Goodbye 2005

Goodbye 2005, Like I said I have had ups and downs within the past year. this is my last post in the old year. I am watching band of brothers right now. Its a good series, I own it on dvd. For new years I have a 6 pack of the following: Bass Ale, Guinness, Newcastle Brown Ale, and Harp. Jon (my roomate) bought a 24 pack of longnecks of miller Light, and some strawberry vodka, and some of that malibu coconut rum. I dont think I am going to have any of the hard stuff. I have to work tomorrow so thats why. We also got pizza's from papa murphys: 1 family size, 1 large, and one cheesy bread. We also have like 3 bags of doritoes and 2 boxes of reguler chips. Were having my brothers over too. I think we will have some fun. Well I will talk to you guys in the new year. Fuck you 2005, and hello 2006. Bwaaaahaaa. Later.

Lets hope 2006 is better than 2005

Well I hope you all had a good christmas. I had a alright one. Christmas eve we went my cousins house in winona. There I got some candy from one of my aunts and three boxes of shells from my dad. Yep, shot gun shells, The only time I use them is when I go deer hunting. I only used like 1 box this year and had 4 left over, so now I have 7 boxes. Well its the thought that counts. I had some bad beer, and some home made hooch. It was alright my aunt's going to e-mail me the recipe. Then on Christmas day my family and I went to my Aunts hoouse on my mom's side. It was fun, I got to talk to my cousin that I only really get to talk to when we have family events. My grandma decided when we were going to open presents. Which wouldnt have been so bad, except on the way she decided to do it. She decided that we were going to do it by families. Well My family didn't get to open presents until like an hour and 45 minutes after presents started to be opened. I really dont care when we open presents, but we had to sit there and watch everybody open theres. I kind of feel guilty opening presents in front of people and having them watch you. My Aunt didn't want my family to bring any of our presents from home, beliving that there wasnt any room. So my family didnt open our presents until like 10:45 p.m. on christmas day. Oh well I dont really care I got pretty much all the stuff I wanted.
This year sure had its ups and downs. It started out kind of crappy, but finished on an alright note. I found out what my other class grade was. I got an A. So my semester GPA is 3.3 and my cumalitive is 2.82. One more semester at Inver and then I am done with tha place, then it s off to the UofM. All I can do is try to do my best and have a positive outlook on what I do and the year should be alright. Alright people I have to go clean my room, talk to you all later.

John Engrav

Hell yeah!

Well after working back to back on the weekend and then having two finals and workig another two days back to back, I am beat. The last two days at work have been killer, nonstop people buying masses of books. Tuesday night we only had two scheduled people (me and another girl), I called another girl in and she worked for 2 hours. From when the day manager left (5:30 p.m.), to when we closed (10:00 p.m.) was a constant flow of people. It did not let up. I didnt even take my last break because it was so busy. But after that Becca and I went to applebees and had drinks. It was $1 taps and 1/2 price appetizers. It was fun, we had a good time. But She has a boyfriend so that ends that avenue of advance. oh well shes still a cool co-worker. I am so glad school is done for a couple of weeks. I actually got a C in my math class. So that means that I have no other grades lower than a C. Now my GPA is 3.18. FUCK YEAH man!!! Probably the best I have done in college yet. So I hope that means I have a pretty good chance getting into the UofM next fall. Woo-Hoo. So me and danny boy are ging out tonight and celebratin'. I am so glad that crappy semesteris over with. Although having one of my cousins in my classes was really fun. She was really homesick, so she is going to go to a community college this spring closer to home. I got her a Inver hills t-shirt kinda just saying it was cool being in the same class. Well I am going to go have lunch and then probably go take a nap. I havent really sleeped since Dec. 11. Later

John Engrav

A long Time coming

Okay everybody I know I am really late on this but here it is. Another poem! It's Titled "Men of '61" It's about the 1st. Minnesota regiment in the Civil War. I hope you guys like it.

Men of '61

The Men arrived at the fort
They came for a different sort
They came to fight for a glorious cause
But in battle they would not pause
These are the men of '61

There would be young men lost
on Fredricksburg's cold winter's frost
They fight to set other men free
They work as if a bee
These are the men of '61

They charged the fields of Gettysburg that day
For they kept the Confederates at bay
They lost 82% of there men
For that they call it a slaugter pen

Their is no glory in war only loss
for in the end you are one with the moss
The men sign up thinking it will be fun
But remember in war there is no pun
These are the men of '61

Bring it on!

