I love that my wife gets to see her family, and I wish that we could visit more often than we do. At the same time, more often than not though she goes alone. I used to think it weird that people said that they couldn't sleep well when they were separated. But it's totally true. I'm exhausted to the bone, my eyes can hardly stay open, yet I don't feel like I can sleep. I finally get it! Once you get used to sleeping next to some one, and said some one leaves you, then sleep doesn't come easy.
Oh well. It just makes it so that I can get more cleaning done tonight!
I have to add that my little Duchess Aurora is quite insane. She just ran at the glass door, pounced up, and used it to flip, rebound and pounce on the mint on the floor that was once directly behind her. It was quite amusing to watch... Back to work.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Duct Tape
Now that it's three days before Christmas I feel a little safer posting this. My brother-in-law is responsible for this post in part and I don't want him to necessarily see it before Christmas because this involves his Christmas present. He's distracted with family being in town, so I should be all good.
My lovely wife decided to do a home made Christmas this year. It was fun to do but has been super stressful and we decided that rather than starting home made Christmases in August or September that we'll be starting them earlier in the year. I was put in charge of making duct tape wallets for my brother-in-law. It's a bit of an inside joke as he lost two of his on a two day stay up here with us. I figured I've always wanted to learn how to make things out of duct tape just for kicks so I did. After I my fourth or fifth wallet I nearly perfected a design I liked and started making the rest that way.
So I brought one in to show it off at work, and my coworkers wanted to buy some from me. And then more wanted to buy some from me. I started a week ago and I've sold nearly 20 wallets so far with 6 more orders on the way for after Christmas at a minimum. Every day new orders are made. It's absolutely amazing. So, last weekend I got to thinking, maybe I should start a duct tape wallet/purse business. And I'm going to. I'll set up an online store on January second of next year and I'll proceed to code my own website where I can sell them custom made rather than have everything already made. I like the idea of flexibility with the fabric of wallets. With the online store I'll have set prints and sizes you can by. Through my website, you can design your own wallet from the forms I've created and I'll build it after it's ordered. Sure it'll take a little more time to get the wallets out, but it'll be made exactly the way you want it.
I just made my first duct tape purse yesterday. It needs some modification, but I'll get it to a point where it is sell-able. I've also figured out how to make bracelets and things like that. :-) I'm stoked. It doesn't bring in a whole lot of income, but it's enough to support my new hobby!
My lovely wife decided to do a home made Christmas this year. It was fun to do but has been super stressful and we decided that rather than starting home made Christmases in August or September that we'll be starting them earlier in the year. I was put in charge of making duct tape wallets for my brother-in-law. It's a bit of an inside joke as he lost two of his on a two day stay up here with us. I figured I've always wanted to learn how to make things out of duct tape just for kicks so I did. After I my fourth or fifth wallet I nearly perfected a design I liked and started making the rest that way.
So I brought one in to show it off at work, and my coworkers wanted to buy some from me. And then more wanted to buy some from me. I started a week ago and I've sold nearly 20 wallets so far with 6 more orders on the way for after Christmas at a minimum. Every day new orders are made. It's absolutely amazing. So, last weekend I got to thinking, maybe I should start a duct tape wallet/purse business. And I'm going to. I'll set up an online store on January second of next year and I'll proceed to code my own website where I can sell them custom made rather than have everything already made. I like the idea of flexibility with the fabric of wallets. With the online store I'll have set prints and sizes you can by. Through my website, you can design your own wallet from the forms I've created and I'll build it after it's ordered. Sure it'll take a little more time to get the wallets out, but it'll be made exactly the way you want it.
I just made my first duct tape purse yesterday. It needs some modification, but I'll get it to a point where it is sell-able. I've also figured out how to make bracelets and things like that. :-) I'm stoked. It doesn't bring in a whole lot of income, but it's enough to support my new hobby!
