My Birthday Wish List

Hey everyone,

Well now that the 2009 Holiday season is ancient history, and the supposed "most depressing day of the year" has come and gone, I have another annual occasion to prepare for in just under three weeks - my birthday. I also share that day with my very good friend Jennifer, which is really kind of cool since I've only ever met a couple of people in my lifetime with the same birthday.

I have to admit I'm actually looking forward to this one. I'll be 33 and I like that number. You only get to be a twin-digit age every eleven years and I hope to live long enough to see number 99. After that it's tripple digits! I'm not one of those people who gets upset over getting older. I may not be as young as I used to be, but I'm still young enough to make the most out of life.

I've got a wonderful wife, great friends, a family that loves me, a roof over my head (though I wish it was something I owned and wasn't just renting) and a pretty rewarding job, so there really isn't much else I could ask for in my life. However, some of my closer friends have asked me for a birthday wish list so I decided to go one step further and publish it. Why not?

Although I really don't need anything, here is a list of things I wouldn't say no to. In no particular order...

• Books, DVD’s or Music. Always accepted. A gift card for a music store or book store could go a long way.

• Specific music would include any Beatles album (I know, surprise right? I actually don't own any Beatles albums!) such as Abbey Road, The White Album, etc…; Anything from Kings Of Leon; or the Foo Fighters latest album.
• Specific books would include anything on world history, rock and roll biographies, ships and Navy, or even a cool coffee table book with interesting photos.
• A new scarf. I know it’s halfway through winter, but the one I have has seen better days and isn’t long enough to properly wrap around my neck. Something masculine that would go with anything. Wool or synthetic doesn’t matter.
• A new microphone for recording my music. This might be something I’d have to pick for myself since I have specific needs and they’re a tad pricey, but a gift card to a music store like Long & McQuade or Tom Lee would help.
• Games for the Nintendo Wii. I already have Sports Resort, and a Star Wars Lightsabre game. Not interested in Wii Fit, but I’ll take anything that’s fun and a little challenging and that I can play over and over.
• A bottle of rum will never be turned down. Sailor Jerry’s is my preferred brand, but I’ll accept any nice spiced rum. Not too fond of the white rum.
• A tambourine or a small pair of bongo drums. Just for fun.
• World Peace. It doesn’t hurt to want that.
• I could use some new t-shirts. Size medium (though I find one store’s medium is another store’s large and another store's small) no splashy brand names, but cool prints are ok.
• A new SLR camera with a better zoom lens. Yeah right, I know you like me but I’ll never ask someone to spend that much on me. This is just a wishlist.

That’s really about all I can think of. Truthfully, I really can do without any of these things as long as I have my family and friends.☺

The Wandering Oak

Friday Fun

Hey gang!

My inlaws are a never ending source of jokes and funny pictures and during our last visit I heard the best line ever:

"Oh you're just jealous because the voices chose to talk to me!"

Just for fun this Friday I encourage everyone to try to use that line today. Imagine the response you'd get.

At work...

Boss: "I thought I asked for those reports hours ago."

You: "Oh you're just jealous because the voices chose to talk to me."

On a date...

Your date: "...so after college I backpacked around Europe for a year with my cousin and...wait. Are you even listening to me?"

You: "Oh you're just jealous because the voices chose to talk to me."

The possibilities are endless, so try it!

Before I head off, I'll leave you with this picture from my father in law that you might have seen before.

"If only someone would invent something to keep the sun out of my eyes!"

That's all I've got for today my friends. Have a great weekend!

The Wandering Oak

A Little More Effort

Hey everyone,

First of all, a very belated Happy New Year! (Unless you follow the Chinese calendar, at which case I'd be early on that one).

So it's 2010, and we're already 13 days into the new year. Unbelievable. Is it just me or is time going faster and faster? I've had this blog going for almost a year now, and I'll be celebrating birthday number 33 in just a few short weeks.

When I started this blog last year I intended to write and post photos quite regularly, but even I've got to say I've been slacking. As a result this page is far less popular than my previous blog ever was. Besides being distracted by other things in my life, I lay part of the blame for this on facebook. I don't mean that in a bad way against facebook, but like many people today I guess I've just come to like the instant gratification. It's weird how something I post in my status message that took only seconds to write generates more feedback than anything I've posted here that took time and effort to compose. Mind you, not everything I post there gets as much attention as I hope it would (videos, photos, links, etc), but with so many users doing so many things it's likely many people simply don't see some things because their walls could be cluttered up by someone else's activities.

