Challenge Day 04 - What You Ate Today

Today? Well, its early afternoon so the only thing that I’ve eaten today has been lunch. What did I have for lunch today? A yummy sandwich from Subway, a 6-inch Subway Melt with lettuce, tomato and honey mustard! MMMM it was good. I also had a bag of Sun Chips with it, harvest cheddar is way better than the original flavor.

A lot of criticism has come toward eating Subway, but I like it and I will eat it if I want to. YEAH, TAKE THAT!

Coffee, Coke and Pepsi have been my drinks of choice. WOO!

I'm Back!

It has been a while hasn’t it?

Well, that is because I ran out of time to post anything on this blog in November and early December. As many of you know I ended up having to pick up a second job to help with Britt’s slow photography season known as “winter.”

Things have been slowing down for the most part, getting used to handling two jobs at a time and having time with my family. For a little while I was working back at Best Buy, thanks again to Wil and Terrance for helping me get back in there. However after a few weeks of being there I got a part-time job offer at HCA for the group I used to intern with. I said my goodbyes to Best Buy and started work with Aaron Clifford, who is awesome!

This new part-time job allows me to work from home, which has been incredible for my family. I missed being home when I worked at Best Buy, so even if I’m working being at home is so much better than being in Rivergate.

Any who, we have had a busy holiday season with tons of family parties and events, on Thanksgiving we went over to Kim and Randy’s house for dinner. We celebrated Brittany and Micah’s birthday parties since I last posted. Micah’s birthday party was Mario themed and really seemed to be a huge hit, I hope that all the kids had a blast!

One thing I would like to mention though, is how many birthdays we have in the month of December just in our immediate family, here is the list:

• Brooke (Dec 6)
  
• Micah (Dec 14)
  
• Kim (Dec 21)
  
• Mom (Dec 24)
  
• Raleigh (Dec 29)
  
• Me (Dec 30)

So just about every week in December we were celebrating somebody’s birthday, it is pretty insane. Add on Brittany’s bday which is November 19th and Thanksgiving and that is almost a whole month and ½ of celebrating at least one thing each week! INSANE.

Christmas however was not as fun as any of us would like to admit. All of the details about that will come in another post because it is so long. But if you know me you should know what happened. Let’s just say the sick bug hit our house hard.

Now we are all recovering, getting back into our normal routines and playing with our new presents from Santa.

Tomorrow is my birthday! I’m excited to be 25 and I’m excited to see what my little dude got me – supposedly he is really excited to give it to me, so we shall see! I plan on getting back into the swing of things and posting again, so keep a look out for new posts!

Weddings,Garth, Jerseys and Broken Tails - Weekend Adventure Time

Part Uno

Weekends in the Burkey household should be spelled like this: “Adventure-time-GO-GO-GO!”

It seems that every weekend for the past couple of weeks have been crammed full of insanity that I don’t have any time to do anything around the house or sit down and take a breather. I’m not complaining about that either, surprisingly. There is almost a satisfaction of finishing off a busy weekend, knowing that I didn’t just sit around the house the whole time.

This weekend was no different than others lately, let me give you the rundown:

Saturday

I wake up with Penny crying at 5:15am. I decide to wake up with her, letting Britt sleep since she has a big wedding to shoot today. I give Pen a bottle and try to rock her asleep but she just wants to stay up. Hello NFL Network early in the morning.

After a while of tending to Penny and getting ready Brittany and I plan out the morning. It is about 7:30 now. Britt needs to leave to arrive at Christy and Wade’s wedding at 8:30 to begin shooting the pre-ceremony stuff. My tasks for the morning are to run by Derek and Amanda’s house to drop off Micah’s jersey, run to Kim and Randy’s to drop off Penny then arrive at Kroger by 8:30 to make sure I get in line for Garth Brooks’ tickets. Then, after the ticket waiting I was going to take our cat, Sun, to the vet for a weird tail injury we noticed the night before. Then finally, meet up with Britt and Raleigh at the wedding to help them.

(-Side tracking here: These Garth Brooks tickets have been crazy to deal with. First I had to wait in line on Thursday to get a wristband, which allowed me to wait in line on Saturday to get tickets. Problem is, I was supposed to go with Britt to the wedding to assist her. So, I was going to get the wristband Thursday, give it to my mom so she can wait in line, so I could go to the wedding. WELL, they made sure to strap the wristband on my wrist Thursday and I was not allowed to take it off [that was fun for three days]. That means that I had to be the one to wait in line! Ahh! They are pretty nazi about those wristbands too.)

