Ahhh...goodness. The past few weeks have been a blur, and fortunately - for good reasons. So - to catch things up...

Gone a Little Girly
I ordered a subscription to In Style magazine. I also probably now have well over 30 pairs of shoes and 15 hand bags. If you know me - then you will understand how odd this is because I've never really cared that much about fashion or anything remotely close to fashion. I blame this change initally on John, but also Seena. They were/are my corrupters. So, I am waiting on my first issue to arrive. Until then - I go to the news stand.

Crave the Experience
I was referred to a place on Exit 28 by a guy I met. The place was called Crave. New place - pretty nice, and they have Trivia on Thursdays. So, a few weeks ago my wing-man Steve and I went to check it out. We had a good time - and I have been every Thursday (and a lot more) since. It turns out one of the owners, Troy, lives at Birkdale. He is a really nice guy.

Their web site cravesomething.com needs some work though, and I am working with Troy and his partner Brett to get some new things going. I am really looking forward to launching a new site and starting some social media tactics to try and get more people in the door.

The Store Experience
As part of new employee training full time employees are required to work in the store ofr 4 days. Mine were Tuesday, Thursday - Saturday last week. I had an awesome time!! If I could make what I do in IT and work at the paint desk the rest of my life...then I would probably do it. The people in the store were really nice and being back in the office today - I sort of miss the people I was working with there.

The most interesting part of the week was on Saturday when the registers went down for 2 hours (from 10am - 12pm). It was complete chaos. We were running around with sticky notes writing down item #s and prices for products and everyone was being checked-out manually. Somehow people blamed it on me since I am from IT though. LOL. :-)

I learned to mix paint, cut keys, and cut plexiglass. It wsa really a very cool experience. If I did it two days a week, then I don't think I would have to go to the gym.

Birkdale Drama
My Melrose Place life in Birkdale is going pretty well. I am becoming closer to my friends up here and slowly meeting more people. The "boy" front has been interesting. Gone on dates here and there and am sort of talking to someone now. Its nice. I like that its going slow.

We are all learning that the world is really small though. Its amazing who knows who knows who around here.

seeing Seena
She comes up today so we can go see Maroon 5 & Counting Crows. I can't wait!!! It has been ages since I have really talked to her.

I best go though....

Vitamins

I had a friend visiting recently and while she was here I needed to run a few errands. The list included popping into Walgreens to take advantage of BOGO on vitamins. While making my purchase she asked me why I took vitamins. I told her because I researched them and decided I wanted to take advantage of the benefits.

So, I take a weight management multi-vitamin, a complex B, and chromium. I will say, chromium provides few if any proven benefits to those that take it. But, all our doctors encourage us to take a multi-vitamin, and the B vitamins are proven to increase metabolism (especially when it comes to carbohydrates - if I remember my research correctly).

She followed up by asking if I noticed a difference when I took them. And to that I have to say...I don't really know.

Considering this happened a few weeks ago it must have made some sort of impact because I am still thinking about it, and this morning I came to a conclusion.

I do not know if taking vitamins makes a difference all by itself, but I know that when I am in the habit of taking vitamins I eat breakfast (I like to take them with food) and I drink more water during the day. Something about taking them on a daily basis seems to put me in a more healthy mindset and as a result I make better choices when it comes to eating and exercising.

So, what's your take on vitamins?

Be glad.

I had a conversation with my dear friend John today while I was riding back to Huntersville from Columbia. For some reason, he is the person I talk to about anything and everything. He continually reminds me how fortunate I am in life, and after our conversations like that I always feel a little more grounded.

So, I thought I would take a brief moment to be glad I am where I am in life, and thank those that got me here because without them I wouldn't be who I am today. Some recent smiles included...

- Seeing Seena today for coffee - she is such a wonderful friend. I cannot wait for her to come visit in 2 weeks.
- Instant messaging with my dad - the conversations might be a little slow, and sometimes I tell him stuff thinking it it Mom on the computer, but chatting with him makes me happy.
- New friends - I may have only been in Huntersville for two months, but I have people that legitimately care about me and my well being.
- Tension clearing conversations - when you have an "incident" with someone and finally get to talk about it and get things in the open. Whew. The relief of know it was hard for both of you.
- Power buys - I got 3 purses, a dress, and a pair of shoes for under $70. Woot!

And, speaking of the new clothes. I need to go get ready and put them on. Time to go out for the evening. Tomorrow will include some heads down time working, perhaps some writing as well.

