Thanks to Pat & Anna

I've been informed that Pat & Anna have included me on their blog roll of friends and family. This is a great honor! Many thanks to Pat & Anna for their gracious inclusion of my blog into their notable sidebar.

To view this prestigious link to my blog you can go to meettherichs.blogspot.com

Incredibly Accurate Product Name

I want to put in a plug for 5-hour ENERGY. I decided a little chemical help wouldn't be amiss in attempting to stay up all night and all day for work and I can't drink an entire Red Bull without feeling sick to my stomach.

I drank the 5-hour ENERGY (lime flavored... I don't recommend this flavor) at approximately 11:30pm on August 25th. I was instantly alert (most likely because of the awful taste in my mouth) and began the long night at the Workers Compensation Fund Building performing concrete testing. I finished at around 3:45am, August 26th and returned to the office. I had about 15 minutes of paper work to do and then began working on some other projects that needed attention. I'm charging along feeling great until exactly 4:34 when I start slowing down REAL fast. That little bottle of spunk kept me going for their promised 5 hours of energy and I felt that I couldn't ask any more of it then that.

True to 5-hours advertising, I didn't have the shakes while I was coming off my charge, but it definitely felt like 4:34 in the morning. If you're ever in need of exactly 5 hours of energy and not a minute more, then you definitely need to check out this product.

On a side note: I'm not really familiar with my Vitamins and their functions, but apparently in those two awful ounces of liquid I received 2000% of my daily value Vitamin B6 and 8333.33(repeating of course)% of my daily value of Vitamin B12. Vitamin's are good for you, right?

Schedule Followup.... @ Midnight...

Remember how my last post showed my awful schedule? Well, yesterday I made a deal with the head dispatcher at work that I would do a 12:01am concrete pour for him this morning, and then I'd work in the office for a few hours after the pour was over. In return I'd be given the rest of the day off to recuperate and prepare for school in the evening. Sounds reasonable, yeah?

This morning I walk into the office on my way to that 12:01 job and I see that I have sitework scheduled until 3:30 in the afternoon! What in the business?! So I'm suppose to stay up from midnight until 4:00pm, then still find time to get my homework finished before my 6:00pm class? When exactly am I suppose to fit sleep into this plan?! I'm mad as fire bees right now! I understand that we have clients to take care of and jobs to cover, and I'm more than willing to do my part, but this is mf'ing ridiculous!

The Coming Months

I'm beginning to feel the weight of next semester even though it hasn't yet begun. Fall semester is going to be incredibly busy for me. This calendar is an example of a typical week for me up through mid-December.

Johnny's Week

(Add an extra online course to that which is shown above)

If I become somewhat reclusive or unavailable I don't want anybody to feel offended or slighted. That being said, I don't want anyone to use this as an excuse to exclude me from activities. See you around?

iPhone Betrayal!

Tell me. What can you notice that is different between these two phones?

Answers:

One of them is 3G[S], the other is 3G.

One of them is white, the other is black.

One of them is a 32GB model, the other is a 16GB model.

One of them is the symbol of betrayal... You win this round Rich Patterson...

Car Naming

Does your car have a name? Did you follow the rules for naming it? Did you know there WERE rules for naming it? My heart weeps because my current vehicle doesn't have a name, and I feel like there's nothing I can do about it.... so I figured I'd blog about it.

There really aren't many rules, but it's necessary they are followed meticulously unless you want your car to be mocked by all the other more popular bully cars.

1) You can't name your own car. It's like a nickname, if you try to give one to yourself it never sticks (and your friends make fun of you behind your back.)

2) The process usually takes time due to the nature of it's natural occurance, but under some special circumstances it can be forced.

These circumstances include but are not limited to:

a) Road Trips

b) Festivals

c) If the car is a gift

i) Birthday

ii) Christmas

iii) Valentines Day

d) To impress the ladies

3) Once a vehicle has been named, despite how much you love or hate the name, it sticks! Sometimes a car can have more than one name, but you must recognize ALL names that have been assigned and accepted by the masses

Here are some examples and stories of cars me and my friends have been involved in naming.

Owner: Johnny Etchemendy

Vehicle: 1984 Toyota Tercel Wagon (The original was white, but I couldn't easily find a picture and I didn't want to waste the time trying to find one)

Named: Old Dirty Hank

Story: The name "Old Dirty Hank" comes from a Barenaked Ladies song (Straw Hat and Old Dirty Hank) that was a favorite of mine in high school. Bryce Sagers named the car Old Dirty Hank and named me Straw Hat. Turns out people loved the name Old Dirty Hank for my car. Straw Hat on the other hand, did NOT stick as a nickname for me. This is perhaps one of the most remembered cars I've owned with some of the best memories. Old Dirty Hank lives on in my heart and anybody that knew him in his prime.

Owner: Johnny Etchemendy

Vehicle: 2000 Kia Sportage

Named: Bounce-a-tron; The Rolodex; Dexter the Rolling Stone

Story: Not much of a story. As far as I can remember, Bryce Sagers came up with all these names, and it has been regularly referred to by all three names. Rolodex was probably the most common, but it often went by Dexter.

Owner: Bryce Sagers

Vehicle: 1992 AND 1993 Chevy Corsicas

Named: King Cedric Silver Fox & Prince Cedric Silver Fox

Story: There were actually two of these vehicles. A '92 and a '93 that were owned by the Sagers family. Bryce drove both of them. The '92 Corsica was the King and the '93 was Prince. I'll be honest, I could never tell the difference.

Owner: Kamille Barker

Vehicle: 1994 Honda Accord

Named: MacGyver

Story: Bryce Sagers, Scott Tuckfield, Jonathan Gracey, and I were all trying to get to a concert in Denver Colorado. The problem was that we didn't have a vehicle that could get us there. None of our parents would lend us a vehicle and the day before we were supposed to leave we didn't know what to do! Then my older sister came through and told us we could take her car. Since he came through just in the nick of time we named him MacGyver.

Owner: Joanne Rich

Vehicle: ???? Toyota Highlander

Named: Nigel the Norwegian Constable

Story: Bryce Sagers, Bobby Rich, and I were again going to a concert, but this time it was in Las Vegas. Bob's mom told us we could take her car so we decided it definitely needed a name. We all posed names and surnames, and through democratic processes, we settled on Nigel the Norwegian Constable. Shortly after we returned Joanne decided she wanted to name her car. She wanted to name it Rhonda because of the song, but nobody would recognize the name because she didn't follow the rules.

Owner: Johnny Etchemendy

Vehicle: 1998 Subaru Outback

Name: Ira

Story: There was a sticker on the back of my car when I bought it that said "Ira" and the rest is history. I didn't like it at first, but that's how everybody referred to my car, so I lived with it...

Here are some cars that need names, but it's just never happened... Maybe you can help and we'll see if any of them stick.

Owner: Johnny Etchemendy

Vehicle: 2008 Subaru Outback

Owner: Scott Barnes

Vehicle: 1998 Audi A4

Owner: Bryce Sagers

Vehicle: 2007 (or is it 2008) Toyota Yaris

Owner: Rich Patterson

Vehicle: 2000 Honda Accord

Also, listen to this song: Passion Pit - Better Things