For Beth

Because I am so thrilled Beth and Nerdstar have been reunited, I am blogging for Beth today.
She asks:

'The first topic I'm curious about is not so much how you knew your love was "the one", but the idea of pre-wedding jitters - or any panic you had when you realized you were committing yourself to them for the rest of your life. Was it easy or hard to make that committment, was it easier for one of you than the other, is it easy to keep that committment?'

This is easy. Follow my patient and loving wife's way of thinking. For the last [near] 20 years she has told me "I love you today."

Some days

All do-it-yourselfers have days where nothing works quite right. Every cut is off, no matter how many times you measure. Things get dropped all the time, but on these days it’ll hit your foot every time…same foot.
We all have ‘em, we can all commiserate. But compound one of these days with PMS… and you have my morning yesterday.
The woodshed did get built, but … well…it’ll keep the wood dry (after another couple hours of fidgeting with it). But its not the innovative design that I had envisioned.
Its ok, its behind the garage, I will be the only one who ever really sees it. (well, the wife may see it in daylight – but after dark, in the winter – I would be the one fetching wood, she likes to be INSIDE when its cold and dark out – right next to the wood stove, for which we are harboring all this wood).
All that aside, I had revelation later in the day which made the whole day worthwhile.
No more 4’ x 8’ s. That’s right, I am swearing off sheetrock, plywood, cement board, and any other material in that size/weight category. I am done building ‘stuff’. And I am happy.
No more remodels, no more building things in the backyard, no more heavy renovations. (well…I have one window to put in the back of the garage – but since there is a gaping hole where I took the other one out, I kinda gotta finish that up.)
I would even go so far as to say I no longer need the van… BUT – the van sure came in handy when we found the cutest little chair on sale at Pier 1 on Saturday.
Ok... so keep the van – lose the big projects.
This is my plan.

soon..

sorry for the lack of posts.
work has been busy.
today i am home, waiting for the tree guy.
while he climbs trees with a chain saw (see... as a do-it-yourselfer i do know where to draw the line) i will be constructing a wood shed.
winter is coming, i gotta get my ducks in a row -- or at least get my wood into a dry shelter.
more later...

just testing

Today I am testing the new SEC rules that surround stock options whose value will exceed $100,000 in a calendar year.
Would someone please grant me enough stock options where I would have to worry about such nonsense.

Fall is Football

How 'bout them Saints. 30-27 over the '9ers.
(yeah yeah...possibly over a bad call - I'll take what I can get)

Yup. Here I sit in my CT suburbia, a Saints fan. I've never even been to New Orleans (which is remarkable because I logged over 80,000 miles a year while traveling with work... this was back in the late 80's, when I truly honed my fear of flying, and had a closet full of expensive designer name suits -- BUT this is a whole 'nother story... as usual).

So why the Saints you ask?
My theory on sports is (me ...the consummate athlete, who at 42 is being taught how to stop 'throwing like a girl' by my son... oops digressing again) aaaanyway - my theory is: you look good, you play good. Sports is so about confidence. If you feel good about how you look its a huge confidence boost. I have to wonder how can you feel confident wearing skin tight teal pants.
Now the Saints...now there's a good looking team.

And yes, I do know their record. But for sure this is the year things will turn around. And even if it doesn't I will continue to don my "Weese 20" official customized NFL jersey every Sunday with my matching socks with their fleur-de-lis insignia. Because I am a loyal fan. Win or lose, I am right there with ya... 'scuze me while I grab another cold one outta the fridge.

I'm not morbid, just frugal

So I had this great thought yesterday.
I have had my van for 12 years now (I love my van). I figure I can eek out 2 or so more years on it.
So … that means… if I can get 14 to 15 years out of a car, I will only need to buy two more cars in my lifetime!

My ever-patient wife simply nods when I start talking like this. Our daughter - the psyche major in grad school - thinks that some folks may find that disturbing.

Personally, I am very pleased.

What is...

What is with this Jeopardy guy?

The Fam

It was my mother in law's birthday recently and my thoughtful wife thought it would be a good idea to take a family picture and pop it into a little frame for her.
Easier said than done ...
and do you wanna guess who was not all that co-operative. :o)

Belated

I had meant to post this on Saturday.

An email from my wife received Tue 09/11/2001 9:22 AM:

a few minutes ago, a commercial airplane crashed into the world trade center. the plane was flying directly above park avenue...it passed directly above my head as i was walking from grand central. i couldn't believe how low it was flying, and then i saw the billowing smoke from downtown.

absolutely horrible. ambulances, firetrucks, and helicopters are everywhere, racing down town.

I tried to call her, but there was just that really fast busy signal, so I tried email.
I replied:

I heard the pentagon has been hit... can you get out. I can't call you!!!

received from my wife at Tue 09/11/2001 9:57 AM:

yes, the pentagon was hit too.
i heard the plane that i saw was highjacked from boston.
they've shut down lower manhattan.
they're also shutting down the subways, airports, and bridges.

i can't call you.
call [our sister in law] and find out when my parents' flight gets in.

then finally at Tue 09/11/2001 10:04 AM:

i am going to try to come home now.

The burbs

Forgive me please. It was never my intention to use this blog as a place to bitch and moan. So …I don’t …well… generally.
But you know what – I am simply weary of suburbia.

