I was away again this weekend... this time taking Friday off to go to King's Dominion for King's Fest with the youth group.  I lucked out and didn't have to drive the rented van the whole way, just a little while on the way there and about half way back.  That thing drove like a cardboard box in a gust of wind.  Didn't get to hit the whole park, but the little crew of kiddos that I ran with liked the coasters, so we hit a lot of the good stuff.

In the evenings we went to the amphitheatre for the music, so I got to see Matthew West, The Newsboys, and Sidewalk Prophets.  The girls that were in my room were well behaved and fell asleep earlier than I would have expected them to, so at least I got some rest, but I still could use a nap now that I'm home.  I'm very glad I went and didn't blow it off because it was a mere week after my return from vacation.

I already made a quick stop at Fritz's to stock back up on fresh fruit for the week.  I did eat some stuff I shouldn't have this weekend.  But  my legs and feet didn't hurt at all, I probably needed to get more walking in than we did in the park.  Now to go get the girls from camp, again.  Bring on my next 4 day work week :D

I have to brag a little because I've been doing a superb job out of the gate on my exercise regime.  I've worked out each day since I've been back, cut back on quantity and adjusted choices on food.  I will be winning my dietbet.  There is no other option.  As a bonus I'm also getting to watch movies I haven't seen in quite a while as a good distraction while I'm on my workout equipment.
 
Yes, this was part of my plan to kick in after vacation for nearly two months, but I acknowledge that I have a little more motivation and enthusiasm for it for external reasons.  I think the push started when I started talking to someone of promise from a dating website and when a friend noted they wanted to introduce me to someone else.  Neither of those have resulted in meeting the people to this point, but the thought of not being at a weight I'd want to be at in order to meet them was definitely an eye opener.  Yeah yeah, other reasons too.  But those reasons have also motivated me to add butt toning exercises too.  It's win-win.

I guess I should post an update, lest my readership start to think "man, what a jerk - he didn't reply?"  He did.  The first reply was a bit of a let down, but not mean in any way, and it said things I had already had some time to process and get past.  The second however gave me some hope.  We're talked... and we'll see what happens.  I think someone is as guilty as I often am - for thinking too much about things.  There was some wording used that made me realize a few other things I hadn't put a label on before.  He _is_ my best guy friend right now.  With that realization I'm even happier that I didn't sit silently and potentially relive the regrets of the distant past.

I can tell you I slept well last night and I've had a smile on my face more often than not today.  That'll do for now.

Oh Mr Blunt, spot on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUkLOUNxP8A

 

I've waffled on posting about this, but too bad, I don't care if this post is found.  My blog is where I spill what I need to spill.  I'm nearly heartbroken at the moment and I need the comfort of my blog-friend.  I tripped over my own two feet for a long time friend pretty fast recently and, for some stupid reason (perhaps not having learned from the terrible replies I received from guys after expressing interest in the past) I decided to tell him.  It did at least allow me to sleep (a bit) but it hasn't alleviated the churning in my stomach.  If anything it has made it worse - mostly because I can hear crickets.  I guess that's better than a scathing reply, but I wouldn't expect something cold and rude from this person, that isn't who they seem to be.  (Of course, I don't think guys realize how horrible the silence is too.)

For quite a few years I've had friends who are really great guys, you know - the ones that they were good looking, had good jobs, were kind, sweet, smart, worked hard etc - they were perfect on paper, but I never had _those_ type of feelings for them.  As a few got married you feel the sting.  Not only does it force you to reflect that you have not found the one but you have to remind yourself that you didn't have feelings THAT is why you never tried to snag them up when they were single.

At the same time I say curse those feelings.  I've dated a few guys that were good on paper and learned quickly that I couldn't manufacture feelings.  I've also dated one that I was very drawn to, but it still wasn't the same.  I've been in love before and I want that again.  At the same time to have a knotted stomach and racing heart filled with anxiety at the deafening silence isn't fun.  I've had this three times (counting the present) in my life time.  We all know how the first time turned out.  The second time I was batting out of my league (yes, the one that I am sure will have beautiful, but stupid babies, w/ his gal).

