Only a Matter of Days

This will be short and sweet seeing as how I need to be at work in less than an hour.

I feel myself getting stronger with each passing day.  The exercise routine appears to be working.  This Wednesday, I'll be up to 50 reps with the dumb bell, and two sets of 17 off the wall push ups.

Since the snow should be going away for the most part, I may get my wish of walking to work soon.  Once I can walk on a more regular basis, I'll lose even more of that jiggly stuff that likes to hang off of me at the moment.

This puffed marshmallow is shrinking and shrinking so to speak.  ;)

For the last couple of nights, work has flown by really fast.  Part of it was due to it being busy.  The other part is due to my birthday coming up in a matter of days.  My time as a 20 something is coming to a close.

On March 9, 2013, I will be 30 years old.

My dad plans on coming up to visit, and he plans on bringing something big with him (big enough that it requires a truck).  That day is going to be a landmark for me.

It's a sign of things to come, for everything is going to start falling into place.

I took another break from Vimeo, but that's ok.  I needed the sleep, and I got plenty of it.  While sleeping, I had some of this playing in the background.  That particular site has changed in the last few years, and it's looking pretty good.

I've also been doing some more spiritual research on my part.

In other words, I'm working on body, mind, and spirit.  :)

For now, I shall go shower and get ready for work.  After tonight, I'll have to do a small load of laundry (and more spiritual research while clothes are washing and drying).

Flurries of What's to Come.

I woke up earlier than I normally did last night.  Then again, when one has to empty their bladder, it's a good idea not to ignore its pleading for relief.  Since I was up early enough, I was able to have a warm meal before going to work.

Turns out, I needed it.

I brought my computer with me to work on a project while at lunch.  I made some progress, but there's much more work to be done.  I also need to do some more stuff on the website.

Anyway, I hung out with my friend Jason at Country Kitchen after work.  It had been a while since he and I had any extended conversation.  He's the type of person who is able and willing to just listen to other people and offer a unique perspective afterwords.

I then gave him a ride home, grabbed some money out of my account, and paid some bills.  Rent and car insurance is now taken care of.

I looked around in a couple of computer stores and found a PCI video card to add to my computer troubleshooting kit.  I may have to visit Cheap Computer Tech more often.  This means I can finally see if I can get a functioning display on a desktop that I'm working on for a friend's grandmother.

If I can, I will at least back up all the pertinent data that I can.

At that point, they may be able to just replace the video card and give that machine a few more years of life.

To end my day, I made a quick run to Bi-Lo.

I'm taking a day off from doing a Vimeo vlog, so..... until next time....

Just be who you want to be and not what everyone else wants you to be.  ;)

Bad Vibes On the Horizon.

Let's start off on a good note, shall we?  Since I mentioned food choices last time, I figured it would be appropriate by talking about mine.

Daily Asterisk: February 28, 2013 from Thomas Holbrook II on Vimeo.

I made it to work last night, and the shift started as it normally would.  I brought two bottles of water up to the front end like I always did.  Upon discovery that we had no trash bags for trash, I went to the back to grab some.

From there, things went as normal for a bit.  I took care of trash on one side of the front end as well as hangers.  At some point, the other front end person for the night was also taking care of trash and hangers.

It was when I got to the sweeping that things turned interesting in a hurry.

On May 22, 2012, I wrote an entry about memories and lessons.  In that post, I mentioned somebody who vicariously lives through other people.  I met them in 2010, and quickly discovered how they had this ability to draw people into their own madness.

There's a reason why it's called the cult of personality.

 In 2011, I severed ties with them and decided to move on with my life.  2012 was an amazing year.  I had a girlfriend for four months, ran for political office (and got over 10,000 votes), and had a good time with my room mate.

As it turned out, my instincts towards the end of the year was correct.

2012 wasn't the end, but the beginning of something interesting.  Have you ever had the feeling that something was coming, that it was on the horizon, and that it would be prudent to prepare for it?  If that moment last night at work was any indication, something interesting is on the horizon.

