I hate Windows. Microsoft's Windows that is. I hate it I hate it I hate it. Currently, my Windows machine is rebooting. For the 4th time today. And that's a slow day. (I'm writing this from my Linux box. I like it more and more everyday.)
Gonna go kick my machine s'more.
Trying to finish something I've started seems to be one of my biggest flaws. I never finish anything, whether it's a webpage I'm working on, a certification I'm going for, school, something at work...whatever. I find it extremely annoying, and dis-heartening. I know it's not good for my self esteem, for my work ethic, even in general.
I promised myself I would try, that I would at least finish one project. But then I think about it. And I get listless. Or something more important pops up. Or I have to do something else. Or I need to watch the paint peel. Get the picture?
I tease Gail and call her a freak often, because she works at a new age store, and she is interested in crystals, and tarot cards and stuff. She gets her fortune told, and her palm read. But I have to wonder some days. She had a reading done for her last week, and the lady doing the reading told her that I wasn't happy where I was, and that when an opportunity came, I should take it, even if it means leaving my place of work. I've been here for over 6 years. I'm familiar with it, and I'm content. Not necessarily happy, but content. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I don't go to work each morning dreading the time I have to spend sitting at my desk (well, at least not that often).
But I'm not passionate about it either. I don't find myself ever saying "OK, what cool thing am I going to do at work today?" But is that a bad thing? I can honestly say I don't know that many people who are absolutely content AND happy with their jobs. I think most people work at jobs that are so-so, but they do it, so they can have the money to do the things that make them happy when they're not at their jobs, whether that's going on vacations, going to the movies, out to eat, to the bookstores, whatever.
I'm tired. And I'm whiny. And I don't wanna do anything but sit here and do nothing. Perhaps that's part of the problem. That's what I'm doing.
I'm feeling so lethargic right now. I don't feel like doing anything at all. Even if my boss came in and said "Shad, take the rest of the day off, and go home", I couldn't say that I would go home and do something productive, like yard work, or fun, like riding my bike. I'd probably end up in bed. I'm SLEEPY.
Getting back into the habit of writing stuff down is harder than I thought it would be. I keep finding myself putting it off, with one excuse after another. So why do I bother? Well, I like reading what I was thinking prior. I'm also trying to get into the habit because I want to keep a journal when I go on my trip to Sturgis this coming August. My buddy Jeff and I are riding there and back. No trailering of the bikes will be happening here. It's just something I've always wanted to do. And I want to record my thoughts about the trip as I go. I think I'll have to resort to keeping my journal the old fashioned way, with pen and paper, but I'm going to write in it every night. And take pictures. I want to take lots of pictures.
I think it's also time to redesign the site. It is spring time after all, time to do a little spring cleaning. I think something simple, brighter, and easier to maintain will fit the ticket just right. No idea when I'll get to it though. Still have to finish Harleyroads.com, my brother wants me to do a Tribes2 site for his tribe, and I need to get on the ball and get Gail's site, and her DAR site up and going.
Damn, now wonder I'm so tired. I never have time. And dang...just remembered Cody has a baseball game tonight. Ugh.
I think I need a pillow in my office.
Gail's off to Tampa today. Actually, she's already in Tampa, she just called me from the motel they are staying at. The place they are staying at sound pretty nice, and they (they, being Gail and her friend Marcia) rented a Mustang Convertible.
Sounds rough. No kids, hot car, sitting by the pool. I'm sure she's just going to hate it...uh huh.
So it's the kids and I this week. Gail was apprehensive about leaving us. It's not like I can't take care of the kids all by myself. I mean hey, I can make a mean PB&J Sandwich when I put my mind to it. And no one makes a better bowl of cereal than I. And laundry? Heck, I used to live on my own, I can do laundry. Although, I have to say, since I've been married, none of my socks or underwear are pink anymore...
I've started working out again. Helps when you have someone to go with, so my friend Heidi and I are going during lunch now. It's a good time to go: It's not crowded, and I feel energized for the rest of the afternoon, which is when I'm most likely to start feeling drowsy. We'll see if I can keep it up this time. I managed to do the elliptical machine for 45 minutes today. Wish me luck!
You know, there are just some really strange people out there, with really strange notions of what's morally right in the world.
