Monday, April 26, 2010
Preparing for a Change
So, from this point forward my "Daily Thoughts" are going to focus on preparing for a life changing plan. Jodie (my wife) and I have both agreed that we will shed all, or at least most of, our worldly belongings and move onto a boat. I know that most will think we are crazy. I have a great job (at least some would think) and Jodie has a pretty good job too. But we both feel that we would enjoy this type of life better than our current one. We are both the type that likes to be on the move and see different things and experience adventure. We love the water, we love the sun, we love warmth and we love the Caribbean. So here we go.
Our reasons for making the change are many and not all of them will be disclosed here. For me, it is mainly the overwhelming feeling of hopelessness. I feel like I have little or no control over my job, finances, government agendas (and yes I vote), the economy, and the feeling of always having to have material things. I have lost my motivation to go to work every day. I wake up dreading the thought of going in and dealing with the same crap from people on a daily basis. Yeah I know, so do a lot of people. I am choosing to do something about it. Financially it seems that every time we make a step or two forward we take a few steps back and this time not because of things out of our control. I have become completely disenchanted with the government. I am really starting to feel like they are trying to put some sort of control on many aspects of our lives. And don't get me started on taxes. I know that I will continue to deal with our government because I don't intend to, at this point, move to another country. As far as the material things in my life, I really just want to get rid of everything that I do not NEED to live. I love my material things, but I now realize that these are the things that require that I continue to work in a field that I do not enjoy anymore; civil engineering. It felt like a revelation when I pictured myself with next nothing and all of it being on our boat. Seems crazy, considering we have had a sport boat, jeeps, convertibles, motorcycles, went on numerous luxury vacations etc. and anything else that cost too much and offered little sustained satisfaction. No matter what we always have to come back to our jobs, bills, the economy and our screwed up government.
So now a little more about our plan.
We figure on the short end we might be ready in two years, but more likely 3-4 years. We have a lot of financial items to take care of. We need to find a boat. We need to prepare to sell our home. We need to learn about boating, sailing and blue water cruising. We need to get our USCG Captains license. We need to learn as much as we can from other liveaboard cruisers. We need to prepare mentally, prepare our families and prepare ourselves. You get the idea.
We have pretty much focused on living on a catamaran. Based on our initial research they appear to provide the most living space and storage. They are also touted as being very stable and safe to cruise blue water, and from what I understand, they will not sink due to a few water tight bulkheads. We are going with sail power for obvious reasons. Who wants to spend outrageous prices for fuel? That is one of the many reasons we want to change our lives. It is exciting picking out a boat, because this will become our new home. We hope to be able to pay cash for it to minimize the need to make a lot of money, but may not be able too. We have really enjoyed the Lagoon series of cats. They are very expensive brand new, so we are definitely planning on purchasing a used one. If you're interested, there is a website of someone who is selling one that has some great information about his boat along with their experiences living on a boat (www.indigomoon.us). The owner appears to really love his boat. His video review of his boat gave me some great ideas about what to look for in a new boat and how to customize one. I have also looked at standard sailboats, but they just seemed too cramped and don't offer very much natural light in the salon areas. Along with that you sail at an angle, whereas a cat sails flat, so no need to keep everything tied down.
We have a lot to learn as well. We will be looking into learning how to sail too. This should be fun, but unfortunately we are in Missouri so not much ocean style sailing around here. It will give us experience nonetheless. We will also learn navigating, safety etc. I am also planning on getting us enrolled in First Aid and CPR classes. We will be relying on each other for everything when we are at sea. I have to learn how to enjoy and cook seafood. I don't like fish at all, but I know, based on experience, that when you are near the coast or on the water, seafood is frequently the main course. Need to learn about reading the weather. Now I can't complain about the meteorologists being wrong, because I might be talking about myself this time.
Financially, we don't have it all figured out. If possible we will go into this with as few bills and debts as possible. But just in case we have more bills to pay than our cruising tilly can handle, we are planning as a backup, to do a charter cruise option about once a month. Based on my initial research, it appears that it is very expensive to charter one of these. With that in mind we think we can maybe charter one week a month and that should more than pay for all expenses and give us a fair amount to live on. Hopefully we won't have to do it at all, but if we do, it appears we can make good money at it. We would also consider doing dinner cruises, snorkeling tours, day cruises etc as needed to make some extra cash.
I know our families will not be entirely excited. But we can give them a vacation that they could never imagine and it will only cost them airfare. So hopefully they will come see us. Not to say that we won't come back home once and a while as well. I have to believe that a tropical vacation in the Caribbean would have to seem pretty enticing.
I am not fooling myself into thinking that it will be a vacation every day. Everyday there will be work to be done on the boat, planning routes, running the boat etc. But we will control our own destiny and we will be able to choose where we want to be and when we want to be there. We will visit new and exciting places. Meet new and interesting people. Probably be scared more than a few times. But it is an adventure that not everyone can say they have done. We are not going to let anything stop us not even the doubters.
