When I first signed up for this class I thought I would need to buy a very expensive book, learn a bunch of crap over again that I had to put up with for four years in high school, get a C just enough to get my credits for the class and be on my way. Well I was wrong, I got more out of this class then the four years in high school. It was fun remembering back to my childhood, my teenage years and all the way to the present and writing it all down like I see it, and there was someone that wanted to read it. I don’t know John if you liked reading it all but I enjoyed writing it all. I definitely know how to write an essay now, and I would not want to change a thing at all about the class.
I really don’t have a specific piece that I like the best, but if I had to pick one it would have to be the one about all the many adventures of one of my annual fishing trips. I look forward to that week all year long and it is really the only time in the year when a just relax and not worry about anything except what I am going to eat, and where I am going to fish next, and while I was writing it I could almost get some of that feeling back. So I thank you for your time and hope one day I will meet you to shake your hand. (maybe I will sign up for one of your other classes if you have another one) thank you and God Bless
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Practice final essay
I know in my life I have realized some of life’s hard truths the hard way, the problem is I always like to try things twice and expect a different result, I think that is the definition of being insane. Luckily I do learn from mistakes and I try something different. I am only twenty eight, but I have experience many, many hard truths, and what I found was life’s hard truths can be put into three categories depending on the life lesson that come with it. There is stage one, which is all the lies, fairy tales, that your parents told me when I was kid. Stage two is all the fifteen to twenty one year old truths, as a young adult I learned the world was not as it seemed. Stage three makes up for the rest of the years I will be on this earth, and being twenty eight I think I have not yet experienced them all, but I have had a few.
Stage one is the lies, lies, lies. Santa is not real, nor is the Easter bunny, tooth fairy, and never never land is not a place for a kid. My parents were cruel to me, and I think my grandmother was the worst. I know everyone has been told that if you make faces then they will stick, well thats not true, I tried. Put a coat and hat on when I go outside or I will catch a death of cold, not true I am still sitting here typing this essay. I think the biggest lie or “hard truth” was what my grandmother told me. We had a cat, and I wanted some baby kittens, and my grandmother told me if I put pussywillows under the woodstove then there will be kittens there the next morning. So I put those soft buds under the stove and got up the next morning, but there was nothing there but my grandmother told it might take a couple of days. So the next morning there was nothing, and then the next morning I had four little kittens under the stove, I was so excited that it worked. What my grandmother knew was our cat was pregnant and was due any day and it was just a matter of time, and she even took out the pussywillows before I got up. I did not realize that my grandmother set me up until a year later I tried it again, and all she did was laugh and try to tell me the entire story, it took a while because she was laughing so hard.
Stage two is the rude awakening. From fifteen to twenty one is when I realized that the world is much bigger than I ever thought it was which is one of the biggest hard truths alone. I learned about war when desert stormed started and what happens in war, and saw on the TV all the destruction that came with, all though I did not learn the significance of what our fighting men and women were doing until later in my twenties, I saw what war was . I got my license and got to feel the freedom of the open road, and also got to feel what it is like when a police officer pulls me over and is practically yelling at me because I was going so fast, 79 in 25 mph zone they seem to get a little mad. I also realized what the value of money was and why I needed it. My dad told me when I was fourteen, that if I wanted anything then I need to get a job and buy it for myself. So at 4:00 every day after school, and after going to my friends house for band practice I would head to the store that I worked at and I would pump gas until 7:00. I remember all of my band members would get mad that I had to leave and go to work, and they would tell me to just call in, so another hard truth I learned was some people are spoiled rotten. Their parents gave them a car, and money to put gas in it, they bought them all there band equipment, and all their music that they wanted to buy. Something I realize now was my father gave me the hard truth of life very early, and for that I thank him, because that is why I am who I am today.
Stage three never ends. Adult hood comes with many challenges that go on and on until I die. One of the hard truths that I have seen being 28, is I am not 18 anymore. I can’t work all day long from sun up to sun down without being sore the next day. My back always hurts, my feet hurt, I can’t hear as well, and I can’t see as well either. Another hard truth is I can’t just worry about me, myself and I any more, I need to take care of my wife and little girl number one and little girl number two, and I come last or not at all. It is very strange having three people depend on me for everything, I still wonder how my dad did with six of us. The hard truth is I can’t fail because it doesn’t just affect me. I have started a family and I have to take care of my family at all cost. I think this stage will never end, I will just get better at realizing what the hard truths are before they happen.
Hard truths come in all shapes and sizes, kinds, types, and severity. Some are fun, and some are not at all. Some are innocent, and some are just full of hate, and destruction. But no matter what hard truth comes my way, I will take each truth, one on one and learn. The biggest hard truth of life I have all ready realized, and that is I am going to die some day. The question is where am I going after I do die? I now know where I am going, and all of life’s hard truths, and challenges seem to be easier than ever before.
Stage one is the lies, lies, lies. Santa is not real, nor is the Easter bunny, tooth fairy, and never never land is not a place for a kid. My parents were cruel to me, and I think my grandmother was the worst. I know everyone has been told that if you make faces then they will stick, well thats not true, I tried. Put a coat and hat on when I go outside or I will catch a death of cold, not true I am still sitting here typing this essay. I think the biggest lie or “hard truth” was what my grandmother told me. We had a cat, and I wanted some baby kittens, and my grandmother told me if I put pussywillows under the woodstove then there will be kittens there the next morning. So I put those soft buds under the stove and got up the next morning, but there was nothing there but my grandmother told it might take a couple of days. So the next morning there was nothing, and then the next morning I had four little kittens under the stove, I was so excited that it worked. What my grandmother knew was our cat was pregnant and was due any day and it was just a matter of time, and she even took out the pussywillows before I got up. I did not realize that my grandmother set me up until a year later I tried it again, and all she did was laugh and try to tell me the entire story, it took a while because she was laughing so hard.
Stage two is the rude awakening. From fifteen to twenty one is when I realized that the world is much bigger than I ever thought it was which is one of the biggest hard truths alone. I learned about war when desert stormed started and what happens in war, and saw on the TV all the destruction that came with, all though I did not learn the significance of what our fighting men and women were doing until later in my twenties, I saw what war was . I got my license and got to feel the freedom of the open road, and also got to feel what it is like when a police officer pulls me over and is practically yelling at me because I was going so fast, 79 in 25 mph zone they seem to get a little mad. I also realized what the value of money was and why I needed it. My dad told me when I was fourteen, that if I wanted anything then I need to get a job and buy it for myself. So at 4:00 every day after school, and after going to my friends house for band practice I would head to the store that I worked at and I would pump gas until 7:00. I remember all of my band members would get mad that I had to leave and go to work, and they would tell me to just call in, so another hard truth I learned was some people are spoiled rotten. Their parents gave them a car, and money to put gas in it, they bought them all there band equipment, and all their music that they wanted to buy. Something I realize now was my father gave me the hard truth of life very early, and for that I thank him, because that is why I am who I am today.
Stage three never ends. Adult hood comes with many challenges that go on and on until I die. One of the hard truths that I have seen being 28, is I am not 18 anymore. I can’t work all day long from sun up to sun down without being sore the next day. My back always hurts, my feet hurt, I can’t hear as well, and I can’t see as well either. Another hard truth is I can’t just worry about me, myself and I any more, I need to take care of my wife and little girl number one and little girl number two, and I come last or not at all. It is very strange having three people depend on me for everything, I still wonder how my dad did with six of us. The hard truth is I can’t fail because it doesn’t just affect me. I have started a family and I have to take care of my family at all cost. I think this stage will never end, I will just get better at realizing what the hard truths are before they happen.
Hard truths come in all shapes and sizes, kinds, types, and severity. Some are fun, and some are not at all. Some are innocent, and some are just full of hate, and destruction. But no matter what hard truth comes my way, I will take each truth, one on one and learn. The biggest hard truth of life I have all ready realized, and that is I am going to die some day. The question is where am I going after I do die? I now know where I am going, and all of life’s hard truths, and challenges seem to be easier than ever before.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Comparison essay
When I was a kid, winter time was a very busy time during the week. All week, everyday meant going to school, doing homework, doing my chores like feeding cows, pigs, chickens, eating dinner and filling the wood box for our wood stove, and if I did everything I had to do I could watch TV from 7:00 to 8:00 and then go to bed. The weekend was different and we had three different traditions that I would look forward to every weekend. Now that I am a father and have two little girls, we have adopted the same tradition for the weekend. All though the tradition differs because of the time we live in, they all are still the same, and I think I enjoy them as much now sharing them with my kids as I did when I was sharing them with my mom and my sisters and brother.
Our first tradition was on Saturday mornings, and Saturday mornings meant getting up and watching cartoons. My dad had to work every Saturday because he drove a van full of milk samples bound for Ithaca NY, so Saturday was for getting up and eating breakfast while we watch cartoons, and that was a real treat, because my dad would have never allowed that. With my kids, they get up and eat breakfast and they get to watch their Saturday morning cartoons. I work second shift and sleep in on Saturdays, so I don’t get to enjoy it just like my dad couldn’t. The cartoons that I watched were Looney toons, tom and Jerry, and all the cartoons had orchestras doing the music and the animations was the flip book style. My kids watch computer animated cartoons in HD. The content of the cartoons are very different as well. When I was watching cartoons, the worst thing you saw was a little violence, some of the toons on now have jokes targeted more towards adults and seem to be a little crude with all of the body noises. We don’t let the kids watch some of that stuff, and we probably never will. Of course most of Saturday is spent doing things until I have to go to work (if I am working) like playing games or maybe sledding.
The other tradition I had when I was a kid was on Sunday nights when my mom would make dinner and for the most part we always got to pick what we wanted. Now I find myself wanting to do this with my girls, but we are not always able to because all they would want is pizza or tacos, so my wife and I intervene and pick for them, I think it will be different when they get a little older. We would help my mom cook, and set the table and get it all ready for the feast. On these nights is where I learned to cook and by the time I was eight years old I could make an awesome grilled cheese. I have just started now to get the girls to help me when I cook, and my wife works with them as well, right now all they can do is stir everything but to them it is cooking with mom and dad.
Now for my favorite tradition was every Sunday night we would pop some popcorn, at first in a kettle with some oil and we would melt butter and poor it all over the top. Then we got an electric popcorn popper and life was much easier. We would get some blankets and put them on the floor, with our popcorn and sometimes my mom would let us have soda, what a treat that was, we would turn the TV on just in time to watch the Sunday night Disney movie. With my girls now we do the same thing but I use a microwave to pop the corn, and it comes with its own butter, and instead of a Disney movie we sit down and watch Americas Funniest Home Videos. I love watching my girls lay on the floor and laugh at what they are watching, my favorite are the videos of people walking into sliding glass doors, I just can’t get enough of that.
When look back and compare the little traditions that I had when I was a kid, I wonder if the girls feel the same about the weekends as I did. I remember I couldn’t wait for Sunday movie night with the popcorn, and I see my girls doing the same, when they are asking every ten minute if the show was on yet after we eat. I can’t wait until they get a little older so we can start some summer time tradition like going camping, and fishing. Having kids was the best thing I ever did, well next to marrying my wife, and as I watch them grow and experience things for the first time that most of us take for granted, I think back to my childhood and all of my first times I had and how much fun they were. I just hope the girls feel the same and maybe someday when they have kids and they will have these little traditions and remember how much fun they were with mom and dad.
