I just happened to look at my page today while screwing around on the home computer. I was shocked to see that it had been over a year since I even posted to here. The craziness of lazyness took hold of me.
So for all 3 of you who ever read my musings I'll give you an update of what has happened in my life over the past 15 months since I last bored you to tears.
1) I bought a house. Now my wife will tell you that WE bought a house, but despite my religious zeal for Grammar Nazism, I reserve the right to interchange pronouns when it suits me. We'll just nevermind the fact that she may or may not have done most of the legwork when it came to dealing with banks and realtors to make this happen. As the landscape of American politics has shown, the facts don't really matter.
With the purchasing of my first home came a lot of other firsts. Like mowing my own lawn. I've mowed a few lawns in my day, but those lawns always belonged to someone else. I've also learned that if part of your lawn has Creeping Charlie and you mow over that stuff, it will spread to the rest of your yard. Much like I did to my parents' yard once I am contemplating a healthy dose of gasoline and a match to battle this scourge to my compound....only on purpose this time.
I've also installed my first ever section of wiring for a new dishwasher that had to be replaced because the warranty people wouldn't touch the old, less than up to modern standards wiring to hook it up. I've also installed 2 light fixtures for the first time, and one light switch. These things have taught me that I am handier than I thought I was, but still no engineering genius. Only a couple light jolts to the system to make sure my heart was still working properly. I also recently disconnected the DISH and reran the wiring to the antenna in an effort to save some money I was paying for a bunch of channels I never watch. I sure will miss those marathon days of That 70s Show on IFC and NCIS on USA. I'll get over it soon enough. I'll either addict myself to shows that were in syndication well before I was a twinkle in my dad's eye, or go back to reading more actual books like I used to do when I was younger.
The biggest realization that I've had, I've always known...This house is gonna suck me dry with all the improvements it will need. Recently a lot of people are saying the same thing with the new construction homes which are priced pretty damn well out of my price range to start and shabbily put up to boot in developments devoid of character or identity. I can't tell the difference between one house and the next 100 anymore. Very drab, very unoriginal, very...blah. This one was a steal for where we live, and it has character being an older home. So despite the next 30 or more years of trying to figure out which orifice I'm going to pull the money out of for these necessary improvements, I like my (yes I know, honey, OUR) choice.
2) I assumed the title of Operations Manager at my job. I assure you this is through no fault of my own, but the evil conniving mind of my boss who thought it was a good idea to put me in charge of people. After giving me some power to abuse he told me I better not fire a bunch of people I felt were substandard too quickly because I would end up having to cover their posts. Although I have had the pleasure of ridding the company of less than desirable employees from our little company, sometimes at the expense of my own sanity, reworking a schedule for a week to fill in the new openings can be hell. I can feel grey hairs trying to work their way into my normal appearance. I went from working day shift Monday through Friday, with nights and weekends free to spend with the family or go do something, to working nights and weekends again... which sucks! But money talks, and my wife and boss shoved me into taking the spot. All in all it isn't too horrible, but if the Lottery comes calling me saying I won big, I'm out of there!
3) I actually set myself up with some vacation time (that I will actually get paid for thanks to Item #2) that will allow me time to go see family out in California I haven't seen in over 18 years. My wife will get to meet some of my family she has yet to meet, my oldest son will see them again for the first time since he was 3, and my youngest son will get his first ever trip to California and meet that side of the family. I've been talking about going back for years, but my cousin Erin decided she liked a boy well enough to marry him, and forcing my hand to actually make the trip. Those guys at the TSA better not screw up my flight schedule!
Other random musings include that after I get back from the aforementioned vacation, I might possibly be looking at getting another dog. After almost a year of our Gracie having a boyfriend on each side, the renters have left their houses and now she has no boyfriends to cavort with. I think she is getting lonely and needs a playmate to help terrorize the cat, fight with for the attention of us humans residing here, and a companion to romp around the yard with and dominate like she did with the bigger boy toys (a Golden Retriever on one side and a Great Dane on the other) she enjoyed bullying before they moved away earlier this month.
The boys are getting bigger. The 17 year old is still lording over me, and recently started his first real job working as a host at a local Olive Garden restaurant. Much like I did when I had my first slew of jobs, but lived with my parents, he is seeing dollar signs and that excites him. I'm almost relishing the moment when he moves on and realizes how great it was to have the job with all the money rolling in and no real bills going out of anyone's wallets but his parents. And much like my dad, I will laugh heartily and tell him I have no sympathy... until he asks to move back in and eat all my food again. But first he has to get through his senior year of high school.
