A Self-Proclaimed Existence

Moving

2009-08-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

Hey you all,

I've moved to a new home.

arejaydub.wordpress.com

Please stop by as I'll be making this my new home.

Still

2009-04-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

I really am alive.
I don't think anyone reads this anymore, but maybe I'll start posting again just for grins.

The Incident

2009-02-21T20:29:00.001-08:00

A couple of people have asked me about The Incident. This was a traumatizing event that happened to me when I was a freshman in high school. It lent itself to my paranoia of doctors, doctor's offices and the interns who work within these walls.
I don't have the best luck with doctors. I never have as when I was five, I got the wrong shot in the wrong arm. Pretty much, the tone was set for the rest of my life. When I was 13, I had a nurse wrench my arms trying to withdraw blood for a blood test. After rooting around in one arm, she went to the other, poked, prodded and basically stripped mined my arm trying to strike red gold. Unfortunately, the wench couldn't find a vein and actually said to me, "I can't seem to find a vein."
"Well," I said. "You could probably just mop up the floor from under me and get the blood that way."
She chuckled, obviously finding humor in the not-so-funny aspect of me gushing from my arms. I couldn't even tell her I was getting woozy.
So let's fast forward to my being a freshman.
Here I am, a 15 year old boy in my first year of high school when self-esteem issues always seem to crop up. Factor in the fact that the left side of my face no longer seemed to work and you have a recipe for disaster. I was already in enough of a panicked state thinking that I suffered some kind of attack. (My parents were wondering if I had a stroke at 15.) And when I mean my face didn't work, I mean that I couldn't smile or move the left side of my mouth, I could only wrinkle half my forehead, flare one nostril, barely close my left eyelid and taste with only half of my tongue.
My doctor had a feeling that I was suffering from Bell's Palsy but sent me over to Halstead to an ear, nose and throat specialist for further diagnosis. One look from this doctor confirmed I did indeed have an inflammation of my facial nerve. This doctor told me, they would try to stimulate the muscles in my face to see how severe the inflammation was, using electrodes attached to a device. I was game, feeling kind of like a cool science experiment. The doc trusted his intern to run the show, a move I should have protested with every breath in my lungs.
I remember her to be fairly young with blonde hair. She attached me to the machine and told me that she would turn the dial until I felt the muscles working. I agreed, thinking this was pretty cool. She began and asked me if I felt anything.
"Rusty, do you feel anything?"
"No I don't," I said. She proceeded to nudge the dial up.
Again, she asked and again, I didn't feel anything. Lather, rinse, repeat. She kept turning the dial up and I felt nothing. A quizzical look passed over her face.
"I can't figure this out. You should have felt something by now," she said.
"I don't feel anything," I replied.
"OH!" she exclaimed. "I need to turn it on."
And she proceeded to flip the switch to on.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!

Pain unlike anything I've ever felt started coursing through my face as the left side of my face began to spasm like a suspension bridge in an earthquake. Slobber was flying everywhere as an ear-splitting pre-voice change scream escaped my lips, echoing throughout the building, most likely terrifying anyone in the waiting room. My eyelid was fluttering like a butterfly fighting a tornado while my nostril flared as if I was a ventriloquist's dummy. Before her eyes, I was turning into a real-life version of Batman's enemy Two-Face. To this day, I think I smelled the acrid smell of burning hair, my own burning hair.
She quickly regained her senses and dialed down the machine as I clenched the chair with both hands in a death grip, trying to catch my breath. Tears were welling up in my eyes, yet I was trying to play it cool. But how cool can one be after nearly being cooked by some incompetent airhead of an intern? Not very. After I caught my breath, she proceeded to start over, discovering that my muscles responded to very minor stimulation. No kidding Blondie?
Fortunately, the palsy went away almost as quickly as it had set in, leaving me with a very slight residual droop in my smile and the fond, warm memories of knowing how a fish fillet feels.

That was The Incident and the reason why doctors scare me.

Forty-Four More Craptastic Answers

2009-02-19T09:17:00.000-08:00

1. Do you like blue cheese?
No. I just ruined a wonderful soup with bleu cheese and won't have it again.

2. Have you ever been drunk?
I may have consumed one or two too many adult beverages once or twice.

3. Do you own a gun?
Why yes I do. Two shotguns and a .22 for plinkin'.

4. What flavor of Kool-Aid was your favorite?
Lemon-Lime.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?
Ever since "The Incident" (when my face froze and I was nearly electrocuted) I'm horribly paranoid about Doctors

6. What do you think of hot dogs?
Lips and ..... you know the rest.

7. Favorite Christmas movie?
Unfortunately, I'd have to say Home Alone. It takes place during christmas.

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
H20

9. Can you do push ups?
sometimes.

10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry?
I have a necklace I never wear and an earring.

11. Favorite hobby?
Hunting, fishing, playing softball...and I won't pick between the three.

12. Do you have A.D.D.?
Where's question 12?

13. What's your favorite shoe?
New Balances

14. Middle name?
Jay.

15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment?
Wow, I'm spending too much time on this.
Wow, I'm spending too much time on this.
Wow, I'm spending too much time on this.

6. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink?
Water, iced tea and coffee

17. Current worry?
That I may not find a job.

18. Current hate right now?
It's more of a dislike, but it's the dry weather.

20. How did you bring in the New Year?
very low key like

21. Where would you like to go?
Columbia with Jimmy Ostlund to go peacock bass fishing.

22. Name three people who will complete this?
Chris Koehn probably and that's about it.

23. Do you own slippers?
Slippersocks.

24. What color shirt are you wearing right now?
A Dallas Cowboys sweatshirt.

25. Do you like sleeping on Satin sheets?
I never have. I'm sheltered.

26. Can you whistle?
Yes.

27. Favorite color?
Green

28. Would you be a pirate?
I would like to be the Dread Pirate Roberts.

29. What songs do you sing in the shower?
Depends on the mood in the shower, but usually I have some song by Indigenous rolling around upstairs in my brain cavity.

30. Favorite Girl's Name?
I don't know.

31. Favorite boy's name?
Again, I don't know.

32. What's in your pocket right now?
Nothing. There is nothing in my pockets.

33. Last thing that made you laugh?
Thinking about "The Incident."

34. Best bed sheets as a child?
I never had flashy sheets

35. Worst injury you've ever had as a child?
I have a scar in my forehead where Wayne Stucky threw a tractor tire lug nut and I accidentally stepped in the way.

40. Does someone have a crush on you?
Yes. And I have a crush on her back.

41. What is your favorite book?
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

42. What is your favorite candy?
Reece's peanut butter cups, twix or snickers

43. Favorite Sports Team?
Pro Football = The Cowboys; College hoops= KU; College Football= Huskers; Major League Baseball=Atlanta Braves, Pro Basketball= Boston Celtics. Any questions?

44. What song do you want played at your funeral?
Something with a good guitar riff.

25 random craplets

2009-02-08T14:26:00.000-08:00

Since it's all the rage....when in Rome....and all that jazz.

1. I love to hunt pheasants and quail. Even if I'm not shooting anything, I enjoy just being outside in the cold winter.
2. I come across as happy-go-lucky and I am, but I can put it aside easily and be a serious listener.
3. My favorite color is green. Even my eyes are greenish.
4. I miss my grandpa. I wish every day that I could be just half of the man he was.
5. I root for the Nebraska Huskers in football, and KU in basketball. That's how it's always been, that's how it will always be. You don't have to like it, but I do. :)
6. I'm a klutz like no other. I've actually fallen up stairs and out of a house during the same stumble. I also tripped on a shadow during a softball tourney, causing me to slide into shortstop, halfway between second and third base. I laid there in the dirt for a while, my pride being the most hurt.
7. When it comes to softball, I'm pretty much a ho. I'd play every day if I could.
8. I absolutely adore my family and love spending time with them. Even if we are crazy. And we rule.
9. I love to cook but it seems my time is never enough.
10. When I was a little kid, I used to tape record pretend basketball games as if I was on the radio. Some jerk still has one of those tapes. And I hope he dies in a fiery car accident.
11. I don't do the club scene. And I just have never enjoyed going to bars very much. I'll make an exception with my friends at Old Chicago, but that's about it.
12. I don't think it gets better than sitting out back after a softball game drinking a cold beer with good friends.
13. I don't drink that much. But I could drink margaritas by the pitcher.
14. I'm a big kid. I always will be a big kid. I've been known to join neighborhood wiffleball games with the kids
15. I can be a grown-up if I have to.
16. Dogs love me. I also enjoy them. I have the kennels picked out already, from where I will get my german shorthair.
17. I would give my friends the shirt off of my back if they needed it. I have no problem listening to a friend at any hour.
18. When it's all said and done, my favorite sport is basketball. That being said, I can't play it.
19. I pierced my ear when I turned 30 and think that I should get a tattoo when I'm 40.
20. I keep my hair highlighted to help hide the gray.
21. Despite looking unorganized, I can find what I need, more often than not.
22. When I play video games, I'm fairly stupid as I have to play sports games during the corresponding seasons.
23. I own all of the "New Adventures Of Superman" cartoons on DVD. It's that being a kid thing.
24. I enjoy going to the movies, I just don't go enough.
25. I laugh at myself every single day.

Seriously?

2009-02-05T09:41:00.001-08:00

I can't quite get healthy. This is getting stupid. I started feeling coldish on January 24. I fought through it and slept all day that Sunday, fought again on Monday and thought I had it licked. Things were feeling pretty good the following week. I even went hunting on Saturday and Superbowled it on the first!
Things were good.
Until my voice started cracking on Feb. 3 after calling two games. I also had an itchy throat that could only be "scratched" by coughing. I'm now hacking pretty good but my cough has loosened. At first I thought it was Larry's Jitis and I was losing my voice, but now I think that cold snuck into my chest without obtaining written permission.

However, I'm feeling better today.

The Big East Bias

2009-01-30T07:52:00.000-08:00

As a sports fan/guru, I have had it up to my follicles with this college basketball season.
Not so much the season as the actual polling process, and the top 25. Namely two items.
1. The lack of KU being ranked.
2. The Big East.
I don't get it. I'm sick to death of announcers saying how tough the Big East is. Well no shit. It better be tough because there are 192384713928 teams in the damn conference. Ok, not really that many, but there are 16 teams in the Big East. At last count, I believe 9 of them are ranked.
For the record, I don't have a problem with several of teams ranked from one conference. I have a problem when you've ranked HALF of the teams from one conference. As teams eat each other during conference play, the cream will definitely rise to the top, so we're going to have teams right around a .500 conference record taking up spots in the top 25? I mean really.
What really chaps my hide is, as of Wednesday, Georgetown was ranked 23rd. Ok, except G-town has a TWELVE AND SEVEN record. Seriously 7 losses. How can they still be ranked? This is the top 25 in the country. This is supposed to be the top 25 teams out of the 317 Division I schools. So you're saying that 12-7 is one of the better records?
Wait a second.
The defending national champions, my beloved Kansas Jayhawks, are sitting in the "others" category with a 15-4 record. Four losses, two to top 10 teams and they're not ranked? How the hell can this be? Sure I think the Big 12 is down a bit this year, but how can they not be ranked? Sure, they lost the starting 5 and top reserves from last season, but that's just a lack of respect for KU. Whoever said an east coast media bias didn't exist is wholly wrong.

Guru out.

The art of blowing up a computer

2009-01-29T14:12:00.000-08:00

Well, I made a New Year's resolution to post more. And I was going to follow it, however, the TechnoGods had other ideas.

It was a Friday afternoon a couple of weeks back as I wanted to "borrow" a song. As I was trying to connect to my "borrowing" program, a pop-up window exploded, saying that I was infected with a virus. Now as I was looking at this and not paying close attention, I did notice that the pop-up window was in the same color scheme as my anti-virus program, AVG. I clicked the accept on a different pop-up.

Oops.

