I was listening to a live version of Dave Matthew's Ants Marching a few days ago and it was another little wakeup call in life. I am a little commuter ant. I get up, shower, throw on clothes, help the kids get dressed, talk to J about what is happening during that particular day, leave and drive to the bus stop. I wait in line with all the other little worker ants, get on the bus and try not to think too seriously about what's going to happen during the workday. I get off the bus and walk a few blocks to school. The nice thing about my walk is that I get to walk through the downtown campus of St. Thomas University. They've got sweet smelling flowers and a fountain, which mellows me out(Yeah, I'm a guy and I like the flowers that I walk by in the morning, what's the big deal, huh?) I get in the building, climb up the stairs to the third floor, walk into our cramped office and say good morning to my coworkers, and get down to it for the day. Sometimes I like to hide in my cube for a little while before walk upstairs to the kitchen labs and see students.
This morning is one of those times I am hiding out in my little cube cave. I've slipped on my headphones and made my selection of music for the morning. I've chosen the soundtrack for the "Mambo Kings" to get my blood flowing. I'm knocking out a quick post just to get my brain functioning. I would like to try the coffee in the employee breakroom, but it has been known to rot out the bottom of styrofoam cups, so I'll pass and just let the music and the endorphines from writing get my heart pumping this morning.
I'm not feeling really responsible or too much like an adult this morning. I really want to feel like a kid. My birthday is coming up and it's another year older and I'm beginning to dread birthdays. I was reading the paper this weekend and I saw that a local sportscaster, who of course was younger than I, passed away from cancer. Yesterday, I also found out that a woman that I attended high school with had died as well. Hey, people get older and things happen. It's a part of the circle of life. I just feel like that the circle is inching up on me. I don't think about it a whole lot most days, but I found myself lying in bed last night thinking about who I'd like to invite to my funeral. I was going through that mental checklist of "yes, that person's cool...they can sit close to the front" or "No way am I inviting the butthead who gave me a wedgie in 8th grade to my farewell get together..." Yes folks that's what I do when I can't sleep. I think about that kind of stuff...why can't I just have simple fantasies about me being the last of the red hot lovers and all the women who can't get enough of old Samok Daddy? No...it's gotta be about whether there are enough goodbye salutes and toasts dedicated to me...or if they'll get someone to sing "I did it my way" at the funeral.
Enough ruminating today. It's time to get back to reality and be an advisor to the masses of excited culinary students in our fine institution. Hope you all have a fine day...
Monday, July 28, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Rainy Friday in the Northland
It's a rainy Friday here in the twin cities. I'm in my cube and it's not busy, so I've slipped on my headphones and put on some music. It's kind of quiet at work. It's been kind of crazy for the past few weeks and I'm grateful for a respite from the feeling of push push push to ensure that students are back in their classes. That's the reality of working for a "for profit" college. Everything is about the number of students sitting in classes...If a student sits in classes, they can be billed for tuition. Butts in the seats...that's what we work for. We don't have any state funding, no endowments, nor do we have a rich alumnus tossing money at the school in order to name a library or residence hall after himself. Tuition is our only means of making money and reinvesting it for equipment and services for students. This is definitely a business.
Don't get me wrong...I am grateful that I have the honor of helping students get through school. It's a special feeling when you have the trust of a student because you have their best interest in mind. Despite the fact that we try to keep students in school because it pays our salaries, I want everyone here to succeed. Yes, I like what I do...but it's not a profession that rakes in cash hand over fist. However, I can go home at night knowing that I've done something good for people. Plus, there are perks being an advisor for a culinary program...they feed me.
On to domestic bliss...The Bun has started using her potty chair with great regularity. She still wets her pull ups, but she's making a great deal of progress. She gets to wear stickers on her clothes when she successfully uses the potty. She's quite choosey when we show her the sticker book. This sticker book is huge and she's taken ten minutes to choose...there are surfing princesses, angel kitties, happy faces, twisting dolphins, cute polar bears, and a whole lot of other things. J and I have concluded it's better to just pick out a cute sticker and slap it on her rather than let her choose. Giving her the continued opportunity to choose stickers may lead us to sitting with the book and waiting until mid-October before she makes a choice. She's gone along with mom and dad making the choice so far...so we'll just keep running with that.
Goobs has been watching too much Jetix. We've trimmed down the cable to the family level, which is local channels and a couple of kids/cartoon channels. One of the kid channels is Jetix. It's got a lot of superhero comics. I'm fundmentally not opposed to him digging on Spiderman, Batman, or any of the Superfriends, for that matter...But...J found him sleeping in the hallway last night. She asked him why he had his blanket in the hallway...he said..."Monsters." The villians and monsters on these shows seem kind of frightening, so it's a good possibility it is the combination the villians of Jetix and an overactive imagination of a soon to be five year old. J climbed back into bed last night and said..."No more Jetix for Richard." So...we'll go with mom's assessment. Looks like he'll be watching Sprout with his sister.
