Opening Warning: After being cooped up in a truck for 80 hours plowing snow, I have a lot of random bits to share!

1. My professor came to class yesterday 25 minutes late and DRUNK. So much for giving my class presentation, we passed him in the hallway on our way out, and I immediately saw his hair and clothes were disheveled, and his speech was incoherent. "I don't know what happened....I thought I left with enough time...I'm really sorry guys..." this all coming from a human resources professor who tells us about substance abuse in the workplace. The demonstration wasn't necessary, and your boozy breath was more than I needed! Perhaps he needs to hit bottom with his alcoholism, but he really needs help, and he has to stop messing up other people's lives, grades, and his own! Good thing I don't go to Marquette, or I would be suspended and fined $15,000 for blogging about this!
   
   So my dilemma is what to do! Should I say something to him? Before or after our final exam on Thursday? To the administration to wake him up? I'm at a loss... My other dilemma is how to fit my work truck into the carwash.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Nobody wants to hear about a work day, but I had a highlight today! I turned the corner and saw a gaggle? of turkeys in the lawn with three of them climbing a crab tree! I didn't know they could do that! New hiring prospects for Crawford Tree!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. In accordance with tradition, allow me to bid a formal farewell to the old Truck 68 and warmly welcome its replacement. =)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. For anyone wondering, millions I'm sure, this is my main plow vehicle. The Sherman Tank is still on backorder. Just picture me at the wheel with Mateo riding shotgun and both of us jamming to 104.7 - Racine's Spanish radio! Me gusta mucho. =)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. We had a little jam session at Chi Alpha last night, or should I say this morning. It was really good! Followed up by donuts in the parking lot as I was trying to plow!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   On the right is Bree, our wonderful bassist!
   
   
   
   
6. Remember that there are people who can't afford warm clothes or Christmas presents for their kids! My amazing mom literally saved trucks of clothes and toys from the landfill and washed it and sorted it by age group and gender for me to drop off at a Catholic ministry house called Casa Maria. Surprising, when I walked in, the house smelled faintly like a Lutheran house. Just thought I'd provide the correlation
   
   It's down by Marquette (I say that about anything in that general vicinity) and had a cool little sign I know someone will really like. (Click it bigger)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Check out the new Xanga features coming our way on Marc's page. Naturally, I couldn't help but weigh in, especially if I'm on the first page - but Tyler nabbed that top spot!
   
   
   
8. Man, I love having a camera phone! I just realized why no one is calling me...my phone was off the whole time I was writing this entry... Well, I'm sure they're wondering when I'm coming over to Joe's birthday party! Before you sign off of Xanga today, be sure to say happy birthday to the boy - he's 15 on Sunday!
   
   
   
   SportDog75  SportDog75
   

I haven't showered in sooo long.

Know that feeling in a full bladder when you get close to bathroom? Just had that.

Don't you just want to share that moment of relieving yourself with someone on the phone?

One paper down. One to go. Still. Targeting Tuesday?

Almost done with 11 semesters. I am done in spring!

Lately, I've noticed myself stashing things. Pyschologically. I know
that on January 1, I hop on a plane and go to the other side of the
world. I know that anything I don't finish by then will never be
finished. Rebate checks will not find their way to my mailbox, and
paperwork will not land in files on their own. But you know? It won't
matter! So I'm just pushing through the next two weeks knowing that if
I survive this, I will have a w-w-wonderful three weeks to hike through
mountains with my buddies. Sweet!

In the meantime, we have a last Chi Alpha night of the year tomorrow
night, our last men's group on Wednesday night, and my last final next
Thursday on the 22nd. Almost, almost there! A special someone is coming in on the 25th. Then Matt's
wedding on the 30th, a long drive to Louisville, KY, and a great chance
to meet people at the World Missions Summit, experience God in a big
group, and...and...a plane trip to New Zealand. So that's my schedule!

Anyone want to skiing this week? We've got piles of snow!

This
past weekend, my friend Lehnert and I drove out to Rochester, MN to
visit our friends Jake and Jenni who now have a new baby. It was my
first trip out to see their new home, and I wish I had gotten there
sooner! By the way, Lehnert is going with me to New Zealand. In fact,
he leaves on Saturday for a long layover in Hawaii then on to meet up
with our buddy Jojo.