Thursday, November 17, 2011
I've been lazy
Actually not really. It's about five in the morning now and I just finished a fantastic presentation for my worlds religion class. Except it's way too big to upload to the website I need to upload it to. And I feel terrible cause what I originally created was a work of art. So, I'm posting my work of art here... Watch it if you want, if you don't, you really don't have to.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
So.... I'm a Bit of an Idiot
With less than 7 days until I test with the Sheriff's department, I decided it would be a good idea to start running on a physical track (with the help of my lovely wife) to get an accurate measure of how much I need to get my time down. Tonight I drove out to the track while talking to my wonderful mother (whom I love very much) and while distracted with my parting words of, 'I'll call you back, I'm gonna go break the law for fifteen minutes', I locked my keys in my car.
Back story on breaking the law. I called the school who owns the track I was to go running at. They transferred me to the assistant athletics director who gave me permission to run on the track after 2:15 PM. I was like great! So I showed up at the track the same day and about once every fifteen feet there was a giant white sign posted that stated that any one caught using the fields without express written permission may be prosecuted for trespassing. I was like.. great! It's now 5 PM, the dude's probably already gone, so I ran anyways. That was yesterday. Today I didn't get to the track until closer to 8 PM. And so I broke the law again.
After realizing I locked my keys in my car, I called Chrissy who generously brought me the necessary tools for breaking into my car. A screw driver or two, a hammer, a coat hanger, and pliers. I then proceeded to, with the help of Chrissy, bend and reshape the wire, pry my window open and spend the next 40 minutes or so re-bending the wire to attempt to open the handle of my car from the inside. Mind you, it's near winter, at 7000 feet elevation, and... oh yes... the wind was blowing. Needless to say I had numb hands, a nose-cicle and a cold unhappy wife (whom I love dearly and am so very grateful for).
Moral of the story. Don't break the law. Especially while training to become a law enforcement officer...
On a side note, I am warm and cozy sitting at home with Duchess Aurora snuggled in my arm :-)
Back story on breaking the law. I called the school who owns the track I was to go running at. They transferred me to the assistant athletics director who gave me permission to run on the track after 2:15 PM. I was like great! So I showed up at the track the same day and about once every fifteen feet there was a giant white sign posted that stated that any one caught using the fields without express written permission may be prosecuted for trespassing. I was like.. great! It's now 5 PM, the dude's probably already gone, so I ran anyways. That was yesterday. Today I didn't get to the track until closer to 8 PM. And so I broke the law again.
After realizing I locked my keys in my car, I called Chrissy who generously brought me the necessary tools for breaking into my car. A screw driver or two, a hammer, a coat hanger, and pliers. I then proceeded to, with the help of Chrissy, bend and reshape the wire, pry my window open and spend the next 40 minutes or so re-bending the wire to attempt to open the handle of my car from the inside. Mind you, it's near winter, at 7000 feet elevation, and... oh yes... the wind was blowing. Needless to say I had numb hands, a nose-cicle and a cold unhappy wife (whom I love dearly and am so very grateful for).
Moral of the story. Don't break the law. Especially while training to become a law enforcement officer...
On a side note, I am warm and cozy sitting at home with Duchess Aurora snuggled in my arm :-)
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Parable of the Russian Olive Tree
Don't laugh at me. This is serious.
I was chopping down the trees in my back yard today. The first one I chopped out last week was rotted out in the center of the tree, all the limbs were the same way and I was able to push it over without much effort after chopping a little more than half way through it. Today I started tearing the limbs off the tree I was working on, same story, the limbs were rotted out in the center. So I assumed that the trees were just a weak wood as they are still growing, they aren't dead trees.
A little back story here, my grandparents came up to visit some time last month or the month before and my grandfather identified the trees as Russian Olive Trees. He said that they are related to the olive trees in Israel, but that they don't produce fruit. End of back story.
