Vacation in Jax
Current mood: happy

So the first update in a while. This will seem random, maybe boring, interesting in point #6, but bear with me:

1. Work. So I have done an offshore wireline job as the lead engineer. So far I have done 4 jobs total, and my gross revenue generated is over 1 million dollars. It would take me 30 jobs and 5 months to do that on land. My recent job was in 6700 feet of water, about 150 miles off in the Gulf of Mexico. That's called "ultradeep" (meaning in more than 5000 feet of water). It was pretty impressive to be on that rig.

2. Friends. So I'm in Jax for a few days visiting friends and family. Hopefully will catch up with Scott Hopkins and Andrew Chiang. I got in touch with Matt Bowser (still living in Alaska) this week -- that was awesome. He has two beautiful kids -- check him out at http://matthewnkim.blogspot.com/. Also briefly chatted with Glynda Hailey (MSM coordinator form UF now working at AVMed) and Ryan Hajdaj. I will also celebrate my sister Alaina's birthday on Saturday, which is also my twin nephew/niece's birthday as well!

3. Workout. I have changed my workout routine for the first time in about 3 years. I've kept the same workout since I left college, when Lance Carroll and I worked out for a couple years together. It was very useful to someone who didn't have a spot and consisted of 4-set exercise: dumbbell press, preacher curl, butterfly, tricep extension, bicep curl. The workout was very good in increasing biceps, and maintaining everything else. My "new" routine is focused on more "total" exercises and legs. It is: row, dumbbell press, squat, calf raise, preacher curl, tricep extension, hamstring pull, leg extension, chin up. The goal here is more total strength and focus on legs.

4. Phone. I got a nice phone a couple of days ago and switched to Cingular wireless after a 6 year relationship with Verizon. I really don't have much to complain about verizon -- they had coverage in some of North Dakota when I lived there, so that was great. But Cingular just had a better plan, a good phone, and a company discount. Hopefully I'll figure out how to use the phone ;)

5. Coworkers. So there is a guy that I work with, Theo Feriera, who is almost identical to Richard Dubay. He is even left handed, and unbelievably, went by the nickname "duby" in high school. I think that I'm living in the twilight zone.

6. Shower mirror. So in the effort of saving time in the morning I bought a fogless mirror for my bathroom so that I can shave in the shower. While this has reduced approximately 120 seconds off my morning routine, there has been a more...sinister....consequence. If there is anyone with a queasy stomach, weak heart, elderly, expectant mothers, or future mates, I ask that you not read the rest of this entry. So I used to "sing" in the bathroom. I know, I know, I'm still working on just talking, why would I try to sing? My new mirror comes with an FM tuner and cd player. While at first you might think, "well now there is real music, you have no need to sing," and you'd be right. But there was an unforeseen result, which resulted in a much, MUCH more deviant behavior.

I now dance in the shower.

I will answer the obvious, yet expectant question in your head right now that you are too embarrassed to ask. Yes. Yes, I do take showers naked. And if there is anything in the world that I do worse than sing, it is dance. And much unlike salt -- in which a highly poisonous substance (chlorine) can mix with an extremely explosive substance (sodium) to produce something not harmful, but beneficial to the human body, my nakedness and bad dancing ability in NO WAY somehow cancel each other to produce a beautiful thing. I'm lucky I'm still single, because if I ever had a partner, I could have seriously injured her. And if anyone, particularly male, has ever danced naked, you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about.

Ok, so I've covered the boring, mundane, and way too personal. Mission accomplished.

Secret to whiter teeth? Eat more peanuts!
Category: Life

I would have chose "hygiene" for my category, but they didn't have that.....

Anyway, for Christmas, my mother got me this "5 minute whitening" solution from Crest. (Not that my teeth are yellow or anything, it's just my mother, she just wants her son to have bright teeth, like Paul Newman, that's all.) I started using it. Problem is, I don't usually have the time to sit down for five minutes while I put baking powder on my teeth. Solution? I do it anytime I sit down on the toilet for the usual business. This seemed to work, except that I don't "go" enough. Well, after much thought (because I do not want to be ungrateful and spurn my mother's gift), I realized that peanuts are one of the few foods that makes me "go" more often.

So, if I want whiter teeth, I'll just eat more peanuts. I'm halfway through my 1 lb can of Planter's.

--boone

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Tired and creating a musical wish list
Current mood: tired

So I'm about to fly out to a BP rig -- the deep water horizon. It's a pretty nice, very large rig. The nice thing is that the BP heliport is here in Houma, and they generally put us on the noon flight, so I can sleep in before we fly out.

