My 48 Hours

Last Thursday, while I was still at work, T-- took the kids to Wichita to spend some time with her family there. The plan was to stay through a big birthday party Saturday evening, then drive home late Saturday night.

I intended, as I often do on these occasions, to take advantage of the peace and quiet to get some good work done. Mainly I had some computer stuff I wanted to do -- reviewing a blog for a new friend, getting caught up on my own blogging after a busy few weeks, and putting together some notes on a new project I'm working on (the Consortium). I figured I'd do a little lawn and house work, too, since our property got hit pretty hard with last week's apocalyptic hailstorm.

Anyway, when I got home from work to an empty house Thursday afternoon, the first thing I did was make a To Do list. (I estimated roughly that each item in the "Must Do" list should represent about 90 minutes of work).

• Must Do
• Thursday night
• Write Sun/Mon/Tue blog posts for next week
• Prepare newsletter for Saturday
• Friday morning
  
• Mow the lawn
  
• Clean out the gutters
  
• Friday afternoon
• Write Thu/Fri/Sat blog posts for next week
• Set up blog review spreadsheet on GDocs
  
• Friday night
• Review Julie's blog posts
  
• Review Julie's blog posts
• Saturday morning
• Chainsaw some trees
  
• Paint hall and bathrooms
  
• Saturday afternoon
• Review Julie's blog posts
• Review Julie's blog posts
• Saturday night
• Edit and link next week's blog posts
  
• Prepare next Saturday's newsletter
  
• Sunday afternoon
• Email Julie about the Consortium
  
• Complete detailed descriptions of the Consortium in Wave
  
• Sunday night
• Write Sun/Mon/Tues blog posts for next week
  
• Outline blog posts for June
  
• Remember to Eat!
• Lunch with D-- (discuss Consortium as non-profit)
• Dinner with K-- and N-- (discuss Consortium network/software)
  
• Lunch with Courtney (recruit her to the Consortium)
• Dinner with B-- (discuss Consortium business plan)
• Extra Credit (if I have free time)
• Recruit Carlos to the Consortium
• Social Writing
• Help Toby program BookMaker utility
• Get in touch with Doolin
• Email Julie about blog review
• Get Courtney her photos (from a Julie V shoot)
• Design novel template in GDocs
  
• Scan many things
• Edit/link guest posts for Doolin
• Make chapters for Carlos's e-Book
• Review Carlos's other support requests
• Call OU Admissions department
• Email Shawn about the Consortium
• Finish Ivanhoe
• Email Courtney about her blog
• Contact Schwinn customer support
• Lowe's run
• Fix exterior lights
• Drop seed, weed killer, and fertilizer on lawn
• Clean out garage work area
• Put some stuff in the attic
• Convert Becca's and Bryce's books to e-Book format
• Read Becca's and Bryce's books
• Check out Courtney's new WIP on GDocs
  
• Write Thursday's Creative Copy Challenge post
• Reply to many comments on my blog and Doolin's

Those were my 48 items in 48 hours (I mentioned them on Facebook). And...well, technically four of those items were scheduled for Sunday, but I'd have my whole family home on Sunday so I figured I'd need to get much of that done in advance.

Of course, I ended up adding to the list before I was done.

• Added since Thursday afternoon (all extra credit)
• Email Courtney about new photo policy at my blog
  
• Update About Page photos in color
• Clean up storm detritus on driveway, porch, and sidewalks
  
• Replace shattered plastic house numbers over garage
• Pick up a birthday gift for K--
• Fix fallen A/C register and attach headboard to bedframe
• Murder weeds growing in driveway, porch, and sidewalks
• Patch busted wood trim around bathroom door
• Caulk floor joints both bathroom
• Organize tool chest drawers
• Wash and put away three loads of laundry
• Paint over garage hail damage
• Take out the trash
• Do the dishes
• Email Cindy about the Consortium as a non-profit
  

And I made time for my 4.5-mile jog every morning, because with all that cerebral work going on, I needed some physical exertion to balance it out.

The problem, it turned out, was that 45 minutes jogging wasn't close to enough time to balance it out. I got started working on the lawn Friday morning, and found myself still working outside when it came time to go to dinner Friday night. Woke up Saturday, went for my jog, and figured since I was going to have to shower anyway, I should do a thing or two outside first.

By the end of the day Saturday (my forty-eight hours), I'd spent about fourteen hours sleeping, eight hours at business/social meals, and a hair over an hour (total) sitting at my computer. The other twenty-five hours I spent toiling -- repairing my house, cleaning, or working in the yard. And none of that was by choice or priority -- it just sort of happened. I was driven.

When everything was said and done, by the time I went to bed Sunday night, I'd completed 34 of the 62 items on my To Do list, including just half of the "Must Do" items. The finished list looked like this:

• Must Do
• Thursday night
• Write Sun/Mon/Tue blog posts for next week
• Prepare newsletter for Saturday
• Friday morning
  
• Mow the lawn
  
• Clean out the gutters
  
• Friday afternoon
• Write Thu/Fri/Sat blog posts for next week
• Set up blog review spreadsheet on GDocs
• Friday night
• Read Julie's blog posts
  
• Read Julie's blog posts
• Saturday morning
• Chainsaw some trees
  
• Paint hall and bathrooms
  
• Saturday afternoon
• Read Julie's blog posts
• Read Julie's blog posts
• Saturday night
• Edit and link next week's blog posts
  
• Prepare next Saturday's newsletter
  
• Sunday afternoon
• Email Julie about the Consortium
  
• Complete detailed descriptions of the Consortium in Wave
  
• Sunday night
• Write Sun/Mon/Tues blog posts for next week
  
• Outline blog posts for June
  
• Remember to Eat!
• Lunch with Dan (discuss Consortium as non-profit)
• Dinner with Austins (discuss Consortium network/software)
  
• Lunch with Courtney (recruit her to the Consortium)
• Dinner with Bruce (discuss Consortium business plan)
• Extra Credit (if I have free time)
• Recruit Carlos to the Consortium
• Social Writing
• Help Toby program BookMaker utility
• Get in touch with Doolin
• Email Julie about blog review
• Get Courtney her photos (from a Julie V shoot)
• Design novel template in GDocs
  
• Scan many things
• Edit/Link guest posts for Doolin
• Make chapters for Carlos's e-Book
• Review Carlos's other support requests
• Call OU Admissions department
• Email Shawn about the Consortium
• Finish Ivanhoe
• Email Courtney about her blog
• Contact Schwinn customer support
• Lowe's run
• Fix exterior lights
• Drop seed, weed killer, and fertilizer on lawn
• Clean out garage work area
• Put some stuff in the attic
• Convert Becca's and Bryce's books to e-Book format
• Read Becca's and Bryce's books
• Check out Courtney's new WIP on GDocs
  
• Write Thursday's Creative Copy Challenge post
• Reply to many comments on my blog and Doolin's
• Email Courtney about new photo policy at my blog
  
• Update About Page photos in color
• Clean up storm detritus on driveway, porch, and sidewalks
  
• Replace shattered plastic house numbers over garage
• Pick up a birthday gift for Kris
• Fix fallen A/C register and attach headboard to bedframe
• Murder weeds growing in driveway, porch, and sidewalks
• Patch busted wood trim around bathroom door
• Caulk floor joints both bathroom
• Organize tool chest drawers
• Wash and put away three loads of laundry
• Paint over garage hail damage
• Take out the trash
• Do the dishes
• Email Cindy about the Consortium as a non-profit

Journal Entry: September 4, 2009

Big week for me, so yeah I should have been posting regularly. But, then, it was a big week for me, so I had other stuff to do.

Starting with getting sick.

Sunday
(Yes, I already did Sunday, just bear with me.)

