July 2002

An eventful workday in the life of J.P. 🙂 Yesterday our new webmaster/assistant system administrator started at work. Pretty cool guy – he’s picking up fast and knows a LOT about computers. I really think he’s going to work out for the company, and I know I’ll learn stuff from him.

I just finished “Ab Class”. Earl and I have become hooked on the Big Brother live feeds. Well every night, the Big Brother house hampsters (as I like to call them), do ‘Ab Class’ where they work out for 15 minutes out int he backyard, concentrating on their abs. Since my legs are becoming pretty buff if I do say so myself from my bike riding, I decided that I need to work on my abs and upper body as well. So I do ‘ab class’ – 30 minutes of aerobic exercise followed by 10 minutes of intensive ab training from exercises I downloaded from the web. I forgot where they came from, but they are pretty intense, I’m pretty sore the next day. Sore is good, right?

I didn’t ride yesterday or today, which I feel a tiny bit guilty about, but I needed to rest. Plus, I didn’t get out of work until 7:00 p.m. tonight, so it was really too late when I got home to go riding. I had to get some groceries (healthy stuff, believe it or not), so I went to P&C and went wild with my “wild card”. I’ve grown to really like Rice Milk, plus I have no pudge fudge brownies I made with yogurt. I must admit that I briefly thought about stopping at McDonalds on the way home, but I’ve worked too hard to feel good to start clogging up my body with McFat again.

My left eye is doing some funky thing tonight with allergies. It’s a little watery and swollen – I hope it feels better in the morning.

I just got off the phone with Earl – he’s in New Jersey tonight meeting with a customer. He’ll be back tomorrow. I think we’re going to go for an all day picnic adventure on Saturday. We haven’t done that in a while, and I think it would be fun for both of us. I’m anxious to go swimming in Lake Ontario at one of my favorite state parks – Southwick State Park a little southwest of Watertown. Very beautiful. I grew up near there and it’s nice to get up there from time to time.

Well I conqured a milestone today on my bike riding. I participated in “Tour De Heart” – the American Heart Association’s bike ride for ‘Team Shania’. Shania is a little girl that lives in the Mohawk Valley who’s had numerous heart problems, has had three open heart surgeries (and she’s only three!), but despite the obstacles she’s faced – she’s full of energy and life! So they had a benefit ride for her today (this is the second year). The radio station I work for was a sponsor, so I decided this would be an excellent test of my cycling training I’ve been doing. We had our choice of 5, 25 or 50 miles. I went for the gold and signed up for the 50 mile ride. Oh my goodness. This was a workout. We began riding through the Ilion Gorge – a beautiful, yet twisty and UPHILL ride for about 9 miles. We then turned east. I started up this massive hill when my chain flew right off my bike. And it was pouring rain at the time. So I jumped on the sag wagon, where they took me about 2 miles up the road (and hill), to a relatively dry area. I popped the chain back on, which is something I hadn’t done since I was 16 years old or so, and was well on my way. Actually, I waited for the pack of riders to catch up with my jump in the sag wagon and rejoined them. Lots and lots of hills, but I rode them all. I fell behind again, and at the end of the 50 mile ride I was second to last, just shy of 4 hours. It felt great! Earl and I raised $360 for the ride, and come to find out we raised the most money. Very exciting. Later this evening, Earl and I drove the course so he could see what the ride was like, as he had stayed back at the park where the festivities were taking place. I was telling him that that’s my one disappointment about cycling – he doesn’t get to see where I go and what I do. He said maybe someday. 🙂

Tonight we watched Saturday night’s episode of Big Brother, courtesy of TiVo. I must say that I’m enjoying this year’s crowd. Earl is constantly watching the live feeds while we’re upstairs in the wreck (computer) room. I think he’s enjoying it as much as I am! I sometimes think the whole three month thing is a little too long, but we’ll stick with it this year.

Got an incense burning as I type this. It’s relaxing me quite a bit. Must be the opium scent. 🙂

I threw my shoulder out Wednesday night during my bike ride and it’s been popping in and out and hurting me a little bit. Last time I saw the doctor about it, he just gave me pain pills and said it seemed fine. One of the reasons I’m not going to the doctor anymore. I believe more in the alternative therapies anyways. Maybe I should get my butt to a chiropractor or at the very least a masseuse. Problem is, insurance will only cover it if my primary physician refers me – but my primary physician doesn’t really believe in the alternative therapies. Maybe I need to find a new primary physician!

It’s finally decent weatherwise here in lovely Upstate N.Y. It’s been so hot and humid that last couple of days that I haven’t had the energy that I normally enjoy. But today it cooled down dramatically as a cold front came through, and now it’s in the mid 60s as I type this and I look forward to being able to sleep tonight!

I went for a nice bike ride tonight, though my legs were a little sore from my long ride on Sunday (see bike log). I’ve lost a total of 20 lbs. since the beginning of May – I’m hoping to lose another 10 by the end of August. I think I’ll be at a good weight then. I haven’t been that skinny in years!

