@lauraclarinet and other news.

Not sure where to start with this ramble, but I want to update you guys on what’s been going on lately.As you may or may have not seen, I’ve been recently spending a lot of time with my new significant other. I have told myself for a long time now, that I would stay single, get my ducks in a row, and go from there. But things sometimes don’t happen as you plan them. And right now I couldn’t possibly be happier about it.Her and I met through @trombonechick – on April 9th. I had just finished a long day with moving everything from my old house that I let my ex stay in, into a storage unit that my father let me use, until I get everything sold. I thank my family very much for helping me out with the storage unit. Side note: I am selling all of my extra stuff, because I no longer want, nor need, the stuff. But I do need the money while I am looking for a job, and getting my businesses stabilized. You’ll continue to see posts on here for things that I have for sale. Please pass the word to anyone that may be interested.Anyways, I had been sore from moving everything, @trombonechick had invited me over to relax in the hot tub, and I brought over some wine for everyone to enjoy. She had told me that she had a friend that she wanted me to meet. That friend, was @lauraclarinet – and from the moment that I locked eyes with hers, I was instantly interested. And as picky as I am, it’s surprising. Our friend Dan was with us as well, and he even mentioned on how instantly and well her and I clicked right away.So here I am in this hot tub with my friends and @lauraclarinet – totally talking everyone’s ear off after a few shots of Crown, and some wine – and it goes from a group conversation with everyone to me locking eyes with her and zoning everyone else out. I was thinking, “what an awesome girl” – but never thought it would go anywhere, so I appreciated her company, and kinda just wrote it off.The next day we start texting each other, and we were still clicking, and I was still interested in her, but still didn’t think anything would happen between her and I, despite what I was hoping for. Learned later that she had a boyfriend, so her and I just hung out, spent time together, and learned more about each other. She went from being just a gorgeous girl in a hot tub to one of my best friends. She still is one of my best friends to this day.Then April 21st came around. She had a surprise for me. That surprise was that she broke up with the boyfriend, and of course, immediately, I asked her out. Sparks few. Everything that anyone could ever want in a relationship, happened. Everything lined up perfectly. And everything’s been insanely awesome since. To say the very least. I’ve connected more with her in three weeks that I have in any other relationship in the past, yes, even the ones that lasted multiple years. In three weeks. It’s insane, but what her and I have, is by far, the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And the best thing that will ever happen to me.April 25th was my mother’s birthday. I was booked solid. Between taking Laura to school, working photo shoots and computer client work, selling things on Craigslist, and storm chasing in the middle of the night the night before, I literally didn’t have five free minutes to my name. So no, I didn’t call my mother to even wish her a Happy Birthday, nor did I spend any time with her that day, at all. Yeah, it was a real bitch move to not spend time with her, but at the same time, I needed the money, and other people, as always, were depending on me.Anyways, instead of being an adult about things, and talking to me about the problem, she decided to throw a 12-year-old-like tantrum on Facebook, on my wall. It’s still there for my friends on Facebook. Had to pull my own mother off of my Facebook, sadly. Add on top of that, the fact that Laura’s entire family was totally against our relationship and prejudging me instead of wanting to meet me, etc – add on the fact that I am finding ways to pay my bills without a job, and that I’m selling my entire old life of mine away out of a storage unit that’s not even mine, and I really pretty much came close to hitting a breaking point. My mother, until today, didn’t even want to speak to me, because of the birthday thing. I’m terribly sorry that my survival took priority over spending her birthday with her, but that doesn’t give her the right to take all of the information that I’ve been kind enough to feed her since I had moved back, and use it against me, make me feel unwelcome there with her lack of respect for me by bringing out family issues into the public eye for everyone to see, etc etc. But Laura was there to help me thru it all.I’m also becoming a morning person, and getting more accomplished daily because of it.And I’m cutting back on smoking, and will eventually quit. Yeah. Really.So Friday, I decided that I will move out this weekend, and I have. I now am staying with @trombonechick, her boyfriend Greg, which I am gonna flat out say is a kickass dude, and Dan, who’s also awesome, and has helped me move things around, without asking for anything in return. Him and I will be working out at Genesis together soon. It’s time to step up and get in shape.Saturday we cleared out room for me here at the house, Sunday I moved some critical stuff in to the new place, and Monday, I’ll be getting the rest of the stuff I need to make things happen here at the house, and weeding out what I don’t need, and selling it. Needless to say, CraigsList has been also one of my best friends lately. In these financially stressing times, it’s kept me alive. Literally. No words can stress the importance of truly great friends and a good network here in Wichita.I still plan to go to school this fall, I think I have a job lined up soon, I know I have the girl of my dreams, and I am living with some of the most kickass people in the world. And they have a hot tub. LOL – things are starting to look up again.And Goddammit, it’s about time.Thank you guys, and especially, thank you Laura, for keeping me motivated to do better and better with everyday. Thank you for making my days better when they are shitty, and making the good days turn into perfect days. I really, truly, and honestly, did not think that this type of love even existed.Man, was I entirely wrong.

