The Life and Times of Jack's Dad

Too Little, Too Late

2010-08-21T16:56:00.000-04:00

This will be my epitaph; it's typically how I operate.

A post for postings sake?

2010-01-22T22:43:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in a week or so, so I feel like I should include some type of update, but I just really don't feel much like posting.

I had a phone interview yesterday with a company in Burlington, VT. It went ok I guess. It's hard to say. If I make it to the next round, I'll hear from them by EOD Tuesday. Round two will be a face to face interview in VT. If I make it, I hope they're willing to pay for my flight and stay up there; otherwise I'll have to pass. I simply can't afford fly up there myself. I figure if they're not willing to spring for the cost, the chances of me getting the position are slim.

I got a call earlier in the week from another recruiting firm asking if I'd be interested in a position with the VA. I told them I was and now I'm just hoping to hear from them. Going to a job fair on Monday. Hope something comes out of that too. Also have to take the postal service test on monday as well. Carriers make pretty good money to start and the benefits are pretty good too.

Did a little but of work on the bathroom today as well. I've been an absolute asshole about getting that done and I need to knock it out. Beth is off all weekend so, she'll be able to keep an eye on Jack and I can get some more done on it. I'd love to be able to complete this very soon and get that particular monkey off my back. Lord knows I've got enough other ones back there. It's my own doing, of course. Lack of confidence in my skills, laziness, what have you. In short, I suck. A lot. I'm trying to suck less, but since I suck, I'm doing a pretty shitty job of it. Just ask Beth.

I don't know where I'm going with this. I'm probably just throwing myself a pity party, but it doesn't change how crappy I feel. Pretty much all the time. But on the upside, I'm dropping some pounds because I don't have much of an appetite anymore, so I got that going for me.

Meh, enough self loathing for tonight. Sorry if this post bummed you out. The one person that's actually reading this, that is.

My Resume

2010-01-14T15:42:00.001-05:00

What the hell, I might as well post my resume here too. I know there are at least a couple of people other than my wife reading this, so what could it hurt?

If you know of an IT/Tech Support position or you're hiring for one in the Tampa Bay area of FL, the Northeast, or Colorado, take a look at my resume and shoot me an email. We're definitely willing to relocate out of the Tampa Bay area.

OBJECTIVE

Dependable IT Technical Support Analyst seeking an opportunity to provide excellent end-user support and service, entry level systems administration or technical writing/documentation for a company that recognizes the value of teamwork and loyalty.

SUMMARY

Provide remote technical and functional application support to end users for a variety of applications, including Microsoft Office, versions 2003 and 2007 as well as Lotus Notes.
Proficient in developing and validating knowledge base content and documentation.
Possess a good grasp of PC networking; currently support broadband Internet connections as well as secure VPN and extranet connections.
Well versed in providing technical support to users with limited PC knowledge or experience.
Responsible for replicating and troubleshooting both hardware and software problems and determining proper solution or escalation.
Recognized in performance evaluations for providing consistently high First Call Resolution.
Provide backup assistance and problem resolution for four other support teams.
Maintained a Top Secret/SCI security clearance.

OCCUPATIONAL EXPERIENCE

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Tampa, FL. Call Support Specialist, May 2004 - Dec 2009. Primary duties included providing remote technical and functional support to internal staff for various, proprietary, financial applications, explaining time & expense as well as finance polices and processes to end users, SAP account administration and providing first-level support to external vendors and internal staff for accounts payable and accounts receivable inquiries. Additional duties included creating and updating content for an internal knowledge base available to support staff as well as end users and providing technical support to end users for Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007, Lotus Notes and network and VPN connectivity issues in back-up support to other teams when call volume warranted.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Tampa, FL. Call Support Coordinator, Sep 2006 - Jun 2008. Primary duties included providing remote technical and functional support to internal staff for proprietary financial applications, explaining time & expense as well as finance polices and processes to end users and SAP account administration. Additional responsibilities included validating and publishing content for an internal knowledge base available to support staff as well as end users, discerning and reporting call trends to manager, running and compiling call driver reports, training new hires, cross-training support staff from other teams and developing training/study materials. Secondary duties included providing technical support to end users for Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007, Lotus Notes and network and VPN connectivity issues in back-up support to other teams when call volume warranted.

Computer Generated Solutions Inc., Tampa, FL. Senior Help Desk Technician, April 2000 – May 2004. Duties included providing remote technical support to end-users from a variety of accounts for account-specific software as well as Microsoft Windows 2000, the Microsoft Office suite, Virtual Private Network connections, laptops and printers. Additional responsibilities entailed troubleshooting and proper escalation of network and hardware failures, providing assistance to other technicians and acting as the subject matter expert for two accounts.

Computer Generated Solutions Inc., Tampa, FL. Supervisor, February 2001 – February 2002. Duties included monitoring department level service statistics, supervising and developing team staff, interviewing for open agent positions, preparing performance appraisals and handling disciplinary issues as needed. Also responsible for identifying problem areas and developing improvement plans to increase performance, reviewing individual team member quality monitoring scores and tracking performance trends, identifying low performers and determining the appropriate course of action for performance improvement. Developed criteria and rewards for and implemented "Representative of the Month" program.

Ground Control Professional Landscaping, Oldsmar, FL. Landscape Maintenance Foreman June 1996 – April 2000

United States Army, 505th Signal Company, 86th Signal Battalion, Fort Huachuca, AZ. Transportable Automated Switching System Operator/Maintainer, 1993 - 1995. Duties included installation and maintenance of central office switches, monitoring the switches and network for failures and outages, performing fault isolation and troubleshooting on hardware and software, providing technical support for technicians and end-users, maintenance of test equipment and vehicles, deployment of the above in numerous field training environments, and participation in real world missions, including "Operation Continue Hope" Mogadishu, Republic of Somalia. Oct 1993 - Feb 1994.

EDUCATION

In pursuit of AS degree in Network Services Technology, Hillsborough Community College, Tampa, FL (3.5 GPA)
Technical Trainer Certification Course - PricewaterhouseCoopers, Tampa, FL
New Equipment Training Course, AN/TTC-39D/PS - U.S. Army, Fort Huachuca, AZ
AN/TTC-39D Augmentation Course - U.S. Army, Fort Huachuca, AZ
Transportable Automated Switching System Operator/Maintainer Course - U.S. Army, Fort Gordon, GA

Awards

Army Achievement Medal with Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster – U.S. Army
United Nations Service Medal – U.S. Army
Representative of the Month, July 2002 – Computer Generated Solutions, Inc

Didn't get the job

2010-01-12T15:43:00.000-05:00

Well, I didn't get the job for which I interviewed on Friday. Pretty disappointing, to say the least, but I'll just have to keep on plugging away. Something will turn up soon; it will have to, otherwise I'll be stocking shelves at Publix or out working on a landscaping crew again. I'll do just about anything as long as it's full time, pays better than unemployment and allows us to pay for day care for Jack after pre-k is done for the day.

When it rains, it pours.

2010-01-09T14:24:00.000-05:00

During one of the Tampa Bay area's coldest cold snaps in many years, the heat portion of our central heat and air unit crapped out. Temps were predicted to fall to the high 20s last night, but only got to 34°. I was able to pick up a little room heater/fan at Target that seems to be helping a bit this morning. Luckily, it hasn't gotten too cold in the house; it's 62° currently. Warm slippers and sweatshirts are helping to stay comfortable. My cousin runs an AC repair company and is coming out to take a look at our unit. Rick's AWESOME! Hopefully it will be something simple and we'll have the normal heat tonight since it's supposed to be colder overnight tonight. Actually, we probably won't run it until the morning since we usually just pile on the blankets at night anyway. Depending how much the inside of the house cools off today, we may run it a bit this evening just to take the chill out and stay ahead of the cold.

Had a job interview yesterday in response to a resume I submitted earlier this week. It went ok, but it emphasized how much my actual technical skills have stagnated while I was supporting primarily in-house applications for the last 5 years. I acknowledged that with them and explained that with a little bit of refreshing, I should be back in the game. I have 7 more years' experience than they're looking for with some supervisory experience thrown in to boot. All in all, I think it went well and hope they're willing to overlook my rustiness.

I tracked down the email address of the guy in charge of the dept (and who led the interview) and sent him a follow up email on the way home thanking him for the interview. I also answered one of the questions that I couldn't in the interview. I told him that having half the answer in the interview was bugging me on the way home and I researched it to come up with not only that a fix was possible, but a couple of methods to do it. I mentioned in that scenario that while I may not always have every answer, my experience provides me the skills to track it down.

