Christmas is Coming

So here we're on the eve of the holidays starting with it being the 17th and I have just dropped off my son Harrison with my buddy Lou so that my young man can spend time with his Mom this holiday season up in Montreal. Lou and his family are heading up to Montreal for Christmas. I'm spending the week here for the first time in 10 years to spend it with Jackie and her family. This will be the first one that I spend with Jackie and her family and I think we are about to embark on a new tradition. I smiled as I typed this!

The reason for the blog though is that this will be one of the first ever Christmases that Harrison won't be nearby for Christmas Day. It is definitely the first time since I lost my Mom back in July 2002 so it will be weird. Ever since that day, Christmas has been spent with my sister Chantal and the rest of the family up in Laval. It won't be like that this year. That saddens me! Cue the tears. LOL. Seriously I am misty-eyed.

Anyways back to dropping Harrison off. Just before leaving him I gave him a hug and told him I love him and that started getting me misty-eyed. I don't do that often enough. Hug and tell him I love him. Is it some misplaced male machismo that does not allow me to do that? Is it my hoping that my actions on a day to day basis absolve me from vocalising these thoughts? I don't know.

All I do know right now is that I will miss Harrison over the next 10 days or so. I will have fun with Jackie and her children but at the same time a very important piece of me will be missing.

Off Days

Do you ever notice that we have off days every once in a while? By this I mean that sometimes things just don't seem to work right. It is almost like the left foot doesn't know what the right foot is doing. A case in point is that I just woke up from a nap 10-15 minutes ago. I caught a cold at the start of the weekend and my energy level is non-existent. I was watching the Biography channel and fell asleep on my couch for a couple of hours. I woke up in a dire need of kleenex for my the one side of my nose that seems to be working properly and I gingerly extracted myself from the couch and nearly wiped out. It was like I took two steps with my left foot as opposed to the more normal left right combination that would have been more effective. LOL. I think I need a really hot shower to get me ungroggy.

What has become of civility?

So before I go off on my latest rant about something that I see as wrong about today's world I should perhaps preface this by saying that I'm not perfect. I know that is a bit surprising but I have come to grips with it as I rapidly middle age-dom. LOL. Is that a word? Sounds like one. Agedom! LOL.Doesn't look right though.

If people could sometimes read my thoughts; they would think that I am not too civil. I need to work on that I think.

Anyways the reason for the title of this blog is about an event I found about last night at "trivia night" at the Zone in Mauldin.

Here's the event. Jackie and I and my good friend Lou (most times) have been frequenting the Zone on Wednesdays for the last 3-4 months for their trivia night. They offer bar tabs for the top three places and the beer is cheap and the food isn't too bad. DJ Quiz (Chris) runs the trivia "show" and he tries pretty hard to make interesting for all of us. He takes over the music playing which is slanted to 80s stuff which I happen to like and he even takes requests. Where else can you get to hear within minutes of each other Garth Brooks, Buckcherry, Rick Springfield and Matt May? Pretty cool and eclectic.

Sadly last night one of the people that has attracted many of us to the Zone was fired. This lady was and is bubbly, smiley, pretty, fun to be around and a great barmaid/waitress. She would see us walk in and before we even had a chance to take our seats we would have our pitcher of Yuengling with 2 cold glasses and Lou's vodka cranberry at our booth. All of us felt good about this little gesture. It made us feel special and important that someone who serves hundreds of people a week knew exactly what we wanted. She just wasn't only a barmaid or waitress. She was our friend Casey!

So Jackie and I walked in last night at 7pm and Casey was there but not serving people. She was dressed just like the clientele. Casual like. Whenever we walk into the Zone, Jackie gives DJ Quiz the obligatory hug and I do the handshake thing. Jackie more often does the hug thing with Casey and I do my usual "hey". LOL.

