Glad I stuck it out

So about two weeks ago I was thinking about withdrawing from my Stats Class since I had been sick for so much of the first of the quarter. I decided to stick it out though because if I withdrew then or this coming Tuesday (the last day to withdraw) it would show up exactly the same and I still wouldn’t have gotten any money back. After the last three quizzes though I now have my grade up to an 84% - and could be up to an A by the Midterm on Monday. I really didn’t think it would be that quick of a turn around. I’m still struggling catching up and it’s taking me longer to think about things since I don’t have the base that those first three weeks talked about – but it’s coming around. And I’m sure glad I stuck it out.

Small Rants

End of quarter - I'm really excited for the quarter to be over. Like most times I'm ending something though I think about what I should have done. I wish that I would have done my Extra Credit sooner for my business law class. I just did it today (End of quarter is tomorrow). It was only required that we spend 1 hr at court - I spent 90 min and still feel like I didn't really see much. (Mainly because the court I was waiting on didn't start on time). What I did see though was pretty cool and I would have like to been able to stay to see the outcome of the case - but since I also had a test in that class I had to go.

Motorcycle class - I took a motorcycle class over the weekend and it was amazing. A great instructor - Paul from Puget Sound Safety taught the class. It was a maintenance class and it went over a ton of basics. The best part besides the humor was that if you brought your bike - which most of us did - he went over where the parts were located on our individual bike. That was very helpful. I came home and was able to tighten the suspension on my bike and probably on Wednesday I'm going to do an oil change on it. can't wait.

Garage Selling - Poor Sonya had a garage sell this weekend and didn't make very much money. I thought it was good for the boys though who each had some of there stuff out there to sell to see that we can't just keep everything and that instead of throwing it away we can sell it to others. I have to stop by the dollar store though because we did have to bribe them with new shinny police badges.

Overtime - it's a love/hate here. I love the money and love that I feel I'm helping out. But when your trying to go to school (and live 45 min away - by choice) its a time crunch even to do 3 hrs which has been required almost weekly for the last few weeks. But like I said - come pay day I love it. At least I have a job - and a good one at that.

Mariners - I am loving this. The past 3 weeks or so has been absolutely amazing and I really hope that they can keep it up.

Well that's it - I didn't feel that I had anything long enough for a detailed post - so these are just some rants.

Isaac's First Fishing Trip

So I took Isaac fishing for the first time yesterday. A little background - he turned four in March and got a Spiderman fishing pole for his birthday from me - mainly because if I didn't hurry up and get it for him his Papa(Sonya's Dad) would have. Isaac has been practicing with his pole in the back yard for almost three months and was ready to go. He's been looking forward to this trip for quite some time, and so have I.

So this weekend we were in Walla Walla, WA and they have a park that has a Juvenile Pond Jefferson Pond for 15 and under to fish at. It's only a mile away from the grandparents house so that was our first stop. We arrived and were the only ones there. We got all our gear on - I put my vest on so that when he caught something I could easily get to it and help him. Isaac had on his Fishing Hat, his Cowboy boots and his Spiderman life vest that we bought to go with his fishing pole. We bought the life vest because if theres one thing my boys are good at it's lack of balance - walking becomes an issue if they get distracted... I didn't need him falling in the pond/river and not being able to get to him in time. Anyway, we got the plastic fish off his line that he had been practicing with - I explained the details and let him pick out his first hook. He threw it in a few times and it went about 5 feet - then he started remembering what he had practiced and I realized we'd have to go to the bigger side of the pond. (theres a little island in the middle so one side is kind of small.) We went to the other side and spent about the next 15 min or so just casting - he did so well and had quite a bit of fun. He did fall in what looked to be a snake hole once right on the bank and got his boot all wet - but he didn't complain and we kept going. After about thirty min of being there though he got distracted and couldn't take it anymore because at this pond they also have a really cool park and he wanted to go play. So not wanting him to have a bad experience his first time out we went and played in the park. Then went across the street to McDonald's and had a quick breakfast.

