I had been doing so well about updating and then I took that damn trip to Dallas and it's all been downhill since then.  I'm finally back and hopefully I'll get back into the old routine again.

I got back from Dallas on Thursday.  I wasn't too impressed with the little bit that I did see.  It felt like any other big city.  I didn't see any cows, no tumbleweed, and not a single armadillo so I'm a little disappointed.  I did see one businessman in a suit and a cowboy had and one lady with big Texas hair so the trip wasn't a complete bust!  The one steak and chop place that I ate at was really really good!  Plus they served the Corona in a salted glass so that was cool.

Friday was a crazy day at work because I had a weeks worth of e-mails, voicemails and issues.  To make things even better I also had a two and a half hour staff meeting.  Then I had drill in the evening.  It was quite busy to say the least.

Saturday and Sunday was drill  and it was pretty busy.  It also meant that I didn't get a weekend.  On Saturday night we did eat dinner with some friends and that was fun.  Sunday morning I did an 8 mile foot march.  It wasn't too bad, but I did start to blister about mile 4 and I adjusted my stride to compensate.  The compensation ended up hurting a tendon or something above my left ankle.  I'm walking a little funny due to the blister and the messed up tendon but I think that I will be fine in a day or two. 

This weekend I have another drill.  I really really really need a weekend off.  Going 19 days without a day off is a bit much and for once my streak is longer than Amanda's.

Nothing exciting this week is planned.  One thing that I am going to do is relocate the gym to the basement.  We have it in our flex/bonus room right now.  The room needs cleared out to fix the carpet due to the cat pee.  Moving to the basement will also give us some use of the basement.  We never really go down there except to change the furnace filter.  It will also give the equipment a little more room and I can put up a punching bag too.  Only question is what we want to do with the bonus room now.  Any ideas Amanda?

That's it for now, not a very exciting post but it's better than a week of nothing.

I'm writing to you from Dallas, or more specifically just the hotel I'm staying in.  I've been in Dallas since yesterday and all that I've seen is the airport and the hotel.  Nothing really exciting or earth shattering.  My extent of the Texas and everything associated with it has been the little outside garden area that I ran on yesterday.  It was pretty nice outside when I ran, in the lower 70s, which was a nice change from the 10s, 20s, and 30s that we were having in Indy.

Anyways, I'll be down in Texas until Thursday afternoon when I'll fly back to Indy and all the associated cold.  Granted this weekend we'll see highs in the 40s, but that is far away from the 70s that I saw yesterday.

The hotel that I'm staying in is pretty unimpressive for the price ($200-300/night).  The room is nothing special and the hotel in general is just ok.  Granted the hotel has a couple of pools, tennis courts, and a nice gym but other than that it doesn't differ much from your run of the mill hotel. 

The restaurants in the hotel are ok, but they are quite overpriced. 

Oh, and get this....I ironed my shirt with the in-room ironing board and iron.  Everything was ok until I got ready to put on my shirt and I noticed that a stain from the ironing board transferred to my shirt.  How wonderful is that?  I left a note for housekeeping and they took my shirt to get the stain out, but if they can get it out I'll be shocked since the stain looked like ink.

On a side note I'm down here by myself.  Some people may value quality alone time, but for me it's a drag.  I hate, Hate, HATE being by myself.  I'm reminded of my 6 months in '06 at Ft. Gordon where I spent the time by myself in a hotel room.  I just hate not having the option of going into a room and seeing another human being.  I miss my wife.  Granted she works quite a few evenings so I'm at home by myself, but I know that she will be home at 10:30. 

Add to the fact that I've now ate dinner two nights in a row by myself and things get even worse.  I hate eating in restaurants by myself.  Granted I could probably have gotten dinner with one of the many vendors down here, but I'm just not in a social mood.  It's a damned if I do and damned if I don't situation.  I don't want to eat by myself but I don't feel like being social. 

Yesterday I started a post but wrote the least that I've ever written before falling asleep.  A single solitary sentence and I fell asleep!  Needless to say it was also one of the first times that I actually just closed my browser and didn't save what I was typing.

