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| Welp, like many others, I've created a new blog. Actually, it's
not so much new as it is me switching hosts. Sort of like a
parasite, if you will, except I'm not trying to kill anything or suck
the life out of anything. Ok, enough with that analogy.
One of the big reasons why I'm switching is because my new blog allows
me to post pictures for free while Xanga doesn't, at least for
free. That way, when severe weather hits and everyone is inside
ducking and covering, and I'm outside taking pictures, you will be able
to see the fruits of my labor. That's exciting, right?
Anywho, here is the link to my new blog:
http://themattman30.blogspot.com/
I'll remain a member of Xanga, and I might post here again a time or two. Until then...
Out.
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| Well here we are. Just a couple of days before school starts and
I've only updated my blog once (count it, once) during the
summer. So, that'll obviously change during the semester.
The internet is instant here at Traditions, so I'll be updating as
often as I can. After all, blogging is the shizzle.
My internship finished up in prime form. I was able to make a
couple of nice resume tapes to submit to hopeful employers by this time
next year. By the end of the summer, I felt a lot more
comfortable in front of the camera than I did at the beginning of the
summer. That's always a good thing. Now, when I do
News4Norman this semester, I am already confident that I'll do well and
that it will only serve to build on the experience I gained this
summer. Then I get to go back to KXII during Christmas break and
make another round of resume tapes. God definitely blessed me
this summer with my internship and made it clear to me that broadcast
meteorology is the way to go. At times during my tenure here at
OU, I've often questioned if meteorology was the way to go for
me. It's safe to say I got discouraged quite a bit (with these
classes, who wouldn't?), but God showed me this summer how much fun it
is and He fired up my passion for meteorology like I'd never seen it
before. My "mentor", Mr. Alan Crone, whom I worked with this
summer taught me so much and I was able to observe his methods of
forecasting and what not, and being a strong Christian, I saw Christ
reflected in his life by his example and I hope to reflect Christ the
way he does in the work place.
Right now, I'm just waiting for classes to start. I've had a
great time taking it easy around my apartment. I'm in Traditions
this year, and I love it. It's brand-spanking new and it
shows. All new appliances, a fresh bathroom that has never been
used, and for the love of all things that are good - we have CEILING
FANS! Yorkshire did not and we felt it every early autumn and
late spring day. You (yes you) should come and visit sometime,
especially when football season starts up.
I just got back from the BSU's annual pizza bash. There seems to
be more people there every year. And in all honesty, there
probably is. I met lots of new people and was sure to give a
hello to lots of friends I hadn't seen all summer. There was,
however, one moment that stood out above the rest. Right, so I'm
standing and talking to Ronnie Rogers, pastor of Trinity Baptist
Church, about Men's Fraternity this semester and out of nowhere, this
guy comes up and asks about the shirt I was wearing. Now, for you
to understand this story, this shirt is a Texas Rangers shirt I got
when I saw them beat the Yankees this past summer. It just says
Rangers on the front and across the back, it has TEIXEIRA with a 23
under it. Like a jersey, but a shirt. So this guy, whose
name is Silvio, asks me about the name Teixeira because, to my
surprise, was his last name. It turns out he's portuguese and
here for a semester to finish up his degree before he starts his
Masters. I'd been told just little earlier that night from
another one of my friends that Teixeira was actually a portuguese name,
noted by the X in the name. It serves as some sort of marker,
labeling it as Portuguese. And this total stranger comes up to me
and says that was his last name and told me he didn't know what was
going on when he saw his name on my shirt. I told him Mark
Teixeira was a baseball player who played in Arlington for the
Rangers. Then he told me that when he was singing up for a bank
account here in Norman, one of the bankers asked him if he knew Mark in
any way. He had no clue what was going on and with good
reason. No one out of the US has probably ever heard of
Mark. At least not in a household sort of way. What an
awesome experience.
I think my bro had a good time also. Being a freshman here at OU,
he doesn't know a whole lot of people. But being at the BSU and
in the dorms will definitely help that. He met a lot of people
tonight and is awesome at making friends, so I'm not worried at
all. He really likes OU and I'm sure he'll love it in the coming
years.
Sportswise, the Rangers are sucking unfortunately, but morale is good
and hopeful for the 'Boys, Stars, and best of all, the Mavs. Who,
by the way, signed a slew of new people over the past couple of weeks,
the biggest of those being former Sacramento King, Doug Christie.
Excellent defender and a great addition to the team. Maybe he
will eliminate the need for us to continue pursuing Nick Van Exel,
though I wouldn't mind seeing Van Exel back on the roster either.
