Bye Blogger

So, incase any of you haven't noticed, I suck at blogging. That's I why I'm going to say ata to Blogger. But don't worry I'm still goiong to blog. I'm just going to do it using tumblr. It's the perfect blogging tool for someone with an attention span like mine. Hopefully, I'll be able to use my new found friend to keep all of you up to date better on what's going on in my life. So follow me and I'll show you what I mean. Click here.

Temptress

What I'm doing right now is this.

What I want to be doing is this.

*sigh*  

Curse you snow!!!  You are the icy temptress of my soul!!!

Daughter

Jim Gaffigan - Pregnant

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So this is my weird way of announcing that my wife is pregnant. Now, I know that everybody that reads this blog probably knows this already. You also probably know that we're having a girl. For the record, I was 50% sure that we were having a girl.

Knowing the gender has really made this whole I'm-going-to-be-a-daddy-thing start to sink in. I'm glad that we don't have to refer to the baby as "it" anymore, but the word "daughter" is still having a little trouble rolling off my tongue. Daughter. My daughter. Holy crap, I'm going to have a daughter! Does that sound weird to anyone else? I mean seriously. I am going to have a daughter!!! I do have a confession to make however. Deep down in my inside parts I was kinda hoping for a girl. Don't ask me why because I couldn't really tell you. I know that it wasn't for any of the reasons that people gave me about why girls are better. In fact, I can think of several reasons why having a girl is not a good thing and about 3,000,000 of those reasons are boys. Now, I know that's a long time down the road and my wife does keep reminding me that she is giving birth to a baby girl not a teenage girl. Still, I can't help but worry. I guess it's my fatherly instincts kicking in. Yeah, that comment made me laugh too. But, I digress.

I guess my reason for wanting a little girl is that I'm hoping that she turns out to be a daddy's girl. Not the snotty kind that makes her dad buy her whatever she wants, but the kind who thinks that her dad is some sort of super hero. The kind of girl who goes to her dad when something's wrong because, no matter how bad it is, he can somehow fix it. The kind of girl who knows, that no matter what anyone else says about her, her daddy will tell her how beautiful she is and mean it every time. The kind of girl who's proud of her father and does all that she can to make him proud of her. The kind of girl who knows that her daddy's a dork, but loves him inspite of it. Listen to me! She's not even born yet and already she's got me wrapped around her finger. Man, I am in trouble. Now, I know that a lot of this is going to fall on me and heavens knows that I'm going to do my best, but I really do hope that she's a daddy's girl.

Crashed

I'm all about taking responsibility, but my lack of posting has not been entirely my fault. No, I'm afraid that some of the blame lies with Microsoft. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "there are a lot of things in this world that we can blame Microsoft for, but your failure to blog can't possibly be their fault." Well, ladies and gentlemen, have I got a tale for you. I have spent the past several weeks putting my computer back together after attempting to install Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Here's how it all went down. I had been noticing that for about a month or two there was a Windows update that had failed to install several times, so after a little time with Google and the performance of some computer voodoo on my part, I was finally able to get that pesky little bugger to install. Little did I know that that problematic update was trying to protect me from a beast that would become the bane of my existance. Well, at least my bane for a couple weeks. You see, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (or as I now refer to it, the Monster) had been waiting for months for that one update to install before it would unleash its fury upon my beloved Sonya. Sonya is what I named my laptop. I know I'm a geek, but I also know that there are those out there who understand me. The Monster seemed to install just fine, and even let me restart and use my computer. This, however, was just the beginning of the Monster's diabolical plan to lull me into a false sense of security. The next day when I turned my laptop on, the Monster struck. I couldn't get into Windows at all. I kept getting a message saying that I did not have a valid copy of Windows installed. I tried every option, trick, utility, spell, incantation, and virgin sacrifice that I could think of, but to no avail. I knew that I needed to call upon one who had battled the Monster before or my Sonya would be lost to me forever. So with shaking hand I dialed the number for Dell support. I will not write the name of the computer warrior whom I contacted. Mostly because I don't think that I could spell it if you paid me, but it sounded like nfrhemvhekj4y7dfnmgh. No, I'm not kidding. Call me a dumb American, but if both the technician and I have to say "what?" or "excuse me?" every time the other person says something, that's down right sucky customer service. Oh well, another rant for another day. I must say that I was impressed with ol' what's-his-name's depth of knowledge of the situation, but several hundred "what?"s and "excuse me?"s later, my Sonya was still in the clutches of the Monster. Finally, after admitting defeat, the tech uttered the word that made me want to kick, scream, and do something really awful to a guy named Bill. Reformat. What happened was when the Monster tried to install it got into a fight with my anti-virus software. It must have lost, because it screamed, "Well, fine! I'm taking my ball and going home!" And with that the Monster corrupted my validation file. That's the little piece of Windows Vista that let's you, you know, use Vista. Without that file, Windows is pretty useless. Now, here's the funny part. When I asked He-who-cannot-be-named what I could do to keep this from happening again, he told me to do the following. Before installing any Service Pack (i.e. Monster) I need to uninstall my anti-virus software, backup all 120 GB's of my data, stop all non-Microsoft services, disable all start-up items, and then install the Service Pack. Raise your hand if you know how to do that. Bueller? Bueller? As it turns out, I do know how to do all of that, but it is as hard as it sounds. Luckily, I was able to remove all of my data before reformatting and as far as I can tell nothing was lost. So, now after several weeks, Sonya is feeling much better and she is nearly back to normal. I still can't help but marvel at the irony of this whole thing. Microsoft wanted to keep my computer from being ruined by installing a Service Pack that ruined my computer. I guess I'd call this whole experience annoying, but only because my wife doesn't like it when I use those more colorful adjectives. Curse you Monster. Next time, you will be mine.

