Sanity’s Requiem

So yeah. I spruce the blog up all nice, and then let it get buried beneath a layer of dust.

I promise I’m still alive. And that I even have things to talk about. My health has been a bit unstable of late. Work has been going really well. A number of fun things I’m doing this summer are coming up soon.

But I won’t be gabbing much tonight. I just got through working 10 days straight, and honestly, I’m kind of tired. Thankfully, I have the next two days off, so it’s time for me to get caught up on a few things (sleeping is high on the list, but posting is in there too, I swear.)

Stay tuned.

Well, not really new, just redesigned. But using the word “redesigned” would have made it difficult for me to paraphrase James Brown. :^)

Until today, Sanity’s Requiem has had the same boring Blogspot theme since I created the blog on October 13, 2004. I didn’t even really like it that much, but it was the least annoying theme that I could find at that time.

But now, the blog has a brand new bag. Blogspot is history. I’ve been hosting the files for the blog on normalview.com for quite some time now, but administration and posting was still tied to Blogspot. I had been wanting to change that, but never seemed to get around to learning how to go through the hassle of installing blogging software in my webspace. However, DreamHost (the webhost I use….they rule, check ‘em out) has recently added WordPress to its list of One-Click Installs for third-party applications (I’ve previously made use of these to install Gallery and phpBB) and that makes it really easy to set everything up.

The installation took just a few minutes…the best part was that it was really easy to import all my old posts from Blogspot. The thing that really slowed me down was choosing a theme. I finally settled on one called Mandigo, for two reasons: 1) It’s extremely customizable, giving great flexibility in the choosing of colors, the locations of information, widgets, etc., and 2) The large banner graphic at the top can be replaced by any image you want to put in its place, and I really wanted the ability to put my own photograph or picture up there. I haven’t decided what photograph/graphic I’m using as yet, so the default image will stay in place for now.

There’s quite a few other things I’d still like to do, such as add some more links, define categories and assign posts to them, and redo the archive widget so that I don’t have that huge list of months running down the right side. But it was far along enough that I decided to go ahead and move everything before posting again (or before someone posted a new comment.) That way, I wouldn’t have to import everything over again.

I think you may have to register to comment; I’m not really sure how I set that up. If it’s too much of a bother, let me know, and I’ll make some changes. Otherwise, feel free to let me know what you think.

(NOTE: For archaeological purposes, I have preserved the old version of the blog.)

…I’m single again.

The process of tying up the loose ends, so to speak, is still going on, so I won’t really try to comment on it too thoroughly for now until some time has passed and I’ve had a chance to gain a little perspective on it all. Suffice to say, while I cared about her very much (and I still do) we’re just too different from one another for it to really work out in the long run….I doubt that either of us could really ever be what the other needs. C’est la vie, I guess.

We’ve now forged ahead into May (and I didn’t wait five weeks to post again….just four or so, heh) and one third of 2008 is behind us. Amazing how fast time can move when you aren’t paying attention. It’s also amazing to me that I’ve been neglecting the blog so much….I only made four posts in February, March and April combined. :^o

I’ve started the new shift at work, and I’d say I have mixed reviews so far. Getting off work at 10:00 PM is OK, but not great. On the other hand, not having to come in until 1:30 is excellent. I’ll probably feel better about working late once the shift differential starts showing up. One good thing that happened (right after my last post) was that I got a merit raise, which bumps the pay up a bit more! More money is always a good thing.

Keeping that in mind, I had something very unfortunate happen to me last week. To make a long story short, I tried to park my car in a spot right next to the gate in my apartment complex, turned too sharply, and wound up scraping up my passenger door against the gate. To make matters worse, there was a small pipe sticking up from the ground right there, and when I stopped and tried to back out again, I punched a hole in the door. Needless to say, I couldn’t really think or speak to anyone for a few hours, I was so upset. But, one trip to Maaco and over $600 later (not to mention four days driving a rented Chevy Aveo, which is a huge step down when you’re used to a sports car) it’s as if it never happened. I think of all the other things I could have done with that money, and it makes me sad, but what’s done is done. Instead, I’ll focus my energy on something over which I have a bit more control: making sure it doesn’t happen again.

At least three people from my group at work are transferring to different groups or departments within the company, and it’s gotten me thinking a bit about preparing for my future at Southwest. I don’t know if I’d ever have a shot at being a software developer or not without actually obtaining a four year degree, but I think I might want to move in that direction eventually. I’ve been contemplating the idea of taking some classes here and there, especially so I can become fluent in Java. A better understanding of UNIX/Linux probably wouldn’t hurt either. This summer might be a good time to start on that, since my mornings are completely free.

My next travel adventure approaches….my ol’ buddy Dave, who works as a private charter pilot, has clients that are going to Vegas during the May 9-11 weekend. He will, of course, stay out there that weekend until it’s time to fly them back, and so he gets put up somewhere in a free hotel room. I can fly for free….he has a free room…..sounds like a good opportunity to have a cheap weekend in Vegas to me!

