Libra Libations

How bout them Cardinals folks!? To all those baseball analysts, to all of ESPNs so called experts, and espacially to all the nay-sayers out there, I've got 2 words for ya (go ahead and say them for me if you know what I'm talkin bout.) Just goes to show ya that the "experts" dont always get it right.
If anyone would've told the world before-hand that the Cardinals would win the Series in five games that person would've been called crazy. That person would also have made alot of money on that prediction. Oh well. Tonight we're goin out to a couple of Halloween parties. Fun to be had by all.
We're goin out dressed as an Amish couple. Anyone who has seen me lately can tell how well I"ll be able to pull that one off. Should be amusing.

Oh ya, by the way in case you had not heard, come this spring there's gonna be a little libation added to the family. Yea me!

What happened when Napoleon went to Mt. Olive?





Popeye got pissed!

Mmmmmmmmmm...Route 44 Diet Cherry Limeaid.

I got a sunburn at work today. My mother is a redhead and gave me her skin. Its funny how every year it takes a pretty bad sunburn to get me to remember this simple fact. Then I'm like "Sunscreen Jackass!"

Last week I had a training course for work on GPS. It was pretty cool. The technology we have today with GPS allows measurements to within an 1/8th of an inch. A part of the class that I found funny was when the instructor( who was a total GPS geek) told us that our government purposefully puts errors in the GPS system. The idea is that the government does not want other countries to have exact positioning on targets in the U.S. The problem with this is that the U.S. has been so heavily surveyed that the errors can be and are corrected for based on monuments. I had a really good time with this class. It even got me interested enough to go online and start checking into how to become a surveyor.

Alas, a Bachelors degree and four years of work under a licensed surveyor.

Goals are good.




So I've heard.

Well I started my new job this week. Its pretty hard work. For three days this week I've been down at the new Wal-mart in Marion. We've been pouring concrete for the floors. Today we poured a 250 ft square of red concrete. The machine that they use to spread the concrete is pretty neat. Its called a laser screed and it spreads the concrete out at a perfect grade. Basically from 7:30 this morning till 1:00 there was always a truck pouring. So far the new job is going pretty well.

BEER!...............................GREEN BEER!







YUM!

Well its a saturday afternoon and I'm sitting at home updating my Blog. The unusual thing about this is that I should be at work right now but I felt like using a sick day, so here I am. I would usually feel bad about taking a frivolous day off but this last Thursday I got a call from the Laborers Union offering me an apprenticeship. They want me to start training on Feb. 27th at John A. So because I'm going to have a new job in three weeks the fiance tells me that there is a good band playing at the local Pub and I should take a sick day. I figure why not, I can't take them after I give my notice anyways.

So here I am, typing away and enjoying a day away from the jail. I still have to work on Super Bowl sunday but oh well, thems the breaks...

In other news (always wanted to say that) this last week we went down to Marion and registered for our Wedding. I got to use one of the little scanner guns and pick out a plethora of tools that I wanted from Sears. Good times.

Since my fiance is Catholic the church required us to go to an all day seminar/meeting for engaged couples. It was down at the Catholic church in Carbondale. It was a good experience as a whole but it seemed a little boring because most of the topics brought up the fiance and I had already discussed. One thing that I did take away from it was some advice on a financial book to read called "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki. It is very informative about financial planning and the ways that people handle their money. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is concerned about their financial future.

If you do happen to read this book give me some feedback on what you think of it. I'm curious to see what some educated minds might have to say about it.


Can't think of much more to say...think I'll go play some Tiger Woods golf on the old XBox.

I think Dennis Leary put it quite nicely when he said,"Merry F@#&ing Christmas!"

Sums up things to a T, at least in my mind.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
WWWWWWWWWWWW

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
NNNNNNNNNNNNN
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
WWWWWWWWWW

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
NNNNNNNNNN
OOOOOOOOOO
WWWWWWW

SSSSSSSSSS
NNNNNN
OOOOOO
WWWW

SSSSSS
NNN
OO
W


How bout that snow?

