Dumping my thoughts on my blog

Sometimes you just have to get thoughts out of your head on onto paper (or blog) so they stop occupying your mind. Kind of like hammering out a quick, poorly thought out letter to the editor, only to let it fester and collect dust before throwing it away -- you get the words down, the thoughts get put somewhere else, so you can focus on the good again. Few (if any) read this blog anymore, other than me, and it has become a dumping ground for things to come back to, random thoughts and links, and the occasional life update.

We just wrapped up The Color Purple. It was an incredible -- for the entire run we sold all but 33 tickets, which is just amazing to consider. As richly rewarding it is to be involved in something so successful and powerful, it is also exhausting. I am at a point of being physically, mentally and emotionally worn out.

On top of The Color Purple, our house is in a state of decreasing disarray as the repairs from the busted master bath water pipe conclude. Tomorrow should (fingers crossed) be the last day that someone is on our house working on things. That means it's just up to us to dust and put stuff back. But at least it is starting to feel like home again. The bathroom looks good with new tile and a new fancy toilet (who knew they made fancy toilets -- it has a water conserving double flush system).

We traveled to Myrtle Beach yesterday to see our friend Hunter in Lend Me a Tenor, which was very well done and entertaining. Myrtle Beach is just at the edge of what a there-and-back-again day trip can be for me.

Jeni isn't feeling great, worn down by stress. My sinuses are acting up, which is about right for this time of year in Columbia, but still just takes it out of me. The problem is, when I get feeling like this, I get thoughts like: "Life is a bully just waiting for you to get comfortable and relaxed and let your guard down so it can sneak up behind you and trip you." Do I really think that? Well, some days. Some days more, some days less. Lately, more. Which is why I'm dumping these thoughts and memories on the blog. So I can free space for positive thoughts, like how the weather is improving and we'll be on our bikes again soon, or how I have free evenings again and I can get to the gym so I can fit in the new pants I got before Christmas, or how we'll be in Atlanta soon to walk with Nikki which means so much that we can do that.

Reality really is just what we decided it to be. Your thoughts reflect your reality, so I'm trying to think positively, but it's hard when you feel beaten down (oops, there I go again). So there you go ... a bunch of random, rambling thoughts about the past few days. Now, onto to better and brighter thoughts.

Poor neglected blog

Dear neglected blog,
I have not forgotten about you. I actually look at you often, although I do not always write to you. You sit in an open tab, a reminder that I need to record my life in a format that is more permanent than Facebook or twitter. You are also a reminder that I need to slow down, and make a point to actually remember what is happening in my life. I don't expect others to read, or comment. Blog, you are for me, and I will update you more.
Sincerely,
Dean, the absent blogger

Random thoughts

Just some random thoughts, because I felt like pounding something out here instead of on Facebook. Facebook is fun, but anything you put there is lost in a day, so tedious to recall.

We have wrapped up Cinderella at Workshop Theatre. It ran for about 16 shows starting in mid-July. It was a lot of fun. I was working the mics for the actors, which was a fun and stressful endeavor. Two mics died on me during the run. Thankfully the actors could project and be heard. I don't think Jeni will be producing another show until maybe the spring, so it will be nice to have than break. Maybe we'll get a chance to do the other things on our to do list, like tend to the yard or read a book. (Although it has been so unbearably hot that the yard hasn't been an issue lately.) I need to post some Cinderella pictures, because we have some really good ones and I should show off the set and the costumes because they were amazing.

I'm eager for fall to get here, although I hate to say that because I don't want to wish time away. It goes fast enough already. I just love that time of year. Things seem calmer for some reason -- the season just doesn't seem to last long enough.

We went to see Cowboys & Aliens the other day, which could have been Cowboys & You-Name-It because the aliens were almost too matter-of-fact in the way they were addressed. But before the show we saw the trailer for Battleship. I'm going to say it now, this will be the Snakes on a Plane of this year. It looks so pointless and ridiculous. I'm amazed that they have based a movie on the board game. We truly have run out of ideas.

