No Blogging

I'm a regular reader of a bunch of blogs. I find it extremely entertaining as well as a great way to keep up with the goings on of others that I regularly don't have a lot of contact with. As thankful as I am for the time I got to spend with my family and friends this holiday season, I wish everyone would hurry up and get back from their friends and families so they can keep me entertained when I check their blogs during the lulls in my work day...

Enough about that... Today is my last day of work before yet another 4 day weekend followed by yet another 3 day work week. Why can't all Fridays feel this good? Today is also the day my friend SCB is coming to town. I really can't wait to get together with him... This twice a year visiting stuff is hard to bear. Its also hard to relate after only a few phone calls here and there to keep in touch. I feel as though we've both recently gone through some major life altering stuff but its hard to show and express whats been happening with someone you haven't seen in so long because life as we know it happens every day. Does that even make sense to anyone? It does to me so you're just going to have to deal with it. I believe that physical/relative closeness makes good friends because friends are "there" for you when you need it. Great friends, on the other hand, are "there" for you even when they're not in the immediate vicinity, but would come to be with you at the drop of a hat if you really needed them to. SCB, he's one of the great ones. I can't wait to see you.

Not What Its Cracked Up To Be

Ok. The title really doesn't have anything to do with anything in particular except for my pants. Confused? After re-reading that last sentence I am too... In either case, I'm writing to let you all know that there really is nothing funnier than being in a room by yourself and squatting down to put a box on the floor an spitting your pants wide open. After the initial wave of panic rushes over you, there's really nothing you can do but laugh about it! Hopefully your SO (thats "significant other" according to FMD) got off work early and can deliver a new pair of pants to you. If not, well, I hope you don't live to far from home, don't live too far from a store, and/or don't have on dirty/embar"ass"ing underwear. Just like your mother always told you right? Better be wearing clean underwear! I hope everyone finds this as entertaining as I do, but it may just be the case that you had to be there...

Christmas Wrap-Up

Yes. The pun is intended.

Christmas 2007 has passed us by and we're all glowing in the post-turkey/pre-credit card statement that it was. I really don't have a lot of thoughts on the festivities that I was a part of, but I do have to say that I truly was happy that I was there for all of them!

16 inches of snow couldn't even stop FMD's family from getting together. I appreciate their flexibility most of all because if it wasn't for their ability to move around family get-togethers, everything wouldn't have been possible. It was great to see everyone for the extended weekend and even though we weren't with you on the day itself, you certainly were in our thoughts and hearts.

My family made it through the holidays without any major events... It was the first year my uncle from North Carolina didn't call on Christmas Eve and we all remembered him and the great life he had. With all things that come to an end, however, new things come to fruition. On Christmas Day, we all found out that my cousin who's heading off to start college in January is now also engaged to be married! I extend my sincerest congratulations to them...

All of that merriness brings us back to work and my first day as a Project Analyst. Well, needless to say, today there were no projects to be managed, but I did complete my first requisition for someone. Small steps during a non-busy time of year are the best way to learn, though something has to be said for learning in the line of fire.

Those are my thoughts for the day/weekend and I'm sticking to them. I'm looking forward to my last couple days of this abbreviated work week and to the weekend when I get to see SCB for the first time since our wedding and FMD's family once again to celebrate her sister's birthday!

Merry Christmas!

Here's to you and yours... Hope you have a wonderful Christmas! Please take extra caution out on the roads over the next few days... We want to spend time with our friends and family, not doctors and nurses! That is unless there's one in your family! I won't be back on the blog until the 26th probably so stop by sometime after then to catch up on whats happening in my neck of the woods!

Decoy Carving - Final Installment

First things first. The root canal wasn't as bad as I was lead to believe so thats good news. I'm dealing with a little soreness now, but I'm really glad to be able to drink a glass of milk without wincing in pain!

Second things second. Today is my last day as a field support specialist... Sad I know, but I'm really excited to start my new job next Wednesday and I'm even more excited about the bigger paycheck!

