Better late than never, I suppose

I was offline most of today, so I couldn't say this until now.

Merry Christmas, my friends.
I hope today was a good one for you.

Kinda/sorta 2008 meme in review

I borrowed this from my dear friend Charlotte's Facebook page.
Decided this was better in the blog here than over there...

Did you get a boyfriend or girlfriend?
I got all I could ever wish for in the woman I love.

Did you make a new friend?
One or two... ;)

Did you get into a physical fight with anyone?
I'm a lover, not a fighter.

Did you go to a funeral or wedding?
Both, actually.

Get so drunk that you passed out?
I don't drink, therefore, I don't get drunk. I did get so exhausted I sounded like I was drunk, however.

Lost your voice?
Much to a few's regret, no.

Had someone tell you that they liked/loved you?
Every day.

How has '08 been so far?
A year of major changes in my life.

How old do you want to be when you die?
I'm too busy living and enjoying my life right now to think about that.

How do you feel about love songs?
They're fine in their place. I've been known to sing a few of them in my time.

Who was the last person to call you?
Jessica called me ten minutes after I dropped her mom off at work, asking if she was still with me.

Have you ever talked on the phone in the shower/bathtub?
Neither, but I was always good at catching Prosey in the bath (Don't tell Rene!)

Where's the person you miss most?
Next question.

Do you just want to yell in someones face right now?
Nope.

Was today a good day?
It'll be better when I can go pick Julie after work.

Whats wrong right now?
My head is itchy. Oh, that whole "no job" thing as well.

What are your plans for this weekend?
Spend time with Julie when she doesn't have to work.

Are you dating the last person you kissed?
I went so far as to ask her to marry me. ;)

Do you still play in the snow?
Does shoveling Julie's driveway and sidewalk count?

Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you baby?
Only my angel.

Is there someone that you believe you will always be attracted to?
There is someone whom I will always care for as a friend, but nothing more than that.

Would you forgive a cheater?
Define "cheater".

Are you mean?
I believe we can all be mean in our own way, if we need to be, or when we choose to be.

Whos the first person in your contacts list in your phone?
Aw, damn. My phone's all the way at the other end of the table. I am not getting up to get it just to check. Probably something stupid like "*now*" or some shit like that...

Does it matter when your friends bring up your past mistakes?
Nope, 'cause I'd do the same for them!

Do you sing obnoxiously in the car?
Heh. You were obviously listening to me singing "Waterloo", weren't you?

When was the last time you stayed up all night on the phone?
April 13-14, 2008, and it wasn't on the phone, it was an IM chat with a certain someone...

Do you curse a lot?
Fuckin' A! Hell Yeah, you sonofabitch!

Would you go in public looking like you do right now?
Hmm...nah. I'd be too cold. (I leave the details of how I look to your imagination, dear reader. Please don't puke over the thought.)

What are you listening to?
Sirius/XM Satellite Radio. Channel 35, Holly. Jim Brickman's Christmas Is, to be specific.

Where did you begin 2008?
Jonesboro, AR, with a dear friend (whom I fear I've lost).

What was your status by Valentines Day?
Single, content to be alone for the rest of my life. (HA!)

Were you in school anytime this year?
Funny thing is, I worked for a school for part of this year...

Did you have to go to the hospital?
For myself? Thank God, no. No work means no insurance.
I went there for The Kid, however.

Did you have any encounters with the police?
Only counting the number of state troopers on the Ohio Turnpike on my numerous trips to DeKalb.

Where did you go on vacation?
One should have a job to consider it a true "vacation", but I like the weekend getaways Julie and I had this year, to Toledo and to Lake Geneva.

Did you know anybody who got married?
Yeppers.

Did you know anybody who passed away?
Yes, God rest their souls.

Did you move anywhere?
BWAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH! Oh, that was funny.
If you don't know the answer, I don't know what fuckin' blog you've been reading...

What concerts/shows did you go to?
Well, we saw the Madrigals this past weekend.

Describe your birthday:
Spent it with the woman I love.

What is the one thing you thought you would not do, but did, in 2008?
Get fired. Fall in love. Leave Pittsburgh.

