Interesting things to note...


http://www.artofselfpromotion.com/

I came across this link randomly and was like- wow- I am always talking about starting a website called www.selfpromoters.com- someone beat me to it!

Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament- Cramped seating, finger food, and a really good show- I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Magic Time Machine- The food took forever, I found that if I could make a living waiting tables there I probably would, our waitress was funny- once again- 3 out of a possible 5 stars.

I posted some new pics- some, not all- I have so much more to post- sometimes I can't get my act together.

Charlies Angels Full Throttle was good- but a little Vulgar- funnier than the first one.

I watch too many movies

I still haven't gotten my Harry Potter book!

Cody and Dumas are back in town- I missed them tons.

I still have not seen Nathan's new place- I bet it is superfly- I need to get him a house warming gift.

Okay- that is all that is noteable at the moment-

My Girl is the Best!

I am breaking my rules- I have met someone special and normally I don't post a lot about my personal personal life on this site- But my girl MADE ME SOME COOKIES!! A big tin with Sponge Bob Square Pants stickers on them!! I am a little vexed, I wanted to surprise her with something wonderful first, but she is speedy!

Angie- if you are reading this- you are awesome- you made my day- AND THE COOKIES ARE DELICIOUS- (Insert picture here of me doing Cartwheels!)

I get to see her this weekend, she is in San Antonio- I can't wait!

Being Creative is Hard!

My head hurts, I try to think of creative ideas and none come. I take a course in Creative thinking, it helps, but I find that sometimes I am still blocked! Rhymes don't come, the flow of words is dammed up, I become dry and parched like a desert, cracking, wilting, fading away into nothingness. Water, wa cough, cough, wa-tter... Something to quench this dry spell, rain down on me right now Oh Lord above, thunder the heavens, bring forth the clouds and drench me with words, something. Do not hold back, think back to Noah, remember the Ark- then think of me.

I cannot tell you why I need to be creative, to do so would thwart my creativity even more. But I find that I am most creative when I am listening to an Unsung Psalm by Tracy Chapman. Or "Somewhere over the Rainbow" by Israel Kamakawiwoole - but lately, I need more. I am reminded of a song we used to sing at church, Send out the rain "Lord, Send down the rain Lord, we need the light of rain, we need the rain Lord, we need the rain Lord, we need the light of rain" At the time it made sense- now it makes none. Perhaps the words are not exact, but that is how I remember them.

So now I inhale deeply, the scent of effervescent peach- this is not imaginary as in other posts- I really do have a peach here at my desk. It is firm, and juicy- I don't like peaches from a can, they are mooshy- I don't like mooshy- please don't make me eat the mooshy!

So, now I cast my eyes aside
look at me not! I have no pride
I am but a bag, full of air
I digress in my despair
Words they run, the scurry from me
My tree is bare, I have no leaves
I stand bereft, I stand cold
Warm me up! Release the hold
That chokes me down, it keeps me back
my pen is dry, the ink is black
the colors are gone, I am empty
I seem to have lost, my creativity...

The Italian Job

I saw this last night at 10:20. It was good, but like I told my buddies- they showed ALL the movie in the previews. You knew they were going to get the gold, you knew how they were going to do it, you even knew that Charlize Theron was going to get to punch Edward Norton in the end. There were no surprises, but it was still a good movie. Like the reviewers from www.rottentomatoes.com said, "It is just a fun no brainer".

I set up VPN access today on my home computer. I support this at my job. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, just in case you didn't know. With out set up all you need is a router and the VPN client made by Cisco. It took me 5 minutes to download everything and install it, set up my email, download some software that is work related and now I am good to go- I can work from home. I am not going to, but I wanted to see why my customers always have so much trouble with this. Now I am even more perplexed than I was before. Sometimes I will spend 3 HOURS trying to help someone set this up. I don't know where the breakdown in communication is, but I think I could train a monkey to install this set up, not that the employees that I support are monkeys, I think sometimes there problems are legitimate, but every now and then it is just plain user error.

