Where the heck did October go?

Is it seriously already November tomorrow? I’m in shock, it seems like the fall just whizzed by, and stations are already stocking up on the Christmas music. Not that I’m complaining, I’m an unabashed holiday fan, with Christmas being my favorite holiday by far. So, tis the season, kids, get ready.

Weekend was a pretty slow one. Friday night we went to a costume party for the Medical School. We didn’t even know we were going until 5:30, the party was at 8, and we still managed costumes that people were impressed with. Not bad if I do say so myself. Saturday was mostly just me getting some work done around the house that needed addressed, combined with a birthday dinner for a friend and then ice skating on Saturday night. I’m hell on skates. My skating actually got me hit on by a fifteen year old. Or she was mocking me. Hard to tell with the kids, these days.

This weekend also plans to be a slow one. Frankly, two slow weekend in a row is perfectly fine by me! It won’t be slow once the holiday’s role around, so I welcome it now.

Thoughts at the closing bell:

• Mid-term elections are in one week. While I’ll be voting Republican in our district (our democratic Rep. is scary in how out-of-it she is), I’m pretty sure the Democrats will be taking the house, if not the Senate as well. It’ll be pretty interesting though, next week, and I look forward to staying up and watching the numbers roll in. Kind of a tradition with me. I watched the 2004 elections role in from the conference room of a golf and wine resort. Think I’ll scale it back this time.
• Once again, I’ll most likely be the leader in sales among the FSM’s in the Indianapolis area. I’m pretty happy with the success I’ve been having on the job. Not to say I’m still not looking to move on to bigger things.
• That being said, the law school application process kicks into full gear in the next week. Want to get it in for preferred-selection processing.
• Seriously, I’m ok with the Tigers losing the World Series. I really am just glad they were there, it was a fun ride. I still have Michigan gunning for a National title, and that Nov. 18th matchup with THE Ohio State looks to be a big one!
• An Alabama teen is being charged in the rape of – his mother. Yup, that’s just what the state needed in the image department
• Currently listening to four free CD’s that I got through BMG: Mama Tried, Merle Haggard; Black on Both Sides, Mos Def; The Man Comes Around, Johnny Cash; You Could Have It So Much Better, Franz Ferdinand. I’d say that’s pretty diverse
• The New York Times has an article on a recent scientific that illustrates an direct correlation between the ageing process and the number of calories we intake in our diets. It showed the effects that caloric distribution played in the aging of monkeys and mice. Pretty amazing stuff, actually.

One love to you all, holla atcha boy.

New to the shampoo isle – Dawn Dishwashing Liquid

After stalling, and stalling, and stalllllllling, I finally went in to get my haircut Tuesday. A quick little background – from about 10th grade, up until about my junior year of college, only one person cut my hair. That person was my good friend Rachel. Rachel went to my youth group, was a few years older, and got her stylist license right out of high school. So, I always went to her, even driving all the way to Mobile for a haircut while still in college.

Obviously, once I moved to Indianapolis, going to Rachel was pretty much out of the question. Thus, I was forced to find a new place for haircuts. This is where I was introduced to the Clips of Greatness – also known as Great Clips. Great Clips is basically strip-malled, mass produced hair styling. They also suck. No, seriously, they suck.

So, when a new hair shop opened up right next to our house, Holly and myself both decided we’d give it a try. She went first, and liked it (and affirmed our suspecion that all the sylist’s are men and fab-u-loooous). So, I decided to go in this week. Now, since it had been since, oh, August, and since my hair grows at the rate of the Chinese economy, it had gotten pretty ridiculously long. Throw on top of that the fact that I’ve been using Murray’s Pomade (which is designed for our brothers of a darker complexion), and you can see Mark, the stylist, had his work cut out for him.

