| Monday, September 24, 2007 |
| Blow Log |
This past weekend I spent at a friends cabin on tenkiller lake celebrating Nick Rowell's last few weeks of bachelorhood.
It was there I was introduced to the "blow log"
Yep, it's pretty much just how it sounds.
I'm pretty much new to the experience of the "blow log" - an apparently Oklahoman tradition - maybe Blake and Wes are more familiar with it. But basically it involves a dead tree with a hollow trunk that you cut into 4 or 5 foot sections (one blow log is certainly not enough for a weekend) then stand it up and build a fire in it, (or maybe you build the fire first, I never really saw the beginning of it take place, either way...) then after it's good and roaring you throw aerosol cans filled with something flammable (carb cleaner, carpet cleaner, spray paint, etc) into the log and watch as as the blaze flares 20-30 feet into the air. It's really quite mesmerizing. Honestly with as much beer and flammable liquid as we had I'm pretty impressed that no one was hurt, but luckily we all managed to escape the weekend with all appendages in tow, and not a burn victim in sight. |
posted by Brian @ 1:30 PM  |
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| Thursday, September 20, 2007 |
| Good Morning Fayetteville |
I've started getting up early and jogging a bit to wake me up in the morning and I really like it for a few reasons:
1. Farmers market is not only on Sat and Thurs as I originally thought - but pretty much every day. Not that I buy anything when I go running, but I like knowing that I can, and it's fun to see people out early selling vegetables and flowers.
2. Sadly this one will change, but, the weather is amazing. Nice and cool, but not cold
3. My favorite reason - while I'm jogging the sun is just barely starting to peek over Mt. Sequoia, which is beautiful, and I love. Honestly, as much as I want to move to a big(ger) city, it would kill me to not see these views on a daily basis.
It makes me smile every day.
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| posted by Brian @ 2:54 PM |
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| Wednesday, September 12, 2007 |
| Kids these days |
I teach a freshman seminar and last week I showed up a little late to class and my class, being the quintessential freshman that they are, left. So I assigned them a paragraph on their strengthsquest index (it's a type of personality test) I asked them to write a paragraph on what strength(s) they used to decide to leave class, and I got a couple funny responses that I just had to post.
"On Thursday, I used my strength of strategery. I was able to do this on a more personal level. I had made a plan for myself including all of the things that I had to do for that day. I had kept to the schedule, executed my plan of attack for the daily tasks. As an Army ROTC cadet, I am exposed to many ways of planning and executing actions, I did that. The plan was to go to class, then go and take my math test. I adapted to my situation, found an alternate route and took the path of least resistance. My course of action resulted in being the best choice for myself; I had a very bad ankle injury and I happen to be wearing my ACU's on Thursday because I had ROTC lab and I did not think I would have enough time to change later in the day, because I was able to walk around a little more going to my math class, I realized that my combat boots were not the best choice in shoes. When I missed class and took my test early, it allowed me enough time to get back to my room and contact MSG Mcneill, tell him my situation and he allowed me to wear my civilian clothes. I ended up using two of my strengths on Thursday, strategery and adaptability."
I don't know if she used the word "strategery" on purpose or not. It's honestly really funny either way.
"One of my stengths is that I am dicaplined. Rather than spend my time sitting in the hall way, I thought it would be smarter to go to my room and get started on my homework for my other classes. Because I have this strenghth I was able to catch up on my homework rather then waste my time sitting in the hallway talking to people.
I'm glad your not mad that I used my time more wisely. :)"
Apparently not dicaplined enough to use spell check. I love these guys!
"Thursday morning when I decided to leave class my strengths of Harmony and Restorative came into play. No one was going to leave class until another girl and me brought up the idea. My Harmony strength caused me to ensure that everybody in the class was in agreement that we should leave and sign a sheet to prove we were there. My Restorative strength was the part of me that helped me decide that leaving was the best possible solution to the situation that we were in. My Achiever and Learner strengths were put on hold that morning while Harmony and Restorative took over. But overall, my leaving class is due to my problem/situation solving that my Restorative strength represents. Sorry, about missing you Thursday morning."
My favorite so far!
Either she's explaining physics, or showing off her Jacob Skinner pose. |
| posted by Brian @ 2:02 PM |
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| Wednesday, September 5, 2007 |
| And you thought it was over |
Work has been busy so I have not had time to waste time sadly. But hopefully things are slowing down enough for the blogging to resume. I took these on labor day, I've always wanted to do it. |
| posted by Brian @ 8:51 AM |
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