Three-Letter Acronyms & Four-Letter Words

Yard work is done. The backyard could use another go around with the weed whacker.

We had some branches and stuff on the side of the house that had been there since last year I think.

I bundled those up and put them on the curb.

Oh yeah, I think my backyard is being invaded. By a non-indigenous (to Cedar Park) vine weed.

In all the years that I have lived here, this is the first time that I have seen it.

Now, over the last six months or so we have had a massive influx of birds. The vines were at their thickest underneath the trees. I am thinking that these new bird brought along with them the invader.

It kind of reminds me of 'Duck Weed' except it has little burr like balls on it (the seeds I am sure). At least they aren't prickly, hate the prickly ones (prickers).

I will see if I can figure out what they are, might have to tap the family horticulturist (my pops) to find out.

So rather than mulch those up and make even more weeds, I pulled them. I would rather have a backyard full of dandelions than have this stuff all over the place. Notably it was covering at least 50% of the yard. I got a lot of it up by hand, but then I had to pull out the rake when I realized how much more of it there was left to get.

I filled three 30-gallon contractor bags (probably about 25-gallons full) with those weeds and this other weed that reminds me of what as a kid I called "Wild Carrots" it has a slight carrot smell to it. However, it too produces burrs, not prickers, just burrs.

Anyway, I am going to find a bottle of Advil and crawl into it.

Laterz

... and just up over the hill and through the woods to Jeremy's house we go.

I came into New York this past week, with my boss Jack and colleague Trevor, to meet with the folks at Oddcast, they built the JadukaTV site for us.

We flew in on Wednesday night and met with Oddcast on Thursday.

Jeremy came into town and we all hung out for a bit. Then it was time to take the train to Long Island. The ride seemed to go on forever, course the beer might have been effecting my judgment of time.

Then it came time to walk from the train station to his house. Which he had told me was "Just two blocks away." I didn't think that would be too bad.

Then came the actual walking, he pointed down the road and said "That second green light, down there, that is it, basically."

So we walked and walked. The jury is still out on how far the distance actually was, but it was much longer than two blocks. I am saying 1.5 - 2 miles. He is saying 1 - 1.5 miles.

Either way, I am sure that I am better off for having walked, given the steak for dinner and what not.

Well, I am going to be up here hanging out with Jeremy working on some Jaduka stuff and some uRevoo. I think we might try to get a few games of Gears of War or Call of Duty 3 in as well.

I had an excellent bagel this morning.

Laterz

Home improvement begins, again.

This time we are putting in a tile floor in the living room, hallway and eventually redoing the tile in the kitchen and dining room area.

Approx 670 sq ft. That makes requires about 42 boxes of tile. Each box weights about 30 lbs (i need to weigh one of the boxes just to be official about it, but they are fscking HEAVY!)

We paid for delivery, for two reasons.

1. Neither the Corolla nor the Vibe could cart that much tile. It is about 2/3 the amount of tile on a pallet.

2. I did not want to load it into the car, just to unload it when we got home.

However, there was a small snag with the delivery. They drop off the whole pallet, using a forklift. The guy told me that he would get it as close as possible. (The forklift is too big to take it all the way into the garage.) I figured he would be able to get the pallet just inside the garage. Making the journey for the boxes about 5 ft.

No such luck. The forklift had a flat tire. So the pallet was dropped off at the edge of the driveway.

However, the guy was very nice. He helped me load up the 'hand truck' and cart all the boxes into the garage. This took about 20 minutes to unload all 42 boxes and place them into the spot I had cleared off in the garage for it all.

In the end, I probably got a better deal than if he had just dropped it off inside the garage door. So no complaints.

Needless to say though, I got a little work out from that.

Back to the grind.

Laterz.

Yes, I know I am not even 30 yet. I still have a good 22 months and change before that day comes around.

However, I should have listened to my parents. There are plenty of things that I did listen to them on, but there are quite a few that I just flat out ignored them about. In no particular order...

1. Drinking too much soda. My mom and pops warned me back in high school that I should layoff the soda. My mom suggested that I lay off of the crack all together. Dad suggested that I instead switch to Diet. If you knew me in high school, college or first 5 years or so in Texas, I did the exact opposite. I drank LOTS of soda. Less than some people I know, but LOTS. Jolt Cola was my favorite.

My mom suggested laying off soda all together because of the caffeine, not just the sugar.

Anyway, I didn't layoff the soda. In about 2002 or so I started to switch over to diet. By 2003 I was mainly drinking diet energy drink as they don't make diet Jolt cola. (Note: Jolt does make a sugar free, splenda, soda that is not a cola.)

If I had dropped the soda sooner I would likely not weigh as much as I do. However, I was always more of a processed sugar snack food person than a soda drinker. I drank soda for the caffeine and I usually drink the soda with the most caffeine. More caffeine per can = less sugar = less calories.

2. Exercise regularly (or at least once every couple of days). My mom has been exercising regularly for as long as I can remember. Back in middle school she would get up early and walk around the neighborhood. Then she started going to the track at Harry Hill, I mean like 5am early. Then, she joined a club, the main focus was tennis. Still 5 am or so with the wake-up call. But the club had Nordic equipment and basketball. (I am not coordinated enough for tennis really).

I have never practiced this philosophy. Oh, I have had gym memberships and what not but never really used them. I mean the best shape I was probably ever in was when I lived on the 3rd floor apartment. It is hard to not be in shape just a little when you have to climb three flights of stairs day in and day out.

And then when I was bowling that was at least regular workouts. Regardless of the idea that lobbing a ball down the lane isn't actual exercise, has never bowled three games in 30 minutes before. That is about the extent of exercise for me.

Maybe I should have joined a sport in high school. Played football, hockey, basketball, baseball. But I never felt like it. Honestly, still don't. I would like to get back into bowling. However, my schedule is erratic enough to make joining a team in a league too much of a commitment. And being a stand-in sucks, part of the fun of a bowling league is the fun of meeting up with your teammates each week.

3. Vegetables. Now, I am throwing this one in because no kid likes vegetables. I have actually grown up to appreciate the green stuff. With a few exceptions of course. Squash, I freaking hate squash. At one time I hated tomatoes. However, I don't think I will every like squash.

4. School is important. Now this one should be completely obvious common sense right? Well trust me, it is easy to think that school is easy, that one can just coast by in school. And sometimes you can. And sometimes you can't. I have failed a few classes in my day. Because I thought I could just skate through it. That studying and working hard wasn't important. This wasn't necessarily because I thought school was important. But I will say that I don't think I understood the real gravity of the situation. I goofed off and skipped so much in school that some might question if I even attended my senior year in high school. I will remind those people that I had a couple of independent study classes, which means I was perfectly fine to study from Theo's or just the inside of my eyelids. Senior year was the year I discovered the Internet, Muds and what not.

If I knew then, what I know now, who knows what I would be doing. But the question is really, how would I know then what I know now, without the experiences that I have had goofing off and not going to class.

Well that is about all I can come up with.

Laterz