Through the years I have also learned that if you're avoiding dating someone or seeing someone and questioning the relationship by making excuses of why it won't work then you should just leave because, to use a very over used quote "you're just not that into him".  Heaven knows when you get that spark you're willing to toss aside these petty issue.  In this case age differences or distance... and even the fear of loosing a good friend.  The other lesson I have to share is that there are some people that you narrowly miss due to other people and you end up regretting it (ask me about convincing my high school woulda shoulda to take my best friend to the prom).

I guess what I'm saying is with my batting average I will never be a professional at dating or love.  I'm still terrified right now.

The good news is I had some motivation today.  Being on vacation for nearly two weeks will do that.  As a result I...

Scrubbed the bathroom, and I don't mean just the fixtures, I mean I washed down the walls and everything in there, changed out the shower curtain liner, and washed the curtain.  That was obscenely over due.  Heck, the rest of the house is due for wall washing too, but motivation remains thin all too often.

Got my second work out in (one last night and one today) as part of a dietbet game that I'm participating in - thanks for introducing me to this website goes to Sweet Georgia Tea, she's been having great success on there and I'm hoping the thought of loosing money will keep me in gear.  Best case scenario I make a couple of extra bucks back.

Went to Fritz's and snagged some fruit and veggies to get me through the week on healthy foods.  Of course, my stomach is still rather unsettled and I'm not feeling much like eating anyhow.  I guess this will help the diet, so I'll take it.

Ran to Home Depot to grab replacement light bulbs and another shower head for the apartment.  Of course, the bulbs for the friggin kitchen lights are like $9 a piece.  I did go put those things in place.  I still don't get how the shower head that was in there worked fine when I put it back up 3 months ago but it was down to barely a trickle of water.  Whatever, that should be the last of apartment work other than showing it.  Speaking of which it is also posted.

I should get most if not all of my vacation photos up to shutterfly tonight.  That's the only crappy thing is that it often takes 2-3 days of uploading photos ALL DAY to get everything backed up and ready to share.  Our internet connections stink.  In the mean time it slows down everything else I've been trying to accomplish online.

Watched three movies.  Yep, three.  I realized I hadn't watched my favorites in a while, so in went High Fidelity, When Harry Met Sally, and Sixteen Candles.  If I can't find anything on tv at this point I might need to throw in Clerks too.

It has been a while, but I have a good excuse.  As you can probably guess, I was out to sea yet again.  This time we headed out on June 8th to Fort Lauderdale by way of Baltimore.  Spent the night at the same hotel as this past January and had a better experience since there was only two ships leaving that day instead of 4 or 5.

We got to Vision of the Seas bright and shiny on June 9th with no issues and got ourselves acquainted with our room.  The prices were right when booking, so we ended up with another aft balcony (extra large balcony) which is awesome since there was three of us (Beff, Eggs, and I).  The slightly creepy factor (at least judging by a few of the workers faces when we noted this fact to them) was that we were back in the same room number that we had on Grandeur when she caught fire (also an aft balcony, but a junior suite there rather than a balcony stateroom).

Overall this trip was more about relaxing than many before it have been.  It was a 10 nighter with three and a half sea days and a unique itinerary that this ship is only doing three times.  Of course the activities during the sea days weren't as frequent as they have been on other trips too, so that helped, but none of us (especially not me) minded the naps that we were able to take.

Our first stop, on the 11th, was in Charleston, SC where we headed out and to the ferry to go to the USS Yorktown.  Along side of her was an old submarine and the USS Laffey.  After returning to the peninsula we walked along Market Street and did a little window shopping at the booths before stopping at Kaminsky's for a delightful treat.  From there a quick walk down along Rainbow Row and it was time to head back to the ship.  A great visit, but it was rather warm that day.

From there we headed back to Bermuda once again.  In the near two full days we had there (3pm on the 13th through 6:30pm on the 15th)we did a little shopping, visited Spittal Pond, and went to the Keep right there at King's Wharf.  I'm pretty sure it was the end of the day out on the island on the 14th that Eggs surprised the heck out of me, but that's all I have to say about that.

