I Can't Wait

For Alicia to get here tomorrow!!!

Fun With My Eye

Well, I'm pretty much bored so I decided to play with pictures.


Here is my eye



Here is my eye with flames



Here is my eye inverted

Rock!!!

The American Tragedy

I hope these guys come back up to Ohio or somewhere close soon cause I really want to hear them live. I need to buy their latest cd's. I've been listening to them since 2000. Simply put... THEY ROCK!!!

Deadliest Catch

Mood: Bueno

Music: Staind (old school stuff)


So I'm sitting here watching deadliest catch on the discovery channel while I eat some of my own crab legs. Just for those who don't know, it is a show about crab fishermen up in Alaska. It is fucking nuts. I apreciate everything these guys do for what can either be descent money, or crappy money. Really even getting paid well isn't enough. I watched on person fall overboard and die and another who was barely saved from the 35 degree water. 30 ft. waves, water freezing onto the ship making it very slippery, and 500lb crab pods swaying in the storms. All this for a mere 2 bucks a pound for what they catch. Granted they catch thousands of pounds, but still they have to divide it amongst the crew.

So here is to the crab fisherman.



The crab wasn't the best but was worth 5 bucks a pound. It was really salty and some of the ends were dry and overcooked. Luckily, they don't have much meat in them anyways. After watching the show, I feel like I should have paid a lot more.



Lots of crab left for when Alicia comes to visit. Hot pockets and ice cream sure make a well balanced diet as well.

I Want To Pinch

Maybe just a little pinch?

I love that commercial.

Just like I love crab legs. I only have 4.5 lbs of it in my freezer right now.

MMMMmmmmm.

Nummy Nummy.

And at only 5 bucks a pound, it was well worth it.

I like being near an ocean.

I'll let everyone know how good they are.

Taking Things For Granted

We all do it.

Even if we don't realize it.

It can be a bad thing.

It can be a good thing.

It is nice to have a routine. To just live without worries. To just stroll through life and have it wizz bye without notice. Of coarse you can only do that when things are going well. Which, is a good thing.

But I have noticed something, in these last 3 weeks. Sometimes change, even tough changes, are good things.

At first being away from Alicia was ok, if not a little fun. A change that was needed for a while. I finally had some time to myself. I could do what I wanted. I could play video games whenever I wanted and got a whole bed to myself again. However, it didn't take long until I started really missing her. Now I can't wait to have her around again.

Sure, I miss the physical stuff a lot, but I also just miss having someone around to discuss things with. In my job I have to be so careful with what I say, and it is great to have someone there that I can be myself with. Sure, I cannot discuss everything about my job with her, but I can discuss and say things with her that I can't at work. Even though it is tough being away, I have learned a lot from it already.

It has made me realize just how much I did take for granted. Not that it was a bad thing either since things were great but now I just want to hold my Alicia. I wish I had more before, but now things are so different. Its amazing how you always want what you don't have. Hmmm. Think about that one once. I find myself doing it all the time. "I can't wait for the weekend." "I wish I made a few bucks more." "I really need a woman/man in my life." (for the single people out there) We have all had these thoughts. And they aren't bad. They help us get through life. They give us something to look foreward to.

So that is all fine and dandy, but sometimes you forget to live in the now. And that is what I am figuring out. I just can't wait to be home and not take her for granted. It is going to be awesome. Kinda like new again. And that is what is going to be great and make this whole thing all worth while.

Because I Can...

3M's... Moving, Minnesota, and Missing.

Music: "So Far Away" by Stabbing Westward

Mood: Bored


The music is fitting.

I guess I have been for quite some time now. (far away that is) Alicia feels it most, but I do too sometimes. Although, I really don't have a "home" like she does. After my parents split, and my dad moved, there is no place that I can go to that I can remember as home. No comfortable bed that I used to curl up in when I was in high school. Basically, everywhere I go has the feeling of a hotel. I know its not for "long term". My home is where Alicia is. This is why my lack of "home" doesn't normally bother me. I don't have the family Alicia does, and I really don't have the longing for it that she does. Really, I try to keep myself busy and not think about suck things. After all, they are pointless to think about. I cannot change them.