What I promptly clicked on was the "virusremover 2008" which promptly installed this program on my computer. Slapping my head hard on the desk, I realized I screwed up. Googling like a madman, I found how to remove this "program" as it was funneling pop-ups left and right onto my machine. I did what they said, but still had pop-ups erupting on my screen. Silently cussing, I ran my virus scanner again and dashed off to call a couple of games on the radio. When I got home, I noticed I still had freaking pop-ups. I decided to drop some Spybot Search and Destroy on this crap and kill it off, but I needed to update Spybot.

Oops Two.

In the update process, it said I needed to restart the computer. No problem I said. I restarted it and went to click Spybot to finish the update process when the computer restarted itself. Odd, I thought. Once again, I went through the start up process, and again, it restarted. After an hour and a half of that, I nearly ripped it from the desk. I called Jeremy for computer help and he said "Bring it over because it was computer triage weekend."

He spent the weekend working on it, finding another virus hidden deep that wiped out key software components. This virus screwed everything up so bad, Jer yanked my hard drive out and built me a new machine. After a week of not having my comp, I have a new, quicker machine that is stable.

What a saga.

the vundo

2009-01-12T14:51:00.000-08:00

my computer is dead.
The Vundo wiped it out and we are burying it soon.

And I didn't walk

2009-01-08T11:08:00.000-08:00

Thanks to infinite wisdom from WSU, the fall graduation er..commencement, took place on Sunday, Dec. 14. I had made a decision to not walk a long time ago because I put my friends and family through grad hell when I received my AA. So I didn't attend the ceremony. Not a big deal save for one minor glitch.
WSU's finals were the week after graduation. Good move there Shockerheads. It's feasible, that someone who walked, could not pass finals and therefore not graduate. Thankfully, I didn't walk, but now it's a waiting game to get my diploma in the mail.

I am no longer a student. It's been a long time coming and I have all of my friends to thank.
So to all of you,
Thank you for believing in me.

Quick Hitter

2009-01-06T12:46:00.000-08:00

Ok, it's quick.

I graduated.

I'm looking for a job.

Christmas was fantastic.

I have a major crush.

And I'm off to a KU game. Hasta le!

To All

2008-12-25T07:46:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays with their loved ones.

yes i know i've been slacking in the post department, that will change very soon.

I

2008-11-14T20:31:00.000-08:00

need to go to bed.
I'm getting up at 4 a.m.

Today was the 20th anniversary of my first hunt ever.

Tests.

2008-11-13T20:23:00.000-08:00

I'm not fond of them anymore.

Granted, I'm not sure that anyone is really fond of tests or exams, but I used to be fairly indifferent to them. Now...I'm not a fan of them at all. I have a test tomorrow for my History of Wichita class, which is all essay. I'm feeling pretty decent about this test though, which is usually a bad thing. When I feel good after taking a test, I usually bomb in a bad way. Good before? That could be either/or.

I guess we'll find out on Monday after tomorrow.

I was

2008-11-12T20:01:00.000-08:00

15 when my sister was born today.
I remember the day because I didn't have school during the day. If memory serves me correctly, my dad and I had been hunting during the day. I remember that it was coldish, but I can't remember if we actually got anything.
We got home and there was a bag packed by the door. Mom said the doctor said it would be anytime in the next 24-48 hours. I was excited because I would be having a sibling in the future.
That evening, Dad and I went to Yost Center to watch Wichita's attempt at a pro basketball team scrimmage. Mom told Dad to check in at halftime, just in case. Dad told me, if I didn't see him after the game, to call my grandmother to be picked up.
During the halftime, Dad called Mom and she told him that it was time.

"Can I stay and watch the slam dunk competition?" he asked her.
She said yes, and then he left. At 12:04 a.m. Wendy was born and I had a sister.

Happy Birthday Fish!

I did it!

2008-11-11T21:02:00.001-08:00

I got the stupid pot clean from yesterday!

My craving

2008-11-10T20:12:00.000-08:00

I had a craving for my jambalaya from scratch. I finally talked myself into making it and so I set upon my task of cutting ham, sausage and chicken and browning those while chopping and dicing veggies.
I was cruising along enjoying the smells emanating from my pot, and had reached the stage of bringing it to a boil. That's when I stepped away for a second.
And I learned something valuable.
When I watch and hover around my cooking stuffs, it always takes way too long for the appropriate action to take place. The moment I step away, the action springs to life. This time, my boil became a rolling, thundering boil which promptly burned the bottom of my concoction, contaminating my wonderful food.
I was pissed.

Oh well, I'll get it next time.

This week

2008-11-09T17:47:00.000-08:00

is going to drag by at times.
It always does when you're looking forward to something. My something is going hunting out west where the land hasn't been hunted. According to our host, we'll be the first people on it and I'm excited about that.
Of course, I'm sure I won't have details about when we're leaving or where we're meeting until Friday because my dad's Only Friend is in charge, but I don't care. All I know is that I just want to be out and about.
Kind of like today, except, I didn't see anything but deer. And lots of deer at that. I bet I saw 25 this morning, all in the middle of fields in the early to early mid-morning. That almost makes me want to hunt deer.

I hate it

2008-11-08T19:42:00.001-08:00

when my alarm doesn't go off.

I know I set it right, I think....oh well. I'll try again tomorrow.

Dammit

2008-11-07T20:34:00.000-08:00

He tore it.

One of our two, true big men went down. Nate, a 6'8" freshman was just turning the corner too. I could see the fire in his eyes after he got a technical foul and responded with two dunks. Coming down the lane, Nate saw a seam in the zone and jumped past two defenders. He was a little out of control when he planted his left foot and his body didn't stop. The twist was sickening and the look of agony and the scream as he fell into a heap on the floor, said all that needed to be said.

His ACL and something else is torn and he's done for the season.

Is it tomorrow

2008-11-06T21:41:00.001-08:00

already?
I'm ready for the weekend. We're going hunting and it's supposed to be a little cooler.
Finally.

On that note, i'm off to the land of dreams.

The Review

2008-11-05T18:51:00.000-08:00

The jury is still out on how my senior portfolio review went.
We were supposed to allow 20-25 minutes for this review, but my review took 13 minutes. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. They asked me to take them through my portfolio and I did, but it seemed like it flew by, which it did. However they said I had a leg up because I had published stuff in a professional newspaper, over some students who don't have the background I have.

All I know, is that I have a week before I know. I hate waiting sometimes.

Yes,

2008-11-04T13:58:00.000-08:00

I'm still bitching about the warmth.

This rant/bitch/whine is directed at the warmth and how the temp made me hack and gag. Well, more gag than hack. Since, there's not really a good way of disposing of carcasses of pheasants, (unlike fish where we drive out and dump the guts in the creek to feed the turtles) I usually tie them up in a plastic bag and put them in the trash.

Thanks to the warm weather, the decomposition process has been sped up and there is a fowl (heh) odor emanating from our receptacle. The lid was closed and I could still smell it.

Good thing, the garbage men come tomorrow.

Seriously

2008-11-03T20:41:00.000-08:00

Can we turn down the heat a little bit? I'm sick to death of this crappy warm fall weather.
There are birds to kill. Well....there are birds to be shot at.

I'm using my blog to get my juices running for writing two quick articles for the paper tonight. Hopefully, people have been swinging by to check things out since I'm NaBloPoMoing. I think that's a word too!

on that note, i'm off to work.

Thank you mama nature

2008-11-02T06:03:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately, Mother Nature's idea of funny, is to tease me with cold temperatures a week before the season starts, then drop mid-70s on me during Opening Weekend.

Despite her twisted sense of humor, the day dawned clear and almost crisp. Not a breath of wind to be felt anywhere, a fact I later wished was not true. There were only 7 of us to hunt Joe's ground which is a draw that runs for a half of a mile and is the CRP style of grass. To make matters worse, we had no dog, because Danny didn't show up.

No matter, we went ahead and walked it anyways, staying on the western edge. I had my doubts about how many birds we would see with such a small group in such heavy cover. The first rooster broke, surprising all of us as it flew to freedom. A little while later, the second rooster of the day exploded out of the grass, his squawking ending as he folded up in the heavy grass in the echo of the gunfire.

The next two roosters that flushed were too close to me as I broke both of them down, and we were able to find them. There's nothing like having that feeling of two birds in the gamebag sitting just above your butt. However, later in that patch, I got tired of carrying the extra weight.
The next four roosters that flushed and that were brought down, were not found as we had no dog and the cover was over my 6 foot frame.

We ambushed another rooster on the road as his last meal was gravel. Then we hunted a small patch of milo where the unthinkable happened. Some quail **** ** *** ***** ** *** *** *** flew away because we let them go as it's not quail season until next weekend. We ambushed another rooster and I buckled yet a third, but the sucker wouldn't go down.

The party walked one more patch of ground that was so tall, thick and overgrown by the end of it, all of us had weaseled our way out of it. It was too thick and that stuff even did me in. Thanks to that patch, after I cleaned the three roosters, I proceeded to nap. My two-hour nap was filled with horrible cramps in my legs.

Then I called the opening game of the season for basketball which was an 89-77 win. Saturday was good.

I'm getting tired

2008-11-01T20:04:00.001-07:00

I am.
It's been a busy day. Welcome to anyone cruising my rantings and whispers from NaBloPoMo. I'll have to write a long update tomorrow about Opening Day, the attack of the Cramp Monster and the basketball game.

Oh and the horribly warm weather.

As for now, it's food time at 10:05 p.m.

Two days

2008-10-30T07:58:00.000-07:00

Ok, so tomorrow, I will officially be a frothing mess of blabbering idiocy. It happens every year as I turn into a little kid at Christmas. We've finally got some semblance of a plan and I'm ready to go.
I'm sure I won't be sleeping much, but that's always how it goes. I just hope to see some birds because well, I need to see some birds.

By the way, I have to thank my advisor for bailing me out and putting me back on track. Now I just have to rework my portfolio and then I just have to dress up on Wednesday.

Finally

2008-10-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

Finally
It's happened to me,
Right in front of my face
and I just can't hide it.

Yeah, I know you're thinking "Oh my God, Did he just drop CeCe Peniston on me?" As a matter of fact, I did, and you're either you tubing this song or wanting to cut your ears off.

I'm back to graduating and I can't be happier. Now, instead of looking bleak for my grad, everything is bright, right and contrite. I'm not sure how contrite fit in there, but it rhymed so cut me some slack, jack. I should be butter because I'm on a roll!!!

Ok, enough of that. Saturday is starting to take form, as is Sunday for the greatest day of days. We're getting picked up at 6:45 on Saturday morning to go hunt for half a day. I'd like to go out all day, but I think there will be plenty of opportunity for that later this season. Say...on Nov. 15. Bring it! My guns are cleaned and I'm pumped up to go. Now, the question is do I take a mountain lion load just in case?

I'm a

2008-10-28T21:22:00.000-07:00

Frother.

We're four days away from the High Holy Day of My Existence. That's right. We call it The Opener.

I still need to clean my gun and my father's. I need to make sure my boots are ready and that I will wash my hunting socks.

My graduation stuff has not been fully resolved but it's in the works. Sounds like I get to create two hours and go on with life or something.

Six days

2008-10-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

From the High Holy Day, or the day that defines me.

Yeah, we're that much closer to Opening Day, or Opening Weekend. What a way to kickoff the Month From Hades, as November could be the busiest month I have.
Not only am I going crazy trying to hunt, but the Larks have 11 home games in the month ALONE.

Oh yeah, I'm just waiting for Monday because I'm ready to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and I'm all out of gum!!!

Friday

2008-10-25T13:25:00.001-07:00

The phone call came sometime in the late afternoon between two and four. I wasn't paying too close of attention because it was the house phone and not my cell phone.
"Hi Rusty, this is Anne (and i can't remember her last name, it was Meyer or something) with Wichita State. We sent you a letter back on September 24 but never heard from you and I'm following up. We've reviewed your scheduling and we realize you're two credits short of the required 60 on-campus hours to graduate."
"Excuse me? I never got the letter."
"Well, I'm sorry to say, you're two hours short of credits to graduate."
"What do you mean? I was told by Phil Ladwig that I needed to take five hours and I was set. That's why I'm in Soc 316 and History 528. I was told those were going to take care of me and I was set."
"Well it says you have 48 on campus hours and after this semester, you will have 58 hours."
"Are you kidding me?"

