Tiny

You know that tiny feeling you get when you wear a hoodie that is about three sizes too big for you, when you walk through a really oversized doorway, or when you walk along a trail in the woods with really tall trees towering over you?  Well I really love that feeling.  It brings on a certain feeling of humility.  So many times it seems that people think they are invincible and have a sense of entitlement.  Don’t get me wrong I am right there with them (especially at cross walks) but that is why I love this feeling.  It brings me back to reality and to the fact that I am vulnerable and without those around me I am nothing substantial to the world.  I alone make my own path that shapes my future but I have a responsibility to act with respect to others and to help those less fortunate along the way. 

I can move from Michigan to Pennsylvania and on to Chicago and it ultimately only affects me.  My moving around did not do anything to change what happens for anyone else.  At the same time that we are all alone we are all connected as well.  Moving into a new neighborhood adds you to a community.  You are still yourself and have the power to do what makes you happy but you also have a responsibility to leave whatever place you are in better then when you arrived.  Most of us make smart choices that better out lives but not everyone chooses as wisely and some people need a little help.  I am not saying everyone needs it or deserves it because there are some straight out nut jobs in the world that do not deserve our help.  I still refuse to give money to a homeless person on the street but I have no problem helping cook food at a homeless shelter.  There is a big difference between looking for a handout and looking for help.  The shelter I helped out at last winter and will be again helping at next month assists homeless people get past the hurdle that lead them to that lifestyle and get them back on their feet, independently.



Image from Postsecrets.com



So many of us get wrapped up in our daily life and forget these things that connect us all.  I saw this on my friends twitter and I really liked it and saved the image.  This image came from Post Script which is a site I had never heard of before.  This picture goes very well with this feeling of tiny that I love.  I had one of those moments this past weekend.  I was out on the boat on the lake with my neighbors and we shut off the engine and just floated.  It was so still and quite it just made me feel so tiny and that any issues I was having just melted away under the sunset and then the stars that came out.  We all need to remember that we are not the center of the world and that while we are alone we are all part of something bigger.  Just because we may be having a good day doesn’t mean the person next to us is.  Smile! It is the easiest way to make the world a better place.

Harry Potter

I was a late bloomer in terms of Harry Potter but do not let that sway you to think I am not one of the biggest fans out of my friends.  I might have been late, and by late I mean I didn't have a clue what Harry Potter was all about till the summer after my Sophomore year at Michigan State.  I had taken an additional summer job working as a pool monitor at IM West Outdoor Pool so I had lots of time to sit outdoors and be bored while collecting your money! 

I was not a reader at all at this point in life however I was a puzzle person so each day I would do the daily sodoku out of the State News.  As you can guess a sodoku puzzle takes up about 15 minutes out of a 4 hour shift so that didn't really solve the boredom issue.  A few friends suggested reading which at first I was like blah no way I hate reading.  I mentioned this to my sister who told me to read Harry Potter.  I gave it a shot once before.  I made it through Chapter 1 of the Sorcerer's Stone in about 3 months before I gave up but I figured what the hell that was a few years back lets try it again.  So I started out that summer at the pool with a second attempt of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone but skipping ahead to chapter 2 or 3 (I can't remember which one) to start.  It was a little slow at first but by the time I finished that I went straight on to the next and so on.  The series became and obsession; I finally was seeing what so many others were seeing.

Over the course of my junior year and into my senior year I read The Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban and The Goblet of Fire as well as watched all of the movies.  I was lucky and could borrow all the books from my sister.  I didn't purchase a book myself till The Half Blood Prince.  I was pretty disappointed in myself that it took me this long to get into this series and actually just reading as well.  Considering the first book was released in 1997 and the first movie in 2001 and I was just starting out in 2005 I was very late to the wizarding world.