The 12 year old, while not lording over me is slowly beginning to gain on me in height. He is at that awkward age where he is still a kid and cute, but beginning to display the obnoxious behavior that comes with a junior high kid, which he will be this fall. Not like when we were kids and were perfect angels throughout our upbringing, bringing great amounts of pride to our parents and the joy they received when being able to tell all their friends what wonderful kids we were to raise. (You can stop laughing now mom and dad!) Whenever he has gone to someone else's place he always returns and they gush over what a polite young man he is, and what fun it is to have him in their home. And within a half hour I find open bottles of his beverages sitting about in random places, candy wrappers strewn around the house, crumbs denoting that "Corwyn was here". When asked to do something, snide remarks are heard, dirty looks given, or just plain silence of ignoring us abound. Apparently his daily allotment of goodness doesn't last a whole day.
I love these boys with all my heart and would never trade them in for the world, but some days I would consider selling them to any bidder!!! A thought that I know would never have crossed the minds of my parents...again, I was an angel. I'm sure they got their other-than-angelic ways from their mother. And I'm sure she'd disagree and say its the opposite, but hey, this is my blog.
On the last note for today, For those of you in and around Sac City, On Saturday May 28th, there is a scheduled planting of a memorial tree for Monte Burns at Tolan Field. As some of you know, Monte passed just a little over 2 years ago. Monte was like a second father to me, and his sons, Joshua, Jedidiah and Jerimiah were my brothers. They will be dedicating this tree in their father's name, along with my parents for Monte, specifically at the ballfield where he put in years of coaching the kids of Sac City's Little League teams. So if you knew Monte, or he coached you or one of your kids, I know the family would love to see you come out for this celebration of Monte Burns' life.
Showing posts with label dogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dogs. Show all posts
Friday, May 27, 2016
Monday, August 13, 2012
New Member To The Mookified Compound
Look at how cute I am!
This is Gracie. Officially her name is Sergeant Gracie Mae Lovell. But we just call her Gracie. She's a Yellow Lab mixed with Husky. And as I write this post, she's trying to lay on my feet... that is until I wrote that sentence, now she got up and decided to have food. I feel she is just preparing me to go for a walk..yep, there's the singular scratch at the door signalling that I must do as I'm told before finishing what I want to do. Just like a woman. Speaking of women... here is proof of their craziness:
"I got it! I got it! Now what?"
Now I grew up with dogs all my life. Gracie is the first dog I've had since leaving my parents' digs. In all my life, the only dog I ever saw chase her tail, much less actually get it, was Odie from the Garfield cartoons and comics... until the other day. I just assumed it was comedy on the part of animators, but it turns out this is serious real-life business.
Anyways... Last Sunday I was taking my boys up to stay the week with my parents, and the plan was to get a dog, Tucker, who had been getting nursed back to health at their local Vet hospital my mom clerks at. It's a long story of neglect and malnutrition prior to them trying to save the dog. On the day we were to go up, I get a call from my mom saying the dog was found dead. Well, I had been set on getting my first adult-life dog for about 3 weeks at this point. After doing some hunting, I found an ad on craigslist for Gracie, and she lived here in the Des Moines area. Her previous owner had a life situation and had to find her a good home or turn her over to the ARL that same night. So after a quick supper with my parents and saying good bye to the boys, my girlfriend and I hustled back to Des Moines to pick up this 4 month-old pup. She's been either full steam ahead or napping it out since.
She only slowed down one day, and that was Saturday when we went back up to my parents to have her spayed and get all her shots, and then on Sunday bring her and the boys back home. She actually rode in the car very well:
See me...I'm blond just like my new brothers!
Oh, I was supposed to be in that seat back there?
I prefer the window seat. Josh doesn't mind me using his lap!
The only thing about bringing Gracie into our home to really consider was The Colonel. On night one he established himself as the top dog of the house, and asserted the difference in rank, him being an officer and her being enlisted. As he went up to sniff her out, she moved behind a chair. It was all over from there. He chased her round and round the basement, him getting that puffy cat look and her running scared out of her mind with her tail tucked between her legs. Gracie is scared of cats, and the Colonel took full advantage of his intimidation factor. Only wish I had a video camera for that! The basement is now been deemed solely the Colonel's territory. He has another blue chair down there that he uses, along with the blue recliner in my bedroom he took over long before we moved into this place. Gracie will now attempt to play assuming the "downward dog" position and trying to lunge forward a couple inches, but the cat mostly ignores her. Unless he's in a corner, then he gets on his hind legs, hisses, and occasionally throws a couple jabs, and Gracie comes running for protection.
