Refrigerator Rights

People are important. Pretty obvious statement. However, there is something to be said for close relationships; friendships that have deep understanding. Sometimes when many of my friends are home for Christmas or other breaks, we get together at Pickel's and play Bogge Pong. Without fail, we are all sweating by the end of the second game if not sooner. One by one, we all run upstairs and grab something to drink. Pickel doesn't mind because I have refrigerator rights at his house. When Jason is at my house he doesn't hesitate to find something to drink or grab some food. Some would call this rude. We look at it as a sign of close friendship. My brother and his friends do this very well. Actually many times I can't find food becuase his friends have eaten it all, which is okay I suppose. Are there people in your life that you are comfortable with? Comfortable enough that they can walk into your kitchen and take your food without asking? Refrigerator rights can extend beyond the kitchen as well. They extend as far as you will let them. Identify the people in which you have given rights to and those who you could possibly give them.

Love vs. Respect

Men and women desire different things. Ya, big surprise. In this case I am talking about the greatest needs of both men and women. The greatest need or desire for a woman is love. Meanwhile, the greatest need for a man is respect. It plays out a like this...

Love - A woman needs to know that you love her. She wants to see that she is thought of. A woman wants to know she will be taken care of and that her man would do anything for her. She wants to be listened to and relate emotionally.

Respect - A man seeks respect. He wants to know he is the most important male in your life. He also wants to be considered in decision making and not be an after-thought. He wants to be a provider but not be taken advantage of.

Real beauty

You may have seen this, it's a few years old. Makes me angry. I hate how "beauty experts" make people feel.

How real is it?

Last week another classmate that I graduated with passed away. I've been out of high school for just over three years and there has been five or six people from my class die. There were also several we lost while we were in high school. It's sad. Some were due to car crashes, two suicides, and this last one came by heart attack I was told. It's hard to imagine a 21 year old having a heart attack. I knew he had heart issues but had no idea it would take him away so young. All of this makes me think about life and what is important. I think again about my previous post about taking advantage of the opportunities that I have. Hmmm...

Initiative

Why do we let life happen to us? We sit around and wait for things to happen to us and then wonder why we don't have the things we truly desire. That could be relationships, career, school, etc. If you want it, chase it. I'm tired of watching people sit around wasting their lives. I mean, I do it too. But wouldn't it be nice if we went after life instead of it just happening to us? Maybe it's fear that stops us. I don't know. I just know that we miss out on a lot of great opportunities. Don't let life happen to you.

This is how I always say it.... I would rather say "I tried", than to say "what if?"

High Maintenance

I had a really good friend of mine say these exact words to me last night. "You know, for a guy, you are high maintenance." My jaw dropped and I just looked at her in disgust. She proceeded to build her case and explain it to me. I thoroughly argued against her position. I have a very calm personality most of the time, how could I possibly be high maintenance? When I think of the phrase 'high maintenance' I instantly think of someone who demands a lot from people. I am usually too concerned about the other person to demand anything of them. We then began taking a poll of people who walked by and none of them really had a clear answer.
Again I asked her what made me high maintenance and she said it was the weird things I had about me. Examples she gave were: I eat in a particular way that I cannot have my food touching, I really like to have a plan of what is going on just so that I am comfortable with what will happen, and I won't act on something unless I'm sure it will work out. Those were her arguments. I knew all of those things about me but did not think of them in that way. Yes, I'm detail-oriented and love to plan things out but I think that is fine because most of my friends are not that way and I think we then balance each other out. I bring the structure, they bring the spontaneity.
After arguing back and forth we decided that I was not high maintenance, but also not low maintenance because of some of my "life styles" as she called them. Neat.

I've come back and decided that I'm not high maintenance, I'm OCD. These "life styles" that she speaks of are really things I'm just OCD about...not high maintenance!

And the winner is...

I've been following the presidential race all year and it is finally time to make a decision. Although my favorite person is out of the race (Huckabee), I think I have made my decision. After listening to them during last night's debate I must side with Obama. Now, by no means am I a democrat, I usually side with the republicans. But my number one concern at the moment is our economy and Obama showed me last night that it matters to him and he plans on fixing it. McCain's plan sounds really dumb. Overall I think McCain looked really bad during the debate. His jabs he threw at Obama never landed and he ended up making a fool of himself. We'll find out in a little over a month who will win, should be interesting.
My vote: Obama.

Jon McLaughlin...check him out!!

He has a new CD out! You gotta check him out if you don't already know about him. This is from his old CD. He is incredible and so so so good at piano. There are better videos out about him than this one but the one i really wanted to post cannot be embedded.

Baseball Update

First you have to know this...baseball means so much to me. I love all sports, but nothing (other than dodgeball) can come close to matching baseball in my world. I played for fourteen years and I miss it all the time. One of my dreams is to coach it. I know a lot about the game from a strategy standpoint and I'm really good at stealing the other team's signs so it makes sense to coach. One day, it will happen.

The first round has come to a close. My beloved Angels took their best record in baseball and wasted it away to the Red Sox losing 3 games to 1. Neat. Staying in the American league, the very surprising Rays took it to the White Sox. I mean, the White Sox were playing like crap anyway, they really didn't deserve to be in the playoffs. In the National league the Cubs choked as usual. They got swept by the Dodgers who looked pretty strong. And finally, the Phillies pretty much rolled all over the Brewers.

I predict and really hope that the Rays beat the Red Sox (I really hate the Red Sox) and that the Dodgers beat the Phillies. That would leave the Rays and the Dodgers. And it would be really nice to see the Rays win since they have been absolutely terrible since they entered the league in 1998. This is actually the first time they've had a winning record. So, I'm rooting for the Rays because my team is out.

One Tree Hill video to one of my favorite songs

I found this on youtube. I was really just looking for the song and then came across this. You won't understand if you don't watch the show. The song is Human by Jon McLaughlin. P.s. he should pick Peyton, the blonde.

And people say baseball isn't a contact sport...

Listen...

My name is not Travis or Tyler...how hard is it? I understand if you butcher the last name, but the first name is not that difficult. Just because I didn't correct you, doesn't mean that I didn't notice.

I hate...

These are the things I hate or am not a fan of, in no particular order:

being late

wet socks

my hands, fingers, & feet being dirty

my food touching each other

being cold

when really good people feel bad about themselves

pure arrogance

being rude

music that constantly screams at me

the feel of paper

God takes advantage of me

I swear to you that God is taking advantage of me. You see, generally I am a very very patient person. I always have been. Actually I believe I'm too patient with people most of the time. So for quite some time I've noticed that I seem to be placed in situations that my patience shines. For example: in high school we had open campus lunch so we drove to a fast food joint everyday. Without fail I was the always the last one to receive my food, even if I was the first to order. This wasn't something that happened just a few times; it was seriously more often than not. And every time I stood there very patiently and did not speak up or become hateful because I was too freakin patient. Usually ten to fifteen mins later they come back and say, "what are you waiting on?" Then I would tell them and suddenly it came right out. Fast forward to today...I'm standing in line at lunch for some kind of chicken wrap and I finally get to the front of the line and the lady says, "Hold on, I have to go get more lettuce." Of course you do. It's just another opportunity to showcase patience. I always feel like speaking up when I'm waiting there forever but I feel that it would be rude so I never do.

Okay, so God isn't really taking advantage of me but it feels like He laughs at me when I get in these situations because He knows my tendencies and the way He has created me. I don't think He has created me to be a pushover but patience definitely seems to be a gift of mine...maybe a little too much.