Housekeeping just brought my shirt back and they managed to get the stain out.  I guess that I can add one plus to the hotel now. 

Ok, granted the hotel isn't that bad.  I was just being critical.  The sheets are nice and the pillows are decent quality.

That's it for now, I'm going to head to bed since I'm pretty tired.

Last night I was able to sleep ok thanks to some really kick ass Mucinex-D.  The stuff is really expensive but it's Pharmacist recommended to help your congestion.  Granted, the Pharmacist is my wife but it really rocks.  Unfortunately I forgot to take some to work with me and now I'm sitting here with a runny nose, sinus congestion, and sneezing.  Fun fun!

Yesterday was kind of a blah night like I was expecting since I felt like crap.  Amanda cooked dinner and since I wasn't feeling very well I didn't eat any of it.  I felt bad since she doesn't cook often and the one time that she actually does I didn't eat it.

Speaking of eating, I have often talked about my goal of building a menu for the week and then making only one wonderful trip to the grocery store instead of a daily trip or eating out every day.  Unfortunately I am yet to manage to do this, but I am one step closer after finding this site.  It was linked to off of lifehacker and it's called tasty planner basically you can find recipes and build your weekly menu.  Then like magic it gives you a grocery list.  How cool is that?  It also lets you create recipes so in theory you can input your grandmas famous meal on there and then it will include the ingredients for your grocery list for the week.  Sweet huh?

I need to talk to Amanda about it, but if she would take one or possibly two meals during the week it would be great.  That means I cook 3-4 days a week and she does 1-2, and then we have 1-2 days of eating out.  As much as I would like to eliminate our eating out habit, it's like trying to stop a crack addition.  Ok, maybe it's not really that bad, but we do have a problem.  I don't even want to add up how much we spend eating out but it has to be crazy and we don't go to places like McD's or Burger King. 

This weekend we both have the weekend off which is good since next weekend is drill, the following weekend is another drill, and plus I'll be gone in Dallas next week from Monday through Thursday.  I was hoping that Amanda would come along with me, but she decided that she would work as much as she could to get some extra money.  She hasn't mentioned the working thing again recently, so I'm not sure if she is still going to or not.

I'd love to pain a room in the house this weekend but I really don't have a freakin' clue about what color to do the rooms.  I'm almost tempted to start photoshopping colors into the room to see what will look good.  It's the only thing my non-interior designing ass can think of to do.

Ok, that's it, time to get back to work.

Jason

For the last day or two I have been feeling that tickle in my throat that I was getting sick.  I've also been awful tired.  Finally last night it hit.  I don't know whether it was the time spent outside looking at the lunar eclipse or if it was just time for the cold to come to a head.

I slept terribly last night and when my work cell phone woke me up about twenty minutes before my alarm went off I knew it was going to be one of those days.

Then when my work cell phone went off again on the way to work it reinforced my assumption.

Then when my personal cell phone went off a few minutes later with Amanda saying that she can't find her car keys I knew that I was screwed.

Today just sucked ass.  To top it all off I was biting my damn nails and I cut through the quick and now my pinkie is killing me. 

Thankfully things got better when I got home.  The military meeting that I had scheduled tonight was canceled and that meant that I could stay at home and rest.  Amanda is supposed to cook dinner tonight which is good since that means that I don't have to cook.

Anyways, I took some medicine which hopefully fixes my congestion.  I also am sitting downstairs in the living room with the fireplace cranked up.  It's warmed the room a couple of degrees and it feels good.

I really need to go for a run but I think that it is counterproductive to beat your body up if you are sick.  I guess that I'll play it by ear and if the medicine starts working maybe I'll get on the treadmill.

Tonight is another episode of LOST.  I'm excited, the show is finally shaken free the mediocre third season.

No big plans this weekend.  It looks like we are going to have dinner with the people that we were supposed to have dinner with last night. 

