me, a name I call myself

So. More snow today. Not a bad thing. Normally. But it has been on the warmer side lately, thus making all the snow turn to ice on the roads. Not a fun drive home tonight. At least I wasn't involved in the 20-30 car pile-up that we heard about on the radio at about 2 in the afternoon. That would have been dreadful.

Work was pretty fun today though. Got to help hang speakers in a nice warm house. I could have been out with the other guys pre-wiring a house in the cold. And it was cold there the day before without the snow.

Got to talk to a couple of the soon-to-be new roomies tonight. I suppose I should back up a couple days and let ya'll know that I found a new place to live. So...I found a new place to live. For those who might know, it is in a house just a couple blocks from DU. Looks like a nice little area. And all the others living there are in their mid-twenties and grad students. Seem like kinda cool people. So it should be a little better situation than the last place. But hopefully still good for a few stories... Should be moving in there later this week(end).

Something isn't normal when I'm using lines from The Sound of Music and words like "dreadful".

Other than the fact that I really miss my computer, things have been going pretty well the last few days. I played some pickup basketball on both Monday and Tuesday nights. And after playing Monday night I stopped in the weight room and did some squats. So the actual playing didn't go so well on Tuesday night seen as how my legs were still shot from Monday. But it was pretty fun.

I think I am going to go try to find some more food. I already have had a roast beef sandwich and a bowl of Cheerios and a couple Oreos and a couple handfuls of peanuts since I got to my parents house, but I am still a little hungry for some reason. Who would'a ever thought that would happen...

music: "A Hymn To Him" -- Rex Harrison (yes. i am aware that this song is from My Fair Lady. but the more that i listen to it, the more that i think there might be something to it...)

and then there was snow

Of course. Because I actually had time to wash my truck last night, and did it, it snowed on it this morning. But not a lot of snow, and the truck actually still looks clean. And I finally remembered to get an air freshener for it while I was at the gas station last night too. So it smells like vanilla or something in there now, instead of some sort of dead animal. Think it's all the mud that's been getting tracked into it the last couple of weeks. And there actually could be a dead animal in there somewhere. Really kinda hard to tell without pulling everything out, and it is still too cold outside to do that yet.

Sorry if I seem a little scattered today. I think I kinda am.

Woke up this morning thinking about all the questions I have to ask the guys I work with about my friends basement. Yes, this woke me up. On a Saturday. At 6:30 am. But the weird thing is that I was excited about it, and the fact that it woke me up that early on a Saturday thinking about it.

Spent most of the day looking on Craigslist, and other such devices, for a new place to live. Have a couple places lined up to look at. Hopefully something will work out. And, I really am hesitant to say this, but it can't be worse than the place I'm in right now. Can it?

Well, now the joys of not having my own computer are really setting in. Both the parents are wanting to get on the computer now. Granted, it is theirs, but if they don't want me to have to move back in with them again... And no one wants that! And what happened to the good old days of parents not knowing how to do more than turn a computer on? Now my mom is addicted to eBay and my dad is addicted to most anything he can do with his camera and pictures on the computer. Now he just got a scanner and is putting all his old pictures onto the computer. Yikes!

Gotta go.


music: "How Sweet It Is" -- Michael Buble
(yes, I know it seems this is all I have been listening to lately. but actually it is one of
two cds that are at my parents house that I can listen to without going completely and
institutionally certified crazy!)

thievery

What do you do when you arrive home from work one evening to discover that your laptop, dvd player, printer, and a diamond engagement ring have been stolen? I think I was a little...what's the word I'm looking for here, oh yes...pissed off! And that lasted for a good couple of hours.

But here's the incredible part. I decided that I didn't want to stay at my house after this, so I was driving up to my parents house. Just before I got there, I got a call from one of my special auts up in MN. I usually don't get to talk to her very often, so it was great just to get to chat with her for a couple minutes and unload a little bit of the junk that had been building up. Then, this morning while I was getting ready for work I started to think about it all again and about the fact that it could be a long day at work if I let myself just stew on the situation all day. So instead, I decided to try to text a couple friends and focus on them a little bit instead of what was going on with me. And it was great. I got to say hi to a couple friends that I don't get to talk to as often as I would like, and I wasn't thinking about me anymore.

And I really didn't have a whole lot of time to think of anything but work at work, and by my drive home I was still in a suprisingly good mood. Granted, that was helped by the little chat I had with my boss, the owner of the company, at the end of the day where he said he was glad I was working for them. That's always a nice thing to hear.

