Thriller

Big Fan of the song by Michael Jackson. I kind of like the video too, because the dancing is pretty cool. Oh... and the zombies too. :)

I wanted to upload the music video from youtube, but it's one of those "Embedding disabled by request" kind of deals.

So I will provide you with the link.

Thriller

Enjoy.

31 Days Soda Free

It's been one month since I've last drank any form of carbonated beverage.

So... lets just keep this going another month and probably another month and so on and so on...

Work Costume Fun

Due to today being blahblahween, we were able to have fun and wear costumes to work.

I spent all week thinking about what could be a simple, yet effective(meaning terrifying) costume and this is the most evil thing I could come up with. Enjoy!

Due to the nature of the pictures of the costume below, viewer discretion is advised.

...and those with weak stomachs, should probably leave the room.

Keep scrolling...

Keep scrolling...

Keep scrolling...

How was your day?

Keep scrolling....

Down...

Watch out!

Evil!

Can I take something from you? Maybe a foul ball?

Looking ahead...

Hmm... I don't know...

Goal Failed/ New Friend

Like I said in last night's post, I've got nothing as far a poem. but I like I also said, I'm not giving up. The world will see this. It's time to start getting excited! I'm excited!

So Work lately...

Well, work is so much better when you have a friend and in the last few weeks, I've been getting to know this kid named Zach. I consider this guy, the "work" buddy... but also, the "outside of work" buddy.

So here is what I've learned of him so far:

• He's a fan of the major Chicago sports teams, The Bears and The Cubs
• He attends Goshen College
• He works at Martins in Nappanee
• He has a relationship in Christ
• He has taken time out of his life to eat at places like, Taco Time
• He is a Will Ferrell fan
• He is a fan of the Office
• His younger brother also works at Martins
• He attends GCC on Wednesday nights
• He attends NMC on Sundays... including The Connection and The Effect
• He likes the Fighting Irish
• He understands my jokes... if indeed I'm telling any
• He's a basketball player
• He likes games
• He's single
• He's a listener
• He procrastinates... maybe, I don't know
• He enjoys getting up early for work
• His name is Zack
• He likes Wendy's, Burger King, and McDonalds
• He understands my languages
• He's funny
• So on and so on and so on....

Yep.

Poem Updates:

I've got nothing. That doesn't me that I'm not gonna come up with anything, it means that I'm not gonna have anything set by my goal date... which is tomorrow. Don't worry, something will be done. Something has to be done. It's all about how I wanna use my tongue... for encouragement. So... yep.

Had a good night tonight. After spending over a year avoiding it, I decided to try going to The Effect.(college age/20 something group that meets at church on Sunday night). I'm glad I went, because I needed to hear that kind of message. So yeah... yay! More on this later, I guess.

I'm watching the World Series now.
Current Score, top 5th: Rays 2 Phillies 5
I'm still going for the Phillies... and yes, I remember saying I was going for the Rays, but I'M NOT!

Well.. I guess I'm gonna get ready for bed or something. So later, I guess.

stuff

I don't really have anything to say.
I'm just thinking about stuff... different kinds of stuff.
That's all.

I'm not a poet and I know it.

I've been thinking lately(lately, being the last 4 minutes), that I would like to start writing poetry. I've witnessed a lot during these past few weeks and I believe a lot of people just need some encouragement. It would be nice to write some very encouraging poetry. So this is my goal, to have a least one good poem by this time next week. If I fail, it's probably because I'm still in the process of brainstorming. I'll see what I can do.

Maybe I can use some encouragement as well.

The Rays?!? Come on!

To the Rays: Whatever! Really, where did all of your fans come from?

To the Red Sox: You failed! I mean, the Rays!?!? Come on... seriously!

To the Phillies: I'll stand behind you!

To the Cubs: meh!

To Heath Ledger: They should retire the Joker... meaning no one should play him ever again! You will always be known as the Joker... and that "mountain" guy, but mostly the Joker. Good job.

In honor of the one year anniversary

I went to grab some food from Taco Bell at the exact same time that the tornado hit, one year ago.

Nothing happened this time around. It was just a little cooler.

Remembering One Year Ago...

Tonight marks the one year anniversary of the EF3 tornado that ripped through Nappanee destroying homes and demolishing businesses. Wow! I can't believe it's been one year. Since then homes and businesses have been repaired or rebuilt, including a brand new Taco Bell/KFC, and a brand new home for Dairy Queen.

