Frustrating....

I am officially NOT a packrat. I purge my things regularly - I like to live (as best I can anyway...) an efficient and streamlined lifestyle. I don't own much in the way of clothes, I don't have 10 bikes (I have 3), I don't have closets full of health care products, and I generally speaking am good about excess paper (though I really want to get a paper shredder at some point). There are definitely some areas where I could be even more prudent...I still have a separate fax machine and printer, and I probably hang on to many nuts and bolts and scrap lumber from home projects (but that latter makes for great kindling in the winter months).

I am married to the mother of all packrats. I have "time on my hands" these days and decided this morning to attack our bedroom linen closet (reason being I was looking for the bottle of vitamin C tabs as I'm feeling just a bit of cold coming on...). One thing led to another, as other organized types will understand, and I felt compelled to clean that damn closet out.

12 bath towels. TWELVE!!! For just wife and me. The kids have another set in their newly reno'd bathroom (I'm really happy with how that came out BTW). Well, I could use some new rags....
12 bags of random make-up stuff. I.....I simply don't know what to say about that. She's a gorgeous, beautiful woman. But my god how does she even know what she has in all those bags?
I found a couple of completely dried up make-up things, 4 half empty cans of hair spray crap, and prescriptions dating back to before we moved to this house (which begs the question, why the hell did I move it here in the first place?).
Weeeell, in attempting my best to be supportive and diplomatic, I've laid out all twelve bags of stuff on our bed as well as the questionable "products" that I wasn't sure what to do with (if I were my mother, that whole pile would already be in the dumpster) and have sweetly asked her to go through and consolidate.

The good money's on all of it being shoved right back into the closet by day's end.

Still love her to death though!

You remember...

...When Morpheus was showing Neo what the Matrix was and he perfectly hit the spaces between the 'people' walking down the street? I tried that at North Station today and it worked!

Unless of course I was simply invisible?

Halloween happenin's +

Been a bit since I've had the chance to write....seems every time I jump onto my Blogger account, my sister in law has since written a novel which certainly makes me feel a bit slackish...

In no particular order.....
-after a LOOOOT of studying, a preparatory bootcamp in Denver, and some purusing of "those" test prep sites, I successfully passed the Cisco Certified Design Associate exam. Am I now qualified to create an enterprise network with EIGRP, OSFP, and BGP fully functional? No chance. The thing with certification exams is that while the achievement is all well and good, its the substance behind the cert that matters. I need to treat this as simply a check mark but continue to be diligent in studying. I was psyched to pass it on the first go nonetheless, and if nothing else, I learned how to subnet and summarize a network through CIDR. Routing protocols and QoS...well, that's a story for another day.
-the World Series is in full swing and the Yankees pulled out a clutch and gritty win last night and essentially stealing the home field advantage back (though I'm not necessarily convinced it means much considering how both teams have played thus far). A-Rod got a big hit (first in the Series, and hoping his playoff stroke continues after being dormant for the first two games), and Pettite helped out his own cause with a bloop single that scored Swisher. Pettite hung tough and after that sketchy opening. As I had hoped, the Yankees were able to put some numbers up against Hamels, who simply isn't what he was last October. Tonight's game is going to be huge with Sabathia going on short rest against Joe Blanton, who the Yankees line-up simply needs to take advantage of. Number 3/4 starters in the National League should NOT be able to keep American League playoff lineups down. And if the Yankees can win tonight and go up 3-1, the momentum clearly slides over.
-the Commuter Rail offers both good and bad....the good being that it's nice to read on the commute home and not have to deal with traffic. The bad being the dude with the dragon breath that plopped his sorry ass next to mine at the Porter Square stop.....and just my luck that he was in for the whole ride out to metro-west.
-the kids' bathroom project is just about done. I'm working on the punch list stuff now....Penny surprised me by priming the new window y'day so I just need to put a couple of topcoats on it. Billy D. brought the wall cabinet to Canton 'Cross so I need to paint that and hang it and I can pretty much put a fork in it. Bill does fantastic work and I'll be posting some photos later today. Next up after 'cross season is to finish the lingering crap that I've been neglecting for the last couple of years.....namely hanging the double closet doors in Ryan's room (so that I can finish up the baseboard), replacing the baseboard heating covers behind Penny's computer (so that I can do the baseboard in that room), and then hopefully knocking out the linen closet door and baseboard in our bedroom. If I can get all of that stuff done over the winter, then the next project will be the bathroom in our bedroom...it's a very small full bath so it presents some interesting design challenges.
-'Cross season is in full swing here in New England, and another year of experience coupled with some structured training have provided some decent results so far. After two logistical snafus, I finally got the season going at Gloucester and considering I started both days in the very back of the starting grid I was happy with a couple of top 25's (about 100 guys per race each day too!!!). I had to shoot to Denver for work and missed the Providence races which is a bummer because I heard the courses were fantastic. Hit the Hartford 'Cross race and finished 5th last weekend and then put up a solid 13th y'day at Canton (which was ridiculous....120+ starters in my field, about 35 guys across the road at the start). Some asshole from Bike Barn desperately tried to come around me on the slippery pavement section on the last lap and ceremoniously slid out. I have NO problem with aggressive moves on the 'cross course-but this course had P-L-E-N-T-Y of places to pass, so I'm hoping this jackass has road rash and healthy contusion for his stupid move. Assuming I continue to do Ok this year, I'm going to apply for an upgrade either this year or before the start of next year. I know that I can hang with the 3's. Mebbe mid pack to start but there's guys racing 3's now that I know that I'm faster than so I shouldn't DFL in those races. The Noho double weekend is up next on the schedule and I'm looking forward to see how I can fare there. A couple of top 20's there and I'll do the 3's for the remainder of the season. However if I get my ass handed to me then I'll sit tight in the 4's this year and keep the work up.
-We had a blast with the kids trick or treating last night (and how awesome was it to be out in shorts and flip flops?????). Ryan walked pretty much on his own the entire time with big sister Cait being a bit pooped out halfway through. Cait's been battling a cold/flu all week so just being out there was great. Meghan is now 8 and has a pretty good handle on how to maximize the T and T effort and scored a ridiculous amount of loot!

