Eric’s Blog

Woke up this morning, feeling like I had no energy, then my lower back started to ache- uh-oh. Not good. That is usually my indicator that I am getting sick (fever). D’oh! Chances are, I got it from work- two of my co-workers were out today, and apparently Andie was sick earlier on also. Hmmm.. something’s going around. Anyway, I really don’t want to drag this bug out, so I’m going to stay home tomorrow, catch up on rest, and beat this thing before my flight on Wed.

When I first got home, things were looking good- I was tired, and looking forward to my bed. Walk down the hall and…. feathers everywhere. Red glob of something on the walls, feathers in the hallwaybathroom….. shit! Walk back to the garage, get the 3.25HP Ridgid wet-dry vac (the best thing ever- every household should have one), (more…)

Not quite sure what to call this one, but I don’t know what my deal is. For like a week or so now I’ve just been getting anxious for the dumbest reasons. Andie said she’s been kinda pissy (not quite the same, but still a ‘funk’ of some sort), so maybe it’s the weather… I don’t know, but I came home after going to Costco to get some junk (milk, cereal, etc.), traipsed over to In-N-Out for a double-double animal hamburger (haven’t had one in a LOOOOONG time- at least a year), and headed home. I wanted to relax, so at about… 7:30 or so I plopped down on the couch to watch Carnival (HBO series) from Tivo, and I just had this weird feeling- just a good ol’ dose of anxiousness. It wasn’t cool. So, I figured the best thing to do is to get to the gym and run, and run I did.

I upped the speed to 7.5mph, and ran for an hour. This was a diferent run- I never got to that homeostasis state where time picks up, and I zone out, it was like I was consious for the whole thing- 45 mins go by… ok, 15 more mins…. 50 mins, man, it was taking forever, but I said i wasn’t going to stop unti I hit an hour, and that’s what I did. Cooled (more…)

Well, I came home tonight feeling kinda poopie (coined from Shannon), and figured the best thing I could do is head to the gym, and go get some sushi at this place by my house (great little ‘locals only’ place). So, went to the gym, had a good workout, and drove to the sushi place. I was armed- I had my book with me, so I was going to have a nice eve reading my book while eating some good maguro. BUT, the place was closed!!! So…. I ended up going home and making some tomato soup. Andie popped up on IM, and chatted a bit, and after a while, we decided we were do to go to The Hut for a few beers. We haven’t done that in a while, so we figured now was a good enough time as any. Anywho, a pitcher, two kamakazies, and two more beers later, we called it a night. We got a chance to talk, and catch up, and share our problems with each other, and it just felt really good. Thanks Andie if you are reading this. I think it’s time to go to bed and read my book that I was going to read at the sushi place.

Yeah, it was a nice weekend. Today was a little cramped for time, but that’s ok. I was able to get a big-green can half-way full of weeds from the back yard, and got the lawn mowed, so now it looks like someone is living here again. hehe.

I was getting pretty hungry at about 4:00, so I started heating up some tomato soup. I quickly realized that I don’t have enough time to eat if I want to get to “The Dish” in time before they close at 5:00, so I held off on it, and got to the dish at about 4:30. Anyway, I decided to do my 6.3 mile run (starting at Incyte, and going down Peter Coutts - sp?). Anyway, all was well until I hit the first big hill at the dish- I had to stop like 4 times!!!! Sheesh! It seemed like my legs weren’t getting enough energy, or (more…)

Ok, so I showed Mia (one of my best friends) my new website, and she did a search for her name, and got mad that I didn’t mention her. Well Mia, here you go. hehe.

Essentially, it comes down to bill-pay. In the past, I’ve paid my bills online- this is all hunky-dory, but now I’m late all the time because even that has become a hastle. Some people let the company withdraw directly from their checking account- this is a bad idea simply becuase giving someone the right to withdraw money from your acct is just so risky. Mia told me that she has her utilities and everything else paid through her credit card- they withdraw the money needed, and she then pays the bill every month. The added nice thing of this is that you can still challenge a charge if needed be.

There is only one problem. I am finally wising up, and getting a ‘miles’ credit card instead of the one I have. I *used* to have a e*Trade credit card, but they sold out to First One or some shit, and I get nothing out of it. So… there’s no point in signing up to have my bills billed to my credit card if I am changing cards right? So… I applied for the Chase “Traveller Rewards” one- it looks like I can use the points for whatever I want, so that is nice. I just have to wait for a week for it to all go through. Then, when I get that, I’ll rip up my old one (I only keep one).

I can’t believe I wrote about this in my blog. Yes, rather boring, but what the hell. It’s one of those things that I want to do, so I figured if I write about it here, I may just do it.

Ok, this has to be my lamest blog entry yet, so I apologize in advance… Anyway, the word of the day is “duplicitous”. Great word. So, if you hear someone say it, you have to scream- you know, one of those “Oh shit, there’s a mouse!” screams. In case you were dying to know where I get these 50-cent words, I got this one by listening to NPR coming home from grabbing grub. Yes, sometimes I don’t feel like listening to music.

Anyway, good night.

So, what’s the deal?!??! The odd thing that happened again is that there is absolutely NO FOOD in the trap- it just walked right in, and got stuck. I was wondering why my cat didn’t want to go in through the side-door, now I know. Now, I have to go to the park and drop this one off again. Well, it’ll do better up there anyway..

For the last three weekends, I’ve been taking two days off each time, and it’s been great. One thing that I’ve been thinking about is this idea for a little 10-day trip to South America. Basically, I have the opportunity to travel to Brazil to experience Carnival with some of the locals. Basically, I’d go with a group of about 5 people, and after Carnival, go to this resort island off the coast to relax, then go to Rio to relax on the beaches there. From there, maybe go to Manaus to see what the Amazon is all about.

There are obviously some risks associated with this- I would be going by myself, and would be meeting up with people that I haven’t actually met. But… taking a chance on a opportunity to hang with the locals, and have a great time is something that will come around but once in a lifetime I would bet. Now is a good time for me as when I get a family going, I won’t be able to do these things in quite the same way. I’ve always wanted to make it to South America, and this seems like an opportunity that may only knock once.

Right now, I’m waiting on some info to see if I can crash in one of the booked hotel rooms as their are no rooms available. If this checks out, I’ll just have to make sure and bring some sunscreen, and a computer so I can download pics from my camera (I may just get a bigger memory card), oh, and make sure that I blog the whole experience with pics! I think that would be a great thing to do.

I talked to Andie about this, and she totally thinks I should do it. She offered to take care of my cats during my absense- there isn’t a better person to watch over them. The only thing is that she won’t pull on their tails like I do (for those that don’t know, my cats do enjoy it in a weird way).

On another note, the hole I created in my ceiling last weekend is fixed. It was a HUGE hole in the living room. Lonnie came by on the Monday after Christmas, and did a wonderful job (which he does with everything). I’m so happy to have that fixed. The one thing that was problematic was that he moved the hole for where the smoke detector sits over about 8″ or so. When he did this, the 12/4 wire wasn’t long enough (that connected the other smoke detector), so I had to go down to OSH to pick up a spool of it, and get that done. Needless to say, I didn’t put my foot through the ceiling again.