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| Well, this one is going to be quick. I'm in Cincinnati right now. I've been exercising and am between rounds of that. I've been traveling the past 2 weeks and have gained like 10 pounds. At least, that's what this scale at the hotel says? 165, bitches! Anyway, in a summary far too short, work is going awesome. I'm stressed about things from time to time, but I think any good job you have is going to challenge you and stress you from time to time and I'm cool with that. I've been in this job for just over 3 months now. Sometimes I feel worried that I'm not catching on quick enough or learning enough about the basics of the railroad, but when I talk to friends or family about work or the industry, I'm reminded that I am actually learning. I'm loving Jacksonville. I live right on the St. John's River and it's like living on the ocean, but with no sand. Ha. I go through my rotations at work and will be placed into a permanent position probably sometime in September. I'll either be placed into a market manager position and stay in Jax or be put into a sales manager position and be placed in some major city on our network (Cincinnati, Atlanta, Chicago, Nashville, etc.). I would prefer to stay in Jax, but I'd really have no qualms with moving, as long as it's not in the freezing iceland that is New England. In other news some may not be aware of, Laura and I are having an absolute blast with each other, despite the distance. We've really made the best of our situation. It's crazy how quickly everything happened and how strongly we feel about each other. It's fantastique~!!1 We're quite devoted and we plan on moving in together in December. It's quite a ways off, but I'm not even sure where I'm going to permanently be until September-ish and by then, she'll be full swing into a new semester. I don't want her to waste a semester and move at that point, so we agreed that she'd finish the fall semester and move in with me wherever I'm going to be at the end of the year. It sucks to think that's 8 months away, but 4 months have gone by super quickly and it's gone by really well, too. I'm beyond confident in us. I flew up to WV for her birthday weekend, of which I had a day off that weekend for some holiday I don't even remember. I was in Atlanta about 3 weeks or so ago and she drove down to hang out with me that entire week and we had the best time ever. I hopped in her car with her and we gunned it back up to Charleston and the next day, I flew to Columbia, SC. In music related news, I've been getting way into various types of doom, stoner, and groove-based metal (Torche, Black Cobra, Saviours, The Sword, etc.) and am loving it. This past week or so, I've also been listening to some hip hop (Wu-Tang Clan, Ghostface Killah, M.I.A., and Lady Sovereign) , which is way strange for me, but I'm enjoying it. New types of music are good types of music. So much more has been going on, has gone on, and is planned to occur, but like I said, I'm not really into much of a mood to sit here and type for hours. I'm on a hotel computer and nobody reads longer entries anyway. It's best to break shit up like this. \m/ | | |
| I haven't done one if these in a long time. Mainly because I can never remember which albums I listened to a shit ton and the exact time they came out in. So, I'm going to utilize iTunes and see which albums it's telling me I've listened to the most and which ones of those albums have come out this year. I figure that's fair, as I haven't listened to the iPod much in the past couple months and that whatever I listen to on the iPod is, 9 times out of 10, what I'm listening to on the iTunes, so it seems to make sense. I'm not going to write a whole article about why I love each of these albums or why I listened to certain ones more than others. Suffice it to say, these were the bad mother fuckers of the year for me. That is enough. So, without further ado, enjoy.....or not. Whatev!
1. Clutch - From Beale Street to Oblivion
2. Coheed & Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume 2: No World for Tomorrow
3. Machine Head - The Blackening
4. Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
5. Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City
6. Baroness - The Red Album
7. Let the Guilty Hang - The Unspeakable
8. Down - III: Over the Under
9. Throwdown - Venom & Tears
10. 3 - The End is Begun
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| So, as some of you may know, I've had a lot go on in my life here lately and it won't be stopping anytime soon. As of last week, it's been confirmed that I'll be moving to Jacksonville, Florida around the middle of January. This lifts much weight off of my shoulders and has done a lot to lift me up. Remember me talking about being down in Jacksonville for the CSX interview? Well, they were apparently rather impressed with me - impressed enough to give me a job at a higher pay rate than they initially offered me, anyway. So, they're going to pay me to move, offer me fantastic benefits, and my first week at work will start on January 14th for one week of orientation. After that, I'm heading to Atlanta, Georgia for 4-6 weeks. Needless to say, I am way overwhelmed. Not in an "I have way too much shit going on and my life is a whirlwind of confusion!" way or anything. More like an "I can't believe I am being given this opportunity in my life" way.