Well its been over a month since I updated so I figured it was time (before any crazy stories get posted as to my where-abouts.) It feels like all I ever do is work anymore. My full time job I work 4 ten hour shifts a week, Friday through Monday. Then for the past few months I work at least 2 if not all 3 of my days off with my future Father-in-law doing construction work. Sure my evenings are free during the week but it sometimes feels like I don't get a break. Oh well, the fiancee and I are trying to save for our wedding so I guess its worth it.

I've started throwing darts again in a league. I just love to throw; I always have a blast at it. I would really rather be in a pool league but none of my friends are on one so I make due and play pool were I can. I've also started playing poker online again. I'm not into any money games yet but I am doing fairly well in some freeroll sit&go games. Next time anyone wants to play let me know and I'll see if I can make it.

Here lately I've noticed that a lot of people are getting to be philosophical(pronounced fill-o-so-facal) in their blogs. O.K... I'll join in. One I read was talking about how it is hard to get ahead in any certain portion of life. To me this is typical of any well rounded person. I think of it like this; if a person focuses totally on one portion of their life, some other aspect of their life will suffer. For instance, since I have gotten engaged I have found that my pool and dart playing talents have diminished. (Some of my friends might try to tell you different, but what do they know) ;) This is in direct correlation with me paying more attention to my personal life than to my social life.

Now while this example might seem a little silly, I think it shows how we as humans balance things in our lives. If you think about your own life I'm sure you can think of some examples that would fit my idea a lot better than the one I have put forth. Also you could probably think of times in your life when you were focused on one thing, if not totally, then with most of your efforts. Think about where the other aspects of your life were. For instance, when you were in college, were you making very much money by working? Most likely not because you were focused on school, trying to get to the place were you could make money.

I think that the people who really do focus all of their time and energy on one part of their life have a hard time with some of the other aspects of their lives. These type of people might be extremely successful in business, with the opposite sex, in sports, ect... But if the regular everyday Joe were to look at every part of these peoples lives, I think they would find them to be wanting something more.

To me being well rounded in my life is not such a bad thing. While it might be hard to get ahead in any certain area of my life, I still think it is very possible to get ahead with one thing as long as I can still pay attention to everything else.




I'm a Libra, could you tell?

Boy have I had alot going on. First I went to blah. There was a ton of blah happening so I joined in the blah. I'll tell you what, I've never had so much fun blah-ing in my life. That night we decided to go to a different blah and have some blah and some blah. Both blahs were good. Next I wanted to try something else to blah so I ordered a blah. That blah was OK but it wasn't the best blah I'd ever had. Don't get me wrong, I'd try that blah again but it wasn't ambrosial like some other blahs that I've had. Here lately I've been hooked on a certain blah. It's like every time I go out I have to have this blah. I've always got on kicks like this; I'll only blah a certain blah for a long time then I'll switch to a different blah for a long time. It just goes in streaks.

Oh well, I'll just have to stick with this blah until the next blah comes along and tickles my fancy.

(Insert desired words in place of blah and let the fun commence!)






What?










I was bored.























Leave me alone!
























































O'Doyle Rulz!!

First day back to work and boy was it fun. About five minutes after day shift left I was doing a cell check when one of the females runs up to the door of her unit and says, "So and So is bleeding!" My first reaction is great, female problems. So I had the unit door opened and I asked were she was bleeding from. Well I found this girl sitting on the toilet (fully clothed thank God) with blood running off her wrist were she had cut it. She had removed the razor blade from one of the shavers that they get in the morning and slit her wrist. Obviously someone hadn't checked very well when they got the shavers back from them that morning. Anyways she had cut her wrist lengthwise with her arm 4 times. I could see four different cuts, each about an inch and a half long. Fortunately she missed the major veins in her wrist. Well I moved her up to a holding cell after hastily wrapping a towel around her wrist. So then when I come back with some bandages and peroxide to clean her up shes like, "You're not a doctor!" To which I want to reply, "No shit Sherlock!!!" So I get her bandaged up and she tells me that she was not trying to kill herself but that her meds are not working right and that is why she did it. WTF!?

