Saving Lids, Saving Lives

So, every time I see that yoplait is doing this "fundraising" thing with their lids, I participate. Today, as I was stuffing an envelope with 26 lids, I wondered if it really made any difference. When I was in NCCC, me and my team collected the lids. I dont remember how many we got then, but I remember doing it. For every lid sent back to them, they donate 10 cents to a research organization for cancer. It might just be breast cancer actually. I dont even know anymore. I see pink and all I think about is breast cancer. My mother died of breast cancer, but that doesnt even come to my mind. It goes from yogurt to pink top to breast cancer. Then I think about the fake ribbon magnets I see on cars. Then I wonder how much money that person in front of me gave to research. Then I wonder if they feel like they are doing their part, by buying a magnet and displaying it. They probably think that it is good that they are raising awareness. Maybe I have been reading too much Dennis Miller, but I am wondering if maybe we shouldnt all switch from "raising awareness" to actually "doing something". You should only be allowed to display a magnet if youre doing something. You can only wear a yellow wrist band because you let Lance Armstrong sleep in your bed while you slept on the couch, the night before he spoke in your hometown. You can only be a S.A.D.D. because you have no friends, because youre a crazed vigilante who pulls your peers out of their cars before they turn them on, beat the crap out of them for almost endangering others, and then you drive them home, safely. Your M.A.D.D. because you taught your kid how to do what I just said.



Raising awareness sure as hell isnt going to fix problems. Its going to get me to collect yogurt lids over a long time, eat yogurt i normally wont (so yoplait can make more money), and eventually mail them in, which forces yoplait to cough up a whopping $2.60 for the fight against breast cancer. What someone needs to do is tell me that they are going to whoop my tail unless i give some money to a good cause, or claim they are willing to give more than me so i can prove them wrong, or say that they bet I wont give as much as them...'cause I'll definitely step up to a challenge, and make us both poor in the process!

Give because you can

As the week wound down, I remembered that I had signed up to work with Habitat for Humanity today. Coincidentally, the moment after I signed up to work (which required showing up at 7:30 to catch a ride with a neighbor to be there at 8) I was invited to a Christmas party for last Friday night. It slowly set in that I would be awake late and up early, which never works out well for me. The more I dreaded it though, the more I tried to really look at my difficulty in the light of what other problems people have. For example, some people will never get to a point where they can afford a home. Worse yet, these people will pay so much money in rent, that they are only breaking even or worse (as long as nothing unexpected happens and they don't plan to EVER retire). These are the people that Habitat FH helps. compared to my problem of not wanting to drink late with friends and then get out of bed early, there was no question that I couldn't back out.

If you have the resources to give, then you need to give. A lot of what we have in the U.S. is not a direct result of our own hard work. It is an extreme rarity for someone to actually be able to legitimately claim they did it on their own, rags to riches, just hard work and perseverance. For the most part, we are all standing on the shoulders of giants.

This entry doesn't have some feel good ending where I realized my true calling was to help build houses or everyone there was excessively grateful for my drywall abilities. No, this entry has a real ending. I worked all day with Habitat. I got Sheetrock dust in my eyes and nose. I got very dirty. I was exhausted when I was done, and nobody personally thanked me.

The reward has been paid to me long ago, and I have already spent it. Now, I am just giving some of it back. You should do the same.

2 Wheels good, 4 Wheels bad

There is a certain sense of freedom you feel on a motorcycle.

Today, I rode mine for the first time in a long time. I am really really trying to sell it, but after riding it, I feel like I am going to miss it. It makes exploring that much easier. Plus, it gets great fuel mileage and I can pretty much do a u-turn anywhere, anytime. I notice things a lot more on my bike also. I hear my surrounding more. I am more in touch with the road. I definately am paying more attention to what I am doing, for fear that at any moment my motorcycle might decide to do something beyond my control that will result in catastrophic death. But yeah, its pretty much tons of fun.

I dont have a license plate on my bike either, so I kind of am breaking the law when I ride it...then again, I am pretty much a rebel.

The best and worst thing about Friends

The best thing about friends is that they care about what you care about. So, when I are in love with a woman, they, to some extent, also have feelings for her. This is why they ask about her, and tell you things to tell her, and are happy that you are happy with her.



The worst thing about friends is that when the woman you loved no longer is with you, they dont automatically know. So, they ask about her. Then you tell them that you are no longer together, and since they liked her (because you liked her), its to some extent as though they have also been deprived of her.



And you have to face the fact again and again that you are no longer with the person you loved, 'cause they are all going to ask about her eventually.



The best part about friends is that once they find out you are struggling, they will help you. The girls will be empathetic and they will listen. The guys will tell you that you were too good for her anyway and that is better to be single (unless you get back together. Then the guys go back to saying she is too good for you).

Girl in the NCCC sweatshirt

Today, I was at the mall and I saw a girl wearing an NCCC sweatshirt. It made me feel kind of warm and fuzzy inside. My first impulse was to walk right up to her and start talking to her. Then I doubted myself, and thought that would be weird. So, then I thought for a long time about what to say to start a conversation. Finally, after walking around the store multiple times watching her from a distance, I realized that I was even creeping myself out and I gave up on the plan, which actually never existed.

Sometimes I really feel like my life is being guided or coerced in a certain direction. When I saw this girl, I was feely a little depressed and lonely, and just seeing her sweatshirt made me happier, and I also realized that things will work out.

As you may or may not know, recently I lost my job (at Carrier) and my girlfriend. I was planning on being with Carrier and Nicole both into the foreseeable future. Coincidently, my church just started a series called Blues. I actually missed the first sermon because I planned to go with Nicole to a different church I thought she was going to feel more at home in. We went, and it didnt work. Of course it didnt matter, because she is gone. So, since I didnt have a reason to not go back to my original church (Mosaic), I attended. Blues is about finding true joy, even in rough times. Basically, they must have hired a private eye to see where I was, and then they created a series to help me, personally. It seems like this coincidently happens a lot to me.

And one final stand alone statement in closeing:
One of the great thing about the Blues series is an intro with a guy and his guitar, where he says that, with a small correction or adjustment of your fingers, the Blues turns into a happy and good song.

Operation Christmas Child

OCC (not to be confused with Orange County Choppers, not be confused with Orange County California) is a ministry of Samaritan's Purse that seeks to send shoe boxes of toys to kids all over the world, especially kids in third world countries.

I feel very conflicted about this program. On one hand, I am going to be volunteering probably about 20 hours with these people, I am not sure if the best way to spend that effort is to send them toys. Do kids need toys? How many of these kids need medical treatment or food, but instead end up with toys?

Make no mistake though....these people are dedicated and love what they do. The number of volunteers is astronomical, which is good because the number of shoeboxes is equally astronomical. The scale of this project is pretty incredible. Distributing the boxes is a tremendous undertaking. They go to all continents, often ending up in places that have no signs of modern civilization. They do end up brightening otherwise black-hole-dark lives. I do think that kids should be happy, but this just seems to me to be too much "Americana." All kids should have toys. That's a western view to me.

Furthermore, the program seems to be aimed at spreading the gospel, which I agree is a great idea. However, spreading the gospel to kids using toys seems to me to be a little off. Its lobbying. they are supposed to receive this shoebox as a reminder that God loves them. The shoebox doesn't address any of the real problems they have or will have. If I was one of the kids, I would understand God love. He loves me a shoebox worth, and even though I probably wouldn't have shoes, I would have a box from someone else's.

Maybe this is just me being jaded. Maybe this is just me wishing that all this zeal, all this enthusiasm over toys could somehow be changed to a cause that might genuinely improve the plight of these kids. Any ideas?

Regardless, Merry Christmas.

Crying is ok...Jesus did it

But first a follow up from yesterday...

Somewhere in Luke it says something to the effect of "from those who have been given much, much will be expected." Crap! Thats me. I have been given a lot and now I am called to give back. This is not a calling to a life of ease and pleasure and fun. I'll probably snowboard when I get the chance though.

on to today's topic.

"Jesus wept."

When I was little, I was raised in a single home. My father was not ready to raise me. So, my mother did her best. Largely, this meant days spent in front of the Disney channel. Maybe this was the case of many other people. I thought my upbringing was weird in this sense. Anyway, with my father being substituted for animated ducks and mice, I didnt get much masculine influence. If I were to see myself like then today, I would call myself a pansy. When I went to live with my grandparents, I did a lot of crying. It sort of became this default emotion for me. Right....pansy boy. I was lead to believe (and probably still believe to some extent) that it was weakness, frailty.

As the Mickey Mouse club became a lost memory in my head, I did my best to work on my emotional stability. this meant not crying, even if the situation was indeed sorrowful or sad. I did not want to weep. To me, it was a stupid thing kids did. It was something women did, and it was okay...for them. I probably still cried, but even now thinking about it, I dont remember when, and I especially dont remember doing it around people. I didnt cry in 4 years of college. I had succeeded in becoming what i thought was stronger.

