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19-AUG-2007 - The Social Life, and Then Some As with any large gap between journal entries, a lot has happened. And as with that, I'm not going to remember all that much of it. For the most part I've been trying to salvage as much of summer as possible. As the weather goes, it's sort of been sputtering out lately. There are still a number of motorcycle days left, but there hasn't been much in the severe heat department. Last night Mike, Jessica and I had another go at BD's Mongolian Grill. The food was amazing as usual. Afterward we returned to my house and got started watching Æon Flux, which we've sort of been meaning to get around to. There are only ten episodes, and then the live-action film adaptation, so we should be able to get through them all before Mo gets back from Japan. After which we'll all be back to anticipating the new season of BSG, and searching for a new series to conquer. After the food and anime, the three of us headed out to Robert's housewarming party. Delirium Tremens was on tap, if you can believe that. Robert hand-crafted some spicy buffalo tofu "wings", which were so good even the carnivores were raving. We mingled with some good people, and met some new good people. If you've never heard a live rendition of "Two Cats Fucking outside my Window", I highly recommend it. The three of us stayed way later and drank more than we should have. But it was a great time. Last weekend I also spent some time with Mike and Jess. This time in Madison, we hit the UW Union Terrace for some live music and good beer. After some bar-hopping and an amazing grasshopper at the Nitty Gritty, we headed out to La Bamba for some "burritos as big as your head". On the way down East Wash, we had the pleasure of watching some motorcyclists stand upright on their seats, ride side-saddle, ride backwards, and nearly wipe out by attempting all this. I got some of it on film, which I'll post in time. I ended up crashing in Madison that night. It should be noted that Mike and I spent part of that same day detailing the cars (he and Jess bought a new Subaru), and crafting the first draft of the endlessly talked about "3BDVD". We digitized a number of our old high school AV projects, and backed them up properly, in a format that will not deteriorate over time. The first rendition of the DVD is truly excellent, and I'm very happy with it. The next steps are to gather more material from Matt, Joanna, and any others that may have some history on VHS, and add that to the collection. I'm hoping we will have some time coming up to resurrect the long-stale Channel3B.com and host the videos online. Other than these rather productive events, Scott has crashed at my house twice recently, with the baby. He's looking to move back to Milwaukee and is checking out places while Talia gets some hours in at work. Mike and I put a new front and back door on my house. I was asked politely go fuck myself in a move that resurrected the 6th grade note-passing mentality. I planted some more last-minute perennials in the front flower garden. And I bought a microphone for my iPod for yet another art project that's so far only in my head. All-in-all, a good couple of weeks. 02-AUG-2007 - Blind Trust & More  29-JUL-2007 - It's Called a Changeover The last two weeks are a blur. Work remains busy. Friends remain busy. I've been pushing OT pretty hard, which has a strange effect on time in general. I just found out Eric and Toni moved to New York, which is impressive. I didn't realize they had ever left Madison. A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to see Meg again, for the first time in probably a year. She lives in Chicago, which is not far, but crossing paths is somehow difficult with a number of people I miss. Last weekend I picked up Willow, her boyfriend Thomas, and their son Cyprus from the airport. They are temporarily moving to Germantown. It will be nice to see Willow more than the usual once or twice a year, at least for as long as it lasts. Biking, in this moment, seems like it's keeping me alive. It was an up-and-down week as far as the weather, but I've been riding every day that's possible, and others that are too close to call. I've "bike-pooled" 2 or 3 times with Marcy, and today I spent nearly the entire day roaming Milwaukee with Mike and Matt, searching for our future investment property, as well as hitting new eateries. While we were out enjoying the summer the best way possible, Becky was in the process of vacating our former home together, and my current home alone. There are a few tiny traces left, including the cats, which will be handled in the next few days. But overall, it's done. It feels like the time between feeling like I had to do something and not, saying I would, finally actually doing it, and the final result of that action has taken only seconds. I suppose it's the sort of thing that one is glad is finally over. But I don't really feel like that. I'm terribly sad about it, and I'm not sure exactly what to do about that yet. 16-JUL-2007 - Dead of Summer I've been having a lot of fun with Becky lately. It's a great feeling, although tainted with sadness considering she's leaving shortly. In the last week we've gone out for ice cream on the motorcycle, started a dangerously large back yard bonfire, drank ourselves silly, stayed in for a little Nip/Tuck, and went out to see the new Harry Potter movie. I don't seem to have a shortage of things to do these days, and it's nice to have someone to bum around with on occasion. Aside from the roommate bonding, I'm focusing a lot of attention on the yard, and specifically the garage. The new roof has finally been installed, and as I suspected it would, it's jump-started my desire to spruce up the back yard. In the last few days I've spent some time weeding, and trying to clean up what's left of the wood pile, which came with the house. Once that's out of the way, the back of the garage will be fully accessible. I'm currently prepping for some improvements with small but useful first steps. I've cement-caulked the handful of minor cracks between the bricks on the garage. I'm going to seal the entire outside and inside walls next. After that I think I'll work from the outside in. I'm replacing the windows, adding flower boxes, covering the outside wall with bamboo to tie-in with the future zen garden theme. Once I get to the interior, I have a new garage door opener to install, and I'll be shopping for cabinets, drawers, and light fixtures later to better organize the inside. I'm trying to get this garage project all out of the way before summer is out, since it's not exactly a winter project, and I can save all my indoor ideas for then. I'm reaching the point where I'm growing concerned about finances again. The roommate situation is going to set me back, and after I've recovered from recent, more serious blows, I'm not interested in having to tackle one more financial issue. The annoying repetition of this theme in my life is growing rather tiresome. I was (and am) moments away from zero debt, and now I'll be pinching pennies again until I get through yet another difficulty. The possibility of continuing along that line of progress does exist, but my so-called "fun-money" would have to take the hit. I got pretty good at not spending excessively when I was trying to pay off debt and save up for the house at the same time. I suspect I can do something like that again, but after all this time and work, I'm not certain that I really want to. Melissa has been in Japan for about a week now, and will remain there until September 10th. It's her 5th trip there. Most of the free time I have now is spent on things already mentioned here. The rest of it mostly on contemplation and reading. I'm putting in some more OT at work, which for the most part is needed anyway, in respect to the above paragraph. Mike, Jess, and I have tentative plans to watch the Æon Flux series while Mo is away, and finish up with the movie. This would also keep us on our series-watching game plan and pass more time until Battlestar finally starts up again. I don't have much else going on. Summer is slowly crawling by. I'm happy so far with the things I've managed to do with it, including as much motorcycle time as possible, and a lot of good progress on the yard and house. I'd like to keep up with that momentum for a while. 07-JUL-2007 - Asses and Robots It's possible that the wrong sorts of searches (via Google, Yahoo, etc) are leading people to my website. While I am confident that my core audience is nearly entirely made up of people I actually know in my life, it is the internet. And it is public. People are going to find it. It would be nice if people were finding it because they were looking for art, photos, oddities, movie and music info, etc. On occasion this does happen, the best example being a graphic arts student at the Art Institute of San Diego, California locating me via a search for Photoshop art. She contacted me and ended up doing a school project on myself and my small collection of Photoshop art pieces. Regardless of this shining example, here are the top ten search strings that direct internet traffic to EriqX[.com]:
