- Signed: Matthew Hartman
- Filed under activities , health , lifestyles , storm chasing , work .
So, I contracted a cold like 3 weeks ago... I take my typical "prescription" of NyQuil and a good 7 or 8 hours of sleep and viola, the cold is gone. But, here it is three weeks later - and I'm still hacking away. It's definitely not the way I'd like to be enjoying my days in late June or early July.
So, what have you all been up to? It's been a while, I know... While I've been fairly active over in the WeatherBlog over the past several weeks, my activity here in L.C.C. has suffered some. I apologize.
Random thoughts still swirl around in my head, believe me. I just haven't been motivated to write them out and explain them further. I may just decide to do just this, this weekend.
I have this weekend off work and really, it couldn't have come at a better time. If any of you have followed along, at all, over on the WeatherBlog, you've noticed that the last couple of weeks have been very active on the chase-front. So, as a result, I've been doing a lot of driving and traveling lately. I certainly don't mind (I always enjoy a good road trip, especially if it involves storm chasing), but it can burn out a brother, you know! :) Especially when you've done it 3 out of the last 5 days and five times over the course of the first eleven days of July!
Case in point, we were chasing Thursday out in central portions of North Dakota and had to bust ass to get back Grand Forks by midnight because I had to work the 12 to 8am shift! For the record, I was ten minutes late, I'll confess, but it didn't really affect my work for the rest of the shift. I then woke up Friday afternoon, only to head East - this time, to chase storms into Western areas of Minnesota. Needless to say, it's been a long past 24-48 hours for your's truly. I'm going to get some much needed rest tonight and plan on heading down to the Farmer's Market downtown to check out the local fare with Mr. Shaw during the afternoon. I'm hoping there will be some kind of selection of vegetables or maybe some fruit. The produce will probably be slightly limited given the time of year, but we'll see.
Tomorrow night - the only plans I have set involve myself, my couch, my television, a few DVD's and a gallon of ice cream. ;)
Sunday, I need to head down to Fargo to pick up my Debit Card that has been sitting at Thai Orchid. We went for Thai food a few nights ago and I left the card sitting on the table. I called the place and they were nice enough to seal the thing up in an envelope for me and told me they would hold it for me for as long as I needed. Which was great, since I didn't particularly want to drive all that way just to pick up a stinking credit/debit card. It will give me an opportunity to maybe get more Thai food and a reason to drop by the Asian Market. I'd love to get that Vietnamese Soup I used to get from my mom all the time. It's the only place I know of around here that stocks the stuff, so I really want to get some. Shaw wants to come along, as well, to check out the place and since he may come, I may as well invite Lawson and Heather, since they love the Thai.
It should be a good day - Thai food and Vietnamese soup. Two of my favorite foods, ever! Until then, though... I'll be working on post-processing and uploading of photos. I have four chase-days worth of photos I need to go through and get uploaded to my photo gallery. So, the weekend off will give me an opportunity to get that done...
Stay healthy, everyone else... And stay tuned...
So, what have you all been up to? It's been a while, I know... While I've been fairly active over in the WeatherBlog over the past several weeks, my activity here in L.C.C. has suffered some. I apologize.
Random thoughts still swirl around in my head, believe me. I just haven't been motivated to write them out and explain them further. I may just decide to do just this, this weekend.
I have this weekend off work and really, it couldn't have come at a better time. If any of you have followed along, at all, over on the WeatherBlog, you've noticed that the last couple of weeks have been very active on the chase-front. So, as a result, I've been doing a lot of driving and traveling lately. I certainly don't mind (I always enjoy a good road trip, especially if it involves storm chasing), but it can burn out a brother, you know! :) Especially when you've done it 3 out of the last 5 days and five times over the course of the first eleven days of July!
Case in point, we were chasing Thursday out in central portions of North Dakota and had to bust ass to get back Grand Forks by midnight because I had to work the 12 to 8am shift! For the record, I was ten minutes late, I'll confess, but it didn't really affect my work for the rest of the shift. I then woke up Friday afternoon, only to head East - this time, to chase storms into Western areas of Minnesota. Needless to say, it's been a long past 24-48 hours for your's truly. I'm going to get some much needed rest tonight and plan on heading down to the Farmer's Market downtown to check out the local fare with Mr. Shaw during the afternoon. I'm hoping there will be some kind of selection of vegetables or maybe some fruit. The produce will probably be slightly limited given the time of year, but we'll see.
Tomorrow night - the only plans I have set involve myself, my couch, my television, a few DVD's and a gallon of ice cream. ;)
Sunday, I need to head down to Fargo to pick up my Debit Card that has been sitting at Thai Orchid. We went for Thai food a few nights ago and I left the card sitting on the table. I called the place and they were nice enough to seal the thing up in an envelope for me and told me they would hold it for me for as long as I needed. Which was great, since I didn't particularly want to drive all that way just to pick up a stinking credit/debit card. It will give me an opportunity to maybe get more Thai food and a reason to drop by the Asian Market. I'd love to get that Vietnamese Soup I used to get from my mom all the time. It's the only place I know of around here that stocks the stuff, so I really want to get some. Shaw wants to come along, as well, to check out the place and since he may come, I may as well invite Lawson and Heather, since they love the Thai.
It should be a good day - Thai food and Vietnamese soup. Two of my favorite foods, ever! Until then, though... I'll be working on post-processing and uploading of photos. I have four chase-days worth of photos I need to go through and get uploaded to my photo gallery. So, the weekend off will give me an opportunity to get that done...
Stay healthy, everyone else... And stay tuned...
0 conundrum(s) | Have one of your own?
- Signed: Matthew Hartman
- Filed under activities , Chicago Cubs , sports , weather , work .
I'm updating the weatherBlog and the Version blog for the WCN tonight and figure I may as well enter a post here as well.
Boy, you know, you'd be surprised how much a few great days in the weather department can do for your spirits. I had the weekend off and with the weather being so nice, I have been taking the opportunity to spend a lot of time outdoors. Over the course of the past week, I have, actually.
I've been doing a lot of walking, running, jogging, riding the bike, and yesterday enjoyed my first afternoon of basketball of 2008. Shaw, Darren and I met up at Prime Steel Park to shoot around. Honestly, I thought more people would show up since it was so nice, but considering I didn't get an E-mail out at work until Thursday, I imagine some people received the message late. It was nice, either way, to get out and enjoy the weather. Also of note, I've had the windows open in my apartment for the last two days straight. Even though we've been dropping back into the upper 20's at night, it hasn't been all that bad in the apartment. I turned the heat down a little, but it is still on. It has been comfortable and refreshing.
I'm back at work tomorrow, but out of the 4-day stretch this week, three of the shifts are Office Shifts. I'll be taking plenty of this time to work on the WeatherCam Network. I have many, many cams to add, a lot of others to edit or remove, and need to update the database. I'm beginning to catalog all the cams I have (active or not) so I can keep them all straight. It's going towards a collaborative effort, as well, with a guy down in Kansas that I'm working with sporadically. I need to get an updated file to him. I haven't done so in probably a month or more...
So, otherwise, I'm feeling good, yes. I've been in a pretty good mood lately. The Cubbies are winning and my chase trip is getting closer! Can't beat that...
Speaking of, I saw a sign at Wrigley today, while watching the game on WGN.
Three things I want:
1.) A Cubs win
2.) Girlfriend
3.) A new job
Hahaha... With the exception of #3, I pretty much agree!
Boy, you know, you'd be surprised how much a few great days in the weather department can do for your spirits. I had the weekend off and with the weather being so nice, I have been taking the opportunity to spend a lot of time outdoors. Over the course of the past week, I have, actually.