Then I became a Christian and read some books about connecting with pain. the pain of the world is connected to your pain in such a manner that they are one and the same. Christianity is about love, which unfortunately means that pain must be experienced alongside those around us. Now, I feel like I have lost all the ground I have gained. Dammit if I dont cry as soon as anyone within a damn square mile is crying. And yes, it annoys me. But at the same time, I feel stronger and more whole to be able to express sorrow with someone else, even if I dont know them or why they are crying. I feel connected. And I dont feel weak because of it. Its easy to judge when you see someone else crying. People will judge you when you cry. But, when you cry, when that thing happens that brings such raw sorrow to even the most hardened of hearts, know that Jesus cries with you because he loves you. And maybe this is the same strength that makes me cry...cry with and for your sorrow that unfortunately has to exist is this broken, broken world.

Like I said...its not easy.

A lot has changed, but thats not important

Wow. I just read the last post. So much has changed since then. I was once told I had a blessed life. Lately I have doubted this.

1) About a month ago, I lost my position with Carrier. They laid me off, and since I was a contractor, there was no warning. It was just "you aren't working here anymore."

2) I went to have a dentist look at one of my teeth, because I was worried about it. turns out I had some pending work that needed to be done, but was neglected. As a result, I had to get a root canal and a crown. Painful, financially more than physically.

3) I have been with a woman named Nicole for over a year. I saw my future as being with her. Now, she has moved out, as our lives have diverged to the point that we are no longer growing towards each other, and especially we are not growing towards God together. Now, I live in a large, two bedroom apartment, alone. Most of her furniture and stuff is still here, since her Dad has a small apartment, and she is living with him. Worse than no longer having her here to do the routine things we did, I am reminded of her just by being here. I have no choice.

So, I question the blessed life statement. But I shouldn't. Even in my stress and sadness, I still have more than most people. My life is still amazing. And I feel like maybe this is going to lead me closer to Christ. Maybe this is God telling me that I have become too content. Maybe I am not meant to be a well-off engineer, but instead a servant. This is my Job (like the book, not the place you go for money). This is where my faith grows. This is where God uses me to do something amazing. This is where I show what it is to be loved, and to love as Christ has told me to.

Unfortunately, it appears as though its going to be difficult. Its difficult to believe that maybe things will still work out with me and Nicole. Its difficult to believe that maybe we weren't meant to be, and i will yet find someone as amazing as her. Its difficult to believe that I am going to get a job before the money runs out. Its difficult to believe what Jesus says. No amount of proving and thinking will make it any easier. This is where I either turn away from the truth, or I turn towards it. Luckily, I have tattoos that have me already pointed in the right direction. Jesus did the hardest part for me already, now I just got to put my left foot in front of my right, and open my arms to what lies ahead.

Found some funny stuff

Found these hilarious videos.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-444363488647893860

from here, you can click on video 2, 3, and 4. The voice of jesus is weird, but the content is nonetheless really funny.

So, whats new?

1) got a girlfriend name Nicole. she promptly moved to Atlanta as she got a job with Habitat for Humanity International and will be required to travel to europe. Sweet gig.

2) I got a job with Carrier. My title is Rust Czar. Looks like I might become a quality engineer soon. (unless i move to Atlanta)

3) I am working 4 days a week, 10 hours a day. wednesday I take off and work with Habitat. Did drywall today. Covered in dust.

4) Hiking the AT next spring. Looking forward to it. its going to be Epic.

5) trying to decide if I want to keep learning Jiu-Jitsu. I want to save money, but it is a lot of fun. I get quite the wrist workout as I am mostly tapping out alot.

6) If I move to Atlanta, I will likely try and get a sweet job at the aquarium...maybe i can help breed whalesharks.

let me know how you are. love you, --DAlen

Twisty Life

DAMMIT...I just wrote a long post and pressed publish and my internet went down...and now its gone!

i'll rewrite it later. going over to my girlfriends house. she is moving to atlanta. i think i might move to atlanta to. Then i will be closer to the start of the AT.

Anyone want to go for a walk next March? Maybe start in April.

Breakfast thoughts

So, as I ate some mancakes for breakfast (exceptionally stout pancakes), I watched a Hispanic guy in my neighborhood interact with his son. He was loading the mechanical jeep his 3 year old drives into the bed of his pickup. the son knew what was going on and of course wanted to help. As the father basically lifted the entire jeep, the son "helped" lift the back end up. I can imagine the son felt like he was really helping, when in actuality, he wasn't doing any of the work needed.

Then I thought how at some point in time I got older and realized when it was that I was actually doing work. People around me didn't tell me I was helping when really I wasn't. We come to know the difference.

Then I thought about how I got older still, and went to school for engineering. I learned that indeed, the little kid was helping. Simply by maintaining contact, he was exerting some force. Whether or not it was substantial is null. Its impossible to keep contact without imposing a force. So, he really was helping.

Then I though how full I was because I had eaten too much pancake.

More FLOWERS!

The magnolia tress that i saved are still alive and one of them is actually blooming! It makes me happy and they smell wonderfull.

So, as I sat in traffic yesterday, i got to thinking. Why does traffic originally going 70 MPH in two lanes slow down to 5 MPH when it gets turned into one lane and goes through construction? Is it the fault of those people who dont merge until the very end? Or is it just that people are trying to look over and see the dang asphalt machine? Maybe they are interested in what it feels like to be only moving at 5 MPH, like that guy on the giant flattener machine. Either way...it makes me angry. Now, I dont really get angry about much, but for some reason this just gets under my skin. I dont know why, but i'll think about it and get back to you.

Less than 9 weeks until I am done with Habitat and I either become an Engineer (i know, it just might be crazy enough to work) or I go somewhere (maybe MO) to burn the forest with TNC. We'll see.

Happy Birthday.

--DAlen

Gone to MS/WI

Saturday I leave for MS for a week. Its just like going on Spike when I was in NCCC. This Spike will last 1 week and entail us building twenty houses. Its going to be a little bit crazy, but I am really looking forward to it. They are putting me in charge of a crew, so that should be an interesting experience. I enjoy leading people, and I enjoy building houses. There is probably going to be a lot of pressure though, so it should be interesting.



Friday, I will be leaving MS to fly up to Appleton, WI. There I will see my close friend Brianne for the first time since NCCC graduation in Charleston. I am superexcited to see her, especially to see if we pick up right where we left off. We are going to a wedding in SD, then its back to OshKosh for some relaxing and down time. I am really excited about this little bit of vacation.

I come back to catch the last day of May, and then its 3 months to go until my term of service is up. Its crazy how it has flown back. I am ready to move on though to a new venue in life and to start really preparing financially for my AT hike in spring of 2008.

HAPPY SUMMER TO ALL!

My first rose!

The other day my first rose bloomed. It sort of happened over night to. I have been watching the plant, as it sent out its first stalk, but there were no buds yet. Then, Voila! Not only has it produced a bloom, it has also created 3-5 more buds, so it will be a vibrant bush of red soon enough.

the same day that it bloomed, I got rid of one of my bicycles. I'll consider it a cosmic karma reward. Since I had 3 bicycles (a road bike, a mountain bike, and a bmx bike), I decided to part ways with one of them. I have never really ridden the BMX bike regularly, so it had to go. I donated it to a re-cyclery (yes, what an incredible play with words). The program requires kids to spend a certain number of session learning about bike maintenance, and then upon completion they get a bike of their own. More info here (http://bikecharlotte.com/index.asp?page=12) I also gave them my helmet (I need to get one more geared towards mountain biking), some old pedals off the road bike, and some cables i had for the BMX bike. now, I can fit all my bikes (2) on top of my car when i move in August.

The question is where will I put the rose bush?

Bruises

I woke up this morning and the first thing i noticed was the pain in my left wrist. Maybe I didnt wrap it correctly last night, or maybe I was just hitting to hard, or maybe i got kicked in it. I dont know. All I know is it hurts. then, I noticed the bruise right on my xyphoid. i didnt think you could get bruises where there isnt flesh...new experience to prove my wrong. There was a general aching everywhere to. So, it got me thinking...

Maybe I dont want to be an MMA fighter. I find there is doubt in my head. The aching from the Muay Thai and Jui-Jitsu is just bothersome and uncomfortable. I think the doubt it probably a normal part of it though, just as doubt exists whenever you train hard for anything. But, I dont feel like I am really training hard. Maybe the distance I travel to statesville is just getting to me. Maybe its the feeling that I have so so much further to go if I do really want to compete. Maybe its the doubt that once I get there, I will find it was all an unrealistic dream anyway because of my leg issue.

Maybe I am already too old to start. Who knows.

Maybe I am seeking validation as a man, while wanting so desperately to experince real, intense, character building competition. One on one. The better man right now wins.

--DAlen

Newest Muay Thai inspired thoughts

(Warning: no apostrophes were seperated from their parents to make this)

Do you ever want life to just be easy? Why cant things just be nice? Why cant there not be injury? Why cant the sun always shine? Would it really be so bad to only have the light without the dark? Wouldnt you rather live in Eden?

Short Answer: No
Long Answer: Read on

It really is the rough times that shape you. So, what shape are you in if there are no rough times? Well, I would believe that you are on the verge of a total collapse, having no shape, no thickened skin or toughened bone, simply a matter of time before the wind blows too hard and you crumble. Nice is dull. Nice is too predictable. There is no excitement on the couch. Excitement comes from knowing that life might try and punch if you continue down the path youre taking. Life might try and kick you in the head. So, what do you do? You persevere. you learn that getting kicked in the head isnt catastrophic. Its unpleasant. You learn that getting punched also creates discomfort. So, what do you do. You keep your chin tucked. You keep your hands up. You counter, you conquer, and then laugh at Life's feeble attempts at derailing your desire. Then when youre there, standing on top, you realize that life wasnt working against you at all, but molding you to something better. so you look over and say, "Thank you life, may I have s'more." Hands up. Chin tucked. Counter.