And now, I need to clean up around here and get some errands run before this evening…..I’ve got a date with a hot blonde tonight. :^D

So, yeah, I guess I still have a blog. Took me a while to blow all the dust off this thing before I started typing, heh.

There’s really not much that’s been going on that I just HAD to write about….been going to work, hanging out with friends, hanging out with the girlfriend, etc…….one trip with her and her kids to San Antonio that was, shall we say, eventful. Nothing too much newsworthy beyond that.

We did just finish picking our next schedules today. And, as the title states, I just keep moving later and later. Last summer I had a 4:00 AM schedule, which gave way to 6:30 AM, which then gave way to the 10:30 AM shift I currently hold. But in slightly less than 3 weeks, I’ll start working 1:30PM-10:00PM with Thursdays and Fridays off. In terms of scheduling, it works better for me for trading for certain things, like QuakeCon, and it also gives me the 4th of July off. And, since it’s a PM shift, I’ll get shift differential, which I believe will give me an extra $75 per paycheck, give or take. That’s about $600 for the entire bid. More money is always a good thing, if you ask me.

One of the guys from the support desk at work just retired this past week, and it got me to thinking about retirement a bit. At Southwest, in order to receive full retirement benefits (which is mainly lifetime flight privileges) you have to work a certain number of years. This number is determined by taking the number 65, subtracting your age when you started at SWA (in my case, 31) and then dividing it in half. For me, that’s 17 years, meaning that if I work at SWA until I’m at least 48, I’ll have flight privileges for life. Sweet.

I guess I’ll conjure more stuff to blog about soon. I’m just not feeling too wordy tonight. But I promise not to go another ~5 weeks without posting again anytime soon. :^D

Sunday evening, around 7:45 PM. I’m at work.

This, while not the norm, is not entirely unusual.

What is unusual is the fact that I’ve been here since 6:30 this morning, I’ll be here until 11:30 tonight, and I ‘m currently in the middle of my second lunch.

All hail the power of the double shift.

Until very recently, you couldn’t do this here. In fact, you couldn’t work a shift that started less than eight hours after your previous one ended. I complained about that rule rather loudly, as did several of the other people here who do a lot of schedule trading. And so, the rule was lifted, and the ability to work two shifts fairly close together (or even one right after the other) was granted to us.

I am the first person at the support desk to actually try a double shift. I’ve completed more than 13 of my 17 hours (16 working plus two 30-minute lunches) and it’s starting to drag a bit, as I expected. It’s also been a very slow day here, which serves as both blessing and curse. I could use a good outage right now to help pass the time more quickly.

In other news, after all of my recent travelling (and the financial blow that resulted) I decided not to go to Digital Overload. So, I have five days off next weekend (Thurs-Mon) and very little that I need to do. I suspect I will be getting caught up on a lot of things at home.

Things with my girlfriend are just peachy. I find myself spending more and more time thinking about her (and missing her) when she’s not around. I still don’t know for sure where it’s all going to lead, but I’m getting more comfortable every day with the idea that she’s going to be around for quite a while. I feel like a very lucky guy….she’s special, and I’m still not sure what I’ve done to deserve her. :^)

Time to get back to work, I guess…..I’m on the home stretch now…..I just hope I can get out of here and get home before the weather gets as nasty as they’re saying it will tonight. :^o

Yes, I’m alive.

I survived Orlando. I survived Oakland.

More unlikely, I survived Vegas.

Further discussion and pictures will follow at a later time. Right now, my girlfriend is on her way here, and I don’t have time for silly things like typing. :^D

With the exception of the one overnight I did last July, the wonders of shift trading have me at work tonight on the latest shift I’ve ever had: 3 PM-11:30 PM. There’s really not much way to go any later….there’s a 5:30 PM - 2 AM shift (held by someone who rarely trades) and a 7:30 PM - 4:00 AM shift (held by someone who never trades.) This is late enough for me, but still well worth it, considering that my trading has gotten me all the time off that I need the next several weeks.

I’m happy to announce that the person I previously referred to as “She Who I Really Want To Name But Can’t Right Now” has a new title: The Girlfriend. Suffice to say, I’m rather pleased by this turn of events.

She’s been on my mind a lot recently, which shouldn’t be a surprise. I keep asking myself questions like, “Am I starting to really fall for her? Am I feeling all the things I should be feeling? Is this really going to work in the long term?” This is, of course, the over-analyzing I mentioned before, and I’m trying to reign it in a bit. It’s only been about a month since the first time she and I had lunch, so there’s no need to figure everything out right this minute. For her part, she seems to be very happy with me, and even hints that she might be starting to find answers to those questions even faster than I am, and that’s OK. If there’s one thing I’ve figured out about her in the last month, it’s that she won’t pressure me to answer all of the questions before I’m ready to.

