Sad Day ...

The song I uploaded today makes me happy. Not really a workout song, but a good one nonetheless.

I had my Porsche towed to a local mechanic this afternoon – I hope whatever is wrong with it is nothing serious, but I should find out tomorrow. I have a hunch it’s nothing too serious, but until I hear that from someone who knows a thing or two about cars, I’m going to be cautiously optimistic. In reality, I knew what I was getting myself into when I bought that car, so I’m ready for anything. I also washed my Jeep this afternoon and took a bunch of pictures of it so I can list it for sale. I still haven’t officially decided to sell it, but I’m leaning in that direction.

Ashley Furniture (Arcadia, WI) had their big Tent Sale event start today, so tomorrow I’m hoping to pick up some bar stools for my apartment in the cities. I’d like some wooden bar stools with leather cushions. If I can find 3 or 4 of those, I’ll be a happy camper.

Story 11 of 15

When I was in high school, my friends and I used to pull pranks on unsuspecting drunk college kids. We wouldn’t do this every weekend – but whenever we got bored, we knew we had some good pranks that would always deliver some great laughs.

Our best prank involved a pay phone. Basically, there was a pay phone in the heart of downtown Winona. The best part about this particular pay phone was that we knew the number to make it ring. The phone was directly in between two of the busiest bars in Winona, too, so our prank was pretty simple: we’d cover the ear piece with a bunch of tooth paste, and whenever a group of drunk college kids would get close to the pay phone, we’d call it from a parked car halfway down the street. The kids would literally race each other to answer it, and whoever won the race would get an ear full of toothpaste. TONS of people fell for this prank. Most people thought it was pretty funny, but some kids – especially guys – got pretty angry. But it was great and worked almost every time.

Another good prank involved purses and dog poop. We’d go to the local thrift store, buy a bunch of old purses, and then fill them up with fresh dog poop. We’d then place them in busy, well-lit areas and watch people dig inside them thinking it was their lucky day, but instead of finding cash, they’d find warm, stinky dog poop. I remember one guy actually picked up one of our purses, went into a dark alley to dig through it in private, and after rummaging through it, he threw the purse down and wiped his poopy fingers all over some building. That one really made us laugh because we had a perfect view of the whole thing!

Man, sometimes I wish I wasn’t an adult, because I know that stuff would still make me laugh.

The song I uploaded today is one of those songs that really pushes me to run faster and lift harder. Whenever it comes on, I seem to get an extra boost of energy, so you should consider adding it to your arsenal of songs, too!

I had my job interview today, and it went well. The interview was actually with a HR company, so I haven’t actually interviewed with the company I’d be working for yet, but I found out who the company is. You can check them out here. The pay would be pretty good, too – anywhere from $25 to $40/hr (based on experience). I would think that should put me closer to the $40/hr mark, but I won’t get ahead of myself! Anyways, it was the first step towards having an employer again. I still haven’t decided if it’s what I want, so I’ll just take things in stride and see how things transpire.

I had dinner the other night with Jessica. We ate at this Korean place in some suburb north of Minneapolis. I don’t remember the name of the restaurant, but it was pretty good, at least most of what I had to eat was good. Let’s just say my entree was delicious, but some of the side dishes were pretty horrendous. haha It was fun to experience some different foods, though – and with good company, as usual.

My Porsche had its first “major” issue the other day, and I’m not really sure what I’m going to do about it. Basically, I was driving around town and as soon as I pulled into my garage, this green liquid (antifreeze) started pouring out from underneath the car. And I don’t mean dripping – it was literally guzzling out and the whole thing was over in 5 seconds. It’s like my car had diarrhea – I know, I know … that wasn’t what you wanted to hear, and it might give you some crazy nightmares tonight, but my baby is sick!! I called a towing company to see how much it would cost to have it towed to the nearest dealership (which is in the twin cities) and I was quoted $675 United States Dollars. Plus tax. I can tell you one thing – that’s not gonna happen. I’ll push that thing in the shoulder all the way to Minneapolis before I spend $675 for a tow.

