Not So Random Cam

Ive been getting quite a few compliments from family and friends about some of the pictures I have been taking over the last year or so. Maybe they are just being nice or maybe they are sincere. Ive always been the type with any thing I do ( especialy the few creative things I do ) that there is always somebody out there better than me. Im quick to shy away any praise I get. I have some friends who take some truly beautiful pictures ( Chris and Stephen from my board come to mind first ) Im not in their league. But I have been giving it some thought and I think I might seek out some kind of local photography contest or maybe an art show of some kind and maybe put a few of my pics in. Maybe not the ones I have here on this blog entry but something. I never really gave it much thought until I captured the image of the wet Hibiscus that I do have on this entry. I thought it was really cool and was actualy quite proud of myself .

Who knows maybe Ill just enter some stuff in the Arizona State Fair later this year. It wouldnt be the first time Ive entered something at the state fair. It high school I entered a drawing I did. While I wasnt as proud of the work as I am some of my photos, I thought ti was pretty good. Well I didnt even get an honorable mention ribbon from the judges. I was kinda crushed and vowed never to have my work judged again. Well I guess time had changed me and now Im thinking about it again.

90 Days

Thats how many days its been since I last had a Coke or Pepsi to drink. If you wouldve told me this time last year that I would have gone this long without my daily drink of choice I woulda said you were high. But here it is 90 days ( actualy 92 now ) since I last had one. I dont crave them anymore, dont really think about it anymore. It seems natural to me now to order an unsweetened ice tea with my food or when I go to a convienence store. Matter of fact I spied two Cokes in my 'fridge last week and didnt even remotely want one. I think I am cured. Now if I could just quit cramming candy bars in my mouth and eating Burger King ill be doing that much better =)

I am having a hard time though deciding if I want to fall off the wagon for one soda when we go to Peru in June on our church mission trip. Everybody thats been to Peru toalks about Inca Cola and how good it is. Part of me wants to try one, part of me says no. We shall se how ti goes.

Ten years already?!

I saw the headling on Yahoo today that it was 10 years ago today that the Columbine HS massacre took place. It was also ten years ago that I started my initial training for the job I am currently doing. It doesnt seem possible that ten years has passed by. At the time, I was hired as a contractor working for what used to be U.S. West. There was no garauntee that I would be hired permanately. I kept my job at Auto Zone but went to part time just in case the telephone company gig didnt pan out. Well luckily for me it did. In December of '99 I was hired permanately. Its amazing how many people that Ive worked with in these ten years. Many have retired, transferred to other offices ( as have I ) and sadly some have passed away. But thats life. Id be willing to bet these next years will probably pass by that much faster.

Facebook Part 2

Bear with me as Im going to ramble and wander here a bit

I cant help but reminisce as time goes on and I find more and more folks that I went to high school with on Facebook. I was by no means very popular in school. Sure I knew a lot of the popular people but its not like I hung out with them. I was part of kind of a hodge podge group of people. Depending on who you asked I was a nerd ( funny as I didnt get great grades ), a dork, a gearhead ( ill take that ) a good friend, a sweet guy etc. Alot of the people I hung out with fit alot of those descriptions too. When it came to fashion I was always a year or so behind. I was ( and still am ) a jeans and t-shirt type of guy.

WIth all that in mind, it blows me away some of the people that have either friended me out of the blue or actualy accepted my friend request on FB. Ive hesitated when it comes to asking some people and others I thought what the hell and pulled the trigger. I havent seen many of these people in more than 15 years. Ill be seeing alot of them next summer at our 20th class reunion. That ought to be interesting.

Some of this discussion brings to mind the fact that even though I wasnt popular in school I actualy had the nerve several times to be a complete asshole to some folks and blow off their attempts at friendship. Yeah me, the unpopular guy thinking I was too good for some people. Shit looking back I shouldve glady accepted these people as friends. They turned out all right and I wouldve been a better person if I had a few of them in my life. Maybe I can make amends with some of those people as time goes on. But it wouldnt surpirse me if some of them told me to pack sand. ALthough like I said some of the popular people have either freinded me out of the blue or accepted me so who knows. Time does things to people.

A long time friend of mine had posted some pics of me in group/party situations from days gone by. I had to be in my late teens or real early 20s in the pics. I had a whole lot more hair, a whole lot less weight and there was alcohol involved in most of the pics. My how somethings have changed and yet some things never do. Im still a dork, Im just older, heavier, have less hair but dont drink nearly as much.

Its kinda funny I guess. Who woulda thought that a website that 6-9 months ago I had never heard of would bring me into contact with folks I havent seen or heard from in more than 15 years. Pretty cool I say.

Kharma, its a good thing ;-)

Ive been a believer in some form or another of kharma. The old saying of what goes around, comes around, yep, firm believer.

Recently my ex-girlfriend Shayla posted on her Facebook page that as of a week ago today her diviorce was final.

She didnt make it public as to why she was getting divorced, she just made the statement. I knew from talking to her best friend several months ago that Shayla was getting divorced because her husband had been cheating on her. I kinda smiled when I heard the news.

Now dont get me wrong I dont wish bad luck on anybodies relationship and no matter how unhappy someone might be in a relationship, that doesnt justify cheating on their SO.

Her getting cheated on is just a classic example of kharma. You see, in the 4 years Shayla and I dated, she cheated on me...twice. Her best friend Jennifer tried to tell me that it was a high school and college relationship, that it was different. Shayla tried really hard in her marriage to make things work. BBzzzzttt wrong answer. Cheating on somebody in any kind of a relationship is wrong, period. Purposely breaking somebodies heart and completely killing their self esteem is wrong. Sure I recovered and eventualy started dating and marrying Debbie and we have now been together 15 years. But it still hurt getting cheated on and having my heart broken.

So I dont feel sorry for Shayla. I know what she's feeling but I dont feel sorry for her. Thats kharma! What goes around, comes around and unfortunatley for Shayla, it hit her right between the eyes.

Sorry for the cynical entry today. Was on my mind and I needed to get it out.

I Ran...If You Want To Call It That

I went to the Y Thursday and decided I was going to try Week 1 Day 1 of the C25k plan as a trial. It went really, really slow. I didnt want to push it and seeing as how I havent done any exercise in a month it made sense to take it slow.

My left knee and foot were bugging me prior to starting so I kept that in mind as I chugged along. Amazing enough nothign bothered me while I ran/walked according to the plan. I made sure after I got done to stretch out really well.

I have mixed emotions after the fact. I already think that if I stick with running, Im probably going to be limited to about 3 days a week. What running I did bothered my protruding disc the next day and my hip too. There are things I can do to strengthen/stretch my hip but there isnt anything to do about my neck perse. So if it bothers me after a mile and a half run the next day what will it be like after a 3, 6, 10 or 13.1 mile run? I guess Ill just have to space out my running to every other day and see how it goes once I complete C25k.

Wow, were did the time go

Just a short entry here. Hard to believe the first quarter of '09 is already in the books. At least the first quarter of this year was much better for me than '08. Im feeling better physicaly, no one close to me died, and I got to go to Philly and New Jersey in February. All in all a good 1st quarter. Hoping the 2nd is even better. Looks like we are going to be busy with soccer practices and games, maybe an inline hockey season for me and gearing up for our mission trip to Peru in June. Lots of things going on with us. Stay tuned!