Hump Day

I'm not doing so well with the non-smoking thing. Yesterday and today I smoked during the day for the first time since April. I've officially fallen off the wagon. I desperately want to get back on it, but the life, family, and work drama are piling up. I am strong and weak at the same time.

There was an interesting comic strip in the paper discussing how one character kept posting and posting to his blog, yet nobody ever responded. I kinda like the fact that all this information is out here and nobody really looks at it. It is therapeutic for me to make my personal thoughts from inside my head out there, but not really public since nobody knows about them.

My daughter's first summer week had to be postponed because I have another work trip. I leave tomorrow for family, then this trip to 2 different locations. I'm stressed about rescheduling family due to work, but if one wants Burberry, one must work hard and long.

A little more personal drama...now I know why I didn't get what I wanted for my birthday - it was saved for someone else. Oh well - Karma has a tendency to bite one in the azz and I deserved it. I guess there are some serious life decisions to make eh?

Nite...time to eat my Campbell's soup that expired in 2004 (it never really goes bad I don't think) and then I'll have a cigarette.

humph

A present for me!

OK - It is a bit excessive, but I had a fun day of shopping. New shoes for running and a new Burberry bag to treat myself to a promotion that hasn't actually happened officially, but indirectly has. Weird I know. Regardless - sometimes one must treat themself to a ridiculous gift.

Senior Citizenship / Promotion

Senior Citizenship-
My grandma has pneumonia - was found a week ago lying on the street by her car. The Fed-Ex driver found her. She was in the hospital all week and was put into a nursing home yesterday to finish her recovery. I was apalled, but apparently it was her idea because she knew she wasn't ready to be on her own. Scary stuff.

Senior Promotion-
I worked in the CA office this week for a meeting. My counterpart let it slip that I was being made a senior manager!!! While I'm not a title whore, I do find it gratifying that they are recognizing the work I do. Hopefully this will mean more $$$ too! The flip-side: I'm getting older. Young people don't get titles that include the word 'senior' in them. Uggh

Week 7

So I look like a fat monster in this pic, but it is sweaty me after today's 7 mile run as we continue to train for the marathon. I felt good after the run and now have gone over half way to the 13.2 total miles for the actual half marathon. I can so easily do this!

Pat Benatar

So this is a sucky pic of the outside of "Rams Head Live" in Baltimore and is being posted a day late. Last night my dreams came true. I got to see Pat in concert. I was no more than 5 feet away from her stage most of the night. This was a very very exciting day. In addition, I purchased three shirts, her anthology, and dog tags. I'm such a faggy fan.

Fun part...I may get to see her in two weeks in Cleveland when I go to get my daughter. Might also get to see her over 4th of July in Columbus.

Life is grand.

Ohio State Graduation Day

Unbelievable!

OSU graduated over 7,000 people in a single ceremony and each person received their actual degree on the field. They individually announced and hooded the Doctors. The Masters and everyone else were announced in groups then all of them filed down in eight rows like little ants working their way to the field. It was quite moving and impressive.

My siblings and I are all educated. My brothers have their undergraduate degrees and my sister in law and I have our masters degrees. Ma n Pa so proud of us! I'm very proud of my brother who just graduated. We all worked our way through and faced our own challenges, but he dropped out of school to help my dad when he was diagnosed with Cancer. Going back wasn't easy with a full time life. Rock on brother!

Today was also my birthday! Happy 33rd birthday to me.

Yesterday was my mom and my daughter's birthdays too so it has been an action packed celebration weekend. Lots of dining out and happy times.

Life is good.

My Hero

I am so excited. This is Pat Benatar on a jukebox, but I will see her LIVE next week.

$14

Fourteen dollars is what I just paid for a cut, wash, and style at the Hair Cuttery. After years of forty dollar haircuts, I feel very cheap and ugly. I might have to go shave my head now. Andrea will not be happy, but I have no time during the day to visit a real salon. The $14 haircut won't kill me I suppose.

On the train towards Joel's going away party at Grillfish. Think they'll know I'm sporting lame azz hair?

Nearly lost belongings

Such a lovely day. I have a manager on vacation which translated into a 12 hour day in which I accomplished little. It is amazing how one can work continuously and diligently yet accomplish nothing on the really important "to do list."

I had fun yesterday at a friend's 35th birthday party. However, I was sitting in the back yard when I got this really strange feeling. I ran to the front of the house just in time to see three nasty teenagers with a cable cutter trying to steal my Vespa. Needless to say I am reminded how I should not leave personal posessions out of site when visiting East Shaw. Perhaps these thoughts of wanting a house will be replaced with the reminder how nice it is to live in a doorman building with a safe and secure garage. Fortunately I scared them off. I felt really butch and really angry. Not sure why I didn't take a pic with my camera phone.

On the train listening to good music - A Lover I Don't Have To Love. The song scares me because I don't believe it yet I feel it move me as a painful truth coming from deep within. I wish I was already in bed. At least I'm back inside the District. I hate working in VA.

Am I grown?

My lungs hurt - I smoked alot last night. I am a grown azz man acting like a college kid. Two of us ended up at Apex for 18/up night. It is frightening to realize that those kids are now about half my age. I'm old

Still at work - trying to be a responsible citizen today! Gotta run in the AM...hopefully my lungs will have cleared out by then.