The season starts on the first day of November in Phoenix, so I guess
we'll see how well the roster moves worked out, especially the
subtraction of Michael Finley. Wish he could have won a ring with
the Mavs before he left, but seeing how the Heat are after him pretty
hard, he just might win one yet.
There's a quick spill of my mind at the moment. More to come, of course. I'll have lots to say. Out.
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| Well, I was going to update a couple of nights ago, but I
got distracted and decided to stay up until 4am watching movies on HBO
instead. It’s not my fault Collateral
and A Time to Kill are such good movies. It’s just that once I started watching them, I couldn’t take my
eyes off. Then before I knew it, 4am
had rolled around. I have no regrets.
So what’s been going on with you? It’s been roughly 6 weeks since my last update and let me just
say, a lot has been going on.
May was fast and furious.
The Mavs took the Suns to 6 games, but just couldn’t finish them
off. They had a legitimate chance to
beat them and win the series but they couldn’t finish them off when the
opportune moment was there. They
allowed Phoenix to get back into the game and eventually finish them off. I blame Steve Nash. It’s funny; the two chances the Mavs have
had to go all the way were ended by guys named Steve. Kerr in 2003 and Nash in 2005.
Well, there’s always next year.
I’ll just continue this thought by expanding just a bit into the NBA
draft that took place last night. The
Mavs didn’t have a single pick because they were both traded away. And with rumors of Armstrong, Henderson, and
even Finley being cut, all of the sudden the Mavs bench is somewhat short. That’s even taking into account that Shawn
Bradley retired. But I think I’ll get
over that.
I saw Revenge of the Sith on opening day at 8.30am on
a digital screen and it completely rocked my face off. The funny thing is though, is that I haven’t
seen it since then. I guess I’ve just
been too busy to find time to make it to the theater. Eh well, it’ll be on DVD in the fall. In time, I will watch it as many times as I choose. The important thing is it answered pretty
much all the questions I had from the first two movies and it made a beautiful
segway into the original trilogy. It
wasn’t without its faults, but overall, easily the best of the three prequels.
Oh, and I passed all of my classes with the necessary letter
grade to advance to next semester. I may
have received a D in Linear Algebra, but I’m confident knowing I never have to
take that class again and I still get credit for it. Now it’s just Stats II with McKnight to finish my math minor. No problems there.
And all of that was in the first week and a half after
school let out. Now I am well immersed
in my internship at KXII TV Channel 12.
I’ve been there for about 5 weeks and things couldn’t be going better. I’m having a blast. One of the girls I went to school with and
got to know through about 2 years of classes was hired at the end of May to
fill the weekend spot we had open. In a
TV station inundated with Longhorns, it’s nice to have a couple of Sooners
mixing things up. She’s doing a great
job at learning how to forecast and present the weather to a “small town”
viewing area. I’d like to start at a
place similar to KXII if not the station itself because all the experience I’m
getting is preparing me for my job hunt coming at the end of May 2006.
The internship has pretty much taken over my summer. It’s a 5-day-a-week commitment that pretty
much feels like a “real-world” job except that it doesn’t pay, at least not
now. It’ll pay off in the long run. However, I have had my vacation time. The fam and I went on a cruise a couple of weeks
ago on Carnival Cruise Lines through the Gulf and Caribbean to Cozumel and
Playa del Carmen, Mexico. It was nice
to get away from everyday life for a week and be out on the open …. Gulf. (It’s not really a sea, you know). We had two days that were strictly
cruising. With all the ways to
entertain yourself on the boat itself, there was never a shortage of things to
do. But I think we all agreed our
favorite day was our day in Cozumel. We
got to snorkel, put on special SeaTrek helmets that let us walk on the bottom,
and we even got to swim with Dolphins.
I mean, how cool is that? Before
then, I’d never even seen a dolphin.
There was even one point where the dolphin would circle around us, turn
over on it’s belly and swim upside down with each one of us taking turns
hitching a ride. It was so
awesome. Our snorkeling guide even told
us how he came to give his life to Jesus.
He led us to a statue below the water called the “Christ Statue” and he
shared his testimony right there with everyone. I was so encouraged to hear it and thanked God that I would get
to see this man again in Heaven. He
didn’t even work for money. He just
asked for tips and if someone didn’t feel like he deserved a tip, they didn’t
have to pay. He relies completely on
the Lord for his income. What an
encouragement.
