Welcome to my Monday

So, I was thinking last night. I like to write. I've always liked to write. Not necessarily for school assignments or work projects but rather for fun. I enjoy updating my blog and I hope more people will be willing to read it. For now I'm just writing it for me.

Writing for me is like reading. When you are assigned a book to read in english class it's the worst book you've ever read. However, Since graduation I've gone back and read some of those books and quite enjoyed them. There was only one book I read in english class that I enjoyed at the time: The Great Gatsby. I still really like that book. But I've also read other books like The Good Earth which I hated at the time. I really liked it the second time around. Since high school I've read a lot more than I did then. But now it's books that I choose, books that are interesting to me.

Back to writing. I can't stand writing assignments. But I can keep up a blog and have fun with it. This isn't a chore. It's an outlet. I really enjoy sharing my thoughts and feelings with anyone who wants to read it. Even if no one wants to read it I get some benefit from putting down my thoughts. Plus I get to ask everyone,"Hey, have you seen my blog?"

So here's some thoughts: Screw congress for giving us a watered down healthcare bill that won't help me, Screw Toyota for putting out an inferior product and knowing about it while trying to cover it up, thanks to everyone who remembered my birthday and made it great, and thanks to everyone for reading my blog. Let everyone know to come check it out. I need comments so that I can have discussions about things that interest myself and anyone reading.

Again, thanks for reading.

Well, it's Thursday.

I really have nothing to write about today. I got a new hat yesterday. I think that may have been the highlight of the day. Plus it was half off. Bonus. We also bought some pants for Chaunie and a shirt for TJ. My day yesterday was quite boring and regular. Absolutely nothing happened yesterday to warrant blogging about. Nothing went wrong and nothing was out of place. There were no surprises. I got my first issue of Y: The Last Man. I started reading that and am loving it. So maybe this blog will be a "what I am reading now" entry.

So I have read the first Fables book and the first Ex Machina book. Both look promising. And as I said before I read the first Y: The Last Man book. Loved it. I am also reading The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy. I am in the second book which is the Restaurant at the end of the Universe. It's really fun to read. I would suggest reading any of the classics, of course, and anything from Edgar Rice Burroughs. I really like Pirates of Venus and Moon Men. Pixar is currently working on a John Carter movie (live action) down in southern Utah. Exciting. I also recommend Soon I Will Be Invincible for anyone who likes super hero stories. It tells the story from the villains point of view. I liked it.

If you are into geeky stuff like comic books or video games please listen to Geekshow Podcast. No they are not paying me. It is a must for any fans.

By the way, for my birthday my lovely and understanding wife got me a remote control R2-D2. I have been asking for it for a year. I wanted to get it for Christmas but didn't. I love you Cheryl. Even though you don't read my blog.

If anyone has any suggestions on something to read please let me know. I am looking for new comic series to pick up. I like reading the trades because I don't like to wait for the individual books.

Thanks for reading.

Riding

Today was the first day this season that I got to ride my bike to work. It was a little chilly, I won't lie. More invigorating though. I love riding. I forgot how much I love riding when I was 16 or 17 and was blinded by hormones and beautiful women. I have almost been married now for 12 years and it has taken this long for me to get back into it more seriously. I have someone to ride with now that Chauntay has inherited an interest. She loves it about as much as I do. She's been maybe 3 times and she's already hardcore. I wish Jacob liked it more. He looks at it like it's a chore. I hope someday that all 5 of us will be able to go and enjoy riding as a family. And I hope to do it for a long while.

So last weekend I got all of my bikes and Chaunie's bike prepped for spring riding. It snowed. So I started to plan for this weekend and I even got a pseudo commitment from my friend Theon to go riding as long as it was on an easy trail. I was planning on riding the Shoreline Trail. Thursday and Friday it is supposed to rain and snow. Now I understand that it is March still but for crying out loud! I want to ride. That's why I said forget it I'm riding to work today. It may be the only riding I get to do this week. I guess I have to start looking at the next weekend for riding.

I love riding for a lot of reasons that everyone can probably agree with. I love riding because it's fun to ride through the forest or whatever and go fast and feel the adrenaline flowing through your veins. I love riding because it's good exercise. But my number one reason for riding is the calm that I get from riding. After a good long ride I'm tired, sore, maybe a little beat up, but I feel calm and fulfilled. There is nothing else that I can do to replicate that feeling. I feel good for the rest of the week. It's a week long high. I love it. It also keeps my kwirks in check. I am a lot happier, less anxious, and generally easier to get along with when I ride on a regular basis. If you have never ridden a mountain bike please try it once. Even if you go up to a ski resort and ride the lift up and ride your bike down because you don't want to ride up. Do it. You will not regret riding. If not riding, hike. Get back to nature. Commune. Enjoy. Meditate. And you will be a better person for it.

Thanks for reading

It's Official

I am now 30. As of 3:10 am this morning. Exciting, I guess. Like I said before I really don't know how getting older should feel. If anyone can enlighten me on this please let me know.

I have told everyone that asks me what I want for my birthday to surprise me. Sure there are things I want (God of War III, my PS3 fixed, a new car) but I want to see how well people know me. I know I drop hints all the time I just wonder if anyone knows how to pick up on them. Well my family, you have until Sunday to figure that out. Cheryl is surprising me with something that she won't tell me. I'm excited to find out.

People always talk about the best gift they ever got for their birthday. It's usually something that a lot of thought was put into and it took them off guard. I don't know if I've ever had something like that. I've had a lot of good gifts in the past but nothing I wasn't really expecting. I've had surprises but even they were the type that I could've seen coming. So for all of you planning on getting me something, surprise me.

