Latest Fire Snake Spin

Little x-mas something.

So not the tightest video I've ever made but something fun to send out to people. Should be one of Pamela and My trip to Fernie soon!
dREW~

Classes are done!

Welp, that is the final test done and I'm now good to go! Anyway this holiday season is shaping up to be pretty awesome. I've got 4 snowboarding days planned so far between now and x-mas, and from there things are shaping up to be good.

So far looks like next semester will be tues and thurs classes only which is great, and aside from that having to find a job to support myself!

Anyway I'm going to do some relaxing now so we will talk to you all LATER!
dREW~

Been a while.

Well I figured that I'd just write a little thing on the end of the semester which is coming up. I'm doing well in most of my classes and am pretty sure that I'll be pulling of a B+ or A- average at least.

I'd have to say that I've enjoyed this first semester of university quite a bit. I've made some good friends, and really gotten a bit of a feel for what this whole University thing is really about. Now that being said am I sure that I'm going to do 8 years of school? Nope. There are a few things that I am seeing though.

I should not be at the U of L if I want to take clinical psychology (the psych that deals with people rather than just their brains) because the programs here are very limited in that respect. This means that If I'm going to want to go the direction of being a counsellor that I'm going to have to either transfer somewhere else - or I'm going to have to look into a Psych-Ed thing that I don't know much about at this point. -- of course this all presupposes that i'm still wanting to go towards the whole psych thing still. I'm really enjoying my Philosophy classes and finding that they are the most interesting, and the ones that are seeming to have a more profound impact on my life than any of the other ones. Most of my other classes. (psych and sociology) I'm finding interesting but not neccesarily passion inducing. Sociology is good but then again it's a lot about doing surveys, and hanging out with people, and then writing a paper that you hope people will read that will effect the way that a culture, subgroup, or deviance is defined. Do I want to dedicate my life to doing that... I'm not sure.

So at this point I'm going allright... well I'll take one more semester to try out a few more things and to get a better idea of what is going on with this Uni thing. See if anything else really peaks my interest. I'm looking at the car dealership as more of a viable option now given that it seems to be about as fulfilling as some of the things that i'm learning to do here at the university... if considered a little less "classy". Having Pamela around would make that job a lot more exciting as well.

So yeah nothing to life shaking. Loving being in lethbridge hooked up with a church that I like, with a girl that I love, and I'm getting by. (although a job is definitely not optional for next semeseter.) But I'm feeling good overall and enjoying the life that I'm living so what more can I really ask for right?

Anyway blessings and peace as we come up to the X-mas season on all of you!
dREW~

Advertising information. Love these vid's

Funeral Information - Entertaining and informative vid.

The natural lull in intensity???

Well, I've been a university student coming up on 2 months now. It's been a good time so far! Although it's funny b/c I was pretty stressed out about tests the first time around, but this time around with my second set of exams coming up it's not nearly as big a thing... I'm not sure if it's just because I felt a little more solid about what went on in this second section, or if I'm sstarting to relax and be a little more content with good if not great marks.

But overall I'm sitting at a really quite decent mark, and maybe having established that I can do it i'm not worried. I dunno. Really I am just feelingl ike it's been a while since I've blogged and so figuedI should do something on here.

On a really exciting note my girlfriend of6 monthshas moved to the city where I lived. That's been fantastic getting to see her everyday, helping her move in. She's really quite wonderful!!!

Overall pretty much life is dang fantastic! - although I still need to win that lottery otherwise I will have to show up on friday for the midnight shift I've got... Oh well...
dREW Out@

I found this absolutely stunning!

Pornography is a rampant form of mass media in our society today. For something that is not brought up in public because it is shameful it is probably responsible for 90% or more of the 'sexual education' that most people receive. It is considered to be a 'normal' part of many marriages, and an addiction for men of all ages.