This photo pretty much sums it up at a glance. (Courtesy, Aaron A. – Friends University)Man, I don’t even know if life gets any better than this.Cheers.

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Denver, and what’s next after.

For once I am not driving, I am riding, to Denver, to see my sister in Denver, for her birthday, with my family.  It’s given me time to think about a lot of things.Mostly, my thoughts revolve around what’s happened since I used to live out in Denver.  The good and bad times.  If I didn’t have the great network or friends and family in the Wichita area, I would definitely be living in Denver still.  And I would be living there with Holly I think.  And I definitely would be happier.  And I’m betting that she would be, too.But a number of things have happened since I lived there in 2005, and I am pretty close to rock bottom with my situation now.  So, in order to get things back going, there’s a lot of steps I need to take, to get my ducks in a row, so to speak.  And that process will start, partially, during this trip, as I will be job hunting online while I am in Denver, for a Wichita-based job.  The rest will start upon my return next week.  Finding and holding down a job is the key for everything that is to happen next.  I do not, and will not be in the situation I am in, for more than a year, and I wanna be moved back into my own place by October 1st of this year, but if I am not ready by then, I definitely want to have a place by this time next year.  If everything goes smooth, then I’ll have my own place again by the 1st of October, and if I am not ready yet, then it’ll happen by April 1st, 2011.The next step after finding a job, is to get a storage unit, and get all of my stuff moved to the unit.  And sell off everything that I don’t need or want.  Get a nest egg started, massive savings.  Get the car fixed up, get the other car restored, get a truck for storm chasing and hauling stuff, get it decked out.Get an updated desktop computer.  Get a PC laptop that’s dedicated for the vehicle, so this MacBook doesn’t have to be used for that.  Get a new camera.Get the businesses rejuvenated.  Start up advertising with the computer business, get the photography back going again, start a studio back up.  Start the process of getting DJing equipment again, continue using the storage unit to hold the equipment.Stock up on weapons and ammunition.  Lots.  Jump bags, survival gear, etc.Pay off debts.Finish my surgeries.Then move.Get everything that I need for the new house, with some of the savings, and still have money left over for actual savings.That’s the rough plan, thus far.  Those are some of the ducks to get in a row.This fall, on top of everything else that I will be doing, I will be going back to school, at WSU.  It’s time to finish that up, as I’m not getting any younger.  Major in criminal justice, minor in communications.  That, in combination with my IT certifications, and my emergency management, media, and dispatch experiences,  should make my career options pretty flexible.If the world doesn’t come to an end before I am done with college, I might actually be able to get a decent paying career that’s stable.  By then, the world will definitely be different, either better or worse.  And since I expect the worst and hope for the best, I’m not banking on better.  I want to ultimately be successful as my own boss, and enjoy it, before I get too old to do so.My desire for stability for my family, loved ones, and I, is higher now, than it’s ever been.Cheers.

