Meson23 - Archived Blog Posts

[meson23]

Well this weekend rocked.
I didn't do a damn thing. Well not really.

I went shopping Saturday, then goofed off online most of the rest of the day.

Sunday was a breeze too, I slept till like 11am, then surfed the net, went to the store, and then played xbox live with some people from JUB. That was totally awesome

Then I went out with some friends, which was kinda boring.. but it was good to see them again, its been a few weeks.

The point is, this was a no rush, no drive, relaxing weekend. I haven't had one of those since the 19th of June... Every weekend since then I have been not at home, visiting people, going places, etc etc.
Not that I didn't like the things I did on those weekends, they were all awesome... but that coupled with the long work weeks now, really drains you fast.

I am looking forward to another mostly stress-free weekend. My parents are coming over for dinner, since they didn't do it this weekend. So I have to make sure the place is clean, as I think I mentioned in a previous blog entry... but that isn't a big deal.

With all this extra money I am making doing my research, I am planning some cool trips. I want to go somewhere, maybe Spain over winter break... then either London or Sweden for spring break.
I think I have decided that I am going to try to do Czech republic and Ukraine during my Russia trip also... not sure if it will be possible.

Of course, if I were responsible I would save that extra money to start paying off my student loans.. but hell, you are only young once... I want to get as much as I can in before I get older, mature, and settled in a job where I can leave for 10 days just cause I want to!

Well, all that being said I am off to bed. Gotta get up in 7 hours for work, boo.

 

[meson23]

Well my sister talked to my dad today, trying to find out something more about my grandpa... if you read the previous posts, you know he was having some tests on Friday.

Well, apparently the doctor called today to tell him that they found something, but they wont tell him about it on the phone. Ok - that usually means its something real bad. I know that much. What totally pisses me off is they wont meet with him until Thursday. Thats FOUR fucking days, four days he has to sit around and wonder what is it, 3 nights he probably wont get any sleep, 4 days everyone in the family has to sit around and wonder what is it.

Why in the world would they do something like that? I mean either tell him over the phone, or MAKE SOME FUCKING TIME for him before Thursday.

Sometimes I wonder if doctors really remember they are dealing with humans. That this kind of shit is so not cool. I mean shit, come in 30 minutes early, stay over 30 minutes late, don't take a long lunch break, I am sure they can fit 15 minutes in before Thursday. I just don't get it.

I mean, I wish I at least knew what the test was they did, what they were looking for, or more of the details on the symptoms so I could at least start to do some research and prepare myself.

Oh well, guess I can just sit here and twiddle my thumbs a little more.

 

[meson23]

Well I finally know, the news is out. Its cancer.
If you've been reading my previous blogs then you know what I am talking about.

I dont know too much about it of course, because my dad really isnt talking much... my mom is the one that called me and told me.

All I do know is that its in a bad location, his previous lung problems make it much worse, and its such that they cannot operate to remove it. He goes to another doctor a week from Monday.... maybe that will tell more about what treatments, if any - at least get a plan of attack.

I've wanted to know all week just to get it over with, now I do... I cant say that it helped anything. Honestly, I dont think it has set in yet. This sucks.

I dont want to make it sound like I have given up all hope, but its not good. Plus, I know for a fact that he doesnt have much hope.

These are the times I wish for being young again, when the world was sheltered from me. I could go play GI Joes, or Legos with my friends, totally oblivious to the world around me.

 

[meson23]

Well its Saturday afternoon. I cleaned my apt for like 2 hours last night and 1 more this morning because my parents were coming over for a visit. I am not sure why I wasted my time going as crazy as I did, I mean the place was fine before... oh well.

We had a nice, lunch prepared by me

Of course in the process of preparing the food, and eating it my kitchen and dining room became dirty again... gah! I somehow managed the ambition to wash dishes and clean up, so things are back to being sparkling clean.

Now that they are gone, I think I am going to just relax all the rest of today. Maybe play some xbox, watch a movie, or sleep. Not sure which yet.

