Hmm, now I'm driven to post now that my blog will die. Working out recently, I couldn't help but notice the TV bank. On one, the financial station played a steady flow of bad financial news, with a bit of spin. On the other three news stations, constant MJ death coverage.
The past few months, I've noticed the MSM putting out a constant steam of financial spin, designed to keep up the market. Now that the spin is revealed to be empty, expect a lot of distraction stories. The MSM does not want people realizing how bad the nation is faring.
Recent hmm moment. I pulled into the gas station and checked the pump. The last credit card was still active! It hadn't been cleared, meaning that I could use their credit card to fillup. Well, I couldn't, but someone with fewer morals could... I cleared their card, entered my card information, and filled the tank. I made very sure my card was cleared from the pump before leaving. Scary!
New month. New opportunties. As always, Carpe Diem! Make your time count.
I've been talking quite a bit about weight. This is on purpose. For 2009, my major goals are weight related. I'm trying to roll back the clock on weight gain... around 15 years of rolling back the clock. This will take a while, but I'm nearing trimming away one year after working out for two months.
I'm optimistic at the moment. My weight loss is at a maximum rate right now, since I'm working out with an intensity not seen in 15 years, while eating very carefully. I won't be able to keep up the eating habits very long, since I like food. Still, if I can lose slowly for a few weeks, followed by a week of near vegan diet discipline, I should shed a lot of pounds. Overall, 6 pounds have been dropped since the New Year regime.
The weight loss continues... slowly, but steadily in the correct downward direction. I'll be trying harder to make this a truly daily blog
The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step...
I've lost weight!. Just a start, but it feels good. With the winter weather getting mild, it's back to chopping wood for Winter 2010.
New Year already....
I've been working out a lot, and feeling much better. I still need to lose weight though.
It has been a cold winter. I'm glad I chopped all that wood!
New month! Time flies. I've moved all the wood under cover, and it's in easily chopped sizes. I'm now a lot sore however, and progress is slow. I'll mix in some other tasks to try and keep moving
Still a bit sore today. I've been chopping wood for the past couple of days, and it's starting to catchup to me. I'm happy with my progress, the amount of wood under cover is great. Still, I've fallen behind, and there's still two days worth of work to do. After this, I have enough wood ready through February. It may be a long cold winter, but I'll stay nice and warm
Unexpected letter today. I always get a bit of humor from any letter that states (name) or successor/trustee. Not that I get a lot of them, but anyway ;)
Janus, one of the very first fund companies I did business with, settled a fraud type case with the lawyers. This was my share of the settlement. As it happens, the fraud period was one of the reasons I dumped those funds (and swallowed the lifetime fee I had paid them). To see a check from it... priceless! I'll take back some of my standard trial lawyer insults. Ya dun good folks!
Went to see extended family yesterday. It is always nice to see how they're doing.
Installed new filter for my (technically not mine) fish today. Tetra Whisper power filter. A few notes. First of all, this did not come complete. Grr! to Walmart for just resealing the box, and not checking the contents. Only a minor grr, since the robber takes the full grr. I won't blame the store for being pilfered. Secondly, the tetra fish site. Total Grr! The site is crap, very little useful information. That site would never fly at the places I've worked at previously. Tetra has very low (website) standards. Otherwise, the product itself, even incomplete, is impressive. I'll give them that. The product blows away the aqua clear products I've been using.
Productive morning thus far. I'll try and keep the momentum going as long as I have energy. Back still aching from post vacation fun. In this case... I think the plane ride back was the culprit.
Been a long (and fun) time since I posted last. My sabbatical is almost over, so I'm getting very serious about job hunting. Part of that is time management, which means lots of working out (time to lose weight) and posting again. I need to fix this site as well.
Had a bit of a shock this weekend. Fortunately, everything worked out okay. Back to my drive to find work, lose weight, and get organized.
Always love starting the day with a great workout. 40 minute walk, 225 calories burned. I need to do that more consistently, but a good start.