So I hope you enjoy my coverage of our plan to adventure.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Our Best Friend “Baby Girl Mags”
February 12, about 12:15am. Abouth this time we were spending our last moments together with our girl Maggie. Maggie was our black Lab that we had for 14 years, since she was a puppy. This is my story about our “Baby Girl”.
It all started when we went to a party at my brother Sam’s house. At the party my brother Matt had a black Lab puppy that he had just picked up. Jodie and I instantly took to her. We walked her around the condo complex and played with her all night. Before we knew it, Matt decided to give her to us. I hope he knows, that as it turns out, he gave us one the best gifts we have ever been given.
Maggie loved adventure and action. She was shy but when she was near a playground or the country she became a different dog. We soon discovered that Maggie loved going down slides at the park. We taught her to walk up the steps and eventually, without hesitation, she would whoosh down the slide and fly off the end and be ready for more. She even loved the spiral slides. It was so much fun taking her to the park, because we knew that this was one of the places that would allow her to have fun and be comfortable.
The other thing she loved so much was the country and the woods. For about half of her life we lived in an urban environment. She was never comfortable with the urban environment, except for playing on the slides. When we would take her for rides, she would usually lay on the floor of the car, but as soon as we reached rural areas, she would pop up and be as excited as a little puppy. I don’t know how she knew, but it was like she flipped a switch. We were also always curious how she would know, but she would always know when we were getting close to home. She would pop up on the seats and get so excited. She was such a smart dog. It was amazing but it seemed she could understand and comprehend some things that didn’t seem possible. One of her favorite places to go was the trails in the woods on the campus of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. She loved it because we could let her run free. But it was funny, she would only run down the trail in front of us as far as a point that she could still see us. She would always stop before she lost sight of us, wait for us and then take off again. She did this throughout the whole walk, every time. Only once did we lose sight of her and actually lost her completely. We freaked out, and set out through the woods calling her and trying everything to find her. Eventually we did find her again, it was nerve racking until we did. That was the only time she ever ran from us. The last time we took her there she was advanced in her age, but we knew how much she loved it so we took her anyway. She tried to act like she was still a young pup, but soon her age caught up with her and she just couldn’t go anymore. I had to carry her all the way back to the car. She wanted so bad to be the young girl she once was, but it just wasn’t going to happen. We felt so bad for her.
We also took her camping ONCE. I say once with emphasis, because after that, we realized she wasn’t the best camping dog. She didn’t like sleeping in the tent. She was very restless and difficult. On the trip we decided to take her with us in a canoe for a short float trip. Not the greatest of ideas. She loved being in the water, but she did not like being in the canoe. She kept jumping out and was freaked out the whole time she was in the canoe. We eventually made it to our takeout point, but boy was it an adventure. Once we got back we decided to just take her down to the river and have some fun. She loved just swimming in the water. We could hardly get her out. That was always the way she was around water. As soon as she saw water she would want to get in it.
When we got a new puppy (Daisy) Maggie instantly went into mother mode. She would clean her, lick her ears and just watch over her. Daisy and Maggie always had a special connection. Eventually we got another dog too, Kirby. Once Kirby got here he kind of stole Daisy from Maggie. That is probably when Maggie really started becoming our dog out of the group of three. She was the only one that would continue to sleep with us until the end.
We eventually moved out to the country, and yes part of the reason was for Maggie. We moved to an area that was very rural and woodsy; Maggie’s perfect place. She loved it. She could go out and just hang out in the woods. And the funny thing was that she liked it because she could go to the bathroom in private by going into the woods. I know it sounds odd, but she really would make a point to go off into the woods to do her business. It was comical. We always knew she was a bit finicky but it really showed when she would do that. Maggie loved just being able to go outside and stroll around, and smell absolutely everything, and I mean everything. Sometimes it would take her forever to just get back to the front door, because she would stop and smell every little thing. It was funny to watch her. She liked the snow as well and would love to play in it. If it was too deep, she would just kind of hop through it. She would always end up with a little snow ball on her nose. She also loved the big deck on the house. She would love to go out on the deck whenever we were out there. She would stay out the whole time, just laying in the sun and enjoying the outdoors. Whenever we grilled she would sit there the whole time. One of her biggest days on the deck was our Memorial Day party 2009, when she basically stayed out on the deck for most of the party, and for Maggie to socialize with that many people for that length of time was a very big deal. She seemed at such peace when she was on the deck. She was our buddy.