Well instead of letting myself get down about it, I've decided to put a little more effort into promoting this page. Initially I was going to remain anonymous on this page, and I still will be to those who come here by way of say google or just randomly flipping through blogs, but I'm going to start importing my notes to my personal facebook page so that my friends can read or see what I've posted, and leave comments there if they choose to.

Of course this also means I'm going to have to start posting more often. I seem to remember reading something when I first signed up here that said that's the key to generating traffic on your blog, so I'd better get my acorns together and do just that.

And if I can't think of something to write about, you'll get a nice photo to enjoy. Like this one of a sunrise I watched last week:

Until next time, take care of yourselves, and each other.

The Wandering Oak

Happy Holidays!

Hey everyone!
I just wanted to wish all of you a Happy Holiday, however you celebrate it. I'm heading out of town to visit some family and I should be back before the end of the year.

The Wandering Oak

One Stray Cat

Hey folks,

I can't believe it's been more than a month since my last update! I know in a previous post I had said I'd write more often, but the truth is I simply haven't been able to think of anything to blog about lately so all of my creative energy has been spent in my home recording studio playing my guitar instead. I'm hoping to put together a little holiday video for your enjoyment and it's been both fun and frustrating at the same time.

This morning however, I thought I'd say a few words about what I've been seeing in the news lately. In the words of Bono: "I can't believe the news today. I can't close my eyes and make it go away..."

No it's not the troubled economy, the war on terror, climate change, H1N1, or any of the other heartbreaking stories of violence and death that are troubling me today, it's the over sensationalized media circus surrounding one stray cat that has me shaking my head.

Yes I'm talking about none other than Mr. Nike himself, Tiger Woods.

Cartoon courtesy getelastic.com and found via google image search.

I'm not here to attack him or anything and personally I could care less about the whole issue. Just another famous person who's judgement went out the window (along with his golf clubs). What bothers me is how crazy the media has been going over this story. You can't go anywhere without seeing or hearing about this! I suppose it's not as depressing as the rest of the news is these days, and for some people it's probably pretty entertaining, but it strikes me funny how the media likes to prioritize their news stories.

Anchor person: "...and a dozen people were killed today when blah blah blah who cares. Let's move on to the big story, Tiger Woods. We have new information about the type of tree he hit..."

(Personally I feel bad for the tree.)

I know I'm not the only person who feels this way about the media circus surrounding this story, and in fact one of my favorite political satirists Jon Stewart summed it all up perfectly in this brilliant clip set to an appropriate song. (For my American readers, if the link doesn't work try this one. Look for the Dec. 1, 2009 episode.)

I'm glad I'm not a celebrity. I wouldn't want the paparazzi to catch me taking out the garbage before I had my shower and assuming my unwashed hair and facial stubble was the result of some domestic dispute with my wife. We have a great marriage, but it's no joke that if I was to stray like Mr. Woods did I'd be neutered, and I really don't feel like being in the center ring of the next media circus.

I know this will all blow over soon and the media will be jumping all over the next famous person to publicly screw up. I just wanted to share that link. Like I said earlier, perhaps the reason the media does this is to distract people from all the horrors in life and nobody's really getting hurt, well except Tiger. People just love to gossip about celebrities.

 

Maybe someday the rest of the news will be good news for a change and we won't need such distractions.

 

The Wandering Oak

Happy Halloween!

Goood Eeeeeevennning!

Have a happy (and safe) Halloween!

The Wandering Oak.

Back on The Blogwagon (Making up words is fun!)

Hello friends!
Has it really been 3 months since my last blog? (Checks date on last post...) Yep. Three months and 4 days to be exact. When I started this blog back in January I intended to post new blogs a lot more often than this, but life has a funny way of getting in the way of things. Nothing tragic happened, I've just been a busy boy this summer. Well the good news is that now that my workload has lessened I have more free time on my hands, and that means I'm getting back on the blogwagon.

So... where do I begin....? Well, while I figure that out I'm going to share some images from my summer and let them tell their own stories. Enjoy!

Stay tuned.

The Wandering Oak