run down

16 days:
home
san diego
home
stomach flu
see new home
stage old home
buy new home
sell old home
run a PR
conjunctivitis

Post Script:
backed out of the house, didn't get the other house, now effectively homeless.
ran another PR
broke cycling personal speed record.
worrying about home constantly.

Habit

About a month go I started trying to form a plan for my future. I have been feeling a bit lost, passive perhaps, about the direction of things. And although the planning hasn't gone as smoothly as hoped I have had one good idea; habit quitting.
It came to me as I sat trying to think of how I could improve the future, all the while picking the skin from my cuticles.
Maybe it was a way of avoiding making the harder list but damn if it wasn't easy to find all sorts of terrible habits that need to cease (if you know me and there are any habits or quirks that drive you nuts let me know as I'll add it to the pile.) I won't list them as these are bad habits and with due right I am a little ashamed of them. What was really amazing to me was once I listed them I saw that all of them were hold overs from childhood. So out with the old. I decided to do them in batches of two and to up the difficulty level I decided that I needed to add a good habit.
First up chewing my food thoroughly. I mean masticating the hell out of things; better than the bass-o-matic could have done. The past two night were the first in 10 years that I finished dinner after my dining companion. I think I may be eating as slowly as Jeff Khan.
To aide in habit breaking/forming there is a reward system. Once I have a habit completely destroyed I will randomly select a reward from a list of things that I genuinely want. To be honest I would have taken up these challenges without the rewards. I just like a challenge, but hey if it gives me justification to do a weekend in Miami then why not.

Post script the first two things on the list have been accomplished. But I have reverted to bolting down my food like a wolf going to the electric chair. As if that made sense. Additionally the idea of rewards has fallen by the wayside. Rewards for doing what should have been done anyway seems a bit silly. And I don't have the discretionary income to pat my back. Though I am glad I conquered two habits, million to go.

Jack Benny

I have been exceedingly restless this evening and for some reason the Jack Benny show helps a little. I don't know why. I think because it reminds me of my grandfather. To this day I still pause for a second or two when ever I see the Lawrence Welk show. Back when I was 5 or 6 I can recall sitting over the heating grate trying not to get caught pulling the colors off of Lawrence's face with the set of magnets I pulled out of a speaker. When I finally would get caught my grandfather was more impressed with my discovery than annoyed that I destroyed the tv.
Nostalgia. I always feel kind of strange indulging in nostalgia considering I am a bit conflicted about my younger years. I get upset thinking about the distance in time and place between where I am now and the memory I was looking back at. Thinking of the naivety I had back then disappoints me, but I suppose that is what childhood is for. The people you love most in the world are still with you and you can pull the face of a german immigrant with some hunks of metal you found in the trash.

weird night at the pool

Demetri Martin said swimming is a weird sport because you could be doing it to get laid, or you could be doing it in order to survive. And that the difference is just in what you are wearing. Trunks..cool, jeans..uh-oh, naked..we'll I see.
Though tonight wasn't quite that odd it did seem a little off. I decided to go an hour early which put me in the open swim slot rather than the adult swim time. Kids and soccer moms react very differently to speedo jammers than the adult swim crowd. I can't say I blame them. This is after all a function only outfit. But all told I must say I prefer them over the 81 year old gay Lithuanian man that the adult swim has to offer.
He seemed surprised to see me leaving at 8.

3G 3G 3G

Branding annoys me to no end. I know that it is so pervasive that it is impossible to avoid but at least don't be so obvious. Currently my ire is focused on every cell phone company that mentions the "3G" network. Oy gewaltz.
G is overused, it is exhausted, retire it already. Perhaps the thing that annoys me it s that it seems as though the name is trying to latch onto the space age. As though the network were hurtling through the sky, banking and rolling, experiencing 3 Gs at every turn.
We all know it will be replaced in under a year by the 3.5 or 4.0. It wasn't enough to say "we have the fastest network" it needed a name. I looked it up. I know that this came after the 2.5 G. I know it has better spectral efficiency, and that it really does have some great benefits. But I don't care; honestly call it monkey's anus network for all I care as long as it works.