When outside, she is always on a leash. She is getting better, but she is a puppy and can get distracted easily, whether its a scent trail, a moving bug, kids, people, squirrels, random sticks, trash... you get the idea. Whenever she spies a bird on the ground, she does the classic "pointer" pose. But she does do a decent walk along from time to time. On the homestretch, she likes to reach back grab the leash in her mouth and give it a tug to let me know its her turn to walk me, and if I'm willing, she really loves to run along. I don't know if that's just her thing, or the Husky side coming out. While at my parents, who have a fenced yard, she was allowed to roam free. At first she wasn't entirely sure what to do, but it didn't take long to go exploring.
She knows how to sit, lay down, shake, and hi-five. I'd say she knows the STAY command, but it seems I'm not allowed to leave whichever floor we're on to go to another without her wanting to follow along... She has grown attached to both my girlfriend and I, but she really seems to have bonded with me. And with the Olympics on these last couple weeks, she decided to invent her own sport for us to participate in together. I fell asleep watching TV one afternoon, as she was napping after a long hot walk. I woke up to her having chewed a sandal, and now was trying to lick me to death. So I got up, decided I would use the bathroom quick and then take her out for the same. So I go to take a leak and I left the door open. Hey it was me and the pets, so why not? Well, she followed me over, stared at me, and then decided that her spot on the carpet in front of the bathroom was perfect to trying out her half of the "synchronized peeing" routine. Part of me wanted to laugh, the other part wanted to cry, because I had to clean up. That and we would've been penalized heavily on our synchronization skills since I was standing and she was squatting... We have a long ways to go if we're going to get that act into the next games down in Rio!
But anyways... She's the newest addition. The Colonel tolerates her. The kids love her, and she loves them right back...Josh even took her for a walk around the block at my parents. And she seems to be quite attached to me and my girlfriend. So I'm quite happy in how things worked out. She got a happy home without going through the shelter system, and I finally get to have my own dog again!
And here is Gracie doing what I always wanted to do- fart on my dad! She does me proud!!!!
Now I just need an official flag for the Mookified Compound...
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Pranks and Other Observations
Today's post doesn't have any central theme, other than my weird little observations in life.
Observation #1 (Saturday night): ANY type of cussing causes my youngest child to laugh hysterically. Even if the word 'crap' is mentioned on a DVD, or TV, or whatever and Corwyn is in the room, he immediately laughs. If it's anything much harsher that he need not hear, the reaction is still the same. While he knows he is not supposed to say such words, to merely hear them sends him over the edge.
The other night I was wasting time playing RISK online (I love the game, but the dice rolling concept really sucks...how does one lose 20 armies to four armies on a regular basis? It's ridiculous). My wife was in the kitchen reading and preparing supper. The boys were on the couch, and I hear the words "wiener-boy" and "butt (or nut) bag" being repeatedly constantly as they discuss whatever inane mindless things little kids discuss. But after every time one of these words is repeated they both start cackling. They both have their own unique laughter, which I have determined that I could pick out in a room full of a thousand little kids from just about any distance. The cackling in and of itself is humorous to me. I decided to give it a few minutes to see if the subject would die down on its own. Anyways, I made the executive decision (poorly or not) that such words didn't quite cross the line entirely. That and of course I was slightly amused myself, as I am so often easily amused. Of course, left to their own devices, the subject, no matter how retarded it may be will continue to grow a life of its own when left unchecked. Eventually I, or maybe it was my wife, decided that the conversation was just too much and they needed to discuss something other than the antics of this so-called "wiener boy" and his superpowers derived from his "Butt (or nut) bag". It was time that they expanded their vocabulary's usage for while. Now that I think about it, it was my wife who stopped it, because I was busy facing away from them and holding in my laughter at the whole situation, which included them getting a talking-to from their mother. I'm not sure what it is, but I still find it amusing to watch others get into trouble...even if it is my own kids.
Observation #2 (this morning): BBQ Sauce. I love the smell of BBQ sauce, especially right before we slap it on some chicken to be fried or roasted. However last night, there was still some BBQ sauce leftover and sitting in the bowl my wife made it in. It hadn't been dispensed of or put into the fridge for later use. And while I was making coffee after coming home this morning, all I could smell was this hours old BBQ sauce sitting right there next to me. And I realized, I do not like the smell of the stuff the day after. Made me kind of queasy.
Prank (Friday night): My sister, Becky is great for playing tricks on. You have already read about the trick I played on her with her Christmas gift. well, now I have an even better one that she succumbed to this last weekend.
