Barkers Writing Works

Tiss the season to be jolly as well as plow your way through the stores and watch out for the grumpy old ladies that are on a mission to find that special gift. I really don't know why shopping around the holidays is so different then any other day. I end up pissing someone off because I bumped them in the crowded rows, took the last of something, or I think sometimes I just am in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't mind shopping the only thing I don't like are the stressed out people ready to snap at any given time. I make sure I enjoy it! I love to pick out gifts for my kids because I start to daydream about them climbing out of bed and running out to see what was under the tree. I love to see my kids excited especially when its around the holidays!! So I say screw the Mr. and Mrs. Scrooges and have a happy holiday!!!!

Rob Barker
Robert.Barker@studentone.emcc.edu

This being my first year at EMCC they schedule my classes for me. I knew that I had to take a English composition class but I didn't realize it would happen as soon as it did. I had been out of school for so long that I wanted to try and get the kinks out of the old noodle before attending the class because I really enjoy writing. I used to write poems and small stories starting back when I was in grade school. As I got older my writing got better but then I graduated high school and joined the military. I really didn't have much time to write after that because it seemed I was either busy or tired.
Getting directly to ENG 101 as a whole I really enjoyed it. I like a lot of freedom when it comes to writing and in this class I had all I wanted. I wrote about beer, processing a dear, and cutting firewood all because I wanted to. I also like the way the class is set up to be online with blogger because I can work on it virtually anywhere. It may be the military in me but I have only one piece of criticism, you only talk for about 15 minutes or so and some of the others wouldn't give you a little respect and stop typing to listen. I found that I was so bothered by it that I really couldn't concentrate totally on your lecture. The little chit chat and tap tap tap of the keyboard almost drove me mad some days. Now that I got that off from my chest I can compare my writing from the beginning of the class until now. I have to be honest I struggled a little on how to present the information that was in my head to paper but in time it came a lot easier. With the guidance I received and having the freedom I did I think my writing is even better then before.
I now have clarity in my papers and transporting thoughts to paper is a piece of cake! ( Most of the time)

All together GREAT CLASS!!!

Rob Barker
Robert.Barker@studentone.emcc.edu

Frustration - Frustration - Frustration

I was sitting in my nice warm house and my wife approaches me and says, "My Jeep wont start". It was about 28 degrees and dark so I knew that going out wouldn't be very fun. I didn't have any booster cables although I did have a battery pack that is designed for boosting cars but I forgot to charge it. It was at this point I had to go to the local hardware store to buy the cables to jump start it. I thought to myself there im all set I jumped the Jeep and went inside to let it run for a while to charge the battery. After about 20 minutes or so I went back down to the Jeep to turn it off but when I got outside it was already off. Not only did my lovely wife leave her dome light on to kill the battery she also forgot to fill up the Jeep so it ran out of gas. Luckily I had a few gallons in the garage to be able to make it to the gas station. What a evening thank god its over.... There are just some things that don't go right!!!

Rob Barker
Robert.Barker@studentone.emcc.edu

The holiday season is here and I couldn't be more excited. I have had two very good thanksgiving dinners one up this way on the 25th itself and another on saturday the 27th. That's the wonderful thing about having two families that live relatively close is that they want to cook and we love to eat. It cuts out all of the hassle of having the meal at our house!! We just show up spend time with everyone and then its time to eat and take a nap. After everything is said and done we go back home to how we left our home and its wonderful. Gotta love family....

Rob Barker
Robert.Barker@studentone.emcc.edu

Firewood

Stepping out side my home on Saturday morning on the first step and immediately it hits me. The freezing cold air passes my lips into my mouth then through my lungs to for a second make it hard to breath. After a cough its time to get manly and brush off the cold and get ready to take down a few trees outside my house to not only clear it out but to get some firewood for the winter. My house is on a hill and I have a lot of trees all around me but IM only interested on cutting on the other side of my driveway where its almost level. Eventually IM going to clear all of it out and make a nice place for my children to play. Chain Saw in hand its time to walk through the cold wind down to the area where I am going to cut. I need to pick a good tree, find a safe place for it to fall, and cut it into logs for firewood.
Finding a good tree is not to difficult but you should know what you are looking for. I make sure that the tree that I want is not dead and is made of a good type of wood that will burn hot and for a long period of time. I usually go for maple, poplar, and if IM lucky cedar or hickory. These trees have seem to be the best in my experience, and trust me I have made a lot of errors in my day. I remember back at my families camp I prepared all the wood for the night. I gathered mostly birch which I did not know at the time starts off good but burns fast. I was up every couple hours filling the stove until I was exhausted and slept through the cold. I woke up in the fetal position freezing cold as well as everyone else at camp.
When its as cold as it has been it doesn't take me long to pick out a good tree. This last time I picked four poplars and a maple due to the fact they were next on my hit list on clearing the land. I pick the closest one to the clearing and looked around to see the safest and most convenient place to put the tree when it falls. At my house it usually works out with both of those elements but sometimes the safest place isn't the most convenient. Back when I was younger working in the woods with my uncle I remember on countless occasions that because it was the safest place I ended up carrying huge logs a long way to the truck. Now that I have my spot picked out which happens to be on my front lawn I am ready to fire up the saw and do some cutting.
With two pulls my reliable saw starts and I give it a minute to warm up due to the cold. I step in front of the big poplar that is at the edge of the clearing, and make one final glance to visualize the tree laying on the ground. I always make the first cut down towards the base of the tree in the direction I want it to fall. Next I cut around two to three inches higher but downward to make a wedge shape. Now that I have prepped the tree to fall in the direction I want it to I take a position in the rear of the tree to make the final cut to make the tree fall. I cut an inch or so higher then the initial cut I made in the front of the tree. This is taking out the last of the wood that is keeping the tree erect so it falls in the direction of the wedge. Needless to say it usually falls where I want it to just as long as I follow my own instructions and not rush. Lastly all I do is cut the tree into fourteen to sixteen inch logs and they are ready to be split into firewood.
This may not seem like a very interesting process but when it is bone cold outside you realize it is very necessary. Not only did I get over four cord of wood ready to burn for my family I also made progress on my land to clear it out a bit. I love all my privacy with the trees but I can compromise some of it for a nice place for my children to play and a warm house for them to sleep. It makes all the open soars and sore mussels worth every minute when I save money on oil the way it keeps rising. So although I told myself as a teenager there was no way I am doing wood when I am adult, I find that I am and for many reasons glad that I did it.

