January 22, 2009 at 14:22 (Uncategorized)
Tags: Ben, dog park
One tired dog
January 22, 2009 at 14:04 (Uncategorized)
Tags: boot camp, Drill Instructors, goals, gung ho, Marine Corps, Marines, motivation, USMC
I have been so motivated the last few weeks, which is a welcome change from the hum drums that I had been going through. In an earlier post I attributed it to my new phone, but, as we all know, it is more than that.
Motivation comes from so many things. It can be because of happiness or peace in your personal life. It can be part of a cyclical effect from accomplishment. It can be a driving force to meet a goal. It can a physiological and psychological effect of the endorphins in your body from good amounts of exercise. All in all, it is a wonderful thing.
This morning I was thinking about Marines. (I know, go figure..lol.) I was thinking about forced motivation, about boot camp. No matter how “gung ho” you are to be a Marine, boot camp is hard. I can’t say that from personal experience, but, I’ll trust those that have gone through it.
From the Parris Island MCRD website:
Without doubt, Marine boot camp is more challenging — both physically and mentally — than the basic training programs of any of the other military services. Not only are these requirements much higher, but recruits are required to learn and adhere to the core values of Honor, Courage, and Commitment.
…
It has been said time and time again by former Marines that Marine Corps recruit training was the most difficult thing they ever had to do in their entire lives. In order to train the world’s most elite fighting force… It has to be that way.
At some point, all the motivation you brought with you from the outside world must get used up and you I imagine you begin to crumble. That’s when your Drill Instructors come through and “force” motivate you and bring you back up to where you were and then help you to exceed even your own expectations, past your own motivations.
I was thinking about that same relationship in our personal lives, in our day-to-day interactions with people. Rarely, it seems, that two people naturally do this for each other. Push one another, encourage, help them through the low spots. That is amazing. But what about consciously thinking about it. Thinking about, planning, and then actively pushing someone else.
That’s what people that work out together do. That’s what some couples do (those ones that reach their dream goals). Do they think about it? Do they know that they are doing it? Can you learn to do these things more effectively? Hmm….
January 16, 2009 at 09:52 (Uncategorized)
Tags: Amazon, Barack Obama, C.J. Cherryh, Faith 2 Action, Fortress in the Eye of Time, Fortress of Eagles, Janet Folger Porter, Kindle, Kindle 2.0, Motorola RAZR, Palm Centro, Sprint, work
I have the day off today and a list a mile long of things that I want to get done.
Recently I have been really getting more and more things accomplished and I am ashamed to admit that it is because of my phone! I bought a Palm Centro a month ago when I switched to Sprint for a carrier and I LOVE this phone. This phone does everything but my taxes and I think it could probably do that too!
I try and use as many of the features as possible, so… every few minutes my calender/planner is telling me to do some thing or another. I also check my email, update my status or upload pics to facebook, browse the web, use the GPS & Googlemaps to get places with ease and on and on and on…
I’m not dissing my RAZR, but… that was a phone, this thing is a little computer in the palm of my hand that I can take everywhere! Did I tell you how much I love this thing?
Talking about electronic gadgets… I see hype from time to time for the Kindle, Amazon’s ebook reader. Man, do I WANT one! I can’t even read the articles in fear that I will just impulse but the heck out of it and BUY one NOW! I’m trying to wait for the next version, the Kindle 2. I’m not buying one until then… please Amazon, hold off for a few more weeks, LOL!
Speaking of books, I am reading “Fortress of Eagles” by C.J. Cherryh. This is the fourth book I’ve read by Cherryh and the third in this series although I am for some reason reading these way out of order. I’d read “Fortress in the Eye of Time” about a year ago, that was the first one in the series, then I ended up reading the most recent one in the series, which skipped me over 3 or more books, and now I’m back to reading in order… I think.
