only one heart attack away

The other day Yankee, our chapter adviser Doug and myself were having a little talk about where the fraternity is as and where we want to take it and brotherhood came up. Being the master of stories, Doug was telling us about how, years after college, he had a heart attack while living in Denver and the next day one of his brothers was at his side. It was that instant when i realized what fraternity is all about. Yankee and I turned to each other and like clock work we said,

"When you have your heart attack I'll be there the next day."

Not that we know our life style is killing us but at least we wont have to go at it alone.




In other news, I've been granted permission to walk around campus with out my knee brace.

Woot Woot!

As I get ready for the sun to go down on my last night of spring break I figured a post was in order.

After actually sticking to my PT schedule this week I ventured outside.


I WAS ABLE TO GET MY LEFT LEG UP ONTO THE PEG OF MY BIKE!!!!! I had to work the motions for getting my foot under the shifter but still a huge accomplishment. I still cannot ride for a few weeks but at least now i know that its only gonna get better.

Track: Ooh Wee
Album: Here Comes The Fuzz
Artist: Mark Ronson

Check it out. RUCKUS.

I've been on hold for 36 minutes now

I've been on hold with US Border something or other trying to find out when the crossing into Alaska from the Yukon Territory opens up and to see if I need to spend the night or can push through make the final leg in one day.

There were 11 Calls ahead of me, it got down to 6 but now its back up to 9? how exactly does that work? Its almost to the point where I have to give up and go to physical therapy.

I found a blog from a lady that made the trip from Cali to Fairbanks on the same bike as I have

Her Photo Gallery


I'm starting to get excited!

1 Month and 14 Days

This is the game plan for days one through 4 of my adventure coming up.

Adventures and Thoughts

Adventures:

Josh and I went up to his grandparents for a weekend of doing nothing constructive and shooting guns. I went through almost 3000 rounds in 3 days. Surprisingly it went by really fast, we had a great time. His grand parents live about 20 minutes from Kansas in a town called Buffalo, Oklahoma. It was a lot of country for me but I survived, we had a good time shooting just about anything we wanted.

Last night we headed back and got to Stillwater around 11:45. I didn't realize that everyone had gotten paid Saturday night so the regulars (employees) were not around. Dave and I decided that drinking was in order so he proceeded to school me at several games of pool. Then from across the bar I spot a familiar face, who else but curtis. He goes for the bear hug/tackle and obviously forgot that I just had knee surgery yet some how he managed to be the one that ended up on the ground. I don't know who he was with but he didn't know either so everything was a little interesting. I could tell he was trying for this one girl but he was a little too drunk for his own good. Eventually the girls he was with came over and joined in on our game of pool. Not wanting to be the cock block I dropped back into wingman formation and went with the other friend. After a little wing man action and talking to the bouncers to try and keep Curtis from being bounced, IHOP was brought up. Dave was the only one with a car and there were now 9 people involved. I don't know how they got 7 people in that truck but curtis and I road in the back until we got to my house. I had physical therapy this morning so I couldn't have a long night. Curtis crashed on my couch and I have no idea how dave made out.

This morning my front door was open and Curtis's boots were still by the couch were I left him. Upon further survey of the room he had switched to the futon. He didn't remember leaving the bar.

After dropping him off I proceeded to Physical Therapy. I was slightly concerned because I didn't do as much stretching as I should have. Apparently my weekends adventures were enough, i was able to bend my knee 120 degrees, thats 22 degrees of improvement in just 4 days.


Thoughts:

I have never felt more like a city boy in my entire life than I have this weekend. Now I'm no stranger to playing on a farm but there was so much farm that I would have gone nuts if i was there for more than 3 days. This place was so country that it had me wondering why anyone would raise kids in this enviroment. At the same time I was striking similar to my thoughts of seeing the enviroment that some kids were growing up in the Ghettos of Washington DC over the summer. I don't know if its the thought of tradition that would make you think it would be a good idea to raise kids in an environment like that but if you look and see that you have worked you're whole life just to scrape along and all the kids are doing is alcohol and drugs than wouldn't that make you consider maybe a change? It just seems like that life style perpetuates itself, I'm just having a really hard time excepting the fact that things like that happen.

My other conclusion from this weekend is that I realize that I don't enjoy being around drunk guys while in the presence of the girls that they are drunkenly pursuing. As a guy you're going to fall into one of the following 3 categories, A) The pissed off drunk guy that is too drunk to realize that he has no chance B) The cock block, hated by all and usually no better guy than the first guy but is a little more sober and is smooth enough to get the girl or C) the wing man, the awkward job that requires staying sober to prevent beer goggles and can see both the pissed off drunk guy and the cock block. Don't get me wrong, girls can be a blast when drinking and there are situations where everyone can have fun but it just seems like the previously mention situation is more common. I don't enjoy any of the three rolls, looks like the bar scene just isn't all its cracked up to be.

Fall

I finally made my way over to Cordell to get advised, my fall classes.