Then the important question came and it changed my whole day - I asked if he wanted to go back to Nanna's house or if he wanted to try and fish again. He wanted to fish - I was so excited, but I wanted to fish too. So we took a little trip to Mcdowll road(I think that's the name) They have a bridge there and we parked and went right under the bridge- it was really a fast river there so we went down stream a little bit and found a rock beach that was perfect for a little boy. I did have to carry him over the water a little but that was kind of cool too. He only snagged a few times but did really well. He was casting about half way into the river. It was moving too quick and we didn't have any success there but he was having fun. We stayed there for an hour or so and then got back in the car. He had so much fun.

About half way back though was when I realized that I made a little mistake and that he still has a lot to learn. I asked him if he liked it - he started to smile and then said, "But dad... we didn't catch anything..." and that's when the tears came. Now I'll admit that my boy is a little dramatic and emotional - I'll blame that on his mother - but this I really felt bad for. I thought really fast - I couldn't let his whole day be ruined because he didn't catch anything. I've been fishing a couple dozen times - I still have yet to catch anything more than "trash fish" as my father in law calls them. But anyway for Isaac this was a big deal - so I did what any responsible dad would do...

Thank you DQ for saving what ended up being a great day. I love being a dad and seeing Isaac out there enjoying something like that with me was really special.

Just One More

Love this time of year – the sun starts shining well into the evening, there are a few days here and there that don’t have any rain, and the bike comes out of the garage. What I also love is every bikers enthusiasm for this time of year. It’s like a bear that hibernates all winter is finally coming out of its cave and ready to roar – oh man I love to hear the roar of the pipes. Something that also has caught my eye is the fact that bikes start going up for sale like crazy. I was looking at craigslist and I went through almost 2 pages of bike gear posting in just the last 24 hours – during the winter there may only be a couple pages for the last week. It’s incredible to see all the bikes and knowing that these are going to be going to new homes and out with me on the road this summer. It also makes me understand more fully the line I heard last year when someone asked how many bikes should a person have – the answer was, just one more. I won’t be buying a new bike this year that’s for sure – but I love looking and maybe someday I can get my first, “Just one more.”

Keep the shinny side up and enjoy the ride – I know I am.

Who Owns the Fish?

We had a riddle to solve in my Computer Information System for Extra Credit. I solved it by putting all the options on paper and then photographed each step. I then put the instructions and the pictures in a power point. My teacher was impressed. (My teachers didn't have the sport - it had smokes in place of it - but I found this version online) So, Who owns the Fish?




There are five houses in a row and in five different colors. In each house lives a different person from a different country. Each person drinks a certain drink, plays a certain sport, and keeps a certain pet. No two people drink the same drink, play the same sport, or keep the same pet. One of these people owns a pet fish, but who? Here are the facts:

•The Brit lives in a red house
•The Swede keeps dogs
•The Dane drinks tea
•The green house is on the left of the white house
•The owner of the green house drinks coffee
•The person who plays polo keeps birds
•The owner of the yellow house plays hockey
•The person who lives in the house in the middle of the others drinks milk
•The Norwegian lives in the first house
•The person who plays baseball lives next to the person who keeps cats
•The person who keeps horses lives next to the one who plays hockey
•The person who plays billiards drinks beer
•The German plays soccer
•The Norwegian lives next to the blue house
•The person who plays baseball lives next to somebody who drinks water

So, who owns the fish?

Royality

Sonya and I watched the Royal Wedding today of Prince William and Kate Middleton. I really only got interested in it about 3 days ago when they started posting who all was going to be there and about the procession that was going to take place. I really like History - especially when I get a chance to see something that is rare. Seeing a marriage of two people that could be the King and Queen someday seemed like a big enough deal to lose a little sleep over.

I was not disappointed at all. I loved watching the crowds react to all the cars driving to the Abby and the roar when they got out. The wedding itself was wonderful. I loved hearing the "sermons" that were given - it surprised me to hear so much that I understood - it made their religion not seem as different from my own as I know there is. A lot of beliefs concerning marriage are dead on with how I feel.

