Archive for the ‘life’ Category

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Blog Stays at /log

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Remember when I said I was going to move the blog under the main page, I lied. Or rather, I changed my mind. I’m going to leave it right where it’s at /log. I mean, it’s a blog, it should be off on the side and the main page should be something flashy and cool. Now I just need to come up with something flashy and cool. Maybe I’ll even put up some more pages.

I’m a big fan of the way my posts get imported into Facebook with that giant RSS feed logo or my PSN card. Makes every update doubly annoying. Gotta figure out how that works/why it’s happening and make it stop. And I didn’t really do anything, but the twitter posts are getting imported once again.

My brother picked up a PS3, and unlike when he had a Xbox he’s online with it. I’m thinking I’ll be getting my football on… nope, not gonna happen. He doesn’t want to buy Madden 10, he’s going to wait for Madden 11 to come out next August. That’ll work nicely for me, in that Kevin and Jay have probably decided never to buy a Madden game again. Without them I won’t have the leverage I need to get Denis to buy next year’s game. Joel might be coerced in if everybody else was playing, but without them, it ain’t gonna happen. So all my football dreams are shattered. It’ll probably end up being me and my bro playing Madden come next year… I love it when a plan comes together.

Zachary is involved with a girl now, according to his Facebook page, I have no other details. Haven’t heard anything more about Tyler and his lady friend, beyond him wanting to borrow the car. Karin… yeah, I don’t know what she’s up to. Kirra is making noises about coming to stay with us, she’s saying end of April, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Rascal (Crooktail) is doing better, swelling is gone and he’s actually got some flick in his tail at this point, but it does have a nice crook in it about an inch-and-a-half from the base. I keep meaning to take a picture, but I’m lazy and forgetful.

Tasha and I have decided not to move. We’re going to stay put for another year. We’re in a nice enough place and the rent isn’t going up all that much. It’s mostly a financial decision, seems like the bills always roll in when you’re saving your pennies for something. We  don’t hate it here, we’d like a house, but Tasha is just getting regular paychecks again and we’re going to just sit tight for another year. As a plus, none of our friends will have to relearn where we live. I am toying with the idea of getting a second carport, it’s silly but I think the one next to us is available and that’d be almost like having a two car garage and as such my bike wouldn’t be nearly as crowded and I wouldn’t have to worry about the neighbors bumping my car.

That’s it for now.

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Saturday in the Apartment

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

I think I’ve got everything working on the homepage blog, so might just as well start using it. That’s where all the new stuff will be going, after this post that is. I removed the redirect from the index, so now if you type http://ronnmccarrick.com you’ll end up at the new blog page. Change your bookmarks as is appropriate. I have mixed feelings about putting it there, but mostly that’s a residue of the before-times when I had an actual web page with content and what not… now it’s pretty much just a blog. So there is no real reason to keep that spot reserved. The WordPress theme on the new page is Clementine1, it’s got a very industrial feel to it which reminds me of Black & Decker tools, so I guess it’s apropos given what I do.

Tasha headed out to the east side of the state to visit Karin for her birthday. I was going to go with her, but then we have the fiasco that is traveling with the dog. Where does the dog stay? Where do we stay? How much time to we have to set aside for dropping the dog off and picking the dog up? And then there’s the problem of each of us wanting to do different things and only one car. So despite what I told my boys about coming out there, I’m staying home with the animals. Maybe I’ll go out next weekend, and definitely the weekend following, I’ve  gotta teach the boy how to drive a stick and give him some practice time. Doesn’t that sound like fun… nerve wracking, parental fun.

I was going to get up and do some calastetics, eat some breakfast, and then start writing. That didn’t happen. Instead,  I got up made coffee, played some Xbox and got caught up in creating custom paint schemes in Forza Motorsports III, then started fiddling around on the internet and playing with my webpage (tweaking WP Themes can be an all day thing), before I knew it the dog was asking to be let out and it was 5:00 PM. So we went for a walk, had some dinner, and here I am now putting up a blog post. Not exactly the day I had planned, but not a bad day by any stretch. Just not as productive as I’d imagined.

I finished listening to The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett today, I didn’t enjoy it as much as The Maltese Falcon. It jumped around too much, at a couple different points I had to check my files to make sure nothing was screwy, but everything was okay and I just had to listen twice to get the gist. I’m not sure but I had a real problem differentiating the hero in this book, Ned Beaumont, from the Falcon’s, Sam Spade. Maybe it was the narrator, but they seemed pretty interchangeable (distractingly so) to me. But that noir was still there and it was a nice change from the paranormal and fantasy stuff I’ve been listening to of late.

Now the dog wants to go out again… Probably wants to get rid of that pepper. Ha ha. Later.