I’m also planning on selling my Jeep. It’ll be a sad day to see it go, especially since it’ll be the second time I sold a Jeep Wrangler. Yea, I actually sold it once before, and then bought another one a few years later out of regret (same color and year, too!), but I just don’t drive it enough to justify keeping it. It’s pretty inexpensive to own, too, but I just don’t need 3 cars. I’m trying to “unclutter” my life, and getting rid of a car will help accomplish that. I’m also going to clean out my closet and give away a bunch of stuff I don’t wear anymore, either to family or Goodwill. It’s like a little spring cleaning!

I bought my first digital camera today. I’m not really much of a “picture taker”, but now I can be if I want to be! haha It’s funny – I’ve bought numerous digital cameras over the years as gifts, but never one for myself. It’s a silver, Canon Powershot 14.1 Megapixels. Got it on clearance for like $130. It seems to take pretty good pictures, too, so I think it was a good purchase.

For those who are interested, here are some pictures of my apartment: Kitchen, Bedroom, Living Room, Living Room #2, Bathroom

Since I didn’t have time to post yesterday, I’ll give you two stories today to keep everything on schedule.

Story 9 of 15

When my brother and I were growing up in Milwaukee, we had to take the bus to get to our elementary school. We had to walk about 4 blocks to get to our bus stop, and I remember there was another bus stop across the street from ours that picked up kids from a different school. That bus often picked up its students a few minutes before our bus picked up my brother and I.

One morning, the other bus was picking up its students when one of the kids already on the bus rolled down the window and started yelling at Abe and I, so I yelled back: “YO MAMA!!” (this was back in the day when Yo Mama jokes were popular) In return, he gave me the finger, and that was the end of that.

Or so I thought.

About a minute later, the bus came back. I’m not even kidding. The bus driver literally circled the block, stopped the bus in front of where I was standing, opened the big yellow bus doors, and out popped the kid whose mother I had just insulted. I just about pooped myself. I didn’t know what to do. Do I run? Scream?

Nope – I just stood there in shock. The kid walked towards me, got in my face and said: “What’d you call my mama?”

I said: “Uhhhhhhhh… I didn’t say anything about your mama.” He pushed me, got back on the bus, and the bus drove off.

That’s the end of the story. But what kind of bus driver circles the block and lets his kids get off the bus? I’d like to think I learned my lesson that day, but I also called that BIG goalie a fat ass years later, so I don’t think I did.

Story 10 of 15

This story takes place in Milwaukee, too. I was probably 10 years old at the time, which means my brother would have been 8. One afternoon, my brother and I were playing in the yard with some friends of ours when my neighbor’s dog escaped from its yard and started running down the street. Like Superman, we all instinctively jumped on our bikes to chase after the dog. I ended up catching the dog about 3 blocks away, but because I couldn’t walk the dog and ride my bike at the same time, I had one of my friends push my bike home for me.

As I was walking the dog home, a thuggish looking black kid with a humongous afro crossed paths with me. No harm, no foul. About a minute later, though – right as I was returning the dog to its yard – I looked back and saw the black kid talking to my friend. He then grabbed MY bike and started riding it fast as he could down the street in the opposite direction.

I immediately yelled: “MY BIKE! MY BIKE! SOMEONE STOLE MY BIKE!” Another one of my neighbor’s heard me scream, ran outside, and had me jump in his car so we could chase after him. Unfortunately he was long gone.

Meanwhile, my brother was riding his bike around the neighborhood searching for my bike, too. At one point, as he was returning home, a car rolled out in front of him and caused him to collide with the side of the car. My brother wasn’t hurt, but the impact caused a significant dent in the car. Apparently, seeing the dent on the car made my brother so scared that he peed his pants. I’m not even kidding – he literally peed his pants because he was so scared the woman was going to yell at him.

Anyways, later that day, we ended up finding the bike on some corner. But the damage had already been done – my bike had a flat tire, Abe peed his pants, and it just wasn’t a good day for the Pattee boys.