Research tells us that babies' morphology triggers a physiological
reaction in adults. I can confirm that. Jake and Lehnert? Motorcycle
riders, even racers. Lehnert has 8 bikes. Jake crashed on one of
Lehnert's bikes and started a wildfire. These guys climb trees for a
living, run chainsaws. You name it. They're hardcore. Jake told his
wife a year ago that he and Lehnert and Jojo were going to Wisconsin,
but they had a pit stop in Southern California that his wife heard
about this year. They drove non-stop and made it round trip in a
weekend - the car was turned off once!

Enter Olive. Jake is holding his daughter and going "ba-ba-booo,
ba-ba-booooo" with the softest look on his face. Jenni says, "she likes
that" and Jake responds, "it's from Chapelle." Jenni no longer likes
that. Olive is in training.

As you can see, Olive's big eyes are part of the morphology of babies
that makes them adorable. In relation to their heads, their eyes are
huge! Their minds are actively learning at this stage - very quickly
picking up new things. You'll see in a moment.

Periodically, we as guys would lapse into our old selves. Leaving child
rearing to the mother of the house, we took off in a high performance
Ford Escort with a switch on the dash (circled in red) to turn the heat
on high or not at all. Basically you get to the point of being
uncomfortable then you turn it off until you reaach the point of being
uncomfortable. Repeat. The car also has no dashlights, can play
Dashboard Confessional loudly, but you cannot see how fast you're going
at night as you skid across the icy
freeway in a snowstorm at 70mph like I was doing to get back to plow
snow because we got dumped after I left and I can't be gone and Lehnert
had to plow for the City of Waukesha and I'm rambling.

While out there, we stopped at Cabela's to pick up supplies for the trip to New Zealand. I found wool pants for $6 but not in my size. Instead I found some waterproof zip-offs. Um, Under Armour is on my Christmas wish list.

Back to training. With her naked bottom sitting on my head with her
about to pee at any second, Jake asked what Liv should wear. Jenni says
she doesn't care. I mean, she poops every 15 minutes so changing is a
constant process. Jake says are you sure. Jenni says yeah I don't care.

Psychological training has to begin at a young age. Jake instinctively
knows this and dresses her in a "Good tree people do not top trees."
shirt, a quote by Dr. Alex Shigo. If she is to live and breathe trees,
this early start is essential.

Look at her eyes! See what I mean?? Jake is such a good dad.

No, this is not my daughter. Someday, Nick, someday... This is my adorable sister Victoria Zoe.

And the lovely recovering Miss Christina who is now walking!

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PS: I love my camera phone! Some
of these pictures bombed, but the Olive ones surprised me! Um, as long
as I'm mentioning it, some hiking boots would be nice and a camera for the trip. It's cheaper than this on eBay. Mom? Are you reading this?

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Edit: Just found out that all you
need to be a Nobel Peace Prize nominee is for a professor of history or
some social science to nominate you. That would be a good gift idea...

Thank you for your thoughts on businesses - no, it's not for a
particular assignment, but I do wonder what other people tend to think.
Most of you looked at their purpose from an external sense - what they
do for the outside world, but I think Kari was on key by looking
internally. If you aren't in the management side of things, the money
seems less important and the jobs and product or service seem
all-important. Yet, if all your activities don't yield a profit, you
will soon be out of business and not providing any jobs at all.

The beauty of capitalism is that it
keeps profits in check through competition. We could charge $600/hour
for our services, but we would never get any customers. Well, maybe one
or two who thought it was worth it, but everyone else would use another
company. For the vast majority of things, particularly with the
knowledge available through comparison shopping on the web, this works
out beautifully, even to the point of crushing margins to a sliver
which is good and bad. This does not work with things like oil. Our
testicular-fortitude-lacking government is not prosecuting the
companies that are controlling oil in this nation and the other
industries with just a few powerful players. Curious how energy is not
factored in the Consumer Price Index...