I have moved around a lot in a short amount of time. More than either of my parents I think. Most of the places I have been haven't bothered me much. I enjoyed Duluth. Kennesaw, GA was ok, but the south is not the place for me. (too dang hot!) Even Bemidji wasn't terrible. It was cold as hell. Yes that kind of burning cold. However it was the people there that made it such a horrible place. I've never been in a place before where everyone hated each other. There was such back-stabbing and contempt for other people there. It tended to eat at you until you couldn't stand it. Bemidji was a vortex of monotony that would suck you in if you weren't careful. That being said, I was happy to leave.

Ypsilanti, where I'm at now, has been growing on me. The more I learn about the area, the more I realize how cool it is. I'm no car freak, but I do enjoy a sweet ride. Most of the car magazines, (car and driver and automobile for examples) are based out of Ann Arbor. The place has been designed for cars. There are plenty of interstates around so traffic isn't as bad as it could be. Although the roads are all in a state of disrepair.

I work in Detroit, a city with a bad reputation. At least during the day, the city is not what I expected. Sure there are plenty of run-down, stripped, abandoned, craptastic, ugly buildings scattered everywhere like a neutron bommbb went off. And, crazy people can come from anywhere. But, they are rarely dangerous. I've never felt threatened yet. (although the recent illegal immigrant rally was a bit strange) There are a few cool buildings too like the Ste. Anne de Detroit church founded in 1701, and the renaissance building (aka GM). Traffic is very light, and the roads, for the most part, make sense and are marked well. Plus with Canadia right across the way, there is so much to do. And with living in Ypsi, I am far enough away to enjoy the rural areas that remind me a lot of Minnesota. Lots of lakes and trees and green stuff.

Basically I feel I could live anywhere there isn't a southern accent. However, home is where Alicia is, and right now I am far from home. I have met a lot of cool people, but I wish I had someone to share them with and hold on to at night. Plus phones suck.


Alicia, I miss you honey!



ps. I use way to many I's. I should just start talking in the third person, Nate says.

School Is Over Rated

I'm 23.

That's not that old. However, I am starting my career already, and if everything goes right, I will be able to hold on to it. Basically, that means that I will be eligible to retire at the age of 53 if I so choose. That is, if retirement isn't as dead as the dinosaurs by then.

Yesterday, I was talking with one of my fellow associates about how we got the job. He is 28 and still very much younger than me if that makes any sense. He was surprised to hear of my age and inquired why I was working already.

What a silly question, is what I thought.

He, I believe, just finished his masters, or at least was in school still until recently. Did I mention he is 28. Doing the math, that is like 23 years of school. That is how old I am and I have been out of school for nearly 2 years. Not to mention almost married for 1. (He is single and still very much a bachelor) Nothing against his decisions, but he asked me why I wanted to be working so early in my life. You see he wanted to postpone his "working" years, since he would be working the rest of his life anyways.

Now I'm sorry but I just don't agree, understand, and think his position just doesn't make any sense. I mean, what is school anyways. Work you have to pay for. I was so sick of school by the time I was 18 that I really didn’t want to have to go to college, but I knew I needed a degree if I wanted to actually make some money and support a family someday. (who knew it would be so soon for both) So I made if through college. I did ok, but wish I had been better in the beginning. but I was ready to start the real work force when I graduated. I hated having to pay for classes that didn’t always appeal to me, and have a job on the side that, more often than not, took up my weekends.

Now I'm no Alicia. I was kinda lazy, but by far not as bad as some. I usually had school 5 days, and worked 16 hours on the weekend, not including Fridays. That was when I had most of my hours. I put in 25-30 hours a week at work. Now I know, some people had 2 jobs, and a lot more, but for me it meant that I barely had time to enjoy things.

So let’s see... Many semesters I had at least 1 lab class, often 2. Once I had 4 labs a week. Most labs are at least 2 hours so; a rough estimate would be 4 hours a day of class for the 15 credits a semester I usually had. 5x4=20 hours a week of class. Now I'll admit that I never did this, or at least rarely, but you should spend about the same amount outside of class working as inside, so a total of 20 more hours dedicated to school. But I really didn’t, so I'll estimate around 10 extra hours/week. That still makes around 30 hours for just school a week. Plus the extra 30 or so hours of work, that makes 60 hours a week. Suddenly, a 40-hour week of just work doesn’t seem so bad. And I get paid for it. Wow! What an idea.

So basically for me, work is a much better idea. It just makes cents. Get it. Plus the sooner I start, the sooner I finish. So I can't wait to be making 65,000 a year by the time I’m that guys age, and retiring a good 5 years sooner. I'll make sure to have another margarita in the Bahamas for him.

Cheers!