King of My Domain!

There's something extremely satisfying about troubleshooting your sprinkler system and fixing it yourself. Everything is up and running with the exception of one zone in the back that doesn't even sound like it's coming on (read: good news--no busted pipes!), so I'll have to take a look at that later. Right now, I'm just excited to have the sprinklers up and running. Happy happy joy joy!

What To Do, What To Do . . .

Well, it's official. I'm officially "unemployed". My last day was last Friday, and my new job doesn't start until 5 May. I have off THE ENTIRE WEEK. HA!

Ironically, here's a list of things I'd like to do this week:

- Weed (by "things to do" and "weed", I mean pull the weeds in the front yard--not smoke . . . just so we're clear)
- Check sprinkler system
- Mow
- Paint
- Patch holes and paint
- Test-run drive to work
- Doctor (again--same issue)

I'm pretty sure I'll get to all of them . . . it's just a matter of when. There'll be other things that come up too, but for now, that's the list.

I'm so stoked. This is going to be an awesome week, and then I start my awesome new job. I'm already excited for it. A whole new adventure is just a week away. That's pretty cool.

Out the Door

Well, this is the good news I was talking about last time. See, I applied for a new position with this other company a couple of weeks ago. I spoke with the recruiter last week, and he said that an offer package is on its way. Meanwhile, a verbal offer was proposed, salary and benefits were discussed, and after the discussion, the recruiter asked if that sounded acceptable. I said, "Yes sir, it indeed does!"

And acceptable it is! $17k more a year, 12,500 stock-option shares, great environment . . . I'm stoked.

I had felt that I've needed a larger change for several months. After the debacle in February, I though that maybe it was time to move on, but moving over here and working with a really close friend made everything okay. Yah, it was still difficult to deal with, but I survived.

Let's just say that is no longer "okay" and leave it at that.

But I'm SO stoked! We've been praying for an "out" for weeks. This one literally fell in my lap. It's a wonderful, great opportunity to clear my head and make a new start. I couldn't possibly be happier.

The Early Bird Can HAVE the Worm

It figures. On my one scheduled day off, girl 2 gets up early. I was comfortably coccooned in my warm bed, right on the verge of falling back to sleep, when I heard it--that faint, sucking of air sound that is so distinct as the precursor to a 2-year old yawn. Following that were the little whimpers of discontent about being alone on the stairs. So I got up, took her back upstairs, and put her back in bed. All the while, she was wailing and sobbing, "NO!! I WANT MOMMY!"

"Well, sweetie, mommy's still asleep. Daddy would be too. Your sister is asleep . . . heck, honey--the SUN is still asleep. Do you really want to be up right now? It's dark outside." She went right back down.

I, by way of comparison, am stuck awake, semi-alert, and somewhat conscious. It's an unpleasant sensation--teetering on the edge of sleep, but being yanked back from the brink JUST as I'm about to step over that edge and fall into wonderful slumber.

No. I'm very much awake.

Oh well. There's a lot to do today anyway, especially given some pending news that I'm waiting to become official before I make any grandiose announcement. Stay tuned for some exciting updates about our little corner of the world!

What a Wonderful World

Louis Armstrong got it right. I look at these 3 and think how lucky I am right now. Wonderful family, great friends, a house, good job . . . it's a good day to be me right now.

And it's warm today! I might actually get to mow my lawn tonight. That'd be sweet. And I might get to edge the curbing in the front. That'd be even more nice. Weeding, cleaning up outside . . . and I'm off Friday. Wow! I'm pretty excited.

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

Good times.

Good Weekends Rule

So yesterday was a great day. I finally got to mow the front yard and edge the driveway, sidewalk edges, and the curb. It took about 3.5 hours, most of which was spent bending over and edging or shop-vacuuming up the dirt. It looks better than it did, but it's not the best edger. I'll take it though.

So the yard looks better. Now I just need to throw down some grass seed to fill in the bare spots.

Later, we had some friends over for pizza and games. Their girls and ours stayed downstairs and destroyed pretty much everything (actually, I'm pretty sure that was just our girls; theirs are older and not so destructive, and they pick up after themselves). I don't know how popcorn can get inside an entertainment center without opening the cabinet doors (short of teleporting, but . . . ), but it did. Under, in, on, above, mixed in with, ground into, and any other prepositional phrases that might be appropriate. Carpet, couches, coffee table, blankets, stuffed animals, flowers . . . yah. Everywhere. Hoover to the rescue! :) We cleaned it up in a matter of minutes, so it was more comical than anything . . . after the fact.

Anyway, the adults stayed upstairs for chatting and games. We played this card game called "Arne". It was pretty sweet. It's sort of like Uno, except the point is to collect cards/points. We sat around and talked about foster care, adoption, family life, work life . . . it was nice to sit around and talk.

Then there's today. We were planning on having chicken thighs in the crockpot, but then weef's sister called and invited us over to their place for dinner. We had this incredible roast with potatoes, corn, and brownies for dessert. My brother in law is a chef. That should pretty much sum up the meal. :)

Good times. Weef and I drove around this evening looking at houses for sale. We found a pretty nice one, but it only has 3 bedrooms. How do you only have 3 bedrooms in a house that's over 3300 square feet? Our house now is 2200, and we have 4, with the potential for 6. not the biggest rooms, mind you, but still--nice rooms.