Shelley Lubben used to be a porn star, you could probably still find her on the internet somewhere. Well she's out of the businesss now, and faith aside her story is amazing because it's a real behind the scene look at what exactly is going on when the camera isn't turned on.

http://www.shelleylubben.com/index.php?truth=home

Scripture Bell

The BELL

"I KNOW WHO I AM"
I am God's child (John 1:12 )
I am Christ's friend (John 15:15 )
I am united with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17 )
I am bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:19 -20)
I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)
I am a personal witness of Christ (Acts 1:8)
I am the salt & light of the earth (Matt. 5:13 -14)
I am a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27 )
I am free forever from condemnation ( Rom. 8: 1-2)
I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Phil.3:20)
I am free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31-34)
I am a minister of reconciliation for God (2 Cor.5:17-21)
I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph 2:18)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)
I cannot be separated from the love of God (Rom.8:35-39)
I am established, anointed, sealed by God (2 Cor.1:21-22)
I am assured all things work together for good (Rom. 8: 28)
I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16)
I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3: 12)
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13)
I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15: 1-5)
I am God's temple (1 Cor. 3: 16). I am complete in Christ (Col. 2: 10)
I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). I have been justified (Romans 5:1)
I am God's co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God's workmanship (Eph. 2:10 )
I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected (Phil. 1: 5)
I have been redeemed and forgiven (Col. 1:14). I have been adopted as God's child (Eph 1:5)
I belong to God

Keep this bell ringing...
We all are children of the Most High God.
He loves you to the point where you'll never understand!
So continue building your covenant relationship with Him!
And always remember and repeat this over and over again
"I am too blessed to be stressed, and too anointed to be disappointed."

Vague Assignments.

I hate VAGUE. I do not think it has any place in a University Syllabus. I am currently in the process of trying to write an essay. I've written the first page of this essay about 17 times because I cannot figure out what I am actually supposed to write it about.

I've got an article called "why do drug dealers still live with their moms?" from a book called freakonomics. It's all about how Drug Dealers don't actually make very good money ($3.30 an hour) and that crack selling gangs are actually based on a very similar structure to corporate america. Great, it's a nice straightforward, if a little bit shocking, article. That's great. Now listen to my syllabus describe my essay:

"This essay is your brief discussion of knowledge as presented in one of the articles..."
"Discuss the evidence, the argument, and the values in your article and give an evaluation"
"In my own words describe the argument the author makes, what is their position? What are they trying to convince me of? What is their reasoning?"
"what values are reflected in the argument? Discuss the author's point of view this may entail discussing underlying assumptions, you may need to read between the lines"
"Evaluate the article and the argument it makes and the conlsuinos it draws has the author convinced you?"

These aren't descriptors of an essay, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, they are short answer questions! A good solid essay question is. "given what this article says about black poverty in relation to crack cocaine usage, what do you see as a positive solution" or "what are some ways the authors may have twisted evidence to make their point" not 14 different little questions that you should answer in 5-7 pages double spaced with some obscure way to cite all sources made (which there are like 100 of anyway)

This is my rant after an hour of staring at a screen that is refusing to be filled with pixels that represent letters that will hopefully make words, sentences, paragraphs, and sense... 15% of my mark on this... why can't the exams be worth more I got an A on those...

Well back to it bitterly! dREW~

Alarm Clock Cat

Musicians make better lovers???

I dunno what it is bout these little graphics but they make me laugh. Feels good to laugh!

Have you watched the neverending story???

This made me smile and laugh so much!
http://falkor.ytmnd.com/
Luv it.

I work for the only f-ing company who...

...would have me tell them 3 times very specifically that I'm so tired, feeling sick, nautious, dizzy, and not sure if I feel comfortable driving to work, let alone running there 350,000 dollar loader for 8 hours that says. 'well we can't find anyone else so you HAVE to come in' or 'think of the money'. I wish I was more talented with expletives. I hate this, and I hate what it's doing to me...

I'm so tired...

Why is University so expencive. Heres my schedule for this week.


Wed. 0:00 - 8:00 work. 11:00 - 4:00 school.
Thurs. 0:00 - 8:00 work. 10:00-2:00 school.
Fri. 0:00 - 8:00 work. 11:00 - 4:00 school.
Sat 0:00 - 8:00 work.
Sun 0:00 - 8:00 work.
Mon 0:00 - 8:00 work. 11:00 - 4:00 school.

It's just not fair! Why can't I be one of those little 18 yr olds who have the car, the school, the house, the vacation, and the allowance! ;) Such is life. I'm totally buying a lotto ticket as a weak attempt to get out of this! If I win, I vow' to not do another midnight on the loader!
dreW~

Forget test taking, how about test writing!!!

So as a university student there are these times when I get to have multiple exams all stacked up on eachother, which pretty much sums up my week. 3 midterms in 3 days.