On the other end of the stick, I got a DUI the day after Thanksgiving, which was way horrible. I have to attend a 3-day DUI class (which I have already completed), do 30 hours of community service (of which I have 18 hours left), my driver's license is suspended for 6 months (I'll get a driver's license in Florida after I'm allowed to - at the end of April), and I have an exorbitant amount of fines. It threw a LOT of shit into jeopardy, including my job with CSX. I wasn't sure if they weren't going to hire me because of it and I was on edge for like 2 or 3 weeks because of that aspect of it. Needless to say, I have seriously learned my lesson, as it nearly ruined my entire life.
Anyway, I have plenty of time to finish up my community service and the probation officer told me I don't have to have all of my fines paid off in time for my court hearing. As long as my DUI class is done (which it is), my community service is finished, and I am making payments towards the fines, I won't even have to show up for the court hearing whenever that is. I'll have all of that done way beforehand. Hell, I may end up having all of my fines paid off before the hearing anyway.
So basically this blog is being written solely to let friends of mine know that I'm moving away forever real soon. I have no intention or desire to ever come back to this area to live (unless I make bazillions of dollars and can afford several guest houses - one would be in West Virginia), although I will visit as regularly as I can. I plan on the staple visit times of Thanksgiving and Christmas, as well as as many Marshall home football games as I can cram in, as well as the WVU-Marshall game up in Morgan-hell. So any of my friends that are Marshall football fans (I'm looking at YOU, Carl) will be notified when I'm coming up for the games and you WILL be required to attend. Hahaha.
I've taken a few hours of my time here lately to find an apartment in Jacksonville. I've found quite a few within a 5-mile radius. I'm almost positive I'm not going to take my car down there with me, as it's old as hell and has 180,000+ miles on it anyway. That and I can't drive until practically May anyway. By that time, I'm planning to have enough money saved up to purchase a better vehicle, anyway. I'll be living way close to the football stadium there and will inevitably attend several Jaguars games. Jacksonville is 20 minutes from the beach, which kicks ass. Jacksonville is also 20 minutes away from Gainesville, which means I'm CERTAINLY going to be attending as many University of Florida games as humanly possible. They play Hawaii, Miami, Ole Miss, LSU, Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, and Citadel at home. I want to see just about every one of those games. It sucks so bad that Colt Brennan is a senior this year and won't be playing at the Hawaii game, though.
Oh!! Something I would really like to do, but need some serious time and assistance from someone on..... This sounds way retarded, but I've wanted to take pictures of various places in Huntington for years. I got a nice new digital camera for Christmas today and would really appreciate it if someone could take a day out of their time to drive around Huntington with me looking for cool shit to take pictures of. I have lived here for 7 years now and have absolutely fallen in love with the town. So if anyone is up for a day full of hanging out and taking pictures of random shit, get ahold of me as soon as possible. I'll reimburse you for the gas you'd have to use, as well.
Anyway, I won't ramble on any further. This is just to update those friends of mine that care what's going on in my life, that I'm painfully thankful for this opportunity that's being given to me, and that I'm doing my damnedest to make the most of my life and it's seeming to work out. Please, please, get ahold of me so I can hang out with most of you before I leave. And, of course, anyone is welcome to stay with me in Jacksonville at any point in time. Again, the beach is 20 minutes away, Orlando is 2 and a half hours away, and Daytona is about an hour and a half away, too. I'm going to be a bit lonely at first, so don't hesitate to come on down in March or April or something. Hahaha.
It's been a wonderful 7 years, Huntington.....
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| Dec. 2, 2007
By Gregg Doyel
CBSSports.com Senior Writer
MORGANTOWN,
W.Va. -- More than 60,000 people filled Milan Puskar Stadium on
Saturday for the most incredible night in West Virginia football
history. And they got it.
Poised to claim the program's first
spot in a BCS championship game, the No. 2 Mountaineers instead pulled
off the most incredible defeat in program history -- surely one of the
worst defeats in college football history -- by losing 13-9 to a bad
team from Pittsburgh.
Instead
of playing for the national championship on Jan. 7 in New Orleans, the
Mountaineers will go to another BCS bowl game as champion of the Big
East -- and chokers of the century.
"It's just a nightmare. The
whole thing is a nightmare," WVU coach Rich Rodriguez said. "Just a
flat-out nightmare. I didn't sleep well all week -- and I don't think
I'm going to sleep well for the next couple."