Sunday morning I woke up with the sniffles and a severe, sinus-related headache -- harkening back to the Sunday only two weeks before, when I went through the same thing. That one was short-lived, though....

This one has lingered. And grown.

Monday
So, yeah, Monday morning I woke up feeling pretty out-of-it and miserable, but I just assumed (with my big first day of school looming) that it was a social anxiety thing. Every now and then I'd stop and think, "Wait, this feels more like a head cold than an anxiety attack," but then I'd just call myself silly because, after all, I had a big terrifying Event looming. Of course it was anxiety!

I went to work Monday, and then got home to an empty house because T-- had AB at the grocery store with her. D-- came over, and T-- brought a pizza home with her, and we all had a pleasant dinner. Then T-- took AB to go shopping with my little sister, and D-- drove me up to Full Circle Bookstore for social writing.

It was just the two of us this time, and we both got a lot done. We wrote about a thousand words each, in two hours at the coffee shop, then headed down to the restaurant for an hour of good conversation. I got home a little after ten, and went straight to bed.

Tuesday
Tuesday morning I went in to work, and spent most of my time there answering coworkers who started conversations with, "Today's the big day, huh? Are you ready?" And my answer was always, "Sure I'm ready! I've been doing this for seven years. All I have to do is show up, and start talking. I'll fill an hour like that!"

Noon rolled around, and I headed home. I took the afternoon off, so I wouldn't have to rush hither and thither on my first day of classes. Had lunch with T-- and AB, grabbed my laptop, and headed up to the school. I'll tell you all about my first class session in a separate post.

In brief, though, it didn't go well. And, on top of all that, I was sick. I still suspected at the time that it was a response to the stress of the day, but that certainly didn't lessen after class was over. I drove home, desperately glad I wasn't supposed to go back to work, and crashed on the couch, and did nothing else for the rest of the day. I did watch AB while T-- went grocery shopping, but that consisted mostly of stretching out on the couch, one arm over my eyes, and half-heartedly saying, "Don't make a mess" while she watched TV and played with her puzzles.

Wednesday
Wednesday morning I woke up early and went to work, then slipped out halfway through the morning to see my doctor for my annual physical. I haven't gotten any of the lab results back yet, but for the most part everything's good. He's got me back on Benicar for my blood pressure, but even that is much better than it was a year ago. He said if I can get my diastolic down by ten points, I can probably go off it altogether. So that's my six-month goal.

Anyway, after that I went right back to work. Mid-afternoon I was chatting with T-- and asked her about dinner plans and she reminded me that she was going out with Becca, and I was watching AB. So that was that.

I got home, and she left, and AB and I played in the living room for an hour or so before D-- showed up. Then the three of us ran up to Taco Bueno to grab some dinner. Afterward AB crawled up next to me on the couch while I was poking around on Facebook, and she jabbed a finger at the screen, at my little profile photo, and said, "That's you, Daddy!"

And I said, "It is!" and opened the photo up larger so she could see it. Then she started looking through all the little thumbnails on the screen, trying to spot people she recognized, and we played that game for fifteen minutes or so.

When she got bored of that, I set her up on T--'s laptop watching really, really old episodes of Sesame Street, and D-- and I played WoW. That carried us through to AB's bedtime.

Then D-- left and T-- and I watched some Lie to Me, and then it was tomorrow.

Thursday
My Tuesday-Thursday class is what we're calling a "hybrid online course," which means we're meeting in class on Tuesdays, and then on Thursdays the students go to the school's e-classroom website and watch a recorded lecture, get an assignment, and work on that over the weekend. Next Tuesday when we meet for class, we'll go over the assignment before I launch into my lecture.

Anyway, that meant I didn't have to go out to the school on Thursday, but I did have to get the online lecture put together. That...didn't end up happening, for technical reasons. I posted the assignment, and I put together a heavily-illustrated tutorial (How to Write a Business Letter) that I made available, and I sent them an email saying, "Sorry, but I'm having technical problems so your lecture won't be available until tomorrow. If you're in a hurry to get started, check out the tutorial posted online."

Not the best way to get started. In the process, though, I came up with a really great process for developing my online lectures. I was able to convert the illustrations in my tutorial directly into PowerPoint slides for the lecture, and use the text as a script for my voiceover. That lets me develop the lecture to my strengths (that is, tech writing), produce a useful lecture, and also have a well-made tutorial document left over when I'm done. That seems like a good thing all around.

Anyway, I took care of that yesterday, finishing it up in the early evening. T-- made sloppy joes for dinner, I played WoW, and after AB went to bed we watched the last episode of Lie to Me. It was intense.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: July 14, 2009

Yesterday morning (you'll recall) I was complaining about crippling back pain. During the course of the day I did some stretches my physical therapist had taught me a year ago (and prayed a lot), and by the end of the day I was walking normal.

My back was still a little sore, but I basically spent the whole evening saying to myself, "If I can move this well when I wake up in the morning, I'll be fine." I remember when I first injured my back a year ago it took me three months of agony before I even went to a doctor about it, and then another two months after that before I was better. Yesterday morning I was pretty sure I had that to look forward to again because of the work I did last Wednesday.

This morning, I could move as well as I did last night. So I guess I'm fine. Praise the Lord.

Anyway, after work yesterday I skipped my workout because of the back pain. Instead I took care of a couple little chores, and then T-- and I headed to dinner in separate vehicles. I drove my boss's BMW, and T-- drove the new Saturn. We went to Taco Bueno, and then from there out to my boss's house in Mustang (about forty-five minutes' drive from our house) to return the borrowed car.

Irene and her husband came out to greet us and check out the new car, and they were suitably impressed. AB also enjoyed getting to meet Irene's little boy. We probably would have stayed longer, but it was so hot out. We headed home around 7:30, and got home in time to bed AB down to bed.

After that I worked on some stuff in the office for a little bit, then joined T-- in the living room to watch an episode of Flight of the Conchords (which leaves us with only three left in the season). Then we went to bed to read for a while, and a while became "not very long" because we were both exhausted.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: May 12, 2009

Sunday morning, I woke up early enough to have a delicious breakfast and then write a rather extensive blog post before rushing off to church with T--'s family.

Afterward we celebrated Mother's Day with the whole clan by throwing a cookout at her parents' place. The men provided and prepared the food. For me, that consisted of buying a couple bags of chips and some soda. To legitimize the process a bit, I let AB choose the chips.

Anyway, the party lasted a couple hours and then people started slipping away. Around 3:00, when the house was finally empty, we put AB down for a nap and then left her in her grandparents' care while T-- and I headed up to the mall.

I'd bought her some clothes for Mother's Day and, of course, got the wrong size. Further, the place I got them from (Motherhood Maternity or something along those lines) has a demonically brutal return policy, so instead of a present I basically got her an errand. We turned it into a positive, though, by taking the afternoon for some shopping time together. We ended up a Town West mall which was a real blast from the past. (For me it was the first time since high school.)

Then we picked up a Papa Murphey's pizza on the way home, had that for dinner, and headed back to OKC around seven. That put us in a little after nine, and by the time we got AB in bed and all our stuff in from the car, we basically had time to watch an episode of Scrubs before going to bed. We ended up watching three.

Monday morning I woke up sore again, and when I got home from work I decided to try a different tack. I spent forty minutes on the elliptical machine -- no resistance, and at a relatively slow pace -- and when I was done I felt better than I had in days. Then I spent several hours folded into the couch, working on my laptop while we watched Monday night television, so I did another ten minutes before I went to bed. Today I woke up feeling a lot better. So that's promising.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: April 20, 2009

Friday afternoon I got off work an hour early. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home to pick up chili fixins, then got it started and turned it down to simmer. T-- agreed to stir it for me, so I disappeared into the office for my workout.