Now I'm o.k. with this, I understand the neccesity of having 'testing' in the way that we've constructed our education system in the sense of a 'confirmation of learning' despite all of the frustrations, paranoia, and conditions that people have as a result of this.

HOWEVER, when I go to write a test at the university level and the question is worded this way:
Which of the following are NOT an example of:
a. 1
b. 2
c. 3
d. None of the Above.

I get a little frustrated because the answer is D. But that creates a sentence that looks like this. - Which of the following are NOT an example of NONE of the above. - now I'm a psych major, not an english major, but that's a double negative right??? And those are considered to be bad karma in writing I think.

So I've done what any good student would do, I wrote my proff... we'll see if I get a response.

Aside from that other news is that I'm working as an alternate for Chinook Carriers now, so next week I will be working midnight shifts, and going to university. Should be interesting...
dREW~

Hey, how you doin??

This is a question that comes under much fire because of it's impersonal nature. The answer usually ends up being something along the lines of 'fine, you?' --- 'fine'. This is of course extremely frustrating for those people whom are lacking in true personal connection because 'fine' does not give any sort of a connection. This week this is how I've been answering the question 'how you doin?'

"Well, last monday I was riding my motorcycle and it began to make funny noises. All the way until wednesday when the lack of power and noises made it so I couldnt' ride it anymore, but that was o.k. b/c I've got a van. Good thing to because on the Wednesday I found out that my grandfather had passed away and I had to be home for the weekend an hour away. So the rest of the week was o.k. although stressed b/c I had a Philosophy midterm coming up and at that point I did not Philo - Sophia (love knowledge) so it was frustrating. But i got that written and it seemed to go o.k. Resolving to myself that i wans't going to do anymore work that weekend I proceeded to invite my roomate to come with me for a salad at Wendy's at around 11:30 that night. Well we got about a block and a half down the road before the van started to make this strange noise, lose all power, and long story short not start up again. So we walked home in the rain and cold and I drank a beer and went to bed. The weekend worked out, good family that came and picked me up so that i could get to the funeral which was nice and then home again on Sunday via a very wonderful girlfriend. Through all of this I was feeling o.k. because I knew that I had my ol' failsafe the pedal bike. Well Tuesday I was riding to school and the gear on my bike decides to bend nearly in half and do to the upset in my rhythm put me into traffic. Thank the Lord it was near a red light or the silver camaro I got a very close look at probably would have been even a little closer. So now i'm left walking to school, unless I can gerry-rig something with the pedal bike..." --- "you?"

dREW~

The Cat Empire

So this one won't be to long, I'm between classes at the U, just finished some hard lengths in the pool feeling good feeling alive, and listening to one of my new favourite bands called "The Cat Empire"

If I were to write a review of this band it would probably comment on the fact that the main vocals on this self titled album are fantastic in that they are quite varied, almost seeming to have a Jamaican lilt' although the band originates in Australia. It has much variance in the music such as "the wine song" which almost sounds like something you'd hear off of the fiddler on the roof, to the socially satirical lyrics that are present in "The Chariot" All in all, if this were a review I'd give this album a definite 9 in that I'd talk about how I enjoyed almost all of the songs but a few of them just seemed to lack substance. Overall I'd say pick it up in whichever way seems right to you. - at least that's what I'd say if it were a review.

Aside from that a few things that are going on in me' life is that I'm busy with School, this promised to be the busiest week yet with a Philosophy club meeting today, Wednesday meeting with some Inter Varsity Xian Fellowship people and early friday morning i'm taking part in a Psycology experiment where they will be testing my spatial reaction to emotional stimulus... Sounds like fun. (I opted out of the male sexuality one, as much as it would be an experiment 2 hours of exposure to pornography in the name of science still doesn't make it right in my mind.) Plus my first Philosophy exam this friday so much studying going oni this weekend.

Also a little bit excited about my birthday coming up on the 11th of October, if your feeling generous I'm lookiong for a USB splitter for my new Mac (usb2 plz!), new snowboard and snowboarding gloves.

Well that's enough I think...

Almost two years I've waited!

Almost two years ago now I went onto the Apple Computers website and saw with my own eyes the newest incarnation of the all in one iMac. At the time I had the money in my bank account to jump on it, and had recently gotten my first credit card. But I allready had a decent laptop that was still running o.k.

