Random checkin

Just checking out the WordPress iPhone app

Weight Check

Weight: 193lbs
Net Change: –6lbs
Body Mass Index (BMI): 26.2 (overweight)

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 07:28

Yesterday was a day of accomplishment and I was able to get done everything on my list of things to do.  I’ve been using David Allen’s Getting Things Done system for a while now, but where it has broken down for me is the weekly review; I have extreme difficulty setting aside an hour or two every Friday afternoon to do this critical step of the system.  So this past week I decided to set aside the time on Sunday evening after the kids went to bed.  It was very useful time spent and helped set up my week.

Weight Check

Weight: 192lbs
Net Change: –7lbs
BMI: 26.0 (overweight)

Monday, August 4th, 2008 07:33

Not too bad of a weekend in the grand scheme of things.  I’m really tired this morning as IA decided it would be fun to be awake from 3AM or so until 6.  Also, we heard one of the other children crying around 4.  Pauline and I went into MJ’s room to find him under his bed.  I have no idea what possessed him to do that, especially since his room is dark and he can’t see what he was doing.  Maybe he was sleepwalking (sleep-crawling)?

My PocketPC failed to boot up for me on Saturday.  It typically holds a battery charge for 3-4 days so not sure what the deal is.  I plugged it into the cable and everything seems okay.  I did get a message about the main battery being very low and the device was in sleep mode.  I’ll keep an eye on it; it could be I had a program running in the background that was chewing up battery life.  Unfortunately, one of the “features” of PocketPCs is that when you “close” an application typically it remains running (presumably so you can switch back to it quicker if you want).  I make a routine habit of really closing apps but maybe I missed something.

Yesterday Pauline’s dad came over and helped install a swing and slide onto the swing-set.  He actually did 99% of the work and I supervised due to my back.  Tough to sit back and not actually do the work but I managed fine.

Got some other things done around the house as well.  Hard to believe IA is now over one month old.

Friday, August 1st, 2008 07:23

So yesterday’s post was a bit more personal and open than I’m used to blogging.  I guess I just needed to express that some how.  Maybe it marks a milestone in my continued personal growth.  Maybe it was a one-time thing or somewhere in between.  I suppose time will tell.

Last night I picked up groceries and then came home to a wonderful dinner of burritos and organic sweet corn.  I enlisted the aid of H to help me cut and install a baseboard that I’d been neglecting to install since, oh, last October. 

It took 10 minutes.

The theme I identified yesterday about not completing things is evident in a lot of aspects of my life.

Spent the rest of the evening in “busy…get things done” mode.  Changed the furnace filter, which I’m trying to do monthly like I should (I’ve let the filter sit for months on end in the past) and got together ten items to list on eBay, which I’ll post later today sometime.

***

Moving on to baseball news (especially for TK’s benefit LOL), the Sox finally traded Manny Ramirez just minutes before yesterday’s 4pm non-waiver trade deadline.  He goes to the Dodgers.  The Pirates get two prospects from the Dodgers and two players (Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen) from the Red Sox.  Boston gets LF Jason Bay from the Pirates.

I don’t know how I feel about the trade.  Bay isn’t Manny, but very few players are.  He’s 29 and his contract is much more affordable.  Over the last three years he’s put up similar numbers to Manny, who is arguably in the declining years of his career at 36 (boy… what a thought… someone making 20 million a year and barely two years older than me is in the decline of his career).

I don’t think that the Sox addressed what they really needed to, which was their middle relief.  Middle relievers are tough to find and I think they were probably not eager to repeat the mistake they made last year with Eric Gagne.  And, I think it was finally time for Manny to go.  He’d crossed the line too far with his shenanigans this year that if he stayed I think he would have been too much of a distraction.

***

IA was up around 1AM last night and again at 4:45.  She was hiccupping a lot during the night as well.  Pretty tired this morning.

***

Typically I ride the bus to Midtown Plaza where it sits for 10 minutes or so to let the driver take a break and then it proceeds down Broad Street where I get off 2-3 blocks away.  On nice days sometimes I walk.

This morning coming up South Clinton to let passengers off for Xerox before making the loop to turn into Midtown I decided I needed to get off the bus and didn’t want to sit any longer.  Just before the bus left the Xerox stop I grabbed my things and hurriedly got out of my seat, banging the top of my head against the overhead compartment in the process.

Nice going.

Thursday, July 31st, 2008 07:28

Yesterday I started working on a new version of patrickgallant.com which will hopefully be able to showcase some of the new concepts in web design that I’ve learned in the last four years.  The site right now is just about the music I have recorded, but I want the new site to be more than that.  I want it to be about me and the concept of creating things.

I have this inner need to be creative.  I feel that creative need has been somewhat suppressed in recent months, whether it be due to changes in work or life, my recent back injury and seemingly unending onslaught of medical issues or what have you.  That need is dying to be released.

I guess I’ve always loved to make new things. I love woodworking and creating things with my hands, which I attribute to my father.  I love to draw and create artwork.  I (obviously) love to create and play music.  I love photography and trying to capture interesting images.  I love designing web sites and user interfaces.

So this new site will be more representative of the whole me, not just the musical part (which undoubtedly is a huge part).

One thing that I have been working on diligently is a cross-stitch piece of artwork for my newborn daughter that I started when Pauline was only a few months pregnant.  It is a very time-consuming activity with a lot of attention to detail.  One thing Pauline has helped me with understanding is that I need to focus more on completing one task before moving on to another; it seems I tend to like to start a lot of projects…oy, I have so many unfinished ones it makes my head spin.

So I’m focusing on this one thing…this expression of creativity and love for my new daughter.  Every night after the children are asleep I lie in bed next to my wife while she watches her favorite TV shows and I work on the cross-stitch.  We talk.  We lie together in silence.  We are together.  We’ve been through a lot together, but the love between us has grown.  Lying there in bed, working on a piece of art, in silence I feel the connection between the two of us.

I feel for the first time in a long while that my life has turned a corner.  The last several months (year or more?) there has been a darkness and I feel that darkness has lifted.

This post is probably a bit scattered, but I’m writing it without bothering to organize my thoughts in a more coherent manner.  I need to get this written down.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 07:24

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything of substantial content.  I suppose I can attribute it to any of the usual reasons… I’m busy, I’m lazy, I don’t have anything I feel like writing about.  At any rate, I guess this is just an entry to show that I’m alive and haven’t forgotten about the blog.

Weight Check

Weight: 191 lbs
Net Change: –8lbs
BMI: 25.9 (overweight)

Weight Check

Weight: 194lbs
Net Change: –5lbs
BMI: 26.3 (overweight)