What have been your favorite moments?
Holding Julie.

Any new additions to your family?
Yeah, I kinda joined one...

What was your best month?
Stick with the one that was the worst. March. Since then, they've all been better.

Made new friends?
Didn't you already ask me that? What? Are you getting senile or deaf?

Other than home, where did you spend most of your time?
DeKalb, Illinois.

Have you lost any friends this year?
Yeah. Lost one good one, and I understand why.

Change your hairstyle?
No, but for the first time in nearly 25 years, someone else cut it...

Have any car accidents?
Thank God, no, and let's hope it stays that way.

How old did/do you turn this year?
41

Do you have a New Years resolution?
Find a job, love Julie with all my heart, and not fail.

Do anything embarrassing?
Feh. This is ME, remember? When haven't I done something that's not embarrassing...

Buy anything new from eBay?
eBay is eVil. I avoid it like the plague. Now, if you asked me about Amazon, Newegg, Fry's...we can talk.

Get married or divorced?
Got engaged. Marriage will come in 2011.

Get arrested?
Nope, but I've got another 8 days to go this year. Let's see if I can make it to 2009 safely.

Did you get sick this year?
A mild bug here or there. Nothing major.

Are you happy to see 2008 go?
On one hand, yeah. Losing my job for such a stupid reason still kinda hangs heavy in the back of my mind. But if I hadn't, I'd never have met Julie or started living my life for me. I'll just say "it is what it is" and leave it at that.

Been naughty or nice?
Yes.

What are you looking forward to most in 2009?
Curtis' birth, for now. After that...let's see what happens. ;)

Dean Martin sure ain't kidding

Baby, it's fucking cold outside.

The high today in DeKalb is -4. That's MINUS FOUR DEGREES, and I don't mean Celsius. Oh, and lest I forget, there's a Blizzard Warning, a Wind Chill Warning, and a Winter Weather Advisory. They're saying the wind chills, later tonight, will make it feel like 20 to 30 degrees below zero.

So we sent out for pizza delivery.

I can attest that it's cold out there today. I spent the night with Julie after seeing the DeKalb Madrigals concert. It was a nice experience...I rather liked it. Presented by the high school and held NIU, they're high school students who sing like angels. A great Christmas pageant concert...for the price of admission, you get dinner and a show.

Ah, but there was a twist with the dinner.

Julie and I got food poisoning.

They served bread pudding as a dessert, but it was sitting out on the table when we got there. Jessica had some and got a little sick from it, and Hailey and Brad didn't have any, so they were fine. Julie and I pretty much finished ours (I love a good bread pudding), and we got the worst of it.

Mind you, I've had food poisoning a few times, so I know how to deal with it and treat it. Julie's never had it before, so she let it go all night until it got to the point she felt her stomach was being used like a football, so I had to go back over to my place to get something to settle her upset tummy.

I got the chance to take care of my ladylove today. I think I did pretty good. Gotta feel sorry for whoever answers the phone at the high school tomorrow, though. I think there's gonna be some pissed off people calling in.

After letting her rest for the morning, we started making Christmas cookies. There's a family tradition: Julie buys a cookie recipe book and lets the kids pick out up to three cookies from it. Then they make the cookies, some of which they give away.

Well, most of the kids are out of the house right now (two of them unaccounted for, which is a slight concern, given the weather), so it's been the two of us, recovering from the night before, to make cookies.

It's been fun. My idea of "baking cookies" is to get the tube of pre-made sugar cookie dough and stick vanilla, butterscotch, or whatever's-not-chocolate chips inside, and toss 'em in the oven. Julie bakes from scratch, and from what I've sampled so far, she's damn good at it.

I think I'm gonna suggest to her to save the rest for another time (even though there's not too many days before Christmas, and she's gotta close at the store all week) and take it easy. Wait for the pizza...which has arrived even as I type this...and we go curl up on the couch, watch a little TV, and listen to the wind blow outside...

My GPS won't tell me where my life is headed.

I'm a little nervous this morning.

I've got a job interview in a little over an hour from now. First one of these I've had in a few months, and to say I'm anxious might be an understatement.

