I always considered myself a somewhat lazy person. I guess I never really realized how active I was. I knew I was active in the winter of '06. I was carrying and climbing ladders, attaching antennas to buildings, pulling cable, and facing off against freezing temperatures on a daily basis. In January of '07 my activity level decreased as I stopped doing this, but I was still doing other things for other people. There was always something to carry, or logs to lift up, or oil to pump out of drums. During that summer, I was still active, but I definitely noticed I wasn't doing as much.
At the end of June, I took a job that had me sitting on my butt for 9 hours a day, 5 days a week. In July I was only sitting for 3 or 4 nights a week, but for 12 hours. My body felt the lack of activity and I took up bike riding to and from work. This continued on through most of September before petering out by October as winter set in. I remember in August going to a Marine picnic and being told I looked like I had been working out.
In October and November I started to notice somthing. Something was changing. At first I assumed it was a trick of the mind, a figment of the imagination. Soon, I had to admit, things were different now. I was different. Other people confirmed I was a different person than I was before.
Who knew such changes could occur in only a few months time? I had always heard these things took time to develop and time to erase. But, there, staring back at me was living proof: I had developed a gut. Those t-shirts I liked to wear no longer hung off my chest and ribs, but rather hugged my belly. Those a-frame shirts I had bought just a few months ago, originally to sleep in because they felt good, now made me feel like I had tried to fool the world, and failed miserably. Behold the muffin top!
All is not yet lost. A few weeks before Christmas, I joined a gym next to where I work and have gone twice. I went twice the work-week following my sign-up, but did not go back during "Christmas week". I tell the world (as it consists of my readers) of my plight and my plans. If the world knows, than perhaps I will not find it so easy to quit.

I've been relatively busy recently. Obviously, there is work, which takes up about half of my week. But I've also been working on a few projects -- not related to computers.
My house has 22 windows: 12 downstairs, 10 upstairs, All but 9 of these windows are older single pane. Six of them face the neighbor's house -- 4 feet away. For the downstairs, I've slated 6 windows for removal. Over the last few weekends I've been boarding them over on the outside -- not the typical "hurricane safety" boarding up, but precisely cutting the OSB to size and attaching it to the outside of the window frame. The outside is boraded up and now needs painted to match the exterior. My plans keep changing as I go along. On the inside, I have insulated and framed three of the windows. I've now permanently "en-framed" my air conditioner into the house (the air conditioner can be changed out if needed). I've worked out a nice way of covering the air conditioner in the winter without tape/plastic -- it involves paneling, specially threaded bolts set into the framing, Styrofoam, and wing-nuts. I've also worked out a way to setup some shelving in the window's cavity.
I've also been helping my parents re-arrange their entire house. Ideally, they will have a living room, a tv/kids room, and a family room. We've moved furniture, cleared out the "back room" (to make way for the family room), put down tile in the laundry room, and started the process of replacing the floor in the bathroom.
The bathroom is a real treat. The underlying floor is concrete. Atop this, 1x1 ceramic tiles set in thin-crete -- that's all good. Then, someone covered the 1x1 tiles with more thin-crete. Atop this, they glued down a carpet -- that's not so good. Pulling the carpet up broke up the thin crete and the 1x1 tiles. So today I was out there with floor leveler and trowels creating a new, level floor for us to lay tile down onto. I knew this would take a long time and it did. Tomorrow I'll be finishing up by laying tile and installing the new toilet. Dad is planning to start laying tile down in the morning around the toilet area -- maybe he'll get into a groove and just keep going. :} Nah.. the toilet will probably take longer than the toilet as it is completely unassembled.
Robin has finished up the semester today. Classes were canceled yesterday due to a minor ice maelstrom sweeping through the area, so her tests were stacked up for today. Not sure how things went, but assuming she passed, then she only has one more semester to complete before she graduates in May. If things work out, we should be able to celebrate in Tel Aviv on our way to Jerusalem.
At least, that's the goal. I'll need to save up some vacation between now and then, and the trip will cost upwards of $5000, but assuming those goals are met and no major enemies attack from the North, we should be able to make the trip. This will be my first International flight under my own direction, and it will be Robin's first flight anywhere. Why waste that on something passe' like Europe or Hawaii when we can go swimming in the Dead Sea?

