A Mediocre Life

...Is not one that I want to live.

And yet I can't help but feel that I've fell in to that comfortable - somewhat mediocre life.

Yes, I suppose I could make the argument that I've got a very good life. I'm healthy, I have a lot of fun and I don't have any other major issues in my life.

But what's been bothering me the past week are a few things.

I recently read a questionnaire given to hundreds of elderly people in retirement homes.

And they continued to see the same recurring theme in each of the answers. It wasn't that people regretted anything in their lives...but that they regretted not doing more. Not doing what they always wanted to with their lives. Not following their dreams.

So I've been questioning myself over the past week (like I've been known to do). Am I pursuing my dreams? Am I doing everything possible in my life to make it my best life possible?

I am uneasy about the response. But that stems from the fact that I'm not sure what my dreams are.

I have the early retirement goal. Which is definitely an ambitious goal and I feel that I am doing my best to complete it.

But other than that? What do I see as my "dream life"? Anything that I would want to do for the rest of my life, even given the assumption that I could anything I wanted to - somehow ends up down the road of mediocrity. I am definitely a creature of routine. Routine is my comfort though. I seek it out. And really the day in, day out is something that actually is part of my dream life - I just haven't realized it yet.

I think about the people I know and love. I can only think of maybe 1 or 2 people who are "living their dream". But it's not even really that. It's more that they had a career goal growing up or going through college, and they've seen the career through to fruition. Are they really enjoying their life that much more than me? That's arguable.

So that's where I sit right now. The question might be too large for me right now. But it might be a question for everyone reading this right now. What are your dreams? If you could have any life right now what would it look like? I am unsure about mine - and I am not sure if I will ever be sure.

The Moosey Star

Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump

BOOM

Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump Thump

BOOM CRASH

This is the sound that I hear throughout the day. Sometimes well in to the early morning.

This is the sound of the Moosey Star.

Moosey Star: Noun. A tall woman with big bones, typically overweight. See Belgian Womens Volleyball Player.

The Moosey Star is amazing. I am not sure if she works at all. I am sure that she is insane. I forgot what it was like to live in a multiple unit building. It sucks. She lives right above my office our bedroom and our main bathroom.

The Moosey Star likes to pace around her house. I think she has wood floors and wears steel heeled boots. Yes. On the heel. To ruin her wood floors.

She likes to "pace" back and forth. And by "pace" I actually mean march around her house, waking me up at 2 in the morning and annoying me throughout my work day.

If there is ONE thing that I hate about living out here, it is her.

I have a few theories about what she is doing though.

-She has a very strict work out/cardio regimen which requires her to work out every 4 hours, even if that means waking up at 2 in the morning and bouncing around.

-She has a lot of cockroaches in her house that she enjoys stomping on.

-She is like Adam Sandler in the movie "Reign Over Me" constantly redoing one of the rooms in her house. Because there are times where I hear her thumps followed by a large CRASH almost as if she had dropped a large table.

-She has OCD and cannot do anything properly without taking the same steps throughout her house over and over.

-She is terrible at jump roping and is not getting better. She falls every time after 5 or 6 jumps. But one day she'll make it to 10 in a row. She'll show all those kids in school that made fun of her.

-She has a mild form of dementia where she is always looking for something and thinking she left it in the other room. Only to turn back around to think she left it in the room she just left. Frustrated, she bangs her feet in to the ground each step she takes.

-She had her feet cut off in a freak roller coaster accident (or maybe while she was a prisoner of war?) and has to move around on stumps. The sheer weight of her 250 pound body pressing down on such a small surface area creates the BOOM noise every time she steps.

-She is trying to memorize all the steps from "Stomp the Yard". Her favorite movie of all time.

-She is part of a Native American tribe and is constantly practicing. But that I have actually heard before (amazingly on a floor above me) and it sounds nothing like this.

-She likes to annoy us.

So on nights like tonight where she has been stomping around for the past 2 hours (and I'm sure will be going on well in to the night) I've decided to take it upon myself to give her a little wake up call from below the next morning.

It gives me a little satisfaction. In my passive aggressive ways...

When I hear that she is up at 2 and 3 in the morning, I make sure to wake up with the Wife at 6 AM and blast the TV. And when the TV is too loud for me I turn on the music. And I let it run for a few hours. I take the dog for a walk for about half the time the music is blaring and the rest of the time I'm downstairs (and like MY MUSIC LOUD) so I don't mind it so much. Sometimes I let my phone alarm just ring...and ring...and ring...because it is the loudest and most annoying sound on my phone, and doesn't stop until I turn it off.

I've heard her stomping around...more forcefully than usual when I've got my volume up. And in my own little twisted way, it gives me satisfaction. I hear her sometimes during the day, sometimes in the middle of the night. I've begun to think that she doesn't work...nor does she ever leave the house. A normal person does not move around their house that much. I would say in a 30 minute period she will move back and forth across her house about 50 times. Yes. It is that bad. What person does that? Who doesn't sit down and take a load off? You're supposed to relax when you're at home...Or at least that's what I do...

This Moosey Star is definitely a head case. Some days and nights are worse than others (isn't that what they say about people with mental illness?). If she was at her worst every day? I'd probably be up there banging around with her and lose my mind as well.

Love thy neighbors? How about making each of us as miserable as possible?

Tomorrow is going to be another Rage Against the Machine morning for me it sounds like...I wonder if she likes it? I shudder at the thought...

"Largest Up Move in 4 Months Time"

Warning: This post will be about the market.

If you find that boring, or don't want to read about it, or have no idea about some of the things I'm talking about then I'd recommend going for a run. I heard the weather's supposed to be nice wherever you are.

Today the Dow was up over 330 points, the S&P was up almost 30 points. Almost all of the US indices rallied 3%. It was a huge day.

And I did nothing but lose money. Almost $2K to be exact.

Now that doesn't seem like much, and I've definitely had a lot bigger losing days in the past, but it's capped off a pretty bad week for me where I've lost a nice chunk of change swinging from profitability this year to negativity.

And the emotion from losing can snowball sometimes. Especially because after the market closed I imagined my dad calling me about it (because he knows I follow the market pretty closely). My mom actually did end up calling this afternoon, but she didn't mention anything about the market.

Here was my imaginary phone conversation with my dad:

Dad: Hey boy!

Me: Sup

Dad: You see that market today?

Me: Yeah

Dad: Well? Did you make any money?

Me: No, I actually lost $2K

Dad: What? How?

Me: You wouldn't understand...

Dad: Ayyyeee...well you'll get it back

Me: I hope so


The shift was slow in coming. And I'm not really sure if the "shift" has completely taken place yet. It was the rotation out of commodities and back in to other things. Tech. Financials. Retail. Anything that had been beaten down with the rest of the market. And it was time to beat up the things that hadn't. So while the market was rallying my favorite stock of the past 6 months - Potash - was falling off a cliff once again after a big down move yesterday.

And there I was, catching the falling knife the entire time. Just 2 weeks ago, and for months before that, I was catching the falling knife on it, never knowing if it would break it's trend line. Luckily for me it never did. But as I sit here right now, the thing is broken. I had to get out. I had to take what I could.

Tomorrow I'm going to start over and try my best to rebuild. I've faced a similar situation to this a couple months ago. And I rebuilt it all only to see it disappear again.

So writing this out is almost acting like a bit of therapy for me. Stan from SB used to tell me that there are opportunities everyday. It's just a matter of finding them. And I also have to remember that it's a marathon. Not a sprint.

I just want to be rich yesterday. I want to have cash to burn because I've never been in that situation before. And I know that investing my money is one way to get to that point.

So I'm going to keep my head up, look back on this week as the point where I completely missed the sector rotation and got burned for it, and hopefully be more aware in the future so I can catch the next wave.

Back to work tomorrow.

The Awesomeness That Is My Life

As I was sitting there scraping off the fried coconut/batter that made up over half of what were microwave reheated coconut shrimps I was thinking to myself about how awesome my life was.

There I was, 10 minutes ago, 11:30 pm on a Tuesday night sitting at a dinner table alone in the middle of a retirement community in the middle of Florida...eating leftover red lobster. Leftovers that weren't even mine to begin with. I only like coconut shrimp when I can barely taste the coconut. So most of the coconut shrimps? I don't like too much. This was one of those cases.