Right now, I do know this: I like her. A lot. And she likes me. A lot. And we’re very happy spending as much time together as we can find. And that’s all that’s important at the moment.

Last night, there was a Super Bowl gathering, as always, and I got to take her along to meet some of my friends. She liked them, and they all seemed to like her, so I was pretty happy about that. The Super Bowl itself was, for about 57+ minutes, really dull (and I felt a little bad for my girlfriend, as she’s not really into football….she was practically asleep at one point, and I didn’t blame her a bit. I love football, and I felt my attention wandering at times.) But those last couple of minutes were excellent. And the Almighty Patriots, the overhyped Gods of Football (according to pretty much all of the sports media) got beat. The only way I could be happier about that was if the Cowboys had been the ones to do it.

This is going to be a crazy month. Next Monday, I fly to Orlando to attend Southwest’s Message to the Field there (and a certain girlfriend will also be in attendance, yay.) Another co-worker (and fellow QuakeCon attendee) will be headed out to Oakland with me on the 19th to attend the Message out there. We’re talking about hanging out in San Francisco for a bit, or maybe driving down to Palo Alto to get a tour of Facebook from another QuakeCon attendee we know that works there. I head to Vegas on the 21st, and then I get to dust off my gamer geek persona (it’s been neglected a bit lately) at a LAN party in Providence, RI a couple of weeks after that.

So, if I suddenly quit posting for a month or so, you’ll know why. But I’ll try not to disappear completely. :^)

It’s not unusual for me to go several days without posting something here; it’s usually an indication that little has changed for me, and that the status quo is being maintained in my day-to-day life.

That is true here as well, but I have to say…..the “status quo” is currently a lot more fun than it used to be.

Things are still good with She-Who-I-Really-Want-To-Name-But-Can’t-Right-Now. It’s been a little lonely the last week or so, since she’s been out of town to visit family, but phone calls and text messages have been plentiful. The recent upgrade to my cell phone plan’s monthly text message allowance was not a coincidence, lol.

At work, I finished my rotation with the higher-level support group, and have now started my new shift at the help desk. I have to say, 10:30 am is as relaxing a start time as I had hoped. And the Sunday-Monday off days have already helped me facilitate numerous trades, which have allowed me to get pretty much all the time off I wanted.

When my best friend Dave and his wife Amy go to Vegas to renew their vows next month, I’ll be right there with them. The LAN party in Rhode Island I’m attending two weeks later is all set on my schedule. And I’m even getting some extra fun: Southwest’s Messages to the Field (an annual “state of the company” gathering that plays out a bit like a pep rally) are being held in six cities, and though I plan on being in attendance at the one here in Dallas, I’m also one of the lucky ones being sent out of town to attend another one, at the Company’s expense. My destination is Oakland, CA., and I’ll be there the day before I was going to head out to Las Vegas, so I’ll be arriving at LAS from OAK instead of DAL.

I’ve also cleared out time on the schedule to attend the Message being held in Orlando, FL., in part because I’d rather go that one that any of the others, and in part because She-Who-I-Really-Want-To-Name-But-Can’t-Right-Now is being sent to that one already. She has an extra day off after that Message, and I’m going to try to arrange that for myself also, so that we can spend an extra fun day at MCO without having to act like we’re not dating. Employees who spontaneously decide to attend other Messages on their own nickel is far from unheard of, so no worries there. I’m really looking forward to it.

Friends in Indiana and family in Illinois may have to wait until a little later in the spring for a visit from me……all this trading has really chopped up my schedule to a point where I can hardly tell when I’m coming and going, and it’s not really going to settle down much until mid-March. But the trading has been for a good reason: so far, I’ve arranged everything without using so much as one day of vacation time, w00t.

And now, time to get this last hour of work done, and head home and see if anyone’s around tonight. I have to work tomorrow, but I can still stay up late, so some form of Friday-night-shenanigans are in order. Everyone take care and be good and so on, and I’ll be back again soon to give you something else to read.

Bonus points to those who know what movie that quote comes from.

My last entry spoke of scheduling bliss. That same evening, despite the Cowboys losing, I started down a path towards a different kind of bliss. In fact, I had almost completely forgotten about the football game I had watched only hours before.

It is amazing to me how quickly I have gone from sad, depressed, hurt, angry and lonely to the opposite of all of those things.

If you hadn’t guessed, this is in reference to the aforementioned cute, blonde co-worker. Due to her being a co-worker, and due to neither of us really knowing if that could get us in any trouble or not, I won’t mention her name for now. Instead of thinking the way I’ve typically always wanted to think (which is to say that I overthink everything) I’m taking a different approach here. I don’t know what it could all lead to, where anything is going, etc…..all I know is this: I really like her. She seems to really like me. The details will or will not work themselves out in time. For now, there’s nothing I want to do except to enjoy the moment.

The moment has been pretty nice so far. :^)

More details available to those who ask directly.