By 2007 I was a huge fan and could talk Hogwarts, Muggles, Voldemort and Dumboldore with the rest.  Hell, I dressed up as Harry Potter for Halloween like 2 years in a row and you know I was a member of the Facebook group Fuck This...I'm Going To Hogwarts.  I think I really became a die hard fan when I was kicked out of the midnight showing of Goblet of Fire at NCG Cinemas.  Before I get into that story I should talk about how I got to that point.  I was still reading the book Goblet of Fire and talking about it with my friend Michelle.  We had decided to get tickets together for the midnight showing.  A few weeks later my roommates had asked me to get tickets with them but I turned them down as I was going to get them with Michelle.  Well someone ended up buying Michelle tickets as a gift so I was kinda left high and dry with no one to go with.  I talked to my roomies and I was just going to get a ticket and go with them.  I went over to NCG one afternoon to make this epic purchase as this is the first movie I have ever gone to a midnight showing for!  I talked to the lady at the desk and told her my situation about my roommates having tickets and I wanted to be able to sit with them.  She said that wouldn't be an issue, that the tickets work as a voucher system and you just get there with your group and turn them in and go into one of the available theatres.  I thought that's easy, sure, lets do this. So I made my purchase of a single ticket.

That faithful day of November 17th, 2005 arrived and I still had 3 chapters to read of the Goblet of Fire and the movie premier was quickly approaching.  I have a vivid memory of sitting on my bean bag chair in my room at 622 MAC scarfing down dinner and reading as fast as I could (I was still new to this whole reading thing so I wasn't very quick at the time).  My roommates were telling me it was time to leave and I still had just a few pages to go so I quickly finished that off and hopped in the car to the movie theater.  Now this is where things start to get really interesting.  So I drove us to the movie and we got out and went to get in line when we found out even numbered tickets are on the East side and odd numbered tickets are on the West side.  Everyone in my roommates group and Michelle and her friend were all even numbered and I was an odd number all by myself.  I kinda panicked for a second before deciding this should be a simple fix let me go and talk to the ticket people. 

While everyone got in line I went to get things situated.  The ticket person was useless and overwhelmed so I asked for the manager and he came right over and we talked.  The manager and I both started out very friendly and I explained how I had asked how the tickets worked and everything before I bought the ticket.  His response was I can't help you this has been our policy since day one.  Since that was not the answer I wanted to hear I restated the question and got the same response.  This went on for about 5 minutes of me finding a new way to rephrase my question and getting some variation of the same no response.  I was starting to get annoyed as was the manager so finally after getting a no response one too many times I go well clearly you are not a good manager if you can not get all of your employees to follow your rules and looks like me coming to this theatre just about every week since the day it opened means nothing guess I'll just have to start going to Celebration (NCG's rival) to get him really pissed off.  His response to that statement took me off guard a bit when he told me I could leave his theater and if I did not leave on my own he would have the police remove me.

As you can imagine by this point I was just pissed off for a number of reasons but I felt defeated and didn't know what else to do.  I walked back to my roommates in line to tell them what was going on and that since I drove to give me a call when the movie was over and I would come back and pick them up.  While I was talking to them the manager started walking toward me and I started to think I am really screwed now that I didn't leave fast enough or something.  As he approaches he starts to talk to me and to my huge surprise he is not still trying to kick me out.  Instead he is doing the complete opposite.  First he apologizes which I in turn do as well for calling him a bad manager and then he goes even a step further.  He offers to help me out and gives me a couple options.  Option 1 he has a VIP theater but can only fit 7 of us in that and our group was 13 or option 2 he will walk around with me and try to find someone in a similar spot to trade tickets with.  I elect for option 2 which took maybe 3 minutes to find.  Still not sure why he didn't just do that first instead of fighting and taking up 15 minutes of his time.

After that fiasco the movie went off with out an issue and I was able to watch The Goblet of Fire with all of my friends and enjoy it!  I don't think reading the book just hours before the film was a good idea but that is what it is.  Reading the book so close to the movie kind of kills the movie because one you already know what is going to happen and two the whole time you are comparing the movie to the book and as everyone knows the book is always better than the movie!

Since that point I have now seen the Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, Half Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows Part 1 all at Midnight.  I have never purchased a book at midnight but I think 8am when the store opens kinda counts.  I purchased Deathly Hallows at Toys R Us in Time Square the morning the book came out and they gave me an awesome glow in the dark poster which I framed and hung over my bed.  And then spent most of my day just reading in Central Park.

