The Wash

I'm sorry, but the photo on the left...it just says so much.

Anyway, after a wonderful easter meal at my mom's house with Terri, Elsie, Elsie-her great grandmother, Edna-her great great aunt and her grandfather Peter, i decided to go home while Terri and Elsie went to visit more relatives while i would clean a little and start our own dinner.

I went to the local bodega to buy some milk, sent a text on my iphone to Terri that i purchased said milk, and went inside.

i needed to do laundry, and hastily took off my clothes as well as the small pile in the hamper, and started the wash.

I thought i'd give my friend hargis a call. since we dropped our land line and are saving $40 a month in doing so, i went for my trusty and very addictive iphone....but where did i put it? It's not down in the car as i sent the message to Terri about the milk purchase, it wasn't on the bookshelf in the hall, on the kitchen table, not was it on my bureau....OH MOTHER OF GOD!!!!

The washing machine had just started scrubbing my work worn clothing and i slammed the top door open, halting the wash and looked in. I pulled the blue jeans i was wearing out, splattering water everywhere, and then i looked in to see my fairly new iphone sitting in about six inches of water, i yanked it out and it was full of water, the screen looked like an aquarium. The best thing i could do was to let it sit right side up, while i desperately tried to figure out what i would do next. I ended up flinging most of the water out with my wrist and just gave up.

Flash forward to today, and i had already planned on going to the phone store to either trade the thing in for another (iphone 4!?!) and just for giggles i turned the mostly dry phone on to find it working!

Well, almost.
It immediately rebooted so i didn't touch it until the very useless clerk at the cell phone place 'put some air through it' and handed the phone back to me and told me to not use it for another day. He even managed to call himself on a landline with my phone in front of me. I went outside and immediately the thing rebooted and i'd had no service until i came home and connected to our wifi.

I'm going back tomorrow, because Terri is swapping her upgrade with mine, which is in June.

So, what is the moral of this story?

Trying to keep on top of things is great, but you can easily mess up everything if your only means of communication goes down. This phone is the only way that i am able to keep on top of some things and without it i was screwed.

What i need to do from now on, is make sure when i am home is have the thing in one specific place so that this does not go down again.

Fuck that.

Thank you for listening to my first world problem.

Photo: http://photos.ellen.warnerbros.com/galleries/bad_easter_photos#152903

Blog? Blog.

Come on! Elsie is freaking beautiful. Dear readers, some of you will be getting a copy of this in a card that Terri sent out...so, no need to copy and save.

Beyond that...nothing. I've just been trying to get through the days like the rest of you.

I haven't been asking for too much. I did leave work a little early tonight so i could be with my ladies. i made some excellent tofu spaghetti sauce primavera for Terri. I'm sitting here enjoying a cocktail of ginger ale and blueberry pomegranate juice.

I've really been thinking about music lately. I've mentioned this before, but i'd really like to get something started. We want Elsie to play a musical instrument. i feel it would help her developmentally. The thing is: we can't choose one for her, it has to be her choice. I can't wait to see what she finds interesting.

I've also been transferring pictures of Elsie to here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23632423@N02/sets/72157626907989512/

I was archiving-hopefully in order- her pictures. We have a ton more updated to our 'cloud' that i have to upload. It's a daunting but pleasant task that has me on the laptop quite often. The program for 'flickr' is great in that you can move pictures around to make more sense of their order.

Anyway...i thought i'd drop in and show you the newest upload from her photo session two Sunday's ago.

Great idea?

i just had to share this:

tomorrow at work, through an EMAIL, the head of our department is mandating an NO EMAIL day.

yes, a NO EMAIL DAY.

read it again...no communications via email so we can 'enhance person to person communication.'

i understand the meaning of this at the base level...but we are a billion dollar company with thousands of employees, a good number of whom have email, and not some start up operation.

so, her's a few things i find wrong with this idea:

1) the IT department at my job will become flooded with other departments calls wondering why they can't get through to our department...BECAUSE OUR DEPARTMENT HEAD DIDN'T TELL ANY OTHER DEPARTMENTS WE WERE DOING THIS.

he wanted us to copy any auto reply message letting the other departments know what we were doing and to call our extension or see the person they needed to talk to.

i can say that my email will be up and running tomorrow, irregardless. i am such a rebel. hahaha.

2) I WORK A MILE AWAY FROM MY DEPARTMENT'S MAIN BUILDING. so how in the hell am i going to update anyone on the status of anything? how am i going to have to remain on hold, while i wait in line for someone to answer?

3) the already overtaxed paging system at the main building, will literally unplug itself and quit.