Our first tradition was on Saturday mornings, and Saturday mornings meant getting up and watching cartoons. My dad had to work every Saturday because he drove a van full of milk samples bound for Ithaca NY, so Saturday was for getting up and eating breakfast while we watch cartoons, and that was a real treat, because my dad would have never allowed that. With my kids, they get up and eat breakfast and they get to watch their Saturday morning cartoons. I work second shift and sleep in on Saturdays, so I don’t get to enjoy it just like my dad couldn’t. The cartoons that I watched were Looney toons, tom and Jerry, and all the cartoons had orchestras doing the music and the animations was the flip book style. My kids watch computer animated cartoons in HD. The content of the cartoons are very different as well. When I was watching cartoons, the worst thing you saw was a little violence, some of the toons on now have jokes targeted more towards adults and seem to be a little crude with all of the body noises. We don’t let the kids watch some of that stuff, and we probably never will. Of course most of Saturday is spent doing things until I have to go to work (if I am working) like playing games or maybe sledding.
The other tradition I had when I was a kid was on Sunday nights when my mom would make dinner and for the most part we always got to pick what we wanted. Now I find myself wanting to do this with my girls, but we are not always able to because all they would want is pizza or tacos, so my wife and I intervene and pick for them, I think it will be different when they get a little older. We would help my mom cook, and set the table and get it all ready for the feast. On these nights is where I learned to cook and by the time I was eight years old I could make an awesome grilled cheese. I have just started now to get the girls to help me when I cook, and my wife works with them as well, right now all they can do is stir everything but to them it is cooking with mom and dad.
Now for my favorite tradition was every Sunday night we would pop some popcorn, at first in a kettle with some oil and we would melt butter and poor it all over the top. Then we got an electric popcorn popper and life was much easier. We would get some blankets and put them on the floor, with our popcorn and sometimes my mom would let us have soda, what a treat that was, we would turn the TV on just in time to watch the Sunday night Disney movie. With my girls now we do the same thing but I use a microwave to pop the corn, and it comes with its own butter, and instead of a Disney movie we sit down and watch Americas Funniest Home Videos. I love watching my girls lay on the floor and laugh at what they are watching, my favorite are the videos of people walking into sliding glass doors, I just can’t get enough of that.
When look back and compare the little traditions that I had when I was a kid, I wonder if the girls feel the same about the weekends as I did. I remember I couldn’t wait for Sunday movie night with the popcorn, and I see my girls doing the same, when they are asking every ten minute if the show was on yet after we eat. I can’t wait until they get a little older so we can start some summer time tradition like going camping, and fishing. Having kids was the best thing I ever did, well next to marrying my wife, and as I watch them grow and experience things for the first time that most of us take for granted, I think back to my childhood and all of my first times I had and how much fun they were. I just hope the girls feel the same and maybe someday when they have kids and they will have these little traditions and remember how much fun they were with mom and dad.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Example Essay
I work second shift and I don’t get out until about 11:30 p.m, then I drive an hour home. Staying alert can be hard and after working my butt off all night I tend to drift off to La La land and forget to pay attention. I see a lot of strange and not so strange things on my ride home, and it keeps me from drifting off and forget what I am doing. Just about every Friday a Saturday night I follow a car that seems to have problems with its tires, because of the hard time it has staying in the right lane, and can never keep a constant speed. Avoiding deer, especially this time a year is something that really gets the heart pumping, but it is always nice to see them out and about. What aren’t nice to see out and about in the middle of the night is cats, and about once or twice a year one finds one of my tires.
This past summer I got of work at about 11:45 and I jumped in the car, put the key in the ignition, and started traveling north to home sweet home. I travel about 15miles on the turn pike, and the other 37 miles are on back roads. One night I got off my exit and pulled behind a red Chevy cavalier, that had a bumper sticker that read “if you don’t like my driving dial 1-800-eat s#!t.” After about ½ a mile I realized I just might be making that call. The Cavalier, while swerving from the shoulder to the middle of the road, would slowdown and speed up, the funny thing was if the car went around a sharp corner it almost never was on the right side of the road. I followed the car for about 30 min praying they would get home safe, the good thing about that time of night there is usually no traffic, but this night we had a car coming in the opposite direction. As the car got closer, the Cavalier started to drift into the other lane and just as the two cars were about to hit, the cavalier jerked backed into its lane fish tailed a little, and kept going. After that I realized the individual driving was drunker then I thought so I called the Penobscot police and they had a nice little surprise for the cavalier waiting in the next town we were coming to.
Deer seem to be attracted to my car, or they just love to scar the crap out of me while I am traveling 70mph up the pike. Just two weeks ago was the latest run in with one of these suicidal beasts. Like I said I was moving at about 70mph when all of a sudden a 400 pound doe jumped out in front of me, well maybe it was a 100 pound doe, but at 70mph it looked at least 400 pounds. For some reason I tried to avoid the Goliath and I swerved toward the ditch without thinking, something I never do, and my front passenger tire went off the pavement and that sucked my car towards the ditch. I went around one of the many reflectors, and the rear of my car started to fish tail in the grass that I was now in. I turned the tires into the skid and put the pedal to the medal, and once my front tires hit the pavement it shot my care back across the pike and around facing the same way I just came from, so I let the car role back, and I turned it around and stopped, took a deep breath and went on my way. I couldn’t help but wonder what the guy in back of me was thinking while all that was going on.
I have hit a few cats and I always feel strange knocking on peoples doors at midnight to tell them, so I usually don’t, I am just afraid I am going to get shot, so I make sure they are not suffering (I don’t think I need to explain how because it is never fun, and I feel like crap after) and hide them in the bushes so no one will find them and I proceed home. One night I had three cats run in front of me and I had all about 1 second to make a decision to react and avoid hitting two of them and only hit one. I then turned around to take care of the cat. I feel bad after this happens for a few minutes, but that’s about it, I just hope that the cat was wild and not some little kids pet.
I see many shooting stars, the occasional moose and some animals that I cannot figure out what they are. About two months ago I would see at least one fox almost ever two miles, and I live fifty two miles from work. I see strange lights in the sky, shooting stars, low flying aircraft, and giant owls searching for rodents on the side of the roads. Every night has something to offer to get my mind to unravel from the busy day and take my mind off the long ride home. Many people ask me how I can live so far from work and drive that hour every day, but I have been doing it for over five years and when every night has something else to see around every corner, I don’t even notice.
This past summer I got of work at about 11:45 and I jumped in the car, put the key in the ignition, and started traveling north to home sweet home. I travel about 15miles on the turn pike, and the other 37 miles are on back roads. One night I got off my exit and pulled behind a red Chevy cavalier, that had a bumper sticker that read “if you don’t like my driving dial 1-800-eat s#!t.” After about ½ a mile I realized I just might be making that call. The Cavalier, while swerving from the shoulder to the middle of the road, would slowdown and speed up, the funny thing was if the car went around a sharp corner it almost never was on the right side of the road. I followed the car for about 30 min praying they would get home safe, the good thing about that time of night there is usually no traffic, but this night we had a car coming in the opposite direction. As the car got closer, the Cavalier started to drift into the other lane and just as the two cars were about to hit, the cavalier jerked backed into its lane fish tailed a little, and kept going. After that I realized the individual driving was drunker then I thought so I called the Penobscot police and they had a nice little surprise for the cavalier waiting in the next town we were coming to.
Deer seem to be attracted to my car, or they just love to scar the crap out of me while I am traveling 70mph up the pike. Just two weeks ago was the latest run in with one of these suicidal beasts. Like I said I was moving at about 70mph when all of a sudden a 400 pound doe jumped out in front of me, well maybe it was a 100 pound doe, but at 70mph it looked at least 400 pounds. For some reason I tried to avoid the Goliath and I swerved toward the ditch without thinking, something I never do, and my front passenger tire went off the pavement and that sucked my car towards the ditch. I went around one of the many reflectors, and the rear of my car started to fish tail in the grass that I was now in. I turned the tires into the skid and put the pedal to the medal, and once my front tires hit the pavement it shot my care back across the pike and around facing the same way I just came from, so I let the car role back, and I turned it around and stopped, took a deep breath and went on my way. I couldn’t help but wonder what the guy in back of me was thinking while all that was going on.
I have hit a few cats and I always feel strange knocking on peoples doors at midnight to tell them, so I usually don’t, I am just afraid I am going to get shot, so I make sure they are not suffering (I don’t think I need to explain how because it is never fun, and I feel like crap after) and hide them in the bushes so no one will find them and I proceed home. One night I had three cats run in front of me and I had all about 1 second to make a decision to react and avoid hitting two of them and only hit one. I then turned around to take care of the cat. I feel bad after this happens for a few minutes, but that’s about it, I just hope that the cat was wild and not some little kids pet.
I see many shooting stars, the occasional moose and some animals that I cannot figure out what they are. About two months ago I would see at least one fox almost ever two miles, and I live fifty two miles from work. I see strange lights in the sky, shooting stars, low flying aircraft, and giant owls searching for rodents on the side of the roads. Every night has something to offer to get my mind to unravel from the busy day and take my mind off the long ride home. Many people ask me how I can live so far from work and drive that hour every day, but I have been doing it for over five years and when every night has something else to see around every corner, I don’t even notice.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Effect Essay
My wife and I had been living in our new house for about six months. I had just bought a new car so I would have reliable transportation for the hour ride to work, and all of our bills in a new house were flowing in with all the hookup fees still attached because I had not been able to pay the full amount. I knew they were coming, and I had given up being home with my wife and one year old daughter to work some over time to pay for the bills and get a bunch extra stuff for the house. I got my paycheck and we added all our bills up, and after all was said and done I only had an extra $20. I was so mad, I had never been that mad before, only $20 extra out of all the over time I put in, I just wanted to scream and hit something like the wall real hard. My wife tried to comfort me, but I was so mad, I left for work early without even saying good bye. On the way to work I was going over all the things I could do to get some extra money, and complaining to myself about all that hard work for $20 extra. I calmed down a little and began to pray, actually it was more like complaining to god about the situation he let me get in. And then it happened and it was almost like a voice whispering in my ear and the voice said “you’re welcome” Those two words have had an effect on my life more than any two words can, it not only changed the way I think about money, they have almost ceased all my worries, and have strengthen my faith.
“You’re welcome” After I heard those words I started to think about it, God not only paid all my bills plus paid the unexpected bills, put food on the table, and gave me an extra $20 to spend on whatever I wanted. Money is no longer something I stress out about anymore, and over the past 5 years of living in my house I have not had to. Over the past 5 years as my bills increased God moved me through the ranks where I work, and as I moved up so did my pay. There were many times I was not sure if I was going to have enough money for oil, but I did not worry about it and trusted God to provide me with what I needed, and he always did. So for the rest of my life I think I will let God pay all my bills and focus on other stuff like being a better dad to my kids.
“You’re welcome” Took every worry away I had. I am no longer worried about my car breaking down and I won’t be able to get to work. I am no longer worried that something will break in my house like my furnace, or hot water heater. I at one time I could not sleep because I worried about things that were out of my control. I felt sick and tired all the time, and my gut hurt to the point I almost went to the E.R. Then I heard those words and it was like 2tons of wool blankets just fell off my shoulders and I could stand up straight again. All my gut pains went away, and I started to sleep again, and I could get through the day without wanting to curl up in corner and go to sleep or scream.