Passing

My wife's grandfather passed away yesterday and I feel as though I should write something about it. Honestly, I don't really feel sad about him dying and I feel a little guilty because of that. I find that I feel more sad for my wife and her family and the pain that they're going through right now. I know that it was his time to go. He was in his 80's and had been sick for awhile. My wife and several members of her family were there when he died yesterday. She tells me that she was glad that she was there and that it was a really touching experience. Although, the whole time that she was telling me about it, all I could think about was what her grandmother must be going through. My wife's grandparents had been married for more than 55 years, and now her grandmother has to face the fact that she now has to spend her remaining years without her husband. I hope and pray that this doesn't happen to my wife. I hope that when the time comes, the Lord will take her before me so that she doesn't have to be alone. My faith tells me that my wife will see her grandfather again someday and this comes as a huge comfort to us all. It makes me wonder how people,who don't now about God's plan for us, cope with death. It must be so terrifying to them to think that this life is all we get and that after someone passes away, they're gone forever. I thank my Heavenly Father each and everyday that I now the truth about this life and for the comfort that that knowledge brings.

Mornings

Mornings suck.

Concentration

For as long as I can remember I've always had trouble concentrating. Ever since I was in elementary school, all that it has taken to distract me was something shiny. Now, I'm not talking about the usual short attention span that most children and several adults posses. I'm talking about the complete lack of an attention span altogether. Just ask my wife. In fact, as I'm writing this post, I have to listen to really loud music so that I'm not distracted by all conversations going on around me on the train. Since this is something that I've been fighting my whole life I have learned a couple of tricks to help keep myself on task. The reason why I bring this issue of concentration up is that lately at work there hasn't been a lot to do. I can work all day long so long as people are constantly coming to me and asking for help, but when I have to find something to do on my own, I suck. It's not that I don't want to work. On the contrary, I feel really good about myself when I've been busy all day long and I've gotten something done. I just find that when left to my own devices, I do not do well. I hate when the end of the day comes and I realize that I've done little or nothing all day long. I feel like I should just leave my time card blank for the day. Any way, today was another very slow day. I think that I got a total of 2 service calls all day long and neither of them took more than 15 minuted to take care of. However, despite the lack of activity, I found that I was able stay productive all day long by working on one of my many projects. It felt so satisfying at the end of the day know that today I had done my job and I had done it well. Now the trick is to be able recall that feeling of accomplishment the next time I find that I need a little self motivation. Hopefully with a lot of hard work, and an insane amount of luck, I'll be able to someday rid myself of this nasty inability to be self-motivated and have an attention span of my very own. How cool would that be?!