Ahhh, another Day!

Well, today has been just one of those #$%! Days!  You guys know the ones…that every little thing annoys you and when you feel like if one more thing happens that isn’t going your way, you may kill someone! Then that one thing does happen, but you don’t kill someone cause if ya did, you’d go to jail, and that would make for a LONG series of worse days….so you just grin and bare it! Ahhh,….the life and times of trying, emphasis on trying, to teach high schoolers anything!

We have poker tonight though, so that will make me a happy camper for a few hours…haha.  I won the last poker game I was at…while only being $15, was still a win.  Here’s hoping that tonight goes smoothly and I can finagle some more cash out of people!

Doug and I played some Star Wars Battlefront II last night.  I love that game!  The first one was good, and this one is even better.  Flying around killing baddies, and you even get to be a Jedi in this game.  The space battles are also pretty sweet…..so all in all, GREAT GAME!

Andrea is still sick as of late, but I think she’s getting past the worse part of it all.  That makes me a happy Husband!

JArod just sent me this crazy link to a video where this kid is fighting with his mother and forgets to turn off his MIC in Xbox Live!  Check it out, warning, LANGUAGE!

I’m gonna go work on some random stuff now…..check back later for a brief update as to how the old day went tomorrow! Week is almost over though, so that is worth something!

-Dan out-

Cool Picture Taking

Well, the new camera rules!  Here are a few pics I’ve taken so far with it.  I can’t wait till it is a little nicer out and I can get out and fill up that memory card.  Christmas I’m sure we’ll take a lot of pictures as well.  I was amazed at the quality close up this thing gets.  

Pic of Camera - not taken with the new camera though
Pic of the Cat
Pic of the Cat 2
Nature Shot
Checking how the camera works with Motion - The fan was moving on high at the time

Messing with shutter speed and aperture size also helps create some cool looking effects.  What really blows me away about this camera is that EVERYTHING is customizable….I mean down to the smallest detail.  I still have a lot of learning to do though.

-Dan out-

New Updates of JUSTICE

Well, the biggest news as of late is the apprehension of a little someone who is coming in July to join the Dan and Andrea family.  Yes that is right, I get my very own rugrat come July 11th or so.  Can’t wait actually!  It’s gonna be weird having a little person looking up at me expecting me to feed it, care for it, teach it, discipline it, drive it places, pick it up from places, give it things, pay for it’s school, pay for it’s wedding…..buy their….well, ok, I guess I’m getting ahead of myself….but you can see the ramifications of it all.  Both Andrea and myself are very psyched, although she is a little annoyed at feeling sick all day everyday for the past 3 weeks…but hopefully that will pass!

In other news, I am dumb and thought that the poker night over at Andy’s friends house was last night instead of tonight.  So I pick up Jarod, meet Matt and pick him up over at the in-laws where he left his car, and am on my way to Andy’s to follow him to his friends house for some RAWKIN poker of justice.  Around 16 people playing….gonna be good times…so I call him and am all, “yo Andy, you ready to go?”, to which he replies, “uh, go where?”, I’m like, “dude, poker!!! ( ( (”, he’s like, “uh, that’s tomorrow night man….” <SIGH>.  So anyway, he says come on over anyway.  So the four of us played a nice 4 person game and I managed to finagle the win.  YEAH, $15…..haha.  That was pretty fun.

In still other news….my CAMERA will be coming tomorrow in the mail.  I’m way psyched about it too…..some fun is gonna be had with that baby!

It’s snowing right now….up to probably 2 or 3 inches so far I’d say.  We are supposed to get up to 5” I guess, but sadly, we will almost DEFINITELY still have school tomorrow.  Ah well, it was worth a shot, nice try snowstorm!

I’ve been playing some Halo2 again lately.  I forgot how fun that game is.  There are a few new gamemodes you can play now such as Team Sniper Death Match, which is fun, and 6 vs 6 mode.  Good times to say the least.

I’m not sure what else to talk about…..we got our Christmas tree up last Sunday…and it was WAY wider than we thought it was when we cut it down.  Ah well, it looks good at least.  Our heat went out for a few days, till we figured out how to light the pilot light.  Darn thing goes out quite often.  THEN, the pilot light went out for the water heater….<sigh> , curse that apartment.

Anyway, I’m gonna go do something constructive….maybe, haha.

-Dan out-

----check the new SITE…it’s slightly improved maybe…who knows, It’s probably worse

TEST

TEST

Just testing out this new word add-on that lets me type up blog posts in WORD and then upload them without even loading up the website.

-dan-

XBOX 360.....worth the $$$

CHeck out this REVIEW....shows some sweet things!

HAHAHAHA......Jack Thompson

Jack Thompson.....what a fumbling idiot.....it's guys like that that deserve to be taken out into the town center and publicly flogged...ohh ohh, if that happens...I wanna be there to watch!

-dan out-

The FOO!

Well, the Foo Fighters / Weezer concert ruled! Gotta say, two of my favorite bands...which is odd since I haven't really listened to any music besides classical in a long time. Perhaps some non-classical music shall grace my cd-player with its presence sometime here.

I have poker tonite. Lets hope that I can finaggle some chips away from Jarod and Matt....that always makes for a sweet poker night. I somehow managed to win one last time, but, hey, who's to say I can't do it again baby!

Parent teacher conferences start tomorrow. I am looking forward to getting through those. I am a little apprehensive as to how those will all go...ya never know what the parents are like of a small town kid. Most of the parents I have met have been super nice....so we'll see.

I've been playing X-Men Legends lately and some good old fashioned World of Warcraft. Lets just say that X-Men is really frustrating me. I can't figure out how to get past this one part and I am about ready to break the stupid game in half and say I "beat" it.

Today in class went well enough. Gave out a detention, but it's a good thing because that usually settles everyone down when they realize that I am actually going to give them out instead of just "threatening" them with one. These new savory computers they just got all of us here are pretty sweet. Lets just say it's nice having a computer that doesn't blue screen at random times or just simply lock up on me mid-task. The LCD monitor is a plus as well.

Well, it's been 8 years now that Andrea and I have been together. Last night was the "anniversary" of when we first starting dating. Good times were had, good times. We went to the 8th grade football game last night and watched them smoke all over a rival team...so that was a great time. Our teams tend to lose alot in the football area, so seeing the 8th graders whoop up on anybody is exciting. Mmmmm, Jr. High football....haha.

Well, I gotta go work on some stuff and get ready for my parent/teacher conferences.

Until next time....

-Dan out-

Long time no Post

Well, it has been quite a while since I've posted here. I'm sure the five people who check this have long since given up checking it, but perhaps they'll check back for one final horah! School has been going great. I'm getting the hang of my schedule, the kids, and all the other stuff that goes along with teaching. This weekend I have to grade a TON of art projects, but, it shouldn't be to bad. I'll put on some X-Files or something and blow through it all. The weather finally cooled off here and I have a feeling it will stay cool from here on out.

Went to the Green Day / Jimmy Eat World concert the other night. Very fun time! I also snagged a t-shirt which will be worn proudly when I'm not at school. They are a very good band live and I have even more respect for the drummer. THey are a crude band of course, but, then again, what band isn't these days.

Finally got paid the other week, which was great, so we could pay some bills.

Just snagged some tickets to the Foo Fighters/Weezer concert that will be on the 3rd of October...gonna be good times.

So Jarod just sent me a link to what the new Nintendo Revolution Controller looks like...and I'll I have to say is....w..t..h! This is quite possibly the stupidest thing I have ever seen. Check out an article here about it. UGH...is all I have to say about it.