But....for some reason I couldn't sleep at all. I've been up since 6:30 rolling around in my bed and finally getting up at like 8:00. Because of this, I'm all packed up and have some time to "blog".

So the following is a list of songs, that, if I could play guitar, I would learn. The order below is not significant, but these are the first songs that I would try to learn for better or worse. I need any suggestions that you guys have!

Simple Man by Lynard Skynard

Lake of Fire by Nirvana

Pretty much every song on Weezer's blue album

It is well with my soul by I don't know who

If that Ain't Country by David Allen Coe

And if I knew electric guitar, I'd include several others, tops among them would be Yellow Led Better by Pearl Jam...which reminds me, a friend sent me the mysterious lyrics here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLd22ha_-VU

I'm in charge of the shop -- quick call for tool loans!
Current mood: content

We're having a special on OBMI's -- ask for 2 get a 3rd for free!!

So it is funny. When I lived in North Dakota & Montana, I was always on call. I was the senior engineer, and we didn't have secretaries. So I handled anything that came through the shop. This was my first day doing that in Louisiana, and I was a lot less confident than I expected. But this is how you get better, right?

In other news, MY PARENTS ARE COMING TO HOUMA! That's exciting, because my parents need a break from my loving sisters that can wear them down. I also get to show them my life. I mean, this is the first apt I've ever lived in that I bought decorations for. We'll also be taking a swamp tour on an air boat and a fishing charter.

Also, Ian Otto who is getting married July 20th, just broke his ankle in 3 spots last night. So we (the groomsmen) might be wearing shorts to the ceremony so that he doesn't stand out :)

later

Two funerals and a wedding
Current mood: contemplative
Category: Life

Well I was almost to Tallahassee when I got a phone call from John Harrell. He had called me twice while I was in Atlanta on Monday, but I was busy and just figured I'd call him back when I could...

His father, Andy Harrell, passed away on Sunday.  I turned around back to Jax.

John is one of the best people that I've ever met on earth. I say that without hyperbole. His grasp on Christian living in today's world is like none other. He does not judge, but loves the lord. He always assumes the best in people, which is something that I struggle with, because he always has the best in him. This quality makes him the most capable person I know to offer construct criticism. I mean, he is an artist at it. John will be honest with you and you come away without the feeling defensive. Now of coarse he has his faults, like the time that he broke up with that girl over email. Or when he broke up with the other girl by ordering dinner, asking for the bill, and then leaving the restaurant (now in his defense that one had "cheated" on him). But for the most part, especially if you're not considering how he ends relationships, he is just a great human being. And he did save my life. We were roommates one year and went out surfing. Near the mouth of the St. Johns. During a North-Easter. During a small-craft advisory. When there was no one else. Needless to say I ended up getting rescued about a mile out to sea in a Navy helicopter that John had sent after he was slammed into the rocks, cut up (requiring dozens of stitches *all over* his body and plastic surgery to his face), and swam 200 yards to shore. He literally saved my life.

Anyway, Andy was his father. I met him at least 6 or 7 times. And we got along really well. He went to school with my mother and father. He was *always* laughing and telling corny jokes (which, if you know me, you know that I love). The ironic thing is that John is a nurse. And when my dad started getting really sick and looked like he was going to die with his lung disease, John would talk to me about it all the time. And now, 4 years later, my dad (though still sick) is alive and John's dad is dead. I can' remember the short story that I read in high school about the 4 men who escape a capsized ship on a little dingy. The dingy flips near an island and the 4 men try to make it to shore. They all make it except for the one man who was in the best shape of them all. The author wanted to show the power and randomness of nature. And I guess the irony of life. That's a pretty good allegory for what has happened here.

So I'm back in Jax, for my 2^nd funeral this week. And Ian's marriage. And a good time in Atlanta. Life really is a "chasing after the wind." There is a time for everything under the sun as stated in the same book (Ecclesiastics).

Best advice from a song ever!
Category: Music

The best advice I think that I've ever had from any song, ever written, is from Kenny Rogers' The Gambler. Press and hold "shift" and click on this link to hear the song while you read this blog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn481KcjvMo I'll now give you my allegorical interpretation of the lyrics. This may be obvious for some, but I have some non-US readers and I'll be basic so that there is nothing lost in the slang.

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You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,

When you are dealt cards, if you think you have the best cards in the game, you hold onto them and play the round. Otherwise, if you think your cards would lose, you "fold" or give up. In life you have to make choices, often without all the information that you would like – much like in a card game where you know what you have in your hand, but you do not know the other player's cards. You still have to decide, and knowing when to "go for it" or to "give up" is a key part of being sucessful in your life.

Know when to walk away and know when to run.