“You’re welcome” made me realize the power God has over everything. I began to read my Bible more, and every where I looked, God said he would take care of me, I just cannot believe I did not see it before. Those two little words did more for my faith then any words any pastor can teach or preach on Sunday. I have no doubt that those two words came straight from God, into my ears and it made me realize with all the things going on in the world and all the people that are on this planet, God still find time to make sure I have everything I need. And all I need to do is trust in him to give me the ability to work and have the skills and the know how to fix and do things that need to be done, and have faith and trust that he will be there to help every step of the way.
Two little words have made me the man I am today, and I would not change a thing. I am not perfect and I do a lot of things that make God disappointed in me. I don’t read my bible as much as I should, I get caught up in the busy world that I live in and forget to appreciate the little things that he does, and I don’t even stop to thank him for it all. I could be a much better husband then I am and I could be a better Dad to my kids. After writing the last three paragraph I realized the reason I could be a much better husband and Dad, is because out of all the things I have asked, and god has done for me, I have yet to ask him to help me with all of the other stuff, that might seem little to me but it is all the same to God and I know he is just waiting for me to ask. So I don’t care what happens around me because “as for me and my house we will serve the lord” Joshua 24:15
“You’re welcome” After I heard those words I started to think about it, God not only paid all my bills plus paid the unexpected bills, put food on the table, and gave me an extra $20 to spend on whatever I wanted. Money is no longer something I stress out about anymore, and over the past 5 years of living in my house I have not had to. Over the past 5 years as my bills increased God moved me through the ranks where I work, and as I moved up so did my pay. There were many times I was not sure if I was going to have enough money for oil, but I did not worry about it and trusted God to provide me with what I needed, and he always did. So for the rest of my life I think I will let God pay all my bills and focus on other stuff like being a better dad to my kids.
“You’re welcome” Took every worry away I had. I am no longer worried about my car breaking down and I won’t be able to get to work. I am no longer worried that something will break in my house like my furnace, or hot water heater. I at one time I could not sleep because I worried about things that were out of my control. I felt sick and tired all the time, and my gut hurt to the point I almost went to the E.R. Then I heard those words and it was like 2tons of wool blankets just fell off my shoulders and I could stand up straight again. All my gut pains went away, and I started to sleep again, and I could get through the day without wanting to curl up in corner and go to sleep or scream.
“You’re welcome” made me realize the power God has over everything. I began to read my Bible more, and every where I looked, God said he would take care of me, I just cannot believe I did not see it before. Those two little words did more for my faith then any words any pastor can teach or preach on Sunday. I have no doubt that those two words came straight from God, into my ears and it made me realize with all the things going on in the world and all the people that are on this planet, God still find time to make sure I have everything I need. And all I need to do is trust in him to give me the ability to work and have the skills and the know how to fix and do things that need to be done, and have faith and trust that he will be there to help every step of the way.
Two little words have made me the man I am today, and I would not change a thing. I am not perfect and I do a lot of things that make God disappointed in me. I don’t read my bible as much as I should, I get caught up in the busy world that I live in and forget to appreciate the little things that he does, and I don’t even stop to thank him for it all. I could be a much better husband then I am and I could be a better Dad to my kids. After writing the last three paragraph I realized the reason I could be a much better husband and Dad, is because out of all the things I have asked, and god has done for me, I have yet to ask him to help me with all of the other stuff, that might seem little to me but it is all the same to God and I know he is just waiting for me to ask. So I don’t care what happens around me because “as for me and my house we will serve the lord” Joshua 24:15
Friday, October 31, 2008
Division Essay
What does it take to be the best at the position I am in where I work? I work in a high production machine shop, making front end parts, mostly tie rods, ball joints, stabilizers. My job title as of now is “group leader” my job title seems to change once a year, before that it was “setup technician”. Before I was a setup technician I was the “supervisor”, but after a year of supervisor I realize I did not want to be a member of the management team, and after a restructuring of the plant I become the setup tech. Now that I am a group leader my job duties consist of many other positions in the plant other then leading my operators. I am part quality guy, I am part maintenance guy, and I am part engineer guy. I put on these three hats as soon as I walk in the door, and prepare myself for what is to come.
Now being a quality guy, I need to check parts that operators are making to make sure they are in spec. I look for defects in parts after they are machined and before. I make sure all gages are calibrated, all measuring machines are working, and make sure all operators know what they are looking for when they look at their parts. I also take care of all our Tie Rod assembly machines so making sure all the checks are in place and the operators are looking at their parts and catching defects is an eight hour job within itself. Now a lot of times the inner quality guy, fights with the inner engineer guy, when I find what could be a possible defect. What happens is a part is made, and all the customers’ specification are fine, but it just does not look right. I will then find the part print, and make sure that everything is in spec, make sure all tools are setup right, and the machine programs are fine, and tell the inner quality guy to send them. Without the quality guy making sure everything is in spec. then defects would get to our customers, and without customers, then no job, so the quality guy is very important.
Being an engineer guy I make sure all programs are working right, make sure all the feeds and speeds are fine, the tool geometry is good, and machines are in working order. Tooling is a big, big, big expense where I work. Every month we spend about $35,000 just in tooling, and inserts for the tools, and anything else we use to cut metal. For eight hours a day I have to constantly make sure every tool is working the way it should, make sure it is cutting all the parts it can out of the insert it is using, make sure the tool is cutting the part to the print that the customer needs, make sure all the programs in the huge lathes are working the way they should, and try to figure out ways to lower our tooling consumption. I also try and make machines run faster so the operators can make more parts, to satisfy all the production people in management position so they will get off the operators back about making tons of parts. Being part engineer guy can take eight hours a day on bad nights, and five hours a day on good night, but without engineers the customers would not get their parts cut to the specs that they want.
Now being a maintenance guy is my favorite. My job duties as a maintenance guy consist of troubleshooting machine problems, fixing parts of the machine that break, everyday doing preventative maintenance to machines, changing over machines, troubleshooting broken tools and chipped inserts, and making sure all machine are running in tip top shape. This is my favorite part of my job because I enjoy troubleshooting problems, indentifying the problem and fixing the problem, it is very rewarding when everything comes together like that. If I can’t fix the problem or don’t have time to fix it I will get the real maintenance guys and explain to them what I found and let them take over. I can’t spend as much time doing maintenance as I would like to, because of the other positions I have, but every chance I get, I get inside the machines and look around, because without working machines we cannot make parts.
Being efficient in all three positions and add in a little leadership skills, and we have a good group leader. To be effective and do the job at the best of my abilities I need to be efficient in all three positions, because without one the others will not function right, it’s kind of like having a bad transmission, and only first gear and fifth gear works, I can still make the car move but when I need to change gears it will bog the motor down, spit and sputter and not run right. I have worked here for almost six years, and everything I have learned is because I have asked the questions and took the time to work with engineers and maintenance guys and suck out as much information as I can. I work with a couple of other group leaders that can do the same things I do, and there are a few that cannot and will not even try and it shows. So to keep my transmission working with all five gears I will keep asking the questions and learning more, because that is what it take to be the best group leader I can be.
Now being a quality guy, I need to check parts that operators are making to make sure they are in spec. I look for defects in parts after they are machined and before. I make sure all gages are calibrated, all measuring machines are working, and make sure all operators know what they are looking for when they look at their parts. I also take care of all our Tie Rod assembly machines so making sure all the checks are in place and the operators are looking at their parts and catching defects is an eight hour job within itself. Now a lot of times the inner quality guy, fights with the inner engineer guy, when I find what could be a possible defect. What happens is a part is made, and all the customers’ specification are fine, but it just does not look right. I will then find the part print, and make sure that everything is in spec, make sure all tools are setup right, and the machine programs are fine, and tell the inner quality guy to send them. Without the quality guy making sure everything is in spec. then defects would get to our customers, and without customers, then no job, so the quality guy is very important.
Being an engineer guy I make sure all programs are working right, make sure all the feeds and speeds are fine, the tool geometry is good, and machines are in working order. Tooling is a big, big, big expense where I work. Every month we spend about $35,000 just in tooling, and inserts for the tools, and anything else we use to cut metal. For eight hours a day I have to constantly make sure every tool is working the way it should, make sure it is cutting all the parts it can out of the insert it is using, make sure the tool is cutting the part to the print that the customer needs, make sure all the programs in the huge lathes are working the way they should, and try to figure out ways to lower our tooling consumption. I also try and make machines run faster so the operators can make more parts, to satisfy all the production people in management position so they will get off the operators back about making tons of parts. Being part engineer guy can take eight hours a day on bad nights, and five hours a day on good night, but without engineers the customers would not get their parts cut to the specs that they want.
Now being a maintenance guy is my favorite. My job duties as a maintenance guy consist of troubleshooting machine problems, fixing parts of the machine that break, everyday doing preventative maintenance to machines, changing over machines, troubleshooting broken tools and chipped inserts, and making sure all machine are running in tip top shape. This is my favorite part of my job because I enjoy troubleshooting problems, indentifying the problem and fixing the problem, it is very rewarding when everything comes together like that. If I can’t fix the problem or don’t have time to fix it I will get the real maintenance guys and explain to them what I found and let them take over. I can’t spend as much time doing maintenance as I would like to, because of the other positions I have, but every chance I get, I get inside the machines and look around, because without working machines we cannot make parts.
Being efficient in all three positions and add in a little leadership skills, and we have a good group leader. To be effective and do the job at the best of my abilities I need to be efficient in all three positions, because without one the others will not function right, it’s kind of like having a bad transmission, and only first gear and fifth gear works, I can still make the car move but when I need to change gears it will bog the motor down, spit and sputter and not run right. I have worked here for almost six years, and everything I have learned is because I have asked the questions and took the time to work with engineers and maintenance guys and suck out as much information as I can. I work with a couple of other group leaders that can do the same things I do, and there are a few that cannot and will not even try and it shows. So to keep my transmission working with all five gears I will keep asking the questions and learning more, because that is what it take to be the best group leader I can be.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Process Essay
Now I am going to let all who read this in on a little secrete. There is a certain way I get ready to go and catch the trophy Small Mouth Bass and I am going to tell you how you can do it as well. When you talk to different fishermen or fisherladies (whatever floats your boat) you will find that depending on what they like to fish for one is always harder to catch then the other. There is a silent war between Trout fishermen and Bass fishermen over who is a real fisherman. Now being on both sides of the war, because I do both, they are both easy to catch when they are hungry, but the trick is to find them and get the big ones to bite a hook even if they are not. Now I have many techniques for getting stubborn fish to bite, but I am only going to share with everyone the three easy steps for catching trophy small mouth bass. That’s right ladies and gentlemen three easy steps, gearing up, finding them, and giving them what they want. If you follow these steps then it is only a matter of time before you are reeling in the big ones.
Step 1 is gearing up. I have a separate tackle box just for Bass, and in it is about $300 dollars of lures and other tackle that I will never use, but I have it just in case. I take three different rods and reel with different size lines on them, because some lures are lighter than others so a smaller pound test line will cast better than others. I have an open face reel that has 10 lb test line on it, a bait caster that has 12 lb test and up until last year I had another bait caster that had 14lb test line on it. Yes I said up until last year I had a bait caster with 14lb test line, I should warn everyone once you have perfected these steps all of your gear will take a beating and it will break, catching three to five pound fish all the time is bound to take a toll. Every reel is attached to an ugly stick fishing rod. I only use ugly stick because the company says they will not break, and so far they have been right. If you only have one rod and reel then use 10lb test line (if it will take it) because it is able to cast all tackle that you will be using. And last but not least you are going to need a boat, or a canoe, or something that floats a can get you to a fishing hole.