I also had a lot of nicknames for Maggie: Moogs, Moogers, chubby cheekers, Baby girl, tub-a-lubs, fat butt, chunky cheese dog, lard butt, little heffer are just a few. As you can see I would use her weight frequently as a source for her nicknames. At one point she weighed 90lbs, which was bout 20lbs overweight. We eventually got her weight back down though. I hope she never was offended. It was out of love. I also sang many songs about Maggie. I don’t know if she liked them or not, but she got to hear them regardless. She was one special dog.
Eventually Maggie got older and it seemed to happen so quickly, just over the past couple of years. We noticed that she was having a harder time getting around. She was getting a little more grey on her face. She couldn’t jump up on the couches anymore. We eventually found out that she had severe arthritis and some hip dysplasia. Because of her age, doctors said that there really was no point in putting her through a surgery. We agreed. But we decided that we would put her on some medication and supplements to help make what we knew were her final months, more comfortable. It did seem to help her a little, but she still needed us. We would carry her up and down the stairs, even though she insisted she could do it on her own. We would help her up onto and off the couch. We had to help her a bunch in the end, but it made me love her even more.
Over the last year when we realized that we weren’t going to have her for much longer, we made modifications to the house and gave her whatever she wanted. What the heck, all the rules on how to feed and care for a dog were out the window now. We were going to make sure she would enjoy her final days. We added a runner from the living room to the front door so she could walk across the wood floor easier. We added additional wooden steps to the front door step and the back doggie door so that she could take smaller steps to get in and out of the house. She would have breakfast with Jodie every morning. And yes that means Jodie would actually make extra food in anticipation of Maggie having some too.
I had become so protective of Maggie, that I would get mad at anyone who did handle her correctly or would ignore her when she needed something. If it were even possible, I actually loved Maggie more than ever in her final months. I loved seeing her little face every time I came through the door. And if I didn’t see her, I would seek her out before I did anything else. It was so funny seeing her make her little shuffle out to greet us when we came home. She was not going to give up on us no matter what her condition and nor were we going to give up on her. I would have carried her up and down the stairs forever if that meant she could have stayed with us longer. But I also knew that eventually it wouldn’t be fair to her, knowing that she was in pain. She became my Baby Girl and I could not have loved anything more than I loved her. She needed me and I hope she knew how much I needed her. I would look forward to seeing her everyday and every night. We had her doggie bed right next to ours. On nights when she would go to bed with Jodie before me, I would always make sure that I kneeled down ever night, next to our bed and give her a kiss good night and tell I loved her. And the first night she went into the hospital this week, I naturally went to her bed, kneeled down, and realized she wasn’t there for the first time in over a year. That was very difficult to realize, because I was afraid that I knew what was coming.
Now we come to this week. We knew something was wrong Tuesday night when she seemed a little despondent and shaking a little. Then Wednesday morning she had breakfast like always with Jodie and took her bathroom break and all seemed well. Then I came home Wednesday night and went immediately to see her, as always, and I immediately knew something was wrong. That is when I called Jodie and decided that as soon as she got home we would take her to the hospital. We spent about 3 hours at the hospital with her that night and laid with her for a long time. I think we knew what was happening even though we wouldn’t say it. Eventually the doctor told us the news that we hoped not to hear, her liver seemed to be giving up. The doctor discussed some options to try and see if it would temporarily help, but she said that most likely anything we did would only help temporarily. The inevitable was upon us. This was something we thought we were prepared for but as it turns out we weren’t. Maggie spent the night there and we went to see her the next morning. She didn’t seem to be doing to good, but we thought it was only one night so maybe she didn’t have time for everything to take effect. We came back that night at about 10pm and we were horrified to see our Baby Girl so weak and despondent. We knew what was coming. We spent a couple of hours with her loving her, hugging her and laying on the floor with her and crying. We knew what was coming so we decided that we should go get our other two dogs, Kirby and Daisy, so that they could see her one more time and maybe brighten Maggie’s day if all possible. She did seem to react to the sight of her buddies and that was good to see. Eventually we knew what we had to do. We had the dogs stay with us to the end. I held Maggie so tight and Jodie would not stop rubbing her belly, until the very end. Jodie and I were balling. It was so tough to take. It was the toughest thing that I ever have had to do. I am still trying to convince myself that it was the right thing.
We miss her so much. It feels so empty without her. We can‘t even think about getting rid of her bed, dog bowl etc. Who will Jodie have breakfast with? Who will she go to sleep with at night? Maggie would always go to bed with her. There was such a special connection with Mag’s that I could never begin to explain. It was a connection that we only had with her, even though we love our other dogs. Maggie was with Jodie and me all but about 3 years of our time together. She was there almost from the beginning, and it isn’t fair that she is gone already. I know we will eventually move on, but I will never forget her. Her picture will always be in my office and around the house. She will always be in our hearts. We’ll love you forever Maggie.