Friday at 12:01 AM I rounded out my Harry Potter Midnight showing experience.  I went with a few friends to Pequod's for dinner before heading across the street to Webster Place to watch the final movie in the book series.  While we were at Pequod's we took the Harry Potter quiz that was in the Red Eye which was incredibly hard.  The best part of that quiz was that it lead to very in-depth conversations about how things work and what is what as if it were real.  I really wish the Wizardling world was real!!!!

It is a very sad day as there is no longer anything to look forward to.  Perhaps I will just have to go back to the beginning and start over again.  Or perhaps the best thing I can do is make a trip to Orlando to the The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios.  And also there is Pottermore though I'm not entirely sure what that is but I also don't know what Google + is but what the hell I gave that a shot so I will do the same for Pottermore.

The movie I felt kept to the book very well.  I was pleased that I made it to the finally at midnight but I am very sad it is over.  This series has been such a part of my life.  I do not agree that is was shown in 3D however and I feel that those who go to see this movie in 3D are not true fans.  The beginning was not in 3D so neither should the end.  I have seen some movies in 3D and its cool if it is intended to be done in 3D like Alice in Wonderland or Avatar but this is a standard movie that gets 3D as a make more money gimmick.  The epilogue in the book was really good cause I could use my imagination and picture the scene but the movie did ruin that image for me.  Watch the movie and you will know what I am talking about.  The whole theatre burst out laughing at that point because it was horrible.  Good in concept but bad in execution.

Here is an awesome image of the timeline of the movies and books
http://codyrapol.com/~BigBangTheory/2011/06/Harry-Potter-Time-Line.jpg

Just some funny Shit

So we all know what gchat is.  If not then I feel sorry for you.  I think for most of us it is what helps us get through a day.  Well I have some friends that are bit more active then others in this category and well unbeknownst to them a lot of times I click on the links in their status bars (like most of them do, I presume, to my status bar).  Over time I have found some really funny stuff.  I have no idea where some of them come up with it but I figured we could all use a good laugh today so here are some fun links I have found via my friends.  Some of them I can remember why or how I found them while others are just a complete crap shoot to where they came from.  So enjoy!

This is the site I am currently reading which came courtesy of Theresa's gchat status so we can all thank her for this!
http://thebloggess.com/2011/06/and-thats-why-you-should-learn-to-pick-your-battles/
From this post I went off and read the about me and off to the regular home page and so far I just keep laughing!

This one isn't as funny as just really awesome.  My friend Karen had this posted one day and I think this guy is really sweet and very talented.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/18/time-lapse-milky-way-video_n_850607.html
Check his other stuff here: TESO Photography

Some other fun ones I have have come across while chatting with friends:
http://www.someecards.com/workplace-cards/id-be-much-more-into-this-project
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3vO-QiEGJ8

This one I came across myself and it also provides some funny stuff
Work Fails
Facebook Misspellings

And here is just a well known one damnyouautocorrect

There are so many more that I have been to but I just cant think of them right now.  So if you have some just add them to the comments!

Update:
So here a a couple additions.  One I dont know how I forgot. The Oatmeal! This is still one of my favorite posts from them.  How Twilight Works

This other one was triggered by a talk of how my friends bike was stolen today and she found this which is awesome!  This image comes from the site ihateyoubikethief.  Enjoy!!!! Missing Poster

Great Lakes Great Times

Every year my family spends atleast a week at the cottage and this year was no different.  I spent my 4th of July at the cottage in Houghton Lake.  Leaving Chicago Thursday night was a bit interesting.  I played in my last kickball game with Kick in a Box for the spring 2011 season.

Kick in a Box

Shot of lightning from the gas station in Indiana

After our game I left and started my drive to Michigan.  I did not make it very far before things got very intense.  I made it to the Kennedy and looked at the city which was almost black.  By the time I made it onto the Skyway I panicked and had to pull over because I was getting bombarded with dime sized hail.  I had no idea what to do so I just pulled over for about 10 minutes.  Which I think everyone else did too because I was only passed by 3 cars in that span of time.  After the hail subsided my drive was quite electrifying.  I have never seen so much lightning before.  Every second almost another flash.  By the time I pulled over to get gas the rain had stopped but it was still lightning.

