Is Anyone Still Reading This Blog?

As all of you know, it has been a very long time since I have posted anything; it's the New Year, and here's to trying again.

Life has been busy, and exciting, instead of writing a novel to catch up, I show some pictures of good times since my last posting.

What Do I Want To Be When I Grow Up?

I've been recently pondering what job I might go after when I graduate. I can't seem to get police work out of my head. I don't know why this is. I really don't like cops, they have a tendency to piss me off. It isn't the job or the position that I don't like, it is the people that are drawn to the profession. In my opinion about 95% of cops are just power hungry pricks that get off on the control over people that they have. I think that due to this large population of knuckleheads, there are some inherant issues that come with being a cop. Police work seems to eat marriages alive. This is very discouraging. Just by becoming a cop, you are laying your marriage out there as a possible sacrifice. This may seem over dramatic, but statistics don't lie. Dentists kill themselves, and cops leave their wives and families. I think that the only reason that I continue to think of police work, is that it is familiar to me, so I can easily see myself succeeding in this field. Really I'm just afraid of the uncertainty of what my future holds. I know that I can do many things, but it is easy for me to worry, and stick to what is familiar. I know that I won't become a cop, I would probably vomit in the laps of the people interviewing me at the thougtht of becoming them.
The picture is a representation of the peace and quiet that I experienced on vacation in Leavenworth WA. I couldn't even do my business without interuption. Some vacation.

"With liberty and justice for who we have time and space for!"

As a general rule, I try to be compassionate towards society, but I work a job that challenges this rule. Yes I am a rent-a-cop, plain clothes securtiy for a grocery chain. Of the rent-a-cops, I have the coolest position due to the lack of cheesy uniform. Anyway, today I had the distinct pleasure of giving a little extra "pepper" to someone that we caught shoplifting. The guy was a real peach, from the start he did his best to tell me all about how things were going to be. The problem was that we had very different perspectives on how things were going to be, and since I was about 100 lbs bigger, and had handcuffs, I win. Needless to say I was lucky enough to wrestle this guy down on the sidewalk infront of the "West Coast, bag your own savings, low price leader grocery store." This isn't the first time, and will not be the last. What made today special in a sense, was that I really felt good after working this guy like a rib. I hope that I haven't started to become a pig, and find my identity on picking on the little guy in the name of the law. I think that all my frustrations of the justice system came out on this guy. I knew, and have seen all the other shoplifters I have caught not even get a slap on the wrist, so I knew that the punishment that this guy got from my knee, and the floor, was about all that he was going to get. It isn't that I want theives to loose their hand, but it would be nice if there was some consequence. It is sad that criminals are set free out of lack of space, or time in the courts. I think we need to re-think our justice system at some point. We will spend lots of money making cars sneeky to catch speeders, but if someone steels another's identity, we have no where to put them other than back on the street. This doesn't seem right.

Ordinary

I am 29 years old now, and I have always wondered what it means to be ordinary. I have yet to meet anybody that is like me, and yet I have had many people or things make me feel ordinary. Whether it was leaving a place that my wife and I had poored our hearts and souls into, and learning that it just kept on going, as if not to miss us at all, or feeling like just another robot in the assembly line of life. It takes a deliberate effort to remind myself, and feel like I am a unique creation, with a specific purpose. There are many days that I get lost in the mundain tasks of life, and then I'm hit by a freight train when I look at my daughter, and see all her uniqueness, and get excited about all the ways that she will contribute to the world and make it a more bearable place. I'm excited to see what Erin can become, and I can only pray that I can encourage her to be 100% Erin, and not some sad, oppressed girl, that is a picture of what her dad always wished he was. The concept of ordidary was pulled out of the ass of cultural "norms", whatever that means, I am so greatful that I am different, and that I have friends that are different. I get nothing short of pissed off, when I feel the pressure to conform, or I see someone being pressured to conform. I hope that I can live a life that doesn't limit people to what I know and understand.

May

What is it about me that I can focus totally on the end, and miss the means. I graduate from college in May of next year, and I find myself most days dreaming of celebrating with family and friends. I wonder how much I miss that is happening right now because I am dreaming of the future. A degree has been a carrot dangling infront of me for so long now, I want to just grab it and be done with it. There is so much of life on hold, waiting for me to graduate, that I get lost in the excitement of moving on. I just don't want to miss the now.

I can't figure out how to post a picture in my profile, so this will have to do for now.

My wife and I love to quote movies at the perfect time to fit our situation in life. I had one yesterday that I was proud of. We were talking about retirement someday, and I looked at her and I said, "When my time comes, I want a wife like you and a house like that!"