Earlier this month we went to Fripp Island with some friends. It is an amazing place, and officially one of my favorite beaches.


We saw a baby sea turtle make its last 20 feet of its journey to the sea. I know I shouldn't have taken a picture, but I couldn't help myself. I stunned her briefly with the flash, but she did OK.


They also had deer all over the place. The deer were so tame and accustomed to people. Just amazing.


Could you imagine having this in your front yard every evening?

Full weekend

Victor/Victoria opens tonight at Workshop Theatre! We'll be going to opening night. We saw the last dress rehearsal on Wednesday, and worked the house last night for the preview audience. It's a fun show and we're looking forward to it.

There's a roller derby bout on Saturday -- it'll be a good one, and some healthy competition for the QuadSquad (although I'm sure they'll win).

Sunday will be a good bit of yard work. We've got to try to keep those neighbor's weeds from visiting us. Always fun. The botanical garden plant sale is coming soon so that'll give us something to get excited about. We kind of let the yard go a bit last year so this year we're going to wrangle it and get it looking right again.

McDonald's letdown

I know it's a shocker, but we went to McDonald's and were very disappointed by our food. We were coming back from Boo at the Zoo with Gracie and Clara Ann and they were starving so a Happy Meal seemed to be the perfect fix. They enjoyed a portion of their Happy Meals, but our food was less than good. Here's the message I sent to McDonald's through their website. (I figured there's no point in contacting the store...)

I drove through this McDonald's with my wife and our god daughters following Boo at the Zoo. They wanted a McNugget Happy Meal, so I decided to get some McNuggets too and my wife ordered a cheeseburger with no onions, add extra pickles. The Happy Meals were passable for the girl (they're 6 and 3, they don't know better), but I did not get the sauce I requested, so my McNuggets were dry, flavorless and barely edible. My wife's cheeseburger was loaded with onions, the cheese was half-off the burger and there were no pickles. The fries were cold and limp -- appearing uncooked -- so we didn't eat those. I did at least notice that we had no straws before leaving the parking lot, so I ran in and got us straws. Sadly, the only acceptable part of our "value" meal was the drink, which I could get anywhere. It's less a matter of the quality of the food, than the quality of the encounter. Clearly the customer's satisfaction is not a factor when so many requests go unaddressed. The onions were scraped off, so my wife could eat the burger. I choked down a few of the McNuggets without sauce before feeding the rest to the dog (he did like them, by the way). But the fries went straight to the trash. Overall, this simply reminded me why I don't crave McDonald's anymore. I guess I should just stick to the McD's Sweet Tea and get my food elsewhere.

Spam comments

It seems I get more spam comments than real comments anymore. Now I don't have the blog because I want comments. (I won't complain about getting your comments...) But the spam comments can be exhausting. I have word verification turned on, but apparently there are people who get paid to sit and post these spam comments. What a mundane life.

Misc thoughts

Well, I've been neglecting the blog a bit lately thanks to the lazy random postings on Facebook instead. But just a few thoughts here ...

Lately, I'm feeling more and more like a music junkie again. I got a few iTunes gift cards for Christmas and started visiting the iTunes store more, and taking my iPod with me. Surprise, surprise ... there's actually some good new music out there afterall. I've found a lot thanks to my XM radio. I can't tell you how much I like the satellite radio. Much more than I ever imagined. It's worth the mild monthly rate to not have commercials constantly. Plus I'm hearing music that local commercial radio would never have introduced me to. So thank you, XM.

We were very happy to have LOST back, even if they insist on introducing even more new characters in the final season. As for favorite TV shows, I think 24 has run its course. I'm convinced that the writers have some sort of Jack Bauer Mad Lib that they are using to write the show now because it all seems so formulaic. I keep watching, but this is definitely my time to iron my clothes for the week, because I surely don't have to pay attention anymore.

I had another thought, but I lost it somewhere between the last sentence and this one. Bummer.

Hello 2010!