Today, February 13, 2010, we took Kirby and Daisy to Edwardsville, to honor Maggie by walking her favorite trails like we used to. We hope that she was with running again like she did so many times before. It will never be the same without her and there will never be another Maggie, there could only be one.
With so much love,
Mommy and Daddy
Here are some more pics of our "Baby Girl"
It all started when we went to a party at my brother Sam’s house. At the party my brother Matt had a black Lab puppy that he had just picked up. Jodie and I instantly took to her. We walked her around the condo complex and played with her all night. Before we knew it, Matt decided to give her to us. I hope he knows, that as it turns out, he gave us one the best gifts we have ever been given.
Maggie had a very particular personality. She wanted things her way, and if they weren’t she let you know with a bark that was unique to her mood. She was bossy, finicky, shy, loving, funny and all in one little stout package. She had looks too. You could tell by the way she looked at you, if she needed you, wanted you to go away or if she wanted to play. One of my favorite looks she would give was to not move her head but roll her eyes up or to the side to look at you. We have several pictures of her doing this and it always made me smile. She had quite a range of emotions for a dog. That is one of the many things that we loved about her.
As a puppy we tried our best to train her. We tried crate training, but inevitably she would always end up in bed with us. By a trainer’s standards, we probably did a horrible job raising her, but we just could not stand to hear her whine or whimper without going and showering her with love. She tore some things up and pottied where she shouldn’t have on occasion, but we made it through the puppy days still falling in love with her more and more each day.
Maggie loved adventure and action. She was shy but when she was near a playground or the country she became a different dog. We soon discovered that Maggie loved going down slides at the park. We taught her to walk up the steps and eventually, without hesitation, she would whoosh down the slide and fly off the end and be ready for more. She even loved the spiral slides. It was so much fun taking her to the park, because we knew that this was one of the places that would allow her to have fun and be comfortable.
The other thing she loved so much was the country and the woods. For about half of her life we lived in an urban environment. She was never comfortable with the urban environment, except for playing on the slides. When we would take her for rides, she would usually lay on the floor of the car, but as soon as we reached rural areas, she would pop up and be as excited as a little puppy. I don’t know how she knew, but it was like she flipped a switch. We were also always curious how she would know, but she would always know when we were getting close to home. She would pop up on the seats and get so excited. She was such a smart dog. It was amazing but it seemed she could understand and comprehend some things that didn’t seem possible. One of her favorite places to go was the trails in the woods on the campus of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. She loved it because we could let her run free. But it was funny, she would only run down the trail in front of us as far as a point that she could still see us. She would always stop before she lost sight of us, wait for us and then take off again. She did this throughout the whole walk, every time. Only once did we lose sight of her and actually lost her completely. We freaked out, and set out through the woods calling her and trying everything to find her. Eventually we did find her again, it was nerve racking until we did. That was the only time she ever ran from us. The last time we took her there she was advanced in her age, but we knew how much she loved it so we took her anyway. She tried to act like she was still a young pup, but soon her age caught up with her and she just couldn’t go anymore. I had to carry her all the way back to the car. She wanted so bad to be the young girl she once was, but it just wasn’t going to happen. We felt so bad for her.
We also took her camping ONCE. I say once with emphasis, because after that, we realized she wasn’t the best camping dog. She didn’t like sleeping in the tent. She was very restless and difficult. On the trip we decided to take her with us in a canoe for a short float trip. Not the greatest of ideas. She loved being in the water, but she did not like being in the canoe. She kept jumping out and was freaked out the whole time she was in the canoe. We eventually made it to our takeout point, but boy was it an adventure. Once we got back we decided to just take her down to the river and have some fun. She loved just swimming in the water. We could hardly get her out. That was always the way she was around water. As soon as she saw water she would want to get in it.
When we got a new puppy (Daisy) Maggie instantly went into mother mode. She would clean her, lick her ears and just watch over her. Daisy and Maggie always had a special connection. Eventually we got another dog too, Kirby. Once Kirby got here he kind of stole Daisy from Maggie. That is probably when Maggie really started becoming our dog out of the group of three. She was the only one that would continue to sleep with us until the end.
We eventually moved out to the country, and yes part of the reason was for Maggie. We moved to an area that was very rural and woodsy; Maggie’s perfect place. She loved it. She could go out and just hang out in the woods. And the funny thing was that she liked it because she could go to the bathroom in private by going into the woods. I know it sounds odd, but she really would make a point to go off into the woods to do her business. It was comical. We always knew she was a bit finicky but it really showed when she would do that. Maggie loved just being able to go outside and stroll around, and smell absolutely everything, and I mean everything. Sometimes it would take her forever to just get back to the front door, because she would stop and smell every little thing. It was funny to watch her. She liked the snow as well and would love to play in it. If it was too deep, she would just kind of hop through it. She would always end up with a little snow ball on her nose. She also loved the big deck on the house. She would love to go out on the deck whenever we were out there. She would stay out the whole time, just laying in the sun and enjoying the outdoors. Whenever we grilled she would sit there the whole time. One of her biggest days on the deck was our Memorial Day party 2009, when she basically stayed out on the deck for most of the party, and for Maggie to socialize with that many people for that length of time was a very big deal. She seemed at such peace when she was on the deck. She was our buddy.