I thought it funny when they said the Richer or Poorer part - you could see the princess giggle - I don't think poorer is in her future and she knows it.

Watching the ride back to the palace was the most touching for me - both William and Kate were smiling so big and just seemed to be thrilled for this to be "over." The kiss on the balcony was sweet - at least the second time around. I respect William for not liking the PDA so much. He is a royal and as much as it might have been cute to see them really kiss - it would have opened him up and that's not something dignitaries should do.

I really enjoyed it - I for one and grateful that we do not have a King and a Queen - but seeing how another country operates with one was a great experience. One I won't soon forget - now if I could only find time today for a nap.

Accomplishments

It should probably go without saying, that the more we accomplish the better we feel. That however is something I was reminded of this week. Last quarter going to school I had some success in the class room and that really fed off it's self. It only related to school though. This quarter has been the same. I feel like I'm doing well in school but it's not really positively impacting my life in other ways.

This past weekend though I had a great experience. I found a Rainbow Play system on Craigslist and was able to get a great deal on it. Of course the catch was that I had to disassemble it at it's current residence and then reassemble it for my boys at our house. It was a lot of work since I was pretty much on my own. About 15 hours total of carefully tearing it down and then rebuilding it. When I was done though I had a finished product that I was extremely happy with. I had something that I could look at and watch the boys play on and it made me feel that I had done good work.

It also transferred to another area of my life - or at least the idea did. In my job quality is very important but so is quantity - the faster you can finish a task the more people you can help - so it's a balance. I haven't always been the fastest at my job. This week though I've thought a lot about seeing a result and being happy with it. I have counted how many items I'm able to do during my shift and really tried to make a great effort to improve this week and I have.

This feeling of Accomplishment at home and at work has made me feel even better about school - although it's also reinforced that there has to be balance. I need to make sure that I am trying hard in all aspects of my life and sometimes back off of one to focus on another.

I know I'm a lucky man and have a great life - this week, I'm even feeling like I do.

Great Week of School

Life in general is going well. School though is going surprisingly well though. I am taking a business Law class and a Computer Information System's class; neither of which I know a ton about. I do know a little from work, but not the in depth stuff. So far though I'm doing awesome in my classes. Now it may be that the basic stuff I know is what would be covered in the first few chapters - but it sure sets me up nice for the rest of the quarter. What I've really been thinking a lot about though is how hard a time I have relating to my teachers this quarter. Last quarter wasn't too bad. I didn't have to read to much into what teachers meant or said. This quarter though so much of what they say seems off topic and beating around the bush. My business law class for example rarely gives a concrete answer to a question. Part of that I think is the topic - because there is obviously two sides to every argument - but once something has been decided the precedent is there and that's what he should go on as fact right? This is long and boring enough - I just hadn't written in a while and wanted to rant a little - so I did.

Isaac's Birthday

So my son turned 4 this past week. I'm so impressed with him. Everything that he's able to do and the things that he enjoys. A lot of them of course are influenced by his mother and I. Daddy (and Papa) love to fish. He's been wanting a fishing pole for a while. I figured 4 was old enough for him to break his first one - so I went out and bought one.

I had given it to him on Saturday but we didn't use it till it his birthday. He really wanted to go out and luckily I only had one class that day so I took him out and showed him the ropes - in the back yard.

What I was really amazed with though is who well he got it. True - it was in the back yard with a plastic fish. But he could cast it out most of the time... probably better than I did my first time and I was much older when I learned.

He now can't wait to go fishing for real. So we're going to be going in April when fishing season opens. I think it'll be a blast. Hopefully he'll have more success - I still haven't caught anything that I could really eat - unless you count catching I do at Safeway on the way home from fishing.

Congrats on being 4 buddy. I love you.

