The Track Was Right, The Time Was Wrong

That was my first thought this morning as I woke up with 3 minutes until I was supposed to be at work. Ally gave me a new alarm clock for Christmas that will wake you up to the track of your choice from a CD. So I decided to change out the CD and put it on an Avalanches track last night before I went to bed completely ignoring that the time wasn't correct. So I was late to work today. That has got to be one of my least favorite feelings. When your first emotion after waking up is the split second of panic as you realize there is NO WAY you will make it to work/school/Best Buy on time. But enough about me, lets talk about me! This week has been pretty blah coming off Christmas and waiting for New Year's. I am pretty sure that this is one of the most unproductive weeks in the American (if not world) working year. With a large part of the workforce on vacation and the portion really annoyed to be at work I see productivity dropping like a rock. Unfortunately for me, we are actually pretty busy this week at work which leaves little time for slacking. I choose to blog during my few minutes of downtime...don't you feel special.

I realized I never posted my Christmas gifts list, but I am lazy so it's not going to happen...deal with it. I will say that I got socks, I am wearing a pair today, and they are making my feet sweat like nobody's business! For a little entertainment, surf over to Mike Toole's blog where he features my 3 random questions today. And for the record my Christmas Tree fate was very un-fateful.

Merry Christmas Philly! Paybacks are a...

The Crime	The Punishment
Our Gift to Philly
Keep your showboat off our star!

My Christmas Eve

I thought I would blog a bit while I wait for one of my DVDs to burn. That's right boys and girls, I got a DVD burner for Christmas. Now I know what you're thinking...its only Christmas Eve and we are still waiting for our presents! Well Santa stopped by my house early this year and I got all my presents on Wednesday. Ally and I braved the ice and snow and made our way over to my parent's house for some early Christmas goodness. The whole celebration started out with only Ally and Andrea (my brother's fiancé) getting to open presents since they were both going out of town the next day, but quickly evolved into "let's just open everything!" I won't give away all the great presents I got because I don't want to make you anymore jealous than you already are. Surf on over Christmas Day to see the list.

The Eve of Christmas Eve

So today I got up at around 12:30 and it took me another 30 minutes to shake off the groggy funk. I was out until after 1am last night with my favorite cousin barking at the moon (note: some of the details have been left out to protect the innocent). I will say that we had an interesting experience at a bar with some random guy that was drinking alone. After we had both ordered a beer a guy sitting a chair over on the other side of Chuck started trying to get our attention. Seeing him out of the corner of my eye allowed me the benefit of never making eye contact, but Chuck was hooked like a trout. The lousy cover band obscured their short exchange and I noticed that they toasted at the end. I turned to Chuck and was like "whaa?" He told about some random toast this guy wanted to make, but ended up getting it all wrong. So I raised my glass to Chuck and this random guy and said, "She offered her honor, so I honored her offer, and all night long I was on her and off her!" The guy thought it was hilarious, but being that he was in a drunken stupor forgot it in two seconds flat. So I spent the next 3 minutes teaching numbnuts my witty little play on words. This marked the clear signal for us to depart the bar and head for the Golden Tee machine. I swear I saw this guy mouthing it as we got up from the bar.

And Chuck may or may not be getting a call from the bartendertress we had at Texas Land and Cattle. While Chuck was in the bathroom I wrote "Call Me When You Get Off" along with Chuck's cell phone number on his credit card receipt. I'm such a sly dawg! I couldn't help but tell him after we had reached a safe distance from the restaurant and we joked that she would call him and they would fall in love forever and have 10 kids. She was a little brunette hoddy with a body so this could turn out pretty good for the ole cuz! I'll definitely post something on here if that actually happens so keep your eyes peeled for that! All this hookup trickery reminds me to urge you to go see Closer. You'll understand why it reminded me when you see it and I'm not giving anything else away. The night ended with us driving home while Chuck argued with his on again, off again chick and she may never know that half the time I was actually holding the phone while she screamed and yelled at him. HA! Good times!

I ARE A GRADUATE!

Man, I feel like a deadbeat blogger! First I let my TAR blog die and then I don't update for 2+ weeks. I should be flogged with a broken mouse! Contrary to popular belief, I am alive and I survived finals.

