Looks like someone's got a case of the Mondays....

Yeah, Monday. After a weekend where the latest I got out of bed in the morning was 6, today is turning into a very Monday-like day. I am just whining cuz I am tired. I'll quit whining...oooohhhh...about Wednesday I think. Nevermind why, nunya. I will probably post it here anyway either Tuesday or Wednesday but for now, its nunya. Being the geek that I am I spent a good deal of the last several work days trying to work out some issues with my PDA. I have a Palm Pilot and yes, I love it. But for some mind numbing reason it will not be recognized by my laptop or anything else for that matter. I still use it for dates, notes, etc...but no email sync right now. It sucks. The conclusion that I came to? Blow the laptop away and start over. I emailed Palm support for most of this morning and besides the long emails with all of the disclaimers and legal crap in them, I got nowhere. I did get a phone # and a message telling me that they will charge me $25 for a tech support call where I actually get to talk to someone instead of emailing them. I already paid for the damned product, why do I have to pay for service? Anyway, instead of paying and since re-imaging is a fairly simple process, that is the route I am taking. So tomorrow I will spend a good amount of time copying data and settings off to a CD for the rebuild process that will happen on Wednesday.

I did not weigh myself this weekend so no update there, but I did make a huge pot of chili last night so weight loss this week does not look favorable. Today is one of my kids' birthday so we are going to see him instead of working out. TOMORROW we will get to the gym. I better get some sleep if I intend on doing any sort of exercise tomorrow. Either that or hook up a coffee IV.

PLEASE READ THE ARTICLE, PLEASE

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/tom_verducci/08/23/honor.accountable/index.html

Above is a link to an article that was posted on Sport's Illustrated's website. I bed, implore, plead, ask, whatever it takes for anyone and everyone who reads to please read this article. This does not just cover sports but life in general. And with that you will know my greatest pet peave of them all....accepting responsibility.

Oh, and 2 more pounds! Thanks, hun, you were right, as usual!!!!!!!

A real update

It's been a few days since my last post. Things at work at a bit hectic. It seems like we can't get everyone in our office to be here for a full week. Lemme splain..there are 4 of us in our group. And it seems as though we never have all 4 of us here at the same time. This week one of us is out for some training. The week before, one of the guy's wives had a baby. Before that, vacations. It's always something. The hardest part is not picking up the extra work, its making sure that YOUR work gets done in the process. I think I have a pretty good system when we are short handed. I can usually put my stuff off for a day or two then get ahead on the new stuff and be able to end the week without getting behind. At least, thats the plan.

Back to my title...yes, I have a real update. I have actually managed to lose 2 pounds over the last 4 days. And I have actually been keeping track of it. I am not one to weigh everyday. I think that defeats the purpose. If I did that, then I would be depressed every other day. It seems that if I check only once a week, or maybe twice a week, then things are much better in the morale department.

Also, there is an update to my quest to get back in touch with some of my old buddies from school. After dinner a week or so ago with one of them, I caught up with a cop buddy and found out that he had met someone and was actually pretty excited about it. At least, he was excited about the sex. Heard back from him, and apparently he only attracts the psychos. Or at least that is her label now.

Days like these...

There are days like this one that make me want to take a person that creates a virus, tie them upside down and naked to the nearest tree and introduce them to a very angry hive of bees, wasps, hornets, and some fire ants just for good measure. Dealing with all variants of the latest worm that has been spreading. Thank god we have not been hit but since I am in charge of patch management then its my job to schedule, update, and reboot all of our affected systems. So today has been completely unproductive and puts me yet another day behind on every other project I need to get done. Wonderful. I know I have commented on these life-less pubescent, dateless, idiots, but come on. Find something better to do.

Nuggets of wisdom

Ha, had you fooled. Wisdom is one word not usually associated with me. There will be no nuggets here, unless they fall into the catagory of chicken nuggets. Looks like someone is gonna start working out again. And actually, its about time. The stalemate that is my diet progress needs a bump. Plus, with summer winding down, sports are not nearly as prevalent. Yes, there is football practice but that won't last too much longer and seriously, I need to do this. The kids are going to have to understand that the exercise for me is just as important or maybe more than going to every single practice. It just has to be done. I am thinking of going back to a routine that worked for me quite a few years ago. Alternating between heavy arobic and lifting, every other session. I will do both, just emphasise the arobic one day with light lifting then the next heavier lifting with light arobic. The key is going to be making sure I do arobic every time. That is gonna be the key to losing weight for me, at least I think it will be. We'll see come next week. At least I hope so. Packing that bag in the a.m. and taking it to work is harder than it sounds at 5:30. But we did it before and we can do it again!!!!!!