I was thinking to myself how I must be a disgrace to those that came before me because I'm sure they loved coconut. My parents love it. I'm not a huge fan of the taste. Just like watermelon. People think I'm crazy not to like watermelon. Well I think some people are crazy for not liking to eat meat with the bone still in it.

We're down here to help support my last surviving grandma. Well, she is a grandma by law to me, but still I consider her family.

Her husband passed away on Thursday morning. Which was a bit of a blow to me because we had just seen him the Sunday before.

And I was kicking myself after hearing that news.

The guy had seen a lot. And due to cancer in the past he had to eat through a tube and that made it hard for him to talk. I'm sure he would've loved to share a lot of his knowledge with me. From what I had heard from the rest of the family, he was a great investor, and to this day even after his death he still has money outperforming the market. I wanted to pick his brain for a good 30 minutes at least on what he thought of what was going on. And now I'll never get the chance to.

So if you think I was being facetious regarding the whole coconut shrimp bit, I wasn't. Life could always be worse. Or life can be over before you know or expect it.

Sometimes I step outside of myself - this may sound odd - but I almost look at it if I was being taped as part of a reality show.

-Here's Seth reading his book in bed...

*stomach rumbling*

"I'm starving. This is what happens when I eat dinner at 5 pm."

*Seth stumbles through the dark looking for the light switch in a house where he is not familiar with the placement of furniture and more importantly light switches. He touches a glass framed painting and has a moment of panic when he realizes that the painting could fall to the floor busting the glass in to shards and cutting up his feet. He brings it a step further and imagines his wife and her grandma in the local emergency room, looking over him and sighing as a doctor is stitching up his foot. They are surrounded by other senior citizens suffering from similar ailments. What a clumsy bunch. Finally he finds a light switch...woops wrong light...and finally...*

So the grandma has a thing with leftovers. You could say that about me too. I love leftovers. I will eat things up to about a week and couple days later. And I'll still think they're good. Something about leftovers hopefully reminds you of when you were first eating it. Or maybe not.

Well, "grammie" as they call her is the exact opposite. She would rather chuck it down the disposal than box it up and put it in the fridge. I think since we've been down here on Sunday, it's been the first time she's had leftovers in the fridge. How can that be possible you might ask? Lots of sandwiches.

So the wife tells me to "eat those shrimp so that grammie can stop complaining about them tomorrow". Hunger + food available = no more hunger.

Luckily for me there was also a baked potato from the red lobster meal that could serve as my carb. Unluckily for me while I was microwaving the whole bit the shrimp started popping and I had to shut the whole thing down. And what did that mean? Cold ass potato. So the whole time I'm struggling with trying to cut the coconut breading off of this shrimp the dog comes out, nose in the air, wondering what the eff I'm doing up at this time...but I'm eating so she's interested.

Unfortunately I couldn't even pawn off the cold potato on her either.

And yes, I was too lazy to put it back in the microwave. 'Tever, I wasn't that hungry after trying to throw down a few shrimp (with ketchup nonetheless!) anyway. Hah - and the best part of this post? The whole reason I am writing it is because I have this whole deal about eating and then going straight to bed. I feel like food won't digest as well (and I have read things about eating before going to bed - and how we shouldn't) since I'm in a horizontal position. So I stay up for at least 30 minutes after eating (just like how I don't go swimming for 30 minutes after eating) to make sure everything is OK before hitting the sack. That is unless I'm wasted. And if that's the case sometimes I'll catch myself sleeping on the toilet.

And that is why my life is awesome. I find this almost inexplicable joy in thinking about my thoughts or thinking about how ridiculous I would seem doing things that feel normal to me. Yes. All this from a plate of leftovers.

Summer Breeze

Makes me feel fine...

When it's summer in Seattle you know it.

Down here in Charleston you can't really tell. Or at least I can't because I haven't seen the winters down here. Almost every day I've been down here it's been in the mid 80s to as high as 100 degrees. I can count the number of overcast days (not even raining all day like it does in Seattle) here in Charleston on 1 hand.

And you know, honestly I was afraid that being in the sun every day (like some parts of this country) would be oppressive. Especially with the humidity down here. I thought it would get old after a month after seeing how I felt about Vegas on day 4 of a "vacation". But it hasn't been bad at all although I think it would a lot worse if we were further inland.

The reason I'm writing it this post is because this afternoon was the first time I looked around me and really felt "summer".

One of my defining moments of each summer - and I understand it might seem silly to others - is getting that moment when the sun is about halfway down, around 6:30 or 7 pm...it's in the upper 70s to lower 80s and I'm driving with my windows down, sunglasses on and music up. Given gas prices these days it's rare that I feel like I could just drive with no destination. Regardless I took my time coming home from running an errand this afternoon.

I'm sure I could've felt this way earlier when I was here. But since I work from home and everything we need is in walking distance on this island, there hasn't been any reason for me to really drive anywhere. One of the most amazing things about working from home is that I haven't filled up my gas tank in my car since...dramatic pause...April. Yes - it's true. It'll be 4 months since I've filled up my tank on the 28th of this month. And I've still got about 70 miles left to drive on this current tank before I need to fill up again.

I think I'll strive to only have to fill up twice while in South Carolina. I kind of get confused in regards to oil changes because they say, "Either 3 months or 3,000 miles". But really, do I have to go in to get my oil changed when I've only driven my car about 10 or 15 times (a total of 200 miles!) in the past 4 months? I guess I'll have to research that.

Every Wednesday night the restaurant down the street from us, Brewer's Bistro, has live music. And since the river is about a quarter mile from our front door the breeze off of the water floats the music down to our porch. The amazing thing about the music is that the wind usually blows in gusts. So standing on our front steps you can suddenly hear the music as if it was 30 feet away and then just as quickly as it hit your ears it's just a faint inkling of sound in the distance.

Every week that I've heard the music I'm always surprised. Hopefully after this week I'll remember that they're having live music next week. Every week that I hear the music I take the dog on a peaceful evening stroll with the Jason Mraz/Jack Johnson type music in the background as our soundtrack. The island is so quiet at night that the music can carry really well. Usually they don't start with the music until about 7 pm and they play well on in to the night. I love walking to the Bistro at dusk when the music is playing because everyone is sitting outside enjoying each other's company along with the cool breeze. Women sitting in their sun dresses and men in their button ups...the sun slowly falling beyond the horizon and painting the clouds that dot the sky a dark purple. The flicker from the gas lanterns dances on the glasses of wine and beer. For a moment I find peace.

And I know it sounds cheesy, but tonight I just had to sigh and realize I'd be leaving here probably sooner than I would like to. Which was probably the original intention of this post. I'm already missing being down here and I'm torn because I'd like to stay but at the same time I miss home and my family just as much.

So for now I'll just recognize that I've let this place in - I've let it affect me. And I'll try to take advantage of the rest of the time I've got down here.

Sweet days of summer...

Can't Sleep

I can't ever sleep.

I don't remember the last time I slept for more than 8 hours.

Even this morning, hung over after 6 hours of drinking last night, I woke up, wide awake, still drunk at 6:40 AM. Came downstairs, tried to nurse a headache and a stomach that wanted to rid itself of sickness...

Only to try and go back to sleep 2 hours later, with no luck.

Luckily the hangover wore off around 11 and I've been fine for the rest of the day. And I got an hour long nap around 1 pm and here I sit now. Almost 1 am and I can't sleep. Because of the nap. Or maybe because I didn't work out today? My body should be tired. I've been laughing since about 8:30 tonight.

I've read 3 different blogs before writing in mine. Nick, you seriously need to update yours. Your life is interesting enough to write about right? I think in our own little ways all of our lives are...maybe not bestsellers...but a handful of people would gladly read them. I read Pol's blog through once after our vacation last summer. I went through the whole thing again and about died from laughter from a few things I haven't thought about recently. Especially the whole apple incident at the CVS.

Stat: The top 40 US Taxpayers for 2007 made an average of $214 million.

Sick.

You know what the worst part about not being able to sleep is? Well, scratch that. When I go to sleep I sleep just fine. Only sometimes do I wake up in the middle of the night, wide awake at 3 am. Anyway here are some bad things about going to sleep later than you want to:

-You get less sleep for the next day, which will probably require a nap again thus continuing the terrible sleep pattern...ever spiraling downward and never making a new deposit to the sleep bank...only withdrawals.

