When the Smoke Clears

The night is falling around the cabin tonight with promises of wintry weather in the mountains. It might even provide a respite from work tomorrow but I sincerely doubt it. The week has been so rough, so high speed, so constant that nothing could knock out the drive to get there tomorrow. It’s my luck. [...]

Well, I am safely back from my trip to Virginia. The road called and I was able to take my time. I thought that the day away from work would be good as well and I enjoy a drive, especially a nice somewhat long drive to different places, even better when I am meandering no [...]

My Uncle Joe died today. He was the last of my grandfather’s brothers to die. That entire generation of the namesake side of my family has now passed on. The question is usually “were you close?” For people who barely knew each other, we were somewhat close, I would say.
Uncle Joe took an interest [...]

What the heck did I mess up? It had to have been one of the artsy type questions.
You paid attention during 97% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don’t get scores that high! Good show, old chap!
Do you deserve your high school diploma?

ht Telebush who finally [...]

I’ve been in a crappy mood all day. I need to change that attitude especially since I was able to have dinner with about 10 of the elite young soldiers around here. They kept me laughing. Just seems like everything is off. I even remember when I put my keys down while cleaning saying to [...]

I was working out in the gym early this morning. For some reason I couldn’t find my iPod. Heck, I couldn’t find my office keys, my running shoes, cell phone charger, etc. It’s one of those days.
Anyway, normally whomever is watching the front desk chooses the music. I find it amusing how often the [...]

Worked on the cabin all day. It’s a much cleaner place, though there is still the laundry to attack in the morning. Even went to the gym for a bit.
But I think I pulled a pec muscle. How the hell did THAT happen?

I’m a guy. I might be a good cook and I might be a little more sensitive to the needs of females while at the same time maintaining a rugged exterior, but the fact is, I’m a guy. I can’t clean well.
I’m looking around the cabin today and with all that has been going [...]

Do a buddy a favor. Vote for SGT Hook here at the VA Mortgage Center. He could win some money which would make the trip to the Milblogger’s conference affordable. Matty O’ Blackfive is also worthwhile as are a number of the milbloggers listed, good people, all, but let’s face it, Matt makes $220,000 a [...]

Yep, the big storm amounted to nothing for us: some ice scattered about and I had to take a long walk around the deck to get to the Jeep. I have a porch that wraps around the entire cabin, and the cabin is wheelchair accessible. One design flaw is that the ramp near the front [...]

“Neither player-king nor prostitute be.”
Marcus Aurelius
And so back to the work and the joy of hard work. I cannot change the work, only renew my attitude towards it. But tonight there is promise: a cold wind, a storm of ice and snow that has worked its way across the country finds its way to my [...]

So there I was, minding my own business when I was kidnapped, kidnapped against my will and whisked away for the weekend. Indeed, 24 or so young ones gathered together and plotted my destruction, bundling me into my own Jeep which I was then forced to drive, laden down with gear and cold-weather clothing as [...]

Last night was a great night. It made taking today much more bearable. In fact it was the first time in a long time I really felt like I had taken a break, a for-real break from the world.
A close friend bought me “down in front along the stage” tickets to Cirque du Soleil [...]

“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” – Marcus Aurelius
Crisis has been the order of the day for the last two days, crisis on a large scale, but luckily no one has died. It was close.
Part [...]

Lately, with holidays, illness and other factors I’ve been neglecting some of the basics I’ve discovered over the last year: Back to the gym early this morning. Invited a friend over for dinner this evening… the blogdaughter and made her yesterday’s recipe. I DID get it right… Kept the mood up with quality 40s music [...]