It has been over 1 year since I last posted a blog. It has been a rough year, to say the least, but honestly, I just didn't feel like I had anything exciting to post about. This year brought me a trip to New Orleans, crossing off another state on my 50 state mission. That was about it.
Since 2016 was such a downer of a year, I am hoping 2017 brings some joy and adventure to my life.
This is my list of goals for 2017:
1) Visit 2 new states- There is a possibility of a family vacation in the future and if drive, it could provide me with 2 or more new states
2) Eat healthier- it has been a bad year for me in regard to health. I have been busy and lazy which means a lack of exercise and an increase of eating out.
3) Read more books- I have increased my library quite a bit these past few months, thanks to my cousin Danny and other family members who bought me books for the holidays.
4) Spend less time on social media- I have recently deleted Facebook from my phone. This should not count as an accomplishment but sadly, it is. I hope to spend more time in the real world this year.
5) Spend more time sitting in public with nothing to do- This is something that we all avoid, the time when we are waiting for a meeting, an appointment, or just don't know what to with ourselves. This is the time when we let our minds wander and our creativity is at its peak. I come up with more of my good ideas for work during this time than any other time I spend getting paid to come up with said good ideas.
I hope 2017 is a great year and I hope that everyone can find some joy in it. I know that my joy and enjoyment will require some work from me. I am excited to begin this year and the work that follows.
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Crossing off more states
Earlier this year I made a bucket list. This is a group of things I want to accomplish in my lifetime. A few of these things have happened and a lot of these items are a work in progress. One specific work in progress is the 50 state challenge. My goal is to visit each of the 50 states. My goal is not to just be in the state, my goal is to spend a good amount of time in the state and experience it. It is difficult to define what "experiencing a state" means. I define it as getting an idea of the culture in the area and doing at least 1 thing that locals do. That could be eating a famous meal, spending time at a landmark, or going to a festival or event.
This year I was able to cross off Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma from my list. I actually had the opportunity to visit Texas twice this year, which is good because it is such a huge state and it is not fair to cross off the list by only visiting 1 city. I was able to go to San Antonio in April and Fort-Worth a few weeks ago in early December.
San Antonio was a lot of fun with a lot to do. I was at a conference so I was not sure how much time I would have to myself to explore the area. I was lucky that the conference I went to did not structure your entire day for you, so I got to spend a significant amount of time outside of the convention center. We were staying in a hotel right off of the River Walk area which is a downtown type area but has a lot of touristy type places. I had a chance to walk along the river and eat at a few of the very many restaurants that are located along the sides. If you are a fan of Tex-Mex food, San Antonio is the place to go. The hotel we were staying at is also right near the Alamo, which I was told would be a huge disappointment. If you enjoy history, the Alamo is a must stop.
A few weeks ago I had the chance to explore the city of Fort Worth. Fort Worth is a great surprise of a city. Dallas gets all of the glory which makes Fort Worth a hidden gem, so hidden that there was never a time where anything felt busy. No waits at restaurants, art galleries, or traffic. This was for a conference so I tried to take every scheduling break to take advantage of what the area offered. I went to AT&T Stadium (Home of the Dallas Cowboys), stayed across the street from the Water Gardens (A small but very unique and visually appealing park of fountains and waterfalls), and spent a day downtown for shopping which turned into spending 2 hours at an art gallery. The cool thing about the gallery is that it features the art that was in the home of Sid Richardson (Oil Tycoon) who had 2 favorite artists (C.M. Russell & Frederic Remington) who focused on the wild west, which was still the wild west when they were painting in the late 1800's and very early 1900's. The best part of this trip was that once the conference ended, I stayed down there for a few more days and traveled north for a bit.
My dad flew down to meet me in Fort Worth in order to cross off another state from his list. We drove north on interstate 35 to go to Wichita Kansas. When we were in Wichita it was surprising to see how many bars there were. We stopped at the Museum of World Treasures which is located in an old town area. If you ever go to Wichita, I recommend staying here because you can spend all day just walking around and admiring the buildings and roads. It is all brick and reminds me of an old New England factory town except that the buildings are not run down. These buildings are still in great shape and are not struggling to find tenants. Later on in the night, my dad and I went to a sports bar to watch the college football games that would be deciding the playoffs. We had great seats at the bar which had 2 huge projection screens showing the games. around 8 pm both screens changed to a Wichita State basketball game which was a blow out. As frustrating as it was to miss the play off games (with the exception of the last 2 minutes of the Mich. St. vs Iowa game) it was great to see how much spirit the locals have for their college. The next day we drove down to the Arkansas River looking for something to do on a Sunday and stumbled across a Native American history park that was very cool. It is a small area at the gates of the actual Native American History Museum that has facts, music, and a statue at the center of it. It also happens to be at the intersection of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers which makes it only accessible by 2 walking bridges. We then went back to the old town area to have lunch at a brewery that we tried to get into the previous night. It was a great brewery in a building that was built in 1908. If you have a chance, look up River City Brewing Company. After lunch we headed south to Oklahoma.
Our first stop was the campus of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. OSU is home to the largest student union in U.S. It is over 500,000 square feet. It was Sunday so no offices or stores/restaurants were open but it was still busy with students studying and getting homework done. We walked around campus a bit and saw a few greek houses and academic buildings. These buildings were gorgeous and surprisingly large. From there, we headed to Oklahoma City. Not the types of people to waste precious time, we went to Top Golf to hit the driving range. My dad is not a golfer but was able to hold his own after we got a bucket of beers and were able to have our own section where we immediately put on the football games. Then we headed to our hotel where we had about 12 minutes to enjoy happy hour before the shut down their free drinks and food. We met a fellow traveler who is from Virginia and spent about an hour talking to him. The next morning we had breakfast and headed to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial and Museum.
The Memorial and Museum was a very moving experience. It was a truly horrific act of terrorism in an attempt to disrupt the U.S. Government. It was a message that the government needed to pay for the things that it did. This happened because of extreme beliefs. It is scary to think that people are starting to share extreme beliefs against other human beings now. People are having extreme beliefs against Muslims and Syrian refugees. Looking at the damage that was done at the Federal Building in OKC, this is something that these refugees see everyday in their home. It amazes me how quickly we forget that. It amazes me how quickly we can say that we are a diverse and welcoming country but then turn away people. I am also amazed that people say there is no racism but we are specifically turning away a specific type of person or people. The museum is a reminder that when tragedy happens, true Americans will help.
We left to go see the local stockyards. This is where cattle sales are held. When we got to Oklahoma I was not sure what to expect. OKC is a city and not much different than going to Manchester, NH or New Haven, CT. Going to Stockyard City (Neighborhood of OKC) I realized that this was my expectation of Oklahoma. It was not a trip back in time but a different way of living. Every store in the area had leather goods, cowboy hats, and boots. Every restaurant served steak (We stopped at a place voted the best steak in Oklahoma, Cattlemens), and apparently it is a dumb question to ask what fried pie is (Asked our waitress. It is a fruit pie that they fried). After that we went to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. This was a very cool museum which highlighted artwork, sculptures, and movie paraphernalia that had to do with the west. They had statues and a replica town to show you what life was like in the west during the 17, 18, and early 1900's. That is a long time but not much changed building or fashion wise. The things that did change were the tools that were used. In some sense, a lot of the lifestyle in Oklahoma has not changed, just the technology.
After that we departed back to Fort-Worth with a quick stop at the University of Oklahoma. The campus was beautiful and had older buildings that reminded me of an Ivy League school. It was interesting to see the difference between OSU and OU even though they were both built in 1890. We stopped at an OU hotel and bar which had a ton of OU sports memorabilia. We stopped on the way to get a fried pie and then made our way back to Dallas- Fort Worth to head to the airport the next morning.
It was a great trip and I learned a lot. I ate great food and really got a sense of the culture. Now I need to start planning my next trip.
This year I was able to cross off Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma from my list. I actually had the opportunity to visit Texas twice this year, which is good because it is such a huge state and it is not fair to cross off the list by only visiting 1 city. I was able to go to San Antonio in April and Fort-Worth a few weeks ago in early December.
San Antonio was a lot of fun with a lot to do. I was at a conference so I was not sure how much time I would have to myself to explore the area. I was lucky that the conference I went to did not structure your entire day for you, so I got to spend a significant amount of time outside of the convention center. We were staying in a hotel right off of the River Walk area which is a downtown type area but has a lot of touristy type places. I had a chance to walk along the river and eat at a few of the very many restaurants that are located along the sides. If you are a fan of Tex-Mex food, San Antonio is the place to go. The hotel we were staying at is also right near the Alamo, which I was told would be a huge disappointment. If you enjoy history, the Alamo is a must stop.
A few weeks ago I had the chance to explore the city of Fort Worth. Fort Worth is a great surprise of a city. Dallas gets all of the glory which makes Fort Worth a hidden gem, so hidden that there was never a time where anything felt busy. No waits at restaurants, art galleries, or traffic. This was for a conference so I tried to take every scheduling break to take advantage of what the area offered. I went to AT&T Stadium (Home of the Dallas Cowboys), stayed across the street from the Water Gardens (A small but very unique and visually appealing park of fountains and waterfalls), and spent a day downtown for shopping which turned into spending 2 hours at an art gallery. The cool thing about the gallery is that it features the art that was in the home of Sid Richardson (Oil Tycoon) who had 2 favorite artists (C.M. Russell & Frederic Remington) who focused on the wild west, which was still the wild west when they were painting in the late 1800's and very early 1900's. The best part of this trip was that once the conference ended, I stayed down there for a few more days and traveled north for a bit.