Keeping my fingers crossed. If I land the job, I may get less money than I'm seeking, but it will be better than unemployment and we can get medical insurance again.

Interview Update

2010-01-06T15:54:00.000-05:00

The interview went pretty much as I expected: "expand on your background, what types of jobs are you interested in, what's your salary range, what locations would be acceptable, etc..."

It went fairly well and the recruiter seemed optimistic; she doesn't expect to hear much the remainder of this week since most of her clients are just coming back from the holidays, but she believes she'll start seeing requests next week. She said that in the meantime, I can take advantage of a training site they have in order to familiarize myself with some IT apps/utilities/concepts I haven't worked with before and to refresh myself with some that I haven't worked with in a while. All-in-all, I'm encouraged.

Of course, it also helps that shortly after returning home from one interview, I got a call in response to a resume I submitted a few days ago and now have an interview scheduled for Friday morning at 9. With any luck, this type of response will keep up and lead to something pretty quickly.

I Have an Interview Tomorrow!

2010-01-05T20:34:00.001-05:00

It's just an informational interview with a recruiting firm, but it's a start. The recruiter I spoke with on the phone today said that based on my resume, she couldn't see why clients wouldn't be interested. I'm really hoping this leads to something pretty quickly.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T17:49:00.000-05:00

Good riddance to 2009 and hello 2010. Didn't get out for that ride and still haven't done much in the way of reflecting. Perhaps that's still to come; perhaps not. Right now, I'm just hoping that come Monday a whole slew of HR people are going to come off of vacation and pelt me with responses to my resume.

Happy Birthday To Me!

2009-12-23T11:26:00.000-05:00

Today, a totally self-serving post (as if the others aren't also). Today is my 38th birthday. I suppose this would be the time some would be reflective of their lives and whatnot, but I'm not normally an introspective kind of guy. I just haven't given it a lot of thought; what with the holidays approaching, the job hunt etc... maybe later today I'll do a bit of soul-searching or whatever and post about it. I had planned to go for a bike ride (one mile for each year), but Beth's working and Jack's not in pre-k right now so, perhaps I'll push that back to the weekend. Stay tuned. (the one or two of you that have been reading this, anyway)

For now, off to the store for Christmas cookie ingredients and some last-minute gifts.

Unemployment haiku

2009-12-20T12:44:00.000-05:00

This seems to have taken on a bit of a theme lately, but since this is my outlet and my employment situation has such a major impact on my life, it's to be expected. Here's a haiku:

Without employment
Certainty is uncertain
Remaining hopeful

Actually reading this? Unemployed? Leave your own; it's strangely therapeutic.

A Census Taker Came to Test Me Once....

2009-12-16T10:54:00.002-05:00

"I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."

I hope that doesn't happen to me. Tuesday morning, I take the test and fill out application for a census job. They have IT positions in addition to the canvasser and supervisor positions. At this point, I'm willing to accept any of the above; an IT position would be best because obviously, it's within my field, but the others pay enough to give us some breathing room. A canvasser position would be at the very bottom of the pay scale that I could accept, but it would allow us to get by without too much struggle. Hopefully they have some openings and I can start right away. I'm not too concerned about passing the test; I just took a look at the practice test on their site and it looks like the same test I took back in the day when I tried to get hired at the post office. Really, REALLY basic test of clerical skills, reading, math, logic and organization. I get 30 minutes to complete it and I'm pretty sure I'll have no problems with it. I also get a veteran's preference on the test due to my military service. After I take that, I can apply to take the supervisor test as well. Keeping my fingers crossed. Hoping I can get in pretty quickly so that I can start collecting a paycheck before my severance pay officially runs out.

Ahh... the crapfest continues.

2009-12-15T09:51:00.000-05:00

When I separated from the firm a couple of weeks ago, I was told by the HR person that my accumulated vacation (3 weeks' worth) would be paid out to me on 12/15. Imagine Beth's shock when she checked our account and there was only a deposit for what amounted to 2 days' pay. She freaked; as did I, but I was able to keep it together enough to secure a loan from mom to cover us until the end of the month. (Mom ROCKS!) After I dropped Jack off at pre-k, I called the HR call center to figure out WTF happened. The HR manger was wrong is what happened. Vacation is not paid out until the end of the month. I explained the situation to the HR rep I had on the phone and she is working to get an emergency payout of my vacation that, if approved, I should have in my hands on Monday. A crappy way to start the day, but I seem to have salvaged something of it.

I stopped in to where Beth works to let her know that I'm not getting screwed out of that money and that everything was taken care of, thinking that would set her mind at ease (as much as possible in this crappy situation anyway) and I was met with an icy stare. Not the reaction I was expecting and not the support I was hoping for. I know this is a crappy situation we're in and it's scary as f#*%, but I had nothing to do with this SNAFU. And, I managed to get it taken care of. I wasn't expecting a ticker tape parade or a hero's welcome, but JFC, something other than a look to kill would've been nice. Of course, had I managed to stay employed, it never would have happened to begin with.

Oh well, off to Monster.com, etc... in my quest to fix this shit.

Another wonderful day of unemployment

2009-12-14T16:13:00.001-05:00

Once again, here I sit searching for a job. Actually, here I sit posting about looking for a job; I did my job hunting earlier. I find encouragement in the fact that there do seem to be a goodly number of job listings for the IT field out there. Monster.com seems to have quite a few, and they're even in places where we'd be willing to live; which is handy. I'm coming to the conclusion that employers are using their online application process as a tool to weed out job seekers who aren't serious about wanting a job. You have to go through PAGES inputting information that's already contained in your resume and then at the end, they instruct you to not only copy and paste your resume into their form, they want you to upload a copy of it as well. It took me over 30 minutes today to apply for one position. Hopefully, it's time well spent.

I'm really hoping that one of the jobs I'm applying for in the northeast pans out; I definitely need a change and believe that a move will bring about a fresh, clean slate. It will also be nice to be closer to our families. Jack needs to have better access to his cousins as well as his aunts and uncles. He also needs to see what it's like to have four actual seasons and what a real Christmas is like. As we speak, it's 81° outside. That's just insane... it's DECEMBER for crying out loud. Having some hills other than overpasses will also make for more enjoyable and interesting cycling and running. Fingers crossed.

Unemployment sucks

2009-12-13T10:45:00.004-05:00

I got fired 2 weeks ago. I believe my manager had been working toward this for quite some time, but I'm not sure why. Over a year ago, I started receiving less than stellar periodic performance reviews. I didn't necessarily agree with the content of those reviews, but after discussing some of the points he brought up, it seemed he was not interested in changing his mind; to avoid seeming like a whiner, I thought it would be more professional to simply agree with him and attempt to "improve" my work. Nothing I did however, appeared to help. The only feedback I ever received from him was negative and if I did something well, it went unnoticed. He was required to review 2 of my calls per month and for a while, those always seemed to be negative as well. I noticed that he was playing 5-7 of my calls before settling on the ones to review. When I called him on this and noted that it appeared as if he were LOOKING for calls he could review negatively, that seemed to stop, but if he reviewed a call where I did everything correct, he either commented on how I could have done something better, or there were simply no comments at all. It took him over a year, but apparently, he finally collected enough reason to justify letting me go. Right before Christmas. Asshole.

I've learned some important lessons:

If you don't agree or dispute something in your performance review and have the ability to dispute or comment on it, DO SO! Don't worry about looking like a whiner or like you're making excuses.
If you feel like you're not getting a fair shake from your boss and discussing it professionally with him doesn't correct the issue, go to his boss and state your case.
Keep an updated, backup copy of your resume someplace other than your work computer. I've had to recreate my resume basically from scratch. I'm hoping to get my My Documents folder exported, but it's been a huge hassle and may not happen due to various levels or red tape.
Put only as much trust in the people you work for as is necessary. Your boss may act like your buddy, but there's a better than average chance he's just trying to get close enough to plunge the knife into your back cleanly.

I've had much support from many of my friends and many of them are doing what they can to help me find a new job. What has surprised and touched me the most is the level of support and effort received from my so-called, "imaginary" friends; people I know only via the Internet whom I have not actually met in real life. I 'met' them on an online message board. Many of us have no knowledge of each other aside from what we have posted in various (often irreverent) threads on that forum, yet a number of them have requested that I send them copies of my resume or have sent me links to job postings for their companies or companies in their areas. It has been a ray of light in a dark and depressing time.

