Last Week of Classes

Wow. That word happens to be what has frequently escaped my pie hole since the beginning of last week. Its been truly hectic. I have had to scramble to turn in work and to study for finals. As is i still have work to turn in, even this very second im doing just that, turning in work that was due a while back. I truly have to give it to all my professors this semester for doing such an excellent job and for putting up with me and my inconsistencies and procrastination. I especially have to tip my hat off to Calderin, and im not just saying this because he's going to read this but because he is a wonderful professor and a kool guy in my book. I have even considered taking him again in the future if it permits. I heard he was going to teach creative writing. The only way ill do it though is if i had the time on my hand to actually write, which has been my problem through out this semester. As is i still need to turn in my work to Calderin and he had given me till this morning to do so. I got tangled up with my other class's final and now im late on the extension he gave me. i dont know if hell take it but i really hope he does. I hate to even ask because its taking advantage of someones good nature and kindness and i normally frown on that. In fact i detest that, so i have become what i hate. this is an awkward feeling and one i wish on no one. Farewell for now Blogger.

Service Learning.

a few weeks ago as i was in class, my english professor Victor Calderin addressed the whole class and informed us of a extra-credit opportunity. He said if we come back to campus at around 12pm the fire department was going to be do a presentation and all we needed to do as attend to get credit/service learning. so seeing how i was off from work and had the time to spare i figured what a better way to use my time. I met up down stairs with Angel as we sat down for the intro to the whole demonstration. at least thats what we thought it was. It turns out they where doing a practice fire drill and needed to film it. so we all signed wavers and received instructions on what to do. Angel and i had to do a bit of acting and we got filmed for what seemed to be a MDC film on fire safety. Who knows you might be seeing us soon on a campus tv. Once it was over i went home happy that i at least satisfied a requirement for my class.

11-26-2010

Today is Melissa's Birthday. Melissa is Phil's girlfriend and one of my best friends. Shes like a sister to me. shes a year older then Phil and me so we bug her with the old lady jokes all the time. Phil normally doesn't do spontaneous things for her so she was feeling bummed out on her birthday. Especially because Phil told her that we were going to the shooting range, something we have been doing quite often since we have bought our guns. She reallllllly didn't want to go but went anyway. They whole thing was a set up.Phil and i were making it look as if though it was a normal day while some friends set up Phil's house for a surprise. In then end we had fun, both at the range and then at the party with friends. It really was a good day. The best part was that i completely disregarded going to work on a Black Friday. Thank god i ignored work and other retail stores. I hate crowds and the last thing i want is to be in a claustrophobic setting while at work.

11-25-10

Thanksgiving! ohhh how i love this day. First i had to get my Turkey bowl on with my co-workers. Every year on thanksgiving our store 6872 plays store 209 for bragging rights. We started back in 2008 and so far we're tied. so this year was supposed to untie it. Well it ended in a tie so it looks like next years going to be good. I took my younger yet bigger brother Jonathan with me to  play as i do every year. see Jon and i are like the Bash Brothers from the mighty ducks. We're good together. we played almost every down. On offence we blocked on the line and on defence we brought the pressure all day! After the football game it was off to my moms house for some Turkey and family fun. Then after i was stuffed of stuffing and sweet potato i went to my uncles house to meet up with the rest of my family. There i had plenty of fun with my cousins. Over all it was a good Holiday even though it didn't feel quite like other years. the most important part is that ever one's healthy and happy.

11-15-2010

Today i started to watch the movie "Blindside" in SLS. Although Ive seen this movie before, i cant get enough of it. Maybe its because i played football or maybe its because i liked the true story aspect of the film. This movie is a heart warming story about a young man who's give a new start with a new family to become something great. Hes an African American young man who gets indirectly adopted by a rich white family who's children attended his new High school. Once "Big Mike" or Micheal starts playing football it only went uphill form there. He became an essential part of the team and was soon being scouted by top Universities. Mike finally made a decision and went to Ole Miss. This is where one of the big conflicts of the film comes into play. They accuse the family with having recruited him for the school. Instead of looking at it as a nice humanitarian heart filled gesture, they looked at it with a negative light. In the end they show the real Mike decked out in his NFL gear with his real family.

11-10-2010

Today in class Calderin told us about an extra credit opportunity. He said if we came to a Veterans Day remembrance rally at the school we would get some points. So naturally i stayed after my second class to get the points because Ive slacked a little in class. I was joined by my classmate Angel and we sat up front where we could see the Veterans that where going to speak. It was pretty much just them talking the whole time about their personal experiences and then us asking them questions about their service. the whole thing was to honor them and other service members for memorial day. This gathering truly touched me s I'm sure it touched others in the room. I personally know a hand full of military personnel and some are close friends. Some i even consider family and i would be heart broken if i was to lose them like some unfortunate families have. This said. God bless America and our Soldiers.

