Almost forgot

So,

I have been working rather diligently today to get tons of work accomplished, and therefore, almost forgot to "blog" away.

Other than work, not much else is going on except that I am trying to get rid of my addiction to that marvelous green elixir of life, that philter of consciousness, the effervescent crack I call Mountain Dew. Oh Mountain Dew, how I miss your bubbling ways. You pick me up, when I am nappy. You quench my thirst for sugar and caffeine. How I shall miss you. I will be foreswearing the bubbly caffeine for at least one month. It will be tough, but I will be able to do this, for I have done it before.

Stupid Caffeine

Work again work again Jiggity Jig

I so do not want to be at work today. It has been entirely too hard to get focused on actually working. I imagine that this is a fairly typical problem when coming from a 4 day weekend. That means that it will be even more difficult the week after next when I will be out of the office from Tuesday until the following Monday. Oh well,I am sure I will be motivated when I get some more firm due dates for some products.

If not back to the grind, at least back to acting like I am amid the grind.

Throw the carcass away

I am always amazed by the horrible glut of post thanksgiving deterious. We have done 3 loads in the dishwasher, and still have dirty dinnerware associated with the blessed holiday. That does not even count the leftover containers that are slowly being emptied. My fridge is overflowing with food.

It was a good celebration though. A bit geriatric, but nice none-the-less. The mom-in-law brought her elderly (late 80's), near-deaf, newly widowed neighbor. The boy's caregivers (surrogate grandparents) brought their ex-neighbor who has alzheimer's, lives in a assisted living facility, and is in his late 70's. The surrogate grandparent's are not quite spring chickens as well. I think even with the 16 month old and two 30 year olds, the average age was 90. If not in actual math, at least the conversation was centered around the age of 90.

"Do you usually roast turkey for your Thanksgivings?"
"No thank you, I don't want anymore turkey."

Thankfully we had the Disney Channel on all day long, so we could experience a wide extreme of sights and sounds. Hearing the Wiggles singing "Zardo Zap" in one ear and a detailed conversation about medications in the other ear. Quite discongruous, to say the least.

There was good pie though, and that is all that matters. I hope everyone else had a good holiday.

Obligatory Thanksgiving Blog

Here is my obligatory Thanksgiving blog

I am thankful for many many things, so many, in fact, I will share them in list form.

1. My Family (wife and kid), they are the only ones who keep me marginally sane
2. My Family of choice (friends), they are the ones helping to push me towards the margins of sanity
3. I have a good job, it is not a great job, that would involve much less actual work and involve much more actual salary
4. Vanilla Bean Cheescake from the Cheesecake Factory. If God were a cheescake, I would have taken many a slice from him by now
5. Good shoes, once you buy a good pair of shoes, it is difficult to get crappy ones ever again.
6. Ummm... The color blue, it is all nice and blue-like
7. ahhh... Okay I am tapped, that's it the fam, the friends, the job, the God of Cheesecake, shoes, and blue.

To all of you, enjoy the holiday.

Why visiting family sucks

The big reason that visiting with family sucks is that no matter how emotionally healthy one is on their own, when placed into their family of origin dynamic, there is always some regressing. Always

Old survival methods kick in and healthy behavior goes flying out the window to be hastily replaced with "I just gotta get through this in one piece" behavior. For me (at its worst), this means a whole bunch of shutting down, to where the only feelings left are those of hunger and physical discomfort. Most likely I will just be a bit short with the ones I love the most and be entirely way to sensitive about what is going on around my little one. When I am around family and large crowds of marauding barbarians, I tend to get a little over-protective of the boy.

For the day after Turkey Day I will be seeing my parents, my brother, his 2 kids and his new wife. It will be a mildly enjoyable day, but more likely, chock full of apprehension and dread. My brother's kids are good kids, just amazingly neglected. One seems to have resignedly moved himself to the background, while the other has been doing everything he can to get noticed (good or bad). My brother is incredibly indecisive, and has a difficult time thinking for himself as well as making decisions. His wife is just now realizing what she has married into, so she often seems the deer in head-lights to some of my family's behavior. My parents are 2 dreadfully unhappy people. They are good people, but are just not nice people. Anything they do not understand is belittled, and they do not understand a whole bunch. Therefore, they do belittle a whole bunch. The easiest way for them to feel better about themselves is to tear down others.

Therefore it sucks and equates to Hell and/or Purgatory. Whether I visit them or they visit me.

Good Friends

They say that some of one's best friends are made during college, and they are right, whomever "they" are. The only problem with that statement is that it really sucks after you are done with college. For three reasons.