Work has been going well – busy as usual. I hired a person for the new webmaster position we created. I just can’t keep up with all the computer demands at the company, and I need a little help. He seems like a very capable guy, I think he’ll do well. I’ve been tripped up by that statement before, as I said that two other people we hired were assets to the company and then they went all kooky for cocoa puffs, so who the heck knows. I was smart this time and we hired him with a probationary period first – so this might have a better chance of working out! 🙂

I’m still working on being calmer about life in general. I still get passionate about things, but I’m trying really hard not to fly off the handle. I have a couple of inspirational post-it notes on my desk at work. One says “I am a lottery winner”, which I firmly believe to be true, it’s just a matter of time. Earl and I are going to be millionaires some day soon. The other simply says “Oh Mighty Isis”. Now the casual observer may wonder what the heck that’s all about, but I grew up watching Isis after being totally sugar shocked from Super-Sugar-Crisp in the 1970s (I think I actually licked the ceiling one time I was so spun up on sugar). Anyways, I was able to obtain the Isis videos on VHS courtesy of Ebay, and I had forgotten how even toned Ms. Thomas (played by JoAnna Cameron) was, and how even toned Isis was. That little post-it note reminds me to keep it even toned at work! 🙂

We got an e-mail from our friends Tim and Gordon in Cheyenne, Wyoming today. They seem to be doing well. I can’t believe it’s been over a year since Earl and I were out there – I’d really like to visit the wild wild west again. Maybe go north this time instead of the southwest. Start at Denver and work our way up instead of down through New Mexico and end up in Seattle or something. Mount Rushmore too.

Sunday night we had a birthday bash with my dad and his girlfriend Karen. My sister too. We ate at the Blue Water Grille in Baldwinsville. If you’re in the Syracuse area, I highly recommend it, it’s very good. It’s along the Barge Canal / Seneca River. You can eat outside and the food was excellent.

I’m listening to my Native American CD that I have, entitled “While The Eagle Sleeps”, by Alice Gomez , along with Madallyn Blanchett and Marilyn Rife. I need to pick up more of their CDs, very inspiring.

So I’m sitting at work as I type this. It’s Thursday night, and according to my new schedule, that means I’m updating all the patches that have come out this week for Microsoft’s various products. Always a good time. I don’t know if Thursday is the best time to be doing this. I suppose it beats Friday night, but if I cook a server on Thursday night, I’m going to waste all of my Friday trying to get it running again. At least I have backup servers so the company can keep running.

I’ve finally become hooked on Big Brother 3. It took me a little while to warm up to the newest house hampsters, but now I’m starting to get into it. Tonight is the first eviction. I think instead of watching it on CBS I’m going to watch it on the live webcast.

Had a nice, brief meditation this morning. I think it really helped in centering me for the day because I had a very productive day today.

Well I’m writing in my blog for the first time from home. This Satellite internet connection is suppose to be quick, but it drags, drags, drags compared to the one at work!

I installed Windows XP Professional on my work system. I’m in the process of learning it for an upcoming certification exam, and this will make it much easier. 🙂

Earl is headed out to Buffalo tonight; he’ll be there until Friday. I’m going to go for a bike ride when he goes. I hope to be able to get 70 to 90 minutes in before it gets too dark.

I received another newsletter from Sylvia Browne today. I’m really enjoying reading her material and stuff. I haven’t been meditating as much as I should, but I’ve been constantly aware of “keeping calm”. I told myself on my 34th birthday that I was going to work on being much calmer. I think it’s working. I haven’t had any run-ins at work and the overall mood of the office has been better. Work has been going pretty well for the most part. There’s so much to, and so little time. I suppose it would help if I wasn’t writing in my blog from work, but that’s just a quick little 2 minute thing. 🙂

Another day here at the office. I can’t believe I’m writing in my blog from work, but what they heck. I guess I’m procrastinating on some work. So I’ll make this short.

I woke up late this morning – 45 minutes late to be exact. I think the cool weather helped us sleep really well. We have an air conditioner in the bedroom, but it isn’t the same as the nice fresh air blowing through the window. Today is suppose to be hot and sticky with some thunderstorms this afternoon. I’m hoping to go for a bike ride tonight after Earl heads out for Buffalo. I skipped yesterday and I feel a little antsy about it, so I’d really like to get back out there tonight. I really enjoy the bike riding.

I am really excited about this blogger program. I am going to get Earl working on his blog again… I think he gets daunted by the process of editing a web page and then saving it, uploading and on and on. This will be much easier for him. I hope that he’s into doing it. I’d like him to feel like he’s more part of the web page.

O.k., I’ve made a shocking discovery today. I’ve been keeping my web diary for close to a year, and come to find out. It’s a blog. A “web log”, or blog for short. Holy crap, I didn’t know that this was possible! And now I have software to make it easier, so I’m probably going to write in it more often, as I haven’t made an entry this month yet. Too busy! But now I can do it from work or even on the road at a mall kiosk if I want to. This is so cool!

So I’m doing this from work, which isn’t really productive. I’ll put more in tonight.