Step 2 is finding them. Finding them is not always easy and sometimes it can be frustrating, but there are three things I do to try and determine where they are, and then I use Step 3, (I will get into that in a minute) to see if I was right. First thing I do is check the water temp. To do that I use a very high tech. very sensitive, instrument, called my hand. If the water feels warm then they are going to be deep, maybe in 8 to 25 feet of water, if it is cold then they could be closer to the shore, and if it is in between then your guess is as good as mine, they could be anywhere. The next thing I look at is the sun, but not for too long I might go blind. If the sun is high and bright with no cloud cover then the bass are going to be either deep or under something hiding from the sun, they say sunlight hurts the eyes of bass, I don’t know who “they” are or how “they” asked a bass that but they seem to be right about it. The last thing I am going to look at is where are all the bait fish? Bass are going to be where all the food is or in the area, because they are very lazy fish, until they have a hook in their mouth. Bait fish can usually be found at an inlet to a river or stream or an outlet to a river or stream, but they are all through the lake so it should not be too hard to find them.
Step 3 is giving them what they want. Now I have narrowed it down to four types of tackle that I use to get a fish to bite, and I will reveal them in the order that I try them, you may have better luck with something else. Deeping diving lures, all different colors and shapes. I start with a diver that goes about four feet deep, and I will keep putting different ones on until I am as deep as I can go, if I do not catch one then I will move on. Jig and pig is the next one, and all that is is a jig head with a hook and pork bait that is shaped like frog legs or a craw fish and I stick it to the end of the hook. I will for the most part use these next to the shore, and skip them across the bottom until they get to under the boat, the trick is to make them look like a frog swimming or a craw fish moving on the bottom. Next I will try Spinner baits and Buzz baits, and all those are is a long wire with a hook and different color skirts on it on one end and a spinner or spinners on the other. All I do with them is start near the surface and reel them in fast, the next cast I will let it sink a couple of feet and reel it in fast, then next cast go a little deeper then the last until it is almost snagging everything on the bottom. The last one is a five inch senco Gary Yammoto salt impregnated rubber worm, green pumpkin color. If the first three baits do not work then I always fall back to the worm hooked with a #4 hook in the middle, and all I do with that is let it slowly sink to the bottom, and slowly reel it in across the bottom. I have found that if there are Bass in there then the worm will not hit the bottom, they will have it way before it gets there. Now if none of that works then that means there were not fish in the lake to begin with, so I go to another lake, or I will try some of the other $300 worth of crap in my tackle box, it is all trial and error until I find the right combination.
Now picture this, you have all you gear, you have tested the waters, you are seeing red spots from looking where the sun was, you have gone through everything in you tackle box except for an old lure you found in a tree at the last boat launch you were at, and you cast it out on the edge of a bunch of lily pads next to a big log resting on a rock, and BOOM!!! Something just tried to rip the pole out of your hands, you drag is running and you can’t stop it, you’re starting to run out of line. Now don’t panic just set that hook like you never set it before and start reeling, you have 14lb test on your reel so there is nothing to worry about, crank that sucker in. You may start to get tired you may even want to give up, don’t be cry baby suck it up and reel. After about 15 min of fighting with the fish, the fish will get tired and give up, and there it is all your hard work, blood, sweat, and tears have finial paid off and you are looking at a very tired, 6lb, Trophy Small mouth Bass. So kiss the ugly thing, snap a few pictures and throw it back in. WHAT WHAT WHAT!!!!! I know what you are thinking, “throw it back, why would I want to do that?” Because if you throw it back, then the 6lb bass you caught this year will be a 7lb bass next year, and then the fun can start all over again.
So Happy fishing!!!
Step 1 is gearing up. I have a separate tackle box just for Bass, and in it is about $300 dollars of lures and other tackle that I will never use, but I have it just in case. I take three different rods and reel with different size lines on them, because some lures are lighter than others so a smaller pound test line will cast better than others. I have an open face reel that has 10 lb test line on it, a bait caster that has 12 lb test and up until last year I had another bait caster that had 14lb test line on it. Yes I said up until last year I had a bait caster with 14lb test line, I should warn everyone once you have perfected these steps all of your gear will take a beating and it will break, catching three to five pound fish all the time is bound to take a toll. Every reel is attached to an ugly stick fishing rod. I only use ugly stick because the company says they will not break, and so far they have been right. If you only have one rod and reel then use 10lb test line (if it will take it) because it is able to cast all tackle that you will be using. And last but not least you are going to need a boat, or a canoe, or something that floats a can get you to a fishing hole.
Step 2 is finding them. Finding them is not always easy and sometimes it can be frustrating, but there are three things I do to try and determine where they are, and then I use Step 3, (I will get into that in a minute) to see if I was right. First thing I do is check the water temp. To do that I use a very high tech. very sensitive, instrument, called my hand. If the water feels warm then they are going to be deep, maybe in 8 to 25 feet of water, if it is cold then they could be closer to the shore, and if it is in between then your guess is as good as mine, they could be anywhere. The next thing I look at is the sun, but not for too long I might go blind. If the sun is high and bright with no cloud cover then the bass are going to be either deep or under something hiding from the sun, they say sunlight hurts the eyes of bass, I don’t know who “they” are or how “they” asked a bass that but they seem to be right about it. The last thing I am going to look at is where are all the bait fish? Bass are going to be where all the food is or in the area, because they are very lazy fish, until they have a hook in their mouth. Bait fish can usually be found at an inlet to a river or stream or an outlet to a river or stream, but they are all through the lake so it should not be too hard to find them.
Step 3 is giving them what they want. Now I have narrowed it down to four types of tackle that I use to get a fish to bite, and I will reveal them in the order that I try them, you may have better luck with something else. Deeping diving lures, all different colors and shapes. I start with a diver that goes about four feet deep, and I will keep putting different ones on until I am as deep as I can go, if I do not catch one then I will move on. Jig and pig is the next one, and all that is is a jig head with a hook and pork bait that is shaped like frog legs or a craw fish and I stick it to the end of the hook. I will for the most part use these next to the shore, and skip them across the bottom until they get to under the boat, the trick is to make them look like a frog swimming or a craw fish moving on the bottom. Next I will try Spinner baits and Buzz baits, and all those are is a long wire with a hook and different color skirts on it on one end and a spinner or spinners on the other. All I do with them is start near the surface and reel them in fast, the next cast I will let it sink a couple of feet and reel it in fast, then next cast go a little deeper then the last until it is almost snagging everything on the bottom. The last one is a five inch senco Gary Yammoto salt impregnated rubber worm, green pumpkin color. If the first three baits do not work then I always fall back to the worm hooked with a #4 hook in the middle, and all I do with that is let it slowly sink to the bottom, and slowly reel it in across the bottom. I have found that if there are Bass in there then the worm will not hit the bottom, they will have it way before it gets there. Now if none of that works then that means there were not fish in the lake to begin with, so I go to another lake, or I will try some of the other $300 worth of crap in my tackle box, it is all trial and error until I find the right combination.
Now picture this, you have all you gear, you have tested the waters, you are seeing red spots from looking where the sun was, you have gone through everything in you tackle box except for an old lure you found in a tree at the last boat launch you were at, and you cast it out on the edge of a bunch of lily pads next to a big log resting on a rock, and BOOM!!! Something just tried to rip the pole out of your hands, you drag is running and you can’t stop it, you’re starting to run out of line. Now don’t panic just set that hook like you never set it before and start reeling, you have 14lb test on your reel so there is nothing to worry about, crank that sucker in. You may start to get tired you may even want to give up, don’t be cry baby suck it up and reel. After about 15 min of fighting with the fish, the fish will get tired and give up, and there it is all your hard work, blood, sweat, and tears have finial paid off and you are looking at a very tired, 6lb, Trophy Small mouth Bass. So kiss the ugly thing, snap a few pictures and throw it back in. WHAT WHAT WHAT!!!!! I know what you are thinking, “throw it back, why would I want to do that?” Because if you throw it back, then the 6lb bass you caught this year will be a 7lb bass next year, and then the fun can start all over again.
So Happy fishing!!!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Graf #10
Research, research, research, I have done so much research over the past 5 years after I moved into my house, there is no way I could remember and write it all down, but I will try. The main reason for all of my research over the past year was because of PRICE!! When I first moved into my house I had to research for the cheapest company that sold oil, the best garage in the area and what their labor cost was. When I was ready to buy a new car, I shopped around for the best gas mileage, the cheapest with the best quality, and the most reliable.
I think the most extensive research I did was a year and a half ago when I put new windows, siding, and a new metal roof. There were just too many choices for window. Did I want double hung, single hung, new construction, replacement, argon filled, blinds inside of the glass, with J-channel without J-channel, blah blah blah, I just wanted good, cheap windows that would keep the warm air in and the cold air out. Siding and roofing was a little easier, but I had to research what colors would look the best when together (all I did was ask my wife what color she wanted) what were the best brands, and what style of roofing I wanted. What is funny is about 9 months ago I did some research on laptop computers, only so I could get one home and do more research on the “world wide web” for home schooling stuff. Life is a research paper, I wonder who will write mine?
I think the most extensive research I did was a year and a half ago when I put new windows, siding, and a new metal roof. There were just too many choices for window. Did I want double hung, single hung, new construction, replacement, argon filled, blinds inside of the glass, with J-channel without J-channel, blah blah blah, I just wanted good, cheap windows that would keep the warm air in and the cold air out. Siding and roofing was a little easier, but I had to research what colors would look the best when together (all I did was ask my wife what color she wanted) what were the best brands, and what style of roofing I wanted. What is funny is about 9 months ago I did some research on laptop computers, only so I could get one home and do more research on the “world wide web” for home schooling stuff. Life is a research paper, I wonder who will write mine?
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Contrast essay
Every time I return to my parent’s house it is very strange the way everything looks. It has not changed too much, there are a few houses that were not there when I was growing up, the field across the street is starting to grow in because of the lack of very stubborn Black Angus Cows. The noticeable things that have changed since I was a kid are my old tree house where I spent most of my free time, my old hunting grounds, and my parent’s house. Its fun going home and walking around to all the places I spent the majority of my childhood, but it can be a little sad to see all the ways things change over the years as well. But one thing that can never change is what I remember about my childhood and all the fun I had.
I took my daughter to my old tree house and saw that most of it was still there, I guess it was not wrong to put twelve 16 penny nails in every board. My old rope zip line was still there with the bicycle handle bars I used to slide with were on the ground at the base of the tree. The big hole in the tree where my friend Chris and I put all our contraband in was now being used as a home by a porcupine, I wonder if he found my Redman chewing tobacco and my corncob pipe, I wasn’t going to reach in and find out. The strangest part of returning to my old tree house is everything now looks very small. The tree house was not as high as I remember when I was a kid I thought it was at least 40 feet high but returning I found that it was only about 10 feet, no wonder I survived so many falls off the top. The zip line that seemed to stretch a mile was only about 35 feet, much shorter then I remember. The walk to my old tree house was even shorter then I remember, but now when I walked I noticed it was all uphill, I don’t think it was all uphill when I was a kid, I’m not sure how I did that twenty times a day.