My confidence (what there was of it) is shattered. I feel like a failure. I am no longer able to provide for my family and feel like I've let them down. It's as if this is simply one more thing in a long line of crap with which I have burdened them. I can see it taking it's toll and I'm doing my best to keep my head up and look for the silver lining to keep everything from falling apart, but it's hard. Very hard. I start to get down or depressed which then leads to thoughts that I'm just feeling sorry for myself and I should just knock it off, which just makes it worse. It then just feeds on itself and becomes a vicious circle.

Hopefully, I'll get a nibble pretty soon on one or more of the resumes I'm sending out and everything will go back to normal. In an ideal world, it will be one of the resumes I've sent off for jobs in the northeast and we can just pack up us, mom, all our junk and get the heck out of here. Fresh start, clean slate and whatnot. We shall see.

My son Jack will never know his grandfather

2009-08-07T15:26:00.001-04:00

Because ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) took him from us 2 months before Jack was born.

Dad had always been vibrant and active, but really started slowing down about a year or so before he died. Being in his 70s, he just chalked it up to "old age and dry rot", but after a few months, it became obvious that something else was afoot. He had various doctor's appointments in an effort to diagnose what was wrong, but nothing really nailed it down; osteoporosis, compression fractures of the vertebrae due to the OP, urinary tract infection, etc... Each time, treatment was applied but no real improvement came out of them. Finally, his GP suggested visiting a neurologist. Mom and Dad, met with him in his office and described everything that had been ailing him the previous year or so, what the various other doctors had diagnosed, and the treatments he received. The whole time, he was observing Dad; asking specific questions when appropriate, cataloging the answers, but most of all: watching. When he was done with the interview, he told Dad he had already narrowed it down to one of two things: a brain tumor or ALS. Dad went for the tests and we all waited for the results. That Saturday, Dad went to sleep and never woke up. Mom got a call from the doctor's office later in the week and they confirmed the diagnosis of ALS.

Watching Dad go from being this guy in his early 70s who still mowed his own lawn, did most of his own home repairs and worked a part-time job at an assisted living facility where some of the tenants were younger than he was to being a stooped, shuffling old man who needed a walker to get from the living room to the kitchen was heartbreaking. I don't think anyone should have to go through that or watch a loved one go through it.

This is why on November 7, I will be participating in The ALS Association’s Tour de Vie. I am dedicated to raising funds to help the Association accelerate the discovery of a cure for this catastrophic disease, and to provide programs and services that are so desperately needed by ALS patients and their families.

To do this, I need your support. I am asking you to help by making a gift to The ALS Association. It is faster and easier than ever to support this great cause by making your tax-deductible donation online using the link below. Simply click on the link below to visit my personal fundraising page and donate directly online.

http://web.alsa.org/goto/John_Markowitz

You may also choose to send your contribution in the form of a check. Please make all checks payable to The ALS Association Florida Chapter and send them to The ALS Association at the following address:

The ALS Association Florida Chapter
ATTN: Tour de Vie
3242 Parkside Center Circle
Tampa, FL 33619

Thank you so much for reading this and for your support.

Job Corps update (and other stuff)

2009-02-17T13:39:00.005-05:00

Hmmm... not sure why I didn't post this last week when we found out; Josh heard back from Job Corps and his reporting date is Feb 24th. He'll be attending the Gainesville center and the plan is for him to do the pre-law enforcement program. When he gets there, he'll have a meeting with a counselor and give them his top three vocation choices and they have him shadow someone in each of those programs for a short period of time to make sure that's what he really wants to do. Once that's done and the final decision is made, he gets started on his academic and vocational training. We're pretty excited for him and we're both going to drive him up to the center rather than putting him on the bus; we want to check out the campus and surrounding area where much of his time for the next few years will be spent.

Valentine's Day
Valentine's day just passed and I've got a wife with a sense of humor. I was on vacation all last week and my coworkers wanted to pull a prank on me, so one of them reached out to Beth for inspiration. She gave them all sorts of ideas and had them put up a big poster wishing me a happy valentine's day from her. She has pics and back-story on her blog. They will all eventually get their comeuppance. I just can't post any of that here until it's been executed because she's nosy.

Potty training Jack
Jack apparently had a poop in the potty today! Beth said that he was very proud of himself and of the sticker that she gave him. We also put a calendar in there where he'll get a sticker every time he uses the potty. Hopefully this means he'll be in big boy underpants soon and we can stop spending money on training pants.

Faith in humanity slowly being restored.

2009-01-30T15:24:00.000-05:00

It's very refreshing to run into people who aren't oblivious, self-absorbed jerks or people who can recognize when they've acted in such a manner and apologize for it.

I had to stop at the grocery store on the way home from work the other day. As I was driving through the parking lot, I saw an open space and made my way to it. I say open in the sense that there was no car parked in that spot; there was however, a guy standing in it and talking on his cell. I pulled up and waited for him to move on through, my natural assumption being that he was on his way in or perhaps, out of the store and simply paused there. But, he wasn't moving. He just stood there yakking away. He turned in my direction, looked at my car then made eye contact with me. "Ahh... here we go, now he'll move," I thought. Not so much. He just turned away and continued his conversation. It was the end of the day, I just needed a couple of things for dinner and I just wanted to get home. Rather than raise the local level of douchebaggery any more by honking at him or giving him the finger, I just rolled my eyes, shook my head and drove on by to park in the next available spot. I walked past him on the way in to the store and he was still blathering away on the phone, in the same spot. By the time I entered the store and made my way over to the bakery (we were having spaghetti with a sauce made from butternut squash and I needed a loaf of crusty bread to go with it), I had all but forgotten about him. That's when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked around and there was Cell Phone Guy. He looked slightly embarrassed and said he wanted to apologize for being in my way; "I'm sorry, I was just spacing out there and didn't realize what I was doing. I'm really sorry." I accepted his apology, he wished me a good day and we went our separate ways.

Just like that, I was in a better mood. Not that him blocking my space made my mood any worse, but his recognition of his own disregard and simple act of contrition went quite a way to lightening it. It's cool that there are still people out there without that 'it's all about me!' attitude that seems so pervasive these days. I hope to see more of it.

Time for an update.

2009-01-15T16:08:00.002-05:00

And this is definitely update-worthy. Josh had his Job Corps interview today and was accepted! He'll be going to the Gainesville center for their pre-law enforcement program and leaves in 30-60 days. Beth says that he's pretty excited about it and he did a great job on all his prep work for the interview. She saw (and helped him with) the essay he had to write for the application and said it was pretty good. She also said that he was one of only 2 who showed up in a shirt and tie, had his essay actually typed (and complete before he showed up for the interview) and also included a cover sheet on the essay.

I think it's the start of good things for him. I hope I'm right.

Went to the zoo this weekend...

2009-01-05T16:58:00.000-05:00

We went on Saturday and we called it 'Jack's Super Fun Day'. He had a blast as usual and was wiped out by the time it was all over. Check out Beth's entry and pics over on her blog.

So, it's 2009

2009-01-02T22:30:00.008-05:00

OK, it's 6 months or so and I think I'm in the right frame of mind to start this again. The whole situation affected me quite a bit and a little bit more than I'd care to admit, but I've decided to just let it go. I'm tired of being an asshole and I'm just going to do my best to get back to being me. The full me. Not just the halfway, but sullen me; the real, likeable me. If that translates into any type of rewards/recognition at work, great! If not, who gives a shit? If they don't appreciate me, they can go jump in a lake for all I care. I'm done being negative and I'm going to make an effort to be more positive. Our six month "lock" was up in December and we can start posting for other positions within the firm again. I've already jumped on that chance and posted my resume for a technical writer position. Fingers crossed and all that jazz.

We started Jack in pre-school back in August. He's doing great and he loves it; he's made all sorts of little friends. this is him on his first day.

We're attempting to get Josh into Job Corps. School just isn't going all that well and this looks like a great opportunity for him. In addition to the vocational training, they assist participants getting either a GED or a high school diploma so that will be a great help for him as well. He has an orientation on Wednesday, so we'll see how it goes.

The holidays were good; did Thanksgiving at Mom's and Christmas at our house. Jack had a good Christmas. He was still a bit leery about Santa up until Christmas morning, then suddenly, he wasn't such a bad guy after all. Now Jack's been asking to go see Santa every day since then. It's a toss up for most popular gift: either the new Thomas the Tank Engine blanket or the Imaginext Batcave. He drags the blanket all over the place right after he wakes up, but just about every other waking moment, he's playing with the Batcave.