Question of the Week: Why is it that the philosophy in my brain spills out more so after getting hit in the head. Shouldnt head injuries slow down your thinking? Its like I have a bubble of deep thought that builds and builds until something jars me, its breaks, and then it pours out my nose and ears...kidding...actually it seems to flow from my fingertips.

Happy Easter Bunny Day
and dont forget to thank Jesus for washing your soul clean.

Life needs mouthguards

I discovered two incredible things tonight at Muay Thai, thanks to my mouthguard.

First, when you wear a mouthguard, you cant talk real well. I actually knew this already, but I had never really thought anything of it. the cool part though, is that when you cant talk, you have a tendancy to listen and think more. you listen more intently because its hard to say "what?" You think more about what is being said, because youre sort of on your own to figure it out. You breathe through your nose, and you just settle and think. Maybe I should wear a mouth piece in my daily life.

The 2nd benefit, is of course that it protects you. But why would you do things that might cause you harm? Because life might cause you harm. Maybe if your not occasionally doing something that could cause you harm, you should rethink your hobbies and add a little more risk in your life. Someday you will get old and regret having never needed to wear a mouthpiece (or you'll be old without the teeth you lost because you werent wearing one and you should have been).

The Genesis Group

I have come to a new beginning in my life. It seems the ideal epiphany to come to would be to figure out what I want to do in order to make lots of money and grow wealthy in order to buy BMWs while affording luxurious vacation homes for my parents. Would we all like this sort of transformation and guidance. Read no further if you are vigorously agreeing.

I have decided to give away 1,000,000 dollars by the year 2017. The inspiration came from me seeing a lady on TV at the State of the Union who had created a business that made millions off of a few simple ideas. She looked as ordinary as myself, and I have many simple ideas...more everyday. All I really need is 10 ideas, each producing 10k per year. Seems easy when you break it down like that.

So, as often has been the case in my life, I am nothing without the people around me. If you are reading this, I am assuming we know each other and you are one of the aforementioned people around me. Want to get involved in my grand scheme?There are currently two ways. 1) If you have an idea that you think just might be crazy enough to work, I am likely to agree. or 2) you can take part in the first small manifestation which I like to call...

The Genesis Group seeks to pool "tithe" money. I call it tithe, because there is a biblical reason why I give the amount I do. You, of course, don't need to believe in God or tithing to give. You simply have to want to help others by giving your money and you have to have at least one idea for who you want to give it to. You get to choose the organization the first time you take part in the pool. the rest of the time it will be a consensus or democratic vote. the amount to match of mine is $38. I get paid this Thursday (3/22), so I am looking to make a donation by Friday. let me know if you want in.

love y'all, --Will

I'm back?

I just saw the new movie "300." It was absolutely incredible. Somehow I feel like there really was a larger takeaway message there. Maybe it was that we should fight and be willing to die for where we stand. Leonides stood for the freedom of his people. Maybe the message is that everyday should be treated as training for that moment in your life when you will have the choice to stand for what is right against all odds and despite total costs. In that moment, we might die, or we might buckle and give way to evil, living "a long life." (this was verbalized as the hope from Leonides to the traitor at their last meeting, moments before Leonides died) Maybe the Spartans had it right when they lived life in search of a "good death," not shrinking in fear from the worthy adversary, but hoping and excitedly looking for that moment and enemy that would put them to the test, a test that they prepared their whole life to pass. The test of giving your life for another, standing in unison on the side of good.

Maybe living life in preperation for this is really the only way to LIVE LIFE. Otherwise, arent we all just waiting to die?

read andrew's blog

Andrew has a bunch of new postings. he has been spending time in Dar Es Saalam. definately should read it.

andrewinafrica.blogspot.com

Merry christmas,

--Will

No comment

Maybe my posts are getting routine and lame?

I am going on Hiatus.

Merry Christmas.

DAlen Rice
143 Leonard St
Mooresville, NC
28115

Muay thai is heating up

I have been told that I talk about Muay Thai too much. Thats quite possible. I find myself thinking about Mixed Martial Arts and Muay thai as I fall asleep, and then I realize that indeed I am not even close to sleep, and that I have concentrated so hard on visualizing possibilities that my body has worked itself into a semi-fight stage. My senses are firing more than normal, and I am even more awake than normal. So I cant think about it, or I will never sleep.

Mom, dont read further if youre in a worrying mood.

My ability to spar has been gradually increasing everytime I go. Also, the intensity seems to be ramping up slightly. I am kicking harder when we work with pads and I am getting timing down better to block kicks and counter. Unfortunately, it also seems that the more I learn, the more familiar I become with whats left to learn...i.e. experiential education in the form of getting hit. Tonight I got hit in my right eyebrow a few times and once in the nose. It was the first time I got hit in the nose, and afterwards I didnt allow the mistake to repeat. All the while, I never felt too tired to go on or too scared. Despite getting kicked lightly in the side of my face later, I wanted more. the pain hasnt deterred me, and has made me want to learn all the more.

After class, myself and this other guy usually do some submission wrestling. Somewhere over the course of us rolling around, I busted my lip and bled on myself. I didnt notice. My jui-jitsu is still so basic. I am learning though and getting stronger.

The drawback is tommorrow my eyebrow may be swollen and the girls may not think I look so pretty. for the most part though, I am pretty sure the parts of me that are attractive have nothing to do with my face...so thats a bonus.

Almost the weekend. We are having a big AmeriCorps party Saturday night. I sort of stopped drinking due to my training, but I will probably let me hair down for the special occasion...not that I have any hair because I reshaved the mohawk due to popular demand.

love you. write comments. stay safe. call you loved ones. --Will

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!!

I ended up going to Thanksgiving with a friend of mine from work. I did nothing but eat, meet people, eat more, and then lay on an uncomfortable bed and think about sleeping. It was really low key (eating doesnt take much energy) but I didnt get much rest. Oh well. I can go to bed early tonight.

Christmas is coming. Write to me to tell me what you like so I can buy something you want that fits that theme. I am not skipping Christmas this year...but I may take another easy way out and buy you all books!

I have a new email will.dalen@gmail.com

Muay thai is coming along well. My neck is usually sore a few days after, but it comes with the territory. I have been picking larger people to spar with, so that makes things pretty interesting. usually I grapple with someone after we are done as well, to truly drain myself of ALL energy.

My friend Kristen comes into town this week! I am pretty excited. She was on my NCCC team last year and I really enjoyed spending time around her. Kristen is thinking of moving to Charlotte to go to school at Presbyterrian Hospital for Radiology. I am super stoked. Hopefully I can take a half day on saturday so we can hang out some. Regardless, its going to be fun to catch up and hang out.

Merry Christmas future greetings!

--Will DAlen Rice

Regret?

Tonight was the first time I had a seed of a hint of doubt about my tattoo.

Tattoo some of you may be thinking? I am pretty sure most of you know, but in case you dont, I got a tatto 2 years ago, for Christmas. It says, it mirrored text, "be great" across the left side of my chest. Every morning I see it. It reaffirmes and reminds me that the one absolute I have in my life is my desire to die a "great" man.

It has its drawbacks. Greatness is probably most closely linked to struggle. The more struggle involved, often the more reward possible. While it is possible to live a blessed life with everything going your way, dont plan on it happening to you (unless your life is reality TV show produced by Disney).

So, what caused me to have regret? Well, tonight I started my REAL training at a Muay Thai gym in Statesville. This is the kind of place that is going to push me, teach me as much as I want to learn, and develop me into what I want as an MMA competitor. Everyone was training without a shirt on. I knew if I took mine off, I would be forced to make myself continue more when I wanted to stop. Even worse (or better?), somebody else might see it and push me more than I wanted to be pushed. Essentially, I feared that it would hold me more accountable than I thought I could be. Then I sort of realized how this type of thinking on my part was really what I had planned all along. So, I kept running. I kept crunching. I kept doing all the sadistic isometrics our probably-ex-army-ranger-turned-real-thai-fighter/crazy-exercise-instructor told us to do. And then it was over. And tommorrow I may not be able to lift my arms. And I think I want to spar more even though I got matted with a leg sweep that knocked the wind out of me (dont worry mom...i grow back, and the mats are soft, and wind eventually fills my lungs again once i find it, and he bought me a sport drink cause he felt bad).

Tommorrow holds VISTA training in the mountains. Tons of fun.

love y'all...happy voting day.

a few new things

There are a couple new things going on.

1. I finally finished working on the master bathroom here at the house. Now I have my own shower. I used a whole lot of caulk on it, so its likely to still be standing when the rest of the house falls over. The drywall still needs a little work, but its in a place thats not seen much, and water doesnt touch it.

2. It can now be currently listed that i am a dog-sitter. I am house and dog sitting for a couple that is somehow related to Habitat. I feel like I have talked to this guy before about something else, but I cant remember. I am meeting them tonight after...