There is about 100 acres in front of my parent’s house that I always hunt in. The land surrounding my parents house was at one time all farm land, and there are stone walls all over the place marking ends of old fields, when I was kid I used them to keep from getting lost but now if I wanted to I can just use a GPS to find my way. I had and old tree stand that I built in a big beech tree, next to a small stream. I could see down the stream about 100 yards to an old granite bridge, and 50 yards up the stream I could see into the swamp that the stream started from. In front of me there was a small ridge about 100 yards away with an apple tree at the base of the small ridge, needless to say I had the perfect spot for a tree stand, even if it did not produce a Buck. But now I can’t even get to my old tree stand. Over the past ten years a couple of beavers have moved in and started damming up the small stream. At first it was no problem, but then the old granite bridge went under water and now the last year I went to the tree stand I could not get to it, because the ten acres that surrounded the tree stand was now under water. The gentlemen that owns the land put no trapping signs all around the area, so it is only going to get worse, but I guess I will have to go explore new territory for the perfect tree to put a tree stand in.
My parent’s house is no exception for change as well. My dad bought the house in 1982 for $6,200 and when he bought it, it was half a house and half a pig barn. After a bunch or remodeling we moved in. In 1990 my dad decided it was time to make the house bigger to accommodate five kids. My dad is very stubborn and does not change if he does not have to but there are things that are even out of his control. The hardwood floors are worn and breaking from the years of all his kids and now grandkids ridding there toys back in forth from the living room to the kitchen, they did shine at one time. My mom’s handmade cabinets were once solid as a rock are now starting to fall off their hinges and the counter top is starting to warp. The west side of the house has sunk about three inches because of the old granite foundation under the support walls. When my dad finished the rebuilding of the 150 year old house, with the original post and beam structure, he took great pride in saying he was able to make the entire house level and plum, and that is not easy.
I remember my friend and I in the tree house and the fun we had building it, cleaning out my dad’s good lumber and all his nails. I don’t like to hunt to much I would much rather fish, but most of the time I go out just to spend time with my dad, and when my dad and I get together in the woods we mostly walk miles exploring new territory, he says we are hunting so that’s all that matters. As for my parents house, I not sure that will ever change, unless my mom finally threatens my dad a stops feeding him until he replaces the floors and cabinets. I am not sure that will even work, my dad still refuses to drill a well and put in a toilet inside. I think once he gets too old to walk to the outhouse he will put one in. It is funny how years can change things, but there are things that will never change, like the memories of my child hood and I would never want to change one of them.
I took my daughter to my old tree house and saw that most of it was still there, I guess it was not wrong to put twelve 16 penny nails in every board. My old rope zip line was still there with the bicycle handle bars I used to slide with were on the ground at the base of the tree. The big hole in the tree where my friend Chris and I put all our contraband in was now being used as a home by a porcupine, I wonder if he found my Redman chewing tobacco and my corncob pipe, I wasn’t going to reach in and find out. The strangest part of returning to my old tree house is everything now looks very small. The tree house was not as high as I remember when I was a kid I thought it was at least 40 feet high but returning I found that it was only about 10 feet, no wonder I survived so many falls off the top. The zip line that seemed to stretch a mile was only about 35 feet, much shorter then I remember. The walk to my old tree house was even shorter then I remember, but now when I walked I noticed it was all uphill, I don’t think it was all uphill when I was a kid, I’m not sure how I did that twenty times a day.
There is about 100 acres in front of my parent’s house that I always hunt in. The land surrounding my parents house was at one time all farm land, and there are stone walls all over the place marking ends of old fields, when I was kid I used them to keep from getting lost but now if I wanted to I can just use a GPS to find my way. I had and old tree stand that I built in a big beech tree, next to a small stream. I could see down the stream about 100 yards to an old granite bridge, and 50 yards up the stream I could see into the swamp that the stream started from. In front of me there was a small ridge about 100 yards away with an apple tree at the base of the small ridge, needless to say I had the perfect spot for a tree stand, even if it did not produce a Buck. But now I can’t even get to my old tree stand. Over the past ten years a couple of beavers have moved in and started damming up the small stream. At first it was no problem, but then the old granite bridge went under water and now the last year I went to the tree stand I could not get to it, because the ten acres that surrounded the tree stand was now under water. The gentlemen that owns the land put no trapping signs all around the area, so it is only going to get worse, but I guess I will have to go explore new territory for the perfect tree to put a tree stand in.
My parent’s house is no exception for change as well. My dad bought the house in 1982 for $6,200 and when he bought it, it was half a house and half a pig barn. After a bunch or remodeling we moved in. In 1990 my dad decided it was time to make the house bigger to accommodate five kids. My dad is very stubborn and does not change if he does not have to but there are things that are even out of his control. The hardwood floors are worn and breaking from the years of all his kids and now grandkids ridding there toys back in forth from the living room to the kitchen, they did shine at one time. My mom’s handmade cabinets were once solid as a rock are now starting to fall off their hinges and the counter top is starting to warp. The west side of the house has sunk about three inches because of the old granite foundation under the support walls. When my dad finished the rebuilding of the 150 year old house, with the original post and beam structure, he took great pride in saying he was able to make the entire house level and plum, and that is not easy.
I remember my friend and I in the tree house and the fun we had building it, cleaning out my dad’s good lumber and all his nails. I don’t like to hunt to much I would much rather fish, but most of the time I go out just to spend time with my dad, and when my dad and I get together in the woods we mostly walk miles exploring new territory, he says we are hunting so that’s all that matters. As for my parents house, I not sure that will ever change, unless my mom finally threatens my dad a stops feeding him until he replaces the floors and cabinets. I am not sure that will even work, my dad still refuses to drill a well and put in a toilet inside. I think once he gets too old to walk to the outhouse he will put one in. It is funny how years can change things, but there are things that will never change, like the memories of my child hood and I would never want to change one of them.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Intro #2 (contrast Essay)
I moved out of my parent’s house about 12 years ago, there are a lot of things that can change in twelve years. I go home all the time during the summer and on holidays, but most of the time we spend time at my sister’s house or at our camp. But when I go home to hunt with my dad I spend a lot of time in the woods by my parent’s house and get to see all the places I once explored when I was a kid. I had three sisters growing up and my brother was born 7 years after me so he was never big enough to keep up with me so I spent most of my time by myself. The tree house my friend best Chris and I built looks very different than it did when it was our fortress of solitude. When I go out hunting with my dad, I see many things that look different than they did, and what Ten years of beaver infestation can do. I don’t really hunt I mostly walk miles and miles having fun being In the woods with my dad. My parent’s house over the years has changed as well it is very different now than when I lives there, but something’s in my parents’ house will never change.
Intro #1 (contrast essay)
Every time I return to my parent’s house it is very strange the way everything looks. It has not changed too much, there are a few houses that were not there when I was growing up, the field we had cows in across the street is starting to grow in because of the lack of very stubborn Black Angus Cows. The noticeable things that have changed since I was a kid are my old tree house where I spent most of my free time in with my best friend Chris, my old hunting grounds, and my parent’s house. Its fun going home and walking around to all the places I spent the majority of my childhood, but it can be a little sad to see all the ways things change over the years as well. But one thing that can never change is what I remember about my childhood and all the fun I had.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Classification Essay
A little bit of brake, push in the clutch, downshift, gas to the floor, turn left and let off the gas, turn right and gas to the floor, E-Brake and feather the gas, E-brake off, turn left feather the gas, turn right, down shift, steady pressure on the gas and thank God he kept my car on the road once again. Driving in winter storms in Maine always keeps me on my toes and looking for the softest snow bank put my car in if needed, so far I have not had to, but I know it is coming. There are really only three types of storms that make me nervous. The typical snowstorm, sleet and freezing rain, and the storm that everyone loves to hate, the Noreastah!! Every one of them can challenge even the most experienced driver, and I thought after growing up in Maine, and driving in all types of storms and weather I was experienced enough, but every year I get humbled by one of these storms, and on bad years all three.
Now the typical snowstorm can be very beautiful, especially at night. I remember being a kid and imagining I was in the Star Wars movie and I was traveling through space to save the princess from Darth Vader, who am kidding I still do that. But when driving in one, there is danger around every corner. For me the biggest danger in a typical snowstorm are the other drivers on the road with me. Most people take it easy, but there are a few that think a little snow is no big deal because it has not yet stuck to the road. Last year I saw a 4x4 SUV pass me on the road only to go over a bridge and lose control because the bridge had frozen over. Some drivers still think they can take corners the same speed as they do when it is not snowing, I don’t know how many people I have seen go around a corner on the wrong side of the road and into the ditch, and I think some people just cannot drive at all in rain, snow, or sunshine.
With sleet and freezing rain there are many things that make my drive even longer then it all ready is. Well for starters it is hard to get the windshield clear except for a small opening in the bottom left corner or on the passenger’s side. If I don’t use my wipers the stuff freezes to my windshield and when I do use them it just kinds of spreads all over my windshield and freezes up. I have found finding the perfect mix of hot and cool air on the windshield makes driving much easier. Depending on the mix ratio of sleet and freezing rain determines how I will navigate home. More sleet then freezing rain means there is a lot of slush, so I will keep my car in fourth gear and try to stay near the middle of the road to anticipate the pull from a big pile of slush, and keep the gas at one constant pressure. More freezing rain then sleet, then I just grip the steering wheel tightly, go slow, and turn the radio up nice and load, because there is really nothing I can do but if the radio is loud there is a chance there will be a good song on when I go spinning out of control.
Now for the Noreastah, that has to be my favorite. The blowing snow, unplowed roads, snow drifts and white outs make my hour ride extra extra long. 15 miles of my drive is on the turn pike heading north and the other 35 are all back roads. Blowing snow usually isn’t too bad unless I get the hundred pounds that fell from a tree, that always jumps the crap out of me. Whiteouts are the worst. There are many nights on the turnpike when the only way I know what side of the road I am on is by what tire hits the rumble strip. The scariest times is when not being able the see two feet in front of me then the wind and snow blow a different way and I see that three feet in front of me is a trailer truck that I have been behind for the last ten miles, that will put anyone’s heart in their throat. I just love hitting a four foot snow drift, I can go from 45 mph to 15 mph in one second. I am not sure why some towns wait so long to plow the roads, there are some nights the snow is so deep that I end up plowing the road myself, and I travel mostly State roads, but for the most part the State truck do a very good job.
Needless to say my drive home is adventurous enough without throwing in some kind of snow storm. With danger around every corner or from the oncoming traffic, and behind every Big Rig, it’s just a matter of time that certain doom will fall upon me and I kiss a snow bank, a tree, or the worst of all another car. So every year around the first week in December I put my studded snow tires on my little Hyundai accent and load the back of the car with my Carhart insulated bibs, Carhart insulated jacket, my -70 degree boots, -30 degree gloves (the boots are nice and warn but the gloves are not) my thick wool hat, a wool ski mask, and a flashlight so I will be well prepared for a walk home in a storm 1:00 in the morning. Every trip I take in a storm, there is a chance that I will go off the road, but I learn from experience as well as mistakes, and so far I have not seen what inside a snow bank looks like, and with my wife and kids praying when they go to bed for me to return home safely, I hope I never will.