I can honestly say that my Accounting final was easily one of the hardest finals in my entire college career, but I got through it and passed the class! PROPS TO ME! My other two finals were easier though so I guess things balanced out. As I mentioned before, I took a course at another school in addition to UTA so I actually had a final Monday night for that class after I had graduated from UTA on Sunday. Believe me when I tell you it was VERY HARD to make myself study for another final after I had already "graduated", but I knew if I bombed the final I wouldn't pull the required "C" needed for a transfer credit so I persevered and knocked it out like a champ. I was FINALLY able to check my grades today for that class and it's a go!

I are a graduate now! I can't even explain the feeling I felt walking across that stage. Well, I take that back...I can explain the feeling of the vain in my forehead swelling to capacity as the moron administrator pronounced my name wrong. I guess a phonetic spelling on my card and a practice session beforehand just wasn't enough! It could have been worse though...a couple of people in the row behind me were hacked because he didn't annouce that they were summa cum laude/cum laude. All that hard work/studying/not having a girlfriend/etc for 4+ plus years so on your big day you can be lumped in with the rest of us morons. HA! But there was no way I was letting that guys steal my thunder! I could barely here my family cheering for me and believe me it was not because they weren't cheering loud. I was definitely having one of those surreal, heartbeat-is-pretty-much-the-only-thing-you-can-hear, holy shittake mushrooms this is really happening moments! After it was all over, all the graduates filed out and waited for their people to come out in the front of the building. My mom was the first one out and I could see her beaming with pride for her gradute son! The rest of my family and Alison were close behind and they showed the same expressions. Thanks for all your support guys! I don't want a picture of me in that stupid gown and hat, I want one of everyone looking at me. That's what I want to remember! It was truly a great moment for Mike!

So I spent the last week vegging out in front of the TV playing Halo 2 and just doing NOTHING! It was a great feeling to not have to rush home from work so I could relax for a few minutes before having to bomb out for school again. My next big hurdle is getting my resume updated. I have been working on it a little, but for the most part I have put it off. A small part of me is delaying the progress in hopes of savoring this break from the madness just a little while longer, but another part of me really wants to get out of my current job for the bigger and the better. Mostly the bigger and the better money, apartment and life in general. I am stoked about what this new year will hold for me. I think it will be one of the most influencial years of my life. Stay tuned for that! 2005 HERE I COME!

The Calm Before The Norm

It's very strange, but I feel pretty calm about the whole situation. Normally this time of the year I am freaking out about finals, but this being the last semester of my undergrad career I am feeling a lot more relaxed. Now don't get me wrong...I am still maintaining a healthy level of anxiety and studying my balls off, but I don't feel the madness that once was finals week. I wish I can say that all this calmness is due to the cushy schedule I swung for myself for the final semester, but that just isn't the case. Like a moron I didn't plan out my schedules the way I should have across the semesters so of course I get screwed at the end.

Most of the reason this semester has been such a biddy is due to the degree requirements at UTA. Because they require 8 hours of the same science and all of their sciences are only offered during the day I got screwed into taking the 2nd half of Chemistry (took the first half at SFASU, Axe 'Em Jacks!) at a Community College. The beauty of this was it forced me to goto school 4 nights a week since I couldn't commute between the two schools on the same night. This further compounded the biddyness of the semester by putting tight limitations on what nights and times I could take classes. Because this 2nd part of Chemistry was only being offered on Monday/Wednesday nights at one school in the whole Metroplex I was forced to make all my classes at UTA fit on Tuesday/Thursday night. Since I work 40 hours a week, all my classes had to be at night. This left me with some tough decisions on what to take since I only had Advanced Business electives left in my degree along with the Chemistry requirement. After visiting with a advisor in the summer I had a list of classes that would fulfill my advanced business electives and I set off to register for my final run at the degree! I soon realized this was going to be messy. All the electives I could take WERE ONLY OFFERED ON MONDAY/WEDNESDAY NIGHTS!! Oh crap, what do I do? Am I going to have to shoot this semester to the wind and graduate in May '05? Then I spotted it...my ugly, ray of hope. I call it ugly because it came by way of a managerial accounting class and I suck at accounting. I am way too interesting a person to be a bean counting, pencil pusher and that shat just don't jive in my head. I mean, I get the whole inflow/outflow, but then you throw in time value of money and depreciation tax savings and it all gets a bit hazy. After all, it is math and I suck at math so it goes hand in hand. I know what you're thinking right now..."but Mike, you are a technical guy...a nerd even. How are you not good at math?" Well that's just the way I'm built ok? When they were putting me together the math software was on back-order so it didn't get loaded in my brain. So deal with it and stop judging me! Besides, being a computer nerd has allowed me to find tons of software and tools that can complete any of the tasks thrown at me by accounting. But can I bring my laptop into the test and use my nifty Excel spreadsheets that would figure everything in a snap....noooooooooo. That would be way too easy and using technology way too efficiently. All this to say, I was forced to sign up for a grinder of an accounting course and shot my easy last semester right to h3ll. My only saving grace was my e-Commerce Principles course, which still turned out to be a hassle with the implementation of a new rule that all Business courses at UTA are required to have group project! Argh! To sum it all up, this last couple of months have not been a cake walk and I've got the scars to prove it.

