A New Day Dawns...

It's somewhat amazing how a new day can bring a little bit of peace and calmness to the soul. I think a good night's sleep can also help. I am in a much better mood and mind-frame today than I was yesterday and it's showing in my work, my demeanor, even in the way I feel physically. Maybe it is getting a good lead on a different approach to a design issue I've had at work, or maybe it was just getting good sleep. Who knows. And, frankly, I don't care - as long as I'm feeling better.

I'm sure the stress is caused by a multitude of things, including Christmas being on the horizon. It always seems to be an area of the year that I get stressed out at. But, we're heading up to MA, so it should be fun. It's always nice to be able to spend time with my family - as crazy as they are - since I don't get to see them much anymore.

I'm also pumped about going snowboarding! I am going to get up at least one, if not two days this weekend to Mountain Creek - assuming they open as planned. Then I've got three days in January that I'll be spending with twenty five friends (some close, some friends of friends). This trip is what I'm most looking forward to over the next few weeks! I can't wait.

OK, back to work for now.

Another slow day..

Arrgghh, layoffs and work and stupid projects - oh my! Work has been less than stellar, to say the least. The only think that is making is bearable is that I should be able to go snowboarding this weekend. I can't wait.

The TriSpot - Forum and training logs.

The TriSpot - Forum and training logs.

Great place for those of you who are interested in starting to do triathlons or those of you who do compete in these events.

I'm thinking about starting to train for one simply because I need to compete in something, [i]anything[/i], again. I miss that competitiveness that is required during competitions.

Welcome to LI, Hurricane Alex

Hurricane Alex is sending some love our way. Report has it at overhead (and then some), glassy, and pretty much perfect. Too damn bad I'm stuck here at work w/little to no time off left on my account. I'm bummed out big time. I decided to not get wet yesterday due to the fact that Ris had a bad day at work yesterday (How someone can threaten to "fucking kick her ass" in regards to their boss - in front of two other managers, mind you - and not be fired is beyond my comprehension. Unions are pathetic wastes of space these days). So, instead, I went home, did laundry, unloaded the dishwasher, and generally took care of her. She appreciated it, but still, I missed a day of surfing - BOOO! Hopefully I'll get wet tomorrow (as today is a gym day - and probably a little too big for me anyways).

Avnet - Swiss Army Memory "Knife"

Avnet - Swiss Army Memory "Knife"

Yeah, I'm a tech geek, but this thing is pretty damn cool if you ask me.

Not seeing the Forest for the Trees

Don't you hate it when you've been working on a project for a long time and seem stuck in a rut on a seemingly tough portion of it only to have someone who has not put in any time or effort come over and say "Oh, if you did X, Y, and Z you'd be all set."  Arrrgggh!  Well, it happened to me this morning. 

I've been trying to design a hard stop for a tilt drive we have and have been running into failure issues due to the high torque on the thing.  My boss comes over and asks for an update - so I run him through everything and then tell him where I'm having issues.  Then he goes "Well, what if ou modify the gear so that it's impossible for it to rotate past a certain point."

Duh!  I've been staring at this thing for a week, running all kinds of funky calculations, doing all kinds of funny number crunching and then he comes over and solves it in five minutes.  So freaking irritating.  But, at the same time, it's a great idea that I would have missed - I knew I was looking too closely at this thing.

But, hey, it's Friday and it's almost lunch time, so things can't be that bad today.  I can't wait to get out of here.  We're going to see Bourne Supremacy tonight.  I can't wait.  It looks awesome.  Then we're heading down to Jersey tomorrow to see Brent and Christy.  Should be a fun time.  Alright, enough blogging...time to get back to work here...

Dragging Arse...

The last few days have been hellish here...I've been dragging my butt around work without much of anything doing.  My projects have all kind of stalled and I don't feel like I have the energy to jump start them.  Weird kind of funk I'm in.  Work is once again becoming that place I go to just because I'm supposed to be working - it's the thing I should be doing simply because of where I am in life...well, what if I don't want to do that?  What if I want to stay home and not work?  Just me being me right now, I guess....one of my typical funks.  I'm sure the fact that I haven't been the gym in a long time and I'm mentally battling the need to have a proper diet with the desire to eat like a normal person (one a side note, I sure am using italics a lot today).  OK, enough dinking around...maybe I can get some work done if I leave this be for a while...

MA Here We Come

Well, it was my Mom's B-Day yesterday and it's been about a month since we saw them, so we're heading up to MA this weekend to see them.  Ris' parents will be in Newport, RI (a short drive from my folks' house), so it looks like the whole gang will get together (as Courtney will be with Mike and Fredda and Alyssa & Z are coming down from VT as well).  Sat AM is golf for the boys and then everyone's off to Newport for dinner.  Hopefully the weather holds out for us.  It's not looking good so far:

• Today: Sunshine along with a few clouds. High 84F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
• Tonight: Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 64F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
• Tomorrow: Overcast with showers at times. High around 75F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
• Tomorrow night: Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low around 60F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.

Weather.com has been know to be wrong in the past though...we will see.  Like I said though, I am looking forward to golfing.  Maybe I'll do some fishing with my Dad if the weather is less than stellar.  That's always good for a laugh as I'm better at catching trees and other assorted crap than I am in catching fish :)

LB was the Shiznit Today...

I spent 1.5 hours (6:30 - 8:00pm) surfing.  Chest to head (occassional overhead) high waves.  Almost to the point of being too big for my ability.  Paddling out was a chore and a half (say what you want, but it's a killer back/shoulder/arm workout).  Not as glassy conditions as this weekend.  It was much rougher (probably due to onshore wind).  Also closed out a bit quicker so we had a steeper face.  You feel like you're going to "fall" into the wave.  I caught my fair share and decided to quite while I was ahead.  Damn near ran over a little kid on a boogie board and then got snaked on three or four waves because a noob girl was sitting in front of my line and not even trying to catch a wave.  Oh well, we all learned at some point.  I'm still learning.  But, to be honest, it was far too big and hairy to be out there if you don't at least have an inkling of what your doing...

I've basically come to the conclusion that I'm going to surf any day I can.  I've got all winter to be in the gym.  Surfing is such a release for me and it's just too damn fun to pass up.  Especially when we're getting good swell.  I'll be on and off at the gym until about mid-October.  Hey, it's not like I don't get a good workout doing it.

Surf Info Page Reports

Surf Info Page Reports This is a great page for surf reports in my area...good to know about too since surf is going off lately.

If I can ever figure out the links part of this page, I'll add to it :)

Back to Work

Well, back to work on this dreary Monday.  I spent the weekend at the beach with the Mrs. and our good friends the Murrays.  We had an absolute blast.  The sailboat got all painted (and ready to sail from what I hear), but the surf was up, so I spent my time on the beach side and not at the bay.  Only downside to the weekend was that I lost my wedding ring while paddling into a wave.  It was a most unfortunate happening as we haven't even been married for a month.  Fortunately, Ris was very understanding and didn't freak out on me.  I've got a ring on order now (hopefully it'll be here by Thursday) and all is good.

Work, however, is bland...as usual.