I'm also in the mood for some card playing, whether it's euchre or Texas Hold 'Em.

Ok, finally some pictures from last night.

Thanks Cloudlaced, how did you know I'd need something to help me get through the workday! 

If I were a doll, the accessories packaged with me would be: A machine gun, a big knife, a Panasonic Toughbook, an iPod, and a mug of coffee

I have an irrational fear of: Needles...but I don't consider it irrational. 

What
type of food do you eat at your grandparents house? Usually it's for a holiday and that means ham and all the trimmings.

What would you do if you were stranded on
an island with the person you hate most? I don't know who I hate the most but I'd probably end up pushing them over the cliff in an unfortunate accident.

I find
the thought of childbirth: If it's me giving birth that would be pretty weird but in general it's a pretty neat thing as long as family member don't turn it into a carnival.

Next door to my house is/are: a bunch of neighbors that don't talk to us, a neighbor whose cat leaves dead animals in my yard, a person that has their dog shit in our yard, more people that don't talk to us, a house that burnt down 18 months ago and is still standing, and some empty lots.

My preferred style of jeans are: Long enough to fit my tall ass

Do
you know how to cook: Yes, I'm actually pretty good. 

I am annoyed with: Drivers

What
is the worst way you were dumped? Thanksgiving day over the phone

What child-related smell do you most hate? Spoiled milk

What sea creature scares you? Sharks if they are circling my life raft

What
color hair do most of the people around you have? Brown

What object have you broken most recently? A Rock Ban guitar

What
was the last thing to make you cry? Probably some country song

What are the stems on wine glasses for? To support the wine reservoir or more specifically to allow you to hold a glass of wine without raising the temperature of the wine by your body heat.

My favorite shoes are: Rockports, Mizzou, Asics, New Balance

Can you use chopsticks? I'm pretty good but I don't think that I use them correctly.

Do you prefer beaches or forests? Beaches

Who knows a secret or two about you? Most of my friends

Have you ever burned yourself? Yeah.

Who is/are your hero[s]? George Washington, Patton, Collin Powell,

Where is your sister right now? Just getting home from school (she's in 8th grade)

Do you believe in things that last forever? Forever is a really long time and I doubt that any object will be around forever.  Will things last until I'm gone?  Yes.

Does anyone regularly tell you they love you? Yes

What is confusing to you? Spanish or any foreign language for that matter.  I've spent years in school studying it and I still suck.

Do you have any bad habits? I bite my nails, I am kind of messy, and I cuss.

Have you ever wanted to be a teacher? Yes, but a pay cut is out of the question.

What is one thing you've learned about life? Don't compromise your morals, spend time listening, and stand up for what you believe in.

Have you ever been stuck in an elevator? No

What does your dad call you? Jason

What are you looking forward to? Going home from work

I tag: amanda21580, bubblzinthed, emeralds, shamrocklover, and tsksharris plus anyone else that wants to

Another day gone by and we are that much closer to spring.  I can't wait for it to get here.  We've had some glimpses of spring in the last few weeks but nothing it taking hold.  It snowed a little bit yesterday and this morning and it will be snowing a little bit the next few days.  So far this winter has been pretty snow accumulation free but it has been darn cold. 

Yesterday I had open gym.  I didn't play any basketball but did run on the treadmill and ride the bike.  I can honestly say that I hate riding indoor bicycles.  I can tolerate a treadmill and enjoy an elliptical but I really hate riding bikes.  I guess it is better than nothing but if I have a choice I'd go with the other two.

After I was done with open gym I headed home.  I ordered take out pizza from a place called Pizza King.  It's among my least favorite pizza places but it's about Amanda's favorite.  I took one for the team last night and ordered pizza from that place.  I picked up the pizza and headed home.

Amanda was taking a nap when I got home and I woke her up.  It's always a dangerous proposition waking her up but I've found out if I have crappy Pizza King with me she gets right up. 