Back on track – Britt leaves late from the house, forgets the computer. We plan on meeting at her parent’s house when I drop off Pen to get the computer. I pack my car full of all of Penny’s stuff, grab the computer and start heading out the door. The dog is still outside from when Britt left...great…stupid…dog. I chase the dog for a few minutes and luckily she runs into the house (usually takes upwards of 30 mins to get her inside). I get Pen in the car and leave, late.

Britt calls me on the way to her parent’s house, Sun needs to get into the vet asap for them to be able to look at her. The injury looks pretty serious so I had to figure out a way to get her to the vet and get all this other stuff done. CRAP! I’m not at Randy and Kim’s yet – and it is already 8:20. CRAP AGAIN! We have a problem, not enough time for all the things I need to do. Think, think, think.

Ok, I’m meeting my mom (who is going to buy all of our tickets, cause she is awesome) at Kroger, and my dad is waiting at home. We can figure this out. Dad went to go grab Sun and take her to the vet, I went and dropped Penny off and gave Britt the computer and my mom went to drop Micah’s jersey off at Derek and Amanda’s while I stood in line at Kroger. DEAL! I get to Kroger on time, my dad is on the way to get Sun and my mom is about to meet me to grab the jersey. All is well with that stuff, now the waiting game begins for these tickets.

8:45 – The line is full of wristband wearers, but I’m still confident that I will get tickets. The way they set up the wristbands allows me to be the first person in line, or the last person, depending on what number they draw. The wristbands started at number 41, ended at number 110, I was number 75. So I was pretty close to the middle. If they drew 76 though, I would be the very last person in line, if they drew 74, I’d be the second person in line. Not too hard to understand.

9:05 – They draw the number: 91. GAH! Now that puts me closer to the back of the line. Not good. Ok let’s try ticketmaster.com or calling ticketmaster while I wait in line. My dad was still at the vet and my mom was done dropping the jersey off, so she went home and sat at the computer. Now, we waited again – the tickets didn’t actually go on sale until 10.

9:45 – I’ve made friends in the line, I’d feel bad if I got tickets and the person behind me didn’t…I can’t let my feeling interfere. I must complete the mission.

10:00 – Ticket sales open up.

10:03 – Show is sold out, only 3 people out of the line got tickets….are you freaking kidding me?

10:05 – Kroger tells everyone to stay in line, grumblings of a second show start up.

10:07 – Second show opens up, everyone gets anxious again.

10:10 – Second show is sold out, only about 8 more people get tickets…man this is pointless. I call my mom, she is getting nothing online and over the phone. She can’t get through.

10:15 – Grumblings of a third show start up, then the show goes on sale! The line is moving a little bit, but still pretty slow. First buyer in our line for the third show screams, jumps up and down…she just received forth row tickets to the Sunday show. WOW.

10:24 – Third show has not sold out yet, I’m getting closer and closer to the counter. Only back about 3 people…I stare at the woman behind the counter as she mouths “I’m sorry I tried” to the current costumer. I pee my pants and clinch my fists. I WAS SO CLOSE. NOOOOOOO.

10:25 – That costumer gets tickets, and the line is continuing to move…there is hope. Use the force Luke! I get asked “how many?” I’m in shock, “4?”

10:26 – I’m walking out of Kroger with 4 tickets to the Sunday show, kind of bad seats but I still have tickets. I call my mom, WOOO TICKETS!

You know what is really funny? I’m not a huge fan of country music, I barely know any Garth Brooks songs, but I still was very worried that I wouldn’t get tickets. I think it was the experience more than anything…Also the fact that I was waiting in line for my parents and for one of Brittany’s birthday presents. I know they will all be stoked that I completed my quest for tickets. Do I get like some special sword or gold or something as a reward? Oh, sorry, that’s for WoW nerds.

Part two coming next!!!!!

(funny that this is by far my longest post and I’m only to 10:30 in the morning on Saturday! Lol.)

Challenge Day 03 - Your Parents

(I've fallen behind with my blog challenge, hopefully I can catch back up within the next few days.)

Jim and Sue Burkey.

Happily married for more than twenty-seven years (? sorry dunno if that is correct) and parents for almost twenty-five years.