1 year ago my laptop started having issues, such as the infamous 'blue screen of death' which would cause me to lose whatever was going on, as well as I ended up having many occasions where it would simply freeze. But I didn't really NEED a new computer at that point, all I really did was check my email.

Today I finally have reaped the reward of waiting, after two years the newest incarnation of the iMac is more powerful, sleeker, 'prettier' and less expencive than ever before, and I've got one sitting on my desk as I write with my bluetooth wireless keyboard. It's pretty fantastic to get something which I've waited for this long. Anyway I'm tired so this isn't very eloquent, but yay for patience, if half the other things in life I'm waiting for are 1/3rd this good it's all well worth it!
dREW~

Great ride, but boy am I sick now....

Well the weekend went well... However I haven't been that cold that consistently for a long time! On Friday when I left after posting my last Blog I had high hopes that the weather would stay nice, well those hopes were dashed within the first 10 minutes out of Lethbridge when it began raining. That combined with a temperature of about 10 degrees meant that by the time I had gotten to Vulcan I couldn't really feel much of anything that wasn't in my helmet. But after buying a pair of bright neoprene gloves to keep the rain and wind off my hands I managed to make it the next hour into Calgary. Where I found the house I was going to locked, after a few phone calls I managed to find a friend who was home and got the chance to go warm up in a shower, and theres not much that feels better than getting into a warm shower after a long cold ride.

The next day however (you can see to the right it was still cold as Pamela and my motorcycles are smoking) was great as we got the opportunity to go and do the Turn on the Tap ride. We arrived at Samaritan's Purse at 8:15 a.m. and joined about 48 other motorcyclists from all ages, styles of motorbikes, and areas.


After a quick run down of the route and some safety tips we were then escorted through Calgary by the Police who shut down a few roads and cleared up deerfoot for us which I unfortunately don't have any pictures of. We had three stops along the way, two churches and a gas station about halfway along the kananaskis trail. It was a beautiful ride, despite rain, snow, and hail. But all told we managed to raise about 40,000 dollars for the bio-sand filters to be sent overseas, so it was very exciting and very successful, even if the weather was a little inclement.

Nothing else to new to report, I'm really sick now after being out in the cold so much, sore throat, fever all that. I have class in 55 minutes and I'm wishing that university was like a job where you could call in sick! But I've got all my assignments done and maybe getting out and about will help me feel better. I've got one last photo for you it's of my Pamela when we were halfway through Kananaskis country, just after we saw the snow on the side of the road!! Blessings ya'll! dREW~

how good it is.

So last night after getting off of my classes I got to go home and relax. Took home some textbooks that I had the opportunity to leaf through and found some interesting things. Moreso than bible school I think I'm going to enjoy the class aspect of this experience solely because I do'nt have to take anything that I don't want to. Not that I'm complaining about Anabaptist Distinctives or anything but I probably wouldn't have chosen to pay for it if I didn't have to.

The other thing I got to do was to work on my bike a little bit. Tighten up the chain a few mm's, get some fresh oil into it, and of course take it for a nice little wash. Now the reality of my bike is that it is not running in pristine condition, in fact as I stand here I can catch the occasional whiff' of a mixture of oil and gasoline that tends to stain whatever pants I ride in on the inside of me left calf. But when I got on my bike this morning, and looked at the shiny gauges, and the silver exhaust, the headlight reflecting in what little sun there is today all I can do is sigh. As I pull on the leather jacket, the helmet, the gloves and fire up 1000cc's of japanese engineering I can only grin. As I pass the little rice rocket on university ave, or take a really nice deep corner coming down to anderson hall there is the hint of laughter bubbling up from deep within my biker's soul. I love it.

The bummer however about the bike is that tomorrow is a ride called "turn on the tap" for the samaritans purse in Calgary, which means that I get to leave after class today at 4:00 ish, but the problem is that the temperature is definately not warm. So I'll be suiting up and will probably appear moreso as a polar bear riding a bicycle rather than a leather wrapped menace to the roadways mounting his red dragon. But what can we do. Anyone inclined to pray could definately pray that the 60% chance of thundershowers in Calgary is lowered by 8:15 tomorrow when my PJS and I arrive at Samartan's purse and begin our ride with many like-minded christian riders.

Blessings on everyone, may you find things that make you as happy as I felt for the 10 minute trip to the U today.
dREW~

P.s. technologies a punk...