Best part is, it's to be a part-time school bus driver.

It's work, and after being off the clock for so long, I'm looking for any honest work. The fact that I have never driven anything larger than a van doesn't bother me too much. I figure, just because I've never done it before doesn't mean I can't do it. How am I supposed to know what I can or can't do if I don't try?

I spent the last 10 years of my life fixing computers. Before that, I spent 10 (or so) years working in a library. Seems that my life changes every 10 years or so, so maybe this is what the next phase of my life is supposed to be. Although I was kinda hoping it would have involved winning the lottery and living a life of ease, I guess bus driver is as close a substitute as I can get.

Oh, and they're calling for an ice storm up here this afternoon, along with, by tomorrow morning, between 9 and 12 inches of snow.

My love tried to warn me what the Winter was like out here, but as with most everything else, some things have to be seen to be believed.

I've been used to some heavy snowfalls back in Pittsburgh, but nothin' like this. No wonder Julie hates Winter. Seems like there's been snow on the ground out here since I arrived three and a half weeks ago.

I'm gonna go get in the shower, get dressed for the interview, and head over there. Wish me luck, kids, or at least give me good enough lottery numbers so I can get a truck or something...

Thoughts from the morning

Thanks to Tim for sending me this pic.

There was an open house back in Da Burgh yesterday. I haven't heard from the Realtor yet to see how it went.

I've finally got Internet access here at my place. Took awhile, three phone calls to The Evil Empire, a new DSL modem (old faithful didn't survive the trip, apparently) that some twit at Bestus Buys didn't say they have in stock, but I found right there on the bloody shelf and a bit o' tweaking and geeking. It was worth it, though. I've a faster Internet connection than it was in Da Burgh, the Vonage line is up and running, so I can just put the cell back to "emergency use" and/or "texting only" modes.

Still no movement on the job front, although I've found a couple possibilities, or so I hope. The school district is looking for a geek, and I happen to be one, who has...

• loads of customer service experience
• familiar with the education environment
• training and teaching skills (I used to train new part-time staff years ago)
• Geek cred out the wazoo.

Now all I need is them to hire me.

Of course, there are other avenues I'd like to pursue as well, possibly. The local Barnes and Nobles is a good possibility (12 years in a library might give me an edge) and I've even put in an application at Caribou Coffee. I think that'd be fascinating, working at a coffee shop. I'd dreamed of owning one, awhile back, and this would be a good experience. I've even worked in a job where I was on my feet for 8 hour shifts before...

And, most important of all, I get to see Julie. It's wonderful knowing I don't have a 9 hour drive to be with her, just a two minute (or less) walk around the block to her place. Tonight, the family will be at her place. We're gonna make sammiches and watch Dark Night.

This is a good life. I'm happy, I'm in love, and even without the job, I'm happy.

Now to figure out what to do for Christmas this year...

Another really short post

Presenting the virtual tour of my new home.
A Flickr slideshow with photos from my new place.
Check it out.

My favourite part has to be the garage.
I've never had a garage before!
I'm so fascinated with it, I shot this...
Updated with correct video.

A blog title longer than the blog itself.

It's listed.

Greetings from DeKalb, Illinois

It's been (almost) a week since I've moved to DeKalb. Yeah, it's a little strange, and there have been some weird moments...like looking up from my dining room table and seeing my furniture in a different house...but all in all this first week has been a good one.

Last week was a whirlwind. I can't thank my best friend Tim enough for the support and the help. Without him, I doubt I'd have made it out here.

Sure, there were some emotional moments before I left Pittsburgh. Going out to see My Kid was...difficult, to say the least. Leaving the nursing home, I had my dark glasses on for some time, so no one could see my red eyes.

Yet I didn't shed any tears when I left my brother's place after Thanksgiving. I haven't felt any love or support from them during the last few weeks since I first told them I was moving. I could understand my one brother's concern, that I was losing my "safety net", but really, at some point before, they'd all left home with no guarantees, no safety net. Who am I to do any different?

We've talked about this before, Julie, Tim and I. The consensus is that they've had me to take care of The Kid for so long, now with me gone, they've gotta pick up the slack and, y'know, visit her more than once a month, if that.