Quick Update…

Nothing major, just an update. :)All set up here in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  New full-time job starts Monday in Nashville, doing technical support and help desk for the military.  I truly think that this job is what I was meant to do.  I really hope that it works out.  Over an hour drive one way to work, but we plan to move in March to a bigger and better place in Clarksville, Tennessee, about half an hour closer to my work in Nashville, closer to one of Holly’s jobs, and closer to the college that she wants to go to this fall.  So I am looking forward to that.Holly and I are getting along better than I have gotten along with anyone before.  Kinda scary.  Kinda makes me wonder, “what’s the catch?” – but really, she’s just a very sweet girl, that has a great heart… and that’s what I really need around me these days, is good friends and loved ones.I have always told myself that I need to get all of my ducks in a row before I can get the ball rolling in the correct direction, and finally, after 30 long years, it’s all starting to happen.  I’m pretty excited, to say the least.  We’ll see what happens.Next trip back to Kansas, for now, I am planning on it being April 1st or so.  I will be back to visit friends, family, get my other vehicle, and move the rest of the stuff that I left behind, since I did have to get out here in kind of a hurry the first time for the job.  I also will have to have appointments set up to see the surgeons about my post-surgery progress.Also, I have gotten a new iPhone, to replace the one that was stolen from me, so I will be much more organized than I have been recently.  I was a mess while I was without it.  If there are any outstanding projects that I missed between the iPhones, please email me and I’ll get them completed for you.Needless to say, lots going on right now, lots on my mind, and lots of things to keep track of.  Saving up to get a house, a truck, for visits back to Wichita and Denver, for storm chasing equipment on the truck, for getting my computer and photography businesses started out here once I move to Clarksville, and just generally getting a foundation started out here.  There’s a lot of opportunity out here to help out people and make some money, just need to get it all ramped up.Also have been in contact with the local emergency management officials out here, as well as the local Skywarn group, and the local Ham Radio organizations out here, and have all of that lining up as well.  The Skywarn group I am working with out here, new link to them on the right hand menu, feel free to have a visit.  Great people to work with.  Should be a VERY interesting storm season this year.I have contacts in the Wichita area that will be picking up my recurring clients from all of my businesses out there. With the computer business, I will be doing remote assistance for software issues out here, and a friend of mine, Rick, will be handling my hardware issues.  A guy by the name of Brandon will be handling all website work out there.  Brandon will also be picking up all of my emergency management work that I left behind.  Wichita photo shoots will be scheduled for when I am in town, and for photo shoots that need to be done while I am not in town, a good photographer in town by the name of Eric, will be handling all of my work there.My online radio station is once again back up and running.  See the link on the right.  I am in the middle of redoing my Michael Brian Photography business website, as well as my Hypertech Computers site.  I am going to try and have those both done by March, at the latest.  They, amongst many other things, are on my massive “To-Do” list.  Wish, by the way, if you don’t know this already, no matter how hard you work, the list gets longer, not shorter, especially the older that you get.So, I am back into the groove of things.  Pretty soon I’ll be doing 10,000 things at once out here, like I was in Wichita.  I plan to make some friends out here, but I insist on keeping in touch with my old friends as well.  It’s pretty important to me.  So, please add me to Facebook, if you haven’t already (see links to the right), add me to ‘skywarn69’ on Yahoo Messenger, or email me at mike.mathia@gmail.com to get a hold of me.  I love hearing from everyone, and I promise to keep up better with email, than I have been in the past.This blogsite will always have the most up to date and accurate information on how to get a hold of me or my businesses.The next chapter of my life starts on Monday.  🙂