How on Earth did I make it through an entire month without any kind of blog post?!? Not even some obscure link -- nothing! It's not because nothing was happening in my life. On the contrary, it was because there was just too much going on. We just never stopped at all in December. I think we were getting home after 9:00 and sometimes after 10:00 every night up until Christmas.

I need to upload some Christmas pictures, because we had a very nice Christmas this year. We spent Christmas night with Lisa, Brian, Gracie and Clara Ann helping them get ready for Santa to come. And then Christmas morning with two little ones was so much fun. There's just no beating the enthusiasm of a child on Christmas morning.

And then after Christmas we went to Gatlinburg for a visit with my family. We had to take the detour around the rock slide on I-40 (taking 25/70) and it felt a little easier than 40, actually. And it was so nice to see the Dougs, and of course Mom, Dad, Kelly and Sassy. And there are some good pics from that trip too, hanging out on Facebook, but not on Flickr yet. But they will be up soon-ish.

We welcomed in the new year with Tiffany, Tish, Susan and Judy, with a calm night and a disappointing football game. We actually missed the ball drop while we tried to watch some goofball do an anticlimatic stunt car just that ran long. Oops.

Jeni and I both got QLink pendants and started wearing them on New Year's Eve. This is without a doubt the most "new age" thing I've ever tried, but I have to say that I am encouraged by the promise of the QLink, and intrigued by some of the subtle changes I've noticed so far. So we'll see. I know people who swear by the QLink, and it can only help to wear it. I'll report back.

It would be a boring post with no pictures at all, and for those of you who just skim and look at pictures, here you go. These are the master bedroom curtain Mom made for us (thanks Mom!).

December right around the corner

As the last post indicated, we've been a little busy. And now December is right around the corner. Wow. Before you know it we'll be writing 2010. Where are the flying cars? That's what I want to know.

Jeni and I had our 14 year anniversary last week on Wednesday the 25. It's amazing to think that 14 years can go by so fast. It really does feel like just last year that we were married and on our way to Amelia Island for our honeymoon. We always said we'd go back for an anniversary, but that hasn't happened yet. Maybe next year. Who knows?

We went out to do a little Black Friday shopping, but our first stop was a dud, and we weren't really excited about many of the other stops, so we decided sleep was better. The sales will still be out there. They always are.

It's an amazing day for South Carolina, and the leaves are calling. Time to do some yard work.

In the blink of an eye

And poof, just like that, it's November 12 ... Jeni's play is into it's second week and for the most part the "producer" part of the play is done for the time being, but that doesn't mean Jeni's not busy at it. She always finds something to keep her going. Yesterday was one of the crew's birthday, so we were up celebrating before the show, then watched the first scene before heading home to work on some promotional mini-flyers to take around today at lunch. Always staying on the go.


The cast and crew of Same Time, Next Year ... with a two actor show, it's easy to get everyone in one picture. In the back are Chip (George) and Vicky (Doris), and sitting in front, from left, Pam (Producer), Frank (Stage Manager and yesterday's birthday boy), Jocelyn (Director) and, or course, Jeni (Producer).

We had a 50th birthday party for Barbara before she left for Japan with her mother for two weeks.


Jeni made this amazing chocolate cake, and her classic coconut cake, both of which were great that night, but better as breakfast the next two mornings.


We also hung the window treatment that Mom made for us just before the party. It looks really good and is a nice touch on the office. I have absolutely no vision for fabrics or curtains and leave this all up to Jeni's eye and Mom's sewing machine. But it makes such a difference to have something hanging over the windows.

We also hung curtains in the dining room. We've been struggling to decide how to do it, and decided to just go with some curtains from Target for the time being, basically to have something for Barbara's party and then once we decided, we'd put the "right" ones up. But as it turns out, we bought the "right" ones the first time. It seems we were looking for the wrong thing the whole time, and when we bought the ones from Target (love Target), it worked out. Who knew?

Tomorrow is Friday the 13th, so get your lucky whatever's out ...

Hectic start to November

November is starting off pretty hectic. Jeni is producing Same Time, Next Year at Workshop Theatre and it opens on Friday. She's also doing props, and anything else they need, while also serving her role as interim director of the theatre. So right now she's spending more time there than home.