My dad flew down to meet me in Fort Worth in order to cross off another state from his list. We drove north on interstate 35 to go to Wichita Kansas. When we were in Wichita it was surprising to see how many bars there were. We stopped at the Museum of World Treasures which is located in an old town area. If you ever go to Wichita, I recommend staying here because you can spend all day just walking around and admiring the buildings and roads. It is all brick and reminds me of an old New England factory town except that the buildings are not run down. These buildings are still in great shape and are not struggling to find tenants. Later on in the night, my dad and I went to a sports bar to watch the college football games that would be deciding the playoffs. We had great seats at the bar which had 2 huge projection screens showing the games. around 8 pm both screens changed to a Wichita State basketball game which was a blow out. As frustrating as it was to miss the play off games (with the exception of the last 2 minutes of the Mich. St. vs Iowa game) it was great to see how much spirit the locals have for their college. The next day we drove down to the Arkansas River looking for something to do on a Sunday and stumbled across a Native American history park that was very cool. It is a small area at the gates of the actual Native American History Museum that has facts, music, and a statue at the center of it. It also happens to be at the intersection of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers which makes it only accessible by 2 walking bridges. We then went back to the old town area to have lunch at a brewery that we tried to get into the previous night. It was a great brewery in a building that was built in 1908. If you have a chance, look up River City Brewing Company. After lunch we headed south to Oklahoma.
Our first stop was the campus of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. OSU is home to the largest student union in U.S. It is over 500,000 square feet. It was Sunday so no offices or stores/restaurants were open but it was still busy with students studying and getting homework done. We walked around campus a bit and saw a few greek houses and academic buildings. These buildings were gorgeous and surprisingly large. From there, we headed to Oklahoma City. Not the types of people to waste precious time, we went to Top Golf to hit the driving range. My dad is not a golfer but was able to hold his own after we got a bucket of beers and were able to have our own section where we immediately put on the football games. Then we headed to our hotel where we had about 12 minutes to enjoy happy hour before the shut down their free drinks and food. We met a fellow traveler who is from Virginia and spent about an hour talking to him. The next morning we had breakfast and headed to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial and Museum.
The Memorial and Museum was a very moving experience. It was a truly horrific act of terrorism in an attempt to disrupt the U.S. Government. It was a message that the government needed to pay for the things that it did. This happened because of extreme beliefs. It is scary to think that people are starting to share extreme beliefs against other human beings now. People are having extreme beliefs against Muslims and Syrian refugees. Looking at the damage that was done at the Federal Building in OKC, this is something that these refugees see everyday in their home. It amazes me how quickly we forget that. It amazes me how quickly we can say that we are a diverse and welcoming country but then turn away people. I am also amazed that people say there is no racism but we are specifically turning away a specific type of person or people. The museum is a reminder that when tragedy happens, true Americans will help.
We left to go see the local stockyards. This is where cattle sales are held. When we got to Oklahoma I was not sure what to expect. OKC is a city and not much different than going to Manchester, NH or New Haven, CT. Going to Stockyard City (Neighborhood of OKC) I realized that this was my expectation of Oklahoma. It was not a trip back in time but a different way of living. Every store in the area had leather goods, cowboy hats, and boots. Every restaurant served steak (We stopped at a place voted the best steak in Oklahoma, Cattlemens), and apparently it is a dumb question to ask what fried pie is (Asked our waitress. It is a fruit pie that they fried). After that we went to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. This was a very cool museum which highlighted artwork, sculptures, and movie paraphernalia that had to do with the west. They had statues and a replica town to show you what life was like in the west during the 17, 18, and early 1900's. That is a long time but not much changed building or fashion wise. The things that did change were the tools that were used. In some sense, a lot of the lifestyle in Oklahoma has not changed, just the technology.
After that we departed back to Fort-Worth with a quick stop at the University of Oklahoma. The campus was beautiful and had older buildings that reminded me of an Ivy League school. It was interesting to see the difference between OSU and OU even though they were both built in 1890. We stopped at an OU hotel and bar which had a ton of OU sports memorabilia. We stopped on the way to get a fried pie and then made our way back to Dallas- Fort Worth to head to the airport the next morning.
It was a great trip and I learned a lot. I ate great food and really got a sense of the culture. Now I need to start planning my next trip.
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Florida Trip: Learning a Little Bit about Privilige
This past week, my wife Megan and I took a trip to Florida to visit her family. The first day we got there, we went to her aunt's house and hung out by the pool. Her house is nice, located in a community in central Florida. The houses are well maintained and it looks like a great neighborhood. The next day we went to New Smyrna Beach. I normally hate the beach but this one was nice because there were not a lot of people and the downtown are was not a mad house. The sand was also much nice, especially without all of the shells and sticks like the northeast. Then we went to Megan's grandparent's house in the largest retirement community in the world. This place is huge! over 100,000 residents live there and it has everything you could think of. Live music, 3 movie theaters, more golf courses than you could ever need, great restaurants, and shopping galore. All of the yards are professionally maintained and the roads are immaculate. It just looks like a picturesque town.
Now, when I travel I usually stay at a resort or near the ocean. This has made for some great and amazing vacations. This is the first time that I am seeing central Florida and not being at Disney World. Once we left the Villages and any gated community, it was like nothing I ever saw. If you were to tell me that I was in the poorest area of the country, I would not argue with you. There were so many vacant buildings, boarded up windows, and shacks on the side of the road. It made me think about my impression of what America is like. I saw houses that are falling apart, in the middle of nowhere, for sale. My first though was, how are they going to sell that place? My second thought was, if I bought that place I would just tear it down and start over. It took me a while to realize that someone is going to call that place home. Someone is going to buy that place and just be happy that when it rains, they might not get wet, or that they can get mail because they have an address.
I complain a lot about money. Everyone is always saying how they could use more money and deserve to get paid more but realistically, I am doing well for myself. It is crazy to say but I think that at age 26, I am living a more comfortable life than most people. We complain about people abusing welfare, and getting free handouts but looking around in this area, these people have nowhere to work, and the ones who are working are definitely not making enough to really have a decent life.
I look at houses all the time, mostly online. I would love to live in the town I work in. It is a small town but has everything I would need, within walking distance. I would also love to live in the town I live in now, but it is 30 minutes from my work and I don't really want to commute that much. Let me remind you that I am 26. I should be happy to be able to afford a home. I struggle everyday with the thought of being happy with what I have and wanting more. I feel bad when I look at how much more I have than other people, and I think that I will get lazy (or lazier) if I think that what I have is enough. This is also where I start to judge people on where their life is. Looking at these people in Florida, I judged them harshly. I thought to myself, "Why would you have kids if you are struggling to take care of yourself?" I think about that for a little while and remember how much I spend on things that I do not need, or spending a little extra money to eat out instead of making food for myself. These people take care of their kids the way their parents did, with hard work.
This trip was an eye opener for me into the privilege I have. I knew it was there but I did not see what it actually was.
Now, when I travel I usually stay at a resort or near the ocean. This has made for some great and amazing vacations. This is the first time that I am seeing central Florida and not being at Disney World. Once we left the Villages and any gated community, it was like nothing I ever saw. If you were to tell me that I was in the poorest area of the country, I would not argue with you. There were so many vacant buildings, boarded up windows, and shacks on the side of the road. It made me think about my impression of what America is like. I saw houses that are falling apart, in the middle of nowhere, for sale. My first though was, how are they going to sell that place? My second thought was, if I bought that place I would just tear it down and start over. It took me a while to realize that someone is going to call that place home. Someone is going to buy that place and just be happy that when it rains, they might not get wet, or that they can get mail because they have an address.
I complain a lot about money. Everyone is always saying how they could use more money and deserve to get paid more but realistically, I am doing well for myself. It is crazy to say but I think that at age 26, I am living a more comfortable life than most people. We complain about people abusing welfare, and getting free handouts but looking around in this area, these people have nowhere to work, and the ones who are working are definitely not making enough to really have a decent life.
I look at houses all the time, mostly online. I would love to live in the town I work in. It is a small town but has everything I would need, within walking distance. I would also love to live in the town I live in now, but it is 30 minutes from my work and I don't really want to commute that much. Let me remind you that I am 26. I should be happy to be able to afford a home. I struggle everyday with the thought of being happy with what I have and wanting more. I feel bad when I look at how much more I have than other people, and I think that I will get lazy (or lazier) if I think that what I have is enough. This is also where I start to judge people on where their life is. Looking at these people in Florida, I judged them harshly. I thought to myself, "Why would you have kids if you are struggling to take care of yourself?" I think about that for a little while and remember how much I spend on things that I do not need, or spending a little extra money to eat out instead of making food for myself. These people take care of their kids the way their parents did, with hard work.
This trip was an eye opener for me into the privilege I have. I knew it was there but I did not see what it actually was.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
New Year
It has been a while since I last posted in my blog. Work has been busy and that has not been a bad thing.
I was reading my cousin Danny's blog and I got a little bit of inspiration (Which is what I believe Danny intends for his blog to do) and decided to write down the things that I hope to achieve in my lifetime. Some of these things have happened but they are still things that I knew I wanted to do in my life and am proud that I did them.
