Weds day off

I had today off, and i guess I had a decent day. Last night after working a day shift I hung out with my old bartender Big E from the vine to discuss his very wrongful firing after he worked there for 16 years. Not cool to hear what he talked about nor what direction my old stomping ground was going, but it was expected that they run themselves into the ground. I'm glad I got out when I did.
As for today, I got up before noon, made breakfast and watched some DVR'd wrestling from the night before. I played some video games after and then took Jenny on a nice long walk to tire her out. Something that definitely struck me as wrong was that here we are, walking around town in a tank top and shorts in 85 degree sunny weather. Not bad right? Only problem is that its winter still...in February. There's just something not right with that.
We got back home and I tinkered around on the internet for a few before starting to cook dinner.
I ended up using a jar of jerk seasoning Doug gave me as part of his birthday culinary adventure he gave me on some chicken. It was phenomenal. Very much spicy, but it had me craving more.
I also stir-fried up some veggies and chow mien noodles to go along with it. It was quite delicious.
I was able to get ahold of my cousin Jenny and chatted with her for a bit. We talked about he upcoming job at a park we all grew up around next to our old grandparents home, and the possibility of making a solid effort to try and all go to the Azores this summer. It was a good chat.Off to work in the morning again!

My annoyances

In no particular order, things that are my pet peeves and annoyances that people always tend to do.

Not saying please.

Not saying thank you.

Phonecalls in general.

Eating with your mouth open.

Barking orders at me.

Not cleaning up after yourself.

Not at least trying food I make.

Not saying goodbye.

Using a phone, TV or something else while I'm trying to have a conversation with a person.

Talking during a movie, especially one that I haven't seen yet.

Hovering over my shoulder.

Smacking gum.

Abusing my hospitality (reason why I don't throw parties anymore).

Driving while on the phone.

Those damn people who leave flyers on your doors at home or on your car windows.

Homeless guys asking for change that don't look homeless.

People using my tax dollars to get things they don't need or deserve, AKA, illegals, people having unplanned children, corporate CEO's getting bailouts for stupid behavior.

Go take a hike

Wednesday I had the day off and decided to go ascend Camelback mountain for the day. It was a beautiful day outside, in the low 70's with clear, windless skies. Even though I've been in the valley for 14 years, I still haven't climbed the mountain. I've driven by it almost every day going to work the past 5 years, and it's always been visible on a daily basis for all 14 years jutting out of the valley floor.

Here's Wikipedia's listing for the mountain-

Camelback Mountain is a mountain in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. The name is derived from its shape, which resembles the two humps and head of a bactrian camel. A period of missing time amounting to almost a billion and a half years is represented by the division between the two rock formations which comprise the mountain.[citation needed] The higher part of the peak is Precambrian age granite, around 1700 million years old (almost 1/8 of the age of the Universe). The head of the camel is Tertiary age sandstone, approximately 30 million years old.[citation needed]
This mountain is a hiking destination for both locals and visitors to the valley. It is located in the Camelback Mountain Echo Canyon Recreation Area between the Arcadia neighborhood of Phoenix and the town of Paradise Valley.
The peak lends its name to a major east-west street in the Phoenix area called Camelback Road that starts in Scottsdale and goes about 34 miles (55 km) west past the West Valley suburbs of Goodyear and Litchfield Park. It starts again past the White Tanks.
Serious efforts to protect Camelback Mountain as a natural area began in the early 1910s. In the late nineteenth century Camelback Mountain was set aside for a Native American reservation. Half a century later nearly all of the area was sold to private interests. Federal and state authorities attempted to stop development above the one thousand and six hundred feet level. They failed to halt development and in 1963 efforts to arrange a land exchange failed in the Arizona State legislature.
It wasn't until 1965 that Senator Barry Goldwater took up the cause, helping to secure the higher elevations as a city park for Phoenix in 1968.
US government topographic maps from the early 1900s refer to the ridge as "Camel's Back".
Camelback Mountain has been designated as a Phoenix Point of Pride.

