Friday, November 30, 2007

Random Thoughts: Saving my memory

I am really nervous about losing my posts again. Some time in the next couple months my site will be moved to a new server and I'm betting I will lose everything again and have to reconstruct it. I am certainly not looking forward to that.

It is strange to have these thoughts though. My site started as a fun geek-status-symbol. How cool was it that my wife bought me a website? Now, almost no one reads my posts here. Still... I have taken the time to write my thoughts down and now find myself protecting them as if they were a natural piece of my person.

I've never been one to carefully choose my words or think about them before I say them. Anyone who I've offended can attest to that. My written words aren't much better. I try to keep spelling mistakes to a minimum, but I don't really go back and read over what I've written before I post it. Maybe that's why no one reads my site.

More likely, no one reads my site because I have no idea how to get my site out there to people. Actually, that isn't true. I either need something to say and supporting content or I need a lot of friends and family. As far as I know, none of my family ever reads what I write. I just found out the other day that my brother doesn't even have an e-mail address. As for friends, I have always been one to have fewer better friends than hundreds or thousands of casual acquaintances.

Anyway, I guess what I am trying to say is this:

If you like my site, thanks. If you don't, whatever.

Also:

I am going to go back up my post database so that I don't lose things again.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Baby Gallery: One year old and counting

Here is Laura's month of November. It's amazing how fast a year goes. Anyway, here is the link: http://therhodeislandreview.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=12478

Baby Video: She walks alone

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/fvG6lxoTprc" width="425" height="355"/]

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Random Thoughts: It gets dark really early

Sunset: 4:18 pm

It just seems too early to be pitch black outside. Maybe I should move to someplace tropical to avoid the change in day length. OK, not really. Don't get me wrong. I loved Hawaii and can't wait for the day when I go back. That said, I really enjoy doing things like going outside with my bundled up baby. After about 10 minutes, I picked her up to give her a hug and got to feel her cold nose and ears on my cheek. How great is that?

Monday, November 26, 2007

Baby: Happy Birthday Laura!!!

Happy Birthday to my little baby. One year ago today at 6:40 a.m EST my cute, sweet, wonderful little girl was born. I have loved every minute of it and look forward to every minute that I will experience in the future.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Recreation: Hooray for me!

The results are posted for the Pie Run. Here are my official results:

PLC Time Pace PLC/Group PLC/Sex Bib#
388 41:20 8:16 28/30-34 265/M 211

Much better than I though I would do. If you have any interest in seeing the full results, here they are: http://www.needtorace.com/results/4468/4468_event_one_b.txt

Happy Thanksgiving!

I don't know if I really need content to this post. Really, what more is there to say? I hope everyone eats more food today than they do in a normal week. Maybe I could say that I hope I people don't notice that I plan to wear my biggest pants today so that I don't have to unbutton the top button. Maybe I could just say something nice. I hope all those bins in the supermarkets filled over several times and everyone at least has something to eat today. Yeah. Yeah, we'll go with that one. Happy Thanksgiving.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Random Thoughts: I need a nap

I slept pretty well last night, but for some reason I am exhausted right now. I'm also a little punchy too, which isn't good when you have to work until 7:30. Maybe I'll leave a little early tonight. Of course, the irritability was  set off when I asked a simple (and I mean really simple) question and got every response imaginable other than the helpful, truthful one. I got, "I don't remember," "I don't know," "I never duplicated that," "I just did what the form says," "I'm not going to drop everything I'm doing to help you," etc. The thing that really bugs me about those responses. I know for a fact that this person could have helped me with nothing more than 30 seconds of thought. He had to remember what he did a week ago and then tell me to look in such-and-such location. After 30 minutes of searching, I found the location to look. I wasted 30 minutes of my work time. Normally, I wouldn't care. If I was trying to kill time or BS'ing, wasting time is fine. In this case, I was trying to squeeze something in to my schedule which shouldn't be there in the first place.