The survivor betting website is up that I threw together this weekend. Check it out here if you are in survivor, or wanna know what I'm talking about.

Watched the Exorcism of Emily Rose....and man, it was messed up. The scary parts were indeed just that, freakin' scary. Check out this actual recording of I believe her exorcism....kinda disturbing.

And on that note, I bid you goodbye...gotta go to my 6th grade homeroom. Until next time....

-Dan-

Work starts TOMORROW!

Well, work begins tomorrow morning. Gotta love introduction inservice days. I'll get to learn all about why I'm going to TEAR IT UP teaching the kiddies and what kind of crazy extra things I'll have to figure out to do it properly.

Last night, Andy, Jarod and Dave came over for some much needed HALO 2 on LIVE! Man, that game just keeps getting better and better...haha. We started goin around 8pm and got done a little after 11. Lots of yelling and destroying occurred. Gotta love MICS and Jarod being used simultaneously. If you look at the stats from the games, we had a LOT of teams just give up on us...cause we were smoking them to bad. I had quite a few 1st places too if I don't say so myself!

This past week I finished up working for my dad. It wasn't to bad of a summer. I made some dough, paid the bills relatively speaking and finaggled some lunch out of it everyday. Good times.

Going to a get together for school with all the teachers tonight. Hopefully it's not to awkward or anything like that. I'm sure it'll be fine.

Played some poker this week and tore things up! We played 3 games, a winner gets $12 game, winner gets $18 game, and winner gets $30 game. I finaggled the $12 one and the $30 one. Matt got things done with the $18. So far, I'm only down like $30 for all the games we've played so far. Here's hoping I can win a few more like that.

My computer died again...go figure, and I used Andrea's 350mhz for a while, until I couldn't take it anymore. So yesterday afternoon, I tore mine apart again and reinstalled windows and everything. I pulled out 2 of my 3 ram sticks, leaving me with a mere 256mb DDR ram, but ya know, she's running good now. After I pulled those other two sticks, she stopped locking up. Here's hoping it stays goin strong till we can get a new one.

Besides that, not to much is going on. Gotta jet and get some grub. I'll be updating more frequently now I hope....not that to many people read this anyway...haha.

-dan out-

Long time no BLOG!

Well, quite a few things have gone down since I've last said what up to everyone (or the whole 2 people who check this) on this blog. First, I had my birthday. Alot of family came out to visit for it and Matt came out as well. Good times were had. Got a lot of money, which helps, because we have all these things called BILLS due all the time.

Next, I went to Tim's wedding which was an interesting time. Sitting with a bunch of people you don't know always makes for an interesting time. Mark was there though, so I talked to him a bit off and on when he wasn't doing his groomsmen duties.

I picked up some golf clubs for my b-day over at this crazy DISCOUNT GOLF CLUBS place in Davenport. $50 for a whole set minus the putter. Not to shabby. Haven't actually gone out golfing yet but, hopefully sometime when the 100 degree weather goes away I can do that. They're JAZZ clubs, the brand I mean and I have absolutely NO IDEA if that is good or not. But like Matt said, they have a long part a big part and a handle....they'll work.

Got some POKER goin down this Wednesday. Hopefully I can make it to the final two this time....but, I'm not the best poker player around and usually manage to finish somewhere in the middle. Doug won last time...$80. Not to shabby for a couple hours of playing cards.

I begin and hopefully finish this drawing for my nephew Dalton's bedroom tonight. It's gonna be this whole train scene like right out of a kids book. I'm thinking of doing a Circus train and stuff going through a farm town...with Farmer JOE!....haha. Hopefully she turns out good.

I took my order for art supplies over to Dick Blick today, and got treated like some famous artist or something. THey were all excited to have me stop in and to meet me and I even got a FREE GIFT. So that was kinda cool

Just finished reading the new HARRY POTTER BOOK and it was really freakin good. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Can't wait till the next one..in, ohhhh.....2 years.

Other than that I've been working for my dad still....roofing...gotta love it.

I'm outta here, until next time.

-dan out-

War of the Worlds

Well, what can I say....yeah for nature baby...you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it...if you wanna waste some time watchin Tom Cruise doin his scientology thang!

In other news...Firefly is a rawkin show that everyone who enjoys SCI-FI should check out. The new movie coming out called Serenity is coming out here pretty soon, and it is based on that TV series. Worth checking out.

Stuff is going well enough. Matt won the poker game this past Wednesday, $60 to his little pocketbook and all the rest of us...well, got to watch Matt in his new happy winnings.

Goin to the parents house today for some grub with my sister and her boyfriend. Good times will be had...then, FIREWORKS...somewhere...either Geneseo or East Moline.

So we're off....until next time...BATTLEFIELD 2 RULES!

-dan out-

Been a WHILE

Well, it has been a while since I last posted on here. Been kinda busy...working for my Dad everyday, and doin other stuff on the weekends. Speaking of weekends, this weekend, Andrea and I are driving to Rockford to go to Timbo's wedding. That'll be a good time, probably more so for Tim...haha.

Gonna go see Land of the Dead tomorrow with Matt and Jarod, maybe Dave too we'll see. Played a little Halo tonite when I got home from WACKY WATERS!!! That was a good time. Went out there with my nieces and in-laws. Lots of water and burning of skin....talk about a good time. We're all unpacked...and the cats have adjusted to the new place for the most part.

There is probably more stuff that I could talk about...but, I'm sunburned...and tired, and tomorrow is gonna be a long day. So...until next time

-Dan out-

We are now GENESEO-ANS!!

Well, after a long day of running around with large awkward heavy things, we are all moved in to Geneseo. If you want the address, gimme a call or shoot me an e-mail and I'll hook ya up wit it. It was quite the adventure. We got the truck around 10:30am, and were all packed by about 12:15 or so. We then got some nice Pita Pete's, and then hit the road. Chad came by to see us off and hung out for some lunch. We arrived in Geneseo around 2:30 or 3pm. We then started right away unloading the truck and moving everything in. This place is a little smaller than our last place, and well, it is going to be interesting unpacking everything. Talk about a disaster area right now. We do have a garage though, so, I spose we can always use that for some storage if needed. We then went back over to Andrea's parents to eat and hang out for a while. Swimming was nice and the food was great...mmmm, steaks!

Today will be an interesting day because we are both exhausted but really wanna start unpacking and whatever else. The cats both hate each other and that was a BLAST getting them into their respective carriers last night. They are just angry at the world I think and are trying to kill each other and us. Good times!

I start work with my dad this week, in theory, and can't wait for the summer of justice to begin. Thanks to everyone who helped out with the moving and stuff, it was greatly appreciated.

Hopefully we'll have someo net hooked up in the next few weeks. Till then, my cell phone is always on. Gimme a call and we can get some much needed 'hanging out' on.

-dan out-

All done...and going onward...

Graduation is over, job has been obtained, packing will commence.

2 more DAYS!!!

Well, 2 more days and then I'm all through. Can't wait...I've been counting it down and it is almost here! Here's hoping that I make it through, haha!

Elementary My Dear Watson!

Currently Reading:

The Complete Sherlock Holmes

Well well well.....5 days ladies and gentlemen...5 more days of being an non-graduate! Come Friday night...I"m gonna be ONE HAPPY DUDE!

