Zach’s NACC Blog

My well earned break from school is over and tragically, the summer term has started. With this one semester being my last remaining obstacle to climb before I am an LPN, I am very excited although still amazed thinking that it has only been a year since I have graduated high school. Anyways, here is a few snapshots of my break and my first week back at school.

During break, I caught up on some sleep and did a lot of relaxing, and of course…..fished like a madman! I ended up catching a crappie a few bass and tons of bluegill on flies and jigs that I made ( fly tying is a favorite hobby of mine). It felt great catching fish on lures that I made. What didn’t feel great was catching this…. The most vicious painted turtle I have ever seen. You can’t tell from the picture, but this turtle was biting, clawing and lunging at me as if he was a snapping turtle on steroids.

With school coming back in session I reviewed a bit and made sure to get my reading assignment done for my first day of class, which ended up really paying off since we had out CPS questions before the lecture. This is looking to be a tough semester and with two clinicals a week, it is looking like I am going to be spending a lot of time glued to the study table. However, on a lighter note, I walked in from my first day of class to this picture.

 Nothing like a sleepy dong to get a good laugh and relax your mind, moments like these remind me why my mom named this puppy “precious”.

This past Sunday was also Josh’s birthday so we decided to take him to a petting zoo……I think I may have enjoyed it as much as he did, and managed to get some awesome pictures, as well as an assortment of feathers for tying flies. Yes, I had a deer licking my arm ( they enjoy the salt ). For some reason they had this sign on the Siberian Lynx cage…. to me, this little kitty appeared fairly docile to be so ferocious. All of the animals were showing off for us and it turned out to be much more fun than I had thought it would be.

This summer should be busy, but with all on the events coming up, I should really have some interesting stories to tell.

Thats it for this week at NACC. -Z Drak Out

Sorry about being way behind on my blog but hey, that just meens this one will have tons of pictures and events crammed into it.

To begin with, for my last clinical I was lucky to be able to go to the daycare center “Mothers Day Out” ran by the methodist church in the area. This was a great experience and the kids seemed to instantly fall in love with me (what can I say this happens to me all the time with people). By the end of the day all of the young 2-3 year olds were yelling Gack! Jack! Ack! or some other variation of my name that they could get out. They all wanted to show me their “talents” so I was able to see many dance moves, and acrobatics.

Great learning experience, and very fun as well.

Finals………All I will say about those is that I am glad they are over. This has been the toughest semester in my college yet and I am quite satisfied with my two B’s.

After working through some events and finnishing up my finals I was able to relax and catch up on my fishing. The crappie pictured is the only one with a specific story behind it so here it goes….. I was fishing for half an hour without a bite with a small 1.5in sanko that was catching me tons of bass and bluegill the day before so I decided to change colors to see if it would make a difference. I then set down my rod on the dock and was scrambling through my pockets for the other lures I had brought when I realized my rod was going into the water. Thinking that my clumsy self had kicked it, I took a dive for the rod and grabbed it before it went off of the pier. That’s when I felt a something strange…….something was pulling on my line! So I set the hook and after a short battle with the fish, I managed to land a large crappie….. which for some reason found my bare hook tastier than anything else I had to offer.

I then decided I wanted to catch a larger fish the next day. After hours of watching monster fish swim by, and only catching little ones, I began to get discouraged. Thats when I decided to go “high tech” on the fish and rigged up something special for them and changed my bait. As soon as I did this my strike indicator shot under the water and I had myself a fight with a monster carp………which sadly ended quickly because it made a bee-line for the dock and I couldn’t overpower the fish to draw it away so it ended up wrapping around a post and snapping my line within 30 seconds of the fight. Despite the loss, I did not give up. I quickly remade my special rig and tossed it into the frenzy of fish that were swarming the area. Instantly my line took off and I set the hook into another large fish, but this time things were different. The fish yet again took straight off towards the dock to get me tangled but, this time I managed to turn its head and force it to swim up and away from the dock. This gave my dad the opportunity to net this “Kitty Kitty”. My Uncle Scottie Whigham also went with me on one of my fishing trips and we helped eachother land a few bass and bluegill. Besides being an avid angler, he is also a fantastic artist and does the best wildlife paintings I have ever seen. He even does custom paintings! Anyways, here are some of the fish we landed.
.

Career day at NACC. This was an awesome event for the presidential hosts as well as the high school kids that came. An awesome guest speaker both inspired us, and made us laugh until the point of muscle failure. Here is a picture that he drew on the spot with just chalk.

After a recent trip to the doctors office, I discovered that like many americans…. I have high blood pressure! I was stunned by the fact so I decided to get my eating and workout plans straight……. even though some of the things in my diet are difficult to keep down.

