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bad dinosaur 34

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The Flash & Arrow Duology by Clay and Susan Griffith

29 Tuesday Jan 2019

Posted by chadwickheller in Author, blog, Book Review, books, Coffee, Currently Reading, Discussion, male friendship, recommendation, review, science fiction, snow

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We first meet up with Barry Allen (AKA the Flash) as he is going from vehicle to vehicle rescuing citizens from a horrific traffic accident. It is here in the midst of the chaos that we and the Flash first learn that something is not right with the Flash physiologically. This first reveals itself in the form of a tiny glitch that only the Flash is aware of. As we discover, along with the Flash, that there is something wrong inside the Flashes body we learn that Central City is under attack by a small group of metahumans.

As Pied Piper, Weather Wizard and Peekaboo carry out their attack on Central City, the Flash continues to experience glitches in his power that completely incapacitates him – often times in the midst of fights with various villains. These glitches that the Flash experiences are so troubling that the Flash and his team at S.T.A.R. Labs call on the help of Oliver Queen – the Arrow to defend Central City as they try to come up with a cure to save the Flash.

The Flash: The Haunting of Barry Allen and Arrow: A Generation of Vipers by Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith makes an incredible duology. The first book is depicted from the Flashes perspective while the second is from Arrows perspective. The books share an over-arching story line – finding a cure for the Flashes near fatal glitches, yet independently carry within themselves self contained stories that pertain to the Flash and Arrow respectively. The books also explore the complexities of the two heroes friendship as they come to terms with their respective histories.

The Flash and Arrow have different philosophies when it comes to how they do their jobs in protecting their cities, and these differences play a strong role on how the story plays out. Arrows story centers around getting a device that will save The Flash from the glitches he is experiencing. Arrow also helps The Flash to cope with the glitches as they occur.

Each book in this duology clocks in at over 400 pages making this over all story quite the tome. Although I enjoyed the concept of these two books, I did find it difficult to find the same type of connection with Arrow in the second book that I did with the Flash in the first book. I always felt that there was some distance between myself and Arrow as I followed him around in the second book. Perhaps, due to the nature of Arrow, this was deliberate, but I felt it seriously slowed down the pacing of the story especially in the second book. I was thoroughly engaged with Barry Allen in the first book but I always felt like I was being kept at arms length with Oliver Queen in the second book.

I strongly recommend this duology especially if, like me, you enjoy stories involving The Flash. These books are based on the Warner Bros. series created by Greg Berlanti & Andrew Kreisberg & Geoff Johns. If you enjoy the television series, I would also recommend these books.

 

This river, it’s at flood level

11 Tuesday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in home, House, Life, rain, snow, time, Today, work

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The Grand River in Michigan is at flood level – it’s the highest it’s been since 2013; the ground is heavily saturated with water and it wants to go somewhere.

So it forced its way into my basement.

I, of course was not aware of this until I called the city council to inquire about whether or not there was a sewer back up. I also went online and did some rudimentary research in order to help ease my mind.

With in minutes I found out about the flooding going on all along the Grand River, and within a half hour a person who works for my city checked the sewer and kindly came to my door to tell me that the sewer isn’t backed up, that ground water is most likely getting into my basement and that many people are experiencing this as well.

I found all of this reassuring. Sometimes when unfortunate things happen, it helps a lot to be given a rationale reason as to why it is happening.

When I got home this morning, I knew there would be some water in the basement considering that it had rained most of yesterday evening. I immediately began to sop it up with a sponge and was making considerable progress when suddenly I saw that the water was beginning to get deeper.

It was slow at first and I didn’t think too much of it until I began to notice that the water was forming puddles in areas of the basement that it hadn’t before.

This got concerning.

So I got up from the step I was sitting on and took a soggy walk around the basement just to discover that the lid to the sewer drainage was floating in a rather large puddle. That’s when I started to worry and wanted a more definitive answer to what was going on.

At the beginning of 2016, the previous owner of my house had made an insurance claim in order to water proof the basement. Even upon purchasing the house I was informed that occasionally I’d see some “wet spots” in the basement.

