Long Day's Journey Into Night...

 It has been a while. Things are busy, school has started, and work has been a bitch. The days are ending and starting and it is hard to tell which way is up. Needless to say I have been real busy and there has been a lot going on.
It is late and I will try to hit the high points of the last couple of weeks and how I feel about some of that stuff...
College football is in full swing, both Oklahoma teams played and won tonight. I watched all of the pokes game and caught the last quarter and a half of the sooners, it all went as expected. Football has turned a corner, professionally anyway and I just think it all stinks. Everyone has weighed in on the Ray Rice debacle. You NEVER hit a woman, ever. I was raised that way, my son is being raised that way and I hope others are doing the same. There is no excuse especially if you are a huge professional athelete that gets paid millions to dole out punishment to other grown ass men of equal or greater physique. Walk the fuck away. That is what a man does, asshole.
Then comes news that Adrian Peterson was indicted for injury to a child for hitting his son with a switch, I just shake my head, meting out punishment on a child needs to be a hand to the bottom or a paddle or equivalant. A couple of well placed smacks on the ass is usually enough to get attention and correct a problem. Timeouts work, sometimes, taking things away works well in my experience. The switch, belt, or closed fist are not really anything I want to use or will use, it was used on me on more than one occasion in the past and I am not a fan of the resentment and shame that is a result. It is not good for the child and usually violence breeds violence. I have raised two girls and have a ten year-old well adjusted son that rarely got in or get in trouble to the point I want to find something to beat them with. My opinion, take it or leave it...
What else....oh Sons of Anarchy, back with a vengenance. I know this is not for everyone but I have been hooked since the beginning. It is not for the faint of heart and I see this final season being even more bloody and disturbing then before. And that ladys and gentlemen is the violence and destructive behavior I love, the kind that is portrayed in movies and TV, in real life I do not need that shit,
Okay I have ranted enough and it is late. Teach your sons that women are equal, do not hit them, and have respect for them. Matter of fact, teach all your children, girls and boys, everyonee is imprtant and everyone is the same, treat people with respect, empathy, compassion, and kindness. It is not easy, it does not always happen, but if we start now, maybe there is hope for us yet. Til next time...

The Longest Week....

or maybe two weeks. It has been a bit since I have had the time or energy to post anything. Work has been a nightmare, and by nightmare I mean a bloody fucking unbelievable cluster of ignorance, stupidity, and downright classless.
I do not want to go into a lot of detail, but I covered for someone who had a child pass away. That in itself is downright depressing, but the way management handled her return was unbelievably rude. I was embarassed to be associated with these people. Not only that, I got to see the true colors of the people I work for. Not pretty, not pretty at all. Treat people at least as well as you want to be treated. Empathy and understanding go a long way toward helping someone that is mired in a bad situation. I know the goal of a business is to prosper, but you really do not need to be an asshole all the time to accomplish that...I will stop there with that before I get all fired up again...
On a good note, we have a wedding venue booked for my daughter. The date is set and the ball is rolling and everybody is excited. School started again, after a shaky start for the youngest, I believe we are getting into a rythym. Thing seem to be getting back to normal. Usually by the second or third week we are back in a groove and things seem to roll along almost automatically.
So I am taking a vacation day tomorrow and have Monday off, FOUR DAY WEEKEND. I am a fan.
A huge fan of the long weekend. I can get stuff done, get some rest and have time with the family. And most importantly, football. Saturday (some games today) begins another college football season and I think the NFL starts next week. I love football, and football means fall, and fall means cooler weather, and I am all ready for that.
In short, watch some football, get some rest, accomplish some tasks, eat right and get some exercise, and I promise to do the same. Happy Labor Day Weekend! Til next time...