10-29-2010

Today i have to perform a  group presentation with my team for SLS. We were assigned a chapter from the book that we had to read,and present on. Lucy gave us ch.12, the last chapter of the book. This chapter had to do with Life after college. Easy, piece of cake right? then why do i have butterflies in my stomach? i guess I'm just a little nervous. That's probably because I'm going to do the bulk of the talking for the group, due to being the strongest speaker and the best sales person. See a presentation is like a sales pitch... you have to have charisma to appeal to the audience and you have to carry yourself well. We all decided to dress up in business attire to impress the professor. All of us except Laz who was going on a trip after class and was wearing a shirt and shorts. I used him as an example and made it seam as if though it was planned and intentional so Laz's grade would not suffer. We did good, all of us were awarded A's for our presentation and applauded for our methods and our information.

10-10-10

Todays date looks like a binary code. I just though i should say that cause i was amused by it. That aside today is a Sunday and its Regatta weekend. Unfortunatlly for me i have to work and i wont be out on the water with my cousins like i wanted to. This is extreamly unfair because i have seniority over some of the guys who got the days off and there for i should of had them. I guess since life isnt fair i should just suck it up and forget about it. But i cant. I have been dying to get out for months and i have a huge itch i need to scratch. ahhhh the wrost part is that i cant go today or tomorrow because im scheduled to work also. sometimes i wonder if this is done on purpose to agrivate me. Looks like im stuck at Homedepowitz for another Regatta. Hopefully next year i get it off and i can party on the water till my hearts content.

10-04-2010

Phil; My best-friend since high school. I cant honestly tell you how i first met Phil. I have selective memory see, so my mind desides what it wants to store and what it apparently thinks is trash it discards of. I know it was some time in 10th grade because thats when he can to Mater, but as for how we were introduced i have know clue. All i know is that we have been inseperable ever since. The best part is that he also clicked well with some of my existing friends, like Danny, and now we're one big happy group of buddies. This fucker went through hell and back with me on the football team and thats probably what fortified our friendship. After  high school we stayed close and have never managed to be at the same college or university together which has been a bummer. We have worked together, and Lived together. Phil is more to me then just a friend, he truely is a brother. When they say that opposites attract, they're not lying. Phils a tall strong loud spoken whitty Itallian with a mind full of refrences. Im a short stocky reserved outdoorsy Spanard with a huge heart and work ethic. I guess you can say that we balance each outher out. see over the years alot of our personal traits have rubbed off on heach other, improving us both. Today its this bastards Birthday and although he'll probably never see this i just wanted to say Happy Birthday. I wish him the best in life and i hope that he one day rockets to success and get s that penhouse hes always wanted and the lifestyle hes worked so hard to attain. I truely love my Brother from another mother.

09-23-2010

Today is the beigining of Fall, or at least thats what it says on my calender. Fall, its my favorite time of the year. I love Fall more then any other season, even though some people find it odd. Fall is when things wither and die, go into habernative states, and when the temperature drops to unbearable levels. Yet instead of hating it i Love it. See when i look at these events i see something else. I see beauty. I love when the leaves begin to change colors. The mixture of reds, ambars and yellows facinates me. i love when they finally fall and leave the trees bare. I love the cold and everything it brings. Snow is a beautiful thing, lying like a cold blanket over the earth. Another reason i have a fond love for this season more then the rest is because it brings back childhood memories of trips i took with my family. See my Family is a little disfunctional now but back when it was still whole took yearly trips to Denver and Snowshoe. These places influenced my judgement with thier natural beauties. Everytime i see images of Fall and Winter i think back to these times, when things where simple and good. It also reminds me of Thanksgiving and christmas which are my Favorite Holidays. Any Holiday that involves the whole Family, Food and Football is a winner in my book. those are my three Fun F's.

9-18-2010

  I was awaken by an annoying yet familiar sound, the high pitched ringing from fathers old school alarm clock. I set it for 7am and intentionally placed it out of my reach. I have been known to throw alarm clocks in my sleep. After i managed to elevate my soar self from the couch i washed up and had a killer breakfast. I was out of my house by 8:10 and i was at Miami Outboard Club by 8:40. I needed to be at the Club before 9  for a work party to transform the dock into a more eco-friendly green marina. Basically we worked all day to excavate an area of the dock that we later filled with a special gravel used for filtration. After that i was invited to have lunch on the house which consisted of  a creamy lobster bisque and a savory Dolphin sandwich. After i did my voluntary work for the week i went home to study.

