I keep trying

I finally joined a gym. There’s a gold’s gym on exit away from work off of the highway, so it isn’t even much out of the way. They have a whole bunch of new weight machines, treadmills, cycling room. They are adding a smoothie bar, making improvements, etc. Basically, they’re on the up and up. The manager offered to honor the Gold’s Gym free enrollment that had been advertised on the website, along with the local gym’s $20/mo. fee. Seemed like such a great deal, I didn’t even wait till the end of my 7-day trial, so I signed up right there, what I great idea I had. Or so I thought. This was last Monday, I hadn’t been back since, thinking the Monday after Thanksgiving would be a great time to start. I pull in at 7am. Chains are locking the door and the gym has been closed! Ridiculous.

I am thankful for lots of things:
My family
My girlfriend
My house
My pets
My job

NOT GOLD’S GYM

A themed thanks

Things that I am thankful of Angela for (and things I am proud of):
Amazing food, including a recent blackbean soup, and homemade sloppy joes.
Putting up with my ridiculous sleep schedule.
An incredible work ethic, I have never witnessed so much studying.
The studying has paid off and she has done very well this year.
I like hugs.
I think she is beautiful, even when she isn’t trying.

Happy New Year

Yes, even in the corporate world, I had a little over a week off of work starting on Christmas day and ending this past Monday. I have not yet had to work for any job between Christmas and New Years. This year, Angela and I again dutifully made the rounds, however, not to the same extent as last year. We spent only 3 nights with her family and 2 with my father. It was a nice amount so that we could see and experience the best, but not to over do it and become bored or annoyed with our families or each other. I feel like this year has already gotten off to a great start. I have been getting to work early and getting home early, which I think makes me more happy (getting more time in the evening to relax is lovely, and also opens up the possibilities of activities that I miss, namely rowing.) I feel more playful, and I think it has started to rub off on Angela as well, as she has gotten more snuggly.

Thankful Thursday 2 days (and forever) late.

WoW!  It’s been a while since my last post.  But a good bit has been happening. 

 

• Started rowing at Malta on Boathouse row.  I always thought it was cool watching the rowers when I’d come into the city before going off to college.  Certainly didn’t think at the time that I’d be one of them.  I wonder if I look as good as I thought they did years ago.
• Dinner in the city.  Cafe Spice last night, a 7 course Moroccan restaurant last month!  And saved $50 off what it would have cost by using a bumpin’ coupon.
• Getting praised at work.  Had a meeting today to discuss the work I’ve been doing over the last couple of months.  Instead of balls of paper being thrown at me, words of praise. Woot! (Hang in there John and Katie.)
• Pickle, all I know is that I put food in in the morning, and scoop poo in the evening, and there’s a whole lotta noise being made as he bounces around the house in between.  Such a pretty kitty though.
• My dad is coming this weekend to visit and help with stuff around the house.  Perhaps the painting!
• Angela for putting up with me when I’m being forgetful.
• My dad helping me build a shelving unit (or concentration camp bunks - aesthetics design error, oops!).
• Having a good job, a nice house, and an excellent girlfriend.
• Mmm, Thai food.
• My mom for her constant support (and recent help in switching my car insurance to her plan to save me some moolah
• and my grandmother who just moved up the Philly area to be closer to her children, and grandchildren.

Thankful Thursday (Yom Kippur edition)

Looking back on the week and year, I’d like to say what I’m thankful for and also what I want to work on in the coming year.

• My excellent girlfriend of nearly 2 years (oh my), baker extraordinaire, makes awesome sticky buns.
• A good job, in the midst of folks getting laid off, my job is fairly secure under the DTRA grant.
• A nice house, on a nice block, with nice people, some of whom care enough about the block to have a block club to organize improvements (I went to a meeting last night).
• A family who supports everything I do.
• Katie and John for helping me make it through teaching last year.
• Having the means and willing girlfriend to put up with me while we traveled though Europe for 6.5 weeks this summer.

Looking forward:

• I must try harder to think from others’ point of view and to be more compassionate.
• Finish the kitchen completely, as well as the rest of the house.
• Get closer to being the perfect boyfriend.
• Get in better shape (join a rowing club, get into biking, lift weights, get awesome)
• Become Pickle’s friend.
• Contribute time and ideas to the block club.
• Learn something new everyday.

House=Home

• Yet another upcoming weekend with Angela
• A surprise that I am looking forward to.
• Getting a chance to make the new house more of a home (paint and flooring!)
• Another long weekend!
• 3 weeks till Europe!
• Banana Farm!

Another Thursday

• Another weekend hanging out at CMU
• Exploring Pittsburgh
• one of the best burgers in the country 
• 3 days with Angela!
• getting to see what Karen says about Angela
• magnetic periodic tables
• staplers without staples
• rhubarb
• Denali moose tracks made with chocolate ice cream

Late!

• Not being convicted of a crime I didn’t commit!
• 4th weekend in a row seeing Angela.
• Very positive job interview.
• Very positive reaction from Angela on the new house.
• Seeing some darn good rowing.
• mmmm, pesto.
• Seeing my Aunt and Uncle.
• Help from the family architect (my Aunt) on kitchen design.
• 4 weeks of teaching remaining.
• Essentially all travel to, within, and from Europe locked down.

Thursday

• I get to see Angela this weekend and every weekend until we leave for Europe!
• An awesome European vacation that is planning out nicely, coming up in 1.5 months.
• 4 hours of testing tomorrow where I get to sit on my bum and grade stuff that I’m behind on.
• mm, peanut butter twix.
• new toys
• just under 25 days of school left

GeeKomics*, and other things that make me smile

I originally started drawing these little pictures to express how I feel in the classroom.  These comics made me chuckle and laugh about things.  Much like how John, Katie and I had a running contest as to who would get new students latest in the year.  Due to my class being a year round course, I pitifully won by gaining new students as late as March.

Continuing to draw little comics, especially ones about rowing, was solely for the purpose of making myself smile.  I posted them to my site to try and make other people smile, too, but my secret hope is that most people say something like, “ugh, this guy has such a weird sense of humor.”  Greedily, success in that operation would actually make me smile more.

Now, of course, my little doodles (I don’t even know why I think I can get away with calling it a comic), are not the only things that make me smile.  I’ve really been trying to go to school with a more positive outlook.  I have been trying to increase strictness/consistency, as well as avoiding direct conflicts that just escalate bad  behaviors.   I have met marginal success, but it’s better than nothing.

Undoubtedly, my roommates have been supportive of me at school, as well as in my decision to not return next year.  I do appreciate this from them, and hope that they find my doodles disturbing and hilarious.  My family has also been supportive, especially my mom helping me find a new house and getting things lined up on that end.

Lastly, the one person I talk to more than anyone else and love every minute is coming to visit tomorrow (yay!).  The ultimate support and enforcer of inward contemplation; I don’t know what I’d do without my girlfriend.

*Even the name GeeKomics makes me smirk since it is so silly.  I originally thought that it should be pronounced as one work, “Geek – omics,”  but then realized that “Gee, comics” really captures the lack of sincerity that I put into each edition.  Finally, I concluded that the fact that I am even contemplating the “pronunciation” of a word that will as unlikely be pronounced as be found amusing, is utter madness.