I'm not going to say that I'm at a total loss here. Searching for "slutty halloween" and ending up on my site is not only reasonable, it makes me happy inside. Some of the others make a little sense, I have two pictures of a Toyota Cavalier on my Japan Pictures page. Since the car a is rarely discussed, mostly overlooked or ignored product of an agreement between GM and Toyota, resulting in the Chevy Cavalier being sold under the Toyota name in Japan only, I can see one or two hits from people looking for it. This is completely ignoring the fact that it is the internet, and my personal website really shouldn't be high on the list of references to any major product. But I digress. The real issue I'm having is that the primary lead to my site is anything to do with the female ass. My general appreciation for this asset to the female body not withstanding, I'd really like it better if the internet could do me some justice here. Again, I must digress. The internet is far too big for searches on relevant, related subject matter to actually allow this site to surface. And there is far too much female ass on the internet for those searches to even mean anything. Outside of the few moments I spent contemplating how people were getting here, I've been having a rather up-and-down week. Work is stressful and becoming sometimes dramatic, in a humorous yet annoying way. Things at home are calm, although I still bear the stress of locating a new roommate. Social activities are fairly normal. The other night Mike and Jessica came over. Mike and I rode the bikes down to Kenosha, to meet up with Matt and try a place called Phoenix Family Restaurant. The coffee was sub-par as is the case with nearly everywhere these days. The food was good, and non-greasy, which was a pleasant surprise. Our conversation, and perhaps our own shortsightedness somehow lead us to go out and see Transformers in the Kenosha theater. The astounding assault against all things rational and good lasted an unbearable two hours and twenty-three minutes. After which hundreds of unwitting audience members undoubtedly left the theater to run out and purchase a GM product. The ride back was good but ultimately tiring after a long day/night. Mike and Jess crashed at my house and we followed up the next day with some loafin'. Mike broke routine by purchasing an iPhone at random, and we finished up with a trip to BD's Mongolian Grill. I have some more reflective, hypothetical bullshit to dispense as I did in the previous entries. But I'm not going to. I'm too busy downloading music and thinking about how gods-fucking-awful Transformers was. 01-JUL-2007 - You're Sick and You're Beautiful I kicked Becky out of the house, the actual moving-out part is still in process, and will take some time of course. I didn't really want to mention that here, but this is my journal, and it's meant to serve me as a record of my life. So there you go. The detail's aren't particularly important, although I'm very sad that this is happening. I wish I wasn't making the decision I am, but I can't go back on certain things, and I won't go back on this. I've worked considerably hard for more hours of my life than I wish to recount to open it up to risk. So I'm not going to. The most pressing task I'm charged with now is obviously locating a new roommate. I'm not enjoying, nor do I expect to start soon, this process. The first near-prospect-by-casual-mention turned out to have difficulty saying no, which would have saved hours of my life, which I could have dedicated to much much better things, like, I don't know, nothing, for example. The dishonest, lack-of-creativity when bullshitting habit of most humans really needs to go. I have things I'm actually concerned with, that actually affect my life. And I really don't need distractions at the expense of a missing spine. Far from the few days of dawdling spent getting white-lied to, a few more minutes of my life were wasted on an annoying man who approached me as I parked the bike outside the house. He shook my hand, introduced himself, then launched into a tangent about how it must be nice to work and how I must have had a great day at work. I expressed that I in fact, did not and he quickly moved to other subjects. He expressed in typical guy-on-the-street-approaching-you fashion that he "didn't mean me no harm", to which I nearly always reply, "That Doesn't mean I don't mean you any." Although this time around I held my tongue. He explained that a state ID card is required to work, and that he doesn't have one because he moved up here after Hurricane Katrina displaced him. He tried to shake my hand a second time, and introduce himself again after I became clearly frustrated that he was yet to the point. I told him he already went through that, and to get to the fucking point. He had a Milwaukee accent, if I didn't mention that already. He stated he needed $4.50 to cover the fees for acquiring a Wisconsin state ID card, so he could get a job. I said to him, finally, and after what seemed like 30 minutes of run around, "So you're asking for money?" "Yes." He replied. I walked away. He seemed angry. In case anyone is wondering, the fee for a WI ID card, per the state of Wisconsin website is $9.00. Not $4.50. Maybe the first fucking idiot he scammed gave him half. Prior to all of this bullshit, I spent the weekend up north with Mike, Jessica, and Mo. We crashed in Jessica's cabin, got lazy, ate a lot of cheese curds, drank a lot of beer, played some old-school SNES, and built one hell of a fire. The woods, the simplicity of our immediate surroundings, and the full-on intention to do as little as possible was exactly what I needed to settle down temporarily from my high-strung life of a stressful job and a stressful situation at home. My life seems as if there is no escape for me, and the cabin proved me wrong for about 48 hours. We spent a portion of the trip exploring a burned-down cabin just down the road, and I took full advantage of the scenery. The world, in my estimation, is a sickeningly beautiful place. 28-JUN-2007 - A Poison Tree Today is a particularly cold day for late June. I rode the bike to work anyway, and pretending the afternoon would warm up, I rode quickly home to be on time for a meeting that never happened. I'm very quickly getting worn down by the little things. The extra-cold ride. An ongoing lack of sleep. Being lied to. Stress at work. Stress at home. And I suppose getting approached by a fake Katrina victim in front of my own house, with a ludicrous proposition for me to fund his procurement of a Wisconsin state ID card. As Marilyn Manson said, I wasn't born with enough middle fingers. It's possible that at one time I was tolerant of other people. It's possible that to a limited extent I still am. At a certain point it may have become no longer worth it. If I was one extreme, and accepted everyone and everything, I would be able to hold a conversation with anyone. I could humor them, or find common ground, and either way it wouldn't matter. I could go camping and not care who set up camp next door, or how they choose to spend their vacation. I could appreciate what's good and admirable in people and not focus on what they do to annoy me. I could be a better person. A boring, agreeable, pushover, but a better person. If I was the other extreme, and called every last thing as I saw it, a lot of people wouldn't like me. A lot more people than already don't, I should say. As I expect that I lean much closer to this extreme than the other. The people that tolerate me would shrink rapidly. But those that remained would be truly worth having around. I imagine they would be rational and intelligent, as I have a tendency to resist traits in opposition to those. Or, to be fair, traits, statements, comments and ideas that I tend to perceive as opposite to rationale and intelligence. If I had to over-simplify the whole thought, it would come down to quality vs. quantity. Sort of. I don't really know where to take it from here. I have a lot of anger in me. It's eating me up from the inside. My external world at the moment is in upheaval, leaving me with no safe place to turn. The general depression and anxiety set in motion by recent events are certainly at risk of bringing me down physically, now that they've already crippled me emotionally. In short, life is kind of a bitch right now. 18-JUN-2007 - And So it Went Summer seems to be in full force recently. The weather is not only agreeable (even for me), but has remained consistent for the most part. This equates to the car sitting in the garage while I give the motorcycle a daily workout. No complaints there. I've been hopping from beer garden to patio to every random point of outdoor interest in between. This past weekend Mike and Jessica came down Friday night, with the motorcycle. We took the girls to the Witch's House, and ended up at BD's Mongolian Grill for dinner. We wrapped the night up with a bonfire, beer and conversation. I whipped up my patent-pending pesto-eggs for breakfast the next morning, before Mike and Jess headed out. In the space of that same weekend, I helped my parents with their rummage sale, briefly reunited with Rachel for some beer on Brady St., helped Mo move into her new apartment, and cooked out for Father's Day. The weekend before that was our return to Devil's Lake. The trip had its ups and downs. The ups coming from the obvious hiking and climbing and cooking that camping is all about. The downs, which I tried hard not to focus on, occasionally revolved around some inane banter which couldn't be silenced by logic. Not to mention the electronics show on display at the site next to us. I suppose I would have been less distracted by the suburban comfort zone next door if others in our group weren't so distracted themselves, but a good point was raised. We were camping. Not vacationing in our living rooms. In the end I remember the hikes and the beaches most. Not the sideshow. There was a lot of good physical activity and outdoor recreation, with just enough loafin and nose-pickin time to make it seem fun and not too lazy. I do have to mention however, that my heart goes out to Matt, who between the explosive delivery of five dollars worth of cheese curds, and the depositing of his digital camera into the bottom of a gorge, certainly took the brunt of this year's low points. Moving on from the past to the future, Mike, Jess, Mo and myself are going to run off on an impromptu cabin trip this coming weekend. With no plans in place other than leaving Friday, and to bring some old-school 8-bit Nintendo games along, we should be in for a nice relaxing loaf-a-thon. It will be a shame not to have any motorcycle time this weekend, but I'll be sure to ride as much as I can this week. Other than that, I'm in for a hectic week of work, which I'll be glad to get behind me in the interest of bummin around. 