Since I wasn't much of a blogger a year ago, I never really posted my thoughts of the event or even my story of what was going on that night. Now that I've been keeping a consistant blog, it's time for me to give you the timeline of that night as well as Friday and Saturday. So here you have it.

It's been one year since that night and I remember it like it was yesterday. I can still smell and feel the warmth of the air. The tornado was called the EF3 and it was, it really was... ok, time to be serious.

Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007

9:00PM - Flipped on the TV to watch The Office, only to be interrupted by Mike Hoffman's weather report. There were tornado warnings. To tell you the truth, I was just wanting to watch The Office. I wasn't really worried about anything, because I just thought nothing was gonna happen.

9:55PM - Headed out to go to work. Walking out of my apartment, I remember looking to the western sky's and thinking, "Hmm, it does feel really weird out tonight. We might actually see severe storm, possibly a tornado."

Around 10:15PM - Working in Martins, walking around we hear a tornado siren. I just don't think anything of it.

Around 10:20PM - The tornado hits Nappanee. Again, standing in the middle of a grocery store, we had no idea what was going on. We heard noise and then thought, yep, there is a tornado. One of the store managers runs back and tells us to get to the back room. We go back, the tornado has passed.

10:25PM - 10:40PM - Confused and worried, I spent all this time trying to contact my parents. At that time, none of us knew where this tornado hit. The cell phone I had, was very low on battery power. I called my parent's house, but no answer. I was worried that maybe it hit that part of town and then just passed north of Martins, maybe over the golf course. I was worried that my family was hurt or maybe killed. I then tried contacting my brother in Fort Wayne. His phone was dead and I didn't have their home phone number. Finally I got a hold of my dad.

Me: Dad, are you guys ok? What happened? Where did it hit?
Dad: We're ok. What are you talking about?
Me: I'm talking about the tornado that just went through Nappanee! I'm calling to see if you guys are ok. Do you know what's going on?
Dad: There wasn't a tornado. The sirens went off, but there wasn't much of a storm.

At that point I was relieved, knowing that the tornado wasn't near my family and that everyone was ok. I went on to explain what was going on and then my phone died.

10:45PM - We walked up to the front of the store and looked out. All we saw was darkness and in the darkness the flashing lights of all kinds of emergency vehicles. A police officer drives up and we open the front doors. He asks if everyone is ok and then goes on to kind of describe the path of the storm, stating that Dairy Queen and Taco Bell was gone. We knew that our boss's house was in the path as well. We spent time calling him and he then came to the store along with a lot of Martin's CEO Representatives. The big boys!

Around 11:00PM - They all arrive and check on the store. It was kind of a big deal, considering the store had just opened up a few weeks earlier. We then had to shut off the main generator due to the fact that there was a gas leak.

Around Midnight - With a lot of help from the employees that arrived we spent hours pulling dairy, meat, produce stuff out of all the coolers. The coolers in the back were still up and running. A dry ice guy came and we started putting up dry ice in all the freezers. All of this in the dark with just a few flashlights.

The rest of the night(early morning)- We got the power back on. The manager wanted to get the store all ready, for we were gonna be open the next day. I turned on my phone to see if I could do anything with the few seconds of power that I had. I had all kinds of voicemail messages. Some of them from past students of small groups. Everyone knowing where I lived and really concerned. I was able to get a text message out, but then the phone went dead. With the power back on it just turned back into a regular working night, getting all things stocked and ready for when the store would open. All through the night the phones were ringing, people wanted to know if we would be open.

Friday, Oct. 19

Around 6:00AM - Employees arrived, still not sure when the store was gonna open. The rest of the night crew got everything put up.

8:00AM - It was growing lighter outside. It was time to walk out and see the destruction. A few employees and I walked up to the intersection of CR 7 and US 6. We walked up slowly. Standing there looking across the road, it was an eeire feeling. The sky in the background along with the destruction, looking down US 6 was a very eerie sight. My jaw dropped. It was the first time I've ever seen anything like this, live, and not on a movie or tv.

I then looked over at my apartment complex. We walked over there and there was tons of debris all around in the parking lot. Some of the buildings were damaged. Huge wooden beams sticking out of the roofs. Walking around I noticed that 80% of all the vehicles were damaged, by either hail, tree branches, or any other type of debris. My car was parked at Martins. We walked into the building and down stairs to my apartment. The power was still out. I had nothing but flashlight that you crank to keep it alive. My place is in the basement of the building. It was pretty dark down there. Instead of saying it on here, just ask me about walking around. It's kind of funny. The only thing damaged from my apartment, were the window hinges. I left my windows open that night.