Michigan State Capital

I worked from home Friday and did a couple store checks for my company.  Apparently I am the only one who has ever been to a Kroger store before.  After work I ran some errands and wandered around Lansing.  I went to lunch with my friend Whitney at Spotted Dog Cafe.  Since I still had some time in my meter after we finished lunch I ended up walking around Lansing taking some pictures.  I ended up walking through the Michigan State Capital.  I had not been inside the capital since I was probably 8 years old so it was all new to me.  It is a very impressive building with a lot of detail through out.

House of Represenatives

Dome of the capital

FJ's in a line

I also made a relaxing trip out to my old "office" where I worked in college.  I went out to visit my old boss at the MSU Sailing Center.  This was a great place to work and I miss the life style.  Since I worked there they have expanded into also doing canoes and kayaks.  This is a must visit spot in Lansing for recreation.  Growing up in Lansing I never knew about it which is a shame because it really is a true hidden gem in the area providing a place to learn skills that not everyone knows but anyone can learn if they just try.

Sky Lantern

Friday evening I made my way up to the cottage where I was able to get in a lot of water skiing and relaxing.  Well the relaxing was relative to the constant hanging out with the family, the neighbors, and playing yard games, board games, and water sports.  We set off a few sky lanterns which I think I had more fun taking pictures of my parents doing that then myself setting one off.  And of course it wouldn't be Northern Michigan with out a few games of Euchre and bon fires by the lake.

My family is big on sunset cruises so of course we went on quite a few over the span of the week I was there.  We also really enjoy our food and I helped cook a few dishes this time.  I tried fixed a few go to meals I know like Grilled Pizza and Capresse Salad but I also tried a new recipe for Green Chile Stew that I found online.

My Grandma

Playing Cornhole

Since it was the 4th of July we had to celebrate a bit right?  Well we ended up having most of the neighbors over at our place drinking through out the day and just enjoying the perfect weather.  I had purchased a few fireworks in Indiana on my drive home Thursday night and we set them off.  I only got the big sparkler fountains which have come a long ways since the last time we bought fireworks.  These lasted a long time and had some really cool effects.  One of the fountains was really large and actually came a little too close for comfort as it got really close to everyone watching with the spewing sparks.

Throughout the week we mostly just hung out and lounged on the tubes and went boating and golfing and just lots of hanging out.  I actually own my own boat.  Now before you start asking me why it isnt in Chicago and why I havnt invited everyone out on it know that it is a 1978 Hobie 16.  I do love that boat and it is all mine which isnt worth much but its still a lot of fun to sail.  Its also a lot of work so I don't really use it as much as I should.  I only ended up taking it out once this week but that was because we did not really have much wind.  The no wind was a bad thing for sailing but worked out to be a great thing for water skiing because it kept the water flat.  I am really happy I was able to water ski as much as I did.  Almost everytime I went I had perfect flat water to ski on.

Mom hitting out of the sand trap

Me Water Skiing

Nice putt Dad

Like every year we try to make a trip to somewhere in Michigan we havnt been in a long while.  This year we went to Tahquamenon Falls up in the UP.  My friend Denise came with us and we made a few stops along the way.  First we stopped in the Straits and took some pictures and then made our way across the Mackinaw Bridge to St Ignace to get pasties from Bessie's.  We continued further north and made a couple stops along the way at some road side parks before reaching the falls.  Went went to both the lower and upper falls.  Michigan really has a very impressive park system and there is just so much to see and its super super cheap and very unique.

A view of a view of the bridge

Best Pasties!!!

Me and my parents and Denise at Tahquamenon Falls

Lower Falls

Upper Falls

My Mom and Dad

Road side park at the Cut River Bridge

Mackinac Bridge at sunset

Overall this week was perfect however I do miss my sister being there.  Yes, I might fight with her but its just not as much fun with out her there.  Liss when are you moving back to the Midwest?

The Cottage in a new color

Hi Mom!

Captain Bob

My Parents are pretty good at landscaping