The Shore

I swim in this ocean we call life.

 

We start on the shore in our mother’s womb. It’s safe, it’s warm, and that’s all we need.

 

We grow a little older, and we wade in the shallows. When big waves come along, we retreat to the safety of home, of the shore.

 

We get to high school and college, and we are tempted to wade further out. Never quite leaving the bottom, we still manage to get in over our heads sometimes, but the safety of shore is never truly far from sight.

 

And then we HAVE to make our own way. We hear rumors of ANOTHER shore, some other place away beyond our sight. But to get there, we have to step out on our own.

 

Some of us never really make that step. We live in the same areas as our parents, our friends from high school, our flotsam collected along the way. We never lose sight of that first shore we came from, playing just beyond the breakers, but never pushing further.  It makes us feel safer, not being in that great big ocean alone.

 

Some of us push off and make our way into deeper waters. We swim out past where we can see the shore. But we keep trying to look back, keep trying to keep our heads above water. We swim against the currents to try to get to some predetermined location we have fixed in our minds. And so eventually we either drown, or we swim back to the shore because it’s too hard to do otherwise.

 

We can flounder and splash and complain on the surface all we want, but the ocean never changes, never hears, never cares.

 

Still fewer of us  push off and never look back. We swim in the currents, letting them push us where they want us to go. They help us conserve energy. They do occasionally push us away from people we’d rather not part with, but we trust the currents are taking us in the right direction. We ride out the storms by diving underneath the turbulent surface to the calm water underneath. They help us see that trouble is usually very shallow. And we keep going, keep swimming, never quite knowing that there is something else out there, but sure that we can never go back to where we were.

 

 

And so, I keep swimming. Always forward, and never back.

 

 

 

 

 

Point of View

 I have my own unique point of view on the world. We all do. It’s part of what makes us individuals, unlike any other entity on this planet.

 

I have yet to meet another person that has a point of view similar to mine. A few of my friends share bits and pieces of mine, but not mine entirely.

 

I spend a lot of time thinking about various things. As Karen put it, I exist at a “deeper level” than 98% of the people out there. This contributes to my point of view being different, and it also contributes to the fact that I HAVE an educated point of view on almost any topic someone brings up. I’ve thought about it, researched it, and formulated some type of opinion on it based on the facts of the subject at hand. I’ve also experienced a lot in my short life, lived through some things that most people shouldn’t have to live through, lived through some things that most people SHOULD have to live through. It gives me a wealth of background for almost any question that comes up.

 

However, there are two downsides to this.

 

1)      I frequently find that I have to tell someone “Live my life the way I have, then you’ll understand why I feel this way” on particular subjects. I can’t always explain why I am the way I am, just that certain actions or feelings are just right for me based on my past experiences.

2)      I wonder sometimes if there is anyone out there who can see my whole self and understand. This does not have to be a romantic involvement, just some type of kindred soul who can really understand me. So far I have not found that person, which leads me to conclude so far that I am truly alone in my understanding of this world.

 

 

Note, the last sentence really does concern me on a base level. While it would be nice, it’s not necessary to my survival. I’m always been content with myself and who I am. And I never worry about making my own decisions, even when everyone else I know is against what I may decide.

 

Anyways, one of the myriad things I’ve been thinking about.

 

 

 

Footprints on the heart

Some people enter and leave our lives with haste.

 

Other people stay a while.

 

They grace us with new understanding.

 

They show us parts of the world hidden from us.

 

They leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same.

 

 

(not an original creation of mine, just something that struck me)

What do you say?

I see the world in a different light.

You see day, I see night.

Who's to say which is right?

I pour my soul into my life,

I get in return disbelief and strife.

Even when I explain my side,

and try to take your barbs in stride,

you still hurt what's left of my pride.

Others judge on incomplete facts,

and give you their own tacts.

Yet they can't know what's left inside,

Do you?

Hiatus

Last post for a very long time most likely. This place no longer serves my intended purpose, and there is too much else that I need to deal with. I'm also turning off comments altogether.

Weekend Weddings

Jen and I visited the rustic Vicennes, IN this past weekend for a wedding for a pair of her Chicago friends. The ceremony was small, and they did a few pretty neat things. They had a sand ceremony, which was pretty neat. Jen and I are thinking about doing something similar at ours now. (They already said they’d be ok if we copied them ;) ). The weekend was low key in general, and some good time together for us.

 

The best part of the whole weekend for me honestly was the drive there and back. I love to drive. We took Route 50 there and back. For those of you used to traveling by Interstate, there is something so much more appealing about taking the old national routes around the country. You see so much more country, so much more EVERYTHING. Even with the drought, the route was absolutely gorgeous.

 

Anyways, here’s to another hot week ahead!

 

 

Hot

Ya, that pretty much sums up the past week. With no AC in the dojo, this weather sucks to work out in. It’s hard to breathe, and you start sweating right as you walk in. Craziness!

 

 

Meditation is coming along. It’s difficult to meditate with lots on your mind, and everything that Jen and I have been talking about has definitely added to the difficulty. At the same time, the meditation has made it somewhat easier to deal with these things in positive ways, rather than exploding and getting mad, which helps no one.

 

 

I believe what I wrote last week. I’ve lost my ability to laugh somewhere along the way. That doesn’t mean I’m completely unhappy with life in general. A great many things in my life I am content with. And the rest I think I can work on, with Jen’s help, and the help of my friends.

 

Everything’s always a work in progress!

 

Laughter update

Jen and I had a great weekend, and I feel much better than I did last week.

 

Jen makes me laugh more than I let myself laugh. I just have to learn to let her do it more, and not get frustrated with her spritely nature.  It’s not an easy thing for me to do, but it’s a very important thing for me to do.

 

I love you Jen!

 

 

Laughter

I have forgotten how to laugh.

 

I have forgotten what it is to have a good time.