So I begin chopping through the tree, and I hardly put a dent in the trunk after the first five minutes of chopping. I was like.. what the heck, maybe I just have a dull ax (which it is dull, but that wasn't the problem) I get half way through the tree (which took me about an hour and this isn't a very thick tree) and I hit the center and so I decide to try pushing it over. Yeah. It didn't budge. And I thought of that movie of which I couldn't think of the title where the guy says "strong like bull". And I'm thinking... man, if this tree was a bull, I would have had it on the ground bleeding out like 300 swings ago. Heck.. I would have "felled" said bull on the first swing, straight for the jugular. No playing around with that one. Even if I missed the jugular, it would be what? one or two swings more and strong bull would be out for the count. No. The phase should now be, "Strong like Russian Olive Tree".
And I started thinking about religious principles, and I know that eventually I will fall this tree and it will succumb to me, but that we should structure our lives and build ourselves up spiritually to be like this olive tree so that when the storms of Satan come we can withstand his ax till his arms weaken and his strength fails him. And unlike this olive tree, we can seek refuge and recover from the blows he delivers to us in our lives.
The other thought that I had as I was chopping, Just outside the center of the tree at the base was a knot in the wood. Knots form where branches are meant to grow in. This knot formed in near the center of the tree which is where every change in us starts. We cannot change ourselves from the outside in, but we must change ourselves from the inside out. If this limb had started to grow near the outside of the tree, it would not be nearly as strong as it would be as it would have been in the center of the tree. On the outside, it would have fallen to the storms nature brings as we would fall to the storms of Satan. And thus our repentance should be, a formation from the center, from the foundations of our souls that brings about a desire for change and that is strengthened as it grows through time.
And may we all be "Strong like Russian Olive Tree".
I was chopping down the trees in my back yard today. The first one I chopped out last week was rotted out in the center of the tree, all the limbs were the same way and I was able to push it over without much effort after chopping a little more than half way through it. Today I started tearing the limbs off the tree I was working on, same story, the limbs were rotted out in the center. So I assumed that the trees were just a weak wood as they are still growing, they aren't dead trees.
A little back story here, my grandparents came up to visit some time last month or the month before and my grandfather identified the trees as Russian Olive Trees. He said that they are related to the olive trees in Israel, but that they don't produce fruit. End of back story.
So I begin chopping through the tree, and I hardly put a dent in the trunk after the first five minutes of chopping. I was like.. what the heck, maybe I just have a dull ax (which it is dull, but that wasn't the problem) I get half way through the tree (which took me about an hour and this isn't a very thick tree) and I hit the center and so I decide to try pushing it over. Yeah. It didn't budge. And I thought of that movie of which I couldn't think of the title where the guy says "strong like bull". And I'm thinking... man, if this tree was a bull, I would have had it on the ground bleeding out like 300 swings ago. Heck.. I would have "felled" said bull on the first swing, straight for the jugular. No playing around with that one. Even if I missed the jugular, it would be what? one or two swings more and strong bull would be out for the count. No. The phase should now be, "Strong like Russian Olive Tree".
And I started thinking about religious principles, and I know that eventually I will fall this tree and it will succumb to me, but that we should structure our lives and build ourselves up spiritually to be like this olive tree so that when the storms of Satan come we can withstand his ax till his arms weaken and his strength fails him. And unlike this olive tree, we can seek refuge and recover from the blows he delivers to us in our lives.
The other thought that I had as I was chopping, Just outside the center of the tree at the base was a knot in the wood. Knots form where branches are meant to grow in. This knot formed in near the center of the tree which is where every change in us starts. We cannot change ourselves from the outside in, but we must change ourselves from the inside out. If this limb had started to grow near the outside of the tree, it would not be nearly as strong as it would be as it would have been in the center of the tree. On the outside, it would have fallen to the storms nature brings as we would fall to the storms of Satan. And thus our repentance should be, a formation from the center, from the foundations of our souls that brings about a desire for change and that is strengthened as it grows through time.
And may we all be "Strong like Russian Olive Tree".
