Update XIX: Melancholy and the Infinite Napping

[Joe Biden 2020]

I never did get a good understanding of what exactly the nature of your work was in Kenya. What did you do there aside from Loving On Children?

We fed the children and the widows, we volunteered in their education classes, we tutored the children in their math, science, English classes and other subjects as necessary we visited and attended to some needs in the slums, we sponsored them and found them sponsors from America to give them clothing, shoes, school supplies, pay for their tests, pay for them to go to school, and make sure they eat.  We also helped with the administrative side of things, helping the administrators who live and work at the orphanage by taking some burden off them or assisting them in locating children and whatever family they have.

[Joe Biden 2020]

There is an old saying in Christianity when doing mission work that is so true "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."  That's what Maisha (the Kenyan orphanage I'm involved with) does, they feed the children and the widows, educate them, clothe them, and teach them Jesus.

Oh please, sending a toiletry gift basket that your mom paid for every year or so doesn't make you "involved" with it.

For someone who spends as much time at church as you do, I've never once heard you mention doing any kind of community service or good works. No volunteering at food banks or homeless shelters. No raising money for poor people in your own community.

I have visited this Kenyan orphanage twice and I sponsor two children providing them with the things I have mentioned above.  I don't do enough volunteeering, but I am involved with this orphanage.

[Joe Biden 2020]

FWIW instead of moving back to Tulsa for no reason, maybe Bushie should look at North Dakota instead. My mom said that the job market in Bismarck now is so hot that you can make $12/hour at McDonald's.

Too cold, too snowy, and too small...

[Joe Biden 2020]

I never did get a good understanding of what exactly the nature of your work was in Kenya. What did you do there aside from Loving On Children?

We fed the children and the widows, we volunteered in their education classes, we tutored the children in their math, science, English classes and other subjects as necessary we visited and attended to some needs in the slums, we sponsored them and found them sponsors from America to give them clothing, shoes, school supplies, pay for their tests, pay for them to go to school, and make sure they eat.  We also helped with the administrative side of things, helping the administrators who live and work at the orphanage by taking some burden off them or assisting them in locating children and whatever family they have.

Not we. What did you do?

All of the above

[Joe Biden 2020]

Good morning, guys.  I am not going to respond to any of the posts while I was asleep.  I just don't want to.  However, I will say this, my parents and I will have another pow-wow tonight on what to do about the apartment in light of the notice information I was given earlier this week.  We'll talk about what I want to do and weigh that against what should be done.  I will keep you posted on what we discuss.  We may not come to a final decision tonight as the final decision rests solely on me and I don't have to decide right away.

With that, I've got to head back down to Oklahoma City, so I will chat with you gents later.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Alright, I've had enough, guys.  I'm done being treated like crap on this forum.

[Joe Biden 2020]

How are you all going to ring in 2015 in just 11 1/2 days?  I didn't put a poll on this because the potential options are too numerous.  Are you going to be at a party? Will you watch a New Year's Eve special on TV?  Which one?  With others or by your lonesome?  Will you have the unfortunate task of working at midnight?  Will you be sleeping?  Any other plans that I'm not thinking of?

As for me, I will most likely be driving up to Tulsa after work and watching Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2015 with Ryan Seacrest on ABC starting at 1900 and ending at 0118 on New Year's Morning.  I will be ringing it in by myself.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Let me clarify this:  11 1/2 days for the United States - 10 3/4 days roughly for our Australian and New Zealand posters.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Season XX is starting already?

No, this is not an Update thread.  I am finished with the Update, though I may post in Season XIX this week to wish everybody a Merry Christmas.  As far as regular updates, that ship has sailed.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I won't be like ODF and sit on my ass for 39 bowl games and 8 hours of Ryan Seacrest.  Well ODF will move for food.

I'm glad that Bushie is treating himself to a little Tulsa vacation on Papa Bushie's dime this New Year's Eve though. Lord knows he needs it!

This one's on my dime...

[Joe Biden 2020]

Oh, you've started paying for your $200 Tulsa cable package? Good for you, friend. I apologize and take back my snarky comment.

I'm paying for everything Tulsa - rent, cable, gas to and from, etc.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Will probably watch Ryan Seacrest at home until the ball drops, and then go to bed.  Don't know about anything other than that, though.

I still wish Dick Clark were still alive.  He was the show!  Ryan is a good successor, but Dick was one of a kind.

[Joe Biden 2020]

BBQ at a friend's place... lots of good food and wine. Probably some 80s/90s music.

I wouldn't mind a glass of chardonnay, but I have a 2 hour drive to make New Year's afternoon on six hours sleep.

[Joe Biden 2020]

What's up, guys!  I am breaking a two week moratorium temporarily to post my New Year's Eve schedule for 2014/2015:

Tuesday, December 30, 2014 - 2200 - Bed time
Wednesday, December 31, 2014:
0315 - Wake up
0400 - Watch the official birth of 2015 in Kiritimati, Kiribati.
0515 - Get Ready for Work
0700 - Drive to Work
0800 - Work
1700 - Drive to Tulsa
1900 - Watch Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2015 with Ryan Seacrest on ABC.
2200 - Watch the final newscast of 2014
2235 - Resume NYRE
2259 - Watch the ball drop in New York
2359 - Ring in 2015 in Tulsa

Thursday, January 1, 2015
0000 - 2015 is here!!
0118 - NYRE ends
0230 - Bed time
0830 - Wake up
0900 - News
1000 - 2015 Tournament of Roses Parade on ABC
1230 - Drive back to Choctaw
1600 - Rose Bowl
1930 - Sugar Bowl

[Joe Biden 2020]

Bushie please don't go to work on five hours of sleep for no reason.

