patience

currently listening to: Smashing Pumpkins-Pisces Iscariot 

i think my life is some kind of lame homage to patience.  like i’m patiently waiting, as a 26 yr old, the chance to move out and own my own place, have (and hold) a good job, and some kind of wifey-dealy.   most people my age have all that and more.  certainly keeps everything fresh and interesting i guess, i can honestly say that each and every day i have absolutely no idea what will happen.  i’m continually surprised.  it also definitely helps having complete trust that God will take care of my every move so i dont worry really.

uh other things…i had a nice trip to oklahoma this weekend, my cousin Matt and his wife are good hosts-i always have a good time there playing golf and games.  i just realized that i think i’ve driven a different car down there every year he’s been there, and thats gotta be at least 4 or 5 years.  on my way down i noticed at least an inch of snow everywhere in kansas…man its a good thing theres global warming, or else we might have had sub-zero temps and a foot of snow in the middle of april.

 job is starting out well, and by that i mean i dont hate it yet.  its gonna be tough working 30-32 hours/week at a job that pays less than half of what i made at the railroad (which of course is the reason why i’m dealing with the above patience thing…)

ok tomorrow i’m going to update some good things that have been going on.

Passed Conductor Final Exam

currently listening to: Arcade Fire-Funeral

today i passed the final exam to be promoted to conductor with Union Pacific.  While I am done with the classroom work, I still have to finish up some student road trips over the next month or so before I offically “mark up”.  Marking up means I am free to start working on my own, bidding on jobs based on seniority and whatnot.  I should be getting my schedule for the next month or so shortly.

Last weekend I had a blast in New Orleans.  Its like one big college town really.  Last friday we had some drinks on bourbon street then some of us went to the casino and played craps.  We all lost but we enjoyed free drinks for hours. 

Saturday of course was the wedding which was at the historic St. Louis Cathedral.  From there we paraded down to the reception (it was literally a parade, there was a brass band leading the way and everyone danced and drank champagne as we walked).  The reception was at the top of some building with a nice view of the Mississippi river.  there was live music and an open bar.  Everyone seemed to enjoy that.

All in all New Orleans is a nice place to visit but I doubt I’d live there.  I was wore out from just one weekend!

Heading to New Orleans

Currently listening to: Jeremy Enigk-Return of the Frog Queen  

quick side note: I really like Mike&Ike’s.  thats my favorite candy.  keep it in mind for future present ideas.

Friday night i’ll be flying down to New Orleans for the first time in my life to be a groomsman in one of my best bud’s wedding, that being Ryan Laird.  He’s already got a house down there with his fiance, he moved last month.  Should be fun times, weddings can be well good if you are in them.  Least thats been my experience.

In other news I started bowling regularly again, still generally in the upper 160s or so.  My overall average since i first started is 149.  Last 200 games though is 160.  you should see my spreadsheet i keep track of it with, its neat. 

weekend/1st day of railroading class

Currently Listening to: Smashing Pumpkins-London 1994 bootleg 

first off, a shout out to my ancestrial countries in the world cup.  obviously i’m rooted for the U.S. to do well, but since they didn’t I was happy to see the Swiss and England make it to the round of 16.  The other countries i have heritage with, Ireland and France…well Ireland didn’t make it into the world cup and i dont care much for france…so yeah enough soccer.

Got back from a nice trip to oklahoma over the weekend to visit my cousin Matt and his wife Amanda.  played some bad golf twice, although i did manage to post a sub 110 score which i guess is progress.  hopefully i can get closer to 100 this next weekend when i play in topeka. 

train conductor school started today and i enjoyed it quite a bit.  There is about 120 or so people in the 6 week program, and they divided us into 30 person classrooms.  In my classroom there was 2 fairly distinct groups of people-

1. The kid just out of highschool looking to follow in his father’s/family’s tradition of railroaders.

2. The upper 30s/low 40s married guy with a few kids who decided his exisiting job wasn’t cutting it money/benefits wise or just didn’t like his job.

I of course was the minority as a 25 year old single guy just out of college.  I’m fairly sure most of the people there didn’t have a college degree.  A lot of people talked about their previous job and it included things like “corrections officer in a texas prison” (lot of people from texas in the program) or manufacturing jobs.  I’m happy to get in at a younger age than most of the people there because railroading is strongly based on seniority when it comes to how a lot of things operate.

I do have homework/quizzes everyday, but nothing real difficult.  There are exams every week, all multiple choice-my specialty.  Its a lot of info to memorize but nothing i can’t handle.  It sounds like I should be a shoe-in to work within a few weeks after the program is over.  Just hoping its somewhere near KC.

my 6 week vacation is going quick

Currently Listening to: Smashing Pumpkins-Siamese Dream  

1 week left till train school.  Been trying to adjust my sleeping patterns so i’ll be ready to be up by 7am for class.  NOT EASY when you are used to a 4am-1pm sleeping pattern.  I’m already late for bed as i’m typing this.