This weekend, we went back to the QC and looked for apartments, hung out with some friends and ate some good food on Mother's Day. The apartments that we looked at were in Geneseo...and the first one, was actually a house for rent, but it was like a serious dump, and frankly, I could not see myself coming home to that everyday. The floors were all slanted, the whole place was small and dirty...it just was not a cool place to look at much less think about living in. So, we left that snagged some Dairy Queen, and went on home. The next morning, we went and checked out two different apartments. The first one was uh...sorta dirty and depressing...and we will be declining if they offer it to us. The next one, I was crossing my fingers about, and it turned out to be really nice. It's right next to Maple Leaf Car Dealership in Geneseo, and is a 2 bedroom apt. Nice and bright colored, clean, newly painted, nice looking carpet...AND even though we're sure it isn't a Pet apartment, there was a cat up in the upper apartment window. Soooo, we're hoping they won't care at all when we bring in the girls.

On Saturday night, we went over to Kate and Andy's place and hung out for dinner and stuff. Andy and I messed around with his X-Box and it's modchip that wasn't working properly. Finally we got it all running so it would read the dvd-r's, and loaded up some Splinter Cell Chaos Theory. This game is so sweet. The coop multiplayer rules. You can go through the missions with a friend which adds just a little more fun to an already awesome game! Then all of us sat down and ate some food off the grill, marinated chicken, and then played some rousing games of UNO! Good times were had.

Mother's day was fun. We ate some food and hung out over at Gail and Dale's till around 11:30am, then we ran over to my parent's house until 3:30pm. Hung out with the parent's and Nathaniel, took Nate's new car out for a spin, and luckily I still remebered how to drive manual :)

We are now back up here for this week, then graduation on Saturday, then I drive home on Sunday so I can go and observe my new job in Annawan for three days. Hopefully that all goes well!

Besides all of that,just been hanging out. Played a little guildwars tonight, and it's fun.....not as fun as WOW I don't think, but fun none the less.

Until next time...

-Dan out-

Laptops are cool!

Well, I borrowed a laptop from school again. It's an i-book, i know.....lame...haha, but, it's still fun. I prefer a PC by far....I am just more familiar with it I believe, and have all my programs on PC so if I ever switched over to a MAC I'd have to start over from sctratch with all my software. I'm not in a big hurry to do that. I tried to play Doom3 again today, but yep, same as ever, crash to desktop! Gotta love my computer of crashiness!

In other news, I only have 6 school days left till the graduation of justice and I'm excited! I'm only bummed about two things in regards to that. One, I won' be able to take a nice shiny LAPTOP home to surf on the web on while sitting on the couch of justice. Two, I won't be able listen to my new audiobook that I just started, Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy, while I'm driving the 2 hrs every day. Now, I am glad I don't have to drive that 2 hrs though as well. Driving is not my forte'. So I raise a glass to graduating baby!

Currently watching Survivor and it is getting pretty good, kinda like it always does when we get down to like six people left on the island. HAHAHA, so good...the person who I wanted out just got voted out, and now his girlfriend he met on the show is all like, "oh no....my baby got voted out....waaaahhhhh". So good!

Well, i'm gonna go do something else, maybe play some Guild Wars or something. Take it easy foo's!

-Dan out-

Orange Gatorade!!!!!

CURRENTLY READING:

Sherlock Holmes Complete Works

Orange Gatorade is the best drink ever. Everytime I get me an orange gatorade, everything seems right in the world...haha.

Besides that, Jarod broke his controller while we were playing Halo2 yesterday...and he has the original controllers too, the football sized ones. He's pretty used to that size though, and he most likely will not be able to find one that is that size again...since they don't make them anymore. So he went out and got one of the S-Style controllers. I prefer this type over the bigger original ones, but, I can see how it is tough to get used to a new type of controller....i mean, buttons have beem moved, and it's just smaller. So he snagged a new one today, and just informed me that all the XBOX LIVE STATS on BUNGIE have been RESET! So much for Mr. Level 14, hello Mr. Level 0!

Other than that, I have only 7 days left and then I'm FINISHED!!!!!! My advisor is coming out tomorrow supposedly, so hopefully THAT goes well. Baring that little thing tomorrow, I am free to sail on into the sunset of NIU ALUMNI!!!

And on that note, I have to go home and get some sleep....4:45am baby...gotta love it

-Dan out-

Still at WORK!!!!

Well, 10pm roles around on Sunday night. I should be on my way home to get some sleep, before I have to get up at 4:45am....but, where am I? Still at work? OF course I am....the girl who is supposed to come in after me, is not being relieved of her shift she's currently at until who knows when. Where upon, she could "walk" here from Neptune dorms, which is only like a 5 minute walk....but, nooooo, she's waiting for a bus. To scary at night i guess... >:O

2 more weeks...just keep remembering that....2 more weeks!!!

-dan out-

LONG TIME NO POST

Well, I've been pretty busy lately, but I decided it was time to update the old blogger-do! First off, school has been keeping me pretty darn busy lately, and therefore kinda limits the time I can spare on updates. Some things come first, like the new maps on Halo, or the cats, or food, or reading books.....etc, sorry to say, but the blog kinda picks up the rear. I'm sitting at work here again, and have decided to update once again.

It hailed last night, which was interesting. Actually, it hailed like right around 6pm, or a little before....maybe closer to 5:30, but, they were little pea sized hail balls......but, still, cooled stuff down considerably.

I am not playing World of Warcraft anymore. Which makes me a little sad, cause that game was just so darn awesome.....perhaps I'll go back to it eventually.....cause it is a blast, but I'm kinda busy lately, and can't warrant keeping it going right now. So, I am playing through Knights of the Old Republic 2 right now. So far, this game is pretty fun, and offers a lot of the same gameplay that the original offered. AS a matter of fact, it feels almost EXACTLY like the first one. This is a good thing, though, and does not bother me in the least. I absolutely LOVED the first one, so I'm suspecting that this one will be loved just as much. I actually have it for XBOX, but the $%!# thing locks up my XBox at the main menu. So, I acquired it for PC and am now playing it that way. My PC is in great need of a trip out the 2nd story window, whereupon I go to BestBuy or something, and get a cheap butt one that will blow mine out of the water, and it'll have a nice WARRANTY!!! Until that happens though, I'll have to just "Blue Screen of Death" my way through the game. WHEEE!!!!

Had some RAWKIN crab legs last night for dinner. Man, I can't seem to get enough of those tasty little buggers! Gotta be one of my all time favorite foods.

Kevin is gonna bring some stuff down tonight while I work and give me some much needed company while I "work" tonight. That'll make the mundane routine of sitting here trying to figure out what to do for 2 hrs go a little quicker.

After tomorrow, there is only 2 weeks left of my Student teaching, and then POOF, gradiation!!!!! Which means I"m this much closer to bein back in the ol' QC....which is exciting. I'll definately miss my friends up here though, which is gonna suck, but I'm sure I'll see them, and definately be in touch with them over AIM and e-mails, and of course the ol' Blog Comments!!!! We have to go find a place to live comin up here in May....and hopefully it will be a place we can have animals....or we'll have to like sneak em in...haha, and hide them! WHEEE!!!!

Uhhhhh....anything else goin on.....I started watching this show called Eyes. So far it is a nice mix of comedy and lawness....haha, yes, I said lawness....and it IS a word....I think.

Anyway, that's it for now...until next time, go hug a tree near you.....even trees need love!!!

-Dan out-

Just WRONG!!!

Am I the only one, or is this just wrong?

And another SUNDAY of SUCKINESS goes by!