1) Go on a road trip:
This one has happened multiple times. These have always been some of the best days of my life. I enjoy spending time with people in confined spaces because you really bond with them. I do not remember any of the conversations I had with people during road trips but I always know that I feel more connected to that person or persons at the end of the trip. I have taken road trips to many places but the longest ones were Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Virginia. Atlanta was a trip to move my cousin Andrew into his new apartment. We traveled from NH to GA, moved him in, quickly explored the city, and drove back to NH in less than 72 hours. I traveled to Cincinnati with my cousin Danny and his friend to do the Flying Pig marathon. The ride out was not too bad until we hit the farms. The ride back was brutal. Running a marathon is tough enough but getting into a car for 14 hours immediately after was not ideal. Virginia was a trip with my family and Wife (Girlfriend at the time). Me, Bobby, Jimmy, and Megan drove in one car and my parents in the other. All of these trips have been great but the best part was the ride. This is the reason that I wanted to go to Canada for my bachelor party (That and one of the best men was not 21 yet).
2) Visit all 50 states:
This one is self explanatory. I enjoy traveling and experiencing new things. I also enjoy food and nothing beats trying a "best in the country" type place. You have had chili but you have never had Skyline Chili (Cincinnati). You have had a burger but have you had the Guido Burger from Hodad's (San Diego)? I have spent time in CT, NH, MA, ME, VT, RI, NY, PA, NJ, OH, MD, GA, FL, VA, AZ, NV, CO, CA, HI, and KY. I have a lot more to go. I also want to clarify that I want to spend time in these places, not just travel through. I could cross off Illinois, South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia if that was the case but I don't think sitting in O'Hare Airport qualifies as a visit to Illinois (Even if I did eat a Chicago Hot Dog). This year I will be adding Texas to this list of places I have been. Only 30 more states to go!
3) Go to Europe:
Once again, I like to travel. The other piece is that I have spent my entire life in a place that I know or at least can figure out. Going to another country would provide me with the experience of being in a place where I do not know the language thus making it a bit more challenging. That being said, I do not intend to get lost and die just because I wanted a challenge. Europe with give me a nice medium. The countries I plan to visit are France, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and England. This trip or trips have another important part to them due to the fact that my cousin Kevin's ashes were scattered in Ireland and France. He was one day younger than me and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. He could make anyone laugh and was always there when you needed him. It was devastating to my family when he passed away. I would love to get the chance to visit him again.
4) Get a college degree:
I have done this. Twice. After receiving my Master's degree I realized that I want to keep learning and getting better at what I do. I have two goals under this category. First, I would like to get my doctorate. This will require a lot of hard work but it would be really cool to have people call me Dr. Castelot. I also want to be the best at what I do which is educating students. I think I owe it to the students paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for an education. Secondly, I would like to get a college degree from an Ivy league school. This one is for pure bragging rights.
5) Teach a college course:
This spring I am going to be co-teaching a college course in a Higher Education Master's Program. This will be my first time teaching a course and I am hoping that I will enjoy it enough to continue to teach. I would love to teach a course by myself.
6) Become someone's mentor:
I do not have much control over this one. I just need to keep moving forward and trying to be the best that I can be. Hopefully in 10-15 years, someone will see me as an expert in my field and look to me as a mentor.
7) Get married:
This one has happened. It was the best day of my life and I would relive it everyday if I could. Scratch that. I would relive the few days before, the days of, and the week after. Everything about the wedding was amazing. I love spending time with friends and family and to have it be a celebration with great food and dancing was all I could ask for. It was a great party with the people that Megan and I find to be the most important in our lives.
8) Become a father:
This has not happened and is not happening (yet). Megan and I want to spend time enjoying our marriage for now but I know that I want to have a family. The time will come when it happens but for now, Megan and I are enjoying the days where we can change dinner plans at the drop of a hat, go out for drinks as late as we want, and sleep in on the weekends without having to worry about a little one. I enjoy being an uncle to two great kids who are giving me a lesson on how to say "no" and "don't put that fork in that electrical socket!" That last one hasn't really happened.
9) Buy a house:
This goes with the previous item. I want to have a house when Megan and I have kids. I want to have a back yard and driveway where we can play sports and have a bbq. I want to be able to provide my family with everything my family provided me. I also want to have a place that Megan and I can make our own. I want a place that reflects who we are. I also want to create a safe place for my future children. I know that when I go home to CT, I don't focus on paying bills or going to work. I am care free when I go to my parent's house. It will always be home to me and a safe place.
10) Do something I normally wouldn't do:
This is something that I have avoided doing most of my life. I usually follow the rules and do not do anything dangerous. I would always look for approval from my parents to make sure what I was doing was alright. Would I get hurt? Will I get in trouble? Will I disappoint them? I still ask myself if I would disappoint them before doing something but recently, I have been saying yes to a lot of things that I would usually say no to. In a past blog, Danny mentions that I am usually up to do anything. This only started happening a few years ago. Running a marathon with almost no training, driving to Atlanta with a weeks notice, hiking Mount Moosilauke in the biggest snow storm of 2013, and floating down the Merrimack river on air mattresses (Great story by the way. Who knew they don't sell adult sized pool floats at WalMart?). I still make sure what I am doing is legal and won't disappoint my family, but I am also making sure I don't disappoint myself by missing out on adventure.
Even though I have achieved some of these and some are constant goals that will never really be "achieved", this year is when I begin my new journey. This will be the first year that I am not in school, am at a job that I hope to have for a while, and have a partner in crime for the whole journey. 2015 should be an interesting year for me.
I was reading my cousin Danny's blog and I got a little bit of inspiration (Which is what I believe Danny intends for his blog to do) and decided to write down the things that I hope to achieve in my lifetime. Some of these things have happened but they are still things that I knew I wanted to do in my life and am proud that I did them.
1) Go on a road trip:
This one has happened multiple times. These have always been some of the best days of my life. I enjoy spending time with people in confined spaces because you really bond with them. I do not remember any of the conversations I had with people during road trips but I always know that I feel more connected to that person or persons at the end of the trip. I have taken road trips to many places but the longest ones were Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Virginia. Atlanta was a trip to move my cousin Andrew into his new apartment. We traveled from NH to GA, moved him in, quickly explored the city, and drove back to NH in less than 72 hours. I traveled to Cincinnati with my cousin Danny and his friend to do the Flying Pig marathon. The ride out was not too bad until we hit the farms. The ride back was brutal. Running a marathon is tough enough but getting into a car for 14 hours immediately after was not ideal. Virginia was a trip with my family and Wife (Girlfriend at the time). Me, Bobby, Jimmy, and Megan drove in one car and my parents in the other. All of these trips have been great but the best part was the ride. This is the reason that I wanted to go to Canada for my bachelor party (That and one of the best men was not 21 yet).
2) Visit all 50 states:
This one is self explanatory. I enjoy traveling and experiencing new things. I also enjoy food and nothing beats trying a "best in the country" type place. You have had chili but you have never had Skyline Chili (Cincinnati). You have had a burger but have you had the Guido Burger from Hodad's (San Diego)? I have spent time in CT, NH, MA, ME, VT, RI, NY, PA, NJ, OH, MD, GA, FL, VA, AZ, NV, CO, CA, HI, and KY. I have a lot more to go. I also want to clarify that I want to spend time in these places, not just travel through. I could cross off Illinois, South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia if that was the case but I don't think sitting in O'Hare Airport qualifies as a visit to Illinois (Even if I did eat a Chicago Hot Dog). This year I will be adding Texas to this list of places I have been. Only 30 more states to go!
3) Go to Europe:
Once again, I like to travel. The other piece is that I have spent my entire life in a place that I know or at least can figure out. Going to another country would provide me with the experience of being in a place where I do not know the language thus making it a bit more challenging. That being said, I do not intend to get lost and die just because I wanted a challenge. Europe with give me a nice medium. The countries I plan to visit are France, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and England. This trip or trips have another important part to them due to the fact that my cousin Kevin's ashes were scattered in Ireland and France. He was one day younger than me and I thought that was the coolest thing ever. He could make anyone laugh and was always there when you needed him. It was devastating to my family when he passed away. I would love to get the chance to visit him again.
4) Get a college degree:
I have done this. Twice. After receiving my Master's degree I realized that I want to keep learning and getting better at what I do. I have two goals under this category. First, I would like to get my doctorate. This will require a lot of hard work but it would be really cool to have people call me Dr. Castelot. I also want to be the best at what I do which is educating students. I think I owe it to the students paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for an education. Secondly, I would like to get a college degree from an Ivy league school. This one is for pure bragging rights.
5) Teach a college course:
This spring I am going to be co-teaching a college course in a Higher Education Master's Program. This will be my first time teaching a course and I am hoping that I will enjoy it enough to continue to teach. I would love to teach a course by myself.
6) Become someone's mentor:
I do not have much control over this one. I just need to keep moving forward and trying to be the best that I can be. Hopefully in 10-15 years, someone will see me as an expert in my field and look to me as a mentor.
7) Get married:
This one has happened. It was the best day of my life and I would relive it everyday if I could. Scratch that. I would relive the few days before, the days of, and the week after. Everything about the wedding was amazing. I love spending time with friends and family and to have it be a celebration with great food and dancing was all I could ask for. It was a great party with the people that Megan and I find to be the most important in our lives.
8) Become a father:
This has not happened and is not happening (yet). Megan and I want to spend time enjoying our marriage for now but I know that I want to have a family. The time will come when it happens but for now, Megan and I are enjoying the days where we can change dinner plans at the drop of a hat, go out for drinks as late as we want, and sleep in on the weekends without having to worry about a little one. I enjoy being an uncle to two great kids who are giving me a lesson on how to say "no" and "don't put that fork in that electrical socket!" That last one hasn't really happened.