I played golf with my friend Brad this afternoon, and I finally won! Hip hip hooray! I shot an 83 (43,40), which is my low round this year. And I won $18 this time, so I was pretty happy that things finally started going my way. It was really hot out today, too. Man oh man, it seems like a week ago I was complaining that it was too cold, and now it’s already too hot. I wish it would just be 68 and sunny 5 days out of the week, and 60 degrees and rainy the other 2 days. If I were God, that’s the weather I’d give you. I’d also make it rain marshmallows.

Before I played golf, I got a good run in at Saint Mary’s. It was a little too muggy to run outside, so I ran around the track. I went a shorter distance today but I really pushed it. I’m guessing I ran my mile in about 6:15.

I also had my first day back at Prairie Moon today, and that went well. For the next few months, our arrangement is for me to work 2 hours every Tuesday. Some weeks I’ll be in the office, and the other weeks we’ll chat on skype. But so far so good. I mentioned the other day that I was going to start looking for a new job, too. At least one that I’d consider. Anyways, I found a job that looked like a good fit for me and applied. They called back today and we alraedy have an interview scheduled on Thursday, so I’m excited for that. We’ll see what happens.

I’ll be heading back to the cities tomorrow afternoon. I have some things I need to take care of, and I have some dinner plans with Jessica tomorrow evening. She’s a cool girl and we have a good time together, so it’ll be interesting to see how things progress. I miss my apartment, too … it’s very cozy up there and I’ve made it my own. I’ll have to post a few pictures on here before I check out in a week.

My parents have decided to give Ebonee another week of life, but her time really is running out. Last night, at about 3:30AM, I heard her wimpering, so I went downstairs and slept on the couch so I could be next to her. I think she feels better when someone is nearby, and I think humans feel the same way when they’re in pain. Anyways, at this point, it’s the least I could do to make her feel better.

Story 8 of 15

When I was about 8 years old, my family took a road trip to California one summer. It was a great, inexpensive way to see the country while visiting relatives – all at the same time. At one stop along the way, we visited some family in southern California. For some odd reason, at that point in my life, I was going through a weird phase where I thought it was fun to call 911 but hang-up before anyone answered. So I did that – a lot, actually.

Anyways, on this particular night, my relatives decided to take my family and I out to get ice cream at some famous ice cream shop not far from the house. But before we left, I thought, “What the heck. It’s time to give 911 a call.” So when no one was watching, I went into the living room and both secretly and quickly dialed 911.

“911 – what is your emergency?”

Oh God! I immediately panicked and hung up – that had never happened before! Normally I was able to hang up before anyone answered, but not this time. Oh no, this time the woman beat me. And then it happened – my worst nightmare came true. The phone rang.

My aunt answered the phone in the kitchen and had a brief conversation with someone. She hung up the phone, then yelled very loudly: “Who in the world just called 911?!?!” I just about pooped my pants I was so scared. The blame game started immediately, and it was quickly determined that it was either me or my younger brother who had done the deed. Of course I denied it was me, so everyone blamed my 6 year old brother. But then he started crying for getting blamed for something he didn’t do, and the blame shifted back to me – and it stuck there. Needless to say, the trip to the ice cream shop was canceled, and everyone went to bed that night upset with me.

I jogged the small lake in Winona this afternoon. It’s only 1.8 miles around the whole thing, but there was some intense wind that really made part of the run difficult. It was a good run, though. I also spent a little time on the stair master, and I did the AbRipperX exercises, too. It had been awhile since I had done those, and it felt good.

It was kind of funny – while running the lake, I caught up to this guy running in front of me. He was about my age, and as I passed him, he literally sprinted about 30 yards ahead of me. I had never seen a stranger do that to another stranger before. About a minute later, I caught up to him and passed him again – this time for good. As it turned out, his run was being timed by an Army Recruiter, so after the run, I talked to the kid and the recruiter for about 5 minutes. It was fun learning about the physical requirements one is expected to pass in order to join the Army.