04-JUN-2007 - So it Goes In case anyone reading this has never read anything by Kurt Vonnegut, I recommend stopping here and picking up something by him instead. Slapstick or Cat's Cradle are excellent places to start. Although Vonnegut died over a month ago, I only now find myself becoming increasingly sad over the loss of world's most well-spoken secular humanist. People die all the time, and famous people die often enough, and I usually don't care. But for whatever reason every book I've read and every interview I've seen of Vonnegut just resonates with me. As gloomy as it is to identify with someone who was characteristically pessimistic, outspoken and ironic, that's just how I feel about it. I have, despite my general gloom, had a few good moments in the last few days. The weekend was packed, with Mike and Jessica staying over and spending some time with Mo and myself. Seeing as though Mike had just recently become the proud owner of a Yamaha YZ6, we started out with an excellent motorcycle ride up Milwaukee's Lake Drive, seeking out the "Witch's House", and eventually back to meet up with Jess and Mo. Becky joined the group for an entertaining round of Hibachi, and we finished up with a back yard bonfire. I spent a lot of Sunday in the yard. I trimmed the Magnolia tree, so it now resembles more tree, and less bush. I edged around it with some new bricks from Steins, and planted some Coleus within the edging. It's a huge improvement for the tree itself, and a small improvement for the back yard in general. I'm finding quickly that landscaping is something I enjoy much more than I thought I would. It's still expensive, and I'll be pacing my enormous back yard project accordingly. But I'm still looking forward to any time I'm able to spend back there. Today was back to work, and typical of Monday's it was busy and hectic. But that was one-third of my week. Thursday I'm heading up to Devil's Lake with Mo, Mike and Jessica, Matt and Sarah. Last year Mo and I camped on our own at Wyalusing. So it's been a little while since I've been back to Devil's Lake, or camping in a group amongst friends. I'm looking forward to it. Mostly, I'm looking forward to a break in routine. I've done well in the last week or so to remain helpful and social in general, and more importantly to spend my time on the things I enjoy - things I've already mentioned. I feel like I'm trudging up hill, but even so, I hope to keep the momentum. 25-MAY-2007 - Laying Awake I can think of more than a few occasions in my life when I opted to engage in some self-discipline scheme or time trial improvement plan or otherwise failed goal to turn around the things that I assumed were bringing me down. I can't recall them with any uber-specific detail, but if I trudged through the past entries of this journal I'd no doubt come across one or two of them. Even without the specifics, the end goal was nearly always the same: to obtain some sort of near-perfect harmonious existence that was further from the daily burden I perceive my life to be, and closer to a simple, balanced, trouble-free lifestyle. One complete with precautions and measures ready to be taken if trouble arises, and otherwise filled with informed and calculated luxuries within my basic means, pertaining to travel and hobbies, etc. Nothing too fancy, just a thought-out approach to making sure I did what I wanted before I died. Again and again I put parameters and restrictions in place to work toward what I thought could be a necessary and welcome change. Again and again I failed. Again I look back on my life, and although positive change has been achieved in the last few years, I feel a gaping hole remains. And it's getting bigger. I've tried to fill it on occasion with people and things. For whatever reason I seem to have a surplus of both. And both do have their places in my life. But they are not what I need to help me find my way out of this. I think I occasionally find people annoying or distracting when I think they are what I need, and they are not. And I think I begin to feel cluttered and suffocated by things when I assume they can make me feel better, but they do nothing of course, not surprisingly. This seemingly unalterable void that I have always had within me is the sort of depressive emptiness that drives normal people to either suicide, or worse, religion. For the most part I've been able to ignore or live with it, as I consider it inherent to my character, the same character everyone else seems to file neatly under social and outgoing. While only a select few have ever been close enough to get a glimpse at the darkness driving me. Many others have assumed as much, but are, in fact, in the dark themselves. I've been scratching my head on this for a week or so now, and trying a few things to get me motivated again. But I'm struggling terribly, and the queasy pull on my stomach has not subsided. The only concrete thoughts I've had that interest me are as follow: First, I don't dedicate nearly enough time in the day to projects and hobbies, things that not only make me happy, give me fulfillment, but also add to the general creation of art and positive energies. Second, that although I've been interested and learning about many aspects of Buddhism for the past few years, and have been partially aware that it's possible that the physical clutter that immediately surrounds me could be in some small way responsible for part of my sense of overwhelming frustration, I have not in my life until very very recently, truly felt a burning desire to rid myself of these chains. I've thought it, and I've said it, and on paper it made sense to me. But I've never before until now wanted nothing more than to get rid of everything, gladly think of nothing, and learn to maintain a life of voluntary simplicity. The very concept of which is entirely logical and familiar (not first hand) to me. Yet I've never actively been able to even reach a starting point. And there you have it. The only difference between now and the last few times I've emotionally crashed is that this time I'm feeling a solution instead of just thinking it. I suspect that's a step in the right direction, but knowing my habits and my personality I'll once again suffer through this, ignoring the signs and continuing on the wrong path. I think the pre-admission that I'll fail again is another thing that separates this from previous all-or-nothing agendas. Even with that said, I want to do more with life than crunch numbers in my cubical, and clean my house, and pay off a car, and, and, and... Naturally I fear that will indeed happen, and I'll soon look back on my youth from a perspective of old age and regret. But at least I know I want more now, as opposed to realizing it when it's too late. If I can push it one further, and actually start doing more now, I might be headed somewhere. But I expect the farm has me at this point. Being or becoming self-aware doesn't mean you're ready to go off on your hero quest. It just means you woke up. We're still just laying in bed anyway. What difference does it make if we're sleeping or not? 12-MAY-2007 - Domino Effect Let's just say that I wasn't exactly expecting the city of Milwaukee to step up and take care of my car situation, involving the previously ranted about collision with their obstacle-sidewalk (see: 18-JAN-2007 - Foreign Object Detected). But it would have been nice. At the time when this was causing a great deal of stress for me, I was also combatting a warm refrigerator, a briefly broken furnace (in the middle of winter), and to top it all off, I was just recently emerging from unemployment. Simply stated, not the best few months of my life. The letter from the city finally came today, and was fairly to the point. The ramped or transition portion of the curb, was broken out. You did not follow the roadway when it narrowed. / When hot mix asphalt is available, a street maintenance crew will ramp the curb. / We are denying your claim. Thank you Milwaukee! It's my fault, so you won't fix my car, but you'll go ahead and fix the road. Did you read the part of my claim letter that explained the road wasn't plowed? The road with your "broken out" curb was not plowed. That wouldn't have anything to do with not following the roadway would it? The letter also stated that no one else filed any complaints about that section of road from January 2006 through January 2007. Are you fucking kidding me? I saw, personally, with my own eyes, a total of 4 other vehicles over the course of 2 months that hit the same broken out section of curb. Two of them in broad daylight with no snow to add confusion. Either everyone is an idiot (which is not a stretch) and didn't bother to figure out the procedure for filing a claim. Or the 4 people I saw, in addition to what I have to presume is dozens more, are so astonishingly passive that they routinely devastate their vehicles and shrug their shoulders. In conclusion: Fuck right off, Grant F. Langley, City Attorney. As I've said on occasion, I should have called Contact Six. They would have undoubtedly sensationalized the street