Apparently, before they went home to Florida, my dad started talking to my niece, Sophie. He kept mentioning how she needed a puppy when she got home. According to my dad, he was sure that my sister was getting a little bit perturbed by this, but all the puppy talk always had Sophie smiling. So my dad calls me up, and tells me I need to mess with my sister a bit on this issue. Of course he called me. As the resident a**hole in her life, since a very early age, I'm the natural pick to keep messing with her.
So I grabbed a picture off of petfinder.com of a small dog that looks like a miniature version (and I mean EXACTLY like) of a mutt dog we grew up with. then I looked up Orlando International Airport and found phone numbers and used the map of the grounds to give her directions to some building and convinced her it was where the live cargo comes into the airport. Becky is getting madder by the moment. She of course thinks to question my motives as serious or not, as she isn't completely dumb. Of course I played it off that mom and dad had arranged for this dog to be adopted, bought a flight for it out of Des Moines, here where I live, etc etc, and I wouldn't go to all this trouble just to mess with her head. Being gullible as she is, she finally bought into it. And boy was she pissed off!!!! She gave me reasons as to why they didn't need a dog, couldn't have a dog, and all that mess. I told her then to call mom and dad to straighten it out with them, and to call me back so I knew what my plans were for Monday (yesterday), since they had done everything and were having me pick the dog up and get it off on a plane to her. so she hangups with me and calls them. I got a call about 15 minutes later. I say "hello", knowing full well who it is, thanks to caller ID. There is a short pause, as I feel her drawing in every bit of rage she can, and then proceeds to introduce herself with the kinds of words Corwyn would begin laughing hysterically at. All I heard was "F**K You!" And then I started laughing hysterically. The way I figure it is that since she isn't pregnant, getting her blood pressure up a bit isn't all that unhealthy. I think she's still a bit mad at me and dad. Later that night I see her Facebook posting that says "My family sucks, they know why". I left a nice comment that says she brought it on herself. She responded to the effect that it isn't her fault I'm a dick.
Well the truth of the matter is a little bit different. Not that I'm arguing her point about me being a dick, because I am sometimes, ...okay a lot of the time. But, I do blame this on her entirely. Now stay with me here. She knows I am into pranks. She also fouled up my Christmas gift guessing game a couple years, a long time ago, and she did it intentionally.
And as smart as she is, and she is getting better at her people smarts than she used to be, she is still gullible and easy to pull pranks on. She also knows that I love to pull pranks on people, and that I have virtually no life, therefore she should KNOW that she is a prime target here. And, to top it off, after actually thinking to question me, she buys my sheepish answer (and I suck at lying, over the phone or in person), and proceeds to get irritated at the gall my dad had to supposedly send a puppy to them. Like I said, she brought it on herself. I stand by my faked brilliance, and consider this prank a successful victory. My dad also does, as he called me back while I was still on the phone with Becky who was steamed at me. He laughed hysterically when I told him how she started the return phone call with me.
I'm beginning to think it is a Lovell male trait to laugh hysterically when we hear someone start cussing.
Getting into trouble (Sunday Afternoon): For Christmas this year, my grandmother and her husband (do I call him Grandpa or by his name? They just got married a few years ago, I don't understand the protocol here), sent us a Christmas card along with $25 in Target gift coins for each boy. Well, Sunday the boys and I ran over to Target so they could get the gifts they wanted, and then we could get a picture of them with their new loot to send off to my Grandmother.
So we get there, and they each get some random toy, but also each gets a sword of some sort. josh picked up a flip-action Star Wars light saber, and Corwyn got himself the sword that goes with his GI JOE Storm Shadow outfit he had worn for Halloween this last year. After we got home, some point later there was a sword fight. Then one of them got the grand idea of challenging me, or having the other brother challenge me. SO we dueled a few times, me vs one, then the other, then each other, all times with the two different swords. Well, we did this in the living room, right in front of the couch where my wife is reading her book. It didn't take long, but we got told to put the swords away after I made a mistake and accidentally shifted the wrong way and caught my wife in the face with the sword. So I apologized to the boys for getting us into trouble, and then as they took the swords to be put away, I sat down next to my wife and began to apologize to her. She told me not to sweet talk her. I said I wasn't, but merely apologizing. What I said next did me in for the day. I meant to say I was going to make it up to her (in a amorous tone of voice), but my speaking dyslexia kicked in and said I was going to let her make it up to me. I didn't realize until she repeated it back to me with an incredulous look on her face. I really need to learn to shut up, cut my losses and disappear after screwing up. I think it is almost in my favor to skip any apologies. I have a tendency to only make it worse, even if by accident. Of course opting out any attempts might get me in just as much hot water as screwing one up. Man, I am screwed!