Not really a point to this blog, my last ones just seemed too sad and depressing so I decided to put a new one up, a little more upbeat.

 

[meson23]

This past week marked another tragic week for families soldiers in Iraq. In just a few days, 21 Marines were killed... many from Ohio, one was a student at my school.
Miami news is a link to the website with news for our school, you can read about the guy who was a student here. I never had the pleasure of knowing him, but he was a graduate student, like me.

Iraq casualties is a website you should check out, just look at the number of people there who have lost their lives, or gotten wounded. It doesn't just list US forces, it lists all coalition casualties as well. You can even get a break down of all the soldiers names, hometowns, and date they were KIA.

I don't claim to have the answers of how to stop this. I do know that everyone needs to move past the argument that we shouldn't be there, and worry about what we can do to stop the number of people getting killed. As for US troops, our president never seems to amaze me... every time we have a large number of deaths like this last week he seems to just brush it off, with some small comments... like that makes it all right.

How many of those who are dead didn't have to die? What if we had a plan, what if we had the troops properly equipped? Why doesn't someone hold our administration accountable for this?

Check out the website, look at the names, think about it a little... this has got to stop.

 

[meson23]

Well today was the first official day of classes. My only class that I am taking this semester was supposed to meet today, but it was canceled... so I dont have class till Thursday.

I finally found out what classes I am teaching today also, did I mention this is the first day of classes? Amazing how that works, they wait until the last minute to tell us what we are teaching.

Luckily I am teaching a class I have taught before, so its not going to be too much preparing for me. And I dont have that class till next week, so that is good.

I do have a new class to teach at another campus on thursday nights... kinda nervous about that one.

 

[meson23]

This is bound to be confusing, full of broken thoughts and statements. I am so fucking pissed right now I dont know if I want to cry or just puke...

I am sure you have all heard of that stupid fucking moron fred phelps... the fucking bastard that goes to military funerals and preaches his anti-gay, god killed the soldiers bullshit.

today we were having a discussion at school with my friends about the situation with pat robinson, and I mentioned this guy when we talked about religious extremeists... most hadnt heard of him, so I though I would google him and find some quote to show them what a fucking moron he is.

in the course of doing this I came upon his website, in addition to his fucking bullshit crap that I saw, I found his scheduel of events...
The fucking bastard is going to be in my hometown sunday... picketing at the funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq..
I CANT FUCKING BELIEVE THIS FUCKHEAD.

I dont know what to do, I am calling everyone back there.. no one knew he was coming... I am just so pissed, I am speachless... I dont know what to say at this moment.

I want to go there so bad, stand in his face, tell him what a fucking idiot he is, that HE IS BURNING IN HELL... then I think its a bad idea... I will not be able to control myself, etc... I dont know what the fuck to do... I am so fucking torn right now...

I am going to email, call everyone... I am calling the paper tomorrow, to see if they know he is planning on coming... I need some suggestions? What else can I do...
I cant just sit here, I cant do that... This is way beyond gay rights... its just fucking wrong, this is a soldiers funeral, this fucker has no respect...

 

[meson23]

Well things are getting back to the grind now in my life. Here are some updates for anyone who cares...

Finally, after all this time, we got some news of my grandpa... it is lung cancer, but the doctors seem to think its very treatable, and very slow growing. I dont know anything about cancer, but I do know that my mom said my grandpa seemed to think it was going to be ok, which is the first time since this whole ordeal started he has felt positive, so that makes me feel much better. I need to get over to see him again, going to do that soon!

I've been working on trying to convince my mother to go to Ireland with me in March. Its a long, drawn out process... she's never left the country, and doesn't understand why I want her to go so bad. At least my dad is helping me by telling her to go... I sent some more stuff to her in the mail, just as a reminder. I am planning on going to Dublin, Cork, Killarney, Limmerick, and maybe Galway.... depends on the time.