After that I took a quick shower, and by the time I was done D-- was already at the house. K-- and N-- came over shortly after, and we all sat down to a delicious dinner (if I do say so myself). Afterward we watched last week's Lost, which K-- and N-- had put off so they could watch it with us (something my astute readers will recall that we, thanks to a mix-up on my part, had not done). Anyway, it was well worth a second watch.

After that K-- and N-- headed home. D-- and I sat up for a while discussing movies, but exhaustion drove me to bed before too long. It was probably 10:30 when I kicked D-- out.

Saturday morning I woke up early (for reasons of my own), and got in my workout before seven. Then we all spent some time lolling around the living room until T-- took AB with her to the ladies' luncheon at church. That had her out until noon-ish, so I called D-- and asked him if he wanted to join me for some really crappy Mexican food for lunch. We went to Pancho's, which is a place I remember fondly from my childhood. I've been a couple times in my adulthood and, seriously, it's really crappy Mexican food. As D-- observed, you're basically paying $8 for a lunch buffet that consists of the kind of food you can get out of a plastic tray in the frozen food aisle at your grocery store.

Oh, and not only is it lousy food, but the only one in town is half an hour away, so we wasted nearly two hours on the venture. But, y'know, none of it really took me by surprise. I dunno, it was just a weird craving for an awful Saturday-morning experience.

We got back home a little bit before T-- did, and I played a little Too Human. Then we watched some TV during AB's nap. After about an hour of that, I helped T-- load the car, because she had a crop Saturday night, and needed to early to get some shopping done. I stayed home to watch AB, and D-- hung around to help out.

K-- came over around 5:00 with his little one, after dropping N-- off at the crop, and we all sat around watching Clifford the Big Red Dog for forty minutes or so. Then D-- and I took AB up to McDonalds to grab some dinner for all of us, and when we were done eating I set up Rock Band. That was considerably more fun.

AB got the first turn, banging on the drums in Freestyle Mode, then D-- and K-- played for a bit while I chased AB around. 8:30 finally rolled around and I put her in bed, then I joined in for a few songs before my knee started bothering me.

Once again I was just exhausted by the end of the day (the cruel combination of forty-minute workouts and early mornings), so I sent D-- home around 10:30 and crashed early.

Sunday morning I woke up at six again, but this time I made liberal use of the snooze button so I didn't get out of bed until nine. Then I got cleaned up and met the girls at church, but we left early so as to get to our Easter party on time.

Some family friends of D--'s, the Huddlestons, have sort of taken AB as an adopted granddaughter. (Pictures of Diana at the zoo with AB and T-- litter T--'s blog, and she also went along with them to Sesame Street Live recently.) Anyway, she wanted to have a big Easter egg hunt, and invited my little sister's family and K-- and N--, too. So we all drove out to their place in the country east of I-35 for lunch -- grilled chicken breasts -- and then the egg hunt.

Glorious pictures were taken, and I think everybody had a great time. We got home around 3:00, and had no real plans for the rest of the day. I went back to my office to write, and ended up spending most of the time working on the fantasy project D-- and I are working on together, and chatting with Carlos about it. I felt bad for not making progress on the Ghost Targets book, but it was a fun diversion to spend an afternoon working on the other series.

After that I did my workout, and that brought me to 21 days in a row. I've read before that it takes 21 days of repeating a new action to make a habit of it, so I'm hoping to benefit from that. Anyway, whether that's true or not, 21 days was my goal, and I managed it somehow. So yay! Let's all celebrate.

I finished that, got cleaned up, and then T-- suggested Johnny Carinos for dinner. We invited D-- to join us, and while we were there Dr. Baird got seated at the next table over. He was my favorite Bible professor in college, but it's been so long since we last talked that I didn't think it was appropriate to interrupt him at dinner. He had a full table of guests, in addition to his family. It was still a surprising turn of events, though.

Then the night went to getting caught up on Kings, and after that we had to watch some Home Movies to cleanse the palate because, damn, that is some serious TV.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: April 9, 2009

Friday
Friday night I got home from work and spent 40 minutes on the elliptical machine. Then I showered and had a quick dinner with T-- in which she lamented the trial of potty training. After supper we were supposed to go over to my sister's place to help set up for a party Saturday night, but I suggested T-- go ahead and head over, and I would spend some time working with AB.

We went to the bathroom and I just made her sit on her potty until she did something. It was extremely unfun, for both of us. In the end, it took over an hour and a half, but she finally did it and I think that helped her (a little bit) get over the terror of doing something new.

Anyway, I'd spent the whole time telling her that as soon as she was done she could go see her cousins (something she was really excited about). As her bedtime rolled closer and closer I was ready to give up on it all and just put her in bed in a diaper, but it was right at 8:30 when she sealed the deal, and I could hardly back out of a promise after she'd done what I asked, so I packed her up and we drove out to my sister's place.

I got a sneak peek at some of the party prep (and they put a lot of work into it), and AB spent half an hour or so playing with the girls, then we all headed back home. AB got to bed, and I went to my office to do a little writing.

Saturday
Saturday morning I did my workout -- forty minutes on the machine -- and then as soon as I was cleaned up we headed out to meet Mom and Dad and my sister's family at IHOP for brunch, 11-ish, and we all crowded into a booth meant for maybe six people. Service was slow (as it usually is at IHOP), so even though the food was delicious it was hard to enjoy it because T-- and I ended up having to rush out of there for a 12:30 commitment.

That was babysitting. K-- and N-- brought little Jason over, and we got to spend a couple hours watching Word World with AB while we passed a sleeping Jason back and forth. I think T-- changed one diaper, but other than that there wasn't much work to it. AB was a bigger handful.

K-- and N-- came to pick him up around two, and they hung around to talk for a bit. That was fun.

Then they left, and a little bit after that (around four) T-- headed over to my sister's place to help finish getting ready for the party at six. I watched AB for about an hour, then got her in her dragon costume and tried on my Warlock costume, which was mix-and-match of a pirate costume and a wizard costume from Halloweens past, plus a very WoW-styled set of shoulder armor that we'd built out of papier mache.

The party was for my brother-in-law's thirtieth birthday, and he's probably the most dedicated WoW player out of our group of pretty dedicated WoW players, so my sister decided to throw a costume party (and somehow convinced a bunch of people to go along). There's a detailed description of the party at my sister's blog, in case you want to know more, but my parents were there, as were K-- and N--, and Toby and Gwyn, and Jeff's brother, Greg.

Instead of party games we had quests. Mom and Dad got really into the costume portion, which was hilarious. My favorite bit was the food, though, which was set out in a buffet and each part of it labeled after an in-game food item. I laughed out loud when I saw the cheese tray bearing the tooltip text for Alterac Swiss.

Sunday
Sunday morning I got up early enough to do my workout, but halfway through it I heard a crash and rushed out of the office to find AB bleeding in the bathroom, with T-- trying to tend to her. We had been using a glass jar for her candy rewards, but I guess she'd gotten a little greedy and tried to reward herself, and let the jar crash to the floor. She cut her middle finger -- just a little slice, but it was bleeding like crazy, and she was freaking out.

It took us a good twenty minutes of fighting with her to get it cleaned up and get a bandaid on (then, of course, she immediately calmed down). T-- took her to get dressed, and I went back to the office to resume my workout. Just as I finished, though, T-- poked her head in the door to tell me they were leaving for church.

I'd lost track of the time spent taking care of AB, and my workout ran over. Worse, we'd left one of our cars at my sister's place on Saturday night, so I couldn't just show up late. Mom and Dad were supposed to be bringing it to church with them, though, so T-- suggested I call them and ask them to drop it off at the house on their way. Then she and AB left for church while I jumped in the shower.