corner and knocked on every door until they had 50 people with the same issue, relaying their harrowing tales of vehicular damage and cutting to dramatic images of flattened tires and cars whizzing by the obstacle in question. Then they would have blown it into a safety issue and blasted the general news-watching public with statistics on how much money the city is costing residents in damages every week/month/year/whatever. Then they would have dug up existing claims or happenings of similar issues in the past and reported that - nothing was done! Throw in something about how this all affects your children, and we're working on Pulitzer prize winning bullshit here. It would have been great. But I digress. The last few weeks have been up and down for motorcycling. Wisconsin "spring" pretty much means we'll get a day or two of 85-degree weather, jammed in between rain and sudden bursts of bitterly cold, dreary grey days. It's been so long since I've updated this journal, the last time I wrote I hadn't even ridden my new bike yet. At this point I've been to work and back a few times, and I'm considerably more comfortable with the whole thing at this point. I went to Chicago with Mo last weekend, to visit Matt and Sarah. While there, I picked up Matty-J's new bike, a 2000 SV650S. Apparently, a year ago when I was resolving not to let another summer go by without a motorcycle in the garage, he figured if I got one, he'd get one. So there you go. I rode the bike down Cicero for a good hour or so, in heavier-than-I'm-used-to Chicago traffic. It was a blast, and I'm really glad he got a bike. I have a lot of people I can ride with this year, but I want more on the list wherever possible. My understanding is that Mike is currently signed up for the riders class. Power in numbers. I'm not planning specifically to spend any money on the bike this year, but I have drafted some plans for how I want it to look by at least next year. There are a small handful of accessories I'd like to add and alter, but there are many things higher on the priority list at the moment. Mostly as a result of the need vs. want issue. But as with the rest of my life, I can't keep my hands off things. The world is a blank canvas that I can't resist. As far as the general day-to-day of the last few weeks goes, I can't think of anything to report that is of great importance. I've been grilling out on the nicer days, hanging out with a number of different friends, and riding whenever I can. I'm looking forward to camping this summer, and hopefully a road trip or two, and a cabin visit. It's probably going to be the year of cheap and simple vacations, as my money is directed elsewhere at the moment. I would have liked to visit Melissa while she's in Japan this summer, and stop in South Korea on the way back, where Morgan is currently teaching English. It's unlikely even with things under control at the moment, that I'll be able to tackle that desire. Hopefully next year will present another opportunity. I'm going to try and keep this year a bit more relaxed, focusing mostly on the house and loafin' time. 21-APR-2007 - Geared for Summer The other day, Road Track & Trail was having a special on motorcycle helmets: half off, with the purchase of a motorcycle. I picked up a nice HJC helmet for half-price, and needless to say I came home with a used-but-respectable Suzuki SV650. The bike that everyone and their mother seems to recommend as a comfortable starter bike that won't disappoint once my skill level increases. I've been looking forward to this for at least 5 years, and now that it's here I am equal parts excited and nervous about it. I know it's only a phase that will pass with time and practice, but I'm understandably anxious to get through it and start enjoying the ride. This past week, including the new addition to the garage, has been a bit hectic. Work is starting to ramp-up a bit, as we approach the hella-busy summer season. But there's a silver lining I can't directly discuss yet. Suffice to say things are going well overall, and I'm enjoying my job more and more these days. I finally cashed in my surplus of Best Buy gift cards and reward points, and redeemed them for a digital camera that will actually suit my needs. I like a lot of things about my Olympus Stylus 500, but it lacked severely when it came to taking pictures in macro-mode. Macro-mode just happens to be a function I refuse to live without, and I suppose being as drawn to photography that I am, I would have remedied this earlier, but money is always a factor. At the strong recommendation of nearly all my friends who use and love their Canons, I joined the club and picked up the PowerShot SD750. I'm extremely impressed with it so far, and as a result I expect my photography hobby to pick up a bit. The weather in Wisconsin is finally starting to show signs of spring. Today should reach 68F, and tomorrow should be 75F. I'm hoping that it stays this way for a change, instead of dropping back down again. But I'm certain that won't happen. It's still only April, and we never get the warmth here I really want until August. Regardless of the few and far between nice days, I'm still getting ready to dig up that back yard and start plotting out the zen garden. If I reach the end of summer with that project near-complete I'll consider myself lucky. But as with most things, it's the journey and not the destination. It can drift into next year if it has to, as long as I enjoy this summer overall. That enjoyment, for me, would include getting a damn good start on the zen garden, helping Mike with his potential back-yard project, getting as much safe riding in as possible, and grilling out and loafin' on warm summer nights. Here's to 2007. 15-APR-2007 - Money, Motorcycles, and Life As I write this, my internet connection is down yet again. It's approaching two months now of staggering incompetence on behalf of Time Warner Cable, it's lazy unconcerned employees, and it's dick-headed arrogant supposedly knowledgeable technicians. If AT&T could connect the DSL any faster, I'd be through this by now, but I still have a few days to go before I can pack the cable modem up and throw it out of a moving vehicle. On the house front, the missing brick in the chimney has been replaced, and I've added a stainless steel rain cap. The garage roof is next on the schedule, and should be started and finished within the next 2-3 weeks. The bank has extended the deadline to accommodate the roofer's schedule. I'm looking forward to cleaning up the current disarray that the neglected back yard is in. The zen garden seems a long long way off, limited by both money and time. But I will at least break ground on it this year. In the last week or so, things have been moving along a little fast. I finished TNM with the 100th showing, to a large and interested crowd. I've been shopping for a motorcycle with a slightly stronger degree of conviction. And I spent a day with Willow and her son Cyprus, who has grown at least twice as big as he was last time I saw him. The search for an investment property has been a bit slower in the last two weeks, but some discussions have refined the search criteria and allowed for a more specific focus on what it is exactly that we are looking to get into. In addition to this potential money-maker, I've been thinking about money a lot lately. My ongoing battle to live a normal and enjoyable life (in the financial sense), while simultaneously reducing and eventually eliminating debt, is in fact nearing a close. I've made a number of rearrangements to my debt, and to how my budget is handled in the last few months. At this point it's nearing a close, and while I still have to stick to my guns for the next few months, I can in fact see the light at the end of the tunnel. Here's hoping no more car accidents or medical emergencies derail my intentions. 03-APR-2007 - Fuck Time Warner, and Other Happy Subjects At the moment I'm unhappy with Time Warner Cable's Roadrunner service, which is their high-speed cable internet offering. Ever since February 25th, it has gone down several times a day, for anywhere between 2 minutes and 6 hours. The constant back-and-forth between myself and various hourly stooges sitting at a desk with a phone and a copy of the Idiot's Guide to Troubleshooting Shit You Know Nothing About is not worth detailing (too much). The immediate result is that my internet is unreliable, and not one, but three service technicians have been out to my house to tell me the same thing. It's a line issue, and it requires a line tech to climb the pole and get things moving again. The second guy said this would happen. It didn't. The third guy said this would happen after I complained about the second guy. It still never happened. According to whichever idiot it was that answered the phone today - after my service crashed yet again - they can't escalate the issue to a line tech, it's not what they do. It would take a fourth appointment with a service tech to come to my house, scratch his head for a moment, and eventually after realizing that 4 different computers representing 3 different operating systems can't all somehow be broken (chapter 6 in the Idiot's Guide...), it must be the service itself, not my computer, which was suggested as a last resort by a phone monkey that was clearly out of options. Never mind that 2 out of 3 service techs agree, and that's only because the first one swapped out the cable modem, and didn't even check the lines. We wouldn't want to skip a step we've completed twice already when we can keep sending guys who somehow keep failing to escalate the issue to the line tech, after promising that a line tech really will come out and fix it for real this time. That