This weekend has been a blitzkrieg of activity. Yard work, shopping, laundry, and even some holes in the walls. You can see part of the finished product on my flickr site in the for of Janine's handy-work in the new nursery.
Hopefully my work in the yard will look as nice!
Sitting at 36,000 feet and trying to stay awake to avoid jet-lag is rough. Your mind tends to wander easily. Reminisce about home. Think about future travel. Relax to Duncan Sheik. Believe that Cointreau really is the perfect liquor. Wonder if 42 really is the meaning of life, the universe and everything.
Right now, I’m thinking about change.
I tend to forget that, even with Janine pregnant, I’m about to be a dad. You’d think it would be pretty frickin’ obvious and easy for me to grasp, but the whole idea is still taking its sweet time sinking in. Janine still acts and sounds like herself on the phone or when talking to her face-to-face. It’s when I manage look a little further south that I get a subtle reminder that huge change is in the works.
MY Dad is a dad. He’s “Dad.” He’ll always be “Dad.” I’m just the kid. I’ve always been “Austin” and, if you talk to any of my sisters, “my annoying brother.” The whole idea of me being a dad is a huge mind-fuck. I mean I’ve thought about it… but kinda like how people think about keeping New Years Resolutions.
This is where 36,000 feet helps put things in perspective and let me think about the good and the bad. It’s difficult to put into words; my mind puts it into pictures, stories and vignettes. Coming home and not having just the dog be there to greet me at the door. Reading bed time stories and telling stories. Not only talking about work, but about school. Different scenarios play themselves through as I sit inside a dark metal tube miles above an ocean of blue.
I know in reality that things may be different than the movies in my head, but at least the liquor is keeping the thoughts positive.
Sitting at 36,000 feet and trying to stay awake to avoid jet-lag is rough. Your mind tends to wander easily. Reminisce about home. Think about future travel. Relax to Duncan Sheik. Believe that Cointreau really is the perfect liquor. Wonder if 42 really is the meaning of life, the universe and everything.
Right now, I’m thinking about change.
I tend to forget that, even with Janine pregnant, I’m about to be a dad. You’d think it would be pretty frickin’ obvious and easy for me to grasp, but the whole idea is still taking its sweet time sinking in. Janine still acts and sounds like herself on the phone or when talking to her face-to-face. It’s when I manage look a little further south that I get a subtle reminder that huge change is in the works.
MY Dad is a dad. He’s “Dad.” He’ll always be “Dad.” I’m just the kid. I’ve always been “Austin” and, if you talk to any of my sisters, “my annoying brother.” The whole idea of me being a dad is a huge mind-fuck. I mean I’ve thought about it… but kinda like how people think about keeping New Years Resolutions.
This is where 36,000 feet helps put things in perspective and let me think about the good and the bad. It’s difficult to put into words; my mind puts it into pictures, stories and vignettes. Coming home and not having just the dog be there to greet me at the door. Reading bed time stories and telling stories. Not only talking about work, but about school. Different scenarios play themselves through as I sit inside a dark metal tube miles above an ocean of blue.
I know in reality that things may be different than the movies in my head, but at least the liquor is keeping the thoughts positive.
In anticipation of the gloomy winter weather, I took it upon myself to try and get all of the exterior Christmas decorating done and out of the way. Evidence of my assimilation into this yule-tide tradition can be found on my Flickr site.
I know what you're thinking... "It's not even Thanksgiving yet!" Trust me, I had the same thoughts running through my head as I was perched precariously on the roof. That was one of the few things keeping me distracted from the doom that awaited me just over the edge. I also figured that I'd rather do it now - when the weather jumped to 42 degrees and not a drop of rain nor flake of snow in the air - than after tonight's predicted first dump of snow.
That, and it's always cool to see the lights the night after a snow storm.
Total Time: 1 hour, 31 minutes, 40 seconds!
Not bad for a first timer on his 29th Birthday. ;-)
Split times and pictures to be available soon.
To celebrate my 29th birthday tomorrow I'll be participating in the Pleasant Prairie Triathlon. I've watched Janine have fun at these events over the past 2 years, but I've stayed away from trying them because I don't like running. However, Janine has a very persistent sales pitch that, after a while, becomes a siren song you just can't say no to.
My family genes weren't blessed with necessarily good knees, so I've attempted to avoid the contact abuse and compression that running causes. I tried running back when I lived in Chicago, but one night my knee gave out about 3 miles from home... in 42 degree weather. That made for a very uncomfortable hobble back home.
What makes this triathlon any different? I don't know for sure, but I figure that I'm not getting any younger and my knees aren't going to miraculously regenerate anytime soon, so if I'm ever going to stretch and try something new then now is the time to do it.
No, the other kind.
After a little under a week, we started seeing small patches of tiny green sprouts shooting up from the dirt. After almost two weeks now, we've got a fair amount of grass; Not enough to call it a lawn, but it's a start. I owe you some pictures on my Flickr site, and will put some up hopefully before the weekend.
Looking for a lawn mower? Check this one out!
As some of you know, our yard was basically a lump of clay... literally. No lawn, no trees, just a baren wasteland complete with its own tumbleweeds. Some weeds can grow in it, but our "dirt" was anything but.
As part of our continuing series on home improvement, we needed to put some kind of landscaping down in only to be able to enjoy the land instead of just pointing to it and saying "That pile of weeds and barren land is ours!" That never really impressed the neighbors.
The work we've done in the past weeks has, however, turned quite a few heads in the neighborhood. We hired a landscape contractor to come in and grade the lots and put very nice top soil down, but the grass planting and watering were left in our capable hands (along with a little help from Janine's folks). We're now the happy owners of about 3/4-acre of hay-covered grass-seeded land, complete with a watering system that would shame and confuse even the mightiest of engineering minds.
To see some pictures of the magic, head over here...
Day 1 at the new job went very well! I met a LOT of new people, was told a lot of useful information, and will probably forget half of the names and info when I walk in the door this morning. I do have a good grasp on what my roles and responsibilities will be, and have even been assigned to some programs already. They're wasting no time getting me up and running, and that's exactly what I expected.
Today will include a few more meetings with people I will be working with in my new role, as well as move-in to my office. Not a cubicle, but an actual office with a door and key. It even has windows so the plants can have actual sunlight! I'll ignore the rumors that we may be moving to a different building in the near-future and will just enjoy the space for as long as I can.
