Saturday, February 23, 2008

Panama City, Fla in February

The Wife (House Dragon)

The Mother
The Father (What the heck is he wearing?)
The Beach

Goodbye!

Friday, February 22, 2008

Oh no! Not you Elmo!

Check this out. What the heck is Elmo saying? Fish, is this your doing? Did you fall out of love with Elmo?

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Back for a Year

I’m back in Ohio for about a year and a quarter now. It’s probably time to take stock of my situation and figure out how big an error I have made. I mean congratulate myself on what a brilliant dude I am.

My Wife

I had hoped that moving back closer to my family would help my wife. She does a great job at earning money as well as the respect and confidence of her coworkers, but in Seattle she struggled with friends. The root of the problem seems to be that her performance at work intimidates potential friends and she really doesn’t have the kinds of hobbies that lend themselves to other people.

Moving here has actually made some of this worse as my wife now resents the fact that I have pre-existing friends that would drain my time and she is not interested in ‘hanging out” (which I completely understand) with my friends.

We’ll score this -1

The Child

The child complained all through high school that the school she attended did not have enough people that looked like her. Fair enough, we sent her to Central State (U of Wash, somehow wasn’t ‘good enough’). Anyway, the child seems to be doing alright, but not stellar. While her grades are good, her social life is thin. We’ve made some miss-steps in the process, but while my wife disagrees, I think we’re on a good pace.

Let’s call this a +1

Extended Family

Nobody gets to choose their family. That said, Mom and Dad seem happier, my brother seems happier, I think my sister wishes she had a free place to stay in Seattle for her and her boyfriend. Oops, 2 outta 3 ain’t bad.

I call this +1.

Financially

Woof. As much as the House Dragon has terrorized her new employer into a larger paycheck, I have been hammered. I truly do not understand the cost of living indices. For the first time in a long time I am not living ‘well below my means’. I don’t know how I goofed this up. It’s probably the fault of my gigantic brain.

-1

Overall

I mostly moved back to Ohio to be closer to my parents. I miss my friends in Seattle. I’m bad at staying in contact, I feel like my time is gone long before I get to spend it. I don’t get to see my Ohio friends as much as I would like. I spend about as much time with Mom and Dad as possible. I don’t regret my time away, I’d like to go back to Seattle at some point, but its good to be here. For now.

+1

Score
+ 1 = a good decision (hooray for me...)

Friday, February 01, 2008

Sensory Deprivation

Here's a list of some of the rules that make my job 8 hours in the sensory deprivation tank.

  • Nothing is allowed on the walls. No pictures, no awards, nothing. There was a mark on the wall by the thermostat and physical maintenance noticed it and grilled me about the mark.
  • No cell phones with camera
  • No IPod
  • No memory sticks
  • No cameras
  • Can't use the USB port on our workstations
  • Can't use the cd/dvd player on our workstations
  • Can't have admin privileges on our workstations (we use windows based machines)
  • We have flex time; you can work from 7 to 4 -OR- from 8 to 5. Note: that's 7:00 to 4:00 not 7:01 to 4:01. Yes this is enforced via cameras in the parking lot
  • must wear a shirt & tie, except for our monthly casual day, where you may skip the tie.
  • Did I mention flex time? Lunch is from 11:30 to 12:30 -OR- 12:30 to 1:30. No kidding
  • All outgoing email is monitored. No profanity. Even in stuff you are forwarding to your own home
  • Of course internet usage is monitored, this is actually a little less strict than other places, but I haven't really tried anything risky.

That's not nearly everything, but its enough for now.