Oh you gotta be kidding me!

OMG I can't believe it's been this long since I last posted!

So much has happened since then.

Paco and I got moved into the new place. We are in the Gay Mecca of Michigan and both far too busy to enjoy it. LOL

I'm busting my ass at work, trying to get this partnership thing going. OH RIGHT, now we are working on me taking over the whole thing. This speeds up the time line by about 5 years, but here we are. Should know in a week or two if it can happen this way.

Well, as I sit here and type, SE Michigan is getting hit with the first real snow of the year. It's kind of sad in a way...the end of nice weather. But in all honesty, it's the 1st of December and this is our first real snow...can't complain all that much.

Well, in any case, I'm back. Here's hoping I can keep up a little better.........again.

"Have you ever had anyone sing the National Anthem into your ass before?"

--Iton

P.S. See the movie SHORTBUS!!!

We're sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed...

Ok, here's something I just don't understand. We live in the digital age, right? To me, this means that digital services are very customizable. Seriously, an awful lot of customizations can be done through software. Pretty much anything can be done via a web page these days. So, someone PLEASE tell me why my digital telephone services aren't all that customizable!

Right now, I'm speaking to SPRINT and VONAGE. I have been customers of both for YEARS. Honestly, in general, I really love both services. But there is 1 thing that I just can't seem to get past right now. These are telephone services, and I want to customize them. Specifically, I want to be able to define who can, and who cannot call me.

Anyone who has been reading my blog long enough will probably remember the STALKER BITCH episode. When I tried to get SPRINT to block her telephone numbers from calling me, I was told that this was "IMPOSSIBLE." I won't reiterate the whole story, you can read it here.

I receive a LOT of telemarketing calls. Mostly they are from people with THICK Mexican or Indian accents trying to get me to buy ridiculously overpriced, prescription medications by having an "exam" with their Dr. over the telephone. GOOD GOD are they annoying!!! No joke, I get 5-20 of those calls EACH DAY. Now, I have been on the U.S. Government's DO NOT CALL LIST since it's inception. I ALWAYS tell these creeps to take me off their call lists and to never call me again. Yet, they still do. I use a TeleZapper set on the most aggressive setting to get them to stop calling. Yet, they still do. Sometimes, they have no CallerID information (unavailable). Sometimes they have regular, 10-digit phone numbers. Sometimes I get calls with CallerID info that reads, and this is a REAL CallerID Displayed number, "111-111-1111" or "000-000-0000." Seriously, we all know that if I dialed those numbers, I'd get some rude message about there being no such number. Further, I get calls from numbers that show up on my CallerID as "101" or "43-522" or "77765" for example. Certainly those aren't real telephone numbers. They certainly don't dial back.

Can anyone say that I HAVEN'T done everything possible to prevent telemarketing calls while still having the use of my phone? I really don't think so.

Why I can't block fake numbers, or "Number Unavailable" calls from any of my phone services is astounding to me. Vonage gives me a web page that details ALL of my calls, incoming and outgoing. Why I can't just click a button on a call's number to permanently block it absolutely stumps me.

Sprint is even less help. While Vonage's call logging is basically real time and available anytime, Sprint's only details the numbers of calls that I placed, and even that only shows up on my bill, once it's generated.

I don't think that what I am asking for is unreasonable. I think it is a logical extension of digital phone services in the digital age. I think it should be an included feature on ALL digital phone services and I think that it should be widely advertised as being available. I think that ANY such service provider who DOESN'T provide it (and that's ALL of them as far as I am aware) should be ashamed of themselves, hanging their heads low and busting their butts to get it implemented...yesterday!

Telemarketing calls are a PARIAH in my life. I am a very busy person who doesn't need to be interrupted upwards of dozens of times a day to tell these people to stop calling me over and over and over and over and over again! I know that telemarketing is an industry, and a big one at that. Fine, I accept that you have to make a living. But you know what, so do I! Once I've told you to leave me alone, I expect you to do so! When you refuse to heed this, and continue to violate the peace and privacy of my HOME, I want options to make you stop. If you were acting as private individuals, I'd have you on STALKING charges!

It's time for the telephone service providers to step up and allow consumers to protect themselves from these invasions...RIGHT NOW!

I welcome input from anyone who has a reasonable argument on this issue as well as those who are in my shoes. Even better, if you have a solution, we just might become good friends!

"One ringy-dingy, 2 ringy-dingy"
"We don't have to care, we're the PHONE company!"

--Iton

Time, Time, Time, See what's become of me....

Wow.

You get a little busy and before you know it weeks have passed without having updated your blog! Go Figure!

Well, Paco and I are buying a house. Really. We found a nice one and we are just waiting to close on it.

Our friends had a baby. This, of course, makes me feel old and decrepit. Ok, not really decrepit, but definitely old.

I have a ton to complain about, but I just don't feel like writing it all up. How refreshing eh?

"I was so hard to please..."

--Iton

Not Gone

I'm still here. Life has been hectic lately.

We had a death at the office, which is always difficult.

Paco and I also have been busting our butts to find our new home, and it looks like we finally did it! YAY! We have begun the buying process with an accepted offer. Now we just to get the inspection and stuff. HOORRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"You've killed me!" "Oh my God! What have I done?" "I just told you, you've killed me!"

--Iton

Back Online!!

Ok, so I'm back. It really sucked, but I was right about the internet problems. After the cable internet went out again, I got on the phone with the cable company. They told me that some of their equipment in my neighborhood was running on a generator. It seems that the good old electric company couldn't keep up and some of THEIR equipment fried. Of course it HAD to be MY neighborhood, didn't it? The curse strikes again.

But here's the thing. Why oh why is it that when I call in to customer service, the automated system asks me to enter my telephone number "for faster service?" I mean really...the 1st thing the rep does when he/she answers the call is ask me my telephone number...again! Isn't this EXACTLY why I punched it in already? OOH! Here's the really fun part. I got transferred to another department, and guess what! The system made me punch it again, on the same call. SHEESH! I mean, I can see this kind of problem at say, a bakery, or a retail store. But COME ON, when you ARE A TECHNOLOGY COMPANY, don't you think your technology ought to WORK?

Now, for the most part, WOW (Wide Open West) is a pretty good company. They are competition for Comcast (who can just bite me...bitches!), they are usually very polite, their repair calls are generally very speedy, and they gave me $25 off my next bill for the trouble with the internet. This is good customer service! And I love them for that. But they make themselves look REALLY HOKEY, backwater even when their tech messes up like that phone system issue. I mean, it wasn't a glitch. The woman I spoke with TOLD ME that the number / customer info is not passed to her upon taking the call. This is just the way they run things.