Slacker
I'm a slacker. I haven't posted in who knows how long and I apologize for that, I've been a bit busy. I have the pictures of the yard up on a computer and I'll have them up here in a little bit. We also adopted a new little one. Since Chrissy has decreed she cannot be a princess, our new little one is Duchess Aurora. She's a gray Tabby cat, and she's only about nine weeks old. Probably a bit closer to ten now though.
So my post for the moment...
For those of you who saw on facebook, I did indeed try to make it into Flag PD. And yes, I failed. I wasn't told the test was timed, so I went in having done 50 sit-ups without breaking a sweat the night before, and thirty seconds before the test starts, the officer conducting the test looks at some one from human resources and asks, they only have a minute, right? And the person from human resources says, I think so... and they go back and forth and they settle on that we only have a minute to do our thirty-five sit-ups. That would have been really nice to know, I only missed by two, but I still missed and therefore I failed. I'm now training to test with sheriff's office, which is basically the same job local police have but it's a little more work and quite a bit less pay. I will be privileged with not only the responsibilities of a patrolman, but I'll also get to do interrogations and crime scene investigations (a little more in depth than a cop, but not quite to the same level as a detective).
Unfortunately though, the minimum requirements for SO is a little bit tougher than the PD's. I have to make 38 sit-ups in a minute rather than 35 (not that much tougher), 21 push-ups in a minute instead of 26 (ok.. I confess.. that's a bit easier) and a mile and a half in 12:41 instead of 13:46. As of today I've surpassed the push-up and sit-up requirements but I still have 1 minute and 41 seconds to shave off to make that time. I can do it!
So my post for the moment...
For those of you who saw on facebook, I did indeed try to make it into Flag PD. And yes, I failed. I wasn't told the test was timed, so I went in having done 50 sit-ups without breaking a sweat the night before, and thirty seconds before the test starts, the officer conducting the test looks at some one from human resources and asks, they only have a minute, right? And the person from human resources says, I think so... and they go back and forth and they settle on that we only have a minute to do our thirty-five sit-ups. That would have been really nice to know, I only missed by two, but I still missed and therefore I failed. I'm now training to test with sheriff's office, which is basically the same job local police have but it's a little more work and quite a bit less pay. I will be privileged with not only the responsibilities of a patrolman, but I'll also get to do interrogations and crime scene investigations (a little more in depth than a cop, but not quite to the same level as a detective).
Unfortunately though, the minimum requirements for SO is a little bit tougher than the PD's. I have to make 38 sit-ups in a minute rather than 35 (not that much tougher), 21 push-ups in a minute instead of 26 (ok.. I confess.. that's a bit easier) and a mile and a half in 12:41 instead of 13:46. As of today I've surpassed the push-up and sit-up requirements but I still have 1 minute and 41 seconds to shave off to make that time. I can do it!
Monday, October 17, 2011
Yard work
I always used to think while growing up that yard work was stupid. Or rather, huge yard projects that drastically alter the yard for to appease the creative tastes of the home owner. Or in this case my parents (whom I love dearly) putting in a walk way in the Dover house. Or wanting to clean up the patch of trees in the front yard in the Farmington house. You know, things like that. That is until I entered into the general realm of home owning.
While I do not own the house I'm currently living in, I have more freedoms to clean up and do as I wish than renters do. For example, I had the ability to pull all the trees out of the side yard, which I spent last? week doing. Might have been the week before, I don't remember.
Upon the realization that I would be starting my blog today, I took pictures of my next big project. It's a rather intensive one that will probably take a few years, but that's ok, I'm planning on living here that long. I suppose I'll need to put up the pictures to better explain what I'm going to do, but those will come in the next few posts.
I'm going to be taking all the large trees out of the back yard and put in a fence, so that I may let the dogs into the back yard without worrying about them running away. But this is a much larger project than it sounds to be. Details to follow.