9) Buy a house:
This goes with the previous item. I want to have a house when Megan and I have kids. I want to have a back yard and driveway where we can play sports and have a bbq. I want to be able to provide my family with everything my family provided me. I also want to have a place that Megan and I can make our own. I want a place that reflects who we are. I also want to create a safe place for my future children. I know that when I go home to CT, I don't focus on paying bills or going to work. I am care free when I go to my parent's house. It will always be home to me and a safe place.
10) Do something I normally wouldn't do:
This is something that I have avoided doing most of my life. I usually follow the rules and do not do anything dangerous. I would always look for approval from my parents to make sure what I was doing was alright. Would I get hurt? Will I get in trouble? Will I disappoint them? I still ask myself if I would disappoint them before doing something but recently, I have been saying yes to a lot of things that I would usually say no to. In a past blog, Danny mentions that I am usually up to do anything. This only started happening a few years ago. Running a marathon with almost no training, driving to Atlanta with a weeks notice, hiking Mount Moosilauke in the biggest snow storm of 2013, and floating down the Merrimack river on air mattresses (Great story by the way. Who knew they don't sell adult sized pool floats at WalMart?). I still make sure what I am doing is legal and won't disappoint my family, but I am also making sure I don't disappoint myself by missing out on adventure.
Even though I have achieved some of these and some are constant goals that will never really be "achieved", this year is when I begin my new journey. This will be the first year that I am not in school, am at a job that I hope to have for a while, and have a partner in crime for the whole journey. 2015 should be an interesting year for me.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Advising Students
When you think about your job, do you ever wonder what it would be like if your job did not exist? Most of us could probably imagine our jobs not existing and there would not be a real big change. Can you imagine if the field you work in did not exist? This thought came into mind yesterday. There was a time when colleges and universities did not have student affairs departments. There was a time when students came to their classes and then went home. My job did not exist. That is a scary thought. I see my job as very important (obviously it is important to me since it gives me an income so I am not homeless), but I would argue that a lot of people find my job to be important.
A lot of colleges and universities are changing their curriculum to enhance experiential learning. Experiential learning is the idea of bringing together observation, lecture, and hands on experience. This is the reason that a lot of people talk about how their internship taught them more than they ever learned in the classroom. Are students (or parents) really spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend countless hours in a classroom for nothing and then spend one semester at an internship and that is where the learning happens? If that was the case, most colleges would not exist. The reason students claim that they learned more in their internship than in the classroom is because everything they were absorbing in the classroom finally made sense at their internship. That is where my job comes into play. People are always talking about saving money and having to plan out expenses. Everyone talks about being busy and having to prioritize work and their social lives. Does this make sense to an 18 year old? Of course not. A lot of students coming to college have been given money any time they asked. When a student comes to live in a residence hall, they do not have chores that they have to get done. There is nobody telling them they need to get their homework done before dinner because they will be cleaning up dishes after. Will your mom or dad call at midnight and say, "hey, better go to bed. 8 a.m. class tomorrow."? That never happens. My job is not to teach students about science or how the stock market works (If I did, our future would not look good). My job is to teach students responsibility and every so often, teach a student that they are a leader.
Do you realize how important this is? My job is to teach students simple things like making sure they fill out a time sheet. The students I employ are cleaning coffee mugs and resetting furniture at the end of the night. If I asked them why they are doing that job their response would be, "because the mugs were dirty?" No. I can clean mugs. I don't think I needed a Master's Degree to get you to clean mugs. My job was to teach you that you need to be here on time. My job is to teach you that if those mugs do not get cleaned, nobody can drink coffee. My job is to teach you that if nobody can drink coffee, nobody is going to come back. My job is to teach you that if nobody comes back, you do not have a job. My job is to teach these students that something as simple as cleaning mugs is a very important job. My job is to teach students who have been given things their whole lives, who will most likely be working at very large companies at very high levels, that the simplest job is very important. I am trying to teach these students to appreciate the person who delivers mail, who fixes the printer, who cleans the carpet, that person is a very valuable asset to the company. Are students going to learn this in the classroom? Probably not.
I cannot imagine a world where my job does not exist. There is a lot more that goes into my job but this is the part that I enjoy the most. I love teaching students to be better people.
A lot of colleges and universities are changing their curriculum to enhance experiential learning. Experiential learning is the idea of bringing together observation, lecture, and hands on experience. This is the reason that a lot of people talk about how their internship taught them more than they ever learned in the classroom. Are students (or parents) really spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend countless hours in a classroom for nothing and then spend one semester at an internship and that is where the learning happens? If that was the case, most colleges would not exist. The reason students claim that they learned more in their internship than in the classroom is because everything they were absorbing in the classroom finally made sense at their internship. That is where my job comes into play. People are always talking about saving money and having to plan out expenses. Everyone talks about being busy and having to prioritize work and their social lives. Does this make sense to an 18 year old? Of course not. A lot of students coming to college have been given money any time they asked. When a student comes to live in a residence hall, they do not have chores that they have to get done. There is nobody telling them they need to get their homework done before dinner because they will be cleaning up dishes after. Will your mom or dad call at midnight and say, "hey, better go to bed. 8 a.m. class tomorrow."? That never happens. My job is not to teach students about science or how the stock market works (If I did, our future would not look good). My job is to teach students responsibility and every so often, teach a student that they are a leader.
Do you realize how important this is? My job is to teach students simple things like making sure they fill out a time sheet. The students I employ are cleaning coffee mugs and resetting furniture at the end of the night. If I asked them why they are doing that job their response would be, "because the mugs were dirty?" No. I can clean mugs. I don't think I needed a Master's Degree to get you to clean mugs. My job was to teach you that you need to be here on time. My job is to teach you that if those mugs do not get cleaned, nobody can drink coffee. My job is to teach you that if nobody can drink coffee, nobody is going to come back. My job is to teach you that if nobody comes back, you do not have a job. My job is to teach these students that something as simple as cleaning mugs is a very important job. My job is to teach students who have been given things their whole lives, who will most likely be working at very large companies at very high levels, that the simplest job is very important. I am trying to teach these students to appreciate the person who delivers mail, who fixes the printer, who cleans the carpet, that person is a very valuable asset to the company. Are students going to learn this in the classroom? Probably not.
I cannot imagine a world where my job does not exist. There is a lot more that goes into my job but this is the part that I enjoy the most. I love teaching students to be better people.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
May I call it the best month ever!? (See what I did there?)
Let me start off by apologizing for not writing a post in about 8 months. I have been busy with my Master's program, work, and general laziness.
Let me explain the title of this entry.
1) My birthday is on May 8th
2) I graduated from New England College with my Master's Degree in Higher Education Administration
3) I received a job offer from Dartmouth College
4) I bought a new car
5) Megan and I are moving into a new apartment
I turned 25 on the 8th and I am feeling it. Long gone are the days where I was able to play football, basketball, and lacrosse games all in the same week, sometimes the same day. I wake up sore and tired every Monday and Wednesday from playing basketball and softball. Sad, I know. I used to think that my father was out of shape when he would complain after he played basketball only once a week but he was doing that in his 50s. If you do the math then that means that I am in trouble. 25 has had its perks though. I think I have gained a few more facial hairs and I did not get carded once.
Igraduated from New England College with my Master's Degree in Higher Education Administration walked at the New England College graduation and will be finishing my Master's Degree in Higher Education Administration this June. Yes, I am still working on it but I was handed the empty degree holder. That is about as close as you can get. I am glad that I am finishing but I will miss class. It has pushed me to another career field and a passion that I had yet to find.
This led me to my future position at Dartmouth College. I am very excited for this new opportunity and experience. I am nervous as well. I am going to be working at one of the greatest schools in the country and the world. Without my Master's program, I would have never had this opportunity which taught me that if you have the opportunity to better yourself, go for it! This position will be bringing me closer to where I feel at home with higher education which is student involvement. I have always wanted to educate people and this is my chance.
I recently bought a new car. My old car was a great car but very unnecessary when it came to long commutes without snow. Now that I have a longer commute to work I felt that I needed a more economically friendly car. Finding the perfect car was not easy. I drove a Volkswagen Jetta and a Honda Fit before finding my new car. Both are great cars but did not fit my needs. One of which was meeting my requirements for my trade in. I finally found the car and dealership that met all of my needs. I bought a Nissan Versa. This is how the conversation went when I bought my car.
Salesman- Have you ever driven a Versa?
Me- Yes, a few times.
Salesman- Who do you know that has a Versa?
Me- My cousin, my cousin's wife, my other cousin, my cousin's sister-in-law, and my cousin bought another one a few months ago.
Salesman- Were you here when he bought it?
Me- Yes.
Salesman- That is where I know you from. Well, lets see if we can put you in a black Versa like your cousin.
I then went on to buy a black Nissan Versa, however, it is the new Versa so it looks a little different than his and Amber's. I picked it up Saturday and I am at about half a tank. I also drove over 200 miles since Saturday so that is pretty good. Much better than my Durango.
Finally, I am moving. I am not going to say where since I am a slightly private person but I will say that the town that I am moving to has everything that I need and more. I have always enjoyed spending time in this town and have great memories here. It will be sad to leave my current apartment but Megan and I are excited to move forward!
Let me explain the title of this entry.
