| My grandfather. |
[Jun. 22nd, 2008|01:16 pm] |
It's sad to see the passing of the Greatest Generation, but we were lucky to have them in our lives as long as we did. And I was lucky to have my grandfather in my life as long as I did.
As children, my brother, my cousin and I used to go to our grandparent's house every weekend. It was always a treat to get out. Sometimes, we'd go into the city, to the aquarium or a zoo in the area. Other times, we'd hang out at home, or go fishing. We'd eat lunch, then head out into the state forest, put the canoe in the water and paddle out to a small beach on the other side of the pond. We'd eat dinner on a small portable grill, and just fish and talk until it got late and we needed to get home. We used to go to a petting zoo in Rhode Island, Castle Island in Boston and Fourth Cliff in Humarock, as well.
He didn't just teach me to shoot a rifle, but also how to properly clean and take care of it. He was an honorable, kind man, and he did right by us. He kept us out of trouble, and gave us lectures when we needed to be lectured. And for that, I'm thankful. God bless him, and may he rest in peace. |
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| Alfred Hitchcock. |
[May. 13th, 2008|07:08 am] |
Yesterday morning, there was an overwhelming amount of different birds at our feeders. In a ten minute span, we saw downy woodpeckers, female and male cardinals, two grey catbirds, a couple red-breasted nuthatches, including a youngling, a bunch of chipping sparrows, one or two white-throated sparrows, robins, mourning doves, song sparrows, a carolina wren and a female goldfinch.
And if that were not a enough, a mole was out working on his burrows. Then, shortly after the chickadees and tufted titmouses were out. Which in turn, lead to a common grackle and a red-winged blackbird showing up. It was a wonderful treat, I haven't seen a red-winged blackbird in many a year.
I put out birdseed infront of my chair and watched a red-breasted nuthatch and the catbirds for a while, before working in the flower garden. We moved some daffodils around, planted a bush and tackled a giant weed colony. When you don't pull out weeds by their roots, they form massive underground colonies. I had the pleasure of tearing one out that spanned nearly ten feet in numerous directions. We also have a green weeping willow that we need to eventually plant. I love weeping willows, they're right up there with maples in their beauty. |
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| Shingles. |
[May. 2nd, 2008|10:59 pm] |
I've had shingles for about a week now. There's absolutely nothing you can get for it over-the-counter. Once the rash started to appear, we knew it was shingles. We talked to the doctor, he said I had to come in. So, I go in and he spends thirty minutes running tests. Blood pressure, height, weight, etc. Then, he spends thirty seconds looking at the rash, and tells me what I already know, I have shingles.
The appointment cost $90. The medication cost $60. It's ridiculous that something where the worse side-effect is diarrhea, you can't get it over-the-counter. |
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| Ugh. |
[Apr. 3rd, 2008|02:48 pm] |
I spent the better part of five hours doing some burning today. We built up a lot of brush over the winter. We also had some branches from a tree I chopped down, and old construction materials. It was a bit of a pain in the ass, but it's out of the way. It looks nicer with everything cleaned up.
Earlier in the day when I first started, I wrenched my middle finger putting together the hose. The entire day it has been bothering. Then, as I'm raking everything into the center of the fire, I get an awful charley-horse in my left elbow. I sit down and it bugs for few minutes. And when I try to extend the fingers on my left hand, the middle finger wont extend. It would go about half-way, then start twitching in place. After about sixty seconds or so of trying to make it extend, they all extended perfectly fine and the pain in the finger and the elbow was gone.
It was strange. I've never personally seen anything like that happen before. As I was trying to extend it, I turned to Bev and laughed, "That's not good." Thankfully it was temporary.
Aurora is doing great. She was outside with me all day today, helping drag stuff around. Not too much is new. I have gained a bit of weight since Aurora was born, so I've started a new diet. Nothing ground-breaking, just three small meals a day and cutting back on portions. I had gotten into the awful habit of snacking all day, then having one large meal at dinner. We'll see how that goes.
I hope everyone is doing well. I know I'm not around much anymore, but that doesn't mean I don't care. Take care and be well. |
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[Mar. 14th, 2008|09:17 am] |
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| Failed Save. |
[Mar. 10th, 2008|12:24 am] |
By now, I'm sure most of you have heard the sad news about Gary Gygax.
I had the pleasure of meeting Gary a few times at conventions over the years. He was an asset to the industry and it is a shame to see him leave us. He is a legend amongst gamers. His vision, his imagination, his creativity and his willingness to share it all with us, brought role-playing games to a wider audience across the globe. I wish his family the best in these hard times.