At this moment we found out that Casey was fired because supposedly there were some shortages. I've seen Casey on her own and by herself handle a full bar of people ordering drinks and food own. Running from table to table, from stool to stool and giving us absolutely wonderful service. I really don't think that she was "stealing" from the Zone.

Regardless of this so called reason; she was fired by text message last night after showing up to work. Yes that's right text message. Uneffing real. Some gutless worthless uncouth a-hole fired a great person via a text message. Where is the civility in this action? How does such a person look at himself in a mirror? What an effing something or another. I really want to go to 4 letter word territory to describe this spineless amoeba but am refraining from doing so.

Most of last night I was frustrated beyond words. I've never heard of this happening. I'm sure that it does but I never thought this would happen in my little world. I'm sad. I'm discouraged. I'm disappointed. I am trying to think of what I can do to "protest" this. I am pretty much a black and white guy. I can almost see what my next step will be. A man, a woman, a human being must have some tenets, some beliefs, some line in the sand that one just can't cross without a repercussion. We shall see. I will miss the professionalism of Casey. I know that I won't be getting the same service from the supposed eye candy that are now working there.

JACK-fm

So lately I've been listening to different JACK-fm format stations out of the Great White North and the really cool thing is the amount of CanCon on these stations. CanCon being Canadian Content. The JACK stations I've been listening to have been out of Vancouver, Smith Falls and lately the Regina station.

If I had to rank them it would go Regina, Vancouver then Smith Falls. Smith Falls loses out because of the schmaltz factor. Too many drippy songs.

I love the JACK format as they go from decade to decade and from genre to genre with a very healthy dose of CanCon and I will espouse at greater length at a later time on my love of CanCon.

So far tonight I heard the following songs after watching SC take care of Clemson. Go Cocks!

...Bitch...Meredith Brooks
...Light My Fire...The Doors...
...Black Velvet...Allanah Myles (CC)...
...You Spin Me Round...Dead or Alive...
...Make Up Your Mind...Theory of a Deadman (CC)...
...Centerfield...John Fogerty...
...Teenland...Northern Pikes (CC)...
...Only The Good Die Young...Billy Joel...
...Don't It Make Ya Feel...Headpins (CC)...
...You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth...Meat Loaf...
...Where The Streets Have No Name...U2...
...Undun...Guess Who (CC)...
...Mr. Jones...Counting Crows...
...We Run...Strange Advance (CC)...
...Sweet Home Alabama...Lynyrd Skynyrd...
...Wild Horses...Gino Vannelli (CC)...
..."Dirty Laundry...Don Henley...

A pretty eclectic bumch of songs but lots of sing-alongs in my world!!!

There She Goes Again...

So the helicopter-riding, wolf-hunting, fence building Mama of all mama grizzlies decided to once again express her "thoughts". LOL. This time it was on another like-minded limited thinking talk show host's program earlier today. It wasn't on Calamity's show this time; it was on Ingranite's show. It seems that Mama of the mama grizzlies has an issue with our 1st lady's ideas on childhood obesity. She thinks that it is wrong that our 1st lady backs programs that are trying to tackle the child obesity problem. You know I'm thinking that this may all be solved if we build 14ft high fences across our southern and northern borders including blocking all radio and tv signals then we can stare at our navels and problem solve with that plumbing guy. You betcha!

Geez Louise Original Thinking Not Required

So the issue troubling the nation at this time per the GOP is the funding of National Public Radio (NPR) and the funding of Planned Parenthood. This seems to be the case for the rising star of the GOP Mike Pence. You would think that having an unemployment rate of 9.9% as of October 2010 in the state of Indiana which he happens to supposedly represent would be a little more important.

According to the Planned Parenthood website this organization has been around more than 90 years and part of their mission is to help inform us about things like "vital reproductive health care, sex education, and information to millions of women, men, and young people worldwide."

So this is money wasted supporting this kind of organization. After all the dreaded abortion word shows up on the Planned Parenthood website. I haven't checked but maybe the dreaded homosexual word shows up there as well. LOL. What a joke!