So, for that, WOW! Cable and Internet gets the "Shoot yourself in the foot award" for the week. (won't take much for them to fix I'd imagine)

On a COMPLETELY UNRELATED SUBJECT.......
Don't forget to check out the Perseids Meteor Shower. It is this weekend, but is supposed to peak on Monday the 13th at about 2AM. The timing is perfect with a NEW MOON. And for once, here in Michigan, we should have pretty clear skies on the night of a celestial event. YOU HAVE NO IDEA how rare that is. So hop in the car, get out of the city, lie back on a blanket with your sweetie and LOOK UP! The experts all say that it is supposed to be a really good show this year!!!

"We don't have to care...we're the phone company!"
"PRIVACY? Oh, aren't you cute!"

--Iton

Fickle Internet

Sorry I haven't been around much this week. My cable internet service has been having problems.

I think it is a function of the heat. Really, I think some of the service boxes for the cable internet are frying in this 95+ Degree heat we've been having here in Detroit.

It's funny, I'll have my service for a few minutes in the morning (like right now) and within an hour or so it craps out for the rest of the day. It all makes me think of Rolling Blackouts from California that we heard so much about is recent years. Of course it makes no sense to intentionally have rolling blackouts for internet service... Eh whatever.

The home renovations are coming along. The current project is tearing up all the carpet in the front of the house to expose the hardwood floors. Ugh, PAIN IN THE BUTT! Because, of course, you have to pull up all the tackstrips and staples too. We're also working on a deadline of Aug 16. This is because my friend will be visiting on the 17th and he has offered to help run the big floor sander to finish those floors. RUSH RUSH RUSH! It already looks pretty good though.

"Oh just shut up and hit me already!"

--Iton

A Basic Thing

Are we really so unique?

Are we really so different?

Perhaps in form, but not in function.

We are all of the same basic thing

As the cells of a person’s body

We are all of the same basic thing

Different kinds of life

That think

We are all of the same basic thing

We are all performing the same basic function

As do the cells of a sentient brain

We all have the same basic purpose

To understand

We are all of the same basic thing

We perform our function in specialized ways, with specializations

Some slightly specialized, some supremely so

We are all of the same basic thing

Our slightly different forms

Our slightly different perspectives

All are only parts of the sum

We are all of the same basic thing

We are the intelligence of the universe, a basic thing

We are all the same basic thing

As it tries to understand itself

a basic thing.

--Iton

Holy Clear Skies Batman!!!

This past weekend, Paco's friends wanted to celebrate one of their birthdays by having the "family" (group of friends) spend the weekend at his Hunting Lodge Cabin near Alpena, MI.

I'm very glad we went. I had a great time hanging out, drinking, eating, playing with the fish. Yes I said fish. There is a trout pond there. They have fish food pellets there by the 20lb bag. Toss some in and it was a feeding frenzy. They'd splash you, each other, smack the bottom of the dock, whatever it took just to get at those damn pellets. :) I know it sounds kinda dull, but it was a lot of fun.

The best part was the night sky. Living in the suburbs of Detroit, I RARELY get to see REALLY clear/dark skies anymore. This weekend, 2 nights in a row, I saw the stars through the clearest skies I've ever seen! It was simply amazing. It was so clear and black up there that it was very easy to see the plane of the Milky Way. I haven't seen this since I was a child. The stars of various sizes, brightness and colors were strewn across the sky, all very 3D like bright rocks pitched upward and then captured in a Matrix-Style, 3D camera shot and frozen in place. It was breathtaking. It was also fun to see 2 meteors streak across the star-lit blackness. I really miss this kind of view. The only thing I had detracting from this view was the UNBELIEVABLE number of ANTS at this place.

No joke, stand in 1 place for a minute or two and the big black ants were crawling straight up your leg to places where you would probably prefer insects never visited. EEK! If you kept moving, you were fine, but if you stopped, ickyness ensued. Fortunately this wasn't as much an issue at 2:00am while stargazing.

Poor Paco was sick all day Saturday and All day Sunday. On the 3+Hour drive home we had to stop a number of times for him to use a bathroom or Projectile Vomit (my apologies to the McDonalds just off of I-75 in Saginaw). He was miserable and there was nothing any of us could to for him.

The whole thing just made me want a SkyCar even more. I'll tell ya...when I finally hit that Lottery Jackpot, I'm going to have some cool toys!! Oh it would be nice to get there in 45 Minutes vs 3 hours! (that's traveling at an average speed of 300 MPG, a distance of 229 miles). Or 4.5 hours (vs the 24 hours it would take to drive and boat) to travel the 1500 miles to the $10,000,000 Island I want to buy...someday.

Well, either way I truly missed having beautiful night skies to look at. Having that satisfied so completely was just amazing and I highly recommend it to anyone. (although not "getting your heart trampled on" a-la Alanis)

"They say money can't buy happiness. Well, it can buy you everything else, and that sure makes happiness easier to achieve." -- (paraphrase)

--Iton

Oh Me, Oh my! Househunting Makes me Want to Cry!

Seriously, is there any other voluntary activity more stressful than shopping for a new home? Well, I'm sure there is, but in my world, this is the pinnacle right now.

Seriously, I think Paco and I have seen 2....or....3...million homes at this point. It sux.

How can there be SOO much on the market AND be such an unbelievably high percentage of CRAP?

As I told Paco... "I expected this process to be hard. I did NOT expect it to be painful."

And hey...to all of you folks out there in Cyberlandville who move a lot (and I mean established adults, college students don't count for this one, sorry) how in the *%$@!*# do you do it? I mean, the stress is just ridiculous!

And, the other thing...How do people move across the country, into a home sight unseen? OMG!!!

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLP!!!!!!!

"Yes! I'm smarter than a 5th Grader...DAMN IT!!!"

--Iton

You may now call me "Reverend"

Oh this is a good one!

I was reading a Yahoo News article about Tori Spelling this morning. It seems that she got herself ordained as a minister through the Universal Life Church Monastery. She is even performing Gay weddings on her reality show. Go Tori!

Now, I'm not sure, but I THINK that this is the same "church" that used to advertise in the back of Rolling Stone magazine. In any case, I've wanted to do this myself since I was a teen. I remember watching an episode of Northern Exposure where the one hunky, loner character was asked to perform a wedding based on a similar credential. I said then that I would do it as well.

Ok, so, here we are, probably 15 years later. It took the likes of Tori Spelling to remind me about that subversive, conformity desire (I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but it's not, trust me) that I had as a youngin.

So, I went ahead and did it. LOL! I am now an "Officially Ordained Minister" of the ULC. They claim that it gives me all the rights and such of the title "Reverend."



"Were you to hear God's true voice, your mind would cave in and your heart would explode inside your chest. We went through five Adams before we figured that one out."

--Iton

And to your left, you'll see a spiral galaxy.....