On to the main news... The decoy is finished. Well, almost. I've already messed up 2 keels and am planning to start work on another once I get back from visiting families for the holidays. Without further adieu, here are the photos!

Root Canal

Today is the day. Yup. I'm going in for my root canal. Wish me luck everyone!

In other news, my duck decoy will likely not be finished for Christmas as expected. The original keel wasn't long enough to self right the decoy when thrown in the water and the second keel has a hole in the side of it because I did not drill straight down when putting in holes for the weights. Such is life. The painting is almost complete but I need to buy a special brush to complete the feather details I want to do. When I get done with my root canal and head home to recover, I'll see if I can't take a few photos and get the posted for everyone to see!

Third Post Of The Day?

Yeah. I'm sorta bored. Thats ok though. I just wanted to point out the new feature on Blogger.com. They now allow your photos to be streamed on your blog! I'm a Flickr member and it was a simple as telling it what my user name was and it started up the slide show just like that! Check it out if you're looking for a way to share your photos and spice up your blog a little! I guess thats about it. Nothing new to report. Have a great night everyone!

Wonderful Weekend... Lets Try This Again...

Sold our car (continued from my first post of the day)...

After that, FMD headed to the library while I wrapped up (no pun intended) my holiday shopping. Running here, running there, traffic as jammed up as you're imagining it... Still, it feels good to be done. I wrapped up presents later in the evening and picked up the apartment a little for Sunday's festivities.

My mom and dad came to town the next morning in search of the family Christmas tree. FMD and I along with my dog, parents, brother, and his new girlfriend, headed out to Hann's Christmas Tree Farm. Long story short, don't go there. FMD and I got our tree there and its one of the nicest I've ever seen. Problem is, there are tons of beautiful trees there but you can only cut the marked ones. Lame, lame, lame. My parents ended up with a nice scotch pine and we managed to thaw my mom's camera in the truck enough to take photos in the giant wreath frame.

After cutting the tree, we all headed back to the apartment for the Packers' game and a mid-December grill out. Delicious. I didn't get to see much of the game, but it was fun none-the-less. A quick outing with my mom to finish up her last minute shopping and they headed home so FMD could finish her studying.

Yesterday (Monday) brought me my first "new job" experience as I started to learn a few of the things I'll be doing starting on the 26th. I'm still pretty excited. Later in the evening, FMD and I did a little of her shopping. I'm also pretty excited that she splurged a little on herself for once and picked out an awesome outfit! Its not a girly-girl outfit by any measure, but its wonderful seeing her dress up once and a while ;) Oh yeah, and she picked up some new bling too!

Today was, well, Tuesday. It wasn't anywhere as busy as my previous post but still it was enough to keep me entertained. I ordered a sheet of cork for more decoy carving and also ordered a new pattern book so I can carve any of some 18 or so species. I'm pumped. I got to do a little more training for my new job and got to wear my "Season's Greetings" bomber hat for the first time this season! Tonight, I'm headed home to left over Pizza Hut pizza from FMD's celebratory dinner (she's done for the semester now) and to catch up on some laundry before our travels this weekend.

Wonderful Weekend

I had a great weekend. Period. I can't really put my finger on a singular thing that made it stand out, but overall, I came to work yesterday feeling refreshed and satisfied. Saturday marked the day that FMD and I sold our car. Wait a tick. I haven't cancelled its insurance yet. Please stay tuned to this blog and a post later in the day after I take care of that as well as a few work related items that have just popped up.

December 14th

I couldn't come up with a good title for this post as I really don't have much to say. The past couple of days have kept me busy. Work today consisted of delivering pagers to doctors who are incapable of caring for technology. A lost pager, a pager dropped in a toilet, a pager that broke "all by itself". Whatever. Good padding for the mileage check.

Tomorrow FMD and I are delivering our car to its new owners. I'm excited to see HJT and HM, especially since we haven't seen them since our wedding! I hope Tomah is ready for the bunch of us to roll into town! Other than that, Saturday is going to consist of finishing my shopping list I think... I hope...