Observation #1 (Saturday night): ANY type of cussing causes my youngest child to laugh hysterically. Even if the word 'crap' is mentioned on a DVD, or TV, or whatever and Corwyn is in the room, he immediately laughs. If it's anything much harsher that he need not hear, the reaction is still the same. While he knows he is not supposed to say such words, to merely hear them sends him over the edge.
The other night I was wasting time playing RISK online (I love the game, but the dice rolling concept really sucks...how does one lose 20 armies to four armies on a regular basis? It's ridiculous). My wife was in the kitchen reading and preparing supper. The boys were on the couch, and I hear the words "wiener-boy" and "butt (or nut) bag" being repeatedly constantly as they discuss whatever inane mindless things little kids discuss. But after every time one of these words is repeated they both start cackling. They both have their own unique laughter, which I have determined that I could pick out in a room full of a thousand little kids from just about any distance. The cackling in and of itself is humorous to me. I decided to give it a few minutes to see if the subject would die down on its own. Anyways, I made the executive decision (poorly or not) that such words didn't quite cross the line entirely. That and of course I was slightly amused myself, as I am so often easily amused. Of course, left to their own devices, the subject, no matter how retarded it may be will continue to grow a life of its own when left unchecked. Eventually I, or maybe it was my wife, decided that the conversation was just too much and they needed to discuss something other than the antics of this so-called "wiener boy" and his superpowers derived from his "Butt (or nut) bag". It was time that they expanded their vocabulary's usage for while. Now that I think about it, it was my wife who stopped it, because I was busy facing away from them and holding in my laughter at the whole situation, which included them getting a talking-to from their mother. I'm not sure what it is, but I still find it amusing to watch others get into trouble...even if it is my own kids.
Observation #2 (this morning): BBQ Sauce. I love the smell of BBQ sauce, especially right before we slap it on some chicken to be fried or roasted. However last night, there was still some BBQ sauce leftover and sitting in the bowl my wife made it in. It hadn't been dispensed of or put into the fridge for later use. And while I was making coffee after coming home this morning, all I could smell was this hours old BBQ sauce sitting right there next to me. And I realized, I do not like the smell of the stuff the day after. Made me kind of queasy.
Prank (Friday night): My sister, Becky is great for playing tricks on. You have already read about the trick I played on her with her Christmas gift. well, now I have an even better one that she succumbed to this last weekend.
Apparently, before they went home to Florida, my dad started talking to my niece, Sophie. He kept mentioning how she needed a puppy when she got home. According to my dad, he was sure that my sister was getting a little bit perturbed by this, but all the puppy talk always had Sophie smiling. So my dad calls me up, and tells me I need to mess with my sister a bit on this issue. Of course he called me. As the resident a**hole in her life, since a very early age, I'm the natural pick to keep messing with her.
So I grabbed a picture off of petfinder.com of a small dog that looks like a miniature version (and I mean EXACTLY like) of a mutt dog we grew up with. then I looked up Orlando International Airport and found phone numbers and used the map of the grounds to give her directions to some building and convinced her it was where the live cargo comes into the airport. Becky is getting madder by the moment. She of course thinks to question my motives as serious or not, as she isn't completely dumb. Of course I played it off that mom and dad had arranged for this dog to be adopted, bought a flight for it out of Des Moines, here where I live, etc etc, and I wouldn't go to all this trouble just to mess with her head. Being gullible as she is, she finally bought into it. And boy was she pissed off!!!! She gave me reasons as to why they didn't need a dog, couldn't have a dog, and all that mess. I told her then to call mom and dad to straighten it out with them, and to call me back so I knew what my plans were for Monday (yesterday), since they had done everything and were having me pick the dog up and get it off on a plane to her. so she hangups with me and calls them. I got a call about 15 minutes later. I say "hello", knowing full well who it is, thanks to caller ID. There is a short pause, as I feel her drawing in every bit of rage she can, and then proceeds to introduce herself with the kinds of words Corwyn would begin laughing hysterically at. All I heard was "F**K You!" And then I started laughing hysterically. The way I figure it is that since she isn't pregnant, getting her blood pressure up a bit isn't all that unhealthy. I think she's still a bit mad at me and dad. Later that night I see her Facebook posting that says "My family sucks, they know why". I left a nice comment that says she brought it on herself. She responded to the effect that it isn't her fault I'm a dick.
Well the truth of the matter is a little bit different. Not that I'm arguing her point about me being a dick, because I am sometimes, ...okay a lot of the time. But, I do blame this on her entirely. Now stay with me here. She knows I am into pranks. She also fouled up my Christmas gift guessing game a couple years, a long time ago, and she did it intentionally.