Unfortunately, my phone was in the car that T-- took to church, so that little plan didn't work out. I ended up spending that hour or so playing Too Human, until Dad knocked on the door after service to let me know Mom was waiting in the car to take me up to Ole for lunch. It was another big family lunch (and this time D-- joined us). Afterward we said our goodbyes to Mom and Dad, then headed home for a quiet Sunday afternoon. D-- came over to hang out, after a busy weekend with a visiting college buddy, and we watched some TV while AB napped.

Then T-- took AB to Small Groups at the church. I asked D-- what sounded good for dinner, and he suggested going to a movie. We ended up seeing I Love You, Man -- and no, the humor of the two of us going to see a movie about bromance and man-dates was not in the least lost on us. The movie itself was awesome, though. I highly recommend it.

I got home around nine-thirty, and instead of writing I watched some TV with T--.

Monday
Monday morning I got to work and spent my time reviewing for the Graduate Records Exam. I'd signed up for it last week sometime, and was scheduled to take the test at 12:30. I spent maybe an hour and a half reviewing, and that was just about enough time to get me really freaked out.

I grabbed some lunch on the way to the testing center, then showed up a little bit early and ate in the parking lot. When I got in, they gave me a clipboard to verify some of my registration information, then showed me in right away to get started. I was probably answering questions by noon, even though my appointment wasn't until 12:30.

The test is listed as a four-hour process, but I did it in two. It consists of a written portion -- two essays, which I would swear are just stoner traps -- and then a multiple-choice Verbal (or English) portion and a multiple-choice Quantitative (or Math) portion. I did 700 in Verbal and 670 in Quantitative. The max. possible is 800, but apparently the Verbal portion is a lot harder than the Quantitative, because even with my scores so close together they come out to 96th percentile and 76th percentile respectively.

I'm doing all of this to get into the Masters of Professional Writing program at OU, though, and their only requirement is a 500 in Verbal, so I nailed that. They're also interested in my writing score, which I won't have back for another two weeks, but I feel like I did pretty well.

I'd already taken the whole afternoon off work, so I went ahead and headed home. I spent some time discussing the test with T--, then headed to the office and did my forty minutes while she took AB to do the grocery shopping. She picked up Mazzio's on the way home, and we had a quiet evening watching TV. At nine I headed to the office, and got a little writing done.

Oh! After our tortuous experiences with AB Friday, Saturday, and then Sunday morning, we gave up on the whole making her sit on the potty thing. She spent most of the rest of Sunday in a diaper, actually. Then on Monday, all on her own, she kept rushing to the bathroom whenever she needed to go. She only had one accident all day, and I think five or six successful trips.

Tuesday
Tuesday AB realized that she could use her bathroom trips as a mechanism to get free candy, and started trying to figure out how to game the system. So that's a little frustrating, but overall she has made remarkable progress, which has continued to present. I'll resume my moratorium on discussing her potty training now.

Tuesday night wasn't a super exciting one. I came home from work, worket out, had dinner (T-- made some of her famous chicken crescent squares, which were delicious), then we watched a little TV. Instead of trying to write, I just went to bed early, but that didn't gain me much. I was still late waking on Wednesday.

Wednesday
Wednesday after work I rushed home to try to get my workout in before dinner, which we'd decided to have at home. Halfway through I paused to place the order, then finished up, grabbed a quick shower, and rushed up to P F Chang's to pick up our food.

Fantastic dinner, and not too ridiculously expensive. AB really does love the hot and sour soup, which weirds me out.

After that T-- took AB to church, and D-- read through his newsfeed while I played Too Human. We were all just waiting for 8:30, though, to catch this week's Lost. It was a great one. I spent most of the show thinking, "I can't wait to read about this on Lostpedia." Think that sad if you will, I just consider it a recognition of the depth of their mythology. I enjoy learning about what's included, but unaccessible on a casual viewing.

Anyway, after that D-- went home, and one again I went to bed without writing. Since last Thursday, I've gotten about 2,000 words done, which is basically one third of my minimum writing goal (1,000 words a day). I've done enough to finish chapter 8, but I haven't been terribly productive.

I'm not really beating myself up about it, though, because while that's flagging I am busy doing a tremendous job on my workouts. I've now done a serious workout every day since I got the elliptical machine. I worked up to my 40-minute target in four days, and I've stayed at that ever since, without missing a day. This weekend could be a problem because we're spending three days in Little Rock, but I'm going to try to get in my workout before we leave tomorrow morning and then do one as soon as we get home Sunday night, so I'll only miss one day. Maybe I'll even make myself go for a walk on Saturday. We'll see.

Anyway, things roll ever onward. For the moment, the outlook is nice.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: April 1, 2009

Yesterday at work I got started on my application to OU. I wrote several of my old professors requesting letters of reference (and already got two positive responses, which is enough for the actual requirements). I signed up to take the GRE next Monday, and prepared a 50-consecutive-page writing sample (I just went with the first four chapters of Gods Tomorrow), and updated my resume. All I've got left to do is prepare a letter of intent -- a 3-page essay describing my career goals and why I think OU should admit me to their program. I can handle that.

After work I had a pretty short evening. I got home while T-- and AB were out shopping, so I went straight to the office for a quick workout. I did 25 minutes on the elliptical, and probably could have done 35 but I was still sore from Monday and didn't want to overdo it.

After that I grabbed a quick shower, and then we headed up to Schlotzky's to meet my little sister and her family for dinner. AB was incredibly excited to go play with Sophie and Lola -- and, yes, I misspelled Sophie there somehow (according to her mother), but I can't remember how she says it's supposed to go, so that'll have to do.

Anyway. I played the evil father and made AB sit in her chair until we were all done eating, then she got down and the three girls ran wild in the mostly-empty restaurant while we talked. We eventually got a little tired of that, so T-- invited them to come over to our place, and we let the girls run wild in AB's room while we talked.

They eventually headed out around 8, and then I did some chores in the kitchen while T-- gave AB a bath. After that, AB went to bed and T-- and I watched an episode of How I Met Your Mother. It was okay.

Then I headed to the office, and spent most of my writing time chatting with D--. I did put in some time on prewriting for a new novel I've been working on since Sunday morning. (I got the idea for it on the drive to church.) I threw together a Project Report over on my other page, in case you're curious. Should be fun to write, but it's appended to the end of a very long To Do list as far as my novels go, so don't hold your breath for an opportunity to read it.

I went to bed around 11, and woke up early feeling miserable. Remember how I didn't want to overdo it? Well I did. I still think I'm going to go workout when I get home this evening, but I'm sore all over. That's the penalty for going so long without doing anything at all, though. Ugh.

I did get some more writing done on my GT book over lunch, today. Chapter 6 is done, at 24,000 words. It turned out more dramatic than I'd expected, so that's cool.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: March 31, 2009

Yesterday our new elliptical machine showed up. The delivery guy actually called while I was getting ready for work, and said he could bring it by during the day if someone could be home to meet him. T-- graciously offered to commit to that, and was rewarded with an early delivery. She called me around noon to say he had already come and gone.

I bought it off Amazon last Wednesday, and opted (of course) for the free shipping, because the next cheapest was over a hundred bucks. The free shipping was 5-9 business days, which meant best case scenario wouldn't have it arrive until tomorrow, so that was a pretty lucky break. Also...really glad I didn't shell out a hundred bucks to get it sooner.

Anyway, I got home from work last night and T-- and I immediately set to work building the thing. We put it together out in the living room while AB watched Winnie the Pooh, but she was actually far more interested in what we were doing. It was a lot of work to put together, but not terribly complicated. It's a good design, and the finished product is sturdy and exactly the right size for my stride.