The very person who vicariously lives through other people made a brief appearance.

They were headed towards the door in their uniform.  We both looked at one another, I looked back at them, and they glared at me for a brief moment.  I felt jolted for a moment.

Suffice it to say they are no longer my biggest fan.

Truth be told, they can remain mad at me all they want.  An understanding has been reached.

I'm my own person and will no longer be manipulated or molded by them or anyone else.

With that in mind, I'll be getting some dinner and going to sleep.  May the rest of the day involve more and more melting snow.

Weekend's Over Wednesday: Live and Let Live

When I woke up this morning, I took a chance to look outside.  Once again, it's snowing.  Oh joy.....

I missed work last week, and I'd like to avoid missing it this week.  I'm just glad I have a shovel of my own to use, because my place of work's been sold out of snow shovels for several days.

Fortunately, the snow is coming down at a slow pace.

Life Philosophy

I'm not perfect, but I do try to abide by the principle of live and let live in life.  With that said, there are times when decisions are made by others that cause me to scratch my head and ask, "What in the world?"

I ran into that last night.



Daily Asterisk: February 27, 2013 from Thomas Holbrook II on Vimeo.

The above video explains what I ran into.  I know I can be criticized for my choice in lifestyle, but I am an adult and no longer developing.

It just bothers me sometimes when certain decisions are made that don't appear to be thought through beforehand.  I was so disturbed by it that I messaged the person giving them the other side of the story so to speak.

From there, what they do is entirely up to them.

Just because I believe in live and let live doesn't mean I will never voice disagreement with a point of view or a lifestyle decision.  The difference is that I don't go out of my way to stop it.

After all, it's not my life and I wouldn't appreciate it if somebody else tried to intervene, because I know what it's like.

Another has tried doing that to me, which is why I no longer associate with them.

The Good News

 At least I'm single and don't have much in the way of responsibility.  I'm eternally grateful for that, which is why I try to live and let live.  I simply have living expenses and other financial obligations to take care of.

From there, it's just making sure I'm ready to deal with each week.

As for more good news, I have started a vlog on Vimeo.  The reason I chose Vimeo is because I don't have any desire to create another Google account for the sole purpose of vlogging.  I do have a YouTube account, but it will be used for a separate purpose.

I figured it was about time I supplemented this blog with some video of myself speaking.  Right now, I'm limiting my videos to around five minutes, give or take a few.  Since I'm only allowed to upload 500 MB per week, I'll have to become intimately familiar with OpenShot's exporting options.

In other words, I'm learning how to better compress video.

It also presents an opportunity to become familiar with other video platforms as well as improving some basic film making skills.

Sticking with Ubuntu for Now

I was considering trying out other operating systems on my machines, but it turns out that Ubuntu doesn't always peacefully co-exist with other distros.  For now, I'll just stick with Ubuntu 12.04 until I get more computers for the sole purpose of doing reviews.

Right now, I just don't have the money to invest in that.

However, I could possibly do live environments such as Puppy and others since it doesn't touch the hard drive.

Well, I better get dressed and prepare to shovel some snow.  Since it looks fairly powdery, I may have an easier time shoveling than I did last time.  The good news is that I'm parked in a good spot as well.

If I can't get the car out, I may have to ask for help getting to work from those who happen to have four wheel drive.

The Blizzard Part Deux

I haven't opened the door and stepped out onto the balcony due to snow for the past several days.  As can be seen in the above picture, plenty of snow came last night.

It's a hell of a way to end my days of being a 20 something.

Hey look.  It's my car!  God apparently thought it was a meatball, so some Parmesan was added to it.

I remember the snow from 2011.  It was referred to as the Snowpacalypse.  Plenty of people had something to say about that event.  Some universities were apparently not aware of how people could actually be injured in hazardous weather.  I remember in 2007 how somebody actually fell and hurt themselves during the winter storm, because UCM did not have the foresight at the time to understand that people can in fact get hurt and possibly die.

