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Boring sundays…

// October 16th, 2005 // No Comments » // Life, The Universe, and Everything

So no packers today… good and bad… hopefully they can get some injured people back… but it also means it’s a boring sunday. Jade has to work, and i guess i do too kind of. I’m putting together a big electronics store for an old friend (Rob Solem)… the site will be pretty nice… hopefully it makes him some money. I have some work to do on it today…

Not much has been happening otherwise. I had an interview with a different landscaping company and it went very well. They called me back on friday but i wasn’t home, i am positive they’re going to offer me the job but the rate of pay they were offering was less than I am getting now, though i have a feeling they’ll offer to meet it. I probably won’t take it, as it will be more actual work than where i work now, but i do plan to write my current boss a letter and it will definately mention that i have had other job offers… so we’ll see. I really wish i could just fastforward time to may or june so i could get this damn electrician internship. I sure hope this works out… i will be extrememly pissed if i put in all this work at school and wasting time working landscaping…. i could be traveling right now.

Which brings me to my next point… I’m going to start trying to save/plan to head to Peru in may. I figure if i start this internship in june, i will be kind of locked down for the next few years…(wow, that’s hard to comprehend right now) so i kind of want to travel a bit first. Why peru? Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu (which means “manly peak”) was most likely a royal estate and religious retreat. It was built between 1460 and 1470 AD by Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, an Incan ruler. The city has an altitude of 8,000 feet, and is high above the Urubamba River canyon cloud forest, so it likely did not have any administrative, military or commercial use. After Pachacuti’s death, Machu Picchu became the property of his allus, or kinship group, which was responsible for it’s maintenance, administration, and any new construction.

I saw pictures of it when i was in central america and something brought it back to mind as of late… I haven’t looked far enough into prices there, plane tickets, other things to do etc… so i have no idea how long i would stay. It would more than likely be 2weeks - 1 month… i would love to go for 4 months again but i don’t think thats very plausible right now.

This summer has sucked. I didn’t even go camping once. Not a single damn time… well not lately anyways… i went a couple times in spring… It’s my own fault too… just lazy. Jade’s schedule was totally shitty the entire summer so we couldn’t go then, and this last month every weekend we were going to go, something either came up, she got called in, or it rained. I should have just went myself! which was an opotion….. though that’s always boringer. It’s just a bummer i let the entire summer slip away… The most boring summer ever following the greatest winter of my life… oh well. live and learn. I did have some grand old times… san francisco for panic, 10k lakes … so i guess it wasn’t all that bad…

well i’m done.

Well samson said, delilah cut off my hair.

// September 24th, 2005 // 1 Comment » // Life, The Universe, and Everything

Delilah she climbed up on samson’s knee,
Said tell me where your strength lies if you please.
She spoke so kind and she talked so fair,
Well samson said, delilah cut off my hair.

I wanted to see if the lyrics to this grateful dead song were true. So i got jade to cut my hair off. I found the lyrics to be totally false. I am actually way more stronger now… I can kill baby’s with two fingers (as opposed to needing 4 last week…

In any case, here are the photos… Could i possibly look any more trashy? I don’t think so.

And that’s not all…

I have been driving my mom’s jeep grand cherokee and it’s getting ready to die. So she’s going to sell my car and i’m going to get rid of this one for her (hopefully it sells). I took out a loan and bought a new car… well new meanign used of course. I have been in the market for about two weeks or so… Went to many car lots and dealt with a lot of shitty salesman and one saleswoman that ended up calling me to tell me to come look at this car i had already told her flat out i thought was ugly and wouldn’t drive… so i told her i would never buy a car from her cause she was too pushy. She of course thought i was kidding but after a bit of convincing, i made her realize i was dead serious and she was just like, “oh, ok.. I’m so sorry”

In any case… i was looking for either a wagon (An Audi A6 station wagon would have been ideal but a bit too pricey this round) or an Altima / Maxima. I was very close to pulling the trigger on a 2000 Altima for $6k … it made a weird noise though and decided not to… I drove toyota’s nissan’s, a luxury Olds, subarus and a malibu…

In the end, i found a 2000 subaru outback for $8k. My goal was to keep my loan under $6k and if i get what i hope for my car, it should be there… if not, i’m in over my head… The Subaru has 98k miles on it… which is a bit high but it’s been taken care of. All the receipts for oil changes etc… they replaced the transmission so that only has 60k miles on it along with the clutch… so keep your fingers crossed…

