Blogger Sucks

For three days, I was unable to logon to Blogger due to what Blogger called an "unexpected error." It said their "engineers" were working on the problem, but for some reason, it took three days for me to be able to log back in. In the meantime, I moved my blog to my own site:

www.holdingoutmyhands.com

Blogger sucks! I'll still be reading all of your blogs and I hope that y'all will come with me to my new home in the blogosphere!

A Good Weekend

This weekend has been relaxing and we've done a few very important and necessary things. First of all, we found a great Orthodox church only 40 minutes away from where we are staying (and our condo will only be a short distance further). Since my wife and I are used to driving an hour and 45 minutes to church, this is a big change. 40 minutes is a distance we could drive every Sunday if we wanted to. We went last night and this morning and have met a lot of great people and the priest seems really energetic, friendly, and on top of things.

After we went to church last night, we found a Mexican restaurant in Easley (Cinco de Mayo if anyone wants to try the place) that the girl at the bank had recommended. This place had some of the BEST Mexican food I have ever eaten! This may not seem like such a big deal to some of you, but our biggest concerns about moving were finding a good church and a good Mexican restaurant. Mexican food is an integral part of my life, so integral, in fact, that I think that if there were no Orthodox Church, I would go to the best Mexican restaurant I could find and worship the Lord there. Would that make me Catholic or just strange?

But, no worries, because we have found an Orthodox church, so I do not have to convert to Mexican-food-based-Christianity.

Having already picked out a place and one that won't be open until August, we've got a lot of down time, now. I resumed my Netflix subscription and rented the first season of Deadwood. This is a really good show. I wish I had gotten into it earlier. A guy at work last year kept saying he was going to let me borrow the first season, so I never rented it, and he never brought it, but now I've rented it (did anybody follow that?). I guess I'll go watch some more Deadwood, now. I hope everyone else's weekend has been as good as mine.

Bonus Check

Oh yeah, I got my bonus check in the mail today.

The weekend that never leaves our memories...

Calf Fry, we remember you in our hearts...

The last few days have been pretty uneventful, by and large. The driving trip of a few days ago was a disaster! I am glad that is over with. I had agreed to drive a 15 foot truck, and my friend ended up renting a 24 foot truck... a NIGHTMARE!!! We had trouble finding our location at all three stops, and finally broke down, switched trucks hours later, and got home at like 3 A.M. This fiasco has been followed by two quiet days. Yesterday, my wife made an amazing chicken parmesan, and today, we went to the bank and got approved for a loan to buy the condo we wanted close to campus. It's good to see that moving forward.

Today, I went to the Verizon store to complete the paperwork to switch my cell phone from my mom's family share plan to my own account, thus enabling me to e-mail pictures with my cell phone. My mom had a block on all text and pix messaging - something I can understand with three boys on her family share plan. Now, I can send pictures for 25 cents a pop, which doesn't matter when it comes to Calf Fry.

Gas to Oklahoma: $70
Calf Fry Ticket: $30
Bad Food at the OKC Arts Festival: $5
Good Food at Eskimo Joe's: $8
Pitcher of Beer: $10
Basket of Calf Fries: $4
Cross Canadian Ragweed Bumper Sticker: $2 (and $2 more from AWG)
E-mailing myself a picture: 25 Cents
An Amazing Weekend: Priceless
Thinking of Dean asking himself, "Will they ever stop talking about this?": EVEN MORE PRICELESS!

For Real, that was an awesome weekend. I was wanting all of you to see this pic because I have not smiled for a picture in this manner since I was in college. I don't know if anyone else sees this in themselves, but as I see pictures of myself in chronological order, I can see the weight of years slowly bearing down. Everyone from my wife on down says that I look so much younger in this picture than I have in years. When you find yourself having so much fun that the years seem to just go away, there's no feeling like it. We need more calf fries... especially after I ate all of them!!!

The more things change...

...the more things stay the same. It seems that I've found some sporadic employment delivering bulk political mail in a rental truck through three states (GA, SC, NC). It seems that I cannot stay out of these big trucks! Hopefully, this time, I will learn to keep my ego under control. I don't know if I shared this, but I did $160 worth of damage at the storage facility where I keep my stuff. Just when I thought I was getting the hang of that 24 foot truck (I was literally thinking at the moment, "I'm really getting the hang of this!"), the side of my truck hit a guard pole as I was turning. No matter how much it may seem, I need to remember that I am not in control of the road - no matter how big of a truck I am driving!

I hope that AWG will pray to St. Christopher for my safe and damage-free travel.

A College Degree: Does it Mean Anything at All?

I found a good article in the Greenville News, linked from SC Hotline. Last Friday, three Republican candidates for lieutenant governor engaged in a friendly debate. One of the issues that came up was whether Mike Campbell, the son of former governor Carroll Campbell, was fit for the job given his lack of a college degree. Campbell downplayed what the paper called a "lack of a few hours," saying, "I've never been one of these people that has associated leadership with a diploma hanging on the wall." Of course, the other two candidates were affable and said nothing of it. Henry Jordan, one of Campbell's opponents, responded, "Some of the smartest people I've known never darkened the door of a college. You can be an effective leader without a degree."