Does the thinking of a typical GOP member ever evolve or take into account that we are now in the 21st century and that maybe the viewpoint of a 40+ white male hasn't exactly brought us exactly to that ideal place?

I think not! Then again I am one of those dang liberals.

Oh Boy That Was An Adventure

This will be short and sweet. It was quite an adventure driving home tonight along 85 what with the holiday seeming to start plus the misty rain on the roadway. All I kept seeing were blue lights along the way. It'd be nice if people took it a little easy on days or nights like this. What's the rush anyways? Pretty much a 5 dayer here now for most of us. Alas woe is me as I am working the next three days. Well kind of! LOL.

DADT....

I just got home from a pretty poor performance at trivia and decided to get online. I have a tendency to check out 4 websites in no particular order. These being MLB.com, Wikipedia.com, SlamSports.com and HuffingtonPost.com. I usually get quite worked up about an article or two on Huffington Post which typically slants to the left which is primarly where my thinking rests. Anyways time to get back on track. One of their banner articles was about DADT. Don't ask don't tell. Why the eff does this make an effing difference in 2010. Does one's sexual orientation really matter in the forces? Does it matter on the battlefield?

This is my take on it coming from a single parent perspective. I am incredibly proud of what my son has become in his 19+ years on the planet. In the past I have told him especially since moving to the land of the free and the home of the brave that I admire the sacrifice and wherewithal of ALL the young people that enlist in our Forces. I'm glad that he hasn't decided to join the forces because we are involved in some actions that we probably shouldn't be involved in at this time. My opinion only. Regardless of my selfish thought process I am incredible grateful, thankful and proud of those that choose to enlist to promote our ideals. Those being males and females. Whites, blacks or hispanics. Democrats, Republicans or Independents. Catholics, Protestants, Muslims or Atheists. Straights or gays. Does it make a difference. Look at the "labels" I just gave people. Does it matter whether or not you like the opposite sex. No it doesn't. Why should it? Why is this important? Any reason why it is? Convince me otherwise please! I don't think anyone can.

Kirkland Signature Amber Ale

A little while ago I impulsively bought for the first-time ever a case of Kirkland Signature beer. Ever since that impulse buy I find myself buying this beer brand rather often. There are four different distinct flavours in the case. There is the German-style lager, the Amber Ale, the Pale Ale and the Hefeweizen. These beers are manufactured in my market by the New York Brewing Co. in Utica, NY. Tonight after picking up the prodigal son after his night class I celebrated Carey Price's latest goaltending gem by having a couple Amber ales. A mighty fine beer from my semi unrefined palate in my humble opinion.

O'Byrne is traded...

Darn it they did it again. Why do my Habs always seem to trade some of these young guys that may become really solid players elsewhere. O'Byrne in his short stay with the Habs never was really given the chance to play his game without the fear of being either in the coach's doghouse or glued to the end of the bench after making a mistake or expanding his game day wardrobe to include lots of new suits to wear in the press box. I kind of liked the fact that this guy was a redwood and not afraid to muck it up at times. Why didn't we give him a decent chance? It seems that we like going after other teams' defencemen and often those that are a bit long in the tooth. Good luck Ryan! We hardly knew ye....

Simpsonville Speed Traps r Us

So I've been living here in Simpsonville for a little over a year now and it seems that not a day goes by that I do not see the Simpsonville PD hiding either on Neely Ferry Rd., or Barker Rd. or West Georgia Rd. trying to catch someone going 10 mph over the speed limit so that they can enrich Simpsonville coffers. I am all for enforcing speed limits however seeing a speed limit of 40 mph on a four lane road that has lots of downhill driving, zero pedestrian traffic and almost no residential housing straddling the roadway looks like a blatant cash grab to me. I don't think doing 50 mph between Neely Ferry Rd. and I385 on West Georgia Rd. is one of the main reasons SC has lousy driving stats.