About the car… power everything… no sunroof though. even a power seat. joy. It’s maroon in color which isn’t my favorite… there are some dings on the paint and a small dent or two… It’s all wheel drive which makes it corner like a sunofabitch. Almost like driving my dads corvette. It’s got a 4 cylinder 2.5 liter so it’s not the fastest but it has a bit of pickup… about 25miles per gallon on the freeway and 20 in the city… hopefully i can get it to improve… I read about unhooking the battery for 30 mins and then driving it conservingly… subarus adjust the fuel usage based on how it’s being driven so i may be able to improve on it… it may not work though… we’ll see. My mom has the exact same car (only white) and less miles, and she get’s 27 and thats a mix of freeway/highway miles… that would be perfect for me, though even 23 average is better than what i was getting in the jeep…

Here are some pics…

This last one shows the dash… it has room for the equivalent of 3 cd players (triple DIN) too bad the stock radio is just that, radio and tape… shitty. Definately will be replaced, though what i’m thinking about doing is getting a 8″ widescreen touchscreen and putting it in there inplace of all three… it will take up the entire area under the heat controls… then hide a car computer (carputer or carPC whichever you prefer) either in the trunk above spare tire, in the trunk in the wall, or under a seat somewhere… that would allow me to have a ton of music, movies and even gps software… i’m looking at prices now and it may turn to be a bit more expensive than i can handle… lot of pricey parts because it has to run off car power… so we’ll see… in any case, that’s the car and my hair… i definatly like my car better!

I just realized i will have to change the whole look of this site since i don’t hvae my hair any more!

whoa

// September 16th, 2005 // No Comments » // Life, The Universe, and Everything

I had a hard time remembering how to log into this site! I’ve been away too long. Sorry to all my die hard fans… I’ll try to keep it up a bit more….

So let’s see, where to start. Aaron Roher (spelling?) i don’t remember your email address, i tried guessing but it either was wrong or you’re mad at me and not replying…. Just kidding… send me an email!

I just returned from Maine, and by just i mean a week ago. I had a blast, three weeks was a long time… a week alone with the dogs… One dog was awesome, one dog was horrible. It bit me a few times, one time in the middle of the night it walked over and bit me on my face… i think, i could have been dreaming but i dont think i was. Jade came out for the last week. We didn’t get to do as much stuff as i had wanted… Gas jumped up 60 cents a gallon in two days to over $3.25… and we only had a big truck… But it was fun, we got to see some pretty things.

I liked maine, but i like the west coast a lot more. Maine is “quaintly beautiful” as opposed to Oregons being “wow beautiful” in my opinion anyways. Maine reminded me a tremendous amount like wisconsin… only bigger and way more rolling hills… But other than that the scenery was a lot alike. I could definately see living there in the future… 10 years or so.

While out there, i had a lot of time to think… i came to the conclusion that i want to return to school to learn the electrician trade. And i use the term “return to school” loosely as it means i will be taking one class — Trade skill fundamentals… basically learning tools and how to read blue prints… but what it does is give me +25 points as far as the apprenticeship program goes… then this winter i’ll take another class for another +25 points… then in june everyone applies for the apprenticeships through the school (the businesses all come to the Community College to get their apprentices… you get points for other things too… math classes you’ve taken, graduting colleg, work experience, referernces etc… then you get seeded and the tops seeds get the jobs in order…. I figured out about where i’ll stand and if it is identical to last year, i will end up with an apprenticeship… then after four years, i’ll be a journeyman and making some serious cash. Hopefully the really good job market for it out here doesn’t fizzle out by then!!!!

In any case, that’s my direction in life… I’m thinking about trying to travel for a month before june… maybe april or may… over to thailand perhaps? Perhaps just a week down to costa rica to check on my land… not sure… anyone interested in tagging along?

Other news… me and jade have made the move back into the house we used to live in (she took my room when i headed to sunnier skies in central america) we were in a room about 12×10 at the most… but now have moved upstairs to a huge room… 20×20 at least… but the ceiling on half of it slants down from normal height down to 3 feet… we have half the room with bedroom stuff (bed, dresser) then the other half has my tv and stereo and computers…

I’m back to landscaping after things fell through with ryan. wow did they ever fall through. He definately has changed since before i left for the south… bummer.