Just so this is remembered for all time:
Robin (via AIM): i thought those boobs looked familiar!

My next movie/game night is planned for October 20th, starting at 5pm, roughly.  All are invited.
Let me know if you are planning to make it or not.

At work, getting something to drink is an issue I face each night.  I can drink water, which I don't enjoy for too long.  I could get from the vending machine ($1 per bottle, $2-$3 per night), or I could bring something in, which would have to transported in my backpack.
Now, there is another option.  They have a "coffee station" here with hot chocolate, coffee, and tea bags.   I don't drink coffee, and if I drank nothing but hot chocolate all night, I would explode.  Tea.. I occasionally like a cup of tea.  But what I really like is iced tea.
I've made iced tea from tea bags by the gallons before -- it's my preferred method?  But could I make just enough to fill my water bottle?  The challenge was on.
The first time I tried 2 tea bags in a Styrofoam cup of water in the microwave for 4 minutes.  When I pulled it out, the microwave was awash in tea and there was less than an inch in the bottom of the cup.  However.. that inch was strong enough to do the trick.  The second time around, I only used half a cup of water and 2 minutes in the microwave.
So here's the recipe:

• 2 tea bags
• 3/4 cup of water (roughly estimated, 1.5 inches)

Put that in a coffee cup of some kind and nuke it for 1.5 - 2 minutes.  Put in 2-4 sugar/splenda packets as desired.  Stir.  Now, pour it into your water bottle, add ice and cold water to fill.  Shake and enjoy.

When I was a young kid, I was interested in electronics.  When I got into my early teens, I got into computers.  Before I could drive, I had an idea that I wanted to start a business dealing with computers.  I was so cool.. I thought I could write programs in QBASIC and sell them.  I never did that, but I did start my business.  First it was a sideline, and things were good.  Eventually, I felt confident in it and stepped out on my own.  I did ok, but couldn't make a real success of it.  As the years dragged on, my money ran out and I was finding it hard for my business to survive, much less thrive.  A lot of this was my own doing.  I had some great plans on how to make things more profitable.   One plan was to offer classes to people.  Work up a lesson plan, teach two classes a day of 10 people each.  Each person pays $65 for the class and you've got $1300 for the week (which was approximately $260 a day for 2 hours each day, assuming 1 hour classes).   Another thing I needed and planned on doing was to aggressively market some form of managed service to some of the larger local businesses.  With just 2 or 3 sustainable contracts, the same number of big companies can keep a smaller company afloat, leaving room for expansion.
I figured these things out a long time ago.  Yet I have accomplished neither.  Why?  I'll get back to that question in a bit.
Around the beginning of the year, I began to desperately seek a solution that would ensure that the shop's bills would be paid and I could still support my customers.  I did this out of a sense of responsibility.  I had some bills -- mostly advertising in nature -- that I was behind on and didn't see any clear path of ever getting them paid properly.  I wrote about this before.  One thing I've learned is that I like being responsible and being able to have my bills paid.  I don't really care about having a lot of money, but I despise being in debt.  I let it gnaw at me.  If I have to tell someone that I can't give them the money I owe them, it depresses me.  It means I'm not responsible, and that's exactly what happened.  I shirked my responsibility to make good on my word.  I could argue that one has to take risks in business, and spending money you don't have on advertising for money you may get is a common risk, but I remain unconvinced.  I had decided to devote myself entirely to fixing my situation.
After nearly 8 months of searching, I found the ideal contract position.  It consolidated hours into 3 or 4 nights each week, providing me with 4 or 5 days of availability each week.  The pay was more than adequate, and beyond all my expectations, provided me with opportunities to learn skills that could directly benefit my business.  It also gave me time to think.
Now that I'm more relaxed and on track to repaying my debts, I've been reflecting on why I failed in business.  Why did I fail to accomplish something I've been desiring for over a decade?  Well the truth is that what I thought I wanted and what I really want are two different things.  See.. running a business comes with a lot of things I was never really interested in.  What I have learned that I really want is the freedom to run my own business.
What does that mean?  It means I have a great set of skills and services to offer people.  I do a good job because I like doing what I do.  I would like to be able to offer my skills and services to people and take a sense of satisfaction in making something work. But.. I don't want to be bogged down with a constant struggle to bring in new customers, to perform work I'm not interested in doing, and to generally.. run a business.  I had the most fun with my business when it was something that I could pick and choose the jobs I wanted to pursue.  When it became my lifeline, I ended up working for the business and stopped enjoying it.
I've never really been concerned with money (except where the lack of it creates debt, which I am concerned with), so making a profitable business has never been enough of a priority.  I dislike sounding and acting like a salesperson, so I've avoided "salemanish tendencies".  I've always figured people would trust a true computer technician over a salesperson any day.  I was right, but apparently not right enough to generate income.  Sales and making money shouldn't (and aren't) the most important part of running a business, but they are among the top concerns of running a successful business.  Which means that I am not that concerned about actually running a successful business.
I want the freedom to have and run a business.  I want to have a business where I enjoy the work I do.  I want to have a business that doesn't require me to be a salesperson.   I want to have a business that doesn't require me to take on work I don't want just to make a profit.
For me, that's where I am right now.  I have a few customers I can support with the time available to me.  I get work referred to me -- no sales.  I can say no to a potential customer if I feel I won't enjoy doing the work.  When I do take on work, I know I will do a good job at it and will put my best effort forward.  While I'll make sure that I can make a profit on each customer's work, I don't have to worry if my profit will pay my bills.  It took me a long time, a lot of false starts, and a lot of lost money to realize what I want, and know I know that have what I have always wanted.
(Yes, there are other things I want in life that are more important: A closer relationship with God, a family some day, and my friends.  This post isn't concerned directly with these things, but is influenced by them.)

