Podcasts and a proud parent

A friend of mine started a podcast (TwoBoredVets.com) that I’ve been listening to and have enjoyed it, so I’ve been searching for others.  I went through SoundCloud and looked through there.  I found a couple but not a lot.  Part of the problem I have is I don’t have the time to listen to a bunch of podcast that are over an hour long.  So ideally, I would like to find a fairly short one, even if it posted daily.  If it’s something I really want to listen to then the length doesn’t matter but I haven’t really found anything that will peak my interest for that long.  Two Bored Vets I make an exception for because one of them is a friend, they usually run just under an hour.

So, like I said, I’m having trouble finding some good ones so I’m looking for some suggestions.  My wife probably won’t appreciate this because I sit on the couch and put my headphones on.  I tell her its not loud enough that I can’t hear her talk, but she probably feels like I ignore her.  She should enjoy it because while I’m listening, she can watch her stuff on the DVR that I don’t watch.

Speaking of podcasts, today I was listening to Mayor Gia’s podcast with her boyfriend and I thought, I could do this.  Really, I could.  I’m actually a pretty funny guy.  The problem is what makes me funny is my quick wit and my lack of filter.  That kind of humor just doesn’t come out on a blog so you’re probably all going, that dude ain’t funny at all.  I kind of randomly threw it out to my wife about doing one, kind of gauging if she would be interested.  I’m pretty sure that was a no, there wasn’t much interest at all, even with me doing one.  I had been thinking about doing short vlogs (video logs) for about a month or so and now I’m thinking about podcasts.  I really need to get some more friends (in general) that have my internet interest.

I wanted to say how proud I am of my kids.  Samantha finished cross country and while she has found out that she is not a runner, I found out that she is not a quitter.  She struggled and there was only one person on the team that she could beat (that was her best friend on the team) but she kept running.  She never skipped practice and she ran all the meets.  She never even asked to stay home and not go.  I asked her after a meet if I would let her quit (she knows I won’t let her) if she would?  She said no, because it would disappoint my team mates (that’s what I always told her).  I went to all her local meets even though for the most part I watch her start, wait, then watch her finish.  I must admit that I loved seeing her in the sweat suit with the school logo and her number on it.

Basketball is up next for her.  All the school has is an intermural league and she is doing that plus I signed her up for Upwards which is through the local churches and she’ll play there at the beginning of the year.  Definitely looking forward to watching her play the sport that I loved growing up.

As far as being proud of Trevor, we got an e-mail from his teacher that said he was getting an award for making the Principals High Honor Roll and told us when the awards program was.  I took off work and Cheri, my mom and I went.  First he got his high honor roll (all A’s) certificate.  Then he got called up for the school pride (exceptional behavior and academics) certificate which they only picked one kid per class, then he got called up for his perfect attendance award.  So he ended up taking home a certificate for all 3 of the awards they gave out.  It was awesome, I was very proud.

So it looks like I have a brain and an athlete (Breakfast Club reference).  I’m proud of both of them and they are both growing up to be really good kids.

I took time to update my Tumblr pages for the next few days.  I hadn’t posted anything over there in probably around a week.  See, I slack on all my blogs, not just this one.  I also have been scanning and doing other things for my sports card blog instead of just random posts that I’ve been doing.  Tomorrow, my mom is taking the kids to get their pumpkins and then we will sit down and carve them.  It’s one of our many holiday traditions.

Randomness bullet points

After averaging a post every other day in August, I hit a dry spell and haven’t posted in almost a week, not since the 28th of last month.  I’ve had stuff to blog about but nothing spectacular so if I don’t blog about it when it happens, I tend to forget about it.  It was my long week at work and it was hot as well so I’m usually fairly drained by the time I get home.  I’ll give you some bullet points on my week to make up for the lack of posts.  Because my 2 or 3 regular readers are dying to know, not really.

• I had one day that I pissed off my foreman.  I’m on my feet, walking on a metal catwalk for 11 hours a day in 100°+ heat and he wants to complain when I take a minute to sit on a bucket in front of a fan.  He caught me, again, and bitched me out.  Then he started to complain about how stressed he was at all these other people.  So I told him “You should relieve some of that stress by sitting on a bucket.”  Apparently, he didn’t appreciate the humor.  I heard he was complaining about me the whole rest of the day.
• I had one day where I was pissed at my oldest daughter, actually I was pissed for a couple of days and still get pissed when I think about it.  Probably because nobody really acknowledged what happened.
• I had one day where I didn’t do any social media.  Not on purpose, I just don’t usually do it much if at all at work and then I crashed early to bed when I got home.
• theEx picked up the kids on Friday and returned them that night.  Then took them again at noon on Saturday and returned Samantha that night because she had a girl scouts function on Sunday.  Then I got Trevor back on Sunday night.  So Cheri was busy most of the weekend just driving the kids around because we can’t trust theEx to make sure kids get to their functions.
• I’ve started listening to my first podcast.  I spoke of it in my last post but I enjoy the banter between the 2.  I usually hand the remote to Cheri and tell her to watch one of her shows, pop in my headphones, and listen while I go through my feedly (which I am way behind again).  I’m thinking about searching out a few more to listen to.  They’d have to be comedy and be really funny, and most importantly, free.  In case you missed my buddy’s, it’s at twoboredvets.com.
• I have to bite my tongue all the time on my personal Facebook page because I live about 10 miles from the Notre Dame campus so I have a lot of friends and family that are Notre Dame fans while I am a Michigan fan.  The big thing is last year, Notre Dame bowed out of the rivalry and kept a few easier schools on their schedule when this was a huge (football and money making wise) game.  Coach Kelly (ND) said this week that he didn’t think of the Michigan game as a rivalry.  Really?  Maybe you should see all the anti-Michigan posts on my feed.  That’s all year long, it’s just doubled this week with them playing this coming Saturday.  I don’t even hate the school, just a lot of the delusional fans.
• The kids are still enjoying their new school.  Samantha is running in cross country, that’s pretty much the only sport there is at her grade level.  I haven’t received any complaints on either one and Trevor actually brought home a progress report with a really good remark from the teacher. 
• The previous weekend when I didn’t work, Cheri and I had a “Breaking Bad” marathon.  We started Friday night and watched seasons 1 thru 5 (first 8 episodes) on Netflix thru Sunday.  Then watched episodes 9 and 10 on demand, then recorded episode 11 live on Sunday night and watched those 3 on Monday night so we got all the way caught up.  We love the show and I think pretty much everyone in this family that watches it, loves Jessi.  You’d have to watch the show to understand the picture to the left, yo.  I posted it on my wife’s facebook page but I made sure she was the only one who could see it because I don’t think anyone in my family watches the show and didn’t want them to think I was calling her a bitch.  I’m sure that wouldn’t go over too well with either her or my family.
• I started a new tumblr blog.  Mainly for my wife because I’m constantly showing her cat pictures and gif’s so I decided to just throw them on a blog and she could see them there.  Every 5th picture is a picture of our kitty as well.  You can check it out here - http://catsarewaycuter.tumblr.com/ or following it’s accompanying twitter account – @kitty20101
• Had a great Labor day yesterday.  Pretty much all we did the whole day was sit at my mom’s in a big circle outside, eating and talking.  A day chatting with the family is always a good day.  Plus the weather was pretty good and made it more enjoyable to be outside.