1) My birthday is on May 8th
2) I graduated from New England College with my Master's Degree in Higher Education Administration
3) I received a job offer from Dartmouth College
4) I bought a new car
5) Megan and I are moving into a new apartment
I turned 25 on the 8th and I am feeling it. Long gone are the days where I was able to play football, basketball, and lacrosse games all in the same week, sometimes the same day. I wake up sore and tired every Monday and Wednesday from playing basketball and softball. Sad, I know. I used to think that my father was out of shape when he would complain after he played basketball only once a week but he was doing that in his 50s. If you do the math then that means that I am in trouble. 25 has had its perks though. I think I have gained a few more facial hairs and I did not get carded once.
I
This led me to my future position at Dartmouth College. I am very excited for this new opportunity and experience. I am nervous as well. I am going to be working at one of the greatest schools in the country and the world. Without my Master's program, I would have never had this opportunity which taught me that if you have the opportunity to better yourself, go for it! This position will be bringing me closer to where I feel at home with higher education which is student involvement. I have always wanted to educate people and this is my chance.
I recently bought a new car. My old car was a great car but very unnecessary when it came to long commutes without snow. Now that I have a longer commute to work I felt that I needed a more economically friendly car. Finding the perfect car was not easy. I drove a Volkswagen Jetta and a Honda Fit before finding my new car. Both are great cars but did not fit my needs. One of which was meeting my requirements for my trade in. I finally found the car and dealership that met all of my needs. I bought a Nissan Versa. This is how the conversation went when I bought my car.
Salesman- Have you ever driven a Versa?
Me- Yes, a few times.
Salesman- Who do you know that has a Versa?
Me- My cousin, my cousin's wife, my other cousin, my cousin's sister-in-law, and my cousin bought another one a few months ago.
Salesman- Were you here when he bought it?
Me- Yes.
Salesman- That is where I know you from. Well, lets see if we can put you in a black Versa like your cousin.
I then went on to buy a black Nissan Versa, however, it is the new Versa so it looks a little different than his and Amber's. I picked it up Saturday and I am at about half a tank. I also drove over 200 miles since Saturday so that is pretty good. Much better than my Durango.
Finally, I am moving. I am not going to say where since I am a slightly private person but I will say that the town that I am moving to has everything that I need and more. I have always enjoyed spending time in this town and have great memories here. It will be sad to leave my current apartment but Megan and I are excited to move forward!
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Seafood Festival excitement
This past weekend I attended the Hampton Beach Seafood
Festival for the first time ever. The plan was to attend it with my girlfriend
Megan but Friday night I no longer had a girlfriend.
Friday night started off a bit worrisome. I had made
reservations to have dinner at The Carriage House in Rye New Hampshire, a small
but very nice restaurant on Rye Beach. The plan was for Megan to get home around
5:20 and leave for dinner by 5:45. When 5:35 came around and Megan wasn’t home
I got worried. She finally showed up at 5:40 and we left at 5:55. 10 minutes of
driving and we get stuck in traffic. It took us 45 minutes to get from the
entrance to Rt 101 to exit 1 on Rt 101. I am lucky I wasn’t driving with my
windows down because those other drivers probably wouldn’t have liked what I
was saying about them or the names I was calling them. After that it was smooth
sailing.
Dinner was amazing, mostly because of the service by Brian
Murphy who works at The Carriage House. The food was delicious. Megan had
Fettuccini Carbonara and I had Chicken Picatta, both of which were cooked
perfectly. Megan and I both had a glass of wine which went very well with our entrees.
Brian brought us out three types of sorbet and fresh fruit. The Sorbet is made
right there at The Carriage House. The service and the food was amazing, as
well as the location. The houses in the area are what we picture in our dreams.
After dinner, Megan and I went to walk along Hampton Beach.
Megan and I talked for a little while and then made our way to the Hampton
Beach Seashell Stage. We walked behind the stage and onto the beach. That is
where I asked Megan to marry me.
We had help from a very sneaky photographer, Leon, to make
sure that we got pictures of the moment which was one of Megan’s requirements
for a proposal. The pictures were great.
We then went back to the Bourbeau’s house and had a family
party. We surprised Megan with this party because we had told her a small lie beforehand.
A couple of months ago Megan’s family had invited my parents to come to Hampton
Beach Seafood Festival. A month ago we told Megan that my parents were not
going to be able to come up. This was to keep her from thinking that I would
propose, mainly because she is a little snoop. She loves surprises but also
loves to ruin them. When we arrived at the Bourbeau’s house for the party,
Megan’s first words were, “What are your parents doing here?!” followed by, “Is
that Giggam!?” That was another surprise. Megan’s parents flew Megan’s
grandparents up from Florida. At the party were Megan’s father’s parents, Megan’s
mother’s parents, Megan’s mother’s cousin and husband, Megan’s sister,
brother-in-law and nephew, some neighbors, and my parents. It was a great night
and a great start to the weekend which included great food, presents, and Megan
reminding me that she loves her ring.
I no longer have a girlfriend but I am very happy about that.
Thank you to everyone who was a part of our engagement and everyone who was there for us leading up to it.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Timberman Triathlon
With this title I am assuming that my cousin Danny will read this.
In the past few weeks I have been doing some thinking about the overall concept of going to the gym. Why would I want to go to the gym? I don't enjoy pushing heavy objects into the air. I do not like running on a treadmill or an elliptacle machine. What if a heavy object landed on me after I just worked out? I should be saving my strength for moments like that. So, again, why would I want to go to the gym? My job does not require it and I enjoy not being in motion. I need some sort of reason to work out. Maybe a prize of some sort.
That is why I am going to sign up for the 2014 Timberman Sprint Triathlon. This will give me a reason to get in shape and train. The sprint triathlon is a 0.3 mile swim, 15 mile bike ride, and a 3 mile run. This all happens in Gilford, NH at Lake Winnipesaukee. I will have just over one year to train for this event.
Here is a bit of my background in endurance competitions
In the past few weeks I have been doing some thinking about the overall concept of going to the gym. Why would I want to go to the gym? I don't enjoy pushing heavy objects into the air. I do not like running on a treadmill or an elliptacle machine. What if a heavy object landed on me after I just worked out? I should be saving my strength for moments like that. So, again, why would I want to go to the gym? My job does not require it and I enjoy not being in motion. I need some sort of reason to work out. Maybe a prize of some sort.
That is why I am going to sign up for the 2014 Timberman Sprint Triathlon. This will give me a reason to get in shape and train. The sprint triathlon is a 0.3 mile swim, 15 mile bike ride, and a 3 mile run. This all happens in Gilford, NH at Lake Winnipesaukee. I will have just over one year to train for this event.
Here is a bit of my background in endurance competitions
- In 2008 I started running to get in shape
- October 3, 2008 I ran my first road race which was a 10K in Bristol, NH
- In November 2008 I ran a 15K in Bedford NH
- In December 2008 I ran a half marathon (13.1 miles) in Roxbury, CT
- From January 2009- June 2009 I ran multiple 5Ks including the C.A.R.S series, Freeze your buns run, and Will Run For Beer series.
- In July 2009 I competed in the New London Hospital Sprint Triathlon in New London, NH
- From August 2009-December 2009 I ran Cross Country for New England College.
- May 2010 I competed in the Flying Pig Marathon (26.2 miles) in Cincinnati, Ohio
- August 2010-December 2010 I ran Cross Country for New England College
- Spring 2012 I trained all-star runner Megan Bourbeau for the C.A.R.S series
Me Competing in the New London Hospital Triathlon
I hope that with my background in running I will not only finish the Timberman Sprint Triathlon, but also crush my friends Dan and Ryan Donegan who will also be competing.
To learn more about the Timberman Triathlon visit
Monday, June 24, 2013
Jimmy's Graduation
Last Thursday my brother Jimmy graduated from high school. It was interesting to see since this was my first graduation as a college graduate. I was watching my brother and his peers receive their diplomas and I had a thought. The decision to go to college must be completely different than it was six years ago when I graduated from high school. The media in general must scare these students. Is it true that a college degree is worthless in this economy? Will I be able to get a job right out of college? Will I have huge student loans and no income? Sadly, graduates are turning away from going to college. Why go to college if it is worthless? Well, this depends on your definition of worthless. The problem now a days is that college will not get you a job, but that is not what college is for. It will get you to think differently and let you experience things that you never would have if you did not go to college. This is why my cousin Danny and I created a bucket list for my brother. This bucket list is a list of 15 things that Jimmy has to get done by the time he graduates college.
#1 Join a non-academic club.
Jimmy loves free time. He enjoys the fact that he is able to do anything he wants with that time. He has no appointments or plans. This is why Danny and I put this on his bucket list. Jimmy will end up joining a pharmaceutical club since it is his major, but he will not join a club for fun or to learn something new. He will join pharmaceutical club because he thinks it will help him get a job. It won't though. So we made the rule that Jimmy needed to join a non-academic club. We even provided him with a list of all of the non-academic clubs at URI. The list is very long so I will name a few; Ghost Hunting Club, Quiddich, Humans vs Zombies, and Paintball club.
#2 Order a drink from 10 different countries.
Having known Jimmy since he was born, I know that if it were possible, he would drink Orange Jug for the rest of his life. (Orange Jug is a jug that is colored orange. Legend has it that our mother only puts water in the jug and it magically changes to a different flavor like lemonade, fruit punch, or ice tea.) This is why we included this task. Jimmy will hopefully get this done by the end of his freshmen year. He could be a cheater and drink Earl Grey Tea or order an espresso, but I hope he tries something new.
#3 Try 10 new meals
This is going to be tough. As much as we make fun of her for cooking chicken every night, my mother has provided my family with a different meal every night. Jimmy will most likely have to try different cultural cuisines to achieve a passing grade on this assignment.