I am going to spend my birthday working, eating food that I want (Rio Grande Cafe's Tuesday special) and probably relaxing the way I want. I usually take my birthday off but we need the money and I don't get paid time off. With Disneyland coming up we need all the money we can get. Come on feds, I'm still waiting for that check.

I feel really good this morning and that's what your birthday should feel like. I hope to have a great day and it's always interesting to see how many people remember it's my birthday. Not counting my family, 2 people so far as of this writing have remembered. I hope many more will by the end of the day.

Thanks for reading.

Happy Birthday to me!

It's my birthday coming up. I will be 30 at 3:10 am tomorrow morning. It's funny to think that I'm that old but I feel like I just left high school. I don't really feel old. Of course how am I supposed to know what old feels like? I read comic books, play video games, ride my bike in the mud and love it. At the same time I have bad knees and feet and occasionally I throw out my back. Maybe that's old. of course I've had that for a while. I still get excited to see what I get for gifts for my birthday and for Christmas. I am just a big kid for sure. I look at the toys when we go shopping, not for the kids but for me. And by the way there are some really cool toys out now. I like to read books that I read when I was young. Edgar Rice Burroughs is still one of my favorite authors. I wouldn't consider him a literary genius or anything but the stories he tells are just great. Sci fi and pirates, warring aliens and people made out of goo for sport. I love them.
As we get old are we supposed to wax nostalgic about our past? Are we supposed to think back fondly of growing up, going to school, making and losing our friends? I have stayed in touch with one person from high school on any kind of regular basis. And she has such a crazy schedule that we hardly get to speak. Cheryl works with someone that I went to school with and I've talked to her once. So I don't know what getting old should feel like. I feel like me. And I always will feel like me.
The only way I can tell I'm getting older is the amount of responsibility I incur. Your bills are directly proportionate to your age. The amount of junk in your house is also directly proportionate to your age. Doesn't matter how hard you try to dejunk your house, kids and spouses will spoil it. So enjoy the ride. It will last as long as you do.

I fought the law...

So I'm just going to dive right in with this one today. I had a bad day yesterday. Cheryl had a bad day yesterday. We have this long running issue going on with our dentist about some disputed charges. It's been going on for 3 years now. I won't go into detail now because it would take all day. Needless to say it was sent to collections about 2 weeks ago. It has now been turned over to a law firm and is probably being filed for court as I write this. Because of the recent events we now owe $1000 more than the original bill. Does this sound right to you? The law firm probably picked up the debt from the collection agency for pennies on the dollar and they are still going to try to squeeze everything out of us. If they do we won't be able to pay our bills, buy food, get to work using gasoline. It's flat out rediculous.

Say what you want about our president and his 1 trillion dollar healthcare bill but all of this would have been avoided if we had a 1 payer system. If we lived in Canada this wouldn't be an issue. I am so pissed off at not just the Republicans for stalling and saying NO to everything just because it was proposed by a Democrat, but I'm also pissed at the weak Democrats. Apparently you can't get anything done when you have a majority. Get this stupid thing passed so that people like me who are poor and can't afford good quality issurance don't continue to get screwed by insurance companies. Why is this such a big issue? Please give me a reasonable argument why we can't insure our population. We spend more now on the people who are treated in emergency rooms without insurance than we would with universal healthcare. Run down the list of countries that have universal healthcare. How many of them are socialist? How many of them are going to hell in a handbasket because they don't have to worry about exhorbatant medical costs? It makes me sick.

So now we have to figure out how to pay these bastards or we get our lovely day in court. Who do you think will win?

Thanks for reading.

Where will I be....

I have goals in my life believe it or not. Some of them even include working. I have always wanted to live a rich leisurely life. I have always wanted to travel and see the world. I have a huge list of places that I want to see before I die. I'm not too much into the skydiving, climbing Mt. Everest, hiking the Appalachian Trail (the real trail dirty people) but rather I want to see Rome, Paris, Tokyo, and those kinds of things. Some of my strange goals include living in Polynesia, living the life they live. Or maybe joining the Peace Corps and helping out with underprivileged nations. I would love to experience the world through the eyes of the people and not the eyes of a tourist. Some of my dreams have passed me by. I will never play for a NBA team, I probably won't be a mountain bike racer professionally, and I never did go on a LDS mission. Not realizing my dreams wasn't the end of the world, disappointing yes, but life went on.

My goals have evolved. Now I want to raise good kids. I want to pay my bills. I want to enjoy myself on the weekends going to dinner with friends and riding my bike with my family. I want to get in shape. I want to learn more about cooking. I want to play video games. And the strange thing about all of these goals is that I'm living them now. These goals are not far away in the future, they are happening every day. My kids are good kids. TJ just got straight 5's on his report card which corresponds to straight A's plus he was above average in all categories. I have to pay him 10 bucks now. Jacob is growing and becoming a man much quicker than I ever thought he would. Chauntay is a beautiful and talented young woman. She surprises me with her sweetness and thoughtfulness all the time. I got a small promotion at work so I can pay my bills and have a lot left over for enjoying the weekends. I cook routinely. I find new recipes and new ways of cooking on the internet and in cookbooks. I am riding my bike more now than when I first got married. I have joined a gym and have a weekly routine. And, yes, I play video games frequently.

So if you want to read this as a goal sheet, that's not really what it is. There is still more goals that I would like to accomplish in my life but for now I'm happy to be living my life the way I should right now.

Thanks for reading.