This weekend is the DC scootergate and they are hanging out at Cue Bar tonight. I shouldn't go out, but I might have to swing by and check out the rides. I may join them tomorrow for their long ride if I'm done running in time.

Dude from Canada that I met in Pittsburgh is coming to town this weekend and wants to hang out. Also got a birthday party to go to on Sunday for a friend. Should be a good weekend.

Smokin'

Best month since I've been at my company....took my boys out to celebrate early from work. I'm smoking. It's all good.

31 Days 5 hours

Well...It is the end of May. I've been a non-smoker for 31 days and 5 hours. Yes, I have cheated. Four times I've cheated. Twice I had a few smokes and the other two times I nearly smoked a pack. Very bad and yet very good.

Today was hectic as I had my teeth cleaned at 7 AM and was at work for 10 hours non-stop after that. Although I have the gym in the AM, I think I'm going to break my Thu/Sat rule and go have a cocktail. The BF was a drunkazz last night and came home (I presume) in the middle of the night after blowing money on a user friend. I don't approve, but can certainly choose to spend some money on myself tonight.

I'm still thinking about my wild thing - What the H is wrong with me?

Memorial Day Weekend

A whole holiday weekend and no post other than the marathon update! I was busy and it was a great weekend. We decided to stay in the city instead of venturing back to see the family or joining the throngs of people headed to the shore. It was nice to be in the quiet city and fortunately lots of our friends made the same decision.

Saturday afternoon started with a late brunch and then a power rock star bar crawl that even included 'liquid ladies night' with a new friend we met from GA at Phase. Wild madness that fortunately ended with a good night's sleep.

Sunday we had a terrific bbq at Michael and Catrina's. So many of our friends showed up. It was nice to see Wild Thing #1, but I was very disappointed with myself for being so jealous of his BF. I don't understand how I let him get so far under my skin and why I can't get him out. I don't want him there and haven't seen him in many months.

Yesterday was a casual day with Tiff looking at neighborhoods. We jumped down to Old Town Alexandria since she had never seen it before. I had forgotten how much of a place it was for rich white people. The age and diversity of the buildings is amazing, but it is the only thing diverse about that area. I so hope she selects the District when her move day comes.

I've been to the gym early and at work for nearly 2 hours already. Time to get back to it!

Training Week 4

Here we are! Erin, Tara, Me, Meg, & Alicyn. Not sure if I'm spelling their names right, but we're ready to take on the world. Our pace group is actually much larger, but I imagine alot of people are out for the holiday weekend. We did 4 miles using a 5/1 ratio in 45:21. We didn't have a pace group leader so I was made one as default since I had the sporty interval watch.

Looking forward to this as these girls are fun!

1 smoke

Bad yes, but better than 2 packs....i snagged a cig and smoked half of it. Felt nice and I don't think it is nearly as bad as being the chain smoker I was for 13 years. I'm good till Sun when I'll cheat again.

Mom lost her job today as expected, but they are keeping her through the end of July when her vacation and sick days run out since she's never taken any is the 6 years she worked there.

Drama

Not Mine

This is Cat's cigarette. I feel weak...very very weak - It looks very tasty

Long Azz Day

14 hours in the office and ate in a lunch meeting. This, my friends, sux. The only nice part is that I just got on the train and have a hottie red head sitting directly in front of me. Nice.

Settled into the world of the i-Pod people...blending in...waiting for my stop.

S T R E S S

I just need to vent. My new boss has been in the office for two days. I love him, but it adds a great deal of stress when you are in constant meetings. I had visitors today from our operations site. I also love them, but they take up time too. In addition, a new training class went live and I have a manager in training at another site. I REALLY want a cigarette, but it is not the right thing to do. Funny thing is that I don't crave one deep inside, I just want one. It is different than before, but still there.

Hmmmm.

I was so tired last night after a long day that I missed my friend's birthday party. I did get up early enough to run for 18 minutes. Not long enough, but better than nothing. Tonight I'm going to crash because I have the gym in the AM at 6:15.

Ok...I've vented...now back to work. Although I have many tasks to do, I am certainly looking forward to the three day holiday weekend.

Monday Morning

I dislike Monday mornings. I stayed up till 11 to watch the Desperate Housewives season finale and subsequently didn't get up at 6:00 to run as I had hoped. I guess this will be a non-running morning since it is almost time to leave for work.

BTW...I have to admit that I had a few cigarettes on Saturday night while we were out celebrating . The day started in the afternoon with a few bottles of wine at the Greek Festival, went on to include dinner and some more drinks for Catrina's birthday, and ultimately ended near closing time at the Townhouse Tavern. Never a good story when it ends at the Townhouse, but I did learn that my favorite bartender, Colin, is moving to Boston. I'll have to go back on Tuesday for his farewell day. I felt no desire to smoke on Sunday and am confident I won't smoke this week. If it is true that the physical addiction breaks after two weeks, I might be able to lick this thing, despite two slips in the first three weeks.

Gotta get to work!

Catrina's Late B-Day dinner

We went out with Michael and Catrina to the Chi Cha Lounge for her belated birthday since she was out of town on the actual day. Friends are plentiful. Good friends who love unconditionally are hard to come by and we are blessed with these two. The pic I'm sure sucks because it is dark up in here at the Fab Lounge and no flash on my camera.