life

Left over from a long time ago.

Blog Instead of being asleep at 01:02 on 28 December 2004, kitt created this:

A long time ago (all of 4 years ago), I had to ssh into my system to update pages on my website. There I had a "Rant of the Day" page where I, of course, ranted about something. I can honestly say, 4 years ago, it was very easy to rant about everything.

It was a long time ago (heh. long. Like 4 years is a long time.), but the rants are interesting to me, so here are the last four I made:

03/26/01
Someone stole the antenna off our new car. Stupid AGDMF loser.

 
11/08/00
Today reminds me why I don't believe in the "democratic" system. Today is the day
the village idiot was voted into the highest political position in the world.

The political system that allows the chummy guy around the corner who is incapable
of speaking clearly, can't defend his own beliefs, and resorts to personal attacks
when he is unable to form a coherent argument to run the most powerful nation is 
one that is obviously flawed.

Now is the time for the next revolution. Now, more than ever.
 
 
09/25/00
Argh! My web pages suck and no one bothered to tell me! ARGH.

I just loaded my pages up in Internet Explorer and, well, they look like crap!
They look great in Netscape on a Linux box.

Phooey.

Given how few rants there are, and how angry I was at the world at that time, I'm really glad I didn't have a true weblog or drupal to enable my rants. That would have been bad.

I want! I want!

Blog kitt decided around 15:58 on 27 December 2004 to publish this:

Oh, I am laughing so hard right now. After looking through a soccer supply catalog, I came across the Hummel Squadra cleats in lots of colors. Look at them! They come in pink. PINK! Can you imagine seeing me flying down the ultimate field on the pull with pink cleats? Me, neither, but that's not the point. Pink! How about with a monster layout? Me and my pink cleats!

I'm so excited! I might have to buy a pair just for the entertainment value. My options are light blue, white, pink, lavender (lavender!), red, yellow, green, blue and black. My sides ache from laughing. Pink cleats!

I want.

The good and the bad (which may just be the nebulous)

Blog Instead of being asleep at 18:17 on 18 December 2004, kitt created this:

A documentary post about today, with a hint of personal progress.

Today was Aruna's baby shower. Libby, JenO, and Sarah organized it, with Libby hosting. I like that Libby hosted, as it meant a 2 mile (if that) jaunt for me to get there. Of course, Aruna's isn't much farther for me. I like having friends so close.

Lisa didn't make the shower, as the movers were here today to move their belongings. We (Ben, Lisa & I) went for Cold Stone Creamery last night (for dinner! It was my dinner! I love having CSC for dinner!), when she told me she probably wouldn't make the gathering.

The group at the shower were mostly Rippit women, with two non-ultimate women. We played very low-key baby shower games. Thankfully. Because the bachelorette parties these ladies throw are embarrassing! We played "How many toliet paper squares does it take to fit around Aruna's belly?", "Memory" (20 baby items on a tray shown to you for 1 minute, take the tray away and write down all the items you remember: Libby won at 16, I was second at 15), and "CAAAAB" or "Create An Acronym About Aruna's Baby" (where Aruna pulls 5 letters from a Scrabble set, and we created acronyms about the baby with the letters - this was right up my alley).

Lisa had purchased our gift for Aruna, so I just had to make pumpkin bread and head over. Mmmmmmmmm....

Later in the day, I called Jess to see how she was doing. Jess called me on Thursday night and told me she has breast cancer. It's the kind her mother had (15 years ago, so survival is good), been caught early (so survival is good) and doesn't require chemo at this point in the diagnosis (so survival is good). We talked for a while on Thursday, but I hadn't called her on Friday, so I wanted to call her today. She seemed in good spirits. Yesterday was her 5th year wedding anniversary to David, which is really cool.

Her surgery is tentatively scheduled for next Wednesday. She wasn't able to get confirmation because the O/R scheduling system was down at the time her surgeon's office called to make arrangements. She's having reconstruction done at the same time.

I'll head out to visit her at the new year. In the new year, I'll be able to stay a little longer, and get to see Crazy Cousin Kelly, Jenny and Dad, too. Maybe Dad will go sledding with me. That would be fun. And fun is needed in low times.

I was about to write, "I'm not able to visit her until next month/year." but in reality, the proper sentence is "I choose not to visit her until next month/year, in favor of spending my first Christmas with Kris as husband and wife, spending $400 instead of $700 to get there since money is an issue, continuing my training, take care of Rossi (Mike & Kate's big chocolate lab, who is staying with us for the holidays) and finishing up projects I said would be done by the end of the year." I say "choose" because it is my choice (taking a chapter out of the mental toughness book I'm reading).

May I see your ID?

Blog Posted by kitt at 23:16 on 11 December 2004

I went to the grocery store today to buy fondue makings (cheese fondue makings, to be exact, for a dinner party Keith and Katie were giving with Christina and Wade).

Stressed! And yet...

Blog kitt decided around 16:24 on 2 December 2004 to publish this:

So, I'm totally stressing out this morning. I had just found out the changes to code I had made last night completely borked the product, and the client was unhappy that he couldn't test the software, and I'm getting ready for lunch with Heidi, who I haven't seen in ages, and I'm already going to be last, but I have to see if I can fix the problem because we have a meeting at two and there will be other people there, including Mike, who calls at that exact instant of my stress to see what's up and I totally break down and start cursing at the code that's not even doing a POST correctly so that Mike says I sound exasperated, did I want him to look at it, and the dogs are in the bed, sleeping, but I have to dash so I leave and head out and arrive late which is bad because Heidi's time is really pressed, and I can't find her and then she shows up and we have lunch and I had off to the meeting and as I'm walking up to the office, I'm still stressing because this just sucks and ...

The sun hits my face.

It's warm. And pleasant. And at that moment, I am very happy to be alive.

And the meeting wasn't so bad after all.

Those Moments of Personal Reflection

Blog Posted by kitt at 20:32 on 29 November 2004

I was recently talking (emailing back & forth, actually), with a good friend * of mine. He's one of those good people who have always been in my life - you know, the ones who you can't remember your life before they entered it. He commented that, at some point, he'd like to write his "life story" for a personal reflection. We both shuddered at the "life story" bit (how monumental and overwhelming the task of writing one's life down onto paper (or pixels)!).

However, he did point out that since the goal would be personal reflection, and not entertainment of others, few people outside his immediate family would be interested in reading his story.

I disagreed and still disagree.

So much history has been lost. I know precious little about my grandparents, even less about more distant relatives. Perhaps their lives were boring. I suspect not. I think I would probably find similarities between the internal struggles I face and the ones they faced, too. The details may be different, but the conflict is most likely the same.

A watershed moment happened for me a few weeks back. The personal evolution that has happened since that moment may not mean much to anyone but me. But knowing how I was before that moment makes me appreciate more the time after that moment. I doubt I would have the perspective without the ramblings of this site/blog/journal.

Even without the specific personal reflections.

* That link may not be good quite yet. It's a gift to my friend for Christmas and he may not have started it yet.