Archive for October, 2007
Updates and Miscellany.
October 23rd, 2007. Published under General. No Comments.
I haven’t posted (other than the Bacon Salt item…which is still somewhat awesome) for over a week now. Too much going on.
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The funeral was tough. There were fire departments from the entire area there to pay their respects and served as an escort to the cemetery, which was very moving. The family was devastated, naturally. Having lost my own brother to an accident years ago - I know the pain they’re experiencing right now. I just hope they’ll be able to pick up the pieces after things settle down.
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I need a costume idea for Halloween. I’m just drawing a blank. Tim (with the right thrift shop clothes and his old glasses) is going to be Dwight Schrute from The Office (US). The idea of me being Pam from the same show came up, but Tim said I’m not “mousy enough” to pull it off.
So the question is: what could I be for Halloween that isn’t 1) expensive or 2) difficult to execute?
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Installing new doors this weekend with my brother. Then we’re taking him out for dinner/beers to pay him back for helping out.
I need to get the paint to paint the storm door and the few other supplies we’ll need on Saturday. I’m glad he knows what he’s doing!
Have a great week.
Holy Shit.
October 18th, 2007. Published under General. 1 Comment.
Bree. You may never buy anything else ever again.
“Everything should taste like bacon!”
Wishing on a Vapour Trail
October 15th, 2007. Published under General. 2 Comments.
This weekend has been interesting to say the least. There was the quote “May you live in interesting times.” Well, it certainly seems that way.
On Saturday, I took Tim to the Trail of Terror. I had gone 6 years ago and had a lot of fun. Looking back, the weather was crappy that night so it wasn’t that busy. This past Saturday was gorgeous and the Trail of Terror was more of a Field of Frenzy overrun with snotty teenagers and thug gangsta wannabes. After paying $16 each, we had a ten ounce glass of Guiness for $4.50 each, sat around a fire and left after 45 minutes. No rides. No haunted house. Nothing. Just too much wank to handle and we got sick of it and went home.
We ended up going home and watching TV snuggled on the couch.
Sunday we went out to breakfast at Nat’s Eggs, then we went to Menards to pick up the new storm door and screen door that we’ll be installing (with the help of my brother) in two weeks. They were on sale this weekend, so we picked them up now instead of later.
Now here’s where it gets “interesting”…
Later that afternoon, I got a call from my mom. She called to let me know that my cousin was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound earlier in the day. I was shocked. He was only a couple of years older than me. I don’t know of any problems he was having, but then I hadn’t seen him in a couple of years. Growing up, we were all pretty close - but as you grow up, you stop having the extended family get-togethers and you drift apart, getting together every once in a while when my aunt decides that we need to get together or someone gets married. Since there’s only two in my extended family who aren’t married yet, I hadn’t seen him in a while. This summer, my aunt out in California was out visiting and my other aunt had a family reunion of sorts and I was surprised that my cousin wasn’t there when his 3 brothers were. But, I didn’t think anything of it. People get busy, or they have other conflicts. I didn’t think there was anything wrong.
It turns out there was something very wrong.
I know what it feels like to be hopeless. I know what a deep, dark depression feels like. I know what it feels like when you think there’s no point to life. But I got help for it. I clawed and fought my way out of that pit of despair. I discovered that nothing and nobody was worth losing myself over and that nobody was more important to me than myself.
I’m sad that my cousin had to go through that alone. I’m sad that he couldn’t find the strength to pull himself out of whatever was holding him under.
The hardest part will be seeing his family and trying to give them condolences for their loss because what do you say? What can you say?
So…not the best way to start off the week.
Vista Sucks
October 10th, 2007. Published under General. No Comments.
Too funny not to share…
Vista Sucks! (video)
Made me chuckle.
Trail of Terror - October 13
October 8th, 2007. Published under General. 1 Comment.
All my Minnesota friends are welcome to join us at the Trail of Terror on Saturday October 13th - the place opens around 7pm and we’ll be getting there around then…like 7-7:30pm.
There’s a haunted house, a haunted hay ride and lots of other stuff.
Comment if you’d like to join us!
Soggy Days
October 8th, 2007. Published under General. 1 Comment.
I swear it’s been raining for weeks now. Also, the humidity in my house is getting to unbearable levels. I keep nudging the air conditioning down to get some of the humidity out, but then it gets like a meat locker in there. No happy medium.
