More Fun

The last few days have been good. There has been shopping, going to the movies, eating out, fishing, swimming, more kayaking, visiting with family and of course, playing with the dogs. The trip to the conservatory was awesome and I got a lot of photos of the Chihuly glass artwork that was on display. Tonight we are going to the Dublin Irish Festival to eat, drink and be festive in a Irish sort of way. I forgot to bring my kilt, so I won't be wearing it for the occasion.

Tomorrow I am going fishing at Lake Erie with my brother-in-law. We will likely be staying overnight and fishing on Sunday, too. Assuming that we make a decent catch, we will be having a fish fry on Sunday evening. We will be going after walleye and smallmouth bass.

Next week is the state fair, hiking, more kayaking, more fishing and a huge picnic/cook out complete with bonfire. I will also be getting together with my old school chum, Terry, at some point to relive the glory days for a few hours. What's that Andy Warhol said- There's nothing as pathetic as an aging hipster? Yeah, right.

Everyone have a really great weekend. I know I will.

And So It Starts

I got here alright, no problems with the dogs or with the kayak on the roof of the car. It's been pretty busy since I got here. Saturday night I went with my niece and her husband to a pro soccer game- The Columbus Crew. It was their final game of the season and it was an exciting win against Toronto. I had not been to one of these games before, and it was fun- a lot better than watching it on television.

Sunday was zip lining, and we had a great time at it. I think it was more fun this time than it was the first time. The course was a bit different as they had lost some trees in the fall due to storms.

Yesterday started with a nice leisurely breakfast on my parent's large, screened-in front porch. Then we took the kayak and canoe to a local lake and went paddling, followed by lunch in the park shelter house. After that we went swimming at my sister's house and she grilled out for us. I fell asleep in the pool in a float chair and got a sunburn on my face, chest and legs.

Today it was another leisurely breakfast, and then I got together with my brother. We went shopping at sporting goods stores, then had lunch at a favorite local bar. I took a nice afternoon nap on the porch swing, and then my mother made my favorite dinner- salmon cakes, beans, mac and cheese, and salad.

Tomorrow we are all going to the city to the arboretum (sp?) as it is supposed to rain all day. If it does not rain we will be seining in the creek in the morning first. I'll probably get some fishing in at the pond, also.

That's all for now. Everyone have a great hump day!

Friday By The Numbers

1. Ready, set, go! I think I will be leaving for Ohio tonight after all. I just can't wait to get going. Getting the kayak tied up on the car in the dark may be a pain in the ass, but I'll deal with it. The dogs will be funny. They won't know what is going on. I will post while I'm gone, but not every day.

2. Welcome to Blogger, Natalie. You look great with the contacts. Did I say great? How about stunning? You can blush now.

3. It rained a lot last night, and that made things very humid for today. The sun is coming out now, and it's going to be a scorcher. It's only eleven and I already have the fans running. Finally, some real Jersey July weather. I have fans. Heh.

4. I got the grass cut this morning. Stepped in a lot of yard bombs, though. If you have dogs, you know all too well about yard bombs.

5. Work has been very busy the last few days, and the boss is project crazy. We have an executive visit coming up, and we are spending mad hours cleaning in the warehouse. I have to tackle both of my desks tonight- I have one in the office, and one in my actual department in the warehouse.

6. Everyone have a really great weekend. Happy Friday!

Thursday Stuff

It is raining pretty hard right now. And it is supposed to rain more tonight, with a chance of it tomorrow. It's not looking good as far as me getting my grass cut before I leave on vacation. I do not want to come back to knee high grass.

I'm thinking that I may just leave sometime tomorrow night after work. I like driving the turnpike at night because there is very little traffic to deal with, and few cops, too.

I'm looking forward to seeing my best friend from school, Terry. We have been close friends since 6th grade. That's almost forty years. That's the longest relationship of any kind that I have ever had. I'm so glad that we have stayed in touch all of these years. Terry can always get me laughing, without fail.

