Archive for the ‘Journal’ Category

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Kitten chases mouse … pointer

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

So I haven’t blogged anything in forever but my wife sent this video to me today and I had to upload it to YouTube and post it here. Cute as hell.

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Project SansShave Time Lapse Video

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

I’ve come to the realization that compared to other beard growing projects out there, mine is pretty lame — but it was cool for me so back off! HAHA. Enjoy the video anyway.

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Weekend in Nashville

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

I know our weekend trip in Nashville occurred two weekends ago, but I’ve been so busy I haven’t had time to write about it. So here it is and no complaining.

Ally and I decided that it had been four weeks without seeing each other face-to-face (Skype chats don’t count) that we’d met up for a weekend. Nashville seemed like the most logical city that was close enough to smack dab in the middle of both of us. It turned out that I had a 5 1/2 hour drive to her 3 hour drive but I was okay with it. I arrived in Nashville first and checked into the hotel a bit early. As I was walking out to the car to get my thing I met Ally in the parking lot walking towards me. It was probably the best timing we’ve ever had when meeting each other.

Ally & I in the Opryland Hotel

After getting settled into the hotel room we decided to go downtown to eat lunch and see what was going on. After driving around for what seemed like forever trying to find a parking space we finally gave up and parked in a garage for $10. The meters were priced at $.25 per ten minutes which is highway robbery. There was some kind of event going on downtown but we had no idea what it was or why there were so many people downtown, and neither one of us cared to ask anyone. We grabbed lunch at the original Broadway Brewhouse. It was okay but we decided it would be a much better place if we were there at night with a bunch of friends drinking beer instead of on a Saturday afternoon for lunch. It’s just one of those places that is better enjoyed with a crowd of your closest friends.

After lunch we wanted to go see the Parthenon. Centennial Park was packed! Again, we drove around searching for a parking spot and when we realized we didn’t have enough cash for admittance into the Parthenon we decided we come back later. Then we realized by the time we would have been able to come back it would have already been closed. So we missed out on seeing that. We retreated back to the hotel room after a few hours of moseying around Nashville and just spent time laying in bed together enjoying each others company. That was something that both of us was looking forward to.

That night we went across the street to Caney Fork Fish Camp restaurant for dinner. Ally ordered shrimp and grits, I had a 3 piece fish dinner and we split fried green tomatoes. Even though the place was quite large on the inside the atmosphere was cozy and there was live Bluegrass music. If there’s one thing you don’t know about me, it’s that I absolutely love Bluegrass music, especially when it’s being played right in front of me. There’s something about the sound of a banjo, fiddle and the occasional harmonica that takes me back to my childhood at my Granny’s in a holler of the Appalachian Mountains in Eastern Kentucky, that I just can’t get enough of. After dinner we retired back tot he hotel room and enjoyed watching my Kentucky Wildcats stomp a mud-hole in Cornell. We didn’t even watch the last 5 minutes of the game. Instead we decided to focus on each other and enjoying our time together.

We spent the majority of our rainy Sunday at the Opry Mills Mall just walking around. That place is absolutely huge! We walked around it twice and by the time we were finished I think our feet were ready to just fall off. It’s one thing to just walk or jog any distance it’s another to go that kind of distance at a “mall stroll” pace. It’s painful. We picked up a few things. Ally got a new white jacket, which she wore later than night, and we bought some orange peels dipped in dark chocolate. YUM! Ally wanted to buy New Moon but in that entire mall though, there is not one store that sells music or DVD’s. Crazy, I know.

Ally

That night after resting our feet for a while we decided to take a shuttle over to the Opryland Hotel and do some more walking. We got over there a little late and almost all of the restaurants had closed but it was still very nice to walk around inside that place. It’s gargantuan and gorgeous to boot. They even had a little water show that we sat and watched. It was no Bellagio fountain but it was still really cool and fun to watch.

Monday was a sad day. It was a day that we had to part ways. She went back to Kentucky and I came back south to Alabama. But first we had lunch at Rotier’s Restaurant. If you’re ever in Nashville I highly recommend eating at this hidden gem. It’s a hole in the wall, and it’s very easy to miss, but boy the food there is good. It’s almost as if you can taste the love that goes into making every dish. If there’s one thing that makes Ally and I both happy it’s good food, and this place it worth it. They have something for everyone there.