-I don't know about everyone else, but I get hungry. Every 3 and a half hours or so. Even today for example. Today's been a pretty long day for me. So far I've been up 19 hours and counting. So divide that up by 4 and you get...yup...4 meals. I have eaten 4 meals today. And I'm starting to crave my 5th. It is hard for me to sleep on an empty stomach. And there's nothing good to eat here or at least nothing that I want to cook because...

-I want to keep quiet because everyone else is sleeping. Sure having your "quiet time" is great and everything, but I get plenty of quiet time going to sleep later than most people and waking up earlier than them too.

-They say get your "beauty rest". I am one ugly mofo. Last summer when I scrunched my eyes together at a bar and asked a couple (who looked like they were about 18) how old they thought I was she said, "34?". We were all shocked because she hit it right on the head. Maybe that's why I don't hang out so much in the party scene anymore? Maybe because people think I'm about 5 or 6 years too old to be out in it?

-Getting comfortable. When you get in bed with someone who is sleeping, it's hard to get comfortable because you're worried about waking them up. So, you toss and turn and try to relax...try to shut off your mind and you try to do so without making too much noise. Rarely does it ever work though.

Really I wrote this post hoping that writing about sleep would make me tired. I read somewhere that reading words related to "sleep" will actually make a person yawn. I've yawned about 4...nope 5 times while writing this. Maybe I am getting tired. But I could definitely go for some waffles and an omelet right now. And here's what I've always wondered...

Why do breakfast places never give you those options? It's either the waffles or the pancakes. Why not both? Or give me the biscuit AND the toast. Or maybe - and this might blow your mind - maybe instead of giving me 2 eggs with my breakfast, how about giving me an omelet? Oh yeah, with all the fixings. And how about a sausage patty and sausage links! All in the same meal? Someone call the crazy house...we've got a new applicant.

Hah! I have to stop writing about food. It is making me energetic and making me fantasize about a 1 AM run to Denny's or IHOP. Damn you power of suggestion.

Firsts

I was sitting here on the couch this evening, after a perfectly timed 4th of July weekend thinking to myself about how many "firsts" I've experienced in only just these past 3 days.

-I celebrated the 4th of July outside of the state of Washington. Thinking back I don't think I've ever done that before. And I walked down to our pier a few blocks down the road and watched 4 different fireworks shows light up the sky over the river. It was amazing.

-I've cooked a lot of steaks in my life and for the first time I felt like the steak that I cooked was perfect. Sometimes it's too bloody, sometimes I burn it too much. But for dinner on the night of the 4th? Just right. Throw in a couple beers, corn on the cob, salad, baked beans and rice and you've got one hell of a meal.

-For the first time I drank beer from Brazil. I believe it was called "Xungi". It was excellent.

-I met a guy named "Rhett" for the first time. Perfectly Southern.

-I had shrimp and grits. For breakfast. It was spicy. I had tried grits down here previously, but I felt that with the spicy gravy on the shrimp it was a perfect complement for them. I now understand what the big draw behind the shrimp and grits is.

-I played golf in an area that is famous for it's golf. I didn't play on any special course, but for the first time I feel like I'm in control (as much as I can control) on the course. I used to just try to hit the crap out of the ball and not know where it was going. I am confident now that I can solidly hit the ball 280 yards and hit it somewhat straight. Now finding the ball after hitting it? That's another thing. And don't even talk to me about putting. *sigh* For the first time I've wanted to purchase my own clubs. Craigslist and ebay here I come. Also, in the past I have been against drinking and playing sports. I had 3 beers while I was on the course. I felt that I was able to play better after drinking. Go figure.

For the wife's birthday I went through a few firsts for her:

-I got my first ever pedicure. I've always thought that pedicures were for the feminine...male. It wasn't as great as I had hoped, but my feet do look good. For the money I'd rather poney up some extra bucks and get a sports massage. I can cut my own nails, scrub my own feet and lotion the whole bit for free. Unless I'm getting a pedicure for free I don't think I'll be going back.

-I went shopping for a good amount of time without complaining. Yes. That was actually one of the gifts I provided to my wife. She drags me along to shopping all the time. And I absolutely hate it. This time I shut my mouth, smiled and gave my opinions on what she was trying on.

Rando Post June 08

Today for lunch I ate rice with a leftover calzone from the weekend. And it was awesome. I never thought that eating something like that (pizza tasting) with rice would be good. But it was. Maybe it was because I filled the calzone with red pepper flakes. So spicy.

Today for the entire day for the first time since I was in 6th grade, I wore whitey tighties. I decided it was time. It was a bit uncomfortable, but at the same time pretty supportive. You want to know the main reason I switched to boxers? Because in 7th grade, it was the first time we had locker rooms. We had to change for physical education instead of running around in our clothes. Yes...we had awesome PE uniforms that we ran the mile and a half in. And played volleyball. And wrestled, and square danced. PE was good times. And I'm sitting here laughing about how it took me a good 3 months at least when I was a "sevie" to figure out why girls got red shorts and why guys were only offered the grey ones. Anyway, I was so embarrassed the first few times I was taking off my jeans and whoa - there were my whitey tighties - it was like me and 4 or 5 other guys out of the 60 of us in there that had them - that I told my mom that we had to go get some for me. And within a couple weeks I was used to them.

There was an article today about how people in the Netherlands think that the world will end in 4 years. I have been to the Netherlands. I can see how they think the world might be ending for them. But to be able to say that I've been there before the world ends? That's a pretty awesome feat IMO. Well, at least for a guy that had only previously been to places in North America.

Writing about Europe reminds me that I love this word:

mi·ser –noun
1. a person who lives in wretched circumstances in order to save and hoard money.
2. a stingy, avaricious person.
3. Obsolete. A wretched or unhappy person.

I heard it on my current favorite investing show, "Fast Money" and had to throw it in here. Europe reminds me of being a miser because I was given the "talk" which I knew I would get sometime during the trip. Mainly the talk of "quit being such a cheap ass". Or "quit complaining, this is a once in a lifetime trip". It was just hard for me because I kept doing the currency conversion. While in the Netherlands I paid 4 Euro for a bottled water...which in US dollars comes out to be almost $7. I could buy a 24 pack of bottled water (good water!) here in the states for $7! Sheesh. Are the richest people you know the ones that spend the most? Or the ones that complain the most about spending? I think that's an interesting question to ask of ourselves.

The wife's golden birthday ends on the 26th of this month. Can you guess how old she is going to be? Hella old. We'll be checking out Hilton Head this coming weekend and I promised that I would go shopping with her all weekend (and not complain) and that I would also get my first pedicure (per her request). Wow. It's going to be an interesting weekend for me. And talking about her birthday, my mom just called and told me that she sent her CASH IN THE MAIL for her birthday. *slaps forehead* If all we get in the mail is a card I'm going to just shake my head and sigh...and know she loves us.

Daniel Island is almost a perfect place for me and the dog to live. There are sidewalks and trails that lead everywhere on the island. Everyone loves to ride their bike and go running around the island and the afternoon weather is perfect for it. I am getting in some of the best shape of my life because I take the dog out at least 6 times a day, and on at least 2 of those walks we go for almost 3 miles each time. I run with her until she wants to stop running. And some days she'll be the one that wants to keep running and I want to stop. In a previous life I am pretty sure she was a race horse. I read somewhere that to calculate the amount of calories you burn per mile take your weight and multiply it by .50 for walking and .75 for running. That's pretty solid - not that I need to diet or anything, just being in good shape is great for me.

And without the dog, I'm not sure what I'd do with myself here at home. Having her here with me keeps me from being too lonely. Plus it gives me something to take my mind off of work, along with something to do during my lunch break, because I never use my full amount of time eating. I'm amazed that we've already been out here for 2 months. It's going to be hard going back during the dead of winter, especially if I can't work from home when I get there.

I am currently watching the NCAA world series. This is my thing you know. Turn on the tube, watch for about 30 minutes to an hour of something that I DVR. Pay full attention to what I DVR for about 20 minutes and then go grab the laptop and have the TV on in the background. The University of Georgia and Fresno State are playing and the score is 18 to 10 in the bottom of the 8th inning. Christ. It's like watching one of my softball games. I just expect each batter to get a hit. I guess that's what happens when the guys are using metal bats...I really miss softball. My buddy was telling me how he's probably going to be in 3 different leagues this summer. I just want to be in one right now. Just one night a week on the field and I'd be happy. I have to wait for the new leagues to start up in August.

I'm going to end this post with a quote.