CURRENTLY READING:

Salem's Lot - Stephen King
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

Well, as always, this SUNDAY sucked. It is just hard to really fully "relax" one last time before you start the next week of busy-ness when Sunday always winds up being the most hectic day of the entire weekend. Andrea and I drove all over today running errands, getting groceries, picking up the house, then I go to work, then I come home eat, and go back to work, to just come home and go to bed. Grrrr...Sundays SUCK!

Enough of that though...yesterday was pretty fun. We went to my niece Abbey's first communion over in McHenry. After that was over, we drove to my brother-in-law Greg's house and hung out all afternoon. At one point, a bunch of the guys hanging out there, friends of Greg's, my other brother-in-law and father-in-law decided to play some Texas Holdem. My mother in law Gail also hopped in to play as well as Andrea's grandma Peggy. Well, I am not really that good at that game, but I love playing card games, so I put in my $5 to play and sat down...fully expecting to do HORRIBLE...as I always do in Poker. Greg got out first....then Peggy,...and more and more kept dropping...but, I kept almost going out, then winning a HUGE hand to pull me back in to the game. It got down to two people...myself and a friend of Greg's. I already knew I had my money back plus another $5 for 2nd place...so when he went all in with something...I decided to as well...having a pretty good hand myself. One thing you'll notice about me though if you ever play with me...is that I almost NEVER bluff. If I don't have anything, I will fold quick. But, this time, I had a good feeling about it...and it paid off. I managed to WIN!!! 30$ baby...haha, which was an amazing feat...since I am not that great at poker to begin with.

Then we all hung out a while longer and after a nother quick game of Poker, where I was like the 3rd out, we took off for DeKalb again. Doug and Kim, Andrea's brother and his wife drove with us along with my nephew Dalton...because there wasn't to much room to sleep at Greg's house. We put em up on the futon...and then after a late night discussion about the Dark Tower series by Stephen King with Doug, crashed about 12:30am. We woke up, Andrea made a rawkin' breakfast of sausage egg and chese biscuit sandwichs....and they took off for the ol' QC. Then we went out shopping.....and well, I already explained what happened today.

Andrea has a interview for a possible summer job tomorrow...so she's driving back to the Quad Cities for that interview...and taking the "good" car with her. So I get ol' Bessy ( 1995 Chrysler LeBaron Convert ) to Schaumburg tomorrow. ...I'm ready to have my own room to teach out of.

Other than all of that, I picked up the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams today.....it was 25% off books for educators day at Borders and Andrea had her paystub with her so...I finaggled that book for pretty cheap. I also started Salem's Lot by Stephen King as well.....so far so good. The Talisman is finally over....and so I'm moving on to other Stephen King novels of justice. He's a friggin good Author. I'm not sure where I've been in reference to his books...but, I'm glad I found them now!

Alas, I gotta jet. This week will be fairly hectic, and I can't wait to get it over with. Probably talk to you next weekend when I'm working late again on a mysterious Sunday NIGHT of justice!

Until then...

Take it easy

-Dan out-

Car Accidents = SuWEEEETNESS!!!!

So last night, we were hanging with my parents, haha, and Matt sent me a text message wondering what Andrea and I were up to. I sent him one back telling him to come over so we could all go over to my bro-in-law Doug's house and hang out. He agreed and came over. We decided on our way over to Doug's house to swing by Whitey's and pick up some icecream....it'd been a while since we'd snagged some and thought we were due. We waited in this line forever, and finally got through it and hopped in our cars to leave. I turned out onto 18th Avenue in Rock Island and stopped at the light. We were sitting there for like 20 seconds, Matt was stopped right behind us....when I hear this screeching sound really loud...I looked over at Andrea and was like....hmm...what was that sound...and then our car lurched ahead about 5 feet. Matt was now a little closer than he had been. Touching our bumper as a matter a fact. Our necks hurt, and we were like, "WT heck was that?"

Upon getting out of our car, we saw that Matt had also been hit, and that person had been hit as well. There was this crazy pile up of cars literally bumper to bumper. The last car in the row, the evil crasher had a completely busted up front end of his mini-van, and his air bags had been deployed. Apparantly, he hit the guy behind Matt who hit Matt, who hit us. So, I called the police and they came out...no ambulance though...which is odd, since they didn't ask me if anyone was hurt, and knowing it was a 4 car accident....but, whatever, no one was to hurt. Our necks hurt quite a bit...and some upper back pain...but, we'll manage I suppose. Luckily, our car and Matt's car were relatively un-harmed. A minor scratch on ours, and a few scratchs on Matt's. The other two had some damage though...and that mini-van is probably undrivable now, what with the transmission fluid spraying everywhere...haha. Andrea was a little upset about the whole thing, and rightly so, but we were all OK and we'll all survive. It's kinda freaky getting hit by another car....even if it was Matt who did it....haha...sorta. ;)

So that was our rocktastic night of justice. Billy was in town, and wanted Matt and I to meet him over at Leasure Time in E.M., but I was exhausted, and my neck hurt....so I declined...although I think Matt still went over. Sorry Billy! :(
I'll see ya this week when ya come up on Thurs and probably Friday as well.

Sunday, today, Andrea, myself, and her parents all went on a 15 mile bikeride. Good times were had with that, except that now I am pretty tired. So, trying not to drool on the keyboard here at work, I decided to update my blog in a pitiful attempt to stay awake. Gameboy seemed to put me to sleep, so let's hope this works.

I still haven't heard from my advisor....and that is a little odd, since I e-mailed him on Monday night ... about when he wanted to come out to observe me teaching, but, he's a busy guy I suppose.

I have 4 more hours of work coming up as well, which is always a ROCKING time! 6-10 baby...then get up at 4:45am on Monday...wheeeee!!!!!

I talked to Chadwick a few times this weekend when I remotely connected into my computer back in DeKalb from home. He's looking for a decent baseball game for the GBA and hopefully he finds one. GBA has been a real life saver at times....especially when you're sitting there passing the time at work or have fifteen or twenty minutes to blow and don't know what to do.

FIVE WEEKS!!!! until graduation...so THAT is exciting. Speaking of which, we're still looking for a place to move into come June, and have not found one yet. We're looking at maybe renting a house or something in Geneseo or the surrounding area so I am close to my job in Annawan. Most of the places though, are all, "NO PETS" which sucks, so it should be interesting to find a place that we can start renting in June AND allows pets!

Other than that, not much is going on. I passed my Assessment of Professional Teachers test....which means barring my finishing Student teaching with a high grade, which I know I will, graduation is imminent.

Until next time ladies,

Take it easy

-Dan out-

Screw N.C.

It seems like whatever team I want to win a sports game....always loses...
SCREW YOU N.C.!!!!

Week of Laziness is over!

CURRENTLY READING: State of Fear

The week of "laziness" has officially ended and the next 6 weeks of BUSY-NESS has begun! But, come to think of it....SIX weeks really isn't to long at all! In six weeks time, I will be all kinds of graduated, and chillin' with my wife....not having to go to work for Restech again...and...probably watching some TV completely content! I just have to get the job done for these next weeks and my graduation will be at hand...and the beginning of a hopefully better part of my life...the working kind!

This week has been pretty good. It got a little boring at times, but then I'd hunt down one of the cats and disturb their lazy sleeping habit...and all would be well again.

Andrea and I went out to visit my sister's and hang out with the kids and her husband, Brian. That was pretty fun. It's always nice to get away from DeKalb. Speaking of getting away from DeKalb, Andrea and I will probably be going home this next weekend to look for some sort of apartment like living area that we can move into come June 20th. We decided that a apartment would be a much better idea initially, until we get some actual cash flow from our jobs to put into an actual house. I am counting down the days until we can buy our own place!