The mountain is over 2700 ft tall, with a climb of over 1300ft after factoring out the area's sea level. It's still a climb.There are two paths that go up the mountain, the shorter and steeper echo canyon route and the longer and gradual cholla trail. I chose the latter. The first 2/3rds of the climb is steep, but its along an established maintained trail. It's the final ascent that shocked me.

The trail literally dissolves into the granite top and you are now actively climbing a mountain instead of hiking it. here's the view right before the final ascent push.

You definitely do not want to fall here. Every year people get stranded, hurt and die on this mountain. Surprisingly, the only help you have getting up here are randomly placed orange reflectors and faded blue paint spots that loosely guide the best ascent up to the summit. Besides that, other hikers are your guides and help. There is enough people up here on a daily basis when conditions are good, so you always have contact. People get into trouble when they go late in the day and have to come back in the dark, or in bad or hot weather.

The reward at the top is a wonderful accomplishment however, and the descent is far easier and faster. Just for safety, police helicopters routinely fly by the mountain on a daily basis to give checkups and we got buzzed by one that came by as close as 100 yrds away.

I'd do it again, but man it does kick your butt. My legs are still sore 3 days later.

My Flaws

Marc's flaws are that he is lazy and unmotivated a lot of the time. Wherein once he gets going on something, there isn't much to stop him, but that is only counteracted by getting him to do it in the first place. He will put something off for " tomorrow" or claim lack of time to do it. He can use assistance or persuasiveness to get up off his ass.

He hates phone calls and puts off returning calls or especially emails. It doesn't matter if its a family member, friend or business, unless you get a hold of him the first time, expect to wait.

He has trouble initiating conversation or communication especially if its with new people or even with those close to him on touchy subjects. He's made improvements, but still shys away from it.

Marc is a very introverted, quiet "B" type personality. He isn't a go-getter or trend setter. It makes him susceptible to mediocrity and getting comfortable with things too fast, which then is compounded by laziness. This affects everything from personal and family relationships, to work and his social status.

He does not like crowds and prefers a good amount of alone time unless its with very close friends.

He's afraid of major changes because of his comfort levels at times. He does know that change is a good thing and usually is accepted, but he does not actively go out to look for change for the most part.

Marc has various personal habits that may be destructive or annoying. That includes watching his weight, his drinking, sleeping habits, a bad nail biting habit, not taking care of his teeth well, diet and intestinal health. He also has a good amount of past and current emotional and physical problems that haunt him which could use a good shrink at times to possibly explain the thoughts that run around in his head sometimes that don't make sense.

He has some personal mental vices that only he will ever know.

He is a perfectionist at times and likes to have things happen his way. Most of the time it really is a good way to have a thing happen the way it does, but he doesn't work well with others if they are a strong personality type. Things must be explained with tactful sense if he is to budge or negotiate with or on something, otherwise he will not even do anything.

He hates indecisiveness, tardiness, flaking out, abrasiveness, aggressiveness, glory hounds, outspokenness, kissing ass, drama queens, and snobbishness.

He does not tolerate being used and misused. If you are on his bad side, he will ruminate on it for a very long time and chances are will not let a grudge go unless one apologizes.

Marc can't stand stupid people who do stupid things, especially after giving them advice.

He has a problem getting along with children and rarely knows how to interact with them.

He has fears of death, heights, bugs, being buried alive, roller coasters, large tight crowds and failing his duties with friends and family.

His emotions can fluctuate at the drop of a hat. He can go from happy na denergetic to angry, sad, vengeful, spiteful, ignorant, depressed, sleepy, disillusioned or disheartened for the smallest of reasons.

He is allergic to and so very much so, hates cats.

Although curious about how things work, he is not mechanically inclined.

These are some of the things that are his flaws.

My Attributes

Marc is a hard worker when there is a job to be done. If there is a task put in front of him that is needed to be done, whether demanded out of necessity or on his own convictions, the deed is going to be done, and will be done at the highest level of dedication and quality that he can make it at.