Someone is in my refrigerator! I must investigate...

eddo

Apprehensive

Sometimes I am apprehensive about change. I get into a routine, and I am afraid to change it. Lately I find that I have been changing my routine quite a bit and I often wonder why it causes me so much anxiety. So maybe I stay up a little later and get up a little later- what does it really matter? Maybe I start a new job in the Fall student teaching and I have to wait tables to make ends meet- what's the big deal? Maybe I start a long distance relationship and I don't really know how to proceed? It's part of life- you try it out, see if it works, if it doesn't, then you move on. So why does it always make me ancy? Are all people this way? Is it a guy thing?

I am also not a good phone talker. I feel like I have to have a reason to call you. I can't just call up and say "hello", I have to call up and say, "How was the movie", "How was your trip", "When do I get to see you again?" It can never just call you for no reason. Even if I am excited to talk to someone, someone that I know really well, like my mother- comfortable conversation can still be a strain for me. I am always pausing too long or too little. I overtalk and undertalk, I talk too loud, I talk too quiet. I hold my breath so my voice will be deeper and even toned, my mind wanders, I concentrate too much, I press the phone to my ear too hard, my arm gets tired of holding the phone, I think the silence means that you have dropped off and I have been talking to dead air for 5 minutes- it's crazy.

Anyway, I met someone new. She is off in San Antonio right now- I like her- I am not sure how she feels about me, but we are testing the waters right now. It's just nice and simple, and I like nice and simple.

And hopefully you can intuit the rest of what this email means without reading too much into it.

Love you all.

eddo

Sometimes I reread these posts and I wonder if I am on crack when I write them? hmmm...

Well, today I played Paintball, went to Babes Chicken Shack, and went to see The Hulk- Happy Birthday Taylor! Taylor Talburt turned 15 on the 17th and we celebrated his birthday with quite the celebration. I have new pics, most of them taken inside Babes, but new nonetheless.

I did not get the new Harry Potter book either- I stayed up till midnight lastnight hoping to get a copy, but just the people that pre-ordered numbered close to 500 I am sure, so I wasn't about to wait till all those people got theirs just to see if there were any left. Nope. I went home, got in bed, and overslept for paintball. I NEVER oversleep, and I hated myself for oversleeping today.

Oh well.

Now I am off to see my Aunt Jan who is in town- I must get pictures of that as well- they will all be posted soon.

Eddo

Starbucks (PG-13)


I like coffee- iced and blended with chocolate syrup. It may cost me 4.17 for a Venti, but when it tastes this good, I will happily handed over my abe lincoln and tip them with the change. The people at Starbucks are perky, almost too perky, as if they have been sampling the merchandise a little too often. When I first walked into this room, I suddenly felt enchanted, not unlike Edmund and Lucy might have felt when they were in the enchanted forest in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". I needed to use the bathroom in this magical place, and so I proceeded to the facilities. Even in this small 8x8 room, with it's half-formica-d walls in soothing browns and ballroom golds, I felt a feeling of peace. I wondered if this entire place had been designed by some Asian that was skilled in the Art of Feng Shui? Perhaps. As I was standing there I always have a habit of looking to the ceiling to see if there are concealed video cameras. I have heard so many stories about hidden cameras in hotels and everywhere else that I feel the need to always scope every vent, and then, I like to make faces, just in case there is indeed a camera. Sometimes I pepper the faces with expletives, sometimes I just stick out my tongue. If I am going to end up on the internet, then I am going to atleast have some smarmy knowing look on my face. And by the way, I was just kidding about the expletives- this site is rated G- or PG except for that one picture in my Random Crap album- I guess that picture is PG-13.

Harry Potter is Coming!!!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

The latest Hairy Potter book- book 5 in a 7 book series, the much awaited book 5- will be here on Saturday! I can't wait. I plan to attend one of these Barnes and Noble midnight parties. I may dress up as Albus Dumbledore, or Mr. Snape- I haven't decided yet. I will tell you how it goes, let's just say, I haven't been this excited about anything since I heard about Legally Blonde 2- Red, White, and Blonde.