And stragely, I'm not as distraught as I think I should be about a Tiff & Co. engagement ring being stolen. I am almost just glad that it is gone. By whatever means. Yes, it would have been nice to get some $$ for it, but it's gone. And that almost seems like the more important piece of information for my brain to deal with right now. If that makes any sense at all.

I know I am most upset not about the computer, but what was on the computer. All the pictures especially. And a few other files I had on it that just really can't be replaced. That is what gets me most about all this when I think about it.

But oh well. Right? It's just stuff. I still have a whole lifetime ahead of me to replace it all and make new pictures. Right? Right. Right. Right.

And this will all make for a great story one day.

Seems like I remember saying that somewhere before...


music: "Song For You" -- Michael Buble (featuring Chris Botti)

mud

So, in the list of stupid things to do to yourself, one thing would be stepping in a big mud puddle thus causing a large wave of mud to splurp up onto the back of your other leg. But hey, at least I did it the VERY last thing before getting into the trucks to ride back to the shop at the end of the day. Couldn't have been a better time to actually do it I guess.

Also, I like working extra hours for the extra money that it puts in the paychecks. But when it is extra hours like today, when you decide to check a friends blog quick while you wait for the others to get back to the office, and you see that they have already posted something that day and you check the time they posted it at, and it says 7:16 pm...and you look at the clock and realize that it is already five minutes to 8!!!! Makes for a long day.

And on that note, I am going to go get some gas in my truck, stop and pick up a bite of food, and go home and sleep. Yeah, sleep!

has anyone ever come back

There is something different. Strange. Abnormal. Wrong.

In happier news... I finally got to watch the last couple episodes of The Office today. That was one painful wedding. But this week's episode. Wow. Just when I go and really start to think that Michael has no redeeming qualities left in him, he goes and shows that there really is a person in there somewhere. And he also knows a thing or two about business. And Dwight with the bat! And trapping it in the bag on Merideth's head! And Jim acting like he got bit, that was pure brilliance!

Had volleyball games Friday night. Won again. Fun times. And we only had six people there too, so we all got to play the whole time, which is always a little more fun too. But we were missing a couple of our best guys, which could have been a bad thing, but we managed!

Got to football practice a little early this morning and was shooting around in the gym. I was hitting shots fairly consistently that I haven't made on any sort of consistent basis since I left college. It was pretty nice.

And a quick work update. I am still really liking my job. For the most part. Has its bumps, like any job, but it's pretty good. When I'm not running my head into very solid pieces of wood. And I think I may have gotten close to 50 hours this week. Which is a very nice thing.

But something is still wrong.

fluorescent

So it's snowing here again.

I got an e-mail the other day that was a fwd of a bunch of ways to tell if you live/have lived in Minnesota. One of the ways was: "You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching, you might live in Minnesota." I guess this qualifies me. Along with most of the rest of the list. Cause yes, all the Dairy Queens that existed around were I lived while I was growing up closed for almost half of the year. (Cause really, how many people are going to buy a peanut buster parfait when its ten below out. For three weeks straight.) But really, tonight there was just a tiny bit of snow coming down and people were going like 40 mph on the freeway IN THE LEFT LANES, forcing me to drive like a jerk and weave in and out of everyone so I could continue to drive 65 mph. And you know what. I never once felt like I was going too fast for the conditions. Not even close. I even slowed down on the one curve where I thought that maybe there might be some possibility of slippage. So there. I wasn't being unsafe. Driving in snow just really shouldn't scare people like it does here in Denver. You'd think we only got snow once every six years or so.

Sorry. Just needed to get that out of my system before I drive home now.

Got to work inside a nice heated house all day today. Hope I get to again tomorrow. Sure makes these cold days a whole lot nicer.

Oh. and in case anyone was wondering... I tend to not like the "holiday" that Hallmark decided to pull out of their bums and insert on the calendar on Feb 14th. So, don't anyone be too depressed or anything if you don't get a little card or flowers or anything from me at all. I have been known to send flowers to a few select people in the past on this day, but I'm thinking I am just going to lay low for the day and enjoy not being required to show someone what I should be showing them every single day of the year.

Man, I think I better just leave before I find something else to rant about!

the secret of life

Ok. So, you probably won't discover the secret to life by reading anything that I write tonight. Or any other night for that matter. But maybe, just maybe you will smile, or even laugh, at some point and that is one of the most important things in life. So there you go. Might not be a total waste of your time. But then again, maybe it will. You never know until you read it all!