That pretty much covers it for now. Once again, I'm going to try to update this more regularly.

So... I got demoted.

2008-06-17T15:03:00.001-04:00

We've been going through a reorganization within IT in our firm for the last year. One of the director's pulled me into her office on Friday to inform me that the realignment has been a long and arduous process, she knows things are tense on the floor what with some people being laid off the day before, etc... "With the re-alignment, they only gave us a certain number of slots at [my level] and we're being held to that very rigidly..." At this point I have a pretty good idea of where she's going. "... and unfortunately, other people were considered to be better suited for that level. You'll be moved down a level, but there will be no salary impact."

Color me pissed.

Not losing any pay takes a little of the sting out, but it still REALLY sucks. I've worked my ass off around here and keep managing to get reviews that paint me above average, but not good enough to rate an annual bonus. Last year, the reviewer noted that I had "spiked" into 'exceptional', but I didn't live there. This year I tried to do even more and take on more side projects and I get demoted. WTF??

I'm viewing this as a catalyst; not to work even harder, but to work even harder at getting my ass out of tech support and into another IT group in the firm where my efforts will be more appreciated. My goal is to be out of the help desk by Christmas.

Road construction and Ragnar

2008-06-11T14:05:00.000-04:00

Well, looks like I'll be commuting by car for a few weeks. DOT is improving a major intersection along my route and the lane shift has made it too dangerous for me to ride through there. Unfortunately, the location of this section makes it impossible to go around without adding another 8 miles or so to my ride, so I'm screwed. It really sucks, what with gas prices being what they are now and having to deal with traffic on a regular basis again. I also haven't had a chance to try out the new bike rack at work either; it's kind of a bummer, especially since the property management company responded so quickly to my request to replace it. Hopefully, they can get whatever it is they're doing that forced them to shift the lanes completed pretty quickly and I can get back out on the bike again.

On the up-side; I'm getting some responses from people in my office to my post seeking runners to create a corporate team for the Ragnar Relay. I've only had 2 other people commit to it, but I've heard from a lot of people that are interested. The guy that somehow roped me into being the team captain says that it was a "slow burn" when he brought the race up to his running club. It started slow, but then took off; I'm hoping I'll see similar results here. The whole event looks like a lot of fun and I really want to be able to use the captain role in my annual appraisal next year. These kind of "extra-curricular" things always look good to the higher ups.

I don't get it

2008-06-04T13:25:00.000-04:00

What is it with people that drive these gigantor SUVs, but slow down almost to a stop to go over a speed bump?? I was pulling into the garage this morning and got stuck behind someone in a Suburban who was taking the speed bumps at 5 mph. Seriously? If they're afraid to take it over a speed bump, why the hell did they buy the monstrosity? Are they compensating for big shortcomings elsewhere or do they enjoy taking out a home equity loan just to fill their gas tank? It boggles my mind.

I think I may have screwed up...

2008-06-03T14:00:00.001-04:00

I made a posting on our company forum looking for 11 other runners to help me form a team for this:

http://www.ragnarfl.com/

"This 191 mile adventure-fest will push you and 11 pals from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean. Starting in Clearwater and finishing in Daytona Beach this relay offers runners a unique opportunity to run across the state of Florida as it passes through the shoreline towns of Palm Harbor, Tarpon Springs, New Port Richey, and the horse country of the Ocala National Forest. The race (and your stamina) wraps up within earshot of the roaring engines of the Daytona 500 and the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean."

Within about 5 minutes, I get an instant message from the guy that coordinates our entries for the the Gasparilla Distance Classic every year and also sends out the informal running newsletter for the office. He was going to include it in the message he was going to send out on Friday and wanted to know if I wanted to be a team captain. At some point, I foolishly agreed to this. So, not only am I going to participate in a race that will see me running a relay across the state, I'm a team captain. Which means that I can't back out if I come to my senses at some point. Oh well; it looks to be quite the adventure and the team captain part will look good on my annual self appraisal next year. It will be a pretty good example of "team building".

Japanese man finds woman living in his closet - Yahoo! News UK

2008-05-30T14:05:00.001-04:00

TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese man puzzled by food mysteriously disappearing from his refrigerator got a shock when he found out a woman had been living in his home for months without permission, police said Friday.

WTF??? How do you not notice something like this? What is it about Japan, why are they always the source of all the really weird stories?

WTH?? Wear a scarf and you support terrorism??

2008-05-28T13:43:00.000-04:00

Mainstreaming Terrorism to Sell Donuts - from www.littlegreenfootballs.com

"I didn’t believe this story when people first started emailing about it; but sure enough, it’s true. Dunkin Donuts, the venerable old fried dough seller, is the latest American firm to casually promote the symbol of Palestinian terrorism and the intifada, the kaffiyeh, via Rachael Ray"

Someone please tell me this is satire. People can't really be this stupid, can they?

I am an Instrument of Change

2008-05-22T14:21:00.000-04:00

The bike rack in the garage in our office park is falling apart. It's one of those old school racks; looks almost like a parade barricade with an extra bar along the bottom to hold your front wheel. The vertical bars in between which you put the wheel are rusting at the welds and some of them have broken (or been broken) loose. To secure the bike, you actually have to loop your chain/cable around the horizontal bar at the top. Otherwise, someone could just remove the vertical bar and make off with your ride. If they were really ambitious, they could just take the whole rack; it's no longer secured to the ground. I leaned against it the other day and almost knocked it over, bikes and all.

We have a message board at work, so I posted a facilities request alerting them of the problem. They forwarded that request to the property management group and on Wednesday, they're going to be replacing the rack. Maybe I should petition them to name the new rack after me... like a new wing at a hospital or something.

Apparently, I'm a "circus freak"

2008-05-21T17:29:00.000-04:00

So, I'm riding to work yesterday morning. On the down-side of a bridge, I'm cruising at about 30ish. Coming at me (the wrong way on my side of the road, but up on the sidewalk) is another guy on a bike; looks like one of the DUI Brigade. You know the guys; they've been popped for DUI too many times, have lost their license and now their only mode of transportation is some beat-up, too small for them, 20 year old K-Mart bike. As I pass him, I hear him shout something, but couldn't really catch it over the wind rushing by. I was about 20 or so feet past him when it filtered through. I'm still not 100% sure, but I think he said something about me being a circus freak. I'm way more confused than upset about it, because I wasn't even wearing anything outlandish. I had on a plain, black pair of cycling shorts, plain white Nashbar jersey, my backpack and black Specialized shoes. Oh well, WTF ever. If that's what makes you feel a little better about your sorry lot in life, you go pal.

Another F@%#ING Flat!

2008-05-19T21:20:00.000-04:00

Three gd flats in three consecutive rides. It's enough to make you chew your own foot off. I'm so sick of this, that I'm seriously thinking about hanging up the whole bike commuting thing right now. Any savings I'm realizing in gas are being negated by the costs of tires and tubes. In the past two weeks, I've bought two tires and three tubes. I replaced the original cheap, crappy tires that came on the bike with a set of Continental Ultras; the rear tire didn't even last a day before I flatted. I was a little over half-way back to the car when I ran over two shards of glass so small, I couldn't even see them to avoid them. I didn't even really need to boot the tire, but I threw a couple of patches on the inside of the tire just to be sure. The front tire (so far) has held up like a champ, it's the rear that's been giving me fits the past week. Perhaps my ass is just too fat for any but the strongest tires they make. A set of Gatorskins would probably alleviate my problems, but I'm sure they're spendy. I saw in my email when I got home that Performance Bike is having a sale through the weekend. I'll have to check it out; maybe they'll have something I can afford.

Any advice from anyone who happens to be reading this will certainly be appreciated.

More Lessons Learned

2008-05-13T13:58:00.001-04:00

Every day is a learning experience.

Quick release skewers are waaaay better than a solid axle and hex nuts
If you have a solid axle and hex nuts, make sure that your multi-tool has a wrench that fits the nuts
CO2 pumps are apparently not air-tight; if the canister seal is broken and you leave the pump in your seat bag, when you go down at lunch to patch your tube, the canister will be empty
Coworkers who offer to give you a ride to your car after work = AWESOME

A Couple of Solid Bike Commuting Weeks...