I would tend to agree with both of these statements taken at face value, but is there a little more to it when we're talking about the son of a former governor? In an age where people overcome poverty, get up to their ears in debt, and/or take care of a child while working on and completing a degree, should we just brush off the fact that Campbell - who is from an unquestionably privileged background - did not finish college? I'm not really prone to look the other way, in this case. It requires very little resilience or self-discipline for someone from a privileged background to complete college. I had an easy enough time finishing up with a 3.6 GPA. How much easier would it have been for me to graduate with a minimal 2.0? I don't even want to think about it! I was a doctor's kid, so I had more advantages than most, but not nearly the advantages of the son of one of the most powerful men ever to be involved in South Carolina politics.

In light of this, I wish that at least one of Mike Campbell's opponents would have had the balls to raise some serious questions, because when it comes to a governor's kid, I'm not satisfied with the whole "plenty of good people don't finish college" bit.

SC Hotline

I've been back in South Carolina for about two days now and have had some down time. I took a friend's advice and checked out SC Hotline, a site that gives its readers a Drudge Report style digest much like The Dead Pelican does in Louisiana. Although I was born in Louisiana and have spent most of my life there - and however interesting people say Louisiana politics are or were - I really never gave a damn about what was going on. This is partly because I never really felt that the conservative movement had a voice in the state. Any attempt to pass something innovative like school choice seemed to be crushed by the special interests that rule that God-forsaken state.

Anyway, expect some posts concerning South Carolina politics in the near future. As far as my life goes, there's not a whole heck of a lot going on. While I planned to fill in some gaps of my last week of work, I've pretty much shaken the dust off my feet when it comes to that place. I hope that you readers understand. I'm looking forward, and on my horizon are the June 13th primary elections. Although I won't be able to vote, it's still going to determine who ends up on the ballot on November when I will be voting.

Here's another cool website that someone made: http://www.electionmania.com. The site is set up by Conservatives in Action. It's got a great cartoon with a boxing match between a Reagan Republican and a "RINO" (Republican in Name Only). Check it out!

Check out this blog!

I have listed a new blog and feel a need to plug it:

http://2complx.blogspot.com/

TC has evidently resumed his dormant blog and is posting various observations and I find them very funny. Blankharddrive, you really need to check this one out (and so does everyone else). Just click TC the way I see it on my sidebar or press any of these links.

As for me, I've been enjoying myself at my wife's grandmother's house. Some couples go to a bed and breakfast to relax... my wife and I have gone to a bed and three excellent meals, plus snacks! You can't beat this with a stick!

I'm about to go see a childhood friend (ironically, from South Carolina) get married, then spend one more night here in Louisiana before heading to South Carolina for good.

Maybe it is over...

My wife and I actually slept at the same place last night for the first time in a few days. She had been staying with her parents, while I stayed at my friend's apartment with his strange black cat while he was on vacation. She decided to join me at my friend's place. The cat decided to let us sleep until 9:30 or so... much better than my first night when she started to get very playful around 5:15!

While yesterday included a small bit of stress concerning my former place of employment, today did not. Before 10:00, I got in touch with an accountant at the school district office who told me it was illegal for my check to be held for any reason and said that she would get my check sent to her office, then to me, or something like that. At first, she told me to call my school concerning my check, then I said, "I don't know if you've ever worked for [Name of Principal]..." at which point the accountant laughed quite loudly and after that she was quite helpful. Evidently, my principal told the folks downtown that I had not turned in my keys, which differs from the story given to me that there was a problem with my grades... blah. It was good to find a helping hand and know that I am now finally free of this nonsense.

This afternoon, my wife and I took a nap, and when I awoke, I began to notice that I felt different. For the past year and a half or so, my self-image has been clouded by a feeling of self-loathing, defeat, or whatever you call it. My experiences this school year have amplified this feeling, but it was there even the previous year when I began to get unhappy with things at work. For so long - especially since November when I decided to apply to grad school - I have been waiting to take the next step with my life. This afternoon, I was hit with the realization that now, I am actually taking the next step with my life.

We left [Name of City] this evening and made the first leg of our journey to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where a friend of mine is getting married on Saturday. After that, we'll be on our way to our new life and meetings with bank reps and the real estate agent.

It ain't over...

Every May, teachers in our parish get a bonus check from the school district. The money comes from some sales tax that was passed years ago. It's usually just tacked onto our check and direct deposited with the rest of our funds... but not this time. This time, it came in the form of a paper check delivered straight to [Name of School]. I got a heads up from a couple of friends on the faculty who told me that the principal planned to hold my check unless I came in for my exit interview or whatever.

Well, if that bitch thinks that I'm going to lose any sleep about $2,000, she's got another thing coming. For one, the district is legally obligated to see that I receive that money before it's all said and done. Secondly, my year of teaching at [Name of School] has made me into one patient motherfucker. I never could say that about myself before (the patient part, that is), so I guess I have picked up a valuable trait from this stint of teaching in hell. I've never been a paycheck to paycheck kind of guy. If I get the money now or I get it in July or August, it doesn't make much difference.

You know, this sort of thing would have really pissed me off a year ago, but now, I just tend to lay back and let things roll. The Feanor who would have once stormed in and said, "You better give me my fucking money!" is not really the strong voice in my head, anymore. Sure, I thought about it and it would have been pretty funny, but it would have been playing right into the principal's hand. I'm through with all that shit and no sum short of a million - tax free - will have my ass crawling back onto that campus. As Z-Ro the rapper says, "I'm not a ho." That shit can't fade me, bee-otch! (Sorry for all the profanity, people, I'm working it out of my system!)

I awoke this morning with none of the feeling of dread that usually accompanies waking up on a weekday, and I liked it... a lot. I'm free and it feels good... and it'll feel even better when I'm not homeless!