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I'm All A Twitter

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

Not sure exactly why, but I set myself up an account on Twitter. You can follow me if you so choose. I’m arohen, but then aren’t I always :)

We went and saw Shutter Island this afternoon. It was a decent movie, though it seemed a bit long. But it’s the kind of movie I don’t generally go to see at the theater. There wasn’t anything about it that made me say, you gotta see this one on the big screen. For me, I could have watched it at home on the telly and enjoyed it just as much. Theater movies should have lots of cool special effects that make you sit back in your seat and go wow, cool. This isn’t one of those movies. This one is more a period-thriller, and for me that doesn’t warrant the big screen and the theater ticket pricing. But Tasha wanted to see it and I wasn’t a hundred percent sold on what I’ve seen of the Wolfman, so we went. It was a pretty good movie, good acting, good visuals, but neither of us really got what we wanted out of it. That’s about all the review I can give it.

The cat, Rascal, is being a bit more social and seems to be sitting with a bit more ease. His brother seems a bit stir-crazy for lack of anyone to play with. We’ve stopped giving Rascal the pain meds, because the trauma seemed worse than his pain, and  I think he seems to agree. There’s still some swelling in the tail, but it seems less with each day.

I saw a red camaro with white stripes at the dealer today, and I rather like it. But I’m still conflicted about white vs. black stripes. In my mind I see white, but the popular opinion seems to lean toward black. Tasha doesn’t get it. She thinks it’s dumb to get the car striped. But then I think throw pillows are dumb and completely unnecessary. I guess it’s a boy thing. If I have my way, and you know I will in the end, I’ll get the stripes, a brushed aluminum gas cap cover, the extra gauges on the console, and maybe the upgraded 19″ or 20″ rims (if I can find them used for cheap). It may not happen now, but I’ve got the car for five more years, plenty of time to play around with things.

I was looking at my checking account ledger, apparently I’ve renewed my Xbox Live account. Now if I just had someone to play with. Or rather someone to play the kind of games I like with. So many consoles, so few good games.

I spent some time yesterday consolidating six notepads of ideas into a single notebook. I gotta say, I’ve got some good ideas. Now I just need to get my ass in gear and do something with them. Writing seems like the logical choice of action, but it’s so damn hard to get myself motivated. But then, hasn’t that always been my biggest problem. Plenty of ambition, not enough drive. So once again I find myself needing to work on my discipline and hold myself to the grindstone; be it in my writing, my fitness, or my finances the struggle continues. Later.

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I'm In The Money

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Michigan tax refund has arrived, it ain’t much, but it’s here and that means the Federal refund can’t be far behind. Only took 9-days, electronic filing and direct deposit are both good things.

And it’s payday. Gotta love that.

Rascal is doing better, still lots of swelling and he’s still sore despite the medicine. I think he’s actually more distressed about taking the medicine every 8-hours than he is about the tail. Funny thing is that after we give him the medicine he foams at the mouth for 5-minutes. I tried to get a picture, but he ran off and drooled under the bed.

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Just Call Him Crooktail

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Rascal, one of our two cats, broke his tail today while we were at work. I figure it happened one of two ways, either he didn’t make the jump up onto the kitchen countertop and landed on it, or the dog got a little too physical while they were playing (they do that, it’s quite amusing watching them chase each other around).

I came home, hopped on the computer and started checking email. The cat jumped up on the desk, as he always does, and sat right in front of the monitor. I picked him up to put him back on the floor and he howled like I was killing him. It was quite startling. As he was scampering away I noticed that his tail was down and not moving around nearly as much as usual. I tried to get a look at it, but every time my hands got close to the base of his tail, he’d twist away. I knew something was up. I watched him a bit more and the more I watched the more obvious it was that there was a problem. So when Tasha came home we bundled him into the cat carrier and took him to the veterinary clinic.

We were there for almost three hours. It cost almost $400. And much to my disappointment, the cat didn’t get a tail cast. Wouldn’t that have just been amusing as hell! Apparently, they can’t do much with a broken tail except x-ray it and give you some pain medicine that the animal will fight-like-hell to not take. Whatever the case, he broke the tail behind the hips and as such there are no other problems, just a funny crook in his tail from now on.

What we wouldn’t do for our animals. Later.

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A Long Time Gone

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Thanksgiving was my last real post (the Christmas picture doesn’t count) and a lot has happened in the intervening time.

  • Tasha and I drove to Florida and back, saw and spent some time with the parents and grandparents and didn’t have any drama until we were headed home.
  • I decided to give Forza Motorsport 3 a chance on my Xbox 360 and I have found that it is very good
  • We celebrated Christmas at Tasha’s Sisters
  • My dad was diagnosed with small cell cancer
  • The DROID died and was replaced with a refurbished unit despite being only 35-days old.
  • We spent New Year’s Eve with Dawn and Mark
  • Tasha’s contract at work went from short-term to long-term and then went to shit…  I hate that place
  • Tasha celebrated one of the big birthdays
  • The laptop died, went to HP, and came back none the worse for wear… though I’m annoyed that 8-months in I should have to go through that.
  • I won the Super Bowl in our 1st and Ten Franchise (Madden 10), and then Jay and Kevin dropped out because they hate the game.
  • Watched Avatar, despite wanting to dislike it I both enjoyed and was impressed by it
  • The bright red camaro got a speeding ticket, okay, I got the ticket, but I was driving the car
  • We’ve started looking for a house to rent, rent-to-own, or land-contract (our lease is up end of April)
  • Joel picked up a PS3 and my brother said he was going to, but I’ve not played a game with either of them
  • Watched The Book of Eli and was less than impressed, the annoying church folk behind us didn’t help
  • That rascally ground hog saw his shadow, thus heralding six more weeks of winter
  • Watched Legion, left wishing there were more angels and less zombies, did not give me what I was looking for, I was not impressed.
  • Denis made it to the Super Bowl in our 2nd and 10 Franchise (Madden 10), I didn’t even make the playoffs.
  • The New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl for the first time in their 42 year history
  • I’ve listened to a bunch of audio books and started keeping a list, just have to figure out what to do with that list. Right now I’m listening to and enjoying the Night Angel series by Brent Weeks.
  • And tonight, I filed my taxes and got a refund even without claiming a child