Dad is the quiet one, but whenever he speaks it is full of knowledge or laughter. He does the funniest things and really gets me laughing when he does them. Example: Pressing the “brew” button on the tea machine in the cafeteria at work, expecting to get some more tea. However he didn’t think to check where the tea came out of and he started making a mess. The cafeteria people got mad at him for pushing the button. He does stuff like this all the time and it gets even funnier each time. Dad is a huge Redskins fan, and most of conversations consist entirely of our favorite football team. He also taught me everything I know about playing guitar – and I thank him sincerely for doing that and allowing me to experience the awesomeness of several bands.

Mom is the talkative, caring one. She is always wondering how things are and always wanting to hear about my day. She has taught me how to love and care for individuals as I grew up and has always been there for me when I need her. I don’t have many funny stories about my mom, most of the time we are laughing about something my dad did. She is a huge Aerosmith fan, and got me into loving music at a young age. Again, I thank her for this because it led to me playing guitar and experiencing the music industry shortly.

They go perfectly together and have been great examples of how a parent should raise their child. They have been one of the rare couples that have stayed married, and I applaud them for that.

Life Quote #2

Shin: a device for finding furniture in the dark.

Challenge Day 02 - Your First Love

Did anyone else have a girlfriend/boyfriend in kindergarten? I did. Her name was Lindsay something-another. I remember she had a twin, so I'd get her confused with her twin.

Anyways, that's not my first love, because the only love I knew at that point was in relation to my parents. But kindergarten just popped in my head...

My first love was sophomore year of high school, Beka Talbot. I think everyone in our high school knew that as well, she was one of the more popular names and I was a new face. She decided to run for homecoming queen and she needed an escort. For some reason she picked me, the pale, awkward, smile full of braces, spikey haired kid who nobody knew.

Though, this is very similar to the kindergarten situation in a way. I thought I knew what love was, and that's what I felt for Beka. I don't even think we dated for more than two months, but after we were an "item" we continued to stay friends.

She really just wanted to be friends, but I always hoped their was something more between us. She was a fun, cookey, smart, beautiful girl and I loved being her friend, but I wasted my whole high school love life hoping that we would get back together. Anyone else fall into this category?

Last I heard from her was our graduation from college, I think she was about to get engaged, but I can't remember. I hope all is well with her, because I know that things sure did for me.

Now I truly know what "love" is, even though I thought I knew what it was in HS. Brittany is my love, and I thank her for her allowing me to experience that feeling everyday. I don't know how I'd survive without her in my life. Dreamteam forever.

Life Quote #1

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia."

Challenge Day 01 - Introduce Yourself

My name is Mike Burkey, I'm a month away from my 25th birthday. Geez, that age looks strange to me...just realized I'm a forth of a century old. I have a beautiful wife, Brittany, who I've been married to for a little over two years now. I have a five (almost six) year old step-son, Micah, who is full of energy and adventure. He is also the smartest little kid I've ever met. I have a gorgeous 3 month old daughter, Penny, who is a bundle of joy and is growing bigger every day.

I work for a company called Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) as a Web Content Editor for their East and West Florida divisions. Oddly enough I work out of HCA's corporate campus in Nashville, TN. Oh, the beauty of technology. I graduated from Western Kentucky University with a bachelor's in Interdisciplinary Studies with an Emphasis in Technology. Though, I changed majors twice - started in journalism, then switched to advertising, then switched to IS.

I have a lot of interests, sometimes I feel like I have too much to really fit into my day. I'm a homebody, I love just sitting at home with my family and spending time with them. I love the NFL, it's probably my biggest obsession. I love watching TV shows and actually think they are better than watching movies now. ABC's Lost is my favorite show ever, however it finished earlier this year so it has been rough trying to replace it.

I'm a creative person, I love writing (obviously) even though I'm not the best at it. I love graphic design and web design. I love playing my guitar and song writing. I love music in general and my musical tastes have changed a lot over the past few years. I love doing video work, producing and editing, and can't wait to get more into that soon.

I'm not a MAC person I own a PC. Nor do I have an iPhone, I have an Android HTC Hero. I own a Xbox 360, not a PS3. I definitely like Pepsi better than Coke. Root Beer has been my drink of choice lately. Halloween and Christmas are my favorite holidays. I'm not a very religions person but that is beginning to change. I'm not very interested in politics either, so looks like you won't have any controversial conversations with me in the future. My favorite food is Chicken Cordon Bleu and my favorite dessert is Cheesecake. UMMMMMMMM I think that's about all I can think about. If anyone has any questions just let me know!