2005 best accomplishments

I saw Cassandra Kyle's blog on her best accomplishments of 2005 and thought I had better play the copycat since that was such a good idea.


10. The Toestubbers (My Hattrick online soccer team- yeah I have a geek streak) was promoted to Division IV and I have managed to keep them there for two seasons. Check www.hattrick.org to check it out.

9. I read three (3) novels to my children

8. I did not go into debt to pay for Christmas 2005 - this is the first time i have accomplished that since I was old enough to borrow money.

7. I did not kill or unduly maim an ungrateful loser who I tried to help out when he was down on his luck. I even helped him move into a three story walk up. For that he lied to me, stabbed me in the back, and screwed me for $350.00. prick.

6. I Survived 12 month-ends at a publically traded company.

5. My wife still loves me and wants to keep me after another year of putting up with all of my faults and nuances.

4. I received a promotion at work and have learned so many things I didn't know at this time last year. I am worth a lot more to the company now than I ever was.

3. I turned part of our back lawn into a garden ready to receive seeds. My wife and oldest son and I managed this in just one day last Spring.

2. I built a Compost bin for our household's organic refuse.

1. I owe $9,200.00 less than I did this time last year.

that doesn't sound as interesting as Cassandra's, but I like my life so I wouln't change it.

Happy New Year everyone!

Booze

Ever noticed how drinking affects the more savage sides of your nature. Your inhibitions go down and it can be safely stated that we become less civilized. I imagine the instances of 'one night stand' would go down considerably without "panty remover". Lets not forget those lovely people who always want to scrap when they get drunk. People talk philosophy and sound like idiots. the ability to be deep and subtle just goes away... it truly takes down the walls of our sophistication.

Some really bad choices are made as a result of booze: people drive when they shouldn't - buy things that they shouldn't, try things that they shouldn't, screw things that they shouldn't. I have woken up to an empty bank acount in the morning and been quite annoyed with myself... and also have one hell of a hangover.

So perhaps it is a bad thing...

BUT

I know that I have many great memories born on the waves of alcohol induced stupidity. Staying up all night with my buddy Chuck and singing country songs (yes - country songs) at the top of my lungs playing darts and cribbage... normally all of those things would put me to sleep but I had the time of my life. All because of my friend Bacardi and some really good cases of the giggles.

I remember walking 20 blocks to get mix for our rum in minus 40 weather with my roomate Tim. We smoked cigarettes to keep warm... it didn't work (I don't even smoke). We got the mix and were frozen when we got back to the apartment... but man we had fun doing it. And we made sure the rest of the might was worth getting the mix for. We still talk about it... and it would have been a pretty mundane night.

I once did a strip tease for a room full of people... and they liked it. Both of those things never would have happened without the booze!! ;-)

Let's not forget that some relationships are started off with alcohol as the catalyst. Some people just need that courage in a can to get a little wild. I have known some pretty good couples that started out as two drunks locking lips at a party.

I suppose that drinking is better for the person with less responsibilities. If you don't have a car, a spouse, or a lot of financial commtiments, then why not let lose. You won't have your mate leave you, you won't kill someone driving, and if you empty your bank account it doesn't really matter. The more responsibilities you have, the more responsible you are - which takes a little of the zest out of it all I suppose.

Some tips for drinking when you are MWC:

1. Bring your spouse. It is much harder to give your morals the slip when the light of your life is next to you.
2. Bring as much as you want to spend and your ID... leave the plastic at home.
3. Have a designated driver or take a cab - car hunting the next morning sucks... and sometimes you may just be drunk enough to think you aren't drunk and kill someone - bad call.
4. Have your kids somewhere else in the morning so they don't have to suffer your hangover with you.
5. Never drink with your boss OR when you have to go to work the next day.

Are you a whiner?

I think there are three kinds of people in the world. There are people who cause problems, people who complain about problems, and people who solve problems.

The world might be able to deal with the problem makers a whole lot better if everyone would just shut up and do something about it instead of whining. It’s amazing what a large group of people can accomplish when they get together and do something. It can be as simple as not purchasing a given product or choosing to write a letter.

Humans have a pack mentality. Every one of us feels more secure doing something if someone else has done it too. If you do something… odds are a little better that others who see your actions may do the same thing.

People are the epitome of the self fulfilling prophecy. If you believe you are powerless then that is exactly what you will be. It seems a lot of people feel pretty powerless these days.

Sleep

What is it that makes a person stay up at night. Every morning when I wake I swear to myself that I will go to bed at a reasonable hour that night, yet when my “reasonable hour” comes I feel completely unwilling to call it a day and take my rest. At this point I am even aware that I will pay for it the next morning. I even sometimes feel really tired and know I should be in bed… but even so I fail myself miserably… and every morning I curse myself for a fool.

The justifications for staying up change from day to day. Either I am in the middle of something and want to finish it – or - I just need a little more time for me without the kids awake - or my youngest daughter is still awake and I don’t want to become frustrated with her - or I have to do some task before bed (that I don’t want to do) and I am procrastinating that task and also my bed time.

If I sleep in until noon I feel like I have lost half my day and I actually mourn the loss of that time, so it would stand to reason that by sleeping before midnight I feel that I have lost part of my day that way as well. Could it be the lifelong dilemma: “quality or quantity”? If that is the case then I suppose that thus far I have chosen quantity over quality.

Procrastination seems to be my biggest weakness, so perhaps that is at the root of this problem as well. The “tomorrow is another day, and I want to get what I can out of this moment” mentality is dominant in my personality. This may explain why I have a hard time quitting my day. The feeling that tomorrow never comes is why I had to cram so hard in University. I do so many things at the 11th hour that I really want to slap myself silly at times.

Whatever the reason; please be aware that I will be going to bed early tonight… I think.

Evil man

George R R Martin is an evil man. He's one of my favorite Author's, so naturally when his much anticipated book came out I went out and scooped it up (I even paid hardcover pricing).

As with the other books of his that I have read (mostly the Game of Thrones Series), this one was a captivating read. The nature of the book was such that we were only following half the characters from the last three books (the other half will be the next book). Each character has their own chapter, then the next chapter is a different character, and so the book cycles through the main characters so that every six chapters or so you will be back to the character you started with. It is an interesting way to move the plot.

Let me say the book was phenomenal, a really great read... and I don't think Martin got caught up in the details the way some other authors have been bogged down (such as Robert Jordan), but the man left off every character on a cliffhanger. Every one.

Now we aren't talking a re-run here... where you see the next episode a week from now and know what happens. We are talking a two year (at least) wait until the next book. But I don't think that will even spell relief because according to his webiste, his next book is about the other characters in the previous books. So that means I don't get to find out if my favorite character dies for around four years.

FOUR YEARS!!!

That is why I say George R R Martin is an evil man. He is torturing my sense of empathy... which he contructed.