Updates and Changes

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about this blog. It started as an online journal - a way just to write stuff out. I've read some articles about ways to make money from a blog, and I've even gave some thought into doing something like that. The main problem(s) is/are that I have the attention span of a magpie (Ooo! Shiney!) and off I go in a different direction. So a blog about one topic would be doomed to fail.

Anyway,  it's been...what...Eight months since I last wrote? My wife and I have an ongoing joke that we never know where life is going to take us so we don't make plans much more than a month in advance. There has been a lot that has happened that I recorded over in Facebook (curse you, you easy to use !@#$%^&*). Fortunately, I have resisted the siren's lure of Facebook games and applications. Too many privacy red flags for my (admittedly skewed) tastes.

So, the Reader's Digest version: My spinal fusion surgery was a complete success! I am pain free and back to 100% normalcy. The human body is a fantastic thing. It's amazing what it can go through and still keep ticking. The downside is that I've pretty much given up on doing any heavy weightlifting. I could probably do it, but the thought of screwing something up makes me cringe and it just isn't worth it to me. 

My father also passed away last November. His cancer finally caught up with him. I posted the eulogy I did for him on Facebook and I might repost it here at some point. There isn't much more I have/want to say about that.

I started a new job about two months ago. As of last Friday, I'm unemployed. Long story, but the gist of it is that there were too many things going on (or not going on) that I didn't agree with and I couldn't in good conscience stay there. Unfortunately, that puts me in a bit of a bind. In all honesty, I don't like my current career path (such as it is), so I'm thinking of starting over. The problem is that I don't know which direction to take. I'm two years away from being 40 and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I may be going back to school...if I can scrounge up the finances. More on this to come...

Let's see, what else? Washington State's caucus's were a few weeks ago. Somehow I managed to get myself elected as a delegate to our county's caucus. That should be fairly interesting...especially if I managed to get elected as a delegate to the state convention. 

On the game front, my online D&D group folded a little while ago. I was with that group for over a year (and I hadn't played D&D for decades prior to that). So I've been at a bit of a loss on the creative front. Role-playing games is one of those guilty pleasures for me. Having grown up in the 80s, there is still a lingering...something...from those years when it was looked down upon as "evil". I'm going to miss my group as it has always been very hard for me to find people I like to game with. 

(Unnecessary Side Note with No Further Explanation: Minecraft is far too addictive! Someone save me! I don't want to spend that much time playing this stupid game!)

I know there is more to say, but I don't feel like sitting here any longer. (So nyah!) I probably should figure out what exactly I should do with this blog. Make it more useful or something. Far too many things running through my head at this point. Life calls...and I don't like the names it is calling me.

The Problem with Facebook

The problem with Facebook is (as I've mentioned before) is that I don't take the time to write in my blog. Lots happened over the past year. Most importantly, I had a spinal fusion surgery. It went fantastically and I'm just about back to 100%. Which means I can start working out again. Who knows? Perhaps I'll even write in my blog some more...

Is It Too Early For A "Bah! Humbug!" ?

There is a lot that has happened since my last post. Unfortunately, since I've started on Facebook, I haven't taken the opportunity to blog much. Bah...who am I kidding? I just haven't had any thoughts worth writing down lately. I have read a lot more classical books lately. I can't remember which ones came between the last one I wrote about and my current one (and I'm too lazy to go figure it out). The book previous to my current one was "A Midsummer's Night Dream."

(striking a dramatic pose) "Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania." ...and all that rot. It was a quick read and (in all honesty) wasn't overly interesting. Yeah, I'm an uncultured swine. I've accepted this about myself.

Currently, I'm reading "Great Expectations." I haven't read that since high school. I remember so very little about it other than Miss Havisham catching on fire (that does happen, right?) - morbid remembrance, I know. I'm still in the early chapters and enjoying it quite a bit.

The kids are doing good in school and work is going okay. Although, I found out that my spine is all messed up and if I ever have to have back surgery, I probably won't return to that particular job. In any case, I've started physical therapy and go in to see a neurosurgeon every 6 months or so. Fun stuff.