So after all of the hoops I have jumped through to get myself into my position of graduating, I'm not going to in 7 weeks barring a change on Monday. Thanks to having to go through stupid Liberal Arts and Science WALK-IN advising, and a different advisor for my major (who has been a God-send,) I'm stuck two hours short of my goal. TWO HOURS that somehow slipped through the cracks.
I want answers. I want explanations. I want someone to say "Sorry Rusty, we fucked up. We'll make it right." I want to be done with school. I need to know why this happened, why I get to explain to a future employer, that I'm not done with school. WSU's Dean of Students or Advising is going to get a major earful from me, if the explanation doesn't meet my requirements.

I think heads are going to roll.

So

2008-10-17T08:10:00.000-07:00

I guess I should update once in a while. However, I've been busy.
Let's see..a quick update
School.

school.

school.

Oh yeah, getting closer to the Day. But we don't know where we're going on the Day.

Letters again

2008-09-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

Dear Foot Tapper Girl,
Guess what? Your distracting nervous habit of tapping your foot on the tile floor while wearing plastic flip flops is driving me bonkers. I'm almost to the point of sawing your foot off like in the movie Saw. Enough already because your pitter patter crapper tatter is making the rest of us edgy. Oh by the way, USE COMPLETE SENTENCES.
Thanks,
The rest of Hist 528

Salutations to Older Skanky Woman Trying To Look Younger,
Have you noticed none of us care about what you're trying to say? Have you noticed the professor thinks you are mentally handicapped because it looks like you're trying to catch a young boy? Basically, you're a cougar. A cougar who was separated from the rest of the pack because you are too cougary and just...ew. Oh yeah, quit chewing when you talk. Yes I know your mouth is empty. And put on some real clothes, my eyes are bleeding.
Peace,
Rusty

Greetings to WSU,
Hey bastards, let's get some desks in Hubbard Hall that weren't made in 1925. Also, would it be too much trouble to maybe check the A/C in that room. Something isn't quite right as it smells like a locker room everytime we walk in there. Not only that, but it's warm like a locker room. I was just in a room with nearly 400 people and I was comfortable. I'm guessing that the room was an add on maintainence closet but the need for space, forced it to be a classroom.
Sweating my nuts off,
Rus

Dear Mama Nature,
Why do you hate me?
Rusty

Ahoy, USA tv network,
You dirty scumbags. Thank you for making me wait in horrible anticipation for the next new episode of Burn Notice and leaving the series after Michael had just avoided being blown up. You ratings whores. Now I have to wait, much like the Lost folks do every season finale except my characters are alive and not dead like theirs.
Ready to watch TNT,
Rustified

Hey Hotmail,
Did you ask if i wanted changes to my inbox? Did you give us that option? I mean seriously, this sucks having to try to navigate stupid crap in an inbox. Really, the other was more user friendly. You're getting too much like yahoo mail and their stupid ass changes that nobody likes. I don't like having to feel like I'm relearning me email program.
Sending from gmail,
Rusty

Dear Dallas,
It's called covering an underneath route. You just let Jason Campbell beat you who quarterbacks the effing Redskins. Step up and jam someone at the line since the West Coast offense relies on timing. Oh yeah, T-New...COVER ALREADY,
Signed,
Most of the Cowboy Nation

So it's a crosswalk

2008-09-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

This is beginning to get ridiculous and also dangerous.
On Friday, before my garlic attack, I was walking back to my vehicle after a test. I'm strolling along, wearing a white Nebraska sweatshirt and red shorts, very visible to anyone. After all, I'm not a small guy. My phone rang with a text message, so I'm reading that while I step into the crosswalk.
Then it happens. A white Saturn driven by some scruffy dude, blows through the crosswalk and whips it right. He missed me by between 18 and 24 inches. In my shock, I look at him, and salute him with a finger. However, I get so indignantly livid, I made the executive decision to give him a piece of my mind.
I get to my vehicle and I hop in, because I saw the general area where he was looking for parking. However, I couldn't find him him because I was going rip him a new one.
This stuff only happens once right?
No.
Yesterday, the same crosswalk, only this time, I'm not quite in the safe zone, but some lady whips her car right trying to get away from school. I just stood there for a second because this dumb bint nearly clipped me. Uh, people, it's illegal to blow through a crosswalk when there is someone in it!
Currently, I'm trying to figure out the emails for the campus police and other authoritative figures so I can compose one email saying they need to remind people across campus to be careful, mainly because I don't want to be drilled by a moving vehicle.

Garlic: The Art of ruining plans

2008-09-19T15:58:00.000-07:00

Let me learn you something about having a food allergy.
It sucks.
It sucks, it sucks, it sucks.
Thanks to biology and science, I developed an allergy to garlic about 6-7 years ago. I began to notice I didn't feel well after eating certain foods, such as my father's spaghetti or other things he and I would make. I can't remember what it was that clued me in, perhaps it was garlic butter mushrooms on a steak, but I realized that my consumption of garlic, causes an adverse reaction within my gastrointestinal system. Coming home from a volleyball game before which my mother and I dined at Red Lobster, I got sick before I got home, thanks to her garlic laden shrimp pasta contaminating the atmosphere in my explorer.
It sucks.
This afternoon, I was garlicked. For lunch I had a sandwich from the restaurant where my mother works. It's a sandwich I've had many, many times, with no reaction. However, today, a different cook made the sandwich and about 30-40 minutes after my lunch, I realized I was getting ill. My mom told me that the chef who made the sandwich possibly used a garlic butter on the bread when he toasted it, along with the potential for garlic seasoning in the chicken used in my sandwich. No wonder. After a three-hour nap and battling of this illness, I'm finally feeling better but I'm not trusting myself long enough to go to an away football game against the arch rivals.
The worst part of this? My idiot father thinks that I'm joking when I say I get sick. He thinks that if I don't know garlic is in the food, I won't get sick. He also doesn't realize that the aroma/odor of too much crushed garlic will make me sick. So what does he do? He makes a poor man's spaghetti with garlic and parsley, I think just to piss me off. It works.
Anyways, enough about my stupid stupid allergy.

Need Feedback

2008-09-05T06:07:00.000-07:00

Who has it worse?

Person A: A person who has tripped up the stairs and out of a house.

or

Person B: A person who actually maced themselves with their own mace.

This could help settle a debate so please comment.

Hello No One Can Drive today

2008-09-03T12:39:00.000-07:00

I mean really.
Today must have been a bad driver's holiday or something. I think the rest of society should have gotten the memo because they tried to to kill me today.
First of all it was some older lady in her car going to slow in the faster lane and nearly causing a pile up when she decided to brake hard for no reason. Then she perched herself in the lane in front of me while causing not one, but 7 cars to fly around me on the right. I couldn't get over because well, they were going around quick.

The second was some people in a van in the middle of a rainstorm. They decided they were going to fast and decided to slow down in front of me. Thanks.
So after those two incidents, I decided to get off the road and I'm home safe.

I'm not driving anywhere else today.

The Last Semester

2008-08-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

Finally.
The final semester of my educational career is upon me. Ten itty bitty hours and I will be finished and graduated with a full fledged bachelor's degree. Of course, following that there will be finding a job, new car, dog, place to live, making good on my 2007 new year's resolution ;).

I'm ready to be done. Hopefully no more Wichita State too!

Unless I go to grad scho....nah.

FireFox

2008-08-27T13:59:00.001-07:00

Whew. It's still fixed.

My Addiction

2008-08-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have one. Maybe two.
But my main one is fantasy football. I love playing fantasy football. This year, I'm in three leagues. THREE! And one is through church connections. Becka said she didn't get fantasy football, and I said for me, it makes me pay more attention to the games outside of my beloved Cowboys.

This has been a banner year for me in fantasy sports as I played basketball for the first time and won. However, I'm in dead ass last in one baseball league (through the church, maybe God is sending me a message?) but fighting for first in another.

Soon, I'm going to have to get a magazine or two and do a little research to come up with the Rusty Draft Day Manifesto. Hmm, I wonder if that Michael Vick has upside?

The trivia question

2008-08-15T08:15:00.000-07:00

While playing trivia the other night, we had a question that my answer sprang to my lips and was said before I could stop myself.

"What wheelchair-bound Mattel doll could not fit through the door of the Barbie dream house?"

"Motorcycle-accident Ken."

Sometimes I wonder about my answers.

I have returned

2008-08-09T07:43:00.000-07:00

Safe and sound. There were no hillbilly violations. We all are intact and the time was well worth the trip.
Our van did break down on the way home, almost right after we left the cabin. Fortunately, the place we rented from made hasty phone calls and we were "rescued" so to speak. It wasn't good that anti-freeze was pouring out of the back of the van from the rear heating unit. But, not our fault.
Golf was incredibly warm, being that it was over 100 each day except Wednesday. I've never sweated through an entire shirt, boxers, shorts before without playing 8902 games of softball in an evening. My game sucked shit, but the courses are tough, mainly designed by people who did hits of acid.
We laughed incredibly hard sometimes as our family does. However, it's good to be home and in my own bed. Or in a bed anyways as I slept on the floor on couch cushions.

Next year, we're going striper fishing.

VayyyyyKayyyy

2008-08-02T19:41:00.000-07:00

It's upon us.
Tomorrow, I'll be off for the not so cool Ozark Mountains where the idea of cool weather no longer exists. Time to play golf and play in Beaver Lake.

So, if you're looking for me, I'm not here.
Take that and like it!!

The test post

2008-07-25T07:54:00.000-07:00

YAY!
Now I can update using Firefox rather than IE. Good to see they got it fixed.

Quick updates:
Softball over (and I'm kind of glad)

Leg is hurty (and it's oozing)

Feet are healing (Finally)

Need to play golf and get in golf shape (for vacation)

Walleye?

2008-07-23T07:54:00.001-07:00

I spent most of yesterday in the back of the boat fishing. It had only been May since we last took the boat on the water and we were way overdue. Thankfully one of my dad's suppliers came into town and he likes to fish. Arrangements were made and off we went.
When we fish, we troll or we basically drag lures behind the boat trying to entice them to bite. We unloaded, this time with the drain plug in and off we went. I'm sitting in my customary seat beside my father, with the supplier riding co-pilot while Don was driving. Not even 15 minutes into the trip, I notice the boat motor is smoking. I mention it to Don who said it was normal, to which I replied this isn't a normal smoke.
Don shut the motor down so he could look at it. There was a piece of hose/tubing by the oil reservoir that was so deteriorated, it crumbled when touched. We limped back to the boat ramp, loaded the boat onto the trailer while trying to figure out our plan of attack. Dad thought he knew of a guy who used to repair boat motors right outside of the little town close to the lake. That proved fruitless as the old guy had died a while ago.
After much discussion with a mechanic at a car dealership, along with more broken hose, we drug the boat to the auto parts store and somehow came up with a fix. Naturally, we took the boat back to the water to fish. It ran fine for most of the day outside of a few sputters and cut outs.

Right away pulling out of the ramp, Gene caught a nice 3 lb. wiper, Dad caught a keeper walleye, and I missed a walleye that I saw but it managed to get off my line. We hung up on something down on the bottom, most likely a lure grabbing stump. After Dad unsnagged the lure, Don told us to hold on and we zipped across the lake.
I'm sitting there wondering exactly WTF we're doing as we just caught a keeper walleye, which seems few and far between. I try to ask my Dad, and he just shakes his head. I think Don's got fisherman's ADD because that would be the only way we would switch hot spots. Of course we don't catch ANYTHING on the other side of the lake.
We head back and I promptly catch a keeper walleye. I resisted the urge to say "WE SHOULD HAVE NEVER LEFT" but I managed to squash that urge. A little storm seemed to try to build up to the south and the fish started biting. Wait, I meant the walleye started biting. It had been a long time since we had caught walleye like that. I think Dad caught 9 and had 2 keepers (the length limit being 18 inches)I caught 3 and two of mine were keepers including one about 6 lbs, and Don caught one that went about 6 lbs. We caught fish and the day was good, despite everything.