OK, still living it up a bit before class starts…went to worlds of fun this week for the first time in 2 years.  i think the park is in about as good a shape as i ever remember it.  The new feet-dangling Patriot roller coaster is a sweet ride.  But my favorite is still the ricketty(sp?) as ever Timber Wolf.  Any ride where you feel like it will separate from the track at any moment is a winner in my book.

Trying to sharpen up my horrible golf game for a trip to Oklahoma next weekend to visit my cousin and his wife in Ponca City.  Usually manage to get down there about once a year.  Only a 3 1/2 hour drive or so.

Hey, 4th of July is coming up, my favorite holiday!!  Bout ready to start shopping for fireworks soon.  YES.

LAtEr

Seattle trip

Currently Listening to: Spoon-Kill the Moonlight

Sorry I’m a little slow to update here.  Lazy.

Here’s a rundown of my trip:

Sunday-one of my connecting flights was cancelled so i had to wait an extra 2 hours in San Fran.  Ended up getting to Seattle after midnight their time (2am our time).

Monday-Walked around downtown; went to their famous fish market, saw their interestingly designed library amongst other things.  That night we went to the royals-mariners game at safeco field.  What was cool was this crazy royals fan who sat near us.  He kept yelling GO ROYALS FEAR NO EVIL FEAR NO FACTOR ROYALS.  He also waved around this 1985 world series pennett.  Great stuff.

Tuesday-Spent the day with my cousin Chris and her husband John.  Went to lunch then drove through Washington University and Redmond where Microsoft heardquarters is.  Also visited an old railway depot/museum with a bunch of old train cars/locomotives.  Obviously that interested me.  We also went to snoqualmie falls-a waterfall taller than niagra.

Wednesday-Rode a ferry to Bremerton so I could get a different look at the Seattle cityscape and see some of the harbors.

Thursday-Went to the top of Seattle’s tallest building, over 1040 ft.  Provided the best ariel view of the city-far better than the space needle for which they are better known for.  Got a bit of a surprise Thur morning when my cousin had to go to the hospital for what we thought was a seizure but ended up being an electrolite imbalance due to too much water intake.  Spent most of the rest of the day at the hospital and picking up my uncle who flew in to be with his daughter.

Friday-Took a bus to Tacoma to visit the museum of glass.  One of 3 of its kind in America.  Great building architecture and glass designs, plus you could see them blow glass.  Friday night we went to a concert at a local club-saw the Walkmen.  A somewhat disapointing show compared to the last time i saw them. 

Saturday-Visited my cousin again as she was released from the hospital. 

I have pictures of my trip-all taken by either my cousin’s husband John or Jason who I stayed with.  They are on my facebook profile but here are a few anyway:

Museum of Glass:

Old Train engine:

Northern Pacific Depot with my cousin Chris:

Snoqualmie Falls:

In Seattle

Currently Reading: Ancient Rome by Robert Payne 

Leaving tomorrow at 3:30pm, coming back Saturday the 10th at 10pm.  Will be going to the royals-mariners game, seeing a concert, checking out the downtown, visiting my cousin, and mostly hanging out with Jason. 

Travel days will be long, about 4-5 hours in the air plus some layovers in denver (both ways) and one in san fran on the way out.  never been to san fran, too bad i wont really get to see any of the city.

Well, i'll update about how it went when i get back.  later. 

taking a trip

currently listening to: Single Frame-Wetheads Come Running

in the first week of june i am going to make my first trek to the great pacific northwest in seattle to visit jason and also my cousin chris and her husband jon.  pretty excited about that…could be my last vacation for a long while considering my plans for conductor school and getting a job.

back home

back from my week long vacation in colorado. did some hiking, mountain climbing (nearly made it to the top of Mt. Princeton-too much snow), river rafting, cooking out, disc golf, and playing games. it was a great time, one of those rare opportunities in life. kinda sad that it gets tougher to do things like that as life goes along. It was me and 7 friends from college, and most of them now live out of state or are married or whatever and it makes these things that much rarer.
we were in denver for a day, i hate to say it but that town is a lot better than i thought it would be. seems like they get all the things right that kc gets wrong. oh well.
while i was gone the royals managed to win 5 games in a row and sweep the dodgers. amazing.
I decided to go ahead and take the basement room at 11th and kearney in manhattan. it wasn't perfect and i dont know who my roomates will be, but it was cheap and available for the time i needed. the basement is mostly finished and there is a washer and dryer and i'll share the kitchen and bathroom with the upstairs people. only issue is some water damage downstairs which is going to be fixed before i move in. hopefully that won't be a problem later. anyway, i feel good about the whole deal.