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A couple quick thoughts here.
Milwaukee is absolutely rocking the music scene. Unfortunately this
means there are times when 4 bands I really like are playing at the
same time. Richard Ashcroft of the Verve playing with Coldplay when
Acceptance is playing with Hellogoodbye and The Academy Is. Oh well, I
have 4 tickets. Looking forward to Ashlee Simpson on Saturday, The Fray
before I leave for New Zealand, Yellowcard with Mae when I get back!

What should a business's purpose or mission be?

If you have more than one, please identify the most important one.

It's The Force!

It takes me almost an entire minute to take a hot dog out of the fridge,
out of the packaging and to put it in the microwave, with a bun then
top it off with ketchup. I just don't have the patience any longer for this kind
of gourmet cooking! Maybe putting a fridge under my desk stocked with chocolate milk could save time.

13. Tradition is a reliable guide in deciding what's right.

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Yes, oh yes. Traditions are key
as our identity, our culture, and our default course of action. I
wholeheartedly endorse a continuing effort to improve, but when you
don't have clear alternative, following this past is a pretty good
guide for the future. Americans historically have struggled doing this
in our history, and not surprisingly. We were founded as a rejection of
conventional wisdom and haved perpetually maintained a short history
frame of reference, rely instead on the near-future as our focus.

You hear this in phrases like, "the game is only as far as the next
first down" or "our company's future rides on this quarter's earnings
report" or "what have you done for me lately" and many others. As we
mature, I would imagine this will evolve, but if you look at far older
cultures, things don't change much.

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14. When I'm talking to someone and I find out they've served in a war, I respect them more.

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I wish I did more. For every
valiant deed, though, I can't see past the inevitable scarring on the
individual. With the Vietnam War, quite likely the most scarring on
soldiers of our time, I don't see the soldier's sacrifice or loss, I
see the seared person and am stopped.

Have you talked to someone who seemed "off" and felt like it all made
sense when they said they had served in a war? I see the "off" person,
not the soldier, and I can't fix that. At least I haven't been able to.
When my friends come back from Iraq, my mind will jump to how the
person is different or how I think they will be different because
they've witness war, because they've killed... Might I be reminded the
next time I meet a vet that I ought to respect them more for that
instead.

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15. If I'm dating someone I like to know where they are and what they're up to at all times.

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Doggone right. That's why I only
date local neighborhood girls. Long distance relationships require
giving up too much control and expect you to trust the other person.
Ha, you'll never catch me doing that!

Quote of the day from my co-worker John: "I once dated a girl in Kaukauna, and I thought that was long distance!"

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16. It bugs me when somebody names their child something like 'Sunshine' or 'Charm'.

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Yes. Make up another name and leave a A Child's Introduction to Nouns alone.

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17. Only literate people should be allowed to vote.

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Government's value of a person
should not be determined by birth, race, gender, wealth, or education.
As an individual, value people however you want. I naturally tend to
favor people who take care of me. As a nation, though, you have to at
least lend a hand. If it doesn't work, if not everyone votes or eats or
has a job, so be it. It at least has to be made available, and the
challenge lies in being sure that all at least be given the
opportunity. (And no, I don't think we're doing this adequately in the
US...I hope that's self-evident). Be we do allow illiterate people to
vote, fortunately.

I am thankful for guys (males) who post (on Xanga) short, funny, useful
entries (prime example). For now, I will recover from reading soooo many solid blocks
of girly languaged essays on feelings by going to class and playing
Hangman or let's see... maybe Word Scramble on Yahoo! Mobile Games!

So in the spirit of light-hearted Xanga entries, I present to you the world's funniest religious joke by Emo Phillips. David, you reminded me of him.

This morning I received
thrilling news: a joke I wrote more than 20 years ago has been voted
the funniest religious joke of all time! In case you've missed it, here
it is:

Once I
saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!" He said,
"Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?"

He
said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A
Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He said,
"Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What franchise?" He said, "Baptist." I
said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He said,
"Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or
Northern Liberal Baptist?"

He said, "Northern
Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist
Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?"
He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said,
"Me, too!"

Northern
Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern
Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?" He said,
"Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912." I
said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over.