This is Not a Blog.

It's a Space Station!!!

I have a feeling this blog is going to be very "stream of consciousness," meaning that it won't make sense to anyone but me. "But Austin," you say. "That's how your blogs always are! That's why we love them!" Fair enough. You always see right through me.

Let's get the bad and the ugly out of the way, so we can focus on the good and the beautiful.
This has been the winter of car trouble. I ran into a curb, causing me to buy a new rod for my car's chassis, Tracie had no heat, so we bought a heating motor and resistors for that. NOW, my car has stopped working. This happened earlier this winter, and we just jumpstarted it, and it worked. Now, after trying to jumpstart it TWICE, it is d-e-a-d. I'm dreading taking it in, so Tracie's been driving me to work/school, and I've taken the bus occasionally as well. And we were wondering what to do with our nonexistent excess money, now we know! Ah, the joys of life and winter!

Another, less expensive but almost as annoying feature of my life is the Soundtrack of "Hairspray." Tyler and Cheryl gave it to us. (We love it, thank you. But...) Unfortunately, "Hairspray" sticks in your head like it was made of hairspray or something! Think of the most annoying song: Hey Mickey You're so Fine, most songs by Gwen Stefani, Spice Girls, or the Wiggles. I'd almost prefer those. This is simply because the Hairspray songs are so good, they're infectious. Stuck in my head from when I shower in the morning to when I can't sleep at night! We've officially boycotted the CD from being played for quite awhile. It is an odd feeling. On one hand, I really like the music, lyrics and singing. On the other, I CAN'T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD!!! That's all the complaining for now. And Tyler and Cheryl, thank you again for the gift. I do appreciate it and love it, I just wanted to blog about it because it's a funny feeling to love and hate something so much at the same time. Like George Bush.

I can't WAIT to go to Texas! We're leaving on Valentine's Day (Or Valantine's Day, the correct spelling for our family) and will be there until President's Day. I haven't seen my immediate family for over a year now, and I Need it!! I can't wait to see them, and am literally giddy with anticipation. FIFTEEN DAYS!!!

Now I come to the Topic part of the Blog. I'm tempted to break it up in several entries, but I've been blogging a lot, and I don't wanna. So, I'll just make a title in bold for each general topic: Work, School, Home, and Politics.

Work: A New Record, And David Bach buys us Pizza!

David Bach, Financial help guru extraordinaire and someone we do training programs for had a conference call and I was invited. True, my phone was on mute, so he couldn't hear my chants of "Go, David! Go, David! You the man! You the man!" But it was motivating and cool to hear him tell us what a great job we were doing, and the money we were bringing in. As a thank you, he bought all us working on the Bach Project pizza! Now I can tell people that David Bach bought me pizza. And it won't be a lie anymore!
David Bach is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Author of Automatic Millionaire, and Smart Couples Finish Rich. He's appeared on Oprah more than half a dozen times, and was recently on Regis & Kelly.

Also at work, where I set up interviews for people wanting to join a training program in such things as getting out of debt, creating their own business, or investing in Real Estate or the Stock Market, a record was broken. The old record for most transfers in a day was 31. Well, yesterday, Austin got 36! Yeah, baby! It felt good, everyone cheering me on, the proverbial crowds going proverbially wild. I also got a bit of a prize, though it wasn't without its side effects:

Interpretation of Dreams

Last night, I had to prevent myself from dreaming about transferring calls and qualifying in my sleep. I haven't had this problem since I was at QualitySmith.

And speaking of weird dreams, I have a bit of advice for you all: If you ever read Terry Pratchett's Disc World books, DO NOT read them before going to sleep. I won't go into too much detail, suffice to say dreams involved a sentient briefcase, a giant turtle, (giant as in flying through space) and the eighth color, octarine. (that is, a fluorescent greenish-yellowish-purple)

And speaking of dreams (I've been doing this a few paragraphs now, pay attention!) I had a cool discovery the other day. I was talking to my parents about Tracie's blog, her poll, in fact. My dad told me he put down flying, and that he often has flying dreams, and in them he sets new records for long jumps and plays basketball very well. This was really exciting for me (Austin, get out more. Hang on! I'll explain why!) this was exciting for me because I too have flying dreams where I'm good at basketball and do the long jump! Like father, like son.

