My attempt to update the version of Movable Type that I use failed. I'll have to reload the entries I've made that didn't take during the update disaster.
I've been meaning to do this for a while, but life and other things kept getting in the way. I haven't even thought about the site for a while until Daria mentioned that she stops by occasionally to see if there's anything new. Thanks to her, I've been motivated to clean things up and do a little organizing.
Its been a relapse week.
I smoked about a whole pack on Super Bowl Sunday and averaged about 10 a day for the week. That puts me at 4 packs for this week.
Still averaging about 8 or 9 cigarettes a day (down from my previous average of 30), which is still at about 3 packs a week.
Still averaging about 8 or 9 cigarettes a day (down from my previous average of 30), which is still at about 3 packs a week.
I've been a heavy smoker for over 25 years. I used to smoke over a carton a week, about 11 packs, sometimes more if there's a game night during the week. These are full-flavor cigarettes, no light or ultra-light crap.
That's all changed.
For the past two weeks, I've been using an e-cigarette and I'm now averaging eight cigarettes a day (3 packs per week). I really didn't think I'd see that big of a change so soon, but it's working. My ultimate goal is to get down to a pack a week.
Ellen: Her name is Cookie.
Me: Why? Because she looks like an Oreo?
Ellen: Because there's no such thing as a bad cookie.
Ellen's car needed to spend some time in the shop with a bad intake gasket.
My truck was in the shop with yet another transmission problem.My Mom was in her first car accident in 40 years of driving.
My Mother-in-Law fell and broke her nose and a finger.
Our water heater decided to commit suicide one morning.
In the grand picture, its a whole bunch of minor events. Having all of that crap happen in the space of a few weeks makes things a little stressful. One of the things I love about Ellen is the way that her and I band together when stuff like this happens. We figure out a way to deal with the problems with as little disruption as we can. There are times when life really sucks and all you can do is figure out the best way to deal with it so you can move on to the calm period before the next big headache.Embrace the suck.
The other day while I was out on a cigarette break, I happened to hear a work story from someone. It was amusing and also stupid; in other words, a typical work story. One of the folks there then said something about writting it up for their blog. That led to a discussion about how much people blog about different work things. Personally, I wouldn't want to put a lot of work stuff on my blog for a number of reasons.
First, I spend forty hours at work doing something that I have to do; I don't really want to think about work when I'm not here.
Second, I don't want to cause any trouble for myself, other people, or the company I work for. I could write up a number of stories, or my observations on customers or co-workers, or different bits of typical corporate silliness that occurs. But suppose one of my co-workers was offended by something I wrote or a customer happened to recognize something because I accidently mentioned the company or something specific. Not that I couldn't write about what happenes at work -- I could make some lengthy observations about my co-workers, customers, and various corporate decisions. I would rather not make those observations and comments public.
Finally, I don't even talk about work much in real life. Ellen and I might talk about work for 5 or 10 minutes after I get home, or if one of us remembers a funny / stupid / can-you-believe-this-crap story. That's it. My job is not my life. Its not how I measure who I am. Its what I do 2000 hours a year; the other 6766 hours are for doing the other things in my life. And most of those are much more important than my job.
In 2001, I didn't think that we would go this long without a major attack. I really thought that it would be somewhere between Israel (suffering through almost continuous terror attacks) or England (dealing with occasional IRA attacks). Instead, the strategy of engaging the enemy overseas and drawing their forces to one place to fight and die has succeeded in keeping the homeland safe. Add in the increased alertness of the domestic security services (who have been busting cells of terrorists as well as tracking and watching other interesting parties) and things are not looking too bad.
There has been a cost to pay in the war; in lives and money. But the alternative is worse. Doing nothing or returning to the policies of the 1990s won't make us safer and they sure won't defeat the enemy. The only way to end the war is to win.
But don't let her know that.
My wife is my best friend. Ellen is my companion, my partner, my friend that I can talk with, my friend to go to for advice or when I need vent about work. Our conversations can range from silly to serious and cover numerous topics. And although her interests aren’t always the same as mine, she also knows things that I don’t.
Ellen and I don’t always communicate well. Sometimes we get angry at each other over silly little things. We each have little character flaws that sometimes get on each other’s nerves.
To my wife and my best friend, Happy Valentine’s Day.
BTW – What’s for dinner tonight, dear?
A few years ago, I came up with a theory –
The ratio of personality types is a constant.
In other words, the larger the group, the greater the number of people who will end up with an irritating personality.
I don’t work well in large groups.
Today starts my new work shift – Noon to 8:30 PM, Monday through Friday. I made the change for two reasons. First, to avoid much of the traffic headache when the company moves to its new building. Second, it’s a much smaller group that works on that shift. And with most of the suits and skirts gone after 5 PM, things should be much more relaxed.
Less people, less problems.