And as smart as she is, and she is getting better at her people smarts than she used to be, she is still gullible and easy to pull pranks on. She also knows that I love to pull pranks on people, and that I have virtually no life, therefore she should KNOW that she is a prime target here. And, to top it off, after actually thinking to question me, she buys my sheepish answer (and I suck at lying, over the phone or in person), and proceeds to get irritated at the gall my dad had to supposedly send a puppy to them. Like I said, she brought it on herself. I stand by my faked brilliance, and consider this prank a successful victory. My dad also does, as he called me back while I was still on the phone with Becky who was steamed at me. He laughed hysterically when I told him how she started the return phone call with me.
I'm beginning to think it is a Lovell male trait to laugh hysterically when we hear someone start cussing.
Getting into trouble (Sunday Afternoon): For Christmas this year, my grandmother and her husband (do I call him Grandpa or by his name? They just got married a few years ago, I don't understand the protocol here), sent us a Christmas card along with $25 in Target gift coins for each boy. Well, Sunday the boys and I ran over to Target so they could get the gifts they wanted, and then we could get a picture of them with their new loot to send off to my Grandmother.
So we get there, and they each get some random toy, but also each gets a sword of some sort. josh picked up a flip-action Star Wars light saber, and Corwyn got himself the sword that goes with his GI JOE Storm Shadow outfit he had worn for Halloween this last year. After we got home, some point later there was a sword fight. Then one of them got the grand idea of challenging me, or having the other brother challenge me. SO we dueled a few times, me vs one, then the other, then each other, all times with the two different swords. Well, we did this in the living room, right in front of the couch where my wife is reading her book. It didn't take long, but we got told to put the swords away after I made a mistake and accidentally shifted the wrong way and caught my wife in the face with the sword. So I apologized to the boys for getting us into trouble, and then as they took the swords to be put away, I sat down next to my wife and began to apologize to her. She told me not to sweet talk her. I said I wasn't, but merely apologizing. What I said next did me in for the day. I meant to say I was going to make it up to her (in a amorous tone of voice), but my speaking dyslexia kicked in and said I was going to let her make it up to me. I didn't realize until she repeated it back to me with an incredulous look on her face. I really need to learn to shut up, cut my losses and disappear after screwing up. I think it is almost in my favor to skip any apologies. I have a tendency to only make it worse, even if by accident. Of course opting out any attempts might get me in just as much hot water as screwing one up. Man, I am screwed!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Okay, So I've Not Blogged In Awhile
Sue me! It's the American Way, afterall! No seriously, though....
So yah, it's been awhile since I've blogged. A few people have wondered where I've been, if I died, been sick, or what?
Well, to answer these...I've been here, no, no, and who knows.
As I told Godfather here not that long ago, my motivation has been somewhat lacking. I hadn't found anything inspiring or entertaining to write about as of late. And while I've kept up reading everyone's blog, I've contented myself to sit back and watch other reader's commentary than provide much of my own. Maybe it's this wintertime crap. Subzero temperatures, even lower windchill variants, too much snow and ice, lots of cloudy days, and many of them I've been stuck working. I guess my creative mind has shut down a bit for a little hibernation of its own, as well as trying to squeeze in a little extra sleep (my coworkers and alarm companies havent been very cooperative in giving me my naps during worktime).
And I also suffer from some serious pseudo-medical maladies. The first and foremost is known as Laziness. I think about doing some things...but my body refuses to cooperate. Another thing that has taken its toll on me is called Old-Age. Now, some of you are probably reading this with incredulity, knowing I wont even be 30 years old until April. Well let me tell you...when you treat your body like I do...crap diet, little physical activity, smoking, little sleep.....you age yourself a lot quicker than just the time spent doing it. So while I may only be just shy of 30, I sometimes feel like I'm closer to getting my full-fledged AARP membership benefits.
This weekend didnt help any at all. Apparently my diet and eating habits in general decided to send me a message. While I wasn't sick, my infrastructure had some issues resulting in a LOT of pain. The last time I felt that kind of pain was a little over 9 years ago. And back then, I went to the doctor to spend hundreds of dollars to find out I could've fixed myself without their expertise. So this time, while I was in such excruciating pain, sleep was a luxury to achieve, I decided to be my own diagnosing doctor....and then made my wife take care of me a bit...or rather she took pity on me, and to keep me from being a useless and maximum pain in the ass, she made me do things I didnt care for to make sure I was going to return back to normal...in other words, my usual level of a pain in the ass, but somewhat useful on occasion. While the worst has passed, and (not to get into too much detail)I have retained the services of the Raisin Bran Regulatory Commission, I am still a bit of a flip flopper in my gut.