All in all, our weekend in Nashville was a hit. I hated to see it come to an end but on the up side it means that we’re only that much closer to moving back home to Kentucky. At the time I’m writing this there is only 17 more days until Ally and I get to see each other again. In the mean time I’m keeping myself busy by finishing the bathroom remodel and packing up boxes at home. I haven’t worked out in two and half weeks and I feel lazy for not going to the gym, but with everything that has to be done it’s hard to make time to do it.

That’s it for now. I’ll try to update when I can, but like I keep saying things have been so crazy busy so sitting down to update the blog hasn’t been high on the priority list. Right now, enjoy the fountain show below. Oh, and yes, we were INDOORS!

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It’s Been a While

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

It’s been a while since my last blog post. I’ve come to realize that it’s a lot harder to post something every day or even every few days that’s different than the last few posts. It doesn’t help I’ve been major busy at work, trying to tie up lose ends before my last day on May 7. When I’m not busy at work I’m busy at home trying to tie up lose ends there before we move a few after my last day at Fastening Solutions. The last time I wrote I gave an update on the house and Project SanShave. This post will be no different but there is new information to share. I’ll actually have a few back to back posts. I had a really long one prepared but decided it would be best to split them up. Also, I’m hoping to have another one about the bathroom “remodel” up by the end of the week since I’m on the cusp of finishing that beast of a project.
Moving on…

I’ve been receiving inquiries about the house from future Tuskegee Vet students but the only bad news about it is that all of them are asking about leasing the house, not buying it. Still, it’s better than nothing at all. I’d rather sell the house but as I’ve stated before I’ll take what I can get and if leasing the property is all I can get then I’ll do it. The last thing I want to do is be left with a house payment that I’m not even living in and have no plans to even living in it again. This weekend I’ll be installing ceramic tile in the bathroom with the help of some friends and hopefully by Sunday I’ll have a fully functional bathroom again. The last couple of weeks I’ve been washing my hands and brushing my teeth in the kitchen. It’s not bad, just not convenient. Today was the first day of the year that I did yard work. With the weather starting to warm up and the rain that we’ve been getting clovers and other patches of “green” are starting to pop up all over the yard. It’s supposed to rain again soon so I thought I’d get the weed-eater out and take care of some trim work. I was able to get what I wanted done just before running completely out of gas and daylight.

The End of Project SansShave

Beard-Day27

This last weekend Ally and I met in Nashville for a few days. I had gone 27 days without shaving my beard. Believe it or not I received many compliments on it and I eventually gut used to the itchiness of it but I knew Ally would be my biggest critic. She said that she liked the way it looked on me, but as soon as I kissed her she said the thing had to go. I didn’t shave it completely, I just trimmed it down so it was bearable for her. I haven’t decided if I’m going to let it grow out until I see her again, but I do know that whatever I do or don’t do I’m not going to be taking pictures of the progress. I think the only way I’ll do that again is if I decide to go months without shaving. Who knows maybe I can get some friends in on the action and we have a beard growing contest or something. Also… be on the lookout for my time lapse video of the day to day progression coming soon.

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Shopping. Selling. Growing.

Monday, March 8th, 2010

It’s been a few days since my last entry so I figured it was time for an update. This last week was nothing short of long and boring. Every day, it’s the same old thing: Get up, get cleaned, get dressed, feed the dogs, go to work, go to the gym, go home, feed the dogs, eat dinner, do some knick knack things around the house, relax for a bit then go to sleep and start it all over the next day. There hasn’t been a lot for me to do while at work so when I’m not doing anything but waiting for something to break I’ve been working on my website here and there, and looking at the housing market in Central Kentucky on the internet. I gotta tell ya, when you don’t know what your housing budget is going to be shopping for a house is exhausting. I’m only using my fingers and my eyes to view the homes online but I’ve been looking at houses in 3 different counties all between $100,000 and $200,000 range. I doubt we’ll be able to afford anything in the upper part of the that range but still, it never hurts to look. So far I’ve found 35 houses that I think are worth looking at a little closer with Ally. Hopefully we can narrow that down by at least half so she can go look at them before she comes back to Alabama.

House For Sale

I had been telling her that we have plenty of time to find a house, but the more I think about it, the less time we have. She’ll be home in 6 weeks and 2 1/2 weeks after that she graduates. We’re talking less than 60 days here people. The last time I spoke with her about it on Saturday I told her that the worst-case-scenario would mean that after her graduation we would stay down here as long as it took to get our current house sold and into a new one in Kentucky. She didn’t react to that very well. Her exact response was “Bullshit, we’ll move into my mom’s house before I stay in Alabama any longer than I have to.” Well, that’s settled. I guess we’ll be moving out of Alabama shortly there after Mother’s Day this year no matter what the circumstances are.

