Category: Life

Feeling Good

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I’m in a good mood which is sorely needed after the way I’ve been feeling lately. I think it’s at least in part due to the weather which is currently sunny and warm. I hate winter and I hope it’s behind us. The forecast has us in the 70’s the rest of the week. Woot!

I’m also excited because we both have Friday off. Three day weekends are the best!!! I don’t even care what we do – we don’t have any definitive plans but it’s going to be nice out so that’s all I care about.

Wow, what a pointless blog post, eh? Ok, here’s a few random thoughts rolling around in my mind.

What’s the deal with iTunes Home Sharing? It stopped working at some point after the last iTunes update. I spent some time today trying to figure it out. Then the router spontaneously rebooted and suddenly it was working again. Weird.

Speaking of Apple, it cracks me up how when I plug my iPad into my computer it says “Not Charging” in the upper right-hand corner. I imagine it’s thinking “haha sucker, you are not going to charge me that way”. Ironically, it is charging, albeit slowly. It was at 35% battery when I plugged it in and now it’s at 39%. Silly little thing.

I think we’re going to be changing our Fall trip to ensure we maximize our time on the East Coast. Even though we’re passing through Pennsylvania we probably won’t stop as originally intended. Since it’s closer to us than Boston or Portland we could always make that its own trip since I’d love to visit Pittsburgh, Hershey and Philadelphia. However, since we’re going to literally drive right through it, we’re going to spend a day in New York City. A day is all I can wrestle out of the hubby since he has zero desire to visit New York. It’s low on my list as well but it would be silly not to stop. All I care about seeing is Central Park Zoo anyway. Is that weird? Maybe we should visit the Empire State Building too. And the Statue of Liberty. And Times Square. And the Brooklyn Bridge. Hmmm, maybe one day is not going to cut it. Joe is going to kill me when he sees this list… ;)

My latest iOS addiction – Draw Something. It’s Pictionary without rules!

2011 – A Year in Review

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2011 wasn’t a terribly eventful year but that’s ok. We spent some money on electronic gadgets, visited a few new states, welcomed three new pets to the household, and said goodbye to two pets as well.

January
I celebrate my 35th birthday with a rollerskating party.

February
I buy Joe the PS3 he’d been lusting after for months and he joins the rest of the world by getting his first ever smartphone.

March
I attend my first ever football game.

April
We take a road trip south to visit Tennessee and Atlanta where we experience some great zoos and aquariums.

Lionfish

May
Amy, Bernadette, and Penny join the family.

Three Hungry Mice

June
I get to see my favorite comedian, Louie C.K., live.

August
We buy an Android tablet, which I quickly grow to loathe.

September
My sweet Templeton passes away.

Templeton in the Tub

October
I finally get the newest iPhone and couldn’t be happier.

December
Amy passes away.

Amy

I think I’d be pretty happy if 2012 was similar to 2011, although I’d like to go on more than one big trip this year and I’d also like to get a hamster once the other two mice pass away.

Broken

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The storms we’ve been having lately overnight are intense and make sleeping difficult. Last night was no exception. We awoke to heavy thunder and near constant lightning. The ceiling fan in our living room kept going on since it’s sensitive to power fluctuations. Joe looked out the window and saw that a branch from the tree out front was resting atop the neighbor’s car in their driveway. A walk past the car this evening revealed a dent in the roof. Driving through the street this morning was a challenge due to all the bottles, cans, and even an empty box of Pampers strewn about thanks to it being trash day. Luckily we don’t put ours out until the morning.

I’m not sure if last week’s storms had anything to do with it but our beloved PS2 is dead which sucks since the PS3 doesn’t play the earlier games. Not only that but we had the old school “fat” PS2 that housed a hard drive so it’s going to be difficult to replace. I’m hoping we can repair ours. Maybe it’s just the power supply that needs replacing.

Speaking of repairs, K’s iPod Touch isn’t working. It turns on but the touch screen doesn’t respond. At first she claimed no knowledge of why this “suddenly” happened but then revealed she had it in the bathroom while shaving her legs (because it’s practically attached to her 24/7) and it fell in the tub and got wet. This weekend we’ll be taking it into a place that claims they can repair it. Fingers crossed for her sake!