Winding Down - too fast

Doesn't "Winding Down" give the impression that things are going slow. It makes me feel that I should be relaxing. In reality though even though the quarter is winding down - I have to kick it into high gear. In my college Success class we have 1/3 of the points left in the quarter even though theres only two weeks. My English class we have our final paper due next Tuesday and then have to present it as well after that - it's worth 20% of our grade. All this while Overtime was just asked for at work again. Oh yeah - I'm trying to get over a cold - Issac turns four in a week - we just lost almost a week at school to snow days - and I'm planning a surprise for Sonya.
Wow, I just want to crawl under a rock and let it all go by.

I've done that before - that is the old me. The new me though I'm hoping will persevere and push through this. Make a plan and stick to it. If I do that - in two weeks time I should be very proud of what I accomplished. This is make or break time. Time to prove that I am a new person and not a quitter anymore.

But if I hear one more person say that this quarter is "Winding Down"...

Katies Law

Below is the final product. It got in the top two in the class - we don't vote on an overall winner but I got some good remarks and got to read it in front of the class... Only thing left is to write my representive.

Thanks again for those that commented.

Greg Buchanan
English Composition 101
Prof. Terry Heath
February 14, 2011
Katie’s Law
Katie Sepich was a 22 year old Grad Student who was brutally raped and murdered outside her home in August of 2003. During the struggle for her life Katie was able to scratch the killer enough for a DNA sample to be taken; because of this her parents and law enforcement were hopeful that they’d eventually be able to find Katie’s killer. What her parents learned though is at the time DNA testing was only done on convicted felons. So although Katie’s killer ended up with a felony arrest just 3 months after the murder, her parents spent over three years not knowing who her killer was and if he’d ever be caught. Because of their experience, Katie’s parents have worked tirelessly to pass Katie’s Law which would require that DNA be taken from any suspect that is arrested for a felony. Katie’s Law is now coming before Washington State law makers. We must pass Katie’s Law to allow the DNA sampling of those arrested for felonies.
Our current state law is similar to almost every state before Katie’s Law; we require the DNA sampling of those convicted of felonies. In five years since Katie’s parents, Dave and Jayann Sepich, helped pass this law in New Mexico it has been passed in 23 States Nationwide. This is the second time this law has come before our Legislature. It has more support this time around but it still needs a lot of help to get it on the books as law. Just this month Katie’s Mom, Jayann, came to Olympia and made a plea before the legislators telling them, “What we can do is solve crimes, save lives and absolve the innocent” (Mikkelsen). If this law is passed “Every adult lawfully arrested for or charged with the commission of any criminal offense constituting a violent offense or a sex offense” would be required to give a DNA sample at the time of their arrest (Washington State).
DNA sampling has many benefits, and one of those is to solve cold cases. If DNA is recovered from a crime scene police are able to test the sample and run its findings over a nationwide data base called CODIS, the Combined DNA Index System. If there is a match, police and prosecutors have a better chance at a conviction for crimes the individual committed. In the case of Katie’s killer, he committed a crime just three months after killing her. Had this law been in effect at the time her parents would have known immediately who the killer was. They would not have had to wait three years for him to be convicted of the other crime.
On the flip side, DNA can also be used to rule out guilt. If a person has been arrested for a crime and DNA is taken at the time of that arrest it can absolve him or her from the crime when it’s ran against the DNA at the scene. If a person is found innocent of the crime, according to the House and Senate Bill, their record can be expunged and their sample removed (Washington State).
DNA prevents bias when policing. It is common for people’s history and bias to effect their way of thinking. Police, although very good at their job, are sometimes influenced by this bias. When DNA is used it doesn’t see color or background. It only looks at the information that was left behind. Furthermore, the information sent to CODIS is a numeric file. There is no link to personal information or criminal background (Sepich). This will help to prevent a bias of any kind from occurring.
The most important point that the Sepich’s make is that DNA can potentially save lives and reduce further crimes. If DNA is taken from a crime scene such a murder and then a person is arrested later DNA can make that match quickly. This would take that murderer off the street and not allow them to commit any other crimes. Without this law they would continue to be out among us until they were actually convicted of a crime. The City of Chicago did a study in 2005. They took a close look at eight convicted felons and determined that if this law was in effect it would have prevented 60 crimes including 22 murders and 30 rapes (Sepich).
Criminal Defense Lawyers and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are arguing against the passage of this law. They say that it goes against our constitutional right of innocent until proven guilty. The ACLU said, “DNA is more than a fingerprint. DNA contains your entire code; DNA is you: This is your entire genetic information that they are seizing from people, many of whom are presumably innocent” (Reichback). They say that this is a search and should require a warrant. A search warrant would only be granted in a particular case to match with that single crime. Although unpopular the defense lawyers argue that it is, “Incompatible with Washington’s constitutional provisions” (Mikkelsen). Both groups have threatened that if passed they will bring their issue before the court. The argument has worked before and they are hoping it will work again.
It is important that we let our legislators know that we don’t want the Defense Lawyers to win again. We want to protect ourselves and the memories of those like Katie Sepich. This law is about timing. It moves DNA testing from a conviction to being arrested and charged with a serious crime. By taking samples then we will solve cold cases sooner and potentially save lives; all while protecting those accused by minimizing racial bias and absolving the innocent if the DNA does not match. The Sepich’s have set up a website, www.katieslaw.org that can help you know who to contact and what to say. I urge you to contact your local representative and let them know that you support this law. Do not let Katie’s murder be in vain.