I've been doing a lot of walking, running, jogging, riding the bike, and yesterday enjoyed my first afternoon of basketball of 2008. Shaw, Darren and I met up at Prime Steel Park to shoot around. Honestly, I thought more people would show up since it was so nice, but considering I didn't get an E-mail out at work until Thursday, I imagine some people received the message late. It was nice, either way, to get out and enjoy the weather. Also of note, I've had the windows open in my apartment for the last two days straight. Even though we've been dropping back into the upper 20's at night, it hasn't been all that bad in the apartment. I turned the heat down a little, but it is still on. It has been comfortable and refreshing.
I'm back at work tomorrow, but out of the 4-day stretch this week, three of the shifts are Office Shifts. I'll be taking plenty of this time to work on the WeatherCam Network. I have many, many cams to add, a lot of others to edit or remove, and need to update the database. I'm beginning to catalog all the cams I have (active or not) so I can keep them all straight. It's going towards a collaborative effort, as well, with a guy down in Kansas that I'm working with sporadically. I need to get an updated file to him. I haven't done so in probably a month or more...
So, otherwise, I'm feeling good, yes. I've been in a pretty good mood lately. The Cubbies are winning and my chase trip is getting closer! Can't beat that...
Speaking of, I saw a sign at Wrigley today, while watching the game on WGN.
Three things I want:
1.) A Cubs win
2.) Girlfriend
3.) A new job
Hahaha... With the exception of #3, I pretty much agree!
0 conundrum(s) | Have one of your own?
- Signed: Matthew Hartman
- Filed under activities , volleyball , work .
Yes, very frustrated... Not only did we lose again in volleyball tonight, we lost a set 24 to 23. So close and we still find a way to lose. It's getting ridiculous and it really showed from me tonight. I managed to give away the second set all by myself by giving game point to our opponent with the lousiest serve ever. And with that, I stormed off the court - not before punting the ball as hard as I could into the air, though. It probably was not the classiest move, but it showed just how frustrated I really was... I quite frankly sat out several minutes before re-joining my team back on the court. They had decided to play one more game, for fun. Since it's only taken 15-20 minutes for us to get our asses handed to us, it's pretty much routine now. Heh...
Anyhow, I sat to the side, watched my teammates play for a while, took a few drinks of water, then walked and paced for a while to cool my jets. I'm not going to abandon my team, that's for sure, so I re-joined the game a short time later.
I really need to keep convincing myself that we all joined this league for fun, not really to be competitive. My teammates and I realize that we are not professional volleyball players, by any means. And knew going in that we probably were not going to be a very good team. But, we also knew going in that we were going into a league that was comparable in experience. I'm not sure of my fellow teammates, but I certainly thought we would have a pretty good chance to win some games.
The first two losses weren't that bad for me... The third started to concern me a little, the fourth, last week was frustrating. The fourth, tonight, just out-right pissed me off. We had a complete team tonight, with the exception of Lawson not being here. We had a couple of replacements to fill in for Mike. We had six players and not only that, we had three guys and three girls. An equal number of guys and girls is pretty important in the co-ed leagues and typically puts you at an advantage. In co-ed leagues at Center Court, they have a rule that if you hit the ball more than once and it goes over the net, a girl has to touch the ball at least once. The past couple of weeks it hasn't been as much of an issue since we're getting use to the rule, but it has still hurt us on several occasions, costing us points. I was, personally, liable for two points tonight because I had misplayed the ball because of that rule.
So, as you can see, even having a complete and balanced team, still isn't working for us. Our replacements tonight, even had experience. Jill came to us as a volleyball player - as in, she's been involved in organized, competitive volleyball. Chase, while not quite as experienced, was a good player and is pretty athletic. These components aren't working for us either...
So, what's the solution? I really have no idea... I know I could play much better and really should try playing without the emotion and competitiveness and just play to have fun. It would probably keep me loose and might just allow me to focus a little better. And like we all have agreed on, if we could just find time and a place to practice, we would all probably be a little better. I certainly would be if I just knew how to serve overhand. I'm pretty much forced to serve underhand - I have no idea how to do it any other way. I've tried overhand a grand total of four times in the 5 games we've played and only one actually went over the net, in play. Two others sailed wide right and WAY out of play... While the other - we still haven't found where the ball went. heheh...
We are making strides, though... We are much better than the first two games we played. We're setting the ball for each other - we did very little of that through the first two games and last week, we scored 17 points in one set (the most we had scored since week one) and we actually made it a game tonight in the first set before losing that nail-biter 24 to 23. We'll be without a few people over the next 2-3 weeks again, so hopefully we'll find replacements and I'm really, really hoping we find our way to a victory sooner or later... I'm severely hoping sooner...
On another note, I have the next two days off work. I have several things I really need to get done. I desperately need a hair cut... I need to get the battery terminals on the car fixed... And I really need to get back to work on the Webcam Network once again. I've been putting it off a lot over the last couple of weeks.
At the same time, though, I want to do some relaxing and slow down some. I've been working a lot over the past two weeks. In fact, I have worked 14 days out of the last 16. These 6 and 7 day stretches have really killed me... Bleh!
More later... I'm sure...
Anyhow, I sat to the side, watched my teammates play for a while, took a few drinks of water, then walked and paced for a while to cool my jets. I'm not going to abandon my team, that's for sure, so I re-joined the game a short time later.
I really need to keep convincing myself that we all joined this league for fun, not really to be competitive. My teammates and I realize that we are not professional volleyball players, by any means. And knew going in that we probably were not going to be a very good team. But, we also knew going in that we were going into a league that was comparable in experience. I'm not sure of my fellow teammates, but I certainly thought we would have a pretty good chance to win some games.
The first two losses weren't that bad for me... The third started to concern me a little, the fourth, last week was frustrating. The fourth, tonight, just out-right pissed me off. We had a complete team tonight, with the exception of Lawson not being here. We had a couple of replacements to fill in for Mike. We had six players and not only that, we had three guys and three girls. An equal number of guys and girls is pretty important in the co-ed leagues and typically puts you at an advantage. In co-ed leagues at Center Court, they have a rule that if you hit the ball more than once and it goes over the net, a girl has to touch the ball at least once. The past couple of weeks it hasn't been as much of an issue since we're getting use to the rule, but it has still hurt us on several occasions, costing us points. I was, personally, liable for two points tonight because I had misplayed the ball because of that rule.
So, as you can see, even having a complete and balanced team, still isn't working for us. Our replacements tonight, even had experience. Jill came to us as a volleyball player - as in, she's been involved in organized, competitive volleyball. Chase, while not quite as experienced, was a good player and is pretty athletic. These components aren't working for us either...
So, what's the solution? I really have no idea... I know I could play much better and really should try playing without the emotion and competitiveness and just play to have fun. It would probably keep me loose and might just allow me to focus a little better. And like we all have agreed on, if we could just find time and a place to practice, we would all probably be a little better. I certainly would be if I just knew how to serve overhand. I'm pretty much forced to serve underhand - I have no idea how to do it any other way. I've tried overhand a grand total of four times in the 5 games we've played and only one actually went over the net, in play. Two others sailed wide right and WAY out of play... While the other - we still haven't found where the ball went. heheh...
We are making strides, though... We are much better than the first two games we played. We're setting the ball for each other - we did very little of that through the first two games and last week, we scored 17 points in one set (the most we had scored since week one) and we actually made it a game tonight in the first set before losing that nail-biter 24 to 23. We'll be without a few people over the next 2-3 weeks again, so hopefully we'll find replacements and I'm really, really hoping we find our way to a victory sooner or later... I'm severely hoping sooner...
