What do you watch on Thanksgiving?

I forgot to publish this one yesterday...

"Home for the Holidays" is on the DVD player, in my opinion one of the best Thanksgiving movies ever. I don't know about your family, but that one is the closest that it gets to the type of day we tend to have. If you haven't seen this movie, I strongly recommend it. Not really a Norman Rockwell movie, but my life has never been like that. Check it out - it's great.

Happy Turkey Day

Gobble Gobble!

Here's hoping you all have a Happy Thanksgiving celebrating however you do. I will be having a bunch of family, from both sides, over and enjoying the cooking prowess of my wife and others. My contribution is staying out of the kitchen and doing what I am told.

So, be thankful for something today. Even in the face of the economic situation we are experiencing in the United States and with so much turmoil in the world - we still have the most fortunate country in the world and a lot to be thankful for.

Peace to you all...and pass the apple pie!

Yes We Can

I hate to focus on the race issue, but it is there and must be addressed. The United States of America has elected a true African-American as the next President. I don't mean a black man, but an African-America - The son of a Kenyan and an American.

Some have pointed out that we call him black, but he has a mixed heritage. Many of us are in the same classification and are called by our skin color. I like to think of my President as an American. He is of mixed heritage, raised by a single mother and sometimes by his grandparents, he has a multicultural family and an interesting political background.

I have trust and faith that we are moving forward in the world view, we are breaking some of the barriers that have existed for centuries and my hope is that we become a better country for it.

Election Day is coming

I don't really care what your affiliation is, get out and vote. That's not really true, I do care and I hope the rest of the nation sees things the way I do and elects Barack Obama as the next president of the United States of America.

But, this is a great election and it is getting better as each day goes by. Yes, I hate the negative ads and crap that gets mailed to me, by both sides. What makes it great is the interest that has been shown by most of the eligible voters that I know and talk with.

I work at a small-ish University and what I have seen over the past few days inspires me. Today, for example I witnessed what looked like the buildup to a fist fight over the opinions and support of candidates. It did not get to that point, which is good, but for the students to care enough and be passionate enough to let it go that far impressed me. And they weren't stupid, they were debating issues - heatedly and gaining supporters on both sides.

The other thing that struck me today was the number of people talking to the Obama representative and the lack of people talking to the McCain representatives that had tables and literature on campus. I really hope all of those kids show up at the polling locations and make their voices known.

do your research - make up YOUR mind - make a difference

Catching up

I haven't written on this blog in quite a while and I have some catching up to do.

Ten days ago was homecoming at the high school my kids go to, which also happens to be the high school I graduated from. And as usual we went to the Friday night football game. Well, this year it actually became a homecoming in a more literal sense. A number of classmates came to the game, even those who do not have kids at the school or who have moved away.

After the game we went out to a local sports bar and played catch up and had some food and drinks. This was kinda strange for me as it was the first time I had seen many of them in years and the first time I had been in a bar for many years without drinking alcohol. It is an interesting experience to watch the behavior and personal interactions while I stayed sober and everyone else progressed into drunkenness.

It was good to see the old classmates, and to see that some of the attitudes and preconceptions that we had in high school have faded and, unfortunately, some have remained. The cliques still remained, although they did begin to break a bit as the night wore on. I still felt a bit like an outsider and that certain roles were still imposed on the people who once held them.

I did not leave the evening with a feeling of wanting to have further contact with these people, no more than acquaintances now, but it was good to be reminded of how much I have changed.

YAY! It's here

The new laptop has arrived - and man is it sweet. It's taking a bit to get used to the layout as it is larger than the previous laptop I had. The display is bright and crisp and the graphic performance is excellent. I will be running some benchmarks on it soon to show off a little bit.

All the LEDs and lightning options are a bit overwhelming at first, but I am sure I will get used to them. Now...time to play some Warcraft on this beast.

Happy Birthday to Helio Gracie

I just read this quote from Helio Gracie - one of the founders of Brazilian JiuJitsu:

Death? [Laughter.] Why fear death? I don’t need anything, I don’t have anything, I don’t want anything. I think it’s silly for somebody to be scared of dying. One should be afraid of being born. I have already told my children when I die I want a party, with no alcohol, no hell raising [general laughter]. But I want a party with music, food… I don’t know if you guys believe in reincarnation, but we all go and come back until the day we no longer have to return. My brother [Carlos Gracie, already deceased] used to say the fellow only stops returning to Earth when he mingles with the Whole. Even when you’re thinking just a little bit wrongly, you come back to continue evolving. Hell, my friends, is right here on Earth.