Today I have a conference call with the company nurse. This is a new program our HR department at work has dreamed up. They keep track of your general health- your blood pressure, eating and exercise habits, and all kinds of stuff. I suppose it's a good thing, but it feels like prying. They try to get you to eat better, exercise more and so on. They are like a health coach. The company is trying to use preventative medicine and actions to help lower their health care/insurance costs. They have put in a bunch of voluntary and manditory programs, all tied to how much money they provide to you for health care, and it's getting very confusing to keep track of it all.

Well, I'm off to read some blogs. Have a good Thursday. Come on Friday!

Squirmin'

Okay, I'm getting antsy for vacation to start. I'm 95 % packed up already. The house is reasonably cleaned. I put a "stop delivery" on my mail. I just have to throw a couple more things in the suitcase and cut my lawn and I'm ready to go. I'll be biting my nails between now and Friday night.

I have been looking at my windows on the house, and once I get back from vacation, I really need to clean them on the outside. There is this dirty film on them. This is not a job I relish. Most of my windows are older and do not tilt inside for cleaning. I will have to go outside with a bucket of suds and the hose and the ladder to handle it.

I got pretty mad at work last night, which doesn't happen very often. I stopped an employee (not one of mine) who was doing something unsafely. That's part of my job as safety administrator for the facility. Well, this employee just blew me off and kept on doing what he was doing. I got pissed, told his supervisor about it, then wrote him up. I was wound about this most of the evening. It's funny how people want respect but don't want to give it to people in positions of authority. You don't have to like me, but you do have to respect the authority of the position I hold. Anyway, I'm over it now.

I'm so glad it's hump day. Everyone have a great Wednesday!

Well, this is new. I'm not used to being up in the morning, let alone on the computer and posting. I've been up since 9:00 AM doing things. I'm trying to turn over a new leaf as far as getting up in the morning and getting things done. Especially this week. There is a lot to do for me to get ready for my trip: packing, laundry, cleaning the house so I don't have to do it when I get back. I have to go to the post office to fill out a form to get the mail stopped for the two weeks.

Now that I am back online, I am also back to corresponding with the lady from Tagged that I am interested in dating. Very soon I will ask her if she is interested in meeting in person. She only lives about forty minutes from here. I hope she says yes. I feel pretty confident about this one.

Last night work was very slow, and I was bored to death. As usual, since there was no work in my department, all of my people worked in other departments, and I finished all my paperwork in the first hour I was there. I spent the rest of the night on the net reading informational articles about kayaking. And I got paid for that. Heh.

Well, I'd better get busy with a couple of things here. I'll probably post more this evening.

Back From The Dead

Hey, I'm back! I'm sorry I was gone but it couldn't be helped. The company locked us out of almost all internet access last Wednesday, so I could not get back here until I got internet service installed at home, which happened this afternoon.

I went camping this weekend with Rachel and some other friends in the Pine Barrens. We had a good time, and the weather was really nice- not too warm, not too cool. I love being out in the woods. We are making plans to go again next month sometime.

I'm hoping that this week goes really quick, since I leave on vacation on Saturday morning. It will be a long drive to Ohio, but I will be really glad to get there. I will be really busy right of the bat, too. Early on Saturday evening I will be attending a Columbus Crew soccer game. I've never been to a pro soccer game before. After that we are going to a bar to see my sister-in-law's son's band play. On Sunday I will visit my brother in the morning, then in the afternoon we are going zip lining. After that, It's a barbeque. All that in just the first day and a half.

Well, I'd better get off to work now. More later...

Medical Stuff and Poetry

I got up late this morning and missed my 11:00 appointment with the psychiatrist. I don't know why I was so tired. Maybe it was because I stayed up reading a poetry book after I got home from work. I had to reschedule and now I have to go tomorrow even earlier- 9:00. I'm going to have a hell of a time getting up for that.