Below, is a tribute video with a song I thought captured his outgoing personality.
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| USPS. |
[Jan. 12th, 2008|09:35 pm] |
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We got mail today, around 11:00AM. Lately, we've been getting mail around 3:00PM - 4:00PM. This drives me nuts. I wish they could stick to some form of schedule. I don't know how it is possible to have a five hour variance in delivery times. |
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| Work. |
[Jan. 11th, 2008|09:25 pm] |
I had a job interview scheduled for yesterday. It was for a lead position on a team. Approximately one hour after confirming my interview, I was informed that it was cancelled. Next Wednesday I have an interview for a volunteer position at the New England Aquarium. I'm not sure if I'll be able to take on such an obligation once a week, though. The topic of taking care of my aunt full-time and giving her the attention she needs has come up. I'm still undecided, but I'll need to make up my mind relatively soon.
Other than that, I spent tonight filling in holes in the family tree and working out details of our family history. A brief history of the land we own, how long it has been in the family. Military history. Things like that. |
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| Silver screen. |
[Jan. 8th, 2008|04:19 pm] |
I went out to lunch today, then went to see Juno afterwards. I had just watched Swimmers the night before and the two contrast very much in how they portray the American family. However, they're both good films. Juno is a corky comedy, and it was a lot of fun to watch. I expecially enjoyed the ending, which was very cute. The acting was spot on.
On a somewhat related note, I had almost forgotten the new Indiana Jones is coming on this year. |
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| Night sky. |
[Jan. 3rd, 2008|02:07 am] |
Wonderful night out tonight. It's about 6°F though, so it is a bit chilly. Mars and Saturn are both very prominent in the sky, as well as Orion and Taurus. Winter is always pleasant for star gazing, provided you bundle up. Tonight is no except. I only wish someone could fully capture the beauty of night sky. There's something enchanting about a handful notable stars and planets silhouetted by a backdrop of millions.
One of these days, I need to get another good telescope. |
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| Weather. |
[Dec. 16th, 2007|12:35 pm] |
What miserable weather today. Thursday, we got about eight inches of snow and I spent the better portion of the morning shovelling. Friday, I took Aurora outback to go sledding. This morning we got another six inches, then it turned to rain. And I love rain, just not in the same twelve hour stretch as snow. There were one inch thick sheets of ice on the cars, underneath the snow. The driveway is complete slush. And each shovel of snow is about four times heavier than it would normally be. It sucks.
Here is to hoping it doesn't all turn it ice overnight.
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| Tin Man. |
[Dec. 3rd, 2007|11:31 pm] |
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I've been watching Tin Man on the Sci-Fi Channel these last couple days. It is an interesting concept, although it isn't the most well written script. As a Wizard of Oz fan, it's neat seeing all the familiarities they've included. |
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| Energy. |
[Dec. 1st, 2007|01:40 am] |
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Water is such a magical element. I was sitting in the bathtub, just watching it pour over me from the shower head. I placed my hand on my chest and I could feel the energy in my body. I touched my soul. |
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| Bathroom Etiquette Vol. 1: Rules to Live By |
[Nov. 29th, 2007|03:15 am] |
For any unsuspecting readers who stumble across this post, I apologize. For those of you who regularly read my blog, you probably wont want to read this post. For those of you who continue to read on regardless, you were warned. I'm sorry.
Public Restrooms: I don't use public restrooms. Not because I believe them to be swarming with bacteria, which they are, but because they're swarming with feces. Other people's feces. You sit in it. It's in the air you breathe. It's just a disturbing thought.
My disgust of public restrooms stems back to when I was a child and in school. As many people can attest, the little boy's room always had a reputation for being exceedingly unclean. Sometimes, this was just rumour. In my case, it was far from rumour, it was fact. There was one particular repeat offender, a mentally challenged boy. He would defecate anywhere but the toliet. One day, I walked in and he was sitting in one of the urinals, not toliet, going to the bathroom.
Ever since that day, I can't bring myself to sit down at a toliet in a public restroom. I'd prefer to urinate outdoors, than in a public restroom. That, or take the drive to my home. To a toliet I know, maintain, and trust. The whole idea of some public area where everyone goes to excrete their waste simply disgusts me.