Firstly, after school the circle of friends will inevitably disperse, then the visits become more in-frequent, it becomes more difficult to meet up, most of the visit is taken up simply "catching up," etc... Secondly, the patterns of activities that one was capapble of whilst in college and only 18 to 23 years old are vastly different than the activities one can attempt when one is 30-ish. It really does emphasize the passage of time. Thirdly, after visits, it is sometimes difficult to get yourself back into the everyday routine, since you have been, to some extent, on vacation from your current life while your friends were here.


All in all the visits can become bittersweet.

On the one hand they remind you of the good times and good friends that you had while not having as much responsibility, but, on the other hand, they can also remind you of things that you do not have anymore.

On the one hand, it is nice to have your life go back to a sense of normalcy (you don't need to ask if anyone wants a drink or is hungry or if they want to have some chips, everyopne knows how the shower works and where the towels are, etc...), but, on the other hand, after the visit is over, you are left wanting more.

On the one hand, you have a reason to clean the whole house, but, on the other hand, you have the necessity to clean the whole house.


Now when family visits, that is a different story all together. More like a small time in Hell or at least Purgatory. There are many reasons for this as well, and I am sure I will go into them as the week progresses and the impending family visits occur for turkey day.

So in summation...

friends coming to stay = good and fun

friends stay ending = bittersweet

family visiting = Hell and/or Purgatory

My Apologies to Alabama

In yesterday's entry I made fun of Alabamians. Now, not all Alabamians are ignorant teeth-missing yokels with bad grammar. Some are highly educated and highly motivated professional people with aspirations and the motivation to attain those aspirations.

Did I just say "some?" What I meant to say was "few." Yes, few are highly educated and highly motivated professional people with aspirations and the motivation to attain those aspirations.

While there is this "few" who are truly magnificent people, most people from Alabama are the more common good work ethic, fairly well educated, ethical people intent on making the world a better place.

Whoa, wait a second, did I just "most?" I am really off base there, I really think that it should be "a few more." So in correction... A few more people are the more common good work ethic, fairly well educated, ethical people intent on making the world a better place.

So most people in Alabama must be classified as everyday NASCAR watching (Why Dale why?!?! you were taken before your time!), 9 to 5-er, secretly (some not so secretly) racist, trying to get to the weekend so they can get drunk while they watch some college football, go to church to feel better than other people on Sunday only to rinse and repeat weekly people.

Wait a second, I completely forgot about one group that exists in Alabama. So the everyday NASCAR watching (Why Dale why?!?! you were taken before your time!), 9 to 5-er, secretly (some not so secretly) racist, trying to get to the weekend so they can get drunk while they watch some college football, go to church to feel better than other people on Sunday only to rinse and repeat weekly people are not the majority.

There are still even more "GOD-fearing", Southern Baptist, blatantly racist, tacitly hypocritical, slow-moving, closed-minded, right-wing conservative, gun-rack in the back truck window, rebel-flag waving people in the State (Chief Justice Roy Moore anyone? and his 4 out of 5 people in the state wanting to integrate church and state while segregating schools).

There are still the ignorant teeth-missing yokels with bad grammar. They just aren't the majority. Kinda close to the majority, but not quite. Probably describe them as number 3 in the populace.

Most of the intelligent people in Alabama are just passing through, or just biding their time to leave that God-forsaken state. The only reason their are rocket scientist in Alabama is because of the Huntsville Space Center and Red-Stone Arsenal. I am just happy that I got out when I did.

Stupid Alabama

"There is no spoon" or "You can eat that!?! with youre fingers?"

The little one is quite happy to eat anything with his little perfect fingers. Yes, applesauce is finger food. He enjoys playing with eating utensils, but not so intent on using them for their manufactured purpose. A large wooden spoon is perfect for carrying around, poking things, stirring up legos, etc... Over the weekend though, he did manage to shove some food into his mouth with a fork. He seemed to enjoy that greatly. So maybe his hands only eating method is on the way out. Then again he really enjoyed smashing his face into a bowl to eat a strawberry slice, so maybe the finger food issue is not over yet.

I understand the drive to eat with your hands, I did the major protion of my growin' up in Alabama. Most everything is finger food there as well. Then again most everything there is deep fried as well. We all know that deep fried = eat with fingers.

"Hey, you want you some of them thar green beans?"
"I don't know, is they cruchy-like?"
"Shoot-chya, I fried them up real good."
"Then pile them on this here plate so's I can eat 'em"
"Wanna fork?"
"Chet, I done told you I don't like you that way."
"Nawh, Stubby, Do ya wanna eatin' fork?"
"Oh, nawh, theys don't need no stabbin'."

Then again, maybe using utensils is a good idea....