On another note, I have the next two days off work. I have several things I really need to get done. I desperately need a hair cut... I need to get the battery terminals on the car fixed... And I really need to get back to work on the Webcam Network once again. I've been putting it off a lot over the last couple of weeks.
At the same time, though, I want to do some relaxing and slow down some. I've been working a lot over the past two weeks. In fact, I have worked 14 days out of the last 16. These 6 and 7 day stretches have really killed me... Bleh!
More later... I'm sure...
0 conundrum(s) | Have one of your own?
- Signed: Matthew Hartman
- Filed under activities , Internet , random , relationships .
I'm always pleasantly surprised where people find me and how people find me on the Internet. I guess after years and years of plastering my name all over the web, I really shouldn't be.
Lately, I have been consistently checking my stats through StatCounter to track the use of my weather-cam network. But, at the same time I've sporadically been checking my stats for my blog and web-site. Today, I came across this nugget:
http://wcuvax1.wcu.edu/~strauss/personal/bobmark.htm
And all due respect to this guy for including my web-site, out of the millions and millions of web-sites in the world, but I love how he title's the link to my web-site. "Mr. Weather." hahah... I love it. And "Mr. Weather's Blog..." Hilarious!
Not much else new has been happening lately and is really the reason for the lack of posts. I guess the most excitement is the involvement of a new friend in my life and the recent joining of a volleyball league.
The new friend? She's someone I've known for a little over a year now. Recently, we've decided to hang out much more. I'm not quite sure yet where it will go, but I'll let things take their course for another week or so and reanalyze things then. I'll fill you all in, in due time, I'm sure.
The volleyball league? Yes, I'm giving up my "lying around and doing nothing" time in the process, but really, this is something I need. And something I've been wanting to do for a couple of years. I had a strong desire to join in on a league of some sort last summer but lacked the motivation to do it. With just a little persuasion from a couple of co-workers, I've decided to do it. Our first game is tomorrow night at Center Court, so I'm getting anxious to see how out-of-shape I really am. I'll certainly find out on Monday.
So, it's a late Saturday afternoon and I have a few things to do before taking my nap before work. Perhaps, I'll get my errands completed...
Later 'tater -
Lately, I have been consistently checking my stats through StatCounter to track the use of my weather-cam network. But, at the same time I've sporadically been checking my stats for my blog and web-site. Today, I came across this nugget:
http://wcuvax1.wcu.edu/~strauss/personal/bobmark.htm
And all due respect to this guy for including my web-site, out of the millions and millions of web-sites in the world, but I love how he title's the link to my web-site. "Mr. Weather." hahah... I love it. And "Mr. Weather's Blog..." Hilarious!
Not much else new has been happening lately and is really the reason for the lack of posts. I guess the most excitement is the involvement of a new friend in my life and the recent joining of a volleyball league.
The new friend? She's someone I've known for a little over a year now. Recently, we've decided to hang out much more. I'm not quite sure yet where it will go, but I'll let things take their course for another week or so and reanalyze things then. I'll fill you all in, in due time, I'm sure.
The volleyball league? Yes, I'm giving up my "lying around and doing nothing" time in the process, but really, this is something I need. And something I've been wanting to do for a couple of years. I had a strong desire to join in on a league of some sort last summer but lacked the motivation to do it. With just a little persuasion from a couple of co-workers, I've decided to do it. Our first game is tomorrow night at Center Court, so I'm getting anxious to see how out-of-shape I really am. I'll certainly find out on Monday.
So, it's a late Saturday afternoon and I have a few things to do before taking my nap before work. Perhaps, I'll get my errands completed...
Later 'tater -
0 conundrum(s) | Have one of your own?
- Signed: Matthew Hartman
- Filed under activities , music .
Why I had never really listened to them before, I have no idea. I had heard of Social Distortion before. They have been around longer than Green Day - and for as loyal of a fan as I am of their's - it's a wonder why I hadn't ever listened to them as much. They sound much alike and it's fairly obvious that GD very likely had some sort of influence from Social D.
A co-worker of mine was wanting to see them in concert, since they were going to be at Playmakers down in Fargo... And since I've been wanting to go to more concerts lately and the fact that I was curious at what their "sound" was like - we both went down to the show Sunday night. Turns out, it was well worth the price of the tickets and drive... What an awesome show! I think they have a new fan! ;) I've been sitting here all night downloading several of their songs.
I'm not so sure which of them are my absolute favorites quite yet, but some early preferences:
» Bad Luck
» Ball and Chain
» Don't Take Me For Granted
» I Wasn't Born To Follow
» Prison Bound
» When the Angels Sing
So, listen up people - if you see these guys on tour anywhere near you, I'd strongly recommend attending. They put on a pretty amazing show, especially given their age and for how long they have been around. Rock on Mike Ness - you've got an incredible band!
A co-worker of mine was wanting to see them in concert, since they were going to be at Playmakers down in Fargo... And since I've been wanting to go to more concerts lately and the fact that I was curious at what their "sound" was like - we both went down to the show Sunday night. Turns out, it was well worth the price of the tickets and drive... What an awesome show! I think they have a new fan! ;) I've been sitting here all night downloading several of their songs.
I'm not so sure which of them are my absolute favorites quite yet, but some early preferences:
» Bad Luck
» Ball and Chain
» Don't Take Me For Granted
» I Wasn't Born To Follow
» Prison Bound
» When the Angels Sing
So, listen up people - if you see these guys on tour anywhere near you, I'd strongly recommend attending. They put on a pretty amazing show, especially given their age and for how long they have been around. Rock on Mike Ness - you've got an incredible band!
0 conundrum(s) | Have one of your own?
- Signed: Matthew Hartman
- Filed under activities , Indianapolis Colts , sports , weather .
...those little hairs on the inside of your nose start freezing together! Damn skippy, it's sure been happening today! A low temperature of -26°F with a high today of only -9.4°F! If you don't know, that's flippin' cold, folks!
I waited until this afternoon to go about my grocery shopping for the big party tomorrow, but it wasn't much better than it was this morning. I had to get up this morning and get to the bank since it closed at noon and almost just wanted to wait until tomorrow morning to go about my errands. I decided to brave it!
I'm all stocked up for the festivities tomorrow. I'm hosting a Super Bowl party here at the apartment tomorrow afternoon. I've decided to go with some burgers, beer, and a variety of other snacks. The George Foreman grille will get a nice workout, but that's quite alright. Actually, I haven't used it in quite a while... It should be pretty nice, though - I got a relish tray to fix up, some fixin's for the burgers and some chips and pretzels. And plenty of beer for the evening!
Yeah, I only have a 1-bedroom apartment, but we'll make it work. I don't think too many people from work are going to show up, but we'll see. I know of a few people for sure who are coming for sure and a few others that are "maybe's..." So, I'll probably cook up enough for at least 6 people and we'll go from there.
So, what's up with the rest of you?? I realize it's been a while since I last wrote in here, but I've been a little busy lately. I've been working on my web-cam page a lot more lately and have been looking for a second job.
Check out the web-cam page... It looks completely different now. The new layout will make it much easier to update and integrate more states into the network - which is planned, eventually. I have a good friend of mine that is now working with me on it and he is currently getting cams around Illinois and Oklahoma plotted. So, slowly but surely, it will become more and more complete. I've added several new cams to Indiana and have plotted a few for Oklahoma and Kansas. I'm hoping over the next week or two, I'll be able to sit down and get more plotted.
