Still a little sick. Just don't feel "right". But I'll live (I always do).
Got back into a little more of a weekend routine. Went to Target. Went to Feeder's. Went to lunch. Took Jooj shopping. Got a call from work...
Yeah.
So a lot of shit went down last week. Sounds like it's going to be an interesting day tomorrow.
Oh, and did I mention that this will be my first day back without our Senior Java Developer?
Oh, and did I also mention that this will be the first day with our new CEO?
Oh, and did I lastly mention that... hmm, no, just those first two.
Life at work is going to be hard. Morale is low in my team right now. There is silent infighting within our group. Whispers of threats are being made. There is not-so-silent outfighting* outside our group. Grumblings and rumblings abound.
The coming months will test me. Test my meddle. Test my resolve. Test my tenacity. And if I pass these tests what will I earn? Promotion? Bonus? Employee of the Year? Possibly all of these things. Probably none of these things. But I will tell you one thing I am guaranteed to earn if I come out of this thing the victor. Respect. And I will have another war story to share with colleagues, peers, friends, children, and grandchildren. A story that shows how one man can use his wits and work ethic to prove to be an exemplar of stoic resolution in the face of a great adversary.
Pray for me. Wish me well. Pat me on the back. Playtime is over. I am going to war. And I am going to win.
* Holy smokes! Outfighting is actually a word? I'm tucking that away and pulling it out again later.
100% | 174.57 lbs. (178.0 lbs.) | 0% (0 of 128) | 16% (8 of 50) | 58.08% (212 of 365) | 112/55 lbs.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Isle of Palms... Sayonara!
We left Isle of Palms this morning a little before 8am. Still felt pretty rough. The drive was tough on me - tougher than it should have been. But I'm home now. The animals are happy to see us. And it'll be good to sleep in my own bed. Real life starts anew in the morning.
100% | 174.55 lbs. (???.? lbs.) | 0% (0 of 128) | 16% (8 of 50) | 57.81% (211 of 365) | 112/55 lbs.
100% | 174.55 lbs. (???.? lbs.) | 0% (0 of 128) | 16% (8 of 50) | 57.81% (211 of 365) | 112/55 lbs.
Isle of Palms - Day 6
Drink of the Day - ??? (it was gone before I could find out... not that I was in any shape to drink that is)
My morning started at 2am with my wife and my niece playing doctor. No, no, no you freakin' perverts!!! You sickos! Jeez... LOL!
I woke up from a heart-attack nightmare to them standing over me. My breathing was frantic. My heart was racing. I was sweaty. I was freezing. My bones were killing me. My fingers tingled. I felt horrible. I honestly felt like Mr. Flu had come and taken a shit right on my brain. Nurse Leigh Anne was at a loss. Nurse Jooj isn't even a nurse. A bottle of water and a few baby aspirins later and I was left to suffer in my illness.
The night couldn't have crept any slower. Every round of chills shot my heart rate through the roof. Every heart rate spike made it that much harder to fall asleep. And when I coupled that with the wracking pain in my neck and shoulders and back and legs - well, I knew that sleep was going to be an impossibility.
Dawn broke. My body finally decided it was time to sleep. Seriously? Thanks, man. Great timing.
The day mostly sucked. I enjoyed what little time I had between naps with family. I was able to enjoy a little pool time. I was able to chill in the den a while. I was able to bond with Soos at the grocery store. I was able to enjoy dinner with everyone. I made it through The Big Lebowski before the Tylenol PM took my ass down.
The highlight of the day was seeing Katie, Lauren, and Leigh Anne playing "Discs of Tron" in the pool. Funniest thing I saw this whole trip. I would have believed it was a hallucination from my illness had Pat not captured a segment of it on video. Hilarious!
100% | 174.55 lbs. (???.? lbs.) | 0% (0 of 128) | 16% (8 of 50) | 57.53% (210 of 365) | 112/55 lbs.
My morning started at 2am with my wife and my niece playing doctor. No, no, no you freakin' perverts!!! You sickos! Jeez... LOL!
I woke up from a heart-attack nightmare to them standing over me. My breathing was frantic. My heart was racing. I was sweaty. I was freezing. My bones were killing me. My fingers tingled. I felt horrible. I honestly felt like Mr. Flu had come and taken a shit right on my brain. Nurse Leigh Anne was at a loss. Nurse Jooj isn't even a nurse. A bottle of water and a few baby aspirins later and I was left to suffer in my illness.