2008-05-12T15:45:00.000-04:00

..under the belt and aside from a few mechanical mishaps here and there (with which Dave and the guys at AJ's Bikes and Boards were able to assist me), everything seems to be going quite well.

Some lessons learned:

Have spare tires on hand, not just spare tubes
If you have a CO2 pump, you should also have a few spare CO2 canisters
A mini patch kit is a good idea even if you carry a spare tube
Make sure the tension on you pedals isn't too high, because the screws that come with your cleats are surprisingly easy to strip out

I'm not sure if it's just me or if traffic has actually been noticeably lighter the last few weeks. I paid $3.59/gal on Friday and by this morning, it had jumped to $3.65. That's the likely reason for fewer cars on the road, and I don't see it slowing down anytime soon. At the same time, I have noticed a few more people on bikes in the morning. With the industrial areas I ride through, you always see the blue collar guys that either can't afford a car or lost their license, but I'm seeing more of those guys plus a few more people who actually know the rules of the road and are riding bikes that don't look held together with duct tape and chewing gum. I've even seen one or two more bikes at the bike rack here at work. That seems to be inconsistent though.

It may not be for long though. I've been getting lots of questions from coworkers as well as from people I don't even know, about my commute, how I clean up, how I manage to not reek, etc... It's pretty cool. One of my manager's bosses even told me I was his hero. That was pretty cool. Now, if only I could find an angle to work that into a raise...

May is National Bike Month.

Our trip to Disney

2008-05-07T14:42:00.001-04:00

So, as I posted previously, we took Jack on his first visit to Disney World a few weeks ago.

He LOVED it.

We started out at Disney MGM Studios on Tuesday; the overall reaction from everyone was, 'meh'. It was mostly virtual 3D/4D attractions that, for the most part, we could take or leave. The hit of the day was the "live" Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show. It's one of Jack's favorites on TV and his eyes were as big as silver dollars throughout the whole thing. In it, they do a story with little snippets from shows on Disney's Playhouse; MM Clubhouse, Handy Manny, My Friends Tigger and Pooh, etc... It was interactive and they needed lots of 'help' from the audience. He was talking about it for days. At one point you have to help Tigger and Pooh get a kite out of a tree by blowing real hard and he kept saying "kite, tree" and then acted like he was blowing it out of the tree.

The next day was the Magic Kingdom and after being primed the day before, he was raring to go. We got to the park before Beth's family, so we were waiting around Main Street and saw Pluto posing for pics and giving autographs (who knew dogs can write?). He wasn't too sure about it at first, but within seconds, he was hugging Pluto and honking his nose. After that, he got excited every time we saw the characters. A couple of pics:

Jack's not really into rides yet, so we did stuff like It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. Ever since the mansion, he's developed a tiny "mua ha ha" laugh. It's awesome! We also checked out the Country Bear Jamboree and Tom Sawyer's Island in Frontierland. The jamboree hasn't been updated in quite a while and it's funny how un-pc it is as far as it's portrayal of 'country folk'. Jack had a blast running all over tome Sawyer's island and around that same time, we also had a prime spot for viewing the family parade as it went by. A couple of the characters waved right at Jack as they went by and he ate that up. One of the floats had nothing but villains on it and Beth was making raspberries and thumbing her nose at them; Cruella Deville saw that and thumbed her nose right back. Unfortunately, Beth had the camera at the time and I wasn't able to get a pic. We took Jack on the train ride around the perimeter of the park as well. He loves trains and thought that was awfully cool too. We hit most of the other must see things in the park and then used the park hopper (the ONLY time we used it BTW) to check out Epcot briefly and see the fireworks show. We also checked out these guys in the Canadian pavilion of the World Showcase. They were pretty cool!.All in all, a full day for anybody, but a jam-packed one for a little guy:

He's not looking for something he dropped there, he's fast asleep.

The next day was a full day at Epcot. I'd forgotten just how cool it was. Jack seemed a little bored with most of it, but Beth and I had a blast. Soarin' is probably one of the coolest, non-roller coaster rides I've ever been on. Will definitely be doing that one again the next time we go. There's a lot that we didn't see there because we didn't spend a full day. It was our last day at Disney and we didn't' want to get home too late. We made a bit more leisurely lap around the World Showcase and tried to get a little food from each pavilion. After that, we made our way back out to the parking lot and made the 1.5 hour trek back to the house.

I was a bit apprehensive leading up to the trip, but wound up having a lot of fun. It was crowded, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be and the Fast Pass is probably the best invention in recent history. We didn't spend much time at all just standing in line. Although, I completely forgot about looking for hidden Mickeys until the last day, and that would have been a good way to pass the waiting time. We started planning our next trip before we even left park property on the last day.

Back again.

2008-05-06T14:35:00.000-04:00

OK. We're going to give this another shot. Again. I use 'we' in the royal sense, because I doubt seriously anyone is actually reading this (aside from Beth). It's become apparent from my last few posts that this has become less about my running and cycling and more about my everyday life. So, the title has changed even though the URL remains the same. Just in case there is anyone out there that a.) actually reads this, and 2.) has it bookmarked. Plus, I don't want to have to edit my signature files on the various forums where I've included a link to here.

So, what's been happening? A lot of the same ol', same ol'. We went to Disney World a few weeks ago with Beth's family. It was Jack's first visit and he LOVED it. (will follow up in a separate post) Work has been, well.. work. Nothing really changes there. I DO need to start working on some certs and taking some management classes to make it easier to transfer/find a new employer so we can make the move to CO after Spud graduates. I've also started bike commuting to work. Halfway, anyway. It's a 30 mile trip one way, so I drive to a mid-point and then ride my bike the rest of the way in. The original plan was to do it everyday except for our 2 busy days a month, but it's working out to about 3-4 days a week. I'm saving money that would normally be going in the pockets of the oil companies, reducing my contribution to pollution and dropping some weight to boot. to make sure that the money actually gets saved, I continue to fill up weekly, but I subtract the number of gallons it takes to fill the tank from the number of gallons it used to take to fill after a week and multiply that by the price. Then we just set that difference aside.

Not much else to add at teh moment, but again, I hope to keep this updated much more regularly going forward.

Being broke sucks.

2007-10-02T10:15:00.001-04:00

That is all.

I'm Back

2007-09-26T20:50:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been a while since my last post. What's been going on?

The roof is done; we were able to get an equity loan to pay for it and the roofers were able to finish it in a couple of days. It looks very nice and seems to be shedding water nicely. So we've got that going for us.

June and July were fairly uneventful. I posted for a couple of positions that I wasn't sure I wanted and didn't get either one; I wasn't really broken up about it because as previously stated, I wasn't 100% committed to either one. I think the biggest reason I posted was for the networking possibilities.

August wasn't too bad, except for the problems with the car. Pulling into the garage at work one morning, the shifter suddenly went slack. Turns out that one of the cables connecting the shifter lever to the transmission broke. Well, not the cable itself, the $2 bushing that connects the cable to the shifter. Unfortunately, our mechanic couldn't just replace that bushing, he had to replace the entire cable. It's a dealer part, so of course he couldn't get just the cable; both cables come as a unit. A $250 unit. That cost around $200 for him to install because it's a FWD car, the engine sits sideways and the transmission is far from the shifter.

September brings football season and the Bucs are 2 and 1. YAY!! So far. It also brings us Lightning training camp; HOCKEY SEASON! WOOHOO!! I took vacation and we went to training camp. Only one day though, the rest of the time, we were remodeling the front bathroom. Which is still a work in progress. We're hoping to have it finished - or at the very least, functional - by the end of this weekend. We'll see. At least our lives aren't dull.

I've been cycling off an on throughout the summer, but haven't been running at all. I finally picked up a new pair of running shoes in June, but still had some knee pain. I'd like to say that I was taking it easy to rehab my knee, but I was a lazy slob. I started running again yesterday and starting today am going to be cycling regularly. Hence, the update to the blog; I'm making myself publicly accountable again. HA! Like anyone reads this thing. I suppose that's about it for now.

Maybe I can get out for a ride tomorrow

2007-05-12T12:31:00.000-04:00

I haven't been able to ride the last few days because of all of this smoke. It lightened up on Tuesday, but came back at the end of the week. It's starting to lighten up a bit today though. Looks like I'll be able to get out tomorrow. Here's a picture Beth took yesterday.

No, that's not a view up the street on a misty morning, that's about ¼ mile visibility through the smoke at noon. Definitely not conducive to outdoor activity.

It appears as if the winds are shifting a bit and we may start to see some relief this afternoon.