The Final Cut

What a week it has been. And it is only Tuesday. Wake up on Sunday morning to see that Tony Stewart killed another driver on a race track in New York. Still don't know how I feel about that, other than sad for the man's family and all his friends.
Then comes Monday. Robin Williams passing just made me sad. As a huge fan of comedy and all those that make their living trying to make us laugh, I still am in a funk over this. Part of my childhood was spent hours on end in front of the TV. Mork and Mindy was a favorite of mine, and I still remember the first Comic Relief. I loved Good Morning Vietnam, for the funny and the serious. Insomnia and One Hour Photo blew my mind showing the sinister side of a man I knew only from stream of conciousness comedy. Then I saw Good Will Hunting, and I was amazed at the range of talent that seemed to ooze out of the man. I always new that there were demons in the background but I really thought maybe he was past that, but I was naive, nothing is ever that easy. I am sad for his kids, I am sad for others that he loved and loved him back, and I am sad that there is nothing that can be done. Depression is real, it is scary, and I fear it is closer at times than I would like. I hope wherever he is he is making others laugh but most of all I hope he is laughing too...

Any Wednesday...

Just like all the rest...today was booorrriiing. Long and drawn out. Started out running late and had to do busy work all day just to stay busy-until about three and then all kinds of requests started rolling in. So at least I will be busy tomorrow. Feast or famine, that is how it is this time of year. You are either so busy you can't get caught up or the phone is just not ringing. But it doesn't stay that way for long.
This is a short week for me so I will not gripe too much. After taking a long weekend I was actually pretty much ready to go yesterday, got in early and got a lot done. I have been getting home and spending time on the stationary bike working those calories off and sweating like a pig. But I have about 25 more pounds I want to lose and I would love to get rid of what is left of my gut and stick to a healthy weight. Fingers crossed.
School is getting ready to start again, I have one starting college in a week and another in the fifth grade stating the next week. Neither one seems too excited about going, but I will be glad to see everyone back in a normal routine. Not much else to say today except gas is going down and the temperature is going back up. Which is about normal for this time of year so no use complaining. It has been a pretty mild summer thus far especially compared to a couple of years ago when we had 30+ days of over 100° temps. It even rained a little this afternoon as I was leaving work.
Well when all you have to talk about is the weather and gas prices, I guess that means there is not much to say. Til next time...

Any Given Sunday...

Football is back...or the crappy preseason version of it. But it was nice to see a real NFL football game and not the weak Canadian version, or that circus Arena League crap. It was also nice to see all of the Hall of Fame inductees. Just about a month a way from the real deal so I am pretty hyped. Other than that I am knee deep in Season two of Hemlock Grove and trying to wind down from what has been a pretty good day.
Had the whole house full of kids today and made a huge dinner of pulled pork, corn on the cob, potatoes, fresh vegetables, and corncakes. A corncake covered with pulled pork and drizzled with some good green salsa was pretty damn amazing if I must say. Spent about an hour on the exercise bike working it off but it was worth it.
My middle child starts freshman orientation for college tomorrow. I both proud and excited for her and know she will do good things. The youngest will enroll on Tuesday and should be starting soon. Things will get back into a routine and somewhat back to normal soon. Maybe when school starts we can all go to bed at a decent time, And then again maybe not.
Tomorrow I am finishing off my four day weekend by hanging out with my son while everyone else is running around doing other things. One last chance to get in some rest and exercise before I start another (short) work week. All things considered I have had a great weekend and am blessed to have a loving family and a roof over our heads. Hope everyone else had a great weekend and that carries on for the week ahead. Til next time...

Thursday...

or what I like to call, my Friday, I worked it out so I could take off tomorrow and Monday and take a breather for a couple of days. And man I am I jazzed about it. I get to sleep in, probably til like 6 or 6:30 maybe even seven, I don't know we'll see how it goes...
In other news, my soon to be married daughter is pregnant, not really news to me but we have held off telling anyone until she had a sonagram and was given a due date (Mar. 11,2015). We are excited about a new addition to the family. Not really ready to be "Grandpa" yet...been kicking around a few alternate names and have settled on Shooter. We'll see how it goes...
Had a pretty productive week at work. Started out Monday with a bang and never really let up until this morning. Luckily didn't fall behind, and even got rewarded with a good bottle of 12yr old whiskey for some extra work I did that made someone look good. All in a days work.
So tomorrow me and the two youngest will hit the grocery store, do a little house work and hang out while Mom is at work (couldn't get her on board with the whole "blow off Friday" thing). Need to get in some time with the kids before school starts in a couple of weeks, and enjoy some time off. I also need to work down the old Netflix queue. We'll see how it goes...
Hopefully everyone has a great day tomorrow and enjoys a good weekend and gets those batteries recharged for Monday, while I sleep in another day....
Til next time...