Rodriguez won't be
the only insomniac in the Big East. Commissioner Mike Tranghese
attended Saturday night and his mood went from jovial to dour to
stunned silent. His conference will still get an enormous BCS paycheck,
but it won't get a national champion. Instead it will get another stain
as the worst league in the six-conference BCS.
And the Big East
officials working this game did all they could to help West Virginia.
I'm not saying the officials tried to influence the outcome. Not at
all. But they did call two mystifying holding penalties at the best
possible time for West Virginia -- first nullifying a Pittsburgh
touchdown in the final minute of the third quarter, then wiping out a
Pittsburgh first down with 3½ minutes left to play. Those penalties
were the only reason the Mountaineers had a chance, but obviously those
penalties weren't enough. Not on a night when nothing but the
officiating went right for West Virginia.
Quarterback Pat White
missed half the game with a dislocated thumb on his non-throwing
(right) hand, but he was ineffective before the injury. Kicker Pat
McAfee missed field goals of 20 and 32 yards in the first quarter. The
Mountaineers fumbled five times and lost three, the worst when backup
quarterback Jarrett Brown simply dropped the ball while winding up to
throw from the WVU 17. Preseason All-America halfback Steve Slaton
slipped deeper into his late-season funk with nine carries for 11
yards. A 15-yard late hit on WVU linebacker Reed Williams moved
Pittsburgh into field goal position for Conor Lee's 48-yarder on the
final play of the first half.
The Mountaineers didn't just lose
horribly. They played horribly, so bad that they could have pulled out
this game in the final seconds and still I'd have written -- and I bet
I wouldn't have been the only one -- that West Virginia didn't deserve
its place in the BCS title game. The Mountaineers were that bad.
And
they had to be bad to lose to Pittsburgh (5-7). Beating Pittsburgh was
easy this season. Seven teams did it, including mediocre squads from
Navy, Louisville and Michigan State. Connecticut beat Pittsburgh by 20
points, and that's the same Connecticut team that West Virginia
throttled 66-21 just last week.
And it's not like the Panthers
played over their head on Saturday night, because they didn't.
Pittsburgh was a one-man team, getting 148 of its pedestrian 225 yards
in total offense on runs by freshman tailback LeSean McCoy. He carried
38 times, wearing down a WVU defense that knew he was coming but
couldn't stop him. Pitt quarterback Pat Bostick threw for just 67 yards
and had two interceptions. Other than McCoy, the Panthers ran 14 times
for 10 yards. It was McCoy or bust, and West Virginia busted.
Afterward,
West Virginia players and fans lingered, too stunned to leave. While
the Panthers celebrated on the field and then in the end zone with the
school band and then into the tunnel before finally disappearing, a
large group of WVU players and fans didn't move. WVU receiver Darius
Reynaud sat down on the 17-yard line, his backside obscuring the Big
East logo, and seemed catatonic. After more than five minutes, two
teammates finally noticed Reynaud and helped him up and off the field.
That triggered the final exodus of WVU fans, whose reward for waiting
was parking lot gridlock of epic proportions.
The city expected
a far different kind of night. Before the game one exceptionally
classless West Virginia fan hit the Pittsburgh team bus with a rock,
but WVU fans as a whole are not known for their gentility. Because of
the tendency to celebrate big victories by burning couches, garbage or
whatever else they can find lying around, the city fire department had
doubled its normal workload and police were planning to infiltrate
known hotspots with under-cover patrols. Trash bins all over town were
emptied earlier Saturday to take away potential bonfire materials.
Nothing
in the preceding paragraph was a joke. But West Virginia is. It has to
be. The Mountaineers were four-touchdown favorites. They were at home.
They were playing Pittsburgh, their most heated rival. This was the
100th edition of the Backyard Brawl. What would have been the greatest
victory in team history instead became the most shocking loss.
Rodriguez
didn't bother putting on a brave face, either. He looked devastated, as
well he should. Unless he wins a national championship -- and wins it
at West Virginia, not at any of the schools that might one day try to
pry him away from his alma mater -- this loss will be his legacy.
"Obviously I'm shocked we didn't play better," he said. "We weren't looking above and beyond."