Perhaps if the PD would take a look at the drivers totally preoccupied with their cellphones (usually texting from what I see) or those not using any turn signals at all or those going through red lights as if they don't exist because they were already halfway through the light being parked there waiting for traffic to pass. You know those with the real right of way! Perhaps then our stats would improve. Perhaps then I would feel safer driving here. Then maybe I would not look at the PD interested in only filling some quota and instead of actually making the roads safer. Does this make any sense?

Being a Democrat in SC

Being a democrat in SC can be likened to fighting for a lost cause or a definition of insanity which states repeating the same behaviour and expecting different results.

The unemployment rate when I moved here in August 1999 was 4.4%. When Jim Hodges the Democratic governor lost the election in November 2002 it stood at 6.2%. Eight years later after the Republican Mark Sanford (well known for hiking trails in the Appalachian foothills of Argentina) left his office in November 2010 the rate stood at 10.8%. Okay he is still in power til January 2011 but what exactly will he do in the next couple of months? Perhaps he will go skiing in those same Appalachian foothills of Argentina.

Hmmm Jim Demint has been the junior senator from SC since 2005. When he showed up for his senate office in January 2005 the unemployment rate stood at 6.5%. Do I detect a pattern here? Nah I must be wrong after all we just voted Demint back in rather easily because after all he does much good for our state. I'm sure he does. Someone who knows all the good that he does for the state will no doubt enlighten me on this fact. I won't hold my breath mind you. I could be waiting for awhile.

Hmmm we voted in Nikki Haley for governor as a Republican. After all she did as well as Sanford and Demint in bringing prosperity to our fair state. She's been sitting in the State house since 2004 as well. Her record stands on its own. LOL.

I think in this state it doesn't make a difference if you don't have a pulse or an original thought; all you need is a capital R after your name and you're in like Flynn.

Kind of sad I think.

It is what it is ...Part II

So when I last left off I was babbling away about Sushi Koji in downtown Greenville. I mentioned that I was going to continue on that blog subject and then as it typically happens I got busy doing things and never got back to finishing that blog. Now here I am a week later and my thought process isn't exactly where it was last week. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Our thinking after all is supposed to evolve. The thing is that the events of last week have made me angry somewhat.

Seeing the country go back to the GOP after only two years of a Democratic majority is tough on my morale. The GOP scare me! Any pretense of this party representing all of the American population quickly disappears when you read a roll call of the people that were elected under their banner. They pretty much only represent the interests of the haves and the haves that want more and more.

I am by no means an expert on the political process here but after watching the Dems basically screw up over the last two years by watering down every single piece of legislation that they tried to pass. They did this by either kowtowing to Republican representatives that had no intention of ever working with the Dems or by attaching idiotic and wasteful earmarks to some of their legislation which guaranteed failure in the midterms.

They had the chance to promote their agenda that would help a majority of the populace but at every turn they did not stick to their guns. They beseeched the opposition. They kowtowed. They bent over backwards. They did not remember the motto which so many people believed in 2008. What became of "yes we can?" I believed those eight letters and what it meant in 2008.

Why and how did the Cantors, Boehners and McConnells of this country manage in two short years to bring us back to the precipice of the same dumbass, lame and pretty much irresponsible governing that got us involved in two wars and the worst economic crisis since the great depression. Yeah let's now provide more vouchers for private schools. Let's keep those tax breaks for the rich. They need it after all. Let's get rid of the inheritance tax. Let's bring the government to a standstill.

Geez depressing.

It is what it is!!!

So here I am on a Sunday night about to ramble on about the things that I find interesting tonight. Some of this might make sense to some of the people that read my ramblings. I daresay however that most of this will be gobbledygook to most. Anwways here I am about to ramble as Mr. Plant said way back when. Just in case you didn't know the lyric went "ramble on, and now's the time, the time is now, to sing my song."