In 2011, they had wised up and canceled classes for the safety of the students.

For some more fun, take a look at this video from the point of view of an ambulance driver.

...and the road has disappeared.  Thank God there is no yellow snow.

Unlike 2011, only a portion of the country is getting hit with this little blizzard.  After Colorado has suffered nature's wrath, Missouri's turn came up next.  I live in Warrensburg, and guess what?

Warrensburg was a part of the storm's bullseye.

The street is covered once again.  I'm glad I made a wise parking decision.

Last week, I called in Thursday, because it would not have been wise for me to deal with hills, snow, and ice at the same time while going to work at night.  I shoveled snow away from my car so I could move it to a better spot the next morning, and the rest of the week went off without a hitch.

At least I'm off tonight, so I'll hopefully be able to safely get to work tomorrow night.

My friend Jason lives around the corner from me (left turn).

The cool thing is that it is still snowing outside as I'm writing this.  Hopefully it will have slowed down enough Wednesday to where I can travel safely to work.  If I can't, I'll have to see who has four wheel drive and is willing to give myself and others a ride.  Otherwise, it will involve calling in to work again.

That is an option I don't wish to exercise again.

Then again, we might be able to make things up with some overtime.  After all, when the storm clears, we're going to have tons and tons of freight to put away.

For now, I shall watch the spectacle outside with amusement.

More Weather on the Way.... Yay...

The forecast for tonight is snow, and more snow.  How exciting.  As of right now, I've been awake for nearly 24 hours.  Why do I do this to myself?

When my 48 hours of freedom, also known as a weekend, begins, I want to enjoy it as much as humanly possible.  All in all, today was a productive day, despite setbacks and frustration.

Hey, at least I have a full tank of gas in the car.

For starters, I gathered up my laundry for the week and took it to the laundry mat.  While my clothes were washing, I delivered a birthday card to my mom who lives about 13 miles to the south of me.

Upon returning to the laundry mat, I hurried and put the clothes in a dryer and set it at high heat for one hour.  I purchased some anime from Muttly's Gun and Pawn, then gathered up clothes.

I finished with a grocery shopping trip at the local Country Mart.  Some cube steaks, deli cheese slices, mushrooms, frozen peppers, Ballpark frozen burger patties, and some water were purchased.

If I'm getting snowed in, then I might as well have some good food, right?

I also had a discussion with a friend on Facebook.  How cool is that.  Oh, and there's another episode of The *Nixed Report podcast available.

All and all, the day was productive.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be fun.  We'll see what happens.  For now, I'll grab a snack and go to bed after that.

Holy Strain, Biceps!

I did it.  It hurt, but I succeeded.  The repetitions with the 10 lbs dumb bell has been increased to 45.  I have also modified how I do push ups off the wall.  I do a set of 16, wait about 20 seconds to cool down, and do another set of 16 for a total of 32 push ups off the wall.

A week from this Wednesday, I'll be at 50 reps with the dumb bell and two sets of 18 push ups off the wall.

We're apparently suffering winter's last gasp.  Last week, there was a good amount of snow.  This week, there appears to be more of the same.  The same goes for the week after that.

Of course this shit happens as I'm about to turn 30.

I'll just have to play my cards carefully and hope that the weather people are wrong in their forecast.  At the very least, temperatures should be in the 30's (degrees that is), so that may prevent the new snow from sticking as effectively.

In the mean time, I'll continue my focus on weight training throughout the weeks until the weather becomes consistent enough for me to walk outside on a regular basis.  The plan is to eventually save gas by walking to and from work.

Some More Good News

A friend commented last week that it looked like I was losing weight.  Another friend of mine told me that I was looking good as of late.  One of my coworkers told me that whatever I was doing, it was working.

That means I must continue the path I've been traveling.

Remaining true to myself and living life as I see fit along with molding myself into what I want to be has been the goal that I've been seeking all along.  Progress has been made, but there's still much that has to be done.

One step at a time.  One step at a time.