How fun is this?

While doing my daily surfing, I ran across a site called GalaxyZoo. It is set to officially launch tomorrow, it seems.

Basically, some astronomers rigged up a big camera on a big telescope and let it snap a million digital pictures of galaxies. Problem is, they all need to be classified. The bigger problem is that the kinds of categories they use, well, computers aren't good at deciding which fits which.

This is where YOU (and I) come in. Visit GalaxyZoo.org, complete a short tutorial on galaxy classification and then it shows you, one after the other, pictures of very far away places. You decide which category each fits into, click a button, and do it again with the next image.

No, there's no big reward. No, it's not a game. But if you like celestial phenomena, you'll see more close-ups of things that you've never seen before than you can handle. The best part is that when you get bored, you stop. Its easy, kinda fun, kills time and helps science.

So, rush on over to www.galaxyzoo.org right now and get started.

"Cover your eyes Billy, those two galaxies are MERGING!"

--Iton

Oh how busy we get

Wow!

It has been 2 months since my last entry. I'm a schmuck, sorry!

Ok, the stalker backed off after being served with her PPO. I remain alive and, mostly, well.

I've had another horrible technical support problem with a computer company, DELL. I won't get into the details, but suffice it to say they are shooting themselves in their collective, proverbial feet.

CALLWAVE continues to be a GODSEND! They've recently updated their companion software for your PC. A few new features and some neat looking eye-candy to boot. If you use your cell phone for business and DON'T want your clients to have your REAL number, this is the service for you! $4/Month, SOOOOOOO worth it!

The therapist has entered therapy himself. Enough was enough. I have begun therapy myself and it is going nicely. I had forgotten how helpful it can be. Silly, I know, since I'm usually the one DOING the therapy. So much for analyzing myself (which is never a good idea anyways).

The remodel of my home is coming along. We've been editing, repairing, repainting and such for about that 2 months. Paco and his good friend, we'll call her "Becky" (Again, TOTALLY not her real name. In fact, I think she hates that name. But it's only a pseudonym, so, no biggie) have been SOOO HELPFUL! Paco and Becky have been doing the vast majority of the painting. This is awesome because I HATE painting. The front area of the house is looking REALLY good!

House hunting is slow going. I'd say that Paco and I have looked at 10 or 15 million houses by now. ;) Some I like and he doesn't, some he likes and I don't, some we both hate. Seems the stuff we both love is SEVERAL times our price range. (I know we aren't unique in that aspect).

I've discovered that I seems to actually enjoy stripping paint off of household air vents and then spray painting them back to life. Who knew?!? Seriously, I'm talking 50+ years worth of paint in at LEAST 5 to 7 layers. CitriStrip is my new best friend (right next to Rustoleum White Gloss Enamel spray paint).

I remain cursed.

Work is more busy than I expected it to be this summer.

The heat has been MUCH worse that I like, lately. That damn SUN! ;)

Hmmm, and we went to a surprise birthday party for Becky's fiancee. He was surprised, YAY!!!

Ok, that's the crash-course update.

Ciao for now!

"Please Hold. Please Continue to Hold, your call is important to us." "Well, not important enough for us to actually have enough people answering the phones, but, you know...."

--Iton

Stalk This, Stalker B*tch!

Ok, it's official. I have a stalker.

I'm not bullsh*tting at all. A former client of mine has decided that she is in love with me. To prove her love, she has called me over 200 (that's TWO HUNDRED) times in under 5 days. She usually leaves me voicemail messages that range in sentiment from "I love you" to "I hate you" and then "call me."

Much discussion about this situation has circulated throughout our facility. Most of us have decided that this woman, who by the way is married with 3 kids, very likely suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder. She's delusional. She leaves messages that suggest that we have spoken on the telephone (mind you, I haven't answered or responded to ANY of her 200 calls, and haven't said word one to her in over 3 weeks). She says things like "I got a weird vibe when we hung up. Did you get a weird vibe? Call me!"

I knew it was getting bad when she started leaving messages telling me that she was going to wait for me in the parking lot at work. She said she would wait under her car for me.

This woman is SO crazy that she BELONGS on "Flavor of Love" or "Breaking Bonaduce." (I love both of those shows, btw.)

Now, you might be thinking that I work in mental health so I should expect this sort of thing, right? WRONG! I work with Axis 1 diagnoses ONLY. This woman is SO cracked that even Humpty Dumpty feels bad for her.

So, what's a gay-guy therapist supposed to do? Well, I can't reveal my sexual orientation to her, it would most likely set her off into an "I can change you" sort of narcissistic rage. I tried to block her phone calls by contacting Sprint. LAUGH! No joke, the woman on the phone told me that it was "IMPOSSIBLE" to block specific numbers from calling me. REALLY?!?! I mean, let's get real here. I can have telephone calls routed to a freaking WRISTWATCH if I want. I can have up to the minute info FROM MOTHERF*CKING MARS (not counting the 30 minute transmission distance delay)!!!!!!! But Sprint thinks it's IMPOSSIBLE to block specific numbers from calling me? No way Ho! I'm CERTAIN she meant that it was simply not an available feature. They were NO help! So, I did what I had to do. I exercised my rights under Michigan's (very strong) Anti-Stalking law and filed for a PPO (Personal Protection Order). I feel badly that I had to do that, but at the same time, I was TOTALLY getting freaked out. I SOOOOOO didn't want to come home and find a fresh batch of "cat stew" boiling away on my stove.

Don't get me wrong, this woman is ill and REALLY needs professional help. Unfortunately she has refused all the help we tried to give her. We TRIED to do the right thing, but she forced me to do the bright thing. (ok that was a bad one, sorry)

So, here's hoping that the PPO and the police do their jobs and keep stalker b*tch away from me and my voicemail.

"He was standing outside the window with a carving knife and a jar of Vasoline!"

Assheads!

--Iton

And So They Went...

Ok, so Like I said before, yesterday was my very first Tigers' game. I'll say I had fun! I'm not much of a "Sports" kind of guy, but I at least understand baseball.

The game itself was actually fairly dull. Very little excitement. Tigers lost 5-7.

The fun part of the experience was the PEOPLE WATCHING! OH MY GAWD [Becky...] there was SOOOOO much to look at. Plenty of Eye Candy, Plenty of Eye Poison, and everything in between. The crazies were the best!

Here are some pics (they are from my phone, so, quality be damned!!!).

Ok, First, there was this group of guys. 1 or 2 of them had their girlfriends with them. All the guys kept huggin' on each other. I mean seriously, the Straight Boy Love was just flowin everywhere! And why, oh why is it ok to be affectionate at a baseball game, but not not out anywhere else in public? I just don't get it!