Five hours is nothing.  Twice this month I have gone to work on 2 1/2 - 3 hours sleep.  I'll be fine.  If I'm too sleepy at 1700, I will come back to Grandma's (a 45 minute drive) instead of coming to Tulsa (2 hour drive).  I will be smart about it, but getting up early on New Year's Eve is a tradition for me just as much as staying up til midnight.  Last year, I didn't sleep any on December 30/31 and I still drove to Stillwater and then on to Tulsa, a 4 hour excursion, and ate dinner with a friend and still snuggled with my girlfriend ringing in 2014 at her dad's Tulsa apartment.

[Joe Biden 2020]

No Orange Bowl?

DVR

[Joe Biden 2020]

Bushie, have you eaten at local eatery Spaghetti Warehouse?

Yes, I ate there before an Oklahoma City Thunder basketball game in November 2013.  It was pretty good.

[Joe Biden 2020]

What's up, guys!  I am breaking a two week moratorium temporarily to post my New Year's Eve schedule for 2014/2015:

Tuesday, December 30, 2014 - 2200 - Bed time
Wednesday, December 31, 2014:
0315 - Wake up
0400 - Watch the official birth of 2015 in Kiritimati, Kiribati.
0515 - Get Ready for Work

What are you going to be doing from 0316-0359 and 0401-0514?

This might answer IndyTexas's question, too, but before 0400, I will probably hop in the shower to get my eyes open, then from 0401-0514, I'll probably watch the morning news and watch the Chatham Islands enter at 0415 and New Zealand at 0500, thinking about our friend DC as he becomes one of the first Atlasians to ring in 2015.  0515-0545 will be getting ready for work, then 0600 is Fiji's turn.  0615-0659 is breakfast, then I will leave at 0702 right after Sydney opens the book on a new year.  I should get to work a little before Guam enters at 0800...  While I am working, I will have one screen on my work and the other screen on a countdown for Oklahoma and a World Clock so I can watch the next several cities all the way from Guam to Cameroon (in honor of my cousins).  I will miss London and the Azores Islands at 1800 and 1900 respectively as I will be en route to Tulsa, but I'll catch Brazil, Greenland, and all of Canada and the lower 48.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Isn't it weird that Bushie spends months focusing on Christmas, but then a week before Christmas he's already moved on to focusing on focusing on New Years?

Always focusing on the future... Christmas is too close.

Not too soon to focus on Christmas 2015.

Nah, next we've got Easter and Fourth of July.

I've got an app on my phone that will immediately start the countdown to Christmas 2015 when the Christmas 2014 countdown reaches all zeroes.

I will be thinking about Easter starting January 2.  I won't move on to Memorial Day and the Fourth of July until April 6, the day after Easter.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Earlier this month, our corporate office gave us this Wednesday and Friday off.  About 2 hours ago they announced that they are releasing us at 1400 on New Year's Eve.  We'll still have to work the rest of the week except Thursday, New Years Day, but it's a nice gesture to allow us to get to our New Years Eve destinations before the drunks commadier the roads!

[Joe Biden 2020]

0400 - Watch the official birth of 2015 in Kiritimati, Kiribati.

You realize that place is a barely inhabited sh**t hole that no one cares about, and will someday not exist, right?  Do you just like typing it or do you care about the people there?

Yes, I'm fully aware of that.  It still doesn't make the few people who live there any less relevant.

[Joe Biden 2020]

0400 - Watch the official birth of 2015 in Kiritimati, Kiribati.

You realize that place is a barely inhabited sh**t hole that no one cares about, and will someday not exist, right?  Do you just like typing it or do you care about the people there?

Yes, I'm fully aware of that.  It still doesn't make the few people who live there any less relevant.

Do you think they care if you're up for their New Year or not?

Of course they don't care, but that's not the point.  The point is its just something fun I like to do.

[Joe Biden 2020]

It is just after 2000 Oklahoma time on this Monday evening.  The aforementioned Kiritimati will enter 2015 in just under 200 hours.  They are 20 hours ahead of Oklahoma during our winter and 19 in the summer.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Bushie, I never thought I'd say this to you, but you gotta start focusing on Christmas.

I see what you're saying and I'm focusing on both quite well.  I'm not posting much about Christmas, because I've beat that horse to death over the past six months.  Of course, I have beat the New Year's horse to a bloody pulp over the past couple of weeks, but I am focusing on both quite well.  I am quite excited about celebrating my Savior's birth over the next few days.  I am excited about having a five day weekend to celebrate "properly"  I just also happen to be a man who likes transition in whatever it is.  I also have an, admittedly, unusual affection for time and calendars.  It's just part of what makes me tick (no pun intended).

[Joe Biden 2020]

I will say that on December 26 at 0000 (the first minute after Christmas Day ends), I will immediately begin the countdown to Christmas 2015.  In much the same capacity, on New Year's Morning at one minute after midnight, I will begin the countdown to 2016.  I won't say much about either until later in the summer, as I do want to enjoy the rest of the year and live in the moment as much as my psyche will let me and celebrate the rest of the holidays as they are meant to be celebrated and enjoyed.