4) he's doing this EVERY friday until the end of the quarter. Yes. FRIDAY. the day when A LOT of emails go out-especially on 2nd shift-SO PEOPLE WILL KNOW WHAT TO DO ON MONDAY!

I am honestly losing my grip with the job. i can't stand the backwoods mentality of most of the management. there is a huge wall of related people that have rutted themselves into power positions THAT DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING. they just plod along and kiss every higher ups ass because they are too stupid to do anything in a different manner. they have created a rift with anyone below them and most treat the common employee like a serf.

this is a prime example of a really bad and not very well thought out idea that will only set things back and not let us move forward, as we should be doing.

i guess i'd better shut up now and keep my head down.. ____years is_____ years. i've had my dreams crushed by this job, narrowly avoided depression and alcoholism, had a psychiatrist actually tell me 'it's no you, it's your job' and even though i've risen above in my personal life, i have NOTHING to show for as far as my career.

sometimes it's hard to leave the personality at home and vice versa. i try to keep the two separate as much as possible to maintain that balance BUT i thought i'd type this one out for you to see, just to have a taste of the madness.

i'll send you an email from work tomorrow to tell you how i'm doing.... HAHAHAHAHAHA.

the last word: i am in no way afraid of change. this was an immediate decision on the department head's part and does not reflect of the few good people that work under the tyrants fist as the glue that holds our department together. i am in no way trying to be a bad egg here, i am trying to be objective...so you can't fire me now, because i wrote this disclaimer at the end of the rant. HAHAHAHAHAHA

ice see what you mean...or a direct assalt on my senses.

geez, what a mess. it was yesterday. i woke up late. i had to simultaneously shovel the whole house again and get ready, and get elsie ready. there was no way i was going in to work. it was a logistic nightmare. i have been getting over a cold that gripped me hard during christmas and into the new year. it came back with a vengeance on the eve of our trip to nyc. i still cough stuff up and am a bit congested but ready for action.

going back to thursday; i decided to stay at home. i knew i would be rushing around like a mad man and would not be able to give 100% at work. i ended up tending to elsie all day and then decided around 4pm to start outside. my dad gave us a really good baby monitor-made by sony- that has really good range. elsie fell asleep and i put her in her swing chair, swigged a cup of water and ran out the door. the snow sucked. it was wet and sloshy. also, there wasn't a lot of it. i managed to get our tenants driveway done, the walkways in front and back and most of our driveway shoveled and salted and bot was i sweating. i kept wiping my brow and face with the back of my wet, sandy glove. i had to cock my winter hat back to get my brow but the sweat kept coming. soon enough, elsie was rousing from her slumber. i went upstairs and took my gear off, fed her and waited for terri to come home so i could finish the job.

then the pain started. i thought i'd become dehydrated, so i consumed two glasses of water. i felt the stinging in my eyes start from the corners in. my head hurt, and my face was numbish. i can't describe it totally but it felt like an allergic reaction to what i think was the salt the dpw puts in the sand. soon enough terri came home and told me i looked terrible. i went to the bathroom and looked into the mirror and saw a worse version of what is pictured above. the above picture was from 630am today.

i think i gave my eyes a salt/sand bath and they did NOT like it. i have washed my eyes out many times, have used a cold wash cloth on them, and have used eye drops to flush them out. i

am just trying to wait it out now. thankfully the swelling has gone down.

that's the saga of me trying to sand my driveway.

now that i look at the picture above again, i think it's worse that it seems because of the time the picture was taken.

oh yeah, and i stayed home today too. when i return to work on tuesday, i will have had 10 days off.

i win?

trip to nyc. january 2012.

hello, all.

i had the luck of going to nyc over the weekend with my two special ladies.

i decided to take some pictures using my iphone. i didn't want to come across as a tourist, so i thought i'd take pictures of things that i felt were more my style.

the city can be quite an adventure. having a daughter to tug around was something i dreaded at first. she only made the trip that much more enjoyable, as she is really coming around and handled our daily walks in perfect form.

by the way, everyone who i ran into or talked to was nice as hell. a lady even helped me get elsie's stroller on to the doorway just this afternoon.

the guy a daisy mae's bbq called me schmuck, so i called him schmoe. we both had a laugh.

i was a bit upset at one thing: i purchased a venti latte at the starbucks with elsie and my shoe became untied on our walk. i tipped the thing over...all $6 of it on the side walk. i had to fetch another from a different starbucks to save face. people were really nice in the city. everyone. no fooling.

without further ado:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23632423@N02/sets/72157628818127741/

i can't wait until i can do it again in the spring.

Das year in review...

Welcome, folks, to the year end review from pre war condition.

On the left we have Elsie giving the classic fowler gaze. i am going to start with her, as she has been the biggest thing that EVER happened to me besides meeting Terri.