Running hiatus and Where there's smoke, there's not always fire

2007-05-08T16:06:00.000-04:00

Well, I need to take a break from running. I simply can no longer run in my current shoes; it hurts too much. If it's not my knees, it's my hips or my back and I can't really do more than 2 or 3 miles. Since we can't afford to replace them right now, I'm going to take a break until we can. I'll just concentrate on cycling and get my cycling muscles back in shape. Coincidentally, I won a $25 gift certificate to a local running store in a raffle at our company's "wellness fair" yesterday. I'll hang on to that and check the place out; if the prices are good and I like the way they do shoe fittings, I'll get them there. Otherwise, I'll just use it to buy some running gear and get the shoes at the place where I originally planned.

The whole Tampa Bay area is covered with a cloud of smoke today. We have a fairly steady north wind that is pushing smoke from fires in Georgia and north Florida down on us. It's starting to clear out, but this morning it was horrendous; it looked like we were socked in with fog. The smell was overpowering and it worked its way into our building. Everybody has been coughing , I've had this nagging sinus headache all day; it's terrible.
Here's a picture from the newspaper that shows what it was like:

Hopefully, the weather will change tonight and everything will clear up; the weather is supposed to be beautiful all week and we'd love to be able to keep the windows open and the AC off.

Miscellaneous

2007-05-02T13:35:00.000-04:00

Had a nice run yesterday morning. 2½ miles and felt good afterward. I wanted to go a little further, but just didn't have the time. That's it for the running portion of this post. Now, on to the miscellany.

Minor rant #1:
What the heck is up with old people and traffic lights? What possesses them to stop a car-length (or more) back from the white line? Over the weekend, I got stuck in the left turn lane behind a guy who refused to pull all the way up and get on the pressure pad to trip the light. So, we sat there as the cross traffic continued on their merry way, until somebody finally pulled up into the straight lane and forced the green light so that we could finally move. We live outside a fairly large retirement community so I know from experience this isn't just an issue with this guy; a vast majority of the older drivers do the same thing. There have been times where I've had to pull around in front of them to get the light to change (when there are no other cars around to trip the light).

Minor rant #2:
That must've been some badass pair of pants. Look up 'whiny bitch' in the dictionary and you see a picture of this guy. Ok, less of a rant and just more of an observation of just what a punk this judge happens to be.

Random observation:
The 4th floor men's room in our building has smelled like maple syrup for the last 2 days. Had to use it yesterday while the 5th floor one was being cleaned and it was really strong. Today I had to use it when the 5th floor one was full; it wasn't as strong as yesterday, but it still smelled faintly of maple syrup.

Cruddy long run and duped by an urban legend

2007-04-29T11:41:00.000-04:00

I got out for 6 miles this morning and had another cruddy run. I was fine for about 2 miles and then had to walk a bit. That was a big mistake; I wound up walking between ¾ and 1 mile of the total 6. I think that part of the problem was starting off a bit faster than I wanted. Normally, I'm pretty good about my pacing, but I was having issues this morning. I also seemed to be having some form problems as well; I kept hunching over, making it harder to breathe. With that in mind, I'll pay a bit more attention to it and see how I feel on my long run next week. Also need to start some strength training for my back. It will help my back problems and should help my posture during my runs.

Update to the link I posted a few days ago about the "poodle scam" in Japan. It's apparently a hoax that's been debunked by Snopes. I normally don't fall for stuff like that, but I saw it on an actual news site, so I assumed that it had been verified.

Decent run and Perhaps a career change?

2007-04-26T12:39:00.000-04:00

I got out for my run again this morning. It's nice to finally show some consistency. It was a pretty decent run; a little over 3 miles at an easy pace. I felt really good, especially considering how my run went on Saturday. I definitely need new shoes though. I've been feeling minor aches here and there for a few weeks or so, but today I felt what may be the precursor to shin splints. Hopefully I can hold that off with some extra stretching and some exercises I found on Cool Running. I was planning to replace my shoes in the very near future, but the leaky roof put that on hold. Hopefully, we can get a home equity loan to cover that cost. If we can't, I'm not sure what we're going to do.

Of course, I could always become a "poodle breeder" and export them to Japan. It wouldn't take me long at all to pay for the roof that way.

Busy weekend..

2007-04-25T14:25:00.000-04:00

Well ok, it wasn't that busy, I'm just a slacker.

Let's see... I had an incredibly crappy run on Saturday. I planned to do 6 miles, but wasn't really feeling it when I woke up. I made myself get up and get out anyway and said that if I still felt the same after a mile, I would stop. I actually did feel motivated once I got going, but about a quarter mile later, it felt like someone poured sand in my lungs. I decided to hang it up and just go home. Saturday was also prom night. Here's the dashing, young doofus:

The prom theme was 007 Diamonds are Forever, so Beth took him down and had him pick out the white jacket as opposed to the traditional black. When he got home he said he wasn't wearing a white jacket ever again. The reason? "I don't know if it was the color or what, but it was really heavy!" Yes Spud, it's well known that white is the heaviest color in the spectrum... we should have warned you.

Sunday was Beth's birthday and game 6 of the first round of the NHL playoffs for the Lightning. We hit the bike shop so she could pick out what she wanted for her birthday. (she wound up with a trunk and a pair of gloves) Then we had some people over to watch the Lightning get schooled by the Devils; the bastards. They had so much momentum going but blew it in game 4. If they had played games 4 and/or 5 with the desperation they showed in game 6, they'd be getting ready for the 2nd round right now rather than getting ready for rounds of golf. As they say, there's always next year.

Monday brought a dentist appointment for Beth and another trip to the bike shop. She had more birthday money to spend and Josh's bike was due for its 100 mile tune up. Tuesday was fairly uneventful; a trip to the mall and Beth and I were able to sneak in a bike ride. This was the first time we've ridden together in almost a year and it was fun. She may be getting some weekend days off in the near future and we can do it more often. YAY! For me it was the first time on the bike in a few months. I've been focusing so much of my energy on my running; maybe this will be a catalyst and help me revive my cycling in the same way.

Beer: It's made us what we are today

2007-04-18T12:26:00.000-04:00

From Gizmodo:
"Charlie Bamforth, a British academic who holds the most fabulous of titles—the University of California's Anheuser Busch Endowed Professor of Brewing Science—claims that without beer, we would be without computers, the iPod, Silicon Valley and the space program."

And people generalize beer drinkers as pot-bellied, NASCAR watching, Billy Bobs. Without beer, they would be sitting in the dark in a goat skin tent somewhere. Ungrateful, that's what they are.

Here's the source article.

Stress Affects Your Running

2007-04-17T13:23:00.000-04:00

Well, my running anyway. Still worrying about how to pay for the roof and had a sub-par run this morning. Just 2.5 miles and took it easy, but was still slower than I would have liked and felt like I ran harder than I did. Hopefully I can shake it off and do a little better on Thursday. Maybe I'll solicit Internet donations like other people have in the past. "Send me a dollar so I can buy a car, get new boobs etc..." Our situation certainly isn't any less important than those, right? Oh well, who knows?

The Snoogie is feeling better. He still has a cough, but not that nasty, barky cough he had with the croup. It's just a little wet sounding; like he's got some congestion with a regular cold. Other than that he's his normal, wildman-of-Borneo self. He likes hockey and got all excited when I turned on the Lightning game last night. He'll sit there and watch it for as long as his attention span lets him and then goes off and plays, but comes running back in with his hands in the air if he hears the horn go off.

Lightning lead the series 2-1. one more game at home and then back to NJ. Here's hoping that they head back there after Wednesday 3-1. GO BOLTS!

Roof Update

2007-04-16T14:20:00.000-04:00

Well, the roofing guy said that they can patch the two spots with the leaks, but all of the shingles need to be replaced as well. The existing ones are apparently too brittle to try to match up with the ones they would need to replace over the bad spots. The estimate was in the neighborhood of $6000. {SIGH} I have no idea where we're going to come up with that. Hopefully, we can get some kind of home equity loan from our credit union or something. This sucks. I suppose it could be worse though; at least we don't also have to replace all the decking. Oh well, I guess the silver lining is that a new roof will add to the value of the house and may be a selling point when we sell it in a couple of years.