A Month of Sundays...

...would be nice. I had a pretty quiet day. Got in some rest and some exercise so I accomplished two things I wanted to do today. This weekend has flown by and as I sit and write this I am already thinking of the dozens of things I have to do at work tomorrow. Anyway..
Had company all weekend. My wife's sister and our neice came to visit on Friday night and spent the weekend with us. I am not one for visitors but I am glad they came, my wife was happy and the kids had a good time so it all worked out extremely well. I got in some Netflix while they ran around most of the day yesterday, so I feel like everyone got in a good break from the usual. Plus my sister in law brought me a really nice globe (you know like a map of the eaerth, but round...), I have been wanting one but they are impossible to find especially the quality of the one she brought.
Maps are my thing, in case I haven't ever mentioned that before, which I probably have not. Maps are what I do, a big part of my job, and something I have always had an interest in. A good map can be like a piece of art, not everyone sees that, but I do. So I was super excited to get acquire the globe and hope to have it for a long time.
So that was my weekend pretty much. I did manage to put together a really good dinner of some chicken breasts, potatoes, fresh fried squash and some really good canteloupe. I enjoy cooking to some degree especially on Sundays. A good Sunday meal starts off the week in the right direction and usually helps me sleep on Sunday night, which is always tough for me. On that note the diet is rolling along and I am actually under 220, that makes me feel like I am making progress and gives me more ambition to keep at it and not give up.
So I hope everybody has a good and productive week, we have cooler weather headed our way in a couple of days so hopefully it gets here fast. Let's all take Friday off and make it a three day weekend, ok...good I am in. Til next time...

Big Wednesday...

Or as I like to call it "Monday #2". Wednesday always seems to have that Monday feel for some reason. Usually because I start the day running late, or forget something, or have an unusually heavy workload, which was the case today. From 7 until almost three I had requests piling in and then one of our plotters crashed and I had to improvise and shift some stuff to another one and then hadconnection problems to the server-like I said Monday #2.
But it wasn't all bad, I did get everything done and can start tomorrow with a clean slate. I was not late and even bailed out a tad early and beat some of the rush hour mayhem. Got home and my daughter had dinner made which was nice. So I got to eat and then headed out in the heat to get a walk in and clear my head. July in Oklahoma is really not the best time to exersize outside because it is fucking hot. I was ten feet from the end of the driveway and I was already soaked, but I powered through and got a good mile and a half in before the heat started to make me weak.
I love living in Oklahoma, mostly because of the weather. The heat sucks but it usually doesn't last to long, and sometimes we get a break, like last week when we had three days of 70 degree high temps. I also like living in a place that is cold in the winter, I do love the winter. Nothing gets my blood pumping like a brisk cold early morning, but it is hell on my knees. The only downfall is tornado season, but there is still a lot of beauty in the color and sound of an approaching thunderstorm. Nature is as amazing as it is deadly and to me that is part of the allure.
So as I call an end to another day I can only hope that a cool snap is coming, the weekend is coming faster, and hopefully I can catch up on some sleep. Til next time...

A Day in the Life

Today I will attempt to follow my day start to finish....
5:10 am wake up and try to get it together,  shower, coffee, a kiss goodbye and I am out the door...
Then comes the fun part,  fighting the morons on the highway-which thankfully today was pretty light.
6:50 am arrive at the office.  Turn on the computer find something for breakfast and start deleting emails.  About 10 minutes  later the boss rolls in and slowly everyone else follows suit. Monday and everyone is ready to go (kind of)....
Well  it is now after 11 and so far my day has consisted of mapping hazardous waste areas and new fiber optic lines.  The I tried to find some Wi-Fi  at lunch to download some pod casts but no luck with that... So now I am eating some microwave popcorn and deleting more emails,  hopefully things will pick up this afternoon...
But, alas they did not.  Spent the rest of my workday with database maintenance (aka busy work) and bounced out around three forty .  Hit the interstate with all the other people and cruised on home. 
When I got home I dined on a huge piece of cold watermelon and got the lowdown on everyone's day,  then headed outside to tackle some yard work.  Now I sit here typing away after  a shower and a cold ice tea for a little relax time before I hit the sack and do it all over again tomorrow.  Til next time....