3. Muay thai has now become a staple part of my diet. Mondays always happen at the Y, but I am also trying to fit Thursdays in as well, at a place in Statesville. Its a great facility, except its 20 miles away and it costs a lot. I am negotiating, especially since I only will be going once a week.

4. The ballet starts this week, and I dont have a way to get free tickets yet. I told Haley I would take her, so I gotta think real hard and start making phone calls to publications.

5. My new email adress is will.dalen@gmail.com
write a small note, so i can make sure y'all get it into your adress books.

love you,

--Will

More Mold Please

So, I may have mentioned that I got to go under one of our houses a few weeks back and do some mold treatment. As a follow up to that incident, I placed a call to the people in charge of the crawlspace to find out what else should be done. They suggested that I:

1. buy one of those white painters suits (Tyvek)
2. buy a real GOOD respirator
3. get a wire brush
4. crawl under the house and brush it all down and then remove it from the crawl

Well, I had experience doing this, so it was going to be quite familiar to me, kind of like being back in the good 'ol NCCC again. I didnt want to relive the moment, but it was nice to have previous experience, knowing what it would be like.

Then, he called me back and told me that he would send his guys in to do the job instead. Even better.

Ever noticed how listening to the Counting Crows either validates your sadness and makes you feel better or it makes me feel better because you dont feel the same way they do? Either way, it seems sad music does the trick. Just like the lady I worked with at the speedway last week. She was always seeming so mad, that whenever I saw her I couldnt help but laugh and be glad I wasnt her. I told her this, and of course she smiled and together we laugh at her sullen mood. She gave me the finger to, through the mirror while smiling, as a joke. She wasnt my server though, so I didnt have to worry about her mood effecting my tips.

I drank a bunch of free champagne that night. It mixes quite well with tea, but not so well with carrying large trays of expensive glassware.

--DAlen

My last entry?

Well, I created this blog to keep my loved ones and friends up to date while I was travelling in NCCC. Now that my life has become somewhat more stabilized, I am thinking of maybe letting it go. Any public opinion? I know my mom and Carla are big fans, but does anyone else read this?

Tommorrow is the first night of race weekend. I managed to swing a gig as a buss-boy at the speedway club. Jerrod says I can make at least 300 dollars for tommorrow, friday, and saturday. After that money and with my next paycheck I am going to be REALLY close to debt-free on credit cards! the end is near. Then it will be time to create savings and maybe pay some of my students loans off.

Rain Storms here tonight. love y'all.

--DAlen

Beach Weekend!

Last weekend was spent soaking up the sun and sand in lovely Charleston, SC. Well, actually we did go to Charleston, but there wasnt really any sun. Saturday after work, we basically got in our car and drove south. It was lightly raining off and on all day saturday, so we were glad to get out of here. Unfortunately, the rain was off and on all the way down to SC, and all the way to the beach. Night one of swimming and fun at the beach was cancelled due to inclement weather. It wasnt all a bust though, as myself, Steve, and Tak were privelidged enough to spend the evening with the lovely Jenny and even lovelier Bria (two VISTAs from my PSO in the ATL). There was much laughter and mischief once the lights went out and we all reverted back to the 4th grade.

The next day was sure to be full of blue sky and sunshine. Of course, that meant that it wasnt. The 3 of us left Bria to get rest and get better (she was a little sick with the Bubonic Plague) and went to eat breakfast with Blue 6. Uncle Leroi got to meet the entire team, and then they promptly left to do an ISP. So, we stayed and finished off their leftovers and did some dishes. Then it was to Charleston city to wander the market and cobblestone streets. The afternoon brought with it a relaxing Scorcesi Film (The Departed). Not to ruin the movie for you, but everyone dies. Typical for him. Last nights dinner was held at the Cantina under the hotel on Isle of Palms. Post dinner plans were again going to be swimming, but a much worse storm came and showed crazy lightening.

The lightening actually proved to be much better to watch than another movie, so Bria and I sat on her porch and watched 8-10 branch lightening bolts dance across the sky. It was amazing. I have never seen so many branches in my life. Unfortunately the frequency wasnt enough to make picture taking possible.

Today was our last day in Charleston. Bria went into the record books as being officially my third model. I got one good picture with Kat (first model) and maybe 5 good ones with Brianne. Hopefully I got some good ones with Bria, but I dont have my hopes high. The lighting was bad today and my batteries ran out. Oh well. We did find a wonderfully shady glenn on base with super old live oaks.

Back to work tommorrow. I am only working 2 days this week, because I am working the other 5 at the NASCAR race, hopefully making a bunch of money. So, Tuesday and Wednesday are going to be superbusy.

love y'all,
--Leroi

Life is indeed SWEET!!!

Life is good. the more I experience, the more i realize that its dang cool. The difficulty is realizing that life is good. You see, there is no one thing that makes life good. Investigating it on a level of single aspects leaves it up to some temporal results. Today is a good day. Tommorrow may be bad. You have to look at the overall picture. When you compare and contrast, the good pretty much equal out the bad. But you see, then you go back and you eliminate the bad, forget that life sucks on stormy days. Look forward to when the sun shines.

One of my friends just got engaged. Congrats Jamie. If ever there was a cooler woman, i dont know her. I am pretty sure she is essentially the woman version of me. She once described me as a cross between her really close ex-boy and the guy that is now her fiance. Pretty sure we will always be friends, whether or not we are near...72 hours will do that to people.

My job is great. the work isnt awesome, or challenging, or up to my mental capacity as an engineer. The pay is crap. the people I work with are cool. I push papers around a lot. but, the motive and goal is incredible. Affordable housing. poverty issues. its where i am supposed to be for the next year...and i will do it best i can.

today, for the first time in my life, i worked on MY garden. I transplanted a morning glory from down the street. i hope it doesnt die. the soil here is harsh.

today is the first of october. today marks the beginning of my training. this will be my year of cardio and strength training. 1 month structured serious self abuse in the name of progress, then 1 month of overactive lifestyling. rinse. repeat.

happy autumn! --DAlen
PS seriously, who sent me the text message!?

"What would you say you do here!?"

So, everyone is asking me what exactly my new job is. To start off, lets explain VISTA.

VISTA is:
-Volunteers in Service to America
-AmeriCorps branch that tries to eliminate poverty (despite knowing thats impossible)
-the only non-direct branch, which means that we dont swing the hammers, but rather create sustinable programs that enable the hammer to get swung
-the branch that seems to create more policy change than physical "i just did that" change

Now, as a VISTA member, I am working with a Habitat for Humanity Chapter, called Out Towns. Our Towns refers to Davidson, Cornelius, Huntersville, and Mooresville, now which are all partly mine, apparenetly (yes its true kids, not spelling well doesnt disqualify you from being able to own a town). I have an office at the Out Town office. Acutally, my office used to be split between Manny and Phil, the two contruction guys. Manny is in MS right now, and I moved all his stuff to Phil's desk, and took over his computer (which I actually relocated from the Volunteer area, where Syd mainly used it). My (our) original computer was blue-screening (aka broken).

So what do I do? So far, my main project has been dealing with homeowner warranty issues. I have sorted the mess all out. Many of the issues were already taken care of, dont apply because its been too long (we only service the homes for a year), or were an exageration (homeowners tell lots of fish stories). My next project looks like it will involve me educating everyone the benefits of Microsoft Project and the wonderfull world of the Gantt Chart. Scoot back in your chair before you fall off the edge.

I think today I am going swimming. tommorrow I get to do some direct service...but dont tell VISTA!

--Will DAlen Rice

MS...beautifull MS

I went to MS for the week. It was hot as hell. We framed an entire house. I feel at this point that I could oversee the framing process from the cutting of the plates, to the construction of the walls, to the final process of cap plating. Learning alot is an understatement.

There was also a chance meeting with my old roomy, DJ. He is down there, working it up with an NCCC team for another year. I also managed to catch up with one of my potential life mates, Tori. We went to Wal-mart and just basically hung out and reminisced. It was a short time, but very enjoyable and it seemed like it was just yesterday that we were all together.

Now, I am back here in wonderfull NC. Yesterday we went up to Babel Towers in the Linville Gorge. I jumped a couple times from the cliff. It really put the life back into me. Unfortunately the weather didnt cooperate and some very loud lightning forced us to "oh crap, we should leave." Somehow, the 3 girls i was with got lots of cuts, scrapes, and bruises. It seems that always happens when i get girls to go to water holes with me. Dont know why.

Tommorrow will be the re-start of my job. I dont know what I will be getting into tommorrow, but it should be pretty laid back. Thursday I might go to a concert. Life is easing back into normalcy for me, which means lots of fun here in Charlotte. Sometime this week I'll start training again, hopefully keeping it up for more than a month. Now that I have my UFC poster on the wall, I wake up to inspiration.

I may be getting a cell phone tommorrow. I can almost hear the gasps from everyone reading this now.

be great, be the change
--DAlen

New Spike tommorrow!

Tommorrow morning, I am leaving at 4:30am to drive to MS to help build houses. We will be staying in some type of Red Cross shelter, getting paid very little, but helping to make a difference. Its like an NCCC spike all over again (minus the blue 6 crowd, the longer-than-one-week stay, and everyone wearing the same clothes). I do miss NCCC.