 

I have forgotten what it is like to be carefree.

 

I have forgotten how to smile most of the time.

 

I get frustrated with happy people for not taking things more seriously.

 

I find fault with movies, books, conversations, and people that don’t live in what I call the real world, that don’t have plots with serious themes, that don’t have some type of point.

 

I can’t take a joke, no matter how small. I take offense instead.

 

I have forgotten how to look at things with wonder, and instead only see the pale reflection of envy because I cannot.

 

I have forgotten how to see the world in splendor, and instead see darkness and ashes.  

 

I have forgotten how to ask for help to change this.

Meditation

So, for the past week or so, I’ve been taking an active part in some self-realization through meditation. A small group of us have been learning some techniques and posting to a message board about how things have been going. It’s pretty amazing what this can do for one. Let me explain a bit.

 

There are two different ways we meditate.

 

There is a traditional “soft” meditation, like what most of you probably think of when you conceptualize meditation. Sitting quietly, clearing your mind, etc. We do that, focusing on the breathing, in through the nose, out through the mouth. The mind should stay clear. The trick here is this. Instead of REACTING to thoughts or emotions, you have to REFLECT on those thoughts and emotions, and then TAKE ACTION. Think of it this way:  With the eyes closed, you float in a dark void, and thoughts enter the void from outside.  You can look at those thoughts, examine where they come from, examine any predjudices you may have associated with those thoughts, then deal with those thoughts in the best possible way FOR ALL PEOPLE INVOLVED. This is a very foreign concept to western society in general, and very difficult for us Americans in particular. It’s a hard thing to get the hang of.

 

There is also “hard” meditation. This involves tensing the body as you are trying to mediate. You stand, or do forms, or in general tense up the muscles. All the while you are trying to keep your mind clear, trying to focus on absolutely nothing. Obviously you work up a sweat, and it’s more difficult than you might think.

 

Anyways, so we’ve been meditating daily, fitting it in where we can, and each posts their sessions each day to a message board. We all do things differently. There isn’t a lot of commenting back and forth, as meditation is a personal thing. But there is some, and just knowing other people are doing it is also a big thing. More motivation to do it every day.

 

 

Depending on culture, meditation allows us to experience different “states” of awareness and consciousness. The first is what I’ve described already. When one meditates enough, daily living becomes an exercise in REFLECTing and then TAKING ACTION. Too many of us, myself included,  react to things that go on around us. My goal over the next couple of months is to really try to reflect more on the things that go on around us.

 

 

Just in this past week, it’s really remarkable the sense of overall peace I feel compared to the week before I started doing thing seriously. I’ll make sure to post my continued thoughts on it. And let me know if you have any specific questions about anything!

TT Thoughts

Since I haven’t posted in a while, I’d thought I’d copy my fiancé and do a list.

 

 

1.       It’s amazing how different people who are close to you can see you as a person.

2.       A little compassion can go a long way.

3.       I really don’t like preachy people.

4.       I have started some meditation learning, and it’s absolutely unbelievable.

5.       I am happy I finally got my server at home running again. It’s time to play with stuff.

6.       It’s dismaying when people assume they know what you are thinking, without asking.

7.       I just completed a project that no one else in my company comprehends. That’s pretty awesome J.

8.       I can now do front and back walkovers, something that always eluded me when I was little.

9.       I got to see an actual OC-192 today that was working…

10.   I have a few customers that actually treat me better than some of my friends do.

11.   Even though I have none myself, it’s disturbing to hear someone say that they have lost their faith, especially when they say it’s because of you.

12.   I find myself hanging onto the void most of the day. Read Wheel of Time and you’ll get it.

13.   No dinner and no breakfast actually makes it tough to eat lunch…..

Bonus Post!

My friend Mandy took this on the 4th of July, and I wanted to share it with all of you! I think this is my new favorite picture of Jen.

Random thoughts

A few random thoughts for your Friday:

 

 

The Creation Museum:   http://www.creationmuseum.org/   Now this has got to be one of the asinine things I’ve seen in a long time. A museum based on opinion. You’re joking right? Not only are they not joking, this lovely farce exists in the only place it logically could…….near Cincinnati. Anyone feel like a day trip to laugh at the idiots?

 

 

Transformers was a lot of fun on the 4^th. I really liked what they did with it. It’s worth paying to go see. Even Jen had fun watching….

 

 

I am actually close to being able to do the splits, at  least front ways. Straddle, not so much………..

 

 

I learned how to break boards with an underhand strike called an ox tongue break.

 

 

Every major news media outlet has been reporting about the excessive heat out west……….   Here’s my two cents, having lived there for two years……..  IT’S THE FRICKING DESERT, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?   It’s like moving to Antartica and then complaining that it’s cold. Why the hell is this front page news for every national group?

 

 

Anyways, have a great weekend!

Testing

Well, the testing on Saturday went really well. Even Joe thought things went well, and that’s saying something, as he always has corrections for people. No corrections for anyone! And oh yeah, I passed! So, just 1 year until black belt!

 

After that we had a seminar, and we learned a new drunken immortal form. It’s one of the 18 most difficult in the system, and I seriously felt like I had been in a car accident on Sunday I was so sore.

 

I can’t complain, it was an extremely full weekend!

Hi There

Hi there, yes been gone, I know. I have a perfectly good explanation:

 

So, Kung Fu is supposed to be 6 months to go from 3^rd Brown to 2^nd Brown. I am testing to 2^nd Brown on Saturday, in only 3 months!!..... and our teacher doesn’t like to let people test early J.

 

I’ve worked my butt off to be able to do this. Everyone I talked to initially didn’t think I could do it. The material is way more difficult than anything we’ve had to do so far. But I’ve been focused, and I’ve done the best I can do.

 

Most importantly, it means that my next two tests leading up to black belt will be here in Cincinnati. Which means my parents can come watch.