Small Town Saturday Night...

Once again it is late, the house is quiet and half of the weekend has sped by. This week has been long but the time off is blowing past like crazy. My middle child turned 18 on the tenth, so last weekend we took her out to eat and then let her experience the wonderful world of Win Star Casino. Needless to say she was not impressed. She was thrilled that they have a Dairy Queen there which makes me happy that she still likes the simple things, but sad that she is an adult (almost). So after recovering from the night out we spent Sunday catching up on chores and preparing for the week.
The week went by kind of slow, it was hot and I had a lot of work in the field and was not enjoying the heat, but low and behold Wendesday all of that changed and we had three really cool rainy days which were a welcome break. We needed the rain and the 70 degree days are awesome especially in July, but that meant I was inside doing busy work for the rest of the week which made it really drag...
So today the wife and I got up early and hit the Farmer's Market and loaded up on some really nice local produce and then headed to Wal-Mart with everybody else. By the time we got home my knees were a wreck and I laid up on the couch and promptly fell asleep. Later, we enjoyed a great dinner and hung out in front of the TV and laughed and carried on, now everyone is settling in for the night and I decide to put the "pen to paper" as it were, since I have kind of neglected this for seversl days.
The diet is going good, down to 220 for the first time in ages, but the weekends kill me, I tend to "bored eat" everything I can get my hands on, so I am trying to keep that to a minimum.
A lot going on in the news with the Isreali conlict, the airliner being shot down, and local odd ball stuff happeining around here. Glad to be where I am, in a safe place away from all the crap this silly world throws out. Hug you kids, say your prayers and I hope you are in a safe place too. Until next time...

The Postman Always Rings Twice...

...But some asshat at 1am rings once then knocks and runs away. I was awoken around one this morning by two very worried looking people that were in fact my children. It took me a minute to put it all together but they said the doorbell rang and then someone knocked. So I made them stay put and I wearily made my way to the living room and peered out the window to absolutely nothing, no people no broken windows or car damage. Everything seemed in order, so I sent everyone back to bed and attempted to get some sleep, which by the way is the story of my life.
When I woke up 5 hours later (have I mentioned I am on vacation?) I headed outside to survey the damage or what ever the hell happened hours previous. Nothing was disturbed and nothing seemed out of order, the only thing that was different from when I first laid my head on the pillow last night was a bright blue pamphlet rolled up and wedged in the handle of my storm door. I took a glance around the neighborhood and it seemed everyone had been visited by this nocturnal pain in the ass.
What could possibly be so important to warrant everyone's attention at  such a late hour...was it a call to arms, perhaps a neighborhood watch was starting up, or maybe someone opened a new business and was getting word out (any of these would piss me off but not as much as the thing it actually was).
It was an advertisement for an upcoming session of Vacation Bible School at a local church. What the hell? Really? Now in all honesty I never saw anyone, it could be a coincidence, but I swear I checked all the doors and cars before I went to bed and this small piece of religious advertising was not on the door at midnight when I finally decided to go to bed. So I assume that someone trying to drum up enrollees at the local VBS decided, perhaps last minute-"OH SHIT, I have got to get these flyers out and fast!" Rediculous, I dont even know how to respond....
So I put that behind me and headed out to start my day, unfortunately everyone in my house likes to eat and have clean clothes and such, which meant the wife and I headed to the local Walmart at 7:00am hopefully to beat the July fourth crowd. Nope. It wasn't bad when we went in, but an hour later the Wal-Mart frustration set in. We loaded our basket with the necessities and headed for the checkout, which by now was three or four deep at all of the three open checkout lines. Yes three out of 22 checkout lanes were open, three. In case you missed something I said THREE. And as always I picked the one with the cashier that has to talk through every item that she rings up, and the customer ahead of us was loud and proud and was more than happy to keep up her end of the conversation. So a 45 minute shopping trip turned in to little over an hour and I swear I will never go back, which is BS because it is close and cheap and I have little other options...
Did some yardwork, made some absolutely amazing pulled pork for our July Fourth celebration later. Hit up the fireworks warehouse and tried to get a nap (to no avail). Spent the evening at my oldest daughter's house with her fiance and the wife and other two kiddos. Blasted a bunch of fireworks, ate, laughed and had a very nice evening. Nothing is better than spending time laughing and having fun with the wife and kids, and we had a ball. Now as the 4th turns into the 5th everything is winding down and things are starting to get quiet. So hopefully everyone had a safe and fun Fourth and the weekend brings much of the same, until next time...don't forget Vacation Bible School is starting next week, let no Ding-Dong-Ditch go to waste...

