Well, it’s been 6 years since AndyTV was “taken off the air.” Many things have changed since then (i.e. college grad, 1 state, 2 houses, 3 kids). But with a little help from my friends, I am back on the air. AND I plan to be a more regular contributor. I have found myself moving from the bureaucracy of liberal college administrators to the bureaucracy of conservative bank administrators. I wasn’t miserable enough with the bitter freezing winters of Utah, so what do I do? I move NORTH, to the frozen wastelands of IDAHO. Now, wastelands might be a little harsh, but if I was still in college, and CHOSE to live in Idaho, I would have to kick my own tail. As it is, I didn’t chose Idaho, my wife did (she was born and raised here). But I have found that the simple life suits me. It is SO cheap to live here, so that’s a plus (and a good thing considering how little money I make). I do miss Georgia, oh, so much. Especially when there is four freakin’ feet of snow on the ground. It was a bad winter to say the least. I built a house. That’s right a whole house. Well, I didn’t build the whole thing, but I did a lot. My wife was the General Contractor. I guess I was the Lieutenant General Contractor. But I also did the electrical, some painting, the hardwood floors, and all the tile AND I am finishing the basement (framing, sheetrock, paint, trim). People tell me that they would never dare try and wire their own house. They ask me how I learned to do it. My answer was simple: I can read. There is this wonderful place here called the library. It has books on every subject, including building a house. I read. I retained. I applied. The standardized testing people from my Jr. High would be so proud. I think that is something that is wrong with the world. People are afraid to do anything new and don’t have the desire to learn how. Did I know how to wire a house? No. Did I do it? Yes. Could I do it again? Sure. Education is a rare thing in that people pay for it and hope they don’t get their money’s worth. But you know what? I learned how to learn. And now I teach myself. I didn’t realize it then, but I had a great teacher in high school who paved the way for me to learn how to learn. Her name was Patty Lewis. At my high school there were two teachers who taught senior level world history, Ms. Lewis and Mrs. “Killer” Kellett. Killer Kellett was a hard, demanding teacher who made you put in great effort to do things just exactly as she wanted them so you could get a C+ and feel good about it. All the brains and honor students (including myself) were in her classes. Everyone else was in Ms. Lewis’ class. There were jocks, dorks, drug dealers (like Chastain Jackson, rest his soul) it was like an 80’s teen movie. My friend and I quickly transferred out of Killer Kellett’s class into Ms. Lewis’ class. People said that we were just going for an easy A and that Killer Kellett’s class better prepared you for college. But you want to know the truth? College was a lot more like Ms. Lewis’s class the Killer Kellett’s. She gave us a syllabus, homework, lectured during the week, and gave a test on Friday. She made us aware of what was expected, left it to us to be responsible, provided the necessary information and then tested us. Killer Kellett was just arbitrarily hard for the sake of being hard. Maybe I need to contact Ms. Lewis and thank her for teaching me to build a house.