Tim and I picked up the truck Thanksgiving morning and loaded a few things, like my bed, on it before going off for our respective dinners. Slept on my couch that night. Friday morning came and I started putting boxes on the truck before Tim, his parents, and his kids came over to help.

Notice please the lack of my brothers in that statement. They were all too busy to come help me move. Kinda shows who I can count on, doesn't it?

We got the truck loaded in about three hours, not too bad for two 41 year olds, a couple of pre-teenagers, and two septuagenarians. After that, Tim's parents took his kids off to dinner, while I took one last look around.

I can't begin to describe the emotions, the feelings, of seeing my old home empty, bare to the walls. Some of you have seen the photos...imagine standing there, in a place you'd spent your entire life...

Yeah. I'll leave that thought alone.

We woke up around 2AM Eastern time and got ready to hit the road. To save a bit of cash, I decided to drive my car and Tim'd just drive the truck, instead of getting a trailer hitch. Well, seems the anti-freeze is low in my car, and my car was a wee bit on the chilly side. Every rest stop would find me haulin' ass into the rest stop to warm up, and buying hot coffee or tea to drink to keep me warm. I'll have to check and see why my anti-freeze is low soon...it can get chilly out here, and having no heat in a 12 year old car is not a good thing.

Got into Dekalb about 11AM, Central time. I called Tim and told him to pull into Schnucks' parking lot...I had someone I had to see. Bought a dozen roses, went over to the Deli department, and asked for Julie.

From the hug and the kiss, you'd think she was happy to see me. Either that, or she just wanted the flowers.

Between her, the kids, and our friends, we had about a dozen people to unload the truck. To give Tim some rest, he stayed in the truck and unloaded. I was in the house and directed. Organized chaos, to be sure, but we got everything off in about an hour. I'm so thankful for Julie, the kids and our friends...they were there for me when my family couldn't.

Gee, think I'm a little bitter?

After everything was unloaded and somewhat organized (we had the place about 80% setup), it was time for the party at Fatty's. Fatty's is to Dekalb as Primanti's is to Pittsburgh, except instead of slaw and fries on the sammich, they've got a killer Cajun Potato Salad. Good times, good food, good friends. Tim just fit in (but I knew he would), and we all had a good time.

Sunday came, and so did the snow. The weather, while cold, was pretty much perfect the last couple days, but Sunday was the first significant snow in the region. We got Tim to O'Hare (he only had a three hour delay to look forward to) in plenty of time. Farewells, safe journeys and hugs were shared, and then Julie and I went home.

That's what DeKalb is now. It's home. I'm here with Julie at her place (long story short, I still don't have Internet over at my place, since Comcast sucks and Verizon will need another week to get my DSL up and running), but we're headed over to my place soon.

This is where I belong. This is where I'm loved. If you'd told me a year ago I'd be spending the first Friday in December in a high school gymnasium in the Midwest, watching a basketball game, I'd have laughed in your face...but that's where I was tonight, with Julie and a couple of the kids watching DeKalb take on Kaneland (and win). It was good. It was fun.

Right now, the focus is on getting a job. I want to work. I've been off the clock for too long. I've been applying everywhere, from businesses looking for a good geek to Barnes and Noble and JC Pennys.

Julie is amazing. She's wonderful. The light of my life and my true love. I'm just so happy being with her...knowing that I don't have to drive 9 hours to see her, that I can walk across the street to be with her is the happiest feeling I have ever known.

The photo at the top of this blog is of Pittsburgh, and while it's my home town, it's not my home anymore. I'll change it at some point...I have a good idea what I want to put up there next...but all that matters is that I'm home, where I'm welcomed, I'm cared for and I'm loved.

What more could anyone ask for?

Just a quickie...

Hi, kids.

I'm moved into my new place, although it's not totally unpacked yet. No internet there...I'm over at Julie's place with my laptop surfing the web.

Today, I'm headed off to change my driver's license and see about getting a job. Few places around here, but it's something, while I wait for the house to sell.

I'll write more soon, promise.