 

A lot of this was driven by attending a talk on Shaolin history and heritage called Tales from the Temple by one of the elder masters in our system. One of the things that hit home for me was something he said regarding his father. He regretted that his father never saw him do anything with kung fu before he died. It was never important enough at the time. Since tests for higher degree black belts are closed to the public, I realized that I had only 3 tests left that my own father could attend, and my schedule meant those tests would be in Lexington.

 

So I decided to try to get the schedule changed, and waiting an extra 3 months at some point to do that just wasn’t an option, especially after learning that dad’s leukemia is starting to wake up again.

 

So anyways, I’m hoping to be back on a more normal schedule after Saturday, with perhaps a bit more time for things.

 

We’ll see!

Thoughts

A few thoughts for today:


If had to do my job for another 20 years, or 30 years, I do believe I would kill myself first. It's simply not worth it.

I get tired of people asking the same damn questions every day. AFTER I write the instructions down for them and tape them to the monitor so that they can look at them. But they don't want to look at them, and have told me they don't want to look at them, they'd rather call!

I get tired of listening to parents complain about allergies, or cuts and bruises, or hurt feelings, or whatever, and making it sound like their child is the most put upon child on the planet. How the hell did any of us get here? Did nobody but me ever fall off their bike when they were little and skin their knee? Did nobody else have horrible allergies? I sure did, and I was told to get back out there, get back on, stop sniffling and blow my nose. You know what? My allergies are nearly gone, I've learned to play through pain, and I've learned that a little blood is good for you sometimes. And I've learned the real world is a harsh place, no matter what some people would have you believe. And it always will be, and the sooner you get used to that, the happier you will ultimately be. Otherwise, you are in for a lifetime of disappointment.

I AM tired of people not helping themselves. When did we become a country of helpless idiots? What happened to the people pulling themselves up by their bootstraps with a nickel to their name? The only people willing to work that hard nowadays don't start here in the US, they come here from other countries. And they make US look bad.

I AM tired of people assuming that they know me, they know my type, or they know what I want. It's really simple: ASK!

Friday

What a long week! After working part of last weekend, and just being generally busy, I actually turned in over 50 billable hours this week. On top of that, I went to the dojo for 2 hours on Sunday, 3 hours Monday, 2 and half Wednesday, and 2 last night. So you can see why it's been hard for me to find time to post :).

Here is one of my all time favorite links:



These pictures have a very nearly physical pull on me. They represent the future, albeit a much farther distant future for us than I would like. Spending time looking at these really makes me wonder. And this is the major point of what I wonder.....

This planet should be our springboard to populate the places in these pictures. That means many things. It means sustaining the environment here to learn how to coexist with new places we find. It means learning to exist as one people, rather than separate countries. It means a truly global economy.

We are this one, infinitesimally small point of light in the great darkness. If we can overcome these internal struggles as a whole, we can spread it. Otherwise.....

States

From Karen's blog.



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.




I've been through some of the ones I didn't put down here. Some states need more than one....I.E. Arizona north is very different from arizona south, same for California, etc.........

Tagged!

Ok, I’m slow in responding, but here are my 7 things. I don’t have 7 other bloggers to send to, so I’ll be a little anarchist and not do that part………

 

 

1.)    I could literally swim before I could walk.

 

2.)    I am a complete wuss when it comes to little pain, like bee stings or pinches, but I can take big pain, like broken bones or the like, with no problem. (hehehe, just ask Jen)

 

3.)    I typically prefer my own company to anyone else’s, with the exception of 3 people. (Sorry, no hurt feelings, won’t reveal that here.)

 

4.)    I have difficulty relating to men. Women? No problem!

 

 

5.)    I truly believe that there is no lower calling than politics. Our current system is nothing like what the founding fathers intended, and it will never get any better while the masses have their current apathetic attitudes. I can’t even stand to listen to most people talk about it.

 

6.)    There are times I have difficulty communicating with people because even I can’t keep up with the ideas that go through my head.

 

7.)    I truly believe that I was born either 200 years too early, or 200 years too late………

 

 

 

Vindication!!!!

I hate telling people “I told you so”, but today I get to do that in a big way.

 

3 years ago at this point, a friend of mine started dating a woman who was just no good. She was married, not positive about getting divorced, etc. I said, at the time, that this was trouble. I was told that I was too sensitive to everything after my divorce, and I didn’t know what I was talking about.

 

So this went on for 2 years, and my friend really, really got hurt. Things never progressed the way he wanted them to. He poured out his love and devotion to this woman, and she never really returned it, but she kept him hanging on. He got absolutely crushed. And yet he kept going back for more, wouldn’t listen to any of his friends, etc.

 

He finally broke things off in a way, but never really gave up on her either. She supposedly was getting back together with her husband, but they talked and what not. I don’t know too many details about that time period because I removed myself from that situation.

 

Anyways, Friday he finds out that not only did she not get back with her husband, she’s now dating one of our other friends from gaming days. One that we used to be good friends with. (Well, not anymore, eh?)

 

Complete bitch.

 

And damn it, I told you so!

 

The positive part is that hopefully my friend will finally move on and be happy.

 

 

Aura

Your Aura is Violet

Idealistic and thoughtful, you have the mind and ideas to change the world. And you have the charisma of a great leader, even if you don't always use it! The purpose of your life: saying truths that other people dare not say Famous purples include: Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Susan B. Anthony Careers for you to try: Political Activist, Inventor, Life Coach

What Color Is Your Aura?

What kind of Intelligence......

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Hi there!

Yes, I’ve been absent again. I know. I’m not sure what to do about that.

 

The truth is this. I’m finding it hard to blog. I know there are certain people reading this now that I feel like I have to watch what I say, and I don’t like that. It makes it really hard for me to use this in the way that I used to use this. There are many things I feel like I can’t talk about here now.

