Shout Out

I wanted to give a quick shout out to the fuckers that stole my credit card number. I hope that shopping spree over the holidays were fun. Sounds like Visa is being cool and picking up the tab for that.

But if you screwed with my airline miles account, I'll be coming for you...

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

I promise that posts with actual content are coming very soon. Until then, I wanted to share this. If this isn't the strangest thing you've seen this week, I want to know what the hell you've been smoking.

One more chance to get it right

Ok, here's the obligatory 2007/2008 post...  First, thanks to the good folks in the bloop that have breathed a little life back in the group.

The holidays were good.  I was able to insulate myself a bit from the overwhelming consumerist side of Christmas, so I was able to enjoy it more without the little devil on my shoulder whispering defeatist ideas into my ear.

I took a little over a week off from work and headed up to Oklahoma to hang with the folks for a couple of days and then we all drove up to Branson to spend a few days with my half-brother and his family.

It was good and I enjoyed myself a little more than I thought I would.  (having to interact with a dozen people 24/7 for 3 days is very tough mentally for me)

Unfortunately, because of the weather, I didn't get to see hardly any of you good folks.  Damn shame.  I'll make up for it this year somehow.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not surprisingly, 2007 didn't end the way I had planned it to.  That's both good and bad.

The last half of 2007 brought some real, significant changes to how I look at the world.  I slowly started to realize the full extent of how I'm not actively involved in my own life.  I started to consciously notice how much I had let the day-to-day mundane activities had taken-over.  And I noticed how my job had changed from something I enjoyed to just being another player in the rat-race.  Things had to change.

Halfway through the year, by most people's measurements, I had it made in my career.  I was the supervisor of an international team of developers.  I had been tapped by my boss to take his job when he moves up this year.

But I was miserable.  Fucking miserable.  I'm sure you remember some of the posts.  So I took a leap and told my boss to demote me.  Rather than chance loosing me (his words), he literally invented a new position for me.  It's my dream job.

Now I enjoy work more than ever before.  I get to work on things I think are important.  And I finally have more balance between work and non-work.  (I know all of you have heard this before, but it's part of the narrative here...)

I've made some real changes in other areas as well, but I'll save those stories for later.  I'll just leave it to say that I'm starting to get a taste for living my life on my own terms and it's the best I've felt in years.

So now comes for the time to talk about resolutions for the year.  But I'm changing it up a bit this time.  Rather than producing a laundry-list of giant goals that I have to stare at taunting me from the refrigerator door, I'm trying something that should make things more manageable.

Rather than looking at the whole year--which is too long of a time for me to plan goals for--I'm planning by week.  52 chances to set goals.  If I don't get to one, no big deal--I've got 51 more chances to do better.

I'm planning to share most of these as they go.  I've got the first few goals roughly sketched-out and I'll go into them soon.  But the recurring theme for the first of the year is "simplify".  It's time to take those things that take up my valuable time and either eliminate them or find another way to do them.  

Happy Holidays

Ok, so my blog has gone into "ignore mode" for a bit... But before I left town for the holidays, I wanted to pass along the trailer for the next season of Lost. This show is one of the very few reasons I still subscribe to cable.

RHPS

Finally, this weekend, I was able to pop my cherry on an experience I've always wanted to take part in, but just never made the time: a midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

I happened to be in the cool and trendy part of Houston Saturday night, having dinner with friends. They wanted to hit the bars, but I just didn't want to. Not my scene and I'd already been dragged there for my quarterly quota.

So, on my way to a coffee shop, I saw that the River Oaks had it showing. (the coolest theaters I've been to in a while--it was one of only two theaters in Houston to show Brokeback Mountain on opening weekend)



Let me tell you, it didn't disappoint. If you've never been to one of these participatory midnight showings, I highly recommend it. They had a very enthusiastic live cast that acted-out the entire move on-stage at the same time it was playing. Dirty. Raunchy. It even got a little wet at one point. I haven't had that much fun in a while. (when was the last time you were *expected* to make noise, be disruptive and throw things during a movie?)

Here we go again--destroying the country

"I don’t think the issue’s about being against gay marriage. It’s about being for traditional marriage and articulating the reason that’s important. You have to have a basic family structure. There’s never been a civilization that has rewritten what marriage and family means and survived."

-- Mike Huckabee

Yeah. Anyone remember South Fagistan? They redefined marriage and where are they now? I guess that country didn't survive.

I never realized that Merriam-Webster had the ability to dissolve an entire civilization.

Yeah! Cold?

Finally, our first frost of the year. Too bad it will be gone in an hour. At least it will be a nice and cool 65 today. Enjoy what you can.