Its been a little bit. Ok, no, its been a good couple of months since I've last written. After a while, one tends to get caught up in the dregs of day to day life, things to do, places to see, all the while with a touch of laziness.
February and March went on through without much of a hitch. Carolyn and I went to (or at least attempted to go to) a variable smorgasbord of spring training games here in the valley during March. It was pretty much every Sunday, Thursday and Saturday there was a game to go to. A few got cancelled, some I just didn't go to. At $8-$13 a pop, I justified the loss of not going if something better came along.
Regular season baseball started, and I have the baseball package at the house on cable...once again trying to follow baseball due to a certain Detroit fan.
Wrestlemania (yes, I have a guilty fetish for my man-soaps...thank you Dad for instilling the desire to enjoy watching "professional" wrestling) was a fun pay per view to watch at home at the end of March, followed by the very next day of going to a live taping of Monday night's live TV show with Doug and Chris as we cashed in some unexpected tickets from Christmas. It was quite a nice surprise to go to an event that had the purpose of not only being stupidly entertaining, but an instant ego boost due to the surrounding crowd. I'm missing a tooth, but I think I alone had more teeth than my entire seating row combined. it would have been a great time to ransack the lovely town of Apache Junction as I think the entire town was there.
One thing has been a relative constant though, just because the NFL season has ended, Sunday fundays never really quit...the game just changes. Whether it be baseball or the current NBA and NHL playoffs (or even the recent NFL draft)...its always a reason to party, especially to take the time to be outside and grill & party before the summer nukes all of Arizona once again (yes, it was 95 today...in April).
I've been spurred on to make improvements in most aspects of my life, mostly by that same lovely Detroit lady (wink wink). I have restructured my diet and am eating a lot more sensible. I always try to incorporate a fruit and a vegetable in all meals and to limit my intake of bad foods in general. i force myself to have breakfast now, whereas I used to eat my lunch as a first meal.
I restructured the office and moved all my fitness equipment in there to consolidate my workout area and to open up my living room once again. I rejoined the gym, 24 hr fitness again, and whereas I don't go as often as I should, it is nice to once again have a lap pool at my disposal.
I chose (I swear inadvertently!) to do nothing but yardwork last Thursday on my day off...aka Earth Day. I planted two 12 ft shade tree saplings as well as a virtual OCD arborist list of landscaping duties that would make a dayworker landscaper cringe. On a side note...if you ever...EVER want to figure out what workout plan would give you the fastest results...I recommend the dig a hole workout. Better yet, dig two holes, about 3 ft deep by 3 ft wide in the Arizona soil (aka clay). I was sore for 3 days.
the new vehicle is holding up just fine and still has that (sniiiiiifffff) new car smell. its wonderful...and also due for her first oil change.
I had a garage sale last Sunday. I made $70 and got rid of a lot of crap. The beauty of it is that a good potion of the things sold ( bar promo items, glassware, other crap) was free for me to acquire, so it was pure profit...benefits to working in a bar. I got rid of all my old furniture and then donated the leftovers to the Goodwill to get a fat tax writeoff for next year.
Besides, I wouldn't want to have all that extra crap if i decide to move....
Which brings up a tentative topic, a potential move.
Earlier this month, I took my buddy Chris once again to his old stomping grounds in Southern Cali., Hermosa Beach to be exact. This little hidden gem nestled covertly in the middle of the LA area has found a very special place in me. It continues to defy the SO. Cal. attitude by being it's laid back, come as you are self. So, on our last day there while sitting in the hotel lobby, waiting for our taxi to the airport, I picked up a newspaper and perused the want ads and the places for rent. I thought to myself...this could be done. I could find a job or two easy enough, and a place to live, and there are plenty more job opportunities for Carolyn out here as well. Upon my return to the PHX, I brought it up to her and we started looking for employment for her. Sure enough, there are plenty of jobs that she more than qualifies for and hopefully could easily get.
The only foreseeable problems would be finding a place that allows not one, but two midsize dogs, and her current automobile issues and her apartment lease. The latter two would be able to be freed up in about a year, so if this does happen, it would be sometime around this time of year next year or later. As for the house here...well it would either have to be sold or rented or whatever (vacation home for mom & pop??). Mom sounds on board with it. In addition to being something beneficial to Carolyn and I, it would bring me closer to my family, especially with some aunts, uncles and cousins on my Mom's side.
Thus begs the question? How serious and why? Well, not only can I bother saying the benefits of being on a coastline and out of this desert heat, but I think it is safe to say that the vast arrays of opportunities are better suited there than here. Is Phoenix expanding and getting better? Tough to say. I just am really starting to feel that my time is up here and there isn't much desire to stay around. I'm not saying that there are opportunities here, there are, but more than likely those opportunities would require a longer commitment to the desert, which I don't know if I really want. As of this month, I have been here for 15 years and 4 months. Technically speaking...half my life just about. I also think that a wider array of opportunities, not only for work, but for private life and quality of life may benefit Carolyn and I's relationship. Not that anything is wrong, but a stagnant desert isn't exactly someplace I may consider raising a potential family if it is decided to go that route at some point.
On another note to get the hell out of dodge...my allergies are once again ravaging havoc on me. Nosebleeds, dry cracking skin, itchy eyes, congestion, and the inside on my nose feeling like a triscuit cracker would be wonderfully unmissed if I wasn't in a desert format. that and i could finally get my board and wetsuit wet on a frequent basis. (That's my own personal guilty reason)
we will be going to Michigan next month on a week's vacation and a brand new experience for me, and no, I'm not just talking about going to a state that i have never visited yet either.
So what happens from now until anything happens if it does? We continue to do research, work, and live our lives. See what opportunities are out there for us, even if they are ones that others didn't expect us to take. time is starting to waste away and so are expectations and personal lives of inaction.
I'll try to keep things posted better in the future.
