RTOW

Random Thought Of the Week

Any time someone approaches me with the greeting "Whats Up Dave" It means one thing and one thing only.
-it will be followed immediately by an awkward and uncomfortable pause on both sides
-the awkward pause will be followed by either someone asking me to do something for them, or more likely an awkward and uncomfortable topic being brought up

Dont get me wrong here, I am ok with this. At least it gives me a second or two to prepare for the ensuing awkwardness. Additionally a greeting of "Whats Up" or "Dave" by themselves are completely harmless. It appears to only be when the two are combined that trouble is afoot.

P.S. I will not be providing any examples of these conversations because they are obviously awkward and uncomfortable.

P.P.S. Anyone who reads this and decides it will be funny to start constantly greeting me in this manner just remember you are a terrible person and probably likely to one day start killing kittens.

That is all
Pit

I am all that is man

For those of you who arent aware Wednesday night is house dinner night for Americorps Cape Cod. This past wednesday we had breakfast for dinner. It was delicious but at the end we had a bunch of syrup leftover. Normally this would not be a problem as it would just be saved until a later date, unfortunately we are not a normal house. After dinner it was decided that a syrup chugging contest should ensue between myself and Jae-bird. With my respect and authority as house supervisor on the line I had to bring my A game. Needless to say I came through with a clutch performance and delivered a victory. Mad Props to Jae-bird for keeping it close. Here are some pictures of the race (yes the mustache is real, dont be jealous)

Pictures

Ive decided that my blog would be well served by the addition of pictures, lets see if I can figure this out


That was sunday nights dinner


Thats Melanie, I was going to say Lobster makes her do funny things but its not fair to blame the lobster

Seafood Extravaganza

Today being the last day the wellfleet fish market is open all of their seafood was super cheap. You cannot beat live lobster for $5/lb. This means todays top story is that I am eating a feast fit for a king tonight, YES!!!

Seafood Extravaganza

Today being the last day the wellfleet fish market is open all of their seafood was super cheap. You cannot beat live lobster for $5/lb. This means todays top story is that I am eating a feast fit for a king tonight, YES!!!

greatest game ever (or at least in the last year)

In the most amazing college football game Ive watched this year (keep in mind I live in a house where nobody else seems to really be a college football fan) Notre Dame recovered from five quarters of crappy play (including the michigan game) to mount an amazing comeback and defeat Michigan State. The suspense was made even better by the facts that I was in an Irish sports bar watching the game and two americorps members had a bet of cookies riding on the game. Also significant was the fact that UW beat UCLA surpassing their win total for all of last year, go Huskies. As for the rest of my day Im too freaking tired to write about it now so Ill fill it in later.

And the final score is....

I feel like today was full of ups and downs so lets go ahead and calculate a simple total;
-woke up entirely to early this morning, -1
-upon waking up finding chelsea emerging from the shower saying "I was so tired a took a shower with my slippers on" yes the slippers were soaked, +1
-riding to service with five people crammed in westacles' car but awesome music as always, 0 (I'll consider it a wash)
-Recieving a bag of peanut butter m&ms when arriving at service, +1
-realizing we really could have arrived about two hours later meaning I could have had two hours more sleep, -1
-the arrival of so many little kids when I am still so sleepy, -1
-seeing Matt laugh and play with the little kids then the second they are gone comment on how much he hates them, +1
-Soaking my foot while filling up a water bucket, -1
-the general coolness of the little kids once the morning haze finally wore off, +1
-the lobster hat, +1
-the amazing looks and comments and laughter I recieved going to the store with the lobster hat and mels shoes on, definitely +1
-more kids in the afternoon and all the activities that ensued, +1
-getting home in time to get the oil changed in my car, +1
-the guy at napa giving me the wrong light bulb, -1
-talking with the bitchy lady on the phone trying to adjust reservations for merediths birthday dinner, -1
-merediths birthday dinner, +1
-Hanging out in Ptown for a while, +1
-opening my mail and finding out I have just recieved food stamps retroactively from the last two months, +1
-finding out that there are actually some people reading this thing, +1
-Mario kart with matt and chelsea, +1
and the final score is....7
turns out after a slow start this morning things pretty much picked up and I probably had a better than average day, sweet.
Time for Bed, +infinity