Oh yeah, SPF 85 works.....if you apply it.

the season endeth

2008-07-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

Again, I believe we mailed it in for our league tourney. I know I did, considering my stick disappeared. It was like this last year, we were set to make a run, but a couple of key pieces had other things to do or were on vacation.
Same deal this year, key pieces were gone and we couldn't quite get over the hump. If we would have, I think we had a legit shot to do well.

I just hope the Aggies win it so we can say we lost to the champs. In other news..that's it. I should be off here in a while to help my boy Florez move to Newton.

The Walk Off

2008-07-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

So I had a first.
A first for me on the softball diamond. We were down in the bottom of the last inning, 20-19, with myself coming up second in the inning. It had been a back and forth game with neither team gaining much of an advantage. They had scored two runs in the top of the 7th to take the lead.
Our order was to be Scott, myself and Lucas. Scott ripped a base hit to be on first. He represented the tying run with none out. All I wanted to do was hit the ball hard to give Scott a chance to score if I could find a hole.
I found a hole. As in over the fence for a home run. A game-winning home run at that. It's my second on the season and hopefully will give us some mojo for the league tourney.

Dipshit Sunday

2008-07-07T08:41:00.000-07:00

That's what yesterday was. Dipshit Sunday. I feel that way because that's what I dealt with all afternoon/evening until I got home. My God, there weren't enough bullets for yesterday.
Every year, our Babe Ruth Baseball teams host the league tournament. There are three levels, Preps (ages 13), Juniors (13-15) and Seniors (16-18). There are anywhere from 4-8 teams in each division tournament. The Mid-Kansas League board begs and pleads with me to come and do all the public address announcing for the games. That includes lineups, who's batting/on deck/in the hole etc., "advertising" for the concessions and overpriced BBQ, and anything of that nature. I also run the scoreboard and play the music between innings.
Lineups are easy, all you'd have to say is "Now batting, first baseman, number 99, Tim True. Smith on deck, Jones in the hole." At the end of the inning, I give a wrap up of runs, hits, errors and left on base. Pretty simple stuff, but the microphone is sensitive and picks up what's going on in the background.
That concept is hard to understand. I'm not sure why they don't get it. Now, we're up in the pressbox and there is a lot of commotion going on in the background a lot of the time with coaches coming and going. Most of the time, they pause when I'm saying what I need to.
Save for yesterday.
Now I make no bones about the fact that I don't like Lyle. In fact, I think he's just a jerkface asshole. He has this real nasally voice that grates on my ears, while he thinks he knows so much about the game of baseball. Well, he doesn't and he's kind of a condescending jerk to his kids. He's the coach of the 13 year olds. I've had run ins with him before and he's too stupid to know how I really feel about him.
Lyle was walking around yesterday in his "All Star" shirt because he was the coach of the All Star team. The only reason he walked around like that is because he wanted everyone to see how "important" he is. I wanted to smash his face with a brick.
That's not the only thing Lyle did. I'm not sure if I was introducing the lineups for the next game or what..but Lyle is standing in the background talking to people telling them about this unruly fan who came in swearing like a sailor. Now Lyle isn't being quiet about what this guy is saying and I'm trying to read these names and getting distracted because he won't STFU. Seriously, I wondered if I could hit him with an elbow to shut him up. I could go on and on about him, but I won't.
The second dipshit I had to deal with was the wife of the tournament director. Her name is I Don't Know When To Talk and When Not To Talk, or Gwyn. Gwyn has no sense. None. Not an inkling. Example: My father is trying to keep the scorebook for the game, and Gwyn is trying to show my father a picture on her phone of a boquet that her husband gave her. Now why did this matter? Oh yeah, it didn't. Not only that but she chirps. She just chirps all day and then tries to talk to me as I'm speaking on the mic. She brought me something as I was giving my after inning wrap up as I'm speaking and trying to tell me what to say about the concession stand. I'm trying to read this stuff and she's talking to me. I wanted to hit her in the mouth with the CD player.
Oh yeah, the we had Dipshit number 3, Gwyn's obnoxious daughter. Her name is Obnoxious Daughter. The OD had been away at camp and not a thorn in our side. But yesterday of course, she got back. She's just like her mom in the fact that she doesn't know when to shut up either. OD is about 14 and needs to be muzzled. She came flying up the stairs to run the scoreboard. Suddenly we had 5 people at the table, my dad who was helping the other 13 year old girl who we had taught to keep score, her friend, me, and the OD.
The OD was texting, talking, chirping, and just being a pain in my ass. She was touching me when it was 98 degrees outside. I couldn't get any of the fan because it was pointed at the scorekeeper and people kept walking back and forth in front of it. I even tried to get her out of the booth but her mother whined "You're not going to let her do the scoreboard when she was looking forward to it all week?" I just rolled my eyes. By now, I'm cranky, as it was too hot to eat, too many people, not enough stools, too hard of stools, and here I've got the OD touching me.
We finally got through game number 3 and she ran off. In the middle of all of this, I'm trying to do what I volunteered for and announcing names. Finally she pushed me over the edge and I snarled at her, "Get out of my face." "I'm not in your face." "Get. Back. You. Are. Too. Close. To. Me." There was fear in her face. And I didn't care.
We finally threw her out of the box in the last game. I played "Can't you see" by the Marshall Tucker Band and OD came up to give me grief about the music. My long time friend Jake was up keeping score and I asked Jake if there was anything wrong with some MTB.
"No," Jake said. "I like their second hit better too."
"Oh yeah?" I asked with the OD walking off.
"Yes. It was called Get the fuck out of here."
That sent me into gales of laughter. Well played sir.

After yesterday, I don't think I'll volunteer for that again. Ever. They can kiss my entire ass.

A word of advice

2008-06-28T17:21:00.001-07:00

I found a cut of meat tonight that could be one of the best I have ever grilled. I highly recommend it to anyone out there who wants to grill a steak that literally melts in your mouth. I've had a good ribeye and a good T-bone, but this steak blows them completely away.

It's called a Flat Iron Steak.

It's a cut of meat that was researched by teams from the University of Nebraska and the University of Florida. It comes from underneath the shoulder of beef and it is tremendous. I looked up ways to cook it and everything said to cook it to medium. At medium, the meat is tender beyond belief, and a treat for your mouth.

This is the marinade I used:
1/3 C. Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Worchestershire
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp onion flakes
1/4 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp Oil
2 Tbsp Vinegar
1/3 C ketchup
1 tsp garlic powder

We call it the Table Rock marinade, because my family had it on chicken while at Table Rock Lake several years ago. It's also very good on chicken and pork as well.

I can't wait to try the Flat Iron steak in my Coke marinade. Oh yeah, that's this one:
6 oz. Coca-Cola
6 oz. Soy Sauce
5 oz. Water
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
dash of Meat Tenderizer.

Use either for several hours or overnight. Enjoy!

Seriously

2008-06-27T05:30:00.001-07:00

I hate rain.
About 2 inches of rain fell last night and now I'm thinking we're not playing ball.

I hate not playing ball. Then again, maybe my heel could use the rest.

The crappiest thing

2008-06-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

I've ever heard is what happened to my 16 year-old sister Wendy.She spent the past week at Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp having a grand blast until Thursday, when something so utterly vile and dastardly happened. In today's age of digital technology, digital cams are the norm and my sister is no exception as she constantly takes pictures. She related the story to me about leaving her camera in a fairly public place at camp, to return to her camera missing. She went to the lost and found and her camera was there.
However, someone stole her memory card.
Seriously.
Who does that? A church based camp and some lowlife, scum bucket, moral-less, douche bag of a person steals a memory card? That's not even remotely funny. Someone stooped to such an indescribably low level at a church camp that they took from someone else during a time of togetherness and fellowship. This incredible moron reached out and nearly ruined memories of an otherwise enjoyable experience for my sister. They took the freaking memory card. Way to have morals, you scuzzy, little turdsicle. I hope you can't sleep at night because of the unwholesome act you've abominated and committed. Come to think of it, I hope you fall down the mountain and break your leg, stuck in a pool of your own mushy bones, as the wolves come and nip at you, only having a memory card to remember your experience in the mountains.
I feel sorry for my sister because someone is a thief.

The art of

2008-06-05T08:44:00.000-07:00

scraping together a team.

I've perfected it. I understand things come up. I get it. But, don't let things come up at 5:45 when it's a 6:30 game. Last night, I got a call from our normal shortstop at 5:45 saying he wasn't going to make it.
Excuse me? Ferg, um, when did you know this? It was your daughter's birthday and you didn't realize this til 5:30? Ok.
We were about to take on the team that took second last year in the league tourney and we only had 9 players. Fortunately, Luke and Kell called a friend of theirs and he dashed down to play giving us 10. I'm not sure it would have mattered as we put a stomping down on them, run-ruling them 19-4. It felt good to score and play good defense, especially in that wind. Now on friday we're at full strength of having 11 people, maybe even 12. Not sure that's ever happened with us, and I don't know what to do, but it's a good problem to have.
Maybe we can even keep hitting. That would be fun.

The Mad Fencer.

2008-05-29T08:41:00.001-07:00

I'm a fencer. That's a little known fact about me. I know you're thinking "What? He's a swashbuckling swordsman who uses those thin little foils in an intricate dance? And he doesn't hurt himself?" Well it's not that kind of fencing.
It's building fence. Fence that keeps things in. My area of expertise lies in the building of barbed wire fence. Again, I know what you're thinking, "There is no way Rusty can mess with barbed wire without cutting himself." Actually I can.
Yesterday, I received a facebook post from my mom's horse friend's husband who said that the fence had been washed down, from the flood, in the pasture where the horses reside. He asked me if I've ever built fence, which I have done in the past. I went out to see how the fence looked while also turning the horses out so they weren't stir crazy. The fence indeed was washed down, including with a lot of trash and debris on the fence in the creek. I sighed because i knew that I would be getting wet as I would be in the creek later.
Lamar called me and we hit upon a plan of building "fuses" in the creek to give way in the event of lots of running water. As Lamar and Wendell set new posts, I plunged into the creek to cut the wires so the trash could flow on downstream. However the trash didn't move. I was standing in about mid-thigh deep water.
On an oversight on my part, I forgot gloves. This part hurt me because there were thorny branches in the trash pile as I was trying to free the pile. Yes, I cut myself on the back of the hand. Nothing major, just a deep scrape that bled a little. That wasn't what hurt the most. I had been using a stick to rake some of the trash away. After I was finished, I jammed the stick in the bank of the creek. Lamar had made me a loop in the barbed wire and I was about to step back into the creek to join the two ends.
The bank was slippery from being under water. I slipped crashing down onto the very stick I jammed into the bank. I hit it square on and broke about 6 inches off the end as it tried to impale me. I have a great bruise on my ribcage where I collided with the end of the stick. It hurt and I just sighed at my luck.

Honestly, how am I still alive?