Now the typical snowstorm can be very beautiful, especially at night. I remember being a kid and imagining I was in the Star Wars movie and I was traveling through space to save the princess from Darth Vader, who am kidding I still do that. But when driving in one, there is danger around every corner. For me the biggest danger in a typical snowstorm are the other drivers on the road with me. Most people take it easy, but there are a few that think a little snow is no big deal because it has not yet stuck to the road. Last year I saw a 4x4 SUV pass me on the road only to go over a bridge and lose control because the bridge had frozen over. Some drivers still think they can take corners the same speed as they do when it is not snowing, I don’t know how many people I have seen go around a corner on the wrong side of the road and into the ditch, and I think some people just cannot drive at all in rain, snow, or sunshine.
With sleet and freezing rain there are many things that make my drive even longer then it all ready is. Well for starters it is hard to get the windshield clear except for a small opening in the bottom left corner or on the passenger’s side. If I don’t use my wipers the stuff freezes to my windshield and when I do use them it just kinds of spreads all over my windshield and freezes up. I have found finding the perfect mix of hot and cool air on the windshield makes driving much easier. Depending on the mix ratio of sleet and freezing rain determines how I will navigate home. More sleet then freezing rain means there is a lot of slush, so I will keep my car in fourth gear and try to stay near the middle of the road to anticipate the pull from a big pile of slush, and keep the gas at one constant pressure. More freezing rain then sleet, then I just grip the steering wheel tightly, go slow, and turn the radio up nice and load, because there is really nothing I can do but if the radio is loud there is a chance there will be a good song on when I go spinning out of control.
Now for the Noreastah, that has to be my favorite. The blowing snow, unplowed roads, snow drifts and white outs make my hour ride extra extra long. 15 miles of my drive is on the turn pike heading north and the other 35 are all back roads. Blowing snow usually isn’t too bad unless I get the hundred pounds that fell from a tree, that always jumps the crap out of me. Whiteouts are the worst. There are many nights on the turnpike when the only way I know what side of the road I am on is by what tire hits the rumble strip. The scariest times is when not being able the see two feet in front of me then the wind and snow blow a different way and I see that three feet in front of me is a trailer truck that I have been behind for the last ten miles, that will put anyone’s heart in their throat. I just love hitting a four foot snow drift, I can go from 45 mph to 15 mph in one second. I am not sure why some towns wait so long to plow the roads, there are some nights the snow is so deep that I end up plowing the road myself, and I travel mostly State roads, but for the most part the State truck do a very good job.
Needless to say my drive home is adventurous enough without throwing in some kind of snow storm. With danger around every corner or from the oncoming traffic, and behind every Big Rig, it’s just a matter of time that certain doom will fall upon me and I kiss a snow bank, a tree, or the worst of all another car. So every year around the first week in December I put my studded snow tires on my little Hyundai accent and load the back of the car with my Carhart insulated bibs, Carhart insulated jacket, my -70 degree boots, -30 degree gloves (the boots are nice and warn but the gloves are not) my thick wool hat, a wool ski mask, and a flashlight so I will be well prepared for a walk home in a storm 1:00 in the morning. Every trip I take in a storm, there is a chance that I will go off the road, but I learn from experience as well as mistakes, and so far I have not seen what inside a snow bank looks like, and with my wife and kids praying when they go to bed for me to return home safely, I hope I never will.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Outro (class essay)
I drive 104 miles every day, and get plenty of practice driving in all kinds of weather. I have put my little Hyundai accent to the test on many occasions as you have just read. I bought it in 2003 brand new and now it has 155,000 miles on it. I take good care of it, and I just hope when the engine die I will be able to give my car a heart transplant and put a new motor in it, because it is that good of a car. Every year sometime in the first or second week of December I put on my studded snow tires, and load the back of my car with my Carhart insulated bibs, Carhart insulated jacket, my -70 degree boots, -30 degree gloves (the boots are nice and warn but the gloves are not) my thick wool hat, a wool ski mask, and a flashlight. It’s no big surprise that I am well prepared for a meeting with a snow bank, and ditch, if I am going to have to walk home I want to be warm. So every trip I take in a storm there is that chance that I will go off the road, but I learn from experience as well as mistakes, and so far I have not seen what inside a snow bank looks like, and with my wife and kids praying when they go to bed for me to return home safely, I never will.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Intro #2 (class. essay)
A little bit of brake, push in the clutch, downshift, gas to the floor, turn left and let off the gas, turn right and gas to the floor, E-Brake and feather the gas, E-brake off, turn left feather the gas, turn right, down shift, steady pressure on the gas and thank God he kept my car on the road once again. Driving in winter storms in Maine always keeps me on my toes and looking for the softest snow bank put my car in if needed, so far I have not had to, but I know it is coming. There are really only three types of storms that make me nervous. The typical snowstorm, sleet and freezing rain, and the storm that everyone loves to hate, the Noreastah!! Every one of them can challenge even the most experienced driver, and I thought after growing up in Maine, and driving in all types of storms and weather I was experienced enough, but every year I get humbled by one of these storms, and on bad years all three.
Intro 1 (class. essay)
Winter driving in Maine can be a new experience to any driver that is crazy enough to venture out in it. What I have noticed over the years of driving the one hundred and four miles to work and back home every day, is there are only three types of weather that really make me nervous. There is the typical snowstorm, sleet and freezing rain and my personal favorite the Noreastah! They all have their different dangers but every one of them makes my hour ride home even longer and a little more stressful.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Meta-graph
While writing this entire essay it made me want to take off to the lake and go fishing. There are many stories from previous years that I wish I could have worked in the essay, like watching a Doe swim across a part of the lake in the middle of a storm, to our campsite, or the second year we were there, we had a big storm that hit and destroyed our entire camp, or the year my dad caught a bass that broke his fishing pole in half. One other thing I wish I could of done to my paper, is there are so many examples I would have liked to write about, but because of the length I had to leave a lot out. I wish I could explain the boat ride in the storm a little better. I have caught bigger fish then the one in my essay but that one gave the best fight and also the only one that broke my favorite fishing reel, I guess five years of abuse will break any fishing reel, no matter how much they cost. Now I am looking forward to next year when we go, and all the many adventures we will all experience.
Cause Essay
There is nothing like the smell of early morning next to a lake. All our gear is packed tightly in the sixteen foot aluminum boat. The 18 horse power motor is running and filling the morning air with exhaust fumes and I am still a little groggy from the lack of sleep the night before. The anticipation of this day made me toss and turn all night, but it’s nothing that a strong cup of instant camp coffee can’t fix. “Five days of fishing and relaxation Sam” “yup” my father law says sitting in his captain’s chair with his hand on the throttle, waiting for me to shove off. I push us out and we begin to move towards the mouth of the canal that drains into the main lake. The sun is just up over the horizon and the yellowish red tint on the water from the sun makes me put on my sunglasses to protect my eyes. As we motor through the narrow canal back and forth avoiding all shallow parts, I can see the lake in the distance for a moment before it is swallowed up by live and dying pine trees. The lily pads have moved closer to the middle of the canal and there seems to be a little more sweat grass near the shore this year, it won’t be long before the moose are in and around the shore indulging themselves on it. Then we round the corner, there it is, the sun gleams off the surface of the lake like crystals in a window just like it does every year, and I can’t help but think of the small mouth bass that were practically jumping in the boat the year before. As we head across the lake to our campsite that can only be reached by boat, I just sit there taken up by all the beauty and hope that this year on our annual fishing trip will be just as action packed as the years before it. Little did I know that the camp fire conversation, the weather, and the fishing would test our patience as well as our own limits like it has so many times in our past trips.
The trip started off like any other trip. Sam and I got to the campsite and started to put the tent, and all the many tarps, when we were done it looked like a giant tarp city. We had a few hours to kill until my Dad and Uncle Tony were going to show up. Tony is not really my uncle but I have known him for as long as I can remember, he is a very big guy, and could provably crush my head in one of his hands, but he is kind of a big teddy bear. My dad is not a small guy either, and on many occasions growing up he has tried to crush my head with one hand just for fun, but I think I could take him now. Sam and I went fishing for a couple of hours, and with no real trophy Bass pulled in the boat we took off to the boat launch to meet the other two tenants of our tent city. Now after we all set up the rest of the camp, we decide to go fishing until it gets dark. Once again we all return with not one trophy bass story, and I started to make dinner. The first night has the tradition to cook four, two inch thick T-bones on an open fire, and usually we eat them with our bare hands, while sitting next to the camp fire, just a little barbaric but it is tradition. I learn a lot about my father just sitting around the campfire, but mostly I hear the same old stories from all three of them every year, like the time Sam lost is wallet for ten years and one of his friends found it inside of a mattress, at the camp they all hung out when he was a teen. Or the time Tony took a row boat to an island off the coast about two miles in some very thick fog just to see some girl, and then rowed back in four foot seas. But mostly the stories I hear from my dad I have never heard before, like stories of him and his brothers, antagonizing the poor old lady down the street from where they lived, or the stories of the things his father made him do when he got in trouble, like the time he skipped school, and his father made him pull a one ton bolder out of their lawn, and by the time he was done he had all the boys in the neighborhood helping him. Then there are a lot of personal trials and tribulations he has gone through almost the same way I went through them, so it’s kind of strange hearing the same things my father did I have done also, I guess the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree.
We all get up every morning before the sun, talking about how all this fresh air made us all sleep like babies, and we all haven’t slept like that since the last time we were camping, its really the same old thing every year. We all hop in our boats and take off with big dreams of catching the first fish because first fish of the day gets a dollar from everyone. I don’t want to brag or anything but I usually catch the first one. We took off that morning knowing that we had a chance of a thunder storm and rain and heavy winds, but we went across the lake any ways. We have been caught on the lake when a storm comes up and we have had to beach the boats to keep from being hit by lighting, so this little warning was not going to stop us. Around 9:00 am we snuck into a cove because the wind was getting to strong and we could not keep the boat in one place for very long. Looking like it was starting to get worse we started to go back across the lake back to camp, but once we got out of the cove and around the little island that was sheltering us from the wind we knew we were in for a ride. Every wave was about four feet high and every time we went over one the next one was there to dump 10 gallons of water in the boat. Sam did a good job ridding the waves but I was sitting up front trying to hold down the front with my weight, and every wave put me almost ten feet in the air, and then we would take a nose dive. About half way across and thirty minutes later Sam told me to grab the life vest from the cubby because he was starting to get nervous, so of course now I started to get nervous. After every wave I would brace myself for the next one and wait for the big one to flip us over but we made and I lived to fish another day
We fish every hole in that lake and it takes all day, except for the hour we all return to camp to eat and re-charged the thermos with the strongest coffee known to man. We catch a lot of fish but nothing like the year before, we had to practically bait our hooks behind trees before getting in the boats, it was crazy. There was one day that Sam and I caught 71 small mouth bass in a day, I was some tired when we returned to camp. This year we were not so lucky but on the day before we left I caught the big one. Sam and I returned to a hole we had been fishing the day before but were not catching anything, it was on the way to one of our other fishing spots. I had just put new line on my Abu Garcia bait caster, and I had not yet fine tuned the Fourteen pound test line, so the first cast was a very conservative, short, not well aimed cast, and of course like every other time I put new line on, the first cast got all snarled up around the spool. As I pulled line out to fix the snarl, I noticed my line moving where it had landed, and it was moving towards us faster than the boat was floating, so I quickly pulled line and when I started to reel what I pulled out back in, my line started to move even faster in the opposite direction I was moving. I waited until just before all the slack was taken up and I gave it a good tug, and set the hook, and then I felt the power of this fish. It pulled line out of my reel like the drag was not even there, and I could hear it trying hard to slow this fish down. I let the fish take what it wanted and then it was my turn, and as I started reeling the line in, the fish started swimming towards the boat, I reeled faster and faster, and then the fish took a dive, I pulled up on the pole and the fish started coming to the surface. Running out of water to swim in, the fish still tried to swim, it must have jumped three feet in the air, and I finally got to see what I was fighting with. It hit the water and started to dive again and the entire battle began again. After about twenty minutes the fish tried to go to the bottom one last time, and then gave up and floated to the top. I pulled my five and half pound twenty one inch small mouth into the boat and I had my father in law snap a few pictures, gave it a big old kiss and threw it back in. So I have a couple of picture and a broken $120 reel, the fish burned my drag out of my reel.