Homecomings

My wife was on a business trip this week starting on Wednesday through this afternoon. It is amazing to have her back at home with the little one and myself. We both missed her greatly. although, I think the little one was a bit miffed when he first saw her in the airport. He warmed up on the drive home.

These 2 1/2 days without her, really makes me question how anyone is able to raise a child as a single parent. It is difficult enough with 2 fully commmitted parents. I do not want anyone to think that I was unhappy to parent our little boy on my own. It was a truly rewarding experience. He is so much fun, and we enjoyed ourselves as much as we could (he dealing with the Orapred and me dealing with him on the Orapred). He loves to let me build something for 20 seconds with his Legos, and then take it away from me and put it onto the window sill, or tear it apart. He giggles so much when we chase each other around our house, and that giggle is magic. That being said, he took a fairly constant amount of attention, and I was not able to have anyone run interference for mewhile I attempted cooking. I really never had much of a moment to myself, because on the Orapred, even when he was sleeping, it was not a deep and restful sleep. (side note: Orapred is done, he should be his normal self after he crashes either Saturday or Sunday) If I were wearing a hat, it would be off to the single parents out there. It is a rewarding job, but it is difficult.

mmmmm Mt Dew, Elixir of Life

Some people choose their caffeine to be warm, some choose it to be in bar form, and some choose for it to be in a pill form. Me, I want my caffeine to be effervescent and green. Mt Dew could be Man's greatest creation, it is a chilled caffeinated wonder drink. It is sweet, but it does not rot your teeth off immediately. It is caffeinated, but it does not hit you like a ton of bricks, nor does one taste the bitter flavor of caffeine. The best part of the entire drink is one of the ingredients. This ingredient makes the drink a smooth rich liquid. It helps the drink to slide down your throat effortlessly instead of burning like Coke. It is "brominated vegatable oil." Who would have thought that vegeatble oil would have a place in a modern drink? Whomever that person is, I wish them well.

mmmmmm effervescent green elixir of life, I owe you so much.

Orapred

Orapred is the oral steroid that is adminsitered to young ones who are having or just recently had an asthmatic episode. It is the kid version of prednazone. There are some immediate side effects associated with Orapred, these are, in no particular order:

1. increased thirst
2. insatiable appetite
3. insomnia

These three effects cuase a fourth effect, crankiness. Needless to say, being the parent of a kid on Orapred is not the easiest thing I have had to do. Looks like I will have insomnia by proximity.

Hospital Hospital Jiggity Jig

Asthma is a horrible horrible thing. I am well aware that there are worse things out there, and I hope and pray that my little guy does not have to deal with them, but asthma is still a horrible horrible thing.

Our third trip to the ER due to asthma occurred last night. It is the second trip in as many weeks. Unfortunately there is no way to call up the doctor and get a script for the oral prednazone the little man needs without the trip to the ER. My vacation schedule/ sickday/ PTO bank cannot handle this pressure for very much longer. It looks like I will have to be working over the Thanksgiving Holiday as well as Christmas, New Year's, and Easter.

On a good note, the little one is responding fairly well to treatment, but I cannot wait for the side effects of the prednazone to kick in. It makes him thirsty, hungry, cranky, and not able to sleep. All the best things for dealing with a baby.

All I know right now, is that lack of sleep is impeding my abilities to function as a competent employee.

Sleep perchance to dream

I am so flipping tired. Little man is sick again, and this time it really hampered with the house's sleeping. My wife and I had to time-share the sleeping with the kid in the recliner for most of the night. He was very uncomfortable, and we all felt bad because of this. It is the most excruciatingly horrible thing to see your kid unhappy and sick, especially when there is nothing that you can do to help him feel better.

I just talked to my wife this morning, and it seems he is doing well now. Still going to get him to the Dr today, but at least it does not seem to be as virulent. I hope it passes quickly. I am not sure that I can survive many more nights like this, and I want to .

On another note... oh wait, I got nothing

Something Witty This Way Comes

At least I wish that something witty would come this way. It would pick up my day greatly, seeing how not interesting my day has been so far. This morning was one long meeting. Much got accomplished at the meeting, but that did not make it any less boring. "Boring, yet productive" that's what I want my work legacy to be remembered as. Maybe I could strive for "inneffective, yet enjoyable" or "useless, yet time-consuming" (no wait, I think I have that one already).

this just in....

One of my co-workers just mentioned that the $50 tickets to the up-coming Steelers/Eagles game on Sunday in Pittsburgh are going for $1200 to $1500, and the crappy-assed $30 upper-nosebleed tickets are going for upwards of $200. My God people! watch the damn thing on TV, on your new $1500 dollar tv.

I really do not undertsand the fervor with which some people follow certain sporting events. I do not get it, and I never will.