Card games in the old west were notorious for violence. If the other players thought you were cheating (even if you were not), they could take your money, beat you up, or kill you. This would happen especially if you were winning a lot. Knowing when to walk away, even if you are leaving some potential earnings behind, could let you get out with what you have already earned and maybe save your life. So not being too greedy with your life, knowing when to walk away with what you have won, will also bring success. Knowing when to run is the extreme case when you are in trouble and walking won't be fast enough ;)

You never count your money when youre sittin at the table.

To be successful in gambling, or life, you need full concentration. When the cards are being dealt, maintain your focus on *what you are doing right then*. Do not be distracted by events that have already happened or may have no bearing on the immediate decision. That is, do not worry about hands that you have already won or lost, or decisions that have gone good or bad for you – neither affects your current decision. Do not worry about the peripheral stuff, and concentrate on the decision (knowing when to hold, or when to fold) right then and there.

 

Therell be time enough for countin when the dealins done.

 

Knowing where you stand in life is important, but just "count your chips" at the appropiate time. Once the dealing is done, then you can stop and take stock of your success or failures.

Now evry gambler knows that the secret to survivin

Again, gambling mimics life.

Is knowin what to throw away and knowing what to keep.

Another way of saying knowing when to hold them and when to fold them.

cause evry hands a winner and evry hands a loser,
And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.

 

Every choice in your life, like every hand in a poker game, can be a winner, or a loser, no matter what. If you play the game (live life) you will be dealt bad hands (bad choices) now and then. That is a fact. These can still be "winners" because then your goal is to cause your opponnets to win as little as possible on a hand where they could have won a lot. Likewise, you can ruin a great hand, even if you win that hand, by not getting as much money as you could have with your cards. So, in life, you will occasionally have to make a tough choice, and if you minimize your loses, that actually is a way to stay successful.

So when hed finished speakin, he turned back towards the window,
Crushed out his cigarette and faded off to sleep.
And somewhere in the darkness the gambler, he broke even.
But in his final words I found an ace that I could keep.

Obviously the gambler dies. But what I like about it is that Kenny called it "breaking even" – because that's the best you can hope to do in life.

That’s it -- he like state’s rights -- I’m voting for Romney
Current mood: happy
Category: News and Politics

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070822/ap_po/romney_ap_interview

I know it's early, and I always reserve the right to change my mind, but this is the first presidential candidate in recent history that I can recall championing states rights. I'm now an official Romney fan.

In other news, I just got a new CD: The Almost -- Southern Weather. A side project of Underoath. A lot softer than underoath, I'd say with a sound in between Gin Blossoms and Foo Fighters. Good stuff so far.

This is my 10 days off, so hopefully I'll post a couple blogs up on the pizage.

News, news, get your news here!
Current mood: excited

The real reason why I haven't blogged so much lately:

I've been driving rather than flying on my days off. That's right, anyone who reads these posts frequently know that I usually get my updates in during layovers. Well, I have put over 17k miles on my mazda 3 since I bought it new in December. So fewer updates. But I'm now in the Atlanta airport an hour ahead of my flight...

But for those patient few, this update will be worth it. I will guarantee 2 – count 'em 1, 2 – news worth events that will make this an interesting blog.

News worthy event number 1:

Just came back from my trip to Atlanta to visit a wonderful young lady that I've met named Laura. I saw the Braves play the Cardinals a few weeks ago with her, and had a really good time. Well we've been talking since then, and met again this past weekend. Saw the Alps, watched bluegrass, ate waaaay too much, and found a river. All in all another great time, and we're both expecting more in the future. I know, I know, at the very least this has delayed my mom from contacting a Russian mail order bride agency for a few more months (though she still might contact one for Richard Dubay by the end of the year – tic toc, tic toc).

News worthy event number 2:

I need to apologize to Alaina Baxter, my younger sister. You see, I have given her a hard time for keeping the "single" status on her myspace page -- despite the fact that she was in a relationship. This lead to many smart-aleck comments on her myspace page, as well as her ringtone being Gold Digga by Kayne. Well, it seems that I need to the same thing now, after this weekend with Laura. You know it's serious with the ceremonial changing of the myspace status. So any prayers, cards, and donations can be sent to my Houma address. J But, on the serious side, so far getting to know Laura has been a great encouragement for me – so all's good in the hood. Any additional information would have to be granted on a personal basis!

I also was able to run into Phill Graham for dinner. Always great to see Phill the thrill. It amazes me, he has now been at Ga Tech longer than he was at UF, and we haven't lived in the same city in over 5 years, and yet when we see each other, it is the *exact same* friendship that we had years ago. It's as if nothing has changed.

All in all I'd say a pretty good weekend ;)