Elementary Stat
Intro to Micro Computer Programing
Organizational Communication
Aim & Scope of Emergency Mgmt
Organizing for Action



Wasn't I a Fire Protection Major at one point?

Post Surgery Appt.

It turned out the part of the surgery I feared the most wasn't so bad. I don't know why I was so scared of getting stitches out, I had this notion that it would feel like pulling thread through paper. It turns out that I couldn't feel it at all, so 13 stitches later I'm good to go.

As far as the overall progress is going, I can walk without crutches and already have a really good range of motion. I start physical therapy tomorrow, its going to be a long road but the weather has been amazing so I'm stoked to get the ball rolling and get back to being able to spend time out side. The weather has been good and I got to spend some time in the hammock.

Tomorrow marks the start of my 4th spring break. After traveling a minimum of 1200 miles per break over the past 3 years, this year is going to be a little less hard core. Josh and I are going up to his grandparents cabin for some good old Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Its only going to be a 3 day adventure but between 16 hrs of classes, working 2 jobs and having surgery, spring break is much awaited.

As for the other several days, it'll be a typical spring break.


And In Other News:

-Govt. Spitzer is once again making New York Proud. The best quote from the entire scandal came from Lettermans top 10 Sptizer excuses.
8. "Have you ever been to Albany?"

-OSU SGA (if you follow my posts, you already know how i feel about that organization) was doing a poll about the students feeling about allowing students with Concealed Weapons Permit to bring guns on campus. This was initiated by a bill state legislature revoking universities privilege to revoke students rights to have weapons on campus.

Now I try to respect the fact that students are entitled to their own opinion but at the same time I hear so many nay sayers that really have no idea what they are talking about. I just wish that informed decisions were a bigger part of our culture. These same people don't feel any more threatened when they walk 50 yards and cross University Ave. and if they don't think that there are already guns in the dorms and in the cars in the parking lot they need to open their eyes. No to mention that people that actually get their CWP are not the type of people that would be an issue.

I've got some pics of my actual Surgery that I'll get posted up once i get them scanned.

Weird

So yesterday a friend and I went to Peta Pit because i was feeling a little too lazy to cook something. The guy that took my order was a wild land firefighter from Utah named Jack. weird.

I think i know why im not enjoying this

Its not so much that the pain from the surgery is really that bad, what bothers me is the fact that you can't sleep because of it. A good nights sleep would make a lot of this a little easier. Today is going to be my first day back in class, the only thing more frustrating than not being able to sleep is having to ask people for rides everywhere. Its not that people are not willing to give them, i just hate asking.


It's 8:30 on a Monday morning and the street sweeper just went by, who does that anyway?

All the best shit happens at IHOP

So tonight was a 5 person birthday/007 James Bond Party.

My Outfit...

White Suit Jacket
Slate Silk Shirt
Black Tie
Crutches
Cargo Shorts
Knee Brace
Dress Shoes
Old Man Checkered Dress Socks
(Edit: Pics Coming Soon)

Maybe 5% of this party was not a Vocal Performance Major. So basically there was a lot of high pitched noises and gay guys. Minus the high pitched noises it was a blast. Everyone was well dressed and having a good time.

The highlight was the after party at IHOP.

There was maybe 8 of us there, we were drunk but not out of control. Our waitress comes up and when its my turn to order...

"I'll have Colorado omelet , and by any chance is your name Amy?"

Well I hit that nail on the head, she was a girl that was flirting with me pretty hard core at the weed last week. Apparently things look a lot better in low lit situations.

Regardless, I make a comment about the Colorado omelet being full of meat and everyone laughs, especially when the guy next to me orders a steak omelet. This night was full of these little comments and no lie it was hilarious. The best part, I made a comment about loving all the meat "in a completely heterosexual way" and a bus boy makes a comment to the effect of...

"And thats a lie"

After the laughing subsides the comment was made...

"Way to be called out, being the only straight guy at the table"


We'll see if this is actually as funny as i think it is when I sober up but for right now it made my night.

Hardware

Well after getting delayed and having an emergency surgery I finally got my chance. Over all everything went well. My medial and lateral meniscus weren't as bad as they thought so they just beveled the tears so they won't get caught on anything and tare further. They also took a piece of my hamstring and made it into a new ACL. Its so weird to have some pins and a screw in my knee. I have to stay off it for my knee for 3 days and will be on crutches for a week or two, at least by spring break i'll be able to hobble my ass out the the hammock. (pics coming soon)

I'll have plenty of time for posts over the next few weeks. I just wanna thank everyone that has been helping or offered to help.

End of an Era

I am no longer employed by Oklahoma State University or the Tumbleweed Dance Hall. Tuesday morning i go under the knife for some after market modifications. From what i understand they will be taking a piece of my hamstring and making an ACL out of it. While they're in there they're either going to scrape down my medial and lateral meniscus' or make an attempt fix them if possible.

And good news, my internship in Alaska was on the line but it was discussed amongst the department directors and they agreed that they still wanted me to come up. I was slightly concerned for a few days but they said they will work with any limitations that I have.

The operation is Tuesday morning so i'll keep you updated.