 

 

 

Anyways, brief update on me I guess:

 

The cold snap sucks for gardening. Nothing more has gotten done, and nothing more can get done. Blech.

 

Kung Fu is good. Brown belt classes are a whole new level of difficulty. My body is almost used to the new schedule, but not quite. I’m learning my first sword kata, which is awesome. Tonight I get to start learning Ironman training, so I’m expecting lots of bruises.

 

It seems our social calendar is quite full. I find it hard to admit that I’m ALMOST like Karen in that I feel the need to schedule these on my calendar in Outlook. It’s the only way to keep it straight. I’m not really complaining, as it’s nice to feel like we have tons of people that want to spend time with us.

 

I took some pictures of the flowerbeds before things started coming up. I’ll try to upload those soon. I’ll take after pictures when the flowers are really going.

Spring!

Yep, it’s finally that time!

 

This past weekend was ALL ABOUT spring for me. Saturday we got up and went to visit a few nurseries. It’s difficult to really pick out too much this early, but it was well worth the trip. We stopped for coffee, only to discover that the new coffee place that opened near me is actually owned by a couple that live in our neighborhood! So that was neat. Then, when we couldn’t find any breakfast places near the nursery I wanted to start at, we headed north on Route 22 (Montgomery Rd.). That turned into a nice drive in the country! We went through Morrow, and finally found a little mom and pop place north of there that was serving breakfast. Jen and I both got breakfast sandwiches and a bottle of water, and the whole thing was $5. Can’t beat that.

 

So, we stopped at Applewood nursery, and didn’t really find much there yet. They were still sitting things out, so it will be worth a trip back in about 2 weeks. So then we stopped by Earthscapes on the way home. They had much more out, and they actually had a few customers too. We picked out a white Iceberg Rose bush to put on top of where I buried Ojos. It’s fitting I think, she loved to hide in rose bushes. We got a few pink Pincushions for Jen, and then picked out the Hardy Orange Flying Dragon. I really can’t wait to see what it looks like. We dropped the plants off at home, then headed to Home Depot. We picked out some flower bulbs and a few tools, and were on our way home.

 

It was great working in the yard outside all day.  We got a lot done, though you wouldn’t necessarily know it by looking at the yard yet J. I got plenty of sun, which I’m happy about. I hate being inside.

 

Sunday was Fantasy Baseball draft day, another sign it’s spring time J. Greg came over, and we got online to pick our players. It’s basically 2 and half or 3 hours of smack talking. It was good, and I’m happy with my team this year I think. Only time will tell! Baseball starts this weekend!!! Then we hung out for a little bit, and ended up going to my brother’s place for an impromptu cookout.

 

All in all it was a great spring weekend!!

Whew!

Well, the past few days have been extraordinarily busy. Jen gave a good recap on the weekend, so I’ll spare you a total recap, except for Sunday.

 

Sunday I woke up at 6AM so that I could meet up with folks and head down to Lexington for testing. We got down to the dojo early, which was nice. I got to talk to a few of the other students from other parts of the country. We had people there from all over Kentucky, as well as New York and Washington D. C.. Grandmaster Sin The’ arrived fashionably late as always, and things got under way. Now most of the people there were lower belts, so there was a good deal of time where I could do nothing but sit there and wait, which is always great for building anxiety. I finally got called up, and I got through all of my material just fine.

 

Next was sparring. As always, I sparred with Brian. Now, we were going just a bit harder than we should have been, and the funniest thing happened. I blocked a kick of his, and somehow I hit just right to rip his pants leg open. From groin to knee J. The black belts all started giggling, which was great.

 

Regardless everything went fine, and I am now a 3^rd degree brown belt! Now the fun really starts with class, as things get a lot more difficult!

 

 

Have I ever (thanks Karen)

Well, like I said in Karen’s blog, here are my answers to these questions. (Bold text means I have done this.)

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7. Taken a candle lit bath with someone
8. Said "I love you" and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment (every day I come home and Jen is there)
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie (Little community service thing, I was one of the crowd)
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an expert
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage (if school theatre counts)
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Eaten fugu (pufferfish)
89. Had a one-night stand
90. Gone to Thailand
91. Bought a house
92. Been in a combat zone
93. Buried one/both of your parents
94. Been on a cruise ship
95. Spoken more than one language fluently
96. Performed in Rocky Horror Picture Show
97. Raised children
98. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Ridden a bike
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey
135. Selected one important author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream

142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone's life

Additional items:

151. Nearly drowned

152. Ridden out a thunderstorm at sea

153. Gone swimming someplace where you couldn’t see land

154. Experienced “altered consciousness”

155. Woken up in a foreign country and not remembered crossing the border

156. Marched in a parade (In Washington D.C. no less)

157. Taken part in an organized protest

158. Taken a sailboat trip that lasted more than 2 days (7 days, Florida Keys)

159. Gone swimming at night, in the ocean

160. Gone skinny dipping

Well, that’s my list. Still things to get done!

Absence

Sorry for the absence. I've been crazy busy trying to keep up with life in general, or at least that's how it feels.

 

I fully intended to do the list from Karen's blog, but I really don't have the energy tonight. I had to pretest tonight in order to be able to go to Lexington on Sunday to test for 3rd Brown Belt. It was ugly honestly. Not that I did poorly, just that the conditions were brutal. I almost couldn't get through it. Not everyone did. But, I passed, so now I can test for real on Sunday.

 

I will do the list tomorrow.

End of February thoughts

Yep, tomorrow is already the end of February. No, I can’t really believe it either. This year is going to fly by like the last one did.

Here’s a small list of things I am thinking about right now…………….