I guess summer is now about half over. It’s been a blast and I’m sure that the
second half is going to be just as awesome.
It’s really been a great time and I’m disciplining myself to have time
with God each and every day. It’s hard
to do that here at home when things are familiar and comfortable. Praise the Lord that he doesn’t change and
that His mercies are new every morning.
I think this summer is going to end up being very profitable to my walk
and I’m praying I’ll make my last year of college a beneficial one.
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| Just wanted to get a quick word and let all of you know (who I'm sure
are just agonizing and awaiting to hear who won) that the Dallas
Mavericks BEAT the Phoenix Suns tonight by 2 points. Series
tied. Game 3 is in Dallas on Friday night. Well, looks like
the Mavs and their #1 fan will both be at home for that one...
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| Oh boy. Finals week is here, yeah? I couldn't really
tell because I studied ALL DAY! I'm glad my linear algebra final is
tomorrow. I can get it over with and not have to worry about that
class ever again. And I'm still wondering what I'm going to do
with my homework/tests from that class. Bonfire anyone? Ok,
maybe not that extreme, but I am seriously considering taking my third
test from that class and putting a match to it. That's what it
deserves. You know, I thought I knew the material well enough,
but I guess I didn't. And because of that lone test, I might have
to settle for a D in the class. Granted, that won't hinder my
math minor or set me back at all (because the class isn't a prereq for
anything), but I hate just barely passing. Especially because of
one goof-up test. No curve, no drops in that class either.
Anyways, enough ranting about Linear. I've done enough of that
this semester.
I'll feel at least halfway better once that final is over with.
Then I have the pleasure of looking forward to the behemoth Dynamics
final that looms on the afternoon of Friday the 13th. Symbolic,
no? And is it weird that I'm less worried about the Dynamics
final than I am about the Linear one? Hmm, odd. I actually
understand a lot of Dynamics. At least, moreso than I thought I
would coming into this semester. And plus, I'll have three solid,
complete days to study for it, so it's not stressing me out.
What's that you say? I haven't given a Mavs update yet?
Well, let me fix that. The Mavs played the role of the angry
janitor on Saturday night at home against the Rockets in a pivotal Game
7 showdown. They cleaned up and completely EMBARRASED the
Rockets, winning 116-76. Yep. You didn't read that
wrong. That's 40 points baby. That game was everything I
could have ever hoped for. Granted, it's not the NBA
championship, but I was so sick and tired of McGrady that it was so
nice to see him have somewhat of a shooting slump for once.
Granted, the entire Rockets bench scored a whopping 16 points in that
game, so I guess it couldn't have been that bad. Yao and McGrady
combined for 60 of the 76. You can't beat Dallas playing like
that. And I know it's wrong, but seeing McGrady shed a few tears
at the end of the game brought light to my day. Then seeing him
act all big and bad during the postgame conference. "We'll be
back ... I'll be back ... we're not done ... next season ... blah blah
blah." I smiled the whole time. Now it's time for the Mavs
to forget about McGrady (I already have!) and get ready for the
MVP-lead Phoenix Suns. And this time, Dallas starts out on the
road (which may prove not to be such a bad thing). The media is
toting this series as the one to watch in the second round. I
hope it proves to be just that, with the Mavs victorious. I
wouldn't even mind seeing them in the conference finals against the
Spurs for a 2003 Western Finals rematch. But I'm getting ahead of
myself. Suns first.
I'm trying to take things one day at a time. Knowing that I get
to go home on Friday afternoon is the light at the end of the tunnel of
this semester, academic wise. I'm so ready for the summer.
I get to be at home and intern and get some much needed relaxation time
along with some quality time with God. I've been challenged by
many BSUers to use this summer to find out who I am in Christ and what
that looks like. I want to become very intimate with God this
summer and come back strong for my last year at OU. I have so
many wonderful memories from this past semester, and I've met so many
new people I can't keep track of them all. Highlight of this past
semester? To be honest, it would have to be my Video Production
class. Everyone of us in that class, by the end of the semester,
were the best of friends. We still hang out, we go eat lunch
together, and a lot of them are graduating the same time I am, so I'll
get to see them all next semester! Hoorah! Granted, this
wasn't the absolute BEST part about the semester because I don't think
any one thing can take that title. But overall, given how
stressed I was coming into this semester, God has really blessed it and
been faithful to show me how wonderful He is in so many different ways
through so many different people. Man, all of this makes me want
to journal about the past few months and everything I've enjoyed about
it. I think I might have to do that.
After finals are over of course... :)
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