Senior Year

This has been a crazy year so far and it will only continue to be that way.  There are a few firsts here and there but also a lot of lasts.  Last first day, last rugby game, last women's soccer game, last football game and coming up the last volleyball game and men's soccer game.  As you can tell I brought it around to sports, because while I am here for school and a education, my fun times have always been at the sporting events at EIU.  While I have seen the seniors come and go the last few seasons it never really hit me as much until now.  I am a senior, so just like the people I have been watching, these are my last events too.  It is like saying good bye to a friend, you are happy for all the things you have done in the past, but sad that the road has reached its end.  It is crazy to think that I have gotten here.  Not much was really expected from me when I got here, other than my parents, but that doesn't really count.  I started off coming here and knowing 3-4 people tops, which when you put into perspective I had come from a high school of 4,000, it isn't much.  I didn't know everyone at my high school, but I did know a lot of people, maybe close to 20% or so.  I had known people from grade school and both school districts since I moved from one to the other after 4th grade.  So coming to EIU was different.  I had to start from the bottom and work my way up to where I am now.  I went from a nobody to a somebody by finding what I like and doing it well.  I worked at all the media publications you can pretty much think of at EIU.  I decided that I was going to go to all the sporting events, even if my friends wouldn't come with.  I found out I could still have fun, even if I had to do it alone.  But I got lucky, EIU had the Blue Crew and Panther Nation so I got to have friends with me at the games.  I also started to take some pictures just for the heck of it and then it grew and in a way became expected from me.  All the athletes started to know my name and wanted to have their pictures taken at their given sport.  I know that feeling.  I played baseball 11 years and soccer 7 years and never really had any pictures of me playing.  I always thought it would be cool, so the fact I can do it for others gives me joy.  They like it and I am glad they do.  It is also cool when I have parents come up to me and say thanks for taking pictures of their kids playing since they can't make all the games.  I will miss that about the games, but hopefully someone can walk in my path and do what I did and give the athletes the joys of photography and fan support.  I will miss just escaping from the stresses of school to relax at a game and cheer on my friends to a victory.  I just hope the basketball teams can do well this year and I can make one final trip to Nashville and watch EIU go out as a champion my last year here!

Halloween

This is my favorite holiday of the year behind Christmas, because it is the one day of the year where you can be as weird or goofy as you want and you can't really be judged.  You can be any person or thing you ever wanted and just have fun with it.  Girls can wear as little as possible and not really be as frowned upon if they were like that any other day.  You can let loose and just have as much fun as possible.  It is about as good of a holiday you can have at a college, it is like a 24 hour party.  Everyone lets loose, even the uptight people and they go back to being a kid again.  At the end of the day, even though we age, we are still kids at heart.  We want to get our jobs done but we also want to enjoy our lives.  Halloween gives everyone that opportunity.  It is entertaining watching people going for creative costumes and ideas and trying to upstage the next person.  The best part for most people though is the free candy...and can you blame them, who doesn't like getting a pillow case or bag stuffed with candy you love.  Plus the scary movies are always a blast to watch.  I love horror films and all of them air or come out around this time to spook you.  If horror films don't scare you, there are always the haunted houses.  There is always something to keep you entertained and amused.  Last, but not least, there is the pumpkin carvings.  That is always a blast making your own designs and lighting them up and enjoying the great faces lighting up at night.

Shane Hmiel

For a 30 year old, Shane Hmiel has had a lot of ups and downs.
He started racing in 2002 in the NASCAR Busch Series and while he was prone to be a little over aggressive at times, he was one of the top non-cup series drivers.  He is the son of the well respected Steve Hmiel, a former crew chief and now one of the top people at Dale Earnhardt Inc.  His career seemed to be heading in the right direction, he was in the top 10 in points and then out of no where he was suspended by NASCAR indefinitely.  The reason...he used drugs, more specifically marijuana. 
As with most stories he was given a second chance and was making something out of it again.  But then he got suspended again.  Then shortly after that he failed a 3rd drug test and was banned from NASCAR for life at the ripe age of 26 years old.  He admits he made some dumb decisions and that banning him from NASCAR was the best thing to happen to him. 
He went to rehab and got himself cleaned up in 2007.  He has been clean the last 3 years and became a better overall person.  He found out he had bipolar disorder and that caused him to do some of the dumb things he had done.  He won't use that as a excuse though and said he had been dabbling with marijuana since he was 12. 
The reason I give you this back story is so you can see the true heartbreak of his life.  He fought 3 years to stay sober and be a better person and was racing again in a smaller series trying to keep his dream of racing alive.  He was back to winning races and earning other drivers and fans respect back one race at a time.
A week ago his life almost came to an end and he will be in the hospital for the weeks to recover from the devastating injuries he obtained in a freak accident in Terre Haute, Ind.  While qualifying his car lost control and hit the wall and flipped over a handful of times.  That happens a lot but the problem was his rollcage broke and hit his head.  He was knocked out and got head injuries along with some damage to his neck.  He got some internal injuries and had to be put in a medically induced coma while they tried to fix him up.  He is currently in critical condition at the hospital.
I had the privilege of meeting Shane a year ago and he is a great guy, a lot better than the view people have of him.  I wish him a speedy recovery and I hope he gets the chance to race again one day.  He made mistakes in his past but he had corrected them and became a better person.  He redeemed himself and it is sad that it is all but taken away from him again.