I know it's been a long time since I've posted and I can't remember if I mentioned that i got a new grill for father's day. I have been going crazy on the grilling. I've been doing a lot of pork chops lately. We've found this seasoning that rocks...It's a combination of ground garlic and bell pepper. It really puts those pork chops over the top. J's also been prepping veggies for me to grill. She's soaked them in extra virgin olive oil and seasoned them. I throw them on the grill with low heat and flip them over now and then...oh boy...asparagus...carrots...some squash...it's been great. We're trying to stay away from brats this year. I do love a good bratwurst, but absence does wonders. I get to eat a greater variety of grilled foods and I enjoy a brat more if I don't eat them every week.
Hey...one last thing. We are getting fired up for a little family vacation in the Black Hills at the end of August. Does anyone else have anything planned or have you already done something this summer? I'd love to hear what other people are doing.
Don't get me wrong...I am grateful that I have the honor of helping students get through school. It's a special feeling when you have the trust of a student because you have their best interest in mind. Despite the fact that we try to keep students in school because it pays our salaries, I want everyone here to succeed. Yes, I like what I do...but it's not a profession that rakes in cash hand over fist. However, I can go home at night knowing that I've done something good for people. Plus, there are perks being an advisor for a culinary program...they feed me.
On to domestic bliss...The Bun has started using her potty chair with great regularity. She still wets her pull ups, but she's making a great deal of progress. She gets to wear stickers on her clothes when she successfully uses the potty. She's quite choosey when we show her the sticker book. This sticker book is huge and she's taken ten minutes to choose...there are surfing princesses, angel kitties, happy faces, twisting dolphins, cute polar bears, and a whole lot of other things. J and I have concluded it's better to just pick out a cute sticker and slap it on her rather than let her choose. Giving her the continued opportunity to choose stickers may lead us to sitting with the book and waiting until mid-October before she makes a choice. She's gone along with mom and dad making the choice so far...so we'll just keep running with that.
Goobs has been watching too much Jetix. We've trimmed down the cable to the family level, which is local channels and a couple of kids/cartoon channels. One of the kid channels is Jetix. It's got a lot of superhero comics. I'm fundmentally not opposed to him digging on Spiderman, Batman, or any of the Superfriends, for that matter...But...J found him sleeping in the hallway last night. She asked him why he had his blanket in the hallway...he said..."Monsters." The villians and monsters on these shows seem kind of frightening, so it's a good possibility it is the combination the villians of Jetix and an overactive imagination of a soon to be five year old. J climbed back into bed last night and said..."No more Jetix for Richard." So...we'll go with mom's assessment. Looks like he'll be watching Sprout with his sister.
I know it's been a long time since I've posted and I can't remember if I mentioned that i got a new grill for father's day. I have been going crazy on the grilling. I've been doing a lot of pork chops lately. We've found this seasoning that rocks...It's a combination of ground garlic and bell pepper. It really puts those pork chops over the top. J's also been prepping veggies for me to grill. She's soaked them in extra virgin olive oil and seasoned them. I throw them on the grill with low heat and flip them over now and then...oh boy...asparagus...carrots...some squash...it's been great. We're trying to stay away from brats this year. I do love a good bratwurst, but absence does wonders. I get to eat a greater variety of grilled foods and I enjoy a brat more if I don't eat them every week.
Hey...one last thing. We are getting fired up for a little family vacation in the Black Hills at the end of August. Does anyone else have anything planned or have you already done something this summer? I'd love to hear what other people are doing.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Life's too short...
So, I was thinking about my own mortality. The passing of Tim Russert and Tony Snow has put me in a somewhat reflective mood. There was a particularly poorly reviewed movie, called "The Bucket List" that focused on things that you want to do before you kick the bucket. I'm not that old, but I'm coming to the conclusion that life's too short to just stay at the office and count what money or stuff you accumulate. So, I started thinking about some things I want to do...this isn't intended to be too overly serious...so let's not take this too seriously! Here's some of the stuff I am thinking about doing...
1. Spend July in France...I would really like to see the Tour de France...hang out up on some mountain road with a bunch of crazy international folk and have fun. I don't know why, but I want to wear a giant beaver suit and run out in front of the peleton for a short period. I see this old guy dressed as the devil with the pitchfork running out in front every year that I tune in to the tour. I want to be "the beaver guy" at the event.
2. I want to sit down for an evening of that sweet vietnamese coffee (you know...the kind with condensed milk)at a table on the beach (at a beautiful island resort) with Eric Clapton and Anthony Hopkins. I want to just talk about life with them and listen to the waves on the beach. Those guys probably have some tales to tell...and I just want to sit and listen.
3. I want to run a small tour and diving business in the Philippines. It would be great to learn everything I possibly could about a place and share that with people. Oh...yeah...baby that would be nice...Sun...sand...me...my boat...and tourists with sunscreen on their noses...
4. I want to try and do a standup routine at a comedy club. The routine would be about family...being a spouse and a parent. Heck...our lives are pretty funny. I might bomb, but who cares...My family provides so much good material. It would be a shame to keep all of that fun and weirness to myself.