1) I live very much in the now, and I think that conflicts with an awful lot of people that love to plan for the future.
2) The kitten is slowly turning into a cat, and a good one at that!
3) I’m consistently amazed at people that send things from work email addresses. Do you all really not understand that ALL of it is monitored, and that it’s now MANDATED FEDERALLY that employers keep email for at least 7 years? And that even jokes that seem harmless can get you fired?
4) Part of me is always in another place, another time.
5) I am always disappointed whenever anyone brings up anything political. I can only think of 3 people that can talk intelligently about anything without paraphrasing or ripping off the media on the subject.
6) How do you have any type of consistent and decent life with a partner who’s not there a good portion of the time? Can you have totally separate lives and yet be together? Don’t you really HAVE to have separate lives?
7) Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care? (The better question is, should we?)
8) Look up some information on a project called Atlantropa. Fascinating, and doomed by politics back in the 1920’s.
9) I believe less and less in democracy every day. I believe more in a true republic or even a truly benevolent dictator. Unfortunately, power attracts the corruptible, so it will never happen. The only people truly worthy to wield power are those who don’t want to do it.
10) I believe the human species ONLY hope long term is space and colonization. If we stay on this planet, we will kill ourselves off one way or another. And sooner rather than later.

Negative:

I find myself frustrated a lot right now. Things aren’t moving fast enough in any one single area of my life, other than Kung Fu where I’m ahead of schedule. It’s not that I try less in anything else, but that’s the only area that I have complete control over what happens. I do the best I can everywhere else, and it feels like I’m waiting. Consistently waiting on someone else to do something, ANYTHING!

Work=boredom right now. I’m waiting for the sales guy to get up to speed so that I have something to do. I take care really good care of my customers, which means I don’t have much to do. It’s a nasty paradox. I study where I can, but the rest of the time is busywork that’s WAY below my skills. But there is so much busywork that I end up working a ton, which sucks.

The new sales guy is annoying. He is so over the top that I can’t listen to him for more than 5 minutes without being sick. All I can say is that it better translate into some good projects, or I’m really going to start questioning the judgement of the people that run the place.

Positive:

With Jen’s house finally getting sold, we can move forward with planning the actual wedding, which we will start doing probably next week. It will take some time to get things set, but it’s nice to finally get started.

Did my taxes over the weekend, and ended up with a pretty decent return this year.

For the first time since I was in high school, I now weigh less than 200lbs.

Musings

I found out this weekend that yes, I can break boards with my hands and feet. And do it in front of 150 people too ;). It’s something I never thought I would learn to do! (And I’m going to try concrete before too long……)

 

I really can’t stand people that are enthusiastic about everything. I’m sorry, but it just seems fake. Do your job, and shut the hell up, I could care less that you are excited to do it. I do mine, and I do it well, but I don’t pester people by telling them how much I love what I do.

 

There are times I miss being an “ultra geek”. I no longer have 5 or 6 PCs running at my house, and I no longer have spares for friends to play on when they come over. This really isn’t a bad thing, but I definitely don’t learn as much as I used to, if you can believe that. I no longer eat, sleep, and drink tech stuff.

 

In a rare thing for me, I can’t honestly tell you the last time I was let down by one of my friends. I think this has a lot to do with changing the group I hang out with most of the time. I don’t miss that part of my old life at all.

 

I find it hard to blog recently. And I’m not sure why.

Hiding

We hide from ourselves. We tell ourselves that we want certain things, when we don’t. We tell ourselves we don’t want other things, when we really do.

 

I believe that one of the true definitions of enlightenment is the ability to be completely truthful with oneself. This is not an easy task.

 

The true bitch of it is this: Even when you can be completely honest with yourself, it’s nearly impossible to find someone else you can share that with! So we play the game of judging what people want to hear vs. what they SHOULD hear.

 

And when it’s someone really important to you in some way, that leads to hiding things from yourself, simply because there is no other way to do it. You can’t speak the truth without hurting the other person, and you can’t lie to yourself because you know better. So your subconscious starts hiding certain things from you, and eventually the real truth gets muddled down in all the half facts and convenient truths that we tell ourselves to make the path easier. It’s human nature to take the path of least resistance.

 

I’m no better at this than anyone else, but I at least try to be cognizant of the fact that I AM at times telling people what they want to hear. And I try to find a place in every conversation where I can smoothly switch over the real truth for people that I think CAN handle it.

 

It’s hard, and sometimes it’s lonely. But ultimately I think the striving for it makes me, and those around me, better.

Cold

Other than frigidly cold, the weekend was alright. Jen and I stayed in Friday night after she got home. I made breakfast for her Saturday morning, then we took her car back. I went to the dojo for 2 hours while she napped on the couch and did some laundry. Then Greg, Brian, and Kris came over for some gaming while Jen and Darlene watched a movie. It worked out to be a pretty nice night for everyone really.

 

Sunday was low key, which was great. We had Jen’s sister up, along with Greg and Brian, to watch the game. I’m glad the Colts won, so now the press can stop harping on Manning. Good stuff all around.

 

A little under the weather today, just too cold to get moving right. These days really bother my joints. I’m debating class tonight, though the rest of the week doesn’t look any better, so I should probably go regardless.

Long week

Howdy, where to start?

 

It’s been a long week with Jen out of town. I put in a lot of time at work, which is fine. Drove to Indianapolis yesterday for a call. I got to see another friend from California last night, which was good. I put my time in at the dojo, and got a few other things done as well.

 

Resolution update……. I’ve been good! I can feel the difference in my body already, and it’s a good thing.

 

Mentally, the nightmares have stopped. I’m still having very vivid dreams like before, but they at least aren’t frightening.

 

I’ve come to the realization this week that I’m really not missing my past anymore. There have been times when I missed the big group getting together and having fun, but those times have been past for nearly a year now. I’m at peace with myself and the decisions I’ve made. My true friends see this, and they are happy about it. My old group sees me the way that I was, and believe that I need to get back to who I was. They miss getting together and having our large group the way it was.