What is around the corner? It's always such a mystery. We could move to Salt Lake, or we could stay put. I might get another job, or I might keep my job here. Weef might work next year, she might not. Who knows where we'll be or what we'll be doing in a month, 6 months, a week . . . a year . . . we just don't know.

And, really . . . it doesn't matter. Right now, I'm happy with the way things are as whole. There are things that I wish were different, but those things are out of my control. There are things in my control that I *can* change--things about me. And yah--there are definitely things I'd like to change about myself . . . but who doesn't have a laundry list like that? :)

Good weekend, though. Really good.

For the Record

Bran Buds do not add to the yogurt-eating experience. Actually, they detract heavily.

That is all.

The Beauty of Babies

So, I went to some friends' house after work. They're also doing foster care, but they have a crazy house: 2 babys under 9 months, a 5 year old, and a 7 year old. I don't envy them.

Anyway, like I said, 2 babies. I held the 9-month old for a good 10 minutes. There's something so perfect and pure about babies. They don't know how to hate; they love unconditionally (or whoever has their bottle). They're very good at letting you know when something's wrong, but they're also really good at letting you know when they're content.

This little butter ball sat on my lap and just bounced away on my knee for a while, then he started getting jealous of the 4 month old who was being fed. He started crying for a bottle, so I rocked him back and forth for a bit until he calmed down. I let him suck on my fingers (probably not the smartest way to go; he looked like he was battling a pretty bad bacterial sickness, based on the color of the snot that kept dripping out of his little, red nose), and he seemed to be okay with that.

Of course, as soon as the bottle was ready, I had to go. But it was a nice break from the last several days.

I've always appreciated my wife for the unconditional love she constantly heaps upon me. I'm not sure I've ever gone through a more difficult time when I've needed their support more than I have the last week.

Thanksgiving in April

So, depending on your point of view, I'm either 4+ months late or 7+ months early. I'd like to think that I'm just that much ahead of the curve, but I know myself. :) For the sake of argument, though, I'm going to say that I'm well ahead of schedule.

Now to my point: I've been too pessimistic lately. Here, for your reading enjoyment, I will provide a list of things for which I'm grateful. Some will be very serious, some will be very silly. You can decided which are which.

And away we go!

- Weef
- Girls 1 and 2
- Family
- Friends
- Gamecube
- Intelligence (and please . . . no "short bus" jokes)
- wireless devices: keyboards, mice, pdas, etc
- Music (way too many bands to name individually)
- Our truck. I don't know why . . . I really like driving it.
- Gum
- Good co-workers
- Movies
- Our keyboard at home. "Electric piano" is more accurate, but it has so many sounds that it's incredible.
- Cell phones
- GPS
- Geocaching (and the fact that girls 1 and 2 *love* "treasure hunting")
- The atonement
- Understanding of who I really am and what my real potential is--not just here, but forever
- Cheese . . . gjetost cheese, specifically.
- Rain
- 4GB USB Drives
- Macaroni and cheese
- Pasta in general

Well, that's it for right now. More later.

Irony

I have a new definition of irony--one that I never thought I would encounter, yet find myself smack in the thick of the most ridiculous and bitter battle.

So, irony: discovering that a supposed best friend thinks that you need anger management. This discovery is happened upon by the fact that this person is screaming at you in your office, and then in front of the entire office. When you call a couple of days later to discuss the issue, this friend continues yelling at you, then procedes to hang up on you. THEN as you call back later and ask your friend not to hang up on you, this person then tells you, "dude . . . LET IT GO." Because, you know . . . I'm the one clinging to the anger and rage.

Irony. Gotta love it.

I'm reminded of the once-bitter Tool, who, on their second-to-latest release, produced the following gem:


Saturn comes back around to show you everything
Let's you choose what you will not see and then
Drags you down like a stone or lifts you up again
Spits you out like a child, light and innocent.

Saturn comes back around. Lifts you up like a child or
Drags you down like a stone
To consume you till you choose to let this go.

Give away the stone.
Let the oceans take and transmutate this cold and fated anchor.
Give away the stone.
Let the waters kiss and transmutate these leaden grudges into gold.
Let go.

Yah. That song takes on a whole new meaning for me this weekend. For your blogging pleasure, it will now reside as the #1 track on here until further notice.

Music for the Masses

I've posted a few of my favorite songs--some old-school stuff with a bit of neo-faves.

The first track--Hysteria by Muse--is what girl 1 calls "I Want It Now". Refer to previous post for related details. :) This song is a blast to drive to. No road trip is complete without it.

Tom Sawyer. If you don't know at least who Rush is, then . . . wow. This is one of the all-time classic "air drumming on steering wheel" songs.

Hooverphonic is a recent acquisition. For me, anyway. Geike Arneart's voice is as pure as it gets.

Tool. Need I say more?

This is one of the quirkiest songs BNL have ever done. I love it.

I'll add more later. Maybe.