The night couldn't have crept any slower. Every round of chills shot my heart rate through the roof. Every heart rate spike made it that much harder to fall asleep. And when I coupled that with the wracking pain in my neck and shoulders and back and legs - well, I knew that sleep was going to be an impossibility.
Dawn broke. My body finally decided it was time to sleep. Seriously? Thanks, man. Great timing.
The day mostly sucked. I enjoyed what little time I had between naps with family. I was able to enjoy a little pool time. I was able to chill in the den a while. I was able to bond with Soos at the grocery store. I was able to enjoy dinner with everyone. I made it through The Big Lebowski before the Tylenol PM took my ass down.
The highlight of the day was seeing Katie, Lauren, and Leigh Anne playing "Discs of Tron" in the pool. Funniest thing I saw this whole trip. I would have believed it was a hallucination from my illness had Pat not captured a segment of it on video. Hilarious!
100% | 174.55 lbs. (???.? lbs.) | 0% (0 of 128) | 16% (8 of 50) | 57.53% (210 of 365) | 112/55 lbs.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Isle of Palms - Day 5
Drink of the Day - The Jimmy & The Black Irish
Beautiful weather welcomed us yesterday morning upon waking. Yay! Pool time was followed by beach time. Beach time was followed by ocean time. Ocean time was followed by Jimmy time. Good company. Sweet snacks. Cold drinks. Chili brats. Bocce ball.
Later we headed over to Mike and Jeanie's house to meet the whole fam for appetizers and drinks. We stayed there for a couple of hours and headed back. Pat and I went up to Taste of Asia to pick up dinner for his fam and mine. After waiting 30 minutes during which we suffered through an episode of "Two and a Half Men" we were given our food and rolled home.
Except we were missing half our order. Super weak. I headed back to rectify the situation. When I walked in the grrrl said:
"Okay, one, you forgot your other bag. And two, you need to pay an additional $18.65."
To which I responded:
"One, I am not paying for this and two, I want you to cancel the original charge because I don't want you to have the $10 tip I gave you."
Their stupid-looking grins turned to shock pretty quickly. Ricky, the only authentic Asian in the joint, came out to work things out. I wasn't leaving there without my food and I was not paying for it. Ricky succumbed and threw in a 2 liter of Mountain Dew to boot.
We came back and Pat whipped up a drink he called the Black Irish. It was tasty! The grrrls were going out so I threw on TRON: Legacy. Believe it or not they all stayed in to watch the movie (although everyone was asleep at one point in the middle). I love those gals!
100% | 174.55 lbs. (???.? lbs.) | 0% (0 of 128) | 16% (8 of 50) | 57.26% (209 of 365) | 112/55 lbs.
Beautiful weather welcomed us yesterday morning upon waking. Yay! Pool time was followed by beach time. Beach time was followed by ocean time. Ocean time was followed by Jimmy time. Good company. Sweet snacks. Cold drinks. Chili brats. Bocce ball.
Later we headed over to Mike and Jeanie's house to meet the whole fam for appetizers and drinks. We stayed there for a couple of hours and headed back. Pat and I went up to Taste of Asia to pick up dinner for his fam and mine. After waiting 30 minutes during which we suffered through an episode of "Two and a Half Men" we were given our food and rolled home.
Except we were missing half our order. Super weak. I headed back to rectify the situation. When I walked in the grrrl said:
"Okay, one, you forgot your other bag. And two, you need to pay an additional $18.65."
To which I responded:
"One, I am not paying for this and two, I want you to cancel the original charge because I don't want you to have the $10 tip I gave you."
Their stupid-looking grins turned to shock pretty quickly. Ricky, the only authentic Asian in the joint, came out to work things out. I wasn't leaving there without my food and I was not paying for it. Ricky succumbed and threw in a 2 liter of Mountain Dew to boot.
We came back and Pat whipped up a drink he called the Black Irish. It was tasty! The grrrls were going out so I threw on TRON: Legacy. Believe it or not they all stayed in to watch the movie (although everyone was asleep at one point in the middle). I love those gals!
100% | 174.55 lbs. (???.? lbs.) | 0% (0 of 128) | 16% (8 of 50) | 57.26% (209 of 365) | 112/55 lbs.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Isle of Palms - Day 4
Drink of the Day - None :(
HAPPY 17th BIRFDAY, PATRICK!
Woke up to the fam making a totally kick-ass breakfast. I love food. I love breakfast. And I love breakfast food the most. Sausage, bacon, spicy hashbrowns, biscuits, and eggs. OMVG it was out of this world! Jooj wanted to do some shopping afterward so we made plans to go to Target and this store called Oops.