Graduation from NACC was a great event that went well and despite severe weather, flowed smoothly as planned. Despite graduation going well…. I had problems of my own. The minute I stepped out of my car, the button of my suit fell off. This was unnacceptable for me because it looked quite bad to have a button missing and my shirt and tie flopping out so I had a mission to fix it. After some critical thinking I decided to look in my car for my tackle box which normally gets left inside after fishing trips due to my procrastination to clean. I was amazed that I had cleaned the car out and had no supplies to work with…. my work ethic worked against me this time. After walking inside and telling my story, another presidential host named Ashley Clark said that she had a fishing rod in the back of her car so we went to see if she had the materials needed to fix my problem. As soon as I saw a hook and line an idea came to me….. with no scissors available I cut the line with my bare teeth, fastened the button to one end of the line and slid it into the slot on my suit. I then threaded the hook threw my suit and hooked it on the opposite side to hold it in place, and keep my jacket closed. Despite this “redneck” approach, it worked flawlessly and I was able to mantain a neat appearance, and had a funny story to tell everyone.

As always, you can contact me at Zach@nacc.edu, but since doing all of this……..I feel as tired as a dog

-Zdrak Out

How was spring break in the SCT? Thats a local name for my hometown of Scottsboro for those who don’t know. After the round of snow, what did I decide to do for spring break? Did I go to the Bahamas? No. Did I get wasted in P-City Florida? Of course not. As usual, I went fishing. Despite my vast amount of pictures collected during my trip to lake Weiss I somehow managed to accidentally delete every single one of them. The trip to lake Weiss was still a success despite the tragic loss evidence of my catch. The first night, after arriving at the hotel, we went to “The Hogs Den” to fish underneath the pier lights. As soon as it was dark, the fish turned on I managed to catch almost every species of fish on the lake. Totals included 1x Catfish, 3x yellow perch, 1x hybrid bass, 2x largemouth bass, and 2x crappie. After a barrage of fish, the wind picked up and the fish turned off so we headed back to the hotel. Sleep was difficult due to the matress being coated in some kind of plastic saran wrap looking stuff that made the sound of someone crumpling up a sheet of paper at even a hint of movement, very annoying. Needless to say, it was a long night, good price doesn’t meen good deal on lodging I guess. After getting up and drinking my weight in coffee, we headed out on the lake. Windy conditions contributed to little success until we hit a small area of floating weeds about the size of a ping pong table. Fishing this loaded us with a total of 14 fish from this tiny area and made the day a lot better. Sadly, few fish were caught after this.

 After returning home, most of my spring break consisted of long hours of studying for a new round of tests. This time, trouble is comming in 3’s with a mon/fri/mon tests. The nursing program is getting tougher, but I know it is going to pay off. Time also seems to be flying, finals will be coming upin a few weeks and then it will just be one more semester until I am an LPN. Its hard to believe less than a year ago I was a high school student, it hasn’t really sunk in yet. With all this stress I have learned one of the most important things to do….RELAX!!!! The most important thing to do, no matter how crazy your schedule is, how many tests are comming up, or how many things that you need to accomplish, you need to find something you enjoy, and get your mind clear for a while. Sometimes just sitting back, closing your eyes, and clearing your mind will be more effective than an hour of cramming. Test number 1 didn’t turn out so great for me, after taking some time to recover from this set back, I am trying to remain positive, although that is the hardest thing to do after something bad has happened. I have regained confidence in myself and feel prepared for this next test. The only thing you can do when moments like this happen is reccognize your mistake, correct it, and don’t let it happen again, that is what I hope to do. Wish me luck.

Anyways tune in to see how things roll with these tests, and the life of your friendly neighborhood, classic rock loving, NACC student -Z Drak Out

This past week was wild week of weather….

I woke up at 4 am and got ready as I usually do on my clinical days, at 5 am I went to start up my car and woke up to this picture…….

Where did all this snow come from? It was an amazing sight, everything was coated in a frosty white layer of snow. Coming through Section, it seemed as if I was driving through a blizzard. I wanted to take a snap shot of the now Albino Northeast Alabama Community College, but the road conditions were to bad for me to afford a stop…. I was barely going to make it to the hospital on time with the icy conditions on the highway.