TGIF

cliche? maybe. happy? definitely. Tonight we are meeting up with an old friend of mine that I grew up with (see previous post). Gonna meet at a Friday's type place, take that you unintended punsters! It will definitely be interesting. This particular friend of mine married a girl several years ago that wasn't the most popular girl we had met. But then niether was my first wife. Lemme tell ya a little story....

The day before the wedding, all of the guys in my wedding party showed up at my mom's apartment looking to take me out on the town. Now granted, it was a nice gesture, but the night before?? No way would I have done that. Of course, the evil ex was not about to let me have some fun so she poo'd poo'd the idea anyway. But the last thing I needed to be was green around the gills standing at my own wedding. So anyway, they ended up taking my younger brother, all of 17 at the time, and got him stinking drunk. Glad I didn't go. Suffice to say, the guys blamed the wife. A few days after the wedding they all showed up at our apartment airing thier gripes. I told them in no uncertain terms that if they were looking for me to make a choice between them and my new wife then they were gonna be disappointed. Of course, I was the first to get married so they had absolutely NO freakin clue what they were asking and what they were putting me through but the did it and I chose the wife. I know, I know, hindsight is always 20/20 and I know my current soon-to-be wife would NEVER make me choose or even LET me make that choice. You can have both. And, now that they are all married, its interesting to see exactly what kind of choices they have made. I can actually sit back and laugh at the fact that they might have actually learned something from that little confrontation. So anyway, it will be an interesting little get together. I am hoping that we can reminisce, tell some kid stories, maybe share some pics, and then make a habit out of getting together. But we'll see. Its not that I don't want to hang out, lord knows that friends are hard to come by, especially ones that stick around, but there is always the intangibles, the things you can never really plan on. Lets just say that I am limiting myself to one beer tonight. The only thing his wife said as she yelled to the phone last night was "find someplace cheap to get drunk". Nuff said.

Fat people are harder to kidnap!

That is my new mantra. Actually its just as good as an excuse for not losing weight. This way I am assured to be around longer. The only drawback to that is that I will be alone and around longer. Maybe I better think that one through. Well, the only real update I have is that we all, and I mean the kids too, visited the nutritionist yesterday. She was very nice and the kids liked her. There are and were a few issues to deal with. My oldest seems to think that this means he will starve to death but we are working on it. We got some questions answered and some good information. Now to implement the changes. Slowly, but surely it will get done. I would like to see a definitely change in everyone by next spring. Not necessarily a lot of weight lost but some more positive blood tests. The whole weight thing will follow naturally. We learned about the right kinds of fats. Mono and Poly. Saturated fats are a no no. Fried foods are bad. Duh. I knew that but just kind of ignored it. Dairy is important. Sugar is bad. Lots of things like that. She wants status reports too. I just hope that some of this, any of it, gets through to thier mom. She didn't show up, which left my oldest upset, so she is getting everything from him and me as far as information. There is about a 5 percent chance that she will actually help us with this. But oh well, all we can do is what we can do.
Oh, yeah, one other thing I wanted to touch on. I have started trying to reconnect with some old buddies of mine. From grades school and high school. So far so good. I have had some really good converstations. There was a group of about 6 of us, give or take one or two at any given time. Most have kids and are or were married. Most of them called me back when I called them, which was cool actually. That meant that I hadn't burned any bridges over the years. Its gonna be harder to actually get to see them but I am working on that too. Why all of this, you ask? Because friends are too valuable to let go, even if it seems like you already have. There are a few friends of mine that I have literally not seen in almost 20 years. It seems like not that long ago when I wasn't even 20 years old. A few of these guys I have knows since I was 10. That would be 26 years! School, work, fishing, camping, traveling. All the things I did growing up I did with friends. Calling them, at least some of them, required the appropriate amount of pride swallowing. But once you said Hi, it was like old times. Only now, WE are old and not the times. All of them are around my age, a year or two older or younger maybe. Most of us at the same stage in life. Late 30's, working through the career, kids, wife (first or second). Most of us glad to have the opportunity to get back in touch and recount some memories. Maybe that is what I will update instead of that damned diet thing.

Welcome home!!!!

