IT'S MY OWN DAWN FAULT

In 2007 I placed a large part of my academic failings on others. It could be added to some extent I was right to do so. I was saddened, angered, and frustrated primarily with one person. Details of this some of you know. Honestly, just about anyone who may read this Blog already knows details about that. I friend who as an elementary school student had had no qualms about punching a girl offered to punch the female professor for me. I assume he was kidding. If blame were to be assessed it should be fair to give some of it to me and let's leave 2007 five years in the past.
Now, in 2012, my academic failings are all my own. A mental block. Fear. Headaches. Fatigue. They are me. My short comings. Possibly sabotage. I will put a little poem here by the Great Nicanor Parra. Just change poetry into education. Oh and if you don't speak or rather read Spanish you may want to get a translation:

LA POESÍA TERMINÓ CONMIGO

Yo no digo que ponga fin a nada
No me hago ilusiones al respecto
Yo quería seguir poetizando
Pero se terminó la inspiración.
La poesía se ha portado bien
Yo me he portado horriblemente mal.

Qué gano con decir
Yo me he portado bien
La poesía se ha portado mal
Cuando saben que yo soy el culpable.
¡Está bien que me pase por imbécil!

La poesía se ha portado bien
Yo me he portado horriblemente mal
La poesía terminó conmigo.

It the words of the poet James William Buffett "It's my own damn Fault.

Special PE

General update about my life. I have enrolled in a Special PE Masters program at the U of U. Don't worry, I still want BYU and USC to win every time they play against the Utes. Kiki may witness to the fact that I was not very chipper during last week's little game last week. I wouldn't mind the Utes so much if it wasn't for their classless fans. (Yes, I just went all Max Hall, may his football career rest in peace, on you.) I really do like most of the people I have met at the U.

Karate Chop

So the other morning I was half asleep and I blindly reached over o pt my arm around my wife. I felt my arm karate chopped down. Rejection. My eyes were still closed but I tried again. A second karate chop lowered my arm. As my arm fell from the force of the chop I opened my eyes and saw that the chop was not a karate chop at all. Nor was it from my wife. Nora was betwixt Kiki and I and had kicked my arms down both times. Awesome. Didn't know the little one had ventured into our bed.

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You Know Why I stopped Writing, Don't You?

You Know Why I stopped Writing, Don't You? No Mark, THAT is not why I stopped writing. I stopped writing because I got a lot of stuff to do and I am lazy and I do not have a good ending yet. Maybe someday. Kiki gave birth to our little Webbigail on November 28, 2010. She is adorable but we now rarely sleep. We are currently in the God-forsaken country of Minnesota which just experienced one of their five worst snowstorms in recorded history. I do not know why millions of people would live here (although under different circumstances I could learn to like if not love this place).

Pay It Forward

Apparently I have not written a thing in over two months. Well I am sorry. I will contar unas cositas that have happened since I last wrote. On the first (and last) day of selling mulch for Mulch Masters only the Venezuelan on our sales team was able to sell any mulch. The Saturday after the the sell Thomas and I did the manual labor and laid the mulch. That may have been the first time in the history of Texas (maybe even the entire Southwestern United States) that an Hispanic did the sales job and Anglo-American did the manual labor. Dee and Thomas (the businesses founders) figured out that we did not have the profit margin for the mulch business to thrive as we had hoped and Mulch Masters was abandoned so I was yobless once again.
So I went to a job fair in Tomball, threw resumes into various fields, and read a lot. People from my ward (Doug and Jeff) often came to visit and advise me on the job hunt. Till one fine day a received an email from Pearson offering me a job if I could pass a Spanish translation test I would have a job scoring the TAKS test. The translation was tough (mainly because it was written by nine year olds meaning bad hand writing and bad Spanish). However I passed. A week after the test I became a scorer.
Before starting work Kiki, Hank, Nora and I took a day trip to San Antonio for the first time ever. We went to the temple grounds, the Alamo, and the Riverwalk. It was a nearly perfect day.
Shortly after starting my job our car, "Ol Bessie," started to die on us. We thought we would have to shell out some 600 dollars to fix her enough to last until we could afford a new car. However, out of the kindness of his heart Charlies fixed it for us for free. He even bought the parts she needed. In a Haley Joel Osment manner he told us (well Kiki for was at work when this happened) to pay it forward.

