01/31/04 -- Happy Birthday Stephanie
Tarske!
01/30/04 -- It's Super Bowl weekend, and the game is in
Texas! What more can you ask for? I am pumped. The weekend is
full of festivities. That being said, I am out. I'll talk to y'all
again on Monday. Bye! -- Michael
01/29/04 -- Hi y'all. I don't have much to write
today. My sickness has come back with a vengeance. I feel like total
crap this morning. I hope y'all are feeling better than me right
now! I am going to cut this entry short. I might write more later
today if I feel better though. In any event, please keep the Classmates
entries coming in, and also please get your Windsor Park answers to Julie Mead
as soon as possible. The letter and instructions are below. It would
be great to get as many responses in by tomorrow as possible. Thanks
y'all! -- Michael
01/27/04 -- Happy Birthday Manual Amparan!
01/26/04 -- Sorry I haven't written in a good while
y'all. I have been out, and in, and then out again of town. I will
try to respond to everyone by this afternoon. Please all of y'all Windsor
Park students respond to the letter below regarding Mrs. Mead's upcoming
retirement. It is requested that all responses be received via e-mail by
Sat. Jan 30th. It would be great to have many people respond as it is for
a very good cause. It only takes a few minutes, and is definitely worth
the time spent.
I am pretty tired still from the recent travel. I am okay
though, just a little tired and weak, especially from STILL being sick over the
last week or so. I saw "The Butterfly Effect" on Saturday night,
and I recommend it to those of y'all who like psychological type
movies. I thought it was a good movie. I was actually impressed with
Aston Kutcher's dramatic ability.
Even though the teams aren't the ones that I was hoping for, I
am still excited about the Super Bowl. I am looking forward to this
weekend. I'll try to have more pictures up as soon as possible.
Please let your friends know about the Classmates
section. I hope to add more names soon. Talk to y'all
later...bye! -- Michael
01/25/04 -- Happy Birthday Aakash Gajjar!
01/20/04 -- First Day of Class for The University of
Texas at Austin!
01/19/04 -- Martin Luther King Jr. Day
01/14/04 -- Happy Birthday Andres Fernandez!
I am in Chicago right now...then on to
Indiana, so call my mobile phone if y'all want to get a hold of me. I'll
post more when I return. Bye! (wrote the following this morning)
Mornin' y'all. I don't have much to
write today. If y'all haven't already, please read yesterday's post below
to see what is politely being asked of all y'all fellow former Windsor Park Owls
out there. I'll try to write more later today or tomorrow. I am
still adding a few things here and there. Don't forget to check out the
links at the bottom of the page. Some of those are not on the left side
menu bar, namely the Word Dictionary.
Talk to y'all later...bye! -- Michael
01/13/04 -- Happy Birthday Gabriel Martinez!
I have been meaning to put this on the website. I
apologize for it taking me this long to do so. I received a letter
from Mrs. Mead's daughters (Windsor Park Elementary School teacher) regarding
her retirement. The letter is self-explanatory, so I thought I would post
it for all of y'all fellow WP owls out there to read. Below is the
letter...
It would be great if us WP students can help in making
Mrs. Mead's retirement a good one. If anyone needs her address
and/or phone number, just let me know. I didn't think it to be
appropriate to post her information on the site. I will talk to
y'all soon. -- Michael
01/12/04 -- Wow, all of y'all have been great.
Thanks so much to everyone who got in touch yesterday. That was very nice
of y'all. All of the shown support has been wonderful. Yesterday was
kind of a long day. I guess that is to be expected though, given the
circumstances.
This past week a lot of y'all have written in with regard to my
post from 01/05/04. I just want to say that I really appreciate all of the
kind words that y'all had regarding the website. It is all kind of funny
now. I just meant to address that person that made some comments that I
didn't agree with. I ended up getting a number of people who got in touch
to express their appreciation for the site. That makes it all worth
it. Thanks so much for all of the great sentiments.
So yeah, I guess I really don't have much more I want to write
about. This weekend was kind of long and trying, but I am glad it is
over. Keep checking the site. When I have time, I'll be making some
updates some of the sections. Keep letting people know about the
Classmates section so we can get some more fresh names on the list. Talk
to y'all again tomorrow. -- Michael
01/11/04 -- Hello everyone. I don't really have
alot to write this morning. Unfortunately, we had a death in our family
yesterday. It was actually somewhat expected, as he has been sick for some
time now. However, it obviously doesn't make it any easier to
handle. As you can probably imagine, today will likely be a family day.
Jonathan flew out back to Indiana this morning. It was
great having him back in Texas and spending time with him for these last few
weeks. He probably won't be back down until his spring break. I'm
looking forward to seeing him again though. Hopefully, I'll be able to
grab some time and make a trip up there to visit him before then.