P.S. it is important to note that over the last several weeks I have done some quality bonding with becca. Although neither of us seem to remember it we are sure that it happened.

aquitards

Sweet day today. Had training for wetfest which is basically where we go and spend a day teaching severall hundred little kids all about ground water and water quality and such things. I got to talk about aquitards which is pretty much my favorite word in the world so that was sweet. We have our first actual wetfest tommorrow, Im sure it will be crazy, and we will continue to do them about once a month over the next year.
Of additional note we took a group picture yesterday which will soon be posted on the Americorps Cape Cod Web site. Not knowing this was going to be the internet picture Im am totally rocking a sweet disgustache and comb over. Good stuff Ill post a link as soon as the pic is up. I think that is all for now.

awesome day

Today started off just as any normal day would, maybe even a little harder to get out of bed than usual, little did I know what I was in for.

-Things started with some coastal zone management lectures in the morning, I was shocked to see that ashley decided to once again accompany my house to training. This was excellent as she is always good for a laugh or two in the morning (and any other time of the day)

-After the CZM lectures things really picked up, we headed down to sandy neck to do some work removing piping plover fencing as mating season is over for these birds and if left out the fencing would be readily washed away by the first storm of the season. In order to get to the fencing I had to ride along the beach in a Rhino (its like an off road dune buggie mobile). It was awesome. The work of removing the fencing consisted largely of walking down the almost desertetd beach with friends on a beautiful cape cod day. Granted there was some labor that was done along the way but again, awesome. After we removed all the fencing the ranger who was driving the rhino took us back through the sand dunes for a little marsh action, the recurring theme of this is it was awesome. While back in the dunes he pointed out several extremeley hidden campsites that are about a 3.5 mile walk from the road and told us he would hook us up with a permit if we ever wanted to go. We are now scheduled to go this saturday, AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Went for a run when I got home from work through some cool trails by ryder beach and ended up running way further than I had anticipated. It was scenic and the fact that I made it the whole way was awesome.

-almost got hit head on while driving by a guy running from the cops but managed to narrowly avoid it probably saving multiple lives, awesome.

-awesome

weekend

It was yet another amazing weekend on the cape, here are some highlights

-Friday night went to a seafood resteraunt that was byob with some of the crew. We made the obvious choice and brought forties. One of the crew was asked by a server at the resteraunt if he needed help opening his bottle of wine not knowing it was really a forty in a bag. Good times

-After dinner heading to a bar and bonding with erin over darts. Keep in mind there were no darts to be played at the bar. However the bonding was significant enough that she felt the need to tell others about it the next day, awesome

-Saturday going for a bike ride up through provincetown, people watching in that town while riding through is awesome, I have never seen so much diversity if you will. They have some sweet ass beaches there though

-Saturday night consisted of bowling then a trip to the BBC in hyannis. I bowled two of the most amazing games of my life putting up a 57 and a 69. However I did have several of the most amazing throws ever including but not limited to mel "helping" me bowl, we both tossed at the same time down the same lane, the balls crossed in the middle and picked up the spare, awesome. I also picked up a spare by rolling three balls at once

-At the BBC I had a nice conservation with our dd and then finished the gin and tonic slammed it on the table and said "where in the world did I get this drink". I didnt find out until later that I was supposed to be holding it for mel, fortunately she didnt mind.

-Sunday hung out at sandy neck, quite the beautiful beach

Oh yeah and apparently Im running on a relay team in the cape cod marathon, should be good times.

