That's My Only Issue?

Met with some friends last night. During the course of the conversation we began talking about someone known to us who is going through sooooo much. She recently had a double masectomy due to stage 4 cancer that is now in her bones. Just the other day she had a lymph node removed from under her arm for testing. 2 weeks ago her husband died of a heart attack. She's in the process of losing her home. Her family lives out of the country. Oh, and she has three children, ages 5, 4, and 18 months. She has no life insurance and no will.

This morning, I woke up healthy. We are all healthy. We have jobs. What was my biggest issue this morning? Ants. Ants in the bathroom, ants in the kitchen. Streams of ants. Ants into almost everything. On any other morning, that would be a big issue. This morning, not so much.

1-1/2 Hours

1-1/2 hours. Sometimes it can be a very long time. When you're waiting for something that you've wanted for a very long time, it can be forever. When you're reading a great book or watching a wonderful movie, it can seem like it's just minutes. When you're sitting in nature, listening to what nature has to say, it flies by. When you get into Phoenix at 3:30 a.m. and into bed at 4, knowing that you have to be up at 5:30, 1-1/2 hours of sleep just isn't enough, but that's what we dealt with this morning. The nap this afternoon after the tournament was nice though.

When does one stop calling it a new year?

I had this conversation with someone the other day. They wished me a happy new year, even though we were several days into the new year, the question was posed, "when do we stop saying "new year"?" My best response was, "when we stop writing 2009 on things." For me, that usually takes a good 3 weeks into the new year. I caught myself just yesterday writing 09 on a check and had to cross it out, so I guess that means it's still a new year for me. We also just finished our last bit of Christmas. Sunday I took down the rest of the lights on the eves of the house and last night we got together with Bob and Sharon for dinner and gift exchange. I guess that officially closes out 2009, except for when I write it on a check. When that isn't my natural inclination, then 2010 is no longer a new year.

Do You Remember?

Cassandra had some friends stay over last night. They came in after a basketball team dinner and pulled out RockBand and went to it. A while later, Cassie asked if they could all spend the night. Not a problem. Then, she said they had to pick some things up and took off. They were back by 11:30. I got to bed as they were pounding drums, vocalizing and playing guitar. At some time during the night, I heard them come in from outside, rolled over and went back to sleep.

Got up at 4:30 to see the girls all up and about. Figured they hadn't been to sleep but they seemed to be crawling under the covers. I said I heard them come in at some point during the night to which I was greeted with, "which time"? Seems they were in and out of the house quite a bit. Doorbell ditching, TPing a friend, drive by TPing and going to the beach. Two of them are 18 so they figured it was okay if the all went.

I had no problem with it. I remember the times after Foster Freeze when we would go out, sometimes returning just before dawn. There was one time we had gone to a party, then to the beach and then home as the sun was coming up, only to have to get ready to go out to a Mother's Day brunch. I was beat but it was a great night just hanging out with friends.

The girls, especially Cassandra, needed to go out and get a little crazy. The league games officially begin tonight and with all of the volleyball and basketball stress she's been under, let her have her fun. It was harmless and probably will pay dividends in the long run. However, she's got a basketball game tonight and then a volleyball tournament tomorrow early so she won't be getting a whole lot of sleep. But I remember those times as well. And it was still worth it.

There Is Always A Solution

There Is Always A Solution

Had some technical things going on this morning at work. First, we were having 2 videoconferences going at the same time, one to London and the other local. The one to London  created a challenge since with the time difference, we didn't have a chance to test the call, and it was going to be a 2 hour interview. Well, there was a problem with the connection and it appeared that it was on their end, but how do you tell them that without it seeming that you're just pointing fingers? So, I pulled out my phone book, called a company that specializes in videoconferencing and let them connect us. 3 minutes  before the interview was to start, we were up. Then, the interviewee was having problems getting his laptop connected to the internet and he needed to access some things. I took his laptop and in about 3 minutes, had it connected and handed back off to him.

