Politics

Just so y’all know, I’m a left-leaning person. I’d like to think I have enough sense to know what’s right and what’s wrong with this world, but I know that one person, no matter who they are, doesn’t have everything.

I do think that this current administration has done more to alienate the rest of the world than a lot of previous ones. From the “don’t tax and spend” mentality that has pushed our debt to record levels to a war based on wrong information, the president hasn’t done anything to truly change ordinary people’s lives.

I’d like to think better of the president, but I don’t. He’s failed upwards ever since his days of Arbusto Oil.

I really don’t like any of the Republican candidates, and I’m not that fond of the Democratic ones either. About the only one who’d get my vote would be John Edwards, and that’s primarily because he’s talked about issues closer to home. Even then, he’s got some blemishes, too.

But I’m pontificating. It’s all kinda moot to talk about a Democratic nominee in Texas, anyway.

The 800 miles story

It’s not that complicated, honestly.

Laureen had an event at her director’s home in Austin in early September. Of course, when the home is in the million-dollar range, that makes it rather unique.

We left Friday, driving the 315 miles from Dallas to Austin, arriving rather late Friday night (or even Saturday morning). We stayed at a Howard Johnson’s near the highway (reason: free breakfast buffet for His Highness the Bacon-Eating machine). Saturday morning, we got up. I dropped Laureen off, then drove 56 miles to visit Laureen’s mom. The kids loved seeing Oma’s place, and this was the first time she’d seen Jessie in quite some time.

Note to self: traveling anywhere with kids increases your luggage needs exponentially. More kids would presumably make it a bit easier, but we don’t know.

We left San Antonio at 4:00 p.m., got back to the hotel, ate, watched more Peep, then went to pick Laureen up and bring her back to the hotel. (She didn’t want to leave Jessie overnight, and I didn’t either).

Sunday, repeat the story of Saturday. Drop Laureen off, drive to San Antonio, visit for a while, then come back, pick Laureen up. From there, drive home.

315 miles to Austin.

112 miles to and from San Antonio on Saturday.

112 miles to and from San Antonio on Sunday.

315 miles to Dallas.

854 miles in all.

Highlights: Seeing Oma. Playing with Oma’s furniture. Jessie getting a chance to be with Oma. Laureen’s training.

Lowlights: the massive bloody nose Jacob got in South Dallas. Blasted platelet issues….

Been a while

By the post date on my last short entry, it’s been over a month.

I don’t have the time I’d like to tell some stories. Those will happen soon enough. Here’s a preview:

Kevin, the intrepid geek, buys a computer case.

Kevin and Laureen get sucked into hearing a timeshare pitch.

Kevin and Laureen drive 800 miles over three days.

Kevin and Laureen watch Jacob have a really bad nosebleed.

Sounds exciting? Yeah, I know. It ain’t that groovy. However, the real story is in the details…

Workout update

Today was the first official weigh in.

I’m down from 281 to 266.

15 pounds. That was my goal for the entire course, and I’ve done it in four weeks. Now, to just keep it off.

Rockin’ the Workout

I’m starting the third week of team training. It looks like I’ve lost about 15 pounds so far.

However, I still always look for the closest parking spot to the front door of the gym. Some things don’t change.

Thanks Eric and Analisa for letting us stay over! We had fun.

MK and Laureen

Laureen sells Mary Kay cosmetics. This past week, there was her quasi-geographical region/area/unit/agglomeration’s seminar at the Dallas Convention Center with other events held at the Hyatt Regency Reunion. In order to make life easier on us, we sent Jacob to my mom and dad’s house for the week (thank you, thank you, thank you so much for doing that), and we got a room at the Hyatt.

I detest the hotel industry, simply because hotels such as the Hyatt are geared primarily toward people who can write off $10/day parking, $10/day internet access, and room service or restaurant meals. If it’s a practical business hotel, it’s NOT a practical vacation hotel, especially when your vacation consists of trying to keep Jessie from eating the contents of the trash can. It’s a business write-off, yes, but still…
But we did the best we could. I do believe that if you were a single guy and could rent a cute baby girl for a day, just strolling with her through the convention center’s hallway during lunchtime would assuredly net you a couple of dates, or at least offers to sell you some cologne.

Laureen got motivated and inspired. Amazingly, after only three months in the business, she was her unit’s number 5 salesperson. This is a unit of approximately 200 people, mind you. So I’m proud of her for sticking with it. She has her dreams and goals, and now she’s trying to put the muscle behind them.

Good for her.

Feeling Better, Then Just Feeling It

If you haven’t stopped by Lopey’s Links yet, you’re missing my sad attempt at making a Fark.com clone with other “somewhat interesting but probably only to me” links. But I’m happy with it, and it keeps me out of trouble.

This is the second week of my weight management/exercise program. It’s interesting. I’m on essentially a 2200 calorie per day diet, divided up into dietary exchanges. I get 12 fats per day. I’m not sure what to think about that right now, but I’ll just roll with it. The exercise is basically treadmill stuff, working until we hit my anaerobic threshold, which right now is 170 beats per minute. Apparently, that’s where my body is most efficient at burning fat. I have a snazzy new heart rate monitor that straps on around my chest every workout and transmits information to my tinfoil hat/watch. All in all, it’s a start to get better about being better.

I think one or two of the things I’ve not done well is ask for help and commit to change. Accountability in my life is a big whopping zero right now, and at least with this program, I’ll do something positive.

I realized I do a lot of praying for other people, but I don’t really pray for myself. I ask God to help other people, but I feel somewhat selfish for asking for it myself. When we say prayers with Jacob, I go “Dear God, thank you for mommy and Jacob and Jessie and Chewie.” Then Jacob will whisper, “and Daddy.”

It just shows that I don’t think about myself, only about my problems or worries.

Well, maybe I can get control over that, too.

Why I’m feeling down

I just looked at our bank account and have tried to make payments…. Sadly, we’re sliding even further into debt now. I personally feel responsible, since I’m the one who wanted to get everything going on the budget, and then I stopped doing it. And I stopped worrying about it.

We’re approaching $30K in credit card debt. And I can’t tell you what the heck we bought with all of that.

Health: It looks like I’ll be starting a health/wellness/exercise program this next week that puts some accountability into things. I’m overweight. I eat when I get stressed, since I sit at a desk all day.

Kids: I love them, but they drive me crazy sometimes. My threshold for irrational behavior is too low, I think.

Wife: I love her, but she drives me crazy sometimes. We have a current big issue that we’re trying to work on: is “me” time selfish? It comes up over and over again: Laureen does a lot of sacrificing of free time to taking care of the kids, cleaning the house, doing laundry, etc. and doesn’t have much patience for me if I make a choice to watch TV instead of do things that arguably need doing.

I’ve got to go put my credit card into the freezer now and re-read the good sense workshop books.

Is money a tool? Or does it use you?