One thing that I have seen a lot of at the jail are people that like to self mutilate. This is like the 4th time I've personally had to deal with someone cutting themself on purpose but not trying to kill themself. I don't understand why someone would do that. Most of the time the person is not getting their way about something in the jail so they do this. They are like little kids acting out to get attention.

Anyways, this little incident made me late for some of my other chores that I have to do during the regular course of my day. So after that if any of the inmates asked why I was so late my standard answer was, "I was dealing with stupidity." Hope tomorrow's better.

Went and played some poker last night with my buddy Tim at his girlfriends house. We usually play for five bucks a game. I know, not real high stakes poker but we usually play three or four games. If you go out early you still have another game to look forward to. The first game I did exacly that. The second one I ended up winning. Woo-who twenty bucks! The third one I made some mistakes and was down to my last twenty-six dollars in chips(you start with 100.) So I went all in before the flop with K6 offsuit. I had two callers. It just so happened that I was dealing then. What crueler fate than to deal the cards that knock you out. Well on the flop I landed two sixes. I had a set. When the river came it was a King. I tripled up and went on to take second. I came out ten bucks ahead for the evening. Not too shabby. Look forward to my next game.

Well she's finally left the house for long enough for me to free myself from the hand cuffs. Boy thats really embarassing when you get cuffed to the bed with your own handcuffs. My jaw was starting to hurt from the ball gag being in my mouth for so long. I mean you think you know somebody and then one day she asks you to put on a monkey suit and whip her with a wet noodle. I refused of course and the next thing I knew I was waking up cuffed to the bed with a ball gag in my mouth. But... I digress. Since I've basically been immobile for some time now I find that I have lost touch with the world. For instance I just found out that some lady named Katrina pissed all over New Orleans...what a bitch!

I've also heard some wierd rumors about some gay black men, elves and a milk man. Where do people come up with this stuff? Speaking of wierd stuff:

Erotic is using a feather.
Kinky is using a whole chicken.

Oh well I guess I'd better wrap this up before the Mistress catches me and punishes me again. Maybe I can talk her into some tasty beverages instead of punishment. One can only hope.

Hellllooooooo Kidddddiiieeeeeeees! Sorry, just had a Cryptkeeper flashback. Well I had one HELLUVA weekend. After working an overtime shift for my first day off I figured that I needed to make up for lost time and party my ass off. So on Friday I went with Suicidal Tendencies up to Infinite October's house for a poker game. Didn't come out in the money but I think I had a respectable showing. It is sometimes difficult playing against someone for the first time. One thing that really threw me off was that I couldn't always get a good read on what the table was doing. Sometimes a single low face card with a low kicker was all that was needed to win a hand. Other times premium cards were all that had a hope of being played. It seemed like the table was very fluid; going from loose to tight and back again without any kind of warning. All in all it was a great learning experience.After we left Infinite October's house we went to a little bar named Growlers pub. They have 131 kinds of beer and a very cool and quiet atmosphere. We really need a place like that around here. So on saturday we went to the Budweiser (A-B) Brewery. It was pretty cool seeing how the beer is made. And talk about a P.R. campaign! Oh well. Had a great time in STL, have to do it again soon.
So later saturday nite the fiance and I went up to the Casino pub and had a couple beers. I've kind of became hooked on Bud Select; I'm normally a Miller Light drinker but I like this Bud Product. There was a great band at the bar-The Cherry Street Band. They play mainly blues, southern rock, and various older rock songs. Pretty cool, good music. At about 10:30 we went to T Street; a friend of ours was having a toga party in honor of his 21st birthday. We didn't find out that he had a bought a keg for the party until we had already paid for a few Bud Selects, so we just kept drinking them all night instead of the keg beer. Threw some darts with Melody (Tims' Girlfriend) and pissed her off by beating her, like usual. The night ended with Tim running out of the bar in his toga to a fire call. Like I said, HELLUVA weekend!