To the shuttle crew. Home being Earth. They landed in Cali instead of Florida due to weather problems. I am not a huge proponent of the space program. I do like that fact that we can do that and I feel that the experiments are somewhat important (whatever they are) but sit and think about what happens when we goto space. It's mind boggling enough to think about what is involved in making several hundred tons of metal fly across the country, along with hundreds of other similar shaped objects flying at the same time, and land safely exactly where they said they would. But space. That is uber-mind boggling. Putting man in orbit around our planet. Through the atmosphere. Landing safely. I can't wrap my pea brain around that. Hell, I am lucky to understand the mechanics of a hamster wheel. The engineering behind the preparation, take-off, flight, the freakin space walks, and the descent and landing. Even if the space program itself is unimportant, the science and brain power and bravery it has taken to get us to this point is amazing.

The other welcome home is not so amazing. I live in Ohio, if you haven't gotten that from previous posts. Southwest corner, Cincinnati. 14 Marines killed the other day. All from Ohio. 5 from my little corner of the world. As I progress towards true middle age and my kids fly through thier childhood, my view point on war changes a bit. I am still very patriotic. I still believe that the sacrifice for this country, the greatest one for a whole lot of reasons, is the greatest sacrifice that can be made. We are free for a reason. And there are 14 more reasons coming home to Ohio. I am sad for the families. I am proud to be an American. I am proud to be free. I am proud to know that I can go down the hall in my office and debate the war, the president, and the local government without worrying that I might be dragged off to jail. But the closer my kids get to the age where they might be the ones fighting the more worried I get. I know it's normal and it doesn't sway my opinion of politics in general but it does make me think just a bit more about the reasons we goto war. Speaking of reasons...gas is $2.50 a gallon!!!! What the hell is going on here? W or someone around him had better get thier you know what together or every republican in Washington is going to be out of a job. I am no idealist, I know one thing sways voters more than any other. What have you done for me lately. I know that morals play a part. I know that character and service and intelligence are all factors. But I also know that if voters have to pay $3 a gallon on thier way to the voting booth in 08, then there are gonna be changes.

Proof positive that not everyone is like that jerk that cut you off this morning

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/sports/12311591.htm

Here is a story that flies in the face of everything that you have been hearing about baseball players this year. Including much of what I have been ranting about since most of what you hear from the media these days is all about the bad stuff. And I am lucky enough to live in the same town that these guys play in. Hopefully you will read this story but let me give you the Reader's Digest version. This boy's grandpa had a heart attack in the stands of the Reds game last night. The security guard took the boy to the bullpen while the EMTs worked on his grandpa. As they took his grandpa to the hospital and before his parents got there, the Reds players (including some very well paid superstars) took him on the field for the post game high fives, they took him to the locker room and showered him with gifts including a batting helmet worn by one of the guys that played in the All Star game. Truly class acts all the way. And the quote by Junior? Its just a game that we play. Finally a professional athlete that gets it. And it gets buried deep. Nowhere on ESPN.com do we see this story. Not even on the MLB pages. The same with SI.com. But we can keep hearing about Palmiero's steroid problem. How festivities are cancelled. How the feds might be looking at purjery charges. I guess that is what sells. I emailed this to just about everyone I knew. Hopefully everyone will get to read it.

Why do men have nipples?

I hafta admit, I love that question. I saw it today and it actually made me stop and think. Those of you who know me at all know that making me stop AND think in the same day is a hard feat to accomplish. But it does beg the question. I know there is a scientific answer but who cares about that.

I actually have another topic for my little corner of the world today. Baseball. Not the game where pros take illegal substances, lie before thier friends and God, then get caught. I am talking about the game that boys play. I was emailed a wonderful article

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/31/opinion/31brooks.html?ex=1123819200&en=a92c185d1572be07&ei=5070&emc=eta1

