New this, knew that.

Hey all. Been 6 weeks since my last blog. I've really got to get back into this. It was once a comforting outlet for me. Here's what's new...

The girl situation I mentioned last time turned out to be nothing. No ill will here. Just wasn't right, you know? It happens. A younger me would've fretted (the past tense of 'fret' sounds weird, by the way) over it, but I reckon God has something bigger in store, so I'm rolling with it.

There's even something else I could mention here, but I'll withhold it this time--hate to jinx it. ;)

In the meantime...I finally got a new car! Long time coming.

Old car: 1998 Ford Escort. Owned for 8 years, 4 months, 1 day.
New car: 2007 Pontiac G6. Owned for 15 days.

Other news: My Cubs have been horrible lately. Worse than horrible actually, but my vocabulary doesn't extend that far. That said, I'm still pretty stoked to get to see them in person for the first time ever in 19 days.

The last 5 days have been among the most frustrating in all my time as a Cubs fan. However...due to alternate circumstances (lack of better word), I've still had one of my better weekends I've had in quite some time. Corny, huh?

I still have no idea if anyone reads these things anymore. I appreciate the time, if so. But in case not, I'll stop now and continue with my evening.


Cheers,
Derrick

Long time, no blog.

It's been 4 months, 12 days since my last blog...

Here's what you've missed in my world:

I've been working at Horizons for 6 months and 6 days.

My 2011 resolution of blogging every 2 weeks has failed miserably. I had several others, though. Here are a few...

Read every night: Went very well through February, then fell off. Back on it tonight, though.
Do something nice for a stranger: I anonymously donated 8 hours of PTO to a lady who needed it.
Do something crazy: Nothing yet. I'm kicking around ideas.
No fast food for 2 months: Done. And it wasn't too difficult. Granted, I still had Subway and Quiznos.

Sports:

Last time I blogged, the Bulls were 14-8. They finished the regular season 62-20, best record in the NBA. They lead their first round series vs. Indiana 3-1. In short, they've played 64 games since my last blog. Sheesh!

Cubs are 10-11 to start off the season. Not as good as I'd like, but a couple of the youngsters are playing well. Starlin Castro is the future of the team. Heck, he's the present, too. The kid is [barely] 21, and looks even younger. Dude can play some ball, though.

Other stuff:

- I like this girl. Enough to make it worth mentioning, which if you know me, is significant. I don't know where it's going, but I like where it's at so far.

- Actually...that's pretty much all I have for this time. Gotta do some picking up and prepping some things for work this week. I'll do my best to blog again soon.

Cheers,
Derrick

Merry Christmas, Happy Blogging

I haven't blogged in 22 days. Yikes. Sorry, self. So now I'm back. If for no other reason than to say I was here.

Let's see, what's new? Cubbies signed a new first baseman. This guy:

Carlos Pena

He hit 46 home runs two years ago before a down year last season. Nice, polite guy with pop in his bat. Glad to have you aboard, Carlos. --that reminds me: With Zambrano, Marmol and Silva, Pena now makes it four Carloses on the Cubs roster. How cool is that?








Bulls are playing nice lately. Five straight W's and a 14-8 record thus far. I can dig it.

My league in Hutch is back from a two-week hiatus. After losing our first game, we shellacked our opponent in Game 2, 64-18. We take our 1-1 record into tonight's 7:00 game with certain signs of rust.

I will try to blog again before Christmas, but in case I don't...uh, it's Christmas time! I love Christmas. Everything about it. The music, the shopping, the decorations, the spirit. It's all just so fun. I'm literally, well...a kid at Christmas.

I still have most of my shopping to do, but I'm looking forward to it all.

I'm planning to buy myself a new (big) TV on the 23rd. Merry Christmas to me! But you can still buy me stuff, if you want.








Also, I'll be making my first ever (voluntary) student loan payment at some point this week. Big step! And planning to penny-pinch like crazy in January/February, in hopes that I can buy me a new vehicle (ahem, truck?) around March or shortly thereafter.

But in the meantime, trying my darnedest to take things one step at a time.

Next step: Cookie.

Merry Christmas and Happy Blogging,
Derrick

PS, I'd like to share this song with you. Heard it for the first time a couple weeks ago, and it's fun. You may not like it the way I do, and you'll have to pause my already-awesome music on here, but I'm sharing anyway.

In case you wanted to know. And even if you didn't.

Long time, no blog. Changes abound! My good friend Katie Hill suggested I expand the narrow column that was the blog itself last time. I was happy to oblige. Also, I'm hoping that by the time you read this, another couple changes will have been made. No promises.

Just for fun, here are a few little tidbits about me that you may not have known, and/or for any new readers...

My favorites:

Movie: Cinderella Man
Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio/Ben Affleck [occasionally changes]
Actress: Sandra Bullock
TV Show: Seinfeld
TV Channel: MLB Network
Musical artist: James Otto
Song: Measure of a Man - Jack Ingram
Radio Station: 100.5, The Wolf

Restaurant: Olive Garden
Fast food: Popeye's

Sport to watch: Baseball
Sport to play: Basketball

Team: Chicago Cubs

Bible verse: "You are sheep among wolves. Be wise as serpents, yet innocent as doves." - Matthew 10:16

Moving on.

5 weeks in at the job. Getting better with time, as I get accustomed to things. Things I've learned so far:

1. Be thankful for what you have. Most people have zero idea how hard things could really be.
2. I can't/won't talk about girls on Facebook anymore. The girls I work with are relentless, to say the least. It's not worth the hassle.
3. I will not take things that happen at work home with me. Soon as I walk out the door, it's over.

Don't mistake these things to mean that I do not like my job. For the most part, it's actually pretty interesting. Big picture: I get paid to help people. Can't complain about that.