Ok, Next are the crazies. The first one, well, this guy had several notebooks and papers strewn about on the floor. I'm guessing that he was keeping track of some of the sports stats, but GOOD GOD, can we say "OCD???"

The second One, uhhh..., well he speaks for himself (remember, this is a DETROIT TIGERS GAME, IN DETROIT).

Then there is this dumbass. You can see that he is WAY up in the stands. He's all hollerin at the players about how he he doesn't like them, and this guy sucks and that guy should just go home....did he REALLY think that they could hear him?

Whatever! Paco and I had fun, and we even avoided sunburns, believe it or not!

So, we decided that we will do it again someday. Let's go Tigers!!!!!!!!!!!

"You got WANGED on the head!!!!"

--Iton

Go Tigers!

Well, here I am, just about 32 years old and about to head to my very first Tiger's game. I've lived in Michigan my whole life, how has this never happened before?

Who knows. The important thing is that Paco got the tix and we are going!!

More later, perhaps after the game.

"Let's Go Tigers.....Grrrrooowwwwllllll."

--Iton

Today's Giggle

Yep, I'm HORRIBLE at keeping up with my blog. Obviously, if you are a regular reader, you know that. ;)

1st: Thanks to Mike for the Socks suggestion from my recent insomnia post. I'm not sure if it worked, but I appreciate the suggestion nonetheless!

2nd: NEW FAVORITE WORD: "Asshats." I was reading a blog from PISTOLOTTO's links. Read the post for yourselves here. LOVE IT!

CARF audit is next week! Here's hoping that our Auditor isn't a "She Devil" like "Sister Patterson" of "I Love New York" demi-fame.

"Roselin [President Botox], GET YOUR FAT ASS OUT OF THAT RACK!"

--Iton

Ahhhh.... Refreshing

What a difference a week can make!

So, I had my week off of work. Boy did I need that! I do feel quite refreshed and able to face the day. I was able to get some work done around the house, and to catch up on some projects that I had been ignoring for a while.

Now I'm gearing up for that big CARF audit. You know the one I've been writing about since like June? It's finally coming up at the end of the month. WISH US LUCK!

...After 1 small bite of a carrot "Great, now I can't have toothpaste tonight."

--Iton

Insomnia

Have you ever had to deal with insomnia? If you haven't, it is extremely hard to understand. Surely just about everyone has experienced sleeplessness at some point, this is natural. What is not quite right is when you either don't sleep at all, can't stay asleep, don't get enough sleep, or your sleep is not restful. I am currently dealing with the latter type.

I'll tell you it's awful. I FEEL like I haven't had any sleep in at least a week. I have dark circles around the bottom HALF of each of my eyes, my eyes themselves burn and tingle a little, I have a near constant, very dull headache, and I'm continuously, mildly nauseated. I feel very sensitive to temperature and light changes, am rather irritable and have few patience.

This is a form of torture (no really, it is, look up sleep deprivation & brainwashing techniques).

What's even worse is when the people in your life are COMPLETELY insensitive to what you are going through. I know it isn't really their FAULT. Chances are, most of these people haven't experienced this level of insomnia themselves. They have NO IDEA how bad it is.

Now, I feel pretty confident that I know where mine is coming from. I have WAAAAYYYY too many things going on right now...

1. Work is very busy (and let's not forget the paperwork that goes along with it).
2. I have extra duties right now while the boss is out of town.
3. Taxes are coming up and I'm a procrastinator (probably related to this whole sleep thing).
4. I have household things to do like laundry, vacuuming, trash, keeping up with the cat's needs, dishes, grocery shopping etc...
5. I'm terribly worried about my abilities when it comes to taking the GRE.
6. Likewise I'm terribly worried about getting into a PhD program in time to finish before I'm 40.
   
7. I'm feeling a LOT of pressure to get my house packed up (and trust me this is a HUGE job).
8. Paco is pissed at me because I'm not attending to things he has designated as top priority.
9. I'm pissed at Paco because I feel like he is being incredibly insensitive (and I'm just plain irritable and sensitive myself...see above). It doesn't help that he knows about my sleep problems and just doesn't understand.
10. I don't understand why when Paco wants express himself he seems to automatically jump to an adversarial position. I find myself just trying to make him happy, please him, ease his worries...all the while my own are mounting exponentially. I DESPISE walking eggshells. I understand that I haven't been as responsive as perhaps I should be lately...but good God, I really feel like I don't have the ability at the moment. ALL of my empathy is going to the people who pay for it...my clients. I just don't have anything else left right now.
    

There are more things to write, but I just can't anymore. I can't even tell you how many typos I've had to correct in this entry just because my fingers won't type what I want them too (time to get fitted for replacements I guess).

I'm a zombie who has to DRAG himself out of bed and to the office each day. I just want to cry (but I can't really do that either right now...too numb from the bad sleep).

Out of necessity, I have decided to take next week off of work. I really don't have any other choice. It's going to hurt financially, but, I NEED to clear up this sleep thing and I NEED to make some progress on the house that Paco can SEE. I want to make him but happy, but lately it seems that I can do nothing right.


"More......BRAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIINS!!!!!!!!"

--Iton

Well It's about time!

I'm shocked. I'm stunned. I'm ecstatic!

No beating around the bush! My sister has, finally, officially announced her engagement to her boyfriend of seven years! After all that time, and many protestations against the concept of marriage, they have announced their pending nuptials. The even will take place in roughly 1 year.

I'm loving this. My sister's fiancee is great. He's smart, funny, pleasant to look at and just generally a very cool guy. I'm very happy to have him joining our messed up little family. I'm happy that my sister has decided to make it official. I'm happy that my mom will have the opportunity to see one of her kids have a (somewhat) traditional ceremony (minus the church and white gown however). (remember, I'm gay, and I live in Michigan. Gay marriage is still illegal here and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future.)

My sister has asked me to stand up with her at the wedding. She's not going to have Maid of Honor. No, instead she is going to have a Man of Honor." No I'm not wearing a dress. No I'm not carrying a bouquet. And, as for the bachelorette party... she's not so sure yet. LOL Life sure can be interesting at times!

"Ensign. Set a course, bearing 3-1-2 MARK 0-8. ENGAGE!"

--Iton

You! Shake your Junk!

Oh Dear!

Well, the boss has been out of town for a few weeks. I'm holding down the fort in her absence. I'm pulling a lot of 10-hour days and am just BEAT when I get home each night. That's ok though, I don't really mind. It's just that once I leave the office, my brain sort of shuts off. This would be fine except for the fact that I have LOTS of things to get done. Oh well, another issue for another time.

I have something MUCH more interesting to discuss: TRANSFERENCE.

It has finally happened. Once of my clients believes that she is in love with me. I know what you are thinking. Yes, there are a LOT of problems with that situation. However, it is a VERY well known, very common, and very OLD phenomenon.

