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bjghaus
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Name: Ben
Birthday: 5/25/1981
Gender: Male
Interests: people, economics, theoretical physics, love, reading, writing, outdoor rec, folk music and rock n roll, good movies, comics, ice cream, plants, animals, mountains, muppets, tennis & bball, Cardinal baseball, KU basketball, et cetera...
Expertise: procrastinating, laughing, & thinking deeply, but i don't think anyone is an "expert" at anything...
Occupation: Student
Message: message me
Member Since:
4/22/2003
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| So, I have been offered an internship with an environmental consulting firm in San Francisco, http://www.eco.org/site/apps/kb/cs/contactdisplay.asp?c=dnJLKPNnFkG&b=1046793&sid=fmJ0IkPWJjLYKdPZKtG
Another big move if I accept, although most of my furniture is still at my friend's apt in Idaho anyway. What do you think? I am incapable of making brainy life decisions by myself.
Also, everyone should go see An Inconvenient Truth. At the very least you will learn something, and who knows, maybe you will be convinced to make some changes.
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| Well, I'm back in St. Louis using my parent's house as home base until I decide where I want to take my life. It looks like I'll either be working temporarily at the front desk of a tennis club or um, cleaning carpets...for a hefty salary.
I'm here at least until the end of June, so I can attend Knox's graduation and work MDA Camp again. At this point I'd rather find something more biological/ research-oriented, I think, than journalism. I've applied for several positions with the Forest Service in CO and for an environmental consulting job in Hayward, CA. I'm also open to packing my bags for a wilderness therapy program in Utah, which I know I'd love, but, well, there are still some variables there I need to consider.
I'm working on a book idea about my eight months in the Tetons, which currently consists of my 18 newspaper columns and a myriad of photographs. In other news, I finally shaved off that goofy-lookin goatee and am now mulling over a tattoo design.
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| One in a lifetime—never again
By Ben Gildehaus
Did you miss it? The big event? Where were you Wednesday just slightly after one in the afternoon? Were you "out to lunch"?
While you were blissfully not paying attention, a major milestone came and went—something never to be seen again in your lifetime. It was over in just a second—and you missed it!
At two minutes and three seconds after one, the time and date lined up in perfect numerical order:
01:02:03:04:05:06. This little bit of precision timing will never happen again as long as you live—unless, that is, you happen to make it into the twenty-second century. Oh yes, there will be other sequential moments in time, but there will never be another time and date that starts right off at the beginning with 01, lining up perfectly thereafter. And I’ll wager it snuck right by you without even the slightest fanfare.
But not to worry: life is loaded with "once in a lifetime" moments. Though most of us think of our lives as routine, every day, each hour and minute, presents opportunities in the guise of unrepeatable little chunks of time. Sometimes as we go along, we wish we could get back a passed over moment and take advantage of all it has to offer. At other times, we’re relieved when one of life’s little milestones thankfully becomes history. With this week came an event in my life that I can say with complete certainty I am hoping will be classified as a "once in a lifetime" event.
My dog Scoop engaged me over the weekend in one of his favorite games, tug of war. However, this particular version did not utilize a rope or a toy designed specifically for tugging. Nor was Scoop enthused about the possibility of losing the object he had selected for the occasion.
The "game" was on when I spotted my spastic canine companion diving into a snow bank and emerging ecstatically with something he perceived as doggie cuisine extraordinaire. Well aware that what Scoop had found was undoubtedly not approved kibble, I hastily intervened to remove it from his slithery, slobber-filled jowls and learned rather quickly that even 8-month-old puppies can be very insistent when it comes to maintaining ownership of a find of this caliber.
I pulled. He pulled. He chewed. I pulled harder. Flecks of spit and slime flew in every direction. Who was the master here? Who was the alpha male? It was now a matter of principle. Finally, amidst teeth and tugs, I triumphed—sort of. I fell backwards, and in my outstretched hands lay the remains of a lifeless, half-devoured, almost unrecognizable but not quite…rat!
Before I could even blurt out "eeeewwwwww" in reaction to the fact that I was actually holding a dead, bloody glob of rodent goo in my two outstretched hands, the Scooper swooped and swallowed, and the rat was gone for good—or at least until digestion and subsequent procedures processed the intake.
The dog seems none the worse for wear although I was advised that Pepto Bismal might be useful over the next day or so. How does an entire rat pass through a puppy? Will any recognizable parts survive the trip? I am trying not to think how this episode may eventually end—literally. | | |
| Good date last night with physical therapist/ model, Melissa. She even vowed to make molasses cookies for me.
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