I am so glad the week is over. I have had the week from hell with school. I might not pass my math class. I found out that after my test I had 63% in math. I turned in my take home portion of the test and I know I did it right. Before the class started I saw a couple people and asked them what they thought of the take home and what formulas they used. We all had the same answers. So thats good. I now have to bust my ass on studying for the final. The teacher told us what was on the final. It's like 15 questions, with 3 or 4 from the last chapter that we are on now. We can use all the notes we made for all the test we had this semester. So I think if I really get down and study hard I'll do alright.
I'm listening to Garrison Keillor again. He is so funny. He also has a weekly column in the Star Tribune titled "The Old Scout". I think I will post them on my blog here, because 1. They are really funny and 2. There is a message in what he says in his column. Here it is, was last updated December 9th.:

Garrison Keillor The Old Scout: Transcendence awaits on that frozen lake
In Minnesota in winter we can march to a different drummer, one who leads us out onto the ice.

Call me Hrothgar the Savage, but when I look at men's fashions in magazines, the models all sullen and sensitive and obviously spending much too much time on their hair, wearing sweaters made from Persian cat fur woven with feathers of snowy owls, yours for $1,495, I feel a strong urge to put on a parka and insulated pants and walk out onto a frozen lake and cut a hole in the ice and fish.

I felt the urge rather strongly the other morning as I drove along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, which was frozen over, while listening to a man talk on the radio about a book he'd written in which he explored his feelings about his father, whom he'd never felt close to. I said to him, "Oh, get over it." The ice is a good place for a man to go rather than waste time writing books about not knowing your father.

In other parts of the country, you can climb to the top of a mountain and look around. Here, we walk out on the ice.

You could be living in south Minneapolis, in a neighborhood of comfortable homes with DSL and HBO and nearby shops selling latte and cranberry scones, but if you walk a few blocks to Lake Calhoun and stride out onto the ice, suddenly you are in Tolstoy's "War and Peace," waiting for Natasha and Prince Andrei to come lickety-split through the birch forest in the sleigh. The moment you leave shore, you are gripped by a sense of grandeur.

This is all thanks to your mother, who warned you eleven thousand times to stay off the ice lest you fall through, warnings that now serve to heighten the drama, which is further heightened by the fact that every year a few men, seeking a leadership role for themselves, drive their snowmobiles onto lakes before the ice is thick enough and drown, a Darwinian moment indeed. The water is cold and the laws of physics apply to us all. But a man must do what a man must do. It's in our circuitry. Little boys of sensitive, caring parents take the dolls that they've been given and rip the legs off and use them for pistols. It's just how they're wired.

A man needs grandeur in his life, more than calcium or vitamin E, so we can get loose of tedious regimentation and blather and b.s. and escape from Gravity Week when Americans are reminded not to slip and fall, and we can march to a different drummer, one who leads us out onto the ice.

Think of grandeur as an alternative to therapy. Hercules did. He had gone mad and done terrible things, as we all do from time to time, and he purified himself by performing heroic labors such as killing the nine-headed Hydra and capturing Cerberus, the three-headed dog who guards the gates of Hades, and in this way he regained his health, and so may we, if we are brave.

In therapy, you complain about your dad not being available for you emotionally and you do it until you get tired of it and then you quit. It is whiny by nature. When you seek grandeur, you put your dad behind you and you get away from women and their endless questions (Why are you so quiet? What's wrong? What do you mean, "nothing's wrong"? What are you thinking? Why don't we ever talk? Are you listening to me? Do you think I'm too fat?) and you go off to do heroic deeds, such as write your autobiography, or drive to California, or build a cabin, or walk out on the ice.

I once led a group of winter visitors from California and North Carolina and Texas out onto White Bear Lake north of St. Paul. They had never done such a thing before. They stepped onto the ice gingerly, as if it might disintegrate under them, and walked out a hundred yards from shore, stopped, and looked around. It was a cold bright day and they trembled in the grandeur of the moment. They were speechless. They looked at me with tears in their eyes. Their noses were running. They wanted to tell me what a transforming experience this was for them, but it was indescribable, and anyway they knew I understood. We stayed as long as we needed to and then went back to the car. You don't have to go to Katmandu to experience transcendence. It's right here in Minnesota.