As you can probably imagine, I don't feel like typing much right
now, so I'll end this post here. Thanks again for all of y'all staying in
touch. I appreciate hearing from everyone very much, especially right
now. If I haven't already, I'll respond to everyone as soon as I
can. -- Michael
01/10/04 -- Man, I am up pretty early this morning!
Haha, last night's party was a great time. I had alot of fun, though still
sick, hehe. I gotta call Jason back real quick, and I am about to leave to help do some signs with Larry, but I
thought I would write a quick something for my weekend visitors. When I
get home, I need to rest! I SO need some rest. I will probably spend
the day catching up on some things that need catching up on. I will do
some tweaking to the Photo Album section later this
afternoon, so be on the look out for that. Okay, I am running late, so I
will talk to y'all later. Bye! -- Michael
01/09/04 -- "The Big Party"
is tonight!
I don't have alot of time to write right now. I am still
very sick, though I am getting slightly better. If I have time later
today, I will write some more this afternoon, so come back to the site this
afternoon. I added a few more things, and will be working on some more as
the next few days follow. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me
know. Okay, I'll end it here, and try to write more later...bye! --
Michael
01/08/04 -- I am still making changes to the site, so
keep checking back. I think I have responded to everyone by now. If
I haven't send me another e-mail, or call me again. I am still very
sick. It really sucks. Hopefully it will get better soon. Send
all y'alls positive vibes my way please! Two new pages I added are a Wedding
Annoucements page, and a page on my coined words, called my Word
Dictionary. I will try to add more to this entry later today.
Otherwise, I will talk to y'all tomorrow...bye! -- Michael
01/07/04 -- Wow, I received alot of great feedback from
my post the other day. Thanks so much for tons of y'all gettin' in
touch. I will respond to all of y'all today, I promise! Also thanks
for everyone being so cool with all the great words regarding the site. It
makes it all worth it! I have added a few things here and there, and am
continuing to do so today. Keep the feedback coming in...it's all
great! Also, y'all don't forget to sign my Guest
Book. Thanks everyone, and I'll write more later! -- Michael
01/06/04 -- Happy Birthday Tarah (Rogers) Durbin!
01/05/04 -- Well, I took a little time off from working
on the site, but I am back now. That being said, I have ALOT I wanted to
touch upon. Therefore, I thought I would break it down into topics and
sections...
The Website: I did take a little time off from the
site. I just wanted to focus more on spending some quality time with my
family and friends. I have been very sick recently, so I was also trying
to allow myself to recover. Being sick sucks. I am still trying to
get better right now. I am trying to get my rest, and take good care of
myself. Hopefully I will be better soon. It is never fun going
through this crap, but I guess it comes with the territory. (sigh) oh
well...
I am doing my best to keep the site up to par with what I want
from it. I am trying to keep it as up-to-date as possible.
Hopefully, we can continue to add more names to the Classmates
section. I will also be adding some new sections, so keep checking
back! I do have one thing that I want to talk about though. I went
out with some friends one night during this past month and saw someone (who will
remain nameless) who I hadn't seen in a while. After the customary small
talk was over, we briefly talked about a few other things, one of which was this
website. This person commented on how the site seems to be pretty
popular. Then this person mentioned that he/she thought I "put too
much effort into it". I believe his/her comment was "you kinda
scare me with how much you put into it, and how 'all about it' you
are". At first, I thought he/she was joking, but then it became clear
that that wasn't the case. I politely let it roll off my back, said
"goodbye", and did not act mean back. He/she said a few more
things, though there is no need to go into detail with their comments. It wasn't until later
after I thought more about it when that person's comments really started to
offend me. It made me want to address that person accordingly...
First off, you brought up the site that night, not me.
Don't act as if I was "all about it". You are entitled to your
opinion. If you don't like this website, that's fine. But that
doesn't give you the right to be a jackass like that. You're right, I do
put alot of effort into the site, but it is my freakin' site! I have the
right to do so. If you don't like it, instead of complaining about it,
just don't visit it anymore! This site is not just some stupid little page
that takes up space on the net. It has helped me get in touch with people
that I hadn't been able to before. It has enabled others to locate their
friends also. It pays tribute to those who, unfortunately, suffered an
untimely passing and are no longer with us. It provides a place for people
to share news on their life. It offers a forum where people can chat live
with others. I personally know that it helped one individual locate a new
job that they now love. It also has assisted people in having a place to
stay when traveling to another city. This website helps to bring people
together, in its own small little way. Where is the harm in that?
This site doesn't write itself, and it certainly doesn't pay for itself
either. Yet, do you see me complaining about that, and/or hitting up
people for anything? The answer is 'no'! I volunteer my free time,
money, and energy to allow it to do all of the things listed above, and
more. And believe me, my energy is a very valuable commodity these
days. I am proud of this site, and I work hard at it. If you don't
like it, just don't visit. But let us who do like it enjoy it for what
it's worth. Don't be a jackass and talk shit. That's just straight
up not cool!