9-13-2010

Ok so i have not been writing as frequently as I've wanted to but duties call. Its another monday afternoon and Im stuck at Home Depot waiting for my shift to finish so i can go to Starbucks sit in my cozy corner and study for this week. Unfortunatly my shift ends at five so im stuck for another three hours. Im actually writing to release some stress i have built up. Im getting fustrated with my work schedule. I dont have a fixed schedule like most people with a nine to five. If I did I would better schedule my life. Sometimes a alternating schedule can be benificial and it has been for me in the past. My scheduler Sofana has a difficult job on her hands, she has to schedule the entire store consisting of more then one hundered individules. I do understand that the task is not easy, but with a computer system that records avalibility there is no excuse for my issue. The problem i have is that although i gave the scheduler my avalibility sheet, signed by my supervisor and manager, I still see some weird looking shifts. Not only are they beyond my relm of labor but they are also being scheduled when i have class. This is just a blatent disregard of ones time. The scheduler must have been, pardon my choice of language, eating shit! If the computer tells you i cant work at a certain time either your doing it on perpose or your not paying attention, I dont know whats worse. Im also being scheduled more hours a shift then I specificly expressed i could work. I know that in our current economic state i should be greatful i have a job and that i have hours but its simply not just, and they are using the "resesion" as an excuse to do as they please. I wont stand for it. I fortunatly enough come from a family that is well off. I have been told countless times by my father "Joseph, you dont need to work just go to school". I work because its my choice. Not only does it make my Resume look better but im earning an income i use to support my lifestyle, instead of being a broke student always asking Pop's for money. So as im writing im about to go express my opinion to my supervison and follow it up with ths scheduler. I need my study time to get the best grades possible to boost my GPA back to where i need it.Aside from that i really cant complain. I had a pretty good weekend.

9-8-2010

I missed class today, not in a Ferris Bueller way, just missed it. I forgot to enable my phone alarm and i overslept for my first class Enc1102. When i finally found the strength to prop my head up i noticed it was already 11:00am and time for my next class. When I saw that I knew I wouldn't make  it on time so i knocked out again. I regained my senses 34 minutes later and had some breakfast while watching the news. from that moment on my day was a blur. I didn't do anything i had scheduled myself to do on my agenda. I sat on my computer for awhile and managed to get a minuscule amount of actual work done. I never even stepped outside, something I criticize about today's generation. I was a bum all day. Then around 6 after I ate something and washed up I started to feel revitalized. I awoke for my bummy trance and began to read my assigned readings and writing my responses. I'm actually all wired up and I haven't had any coffee today. I'm surprised I haven't stopped writing to make a coffee run to my neighborhood Starbucks. I think i will sooner or later. When my dad gets home in a couple of hours I'm going to hit the gym for a bit of cardio and some lifting. Hopefully when i come back from that I finish up my responses and what ever else I haven't submitted yet so I can be on par with my classwork. I'm starting to crave my coffee so it looks like I'm out for now. Off to get my liquid crack as I like to refer to it as.

Labor Day

Labor Day... a day full of labor. Normally its the opposite, usually people have this day off. Schools and Universities are closed for the day. But I have the misfortune of having to slave at work today. I actually find my situation rather ironic, especially because we were talking about Irony last class. Well , looking on the bright side at least i didn't have class today and i had a chance to sleep in.  I'm actually partaking in my indentured servitude  as we speak, on one of Slave Depots computers. I'm extremely bored in my department  and due to the constant rain outside I'm short on customer traffic. I wish i had a few customers to keep me entertained for a while. I wish time can pass by quickly so i can get out of here and back home where i can study and take care of a few things. I almost feel like closing my department and leaving for the day...too bad i cant do that. The old saying "Misery loves company" is very true. I do wish i had someone here right now to converse with. That's probably  why i resorted to blogging my thoughts. This way i don't go insane and i complete a class requirement, "Kill two birds with one stone". I actually just became a tad bit optimistic about my closing shift. I just found out that Rebecca, one of my ASM's, is the closing manager on duty. This is excellent new for me. you see this means that im going to be leaving work on time.  To explain a little, my department is Tool Rental. So i rent tools to Contractors and DYI's. One of the Perks of Tool Rental is the schedule. We close an hour before the store does. So with Rebecca's closing that means i leave promptly at 9:00pm. This isn't the case on other nights though. Any night that i have the luck to close with Yoanky, another ASM, he attempts to keep me in this big orange box longer. So now every time i close with him I'm constantly dodging bullets to avoid the unnecessary bullshit he throws my way. Hes a super pain in the ass and this is coming from someone who gets along with everyone. He might be one of the few people i have a strong dislike for. I have actually already spoken to Management about my situation and I'm hoping that it get s resolved because with school work and other choirs i cant afford to be caught up more then 5hrs a day at Home Depot. I need adequate time to study and prepare myself for class, as well as time to work on my house. Well i just got a customer so it looks like I'm going have to leave blogging for later.