Either way, Cherryh has received praise for this series, which I won’t discount, because I like the books too, but this book in particular she is really ranting on her dislike of the established Catholic Church.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not enamored with the Catholic Church either, I think they’ve gotten a long ways off the narrow road. I don’t however think I would spend quite so much time extolling their vices when to me it is apparent that although Cherryh is right in her views of Catholicism and its inadequacy, she also doesn’t have the Truth either. To make a very base analogy, I find it annoying when I’m reading, because its somewhat like the prostitute complaining about the rapist.
But, before I get way off track there, I wanted to share with you some interesting reading I received in the mail a few days ago. Its about Barack Obama. This is what it said:
These are the facts about Barack Obama’s citizenship:
and then the mailing gave me this address… www.obamaforgery.com which I have not visited.
I’d heard something of this before, but had put it off as the losing side whining and stirring up dissent for the new president elect, but, this mailing was from Janet (Folger) Porter, whom I respect very highly and trust. I own some of her books, and even have had one of them signed and 99% of the time I think she is right on with her push for truth and her struggle to keep America as I prefer it. Anyways, if this or this type of issue interests you, stop at www.f2a.org.
OK, I’m heading over to get a health club membership, then since while I was posting this I actually accepted some overtime today and now I have to work, I have to speed up my errands today. Too bad I woke up early(because of my phone) and already have a few things on my list done…see what I mean about this phone?!? 
January 14, 2009 at 18:09 (Uncategorized)
Tags: Batman: Gotham Knight, Cathay Garden, Sims 2
It’s been a few days again, hasn’t it?
I think of all these great things to blog about when I’m not next to a computer, but when I am sitting here I just don’t have the energy to write… but, I promised I would blog today, so here it is for what its worth.
First off… I love Sims 2. Yesterday I made a trip and picked up some of my previously purchased expansion packs. Today I uninstalled and then reinstalled all the games except for Seasons which I only have the one disc for. As soon as I find the disc and the “code’ I’ll install that one too and I will be the proud owner of ALL the expansion packs for Sims 2.
The big change is that I now have the Nightlife Expansion which I did not have before. It was a gift… (Thank you cute stuff) and I have been dying trying to figure out how to get it installed when I had games installed that I didn’t have discs for and so on and so forth.
With the acquisition of 90% of the missing discs and game books last night, I felt confident that what I was going to lose with Seasons was acceptable in the addition of Night Life. I also lost my saved game, which is OK. It was time to start again anyways… yes, I even get tired of the little computer generated people that I am able to control down to the most infintisemal degree… Don’t try and figure it out.
But, although they have been lost forever from my hard drive, let me take one minute to try and record their short lived lives here. First… there was this family, the Ottomas. They were a large family. There was a husband and wife, the husband’s mother and seven children, the oldest child was David. There were also twin boys, whose names I forget already, who seem to have been sired by a dog, if the family tree tells the truth. I have yet to figure out how THAT happened.
David moved out on his own as soon as he could. He successfully owned and ran a pottery shop and a bookstore and reached the top of his field, a renowned Mad Scientist. One night however, he was abducted by aliens. A while after returning from his late night adventure, he had a son, whom we named Mork. David raised up Mork to be a lover of all things natural.. and well… unnatural as well. When I left David to his retirement he was a very good warlock and lived on a beautiful property with over twenty apple trees which were by far his favorite of the fruit trees and he talked with them every day.
Mork was the first in the family to go to college. He graduated with Honors with a Biology degree and started a life in the medical field. Mork, with his pale green skin also loved to tinker around with his robots. After he married Jenny, they were sad to learn that they could not have children and so they adopted Brenda. Soon thereafter Mork was discovered to be having an affair with his Robot “Mindy” and Jenny left, leaving Brenda behind to deal with her dad who was building more and more robots. #002, Mork’s first male robot he built then ran off with Mindy to live their own life free from human control. Two of Mork’s cats also left with #002 and Mindy. Meanwhile, #003 became a mother to Brenda, but never developed the same “friendship” that Mork had with his first love, Mindy.
