Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Totally wired

Spent most of last Saturday retrieving Lofty Mario from the hospital. Somehow the walker he used to leave the building wound up in his home, but I'm sure that was an honest mistake.

After that good deed, I went home and spent the afternoon cleaning up my audio/video mess. I must've come up with a dozen cables that weren't in use anymore. In addition, I finally retired my turntable and cassette deck, neither of which I've used in probably a decade. My daughter is hoping to get the turntable, as she has fantasies on scratching and popping on it. My wife claimed the cassette deck, as she some tapes she wasn't to dub off to her PC. I did get the S-Video cables hooked up to the new SAT receiver, so the video is much clearer. The only downside I spent so much time crouching/contorting myself in a narow space that my back and legs were killing me the next day.

I still need to unwire/straighten out/rewire the current configuration, but that's another afternoon project for another day.

The Shape I'm In

I managed to get back to the gym last night...a half-hour of cardio and the steamroom helped alleviate the depression I had.

I've been pretty lax in my attendance since before Thanksgiving - between the holiday obligations and adjusting to the new job schedule, I haven't been very diligent in working out four days a week the way I used to. This is probably a good time to fix a goal and work toward it...as of today, I weigh 221 lbs and have a 38-3/8 waist. I'll sit down and figure out a target weight/waist size and start trying to achieve it.

Two and a half years ago, I weighed about 240 lbs and was wearing size 42 jeans. I'm probably one of the few people stupid enough to start a workout/diet regime just before the holidays. Luckily, I had a HS reunion coming up in April 2005, which gave me the motivation to try to lose 30 lbs. And I did...I got down to 210 and a waist size just around 38". Since then, I started doing some Nautilus and bulked up, and I put on 10 lbs. Now I've decided to cut back on the weights and go for more reps with a smaller weight, to try to tone rather than get bigger. We'll see.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Loss

I was planning on posting last night - that is, until I called my friend Patrick down in Jersey. He told me a mutual friend lost his 22 year old son over the weekend. No idea what happened, except there was no mention of foul play.

Few things depress me as much as seeing a young life ended. Watching my father deal with Alzheimer's is difficult, but I understand that it goes with the territory of reaching old age. As a parent, the idea of losing a child horrifies me.

I wish there was something wise I could say, but all I can do is hold them in my thoughts and prayers. I hope you'll do so too.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Less Than Zero

Coldest day in two years - awakened this morning to see a reading of -1 in the backyard. Add a stiff wind, and it was frigid.

So, of course, just before leaving the house, I hear my daughter ask, "Why do I need gloves?" Oy vey. It turns out she lost/misplaced hers - I was sorely tempted to teach her a life lesson and send her off without them, but the fear of frostbite setting in persuaded me. So she gets my gloves.

Do I even need to add that she didn't bring a hat either?

So, she has my hat and gloves, while I have a headband and a pair of gloves I had to buy on my way in. Lest I forget, she is a honor student at her high school.

Speaking of succumbing to my good nature, I ran into Boston after work to visit my friend Lofty Mario, who is recuperating from knee replacement surgery in MGH. I had to bring his cellphone recharger in, so he can keep in contact with his female friends he meets on the various Internet dating sites...and a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee, a little cream, no sugar. I wound up braving the cold for five blocks up Cambridge Street...next time, I buy it close to home and he can have one of the nurses nuke it in the microwave.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Oh Headless Chicken

Well, I think I finally convinced my co-workers I can be as much a spaceshot as anyone else. made the drive into Maynard this morning, get to my desk at 8:45. By 10:15, one of our servers is acting up and non-responsive, meaning I have to trek up to Billerica to fix it. Needless to say, I was not happy, particularly since I have no documentation on the apps on it, etc. So I shutdown my laptop, gather everything up, make the 40 minute drive up, wait 15 minutes to get some lunch to take into the facility. I sign in, go to set up, and I forgot my power cord.

Sod me.

