Behind on Blogging

The last month has been a busy one and has yet again kept me from blogging. I don't know why I essentially apologize every time I let so much time go by in my blog, but I usually feel compelled to do so since I'm probably neglecting other things too. Truth is, I've been pretty busy getting my laptop running again after it stopped working (and still isn't running very smoothly) and my continuing issues getting painting done around the house. On the first issue, I accidentally knocked the cord out while the system was accessing the registry, which I now know is really bad. I ended up having to reinstall everything and with the move I can't find many of my software disks.

Not good.

On the second issue, the woman who owned the house before us didn't know what primer is used for when painting, so I've had to sand just about everything, everywhere! It's been a pain in my ass and I haven't even touched my zendo yet. Hopefully that will come soon, but I'm pretty much through with making predictions. The good news is that I have a good portion of the kitchen painted and it looks pretty damn good. I think anything besides the bland white walls in every room would be an improvement, but I think the wife and I did well picking colors.

In a weird last piece of news, we have a neighbor with lots of lawn equipment and time on his hands. I've been pretty clear with him when we've chatted that I want to do the lawn work myself so I learn how it's done, but he seems to keep ignoring that and mowing my lawn anyway. He's a nice guy and doesn't mean any harm, but I was planning to use the leaves and grass clippings he removed for compost. I just wish when I asked someone not to do something, they listen...actually, doing what I ask to be done would be nice too, but I won't get greedy.

One Becomes Two

Just a quick entry today as I've finally gotten that "other blog" started! As I state in my first post there, I won't stop posting here, but I did want to keep the focus of each one separate for now. At some point they may come together again, who knows? If I could predict the future I think my daily routine would be different...or would it? LOL!

Anyway, here's the link and I hope you'll join me for both sides of my blogging life: http://thezendoproject.blogspot.com/

Cheers!

Things, They Are A Changing

As my regular readers know, I have been struggling with the decision on whether I should continue my doctoral program. I have gone both ways for a long time, but now I have officially decided to stop. I have known it was the right thing to do for some time now, so it's good I finally listened to myself. I wish I knew exactly where I was headed, but the possibilities of the unknown are more attractive than what I've left behind.

Over Labor Day we went up north to see my parents and we had a great time, but the boy and I came back with nasty colds. He was actually better at dealing with it than I was! The funniest thing has been trying to teach him how to blow his nose because it's not something you can really convey through action. To him it just looks like I'm holding a tissue up to my face and making a funny noise. So, many wipes later we're both back to normal and breathing through our noses again.

Now with a lot of "free time" on my hands, I've mostly been working on small projects around the house and out in the yard. It's only today that I feel that the house is becoming uncluttered! Part of it though is the reduction in my stress level which I think has been all to the good. Something else that will help that is my often referred to "other" blog project that will finally be revealed by this weekend! My idea is to have it be interactive, so get ready to offer your opinions!

Last but not least, I've added some new pictures of the boy from the last 9 months and if you haven't seen him lately he's definitely changed a lot. I'm really looking forward to doing more activities with him and can tell that his positive outlook on life is rubbing off on the old man. I love ya boy! I think the changes I'm going through will be good, but they are a bit scary. Just one step at a time, right? Make sure to breathe.

Spam, Spam, Everywhere!

At this time last week I thought the biggest issue facing my return to a less hectic life was met with everyone's favorite email treat, Spam. For the last few weeks the amount of spam accumulating in my inbox has been crazy, but now it's up to an insane level. Most of it is fake messages from eBay members, so those are easy to spot, but since I do sell on eBay I obviously have to open most of them. I'm also getting ones on themes I'm more familiar with like, "I'm the lawyer for Prince Sidar of Qatar and he'll sign over his fortune to you if you just send us $1,000" Everyone gets those, right?

Anyway, it's made life at the computer a bit more difficult that normal, but add that to the boxes we still have to unpack and I'm running behind. Oh poor little me. :) I've fallen out of touch with some folks I really wanted to keep contact with during the move and it just became impossible. Well, maybe not impossible, but certainly more difficult.

So, fortunately this post should signal the beginning of my emergence from chaos, at least from an online standpoint. We leave on Friday to visit my folks back in my hometown which we haven't visited since last December! That'll be a nice getaway I think and I'm sure the boy will love it. Hopefully, I will too!

Tomorrow I'll have some pictures (yes, I finally uploaded them) and perhaps I'll finally reveal that new blog project I mentioned before. Well, let's not get too ambitious shall we? Maybe that won't make it until we get back from our trip, but sometimes miracles do happen. Now, go out and enjoy that summertime before it's all gone.

Boxes, Boxes Everywhere!

I finally got the desktop set up this evening and I'm still surrounded by all our collected crap! We've been just keeping ahead of things and I'm very glad we're done with the moving part. Not that I'm overcome with joy about finding room for everything, but trust me it's nothing compared to all the hauling. As you might expect, my other blog project hasn't gotten anywhere yet, but having the main computer setup so I can download pics is a big step in the right direction.

I've mainly been busy doing my househusband duties of trying to keep the lawn green instead of brown, washing our large collection of dirty laundry (new washer and dryer...yay!), and generally making sure the boy doesn't get hurt while he dodges all of our belongings that are stacked in the dining room. He's been a real champ through the whole thing and continues to amaze me with his happy go lucky outlook on life.

So, as things begin to settle in I hope I'll be blogging more regularly. I won't make promises there since I haven't done so well in the past when I say that, but I think it'll happen. I also have to catch up on friend's blogs that I have accumulated in my Bloglines account. Sorry everyone! I'm sure you miss my witty (or not) comments more than life itself! ;) Now, if I can just find my way out of the boxes maze to find the stairs, it's off to bed. More to come...