Went and played poker tonight with my buddy Tim. We went to one of his friends cabin out by DuQuoin. The plan was to get there at 7 and play one game with a $25 buy in. We got there about 6:30 and got in on a $10 game to pass the time till everyone showed up. There were seven of us playing at that point. I took second and won $20 bucks. Not a bad start, if I do say so myself.

Next came the First(unbeknownst to me) $25 game; went out early. Next they're like "Lets play another one."
OK...so I took second again & won $50 bucks; half of which went back towards the next game. Lost, go figure. Well guess what, another $25 dollar game; again another loss. By this point I'm pretty much broke and ready to quit but no, someone else buys me into a $20 game with their winnings. Busted out again. A $10 game? Same outcome for me.

Finally the night's winding down: people are either too drunk(not me of course) or just ready to leave. Now the owner of the place, who is also the drunkest, calls a $5 game. I end up taking second again, for the third time of the evening. Well all in all I played at least six different games of poker over the course of the night(close to 10 hours of play) and only spent $25, could've done better but could have done alot worse. I can really tell I'm getting better and look forward to the next time I play.

Went and saw The Island tonight. Overall it was a pretty good movie; great plot (seems familiar for some reason...Logan's Run) great characters, great action. But I will say that there were parts of the movie that either were kind of annoying or didn't really add up. For instance: for several portions of the movie the two main characters are literally running, trying to get away from "the bad guys". Through most of these sequences the camera angles are from the side with a bunch of stuff going by or the actors are coming right at the camera. The whole time they are running away it keeps switching back and forth from them to their pursuers and doing the whole N.Y.P.D Blue shaking camera thing. This got on my nerves after a while; its sometimes hard to tell what's going on.

A couple other things in the movie stood out for me. At one point the two main characters are seventy stories up on the outside of a building holding on to a huge letter R(if you've seen the previews you'll know what I mean.) Well the letter falls with them on it but they are miraculously saved by a big net that was conveniently under them, thereby saving them from splattering all over the concrete...ya, right. At another point they have jumped onto the back of a flatbed semi carrying(what else) railroad car wheels. The only problem with this is that earlier in the movie it shows them getting on a train that appears to levitate over its rails and has no wheels. Make up my mind, is this the future or what?

Well... I think I'll get off my soapbox now. It might not seem like it but I really did like this movie. It has some great action sequences; especially the car chases. Haven't seen any this good since The Matrix Reloaded. This movie is really worth seeing if you get the chance.

Oh well, its back to work for me today, I'll try to post again soon.

Well I decided to brave the heat and play some golf. I went and played at Rend Lake with my future father-in-law and brother-in-law. While I was in the clubhouse I ran into Kathy Shannon. Apparently she works there at the golf course. So back to the golf; for not playing very much this year I didn't do too bad. My highlight of the day was a birdie on a 540yd par 5. I shot a 107 for 18 holes (55 on the front, 52 on the back.) I actually had the lowest score by 5 strokes. Go figure. I really had a blast today and hope to start playing more golf.

Anyways, this next week I start my new schedule at work. My new days off will be Thurs,Fri,Sat. Hopefully I will be able to see alot more of my friends. I'm really looking forward to playing more poker games, wherever I can find one. I've even talked to Jason about going up to St.Louis for a weekend or two. So if anyone gets a chance, get a-hold of me and we'll try to get together and do something.

Hello everybody! Well I've finally gotten off my lazy ass (figuratively speaking of course) and started a blog. In case you were wondering who this is, it is I, the Amazing Rando. Just kidding; this is Howard. I am currently living in W.Frankfort with my fiance and I work at the county jail as a Correctional Officer (Dumb Jailer for the lay person.) So with my current choice of occupation I get to see the "cream of the crop" if you will, of society. That being said, every once in a while I should have a pretty interesting story or two just from work alone. Hopefully these stories will be able to make it past all the late night/early morning incoherent ramblings that will probably end up on here. Oh well, such is life. Here's a good example of what I mean.


Diamonds, she'll pretty much have to.



Look forward to hearing from you guys.