Getting old sucks.....to think that I probably have to use a fiber supplement to make sure I dont get into a position where I'd rather kill myself than put up with the temporary pain, pains me deeply. I pride myself on having a near perfect immune system, and while slightly more gelatinous than solidly muscular, having an optimum physique (slightly round so as to remain structurally intact in the event of a powerful midwestern earthquake), and a (mostly) sound mind. Admitting any sense of weakness, or need for help, is hard for me to do. But I suppose, in order to overcome the gradual aging process, I will have to first defeat the Lazy Disorder. Maybe I'll make that a New Year's Resolution in 2010! But so as not to be hasty in our decisions, we'll re-evaluate that as the time nears. WE may have to shop around for a consultant to do a few studies over the next few years to find the proper response to this all.
And as that which also comes with the aging male, the mini-midlife crisis has hit my mentality. Years ago, as a child, I saw myself pretty much ruling the world. Now before you get any ideas, I do rule a good portion of it....no mob hits happen to this day without my approval (of course, my approval comes after consulting with the Godfather....I don't need to get whacked yet, I'm not so stupid as to cut him out of the loop of credit here). Where was I? Oh yeah..midlife crisis..blah blah blah....mob hits, yada yada yada...So, here I am, not quite ruling the world as I had envisioned in my early years. And unlike my early years, I also have no dog. I have my cat, and the Colonel is great, but I grew up with BIG dogs, and like the idea of a dog. But, our landlords don't allow dogs. The few in the area that allow dogs, are either too expensive for my taste (if I'm gonna pay out the big dough, I'd beter own the damn place), or have restrictions on the size of dog....and I'm not a lover of small dogs. They're fine for other people to own, but not for me. So I started looking at the local area housing market. With the so-called "housing bubble", you'd think a house might be affordable for someone who makes less than $100,000 a year. Apparently the only thing the housing bubble caused was foreclosures, some bankruptcies, and some financial issues. But the housing prices overall have remained the same. Multiple houses are still being offered at multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars. Crap house still are close to $100k. Anything less will require massive cash amounts to fix up to code. It's a strange idea that noone can buy houses, and yet no concessions on prices are made to actually help these houses mvoe through the market to keep the system going. So anyways, I set a limit on houses I would consider, and even found a few decent looking ones (that even included ALL the appliances! Imagine, laundry getting done without having to procure rolls upon rolls of quarters!) nearby that would be big enough. Afterall this apartment is quite expensive for being a small space in a property that is poorly constructed and maintained, especially for a family of four, and the eventuality of a 3rd child. but the mortgage payments for anything decent....well let's just say, I'd need to work twice as much to make it feasible. I'm not looking for the 10,000 sq foot mansions in the elite neighborhoods...I'm talking simple $150,000 split levels, two sotry, and ranch style homes. Neverminding any of the utilities, and property taxes, plus costs for any repairs needed...the monthly payments are WAY above what I'm paying for this craphole of an apartment. And Apparently I was raised with some common sense and looked into the creative financing options, like those gambles of interest only loans....yuck. So for now, until we create a bigger cashflow stream, I guess we'll have to settle for what we have. But I still REALLY want a dog.....(hey, at least I'm not the guy with the midlife crisis who boes out and buys a corvette, a speedboat, takes up skiing and motorcycling, leaves his wife for a girl half his age [wow..a teenage girl...yuck}) I just want space for all of us and our stuff (mostly books and pictures)....and a dog!
So yah, it's been awhile since I've blogged. A few people have wondered where I've been, if I died, been sick, or what?
Well, to answer these...I've been here, no, no, and who knows.
As I told Godfather here not that long ago, my motivation has been somewhat lacking. I hadn't found anything inspiring or entertaining to write about as of late. And while I've kept up reading everyone's blog, I've contented myself to sit back and watch other reader's commentary than provide much of my own. Maybe it's this wintertime crap. Subzero temperatures, even lower windchill variants, too much snow and ice, lots of cloudy days, and many of them I've been stuck working. I guess my creative mind has shut down a bit for a little hibernation of its own, as well as trying to squeeze in a little extra sleep (my coworkers and alarm companies havent been very cooperative in giving me my naps during worktime).