The one thing I'm sure about in this whole mess is Ally. She has been by me through the thick and the thin, steady cheering me on and providing lots of encouragement. For the first time in my life I've felt something that is very new to me. The feeling that I'm not alone in this whole thing. That this degree isn't just for me. I feel an internal drive to excel and achieve to make a great life for us in the future. She makes me want to be a better man! A lot of it stems from this BIG landmark in my life where I am realizing this is it...the moment I've been waiting for since I graduated high school. To walk across that stage and get my degree (well not my degree, but a little paper that says they will mail it to me). Then I'm set loose on the big bad world to sink or swim.

Final finals here I come...finally!

Things I Hate

I can only preface this post by saying that it has been a shiddy week and I need to vent! So here goes nothin'!

THINGS I HATE FROM THIS WEEK:

• Stupid People on their Stupid cell phones driving their Stupid cars


• People that but in 3/4s through a conversation and want you to start over from the top


• Smelly people in front of you at Wendy's that kill your appetite for a Wild Mountain Chicken Sandwich


• Romain lettuce with the rib in it


• Missing Ally because I have to study


• People who pee on the toilet seat at work


• That split-second when you wake up to realize you alarm clock is going off and you have to get up


• Accidentally biting my lip and making it bleed


• When I find a coat that I really want and they don't carry my size


• Being really inspired to blog only to discover that blogger.com is down


• Deadbeat group members that don't contribute and then expect to slide in at the end of the project and get a good grade


• Professors who act like they are doing you a favor by holding office hours


• Blogging like nobodys biznizz only to have your laptop battery give out in medius res


• Getting all the way to the parking garage only to realize you left you coat at your desk


• Having to wait a whole week for your favorite show to come back on


• POPUPS!!


• People that try to read over my shoulder while I blog in class

The Plot Quickens

This week my life has officially kicked into high gear and the crunch is on. Next week I have my two finals in my UTA courses and then an exam and lab final in my TCC course. Oh the joys of taking courses at two different colleges. The funniest/scariest part about the whole thing is the fact that I will actually graduate (walk) on the 12th, but not take my TCC course final until after that. So I have to hand deliver my transcript over to UTA once they turn in my final grade. What a hassle! The good news is that last night we finally did our presentation in my managerial accounting course and it went off without a hitch. When I looked over at the prof she was really into it and steady checking off her little list. Then after class she approached our group and gave us a "good job guys!" Normally I wouldn't be so stoked about a presentation going well, but I had my reservations going into it considering our group had been widdled down from 5 to 3. I say this because one of our group members dropped halfway through the semester and another decided he wasn't going to show up to any of the group meetings or participate in writing the paper/organizing the presentation. So I am glad to have that project behind me. Now all I have to do is pass the final in there!

Everything else is taking a back seat to school right now including, but not limited to, work, christmas shopping, job hunting, Halo 2, hanging out with friends/cousins, fan club president duties, TAR Recaps, bathing (kidding, I still bathe once a week whether I need it or not). I've got to graduate and get a real paying job to make my life presentable for Ally so when I get down on one knee I don't have to be holding one of those plastic rings out a the machine in front of a Wal-Mart. Speaking of rings, part of our road trip conversation included the prospect of ring shopping and how it still kind of freaked both us out. Not freaked out like "whoa I don't want to ring shop with you" we both agreed, but more of that "let's get through the huge things that are happening in our lives and then walk that plank" kind of freaked out. It's panic time for Ally too with her big project at work so timing=not so good. I am confident that things will be much better soon though. Hopefully in a month's time we will be looking back on this crazy month and laughing.

Editor's note: Post title inspired by Alisa's post here.