I have about 90 minutes of battery time...takes about an hour to get the issue resolved. I stopped at CompUSA to check a replacement, but didn't want to spend the $90 on the adapter. So, i'm home, where my loving wife has a spare power supply that I can use here.

70 miles driving today...sigh.

Monday, January 22, 2007

The Week That Was

I had hoped to post last week, but never got around to it. Just never got back into a cycle after the Jersey trip, then had to work late Wednesday night (as in driving to the DC at 10pm and not getting to bed until 1:30) and going out for some bevvies on Friday night. So I've been out of sync for a bit - this week should be a lot quieter.

Spent a good chunk of the weekend installing the Slingbox we purchased for Christmas. I ran down to Circuit City and bought the Slinglink router package...the good news is that you plug one end into the router and the other into the Slingbox and the signal gets carried through the house wiring. The bad news is you have to plug it directly into an outlet, and not a power strip, and with outlets at a premium, it makes for some creative electrical work. Anyway, I got it up and running and was watching it on a my PC Saturday night.

Sunday is when the fun began...the DirecTv receiver's hard drive was starting to make grinfding noises, and it finally gave up the ghost. So it was back to the store to buy a replacement receiver. Spent a good half-hour waiting on the phone for DirecTv's customer service, but I got it up and running yesterday afternoon. My task for next weekend is to unplug my audio/video equipment, clear out everything that isn't being used and streamlining the wiring. That will take up an afternoon. I have a turntable and cassette deck that I'll probably set aside somewhere...haven't used them in years.

Watched the Pats game over at my friend Willy's house....his Pats fan friends were suitably downcast at the end. The ice cream sandwiches I brought over weren't enough to cheer them up.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Why should you want to take my bad trip?

Indeed.

Back home after a long weekend. Crappy weather, saw another bad accident on the Merritt Parkway south on the way home this afternoon (2 SUVs mangled one another and wound up blocking the 2 lanes - add the police and rescue trucks in the median and shoulder, and no one was going anywhere).

Stopped by my folks before leaving - my dad (who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's since July 2005) had called to make sure we were going to come by. When I drove up the street past the house, he was looking for us through the storm door. And that ain't my dad. As the disease progresses, he grows more worried and nervous about things. He goes through phases where he doesn't recognize my mom as his wife, which understandably upsets her. It's a long, hard row to hoe, and all I can do is try to make things easier for them. Today broke my heart though.

We did go to Steve's in Carlstadt last night and had a good dinner. Awful service - the waitress had us on her "pay no mind" list and we had to keep asking for a utensil setup for our daughter, a drink order, etc.

It's good to be home...I'm beat.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Stuck inside Secaucus with the Massachusetts blues again

Posting from my hotel room. An overcast day down here....will be taking my nieces to the swimming pool here in a while, then going out to dinner with my parents later. Saw a few months' worth of accidents yesterday, including a car into the median and down a bank on Rte. 91 in CT.

Watched the Eagles-Saints game up at the bar where my brother works...in a bowling alley. My wife knows we only go to the highest class places. :-)

Friday, January 12, 2007

Quiet before things move to fast-forward

Have about an hour to go here at work. Just wrapping up for the week...then the fun begins. I'm finishing up my holiday season with a visit to my family in NJ. So tonight will be laundry, packing, getting the car gassed up, then a visit to the local, which coincidentally is having its grand reopening. This promises to be a circus, but unfortunately I have to cut the night short and get some sleep. Driving 225 miles hungover is no longer an acceptable option.

The weekend will be a blur of family visits, brunches and dinners. It's a good trip as my daughter gets to spend some time with her cousins and have an overnight with them, and my wife and I get out and act like adults for an evening. Then it's back on Monday to face the arrival of real winter weather.

Hope to get some photos up this weekend.

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

First post

I want my will and capability to meet inside the region
Where this gravity don't mean a thing
It's where the angels break through . . .
It's where they bring it to you
It's where silence, silence can teach me to sing

I want a world without gravity
It could be just what I need
I'd watch the stars move close
I'd watch the earth recede

"Wicked Gravity" - Jim Carroll