What have I been doing for the past 10 days? Well, I stopped burning the forest, drove to Athens for my annual birthday party at UGA (Alex's b-day, not mine), drove to ATL for 4 days of orientation, met some cool girls, found a cool bar that rotates at the top of a building, came to Mooresville NC, finished a house to live in, moved in, worked 3 days in the office, worked one day framing walls and finishing top plates, and went to a baseball game. Somewhere in there, I also ended up seeing my old roomy eric, started wondering where my old neighbors Robin, Allan, and Chris are, played some Stout Frisbee golf with Cody, and hung out with Jerrod and his girlfriend.

Life is good...as long as you want it to be.

--DAlen

Yay comments!

Well, I got the comments. Thanks everyone. I'll try and dig up some good naked pics from somewhere. It could take a while though...girls dont really talk to me much.

I just discovered some really good music. Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Theyre gonna go big when people here them.

Only a few days left until the new job starts up. It looks like I might get a chance to go to MS to do some building right at the beginning of my service year. Maybe I can reunite with Tori.

How is the rest of the team doing? Anyone out there?

Life is good. So was Little Miss Sunshine.

The mohawk is back.

--DAlen

No Comments

I havent had any comments in quite some time...so I am wondering if anyone still reads this. So, I am resorting to time tested and proven tactics to get people to read my blog...

If there is a comment next time, I will make sure to post pictures of NAKED GIRLS and HOT GUYS...possibly even with FIRE IN THE BACKGROUND. So, tell all your friends.

So, yeah, this week was crazy long and hectic. Allow me to fill y'all/you guys in.

MONDAY
We had recieved word the previous week that we would be assisting with a muck fire, which had been burning for about 3 weeks (see Aerial burn that we helped set). The problem with a muck fire, is that it burns below the ground, and previously burnt material is able to somehow reburn. This fire, had actually burnt itself below the water table as well...some call it magic. In the latter part of the day, we manned hoses and added water to make mud puddles. The morning was a little less productive, as we moved about 2000 ft of hose in order to set up a GIANT sprinkler...a sprinkler running off of 6" diameter hose lay. Thats pretty ridiculous, since most of the time we are working with 1.5" diam hose. It looked to be a long week of muck.
TUESDAY- 14 hour Day!
Since we had burns to do, we didnt have to work the muck! So, we packed up and travelled to Archibold Bio Research Station. We did the first burn, with not too much problem. The 2nd burn, ended up being a nightmare. The fire breaks (lines, sometimes roads, where fire cant travel across the gound) were pretty much non-existant. One line we worked was tall grass. Other lines were palmetto mulch. So, you light the grass on fire, let it burn towards you a little, and then spray it out with water, letting the other side burn on into your bounded space. Then later you worry about whether or not fire started again and is burning somewhere at this very moment...somewhere it shouldnt be. Mulch burns as well as grass, so using it to stop fire is like putting your boat in the ocean to keep the pirates away.
WEDNESDAY
This day was sweet. We got ready for more muck fire, and then found out that forestry didnt need us anymore...so we did prep in the morning, and then burned out a unit here at our preserve. There was no holding...the fire couldnt spread. Take a torch, look for something that will burn, and add lots of fuel to it so it rips!
THURSDAY- my run in with the law
This was another good burn day, working with the game commission. Towards the end of the fire, I was standing out near the main highway, our south line. Suddenly, a Sheriff Deputy pulled up, lights flashing. She started asking me all these questions, which I didnt really know the answer to. Then she proclaimed that there was zero visibility on the road, power poles were about to be burned, and this didnt look like a controlled burn. I start to tell her it was a prescribed fire and everything was fine...but she walked away and started calling everyone to tell them about the chaos. The fire was really tame at that point, and visibility was about 5 miles. I guess maybe she had never seen much fire before. So, the fire department and dept of forestry both came by, and asked why they were called, because indeed nothing was going on. My boss got a kick out of it, and the burn boss couldnt really figure out the drama of it either. She eventually drove away, and everything was fine.
FRIDAY- the biggest 2 acres ever
We did a small sandhill burn of a property inside a gated community. Apparently, it was a very rich golf community, so there was a little added stress. We were burning wiregrass to try and promote some endangered plant to comeback. We could have yelled to each other across the unit it was so small. Unfortunately, again there were no control lines, so it was a balance of lighting/spraying with water. Then, we had to fully mop-up at the end, which means nothing can be left burning, or smoldering, or even steaming really.

All in all, I learned a lot, worked a lot, and made a lot of overtime, so life is good. One week to go, and its back to the big city!

--DAlen

3 easy steps to your very own prescribed FIRE!!!

Step 1: Light Fire

Step 2 and 3: Burn and Enjoy

is it hot in this fire or is it just me?

Life is still good down here. Yesterday and today we burned some units right here in our own backyard. It beats the heck out of travelling somewhere else to burn. i had a case of the mondays, which in this line of work and location translates to a little open flame induced semi-heat exhaustion.

I lit an edge of palmetto scrub yesterday...saw some 50 ft flames torching trees (unfortunetly). Then I ran out of fuel, and the only source of more torch mix was across the lake. so, myself and my roomate Parker decided to meet up, and each of us waded into the lake. luckily it was only about 2.5 ft deep. Of course, it was marshy, so we were both waiting for an alligator to come say hi. i actually was excited about getting my feet wet, hoping they would cool off, but it was really more like wading into a bath tub with leather boots on (kids, try this at home).

Anyway, I got pictures, and most of you will probably be forced to look at them next time I have been drinking and we are partying at my place.

Deep thought of the day:
What would your life be like if you decided not to be bothered by things? What if, say every month, you could concentrate and endure a discomfort, so much to the fact that it no longer became bothersome? This would mean that you could overcome 12 new pain-in-the-rear experiences every year! The current one I am working on is gnats. I am on the verge. As long as they dont actually get in my eye or in my lungs, i can take them buzzing around my ears. they start to sound like music after a while.

Next update: are the tractor brakes working yet? who knows? maybe it needs a new master cylinder? or maybe i get frustrated and lite it on fire. Stay tuned!

--LEroi

Ever been "that guy?"

I got a chance to go surfing last weekend...and it worked out really well. the waves were small, but shapely and wide, so the learning capability was great. I caught a few, fell off the front of a bunch, and even paddled over to where the surfers arent allowed and got airhorned at by the lifeguard. All in all, a great day. I will probably go back this weekend. An interesting thing happened to me while I was there though. I saw a large sea animal of sorts swimming near me. It didnt come to the surface to breath, but I could see some fin stuff breaking the water surface. I kept my eye on it. It eventually swam over near some people, who didnt notice, but then did, and immediately got out of the water and told the people near them to do the same. Shark? quite possibly. a little annoying to because I missed some waves while i was waiting to see where it would go.

Have you ever been driving down the road and you look over and see a guy driving a small tractor? You think to yourself how funny it is that he is driving a tractor on the side of the rd. Its not as though he is using it like a car, he is just moving it. There is always "that guy" with his tractor on the regular rd. Now, have you ever looked over, and up a little, to see a guy driving in his mammoth tractor? I'm talking the big kind with a steal cage you could wrestle another person in. The kind of tractor that almost goes fast enough to get to the speed limit in most school zones. Ever seen "that other guy," driving the giant tractor? That was me today, as I think I spent close to an hour just driving a tractor from point A to point B, alot of which happened to be on a big road. It was funny to me to think about it as I did it. Thats all you really can do on those things is sit there and think. It was a good respite from constantly burning. Plus, it was apparently 105 degrees today!

stay cool in the heat wave.

--DAlen
PS I heart my secret buddy and peanut trail mix...probably send some fresh mangoes your way along with my backstock of buddy gifts.

Dalen's cool weather tip

Tip of the day:
So, when it is really hot outside in the sun, and there is no shade around, the best thing to do is create your own shade. This can either be done by forcegrowing a tree to make in instant canopy (very difficult to do) or by simply burning 100s of acres at one time so that your smoke column is so great that is literally creates its own clouds that block out the sun. I would suggest this second option

We burned with the Dept of Foresty again last monday, doing another aerial ignition burn and torching some 600 acres of fire-dependant ecosystem in less than 3 hours. Then, it was back to the Gainsville area for burns on tuesday and wednesday. Because of working until saturday last week and because of burning so much in the beginning of the week, we worked only a part day on Thursday and had today off.

I cant decide if its hotter wearing tyvek and gutting houses, or wearing nomex and setting fires. I feel like I sweat more gutting, but its hard to get hotter than fire. I am learning a lot and enjoying it still, although it is quite exhausting. the workouts have been pushed to the wayside in favor of reading and more restfull activities. My term here is about half way through...and then its back to the lovely queen city. I miss everyone there and look forward to seeing all of you soon.

--DAlen

crazy end of week (HAPPY BDAY JILL!)