So a lot has gone on and none of it has been shared with the blog, not sure how I feel about that. I find that I’m spending too much time on the computer after work and not doing anything. I need to get refocused and reinvigorated. So the first step is this one, writing a blog post. If I’m going to be on the computer I can at least be productive. My intention is to be far more regular with these posts and to focus them on some topics that are not my day-to-day grind. We’ll see what happens. Later.

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A Thanksgiving Post

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a Happy Thanksgiving. As Tasha and I are leaving for Florida tomorrow we opted out of the trip to the other side of the state to have dinner with her family. Instead we had an intimate little dinner at Applebee’s. I had chicken fajitas, she had margarita chicken, and we split a desert. Not exactly the Thanksgiving that mom used to make, but it was all good.

Karin and Jan are going to take care of the house and the animals. We thank them both and wish them good luck.

We’re packed. Audio books have been chosen. The hotel is reserved. The car is gassed. And the parents have been notified of our imminent arrival. I think we’re good to go. We’ve got no real plan, other than to be home next Saturday, but I think we’ll both be glad to get away from our day-to-day for a week. And as a plus I get to spend some time in my new car.

NaNoWriMo is a bust this year. I blame it on a lack of commitment. I haven’t given up on the story, despite what you’re not seeing on the word count bar, but this month just hasn’t been a good one for my writing.

Enjoy your holiday. And if you venture out to the stores tomorrow, I hope you find what you’re looking for.

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Droid

Friday, November 6th, 2009

On this date in 1998 Tasha and I were married, we’re not married any longer but beings as we have no other date to celebrate as our own we’ve readopted this one as our continuing anniversary. So while not entirely true, it is mostly true that this is our 11th anniversary. Happy anniversary to us. It’s been a wild ride, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Ain’t love grand. We went out for Mexican, then we came home and she went to bed. I think she’s got the flu, she prefers to think not so much. Whatever it is the symptoms are different from what I have been suffering most of this past week, so I’ll probably get it next. Yeah me.

Did I mention that my iPod Nano got stolen out of my van? I can’t remember and I’m too lazy to look it up. Whatever the case, I’ve been looking for a replacement. I considered just getting another Nano, but that seemed lame. I toyed with the idea of getting a Archos 5 Internet Tablet, that would be sweet, but I’d want the big 500 gig one and the price is a bit more than I can swallow. Doug keeps praising his iPod Touch, but I can’t bring myself to get one. However, my Verizon plan has been up since September and I haven’t replaced my phone… Do you know where this is going? I decided to get a phone that would serve as a media player. I went and got myself a Motorola Droid.

motorola-droid-verizon-front

I don’t get excited about phones, cameras, GPS gadgets, or mp3 players, but I gotta say this thing is pretty sweet. It does all of those things. It says, “droid,” more than maybe you’d like, but I expect I can shut that off. It’s got a 16 GB microSD card in it, so it’ll hold as much stuff as my old Nano, but it does way more than my old phone and my iPod together. I think it’ll be a good deal despite the additional charges that Verizon get’s for signing me up for the email service. Oh well, what do you do. I already put a couple audio books on it. I’m as giddy as a school boy.

Not much writing last night, though I did do some editing and I’m feeling better about what I’ve gotten so far. No writing at all tonight, so I’m going to take the weekend to get myself up to where I need to be. I think that means something like 13,336 words by Sunday night. It’s alot, and it may be more than I can do to catch up all at once, but I think I can take a good-sized chunk out of my deficit and put myself back on track. Like I said, doing the little bit of editing last night made me realize some of the bits that I needed to flesh out a bit more. What I was writing read more like a verbose outline than a story. So we’ll fix that and get Joshua Hale back in the action and get this party started.

In other news, I got the approval for my vacation. We’re going to Florida at the end of this month.

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Some Good, Some Bad

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Managed to get 2,131 new words last night on novel.

Lost my fantasy football game by 4 points.

Not feeling all that great tonight, I’m a little worried that I might be having a set back on the road to recovery from this weekends cold. I’m going to try and get some sleep before this gets any worse.

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Long Weekend, the Wrong Way

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Spent today in bed. Sick. It started with a scratchy throat yesterday around noon and progressed steadily to a full blown cold. I slept until 2:30 this afternoon, got up long enough to take a phone call and write a blog post. I’m sure it’s not the flu. The symptoms are all wrong. This is just a cold. Congestion, congestion, and more congestion. I’m off to bed. Later.

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