Sunday brings the family together in Madison to hunt for the family Christmas tree. Should be a good time. It usually is!

Hmmm.... What else... I'm hoping that I can finish off my duck decoy this weekend. I painted last night since I've found renewed interest in working on it when I can do it in the warm kitchen instead of the cold, lonely basement. If I wrap it up, I'll be sure to post pictures of it soon.

I guess thats it for now. Not terribly interesting, but its my life, not yours. Have a great weekend everyone!

Chriopractic Crap

Earlier, I've professed my loyalty to chiropractic care and the many wonderful benefits you can receive from it. I'm still a fan of it and think everyone should get checked out to make sure their body is up to speed because the results from a few adjustments are simply amazing! I'm here today to complain a bit about how my current doctor does business however... If you don't want the rant, please feel free to stop reading now and visit again tomorrow when I have something better to say.

Here's my newest conspiracy theory. In June I began care with Dr. E and FMD and I sat down with him to see what the sate of my spine was and what we could do to correct it. At that time I was told that after 60 visits and a bunch of money, I'd have a spine that was fully corrected and would then begin bi-weekly visits to maintain the correction and eventually move on to once a month care.

Well, its been 60 visits now. My pelvis that was 12mm low on one side is now level. My low back that was once swaying to the right is now straighter but still has a rotation. My mid back that I used to take ibuprofen for at least 3x a week is now stable and straight but the darn thing likes to think it can still pull itself silly from time to time. My head that was once 36 mm forward from its intended position is now only 20 mm. My neck that was supposed to have a 43 degree arc to it only had 21 but is now at 35. The top most vertebrae, the most important vertebrae (if you don't believe me, ask superman and every kid who has ADD or ADHD), that once sat at 12 degrees is now at 29, but not quite the recommended 31.

Thats a ton of progress and my body is reaping the benefits! I just feel better as a person and many of my body's issues have resolved themselves. Still, 60 visits ago when we asked what happens if more that 60 visits were needed, they simply replied, "we've never had anyone need to go more than their originally scheduled care plan...." Hmmm. Is that so? Is that why my spine isn't all the way corrected and why you've asked me to sign on for 52 more visits for a large amount of money? Maybe no one has gone more than their originally intended visits because they were greeted at the door on their last visit and were told they need to pay another huge sum of money to continue the care that should have been taken care of as promised in the first round of visits.... Who knows. Had he told be a the beginning it would take 100 visits and the cost would be X amount of dollars, I probably would have accepted it as it was and did what was necessary to keep my body running at its full potential. All I know is that I'm extremely disappointed in the way Dr. E conducts his business. To ask for another sum of money after saying that things would be ship shape after the first sum was done, just isn't right.

I appreciate everything he's done for me and all of his patients, but this really isn't the way things should be done...

Promoted

Yesterday I got the news... The job I applied to within the department had an offer on the table to someone. I'm glad that someone was me. It took me all of 1.3 seconds to make up my mind whether I wanted to take the job or not. As of the 24th, I'll be a Project Analyst for the medical foundation. Gone will be the days of 2 hour lunch breaks after an hour long breakfast at the hospital. Nope. No more nap time or Merv Griffin's Crosswords either. I'm going to have a real job once again. On top of it all, they thought I did such a great job with my current position, they've already given me a raise! All I have to do now is sell my car and move my crap from one cube to another. Oh yeah, and do a bunch of training as well! I'm ok with that though. I think I'll be far more happy with my new position, even though that means I'll have to work until 5... ;)

Cleaning and Cavities and Root Canals, Oh Crap!

Wednesday was my bi-annual trip to the dentist! Yeah! (Insert sarcasm here...) I spent the drive from my office to the dentist wondering what the heck I was doing. I previously hadn't gone to a dentist in 4 years. Disgusting I know but honestly... I never had any problems... Along comes insurance and I go on a whim just to get things checked out. A crown and 4 fillings later (along with some of the worst tooth scraping crap ever), here I am... Heading to the dentist with a sore set of molars that started when he last put in my fillings...