Also, it's about five inches too wide in every direction to get through the door into my office, where we wanted to house it.

So I ended up dismantling it while T-- made us some sandwiches for dinner, then dragged it into the office in four pieces and reassembled it there afterward. I have a little old cheap TV in the office, hooked up to my fileserver so I can watch my media files while I work out. We'll probably replace it with a small wall-mount HDTV (with an actual digital connection to the computer, instead of the cobbled-together S-Video hookup I'm using now), but our finances aren't right to go buying new TVs at the moment.

Anyway, when I had everything set up properly around 8:30, I put on an episode of Newsradio (in spite of Bruce's warning), and did a fast-paced jog through the whole episode. It was killer. My goal is to watch through all the episodes of Buffy and Veronica Mars as part of my daily workout, but I might have to work up to the 40-minute run. Or go slower, but that's not terribly tempting.

When I finished that, I went to the living room to watch Castle and Rules of Engagement with T--. We had four other shows to watch from Sunday and Monday evening programming, but I had to get back to the office and do my writing.

I typed up all the stuff I wrote about in my scribblebook yesterday, which finished out chapter five, then I kept going right into chapter six, and it's about half done now at 2,000 words (or 22,000 total, for the book).

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: December 22, 2008

So I spent some time whining about my situation last Thursday, and instead of complaining you all gave an outpouring of sympathy and encouragement. What can you say about such guys? You're all awesome.

I went home Thursday night and talked with T--, and got permission to really take it easy over the weekend (I had a Regular Day Off on Friday, so it was a long weekend), and over the upcoming holiday. Sort of a week and a half of Father's Days. Something along those lines.

Anyway, I did. I was up late Thursday night, but I didn't spend a lot of time worrying about it, because I didn't really have any demands Friday morning. I got up, played some WoW, maybe watched a movie with AB in the afternoon (while I was messing around on a laptop), then watched the new Muppet Christmas Special with T-- in the evening. We ordered some pizza, and I played some more WoW.

I called it quits at 11:00, and got a good night's sleep. T-- was surprised how early I got up on Saturday (although it wasn't until 8). I spent the morning same as Friday. Then around 11:00 we tried to get some Christmas pictures with AB that did not go well. After that, I took her with me to pick up some lunch and left T-- to sort through the wreckage of our photoshoot.

After lunch, T-- went out Christmas shopping and AB went down for a nap. I played some more WoW (big surprise), and then at 2:30, when T-- got home, I headed over to K--'s place. We went to the gym -- basically my first time back there in six months -- and did forty minutes of strength training and twenty of cardio. I'd intended to do the opposite, but that was mostly because I didn't expect to be able to handle much strength training. Instead, I did almost exactly the same workout I was doing back in June. That surprised me, and it's pretty encouraging. When I was in Chicago (back in October), I spent some time in the hotel gym and learned I wasn't too far behind on the cardio, too. So that's pretty much all my good excuses demolished. I need to get back, and regularly.

Anyway, N-- was working all day Saturday, so after the gym K-- and I played Gears of War through to the end of the second act. Then she got home, and we invited T-- and D-- to join us for Jason's Deli for dinner. That had to be at K-- and N--'s house, because the Cowboys game on Saturday evening was only showing on the NFL network, and among those three households, K-- and N-- are the only ones with access.

Dinner was awesome, the game was not.

Sunday morning we went to church, then came home and had leftover pizza for lunch. I played a little in the afternoon, then the Huddlestons came over a little bit before 5:00. Bill and D-- hung out at my place for an hour or so, and we turned on the Falcons/Vikings game because it had playoff implications for the Cowboys. And, y'know, because three dudes in a living room need to have a football game on, if they're not playing video games.

Meanwhile, the womenfolk went to North Pole Village or something of the sort to get pictures of AB playing with Christmas stuff. I guess it went better than our Saturday shoot. At 6:00 we met them at Irma's for dinner (awesome), and then they all came back to our place for desserts and drinks, and we exchanged gifts and watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Everybody left at 10:15, and I was in bed by 10:30. I was probably asleep by 11.

All told, I had a pretty relaxing weekend. I certainly feel more rested than I have in about a month. If I can keep the same sort of pace for the next week, I may just be back up to normal by the time the new year rolls around.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: August 22, 2008

Last night was a bit of a strange one.

Yesterday, during the day, we cooked up a plan for a Pogue Family Writer's Convention, which will be taking place in Branson in October. So, first thing after I got home, I got to explain to T-- that I was going off to Missouri for a weekend and she wasn't invited. Fun.

Then I spent half an hour or so playing with AB, before T-- took her along and went to the monthly church picnic. As I really hate having anxiety attacks on schoolnights, I elected to skip it.

I tried to get in touch with D--, and it turned out he did get in at a reasonable hour, but he already had dinner plans. I tried contacting B--, since I knew he was stuck at home with a baby and might want some company, but I got no answer and he never called me back. So, when I finally gave up on all of them, I went out to get myself a sandwich around 7:30. I went to Subway first, but they proved incompetent, so after a ten minute wait (behind one other customer), and no sign they'd be getting to me anytime soon, I walked out and went to Jersey Mike's. Their club is awesome.

Around the time I finished eating, T-- got home with the baby, and we said goodnight to her, then T-- watched me play a demo I'd downloaded of a new game called Too Human. I read good reviews of it earlier in the week and passed those along to K-- and D-- in the hopes of getting some multiplayer going. Anyway, it seemed prudent to check out the demo before dropping $50 for it, so I did, and I absolutely enjoyed it. It's easily a game that can keep me interested until Spore comes out.

In other news, I got my report back from the doctor for my blood work last week, and I get to cut down on fats and sugars in my diet, and come back in three months for another test. Yay! Also, I got a raise at work, in addition to the cost-of-living increase, so that's welcome news.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: August 19, 2008

My life feels...weird when I'm not addictively playing a video game.

I suppose I should get to that point with my writing, where I'm sitting up all evening at home working on Sleeping Kings while I watch CSI with T--, or whatever, but that takes a lot more focus. For me, video games are about winding down, after a day spent dealing with people at work.

Anyway, that's all old discussion. Yesterday I went to the gym after work, and spent 45 minutes on the treadmill. My physical therapist said I could do anything that wasn't directly painful, so I may go ahead and start working on strength training again, sooner than I'd intended. I don't want to do anything to slow my recovery (because it's already been a ridiculous percent of forever), but 45 minutes on the treadmill is dull. I'm not jogging, even. I get up to a 4 mph walk, but that's just enough to make my feet hurt without really feeling challenging.

So, yeah. I'll go back to arm and chest workouts, anyway. I might do them sitting instead of standing, but at least I'm doing something.

And that's probably way more than you wanted to know about my infrequent workouts, but it's what's on my mind. After the gym last night, we played with AB for a while, and T-- made some fantastic quesadillas, and then we watched The Wedding Singer. Neither of us had seen it in a while, and my computer's recent demise rather limited our options, so there ya go.

It was pretty fun. I enjoyed it, although I can probably go another eight years before watching it again. No big deal.

After that I turned on an episode of New Adventures of Old Christine, because it was the only thing new on the TiVo (and, as it happened, a rerun we both remembered), and did some chores while we chuckled at the jokes. Then I went to bed early, but couldn't sleep because I'd had a nap right after work. I stayed in bed, though, because what else was there to do? I'm sure I drifted off well before midnight.

And then I came into work on time today, and T-- went to Tulsa for work, and N-- is watching my baby even as we speak. Thank the Lord for good friends. I mean that.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: August 18, 2008

Thursday night I made my triumphal return to the gym. It was unimpressive. I spent forty-five minutes on the treadmill, then went home.