He went to shampoo my hair (a treat I had since given up on receiving after Great Clips), and said he was using a stripping shampoo that would get out all the gunk. Three lather and rinses later, and Murray’s was still there. Well, he said that he thought enough was out that he could cut it. As he cut it, though, you could see Murray’s was still in full force in my hair. So, with Holly sitting there watching this poor guy gunk up his hands, she acted on a “joke” suggestion he made, and she went next door to the neighborhood coffee shop, Vic’s, and got some Dawn dishwashing soap. When she arrived, Mark proclaimed, “thank God”, and proceeded to walk me back to the sink and washed my hair again – with Dawn. And you know what…while mostly gone, Murrary’s still was fighting till the bitter end.

Lesson for the day, kids – Be careful what you throw in your hair.

Thoughts at the closing bell:

• Well, it’s pretty much over for the Tigers in the WS. Last night’s stomach punch of a game put them down 3-1. I really have to stop for perspective. Just three seasons ago, they lost an AL record 119 games. Can I really be upset that they lose the World Series. I should be happy that they’re here. Competitive people can’t think that way, though.
• Nov. 7th is just around the corner, and I really think the Dems are pulling this one off. I didn’t think so even as of a few weeks back, but the Foley scandal just seemed to push alot of people over the edge to the Dem side. Can’t blame them, but in our district, I’ll be voting Republican. Our US Rep., Julia Carson, is a vegetable of a woman who I’m convinced is completely controlled by handlers. When you hear her speak, she’s just so old and seemingly senile, I almost feel sad for her. Not sad enough to vote for her, though.
• The Dow Jones has continued it’s movement upward, after breaking the symbolic 12000 closing last week. Too bad we don’t have the money to play the market.
• Another good month at work. I like it well enough around here, but I look forward to the chance to be a full time student again.
• As I thought, the GOP is working fast to try and capitalize on New Jersey’s recognition of gay unions being equal to heterosexual unions. I’m surprised it took them two full days.
• I’m Fergilicious.

One love to you all, holla atcha boy.

I swear, it was dirt…

I’m a little unstructured today, so it’s another entry of quick hits:

• The Tigers were up and down this weekend, and they head to Detroit with the Series tied at a game a piece. Kenny Rogers is at the center of a “foreign substance” scandal, with people and players claiming he may have had some pine tar on his pitching hand. Well…he is “The Gambler”
• I got my LSAT score back. I received a 161, which is in the 84th percentile. I am, as you can guess, fairly happy with this outcome.
• First weekend away from the wife. She went on Saturday with her girlfriends to Southern Indiana. It was pretty sad and lonely around the Heaton abode, as I just worked on chores all day Sunday.  Boo to the wife being away, I say.
• Had a ton of MBA group work this weekend, meeting with them three times over the weekend to finish up our last project for this class. And yes, I’m overwhelmingly glad it’s done.
• I mentioned to Holly, I feel like I’ve been confronted alot with poverty and want alot recently. In at least three different instances in the past week. I found myself face to face in situations with people who were clearly below the poverty line. Everytime, it was a shock, and I don’t know why. It’s not that I’m clueless, in fact, I feel like I’m very educated on the wealth disparity in America. I suppose that doesn’t take away from the feelings when you see it up close. In particular, seeing as a little girl recoiled from a women on the bus who was dirty and very possibly homeless, was just very visually jarring. I don’t know why this is speaking to me so.
• Michigan won, Tigers got a game, my fantasy team looks like it’ll be pulling off a win after a colossal choke job last week - overall, good weekend for sports.
• Someone should warn London about a possible Fergie attack on the London Bridge. Terrorism must be stopped at all instances.

One love to you all, holla atcha boy

“You sounded a little like a politician…”

That was one of the pieces of feedback I was given this past weekend, during the wrapup of a 1.5 credit, weekend long business model. On Saturday, I played the role of the VP of International Markets for Foodcorp. During the day, there were twelve of us, all in different areas of the company, composing memos, attending meetings, and basically trying to sketch out an idea of a business plan with only background memos and the annual report to work with. Overall, we did very well, and the financial results from our decisions were very positive.