I think that’s about it, I told you stuff went on, I just couldn’t sit my ass down and put it down on the computer. 

Two Bored Vets

A friend of mine decided to do a podcast with another friend of his.  I had never listened to a podcast and other than knowing it was an audio file, I didn't know much about them.  But since he's a friend, I decided to take the time to listen to it.  Instead of leaving a comment, I figured I’d do a blog post and hopefully gain them a few more followers.

Before I get to the podcast, which can be found at twoboredvets.com, a little background on our friendship.  We basically worked together for a few years as he worked where I do now.  He has since moved on to bigger and better things, lucky bastard.  We didn't work in the same department so we didn't really have much time to chat but we managed to get to know each other a little bit.  I always respected him because he was a family man as well as a military man.  He was in the reserves when I knew him and I know he has done at least one (I think more than that but not sure how many) tours overseas.  How can you not respect someone literally fighting for you?  We kept in touch when he moved, through Facebook and Twitter.  We don’t really have conversations but we comment on each others stuff every so often.  He has supported my blog and facebook blog page and I try to support him on his blog “Not Really a Ninja” as well as his photography blog “Anything But Random”.  I also have plugged his charity here for an organization that has helped his family throughout his son’s complications.  I also have a link down there to the bottom right of this page just for that (the Ronald McDonald House button).  I probably haven’t made him any money but all I can do is try.  We have stuff in common, and that’s about it.  But I consider him a friend and I hope he does me (consider me a friend that is, not the other).

You can check out his site at the link at the beginning of the previous paragraph or go directly to the podcast “The Beta Cast”.  They discussed a few things and I’m going to throw out my thoughts on them here.  I think I got the order right on what they discussed but it’s been a few days since I listened to it.

• Motorcycles – I agree with both of them on this.  While I agree they are dangerous, I’m not sure I can go as far as saying they shouldn’t be on the road.  I have never driven one but have seen the effects of an accident up close.  I know there have been times where I just about pulled out right in front of one because I didn’t see it right away.  I do like how both Mike and Carl agreed there are always idiots on both sides (car drivers and motorcycles) because I’ve seen plenty of bike riders weaving in and out of traffic which would lean me to the side of Carl, but I’ve seen quite a few responsible ones as well so it equals out.  Personally, I think scooters should be outlawed to be on any road with a speed limit over 35.  If they can’t go the speed limit, they shouldn’t be on the road or if they are, they should be required to stay to the right side like a bicycle instead of driving down the middle of the lane.  That pisses me off more than a motorcycle.
• Two kids killed a WWII vet – I agree with everything they said on this.  I can’t believe crap like this even happens.  I haven’t heard anymore updates but I wouldn’t have a problem with them resisting arrest and getting their asses whipped.
• Star Trek vs. Star Wars – I’m like Mike on this one, I have nothing against Star Wars, but I’m a big Star Trek fan.  If you’re a reader of this blog, then you know I’m in the process of watching all of TOS (the Original Series).  It’s taking me awhile to get through them because my wife thinks they are so cheesy so I only watch them when she’s not home.  I believe I have one episode left on season 2 before starting the 3rd season.  Then I plan on moving to all the other series one at a time.  I love Star Trek.  I like Star Wars.  For the most part though, I only like the original 3, I was never a big fan of the newer ones.  I would even say I love episodes IV, V and VI, just not as much as I love Star Trek.

Be sure to check out their first podcast (twoboredvets.com) and follow them along on twitter (@twoboredvets) as well.  Good job Carl and Mike, I enjoyed the first show.  I’m looking forward to the DC vs. Marvel in the next one.  As far as some ideas, how about Apple vs. Android, or explain to me how 1/4 of my pageviews on this blog are from Explorer.  Why does anybody still use it?  Should college athletes get paid?  Who has the most annoying fanbase, Notre Dame or that team from Ohio? (that one’s for you Carl).