Oops. It was described to me as this cool place that carries overstocked, name-brand items. In my mind I imagined something the size of Dick's filed with all sorts of goods. What we drove up to was anything but that. It was tiny. And kind of cheap. It totally had a Goodwill vibe going on. I wanted to run out the moment I walked in. But I hung out for a while and let the grrrls do their mandatory pick and perusal. But time was wastin' and I didn't have much shopping left in me after taking that hit. Off to Target we ran (where we spent some dinero but had fun as a family doing it).
Later on we drove to Shem Creek to take a ride on The Thriller. Imagine speed boating, loud rock music, and a history tour - wrap it around a bright yellow boat with twin engines - and that is The Thriller. It was surprisingly fun and a welcome addition to the week's activities. I got soaked and the sea spray stung my face as it pelted us at 57 mph. Great times!
Dinner followed immediately after at Red's Ice House. I changed in the van* before heading in. I was honored by being sat between Will and the birfday boy. They both put down a pound of crab each. I could've put down a pound of those jalapeno hush puppies if no one had been paying attention. Muwahahahaha!
We came back to the house and settled in after celebrating with cake. Kels and I had talked about watching Fight Club with Will and Caroline. In fact, earlier in the day, she and I both picked up Fight Club shirts at Target. I managed to convince the fam to watch it with us. I think everyone liked it. I wanted to make sure that Will and Caroline did and they claimed to. Will wanted to stay up with me and talk about it afterwards so we did.
Lastly, and very much randomly, can I just say how much I adore Leigh Anne when she emphasizes the enunciation of her T's? It's the little things that make me smile.
* It is a very odd feeling to be naked in a van in a public parking lot. It felt all so wrong!
100% | 174.55 lbs. (???.? lbs.) | 0% (0 of 128) | 16% (8 of 50) | 56.99% (208 of 365) | 112/55 lbs.
HAPPY 17th BIRFDAY, PATRICK!
Woke up to the fam making a totally kick-ass breakfast. I love food. I love breakfast. And I love breakfast food the most. Sausage, bacon, spicy hashbrowns, biscuits, and eggs. OMVG it was out of this world! Jooj wanted to do some shopping afterward so we made plans to go to Target and this store called Oops.
Oops. It was described to me as this cool place that carries overstocked, name-brand items. In my mind I imagined something the size of Dick's filed with all sorts of goods. What we drove up to was anything but that. It was tiny. And kind of cheap. It totally had a Goodwill vibe going on. I wanted to run out the moment I walked in. But I hung out for a while and let the grrrls do their mandatory pick and perusal. But time was wastin' and I didn't have much shopping left in me after taking that hit. Off to Target we ran (where we spent some dinero but had fun as a family doing it).
Later on we drove to Shem Creek to take a ride on The Thriller. Imagine speed boating, loud rock music, and a history tour - wrap it around a bright yellow boat with twin engines - and that is The Thriller. It was surprisingly fun and a welcome addition to the week's activities. I got soaked and the sea spray stung my face as it pelted us at 57 mph. Great times!
Dinner followed immediately after at Red's Ice House. I changed in the van* before heading in. I was honored by being sat between Will and the birfday boy. They both put down a pound of crab each. I could've put down a pound of those jalapeno hush puppies if no one had been paying attention. Muwahahahaha!
We came back to the house and settled in after celebrating with cake. Kels and I had talked about watching Fight Club with Will and Caroline. In fact, earlier in the day, she and I both picked up Fight Club shirts at Target. I managed to convince the fam to watch it with us. I think everyone liked it. I wanted to make sure that Will and Caroline did and they claimed to. Will wanted to stay up with me and talk about it afterwards so we did.
Lastly, and very much randomly, can I just say how much I adore Leigh Anne when she emphasizes the enunciation of her T's? It's the little things that make me smile.
* It is a very odd feeling to be naked in a van in a public parking lot. It felt all so wrong!
100% | 174.55 lbs. (???.? lbs.) | 0% (0 of 128) | 16% (8 of 50) | 56.99% (208 of 365) | 112/55 lbs.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Isle of Palms - Day 3
Drink of the Day - The Jim Taylor
Golf Scramble Day! We woke up to a massive thunderstorm and I thought that golfing may be off. But no. We golfed. In the rain. It was fun but it was also miserable. But believe it or not, our team actually won the damn thing! Our final score was two over and that was enough to beat out everyone else. Amazing!
The afternoon was pretty lazy. The showers were still spitting a bit but the sun did manage to peek out from time to time.