That is just awesome, he is currently 95 years old and this quote came when he was 91. I am completly in favor of his idea and would love to see that at my own funeral. Celebration, not mourning.

...

I am really putting off doing my homework. I'm not sure what the problem is with this semester - but I just don't want to do it and I am looking for ANY excuse to put it off.

when did this happen?

Today I went to Burger King at lunch time - 12:15 or so on a Wednesday. The place was filled with "senior citizens", at least 85 percent of the patrons. I almost felt out of place there.

I never have viewed BK as a place for the over 70 crowd, that has always seemed like Arby's market to me. Maybe those commercial with the creepy-ass-clown-looking King have drawn the crowds in.

I really don't get it - but hey I'm hoping to still be downing Whoppers when I'm that age.

Random observance

I really like generic root beer, like the store brand of whatever store I'm in. It's usually as good, I'm not better than the big name brands. Sam's Choice from Wal-Mart is what I'm drinking right now and I'm really liking it.

poop

I just talked to the Alienware guys and it turns out my super spiffy laptop is back ordered. Yep, it's the video card that is putting me on hold - I just had to have that NVidia 8800m GTX. It is after all the fastest video card you can get in a laptop, but now I have to wait for it. Oh well, sometimes you have to wait for what you want.

I hate waiting

I'm trying to be patient - but that is not a strong point for me. The new laptop is supposed to ship on Monday and it's Thursday right now. I want it now.

trying to lose some weight

Lately I've been pretty unhappy with my weight and have decided to do something about it.

I'm not a tiny person in any way, that is not to say I'm fat - I'm just a big dude. I'm 6'5" and not exactly skinny. When I started this endeavor I was weighing about 275-280, I'm gonna shoot for 265 in the first stage and see who that works out for me. If I can be successful with that, then maybe 255 is in the cards. Under 255 is not really a reasonable goal for me right now, but if I can hit that number and maintain it for a while, I might reconsider.

So, all I have been doing so far is watching what I eat - and eating the serving size instead of 2 or 3 servings. I've tried to cut down on sugar and carbs, drinking green teas and spending 30-45 minutes a day exercising. That doesn't sound like much but I do a bunch of sit ups, use the home gym and hit the treadmill for 30 minutes.

I have seen some improvement so far and my scales showed 268 today. So, I'm on my way to the first goal.

New spectacles

I had managed to put off going to the optometrist for quite a while, maybe 8-9 years. We recently got vision added to our insurance and I went to see how bad it had gotten over those years.

The good news is - I don't need bifocals, that was my big worry. My prescription has changed a little bit with a little more astigmatism and some loss in my right eye. I got some new glasses ordered and maybe I will see a little better when they come in.

I broke down and ordered a new laptop...

after looking at it for almost 2 weeks, and reading every review known to the Internet and having an internal debate with the two sides of my personality.

I am justifying this new one because my wife's laptop has died. The one she was using was made up of the surviving components of various failed laptops from a previous employer. They said I could have whatever was salvageable and I put together a Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100 for her use. We have an old Compaq that she has been using after hers failed, but it's kinda slow and she is trying to homework for a .NET programming class.

So, I'm gonna pass mine, which was part of a severance deal, down to her. This one is a Toshiba Tecra A5 and I've done plenty of development work on it. As for me...well look at this one that is gonna be my replacement - the Alienware m15x. This should cover the gaming that I do and give me more than enough power to do the work I need to do with it.

Design & Display: Silver Ripley Design
Display: 15.4" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD (720p) with Clearview Technology
System Lighting: Alienware® AlienFX® System Lighting - Blue
Video/Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® Series - 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800M GTX
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9300 2.5GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB)
Operating System (Office software not included): Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1
Notebook Tuners and Remotes: Without Media Center Remote Control or TV Tuner
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz – 2 x 1024MB
System Drive: 120GB 7,200RPM (8MB Cache) w/ Free Fall Protection
Optical Drives : 8x Dual Layer Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW) w/ LightScribe Technology - View Demo
Wireless: Internal Intel® Wireless 4965 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card
Sound Card : Internal High-Definition Audio with surround sound
Keyboard Options: AlienFX® Illuminated Keyboard – Exclusive Design

What do ya think?

why? why are people like this?

I really don't get it, but it seems to be a growing problem - or maybe I'm just noticing it more lately. I am talking about people that just don't seem to give a shit and the people who make excuses for them.