#4 Go on alternative Spring Break.
I never went on one but wish I had. Alternative Spring Breaks are volunteer projects such as building houses or cleaning up a community. most schools will send students to areas such as South America, Africa, or impoverished towns in the USA.
#5 Go on the Cliff Walk in Newport, RI.
Being so close to Newport, it would be a shame if Jimmy did not see the huge mansions and try to impress women by telling them that his family owned one.
#6 Get coffee with a non-English speaking person.
The most interesting people are the ones who you have never talked to. Most people are afraid to talk to people who they cannot understand. this is why we provided Jimmy with a list of the phrase "Hello, my name is Jimmy. Would you like to get coffee with me?" in different languages.
#7 See Waterfire
This is a show that the Providence, RI theater district puts on after sundown. I am not 100% sure what it is but the pictures looked interesting and URI has a shuttle going to see it the first week of classes.
#8 Go on a school sponsored trip.
Many students do not take full advantage of this. Most schools provide day or overnight trips for little or no cost to the student. Some events could be a Celtics game, or visiting New York City for a couple of days.
#9 Read one book for pleasure per semester.
With all of the reading required for classes, students start to hate reading. This is why Jimmy is required to read one book for pleasure. It will prevent him from going insane between classes. It will also allow him to read some books that I know he did not read in high school such as the Great Gatsby or Catcher in the Rye. He will get to read these books without the time constraint.
#10 "Boston in a Day"
Boston in a Day is a list of sights and activities that Jimmy must complete in 1 day. Some of these events are free and some are cheap. Eating a slice of Pizza at Regina's Pizzeria is going to be his favorite. With access to the T station in Providence, this should not be a problem.
#11 See a performer you have never heard of.
Most schools put on shows for the students that are free. Most of the time these are unknown comedians or bands that are cheap for the school to hire. There is also the option of going to a local coffee shop and seeing a performer.
#12 Perform on stage.
This is any form of performing, the only rule is that he needs to be sober. It will make the experience even more enjoyable and memorable. Karaoke counts.
#13 Visit a local Island
This includes Long Island, Block Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. The best part about this is that Jimmy has the option to take a Ferry to these destinations. It is cheap and a fun way to explore a new area.
#14 Sit with a new person at 1 meal a week.
This will allow Jimmy to meet new people. In college, non of my friends ever wanted to wake up early to go to breakfast so I went by myself. I got to meet some interesting people that I never would have talked to because I was too busy with homework or spending time with my friends.
#15 Let this be the only 15 you gain
Yes the "Freshmen 15" is real. Yes, Jimmy is not allowed to gain the "Freshmen 15"
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price
I recently watched a documentary on the business practices
of Walmart titled, "Walmart:The High Cost of Low Price." After
watching this, I most likely will not shop there again. I recommend this
documentary to anyone who enjoys, well, documentaries and hates the economy
right now.
The documentary starts off talking about what happens when a
Walmart enters a community. What occurs is the same thing that happens anywhere
when a new chain store or restaurant comes into a city or town. People flock to
that one area and they do great business while the other businesses revenue
drops. Most of the time, however, people get tired of the new chain and
business goes back to normal at these smaller places. That is not the case with
Walmart. Walmart continues to do business. Walmart comes into a community with
promises of new jobs and bringing in more money to the town. For the first
month, maybe a year, this is true. That is until the other smaller businesses
finally lose all hope and shut down. Family businesses that have been around
nearly forever are forced to close because of Walmart. Since I am taking a
finance course in my Masters Program, I know that this is just business. The
better business comes out on top. The problem here is that there are two
losers, the owner/ workers of that small business and us, the consumer. When
these small businesses go out of business, we are losing something valuable.
Walmart employees are not trained on the items that they are selling. If you
ask anyone a question at Walmart, they read the same tag that you just read or
go in the back and look up the item online. If you go to a garage and ask a
question about a part or product, they will give you an real answer because
they have actually used the item. You lose the knowledge of the product when
you switch to Walmart. You also lose the quality. Walmart is known for how
cheap they can buy items for so they can keep their prices low. It does not
matter if the product works or not because they get get thousands of the same
item and do not care if a few work or not. Small businesses cannot afford to
sell bad products. When you buy from a small business, you are buying quality
because the small business cannot afford to sell bad products (there are
exceptions to this but those companies do not last long). Walmart's, and other
chains, have a Customer Service area for customers to return items. This should
be the first red flag. If there is an entire area devoted to returning items,
that means that the company knows they are giving you crap. They are prepared
for the customer to return items, they expect it. They know that their
employees either sold you a defective item or an item that you really did not
need. They do not care because they make it easy for you to return the item to
ensure that you keep coming back. By shopping at Walmart you lose quality
products and service. You cannot blame the hourly employees for their lack of
knowledge though. Most of these employees have very little training. Former
employees stated that they watch training videos discussing customer service
and how the store operates. The guy who helps you in the electronics area was
probably working in the household items area the day before. He has no idea
what he is talking about. If you ask him for a recommendation, he will most
likely tell you that Apple products are better and that Sony has the best
televisions. This will be based on the fact that everyone likes the IPad or
IPhone and the Sony television looks the brightest to him.
The documentary continues with the employees. Walmart Hourly employees make a grand total of about $13,000 a year. That is below the poverty line. This works to Walmart's advantage. Not only do they pay these employees little to nothing, but most of these employees spend their money at Walmart. These employees cannot afford to shop anywhere else. Walmart Hourly employees also work about 60 hours a week. This is because all hourly workers work overtime. They do not get paid overtime though. Most of the managers tell the hourly employees that there is no overtime money so they cannot pay them overtime but need people to work late because of the amount of work left to do that day. This is illegal. you need to get paid for every hour you work. So how come nobody says anything about this? The employees are scared. Since most of these employees are below the poverty line, they need this job. Walmart managers are constantly hiring to scare the employees into thinking that they will get fired if they do not work unpaid overtime hours. At $13,000 a year, these employees are living paycheck to paycheck. They cannot afford to be fired. Nor can they afford an attorney if they decide to sue Walmart for firing them. They lose either way.
The other issue with Walmart and its employees is the benefits. Walmart has a great insurance plan for its employees. Everyone gets the same benefits at the same cost. That is great except the hourly employees cannot afford it. One hourly employee stated that she was getting $75 taken out of every paycheck for health insurance for her children. That leaves her with less than $10,000 for the year. This employee stated that employees have to decide if they want healthcare or food. Another former employee said, "There’s no where around that there’s a company that makes this much money and still turns around and makes their associates go to the state for aid.” The documentary then goes on to show how much money employees get from state aid. One example is that in Massachusetts 4,172 Walmart workers and dependents are on state healthcare.
Walmart also costs the state money in other ways. Walmart is given subsidies to build their stores in certain areas. Walmart has been given over $1 Billion to build their stores. They create bidding wars between towns so they can get more money to build these stores. Towns are paying a billion dollar corporation to build stores in the towns. Meanwhile, these small businesses are given no money to keep their store running and are forced to sell their business. The problem does not stop there for the store owner. The price of all businesses drops significantly once a Walmart comes into town. Not only does the company lose value, but so do the buildings. These store owners are left with nothing. Most times there is not sale of a business or the store itself. The business shuts down and the building is left vacant. You would think that Walmart could not get any worse. It does. Since Walmart creates these bidding wars between towns, sometimes they get a better offer late in the game. There have been times where a Walmart has been completely built, and then another town offers more money. Walmart then says here is your money back, we are moving. These Walmarts stay in the area though. They will move a couple of miles down the road. An example is Cathedral City Missouri that gave Walmart $1.8 Million to build a store in their town. Walmart then backed out last minute and moved their store 2.2 miles to the city line into a town that offered them more money. Now this town is left with a huge, empty store that cannot be used for anything else. Now the town has to decide if they want to have a vacant, half finished Walmart standing there or use the money that it paid Walmart to build, to now knock it down. According to "Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices", there are 26,699,678 square feet of vacant Walmart stores (2004).
There is an entire section that talks about overseas business and how Walmart treats their factory workers. I will not get into this topic because we all know how these workers are treated. I will provide a little insight as to how these workers are treated. Walmart factory workers are given an option on where to live. They can live in the factory dorms or live off site. All workers pay a "dorm fee" but if you live off site you do not have to pay for utilities. If you live in the dorms you have to pay for every item you use and how much you use. Everything has a meter. Most workers work a 12 hour shift but get paid for 8. This would be at minimum wage but since most Asian countries do not have minimum wage, Walmart pays them as little as they can, and Walmart can go pretty low. Workers are then threatened into lying to health inspectors.
Walmart is also known for how secure their store is. In each store there is about 200 cameras and four security personnel. Their parking lots are not safe at all. 80% of all crimes at Walmart occur in the parking lot. That means that you are more likely to be robbed than Walmart. As soon as you purchase an item at Walmart, Walmart has no care for you. Walmart parking lots have been the place of murder, child and adult abduction, rape, assault, molestation, mugging, and theft. Walmart was brought to trial and it was discovered that Walmart had done a study as to how much crime would drop if they had security patrol the parking lots. I was discovered that at that particular Walmart, the crime rate would drop to 0. Walmart tried to hide this information so they would not need to pay for extra security.