The New Chapter: Nashville

Howdy.I’m writing this partially to keep everyone in the loop (that wants to be) on what’s going on with me, but also, to help me wrap my head around everything that is going on. Things are moving so fast right now.First, surgery recovery. I am recovering well from surgery. The swelling has gone down, pain is slowly going down, the tumor is obviously gone now, the jaw reconstruction is working well, and my neck is healing well from where they had to cut me open to finish the surgery. They said 4-6 weeks to recover. It’s been a little over a week. I still cannot feel anything on the bottom right lip or chin, and I never will again. I’ve been retraining myself to talk and eat correctly again, I’ve been pretty successful so far. The strangest thing is shaving my chin without feeling it. That tripped me out a lot.I haven’t needed much help in the recovery, but what little help I have needed, I’ve had all of the support I could ever ask for. And I’ve never been more thankful to friends and family. Thank you.So after my surgery, on the 16th, I came into my work at SSI and picked up my paycheck, asked them where my schedule was, so I could resume work. The said to take all of the time I need to recover, feel better, and contact them when I am ready to come back. Where as I was able to work, I was not ready to truly come back.A few days prior to that, since I was doing some job hunting during my recovery, (yes, I never give myself a break) I received a job offer in Nashville. After getting my paycheck, and not having a schedule, I contacted them and told them that I could be out by Wednesday the 18th for an interview. Late night on the 16th I packed up and left. By the evening of the 17th I was where I am now, in southern Kentucky, staying with a special friend of mine. She’s been generous enough to let me stay here until I get everything settled in. I went to the job interview, and acquired the job. Basically, what I will be doing, is high-end tech support for the military. I cannot get into any more details, except that it’s requires a top secret clearance to do the work. The pay is generous, and it’s right up my alley. I’ve been needing this change for a long time now. There was a narrow window of opportunity to grab this position, so I did, and pending paperwork, I should be starting sometime in December. I’m definitely looking forward to this. In the meantime, I have been relaxing and recovering. The pace of things out here is very laid back, and I like it a lot. It’s nice to just be able to chill once in a while, and it’s definitely something that feels new and refreshing to me. Starting next week though, things are going to start ramping back up. Later today, Holly and I are going to go into Nashville, kinda just check out the town and see what all it has to offer. Tomorrow I will be filling out the extensive paperwork for the job, maybe visit one of my old friends, that now lives in Bowling Green, KY. Monday I am going to run some errands in town here, meet up and talk with the local emergency operations center here and discuss what I could do to help out here, like I did in Wichita, get a hold of some Ham Radio operators here, get into the Skywarn stuff out here, maybe even look for a second part time job in case something falls through with the first one. Turns out, they have a news radio station in town here that has the same programming as KNSS did in Wichita, so I could do production and on-air work for them, without any training. Although the on-air part, might be a little tricky, after the surgery and all. Tuesday I have to go back down to Nashville and fill out paperwork, get fingerprinted, and all of that for the job, so I will be busy then too. Wednesday I plan on tying up any loose ends here, doing various things, and confirming dates and times on things here. Thursday I am having cable TV installed here just before I leave back for Kansas. Leaving for Kansas around 6p to be back in the Wichita area by around 6am Thanksgiving Day. I will sleep, spend time with family and friends. Then, from the 27th and the first week or so in December, I will be in town to tie up loose ends there, pick up paychecks, pack up more things, get a few doctor appointments in, say goodbye to friends and family, etc. By December 8th, I plan to be back here again in the KY/TN area. Predicted start date of this job is on or around December 11th, and if it starts later, I will want to be working another job by then anyways, to bring in more money. If you want to see me while I am in town, you should get a hold of me soon, so I can get a time slot for you. I will be very busy once I am there, but I want to see as many of you as possible. Use my links on the right side of this blog to get a hold of me. Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. My phone number, most people have, but if not, it’s on my Facebook. Contact me and we’ll hook up.I also will have a few photo shoots that I will be doing when I get back into town, and have room for a few more, so look me up for that as well. So anyways, I’ll come back up here to the Nashville area, start working, start saving up for my own place, and get everything ramped up out here. Provided that finances allow, I will be trying to fly back again to the Wichita area around whatever Christmas break I can get, to spend time with family and friends for Christmas, and then be taking my Oldsmobile packed up with whatever I had forgotten or couldn’t fit into the Celica, back with me to Nashville. The Olds is in great shape, practically brand new, no miles and works perfect, and nobody seems to want to buy it from me for what it’s really worth, so I am going to just take it with me. It’ll be nice to have a backup ride in case something were to ever happen with the Celica.The goal is to then again, get back here to the Nashville area before New Years, and start 2010 here in Nashville, new chapter in my life. =]So last night I was online catching up with friends of mine and stuff and some weird shit has been going down out there in Wichita. Like, I guess one of my idiot officers at SSI (that I couldn’t stand) pulled someone else’s gun on another officer. Yeah, couldn’t believe it either. The idiot officer obviously doesn’t work there anymore. But the guy that has the business end of the gun pointed at him, disabled the idiot, and let it go. Better man than I. I would have killed him where he stood. And I would have been legally allowed to as well. There’s no way that someone is going to pull a gun on me, and live to see another day. If you plan on putting a gun into my stomach like that, you’d better make plans to pull the trigger a few times, because it’ll be the last thing that you do, if you don’t. I respect the officer that disabled the tard officer that thought that something like that would be funny, and commend him for doing nothing further. After talking to him, he basically said that his family flashed before his eyes and wasn’t worried so much that the tard would actually kill him on purpose, but more so that his stupidity would get him accidentally killed. Needless to say, the tard officer, Logan Hertel is his name, was caught on tape doing all of this, and no longer works there. But if you hear or see this stupid kid, don’t hire him, he’s just dumb enough to do this type of thing again, and it’s disgusting that he’s still alive.So the gun wasn’t Logan’s. It was someone else’s. One of the new dispatchers that works up there now actually. I guess he felt the need to bring his personal weapon up there. He’s brought it up there a few times, and there’s nothing wrong with that, until the owner of the company tells you not to bring it up there. Then you don’t. But he brought it up there anyways, Logan took it, and did the above. Jeremy, the new dispatcher, gets fired for having the gun up there, understandably. He was told not to have it up there. Simple. Logan was obviously fired too, and the officer that handled everything well, the good friend of mine, is being backed by all of his other officers, as well as the company owner 110%. Jeremy, the new dispatcher, goes home to his girlfriend, to tell her that he lost his job because of this idiot (as well as himself for having the gun up there) – his girlfriend is pissed that he lost his job (tough job market and all), Jeremy gets pissed and goes looking for Logan for like 3-4 days I guess, and doesn’t find him (which is a damn shame). After having nowhere to live, after getting fired from his job for having the gun up there, after losing his girlfriend, after looking for Logan and not finding him, Jeremy shoots himself in the chest, and dies. Yeah. Told ya I was having a hard time wrapping my head around everything that has been going on, maybe now it’s more clear as to why. So I am filing my resignation there when I get back, was going to before I found out about all of this happening, but especially now. They are missing me as a dispatcher, new guy no longer there now, Tracy is leaving, our most experienced dispatcher. That leaves one person. And me, if I were to stay there. I appreciated my job there, don’t get me wrong, but all of this shit happening, and more to probably happen, at $8 an hour, having to pick and choose which bills to pay, or come to Nashville and work for double the pay doing half as much with none of the drama.Which one would you choose?Crazy times. Tis’ the season I guess.That’s all I have for now. I would appreciate any and all comments.Thanks for listening/reading.

