Friday

Today was the traditional post-Christmas Day mother-daughter shopping adventure of doom. It's not something we have done every year, but more than not, on the day after Christmas, my mom and I hit the stores looking for bargins and ideas for spending any money we might have acquired the day before. Because she didn't have to work today, we got to go out and it was as fun and horrifying as it sounds.

The day started with sammiches at my parents house and then we hit Hallmark, Four Star, Walmart and then Walgreen's on the way home. I ended up getting a new CD and some new socks. I'm dismayed that the socks have pink on them, but it's only on the toe and I guess I will live. They were the socks that I needed.

Other than that the day was pretty uneventful. I still need to figure out what I'm doing for dinner tonight. I may just go get something and bring it home, like McDs or tacos. Not really sure though. Kind of thinking about going to Target too, maybe pick up the other CD I wanted.

I was thinking about that "how to get a book deal from your blog" thing and I realized, my blog would probably make a really boring book, or at least very weird and hard to follow. At least it feels that way to me. Anyway, I'm off to do other things, keep it real!

Christmas Day

It is now officially Christmas Day in my time zone and I thought it would be good to post now.

Happy Holidays to all my friends, whatever your beliefs may be.

I got home not too long ago from my parent's house and overall it went quite well. We had dinner, ate some snacks and opened presents. After the presents we watched It's a Wonderful Life and it was pretty much that simplistic.

I'm not sure what I'm doing about the rest of the day though. I may not go to Geneva after all because I really don't know if I feel up to it. My mom is calling me at 9 to see what my final decision is. Part of me feels this obligation to go, so as not to make anyone upset or lay guilt on me, but part of me just doesn't feel like seeing family tomorrow. My brother isn't going, he's sick, and I'm not feeling all that great myself. I guess it will just have to go by how I feel in the morning.

So here is a run down of the gifts I ended up getting, that way I can remember in the future:
From the bro: An apple scented candle and the Monkees Season 1 DVD
From the rents: A new fleece shirt and gift cards to Barnes and ShopKo.

I have to figure out what I want to do with the gift cards, but I'm thinking I may get Finding Nemo. Not sure what else I really want, so I'll have to just figure that out at some point.

Well, I guess I'll go to bed now and see what the morning brings.

I hope the holidays all turn out well for all of you and that your stockings are filled with wonder and candy. ;)

Christmas Eve is Calling

As many times as I tried to make Christmas fall on the 24th, it really is on the 25th and this is merely a precursor holiday. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday time, being with family and friends and just enjoying life. That's what this time of year is really about in the end. Get out and enjoy the things that you have in life and leave the worry for another day.

I'm going to what could very well be the last year that my family has Christmas Eve with just the four of us. For more years than I can remember now, we all gather at my parent's house on Christmas Eve for the traditional lasagna dinner and gift exchange. We have cookies and my mom usually makes fudge and sometimes she makes the mints I really love. They are kind of a pain to make so she doesn't make them very often. I have no way of knowing what the future will bring, but I'm almost positive that this will be the last Christmas with the things the way they are right now.

Tomorrow I am going to my Aunt and Uncle's house in Geneva for food, family and more gift exchanging. I haven't seen my cousins in awhile so it'll be interesting to see how much they have grown and all that. We didn't see them over Thanksgiving, like usual, because they were up in Montana visiting my Aunt's family. That will pretty much take care of the whole day and I will be back on Friday as normal.

Not sure what I'm doing for New Year's but I think I have an idea. Have to see how things go, but probably just something quiet and enjoyable. Video game marathon or something equally entertaining.

Happy Holidays Everybody!!!

Puzzle City

So I didn't end up getting to the library yesterday but I did get my shopping finished. Last night I wrapped up all the presents and set them under my cute little tree. Well, they are actually on the floor in front of the bookcase, but the tree is on the bookcase, so that still counts. I like the way wrapped gifts look, even when I know what's in them. I went a little crazy and ended up wrapping things I hadn't really planned on wrapping. Oh well, everyone likes getting wrapped up stuff, right?

I started working on a new puzzle last night. I have had this puzzle since before I moved but I had yet to actually attempt putting it together. It's really a pretty cool puzzle and it's going to together quite well. It still makes me want more new puzzles, I forgot how much fun putting a puzzle together can be. In some ways I hate finishing them because then I know there's no more to do.

I downloaded post-it notes software for my computer so I can make daily to do lists and keep track of other information on my desktop. It's really helpful to get a list down of what needs to be done today and then go get it down. It's a nice piece of software and it saves me from having little slips of paper all over my desk. I'm trying harder to keep my place clean, but old habits die hard.

Why Georgia by John Mayer

I am driving up 85 in the
Kind of morning that lasts all afternoon
just stuck inside the gloom
4 more exits to my apartment but
I am tempted to keep the car in drive
And leave it all behind

Cause I wonder sometimes
About the outcome
Of a still verdictless life

Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Why Georgia, why?

I rent a room and I fill the spaces with
Wood in places to make it feel like home
But all I feel's alone
It might be a quarter life crisis
Or just the stirring in my soul

Either way I wonder sometimes
About the outcome
Of a still verdictless life

Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Why Georgia, why?

So what, so I've got a smile on
But it's hiding the quiet superstitions in my head
Don't believe me
When I say I've got it down

Everybody is just a stranger but
That's the danger in going my own way
I guess it's the price I have to pay
Still "everything happens for a reason"
Is no reason not to ask myself

If I am living it right
Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Why Georgia, why?

Interview Update

Got my schedule for the 6th and the interview actually lasts from 1:15 PM to 3:30 PM. I have to say, I have never had an interview scheduled for this long before. The schedule seems to be as follows:

1:15 to 2:00 - Meet with people from a couple of the computer departments.

