20 Year Class Reunion

Diary Entry For July 20, 2008

Monday was Luke and Avery’s 9th birthday.  They had a party at Grand Slam in Burnsville, but we waited until home to give them their presents.  As you can see, Luke was just a little bit excited to get a new net for going frog hunting.  Either that or else he might have just sat on a needle.

Avery was also pretty happy to get a new skateboard.  We went to the skate park where I’d challenged him to tackle this hill in the past, but he refused me.  On this particular day, though, there were a couple of young girls there who asked him to do it and he did it without hesitation!  What’s up with that?  I wonder if I could get them to tell him to quit beating on his brother?

On Friday, Miss Sheri and I drove down to Iowa to spend the weekend without our children!!  It was like heaven to have two whole nights where we could be reckless and wild!  Normally the law forces us to be responsible parents during our weekends, so it was nice to be able to shake that burden for a change!

The reason we went down to Clear Lake was to celebrate my 20 year high school class reunion.  It was wild seeing how much people had changed and learning about all the cool things people are doing now.  

We had so much fun re-connecting with old friends that I’m thinking we should be having reunions like this on a monthly basis instead of every five or ten years.

I don’t know why, but I’m starting to get the impression that I must taste pretty good.

This is Tim.  We met for the first time very, very late on Friday at a bar called Rumorz.  Tim recognized me from Miami Ink and spent quite a bit of time telling me how inspired he was by my story on the show and from subsequent visits to this website.  I told Tim he’s my new best friend.

On Saturday afternoon a group of us went to the high school to have a tour of our old stomping ground.  They’ve done quite a bit of remodeling since we went there, so it didn’t bring back nearly as many memories as I thought it would.  The place just didn’t look that familiar to me.  I suppose it also has to do with the fact that I’ve killed so many of those brain cells that were once dedicated to the memories from high school.  Oh well.

Our Economics Teacher, Mr. Calanan, was nice enough to share part of his Saturday giving us the tour.  I told him that he didn’t look any different than he did 20 years ago when he taught us, but he didn’t agree.  Then he sent me to the Principal’s Office for being disrespectful.

On Saturday night, we had a nice dinner at PM Park in Clear Lake.  The food was great, but sadly they were really short on seats so we had to share.  I didn’t mind at all except for the fact that it was a little bit hard to eat.  Also, I’ve been trying really hard to figure out exactly what Kelly was doing with her hand while this photo was being taken.

I didn’t realize this while going to school, but apparently there was some kind of height requirements for the girls in our grade.  If a girl fell out of a certain 3 inch range, she was kicked out of school.

We had late nights both Friday and Saturday.  I tried to find a nice photo from the after events on Saturday night, but this is the cleanest one I could find.  In most of the other photos, Jason didn’t have his pants on.

I have a lot more photos from the reunion on this page here:

Insane Mountain Climber

Insane Mountain Biker

(Scary content warning!!)

Insane Man in Dressing Room

Just having one of those days…

I gotta get me a pair of these…

Crazy Animals!

Smile!  You’re smoking!

Can’t imagine why nobody will pick him up….

Someone really put his foot in his mouth!

Quote of the Week

Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe”

— Oprah Winfrey, Talk Show Host

Joke of the Week

A Florida couple, both well into their 80s, go to a sex therapist’s office.

The doctor asks, ‘What can I do for you?’

The man says, ‘Will you watch us have sexual intercourse?’

The doctor raises both eyebrows, but he is so amazed that such an elderly couple is asking for sexual advice that he agrees.
 
When the couple finishes, the doctor says, ‘There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the way you have intercourse.’

He thanks them for coming, he wishes them good luck, he charges them $50 and he says good bye.

T he next week, the same couple returns and asks the sex therapist to watch again. The sex therapist is a bit puzzled, but agrees.

 
This happens several weeks in a row.
 
The couple makes an appointment, has intercourse with no problems, pays the doctor, then leave.

Finally, after 3 months of this routine, the doctor says, ‘I’m sorry, but I have to ask. Just what are you trying to find out?’
 
The man says, ‘We’re not trying to find out anything.

 
She’s married so we can’t go to her house.
 
 I’m married and we can’t go to my house.
 
The Holiday Inn charges $98.
 
The Hilton charges $139.
 
We do it here for $50, and I get $43 back from Medicare.
 

Nice Emails of The Week

Hi I just wanted to say that your a ver inspirational person..I enjoy
your website daily..I’m a struggling college student trying to get
buy..and everytime I read your website it makes me realize that my
struggles don’t compare to yours or someone else who has it worse..you
make me realize that what I have is a great thing..plus you make me
laugh..hehe..
Thank you so much..
Blessings..
Carleigh

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July 20, 2008

Shortarmguy’s Alter Ego, Todd Swank, was quoted in this week’s CRN discussing the recent departure of AMD CEO Hector Ruiz:

The focus on OEMs, especially an ultimately disastrous deal with Dell (NSDQ:Dell) at the end of 2006, during Ruiz’ reign helped take away AMD’s primary differentiation from Intel, said Todd Swank, vice president of marketing at Nor-Tech, a Burnsville, Minn.-based system builder.

For a while, AMD processors were running faster and cooler than Intel processors, and AMD came out with 64-bit processors faster than Intel (NSDQ:INTC) did, Swank said.

“And everybody used AMD to position themselves against Dell,” he said. “Then, boom, AMD signed Dell. The channel got neglected. AMD had to put all their resources behind Dell. They had fewer channel reps to deal with guys like us.”

AMD’s acquisition of ATI while Ruiz was at the helm became a huge distraction for the company, Swank said.

“Before the acquisition, people there were focused on Intel,” he said. “Now they are focused internally. They are thinking, am I going to have a job? Everybody was focused internally at the same time Intel was coming on strong.”

CRN, July 17, 2008

Time For Campaignin’

 

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July 20, 2008

 George  Carlin’s Views on  Aging 
 Do you realize  that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we’re  kids? If you’re less than 10 years old, you’re so excited about aging that  you think in fractions.
 ‘How old are you?’ ‘I’m four and  a half!’ You’re never thirty-six  and a half. You’re four and a  half, going on five! That’s the key.
 You get into your teens… now  they can’t hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few  ahead.
 ‘How old are you?’ ‘I’m  gonna be 16!’ You  could be 13, but hey, you’re gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of  your life… you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony.  YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!
 But then you turn 30.  Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we  had to throw him out. There’s no fun now, you’re just a sour-dumpling.  What’s wrong? What’s  changed?
 You BECOME 21, you  TURN 30, then you’re PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes,  it’s all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your  dreams are gone.
 But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You  didn’t think you would!
 So you BECOME 21, TURN 30,  PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.
 You’ve  built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it’s a  day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!
 You get into your 80’s  and every day is a  complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you  TURN 4:30 ;  you REACH bedtime.  And it doesn’t end there. Into the 90’s, you start going backwards; ‘I  Was JUST 92.’
 Then a strange thing happens. If you make it  over 100, you become a little kid again.  ‘I’m 100 and a half!’ 
 
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!