Quiet Day...

Today has been a quiet day home. I slept in until 8am. Mom and I went along with Dad to the local Veterans Cemetery for the Memorial Day ceremony. It was a very nice service.

Afterwards, I took a nap and had dinner. Nothing too exciting. Later on tonight, I'll be headed to Trivia Night at Logan's. I hope some of the students show up. It's even more fun when Jamie and I have company on our team.

Yesterday was nice. I got up early and did my cardio workout at the gym. That 60 minutes on the elliptical followed by 50 minutes on the treadmill can be a killer. When I got home and weighed-in, I was happy to see I had lost 0.8 pounds and 0.1% bodyfat.

After sitting out for a while on the back patio, we had Jamie over for a nice dinner of boneless ribs, various salads, and veggies.

Then, Jamie and I headed to Starbucks for a while. I told him about the CD sale at Circuit City and we went looking. Well, we got there about 15 minutes before closing, so I only managed to pick up the new Panic At The Disco CD "Pretty Odd".

Believe it or not, we didn't have Movie Night.

Oh, on Saturday...I took Mom to Barnes&Noble. She picked out three books and I picked out Quantico by Greg Bear (since it's in paperback now). We had a nice time. That afternoon, Dad, Jamie, and I went to see Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. You'll have to seriously suspend your disbelief, but once you do, this film is quite enjoyable.

Memorial Day 2008

I'd like to take this time (and bit of internet space) to recognize all the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for this country. I thank the Heavens that my Dad was lucky enough to come back to us every time he went overseas during his enlistment in the Marine Corps. It was hard seeing friends in school lose their Dad and then watching them move away.

Last night, I watched some of the National Memorial Day Concert on PBS with Mom. Even though Dad has been retired 21 years, watching these concerts always make me a bit teary eyed.

This morning, Dad took part in the local Memorial Day ceremony at the local Veterans Cemetery. Mom and I went with him. The guest speaker put it eloquently when he said (pardon my paraphrasing)...Memorial Day is for Americans who are not usually familiar with military life. People who are in the military, or are married into it, or grow up as a dependent experience Memorial Day more often than just once a year.

So, please take a moment today to reflect on all the freedoms and privileges we enjoy as Americans. We owe them to the men and women who served this country during peacetime and wartime.

Monday Morning...Pre Work

Well, now the summer semester is in full swing. Today is the start of my new schedule. I might even switch my workouts to the mornings since I don't have to be at work until 11am every day.

Yesterday was quite nice. I went to the gym first thing and did my cardio workout. I ended up doing 60 minutes on the elliptical followed by 50 minutes on the treadmill. I was exhausted by the time I left, but in a good way.

When I got home and weighed-in, I was a bit sad to see that I had gained 0.2 pounds and 0.1% bodyfat. This week I'm going to experiment and see how my next weigh-in goes.

After a relaxing afternoon and a great dinner, Jamie and I went over to Starbucks before Movie Night. It was my choice, so I brought Labyrinth. Neither of us had seen it in many years, but it was just as good as I remember. We both ended up giving it a 5.

Back To The Grindstone...

Today was the start of my Summer Semester. I got my online class all updated and made it available before 8am. According to my preliminary roster, I have 21 students in my online class. Next Tuesday night, I'm supposed to have my first continuing education night class. I kinda hope that class doesn't run. I'm not fond of teaching at night during the summer. While at work, I also made up my CAD Lab schedule. I'll be working the lab 18 hours a week to assist the students on their projects.

Tomorrow morning is graduation. Our curriculum will be represented by 2 graduates. Boy, am I filled with pride. That group only began with 6 students, so it isn't as bad as it seems. That still means we graduated 1/3 of the starting class.

It's currently 84.5 degrees with a humidity of 50%. I'm a little bit sticky and sweaty. We went from cool directly to hot and humid. Yuck.

Bodybuilder: Chris Jalali

Chris is a great bodybuilder with an amazing physique! I decided to blog about him since he's the covermodel on this month's issue of MuscleMag. Here are some links and pics to enjoy.

I hope Chris does well this year in the sport.

Official Chris Jalali Website
YouTube - Chris Jalali Hits A Few Poses
YouTube - Chris Jalali Posing
YouTube - Chris Jalali Posing Practice

Learnmyself.com: Personality Test

My Personality

Neuroticism	59
Extraversion	14
Openness to Experience	51
Agreeableness	75
Conscientiousness	66

You often resist any cravings or urges that you have, but sometimes you give in, however you feel enraged when things do not go your way. You are sensitive about being treated fairly and feel resentful and bitter if you think you are being cheated. You get overwhelmed by too much noise and commotion and do not like thrill-seeking activities. You prefer familiar routines and for things to stay the same. You can tend to feel uncomfortable with change. You find helping other people genuinely rewarding and are generally willing to assist those who are in need. You find that doing things for others is a form of self-fulfillment rather than self-sacrifice, however you are not affected strongly by human suffering, priding yourself on making objective judgments based on reason. You are more concerned with truth and impartial justice than with mercy. You take your time when making decisions and will deliberate on all the possible consequences and alternatives.

Take a Personality Test now or view the full Personality Report. Raisin ugg boots

Blogthings: The Chocolate Oracle

Another meme that I'm late in taking.

