St Pat's Day and Spring Plants

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Today I chose a cartoon selection from my favorite cartoonist, Dan Piraro over at Bizarro Blog to celebrate the day.

Spring is here!  Very early for us this year, but I'm lovin' it!  The weather has been absolutely beautiful lately, about 30 degrees above average and we have been setting record high temps every day.  With the change to Spring, I change jobs starting Monday.  Yesterday my coworkers picked on me all day, messing up my desk every time I left it to wander or go to break.  It actually made me feel really good that they cared enough to pay that much attention to me on my last day in the department.  A few of them even met me out after work to enjoy a few drinks (okay, a lot).  I will miss them, but I will still be in the same building so I'll still see them around now and again.

With the yard clean up done, we can just enjoy watching all the plants and flowers come to life.  Below is the back of the house.  You can see one lone yellow daffodil blooming among many other plants and bulbs bursting up.  To the left of the daffodil are irises and to the right are many random bulbs that were around the yard replanted here and those purple puffball plants that I don't know the name of.  Lost in the shadows on the left there are day lilies coming up.  As you can tell, last year I used the leaf mulch in the flowerbeds.  Hopefully that works out well so I can do that every year, I recycled almost all of the leaf litter from last year right here in our yard.

Also, every Spring we have these little purple flowers pop up in the back part of the yard. They're pretty and don't seem to hurt anything. In fact they pretty much disappear by the time I have to mow for the first time and then we won't notice anything again until next Spring.

Well, after my past couple of days, today is mostly a day of rest and relaxation.  Tomorrow may be the 'errand' day, and I still have the TV stand stuff to do.  My friend Jerome offered to help so I may take him up on that tomorrow, we'll see.  I hope wherever you are you are enjoying a nice Spring and not drinking cheap, green beer - blecchhh!

P.S.  Hopefully in a bit I will have the first garden blog post of the year, though there is not much to see yet.  Link is in the right column.

My 'Off' Day

I took today off from work.  Well, work that I get paid for anyway.  My day started about the same time it always does on a weekday, but instead of getting ready for work I read the paper and walked quietly until my wife got up for work.  After she was up and gone I finally showered, ready for what was supposed to be a very nice day.

I started by cleaning up and going to the hardware and grocery stores early, before they got busy.  By the time I got home and was putting away groceries it was already sweltering.  Well, as sweltering as 70 degrees and slightly foggy can be.  I removed some of the plastic we had covering some windows and opened up the house for what would be a very nice Spring day.  I went non-stop after that with yardwork and much more.  By the time I had knocked out much of my to-do list it was almost game time, at 1:10 the Badgers played.  This was after I had taken 2 showers and was on my fourth set of clothes.  On this 'day off' I worked my butt off in humidity that is unseen in March usually.  The high today was only 73 degrees but the humidity was nuts.  Pavement was actually wet, and in the shade it stayed like that until almost 4 o'clock this afternoon!  I managed to accomplish many odd jobs around here, but not anything to do with the TV stand.  That was just too much to fit in.

Still, none of it seemed to matter.  Sore as hell, I made a strong drink at the start of the Badger game and enjoyed it (the game and the drinks) immensely.  After all, I had been working non-stop, physically, all damn day.  In the mail, which arrived towards the end of the game, I got the PAIN DVD that I had been expecting, so when the game was done -and since it was supposed to be my off day- I enjoyed the hell out of that DVD, until my wife got home.

End of story.

Hand In Hand

Well, I feel like I should apologize for the sporadic blogging lately but when I look it has been just once or twice a week for a while now.  Oh well, let's catch up. 

On one hand, our new TV stand/entertainment center was delivered today.  Just a box full of lots of pieces that need to be put together.
On the other hand, we have no new TV to put on it yet.  We do know what we want, though, so it is just a matter of ordering it, but there is also the little detail of moving, disassembling, and discarding the old, huge, entertainment center.

On one hand, my wife took a half day off today to be here for the delivery of our dishwasher.  Yes, we finally are getting a dishwasher.  When we first got the house we wanted to get one, then other things came up and we found that doing the dishes by hand wasn't so bad.  Since then I have had my share of surgeries and no longer stoop over the sink so Kate has been doing them all herself now for quite some time.
On the other hand, the plumber called this morning and said the carpenter can't make it here in the morning to remove the cabinet due to a health problem with his wife.  I had taken tomorrow off to be here for them and now have to decide if I will still take it off or if I will go in to work in the morning.   But there's a lot more to that...