The art of pulling pork, losing kidenys and getting blamed

2008-05-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

Well, Mem Day weekend has come and gone. All in all, it was a pretty good weekend, despite such crappy weather that's not going to allow us to play softball tonight. Dammit. Granted we were stuck in the same weather patter of severe/tornadic stuff for 5 days, but only once did we go under a tornado warning. Nothing happened though and I missed an opportunity to go storm chasing. Ok, I say missed, but I'm not allowed to go.
On the actual Mem Day, I spent most of it with brisket and my first attempt at pulling pork on the grill. The pulled pork turned out wonderful, it's just that my stupid brisket had issues for once and I was not a happy person about that. Believe you me, I'm still not happy. The pork was amazing and everyone loved it. The brisket had good flavor,it just wasn't as done as it should have been. I think it had something to do with the escaping steam from the pan. Oh well, I'll get it back to where it should be next time, dang it.
We went over to friends' house to have a Mem Day get together. After supper, I was laying on the floor when a friend's 4 year old son came over and jumped on my back. Now, he calls me Bob and I call him Bob, despite his real name being Isaac. So this 4 year old with an incredibly bony butt is jumping up and down on my back, right about kidney level. Needless to say, eventually, it started hurting. Isaac finally stopped and I was barely able to breathe a sigh of relief. A little while later Isaac came back with a plastic plate because he was going to "take my green power."
I have no idea I had green power.
He's giggling and I grab him and pull him down on the floor with me. Now I've got him so he can only get away if he crawls forward and he's laughing and trying to get away. He's struggling to get away and laughing still. However, at the right time, he kind of squealed just as his mom came in the house from the porch. She climbed all over him with a very snappy "What was that? Stop that! Don't be a wussy."
I am not hurting the kid in any way. I'm not crushing him, I'm not doing anything to him. I just wasn't playin by his green power rules, or something. After his mom jumps on him for squealing, he starts to cry. I'm patting his back gently, while my mother has been watching this, supressing chuckles because he's trying for drama.
His crying draws the attention of his grandma or my dad's Only Friend's Wife. Grandma comes scurrying over to see what happened to poor Isaac and why he is crying. Isaac gives a very tear-filled account of how "Bob was holding me and I couldn't get away."
WHAT? The kid blamed me??? Are you kidding me? I just got the blame put on me by a 4 year old. As we left the house after the shindig, mom asked me to recount what happened because she was watching the whole thing take place. After recalling the blame game, mom said "That's exactly what his mother would have done. EXACTLY!"
And it's true.
He deserved it for ruining my kidneys....or something. No, I'm really nice to Bob.

What i think.

2008-05-23T08:15:00.001-07:00

Sometimes, I think I'm still 16. I'm really not and my body will remind me of that often.
After my team's game on Wednesday, I was approached by a different team who was short two players. Granted, I'm a dirty softball slot so I'll play for almost anyone. In fact, Julian (the manager) told me "I wasn't even asking your ass, I had put you down in the lineup already."
I laughed and said of course I'd play. I should have said no, but hey, I can't. So, after hitting the ball quite well in my at-bats, I came up in the top of the 7th. I hit a rocket grounder at the shortstop who had to make a moving stop. He's having trouble finding the ball, so I'm busting my tail down the line and the throw was off.
I know the throw was off, because the first baseman came off the bag to take the throw. However, the guy came at me which caused me to try to avoid him. As I made my evasion, I landed wrong on the corner of the base, jamming my heel hard into the ground and slightly rolling my ankle. I thought for a second, "Oh shit, there went my achillies tendon," except I was still walking. Well, hobbling would be more like it. My heel felt as if it were on fire, but then that subsided. I hobbled off the field and came home to ice.
I think it's getting better as I stupidly did yard work on it yesterday. Someday, I'm going to learn not to play softball....that or i'm one good knee injury away from playing golf all the time.

Because

2008-05-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

Often there is too much wrong in the world, sometimes there needs to be a little right.

In the silence of the early summer night of June 2003, the seizure struck without warning, a violent precursor to the coming months for Newton resident, Corey Harder.
“It was a Friday night,” Corey said. “In the middle of the night, my wife Ronda woke up because I was making noises, making a mess, sloshing about in the bed.”
Ronda called 911 immediately and the EMS people arrived to give Corey medication. Harder remembers the medication woke him up within seconds.
“It felt like an elephant sat on my chest,” he said. “My head went back and I was out again. It was so painful.”
Corey, motorcycle designer, regained consciousness in the hospital. While he was unconscious, the staff of the hospital had administered tests, including an MRI, to determine the cause of the seizure. By morning, he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor.
The beginning of the fight
Harder’s doctor, Tim Wiens, told him that he needed to be put on an anti-seizure medication, and that he needed to get in touch with a specialist. Once home, he set up the appointment with a neurosurgeon, Dr. Earl Mills.
“Brain surgeons are brain surgeons for a reason,” Corey said. “They’re excellent surgeons, but they’re horrible with social skills. They can’t carry a conversation.
“It’s like if you took your family heirloom car to a mechanic because it didn’t work. He would say ‘Oh, here’s the problem, we can fix that, this might wear out after a while’, but he makes you feel good. You think a brain surgeon would do the same? No.”
Dr. Mills told Corey he had a stage 3 oligodendroglima. This is a type of cancerous tumor that affects the glial cells in the brain. The glial cells provide and support nutrition along with promoting signal transmission in the nervous system. These cells are the “glue” of the central nervous system.
Mills told Corey this growth was bad and chances for recovery were slim. Mills then ran his own MRI, which confirmed his original diagnosis.
“I said ‘Thank you, OK, I’ll probably get a second opinion,’” Corey said. “Mills said, ‘Fine, go get a second opinion, have him operate on you, I don’t care.’”
During this time, Corey’s mother from Mountain Lake, Minn., had moved to Kansas so she could lend her support to her son. Meanwhile, Corey was also struggling with his seizure medication because he was allergic to the first two types of pills his physicians tried.
The doctors told him that if the third type of medication didn’t work, he would have to go to another specialist to have medication custom made for him. By now, Corey was tired of the word “specialist.”
“You get a good, up-close look at the medical profession,” he said. “Doctors and nurses come and go and some care, others are just putting in the time. It’s frustrating beyond belief.”
Corey found his second brain specialist. After viewing his MRI, the doctor starting talking about “quality of life.” Corey was told the tumor was inoperable and his body’s systems would slowly shut down.
“That was a tough car ride home after that visit,” Corey said. “I went back to Dr. Mills and said ‘You’re the man. Cut me open.’”
Surgery and recovery
Corey played the waiting game as the doctor tried to coordinate the schedule for the surgery.
“While you sit around and wait, your priorities change,” he said. “Things you have interest in, you could care less about. You start thinking about your kid, your wife, family what it will be like if you’re not around. Things that interested me didn’t. I had a newborn kid.
“Priorities go down to your core,” he said. “It’s the people you love, and you want to protect. Material things go right out the window.”
Corey recalled it was about three weeks after the first seizure happened when his whole family came down from Minnesota. They were helping clean up the yard, trying to preoccupy the family with mundane tasks, when the phone rang.
“I finally got the phone call from the doctor’s office and they said there was a date set,” Corey said. “I went out and just broke down and started crying.”
They arrived early in the morning for the procedure. The doctors told Corey that he was just going to relax a little, and then they would get started on removing the lemon-sized lump. As Corey began to wake up after surgery, the doctors tested him.
“Can you remember who you are?” someone in the room asked.
“I’m Batman,” Corey said in reference to a popular Snickers commercial.
Within four days of his surgery, Corey walked out of the hospital. The week after his surgery, Corey was back in his yard, shoveling rock and moving stone.
Shortly after, Corey was given a PET scan, which is a scan to see if there is any cancerous material. They injected Corey with radiation laced with sugar because cancer processes sugar 1,000 times faster than anything else in the body. The process will make a flash on the X-ray. Corey had no flashes.
The miracle worker
After 6 months of treatment, and yet another MRI, the doctors said something was growing again.
“I went on the computer and looked up the survival rate of recurrence,” Corey said. “It was way low.”
Another specialist told Corey that the mass could be a re-growth of the tumor or it could be scar tissue, but there was no way of knowing. After another month, the specialist said the mass was still growing and it was becoming serious. Corey had arranged for another surgery and the date was set.
“I had a missionary friend from Minnesota, Elizabeth,” Corey said. “She told me I could not go to surgery without her coming down and seeing me. She has an incredible ability to know people. She’s a missionary and she does God’s work. She works on miracles.”
Elizabeth journeyed down to Corey’s Newton home. The two of them began to discuss exactly who Corey was, and Elizabeth told Corey that the illness was defining him.
“I had to do some hard thinking of what was I was dealing with,” Corey said. “She said that if you believe in God, sometimes you have to take a step of faith and challenge God.”
Corey and Elizabeth prayed together quite a bit, she laid her hands on him and anointed him with oil. They prayed again.
“She got done and I was tired,” Corey said. “I went and took a nap and slept for an hour-and-a-half. When I woke up I was a completely different person. I was seeing everything different.”
Corey called his doctor’s office and cancelled the operation. Five minutes later, the doctor’s office called back asking him if he was sure he really wanted to cancel.
“I thought to myself, ‘if God wants to take me, He will either kill me with a brain tumor, or I’ll get hit by a car or I’ll have a heart attack or something,’” Corey said. “He’ll take me when He wants to take me. I’m not going to let Him take me on the surgery table. I put it in His hands and left it there. Every MRI after that showed a shrinkage of the mass.”
The support network
Corey has been cancer free since that fateful June. He runs into people that he hasn’t seen for a while and the first questions out of their mouths are about him, his head and even his brain.
“It funny, because I went through it and I was done,” he said. “It didn’t define me, it’s not who I am. But that’s all they can remember, so you answer politely.”
Corey was fortunate with his support network of friends and family.
“It’s unbelievable the friends you have, that you know nothing about,” he said. “My mom writes for my hometown newspaper, and while she was down, she was sending articles back and people were emailing her, asking how I was doing.
“Ronda was very supportive. She was always optimistic. You concentrate a lot on your feelings for each other going through something like that. But you learn to say everything you want to say to someone while they’re in front of you, while you still have the chance. ”
Mountain Lake’s own Lions’ club had a pancake fundraiser for the Harders where they raised $10,000. Their church in Newton set up a bank account for donations to help alleviate the medical costs. The local car club had a surprise cookout where they gave Corey the big bucket of donations. Even Corey’s close friends shaved their heads as a symbol of support.
“We ran a thank you in our hometown newspaper in Minnesota,” he said. “We stood up in church and we thanked everyone as we were crying.”
Even talking about the outpouring of support, words catch in his throat.
“I feel for people when I know they’re hurt if it’s a brain tumor or something like that” he said. “I want to find out who they are and how I can help. It’s the thing I went through in my life, that God wants me to use, to explain to others His effect on life. I never feel like I do it enough, or that I’ve done it enough. Life is precious."

The art of

2008-05-06T08:28:00.000-07:00

Sinking a boat.
Well, nearly sinking a boat. Our boat nonetheless. We went fishing for the first time this year on Sunday. I should have known it was going to be a day of problems right away when the lights on the trailer didn't work. However, that didn't deter us we went ahead and jaunted up the road.
Now, once at the lake, we have a routine of getting the boat ready. We do things such as, paying the launch fee, pulling off the restraining straps, removing the prop brace and attaching the depth finder.
Oh and installing the drain plug.
That responsibility fell upon my father. I'm not sure what it was, whether he was sleepy, or if he was thinking about all the fish we were supposed to catch. I thought something looked wrong as they backed the boat down the boat ramp. I wasn't fully sure as normally I'm off waiting on the boat dock. Don fired up the engine, backed off the trailer and then pulled around to where we were waiting to board.
I got in and promptly notice a lot of water in the back of the boat.
"Where is all this water coming from?" I asked. Don turned and looked.
"Oh shit." he said. "The plug's not in."
I jumped off the boat, and we started yelling at my nearly deaf father to back down the ramp again. He finally understood and did as he was asked. Don cranked up the bilge pump, then loaded the boat.
Sure enough, the boat plug wasn't in the right spot. My father had plugged the livewell drain. I'm betting there were probably 100 gallons of water that came pouring out of our boat. There were a couple of guys waiting on us so they could put in, but they weren't in any hurry. Of course they were sharing a laugh with us about our nearly sinking of our boat.
We told dad, he couldn't be on our boat then. These guys offered to take him, to which i said:
"You can have him, but he'll sink your boat."

The move was completed

2008-04-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

In nearly record time.

