David's Tangled Thoughts

For the past few days, we have been watching the news unfold about the tsunami that hit the coasts along the Indian Ocean. An enormous earthquake occurred off the coast of Ache, the northern region of Indonesia’s island of Sumatra. It resulted in a large tsunami that wrecked the coastlines of Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, as well as other countries as far as Africa. The death toll is well over 100,000 but I suspect the real number to be far larger. India and Indonesia are heavily populated and there was to be more than that. Admitedly, the US news media hasn’t been reporting this tragedy satisfactorily. In addition to my regular views of NBC, CNN and FOX, I have been watching BBC. I think that they have a higher stake in this story as it involves India. According their morning broadcast, the UK has donated 50 million pounds while the US has pledged 18 million. It seems kind of embarrassing for the US to be upstaged by the UK and now China. Yet, I still get defensive when pe

This year’s Christmas has got to the most low-key ever. I don’t think any of us were really excited about the day. This year we didn’t go to Florida. Mom and Dad transferred their timeshare slot to this summer so they could take their trip to Hawaii. So today was just like any other day except for the few minutes we took to open what few presents we had this year. I really couldn’t afford gifts this year but I gave Kris a gift card to Best Buy. She got me a DVD of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” which is probably one of my all time favorite movies. Ferris Bueller really is my hero. My parents got me three dress shirts and that was it. What I am really looking forward to is hanging out with some of my friends.

I went with my Dad to South Haven to look at some cars. When I was being brought home, my dad said, "We're going to get you a car." Well I had interpreted that to mean that I would be getting a newly purchased used car. I was wrong. Dad gets a truck. Mom gets a car. I get the crap ass van that my sister was driving while she gets Mom's old Saturn. I should be happy that I am at least getting something to drive. But I'm not. I'm bitter. Does that make me a bad person? It sure sounds like it.

If you guys need to contact me, go ahead and use the home phone number. My cell is roaming in this area. I came in yesterday and I am still unpacking. So maybe I'll update after the weekend.

[Listening to "The Final Countdown" as I write.] Tonight was my last shift. It's kind of sad that I won't be seeing some of my fellow coworkers and dare I say friends any more. Luckily I got to see some of the people that I liked for the last time. I had return to where I had started-- the dishroom. I hadn't worked dish for almost a year but I really kicked ass tonight. I was working efficiently and it was actually enjoyable. My only complaint was two gentlemen who obviously didn't know the rhythm of dish. It was pretty frustrating trying to work with them. It's not that they didn't work... they just didn't work in proper step. Liz stopped early that night and gave me a hug goodbye. I had given some serious thoughts about asking her out. It's a lame excuse, but I had only met her about two months ago at Brian's birthday celebration at the Peanut Barrel. She and a few of us stayed until 2 am just talking. As the rest of the semester

I told Derek that I will be dropping into the office sometime this week and today was the day. While I was going down there, I thought that it would be likely that one or both would not be there. It was a pretty good assumption because when I got there, only Chris was there. I talked to him a little about a job offer that I really wasn't thrilled about. It was the only position being offered with the House and it was a part time office worker for 10 dollars per hour. Curiosity got the best of me and I asked what their positions paid. He said starting out, I should expect $25,000 per year. Well it certainly was better than $18,000 that posting was offering. But he did give me pause to at least consider that I should consider biting the bullet for it would be only a few years before I reach or surpass $30,000. When Derek came in, we talked a little bit about some other stuff. He also showed me Rep. Nitz's new computer. The representatives were given HP tablet PC's which lo

I've taken my last exam as an undergrad. Won't it be something if I completely fucked this one up? Actually I think I did okay on it. Depending on how well the group presentation went down, I think I can project a 3.0 in this class. 3.5 if both my exam and group project went well. Happy Birthday to my Dad and my cousin, Jason. I usually don't remember anyone's birthdays. So be thankful! j/k.

At commencement, when they read your name, family will hoot and holler. I knew that my parents wouldn't do such a thing. Before I went up there, I tried to remind myself to listen to see if I got anything. I really was expecting silence. Not that it mattered, because I was in a state where I couldn't even hear my own name. I was so concentrated on not somehow tripping up in front of a few thousand people. Now I see that at least a few people did raise their voices for me. Thanks Amy, Dusty, and Christian. (And probably Jaemi, Jeff and Rob.)

had to have a picture... Well today I walked. Although it's not official yet, but I've taken the symbolic step to being an alumnus of Michigan State University. The day wasn't starting off very well. I called my parents while I was getting ready. They said that they would not be coming to pick me up. So I wouldn't see them until after the ceremony. I stayed on the concourse in case Liz decided to call me on the cell. But with time running out, I went downstairs. While I was going to the line, she and Megan (also from the cafe) waved me down and I cut in line. It was good that the person that I cut in front of was not offended. She said that I should be with friends. We marched out there and took our seats. I looked up in the seating on the slim chance that I might see my parents. But, I decided not to worry about it. The whole ceremony didn't seem to take that long. The individual recognitions seemed to be short. Only was the guess speaker's speech s