For those of you who don't know, my two dogs are Max and Kovu (pictures to follow as well). Max is a three-year-old 80-90 pound Anatolian Shepherd, Great Pyrenees mix. He's a beautiful white dog that is more like a bear rug than anything else around the house. Kovu is the typical third generation mutt. He's about 40 pounds, has the brick brown color. He's still a puppy (about 8 months old now), so he's quite the little ball of energy. They've identified Akita as the dominant breed in him. But German Shepherd, Pitt, and Pyrenees have also been identified as well. When I adopted him they said he had a bit of lab in him too. I don't see that so much though. But I'm no dog expert.
I also have two cats, Kiara and Carmel (pictures to follow [and for those who've put Kovu and Kiara together.. yeah, we're Disney fanatics]). Kiara is a pretty princess. She spend her day sleeping or cleaning herself with occasional intermittent sunbathing. She spends more time cleaning herself than anything else though. While she and I used to play around, if a hair fell out of place, she could feel it, and she would stop wrestling with me to fix it. She also seems to think her pretty white paws are always dirty too. Which I'm not entirely sure how that works considering the amount of time she spends cleaning them and how much she detests dirt. Carmel is more dog than cat. He enjoys being roughed up like dogs do, bathes, being picked up, being held, being brushed. He lays on his back and holds his paws like a dog so we'll scratch his tummy. You'd swear he was raised by dogs, he wasn't though, he was found at about 5-6 weeks old when he fell out of the high school ceiling last spring. I heard a statistic though that orange cats behave most like dogs even if they've never had exposure to dogs before. I'm not entirely sure I believe that though as I haven't seen the research, but after seeing him I'm inclined to toss the idea around a bit.
My list of things to do today isn't getting any shorter, so I'm off for a bit.
While I do not own the house I'm currently living in, I have more freedoms to clean up and do as I wish than renters do. For example, I had the ability to pull all the trees out of the side yard, which I spent last? week doing. Might have been the week before, I don't remember.
Upon the realization that I would be starting my blog today, I took pictures of my next big project. It's a rather intensive one that will probably take a few years, but that's ok, I'm planning on living here that long. I suppose I'll need to put up the pictures to better explain what I'm going to do, but those will come in the next few posts.
I'm going to be taking all the large trees out of the back yard and put in a fence, so that I may let the dogs into the back yard without worrying about them running away. But this is a much larger project than it sounds to be. Details to follow.
For those of you who don't know, my two dogs are Max and Kovu (pictures to follow as well). Max is a three-year-old 80-90 pound Anatolian Shepherd, Great Pyrenees mix. He's a beautiful white dog that is more like a bear rug than anything else around the house. Kovu is the typical third generation mutt. He's about 40 pounds, has the brick brown color. He's still a puppy (about 8 months old now), so he's quite the little ball of energy. They've identified Akita as the dominant breed in him. But German Shepherd, Pitt, and Pyrenees have also been identified as well. When I adopted him they said he had a bit of lab in him too. I don't see that so much though. But I'm no dog expert.
I also have two cats, Kiara and Carmel (pictures to follow [and for those who've put Kovu and Kiara together.. yeah, we're Disney fanatics]). Kiara is a pretty princess. She spend her day sleeping or cleaning herself with occasional intermittent sunbathing. She spends more time cleaning herself than anything else though. While she and I used to play around, if a hair fell out of place, she could feel it, and she would stop wrestling with me to fix it. She also seems to think her pretty white paws are always dirty too. Which I'm not entirely sure how that works considering the amount of time she spends cleaning them and how much she detests dirt. Carmel is more dog than cat. He enjoys being roughed up like dogs do, bathes, being picked up, being held, being brushed. He lays on his back and holds his paws like a dog so we'll scratch his tummy. You'd swear he was raised by dogs, he wasn't though, he was found at about 5-6 weeks old when he fell out of the high school ceiling last spring. I heard a statistic though that orange cats behave most like dogs even if they've never had exposure to dogs before. I'm not entirely sure I believe that though as I haven't seen the research, but after seeing him I'm inclined to toss the idea around a bit.
My list of things to do today isn't getting any shorter, so I'm off for a bit.
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