My world

I’ve always been a fan of colder weather. It’s not that I like to freeze all the time, but I’ve never been a fan of smoldering hot weather. Although this past summer wasn’t that bad.

Actually, summers and heat haven’t been bad since I stopped painting in the summer, but that’s a story for another day if ever.

That said, I have always liked the winter. I like cooler weather, even though I’m not able to play softball in the cold. But, it’s one thing to be cold, it’s another to be snowy, cold, awful conditions.

This weekend, I canned my trip to Montreal because of an expected snow storm coming to our area Friday. I was originally going up Thursday and was going to leave Friday and visit a friend about halfway back. They are yelling for anywhere from four inches to a foot, pending where you are. And it would get worse on the way down from Canada. Real fun.

Instead, I’ll be finishing up this wonderful and boring vacation I’ve had at home. Which isn’t bad, considering the board is in need of having mods put back on it. But, it’s just the fact that I’m getting cooped up when I had some fun plans. What will really piss me off is that Thursday is supposed to be a nice day and I was looking forward to listening to my XM all the way to Canada.

I’ll really be steamed if this damn storm sweeps off to the coast and doesn’t touch the route I was going to travel.

I’ll say this, at least in the summer, you can deal with weather and still travel. In the winter, not so much. Although 10 years ago I probably would have still hopped in the car and went, not thinking twice. Now, I don’t act as gutsy — or stupid, pending how you look at it.

I was really looking forward to seeing some friends in Montreal as well as seeing that city during the holidays. Instead, I’ll be seeing how Delhi looks.

Weather. Damn it all.

I’m sure by now everyone notices the trend of having every sort of gadget on the market and looking cool with them. I won’t lie to say that I have some of these gadgets and all, but man, they are a lot more confusing than I thought they would be. Some of them anyway.

So I figured I’d pop this part of my life in a new blog entry talking about some of these things and how they can help or not in the normal world.

I love some of these things, without a doubt. I but I wonder how much they actually help me in life at times. So I figured a good way to find out if these things have actually helped me or not would be to go one-by-one here and check it out.

Digital camera: A couple of years ago, I purchased a Canon PowerShot S230, one of the digital elph series cameras. At 3.2 mega pixels, it’s perfect because on high res, you can print out an 8X10 photo with no problem. This thing has been awesome. Most of the photos you’ll see from the past 2-3 years in my gallery on this site are by that camera. It has been one of the best investments I’ve ever made. For those of you who have a point-and-shoot camera and still use film… you should look into a digital. It’s killer. GRADE: A.

PDA: This is one of those things I thought I needed to have. Truth be told, since I dropped the coin on this Dell Axim, I haven’t probably used it for as much as it can be used for. I put my calendar in there, contacts, notes and things like that. I don’t look at it every day, however, so that kind of destroys the date book part of it. It is nice to have and be able to use, but I need to start learning more about the Axim and what it can do for me. I have no doubt over time it will totally be beneficial for me, but for now, it doesn’t seem to do the job always. GRADE: C.

Digital recorder: A self-professed old-school writer who likes to still write notes in a notepad, going for one of these didn’t seem like the thing to do. I never liked the tape recorder, which always annoyed me. However, with several people telling me to try it, I went and got one based on Hokie’s suggestion. This thing has been fabulous for the job and digital is the way to go. It’s made my life a lot easier. And I found a way to only pay $17 bucks for it, so bonus. GRADE: A.

Cell phone: In all honesty, I’d be lost without a cell phone. But the one I have is quite the gadget. Has a camera, allows me to text, picture text, Get it Now through Verizon etc. It’s one with the bells and whistles, not just a cell phone. It’s made my life easier and with all the little toys it comes with, sometimes more fun. GRADE: A.

iPod: This thing has been a blessing. I had an MP3 player before, but I didn’t like it that much. Didn’t hold a lot of songs and it was too difficult to put things on it at times. It’s, at times, helped me keep my sanity when working or doing other things. Just being able to pop the ear buds in and get a little tunes going, it makes life better. I’ve heard people say they have had problems with iPods – I’ll say for me, it’s been pretty much perfect since I got it. GRADE: A.

In my life, I’ve also gone and made sure I had certain things that hopefully make me a little more organized. Only one I can really think of that has worked out wonders for me.