When I return home from our fishing trips I am always more exhausted then when I left. I always come home with great fishing stories, some true and maybe some just stretched a little. There are always scars from the trip like broken flashlights, ripped tarps from 40mph winds and broken tent poles to match, nothing a little duct tape won’t fix. Engine problems that turn out to be just loose gas lines, dirty carbs, bad plugs and flooded engines that you should always let vent out before you start the motor, at least if you want to save you fire extinguisher for a much bigger fire. Falling out of the boat, loosing fishing poles, hitting rocks, getting stuck in trees, getting stuck on rocks, hooking my father law, my father in law hooking me, and losing two hundred bucks worth of lures and gear. Every year we say “same time same place next year?” and we go our separate ways back to the busy world where we all came from. Even though we may not have caught a lot of fish, and the trip in the long run cost us more than we would have made if we stayed at work, we all still come back to our same old fishing hole each year and enjoy each othesr company, and just relax, because you know what they say “a bad day of fishing is still better then a good day at work.”
The trip started off like any other trip. Sam and I got to the campsite and started to put the tent, and all the many tarps, when we were done it looked like a giant tarp city. We had a few hours to kill until my Dad and Uncle Tony were going to show up. Tony is not really my uncle but I have known him for as long as I can remember, he is a very big guy, and could provably crush my head in one of his hands, but he is kind of a big teddy bear. My dad is not a small guy either, and on many occasions growing up he has tried to crush my head with one hand just for fun, but I think I could take him now. Sam and I went fishing for a couple of hours, and with no real trophy Bass pulled in the boat we took off to the boat launch to meet the other two tenants of our tent city. Now after we all set up the rest of the camp, we decide to go fishing until it gets dark. Once again we all return with not one trophy bass story, and I started to make dinner. The first night has the tradition to cook four, two inch thick T-bones on an open fire, and usually we eat them with our bare hands, while sitting next to the camp fire, just a little barbaric but it is tradition. I learn a lot about my father just sitting around the campfire, but mostly I hear the same old stories from all three of them every year, like the time Sam lost is wallet for ten years and one of his friends found it inside of a mattress, at the camp they all hung out when he was a teen. Or the time Tony took a row boat to an island off the coast about two miles in some very thick fog just to see some girl, and then rowed back in four foot seas. But mostly the stories I hear from my dad I have never heard before, like stories of him and his brothers, antagonizing the poor old lady down the street from where they lived, or the stories of the things his father made him do when he got in trouble, like the time he skipped school, and his father made him pull a one ton bolder out of their lawn, and by the time he was done he had all the boys in the neighborhood helping him. Then there are a lot of personal trials and tribulations he has gone through almost the same way I went through them, so it’s kind of strange hearing the same things my father did I have done also, I guess the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree.
We all get up every morning before the sun, talking about how all this fresh air made us all sleep like babies, and we all haven’t slept like that since the last time we were camping, its really the same old thing every year. We all hop in our boats and take off with big dreams of catching the first fish because first fish of the day gets a dollar from everyone. I don’t want to brag or anything but I usually catch the first one. We took off that morning knowing that we had a chance of a thunder storm and rain and heavy winds, but we went across the lake any ways. We have been caught on the lake when a storm comes up and we have had to beach the boats to keep from being hit by lighting, so this little warning was not going to stop us. Around 9:00 am we snuck into a cove because the wind was getting to strong and we could not keep the boat in one place for very long. Looking like it was starting to get worse we started to go back across the lake back to camp, but once we got out of the cove and around the little island that was sheltering us from the wind we knew we were in for a ride. Every wave was about four feet high and every time we went over one the next one was there to dump 10 gallons of water in the boat. Sam did a good job ridding the waves but I was sitting up front trying to hold down the front with my weight, and every wave put me almost ten feet in the air, and then we would take a nose dive. About half way across and thirty minutes later Sam told me to grab the life vest from the cubby because he was starting to get nervous, so of course now I started to get nervous. After every wave I would brace myself for the next one and wait for the big one to flip us over but we made and I lived to fish another day
We fish every hole in that lake and it takes all day, except for the hour we all return to camp to eat and re-charged the thermos with the strongest coffee known to man. We catch a lot of fish but nothing like the year before, we had to practically bait our hooks behind trees before getting in the boats, it was crazy. There was one day that Sam and I caught 71 small mouth bass in a day, I was some tired when we returned to camp. This year we were not so lucky but on the day before we left I caught the big one. Sam and I returned to a hole we had been fishing the day before but were not catching anything, it was on the way to one of our other fishing spots. I had just put new line on my Abu Garcia bait caster, and I had not yet fine tuned the Fourteen pound test line, so the first cast was a very conservative, short, not well aimed cast, and of course like every other time I put new line on, the first cast got all snarled up around the spool. As I pulled line out to fix the snarl, I noticed my line moving where it had landed, and it was moving towards us faster than the boat was floating, so I quickly pulled line and when I started to reel what I pulled out back in, my line started to move even faster in the opposite direction I was moving. I waited until just before all the slack was taken up and I gave it a good tug, and set the hook, and then I felt the power of this fish. It pulled line out of my reel like the drag was not even there, and I could hear it trying hard to slow this fish down. I let the fish take what it wanted and then it was my turn, and as I started reeling the line in, the fish started swimming towards the boat, I reeled faster and faster, and then the fish took a dive, I pulled up on the pole and the fish started coming to the surface. Running out of water to swim in, the fish still tried to swim, it must have jumped three feet in the air, and I finally got to see what I was fighting with. It hit the water and started to dive again and the entire battle began again. After about twenty minutes the fish tried to go to the bottom one last time, and then gave up and floated to the top. I pulled my five and half pound twenty one inch small mouth into the boat and I had my father in law snap a few pictures, gave it a big old kiss and threw it back in. So I have a couple of picture and a broken $120 reel, the fish burned my drag out of my reel.
When I return home from our fishing trips I am always more exhausted then when I left. I always come home with great fishing stories, some true and maybe some just stretched a little. There are always scars from the trip like broken flashlights, ripped tarps from 40mph winds and broken tent poles to match, nothing a little duct tape won’t fix. Engine problems that turn out to be just loose gas lines, dirty carbs, bad plugs and flooded engines that you should always let vent out before you start the motor, at least if you want to save you fire extinguisher for a much bigger fire. Falling out of the boat, loosing fishing poles, hitting rocks, getting stuck in trees, getting stuck on rocks, hooking my father law, my father in law hooking me, and losing two hundred bucks worth of lures and gear. Every year we say “same time same place next year?” and we go our separate ways back to the busy world where we all came from. Even though we may not have caught a lot of fish, and the trip in the long run cost us more than we would have made if we stayed at work, we all still come back to our same old fishing hole each year and enjoy each othesr company, and just relax, because you know what they say “a bad day of fishing is still better then a good day at work.”
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Outro (cause essay)
When I return home from our fishing trips I am always more exhausted then when I left. I always come home with great fishing stories, some true and maybe some just stretched a little. There are always scars from the trip like broken flashlights, ripped tarps from 40mph winds and broken tent poles to match, nothing a little duct tape won’t fix. Engine problems that turn out to be just loose gas lines, dirty carbs, bad plugs and flooded engines that you should always let vent out before you start the motor, at least if you want to save you fire extinguisher for a much bigger fire. Falling out of the boat, loosing fishing poles, hitting rocks, getting stuck in trees, getting stuck on rocks, hooking my father law, my father in law hooking me, and losing two hundred bucks worth of lures and gear. Every year we say “same time same place next year?” and we go our separate ways back to the busy world where we all came from. Even though we may not have caught a lot of fish, and the trip in the long run cost us more than we would have made if we stayed at work, we all still come back to our same old fishing hole each year and enjoy each othesr company, and just relax, because you know what they say “a bad day of fishing is still better then a good day at work.”
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Intro #2 (cause essay)
There is nothing like the smell of early morning next to a lake. All our gear is packed tightly in the sixteen foot aluminum boat. The 18 horse power motor is running and filling the morning air with exhaust fumes and I am still a little groggy from the lack of sleep the night before. The anticipation of this day made me toss and turn all night, but it’s nothing that a strong cup of instant camp coffee can’t fix. “Five days of fishing and relaxation Sam” “yup” my father law says sitting in his captain’s chair with his hand on the throttle, waiting for me to shove off. I push us out and we begin to move towards the mouth of the canal that drains into the main lake. The sun is just up over the horizon and the yellowish red tint on the water from the sun makes me put on my sunglasses to protect my eyes. As we motor through the narrow canal back and forth avoiding all shallow parts, I can see the lake in the distance for a moment before it is swallowed up buy live and dying pine trees. The lily pads have moved closer to the middle of the canal and there seems to be a little more sweat grass near the shore this year, it won’t be long before the moose are in and around the shore indulging themselves on it. Then we round the corner, there it is, the sun gleams off the surface of the lake like crystals in a window just like it does every year, and I can’t help but think of the small mouth bass that were practically jumping in the boat the year before. As we head across the lake to our campsite that can only be reached by boat, I just sit there taken up by all the beauty and hope that this year on our annual fishing trip will be just as action packed as the years before it. Once again I was not disappointed.
Intro #1 (cause essay) lets try this again john
I know you didn't say to re-write this, but after I read the old one again I relized how much it stunk. lets try this
The sun is slowing coming up over the horizon and the yellowish red tint from the sky reflecting off the water makes it look like the entire small pond that leads to the lake is on fire. The smell of two cycle exhaust fills the air and in every breath straight into my lungs, but instead of coughing and complaining I take an even bigger breath and slowly exhale, “five days of fishing and relaxation Sam” “yup” Sam says while waiting for me to shove us off. I reach for the boat, but all I feel is my knee, and a sleeping bag. Confused as I was, it did take long for me to realize I had just been dreaming of five days prior. I stretched my arms out and sighed, because today was the last day of our annual fishing trip and I knew I had to get up and start taking down camp. You would not think the events we had just experienced for the last five days would cause anyone to relax but I assure you, there is nothing like fresh air, fishing and crazy unexpected weather to make one forget about the busy world we all live in.