There have been a few updates to WOW this past week and one of the most interesting additions they put into the game was these little "bubbles" above the head of someone when they are talking out loud to someone. This is MUCH easier when you have a TON of people talking aall at once and it is almost impossible to sort through all the text to figure out who is saying what and when and why. Another thing that was JUST added is this VERY strange CHINESE food order thing that you can access in game. Check it out. It is very strange...and begs the question....uh, "why"!

It is simply GORGEOUS out today and should be the rest of the week. It is always easier to be in a good mood when the weather is nice out. So, this week should be a GREAT week of moods because mid 60's weather is expected all week.

Andrea and I made Pizza last night...home-made! Mark came over to partake in the food and watch Illini whoop up on Louisville!!! The pizza was pretty good, but I think we'll use a little less meat next time. :-D

I got these new DVD-R discs...that burn at 8x. However, my DRIVE, the NEC ND-1300A, is only able to burn them at 2x! If i burn them at say 4x, like I usually burn every disc...it gives me a "power management" error. Or something like that. Very odd, and annoying!

I'll manage though.

Besides that, I don't have to much to talk about. Until next time, take it easy.

-Dan out-

ROLLERCOASTER MUCH?

Mmmmm......deathcoaster!
Check out more pics of it here.

-dan out-

4 Day Week baby!!!

CURRENTLY READING: Strange #2

Well, this week is gonna be pretty good. I am at my new placement and it is going well. I have this Friday off from teaching as well as all of next week. I got the remote desktop thing working so I can log into my computer back home while I'm at work. There is some lag, but that is ok because I can do stuff on my computer and get paid for it. Went home this past weekend to hang out and brought the ol' cats. They enjoyed some outside time (on andrea's parent's porch) and i got to see a new movie. Be Cool was seen by myself, Andrea, Doug and Kim. It wasn't half bad, although Get Shorty was WAY better!

Went out to eat with Matty on Sunday before we drove back. Good ol' Fudruckers....i swear there is a bad word in there somewhere....just haven't found it yet. Got the ol' tax return check today. That'll be a nice little deposit. Course, all of it is going towards an apartment in June when we move back home.

Got to play a little Halo2 tonight when I got home from school. I think I have reached my peak as far as being good at that game goes. I'm just above average. I have my moments where I completely dominate....but usually, I'm in the middle somewhere or closer to the bottom. I'm OK with this though, because Jarod is always on my team, and losing is a little better when you have someone to share the losing-ness with. Course, when Jarod is playin, we usually don't lose.

I cooked out some pork chops tonite. Man....since it's finally nice out, i can grill out now! This makes for some good times.

I have to get up at like 4:45am now every morning. This means, come 9pm, my scrawny butt is in bed. 4:45am comes WAY to soon and I need my ugly sleep!

Doug and I played some NBA Street vol. 2 this weekend. That game is pretty freakin' fun. You are playing 3 on 3 and pretty much anything goes...within reason. You can push people down, goal tend, break the rim.....and there are no penalties. Doug and I had a good time playing that. I left my CUBE there so we can play some more the next time we're home on a weekend....if we have time.

Nothing like sitting at work....vegging out! I have a few comics I've not read yet that I should probably read....so I'm gonna go do that....

Until Next Time...

-dan-

Monday of non-Justice....again

Well, I will soon be out of Rockford for good, which is a little sad....but, a little exciting because I get to look forward to a whole new set of students. WHEEEEE!!

Monday's suck....i've decided. I know everyone has said that before, but I think that when you wake up after having experienced a GREAT day of almost 60 degree weather, to the news telling you it's gonna snow tonight...well, it just kinda makes ya hate De Kalb and Illinois in general.

It's Monday night, so you know what that means...sitting at work again. No real stupid questions yet...but, I know they're coming.

Penny-Arcade is a very funny web-comic. Everytime I read their comics, I just have to laugh. These are not comics for the light of heart though. If you can not handle "language" then don't even bother checking them out. If you don't mind a little language....that is used humorously, check them out here!

Played a little World of Warcraft today again. Still loving it. I actually, haven't played Halo2 in 2 weeks now. Mind boggling. I think I'm losing my mind, but Warcraft is like taking over my gaming needs. Perhaps tomorrow night I will play some Halo2 and stop being such a roleplaying nerd, and begin being the better kind of nerd.....a First Person Shooter nerd!

Speaking of nerds, I met Matt for lunch the other day after my interview with Annawan Schools, and he showed me his rocking new IPOD Shuffle. This little baby is soooo sweet and if I am ever just flipping around like $100, I will pick one of these up. I don't expect to have $100 to just be flipping around anytime soon, but should the opportunity arrive, I'll be sure to flip it over to Best-Buy and pick one up.

I'm kind of weary of IPODs though. I mean, they're just so cute and trendy....the make me want to puke. There is a certain "type" of person that uses IPODs and MACS and stuff like that...and those people are very quirky. I dunno, MACS have always turned me the other way to my beloved crash-prone PC. I know she ain't much to look at, and she likes to blue screen at in-oppurtune times, but what can I say...it supports everything I want in a computer and feels the way I want a computer to feel. I have WAY to many memories with a PC and way to many bad memories with a MAC. Just my 2 cents on that.-

Andrea and I went over to my brother-in-law and sister's house on Saturday. We ate some pizze, Brian and I looked at his new Broadband from Comcast, and we messed around with Bittorrent...a truly lovely program. I then refreshed him on how to play Euchre so he would be ready to go for his Euchre club he just joined up with at his church. Should make for good times. I miss Euchre...such a classic game.

This weekend coming up, I get the privilege of going and taking my Assessement of Professional Teaching Test down in Normal, IL. Gotta love driving down there and enjoying the whole sitting and filling in bubbles for 2 1/2 hrs straight. Andrea and I hope to drive down there on Friday night, and stay in a hotel so I can just get up and go to my test the next morning. The alternative would be to get up hella early on Saturday morning, and drive there to take my test....the first scenario sounds like a much better idea.

The evil twins have managed to find out how to open our pantry closet door and go inside, bringing the evil thunder of their furry paws and demonic teeth to battle a wide assortment of food and pantry items such as: Beef jerky, paper bags, paper towels, catfood bag, bottled water....and many many other things. Because of this, they have forced me to fight back in the only way I know how...by using my brain. I know, i know...i could permanently injure myself doing something as dangerous as using my brain. I have faith though, that by doing this one heroic act, I will be able to allow those items in my pantry a much needed calm before the demonic spawns of satan figure out how to get past my locking mechanism of a thumb tack, a nail, and a hair tie stretched taunt! Figure THAT out oh ye children of darkness!

And with that, I must go do something else. Oll dis sofistikatied talk be mak'n my nudle hert!

-Dan out-

Annawan-t a job...And I Got One

So...Annawan Schools decided that I was a good candidate for their Art Teacher position and made my day today by hiring me. I begin work in the fall of 2005. It's gonna be tough, taking over a k-12 art curriculum, but hey, after writing that crazy 16 week curriculum....this should be a walk in the park....a park with dinosaurs...that shoot lava out of their eyes at anything they look at. Yeah....kinda like that. I'm psyched though, and thanks go to my lovely wife Andrea for helping me with my resume. Without her help, my resume would have said something like, "I did some art stuff....oh, and my name is Dan....haha, hire me please!" So thanks baby, and get well!