On to Nassau Bahamas where we took the jitney to Ardastra Gardens (which has been on my to do list for quite a while).  It was okay, not awesome, but I'm glad we went.  Of course, we had to stop at Sr Frogs for a quick sippy sippy too.

Then to close out at Cococay, which we shockingly made it to - even with Beff along!  (You see, until this trip she was 0 for 2 on getting there whereas I was 100% success when I went w/o her.  I do believe the place has a curse and it came for her.  Shortly after arriving a bird crapped on her and at lunch they attacked her plate like vultures.

Our table mates were once again all awesome folks, so we made even more new friends for future cruises (I hope).  I guess I need to get planning for the next one.

Why why why am I awake?  I had quite they busy day yesterday so you'd think I'd still be curled up all comfy cozy in my bed.  I was up early on Saturday scooping the yard and sweeping fur and scrubbing floors in the basement.  There was other cleaning to cross off of the list and then it was time to sit for a few at the salon where I got a long overdue pedicure.  A spot of lunch and back home for a little more cleaning before changing clothes and catching a ride with my Aunt and Uncle to Altoona for another Aunt's surprise 80th birthday party.

When I was little most of my cousins were 7-18 years older than me.  As you can imagine I wasn't one they hung out with etc.  I've often been a bit jealous to see posts on facebook noting that some of them got together.  They say your first friends in life are your cousins, and I did spend some time with one or two, moreso the one closest to my age, but you know how that goes when there is such an age difference with most.  So last night to get asked by a cousin what I was doing after, and telling me they were doing a bonfire?  How awesome.  Too bad I rode down with family and needed to get back up the hill, but I'm to let him know the next time I'll be down for an evening.  Getting in around 9:30 and not hitting bed until I could barely hold my head up any longer... again, I repeat why am I awake right now?

I need to note that on Friday night I had dinner with the same Aunt and Uncle and made a batch of brownies in my new pan - a bit of an experiment really creating a smores brownie.  While they looked like hell, they were delightful.

I find it crazy that Verizon is trying to accuse Netflixs of giving them a black eye.  As a customer who does NOT use Netflix I can tell you that I wouldn't expect it to actually work, so why bother?  There is no way w/ my .5 / 1.1 connection that I'd get a decent stream.  If I want to watch a youtube video I pause it and allow it to load for a while before starting it.  Plus the connection doesn't stay up, often when I come home I have to turn the router off and back on again, and sometimes it just stops suddenly during use as it did last night, requiring another reboot.

I logged into my account to look at something this morning and was met with an advertisement embedded within for RedBox, which makes me laugh, touché?
 
The sad part is my options for DSL, since I don't have cable are:  Verizon, Verizon, or Verizon.  Heck, even my DirecTV no longer offers their own service but will does offers a bundle with - yep, you guessed it!  Why can't we get competition to service the area as well?

Vixie's old age was showing again this morning and moreso than her need to go outside at the wee hours as the sky just started to brighten.  As I allowed her out the back door I saw the critter, fortunately on the other side of the fence.  As my eyes focused in on it I realized it wasn't a cat, but instead a possum.  If you recall a few years ago I had to go drag Vix in as she stood barking on the opposite side of the fence from a possum that was hissing at her and standing its ground.

She did notice it pretty fast, so the eyes are still good to go, but instead of running for the back fence she started walking with an intent look.  The possum made it to the far right side and turned around heading back to the left.  Let's put it this way, Vix never got close enough to it for it to even give a care that she had her eyes trained on it. So what I expected to be a noisy first thing in the morning turned out just interesting to watch.

The first pass checking things off in the apartment is complete.  Now for the actual cleaning activities... but that's the start of this weekend, and because I'm lazy as snot, not on my to do list, fortunately, as there is plenty else on there.

Today must be the day for finding amusing things through LinkedIn.  First, a former coworker linked to someone with the last name Manlove.  I'm sorry, but that's funny.
 
Then while looking up the location of another company I see on Google maps that it is near Massengill's Auto Service.  That makes me giggle and think ew! all at once.  That is all.

Woohoo!  This morning I noted that my retirement funds crested above another point for celebration.  Little things... I'm getting there.  I can only imagine where my savings would be if I had still had a two income house for the past 10 years.  I think we would have had some serious bank.