Two inches of standing water is quite different than a few “wet spots”.

Since the river is at flood stage, and it will remain at flood stage for a couple more days, right now I’m going to chalk the situation up to there being excessive water in the ground. I’ll keep an eye on the basement situation – but right now trying to do anything about it is a losing battle.

I did move some of my [former] best friends stuff to higher locations so they wouldn’t get damaged by the water – however I’m not sure what compelled me to do this since I am planning on throwing it all away soon – kind of like what he did to our friendship.

 

 

I’ll do absolutely anything to dam this rising flood

08 Saturday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in blog, books, cat, friend, home, House, job, Life, Money, rain, snow, time, Today, work

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This morning upon returning home from work I discovered that there was a lot of water in my basement, so with the aid of a mop and an old tote box, I spent nearly 3 hours getting as much water off the floor as possible. When I finished, the basement was almost free of water, however now – nearly 9 hours later – it is beginning to fill up again.

I’ll devote more time to it later this evening.

The reason for all the water is due to an early summer Winter Storm that came through the area that dumped large amounts of snow and rain in my already heavily saturated area.  Although the previous owners of my house spent upwards of $5,000 getting the basement “leak proof”, the water still found a way to get in. My plan of action is to deal with this current situation and monitor the area for future issues.

I do believe the water in the basement is the result of the peculiar weather we had yesterday because this is the first time since moving in that any water has appeared in the basement – and we’ve had some intense severe storms move through that dumped a considerable amount of rain – and none of that ended up in the basement.

In other news: I’m still searching for a roommate. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to cover my bills this month – keeping in mind that I need to set aside an extra $300. I believe that I’ll be able to do it, but it will be a challenge.

For the past several days I’ve been reading this book about the history of the US Post Office  (by Winifred Gallagher) and how it helped to shape and, essentially, create the USA as we know it today.  The book is quite interesting and for some peculiar reason I am considering it a good companion book to another one of my favorite American history books called American Canopy  by Eric Rutkow.

Although Gallagher’s book is about how a rather progressive institution helped to create America into what it is today and the other is about how America’s unique, unadulterated (at the time) natural resources (tree’s) helped to shape America’s cultural landscape – how these two things intertwine is what I find fascinating. Clearly neither book delves into the counterparts topic – but you can see the parallels in how they connect. For instance, numerous of the towns that got the early post offices were early mill towns – and in several aspects, the hunt for lumber was the pretext for quite a bit of American  expansion.

I’d easily include these books as required reading for students, because then you can *see* how politics and day to day life – and nature intertwine to create the world that we live in. Today our politics, nature, culture, religion etc. are all so compartmentalized that it gets tough to see how one corresponds with the other – and make no mistake about it, they do correspond with each other.

The town that I currently live in in Michigan for instance owes it’s existence to the early furniture industry AND the Mennonites; neither of which have much of a modern day presence here. Yes, the founding of my current town once exported wooden chairs all over the USA. The old chair factory made gained so much business that they had to seek out a larger location and before the turn of the century (1900) had to relocate elsewhere. But upon moving, a sprawling town had already emerged.

The chair factory had so much wood left in it’s old factory in my town that after the company left, the town used the left over wood to build a bridge to get across the river. The foundation of the old factory is considered a historic landmark to this day.

It goes without saying that this town probably would not exist if it weren’t for the lumber industry that attracted job seekers who later developed the town – a town that soon required a post office to keep in contact with other growing areas.

As a personal note: the only reason that I haven’t been able to just zip right through the book about the post office’s role in America is because my mind has been heavily preoccupied with other life events. It’s been a little tough to remain focused.

Denton Little’s Lesson On #Life

06 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in blog, books, cat, friend, home, House, Life, Money, rain, snow, time, Today, work

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Yesterday ended with an abrupt emotional breakdown that I lacked the ability to control. I’m facing challenges so large in my life right now that I simply don’t know how to navigate through them. I don’t have anyone to lean on either which makes everything that much more difficult.