would be too much trouble, too customer-focused, and altogether far too logical a step to take in an honest effort to resolve a known issue. Instead, I'm going to pack up my modem and drop it off tomorrow. Congratulations Time Warner, I take twice as much time and effort to piss off than your average customer, but you managed to pull it off anyway. And this is not even mentioning the endless banter, disconnects, hold time, and staggering incompetence that my experiences on the phone with your call center subjected me to. I'm signing up for DSL, and I'm going to pay them more than I had to pay you for the same damn thing. Nearly the same, I should say. I'm expecting their service to actually work. With that said, yesterday was a better day than today. I got out of work on time and spent all afternoon working on the yard. Hannah and mom stopped over to drop off Samus's new cage, which is upgrading her to nearly twice the space she had before. Hannah stuck around and helped me assemble a basic enclosure for the compost pile. Michelle has already started her garden on the south side of the yard. And I'm already plotting details on the beginning construction of the zen garden, which will fully replace the cultivated weed known most commonly as grass. I've priced out options for koi ponds and accessories, and I've been collecting pictures and ideas. Lastly, related to the back yard area, the garage roof will be replaced with city money shortly. The wait is still a few weeks at this point, but the ball is rolling. I don't know if a deck will be a viable financial option this summer with everything else I'm trying to do, but it will happen eventually. My goal to turn the back yard into a fully realized recreational/loafin' center will be achieved in due time. On the subject of the city paying for things, my claim with Milwaukee in relation to my busted Subaru is still pending. I got a detailed message back today outlining the process, and at this time some department is waiting on something-or-other from some other department. Mankind's greatest achievement is clearly bureaucracy. I'd be in better shape saying fuck it and calling my insurance company, but I'll give them a little longer. They are not as bad as Time Warner. Yet. Subaru, in general, is next in my line of thoughts. In two days the new WRX will be revealed at the New York Auto Show. As little as a new car would affect me (especially if I didn't actually buy it), I'm worried. The rumors are overwhelmingly pointing to a 5-door hatchback option, which would make me very happy. I have missed the hatch on my Saab every single day since I sold it. If I could get that back, and keep the AWD, and add a turbo, I would somehow have managed to stuff every single option that I both need and want into one single vehicle. The problem is that pictures exist of what it might look like. Some of them make me want it right now. Others make me hope they never actually come out with the damn thing. If I'm lucky, the ugly ones will be some european version or something. It's usually the case that Japan and Europe have the better looking versions of their American counterparts, so I'm expecting to be disappointed. 19-MAR-2007 - This Message Sponsored by Physical Labor Once upon a time there was a semi-daunting checklist of items I had to repair around the house within 90 days of purchase. These various repairs were required to be completed as part of the grants I received, more or less getting some of the miscellaneous quirks up to code. Nothing too terrible, mind you. Just little fixes. I had to secure a loose counter top. Secure some electrical conduit in the basement and attic that was previously just sorta hanging about half-assed. Add some address numbers to the garage. Install an outlet in the garage for the door opener (the previous owners ran an extension cord across the top over to the wall outlet). Install a proper attic floor. And so on. Like I said, small things. But all together the list is two pages of tedium, and certainly more than one full weekend of hammering, sawing, drilling, and wiring. As the 90 days drew to a close back in mid-January, I grew slightly concerned that I was only about half way through with the various tasks. It was also the dead of winter, and although a number of things were indoor projects, I was lazy. That, and the outdoor projects were certainly not getting done. As the 90 days passed with no sign of retribution, I grew more lazy and eventually forgot about the list. That is until a few days ago, when the bank called and said that my 6 month deadline was nearing a close. Double the time I thought and still unfinished. I got cracking on the remaining issues fast, and after a solid weekend of nothing but work, I have 4 tasks remaining. Two small, and two large. The small ones I'll have done shortly. The large ones are another story on their own. The organization that takes care of the grant money brought it to my attention that they have allotted me an additional $2900 to tend to these repairs. That's in addition to the $10,000 I've already been putting toward new appliances and wood floors. So tomorrow I have an appointment to get an estimate on a new garage roof (one of the big items). After that I submit, cross my fingers, and hope everything came together before the deadline. I feel like I've been killing myself working on this place for the last week. But it's free money. And altogether it's a lot of free money. So I'll not complain. The rest of what's going on isn't much different than before. My leg is still a daily supply of pain, but I'm walking fairly normal and can get further into the day before it finally downs me. Progress I guess. Samus is half way done shedding, and I'm hoping she'll be hungry afterward. I tried feeding her a week ago and she wasn't interested. The job is good overall. It's sort of a constant learning setup, in the sense that you still don't quite know what you're doing until everything has come up at least a few times. But the basic day-to-day is nailed down as far as I'm concerned, and I'm looking forward to my first 90 days coming to a close. The weather has been warming up finally. I'm eagerly awaiting opening up the yard for some grillin' and loafin' time. I'm also anxious to pull out the bike for the first time this year. 04-MAR-2007 - No Breaks, No Fractures "No breaks, no fractures" are the four best words I've heard in a long time. They came four days after I took a spill skiing at Cascade Mountain with friends. The injury was the result of twisting my left leg around in my ski boot while falling over it. The left ski never popped off, so it left my leg locked into position and me lying helpless on top of it. At first I thought I smacked the back of my left calf with the other ski, and it was a charlie horse. After ten minutes of quivering and getting myself back together, I put my skis back on and skied the rest of the way down, favoring my good leg. When I tried to walk next, it wasn't happening. I hobbled into the lodge, where a friendly ski patrol girl poked and prodded my swollen, inflamed calf. She couldn't rule out a break of either the fibula or tibia, but the shin was fine. The rest is long and drawn out. The short version is that I don't have health insurance. I couldn't get an appointment at the free clinic Monday, so I went Tuesday. They said the same thing the ski patrol did. I got an x-ray on Wednesday. Thursday they got the results and brought me back in on Friday. Friday they recommended an ace bandage and pain killers, neither of which they gave me. Yesterday was Saturday. My first day off the crutches, and hobbling about with a cane. The leg is wrapped. And between my assortment of prescription-toting friends, I have been enjoying a cocktail of codine, oxycotton, and vicodin. Mo and I traded cars for a while, since I'm unable to drive stick. I think that will be past soon however. The rest, although intensely painful, has at this point mostly added up to a large inconvenience. In addition to that little setback, my heat stopped working a few days ago. Luckily, the HVAC guy spent 15 minutes resetting the furnace, and telling me to buy a new filter. The sawing that Mike and I did downstairs while installing the floors clogged it up faster than normal. It seems like a brief hiccup, but I was about to lose my mind. After enduring the car, which is still not resolved, the fridge dying, and not knowing at the time if my leg was broken or not, I was not ready for something else to go wrong. As of now, the heat was fixed quickly. The fridge and other appliances were delivered yesterday. And as I've mentioned, my leg is battered but not broken. The car remains my major obstacle at the moment. In the midst of all the usual inconveniences and setbacks I've been enduring lately, I bought a snake. I've been wanting another snake for years, and I've been considering one more seriously for a few months now. He or She is a baby Red-tailed Boa. I've named her Samus as a result of the current gender confusion. She is too young at the moment to determine sex safely. Everything else is mostly as it was. In general I'm waiting out winter. I hate when time goes too fast, but I really want to get to nicer weather quickly. Loafin', house projects, and my general happiness are waiting. 