Star Wars wasn't really a good way of describing how reality works anyway.
Meh
Staying with my family is an interesting mixture of pleasant and overwhelmingly frustrating. I get along with everyone in my family fairly well, which is a plus. That and their kids are all older than mine, so they surprise me with things like speech, toilet usage, and moderate competency.
My cars front bumper was falling off. You know, the thing that holds the license plate that New York requires on both ends of the car. My dad tends to fix things like this easily, and I hate the idea of blowing a fortune on what I think is a technicality. So he takes the car. Normally, his fixes involve a few hours and a few bucks. It's pretty much what I was expecting. This time, not so much. Now the car is gone for a week, both delaying my trip home, and forcing me (+wife and 2 kids) to rely on borrowing a car from my sister.
Thanks. The big delay? Waiting for the paint to set. Paint?! I don't care if it matches or if it's lime green (which might make it easier to spot in a parking lot, Saturns are pretty common) I just want the dumb car. I'm back in my home town and I'm stuck in the house the entire time.
Short of borrowing a car.
Christmas was nice. It usually is, but I find myself more and more awkward with it every year. I'm waiting for science to "accidentally" create a virus that causes me to miss the awkward parts, but be there for the nice ones. Until then, I make do... somehow.
All of this past fall I kept wishing I was still back at that cabin.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
And I'm spent.
I've never run a marathon before. My physique wouldn't allow for it. (Wii Fit itself being a challenge to me) I imagine that much of what I experienced in the last 6 weeks was much like running a marathon in my own head.
I learned something that caught my interest. My math class had a prerequisite, which in turn had one of its own. I wasn't aware of this fact, and would only have been made aware beforehand if I had to sign up for the class myself. (The system not letting you register if you didn't have the other classes, naturally). Rather, I was placed into the class by a member of the faculty.
...oh. Well then. I suppose having a hard time with the class was to be expected. (I passed it, but I didn't like it)
I finished with the semester. All finals done. Statistics must not be my strong suit, as the open-book final was still a grueling experience. Finishing this semester was like Wile E Coyote running off a cliff. He was still running, made it half way across, but the ground was long gone. I finished, but my head was still racing.
Since I'm not working any more, it looks like I have about 5 weeks of video games and cartoons.
...when the kids are asleep.
I learned something that caught my interest. My math class had a prerequisite, which in turn had one of its own. I wasn't aware of this fact, and would only have been made aware beforehand if I had to sign up for the class myself. (The system not letting you register if you didn't have the other classes, naturally). Rather, I was placed into the class by a member of the faculty.
...oh. Well then. I suppose having a hard time with the class was to be expected. (I passed it, but I didn't like it)
I finished with the semester. All finals done. Statistics must not be my strong suit, as the open-book final was still a grueling experience. Finishing this semester was like Wile E Coyote running off a cliff. He was still running, made it half way across, but the ground was long gone. I finished, but my head was still racing.
Since I'm not working any more, it looks like I have about 5 weeks of video games and cartoons.
...when the kids are asleep.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
...and times.
and so it came to a breaking point.
Wait, let me back up.
The semester started off like any other, but my math teacher took the first day to go over 3 chapters. She said it was stuff we should already know.
...suuuuuuure.
Keeping up wasn't all that easy. My stats class is online, and it's entirely too easy to fall behind. Especially when nobody's checking up on me and I'm sleeping almost every hour that I'm home. Eventually, I couldn't force myself to stay awake long enough to get my work done. I couldn't study for my exams, and the work I was turning in was sloppy. Every assignment I did while I was at work was riddled with mistakes and the ones I did at home were half complete because I fell asleep mid problem.
In retrospect, putting a comfy couch in my office may have been a bad idea.
And so it came to a breaking point. (This is where we came in) You see, my math class is graded very simply. Two exams and a few small quizzes are all that count. Bomb one test, it's ignored. Bomb the second, and you're not going to pass the class. I need the class to get in the program in January. Otherwise... I don't actually know what I'd do then. It took me long enough to figure out what to do with myself, I don't want to let some stupid logarithmic differential get in the way. I bombed the first test. I wasn't doing well when the second test was coming around. I was too far behind in my stats work to effectively keep up any more.
I liked my job. I really did. But I realized that I needed the time. I needed to be asleep at night, I needed to be awake in class. A weekend used to both catch up on work and sleep. I only now have time to blog about it because this is my first weekend off since then. I feel surprisingly well rested. I feel far more prepared for my coursework than I have in a year.
Let's see how I do on that test.
Wait, let me back up.
The semester started off like any other, but my math teacher took the first day to go over 3 chapters. She said it was stuff we should already know.
...suuuuuuure.