I’m not sure how to go about finding a roommate that is responsible and dependable. The situation with Jon left me quite shaken up – I’m letting myself be taken advantage of and that needs to stop.

This morning I placed a new ad on Craigslist adding one new stipulation; anyone who wants to move in must pay 50% of the first months rent up front, then the rest on the 1st. This will help to ensure that I’m not getting used by people.

Recently I read Denton Little’s Still Not Dead by Lance Rubin which is the second part to the Denton Little’s Death Date duology. I don’t know why these books aren’t getting more attention, they are hilarious and have this backwards humor that I enjoy a lot.

The story follows Denton Little who lives in a world where the day of your death is known. What makes Denton unique is that he is a ‘young death’ which means that he is dated to die just before completing High School – in fact, he is supposed to die on the night of his prom. This means that the day before his prom Denton gets to have his funeral, and on the day of prom he essentially is waiting to die.

Although the premise sounds bleak, Denton is basically a clumsy idiot who is facing many challenges in his young life – and he faces those challenges… awkwardly. What I learned from this story is that if you put a little effort into the situation you are in, you have the power to change it – for the better. Even things as finite as a death date can be altered – if you take the needed time to learn how to combat it.

This is the lesson that I need to apply to my life right now. I need to make the realization that I WILL get through this current circumstance I’m in. That if I budget carefully I’ll be able to cover all my bills and even have some extra money left over at the end of the month. I must recognize that what I’m facing is difficult I CAN GET THROUGH IT.

There are no certainties in life – but with a little determination, there is a way through ALMOST every obstacle that life tries to throw at you. I have the determination… even if I’m lacking in the optimism department.

I’ll move forward.

After Everything

18 Saturday Mar 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in #friend, blog, cat, debt, friend, home, House, job, Life, Money, rain, snow, time, Today, work

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It’s been over a month since I’ve seen my best friend – since he’s left.

I am uncertain if he has “moved out” or not since he has shown no interest in letting me know what is going on. In his absence, I’ve placed ad’s on various websites seeking a new roommate, even though I’m not sure what the status is of my best friend.

He still has all of his stuff here, so I’m not sure if he still believes he lives here – or what, exactly is going on. I guess I won’t really know until the end of this month, whether or not he send’s me rent.

He has completely left me in the dark about the situation, and I think this aspect is particularly cruel. I’ve been working a lot of overtime to try and make sure I have enough money set aside just in case he decides not to pay his portion. All my free time is being eaten up by stress caused by his sudden departure.

It is difficult to focus on anything.

I want to do so much, but my energy is just gone. Worry and stress really takes a toll on you in that regard. Ambition’s are put off because it is impossible to focus.

I don’t believe that I deserve to be in this situation.

I may just have a new roommate move in regardless of my “best friends” intentions. When he objects – I’ll inform him that perhaps a bit of communication on his part would have solved this. His phone may be turned off, but that’s not preventing him from stopping in and maybe leaving a note or something. I have tried calling him every day for the past two weeks – just to get an automated recording saying that the number that I have dialed is no longer in service.

I need to take the necessary precautions.

Exhaustion

05 Sunday Feb 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in #friend, blog, cat, Coffee, friend, House, job, Life, Money, recommendation, snow, time, Today, work

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This is the first day off from work that I’ve had since the previous time I wrote an entry (January 1). That’s right, I’ve worked OVER a month straight without a day off which has lead to me being a complete slacker in other aspects of my life.

A lot has happened in the last month.

For starters, I adopted another cat in order to help keep Manny occupied while I work so much. The new cat’s name is Larry and he is also gray but considerably older (6 years) and larger. Manny and Larry get along quite fine despite what so many people warned me about in regards to having two male cats.

My best friend recently decided to basically move in with his baby’s mama for the past three weeks which has me greatly, and understandably concerned. Those two were barely on speaking terms for quite awhile and suddenly all he’s been doing is spending time with her. He told me that he’d be back at our house this up coming week, that he just wanted to spend time with his daughter…

…but that remains to be seen. If he decides to just move out, he’d screw me over in a way that I’d rather not think about right now. I’ve already put up ads on Roommates.com just in case. Needless to say, this development has me greatly worried.