Well that's about it....photos of the latest project soon to come...

Thoughts....

So, back from a week in Denver at corp HQ training center for a little Cisco beat down. I'm sitting for the CCDA exam in a few weeks and thought a bootcamp would be helpful....all I can say is selling the stuff for the last decade vs. actually diving into the technical surface (emphasis on surface because the bottom is a few miles down) was a helluva lot more than I bargained for. It took me 3+ nights to figure out subnetting....and it's still not automatic....CIDR isn't too bad now that I've kind of figured it out. And don't even let me get started on routing protocols. Let's just say I'm not all that confident going into this test. Happy thoughts, right? Who can tell me what the network address, first and last host address, and broadcast address for the following:

171.25.63.20/25

On the bike front, things are ok....I never thought I'd be so twisted up bio-mechanics wise at 39 than I am....I'm seeing both a PT and a chiropractor (and the co-pays absof*ckinglutely SUCK, btw) once per week, stretching about 30 minutes per day and now starting to throw in some core strength building stuff. The plus side is that my back pain in the morning isn't as bad as it was this summer (it's still there but it doesn't take an hour to loosen up). The down side is that I feel like I'm spending an inordinate amount of time trying to get it back in shape.....and I'm ACTIVE!!! I ride my bike all the time and race a bit. I don't eat great, but it could be worse. How bad would this be if I was the proverbial couch potato???

On the home front, the kids' bathroom is just about done. I need to case out and paint the window, add some accessories and get my tools out of there. Give me one good day and she's in the books. I do need to finish up the guest room as well since I stole some of the closet to make room for the new vanity. Next project hopefully will be the master bathroom. And I really, really, REALLY need to finish up the lingering baseboard project. While I really don't want to replace any of the baseboard heating covers, I don't see any way around it. No one seems to make the end caps for the ones we have. Bummer that.....

Time to go finish stretchin'....then back to subnetting....let me know when you figure out the answer....

October observations....

I'm sitting in my hotel room in Denver on a break from a Cisco class that I'm incredibly under-qualified to be taking but hoping to make the best of....while I should be head down in the books right trying desperately to make sense of SONA, IIN, and the core, distribution, and access architectural modules, I needed a break....so here are some random things....

My cyclocross season FINALLY got underway after two false starts this past weekend at Gloucester. Due to some piss poor scheduling on my part, I was rewarded with back of the pack starts with 100 fellow weekend bike racers. Luckily for me, the back pain has begun to subside just a bit and I managed to finish 27th and 24th respectively over the weekend. Of course no good deed goes unpunished....I dropped my Blackberry in a puddle on Saturday so I'm without a phone while my warranty BB gets shipped to the house. Makes for staying "in touch" interesting...

