Happy new years, y’all. I guess the world didn’t melt down with computer clocks reaching 23:59:60 after all. However, it does sound like large swatches of Texas and Oklahoma are burning to the ground with rampant grass fires.
I’m not a fan of making resolutions and all that, if I wanted to do something I would’ve already done it. I feel good about what I’ve accomplished in 2005 and the progress toward some long term goals that’ll come to fruit throughout 2006. I really enjoy the work I do inside and outside the office, and I love living in Austin. I surprise myself, in that sometimes I’ll be so impatient as to spend an extra $10 to get something from Amazon overnighted to me, or make a special trip to pick up something that totally could wait, yet I’ve managed to stay focused on things like my half-marathon training that so far has been over a five month daily committment and exercises in self-discipline.
It feels just and wonderful having a day off work tomorrow where I can spend time doing my own thing. Normally on days off it’s usually because I scheduled time off to travel a state or two away which always involves blowing two days for driving. My truck’s odometer reads 86,000+ miles, and its hour meter reads 2005.9 hours, which is over 83 days behind the wheel (I’ve had it for 2.5 years). Having said that, I’m hoping to get some time off in a couple weeks so I can fly up to Seattle to see Alex and Victoria.
I spent the night down in Houston with Brady and his friends. They were all great to hang out with; it was nice meeting new people for a change, even if they’re three hours away. This morning was french toast at House Of Pies. yum!
The weather was amazingly warm for January, Houston felt like the upper 80s today. Last night (or rather early this morning) we were sitting out on the back patio. I fully expected it to be a little cool out and discovered it was still quite warm out when I went to get my jacket.
Today we watched The Ringer. I was anticipating it to be totally low quality and very cheesy, then end in spectacular disaster for the character. I wasn’t sure how they were going to present athletes, even though I knew the Special Olympics had final say on the script. Overall it was a nice movie and everyone preserved their dignity. It had Katherine Heigl as Lynn, one of my favorite hottie actresses du jour. I haven’t seen Johnny Knoxville in a while, he sort of reminded me of a young Larry Hagman.
I spent Christmas in Oklahoma as usual. Went up to Tulsa and visited friends that I haven’t seen but once since I moved. My parents got a spiffy new 16:9 TV and gave me their old one. The old one is in need of maintenance, it’s been around since 1995. It has a serious problem with blowing out cyan and white colors that makes the image look foggy and oversaturated, although red menu dialog boxes are well defined. I’ve tried tinkering with the picture controls, various extreme settings aren’t working; brightness is the only one that seems to do anything. I need to find a promising local repair guy and find out if it’s possible to correct or salvage the unit.
I’m envious of the Garmin StreetPilot we got my parents for Christmas. It would’ve come in handy in Houston, even though we knew where we were going for the most part. I think I’m going to have to break down and buy one now.
I need me some SNES Super Mario Kart action too.