So long.

Exercise by Eating

Meredith sent me this article today. I found the last statement to be the most interesting.

"Meanwhile, my heartbeat, which started at a resting pace of 68 beats per minute, zoomed up to 128 -- the equivalent of doing aerobic exercise."

It is about a really hot (spicy) curry dish. Would the health benefits of having a heart rate at 128 bpm somehow be altered by consuming the food?

Read the Hottest Curry Article.

Mental Control+F Integration

I write software requirements and specifications. Its what I have done for awhile now. I am fortunate enough to have a mind that is built to do this sort of stuff and I really enjoy it.

For the first time though, I am in a situation where I get to step into the middle of a project. There are probably already over 1000 pages of documentation written and the portion I am working on is references all over the place. Well, right now I am in a frustrating position because I can mentally see the exact place in a document I need, but I just don't know which one it is. Somewhere in these hundreds of pages is a little screen shot and supporting text that talks about local items. I can see it vividly, but I can't find it.

So...I challenge everyone...take the coolness of the Pensieve from Harry potter and merge it with "find" technology.

I want to visualize something, take a mental screen-cap send that to the computer and have it scan files until it finds it.

Let me know when it is done.

Thanks!

Fun with Sparklers

I opted to come home for the long weekend. Today I have eaten too much and had fun with sparklers. You can check it out on You Tube.

Impulse Purchase

I made a compromise yesterday. When I ordered my wii a few weeks ago I had to get a package that came with several games. One of those was Super Smash Brothers, a game I was not interested in owning. My thought was that I might be able to return it in order to get something I was actually interested in. Well, yesterday I finally got around to doing something with it and just popped into the Game Stop right at BV. They actually took it - as long as I was going to get a store credit, which was fine. So - my gut lurched and I asked, "do you have guitar hero?" They said, no, but that they did have the Aerosmith version. I said, what they hey - and went ahead and got it. So far so good. I unlocked half the songs on medium last night. :-)

Now I am just watching some auctions on eBay for the real Guitar Hero for wii.

So, last night after work I made that Game Stop run and also popped over to Concord to finally return the broken patio table I got back early in June. They guys at the store were very helpful and ended up giving me the table that was on display. I was very pleased with the customer service at Sears.

After my journeys I met up with Mark & Otis to go on a walk. We moseyed around BV and the adjacent neighborhood for around an hour I guess. It was just nice to chat. While walking we met a lady and her 5mth old English Bulldog/Boxer mix. SO CUTE! Part of me wants a dog, but I am just not ready for the commitment. Guitar Hero pretty much took up the rest of my evening.

Right now trying to decide if I am going to stay in NC or go home for the weekend. There are pros and cons to both options. 

Interesting Development

I am beginning to encounter a new quality in men that I have never before dealt with. I am not sure if it is just men in Charlotte, or just the type of men I am interacting with. Nevertheless I find it quite interesting.

So, up here - when a gentleman has to disappoint you - he offers to buy you something, or take you shopping. It really is quite interesting. My direct response is always, "you don't have to do that," but  I think I need to start taking them up on it.

Not much time to really ponder this one, but I just wanted to say...

So long for now.

A Day

I hate to be complaining, but you know sometimes how you just wake up in the morning and are already in a piss-ass mood? For some reason today is one of those days. I don't know if it is stemming from that odd empty feeling from yesterday or what but I don't like it. I just don't like it at all. I fear someone is going to say something to me and they are going to get the wrong end of this one. 

Recent Smiles...Frowns

:-)
- The smell of someone grilling bbq chicken as I walked through the neighborhood behind Birkdale Village
- A friend making me a to-do list that included getting money for concert tickets as well as snagging a second date with a guy I like
- Making progress on a new task at work and having someone look to me for advice on it

:-(
- Mail I send not getting delivered
- Angst about poor judgment
- Bank account balance

I kind of had an odd empty feeling as I walked this evening. I went out a little before 8pm and walked for an hour. It felt good. The temperature was perfect. Lots of people were milling about, and the neighborhood behind my apartment is full of cute houses with charming yards. Something about it was isolating though. All the families, laughter...I sort of felt like the odd man out. I wish I could better articulate the exact emotions that were running through me. Some days this feels like home and others not so much.

I am going to go wash my cooler now. Yeah, its lame - but it needs to be done.

Happy Anniversary

Twenty-nine years ago two really cool people happened to get married.



I love them more than anything!

Mom & Dad - I hope you have a wonderful day!