"The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work."
-Thomas Edison

8 and 5/6th days

Is how far I made it.

Weak willed.

But I think that's the longest I've gone for years.

I just couldn't see the point of it anymore. This is not like something that is unhealthy for me. If it was something like smoking or drinking - then yeah, I would definitely try a lot harder.

I gave it a shot, I hated it. Maybe when I get older I can try again - in fact, when I am older I'll probably do it without knowing it. Scary.

On completely unrelated notes (cause there's really not much else to say about giving up the 30 day challenge), the Lakers are down 3-1 in the NBA finals now. Which are actually playing on the TV in front of me.

I woke up this morning at 1:54 AM. And I couldn't sleep until about 4 AM. Now I am exhausted. But I'm going to stay up just to see if the Celtics pull off the NBA championship. Damn you Boston.

You already had the Patriots. Then you got the Red Sox. And now you're going to pull the Celtics on us too? Ridiculous. Seattle's last real championship happened before I was born. Great. I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed for ONE big three championship in my lifetime.

Tomorrow marks expiration week in the market.

It should be interesting times. I'll check in again when it's over.

Day 7

I've made it this far.

And I wouldn't have posted if it hadn't been so challenging.

This morning I really felt like giving up. In fact, by this afternoon I had basically decided with the wife that I was going to bow out of the challenge.

But - after dinner, a little shopping, and a long walk with the dog, there wasn't really time. I mean, there was time. But I felt a little guilty giving up this early. In fact, I felt a lot guilty. And when it comes to this sort of thing, I feel like women can be so fickle.

With men, it's a switch. With the flip of a switch we are ready to go. But whatever.

In an hour I've made it to day 8.

And I want to turn it off. I want my switch to be turned off and I don't want to think about it at all. I am angry with myself about how I haven't been able to shut down. I should have the will power to not only go for 30 days, but for as long as I want. Maybe I should resolve to do that. To completely give up craving the flesh.

I want to go from "loving on" to "loving off" starting tomorrow. And I think I've got a bit of anger on my side now to help out.

But of course there's always going to be this reocurring thought in the back of my head that really this is all so stupid...

The 30 Day Experiment

Well more of a challenge.

After reading through the Style Diaries, I felt like it might be something I could try.

I haven't gone more than 5 days without it.

And that is...going.

Not like the daily going. Well, I guess it is - was daily for me - but more like the kind your body doesn't require.

So 4 days ago on June 4th, 2008 a few guys and I took the plunge. So far I don't think anyone has given in.

I think for myself, I wanted to see what happened. To see if my will power - my mind - was stronger than my physical needs. And I'd like to say that they are. But I'm only 4 days in.

And in those 4 days, I have already had a hard time. It honestly wouldn't be so tough if I was living in Seattle. The weather back home is terrible. 50 degrees and cloudy and raining. No bikinis. No beaches. No 95 degree and blue sky weather.

So, I'll be doing updates throughout the 30 days. I'm going to try my best to make it. I've been testing myself already - putting myself in compromising positions to see how I hold up.

And after 4 days, I'd like to share what I've learned and what's happened to me:

-Some of the things I do are out of pure habit. I do it because it's normally what I do in the morning or at night. So breaking this habit should be just like any other habit. Once I pass the first hurdle of stopping myself from my habit then it should be smooth sailing from there. I just never thought I was a habitual...goer.

-I have loved on the wife a lot more during this time. And by "loved on" I mean a lot more affectionate. Way more kissing, hugging.

-My balls sag a lot lower than I thought they would. Or maybe that's all in my head that things are starting to get "heavy" or "weigh down on me".

-I've noticed a lot more skin on TV than before. Especially in movie trailers. Like I wonder how many people will go to see Angelina Jolie's latest movie because it shows the upper half of her exposed back. A week ago I wouldn't have really cared about seeing something on TV like that. But tonight I really noticed it.

-I feel like the kleenex boxes in the house are taunting me.

-I suddenly had a huge craving for pop. I wanted sprite. I wanted root beer. I went out and bought all three versions of the democracy but have only drank two of them so far. But then I realized it wasn't just a craving for carbonated sugar water. It was a craving for all things sweet. I bought chewy chips ahoy. I bought a cinnamon roll. I bought 2 kinds of ice cream and even got a scoop of ice cream at the local shop. Is this me replacing one habit with another? Maybe it's just me over thinking it. I hope this craving for sugar stops within the next couple days though. I don't want my body to take too much more of it.

And other than that, really there hasn't been that big of a difference in my life. Yet.

But I'm watching the Celtics beat the Lakers in Game 2 of the NBA finals partly due to poor officiating. And instead of continuing to think about the 26 days ahead of me, I'm going to pay full attention to that. Expect more updates - even if I do fail.

The South Has Changed Me

After being here more than a month (I know - such a long time - psych) I am already beginning to notice changes in myself which I didn't think living in another area of the country would actually do to me.

This is going to be a short post because I don't really feel much like writing. I just kind of had a "moment" at Costco (of all places) when I realized the South was starting to morph me in to something the Seattle version of me wouldn't realize.

At Costco as we were shopping for our random items that we need a LOT of - namely paper towels and toilet paper - we passed the clothing area which they so perfectly place in the middle of everything. And the clothes are so damned cheap too. It's hard not to pick up a $20 polo or $15 pair of cargo shorts.

But what caught my eye this evening was...boat shoes. I know. Only people over 50 wear them. Like my dad. But, I was thinking to myself - it's hard to look somewhat dressy in shorts and a polo. I mean, I've got my rockports. But I have to wear socks with them. And just the image of shorts, black socks and my rockports makes me cringe. Then I've got my flip flops and my trainers. Too casual.

But boat shoes. They are perfect.

And if you're not sure what I'm referring to, here are the ones that I bought tonight.

They really hit the go between - not casual, but not dressy. Perfect for an evening out for dinner downtown in 90 degree temps.

And I don't mind if people laugh at me - they're just like my old people sunglasses. It's part of my "charm".

Another thing the South has changed about me is that I have now watched a full episode of "America's Most Wanted". Why? Because I have driven through the cities that these criminals might currently be in. I could be the lead eye witness to catching someone that has been running from the law since late 2007. You never know.

The food down here spoils so quickly. I think it is the heat. Or the humidity. In the Northwest you can keep your cereal, bread, bananas and all that good stuff out for almost 2 weeks. Here that 2 weeks is cut down to 4 days or less. You know how most bagel bags come with 4 to 6 bagels? I'm now opting for the 4 bagel bags because by the time I get to that 6th bagel it'll have mold on it. And instead of buying my bananas in a big bunch of 7 like I normally do, I now buy them in bunches of 4. I was surprised at how quickly things turned down here. I guess not everything is slower down South.

All I want to do is play golf. Take golf lessons. Go to the driving range. In fact, I was just looking at a set of clubs at the Nike store tonight. Expensive, but awesome. I've only played one round of golf so far, but after being out in that heat and playing my heart out (shot 40 over - ouch) I am excited about hitting the links again. In Charleston since they have so many courses out here the green fees are minimal. $12 will get you a round of 18. If you go during the heat of the day or late in the afternoon it can be cut down to $7 or less. Which is pretty ridiculous when you're spending about 3 hours out on the grass.

I've always liked golf. But right now it is my #1 sport. I'll have to convince the wife that I need a set of clubs over the next month...

The European Experience

For the past 2 weeks I have traveled across much of Western Europe with 50 other people. In a bus.

It was an amazing time.

We started in London, went through Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and finally France.

Near the beginning of the tour, our tour manager had mentioned the “European Experience”. I can’t remember exactly what he said, but it came across this way to me: Anytime I had that “wow” moment – and for me specifically it was, “wow – this is different from what I’m used to” that was a European experience.

Now, most of what I write here may seem negative – or like I’m bashing the European experience. It’s partly cause I am. I am a snob who grew up in America and like to be as comfortable as possible and get everything the way I want it as soon as I want it. And for free.

But over a sushi dinner tonight (go figure in Charleston – and it was excellent) I was describing a few of the things I found different about places in Europe than we had here in the states.

I think the first thing that really caught me off guard was the rest stops.

In the European Union, commercial drivers cannot drive for longer than close to 4 hours without taking a 45 minutes break. I don’t think this is the case in the US – for us if you can drive safely – you should continue working (but I’m not sure because I’ve never talked to a semi truck driver about his work).