On another note- please take some time to view my latest album posts. Most of them are simple, one is PG-13, but there are 3 new ones- Kimbell, Random Crap, and Paintball Boys- oh, and a 4th one- Cribby's tool shower. Surprisingly all of these pics were on just two rolls of film- one roll was a forgotten roll that I had developed. And Alan found another roll under the seat of my truck the other day- and I will have it developed to see what surprises lie in store.

Other than that, I am still job hunting- I need to find a teaching position for the fall- if anyone has any ideas- please send them my way-

I love you.

Eddo

The Weekend of 60,000 Calories-

Here is the list of what I ate this weekend.

Saturday Morning- Biscuits and Eggs
Saturday Lunch- Tortilla Soup- Queso, Chips, Salsa, Tortillas, and AMAZING guacamole
Saturday Dinner- Pizza from Pizzaria Uno-

Sunday Morning- Fajitas and Eggs at Taco Cabana
Sunday Lunch- Chicken Parmesan at Luigi's with Dad
Sunday Dinner- Chicken wings, Chicken Flautas, Beef Nachos- from KFC and On the Border


All I did this weekend was play and eat, play and eat. Fortunately I had a great game of Ultimate Frisbee in the rain Saturday night to help burn some of the Calories I consumed. Ugh. Anyway, Saturday I went to see King Tut at the Kimbell Art museum. It was good, it was fascinating, but it was crowded! For some reason I expected the Museum to be this quiet place where you went and looked and studied and deciphered the hieroglyphics, and spent time ogling these ancient artifacts. Instead, it was a hurried read and listen, read and listen. I try to be considerate, and I know that I am not a small person, so I moved rather quickly after I got an eyeful. Fortunately, I have a photographic memory and so I still carry with me the images burned into the film of my brain. I also took some pictures which should be posted sometime this week- most likely Thursday- I had to take them with a real camera since I haven't figured out a way to download images from my head. And what if that were a possibility? Then you would literally be able to see things through my eyes. Being taller than almost everyone all the time has its advantages. I often wonder what it must be like to be short and to never know that on the top of my refrigerator is a layer of dust an inch thick. Or to not be able to reach things on the top shelf without a foot stool. When you always have to look up at people, do you always see the underside of their chin? I never do unless I am sitting down, and I rarely talk to people when I am sitting down, but when I do, I make sure to note what the underside of their chin looks like from this view. Enough about chins.

I also watched "The Emperors Club" this weekend. I thought it was sensational. I loved every detail. I love tradition, and prep schools where they really make you learn, I love emblems, and purpose and meaning and integrity, and truth- this movie incorporated all these elements and I loved it. I also watched Cats and Dogs- also a great movie to watch when you are in the mood for something fun and light. And I did quite a bit of reading of my newest Koontz purchase- "The Face". I also had lunch and dinner with Dad on Sunday- and had dinner with some friends on Sunday as well- it is a long story as to how that worked out- but it did, and it was fun. Since I work till 10 on Friday night I have to maximize my Saturday and Sunday- so there you have it-

My Dad

I have journeyed many miles, in my 27 years.
I have laughed more than most, and shed a lot of tears.
I have known what it means to have and have not
I have learned to be content with what I already got.
I have searched high and low, wide and deep
I have traveled through time, I have studied Socrates
I have searched the Net, I have searched the seas
I have wondered many places, I have crawled on my knees
Searching nooks and crannies, all crevices all cracks
And what I have found, what each one of them lack
Is my Dad, my father, my friend indeed
What kind of place would this world be?
If not for you, your guidance and direction
You provided security, warmth and protection.
You taught me to fish, you taught me to swim
You taught me to drive, to be a leader of men
You taught me work, you taught me to see-
The good in others and the good in me.
You still teach me now, I watch and I learn
From a distance I see, the treasure you earn
Not here on Earth, but stored up above
You build not with money, but with hours of love
Foundations of truth, girded with integrity
Honor, and Strength, peace, and purity
God is mysterious, we know not his ways
But I thank him for you, for all of the days
The days that I’ve known you, the times that we’ve had
I thank him for you- I thank him for Dad.