Mulch and Mulch Accessories

Last week I started working for Mulch Masters of Austin. It is the first time I have done sales and had to sell to make money. So far no luck in selling the Mulch.. partly due to my ineptitude and partly due to the rain, hail, sleet, and snow we got last week. OK, I am not sure if there was any snow but it makes the story more fun to say the snow part. Here is a link to the new company: mulchmastersofaustin
Also today is Nora's first birthday. A year ago today Kiki had had the flu for and few days and had not eaten almost anything for a few days when we skyped with her family as her little sister opened and read her mission call. Kiki smiled through the pain of her contractions as she heard UT Temple Square Mission. I drove her to the hospital where the doctor didn't arrive in time, Kiki didn't get the drugs she wanted, and Nora was born with the chord around her neck. Good times were had by all.

Mistletoe

SO I have not written in two and a half months. Since then I have worked for two months and been let go. It seems weird when a job that I am so overqualified that it is just funny let me go. They did it with very nice words... "you were a great employee... we only kept you around this long because you worked so well... we just don't have a position for you." I was fine when I heard that. I still was waiting to hear back from another school. I was fine when that school didn't call back because I had a job interview with a job that was even better. However now that even they have not called back either. Unemployed with no prospects forced to live on the mercy and charity of others. I hate being a parasite.

Trick or Treating

This post will be an incomplete until I finish it later with photos of the chillens. We took Hank and Nora trick or treating last night. Nora slept through most of it bt Hank had a good time. We went through a relatively long streak of no body being at any door. Then we hit one where a nice lady answered. Hank walked inside the stranger's house. We all had a good laugh and Hank got candy.
At another house Hank asked the lady for more. The lady gave him more. At another house the lady said take more. He kept reaching his hand in and taking more in a hilariously cuter manner. I appreciated it.

Satan and Dark Writing

Kiki noticed a Yankee fan praying to Satan (AKA Steinbrenner) during the 8th inning. OK, it is hard to tell if she was praying to Satan but since Steinbrenner is the devil Yankee fans worship the works of his hand. Thus they probably pray to Satan when a game is tight, Besides, God does not care who wins a ball game. The god of this world came through for his legions. Dang.
On a slightly more positive note Nora had a seizure last week. I kid, I kid. I mean she did have a seizure, but it is not a more positive note. That scared me to death. It is not a subject that lends itself well to my generally cheerful blog, However, it did help inspire me to write a dark story. So a few more bad days may get me to write an entire collection of stories that are not bubbly.

Letting the Boy Stay Up

Tonight Kiki and I let the boy stay up later than we ever do. It is October. Isn't that the point of October? You know... staying up late; enjoying baseball; letting the game lead me through the entire spectrum of emotions: joy, anger, fear, acceptance, sadness, and finally extreme joy. It is a time to bond with the family over the American Pastime.
How is that for an overly sappy and sentimental post about baseball and family bonding? But i think what i was really trying to say was, man that game was good tonight.
Oh, and remember when Jeff Mathis batted .211 in the regular season but went on a hitting tear in the ALCS? Remember when he became the batter with the lowest regular season batting average to have a walk off hit in the post season? If the Angels somehow pull off the miracle the poor hitting platooned catcher might get my vote for MVP of the ALCS.
I also want to point out that Morales's glove work is impressive for someone who was once referred to as "Brick Hands."

Interview and the Angels with Skype

I had another job interview on Friday. Besides arriving over a half an hour late to the interview I think it went quite well. The principal was extremely nice about it and seemed to understand that sometimes people get lost. But seriously, why is there an Old McNeil Rd and an McNeil Rd so close to each other. It is bound to get newcomers to the Greater Austin Metropolitan Area confused and lost. Of the jobs that I have interviewed for I would have to say that I would want this job because of the people I would work with, but I would want the other job because it seems like it would be a more fun job. Truthfully, I would take either if they offer me the post. One said they would let me know today. The other said they would let me know next week.
So how cool was the Angels game on Sunday. I do not get TBS so I thought I would not be able to see it but Ryan and Paul let me watch it over Skype. The first few innings were tough to stomach but the 8th and 9th made it all worth it. Although when Napoli couldn't throw that runner out on that pitch out was a little infuriating.
But five runs in the 8th and 9th. Three off of Papelbon , that just makes me happy. The other thing that made me happy is the way Vlad responded to the disrespect Francona threw his way. Sure Vlad has had a bad (by his enormous standards) year, but to walk him? He is the type of player that if you test his pride he is likely to pass. ow many times has a pitcher gone up and in on him and then he goes yard on the next pitch