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!

Workout Wonder

My workouts are going well. I'm even keeping a workout log at a weightlifting website where I can track my progress. So what exactly am I doing? Well, it's called a 5x5 workout. You start with an empty bar (in most cases) and add 5 pounds each workout. So far it has been easy, except for the bodyweight exercises (push ups, pull ups, etc.). I've been trying to work on my form so I don't kill myself as the weights go up.

It has been extremely nice to know exactly what I'm going to do when I get there. I can go it, set myself up, do my workout, and leave...all under an hour. At some point I'm going to add cardio workouts (i.e. swimming), but for now I'm just working on increasing my strength. Now that I'm doing something, I don't feel like I have to get in the pool right now. That being said, I do have a bunch of swimming workouts planned - workout that I have collected from when I was in the swim conditioning class and participating in the Masters swimming at WSU. The question is which to start with; which one will make me look the least like a drowning rat?