We started at 9:30ish (yes, ish is a time) and were done by 12:15 or so. My uncle had a trailer attached to his truck, I had my exploder and my Nebraska uncle had their van. Fortunately, we had gotten rid of a lot of her belongings during the sale in September, so Grandma didn't have a ton of stuff, or a ton of big stuff for that matter. The aunts and my mom packed and we loaded. It took us two trips to be called good, with most minor stuff lingering around. As we were eating lunch, my Nebraska Uncle said "I think we should be concentrating on the 9th hole." I agreed, and then Grandma said "Go golf, we'll handle it!"

So my dad, my NE uncle, myself and my dad's only friend and my dad's only friend's soon-to-be-son-in-law traipsed up the road to play Turkey Creek. I was a little concerned as I hadn't played golf since..oh...November. The course was in good shape, save for the greens. They were freaking horrible. They had arreated and hadn't been mowed yet. It was like playing on kitchen carpet with little pebbles thrown in. I shot 83, where I'm counting that I left 4 or 5 strokes out there because of the green. It lightninged on hole 17 and started raining on 18. We were the last car in the parking lot because we're idiots. And it got chilly. Bone numbing chilly.

Played golf yesterday too, and that went about as well as expected, because it was COLD and I was SORE.

All in all, it was a good weekend.

Tis the weekend of the move

2008-04-25T15:04:00.000-07:00

We're moving my grandma this weekend to her new smaller place.

I'm bearing the brunt of my mother's stress as in she's barking at me. Literally barking. RUHHHSTTEEEE! RUHHSTEEE! I mean really, we haven't even started and she's up to four barks.

In other news....I have a wiggly voice.

It's been twenty years

2008-04-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

And I can let the grudge go! ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK! Yes, I've held a bit of a grudge for 20 years as it was 1988 when KU won their last championship. I was an 11 year old 5th grader.
At the time, KU was a heavy underdog to mighty Oklahoma, having been trounced twice by the Sooners during the regular season. Experts were predicting it to be a blowout of epic proportions. Kansas couldn't hold up with the run and gun style of OU.
Wrong.
The first half of the game was a shootout. KU and OU matched basket for basket in a breakneck pace and it was tied 50-50 at the break. Then the unthinkable happened.

I was sent to bed.

Yes. Really. My dad was watching the game with some of his friends and wasn't there to defend me and therefore I was cast aside to the darkness of my room. I was so mad that I could have chewed rocks and spit sand. I spent the next hour laying in my bed, with my radio blaring the game, just daring my mom to ask me to turn it down. With about a minute left, I took the chance and went upstairs to find my father home with a friend watching the end of the game as KU prevailed 83-79.

Last night was vindication for the ghosts in my past as KU once again claimed the national title. When Mario Chalmers' three dropped in with 2.1 seconds to go tying the score, I knew. I knew the Jayhawks were the national champions as Memphis's only low post threat was on the bench having fouled out. It was an incredible game and I laid my grudge to rest.

Testing

2008-04-03T21:19:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago, I took a very involved MBTI and came up with ENFP. I took a very short one just recently and I came up with...ENFP again. Interesting.

You Are An ENFP

The Inspirer

You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends.

You are also unconventional, irreverent, and unimpressed by authority and rules.

Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives.

You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're quite the storyteller!

In love, you are quite the charmer. And you are definitely willing to risk your heart.

You often don't follow through with your flirting or professed feelings. And you do break a lot of hearts.

At work, you are driven but not a workaholic. You just always seem to enjoy what you do.

You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist.

How you see yourself: compassionate, unselfish, and understanding

When other people don't get you, they see you as: gushy, emotional, and unfocused

What's Your Personality Type?

Some letters

2008-04-02T09:16:00.001-07:00

It's that time again. Time for some letters.

Dear WSU,
I still hate you. You bastards.
RJ

Dear Dr. Rhetoric Nazi,
The rest of the students and I in Comm. 535 have decided we would like to boil you in oil. We can no longer stand that we have no opinion on anything in class or even out of class. Quit trying to get us to conform to your regime. In fact, why even try when you're going to grade us on stuff that's Pass if you do it/Fail if you don't.
Sincerely
All of 535

Dear Mama Nature,
Can we make up our mind already? I mean really. This hot, cold, warm, chilly shit has to quit. This isn't spring, it's a fever that won't go away. Let's go, green it up.
Wishing I could fish,
Rusty

Dear Gas Price Makers,
I hope you burn. I hope your expensive SUV's blow up but only burn you to the point where you live. Better yet, I hope you invest in Enron and have to pay for gas like the rest of us. I had to sell a kidney on ebay to fill up the other day. I'm almost out of kidneys!
Dialysising,
Rusty

Dear Rhetoric Nazi pt. 2
Why don't you organize stuff like a normal person? Just because you wrote the freaking textbook doesn't give you the right to jump around like a monkey on meth. Seriously, you're killing us with your Chap 4, Chap 8, first part of Chapter 3, second part of Chapter 11. Not only that, but enough already with the extra readings that aren't in the book. You wrote the damn book, PUT THEM IN THE BOOK!!!
Watching the EPA take my printer because I'm killing trees,
RJ

Dear Ford,
Is it really that hard to get a freaking door hinge? I'm not Krypto the Wonder Dog who can jump through hoops. All I wanted was a door hinge for my explorer. I've never needed a PhD in car mechanics to surf a website, but thanks to you assholes, I do.
Not Mr. GoodScrewdriver,
Me

Dear Josh,
Thanks you fucker. Without you, we lost to a team we should have beaten, but they kept hitting to gaps because you weren't there. I hope Tim drops your ass in the order. I wanted to watch KU too, but I'm loyal.
Rock Chalk Chickenhawk
RJ

Dear Crazy people
It's time for all of you to get your heads examined. Really. Go to some people who specialize in head doctoring and park your asses on their couches until they fix you. And if they can't fix you, then fix yourselves. This is for all crazies!
Basking in my own personal insanity which I don't force on anyone,
Rus

Dear WSU,
Yep still hate you.
Hate,
Rusty

Yeah baby

2008-03-22T08:51:00.000-07:00

We're rolling along. My spring break is coming to an end in the next two days and that saddens me. Oh well, I need the time of clensing and rejuvination.
And there has been some basketball.

So you were closer than I was, Jay, but that game wasn't that close. There have been some hella games going on and it's fun. I have 113 entries in my pool, which is a little disappointing because we had 125 last year. I think that one of the other guys who runs a five dollah pool cuts into some of my entries. However, our pool pays out better, while he only pays out 4 places. Basically he gets the cheap ones rather than the people who want to pay10 dollah to us. I think we could have had more entries had Dad not dashed off to Ohio for a funeral. You'd think people would realize how much better ours is!

It's the last Easter dinner at my Grandmother's house as it's under contract. Tomorrow will be a bit sad, because for a good chunk of my 31 years, the've been spent there for Easter, save for a couple of trips to Texas then. It's also time for her to downsize as well. I do look forward to the fellowship and the friends and family as Easter is kind of like a smaller Thanksgiving with us.

Today is a Black Crowes day until the hoops start.

School is going well as we've put the pedal to the metal and are charging ahead full speed. I'm sure there will be some frustration coming through eventually and I'll snap, causing letters to be written.

I suck

2008-03-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

I suck.
I've really been meaning to post, but school has been swamping me as of late. Don't worry, I have a batch of letters to various people and factions brewing, it's just a matter of sitting down and banging them out.

On good news, it's spring break and I'm loving it. I had to give a presentation to kids today about sports journalism and it was fun.

Thanks Jay

2008-02-20T13:55:00.001-08:00

Jay tagged me and therefore, I'm it. Considering I've never been tagged, this should be interesting.

Random Fact #1

I'm scared of heights. I don't mean "Ooooh, that's scary," kind of scared. I'm talking freaked out, palms sweating, heart pounding, knees weakening, head spinning, stomach flip-flopping fear that paralyzes you. I have a problem with even going up on ladders sometimes. Even pictures can do that to me. This is probably a phobia.

Random Fact #2

I have never broken any of my own bones. Not once. Ever. Now, breaking the bone of a friend? Yes, that I have done. We were being dumb 16 year olds, play fighting out in the yard and I kicked him in the arm. His arm fractured and he had to wear a cast from just above his elbow down. I did feel horibbly guilty, but then I remembered he split my lip open with a remote control and that feeling of guilt subsided.

Random Fact #3

I love to cook. I like to experiment in the kitchen and try new recipes. Sometimes I'll make stuff up, but grilling is my speciality. I'm actually confident that given enough time, I can grill almost anything.

Random Fact #4

I'm allergic to garlic. Let me tell you, this is not fun. At all. I have never, nor will ever eat at the Olive Garden because I'm convinced, it might actually kill me. I sweat, my stomach does flip flops and then things get worse.

Random Fact #5

I enjoy playing poker. Lately it has been online through a site and I've been taking it in the shorts. I can't seem to understand why I'm taking such a beating.

Random Fact #6

I really do enjoy artwork. I should probably draw/paint more, but I just don't have the time, to committ myself into working on a drawing. I do have a couple of subjects that I need to crank out, but..time is of the essence.

Mother Nature

2008-02-11T16:56:00.000-08:00

is a spiteful, hateful wench. She has a twisted sense of humor which tries to make life uncomfortable for people. Her idea of a joke last night, carried over into this morning and nearly killed me.
Last night in Wichita and the surrounding county, she spit ice and didn't let me know. I'm cruising on my way to school with my cruise set at 70, enjoying myself, laughing at the Bob and Tom Show when I noticed that the road was wet all of the sudden. We're talking dry to wet, like someone turned on a hose and sprayed from above. Traffic was slowing down so I had to as well.
At the county line, the wet went to ice. I know this because I starting sliding at 55. My back tires caught a dry patch, which managed to propel me enough into the tire tracks, that I was able to right the ship so to speak. My heart was a bit poundy.
Of course, the roads were drier than the desert after class.

Six more weeks

2008-02-03T12:20:00.001-08:00

of winter.
I saw my shadow yesterday. As for that imposter Rodent up in PA, well, that furball ain't got nothing on me and my Midwestern forecasting abilities.
So now for the Midwest we will have 6 more weeks of winter, and I'm going to throw on a couple extra weeks for good mayzhure.

Going to jail

2008-01-31T07:03:00.000-08:00

At what point, do you make a decision to say "Eff you school. I'm not going." because conditions are not condusive to driving down to school?
At what point does the administration say "Hey, wait a second, it's freaking treacherous out there because of the weather, maybe we should cancel school because we have a very very large commuting population of our students?"
Does the WSU administration camp out in their cozy little offices before days like this so they can arise and say "Well I made it in, the students can too?"
I write these questions because of the fact of the whiteout/blizzard like conditions due to the winter storm which just happens to be pummeling our area. I noticed that both Friends and Newman had classes cancelled. Schools which don't have the commuting based that WSU has. I noticed that all of the schools in Wichita aren't having school. Yet, WSU is. Now I live 35 miles from campus. That's not a jaunt to the grocery store, that's 30 minutes of driving time in normal weather. It's not a couple of blocks that I can creep, leaving 10 minutes early, no, it's 184, 800 feet that sounds like it's going to take a couple of hours.
Did they not listen to the traffice report this morning? When the KFDI guys are out saying that there are 4 accidents on one exit ramp (the one I happen to use) and that semis are having problems getting up inclines, did they not think "Hmm...it seems to be dangerous, maybe we shouldn't have classes today?
I am a dedicated student, but at the same time, I do value my life over two classes this afternoon. Right now, I'd like to hit WSU admins with a snowball covered rock.