We ate pizza and watched American Idol.  Let me just say that two hours of AI is way too much.  By about halfway through it I was starting to get antsy.  Seriously, this week is full of two hours of guys, two hours of girls and an hour results show.  Wow, that is a lot of AI time.  Do they really expect people to devote 3% of their entire week to AI?  I'll take an hour for the performances and a half hour for the results show please.  Any more than that and you start to cut into my time. 

I've also decided that if I ever get on AI, which is never going to happen since I can't sing and will never try out I will never do some slow song unless I absolutely have to.  Even if you are good a slow song is boring.  If you are mediocre and do an upbeat song you are at least fun. 

While I'm bitching about AI, I'm going to complain about having something like 60's night this early on.  Seriously, the first couple of weeks should be contestant choice since they really have to showcase their skills and putting something on like 60's night you start to alienate the bulk of the population.  It's not that I don't like music from the 60's, it's just that I'd rather see something a little more recent.

Has anyone ever been called to jury duty?  I never have but one of my employees has jury duty next week.  They get paid a big fat $40 a day.  Seriously, I understand civic duty and responsibility but that seems like a bunch of bull shit.  No wonder why no one reports to jury duty in Indianapolis.  If they made it even $100 a day you would have people dying to get called to jury duty.  Oh, and get this you also have to pay for parking and lunch!  What a crock. 

Tonight we are having another couple over for dinner.  No idea what I'm going to cook tonight but I've nixed the fish and chips idea.  I want to try them before I make it for someone else.  Maybe I could do a rotisserie pork tenderloin since it kicks some serious ass and it's fairly easy. 

Ok, so dinner will be salad, cocktail shrimp, pork tenderloin, garlic smashed potatoes, and some steamed veggies.  Should be pretty good!

That's it....I'm outta here!

Last night me and a buddy did a 6.3 mile road march and it was C O L D!!!!  It was in the teens with high winds plus it was snowing some.  We didn't have a coat on, only a fleece thing (we call it a PolyPro).  While we were moving we only felt slightly cold and that was mainly in my extremities.  I didn't realize how cold I really was until I got inside.  What was strange was it wasn't a shivering cold since my core stayed warm with the effort but something different.  We spent about an hour and a half outside during this time and it was interesting.  Our canteens were freezing shut, we had frozen sweat/snow in our eyebrows and the baklava thing that I was wearing was frozen.  Pretty interesting to say the least.  I wonder how long we could have kept it up without having frostbite/frostnip.

After we finished up I made hot chocolate, cleaned up and then met everyone for dinner.  Dinner was great since I was starving!  It's always good to have a good meal when you are really hungry and the food absolutely hit the spot.  I love food and really think that when food is truly good it has to be good for you.

Did you see that Fidel Castro is stepping down in Cuba?  The guy is 81 years old and has been in power for damn near 50 years.  That's utterly amazing, I was beginning to think that the guy was never going to move on. I wonder how long until Cuba becomes open up to tourists and capitalism?  I'd love to visit and see the streets, scenes, and places that inspired Hemingway.  The beaches that made Cuba "THE" vacation spot for our great-grandparents.  Not to mention the cigars that have a magical quality to them due the special soil in Cuba....not like I would know about Cuban Cigars though...

I've always said that when democracy takes foot in Cuba it will become the 51st state.  With it's close proximity to the US and the number of Cuban-American living in the US it's almost inevitable.  Hell, we already have a military base in Cuba.  Although it would be a fools errand to try to make it to Gitmo from Cuba proper.

Tonight Amanda is scheming something for our wedding anniversary.  She gave me orders to not come home until late and do not go home to get my stuff to play basketball.

She has mentioned having dinner with another couple tomorrow night.  I volunteered to cook but am not sure what I'll make.  I'd like to do something different but going different is always scary when you are cooking it for someone else.  I'll give some thought to what I'll make and we can go from there.  On an episode of 'Good Eats' that I watched the other day Alton Brown made homemade fish and chips.  It looked unbelievably good and delicious.  The only downside is that I don't have a fryer but they are fairly reasonable and I'd seriously contemplate getting one to make the fish and chips. 

