Well the day I have been waiting for has come. I will no longer be a 3rd shift who blogs once in a while. I will no longer walk around like a zombie. I will actually be me for once and not some lazy pathetic over tired slob. I will no longer not like me. I haven't liked me in some time. Working 3rds can mentally break you down and physically turn you into a pile ooze.

I have accepted a new job within the company I work for working with academics and kids. I will now be a normal human who works 7 am to 3 pm and sleep in the same bed as my wife for 7 days a week. I am pretty excited about this. Its been six long years of 10:30 pm to 9 am. Its finally over and I can't soak it in enough.
People every night take for granted sleeping in their own bed. I got to sleep in my own bed 3 nights a week. That is 156 days a year. Think about that. That is absurd. It makes you worthless pretty much everyday.

I was keeping up fine until my son was born then things changed... My wife goes to school full time so I would come home and have to watch him all day after staying up all night. Not only was this terrible for me and my well being but I was a useless dad who turned the TV on and tried not to fall a sleep as my son played. This is a big reason I stopped posting on MM so much. I couldn't focus on writing anything at night since my vision would just blur and double as I would struggle to stay awake. Writing for me is just like reading a book. It relaxes me and puts me out. So unless I got some extra sleep or I was feeling better then norm I wasn't going to write anything. Here was my normal day after my 3 days off. Wake at 8:00 am when my son did. Watch him all day until my wife got home at 6 pm. Do family and dinner and go to work at 10:30 pm. We have meetings on the following day so I have to stay until 11 am... So now I am at about 27 hour awake. I would go home and watch my son until my wife got home around 5 pm and maybe 4 pm if I am lucky. So that is about 32-34 hours awake straight. I would then sleep from 5 pm to 10 pm and go back to work and repeat. It was killing me. And it almost did numerous times. I have lost count how many times I have dozed off while driving and almost gotten into an accident. I have been very lucky. I have taken 15 min power naps at many gas stations just to make it home.

Its 3:35 am right now and I have been up since 8 am.. Oh and I have a meeting until 11 am tomorrow. This is the last week of killing my brain.

So many people would say, how do you do it? It crazy how you just like hit this wall and you can't keep your head up but then out of no where you will break through the wall and have a new burst for an hour. When I had Season tickets last season I would head to Ann Arbor on no sleep right after work. I would be having a really hard time staying awake but once I got on US-23 I would get a rush of energy as I could feel the Big House calling me. I only went to a few games and sold the rest since I couldn't pass up the one day I could just go home and go to sleep for 10 hours(I won't get into day sleeping, its sucks). I watched most my games on DVR.

My body? Its goo. I started at 195 lbs and no I am a hefty 220 lbs. At 6'2 it isn't the end of the world but I am not happy with it. I eat so much crap at night to stay awake. My mind? A mess. I can't remember anything anymore. You sit around all alone at night and wonder what you are dying from this week. Worry about this or that. Did I just see a figure out the window? A person? No I am just dozing off again. Seeing things. Wait what did I hear? A child sneaking out? Nope just me nodding off and hitting the remote control on the ground. Nothing seems real and your a step slow with every thought.

I didn't want my son seeing his dad sleep his days away and not being able to be there for special moments. If I hadn't knocked this interview out of the park I'm not sure what I would have done. With my wife a full time slave of school and the hospital(intern) I could never walk away. But I did own that interview and now I can lead a normal life. I now can help kids at work while they are awake and that is a good feeling. I didn't mean to ramble this long post out but its been a long time coming. 3rd shifters will never get their due since its hard to imagine the torture they go through unless you do it. I have no idea if this changes anything with my blog that gets a few ebay posts and MS paints here and there. My motivation will be back. That I can say... So I have no idea. Not like I have a ton of readers but I do enjoy the people that do read.

I start Monday. I am free of this torture. My mind and body will be back. I can now watch Michigan Football and Basketball live. Life is good.

Testing Testing... 1..2..3? Yup the Blog still works. Been a long time. I doubt anyone is even checking the site these days besides damfan1. I've been super busy. Officiating a lot of basketball games. I wasn't even going to bed from Wed 8am to Saturday 9am due to Evan, work and officiating. I might get an hour here or there but I was a zombie for those days of the week and had no energy to blog. Work has been tougher and my kid just turned one. Damn.. Time is moving.