One thing of note: there was no one there for childcare, even though we were within the regular childcare hours, so Brian -- K-- and N--'s trainer -- stepped in and spent the time watching AB. It was pretty funny.

Afterward we met D-- at the house for dinner -- he brought BWW, because it was Thursday -- and we watched Get Smart and played Civ.

Friday night, T-- went to dinner with her friend Rebecca, and left me to watch AB. We had some fun together. We had dinner, and played for a while, then went out for snowcones, but she was asleep by the time we got home, so she didn't get any. Poor thing.

Then T-- got home from her dinner date (at a bar downtown), and a short while later D-- called and offered to bring us some liquor of our choice, so we requested wine coolers and rum, and he brought sangria and rum, but that was close enough. We drank, and then we watched Get Smart and played Civ.

Saturday morning I'd intended to go to the gym, but K-- was busy with work and AB went down for a nap right around the time I got ready, so I decided to stay home. An hour or so later, T-- and I walked AB up to the bagel restaurant around the corner, and D-- met us there for lunch. It was good. Afterward...well, watched Get Smart and played Civ for most of the afternoon and evening.

We took a break at 5:00 to drive out to the Huddlestons' place for dinner. We ate burgers and watched Austin Powers and then had ice cream. Then we came home around 8:30 to put AB to bed, and afterward got back to the Civving. Around 2:30 I annihilated my nemesis (the Dutch) about two turns before D-- won the game with a Cultural Victory. Then he went home, and I finally went to bed.

Sunday morning I woke up in time for church, then T-- and I met D-- at Mazzio's for a lunch buffet. Afterward, I crashed on the couch for a couple hours during AB's nap, and T-- ran out to do some grocery shopping.

We'd recorded Saturday night's Cowboys preseason game, and invited K-- and N-- (along with N--'s parents), and D-- and B-- and E--, to come watch it with us. T-- also made a turkey for dinner, and N-- brought some fantastic mac and cheese (and K-- brought some scruptious liquor), so we had a fine feast before we started the game.

There was no Civving. For real.

Then this morning I had to wake up early (or, rather, on time) to make it to an appointment with a physical therapist. That went well. The therapist thinks three to four weeks, two sessions a week, should be enough. She said no more than six weeks. I also have permission to keep going to the gym, as long as I don't do anything that causes pain. Pretty much matches my intentions, so fair enough.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: August 7, 2008

There are those making a big deal about tomorrow being 8-8-08. I think it's sad that, back in 6 and 7 and 8 A.D., they didn't yet know that it was 6 and 7 and 8 A. D. But, then, if you think about it, there was a year 666 and a 777 and -- I haven't checked my facts on Wikipedia, but I imagine they were using a modern calendar system by then, so they knew it. Just imagine the fruitcakes wigging out, all year long....

Must've been a hell of a New Year's party, too.

Anyway. Yesterday after work we got together for Wednesday night dinner at Taco Cabana. D-- rode with us, and K-- and N-- joined us once she finished a poorly-scheduled trip to the dentist. They were still able to eat with us, though, and N-- even made it to church on time, with T--.

D-- and I went back to the house and played Civ, which occupied us for the rest of the evening. When T-- got home, she put AB in bed and then made a quick trip to Wal-Mart, then we watched a couple episodes of Boston Legal. It was a fun evening.

I was late getting up again this morning (even without my pain medication), but I just couldn't get out of bed. Upon further consideration...I'm concerned I'm coming down with something. Something streppy. I've got a major headache, I haven't checked my temperature but I feel feverish, I have a stuffy nose and a really sore throat. I'm hoping it's just a bad allergy attack -- I'll take some benadryl when I get home tonight, out of sheer optimism -- but it feels worse than that.

Ugh. I could do with it, though. I was planning to go back to the gym tonight, for the first time in three weeks, but if I still feel like this when 5:00 rolls around, I'm going home and taking a nap.

Yeah, it's another whiney post. Sorry about that. In more positive news, my mom decided to read my novel Taming Fire to her students this year as part of their reading program. I just sent her my most recent copy last night. We had talked about it a little a couple months ago and I'd been hoping to get a rewrite in before the time came, but I've been unproductive this summer. Alas. It happens. She's happy with it as-is, though, so the plan moves forward. I'll let you know how that goes.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: July 10, 2008

Today, it is six months since we joined the gym. In that time I've lost about 16 pounds, increased weights on my core workout three times, and increased my maximum sustained sprint (by which I mean jog) from about 12 seconds to about 5 minutes.

This weekend I'm shaving the beard, because six months ago I didn't have one, and I want to compare my appearance with some Christmas photos -- see if I've made any visual improvements.

Obviously, that weight loss number is a lot smaller than I would like. I pulled some muscles and hurt my back a couple weeks ago, working in the yard in Tulsa, and so I've been taking it pretty slow since then. I've also relaxed my rules on sweets a bit too much, so I'm working on getting back to no more than one a day.

And, of course, I need to keep up my gym schedule. I really don't feel like going tonight, but I suspect I will. It's just laziness, after all.

Anyway, last night after work I got home and received my new Logitech Harmony 880 remote. It's a spiffy universal remote modeled after the TiVo controller, and designed to make complicated home theater setups like ours easy to use. I'm just hoping AB doesn't hide it somewhere we can't find it (as she's done with two XBox remotes so far).

For dinner we met at Subway. My little sister brought her family, and D-- drove with us, and we met K-- and N-- there, so we pretty much filled the little restaurant. The sandwiches were good, though. First time I've been to Subway in about a month.

Afterward, while everyone else went to church, D-- and I drove over to B-- and E--'s. He asked us to bring some milk, as he was on his way to pick up Kahlua in the hopes of making White Russians. Naturally we obliged, and he repaid us by pouring many, many, many White Russians for us (in spite of frequent demands that he not).

We had a good evening, lots of talking about old things. It was about 11:00 when I got home, and then T-- was feeling chatty so I was up until midnight (mostly talking about vampires). When she finally let me go to sleep, I drifted off right away, so at least there was that.

I did not feel great when I woke up this morning, though. I can tell you that for sure.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: June 24, 2008

I have been suffering some pretty bad backache for about a week now, and I used that as an excuse to take the week off going to the gym last week.

Well, that and the busyness of having my parents visiting for the second half of the week....

Anyway, yesterday after work I was still hurting, but I figured I had used up my excused absences. I got home and picked up T-- and AB, and then we headed over to the Family Expectations building to pick up my niece Sophy (since my sister and her husband were teaching a class), and we took the two girls to daycare at the gym.

Once again, I found that after a week off I could jump right back into my routine, which is encouraging. I also found, again, a pound of weight loss in spite of a week off. That's pretty good news.

After our workout, we grabbed some McDonald's for dinner, dropped Sophy off at home, and then went home to crash on the couch. We watched four episodes of Boston Legal and then went to bed. That was my night.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: Father's Day

This was Father's Day weekend, and we treated it with the respect and gravity such a significant holiday deserves.

On Friday, T-- and I went to dinner at Ole (temporarily my favorite Mexican restaurant, for set-up anyway), and then went back home to wait for her parents to show up. They got in around 7:30, and we talked for a while. We had made tentative plans to go out for a movie Friday night (and let her parents act as babysitters), but T-- was concerned they would get bored, showing up so close to AB's bedtime.

Well, first thing after they came in the door, T-- suggested we go ahead and do Father's Day, so she gave John and I our cards, and handed out presents. John got the first three seasons of Hill Street Blues on DVD, and I got a wireless mouse I wanted and a 3 pound bag of super Twizzlers. The bag is almost as long as AB is tall. Seriously.