Bathroom Etiquette: This fear of public restrooms has lead me to take wiping my butt rather seriously. There was a time when everytime I pooped, I took a shower. It didn't matter if it meant I would be late for wherever I may be headed, I needed to take a shower. Thankfully, I am passed taking a shower every time I go to the bathroom, but I am a bit anal about how I wipe. Below, are tips I feel are essential to wiping:
1.) As you sit down, spread your cheeks apart. This minimalizes the surface area required to clean. You should never defecate with tight cheeks.
2.) After you defecate, allow time for your anus to tighten up again. If your feces are thick, it widens the anus when you defecate, hindering your ability to wipe your butt. You end up wiping the inside of your anus, rather than the outer surface area.
3.) Wipe from the genitals back. Never wipe towards your genitals. This means no more sticking your hand between your legs. Stand up, lift one leg and wipe.
4.) Lay a piece of wet toliet paper over dry toliet paper and wipe atleast once. Sometimes, a little moisture makes the whole process go a lot smoother. This should be done near the end of the wiping and be followed by atleast one dry wipe.
5.) Never assume you're clean. Always check the toliet paper to make sure you look clean.
6.) Take sweat into consideration. Everyone sweats, it's natural. And the crotch, underarms and anal cleft are some of the warmest areas of the outer body. It is okay to use a restroom to wipe away sweat. Until you shower, sweat can drag feces outwards like a river might drag debris.
In my opinion, using a public restroom is the equivalent to crapping one's pants. |
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| Halloween. |
[Oct. 31st, 2007|07:48 pm] |
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We took Aurora out for Halloween. Just a few houses on the street and friends and family. We also stopped at a friend of mine's house. They have a long walk way up to their house from the street, with roots sticking out of the ground and a giant rock you need to climb down. Coming in, their dog started barking at me. They usually have really friendly dogs and it turned out to be one I knew, Lizzy, who is blind. After getting lost part way up to their house, Lizzy lead us the rest of the way. I thought that was rather ironic.
After that, we went to visit Aurora's great grandparents and she fell asleep after leaving there, so her grandparents got to see a sleeping child in the car. No pictures, but maybe she'll dress up tomorrow and run around. She was a ladybug. |
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| Apple picking. |
[Oct. 8th, 2007|06:50 pm] |
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I went apple picking on Sunday with Aurora and Alicia. It was a nice cool day, but the humidity got to me. Next year, I think I'll go again. I'll go early, bring chairs and just eat apples off the trees. They taste so much better when eaten immediately. Everything does. |
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| Birch. |
[Sep. 30th, 2007|09:06 pm] |
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I'm finally getting settled in here after taking over the house. The place is starting to look less like a garage full of boxes and more like a house with seperate rooms. We're also getting furniture delivered tomorrow afternoon. A friend of the family sold their cottage in New Hampshire and is bringing down some furniture to help fill in the house. We also did Aurora's birthday yesterday. A small dinner, cake and presents. Aside from that, I've been taking server statistics in Asheron's Call and working on a family tree. I finished on my father's mother's side. I still need to track back relatives in Sweden and figure out my mother's side. |
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| Go figure. |
[Sep. 13th, 2007|01:38 pm] |
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I got in a good four hours of moving cabinets, beds, televisions and desks today. All of which went up two flights of stairs. Afterwards, I decided to take a nice soothing bath. Then, as I'm getting up, I pull a muscle in my shoulder. All day I'm fine, then a bathtub does me in. I also got a few splinters from carrying stuff around and discovered something I had been told for years: They're easier to cut out. I sat there for a good five minutes picking at the first splinter with tweezers, with no luck other than inflicting pain from pinching myself. That's when I grabbed my knife from my desk. If you just poke the tip in and rake it along the splinter, it is surprisingly easy to uncover it. Then, you can just rub it out. And it hurts less. Go figure. |
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| Musty. |
[Sep. 12th, 2007|02:18 am] |
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I used to have something of a favorite shirt a while back. It was falling apart and riddled with holes and tears, but the worn in cloth was extremely soft and comfortable on the skin. After two years, I dawned it once more, as my shirts are in the laundry. I must say, I think I fell in love with it all over again. There is something wonderful about musty, smooth, soft cloth. And it isn't the moth balls. |
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| Balls of Fury. |
[Sep. 1st, 2007|04:55 pm] |
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I was out cutting down a tree in my skivvies and slippers this afternoon. Hopefully passer-by's enjoyed themselves, because I didn't. Before that, I mowed part of the lawn, but today wasn't my day for getting things done. Problem after problem arised. We did get the new stove and dishwasher ordered. Hopefully we can rent out a carpet cleaner for a few days once we get some stuff moved around. And I also set up a date for Verizon FiOS to get installed. |
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