Keeping up wasn't all that easy. My stats class is online, and it's entirely too easy to fall behind. Especially when nobody's checking up on me and I'm sleeping almost every hour that I'm home. Eventually, I couldn't force myself to stay awake long enough to get my work done. I couldn't study for my exams, and the work I was turning in was sloppy. Every assignment I did while I was at work was riddled with mistakes and the ones I did at home were half complete because I fell asleep mid problem.
In retrospect, putting a comfy couch in my office may have been a bad idea.
And so it came to a breaking point. (This is where we came in) You see, my math class is graded very simply. Two exams and a few small quizzes are all that count. Bomb one test, it's ignored. Bomb the second, and you're not going to pass the class. I need the class to get in the program in January. Otherwise... I don't actually know what I'd do then. It took me long enough to figure out what to do with myself, I don't want to let some stupid logarithmic differential get in the way. I bombed the first test. I wasn't doing well when the second test was coming around. I was too far behind in my stats work to effectively keep up any more.
I liked my job. I really did. But I realized that I needed the time. I needed to be asleep at night, I needed to be awake in class. A weekend used to both catch up on work and sleep. I only now have time to blog about it because this is my first weekend off since then. I feel surprisingly well rested. I feel far more prepared for my coursework than I have in a year.
Let's see how I do on that test.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
The Cabin
I disappeared for a week. I only now have recovered my mental faculties enough to write about it.
Behold!
My sister married this awesome guy whose family has a cabin near what feels like nowhere. So last Saturday my fam in Syracuse catch up with me in Buffalo and we together finish the trip to the deep north reaches of southern Ontario.
My sister, her hubby, their son.
My brother, his wife, their 2 kids.
Myself, my better half, and our +1.
Zero cell phone reception.
Day 1:
You'd think a 5 hour drive would feel like 5 hours, but it just didn't. It was a small cabin that *might* fit us all, but a tent housed my sister. An eclectic outhouse served more than just 2 needs. I still work nights. I tried to stay up as long as I could to push through it, but wound up falling asleep by 4PM.
Day 2:
This left me waking up at 2AM needing a serious oil change. I had aquired an obnoxiously bright flashlight, which was more than useful because I couldn't go by the glow of the local metropolis. There was none. Bored and alone, I hit the dock thinking I'll just chill on the boat.
!!!STARS!!!
Look, I look up all the time at night, but what I'm used to seeing is more of a smear of light blanketing the sky. This was like that smear had condensed down into a billion tiny points that couldn't make up their minds as to whether they were shining or not. For the win.
Later:
I'm on a boat! Exploring the area surrounding this tiny cabin and the small lake it sits on is more interesting than I thought. There was much swimming that morning. It also keeps raining on and off. I still fall asleep early, but not so much.
Day 3:
I wake a full hour later than the day before. I decide to get in the kayak and push myself out to the middle of the lake so the trees on the edge don't obscure my view of half the sky. Getting away from the shore is easy, and the sky is giving me vertigo. Then I realize just how dark it is, and I can only tell where the dock is because of the faint surviving glow of a solar light atop the steps leading to it. This is the point where I realize that I'm not terribly comfortable with being in a tiny little kayak in the center of a lake in near complete darkness while nobody knows I'm out there. Back the the speedboat.
This time my brother joins me on the boat. A jaunt into town. I need junk food. Still thinking this is awesome. It still is. Everyone kinda swam themselves out. My better half disappeared on a Kayak for a couple hours. (As an aside, this is why I'm glad we don't live on some futuristic space station)
Day 4:
I wake up that morning deciding to see how far out in the lake I like to be. Without a boat. The sun is up, so I'm ok with this. The answer: not very far.
I'm on a boat! (This is where someone lost a bet because I said this out loud) I'm also behind a boat, going very very fast. My first time tubing, the material holding the tube to the boat ripped, so instead of pulling me across, it pulled me down. Very fast.
That hurt.
Every orifice on my head screamed in pain, but calmed in minutes. An hour later, it was just my ear. My hearing was muffled, and it hurt worse than when it first started. Three hours of this. It calmed, then faded. To this day if I pay attention I can still feel a twinge in my right ear.
Day 5:
I woke up that morning and went fishing. I caught nothing.
Later that morning, my brother in law shows me this spot where a school of fish hang out under a dock. I caught 4 little guys. MAKE NOTE, WORLD. This was the first time I ever caught a fish. Now that I have, the thrill is lost.
I'm behind a boat again. New tube, no fear. Tubing has this bizarre exhilaration to it that comes with knowing that you're riding an air filled piece of plastic at what I could only guess was 30mph (oh wait, 48.3kph. We *were* in Canada, you know). Of those of us that went tubing, only my brother and I did not fall off. I suppose holding on for dear life is genetic.
It was also someone's 4th wedding anniversary. So I got her a bear!