And I also suffer from some serious pseudo-medical maladies. The first and foremost is known as Laziness. I think about doing some things...but my body refuses to cooperate. Another thing that has taken its toll on me is called Old-Age. Now, some of you are probably reading this with incredulity, knowing I wont even be 30 years old until April. Well let me tell you...when you treat your body like I do...crap diet, little physical activity, smoking, little sleep.....you age yourself a lot quicker than just the time spent doing it. So while I may only be just shy of 30, I sometimes feel like I'm closer to getting my full-fledged AARP membership benefits.
This weekend didnt help any at all. Apparently my diet and eating habits in general decided to send me a message. While I wasn't sick, my infrastructure had some issues resulting in a LOT of pain. The last time I felt that kind of pain was a little over 9 years ago. And back then, I went to the doctor to spend hundreds of dollars to find out I could've fixed myself without their expertise. So this time, while I was in such excruciating pain, sleep was a luxury to achieve, I decided to be my own diagnosing doctor....and then made my wife take care of me a bit...or rather she took pity on me, and to keep me from being a useless and maximum pain in the ass, she made me do things I didnt care for to make sure I was going to return back to normal...in other words, my usual level of a pain in the ass, but somewhat useful on occasion. While the worst has passed, and (not to get into too much detail)I have retained the services of the Raisin Bran Regulatory Commission, I am still a bit of a flip flopper in my gut.
Getting old sucks.....to think that I probably have to use a fiber supplement to make sure I dont get into a position where I'd rather kill myself than put up with the temporary pain, pains me deeply. I pride myself on having a near perfect immune system, and while slightly more gelatinous than solidly muscular, having an optimum physique (slightly round so as to remain structurally intact in the event of a powerful midwestern earthquake), and a (mostly) sound mind. Admitting any sense of weakness, or need for help, is hard for me to do. But I suppose, in order to overcome the gradual aging process, I will have to first defeat the Lazy Disorder. Maybe I'll make that a New Year's Resolution in 2010! But so as not to be hasty in our decisions, we'll re-evaluate that as the time nears. WE may have to shop around for a consultant to do a few studies over the next few years to find the proper response to this all.
And as that which also comes with the aging male, the mini-midlife crisis has hit my mentality. Years ago, as a child, I saw myself pretty much ruling the world. Now before you get any ideas, I do rule a good portion of it....no mob hits happen to this day without my approval (of course, my approval comes after consulting with the Godfather....I don't need to get whacked yet, I'm not so stupid as to cut him out of the loop of credit here). Where was I? Oh yeah..midlife crisis..blah blah blah....mob hits, yada yada yada...So, here I am, not quite ruling the world as I had envisioned in my early years. And unlike my early years, I also have no dog. I have my cat, and the Colonel is great, but I grew up with BIG dogs, and like the idea of a dog. But, our landlords don't allow dogs. The few in the area that allow dogs, are either too expensive for my taste (if I'm gonna pay out the big dough, I'd beter own the damn place), or have restrictions on the size of dog....and I'm not a lover of small dogs. They're fine for other people to own, but not for me. So I started looking at the local area housing market. With the so-called "housing bubble", you'd think a house might be affordable for someone who makes less than $100,000 a year. Apparently the only thing the housing bubble caused was foreclosures, some bankruptcies, and some financial issues. But the housing prices overall have remained the same. Multiple houses are still being offered at multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars. Crap house still are close to $100k. Anything less will require massive cash amounts to fix up to code. It's a strange idea that noone can buy houses, and yet no concessions on prices are made to actually help these houses mvoe through the market to keep the system going. So anyways, I set a limit on houses I would consider, and even found a few decent looking ones (that even included ALL the appliances! Imagine, laundry getting done without having to procure rolls upon rolls of quarters!) nearby that would be big enough. Afterall this apartment is quite expensive for being a small space in a property that is poorly constructed and maintained, especially for a family of four, and the eventuality of a 3rd child. but the mortgage payments for anything decent....well let's just say, I'd need to work twice as much to make it feasible. I'm not looking for the 10,000 sq foot mansions in the elite neighborhoods...I'm talking simple $150,000 split levels, two sotry, and ranch style homes. Neverminding any of the utilities, and property taxes, plus costs for any repairs needed...the monthly payments are WAY above what I'm paying for this craphole of an apartment. And Apparently I was raised with some common sense and looked into the creative financing options, like those gambles of interest only loans....yuck. So for now, until we create a bigger cashflow stream, I guess we'll have to settle for what we have. But I still REALLY want a dog.....(hey, at least I'm not the guy with the midlife crisis who boes out and buys a corvette, a speedboat, takes up skiing and motorcycling, leaves his wife for a girl half his age [wow..a teenage girl...yuck}) I just want space for all of us and our stuff (mostly books and pictures)....and a dog!
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