Working to save money, and other scams

So I recently realized that I don't have any money. I am trying to save money, by working of course, but that has not been really effective up until now. Perhaps everyone is going through this and doesn't seem to have a problem, but I thought I'd blog about it anyway.
So I go to work and invest a lot of time. I work hard, and the wage is fair. And I do not live an extravagant lifestyle, but somehow, it all goes to crap I don't really want. Bills, rent, and other inconvieniences. What a pain in the butt.
Well, sorry so short.

Today was the coolest-only warmer.

So today was rad. I got to sleep in, I still got up at a reasonable time, and I spent the day hanging out with the girl, reading, eating good food, and hangin out with good friends. Spring makes bad things good and good things better. I felt more alive today than I have in awhile. Spring seems to do that to me.
I got to play some ultimate frisbee today, and then go for a very short run. I was going to do part of the course with the girl today, but lemme tell you what-that Trina girl is insane quick-she took second in the Triathalon today, doing a 300yd swim, a 4 mile bike ride, and a two mile run in something like 37 minutes. And she says she's out of shape-what does that make me? Dead? I didn't even make it with her at her pace across campus before my body said, "Nice try," and I said to her, "I'm slowing you down-I'll see you at the finish." It was still a good time.
Anyway, what I meant to talk about was my ultimate day. It would be spent much like this one was. I think that if every day started out somewhat wintery and progressed to be as springlike as today was by the early afternoon, I would be so excited to get up every morning that I might never bother going to bed.
So this might be a really lame post that began with an intention to talk about spring, and ended up being an incoherent mess mostly involving me being out of shape, bragging about how the girl I'm dating isn't, and a random BMW photo. Sorry if you feel like you wasted some time. But enjoy the M3 picture. If a car like that can't make you smile, you need some serious therapy.

The beauty in the mire

So I haven't blogged a darn thing in a long time, and some loved ones of mine were giving me some good-natured grief about it the other day, so I thought I'd change my ways and start to blog once more.

So that whole lovely distraction thing is much different than it was...she actually broke up with me on the way to the jazz game. Wow. Candice would have said wow for sure. It was a winner; an evening of awkwardness for the record books, but since it's been long enough, I actually find it quite funny. Jake told me the other day that a tragedy+time=humor. I think it's the truth. The following is a poem I wrote while my little ticker was still sore, and although I no longer feel this way at all, that shouldn't take away from the poem's literary worth. It's amazing how much describing the way you feel about something can give you the strength to let it go.

Here goes:

Yet untitled by 'the Shaner'

I’m blown away
By your apathy
Marveled by your lies
I question my
Own self-interest now
After a thousand tries

You could sell the devil a furnace, girl
Cause you sure pulled one on me
And I don’t know if I’ll ever believe
It’s ‘cause it wasn’t meant to be

You made me believe you really cared
But said everything just right
So you could pretend you’d never dared
To fall in love? Not quite…

I really bought it, all the way
But you took me for a joke
You said “I never loved you.”
And drifted off like smoke

Once you fell you ran away
Embarrassed at the thought
That someone like me could be with you
And love you like I ought.

Although they may have been untrue
The beautiful things you told me
Although it’s all over I just have to say
I’d still love to buy what you sold me

Underwhelmed is all I’ve got
All I can begin to grasp
And if you once more, should come this way
I probably wouldn’t ask
If you had changed you mind at all
Before I jumped back in,
And set myself up to fall a little more
In love with your lies again.

Lovely Distraction

I haven't blogged anything worthwhile for awhile, and I apologize. It's all her fault. I have taken a liking to an adorable girl down in bountiful and have been busy talking to her for hours on end on the phone, burning waffle cones at work daydreaming about her, and wishing class were over with so I could go home, take a nap, then wake up and wonder about her more. I'm really a mess. I should be more levelheaded about this whole thing, but it can be difficult when one is so smitten.

So I was talking with this lovely young lady this evening, and we discussed whether we were people who were more inclined to trust our minds or our feelings. I used to believe that I was someone who was more controled by what I felt than what I thought, but as we got talking, she said that every decision we make is really a combination of both heart and mind. I hadn't thought about it that way before, and I really liked it. She claimed that they must agree for a good decision to be made. What thinkest thou?

More driving Issues

So I've been thinking about my previous post, and I thought to myself, "Self, you should be the solution instead of just the pointer-outer of the problem." So I came up with an idea. Our problem is that people cruise in the left lane. As we all know (Tj likely even more thouroughly than some) that people respond to incentives. What could we do to help people get the idea that they should actually hang out in the right lane? Should we threaten them? Perhaps pass out cookies to right laners? Maybe we could start painting all of the dotted lines at an angle towards the right side of things to ease those folks over there. Well, fellow bloggers, any bright ideas?

Left lane laziness

So I thought I’d take a minute to vent about bad habits that approximately 47% of Utah drivers. Hopefully it won’t take too long.

So I’m driving down to Salt Lake today for a family dinner, and I’m not racing to get there or anything, but I’m moving right along. I can’t even tell you how many times I had to slow down behind some dipcrap poking along in the left lane. You have to pass them in the right lane. It’s the only way around them. You can flash your lights, honk your horn, pretty much anything, and they just cruise along remaining in their ignorant bliss. There could be 3 state troopers with lights flashing, a fire truck with it’s fog horn blowing right behind them, and a clown on a motorcycle in front of them with a big sign on his back that says “Move over nincompoop!” and there they would remain. I think if a truck full of land mines jackknifed and dumped all of it’s contents in the left lane, some of these individuals would remain there, waiting for a cleanup crew to arrive rather than change lanes. All of them must have missed the day in driver’s ed where they discussed that you drive in the RIGHT LANE except to pass. Perhaps they were taught this principle by a dyslexic driver’s ed teacher who got it mixed up. So sad.

Maybe they are just afraid of the uncertainty of the right lane. “What if someone wants to merge?!? Aaack! Could I deal with that? What if I end up behind a Buick and I have to (Gasp) alter my speed? That could be too much!”

I guess it upsets me because I see driving as a dance, and if everyone moves properly, it can be an almost artistic, harmonious experience. It’s a fluid interaction, a series of planned maneuvers and compromises, which can optimize both efficiency and enjoyment. A machine out of many machines. It could be marvelous. But some will never see it that way. They’d rather set the cruise, turn on the DVD player and let the media raise their kids, and somehow take a nap while driving on the interstate.

I'm new at this

Hey everyone, just getting started now, more to follow soon.