Anyway, after that we discussed the movie situation (we had a coupon for free movie, drink, and popcorn that was set to expire that day), and T--'s parents told her she was being silly. So they stayed home and watched Hill Street Blues while we went to watch Kung-Fu Panda.

Fantastic movie. Probably my favorite Pixar movie. Hilarious, with a strongly developed storyline (even for some of the secondary and tertiary characters), good action and great dialogue. And Jack Black, of course, is awesome. There is no charge for awesomeness.

Even though we picked the 90-minute movie, though, it was after midnight when we got home, so naturally I slept in on Saturday. Still, I had to get to the gym before going over to K-- and N--'s for lunch, and it was set to be an early lunch, so I was up by 8:00, and as I was heading for the door, T-- brought up several complications that delayed my leaving by another 15 minutes. I also ended up tasked with getting a coolerful of foods to K-- and N--'s place, when we didn't really have enough ice to keep it cold.

So I called them both but, it being so early, got no answer. I went ahead and went to the gym (which is right by their place), and about 30 minutes in, just as I finished my strength training, K-- called me back and said, sure, I could come by early and dump some food in their fridge.

I went ahead and left then, took the food over and dropped it off, and then decided to try running in their neighborhood instead of going back to the gym. I had been wondering for a while how well my training would translate into real-world running, and it seemed like a good chance to try it out.

There are a few things I hadn't considered, like the fact that the outdoors isn't at all air conditioned, and that everyone in the neighborhood was out mowing that morning (which meant a nasty allergy attack). Worst of all, though, I'd never realized their house had been built in the midst of a damn mountain range. What's a man to do?

No, really, I haven't been using any incline when I've been doing my running on the treadmill, and even the slight elevation of their neighborhood was enough to knock me back a couple weeks in my training. No problem. I'll go back to the gym tonight, get back in where I'm supposed to be (week 5, day 2), and finish up my training in the gym. At week 9, I should be running 25-30 minutes at a time, and then I can start fancying it up, gradually adding things like incline and increasing my speed. That's really been my plan all along.

Anyway, lunch was delicious, burgers and dogs, and we had a fun crowd. Afterward we took AB home for a nap and sat around talking for a while, then headed out to do some shopping (Wal-Mart and Michaels, oh joy), and then out to a kitschy Americana restaurant called Pops! for dinner.

It was good. We had an hour wait which was brutal, but the food was good and the place had a fun feel to it. It was far enough out there, though, that it was easily AB's bedtime by the time we got home. I spent a couple hours played AoC while we watched some more Hill Street Blues, and then got to bed around 1:00.

Sunday morning we went to church, and then T-- grilled up some steaks for us for lunch. They were fantastic. After that, I spent pretty much the entire afternoon playing AoC. Her parents headed home around 2 or 3, and we ordered pizza for dinner sometime around 6 (and it was delicious), but pretty much the whole time I was on the couch playing AoC.

Overall, definitely a relaxing Father's Day. A great weekend all around, really. Thanks to those who made it so.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: 80's Movies Spectacular

Yesterday for lunch, as has become my ritual, I went to Buffalo Wild Wings for some cheap boneless wings and some AoC on the laptop. Unfortunately, they didn't have the wireless network on. I'll give them another week to see if they fix that nonsense, and then I just may cancel my ritual. Jerks.

I'd had the presence of mind to bring a book, though, so it wasn't a bad lunch. And the chicken, of course, was delicious.

Then after work I took AB to the gym, and T-- stayed home to get some work done (she's been in a frenzy all week, getting ready for her parents to come visit). After strength training, I did the first day of week 5 in my running program, and it went really well. The second day is going to be tough, and the third is going to be a nightmare, but I'm anxious to see if I can manage it (this is the first week that the various days involve different requirements).

Anyway, after the gym, I got home to find K-- and N-- already there, and D-- showed up shortly with a big batch of boneless wings from Buffalo Wild Wings. (Yes, I did know that we'd be having the same thing for dinner, and no, I didn't mind at all.) I suggested that we watch the next movie in our 80's marathon, and we settled on Flight of the Navigator, one of N--'s picks.

Okay, here's the thing with that. D-- suggested over dinner a couple months ago that we should spend the summer watching our favorite movies from the 80's.

The idea evolved gradually. We started out with a pretty simple rule: our "favorites" should be movies that we liked during the 80's, not just movies made in the 80's that we like now. The reason being, movies that we like now (with the availability of DVDs and whatnot), we watch pretty frequently. Not a season goes by that I don't watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and usually some subset of this group of friends is forced to sit through it with me. Same goes for The Three Amigos and any of the Fletch movies.

So, 80's movies that we liked back in the 80's. When we started throwing out names, there were way too many, so we decided on 3 movies apiece. Some negotiations were made whenever more than one of us wanted to pick the same movie, so that those with longer lists wouldn't have as much difficulty narrowing it down.

And then, as we got further into the selection process, it became more of an evangelistic endeavor. When K-- said, "Well, there's Tron," and I said, "Never seen it," and he said, "You've never seen it?!?!" like that, well, he had to pick Tron because, come on, everyone should see Tron.

So that pretty much became the next major rule: out of our lists of childhood favorites, we narrowed it down by polling everyone to find out how many people had never seen each film. We're not required to pick the least viewed films, but we're using that as one of our selection criteria.

Anyway, T-- hasn't settled definitely on her 3 yet, but she's hoping her parents' visit this weekend will help spark her memory. Once that's done, we're going to go through a voting process to determine the viewing order, but so far I've just been using the right of imminent domain (we've watched all the movies at my house) to pick the ones I thought we should see.

The list we have so far (not including T--'s) goes, in no particular order:
The Abyss (N--'s pick. 2 people have never seen it)
Adventures in Babysitting (My pick. 2 people have never seen it)
An American Tale (N--'s pick. 1 person has never seen it)
Bladerunner (K--'s pick. 3 people have never seen it)
Field of Dreams (N--'s pick. 1 person has never seen it -- me)
Flight of the Navigator (N--'s pick. 2 people had never seen it)
Goonies (D--'s pick. 2 people had never seen it)
Ladyhawke (My pick. 2 or 3 people have never seen it)
The Last Starfighter (My pick. 2 people have never seen it)
The Lost Boys (D--'s pick. 3 people have never seen it)
Real Genius (My pick. 2 people have never seen it)
Running Man (K--'s pick. 2 people have never seen it)
Tron (K--'s pick. 2 people have never seen it)
Young Guns (D--'s pick. 3 people have never seen it)

There's an extra movie in there for me (Ladyhawke) and N-- (An American Tale). We haven't fully narrowed down our lists to three yet. I toyed with suggesting that we expand our selections to our favorite four movies, but then I looked at a calendar, and realized that would stretch our summer to the end of October.

We're sort of watching a movie every Saturday night that we're all in town (T-- and I being the ones most often missing). I like Thursdays, too, but it can be tough to talk K-- and N-- into staying out too late on a school night. Luckily, 80's movies tend to be in the 75-90 minute range, instead of the 2 hour plus stuff we're making today.

Anyway, that's our 80's movie thing. Now you know what's going on. We watched Flight of the Navigator last night, and it was pretty good. I can definitely see why kids would have loved it back then. I was pretty critical of it during the movie, but that was the Crown Royal talking.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: June 11, 2008

So, I did go to the gym last night.

As I said, it was the first time in a week. I'd had a pretty active day last Thursday, working on the house in Tulsa, but that was it for the week. Anyway, I've been tracking my weight, as I've made quite clear on here, and last Tuesday I was at 232. I started the year at 244, so that was a 12 pound loss on the year. Then I took a week off from going to the gym, and I had more than one high-calorie day during that week from indulging in sweets. Thursday was one of them (and I'm pretty sure I made up for it with the 9-hour workout), but it wasn't the only 0ne.