Got back to my desk to be greeted with several e-mails about our antivirus program not updating the definitions. I sent out, or thought I sent out, a message to everyone that it was being looked into, only to find out that my e-mail wasn't being sent. It was all just sitting in my outbox. Tried several things while I was online with tech support for the antivirus thing, none of them working so I totally uninstalled and reinstalled the program. That worked for my e-mail but 2-1/2 hours later I was still on hold with the antivirus company. Come to find out that they are the ones having the problem, not us and that they are working on it. 1/2 hour later I get an e-mail from one of our vendors saying that this particular antivirus company is having a problem with definitions...oh really? Don't need to worry about the definitions because they really are getting updated, it's just not reflecting in the date of the update. We're covered.

Needless to say, it was a pretty crazy, technically challenging morning, but it's all okay because, there is always a solution.

He Keeps On Running

It looms, in the future, coming this way ever quicker. Will I be ready for it? Can't say right now. Need to motivate myself to prepare. It's so hard to crawl out of bed though. Dakotah cries. He wants to go prepare for it. Hush, a little longer. There's no quieting an excited dog. He knows it's coming. He knows what we must do.

When the alarm first goes off at 4:15, it's a wave of the hand and I gain extra minutes of sleep. At 4:30, I know there can be no more delay, since it's coming, and it's coming fast. I throw my legs off the bed, stand and, shaking off a few aches, head downstairs. A few more paces and I'm feeling almost normal. I check the temperature to see what I'm going to be wearing, throw on my shorts and a long sleeve shirt. I strap support bands on my knees and adjust the iPod band on my arm. I tie my shoes and open the door to the garage, letting in the bounding dog. Hook up the leash to his collar and off we go. This morning, just over 5 miles. It needs to be more frequent. It needs to be longer. I need to train harder, because it's coming. February 7 will be here. Will I be ready? Will I be able to cover it all? Will I be able to walk when it's done? Pacific Shoreline 1/2 Marathon. It's coming.

A good night's sleep

Sometimes, it’s just so hard to get a good night’s sleep. If it’s not the dogs barking at something, it’s the kids getting up to go to the bathroom. Or, it’s a cat jumping on the bed, or just life in general staying on the mind. The night before last, Layla cornered an opossum behind the garden shed at 12:30 in the morning. Barking and growling and no way to get her out. Tommy echoed in with his deep and very loud barks, though he’s too old to really participate, and wouldn’t care about an opossum anyway, and Dakotah just ran around enjoying the excitement. The night before that, up until after midnight ‘cause Cassie had a basketball game earlier and just couldn’t wind down, but then had to be up at 6 to get ready to take her to a volleyball tournament.

Last night however, I was able to get to bed before 10:30, put the headphones on, listened to an alpha wave recording with the sound of rain and thunder behind it and fell asleep. I don’t remember anything disturbing me until the alarm went off at 4. For me, that’s a good night’s sleep. People say you need 7 - 8 hours of sleep a night. I get 5 - 6 and function pretty well. I do appreciate the undisturbed sleep when it comes. It makes the day pretty rosey.

Where has the year gone?

4 days into the new year. We've seen the removal of Christmas at the house and the entrance of a new year. We've seen frogs and lizards turned upside down, basketball games and volleyball tournaments. We've seen dogs protecting our yard from beastly creatures at 12:30 in the morning. We've seen the sun come up in the morning to a colorful sky of various shades of purples while the moon continued to show its wonder. In a lot of ways, it's an exciting time of year. There are hopes and expectations of greater things to come. It's like at the beginning of every sports season where there is hope of a championship, even though you know your team probably won't make it, but what if they could? Wouldn't that be wonderful? That's what the beginning of the year is like. There is hope for a fantastic year, even though we know there will be pitfalls along the way. What if we can limit those pitfalls and at the end of the year, instead of looking back and saying, "glad that year is behind me" we say, "what a great year we just had. Let's make this next one even better." That's my goal.