12-FEB-2007 - 2 Out of 3 Mike and I finished up the dining room yesterday. We installed the trim along the floor to complete the initial flooring project. The major work in the room is complete at this point. All that remains is some blinds for the window, and a new ceiling fan that better fits the theme created by the other changes. Otherwise, the room is new, beautiful, and done. I shopped around a few stores for appliances, and eventually ended up buying from Best Buy as I expected I might. I went with stainless steel for the fridge, range, and dishwasher. I also ended up spending a little more than I wanted to, but on the other hand I got a borderline obscene discount for buying all three. That, and the range was open box. So I got a top of the line oven for the cost of an entry level one. The fridge and dishwasher are new, and both pretty medium-to-high end, so I'm happy with the whole package overall. Initially this kicked me into gear to start working on the kitchen, especially since the dining room was just completed. But I'm going to take a break for a short while. The next few weekends are booked by parties and ski trips, and I've been moving fast on the house in general. A lot has been completed in a short time, as Mike has pointed out to me. Looking at the dining room in October, vs. February, I'm inclined to agree. Even so, I'm planning the kitchen project in my mind and on paper. It's going to have to move in phases, starting with taking delivery of the appliances, which is unfortunately 3 weeks away. After that is flooring. Then cabinets, painting, and trim. I have a lot of details I want to work in, including ambient lighting and some other fancy stuff. After attending the home improvement expo with Mike and Jessica, and finishing the dining room, the 3 of us plus Mo had a very tasty dinner at Singha Thai in downtown Milwaukee. After we squeezed in an episode of Cowboy Bebop before Mike and Jess had to get back home to Madison. Outside of that usual fare, I've concluded my CSR position with my current employer. I start officially training to become a National Field Coordinator tomorrow. I'm glad to be finally getting this under way. I've been looking forward to the transition for some time now. I'm still waiting on the car, but other things are underway. Here's to things to come. 08-FEB-2007 - Recovery Although nothing I've been complaining about lately has actually been resolved, things seem to be heading in the right direction for a change. The city of Milwaukee is still sitting on my file. I tracked it, they have it. While I don't expect a decision to come instantly, I'm happy for now that it's at least where it needs to be, and there is nothing else I can directly do besides wait. I've been shopping for appliances. I've taken out a new Best Buy rewards card, which gets me even more points on everything I buy there. As if they haven't been hammering my mailbox with $20-off coupons anyway. Making a major purchase - such as a set of kitchen appliances - usually ends up getting me free CDs or DS games for a few months. If you have the means, I highly recommend it. Another option is a no interest until 2012 deal, from Colder's. Either way I go, I'm most likely to expense the purchase to the house grants anyway. So interest free isn't such a pull. Unless Colder's price is overly competitive, I'll probably just take all the free loot Best Buy likes to bestow upon me. Things have finally started moving at work as well. My time spent splitting my weeks up between old stint in the call center, and my new in-the-wings position as a National Field Coordinator, are coming to an end. This is my last week in limbo. Next week I'm continuing my shadowing upstairs for the new position, followed by some official training. After that, not only am I officially upstairs for good, but the department is moving to the new building. New position, new building, new desk. And unfortunately, a new commute. But even with that aggravating little setback, the changes are positive overall. I'm looking forward to getting started with it. My brief (for me) bout with sickness is nearly in the clear. I mixed volleyball with DayQuil yesterday, with acceptable results. I'm buying some trim tomorrow, and painting it in preparation for this coming Sunday. Overall, it feels like I have the energy again to do everything I'd like to do, without dedicating all my free time to rest. 05-FEB-2007 - Stressed I've collected everything I need to submit to the city, including estimates, bills, and pictures. It's an amazing coincidence, but when I returned to the site to shoot the pictures, there was another car stranded from the same obstruction. I told her to report it to the city clerk just as I am doing. I'm hoping that power in numbers will help this along. If not I either have to sue them or go to my insurance company. Neither is my favorite option. My next financial / property concern is my refrigerator. It's running warm at the moment, and has been getting worse over the last few days. For the time being, items that would normally be kept in the fridge are residing in the freezer. Items that should be in the freezer are holding up, but they may have to move out to the porch or garage in the next day or so. Milwaukee is currently in the midst of it's worst cold-front in 20 years. It's now -4F degrees with the wind chill factor bringing that to a crippling -19F. I didn't want to have to buy any new appliances just yet. The kitchen setup I have now is due for updating, but the appliances in it came with the house and I would have liked to stretch that out longer. This is an opportunity for me to get my power consumption down with some new energy star appliances, however. Ever since I bought the house I've been thinking over what the best and easiest ways to make some green changes would be. I've made the small, easy steps already. But so far the major changes that are still within my means are more efficient appliances, and new windows. Both I can spend grant money on, and since I have an excuse for the appliances, and a hookup for wholesale cost on windows, I may as well move forward on both. On the green note, I've been heavily researching what it would take to get some solar panels installed. It's a project for this summer. Not to mention one that will take some extra financing. But it's not so far out there either. I'm looking forward to that and some other changes when the weather becomes less extreme. The above two concerns have become a source of stress for me at the moment. And to add to the overall discomfort that stress has brought to my life, I got sick a few days ago. It started as a tickle in my throat, moved on to an overall congestion, and today manifested as an equilibrium crushing head cold. I've spent a fair amount of time on drugs and sleeping. I've managed to keep busy on some simple activities, nothing to strenuous. This past Sunday was a good old fashioned hang out day. Nothing more than friends, food, and a movie. Matt and Sarah came up from Chicago. Mike and Jessica came over from Madison. They all joined up with me and Mo at my house for some classic loafin'. For next Sunday, at which point I expect to be feeling much better, Mike and Jess are dropping in once more. This time Mike and I will be heading out to the home improvement expo at State Fair Park, and then finishing the trim from the dining room flooring project. The four of us will finish up the evening with the usual Battlestar and Bebop. All in a day's work. 31-JAN-2007 - 3 Times the Action There seems to be a hell of a lot going on at the moment. I've accepted a new position at work. I took my parents test driving. And my car is going to take over $1200 to fix. I guess I'll start with the car. There isn't much that's new to report, other than the finalized dollar amount. Subaru provided an estimate that I now have to turn over to the city of Milwaukee. And then I wait. I'm waiting for some pictures of the site, so I can include those as well. The only thing that's going to happen is they either pay for it or they don't. I don't really have my hopes up, which means I may be calling my insurance company next. Keep in mind this $1200 is in addition to the $400 I've already spent getting it semi-functional. On the car topic, I spent a few hours with my parents yesterday comparing some models and giving them my opinions on them. We went out driving later and they took out a Subaru Forester, Impreza wagon, Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, and a CR-V. Between all those they loved the Forester, and liked the Impreza and Civic. Money is always a factor, and last I heard they were lucky to find a single Impreza wagon in stock, and the salesman worked something out for them. If they did end up picking it up today, I know they'll be happy with it. I've had my Impreza sedan for 2 years now, and other than driving it into a rock that the city really shouldn't be keeping in the middle of the road, I love it. The only other aspect of this deal was getting out of their Honda Accord lease (while over the miles) with no penalty. It sounds like that went over ok as part of the deal. My job situation is interesting at the moment. It's sort of in an in-between phase. After two weeks at the new place, I got offered a spot upstairs working in a more interesting position. So I shadowed for a day to make sure it was something I'd be interested in, and I accepted it the next day. It is, to me, more of a challenge and slightly more interesting work than the position I came in on. And although I am technically still employed by the placement agency that got me in, it looks as though the pay will be accommodating once I get through the probationary period. I'm obviously looking forward to that happening, so I'm trying to keep my mind on learning the job for now. I'd like to make sure I get off to the right start. I don't want to get distracted by what-if's at the moment. I just need to focus on learning this well and getting it down. That, and getting this car stress off my plate. 