I sit beside Toner Creek on a bench, regarding building 082, or as I call it, The Crystal Palace. It’s chilly (!) in the shade today. A light Northerly breeze combined with a persistent cold front–we had a record low of 53 degrees this morning. Lunch today is a banana and some ABC-123’s…yep I’m on the Dave Ramsey diet again. Decided last night to plow some more money into the E30. As Whitney said, “It’s something you love. Enjoy it!” So, I’ve planned: ...
Well, after 10 months, I’m right back on the same floor in the same building I was in for 6 years. I’m sharing a 12’x12’ office with a boisterous guy, Patrick, and have a terrific view out the window onto “downtown” Lexington (such as it is). This building also shares a parking lot with Del’s building, so we don’t have to drive to pick one another up. Good all around, though I’m now much farther away from the other guys on the printer I need to be working with.
So, last Fall, I drug my beautiful wife to my 10 year high-school reunion to her great amusement, disgust, indifference, and consternation. This past Memorial Day, it was my turn. Ten year reunions are pretty egotistical things, everyone showing-up in their best (rented) sports-car, displaying the hot wife/husband they caught, and boasting about the great job they’re using to climb that ladder of success. Old flames are to be properly derided like a decade-old divorce proceeding. Old social pecking-order is to be re-established, if only for one shining moment of decoration and falsity. ...
At 11:42 pm this past Saturday, I had a moment: I had a useless piece of information to impart regarding the topic at hand, and I DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING. I’m usually the guy who’s throwing in random facts. This is because I have (or had) a burning desire to appear intelligent. This marks the only time in recent memory where I had the opportunity and didn’t say anything
(nerd factor 5: I see that title and think it’s a variable declaration…yikes…) Taking this test I found that I’m an now an ISTJ. What’s that mean? As do other Introverted Thinkers, ISTJs often give the initial impression of being aloof and perhaps somewhat cold. Effusive expression of emotional warmth is not something that ISTJs do without considerable energy loss. … ISTJs are easily frustrated by the inconsistencies of others, especially when the second parties don’t keep their commitments. But they usually keep their feelings to themselves unless they are asked. And when asked, they don’t mince words. Truth wins out over tact. The grim determination of the ISTJ vindicates itself in officiation of sports events, judiciary functions, or an other situation which requires making tough calls and sticking to them. ...
I’m jealous. Straight-up, seeing red jealous. There was something that was mine that someone else is doing a bang-up job on after it got taken away from me. So, hard thing is, are my misgivings about it real, or are they just a manifestation of that jealousy?
Whitney and I took a big step on the Dave Ramsey bandwagon last night: We cut up and then shredded our Credit Cards. We had everything from Shell, to discover, to MasterCard, to JC Penny’s. All gone :-) I’ve never been more proud of her. We’re looking for a new (used) couch, so we’re heading up to a furniture store liquidation auction tomorrow morning in Cynthiana. The stars have perfectly aligned: We just got a windfall from my huge LXK bonus ( coupla hundred $$), and Jeff’s graciously allowed us to drive his newly tuned-up truck up there (for the price of a tank of gas). Awesomeness. ...
Random thought I had in church yesterday: Lawyers and their derivatives (Judges, etc.) are the apex people of our society. There is no one more powerful, ultimately, than a lawyer in American society, because these are the people who mediate disputes between two or more equal parties. Without lawyers and a judiciary, democracy couldn’t exist with our current code of laws–people would get frustrated and start killing one another, and society would break down. ...
Lord, I hate everything about being awake and being at work right now. Give me the strength to persevere the grandstanding, the prima donnas, the power hungry, the reluctant, and my own ego until 5 pm. Amen.
Okay, taking my cue from Natalie Portman, I decided to buzz my head on Saturday: Reaction so far: India: “Perhaps, since it is 40 degrees Centigrade, we can all get haircuts similar to yours.” Padma: “Oh….haircut?” Patrick: (upset) “so, is B.H. your hero or something.?.?!” (B. got his head shaved for the Star Wars premiere.) Serge (Ukranian Accent): “Oh…cool! I like it. I get my head same way” Carl: ..stunned silence…“That is NOT YOU!! I hate clowns, but this ranks right up there..it’s freaking me out” ...
Had a feeling 05 was going to be life-changing, and that’s come to pass. * I’m wanting to get married * I’m trying to buy a house …And… * I’ve been promoted/demoted/reassigned to be team lead of my product. I now get to “drive” the new function, attend all the meetings, and generally be the point man for the whole thing. This should look good on my resume as I’m assuming more responsiblity and leadership. ...
A pal of mine once remarked that I was addicted to spending money, that money burns a hole in my pocket. I denied this for years, but I am here today to tell you she was right: I’ve cut out credit cards from my spending cold turkey, and I now have the shakes. That’s right, withdrawl. The first month on this restricted living on a budget is now over, and I’ve just sent off my last big CC payment. (Netflix bills via CC, so I’ll still be getting a Discover bill monthly, but that’s no big deal). I don’t even carry my CC’s with me; they’re at home in a drawer. ...
Well, I’m one week into Giving Up Coffee and I’m doing great except for one thing: The Smell. The heavenly smell of someone’s cup of fresh-brewed, freshly-ground, single source beans. Black coffee, with all the nuances of taste and flavor explodes inside my brain–the aroma and earthy tones, the notes of bitterness and clarity. It’s like the old bugs-bunny cartoons where the girl’s perfume would tease the hapless fop’s nose and drag him back to her mistress. ...
On Having Unscheduled Time Today, I had no schedule. That is, I discarded all things I had scheduled (Autocross, etc.) and just existed. I slept-in. I ate cake for breakfast. I wished my lovely a good trip back to Louisville, then I embarked on a little TLC for Big Red, my Chevy Silverado. Big Red has 113,000 miles, and hadn’t had an oil change since its mid-life overhaul in May. It takes 6 quarts of 5w-30 to fill the crankcase of the 4.8L V-8, and I purchased a case of Valvoline yesterday, resolving that I wasn’t going to pay $48 for an oil change at the speedy-change place. I have the tools; why not do it myself? ...
This is day 3 of me quitting coffee. I have splitting headaches and irritability. The smell of coffee itself is both arousing and sickening to me, because I can’t have any. Why do this to myself? Really, it comes out of my reading of The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhrs, who publishes Simple Living magazine. A dense, wordy tome, the book talks about all sorts of way to simplify your life, live better, have lower stress, feel more fulfilled, be more “in the moment”. It’s about 100 pages worth of advice slopped into 400 pages of dull prose and hippy “case histories” about people who’ve applied these techniques. There are some gems there, but it’s work finding them. ...
A retrospective on my day off. (sorry…first a pic) VW of America is totally clueless, and the legion of people that bought cars in 1998-2002 have pretty much rotated out of ’em. Bad build quality, terrible customer serice, and hearing the answer “Oh they all do that [leak oil, fail to start, creak, groan, ride like a buick, blow ignition coils, flake off their paint]” * * * Anyway, I arose yesterday surrounded by the insane mess of my apartment, and then I smelled the 57 degree air outside and I had a Ferris Bueller moment, “Cameron, I’m TAKING THE DAY OFF”. Whitney’s dad’s offer of free tix to the Louisville Bats (Triple A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) sealed the deal. Three phone calls later, I was off for the day. ...
Said goodbye to an old, dear friend just now. He’s not dead, just excommunicated. Kinda sad that we humans must be that way sometimes, but as adults we must know our boundries, our circles of influence, of friends, and of love. And certain people must be excluded from them for us to survive. Know that I miss this guy, world; I have since the day of our falling-out. (Well, really the year of our falling out, as it ’twas a long spiral of mutual loathing…). But I had a friend once, a person who knew all my secrets, possibly too many for one not bound to me by blood or covenant. And such was my personal downfall, the end of our friendship. ...
“Stay tuned for a message from the big, giant head…” (apologies for a not-so-bright look on my face and severe 5 o’clock shadow) Today was the first time since I was in 3rd grade that I’ve been able to see my own face in a mirror without eyeglasses. It was a really, really altering experience. I went to the optometrist at 3, and he put two of the daily-wear soft contacts in my eye and then told me to go sit in the waiting room for 15 minutes. They didn’t hurt, but I got a weird headache immediately. I figured-out what it was: Unused to having peripheral vision, my mind was trying to process much more information than I was used to. ...
:) for those of you not big on melancholy, I have happier, more involving posts than this is likely to be. For some reason, I’m lonely tonight. Truly, the Christian is never alone, washed as he is in God’s love, but in the dark watches of the night, witnessing the glorious sunset as I did today, and yet seeing the frailty of life as I also did today, it makes one yearn for his loved ones to enclose him, their love a talisman against death and solitude. ...
Life is what happens during the pauses: The pause when a suckling babe looks at his mother and smiles The split second your realize, yes, your dad’s let go of the bike and you’re riding on your own After making love when you gaze at your beloved The time when the sun’s setting and you gaze at your land, and your home That second after an exceptional performance, right before the audience explodes in applause ...