My week

Ok so i should have been writing a daily blog but due to a mix of School,work, and other duties i was unable to. To sum up my week in a word; Transcendent. My week was great, i really cant complain. Yeah sure i worked through out the week but i got allot done in reference to school and personal chores. I spent the week collecting documents for my Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission(FWC) application. You see i want to be a FWC officer and I've been trying for about a year to get in. They recently opened up for applications again so i needed to pounce on the opportunity quickly. So on Tuesday i finished up my online application for the state and all i need to do is to submit a supplemental form plus all required documentation and test results to Tallahassee. Then its a matter of crossing my fingers and hoping i get called.
Towards the end of my week i got a call from my jet ski mechanic with some good news. It wasn't the shaft or the impeller on the jet ski that gave, it was the motor mounds. this sounds bad but its a simple fix. you see because the motor mounds gave the engine would slide forward when i would jump a wave detaching itself from the shaft spinning the impeller causing no propulsion. So with that fixed and my third jet ski also up and running i decided to take my little brother out for his birthday. On Saturday i picked up my brother Jonathan from my moms house and met up with my father and cousin at MOC to have a "Machin Outing" as my dad latter called it.  My dads exact words to my cousin Carlos were "Carlos Rene your fathers a bitch for not coming. It would have been all the Machin men". The day was exquisitely gorgeous for boating. too bad we were not boating. In fact we would have preferred some of Hurricane  Frank's furry. A Hurricane would have converted Gov. Cut into a plethora of liquid ramps just waiting for us to jump. Unfortunately for us but beneficial for our boating counterparts the waters on Saturday were pretty smooth. we still got our waves, only they were produced by twin Yanmar Diesel engines off Various Yachts.
 We jumped till our harts content. In fact we jumped so much that Jonathan and i had a minor accident. something we have been trained since we were younger to avoid. Jon hit me almost head on because i was distracted by a large wave. The hit caused me to fall off my ski and Jon's momentum flung him clear over the handle bars into the water. No one was hurt, but Jon's ski sustained a large crack in the hull. We switched skis so i could ride the damaged one. my experience level is higher then his and i could manage riding with minimal water penetration trough the crack.
After our session of jumping we headed for no name Harbor to have lunch. we docked up and had conch fritters and cheese burgers. We conversed and had our laughs about the incident. Once we finished eating we saddled up and headed out in search of more man made waves. once we passed The Rusty Pelican and the old race track we raced passed the Port of Miami where we found a flotilla of boats. The waves from these boats would crash together and form peaks that i used as a launching platform. After a hour more of riding we called it a day and headed back to MOC to wash up. Once we hoisted the skis onto our trailer we washed everything down and cleaned the motors we then took showers and  Ate at the Restaurant/Bar at MOC. They didn't have the Seafood bisque i ate last weekend but the Crab bisque they had was equally as decedent and savory. The Dolphin sandwich wasn't far behind. After a long day of fun in the sun we called it a night and headed home leaving our babies at the club to rest off a hectic day.

8-28-2010

Hmmmm... what to write about?  Well seeing as how I'm new to this whole blogging thing I'm just going to write my daily thoughts, actions and recollections. Lets see, what did i do today? Today turned out to be a wonderful day. My day started off with a 7:00am shove of my bed by my fathers brawny arms.  After i managed to get off the floor he tells me  " lets go!!!  the jetski's aren't going to ride themselves" so off i go in a hurry to wash up,eat and get ready for our father and son outting.  Yesterday we had received a call from our mechanic telling us to come get our Yamaha 1200 from the shop. He told my father he had worked on the piston and that the bike should be running as good as new. So we picked it up and loaded her onto a double trailer with one of our other jet ski's. So after i loaded everything up in my truck and the trailer was hitched up we headed to the gas station to fuel up the bikes. from there it was off to Miami Outboard Club(MOC) which is located on Watson Island  next to Parrot Jungle. My Father and I are both members of the boating establishment where we have exclusive access to a boat hoist and ramp. Once at MOC we put the bikes in the water and we were off to Government Cut to jump waves. Gov. Cut is  the channel coming in/out of the port of Miami. This is where all vessels must pass if  they want to go out to open water. its located right next to South Pointe on South Beach.  So to make a long story short we tested out the bikes and their performance was sloppy i was unhappy with mine and then when i thought  nothing else could happen. BAM!  I loose momentum and i notice its the shaft to the impeller that's  off. So the rest of the day consisted of me getting towed back to the marina. we showered  then ate at the club's restaurant. The food was so good it would have made Anthony Bourdain salivate on sight. I can still taste that seafood bisque and its creamy excellence. After that it was back home, then off to my neighborhood Starbucks to study for next week.