Time to head back to sch...oh, wait

It is weird being at home and not going back to Omaha when school starts. Granted, I did not do that last year, as I stayed in Omaha during the summer working the front desk (which seems like a distant memory now). It is somewhat sad not going back to Omaha to see other Creighton students...but I am really down on myself as I am happy to be home.

For those of you who haven't really heard from me, I am back in Lawrence working a temporary "Production Support Specialist" position at Hallmark Cards, where my dad works. It essentially consists of stocking boxes, sending the pallets of stock to the warehouse, and using SAP software to do many of my tasks that my position requires. The shift for this job is terrible: midnight to 8:30 am, Monday-Friday, and it took me months before I received all of the training that I needed. It has been nice to make some good money, but the job is not favorable AT ALL. (Plus, it wouldn't surprise me if I was the youngest person working there).

Currently I have been looking for jobs elsewhere, predominately in Omaha and around Minneapolis, also I may be looking elsewhere pretty soon. It has been a rough ride trying a job and working my current job, but it is still nice to be home with a supportive family, especially since they know that a) I am actually working and making money and b) I am actively looking for other jobs. In addition to that, seeing my miniature pinscher Brutus and all of the energy that he has makes me even happier (and the reason he has all of that energy is that he sleeps about 15-18 hours a day).

Even though things haven't gone as planned for me, being at home and spending most of my day without many people around me has actually been helpful. I have been able to sort of reflect on my past four years of college and I have just been able to relax. Also, instead of listening to music to help calm me down, I have been listen to podcasts (most of them being comedy). What started with just Sklarbro Country, has evolved into listening to 'The Nerdist', 'Jordan, Jesse Go!', 'The Indoor Kids', 'Walking the Room', and more recently 'The Mental Illness Happy Hour'. All of them are very good podcasts, and while most of them are for entertainment, I have actually learned a lot of things such as how to deal with pressure and certain aspects of life. In addition to this, it is nice to here that some of the celebrities/comedians actually appreciate what they have earned and are not taking it for granted. These podcasts have really cheered me up in certain situations and have really spiked my interest in comedy. It may not be the most popular things, but you already know how I feel about people who judge me.

Also, it has been nice to talk to my friend Sean, who is now at Creighton Law School. There were times when other people were not available to talk, he was there to help me out with some of the problems I was having in my life. Although I kind of lost contact with him after he started law school, I still found some time to talk to him as well. I am glad that we are talking to each other more often, whether it would be about life in general, girls, soccer, or those law school parties that I promise to get invited to but never do...and maybe that's a good thing.

Anyways, that is an update about me and my life so far. Hopefully those of you that I have been reading my other blog are enjoying it somewhat, even if some of the topics are kind of not-mainstream. These are just stuff that I can talk about that was most interesting to me, some of it which I couldn't talk about in person. Here is the link to that blog http://wernernelson.wordpress.com I hope everyone is doing well and good luck to those starting up school currently.

August Life Update

Hello everybody...just an update on how things are going. I am still looking for jobs as I am working my temporary job...right now I am really not counting on anything, but it is the perfect time to look since work is rather slow at the moment with not much stuff being produced. I did work my first weekend of overtime...and made over $500 in two days (which is more than I made after a month at the desk). The job isn't too fun AT ALL, but at least I am making some money...especially since I got notices about when I start payments on my loans (perfect time to drop over $1,000 on a new computer, right?)

Other than that, nothing too exciting. I have been writing in my new blog on WordPress, and you can expect to see some sort of post every Sunday (hopefully). There will be some things that may get posted in the middle of the week, but expect something every Sunday at least. In the meantime, check out my WordPress blog. It is about topic that are of interest to me and are not even close to being as down and depressing as this blog can be http://wernernelson.wordpress.com

That is all for now. I hope everyone is doing well...and to those going back to school, hopefully you are not too stressed out about the upcoming year

Blog(s) Update

Hello, those who are reading this blog!

Just so you know, in case you haven't heard, I am starting a new blog on WordPress that will share my opinion about various topics that I find interesting. I will still use this blog as much as I can, but it will be more for catching people up on what is going on in my life. The blog on WordPress is something that I want to use to expand on other various topics that interest me, like sports and some geeky stuff that I enjoy.

If you wish to read this new blog (and the first post that I have up) here is the link http://wernernelson.wordpress.com/. You can even subscribe if you choose to.

