Christmas Non-Secular

With the holiday season upon us again, I have been nostalgic. I remember that we would be photographed surrounded by our gifts in a before and after setup. As a child, that was what Christmas was to me - a chance to get gifts and be with family.

I remember being disappointed when I found out it was a religious holiday. I have never been a religious person. Not back then. Not now. Santa, Rudolph, Frosty, et al were the major players of this holiday. Tree, lights, cartoons, singing, and decorating were the major activities. And I look back at that time with fondness.

Maybe I was just being a spoiled child. Maybe I wasn't. Life for a five year old is simple and wondrous. I didn't need anything to complicate something so wonderful. Wouldn't it be great to have that feeling back. Being a kid rocked. It rocked harder during the holidays. My toughest tasks back then was trying to figure out what was behind the wrapping paper. I became a master at working the corners and sneaking a peek inside. Sorry, Mom. I cheated and knew a good percentage of my gifts by using this technique.

But that was the fun. No midnight mass. No worrying about credit card bills or being laid off. Just the giddiness of getting gifts, singing carols, and watching the stop motion TV shows like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Who wouldn't want that?

Easy Resolutions

I usually don't do New Year's resolutions. I don't know why. I have many areas of me that I would like to improve. I think setting resolutions that change a person are very difficult to keep. So, I will set some resolutions that will be fun to keep and still improve my life. Here we go.

1. Finish my bachelor's degree. I am only 18 credit hours away. While this doesn't fit in the fun category, it will create more free time to have fun.
2. Workout more. Again, this may not sound like fun. But, I do like to lift weights. I think that is all I did in high school besides play football. Going to the gym to lift is fun. Going to the gym to run not so much.
3. Be a better husband. This will be fun. Queentuffy deserves better than the usual me. So, I will be stepping up in this area.
4. Be a better friend. I have met some great people, and some have become my friend. I am not the most attentive friend. I don't make the phone calls I should or share my true feelings. Logtar can attest to this fact. I promise to be better.
5. Go fishing more. I have a boat and all the equipment and time. I have no excuses. Queentuffy and I will be catching more fish this year.
6. Drums. I have made friends with musicians this year. And they have rekindled my desire to play the drums. It has been 5 or 6 years since I was in a band. Time to dust off the drums and get back into playing. Maybe I will find a band.
7. Find a career I love or at least tolerate. I have put a lot of effort and keeping employed in 2009. This was made significantly harder because I don't like my current career. I will continue with my soul search and item 1 of this list.

Well. That is all I can think of right now. These should be pretty easy to do with the exception of the last item on the list. Wish me luck.

Career Matched?

I recently read Career Match by Shoya Zichy. It was not what I was expecting, but in a good way. I knew it would deal with what career would work best with my personality. Of course, there would be a personality test. I have taken personality tests before. Including the Myers-Briggs when in college, but the results were less than accurate. So, I was skeptical.

The authors give you a 10 minute test called the Color Q Personality Style Self Assessment. After you finish the results are easy to garner. Your results are given to you in colors red, green, blue, and gold. You are assigned a primary color and a secondary color. I won't go into what each pairing means and just tell you that I am a Red/Green.

The test, also, determines if you are an introvert or an extrovert. I already knew before taking the test that I am an introvert, but I took the test in its entirety, and the result was the expected introvert. So, my final personality type result is Red/Green introvert.

After reading the description of the Red/Green introvert I discovered the authors were right. They nailed it. Their description of me matched my results of the personality test. I was surprised. As I mentioned before I had taken other tests and the results were iffy. Not this time. They were accurate.

Here are a few things the book mentions about Red/Green introverts that are me.

1. Like to initiate and implement change.
2. Excel in assignments that are nonrepetitious.
3. Most productive when left on my own.
4. Is relaxed and informal.
5. Unattractive surroundings will distract and irritate me.
6. Encourages rapport through a sense of humor.
7. Offers a high degree of trust.

After confiming that the description was right, I read on to see what was thought to be a good career path. The book lists many careers broken out by industry. The list is nowhere near being complete or is said to be as such, but it gives a pretty good starting point. Here are some examples for Red/Green introverts that I thought were interesting.

Arts and entertainment

• artist, photographer, entertainment agent, film editor, and art director

Business

• lawyer, product designer, public relations specialist, and business coach

Health Science

• gynecologist, speech pathologist, nurse, and primary care physician

These were just a few careers and industries. Now I have to use the information I have and brain storm on what I want to do when I grow up. I'm still clueless, but I feel I'm getting closer. It will take some hard work and some hard thinking. I will have to do some soul searching. I am confident that I will figure this out.

If you are in the situation as me or just curious about your Color Q personality, I recommend reading this book. It may surprise you.

Where Have I Been

At the beginning of last month I thought it would be cool to post once a day for the month. In reality I posted once the entire month. I know. I'm a slacker.

So, what the hell have I been upto that has kept me away from my blog? The short answer is procrastination. I am the king of procrastination. I'll prove it to you later. :)

Other things have been happening besides avoiding posting here. I finally have two fully functioning knees. In this post I tell you about my knee pain. That was on October 7th. Holy shit! This went on longer than I realized.

After I went to my primary doctor and was told I strained a tendon, I decided to go see an Orthopedic Surgeon. I figured two months was enough time to be in pain. I made the appointment and saw the nurse practioner for the surgeon. She gave me the routine knee check and sent me to get x-rays. These x-rays revealed nothing. Surprise! So they said I needed to get a MRI.