Happy Fathers Day

Fathers Day

I just went shopping at Golden Triangle Mall in Denton for my daddy.

I thought about getting him some cologne, but my nose is still stopped up and I can't really smell and I don't like trying to smell when I can't.

Then I decided to go and purchase him some clothes. I am not a man of many means, so Old Navy became my destination. Once there I was thrust into Cargo Shorts World and soon became entangled in the Euphoric Bliss that is Old Navy. They have every kind of Cargo short imaginable, AND they had them in MY size- I totally forgot about my dad and started trying on various styles of shorts. I found these really cool ones with Air Force like patches on them- so I scooped them up and I got a "signature eddie blue" "All American" t-shirt to compliment the ensemble. I then still needed to get my dad something, so I got out of Old Navy before I spent more money, even though my total purchase did not exceed 40 bucks.

At Gap I found a myriad of cool shirts, plaids, stripes, solids, but the prices were not wallet friendly so I jaunted over to the Sale Rack- I love sale racks. Anyway, once again, they had NOTHING for my dad, but they had a pair of pants on sale 12.99 in MY size! OH Happy Day! I quickly threw them on the counter with a crisp new Hamilton- I love using CASH to purchase stuff, credit/debit cards are SO out, all the cool people are carrying large wads of cash.

Well, it was time to get to work- and still having purchased nothing for my dad, I had a few good ideas on what to get him- I just hope that I can go back to Old Navy without buying for myself!

Raining Cats and Dogs...

Last night I thought I was going to DIE! It was raining so hard and I was driving along 380 behind this truck and we had to come to a complete stop a couple of times because you just couldn't see where you were going. I was freaking a beak. I am not afraid of storms. Our house burned down in 1990 when it was struck by lightning and I am not afraid of lightning, but driving down a road in torrential rains when I can't see- period, that frightens me.

So, I started to get out my cell phone and call all my loved ones and say goodbye because I knew the end was near, but I held out for about 30 minutes and about 5 miles painstakingly slow driving and soon it cleared up enough that I knew I was going to survive.

I prayed so hard last night, and when the rain cleared up, I knew that God was listening. And then I drove like a banshee the rest of the way home before God changed his mind.

American Juniors!!!

This is possibly the best show on TV right now. The kids version of American Idol may be better because of the parents! I laughed my butt of watching all those people busting a move. I laughed even more when parent after parent self-promoted without shame. One mom commented, "Uh, Yes, I have a CD coming out at the end of the month." Another mom said, "I am just 32 so I have a LOT more years left, A LOT.... Then she looked at the Camera and said, "You need Dancers, Actors, Reporters? Remember- Katie Catalani" I bet I heard her last name about 25 times and she never talked about her kid, it was always about herself. Sounds like she is a candidate for www.selfpromoters.com.

Other than that- I typed up the longest blog about my weekend. About how I got to see Braun and Field and Alan, but then, blogger has been down all week and so I just gave up trying to post anything.

Hope this works- and you can catch AJ on Fox on Tuesday nights at 7!!

Growing Up.

I am now a ripe ol’ age of 27. Growing up is getting easier and easier to do, but as I age I realize that I am becoming more and more traditional, and being more traditional means being like my dad.

When I was about 15 or 16 I can recall wearing these jeans with the ass completely out of them. No ass at all. Just a big hole. So, I thought by wearing these shorts underneath, that it was no big deal, but looking back I must have looked like a total piece of brown trash.

I worked with my dad as a painter during the summer and I thought since I was painting these pants were fine, besides, most of the time it was just me and my dad anyway. Well, I remember my dad seeing these pants for the first time and noticing that the ass was missing in them and he was like, “eddie, why are you wearing those pants?” he was just asking a question, but I knew what he was really thinking. “What in tarnation is wrong with this boy?” Personally I thought I was making a statement of individuality, a statement of, “I don’t care”, but in reality I just looked stupid and unkempt.