When Brenda moved out from her adoptive father’s home she went off to Sim State University on a Sim Scholars Scholarship and also graduated With Honors, but with a degree in Drama. This combined with her lifetime want to be a Ballet Dancer put her into the upper levels of a career in the Arts. She worked her butt off but did achieve world fame as a Ballet dancer and we all couldnt be more proud. In her first apartment after college she met a nice man named Rodney Jung whom she quickly bewitched with her dancer’s physique and they were married soon after meeting.
They moved into a new home that Brenda financed with her career. It was a beautiful home that sprawled over their urban lot located conveniently next to Pepe’s Pet Store. Brenda received her favorite kitten from Mork when she finished college, a beautiful Absynnian out of Jorge and Alegra, and her love for cats grew with her own home. Ch Jorge x Alegra, grew into a beautiful cat and became a great mother after she met Oscar. They had two kittens; Chuckles & Jessie’s Girl, whom both parents doted on continually.
After Brenda achieved the top of her career she also thought she would take time to enjoy family life, so as Rodney worked up the Medical career towards Chief of Staff, Brenda stayed home and cared for their adopted son, Clarence. Clarence grew up quickly, being adopted as a child and headed off to college. Brenda then had a natural child with Rodney, Bruce Wayne… and they then went on to adopt two more children and have another of their own. Alladin was aopted and just a tad younger than Bruce Wayne. Lucy was their natural child and then they adopted Gabriela, most beloved of her mother!
Bruce Wayne had just moved to college when I stopped playing last night. So, with the loss of that family, I thought I would start up the new family with Bruce Wayne, this time I created him a little bit more closely to the actual Mr. Wayne, and although he wants to be in the Athletic career, is there really anything Mr. Wayne can’t achieve? Already he’s been out on a date, with Kittie no less (Completely by chance, it was a blind date. I know. Can you believe the coincidence?) and they hit it off immediately, but, Mr. Wayne is not one to be bogged down, so, he’s just going to keep his relationship with the ladies on the side for now.
*** Leaving GEEK mode***
Uh huh, that’s right. I am hopelessly addicted to this game.
I’m sure I’ve done other things in the last 5 days… hmmm….
Last night I went to one of my favorite Chinese restaurants, Cathay Garden, and it did not disappoint. The Fragrant Beef is supreme if you ever get the chance.
I also shoveled, which should not be news, I know, but it was awesome. It was in good company and enjoyable, mostly because I didn’t have to do it and it just meant it got done all the faster. It snowed again since then, and is supposed to snow a little bit more, thankfully meaning that it has to warm up from this negative ten degrees and more crud!!! Seriously!!! UGH!!!
Last night I watched the film “Batman: Gotham Knight”. I highly recommend it to any animation or DC fans. I won’t give it away to anyone that hasn’t seen it, but it really was an expertly crafted film. It had more depth and ponder potential than most of the multi-million dollar big screen films being churned out today. Says something about those that love their subject and their medium.
I count 22.5 weeks left in this job. Yes, I need to start counting now, in order to deal with some of the mindless idiocy that my current job is able to produce in such enormous numbers. I went to work today after having a few days off and I simply CANT believe how people behave! It’s such a shame.
Now, I’m not trying to put the cart before the horse, I might not get the job. It’s a reality I simply don’t want to entertain, but… as long as I don’t totally mess up the physical, or go brain dead for the test, I can’t reasonably figure out why I wouldn’t get the job. With that said… I am going to count down the days. Its a coping technique, ok!
Have a good night all… work keeps interrupting me so this is going on like two hours of trying to get this posted and my blood pressure cant take much more of the interruptions, so TTFN.
January 9, 2009 at 12:52 (Uncategorized)
Tags: Autumn, corn field, dairy cow, disatch, Fight Club, fresh cut hay, job, moving, Nightmare on Elm Street, ninja, Poltergeist, relocation, SAW, snow, tempurpedic
I thought I’d take a few minutes to blog before I headed back out into the mess they call weather. Seriously, what is with this snow already. Is the state literally trying to make me leave or just wanting to leave me with a lasting impression of exactly what snow looks like. Either way… I’m gonna miss it, but, that’s what mountains are for. Snow should only be seen on my terms, like on ski hills!! LOL!
