Hmmmmm

Not really sure what to write about today. Its extremely busy around here, the new guy started today plus all of my other daily duties. I don't even have time to whine about anything really. Although there is no shortage of topics around. I opened up Sunday's paper and before I could even get to the funnies I caught a glimpse of a story about pirates. No any midwest baseball team, real live pillaging and plundering pirates off the coast of Africa. And if that is not surprising enough, the luxury cruise ship, there is a reason they call them CRUISE ships and not RACING ships, actually fended them off and out ran them to safety. Now as far as pirates are concerned, they should just give it up and find another line of work. Come on, you got beaten, out ran, out hustled by a large cruise ship. Not a good day.

We are entering week 3 of our blessed union and no, it still feels the same, no difference. I still look at her picture and smile that goofy ear to ear grin. She is still the most beautiful woman in the world. My best friend. The one I want to tell everything to. The one I want to share everything with and the only person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I am happy that there are no changes to report there.

Later....for you.

Pondering

As the week winds down I am left pondering a few things. Lemme update you on what has been going on first. For those who have read, we have a temporary replacement starting Monday for one of our guys that are being deployed to Germany to backfill for some Iraq bound troops. The guy that is starting was NOT our pick, he was just ordained as the new guy. I sit in an enlarged office with 3 other guys from my group. When the guy who is leaving moved out, I was given his cube (it has a window, nuff said). Well come to find out that the guy that moved was moved into a cube of a lady that is on maternity leave. And there is an empty office within 5 paces of that cube. Makes no sense to me whatsoever. I just hope that when he returns to us in about 18 months that he gets his job back, not just any job, but the one he left. I know that he is guaranteed a position but it would be a waste for him not to get his back.

Another thing I am pondering. Actually, this is more of a running theme so far. Something was mentioned to me by a certain someone (whose NEW last name is so very close to my own) that she was asked how married life was, or how it was different. And she replied that there is no difference. I am not sure if this is age, experience, or just the state of our relationship but she is absolutely correct. Besides looking at new pictures and having to change her name with a lot, and I do mean a lot, of places (thank goodness she is organized), there really is no change in how I feel. Yeah, I do look at our pictures and smile, a lot. Yeah, I do enjoy calling her my WIFE. And Yeah, it did require some planning and some money to get the wedding done.

But it's not as if our lives took a new direction when we got married. We knew a long time ago that this was what we wanted. I love her more every day. I felt that way before we got married. I want to tell her everything I think and feel. Yup, same as before. I think about how my kids are changing and growing and how I am enjoying her experiencing that with me. There is not one thing between us that changed with getting married. So I guess my point is this...yes, I am very happy that we are husband and wife. But no, its not any more special than it was a month ago. We have had a special relationship from the beginning and I have a feeling deep down that it will stay that way for a very very long time.

Monday, Monday

I think that I shall never see a blog as lovely as a tree. Or something like that. Fall is all around us (check local listings in your timezone). The trees this year are giving us a beautiful display that was missing last year. It seemed like last year went from summer to winter without mother nature getting to show off her brilliant skill with the water colors. This year is much different. Just running errands this weekend, football, baseball, grocery store, whatever, is a wonder of hues and textures all around. I myself am a Spring sort of person. I love the first warm up after winter. The first weekend you can open up all of the windows and air things out. But this fall is getting my attention. The cool crisp evenings where a sweater or jacket is perfect. We just changed from daylight savings time so the viewing times will be noticable shorter and of course that next good rainfall and wind will take care of the trees but right now it is magnificient. And I don't know, maybe this fall is extra special for another reason too....

I really can't think of too much to go on about today. Friday was a follow up doctor visit and he confirmed that I have indeed lost some weight. Around 8 pounds and counting. Very good news, indeed. On the flip side, the last time I donated blood, the number from the Red Cross was 263. When I relayed that to my doctor he filled out a lab form and told me to get some blood work done before the next follow up visit. I guess with losing weight, if the number goes up, its time to fight it with medication. Which is fine with me. If I am doing the right things and its not helping where it should then fill out the scrip....I will meet you at Walgreens.