 

Why? I didn’t like the person I was then. Why do I want to open old wounds and deal with people I really don’t care for anymore? Why do I want to do these things when I have a new group of friends that doesn’t care who I was then? They care who I am now, and they are good for me. But I’m not doing things the way that some people think I should be, and so therefore I must not be better. I must be holding on to something that’s going to cause me problems with Jen, or with my new life, according to their opinions.

 

I’ve made peace with my past. I know my mistakes and try to avoid making them now. I’ve put the bad things behind me, and that includes people that aren’t healthy for me. It’s a tough set of choices I’ve had to make. (And yes, I was forced into making them because of the situation, I didn’t want to make them.) But I’ve come through it, I’m better for it, and I’m content with how things turned out. I wish others could see that I’m content and stop trying to interfere with my new life.

 

My new life is crammed full of good things and good people. And that’s because I chose to make it that way. Everyone has to grow and change, and that’s what I’ve done.

 

Endings mean new beginnings, even if the ending itself is painful and the beginning is hard to see. But too many of us, myself included, hang on to try to prevent the ending parts. Without death (in a metaphoric type of sense), there cannot be new life. Cut the life support, and get on with your new beginning………………….and learn what it is to be free.

 

I have, so can you.

012907

Weekend was fine, got lots of visiting in with my friend from California, who leaves today to go back. Hopefully he won’t stay away for another 2 years before he comes back to visit again.

 

I really appreciate the suggestions that everyone has been giving me regarding sleeping. They are all wonderful thoughts. Unfortunately, I’ve tried them all to no avail.

 

A few comments on this:

 

It’s probably stress related, I understand that pretty well. However, I’ll be honest with you all and say that I don’t really FEEL stressed out like I normally do. Sure, I’ve got a few things I’m dealing with like everyone else on the planet, but I really feel like I have a handle on things overall. And most people will tell you that I never really seem to let things get to me, which is true. I have sometimes the problem of NOT caring enough, and letting too much slide. But, I work in a high stress industry, so some of that is an unconscious defense mechanism.

 

Meditation doesn’t do much for the dreams,  but I sure feel better afterwards J.

 

Caffeine doesn’t seem to have anything to do with it. I’ve tried refraining for several hours before bed, as well as drinking some right before I go to sleep. Neither helps, and neither way causes me to fall asleep or not any faster.

 

 

 

 

I had some particularly nasty things to say about organized religion, but I’ll save myself from the caustic comments by not posting. Suffice to say, the most bigoted, short-sighted, and downright NASTY people I’ve met in the past two months were hard core Roman Catholics. I’ve never met people who are more conceited and more sure that everyone else’s way is wrong, but not their own. (That’s called pride folks, and it comes before the fall in case you aren’t up on quotable quotes……………)

Friday!!!!!!

Today is a true TGIF type of day.

 

This week has been long. Really long. Longer than I can remember weeks being long in  quite some time. I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice to say, I’m glad it’s over.

 

 

Sleeping hasn’t gotten much better. In fact, it’s gotten a little worse. I can’t seem to get caught up, and the nightmares have continued.

 

I have stayed on track with my resolutions, which I’m happy about. I will take Sunday off again, as my body is seriously in need of some rest.

 

Oh yeah, remember that thing I said about feeling like something bad was going to happen? It did this week. It’s not something I can relate to everyone here, but again, I’m always right when I have that feeling.

 

 

 

So, negativity aside, here are some more thoughts on the dream stuff:

 

Picture reality as a series of strings. ( I’m thinking 11 dimensional string theory from physics, but see it however you’d like. ) What if we each create our own worlds on these strings? Each consciousness is a “pearl” on a strand. Taken as a whole, the entire construct would be beautiful. Now, think that perhaps dreams allow us access to the individual strands themselves, and allow us a brief glimpse into the world of someone else.  When we look down the strings, just think how many wondrous things there may be for us to learn. Now think of the strings overlapping one another. The possibilities are endless………

Weekend of 012007

It was a good weekend. I’m still good on my resolutions. I will say that I took Sunday off, mainly because my body was pretty tired. But, I got things in again this morning, so all is well.

 

My friend Rob came in from California, first time he’s been back in nearly two years. He was actually happy that he got some snow, as it’s something that he misses. I spent time with him on Saturday during the day, and again last night. Saturday night Jen and I went to a party, which was quite fun. It was nice to see all of the Fu folks in a social setting, and Jen got to hang out with the girls, which she seemed to enjoy.

 

I am tired of feeling like I am playing referee. I have two sets of friends not speaking to one another, and I feel like I am caught in the middle. I give very little advice to either side, but I listen to both and give feedback when asked. One set my role is a bit more active, but I still try not to get caught up in all of it. This weekend was bad for both sets. I can’t really get into much detail, but it’s truly annoying, especially when I feel like both sets are just being plain silly about the whole thing. In one case, there is some legitimate cause for upset, and an apology should be given.  In the other, I don’t feel like there is anything truly wrong, and one side won’t even tell the other what the problem is. Obviously nothing will ever get resolved that way, so I’m not sure what that accomplishes, but hey, what do I know?

 

 

 

 

 

Dreams

Ok, sorry for the lack of update yesterday.

 

I’ve gotten my exercising in each morning, so we’re good there. Yesterday, that means I did a total of 350 pushups, crunches, and squats when you take into consideration my classes and conditioning class. So I’m a little sore today.

 

 

So, the past two nights have been similar to the one I posted last. More odd nightmares that just keep continuing after waking up. They have been different in content from the first night. Tuesday night was in some type of jungle with an animal hunting a small group of us. Another was somewhere cold, stuck outside trying to find shelter during a horrible storm. I will say last night’s wasn’t quite as bad, merely because it didn’t seem as long. That may be because I was exhausted from working out.