In other news, there are things that I want to do that I completely lack the energy to undertake at the moment due to my work schedule. Although I just recently got the equipment, I’d like to start a podcast of some variety – or restart my YouTube channel with more of a “talk radio” type feel to it. But when I get home from work, about the only thing that I have energy for is to read.

My writing, as seen by how “active” my blog has been, has gone into a slump. I do not know how I’m going to pick up on that UNTIL work slows down. With that being said, expect my updates to be rather sparse for awhile.

I have managed to begin the very basics of getting a garden started for this upcoming Spring. I have some seeds started in those small green house grow kits in my basement. So far I haven’t much luck with germination, but I still do have time I guess.

But, until next time.

An Update

07 Wednesday Dec 2016

Posted by chadwickheller in #friend, blog, Coffee, friend, home, House, job, Life, male friendship, men, Money, snow, Today, work

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I realize that I’ve been on an abnormally long hiatus – but that is entirely due to the busy season at my work setting in which means working 7 nights a week. I’m working over 60 hours a week, and I have been since the beginning of November.

So basically I’m extremely tired all the time.

But there have been some worthwhile highlights that I should mention.

First; my best friend bought himself the first bed of his own that he’s ever had in his life. This makes me very happy.

Also, the roommate who lost his job at the end of October got himself a new job which also makes me happy.

I got a chest freezer for the house so that we can start storing larger quantities of food. The next thing on the agenda is a bistro table. I’ve been wanting a coffee shop style table since I got the house. I finally found one that I want really bad that I plan on getting this upcoming weekend.

Our dreams are coming together which is so exciting.

Drama, overall, is at a minimum.

One of the more exciting tidbits is that the third roommate decided to have a hook-up and got chlamydia and gonorrhea – which made for some fun trips to the free clinic and the pharmacy.

Over all, there isn’t all too much happening with us.

I’ll try to reinstate this blog into my daily routine so I don’t go through these long stretches without writing any more.

Birthday recap

07 Saturday May 2016

Posted by chadwickheller in #friend, blog, books, car, Coffee, debt, friend, home, House, Life, list, Love, male friendship, men, Money, poem, rain, realtor, recommendation, redemption, snow, time, Today, work

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Yesterday was, without a doubt, exhausting.

I got out of work at 7am after working from 11pm and wouldn’t make it to bed again until almost midnight. All in all, I was up for almost 28 hours.

My morning began by running to Biggby and grabbing myself a free coffee. I then learned that my roommates were unable to cash their checks at Walmart in Lansing and had to go to a different Walmart. But before doing that we had to rendezvous at the apartment because I had to print up insurance cards for my car.

That took a bit longer than I had hoped, it was almost 9am at this point and we still had several stops to make before getting to the house inspection that would start at 10am.

With the printed insurance cards done, we left for Ionia to get the paychecks cashed. I grabbed a few ingredients, made a quick stop at the bank then left once again, this time for the house in order to meet up with the inspection guy.

This was a great time. When we arrived the inspector was already there. We gave him his fee then went inside the house and explored. What was exciting is that we found MORE stuff that this house had to offer. For starters, the basement concealed a ‘secret room’ that I want to use for a pantry. Then to our surprise we found ANOTHER room we were unaware of behind the garage. This house has nothing but storage space all over.

The inspection went very well, the inspector was quite impressed with the place. While we were there, my best friends uncle also stopped by to look at the house. He was quite impressed. After a few hours we had a talk about the condition of the house then we all left and got something to eat.

Following that the next item on the agenda was to open a joint account for the three of us in order to make our house and insurance payments. This process took quite some time. We were at the credit union for at least 2 hours setting all of that stuff up. Following that we all went on a top secret mission that consisted of buying weed.

OK, so it wasn’t that ‘top secret’ but enjoyable none-the-less.