We'll see what we decide on....

Ok, that's it for now, have a good one!

Good Morning!

It's President's Day and you should be excited...if you work in a bank or for the government.  Otherwise it's just another workday but you can't cash a check and you won't get any mail.  President's day may be one of the lamest holiday's around and this is coming from a hardcore Patriot that wants to get a tattoo of "We The People" and an American flag.

I had such good intentions about getting up early and going for a run and I'm pissed at myself for not doing it.  I woke up about four minutes before my alarm went off and I didn't get up.  Seriously, what the hell is my problem...is an extra 30 minutes of sleep really going to make that much of a difference?  No, it probably isn't but damn if I don't try to capture every last minute. 

Speaking of sleep, I heard there is a new pill that helps you get by without as much sleep.  Amanda will have to give me details on it because it sounds like it is what I need.  I swear to God, that I'm a zombie until I have my coffee and I'm all to bad about not getting my first cup until 8:30 or 9.  I need to be like Amanda and drink some on my way to work.

Has anyone watched the new ABC show 'Eli Stone'?  So far I'm fairly intrigued by it.  It is about a lawyer that may be a prophet and uses his visions to help the unfortunate in court.  It's like a cross between a lot of different shows. 

The show does ask one important question in my humble opinion....

When Eli first starts to have 'visions' everyone thinks he is crazy.  Then they find a brain aneurysm that is causing the problems.  His actions in response to these visions are not rational and odd which results in those around him thinking that he may be a little nuts.  Well, everyone except his holistic Chinese doctor who thinks that he may be a prophet.

Anyways, I do have a point...

For thousands of years there have been prophets that society has embraced, but since modern times we have been absent of these prophets.  We've also been able to diagnose mental illnesses and other problems.  So my question is, were the prophets throughout history just suffering from mental problems or are some of our prophets today diagnosed as mental patients?

I'd hate to think that our generations prophet is locked up in a padded cell somewhere trading stories with Britney Spears. 

I'm typing this thought really quick on a break at work and it deserves more thoughts on my part before letting it loose on the wild, but this will do for now.

Wow, yesterday kicked some major ass.  Once Amanda woke up and left for work it was on.  I got up and started doing some big time cleaning.  I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned.  I followed some of the articles that I read about efficient cleaning....yeah the cleaning was systematic but efficient doesn't make it go any faster.  So I went room after room doing everything....

Around 2:30 Amanda's sister Susan came by to help me get stuff for the party.  We went to get snack trays, chips, beer, wine, party favors, the cake, ice, and soda.  The only thing that went wrong while we were doing the running around was when we went to get wine at Trader Joes.  The place was nuts and after waiting in line for 5 minutes or so we left and decided to rely on the wine that I had in our wine fridge.  I guess that there is some advantage in having 25 or 30 bottles on hand at all times.

During the morning a couple of people canceled and I went into panic mode.  Thankfully Ashley pulled a couple more people to the party and I invited another to help make up for the people that weren't coming. 

We got back to the house around 5pm and started decorated and getting everything read.  Over the course of the next hour and a half people trickled in. We ended up having a full house, but I'm not sure of the final numbers.  There were a lot of people....I would probably say 25-30 ended up showing up. 

We were all staged in the kitchen when Amanda walked in and I think that she was quite surprised to see everyone here.  For about ten minutes or so she just kind of wandered around numb to the party. 

It was fun, there were people watching basketball in the family room, people talking in the dining room, drinking and talking in the kitchen, and rock band being played in the stage (errr the loft).  I didn't stay in one place for any huge length of time but wandered around talking to everyone.  It was a blast.

Around 7pm the food showed up and we had a ton of food.  It was really nice having it catered and not having to mess with cooking.  I intentionally under-estimated my headcount by a couple and I should have actually told them about 4 or 5 less since we still had a lot of food leftover.  I think that next time that I do something like that I will go with just appetizers/finger food...enough so that if someone had not ate they can be full but stuff that is conducive to eating while talking and socializing.

