Month: March 2024

Mondays Suck, But We All Knew That

Yup… Monday… blah.

How’s everyone doing? Did you have a good weekend? I was sick all weekend, but it was okay. My step son was here. That was awesome.

I feel a little better today. It’s been the cold from hell ever since last Tuesday afternoon, but today I feel like I am starting to come out of it. I’m still stuffy and sneezing and coughing, but not nearly as bad as I was. I still don’t feel well enough to be comfortable going into the office. I think this week will be Wednesday and Thursday. Maybe Friday. I only went in once last week because of being sick. Maybe I’ll go in an extra day this week to make up for it. We’ll see.

The kitchen remodel will hopefully officially come to an end tomorrow. The contractor is coming back one more time to hang some shelves over the new tile. That’s the only thing left to do, though our dishwasher is acting up. It might be shitting the proverbial bed. Nice timing, eh? Get the kitchen remodeled and immediately have to buy a new appliance. Yeah, because we have money for that! Sheesh! Is the universe trying to tell us something?*

Okay. I need to blow my nose, read some work email, and then make lunch. Hopefully you are all having a good Monday even though Mondays as a rule suck. That’s okay though. Mondays sucking is not a surprise to anyone who lives in a place where Monday is the start of the work week.

*No, the universe is not trying to tell us something. It doesn’t give a shit about us one way or the other. Why? Because it is not sentient in any way. It’s just a universe. It’s just a really, really, really big collection of stuff. It doesn’t have feelings. It’s not intelligent. It’s just stuff.

Compliments

Daily writing prompt
What was the best compliment you’ve received?
View all responses

There are two answers to this question. One is serious and professional and I will not give any details about it. The other is a goofy thing from when I was a teenager.

There are actually two professional things that I could use here. Two people who reported to me both said things that affected me in very positive ways. I will not share either thing because I don’t care to break confidence. I’m like a priest hearing confession and I ain’t given anything up. Well… like a priest without all of the child rape and atrociously evil cover ups. So really nothing like a priest, but you get the idea. Okay, enough about this one.

The compliment I’ll share is silly. I think I was a sophomore in high school. My friend Mike and I were trying to learn new musical instruments. Guitar for me and bass for him. We had a friend who could play the drums. We got together and had a jam. The drummer had an older brother who played guitar. He was in the room with us, just hanging out and listening. I was pretty new at guitar, but I had been playing music for years (on the saxophone and briefly on the trumpet) so musically speaking I kinda knew what I was doing and as a result I was picking things up on guitar pretty quickly. While we were jamming away I did… something. I am not sure what, but I think I was probably improvising something. The drummer’s guitar playing brother stood up and said, “I gotta take a walk” and left the room. I guess I impressed him a little.

That’s it. That’s the compliment. I never forgot that. My ego swelled four sizes that day. I was so pleased with myself that I may have actually started to glow. The post script on this was that the drummer’s guitar playing brother should not have been disturbed by anything I did because he was good. He was way better than me. I’m guessing he still is.

There is a third potential answer to this question as well. It’s actually a series of things. They aren’t compliments per se, but they affected me in similar Earth rocking ways. First, there was this woman who agreed to go on a date with me. Nice! Second, about a year later I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. She said yes. Nice! About a year later we stood in front of our families and we both said, “I do” to each other. Nice! Like I said, they aren’t compliments in the strictest sense of the word, but they have a similar affect. They are each like a huge compliment on steroids and multiplied by about 10 zillion.

And there you have it, folks. My compliment history in a nutshell. Happy Monday, everyone.

Happy St Patrick’s Day

Happy St Patrick’s Day, everyone. Today is the day where the population of the United States who are not descended from Irish immigrants pretend that they are of Irish descent and celebrate like drunken stereotypes. Personally, as one whose family did come from Ireland but who does not drink at all, I am all for it. Pretend away, my friends and neighbors. For this one day each year you are more than welcome to join our club.

Sláinte!

Go raibh maith agat!

Go n-eirí an t-ádh leat!

Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit!

Go here to find out what those four phrases mean.

Let’s Take a Trip!

Daily writing prompt
You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?
View all responses

Any excuse to go on a trip. Any place, any time, any method of travel. The answer to today’s question; plane, train, bus, car, or bike is yes. Yes, please. Well… I’ll pass on the bike option, but other than that I’ll go for any of them. I love the fact that I can wake up and Boston, hop on a plane, and finish my day in California or anywhere else on Earth. Thank you air travel.

I also love a good train ride. There is something about kicking up my feet and relaxing while bombing across the country side without (too much) worry about traffic or anything like that. Trains are great. Busses… not my favorite, but still worth the effort. Busses are like trains but with potential traffic jams. Not quite as esthetically pleasing to my soul, but still generally acceptable.

Cars? Absolutely! I am always up for a road trip. Someday I will load up the car with travel stuff, grab the love of my life and get her into the passenger seat, and drive across the country. We’ll stop at every roadside attraction and scenic view we come to. It will be the most epic road trip in American history and we will crush it like experts.

I guess the thing we need to take away from today’s daily prompt topic is that I am ready to travel, any time, any place, any distance. The method of travel does not matter to me so long as we reach the destination safely and have a good time getting there. Except for bikes. I don’t have any real interest in traveling on bikes. Exercising on a bike is one thing, traveling on one… not so much.

Cat Pics Because…

Two cat pics from this morning that I forgot to post, because… just because.

Lily is a climber. This is the highest spot in the kitchen that she can reach.

198/365
198/365

Robin is a little more of a mellow cat. She just likes to hang out.

Surprise! Another Song

Check it out, I said I was going to mix a song and here I am with a second mix! It’s bonus song time!

This was the title song from an RPM Challenge a couple of years ago. It’s okay. It was probably borderline worthy of re-recording, but now that it’s done I am all right with it. It’s not a disaster, though the goofy panning tricks I did at the beginning and end are probably mistakes.