I talked to my other doctor on the phone and he still doesn't know what is causing my anemia. I have to go for more blood tests in September, after which he will decide whether or not to change some of my meds. He says that one of them is know to have a side effect where it does something to the bone marrow which causes blood to not be generated correctly. I wish I knew and could get this solved and behind me. Besides the health worry, I have already to spend about $1,200 out of pocket so far on this beyond what my insurance didn't pay. That really puts a squeeze on me.

*****

I'm not a dumb guy. I am college educated and am a constant reader. But I have to admit that there is some poetry I just don't get. I will read poems by someone who is considered to be pretty damned good, and I just won't understand. What they write doesn't make sense to me. I don't think it's me. I think that they write too abstractly or are making really bizarre or off the wall references and connections, and I just don't get where they are coming from. It makes me feel stupid in a way, and I don't like that feeling.

Now, I could fake it and write like that, but I would be hard pressed to explain what I meant by what I wrote if I was asked, and at some point I would be asked. I just couldn't do that. I guess I am relegated to writing poems that anyone could pick up and read and understand without any explaination or preface given. And I'm actually happy with writing that way. In fact, I prefer it that way.

Good For Me

My extended weekend was a good one. I relaxed a lot and did some fun things. On Thursday I slept in a bit, paid my bills and cut the grass. In the evening I went to the poetry group meeting, which was fun. Besides the poetry stuff I just had a good time visiting with everyone.

Friday I slept in again, and went out fishing on the kayak. It was nice because, being a work day, there was no one out on the lake besides me. I didn't catch anything this time, but it was still fun. In the evening I went to the poetry reading. Rachel gave a very good reading and we had a decent turnout. The after party at Dunlevey's was good as always- great company and good food and drink. I was especially entertained by hearing Anna's husband and another writer talking about all the concerts and shows they had seen in England in their younger days in the 70s and 80s.

Saturday was more sleeping in, until about 1:00 PM this time. Then I had Kendall over to work on finishing up the recording on our poetry CD, which we did complete. Now I just have to mix down the tracks and order them. Kendall will be working on the cover while I do that. In the evening there was a huge thunderstorm which lasted several hours. There was a lot of lightning, and once it hit in the street right in front of my house. It was so loud and unexpected that both the dogs and I jumped when it hit.

Sunday I slept in once again, then went on an eight mile bike ride in the Pine Barrens at Wharton State Forest. That was a nice ride, but it was kind of hot. After that I installed the new flotation system in my kayak, which came in the mail on Saturday. Then I went to my son's apartment for dinner. He and his girlfriend really don't cook, so we ordered out from a good Italian place. When I got home from there I talked to family members on the phone and spent some time loading songs onto the mp3 player that I had ripped off of some CDs.

This week will seem like a long week since the last two have been short ones for me. It will be busy at work, though, so that helps the time pass. This coming weekend I have a camping trip to go on, then it's time to start getting ready to go on vacation, which I have been very much looking forward to the last few weeks.

Well, I'm off to read some blogs now. Happy Monday everyone.

Lost A Limb

Well, I feel like I lost a limb, anyway. I just lost touch with a whole bunch of people- my company blocked access to facebook today. I have to stop screwing around and get some cheap internet service at home. It's just difficult right now with the pay cut/manditory furlough days in effect at work. That and having to try to save for my daughter's wedding. Damned economy. I wish it would hurry up and get better already.

Well, I'm off the next two nights, and I'm looking forward to it. But, duty before pleasure- I have to cut my grass and write out my bills tomorrow before anything else happens. Friday I will again try my hand at the kayak fishing. It will be nice to go when there is no one else out on the lake. I have no idea yet what I will read at the poetry reading on Friday night. I usually try to read newer stuff, but I'm feeling like my latest batch of writing is a bit weak. I'll figure it out. There is lots of stuff I have not read in public that I can draw from.

Everyone have a great weekend...

I don't have much to say today. It's a nice day outside, I feel pretty good, but nothing of note has happened. Nothing bad has happened to me or anyone I know. Maybe that's enough, you know?