We were going to do a couple of things this weekend, but ended up not doing either. Saturday was the Zombie Pub Crawl (and I heard there was also a Pirate Pub Crawl too…I need to organize the Ninja Pub Crawl now). We didn’t do that one because the date snuck up on us and we realized on Thursday that it was this past weekend. Since the whole point of doing the pub crawl was to get a bunch of friends together to do it, there really was no point.
The other thing we were going to do was go to FallCon (the comic convention at the fairgrounds) - but we decided that there wouldn’t be anything worth doing there anyway as it’s just comic artists (99% of whom we never heard of) and comic shops with back issues.
So we ended up watching a lot of Season “one” (new series) of Doctor Who, just so Tim has the backstory of Rose and Capt. Jack for Season “three”. And it’s good on repeated watchings anyway.
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We need to get the storm door and screen door replaced at home before winter hits - so my brother is going to come up the last weekend in October to help out. I might get my sister to come up too, can’t hurt anyway. I’ll do some reading up on it prior to see what else we need other than the new doors. Menards is having a door sale through the weekend, so it’s a good time to buy.
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I’ve noticed this trend of women offering pics/video of their breasts for donations to breast cancer research (the “Boobiethon”) to a teenager whoring herself out for a new Mac Book Pro.
What in the hell is wrong with people? Now I’m all for donating to breast cancer research, but I’m not the type to donate just to get something in return. Maybe I’m just really altruistic, but I give to causes I believe in, not because I’ll get a free “gift” (CD, jacket, boobies, Ginsu knife) for doing so. What’s wrong with just giving to give? It really drives me crazy that this “Boobiethon” is getting people to donate who most likely wouldn’t donate just because they get some nudie pictures in return.
Don’t get me started about the “buy me a Mac” one…
If it’s a cause you believe in, donate to it. If the only reason you’re donating is to get something in return (other than the good feeling that you’ve made a difference), go ahead - just don’t expect me to congratulate you for it.
I think I need more coffee. And less rain.
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I’m in week two of my no candy/chocolate/cake/cookies ban for the month of October. So far, so good. I bought a bunch of Honeycrisp apples to help stave off the sweet cravings and tonight, I’m starting a new workout regime where I’m going to start the transition from running outside to running on the treadmill. I’m also going to ramp up the weight training quite a bit and start rock climbing again. I’ll have to figure out a schedule to get over to Vertical Endeavors on a regular basis and get Tim involved too.
I think I’ll sign us up for a climbing class at the Bloomington REI - he needs the basics and I need to brush up on my skills….it’s been over two years since I’ve climbed last. I also need to get trained on using the regular belay tool instead of the gris-gris.
I think it’ll be fun to get back into it again.
Maybe things aren’t so bad…
October 4th, 2007. Published under General. 2 Comments.
Monday, I volunteered at Project Homeless Connect where there were anywhere from 1,800 to 1,900 homeless people there to receive services from dental, haircuts, legal and many other agencies. It was a one-stop-shop for the homeless to come and get the help and services they needed.
It truly is an eye-opener every time I participate in one of these events. It doesn’t register that there’s over 3,000 homeless in the metro area alone and 1,800 homeless people seems pretty insignificant until you see them all in one room. All with different faces, with different stories and with different needs. You don’t know how bad this problem is until they’re staring you in the face.
I have a roof over my head. I have food in my cupboard. I have heat and running water. My life is pretty good. If you ever get the opportunity to volunteer for someone less fortunate than you, do it. It will change your life.
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I know it’s the 4th of October, but I decided today that I would give up something for a month. I was inspired by someone who gave up coffee for a month and now that his month was up, he didn’t want the coffee anymore. It takes 25-30 days for a new habit to “stick”.
So I’m giving up cookies, cake, candy and chocolate (other than the 50 calorie Skinny Cow mini fudge pops) for the month of October. Considering it’s Halloween this month, there’s going to be a TON of candy in the office. But I don’t care. I don’t need to eat it and I’m not going to eat it.
I encouraged some friends over at Pownce to give up something for October too and now I have a “October Willpower” group that will get a post every day to keep us motivated.
I need to get to Cub and buy a bushel of Honeycrisp apples and some mini fudge pops to get me through this!
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