What Your Taste in Chocolate Says About You

You are sophisticated, modern, and high class. Your taste is refined, but you are not picky. You are often the first to try something new. You are a whimsical person prone to daydreaming. Artistic and creative, you're always in the middle of a project. While you are an inspiration to others, you can come off as flaky. You love to be the center of attention. You enjoy entertaining your friends. You feel lost when no one is interested in you... You're too interesting to be ignored.

The Chocolate Oracle

Blogthings: The City Walk Personality Test

A few blog friends have taken this meme, so better late than never, here are my results:

What Your City Walk Means

You are thoughtful and contemplative. You enjoy spending time alone with your thoughts. You are generally confident and friendly with strangers. You are well mannered and sociable. Money is fairly important to you. You aren't super greedy, but you enjoy spending money on yourself. You are curious about ideas. If you had the means, you'd like to explore the whole world.

The City Walk Personality Test

Nice Tuesday Evening

Boy, it was nice to sleep in until 8am this morning. I'm liking this semester break. Mom and I ran to the commissary this morning since we weren't here on Saturday to do our usual grocery shopping. It wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be.

Around 1:30 this afternoon, I went to the gym and did my second day of a new routine I'm trying out. If my night class is a "go", I'll have to change things a bit, but if the night class doesn't take, I think this will be my new routine for the next 6-8 weeks. I ran into one of my students (Mike) and he did a few exercises with me. I had a nice time today and yesterday. It was great getting back into the gym. Funny thing is...the gym is practically deserted in the afternoons. And, the crowd is different than the one in the evenings.

Last night, I was amazed to see that 5 people joined Jamie and I at Trivia Night. There were three students and two of their friends/relatives. We had a good time and ended up winning second place. A few of the students said that they might make this a habit. That would help our odds of winning.

Not much else going on. I worked a bit on my online class for the Summer Semester (which begins on Friday). I'll work more on it tomorrow.

Back From Blacksburg...

Whew! Talk about some driving! Early Friday morning, we all piled in the Mountaineer and I drove the 6-7 hours up to Salem, VA (where we were staying at an Econo Lodge). The drive went really well and my DVD navigation system did an excellent job! Let me say that the hotel was maybe a one-star. After a while, we drove down to VT and had a wonderful buffet dinner with Donna and the rest of her family (including her other grandparents) at one of the dining halls. Donna didn't want to sit through the two hours at Lane Stadium/Worsham Field for her all inclusive ceremony.

After driving back to the hotel and having a sleepless night at the hotel, we had breakfast, checked out of the hotel, then drove back to VT to visit with Donna and go shopping/sightseeing before her actual college graduation in the afternoon at Squires Student Center Ballroom. After that 2-hour ceremony, we gave kisses and hugs, then I drove home. We had great weather and I made great time. We ended up getting home about 10:30 Saturday night.

After unpacking and getting cleaned up, I fell right to sleep and was dead the whole night. Hell, I slept in until after 9am on Sunday.

It was a quiet Mother's Day. We had already given Mom her two cards and gift (an Anne Klein gold watch) on Thursday night. I was stiff and sore from all that driving, so I decided to take a break from the gym. Jamie made and brought over Rouladen and red cabbage for dinner. We provided the au gratin potatoes and broccoli. It was really delicious!

Then we went to Starbucks where there was one hell of a thunderstorm while we were there. Later on, I found out that there were a few tornadoes from that storm.

After coffe and tea, we went to Jamie's for Movie Night. It was his pick and he chose The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I thought it was a touching story despite the fact that I ended up with a headache from the point-of-view cinematography style. I gave it a 4 out of 5.

One Day Left...

One more day of work until the Spring Semester is officially over! I turned in my graded this afternoon around 3pm. Tomorrow, I have to go into work for 4 hours of "office hours". It's mainly paperwork and some cleaning/straightening up. Then, Friday morning I drive my parents up to Blacksburg, Virginia for my niece's college graduation.

I'll be off work until next Friday (05/16). Then I begin the Summer Semester. Luckily, I only teach one online class and one night class. That will be in addition to monitoring the CAD Lab for the students. It'll be a nice break.

I'm dreadfully sorry that I was remiss in my blogging duties. Monday night was the 12th Annual Architectural Technology Spring Show. Basically, it's an expo for the graduating students to showcase all they've done the past two years at Coastal. We invite friends, family, and potential employers. Since we only had two graduating students, I was extremely anxious that the show would be a flop. Thankfully, the college administrators liked what they saw (for the most part). I even contributed something (since we also invited some alumni to showcase some of their works too). Here's a link to the local news article about it: CLICK ME.

Not much else has been going on. I was sad about the outcome of Tuesday's NC Primary. I had voted in the "no excuse early voting". I really will be sad if and when Hillary Clinton leaves the race. I really wanted her to be the Democratic nominee.

This past weekend Dad and I went to see Ironman. It was simply amazing. It was SO good that I'm seeing it again tomorrow afternoon with Jamie.

On Monday, after the Spring Show, a group of up went to Logan's to eat and play Trivia. I was upset to find out that there was no trivia because of Cinco de Mayo. What kind of crap is that??

Sunday night at Movie Night, I brought Clue over to Jamie's house. It's a favorite of mine and I found out that Jamie loves it too. That was a great boost after weighing-in earlier on Sunday and seeing that I had gained 1.4 pounds.