Category: Life Bits

I’m so glad that 2006 is over.  It’s been one of those years I’d like to forget.  Thanks to all my friends for making this year bearable.  Here’s to a better year in 2007!

-John

I’m just counting down the days until this year is over. It’s been one of those years I’d like to just forget, but at the same time has reshaped and reinforced some things that make me… well… ME! When this year started out for me I was in the Los Angeles area celebrating with the woman who would undoubtedly break my heart just a few days later. Then came the 12-13 hour days at work, 7 days a week. After that came other various issues whether it be with myself, family, or friends.  Needless to say, this year has been one of the fastest years for me ever. It seems like there is just so much going on and so little time to do it all in. I look back on where I was a year ago, and I really don’t know how the hell I made the constant trips to Chico.

This weekend I put up the Christmas Tree for the kitties to enjoy. Within a few hours, I had a 12.5 lb Siamese ornament in the tree. I don’t know why Cocoa likes climbing in the tree, but she’s done that every year I’ve put the tree up. Maybe one of these days I’ll have the video camera or digital camera out to capture that memory!

Talking about my kitties, I really don’t know what I could have done without them over this past year. They patiently watched me go through many emotions, yet gave me unconditional love. I still do not know what to get the kitties for presents this Christmas. Cocoa is on her second collar for the year, and Angel has pounce treats. Any ideas out there?

As for sports, I’ve been pretty lost without NASCAR. I’m looking forward to the Daytona 500 – I just wish it was already February. NBA has been a bust for me this year. For the first time in four years I haven’t subscribed to the NBA League Pass. I’ve become a frustrated Kings fan again, and it has been rather hard to watch the games this year. The team just isn’t gelling.

Anyway, for now I will close. For some reason I just felt like babbling.

Man – is this year going fast or what!  Life just doesn’t seem to want to slow down very much.  2006 continues to be a mixed bag for me.  I’m still hoping that the year will continue to get better, because it sure started out bad.  September looks like a pretty good month for me – I’m hoping to take some time off and I get to see Toby Keith as well.  I’m excited about that!

My prototyping area at work is finally getting organized. The new KVM is installed and the cables are more organized. Some of my handy work:

I’m excited as it will make me a little more productive when prototyping systems. It definitely looks a lot cleaner.

I swear that life is moving at the speed of light right now.  My current life consists of: getting up in the morning, going to work, try to fit lunch in somewhere, work some more, come home and have dinner… and crash!  This has been pretty consistant since getting back from the SANS Conference in San Diego.  I’m hoping that after the first week of school things will setttle down.  There’s so much I need to do for me, my house, and my cats.  At least this morning I woke up at around 5 and started doing some much needed laundry.

Life has been… well… crazy over the past month. I’ve travelled 1366 miles via air, 633 miles via car all in the name of work. Received some awesome training and got to learn some new stuff as well. One more class next month and I’ll be done travelling for a while…hopefully. Then I need to work on my certification from after the class in August.

As I said in a previous post, July has been the month of reunions. I had the opportunity to get together with Tim, Ed, Tristen, and Ed and Tristen’s two kids while in Los Angeles. It was the first time all of us have been in the same place at once… since 1997. Now that I’m back at homebase for the time being, I need to concentrate on getting things ready for the Fall semester. Luckily things are in good shape.

I guess that is about it for now. Any updates, fun memes, and any non-critical e-mail will be answered by the end of August. As for now, I’m going to spend some quality time with my cats. They have missed me over the past few weeks.

This weekend has gone faster than I expected. I had a great time at the BBQ last night – I’m glad I went. Hopefully we all stay in better contact with one another and have another reunion at some point. Today I’m just exhausted as I am trying to prepare for LALA land. I also need to mow the lawns today. My poor lawn looks like a war zone. The gopher(s) are back and are making a ton of mounds. I have a special treat for those darn things if I can find a tunnel.

I’m ready to curl up and take a nap, but I can’t since I am trying to get my laundry done. The cats are currently sleeping. Cocoa is up on the top level of the cat tree sleep and Angel is at the sliding glass door sunbathing/sleeping. I wish I could live the life of a cat – they have such a nice life!

Well if this isn’t the month for reunions of old friends! Yesterday afternoon I got a call from my friend Andy’s wife. She said that there were people coming in town for an Alder Hall reunion and that they were having it tomorrow. I was a bit surprised about the short notice, but arrived at Redwood Park about 11 this morning. It’s hard to believe I haven’t seen some of these folks in 10 years. This is the group of Alder Hall students during my first year residence. It was nice catching up with them to say the least.

Of everyone that showed up, everyone that was a couple back then is now married to them and they have kids. In fact, I was the only “single” bachelor there. I’m off to a bbq in a little bit over at one of their houses. It’s hard to believe it’s been 14 years since I started college at Humboldt State! Ah well, time flies when you are having “fun” right?

Well, I guess I should get ready to get off to the bbq. That should be a hoot! Too bad I couldn’t come up with a date in the meantime! heh.