And tonight isn't going to be very interesting at all. Cause I am going to cut this quite short so that I can go to the store and get some Billy Joel. Not that I have time to get anywhere in the twenty minutes I have before 9 now, but... Well, I guess maybe I'll just have to wait till tomorrow night. But I have been wanting more of his stuff for a while, and then I just read some of the lyrics to one of his songs tonight and it has pushed me over the edge in my curiosity and desire to hear more. But I think Target is the only place that I might be able to get to before it closes, and I'm not too sure that they have a very good selection of him to choose from... And now that I only have 15 minutes, I know I have no hope. Even with the way that I drive!

Got to work in a different house today. Finally. Not that we are finished with the huge house yet, that should be later this week, but we had to squeeze this place in now. Should only take a couple of days to knock this place out, instead of the month that we've been in that first house! Crazy. But it's kinda nice in a way, cause this is a fairly good sized house, but it seems tiny compared to that other one, so it shouldn't be a problem at all.

Hmm, maybe I can stop by the 24 hour WalMart on the way home and see what they have along the Billy Joel lines...


music: "Side" -- Travis

requests

Ok, so I don't really have a whole lot of pictures of myself, especially within the last couple of months. But here are a couple from Christmas that sorta have the facial hair stuff in them. Seen as how at least one of you out there wanted to see pictures... And the pics also have my cousins and sister in them, and they greatly help take the focus off of myself.

Been having a rather uneventful weekend. Which is nice. Had a volleyball game last night, which we won. And the varsity guys had their last game on Friday night, which was at the same time as my volleyball game so I couldn't be at the b-ball game, which they won! Finally! So they finished the season 2-15. Ouch. But coach said that they played their best game last night. Which is a good way for them to finish the season at least... And I had football practice this morning for a couple hours.

And then I watched Alias all afternoon. Finally finished season 4 and started on the fifth and final season. The one that I haven't seen any of yet. So far it has been rather interesting. Can't wait to see how it's all going to end now.

And now I'm watching Gattaca over at a friends house. Not too bad of a movie really.

And that's about it. Other than the fact that I'm looking forward to getting coffee tomorrow morning a little more than I should be. Don't really know what that's all about, it is what it is.

sweatshirts

I know that when I am already tired and sore, before I get to basketball practice, that by the end... Yeah.

And the hunger! Oh, the hunger!

But practice was good. JV is done, so it was just the varsity guys. Which means that I get to run a lot and play. Which is a good thing. Just a very exhasting thing. Cause I am still way out of shape. Need to work on that some more.

But it is Friday tomorrow! And I think I have nothing scheduled for the weekend. Which means I'll probably end up staying up way too late every night and still be plenty tired by Monday.

I take that back. I think we are supposed to have football practice on Saturday morning for the flag football league that is starting soon. So that is something. And I have volleyball games to play in Friday night. And that is something else.

But I fixed the cable in my room last night. So I actually can watch more than five channels. And they aren't fuzzy anymore! It really isn't that exciting, but it is the simple things in life that I enjoy most. And I think the thing that I am really excited about is the fact that I fixed it, and it actually works. Always an exciting thing.

Need some food in my belly.

Oh, and about the job stuff. I still need to talk to the guy about working at the airport and find out about that. But I think I probably will end up staying where I'm at right now. But I still need to talk to him. Cause I've sorta learned over the years that it is always a good thing to at least explore the options a little and know what is out there. But yes, it is much important to actually enjoy what you do for work every single day. Cause that is what you do every. single. day. And I have had jobs that I dreaded going to more every day than I did the day before, and that is just not a good way to live. Regaurdless of money. So thank you for reminding me of that very improtant fact, Jess. Always nice to have people remind me of the important things that I somehow always seem to forget to remember. Cause many of the time, the things that I usually forget to factor as high up the list are the more important things. But we ignore them more. And I am going to stop there cause I am dangerously close to starting to ramble on and on. If I'm not already. And I don't need to be doing that right now. Or ever.

Food. Must needs food.


music: well, the heater was on, but now its off. so, nothing.

headlights

I had a great idea come to me earlier today, I thought "I think I need to write about that tonight in the 'ol blog." But can I remember a blasted thing now that I am actually sitting at a computer? Nope. Not a chance.

But on a kinder note to Avid Reader... I am open to other's opinions on what I do with my hair. Always. But, as the internet at my current residence is still not working...it will probably be the weekend before I am able to post any more pictures. And by that time I think the hair would be gone. Unless popular opinion says otherwise. But I may post some before/after pics for fun once it is over.

