Well, my daily "Proposal" journal didn't work out. At all. And I thought I'd be able to keep it up. I guess rotating shifts make me very unmotivated to get on the computer at home, sometimes.

Either way, I have a night open tonight and with Thanksgiving being tomorrow, I'm here to say Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family out there in the world. I love you all in one way or another and some of you, I miss dearly.

Five things I'm truly thankful for (in no particular order):

1_ My Health: I haven't caught a cold or any kind of virus yet, this fall. I'm hoping this continues through the winter season. I do not want to go through strep throat like I did last February. That may have been the worst I've felt. Ever.

2_ Twitter: Yes, I'm actually thankful for it. I've met so many great friends and have networked with some awesome photographers over the past year or so. I hope you all know how important you really are in my life. Because you are.

3_ My camera: I've gotten away from carrying my DSLR over the past few months, but only because my Droid X has a camera on it that's equal in megapixels and is more convenient. I've got to start carrying the DSLR around more. Either way, having a camera with me at all times is almost paramount to my existence. I see something beautiful everyday and if I couldn't share it with everyone in the world at some point, I'd feel very empty. I hate to admit that I depend on something materialistic to feel whole, but it's true. I'm truly thankful for my photographic abilities and even moreso, those that have helped me become the photographer I am. I'm indebted to them.

4_ Music: Even though the music that's getting made these days is crap, there are songs from my past I listen to over and over. On the rare occasion, I hear a new song I like. It gets added to my mp3 list at home and gets regular air-play on Winamp. I have specific music I listen to when I'm sad, when I'm upset, when I'm in a giddy mood and generally, when I'm in a good mood. Luckily, at least, recently, I've been in the last two categories. I've been listening to a lot of Kings of Leon, The Killers, and Fireflight.

5_ Family: This should go without saying, but I am so thankful for the best parents, sister, and brother-in-law in the world. We may nit-pick and argue from time-to-time, but I still love them and miss them immensely. On top of that, they mean more to me than anyone in the world.

Hello folks,

I realize it's a bit belated, but Happy Thanksgiving! And I also realize it's been several weeks since I last wrote anything in here. Every time I come to make a post, I promise to stay in touch and to write much more frequently - when, in fact, I never do. So I won't make any such promises this time. I will try to make a concerted effort, though, I really will. Hah!

Anyhow, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this year. My mother and step-father flew up for the holiday Tuesday morning (the 20th) and were here through Saturday. While I had to work an evening shift Tuesday, I managed to get the rest of the week off. My evening shift this evening will be my first since last Tuesday - an entire 5 day stretch. While we didn't end up doing a whole lot, I think my mom and step-dad had a nice time. I certainly enjoyed having them here. Even though I don't have much room in my apartment, I always welcome company. Yes, it gets lonely here sometimes...

My mom made the typical Thanksgiving dinner. We had a 13 lb. turkey to bake, mashed 'taters, corn, turkey & noodles, stuffing and topped all of that off with two apple pies and dirt cake for dessert. Least to say, we ate really well!

They took me shopping for my Christmas while they were here, so in effect, I know all I'm getting from them this year. They brought with them a few items that were wrapped, so I'll have, at least a few surprises! Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it home for Christmas this year. I did get out the Christmas deco while they were here, to get more into the festive mood. I put up the tree (my lonely excuse for one - a 4 ft. fiber-optic tree!), put up the tinsel, and hung some decorations around the apartment. My mom bought a wreath hook for my door, so I also have a little something extra there this year...

As with any other time, though, it was hard to see them go Saturday. I get used to having someone around and when they're not here, especially over the first few days after, it reminds me of how lonely it really is here. I have to remind myself, though, that I do have friends up here... and I do have a job that I love.

Maybe sometime soon I'll have someone that can occupy my time. I made a new friend recently but it doesn't seem that the chemistry is there. It's nice to hang out and talk with EB, but I just don't see it moving anywhere beyond being good friends. I haven't really told her that yet, but I think I'll have to before long. It's been over a week since I last talked to her, so I really need to call her and see what's new. Over the next week or two, we'll have to go out more... So, if you're curious, yes, I'm still looking for Mrs. Right. Hah!

Again, Happy Thanksgiving to you all... and I hope you have a great Holiday Season!

Has it really been a month since I last wrote in here? God damn!

It seems that each of my last 2 or 3 entries in here I've apologized that I haven't written and that'd make an effort to write in here more. Heh... I don't think I've upheld my promises very well. So again, I'm sorry! ;)

My sister and brother-in-law were up here over Thanksgiving, as well, so I didn't really feel like sitting on the laptop and writing when I had company to entertain. It was really nice to have them up here for almost 2 weeks! They drove up on the 18th and were here through the 27th. It was fun having them around... and I'm looking forward to going back home for Christmas. Yep, my vacation actually went through and I'm actually going to get to go home for Christmas now! Woohoo!

We have been in a fairly active pattern lately, weather-wise and as such, we've had several clippers pass through the region. Nothing significant has come of them, but we probably have about an inch or maybe an inch and a half out there on the ground. Just enough to get the roads and parking lots around town all nice and ice-covered for us. And believe me, they are! The roads aren't actually all that bad, but the parking lot, in particular at work, is horrible. It's nothing but ice and that has made for some interesting treks from the car to the office.