Burns to date: 6 (2 at Disney, 1 here, 2 in Gainsville, and 1 near hear with DoF)

Wednesday afternoon:
I got the privelidge of using a brush cutter tractor attachment wednesday to mow fireline here on our preserve. As the day got later, I noticed Matt, my coworker, hadnt come to get me with the ATV yet. I lost my watch burning last week, so i didnt know that it was 6 oclock already. Once i finished mowing, I called Matt on the walkie, and found out he was stuck in a bog with the ATV somewhere in the SE corner of my big map. I drove to find him with the tractor, and sure enough he was deep. We couldnt manually remove the ATV, so we slowly drove the tractor close to the ATV to pull it out, almost getting the tractor stuck for probably eternity. finally got the ATV out, and I raced back to put it on the trailor, tying everything down right before a huge thunderstorm hit. Matt (on the tractor) got soaked. On the ride home, we found out we would be burning the next day.
Upon getting home, we found out we would be driving up to Univ. of Florida, and needed to leave thursday at 4:45...AM!!!!
Thursday:
Met up here at the office at 5 am, way early for any normal job. Then we drove to Gainsville, getting there around 9. Fire was on the ground by 10, and we burned about 150 acres. It was just like GA...wire grass flat wood. It burned very nice and clean. Then we proceeded to spend about an hour or two after everything was done mopping up some. It wasnt so much fun. We finished around 6ish...a long day.
Highlite of the night/trip: our hotel had happy hour, which meant free drinks for an hour. Hello Ms. Margarita.
Friday Morning:
Met up at 9ish for a second day of burning. Another 150 acres went up nicely. I learned a little more about ignition techniques for higher or lower intensities. Mop up took a little longer this time, but we did a lot of it while the burn was going on. All flaming or smoking debris within 30 ft of the fire line had to be drug in or put out.
We went ahead and stayed an extra night, knowing that trying to drive after two really long days probably wouldnt end up well.
Saturday Morning:
Woke up around 9ish again...got some free breakfast and drove back. My weekend didnt start until 1:00 pm on Saturday. But then again, you could argue that everyday is like a weekend when you love the work you do...and whats not to love about burning the forest?

Other highlite: yesterday during mop-up, i got to live the fantasy of every young boy out there. I sat on top of the water pump truck while it was driving and sprayed burning and smoking debris with a waterhose...the big fire hose kind. It was tons of fun and can put out a lot of water that turns to steam when it contacts white hot burnt pine. Pretty cool.

Remember kids...only you can grow up to prevent wildfire by setting Prescribed fire!
--DAlen

yesterday, fire fell from the sky

We did an aerial ignition burn yesterday. It was pretty dang cool. I think I doubled my acreage also. we burned a little over 1000 acres of property yesterday. Of course, mostly all i did was light some of the borders off, and the rest was lit from above via helicopter and flaming ping-pong balls. It was pretty dang cool. I got some pictures, but I dont know what the best way to get them off my camera is, as my computer is sitting in a closet. might have to wait until august to see the pics on a computer.

we burned for about 2 hours, and guess what happened then...it rained.

hopefully we will burn again today, otherwise i may be spending some time on a tractor.

--DAlen

The land of fire/rain

Today I worked on my third burn/rain. Everytime we get to a burnin', and afternoon t-storm comes in, brings gusting winds that shift every whichaway causing high anxiety for spotting, and then it drops heavy rain, putting out our oh so lovely and productive fire. Last thursday and friday we travelled up to Orlando to burn at the Disney Wilderness Preserve (no, Mickey Mouse wasnt there, although I do think Disney world would be great to have a themed section involving wildfire/prescribed fire). We set backing fires (see also, slowest fire ever) and burned long days, but ended up not finishing due to rain. Today, we were burning out a small unit (less than 50 acres) and the rain came in (talk about a case of the Mondays). Hopefully tommorrow will be better though, as we are assisting with an aerial burn. this means that a helicopter will be dropping little flammable ping-pong balls to set the fire, and we just sit and watch, making sure the fire doesnt escape. From what i hear though, it can get exciting if the fire is dropped outside the burn unit. This is called a spot fire and requires immediate action to extinguish. It'll be a long day as well since we might be burning acreage up in the high hundreds (maybe even low thousands).

Last weekend I went to visit my cous Carla in Tampa. She cooked for me and it was awesome. Also, much thanks to Bill for the boat ride and the hospitality. It was nice to get out of Frostproof for a little while, but is also nice to return to this small ville. I am kinda getting attached to it...or maybe its just the fresh mangos getting to my head (or maybe its the chemicals from the orange factory across the street).

--Will

Tommorrow is the first day

"Are we burning today?" Thats likely to be my first question. Apparently the crew here has been really waiting for the right weather and conditions and me to show up so they could get as much burning done as possible. Yeah, my hands may not get clean again until mid-August.

Apparently Frostproof Florida puts on quite the fireworks spectacle. Happy 4th of July everyone!

I've gotten used to the house on paper st., but yet somehow it still feels like I am in an episode of the twilight zone. I usually wait until dark to go for a jog, and I usually run in the middle of the street because its the least worn. There is nobody still awake in this town by the time it gets dark, meaning 9:30 ish. I run down to the lake, then run along it, then back up to the main highway and home. If you go to the center of town, and turn left or right on Wall St. (I find this to one of the funniest things so far, Wall St?), its only about 4 blocks either way to a huge lake. The word lake is used here really to refer to something that seems more like just a giant puddle. I cant imagine it gets more than 5 ft deep anywhere in these lakes, but thats deep enough for gators which means its too deep for me.

Well, time for me to run into the big city (Lake Wales) to hopefully find some cheaper food and a post office box. It might not be until friday that I use a computer again, since hopefully we will be burning as much of the 5000 acre (!) Tiger Creek Preserve as we can.

be great
--DAlen

It has begun

My leisure time with Ms Victoria finally ended yesterday and I got in my car and drove south. i stopped once I reached Lake Wales, FL...well actually i drove through Lake Wales and stopped in Frostproof, where I will be living.

Enter house on paper st.
Its not actually as bad as the fight club's house on paper st., but its pretty dang close. The building is old...100+ years apparently. The TV gets 5.5 channels. Its pretty dark inside, but lightens up a lot when windows are opened. I had to choose between two rooms: the one closest to the back door, with the slanting floor that prevents you from sleeping in the bed on your side, or the other room, which has a couch next to the bed. I chose the couch. If I could see past the giant bush outside my window (which acutally is good for privacy), I would be able to see the fried chicken place next door. Now thats conveniance. Across the street, the pungent smell of an orange juice refinery fills the air. Its like a paper mill, but they make the paper out of oranges. The house is a perfect place to retreat to after long days of burning, looking for a place to read and sleep and store my stuff.

Tuesday, frostproof apparently has a big fireworks display. Looking forward to that. Sunday, probably going to the beach. Next weekend, probably go visit my cousin in Tampa (Carla? sound good?).

So far so good. --Leroi

New New Job

Well, as some of you may know, I got the dream job of working with TNC burning the Florida forest. Unfortunately I am only doing it for 6 weeks. But, fear not, as I have gotten a second cool job to keep me busy for at least the next year...

I am working with Our Towns Habitat for Humanity in Huntersville/Davidson. I am supplies and equipment mangament supervisor, which means not only do I get to build and work on houses, I also get to keep track of who has the nails and where the tape measures all went. I am pretty stoked. I am turning into this outdoorsmen, rugged, homebuilding, humanitarian guy. Pretty soon all the women will flock to my steel-like carpenter forearms and smell of smoke as a result of burning the forest. and then I will RULE THE WORLD MUHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

But seriously, I am doing well in the whole not-making-money area, accumulating lots of stories for my first New York Times bestselling autobiography.

peace,
--Steve

yeah, life is sweet

Newest Job

Wanted: Person with prescribed fire experience, must enjoy riding on ATVs while laying down fire and/or putting out fire. Ability to use a chainsaw a plus. Must be willing to work in Florida, 1 hour from your cousin in Tampa and 1 hour from an east coast beach. Bring your surfboard. Must also be good with hands, as we build all our own fire engines and pumps. Experience living in 100+ year old houses is good, especially if you dont mind not paying rent. If you are currently living with 10 other people and would enjoy only living with 3 other people, please mention that. Pay is $12/hour, but we will also pay overtime should you get the pleasure of setting fire for more that 40 hours per week. Up to $100 will be reimbursed once you buy your cool new fire boots, the coolest footwear you could wear to any job. There will likely be some wildfire suppression work allowing you to complete your Type 1 Fire Fighter (FFT1) taskbook, allowing you to be a squad boss and work closer to being a burn boss. Blah, blah, blah, this is the coolest job ever, blah blah blah.

FL, here I come.

2 days of work and counting...

Sunday, wonderfully hot and humid Louisiana Sunday.
Tommorrow I play golf with my mother for the first time in probably 10 years.
Tuesday and Wednesday are my last two real work days in this current AmeriCorps program.
Looking to hire an engineer to fix your problems? Call my email adress.
Josh is getting married in 2 weeks! Holy Cow.
Chris is leaving....tear :(
Partyhouse will soon to be no more.
Man, I need to find a boat and a wakeboard. Dr Maisto?
I miss the beach alot...especially now that the water is the right temp for naked night swimming.
Feelingsolazy.

How is everyone? Does anyone still read this? Andrew? Are you alive?
Why does Gateway keep going down?
Where is tremont music hall when you need it?
Van Warped Tour in August anyone? Jerrod?

Love y'all. --Darth LEroi

Its dang hot!

Here we are in Louisiana, home sweet Louisiana...and dang its HOT! Actually, its just really humid, but at times is just feels really hot. Maybe I forgot about it, or maybe all my teammates ranting has gotten to me.