In other news, WOW is getting more and more fun. I have a couple pictures to show you of my current character and what she's been up to....assuming you care.

!!!WARNING!!! ... this is only for the NERD at heart!

Here is a shot of my mage casting a nice fireball spell...



This next shot is my mage fighting a bad little humanoid called a KOBOLD



This final shot is of my mage looking at the town of Goldshire off in the distance.
Look at all the people hanging around...there is a RIDICULOUS amount of people playing this game...this is but a shred of those people.



Hope enjoyed NERD hour there.

That's about all I have to say for tonite....until next time

-dan out-

JOB INTERVIEW!!!

Job interview tomorrow at Annawan High School / Elementary School. Wish me luck!

DAY OFF!!!......meh!

Well, today was my day off from student teaching. I used today to fill out a couple applications, put together another packet of my resume, cover letter, official transcripts and school application to send out to the good old town of Aledo. WHEEEEE....I would really like to work there. The town is small, there are not a SLEW of students, and it's not that far from the Q.C.

Early this morning, after Andrea left for work, I drove over to get a new pair of dressish pants, and see if my "new" phone was in over at Sprint. Luckily, the phone was on, and hey..what do ya know...it works! It is weird having a phone that actually works..and I can hear people on it. Odd....paying for a phone that works right!

After I got back from all that, I filled out the applications, and then sent Jarod an IM to see if he was up for a little Halo2. He was, and we played about 5 games or so when Andrea called wanting to know if I wanted to meet her for lunch. So I drove over to her work, picked her up, and we went and grabbed some food from KFC baby! I then dropped her back off at work, and drove back home.

Then, it was time for some Warcraft. I played this for quite a while, and at one point, Chaddy hopped on to play. He didnt' have long though, so we did a few quests...and he took off again. I really love this game, and think it is quite possibly the funnest game I've played out of all the MMORPG games I've played in my life. I've played quite a few too...Nexus (old game, played it in High School), next was probably a few of my betas like, Earth and Beyond...I think it was called, Eve Online, and there was one other one before I got into the StarWars Galaxies beta. This game was pretty darn fun, and got me sorta hooked on the whole idea of MMORPG's. I didn't play it very much though, so I just kinda stopped playing it. AFter that...I may have tried Galaxies out one more time. Gave up, because there was no one to play it with, and it really didn't seem like my type of game. Then, I found Warcraft....and poof, it was fun as heck. The shear number of people playing this game is mind boggling and adds to the experience of the game. I'll post some pics sometime soon to show ya my character and what the game is about if you are not up on these types of things.

I'm at work again, go figure, it seems like I'm ALWAYS working. Then I have a meeting after work tonight over in another computer lab, Grant Residence Hall's lab. That will last about 15 mins or so....and then it's home and off to bed. 5:30am comes WAYYY to early.

Tomorrow night I have parent teacher conferences again, which consists of myself and my cooperating teacher sitting there working on lesson ideas, or whatever else needs to be done and waiting for the three hours to get up. She is having her sculpture sock Monkey delivered tomorrow though, haha, which if you've seen all the frogs around East Moline and Silvis I think, you'll sorta have an idea as to why they're making Sock monkeys.....no idea really, but it's interesting, and when all the people who are painting one, or doing whatever to one, are through, they will be placed in public places all around Rockford. It's a Rockford thing I guess...haha.

Other than that, I will have to check my hookup site to see if the new 24 is up yet. I don't get to watch 24 when it is on....since I'm at work, so I usually get them online so I can watch them. I could just tape them I spose, but the quality suffers. I enjoy high quality.

Other than all of that, life is pretty much the same as the day before....working, sleeping, haha...occasionally I get to hang out with my wife, which always rules, or play a game....but, it sure does seem busy around here lately.

Until next time...

-Dan out-

4 Day Week this week baby!

Weekend is about over, but, oh wait...not quite. Tomorrow I have it off for President's Day...WHEEE. Hopefully Andrea doesn't read this...cause she doesn't have it off. I will be working on some stuff for school though, and playin with the cats a bit. I also am going to be filling out an application for a position at Annaway High School as an Art Teacher. I already sent out my resume and cover letter, and will be filling out the application either tonight, or tomorrow. All of it is due by the 22nd, so I should get it done very soon. It's only three pages long, which isn't to bad, and shouldnt' take more than 10 minutes to fill out. WHEEEE for a possible job.

Right now I'm sitting at my job in Grant Computer lab...being bored. It's a good job though, because it allows me time to work on other things besides work. Sunday makes for a long night though...with work from 3-5pm, then from 6-10pm. Gotta love working.

I finished my audio book that I have been listening to on the way to and from Rockford where I am student teaching. The book was called Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind. He is quite the author. I just started the 2nd book in the series called Stone of Tears, and so far, it's just as good as the first one. I just looked it up, and there are 9 books so far in this series. Add that to the Gunslinger Series I'm reading by Stephen King, and the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan I'm reading and there are QUITE a lot of books that I have to get through. Here's hoping!

Tonight kinda sucks, because Andrea is home now from the QC, but I work all night...so we don't get to hang out. This is how every Sunday seems to be, which really sucks, but we'll be hanging out next weekend together, so hopefully it will make up for the suck that is today.

I played some World of Warcraft with Chad this weekend. That game is so much fun. I was going to stay up last night and play with him and Matt till the whee hours of the morning, but I simply can NOT stay up late anymore. I just seem to fall asleep. About 11:30, I crashed, mainly cause I was sick of waiting for them, but also because of my exhaustedness.

I finally got a package from my friend Jonathan. He sent me some Star Trek: Enterprise episodes on some blank DVD's I provided for him. We had thought it was lost in the mail, but it turns out they were just..well, no idea what happened...but I have them now, which is all that matters.

Other than that, I have been reading this comic series called SuperMan and Batman. It's pretty darn good...a nice team up between the man of steel and the dark knight. Worth a check out if you enjoy comics.

Well, I'm going to get going...back to work now. I'll be in touch.

-Dan out-

Superbowl Commercials

Found the site with all the SuperBowl commercials. Simply click HERE and check em all out if ya missed them like I did, or if you wanted to see them again. I gotta go work on a nice lesson plan on mosaics....

-dan out-

Another Week....another Sunday

And another week is about to begin. I am not really looking forward to this week simply because i am just sorta sick of driving 45 mins both ways, as well as getting up at 5:30am every friggin morning. But, it's only for a semester, I'll manage.

Stuck at work...while everyone else watches the Superbowl. I really don't care who wins this, but it is always fun watching football no matter who is playing. The best part though about the superbowl is that the commercials are indeed some of teh best that any compnay forking over teh dough to advertise tonight on Fox, has to offer. I believe there will be a site that has all of them for people to watch streaming, and I hope to take a part in abusing that site so that I can see them.

Andrea and I drove to her brother's house on Saturday morning and hung out with him and Tricia and their our two nieces. Andrea's parents were also up there...so that was nice. I enjoy being at their place. We had a lot of fun hanging out and going out to eat for Greg's birthday. I wanna say he's 36, but, that might be wrong...something around there anyway. He got a cool poker chipset for his birthday and so myself, Andrea's dad Dale, Greg and his brother-in-law Dave all sat down and played some poker. I wasn't doing to badly, but I think what hurt me was forgetting that a flush beat 3 of a kind. Duh! I know, but well....now I know. Poker is fun though and even if it isn't for money, can still be a good way to spend a few hours.