Case in point? Americans For Purity: Winning The War On Masturbation 2020 Edit: dug up the archive.org link because it's just too damn funny
Now, how stupid is that? At first, I thought it was a joke, and perhaps it is. But this person speaks with such conviction that I myself am not all that convinced. It's amazing what happens when stupid people have a medium for expressing themselves. Granted, everyone has that right, but geez man...why pick on something as harmless as masturbation?
You know, maybe if this guy yanked his crank a time or three, he wouldn't feel so uptight.
And mom, if this offended you, I apologize (Though I really doubt it did anything of the sort. She's probably laughing her ass off)
We had an "MDA Poker" night this past Saturday. Basically, you came to play poker, but all the money you put in went to the MDA. However, we had some nice prizes to give away, like a $25 gift certificate to Macaroni Grill, $10 and $5 gift certificates to Blockbuster, and some fun stuff, like a bin full of Ring Pops and Tootsie-Roll Pops.
We had a good time. Bill-a-bong was the big winner for the night, and he took the Macaroni Grill certificate (Thanks Deb!)
Other than that, we spent the weekend as your typical suburbanite yuppie couple might: did housework all day Saturday, and did yard work most the day Sunday. Blah. Didn't get to go riding at all. Double-Blah. The muscles between my thumbs and forefingers are all sore from raking. Triple-Blah. Blah Blah Blah.
Ok, enough blahs. Gail's going to Tampa for a few days, for work related reasons. However, she and her partner in crime managed to score a nice hotel, and a convertible rental. Supposed to be mid-80's down there all week. They're going to be lovin' it. As long as I don't see them on the news jumping into a canyon like Thelma and Louise, then I won't worry.
Last night was Cody's play, titled "Bugs". In it, Cody played a firefly. All the first and second graders were there, all dressed up as various bugs. It was very cute. When it came time for their song, they broke out with the flashlights, and the lights were gradually dimmed as the song went on. By the end, they had turned out every light, and it was just a bunch of flashlights up on stage. It was really neat.
Cody did very well, both Gail and I were really proud of him. He had a line in the play, and when his turn came, he stepped right up to the mic without a hint of stage fright, and said his line in a perfectly clear, understandable voice. He even added some emphasis right were is was need. Hrm...perhaps the next Harrison Ford?
Baseball has also started for Cody. He's on the Mariners this year. This should be an...interesting year. Cody's coach told us the first day of practice that he wasn't going to be there for most the season. So it's fallen onto my, and other parents shoulders to coach this team. sigh
Other than that, things move along. Gail and I figured out we owe over 10k in taxes. Bleah. I have a poker run on Saturday. Hooray! And time keeps moving on and on and on and on...
...but I digress.
Gail's lost.
I'm sitting here at her desk at her work, waiting for her to come get me. The original plan was for her to drop me off here, I was going to update a computer here, and while I was doing that she was going to go to an art supply store and get some clay. She called about 45 minutes ago, saying she had gotten lost, but was on her way back finally. Then she called again about 5 minutes ago. She'd gotten herself even more lost, and was hungry and grouchy. I'm sure it didn't help I was laughing at her. At least the kids were asleep.
So I'm sitting her at her desk, using her computer to update my journal. At least she has a net connection here.
Damn, it's cold outside!
Thought it was supposed to start getting warmer as the month progressed, not colder! I think I did more riding in the month of January than I have in the month of March. That's messed up.
Well, regardless of the weather, it was a nice weekend. Gail and I went to the Opera on Friday night and had a good time. Then on Saturday night, we went to an Italian restaurant called Maggianos. Damn, talk about good food. I think I have a new favorite restaurant.
Other than that, it was a quiet weekend. Jeff and I are starting to plan for our Sturgis trip in August. Can't wait!
I am so good at breaking things.
I was working on getting the forum up and running on my Harley site. I'm changing everything over to PHP, but somehow, while uploading one of my pages, I killed the webserver. No problem, I can restart that. Restart it, go and check the url, that works fine. Go to load a php page, and it hangs. Back to the main index page. It hangs.
whoops.
Seth's in London right now, and I think it's a good thing. See, I'm hosting my Harley site, as well as this one, on his machine. So I break something, he's likely to be upset with me. Hopefully, when he gets back (or reads my email) he'll be able to show me what I did wrong.