I was all excited last week and I guess it was the fact that I was a little frustrated on how many things that I needed to accomplish around the home that I forgot to write about see the baby for the second time. My wife had the second ultra sound and the baby is actually looking like a baby (kinda). There was a few times that I got to see his/her little hands waiving around and I thought to myself at the time that it was the coolest thing that I have ever seen. I mean for something the size of a cocktail shrimp having a little heart beat and hands still amazes me to this day. For some reason I keep on having this hankering to find out the sex of the baby and I don't know why. Before we decided that the labor part really sucks not only for me watching her in pain but especially for her being in the pain not to find out so there would be a happy surprise after. Of course the miracle of birth is exciting but when I saw that my son was a boy I thought that I was in heaven. So lets see if my curiosity will get the best in me to see if ill find out or not.

Rob Barker
Robert.Barker@studentone.emcc.edu

This paper played a very large part in influencing my decision to go to sniper school. It is one of my crazy character traits that I like to know as much as possible to make a educated decision rather then shooting from the hip. I have always been this way, so finding out all of the specifications of the course, talking with others in the same situation online, and talking one on one with my family really helped me get it out all on the table. My wife appreciated the fact that I took the time to find all this information so when she voiced a concern I either told her or went and found the answer. This paper having so much to do with my current life made the difference in my overall decision. I have never in my life had a paper that I have had to write for school effect me the way this one has. Normally the only way a research paper effects my life is that it takes many hours away from it and I never can get them back.

Through my enthusiasm all through this paper it probably comes as no surprise that I have chosen to go to the school. Although I plan on going I am not yet sure of the time frame that I would be able to attend. There has been vital information passed on to me about the new location of the school that I would be authorized to attend. Going to a different school means there are different class dates which I am not yet aware of. Not only am I not aware of the dates but if those dates will fit into my life with the new baby on the way. This paper has had many twists just as my life has. In the begging there was one school available and it was only the four of us at home to be concerned with. Now they changed as I mentioned before the school in which IM authorized to attend and I also have a baby due sometime around the middle of may. My wife and I agree that as long as I either attend the class before the baby is born, or substantially down the road after the birth it would work out ok. So either way my drive and my love of firearms have shown how much they effect my life. There may not be a definite time frame but I will be standing tall in my dress uniform at the sniper school graduation ready to see where it is going to take me.

Rob Barker
Robert.Barker@studentone.emcc.edu

Its test number three coming up in business class and I have to force myself to get off the couch and study for the last time before the test. It is Sunday after all, which in my household translates to day of Football!! Nevertheless I got a C on the last test which dropped me down to a B+ in the class which is unsat. To me. I enjoy the class and was a little cocky last time because I studied just a little bit for the first test and got a 94 but on the second it was a different story. It is my goal only going part time to school to receive an A.. Lets see how I do shall we! Until after the test,

Rob Barker
Robert.Barker@studentone.emcc.edu

The joys of cutting,splitting,and stacking wood for the winter. I remember when I was a teenager helping out my family with what seemed to be a gigantic amount of wood. Between the splinters and the pieces of wood bouncing off multiple body parts I vowed never in my adult years will I have to deal with wood. Well, here I am now many years later complaining about the cost of oil just as my family did. I just finished two large stacks of wood that run along the back of my garage which is roughly four and a half cord of wood. I still got splinters and I have a huge lump on my shin where a piece of wood seemed to bounce off everything like a pinball machine right at me. The end result is a little different this time though. This is saving me money and its to heat my home to keep my family warm which makes it all worth it in the end.... I guess!!!

Rob Barker
Robert.Barker@studentone.emcc.edu