Gum in the hair

Spring is the air, I can feel it all around! MMM that is good air out there.
Every year the melt takes place and the town comes to life. It beautiful but beautiful like a child with a pack of chewed gum mashed into its hair. This may be kvetching but the melt has brought out some wierdo artifacts that 7 feet of snow has hidden for 4 months. Beer cans, bottles, a highball glass, a newspaper, doll head, and this is within one block of my home. I can only imagine what else is out there. Unfortunately I will have to keep imagining as it we are foretasted for 5 fresh inches tomorrow.

Simpsons

Like most shows the simpsons have been on a slide for a while. A long while if you ask me. I couldn't place why until a month or so ago. They have abandoned zany for topical. I don't want an episode chronicling mortgage abuse and highlighting foreclosure as a theme. I want, neigh need, a return to episodes featuring house pets used for high fashion, a song and dance number and much more monty.

Smells great! Why are your hands bandaged?

Because I made doughnuts. This post is way way late but everything I do is way way late so no surprise there. As a tradition I make fasnachts every year for shrove tuesday. I won't go into what their story is or why I do it but I do want to share a piece of hard gained wisdom. Let go of the doughnut earlier than you think and with draw your hand quickly. It really isn't as bad as I make it sound, just some discomfort. But the burn is completely worth it to have sweet fried treats.
The extra bonus is being able to hand a friend a two bags, one a ziplock of sugar the other a fat stack of golden fried pseudo-beignets and have him totally appreciate it.

Happy Cold Dark Tuesday

"hello? Are you guys open?" A justifiable question for the Fed Ex delivery schmoe being as there isn't a single light on in our office and it is hovering around 57 degrees.
Yes we are open. In a sudden call to end office waste our VP has instated "Cold Dark Tuesday." This was after he noticed that I hadn't turned on anything last Tuesday. The reason: since all the workers in our office have been cut to 4 days that means that there is one day per week where the receptionist is not there. As she works in the center of the building we normally need to light her work area. And being as she is a cry-baby whiner we generally have the heat up way too high while she keeps a space heater going and under dresses.
Ahhhh but Tuesday, glorious Tuesday. We have one day where it looks like Scrooge and the Sierra Club ran the office. The rest of us are fortunate enough to have a window for light and don't feel the need to use excessive amounts of forced hot air to stay warm.
Fun

Stimulate for god's sake stimulate already

So I got cut to 4 days. When you factor in loss of commissions and sales incentives that makes for a 30% pay reduction. Sure I wanted a 4 day work week but not like this. I am angry on so many levels it isn't even funny. I have been saying it is time for a change for 2 years now but the only thing worse than having a job is looking for one. Scratch that, at least I have a job, well 80 percent of one. So time to shake some hands and exchange some cards.

Hooray today

With more than a foot of snow and Bush leaving office, today looks pretty damn good. Free time to enjoy it all would be excellent but that is harder to find than the tooth fairy. Best to just be satisfied with what I have. And what I have is an excellent glow.

Crudeness warning

I have been pondering what to due in celebration of the Obama administration coming in. And it came to me in a sudden wave of juvenile giggling. as of January 19th we will no longer be burdened by president bush. Well on the ninetieth the nation needs to get a Brazilian wax job. out with bush.
Horrible yes I know. I warned you it was crude.

Parents are so boring

As a relatively new parent I am able to say that with authority. What is the difference an agoraphobic and a parent? I'll tell you when I find out. I bore the hell out of me and I apologize to any of my friends that used to find me interesting. After discussing it with a co-worker in the same position it was agreed that any politician that says "families are the backbone of the economy" is guilty of blatant glad handing. Families don't do squat, we pay pediatric bills and that is about it.
If we want to stimulate the economy I say we give hefty rebates to gay couples, singles, and sailors. At least they get out.

sleet is a kick to the crotch

That is pretty much it. I could go on but you get the idea. I love winter and freezing weather but freezing rain and sleet are just such insults. And it is made worse when you then follow it up with a solid cold spell. Now it is entrenched, completely immovable. Everything is encased in a grey slick sheen of ice. It benefits no one.