Given this rule, it makes for some pretty amazing rest stops. They are basically what would happen if 7-11 and something like an Arby’s slept together and had a baby. Well not really, because it would be about 6 times their size.

I couldn’t believe their rest stops. I mean Europe really caters to their drivers I guess. Hot food, cold food, all the magazines and books – travel items, candy, chocolate, drinks (even beer and wine!).

After driving across the United States – this was amazing to me. Because I thought a nice rest stop meant it had a nice patch of grass next to a few disgusting toilets. As far as rest stops go, Europe definitely destroys us.

But here’s the kicker: Good luck finding a public rest room that you can use for free.

That was another shocker for me. Every time we would pull over to use the “Wash Closet” and yes – that is what they are called – we’d have to either tip the women who were working in the bathroom (I guess they live there?) or we’d have to pay a fee to an automated machine like when you get on the subway.

It was 50 Euro cent every time! Roughly 81 US cents! And since most everyone reading this right now knows how strong my bladder is – that can really start to add up.

Knowing that I had to pay to use the bathroom now made my bathroom trips much more strategic. I would wait as long as I could at those rest stops – to insure I didn’t have to go twice. And I’d also wait and eat hoping that shoving food down my pie hole would make waste come out the other end. Because paying almost a dollar to use the Wash Closet to go number 2 would definitely be worth it.

And while we’re on the topic of doody I’d like to share a few related European experiences regarding it.

The rest stops in Italy did not have toilet seats. Actually, looking back on it, a lot of the “public” toilets didn’t have toilet seats. Luckily I only had to lay cable twice in the presence of a porcelain king without a crown. Much respect to the other ladies out there that squat. I was in defensive position for about 5 minutes and thought my thighs were going to break. Yes. Break.

After my first experience squatting I came out of the Wash Closet sweating. And thinking aloud to my friends that I would become a wealthy man in Italy by selling them these things called “toilet seats”. They ensure that your everything doesn’t touch what’s in the toilet.

Which brings me to my next European experience. I guess they are fine with falling in every time they go to the bathroom…because…they have the bidets! I was afraid of the first one I saw in London. But as soon as I got to Italy I was ready for it. Or at least I thought I was.

My initial thought on the bidet was that if I was ever that dirty, I would just take a shower. And, unfortunately for the bidet, my initial thought was right. After my first time using one (mainly for fun and just to try) I stood up, soaked from the back to my balls to my inner thighs and dripping on to my boxers thinking, “Great, I just took a shower only in that portion of my body”. And to my horror I still grabbed a piece of toilet paper and wiped back there…the bidet had done nothing by leave me with wet undies. At first it was pretty cool though. I think the feeling that a bidet gives you alone is worth using it. I was like a little kid who finally learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. Except I was a grown man splashing water on his ass in the bathroom. So I guess they’re not even close.

And that again almost segues perfectly in to my next few European experiences. They don’t fool around with their water temperature there. A few times I had to pull my hand either out of the sink, shower or ass out of the bidet because the water was almost at boiling temperature. Here in the states I believe we have a “max hot” point. At a few of the hotels we stayed at in Europe, I think they just let that fire boil that water. Maybe this stems from the plague? They want to make sure they kill all of your germs while giving you 3^rd degree burns every where else? I don’t know. Anyway, I was shocked at how hot the water got in some parts of Europe. And surprised that more people didn’t burn themselves with the tap.

To go with the hot water, I think out of all the hotels we stayed in, only about 20% of them included shampoo. So I was sitting questioning myself…Alright, how am I supposed to wash my hair? And for about a week I washed my hair with the bar of soap. And after using just that normal soap my hair started to get crunchy. I remember in Germany I reached up to scratch my head and it was more like my hair was scratching my hand instead. It was definitely not the smooth afro I was used to. After that I stole Pol’s pert plus and used it the rest of the trip. I figured he didn’t need it since his head was shaved anyway.

Air conditioning. I believe we had one night of aircon in Europe. And you’ll never believe where it was. It was in the BEST WESTERN in Florence. Yes. I had to stay in an American based hotel in order to get my air conditioning. The rest of the time I was sleeping in my boxers on top of the sheets and hoping for the cool night breeze to come. Which it did a few nights (thankfully). Earlier today I was talking about how I wished we had gone to Europe during the mid to late summer. After writing this I’m actually glad we did not. Maybe it’s some big sort of conspiracy? Maybe the locals have air conditioning but they want the tourists to suffer? That could be a possibility. Before we left for our respective areas of the US – we were sitting the Charles De Gaulle airport sweating our asses off. I don’t think I have sweated more on a “vacation” than I have on this past one.

The autobahn. I watched cars fly by us at at least 100 mph. Mercedes mini vans for Christ sakes. And everyone out there drives either a smart car or what I would consider between a golf and a Volvo station wagon. All very odd people carrying cars. Of course I saw a lot of Ferraris, high end Mercedes and BMWs and heck, even the Fords and Toyotas that they had in Europe looked nice.

Bikes. I have never seen so many freaking people riding their bikes in my life before. I believe the Netherlands holds the record for the largest bike rack on earth. It was at least 4 stories. And amazing. The land is so flat in parts of Europe that people can easily get around just riding their bike. It’s healthy, good for the environment and fun to do. Sounds like a win all around to me. But here’s the thing about those areas: Where the pedestrian gets the right of way in the States, that’s not the same in some parts of Europe. I was nearly run over a few times because I wasn’t watching. Yes! It was my fault for stepping in front of a bicyclist. Wild.

The drinking age. I believe the drinking age in Italy was 16. But they had some crazy rule about how 16 year olds could only drink beer and nothing hard until they were 18. Tell you what – if they had that same sort of law in the states I would’ve looked 18 by the time I was 14. It was pretty amazing to me while I was sitting at a bar in Venice singing the Italian futbol theme song when I turned around to here some kid who was almost half my age correct me on how I was singing it. I have a cousin who is turning 16 this winter. I can’t imagine him sitting next to me at a bar and pounding beers with me in the next few months. These kids – that’s what they were. Just kids. Yet another one of those “Wow” moments.

And that right there is almost three and a half pages of writing about the tiniest differences between the States and parts of Europe. But for me they made all the difference. I’m sure there is a lot more that I thought of and wanted to write, but am forgetting…but this post is long enough already. If I come up with more I’ll make another post because I’ve got 2 more to go in less than a week!

(This post was not proofread out of laziness)

The Re Low Kay Shun

I started writing this post 2 weeks before we left for Charleston. We have now been here for a week on Tuesday. So if it seems a little bit out of order, it is. It took me 3 different attempts to finish this post - and reading through it I definitely know things are chronologically confusing.

Wouldn’t it be weird if every thing we wrote was spelled out phonetically? It would be. It would also be weird if I had written out every thing in this blog post that way. But I’m not going to. Because it’s too tough/annoying. And I’m blogging from work, so I want to write as quickly as possible so I can finish this before I’m on my way home.

Over the past 2 months the wife has been offered a few relocation opportunities. The company she works for (BA) is having trouble with their newest product line – go figure. They outsourced a lot of the work and of course they’re having issues. So now they’re scrambling to send people abroad – not that I honestly think it will help much.

She’s been offered Italy and Japan. And both times we had to decline. Mainly because they were not offering us a full year relocation – which meant that we weren’t going to be receiving the extra perks associated with relocating to another part of the world – mainly having the home you currently own paid for by the company while you live abroad – on top of them paying for your current place of residence.

And the only way we were going to survive is if I got a job in Italy or Japan – and since I don’t speak either of those languages, I don’t think it was going to fly.

The offer came through 2 weeks ago for Charleston, South Carolina. Given that it’s in the states and I might be able to work remotely out in SC (and will start working remote this week), we’re going to go ahead and pick it up.

I’m sure this post will be the first out of a multi-part series based on the relocation. There’s plenty of details I can hash out later on – and I’m sure I’ll be blogging more as soon as I get there (oh the things I’ll see!).

But for this post I wanted to write about the things I’m going to miss while I’m out in SC. Right now the assignment is 6 months – but I can almost guarantee that if provided the option (and maybe extra pay?) we might stay another 6 months (or longer) dependent upon whether we like it out there.

This is all happening so quickly. So it’s hard for me to adjust emotionally (such a wuss) knowing that I’ll be driving across the country in 2 weeks.