I had the pleasure of sitting next to a couple of German kids apparently visiting the States during my flight out to CO...too bad they hadn't showered in about a month...nothing like some quality BO to experience for 4+ hours!

The class I'm taking is a bootcamp ahead of a certification test that I'm looking to take in the next couple of weeks. I feel so completely out-matched on this thing....trying to stay positive and focused and hoping that the light bulb moment happens soon or I am screwed come test time!

Miss my kids and can't wait to get back home!

Irritated...

....how do I measure my irritation today? By the fact that I realized I had forgotten my helmet and shoes for the first 'cross of the season as I was pulling into registration. I am such a collosal asshole sometimes. I got up extra early to stretch out my aching back, had a cup of joe, and did all sorts of wiggling around on the Swiss ball. Jumped on the trainer for 15 minutes for some light spinning, had some more coffee, and a trip to the hopper. I was excited and nervous and fired up and ready to GO! I love to ride my bike, but I really, really, REALLY LOVE to race cyclocross. The lung-bursting effort, the mud, the comraderie, the cupcakes, the fall weather, all of it.

F*CK, I am so pissed off at myself for missing this race! It's a wonderfully fun course and it's wet and mucky today, so I was psyched to blow some of the crap out of my lungs and get going.

Honestly though, this is somewhat indicative of how life is these days....as much as I'm trying desperately to simplify, simplify, simplify, I am running in a thousand directions at once and it is taking its toll. My life is anything but simple. Work has been bananas busy as I am working to build my business in the NE region. I am plugging away with the gut job of the main bathroom in our house (sealing the new floor tile at 10pm last night is likely why I forgot to pack my sh*t correctly for today's race). All of the kids are busy with either school and/or fall sports. Penny is working a couple of days per week so we're both running the household solo most of the time. I am back in chiropractor/physical therapy a couple of days per week to continue to work out my back issues.

UGGGGGGGGGGGGGH. I thought when I got out of school my schedule would free up a bit, but it seems like I am more busy than ever.

I think I need some some professional help! But hey, it's just a bike race, right???

Bathroom model updates

So I'm about a third of the way through the big remodeling job of the kids bathroom and while it's going fairly well, I'm beginning to rethink some of my attitudes concerning home projects. No doubt, my oft-painful back these last bunch of months coupled with me hanging on to 30-ism is contributing to these thoughts.

I have ALWAYS been a DIY-er. Why pay someone to do a project that I can pretty easily do? Where I generally draw the line is on safety and efficiency. The access in the bathroom is tight and work has been bananas busy the last few weeks, so I opted to sub out the electrical and plumbing. Good move because what would have taken me a whole lot of time was nothing more than after-work fill in for the pros....

Demo-ing the absolute shit that was there previously then framing out the new walls, hanging sheetrock and mudding the walls is all pretty easy stuff, so I've attacked that with an abandon....I would have preferred to use a plasterer because I can't stand flinging mud but the best price I got was 500 bucks to plaster. Nahhh I thought, that's crazy.

Here's where "wisdom" begins to take root....how nice would it have been to spend that 500 bucks and arrive home from the office and be ready to paint? In my earlier 30's the thought would never have entered my mind. Now.....MAN do I wish I had spent that dough! I have one more skim coat to do and I should be able to get that done tonight, but had I just paid the damn plasterer, I'd be getting ready to lay tile instead of getting ready to prime the walls.

What I'm learning is that I need to be more cognizant of the opportunity costs associated with my time. There's not a lot of simple carpentry jobs or landscaping work that I will EVER out-source.....to me simple is pretty much anything that doesn't move the weight bearing structure of the house-those things are just too much in my wheelhouse to do.....but my kiddo's are not going to be the cute little dudes they are forever and I need to remember that. Install a new window, build a wall unit, a deck, a patio, whatever, I'll do that stuff. Rip a rug, re-do a floor, ditto. Hang kitchen cabinets (next big one on the list btw), easy. And with the internet I have a virtual trade school at my finger tips to answer a question I may have.

But today is a landmark day because I'm DONE with hanging board. And frankly, I'm ok with it. From now on, I'll do the jobs that I sort of enjoy (I don't really enjoy any of it frankly....but still) and can whip off pretty easily. I want to make sure my kids also have a good level of self-sufficiency in these areas. But from now on, I'm gonna pick and choose more carefully-life's too short.