I took the title of this post from a buddy of mine at http://geekeguy.blogspot.com/2010/03/squirrel.html. Seemed like an appropriate title for a post where I will talk about how many irons I have in the fire, and how many cookie jars I’ve got my fingers in. He said it well when he said that he changes direction more than his underwear. Then he went on about something else, blah blah blah SQUIRREL! I had already changed directions. He does paint some pretty awesome models, however! I saw what looked like a battleship, so I assume he’s working on ships now. But I digress…

I’m here to talk about me, and let’s face it, you are hear to read about me. You must be the poster boy, or girl, of boredom… or related to me… Or both… Probably both. So, it seems I haven’t written since January. Let’s see if I can’t catch you up, faithful readers.

Job. My job still rocks. I get to work with code and explore new technology. It’s my thang, you know. Nothing particularly interesting there. I’m working on .NET Remoting, which admittedly is not “new tech”, but it’s new to me, and it’s pretty neat stuff. I wish I could jump into WCF with the rest of the world, but the corporate machine moves slow and cautiously, so we are still using .NET 2.0 here. Nevertheless, .NET Remoting is proving to be some pretty neat and useful stuff. The foundation it is laying for me and my counterparts will no doubt be in valuable when we do move to .NET 3.5.

Bills are still piling up on us, like everyone else in the world. So, I still take side projects to supplement my income. It’s a great way to supplement the income and get some extra cash into the coffers. I’m doing this stuff at home anyway, so might as well make some cash at it too. I’m building up a nice client list and who knows maybe one day down the road it would be a sustaining income.

Heidi is slightly ramping up her cake decorating business again. I’m so glad to see her doing that. We both know it’s a passion for her, and I know that she would be wildly successful at it, given the proper time and place of business to do it. In the meantime, there’s yummy, home made, desserts at our house again. :)

The food we’re eating in general is much better now too, thanks to Heidi. She has taken it upon herself to make sure we are all eating whole foods at least 90% of the time, and that the meat we eat is properly handled through it’s entire lifecycle. We watched Food, Inc. recently and it was a bit of a wake up call for us. Nothing we didn’t already know, but we just got tired of being ok with it. I must admit, I feel a heck of a lot better now that my diet is better. Can’t wait to get further down the road with it.

I recently had to put in a new climate control system for my home office. Too much computer equipment in there now! Kinda neat to have that room on its own “zone”.

My son is still having heart “flutterings” or whatever. Not sure if I mentioned this yet, and too lazy to go check. But he’s been having some heart “vibrations” (that’s what he calls them). They last a couple seconds, and scare him sometimes. We had a monitor on him for a month to capture these things. Doc said nothing looks weird. So, not sure what it is. It’s pissing me off that we can’t find anything solid on it. More to come on that — hopefully a solution — soon.

Games!! We all know how I love my games! Well, there’s this new game called, “WORK YOUR ASS OFF CUZ YOU GOT BILLS” that I’ve been playing. … Stupid bills. I got a nice new gaming machine, and haven’t been able to stretch its legs yet… grrrr.

That’s about it… More to come hopefully… But you know how that goes. :) I’m gonna hit post before I change my mind and post nothing.

We decided to get out of the house for a little bit and go have a nice dinner. The original destination was to be Panda House Stir Fry. A nice Mongolian BBQ where Amy, one of the proprietors of the old Silver River works now. Silver River was the bomb diggity. Yay for tangents! Ok, back on track.

So, my son, the fruits of my loins (is that the correct term?), has decided he doesn’t like most Asian food lately. :( I’m so disappointed. heh Mom’s never really been a fan of Asian cusine either, with the huge exception of Ikkyu.

So we went to try out World Sports Grille. It’s like Pinky’s, only slightly more upscale. Don’t know what Pinky’s is? Think Restaurant/Bar/Arcade. Anyway, we went there, because I talked it up and because my son wanted to go to an arcade. Well, I’ve got two words to describe the dinner: WAA WAA.

The “All-American Burger” was filled with more vegetable matter (yes, in the patty) than oh, a bowl of vegetables. My burger literally was two pieces of toast, a parsley patty, and a strip of wilted lettuce. LOL If that doesn’t say America, I don’t know what does! I could have sworn I had a burger the first time I went there, but I guess maybe not. Heidi’s food was less than yummy from what I gathered as well.