Freud himself talked about transference. (not that I'm necessarily a big Freud fan, but the reference speaks to the age of the phenomenon)

For now, I'm going to be extremely professional about it. I have to be. I mean, in college, when we discussed it, I remember one of my professors explaining that "if you are even HALF good at therapy, it will happen to you at some point." So, I guess that, in a little bit of a twisted way, this is a compliment. It speaks to my ability to build good rapport and empathize with my clients.

I already know how I'm going to handle it. First, I will call her in to discuss it. You see, we have to get it "out on the table." Next, I will explain transference to her. Hopefully she will understand that she only THINKS that she is in love with me. Her FEELINGS are just a bit misdirected. I will attempt to work professionally and compassionately with her to move past the issue. If she is unable or unwilling to move past the transference, I will be forced to offer to transfer her to another therapist.

Let's hope it doesn't come to that. I like her, as a client, and I had thought we were making some progress. Oh well, we'll see.

[WARNING: SYNAPTIC FAILURE. CLEVER QUOTE UNAVAILABLE]

--Iton

Tell me about your mother......

WOW! Has it really been 2 entire weeks since I've written anything? My apologies to BOTH ;) of my regular readers.

Much has happened in the past 2 weeks. I think I will probably do multiple posts so that I can cover each topic individually. I think it will be easier to read as well.

First, the News! Paco has finally found the blog! I honestly don't know how much of it he has read, or if he continues to read it, but I have to assume that he's checking in from time to time. I'll admit, that fact makes me feel a little strange. But It's all good. This is a public forum and I knew full well that he would find it eventually.

The blog was never meant to be a secret, per se. It isn't like I was hiding it from him. But I'll tell ya, it was a touch strange to have him discussing issues with me that I had written about here. Eh, I'll adjust. Not a bad thing, just a little bit of a strange feeling. EVERYONE WELCOME PACO!!!!

Now to get Paco writing in his own blog. :)

"God, get out of bed, you'll miss the best part of the day!" "I don't want to get out of bed, and besides, I haven't invented the best part of the day yet. Yeahhhhhh, who's a clever kid?"

--Iton

How dumb do you have to be?

Ok, first, go read this article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/po/20070223/co_po/polishpresidentgayswouldendhumanrace.

Now, I dunno about anyone else, but it seems to me that the Polish President, and his equally icky twin-brother the Prime Minister, are hot for c*ck. Essentially, his message tells me that, unless we have rules preventing homosexuality, men will completely ignore women (yeah right, like that even COULD happen) and that women will completely ignore men. This would mean that NO heterosexual procreation would happen ANYWHERE in the world and thus our species would end.

It sounds to me like the Polish President WANTS to have sex with men, and men only, but that there are these pesky rules that force him to to use the "punanni" to satisfy his carnal desires. Are you all getting my point? Are you all getting his point?

How much of an idiot do a person have to be in order to be deemed unfit for life? Well, I don't have an answer except that this guy is close in my book.

Does he honestly think that if Poland passed a nondiscrimination or equal protection law (or something akin within their legal system) that ALL the men in Poland (and the world?) would INSTANTLY REJECT WOMEN in favor of men (for sexual purposes)? If he does, he's an undereducated, narrow-minded, short-sighted FOOL. I don't know about the rest of you out there, but I know plenty of straight men. And, with almost no exception, I can't imagine any of them having a thought process like this: "Oh, I'm ALLOWED to f*ck men now? Oh THANK GOD... Hey Susie, pack up your crap and get outta my house, I have guys to get to screwin!"

What a complete MORON!

To top it off, a large percentage of my ancestry is Polish. Not that I speak Polish, or even know much about the culture, but I AM of Polish descent. Makes me, almost, pine for designer gene-replacement therapy!

And now for the science part. Ok, let's suppose for, just a moment, that this blockhead is correct. Let's assume that ALL men in the world would have sex with other men, exclusively (Lol, I WISH!!!!!). Even if that were so, we still have the technology to have babies without having sexual intercourse. We have In-Vitro fertilization. We have the technology to transplant embryos. So, even if men and women never had sex together again, it would be FAR from the end of our species. Human beings have (in general) an innate desire to procreate. For most of us, we are biologically driven to have babies. Yes, in this scenario it would be a bit more difficult, but heck, maybe we could finally control who does and doesn't have babies. I've long advocated for people to be required to have a license to have a baby. Seriously, there are far too many people out there having children who REALLY shouldn't. Clearly Mr. Lech Kaczynski's parents are among them.

To the Polish President, his idiot twin brother, and all the other people in the world who think that somehow same-sex relations will destroy our cultures, societies, institutions, or even the world, NEED to read some scientific literature.

And really, as the President of an entire country, can you HONESTLY say that you don't have more important things to deal with / worry about then homosexuality??!!?!?! No wonder our world is in shambles. You should be worrying about Economics, employment, education, disease, terrorism and other security concerns, building relations with other nations and advancing the position of your people...NOT with whom they choose to fall in love or have sex! Talk about wasting taxpayer money. BUILD A ROAD, IMPROVE YOUR SCHOOLS, INCREASE MEDICAL RESEARCH, ADVANCE NOTIONS OF WORLD PEACE...ie...BE A FRICKIN PRESIDENT!!!!

(yes, these statements apply to my own government as well).

Morons.

"When I was born, I was so ugly that the Doctor took one look at me and slapped my mother!"

--Iton

What, what WHAT?!?!

Doesn't it just figure? Michigan's weather has been like a kinked hose this winter. It started off normally, then we became unseasonably warm. So warm in fact that it was RAINING (not snowing or icing) on New Year's Eve. Our cold weather had been held back like the flow of water from a kinked garden hose. Then, a few weeks ago, Mother Nature unkinked the hose. Now we are freezing our patooties off. We got dumped on last night. I don't know the official snow-fall measurements, but my driveway has snow drifts nearly 2 feet deep. YIKES!

What makes this a problem for me is that my snowblower took a crap. You see, my father had bought it, used, a number of years ago. He was a relatively frugal man. Not to say that he was "cheap" but rather not "wasteful."

To my knowledge the thing has never worked 100% correctly. This is my third winter with the snowblower (and this house) all to myself. It was always hard to start (pull-start, no electric starter on this baby). Unfortunately, this year, it won't get started at all.

I had intended to get it serviced earlier in the season. And, in fact, I have a place all lined up only like 2 miles from my house. The problem is that the damn thing is so big that it won't fit in my SUV. I have no way to get it to the service place. I tried to get my brother to help, since he has a pickup truck. You see, he drives 3 hours each way, every other weekend, to pick up and drop off his daughter. What REALLY blows is that he is really only available to help me on Sundays. Nothing that even smells like a snowblower service facility is even OPEN on Sundays.