Anyway, on Sunday I weighed at home, and was surprised (for the reasons just given) to find I'd lost a pound during the course of the week. I weight in at 231. Then, last night, I got on the scale at the gym expecting that 131 to be one of those "minor fluctuations," but the gym scale put me at 230. So, nice. That's the lowest I've been in at least three years.

Buoyed a bit by that, I did my strength training and then, once again without K-- for support, I got on the treadmill to try my third day of week 4 for the third time. I finished it this time, and the week off probably helped more than it hurt, because I'd been having persistent pain in my calves for the last week that I'd spent running, and it wasn't really there last night.

So, yeah, that's a lot of detail you're probably not interested in, but I went to the gym last night and I finally finished a jogging segment that had been giving me difficulty for a while. That's encouraging. I'll start on week 5 tomorrow night if I'm not in Norman (and Saturday if I am).

After the gym, D-- picked up a mega-burger for the three of us for dinner, and we watched and eveningful of Lost while I played AoC and D-- messed around with Linux on his laptop. It was a fun night.

Journal Entry: June 10, 2008

Friday afternoon, I left work early and dropped by the mall to pick up some new t-shirts, then went to get a haircut (always a pleasant experience). When all that was done, I still got home around 4:00.

T-- took AB to a church Ladies' Night Out sort of a thing at the mall, after meeting N-- for dinner. Meanwhile, D-- and I went to Ole, and I enjoyed their free queso once again. I recommend the place highly, if only for their setup.

Afterward, D-- and I grabbed snowcones, and then played AoC until T-- got home. At that point he went home (tired of trying to play a high-end game on a laptop), and I moved out to the living room to watch some Lost with T--. While we were doing that, I played a high-end game on a laptop.

Saturday morning I'd offered to watch AB for T-- while she went to a big sale with my little sister. It was easy enough, because she was kind enough to schedule her shopping to overlap AB's nap. As a result, I got to spend most of the time she was gone playing games.

Of course, as soon as T-- got home, that was over. She had a big playdate scheduled for the afternoon, with E-- and the Nances and several of the young moms from church invited over for a "pool party." It took place entirely in the back yard, so she and I spent the morning and afternoon getting it ready.

As part of that, we were moving a lot of the less-attractive elements from our back porch (things like the lawnmower) into the garage. We also still needed to get the quadrillion-pound air conditioner that we'd brought from Tulsa out of the van and stored somewhere semi-permanent, and the only reasonable place for it was occupied with a massive pile of junk that had accumulated over the course of our last five or six trips to work on the house in Tulsa.

So, in addition to helping T-- with yard work, I ran up to Wal-Mart to buy some new storage shelving, then committed a big chunk of my Saturday to setting it up and coordinating a lot of the mess. By the time I finished, our cluttered garage was a lot more organized. D-- came over to help me unload the air conditioner and we tucked it into the newly-emptied corner, and had room for everything else besides.

T-- had asked me to make an appearance at the playdate, but it being all-girls, she didn't require me to spend much time on it. Which is a good thing, because it was outdoors...and I'm not a fan. Toby came, too, bringing his family, so he and I spent the two hours in my office, working on a programming project. Primarily, he was trying to get my computer installed with all the software necessary to collaborate on a big project we're starting. I'm looking forward to it.

After they left, I'd intended to spend much of the evening playing AoC, but I got a call from K-- asking if we wanted to carry on our 80's movies review, and that sounded just capital. K-- and N-- picked up some P F Chang's for us, and D-- came over, and we watched The Goonies, which neither of the girls had seen before. It was a fun evening.

Sunday after church, we five met up again for lunch at Friday's, then split up again. I did some more house work, patching up the open ceiling of the creepy closet on the back of our house, and cleaning up all the loose insulation that had fallen down into it. Afterward, T-- went shopping while I watched AB and played some more AoC. Later in the evening, we watched some more TV and retired early.

Last night was much the same. When I first got home from work, I spent half an hour playing with AB, practicing her dragon roar and quizzing her on face parts (she definitely knows where her hair and nose are, but she's pretty hazy on ears and eyes). Then I think I played AoC while she took a nap.

This week is VBS at church, evenings, and for the first time they're not offering adult classes, so after T-- dropped AB off, she found herself with an hour of unexpected free time. We spent most of it in the Customer Service Desk waiting line at Wal-Mart, after watching a pretty funny half of an episode of King of the Hill. Then we went up to the church for the end of VBS, and watched N-- and K-- on-stage for the evening's sketch, which involved the giving of the Ten Commandments.

Afterward we compared notes, and learned that we'd been present for all of N--'s collegiate and post-collegiate stage performances. Apparently she did something in high school that -- she being many thousands of miles away and, at the time, completely unknown to us -- we didn't bother to attend. That's the only one we've missed. And she has that on video. Yay.

Anyway, we got home from church and it was already 9:15, so we watched an episode of Lost and bemoaned the fact that it was too late for another, and then went to bed.

There's no gym in any of that, as you may have noticed. Last time I went was one week ago. I don't really mind, but I may by the time I try to do my run. K-- will be there to make me finish it, too. Ugh. Anyway, I'm doing that right after work tonight. I'll let you know how it goes.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: June 3, 2008

After work yesterday I stopped by the mall to pick up a new batch of protein shake mix, because that's one of the things I've been doing for the last four months in my never-ending quest for fitness (ahem). Anyway. K-- donated some old protein shake mix back when I first started (Champion brand, Cookies 'n' Cream flavor), and since then I've tried several brands and Champion is the only one I like.

I've also tried several other flavors, but never by choice. Everywhere I've gone to buy so far has had a severely limited selection. I checked the Champion site online, and they sell the mix for $10 more than I can get it in stores, even before shipping, so that wasn't a great idea.

Anyway, I was at the mall a couple weeks ago getting new running shoes, and while I was there I spotted a store that sold Champion Whey and happened to have a selection of flavors. The last jug I'd gotten was Chocolate (like I said, the only flavor in the store), and not as good as the stuff K-- had given me.

This place in the mall had both of those, plus Vanilla, Strawberry, Tropical Punch, and Banana. I almost got Cookies 'n' Cream again, because I'd liked it so much, but I figured I should try something new. Strawberry sounded pretty good, but K-- had said that his favorite (and he'd tried them all) was Banana. Even though I'm not a fan of RL bananas, I decided to give it a go.

With some amount of trepidation, I tried my first new shake this morning. You know what it tastes like? Moon Pies. That is damn fine! Damn fine indeed.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.

Oh, wait, no. I did do more than buy shake mix last night. After I dropped it off at home, T-- and I went up to the gym, although neither of us was terribly enthusiastic. I weighed in at 232 (which is the lowest I've done so far, and a 12 pound loss on the year), then did all my weight training, and then tried to do my third day of week 4, but it just wasn't in me. I didn't have K-- there to shame me into finishing, either, so I gave up halfway through, walked an extra five minutes just to get in some cardio for the day, and then told T-- I was ready to go home.

We picked up pizza for dinner (Mazzios' Monday night special), and met D-- at the house for dinner. Then we rewatched last Thursday's Lost finale at T--'s suggestion. That took up pretty much the whole night.

Oh! I also ran by Wal-Mart during the day to get a new battery for my watch, which I've gone without for over a year just because I didn't take the time to go get a new battery. Lazy. Anyway, got the new one yesterday and I'm loving having a watch again. I also picked up a new battery for our bathroom scale while I was there, and I tested it yesterday and got the same weight on it as the one at the gym. So...that's a thing.

After Lost, though, D-- went home to pack for his business trip, and I went to bed. It was a short evening.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff (for real this time).