The only real news to share, I guess, is that I recently upgraded my cell phone! If you really care to know, that is! ;) If the title to this entry is any clue, I went with the LG Chocolate phone. I received a mailer just the other day from Verizon advertising their holiday promotions and apparently I'm eligible for an advanced upgrade. My "New-every-Two" contract is up for renewal in January, and apparently with the promotion I was able to upgrade early. So, I went into the Verizon store yesterday (Wednesday) and got the phone. It was free with the upgrade credit, so all I paid for was the 1GB memory card I bought for it. It's a pretty sweet little phone and I love the mp3 player feature! The touch-pad is a bit sensitive and that has taken some getting use to, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I haven't received any calls on it yet and I haven't even made a phone call on it as of yet, either - so I'm anxious to see how the reception is and if others can hear me alright. We'll see soon enough, I need to make my rounds to the family before long, anyway. You know, call them all up and see how they've been. It'll be especially nice, because I'll now be able to call more than two people now without having to charge my phone back up! My old phone's battery was friggin' horrible at keeping a charge!!!

Work has been going alright, I suppose... I found out today the one thing you should never say to any forecaster - "Why was your forecast so shitty?" If you can believe it, my boss actually asked me that today... Apparently, we had some backlash with our new clientele in Indiana this afternoon about Wednesday evening's forecast, which incidently was my forecast! I don't know what it is about my boss, but he has the worse way of approaching people. I don't mind the criticism of my forecast or the fact that it was my boss who approached me about it... BUT, I have a major problem with him referring to my forecast as "shitty!" I would have a major problem if anyone made a statement like that! There is simply no respect in making that statement and especially makes me feel like I'm two inches tall. Not because of the fact that he's speaking down to me like I'm inferior to his "supernatural" powers as the BEST FORECASTER IN THE WORLD, but because he chose to say all this in front of my co-workers... It was totally uncalled for and, in my opinion, very unprofessional and disrespectful. I don't want to get into what all the issues were, but I came out of the "meeting" having learned a little something about what exactly these folks in Indiana AND Ohio really want. I'll work on the problems and fix them - and hopefully that'll be something my boss will appreciate. More effort and a little more attention to detail will help, I'm hoping.

Anyhow, the ol' ticker is calming down and I'm getting a bit hungry for a snack. Hopefully, everyone out there is having a pleasant day, evening, or whichever. I'm sure you're all feeling much better about yourselves than I am feeling about myself right now...

More later... (there I go making promises, again!)

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!

Hello folks,

I apologize it's been so long I last posted in here. My sister and brother-in-law have been up here since last Tuesday, December 27th. I'm sitting here at work and since it's relatively quiet, I figured I'd finally update everyone what's been going on up here.

Nothing much new, really... but it's been great having company! I think Amy and Chris are beginning to realize there really isn't that much to do up here. We've had difficulty finding things to do! ;) We've mostly been staying in and relaxing (which luckily they don't mind) watching a few movies and visiting... It is their vacation, so a little rest and relaxation for them has been alright. We went to see "Fun With Dick and Jane" at the movies the other night. It was a pretty good movie, but wasn't quite as funny as I thought it would be. I'd still recommend it to anyone that likes silly comedies. We've went out to eat a few times and even traveled to Seven Clans Casino over near Thief River Falls, MN on Saturday. We didn't hit the jackpot, but still had fun.

For New Year's Eve, we didn't do a whole lot. Grand Forks had it's annual "First Night" event, but all we went downtown for was to check out the ice-sculptures. We decided against staying for the fireworks at midnight cause of the cold temperatures. We could barely see them from the apartment, but caught a few glimpses over the apartment buildings across the street. We went for some alcohol at Happy Harry's and celebrated that way! ;)

So, other than that, not much new has been going on. It sucks that Amy and Chris are leaving tomorrow morning. It's been great having them here. It's been fun! Plus, I've gotten quite used to having someone else in the apartment. I decided to make a resolution this year: to get a woman (not related) in my apartment sometime this year. For how long, overnight would be preferrable (hee-hee), but even for a couple hours for dinner or a movie (or both!) would suffice. We'll see how it goes...

Anyhow, I guess I'll start working on my district forecasts early tonight, since most areas have been looked at already.

Take care and Happy New Years, folks!

Okay, so this is a tad late, but I wanted to write to everyone to wish you all a Merry Christmas. I hope everyone had a good one this year.

How did I spend my Christmas? At work...! Yes, that's right, I worked today from 3:00 to 11:00pm. I woke up at 7:00 this morning with a horrible headache - then couldn't get back to sleep. So, I took a couple Tylenol and took a hot shower. That helped quite a bit...

Amy and Chris (my sister and brother-in-law) will by flying in on Tuesday morning, so I've been cleaning up the apartment the past couple days. I finished up a couple other things today. I wanted to clean out the 'fridge and freezer, so I got that finished up, then worked on finishing up laundry. I still have one more load to do, then want to clean up my bedding. I'll have to give up my bed for a week, to give them something to sleep on. I'm not going to make them sleep on the bed that folds from my couch. That thing is just too damn uncomfortable. I don't even like to sleep on that! ;)

I work today from 10:00am to 6:00pm, so I'll have a few more things to finish up when I get home from work. I still need to make my way to the store to pick up a few things, then need to do some other minor things... You know, dust, vacuum, and clean the bathroom, the basics...!

Anyhow, I suppose I should be getting to bed here, since I have to be up in the morning for work.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I realized later today at work that it was December 7th, once again, and that it was Pearl Harbor Rememberance Day. On this day, back in 1941, the United States saw it's greatest war-time attack - at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. 2,388 American lives were lost that day, making it one of the bloodiest days ever in American History.

Anyhow, I just felt it appropriate to dedicate a post in honor of those men and women who fought and/or lost their lives at Pearl Harbor.

We remember...