Weather has turned springlike (finally). I've used the time to work on next winter's wood supply. Manual labor is something I do enjoy, and seeing the tangible progress is pleasant. There is enough wood to keep me warm until January. That's a good start.
Making progress on the weight front. After adjusting to the club's new scale (I didn't like the numbers...), I have lost around 3 pounds. Nice start.
Finally beat Rome: Total War (computer game). Not the most exciting news, but that game has been frustrating me ever since I got it for Christmas (several years back). I take my recreation seriously.
Time flies. Everything is fine, but... time flies
Voted today for the primary. I like the new voting system Washington State has. There... I've complimented the work of politicians. Take note. It doesn't happen often. Of course, this system was generally in defiance of the establishment.
Working on wood some more. The weather is turning here, and the cold is coming quickly.
Finished off all the wood. Mild or cold winter.... I'm ready! Lots of picking fruit. Massive apple harvest. Nice blueberries this year. Plums are meh.
Site is starting to annoy me.... update coming soon!
First of all, remember that I live on the West Coast. I've never seen the Twin Towers. I've visited NYC only once in my life (and I don't plan to ever again), and that before the Towers were built. I didn't watch the smoke, and see the pain directly. I respect those that did, but I cannot understand their pain and shock.
Secondly... we're all connected. I don't think that that the strike on 9/11 united America. It papered over the differences for a month or two, but that's about it. Still, most Americans felt a connection that day. Nearly everyone was impacted by 9/11. Here is my story.
On 9/11, I was not at work. This was unusual, as my day started early, and I enjoyed being one of the first in the office. Today, however, was a day off. Housemate #1 was leaving our fair state, and moving to Alaska. I was the designated driver. Instead of rising early, and heading to the gym, I slept in, took a leisurely shower, and enjoyed my tea. French vanilla I think... though I'm guessing at this point. It was a beautiful day here in Washington State, as much of September usually is. The phone rang.
It was Housemate #2. She knew about the plans of the day, and she had bad news. A plane had hit one of the twin towers, and it might change things. I needed to listen to the news and find out what was going on. CNN goes on. Shock sets in. The visuals have faded. I remember that phone call, and another that day, more than the images on TV. That's probably good overall. The towers were still intact, but both were burning now. When housemate #1 finished getting ready and found me watching TV, I could barely choke out the news. We've been hit.
We watched news a bit. It was quickly clear that there would be no plane trip today. How long did I watch? Thirty minutes, and hour? I don't know. Eventually I snapped out long enough to understand that I needed to work today if I wanted to help with plane trips another day. Back to the phone. I remember the exchange with my coworker.
Me: You remember that housemate #1 is flying to Alaska, and I'm driving him today?
CoW: No he's not
The conversation continued, with the acknowledgment that all plans were gone, and I was coming to work.
I did work that day. I did my job. I don't pretend it was easy. I don't pretend I wasn't distracted. As a webtech, I had access to the world, and I kept track of what was going on. We watched the towers fall through the magic of the internet. As a group. Leftists & moderates alike, gripped in shock and horror. We felt the impact. Soon, we got the announcement that our servers were going offline. I knew our server bank was in New York, I never realized that it was right by Ground Zero. The bulk of our company's daily revenue was going offline. There was a lot of running, recoding, fixing, as we attempted to bring in 90% of the revenue with 30% of the resources. It was good, working. Keeping the pain at bay.
We're all connected. By that, I mean all Americans are connected. The country is divided over what is right. Too many are truthers, choosing to bury their heads rather than confront the truth. We were attacked. It has been proved, conclusively, and constantly, that 9/11 was not an inside job.
Are we at war? Not really. I don't buy that claim. However, there is a long segment of the worlds population that hates us.
Take a minute today, and celebrate freedom. Celebrate the right to your pursuit of happiness. Learn about the constitution that protects us. Don't let freedom disappear.