Native species removal

Today at work we got a lesson in invasive species removal. Basically I spent my day sawing, chopping, pulling, and otherwise straining to remove these weeds. I returned home scraped, covered in dirt, and otherwise exhausted, however I totally loved it. Its cool to think that there are some trees out there that will now live longer and provide habitat for many furry little creatures because of me. Its good to make a difference and now I cant wait for the weekend that promises delicious seafood, some bowling, some beer, maybe some sweaters, and just generally a good time.
Pit Out

Shellfish propogation

Today I spent an interesting day learning about and then participating in shellfish propogation. For those of you who are not familiar with the term this is basically farming clams, oysters and scallops. The environment on and surrounding cape cod has been decimated to the point that the once abundant shellfish populations that were the livelihoods of so many people have become close to extinct aroud the cape. The solution to this problem is supposedly to take shellfish (generally the weaker ones because the stronger ones are more valuable to sell) breed them in captivity, place the young in "farms" in the wild. When these young mature they are then spread out through the waters around the cape where they will be harvested, and hopefully start to reproduce (this is the same idea as farming salmon for all you northwesterners out there). The concept behind this projet is greatly debated and I think if pushed I am probably more against it than I am for it. Shellfish propagation can drastically shrink a species gene pool reducing its ability to defend itself from viruses and diseases. There are a multitude of other problems that can also arise. I would prefer to work on projects that focus more on habitat restoration for shellfish numbers to naturally return to there once abundant numbers. However this would not be nearly as quick or easy of a fix. Regardless of how I feel about the project it was a unique and great experience that I think was very beneficial for me to go through. Plus I got to play around in the water all day which I enjoy. Hopefully I can keep this positive while repeating this project through the rest of the year.

P.S. the moms is starting treatment again tommorrow for her lymphoma so happy thoughts and prayers for her would be greatly appreciated.

the last week

The last week in cape cod has been filled with many memorable events, I will include only select highlights now
-On wednesday the sixth my day went something like this, woke up and went for an awesome run through the woods. Returned from my fun to go surfing in the atlantic ocean, waves werent great and it was cold but a bad morning surfing is better than a good morning almost anything else. After surfing I went to work. This entailed a morning of canoeing through a protected salt marsh, awesome. At this point I decided I loved my life and the rest of the day doesnt really matter.
-The next several days were spent on coast guard beach (were I was on the sixth) with other general retreat activities like swimming with sea lions and bon fires on the most beautifully empty beach I had ever seen, no biggy.
-Saturday was spent with the good people from the bourne house at a football, karaoke and dance party. Needless to say this was filled with a multitude of funny situations and occurrences but the funniest can only be summed up as "parapalegics need cake", if you want to know just ask.
-Tuesday was a sweet day of learning, hiking, and playing in an estuary, good times.
-Today I implemented a plan to build the perfect fire pit, kind of in the midst of a battle with some archaeologists from the cape cod national seashore about that one at the moment but Im certain I will win since I have right on my side. More details on this later.

the last week

The last week in cape cod has been filled with many memorable events, I will include only select highlights now
-On wednesday the sixth my day went something like this, woke up and went for an awesome run through the woods. Returned from my fun to go surfing in the atlantic ocean, waves werent great and it was cold but a bad morning surfing is better than a good morning almost anything else. After surfing I went to work. This entailed a morning of canoeing through a protected salt marsh, awesome. At this point I decided I loved my life and the rest of the day doesnt really matter.
-The next several days were spent on coast guard beach (were I was on the sixth) with other general retreat activities like swimming with sea lions and bon fires on the most beautifully empty beach I had ever seen, no biggy.
-Saturday was spent with the good people from the bourne house at a football, karaoke and dance party. Needless to say this was filled with a multitude of funny situations and occurrences but the funniest can only be summed up as "parapalegics need cake", if you want to know just ask.
-Tuesday was a sweet day of learning, hiking, and playing in an estuary, good times.
-Today I implemented a plan to build the perfect fire pit, kind of in the midst of a battle with some archaeologists from the cape cod national seashore about that one at the moment but Im certain I will win since I have right on my side. More details on this later.

