or comments (NOT attacks on my views) are welcome.

Governor - Kernan. To be honest, I wasn't going to be overly displeased no matter who won. My rationale for Kernan was based on a little bit of faith in the guy. He really has not been given a chance to lead the state. He took over in a bad situation and pretty much was riding out the term. I honestly feel he was going to overhaul government and initiate his own policies. Daniels, I felt, was out of touch with Indiana. He is a millionaire who has been living and working in DC (for Bush I might add). I believe that Daniels will also be overhauling state government and this is a good thing. Sadly, he probably will push to the forefront issues such as anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage. Again, I am not currently disappointed with this turn out.

Senator - Bayh. I really like Evan Bayh. He hasn't done anything to make me want him voted out of office, and if the cards fall right, he stands a shot at presidency in 2008. In addition, Marvin Scott (a professor at my school) really brought nothing to the table. Scott has also lost (twice, I believe) to Julia Carson in Congressional races...and Carson is an idiot. [Personal thought, Indiana may very well have the best Senator duo in the nation...Lugar and Bayh(one R and one D)...one heck of a presidential ticket?]

Representative - Abstained. I knew nothing about Hostettler or Jennings. No commercials aired for these guys in Indianapolis, and I spent little time at home to read up on them. So, I did not feel like voting for them.

Local - voted based on name. Let's be honest, these elections hardly matter. Clerk's office, coroner, who cares...so I voted based on the coolness or uniqueness of names. Maybe that's wrong, but hey, it's a free country.

There you have it. My thoughts and reasons for votes. I may sound like a die-hard Democrat, but it's not true. I vote for whoever I feel is best. There are some republicans that I truly like (McCain, Lugar, Colin Powell...to name a few). To say the least, I lean to the liberal side of moderate.

Final thoughts: Could be a long 4 years & the Electoral College sucks.