On one hand, the Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team opens March Madness as a number 4 seed against Montana early tomorrow afternoon, yard work could be done, and some of the aforementioned TV stand stuff could be done.  Also, a TV could get ordered, and I could take my first voluntary day off in a longer time than I can remember.
On the other hand, I have only one day I can use until I get my time back at the end of the month so I could go in and cancel my day off in the morning. Otherwise Kate would have to take another day off (presumably) next week when they can install the dishwasher.  I'll be in training at a new job for the next 2 months starting Monday,  so I would rather not miss a day when I've just joined the department.

Decisions, decisions.  I'm leaning toward taking the day off anyway tomorrow to get some of those things done around here.  Kate is okay with taking another day off for the workmen and, well, I deserve a day off.  So there!  The weather has been gorgeously sunny and warm lately so maybe I will post pics of the plants that are popping up... maybe we'll even have the first garden post of the year!

Latest Listening Pleasure... Nightwish

Nightwish is a band from Finland that I found out about through their singer Annette Olzon's singing with Pain on the single/video 'Follow Me.'  At first I was a bit skeptical, I have never really listened to this symphonic metal genre of music before.  In fact, at first listen I preferred the instrumental version.  But it grew on me and continues to be played frequently on my ipod.  I've since listened to some similar bands, like Epica and Xandria, and have come to the conclusion that I do not prefer this type of music - except for Nightwish, who do what they do very very well.  I do only prefer the current Nightwish lineup and maybe their last with the previous singer on the cd, Once.  I have not felt the need to explore earlier releases, though I'm sure it would be interesting if I ever get bored.

This new project, Imaginaerum, is turning out to be quite a big project.  CD's, DVD's, a movie coming soon.  I look forward to seeing the movie when finished, I may buy the box set that I'm sure will come out.  Here is the first single off Imaginaerum, 'Storytime,' followed by a brand new (hours old when I posted this) Imaginaerum documentary trailer.

Moving On Up

I'm happy to say that I have accepted a position in another department at my work, a step up, a promotion.  Many people tell me that the grass is the same green, and that may be, but at least it's a different lawn.  I start a fortnight from now, I am eager and nervous at the same time.  It will be a major change for my days, most likely for the better, and a minor raise in pay.  I take some pride in my work and I hope I'm joining people that mostly feel the same.   Yep, well, at the very least I'll have windows!

In Like A Lion...

Yes, March is here and with it comes one of the bigger snowfalls so far this season.  I just took this picture a few minutes ago. The snowfall is expected to more or less continue through Sunday, yet Tuesday and Wednesday they expect very mild temps in the 50's.  I'd like to see the 'out like a lamb' part sooner than later.

My wife told me that if I decide to shovel it better be a hole to fall in so when I hurt my back again she can just cover me up.  Hmm, I think I'll wait until she gets home.

Back Again, And Again, And..

Today is six weeks, by my count, since I threw out my back after removing snow from the walks and driveway.  I tweaked it again a few weeks ago, mildly, and tweaked it again this past Friday, not mildly.  Today I am sore but at least able to walk somewhat normal.  If I ever get it to stop spasming and get the inflammation down, then I can get back to strengthening.

If I bought my body at Walmart I would have returned it a long time ago.

Pic Dump 38

It's that time again, time to dump all those pics I came across during my surfing that I saved just for this very occasion!  Same rules as always: Some may be NSFW, click pic for original size if different and much, much more after the break. Enjoy!

I want this shirt!

Again, many thanks to 'My Favorite Sites' listed in the right column always, and here now:
Bits & Pieces, Crazy, Lazy, Silly and Strange, I Have Seen The Whole Of The Internet, Linkswarm (I still visit - rarely), Naughty Bits, and the Watcher's Web Funny Farm (just because it was one of the first funny/joke sites I found way back when I first got an internet computer).  SpaceGhetto is not listed - it is a dangerous site(s) - beware!  In fact, just assume that each of these are NSFW, okay?  Now have fun!

Just Was & Updates

I know what your thinking, what? bullet points again!   There's just been a few things on my mind and updates I wanted to give and then there's the highs and lows of the weekend.  The weekend was, um, just was.