Walmart has also, in the past, talked about how caring their employees are by advertising their work with charities. The Walton family, Sam Walton is the founder of Walmart and Sam's club, has donated less than 1% of their billion dollar fortune. Sam Walton's wife and 3 children each have an estimated $18 Billion. Walmart has a fund for Walmart employees who need assistance. Employees are able to donate directly out of their paycheck. These employees raised over $5 Million for this fund. The Walton family, as a whole, donated $6,000. To put that into perspective, if the Walton family donated 1% of their fortune to this fund, it would cost them $180 Million. 1/10th of a percent would be $18 Million. 1/100th of a percent would be $1.8 Million. Bill Gates has donated over 58% of his fortune to charities.
So, I will not longer be shopping at Walmart. The way that
they treat their employees and the communities that they are in is enough for
me to spend the extra money to shop elsewhere. I encourage you to watch this
documentary and make your own opinion on the topic.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Moving Day
This past Sunday I moved into my new condo with my girlfriend Megan. It was a long process to get everything all set but we finally got through it. I had no idea how much goes into getting a new place, whether it be apartment, condo, or a home.
First of all, I do not own a lot of stuff. My sophomore year of college I moved myself into my dorm room at New England College, and my friend James into his dorm room at Plymouth State University. We packed all of our belongings into my Volkswagen Jetta and made the trip up to New Hampshire. I will repeat what I just said. Two guys over 6 feet tall moving into college fit all of their belongings into a Volkswagen Jetta. I figured that if 20 clowns can fit into a Volkwagen Beetle then this should be a walk in the park. It was not. There was about an inch between my chest and the steering wheel once we got on the road. Packing a refrigerator, TV, two sets of skis, clothes and food took up a lot of room in the car. Needless to say, I still only have enough stuff to barely pack a small compact car.
Megan, on the other hand, has a ton of stuff. In her defense she is moving out of her childhood home. Megan was nervous about getting everything done for weeks before, while I did what I naturally do which is sit back and relax until the night before and then freak out. It worked like a charm. I got to enjoy my days off and did little to no parking until Thursday night. When Thursday night came along, I got down to business. When I say that I got down to business I am really just saying that I opened a box that I never unpacked and threw the items out that I did not want. Then, I resealed the box and was all set.
Friday night we set out to our new condo with cleaning supplies and all of our fragile items. Megan, her mom and her sister were in charge of cleaning. Since my cleaning skills are sub-par, my job was to rearrange the closet. Our closet is a huge walk-in that has shelves that can be rearranged to our liking. The previous owner had more shoes that my entire family so I had to take the shelves down so the poles could be installed to hang our clothes. This job should have taken me hours to do but I had my trusty side kick Ben to help me. Ben is Megan's Sister's child that is almost 2 1/2. He is a wiz with a plastic tool set and can drill a carpeted staircase like you wouldn't believe. It was his first time rearranging a closet as well so the two rookies were at it. My job was to put the shelves on the wall and Ben's job was to ask "What's this?" I gave the best answers that I could to Ben. As a side note to Melissa and Nate, most of the information I gave your child was made up on the spot. If he tells you that he knows the names of items and their use, most of it is incorrect.
Saturday then came along and my parents and brother Jimmy came up from CT. I went with Megan's mother to the apartment to bring in the rest of the kitchen items. My parents, Jimmy, and Uncle Billy met us at the apartment. We brought in a few items, including my Bruins Foam Head! After this we went to dinner at Margaritas. We then left, met up with Megan who was working at a wedding, and did some shopping.
Sunday was the big day. My dad and I went to pick up the Uhaul and got back to the Bourbeau's house where half of our heavy items were waiting for us in the driveway. Megan's brother-in-law, Jimmy, my dad, and I were in charge of the bigger items while Megan, her mom, my mom, and Melissa were in charge of bringing items from the garage to the truck. After taking apart the couch, removing a door to get the box spring out, and many pictures being taken, we were on our way. We got to the condo around 10:50 AM. We were done unloading the Uhaul at around 11:30 AM. My friends Steve and Nate came to help so we had a grand total of 10 people unloading cars. After the Uhaul was unloaded, my dad and megan's brother-in-law brought the Uhaul back. The made it back to the condo just in time to miss all of the unpacking and for pizza to arrive. Megan's dad was also very fortunate to make it for pizza and beer but miss the unpacking as he was at a conference.
After moving everything in and eating pizza and drinking beer, we hung up some pictures and clocks (with my wonderful new screw gun that Melissa and Nate gave to us as a moving in gift). Then Megan and I said good bye to everyone and sat in our new condo. After about 5 minutes of being shocked that we had our own place we realized that we left my computer in her mom's car, did not have cable, and did not have a dvd player. We decided to go grocery shopping and then played the card game war. After an hour and realizing that War was never going to end, we gave up.
It was a stressful couple of days but we got through it with the help of some great movers.
First of all, I do not own a lot of stuff. My sophomore year of college I moved myself into my dorm room at New England College, and my friend James into his dorm room at Plymouth State University. We packed all of our belongings into my Volkswagen Jetta and made the trip up to New Hampshire. I will repeat what I just said. Two guys over 6 feet tall moving into college fit all of their belongings into a Volkswagen Jetta. I figured that if 20 clowns can fit into a Volkwagen Beetle then this should be a walk in the park. It was not. There was about an inch between my chest and the steering wheel once we got on the road. Packing a refrigerator, TV, two sets of skis, clothes and food took up a lot of room in the car. Needless to say, I still only have enough stuff to barely pack a small compact car.
Megan, on the other hand, has a ton of stuff. In her defense she is moving out of her childhood home. Megan was nervous about getting everything done for weeks before, while I did what I naturally do which is sit back and relax until the night before and then freak out. It worked like a charm. I got to enjoy my days off and did little to no parking until Thursday night. When Thursday night came along, I got down to business. When I say that I got down to business I am really just saying that I opened a box that I never unpacked and threw the items out that I did not want. Then, I resealed the box and was all set.
Friday night we set out to our new condo with cleaning supplies and all of our fragile items. Megan, her mom and her sister were in charge of cleaning. Since my cleaning skills are sub-par, my job was to rearrange the closet. Our closet is a huge walk-in that has shelves that can be rearranged to our liking. The previous owner had more shoes that my entire family so I had to take the shelves down so the poles could be installed to hang our clothes. This job should have taken me hours to do but I had my trusty side kick Ben to help me. Ben is Megan's Sister's child that is almost 2 1/2. He is a wiz with a plastic tool set and can drill a carpeted staircase like you wouldn't believe. It was his first time rearranging a closet as well so the two rookies were at it. My job was to put the shelves on the wall and Ben's job was to ask "What's this?" I gave the best answers that I could to Ben. As a side note to Melissa and Nate, most of the information I gave your child was made up on the spot. If he tells you that he knows the names of items and their use, most of it is incorrect.
Saturday then came along and my parents and brother Jimmy came up from CT. I went with Megan's mother to the apartment to bring in the rest of the kitchen items. My parents, Jimmy, and Uncle Billy met us at the apartment. We brought in a few items, including my Bruins Foam Head! After this we went to dinner at Margaritas. We then left, met up with Megan who was working at a wedding, and did some shopping.
Sunday was the big day. My dad and I went to pick up the Uhaul and got back to the Bourbeau's house where half of our heavy items were waiting for us in the driveway. Megan's brother-in-law, Jimmy, my dad, and I were in charge of the bigger items while Megan, her mom, my mom, and Melissa were in charge of bringing items from the garage to the truck. After taking apart the couch, removing a door to get the box spring out, and many pictures being taken, we were on our way. We got to the condo around 10:50 AM. We were done unloading the Uhaul at around 11:30 AM. My friends Steve and Nate came to help so we had a grand total of 10 people unloading cars. After the Uhaul was unloaded, my dad and megan's brother-in-law brought the Uhaul back. The made it back to the condo just in time to miss all of the unpacking and for pizza to arrive. Megan's dad was also very fortunate to make it for pizza and beer but miss the unpacking as he was at a conference.
After moving everything in and eating pizza and drinking beer, we hung up some pictures and clocks (with my wonderful new screw gun that Melissa and Nate gave to us as a moving in gift). Then Megan and I said good bye to everyone and sat in our new condo. After about 5 minutes of being shocked that we had our own place we realized that we left my computer in her mom's car, did not have cable, and did not have a dvd player. We decided to go grocery shopping and then played the card game war. After an hour and realizing that War was never going to end, we gave up.
It was a stressful couple of days but we got through it with the help of some great movers.
Friday, May 31, 2013
The past week
So, this past week has been one of good news and even better news. The good news is that at the request of my friends and my girlfriend, I have started to watch Arrested Development on Netflix. It is hilarious and may be the funniest show I have ever seen. My favorite comedy came to an end this past season. I am of course talking about The Office. I am a fan of clever humor and character reaction. With that being said, you can probably understand why Arrested Development is now my favorite comedy show. For those of you who do not know what Arrested Development is I could try to explain it, but that is not what this is about. I am not a TV show critic, nor would I expect anyone to look to me for advice on what TV show to watch. As my dad would say, "You think that anything you see is the 'funniest show ever.'" That is a very true statement. I am easily amused. I do advise anyone who has Netflix to watch Arrested Development. For anyone who does not have Netflix, you should get it. Unless you never watch television, it is a great investment. For $8 a month they offer unlimited online use. I do not think anything else is necessary. Countless TV shows, movies, and documentaries. This past week alone I watched Big Fish (My new favorite movie), I'm Still Here (Mocumentary produced by Casey Affleck about Joaquin Phoenix's life after retiring from acting to pursue a rap career), and Into the Wild (Movie starring Emile Hirsch telling the story of Christopher McCandless who goes into the Alaskan Wilderness with minimal supplies so he can try to live life alone). 3 movies in 1 week. Go back a few years, that would have cost me $15 and I would have to return them in the next few days. I can watch all of these again and again without any worry of late charges.