Oh,
really? Even the West Virginia marching band was looking ahead. At
halftime the WVU band titillated the crowd by spelling out BCS for its
grand finale. As the band strutted off the field, compressing into four
tightly packed rows near the bleachers, the letters "BCS" melted away
into nothing. | | |
| Well, things have developed a bit since my last post. I ended up staying in Columbus for just about 2 weeks at that point.
Progressive Insurance ended up calling me back and I had two 1-hour interviews with them this past Friday - one with the branch manager (potential boss) and the other with a regional manager-type guy (potential boss's boss) and I felt pretty good about it. Better about the regional manager-type fellow's interview than the branch manager's, but pretty damn good nonetheless.
Progressive called me yesterday to request some information to conclude their background check. The lady informed me that they wanted to get all of the information as soon as possible so they could extend me the job offer and begin my 2 week notification window. So, I was basically offered that job pending the background check. It definitely made me feel pretty kick ass. I faxed my pay stubs from the Sam Goody job just this afternoon, so I would expect a call from them tomorrow about it. Being practically offered that job really helped my nerves and put me on solid ground with a lot of things.
In other news, CSX called me back to set up a second interview in Jacksonville, Florida for this coming Thursday. I was e-mailed the itinerary and they're flying me out of Charleston tomorrow morning. My flight goes from Charleston to Atlanta to Jacksonville. I'm going to be picked up in a shuttle sedan that will take me to a hotel immediately across the road from CSX's corporate headquarters. I have lunch at noon, and a panel interview at 2pm. A sedan will pick me up at CSX headquarters at 3:45 to take me back to the airport for my return. I'm really, really pumped about this and hope things turn out really well. I've got everything ready except for packing the actual items. I'm going to spend this evening studying some on CSX and their general industry.
I really have my fingers crossed for the CSX job, as it pays quite a bit more than the Progressive job. With the CSX job in the forefront of my mind, it's led me to the possible conclusion that I'll be moving to Jacksonville, Florida in a month or two. I'll be moving pretty far away from everyone I know, everyone I've known, and my family (except Alan, who will be a much-closer 5 hour drive away). I'm not scared or worried about being on my own or anything, but I have gradually gotten more sentimental... Reflecting on the memories I've made with close friends, co-workers, friends of friends, ex-girlfriends, etc. I love Huntington, West Virginia. I became an adult here, received my education here, and have had some of the very best times of my life here. I miss it already. I think it's time to stop reflection for right now...
If CSX doesn't pan out, though, I'll be taking the Progressive job up in Columbus, which isn't quite as far as Jacksonville, Florida, but it's still an important move. I think it would be an easier transition living with Jared and Sudhir in Columbus, but I really feel I would benefit as an individual more to be entirely on my own on every level. I need to "start a new chapter," as the cliche saying goes. There's a potential quagmire in this town for me that I don't want to get stuck in and am glad to be getting out of.
Also, I start with Amazon this coming Friday and will have 2 weeks of training. I realize it might sound shitty of me to keep this job, but it's very important. If CSX offers me their job, it doesn't start until January and I can't sit around wishing I had income for another month and a half. Amazon will provide that for me. It'll be a very important back-up that I'll devote myself to while I have the time to do so.
In other news completely unrelated to jobs and moving, I bought a 15 pound freeweight yesterday. I have visited Ronnie and Gavin's place a few times these past weeks and they have a couple 15 pounders and a couple of 10 pounders that I've lifted around on and really enjoyed it, so I got one of my own. I've been doing sit-ups and push-ups here and there, too. I'm not going on a full blown exercise kick, but I'm definitely exercising around 3 times a week or so. I've really cut back on the jogging due to the painful cold, but with strong job potentials on the horizon, a gym membership isn't that far off. I weighed myself today and I'm at 151 pounds, which might be laughable to most of you, but it's 6 pounds more than what my ongoing average has been for years. I'm not the type to be all "look at me, I'm badass" but I won't lie, either. My abs are looking pretty good compared to where they were before I started exercising some. And my arms have shown some changes, as well (again, not that anyone else would notice). I'm feeling really good about that aspect of my life right now. I feel healthier, more fit, and a little more attractive, as well.
Well, I'm going to conclude here. I think I may squeeze in a nap before I begin packing and researching for Thursday. I'll probably have to do a load or two of laundry, as well, so I'd better get on top of all of that. And for those of you that actually care that I could potentially be moving to Jacksonville, Florida, you will definitely know well ahead of time. If that does happen, I want to make plenty of time for everyone before I go.
\m/
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