The nursing program also made a comeback this week with a solid one two combo punch with friday-monday tests. This fierce combination was rough, but I came out of it with a 94 in 106, but I am still anxiously waiting for my next 105 class to find the results for the second test which I am not quite as confident about. All of the crazy weather and late night study sessions got Gary and I talking about how great it would be to spend a day fishing. After the snow storm, the temperature took a U turn and went from 26 to 62 degrees. So, after dreaming of how nice it would be to spend a day on the water, I had to go out on one of these nice days to try my luck at fishing. The sun was out occasionally, peeking between scattered bunches of clouds. The warmth made me want to just curl up and take a nap in the radiant heat….but I managed to press forward into my fishing spot. The wind was a little rough, but I managed to find some wind break and caught a few bass and bluegill on the edge of the grassline, although I was hoping to hook into some crappie.

No monster catches, but it was nice to catch a few fish and enjoy a little time on the water. With spring break comming up, I should be able to locate some crappie and catch enough to be worth cleaning. But thats it for this week here an NACC   -Z Drak Out

To start the week off…..

We adopted a 3.5 lb toy chihuahua that someone left on the side of the highway. It had a microchip tracker in it, but when the owners were called they didn’t want it so we decided to give it a try. It is a bit skiddish but he turned out ok. We gave this dog a name that would suit his stature….”Magnum”

As much as I like this new addition, he caused me a lot of embarrassment…….. Wednesday morning, I rolled out of bed at 3:50am as I usually do on my clinical days to get up and make sure I have everything prepared so that I can leave at 5:15am. Everything was going fine until disaster struck. At 5:05 I finished packing everything and went to put on my nursing uniform and in the process woke up the new dog so I had to take him outside. Just as I picked him up….Lightning flashed and the loud boom that followed it scared Magnum and he did what he does naturally….First I smelled something, then I felt a warm trickle down my arm….. Oh no I thought, my worst fear had been realized, he urinated profusely all over my white uniform! I was in a state of panic, I had to leave in just 5 minutes! I rushed into the shower and still dripping wet, I put on my extra uniform I had invested in, used an extra shot of cologne and shot out of the door with just enough time to make it to the hospital before 6:00am. Despite the stormy conditions and sirens going off, I made it there safely, and with an embarrassing, yet hilarious story to tell everyone about. What a way to start of the day!

Friday: After having long hair for 3 years, I decided to go back to the “clean cut” short hair style that I used to have. Why? I just felt like it after having to keep shaking my head to get the wind out of my eyes and it takes to long to fix in the morning. Laziness, maybe….. but atleast I can get ready in the morning faster, and I don’t have to worry about the wind anymore. Nobody in the state of alabama has seen me with short hair before…. Until now!

It will be interesting to hear everyones response when I get back to class because I did this without warning. It will increase the shock factor anyway….

Whats on tv?  American Idol is about to start back up again, but personally, my favorite part of the entire show is over… the auditions. My winner for all time funniest audition for this season is Alaa Youkeem who’s famous quotes include “My girlfriend say you are sexyface” and best of all “I want to love a girl from hair to nipple.” I was in total shock after the last quote. Whether it was bad english, or brutal honesty…. it was still incredibly funny. But, that’s all for this week at NACC -Z Drak Out

      The past two weeks have been pretty interesting here at NACC, and a few big changes with this blog now being located on the NACC homepage! Thanks everyone for your comments and support. But anyways, back to the past 2 weeks action-

Rainsville Chamber of Commerce Meeting- Being a presidential host, I was required to work at a meeting and arrived just expecting the same routine, making rounds at tables for a few hours but little did I know……I was in for a treat! After serving the tables I noticed two men in black suits and dark shades walking in the back door and  up towards the stage.  Then I heard an announcement….. “Now welcoming, The Alabama Blues Brothers Tribute Band!” These guys were great entertainers and had the entire building roaring with laughter. Finishing off the show, they sang ” Baby, Meet Me With Your Flag Drawers On” and to everyone surprise…..ripped off their pants and sang it in bright American Flag boxers.  Overall a great show. The Chamber of Commerce even supplied free steak dinners to the presidential hosts who were working at this event. Personally, I believe this would have been worth going to even without the scholarship hours.

    The weather also seemed to be going crazy, dropping everything from thunderbolts to snowflakes. Here is some lightning setting an erie glow across my front porch. Light just seemed to reflect from everywhere.

    With school being so demanding right now, I decided to spend some time with three of my new best friends………..

The picture says it all.