Well, word on the street is that my ex girlfriend has a new boyfriend. I knew they were dating, but apparently they’ve decided to take things to the next level. That being said, I just hope she’s happy. I really do. The whole thing is a little weird, but you spend enough time with someone and you eventually come to realize that at the end of the day, you just want that person to be happy – no matter what. So hopefully she’s found what she’s looking for, and hopefully he makes her happy.

About a month ago, I went to Chicago for some business, and on my drive home, I made an unannounced, totally random visit to my ex’s parents house. It was a spur of the moment  type thing, and it definitely got my blood pumping because I didn’t really know what I was going to say when I got there. I just knew there were words that needed to be said, and I trusted the words would come to me when I needed them to, which they did. Her dad was really cool about the whole thing – he accepted my apology, we shook hands, and just like that, I was gone.

Ending a relationship with someone you dedicated years of your life to is a crazy thing. All you can do is take the relationship for what it was and move forward with an appreciation for the time you shared together. In the end, I can say she made me want to be a better person; I just didn’t realize it until it was too late.

Story 7 of 15

When I was a freshman at SMU, I was one of the few freshman allowed to live off campus. I shared an apartment with two friends of mine from Winona, and for the most part, we all had a blast living together. We threw a lot of parties and had people coming over all the time. We also became pretty good friends with the people who lived above us – a couple from Arizona, and on a few occasions, we would go up to their apartment and “smoke” with them.

Anyways, for New Year’s Eve, we decided to have a big party at our apartment. The only issue was that a few days before the party, our upstairs neighbors asked us to do them a special favor. They were leaving for the holidays, and they needed someone to take care of the 3 foot tall marijuana plant they had growing in their apartment.

“Sure, why not.” We agreed to take care of it while they were gone.

To make a long story short, during the party, we ended up hiding the plant behind our big tv in the corner of our living room. In hindsight, it was pretty stupid for us to do what we did. We had a TON of people over for New Year’s, and if the cops had been called for a Loud Party or something, we could have easily been busted for growing a healthy, sexy looking pot plant. Fortunately, that didn’t happen and to this day, I’m proud to say I’m not a convicted drug harvester.

PS – There’s no hope with dope. Those days are over for me. By a long shot.

This might be a rough week. There’s a very good chance my dog Ebonee will be put down this Wednesday. Her hips are in really bad shape, she has maybe 5% of her hearing left, and her eye sight isn’t very good. Mostly it’s her hips that are giving out, though. I don’t really know what to say about it all… what do you say? I can’t really imagine going to the vet to say my final goodbye, but she’s my dog, and there’s no way I won’t be there with her, comforting her as best as I can. She needs to know how much she’s loved… how amazing she’s been. I can’t imagine a better dog.

Anyways, before I ruin my computer with tears, it’s time to talk about other stuff. By the way, if you haven’t already, now’s the time to play the depressing song I uploaded. It’s a great song to play when you’re sad and you’re not trying to cheer yourself up.

I had a couple nice workouts today. I ran 2 miles on two seperate occasions, and I spent a little time on the stairmaster as well. It was nice being able to run twice. I don’t normally workout multiple times in one day, but it’d be great if I found the time to do that more often.

I’m going back to California at the end of the month with my brother, but only for a long weekend (May 27 – 30). This will be my third trip to California in the past few months. That place is turning into my 2nd home. It’ll be a really quick trip, too – we’re mainly going to look for places where Abe and Rachel can live once they move, and I figured I’d tag along. I won’t even bring a suitcase for this trip.

Story 6 of 15

A few months ago, I went on a “first date” with this girl I knew very little about. Since it was freezing outside, I took her to the Mall of America so we could play the indoor mini golf course. I told her the date plans a few days in advance so she could dress appropriately. Anyways, I don’t know why she did this because I’ve never, ever seen this done before, but she decided to bring her own putter to the mini golf course. She literally carried her putter from home throughout the entire Mall of America. I’ve never even thought of using my own putter, and I’m a golfer, and she carried hers throughout the biggest mall in the U-S of A.

Needless to say, our first date was also our last date. Also, if you’re wondering, I beat her. haha