In the late afternoon Jackie and I went on what the Scots call a walkabout in downtown Greenville. This town is pretty dang weird on late Sunday afternoons. Half of the places we passed had the lights out denoting the fact that Sundays are not revenue producing days I guess. Being a finance person of sorts I kind of find that hard to believe. I am pretty sure that if you advertise properly your place of business in downtown Greenville would be doing some decent numbers on most Sundays. I think that there are now enough of us northerners here now to give you a viable reason to open the doors.

There were several places that we passed by earlier tonight that I think all they need is some decent marketing and they would be generating $$$ on Sundays. I think if you give the people a reason to be in or to come to downtown G'ville on a Sunday you almost have a license to print greenbacks. I volunteered 3 weeks ago at "Fall for Greenville" on a Sunday and I know what I speak of in this case I believe.

Nevertheless Red and I stopped at "Spill the Beans" for a great cup of coffee. (P.S.Don't forget your Biscotti tomorrow Babe!) We then walked across the bridge and Red offered her picture taking services for a couple of lovebirds with their really, really cute daughter. We then visited with my relatives from way up north. Okay they were only Canadian geese but nevertheless it was nice seeing some ex-pats around. Smiles.

Anyways we ended up at a great sushi place afterwards on the corner of N. Main St. called Sushi Koji. We had been there before with two couples and had a great meal as well as a great time. Tonight Jackie (aka Red) and I stopped in on our own and sat at the sushi bar. It was great seeing the artistry in making and serving a sushi roll. Jackie had a few laughs watching me trying to add wasabi to my roll of choice. Using chopsticks is definitely not my forte. Then again until about a year ago I had never ever tried to use them as a utensil to eat with. LOL. Laughing at my usage of chopsticks and using the word with to end a sentence. LOL.

Gonna continue this later...

2nd Line Winger

So here I am keeping up with my Habs from about 900 miles south of Montreal and wondering why Jacques Martin is so worried about the lack of production from the 2nd line as well as who will end up being be the 3rd player on the Gionta-Gomez line. Okay this line hasn't exactly lit up the opponents' net at this point but the team is still at 5-2-1 which is pretty darn good. Good enough for 1st in the Northeast Division!

All in all Gionta is getting the opportunities as he is leading the team in shots on goal. They just haven't found the back of the net. Whereas Gomez has 3 points so far in 8 games. Okay they aren't exactly lights out but there is still another 70+ games to go. Relax. We're 5-2-1 after all.

The article I read that led to this blog came from the Montreal Gazette and in it they mention that Jacques Martin has tried Benoit Pouliot, Matthieu Darche, Travis Moen and last but not least Tom Pyatt on this line. Nothing against these guys; they bring their lunch buckets to the rink on a consistent basis. They're just not 2nd line players at this stage of their careers. That's okay. We're winning. No reason to panic. I know that the latter three don't have much of a history with Gionta-Gomez. Let us see how they gel. It is only 8 games after all and we are doing pretty well considering that we are still missing one of our most talented players in Andre Markov.

Here's an idea! Do we have someone on the roster that has a last name that starts with the letter G? We could have the GGG line! The triple G line! We could call that line the "Go Get Goals" line! Darn it! The only other G-Men on the team are Gill and Gorges. Let's get Monty Hall on the line. It is time to "let's make a deal". Okay I am being a wee bit sarcastic here. The point is we have 11 points out of 16. As Frankie said in the 80s.....Relax

Gawd Politics

One of my favorite topics that I used to blog about in my prolific days on MySpace was that "inspiration" from Wasilla, Alaska. If I use quotations; that typically means that I am being sarcastic and in this instance I am definitely being sarcastic.

Honest to Gawd! Is this the best that the Repugnants can come up with? This non-original "thinker" from up north? You betcha!!! WTF! Dumbing down of the political process is primarily the only dang thing she can do. In the year 2010 all that she can come up with is describing her like-minded "thinkers" as "wonderful, pleasant, gracious, nice, hard-working mama grizzlies who are wanting to turn this country around." What the heck does a grizzly bear have to do with any of this. Geezus. Can you even come up with a proper noun for your "friends"? Grizzlies? Weren't those the animals that you went shooting from a helicopter in the last election cycle with your 'Einstein" of a hubby? This is how you describe your "friends". Thank goodness you didn't have to name the states where they're running or from.