Let’s see moving backwards over the last few days…
I watched SAW for the first time last night. It was crazy. I mean, I was anticipating this gorey thriller, above and beyond the Freddy movies and all I really got was an intriguing storyline with mostly bad acting… no matter the actor, famous or otherwise. I distinctly remember thinking on multiple occassions, “I’ve seen all I need to see of this, I can go to bed now.” I mean… I wanted nightmares! What is people’s fascination with this movie? The last 30 seconds, no matter how good the spin around, does not a good movie make!
And there are four more?? I’m sorry, but you can rarely go anywhere but down after the first one. The whole point to a scary movie is to be freaked out by the “new villain”. If you know who to expect and you know the modus operandi, there isn’t much left to keep ya on the edge of your seat, is there? Unless you are a special effects affecionado, which I thankfully am, you’re really gonna be bored.
Now the decision is… do I watch II, III, and IV, which I have in my hands now, or do I just say, “To the heck with it.” and send them all back to Netflix so I can get into some other movies I’ve been cheesing to see again, like “Fight Club”, “Poltergeist”, and “The Thin Red Line”?
But, on to other subjects…
This one is for you Dawg.
A few nights ago I happened to be listening to the police scanner. An officer had been dispatched out to look for a subject causing a disturbance in a particular area of the city. She hadn’t been ablt to locate the subject and was calling back into dispatch. Let me paraphrase to the best of my memory the conversation.
The officer calling in…
“Attempt to Locate a white male, 5′ 8″, 150 lbs, black hat, black jacket, black pants. If there’s another report of a problem in this area, it’s probably my guy”
Dispatch responds…
“Ninja, Can’t find him… Got it!”
Oh my God did I LAUGH!!! Who says dispatchers can’t be funny!?
Meanwhile, plans are still moving forward on the whole new job, relocation effort. I’m still scared as hell, but I also can’t wait. Last night I was driving and I opened up the visor on the sun roof and looked out and imagined seeing stars. I’ve always heard seeing the stars in the desert are the most beautiful thing. I can’t wait to test that out for myself.
I also imagined not having to wash salt off my car anymore… or shovel snow (not that I do that now) or scrape ice off my windshield… etc.
I know there are things I will miss. There’s not alot of corn fields, or dairy cows. I won’t smell fresh cut hay, or see the leaves turn colors in the fall. Things will be different, but, that’s what visits are for, not to mention memories. The most important thing in life is happiness, and truthfully that is all internal. This is a new opportunity, a new start. I’m not running away from things here, but continuing to find myself. Does it require a move? Not necessarily? But it does mean going after my dreams… and keeping the ones I already have with me. A careful balancing act. Baby steps in the right direction, choosing what to let go, and what to hold close.
Isn’t it funny. I think about the challenges, the pressure, the stress, the anxiety… and I smile! Because somewhere in my screwed up mind I know that makes me happy. I want to create a life that is on the go, eyes wide open, smiles and laughing, comfort and love… and I want a career that provides the stimulation that I need to keep me always guessing, always waiting and watching whats coming next and at the same time dealing with whats already in my lap. There is no doubt someday I will get sick of it. Then, and only then, will my heart and mind be satisfied to lay down and rest. Until then… I was raised in chaos and that is where I thrive.
BUT…. I have learned. I can create a place for myself, a stable environment. One of comfort, one of caring, one of peace. I have been shown that is possible… and then the rest of my life can scurry and buck, be crazy and chaotic, because I can go back to my home, my sanctuary… and there take refuge. I can satisfy both sides… the little girl that never grew up, that is still scared, that can’t always cope….and the wild woman that never says no to a challenge, that won’t back down, that is NEVER scared.