Last night I vacuumed the house (I hadn’t vacuumed in about 2 months – I usually do so once a month) and as I was vacuuming I realized this would be the last time that I would be vacuuming the house for some time. Not that I would miss vacuuming – but the fact that I wouldn’t be doing this act – along with mowing the lawn, taking out the trash, washing and putting away the dishes...so many of the daily things that we all do - that really I think we kind of don't recognize as being something special - because they are so routine.

On the drive out to the East Coast, about 2 days in, the wife and I were talking about things we were going to miss most about being in our house for the summer.

And for me, it was this:

We have the pond in our backyard. I get a good view of it from my office. I will have no view from my new office - but oh well.

Over the summers (the hot nights) I can't sleep until the weather has cooled down a bit. Which is usually around 10:30 or 11 pm or so.

So what I'll do is take a cold shower (not because of the reason you're thinking) around 9, come out, put on the basketball shorts and cutoffs and get a glass of ice cold water. This reminds me - I'm going to miss our French door fridge. It is pretty great when the temperature is getting up there to open up both doors and basically just stand in the 30 degree fridge. (Because you have to at our house in order to get ice and water). Anyway, I'll head back upstairs with the glass of ice water in hand, and I'll set up the fan aiming directly at my back.

I'll open up the window in front of me as wide as it will go, and listen to the chorus of frogs and crickets sing the night away.

And there I'll sit. While I cool off from the summer day. Whether it be blogging, or reading the net, or playing my Xbox - that's probably some of the best "me" time I get every summer night.

I don't know if I'm going to get that this summer. It seems like air conditioning is a requirement down here. And after spending a day out in the humid 87 degree heat today, I can understand why.

Just like up in Seattle how we keep our windows and doors shut to the outside to keep the heat in - I'm sure we'll be doing the same down here but instead to keep the heat out. But at least we're not the ones paying for the "heating" bill down here. But air conditioning to me just makes the air so stale. I suppose it will take some getting use to over the next few months.

I'm obviously going to miss my friends and family back home.

It's already hard for me to talk on the phone to my parents. I know they miss us. I definitely miss them. There's such a security blanket - which I knew was there but am only now beginning to realize how much I relied upon it. My parents were less than a 10 minute drive away from me at all times. Now I really don't have anyone to turn to. My family and a few friends - they were automatic. In a phone call we could be together. And now that's obviously not the case. Puts a knot in my stomach.

I'm going to miss the softball. Last year was my first full summer of playing softball. I had played baseball until my early teens and played some pick up baseball and softball whenever possible - but last summer I played from mid April to September. And I realized how much I had missed the fields - throwing the ball around - hitting and fielding.

The BBQs are another thing I've just come to expect while living out in Seattle. Everyone getting together, having a few beers and throwing some beef on the grill. Or maybe oysters. Since we just finished building our fence before we left I was thinking we were going to have a pretty solid back yard for entertaining purposes. I even replaced the propane tank so I was prepared for 3 or more stupendous months of grilling. And don't even talk to me about all the drinking I'm going to miss out this summer without all my drinking buddies.

I'm going to miss Husky football. Husky sports alone should have it's own post dedicated to it.

And although there is plenty of water around me - it's definitely not the same as what I had in Seattle. I'm going to miss Lake Union, Lake Washington, Greenlake - the San Juans, Alki...IMO those things are one of the major reasons Seattle residents put up with so much crap...Because anywhere you are in Seattle - you're only minutes away from a stunning view.

I already am missing the food. Tonight we went to a local grocery store and they didn't have either of the kinds of rice I like. I'm sure the rice we bought will be just fine, but if it turns out poorly, I'll know why. There's definitely no teriyaki out here. There's Chinese, but it's all Americanized crap. No Thai. No Mongolian. No modern/fresh mex. No good sushi. No Costco for 100 miles. No Taco Time. No Mcmenamin's/McCormick's or any other place that we loved to go to happy hour. But I have already found a few good places to eat after only a week of being here - so I'm hopeful I'll fill up that roster again.

I think that's good enough for now. Maybe I'll write another post like this come October and see how my thoughts have changed over the few months that I'll be here. We've finally moved in to the house we'll be staying in until at least Halloween. Crazy - I'm sure the kids will be dressed up and knocking on our door before I know it.

The Hotel Life

Our house won't be available until the 6th of May, so until then, that'll mark the longest consecutive amount of time that I've lived out of a hotel.

Hotel living is kind of odd.

I never feel completely comfortable, mainly because I am always thinking about people that have walked on this carpet before me.

Someone that's used this shower before me.

And the sheets.

And the towels.

I'm not a germaphobe by any means, but just the thought that possibly hundreds of people have been through here just kind of grosses me out.

And I know - the housekeepers come through and vacuum and put in clean sheets everyday, but even that in itself is weird.

I mean, imagine (for those of us who don't have maids or butlers or servants) someone coming in to your house every afternoon, replacing the sheets and pillows on your bed and giving you new towels for the next day? Kind of weird.

Over this past road trip, and right now, I have stayed in a La Quinta (good for the money), Westin (terrible for the money), Sheraton (also terrible), Hampton Inn (pretty good) the Oxford Inn - which was also nice, and now the Residence Inn - which is probably the best I've been in over the past week.

The nice thing about this Residence Inn is that they do a free breakfast (and not the standard continental kind - the better than IHOP kind) and on top of that they do free beer and dinner from 5:30 to 7:30.

We have taken full advantage of the breakfast and dinner (and beer for me) for the past 2 nights that we've been here.

Who wouldn't? I mean breakfast at the cheapest is usually $8 for us - if we're eating at a place like McDough - and Dinner is at the cheapest twice as much. Why not save the money and eat off the hotel's dime?

I personally was questioning how they could afford feeding us two meals a day. I mean, there are 4 floors in this building with at least 50 rooms per floor. That's a lot of effing mouths to feed. (And a lot of beer and wine too!)

Another thing for me about feeling weird in hotel living is that I know it's temporary. I know I won't be here for even longer than 2 weeks. And knowing that, I can't really make it my own. It's definitely not my furniture. And I'm not going to tack up any posters on the wall or play my music as loud as I want to. There are people across the hall and above me that I've obviously got to be considerate to.

Tomorrow is the wife's first day on the job.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself (or with the dog) while she's gone. She's taking the only car to work...and there really isn't much around here for me to do.

I'm thinking of walking to starbucks to day trade there.

At least I can get away from this hotel for a bit. And get out and walk around.

The whole free breakfast/dinner/beer thing I think is starting to show up on my gut. It's been more than 2 weeks now since I've broken a sweat from exercising for more than 30 minutes.

I mean, what is the first thing you do when you get in to a hotel room for the first time? After unpacking and unloading? For me, it's turning on the TV to see what channels they have in the area. Fox on channel 10! TNT on channel 28! Crazy! Heh.

And of course, you get all the premium channels you always want for yourself at home but never will splurge the extra $8 a month for.

I can't imagine how people who travel on a normal basis do it. I wonder at which point they get used to seeing different cities and experiencing different hotels.

I know for sure that I haven't reached it yet.

Random Thoughts on Moving...

...From one coast to another.

By car.

Over 5 days.

These past few days are probably one of the most amazing feats I will have ever accomplished.

I have seen it. I have seen this great land of ours. And I have stayed in a few hotels. And filled up with many expensive tanks of gas.

There is a lot to write. But not so much time.

Now that I'm on eastern standard time everything is later. I am watching an interesting Celtics vs. Hawks game right now at almost 11 pm. Where as on the West coast I would've just been settling in after dinner - I'm assuming I'll be struggling to keep my eyes open to watch Atlanta pull off what should've been a "sure thing" for Boston.

We left on Thursday afternoon.

We forgot stuff.

Our vacuum.

Her makeup.

My toothbrush and shampoo.

And I'm sure a few other things we won't realize that we forgot until we actually move in to a place.

She picked me up from work on Thursday. What a terrible day to go out on. Semi-sunny. On the verge of what I love best about the Northwest: The summers.

The plan was to go to Spokane that night. About 50 miles in to the trip we were out past Issaquah when I realized that we only had another 3,000 miles to go. The task seemed very daunting at that point. Almost impossible.

(They are showing the preview for the lakers/nuggets game right now on TV. I won't be able to watch because it's going to start at 11 pm out here).

But Spokane was fine. Looking back on it 250 miles in an afternoon is almost laughable now.