The Insanity of my mother

2008-01-18T06:48:00.000-08:00

She has lost her mind. Really.
I think it goes back to Christmas. This was the first year she told me, "I don't need a list from you." That statement alone scared the hell out of me. I should have known better than to let her go without a list. Of course this is the same woman who told me "Your list sucks," for the last several years.
Why does my list suck? Because I happen to put "Cowboys stuff and Husker stuff" on said list every year. Too bad, it's what I like. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to put on this list that is going to make it unsuck. When she told me she didn't need a list, I actually cringed.
I know I shouldn't complain, but hey, it's my blog, I can do what I want. Mom told me during Christmas that she had another present for me and it was coming. Of course, she wouldn't tell me what it was. Finally a couple of days afterwards, she told me she was going to order me a Cowboys watch. I just said "oh." Her head snapped around at me and she said in a very offended voice "you don't like it?" otherwise decoded as "how dare you not like this gift i picked out for you!!"
"Actually mom, I don't," I replied. "I don't need another watch. That would be the third cowboys watch I have and the 6th watch I have floating around."
"WHAT? WHY DON'T YOU WEAR THEM?"
"I don't need to. I don't need a watch most of the time." She huffed about this for a while..then asked me what I would like in place of the watch. I ended up with an SD card for my cam and a card reader.
Enter the frost scraper.
I received a frost scraper for christmas that plugs into the car lighter. Yesterday morning, I was asked how it works, to which I chuckled. She was surprised by my chuckle, until I told her, I wasn't planning on using it because you plug it into the car lighter. Then stand outside with the door open and scrape? I don't think so. She did the super dramatic eye roll and well, I became the ungrateful son once again because I didn't hop up and down thanks to the gifts. Why? Maybe it's because I have four fucking scrapers now. FOUR!
As eVa said, if my mom took all the crap I don't need and compiled it, I could get a really nice gift. GAH! I'm selling my mother on ebay.

The Attack of the Monster

2008-01-14T06:52:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, there is a monster living under my bed. He's lived there most of my life, mainly minding his own business, going about his life. We've learned to co-exist, me with my life, his life being the realm under my bed. Most of the time life is good and our paths never cross. However, there are times when something happens, whether it's boredom, frustration, hunger, something triggers the little guy and he becomes a whirling mass of spikes claws and fangs. The only way he can placate himself is to attack me.
The attacks for the most part take place on a calf muscle. I usually scramble out of bed in a fit of pain, kicking and trying to get the attack to stop. Once I rise to my full height, he usually quits gnawing on my leg. Now there have been a few times when the attack was so severe, more damage than what the monster wished for was inflicted. Once, I fell into my closet, the second, I was tangled up in my blankets, tried to extract myself while he had his fangs sunk into my calf, and failed miserably as I tried to give myself a severe concussion or minor brain damage when my head crashed into the dresser with such force it echoed. Granted I lay there, surprised by my lack of blood, all the while still under the attack. That was a bad night.
This morning, he attacked again. Fortunately, he decided to leave my calves alone. My quad however was a different matter. That little bastard attacked 4 times this morning, with increasing severity each time. I seem to have a bit of a limp since I can feel the after effects of his attacks. Why he keys on me is anyone's guess. Nothing like trying to cry out with raspy voice as you're having your quad eaten by a monster.
Just another wonderful start to a Monday!

Hell hath no fury

2008-01-10T09:32:00.000-08:00

like a cold scorned.
I spoke too soon. That's all there is too it and now I'm losing. Badly. The general of this cold, pulled his forces back, giving me a false sense of security. They laid in wait, perfectly timing everything before striking forth with a furious vengence.
I've been reduced to an achy, quivering, snotty, whimpering mass of humanity. I've got a bit of a cough, but I'm fighting it with stuff...the Nyquil didn't help me sleep..that or i had a touch of a fever.
This isn't good.

The adventures of Knee boy

2008-01-08T08:35:00.000-08:00

I'm sure everyone has done it once or twice. It's a common problem sweeping across offices, homes, dens, anwhere desks are involved.
I'ts the practice of crashing a knee into a desk. Yeah, it hurts. Sometimes worse than others. This epidemic has no cure. None. It always happens and always will.
Personally, last night's episode was in fact the most painful to date. Because I was balancing on my chair while trying to raise my leg in a very quick and fast motion so I could rub my foot, I tried to put my knee through the edge of my desk.
OH MY GOD! That hurt. I saw stars while actually tearing up for just a second. I caught the side of the kneecap flush against the the desk edge. I couldn't even swear. From that point, a wave of naseua washed over me and I had to lay down for a short while. I can slide and tear open a nine inch long by three inch wide abrasion that looks like I cheese gratered myself and be fine. But that collision was a different kind of pain. Not fun at all.
I instantly had a lemon drop sized knot on my knee. Surprisingly, not a whole lot of blood. The contusion is painful to the touch.
I post this as a warning to people out there. This epidemic is sweeping across the nation and there is no stopping it.

Coming to a head

2008-01-07T16:04:00.000-08:00

Gasket that is.
So my exploder has an appointment with the truck doctor and it's going under the knife. My mechanics will be replacing the head gasket as I've decided to have this little nagging problem fixed. Fortunately, they said they'd be able to do it. The reason I've also decided to keep it around is that I figured my little sister will need something to drive to and from school once I'm done with my classes. She'd be happy and content to have something to play with.
In otherworlds, life is grand. School doesn't start back up for a couple of weeks but basketball broadcasting over the 'Net starts again on Saturday.
Oh, I did kick my cold's ass. Megadose of OJ and nyquil, some rest and I was golden again.

And Mother nature still hates me. It was upper 50s the past few days and now there's a chance of snow tomorrow or something. She's a spiteful wench who enjoys making my life hell.

I hate colds.

2008-01-04T12:32:00.001-08:00

I do.
If I'm not paying attention, they can sneak up on me and run me over. Usually the signs are a scratchy throat in the mornings, along with sinus pressure. This time, I caught the signs and did my normal routine of megadose of OJ, followed by a nondrowsy decongetstant, then a drowsy one plus Nyquil at night. Yeah, I had a nice deep coma, I mean sleep.
However, as I type this, I'm feeling tired again and I'm thinking a little more rest won't hurt. I think a quick snooze would get me primed and ready for basketball tonight

Happy 2008!

2008-01-03T07:58:00.000-08:00

Ah yes, 2008 is upon us.
I think it could be a good year. Of course it's supposed to be 63 on Sunday so we're already off to a crappy start. However, the law of averages states that we'll have to be cold to balance it out.
I've still got a month of hunting, then it can be 70. Bring it on!

I'm ready for school, I think, even though it doesn't start for a while.

Christmas was incredible. We laughed so hard. Wiis can be dangerous esp, with parents trying to play tennis. My uncle cracked his daughter on her elbow during some serious Wii action and he fell on the couch laughing so hard.

I'll post more later.

2007-12-24T08:05:00.000-08:00

To all of my dear friends,
I wish you a very Merry Christmas for you and your loved ones!

A mistake

2007-12-22T16:34:00.000-08:00

So, I am not smart.
That's all there is to that. I could blame the beer that I consumed last night, but really it's my overwhelming desire to hunt that did it. Not only hunt, but hunt in snow. Snow and hunting can be amazing. But Rusty not realizing exactly how bad blowing snow is...can be bad.
Jyo, didn't show up at 7:30 and I was about to crawl back in bed when my phone rang.
Him: "Do you want to still go out?"
Me: "It makes me no nevermind, if you want to, we can, if not, not a big deal."
Him: "Ok, I'm in the driveway."
Me: (Laughing) "Aight. I'll be out."

Now in town, it wasn't that bad. But we got to the field, and Hurricane Winter had struck. The wind nearly tore the door off the hinges. It wasn't snowing until we took our first few steps. Then it was blowing snow in a 38 mph wind. We walked a quick half mile and Justin said "That was a bad idea."
"Yes it was. I'll accept blame for it. It's my fault this time." Safe to say, Justin agreed. Easy agreement as the wind and snow had us pretty coated in white by the time we got back to the truck.
Maybe tomorrow morning would be better.....

And i'm done

2007-12-19T07:54:00.000-08:00

With school. For 2007 that is.
All I've got remaining is 21 itty bitty hours. Of course when that's finished, I'll be back to the real world with some goals; a career, a puppy, sweeping someone off her feet and marrying her, you know..the normal kind of stuff.

I did have to email WSU yesterday after the parking fiasco. At least when the Rolling Stones came into town, we were warned in advance of the horrible parking situation. Yesterday, we weren't warned as they were bussing in 9000 elementary school kids. That bussing killed off the majority of the parking on campus. Herein lies the problem. First of all, I understand the event was supposedly scheduled for the week after finals. Due to the ice storm that wasn't, last Tuesday's finals were cancelled. They postponed the the finals for a week. OK, I get it. However, there is a campus wide email system that you can send a message with the click of a button. A message such as "Lack of parking notification" would have been helpful in knowing that the normal spots where I park, were going to be cut off.

Seriously, they did a study. On Mondays through Thursdays, there are on the average 7000 vehicles on campus. That number drops to 1700 on Fridays. By cutting off the parking lots, you've taken well over half the parking spots. Bastards. I have yet to hear back from WSU.

In other news, I be finito with my xmas shopping. Life is good.

It has

2007-12-07T08:57:00.000-08:00

Seems to be have been a while since i've posted.
Life is hectic busy thanks to finals and things along that nature. I'm almost done with the semester which i can only say "THANK GOD."
Random thoughts from the past couple of weeks

* If I ever decide to do a paper on a topic that I deem "outside the proverbial box" I need someone to shoot me in the head. Seriously, blow my brains all over a wall. I had to write a 10 page paper on an environmental concern. So, thinking outside the box, I decided to write on zebra mussels. Kill me. Granted I know all about zebra mussels now, but there's no room in my feeble little head for any more information so my brain is full.

* Is it a prequisite for all of the people who administer the class evaluations, to not speak English? Habib is barely understandable in the directions, even though we've gone over them every time in class. Are they worried that they might get deported if they don't read the directions? We know how to fill out the bubbles. It's easy.

* I'm almost done with my christmas shopping. The problem being my aunt, whose name I drew while at Beaver in August. She wants silver jewelry. Normally, I don't have a problem picking things like that out..but I'm struggling this time. She's got other stuff on her list, but she's tough. Usually, I'm real good about picking things out for people, because I can get a bit creative.

* Really, how hard is it to drive when it's slick out? Just pay attention to the roads and quit going so fast. I counted 7 vehicles in ditches, missing parts of bumpers and one really bad wreck on my way to school yesterday. Yo, people, they issue advisories/warnings for this. I'm not worried about my driving, even if I managed to do a 180 yesterday. It's the other people that scare the hell out of me. Especially, the woman in the van trying to turn left onto the on-ramp before me..except that I was turning right and had the right-of-way. Sweetbabyjesuswithacowlick.

* Mother nature can kiss my ass!

Firefox

2007-11-26T09:07:00.001-08:00

is a hater

test post for rusty

2007-11-26T08:59:00.001-08:00

blah blah blah blah

Wow

2007-11-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

I suck. This slow typing stuff has killed my desire to post. Sorry.

Hello Fall! literally

2007-11-20T21:59:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the land of falling temperature. After playing golf today and not playing too bad after a three month layoff, (I shot an 86) we departed the golf course at 2:26. The wind, which had been howling steadily all day had suddenly laid down. I said to myself, “It’s gonna change soon.”
Sure enough. When we climbed in my dad’s only friend’s suburban (this year, we didn’t set it on fire) his thermometer read 70 degrees. I just happened to notice the leaves blowing from the opposite direction. By the time we had returned home at 2:46, it was 52. Eighteen degrees in 20 minutes.
It’s enough for me to go hunt in the morning I think.

The weekend

2007-11-19T22:38:00.000-08:00

has begun.
Golf and basketball tomorrow.

Nuggets from my dad

2007-11-18T17:00:00.000-08:00

We're driving from one hunting spot to another, and Don says "I'm sorry Sid but I don't mean to make fun of your wife, but why would anyone ever have a horse?"
And my father responded:
"Are you making fun of my horse? You should never have a hobby that eats. All they do is stand there and eat, and you maybe ride them once in a while. Then you have to put shoes on the fuckers. If they get sick, you have to call in the fucking vet. If Kath were to die today, I wouldn't even sell it, I'd give it away. Hell, I'd go let it loose. Charlie or whatever his name is, i'm not sure. I put up fucking hay for that thing. I got sweated wet. The only problem is that I'm not sure which one he is."

I laughed incredibly hard. He's insane.