Car Repairs

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I’ve had my Jetta for over a decade and unfortunately it’s starting to cost more and more to maintain.

My latest trip to the dealership came with a recommended $2900 of fixes. Interestingly enough, the most important fix, $800 to replace my coil springs, one of which they claim is cracked, has not been an issue since the visit. If the crack was causing the clanging sound I was hearing how come I haven’t heard it even once since I took my car in? Not only that, but they claim the spark plugs need to be replaced even though Joe did that last year. It makes me wonder.

This has prompted us to start discussing whether it’s time for me to get a new car even though ideally we wanted to wait another five years.

The problem is I do not like the current Jetta because it looks like a Passat. I’ve been leaning toward a 2-door Golf because I like how it looks, plus it’s got the same engine as the Jetta so I’m pretty sure I’ll like the handling (although I’ve yet to take one for a test drive). The price isn’t bad at $20,090 and that includes heated front seats which I absolutely must have; I use mine constantly from October-April. With the Jetta you have to buy a more expensive trim (the Jetta SE) just to get the heated seats because it’s not available on the base model. In addition to that, it’s part of a “convenience package” that costs an additional $1365 and includes stuff I don’t care about (like Bluetooth capabilities), and the SE only comes with leather seats while I actually prefer cloth. Whereas on the Golf the heated front seats are part of a $225 cold-weather package and I’d get the cloth seats I like. Less price and all the features I want. That’s a win-win. I’m just not sure I’m ready to make the financial plunge that comes with it, however.

All things considered, if I do get a new car it will most likely be a Golf because I’m really not interested in going with another manufacturer based on price alone. Plus a lot of them don’t offer heated seats. Seriously? More money and a cold tushie? Where’s the sense in that?

Gratefulness and Appreciation

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I’ve been reflecting lately about the act of feeling grateful and appreciative, and I believe it’s a very important thing to strive for if you don’t already do it. I also feel that it’s the reason why after a decade of being together I’m still so happy with Joe. I feel grateful every day for how well we relate and everything we have together.

Often people begin to take the people in their lives, and even their possessions, for granted, and stop appreciating them, but I believe if you choose to purposefully reflect on your blessings on a daily basis you become more satisfied with your life.

I see a lot of people around me who are never happy or satisfied with what they have; they always want more. I know people at work who are constantly getting new phones, for instance, because they have to own the latest technology. I’m still thrilled with my iPhone 3GS and marvel at how useful it is in my daily life. That’s not to say I won’t eventually upgrade it, because the reality is Apple will continue to post iOS updates that will eventually either slow down my phone too much or they’ll stop adding new features to it, so clearly I’m not immune to that feeling of wanting more sometimes, but I find as I get older that it happens less frequently. I find myself more satisfied with what I already have. Perhaps it’s something that comes with age and/or wisdom, like feeling secure with one’s self. For example, even a year ago I would have felt insecure at the roller rink we went to last night because I would have worried what all the younger people were thinking about me, but now I honestly don’t care. It’s quite freeing to feel that way, but I digress…

I don’t mean to come across as preachy or anything, but this is just something that’s been on my mind and I wanted to share it. I love it when I’m sitting on the couch doing something as simple as watching TV with Joe and one of us will make a remark that cracks us up and I just think to myself “wow, this is so great. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have had this for the past ten years”. I hope everyone has a special person in their life who fits so well in it that it’s not work to be with them, because I call bullshit on the saying that relationships take work. I’ve never found a good relationship to be work and I’m not so arrogant to think I’m the only person who feels this way.

Anyway, I don’t really know where I was going with this entry, other than to share my resent thoughts in writing, so I’ll leave you with a funny text exchange between Joe and me from before Christmas on a day I was working from home and Joe was waiting for a package with one of my presents to arrive. To give you a little back-story, I always joke if there’s a kitten in my presents since it’s the one thing I want more than anything, even though I know I can’t get one at this time due to E’s allergies.

My text is in green and his is in grey: