Words, Weights, Whatever

Saturday, September 25, 2004

Uh, what type of candles were those?

Blog b-day


Image found on the Internet and all rights belong to its owner.

Oh, wow! My blog's second year.

The assignment continues to go well. Permission to attend an all-hands meeting and conversation with my supe on Thursday strongly hints of consideration for more...permanent...employment in the future but I'm not holding my breath. I originally took the assignment as a temporary one (albeit long-term) and continue to consider it that way.

I received a call from my sister Friday afternoon regarding my mom. She apparently broke her left arm while dancing Thursday night. Mom's going to need minor surgery to stabilize it and wear a cast for a month.

What was really interesting, though, was mom's reaction. My parents had volunteered to care for my sister and brother-in-law's child (their grandchild, obviously) for two weeks while my sister worked out of state. My mom was quite concerned they would now change their mind. And she was right to be concerned: my sister is extremely protective of her baby.

So my mom enlisted (literally!) the aid of family and friends around her, stating she not only had our aunt (dad's sib) living there to help, but her own sister (who lived nearby) and our cousin who just lived down the street. And my mom would have my dad take some vacation time if necessary to help out. Armed (bad pun) with such a venerable force of caretakers, she pleaded with my cautious sib. The men involved--my brother-in-law and my dad) stayed sensibly out of the way in this battle of wills between mother and daughter. I won't know the result until Saturday morning for that is the day my brother-in-law brings his child to my parents' residence.

Moving back to me (it's all about me!)

R.'s job. I'm getting concerned about its effects and voiced my opinion about our options. Right now, though, I continue to listen. The position is the best found (a growing medical company in SoCal. Amazing!) so far with a bright future.

So right now we continue to focus on the house. We're meeting contractors this weekend. Right now I'm glad I took the temp assignment: we still don't know construction will even begin.

Later! And thanks for all the fish!


Image found on the Internet and all rights belong to its owner.

Countdown: one day before blog change....

Friday, September 24, 2004

Beyond the Blog

The nun from...!


Yikes!

Countdown: two days before blog change....

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Tuesday, Wednesday

The new assignment is considerably different from the last one. Kinda weird to be working regularly eight-hour days five days a week. But it's actually been better: I have more cardio classes accessible after work and I discovered on Wednesday that one of my favorite gyms is within ten minutes away. Yeah! I know what I'll be doing during lunch time (again.)

Large update over at Forge on this benefit.

I didn't see my buddies CS and GAC on our regular Tuesday night get-together. I originally had planned to do some much needed housework and weight-training. However, HDTV distracted me: specifically, cool progs on Venus and the end of the universe. Why don't the regular channels have anything this good?

R. and I have been watching a new anime series, Hunter X Hunter. No, we have not finished any of the other ones at the moment. Sigh. With the number of series we're following (at least five), we would not be finished in a month watching the episodes eight hours a day, seven days a week.
Hmmm. I like the idea, though. Maybe for vacation....

Remodeling continues. A call from the flooring guy really solidified out time table. We'll be meeting with him on Saturday and the general contractor (regarding out kitchen and others) on Sunday. Yikes! All that money for lots of wood....

And, no, I mean wood, yah pervs!


* * *

It's a time of change.


As I wrote on the 19th, I've reached several crossroads this month, one of which concerns my blog. R. pointed out a long time ago that I become engrossed in a subject in three month cycles. I scoffed at first, but realized the truth in that simple observation. I can point out when I was interested in religion, martial arts, and many subjects, when I peaked (usually with too many books), and when my interests permanently waned.

Hmmm. That's kinda good, since my constant interests (e.g., spouse, family, reading, writing, working out, sex and a few others of a more private nature) are more than enough to divide my attention.

It's a time of change.

I think the dishwasher breaking and the consequences accelerated my dissatisfaction. No, looking back, it was that perm job at the fax service. I learned a long time ago I don't like stagnation, which I realize is partially genetic, partially my upbringing.

Am I suffering a mid-life crisis? I'm barely through my thirties! Grrr. If I am, I must do something about it. I never fully understood people who complain about their lives but do nothing about it. My siblings are the same way. Unfortunately....

(Hmmm. Now that's way too personal. Goes into the private journal. Besides, it wasn't the intent of this post.)

So what's the intent? What am I trying to say?

It's time for a change.


Countdown: three days before blog change. (And I'm getting really impatient---)



Image found on the Internet and all rights belong to its owner.

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Beyond the Blog

Martin Kimeldorf's PhotoArt

Beautiful.

And, for a change of pace, a little humour....


Al's axcellent ancyclopedia

"You may not have more than two dildos in a house."?
Uh, would love to see the paperwork on that one!

Countdown: four days before blog change....

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Sunday, Monday

Though I set the alarm to buzz at 0630 Sunday morning, I finally crawled out of bed around 1000. Ate a hearty late breakfast/early lunch then ran errands. Most sig was picking
up the the stair catalogs and wood samples. Spent much of the evening at the coffeeshop
either blogging or working on notes.

Started the new assignment on Monday. Arrived over 20 minutes early due to being too
familiar with the area (meaning how difficult it is to find companies). Met my supe and another newbie who, too, was starting today.

First day went fine. There's plenty to keep my occupied. While I'm a little miffed my
predecessor didn't leave any procedures, she was well-organized and I could easily figure
out most of her duties. Client pretty much left me alone early in the day which gave me
plenty of time to play around with the hard/software. Only difficulty was that we needed a
particular person to cover the admin duties and he was gone for the day.

Nice to get home around 1730. Hit the gym around 1900 (see Forge.)

R.'s back. We discussed more remodeling when I arrived from the gym. Lots of affection that evening.

Countdown: five days before blog change....

Monday, September 20, 2004

Random of the Day

story of a dot

Ooooookkkkaaay. What a waste of a blog.


Countdown: six days before blog change....

Sunday, September 19, 2004

Commitment



Image found on the Internet and all rights belong to the owner.


Updated Forge and Way.

Much of Friday was spent on finances. I drove down to the agency and submitted the paperwork for automatic deposit of future paychecks. Before heading home, I stopped by the bank to get some information on our mortgage and equity line-of-credit (LOC). I contacted the main office later to get certain accounts visible on-line as well.

Saturday I spent most of the day with my family. I drove up to the Inland Empire early morning and arrived at the church a good forty minutes early. I chatted with The Spouse until everyone began to arrive.

As far as I could tell, my nephew's baptism went well. A2 barely made a noise despite teething and suffering a cold. He didn't cry out even when, after falling asleep in the warm church interior, the priest poured water on his head.

And he continued to be quiet at the reception afterwards. Only later, at my sister and brother-in-law's residence, did he cry out (screamed is the more accurate word) and that was because he was hungry.

I spent a lot of time with my nephew A1 chatting about--of course--cars and motorcycles.

R. was on-call and couldn't attend.

I finally returned home around 1700 and listlessly watched television and napped the rest of the evening.


Image found on the Internet and rights belong to its owner.

NOTE: You may stop reading. The following are my upcoming goals and barely relevant to the above post.

You know the old saying about being at a crossroads in life? I'm at one of those. Again.

Much of it is of my own making. Take working, for example, Unlike most folks who consider their jobs as a constant in their lives, I don't allow myself that luxury as a temp. First I chose if I'm going to take an assignment or place myself on inactive status. If I chose the former, I start looking for an assignment. The year so far has proven to be fruitful and I actually had a choice of several decent paying assignments.

So the first major crossroad is returning to work again. I start the new assignment on Monday and, as usual, am a bit nervous.

Another crossroad is our house. Long-time readers will note about the dishwasher imbroglio back in July and our efforts to not only repair the damage but use the incident as an opportunity to upgrade our house. R. and I had planned to do so sometime in the future but now we're serious. We've been meeting with contractors, checking out home improvement stores, and I've had trouble sleeping at the amount of time everything is going to take even before construction begins (i.e., lining up the contractors, clearing out the house, etc.) Everyone I've spoken with has stated what a nightmare remodeling is which doesn't help but we've committed ourselves to this time-consuming and expensive (think six figures) road.

The other crossroads are of a more personal nature. The first is the major decision to become more active physically. Clothing I had purchased years ago are beginning to tighten in the wrong places. Several folks have remarked that I looked like I was losing weight which actually translates to the loss of my musculature. And, finally, last year's physical confirmed an increase in (bad) cholesterol levels and other biological sigs which is not good given my family history (i.e., heart attacks, diabetes, etc.)

See Forging the Physique.

I've recommitted myself to my writing and my dream to become a full-time published writer. I've been reading much of late, both good (East of Eden) and "how'd this ever get published?? (Huddle)." Attending author signing at bookstores has added fuel to the fire.

See Way of the Writer.

And then there's blogging. I'm currently posting something a least in one of my blogs on a daily basis for the last few weeks. My skills are getting sharpened by such daily writing and my Muse is active as I think of things to write.

But, as the cliches' go: the only constant is change and nothing last forever.

I've been reading a lot of posts recently that many bloggers are considering dropping their blogs (see myRemixWeb; Tuna Girl; and Rcktman). This is not the first time I've read such posts and almost ignored the topic after leaving my comments. However, something struck a cord and I'm beginning to wonder about my own blogs and my continuation with Tribe.net.

I originally started a blog to jot down my daily activities. I noted a long time ago I didn't have the best memory, forgetting what I did the prior day. I was especially bad about remembering the weekends. I also wanted to jot down my progress in my writing and workout efforts. Thus, the original impetus for Words and Weights (the original name.)

My blog has changed since then, the biggestchanges to be splitting into three blogs and posting (near) on a daily basis.

It's at this point I'm at my last major crossroad. With time becoming premium again, I wonder if I want to continue to post daily. Shall I follow most of my fellow bloggers and post only on the weekdays? On a whim? And if I continue, what shall be the contents? Specifically, I'm debating if I want to continue Beyond the Blog or even images.

I'm still deciding where to go. And there is a deadline (see below).


Countdown: seven days before blog change....


 
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