I knew when we had Evan that my time I could put into hobbies(blogging,coaching,games ect) would be limited a bit but I had no idea. I used to blog on days off but that is not even an option anymore since he needs my attention 100% of the time. I now have some time at work again to get back on here.

I have been watching all the Michigan basketball games of course. I broke down Tim Hardaway Jrs game in a Mgoblog post and someone said I should do something to that effect on here but in bigger detail. Basketball unlike football is something I know inside and out from playing all my life in high school and AAU. Coaching and officiating now as well. So I might be breaking down a few dudes off the rosters. If I have to do Evan Smtokdldlkasndknk I might break my laptop in frustration.

I also want to say sorry to the people who have helped on the site. Simply Complex, Brook Banks and Scout Exile sorry for not keeping this train chugging along. Life just got so damn busy. I see you guys having been providing great content to the Michigan community on other blogs. I'll keep reading. Scout Exile I think jumped on a space ship to Tatooine since I have not seen any evidence he still lives on this planet. Good luck to him where ever he is in the Galaxy.

I think I will try and spend more time posting random bull crap then messing with live blogs for the time being. Work is still touch and go. Maybe I will inject a bit of my life into the posting to spice things up. I dunno. Again I can't write so bare with me.  If you still read Midnight Maize. Thanks! You are like Cubs fans. Stick in there no matter what. If you stopped reading then screw you(JK)! But jump back on the band wagon at anytime! Stay tuned.

I am sure you noticed but we have new contributor to the site. Brook Banks. He will give us some deeper looks at commits and prospects that Michigan will be bringing or going after. I think this will be a great addition to the site since with High School prospects were never really know much about their game other then the stats they put up or the "they are so fast they can catch a chicken" memes. Brooks first post was on Jehu Chesson  and it was a dandy.

So everyone welcome him and follow this dude, he is what I call "legit".

Also I will have a live blog up this Saturday Night(12am). It will be the only pre-bowl Live blog. Be there or else.

That is a lot of wieners. No but really this blog just went over 100,000 page views. I know to the Michigan mother ship Mgoblog this is like a drop in the bucket but for this mom and pop shop this a nice accomplishment. I started this blog just so I could talk about Michigan football year around in live blogs and then it blew into more with the MS Paints. I never claimed to be a great blogger who writes content everyday. The truth is I just can't write a lick. Never have and never will. I rather draw pictures. I rather give someone a short laugh for the day with crappy Michigan stick figures.

I even almost closed shop with the birth of my son. Blogging and kids don't mix. My time at home goes all to him. When I did post 3 times a week it was all from home. Now I have no time at home and the extra time I have at work I can only spend trying to do a MS Paint for the week. Also failed attempts to make the blog bigger and better with recruiting and other things have not gone as well as I hoped. Even with all the bumps in the road Midnight Maize has done well. I have met a lot of great people on the CILs at night. I have a ton of people to thank for helping with the site and to the people who come check out this little blog, even when the posts are only weekly. Also must thank the people who link me. I do well with lists so we will start the thank you list.

Thank you to the ever changing staff
It seems like Midnight Maize gets a new roster every season. Like we drafting writers from the unknown. If anything it keeps it fresh.
Hulk-He really has never done much posting... Not sure if he has ever. He was the first person to show up on the live blog. He is like the first dollar bill that a business earns that they put on the wall. We haven't always seen eye to eye yet he brings good football knowledge from his coaching days. Thanks for showing up and splitting hairs with me.
SCS-Still helping out when he can. A Michigan Student who has a major passion for hockey. Something I would never cover. He also has a knack for starting soccer topics in Live Blogs. He has been a great help to me for a few years and I can say has made this blog better.
Dark Blue-He is the horse of a different color. He has posted lots for this blog and now can be found over at WLA. He brought a lot of off the wall humor to this blog and helped out whenever he could. I will always thank him for the great RCMB envasion from last year.
Seth9-Seth did a lot of conference stuff and off the field stuff for MM. He is a smart writer who brought something outside the box to this blog. Not sure what Seth is up to but he is a student at Michigan and will always be a great MM alum.
CMR-She did one post that I know of and it was a dandy. She may have also helped in the Knights of the Round Tables posts. I haven't seen her much even on Mgoblog these days but she is a great fan who gave us her all in this one post. She always ranked high in my top 15 live bloggers.
Scout Exile and Simply Complex-These two just started helping with MM and have done some great interviews you can find in the menu. I hope these two guys keep posting since they bring a lot of things I can't do to the site.
I really just wanna thank all these people for giving their time to Midnight Maize. They didn't have to. They weren't paid. They just did it for fun and to help me out. Thanks everyone.

Thanks to all the Midnight Maizer(as I call them).
Thanks to all the random people that have stopped in and said hi to me. Thanks to those who stayed up to 3am in the morning complaining about the gap integrity of Rich Rod defenses. Some just off the top of my head... TLP,Yak Attack,JC,Irish,OSD,The Other Brian,Mgo jen,MidMichigan Wolverine, Sec20,CPS and the dudes from the 24/7 board. If I forgot anyone I am sorry. But thanks all.


Thanks to the blogs who think we are worth linking.
Thanks to all the blogs who link Midnight Maize. Lots of them do. Some of my favorites are Touch the Banner / Mvictors  / In rod we trust  / SE Michigan Sports / Mgovideo / prevailandride
And I wanna give a very special thanks to Brian at Mgoblog. The Mother Ship. The Sun in the Michigan blogosphere solar system. With out him linking my paints and posts I don't think anyone would have found this place. He truly does give to us little people of blogging. With out his links I don't get linked on ESPN and on NY magazine for drawing a picture of nacho next to Armando Allen's foot. Thanks Brian.

A few neat Midnight Maize tidbits 
My favorite Paints: Michigan Gods vs Bad Luck / Back to Spartan Stadium / New Michigan Score Board / The Big Nardowski / Michigan Changes Helmets! / Sonic 16 / Michigan Hating God / Tate has fetuatitus(only banned MS Paint on Mgoblog ever) / Caption of the SS Troy / The Game Wars / OSUBusters / Pryors Punch out(linked on ESPN lunch links) / Charlie's Weis Punch Out / I saw Armando's Foot  / Big House 2025
MS Paint count: 50+
Coolest Midnight Maize Moment: Tate Forcier and a few players knowing my paints.
Lowest Midnight Maize Moment: Taking over for Mgoblog when it got a internet STD. I is failed at itzz.
Donations: We had many people donate tickets and shirts for the boys I work with. The last two years we have gone to Michigan football games and basketball games. Thank you to all the people who have donated to the boys I work with.
Live Blogs: 358+
Blog Awards: 0

So thanks to all who have came by this little blog. I hope for 100,000 more. Will happen? Who knows. Every year I say this is it and still find myself coming back for more. As long as I can keep up I will. Thanks for all the support and comments over the last few years. Enjoy the Bye Week and Go Blue.

Looks like the Midnight Maize family is getting a new friend. SimplyComplex from 24/7 is hopping on the crew to help out around here. He will be doing a lot of interviews and recruiting stuff. He will be providing some great content. You can follow his recruiting stuff @SimplyComplexMM

With Scout and Simply and my useless skills, along with SCS hockey puck tidbits this should make a super friends like of team around Midnight Maize. I would be Batman of course.

The impossible has happened..... Midnight Maize found a recruiting guru. I would like to introduce ScoutExile. Scout has already gotten to work with his Thomas Tyner interview. To keep up with Scout and Midnight Maize recruiting follow @ScoutExileMM He should have a lot of updates and recruiting tidbits being posted through twitter.

We will also have Scout on our Midnight Chats on most night talking recruiting and taking questions. The recruiting link won't work for a bit as we figure out the recruiting board and prospect interviews. But it will be coming.

We maybe adding a second recruiting dude but I am still in the middle of talking with that second party. So recruiting news will be oozing out of Midnight Maize starting now. Enjoy and welcome Scout to Midnight Maize!

Just when I thought live blogs were gonna be extinct.. Shredder finds a way. I can't get into how but I got the Internet at work but begging may or may not have been involved. So Live Blogs will continue tomorrow. Here is what the schedule looks like.

All Start at 12am on the night of...(Thursday night.. Not Wednesday Morning.)
Sunday:Taking Krang to church
Monday: OFF
Tuesday: OFF
Wednesday:OFF
Thursday: 12am-2am
Friday: 12am-2am
Saturday: 12am-2am

Hope to see you all there tomorrow.

Recruiting site news
-Still looking for a expert
-Will be asking some local blogs if they wanna jump to MM
-Cross your fingers.

Been working pretty hard on the Midnight Maize over haul. Also getting the first 2011 MS Paint ready for Monday(or Tuesday).

New features
-Midnight Maize Classics
-MS Paint section with my entire collection and reader MS Paints
-Michigan youtubes
-Recruiting, still working out the kinks on this.(lots of them)
-A tell all bio on myself with tales of lies and deceit!(not really)
-Easier to read blog
-Working on and thinking about launching a possible message board.

Live Blogs are still on the chopping block until internet is restored to me at work.

Not all things are up and working. Only the MS Paint link works. The rest will take you to my bulls blog. I will work the rest of the kinks out by Monday I hope... Any feedback is welcomed.

Enjoy!

EDIT: Also we now have a mobile version of the site. So if you access MM from the phone it should be easier to load.
-Also let me know if any issues come up with the MS Paint pictures. Not loading, wrong picture loading ect.

Evan the Sweet baby Wolverine was born on Feb 26th at 5:03 am. He weighed 6lbs and 7 ounces. I will be at the hospital most the week. So no live blogs until next Wednesday. So life is good. Bulls are back on top of the NBA again and my first Son was born perfect.... We get Michigan football back on track and life might explode.

Well I am behind again. Sometimes 3rds puts me through a loop. I was stuck at work this morning until 10:30 am. I am suppose to leave at 8:30 am. I have to be back tonight at 10:30 pm tonight. So they leaves little time for much of anything. I wanted to do my Top 15 last night but the kids needed me. My job is more demanding than ever. It's even hard to make it to midnight Live Blogs. Good thing some people have picked up the slack and I thank them for that. I will try my best to catch up.

In some other exciting news we just filled a rather large recruiting hole that was left by the great John S. JC will now be our recruiting guy and insider. He seems to bring good tidbits every night to Live Blogs so why not join the foot? As you can see he already pop his MM cherry with a post about Chris Rock, which was a good one. I look forward to seeing what JC can bring to the blog. I feel the circle is now complete.

In other news, I stumbled onto this odd Youtube from West Virgina. Its some hot chick yelling at "Rich Rod". I found it funny that people were so pissed about him taking a better job that they made used car ads out of it. The guy who plays Rich Rod looks about 55 years old but whatever.. It's the W.V. as my wife would say.

I just want to introduce two new members of Midnight Maize. I know both have posted some great stuff already but they deserve a welcome post.

Lupe will be taking over our recruiting on midnight maize. He already has gone above and beyond the call of duty by making us a Twitter and a Book of Faces and running them both. He also scored a great interview with 2011 prospect Andre Yruretagoyena(read below). Lupe has been on the Mgoblog boards for a long while and knows his recruiting. I am looking forward to the great interviews and I hope breaking news he bring to our site.

SCS100 will be our Hockey guy. He will be doing previews and reviews. My hockey is very limited and it's great to have a hockey puck on the site who can give people their hockey fix. SCS100 should have some pretty good stuff since he sits right down in the student section during every game.

Please welcome these guys with open arms and please comment on their posts. They work very hard on them.

Site News
-I will be back with a Live blog Tonight 12am.
-New Banner up. Still working out some bugs
-I will have a post soon about the time I met Mr.Carr(This week is crazy for me).
-The Other Brian from Genuinely Sarcastic dropped in and gave some news on us about the Freep. He gave us the green light to post it here. I will try and get it up tomorrow but it does not look to good. I sleep from 9am to 4pm and than I need to hurry to my game I am officiating and then back to work again...ugh. Maybe one of the others will get it up but if not I will have it up tomorrow night.
-Jen is no longer drunk but maybe wasted by Friday. She is also heading to bed for 78th time.