We are working on mold remediation and treatment of houses. First, we go in and rip everything out...well, hopefully not everything. Today I broke a pipe and we had ourselves a little indoor thunderstorm. But, almost everything gets taken out. then we started to scrub the walls with wire brushes. Tommorrow, we will spray termite stuff all throughout the house and eventually paint it with some special primer called Kilz.

27 days until AmeriCorps is over! 14 days left until this project is over. 27 days until i become homeless, jobless, and uninsured. To the couch batman! July 4th the part house becomes no more. Anyone want to buy a Kawasaki 550 jetski? Anyone selling a jetski trailer?

I just started reading a book about smokejumping...I could see myself doing that in 5 years. Only gotta work half the year to. I dont know if they provide health insurance though. Definately gotta have health insurance. Apparently, jumping out of a plain into forest fire is a little...whats the word? DANGEROUS!

Times up on the public computer. Gotta run. Love y'all.

--Steve

One more Spike

Well, I am back in SC for transition. Its hard to beleive that on Thursday I will depart from base in a van for the last time. We are going to Lafayette for 2.5 weeks, and then we will return to base. Its our last project and now that I know I am not coming back as a Team Leader, I am looking to the end.

I am looking for a job in forest fire work...or I might end up working for Habitat for Humanity. Nothing is certain right now. All I know for sure is that I can rent a storage unit in Charlotte for 40 bucks a month and sleep at the party house for free until I figure things out. Its great to have friends with couches.

Popso, a good friend of mine here is planning on saving some money and trying to go live in Peru for 2 months to help build an orphange. Man, doesnt that sound great?

Tonight, I am going to a RiverDogs baseball game with my teammate Tori. She got a team leader job so she wont be with us on our last project. I'll miss her greatly (together we form the superhero team of Tornando and Lorenzo, bog duo).

--DAlen

LA, here we come...again

Sure enough, we are getting sent back to Louisiana. We will be working the United Way of Abbeville, and staying...get this, right next to my old high school in Cade, LA. I am pretty stoked, and once again it seems my life has moved in a complete circle. Gonna hang out at ESA and reminisce.

We helped to do this, here in Slidell. http://www.ob.org/programs/disaster_relief/news/2006/dr_2006_0509_jessicahomemakeover.asp

Somehow, I am 25 now. That seems kind of crazy to me. It seems like yesterday I was a freshmen in college. Of course, if I get a fire job, I might back to school to learn some ecology stuff and get a pay increase. That would be sweet. I am applying for fire jobs left and right.

Thanks for the comment BillR...and of course thanks to all my other faithfull readers as well. My weblog is still advertisement free, although I can apparently make money if I put up ads. Would y'all mind ads? I hate them, but of course I also dont really like being poor and getting money for nothing is what this seems like. Maybe i'll wait a little first. I think I'm gonna start selling plasma as its apparently pretty lucrative.

Off to bed to rest for gutting. love y'all,

--Lorenzo

To the med clinic batman...

Well, its been almost a week, and not much has changed. Day after day we are still working our butts off, removing debris from houses, and then removing the walls and ceilings. Often we also remove carpet and padding from the floors. Its amazing how different the places are before and after. We also seem to change from clean to dirty, the exact opposite of the houses. today was the hardest day we have done so far. Our house had roughly 6 inches of mud throughout, not to mention all of the "stuff" these people had which was basically just stirred around into a big soup of mud and crud.

Lesson #1: As you get older, you should save more memories but less other stuff.
When you get to the point that you are not capable of moving by yourself or gutting your own home in case of catastrophic activities, maybe you should try and cut back on your general stuffage. I have already made an agreement with my teammate Sarah that if I have as much stuff as we are pulling out of these houses when I am old, she is going to punch me in the stomach and yell at me to "get rid of all your crap!"

Lesson #2: Dont become the contents of your house.
This is a variation on the classic quote by Tyler Durden, my personal hero, "the things you own will end up owning you." Its also a variation on "youre not the contents of your wallet." Obtaining stuff and making that stuff your life is only setting you up to be easily broken through the destruction of your stuff, and thus the vicarious destruction of your self. Become stronger as your progress through life. Dont invest time and money into your stuff, weakening who you are. Become your abilities, thoughts, and emotions. Become your company of friends and family. Dont become a couch owner, and kitchen ware user, or a car driver. Become more. Be Great!

Tommorrow I have volunteered to work at the medical clinic. We get the day off of gutting, and some of the people on my team will be bug-busting (visiting houses with unkept pools to inject fish and larvacide into the cess). I am working at a medical clinic, probably sorting pills all day. I get to wear shorts, which beats the amount of sweating I have been doing in Tyvek suits lately. Its been crazy. Never sweated this much in my life.

Time for a team challenge to hopefully find out our next Spike project. I have a feeling we are getting sent to Lafayette, which of course would be sweet.

love y'all. --Leroi

and then there was a message...

So, I have been thinking alot lately about wanting to be in NCCC, and not getting my TL spot. I have been trying to figure out where I went wrong. I have been praying alot.

Then, I got up this morning and went to work. Before we began our tasks, our supervisor, a local pastor stopped us to give us a little talk. He thanked us for our efforts and told us that indeed it was the true gospel, the idea of service, that we woere doing and that God was happy and in all of us everyday that we are here. His words were something to the effect of "Sometimes you dont get the job you want, but doing it anyway, working for others, is the way it is meant to be and makes us better." This is God's love for us and for everyone. It was chilling that he used those words, as if he was speaking directly to me. Combining this with the email that I received from Adam telling me that God would put me where I was suppoed to be has really comforted me. NCCC is not my place after I graduate in June. I dont know why, but I do know that it is not my place, and wherever I land, will be where I am supposed to be.

Tommorrow we are bug patrol, preventing the millions of mosquitoes from breeding in the stagnant bodies of water behind destroyed houses all over this area. I might be on TV, but more importantly I will be making a difference.

Love y'all,

--Luke

the only thing worse than a girl not wanting you...

...is when you really want a job, and the people you want to work for dont want to hire you. I got my denial letter back from AmeriCorps NCCC. They dont want me to be a team leader. They dont even want to keep me as an alternate.

So, it looks like I will apply to work with Habitat for Humanity back in Charlotte. They wanted me as a worker last year. Maybe they will want me again this year...or maybe I will get a real moneymaker job and become rich. Or maybe I will work in fire. I have a lot of options to look in to, but its really hard to think about other things when I wanted to be in NCCC so badly. It sucks.

I was pulled aside from my team today to work on a special project with my team leader and another member of my team. I think I was pulled away because the project we were working needed extra work, extra fast, and some of it required extra ability. I feel like these are the three reasons I was chosen, and yet it seems like NCCC doesnt want these 3 things in the package of me to remain a part of their organization.

Tommorrow is another day, and now I cant wait until I get out.

Gutted our first house today

Today was our first day of real work. We wore full Tyvek suits, respirators, gloves, hardhats, and safety glasses. Sweating is an understatement. It was like I was a bucket of water with holes in it...but at least I didnt lose my house and everything I own.

This particular lady did. There ended up being about 1.5 ft of water in her house, and the house itself remained dirty and destroyed until today. That over 6 months that this house was unusable. We went in there and in one day removed everything that was of no more use, ripped out all the sheet rock, and took everything out to the street to be hauled away. She was so gratefull as well. I created a quote for one of my press releases, but today, I really did feel that "smiles were my paycheck."

all I could think about while I worked in this mold covered interior was how crappy it would have been to have owned all this stuff and then lose it. It makes me not want to own stuff. It makes me want to convince other people about how temporary "stuff" is. It makes me want to somehow move beyond this desire to buy things, to not become the contents of my wallet, to not become my khakis.

I feel like I might not be able to go back to a life of happy apathy...not caring about the suffering I dont see, but I still no exists. I have experienced it first hand and maybe a part of me envies those out there who choose to not know, and live their lives as though the rest of world is as content as them.

--Leroi
be great

Tommorrow...finally doing DR

Tommorrow is the big day. Ever since we started training in this program I have wanted to get down to the Gulf Coast to do disaster releif. We will be travelling to Slidell, Louisiana, working with Operation Blessing. http://www.ob.org/ Our tasks will include tarping damaged house roofs and gutting the interiors. It going to be really hard work, but I am glad to be finally going where the need seems to be the largest. Hard work reminds me of my childhood to so...

Also going to finally get to see my parents. Missed them alot and havent seen them since the hurricane hit actually.

Louisiana is kind of my own backyard. I really feel like the southeast is the bigger extension of my yard, by LA is where I grew up. Gonna see some friends and hang out in the humidity, maybe hunt and cook some mosquitoes.

Saturday is National Youth Service Day, where about 600 of us will be in Waveland, MS, working for the morning.

hope all is well with y'all.
be great
--Leroi

Act Fast...CALL NOW!

Life is good. I got sunburned today. I am hanging out with a beautiful girl later. I am going to get to see Mary-Claire, my mom, and my dad later in the month as I return to the state of Louisana. Soon, I will be on the AT. Tommorrow I am working at the Children's Museum (think touchable exhibits). Life is good.

So, all you people out there with free nights and weekends...no I am not wanting to borrow your phone. I need you to make some phone calls on my behalf actually. Well, really they are phone calls on behalf of NCCC, the program I am in and on behalf of all the people who will lose the benefit of us helping them if the government doesnt appropriate money for our existence. So...