Lastly, before I go… I want to remark on a conversation I had last night. I have a friend. He has been my friend for over twenty years even though we’ve been separated by hundreds of miles for 90% of that. For a long while I thought he was that person that may have been the one that got away. Life separated us, but, intellectually and in personality we were suited so well. I only wondered though… because there was no spark. If there was a spark… my life covered it, or my frazeled adolescent brain missed it. There isn’t a spark now, although the friendship is still there, and I never want him to forget that he is my friend. We are still friends, I love him like a brother, and there are times I miss him and worse yet there are times when I forget what brought us together as friends because it has been so long since we’ve talked. He’s been there in my life, time and time again. Remember calling me Shakespeare, and me writing you letters listing out the menagerie on the farm?
Although we’ve missed out on each other’s lives, and we haven’t always been there when the other needed… we still remain friends.
I would like to cultivate that friendship, but I’ve had some difficulties this year with men. What’s the worst thing about getting along with men, and having them as your friends??? They’re men!!! What’s the best thing?? Ya, that’s right, they’re MEN!
I can have only one romantic interest in my life, and I have that. In that area I am not wanting and it can only hurt me as a person, when one tries to be part of my life in that way. If you want to be my friend, then… lets call a spade a spade… be that. I have lots of room in my life for friends. But, there is to be no cajoling, no pressuring, no manipulating… I am stubborn and I know what I want, and I have it. There will be no changing my mind or wearing down my will. If anyone that wants to be my friend can dispense with that garbage, then… friends we can be. You want to pay me a compliment, so be it… but I swear… if one more guy masquerades as my friend just to get in my pants, I’m gonna write the whole lot of you off!!!
That last little rant is not directed at any one person in particular, but if you think I’m talking about you… well…
OK.. Geez… I was just gonna sit down for a second. I guess breakfast is gonna have to wait till tomorrow. What should I have for lunch?
OH, BDL… Girl, I wish I could say I love the bed. I’ve slept on it twice and both nights tossed and turned and had nightmares all night! LOL!! I’m not gonna say its the bed… not yet.
Colleen… I hope you’re feeling better today.
Kel… can’t wait to see you and the family. You all are still crazy for playing this time of year.
Sis!!! I love you!! I cant wait to see you. I’m looking forward to our weekend soooo much!!! You’re the greatest, thank you for being my friend!!!!
January 5, 2009 at 10:02 (Uncategorized)
Tags: career, matress, moving, Sims 2, southwest, tempurpedic
It’s been so long since I posted I almost forgot how!
This morning I’m sitting here with the dogs and just enjoying life. I’ve decided I’m going to try and get a job with another “company” half way across the US and although I’m scared, I know I can do it and I look forward to the challenge.
So, I’m reasonably sure I can get this job so I’ve started making preparations to move to the SouthWest. It’s a bit different than Wisconsin & its someplace I’ve never been. Sure, you’re thinking, how can a person decide to pick up and move to a place they’ve never been before, well… this is what I did.
I looked at what I wanted from my next “company”. I then listed areas of the country that provide those types of working conditions. I looked at places like Seattle, San Diego, Houston, Atlanta, Charleston, and other similar cities. Besides working conditions I also wanted it to be warm and for it to be within an 8 hour drive to the ocean.
Within those cities I then looked at who was hiring in the field I wanted and what the benefits, pay scale and living conditions were like. As I looked at each city, it became obvious to me exactly where I was supposed to go. So, after a few bumps in the road and a bit of a delay, I’m headed West.
That explains in part why I’ve been so absent from the blog, but more accurately, whenever I’m sitting in front of a computer, I hate to admit, I’m playing Sims 2. I now have every Expansion Pack… thank you Christmas!! I have played this game non-stop for weeks on end. It is literally taking over my life! I’m on my 5th generation sim now. I could go into the detailed family history, which I LOVE, but, why bore you all to pieces. I mean, seriously, if I start blogging about my Sims lives, I’ve really gone over the deep end. My buddy already encourages my madness by asking what my sims have been doing… well, actually, now that I think about it, he asked the first couple times, now I think I just assault him with the information!!! Sigh…
In other news, I am the proud owner of a tempurpedic matress set. A co-worker had purchased one and then within a few months they switched to another kind of mattress so he mentioned it in passing and I snatched it up for a GREAT price. It’s leaning against my living room wall. If I wasn’t blogging, I could be setting it up!
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