I was planning a trip to Greece for December, but my friend decided she didn't want to go I guess I will take that money and pay some bills, so I have more money for travel in the summer!!! I might make a short excursion out to California during that time, we'll see.

My trip to Germany is well on its way to being completely planned. I am going there in May, for 2 weeks. I am planning on going all over Germany, and down in to Switzerland again. I want to check out Interlaken, and maybe another day in Bern. If we have time/money I want to make a quick slide over to Prague too, but that may not be likely Oh well there is always next time.
I decided to go to Germany instead of Russia for several reasons. First of all, its going to be cheaper... I dont have to spend all that money for a visa, etc. Also I have a fairly busy year at school, so I decided to drop the Russian class I was gonna take for fun. I know I wont have time to teach myself Russian, and I dont want to go to Russia without knowing Russian well. German is much easier, and I am making decent progress with the little effort I have put into it so far.

Research is going well, we are starting to get the draft done for our first publication, we should get at least 3 pubs out of the work for the summer, so that is really cool. I am going back to the base next Monday to fill some holes in our data, see some people, and check out the hot guys in uniform again

I have only one class I am taking this semester, and its gonna be tough, second semester Quantum Mechanics. We just got our first homework assignment, so I get to grind on that for a while.

Teaching isn't very hard this year, I have 2 low level labs I teach at our main campus, then I teach an slightly higher level one at a regional campus, extra money which is what is funding my trips!

I am still trying to decide (and I need to do it quickly) if I am going to go on to get my PhD, or just get a job. If I do go on for a PhD, I want to go to Ireland or the UK to get it... just so I can travel Europe a lot more. We'll see what happens there.

In other news, not school related I am planning a few camping trips this month, so that should be cool. Its 3 different trips, with 3 different sets of friends. I just love camping in the fall!

This last weekend was fun, one of my friends came over and stayed the weekend... we got to watch some movies, play some xbox, and do some other stuff

This coming weekend I am going to catch up on grading, go to a football game, and sleep a lot. Thursday is going to be awesome, because the Pats are playing the Raiders in the opening game of NFL season... I have to teach that night till 9:05, then drive 30 minutes back to town to a friends house to watch the game... I think I am gonna get the kids done early so I make the kickoff.

Ok, thats it for now.

 

[meson23]

well, I talked to my dad tonight, and it looks like I am going to go to my grandpa's this weekend. I was going to go to a football game, then watch games all day... but this is more important I guess

I am leaving in the morning sometime, and should be back early afternoon on SUN.

On another note, my team won last night in football.. thats great, best way to start the season!

Ok, so this is a short update... oh well

 

[meson23]

Well somehow I managed to get myself sick. Runny nose, slight fever, and I just overall feel like poo.
I really hate being sick, its just so damn annoying. I dont have time to be sick

So I am gonna go order a shot of Nyquil at the bar and go back to bed. Maybe tomorrow will be better

 

[meson23]

Well its only 2 days till I go on my next camping trip! I really cant wait, I think this one is going to be the best. Its going to be great weather (high 60's to low 70's) during the day, a little cool at night but it will make it actually worthwhile to have a fire!

We are going to Brown County State Park, in Indiana.... its gonna be a long drive for me, but oh well. They have some neat trails there, and the town that is near it has tons of little shops and stuff, so that will be cool too.

Well I will update more after the trip, now I need to go to the store.

 

[meson23]

I'm done, thats it, I'm outta here... for the weekend that is.
Off for my camping trip, be back sometime late sunday...

 

[meson23]

Ok, so I was supposed to do this Sunday night... well I got busy then tired. Been busy every since

My last camping trip was a blast. To be honest, I actually got to see what it would be like to camp alone, something I thought I would never like. I got there around 3pm, my friend didnt arrive until almost 8pm. The only thing that was bad about it was I was waiting for her. If I had known I wasnt waiting for someone, then I think I would have been more relaxed, built a fire sooner, etc.