So, here I sit. I'm a little snowed in (fortunately the SUV has no problem getting through the drifts), my snowblower is dead, help is so near and yet so far, and I feel like a jerk for not clearing the driveway and walkways that lead to my house.

Well, I'm still not sure what to do for this year, but Paco and I have been talking about next year. We are SOOOOO getting a killer replacement for this thing when we move. Mmmm, electric start, headlight, coffee maker, flight attendant, ALL the bells and whistles in a snowblower-overkill extravaganza.

But, for now, I need to strap the dogs to the sled to get the garbage to the curb. ;)

Ho hum, why oh why can't I just win the lottery so that I can buy that little private island that I want? I mean Really! It's ONLY $10 Million (I'm sure I have that in loose coin under the sofa cushion).

"My husband asked me if we had any Cheetos. Like he can't pick up the sofa cushion and look for himself!"

--Iton

Sick Sucks!

Ok, I've had this nasty cold for like a week and a half now. I did make it back to work for this week, but GEEZE. I'm am REALLY tired of hacking up multi-colored phlegm globbers.

How is it that we can put a man on The Moon, robots on Mars, probes in orbit of Saturn & Jupiter, stream TV & Podcasts over the Internet and have cars that (mostly) parallel-park themselves but we can't cure the common cold?

Yes, yes, I know that the cold virus mutates rapidly. Yes, yes I know there is a MAJOR financial incentive for cold-remedy companies to KEEP us getting sick. Yes, yes I've heard that there is a government conspiracy in place to keep us down. But I don't buy any of that.

Someone, somewhere can come up with an algorithm that predicts the mutation of the virus right? We DO have supercomputers that can, I'm told rather accurately, predict the outcomes of a multi-megaton nuclear detonation. How can we NOT be using those resources to quash the common cold? BULLPUCKEY!

We have supercomputer-like distributed computing networks working on similar problems (see Folding @ Home). And I don't have any problem with their work on Cancer, Alzheimer's, "Mad Cow", AIDS, Parkinson's or any other disease. But I think It's time to focus people. Certainly, parallel research can help in a multitude of areas. But maybe it is time to prioritize a bit? I propose the following:

1. Create a list (database) of all known viral pathogens.
2. Calculate the impact of each one based on number of unique infections per year, virulence, financial impact of those infections (things like lost productivity, time off work, sanitation, money spent on "remedies," health-care costs, insurance premium impact,...things like that).
3. Consolidate viral research resources including manpower, computing resources, financial resources, etc.
4. Develop an oversight committee to organize and direct the research for each virus so that we don't have lots of duplicate (i.e. WASTED) research going on.
   
5. Assign at least 50% of ALL the consolidated resources to the TOP virus (as calculated in #2 on this list) until it is wiped out. The remaining 50% of resources could be allocated in more subjective or liberal ways similar to what we have now I guess.
6. When the TOP virus is wiped out, the list shifts up and the 2nd TOP virus becomes the TOP virus and we repeat Step #5 on this list.

I think we could make some real progress (as human beings, not just Americans) on ticking items off that list. And, as more and more people become less and less sick, our "ability" to move down that list will speed up. I would IMAGINE that the TOP 5 viruses (if calculated today) could be cured within about 15 years (sure that is just a guess, but a pleasant one don't ya think?).

This, I think, would be a boon for humanity. Much more so than the TINY, incremental progress we make on hundreds or thousands or hundreds of thousands of different viruses each year.

What do you think? I would LOVE to have others' input on this issue. If I hear a good idea, I'll amend the STEPS accordingly.


"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" (at least when it comes to communicable diseases I think)

-Iton

Nothing Clever Today

Bleh!

I'm still sick. It sux. I'm calling off of work again today. I feel like a schmuck. I wanna go back to bed. :(

Why can't anyone come up with a REALLY capable web browser for the Palm Treo 650? Why does PocketPC get all the cool crap when Palm OS has been around forever and is, I'm told, very simple to program for, by comparison??

"Fire Baaad!"

--Iton

Sick and Twisted

Well, the ugly face of winter has finally decided to frown on Michigan. I'm not talking about the cold or the snow, those are facts of Michigan living. I'm talking about the gray, gloomy, cloudy, non-sunshiney days without end that we face here.

I can handle the cold. I can handle the snow. I can handle everyone forgetting how to drive, it's the serious lack of sunshine that gets me. I'm not the only one. Seasonal Affective Disorder (temporary increase in depression related to prolonged, reduced sunlight exposure) hits millions of us. Weeks without direct sunlight wreak havoc on our neurotransmitter activity. We get "down" or "blue" either automatically, or very easily. Yuck!

To top it off, it seems that I also tend to have immune problems that come with it as well. It seems that every year, in January, I get either a really bad cold, bronchitis or both. I have the cold now. I don't know if this is related to the sunlight as well, or if it is just coincidence, but I'll tell ya, it blows! (like my nose, EWWW!)

Speaking of things blowing...there has been a lot of talk in the past week or two about Presidential candidates. MY GOD!! Are we there again ALREADY? So far, I've heard the most about Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton announcing their possible White House bids. (Paco would toss his tacos if he saw this, but...) From what I've heard, I like them both. Granted, I don't know the full details about their political careers (I will be looking into those, however) but they both seem to be unique, strong, eager, energetic, clever, minority-mobilizing candidates. I suppose the next year will tell. Whatever the outcome, it will be REFRESHING to, FOR ONCE, actually have a CHOICE in candidates, rather than vote for the same guy with a different name. I WANT politicians who shake things up. I WANT politicians who aren't going to play "middle of the road" games (voters are MOTR, not the candidates). I WANT politicians who actually have views and opinions on things. I WANT LEADERS who will state their opinions rather than hide behind "exploratory committees" or "classified information." I WANT to KNOW where I stand with a candidate. Our last two presidential elections felt devoid of choice to me. This one already feels like choosing 1 scoop from Baskin Robbins' 31 tempting flavors.

Female President? You bet. Mixed-Race President? Sure, why not?! Republican President? Dear LORD not AGAIN!

"I feel like I've been wearing the same little, red dress forever!"

--Iton

Gateway, Get Away!

3 years ago, I helped my step-brother buy a laptop from Gateway. It has never been anything but a pain in his butt. It has been in and out of service so many times that I'm not sure how much of it is original machine.

It just so happens that it was recently damaged in a weird, pet-related accident. It was essentially destroyed. My step-brother wants to make a claim on his insurance to replace the laptop, which his policy covers nicely. The insurance company needs a full, as-purchased, configuration spec-sheet.