I have a headache. Have had one for the past 5 hours. Think I am going to go home, finish the last eight pages of my book, and sleep.


music (in my head): "Headlights On Dark Roads" -- Snow Patrol

veggie peelers

Word for the day: pain.

Playing basketball with little high school kids is fun. But being the older guy, and an assistant coach, means that the little high school kids think that they get extra points if they hurt you. Doesn't exactly work that way, but that still doesn't stop 'em any. But it's fun.

And almost over.

As is the era of my facial hair. I think.

Almost.

Starting again: the dilemma about jobs.

Yesterday I was told about an opportunity to get a job with an airline, working out at the airport. Not necessarily my dream job, but you never know for sure until you try it. And it would have benefits. And I was told hours are as plentiful as you want them to be. And...you get to fly free. This would be a good thing. Cause I like to go places. And I like to not pay for things. Works out well together.

But I am really enjoying the job that I have right now. Like I actually want to go to work. And I don't get mad about things while I am there. And I find myself wanting to stay longer. Yes, this is mostly on days when there isn't basketball and I know I have no real reason to go home...but it still happens.

So I don't know. More information to find out and much more to think about. We shall see.

Time to get some food in my belly and attempt to finish reading The Hobbit. Which I thought I had not read before, but apparently, I have.


music: nothing. nothing at all. sure wish I could get the internet working at my house again.

episode I

So another week has flown past, and along with it, a whole month. But the good news...only another two weeks of basketball. Going to be nice when that's over. But I guess it means that I'm going to have to find something else to occupy all my spare time in the evenings.

Got another picture for ya for the week too. Was digging around on the parent's computer again and found some more old pics on there. This one just makes me laugh cause my dad looks so young (guess he would look young 32 years ago). But almost exactly the same. Kinda weird.

Anyway, time to go enjoy what's left of Saturday afternoon, by doing nothing, before I have to go to the basketball games...

music: just the surround sound of the movie

back to you

No, that title has nothing to do with the subjects of a couple of my posts from last week. Just the song that is currently playing on my iTunes. And I also haven't been able to post anything on here all week. Stupuid roommates.

I guess actually, that it would be studid roommate-who-got-himself-evicted-and-took-his-wireless-router-with-him. D'oh!! But I was talking to another of the still existing roommates last night, and he said that if we had a ethernet cable that we would be able to get on-line again. So, me having the sweet job that I do now, asked one of the guys this morning if there was any extra ethernet cable laying around. And he cut me off a chunck and made one for me. Excitement level = high. Then I arrived home tonight and spent the next hour trying to make said ethernet cable actually get me on-line. No go.

So, being that I am not tired at all for some crazy reason (actually, there probably is a reason but more about that later), I decided to load up in my truck and head over to the church in this awesome weather we are having and hole up in the garage for a while and catch up on things. So I threw my laptop in my bag and grabbed the extra battery (just so I could have my music with me. this garage is very boring otherwise) and now I have glorious internet access. But enough about that. (I knew this place I am living now would be a trip. Just didn't know most of it would involve the internet access there)

I actually spent the entire evening at home last night. Think that that is the first time that I have been home by six and actually stayed there the rest of the night in at least a month, maybe longer. Got a ton of laundry done, but not a whole lot more. Least nothing very productive.

We were supposed to be working at the monstrosity of a house again today (no, we are still not done with that place), but they decided to shut all the power off there at ten a.m. and as we had a lot of work to do in the basements which were now very dark, we had to do other things. This translated into riding around with the bosses the rest of the day going to some pretty sweet houses. It also meant that we were actually in houses that were finished and thus had heat, which was a very nice thing. However on Friday, yes the day that the high is supposed to be a whoppin 7, we should be back at the other place and in the cold. But it's still pretty fun. And it can actually get pretty warm in there at times with all the propane heaters going. Depending on what part of the house you're in...

This monitor keeps losing it's brightness. But I finally figured out that if I smack the side of it hard enough the brightness will come back so that I can actually see the screen from more than a foot away. Yeah!

But it is still a little on the cold side out here so I think that I am going to go get a nice big cup of coffee at 7Eleven (they have the best gas station coffee!) and go home and work on some other stuff that doesn't require the internet so much.


music: "Dusk and Summer" -- Dashboard Confessional

p.s. Sarah, sorry about the lack of a picture last week. Time just flew by. Hopefully I'll be able to get one on this weekend sometime...