What Dreams May Come...

...Well I will tell you what dreams, scary stressful, wake up in a cold sweat, fucking dreams. That was my night last night. Chased, shot and left for dead, only to survive and be disfigured and then wake up and I have been asleep for all of 15-20 minutes max. Then I could not go back to sleep for nothing. I hate it, I lay there and replay my whole list of wrong choices and stupid moves and think about what the hell I should have done differently.
But, you know what? Screw all that, I preach constantly to the wife and whoever will listen to live in the now and be thankful for what is happening today. Somewhere on I saw someone post a quote from Lao Tzu (who he is I have no idea...) that goes like this:

If you are depressed,

you are living in the past.

I you are anxious,

you are living in the future.

If you are at peace,

you are living in the present.

I usually don't subscribe to this sort of internet meme fodder but this kind of hit home. For years I have always worried about what was gonna happen, or what stupid thing I did in the past. That meant I could not enjoy even a bit of my day. But lately, maybe old age setting in, I have learned to enjoy the now and not worry about the rest, because in the end I have no control over most of that anyway. So as I cruise the house on this 3rd of July at 11:05 and check on the sleeping children (one is watching netflix on her computer, and the other is watching youtube on his tablet) I am thankful they are home and that my first day of vacation was restful and productive. And now I will try to get some sleep, and hopefully no gunfire....

Sleep Walk With Me...

... Because that is how I felt all day. Little sleep last night and a 4:40am wake up time had me in zombie mode all day.
The good news is I am taking off until Tuesday, the bad news is that this day dragged on for freaking ever. Then to top it off,  when I tried to bail out early I got a last minute request for some floor plans so leaving early was out of the question.
So now I am staring at five days away from the office and some time home with the gang. You have no idea how nice it is to sleep even until 6-7 in the morning and drink my coffee on the couch instead of driving down the interstate. Needless  to say I am looking forward to some time away.
So have a great weekend, stay safe, remember those deployed,  and have a designated driver...

Losin' it...

... Or should I say Lose It.  That is the app that I downloaded to my phone back in April.  I have to say that it is working pretty good,  I am down 24.8lbs and feel a lot better.  The thing about this app is you have to log your food and exercise and it gives you a calorie budget to use as a guideline.
So far I have logged my meals everyday and I have been walking a mile and a half every evening.  Somehow this is easier  for me to stick to because if it is written out and I can see it then I cheat less and tend to stick to it.  This may not be for everyone but it seems to work so if you are in to it give it a shot.
I realized the older I get the more sedentary I become. During the winter months I am in the office more and in the field less.  Over this past winter I got to feeling bloated and lazy and then my oldest daughter got engaged and my middle child graduated high school leaving me feeling old and fat.  So I decided to do something about it,  after all I still have a ten year old son that runs me ragged and I have to try and keep up.  So we shall see how it goes,  only thirty more pounds til my goal of 190. So say a prayer and I will keep you advised...

This is the end...

... Of the weekend.  As I write this laid back on the couch I have succumbed to laziness. 
From the beginning... I got off work on Friday and spent my commute draining a 32oz Coke Zero and listening to Never Not Funny (Jimmy Pardo's podcast, if you don't listen you should). Got home around 6 and got cleaned up and grabbed the wife and headed out.
Went to a local joint and took in some live music and warm drinks but had a good time.  Got home around midnight and hit the sack around two.  Since I had been up since around five it was a long day.  Spent Saturday running around with the kiddos and getting house stuff accomplished.  Another late night and then hit the lake today and that flat wore me out so here I am camped out on the couch wondering where my weekend went.  So back to the grind tomorrow...
This will be a short week.  Looking forward to some time off and some fun with the family.  So until next time...