I then grabbed some stuff and went to stay at my parent's place for the weekend. Heading back on Saturday morning, the land lady said that it isn't safe to stay there and that she ordered everybody to stay out until we were told otherwise. So I had to stay at my parent's house for a few weeks. When I was able to move back in, I was told that she was gonna deduct the those weeks from next month's rent. That was nice.

More to say, but I leave that to links from those who posted after the tornado. Look at these links for stories, thoughts, and tons of photos.

From Derry Prenkert: Tornado Touch Down in Nappanee, Relief Work at the church
From Jeff Simpson: The Storm., Pics from the aftermath

Sorry, for all the poor grammer and spelling.

Where's the Sausage?

While in Sandusky, we stopped to eat at one of the Wendy's. I was surprised to see that they actually have a breakfast menu. That's pretty interesting. I hope that eventually all Wendy's around here will add that as well. Then I could actually have Wendy's for breakfast, lunch, and supper. It would never get old.

The Highlights!

I'm gonna give you some highlights/ from my past weekend.

Friday:

• Got a haircut
• Went to Fort Wayne to spend the night before going to Cedar Point
• Hanging out watching tv and the puppet show.
• Got to see my nephew before he went to bed

Saturday:

• Woke up around 7:30 - that's sleeping in for me.
• Driving to CP and actually listening to some music that I brought, even if there were some stupid songs.
• Beautiful weather at Cedar Point
• $5 foot longs
• Magnum XL-200 - that's always a highlight for me because it is my favorite coaster at CP
• Jut walking around the park with Nate, Jolyn, and Kayla - laughing and talking and finding the look a-likes.
• Cedar Point pretzel - probably one of the longest lines to wait in.
• The Graveyard Shift - one of CP's HalloWeekend shows. Some good music and stuff.
• Looking at all the decorations around the park. It's as if the residents of Boneville(from the train) took over the park.
• Leaving the park to set up the tents at the camp ground, followed by dinner at Wendy's.... mmm.
• The Gemini, two rides. The first time me and Nate's train won. Second time, Jolyn and Kayla. Nate jumped off the train pretty fast and ran down to be the first on the Midway. I think he even pushed some little kids out of the way just so he could win... haha... just kidding.
• Riding the train - this has become like the tradition of going to Cedar Point. It's just a time to just relax and just hangout. I'm not talking about riding the train from one point to another, I'm talking about taking a few laps around and then getting off.
• Fright Zone - I was hoping that Kayla would get scared, but she didn't. The Skull is very funny and he can actually scare people more than the screamsters in the fright zones.
• CarnEvil - a kid was very scared to walk through, but his family wanted to. It seemed like every monster went up to him and scared him. It was funny, because one time he actually fell down and the monster was just standing there hovering over him. Poor kid. He did end up laughing at it. It was also funny because at the end, there was this guy with a chainsaw and he ran right at the family. The kid screamed. It was all classic.
• Terror Island - It was pretty cool. Nothing really scared us, but it was just something fun to walk around and see these monster pirates. Kind of reminded me of Pirates of the Caribbean(not to mention that fact that in line, they were playing the theme from the movies) There was this guy that was attached this this bungee thing and he would just fling right out at the guests walking through. It was pretty cool.
• MaxAir - it was pretty fun to get Kayla to ride it. I think she liked it. To tell you the truth, I think that ride is starting to freak me out more and more(which is a good thing). It always feel like the thing is gonna fly off or something, especially when it starts slowing down because there is this jerk to it.
• Fear Faire - Just Nate and I went through, but this one actually freaked me out. The fog was really thick and the thing was kind of a maze. We didn't know where to go have the time. We came to this dead end and this thing jumped out and scared us. It was kind of funny to then watch everyone else do the same thing. We finally found our way out.
• Riding Maverick as our final ride. It was Kayla's first time on and my first time riding it at night. It was pretty fun. It's one of my favorite coasters at the park.

Sunday:

• Sleeping in.
• Eating at Steak'n Shake - 4.99 Frisco Melts and fries(the bill was screwed up at first, but then they got it right)
• Sleeping on the way home - it's been awhile since I've actually got to sleep coming home from Cedar Point. Usually I'm the one driving.
• Coming home and eating Hacienda chips and salsa while watching Sunday Night Football and MLB playoffs.

So that was the weekend. I really don't wanna get into all that happened when we were leaving the parking lot. If you wanna know, just ask me. I think I'll put some pictures up, but not now. If you have Facebook, I've uploaded some.

Well, later.

