Tuesday 29 January 2008 @ 1910

Hi all!

I know I missed my last update on Sunday evening but I was fighting a Trojan on my computer but I was finally able to vanquish it (I think, fingers crossed). Well I'm back now and the past week has been pretty good. Work has gone well, I won a few online scrabble games and I have continued to lose some weight. I'm still on the wagon although that is about to end on Friday but I'm going to keep up some serious moderation. So far I've lost 13 lbs since Jan 1 and I'm choosing to chalk it up to no booze, no loss of will power due to booze and being able to keep the goal in mind when I choose my healthy foods the majority of the time again due to no booze. Hmm, I seem to be sensing a theme here...

Henry started his new bowling league this past weekend and it is the first without the bumpers and he still put up some pretty good scores; he didn't break 100 this first day out but he was close on 2 of the 3 games. He is on a team with another young man with whom he bowled 2 leagues past and they are doing really well together as they were prone to playing a lot of grab ass most of the time when they were in bumpers but both seem to realize they have to concentrate more now that they have lost the security of the bumpers. Kris is a really good bowler and in the last league where they were on the same team they were nearly always #1 and #2 each week. It's good they get to spend some time together again and the day went relatively well. Henry did have a bit of a meltdown and showed a bit if disrespect to both his Mum and I but we kept a united front and took off to the side and let him know we're not going to tolerate it an he was a bit embarrassed that we did that in front of his friends but it had to be done.

Not much more this week, like I said it was pretty good but it was also pretty uneventful other than spending the ENTIRE weekend fighting with the computer and the insidious crap somebody infected me with. Although it's probably my fault for surfing too much porn :)

Anyway, hasta la vista until the weekend

Sunday 20 January 2008; 2009

Greetings!

Here it is Sunday evening once again and although I neglected to update you all last week I'm back now. It's been a good two weeks; busy at work, lots of email with my friends and many, many online scrabble games.

Work has been interesting as I've been earning my keep by analyzing and breaking down costs of support of the PCs we currently have deployed to the enterprise as I'm part of a team that is looking to determine the total cost of ownership of our current technology. These are the types of projects I really enjoy and can get deep into but I must say that I had a very difficult time getting my head around the project at first but the more I tried to pick it apart I just couldn't make any progress. It wasn't until I had an impromptu meet with my manager and the functional analyst on my team and we were able to break it all down and finally I was able to pull my weight and get my part completed last week and this week we finalize the presentation and put it in front of the VPs so they can take it to the CFO. A lot of shake ups going on these days and we're all about the cost savings right now here in North America.

Last Saturday I attended a murder mystery party where we were fortunate enough to participate in the murder and subsequent investigation of said murder of David Hasselhoff. It was a lot of fun and we'll do it again. The scene is set by a mail order company and they provide the name tags, the scenarios and the history of each of the party attendees. Each guest is provided the name of a relatively current pop culture personality or celebrity prior to the party and coming is costume is strongly encouraged. I was Tony Soprano and the other invitees were in no particular order Wonder Woman, Chuck Norris, David Beckham, Rachel Ray, Ron Burgundy, disgraced Miss America Tara Conner, Rocky Balboa, Pamela Anderson and Lucille Ball. The murder was committed by Chuck Norris because of a business deal gone sour where "The Hoff" and CN were to have introduced and distributed a new cologne call Kung Pow but "The Hoff" stole the fragrance the Chuck and his third fist took him out. All in all it was good fun, too much food and a great evening all in all. I posted some photos out on my photo site and will get a few more out from my work machine. Here's a sample of Tony -

Today is my 20th dry day and so far I've lost 7 lbs this month due to the new healthy regime. I'm trying to eat better, eat smaller portions, not drinking and just generally trying to get my overall health in order. I've also been working on putting myself on a budget as well so I can get my finances in order as well. A couple of my monthly costs went up at the beginning of the year and I just haven't been able to figure out where all the money has been going so it was time to get a better handle on things plus I want to start doing a bit more traveling. I want to take Henry on a good holiday this summer and I would like to get back to England sometime this year as well.

Henry and I have been working on purging a bunch of stuff, mostly his so far as we've recently been going through his room and his toys & clothes so I have a car load of stuff that is going to the Goodwill and we took a bunch of things that he has outgrown, both clothing and toys & games as well. I'm working on my office as well and trying to get a lot more organized; shredding old financial records, tossing old papers that don't mean anything that for some reason I've been holding on to and then getting rid of anything that I don't need. Although there are no immediate plans for us to move I would like to eventually buy a place in the next year or so and I just really don't want to move any more stuff than necessary the next time.

Not much more going on for the time being but I'll try and do better with updates than I have been the last couple weeks.

Sayonara all, have fun and go nuts

6 January 2008; 1845

Here it is the first Sunday of 2008 and true to my word so far here I am with an update. Nothing like keeping those NY resolutions huh?

Well anyway, I worked on Monday 12/31 for a few hours and then our team at work went out for burgers and beers to the local sports bar across from our building. A good time was had bu all and even our Director John showed for some last minute frivolity for 2007.

NYE was a fine evening with a couple beers and in bed by 10.30, such a party pooper. I called a friend far away and we spoke for a long time and had a very nice long talk about the new year and the past year and how things are changing. It's been a good year and the new year is shaping up nicely already and we're not even a week in.

Henry arrived on the 1st about mid day and we have been having a tremendous time this week playing with his new Wii system, taking long walks with Butch when the weather permits and getting some things done around the house, a few movies, Henry worked really hard and has cleaned his room very nicely and has even done some purging on his own. Not a very exciting week but a lot of online scrabble with friends, a few emails back and forth and a nice restful few days of holiday.

We had a big windstorm the other night and we've had a few days and nights of rain. Even lost a few shingles off the roof in the last big storm.

Today we took down the Xmas decorations and now we're ready to tackle some more house projects and some more purging. A few things out to Craigslist or Ebay and a few more trips to the Goodwill and we'll be good going into Spring and Summer.

Tomorrow it's back to work and time to hit the diet hard; I'm shooting for 30# off this year, Today marks the 6th dry day of the year as I'm on the wagon and shooting for a dry January.

Until next time...