Greg has all of these Chicago Cubs posters that he got somewhere and we are now starting to sell them on EBAY. We'll see if anyone buys them or not. If one sells, we'll throw up another and another....till they are gone. Hopefully he'll get a few bucks for it....if not, well, he's only out like $0.45 or something so no great loss.

I'm sitting in the lab tonight, and there are about 5 people in here. I find myself wanting to just go, "the lab is closed tonight, because of the SuperBowl", but I don't think my boss would go along with that to well.

I'm teaching almost every class all week now, since this is my fourth week. This is kinda cool too because when I am finished with this week, I will be 1/4 of the way through the semester and 1/4 of the way to being graduated for good!

I've been reading this comic called Supreme Power. This line published by Marvel is very interesting because it reveals the origin of this guy called Hyperion. It's all about a kid who crashes here from a distant planet, all Super-Man style, and this couple finds him, but the government takes him away and trains him as the "perfect American" so he'll fight for our side. He figures it all out when he grows older and gets all angry with the U.S. about what they did to him....all the while figuring out where he came from and why there are other people with crazy super powers as well the seemed to have appeared right when he did. Good times!

I finished the Stephen King book, The Drawing of the Three and it was pretty sweet. I have the next book in the Dark Tower Series entitled, The Waste Lands sitting here ready for me to begin reading. I will most likely start it tonight while I'm at work. Can't wait to see what happens next.

I suppose I should go figure out the lesson I am going to be teaching for Tuesday, so I can go over it with my cooperating teacher. So, until the next time I have some time and incentive to post something on here, take it easy....and go watch the SuperBowl.

-dan out-

WOHOOOOO!

Yes yes yes....life is going ok. What with a subject heading like, "WOHOOOOO!" you'd think that something great had just happened. Well it has kinda. First off, we have been waiting for our $#%! insurance card for the better part of a month now. 3 weeks is a long time to go without insurance for a car. We held off driving it for a week or so, the agent promised the card would be there by the end of the week. Friday, nothin, Saturday, nothin, Sunday....well, you get the picture. I called him back on Monday and was all ">:o". He was like, oh, there was a hang up, you'll get it this week for sure. The policy has gone active though, so you're covered as we speak. So again, waiting, waiting...nothing. I call him back again the following Monday, having already been driving the car, I have to be in Rockford every day, and Andrea is working....so I we HAVE to drive that other car. So when I call him, he's "busy" but I leave a message and wait a call back. Nothing comes that day from him. I go to school the next day, do my thing, get done and start driving home. My phone starts beeping with "new message". I check it, it's our insurance guy ... again! " Another small hang up, but, you should have it in a few days....AGAIN! Sooo.....then, like five days later, i check the mail, like I have been doing EVERY DAY for a $%#!ing month...and what do my little eyes behold....but a nice little envelope all covered in gold! Actually, it was covered in white and green, but FINALLY, we have the insurance card for the Saturn. Then....after I open it, i notice that it says, "policy active on January 27th at 12:01am. >:O WTF!!!!!
So it wasn't active this entire time. Been driving without insurance. I hate large corporations...and the way the do...or don't do things.

If ya made it through all that....congrads. My check from Northern came today too. Soooooo, rent is paid till May now. Thank goodness for financial aid baby.

I am slowly taking over my cooperating teacher's classes. It is a little hard figuring out lesson plans quickly, but hey, I suppose it is good practice. I am teaching two classes tomorrow, and three on Friday. WHEEEEEE! Hope it all goes smoothly.

So I get to work tonight, and there are ladders and wires all over, hanging from the ceilings and what not. The covers are off all the florescent lights...and all kinds of piping and bulbs laying all over. This place looks like a construction zone. The lab is STILL not 24/7 which makes people angry, because instead of being 24/7 it's now....uh, 2/7...haha. I kid you not, the lab is open between 2 or 4 hours everyday, until they fix this thing up so it can function as a 24/7 attendant-less lab. Oh, and the printers are down again. WHEEEE!!! So I put some signs up saying, "Printer DOWN, sorry". And this is what people had to say about this.

"Uh...is that sign true?" reply, "nope, it's a conspiracy, set to prevent you from printing.....muahahahahaha"

"Why can't I print" reply, "the same reason no one else can....i don't like you"

"I just hit print on ALL of my stuff, and none of it showed up" reply, "the printers are down....i put a sign up about it" their reply, "so when will this lab actually be useful" reply, "as soon as you leave....sometime after that"

"I don't have power point...how can I print a powerpoint in my room, if I don't have it?" reply, "just unplug one of these computers and carry it upstairs. I won't stop you...dont' worry. As a matter of fact, if you wait till 9, I'll help you carry it."

Anyway, all kinds of questions like that were asked of me, to the point where, I decided to put up 2 more signs. Now the doorway looks like this.

----XX----
----------
X--------X
----------
----------
----------
----------
X = sign


In order to walk in the lab now, you physically bump into the signs. People brush past them, and walk up, "so, are the printers working tonight." I'm currently searching for some sort of blunt object to end my suffering. But, since I cant' find one, I decided to update my Blog instead.

Hope ya enjoyed it....if ya don't hear from me for a few weeks, it's because I found that blunt object....and am in a better place.

-Dan out-

Back to Work

Well, I am officially working again. From now until May something, I will be working on Sundays from 3-5pm, then from 6-10pm. WHEEEEE!! There is just something about working a 4 hour shift in a computer lab....it sucks! I'll manage though, because this is the one job that lets me do basically anything I want within reason. So, tonight, I will probably be looking up lesson plan ideas for the next 7 weeks of teaching K-5th grade.

This weekend, I started the insane project of cataloging all of my comic books. I loaded up Access and created a database. Then I created a form that I can just input all the vital data into, and it is then sent over to the database. It is pretty slick, and I should have done this a while ago. I am putting in such important data as, the publisher, the title, the cover price, the artist and the writer. This will be nice when I am looking for a specific comic and then, unknowingly, but it when I already have it. I plan on cataloging all of my comic Scans as well. I figured I have around 550 comics. I'm about through 60 so far. I'm having fun though.

I watched Alien vs Predator yesterday. WOW....it was kinda bad. Not that I expected much from it, but, hey, I'm the guy who went into XXX hoping for more than Vin Deisel throwing one liners at the screen and blowing things up without his shirt on.

The latest LOST episode was pretty good. I think we have learned about everyone's background so far. Everyone except for Hurley. We also got to see another huge CGI polar bear. Good times were had.

This next week of teaching is a full week of justice. No Monday off or anything :(
And with that...I'm gonna sign off until the next post. Andrea is making a rock-tastic dinner tonight of ham, baked potatoes and salad....and I'm gonna take off and go eat it...before I go back to work at 6. Oh , that reminds me, I don't get to see the SuperBowl either. >:O That angers me a bit, but I'll survive.

-Dan out-

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....

Well, that was a great beginning, and so far, this semester has had an OK beginning. I am now at my first student teaching assignment. I get to help set up and instruct a huge number of students...something like 300 or so, and I get to be in complete control in a little over 3 weeks. WHEEEEE! I'm sure I'll manage somehow. So far, it has been going well, but I am only 2 days in so far, so I do not have a real feel for the teacher and the students yet. I'll keep ya posted.

I've been wondering just how many people really read this thing. I mean, I know that my buddy Mark does, and I know that Andrea does, but other than that....who knows. Well, here's to you Andrea and Mark, thanks for reading and I'll do my best to keep you entertained! Also, thanks Lindsay....I heard you read it as well!