On August 15th I ordered an iMac, an iPod Nano, and an iPrinter... rather just a printer. So I got my printer and my iPod almost same day but I've had to wait over a month to get my iMac because it was customized and all that jazz, whatever not a big deal. Also I got the iPod and the Printer for free via the online promotions. But now I see that they've released the new iPod nano's which play video and are a almost 60 dollars cheaper than the old ones!!!! It's one of those things where I know I don't need the new iPod's bigger screen and fun album cover info at all, but it's just really going to show that even when I thought I was on the cutting edge by getting my 24inch iMac loaded to the gill's I'm still running into something else that I'm having problems with. I wish I could have just taken the 220 bucks really... maybe I'll see what a pawn shop will give me... Anyway technologically frustrated... later~
dREW~

Am I in the right Major???

Well today was my second day of classes and I'll say it was quite a bit slacker. I only had two classes and they were right up against eachother so it was be there for 10:50, get done at 1:30, take a swim and come home! So quite nice.

I'm not so sure but at this point the class that I am most excited about is my Sociology class, which is almost hard to say given that I'm a Psych Major. But the proff I've got for it seems really fantastic so that's why I'm looking forward to it.

Anyway off to Calgary this weekend for Turn on the Tap which is a motorcycle ride that is set up for southern alberta. It's about 350 km's and it's being done to raise awareness of the fact that a lot of places don't have clean drinking water, so every 100 bucks raised can provide Bio Sand filters to 10 people. I think it's cool, I'm excited to be a part of it, and I'm praying the weather will stay nice! So I've gotta get going given that I'm not going to be home at all this weekend and the homework assignments are allready assigned for monday so toodles!
dREW~

Two in one day?

O.k. so I won't be making a habit of this, I promise. But I've allready got a locker for the pool, my student handbook, transferred all my dates into said book, I've walked over the university twice now making sure I know where my classes are, where the gym/pool is, where the Macintosh lab (which was locked!!!) is and found out where all the food places, which i'll never eat at, are located. So that was interesting. I've also found out that even though the University of Lethbridge is 90% concrete a cell phone will still work on the lower levels, although it may cut in and out. I learned this b/c all day I've been trying to hook up with other people that I know that are going to the university so that I can figure out who I'm going to be able to hang out with.

The reason I'm trying to figure out everyone else's schedules is because I currently have two roomates. The one works an evening shift and usually ends up staying awake till 3 or 4 before going to bed, waking up at noon, and going to work. The other works mornings and so we can hang out more now that I'm in the U. But he's moving out at the end of the month and another buddy of mine is moving in who is also on an evening shift. What does this mean? Likely that for the most part if I'm awake at home they won't be, or they'll be at work. so that means that for hanging out I'm going to have to look outward in order to find that.

But yes ,thus far the impression is that I think i'm going to like this University thing, my only need now is to win the lottery so that I can just be a full time student! That would be the life!!!
dREW~

First Day of School...

What a strange feeling it is to be walking back into an educational instutition. To be paying fees again, to have a student id card, to be surrounded by many many people as we all try to gain a little bit of information that we might use to further our minds and as I've found with most people, our careers and our padded pockets.

Anyway things have been pretty busy for me as of late, just getting ready for school, just trying to prepare everything so that I don't end up walking into a class only to have the professor say... um your not actually on my list! But all has gone well so far.

I'm pretty stoked about the health aspect of going to school this year. It's about 1 hour from my house to any given classroom at the U, which means that the earliest I have to leave the house this semester, unless I get an early day job, is 9:00. Also all of the breaks that I have between classes line up really well with the lane swimming at the pool here, which I have access to via my U pass. Thus hoping to get in some swimming daily, maybe get some weights in and all that jazz, but there are some things in the not to distant future that I'd like to be a little more in shape for so that'll be good.

I'm taking four courses this semester. Psychology 1000, Philosophy 1000, Sociology 1000, and Liberal Education 1000. I'm pretty stoked for this because the four "ology's" are ones that I've been wanting to take for a long time, and if I'm going to switch my degree from Psych it will be to one of these other courses. So here we go.

Anyway I'm starting this blog up again because first of all I'm going to have a lot of time on computers, and maybe just maybe something I learn here will be postable, and thus potentially effect the world at large.

But anyway I'm going to head off and try to get my hands on my student Id card. First class in less than an hour now... little nervous. What if in the few years between Bethany College and now I've forgotten how to learn????