Maybe you should stick to "tweeting." You're less of an embarrassment when you are limited to 160 characters or less. Unless of course you bring up the endorsement of someone that you like. You like so much that you can't get the state right. LOL. Geezus! Pennsylania! West Virginia!

You betcha!!!

Lazy Dazy Saturdazy!

Well it is the middle of the afternoon and I have yet to be productive today. It may be the result of having a bit too much grape last night.

I am meandering on whether or not I should go to Costco or to Walmart and get some groceries or better yet put if off 'til tomorrow. As I am typing I am listening to some of my faves on YouTube. Right now it is Chilliwack's "Fly By Night". A great tune. Nice guitars and some amazing drumwork.

OMG has it been that long since I typed!!!!!

Okay here's something that I need to do. I need to be writing blogs. Darn I miss my nonsensical ramblings. I used to write tons of blogs on MySpace and in my humble opinion some of my ramblings were pretty darn entertaining. Not only that but they were very cathartic for me to write. Well here on 09/20/2010 I am coming back to write with a vengeance. I will be writing about what amuses me, about what makes say WTF, about the music I like and love, about what I love about Greenville/Simpsonville, about what makes me smile and what makes me frown. I'm back and I am writing!

Thinking About Things

Well it is 532am and instead of blogging I should perhaps be sorting through paperwork and making sure that my bills are up to date. I should perhaps be trying to catch up on work-work. I should perhaps be sorting clothes for laundry or folding what was washed over the weekend. Well none of those ideas were appealing so I decided to start typing.

So the other day I went for my first-ever cardiologist visit. There have been lots of first-times this year. Some positive and some negative. I would classify this visit as a positive. According to what the doctor saw in my tests my heart and upper body seem to be okay. He was a bit surprised that I was recommended to him considering that my issues to date this year seem to be more related to some sort of vascularity problems in my legs and especially with my right one. If anything the doctor told me that I need to push myself a little bit harder exercise-wise which will have the benefit of hopefully improving my legs as well as well as the added benefit of either losing some weight or toning up somewhat. Surprisingly after a little over 7 weeks of not smoking I have not put on that much weight. I have tried to be careful in my caloric intake and think that I have not replaced cigarettes with some sort of bad food choice. I know that I definitely have an exercise partner. LOL! If there is one thing that I know or absolutely am certain about is that I have someone that will be there to help me get better or fitter.

Hmmmm okay just received a weird message from Blogger. I may not be able to save this blog. I think I better stop before I lose even more.

Yinglingtingding...

Or is that Yinglingdingting? Hmmm. Another one of life's conundrums! So what the heck am I babbling about one may ask? This is an inside joke. Actually it is so inside that I am probably the only person that knows this joke. LOL. Okay that is messed up.

Here's the back story. I tend to not have a favorite beer. I will pretty much buy any beer though I tend to stay away from the cheapest much like I stay away from the most expensive ones. Anyways I used to be on Myspace and Facebook a lot and I used to update my status at times with the beverage of choice that I was imbibing at the time of my site visit. More often than not I was name-dropping the coffee I was enjoying. When it wasn't about coffee I would mention the beer that I was enjoying. The love of my life (Jackie M.) has a fav cheap beer and that is Yuengling. My Yinglingtingding is a stab at humour. LOL. Humor for you Yanks. I never know how to type this brand name so I add rhymes to it. Call me a very middle aged out of touch rapper why don't ya! I think lots of people would be erroneous in the spelling of this traditional lager. LOL. I am sure I am not the only one.