But that's another story.
The rest of the week is kinda muddled in my head right now. Something about more rain, a broken exhaust pipe just before the trek home, and a fever of 102.6 pushing me into some strange delirium. (No, not the awesome band from Vancouver)
I'm out.
Behold!
My sister married this awesome guy whose family has a cabin near what feels like nowhere. So last Saturday my fam in Syracuse catch up with me in Buffalo and we together finish the trip to the deep north reaches of southern Ontario.
My sister, her hubby, their son.
My brother, his wife, their 2 kids.
Myself, my better half, and our +1.
Zero cell phone reception.
Day 1:
You'd think a 5 hour drive would feel like 5 hours, but it just didn't. It was a small cabin that *might* fit us all, but a tent housed my sister. An eclectic outhouse served more than just 2 needs. I still work nights. I tried to stay up as long as I could to push through it, but wound up falling asleep by 4PM.
Day 2:
This left me waking up at 2AM needing a serious oil change. I had aquired an obnoxiously bright flashlight, which was more than useful because I couldn't go by the glow of the local metropolis. There was none. Bored and alone, I hit the dock thinking I'll just chill on the boat.
!!!STARS!!!
Look, I look up all the time at night, but what I'm used to seeing is more of a smear of light blanketing the sky. This was like that smear had condensed down into a billion tiny points that couldn't make up their minds as to whether they were shining or not. For the win.
Later:
I'm on a boat! Exploring the area surrounding this tiny cabin and the small lake it sits on is more interesting than I thought. There was much swimming that morning. It also keeps raining on and off. I still fall asleep early, but not so much.
Day 3:
I wake a full hour later than the day before. I decide to get in the kayak and push myself out to the middle of the lake so the trees on the edge don't obscure my view of half the sky. Getting away from the shore is easy, and the sky is giving me vertigo. Then I realize just how dark it is, and I can only tell where the dock is because of the faint surviving glow of a solar light atop the steps leading to it. This is the point where I realize that I'm not terribly comfortable with being in a tiny little kayak in the center of a lake in near complete darkness while nobody knows I'm out there. Back the the speedboat.
This time my brother joins me on the boat. A jaunt into town. I need junk food. Still thinking this is awesome. It still is. Everyone kinda swam themselves out. My better half disappeared on a Kayak for a couple hours. (As an aside, this is why I'm glad we don't live on some futuristic space station)
Day 4:
I wake up that morning deciding to see how far out in the lake I like to be. Without a boat. The sun is up, so I'm ok with this. The answer: not very far.
I'm on a boat! (This is where someone lost a bet because I said this out loud) I'm also behind a boat, going very very fast. My first time tubing, the material holding the tube to the boat ripped, so instead of pulling me across, it pulled me down. Very fast.
That hurt.
Every orifice on my head screamed in pain, but calmed in minutes. An hour later, it was just my ear. My hearing was muffled, and it hurt worse than when it first started. Three hours of this. It calmed, then faded. To this day if I pay attention I can still feel a twinge in my right ear.
Day 5:
I woke up that morning and went fishing. I caught nothing.
Later that morning, my brother in law shows me this spot where a school of fish hang out under a dock. I caught 4 little guys. MAKE NOTE, WORLD. This was the first time I ever caught a fish. Now that I have, the thrill is lost.
I'm behind a boat again. New tube, no fear. Tubing has this bizarre exhilaration to it that comes with knowing that you're riding an air filled piece of plastic at what I could only guess was 30mph (oh wait, 48.3kph. We *were* in Canada, you know). Of those of us that went tubing, only my brother and I did not fall off. I suppose holding on for dear life is genetic.
It was also someone's 4th wedding anniversary. So I got her a bear!
But that's another story.
The rest of the week is kinda muddled in my head right now. Something about more rain, a broken exhaust pipe just before the trek home, and a fever of 102.6 pushing me into some strange delirium. (No, not the awesome band from Vancouver)
I'm out.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The caller
Over and over they called. Some mysterious 800 number that only called when I was asleep.
Remember that I sleep during the day, so this isn't entirely unusual.
So day in and day out they keep calling, leaving no voice mail and the caller ID is blank. I tell myself that whatever it is must be important, otherwise they'd have stopped trying to get ahold of me. I also tell myself that it can't be that important because they never leave a voice mail.
I was awake when they called last. Once I said "hello" a machine thanked me and asked me to continue holding.
The person that invents a way to detonate a callers phone will be insanely rich.
Remember that I sleep during the day, so this isn't entirely unusual.
So day in and day out they keep calling, leaving no voice mail and the caller ID is blank. I tell myself that whatever it is must be important, otherwise they'd have stopped trying to get ahold of me. I also tell myself that it can't be that important because they never leave a voice mail.