He is a provider, a caterer towards hospitality out of his own free will. He stands with open arms to go out of his way to make someone feel pleased, whether it be with food, beverage, gifts, deeds or support. When he does something out of his heart for someone, there is no asking of reciprocity. Acknowledgement of a heartfelt deed is sufficient with an honest thank you.

He is money wise. It took him a little bit of time to learn lessons on his own in the past, but with gentle guidance from his father, responsibility and frugality are passed on. Even though he still has to know what hard times are, he respects the money he makes and saves when he can. Thankful for the financial blessings he's had presented to him over the years, he is forever thankful. While understanding the needs to save, he also understands that money is not everything and enjoys occasionally spending money on himself to experience life.

He is a traveller and yearns to experience more of the world when he can. He is best and prefers travelling with others as to make the experience richer, but sometimes is unfortunate not to have companions along for adventures. If he could travel for a living, he would be a happy man.

Marc is a dog person, no doubt about it and wouldn't have it any other way.

He has instinctive culinary skills and loves to experience new techniques and experiments with food. He hardly has any recipes memorized and works best when working on the fly in the kitchen. Any time he makes a signature dish, it isn't the same but equally as good. He only cooks in big portions and lives to cook for others and considers it insulting to have guests not even try a bite of food.

He is dedicated to his family as he will never have another one like it.

He is a great lover in the physical sense and emotional too, but needs work on the latter.

He can accept criticism of his person without losing his temper if its done with sense, constructively and without malice.

He will never let anyone change the person he is after learning that lesson the hard way.

Always willing to learn something new, he is curious of the way things work in the world. Even if its not vocalized, he asks himself how, what, why or why not.

A talented person, he is astoundingly creative in the arts and written word when he lets himself be, as long as he casts away the laziness.

He has a very easy temperament which takes a very long time to heat up and burst. Don't be around when it does, but he is always calm and non-confrontational.

Marc is always adaptable when he lets himself in any situation. He's orderly, calculated and planned out. Predictable at times unless he planned ahead to be unpredictable. Clean, helpful, steadfast and reliable are words that come to mind.

These are most of the things that are his attributes.

week in review 02/08-02/15

At the onset of this week I had taken time off to originally go camping, but plans fell through long before the time off came. Crystal and I elected to go to Prescott for a night last sunday. we showed up late, in a snow flurries before a storm was scheduled to come in the following day. IT was nice and non invasive, and disappeared quickly as it hit the ground after a few minutes. I thrive in cold. It energizes me and awakens my senses. We checked in and headed out to walk around town after 4pm.

The problem with getting into town so late to a small town is that they really do roll up the streets long before sunset. Every store was closed, only leaving select bars and restaurants open.

We drove up to Prescott Valley and visited Crystal's grandma for a few minutes before heading back into town to eat dinner and have a few drinks at a bar. We turned in before the bars closed and tried to get sleep on a awkwardly uncomfortable bed.

We got up the next morning, shook off the cobwebs from the day before and headed north to Sedona to browse around. The weather was moving in quickly and all of the mountain tops in sedona were snow dusted.

It made for a very pretty sight. The town was tossed apart with road construction though which made travel annoying. We went through a good amount of shops but didn't buy anything in a ungodly overpriced tourist trap town. We found a deli and had a sandwich, then headed home feeling somewhat unfulfilled.

The rest of the week didn't amount to much until the weekend came. I worked, did some shopping, did home projects including appeasing another annoying demand from my stupid H.O.A. regarding a sloppy looking side gate. The weekend was pretty slow considering it was a NBA all star weekend with the Phoenix valley hosting it this year. There were no major incidents over the weekend and we were able to get out of work quickly both days.