No news on the romantic front. I'm waiting to get a message back from my current on line prospect. I really hope that this turns into something. She seems so nice, and I need someone nice with whom to share my time and attention. Keep your fingers crossed for me, please.

With being off at the end of the week, today is my Thursday. I'm happy about that. I'm kind of antsy for the day to be over, though. I don't know why- no real reason that I can think of at the moment. And it's not like tomorrow will be so great from what I know right now. My work day will start off with being involved in a conference call where the corporate manager and director of my division yell at everyone for an hour or so about any little thing they can find to go off about. Fun, fun.

Well, I'm off to read the blogs...

Countdown

I had a pretty good weekend considering that I spent it alone. I fished and kayaked. I grilled out. I ran my new weed whacker in the yard. I puttered around the house. In the evenings I sat on the back patio and listened to the radio or watched movies, and drank beer. I managed to get drunk both Friday and Saturday nights. That helped. I was a little buzzed last night for a while. The night time is the hardest when I have the lonelies.

I take back what I said on Friday about the online connections sites. Why? Because I've started getting replies on Tagged from the one person that I was really interested in, which is encouraging. She has an interesting profile, is pretty, has a great smile, is more my age, and lives less than an hour from me. It's a good start, I think.

Well, I know it's only Monday, but I'm counting down the days to the weekend already. And for me the weekend starts on Wednesday night this week, as I have Thursday and Friday nights off work for poetry related events. I don't think I've worked a full week in about four weeks now. I love it.

Come on Wednseday...

Thursday By The Numbers

1. I have been pretty active on Tagged lately. I have sifted through hundreds and hundreds of profiles and have only found two prospects sort of close to home. One I'm really interested in for a number of reasons. Neither are responding to me. I'm beginning to think that the whole on line connections thing is a grand waste of time.

2. My poem Dust is published in the current issue of the on line poetry journal Thick With Conviction. I'm pretty happy about that. It's a really decent journal, and I feel honored to be in there again.

3. I got my house cleaned last night, so I only have to do yard work tomorrow. I also got pretty drunk while cleaning. I had four beers and five or six shots from the remains of a $50 bottle of tequila. At one point I was making the dogs dance with me to Billy Idol's Dancing With Myself, which was blasting from the mp3 player. I woke up half on the loveseat in the middle of the night, all the doors and windows open and the rain coming in. Yes, it rained again. A nice early start to the weekend.

4. I had a bit of sad news today. A friend of mine who was the bassist in a blues band I was in a handful of years ago passed away suddenly. He was a year younger than I am. Too young to go. He was a very talented musician and guitar technician, and an electrical engineer. I will miss you a bunch, Steve.

5. I have no idea what I am doing for dinner tonight. My cupboards are currently bare in terms of stuff I could bring to work without cooking ahead of time, which I have no time for usually. I may just order a shrimp basket or chicken tenders from the restaurant around the corner.

6. I just saw a roach crawling up the wall across from my desk. This is not a good thing to be seeing. I'd swear it is staring at me right now, the little monster.

7. Everyone have a great holiday weekend. Fire up those barbeques!!

Ugh

Here we are coming up on a long holiday weekend, and I have no plans except cleaning the house, doing yardwork, grocery shopping and paying the bills. Sure, I'll probably go to the gym, do some fishing and kayaking, and spend some time on the back patio with a beer and the radio, but still, no real plans. And what's worse, no one special to spend my time with, which sucks. And the kids are in California for another week yet after this one. Not looking for pity here, just stating facts. It's going to be a lonely weekend.

There is no work again tonight in my department, so it's very quiet here. The shipments came in, but the export documents weren't processed in time for us to take delivery today. So, we'll have a big pile up of work tomorrow when we will be off on Friday. That means Monday and Tuesday will be rough, too. It seems like it's feast or famine around here anymore, although this is supposed to be a temporary thing. I will be leaving four hours early tonight since I have nothing to do, which is a good thing in a way.

I don't have much else to say today. Maybe tomorrow...