Backpack: I got one at EMS when one of their stores was going out of business. So I purchased a pretty sweet $75 backpack for like $18. I carry it every day, keep everything in there that I could possibly need – from pens and notepads, to my recorder, digital camera and PDA. It’s nice to be able to just grab the backpack and roll, knowing I have everything with me. And if I need to stuff a windbreaker or bottle of water in there as well? Not a problem. For those that need to carry things or stay organized well on a daily basis, I’d highly recommend a backpack. GRADE: A.

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Some of these things could have probably bumped down in the B level, and I know a lot of people wouldn’t even give them a C because they would use them less than I. However, it seems most of these gadgets have made my life a little better. Sometimes it takes me a while to make a purchase like these things, but in the end, I’m usually happy with them. Now, if I can figure out more to do with that PDA, I’ll be super stoked!

It’s my one day off this week. So I want to try and do some other things outside of sit on the computer all day, right? Ha! The weather is shitty, there’s nothing to do, so I took a nap after getting my flu shot, watched some old TV shows and here I am on the computer.

Seriously, why dies it have to rain today? Hell, even be overcast. I would just like to just clean my car, maybe vaccum it etc. But no, shit weather. I don’t even want to be outside.

I imagine I’ll catch up on some more TV today because I have a lot of shows saved I need to catch up on. I also got a new book (Feinstein, Caddy For Life) that I might start. But I’ll likely play some San Andreas tonight.

But holy hell, one day off this week and it rains?

Argh!

I guess I could take advantage of this and try and figure a way to work on my website a little, or at least scan in some more photos and put a gallery up (I do have a Montreal 2001 started today, but I’d like to find some more to put on there).

It could rain almost any other day this week (I’d rather not Friday, being I have to cover a soccer game), but today? Dah!

Maybe this means I’ll get my fantasy football league’s report out tonight and shock the hell out of them.

So I’m going to work today. Nothing major, but get behind some slower moving traffic. I’m about four cars back of this one asshole who is going between 45-50 and when we get in this small hamlet, he jams it to 25 (in a 30). At this point, I’m two cars back (others turning off).

So the truck in front of me turns and I’m next in line and coming out of the hamlet and thinking pass. As we hit the 55, he jams the gas to get to about 60 pretty quick like.

Now, I can tell that he’s an older guy. Probably some old coot who thinks he deserves everything in this world and everyone else can piss off. He has the high baseball hat on, mesh backing, the whole nine yards.

So I pass.

Now, remember, I haven’t tailgated or done anything aggressive. All I’m doing is going to pass.

As I go by, I peek over (and my thoughts were right. He looked like an old coot). And what else?

He’s flipping me off.

Now if I had tailgated, or been an asshole, by all means, flip me off. But the bottom line is, I’m en route to work and don’t want to be behind some asshole who can’t decide his speed.

I have done things driving before where I deserved to get the bird. And I’ve issued my own before. But this was ridiculous. And the old guy had to be pushing in his 60s. That and you could tell he was a redneck.

Just by his hat, he was driving a mercury, and well, you could just see he was a redneck.

I never saw him again once I got bolting away from him, which is nice. But what an asshole.

So recently, I’ve been trying to figure a bunch of things out. I guess I should backtrack just a tad here in regard to things.

I visited the doctor a week or so ago. Got the normal shit, need to lose weight, stay on the blood pressure pills (even though my BP has been fine for like three checkups now), got the blood drawn for some normal tests etc.

But damn, some things are starting to fry me. Whether it’s something at work that bothers me, or things in my personal life, or just life throwing me a curve ball, I can get pretty wound up.

That I know adds to the stress level. So I’ve been finding ways to try and let off some steam. And I just can’t seem to stay focused on some things. It’s annoying me like nothing else. I have some things I want to write and can’t stay focused. I have some little projects, nothing. I want to try and figure some future planning and nothing.

I can’t find a way to blow steam and I can’t find a way to stay focused on projects.

What the hell?

I don’t know what’s going on, but I need to find a better way to get organized, start doing more things away from work and trying to get things on a better schedule.

Truth is with this job, scheduling sucks. Work from 4-12. Usually sleep until at least 11 a.m. So then you’re up and only have a couple hours to tool around and get things done. It’s so friggin annoying at times.

So I wonder if I should force myself to start going to bed earlier when I get home and attempting to get up earlier to have a different schedule. Maybe I’ll actually get some shit done a little more often. And that would be nice.

I’ve gotten a journal-writing program that I’m using here and there to vent when needed, or just write ideas that come to my melon. I throw some things here on occasion, and use the board as some fun.

Now if I could stay focused on some of these projects I want to do, I’d be fine. And maybe would start to loosen up.

Anyway, I was just ranting. I imagine I’ll figure something out.