Anyway, I'm just getting more annoyed. I should just go browse the web to calm down a bit. On a plus note, I feel like my calves are going to explode. I ran a good uphill both ways route today with no walking at all. I think I should do well for the pie run. Should be fun. Hopefully it doesn't rain. In fact, I would prefer snow, cold, heat, or just about anything to rain. I would even be OK with a light sprinkle even though it would make it hard as hell to keep my glasses clear. Alright, time to see what's in the news.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Random Thoughts: A second thought for the day

I noticed this when I was updating my Upcoming Movies page:


  • Temperature: 52°F

  • Conditions: Light Rain and Mist

  • Humidity: 100.0%


Perfect conditions for how I feel right now. I really have to start eating some better food. Dinner is always tasty, healthy, and nutritious thanks to my loving wife. Breakfast and lunch aren't always all that good. I should make a bunch of homemade frozen meals in single servings and throw them in the freezer here. That would be far better than eating mac n' cheese or canned pasta-based food.

Random Thoughts: Getting in to work at 4:30

You know, I sometimes wake up early for an unknown reason. I can't predict it. I often wonder if it is because there is someone or something that passes by my house making some noise that my unconscious brain thinks is danger. Often, I am wide awake and ready to start my day. Usually, it works out in my favor allowing me to get to work a little early. It's nice when people start showing up at 7:30 and I've already been here for 3 hours. It is also nice that I can leave early and not take any vacation time.

As a segue, I have to leave early today so that my wife can go to a wake while I watch the baby. It's a scary thought to consider losing someone you care about. It's a worse thought to consider leaving behind someone you care about. That is one of the reasons I have taken up running. Leading a sedentary lifestyle is my window to diabetes, heart disease and an early death. I want to live long enough to tell my great grandchildren stories about all my adventures in life. I plan to see what tomorrow brings. Whatever deal life gives me, I will play the cards I am dealt. I plan to live.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Recreation: Training for my first race

Well, I ran the longest distance I ever ran continuously today. I ran the 5-mile route that I will be running for the BankNewport Pie Run 5 Mile Run & 3 Mile Walk. I owe a huge thanks to my wife for setting a pace I could keep for the whole time. I hope to finish the official run in under 45 minutes, and based on today's run, it shouldn't be a problem. I have never run a race before, as the title of this post says. I have a pretty good idea what to expect though. I am certain, on race day, that I will start out too fast and have to walk for a bit. Then I will probably reset my pace and finish out the run. Here's hoping.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Baby Gallery: New Laura Gallery

See Laura's month of October here: Album: Happy Halloween. While you are at it, if you haven't seen my other photos, take a look through them in the main gallery here: The Rhode Island Review Photo Gallery. Maybe you missed them the first time. Maybe you bookmarked the post where I linked them but never went back. Whatever the case, feel free to check them out at your leisure. I don't pay per electron used on the server.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Random Thoughts: I was having a great day...

I spent a wonderful morning with my little baby. We took a walk and went to Home Depot. I even cleaned our office and did some laundry. When I got in to work, the day just seemed to be flying by. It was already 6:08 and since I got in early I get to leave at 6:30. While helping a coworker with something, I passed by another coworker, who I was surprised to see here so late. I mentioned that fact to her when she informed me that is wasn't all that unusual for her to work until 5:30.

How's that for a bucket of ice water on your head? Stupid non-automatic setting clocks that don't know daylight savings time ended!

Friday, November 2, 2007

News: The blog site is functional

If you can't tell, the blog portion of the site is functional, although not complete. There are a bunch of older posts missing. Also, anything that links to a photo gallery is probably screwed up too. I also have 2 other videos that I didn't relink because I don't know exactly which was which. Hopefully, I will find a way to quickly repair/replace the photo gallery so that I don't have to re-upload and import all the photos.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

News: Web Site Broken!!!

Hooray! My site is broken. Thanks, iPowerWeb.