Friday was the hardest day. Well, it got harder as the days wore on. I honestly never want to make that drive again. We drove from Spokane, WA to Rapid City, SD on Friday. All of more than 900 miles. More than 12 hours in the car. 3 full tanks of gas at an average of 320 miles per tank.

Idaho was short. A bit of a climb, but other than that, no biggie.

Montana was terrible. There is nothing there. Nothing to look at. Not even cars. And rolling storm systems. That you can see as you approach. Giant dark, gray clouds hovering on the horizon. The gusts of wind pushing us all over I-90. Big climbs to some nice elevation and snow and hail raining down all over us. If there is one place in this country I will never live, it would probably be out in the boonies of Montana. How people do it is beyond me.

It's only bright spot? The Testicle Festival. I'll let those interested in it look that up.

Wyoming wasn't much better. In fact, for those of you in Seattle ever thinking of making this wild trek out East - there is a section between Montana and Wyoming where there is not ONE gas station for about 120 miles. We finally arrived at a gas station with less than .8 of a gallon in our tank left. About 24 miles. Fumes. I have no idea how travelers can make that every time - I consider us lucky (and there were a lot of other people at that gas station who looked pretty scared too).

And South Dakota? Well at least we were finally stopping for the night. I was feeling a bit stir-crazy by the time we pulled in to the La Quinta in Rapid City. The wind had been whipping us pretty hard and I remember saying that it felt like I had lived through 4 days in the span of one after seeing all of that weather - and all of that road...

And you know how you could tell I was getting crazy?

Because I thought we could pull 2 more 900 mile days over the weekend and be in Charleston on Sunday night. No way the wife was having it. And really it wouldn't have made any difference anyway. So we decided to take it a bit slower.

Saturday things started picking up a bit.

The plan was to drive from Rapid City to Kansas City or possibly Saint Louis. After the ridiculous drive on Friday we ended up heading to Kansas City.

The drive became more interesting. Suddenly things started getting greener. And with the green came the cities and towns. People! Cars on the road! It was all very exciting. Iowa was our first touch of green. Missouri was probably one of the most beautiful (overall) states we drove to and through.

We stopped for the night in Kansas City at the Westin. Balling at the 4 diamond resort. We were completely underwhelmed.

On Sunday morning we left for either Nashville or Knoxville.

But unfortunately the directions we got from the hotel staff (again - Westin in Kansas City completely not worth the money) were wrong. So we ended up driving south for a bit too long and had to turn around. That hour of being lost would end up being a huge frustration for us throughout the day.

Still in Missouri for most of the day we were enjoying the area when we came along a ridiculous detour. Regretfully the maps that were provided to us don't include all the changes to certain roads (and interstates especially!) and it being spring there was a big closure on the 64 East running to Saint Louis from Kansas City.

The detour had me taking at least 3 different interstates to get where I was going. And there were signs everywhere pointing us in every direction. I am amazed we didn't get lost again at that point. If there had been heavier traffic, watch out.

To the residents of Seattle: Go check out Saint Louis. I think they copied us! They've got something that looks like the Viaduct, and then they've got their baseball stadium right next to their "viaduct" too! Biters.

We pulled over after downtown Saint Louis at an exit - "Kingshighway". Note to self: Anything with the name of "King" (which I soon realized was named after MLK - I think) is automatically going to be the ghetto. We were waiting in a popeye's drive through and I've never had so many people staring at me before.

I hate to admit it, but I was scared (in the daylight too).

We hauled ass out of there (and ate our Popeye's on the road).

We stopped for the night in Nashville. Or so we thought. We couldn't find a place that would take dogs, or that would be cheap enough for us. (The company is covering our hotel costs and wants the nightly charges to be "reasonable")

I was irritated because I had a feeling that something like this would happen...and I had wanted to go to Knoxville that night (another 170 miles up the road). We ended up in Cookesville, which really wasn't that bad. Except for the fact that I could now feel the humidity beating down on me. I could feel it stuffing up my lungs and my nose. I can feel it on my neck.

It's been tough (after all of the 2 days we've been down here in the South) getting used to the accents. I hate having to ask people to repeat themselves, but there are just times (like out at dinner tonight) where I have no idea what is being said to me.

Tennessee is gorgeous. Where I thought Missouri had a lot of green to offer, I think I was just a little bit biased after driving through the bad lands.

All the trees and all the green grass on the sides of the freeway really makes for some relaxing driving. At least as relaxing as it can be when you're trying to make it cross country in less than a week.

North Carolina (what little I saw of it) was amazing. The path you take to get to South Carolina drives you right through a national forest. Lots of winding roads a few tunnels - and we arrived at probably the 2nd best time (spring instead of fall) as a lot of the leaves and flowers were just starting to bloom.

Well done on my allergies on that note.

And throughout the entire trip, we brought the Seattle weather with us. Gray clouds, rain, hail and snow followed us everywhere we went. I honestly believe that it was sunny on us - meaning the sun peaked through the clouds at us, for about 3-4 hours during our 50 hour drive. It was terrible.

I shook my head this morning in Tennessee when I saw a weather report that said, "Unseasonably cold and wet" in the South. Which means this is abnormal for this time of year.

Sorry guys. We brought the crappy weather with us from up North. I hope things turn around soon though.

So here I sit, writing on my bed in the Sheraton about 5 miles outside of downtown Charleston. We'll be looking at our condo tomorrow (and hopefully we like it - we don't really have a choice at this point) and we should be signing a lease to keep us here at least until Halloween.

I've got a lot about this area I've got to learn. And of course there's tons of new things to experience. Hopefully there won't be any time left for me to miss home.

I’d rather be snowboarding

I have nothing I'd like to post up for tonight, although I found this post listed as one of my "drafts". I first started writing this back in October of 2005, and have added to it a bit tonight:

My feet are cold. This word document looks cold. It’s white and black. Little blue links on the side. There are lots of things that make me happy. But right now the thing that would make me happiest would be to be night snowboarding.

The rats inside the walls of my parent’s house scurry from left to right. It is gross. Sometimes I hear them fight and squeak and fall in to heating ducts, scrapping and scratching against dry wall and metal. They have a way of getting in here from the outside I think, but they’re asleep now. Unlike the rats I am not asleep. They sound like huge badgers too, I forgot to cook rice for tomorrow *smacks forehead* maybe they’ll eat my rice. Just checked the rice, it’s still there. No signs of eating. Enough for lunch tomorrow.

I’m not wearing a coat or any waterproof gear, but if I was snowboarding, I would be.

I’m not outside enjoying the fresh mountain air, but if I was snowboarding I would be.

I’m not doing anything athletic, but if I was snowboarding I would be.

I’m not complaining about moguls, oh wait…nope, I’m not. “” (repeat)

There are plenty of places to snowboard, but I’m not there.

There’s not snow in many places, it’s too early in the season.

Some places, like BUTTE Montana got 4 inches of snow last week, suckers, all that snow and no boarding.

The first time I ever half snowboarded was on a thin sheet of ice about a block away from my parents house. In 7^th grade Willy Hindeman (where is he now?) lent me his board and it was like standing on a narrow sled because my feet were too big for his boots he wasn’t willing (thanks willy) to take off anyway, so I was trying my best to keep them in the bindings. That taste was enough for me, and skiing looked like too much work.

There are REALLY COOL people that bomb down the mountain out of control and maybe hit people that fall and then everyone gets hurt.

Once I went off this jump and almost drowned in snow because my head landed in a huge snow pile after I did a half flip and then didn’t know which way was up.

When I rub my head with my hands it looks like little snowflakes falling, like they do in the mountains sometime when I’m snowboarding.

I once got high at Whistler in one of those bubble gondola type things. I don’t recommend getting high and snowboarding. Amazing that’s such part of the culture.

Some people get high, bomb down the mountain and listen to their Ipod at the same time. These people are basically my Gods.

I used to fall off the lift at the top all the time. Since everyone else doesn’t fall there it is a hard pack of ice. Falling when you get off the lift hurts.

Most people go to sleep without telling you. I go snowboarding without telling most people I know.

My mom makes good soup and biscuits for us when we get home from snowboarding. I like listening to depressing emo music after snowboarding too.

My last two instant messages to people read as follow: Hey call me when you get a chance. Did you see the penis? These people are obviously not snowboarding.

I would never be a professional snowboarder. Those guys think doing amazing tricks and getting “major air” is awesome. Getting paid to do that is not my style. Maybe in the near future people will say, “Man! You should go pro!” and just them saying that alone will be enough payment for me.

