What a BuzzKill

Dawn flew out to Texas for work this week. She comes back today. We spend most days together in the same office, 5 feet apart. We spend almost all of our free time together. And even after 2 years of this arrangement we don’t get tired of one another.

When she flies out of town for a few days for work on occasion one might think that I’d welcome the break. Not so much – I miss the hell out of her. I can’t sleep right. I hardly eat. I find myself distracted all day.

So I guess that I’m still just a love-struck guy…

_{This entry sighed after reading itself.}

It appears that we avoided another apocalypse! I was keeping a close eye on the park across the street as the predicted time of 6:00 pm came approached on May 21, 2011. My knowledge of bible scripture, albeit somewhat limited, was enough to know that children are considered “innocents” and would therefore be “raptured” along with all of the adult faithful. As I expected, the kids just continued laughing and playing and no sign of massive earthquakes being reported on the news.

For the record, I didn’t believe in any of Harold Camping’s predictions and laughed when I read his “math” computations for how he arrived at such a precise date and time for the rapture. I’ve never seen such a convoluted and confusing explanation to force somebody’s argument before. And to top it all off, to doubt the appointed time and not simply accept that this was going to happen was to cast doubt on your faith – so you just had to blindly believe or risk being “left behind.” What a joke.

What got me worried most about the doomsday prophesy was that at least one of my family members believed it was true. I was concerned that they would do something drastic, like some other cults have done, at the appointed time or after they realized it had passed and they weren’t included. Luckily I got an email a day later that at least let me know they were still alive.

Anyhow, I could ramble on and on about that scam, but I don’t want to take the time to type it. Ha!

In other news, my annual birthday camping (how’s that for a segue?!?) trip is not going to happen this year because Rece has to attend summer school. His lack of interest in school has come back to bite him and it ends up affecting not only me, but everybody else that was going to join us for the trip. What a bummer.

_{This entry likes the type of camping that involves tents.}

Beware of people who are untrue to their words. Do not put up with dishonesty. Your word should be like iron. Others should come to learn this through your constant example.

Material things are temporary. The old saying “You can’t take it with you” is true. Spending more than you have is inviting disaster and risking enslavement. Save some, spend some, and then enjoy the rest – in that order.

Good friends are extremely hard to come by. You’ll be lucky to find one true friend in your lifetime.

Stand up for yourself, without threatening. A bully will usually back down when they suspect their mark might be more trouble than they thought; they are usually weak in spirit themselves.

Think. Then act. The reverse will get you into more trouble than you’d like.

Laugh! Laugh from the bottoms of your feet, up through your legs, into your gut, and expel it all through your lungs. Be blinded the tears of joy and revel in it.

_{This entry sits in a cave, high up the mountainside.}

Updates and ramblings …

Nam, the other tech at my office, is on a much-deserved vacation. The week before he left it was rather slow, but it seems that all hell broke loose the day he hopped on the plane. The first few days were a hectic mess of working on multiple projects/problems for clients concurrently. I’m not begrudging him for taking a vacation, but I have been rather swamped for the last week. He  won’t be back until next Tuesday. I may give him a big hug when he walks through the door.

My 365-day photography project is still coming along rather well. I did sorta mess up and failed to take a picture one day – but I did take one about 30 minutes after midnight of the next day (before going to bed) to make up for it. Christine says that it should still count, since my “day” doesn’t typically end until around 12:30 a.m. anyhow. While I see her point, I’m going to try and not repeat the minor infraction.

I still get occasional calls from creditors looking for Melissa Hayes, the person that previously had my work cell phone number. It’s down to just one, maybe two, calls a week. I finally got a live person to pick up on one of the automated messages so I could tell them that it was no longer her number.

A few weekends back I took off to Big Bear by myself. I needed a break from people and felt like clearing my head. It was a much-needed trip and I came back feeling a lot better.

Christine, Sam, and I enjoyed going to the Renaissance Faire not long ago. Sam was the only one of us who dressed up, but we had a good time. I’ll definitely consider dressing up the next time I go to one.