25-JAN-2007 - Traveling at the Speed of Fucked My friend Jodi got fired from my previous employer last week. My friend Michelle got fired yesterday. In addition to many other friends and acquaintances who were either axed before me or after me, for one supposed reason or another. I don't really know how to, nor do I really even feel like elaborating too much at the moment. On one hand I've already been dooced once before, and now that I no longer work there I really don't have to worry about what I write about them here. But even so, I still seem to withhold their name every time I'm referring to them. This is an organization that I loved so much I continued to promote and defend it after they fired me. I was hurt, crushed, and crying, yet I admitted my error. And although I disagreed with the way it was ultimately handled, I said goodbye to a hundred people I got used to seeing every day, and moved on. I hate to toot my own horn, I really do. But they lost a damn good employee when they dropped me. And they are losing two more now. It's not going to take long before the good ones left are scared shitless, and the rest are all useless dimwits who won't dare speak out when there is a better way to do something. Contrary to the culture promoted, there is nothing dynamic or open-ended about how the daily grind is being handled there anymore. For the first time in what was a long, hard recovery process, I'm glad to be somewhere better. 22-JAN-2007 - The Light at the End I spent $400 getting my car "drivable". Drivable, at this point, constitutes 4 wheels with functioning, properly inflated tires. The dealership aligned the car "as best they could", but it remains that the front passenger side wheel is pushed approximately 3 millimeters back, making a true alignment impossible without further suspension work. This, in turn, means that my two brand new Yokohama tires are going to be wearing unevenly until I can get the remaining work done. That work, incidentally, is dependent on either the city of Milwaukee agreeing to an estimate from Subaru and reimbursing me, or not. Not, would lead to me needing to bring in my insurance company, or foot the bill myself. So all in all, the process is not only annoying and frustrating because my car is limping, and every mile I drive makes me want to pull over, get out, and give it a hug, but because the possibilities for repair are subject to a bureaucratic nightmare. In an interesting coincidence, my friend Jamie came to the scene of the accidents, because he knew the people in front of me that were also stranded. He knew both of us, yet we didn't know each other. And we both had befallen the same random anomaly. The world can be a small place sometimes. I've finished a number of small and not-worth-mentioning things on the house in the last few days. Mostly clean-up and trim detail on previous projects. The big thing coming up is the installation of the pergo in the dining room. Mike is coming over next Sunday to help. We're hoping for an incident-free morning of home improvement, while Mo and Jessica hang around and play DS. I'm looking forward to another significant improvement, and some updates for the house project section. I don't expect to work on much else too big until summer, when landscaping and bigger projects are more fun and accessible. I've received my first official paycheck from the new job. And even though it's offset by the car fiasco, it's good to be back on a regular cash schedule. I'm still not in a position to run out and have a night on the town, but getting caught up should just be a matter of patience at this point. I had recently come up with a number of financial plans for 2007, one including getting my car paid off a full year early. They had just gotten underway, and were then delayed by my employment situation. I'll be able to resume those shortly, especially since I'm making more money at the new job. If that amount goes up even more after my probationary period, I'll have a chance to re-evaluate those goals, and possibly accelerate them. Unless of course another obstacle blows out my other two tires. 18-JAN-2007 - Foreign Object Detected Not every morning, but most mornings, 4 out of every 5 I would say, I have to walk past a bunch of Jesus freaks before work. There is a Planned Parenthood between the cheapest parking lot and the office, where they like to camp out. Depending on how hard they tell me to pray to their god, I usually try to surmise just how shitty a day I'm going to have. Usually the more ignorant banter they provide, the more amused I'll be in general as I face the day. The less, however, just means something else is going to happen to fill it's place. This morning they were ready and waiting as I drove by, but on the way back on foot they had already packed up and left. A small miracle for sure, but the day only got worse. Fast forwarding over details that don't matter, and arriving at tonight. I rounded a corner on my way back from dinner with Mo, only to discover that there must have been something large and dangerous poking out of somewhere. This was deduced by the loud noise that rocked the car and sent the passenger side up in the air about a foot. As I collected what may or may not have happened, I pulled over behind a loading dock at a large factory. Mo and I were greeted by a few people that had also pulled their car over, just feet in front of where we stopped. They wanted to know if the same thing that happened to them, happened to us. After a discussion of the events, and an examination of both vehicles, it turned out that we and them alike had not one, but two flat tires. Both my passenger tires. Both their passenger tires. The amazing coincedence made me feel less like a non-observant driver and more like a victim of some bizarre plowing anomaly. The same corner that fucked me had indeed fucked them. I'm currently on my way out to meet the tow truck, and thanks to some homework done by the previous car, if my extended roadside program doesn't cover this, the city of Milwaukee apparently will. 4 tires in 5 minutes. It was a shitty day after all I think I'll take it out on those bible thumpers tomorrow morning. 14-JAN-2007 - A Quick Review It took less than a week for me to become known as the oddball at work. This is fairly typical when I'm introduced to a new, unfamiliar group of strangers. The social aspect of it is a bit slow compared to the last place. Mostly because I work with a dozen people at any one time here. And the last place was a few hundred. Even so, my first week is behind me. Training is over, even though it was barely that. The handful of us that started out together are now on the floor, blind with many questions. As with anything, the knowledge to fly through the job and complete it on a daily basis without difficulty will come in time. So until then, I'll enjoy the slow start and the fact that I'm finally back onto a steady paycheck schedule. I recently purchased, and expensed to the house grants, everything I need to install some wood flooring in my dining room. This will complete the room in my opinion, and give the downstairs a nicer feeling overall, until I can complete the tea room at least. I've been getting most of the things done on the house that I need to. I'm trying to look at winter as the time to do the little things that I don't like doing, and summer as my first chance to truly make some big changes to the house. My thoughts at the moment are focusing on a ski trip that we've been considering for some time. It wasn't exactly planned out when we first considered it as a weekend/cabin type of trip. So it's been downgraded to a Sunday only trip, which will more than likely make it more likely to actually happen. I haven't skied for two years, so I'm looking forward to finding some enjoyment in winter, which I typically despise. 11-JAN-2007 - Career Tug of War Without getting too love or hate about everything, the new job is a bit of a mix with me right now. It pays a smidge more than I left the last place at, so I can continue my lifestyle as it was. It has the potential to pay a lot more after the probationary period, but nothing is certain. It's a five second drive downtown at the moment, soon to become a fuck-story of a commute to the north-as-fuck side and the even more west-as-fuck-squared side of town. Thus I am soon to regain the planet-killing commute that I just recently and happily 86'd. The work is easy. And therefore not challenging or thought-provoking. I've only been in training for 3 days, and I can feel my brain reaching for a bottle of pills already. So what to make of all this? I suppose I can remain satisfied that I am at least employed, my work is easier and closer (for now), and I'm getting paid more (and possibly even more later). Defeatist, I know. I intend to settle for now, as it's really the best course of action to get my finances and affairs back in order. After which I can decide where it all falls in the preferences category. Aside from the work action, the last few days have been the same old story. I hung out at Palomino on Sunday night for Maria's birthday, after picking Mike and Jess up from the airport. TNM has been slow but good, with a small but steady non-regular stream of interested people. I've been trying to make good on my one album per day intention for the Media / Music section, but I have missed days. So far I've added two for each time I miss a day, which will at least result in 31 recommendations for the month. It's become more difficult now that I'm working again, but hopefully I'll get a schedule down soon. 08-JAN-2007 - Vacationing Ninja At risk of repeating myself, I start my new job tomorrow. For real this time. At the moment I'm filing my final unemployment claim, to cover the week of free time that fit neatly between my temporary data entry