I have a 3 inch long cut on my head. It would’ve been cooler to say I got this snowboarding.

I just told another person that she likes penis after she saw the drawing that someone made on her wall on facebook of a guy holding his wang job. She obviously isn’t snowboarding right now.

The first time I did a toe-turn I was going way too fast, but I hung on and was screaming at no one afterwards. I will remember that feeling forever.

I taught my sister to snowboard. She is amazing. I guess you could say she taught herself, but I wish I could take some credit.

Here’s how most of my advice went my first time at Whistler: “If you feel like you’re falling, dig in and lean back”. For two years I dug in and leaned back. My thighs hurt just thinking about it. To this day I can't help but revert to my old ways. Almost everyone that I know that snowboards has graduated to the "intermediate plus" runs and I hate when the mountain is so steep that I'm basically falling right down it. I apologize to everyone for not keeping up. I don't like to bite it super hard.

A girl who likes to snowboard is hot. Hopefully not so much that it melts the snow. The problem with women and snowboarding is mainly the clothing. Almost everyone looks the same with snow gear on. And you don't want to be one of those annoying girls that wears all pink do you? If I was a woman I wouldn't want to be. Big snow pants, a big jacket and a beanie can make a lot of women look like 15 year old boys. Or maybe I'm just crazy. So crazy that I seen teenage boys when I go snowboarding. But there seems to be a higher population of those types up on the mountain. I sit there and quietly wonder to myself while waiting in line at the lift - "Boys - how did you get up here? Are your parents off skiing somewhere? Shouldn't you be in the park going off jumps with that crazy helmet of yours? How did you get the money to do this? Even I can hardly afford it." That's about all I think of them. When I might actually be accidentally thinking that about a woman I was looking at but couldn't tell.

I saw this thing on FSN where guys sand board and board down volcanoes. The second one you can die from. I understand you can die from basically anything but putting yourself in to a higher probability of death rarely makes sense. Not only did they show guys boarding down volcanoes, they also showed a bunch of guys boarding down sand dunes. That I probably wouldn't want to do either. Mainly because sand is really hard to get out of your hair. And your ears. For those that have spent some quality time at a beach resort - and hopefully played beach volleyball or tackle football know that sand basically gets everywhere. And it doesn't go away for a few days. You know what the worst is though? Is when you're chewing on something, and then all of a sudden...*grrriiittt* you bite in to sand. Now maybe you're eating a clam that you just dug up. That's expected. But maybe you were out flying a kite at the beach and your first bite in to your filet mignon that night opens up like sand paper. Terrible.

Someone should just make a machine where right after you come back from the beach, you step in to this cube and it sucks all of the sand off of you. There's gotta be a machine like that.

You know how on TV and YouTube or whatev - they've got those bulldogs or dogs that skateboard? Show me a dog that snowboards. That would be awesome. I don't think my dog could do it. We'd have to basically get her an enlarged popsicle stick for it to work. And even then she'd probably be way too cold to figure out what the F she was doing out there. Hah! It makes me laugh imagining her wearing a giant snow coat. Made especially for her of course.

If I had the opportunity to live in a cabin for about 2 months, like walking distance from a lift? Maybe in Tahoe? I would do that. In fact, I think that'll be one of my goals in life. Would be to just hang out in a cabin all winter. Maybe by the time I have enough money to do that they'll come up with some new fangled way to snowboard. Maybe instead of having to heel and toe all the way down the hill they could come up with some sort of motorized way to do it for us lazy types that just enjoy the feeling of speeding down a hill. Maybe. The future is wild though.

Can I just say something? Snowboarding would be better than chatting on AIM and posting in this stupid blog. 100 times better. The end.

You Made It.

On the eve of my 26^th birthday – I couldn’t find 3 better words to fit the given situation. Knowing the situation, a good friend of mine – thanks D – wrote those words in a card. Perfect.

See, the whole premise was that I would pass on – more specifically die somehow – after 25 years of life.

I’ve probably written this before, but whatever. Back when I was in my late teens I was living a pretty unhealthy (and somewhat dangerous) life. Now I’m sure that most kids go through this phase. They test themselves – see what kind of limits their bodies hold up. But I am sure there were nights during those years where I basically got very lucky to live through to see the next morning. Looking back at it now I just have to shake my head and laugh at what an idiot I was – as I’m sure I will do the older I get.

For right now though, I’ve got my favorite boxers on for my birthday tomorrow, and of course I’m wearing my “World’s Greatest Grandma” t-shirt. Perfect for me. Assuming I don’t somehow go through cardiac arrest in the next hour and a half, I’m going to be solid.

26. Time for me to leave the mid 20s and enter in the mid to late 20s. How sad.

I was just talking with someone the other day about how when I was in 5^th or 6^th grade (like one of my neighbor’s children) I used to look at people in their 20s as ancient. Dinosaurs. Now that dinosaur is me.

And I’m feeling it.

2 months ago I jammed my thumb in a basketball game. 6 to 8 years ago, I would’ve done the same thing and within 2 weeks it would’ve been good as new. To this day, 8 weeks later my thumb still hurts. And part of me is worried I broke it.

In a flag football game 3 weeks ago I jumped and dove for a ball that flew through my outstretched arms and landed squarely on my right hip. Even last night when I rolled on to that hip I could feel an inkling of pain.

Getting old sucks. I want to take my brain and trade it in for a new body please. Unless somehow this body is going to get better. But honestly I feel like I’ve now passed my prime. Sad.

I wanted to touch on the past a bit. Because annual things always make me want to reminisce over what’s happened over the past year. And for that, I’m going to skim through my blog post from my last birthday.

And skimming through that post, I realize that it sucked. Damn.

Anyway, I’m going to try and put myself in a frame of mind from April 16, 2007.

One year ago:

-I was accompanying the wife to her running lessons. What a waste of money. We got to see a lot of cool trails around the area though.

-Virginia Tech shooting. Absolutely ridiculous.

-My left eye was twitching (my belief is because of stress). It twitches on and off now. But not as much as it did a year ago.

-The stress was caused by:

1) Losing a few people in my department and having to pick up the slack. Since then we’ve switched managers and have become a lot more efficient. Still there are days…

2) Applying for a home equity line of credit (for money I could use to invest) through Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and finally settling with BECU. I love you BECU. You gave me everything I wanted with no hassle at all. Citigroup and Bank of America you guys were terrible.

3) Studying for a technical certification exam that basically became worthless in the summer anyway.

-Being excited about the DC/New York City trip. For all of the excitement/anticipation that I had built up about the trip, it definitely lived up to it.

Now of course there were plenty of other things that happened throughout the past year. But I think I’ll save that for my new year’s post – coming in only 8 months! Wild.

For my 27^th birthday I want to look back on this post and know the mentality I was in as I was turning 26. So here are some quick notes on my frame of mind:

-This is going to be my first real recession. I have never worked (read: had a full time “real” job) through a recession. And it’s going to impact me a lot more than the average Joe because I play the market. Finding a scalable position.

-The market. Wow. Enough said.

-South Carolina. A minimum of 6 months away from home. (For the first time ever!) Leave from a solid job.

-Stoked about the Europe trip. Not stoked about the USD to Euro conversion.

-Just finished helping build a fence. First fence ever built. Along those lines – owning properties (plural) can be a major pain in the ass. Especially when you won’t be living in either of them.

-Getting cysts on my neck and armpit removed on Thursday. I’m hoping they’re not very serious (they shouldn’t be).

-I love rec sports. I always have but right now in my current frame of mind I realize how much joy they add in to my daily life.

I’ve got a lot of things on my plate for right now – which I’m sure will be coming in the next post (I wrote a beginning and middle to the post…but yeah).

My wish for 26 – and this might seem boring, but for tonight it sounds pretty nice – is to put myself on cruise control.

I’ve always felt that I have a pretty strong sense of a life plan. What I’m going to do in life and how I’m going to get there.

At this point in life, I think I’ve arrived at a point where the vehicle is up to speed – and all it takes is a push of a button and you can let everything else do the work while you enjoy the scenery. That sounds very pleasing to me right now.

How I’m living right now, I can handle that from now until about my mid 40s. Life is just dandy and the good times outweigh the bad.

Happy 26^th to me. I made it. I honestly couldn’t foresee myself getting to this point even 8 years ago. But here I am. And I can almost guarantee now that I’ll certainly be here for many years to come.