Surgery.

I am home from surgery, recovery will be a long one. Here’s what happened.I had a tumor on my lower right jaw. This thing was huge. They tried to remove it out thru my mouth, and could not. So they cut my neck open to pull the rest of it out that way. They broke my jaw in the process, something that was expected, and had to do reconstructive surgery on the jaw. They were going to try to do a bone grafting on it, but other complications came up that prevented the grafting for now. That will happen later. They severed a nerve in the process of all of this, so I cannot feel part of my chin and lips. They are saying that it is permanent damage. It definitely feels that way. They also extracted all of my teeth, and put in my top implants in. But I cannot talk correctly anymore. No more radio DJ work for me. I have a lot of work yet to do. I have a lot of retraining to do. Ever tried to eat with a numb mouth? LOL – I have to design a way to make that happen permanently. Next steps after this, implant adjustments, follow ups on everything, stitches out of my neck, learning how to eat and talk again, more adjustments, then the bone grafting in about three months, if all goes well, then, letting that heal, then my lower implants and adjustments. Then let that heal. My best guess is that by the end of 2010, everything will be as close to back to normal as they can be. I’ll save the financial, emotional, personal, professional, bullshit that I am dealing with for another blog. Thank you to everyone that helped and supported me through this crazy time, nothing can replace people that are close to you that really care. Not even the best of pain killers.