The Holidays: The break was fun. Christmas
was routine, in the sense that I spent it with family and the like. As
every year prior, I got way more than I deserve, and was very grateful. I
was especially happy this year to have spent some serious quality time with my
daddy during December. Obviously I love all of my family, but spending
time with my dad was very important to me this past month. I was very glad
to have had the opportunity to do so. Sometimes, people don't realize the
importance of spending time with loved ones until it is too late. I did my
best to not let that happen to me. With that being said, this past month
has meant the world to me, and I was very lucky to have it with him.
New Years Eve was also a ton of fun. I had a blast ringing
in 2004 with a great group of people, most of which were very close friends of
mine. There are a ton of stories from that night, that I will probably
have to keep to myself (lol)! But I will share just a few... Obviously, I
had a hella good time, especially with...well, "you know who you
are"! ("Haha, are you okay?" ... "Uhh...Yeah! Oh
my gosh Michael, we SO gotta do that again...get your little gymnast butt back
over here right now and finish what you started mister!") There were
alot of great times that night. Nic, sorry, but the car keys fiasco was
freakin' funny! So was Megan being a total obnoxious psycho.
Andres does a great Will Farrell when he says, "It tastes so good...once it
hits your lips!". Ki, don't you worry honey, your ring is
coming. If your getting a 'Tiffany', just you make sure that I am getting
my somethin' in return J!.
And of course I am talking about that "big phat ass". Oh yeah,
and whatever y'all do, don't ever meet new people at the local Whataburger,
right Jonathan? (LOL). Good times!!! Pictures of the break
will hopefully be up soon. If y'all have any that y'all would like posted,
please just send them my way. As most of y'all know, I have my own words
that I use that have their own definitions. I coined two new words based
on occurrences from New Year's Eve. Those words are 'McKay' and 'Whataburger'. Their definitions along with others will be posted in a
section dedicated to my personal language. Keep an eye out for that coming
soon!
People: I was actually able to have some
"me" time during the break. Sometimes, that helps alot. At
least for me, it always seems to help me cleanse, and sort out ideas and
thoughts. In addition to that, I already mentioned the gift of quality
time I was able to spend with my daddy. He and the rest of my family mean
a great deal to me. My friends are very special to me also. I was
able to see alot of close friends during the break. I hope I continue to
do so on a more regular basis. Thanks for all of the visits, phone calls,
IMs, e-mails, and letters. I know that recently I have not been the very best at
returning messages to everyone. Rest assured though that all of y'alls
efforts are well received. I will do my best to be a little better on the
communication level. I do have a few pictures from spending time with
friends during the break that I will try to have posted up soon.
One person in particular though that I was lucky enough to spend
alot of time with was my "lil' bro" Jonathan. He is someone who
is very important to me. I loved watching him grow up right before my
eyes. Now that he is in Notre Dame, IN, I don't get to see him very
often. Needless to say though, we probably talk more now that
ever. He wasn't able to come down for Thanksgiving, and I wasn't
able to travel up there to see him either. So this break was the first
time I was able to see him since the summer. It has been great hanging out
with him again. We bonded a great deal during the break. I am going
to miss him when he flies out on Sunday.
Sports: Man, I don't even want to talk much about
sports from this past month. I still can't believe Texas got their butts
handed to them in the Holiday Bowl against Washington State. That was
plain ass embarrassing. Someone needs to get fired. We have WAY too
much talent every year for that crap to happen. I am finally going to
admit it. I think Greg Davis has got to go. We need a new offensive
coordinator. It's time to start playing like TEXAS! I was glad to
see the Cowboys make the playoffs, but at least they could have put up a
fight?!?! They got killed Saturday night against Carolina. It really
was a good season though. Hopefully we can build on it for next
year. The one good thing was seeing Oklahoma get their butts
kicked...TWICE!!! (Now, if only we can do that to them next year!)
Even though it knocked UT out of the BCS, it was still nice to see Kansas State
beat the hell out of OU. And last night's LSU victory was even
better! I SO did not want them to win a share of another
championship. They shouldn't have even been in that game in the first
place. It would have been great to see USC play LSU. But I guess we
will never know...
I will be adding a few things here and there today and in the
next few days. Keep checking back to see some of those changes and
additions. Thanks everyone for being great friends, and for helping to
make this website a success. I wish everyone a Happy New Year and hope all
of y'all have a prosperous 2004. Keep me up-to-date with y'all and let me
know how things are going. I will talk to y'all again
tomorrow...bye! -- Michael
01/04/04 -- I took a little holiday break from the site
during the last few weeks or so. I apologize for the delay. I'll be
making updates and changes tomorrow, so keep checking back. Below is Chad Martin's wedding
announcement...