I have yet to find a Realtor to sell the house we’re in now. It’s hard when you live in a town where no one else lives. Not a lot of people know the area, and there aren’t a bunch of incentives for moving there. 4 years ago we had great incentives on moving into our house. We needed a place to live, quickly, it was close to Tuskeegee Vet School and Auburn, and it was affordable. I’m hoping to find a buyer that has similar needs. That will make selling the house much easier. I’m not even looking for a profit on the house. If I can sell it for what I bought it for I’ll be happy. If I can make a little profit to put down on the next house we buy I’ll be even happier. Download the Flier, spread the word and give to anyone you may know looking for a house in Alabama.

The Bathroom “Remodel”

I spent Sunday tearing the floor up in the bathroom. Originally the plan was to just replace the sink and vanity. However, after removing the old sink and placing the new one in it’s spot I learned that the new sink and vanity’s base is smaller than the old one thus revealing an unfinished floor. When the flooring was put down in the bathroom it was put around the sink not underneath of it. It’s not all bad though. I wanted to replace the bathroom floor in the first place. It needed it. I was actually letting my wife win by just replacing the sinks but now I have to put in a new floor. So score one for the husband, right? Well, kinda. She still wins b/c she doesn’t have to help me at all. She’s not here to. I get to do it all myself. That ‘W’ I just got looks more like a ‘TIE’ now, and only weird sports end in ties. So yesterday I spent a few hours pulling all of the old linoleum up and scraping up anything that wouldn’t just pull up with a flat head screw driver. It’s all I had to use. Now the bathroom doesn’t have a sink and three quarters of the floor has been ripped up. I haven’t pulled up the stuff around the toilet yet. I’m not doing that until I’m ready to install the new floor. This week I get to go pick out a new floor. The material and pattern is yet to be decided, but as long as it’s affordable and easy to install I’ll buy it. Emphasis on “easy to install.” By this Sunday I should have a relatively brand new bathroom which hopefully should help me sell the house.

Beard Update

Beard-Day14

Here’s an update on “Project SansShave.” Man, that’s really not the best name. I thought it would be clever because ’sans’ is Latin for without but it’s really not that clever. Anyway…. Today is the 15th day in row without shaving. The beard is actually starting to get a bit softer around the chin and the cheeks but the hair on the upper lip is still a bit prickly. Also, I’ve started taking my picture with my digital camera instead of the web cam on my MacBook Pro. I don’t know why I didn’t do that to begin with. I think it was b/c with the web cam I could see myself and now I have to just point and shoot with the digital camera. The good thing is I can take as many images as it takes and delete what I don’t use. Plus the photos are much clearer and provides better lighting. Ah, the advantages of digital photography. Also, as I look through the photos in some of them I’m wearing a hat and in others I’m not. If I do something like this again, I have got to make a choice b/c when flipping through them all it’s kind of distracting to see this blue thing on my head flash by. Oh well. You live and you learn right?

Until next time kiddos, tell your friends about me or, even better if you have a friend that needs to hire a graphic designer, tell them about me.

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Project SansShave: Day 10

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Beard-Day10

It’s been a little over a week since I last gave an update on “Project SansShave”. For any of you that have no idea what I’m talking about let me recap for you. A couple of weeks ago my wife left home and went to Kentucky to work at some internships for school. She’ll be gone for 8 weeks total and so far it’s only been 10 days. Since she’s not here, and I have no chance of kissing her, I’m not shaving my face. I’m staying groomed but until I see her the facial hair will continue to grow. The longest I think I’ve ever gone before without shaving is probably between 10 and 14 days. This time I’ll not be shaving for at least 4 weeks minimum. In the mean time I’m taking a picture of myself every day and when the project is over I’ll put together a quick little time lapse video. It’s nothing new but I’ve never done it, so it’s new to me. I may even sculpt different styles of beards once I decide to shave it just to see what I look like with each style. Again, nothing new but I’ve never done it. Check out Jon Dyer’s Blog and see what he does every year with his beard. It’s actually quite awesome.

So Ally’s birthday is in a couple of weeks and we’re going to meet in Nashville. It will make dealing with the 4 to 5 weeks after that a little more bearable. I’ll be driving up there with all the fur on my face. That way Ally can decide whether or not she wants to spend a weekend with bearded me or non-bearded me. She likes the way I look with facial hair, she actually prefers it, but she just doesn’t like how it feels when we kiss. Though, since I’ve never gone 4 weeks without shaving before maybe by that time the beard will be soft enough to endure. I was told by two people today that it looked good on me too. It’s funny, but after looking back at the Day 1 Photo I think I was made to have at least a few days growth on my face. I just look weird without it.