Once again, not much of substance here. Beginning to think I'm not as deep as I once thought I was. Wait, that seems like circular logic. Well, you know what I mean. Maybe. On that note, feel free to share thoughts. And have a good weekend, all.

Cheers,
Derrick

[insert random clever title here]

To whom it may concern,

Two weeks in at new job. So far, so good. Definitely some intrigue of a few different varieties already. Some I could probably talk about if anyone is so inclined to hear...others, I'll keep to myself. [chuckle]

For this last week of October, I wore a pink ribbon pinned to my shirt each day. Took some flak for it, but I don't care. Pink t-shirt on Thursday night, too. Look, evidence...

Our home crowd at the High School game was clad in pink and pretty raucous for a 62-0 win to end the regular season. Players wore blue unis with pink numbers [and names] for the occasion, too. Pretty sweet.

Bulldogs head into the playoffs having outscored their opponents 473-36 in nine regular season games. Impressive.

However, I will miss the Regional game here at home on Tuesday vs. Ness City, due to working late. Dang it.

I don't really have a whole lot to say in this blog [go figure], but wanted to post something since I haven't since starting the new job. Also, it gave me incentive to change my layout off the the pink backdrop.

Note: People [ahem, girl(s)] who think they're going to get on my good side while badmouthing friends of mine... I think not.


Upcoming: Basketball league in Hutchinson starting next Sunday. Pretty pumped for that. Should be interesting.


Not much else to say at the moment. This one was pretty short. Maybe next time I'll have more to say. I need to try and blog on weekends, now that I'm working weekdays. Here's hoping!

Let me know what you think of the layout. It's kind of bland, but it occurred to me that maybe I've been too flashy in the past. Need to tone it down a bit. Any thoughts?

Happy Halloween.

Derrick, out.

Note to self...

Since last time...

Wednesday: Dislocated finger. Right pinkie. I've broken it 10 times. [yes, 10] But this was the first time I've ever dislocated anything. It was equal parts disgusting and awesome. Looked like the letter V. Neat, huh?

Friday: Pretty Prairie football rolled to a 48-0 win over Kiowa County [newly consolidated school of Greensburg-Haviland]. Their head coach is the brother of our head coach. Neat stuff. Was supposed to be a test, but our guys just keep getting better--it was over at halftime. Craziness.

Sunday: Bears win. Ugly wins are wins, too. 4-1? Okay!

Man, my weeks are bleak. Is that really all I have to talk about? Nah. Let's come up with something. I know y'all don't care about my sports talk. The few of you who actually [may] still read this thing are females anyway...

How about personal change? That one's a nice little recurring theme.

I've realized lately that I am, in fact, finally ready to date. Well, mentally anyway. Getting a job and feeling secure in at least one area helped with that notion, I think. Actually finding a girl [plural, perhaps?] willing to take a shot, though? Let's just say that next step is a doozy.

The factors that played into this conclusion are not ones that most people, particularly males, would probably feel comfortable discussing. But screw it.

Things I'm attempting to teach myself: [Warning: After school special-like thoughts to come...]

Dear Self,
1. No one is going to like you until you like yourself.
2. When a girl isn't interested...let it go. Stop trying to figure out why. It doesn't matter.
3. Stop trying to impress people. If you wanna grow a beard, eat a cookie, talk about sports, etc...do it.
4. Your happy dance is awesome. And hilarious. It would make people laugh if you ever did it in public.
5. You're 25, not 52. Act like it.

Just gotta remind myself of these things occasionally and I should be fine.

Anywho.

Streak time:
- 705 days without work [unless you count umpiring baseball during the summers] -- comes to an end in 7 days. Hooray.
- 605 days with no girlfriend -- still going. Screw it. It'll happen when it happens. Maybe.
- 219 days with no pop -- still going strong. Hooray.
- 17 days with no ice cream -- still going also. Not quite as impressive, but I was on a milkshake kick for awhile, so that had to go.

Keep streaking, (ha)
Derrick

No Girls Allowed. Unless you're cute. Then it's fine.

It's been a month since I blogged, so this one will be pretty random (not that most aren't)...until I can hopefully get back into the flow of things here soon.

Stuff and things...
- Got a job. This isn't exactly news, but I haven't told a ton of people. So it might be news to you.
- Decided to go with the pink on the layout for a few weeks--in spirit of Breast Cancer Awareness and all that jazz. Don't judge.
- At my pre-employment physical, Doc told me despite working out upwards of 10 times per week, I am 37-49 pounds overweight. Beyond depressing. Bright side: I'd bet everything I own that I could still outrun the guy, despite being twice his size.
- Today marks 7 months with no pop. And yes, I miss it

Sports stuff...
- Cubs are done. Bad, bad year to say the least. As per the Cubs motto: There's always next year.
- Pretty Prairie football is now 5-0. At Greensburg this week. I've never been, should be cool.
- Bulls PF Carlos Boozer out 6-8 weeks with broken finger. Ugh.
- Been playing a lot of touch football lately. Decent workout, kind of fun.
- Bears are 3-1. But that loss was uglier than...well, something that's really ugly.

Girl stuff...
- Took a bit of a risk the other day. Stepped out on a limb. Branch broke. Failed miserably. Metaphor.
- Talked to neighbor girl yesterday. Longest talk in ages. NG = girl ma thinks I should marry. Eye roll.
- My good buddy Bacon & I plan to start a club, build a fort, etc. "No girls allowed" signs, the whole 9. Seriously, y'all are a crazy bunch of ninnies sometimes. But I still love ya. [though sometimes I forget why]

Quote of the day:

"If you want to be loved, be lovable." - Ovid

Derrick