Ah, the Joys of Home Ownership

2007-04-12T11:05:00.000-04:00

Leaky roofs suck. We had a bunch of rain on Tuesday and discovered we have 2 leaks in the roof. They don't look too bad, but "the roof is leaking..." is not an instant message you want to get at work. I crawled up in the attic after dinner that night and it appears to just be two little spots where it's seeping in and then running down the trusses. I think the only reason that it leaked at all is because we had a heavy, soaking rain all day on Tuesday and it saturated the roof enough that it started to seep through. Hopefully when the roofing company comes out to give an estimate, they will be able to repair the bad spots and not try to coerce me into replacing the entire roof. Heck, the thing is less than 15 years old.

The Snoogie is sick. He barfed this morning and has a fever. Beth is taking him to the pediatrician this morning. I hope it's just the flu or a stomach virus; he got into the bathroom yesterday and was playing in the toilet and I'm all paranoid that he's sick because of that. Fingers crossed.

UPDATE 8:30pm: Jack has croup. Much better than if he had some type of toilet mung. He's on antibiotic and prednisolone; he's had this before and should be fine in a few days.

Apparently, Computer Geeks are Dangerous

2007-04-10T15:48:00.000-04:00

Came across this on a forum I hang out in. Nice to see that NYPD had all of those murders, robberies, assaults, gang activity, etc... all straightened out at the time and had nothing better to do.

Nice run this morning

2007-04-10T13:52:00.000-04:00

Woke up this morning and my back felt sooo much better. I did a nice, easy run today; just 2.5 miles. It was a little humid due to the rain last night, but it was in the low 60s, so it felt great. Even with the little bit of lingering back pain and the layoff due to said back pain, I held an acceptable pace and felt really good. I'm really looking forward to finding a race for this summer and seeing if I can improve on one or both of my PRs. The best part of the run this morning however, was no worries about possible bear attacks.

STILL haven't seen the results for the Bolt Run and it's really starting to bug me. I emailed the race director on Friday, but haven't heard a peep from her. In the grand scheme of things, my placement isn't all that important - I know how I did against my previous time - but, It would still be nice to measure myself against other runners. Although, if I was Ty Webb, I would do that by height.

Ouch, part II and Insane Car Accesories

2007-04-09T13:59:00.000-04:00

I woke up yesterday and my lower back/hip were killing me; it hurt to move. So, needless to say, I skipped the planned long run. I wanted to do 7 or 8 miles, but it hurt to walk to the bathroom, let alone to run for an hour or more. I laid on the heating pad for a half hour or so and then hit that spot with the percussion massager for about 5 or 10 minutes. It didn't seem like it really did anything at the time, but I felt pretty good this morning when I got up. Hopefully, it will go away completely in the next few days and I'll be right back on track.

From the some people have more money than sense dept, there is this gem. I suppose that's on par with buying someone a diamond so big, it will make them puke. Of course, if you've got that kind of a wad to drop on a car accessory, you would probably pay someone to puke for you.

Weird dreams and mediocre runs

2007-04-05T12:35:00.000-04:00

So, just before I woke up this morning, I was having a dream that we had a grizzly bear roaming around our yard. This is odd for two reasons: first, because we live in suburbia (rural suburbia, but suburbia nonetheless) and second, because we live in Florida and that's about as far as you can get from grizzly territory and still be in the U.S. I figure it's because we watched a show called Rogue Nature on The Discovery Channel the other night that happened to be about bears and that inspired the subject matter. It was a fairly strange dream and really vivid; when I got out of bed and went for my run, I was still halfway convinced that I was going to be bum-rushed by Shardik coming out of the trees on the side of the road or something.

The run this morning was ok, not bad, but not great. The weather was just ok, I had to cut the run short because I overslept a little and I just wasn't "feeling it" this morning. But, I got out and did it and that's what counts I suppose. We're just about getting to the time of year where it's warm and muggy out before sunup and I'm not looking forward to it too much. This is where the whole consistency thing comes in... if I can make sure that I'm training regularly and not missing any workouts, it'll be a habit by then and much easier to get up and go in the mornings. So far, so good.

The results from the Bolt Run haven't been posted yet. I'm not sure who to be mad at; CoolRunning or the race director. She emailed all the participants a few days ago and said that the results would be posted by Wednesday, but they're still not there. I'm not sure who is dragging their feet. Probably the website, I haven't been too impressed with their web dept there. The content is great, but updates don't appear to be regular and they have some broken links. Oh well, no use getting stressed over it, it's not like I was in any danger of placing or anything.

Ouch

2007-04-03T10:07:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm taking a day off today. My knee was sore before I even started stretching today, so I decided to take some Aleve, put a bag of frozen peas and carrots on it and take it easy. I think that I need to mix in some type of strength training, but it's difficult when you don't have any equipment. Dick's sporting goods just opened near us, so we stopped in to check it out the other night; I was looking at a set of those adjustable weight dumbbells and they were $350! Oh well, we've got no place to store them anyway.

I think that our next house is definitely going to have some space set aside that we can use as a "fitness center". It would be nice to be able to get a good workout and not have to leave the house or pay over-priced gym fees. The next best thing would be a gym at work, but that's not going to happen in our current facility. I doubt they'll put one in at our new facility either; even though it's the item most often inquired about/suggested. For some reason, leadership seems very reluctant to provide something like that. At the very least, I'm hoping for shower facilities. Then, I can maybe work in a run at lunch and perhaps also do some bike commuting.

Google offers free wireless broadband service

2007-04-01T15:14:00.000-04:00

From Google.com:

Welcome to Google TiSP: "Sick of paying for broadband that you have to, well, pay for?

Introducing Google TiSP (BETA), our new FREE in-home wireless broadband service. Sign up today and we'll send you your TiSP self-installation kit, which includes setup guide, fiber-optic cable, spindle, wireless router and installation CD."

This is too good to be true! It's too bad that we won't be able to take advantage of it due to the logistics of our home construction, but maybe the competition will bring our ISP prices down.

Bolt Run race report (mission accomplished)

2007-03-31T12:09:00.001-04:00

Today was a beautiful day for a race; mostly sunny, around 65° at the 8am start and low humidity. What a difference between a huge race like Gasparilla and a small race like this one. It seemed a little disorganized, but the start went off without a hitch. It wasn't chip timed, but the field for the 5k was so small that I crossed the start line within 5 seconds of the start.

The race begins right in front of the Ice Palace (I'm old school, I still can't bring myself to call it The St. Pete Times Forum), loops around the building under the plaza, hangs a left on Channelside Dr and heads out to Bayshore Blvd. You head out on Bayshore and the turn around point is a couple of kilometers along. Bayshore Blvd is always a great place for a run; you've got cool looking mansions on one side and a great view of Tampa Bay and downtown Tampa on the other.

I was able to accomplish my goal of sub 30 minutes. I finished in 28:37, almost 5 minutes faster than my last 5k time. I started out a bit fast I think, but settled into a good race pace in the first mile or so. It was a little difficult to figure out my pacing because I didn't know the course before hand and the splits weren't really marked. They did have volunteers calling out times as we ran past, but the guy at the 2 mile point was the only one that said what distance had been covered. Up to that point, I had no idea how I was doing in relation to my goal. I passed him at 18:16 or so and knew at that point, barring any injury, that I'd be able to meet my goal. It was also a bit of a psychological boost to know that I was 2/3 done with the race. I felt pretty good in the last 1.1 mile and it certainly helped that the last half block to the chute was a downhill slope.

All in all, it was a fun race and a different experience than a larger one. I'm very happy with my time and improvement; I can't wait for my next race. I just have to decide what distance I want to do and in which race to do it.

Tomorrow is race day..

2007-03-30T22:05:00.001-04:00

Well, tomorrow is race day. The 5k is at 8:30, so I'll need to get an early start. Even earlier than I planned, because I never received my race packet in the mail and I'll need to go to the registration table before the race to get my stuff. That's a little irritating, but what are ya gonna do, eh? I'm hoping to finish in under 30 minutes. I think that's definitely doable.

Africam.com

2007-03-29T14:58:00.000-04:00

Africam.com | Popup Player

Got this link from a forum on Bicycling.com. Looks pretty cool, but it's night, so there's been no action so far.

3 days to go

2007-03-27T21:25:00.000-04:00

Had a nice run this morning. My next 5k is coming up on Saturday so I'm taking it easy this week. Keeping the mileage down and taking them nice and easy. Other than that, it was completely uneventful. Getting my running more consistent is helping my back. It feels soooo much better than it has the last few weeks. I'm sure that it's the activity combined with all of the stretching.

Not much to this post, but it's more to get me updating consistently than anything else.