2:00 to 2:45 - Meet with the people from the search committee.

2:45 to 3:30 - Meet to discuss benefits

I really need to get prepared for this interview without going into it overconfident. I think that I will do fine but I want to do a little research on what's happening currently in tech support in general and brush up on my software skills. I have two weeks, time to use the time well.

January 6th

I have a job interview on January 6th with UNL for that Computer Specialist position with the libraries. They called and emailed me both today about setting up the interview time, so I'm taking this as a good sign. They are going to send me an interview schedule later so now it's back to that waiting game. I know I can do this job, and do it well, for them so I have to get prepared for the interview.

I think I will go to the library and get some Office XP books and brush up on my knowledge in that area. I have 2 weeks now that I can use to my advantage to get ready for the interview. I'm not any more worried than normal about the interview, but I know I can be more confident if I'm prepared before going in there. I also want to run down to the library, if it's open and take a look at their lab and get an idea of where they are at right now, prior to going into the interview.

Well I think I am going to go work on a puzzle and maybe hit the public library here in a bit. Also should get my last minute shopping done today so I don't have to do anything tomorrow, if I don't want to.

Shopped Out

So yesterday I went shopping with my mom to find gifts for my cousins. They are 6, 9, and almost 11 and we will be seeing them on Christmas day. As many of you know, it's completely crazy out there in the stores and some places are already pretty picked over. We ended up going to ShopKo, Toys and Treasures, Target, WalMart and then to a different ShopKo before getting what we needed. Ended up getting a Polly Pocket playset for the 6 year old and Lego sets for the older two.

We had pizza for dinner though, so that worked out alright for me.

The whole baseball thing has thrown me for a loop mentally though. I know that it's something that I want to do but there is something I can't figure out. I feel like I am sitting here waiting for some kind of sign, something to let me know if I should keep going and do this, or if I should slow off the baseball and work more on just straight physical conditioning right now and worry about baseball at a later date. I don't know, this may be partially fueled by my lack of job and money to continue lessons.

I feel like I simply don't have the physical endurance necessary for baseball right now. I know I have plenty of time to get that it's just right now I can't do it in the way that I want to. I would really like to start working with a personal trainer and get a personalized program setup for me. There's a place in town called Victory Human Performance that does basically only personal training. It's clear across town , not far from Spring Training. I don't know what it costs to go there, but I can't think that it's cheap. ST is certainly far from cheap.

So the thing of it, right now, is that I need to get an income but also I need to get the motivation to see what I can do now, even if I can't afford the things I want to do currently. I think tomorrow I will go to the library and look over their fitness tapes and maybe check a couple out. Maybe if I check out different ones and do it that way, I won't get bored as easy. I tend to get really bored with the exercise video I currently have. It gets to the point where I can't stand to do it anymore, not because of the exercise, but because of the same horrible jokes over and over and all that.

I don't know when I will have my next hitting lesson but I know it won't be until January. I really need to get back to getting practice in. I need to keep working with the throw-n-field and fix up my tee so I can get back into hitting before my next lesson. I have this big concern that I'm going to forget everything by the time I finally go back there. Have I ever mentioned that I'd like to learn to pitch? I think it would be a valuable skill to have.

I'm still really confused though. The tryout is coming up quickly and instead of even preparing for it, it seems to have caused me to pull back and wonder if it's something I can even do. I have to force myself to go though, because I can't let my fears keep me from doing the things I want to do. Even if it doesn't mean I'll make a team, not going will assure I don't get on a team. Maybe that's just it though. I'm afraid of being rejected on some levels, so if I just don't go, I will know the outcome for sure. I think I need to figure out how to stop looking for outside factors and people to tell me how I am doing and try to figure it out on my own. I have this real need, though, for constructive feedback from other people. I really want to know if doing this is causing improvement and if I am actually going to be able to do this. I really shouldn't think like this though. I know I can do it, but I have to be willing to put the time and effort into it.

Well, I think that's enough blogging for now. Have a good day!

Post Party Wrapup

So as I have been saying for the last week or so, I had my holiday party last night and I think it went really well. There was lots of food, friendly conversation and a good amount of shear craziness.

We did a tacky, yet fun, little gift exchange thing. Susan and I picked out a bunch of really interesting toys at the dollar store and wrapped them up for people to open. We also made little gift bags for everyone but forgot to give them out until some people had already left, oops. I'm going to try and get them to the people that missed out, if possible and they want them.

Later in the evening the air hockey table was brought out and a few people played. Susan and I played for a little while, but we didn't keep score. I think the table needs to be cleaned up and it was suggested that I use an air compressor to blow out the little air holes. I think it just needs a good overall cleaning to get it back into working shape.

Susan and Nick were over at my place early yesterday, helping out with the setup and making some of the food, which was nice. So I made them chili for dinner and we had that with some nice cinnamon rolls. I have some left over so I might go get some hotdogs and have a chili dog.

This was the guest list, for those that are interested: Susan, Nick, Sheri, Tony, C-Bob, Amber, Jason, Nate and Kelly. That's about the maximum number of people I can fit in my apartment, it was cozy but any more people than that might be pushing it.

I got a few gifts too, ooo. I got a new Hello Kitty mousepad from Susan and Nick and a 6-pack of Bacardi O from Sheri and Tony. That was really awesome of them to get me stuff.

I have to say this: All my friends rule! Thanks to everyone who came and I hope you all had a great time.

Now I'm off to my regularly scheduled Sunday of Laundry and shopping with the Mom.