I am tired of jagumbo SUV’s with full home theatre systems inside, and would you puleeezze… what. is. with. the. Humm-mers. Sheesh.
If you think the SUV’s are outta control – you outta visit the high school parking lot.
Incredible.
And could the houses get any bigger?
Looking for a home? Here is the new construction in my town.


I am just tired of the façade of wealth, tired of the undertones of competition, tired of meaningless pursuit of bigger and better ‘stuff’.

Bitch session over. Back to our regularly scheduled blogging.

Rain, snow and other weather stories

It’s raining again here in CT today. I like rainy days.
I am not sure why, but I like the grayness of them, and there is a closeness that I find comforting… nurturing. I kiddingly say it ‘centers my chi’ – but it's not so much of a joke.

It's similar to the way I feel about winter. I don’t like the cold, nor do I ski or snowboard …or any other winter sport for that matter. But I like winter as a season. I don’t mind the short days – getting up in the dark, going home from work in the dark. It’s a season of healing, of rejuvenation, of hibernating – well without the sleeping all day, I am not one to sit around much, let alone sleep in the day time – nope, no naps for me.

I also like a good storm – a windy rainstorm or a blizzard. Not the dangerous kind of storm, I am not a thrill seeker…and I really don’t need any repairs added to my long list of things to do. Just storms that make you pause and watch their fury and their glory – lightning is always a nice addition to such a storm. I like the business of preparing for a storm… a hunkering down. Preparing some good warm food, setting out candles, perhaps a nice hot toddy, or some mulled cider. I also have an odd need to be home when a storm is approaching. This can actually cause me some anxiety if I am at work and it’s nearly time to go when I see a stormy sky. If I am out running errands I will cut them short if I see one blowing in. I like to be home to watch their approach. There is a familiarity to watching one blow in, watching the west go dark and ominous. My wife and I often enjoy summer storms on our covered porch, although I freely admit to fleeing when the lightening gets close (safety first). My brave wife will stay out there – thrill seeker that she can be sometimes. Also, it’s best for me if everyone is home when a storm is coming. But I have learned with the kids getting older that this is often not the case, and my supportive wife has helped me to let go… I find solace instead in making sure that all the pets accounted for.

With fall fast approaching, I am making ready for winter. I am like a squirrel gathering nuts… although I do try not to race out into the road with armloads of firewood. It’s almost time to batten down the hatches, put away our summer toys and pull out the woolies… oh, and rake…and rake… and rake.
Gotta get me one of these.

Getting in touch with my masculine side

This weekend I helped my energetic wife prepare some of her extraordinary perennial gardens for winter. I don’t normally get too involved in the gardening per-se, I usually stick to the lawn. For example – we have a lovely vegetable garden which my wife plants, waters, weeds, nurtures and harvests – I eat the vegetables. Other things that would fall into my realm include say – building a fence around the vegetable garden to keep out the ‘FREE’ dog ..
(gotta remember to blog about the dog – you see there is a fence to keep the dog IN the yard, and another fence, around the vegetables, to keep the dog OUT. We have become quite proficient at fence building and repair since we got this dog…and I will cover that in more detail when I blog about the FREE dog.) But – I digress.
So my task this day was to cut back or cut down large masses of perennial flowers, which have passed their beauty and are ready to rest. I was given a pair of pruning shears to do this.

Ok, so I am about 15 minutes into this thinking, c’mon – there’s got to be a better way – there has got to be a power tool to do this, there has got to be a power tool in my own shed which can at least be modified to make this task go A LOT faster. Are you with me guys?

Coming up with nothing that I thought may be acceptable to my wife who so lovingly and gently puts her flowers to bed (yes, the weed trimmer crossed my mind – and I think if I had that blade attachment I may have been able to make a case for it)…I continued to cut and pile and dump and cut and pile and dump until I noticed a little something that needed my attention --so I went off to get a shovel and a spade, while I was in the shed I noticed that some of the tools were on the wrong hooks and when I went to move the steel rake to its proper spot I remembered I had to plant some seed along the driveway, so I started to look for the seed which was behind the 10W30 so I put some of that in the hand mower cuz I needed to cut the front lawn shortly after I went down the street to get some gas for the tractor, and probably should get that spare propane tank filled since I was gonna be out and all…

Prime Time at the RNC

So... what did you think of that speech last night?
Well written...well executed, kinda riveting -- perhaps informative.
Did it help you make your decision on who to vote for?
Ok ok... relax. Nope - didn't see it. We watched Sopranos reruns.
tee hee.

Philanthropy

My 2 cents on philanthropy.
Bill Gates…Oprah… even Angelina Jolie
They call these people philanthropists (well we can call Angelina pretty much anything) .. and that may be true according to the Webster definition of the word.

Main Entry: phi·lan·thro·py
Pronunciation: -pE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -pies
Etymology: Late Latin philanthropia, from Greek philanthrOpia, from philanthrOpos loving people, from phil- + anthrOpos human being
1 : goodwill to fellowmen; especially : active effort to promote human welfare
2 a : a philanthropic act or gift b : an organization distributing or supported by philanthropic funds

Personally I beg to differ. Sure they give a lot of money to various causes and do a great deal of important work -- they also live in luxury I cannot even fathom. They give…but not so much so they couldn’t buy another car, or luxury liner or gold plated manicure set.
We give. And for us to do it – means we go without something.
Sorry Bill – I win, hands down.

Heifer.org