I also had a lot of nicknames for Maggie: Moogs, Moogers, chubby cheekers, Baby girl, tub-a-lubs, fat butt, chunky cheese dog, lard butt, little heffer are just a few. As you can see I would use her weight frequently as a source for her nicknames. At one point she weighed 90lbs, which was bout 20lbs overweight. We eventually got her weight back down though. I hope she never was offended. It was out of love. I also sang many songs about Maggie. I don’t know if she liked them or not, but she got to hear them regardless. She was one special dog.
Eventually Maggie got older and it seemed to happen so quickly, just over the past couple of years. We noticed that she was having a harder time getting around. She was getting a little more grey on her face. She couldn’t jump up on the couches anymore. We eventually found out that she had severe arthritis and some hip dysplasia. Because of her age, doctors said that there really was no point in putting her through a surgery. We agreed. But we decided that we would put her on some medication and supplements to help make what we knew were her final months, more comfortable. It did seem to help her a little, but she still needed us. We would carry her up and down the stairs, even though she insisted she could do it on her own. We would help her up onto and off the couch. We had to help her a bunch in the end, but it made me love her even more.
Over the last year when we realized that we weren’t going to have her for much longer, we made modifications to the house and gave her whatever she wanted. What the heck, all the rules on how to feed and care for a dog were out the window now. We were going to make sure she would enjoy her final days. We added a runner from the living room to the front door so she could walk across the wood floor easier. We added additional wooden steps to the front door step and the back doggie door so that she could take smaller steps to get in and out of the house. She would have breakfast with Jodie every morning. And yes that means Jodie would actually make extra food in anticipation of Maggie having some too.
I had become so protective of Maggie, that I would get mad at anyone who did handle her correctly or would ignore her when she needed something. If it were even possible, I actually loved Maggie more than ever in her final months. I loved seeing her little face every time I came through the door. And if I didn’t see her, I would seek her out before I did anything else. It was so funny seeing her make her little shuffle out to greet us when we came home. She was not going to give up on us no matter what her condition and nor were we going to give up on her. I would have carried her up and down the stairs forever if that meant she could have stayed with us longer. But I also knew that eventually it wouldn’t be fair to her, knowing that she was in pain. She became my Baby Girl and I could not have loved anything more than I loved her. She needed me and I hope she knew how much I needed her. I would look forward to seeing her everyday and every night. We had her doggie bed right next to ours. On nights when she would go to bed with Jodie before me, I would always make sure that I kneeled down ever night, next to our bed and give her a kiss good night and tell I loved her. And the first night she went into the hospital this week, I naturally went to her bed, kneeled down, and realized she wasn’t there for the first time in over a year. That was very difficult to realize, because I was afraid that I knew what was coming.
Now we come to this week. We knew something was wrong Tuesday night when she seemed a little despondent and shaking a little. Then Wednesday morning she had breakfast like always with Jodie and took her bathroom break and all seemed well. Then I came home Wednesday night and went immediately to see her, as always, and I immediately knew something was wrong. That is when I called Jodie and decided that as soon as she got home we would take her to the hospital. We spent about 3 hours at the hospital with her that night and laid with her for a long time. I think we knew what was happening even though we wouldn’t say it. Eventually the doctor told us the news that we hoped not to hear, her liver seemed to be giving up. The doctor discussed some options to try and see if it would temporarily help, but she said that most likely anything we did would only help temporarily. The inevitable was upon us. This was something we thought we were prepared for but as it turns out we weren’t. Maggie spent the night there and we went to see her the next morning. She didn’t seem to be doing to good, but we thought it was only one night so maybe she didn’t have time for everything to take effect. We came back that night at about 10pm and we were horrified to see our Baby Girl so weak and despondent. We knew what was coming. We spent a couple of hours with her loving her, hugging her and laying on the floor with her and crying. We knew what was coming so we decided that we should go get our other two dogs, Kirby and Daisy, so that they could see her one more time and maybe brighten Maggie’s day if all possible. She did seem to react to the sight of her buddies and that was good to see. Eventually we knew what we had to do. We had the dogs stay with us to the end. I held Maggie so tight and Jodie would not stop rubbing her belly, until the very end. Jodie and I were balling. It was so tough to take. It was the toughest thing that I ever have had to do. I am still trying to convince myself that it was the right thing.