I was awake when they called last. Once I said "hello" a machine thanked me and asked me to continue holding.
The person that invents a way to detonate a callers phone will be insanely rich.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Cronicles of a telephone
I swallowed my arrogant pride. I was always the guy that, when people started showing off the various attributes of their smartphones, would pull out a simple flip phone and state flatly that it could make phone calls. Never one to enjoy joining the ranks of... anyone, I love a gadget entirely too much.
Also, it was free.
My new phone is supposed to be smart, and so far it seems to be smarter than my old year old. Expanding memory, teaching it new tricks, and even getting it to shut up are really easy. My son's only current advantage is battery life.
Now if only there was an app that would pick a good retirement home, I'd be set.
Also, it was free.
My new phone is supposed to be smart, and so far it seems to be smarter than my old year old. Expanding memory, teaching it new tricks, and even getting it to shut up are really easy. My son's only current advantage is battery life.
Now if only there was an app that would pick a good retirement home, I'd be set.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Tests, Iowa, and a series of fantastical wonders.
I don't try to go this long without blogging, but being burnt out has a way of making it really easy to say 'no' when the thought crosses my mind.
I found that as the semester came closer to ending, I cared less and less about it. I once had a beat up '95 Geo with a leaking gas line. I would fill the tank, and fuel would instantly start to spill everywhere. It took most of a tank just to get it to the shop a friend of mine worked in to get the thing fixed. The last few weeks of this last semester, I felt like my old car, spending entirely too much to get a very short distance. (That and it was a Geo, so it wasn't getting very far when it was at its best already)
Spring '10 semester ended. I rejoiced not in jubilation or exhilaration, but in disgust. I'm not sure I did all that well. I don't know if grades have been posted yet, and I don't want to look. Later, perhaps, when I care.
My sister in law wanted to go home. Living with us helping out with our son through the tax season (seeing as my better half is locked in mortal combat with the IRS on behalf of the weak for 3 months of the year) was helpful. I wanted to leave town. I tend to see my in-laws about once every year and a half, and we were due.
Enter Nauvoo Illinois. A decent halfway point between A and B for everyone to meet up. Filled with enough history-touristy distractions to last a few days, a hotel across the river in Iowa with a pool (which for some unknown reason my body decided to BLEED in, thankyouverymuch), and far enough from everything else as to render the drive itself a means of wiping recent memory from my gray matter.
That and my in-laws are a special breed of [adjective]. I've never been able to properly describe them, but it would be easy to say that they live on a different plane of existence than myself, and spending time with them is like taking a vacation from my normal reality. It's a very therapeutic world filled with named automobiles, feety pajamas, and the occasional frozen custard. These things combined were, frankly, exactly what I needed.
And they brought a friend. At first I was expecting a statistical outlier, then I wasn't so sure. The boys back at the lab are still crunching the data. Either way, anyone sporting the atomic purple GameBoy Color is automatically cool.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need a drink and a nap.
I found that as the semester came closer to ending, I cared less and less about it. I once had a beat up '95 Geo with a leaking gas line. I would fill the tank, and fuel would instantly start to spill everywhere. It took most of a tank just to get it to the shop a friend of mine worked in to get the thing fixed. The last few weeks of this last semester, I felt like my old car, spending entirely too much to get a very short distance. (That and it was a Geo, so it wasn't getting very far when it was at its best already)
Spring '10 semester ended. I rejoiced not in jubilation or exhilaration, but in disgust. I'm not sure I did all that well. I don't know if grades have been posted yet, and I don't want to look. Later, perhaps, when I care.
My sister in law wanted to go home. Living with us helping out with our son through the tax season (seeing as my better half is locked in mortal combat with the IRS on behalf of the weak for 3 months of the year) was helpful. I wanted to leave town. I tend to see my in-laws about once every year and a half, and we were due.
Enter Nauvoo Illinois. A decent halfway point between A and B for everyone to meet up. Filled with enough history-touristy distractions to last a few days, a hotel across the river in Iowa with a pool (which for some unknown reason my body decided to BLEED in, thankyouverymuch), and far enough from everything else as to render the drive itself a means of wiping recent memory from my gray matter.
That and my in-laws are a special breed of [adjective]. I've never been able to properly describe them, but it would be easy to say that they live on a different plane of existence than myself, and spending time with them is like taking a vacation from my normal reality. It's a very therapeutic world filled with named automobiles, feety pajamas, and the occasional frozen custard. These things combined were, frankly, exactly what I needed.
And they brought a friend. At first I was expecting a statistical outlier, then I wasn't so sure. The boys back at the lab are still crunching the data. Either way, anyone sporting the atomic purple GameBoy Color is automatically cool.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need a drink and a nap.
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