• My wife's Valentine's Day gift arrived a day late, on Wednesday.  I got her a gift basket of Godiva chocolates.  She seems to be very happy with it. 
• My back has gotten worse before hopefully getting all better.  I left work early Friday, self medicated with a few drinks and muscle relaxers, and tried to get some rest.  That evening our friends Jerome and Lisa came over to grill some food and hang out.  We had a lot of fun, but, of course, I had quite the head start.
• Saturday was our quiet day, we ran a couple small errands and got a bite to eat but otherwise stayed in.
• On Sunday our friend Bridget celebrated her birthday (Yay, Bridget!) with a brunch at a local restaurant for many of her friends.  It was a popular place, the food was okay, service was good but seemed slow.  It was a big party and many people were a bit late to begin with, but we were there almost 2 hours and my ass and lower back were screaming at me.  I found making conversation difficult.  I do tend to clam up in a loud environment (I can't hear) or if I'm uncomfortable, that and my insecurities.  Along with pain management I could use a brush up on social skills.  I've got to buck up and suck it up better than I have been.
• I didn't get the job/promotion I wanted, I lost out to someone with more seniority.  All may not be lost, though, a similar position is opening soon.
• I'm still smoking the clove cigars.  I haven't really cut down at all, but I have made a conscious effort to not inhale, and just from that I can tell the difference in my lungs.
• And lastly, I miss listening to The Don Geronimo Show podcast but it has freed up so much time.  I can now easily listen to all my other podcasts and plenty of music all day at work.  Plus, if my position changes, then I may not have as much time with headphones on at work.
• And that reminds me, the headphone jack on my ipod is going again.  I have a new one on order that should be here soon.  This is the third time I've replaced the jack, I think.  We've certainly gotten our money's worth out of it (it was a gift many years ago), but even replacing parts now and again, this old 5th Gen Video ipod just keeps on truckin'.  Now if I jinxed myself by saying that I'll $#!%......

I guess I lied, when I said 'lastly' it wasn't.  Thanks for listening to my brain spill all over the page.  Have a good week!

The Gentlemen's Rant

...for Valentine's Day.  This is another youtube channel I recently came across that amuses me and may end up on my list.  Kind of NSFW.



My wife is not getting a present today. I ordered it late so it will be here later this week, but it's a good enough present that I don't think she'll mind.

What's New?

Well, what's new with me these days.  Time to start typing and see what comes out...

• My back is feeling better finally.  I threw it out 3 weeks ago yesterday after clearing snow.  Yes, after clearing snow as I was kicking off my boots I felt that old familiar twang and knew I would be hurting for a while.  I was right.
• Our white trash neighbor across the street tried to park me in this morning.  It is alternate side parking here for winter which limits the space somewhat but there is still plenty of room on the street for everyone.  I was the first car there last night, this morning the doughboy's car was about a foot off my back bumper.  The skank bartends and gets home in the wee hours so she surely saw that and intentionally backed her car up within about 2 feet of my front bumper.  (FYI, they have the only house on the block without a driveway or garage, though there is room to put one in.) Just a bit more and I would have called the cops to wake them up and move a vehicle.  As it was, it was a pain to get out.  They have been a pain to us ever since we moved in and she slashed my tire because she liked to park in front of our house and all of a sudden I started parking there. I took pictures in case I need them later.
• Die Antwoord's new release, "Ten$ion" is out now (see last post).  I enjoyed listening to it twice today at work.  Still very good, very edgy, but maybe not as good as their first, "$o$."  It will surely grow on me, though.  They were on David Letterman the other night!
• Our winter continues to be a very very mild one.  There hasn't been much snow, even now the ground is mostly clear, and temps have been mild, above freezing most days and even considerably above freezing some days.  I can't complain...  yet.  There's still time.
• I've applied for a different position at my work, an upgrade, promotion if you will.  I really really hope I get it, I desperately need a change of scenery from the department I'm in now.  A year and a half ago I did get a promotion but then had to turn it down because I broke my leg and they couldn't hold up the class.  That interview I didn't think went very well yet I was offered the position.  This interview I think went very well and, well, keep your fingers crossed for me!
• I bought myself a new lunchbox that arrived today.  It cost about 35 dollars, but is much bigger than my old one (that we got for free but I used for at least 6 years), which was always packed to the top.  Mostly it needs to hold ice packs and water bottles and now I'll have more room for actual food. But the increased size has me steeling myself for the 'man-purse' comments I may get.  Oh well, the smaller size was too small so I'll just deal with it.

That's all I can think of right now.  Mostly we're just dealing with the daily drudgery that we all have, especially this time of year, I hope yours is more exciting than ours.  Ta Ta for now!

I Fink U Freeky

I always have an eye out for what Die Antwoord will do next.  Ninja and Yolandi Visser seem to do things that are somehow new, outside the norm, even fascinatingly strange, and that amuses and entertains me.


Of course, one big reason I enjoy Die Antwoord is....  after the break!