So why am I typing about that beer from Pottstown, Pa. Well here's why for those with inquisitive minds. Jackie is at the Detroit airport right now and on her way to KC for a three-day training session in becoming a scrum master. LOL. Scrum not scrub master. She's already a scrub master. LOL. This is coming from my perspective mind you so this may not hold much water as I am not exactly a neat person.

Whereas I am sitting on my deck (upper deck that is) in wonderful Simpsonville, SC listening to a classic rock station on TV while drinking a couple of Yuenglings and rambling nonsensically about a word that rhymes with ting ding sing wing! I think I just invented a new item on a Chinese food menu!

So I am on my upper deck, typing away and making sure that Jinx/Jynx is still near me and not chasing some flies. I am waiting for Harrison, Eean, Mark and Alex to come back from their frisbee golf adventure before I cook supper for everyone. I think it is time to play some poker.

I'll be blogging again real soon. I miss it.

"Google Me" a review of sorts

I spent a pleasant evening watching a movie online called "Google Me". I thought that Jim Killeen had a great idea. He googled his name and kind of made a docudrama of six other Jim Killeens around the world. It is a cool concept. I loved the answers that the Jims gave as the reasons for their purpose here. It made me think and gave me a positive vibe! I needed a happy break!

Beautiful Day

Okay this ramble will not be about the U2 song though it could be I would surmise. LOL. I don't even know if if makes sense to have structured that last sentence in that way. This is an example of my quirky writing or should I say bad and slow typing. Ha! I sit myself down in front of a keyboard and I have a plan Stan but before you know it I am meandering along typing all about whatever comes to mind. Today or this moment is a good day or moment!

I am off work today as it is Good Friday in Canada and they are observing it as a holiday. Given that my work revolves around 100% Canadian stuff I am off today. It is Good Friday down here also! It just doesn't seem the same mind you.

I just came back from venti Starbucks run to Fairview Rd. I could have made some coffee here this morning but I just wanted to see people out and about. Hence I just spent $2.27 for a great tasting coffee.

One thing I have noticed about me is that I can be a loner. In some ways that is great but in other ways it is sad. It is as if I am afraid to completely let myself go around people. It is as if I am afraid to be hurt in some way. I don't even know the way. It is just a sense. I know that I am wary of asking others for help. I tend to try to sort things out on my own. Eventually! Sometimes it takes awhile.

Earlier this week someone I work with told me that I had been more "open" or less shy in the last little while. She kind of tied into my being with someone and that it brought out some of extrovert genes. LOL. I didn't realize it. I guess I had been. I hope that I don't lose that. I hope that I stay more open. LOL. Does that make sense? Sheesh I am asking myself a question as I type.

Anyways my idea for today had been to go to Charleston, SC for a short stay but that kind of fell by the wayside due to the "Saturday event". I could have gone on my own but as I am wont to do I didn't bring in my car for servicing to have that check engine light looked at. I need to take care of that in the coming week so that if I feel like going for a drive I need not worry about my car breaking down on the side of the road.

So now my plan is to work on my yard, to do some laundry, to straighten out the house, to find my digital camera and charge it up and then take some pictures and brighten up this blogspace of mine. Sounds okay!

24

Just watched last Monday's episode of 24 on Hulu. I love being able to watch a missed episode via Hulu. Episodes flow faster due to much less commercial breaks. Kind of wonder if it makes economic sense to make the shows available there but I guess there is some revenue from the 2-3 minutes of advertising. I'm guessing that it is some sort of revenue stream that would not be available if we were watching illegal episodes on some website somewhere. I am not even sure where those sites are. You hear it often enough as it relates to bit torrent sites but I don't even know what that means. LOL. A computer genius I am not!

What to do...

It's a bit unreal how things go sometimes. I've had an interesting 2010 so far. I ran into some health issues after not taking care of myself for many, many years. I'm thinking that living a rather sedentary lifestyle, smoking a pack day since I was 18 yrs. old, drinking tons of coffee and probably not having the best diet finally caught up with me.

