No, literally a ton of stuff. I spent much of yesterday helping my siblings and my mom clean out my dad’s attic. Now, the attic still looks terrible. Much improved, but still terrible. I just got a call from my brother telling me that, after they dropped two bunk beds, a couch, and various other assorted things at the Salvation Army, they still managed to throw away 2320 pounds of trash. That’s over a ton. Or, 1052 kg. That’s a lot of stuff.
Tag: Personal
A great tradition
I went to a funeral this morning. My cousin Jonathan (The oldest son of my grandmother’s sister, I can never remember what that’s called, but I’ve always thought of his as just plain cousin, not ‘removed’ or ‘second’ or whatever the proper term is) died on Tuesday. It was a nice funeral, and I got to see some family I don’t see very often. While it would be nice to see them more on happier occasions, it’s still nice to see them.
Jonathan was from the Jewish half of my family, and there’s a great tradition at Jewish funerals. The service beforehand is not terribly different from Christian services that I’ve been to, and that most of you are likely to be familiar with. But those who haven’t been to a Jewish internment are missing out on a great tradition. They have a little shovel and a little pile of dirt by the grave, and family and friends line up and each toss a little dirt on the coffin. It’s one last little good deed you can do for the person you cared about, and I think it’s a great way to give the mourners a sense of closure, that they’ve helped put the person to rest.
One of Jonathan’s best qualities was that he always remembered to ask about the people who weren’t there. And more than just ask, he honestly cared how they were doing. If I saw him, and my siblings weren’t there, he’d want to know how they were doing. It’s one of those things that seemed small when he was alive, but now I realize how much I appreciated it.
I’m glad I went to the service, and got to do one last good deed for him. He will certainly be missed.
Its not even Thanksgiving
I say this every year, but I didn’t think I could, in good conscience, let this complaint go by. There is Christmas stuff everywhere. I see Christmas commercials on TV. My beloved Caribou Coffee has their employees decked out in red, and they have their yuletide napkins out.
It’s bad enough that the day after Thanksgiving is the official start of the holiday shopping season. But by the time December 25th rolls around, I want to shoot anyone who mentions the word ‘Christmas’.
Do you think our new Senator, Jim Webb, would care? As I promised, I’m going to write to him as soon as Nano is over. He’s an old school Navy guy. He probably is opposed to the excessive commercialization of Christmas, right?
199.6
199.6 was my weight today, in pounds (That’s 90.5 kg, for those of you who use that crazy system), after the gym, with shoes on. Today is the first day since I don’t even know when that I was under 200 pounds fully clothed. I suspect it may have more to do with two weeks off from the gym and losing muscle rather than losing fat, but I choose not to dwell on that.
Ive actually WORKED from home
So, I have honestly spent most of the day working at home. Now, to be fair, that was all spent installing Subversion, Java 1.5, the GWT, and Intellij IDEA, and it’s still not all working, but I’ve been doing things for work since nine this morning. With a quick break to go to the grocery store and then fix lunch.
I’m close to getting something to work, though. So close. Right now, though, I’m going to get up from the computer. I think that will be best for my mental well-being. I might even go for a run, since I haven’t done any physical activity since Friday.
Edit: Good day for a run. Ran past an old coworker I haven’t seen in over a year who now works right around the corner.
Good news – we really are married
So, there was some confusion as to whether or not the state of Maryland was going to accept our marriage license after we missed the deadline (five days after the wedding) by almost exactly a month. Oops. I called the license department this morning, and they said they didn’t have the license, which was sort of troubling. After a quick consultation with the wife, who obtained a tracking number from her dad (the wedding officiant), I called back. This time they found it, and everything is official. So we don’t have to get our wedding bands re-engraved with a new date. That’s a plus.
An omen?
As of about 5:30 PM today, I have been married for a month. It’s been a very good month. Tonight, after a celebratory sushi dinner, we went to Harris Teeter so my wife could get ingredients for a vegan carrot cake. She often bakes dessert for birthdays at work (She even takes requests – is it any wonder I married her?). Harris Teeter often gives coupons when you check out based on what you’ve just bought. I think this is a cool idea, although it irritates me that I get coupons for Propel with carcinogenic artificial sweetener when I buy delicious Vitamin Water. We’d been complaining that we hadn’t gotten any good coupons lately. One of the ingredients in the cake was, strangely enough, carrot baby food. We got a coupon today. I’ll bet you can guess what the coupon was for, loyal reader.
Welcome back to me
I’m back. I’m sure there are tons of things to post about. Gas prices are down 20-30 cents. The Crocodile Hunter died while I was in Melbourne. I’m sure someone did something stupid regarding one of BoingBoing’s hot-button issues. Our fearless leader probably did something ridiculous. I could complain about stupid airlines.
Instead, though, I think I’ll just ease back into this whole regular life thing. Being gone for nearly three weeks has made everything seem a little off. And then there are little things, like the fact that they moved the little stand where you get milk at the Caribou Coffee I frequent. Not a big deal, I know, but strange that it just happened to occur when I was gone for three weeks.
In any event, soon things will be back to normal, and the complaining will return, to the delight of all half-dozen or so of you who read this regularly.
Also, for the record, being married doesn’t really feel any different than not being married.
On hiatus
So, I’m getting married the day after tomorrow. As a result, I will be away from a computer until September 7th or so. Which means that you’ll have to look elsewhere for your complaining needs. But, rest assured that I will be thinking about each and every one of you, Loyal Readers, the whole time I’m on my honeymoon. Seriously.
And I’ll be back. But not until next month. Try not to miss me too much.
Mom as a role model for kids? Say it aint so.
Mom’s dieting can be unhealthy for kids – Yahoo! News
Shocker. Mothers who live unhealthy lifestyles then diet when they can’t fit into their pants are likely to have daughters who do the same. Thank you, Yahoo!, for that unexpected fact. Note – the study cited in the article focused on mothers and daughters, since a higher percentage of women have body image problems. Perhaps because all the studies focus on them.
The gist of the article is that mothers who obsess about weight and diet all the time tend to have daughters who do the same. Mothers who make lifestyle changes towards better health also tend to have daughters who do the same. Imagine that. The way you live your life often has a strong influence on the way your kids live theirs.
As someone who has, in the last six months to a year, made a real conscious effort towards a healthier lifestyle, I can tell you that it’s hard. It’s especially hard at work when we go to lunch. It’s hard not to get the bacon cheeseburger and fries with six Cokes. And even the “healthy” choices are usually only healthy in comparison to the 1200+ calorie meals that are typical of most restaurants. And I even have the advantage of a fiancee who’s a great cook. If all you out there don’t have that, you’re kind of screwed. And you can’t have mine. I found her first.