Oh and as for an update on my temp job? It sucks. That is all.

Day Sleeping

Even with a painful sleep schedule (this past Monday was the first time in about two or three weeks that I woke up before noon), I am starting to get more comfortable with my temporary job. The first couple weeks were painful...having to learn things on the fly while not being trained to use certain vehicles. However, I am starting to get the hang of it and using my own system to get things done (a.k.a. WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN that I need to...it seriously helps). I am the youngest person working there (at least on my shift) and as the majority of the people work are in their 30s or older.The hours may be unfavorable and the work sometimes not as pleasant, but having a well-paying job, even if it is temporary, is better than no job at all. And if I made the stupid decision to quit, there would be somebody more than willing to take my spot.

I plan to pick up the permanent job search again soon. I unfortunately did not get the job that I interviewed for at Harrah's, so the search continues. Otherwise, it is nice to be home...eating home-cooked meals, spending time with the family, reading books (gasp!!!), finding new podcasts to listen to, and successfully cutting down on how much I tweet on Twitter (because Twitter does not = Facebook and does not replace texting, which took me a while to learn :P). I will try to post more often than once a month...just to touch up on the old writing skills for those who are interested...and now, once again back to sleep before work.

(Insert catching sign-off phrase here)

(Creative Title for Endless Summer Day 42)

Ugh...driving takes a lot out of me...and I hope I don't have to do too much driving like that for a while. In between spending some time with friends during my trips (and I very much appreciate them letting me stay at their places) to endlessly watching/reading coverage of the great nerd gathering known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo (I still drooling over Mass Effect 3...), I was trying to not worry about where I was going to be since I have graduated.

This past weekend I drove from Lawrence to Omaha for the night...and then from Omaha to Eden Prairie so I would be able to interview for a job in Minnesota. It was a job in Sports and Entertainment marketing, which was something I was very much interested in...unfortunately the job was not what I expected it to be. Sadly, it was much more directed towards sales than I thought, which I am not really a fan of. Even with this, I learned two things: 1) The fact that I was able to get a second interview was an accomplishment and 2) I am able to drive over long distances by myself (and yes, that is an accomplishment for me). So with that, I am now transitioning to my temporary job at Hallmark...yes it is third shift (the shift STARTS at midnight), but then again it pays well...very well.

And while I work at my temp job starting Sunday night/Monday morning...the job search continues...

Post-Graduation Blues

It has been a busy ride these past couple of weeks: Finals Week, senior week, graduation weekend, moving out of the apartment, looking for jobs etc...so I have not really had much time to blog. The job search is still ongoing, as currently I am looking in Omaha, Lawrence, and Kansas City, but I will be looking in other places too. Thankfully I will most likely have a temp job until I find the job that I want. It pays well...but the hours I will possibly be working SUCK (midnight to 8:30 am...Monday thru Friday). Still staying optimistic though.

I can't believe that my four years at Creighton have flown by so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was in Kiewit as a part of the Freshman Leadership Program, and now I am the first person in my family to graduate. My college experience completely trumped my high school experience...by a longshot. I met so many fantastic people at Creighton, whether it be living on the same floor as them, or people that passed by the Swanson Front Desk. Even with people that I first met senior year of college, it seemed like I knew them all four years, and so many of the graduates are off to do great things now. The university did have some of its imperfections, but unlike high school, I definitely plan to stay in contact with many of the people that I befriended while at Creighton. Thank you so much again to the Creightonites for making my time at Creighton awesome. Hopefully I will be able to see many of those people again

That's it for now...keeping the post short. If any job news comes up, I will definitely keep people updated

I Don't Know If You Heard But...

READER'S NOTE: This is a response to all of the celebrations about Osama deaths as well as the various quotes thrown out by people who opposed the celebrations...which, by the way, both need to stop because they are getting really annoying.

In case you have been hiding in a hole or have really been studying that intently for finals over the past few days, you probably have heard that Osama bin Laden was killed. Sadly, it also took the lives of innocent citizens, which has cause a huge debate from people, ESPECIALLY Creighton students about how we should view his death. Some of people are excited for his death, as he has been connected with many terrorist attacks including 9/11. Others are disgusted that we are celebrating the death of a human being, even if  it is a guy who as done many bad things as Osama. While it has been big news, I have started to get really sick of the continuing statuses about the issues, from those still celebrating to those throwing quote after quote after quote about how we "should not celebrate the death of a human being", "We are no better" "an eye for an eye..." etc, etc...and many of these quotes were spoken by historical figures that I admired.