For the first time ever I actually was pretty close to being spot on with the booze and didn't go nuts.  I always have a bad sense of how much of everything to get.  I always get too much food, too much booze, and too much everything. 

Everything broke up around midnight which was earlier than I was expecting, but it's not like everyone wasn't going strong for 6 hours. 

I took just a little bit of video and no pictures....I will try to post something soon from the party.

Amanda had to work today so she didn't go totally nuts.  I woke up pretty early with a hangover.  I took a couple Advil and drank some water and I started feeling better over the next two hours. 

I went to breakfast with my parents as well as Amanda's.  It was sad not having her with us but we had a nice breakfast.

After that I came home and cleaned up from the party and then just relaxed.

Amanda is bringing home Applebee's to eat and that is was our weekend.  She is here now so I'm going to go.

Boy the week flew by.  It's good because I need a weekend off. 

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and although the day wasn't rocking it wasn't bad.  In the morning I gave Amanda her gift, some candy, and a card.  Then it was work....

I got off of work and came home.  Amanda was going to cook dinner for us and some friends but they ended up not coming over and Amanda went upstairs to rest.  She is fighting the tail end of a cold and she wanted to rest but I knew that she would sleep.  She slept until quarter of nine.  The dinner that she was going to cook didn't happen which was ok...even though it would have been the first meal that she cooked in a  l  o  n  g  time.  I figured that a good compromise was in order and we had Tombstone pizza instead. 

We ate the pizza and watched some Good Luck Chuck, but I fell asleep during the movie.  It pisses me off that I fell asleep.  I can see falling asleep if I had a beer or two and it made me drowsy but damn it, I just drank Diet Mountain Dew....which is supposed to have caffeine in it, but you could have fooled me.

That there was our Valentine Day. 

Today is Amanda's birthday, make sure you run by her page and wish her a happy birthday.  We don't have any big plans for tonight since she has to work until 10pm.  After she gets off of work we'll go get dinner and that will be that. 

I don't have any plans for this weekend since Amanda is working all weekend, but we are going to be getting a nice dinner tomorrow night to celebrate her birthday.  I can't wait to have a big juicy steak.

Ok, time to get to some random things.

First, I think that every week or so I'm going to post a household task that you have probably forgotten to do and probably should do.  We'll see if people find it helpful and if they do I'll keep it up.

For this week you should do what I did yesterday....dump out the nasty ice in your ice maker.  It's been in there for a long time and it's full of bad taste from the nasty smells in your freezer.  Take the ice and dump in in your sink, run old water, and turn the garbage disposal on.  The ice will help to sharpen your garbage disposal. 

I seriously should not have worn deodorant today.  I ran out of my standard deodorant and used this other one that I have.  Ever since I have been using it (maybe a week or so) it has been irritating my arm pits.  Have you ever had your arm pits hurt?  Probably not, but let me tell you that it sucks.  It's this constant irritation that feels like it's inside your arm.  I think that I would rather have BO than feel like this.

Ok, maybe not...I don't think that I would want to stink.

Speaking of stinking....our little dog needs a bath.  Maybe that will be what I do tomorrow.  Give him a bath.  That should be fun since the little five pound ball of fur hates baths and struggles the whole time. 

Finally, one last thing....

To anyone that may read this post who is even slightly contemplating going postal on a school, restaurant, their work place, or a post office...I have some advice for you.  Just write a note about how angry you are with the world and then take out your gun that you thought about using to shoot up the place and blow you brains out in the comfort of your own home.  Please?

I'm so pissed at all the bastards that basically want to die and they decide that they want to go out in a blaze of glory.  What does that prove?  What does that say?  The only people that shot up a place that actually seemed like they didn't want to shoot themselves at the end was the Columbine killers.  They ended up shooting themselves but they had this big plan to get a jet or something. 

It just makes no sense to me...

I can't end on that note so I have to do something positive to help clear things up.

Ok, I'm going to call Amanda and see what place she wants to eat dinner at....