5. Try to teach my wife to ski again. Since she only made it 1/4 of the way up the bunny hill last time, I feel it's my duty to get her up and going next winter. I know she's not going to be ready for anything close to the mountains of Jackson Hole, but I'm not giving up till she gets up that danged tow rope!!!
6. I want to see Dave Matthews in an outdoor concert during the summer with my wife. She's the big Dave Matthews fan, but I'd get a kick out of going too. I don't know how people would handle the geeky guy with a hawaiian shirt dancing in front of his lawn chair, but I don't care. I'm a dork...I like music...I wear bad hawaiian shirts...and most importantly...I dance, therefore I am.
7. I want to volunteer for a summer to work for a Korean Professional Baseball team. I would love to help the foreign players adjust to their new surroundings and make it fun...plus I get to hang out and watch baseball. I'd like to see if they pull pranks on each other like players do in the major leagues here in the states. If they don't I'd like to introduce them to the fine art of the shaving cream pie in the face or the dugout hotfoot. Maybe I can get some souveniers too...I've been thinking about seeing if I could get some Korean Baseball souveniers. Oh, I've switched teams...I'm cheering for the Lotte Giants now...
8. I have to say something silly...Hang glide nude over Dick Cheney's ranch in Wyoming. Whoops, maybe not...I could be the victim of an errant shot.
9. I want to be the voice of a character in a pixar movie. My voice sounds kind of dorky/silly, so it might just fit in...
10. I want to speak at Wartburg College's commencement ceremony one year...just to let them know that life's fun, a little weird, and way too short to be serious all the time.
You know...I don't know if I'll do any of those things...but what the heck. Why not dream...
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
The gift that keeps on giving
My son and the neighbor kid, Aaron have been hanging out and playing together a lot lately. They're fun to watch bouncing around the neighborhood and coloring driveways. Our little man came up to J and I last night and announced that Aaron was going to give him something. We asked what that "something was." It turns out that Goobs told Aaron how much he loved Spiderman. Aaron, being the caring friend that he is, told Goobs that he'd give him all of his Spiderman underwear. Now, that's a pal!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Little airborne rangers...
A lot has been happening at the Samok home lately. I've just finished teaching night classes and have finished a class that basically smoked my backside. I did well in the class, but the stress level was up to epic proportions for a while. I can breathe now and I feel like it's time to stretch out, smile, and blog a little. I'm taking a course that's a little easier and should prove to be a whole lot more fun. It's a graduate level communications course. I get to watch the movie, Crash repeatedly and write papers on it. It should be doable.
Alright, now for what's happening with the kids. As I've mentioned before, while in the army, I spent some time in an airborne unit. Yes, I did jump out of airplanes, but I wasn't a stellar jumper. I have landed in trees and accidentally gave my NCOIC a concussion with my right buttock while landing. That incident is hard to visualize, but I assure you it truly happened. So...what does this have to do with the kids? They have been jumping off of chairs and beds and executing parachute landing falls in blankets and pillows. I haven't been involved in any instruction. They've developed this behavior totally on their own. They seem fearless and are doing a pretty good job-of course this is coming from the dad who was a lousy jumper. Today things got a little wilder. I caught The Bun setting up her drop zone beneath the dining room table. I thought I put an end to her exercise by moving the blanket and pillows, but she moved them back when I wasn't looking. I went in another room to check on something. When I returned to the dining room she was on top of the table, ready to launch herself into her recreated drop zone. Daddy busted her again and ruined her fun. She was not amused with dad's commitment to safety. I know that had Goobs been around he would have been cheering her on and right behind her. Luckily, he was deeply involved with his afternoon love affair with the animated version of "Iron Man." He has been jumping off of beds and chairs with her, so I know that he's down with it too. I know that I'm going to walk in on them jumping off of the table soon. I hope that they won't kill themselves. I can hardly wait until they graduate to base jumping from the railing of the deck...
Alright, now for what's happening with the kids. As I've mentioned before, while in the army, I spent some time in an airborne unit. Yes, I did jump out of airplanes, but I wasn't a stellar jumper. I have landed in trees and accidentally gave my NCOIC a concussion with my right buttock while landing. That incident is hard to visualize, but I assure you it truly happened. So...what does this have to do with the kids? They have been jumping off of chairs and beds and executing parachute landing falls in blankets and pillows. I haven't been involved in any instruction. They've developed this behavior totally on their own. They seem fearless and are doing a pretty good job-of course this is coming from the dad who was a lousy jumper. Today things got a little wilder. I caught The Bun setting up her drop zone beneath the dining room table. I thought I put an end to her exercise by moving the blanket and pillows, but she moved them back when I wasn't looking. I went in another room to check on something. When I returned to the dining room she was on top of the table, ready to launch herself into her recreated drop zone. Daddy busted her again and ruined her fun. She was not amused with dad's commitment to safety. I know that had Goobs been around he would have been cheering her on and right behind her. Luckily, he was deeply involved with his afternoon love affair with the animated version of "Iron Man." He has been jumping off of beds and chairs with her, so I know that he's down with it too. I know that I'm going to walk in on them jumping off of the table soon. I hope that they won't kill themselves. I can hardly wait until they graduate to base jumping from the railing of the deck...
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