Anyways, after all the cleaning came the "C Test". What does "C Test" stand for? Cold test... WTF? Why the hell don't they call it a cold test? Is cold that scary they can't say the word out loud? Its not like you don't tell me what the heck you're doing in there... I'm not dumb you know... Its a root canal for me in tooth #2.

Here's my conspiracy theory for you (I'm checking into the likelihood because it really seems pretty plausible). My dentist installed two filling on the bottom right side of my mouth. 4 months later, I have a tooth with a "suspicious spot" (hygienist's words, not mine) and not only is it cold sensitive, its pressure sensitive. Hmm. After determining what was going wrong, the dentist "adjusts my bite" by taking part of the filling out that he put in 4 months ago when I didn't have any problems. I hypothesize that the filling he installed wore my tooth down and caused it to become sensitive because it pressed incorrectly on the other tooth above it. Far fetched? Far from it, in my mind at least. What do you think?

I don't know. I'm just a bit miffed at this point. I don't know how much a root canal costs, but I can't imagine its cheap. If everything is how I see it however, hopefully I won't be paying for a thing.

Forget the Pictures

I'm a lazy bum and I still haven't pulled together pictures... Meh. Here's the rundown of what's happening in my neck of the woods!

Friday was a vacation day for me and it was as relaxing as I could have hoped for, minus the 7am wakeup call to donate blood with FMD. After donating blood and arguing if I really did need that cup of OJ while the blood was coming out of my arm, we grabbed the dog and headed off to find our first christmas tree together! It only took 10 minutes or so, but we're now the proud owners of a balsam and it was planted in its decorative green base behind our couch. A little sugar water (has anyone heard of doing that besides my wife?), a quick grilled cheese with tomato soup, and we were loaded up and headed off to the northwoods for Thanksgiving part deux.

The rest of the day Friday was just about what you'd expect... Bs and Gs for dinner and catching up with PD. Saturday was the big event. We got up and while my wife headed outside to chase heifers, I stayed in the kitchen to help her mom, PB, prepare the meal for the day. Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, carrot salad, waldorf salad, pumpkin pie... I'm sure I'm missing something but thats fine. It was a great meal! FMD's grandma had to leave early because the snow was coming, so we broke out the games for everyone to play! Texas Hold'Em, Balderdash, Horseopoly, Apples to Apples... It was a great time! I know we had planned on bowling, but with the weather like it was, it just made sense to stay at home and keep warm by the fire.

Sunday brought another early morning and my first rabbit hunting trip of the year. While we weren't overly successful, FMD actually saw one and got a red squirrel. PS and PSK went hunting later while we were visiting FMD's grandpa and they ended up getting two snowshoe hares.

The drive home was uneventful (thankfully after all the snow and ice) and FMD and I set to decorating our balsam. 300 lights, 50 or so ornaments, and a tree topper turned that little balsam into our first Christmas Tree! Let me tell you... It rocks... When I sit there and check it out while we're eating dinner, I'm always impressed. Its getting to be that time of year again!

Monday was as uneventful as Mondays go, but Tuesday brought a few more inches of snow and a job interview... I'm trying for another position here at work that pays only slightly better, but hopefully it will keep me busier. I should know by the end of the week or early next week if I get the position. FMD and I also made it out to the mall and took the Jeep out for some good winter time fun! Later in the evening there was a cop hanging around because it seemed as though a lot of people had the same idea as us... Oh to be young again ;)

And where does that bring us? Wednesday I guess... Its an early morning for me today because I have a dentist appointment this afternoon. Wish me luck folks! I've been having terribly sore and sensitive teeth since they put in my fillings this summer and hopefully they'll be able to help me out... Keep your fingers crossed!

Thoughts to Come

I have many thoughts but I think there should be photos to accompany them... Please stay tuned in for further updates.

PS - Even if I don't come up with the photos I think I have, I'll still blog it up anyways...