Works Cited
Mikkelsen, Drew. “Murder victim’s mother wants DNA samples taken during arrests.” King5.com. Belo Corp, 1 Feb. 2011. Web. 2 Feb. 2011
Reichback, Matthew. “Katie’s Law expansion has bipartisan support but faces court challenges.” Newmexicoindependent.com. The American Independent News Network, 2 Feb. 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2011.
Sepich, Dave and Jayann. DNA Saves. Sepich, Dave and Jayann. 2009. Web. 11 February 2011.
Washington State. Legislature. House Bill 1369 and Senate Bill 5240. Access Washington, 13 Feb. 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2011.

Freedom (Jan 19th, 2011)

Ah, finally a nice day. The sun was out and the pavement was mostly dry. It wasn’t freezing so it was a perfect day for ride. I got the bike out and warmed it up for a while – it’s been over a month since I rode last so it took it a little while but not too bad. I got all geared up and off I went. It was a short ride since it was cold and I had to be at work soon, but freeing none the less. It felt so good just to not be confined to my car. To feel that after all the snow, ice, wind and rain that I could live again on my bike. It was a great feeling.
It also made me think about how else I’ve freed myself over the past year. In building the house we’ve freed ourselves of apartment life. Our kids are able to run and play for the most part without worrying about how loud they get. We are paying into our retirement by not paying rent to someone else but a mortgage for our house. Also it’s given us a chance to work at improving upon something. There are always tasks to do around the house. For me it’s so much easier to do those since the house is ours than it was when we were in an apartment and I wasn’t invested in what happened to it.
The second way is that by starting school I can feel myself freeing up opportunities in the future. It hasn’t really done anything yet except make me feel the smartest I ever have. That’s a good feeling and important in my being successful this time around.
Freedom is an amazing feeling – looking back though it’s amazing to me that those feelings of freedom have come and are coming with a lot of work attached. Just as this country has done we must work for our freedom. We can’t get to where we want to be by lying down on the job so to speak. We can’t truly be free if we aren’t willing to sacrifice and work for it.
I want to be free.

Short Term Goal (Assignment)

We were assigned a letter in class to write about short term goals that the instructor had us come up with. Intially I thought it mine was going to be just showing up for all my classes. But that's kind of my problem at work right now is I feel sometimes like I just show up. I wanted to strech my self - so below is my letter.