Also, this is not all that I watched. That was not including Arrested Development and a documentary called Hungry for Change.
Hungry for Change is very interesting because it talks about how addicting food is and how unhealthy it is. It goes into detail about how everything has sugar in it, which is what makes the food addicting. It also explains why we can eat so much candy and unhealthy food and not feel full. Back in the day, we are talking B.C.. our ancestors were hunters and gatherers. Our bodies needed fats and sugars to survive. This was when food was scarce. Our bodies wanted it. Now, 2013, our bodies still want it, however, we do not need it. Food is in abundance. Unfortunately, our food is not natural. Have you ever wondered why you can only eat, maybe two apples, but can chow down an entire package of Oreos? That is because our body wants sugars and fats. We can get sugars out of apples (Fructose) and Oreos. However, Apples have vitamins that our bodies need. Oreos do not. When we eat apples, we get that nutritional value and our cells tell our body that they go the nutrition that they need. Oreos have no nutritional value, except 4% our daily value of iron per cookie. Our body wants fats and sugars so it will tell our brain to keep eating and our cells are looking for vitamins that they are not getting so they are not telling our brain that they are full. Thus, we can eat Oreo after Oreo and then complain when we get fat. This goes for all types of cookies, candies, and most snacks that we have in our cabinets. Fast food does this also. How many burgers can you eat when you cook them on a grill? Probably 2 and feel satisfied. How many McDonald's burgers can you eat in one sitting? If you did not know how bad they were for you and did not consciously stop, probably 4-5. This happens because the meat you get is not good grade meat so it has less vitamins and nutritional value. Mix that with iceberg lettuce and ketchup and mustard and you can keep eating all you want. The scary part is that we do not realize how bad it actually is for us. We need to eat to survive. This is the biggest problem. We are addicted to our food. Everyone needs to eat. Cigarettes are addicting and kill millions of people per year but people do not need to smoke. I have never smoked in my life because I never needed to start. There is no reason for me to smoke so I do not smoke. There is a reason for me to eat. I have been eating from day 1. Everyone has. People need to eat. So if you make food addicting, you affect every person in the world.
Now that I have you depressed I will present the even better news. The even better news is that I got my test results back. Now most of you have no idea what test I am talking about (although, I do not know who reads my blog so if only my family does then you all know) so I will explain a small amount. I had a test, it came back negative, I am fine. That is about all you need to know about my part of the test.
After getting that news, I went rock climbing at Evolution Rock and Fitness in Concord. It is a great place to rock climb. They have a bouldering area and rock walls that are sky high (Or at least up to the ceiling of the warehouse style building). They also offer yoga and exercise machines for members. It is $16 to climb for the day and then about $5 to rent a harness and shoes. You do need to be certified to belay someone but they will certify you right there and it takes all of 5 minutes for them to show you and certify you. It was my second time going there and I will say that my climbing skills are terrible but I improved a bit and am still working at it. After that workout I ended up at Tandy's Top Shelf (Weekly Wednesday stop for Happy Hour), went to my cousin Danny's house for some Rummykub, and tried Magic Hat Cucumber Hibiscus.
Let me explain Magic Hat Cucumber Hibiscus. About a week ago, Danny told me that it was the worst beer he had ever tasted. He told me that he actually dumped out a bottle of it. As always, I decided to give it a shot because I enjoy trying new things. With all eyes (just Danny's) upon me, I took my first sip. I actually enjoyed it. After my first sip I could picture the scene in the Movie The Other Guys when Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg are talking to Steve Coogan in his office about his company being under investigation.
you can watch the clip here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKNvikVWWsk
So if you get a chance to try it, give Magic Hat Cucumber Hibiscus its shot. It may not be the best beer you ever tasted but it will be the first time you tasted a beer like that.
Also, this is not all that I watched. That was not including Arrested Development and a documentary called Hungry for Change.
Hungry for Change is very interesting because it talks about how addicting food is and how unhealthy it is. It goes into detail about how everything has sugar in it, which is what makes the food addicting. It also explains why we can eat so much candy and unhealthy food and not feel full. Back in the day, we are talking B.C.. our ancestors were hunters and gatherers. Our bodies needed fats and sugars to survive. This was when food was scarce. Our bodies wanted it. Now, 2013, our bodies still want it, however, we do not need it. Food is in abundance. Unfortunately, our food is not natural. Have you ever wondered why you can only eat, maybe two apples, but can chow down an entire package of Oreos? That is because our body wants sugars and fats. We can get sugars out of apples (Fructose) and Oreos. However, Apples have vitamins that our bodies need. Oreos do not. When we eat apples, we get that nutritional value and our cells tell our body that they go the nutrition that they need. Oreos have no nutritional value, except 4% our daily value of iron per cookie. Our body wants fats and sugars so it will tell our brain to keep eating and our cells are looking for vitamins that they are not getting so they are not telling our brain that they are full. Thus, we can eat Oreo after Oreo and then complain when we get fat. This goes for all types of cookies, candies, and most snacks that we have in our cabinets. Fast food does this also. How many burgers can you eat when you cook them on a grill? Probably 2 and feel satisfied. How many McDonald's burgers can you eat in one sitting? If you did not know how bad they were for you and did not consciously stop, probably 4-5. This happens because the meat you get is not good grade meat so it has less vitamins and nutritional value. Mix that with iceberg lettuce and ketchup and mustard and you can keep eating all you want. The scary part is that we do not realize how bad it actually is for us. We need to eat to survive. This is the biggest problem. We are addicted to our food. Everyone needs to eat. Cigarettes are addicting and kill millions of people per year but people do not need to smoke. I have never smoked in my life because I never needed to start. There is no reason for me to smoke so I do not smoke. There is a reason for me to eat. I have been eating from day 1. Everyone has. People need to eat. So if you make food addicting, you affect every person in the world.
Now that I have you depressed I will present the even better news. The even better news is that I got my test results back. Now most of you have no idea what test I am talking about (although, I do not know who reads my blog so if only my family does then you all know) so I will explain a small amount. I had a test, it came back negative, I am fine. That is about all you need to know about my part of the test.
After getting that news, I went rock climbing at Evolution Rock and Fitness in Concord. It is a great place to rock climb. They have a bouldering area and rock walls that are sky high (Or at least up to the ceiling of the warehouse style building). They also offer yoga and exercise machines for members. It is $16 to climb for the day and then about $5 to rent a harness and shoes. You do need to be certified to belay someone but they will certify you right there and it takes all of 5 minutes for them to show you and certify you. It was my second time going there and I will say that my climbing skills are terrible but I improved a bit and am still working at it. After that workout I ended up at Tandy's Top Shelf (Weekly Wednesday stop for Happy Hour), went to my cousin Danny's house for some Rummykub, and tried Magic Hat Cucumber Hibiscus.
Let me explain Magic Hat Cucumber Hibiscus. About a week ago, Danny told me that it was the worst beer he had ever tasted. He told me that he actually dumped out a bottle of it. As always, I decided to give it a shot because I enjoy trying new things. With all eyes (just Danny's) upon me, I took my first sip. I actually enjoyed it. After my first sip I could picture the scene in the Movie The Other Guys when Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg are talking to Steve Coogan in his office about his company being under investigation.
you can watch the clip here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKNvikVWWsk
So if you get a chance to try it, give Magic Hat Cucumber Hibiscus its shot. It may not be the best beer you ever tasted but it will be the first time you tasted a beer like that.
Friday, May 24, 2013
I figure I will make my second post an introduction as to who I am. I currently work at New England College and am working towards my Masters Degree in Higher Education Administration. I attended New England College for my undergraduate as well. While there I ran cross country, was a Resident Advisor, was a brother of the Phi Mu Delta Fraternity, and a member of the criminal justice club.
I enjoy spending time with friends and family and am always looking for a new activity to try. I enjoy spending time outdoors but prefer to be moving when I am. I enjoy hiking, golf, archery, horseshoes, basketball, and just playing catch, whether it be lacrosse, football or baseball. I also enjoy shooting at the gun range and the occasional beer or three.
I am originally from Connecticut but have relocated to New Hampshire. Maybe one day I will end up somewhere else, but for now NH is my home.
I hope that whoever reads this will provide topics for posts or debates. I always enjoy discussions because that is how I learn best. I enjoy learning, so that is what I hope to get out of this.
I enjoy spending time with friends and family and am always looking for a new activity to try. I enjoy spending time outdoors but prefer to be moving when I am. I enjoy hiking, golf, archery, horseshoes, basketball, and just playing catch, whether it be lacrosse, football or baseball. I also enjoy shooting at the gun range and the occasional beer or three.
I am originally from Connecticut but have relocated to New Hampshire. Maybe one day I will end up somewhere else, but for now NH is my home.
I hope that whoever reads this will provide topics for posts or debates. I always enjoy discussions because that is how I learn best. I enjoy learning, so that is what I hope to get out of this.
Hello and welcome to my blog. The whole reason this blog is being created is to keep me writing in the summer months between my Masters Degree courses. What I am hoping for is to get input from anyone who is following this blog, whether it be a one time reader or someone who will be reading my blog often. I want input on what to write. You are the readers so why not give you a chance to pick the topic. I am willing to talk about any topic, although you may not agree with my answers or opinions. I also enjoy a good debate so if you do not agree please respond, but I will ask you to articulate your reasoning. Well then, lets begin...
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