The one positive is that I wasn't afraid to tell my doctor of everything that was physically bugging me. Boy oh boy did I open up and admit things that I never thought I would. Talk about opening up a can of worms. LOL. Since the middle of February I've had a regular stress test, a nuclear stress test, a CT scan, two ultrasounds and have filled plenty of vials with my blood. I am now taking a couple of blood pressure pills in the morning along with a low-dose aspirin to regulate my BP plus some cholesterol meds to regulate that as well. LOL. Sheesh this stuff better work. Plus I even stopped smoking 26 days ago. Hopefully on May 4th I will start seeing some progress. Not seeing or feeling it yet.

Even with the discovery of something that totally has shaken my faith in the opposite sex and makes me wonder when I will ever believe or buy into the romantic ideal I'm still trying to stay positive. I have to admit there are moments that I just want to scream at the top of my lungs. WHY ME? ARE PEOPLE THIS MEAN? IS THERE SUCH A THING AS INTEGRITY? IS IT ALL BS? I know deep down that I am only thinking this way because it is too fresh. It is too new. I'll get through it. I will get back to rambling on coherently and not so coherently and make myself actually laugh at loud at how quirky I look at things at times. I will get there! I will get there! I will be there!!!

Middle of the Night

Well here I am at 417am and I think I am pretty much wide awake. I woke up about 15 minutes ago wondering where I was. Not a good sign. Gawd I have too many things running through my head. Most of these things are negative in tone. It's amazing how one event just seems to overshadow everything else that is going on and makes everything seem kind of bleak. I know that this is just a temporary thing. It will get better. I just have to do what I need to do to make it so.

I am really looking forward to this long weekend. Pretty sure that the weather is going to be real nice and that will give me the chance to work on my front and back yards. This being my first ever spring as a homeowner this will be interesting. I was walking around my yard yesterday wondering what is good grass and what is a weed-like grass. I am really lost when it comes to any garden issues. I'm going to have to google all of this stuff to figure it out. LOL. I think I am going to try to get back to sleep. I can't be awake at 426am!

Tough day and an even tougher night....

Well I think I am calling it a night at 915pm. I have the feeling that I am going to hit an emotional wall in the coming days. I'm kind of glad that I have a long weekend yet at the same time I'm worried that my morale is going to be lots of peaks and valleys in the coming days and that I won't be as busy as I could be. I don't want to dwell on a negative thoughts. This too shall pass!

Sometimes Mistakes Are Made

So here it is bright and early in Marc world on Wednesday, March 31st. I had another night of sleeping in fits and starts. I think that is the expression. I am not sure if that is it exactly but it sounds like it is. One day I will have to look up the origin and meaning.

Anyways I woke up thinking. Grrr! I prefer waking up gradually but today I woke up feeling misplaced guilt. It's quite enough that at times I feel guilty and take responsibility for my own actions and inactions but why oh why this morning did I feel like what recently occurred was my fault. I make mistakes. I'll be the first to admit to that. I didn't this weekend. Last night I tried talking about it. I tried sorting it out. I really tried to jump back on the horse to use a cowboy metaphor. I was told that I needed to face the fear. Well I wasn't ready to deal with that. Especially when I think that I had to do something that gave me the heebie-jeebies because of another's action. As Shaggy sang: "It wasn't me!"

First Time Blog Here

Well this is my first time blog on this site. I'm hoping that this will help me deal with things much like the previous blog space did. I was blogging about things I liked. Things I disliked. Things that made me go hmmmmmmm. Things that made me go WTF. This last day and a half has been a trying time. My life went topsy-turvy on Saturday 330pm. I never ever felt like I did that day at that moment. I still am not sure how to deal with things. One minute I am okay. One minute I am totally effed up. I am sure that in the coming days more stuff will come out. I have always thought that we are given what we can handle or are on a path to deal with what we can on that given day. This next little bit of time will tell.