As far as the job search is concerned... It hasn't gone as well as I had hoped. I ran into some financial issues about a month ago with my car. After some self-reflection, I finally grew a pair and actually started applying at a few places around town. I tried the Texas Roadhouse (which just finished getting built) but was turned down... Happy Harry's (they were hiring at the north location) and was turned down... and had an interview of sorts over the phone for GF Wireless... They're not exactly hiring, but they seemed very impressed with the computer/tech support/networking experience I have. After explaining to them what all I did for OnlyInternet, they seemed fairly interested for my resume. I sent one there and received a response about a week later. They didn't have anything open (part-time) right now, but will keep my resume on file. So, we'll see how that goes. I've been wanting to apply at Target, as well, but keep forgetting to drop by there. I need to do that! So, I don't know... It sure would be nice to have some extra income to help pay off my god damn credit card and my one student loan.
I so can not wait until the end of 2007. Not only will my Stafford Loan (through Valpo) be paid off, but my car will be, as well. With the both of those paid off, I'll be pocketing almost $400-500 a month. I'll certainly be able to start saving, finally...
Anyhow, I need some food in this body of mine... Take care folks and root those Colts on tomorrow. I'm getting very excited and anxious for the game tomorrow!
As my little friend here would say, Go Colts!!!! Isn't he the cutest!?!
My own personal prediction:
Colts: 27
Bears: 13
I waited until this afternoon to go about my grocery shopping for the big party tomorrow, but it wasn't much better than it was this morning. I had to get up this morning and get to the bank since it closed at noon and almost just wanted to wait until tomorrow morning to go about my errands. I decided to brave it!
I'm all stocked up for the festivities tomorrow. I'm hosting a Super Bowl party here at the apartment tomorrow afternoon. I've decided to go with some burgers, beer, and a variety of other snacks. The George Foreman grille will get a nice workout, but that's quite alright. Actually, I haven't used it in quite a while... It should be pretty nice, though - I got a relish tray to fix up, some fixin's for the burgers and some chips and pretzels. And plenty of beer for the evening!
Yeah, I only have a 1-bedroom apartment, but we'll make it work. I don't think too many people from work are going to show up, but we'll see. I know of a few people for sure who are coming for sure and a few others that are "maybe's..." So, I'll probably cook up enough for at least 6 people and we'll go from there.
So, what's up with the rest of you?? I realize it's been a while since I last wrote in here, but I've been a little busy lately. I've been working on my web-cam page a lot more lately and have been looking for a second job.
Check out the web-cam page... It looks completely different now. The new layout will make it much easier to update and integrate more states into the network - which is planned, eventually. I have a good friend of mine that is now working with me on it and he is currently getting cams around Illinois and Oklahoma plotted. So, slowly but surely, it will become more and more complete. I've added several new cams to Indiana and have plotted a few for Oklahoma and Kansas. I'm hoping over the next week or two, I'll be able to sit down and get more plotted.
As far as the job search is concerned... It hasn't gone as well as I had hoped. I ran into some financial issues about a month ago with my car. After some self-reflection, I finally grew a pair and actually started applying at a few places around town. I tried the Texas Roadhouse (which just finished getting built) but was turned down... Happy Harry's (they were hiring at the north location) and was turned down... and had an interview of sorts over the phone for GF Wireless... They're not exactly hiring, but they seemed very impressed with the computer/tech support/networking experience I have. After explaining to them what all I did for OnlyInternet, they seemed fairly interested for my resume. I sent one there and received a response about a week later. They didn't have anything open (part-time) right now, but will keep my resume on file. So, we'll see how that goes. I've been wanting to apply at Target, as well, but keep forgetting to drop by there. I need to do that! So, I don't know... It sure would be nice to have some extra income to help pay off my god damn credit card and my one student loan.
I so can not wait until the end of 2007. Not only will my Stafford Loan (through Valpo) be paid off, but my car will be, as well. With the both of those paid off, I'll be pocketing almost $400-500 a month. I'll certainly be able to start saving, finally...
Anyhow, I need some food in this body of mine... Take care folks and root those Colts on tomorrow. I'm getting very excited and anxious for the game tomorrow!
As my little friend here would say, Go Colts!!!! Isn't he the cutest!?!
My own personal prediction:
Colts: 27
Bears: 13
0 conundrum(s) | Have one of your own?
- Signed: Matthew Hartman
- Filed under activities , pictures , relationships , sports , work .
Hey folks,
I realize it has been a long time since I last wrote in here. I also realize that I've promised before that I would make the attempt to write in this thing more often. Lately, though I guess I just haven't been in the mood to write much.
A lot has happened though, since I last made an entry to the blog. My feelings for Lu have faded and I'm finally getting on with my life. In one way I'm relieved that those feelings aren't there anymore, but in some ways it still makes me feel a little sad that things didn't work out between us. Life is pretty much back to what it used to be. The one advantage of having a relationship is that it gives you someone to get out and do things with. I don't know why, but to me it just isn't the same when I'm out with the guys... When you have a significant other, you can do more personal things. Like going out for dinner, taking a walk, camping... You know, things like that. I don't know if it's an insecurity of mine, but asking some of the guys from work if they would want to go somewhere for dinner just seems awkward. Maybe it's just a guy thing... ;) Anyhow, digressing a bit, I'm getting lazy again. Much like I was before I met Lu and spent 80% of my time alone in my apartment. I don't feel that motivation I did when I was involved with Lu and I'm finding myself sitting and lying around watching my god-damn "Friends" season-DVD's again. It's driving me crazy and I wish I could just keep myself motivated to get out and stay active in some way.
I think I'm going to start using the stupid exercising "facility" we have in the apartment building here. We have this converted apartment down on the 1st floor that contains various exercise machines and I haven't used the damn thing but only once since I've lived here. Since winter has decided to arrive a month early this year (yes, we have even had our first snow already!) I may just start using it. It would keep me active to some degree and it would get me out of the apartment for, at least, an hour. Winter sucks ass up here in North Dakota - because typically it's so damn cold you literally can't do anything outside. And, of course, since there really isn't much to do up here, to begin with, being outside and enjoying it is one of the main activities for residents in Grand Forks. We'll see how the winter pans out and if I keep this "idea" of exercising more this fall/winter in mind...! ;)
I did attend "China Night" this past Thursday at the Cultural Center on the UND campus. Since Lu is the president of CSSA (Chinese Students and Scholars Association) and organized this event, I really wanted to go. I initially had to work Thursday evening, but I was able to find someone to switch shifts with me. So, I was able to make it. Lu really wanted me to be there, as well. I'm really glad I went. It was really nice to see some familiar faces and I was able to spend some time with some of Lu's friends that I had met when we were seeing each other. Plus, the food was excellent! Lu did a great job at organizing the event and they had a tremendous turn-out... I took some pictures, so if you're curious to see what it was like, I have all the photos uploaded to my photo gallery.
I also attended the first Fighting Sioux hockey game of the year, Friday, October 6th. It only took me two years to finally get a ticket to a game! Justin Shaw (a co-worker of mine) mentioned getting tickets and since he and I met up with Jeff and McQuade, we all decided to go together. It was actually pretty great. I hadn't ever been to a hockey game, but it was fun and I quickly found out that the Ralph Engelstad Arena is quite a place. It reminds me of Conseco Fieldhouse back in Indianapolis - how its seating is laid out. And it seriously looks like a real NHL arena (from what I've seen on TV, anyway)...! It really is an amazing facility, especially considering it's only an athletic facility for a university. The ARC (Athletic-Recreation Center) at Valpo has nothing on The Ralph. Nothing!
Then on the 27th, the Minnesota Timberwolves come into town to play a preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks at the Alerus Center. Jakin (another co-worker) is getting tickets for several of us at work and we're all going together. Lu seemed interested, as well, so she will be coming along. So, that should be fun, as well.