I see it everywhere lately - At work, at the grocery store, at school, at restaurants, everywhere. Sloppy work from people that don't seem to care. And it doesn't seem to do any good to "talk to their supervisor" because all they ever seem to do is make excuses for that crappy work. I have to wonder what happened to the work ethic of these people. I like to do a good job on whatever I do, to do it the right way, the way I know it's supposed to be done. And in a lot of these cases there are codes and regulations that are supposed to be followed. Obviously, they aren't being followed. I really don't understand how a person can be happy with themselves when they do that kind of sub-standard work.

Oh, and the excuses I hear are almost worse.

"I'm having a bad day"
"It's time for me to go home"
"I don't get paid enough to care"
"I don't have the budget to do it right"
"I didn't have time to do it the right way"
"I'd quit, but I need the money"
"I don't like him/her, they are lucky I'm doing it at all"

This is the crap I hear and it drives me bat-shit insane. I guess I figure that I was hired to do a job and I should be doing it to the best of my abilities and doing it according to code. Yes, we all have time and money constraints but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't do the job right. Aaaargh! I guess I'll take a deep breath and continue on doing what I always do - do my best and try to persuade others to do the same.

Back to school time

...at least it is for me.

Yeah, I'm almost 40 years old and work in a technology job with a lot of responsibility and all that - but I have never earned a college degree. I started working on a degree through correspondence courses when I was in the Navy years ago, but I didn't stick with it. I got a lot of technical training and had to write evaluations of my crew and various reports and proposals for work and that type of thing and I guess I did okay.

After I left the military I was able to get jobs passed on my certifications and work experience and that always seemed to take the place of actually earning a degree. I figured that was good enough and did not take advantage of tuition remission policies that my employers had until just a few years ago. I started attending a University and taking a few classes in English, History and Computer Science. I figured the English would help in my job as I was in a position to write more and more proposals, policies, and documentation.

I'm still going along slowly but surely and earning my credits with the hope of eventually getting that degree. I now work at the University and my tuition is completely covered, so I really have no excuse not to continue. However, I did pay out of my own pocket for 2 classes when I first started there and the benefit had not yet kicked in. No financial aid, just paid for it with the vacation pay I got when leaving the previous employer.

Now it's time to head back into the classroom where I am ofter the oldest person in the room - including the instructor. But that's okay, I have the life experience to understand what I need to take from these classes to help with my career and it seems to make more sense to me that it does for some of these 'kids'.

So, what's new?

I just recently got back from vacation, which I really needed. Sometimes I can feel myself becoming more and more irritable, bracing for a fight on whatever subject comes up, visualizing the conflict in my head. Now don't get too worried, I am on medication that keeps me from going too far off the handle. When I start realizing that this is what is happening, I know it is time to get away for a bit and remove myself from the environment that makes me this way.

Don't get me wrong, I like where I work, but there are some personalities there that don't do good things for me. We all have that, but being around it all the time can really wear on me and I tend to not interact very well with them. So, I needed a vacation.

I went off to an amusement park/water park with my family. I really like doing this, we've done the same one for 3 years in a row now. Michigan's Adventure has a few roller coasters to satisfy my desire for those and then we can hit a pretty decent water park for the rest of the day. It is a bit of a drive for us to get there, but we always have a great time and blow off some steam. I also went to Cedar Point twice this year as chaperone for my daughters school trips. That is THE place to go if you like coasters, 17 roller coasters in one place - and some of the best in the world.

Back on track - so after the water park we went on to our cabin that is owned by my wife and her brothers and sister. The first day there always stresses us out, but it gets better as we settle ourselves down. It used to be easier when I drank. There are differing opinions on how the cabin should be furnished and maintained between us and the other owners. I won't go into details right now because it will make my fingers hurt to type all of that - suffice it to say that owning property with siblings can make for some friction.

I did get a chance to splash around in the lake and came back less stressed and in a better mental space to deal with the above mentioned personalities. I always feel better mentally and more positive overall after I've spent prolonged time in and around water.

Now it is time to get ready for school to start again - YAY!

The Olympics

I'm not sure why, but I can't stop watching them. I'm not sure if it's a twisted sense of national pride or to see if we can actually win the coveted gold medal in obscure sports that people train for 4 years to compete in. Whatever it is, it keeps me intrigued and I keep watching.

I also love it when the announcers have to cover an athlete that has never had a life threatening injury, doesn't have a relative that recently died, was not raised by bears, is not from the inner city, was not raised be a single parent that worked 3 jobs to keep them in training, that sort of thing. They have to struggle to find something to talk about that sounds inspiring.

I also watch the Canadian broadcast of the Olympics, it's nice to get a different spin on the games from another country. On a side note, I also like to watch the BBC news to get additional views on world events, maybe I'll post on that another time.