I have absolutely nothing to write about today

Nothing, nada, zip, zilch, zero.

I could write more about election woes, but it would not help the outcomes any. I could write about how work gets in the way of my sleeping time. I could write about how my baby is going to be a shitty-shitty-damn-damn baby because I curse so much at home. Instead of those things I am choosing to write about nothing.

None of my election woes can be changed now without another election, so my complaining will not be able to sway anyone's ideas, or change the outcome in and way, shape, or form. I must learn how to live within the system that was voted for on election day. I am sure that there will be change, come the next election. Well, here's hoping anyway...

No one wants to hear about how work impedes sleep. We all know that work gets in the way of doing fun stuff. If work were fun it wouldn't be called work. Every weekday morning I have to pull my sorry ass out of bed to make myself get to work, and I have a job that I like. I cannot imagine what it would be like if I actually did not enjoy what I do. I guess the difficulty of getting out of bed would become even more difficult. Stupid work with its requirement of being there and accomplishing things. At least I have meetings today and tomorrow, so I do not have to work as hard.

Other then my wife and I, no one cares that our little one will be cursing a blue streak. Most find it absolutely hilarious when a 2 year old drops the f-bomb. Everyone laughs and smiles at the mortified parents. The only thing that I want to make sure about though, is that my child knows how to curse properly. There is nothing worse than a poorly cursing shitty-shitty-damn-damn baby. That only shows that the parents are not willing to teach their children properly, and if I teach my little one anything, it will be when it is appropriate to say in clearly annunciated English "fucking" versus the more colloquial "fuckin'."

I am choosing to write about nothing. The wonderful thing about nothing is that you can say all you want to about it and be perfectly safe. Who can contradict nothing? No one, that's who. I will state that absolutely nothing is perfect. Nothing is the best subject matter ever, so that is what I shall write about today. Yup, nothing. I wish I had something, but I do not. Oh well, nothing it is.

Defense of marriage

How can I quantify my disappointment in how many of the various so called "defense of marriage" amendments were passed in yesterday's elections. I am absolutely stunned by how bigotted, prejudiced, and petty our society is. The necessity of this legislation begs a few questions.

1. Were marriages defenseless? Why did they need defending and who was attacking them?

and

2. Did I miss an announcement that was made concerning the mandantory participation in homosexual marriages? I am not sure why it was necessary to make those unions "more illegal."

In general my faith in the US as a good place to raise my child has been rocked. Today I dislike people in general, especially the people who think state sponsored discrimination is acceptable.

Election day

I am soooo happy that the end of the political commercials is upon us. I am so tired of hearing how Kerry eats babies and how bush bathes in the blood of innocent children. Will somebody please think about the children?!?!

I hope that this is a presidential election that is decided by more than 5%, otherwise it is going to be contested until December. I also hope that this time the popular vote is congruent with the electoral vote, just so that the results are in-disputable. I also have a hope of who will win, but that is neither here nor there. I just want the damn thing done. I voted this morning, it took an hour and a half, and we got to the polling place only 15 minutes after it openned. Stupid election.

The little one had his 15 month check-up today. It went very well except for the fact that he got 3 shots. He seems to hate those, oddly enough. He is doing well even though he has an inordinate amount of food allergies (please, please, please grow out of most of them).

Luckily he never went to a Kerry rally, I hear he eats babies.

What is all this neo-blue-collarism about?

I do not understand the Discovery Channel anymore. Monster Garage, Monster house, American Chopper, Southern Chopper, American Hot-Rod, Great American Biker Build-off, Big, etc.... I know I forgot something in there, but those are the only ones from their line-up that I can remember.

All of their programming seems to be centered around building stuff now. I can understand a night devoted to hands on work, or maybe 2 nights, but every night there is some annoying show devoted to 'suping' up something mechanical. Every night? Come on. What happened to the days of "Wild Discovery," or stuff on ancient civilizations? How hard would it be to add that kind of programming back into the mix. Or remember when they focused on technology? The Discovery Channel focusing on "Discoveries?" Impossible.

As it is I have to wade through the testosterone filled programs where one watches gear-heads argue about how to best fabricate a new exhaust system. I am not saying that the Discovery Channel is not a proper out-let for this type of viewing material, but I am saying that there is a more varied line up that could be achieved.

I know, I know, Discovery Channel now has The Science Channel and the NY Times/ Discovery Civilization Channel, but not everyone who is interested in shows on human evolution/the Great Depression/archeology/physics/etc... can get digital cable.

And the Learning Channel, or TLC. When the heck did they decide that they wanted to be BBCA. Throw in an episode of Fawlty Towers or Python occassionally, and they would be the exact damn channel, just without any British accents.

And don't get me started on the History Channel.