So, yes, like I said before, I'm just trying to get out more this year... I made a few New Year's resolutions this year and with this, I know that I've indeed upheld two of them, for certain. One of them was to take better advantage of days off work and to spend time outdoors and get in shape... And I feel I did a fairly good job of that this summer. I did spend a lot more time outside this past summer than I had the previous year. I took advantage of the pool we have here at the apartment complex and swam quite a bit, I walked and ran the Fitness Trail near my apartment, and I got out a lot more and played sports. Surprisingly, I actually lost some weight in the process. Imagine that! I know at one point I was down close to 150 lbs and I'm pretty sure that was around mid-July. When I went to the doctor's office last month, I was at 165 lbs... Can you believe I gained back nearly 15 pounds in about a month and a half? Crazy! So, again, now I'm just trying to stay active and even though I am finding myself spending more time in front of the frickin' TV again, I do want to make an effort to minimize that. I'm trying! Ah, and by the way, that other New Year's resolution was to meet someone, have at least, a semi-serious relationship, and to have a woman (not a co-worker or of any relation) inside my apartment - at any point during the year. And, obviously, I have upheld that resolution...
It makes me feel really good, thinking about it... That I actually made resolutions that I actually followed up on this year.
It wouldn't be the same, however, to write up an entire post here without sharing some sad news, though... Tonight, I learned that one of my best-friends at work is moving on to a different job. I never really hung out with Adam a whole lot, but I got along with him and his wife really well. I would always look at my work schedule and find when we would work together - and would really look forward to it. Maybe it was his personality... He was a really nice guy, we would always have something to talk about, and he was just fun to shoot the shit with, you know. He's one of those types that you can just sit and talk and joke around with... I'm happy for him - that he found a different job that he and his wife (and family, I suppose) will be happier with. But, I will miss him... I really enjoyed working with him.
Well, it's getting a bit late here and I'm craving ice cream. ;) I may just go for a bowl!
Take care everyone and I hope everyone is doing well...
I realize it has been a long time since I last wrote in here. I also realize that I've promised before that I would make the attempt to write in this thing more often. Lately, though I guess I just haven't been in the mood to write much.
A lot has happened though, since I last made an entry to the blog. My feelings for Lu have faded and I'm finally getting on with my life. In one way I'm relieved that those feelings aren't there anymore, but in some ways it still makes me feel a little sad that things didn't work out between us. Life is pretty much back to what it used to be. The one advantage of having a relationship is that it gives you someone to get out and do things with. I don't know why, but to me it just isn't the same when I'm out with the guys... When you have a significant other, you can do more personal things. Like going out for dinner, taking a walk, camping... You know, things like that. I don't know if it's an insecurity of mine, but asking some of the guys from work if they would want to go somewhere for dinner just seems awkward. Maybe it's just a guy thing... ;) Anyhow, digressing a bit, I'm getting lazy again. Much like I was before I met Lu and spent 80% of my time alone in my apartment. I don't feel that motivation I did when I was involved with Lu and I'm finding myself sitting and lying around watching my god-damn "Friends" season-DVD's again. It's driving me crazy and I wish I could just keep myself motivated to get out and stay active in some way.
I think I'm going to start using the stupid exercising "facility" we have in the apartment building here. We have this converted apartment down on the 1st floor that contains various exercise machines and I haven't used the damn thing but only once since I've lived here. Since winter has decided to arrive a month early this year (yes, we have even had our first snow already!) I may just start using it. It would keep me active to some degree and it would get me out of the apartment for, at least, an hour. Winter sucks ass up here in North Dakota - because typically it's so damn cold you literally can't do anything outside. And, of course, since there really isn't much to do up here, to begin with, being outside and enjoying it is one of the main activities for residents in Grand Forks. We'll see how the winter pans out and if I keep this "idea" of exercising more this fall/winter in mind...! ;)
I did attend "China Night" this past Thursday at the Cultural Center on the UND campus. Since Lu is the president of CSSA (Chinese Students and Scholars Association) and organized this event, I really wanted to go. I initially had to work Thursday evening, but I was able to find someone to switch shifts with me. So, I was able to make it. Lu really wanted me to be there, as well. I'm really glad I went. It was really nice to see some familiar faces and I was able to spend some time with some of Lu's friends that I had met when we were seeing each other. Plus, the food was excellent! Lu did a great job at organizing the event and they had a tremendous turn-out... I took some pictures, so if you're curious to see what it was like, I have all the photos uploaded to my photo gallery.
I also attended the first Fighting Sioux hockey game of the year, Friday, October 6th. It only took me two years to finally get a ticket to a game! Justin Shaw (a co-worker of mine) mentioned getting tickets and since he and I met up with Jeff and McQuade, we all decided to go together. It was actually pretty great. I hadn't ever been to a hockey game, but it was fun and I quickly found out that the Ralph Engelstad Arena is quite a place. It reminds me of Conseco Fieldhouse back in Indianapolis - how its seating is laid out. And it seriously looks like a real NHL arena (from what I've seen on TV, anyway)...! It really is an amazing facility, especially considering it's only an athletic facility for a university. The ARC (Athletic-Recreation Center) at Valpo has nothing on The Ralph. Nothing!
Then on the 27th, the Minnesota Timberwolves come into town to play a preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks at the Alerus Center. Jakin (another co-worker) is getting tickets for several of us at work and we're all going together. Lu seemed interested, as well, so she will be coming along. So, that should be fun, as well.
So, yes, like I said before, I'm just trying to get out more this year... I made a few New Year's resolutions this year and with this, I know that I've indeed upheld two of them, for certain. One of them was to take better advantage of days off work and to spend time outdoors and get in shape... And I feel I did a fairly good job of that this summer. I did spend a lot more time outside this past summer than I had the previous year. I took advantage of the pool we have here at the apartment complex and swam quite a bit, I walked and ran the Fitness Trail near my apartment, and I got out a lot more and played sports. Surprisingly, I actually lost some weight in the process. Imagine that! I know at one point I was down close to 150 lbs and I'm pretty sure that was around mid-July. When I went to the doctor's office last month, I was at 165 lbs... Can you believe I gained back nearly 15 pounds in about a month and a half? Crazy! So, again, now I'm just trying to stay active and even though I am finding myself spending more time in front of the frickin' TV again, I do want to make an effort to minimize that. I'm trying! Ah, and by the way, that other New Year's resolution was to meet someone, have at least, a semi-serious relationship, and to have a woman (not a co-worker or of any relation) inside my apartment - at any point during the year. And, obviously, I have upheld that resolution...
It makes me feel really good, thinking about it... That I actually made resolutions that I actually followed up on this year.
It wouldn't be the same, however, to write up an entire post here without sharing some sad news, though... Tonight, I learned that one of my best-friends at work is moving on to a different job. I never really hung out with Adam a whole lot, but I got along with him and his wife really well. I would always look at my work schedule and find when we would work together - and would really look forward to it. Maybe it was his personality... He was a really nice guy, we would always have something to talk about, and he was just fun to shoot the shit with, you know. He's one of those types that you can just sit and talk and joke around with... I'm happy for him - that he found a different job that he and his wife (and family, I suppose) will be happier with. But, I will miss him... I really enjoyed working with him.
Well, it's getting a bit late here and I'm craving ice cream. ;) I may just go for a bowl!
Take care everyone and I hope everyone is doing well...
0 conundrum(s) | Have one of your own?
- Signed: Matthew Hartman
- Filed under activities , air-show , heat , relationships , weather .