I’m looking forward to this weekend. With as busy as I’ve been – and another 3 days more of it – it’ll be nice to end it with a 3-day weekend.

_{This entry does that … it just keeps talking …}

We’re finally back and trying our best to unwind from the trip and get ready to slip back into the normal swing of things. The last couple of days have been all driving, so I’m rather beat. We didn’t end up stopping any place other than a couple of rest areas and places to eat. We stayed overnight in Sacramento and then continued driving this morning. I wish I had something more interesting to write, but I really don’t.

We had a great time on our trip and got to see so many interesting things along the way! The 3 nights we stayed in Seaside were relaxing and much appreciated. Sam and Rece are growing up so fast, so trips like these are all the more important. They might act as though they didn’t find much of it exciting or interesting now, but speaking from the experiences of my own youth and the many trips our family took, they’ll remember these trips as being mostly fun and something worth repeating the with their own kids.

With so many people living in their own isolated little worlds, it’s good to know that Rece will grow up knowing that not every street is paved. That cell phone service wasn’t available everywhere. That sometimes not being able to do much more than stare out the window and watch the passing scenery is actually a good thing. Most of all, he’ll grow up knowing that people are different and that it’s not only OK that they are, but that it’s one of the best parts of living.

_{This entry remembers staring out the car window, too.}

I find it fascinating that 4 letters can upset or excite people just by uttering the sounds they make. Words have power; it’s people that give words the power that they possess. If this word was the name of a beautiful flower, it would evoke a completely different feeling in people.

Fuck is one of my favorite words. It isn’t a word that I use constantly, but often enough when I feel it’s right. It’s a versatile word that can be used to convey a wide range of feelings or to accentuate a point. I probably don’t find it nearly as offensive as many people do, but I have learned that it should be used sparingly or not at all around some people.

_{This entry likes its dictionary.}

Majel Barret Roddenberry passed away this morning after a battle with leukemia. She was Gene Roddenberry’s wife and an active member of the Star Trek series throughout its lifetime. In fact, she was often the voice of the computer on many of the star ships in the series and movies – including the upcoming Star Trek movie coming out in 2009. May she rest in peace.

This is a shot of the Earth and moon from Mars. Puts things into perspective for me.

_{(click image for larger view)}

I stole this image from NASA’s website.

_{This entry feels less stressful now.}

I just read a very interesting article about time, technology, media, participation, and gin. While I don’t especially care for gin, the article was fascinating. Check it out if you have some time.

_{This entry has surplus time.}

It’s a slow day at the office today; a welcome break if you ask me. Right now I’m scanning an old computer for malware and viruses. It’s an old Windows 2000 computer with 128 MB of RAM. (that means it’s horribly slow, for you non-techies)

While the scan runs I’ve checked and replied to all my email, read all my RSS feeds, chatted with the office manager, and now I’m writing this post. Bored might be a word for it, but I’m not really. Relaxed might be a better fit.

Yesterday I installed a second video card in my computer. It’s configured in SLi mode, which means that it’s got a helluva lot of graphics power. While I was at it, I also installed a second hard drive. It’s not configured yet, but I plan on using it to mirror my existing hard drive for redundancy. The computer is turning out to be a real powerhouse. I might even go so far as to install another operating system or two on the unused partition just for fun.

Right now custody of Rece is settled. He lives with me, but visits his mom every other weekend and also has a mid-week visit. It isn’t exactly what I had hoped for, but maybe it’ll work. I’ll be going back to court in March for a hearing to decide on the amount I’ll pay for child support, if any. Right now I pay my ex $230 a month. It doesn’t seem fair, since I pay for everything regarding Rece. Hopefully the judge agrees with this.

One relief for me was that the judge rejected her request for spousal support (alimony). She’s more than capable of working: she has a college education (BA in psychology) and plenty of work experience. She can no longer threaten me with it.

Hmm … that’s all I feel like babbling about for now.  Back to work!

_{This entry feels detached today.}