New Day After the Night

I finished up Arabian Nights a week or so ago. It turned out there were only 4 or so stories that had a mature theme. The rest were fine. And that is pretty much my opinion of the book as a whole, "fine." Some of the stories were a bit repetitious for my tastes. Others were pretty neat. It makes me wonder why certain stories have caught the modern imagination instead of others. I was surprised at the number of what I would consider Biblical (old Testament) references (King Solomon being a prominent historical figure in many places.) In any case, it probably isn't one I'll read through cover to cover again, but I might pick it up to reference specific tales.

Onward we go, then. My next book (which I'm already halfway through) is one I had seen on my dad's bookshelf for a long time: Silas Marner. Not having looked overly close at the title before now, I thought I was in for another nautical adventure. Yeah..."Marner" not "Mariner" - the title character is a weaver and not a sailor. Goes to show what I know.

Apparently this is a book that has been read in American schools almost since the beginning. (Not in my case. I knew absolutely nothing about it.) As such, some of the reviews I have read about it were not overly flattering...which tends to happen to books that we are forced to read in our youth. Since it was not a part of my past, I went into it with fresh eyes. So far I really like it. It's not so much a story about a single person; instead it is about a community and acceptance and how personal tradgedies affect everyone. Pretty neat stuff.

And it is a quick read. Like I said, I'm already halfway through it, and I imagine I'll be finished by the end of the week.

New Book and Other Random Thoughts

I just finished Tale of Two Cities. I know there are some people that don't like it; I thought most of the book was fine and the last 3-4 chapters were incredible. I have to admit that it has been a long time since a book almost made me cry.

Going into it, I didn't know much about it other than the title and the very first line: "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." I was impressed how all the seemingly random chapters pulled together near the end. Even more impressive was when I read that Charles Dickens wrote and published a chapter a week in the periodical he was the editor of. Simply amazing. I don't want to give too much of it away, but the two cities are London and Paris in the years/months/days before and during the bloody French Revolution.

Now I'm on to The Arabian Nights - or more specifically, an abbreviated edition of it (since the whole thing is several volumes long). It's still the original Richard Burton translation, though. First impressions: No paragraphs! Arrg! Just one gigantic wall of text with no convenient place to take a break. Not only that, but it didn't take me long to understand why there have been objections to it over the years. It can be a bit...umm...risque in some scenes. It's definately not a book for kids...even if there are kid cartoons based on many of the stories. It caught me a bit off guard.

On a completely separate topic, I haven't posted as much here as I might have because of Facebook. It's terribly easy just to toss up a one sentence update on little minor events (or not so minor sometimes) that there doesn't seem to be as much need for a long-winded post. (Or maybe there is...since I'm doing one right now.) On the other hand, maybe it will let me focus my writing a little more. Who knows?

Weightlifting/swimming is going great! I'm loving being able to push myself physically. My muscles don't get sore anymore, but I do get tired. I'm pretty sure it's helping me sleep better as well.

Last little item...okay, it's a big one. Early last week I was approached by my boss's boss. Due to a large decrease in revenue from our team, we are going to lose several people. Jobs aren't being cut, they are just being moved elsewhere. Long story short, I was asked if I would be interested in a Facilities Manager type position, as the person currently doing that type of work is the Executive Secretary and she no longer has the time availablity to do it. I said yes, and was officially offered the position yesterday. So, even though I had a recent promotion, I'm moving out of my current role into a completely different field.

I'm excitied but also have a bit of that "deer in the headlights" feeling. The transition doesn't happen until next week, so it has been massively chaotic around here as we scramble to reorganize the team. I'm finally out of customer service! Currently, the position is only for the building here in town, but it will grow to include all the other offices across the country. It's a big opportunity for me and one that I feel honored to have been thought of as being capable for the role. There are still a lot of details to work out; although the responsibilities aren't new, the actual position is. And I'm the first one to hold it!