On the plus side, the appetizers were decent, and the games were fun-ish! :) It’s a great place to go for happy hour, we decided.

OH! And we went and saw an old childhood friend of mine, Tom. He’s an AT&T Cell Phone Guru guy, and wil be hooking us up with our new phones as soon as the pocketbook permits! I so can’t wait! Heidi and I are still using RAZRs!

Rhys playing drums at WSG

Last weekend Heidi, Rhys and I went to the 17th Street Market here in town. I can’t believe I have lived in this stupid town for so damn many years and have never patronized this place. It is PERFECT. It has all the Asian food that I desire (I bought my self a new wok pan while I was there — but that is another story), fresh produce (yes, I eat plants), and fresh meat (GOD, I love fresh meat)!

On top of those things, it has a nice gift selection. You know the kind of touristy bullshit that us Americans fall for all the time. I almost bought myself yet another set of chopsticks. As much as I make fun of it, there were some very nice things there. Did I mention I bought a new wok pan? :-D

Lastly, it has a music shop too… You know, you can buy CD’s, musical insturments, and even see performances. All of this wonderful crap in the industrial district of our little shit hole of a town.

So, while we were there, we saw The Can Crushers. Rhys absolutely loved them! At first I thought it was your typical hippie street performance art, but soon found myself getting into it (damn my drumming roots). We didn’t purchase a CD, but we will be, and in the meantime I thought I’d give the guys a free plug on the ol’ website here. Pretty cool stuff, guys!

Well, the weekend comes to a close. Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. I spent the weekend trying to get some things taken care of. I’d say I didn’t win that fight, but you should see the other guy. ;)

I spent some time at my mom’s house this weekend, looking at old pictures. Wow, why did you people let me wear long hair in high school!? Sheesh, friends… :) I looked so horrible!!! What the hell was I thinking? I also marveled at how damn skinny and arguably fit I was not just back in high school, but like two years ago! Nothing like old pictures to motivate you to get off your fat ass. At least, I think it’s motivating me. We shall see. Now that I have the smoking thing licked, it’s time to get the diet/fitness thing licked. So, far I am having trouble establishing a beachhead.

So, this next week, I have a plan of attack. You don’t win a war in a week, but you can gain ground. The goal is to gain ground this week. Ok, now it’s time to get some sleep. :)

I just wanted to take a moment to publicly give my thanks to ramen. Yes, ramen. That wonderful Asian staple which has nourished me since my childhood. It’s really quite the perfect food, if you think about it. It can be fancy (if you’ve not fancied up your ramen, you’ve not lived), and it can be simple. It can be a meal or an ingredient. It’s one of the cheapest and most satisfying lunches around.

One thing my town here is severely lacking (on the really long laundry list of Shit This Town Doesn’t Have) is a good ramen shop. I don’t know if this is typical of most towns in the states, but I know this town doesn’t have one. Is it because America hasn’t yet opened it’s eyes to the magic of Ramen? Is it because America doesn’t give two shits about ramen? Are we not yet tired of the vareity of burgers and fries? Ramen can be as good as junk food and better for your body. It’s a great breakfast, a great lunch, and a great dinner! Ramen for the win! So, I’ll close with a haiku about Ramen:

Ramen. The best food.
Must have more ramen, right now.
The States needs ramen!

I know a lot of us out there are going to do the right thing and make that Get In Shape resolution. A great many of us will… Not all of us will exit this endeavour slim, trim and yummy. In fact, statistics say most of us wont. But, like the teeming millions out there, I will join the race and do my best to recapture my fit and trim self from yesteryear. I have my top secret plan of attack, and as of right now, the determination of a…. determined thingy.

I thought I’d share with you one of my favorite calorie counting websites. I highly recommend it if you are into the whole calorie counting thing. You know, the only diet that really works? … I say that like I’m not fat… Well, when I’m thin, I’ll tell you what, damnit! :: points and makes a face at you :: (yes. YOU!)

Good luck to one and all! See you on the fit and trim side!