Dear Greg,
I’ve been thinking about my goals and I’ve decided I intend to turn in every assignment on time for my three classes this quarter.
By March 15, 2011
The reasons I want to accomplish this goal are
- I believe that was what has held me back in the past. I believe that I am smart enough to do well in college but it has been the lack of effort that has prohibited me from succeeding.
- I need to get an A or B in every class in order to be fully reimbursed by State Farm, my employer. Missing or late assignments will hurt my chances at getting those grades.
- I am motivated by success. In the past when I would miss even one assignment I would become discouraged. I didn’t want to go back and I’d start missing classes and even more assignment. Success will feed off itself with me.
- By turning in every assignment and making a big deal about it I’m able to talk to family and coworkers about what I’m doing on almost a daily basis. Because I’m sharing my successes with them it’s making me more accountable because their beginning to just ask me how it’s going. That accountability is a huge difference from the times before. This is the first time going to school that I had people to be accountable too. That seems to help so far.

Staying on top of it

I am feeling so good right now. I had a paper due today for English. It was only two pages – but it was based on 62 pages of reading. I got it done last night and felt really good about it. Then today during lunch I finished up two more assignments that are due tomorrow. I don’t technically have to study tonight – but I have to start preparing and planning for my first essay. The draft is due on Friday. I’m really excited about it.
I’m mostly excited that I feel that I’m staying ahead of the game. I don’t feel that there are even minor things that are falling behind yet. I know it’s only one week into it but I’ve got to start somewhere.
Sonya has been so great about taking care of things. She really has been amazing and so helpful already. I even had her read an essay to me last night so that we were spending time together and then we talked about it a little. I haven’t felt that I’ve neglected my family and that’s mainly because of her. She has stayed positive and it looks like she’s actually getting more positive as the time goes on instead of getting frustrated. (Frustrated at the boys is a different story)
I’m really starting to feel that I can really do this. I was worried for quite a bit last week. Scared of what I got myself into – but I’m starting to become a believer in myself – and isn’t that a main point of college?

Perception

I’ve been working on a blog the past couple days that will be for later – but it has to do with perception. I’ll save the majority of my comments for that – but today was a great exercise in getting to know someone. After running from my weight training class to my College Success class I found an open seat next to a girl who also happened to be in my weight training class – I figured if anyone could understand why I wasn’t smelling like a peach it would be her… I did wonder when the guy sitting on the other side of me moved down one seat – oh well.
Anyway the point is that we did the whole get to know you thing where you talk to your neighbor and find out a little about them and then present them to the class. Her name is Gwen – the first thing I noticed though was I turned to her and saw what I thought was a CTR ring – and sure enough it was. Instantly my fear – and yes I’m still afraid of girls – but it was gone. We had a great conversation and got to know each other. I was able to open up and explain about my mission easier and I felt like she understood when I talked about how importantly my family was to me.
Why is it that once you have one thing in common that everything else is so much easier to talk about?
Finding that one thing though can sometimes prove to be difficult, especially for me. I always fear I’m going to say the wrong things or upset somebody. And I really hate to be called out on something that I don’t know everything about; which to me feels like most things. It’s something that I’ll have to work on – and if this first week is any indication – this will be a great time in my life to do it. I’ve done so many things outside of my shell the past 4 days – nothing major for most, but I’m feeling very confident and am really starting to feel that this time will be different.