After waiting 4 days for my insurance to approve the appointment, I had a MRI done on a Friday after work. I didn't hear about the results until the following Wednesday. As you can imagine I am getting tired of this thing dragging on. The results from my MRI were inconclusive. I have a little cartilage tearing and a little arthritis in the knee. Neither of which the doctor thought was bad enough to cause the pain I was having.

So, I have to make an appointment and go back to see the orthopedic surgeon for another exam. This exam will supposedly decide which form of treatment I will require. Surgery or a cortizone shot. I wait another week and a half before they can see me again. Yes, I am a happy camper at this point. This time I actually get to see the surgeon. He is a great guy, but a little hurried. He put my knee through the paces, again. Twist the knee and ask me if that hurts. Thankfully it didn't hurt on any of the twists he subjected me and my patient knee to.

After that he explains what he thinks is going on. Which is the exact same thing they told me the MRI results led them to believe. He then did something I didn't expect. He asked me which option I think I should go with - the shot or the surgery. Well, I have a pretty long no surgery streak going and would like to keep it. So, I opted for the shot. The surgeon agreed with my decision.

Okay I got the shot and my knee feels great. It is so nice not having pain or fear of the knee giving out on me. For the first time in a long time I can say my knee feels normal. Its just too bad it had to take from the end of August to the day before Thanksgiving to get it resolved.

Cars

I hope I don't have to think about this seriously for years to come, but what would I want as my next car. I would love to have a car that would keep me away from the gas pump. Nothing would be nicer in my auto universe than never having to pay for gas again.

So, would alternative fuels like hydrogen work for me? Nah. I would prefer to plug my shiny new ride into a wall socket and let it "refuel" while I sleep or while I work. I wouldn't miss stopping at QT once a week at all.

But.

I don't want a "traditional" looking electric car. I want something that looks like a powerful gas guzzler. Maybe something along the lines of a muscle car. You know a '69 Chevelle. I want it to look like it could burn the tires off while going 0-60 in 4 seconds.

Come on Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota, etc. Its time to step it up. Create something I would actually want to own. Otherwise, I have to hope my SUV lasts forever.

To recap.

This....

Not this.

Music That Stops the World

Eating lunch at my favorite sushi place with my favorite lunch partner Queentuffy, we started discussing the music playing over the restaurants speakers. The discussion centered around what music will make me stop what I'm doing to listen. If you looked at my music library, you would think that I only like one type of music. With a the complete catalogue of Metallica, Disturbed, Seether, and others of similiar ilk, I would agree it is slanted a certain way. However, my tastes bridge more gaps than expected. My list of music that stops my world proves this. No matter what I'm doing these songs make me stop and listen. They are listed below in no particular order.

1. The Fray - How to Save a Life.


2. Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars.


3. Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone.


4. Metallica - For Whom the Bell Tolls.


5. Katy Perry - Hot N Cold.


6. Black Sabbath - Paranoid.


7. Flock of Seagulls - I Ran.


8. KISS - Detroit Rock City.


9. Offspring - Gone Away.


10. Papa Roach - She Loves Me Not.

These are the top ten of world stoppers for me. Some are because I learned to play these songs and others because they call to me. I have the radio on all day while at work and love it when any of these songs are played. Problem is more often than not a coworker will stop by right as one of these starts. How do you politely tell someone to go away so not to interrupt the song? So if I ignore you, chances are one of these songs are playing. I hope you understand.

The Boyfriend

I attended a technical college in Goodland, Kansas right out of high school. Goodland is about 90 minutes from Yuma, Colorado. Yuma is where I went to high school. I would return to Yuma on weekends to visit my parents, my friends, and my sister (Gina.) Partway through that first year my parents moved to Salt Lake City.

Luckily for me my sister still lived in Yuma. She rented a pretty big house with her three children and her best friend Tina. I would come back to Yuma and stay at Gina's and Tina's house. As part of the price to stay there I would baby sit Gina's kids from time to time so team Gina and Tina could go out and party.

Though Tina had a boyfriend (whom I hadn't met), the team would go manhunting for my sister. On one such occasion the team went out and I stayed home to watch the kids. About an hour after the team left Tina's boyfriend came up from the basement where Tina's bedroom was located.

He introduced himself as Jim. He snubbed my offer of a handshake. I let it go. Tina usually had weird taste in boyfriends and I thought he was a classic example. Jim was cool and laid back. He dressed in 70's retro and wore John Lennon type glasses.

We discussed music. He seemed interested in the fact that I was a drummer. Jim mentioned that we should jam sometime since he was a guitarist.

I offered him a beer which he took but never took a drink. He was interested in talking about the house. He seemed to know a lot about the history of the house. Jim told me that the location of the couch was in the wrong spot and that it is always supposed to be under the window. As he said, "where it has always been."

We talked for hours. Finally I saw the headlights of Gina's car coming up the drive. Jim said he had to go to the bathroom and left the room. Gina and Tina walked in the door. In their drunken yammering one of them asked what I had been doing. I told them that Jim and I had just been sitting here talking. Gina asked who Jim was and I told her Tina's boyfriend. Gina paused and said quite matter of factly that Tina's boyfriend's name is Ricky and he is in Denver this weekend picking up a load of brick. We checked the entire house. We found no one. Jim was gone including the beer I had given him.

Through the years Gina lived in the house they had not seen Jim. Gina would later tell me that she would have arguments with Tina about rearranging the furniture. Gina said Tina would move the couch all the time and Tina would deny these claims. I asked if the couch was moved under the window and she said yes and asked how I knew. I told her that Jim mentioned that is the rightful location for the couch.

I would love to go back to Yuma and talk to the current residents of the house. I would like to know if Jim is still there arranging furniture. Maybe one day Jim will find what he is looking for and finally rest in peace.