I thought I would throw something up here on the wall to see what sticks. There isn’t all that much going on, it’s snowing again and it’s cold. Nothing new there for me or anyone else. I ended up withdrawing from one of my classes. I just didn’t have the motivation or inclination to do what it would take to get a good grade in the class. The material was so dry and the professor was one of those types that seemed like he wanted to prove how much smarter he was than you in the subject instead of helping you learn and retain the information. That plus the fact that I took basically full time classes this semester was really stressing me out. Dropping the class really made me feel better and I think I’m going to have to go with the lower course load instead of the plan of taking more classes to finish sooner. Oh well, I’ve been going to school for years and years, another couple more doesn’t mean much does it?

I also decided to switch from the full marathon to the half. Training for the full takes too much time and it’s just too damn cold to do the training on the schedule on the treadmill. At least it will be warmer once the higher mileage stuff comes and I can go outside to do it. The shorter training runs are a lot more enjoyable and that’s what it’s all about in the end.

The only other news that I’ve got it that Jess didn’t get the job with the university that she interviewed for a month ago. It sucks but what are you going to do? She made the top 15 or 20% or so of the people who applied and did pretty well in the process, in this economic climate there was probably just someone who was a little more qualified or had a more applicable college degree or something. Gotta keep plugging away at it and sooner or later her number will hit.

Well I’m back at work after a week of staycation. I could definitely get used to being unemployed and can definitely see the allure. At least for a little while I guess. We didn’t do all that much on my time off. Jess and I went to the Henry Doorly Zoo last Wednesday. I haven’t gone since I was a little kid, over 25 years or so ago so I had no idea what was even there. It was pretty neat but the middle of Winter isn’t the greatest time of year to go to the zoo. I bet we were one of about 10-15 people in the entire zoo that day. The inside stuff was pretty cool but I would say that the better part of it was basically closed because the animals were put away somewhere. I thought the best part was when were trying to take a picture with a silverback gorilla and he ran and all of a sudden he smashed the glass with his fist and Jessica screamed. The jungle was pretty neat as well even if it took a little while after walking in before my glasses kept fogging over and I could see. I liked how you could walk through the jungle areas and go right up to little monkeys and stuff. I definitely think it’s worth a visit again when it warms up.

Other than that not much happened. Jess and I went and had dinner in Waverly with some old friends of hers. I just met them but it was a pretty good time and a pretty good dinner. I need to make more of an attempt to get out there and do more stuff like that because if I’m left to my own devices I can really be a recluse hermit and I kind of lose touch with people after a while.

The marathon training was going pretty well until midway through last week when I broke my 4 week streak of doing all my training. I’ve got to get back at it this morning after work in the gym to get my mileage in. I’m starting to doubt whether I really want to do the training to do the full marathon because of how much time it takes and how I always end up in so much pain. I still want to do at least one full marathon but my max seems to be more around the half marathon range. Jess is going to do the half when I do the full. Depending on some other things we might run it in Pittsburgh because her sister is going to run the half there but that is still undecided.

Jessica had an interview with the university a couple weeks ago. She thought that she didn’t get it but now it turns out that she’s still in the running. I guess there are so many people involved in the decision that it’s like molasses in Winter to make a decision. I’m crossing my fingers. The pay isn’t that great but there’s benefits as well as free school that comes with it so she could get the Natural Resources degree that a lot of places are looking for so she could get a job later on that she really wants.

I better get back to my school work. I’m not doing well in one of the classes so I need to buckle down a little. I read about a technique on the internet where you set a timer for like 15 or 20 minutes and really buckle down during that time and then when the time is up mess around for 15 or 20 minutes or so. During an 8 hour period I get a good 4 hours of good work in and don’t burn out like trying to study for 4 hours straight would. It works well when I’m working the desk at work when there’s a lot of dead time but I really need to set up a quiet study area at home. There’s just too much noise and distraction sometimes there.

…has started back up again and I am hating it with every fiber of my being. I honestly don’t know why I am going at this point. I know that it should help me at some time in the future but sometimes I just don’t see the point. When I got the associates degree I can honestly say that I saw absolutely no impact in my life whatsoever and I have the strong feeling that it will be the same way with the bachelors. I mean even when I do get it, what does it really mean? That I finally got the degree at 34 that numerous people have already gotten at 21 or 22? What am I going to do with this expensive piece of paper anyway? I think that’s one of the biggest things that I’ve been thinking about. I have no idea what I want to do with my life that really inspires me. You know that saying “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”? Sometimes I’m jealous of the people out there who know so clearly what they want to do do because I feel like every day of work is an eternity sometimes.

Enough of the pity party. I’ve got some January blahs I guess and am feeling a little unmotivated. I’ve got a week’s vacation starting this weekend so maybe that will help some.

Pretty true.