This article says it all about the last several years of my family's existence. My oldest son and now my youngest too, both play for select baseball teams. By select, I mean that they had to try out and make the team. Now, this seems a bit harsh at 9 years old (my youngest) but he requested it. My oldest (13) is still in that world until he joins the high school team after next summer. But that article really describes the world that everyone lives in that shares the dream of being truly good at a sport that you love as a child. My oldest enjoys two things in life...baseball and the outdoors. If he is not playing or practicing baseball then he is fishing or hunting or swimming or something outside. He plays and practices baseball in the dead of winter too. So does my youngest. I will admit, I feed the desire. I am 100 percent behind my kids if they want to pursue something with this kind of passion. I do not push them, I do not live my childhood through them, but I do enjoy going and being part of an extended family of parents that love thier kids as much as I do. That statement may sound a bit harsh. I am not insinuating that parents that don't drive thier kids all over God's creation just to swing a bat for an hour in a cage with a retired minor leaguer love thier kids any less than I do but when you spend a couple of hours a day several days a week for more than 8 months out of the year spread out over several years with the same group of parents and kids, you definitely feel a sense of family about them. It just happens. And its good. My sons have made friends that they would have never made if they had not had this experience. The same with me and my fiancee. When we find out that one or more kids are leaving the team or that the team is breaking up (both of which happen over time, that part is inevitable too), it hurts. Maybe you keep in touch, maybe you don't. Either way, I feel that everyone is better off for the experience. There are two reasons why I went on this rant today, the first one is because of the article that I linked, the second is that my son decided not to return to his main team next year. Why is not important. The important thing is that we made a lot of friends, some that I would consider close. Those experiences and those relationships will carry with me for a lifetime and for that I can never be sorry. I will miss everyone. Some of them I will see again, either through continued friendships or at the baseball field by chance, but I will miss them none the less.

not worth mentioning but who cares....it's my blog

I did read today that the golfer, John Daly, is gonna attempt to hit a golf ball from the Canadian side of Niagara Falls to the American side. From table rock point to goat island. The only relevance this has is that I was just there and visited both sites. That's one helluva golf shot. I read that it's 350 yards in the air. It looked a lot farther than that. Ole John is a big boy too, likes his food and beer. Has had some issues dealing with the fame he got in the 90's but is a good golfer since he has one 2 majors. I like him, the every man's golfer. Sort of the Arnie of my generation. Although with not as much winning potential. Good luck John. I will be channel surfing tonight looking for the video.

Let me drop what I am doing and work on YOUR problem!

Not much going on today. Busy catching up some, still. Not sure if the whole diet update thing is a good idea since I know subconciously I am not weighing myself due to the potential for depression when I see that I have made no freakin progress whatsoever. Of course, I haven't gone to the gym either and my excuses (baseball season) are long over. Of course, I probably don't want to change too much since I have a tuxedo to fit into. Yeah, Yeah, that's it. I can't get into losing weight because the tux won't fit right if I lose too much between fittings. Whew, for a second there I thought I was truly out of excuses.

I'm back....

Ah yes, first day back from vacation. What a relief it is to get back to work. All of that relaxation, stressless days, sleep, fun...it was all getting to be too much. I need to hear the grinding of my teeth at night, the coffee induced meetings, the pain flaring up in my wrists from the incesant typing day after day. Now THAT'S fun. Enough sarcasm (if you can ever have enough). Vacation was awesome. A few notes on the Niagara area. The US side, touristy and not as well kept at the Canadian side. The falls...you must see them in person. There is no way that pictures or video or words can do them justice. Awesome. Mother Earth/Nature at her most powerful. There were a lot of statistics thrown around in various tours, brochures, etc...but the amount of water and the power at which it flows is staggering. Along with the amount of people there to see it. We stayed on the US side, due mainly to price and toured the Canadian side while we stayed. While the US side was a bit more touristy, the Canadian side can keep up the area due mainly to it's pricy sites. Almost $20 just to park near the area. There is a main strip just up from the falls that reminds one of the Gatlinburg area on steroids (insert your own Rafael Palmiero pun here). Lets just say that there was enough on both sides for us to stay busy for the entire time we were there. No boredom allowed. The border crossings were good, faster than I had expected given the current climate and the recent London activity. Even though there were lines it moved quickly. The drive up and back, yes we drove, was good. Yes, 4 people in a car for over 8 hours and we arrived without killing anyone. The kids were great the whole trip. I even got to spend some time with my oldest son fishing. He turned 13 right after we got back. He really enjoyed it and so did I. In fact, he got a set of golf clubs for his birthday and I made a tee time for early that morning so he could use them first thing. Dad of the year material right here. Actually, the idea is mostly my sweetie's and I am just taking credit for it. :-)

We bought a few bottles of local wine from the areas. An Icewine from Canada, a local New York wine along with that. Really building up our collection nicely. We also started a magnet collection of all of the states we have visited together. I have a feeling it won't be long before our fridge door is going to look like a really wierd Rand McNally map.

Other than that, we got more of the wedding items marked off. Got the gazebo/chapel booked and the invites sent to the printers. Ordered the boys' gift. Got the Announcements ordered also. Things are starting to fall into place. T minus 84 and counting. I can't wait.