I miss my dog

I know I should be getting over it already...but I'm not. Today I finally dumped out the remaining food (it was dry food) and bones, removed her outside tie outs, packed up her beds and put everything in her cage and moved it all to the basement. I'm hoping this becomes some kind of therapy because the depression is really starting to get old.

I miss her more than most people that I have know who have passed away, and this funk is lasting a lot longer. I'm not sure what that says about me. I'm going on vacation soon, and I hope that kinda helps - at least takes me away from the other sources of stress in my life and lets me relax for a bit. I will be in the water for most of the vacation and that always calms me.

Thoughts on The Dark Knight

I liked, I really did. I saw it at the midnight screening and then went again later in the day with my wife and some coworkers. I don't know much about how people are selected for nominations for Oscars and Golden Globes and things like that, but I really liked the performance of Heath Ledger. I was kinda afraid that all the buzz was due to his death, and I still think that is part of it, but the performance was great in my opinion.

It was hard to identify Heath in the part of the Joker, the transformation was that complete. When Jack Nicholson played the Joker, you could still see Jack in the character. This was not the case with Heath Ledger's Joker. I guess that is what makes a great performance, when you see the character and not the actor.

Aside from all the buzz about Heath Ledger and his subsequent death, I thought the movie was very good. This incarnation of the Batman series is quite satisfying for me. It is still a world that accepts superheroes and villains, but Batman and his adversaries are very human - flawed and scarred and...human. They aren't from another planet or bitten by radioactive bugs.

I know this is a little late - I forgot to publish it after seeing the movie last week.

Dog and Cats sleeping together...oh my

As I was looking through pictures of the animals to use in these posts I came across this one. Jazz and Sid sleeping together. I find myself smiling as I look at it. I guess that is a good thing, it helps me and my family remember the good times with our faithful friends.

Goodbye to my friend

I had to euthanize my dog this week, she had numerous Mast cell tumors and was in kidney failure. I know it was the right thing to do, but that does not make it any easier. Her quality of life was declining, she wasn't able to walk very far and seemed to be having a hard time breathing.

It seems fitting that it began to pour down rain as we arrived at the veterinarian office. She was trying to walk as fast as she could and ended soaking wet by the time we got into the office. My wife and I got some paper towels and tried to dry her off as much as we could. I felt so bad that she had to spend the last few minutes of her life laying on the floor dripping wet.

The doc came in and explained what was going to happen, I apologized to my loyal friend, kissed her on the forehead and the doc began the injection. Within a few seconds Jazz was gone. I layed her head down, kissed her again and said my final goodbye.

I miss her every time I come home and she doesn't greet me at the door. I still find myself absently reaching down next to my chair to rub her head but she isn't there.

...other than that, my week sucked

This has been one of those weeks from the darkest reaches of Hell. Where to begin?

Let's start with the dog. My dog has been acting a little lethargic lately, which is kinda normal for her at the beginning of Summer. About 2 weeks she started walking with a slight limp in her front leg, and I didn't think too much about it, she often jumps down the steps and I figured she may have just landed funny. The limp continued to get worse over the next few days so I took her into the veterinarian, who checked her for a break, didn't find one, gave her an anti-inflammatory and told me that if I didn't get better to bring her in for X-rays to make sure.

It didn't get better. In fact it got worse and her back leg started to swell like she had been stung by something. We also found a lump on her belly and another on her muzzle, these showed up almost overnight. We got the X-rays and some blood work done and found out that she has a number of Mast cell tumors, anemia and kidney failure. Great. She has been given a 1-2 week life expectancy. I will be monitoring her health and may have to make a decision to put her down at some point in the near future. This is not good news and, coupled with the loss of our cat a month ago, very hard on the kids.

So, that happened and the next day my wife's car was rear-ended at a stop sign. Not a huge amount of damage, but repairs will be needed. The worst part of that was, she was 2 blocks from where she works and in front of the building where I work. So, as she sat there with the police that were writing up the accident, numerous co-workers passed and had to ask "are you okay?" which can just add to the stress of dealing with all the rest of the things we have going on so far.

That brings us to today. There were heavy rains for most of last night and at some point our sump pump stopped and the basement flooded. I think most of our stuff is salvageable except for some boxes of papers that were on the floor, but I probably should get rid of those anyway. So, we are extracting water and shampooing carpets and trying to get everything to dry out.

But tomorrow...I get to shoot off a bunch of fireworks with my friends and neighbors. Good friends, good food, explosives and the weather is supposed to be great.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July.

Urban Bark

We were wandering around downtown Ann Arbor and we passed by a telephone pole that has been used for years by people promoting parties, concerts and what they have for sale. I've passed by it a number of times and there is something that I really like about the particular pole. My wife had her camera with her this time and took a shot of it. We call it "Urban Bark"...

