Living to excess

Ryan Lindgren has inspired me to question the confines of excess. How do you live just hard enough without dying? How many glasses of water WOULD be fatal? How many pieces of bubblegum can be chewed at once before you die of insulin shock (the world record for number of pieces at once was 36 the last I heard)? I once chewed 27 pieces of Super Bubble gum at once. The wad was about 3.5 inches in circumference and the puddle of pink sugar vomit was about 2 feet in diameter. Seriously, I was bored at work and attempted it but fell woefully short of glory. How many times can you bend over and then snap back to a standing position before you have an embolism? How much can you taunt a woodchuck before it will nibble your bum? I don't know. So stop asking me stoopid questions Matt Ring.

H2O intolerant

Does anoyone ever do things absentmindedly? What was I talking about? Oh yeah, yesterday I drank like 96 ounces of water in 2 hours without thinking about it at all. I have a lexan bottle that holds about 32 oz. and I filled it and then emptied it three times between 7AM and 9:30. That is a good thing, except for the periodic restroom visits( Matt, you mioght recognize this sign). And by periodic I mean every 20 minutes or so. People around here probably think I'm strange enough, but when I'm walking into the BR every forthour my "intriguing allure" is intensified. I often wonder if people also think it is strange that I carry my empty plastic bottle with me into the bathroom, intending to fill it in the water fountain upon exit. I promise I am not undergoing drug testing. Anyway, I guess the point is that I was extremely hydrated all morning but a little irritable and quick with some people. I was actually doing them a service by not letting them see a grown man have an accident in his office. I think I just blogged absentmindedly, reinforcing the point in the first place...

Ears to me!

I have an ear infection. It is annoying. To simulate, hire two people with nothing better to do to each place a single finger on an opposite ear. Then, tell them that the person that touches your brain gets a dollar. Ouch. Anyway, my ear is so swollen, I thought I would write about it...

Gigantic earlobe

A thousand clip-on earrings

Could not cover you

You stick out much more

Than your opposite headmate

Separated by hair

I wish you could move

I would tip you at people

Because Sloth loves Chunk

Though you may think I am kidding, I assure you the following picture is as a matter of fact me. Disregard the child to my right; he is a liar! But even I have a home and love.

Productivity?!?!

I have found recently that there are insidious and ever-present adversaries to productivity lurking around every turn. Sitting at work, I try to alternate 3 to 4 hours of hard concentrated productivity with about 20 or 30 minutes of "Me" time. Of course, "Me" is not very interesting or "mature"; ok so maybe I don't "dedicate my entire work day to work", and maybe I don't "shower every day" or "always stay awake when I'm at the wheel of my car", and maybe I don't "refrain from making faces behind my bosse's back, even when they turn around"... Anyway, the two largest enemies of my to do list are fantasy baseball and Hulu.com. I was roped into fantasy baseball by a friend and am enjoying it. I am second in my league with a commanding lead in about four categories; that's productive, right? There is probably irony associated with the fact that I have watched a couple of 20 minute long episodes of "The Office" while at work. Michael Scott would approve. But any site that will offer you free access to Justin Timberlake (siiiiiiggh) on SNL is alright by me. Maybe I am not a good employee. Maybe I am trying to maintain my sanity with a little bit of hilarity and unnecessary baseball stattage, you be the judge. But remember, I almost never get to take a proper lunch break. The number of people I have had to talk to while actually eating a sandwich would stagger Ms. Manners. If you call me at work and my voice sound garbled, it's probably a balogna and cheese Lunchable. So judge me accordingly.

long absence...

During this long absence from blogging, Jenny and I have lived through a tough few months. Work has been busy and stressful. We feel rejuvenated, however, through our shared experiences while walking with God...

The presence of God
Sunlight, cool wind through dense trees
The presents of God

The Old Testament
Not men, but Deliverers
Are it's importance

Reading my Bible,
Pondering Divine Message,
I release my fears

Not the best poet
It seems creative somehow
Suffer me anyway

Just thought I would express myself. Seriously, we are doing well. The girls are great and we are enjoying a bit more breathing room after ending this semester, finishing my thesis, and such. We miss ya'll and are sad that we haven't seen any of our favorite people for so long. Hope everyone is well!

Etapa numero dos...

Okay, now for the second leg of the trip. On Monday of our trip,
a guide acquired us at the Chateau Caribbean (French name,
Chinese owners, British/Caribbean colonial architecture) and
took us on the most adventurous portion of our trip. First, we
drove an hour to reach our destination: the rain forest. We saw
some interesting characters along the way, including some
cyclists training for the Tour de Belize and a creature of strange dimensions consisting of two Belizeans, one bicycle, and an oversized truck tire.


After arriving at the rain forest, we strapped on our safety gear and went ZIPLINING!! It was awesome! We had people that had never even flown before the trip that were brave enough to try it! It was pretty fulfilling to see them thrive outside of their comfort zones.




After ziplining through the rain forest canopy, we indulged in a little cave tubing. It was nice to float along and marvel at the natural wonders. I wish I had gotten a picture of the tubing (camera+water=new camera) as well as a huge wasp dragging a TARANTULA across our path. We walked further and accepted the opportunity to eat termites. I know what your thinking, but they taste, not surprisingly, of wood and mint. After our activities, we stopped at a roadside bar with chicken wire for windows and ate the most indescribably good stewed chicken and rice and beans (Belizean national dish). Our guide ate like the wind, indicating to us that we should do the same in order to get to the Belize Zoo before it closed. The Zoo was great with many native animals to Belize present. I will just put in a few to give an idea of the bio-diversity...


















And many others including howler monkeys, a puma, a harpy eagle, etc., etc. After this day, we transferred over to Corozal Town, which is in the north part of the country. Before we got there, we had more amazing adventures, which I will present in the next post...

Back form Belize

So we went to Belize with a group from the College. It was seven students plus one instructor plus Jenny plus me. The instructor that went was a riot and had us laughing constantly. And of course, I was there with my soulmate, Jenny, with whom I could spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week...

I know its probably past the statute of limitations for blogging about a trip, but I thought I would anyway. I will post for each city we visited. We left our town on the 27th of Feb. around 5 in the morning. After arriving in Atlanta, we hopped our flight down to Belize City and arrived at about 1:00. We cruised the town and marveled at the poverty and litter.

Past that, it was a unique, colorful experience which reminded me why there needed to be a man on the trip (I'm not intimidating but what they didn't know is that I get buckwild if necessary). In Belize City, the ethnographic background of most people is African, and the English Creole language they spoke could be heard everywhere.

We stayed at a nice place on the bay...

The Belize Museum was a nice attraction. The museum was a prison until 1993.

The museum held specimens displaying the biological and cultural marvels of Belize including Maya artifacts, an insect collection, and Belizean History.

We were able to find pretty good places to eat and shop and were happy to retire at night; that is until the party started at the park next door! Locals came and bumped rap music until about 1 in the morning. Jenny tried to run down there but I held her back. Anyway, after a couple of days there, we traveled north to Corozal Town but first we did some pretty amazing things along the way...