The sun is slowing coming up over the horizon and the yellowish red tint from the sky reflecting off the water makes it look like the entire small pond that leads to the lake is on fire. The smell of two cycle exhaust fills the air and in every breath straight into my lungs, but instead of coughing and complaining I take an even bigger breath and slowly exhale, “five days of fishing and relaxation Sam” “yup” Sam says while waiting for me to shove us off. I reach for the boat, but all I feel is my knee, and a sleeping bag. Confused as I was, it did take long for me to realize I had just been dreaming of five days prior. I stretched my arms out and sighed, because today was the last day of our annual fishing trip and I knew I had to get up and start taking down camp. You would not think the events we had just experienced for the last five days would cause anyone to relax but I assure you, there is nothing like fresh air, fishing and crazy unexpected weather to make one forget about the busy world we all live in.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Essay Intro #1
Many public schools, or should I say Government run schools have gotten worse over the past 60 years. Parents have lost control on what their kids are learning at all ages, teachers tell students to keep and hide things from their parents, and kids are being taught tolerance for all people, religions, or sexual orientation unless you believe in Jesus Christ, I thought tolerance for all people meant all people. These are the three main reasons why my wife and I have chosen to home school our kids. I went to public school, and I never cared about any of this before, but after having kids and now finally seeing the truth, I think very different.
Graf #8
The essay about the Red Sox was definitely the best out of the three in my opinion. He definitely sounds like a hardcore Sox fan. His description of inside the stadium and walking around the streets of Boston was right on. I have walked all over Boston and been on the Subways, and watched people do very strange things, especially Sox fans. If you take the Sox just losing a game and lots and lots of beer, and some Jackass walking through Boston with a Yankees hat, you get bloodshed, you’re better off walking away, calling the police, and tell them a Yankees fan is about to get killed. I have seen it happen more than once.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Graf #6
Well at first when I was reading the Isearches, I was thinking this looks like a lot of work, all that time researching and interviewing people. But then I got thinking about it and it sounds like fun. The Isearch about the history of the people of 385 and 387 street I enjoyed reading. She not only did her paper but found some real history of Bangor and even had a second thought of selling her house after all was said and done. I started brainstorming ideas for myself and I have picked two I was wondering what you thought. I was thinking either researching what it would take to become a Gun smith or Is evolution science or just another religion? One is very straight forward and one is very controversial. I am very interested in both subjects and I want to have fun writing this paper.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Graph #5
My first acoustic guitar has been a part of me for almost eighteen years. We met for the first time when I was eleven in a back street music shop in Auburn Maine. When I went into the store I picked up all kinds of guitars, and I played every one of them, but not one felt as good as my Contessa. When I strummed her for the first time I not only herd how beautiful her melody was but I could feel it, I could almost see the notes flow from her six brand new stings, it was as if she was singing just to me. My Contessa has been through a lot with me.
My contessa was with me when I drank my first beer, and smoked my first cigarette. My Contessa was there when I kissed my first girl friend and was there when I broke up with her two days later. Young love, it is fun but never lasts. My Contessa was there when I decided to dye my hair green and put every sticky substance known to man in it just to get it to stick straight up. My Contessa stuck with me when I stuck a pickup inside her and hooked it to a distortion pedal, just to beat her and make her scream with feed back from my amp. I realized what I was doing to her so I stopped and used the one of my many electric guitars instead, but not one of them could sound like her. My Contessa was there when my band and I made our first record, and she came with us when we went on tour of the east coast. My Contessa was there when I met my wife, and just because I spent more time with the love of my life, my Contessa never got jealous or ran away. She was there when I was called to be the worship leader in the church I was going to, and for the first time I knew why she and I met, and what we were supposed to do together.
We have come a long way together, and even though I may have neglected her at times she still was there for me when I needed her to cheer me up. I still play her the same but the older she gets the better she sounds. I hope one day I can pass her on to one of my daughters, and she can grow up with them as she has with me.
My contessa was with me when I drank my first beer, and smoked my first cigarette. My Contessa was there when I kissed my first girl friend and was there when I broke up with her two days later. Young love, it is fun but never lasts. My Contessa was there when I decided to dye my hair green and put every sticky substance known to man in it just to get it to stick straight up. My Contessa stuck with me when I stuck a pickup inside her and hooked it to a distortion pedal, just to beat her and make her scream with feed back from my amp. I realized what I was doing to her so I stopped and used the one of my many electric guitars instead, but not one of them could sound like her. My Contessa was there when my band and I made our first record, and she came with us when we went on tour of the east coast. My Contessa was there when I met my wife, and just because I spent more time with the love of my life, my Contessa never got jealous or ran away. She was there when I was called to be the worship leader in the church I was going to, and for the first time I knew why she and I met, and what we were supposed to do together.
We have come a long way together, and even though I may have neglected her at times she still was there for me when I needed her to cheer me up. I still play her the same but the older she gets the better she sounds. I hope one day I can pass her on to one of my daughters, and she can grow up with them as she has with me.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Graf #4
What is unique about me? To tell the truth I was stumped on this one. I was sitting in my leather recliner, with my laptop on my (of all places) my lap, trying to brainstorm something, anything, whatever I could, I was starting to panic. Then I looked at my feet. Yes I said my feet, my long, sore, and sometimes stinky feet. What caught my eye were not the scars on my left foot from a bad case of poison Ivy when I was ten years old. It was not the veins that seemed to protrude from the top of my feet like parking lot speed bumps. Even though very strange, it was not that my pinky toes had a very small, almost nonexistent toe nail. Not the fact that my feet just like the rest of my body has become this Superman’s kryptonite when tickled, and my Lois Lane and my little Lois Lanes have no problem using my weakness to make me submit to all demands. Not even my toe that rests peacefully next to my big toe, being my longest toe on both of my feet alone was enough to catch my eye. What caught my eye the most along with all the strange, smelly, bulging things going on with my very ticklish, ugly, size eleven and a half feet, was they are mine and I have grown very attached to them, yes both of them, and if I did not have them, then I would have very strange, ugly, maybe even stinky ankles.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Graf #3
Things I see on my side of the bed
A field & Stream magazine
A pair of slippers
A pair of shoes
Gun cleaning kit for riffles and 45 cal. Handguns
A dirty pair of socks, a shirt, shorts, a really dirty pair of work shorts and a shirt, and not so dirty Carhartt sweatshirt
A sleeping bag rated for -30 degrees
5 ice fishing traps
A Benjamin pellet gun
A 45 cal. Smith & Wesson hand gun, in its case, and a full clip nearby.
And a bedside table with a basket just full of good stuff
A blue folder full of worship songs, with words and guitar chords
A “ read the bible in a year”
A father’s day card
L.L Bean LED hat
A blue pocket knife, a 10mm and 8 mm combination wrench, 2 fire balls, a bunch of keys, a box of pellets, used earplugs, handful of change, a zip tie and a movie stub for Wall-E
This guy is obviously does not take care of anything he might need at some point in his life. He empties his pockets and throws what is in them in a basket beside his bed, why not just throw all the extra change in a can, or throw away the movie stub and used earplugs in the trash? I bet his wife just loves his nasty stinky work clothes stinking up their bed room, hey numbskull walk them Twenty feet to the Laundry room. He must take his families safety very seriously, and I am sure he sat his kids down and he must have shown them his gun and let them touch it so their curiosity would not take over and make them disobey their father. I am sure he explained to them why they should never touch or play with guns when their dad is not home. It is September, what does he think he is going to do with ice fishing traps and a -30 below sleeping bag? He has a hat with two LED lights in it? Well that is just cool and very useful. “Read the Bible in a year” I bet he has had that for three years and still has not fished it, I wonder if he ever will. It sounds like he as good intention but gets side tracked a little, or maybe he is just a little lazy. All I know is he needs to take care of his crap before his wife gets sick of it all and throws it all out for him.
A field & Stream magazine
A pair of slippers
A pair of shoes
Gun cleaning kit for riffles and 45 cal. Handguns
A dirty pair of socks, a shirt, shorts, a really dirty pair of work shorts and a shirt, and not so dirty Carhartt sweatshirt
A sleeping bag rated for -30 degrees
5 ice fishing traps
A Benjamin pellet gun
A 45 cal. Smith & Wesson hand gun, in its case, and a full clip nearby.
And a bedside table with a basket just full of good stuff
A blue folder full of worship songs, with words and guitar chords
A “ read the bible in a year”
A father’s day card
L.L Bean LED hat
A blue pocket knife, a 10mm and 8 mm combination wrench, 2 fire balls, a bunch of keys, a box of pellets, used earplugs, handful of change, a zip tie and a movie stub for Wall-E
This guy is obviously does not take care of anything he might need at some point in his life. He empties his pockets and throws what is in them in a basket beside his bed, why not just throw all the extra change in a can, or throw away the movie stub and used earplugs in the trash? I bet his wife just loves his nasty stinky work clothes stinking up their bed room, hey numbskull walk them Twenty feet to the Laundry room. He must take his families safety very seriously, and I am sure he sat his kids down and he must have shown them his gun and let them touch it so their curiosity would not take over and make them disobey their father. I am sure he explained to them why they should never touch or play with guns when their dad is not home. It is September, what does he think he is going to do with ice fishing traps and a -30 below sleeping bag? He has a hat with two LED lights in it? Well that is just cool and very useful. “Read the Bible in a year” I bet he has had that for three years and still has not fished it, I wonder if he ever will. It sounds like he as good intention but gets side tracked a little, or maybe he is just a little lazy. All I know is he needs to take care of his crap before his wife gets sick of it all and throws it all out for him.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Graf #2
It started off like any other health class. We were shown how to take care of our bodies, brush our teeth, we learned about muscles, tendons, and bones and I was doing very well passing all my tests and quizzes. Well everything started off that way, and then we got to the “sexual education” portion of the class. The teacher made us watch all sorts of disturbing videos that in my opinion eighth graders should never watch. The teacher did not separate the boys from the girls, and did not censor anything for our sake. (I did however learn all the slang for the male and female anatomy, and from that point on they were staples in all of us eighth grade boys vocabulary) The teacher was not a bad teacher, was not mean or rude, always nice and never gave us lot of homework. The teacher never talked down to certain people because of the way they looked or because of what they wore. Then the day came for the class to learn how one puts a condom on a banana. The teacher demonstrated and then we all got a chance to try it. After everything was all said and done I could never look at that teacher the same again. But I saw the teacher at my baseball games, and soccer games. I saw the teacher after school and on the weekends, and almost everywhere I went. The awkwardness I felt made my face sweat and my hands shake like a jack hammer, I thought I would go insane, there was no escape. But I guess that’s what I should have expected because my health teacher was my best friends mom.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Graf #1
I work with my hands, something that was beat into me at a young age, by much bigger hands than mine. “If you want something, then you work for it.” my father always said that to me, usually right after I asked for something, like my first guitar, or a car, or twenty bucks. I now find myself with scarred hands, mostly now from a number of metal chips that just love to catch me off guard and bury themselves deep into my flesh, only stopping because a bone got in their way. So I wrap them up and pray the bleeding stops, so I can go back to work. You see I am not working for something anymore, I work for some ones. My two little girls and my wife depend on my working hands. My hands need to be there to protect them, and pick them up when they fall, but at the same time be gentle enough to wipe the tears away, not always easy for me. So I thank the much bigger hands that were there when I was young for showing me how to work with my big hands.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.JPG)