 

As annoying as it can be to be tired a lot, it’s also kind of fascinating. These are very, VERY vivid dreams, not like most of mine. It’s almost as if I’m dropped into the mind of the person experiencing what’s going on. No one refers to me by name, it’s always familiar. Military sometimes, like sir, or sometimes it’s just as if I am with friends. I’m always confused at first as to where I am, and then I just know. I don’t know how I know, but I do. And I know what’s happening, even though I don’t know how things got the way they are. And they always start for the most part in the morning, just as I am waking up in the dream. Like at the start of the day.

 

 

Now the fun metaphysical thing to consider here is this: What if these instances at night are the real lives, and mine is just the dream? Or better yet, what if all of them, including mine, are real, and there is something connecting us during sleep periods? Is there something collectively we are supposed to do? Maybe my experiences are helping the others and vice versa?

 

Fun conjecture material…..seriously J.

Fiction or..........???

I am in a large room, dimly lit. I feel like I haven’t taken a shower in months, maybe not slept in the same amount of time. The building I’m in appears to be an old apartment building. I somehow know that I am on the top floor, maybe 15 floors up. The windows are almost all boarded up.

 

 There are people all around me, busy like a beehive. There is a tension in the air. A closer look, and most of these people are armed. Not small arms either, some of these are larger machine gun type weapons. They are familiar, yet not. I realize that several of these people are asking me questions. Wait, not questions, they are asking for orders. Orders? I’m momentarily confused. I look around again, and I realize that this is some type of guerilla headquarters. At the moment that I begin to ask where I am, an alarm sounds. “Aircraft, coming from the southwest, big ones!” I hear from the far corner of the room near a monitor with lots of red dots. Lights begin to flash, and I hear a siren. Everyone grabs something and heads for the south exit. (I have no idea how I know this is the south exit.) I am herded towards the same direction……..

 

At this moment I wake up. It’s 2AM. I grumble, and lay back down to sleep.

 

It’s darker. I am going downstairs. There are people in the stairwell that do not belong with us. They are standing on landings, wandering into the halls.  I think “Damn civilians, they are going to get killed.” I fire my rifle into the ceiling, and I tell the people to get out of the building, in a very unkind way. My group continues down the stairwell. At this point I know that I am underground. We reach the bottom of the stairwell. It is very dark. At this point I hear a noise. It’s droning sound, very loud, yet very distant. It steadily gets closer. The woman next to me, complete with fatigues, looks worried and begins to pray. I hear someone mutter under their breath “Dear god, they sent the dreadnought drones after us…..”, and then I hear the bombs begin to fall………

 

I wake up again, it’s now 3AM. I try to sleep again.

 

 

It’s near pitch black. I am in some type of tunnel. There is a great deal of smoke in the air, stale. There are a few lights on the ceiling in the distance, but they are sparking and not very bright. My group has greatly reduced in numbers, and most of us appear to be minorly injured in some way. One of the men next to me asks if I am ok. I nod my head, and ask where we are. “About 2 miles from the dust off point. We were lucky to get into our tunnel system from Goucho HQ. We just finished the tunnel connection last week. And good thing too, they destroyed the top 12 floors in that bombing run I’m told.” 12 floors? There must have been 400 people on those 12 floors……..why would anyone kill 400 innocent civilians? My thoughts are interrupted by the floor shaking. Dust falls from the ceiling in rhythmic intervals. From far behind us there is a loud WHOMP, followed by a whooshing sound, and a breeze wafts from that direction. “Run! They’ve broken into the tunnel system!” The next few minutes are a jumble of darkness, dust, a frantic scramble towards…….. what exactly?

 

 

I wake up. 4AM. Dear god, is this nightmare going to stop now? Please?

 

 

My group is decidedly haggard. There are now 5 of us. We are in some type of air transport. The woman next to me hands me a pair of dark tinted glasses. “Look to the north. We’ve just confirmed the big ones are 5 minutes out. They think they have you trapped in Dayton sir. Keep your glasses on.” I remember thinking “Of course, why would I take them off?” I look to the north, and just then a tremendous, horrible light fills everything……………

 

I wake up, sweating. It’s 5 AM. That last blast, that was nuclear! It takes me nearly 45 minutes to get back to sleep.

 

 

Still riding in the air transport. “We’ve just confirmed that 8 more launches have taken place. It appears this is the beginning of the next phase sir.” 8 more cities gone. Millions of people. Over what? A little freedom? We weren’t hurting anyone. We just wanted to be left alone after the collapse. A few others felt the same way and joined us. We had it pretty good for a few years, then the juntas got involved. Corporate war parties, the last remnants of the old way. They are the only ones with good resources left.  They threw everything they had at us, simply because we didn’t want to follow their rules. But they weren’t expecting us to evade them for so long, and they got impatient. Nukes were their last option. Don’t they see what they’ve done? No more sunny days, no more warm winters. At least 40 nukes have gone off worldwide in the past 4 years, more than enough to counteract the so-called global warming they warned us about 30 years ago. Now we have 300 years at least of winter, winter, and more winter. It’s going to be tough to survive, even without having to fight these fanatics. I look to the group, and I look outside. The mushroom cloud in the background is glowing red. We have so far to go, and so little time to prepare…………………….

 

 

And then I wake up to go to work. Talk about a rough night!!!!

PICS!

Here are the pictures I promised, both the new kitten Guiness and our new bedroom furniture in the right places!

011507

Ok, sorry for the lack of pictures. We got started a lot later than I would have liked yesterday. This was mainly because Jen slept until noon (hey, she was sick, so it’s ok). The camera also didn’t have any batteries, so I couldn’t take any!

 

We did get everything moved where we wanted, and we even got the carpets steam cleaned while we were add it. The bedroom looks a lot different than it did! We changed where the bed was, and the new dressers are set against different walls than the old ones were. Big improvement, let me tell you! We even had more space overall than we did before, so that’s good too. Jen did end up sleeping a good portion of the day, so a lot of it I had to do alone, which is ok. I will say this: Oak dressers are frickin HEAVY, especially when moving by yourself. In between moving and cleaning, I had time to try out a recipe for beer batter, and I used that on some broccoli, which we fried for dinner. It turned out surprisingly ok!