We miss her so much. It feels so empty without her. We can‘t even think about getting rid of her bed, dog bowl etc. Who will Jodie have breakfast with? Who will she go to sleep with at night? Maggie would always go to bed with her. There was such a special connection with Mag’s that I could never begin to explain. It was a connection that we only had with her, even though we love our other dogs. Maggie was with Jodie and me all but about 3 years of our time together. She was there almost from the beginning, and it isn’t fair that she is gone already. I know we will eventually move on, but I will never forget her. Her picture will always be in my office and around the house. She will always be in our hearts. We’ll love you forever Maggie.
Today, February 13, 2010, we took Kirby and Daisy to Edwardsville, to honor Maggie by walking her favorite trails like we used to. We hope that she was with running again like she did so many times before. It will never be the same without her and there will never be another Maggie, there could only be one.
With so much love,
Mommy and Daddy
Here are some more pics of our "Baby Girl"
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Writers Block
I thought this blogging thing was going to be a little easier than it has been. I haven't written for several days because I couldn't come up with any really good subject material. I don't want to bore anyone. I want to have a focus. But much like my own life, I don't have a focus. I'll just review my week and see if anything gets me going on a particular subject.
It is still raining in St. Louis. Only two days of sun since the last time I wrote. This is getting really old. Was able to ride my motorcycle a couple of days. It had been so long since I last road, that I actually felt a little out of sync. Now I realize how important it is to keep riding. Maybe a refresher course after an extended period from riding is not such a bad idea. Kind of the same with scuba diving. I always feel a little nervous every time I get back in the water because we only get to dive a couple of times a year. Like the old saying goes "Use It or Lose It". How true that is.
We went on a haunted tour of a hotel and several other places in Alton, IL on Friday. I wanted to really experience something, but I am pretty sure that nothing happened. I took a ton of photos trying to catch something...but nothing showed. Maybe ghost aren't real, who knows. It was still a fun tour. The tour guide seemed to embellish the stories a bit, but I guess this is how you help sell the mystique of haunted places. I also had my tarot card read twice. Looks good for me, but I won’t hold my breath waiting for the moment the cards described. I actually thing that stuff is a bunch of crap!
Finally got to take Jodie out for her birthday dinner Saturday. We went to the Melting Pot. She really likes that place. It was fun as it usually is. I like it because it engages you in the experience and gives you something to do. She really enjoyed it too. We may have eaten a little too much. We did the 4 course version. We almost had to be 'rolled' out of the restaurant.
I had what I personally think was a brilliant idea while I was there. What about a restaurant where after dinner, if you wanted to, you could go into a private room and take a short nap. Sounded pretty good that night. I always get tired after a big meal as I think most people do. I have seen goofier restaurant ideas, so why couldn't this work?? Heck there is a restaurant where the theme is toilet bowls and you actually eat out of a toilet shaped dish. It is either in Japan or China, but it is a hit. If they can do that, then why not an "eat and sleep".
After dinner we went to the Blues game, and that was unfortunately disappointing. I always have a good time, but it would be better if they would have won. And to the people who leave before the game ends, show the players some respect and stay until the end. They don't stop playing, why should you stop being a fan. If you like the team enough to buy a ticket and show up, then why can't you stay for the whole game? Kind of reminds of band wagon fans. Only love'em win they win??? I never have and never will leave a Blues game early just because they are losing. That act really annoys me when I see and I always see it.
Still trying to come up with a small business idea. I have done several different tests to try and determine what I might be good at when it comes to starting a small business. Unfortunately most of the ideas that get listed based on my test answers are things that just don't interest me, but things I know I might be good at. How frustrating. Why can't I just win the lottery (and yes I do play). So I will keep trying to come up with something and it has to be something I can do part-time. I really want to try something on the internet, but again not sure what. Too many scams to mention. Luckily, I have been smart and skeptical enough to avoid those pitfalls.
I guess that about wraps it up for now. Surprises, surprise...still don’t have a focus. I guess I could talk about civil engineering since that is my career of choice, but that is actually the last thing I want to talk about.
It is still raining in St. Louis. Only two days of sun since the last time I wrote. This is getting really old. Was able to ride my motorcycle a couple of days. It had been so long since I last road, that I actually felt a little out of sync. Now I realize how important it is to keep riding. Maybe a refresher course after an extended period from riding is not such a bad idea. Kind of the same with scuba diving. I always feel a little nervous every time I get back in the water because we only get to dive a couple of times a year. Like the old saying goes "Use It or Lose It". How true that is.
We went on a haunted tour of a hotel and several other places in Alton, IL on Friday. I wanted to really experience something, but I am pretty sure that nothing happened. I took a ton of photos trying to catch something...but nothing showed. Maybe ghost aren't real, who knows. It was still a fun tour. The tour guide seemed to embellish the stories a bit, but I guess this is how you help sell the mystique of haunted places. I also had my tarot card read twice. Looks good for me, but I won’t hold my breath waiting for the moment the cards described. I actually thing that stuff is a bunch of crap!