Getting ready for: 6th annual Bolt Run 5k in Downtown Tampa, 31 March 07

Weekend update

2007-03-25T17:23:00.000-04:00

No, Chevy Chase is not subbing for me...

It was another busy weekend. I never made it to work on Friday; about 3 miles from the office, some idiot ran a red light and I had to really stomp on the brakes. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but they've been needing replacement for a little while. About two blocks later, I went to stop at a red light and heard a 'klunk!' from the front wheel and the brake pedal went to the floor. Luckily, I didn't hit anyone or anything and was able to get off the road. Upon a quick inspection, I didn't see any parts on the ground and nothing hanging or leaking from the car. I couldn't get a tow truck, so I thought I was screwed, but when I pulled off the main road and tried to find a more private and hospitable place to freak out, I determined that I still had a little stopping power. I was able to limp home without incident.

I took both front wheels off and saw that in addition to needing brake pads, I needed rotors as well. Went to the auto parts store, picked up everything I needed and then replaced everything on Saturday.

Getting everything done yesterday allowed me to get in my long run this morning. It was a good run. I did a nice, easy seven miles. The weather was beautiful; 60° at 6:30 and a light breeze. Perfect weather for running. The run itself was pretty uneventful, aside from the asshole in the truck who decided that I really should be running in the grass and not on the edge of the pavement and forced me to jump off the road pretty quickly. So, aside from seeing a jackass, I didn't really see any wildlife. Every once in a while, I'll see a hawk or a rabbit out looking for some breakfast. Once, I saw a fox; that was pretty cool. Today, not so much. Yesterday evening, we had a picnic dinner at the beach - Jack loves going to the beach and playing at the playground there - on the way out, we saw a couple of horned owls up on a telephone pole getting ready to hunt. I don't know how much longer we'll be able to see stuff like that around here with the way that they're building houses on any unoccupied patch of ground. It's pretty depressing actually.

Well, that's enough of that. It's getting late and I've got to work tomorrow.

Getting ready for: 6th annual Bolt Run 5k in Downtown Tampa, 31 March 07

2 good runs this week

2007-03-22T21:13:00.000-04:00

Ok, so my posting needs to be more consistent also. I think it's been about a week.

Didn't do my long run on Sunday, but I was busy replacing the water tank on our well. It was leaking air somewhere and causing the pump to short-cycle again. I was more than happy to spend $200 to replace the tank rather than have to spend $1500 to replace the pump again. That sucked, especially because we couldn't really afford it at the time.

Tuesday was a nice, easy, 2 miler and today I did 4 miles. Felt really good when I was done (as usual); don't know why it's such a chore to get out there and get started. I guess it's mostly because 4:30 is damned early. Oh well, no use pissing and moaning about it I suppose. Although, that is part of the reason that I'm using this blog. Meh... don't feel like whining tonight. Getting up that early gives me more time with my family in the evening so, it's a trade-off I'm willing to make.

Not much going on beyond that currently. The Lightning are currently tied 1-1 with the Devils. Hoping they can pull this one out, then keep their heads out of their asses for the remaining 6 or 7 games of the season and build some momentum going into the post season. GO BOLTS!

Getting ready for: 6th annual Bolt Run 5k in Downtown Tampa, 31 March 07

O.K., so it took a day...

2007-03-15T14:45:00.000-04:00

Dad used to say that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

I was determined to get up and ride yesterday, but the muscle relaxer that I took the night before had a different plan. I did however, get up today and do 3 miles (3.3 if we're being exact). It was a good run and I was relatively happy with my pace. I started out slow and was able to run negative splits rather easily; I didn't have any specific pace goals in mind when I started other than to make each mile faster than the last and I accomplished that. As a matter of fact, the last 1.3 miles was at 8:32. Certainly not fast by most standards, but a pretty good pace for me nonetheless.

On a non running related note, looks like we may actually have some decent movies this summer. 3 at least. The new TMNT movie is out soon, Transformers hits in July and I just saw the Underdog trailer the other day. I'm really hoping that they don't screw that one up, it would be really depressing. I used to love that cartoon as a kid. It would be ideal if the local drive in gets all 3 of them at some point, because I'm sure that Jack will love each of them, but I have no desire to take a 2 year old to the movie theater. I'm sure that my fellow movie-goers will thank me for that.

Getting ready for: 6th annual Bolt Run 5k in Downtown Tampa, 31 March 07

Overslept!

2007-03-13T21:25:00.000-04:00

ARRRGGHH!! I was all ready to just get up and head out for a couple of miles this morning, but I turned the alarm off instead of hitting snooze. That's so frustrating! Here I was ranting about my consistency yesterday and then blow it again today. I guess it's like that guy in the movies; the cop that's days away from retirement who gets killed right after laying out what he's going to do when he's retired, or the private in the war movies who buys it days away from shipping home to his high school sweetheart to get married. Tomorrow, I get up and head out for a ride. No excuses, no B.S., just consistency.

Then, to top it all off, it was a really busy morning at work today. Non-stop calls for about 3 hours... it sucked. I have got to get off the phones; I've been taking calls for 7 years now and I think it's time to be done. The only problem is that we're currently in the middle of busy season, and they've implemented a freeze on all new positions and transfers. Oh well, keeping my eyes open for anything that might come along. I've just got to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Too bad they don't have a "get paid to stay at home and ride your bike or run all week" position. Pretty sure that I could master that one pretty quickly.

Been slacking...

2007-03-11T23:09:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been a busy week and it's kept me from posting. Only ran once this week aside from today. Today was a pretty good run; 6 miles, decent pace (for me), nice weather and a nice sunrise. Mornings like this are what make me want to keep at this. I need to make a more concerted effort at consistency. If I can only manage to run 2 times a week, I'll never make any kind of improvement in my pace/distance and I'll be stuck at 209 pounds. Maybe I can use this morning as motivation; if I was able to get up and run after early daylight savings time, I should be able to get up and run/bike on a normal day. If I can do that for a few weeks, it will become a habit and easier to do every day. So, that's what I'm shooting for.

Getting ready for: 6th annual Bolt Run 5k in Downtown Tampa, 31 March 07

Today's ride

2007-03-03T22:29:00.001-05:00

So, I got enough sleep last night and didn't really have any problem getting out of bed today to ride. Although, I was a bit disorganized and took a while getting out the door. The ride itself was fine and fairly uneventful. It was overcast and a bit chilly so, no pics of the sunrise because there really wasn't one.

Another workout bust

2007-03-02T15:27:00.001-05:00

Well, I was supposed to ride today, but didn't. There was a bit of a situation last night that resulted in a late night "we need to talk" session that had me up until 1am and then I didn't sleep well after that. There was no way I was rolling out of bed 3½ hours later when the alarm went off. Oh well... tomorrow, none of this should be an issue and I'll do a longish ride then. A couple of hours alone on the bike in at daybreak will probably do wonders. Maybe I'll bring the camera along and try to get some pics of the sunrise or something.

God help the jackass that stole my bike

2007-03-01T12:52:00.000-05:00

So, last summer my bike was stolen and I had to replace it. It was a second-hand, mid-80ish Peugeot in pretty decent shape and may not have been anything special, but it was mine and after much trial and error, I had it fit to me perfectly. When I replaced it, all I could afford was a Schwinn Varsity from Wal-Mart. It's a decent bike, but I've been tweaking it for months and it simply is still not as comfortable. It's really a drag.

So, basically, I had a rather disappointing ride yesterday. The whole thing just felt "off", so I cut it short. Then this morning, about 2 minutes into my run, my knees both made it known that they were not on board with my choice of activities. Perhaps if I'd gotten a little more sleep, I'd have been a little more motivated and able to overrule them, but they shouted me down. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

First run since my 15k race

2007-02-27T21:25:00.001-05:00

I ran the 15k in the Gasparilla Distance Classic on the 17th and took a week off after. (read: was too lazy to drag my ass out of bed) Today, I finally mustered up the will power to get up and go for an easy 2½ miles. As tired as I was when I rolled out and then hit the road in the dark, I felt really good walking back up the driveway when I was done. Felt like I finally shook off whatever malaise has been hanging around me for a few weeks. I definitely feel more motivated and am eagerly anticipating getting back on my bike tomorrow.

Well, here it goes...

2007-02-26T21:32:00.000-05:00

As cliché as it's going to sound, this is my blog. Not really sure what I'm going to do with it right now, but I'm sure it will all coalesce into something in time.