Jealousy. Really.

So. I’ve been thinking about this for a long while, and it still boggles the mind. I guess the more popular you become, the more people that become jealous of you. There are girls out there, that are jealous that I have a girlfriend. There are others out there that are jealous that I have a lot of neat toys. There are some out there that are jealous OF my girlfriend, wishing that they had her. But the storm chasing community? Really? I just can’t imagine that it’s true. But apparently, it is. There are a handful of chasers out there, some of who were good friends of mine at one point, that are jealous of my storm chasing. As I type this, I still cannot believe it. There are rumors and accusations going around about me “chasing with my emergency lights on”, or the latest, “that I have my truck back”, those are just a few of the many. I mean really? Do people care so much that they need to start rumors? So what if I had my truck back? Does that really matter? Well apparently to some this really does matter. I wonder, if I take a shit, before I flush, will they know what color it is? Don’t people have better things to do with their lives? Well. Apparently not. Turns out that some of these people “don’t like my style of storm chasing”. *laughs* Why? Because I’m ALWAYS on the storm? Because I am the first responder in the south central Kansas area 9 times out of 10? Because I am on the air with radio and TV stations on a normal basis? I know this sounds ridiculous to some, but all of this is happening. And then I realized why, it’s because they are jealous. I don’t understand why though. I’m just a normal everyday guy, that does a little more than average when it comes to jobs, owning my own modeling photography business, co-owning a computer repair business, working at a number of radio stations, working for a TV station, and working at a grocery store. Yeah, I stay busy. But it still doesn’t make me any different than any of you. I am in a lot of media, so I get a lot of attention. That makes me a little different, but not really. Because when it comes down to it, I’m just another guy, that’s trying to get the bills paid, that looks out for the safety of the general public. Isn’t that what every storm chaser is supposed to be all about? Truth be told, it’s not always. But it should be. I find the rumors amusing. But seriously, find something better to do. If you wanna shit talk behind my back, that’s find I suppose, but really, if you have a problem with me, grow a pair and say it to my face, and then maybe it can be addressed. But there’s only a select few people that will do this, and they are good friends of mine, rather than enemies. Storm chasing isn’t a competition, it’s a collaborative. The sooner people start to understand that, then sooner we will all start to get along. But some people are too immature to get that. And I think those people will never understand that.Regardless of the rumors, the accusations without proof, regardless of everything, I will continue to do my own thing. I’ll continue to be excellent at it, and I’ll strive every day to get better at it. I don’t need to feel special, join a group, or be in parades, to feel better about myself, like some people do. I can feel good knowing that I was able to give the advanced warning needed to save people’s lives. A lot of my close friends want me to get revenge on the people that start the shit talking, and steal from me, but I’m not like that. I know that Karma will work itself out, and that the people that have it coming to them, will get it eventually. And when it happens, as much as I would love to be there to watch it happen, I won’t have time. I have better things to do, like stab myself in the eye with a spoon. Get a life people. And stay out of mine. Sincerely, The One You Hate for No Reason

Welcome to the new site…

Greetings everyone.  Welcome to the all new mikemathia.info.  I made this domain and site happen, to keep up on what’s going on in my life, and to center everything I do into one realm.I tried to import my old blog into this one, so you would be able to look deep into the past and see all of my past writings, but all efforts to do so were not successful.  So, if you would like to look at my prior work and thoughts, feel free to have a look at it here.  The new entries from here on out will be posted here.On the Blogroll on the right will be a list of links to all of my sites.  If a site has problems, here is where you will come for updated information on the site, and possibly, if needed, an updated link.Up on the top right, there’s another page about who I am and what I do, with some photos.  Enjoy.Good luck keeping up with me.  *grins*Let the chaos ensue.