Discovery of the week- Despite being busy after clinicals Wednesday, I came across a very interesting new game show called “Moment of Truth“. The show should be called “Loose your Spouse, Job, and Respect on Live TV!” but I guess that would be tiring to repeat very many times. Basically a person is strapped to a lie detector and has to answer 21 embarassing questions about their personal life for a maximum prize of $500,000    All they have to do is tell the truth. Seemed simple, but once it started….. people were asked questions that were not only embarassing, but risked ending relationships, and loosing jobs. Did I feel sorry for these people?….. Honestly… NO! I believe you would have to be crazy to go on a show like this, but it is funny hearing peoples darkest secrets on television, very suspensefull show and a great idea despite it having possible moral issues. This is one of my new “Shows to Watch”.  Thats it for this week at Northeast Alabama Community College, if you have any questions or anything that you would like to see on my blog, you can reach me, as always at Zach@nacc.edu        -Z Drak Out

   Yes, winter break has sadly come to an end :-(     No more hunting, sleeping in, or any kind of relaxation. But atleast it was fun while it lasted. Over the holidays, I got a snapshot when santa came to visit me…..
I am now regreting leaving out cookies with chocolate in them….. For my new years resolution, like many people I pledged that I would work out harder and kick it up in the weight room……
.

As you can see I stepped up to the King Sized from mini’s. With this kind of dedication I am sure to see results.

        For a serious note, school is much harder this semester at Northeast Alabama Community College. Clinicals every week will keep me very busy studying and probably “putting a hurtin’ “on what is left om my social life. It is hard to believe that only one more semester after this until I will be working. Despite 5 hours straigth of class time, I am getting home in time to watch the new version of American Gladiators,  nothing better than watching average people getting attacked by savage beasts they recruited for gladiators. I guess this show will do until Heroes comes back on. Equiped with a new digital camera I should also be able to take more pictures so watch out for more colorful blogs! Thats it for this week, tune in next time to see another chapter in my college career -Z Drak Out

The semester is closing in and my first of my five final exams are tommorow morning at 8:00am. Despite the pressure of exams comming up and comming down with a random illness, I still managed to get a lot accomplished while having some fun.

Mon-Friday was all test taking and practicing for assesment, catheter, and med. administration check offs. As nervous as I was, I passed the catheter and medication check offs at Northeast Alabama Community College and am waiting to do my head to toe assesment.

Saturday I got to hang out with Kim, but since we were both sick we just watched movies all day, not much excitement this week but with winter break comming up things are sure to change. Despite it being early in winter, I saw a few snow flakes fall in the Wal-Mart parking lot while Christmas shopping, but with no hope of it sticking I hopped in the car where it was warmer and drove back home. Tune in next week to see what exciting things happen during winter break.

Time is closing in now and classes at Northeast Alabama Community College are kicking into high gear. Check off’s and finnals are coming and it is time to see how much I really learned this semester. Study time has increased dramatically but I still got to enjoy myself over the weekend. Pictures shown were from a group of fearless turkey the day after thanksgiving( smart birds ) and from just playing around with Kim.

Northeast Alabama Community College finnally let us out on fall break, so I took this weekend to spend some time in the woods. Since Saturday was opening day of gun season for deer, I also brought along my newly “zeroed” in 30-30 caliber Rifle. When I left the house at 5:15am my mother told me “Zach, we need some deer meat in the freezer so don’t just wait on a buck.” Not wanting to dissapoint her I left the house and pulled in at my hunting location, and that was when the fun started.

 I walked into the woods to my prime location, still dark outside, I collected a few branches and put them around the spot I had chosen to break up my body so I would not be as visible. I then sat down in the chair I had brought and sat still, just waiting for the sun to come up so I could take in my surroundings. Just as dawn was breaking and Owl glided through the woods about 30 yards away from me, gracefully flying through the air without making a single sound. It was just after that moment at 6:00am that I realized that I was starting to get cold….that meant I was underdressed….. Big Mistake! I held myself tight and squezed every muscle in my body to stay warm and not shake to much but I was chilled to the bone. Trying to concentrate on my surroundings, I suddenly heard a sound to my left. As I slowly turned my head, I saw a average sized doe slowly coming out of the thicket I was near.  I raised my gun and was waiting for a chance at a clean shot when I heard something else behind it, so I lowered my gun and waited to see what else was comming. Whatever it was they were all comming straight for me! With my heart racing I finnally saw what was behing it, not 1 but 2 small fawns, one still had spots on it. As much as I love home made deer jerky, there was no way I could kill a doe with 2 fawns still with it and leave them to die, so I just watched them. The trail that they were following went right in front of me. Amazingly they never saw me or smelled me! One fawn was so close to me, I could have touched it with the end of my gun. As much as I wanted to reach out and pet it, I resisted and sat motionless, just incase anything else should come by. As the 3 deer trotted off, I knew that just seeing them so close was worth the trip. Although I didn’t kill anything, thats not what hunting is all about, hunting is about enjoying the outdoors and soaking in the experience.