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joceiphus's journal
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Zen and the Art of Joceiphus  Since I last posted in 2007 I've got a new job and a new kid. I'm just not a blogger I guess. Anyway, the real reason I'm posting is of course, spam. christyfsu has started a photography business, Creative Connections Photography. Christy does family/child/newborn custom portraits. Check out her site and blog. Find her on Facebook as well. And God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten posthaste, and she made pasta bake, and it was good.
Current mood:  thankful.
I just saw posthaste pr0n on CBS. Simon Cowell being interviewed by Andersen Cooper while Michael Waltrip critiques Simon's racecar driving abilities. How many kittens must one save to earn that kind of karma?
Current mood: surprised.
 Create your own Friend Test here Current mood:  devious.
So, our neighbor across the street and one or two houses down owns and operates a Lawn Care service out of his house/garage. (He has a pretty big and impeccably landscaped property) The name of the company is Metro Lawnworks and if you are in the west suburbs of Minneapolis you should use them. Why? Well we just had a decent snowfall (8-10 inches I think) and Christy and I were starting to shovel the driveway during Skyler's morning nap. Well, the neighbor took his truck which has a big honkin snowplow attached and proceeded to plow all the driveways on our block. At first I figured it was a good marketing idea...free snowplow would attract business, but then I realized he never stopped to say anything to anyone or leave anything behind to indicate who had done the plowing. Just straight up altruistic community service. The only reason I know it was him is because I happened to be outside already and recognized the truck from his driveway. Now I don't have to spend my break time (Skyler's nap) shoveling. W00t. Current mood: grateful.
So christyfsu is frusterated with me at the moment. Here is the scene from my viewpoint: we are downstairs, and the TV is on, Law & Order is in the first 10 minutes or so. I hear Christy tell me she's freezing and I ask if the heater is still on (it's been going out on us recently) and she says yes, but she is still shivering, and puts a blanket over herself as she sits down in the recliner. I resume watching LOCI and after a few moments I hear her say "Sometimes I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall." in a frusterated tone. I turn to her to acknowledge this as I realize she must have said something, probably asked me something prior to this. She says "I'm going upstairs." and goes up without another word. At the time of this writing I still have no idea what she had said prior to the "bick wall" comment. I didn't hear it, as I was watching, and thus listening to the TV show, and she had not gotten my attention before we spoke. This is not a rare occurance for me, as anyone who has ever known me for any length of time could tell you. "PING Joe" is a running geek joke amongst people from both my friend circles when trying to get my attention after a failed attempt to say something to me. The primary issue is that my brain can only actively process one auditory input stream at a time. I can passively hear multiple sources of sound, but I can't turn those sounds into meaningful information such as words without actively paying attention to that single source, and when actively listening to a single source, all passive audio processing stops. In order for other noises to make in through, they have to exceed the volume of whatever source I am actively listening to, or I don't hear it at all. If the volume is louder and breaks through, my active listening to the original source is completely lost, and I can't understand anything that was said from the moment I heard the second source until my attention is allowed to be refocused back to the original source. This is why I can't pay attention to a conversation with a TV or radio on in the background. As soon as there is a pause (someone finishing a sentance for example) the background voices become the loudest sound source and my brain instinctively tries to parse out what is being said. So, it ends up being quite the annoyance for someone who wants to speak to me when I'mwatching TV or listening to the radio as I usually don't here there first sentance or so, and then I have difficulty focusing on them when they do have my attention. I think my immediate family has always handled this better because of the history of hearing loss. The symptoms are pretty much the same since you need to have the full attention of someone who is hard of hearing for them to understand you or even know you are talking to them, so my family is used to the behavior pattern. I wonder how common this type of "active listening" is, and if it is related to my history of ADHD. I also wonder if there is any way to "train" my brain to handle auditory input better. In addition to my listening gaffes, I made a truly impressively bad one earlier this week. Christy has always wanted to go to the Melting Pot, and so I figured I'd get reservations for a Valentine's day dinner there. I was late making reservations, but after googling "Melting Pot food" and getting their reservation site, which provided a phone number as they don't do V-day reservations via the net, I called and got a 4 pm reservation and made plans to get off work early and an intention to research options for the kid. There was something about the phone number I should have noticed but somehow didn't. Late last week I heard there was a special menu for V-day and so I went to the website to check it out. At that point I realized that the phone number I was looking at was not the same one I called. Then came the "Uh Duh" moment as I realized that area code 213 was not anywhere in this state. That's right, yours truly, brilliant mind that he is, made reservations for the Melting Pot IN CONNECTICUT! Well, obviously getting there by 4 and getting back forwork the next day and finding child care and paying for said transportation would all be a bit difficult. Before calling MP I had Manny's as a backup plan, but since I realized my mistake too late, the minneapolis MP was fully booked and Manny's didn't have a table till 10:15, which is too late for us on a weeknight. *sigh* Oh well, at least I got her a good present :P So the positive news to wrap up: Skyler got her first ever Valentine! From an older, exotic gentleman named Ethan. I better keep an I on this guy, he walks way to well these days... Current mood:  guilty.
Christyfsu said she would eat a macedonian hissing cockroach if I posted to my journal. So, here it is. Now, where did I leave those leftover Fear Factor supplies? Current mood: devious.
So 16 hours from now, I will be a Father(tm). Even with 9 months of prep time, my mind is still blown. I'm not really scared or nervous...perhaps somewhat excited...but mostly some new and different emotion I can't really describe. Oh so very sureal. It's as if the enormity of it is lurking next to the Filthy Scarecrow and although I am aware its there if I try to focus on it I lose it and it just continues to wait where my eyes don't go. I just want to do a good job of being there for Christy tommorow and I can't wait to meet Skyler... Current mood: enthralled. So in an effort to find something "different" yet free to do, Christy suggested we get my old kites out that have been hanging in the garage since we moved in, and in storage for a decade or so before that. As it turned out, of the 5 kites I had, 2 were still flyable, and fortunately, it was one each of the styles I hoped for. One was a Hi-Flier(tm) with a monster truck on it, the other a long tailed traditional diamond stunt kite. We tried to get the Hi-Flier (a triangle shaped single string beginner kite) up first, and all was well until about 20 seconds into the flight, the grommet, who's glue and turned to dust after decades in storage) popped off and the kite drifted to the ground. I reattached the grommet with packing tape when we got home, but it was done for todays trip. Then we tried the stunt kite, which was in perfect condition, except for its operators. With my selective memory, I had forgotten just how hard it was to fly a 2-string kite. We did get it up (huhuhuh) several times, for as many as 2 whole minutes, but I succeeded in flying it nose first into the ground each time. Ah well, practice makes perfect and all that. It also turns out that the park 1 block from our house has the Best Zagi Hill Ever(tm). It so happens I have a Zagi kit still in the box. What I don't seem to have is a motor and power pack. Must locate those... So, The Wife(tm) and I were talking and we decided that a new job, new house, new dog, new car, and new spouse wasn't enough for one year. So in accordance, through the Mircale of Life/Nature, we shall add our first born child on or about June 20th 2006. We have been growing a new hoo-man inside of christyfsu that currently has at heartrate of 174 bpm (a good thing) and is rapidly increasing in size. He or she shall bring glory and honor to our empire. End Communication. |
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