I figured that I could get this from Gateway's web page without incident. HO BOY was I wrong. Their site explains that this exact thing is available on the website, yet for the life of me I couldn't find it. I finally had to call. Can I please tell the ENTIRE WORLD that GATEWAY's customer support SUCKS BIG BLUE MONKEY C*CK! It took over 40 minutes on the phone (thank the heavens for Vonage) for the moron on the other end to tell me that this wasn't available on the website. When I read it to him, quoting the lines that specifically say otherwise, HE DIDN'T BELIEVE ME and had to look for himself. Turns out that, in order to get an as-purchased spec sheet for a gateway product, it has to be less than 1 year old (not stated on the webpage, nor at the time of original purchase) to be provided online. Otherwise, they will charge a $15 fee to send it to you.

You can bet I raised HOLY HELL with them. $15.00 for something that I should have received anyway. $15.00 for a 1-2 page printout that would take them about 5 seconds to pull up on THEIR gateway computers (which I bet always work just fine). $15.00 for something that they ADVERTISE as being available on their website. Heck even $1.00 for this would be too much IMHO.

With enough complaining, I finally got them to agree to fax it to me at work, without charge. They told me that it would be there in " a couple of hours." This was 2 days ago and I still don't have the fax.

Need I say anything more? Jerks!!!!

"You know that when Angie Harmon swears, it's serious!"

-Iton

Ambient Analog

Hmmm, I just received a return call from Ambient Devices (see my post from January 10, 2007). Today is the 18th. So, it took them 8 days to respond to a tech support call for help. Granted, the guy I spoke with apologized for the delay. He explained that the Customer Service department is trying to work their way out of the Christmas Deluge. Ok, I can buy that. I mean, even the iTunes store crumbled under the weight of a gazillion tweens, teens and adults pigging-out on downloaded content at Christmas.

The sad part about all this is that my Ambient Stock Orb (configured for weather forecasting) seems to be working fine now. When I explained this to the customer service guy, who was very nice actually (a refreshing change from Gateway, about whom I will complain later), he told me that for about a month, they had to move offices. It seems that there was a fire of some sort in their building and they had only been back in their original building for about a week. The fire and the return seem to coincide neatly with the problems I had and their resolution.

I'll tell ya, it would have saved me a TON of grief had Ambient just posted a little update right on their login page explaining that they had a fire and that service may be unreliable for a little while. That would have been all I needed. I'm sure that the folks over at ambient411.com would have appreciated this cheap, grief-saving technique as well.

So, here's the lesson, and LISTEN UP AMBIENT DEVICES, you are positioned as an innovative technology service company. We tech-savvy users, the ones who actually buy and use your products, EXPECT to be kept up to date on things like this. We are PAYING for your service and believe that we are ENTITLED to know when that service isn't working, why it isn't working, and when it is expected to be fixed. Innovative tech firms need to utilize OTHER innovative technologies like the, now barely innovative, corporate consumer webpage.

Ambient makes really cool, clever products. But, take a lesson from MCI/WORLDCOM, cool and innovative products won't save your collective butts when your business is mismanaged or neglectful of its PAYING customers.

"Bring it on!" "Its already been brought-ed!"

--Iton

Brannigan, Begin Again!

Holding myself accountable to the blogosphere...I'm back to my workouts on the Treadclimber.
I'm starting slow and working my way up, only using the treadmill part and not the "climber" part of the machine for now.

33 Minutes
288 Calories
Level 0 (Treadmill setting, refers to #of "stairs" to climb).

Why am I starting this again? Well, see my previous post about NOT making New Years' resolutions.

Also, I recently saw my new Rheumatologist. He believes (hard to say for sure until tests come back) that I probably have early Rheumatoid Arthritis. I'm 31 remember. Fortunately, x-rays show no bone or joint damage, yet. So, as we work toward designing a plan of attack, he adds to the list of things for me to do: #1 Lose Some Weight. #2 Wear GOOD shoes. #3 Come back in 3-4 weeks for test results.

Ok, I get it. My orthopedic, my internist and now my rheumatologist all telling me to get more active and / or to loose some weight. I was 223# the other day at the new doc's office (fully clothed and wearing shoes, and let's not forget that I'm 6'3" tall). My first big goal, weight-wise, is 215# over the next 3-4 weeks. It will make me happy if I weight in 7-10 pounds lighter at my follow up visit. Plus, I know my knees will be happier, and I'll HOPEFULLY drop this chronic yawning thing I have going.

This is NOT a resolution, but it is, hopefully, a(nother) beginning to a real lifestyle change. (Lol, right, we'll see)

--Iton

So, Brannigan, we begin again!

Ambient Devices' Ambient Attention.

If you know what an "Ambient Device" is (as made by Ambientdevices.com) then you know that they are supposed to be pretty cool things.

My Ambient Orb, however, has not been cooperating lately. It powers on, sees the network and will sync up to the data channel...but for some reason, it is not receiving regular updates. For example, right at this moment, it is snowing outside. (Seems that winter finally found Michigan) However, my orb is not "pulsing" like it is supposed to when there is precipitation. Ugh.

Could something else PLEASAE go wrong, or break, or fail to work in the first place? GEEZE!!!

CompCare or CrapCare?

If you work in the Mental Health Services field, you know what a pain in the rear it is to get authorizations for treatment from Managed Care Providers / Health Plan Management Companies. Filling out an OTR / CDF form can REALLY suck. I've had to do them for Value Options, HAP, UMH, and now CompCare.

First, let me give credit where it is due: The CompCare form is blessedly short (1 page compared to HAP's 3-page, redundant & overblown form). However, I'm really rather ticked that they even USE a form like this. I mean, it takes time to fill one of these out, regardless of whether or not you know it has to be done. Additionally, CompCare pays the LEAST amount for services out of ALL the managed Care Companies that we deal with, LESS than HALF of the highest payer. Add to that the fact that most MH providers work on a contract basis (we get a percentage of what is collected for services, usually between 40%-55% depending on the contract where we work), and we're dealing with a situation where I might make $33 (Pre-Tax) on one of these sessions. ALSO, I have to call in every 5 sessions or so, fill out and send in this form, leave a voicemail for a "representative" to call me back, AND they ONLY return calls for 3 hours in the morning. ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING ME?

ALL these hoops they make us jump through, while paying less and less (relatively speaking) every year for the same MENTAL HEALTH services. I'll tell ya, I only have my CompCare clients because their insurance switched midway through their treatment. I WON'T be taking any more clients who use CompCare. I'm sorry, it just isn't worth the hassle for the pittance they pay.

I'll talk crap about HAP all day long, their 3 page CDF form is just dumb. They do not provide an electronic form, meaning they really kind of expect us to hand write the whole thing, and there is redundant information requested on it (how this keeps costs down is beyond me). However, they pay reasonably well. Yes, they ask A LOT of us, but they do pay accordingly. I can live with that.