the last week

The last week in cape cod has been filled with many memorable events, I will include only select highlights now
-On wednesday the sixth my day went something like this, woke up and went for an awesome run through the woods. Returned from my fun to go surfing in the atlantic ocean, waves werent great and it was cold but a bad morning surfing is better than a good morning almost anything else. After surfing I went to work. This entailed a morning of canoeing through a protected salt marsh, awesome. At this point I decided I loved my life and the rest of the day doesnt really matter.
-The next several days were spent on coast guard beach (were I was on the sixth) with other general retreat activities like swimming with sea lions and bon fires on the most beautifully empty beach I had ever seen, no biggy.
-Saturday was spent with the good people from the bourne house at a football, karaoke and dance party. Needless to say this was filled with a multitude of funny situations and occurrences but the funniest can only be summed up as "parapalegics need cake", if you want to know just ask.
-Tuesday was a sweet day of learning, hiking, and playing in an estuary, good times.
-Today I implemented a plan to build the perfect fire pit, kind of in the midst of a battle with some archaeologists from the cape cod national seashore about that one at the moment but Im certain I will win since I have right on my side. More details on this later.

the weekend

Highlights from Saturday and Sunday nights

-Saturday night bar sweaters were in full effect and they were awesome, I think Matt and I may have started a new trend

-Sunday night went to the locals watering whole in wellfleet which was an interesting experience. I met some drunk ass old guy named steve who wanted to be my best friend. This was alright but I was 100% sober and he was at least 87%drunk which made the conversations tough. Regardless I powered through it and had a good evening.

-What is with people on cape cod (and maybe the new england area in general I dont know) constantly wanting to network you with people. No I do not want to meet your friend who works for the cape cod times, no I will never call your uncle who has the whale watching boat. I think the people mean well but I just feel like it makes things awkward

-Oh yeah the drunk guy on sunday night was telling me about a sunken ship in P-town from the 1700s that had lots of de bloons (sp?) and JFK jr memorabilia on it. Im no genius but Im pretty sure the 1700s were well before JFK jrs time.

There has been much other entertainment that hasnt invloved the bars like signing up for a library card and shopping in welfleet center, however not much of it is blogworthy, I just need to put in this disclaimer so people dont get the wrong idea about americorps cape cod. On a plus side I have started to realize what kind of power the americorps cape cod name has, dropping it can pretty much get you anything you need like foodstamps or a library card, sweet.

LEEEEEEROY JENKINS!!!!!!!

That is all

WOW!!!!

SO I have officially had my members for about thirty hours now and here are some of the highlights from the past day or so:
-The house has discovered we have a nintendo 64 and Mario Kart and everyone loves it, awesome

-Due to the no alcohol allowed in the house the members are plannning "daves pit" This will be an area off property but close to the house, probably a hole, where all alcohol will be stored, I dont see how this could come back to bite me in the ass

-The location of "Daves Pit" will be revealed in a treasure map that will be kept in a pirate ship, all the directions will be written in verse

-Introduced twelve new people to the amazingness that is Leeroy Jenkins, AMAZING!!!!

-Amy?

-The pirate ship

-Westacles

-Matt, the 6'6 goofy guy making a sign during the meeting which included all my supervisors and the other house that said "Dave Wanna Drink ?". Fortunately I think nobody else saw

-Giving my members the choice between going to an art show put on by a service partner and to the beachcomber (a local watering hole) and every single person chose the bar.

-Pre-funking on the beach with 40s of old milwaukee before going to the beachcomber

-There is a member whose last name is Griswold, not only have I called her nothing but griswold but I continually make comments about her father Clark W.

I think that is about all I got for now but judging by the past day this year will be nothing short of amazing, but what else would be expected when I am given supervision of a household