I tell you all of this because recently I have seen two adults who have been at my home that were very untraditional in their attire. I won’t point out too many details in an attempt to avoid revealing who they are, but let’s just say that when I saw them, my face smiled, but my head said, “Ew”.

I don’t think that looking a certain way is acceptable if it is acceptable to you, if you do think that way, then I don’t want you around me- not looking like that anyway. Some people say “To each his own”, but I say, be “All American”. I like the clean cut look, I like shaggy hair, and I don’t mind a couple of piercings, I ain’t no prude, but for crying out loud, please get real- when you hit about 25-27 it is time to start being an adult. Trust me, I still wear loud clothes, I still do my own thing, but my personality makes me an individual, not how I look on the outside.

So, maybe I should keep my opinion to myself, maybe I am already an old fart- but if you got too much hair, cut some of it off, if your nose is pierced, don’t sneeze around me, and if your clothes look like 3 shades of broke down, then clean them up or get some new ones. Have some self respect, stop trying to be all special and cool, and just be you.

Fortune Cookie Wisdom

Little tidbits of wisdom are oten conveyed in Fortune Cookies- but they are rare.

Todays read: "Don't let friends impose on you. Work calmly and silently."

So friends do you hear that- can you read it? STOP IMPOSING!!!!

No, most of my friends don't impose, really, but I thought this cookie was funny, and I wanted to write something clever and funny about it- so much for that idea! ha! For some good reading material check out www.ebumpkin.com

Oh, and I took off the comment posting thingy- no one was posting and it was crushing my ego.

NAME BRANDS

When I was growing up I remember this brand that Safeway carried called CostCutter. I never liked the offbrand products, but my parents would by them because they did indeed "cut costs". Now that I am grown up and making my own money, I rarely by anything that is not name brand when it comes to food. However, times are changing, I am growing up even more, and everyday I am trying to save money and cut corners, so I decided to by Wal-Mart's mark down brand- "Great Value". It was just Graham Crackers, I thought, "how bad can they be?" Well, the answer to that is Pretty Bad. They taste like cardboard slices with some cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on them- yuck. So, in the long run, I just wasted a dollar- that's how cheap they were, so I didn't lose much, but I would much rather pay 3 bucks for something I can eat, than 1 dollar for something that taste like crap and that I am just going to throw away. Another poor purchase was some off-brand yogurt in a bulk size- big mistake, it tastes like sour cream, but not as creamy.

New Friends... New Beginnings.


This weekend was a miasma of nouns and adjectives. Persons, places, things, fun, food, excitement, beauty, laughter, warmth, joy, and most of all love.

Doctors Mark and Rashel Haverkorn tied the knot this weekend. Mark is a good friend of mine that I met in 1998 at Denton Bible Church. I always admired him, he is smart, funny, and extremely disciplined when it came to his studies. He was a TAMS student at UNT and so I knew he was pretty bright, but over the years I have learned that sometimes it takes more than just being smart, it also takes hard work. Mark always impressed me, and he did it once again when he married Rashel. Rashel is a beautiful person. In just a few moments of being around her I could tell that she was intelligent, but she was also warm and engaging. After just a weekend with her, and just watching her, I knew that she was an amazing young woman, and I wondered what in the world she was doing marrying Mark! Just kidding. No really, Pastor Doug said it best- "Mark, you married up".

I also met some wonderful people this weekend. Some Doctors, and Med Students that were Mark and Rashel's friends from college. All of them were so much fun. We talked and laughed at the rehearsal dinner, and we danced the night away at the reception. Margaret, Jeanene, Tamara, Mike, Andrea, Anna Marie, all of them made me smile. These people were beautiful inside and out, and I found that I wanted to hang out with them forever. The fun just never stopped! It was just laugh, after laugh, and joke after joke. They rocked the camels butt!

Overall, the wedding was delicious. I ate up every bite, and if I could, I would go back for seconds.