Finally! We found the I!

Democrats.

Because it is October and we're all getting ready to vote.

100 skills

Thanks to StumbleUpon I have found a list of 100 skills to add to my list of requirements for the perfect man. This is where I got the list. Here is the list in blog form.

Automotive

1. Handle a blowout
2. Drive in snow
3. Check trouble codes
4. Replace fan belt
5. Wax a car
6. Conquer an off-road obstacle
7. Use a stick welder
8. Hitch up a trailer
9. Jump start a car

Handling Emergencies

10. Perform the Heimlich
11. Reverse hypothermia
12. Perform hands-only CPR
13. Escape a sinking car

Home

14. Carve a turkey
15. Use a sewing machine
16. Put out a fire
17. Home brew beer
18. Remove bloodstains from fabric
19. Move heavy stuff
20. Grow food
21. Read an electric meter
22. Shovel the right way
23. Solder wire
24. Tape drywall
25. Split firewood
26. Replace a faucet washer
27. Mix concrete
28. Paint a straight line
29. Use a French knife
30. Prune bushes and small trees
31. Iron a shirt
32. Fix a toilet tank flapper
33. Change a single-pole switch
34. Fell a tree
35. Replace a broken windowpane
36. Set up a ladder, safely
37. Fix a faucet cartridge
38. Sweat copper tubing
39. Change a diaper
40. Grill with charcoal
41. Sew a button on a shirt
42. Fold a flag

Medical Myths

43. Treat frostbite
44. Treat a burn
45. Help a seizure victim
46. Treat a snakebite
47. Remove a tick

Military Know-How

48. Shine shoes
49. Make a drum-tight bed
50. Drop and give the perfect pushup

Outdoors

51. Run rapids in a canoe
52. Hang food in the wild
53. Skipper a boat
54. Shoot straight
55. Tackle steep drops on a mountain bike
56. Escape a rip current

Primitive Skills

57. Build a fire in the wilderness
58. Build a shelter
59. Find potable water

Surviving Extremes

60. Floods
61. Tornados
62. Cold
63. Heat
64. Lightning

Teach Your Kids

65. Cast a line
66. Lend a hand
67. Change a tire
68. Throw a spiral
69. Fly a stunt kite
70. Drive a stick shift
71. Parallel park
72. Tie a bowline
73. Tie a necktie
74. Whittle
75. Ride a bike

Technology

76. Install a graphics card
77. Take the perfect portrait
78. Calibrate HDTV settings
79. Shoot a home movie
80. Ditch your hard drive

Master Key Workshop Tools

81. Drill driver
82. Grease gun
83. Coolant hydrometer
84. Socket wrench
85. Test light
86. Brick trowel
87. Framing hammer
88. Wood chisel
89. Spade bit
90. Circular saw
91. Sledge hammer
92. Hacksaw
93. Torque wrench
94. Air wrench
95. Infrared thermometer
96. Sand blaster
97. Crosscut saw
98. Hand plane
99. Multimeter
100. Feeler gauges

Read more: 100 Skills Every Man Should Know: 2008's Ultimate DIY List - Popular Mechanics

Break!

My first break from college is finally here. What do I plan to do with two days off from school? I have no idea. I've made some very vague plans with a lot of people, but nothing really set yet. My cousin's daughter is turning one, so my uncles are visiting and I'm hoping to spend some time with them and the cousins. I haven't seen my aunt on the other side of the family since dad left, so it would be nice to see them too. And approximately half of my friends are staying on campus for this break, so I should make time to hang out with all of them too. I really don't know what to do here though, everything is closed for break. Which is completely ridiculous. What good is a few free days on a college campus if nothing is open? Oh well. I'm sure we will come up with something. Chances are I won't be getting nearly as much done during this break as I had hoped, but I am determined to enjoy it AND accomplish something.

brotips

I have a few internet addictions. The newest, and probably best, is brotips. I've read all of them. All 1,192 of them. Most of the tips are geared towards guys, or bros, obviously, but the lessons can be applied to pretty much anyone. Although, one of my guy friends recently told me that I am chill enough to count as a bro. I'm just going to assume that it's a good thing since it implies that I am definitely out of the ho zone.

Siri

This is actually sad and funny at the same time. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet.

Freshman 15? Not on these hips.