I hope you found out what the message was. Talk to you guys later

John Engrav

Where's my molotov?

I just got done with my math test..... I FUCKING hate this class. First I had trouble with a question that had three sub-parts, so I had to skip ahead.So I continued with the test. Then later he said that we had only 5 minutes left in the class. So I got up and asked him "if we don't finish can we go to the math center and finish up?" he said flat out with no thought "No". So I am scrambling to get every single question done before our time is up and the last one I totally got wrong, but I had to at least try it and maybe get partial credit. The one I skipped I didn't even get to. So for sure I am going to fail the class. I am so sick of it. My math class last semester, if we didnt get done, the teacher would let us finish in the math center. So I am not going to be able to graduate next semester unless I also take my math class over again. What choice do I have? none thats the answer. My dad is going to flip when he hears about this. Oh did I mention it's to late to withdraw? well it is! So my only hope is to do well on the take home portion and the final exam. Im going to go pump some iron. That will get all my hate out for a little while. I feel I want to go punch the wall a couple times. later

John Engrav

Death by Math squad

I have just got done with my math class. I am so F-ing tired of that one. I can't stand it!!! We had a take home math packet due today. Of course, the slacker that I am I waited to the last minute to do it. We were going over questions in class, there was one that I did, and did it right. I got the formula down right and got an answer. It was like 6.4299532e11 or something like that. I thought it had to be some nice huge nuber. And that one is but since it had that "e11" on it I thought it was wrong. So that was f-ing lame. I explained it to him in front of the class and all that he said was "Yeah that was the answer" Well thaaaaannnnnkkkk you Mr. Obvious. Hopefully I'll get partially credit. I talked to another girl in my class about her homework. She said that she has like 80.5% and she totally bombed it. I answered all but 2. So Im aiming for a low c on this thing. We have a test wed. and the take home portion is due on friday. I am seriously thinking I might have to take this class over again. Stupid class. I dont know why I have to know this stuff. Sure mortgage loan plans and amortizations and all that crap. But if you go in to the bank they type it in and all you have to do is sit there and look pretty while the computer spits out the data. A West Point cadet before the civil war once said "Mathmatics is from the lowest depths of hell" So true. So I am going to spend this whole first half of the week making a study guide for our next test, then work on the take home portion. Then I have to make a newsletter for my research class on my career, which is a secondary education teacher. That wont be so bad. I am so burned out. I really dont have any interest in doing anything anymore. I dont have money to get christmas presents yet, I have to pay my roomates for this months rent. And school is one giant sore on my side. But the very good news is my best friend Rich Yaeger is coming home from Iraq in less than 2 weeks. His tour is almost up. He wont be back to Minnesota until Feb., or March. Thats when we go get our Tattoo's and open up a bottle of Irish whiskey I've been saving. Well I only got 2 more weeks to go until christmas break. I'll hang in there, not that I want to, but I will, Later.

Surprise!!!!!

Well that was fun. So after school I came home and took a shower. I did that for two reasons: 1. I had just been working out at school (lifted on like 10 weight machines and ran for 10 minutes straight), so I was sweating really hard. 2. I was getting ready to ask that girl out. So I got all spifed up and my roomate and I left. He actually had to go to a wells fargo back. But I'll explain which one we went to later. I get to the bank were I do my checking and I dont see the cute girl that I want to ask out. So this older women opens a lane, I move up and start asking her a question about something that happened to my checking acount like 10 months ago. It was a real question. I was going to use it to start talking to the cute girl, but since she wasnt there it was all moot. Anyways after I get my answer about my checking account I asked the lady if Wendy had a boyfriend at all. She asked me if it was the same one that worked at the bank, so of course I said yes. Then she had a awkward smile and said that she was married!!! ..... all i could say was "oh thats nice" and made my way out of their like a bat out of hell. So that kinda sucked. Then I told my roomate about the other one that worked at the wells fargo one in burnville. So we went there and with my luck she wasnt working that day. So I was 0/2. We decidedto go to steve and barrys, were I bought a black zipup sweat shirt and a UofM t-shirt. When I told my family about this last night, we were all cracking up pretty hard. Well I have to go get ready for work. And go do some math homework too. Woo-Hoo my day starting off great.

John Engrav