I just got an email today about my friend Paul Beers. I had mentioned earlier that he has cancer. Testicular, Major Brain tumors (golf ball size) and it’s now moved into his pelvic bone. The doctors said it would take a miracle for him to recover. hopefully they move him from georgia up here to oregon (portland) so he can be around friends and family…. keep him in your thoughts and send some good mojo or juju his way. its really tough to think about it. he’s only ~25. it could have just as easily been any of us. Cancer works so quick too…

Eugene… same shit different day. I felt the change from summer to fall this past week. The seasons seem to change weird here… All of a sudden it’s a new season, you can almost pin point the exact day. It’s cold/chilly in the mornings and the rains are teasing… other than that it’s not much different than summer… still nice out for 95% of the days… the leaves don’t get as pretty as they do in wisco this time of year… i wish i could see them! I may be heading home for turkey day… who’s all going back for it? Sam, you heading home? perhaps i could catch a ride if it works out and i fly into minneapolis… though I may just go right to wausau… with gas prices and everyone’s time that is involved, it’s almost the same…

Casey, i think my aunt is having a lual (spelling? … the hawaiin type thing) for thanksgiving… any of you guys that want to come are more than welcome, but i think casey is the only one that doesnt eat ON thanksgiving….

so ther eyou have it… that’s whats going on in my life right now… exciting isn’t it?

// August 8th, 2005 // No Comments » // Life, The Universe, and Everything

Sittin’ around, waiting for an airplane
Don’t know how to fly, but that’s okay
Got me a pilot, she’s going my way
If she’s got wings, if she’s got wings

Sittin’ around, waiting for the mailman
I don’t how he could be so slow
My good friend said you wrote me a letter
Must have been a year ago

Well, I’ve got a feeling
That I should be leaving on

Sittin’ around, watching the rainfall
I don’t know how it could rain so long
They say the ocean, she is a woman
Who waits for her man to come home

Well, I’ve got a feeling
That I should be leaving on

Well, I’ve got a feeling
That I should be leaving on
Well, I’ve got a feeling
That I should be leaving on
Well, I’ve got a feeling
That I should be leaving on
Well, I’ve got a feeling
That I should be leaving

Sittin’ around, waiting for an airplane
Don’t know how to fly, but that’s okay
I got me a pilot, she’s going my way
If she’s got wings, if she’s got wings
If she’s got wings, if she’s got wings
If she’s got wings, if she’s got wings

back to square one

// August 1st, 2005 // No Comments » // Life, The Universe, and Everything

So, I guess I haven’t posted here what’s been going on… not sure if anyone reads this much anymore… Me and ryan had a big falling out… for lack of a better way to put it, I got sick of being talked to like shit. This was at least the second or third time in what, 3 months, that I was ready to move out due to it… so i figured it doesn’t pay to let it happen again. As far as what now, i’m not so sure. I would like to keep working with him, but i would totally understand if he’s not into it.

So I’ve moved out 90% of my stuff from my other house. I’m back into the house that i was living in before i left for central amerika. The whole day was spent yesterday but we almost finished. It’s nice to be back here, though there are a lot more people here than living with just ryan and coleen. Ryan seems to have settled back down so hopefully we can still manage some sort of working relationship… i’m sure our friendship will be fine. I think the whole thing with living and working together wasn’t the best idea (obviously)… We had no separation at all and things just boiled up I guess. I’m still a bit overwhelmed with how everything went down, but it’s definately for the best we left. We are in a TINY room here for a month, then the biggest room in the house opens up in the upstairs and we’ll be moving into that. Rent is cheaper here than at the other house and it includes all utilities and High Speed internet. which is good because i’m jobless for the time being. We have to do some cleaning and finish moving today, jade works at 230, I’ll start the tedious task of calling companies and begging for a job…

In other news, i talked to my buddy Tim (the army guy) and they’re going to fly me out to Maine to watch their dogs while they do their 2 week National Guard bullshit. It works out quite perfectly because the idea of me moving there has always been in my head, I just wanted to see it first. Me and jade are going to try to figure out how to afford a ticket for her to come see it as well. If i’m unable to find a job here, I think that’s where i’ll end up. If it wasn’t for jade wanting to stay in Eugene, I would more than likely be somewhere in wyoming right now driving towards the East coast.

So, here’s my new contact info…

465 almaden st
eugene, or 97405
541.431.7091

bye

Golden Gate

// July 19th, 2005 // No Comments » // Life, The Universe, and Everything

This is a picture from the golden gate bridge…

No more beard

// July 6th, 2005 // No Comments » // Life, The Universe, and Everything

Well hairy ahren is gone. I had started growing the beard in central america because i was too sick of shaving with cold water… Try it once, you’ll understand. So i shaved it off. While dehairing, i played with a couple different looks… You can click the image to go to a larger size.

This one i shaved off all the beard part except what was on my neck… and the goatee part. The picture doesn’t give justice to this woman killer look.

This one is my Death to all ladies goatee. I shaved the rest of the hair execpt for the cool hair that made the goatee go all the way down my neck. I was almost captured by a heard of rabid wild women looking for a sexy young las, so i had to remove this and go back to facehairless ahren.