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Ok, so sometimes I forget that I don't live in my own little world. Sometimes people that don't see me every day (you lucky bastards!) wonder what I'm up to. So here's the short scoop.
I got a token "promotion" (accentuated with air quotes) at work, one I fought against but ultimately lost. Before you send me a congratulatory e-mail, let me assure you I had my reasons for protesting and off paper, it is anything but a promotion. I was already doing the work but making it official cost me a lot of "street cred" with the guys. It would be just my luck to get something that I would give 10% of my salary to NOT happen. At least I still have my job and upcoming review to let them know how I stand in writing. I do get to keep my old title but that's about all they conceded. A complicated story to say the least. In other work news, we're incredibly busy launching a nationwide VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) platform and I'm still neck deep in the endless Oracle database migration that is hopefully coming to an end.
I haven't ridden much, replacing the bike with hiking. This is a big change for me but I live in one of the best places in the world for hiking. My goal is to hike at least one difficult mountain every weekend and I'll be sure to post any pictures on my Flickr account. Speaking of Flickr, if you're going to post pictures on the web, please use them instead of the lame offerings of Yahoo!360 and some of the other pitiful photo sharing sites. It's free and mega easy, so why not. Flickr doesn't downsize or modify your pictures in any way. Please.
In RCS news, I haven't written much because a majority of what I do all day involves stuff I legally can't write about and the temptation would be too strong. I'm also simply overwhelmed by interesting news and am really trying to limit my daily news sources to Digg and CNN. I get my weekly technology news from the best Podcast ever, TWIT (This Week In Tech), computer security news from Security Now! and my hiking news fix from the forums at nwhikers.net.
My kids are great but but Ellie has developed his habit (or condition) where she's licking all of her hair off. We don't know if it's behavioral or an allergic reaction but suspect it's allergy related since her hair started to grow back after a huge cortisone shot (that she can only have once in her life). We're giving her an antihistimine now but doesn't seem to be working much. I'm so glad we didn't give her up. I love all my kids but she's the sweetest by far.
Amy's doing well but can't wait for the last three months of the school year to pass. She loves her job but works at least 12 hours a day during the week and 10 or so hours on the weekend (though possibly to get out of going on my ridiculous hikes!). Teachers are so underpaid that it's embarrasses me to deposit my paycheck every two weeks. if you included planning and grading, most teachers on the higher end of the scale make slightly more than minimum wage. Don't get me started...
I'm now a hardcore Mac geek now too though I haven't ponied up the cash for a new MacTel model.
Thanks for reading and happy Pi day.
--Michael
The Break Up
Looking back on the past couple of years, I knew this was post was inevitable. Though we often appreciated each other, I often felt we were together out of mere convenience than true desire. It's been five years and I guess that's a long time for any couple to be together. We just grew apart. I suspect we'll remain good friends and I still admire her every time I pull my car into the garage.
I'm talking about cycling of course and for whatever reason, the fire just didn't return this year. I've put about a hundred miles on the trainer (41 on Superbowl Sunday) and maybe two rides outside. Rather than being fun, it was a chore. I dreaded weather forecasts of warmer temps rather than daydreaming about them.
Instead, I've found a new lover. Hiking. The more difficult the better but I'll take easy ones with great views too. I finally got some decent hiking boots (courtesy of the annual REI member dividend) and my winter conditioning hikes up Mt. Si have paid off.
Though I haven't had much time to blog about my experiences, I have taken some pics and posted them on Flickr:
