Tweet me and I'll Facebook you back on my I-phone

So I was going to sign up for Twitter the other day, but then I remembered that I am currently in a neglecting wave with my blog so a new platform for electronic communication might not be the best idea. I must admit the concept of twitter does fascinate me, but I have yet to figure out how it is really that much different from just sending a plain text message.

Steve (a gentleman I work with) and I have been having some good conversations about electronic media. He has Facebook and I have a blog so I guess it all comes out in the warsh. He thinks that the next wave of e-media will be video. So instead of sending texts to everyone telling them what we are doing we will send videos of us actually doing it. I got to admit, I think his claim has a lot of merit. We as young Americans are rather lazy and I have often wondered when texting would become to much of a burden for us to handle. I am not sure if he has this idea registered, but if not you guys out their in the cage of words should get on it.

After I reject Twitter I starting thinking about Facebook, so after many years of resistance I decided to get a Facebook account. Yes, I am deceiving you. I in fact did not join Facebook but I can help but have a little fun every now and then.

I also debated the merits of looking into an I-phone. I quickly decided that I am not really sure how an I-pod, or for that matter I-anything, works so I am not going to be up-grading any time soon on that front either.

It amazes me just how far "behind" in technology I am sometimes. Then I stop and remember that technology is created to help us. I can't help but wonder how many people in the world have been hurt by technology. Now I am not advocating throwing away all technology, or really any at all, I just wonder how many people out their are hindered not helped by all the technology in their life.

Happy Easter

Turtle Cheescake

It is funny that the busier I get it seems like the less I have to say. Here are a few highlights anyways.

I passes my written motorcycle test last week. Now I have to get a bike (scooter really), get it insured (let's talk about that mom and dad), get it registered, get a helmet, teach myself how to ride and in 30 days take the driving test and I will be good to go. Now does anyone have a airplane I could borrow?

I have been busy chopping wood and clearing brush over the last week. The weather has really been wonderful lately. It was in the 80's and sunny all last weekend and I was able to get a lot cut. Now I have to go back to split and stack it all.

Last weekend was the Story Inn wine fest. It was so much fun. Over 30 Indiana Wineries where there. I did my best, but I did not get to all of them. Maybe over the next few years I can try them all. The only problem with 30 wineries is after the 8 or 9 it is hard to tell the wines apart.

Spring weekends are staring to fill up. A trip to Chicago, open house, free weekend, adventure training and then staff training starts. Where did spring go. It is hard to believe we are in May already.

Happy Easter

The Quest Continues

My quest to be able to operate any form of transportation continues. Why do I have this quest? Well if movies have taught me anything, it is that if the world is about to end the guy who can drive/pilot/navigate anything that is around always A) lives B) saves the world C) gets the girl. So really the question is when are you going to join me on the same quest.

As of yesterday I can now drive a Class B commercial vehicle without air brakes. I do have my passenger endorsement so hop on bus folks. I know it is only a class B and I don't have all the endorsements such as hazardous materials, air brakes or school bus, but I am getting there. I also feel as though if push came to shove I could handle the big rig I need to handle.

Now, does anyone have a motorcycle I can borrow...?

Happy Easter

Something is better then Nothing

Well I am officially an ACA Visitor. What is an ACA Visitor? Well the summer camp I work at is accredited through an organization called the American Camp Association. Each year the camp gets accredited and every three years there is a visit done by representative of the ACA. Last week I went through the training and I am now an Associate Visitor, so this summer I will be visiting a camp in northern IN for their accreditation visit.

In other news last weekend I was on a team that put on a Confirmation retreat for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. There were over 350 youth there and it was quite an ordeal. We were really only expecting 150-200 youth so when we closed registrations with 350+ we were a bit overwhelmed. All in all I think it went much better then I was anticipating. Our small group leaders were great. My buddy Carl even came up to be a small group leader.

Round two of the CDL test is coming up on Tuesday. I am less then excited about this, but it is something I have to do. I think my problem come from the fact that I just disagree with how the whole system works. I do not like systems where the tester just looks at you and waits for you to fail. To me this is not learning or proving that you should be allowed to drive a bus. I understand the need to be standardised, but not to the point it is so mechanical it is no longer humanistic.

Alright I got to go. Sorry for such a lame post, but I am hoping to get more up soon.

Happy Easter

The Best Care in the Air

I recently fly Midwest Airlines home to Iowa and back to Indiana. The serve fresh baked chocolate chip cookies on every flight. They smell great on the plane. They may not taste all that good but the smell is wonderful.

Iowa was amazing but my time was not long enough. One day I will get more then a whirl wind tour of Iowa when I return, but until that day bits and pieces are always nice.

Camp has officially kicked into gear. We are starting to have more groups and summer plans are being completed daily. I am not ready to write off all my free time yet, but we are starting to get close to the date when people outside of camp get little time or communication from Andy. Although I am hoping my blog will get you all someone informed, even if it is updated less.

On an Easter note. I went to Spiritual Direction yesterday and here is one of the things that came out of our conversation. Most of us offer sacrifices in Lent, but when Easter comes do we celebrate? I do not think I do, so for this Easter I am going to do one thing special for myself each week. Maybe I will visit a friend, take myself to a movie or visit an art gallery. Something to make the season special. Maybe you can do something special for yourself also.

Happy Easter

Failure is Humbling

Yesterday I took my Commercial Drivers License (CDL) test. As most of you know when I commit to something I always try to give it my best. So when I committed to the CDL I failed in glory.

To give you some more information the CDL test, it is in three parts. You have to pass each part in order before moving onto the next.
1) Pre-trip inspection. Basically checking everything mechinical on your bus.
2) Basic Skills. Straight backing, offset right backing and parrall parking.
3) Road test. Driving around in the city.

Well yesterday I got about 5% done with my test and had failed already. I don't want to make excuses as to why I failed. My friend Ford taught me to male plays not excuses. The point is I did, and now I know what I need to do pass. My tester Wayne was very helpful and took extra time to teach me a lot of great information and I really appreciate all he did for me.

It is a humbling experience to fail. One that at first might sting, but ultimately I know I will be better because of it. So today I am licking my wounds but I live to test another day.

Keep up the fight

April Fools

Ha Ha, we got you. Ok so maybe we didn't, but it is only because here at A Cage of Words we care for our readers and we don't want to deceive you. Maybe we don't always get the quotes exactly right, or sometimes details in our reporting are slightly changed to protect the guilty, but for the most part we tell it how it is. This is the completely biased and generally poor written quality you have come to expect from us, and we don't want to disappoint you by pulling some big April fools prank.

I would like to congratulate Chis on winning the Peacock Feather Tournament at Midstates. I like how in his post Chris stepped up and took responsibility for his part in the loss of the Baggo tournament, it reminded me of a Saved By the Bell episode in Season 2, which aired on September 29, 1990, production code 6336, entitled Driver's Education where Fearing that Kelly would rather go steady with Slater if Slater learned to drive first, Zack plots to make Slater fail his driver's test. This leads to Slater having an accident in the practice car and a locker falling on Kelly. When she realizes who was behind the crash, she makes out her injury to be worse than it really is (Thank you Wiki). I think the turning point in this episode was when Slater said to Mr. Belding, "I was in the seat, I will take the heat." I pray that one day the current AC at Camp Gray will be able to learn the lesson of assuming responsibility for ones own actions that our good friends Slater and Chris taught us.

Thank you Slater, Thank you!

I know I when I was in 7th grade I learned this lesson from Mr. West who made me write 175 times: I must assume responsibility for my own actions even if other influenced me. It was also then when I learned to hate math and developed the foundations for what would later become my ability to understand logical consequences.

Also just in case you fly a lot you might want to check this out, you never know.

Keep up the fight