The first night, I drank quite a bit of beer, taught my friend about the stars, and then we went to bed early. She left early the next morning to go get work done on her car, didnt return until almost noon.
I had a nice fire going in the morning, cooked breakfast, watched the fire burn out, around lunchtime started a new one and cooked lunch. Then she arrived.

Sat was a little more relaxed, I didnt drink much beer, but she did (way too much). We played some monopoly and I kicked ass both games!
I spent most of the night playing with the fire, keeping it going without the use of lighter fluid. I swear I will never buy firewood from a camp store again, it was about as green as you can get. While I played with the fire, my friend proceeded to drink enough to make herself sick...which the next morning I thought was very amusing. (been there, done that)

So this week has been hell, I had a lot of grading to do which I managed to get all done in 1 long day in my office. Then I had/have some very hard quantum mechanics problems to do for homework... still working on that one

I think I am staying close to home this weekend, probably making the short trip up to Dayton for an Away Ice Hockey game. I really enjoy Hockey!

 

[meson23]

Wow, I loved today. Its been a while since I just did absolutely nothing on a weekend.

I think I woke up around 11AM today, watched some TV, surfed the web, etc. Then I went to the college bookstore to purchase a hockey t-shirt for the game I am going to tonight.

Came home, ate lunch. Watched some more tv (Romancing the Stone was on, I love that movie) then I took a nap. HAHAHA.
Now I am about to hit the shower, get dressed and make the 1.5 hr trip to the away game tonight, should be a blast!

Plans for tomorrow.... I seriously need to go shopping. I haven't bought new clothes in well over a year, and I don't think I am going to make it this winter on just 1 pair of jeans. The shirt selection is getting rather limited too.

Don't you just love weekends where there isn't anything going on? Don't get me wrong, I loved the last 2 trips I went on... but they seriously put me behind in my school work, I had to work overtime this week just to get almost caught up

Oh well, time to hit the shower. GO REDHAWKS!

 

[meson23]

The game was awesome tonight. We lost tho, 3-0.
We were just not into it tonight, they couldn't commit it to the goal. Of course having the ref making bad calls didn't help. I swear one minute the other team would do something, no call. We do it 30 seconds later, penalty.

I am not blaming the lost game on the ref, we blew that on our own... just irritates me when refs are so obviously biased. (or incompetent)

 

[meson23]

So far the weekend has been really nice and fairly relaxing. I slept in till 11AM on Friday, and Noon on Saturday. That was a welcome change from the little to no sleep I had gotten most of the weekend since I was doing homework.

Friday saw little action until around 10pm, when i went out with some friends to the clubs uptown. That was a lot of fun, and lasted until 230AM.

Then I woke up at noon on Saturday. Cooked a wonderful breakfast (I'd been craving pancakes for a while now). Then I went to the home football game.
The game started off badly for us, I was sure we were gonna get killed. Somehow we pulled it together, and actually end up killing them, like 51-23 or something.

Once I got back home that evening, I watched the end of the PSU and Michigan game, it was great , last second finish to win for Michigan. Then I watched the end of the USC vs Notre Dame game, Notre Dame almost pulled off a major win there, but also lost with 1 second left in the game. Charlie Weiss really got that ND team going again, but he is very missed on the Patriots Offensive coaching team
I'm about to go back to bed, having investigated a loud noise that woke me from my sleep.
Turns out it was just my printer coming on after the power went out. Not quite sure why the power was out, but oh well.
Plans for today are simple, I really really need to go shopping for clothes, I didn't do it last weekend like I planned. Then I am sure I will watch the Patriots game if it is on TV. Might start some homework today also. Then of course we have the Sunday night line up on FOX, simpsons, family guy, american dad... wooo, I love Sunday nights.

 

[meson23]

Well I am not going to be a pirate anymore
We went to the costume store, and found something eve better!!

My friend is going as a Rabbi, and I am going as a Priest.... so we are going to basically be a walking joke, haha.
Its going to be fun walking into bars together, etc. Its only gonna work if we are together most of the time, but I think it has a lot more comic value than what we were going to do with the pirate costumes!