Amazon.com

OK, I know the title doesn't give you much but hear me out.  Just picture something you really like, object wise...get the picture in your head.  Say you want to buy that object, but you go to Wal-Mart, Target or whatever store you like and find the price is way too high.  Instead of waiting months or years for that object to go on sale you can just go to amazon.com and purchase the item for very low prices. 

Case-in-point, I had been looking at the TV show for a while, at the stores a year or so it was $30-$40 for the 5 disc series.  I went on amazon.com recently and purchased the whole thing, brand new for $10.30.  That included the $2.98 shipping and handling costs.  For a college student saving $20-$30 is like a few hundred dollars.

If DVD's are not your thing, I bought a video game for 1 cent once, granted it was $3.99 shipping and handling so the total was $4, but for a brand new game that is a helluva deal. 

Finally, if you're not into video games or DVD's you can buy many other things to keep you happy in life.  I bought a jersey a week ago for $14.95 with $4.99 shipping and handling.  I got it in the mail 2 days later.  I looked at the tag on it, it was being sold at $44.99 before.  That isn't including any tax on the jersey.

My point is if you want fast and quick service at very low prices, you can't beat the deals at amazon.com.  I have purchased over 100 things in my life off of amazon and I get my Christmas gifts off there because the more money I save the more money I have to spend on something else I like.

Learning Italiano

Mi chiamo[my name is] Dion, io sono di[i am from] Gurnee, IL and I thought because I am Italian I should learn my "native" language, and that it wouldn't be too bad...if I only knew.  You know you're in trouble when you struggle with english grammar and then your teacher tells you to do italian grammar. 
It is like a train about to wreck, you don't want to see it, but you peek an eye out to see it because you know it is going to be ugly.  That is about where I was at...I had to go through every single word for two full pages and translate it word by word from Italian to English and then see what the context was.  The hard part is when you translate the words and it just doesn't make sense.  At that point you have to go back and revisit the material to see if you did it right the first time and wiktionary can only help you out so much.  The 1,000+ dictionary is helpful at times but not as much in other times, especially when it has a long list of possible definitions for one word.  
I was trying to describe a verb to a girl and I said visitiamo but all she heard was ti amo, which means "I love you."  So I had to try to describe to her that I said visitiamo and I wasn't professing my love to her.  That is just one of those awkward little situations where you try not to dig yourself into a bigger hole by what you say, but luckily she understood the second time I said it.

My random line for the day though is for a guy when he is on the dance floor and likes the way a girl is dancing she should go up to her and say balli benissimo [ba lee be nee see mo].  If that doesn't work I don't know what else will. 

If you are curious what balli benissimo is leave a comment and I will respond with an answer.

Sean Payton comes to town

When I first enrolled at EIU I knew there were not many "famous" people to come out of Eastern Illinois, but I always thought it would be cool to meet one of the few famous alumni.  In the past few years I have had the honor of meeting some of Eastern's biggest names. My Sophomore year I met MLB All-Star Marty Pattin.
Trivia Break-> Did you know the bar Marty's was named after Marty Pattin.
My junior year I met Tony Romo and got to be on the field when he got the key to the city and his number retired.

Then this past week I got to meet a Super Bowl winning coach who graduated from EIU back in 1986 and also played in the NFL for a few seasons, including one with the Chicago Bears.  His name is Sean Payton.  He was a great guest and treated everyone the same, he did not act above anyone else and was not a snob like some others before him.  He took a photo with anyone who would come by with a camera and even chugged a beer with some frat brothers.  He gave fans a high five if they reached their hands out and was respectful to all.  I saw him make his way around Billy's backyard, also known as the tailgating area and on the football field and he was nothing but a class act. Not only is he a champion on the field, but he is also one off of the field.
I have been lucky my four years at this University and got to meet some really cool people in my time here. When my college career comes to an end in May 2011, one of my more fond memories will be the time I got to meet Sean Payton. 

A First Time Uncle

Life can take you down sometimes and on other occasions it can bring you to the highest of highs.  On September 2, 2010, I had one of those great days that changed my life forever.  That day marked a lot of change for me that was badly needed and greatly appreciated.
On 9/02/10 the world welcomed in Caden Anthony Albrecht, who came in at 7 lbs 11 oz at 7:09 A.M.

 With his birth I became a first-time uncle.  I couldn't believe it, I was going to be "Uncle Dion" from now on out.  You always picture your siblings or yourself having kids, but it is crazy when it actually happens. When you first hold your baby, or your niece or nephew.  Your family just grew by one and things will never be the same again.  Your love for your family grows just that much more.
Not only did my dad turn 63 on September 2nd, he became a first time Grandpa. His mother became a great-grandma, making me a third generation Martorano.  By that I mean living family.

Grandpa Vince and his grandson Caden

I also learned about the significance of September 2nd.  Not only was Caden born on 90210 (like the TV show) he was born on V-J Day.  If you do not know what that is, on September 2, 1945, Japan surrendered to effectively end World War II, thus making it Victory over Japan (V-J) Day.
The reason I bring this up is because my dad, who was born 2 years after the end of the war, would go on to fight in the Vietnam War in his late teens and early 20s and my brother-in-law Erik is a history teacher, so i find it fitting of all the days in the year for Caden to be born, it had to be September 2nd.