Quiet. My last day was quiet. I don't know if was just my imagination, but my last day was extremely quiet. I left at the usual time for the bus. For some reason the 8:30 didn't arrive as usual. I leave a few minutes after the 8:20 bus pulls away from the bus stop. So I had to wait until 8:43 (yes I remember the exact time) before another bus came by. That put me about 15 minutes late. What a time to start being late: my last day. When I got in, Chris smiled and pointed at my watch. To my surprise, Derek was there. He was on time? It's always been the other way around. We made some joking comments. I said something to the effect that I was starting my bad habits-- taking after them. I finished the pile of papers and the last of my letters. I filed them away. The only thing that I didn't do was respond to Mr. W___ who I find aggravating. He had written earlier, worrying about being shot at by hunters on his land. Apparently he thinks that Michigan laws are sup

It was a top-notch day at the office. I ended up staying from 9-5 just like a real worker. If work was like this, I don't think I would quite mind. I got to the office at the usually time-- just a few minutes before nine. Sometimes Chris is already there, sometimes not. If not, then occasionally, a sergeant lets me in. So I went in and found out that Rep. Nitz didn't entirely like one of my letters that I was going to send to one of his constituents. This particular constituent was worried about farm land disappearing and whether he should invest in property. I had told him what I could remember about the Land Division Act but I guess that wasn't enough. I didn't want to research through the law to find out what he needed so Chris just recommended that I print out the entire law and let him worry about it. Good idea! So it was done. I wrapped up that one letter, and some others. Before lunch, Derek took me to the Capitol again. There we listened to three represent

A view... I don't think that I have enjoyed my internship half as much as I am now. Could it be that I am missing what I will soon not have? Could it be that maybe I'm getting the hang of it? I do know that leaving now is a bit awkward. I wish that I had another semester to stay with them. On Tuesday, Neal gave Derek, Chris and me some Christmas gifts. Neal took a trip to Indiana and bought them each two cartons of cigarettes. Now that I think of it, he had asked me a week earlier if I smoked as well. I told him that I didn't. I got a card and a $50 gift card for Speedway. Today, I went into the Capitol and saw the House in session for about half an hour. I think the Representative was planning to announce my presence to the floor (or however they term it), but there was some procedure in which none of the reps could talk. Tomorrow, I may have another chance as the House will be in session once again. I vaguely remember something about Derek saying something

ACLU Wants School Bus to Stop Driving by so Many Churches MARSHALL, TX – The ACLU has learned a school bus that transports children to and from Marshall Elementary School passes 8 local churches per trip. “That’s too many,” said ACLU spokesperson Pete Peters. “Those churches expose children to crosses and catchy little religious phrases, things that kids should not be exposed to while being driven by governmental busses.” The Republican led city council says that it would be a logistical nightmare for the bus to avoid the institutions of religion. “The bus would have to start its route an hour early and the kids wouldn’t get home until an hour later,” says City Councilman, Jeff Todd. But Mr. Peters insists he’s worked out the details. “I planned it out on Yahoo! Maps this morning,” he said. “When the bus is on Main Street, instead of turning left on 3rd Avenue, it should take a right on Austin Street, a left on Magnolia Street, a left on Pine L

Over Thanksgiving, Kacey let my sister have two of her hamsters. Earlier this semester, Kacey's hamster had a litter and she wanted to get rid of them. An arrangement was made that Kris would get two females which she did. Before I left, I told Kris that I think that one of her hamsters looked like it was going to die. It was not very active and slept outside of the little boxes that I made for it. I got a voice message from my sister today. She called to say that the hamster did die. But here's the kicker: the other one had a litter. We weren't counting on of those things to be pregnant. I wonder what Kris is going to do. I think that she would want to take care of them. But I can definitely see Mom and Dad taking those offspring and flushing them down the toilet. I'll write on this again, next time I hear from her.

My last days here are fast approaching... Today at work, I had a lot of fun. When I came in, I thought that this was going to be one of the crappiest days ever. Before I had made it into the House Office Building, the spool for my ID badge had broke which would have caused my badge to hang just above my knees. Then when I got into the office, I noticed that I had left mailing labels in the printer and were printed on-- again! I made the same mistake just the day before. It certainly didn't bode well for my evaluation that my supervisor was going to complete that day. Yet, at the end, I was feeling upbeat. I had on my own solved a large constituent problem concering broadband access coverage in Berrien County. One of the constituents even wrote back and said that he appreciated the depth of my response. My evaulation turned out better than I expected. I really hope that Derek's comments were genuine because all through this semester, I felt that I wasn't work