CP Game: Look A-Likes

Everytime I go on a trip with friends or family, we always play this game called Who Ever Finds the Most Celebrity Look A-Likes Wins. (I kind of just made up that title right now, but it's pretty much what we do.)

We played this game at Cedar Point and here were the results. (yes, it would have been better if actually had pictures of the look a-like to compare with the real thing but I wasn't gonna go up to some random person and just take their pictures. this is to give you an idea of what these people this look like. Enjoy)



Nate's Picks:

Craig Kilborn



Harry Potter




Kayla's Picks:

Phil Margera

My Picks(The winner):

Jim Halpert



Randy Jackson




Kid from Freaks and Geeks


Yeah, the more I think of it, this post is really pointless without the actual pictures of all the random look a-likes, but still, these are the people we saw. Maybe it was the real ones or maybe not. All I know is in the end, I won! Booyah!


Cedar Point trip report yet to come!
Maybe later tonight or tomorrow!

The (Hallo)Weekend

I wanna post about my weekend, but I'm not in the mood for typing it out right now. I know I'm not really good at following through and posting what I say I will post about, but I will try to do this.

It was a very nice weekend. The weather was perfect(even though I wasn't really wanting perfect). It made for a nice weekend for camping and walking around the park in shorts. The reason I didn't want such good weather was because I knew it was gonna be a very busy day at Cedar Point and if the weather was cooler and maybe a chance of rain, then the park wouldn't have been as busy. But still, it was a good day.

So I will just have to post about it another time. I will even have to post about the trip out of the parking lot... grrr.... idiots!

Yeah... something to clear up.

I stated earlier that I was going with the Rays, well I think I just said that because I hate the White Sox and they were playing the White Sox! That was a completely stupid post and I think I'm just gonna delete it.

I really like the Red Sox, so I'm not gonna cheer against them.

So Go Red Sox!!

Haircut

It's been awhile and it's time!

Ish

I just dropped by to say, good night.

I should have been in bed hours ago.

HalloWeekends

So next weekend I'm going up to Cedar Point with some other Ingalls's to experience HalloWeekends. It's a trip I'm excited about and really looking forward to. Cedar Point usually does an awesome job at decorating the park and creating some terrifying, exciting, and very fun, attractions. Some of the haunted houses are okay, but the fright zones are where it's at.

This year they introduce Terror Island. You walk through and cross a bridge to Millennium Force island(one of the islands in the lagoon that has the huge turn around from Millennium Force) and it's got like a haunted pirate theme. It sounds pretty cool.

Day 4

Water is awesome!

I feel as if I have cheated, because I was at Mc. Donalds the other day and I drank an orange Hi-C. I know it isn't pop, but still just as bad. I'm gonna have to watch my intake on stuff like that.

I have been drinking a lot of bottled water, so that's good. I smile, because I know how much pop I would have drank in the last few days.

So lets bring on... the milk and the juice and more water. I'm just gonna have to cut back on the orange Hi-C, but that's usually what I get when I eat breakfast at Mc. Donalds because it's cheaper.

Go Cubs Go!(something awesome could happen. if not, then it's all about the Rays)

Rays The Roof!

With the Chicago Cubs having one more loss before they are out of the post season, I find myself pulling for another team. An AL team and nope, it's not the Red Sox. I sit here right now, wanting the Tampa Bay Rays to pull through and make it to the World Series and win it all. I personally think they deserve it. They are a team that kind of came out of no where and just rose above everyone during the season. They seem to play as if they really want it, unlike some other MLB teams, *cough, cough*, the Cubbies.

They are playing the Chicago White Sox(a team which I hate the most) right now and they are down few runs. I hope they come back and win and the win the next series, followed by the World Series... well, unless there is some miracle in which the Cubs win three in a row and move on to win the NLCS and eventually play in the World Series, then I will say "Go Cubs Go!" But for now, I'm cheering for this fairly new Tampa Bay team.

So...
GO RAYS GO!!!

Yes, I am still a Cubs fan, but if they are out, I've gotta have something to look forward to!

Hmm...

I've stated before that I'm giving up soda, well now would be a great time to pick up drinking... ok just kidding.

Some bad words.

I'm gonna admit there were some bad words said about the Cubs tonight. Out of respect for my viewers, I will not repeat what was said.. by me and others.

The End.

Here We Go!

Brewers vs. Phillies starts now.

Tonight: Dodgers vs. Cubs

Late Tonight: Red Sox vs. Angels

I say, "GO CUBS GO!"

I will say softly, "Go Red Sox"