NC Reps
Call Richard Burr @ 202-224-3154
Call Elizabeth Dole @ 202-224-6342
Call Charles H. Taylor @ 202-225-6401

Call at night and leave a message. Sample Script: Hello, my name is (name). I'm a constituent, I live in hometown & North Carolina and I'd like to leave a message for the Senator/Representative. I'd like to ask him/her
to oppose the proposed budget cuts that would eliminate the Americorps NCCC program.
NCCC gives thousands of young people each year the opportunity to serve their country and
develop countless skills to build their futures. It also serves many organizations that wouldn't
be able to meet their goals otherwise, such as American public school systems, Habitat for
Humanity, and even the Red Cross with its disaster relief with Katrina. My address is
(home address, not Charleston); I hope to hear back from the Senator/Congress(wo)man as to how (s)he plans to address this issue. Thank you. Good-bye.

The end is near!

Only a few more days until the kids go on spring break...then its only a few more days of work for us...then I go on spring break. Pretty stoked. It looks like I am going to get some time on the AT finally and the weather is going to be amazing!

for some reason I have that Gloria song stuck in my head...that one from the '80s.

I feel like working at this school is a cartoon, where the boat is sinking and I am plugging the holes, and then another one appears, and then I plug it, and eventually there are too many holes to plug. Its like putting a band-aid on the left arm when the right arm is the one thats injured, and it has been torn completely from the body. But enough of me being negative...I think someday I am going to teach at a Title I school...as soon as I get rich elsewhere and dont need to worry about money.

I shaved my head last night. It feels really good. I am thinking that it might be time to close the mohawk chapter of DAlen's life. My head feels so much less warm now to. I used the number 1 guard...meaning its super short. Everyone is super shocked. Of course, come winter I might miss it and grow it back out again...especially if I end up working with fire as a means of employment. It looks like I need more environmental background.

My Team Leader Interview was last week. It reminded me a lot of my RA interviews...which statistically speaking is a bad thing. Of course, I felt pretty good about it.

Did I mention I'll be hiking some of the AT soon? yeah....i'm excited.

and then we will be doing DR, although it no longer stands for Disaster Relief. Now its Disaster Recovery...ironic that they change the name, even though the work and the acronym stay the same.

Love y'all...LEAVE COMMENTS!!!! I miss my homes.

--DAlen

another kid standing against the wall...

Well, progress is being made. My newest and greatest (read also most chaotic) class is the 6th grade remediation math class. Apparently the teacher has a lack-o-spine, and as a result the children refuse to listen to him...and he seems to ignore this and teach anyway...teach to the loud roar of 20 kids doing whatever they please. Mostly the kids walk around and talk, sometimes they draw on the board or do whatever. Occasionally they fight. There wasnt really much I could do yesterday. So, today, I came up with a plan. The first thing all the kids did was stand against the far wall of the class. I have seen this tactic used very effectively with another one of my classes by that teacher, so I tried it. It took them 20 minutes of short outbursts here and there before they, as a group, were quiet for one minute. Then, I allowed them to take desks that I chose for them. Then I handed the class over to the teacher, who then proceeded to lose control over the whole group, but still retained enough of them to help some of them learn. It was a small victory. I think it will take about 5-7 days of class before they are doing what they should, and then they will start learning. Otherwise, many of them will probably repeat the 6th grade.

Another problem that I discovered (hah...I could probably discover a new problem every day for the next year) was that many of the teachers lack faith in the system, and thus they dont try and work with it. The system requires a teacher to fill out these things called "referals." Many of the teachers feel that doing this gets nothing done, and as a result they dont do them. So, incidently, there is no mountain of paper proving that the system is flawed. If they did the referrals, and then it didnt work, at least then they would be able to hold up the copies and ask "what now?" So, I filled out two referrals on behalf of my teacher today...and in the case of the first girl, she changed her behavior. As for the 2nd boy, he got so mad and furious by my glaring and kind requests to do what he was supposed to do that he eventually put his head on his desk and was silent. DAlen:3 Middle School Monsters-o-fun: 0

On a very very happy note, during my initial referral writing of the first girl, one of here classmates, one that did not particuarly like me, requested I not document her misbehavior. He begged that I leave her alone, and promised he would make the class good, because it wasnt fair. If she gets one more referral, she repeates the 6th grade. Much of the reason behind this is not her fault (but small pieces are) and this is why he requested I not turn in the paperwork. He showed compassion, which really surprised me, and made me hopefull.

Tommorrow is another day...

be great

School? more like chaos on a time schedule...

Well, I started actually doing stuff at work this week. Monday was a wasted day, but tuesday we finally got a schedule and now we are following that schedule and assisting with classes. Some of the classes are fine, but others are pure chaos. I talked to my teachers in the nice class today and told them that I might move to some of the worse classes since they already had things under control. Pretty much, the original description of our project has gone right out the door. There was no obesity problem. There is a discpline problem. In many of the classes, the students do what they want. In one class, the teacher seems to have control, but its only because she spends so much time tongue lashing the kids. I was even confused when she said that she loved kids, stopping several times during that short phrase to reprimand students for not sitting up or not having feet on the ground or breathing too much or no blinking enough. I really do feel she is a product of teaching at a bad school for way too long. Worse yet, it seems like the principle isnt involved at all in the workings of the school, especially since I have yet to talk to him and I am a guest at his school. He was the primary contact to the mayors office who is our sponsor, and yet it seems like he knows the least about whats happening. Luckily, there is a lady who is some sort of admin. person who has her act together and has given us some structure. So, we are tutoring. I'm losing sleep though trying to figure out a way to fix the much larger issue of underfunded school systems and impoverished students who have no future.

On a really bright note, the students in my school are being taught material that seems advanced to what I remember learning in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. In science, they are working with curcuits and electricity, which I dont remember doing much of in the 6th grade. I remember life sciences class being really hard, but I dont remember taking a physics class. Some of my teammates are capable of tutoring some of the subjects because the material is defiantely advanced for kids.

After school today, I went to the high school to pick up my teammate and I played a little soccer with them. It was very enjoyable. I miss soccer. Maybe I'll start going on a regular basis to help coach.

Only one more day until the weekend.

--Will Leroi DAlen

Tommorrow is my big day

Finally, it looks like I will begin work again. tommorrow is our first day at our local education project here in charleston, SC. It appears as though my task will be to combat an obesity problem by optimizing the PE/PT program for middle school students here in North Charleston. Well, actually, I am going to be creating the curriculum, because they strangely enough, dont have one. I am pretty excited...feeling similar to the way Andrew probably felt when he first started teaching (andrewinafrica.blogspot.com).

A lot of people are super ticked that NCCC might be pushed to the wayside...and they are all voicing their opinions...so maybe there is a future yet. Regardless, I am going to be able to finish my term here in June. then, hopefully I will make the cut to be a Team Leader, which guarantees I can work until December. Then, if the budget stands, thats when Charleston runs out of money...so dont worry, i am good for somewhile still. Then, if all else falls through I can work the January-April burn window here in the southeast as a nomadic fire fighter (even though its really more of fire starter position).

Last night I benched 155, and I did it 3 times! thats a record for me, and I still cant get over how much weight it looked like. Thats even after doing 135 8 times and then 145 6 times. Yes, its true, I am a beast. I think the new strength is a combination of the power i get from my mohawk and the fact that i now own an ax for chopping wood.

I found a bulldozer in the woods today.

It appears as though I will be in Charlotte for the weekend of March 10th...Ben is getting married and there is a party at the house? I'm bringing some teammates with, so it should be a good time.

be great
--WiLL DAlen "Leroi"

no more NCCC?

Well, we got some bad news monday. Apparently Bush's new budget doesnt allow for funding for NCCC anymore, so all 5 campuses will be closing down in the new fiscal year. A lot of people are ticked about this, so there is still some chance that the uproar will change some people's minds...if you know a senator now is the time to call him/her. This means that I will be able to still finish out my term of service, but then if I become a team leader, I will likely only get to do that a half year before the shutdown. NCCC has been around for 13 years now, so its going to be really hard on all the organization that bank on support from us. Especially hard hit will be all the habitat for humanity chapters, the nature conservancy throughout the country, and all the schools in the carolinas that depend on our work to help their kids. The department of natural resources will lose all the trail work we do thoughout the country, not to mention who is going to provide over 200 volunteers to work 12 hour days for weeks at a time next time a major disaster happens. All around it sucks.

As for how immediate things are going, we are almost done with our project here in GA. Today was supposed to be our last burn, but the rain came...so we arent burning. Tommorrow we go to North Ga to do some planting for a few days before heading back in Charleston, SC. We just got back from AL a few days ago, burning some pitcher plant bogs there. I was able to act as a squad boss for a crew while we there, working on my task book for my fire fighter type 1 (fft1). Once I finish the task book, I will be able to be a squad boss, and my pay would go up should I decide to stay in presacribed fire/wildfire.

Also, I am now officailly famous, as I was on the radio yesterday talking about AmeriCorps. It was pretty neat to here myself.

Soon, it looks like I will get a chance to come back to charlotte for a weekend...and maybe party it up in the party house.

much love to all my friends and family out there. --DAlen (aka WiLL, aka Leeroy)