So, I decided to do the only logical thing to combat this...by offering my opinion and then never, ever EVER speaking about the issue again

Let me first start off by saying this...I against the current war we are having, having troops in at least three countries in the Middle East for what seems to have been an endless amount of time. I am also very sad to see people in the Middle East that had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks being caught in the crossfire between U.S. and whatever opposing troops there may be. I am upset that billions of dollars that could be going to go to our country are going towards the war.

That being said, I support our troops Infinite %, as they have volunteered to give their lives for protecting this country's rights and freedom. I have a gynormous amount of respect for those people who fight in our armed forces, and there is no way in the world that I could do even one-tenth of the stuff they do or one-hundredth of the shit that they have to go through. Major kudos to them and all that they are doing.

Now onto my view of the OBL...there are people who are absolutely thrilled with the death of Osama, others are not too thrilled, especially since it cost many innocent civilians their lives. I admit that the death of Osama has lost some zing, as there as terrorist organizations that are more dangerous than Al-Qaeda at this point. In addition to this, I understand that there are risks involved with killing bin Laden, such as more terrorist attacks happening overseas, even possibly one in America. I am not so irrational as to think that this is the end of terrorism as we know it...because I know it is not. I am not really celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden the person, but more so the threat and fear that bin Laden imposed to so many people not only in the United States, but across many different countries.

From a personal standpoint, I must say this: I have absolutely no sympathy for a person such as Osama bin Laden. I have absolutely no sympathy for a person that plans out a mass attack to intentionally kill innocent civilians. And if he would have stayed alive and died through "natural causes", no amount of near-death repentance (and I don't even think he would have done that) would convince me to forgive him for what he has done...I don't even care if he somehow rebuilt the entire World Trade Center with his bare hands.

Although it is not to the same degree at all, trying to get me to forgive Osama is like trying to get me to forgive Fred  Phelps and his congregation for celebrating peoples' deaths from natural disasters and protesting the funerals of soldiers. Trying to get me to forgive Osama is like trying to get me to "understand" why a KKK member believes what he believes. Hell, trying to get me to forgive Osama is like trying to get me to forgive Mike Vick for his dogfighting ring (and no, I have not forgiven him yet). I am not so convinced anyways that if we would have detained bin Laden instead of killed him, he would have "learned from his mistakes."

When I first heard about Osama's death, I was one of the people who was very happy to hear the news because of the fact that the face of fear that was in the United States was now gone. The number one reason I feel this way is the impact that 9/11 has had on the families and the country. Those who were at ground zero and rescuing people during the attack are just now able to receive benefits if they now have chronic health problems (The Zadroga (spelling?) Bill). For almost 10 years, families affected by 9/11 have had the cloud of Osama bin Laden hanging over their heads. While this death may not bring their loved ones back, it could possibly provide some closure to them. I heard a story where a 9/11 widow was on a plane and cried when she heard about bin Laden's death. The entire cabin consoled her during the flight, which showed that nobody has forgotten about those terrorists attacks.

On Monday's "The Daily Show" Jon Stewart talk about Osama bin Laden, and being from New York, Stewart was obviously very happy, and he even said "I am too close to this whole thing to even be rational." However, at the end of the segment he did say something that caught my attention: "We're back baby." For a long time, America has lived under a cloud of fear since 9/11, and the now disappeared cloud of fear from Osama bin Laden may give everyone in the U.S., from the troops, to the government officials, to the citizens, a boost of confidence as we move on, even though we face a tough road ahead.

Yes, there were risks...nothing comes without risk. There will be (and are) people who are against what we did. But who knows? Maybe this is the shot of confidence this country (and other countries afflicted by bin Laden's fear) needs...maybe this will help us recover and unite as a country...maybe this will help to ease tensions somewhat between Muslims and non-Muslims (which I hear almost NOBODY talking about at all after this whole incident).

And I know I will make some people unhappy. I know that this won't be retweeted on Twitter or shared on facebook...I know that a grand total of three people will read this blog post. But it didn't keep me from typing this. After all, I am just doing what many people (including some who have throwing out quote after quote after quote) have told me to do from time to time...staying optimistic.