Starting to Set In

Sonya told me this morning when I got home about an experience with Isaac this morning. I guess she was already up and Isaac came out of his room – he saw her and turned around and started walking to our room. She tried to tell Isaac that I wasn’t there, but that I was at school. He kept on walking. When he got to the bed he looked up on it and saw that I really wasn’t there. He looked at Sonya and she told him that I’d be back right after class (only one class today) He started bawling – “I want him home now!”
As much as I love hearing these stories – especially right after he gets done yelling at me – sometimes I agree with Sonya that he might be Bi-polar – but it still makes me feel bad that he has to go through this.
I hate being gone from my family. I really am one of those that would love it very much if Sonya would work full time and I’d be home with the boys full time. I just like that kind of busy. I know the song, “Mr. Mom.” And as much respect as I do have for parents, usually mothers that do the stay at home thing – I also think they have very little to complain about. I think they have the best job in the world.
I feel bad for the boys who just had to go through a year of me being gone a lot to build the house. Now they have the house and I’m gone again to go to school. This time, for a lot more than one year. We’ll see how it goes. I’m really excited and I have to be honest – I think Sonya is amazing. She seems to be even more supportive of this than she was with the house. She has been cleaning and making sure I have the things I need. All this while she’s coming down with a cold too.
It’s also starting to set in for me too. I am quickly realizing that this process is going to take a long time. I want to be very successful at it. At the same time, I can’t let it consume my life. I need to make sure that I take time for my family. Today after getting out of class – I came home and almost immediately set on the floor with the kids and played with the cars. I want them to enjoy the times they have with their dad. Doesn’t mean there won’t be discipline when they deserve it but I hope that their memories will be happy. It seems to me that they are getting to an age or will soon be that they will start to be able to remember things and I want those to be good.
I also hope that I’m setting a good example. Isaac and Gary both have their “Backpacks” for school too. They love to pretend that and I hope that by me going they will be even more motivated to continue and know that college will be expected of them.

Beginning down the Road

I’ve now had at least one of all my classes. I am feeling pretty good about it. The Professors are very straight forward from what I can tell. It’ll be more work than I’ve ever done but not more than I’ll be doing in coming quarters. I have 62 pages for English to read before Monday – at first I thought that sounded like a lot – but I’m already on page 15 so I’m doing well.
I think I will enjoy my Weight Training class the most – and hopefully I’ll get a lot out of it. My College Success has helped in one way already – I can spell Success now. Small achievements are the best I say because it takes those to make something big happen.
I’m really excited about my English class and really worried at the same time. I am worried that I may be in over my head. I’ve never considered that a strong point and so I fear that I’ll have to either put in a lot of work to get good grades – or I’ll get too frustrated and give up. I can’t do that this time. I shouldn’t have done it in the past but I did and now I am where I am.
I am pretty tired though. I don’t feel that I’m staying up way to late – it’s just that I have to be up by about 6am to get ready and be sure to make it to school on time. Since I don’t get off work till 9 it make for a late night considering when I get up. I do think the weight training class will help though to get me more energy. At least that’s the theory.
For now though and I do mean right now – I’m going to bow my head for a little nap. I’ve been enjoying doing that during lunch the past couple days. Maybe I’ll have to blog about that tomorrow.

New Journey

So tomorrow morning I start on a new journey. One I've started before and without much success. I'm hoping that this time is different - well - I'm hoping that the outcome is different. I know that almost every thing else is different. I'm married now, with two young boys. I have a great job now (one that is paying for me to go to school - how often does that happen now a days?) I've had success in other area's of my life - mainly us building and buying our first house. I just feel different. But in a lot of ways I feel so much the same.
I still don't love to work - I do it because I have to. I still love to stay up way to late a play video games. I of course still don't like to get up early to do anything - much less go to school. And I still find the task of completing a college degree to be very daunting.
So what will happen? Will my new differences make me so much better a student? Or will my old and bad habits get in the way of college success again?
I don't really think there is an answer for this - and although I think all of these things will play into my success or failure - I think they can fit in either category. I think my success will be based on me learning and developing certain talents I haven't developed yet. I think college for me will be about learning how to manage my time better. Learning how to get the most out of my time while I'm doing a certain task and compartmentalizing.
I'm excited, I'm nervous, and I'm scared. of what? I'm not really sure. It's a journey that I've never seen through and never gotten very far on. I know I just have to take it one day at a time and one class at a time. When I'm done, and if... yes if, I get that piece of paper in my hand that says I completed my college degree, I'll probably be excited, nervous and scared - of a new journey that I won't know much about.
Such is life - now it's off to bed, gotta rest up they say. That's not something that I've ever been very good at - but I guess now's as good as any to try new things.