We headed to Poe's Tavern for dinner with Susu's family. It was a blast! The place was pretty much a hole in the wall but the food was spectacular and the bar pretty much had all my favorite beers on tap. My favorite thing was the bathrooms. The walls were covered with pages of short stories and poems by Edgar Allen Poe. What a fun place!
After dinner we pulled together and played a massive game of flip cup. It was quite a sight. Only this family, I tell you :)
After getting properly sauced, Jooj and I volunteered to take the nieces up to The Windjammer. Jooj headed back soon after. I stayed around to make sure the gals got back okay. They stayed 'til closing at 2am. At one point I was trying to collect them all. I turned to one of the guys and said "She's not going home with you. All these grrrls are coming with me." Hahaha!
I finally managed to get them out of there. I threw Caroline over my shoulder. Sarah had crumpled to the ground and Kevin was helping her. They were all a hot mess. Gawd bless them!
100% | 174.55 lbs. (???.? lbs.) | 0% (0 of 128) | 16% (8 of 50) | 56.71% (207 of 365) | 112/55 lbs.
Golf Scramble Day! We woke up to a massive thunderstorm and I thought that golfing may be off. But no. We golfed. In the rain. It was fun but it was also miserable. But believe it or not, our team actually won the damn thing! Our final score was two over and that was enough to beat out everyone else. Amazing!
The afternoon was pretty lazy. The showers were still spitting a bit but the sun did manage to peek out from time to time.
We headed to Poe's Tavern for dinner with Susu's family. It was a blast! The place was pretty much a hole in the wall but the food was spectacular and the bar pretty much had all my favorite beers on tap. My favorite thing was the bathrooms. The walls were covered with pages of short stories and poems by Edgar Allen Poe. What a fun place!
After dinner we pulled together and played a massive game of flip cup. It was quite a sight. Only this family, I tell you :)
After getting properly sauced, Jooj and I volunteered to take the nieces up to The Windjammer. Jooj headed back soon after. I stayed around to make sure the gals got back okay. They stayed 'til closing at 2am. At one point I was trying to collect them all. I turned to one of the guys and said "She's not going home with you. All these grrrls are coming with me." Hahaha!
I finally managed to get them out of there. I threw Caroline over my shoulder. Sarah had crumpled to the ground and Kevin was helping her. They were all a hot mess. Gawd bless them!
100% | 174.55 lbs. (???.? lbs.) | 0% (0 of 128) | 16% (8 of 50) | 56.71% (207 of 365) | 112/55 lbs.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Isle of Palms - Day 2
Drink of the Day - The Quad M (Monday Mango Margarita Mash-up)
The day started early with the whole fam getting geared up for a trip to Charleston's historic City Market. We headed over and hit up the (mostly) open-air market (thank gawd for "mostly" as the air-conditioned areas of the market as they were a reprieve from the terrible heat). Some of the fam picked through the tourist knick-knack crap while others of us quietly chastised the previous members (teehee). We all ate lunch at A.W. Shucks and it was simply delectable. I had a dish that offered four shrimp, butterflied, stuffed with crab, wrapped in bacon, and deep fried to golden perfection. Gawddamn they were good.
A carload of us loaded up the van and we drove around the Battery before heading back home.
Drinks. Pool. Ocean.
Pat made a delicious pesto shrimp pasta dinner. Drained and partially drunk, we all settled in and watched the movie Step Brothers. I went to bed and slept very, very well.
100% | 174.55 lbs. (???.? lbs.) | 0% (0 of 128) | 16% (8 of 50) | 56.44% (206 of 365) | 112/55 lbs.
The day started early with the whole fam getting geared up for a trip to Charleston's historic City Market. We headed over and hit up the (mostly) open-air market (thank gawd for "mostly" as the air-conditioned areas of the market as they were a reprieve from the terrible heat). Some of the fam picked through the tourist knick-knack crap while others of us quietly chastised the previous members (teehee). We all ate lunch at A.W. Shucks and it was simply delectable. I had a dish that offered four shrimp, butterflied, stuffed with crab, wrapped in bacon, and deep fried to golden perfection. Gawddamn they were good.
A carload of us loaded up the van and we drove around the Battery before heading back home.
Drinks. Pool. Ocean.
Pat made a delicious pesto shrimp pasta dinner. Drained and partially drunk, we all settled in and watched the movie Step Brothers. I went to bed and slept very, very well.
100% | 174.55 lbs. (???.? lbs.) | 0% (0 of 128) | 16% (8 of 50) | 56.44% (206 of 365) | 112/55 lbs.
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