assignment and my new start date of tomorrow. To add a bit of complication to my situation, I got a call requesting an interview yesterday for a cell phone company. My previous job was a competing cell phone company, and I'm tempted to jump on a job that I know I'll adapt to quickly. I'm letting that sit for now, and committing to another path. It's unfortunately too easy to adjust to doing little to nothing on a daily basis. I did manage to drag myself to and from the temp job for two weeks. And maybe it's simply because I knew it was temporary, and I found it mind-numbing, but I would have preferred the free time. I guess I'm of the mindset that my work needs to be interesting or rewarding in some way in order for me to feel like getting out of bed each day is justified. I'm looking forward to many aspects of this new job, as previously mentioned here. But it's coming down to that fact that I still don't really know what I'm in for. I hope it's the right fit for me, I hate looking for work. I'd like to mention that I'm very unhappy that Node has closed. I've fantasized about the notion of opening or running a coffee shop or some related venue. Now that my favorite one is gone, I'm torn between two feelings. One is that I have a stronger desire to forge ahead with some sort of side project. The other is that I'm discouraged even further. If a couple of kids my age can start one, and meet with some success at first, but eventually fizzle out due to the typical obstacles that face start-up, non-chain coffee houses, what luck would I have? What would I actually bring to it that would secure a lasting success? I have managed to get a lot done on the house this past week. I still have a few things to get handled, but for the most part I'm impressed with how much I've accomplished. It felt good to get busy on some needed work, and it always feels good to stand back and look at what's been completed. I hope I stick with it once I start the new job, as my time will become limited. Although my free time will shrink a bit after tomorrow, I have set myself a small web-related goal. I'm going to try and suggest one new album each day in January for the Media / Music section. So far so good, but I haven't planned ahead for it. I just sort of come up with it each morning. 3 weeks to go. One last concern I have at the moment, is my workout routine. It's mostly non-existent right now. I have volleyball every other week, and I haven't been to the gym in forever. Last night I signed up for a 10-week competitive volleyball league starting this Wednesday. That at least ups my volleyball participation from 2 days a month to 6. It's a start. Once I'm settled into my work routine, I'll figure out when the gym is an option. And lastly, once I'm not only settled into work but into my new financial situation, I'll be able to calculate how to work jujutsu back into the mix. 05-JAN-2007 - Home Improvement Against odds, and my own belief, I actually managed to start getting some work done around the house. This is real work I mean, not just tidying up or cleaning. So far I've started (but not entirely finished) installing a new outlet in the garage. I've added the address numbers to the outside of the garage. I've secured one of the light fixtures in the basement. All these little miscellaneous things have to be completed in the next two weeks, along with a number of other small but annoying tasks. As mentioned earlier, this is required work as conditioned per receiving the grant money I have available to me as part of my purchasing the house. That money itself is another issue. So far I've spent a bit of it on installing new carpeting in 3 rooms. This was just after I finished painting and just before I moved in. There is quite a bit of money left, and I have to decide what to spend it on. I'm going to put wood flooring in the dining room next, which isn't going to cost all that much thanks to HOBO and the wonder of pergo. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get new windows, after which I've decided to look into pricing on patio decks. I'm forming a plan for the back yard, which primarily revolves around my intentions to build a Japanese zen garden. But it's looking like a deck may be an appealing option for a small part of the yard. I'd like to have a prime location for some good old fashion summer grilling next year. Aside from my endeavor to work on the house, and thinking about the house in general, I've been enjoying my off time. This morning I had breakfast with Hannah at Miss Katie's Diner. After which I worked a bit more on my work-out room in the basement (another project in the works), and helped Ian get his car fixed. All in a good day's work I suppose. 03-JAN-2007 - New Jobs and Old Friends My start date for the new job has been adjusted one final time, to next week Tuesday. They want a certain manager to be present, and not just the trainers, when I start. And they want me to start in sync with my shift, which will be Tuesday thru Saturday, with a Sunday-Monday weekend. I suddenly have the kind of off-time I've wanted all along. That's the kind when you know you're starting a new job soon, but you have nothing to do in the meantime. So you're not worried and depressed cause all you do is bum around and look for lousy jobs, wondering if you'll be able to pay your bills next month. I've decided I will need to spend this time wisely, mostly getting projects done on the house that are required to be completed per the grants I received. I've been putting those off far too long now. Last night I had a long-overdue phone conversation with Paul. Every now and then we wind up talking to each other around the holidays. Suffice to say it was good to talk to him, and he is doing well. I'd like to take another run down to New Orleans one of these days to see him. Now that most of the mess down there is under control, it would be interesting to see the area as a city, and not so much as a disaster area (which was the point of our last trip down). I had a dream that I finally got back to the dojo. This was both a good dream and a sad dream. It's already been much longer than I ever expected to be away. And after I started what I thought would be a brief hiatus, I lost my job. Times are tougher than I ever thought they would get. But at least now I know they have the potential to get better. And I expect once that part of my life is under control I'll be back for real, not just in dreams. I woke up to the gentle but continuous pounding of some sort of construction equipment, destroying either blocks of cement or chunks of earth. The Kilbourn Reservoir, which is near my house, is being leveled and turned into a park. Obviously I'm ok with this, any project under way to improve the neighborhood and give me a place to play ultimate frisbee this summer is on my cool list. 02-JAN-2007 - Begin 2007 During my extended time as a jobless, lazy, depressed bastard, Becky would on occasion refer to me as "her housewife". This was fitting during seemingly endless days-on-end when I was meandering about the house with little to accomplish other than maintaining laundry and clean dishes. I'm looking forward to dropping that title this week and getting back to work. That said, the new employer called this morning as I was on my way out the door and pushed my first day back to tomorrow. So this becomes a nice 4-day holiday weekend, and I am spending today catching up on tedium such as bills, errands, cleaning and other such things. I'm looking forward to getting my first day behind me, and subsequently posting here about how it all went down. But that will now wait for another day. New Year's Eve was great this year. The usual crew converged on Mike and Jessica's home in Madison to eat, drink, and ring in the new year together in a small, cozy get together. I really enjoyed this approach as opposed to a bigger party this time around. The atmosphere was more comfortable, and most of the usual crowd was there so it felt more like hanging out with friends than partying with friends and/or friends plus additional people. I think it makes more sense to say goodbye to one year and welcome another in the company of the people you spend nearly all of that time with. Mike, Matt and I, in addition to Matt B. this time around, spent over an hour or so contemplating our shared intentions of not only bettering ourselves as people, but making dedicated time to thinking outside the box. This has long been a tradition with myself, Mike and Matt to strive forward with some grand plan to escape the inevitable clutches of the man. Our intentions this year were a bit more simple and unassuming. (And certainly nowhere near as chauvinist and grandiose as some uninformed sexist opinions would have you believe.) Instead of pretending this year is our deadline for emancipation, we are being a little more realistic, and simply trying to keep things on an improvement path. As well as commit to continual brainstorming with regards to gaining that ever-elusive independence. We tied our little pow-wow together with some Cuban cigars, courtesy of Mike and Jess smuggling them in on their honeymoon, and finished with a shot of Fireball. I hope 2007 does indeed mark many successes, even if I can't see or imagine them just yet. Mo and I crashed in Madison that night, and started New Year's day with my ongoing attempt at keeping tradition, a run to the diner first thing in the morning. The two of us, plus Mike, Jess, and Matt B. treated ourselves to a really nice place called Market Street Diner in Sun Prairie. The coffee was great, the breakfast entrees were really, really good. I'm already wishing I was back there. Here's to good friends, damn good breakfast, and another year. |