So this is what it feels like to be truly sunburnt. I haven't felt this in a while. It isn't quite as bad as it looks, but my skin feels fairly warm on the back of my neck, on my ears, my face and my arms. A couple co-workers and I went out to the Grand Forks Air-Base this afternoon to catch the "Thunder Over the Red River" air-show. It was pretty neat to walk around the tarmac and check out some of the US Air Force transport jets, the classic planes, and the fighter jets. The air performances were entertaining as well. We made it out there around 12:30pm and caught a few solo performances and walked around looking at exhibition aircraft, then watched the USAF Thunderbirds perform their manuevers. They were very entertaining... I hadn't been to an air-show since I was probably 10 years old, so it brought back a lot of childhood memories of seeing the US. Navy Blue Angels. My parents took me up to the Fort Wayne International Airport on several occasions to see them when I was younger. Ah, the memories... It was fun for something different. We were out there until around 3:00pm, so figure 2 and half hours in the scorching sun and yeah, that's about how red we all are.
It's not hurting yet... but I may need some aloe vera or some calamine lotion over the next day or two if starts burning at all. After I got back to the apartment, I went directly for the pool. That felt so damn good I didn't want to get out. Of course, though, I virtually have no food in my apartment, so I had to hit up the grocery store.
Otherwise, not much new is going on up here in the wonderful city of Grand Forks. It's been a very warm last couple of weeks and with the exception a few interspersed days of slightly cooler temperatures, it's mostly been in the 80's and 90's. We experienced a stretch of 6 days straight of 90°+ temperatures and even hit a record high on Sunday the 12th and 16th. I'll have more information over in the WeatherBlog shortly, regarding the recent warmth and the continuing drought conditions we've also been experiencing over the past month or so.
In my personal life, not much new there either... CT and I have been talking much less than we used to. This woman finally (again, I repeat, FINALLY) gave me a phone number so that I could call and talk to her. But, get this, it was some 1-800 number. Apparently, because she had so many problems with her previous ex that she had to get some sort of security service that transfers phone calls to her. It sounded rediculous, but I gave in to the $1.89/min charge (yeah, totally insane!) the once, just so I could, at least, talk to her. We didn't really get anywhere and from what I gathered, she had no other way for me to communicate with her, besides our continuing e-mail correspondence. So, that turned me off immediately. I don't know what it is with me meeting these total spaz-oids... I'm beginning to think meeting women off the Internet is a waste of time and that I should just grow a pair and actually try to meet a woman the traditional way. You know, the way that normal men do.
I'm kind of tired of being alone and single... but at the same time, it's probably better that I am. Especially, now, when I can hardly afford to support myself on the bills I already have. I can't really afford to be going on dates every weekend or so. It's sad, I know. I just wish I could get a few things paid off. Getting my car paid off will help tremendously... and getting the one student loan of mine paid off, will be nice, as well. I've got about a year left on my car loan, so I'm very excited about that!
Anywho, I have more to write over in my WeatherBlog before I log completely out of this Blogger thing. Maybe I'll drop by in here again tomorrow to show off some pictures from the air-show today. I took a bunch!
Ta-ta for now...
It's not hurting yet... but I may need some aloe vera or some calamine lotion over the next day or two if starts burning at all. After I got back to the apartment, I went directly for the pool. That felt so damn good I didn't want to get out. Of course, though, I virtually have no food in my apartment, so I had to hit up the grocery store.
Otherwise, not much new is going on up here in the wonderful city of Grand Forks. It's been a very warm last couple of weeks and with the exception a few interspersed days of slightly cooler temperatures, it's mostly been in the 80's and 90's. We experienced a stretch of 6 days straight of 90°+ temperatures and even hit a record high on Sunday the 12th and 16th. I'll have more information over in the WeatherBlog shortly, regarding the recent warmth and the continuing drought conditions we've also been experiencing over the past month or so.
In my personal life, not much new there either... CT and I have been talking much less than we used to. This woman finally (again, I repeat, FINALLY) gave me a phone number so that I could call and talk to her. But, get this, it was some 1-800 number. Apparently, because she had so many problems with her previous ex that she had to get some sort of security service that transfers phone calls to her. It sounded rediculous, but I gave in to the $1.89/min charge (yeah, totally insane!) the once, just so I could, at least, talk to her. We didn't really get anywhere and from what I gathered, she had no other way for me to communicate with her, besides our continuing e-mail correspondence. So, that turned me off immediately. I don't know what it is with me meeting these total spaz-oids... I'm beginning to think meeting women off the Internet is a waste of time and that I should just grow a pair and actually try to meet a woman the traditional way. You know, the way that normal men do.
I'm kind of tired of being alone and single... but at the same time, it's probably better that I am. Especially, now, when I can hardly afford to support myself on the bills I already have. I can't really afford to be going on dates every weekend or so. It's sad, I know. I just wish I could get a few things paid off. Getting my car paid off will help tremendously... and getting the one student loan of mine paid off, will be nice, as well. I've got about a year left on my car loan, so I'm very excited about that!
Anywho, I have more to write over in my WeatherBlog before I log completely out of this Blogger thing. Maybe I'll drop by in here again tomorrow to show off some pictures from the air-show today. I took a bunch!
Ta-ta for now...
0 conundrum(s) | Have one of your own?
Well, I'm sitting here stewing in my own sweat, but I figured I would post to this damn thing. Especially since I haven't in quite a while. Nothing much new around these parts. After a short bout of cooler temperatures, we're back into the 80's around these parts with 90's likely by the end of the week. About time to turn on the AC, once again, I suppose.
Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. Mine wasn't all too exciting. I went downtown after work yesterday, but didn't end up spending too much time there. The car show (the one event I was actually wanting to see) ended at 4:00pm, so I caught the very end of that. The event was actually done with by the time I got down there, but there were still a few cars sitting out on 3rd Street, so I was able to walk around looking at a few of them. There were a few older muscle-cars down there, but the only one that was really nice was an old Pontiac GTO. The rest, you could tell, were still under restoration... There weren't as many vendors down there and the only funnel cake stand had a line a mile long, so I couldn't even get the funnel cake I went down there for! Grrr... But, it was still nice to walk around, watching all the kiddies play around on the rides (mostly of the inflated slides and moon-walk type). I took the digi-cam along, but didn't get any new material. I don't know, I guess nothing really caught my eye - except for a few hotties, I suppose. hahah...
So, what have I been up to? Well, I've been working on my web-site... I've been wanting to go with a new design, so I've been working on it for almost 2 weeks. It's still not completely finished, but I figured since it's mostly operational, I decided to go live with it all Monday night. If you're curious, I have a link to the site above and to the left. I've also applied a new template to the photo gallery. So, that will look a little different, as well, if you visit it sometime soon. I went storm chasing last Friday, June 30th... Went out with co-workers, Adam and Turcotte. We got suckered east from a storm that fired up along the convergence boundary over in MN, but made back west to Walsh County (ND) to intercept a couple apparently tornadic storms near dusk. I have photos I need to work on and get posted and a chase log to write up... Thursday will be a day off for me, so maybe I'll sit down and get those done up so I can get them uploaded.
I plan to get out swimming some more tomorrow. Hell, I feel like going for a dip now, for as a hot as it is in my apartment right now. We reached 83° F today, but it felt much warmer with the humidity. Plus, our soil moisture content around here has been VERY limited lately. So, not much of that heating is going into the ground... so that's allowing for more heat, as well. It's odd that just a couple of months ago, we were battling one of the highest crests along the Red River ever... and now, we're battling drought conditions. We haven't had much rain up this way at all, over the past month and a half. Darren and I went down to the river last week and took pictures to compare to those we took from this spring's flooding and last summer's flooding. The river now is about as low as I've ever seen it and a lot of the locals are saying this is about as bad as they've seen it. A lot are comparing this to the severe drought of 1988.