 

I did get my workout in yesterday, and this morning for that matter. So I haven’t missed a day yet!

 

Good stuff all around.

011407

Good weekend so far……..

 

Yesterday was busy. I woke up and did some things around the house while Jen slept in. Then we got her going and dropped off her rental car. Then I went to Kung Fu, which was awesome. Not only did I get my resolution workout in, I got a whole lot more too. 2 solid hours of working out, and I finished learning my weapon form for green belt, and got halfway through the short katas I need.  I came home and moved some more stuff around, as we are pulling everything out of the bedroom to clean the carpet, so that we can setup the new dressers that my parents got us for xmas. They are solid oak! And they match my bed. I’ll take pictures when we are done today, and I’ll try to wrangle a pic of that darn kitten too.

 

Anyways, then Jen and I went to Harrison, IN, for a euchre tournament with her family. $5 entry fee, 7 rounds, switch partners each time , keep your score, everyone sits out one round. (So not everyone got to play with everyone else, but your partner was different each time. Total points possible is 60, if you win every game.) So, I got lucky. At some point I got paired with both grandmas, and they helped me kick some serious butt! I won! 59 points. We missed winning the one game I lost by one hand. So, I walked away with $35! Can’t complain about that J.

 

I’ll post later with pics!!

011207

Alright, exercising was actually a little easier this morning. It helped that I had a kitten that decided she wanted to make sure my arm was around her, and used her claws to move my hand so that it was sitting on top of her about 5 minutes before my alarm went off J.

 

 

Windows Vista is behaving well so far. I haven’t had any major issues, and the minor ones have been only really mildly irritating. I have most of those worked out now, so it’s all good. Power consumption has been good on my laptop. Hibernation mode works well, and I haven’t had issues getting it to come out of sleep mode.

 

I don’t like the new Network Center. Instead of the easy finding of network connections in the past, it’s a little more difficult now. There is a little more functionality now, so you can see more that’s going on, which is good. But actually using, and doing, things such as disabling and re-enabling the wireless adapter (which I do several times a day depending on where I am) takes a few more steps to complete, and I don’t like that.

 

Of all things, MSN Messenger crashes, a LOT. That’s really annoying, but livable, especially considering that’s not a work application J.

 

 

 

 

I’ve had this feeling of impending doom for the past two weeks now. Something bad is going to happen, and I don’t know what it is. But it will. I’ve never been wrong in the past when I feel this way.

011107

Ok, sorry about the number titles for the blogs, but the date it just the easiest way for me right now J

 

 

Got exercising in this morning, though it sucked. After doing 200 pushups and crunches last night in class, I was already sore. But I got through it. Oh, and I’ve decided to add 50 squats to my morning routine as well.

 

 

Today was depressing. I had to work for one of customers in Dayton that handles Senior Citizens, and specifically I had to work in the adult daycare area. Imagine 40 seniors wandering around an area in various states of dress and lucidity. Some of them were in wheelchairs, some not. Some were pretty normal folks, and some were Alzheimer’s patients or similarly mentally handicapped.

 

This one guy, Charles, kept coming up to me to tell me he had no money, then he’d look at me almost like I was going to hit him, and then he scoot away quickly. The first time it was odd. It quickly got just downright depressing. I got the story from one of the nurses after she saw what was going on. She explained that he had been robbed of his food stamps a few years ago, and he had never quite been the same since. The thief wasn’t satisfied with his answer of no money, so he beat him up pretty good, and took everything else he had. And Charles suffers from dementia anyway, and that episode put him on a path the doctors don’t think he can turn around.

 

I’m no angel, have never claimed to be. I will say I’ve never used violence as a solution to anything, and I very much still believe violence solves nothing. How could another human being use violence against an old man CLEARLY not in his right mind? ESPECIALLY if he has nothing of value to steal?

 

In this, I am old fashioned. I don’t believe the current justice system provides justice to people like Charles. It may seem medieval, but if I ever met this thief in person, I tell you right now that I would not hesitate to punch this person in the mouth. I realize that it may put me in trouble, that I may even go to jail, but I would still feel like I did the right thing. It’s scary to some I hang out with, but I never go in public without looking around to see what’s going on. I’ve stopped bad things from happening to strangers in the past, and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. I feel like people like me have a responsibility to look out for others, no matter what the cost might be to ourselves.

 

 

Ok, done ranting, sorry………………..

011007

Got through exercises again this morning. I’m merely posting this here because I’m hoping that posting it each day helps me be motivated to do it the next morning…….

 

 

 

So today, for work, I got to upgrade my laptop to Windows Vista, full version. I know, I know, to you non-tech folks, it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but it is to me. I’m the first in our company to use it, and I need to learn it well so that when we have customers wanting to use it when it comes out next month, I at least have a clue how it works.

 

So far, my impressions are reasonably favorable, though I will say it took me an hour to get it working the way I wanted it to. And that hour was on top of the 2.5 hours it took to upgrade. Not real happy with time involved, but it gives me an idea what to tell customers.

 

The “new” interface is nice really. You can change things around and make it look like XP if you want, but leaving it as is makes it look a little more like a Mac. I do like the way the windows all look, and I love the stuff they added for switching between programs.

 

Functionality-wise, I think my customers are going to have some problems getting used to things. Controls are moved around, and it can be difficult to find settings that were easy to find under XP. User Account Control is annoying, it’s this stupid little box that pops up EVERY TIME you want to run a program or change a setting, making sure that you want to do it. I get the whole spyware prevention thing, but most people will want this disabled. You CAN disable the setting though, and I found where to do that, so all is good.

 

 

I’ll post more impressions as I actually USE the software.