The world is as it is. Bush is still fighting to tread water. His second attempt to replace O'Conner is more of a safer choice. His first one failed miserably. Even his own party was questioning that nomination. Hurricane Beta is out there still, but weakening. Pro baseball and its steroid controversy is gone until February. The world series, as exciting as it was for the South side of Chicago, was boring for the rest of us. Football is nearing mid-season and yes, my hometown Bengals are in first place. That is something all its own. over 10 years of futility melting slowly away. The tightfisted owner, Mike Brown, meddled in the team and was woefully bad at making football decisions. Even to the point of being the last team in the NFL to have its own website. The old joke was this....You know why the Cincinnati Bengals don't have a website? Because they can't put 3 W's together! Get it? "www." 3 W's or 3 WINS? Yeah, we heard jokes like that for years. But anyway, I don't follow them too closely even when we do win. Closer to home, things are a bit busy. We have a list of things that need to be done from Thank you cards, to Christmas cards, shopping, getting everything that needs to be done after a wedding. It never stops but then I wouldn't have it any other way.

I am hoping to carry over the weight loss into the next year. Going to start getting more exercise as well as keeping tabs on the food intake. All this being said as I sit and think about 3 pieces of birthday cake sitting at home on the counter.

I went on a 2 week diet and all I lost was 14 days...

Thats an old line from many a diet joke and I am not quite sure why but I like it.

There is really only one topic that I am going to touch on today. I am not going to go on about the war, even though we are burying another local soldier today. The world series is exciting, seeing the Pale Hose go up 3 games to nil and looking pretty unbeatable right now. The hurricanes, Katrina, Wilma, and now to answer a trivia question for you....they start using the Greek alphabet after our own has been exhausted. Yes, tropical storm/depression/whatever Alpha is out there somewhere. Beta and the rest of the college fraternity will be along as soon as class is over. There is even a new virus being transmitted by birds that has the global medical community up in arms. But, those are all pretty secondary, to me anyway, right now.

I got married Sunday. Yes, I mentioned it several times here and counted down and went on and on about it. Now it is done. And yes, this is also why I have not updated the blog in about a week. The days leading up to the blessed event were a bit hectic, in my own little world. God bless the fact that I really didn't have that much to do or take care of. The new Mrs. and her sister were the masters of making the wedding happen. I made sure ME, the KIDS, and the TUXEDOS arrived on time. That's pretty much all I had to do. And I can say with some confidence that I did my job fairly well (please excuse me while I pat myself on the back). Now, having been married once before, I have developed a little opinion on marriage. Of course I have, hasn't everyone?

A good marriage is the best thing that anyone can be a part of. You have with you a best friend, someone that will listen when you need them too. A shoulder to lean on. Someone that will tell you when you have a huge green something-or-other in your teeth without making a big deal over it. Someone that makes you feel secure in everything that you do. Supports you, even when they may not agree with you, but they know its important to you. Someone that you can be sitting in the same room with, pause over that cup of tea or book or even during a commercial and just look at and feel right. Its not about 'never having to say your sorry', its about saying your sorry and knowing that you are forgiven. Knowing that you trust each other in every way. The foundation of any relationship is trust and to have a true partner you have to be able to trust them and yourself.

People say alot about soul mates, the perfect person, etc etc etc...and that is all well and good but it is also about your partner being able to take you as you are. Not perfect, not always agreeing with every decision. Being able to be thier own person. Being a partner in life.

I have that partner. I have that best friend. I have someone that I can look at and look to...that I know feels the same way about me that I do about her. I have someone that I can trust with the most important things and the most unimportant things. I have someone that I can grow with and grow old with. There is truly nothing better.

Respect? What's that?