Anyhow, I think I'm gonna hop off here for now... I need to fix up something for dinner and find a way to cool off. I guess I'll just shut all the windows and turn the AC on high. My electric bill was already $10 more than usual for June... if temperatures like this continue, my July bill will be twice that! Ugh...
Hope all is well...
More later!
Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. Mine wasn't all too exciting. I went downtown after work yesterday, but didn't end up spending too much time there. The car show (the one event I was actually wanting to see) ended at 4:00pm, so I caught the very end of that. The event was actually done with by the time I got down there, but there were still a few cars sitting out on 3rd Street, so I was able to walk around looking at a few of them. There were a few older muscle-cars down there, but the only one that was really nice was an old Pontiac GTO. The rest, you could tell, were still under restoration... There weren't as many vendors down there and the only funnel cake stand had a line a mile long, so I couldn't even get the funnel cake I went down there for! Grrr... But, it was still nice to walk around, watching all the kiddies play around on the rides (mostly of the inflated slides and moon-walk type). I took the digi-cam along, but didn't get any new material. I don't know, I guess nothing really caught my eye - except for a few hotties, I suppose. hahah...
So, what have I been up to? Well, I've been working on my web-site... I've been wanting to go with a new design, so I've been working on it for almost 2 weeks. It's still not completely finished, but I figured since it's mostly operational, I decided to go live with it all Monday night. If you're curious, I have a link to the site above and to the left. I've also applied a new template to the photo gallery. So, that will look a little different, as well, if you visit it sometime soon. I went storm chasing last Friday, June 30th... Went out with co-workers, Adam and Turcotte. We got suckered east from a storm that fired up along the convergence boundary over in MN, but made back west to Walsh County (ND) to intercept a couple apparently tornadic storms near dusk. I have photos I need to work on and get posted and a chase log to write up... Thursday will be a day off for me, so maybe I'll sit down and get those done up so I can get them uploaded.
I plan to get out swimming some more tomorrow. Hell, I feel like going for a dip now, for as a hot as it is in my apartment right now. We reached 83° F today, but it felt much warmer with the humidity. Plus, our soil moisture content around here has been VERY limited lately. So, not much of that heating is going into the ground... so that's allowing for more heat, as well. It's odd that just a couple of months ago, we were battling one of the highest crests along the Red River ever... and now, we're battling drought conditions. We haven't had much rain up this way at all, over the past month and a half. Darren and I went down to the river last week and took pictures to compare to those we took from this spring's flooding and last summer's flooding. The river now is about as low as I've ever seen it and a lot of the locals are saying this is about as bad as they've seen it. A lot are comparing this to the severe drought of 1988.
Anyhow, I think I'm gonna hop off here for now... I need to fix up something for dinner and find a way to cool off. I guess I'll just shut all the windows and turn the AC on high. My electric bill was already $10 more than usual for June... if temperatures like this continue, my July bill will be twice that! Ugh...
Hope all is well...
More later!
0 conundrum(s) | Have one of your own?
- Signed: Matthew Hartman
- Filed under activities , announcements , swimming , weather .
Oh, what a couple of days of beautiful weather and days off work can do for the body and spirit. I had yesterday and today off of work and with the weather cooperating, I've been spending a lot of time outdoors. Yesterday, I finally moved past my insecurities and tried out the pool here. If you can believe it, I've lived in this apartment complex for a year and a half and haven't once used either pool here. (Yeah, they have two!) The water wasn't half-bad and I enjoyed it so much that I took a dip again today. We had a little rain early this morning so I thought that the water may be a little cooler, but it really wasn't. It was perfect!
I layed out and got a little sun, as well. I need some color desperately. I'm full-blooded caucasion, what can I say. It felt nice, though... To be laying out there and feeling the sunshine on my back and shoulders and, of course, my bare tummy. ;) Yeah, ladies I'm not one to go hitting up tanning salons...
On top of all that, I've been taking walks. They have a bike/fitness path that stretches through much of the city and it's relatively close to my apt complex here. If you take a look at the map here the 1KM marker just northwest of Columbia Mall is about where I started. I actually live on 34th street (about where the "34" is labeled on the map) so, really, that's where I started. I took this entire path northward to Demers Ave. then back south to 11th Ave. where I walked back west to 34th street and walked back south. In all, just by going the map here, I probably walked 4 or 4.5 miles. I tried running small portions of it, but for as out of shape as I am, I couldn't run for very long. I probably only ran about 10% of it. ;)
I had my ceiling fan installed today, as well. That was exciting! With my lease renewal coming up in August I was offered an upgrade for my apartment. Most of options were little things, like new blinds or a carpet cleaning or something stupid like that... but a ceiling fan was one of the options and I thought that would be really neat. Maintenance showed up today and installed it in my kitchen. It looks pretty nice and I already have it running. I'm sure it's going to help quite a bit for when I have my AC running in here. I'm hoping it will help circulate the air around the apartment and help to cool the entire place down, rather than just my bedrooom. ;)
Anyhow, I'm extremely hungry, so I'm gonna go find something to eat. I just figured I would update this thing, since I haven't in quite a while. Working 7 days straight of those E8's (8:00pm to 4:00am) just doesn't make you wanna jump on the computer much. I have a fairly easy week this week, so I'm gonna try to take it easy... I'm gonna try to work 7:00am to 3:00pm for my office shifts Wednesday through Friday. That way I can open up my afternoon's and evenings for hopefully, more dips in the pool and more walks. We'll see how long of a kick I go on for these walks/short runs and swimming. Hopefully, I can get a sort of routine going here. ;)
I do need the exercise! Especially, when I'm eating all this junk food. Ahh, junk food - I'm gonna go find some.
Take care, everyone. Hope all is well!
More later...
I layed out and got a little sun, as well. I need some color desperately. I'm full-blooded caucasion, what can I say. It felt nice, though... To be laying out there and feeling the sunshine on my back and shoulders and, of course, my bare tummy. ;) Yeah, ladies I'm not one to go hitting up tanning salons...
On top of all that, I've been taking walks. They have a bike/fitness path that stretches through much of the city and it's relatively close to my apt complex here. If you take a look at the map here the 1KM marker just northwest of Columbia Mall is about where I started. I actually live on 34th street (about where the "34" is labeled on the map) so, really, that's where I started. I took this entire path northward to Demers Ave. then back south to 11th Ave. where I walked back west to 34th street and walked back south. In all, just by going the map here, I probably walked 4 or 4.5 miles. I tried running small portions of it, but for as out of shape as I am, I couldn't run for very long. I probably only ran about 10% of it. ;)
I had my ceiling fan installed today, as well. That was exciting! With my lease renewal coming up in August I was offered an upgrade for my apartment. Most of options were little things, like new blinds or a carpet cleaning or something stupid like that... but a ceiling fan was one of the options and I thought that would be really neat. Maintenance showed up today and installed it in my kitchen. It looks pretty nice and I already have it running. I'm sure it's going to help quite a bit for when I have my AC running in here. I'm hoping it will help circulate the air around the apartment and help to cool the entire place down, rather than just my bedrooom. ;)
Anyhow, I'm extremely hungry, so I'm gonna go find something to eat. I just figured I would update this thing, since I haven't in quite a while. Working 7 days straight of those E8's (8:00pm to 4:00am) just doesn't make you wanna jump on the computer much. I have a fairly easy week this week, so I'm gonna try to take it easy... I'm gonna try to work 7:00am to 3:00pm for my office shifts Wednesday through Friday. That way I can open up my afternoon's and evenings for hopefully, more dips in the pool and more walks. We'll see how long of a kick I go on for these walks/short runs and swimming. Hopefully, I can get a sort of routine going here. ;)
I do need the exercise! Especially, when I'm eating all this junk food. Ahh, junk food - I'm gonna go find some.