We got so busy that on Halloween we didn't even get a chance to carve our pumpkins, and that's a big deal. But things'll have to slow down eventually. But we did have about 50 trick-or-treaters, so that was nice. Just not as many Tootsie Rolls left over as I would have liked.

The treadmill and I haven't connected lately. It's been about a week and a half since I was on it last. It's my fault, although I'd like to share the blame with the treadmill somehow. I had the best intentions this morning, but the time change has somehow managed to make me MORE tired instead of giving me more rest. Go figure.

I taught a juggling class tonight for an improv group at Workshop. The female lead in the show teaches the class, but had rehearsal tonight so I stepped in. There were about 12 or 14 kids there, in a warm tight space (oh, the smell of sweaty kids). There were a handful who really showed potential. I'd love to get them in a smaller group and teach them some cool stuff. I pushed their skill levels, teaching them a lot of partner tricks. There was a lot they couldn't do, but I wanted them to have at least attempted the throws with me there so they had some kind of muscle memory of the pattern. Hopefully I'll be able to work with them again soon.

I looked up the old Star Wars Holiday Special online today. It was one of those things that came on when I was a kid, but then as I got older I somehow convinced myself that I had made the whole thing up. So I'm happy to see it resurface online like everything else does -- even if it looks a lot worse than I could have ever imagined.

A reference to the Star Wars Holiday Special was made on one of the comics on this page, but not this really cool one here. I have to say, I can't imagine the work that went into this one. (This is the one that referenced the holiday special.)

OK, this post is getting way too long now, and I'm not really saying much, so I'll end it here.

(OK, I wanted to post something else here that was funny, so I could end it here instead, but had nothing funny to post, so instead you get the concept of a funny-haha.)

No October update?!?

Has it really been almost a month since our last blog update? I can't believe it! All those "micro" updates on Facebook have stolen my attention from this instead. But I'm going to make a better effort. The blog is a better journal of what has happened in our lives.

We're about to head out on a rainy Saturday morning to hunt for props for the show Jeni is producing -- Same Time, Next Year. It's a two-man show and is coming together nicely.

We went to Boo at the Zoo last weekend with Lisa, Brian, Gracie and Clara Ann. Gracie was the perfect age for the event, and it was so much fun. She trick-or-treated around the zoo, we roasted marshmallows, and the girls got to pet a rat and a hissing cockroach (of Madagascar).

It feels like we've been running in so many directions lately. We hardly even settle down at home before I feel like we're getting ready to go do something else. I'd love a week off just to take care of all the home projects I feel are being neglected. But then I'd want a week to recover from all of that...

Last week was my worst week of exercising since I started on the treadmill. I only walked on the treadmill once, on Monday. Overslept the other days, although I did some push-ups and sit-ups one morning since I didn't have time for the treadmill but wanted to do something. Start fresh next week I guess.

OK, sounds like I'm just rambling now ... off to the rain and the Great Prop Hunt!

Blogging for over five years now

I was just looking and realized that we've been blogging for over five years now. We started on a different blog, one that Doug had set up for us back in February 2004 when we moved from Iowa to Columbia. We decided to switch gears a little and get a fresh start on the ol' blog, and changed in August 2004 to this one. Posting has slowed a little lately, but will pick back up periodically. Just how it happens over five years. I just can't believe it's still going...

Jeni's back at Workshop

Jeni has been the interim director at Workshop now for the past three weeks. There's been much hoopla and it fell back on Jeni to hold the fort down. I'm happy that she can do it, but it takes it's toll on her. She spent a lot of late nights, and has brought some work home too. Put this on top of the board and committees she is on, plus the show she's producing in November, and it's a lot. People keep asking her why she just doesn't take the job. Partly, it's because I don't want an unhappy, homicidal wife. She also wants to like the place, and if it became her job, I don't think she'd like it too much anymore.