Sunday rolled around and I once again ordered WWE wrestling pay per view as my guilty vice. It was a good display of theatrics with a friends of mine tagging along for the ride. I was lazy and decided not to cook, but instead ordered pizza delivery for ease of effort. It was a fun enough night with Crystal playing with Laura and Kyle's son Connor around the house and the rest of us watching the wrestling. The night ended early and I was in bed by 10:45 to rest up for the morning's workday.

greenthumb

Well my spring planting is done and the yard is cleaned up. I shouldn't have to do anything major with it until weeds or pests pop up. I spent the last 3 days working on things bit by bit. Today I finished by trimming back the grape vines and some of my herb plants and I harvested another 15 chili peppers. I also planted a new lantana and another small bush in front on top of 2 vacant drippers that were not in use.
Total for the garden I have the following planted and growing- 3 tomato plants, fava beans, red onions, 1 zucchini plant, 3 green chilis, 2 red chili peppers, and a throng of lettuce that is literally everywhere. Barring a late winter freeze, it looks like my rouge papaya tree survived and once it gets warm, should get healthier and taller. The artichoke and strawberry plants survived through the season and are thriving. All the citrus trees survived and are double in size. I even have a few limes starting out on the lime tree.
I do have a struggling weed problem, which I hope that a combo of sprays and pulling helps to squash. Damn birds, I got too many of them around. One pair of pigeons is living in my neighboors roof, and a squad of doves keeps visiting my roof, pooping all over my patio. There is a random cat who likes to slaughter an occasional one and eat it under my lemon tree, leaving me the feather scraps. I wish he'd get more of them and instill a predatory deterrent in my yard to stop them from coming. At least he doesn't crap in or destoy my yard, he knows jenny is around and doesn't want to deal with her or me. Hope it doesn't get cocky.

Last sunday funday wasn't so fun

Ah the last Sunday funday of the season. The Superbowl. After that Sunday, its 8 months of having to find something else to do on the weekend. Yardwork, dog walking, sleeping, afternoon naps watching the golf channel. This Sunday was supposed to be special however. The Cardinals were in the Superbowl for the first time. I've been waiting to see this happen since I moved out here and adopted Arizona as my team since 1995. Unfortunately it was against the Steelers, a 5 time champion.

We held a party at our friend Andrea's house where we were to BBQ, drink and watch the game. I made it to about halftime before my night turned south. God bless her, she tried hard to clean the house for me, but with her 2 cats, it was a matter of time before I succumbed to the vicious allergies that bane me. Even with allergy meds, it still got to me. Puffy eyed, runny nosed, and sneezing away, I was banished to the outside patio where I "watched" most of the second half by listening to the radio. To add to it, I only had 6 beers over 5 hours, which is nothing, but despite no warnings on the box, it interacted with the beer and really messed me up. Disoriented, migraned and still with allergies on top of it, I forced myself inside for the last 5 minutes of the game. I was rewarded by a spectacular catch to gain the lead with 2 minutes to go only to be crushed with an opposing miracle touchdown with 30 seconds to go.

All was not right in the world. I gathered my things after the game, fought traffic home, downed 4 more advil and passed out completely sober (a rarity) and disappointed on the last Sunday funday.

I suppose some things were for the best. I wasn't hungover Monday morning and I got plenty of sleep, which led to a active and productive day at work. I got home, did some chores while watching Monday night wrestling, then took Jenny on a long walk. I got home, relaxed and went to bed early. I was able to get up early today and tune up the front yard. Two huge trashbags full of trimmings off all the bushes. I started to pick all the weeds up, but I'd be there all day seeing that they are so small and everywhere. I sprayed them instead. I can't wait til spring when the weather really warms up for them. It doesn't really matter, its 80 degrees in January and February here, so they're getting an early start.

I read on Ryan's website that he got his American care package I sent him a few weeks ago, so it was good to see he enjoyed the food and goodies from back home.

On the other down note, I have my fun filled root canal tomorrow. I can't wait to deal with not only the physical bullshit from it, but to have my insurance finish screwing me over and have to pay out of pocket from here on out. I love it.

I requested off time for a possible camping trip next week way back in November, but I never thought I'd be using it for additional dental work that I can't afford. So far this year is startin off awesome.