Archive for August, 2009
One week down, when is Christmas vacation?
August 28th, 2009 • chatter, education
So the first week of classes is over and it’s been a tough week without even worrying about school. Both motorcycles decided to not work properly this week. My new Shadow 750 figured that the battery should die between last Friday and Tuesday, while my old VLX is limping along like it’s on its last leg. I have no idea what’s wrong with it, it worked fine last month when I rode it and I really do not want to take it to a shop.
Aside from that, classes may be interesting. Both are special topics courses at FAU: LIT4930-003 Reading the Old Testament and AMH4930-001 Women and Religion in America’s History. The former won’t prove to be very interesting but it’ll more than likely be an easy grade and a refresher on parts of the Bible I’ve long forgotten. The latter could prove to be very insightful if the other people in the class do the reading and actively participate. If the introduction to our book was any indication, I’m going to end up pulling my hair out since the author has made it very clear she thinks that history is “not self-interested” and based on singular points of view. Catherine Brekus better prove me wrong!
We want to go fishing again this weekend but that may not happen due to some event changes and some schedule shuffling. But then there’s always next weekend, especially if the hurricanes keep pushing the fish here! I should be cooking the blue runners we caught last week but we’ll see if time permits. If not, they’re still nice and frozen, ready to be used.
Ah crap, I got distracted by something and forgot what I was writing. Now I need to go to bed.
Those Blue Runnin’ Basterds
August 24th, 2009 • chatter
This weekend was quite a bit of fun. It was our yearly anti-Valentine’s Day, just 6 months later than normal. But this wasn’t a normal day, since we usually do kind of tourist-y stuff. Instead, we woke up and went fishing at the Deerfield Beach Pier and it turned out to be better than all the other days combined! We were told that cobia, kingfish/king mackerel, and blue runners were running and we had just come in after high tide rolled through. While I didn’t see any cobia and I saw only two kingfish, the blue runners were out in force. I managed to catch four blue runners while Jess caught two. That improved my previous average by 400% since I never catch anything at all when we’re pier fishing — lake/river fishing is a different story.
Next up was the firing range, although thanks to traffic, we nearly missed our chance. It was her first time really firing any gun and my second time with the Springfield XD9 tactical that we rented. Awesome gun, feels great in the hands. Having only fired one bullet in her entire life, Jess had pretty good grouping at 15 yards, mine was better at 15 yards than it was at 25, my grouping was atrocious on the latter. I might as well have been shooting at the floor. All in all, that was a blast, no pun intended. She had an awesome time and was exuberant about going back again.
We’d intended to go see Inglourious Basterds after the firing range but just ran out of time so we had a nice dinner at Crabby’s instead. Fun as always, a bit noisier than normal, but a good Sunday night at Crabby’s. We did manage to see Inglourious Basterds after work today and I can only confirm what most people are saying: it’s awesome. Some scenes are overly long, there’s important backstory missing from the cinematic cut but overall, it’s awesome. I’m sure that any story-related issues critics have squabbles over will be rectified in the inevitable director’s cut, which I can only imagine is going to be 4 hours long. I’m not going to ruin the movie with spoilers, you can read other sites where people want to ramble on are paid to do so. I liked the movie and if you like other Tarantino movies, you will more than likely enjoy this one.
My first day of fall classes starts in a short 9 hours, so I’m signing off for tonight
Hiatus over? Let’s hope so
August 18th, 2009 • chatter
So it’s been two months and 13 days since the last update and really, nothing has gone on since then. We unfortunately never made it back to Big Pine Key to see if the turtle eggs we saw birthed, had ever hatched. We really wanted to go but things just did not permit us to do so. July was a good month. A few good parties here and there, nice weather, a few more motorcycle rides. This month my mother came down to visit and dragged us to Sanibel Island on the west coast of Florida. Unless I get to see the Ding Darling Nature Preserve or go on some kayak tours, I’m not planning on ever going back there. It was pretty but boring, a great place to take your kids because the beaches are beautiful.
Late last week was my 3 year mark at my current workplace. I’m so terribly ambivalent about what I do now, it’s so meaningless and everyone is getting on my nerves. I got offered a job in North Miami a few months ago making what I make now and I regret taking it at this point. Especially after I heard about all the awesome benefits employees get. Ah well, another opportunity will come.
School starts next Tuesday and I’m taking some interesting but potentially sleep-inducing classes. This semester is going to consist of “Women & Religion in America” and “Reading the Bible: Old Testament”. The latter seems like a regular literature class but since it’s a special topic, there’s no finite description for it but I’ll know what it’s all about this time next week. Although, I do find it interesting that we’re using a version of the St. Joseph bible from 1987. I have no idea why but I’ll be asking next week.
I’m going to try and catch up on RSS feeds now. I’ve slacked off all summer so I’ve got no idea what guys like vjack (quite possibly my favorite atheist blogger, he’s not a giant ass) , Brian Switek, or ol’ Marty Rundkvist are up to. OK that’s a lie, I know what Martin’s up to, I just read his feed a few minutes ago.
