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To be kinder
To read more
To eat healthier
To get back to the gym
To travel
To get more sleep
To get more involved with friends and family
To start writing more
To try one new place a month

And most of all ... to be creative.

I know this list is kinda vague, but it's a start.

Now off to Mike and Jennifer's New Years party.

Happy New Year to all.

Found this on the Interwebz.  Can't remember who posted it, but WTF.  It's a monkey washing a cat.  What's not to like?

...some of it might have come out of my nose when I laughed at this.  It almost looks like Anthony Kiedis.

Jefe: I have put many beautiful pinatas in the storeroom, each of them filled with little suprises.
El Guapo: Many pinatas?
Jefe: Oh yes, many!
El Guapo: Would you say I have a plethora of pinatas?
Jefe: A what?
El Guapo: A *plethora*.
Jefe: Oh yes, you have a plethora.
El Guapo: Jefe, what is a plethora?
Jefe: Why, El Guapo?
El Guapo: Well, you told me I have a plethora. And I just would like to know if you know what a plethora is. I would not like to think that a person would tell someone he has a plethora, and then find out that that person has *no idea* what it means to have a plethora.
Jefe: Forgive me, El Guapo. I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education. But could it be that once again, you are angry at something else, and are looking to take it out on me?

I promised myself that I would be better about maintaining my blog, but then again I've been saying that since 2003 when I had my first iteration.  Hmmm... let's see...  well, I finally anted up for paid hosting.  I was starting to get concerned that my own server was going to poop out and I'd lose everything (no big loss, but still).  I've been using what was my old desktop computer (with a few new parts here and there) from MountainZone.com days.  Um, I left that place in 2001.  I think it's a freakin' miracle that computer lasted as long as it did, considering it was on 24/7 for so many years.   Anyway, I wound up using A2Hosting.com, which so far has been pretty sweet.  I got 250gigs of storage and transfer a month, which I'm sure I'll never get close to touching, and some very nice web utilites to upload and manage the several sites I'm hosting. 

Hmmmm.... what else. 

Well, I've been enjoying the summer so far.  I bought a pretty sweet bike a few weeks back and have been taking it for rides along Alki beach.  I finally realized that while I like riding a bike, I'm not a big fan of riding in the city nor am I much of a hill climber.  So, I caved and bought an old school beach cruiser.   No gears, big cushy seat and a kick brake, just like I had for my paper route when I was a kid growing up in Arizona.

Had a pretty lazy Saturday today, mostly just chilled at the house reading, listening to music and playing a video game. I recently read something about how long Starcraft has been around and that it's a bit of a cultural phenomenon in Korea so I thought I would check it out. The game originally came out in 1998, but is still really fun. Anyway, blew through too many hours to mention hoping the sun would come out. Well I guess fun is fun.

Tomorrow I think Josy and I are going to go to the nursery to get some plants for the back yard. We've taken some stuff out that I didn't like and now need to fill in some of the bare spots before the weeds take over. In Seattle, one man's weed in another's flower.

Next week I'll need to kick back into a higher gear while I get ready for the IA Summit that I co-teach with Mike and Samantha. It's the 3rd year we've taught it so I expect it to go fairly smoothly. After the IA course is done I'll be getting ready to teach a 549 section on web development in the fall. It's a special topic class so it'll all be new. Lot's of course prep needs to get done toot-sweet.

Not a whole lot new to report, just kinda livin' life if you know what I mean. Spent a little time w/Emmet working on the house and am still only halfway finished with the site steps. Kinda got sidetracked by lousy weather and then getting sick.

Work is ok. Just had my 1 year anniversary at Avenue A | Razorfish and my first review. Rocked it I think. At least that's the feedback I got in my review session. Whatever. As long as they're happy, I'm happy. Should be having the 'compensation' talk w/the boss soon too so I think I'll be getting a little bit of a bonus and a little more yearly loot. Will be nice, but these days I've been pretty had core on savings so whatever I get will probably just wind up in a retirement mutual fund.

Let's see... what else...

Planning a trip to Japan and Thailand in April. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be able to fly both flights using miles. Nice. Um... I should really think about booking a ticket.

Well I've been in the house 2 months now I guess it still doesn't quite feel like I own the place. Not to sure what I need to do to make it feel more that way. It appears that I'm too lazy to finish painting the trim which is holding up the rest of the progress. For whatever reason when the weekend rolls around I seem to want to do anything but break out the painting gear. So... I have yet to fill the bookshelves w/books because I know I'll have to move the shelves to finish painting, thus my office is still full of cardboard boxes.

Whatever.

When I think back over the last 7 months quite a bit has happened. New house, new job, new car. If I could just get some new habits things would be moving along nicely.

I've been sending this link out to friends from time to time so it makes sense that I post it here.

House Remodel Pix on Flickr

Things should be slowing down soon enough. I've been spending weekends and most nights after work doing stuff on the house (demo, wiring, insulation) and cleaning up after subs. I swear it feels most of my time has been cleaning up after each of the trades that come in. Floors are getting done this week and I move in on Sunday. For the past month and a half I have been living two lives at the two houses, so it will be nice to finally have all my stuff in one place.

After I move in I'll still have to paint and finish the trim. I had thought I gave myself enough time to get everything done before I move in, but apparently schedules are a little "looser" in the construction industry than they are in the internet industry. Whatever. It's only paint.

More pix when I get around to it.

So I guess I can talk about it but I'm not too sure what to say. Melinda and are are splitting up. Today is moving day for her. I can't afford to move, I wish I could, but that's just the way things work out. It's going to hurt everyday to go home to the place where I thought we were happy. Where we made plans and thought about our life together. I guess that too will change and eventually it will just become a place that I live, because after today it really doesn't feel like a home.

One day you are married, in what you think is a long term commited relationship, then one day your whole life has changed. What I thought my life was going to be, where I thought I was going and who I thought I was going to do that with has changed.

I'm not too sure what to do now, where do I go from here. I'm sure I'm going to be ok but right now it hurts like hell. I think that if I weren't in school I might come unglued, but this pain in the ass that is known as Graduate School is what is keeping me together.

I just can't afford to fall apart.

Maybe I'll do that when I'm all done with school. Go off some place and sit on a beach for a while and try to figure out what the fuck happend and what all this means.

Oh yeah, beer should be involved.