On Sunday, we had a peer review session. I was pretty happy with my feedback, as I was very well complemented on my networking and communication skills. The only negative feedback that I received was that I possibly could allow people a little more freedom to speak in group situations, and that I should cut back on the “memos” and give a little more face time. The one piece that I felt would be most helpful was that I was told I should have actually spoke up a little more with ideas, something I’ll definitely take away from this.

In non-school related events, Saturday night saw me place my first bet at a racetrack! Holly’s advisor has a birthday party there at Indiana Downs that night, so Holly and me headed out there for free food and drinks, and the chance to bet on the horses. I placed bets in four races, and by winning in the LAST race that we bet on, I came out ahead by two dollars for the night. Even though I came out ahead, though, I don’t believe I’ll be “pickin ponies” again anytime soon. Friday night was the Christian Medical Association bon fire and wiener roast. It was a good, if not cold, time. In the end, me and the wife got to spend a good amount of needed time together this past weekend.

Thoughts at the closing bell:

• THE TIGERS ARE IN THE WORLD SERIES! Ask me if I thought I’d be saying that three years ago, and I would have died laughing. Saturday night is game one, there might be a guys night at the Heaton Household.
• Michigan won this weekend as well. Heck, even the Lions won. Just a good weekend for sports.
• I’ve discovered a new online distraction, Protrade.com. It works like the stock market, except instead of stocks, you’re trading athletes. Fun concept.
• Venezuela’s bid to get a seat on the UN Security Council has failed. The world (especially the US) can breath a sigh of relief with Chavez’s failure to get yet another public pulpit for his idiotic ramblings.
• Speaking of the Security Council, they have also passed their sanctions for North Korea in response to their recent detonation of an atomic weapon. The sanctions are entirely economic, and the buzz is that China and South Korea still plan to continue most economic activity with North Korea. Wow, that’ll really teach ‘em, guys, good idea. Kim Jong-Il knew that they wouldn’t abandon him, and he’s played this out very well. Oh, for the days of secret CIA assassination attempts.
• For the Foodcorp Class, I took the Meyers-Briggs personality assesment. So you know, I’m an ENFJ.

One love to you all, holla atcha boy.

Hey Kyyyyyle….

No, I’m not referencing the hilarious and often controversial “South Park”. That’s what I’ve been here every five minutes for the last two days while being in loan processing training. There is a woman in our training who can not go five minutes without asking the most ridiculously obvious, “I-wasn’t-paying-attention” type of questions. She constantly bombards our instructor with “Hey Kyyyyyle”s. This man has the patience of Job, I’ll say that much. She would have already gotten a punch in the ovaries from me (figuratively: I’d never advocate violence against women).

This has become one of those weeks. Holly and myself got to spend the weekend at her parents property down in Southern Indiana, attending the first ever Bauser Family Reunion/Pig Roast. I ate enough to feed a small village in Bali, and I’m still eating left overs. Some highlights from the weekend include:

1. Holly’s sister and aunt getting a bit friendly with the White Zin and jamming out together to Johnny Cash
2. Holly’s grandmother performing “that Ol’ College Rhythm”. It’s a song and dance number she performed as a child to get buttons from other kids. She’s still got the moves, I’ll give her that!
3. Taking the four wheelers out all around the property
4. Golfing with Holly’s uncle, and being told “Yeah, you get it on the green, just add two strokes and move on”. Needless to say, his score reflected that mentality.

All in all, it was a great time. This week, though, has racked up in busyness. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow is training at work for loan processing. I’ve had class Monday night and last night, and I have it tonight as well. Then Saturday and Sunday I have an all-weekend class worth 1. 5 credits that’s a business model. Everyone has an assigned role; you’re looking at the VP of International Markets.