How I fight the Freshman 15:

1. Live on 3rd floor.
2. Go to the Wellness Center every time someone invites you.
3. If the package says that a serving size is seven, eat seven.
4. If one is broken in half, don't look for the other half, round up. It's still one piece.
5. Watch lots of TV shows about morbidly obese people trying to lose weight.
6. Find someone that is more in shape than you and then secretly try to catch up with, or even surpass them.
7. When you're hungry even though you just ate, drink water.
8. Invest in a really cool water bottle.
9. Hang out with the jocks.
10. When you want to eat something unhealthy, imagine telling someone that you're a Health Science major while you eat a Little Debbie.

Blog Frustration

I'm seriously annoyed at myself right now. This wasn't supposed to be a place for me to bore you with the details of my weekend, but it wasn't supposed to be a slightly personalized version of StumbleUpon either. I guess I just express all of my deep thoughts and feelings with a select few via text message. There's a lot going on in this head and heart (it's an expression, unless you're really into phlebotomy, there isn't really anything interesting going on in my actual heart). It'll come out in blog form one of these days I'm sure.

Weekend. Ugh.

This weekend was interesting. A friend just asked me how my weekend was, and I was surprised that I really had to stop and think before I could answer him. Parts of this weekend were really tough. But, thanks to my wonderful friends, some here, some in Idaho, and one in Missouri, other parts of this weekend were incredible. Over all, it averaged out to a pretty good weekend. Friday night Vespers was a little long, one important lesson that bible workers seem to have a hard time understanding is that longer is not always  better. Having said that, I will admit that Vespers was pretty good. My roommate was gone on I Cantori tour, so I stayed up way too late and woke up way too early. Sabbath was just a rough day, but I did get to spend time with some fabulous people. Saturday night Nicole and I kidnapped Po and Indian and headed downtown. After some coffee we decided to go bowling, but after seeing all the T and TH parking stickers in the car windows at the first bowling alley, and being creeped out by the bouncer at the second one (yes, a creepy bouncer at a place for kids), we decided to go to a movie. Naturally, the dude behind me had a constant stream of comments that he just couldn't keep to himself. Fortunately for him (and everyone else) his comments were quite entertaining and added a lot to an otherwise mediocre film. Naturally, he had a Southern ID on a Southern lanyard hanging around his neck. Finally, we stopped by Taco Bell (first time I've been there since my dad left!) so Nicole and I could eat. The silly boys weren't hungry. They were also complaining of being cold most of the evening. There's something seriously wrong with them. Nicole and I were fine. Finally, a half hour before curfew, we headed back to school. It was awesome, but I'm still tired. Today was much more relaxed. Our normal lunch at CK at one and then the long slow adventure back with the Jamaican. That was very interesting. My roommate went to Six Flags today, I rearranged the room. ha. Hope she doesn't mind too much, but if she does, we can change it back. I guess. Anyway, three days of school, then October Break. I'm definitely looking forward to it. No real plans, but I did just discover that my amazing little cousin is turning one this week! Ohh, and for those that care (and actually, even those that don't), I'll be home in 60 days!

Barbie

Barbie in reality. You all need to read this article. I'm not going to go crazy and tell you that Barbies are evil, I played with them for years and never consciously thought that I should look like Barbie. but this is kind of interesting. I really think the answer to this self-esteem crisis is to take what we've learned the hard way, and be sure to help our daughters build a positive self image and raise our sons to be the kind of guys that help girls be confident and not the kind that tear girls apart. Anyway. After an awesome but exhausting beginning of the weekend, I'm going to sleep. and remembering this picture as I get ready for church and everything else this week. In fact, I may print it and put it by my mirror.

Lego Explorer

This is awesome. I love Legos.