Today is gonna be set aside for some serious bitching. One of my co-workers is being deployed to Germany to back fill for some troops in the Gulf. Not what I am bitching about, be patient. We are a small group of 4 so losing 25% of our staff is a hard hit, especially for a year and a half. No, still not what I am bitching about, gimme a few more minutes. So we know we hafta get someone in here to supplement his absence. So our boss, who is the nicest guy in the world, starts the interview process. We interview several guys over the phone, finally paring the group down to a few that will come in for a face to face. The face to face interviews go well and, as a group and this is very important, we decide on one guy. No dissention, no debate. One guy stands out as the man. His combination of skills and personality are a true fit. Probably better than the impression that I made when I interviewed (more on that later). See, in our group we are network admins. We have a certain level of skill that fits this position. When I interviewed, I will admit, my skill set was a bit more in depth for this position. But I interviewed well and in my defense, this was and is the type of position and company that I am looking for. I am older, I have been around this industry in this town for over 15 years so when I say that I want a certain position in a certain company, I know what I want. Yes, I am in full bitch mode right now but NO, this is still not exactly what I want to bitch about! So anyway, I got the position here and I know there were some opinions that I was a little too experienced and that I would get bored here.

Now, we had made our opinions known about our favorite candidate and the reasons why we thought he was the one to go with. Our boss even agreed, for a period of time anyway. About a week and a half later, and after two or three more phone interviews we are told that a decision is made and that another candidate has been chosen. The guy chosen is young, hungry and very skilled. He is/was an enterprise admin that seems to be on the way up and he wants it quickly. He said some things in the face to face interview that made it very apparent that he wants certain things out of his next job. The guy we had chosen was more reserved and a bit more stable as far as career path is concerned. But it seems that it didn't matter. We had an end around done on us. No reason why, just done. Why have us interview? Why ask us who we would prefer? Why ask our opinion at all? I have a theory as to why it was done this way and I am pretty sure about this theory although it has not been proven. Time will tell. I will keep an open mind and remember that I might have been thought of the same way. But I will also be on the look out for some signs. I will know them when I see them.

You really can't lick your elbow....it's impossible.

Stop trying too...stop thinking about it. You really can't do it. We are down to 12 days, not counting today, that is about half over. Not getting nervous, not yet at least. It will be interesting to see if I in fact do get nervous before hand. I am usually one that doesn't get anxious or nervous until its time. We'll see. Next weekend is a busy one so that will keep my mind off of it until the drive there on Sunday. My kids will be there so getting them ready and keeping them calm will help keep my mind occupied. Of course, chatting about it here doesn't help matters at all, so.....on to other topics.

Not too much new to talk about although I did read a "sort of" rant from a sports writer on ESPN.com. I read his articles when I can and last week he had interjected some opinions during an interview/article. His rant was on blogs in particular. He makes a really good point. There are a lot of popular blogs out there, this one NOT included, and some of them are taken as journalism by some when in fact most blogs are just opinions or diaries on OTHER events that someone has written or said something about. Someone will take the time and effort to run down facts, check and double check information, and then publish that information in a news source. Then, and I am as guilty as the next, someone on line like a blogger will rip that information to shreds. And even the author will get caught in the sights and suffer the wrath of the opinion. There are actually people out there who think that these blogs and thier bloggers are journalists or in some way are disseminating news when all it is is opinion. And the topper is that the blog is then quoted and re-quoted like it was the official news source. This is one of the products of the Internet. Remember, I am a geek, and I love the Internet. It has afforded me many conveniences over the last several years. And although I do not update this blog as often as I would like, I do like the medium. So I am not in any way condemning blogs or the media, I am just saying that we need to remember where our information comes from before we preach it as gospel. It wasn't that long ago that TV was railed against as being the idiot box that did nothing but rot our brains with useless information and opinion.

One more topic then I will close it up for the day. We attended a wedding of a friend of mine over this past weekend. It was a very nice wedding of a friend of mine that truly deserves to be happy. The reception was good. I saw a lot of people that I hadn't seen in a while and was able to sit at a table with had some good conversation. The one downside was that another friend that is getting married this coming weekend had his bachelor party the same night. Basically even the same time so I missed it. I am not upset that I missed it, it was pretty typical as far as bachelors parties go. But the common thread is that both friends are 40ish and just now getting married for the first time. I was, and still am, of the mindset that getting married, for the first time anyway, in your 20's is ok. Maybe its just me but is this a trend? 40? I know, I know, here I am pushing 40 and getting married but this is my second one so this doesn't count. Why? Because I said so, thats why! It is just interesting that both are happening so close in time together. I tend to enjoy the fact that my kids are well on thier way to being grown up. My grandkids, should I be lucky enough to have any, will have a fairly young grandpa around. And yes, an even younger grandma, I know you are younger than me! Back to my point. I will be young enough to enjoy the time with them. I will also be young enough to enjoy my retirement and the golden years without having to worry about raising a teenager. If we want to pick up and drive across country then we can. I understand that there is another opinion of waiting till you are older and more mature so you can enjoy your 20s and travel and work and save money. I understand that side and I respect it.