Take care, everyone. Hope all is well!
More later...
0 conundrum(s) | Have one of your own?
- Signed: Matthew Hartman
- Filed under activities , fantasy sports , photography , pictures , sports , weather .
Whats up, everyone? Not much has been going on up here. It's been pretty nice up here over the past week. Temperatures have been up some (into the 30's) so we're finally starting to melt away some of the snow-cover we've had since early February. Of course, it looks like we have another system approaching for tomorrow that may drop another 3-6" of snow. The Grand Forks NWSFO has a snow advisory up through tomorrow evening... So, I'm not exactly looking forward to that.
Yesterday we even had a whole day of sunshine. It felt so nice outside, I finally went and got my car washed. It's probably the first time it's been washed since last fall. Washing your car in the dead of winter up here is pointless. That sand crap they put down on the roads up here makes your car dirty again, by the next day. I'm always afraid too, that if I wash the thing when it's cold out that the doors will freeze shut. Supposedly it shouldn't happen, but I'm always paranoid about it happening. Today, it felt even warmer, but I haven't checked to see what our high was.
I ended up going to Fargo with a friend of mine to go to the Fargo Air Museum. Even though they insanely overcharged for entry, it was still pretty cool. They had a lot of military aircraft there and a lot of memorabilia from WW-II and WW-III. It was pretty interesting to look at it all. The place wasn't very big at all... it was practically a small airplane hangar with several planes inside. Plus, they had a crap-load of motorcycles in there - which I didn't understand. This was the "Air" Museum, right? ;)
Anyhow, it was nice to get out and do something a little different. Lately, all I've been doing is going out to eat or going to see movies when I go out. Next time, maybe I'll check out some of the other historic places around here. I enjoy things like that...
I also went to Wal-Mart yesterday to process 6 rolls of film I've had sitting around since last fall. I had pictures from when I moved into my apartment on one of the rolls! So, I have several new pictures in the Photo Gallery for your viewing pleasure... I don't have too many, but most of them have been posted in the photo-scapes albums. I added a few photos in my chasing albums, as well... It's kind of cool in one aspect, because thinking about it, this will probably be the last film I'll ever pay to have processed. Or that I will ever own! Since I have the XT now, it'll be likely that I won't use my film cameras much anymore. We'll see...
I'm also still in the middle of our fantasy baseball draft. So far, I think I'm doing pretty well. If your curious, here's my team, thus far:
Well, folks, I'm gonna go flip on ESPN and see how the Hoosiers did tonight in the Big Ten Tournament. I totally forgot to tape the game tonight. I've tried to avoid checking the scores online tonight - cause I'd rather see them on TV and on ESPN or ESPNews, where I can also get some highlights. I saw that Illinois was upset by Michigan State, though. That's just crazy! I'm getting anxious for March Madness to start! Which reminds me, I need to sign up for the WPTA (the NBC-affiliate in Ft. Wayne) March Madness brackets. My dad fills those out every year just for fun and, hey, why not have some friendly competition between my dad and I? ;) The overall winner actually wins a TV or something like that... I doubt I'd win the thing, but if I did - there would be some problems. I think you have to be an Indiana resident to receive the prize and as far as I know, no relatives can accept the prize for you, either. I dunno, if I did happen to win the thing, maybe I can talk them into having my dad accept it somehow. Heheh... Anyway, I seriously doubt that would happen anyway.
Well, I guess this sums up my last few days here. Hope you all are doing well.
Take care!
Yesterday we even had a whole day of sunshine. It felt so nice outside, I finally went and got my car washed. It's probably the first time it's been washed since last fall. Washing your car in the dead of winter up here is pointless. That sand crap they put down on the roads up here makes your car dirty again, by the next day. I'm always afraid too, that if I wash the thing when it's cold out that the doors will freeze shut. Supposedly it shouldn't happen, but I'm always paranoid about it happening. Today, it felt even warmer, but I haven't checked to see what our high was.
I ended up going to Fargo with a friend of mine to go to the Fargo Air Museum. Even though they insanely overcharged for entry, it was still pretty cool. They had a lot of military aircraft there and a lot of memorabilia from WW-II and WW-III. It was pretty interesting to look at it all. The place wasn't very big at all... it was practically a small airplane hangar with several planes inside. Plus, they had a crap-load of motorcycles in there - which I didn't understand. This was the "Air" Museum, right? ;)
Anyhow, it was nice to get out and do something a little different. Lately, all I've been doing is going out to eat or going to see movies when I go out. Next time, maybe I'll check out some of the other historic places around here. I enjoy things like that...
I also went to Wal-Mart yesterday to process 6 rolls of film I've had sitting around since last fall. I had pictures from when I moved into my apartment on one of the rolls! So, I have several new pictures in the Photo Gallery for your viewing pleasure... I don't have too many, but most of them have been posted in the photo-scapes albums. I added a few photos in my chasing albums, as well... It's kind of cool in one aspect, because thinking about it, this will probably be the last film I'll ever pay to have processed. Or that I will ever own! Since I have the XT now, it'll be likely that I won't use my film cameras much anymore. We'll see...
I'm also still in the middle of our fantasy baseball draft. So far, I think I'm doing pretty well. If your curious, here's my team, thus far:
Position Players:We'll see how this season goes... but I'm hoping for a better result than last year. I finished near the bottom of my league. I can't remember exactly where, but it may have indeed been second to last. In other news, I'm still leading in the Fantasy Hockey League I'm in. Luck, is really the only way I'm leading that league. I'm serious when I say I don't know shit about hockey. I really don't...
Ca_ V. Martinez (Cle)
1B_ D. Lee (ChC)
2B_ M. Ellis (Oak)
3B_ M. Ensberg (Hou)
SS_ J. Rollins (Phi)
OF_ B. Abreu (Phi)
OF_ J. Pierre (ChC)
OF_ J. Francoeur (Atl)
UT_
Be_
Be_
Be_
Be_
Pitchers:
SP_ C. Carpenter (StL)
SP_ B. Colon (LAA)
RP_ T. Hoffman (SD)
RP_ S. Shields (LAA)
P_ B. Webb (Ari - SP)
P_ J. Garland (CWS - SP)
P_ B. Howry (ChC - RP)
P_
P_
P_
Well, folks, I'm gonna go flip on ESPN and see how the Hoosiers did tonight in the Big Ten Tournament. I totally forgot to tape the game tonight. I've tried to avoid checking the scores online tonight - cause I'd rather see them on TV and on ESPN or ESPNews, where I can also get some highlights. I saw that Illinois was upset by Michigan State, though. That's just crazy! I'm getting anxious for March Madness to start! Which reminds me, I need to sign up for the WPTA (the NBC-affiliate in Ft. Wayne) March Madness brackets. My dad fills those out every year just for fun and, hey, why not have some friendly competition between my dad and I? ;) The overall winner actually wins a TV or something like that... I doubt I'd win the thing, but if I did - there would be some problems. I think you have to be an Indiana resident to receive the prize and as far as I know, no relatives can accept the prize for you, either. I dunno, if I did happen to win the thing, maybe I can talk them into having my dad accept it somehow. Heheh... Anyway, I seriously doubt that would happen anyway.
Well, I guess this sums up my last few days here. Hope you all are doing well.
Take care!
0 conundrum(s) | Have one of your own?