You know

2007-11-17T20:36:00.000-08:00

It would be a lot easier to post if this didn't take 5 seconds per letter.
Someone fix it!

UPDATE

2007-11-16T11:40:00.001-08:00

Ginormous update time!
After wanting to kill WSU, my nearly homicidal rage has subsided thanks to a great meeting with my new advisor. We went over things that I need, and I’m actually closer than what I thought I was. Yes, it will still be Dec. 08 for grad, but I’m only 21 hours away. Unfortunately, I can’t fit everything into one semester because a couple of the classes are only fall offered. That’s fine and dandy with me, because thanks to a technicality, I was able to slip one class in and knock off 3 hours. I can taste the beer from the graduation party. Yes, there will be a party.

Secondly, I hate this weather. It’s too warm and too dry. Where’s the cold dammit? Seriously, I wore shorts to a basketball game on Tuesday night. There’s something wrong with this picture. Hopefully, the temp falls off the table and life becomes grand again.

Thirdly, last night was a riot. During the first game, Jen threw out her cell number challenging anyone to text message her so we could know we had listeners. We ended up with 4 people texting in which was great. We laughed, then Jen challenged the color guy for the second game, Lamar, to see if we could top the 4 messages Jen received. Oh we topped them. Lamar even started answering his phone during the game. He heard from Louisiana, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, and the visitors from Nebraska too! It was a hoot, and we’re going to throw the gauntlet down again, most likely second semester.

Fourthly, there are games tomorrow, birds to hunt and poker to be played tonight.
Wow. I’m busy and like it!

Tomorrow

2007-11-15T20:06:00.000-08:00

I promise will be a giant update.
Now I'm off to watch KU

Almost

2007-11-14T22:02:00.000-08:00

Forgot.
Whew, just slipped in under the wire. but i'm here.

Us 56, them 44

2007-11-13T21:03:00.000-08:00

What a game! To bounce back and physically hammer a bigger team that whipped you by 19 (63-44) at their place, is a major accomplishment.

But one of our big guys went down and is most likely done for the season. Good kid too. Dammit. There’s always something.

For Jay

2007-11-12T20:12:00.000-08:00

This is the link to hear me broadcasting tomorrow night. Games start at 6 and 8 p.m. CST.

That is all

My father

2007-11-11T20:05:00.001-08:00

The topic of Big Brutus came up again tonight.
Big Brutus was the world’s largest steam shovel used down in southeastern KS, to strip mine. It was electrical and stands 16 stories high. My father has always wanted to go and stop by to see this monstrosity when we’re on our way to Arkansas. Of course, he’s been overruled by all of the family. It’s been a sore spot so much that Santa even leaves him stuff under the Christmas tree, taunting him.
Tonight, we’re playing cards over at Verne’s house and she says to my brain damaged father, “I’m still waiting for Big Brutus.”
“Oh yeah. We’ll go. Just you and I. I’ll be damned if anyone of my family wants to with us. It’ll be a cold day in hell before I take them down there. We’ll take pictures and lots of pictures. We might even help them paint it too. The hell with ‘em.”
I’m convinced my laughter could be heard two houses down.

Hello Playoff

2007-11-10T15:36:00.001-08:00

Thank you, University of Illinois.
Now, the screech of “Let there be a playoff,” can begin. I’ve always been a HUGE advocate of a college football playoff system since they went to the BCS. Granted KU is undefeated, but that should come to a skidding stop in the Big XII title game.
As for me, my day of sports is almost complete as I’ll be journeying about 8 miles to watch my favorite sport, basketball at 8 p.m. Next week, I’m broadcasting games via the internet on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoon. Rock and roll!

ugh

2007-11-09T19:57:00.001-08:00

So I’m beginning to get pissed because I don’t own a dog yet. The key word in that situation is yet. I have to graduate before I can get my puppy. I’ve got the kennel already picked out. It just so happens to be the same kennel that Gsquared purchased Hollie from. Simply put, Hollie is the best dog I’ve ever hunted with. A pooch half as good as her would be fun.
My reasoning about being unhappy because I’m dogless, is that I’ve got birds running around. Of course, this shitty warm weather isn’t helping either. I’m ready for snow. Send me some snow. Hell, just send me some cooler weather. I’m not picky, it could be cooler and sunny, it could be cold and cloudy. If you’re up for the trade, I’ll gladly swap out this 70 degree crap. Just let me know…

that was close

2007-11-08T20:23:00.001-08:00

Whew!
Thanks to mmf, I nearly forgot to blog. Our first broadcast was pretty fun, both teams picked up wins, the girls 79-68 and the guys 102-67.
Should be a great year!

This just in

2007-11-07T17:39:00.001-08:00

Breaking news:
I’m still getting fucked over by WSU. I’m getting the shocker and it’s not a pleasant feeling. The headlines will read something along the lines of “Student snaps at advisors for unadvising.” I’ll give them some damn advice. GIVE ME A STRAIGHT ANSWER.
Sweetbabyjesuswithacowlick. Imma fuck some shit up if I don’t get a good answer. I’m entitled to it dammit.

I’m almost convinced that the advising department is like a help search. Enter the key word and it just spits out the closest thing to, without ever answering specifics. Well what about the specifics? This isn’t going well.

More to follow. I’ll stay in touch.

Yep

2007-11-06T18:30:00.001-08:00

Ok, I’m cold. But I’m not complaining. I love weather like this. My advising situation has not been resolved and I should be writing a speech. Instead I post to the masses or the three or four people who read my blog.
This speech shouldn’t be too tough, I just lack the motivation to work on it.

I hate you, WSU

2007-11-05T17:56:00.000-08:00

Fuck you very much WSU.
Had I known this whole education process would have been so screwed up when I decided to transfer, I would have sold a kidney and gone to a small private school down the road. Surely, things wouldn’t have been so damn bad in the whole process of trying to get a bachelor’s degree in print journalism with all my transfer credits.
Wichita State was my choice because it was recommended by my advisor at HCC and also, the dept. head knew my uncle. It was affordable, a reasonable distance away and I thought I had the world in my hands. Yes, I figured I would have to take some classes, but thanks to their fucked up requirements, I didn’t realize it would be quite like that.
Yes, WSU is my third school. The first one was right out of high school, so I was lost like a loose pea in the universe. After a break, I went to Hutch Community College, where the journalism program is actually well known. I had a ball. From that point on, my advisor said to go to WSU.
My initial enrollment process taught me that I had to have 60 on campus hours from WSU to graduate. Fine and dandy I thought, no biggie as most of them will come from my actual major. Today I met with the dept. head who’s kind of acting like an advisor to me now, and he showed me that I only have 16 hours of my actual major left.
Here in lies the problem.
A person can get a bachelor’s degree with 124 hours from WSU. Now, I currently have 129 under my belt, with 6 more at the end of the semester. So that pushes me to 135. I do still have 16 for my major that I need to have the graduation requirements filled. Once those are completed, I’m up to 151 hours. Now I’ll have fulfilled my requirements for my major, my requirements for the rest of the stuff I needed, but I’ll still have 8 hours I need to occupy. My total will be 159 hours..by my count, that’s still WAY FUCKING MORE than 124. What the hell am I going to do with 8 spare hours of classes I don’t need? Why would I even try in these classes?
I’ve got a transcript review email being thought up so that we can see exactly if I can bypass some things. Money grubbing bastards. That’s what they are.
What I’m really afraid of is they’re going to say, “Oh but Rusty, you didn’t need this and this and this,” in which case my head will spin round on my neck several times and I may start speaking Latin. Seriously, I will be livid. My editor said to me “the only way you can be appreciated at WSU is to be 6-9, 240 lbs.” How true.
I hate WSU.

Peer Pressure

2007-11-04T20:56:00.001-08:00

Yes, it was peer pressure.
My father instigated it too. I am susceptible to peer pressure and today I caved. We had been hunting for the morning, only seeing a few birds with one in the bag thanks to a shot by me. By now, we’re all kind of tired and dragging, thanks to heavy duty hunting this weekend.
So we’re cruising home. We have a rule instituted during pheasant season as we have always said, we’re not allowed to go out in the country without a gun. The chance that we’d stumble across a dumb bird rises exponentially without a weapon in the vehicle.
My pops had just unloaded his gun in the back of Jarbear’s vehicle. I had not because I know. I turned to him and said “What are you doing? You’re going to guarantee us seeing a rooster on the way in to town.” His response was something that tore us all up anyways.
We’re about a mile from town and I had just said “We’ll probably see a cock up in the hedge row by the house.” We no more got by the hedge row and dad shouts “There’s a cock right there! It was moving up towards the fence.” Jarbear pulls up about 200 yards to the field entrance. He turns around and my father pressures me.
“Shoot it out the window.”
“Really?” I said.
“Yes.”
So I roll the window down, stick my gun out and get ready. Jarbear never even made it to a complete stop and I fired once. As soon as I shot, four more roosters took off from right there, birds we hadn’t seen. I try to jump out and grab the now dead rooster, but the automatic door locks have engaged. I’m juggling gun and door handle while telling Jar to unlock the damn door. My dad is grabbing the gun, when the door clicks open. I jump out grab the bird, jump back in and we’re off.
We get back into town and Dad offers up his judgment on the process of the SHP or Stop, Hop and Pop.
“That might be a new record. That only took about 10 seconds and a good time is about 20 seconds. However if Jarbear would have gotten the door open quicker, that could have shaved about 2-3 seconds off the time. I just thought if you were going to clean one, you might as well clean two.” (Kind of ironic because I clean everything. One time, after coming back from hunting two hours away, he asked me if I had shot anything. I said yes, I shot my limit. “Great! You can clean the one I shot that’s out in the garage.”)
And for those of you who might be thinking this is totally and completely unethical, we knew the people that lived there, so it was all good.

For the weekend, I shot 9 roosters, seven of them coming on Opening Day. I’m tired.

Highs and lows

2007-11-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

My holy holiday has arrived and nearly passed as the sun is beginning to dip in the western sky. Personally, I’m thinking that I’ve never had so many highs and lows in an Opening Day.
I managed my average of 3 hours of sleep, so I thought I was doing well. I popped out of bed, raring to go at 4:30 a.m. Naturally; I needed some coffee, so I preceded to make a pot. However, my head was somewhere else and I made incredibly weak coffee. I promptly poured it out and made a new pot. Fueled by stronger java, I was ready to face the day.
Of course, Dad’s only friend was late. The alarm was not set, or so he said. We were hanging out chatting, when he finally called saying he was on his way. It didn’t matter as we got to the headquarters at 6. Thanks to DST being so late, it was still dark.
We spent 40 minutes catching and banding birds. This is when the first low of the morning happened to me. One of our roosters escaped the cage and was running around the pen. I grabbed a net so I could pursue the little shit. After a brief chase, I netted him but I didn’t have the net down completely and took a flying pheasant to the face. I now have a scratch above the left eye and scratch that stars on my nose even with my right eye, trails down to the end of the nose, skips a little and runs down and around my mouth. Many bastards laughed at me when I took the rooster to the face.
We released the birds in the two patches we were going to hunt and then the battleplan was drawn up, literally on a white board. Yes, there was much laughter. My role was to be the edge guy, trying to help cup in the pheasants. Gsquared told me one of his coworkers said “You’re going to reload shells tomorrow? (the Gman nodded) Is Rusty going? (Nods again.) Why even take shells?” My rep as a good shot is flattering.
The first high of the day was my first shot as I folded up a rooster with one shot and it landed on the green wheat field out by the ahead man on my side. The low was that it was my only shot I took in that entire field. I got a little pissed as no one listened to me and I ended up having to cover between 60-70 yards all by myself. I know birds were moonwalking past me. Ok, it was more than a little pissed, I was furious.
But, we continued to the next patch, a much smaller area. This time I experienced a high as I shot four more, including one above everyone after they had unloaded guns. One more patch later and I bagged two more bringing my total to 7, a very nice high.
Now, I’m tired and stiff, but all in all pretty dang good. Tomorrow..we’ll see what happens.