On the diet front...keeping steady with a few more pounds lost. I do have a doctor's appt coming up soon but no blood work on the horizon until December of this year.

Yes, it is Monday, why do you ask?

Today is Monday...every last freakin second of it is. Monday. It started out like a Monday, and it's rolling along smacking me in the back of the head just like a Monday. As I share this little tale with you and I whine about things, like I am wont to do, keep in mind that just about everything that I whine about is totally controllable by me, myself, and I. I know this, I really do, but sometimes you just gotta let it out.

Getting up this morning was ok. Got some lunch ready, packed up a naner and a really good apple fresh from Michigan. Except for my better half still being a bit ill, just a cough as she would say, I was cruisin. Get her to work and remember that I still have this lovely little wire attachment hanging from the back of my vehicle hitting the road whenever I hit a bump. Ok, get out at her work and take everything out of the trunk. What? You mean I didn't tell you about my cool little SUV feature with the full-sized spare? The spare tire, full-sized as it is, is hidden under the back of my car. There is a small slot just above the rear bumper that you insert a tool in (keep your jokes to yourself) and you turn the tool and the spare tire just lowers itself to the ground. Very Cool! Well, as I was changing tires this weekend I put the old tire in my trunk and forgot to raise the cable back up so there it was all weekend. Anyway, I got that back up and took off. Get to the parking garage, get my stuff and head toward the office. Just a reminder, I have a 15 minute walk to my building. I get up the elevator and to the door (which is locked and guarded by a badge reader, and you guessed it, I left my badge in the car. I usually get to work fairly early and the only guy I know of that gets there earlier is out on PTO today so I push the down button on the elevator and head back to my car. Now by the time I get BACK to my office, I am not so early any more. Ok, so now I am at my desk, sweating because I hurried back up the hill to the office, and I logon to get some work done. BAM, our weekly computer backups are down because of a hardware failure. Woo hoo, we are having some fun now. I am talking this little development over with a co-worker (remember, I am no longer early so everyone is here now), and the conversation morphs into a bitch session about our boss. More on that little topic later. As the morning trudges on, the Ex calls. Of course she does, it's MONDAY! Helloooo, if I were paying attention I would have seen that one coming. One consolation to the conversation, at least she is not bitching AT me ABOUT me, she is just bitching AT me about one of the kids. His grades were going fairly well until last week. Now they have tanked and she is fed up. From what I have seen lately these two individuals are like oil and water. Now, I know he is a teenager, and I know how she is, but still...she is asking for this the way she is trying so damned hard to be thier best friend instead of thier mother. Then when she has to put her foot down there is no respect there at all. He actually told me this weekend that he understands why I divorced her and that he would do the same thing if he could. I had to really try not to laugh at that one. Anyway, she is going on and on about his grades and his attitude. I listen, like I was gonna get a word in edgewise anyway, and hang up. So now I start explaining my morning to my dearest and she, like always, listens patiently and offers advice at the right times. I continue complaining about my morning, work, traffic, the boss, work, the ex, work, and work. Totally forgetting that she is sitting at her desk sick. So now, not only am I whining about silly crap, I am totally taking for granted my soon-to-be spouse just because I was forgetful and married the wrong woman several years ago. I apologize, profusely. I still don't feel any better but she wouldn't let me feel bad about that, she is that type of person. Hence the "BETTER" half title she wears.

Other wonderful things like, spilling coffee on my shoes, having our bathroom become the exit to the 7th floor roof for our HVAC installers, getting an email about an overdue library book that I forgot about, etc...all happen on days just like today...Monday.