...I'm recapping last weekend.

So, this past weekend I had a lot going on. I turned 37. I went to a Packer's pre-season game and sat on the 50 yard line for it. Chicago was a blast, and Sunday was nice and lazy.

...I have completed level 36. On to level 37.

For all my geek friends out there, I have dinged level 37 this morning. Level 36 was complicated, tiring at times, and quite awesome as well. Here are the highlights, starting with the Level 36 ding itself.

August: I had a bunch of friends with me to celebrate while I at sushi and hibachi.

September: Back to school. I took a guitar class and learned quite a bit.

October: I learned that some people are REALLY in to Halloween. I also moved jobs from broadcast to corporate.

November: My first vegan thanksgiving. There is a turkey alternative, and it's fucking amazing (pardon my swearing please)

December: I saw a play for the first time in years, and I had a good time with it. Promotion at my job.

...I'm throwing away "at work" social media.

At work today, I realized I spend too much time on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Gchat, and many other "distractions". This blog is one of them.

Starting today, I will not be logging in to Facebook, personal Gmail, Twitter, Blogger, or any of the other time wasters I have while I am here at my desk. It's distracting and really causing me to not do what it is I need to do while I am here. Which is, help people, and make a living. I'm not paid to surf Facebook or Twitter. I'm paid to help people and manage people.

If I seem like I'm ignoring, or not answering, well... I'm not. I'm working.

...I'm on the road to a better me.

I, like most people, hate the dentist. I just don't like going. I am ok with the needles in the mouth, the root canal work, the teeth pulling (all four wisdoms gone from non-surgical extractions), and everything that comes with it. 

The problem I have had is that my gums are not all that great. But, over the past months/years I have gotten better about all the brushing/flossing and general care of the teeth. This visit went much better than my last few I have had. I tried out a new place (the new Dental Associates in Sturtevant) and I really like it. It's very clean and in a completely new building. It's at the old Saturn dealership that was only open for about a year before GM decided to fold that division. 

They really do seem to care and did some great work for me. I am actually happy I am getting all of this done finally.

Still, the day of cleaning. Man. My teeth hurt.

...I realized that politics make absolutely no sense.

Home of people who make no sense

I was talking with my girlfriend's mother last night about the recall election last night. We were discussing just how much money was spent on something such as a recall election. From what I have read and heard on the radio, this is the most expensive recall election in the state to date. Numbers heard this morning on the way were reporting that over 10 million dollars (reportedly 15 million) were spent just on the Democrat side to get the Republicans out. Who knows how much more the Republicans spent.

I'm going to take a lot of flack for this, probably from both sides and from all my friends when I say this.

It was a huge waste of money for both sides. If you think I'm attacking one side or the other... read on.

...my little studio of fun is almost complete.

I have a little bit left to do in here. I'm still not sold on the layout. 

We shall see what happens over the next couple of days. I'm just happy I can start doing some demo work for am.psych again.

...the carpet is in. Now I am home.

Today the carpeting went in. My girl stayed at the house so that I could go to work and not lose any money or vacation days.  As she said to me "It's not like I have anything else to do." So she stayed here and cracked the whip on the installers the whole day. 

Last night was a pain in the ass. I know she'll punch me for saying it, but it was. I had been at work all day and the last thing I wanted to do was move a bunch of furniture around and clean like I was moving. But, I like staying in good standing with her. It helps me out in other avenues. Over the weekend I had moved everything to what is now my office. I had it all in there and I was happy that there were only two things left... 

...I will be going home to a new home.

The carpet is being installed right now as I frantically type out my words here.

I bought the house in 2002. In mid 2002 I pulled all the old dingy carpeting out of the house and pretty much did nothing to the floors for a while. They were 9in shambles. I had found out there were spots in the floor that used to be walls, and areas that were not finished at all. I had laid laminate flooring down on the floor, but in the end, it got destroyed by numerous pets, children, and bad upkeep. It was never really all that finished anyway.

So, 10 years in the making, carpeting is going back in today. This is going to be a great step for me to move forward in my life in a house that has really sucked the life out of me since I got there.

Cat is busy making sure that the installers are not messing things up and having them move furniture back in place once they are done. She has a grand plan to help really make this place somewhere that I really do want to come home to and spend time in each individual room.

That being said, she almost killed me last night. So much moving, cleaning, moving, cleaning, "what do you mean I have to do that now?" and so on. It's all worth it. Things will look great once they are all in place and I have known for a while that I should just get it all done. But, I am stubborn and I get stuck in my ways. So I should really just learn to go with the flow and listen to her once in a while. I know that my way is not always the right way to get things done, but it's also the only way that I know of getting it done.

I can't wait to see the house. I am sure it is going to look fantastic.

...I didn't die in an elevator today.

So, I was headed down to the lobby at work today. I'm on the 5th floor. Thanks to my knees, I rarely take the stairs.

Inside the elevator.

So, as I am headed to the front bank of elevators I was thinking what a great day it is. I was quite happy really. It was a sunny day outside, and there were just the right amount of clouds in the air for a summer day. Traffic didn't give me a hassle, my work day was going great.

I stepped in the elevator just as I have done many times before. I pressed the button to the first floor and awaited my swift transport to the ground floor. On the way I heard the pleasant dings of the bell alerting me that I have moved down another floor. After the third bell telling me I had reached the second floor, there was a loud "ka-chung" sound as the elevator stopped. I thought maybe it just hit hard on the first floor. The doors surely would open as they have done many times prior to this. However, today is not like every other day. No, today it decided to stop just after passing the second floor door. I opened my side of the door so I could better tell where I was. Sure enough there was a large #2 staring me in the face.