The running man

About five weeks ago (early August), when Jeni was in Toledo with her dad, I started running on the treadmill. I had been wanting to for the longest time, and I know Jeni was getting tired of me talking about it, but not doing it. With Jeni away, I had no excuses. (Jeni wasn't stopping me from using the treadmill, she was just MY reason not to.) So I've been getting up early three times a week for the last five weeks, following the Couch to 5K plan to build my stamina and speed. After five weeks, I'm only on week two of the plan, but that's OK. I'm running faster and wanting to run longer and walk less. I'll be trying to move up to the week three stage tomorrow and see how I do. I don't have the plan of actually running a 5k right now, but maybe down the road just so I can say I did it. I haven't lost weight that I've noticed, but I feel better, and that's why I'm doing it. That, and honestly, seeing Don go through his bypass surgery made me realize I needed to start being healthy now, and not later. So I'm up to 1.75 miles in 20 minutes. We'll see how I do tomorrow running longer, and walking less.

--

Update: Double checked ... started running August 1.

Smoky Mountains' 75th Anniversary

I wish I could have been at the 75th Anniversary of the Smoky Mountains. Being a Southeast guy, these are THE mountains to me. (I know the Rockies are bigger, but ours have trees.) Fortunately, Doug and Cathy went with Amy and Noah and Cathy documented it all. You can always count on Cathy being on the spot with her camera. (I wonder if Phil Fulmer and Heath Shuler talked about the good old times of UT football afterward?)

Dyslexic Heart

After months, maybe even a year, of trying to recall this song, I finally hear just the name Paul Westerberg on the Spectrum right before turning the car off tonight and it came flooding back to me. It's nice to have that off the back of my mind.

A while since updating

I can't believe I've gone so long without a post over here. I've been playing more with Facebook, which I think is a nice way to reach people who won't hunt down the blog, or visit it regularly. Plus there are games and distractions that create a feeling of community. I've pittered on Twitter some. I find Twitter a fine place to follow other people, but not a good means to communicate. There are times someone will post something that I want to reply to, but it all seems to get lost in the Tweets, and there's no thread for the conversation. It leaves me feeling like I'm in the middle of a large room, and everyone's talking at once, but no one is actually talking to each other -- just talking. Which is fine if you want to hear what someone is saying, but not so good if you want to have a discussion. Both have served as a distraction from blogging, especially entries longer than two sentences.


We've had a few trips to the beach with Lisa and Brian and the girls, which we really enjoyed and appreciated that we could go.


And a big time was had by all at the Cheap Trick/Poison/Def Leppard concert. We should have sneaked our camera in, I doubt anyone would have really cared, but we follow rules, and have no concert shots. But trust us, it was a blast.

Jeni's dad has been doing better. We're planning on making it up to the family reunion, and I think my parents may come down too. (I wonder if they could bring Lu Lu's?)

The next big event for us is the roller derby this weekend! We're ready to watch the QuadSquad in action.

I guess that's about it ... our August recap from the slacking blogger. Next post will come sooner, I promise.

Jeni's off again

Jeni is heading back to Toledo to check on her dad. He's been recovering from his bypass surgery OK, and his blood clots in his legs have dissolved, but Jeni needs to go and meet his doctors, and check on a few things. She'll be gone for about five days. This'll be a chance for me to get caught up on some of the things around the house ... the yard in particular. This last month has been very hard on the grass, but we've had rain almost every day this week and it's starting to grow again. Unfortunately, so are the weeds. So I'm going to work on getting the weeds pulled and the grass cut. Most of Tiffany's stuff is out of the garage, maybe all of it, so I'm going to probably straighten the garage some too. I like to make the house look good when Jeni's away so she can come home and be able to relax and not have the stress of projects undone. (But there's always a project undone...)

Book recommendation, and a brief rant

Just so I don't lose my note, a patient said Jeni should read Jen Lancaster.

Also, while I'm making brief notes, I just need to get this off my chest: "worser" is not a word. It's "worse". You can't get more worse than worse and make it worser. It doesn't work that way.

Example:
Incorrect: My low back pain is worser than yesterday.
Correct: My low back pain is worse than yersterday.

Thank you.