Finally got to take Jodie out for her birthday dinner Saturday. We went to the Melting Pot. She really likes that place. It was fun as it usually is. I like it because it engages you in the experience and gives you something to do. She really enjoyed it too. We may have eaten a little too much. We did the 4 course version. We almost had to be 'rolled' out of the restaurant.
I had what I personally think was a brilliant idea while I was there. What about a restaurant where after dinner, if you wanted to, you could go into a private room and take a short nap. Sounded pretty good that night. I always get tired after a big meal as I think most people do. I have seen goofier restaurant ideas, so why couldn't this work?? Heck there is a restaurant where the theme is toilet bowls and you actually eat out of a toilet shaped dish. It is either in Japan or China, but it is a hit. If they can do that, then why not an "eat and sleep".
After dinner we went to the Blues game, and that was unfortunately disappointing. I always have a good time, but it would be better if they would have won. And to the people who leave before the game ends, show the players some respect and stay until the end. They don't stop playing, why should you stop being a fan. If you like the team enough to buy a ticket and show up, then why can't you stay for the whole game? Kind of reminds of band wagon fans. Only love'em win they win??? I never have and never will leave a Blues game early just because they are losing. That act really annoys me when I see and I always see it.
Still trying to come up with a small business idea. I have done several different tests to try and determine what I might be good at when it comes to starting a small business. Unfortunately most of the ideas that get listed based on my test answers are things that just don't interest me, but things I know I might be good at. How frustrating. Why can't I just win the lottery (and yes I do play). So I will keep trying to come up with something and it has to be something I can do part-time. I really want to try something on the internet, but again not sure what. Too many scams to mention. Luckily, I have been smart and skeptical enough to avoid those pitfalls.
I guess that about wraps it up for now. Surprises, surprise...still don’t have a focus. I guess I could talk about civil engineering since that is my career of choice, but that is actually the last thing I want to talk about.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Engineering Plan Reviewers
So not much has happened since my last blog so I'll keep this brief.
Wedding this weekend, more business research, work and school.
I want to talk a little about plan reviewers in the engineering industry. In the business I work we are required to have engineering plans approved through different governing agencies. One of the things that has always bother is how the reviewers some times handle questions. Most of the reviewers are engineers although sometimes you wouldn't know it based on there lack of judgement and instinct. They always rely on their agencies rules, black and white, no interpretation. Isn't that what engineering is, figuring different ways to do the same thing. Well try that with at reviewer and I bet you'll get that's not allowed by our rules. That's an ok response, but what if what you are proposing has the same end result, just a different way of getting there. How they have engineering degrees and sometime professional registrations and not be able to understand that.
The other interesting thing about reviewers is when you ask them a questions so that you can better understand what they would allow before you submit. I get this one all the time..."your the engineer you tell me." That's great except that I know if I guess wrong then I will have wasted weeks in review time waiting for the reviewer to tell me what I already tried to ask them prior to submitting the plans. I am not asking them to be an engineer or do my engineering for me I just want to get an understanding that what I will submit would be acceptable. It seems as thought they want to take no responsibility some times.
One more thing...when I make a mistake or error in judgement, we get either back charged or sued. If a reviewer makes a mistake it costs our client more time and money and no one seems to ever have to answer for it. I mean, I hardly ever hear about reviewers getting fired. I have know several plan reviewers that have been employed by the same agency for the entire 11.5 years that I have been in engineering.
This weekend was my wife's (Jodie) birthday. I felt bad that because we had a wedding to attend, we didn't get to really celebrate. I am making that up to her this weekend.
That's it. Told you it would be short.
Wedding this weekend, more business research, work and school.
I want to talk a little about plan reviewers in the engineering industry. In the business I work we are required to have engineering plans approved through different governing agencies. One of the things that has always bother is how the reviewers some times handle questions. Most of the reviewers are engineers although sometimes you wouldn't know it based on there lack of judgement and instinct. They always rely on their agencies rules, black and white, no interpretation. Isn't that what engineering is, figuring different ways to do the same thing. Well try that with at reviewer and I bet you'll get that's not allowed by our rules. That's an ok response, but what if what you are proposing has the same end result, just a different way of getting there. How they have engineering degrees and sometime professional registrations and not be able to understand that.
The other interesting thing about reviewers is when you ask them a questions so that you can better understand what they would allow before you submit. I get this one all the time..."your the engineer you tell me." That's great except that I know if I guess wrong then I will have wasted weeks in review time waiting for the reviewer to tell me what I already tried to ask them prior to submitting the plans. I am not asking them to be an engineer or do my engineering for me I just want to get an understanding that what I will submit would be acceptable. It seems as thought they want to take no responsibility some times.