[UPDATE] My daughters gave me an edited 8x10 of this pole for Father's Day. It is awesome and I love the idea, now I just need to figure out where to put it...maybe in my cubicle at work.

Summer movie season continues

Tomorrow is the Indiana Jones release - the second of my must-see Summer movies. I've heard mixed reviews of it so far, but I will need to see it for myself before I make a judgment. I like the fact that they seem to playing up the "old" Indiana. Not as fast, not as strong, older. I appreciate that and often feel the same way.

[UPDATE] I liked the movie. Yes, it kinda gets a little far fetched and you can really see some of the "shock" moments coming a mile away, but it was a fun movie to watch. It's the same Indy theme - he's kidnapped by the "bad" guys, chase scenes, old friends reappear, lots of action and finally a tidy wrap up where the bad guy gets punished. I still liked it and it was good to see Indy on the screen again.

Go fly a kite...

On a whim we went and bought a bunch of kites, cheap ones. We get a lot of wind in our area and the neighborhood we live in is a fairly new one. What this means is all the utilities are underground and there are no trees in my yard. So I have about a third of an acre and empty third of an acre lots on both sides of my house. Perfect for flying kites. I hadn't flown a kite since I was a kite and we had a blast doing it. I would recommend it to anyone if you're looking for something to do outside on a windy day.

Now I am researching a better, higher quality kite - because that is what I do, start cheap with my hobbies and move up when I decide I enjoy it. But even with the $5 kite, I had some fun.

It finally happened...

Our old cat, Sid, has passed away. Everyone in the house is sad and she will be missed.

[Update] We decided that instead of burying her in the backyard, we would have Sid cremated. While actually going through the process was a rough on my wife and daughter, who also attended the cremation, the people there were great. It does bring a finality to the life of Sidney J, but she will remain with us. And as my daughter stated, the cat never really liked to be cold, so she won't have to spend Winter outside.

I love Spring

Really - I do. It's great to see all the trees get leaves again, the grass green up, flowers beginning to open. Oh, and the fact that my sinuses feel like someone has packed them full of cotton.

But really, I do love Spring.

Iron Man kicks off Summer movie season

I went to see Iron Man with some of the guys from work. I have always enjoyed Robert Downey Jr. and I thought he did a great job as Tony Stark. It is pretty obvious that much of the movie going public did as well, it has made $100 Million dollars already. Lots of great scenes and a ton of little tidbits for those who know something of the story of Iron Man and the various spin offs.

I am really impressed with Marvel and their first real foray into making movies. I hope the Incredible Hulk movie will be just as good with another favorite actor of mine, Edward Norton. It definitely seems like they have a good thing going so far. The possibilities are almost endless if they keep up the success that will allow them to keep making movies. There has been talk of Avengers, Captain America, Ant-Man and Thor movies.

This Summer is shaping to be one of the better movie seasons I can remember, and this was a good start. Oh yeah - there is a Dark Knight movie too.

Nine Lives

Our old cat is still hanging in there and actually seems to have perked up a bit. I believe this will be a temporary improvement, but she is still with us.

A lesson on dying

We have a cat, a very old cat, she turned 19 in December of last year.
My wife has had this cat since she was still a teenager, she got it when she was 19, and has had this cat for half of her life.
She has had this cat longer than she has been married to me, longer than any of our kids have been alive.

As I said, the cat is very old and recently has begun to rapidly fail in health. My kids are very lucky, they really have never seen death or the process of dying. We have had family members pass away, but none that they were close to. We have been very open about the process and they understand what is happening, as much as they can. We have decided that we will not put the cat "to sleep", which is a term I have always hated. We are essentially providing hospice care for the cat and the kids are helping as much as possible. The cat will die, and they will all be sad, it might be tomorrow or it might be weeks from now. They have asked for her to be cremated, which we will have done.

I'm not sure what the point of this is..it's just something we are dealing with in my house, the impending death of a family member.

Origins of a name

How does someone come to be known as "Bumwaller"?

Well, I'll tell you. There is a comedian that I find to be hilarious, Eddie Izzard, and in one of his shows he was discussing the process that Gerry Dorsey went through to become Engelbert Humperdinck. One of the name combinations that he lists is Slut Bumwaller, my wife and I found this to be hilarious and it has become a joke name that we use for dinner reservations. When I decided to start playing World of Warcraft I used that as my character name.

I started a World of Warcraft blog, For the Herd, first and just decided to use the same account for this blog. That is the story of my name.