CompCare, you are CrapCare. I hope you go out of business, get the bejeezus sued out of you, AND end up in a "Corporate Accounting Scandal."

"It was a MONUMENTAL, BLOODY, BUGGERY cock-up of GLOBAL proportions!"

Bluetooth Sweet-Tooth

All right, here's the deal. I've been looking for a GOOD, bluetooth keyboard and mouse set for almost a year now. For the most part, Logitech and Microsoft had the only offerings. I did my research and found that most people who dared to comment weren't happy with the Logitech offerings, and I have no desire for the split-keyboard or mushy key-feel of the Microsoft offerings. Also, there were the issues of PRICES!!! HOLY EXPENSIVE BATMAN!

I finally found a decent offering from Dell (Yes, Dell). The Dell Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Bundle ($89.00 at www.dell.com) got me kind of har...er...excited. I had it listed on my gift list registry for Xmas, but no one took the hint. So, after Christmas, I decided to buy it for myself.

I've been using the set for about 2 days so far. I'm actually pretty pleased. I'm using the set at work, paired to my Fujitsu Lifebook P1510D. Let me tell you that any keyboard and/or mouse is going to get a workout in this setting. The keyboard is substantial, and has a really good feel to it. I think the typing feel is even better than the wired Dell keyboards that I have used in the past (and which I like very much). The mouse feels a little odd, but I think that I'm just adjusting to a full-size mouse from a mini-travel mouse.

The mouse paired to the laptop's built-in bluetooth like a dream, it worked right, the first time, and with no hassle. The keyboard complained a little, but after a few attempts I finally got it working.

When folks talk about bluetooth mice and keyboards, there is always a discussion about LAG time. Yes, both of these products (or 1 product if you consider the set a single product) utilize a "sleep mode" so that your batteries (2 in each, size AA, duracell brand included) don't die prematurely. When you move the mouse at all, it snaps out of sleep mode and jumps right to work. I'd estimate that it takes less than a second. They keyboard take about a second and a half (but will still send your keystrokes when it wakes up...NICE). Once that is passed, you're working along like nothing ever happened. It is a very small annoyance, but one that is acceptable, considering the battery issues.

For the price, feel, usability, features, and even the aesthetic style, I'm a very happy camper. I didn't install the CD that came with the set at all. Yet, somehow, all the special features on the keyboard and mouse work fine. Hmmmmm. Also, I didn't install the USB bluetooth adapter that came with the set. The WHOLE POINT of buying a bluetooth set up was so that I didn't have to plug anything else into the laptop. If I'm plugging and unplugging all the time, USB would be fine.

So, Now I have the bluetooth keyboard and mouse that I wanted. I like how they feel and respond. I'm mostly pleased with the ease of installation. I'm not happy that the PIN for the mouse wasn't listed anywhere in the documentation (at least not that I saw), but I took a wild guess, and the Bluetooth Pairing Pin for the mouse is "0000" just like some other peripherals I've used. The keyboard automatically generates a new one each time you try and pair it.

If you've been looking for a bluetooth keyboard and mouse set, take it from a VERY picky consumer, the Dell offering is a good buy, and I HIGHLY recommend it.

"How many licks does it take to get to the center of Tootsie-Roll Pop? 1...2...3...THREE!"

Back to the Grind

Ugh. Is there anything worse than returning to work after a holiday break?

Even more strange is that I have to work today, and Paco doesn't, he took an extra day off. :(

I guess the upside is that I will be receiving my Christmas presents to myself at the office today. :) Paco yells at me for buying myself things near a holiday. I get it. So I waited until after to buy myself some much needed computer stuff for the office. I didn't plan for the stuff to get there on my first day back, but it sure helped to get my butt outta bed. :)

My whole body feels like I've been beaten with a 2x4. Ok, it's not that bad, really, I'm just still sore with the back thing. Another day or so and I'll be all good. I just felt like whining.

Clearly I have nothing interesting to say this morning, so I'll cut it short.

HERE'S TO BUYING YOURSELF WHATEVER YOU DIDN'T GET FROM OTHERS!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)

--Iton

In Like a Lamb.

Here it is, the 1st day of 2007. It's cool, but not cold. It's wet, but not snowy, and it's daylight, but rather grey. Yes this is about the most atypical weather I've ever seen in Detroit, Michigan on New Years Day (and NYE for that matter). I'm 31 years old and have spent almost every one of those years in Michigan for NYE. My only comparisons are the very few I spent in Arizona with family. This weather is VERY weird. Who says that there is no Global Warming??????

I'm a bit grumpy because I've spent the last 2 days partially laid up with a pulled muscle in my back. Ugh, back, shoulder, neck, all on the same side, all painfully tweaked! :( So, suffice it to say that my New Year's Eve was kinda dull.

Now, don't get me wrong, Paco was here, he had our cheap Champagne (Mmmm J. Roget), and our kiss at midnight. These were, of course, the important things.

Now, as for resolutions, I don't generally do them. I'm not a fan of making goals for the sake of making goals. If you've been reading this blog from the beginning, you know I'm not good at keeping up with arbitrary goals anyway. ;)

That being said, there are things that I would like to do this year. They are small goals that lead up to my major goals.

1. Learn everything I can about the business. Since I'm going to be a partner by the end of the year, I need to know what I'm doing.
2. Attend at least 3, maybe 4 professional seminars. (I have the first one scheduled for late January).
3. Finish editing my house. I still have lots of things to go through that were left behind by my father and my grandparents. Stuff's gotta go, and I need to have a Garage Sale.
4. Make some improvements to my home so that it will sell for the best possible price. Our Real Estate Agent, Tim, has given us some very useful suggestions.
5. Increase my general level of exercise. I'm not going to say that I need to lose "x" number of pounds or be at the gym "x" number of days. I've learned I don't stick to those things. But, a more general increase in activity is welcome.

That's all for goals at the moment. I do have more, but good lord, I can't imagine you want to read all of that crap. ;)

Well, starting soon, Paco and I are going to start our own 'Blog together. We've discussed it, and decided that we will write it from the perspective of my cat. Yeah Yeah, I know, it sounds lame. But trust me, it will be funny. We anthropomorphize him all the time anyway. In fact, he has a running commentary on our lives, and "he's" quite funny. I'll post the link here when we decide where to host it. It might likely mean the end of this blog, but that's OK. You'll still be able to see what I'm up to through the cat's eyes.

So, Happy New Year! All the best to you and your family in this, FINALLY, Saddam-Free next trip around the Sun.

Ciao for now!

"You're a fabulous, wonderful individual. Anything you do is all right by me. And remember, I've known you longer than your daughter...can I take your car?"