One more thing...when I make a mistake or error in judgement, we get either back charged or sued. If a reviewer makes a mistake it costs our client more time and money and no one seems to ever have to answer for it. I mean, I hardly ever hear about reviewers getting fired. I have know several plan reviewers that have been employed by the same agency for the entire 11.5 years that I have been in engineering.
This weekend was my wife's (Jodie) birthday. I felt bad that because we had a wedding to attend, we didn't get to really celebrate. I am making that up to her this weekend.
That's it. Told you it would be short.
Friday, October 16, 2009
First Blog
Well, so I am gonna give this bloggin thing a try. I seem to have a lot of things I want to say or sometimes complain about that I thought this would be a good avenue for. Not grumpy, but some things are really aggravating sometimes. Mostly I think I will probably just let the words flow out of my brain and into the computer. This could be dangerous, could be boring, could be funny. I guess we'll see.
So I have started taking a Continuing Ed course on owning a small business. I am thinking of trying something on my own with my wife. We're both tired of working for others and think we might try something new. Seems like it has worked for so many, why not us. The class has been pretty good for a Cont. Ed course. Learning a bunch already. I know this will not answer all the questions but it has definitely helped.
Tough sports week this past week. Cards, Mizzou, Blues, and Rams all lost over a period of four days. Didn't get any better watching NASCAR. Dale Jr. was finally having a really consistent and good race and once again...bad luck. Hope for a better weekend this weekend.
Yesterday I went to Home Depot to pick up some salt for our water softner. Pulled thought the parking space so that I could easily pull out when I left. Boy I guess what a dumb idea. When I came back out a black mustang had pulled in the spot behind and parked not more than six inches off my bumper. Needless to say I was a bit miffed. I had three 40lb bags of salt that I needed to put in the bed of my Avalanche. If I dropped the tailgate then I would have smacked the hood of the Mustang...boy did I want to! Then I thought, I'm better than this person. So I managed to squirm bend and twist the bags into the bed without ever letting the gate hit the car. What's the deal what makes a person so such an ignorant thing. I was in my space and the mustang was well into their space, so what's up.
Then today, we are eating lunch at Arby's and I notice that they have $5.01 value meals. Really...$5.01. Was this a joke? Why not $5 even? So while I was eating lunch I discovered the "marketing genius" behind the penny. They had one cent coupons on the tray liner. WOW! I can't believe they wasted money on a campaign like that. Again, what is with that!
My wife and I getting a little bored with life lately and we are thinking that it is time for a change. So we are looking at starting a business and possibly relocating. Probably not a good combination but then again we never make the best decisions. We love the sun and the water, so we wanting to move somewhere warm and near the ocean. We love to dive and we love being on or near the water. It is so calming and relaxing. Would love to move to Florida (Florida Keys in particular) but the more I research and talk to those living there, the cost of living seems a little ridiculous. We're going to keep searching. Maybe we will come across an opportunity that will combine a business with a way to reside as well. We visit Florida a lot and we always love it. I know, we are on vacation when we visit. My sister and brother-in-law own a winter home in Sarasota and I know they like. We spent two weeks in the Keys last year and fell in love with it. The attitude is so laid back and slow. It was almost like being in a small town (this is not Key West, but the rest of the Keys). So we'll see. Hopefully we can come up with something.
The weather here has been miserable for the last couple of months. It has been cool, cloudy and rainy. Not the greatest weather to motivate you to do anything. I ride a motorcycle and it has been sitting for about 3 weeks and it is only October. There is something wrong with that. Hopefully it starts to get back to at least normal soon.
Went to the Blues opener last Thursday (that was one of the many losses I watched last week) and was really happy to get back to enjoying hockey again. Also started going to a stick and puck every other Friday to get into game shape, ha! I'll start playing pickup hockey in November. Just for fun.
Yup as you can tell I have a lot of hobbies and no kids. This is fine for me. I love to just have fun. Work just seems to always get in the way.
Spent a lot of time researching Belize this week. Considering relocating there too. Been reading a ton of articles and personal blogs and whatever else I can find about the realities of living there. A lot of what you find seems like marketing materials and I know that no place is perfect. So I interested in finding out the realities of becoming an expat in Belize. In particular looking at living on Ambergris Caye. From what I can tell from the bloggers there, it is a very laid back and relaxing place. Our concern is that there are a lot of things that we take for granted here that do not exist there. Maybe that is a business opportunity…hmmmm? Not giving up on it though. We probably won't do anything for another year or two anyway. Check out Tacogirl.com. She has a really good blog and makes you feel like you are there. I have been reading her for over a year.
Well I hope that whoever finds my blog, finds it entertaining. This first one may be a little long, but I had a lot to say. The more often I blog the shorter they will be.
Talk to you all soon.
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