On a different note the website is starting to look more and more like a real website huh? I finally added some links to give visitors the option to subscribe to the blog either by email or their favorite RSS feed, I’m starting to get the sidebar in order, and the more posts I make the more content I have and hopefully that will inspire some more traffic. I still have a lot of work to do on it, but unfortunately it’s hard to make time to do it so I work on it when I can.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the feed by clicking on of the links over on the right…… and tell your friends dammit!

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40 Days and 40 Nights

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Today Ally left for Kentucky. She is going to spend 8 weeks in Lexington working at various veterinary clinics as part of her last semester in school. Hopefully after these 8 weeks she’ll come away with a great job offer and we’ll be just a few weeks away from moving back home. Today was really very bitter sweet for me. I’ve been dreading and looking forward to it for a while now. I’ve been dreading it because unless we meet between Montgomery, AL and Lexington, KY in the time before she comes home I’ll only get to text, talk, and chat on Skype to her for a full 8 weeks. This is the longest we’ve EVER been apart from each other. Even when she was in her first semester at UK and I was still in Northern Kentucky we didn’t spend this much time apart. After being together for going on 11 years this may be one of the most trying times for our relationship. Never-the-less I have also been looking forward to this day for a while too. It means that she’s that much closer to graduating and we’re that much closer to moving back to Kentucky. When she returns in April she’ll have a few more weeks until she receives that diploma then it’s “Sayonara, Alabama. Hello, Kentucky.”

Beard-Day01

Since today will our first day away not much will change. I did get into work a little late today because I was helping Ally pack up the Pathfinder. Other than that, nothing is different and I doubt much will change. My routine will remain the same: Work every day, hit the gym at least 3 days a week after work, come home, feed the dogs, eat dinner, do some around-the-house chores, catch up on whatever TV or basketball games I’ve missed, go to sleep and do it all over the next day. The one large difference in my routine is that I will not be shaving my face until I see Ally again. I thought that it would make for some interesting photos that can accompany a few blog entries then at the end I can do a photo montage of sorts with the photos. Now, I’m not going to just completely let go and get all disgusting… there’s no way I could do that. I’ll continue to shave the hair that grows under my chin and trim up any spots that needs it, but in a few weeks I’ll have a full beard a mustache. It may not be very thick or impressive, but it’ll be there. I just hope that I can stand it. I’ll have to start conditioning my face to get the hair soft I guess. So wish me luck on that and I’ll keep you posted with updated pics etc.

Since we’re selling the house soon there’s still plenty of things that need to be done at home. I just have to make a list and start knocking them out one-by-one. My goal for the time February ends is to have the bathroom completely finished. We’ve already painted the walls, and scrubbed the crap out of the floor already. I need to finish repainting the trim and laying in some caulk to cover up minor paint imperfections. Then I’ll need to pull up the old linoleum floor, lay new stuff down, then install the new sink and vanity we purchased last month. Sounds like a lot, but I’m pretty sure I can get that done in 8 days. If I take it a few baby steps at a time I’ll have it done in no time.

There are other projects that need to be done. I need to touch up the paint in the bedroom, repaint a few walls in the living room and second bedroom, possibly buy a new couch and get the old one hauled away, repaint the picket fence in from of the house, sand and repaint the front door, pressure wash the awnings over the windows, lay down some more mulch in the flower bed, after planting a few flowers (I loathe landscaping by-the-way), and lay down some grass seed. When you lump it all into one sentence like that it sounds like a lot. It kind of is, but the good thing is I already have most of the materials I need, plus Ally is gone so the only distractions I’ll have are college basketball (it is almost March), video games, and my own laziness. Other than that, taking the time to do it and hoping the weather cooperates with me for the outside projects is all that is standing in my way. I may even be lucky enough to get some help on some of the projects. I hope so anyway.

40Days&40NightsPosterTo the last point of Ally being away… if you’ve ever seen the movie “40 Days & 40 Nights” starring Josh Hartnett and Shannyn Sossamon back in 2002, I’ll be going through a little bit of the same thing. Probably not as bad because I won’t be around Ally, but it will be longest drought of my adult life. Good thing I have plenty of projects to keep me busy.

Here’s to my first “real” blog post.

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