 

[meson23]

Tonight was an awesome night for me, which if you read my post you already know I had the chance of hearing Mikhail Gorbachev speak at my university tonight.

He was brought here by the donation of a former student. This guy created a fund for a lecture series who's goal is to bring an influential speaker who has made an important contribution to the world.

Some interesting history about Gorbachev...

He was born into a peasant family and worked his way up into he leadership of the country. His father was Russian and his mother was Ukrainian (which is actually interesting if you know much about the history of the two countries). He was named Man of the decade by Time magazine in 1990, the same year he won the Nobel Peace prize. He is probably most often associated with the terms perestroika and glasnost , literally meaning restructuring and openness respectively.

His talk tonight focused at first on his experiences while moving up through the political structure of the USSR. He talked a lot about his desire to end the cold war, work with the west to form a more stable world, and to start the destruction of nuclear weapons. He talked about the meetings he had with Reagan in Reykjavik and Geneva, and their goals to end the cold war. He mentioned some of the problems that his country went through as a result of Yeltsin taking over and wanting change overnight. I found that part to be very interesting. He said on many occasions that Putin inherited a mess.

He didn't focus too much on US politics, but did mention that the attitude of the US at the end of the cold war was wrong. He said most people viewed it as we had beaten the Russians, made them see our way of thinking was correct and that we didn't need to change anything in our policy. He believes this is what has lead to the current situations in the world, the anti-American feelings, etc.

I think he emphasized the importance of the United Nations over and over. He faulted the US for trying to rule the world instead of leading the world as a member of the global community.

I am very glad that he talked in Russian, I think it helped to convey his feelings much better. There was an interpretor there, and I admit at first it was hard to pay attention. I was trying to listen to Gorbachev, and would miss the translation. After awhile I was able to focus totally on Gorbachev and the translation just flowed in with him. I feel it was better this way because you could see when he was speaking with emotion, you could tell almost when he was speaking of things that pissed him off, heh.

Overall it was an awesome experience. Its not everyday that you get the opportunity to hear someone so famous, and influential like that speak. It definitely rates up there with hearing Desmond Tutu speak during my college graduation.

"Sometimes when you stand face to face with someone, you cannot see his face." -- Mikhail Gorbachev

 

[meson23]

Well last night was a total disappointment. Kids these days do not know how to party. My friends and I went out, dressed in our costumes again for Halloween last night. We saw 1 other person dressed up, how pathetic. I realize it is a Monday night, but so what! Its Halloween. You cant tell me that all those people were really busy studying and doing homework.

I was very disappointed by the students here, and I thought they knew how to party. My friends and I only went to 1 bar, and only had 1 drink. It was weird being the only people in costumes, but we didn't really care much.

On the walk home, I guess I forgot how to walk cause I took a nice fall to the ground. Actually I made the decision to go down, cause I tripped on something and my foot bent at a near 90 degree angle on its side, so if I had tried to recover I woulda probably broke my foot. As it is I have done something to my foot. It hurt a lot at the time, then not so much the rest of the walk home. I go to bed around 12am after the football game and wake up at 2am in horrible pain.
I had to practically crawl to the medicine cabinet for some advil, then get an ice pack. Sometime around 3 I went back to sleep. Its been hurting off and on all day today. I can walk, but if I stand on it for a while it starts to hurt. Not good when I need to walk 20 minutes to my office every day.
Hopefully it gets better by tomorrow. One thing is for sure, it will have to heal on its own - I don't have the money to waste on a doctor.

(And before the lecturing starts, no I was not drunk when I tripped!)

 

[meson23]

My college hockey team is on fire this year. Their record is (as of the W tonight) 10-2-1. We are currently ranked 10 in the nation, but I think that will move up after the 2 W this weekend. Next weekend we take on Michigan, who is currently ranked #1. I have a feeling Michigan will drop as they lost last night, and are behind in their game tonight.

Just wanted to say that, these guys are awesome!

Go Redhawks!