Weekend

One of the most important things I've learned here is to appreciate the weekend. I really don't know how people can survive without a Sabbath. However, contrary to popular belief, most people here don't spend a whole lot of time relaxing on the weekends. We started this weekend off with an amazing concert followed by brownies and cookies in the student park. It was fun, but the lines were super long and the whole place was crowded. Then my friends and I headed back towards the dorm, along the way we saw many things that made us wish that college had social like academy did. Sabbath morning we got up early and went to Sabbath school, I think picking a sabbath school AND a church service is one of the most difficult things I have to do all week. So, I usually just get my friends to decide. Anyway, after church and lunch in the cafeteria I went on a short hike on the biology trail with a friend and some new friends. it was tons of fun! then after a quick nap I was off to help set up for the Joker Release Party. After putting on a ridiculous outfit I helped hand out the free shirts, apparently college students love love love free shirts. I was handing out the smalls so most of the people getting shirts from me were girls. Girls are mean. And very scary. The crowd was so pushy that the entire Duck Squad (social committee) is going to go through some kind of crowd control training with campus safety. I think the party was a wonderful success, no one was injured in the trampling, and Hakke Matte did an amazing performance. We made buttons, ate nachos, played video games, pinned the tie on Dr. Bietz, played twister and various family games, and took awkward family photos. at the end of the night the Joker was found and distributed, and people started to go home. A few really nice guys stayed and helped us load up the furniture and we took it back to some storage building. When we finally got into the storage building there was a cockroach looking for a new friend. I thought they were supposed to run away and hide when you turned the light on, but this one just kind of ran in circles. I think someone stepped on him, but after resting for a few minutes he seemed to be completely healed. He was a cute, but weird little thing. I'd never seen anything like it before. And while he was kinda creepy, he was just too big to smash. I talked to a friend that is an expert, and he said it's probably good that I didn't try to smash the roach because they make an awful crunch and the feeling of smashing it is just terrible. So, cockroaches are pretty safe around me unless I have some kind of bug spray or something. Anyway, I had a very busy weekend full of new friends but lacking in the sleep department. My other major discovery of the weekend is that life without an ID card is not fun. I didn't have any pockets so my friend put my phone and ID in his pocket, but then he went to a movie. So, I had to go a whole night without my phone and ID. That's pushing it. I thought I would really miss my phone, and I kinda do, but I really really really miss my ID. So, now you know, go to all the parties, don't be desperate for a shirt, you'll probably get hurt, and always make sure you have a pocket or something for your ID. I think I'll be going to the campus shop to buy a lanyard thingie for my ID. Anyway, now I'm on to my to do list for today. Three papers, clean my room and get ready for my View Southern guests, and maybe some friend time later. Oh, and boys are dumb. But that's all I have to say on that one.

Color

Today I had to go over to the campus shop and buy some color pencils. After weighing my options for several minutes I decided to step out of character and pay a little more to support the movement. ha. Okay, so there's a good chance that I was thinking a little more about the fact that the package looked really cool and the little window in the front revealed pencils that were not just some plain color, but actually covered in pictures of a fruit that was the corresponding color. I like bright colors and fruit so it was clearly an easy choice. At least, it was until I saw the pencils next to the fruity ones. These ones had wild animal prints on them. Finally, I decided on the fruity pencils, but only after deciding that the Campus Shop really should offer fewer choices. After years of using PrismaColors I was a bit worried that these pencils would be disappointing and be covered in that awful plastic stuff that gets stuck in your sharpener, but remember, these were pencils. These pencils are actually made out of old newspapers. That's pretty much the coolest thing ever. They're really fun and easy to sharpen and coloring with them is even better. Even the names of the colors are cool and educational. I had never heard of "Mangosteen"before. I'm pretty sure it's delicious though. Someday I will find one and eat one. and then blog about it. I really do love college.

P.S. I'll admit that the color thing is ridiculous, but I'm a sleep deprived college student.
http://www.myobon.com/product/obonanza-color-pencil-pack

I love babies.

I really should avoid videos like this, but who could be grumpy after seeing this?

Let's Roll

USS BELLEAU WOOD, at sea (Sept. 6, 2002) More than 500 Sailors and Marines assemble on the ship’s flight deck to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States by spelling out the now famous quote from Mr. Todd Beamer, “Let’s Roll.” Beamer was one of the heroic passengers on United Flight 93, which crashed in a western Pennsylvania field after he and several other passengers attempted to regain control of the plane from terrorist hijackers. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Photographer’s Mate Steven L. Cooke)

if only life were always this simple.

New Blog

I was really into the whole blogging thing for a little while my freshman year of high school, but once I went away to academy I discovered the wonderful world of student government, watching football with a lobby full of boys, and hosting textbook-less "homework parties". Every year of academy I promised myself I would religiously blog about the next year, but that next year never came. Naturally, college was the next big thing, so I once again made that ridiculous promise to myself. This time it was accompanied by the ideology that this time I would finally know how to say no to opportunities to be involved. At least until my blog was established. I made it through the Organization Showcase without joining any clubs or allowing myself to get sucked into any responsibilities. But did I start my blog my first night in this huge dorm? No. I was too busy going to orientation and making friends. So, here I am, nearly three weeks later, sitting in my dorm room staring at an intimidating Biology book and wondering how on earth I allowed myself to get involved in two organizations (currently debating a third) before I got around to writing a blog. As I was cleaning my room today I discovered at least five different journals I have started writing in and never finished. Clearly I'm not doing my part to save the trees. I should work on that. Anyway. A real blog post will come tomorrow. I promise. And tomorrow is Friday. My favorite week day. This week has been crazy.