The sun was beginning to go down by the time we FINALLY started heading back home in which case we decided to go for a quick ‘roadie’ before ordering a pizza for the evening.  The entire day went by so fast. I’ve probably forgotten parts of it in fact.

It’s just very enjoyable to be around my best friend so much though.

Great Accomplishments in Pepperoni Bread-Making History!

03 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by chadwickheller in #friend, blog, books, car, Coffee, debt, friend, home, House, Life, list, Love, male friendship, men, Money, poem, rain, recommendation, redemption, sex, snow, time, Today, work

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I was extremely exhausted when I got home from work this morning so I immediately went and took a nap.

That nap was only supposed to have been an hour, but it went two hours and when I woke up, I was rather panicked because I had plans of making a decent dinner for the roommates.

Thankfully the dinner I had planned still happened. The first was home made pepperoni rolls  using store bought biscuits, pepperoni, mozzarella cheese cubes and an assortment of herbs and spices.

Those turned out OK – not necessarily the greatest, however enjoyable none-the-less.

Pepperoni BreadThe other thing on my menu was pepperoni bread. Inspired almost exclusively by the Kneady Homesteader on YouTube (her blog here) I set out and made one of the best things ever. I did not make the pepperoni bread as large as she does and I used a white bread dough instead of a pizza bread dough – but let me tell you, this bread turned out great, like far better than my expectations.

I was so completely happy with myself and I was happy that I could share this achievement with my best friend. I mean, this is one of those “you had to have been there” type incidents where I make something and the result far exceeds my expectations. In the future, I will essentially make this delicious recipe pretty much the same way, only alternating the inside ingredients. I’m not sure that I want to attempt the recipe with pizza dough, the white bread dough worked out just fine.

This pepperoni bread is by far one of the easiest and most delicious things I’ve ever made. When you break down the costs, it’s also extremely cheap and will easily feed the three of us. Not to mention, I can just make a large batch of dough if I need to make a larger loaf.

In regards to the insurance: my best friend and I were not able to open up a joint bank account today because both of us are literally living paycheck to paycheck and can not even afford the $5 to open the account, let alone the initial deposit that the account will also require.

So that won’t occur until payday, our pushy insurance guy will just have to wait right now.

Right now however it is time for me to get some (more) sleep.

Getting Pierced

01 Sunday May 2016

Posted by chadwickheller in #friend, blog, books, car, Coffee, debt, friend, home, House, Life, list, male friendship, men, Money, poem, rain, recommendation, redemption, snow, time, Today, work

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The third-room-mate went and got his tongue pierced today which turned into an interesting little adventure. Our ability to plan things doesn’t always work out too well, but some how during this strange day, things worked out.

He had his birthday on the 27th and happened to find a tattoo and piercing place that does free birthday piercings up to 3 days before and 3 days after a persons birthday. So after he slept a majority of the morning, we went and picked up my best friend and went to the tattoo shop…

…and waited…

…and waited…

…and went to Biggby; got ourselves some coffee drinks…

…and waited…

…then finally news got to the tongue piercer that we were waiting for him, then the fun really began.

There was a lengthy explanation of “do’s” and “don’ts” in regards to treatment of the piercing that will take 4 – 8 weeks to heal. That list also included foods and other ‘things’ that he should not place in his mouth during the healing process, so after the visit to the tattoo parlor, we had to do a bit of shopping.

Then we had to take my best friend back so he could continue to spend time with his daughter this weekend. I gave him a hug and headed back to the apartment with the 3rd room mate.

I foresee a very interesting time living with these guys. I love my best friend, there is no doubt, but the 3rd roommate – I’m getting used to him. This small apartment is a bit crowded, but I think things will work out.

I made dinner rolls from scratch this evening as a test run for tomorrow. I have a rather significant dinner planned for everyone which includes a green bean and rotisserie chicken casserole and fresh dinner rolls. Unfortunately the 3rd roommate won’t be able to enjoy the meal, however the goal is to be able to have some left overs so my best friend can take it to work to eat on his lunch.

 

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