A few weeks ago I came across a choice phrase that got me thinking. The phrase was "unable to get addicted". You know, I've never been addicted to anything. I wondered if it was possible for a person to be unable to get addicted to something. Then I wondered if there was even a word for it. Google came up dry at first. After some creative searching, I discovered that the
following are the "opposite of addiction": desensitization, prayer and fasting, and recovery. Desensitization is a fascinating word. The most relevant definitions of Desensitization is "the elimination or reduction of natural or acquired reactivity or sensitivity to an external stimulus". I never knew that. But as fascinating as that is, it (and it's derivative "desensitized") don't quit match. A desensitized person doesn't react to external stimuli,
and therefore can not become addicted that stimuli. However, I feel like we're still reaching here. I eventually tabled this line of thought, but tonight I ended up talking it over with a friend who
likes to think about such things as well. We went into word origins, prefixes and suffixes. Addiction and diction are not related (diction being a choice of words or enunciation). There is no word
that is the opposite of addiction. But do not fear, for our story does not end here. We have created a word. Condiction is the opposite of addiction. Condiction is the state of being not addicted. If the dictionary defines an addict as someone who is dependent, then a condict is an independent person.

On Saturday, September 8th we will resume the movie night tradition.  Somewhere around 5 or 6pm on Saturday, people should congregate at the Hogenmiller Professional Building in Everett, PA.  There will be movies, food, drinks, and games.  Please feel free to donate food, drinks, and/or movies to the night's entertainment.

Today I had to do some physical labor (gasp), which I normally have no problem with. This building was huge. Greg and I were carting an undisclosed number of PCs from a shipping container to the receiving office -- about 1 football field of distance. My hair and back were dripping wet before we were done. Granted, it's not as big of a sweat as I get after riding my bike 2 miles in 90F+ heat, but still a lot sweat.
I had a few bottles of water in my car, but they were in the car. I grabbed a drink or two at the water fountain. I was actually feeling ok when I left.
Then I went to Hebrews and had a frozen chocolatte thingamajig. I even felt ok after leaving there for home.
At home I felt the makings of a headache. It wasn't too bad,just a slight pressure. Guess what I did? I drank a soda.
My brain is on fire.