My Halo2 days have been DRASTICALLY diminished! I'll manage, although I'll be thinking about how good it feels to snag dual SMG's and unload the entire clip into an opponent's body armor! I had typed a much more gruesome description as to what occurs when I have those dual SMG's in my hands, but I thought i'd spare you the details!

Still keeping up on all my shows......thanks to Efnet and their abilities. I simply hope that everything stays as it is now until June 15th! I have faith that it will.

So I'm sitting at work, "working", and there is this like ENORMOUS line waiting to use the print queue station....it's a little ridiculous. I think it will be amusing when I go, "the lab will be closing in 20 minutes" and everyone looks at their watches and see that it is 9pm. I'm hoping that everyone will be all pissed at me....like i decided to only have the lab open 4 hrs a day!

Hmmmmm, what else is going on...still don't have the car insurance card. In theory, it is active....but, we still do not have the stupid card to put in the car. I am driving it though....because I HAVE to! I called our agent today, and left a message for him to call me, although I'm not to sure what it is that he can do.

So I looked over at teh print queue station, and the screen currently has like at LEAST 50 print jobs pending sitting there. People are RIDICULOUS when it comes to print-outs!


That sucks that Chad might be leaving and going to work at John Deere. Not because he will then have money, and be able to rest easy again, but, because A: He's not gonna be around.....which isn't to horrible, since I don't have alot of time to really do anything with anyone as it is....and B: Mark will be left all alone in his humble little apartment. What will Mark do with himself.....well, I'll leave that up to everyone's imagination...hehe, (good ol' mark-o).

24 is getting kinda good. I am enjoying it thus far and will finish this season...like I always do, because I am a sucker...and I get sucked into these sucking grounds of TV shows. This show could be the biggest pile of crap EVER, and I would most likely not even notice. I'm lost in the world of 24, and no amount of crapiness will push me away...except if Kim gets kidnapped again...if that happens...I'M OUT!!

Snagged the new Astonishing X-Men by Whedon and Cassaday, and it wasn't to bad. Some kid holds the key to the whole mutant "problem" and these aliens that are trying to annihilate earth.....and well, he just killed himself. WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT!!!! I also snagged the latest Pulse comic, written by Bendis. Haven't read it yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I was just over at Marvel.com, and I noticed that Ultimate Spider-Man #71 is out, and I do not have it. It came out today and it is gonna be suweeet! I have em all so far, and lets face it, I better keep up with them. Now where did I put my piggy bank!

Other than all of that stuff, not a heck of a lot is going on. Played some X-Men Legends with Mark and Chad the other weekend, and that was quite the blast. Better than that though....was when we busted out Burnout:3. This game always sucks me in whenever I play it. There is just something about driving someone into the wall at 160mph upon which, you fly by them with Motion City Soundtrack blasting out of your half totalled car. WHEEEEE!!!

Tonight, Andrea made this like Chicken and Biscuits thing out of a box. It was pretty darn good, and I could see myself wanting to eat this again sometime. Never let it be said, that you can't eat in half an hour out of a box, and have it be good.
I'm not sure who has said that, but whoever they are, let it be known that they are WRONG!

And with that scrap of wisdom....I'm outta here. My job is calling me back...er, is it my gameboy...i'm not sure. Let me go see.

-Dan-

One week left

There is one week left until my last semester of college begins. This should prove to be an interesting one, simply because I will not be taking conventional classes, but teaching grade school and jr. high conventional classes. Good times will undoubtedly be had in a great abundance!

Andrea and I got cell phones the other week, and so now, our old land line number is no longer relevant. If you do not have my new number, e-mail me, and I'll hook you up with it.

I've been calling the insurance guy a little bit lately trying to get the 2000 Saturn that we are buying off of Andrea's grandmother switched over to our account. WHEEEE, more bills. He should be calling me back any moment with some feedback on the status of the insurance card. I kinda need to use the car starting next Tuesday....hopefully it all goes through ok!

Today marks the beginning of the re-designing and re-vamping of my website. She needs a update, and I need to get all of my art work up as well as the other links that were or are going to be present on the site. That there site has been in a constant state of "under construction" for the past year.

I'm taking Suse....the white cat, to the vet tomorrow so maybe something can be done about this cold she has had for like 2 months. It is getting kinda old for us, and I"m sure it is already old for her.

I loaded up Battlefield: Vietnam the other day, and have been playing that quite a bit today. I love that game...and I should play it more often...and now I plan to.

World of Warcraft has been put on hold until maybe summer,....or later. I will have NO time to play that game, and so....my poor little dwarf will die....haha, at the hands of Blizzard. Long live Congar!

WHEEEEE, the insurance will be here in a few days....and then that car can be driven. Actually, it can be driven right now I guess, since it went active on the 8th....but, we'll wait till we get that card, so we're officially legal while driving.

Well, Jarod just IM'ed me, with "HALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO", so I must answer his call.

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed your complete waste of about 10 minutes.

-dan out-

New UPDATE finally!

Shut up...i know, i don't update often enough. I have a life...that is all that it means. Had a good Christmas pretty much, hanging out with the family and Andrea's family are always good times. Got into playing World of Warcraft, which is a blast, but won't have enough time to put into it starting in a week, so that will be put on hold probably till summertime. I got quite a few cool gifts for Christmas, including the Spider-Man 2 game for xbox, and the Spider-Man 2 movie! Thanks Andrea!

My sister has been up here for the past week hanging out, so we've been doing just that. Alot of HALO 2 has been being played as well, because Jarod is usually on LIVE to play with most every afternoon.

Well, my friend Bill is now over in Kuwait :( That really sucks, but it's something he has to do I suppose. We all went over to Chad/Mark's apartment for a last "hang out" session which was fun, a few weekends ago. It sucked when it was over though, and I try not to think about it. WE did have fun though. We played some Halo2, we played some Poker, we played some Euchre.....and good times were had. Hopefully Bill is doing fine. I am going to e-mail him later on today.

Well, I start student teaching a week from this coming Tuesday in Rockford. That will be really weird, but I'm ready for it.....because that means one step closer to being GRADUATED!!!

This next week, I plan to revamp my website over at HakesDesign.com. Look for some actual updates in the next week or so.

I finally was able to get this program working again, that lets me find new comic books that have just came out, and even old ones. So, I have been snagging a bunch of those. If ya get a chance, read the series Y-Last Man put out by Vertigo Comics (DC). This series is so good. Every male on the entire planet dies from this plague, and there is only one guy left. Chaos breaks out....and good times are had. Check it out if you enjoy comic books.

MAtt and I went over to the like only remaining comic book store in the QC that we were able to find, over Christmas, and well, it was not a pretty site. It was the most unorganized business I have EVER seen in my life. I've been in a lot of comic book stores, but this one was in shambles. Needless to say, I will not be returning to this store again. I may not be able to find my way out of there again.

I also got a chance to hook up with Jarod and Dave over break for some Halo2 over at Dave's House. I got to meet his girlfriend, who was nice, and hang out with the two of em. Matt came along as well, and we had some GREAT 4 player games. I love Halo2 :)

We got a ton of snow this past week, and Andrea was hoping that school would be cancelled.....but, no such luck. Alot of places cancelled, but Andrea's work refused. BOOOOOOOO!

Other than all of that, not a lot has been going on. I will probably play some Battlefield Vietnam today, I just installed it last night again, and some Halo2 with Jarod this afternoon.

Until next time....I'm outta here.

-Dan-