I'm somewhere else today

I'm filling in for Florinda as she heals from shoulder surgery. She let me talk about my favorite book that I've read over the past year; The Breach by Patrick Lee. Go to Florinda's site and read it quick. With the loss of readership she'll get from me filling in, she might not keep the post up long!

I'm kidding of course, she would never pull the post down. I don't think.

Remember when Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston had to work?

I give you the Windows 95 Guide, starring Matthew and Jennifer. No, I'm serious.

(Found on Gizmodo)

Hee.

Weekend Assignment #317: Let's do lunch

This week Karen wants to know how we meet up with friends in person.

Weekend Assignment #317: Merry Meetings
People used to socialize with each other on street corners, at cocktail parties, at club meetings, and in a later era, at shopping malls. These days, however, we seem to do most of our socializing online. Where do you go most often for face time with friends and acquaintances?

Unlike the title suggests, I almost never meet people for lunch. For one, I don't get a lunch break like most people do. Also, I work a lot of weekends, so my friends that work a normal week are not available for lunch the same time I am. However, there have been times when I've met Jenn and a friend or two for lunch on one of my days off.

Actually, the place where we meet up with our friends most is at someone's house. We all have kids, so we don't get to go out to the bars very often. At least not like we used to. Sure, there are times when one of us have gone out to meet a friend or two while the other stays home with the kids, but that isn't all that often either. Again, see my work schedule above.

This is one thing Jenn and I try to work on. We really want to get out with our friends more often.

Extra Credit: Do you ever hang out with co-workers after hours?

No, I don't go out with co-workers very often. Usually I need to go get the kids at school if I'm working the early shift. If I'm working the later shift, I need to go home to go to bed so I can get up early to get the kids to school. Maybe when the kids are older this will change. Of course I'll be older and need my beauty sleep, so I don't know.

Now, go to the Weekend Assignment site and see what others had to say. They probably aren't as boring as I am.

Just over two years ago...

I completely forgot that the 27th was the two year anniversary of this blog. That's kind of sad. Then again, with it being so close to Christmas, it is easy to forget. Just ask anyone who has a birthday just after Christmas, people tend to forget about it. Actually, my step-mom's birthday is the day after Christmas, so we give her our present when we see her for Christmas. She doesn't get screwed out of a gift, but it's all done together, which isn't much different.

Anyway, the blog. Yes, so two years. Does it feel much different? No, not much has changed here. I looked at last year's anniversary post to see who I thanked for coming by and commenting. It's still the same people. That's okay, though. It's still fun, that's the only reason I started this anyway, to have some fun and be stupid sometimes. Pretty much like a normal day for me.

Speaking of stupid, have you seen the Cat Emery board thing? I've seen things like this a long time ago? How is it any different? I don't see how it would make the cat's claws less sharp. It's not like the thing is going to take them out, or anything.

Sorry, I've been seeing that commercial a lot and had to say something.

A few months ago I joined a group on Flickr that is taking up a little of my time. That's one of the reasons I've been a little lax in posting lately. It's been a lot of fun, but it also makes me want a new, and nicer, camera. And take a photography class so I know what I'm doing.

Also, not to end on a downer, but we just found our daughter needs her tonsils out. As you may know, the kids have had a bad stretch of strep throat this year. I think she has had it five times over the course of the year, so it's not like this was a surprise. It's going to be interesting, she's not a fan of doctors, or anything that includes pain. This should be fun!

So, in closing, I'd like to say thanks for coming by. Especially, Florinda, Cookie, Mr. Unfocused, Dreamybee, Carly, Karen, DC (who pops in now and again) and anybody else who comes by here, whether you comment or not. Thanks for reading!

Things don't really change that much

I haven't been around here much this week since Spring Break is going on. I'm home with the kids all day, which, in itself, doesn't allow for much blogging time, not to mention the fact that I'm too tired to do it later. I'm not a Spring chicken anymore, you know.

This past weekend we had some of our old friends from college over to the house. Some of which we had not seen since we left school. One couple we see every few years, and one that we see all the time. This all came about through the magic of the Internet. We found a few friends through various social media sites, and we all decided it was about time we got together.

I was wondering how the night would go. Seventeen years is a long time. People change. Families grow. We get old. But, you know, after the first few moments the years melted away. I'm sure the beer and wine helped a bit.

We talked about some of the crazy people we used to know from the dorms. The strange things that should have gotten people arrested. (No, not me! Who do you think I am?) We laughed a lot. I think that helped more than anything. Laughing about your childish behavior, or stupidity, does a lot to bridge the gap of many years.

We talked a lot about music, too. You know how the perfect soundtrack can really bring a movie to life? I think it does the same thing with memories. A lot of our stories revolved around concerts we went to while in college, since graduating, and what we still listen to now. One of my friends told me to make a playlist of all the songs from our college years. I didn't do that, but I made sure to skip through iTunes to find the right songs. I think it worked out well.

So after way too many beers (for me anyway), way too much food (for anyone), our friends had to leave. Most to get kids, or themselves, to bed. I think Jenn and I were in bed by midnight, which would have been unheard of in college. The parties would just be getting started at 10:30! But, we are all older now. That's not such a bad thing.

I hope we do it again soon.

Finding old friends

In a bit of weirdness this week, I managed to connect to a few old friends. They were different levels of connection, but connections nonetheless.

Two friends my wife and I found while looking around on LinkedIn. They were both college friends that we lost touch with shortly after graduation. I actually talked to one of them, Scott, on the phone a short time ago. We haven't talked in 17 years, or so, but we were able to pick up were we left off for the most part. We are going to try to get some of the people together for a mini-reunion. I'll let you know how it goes.

The other two were from grade school. Yes, a long, long time ago. Back from the days when we took dinosaurs to school, and worked by candlelight. Those I found through Facebook (Yes, I know). Actually, they found me since I signed up and added a mutual former grade school friend that I am already in touch with. Not that we talked about much, but it is still kind of neat. As you know from reading this, I do have a thing for nostalgia.

I guess there is a good purpose to the Internet and all it's information. More so than just having a place to quickly look up quotes for stupid movies. Or the lyrics to Run Joey Run.

These past few weeks have been busy so I haven't been posting a whole bunch. I think things may calm down a little bit now that Christmas break is done, but my son's birthday is coming up, then we go to LaJolla, CA soon after that. So, maybe not!

On the New Year's Resolution front, not that I made any, I did sign up to run the Shamrock Shuffle and the Soldier Field 10 mile. Jenn talked me in to the 10 miler. I'm a little scared. See, I've been a total sloth these past few months. It started after I finished the Walter Payton run. I had no other races on my schedule so I slacked a little on the running, then I tweaked something in my hip so I backed off even more on the running. Then, well, it got cold. Yes, I do belong to a gym with and indoor track, what's your point? Now that I have some motivation, I'm hoping I get off my butt.

Wish me luck! I need to go find a snack. All this talking about running is making me hungry.