Elsie,
you have given me so much and have taught me more in three and a half months, than i have learned in as many years. i will protect you, guide you, teach you, nourish you, engage you and make sure you understand as much as possible about life, in the best way that i can. you mean so much to me-yourself and terri that is-and i want to make sure that you know this each and every day. i thought i knew everything about life until i helped create you and you deserve the best that i can give to you. i hope that i can show this to you some day to let you see what i have written, because it comes from my heart and my being.

i will love you endlessly...

wha? that's not the usual cynical sarcasm that we are used to? what gives?

sorry, things have been too good to wallow in the mire.

i have enjoyed a year of constant progress, both internally and externally. i have found new things to distract my self with as well as finding new ways to challenge my self to be better.

1) 'How To Be Free' by joe blow. don't let the author's name fool you. i downloaded this as a free book through the app store for the iphones. it's sort of a self help book, but not in a cheesy way. 'joe' guides you in a very easy way through how to let all of the things that hold you back GO AWAY. he leaves a lot of room for one to ponder but never forces his ideas on you. it's as though you are having a conversation with a stranger on a bus and you have an epiphany. if you can find it, i suggest you read the story. It opened me up and let me let go of a lot of baggage.

2) family. there is no doubt in my mind that i love my family. it has been an ever expanding, contracting and morphing entity that i have enjoyed, hated, endeared and was confused by. the thing is, the love has always been there. because of my family i have the thick skin that i have today. BUT because of my family, i am also losing pieces of my armor and am able to let them see me for who i am. each and everyone i am related to has had some impact on me in one way or another, and i'm grateful to be part of every one of you.

3) gadgets. the laptop, the iphone. the flat screen t.v. i don't mean to follow a meaningful paragraph with THINGS, but it's these things that help as the glue to keep my family together for me. i am entertained, enjoyed and constantly in awe of what technology has given me over the past year. and to think, thirty years ago these things were a thought in someone's head.

I hope that some day i can give back to technology. for now, i will continue blogging in my lonely corner of the interwebs.

4) friends. this is an expansion of family, but i had to give my friends some mention. you are all my family, when i am not with my family. you take me for who i am more than anyone else and i appreciate that. most of the people i am around with now, have been in my radar going on twenty years. we have had epic adventures, lots and lots of good times and many battles too. you don't find a good friend, they find you. that is why we are all gathering tomorrow to ring in the new year and i cannot wait.!

You know, technology aside...things are pretty damn good. i never in a million years would have thought that i'd be in the place that i am in, in this world. you are reading this and i can't express it enough how important family and friends are and have been.

so that's the year in review?

i'll check in with you later.

from january 7th until the 12th, i will be on vacation in new york city whilst terri goes to buying conventions for her job. free hotel room on 7th street! i'll be taking care of elsie all day, terri and i will be going out for dinner. i hope that the used copy of half life 2 for the pc comes in before we leave...

happy new year everyone!

some favorite favorites.

i don't have really much going on today, i'm on elsie duty and don't want to go out. this is due to the fact that when i stop my car, the brakes make the worst grinding noise ever. i have an appointment monday to get it checked out.

this could mean only one thing:

CAR RENTAL!

i love renting cars. they are usually things that are beyond my financial reach or are so odd that they bewilder. my last two were a stark contrast for sure. i want to get a compact or sedan next. i need to get elsie back and forth 18 miles out of my way every day now, so the big truck is definitely out.

the best part? it's only $15 a day. this is due to my mechanic. he has a great deal with the only car rental company in town.

so that is one of my favorite things...

...here are a bunch more:

yukon gold potatoes

making homemade chili

smelling a freshly opened bag of chips

rice and bean burritos

easily killing a boss in a video game

finding a record on the cheap that reminds me of my youth

getting the right ratio of sugar and milk in my coffee

swedish fish

monterey jack cheese

cheesy 80's horror movies

all green lights on king street

terri agrees to let me loll around on sunday because i worked 6 days prior

christmas gifts

getting a fire started on the first try (kerosene usually solves the problem)

the smell of the inside of our shed

iced tea mixed with lemonade

a good stout

head shots in a first person shooter

a good salami on rye with some mustard

tropical fruit cocktail

chai

seeing a storm roll in

finding a satellite in the night sky/seeing a planet

driving home from work at the start of a three day weekend

arriving at a party

caramel and chocolate

no lines at a store

orchard beach-off season

the cabin in goshen

paddling a canoe/boat

writing a song

reddit.com

rage comics

hanging out in the back yard with friends

abandoned buildings/places

cheeseburgers

afternoon naps

i am out of ideas and elsie is hungry...thanks for letting me share.