Thoughts at the closing bell:

• Tigers are in the ALCS! After taking three straight to beat the Yank’s, the Tigs looked real impressive last night against the A’s. I think it’s a trip to the WS (knock on wood)
• The Money and the Power is making me rethink about Vegas and whether I should contribute to it, or gambling in general. To see just how connected the city still is to this day to the criminal underworld, politics, governments…it’s enough to make a guy pessimistic about the virtues of those calling the shots.
• So North Korea has pulled the trigger and possibly detonated a nuclear weapon (while the seismograph readings have confirmed an explosion, no one is 100% that it was indeed a nuclear explosion…but the implication is enough), I’m ready to see what China and Russia do here. Long advocates of placating and talking with North Korea, I don’t see how they can accept anything short of the harshest sanctions. No one wants to step to armed conflict, though. This is not the dilapidated and depleted Iraqi Army sitting across the 38th parallel.
• Who’s ready for hockey???? No one…anyone???
• I’m starting to get sick, and the temps are starting to touch in the thirty’s. Yes, winter, I know you’re coming, I know.

One love to you all, holla atcha boy.

Group Projects build “charachter”!

I’d like to look back on this past weekend and think of it as a “learning” experience. In reality, though, I just feel like it was a weekend where a little more of my life was drained away. My Group in the MBA program, Team Six-”cess”, had to present a 12 minute PowerPoint presentation on Monday night. It involved the matriculation of a three-page industry analysis for our company, Anheuser-Busch.

To get the paper and the PowerPoint done, we spend five hours in the Library on Saturday and seven hours in the library on Sunday! Add that on to the approx five and a half hours Saturday morning spent taking the LSAT Saturday morning, and I spent approx. 18 hours of this past weekend in the library. Luckily, Holly had her block exams this week, so she was in the same boat. Needless to say, the Heaton’s were no fun this past weekend. We even missed Polka Boy on Friday – we NEVER miss Polka Boy.

Speaking of the LSAT, I thought it went relativley well. I felt I struggled a bit on one of the sections I usually excel at, but I felt I excelled on one of the sections I usually struggle with, so the balance helped me feel, overall, pretty good about the experience. I’ll find out how I did in about two more weeks. Then, it’s on to the application process. JD/MBA here I come?

Thoughts at the closing bell:

• This may sound weird, but I really do feel smarter reading the Wall Street Journal every morning. That combined with the daily New York Times, and I am feeling pretty cosmopolitan and edumacated.
• I missed the latest Flavor of Love this past weekend do to extensive studying. I am going to miss it this next weekend as well, because…
• This weekend if the Bauser Family Reunion and Pig Roast down in Owensburg, IN. Camo shirts and Miller Genuine Draft will be abundant. I love it.
• The Mark Foley scandal is absolutley repugnant. Even worse, his last minute plea of, “Oh, but I’m gay, and I was molested by a priest” is simply horrifying. If it wasn’t for the fact the my Democratic Congresswoman is a clueless idiot, the Dems would have my vote sewn up.
• Tigers dropped game 1 of the playoffs to the Yankees. I can’t get mad about it, I’m just happy we’re here. Maybe that’s their problem – they are too.
• I want to go on an adventure. I know, some would say “Andy, you just went to freakin Hawaii!”. What’s your point. Call me a selfish Travel Whore, but I want to go somewhere. Australian Outback is financially a bit off. White Water rafting??? Could be more realistic.
• College Night is being held in the Student Activity’s Center (The McChesney Center, now) at Montevallo this year do to construction and renovation to Palmer Auditorium. It breaks my heart.
• Paris Hilton was slapped by the ex-Mrs. Travis Barker for apparently getting a little tongue action from Travis. Travis Barker is an excellent example of a guy who wouldn’t even be touched by this women if not for the money. CelebReality for sure.
• Today is Holly’s birthday!!! Happy 26th, honey! Tomorrow is my Mom’s. For her sake, I won’t throw that number out there…but it’s slightly north of 26.

One love to you all, Holla atcha boy.