School is School, which is to say, Good

School this week has been nice. In English, I've turned in what I feel were my best papers yet, the teacher agreed. I'm going to try to submit some for the school literary magazine. I'll let you know how it goes, though I'm a bit skeptical, as the last time I submitted poetry to UVSC's literary magazine, they were all sent back. Naturally, it led me to assume they have very very poor taste and standards. But, I thought I'd give them another chance.

Art History was enjoyable, we had our first test. I studied much too much, but it's Art History, so it delighted me to study so much. If I didn't Ace the test, I'm sure I trumped it. (i.e. I did well.)

On the Home Front

We still live in our apartment. This weekend we had Trent & Jessica McNeil over. It was very fun. I don't know why we don't do more with them. (Hint hint) We ate and played our GameCube and then played Cranium. They left early, partially because Trent was going by our clock on our VCR, still set to Daylight Savings time (lousy farmers) and partially because Jessica is pregnant, and because they had things to do.
I must comment on the food. Because it was so wonderful. And because Tracie will murder me if I don't. We had homemade spinach artichoke dip courtesy of Tracie, with garlic bread and juice supplied by the McNeils. For our main course we had Fettucini Alfredo courtesy of Tracie again, with Alfredo sauce from scratch, and cajun chicken, courtesy of me. This of course leads me to my next meandering thought.

I'm a Sous!

That's right! As great a chef as Tracie is, and though she'd never admit it, she wouldn't be quite so great without such a great supportive staff. That's where I come in. I'm the sous chef. I stir the risotto or couscous or pasta or whatever so it doesn't burn, I usually take care of the meat, and do the clean up afterwards (usually). In exchange, I get her delicious cuisine, but more importantly, I get the opportunity to cook with the woman I love. We greatly enjoy cooking together, and every night, I look forward to savor her menu, but truly feast of her company. Can I be more cheesy? Probably, but it would be admittedly difficult.

And finally,

I'm no Pundit, but I know what I like! (Mostly)

With this being Primary Season (political. Not church for kids) and with a Mormon running, I've paid more attention to this presidential primary than any other before. Here are some of my views. I consider myself a Moderate, mostly because I don't think I know enough to have that much of an opinion, and I assume both Republicans and Democrats have some good ideas, so I'm for those good ideas, regardless of party.

I am Against the War. Even if we're doing those men and women who have died for this war a disservice, that isn't enough reason to kill more of them. In my humble opinion.

The Candidates:
Democratic: For the Democrats, (that is, Hillary vs. Obama, as Edwards has now quit) I was leaning Obama, he seemed smart, charismatic, and black. But then he received backing from Kennedys, so I think that maybe he's not such a good choice. As for Hillary, I echo Ammon who echoed Chris Rock: "I think America is ready for a woman president. But does it have to be that woman?"

Republican: I didn't want to support Romney. He seemed like a flip-flopper, as well as more of a schmoozer than a politician. (Yes, there is a difference, however slight). Also, he's a Mormon, and I didn't want to support him carte blanche just because of his religious preference. That would be like all the "Christians" who would vote against him for the same reason. However, as the race has been playing its course, I support him 89% now.

In case you're wondering, here are/were my feelings of the other Republicans.

Ron Paul: An excellent choice. Pro Constitution. But not wealthy or corrupt enough to have a chance.

Mike Huckabee: I'd just as soon vote for Hitler. He'd be more tolerant and intelligent.

John McCain: An ok choice. It looks like he'll be the nominee, which means we'll have a democrat for a president again. He would've been a better choice in 2000 or even 2004. I would say give it up, but he's winning, so good for him.

Ideally, if a Republican were to win, I'd like McCain to be elected, with Romney as his running mate. McCain, being 900 or so years old dies in the first year in office, and Romney, as Veep takes the office. Sadly, I feel that's the only way he'll get in there. I hope I'm wrong, and I admit I know little. But that's my two cents for this primary season.

Maybe I'll change my tune come next Tuesday.

Well, that's about it. Thanks for reading. I'll keep writing as long as you do. (And shortly after you stop)

OOH! This is my 50th post! Hooray!