… or the La Niña? Hell, I will take any weather formation that makes it warmer, it doesn’t even need to be Hispanic! I think I got a little spoiled last year when it didn’t even snow for the first time until after the first of the year and it wasn’t all that cold compared to what it could have been. This year this cold, snow, and wind is getting real old real fast. I am trying real hard to have a good attitude about things though. I often slip, but I’m doing my best. I guess if I don’t like the cold I shouldn’t have chosen an outside job in Nebraska working nights then should I? We are all on the path of our own choosing. I won’t go on and on about the weather, most of the people reading this are going through the same thing and don’t want to hear it. If you aren’t? Well then you suck!

It’s been about a week since I made my last post on here. I can’t say that things have been all that exciting but we have been out and about some. Last weekend I finally had some time off after working a bunch of days in a row so of course we had to do something. I fulfilled that something by scoring some free Husker basketball tickets with parking pass and hospitality room tickets to see the game against Maryland Eastern Shore. Nice! I got 4 of them so Ed and his wife went along too. It must be nice being marginally rich because we got to park in covered parking right across the street from “The Bob” and there was all you could eat Mexican food and drinks in the hospitality room. I say marginally rich because if we were using the tickets of someone really rich we would have had courtside seats and had tickets to the coaches club where they serve prime rib. That’s ok though I still had a good time and will most likely be able to have the same arrangement a few more times yet this season.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day, the only thing of note was that I got my hair cut for the first time in a year. I didn’t go really short or anything, it’s still got some shagginess to it but I just had to get rid of the mullet and I had to get it out of my eyes because it was starting to drive me crazy. For the most part I’m happy with it but I think I’ll go a little shorter around the ears next time. I also trimmed up the beard so I don’t look all that homeless anymore. Still a little homeless I guess.

On Monday Jessica and I used the movie passes that I got from one of our customers to go see Avatar. I would say for the most part it was a pretty good movie but I really didn’t like the undertones of trying to make you feel guilty for oppressing the Native Americans and also a Afghanistan kind of thing too. I don’t feel like I’ve oppressed anyone you know? The Native American thing was far before I was born and Afghanistan certainly wasn’t my decision. It was made by people who can’t learn from the mistakes made by others like the British and the Soviets. They don’t call it “the graveyard of empires” for nothing. Anyway, I thought it was still a good movie and would recommend it if you haven’t seen it already.

A water main broke at Homestead National Monument where Jessica works on New Years day and caused a ton of damage. It flooded the room where all the historic documents are stored and filled the AV room where all the expensive electronic gear is kept with mud and rocks. I know it ruined a brand new Hi Definition camera that cost a fortune as well as a bunch of other expensive equipment. The good news that came out of the deal is that Jessica got some more hours to come in and help with the cleanup which is a big help since money is really tight for her when she is basically laid off over the winter other than a few days here and there.

Jessica’s big job interview at UNL that was supposed to be yesterday afternoon after 3 weeks of waiting got postponed because of the stupid weather until next week. Of course the day that they want to reschedule it on is one of the few days this month that she is scheduled to work at the monument (shakes fist in the air at nothing in particular). It will all work out for the best one way or another and she will do great.

We had all the cats staring at the attic door for a couple days. It was very creepy. Jess was especially weirded out because she had been watching some show on A&E about ghosts and pets or something. I don’t know, I didn’t see it, I hate ghost shows. Anyway, they were all doing it again so she decided to sit down by them and stare at it too to see what the hell they were looking at. Shortly after she did she was like, “What is that, a stick? There’s something moving up there…” and right then a starling exploded out of the crack and flew right at her head. I was in the shower at the time and all I heard was a scream and what sounded like someone falling down the stairs. She busts in and shrieks that a bird came out of the attic and is flying around upstairs. I replied with the only sensible thing that I could think of which was, “Well, go catch it!”. I was in the shower after all and wasn’t going to be doing any soapy naked bird chasing. I didn’t think she would actually do it and I figured it could wait until I finished rinsing off and put some clothes on but with some help from the cats she caught it after it busted through the plastic on one of the windows and trapped itself between the plastic and the window.

Finally got my iPod shuffle in the mail and what the hell! It’s only a 1 gig and was supposed to be 2! Rottensonofabitch! I was pretty pissed off and ended up getting a partial refund because I didn’t want to return it and end up waiting another 2 weeks before I could order another one. I use my iPod daily and not having one really sucked. I was hating using the shuffle because it’s so limited in what it can do but was just going with it because it’s better than nothing. Then today I got a message from a guy that I was in the Air Force with asking if I still needed one. He had an old nano and I could just have it if I paid for shipping because he didn’t use it anymore. NICE! Oh hell yea! Very unexpected and much appreciated. Now I can listen in the car again and use the dock for the stereo and clock radio as well. Sometimes things do go your way.