In the spring you can usually get a nice looking bunch of flowers for a reasonable price if you look around. We have a farmer’s market that visits my workplace on Thursdays. They sell cut wildflowers for $11 a bundle, and I love bringing them home to my wife. What I don’t get though, is why every single woman I work with always thinks it’s funny to act like the flowers are for them when I bring them back to my desk…
When I was young I vaguely remember a sort of ceremony when we “graduated” from elementary school. I know that it was the first time in my life where someone who wasn’t related to me told me that I was a smart kid. Other than that, I think that it was something that happened during school hours, and we probably got a half-day out of it (remember those?).
Anyway, my son graduates tonight. There’s going to be a ceremony in the evening, but I don’t think it’s black tie. I do know that parents aren’t supposed to rent limos for it, that would make some kids feel bad I guess. We make such a big deal out of these things now that I wonder if our children will have any sense of perspective when truly life-changing events occur. Getting my plans, for instance–that’s a life-changing event, right?
I expect my plans to arrive Saturday or Monday. That means that this weekend I want to finish the garage. That’s going to involve taking down some hooks, bracing the center of my workbench and installing a bottom shelf, and organizing my tools. My older son is 11 and it will be his first experience with power tools. When I was his age my father built an addition on to our house and I got all kinds of opportunities to “help” with that.
Working with big tools with your father can be a real bonding type of thing. I just hope that the video game generation hasn’t killed that. I’m sure that the XBox is a lot more fun than ripping a large piece of plywood, but maybe the kid will indulge me and act like he’s enjoying himself. What will probably happen is an initial interest followed by a plea to go swimming or inside after the first trip to the hardware store.
We’ll just have to see. 
More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.—Romans 5:3-5
No one will ever mistake me for a Bible-thumper, but there’s no doubt tons of wisdom to be found there. That passage was part of yesterday’s reading in church, and it kind of struck home with me in several interesting but probably dull to most people ways. I don’t dwell on my past, but I’ve certainly had my share of problems. Maybe I’ll discuss the someday, but not right now. I’m not a sad person by nature, and those are sad subjects.
Anyway, I’ve been through a lot just in the past five years, good and bad. It’s not all been suffering, but just as with the sad stuff emotional highs produce endurance as well. I’ve lost a lot and gotten a lot in return. I’ve been at the total bottom spiritually, financially and emotionally, and I’ve also been happier and felt more complete than I ever have before. I kind of thought the whole life experience roller coaster would be confined to your late teens and early 20’s, but apparently I’m wrong (or just a late bloomer).
So if endurance produces character, and character produces hope, then it’s no wonder that I really believe that I can get this done and done well. Sometimes I really wonder if I’m fooling myself but I don’t think I am. I quit smoking almost cold turkey because I believed I could do it. I got in shape for the same reason. I’ve done a ton of things in the last few years that could almost be described as impulsive, but they’ve all worked out well. Some have worked out very well.
I ran a marathon this past February. I didn’t run it fast, but I finished. It wasn’t all that hard, it just took a lot of training, patience, and a strong belief that with the proper preparation I could do it. Well, I did it. I also believe that if I follow the plans closely, take my time with things, and readily ask people who are smarter and more talented than I am for help when I need it then this boat’s going to happen and be pretty nice at the end.
Trust me, I’m no one special. There’s nothing really remarkable about me in any terms, I’m a pretty normal guy with my own unique blend of strengths and weaknesses. The difference is, I really believe that I can do anything I set my mind to right now. I don’t think enough people do, and that’s a shame.
When you grow up I think you spend a lot of time while you’re not playing thinking of ways to make playing more fun. Maybe if you had a new toy car for instance (like the one in the commercial)! Maybe if you could go to camp for an extra week, and maybe this year you’ll get to have the sunfish on the first day instead of having to take a class before you can sail it.
I always wanted a big dog. My parents decided that a dachshund was perfectly adequate in the pet department, and got one that didn’t fetch, was too smart to do tricks, and thought rolling in dead stuff was about as good as it got. When water came near, she also went away. I guess that breed isn’t known for swimming, huh? When I was older they got our family’s first lab, but I was pretty much in college by then so I didn’t get a chance to really play with her much.
When you have a kid you want them to have the things you didn’t. You want them to enjoy the things you always wished you could. You almost want to relive your youth through them, but only the good parts. It makes you crazy when you take them to the movies all the time and they don’t appreciate that you’re parents NEVER did that for you (or at least never bought you all the popcorn you wanted). When they have a really nice bike and a playroom with a TV and too many toys to count and act like there’s nothing to do you want to shake them until their teeth rattle and scream in frustration at all the options they have that were never given you. Of course, you can’t. You can only hope that they get it and wonder what you did to your parents that was similar.
Then you get a day like this weekend. At the beach. Sunny, but not too hot. Water was cool but not cold, refreshing rather than uncomfortable. Wearing the Birdwell Beach Britches that your wife got you for your birthday (which were THE bathing suit you had to have when I was younger). Watching your kids play in the surf. Then letting the dog go join them…
That’s the stuff that you take with you as a parent. I’ll be replaying the two of them jumping around in the surf for months to come, and when people ask what I’m smiling about I’ll just say “nothing” because how can you explain it? Seeing your son exhibit uninhibited joy doing something you always wanted to do, not taking it for granted, not expecting it, and just having fun is an amazing thing. Our older lab doesn’t care for the waves, or maybe just doesn’t want to get hosed down afterwards. The new dog had never seen the ocean before but looks like a natural.
This was also the first year that my younger son actually played at the beach. I sat with him in my lap in the surf for about an hour and watched him splash the water and listened to him say “bubbles” and “fishies” and “waves” over and over. Amazing how it never gets boring, huh? Thanks in part to the older one, he also learned the art of throwing sand, which DID get old…
Next year he should be old enough to really enjoy some fishing. Needless to say, I intend to find out.
Anyway, it was a nice little trip. I can’t wait for next year, I should have something to take in the water then.
My strategy of not calling people back has failed me. I sold the car. Assuming I can find the title, that is…
UPDATE: Sold the car, hope it makes them as happy as it did me. Now I have to stop missing it and start thinking about what kinds of tools to get!
What does it mean when you go to your blog and refresh it to see if anything new’s been posted?
I think I’m going to extend my posting to matters beyond building the boat just so I can think of things to write easier. The boat’s going to be a long project and I won’t even get started until I sell the car. However, if I don’t post regularly then it won’t be a habit and I’ll forget. I want this log for myself just as much as I want it to show others that it can be done. I guess this means that I need to figure out the whole categories thing.
So, I guess it also means I’m gonna say something about biking soon.
Please cancel my account, credit card number XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I no longer wish to do business with your company. I am not interested in hearing from anyone else as to why concerning this matter. The reason remains the same as that which I have given the last two times I have called to cancel. Namely, your habit of raising the rate I pay with notifications in fine print is one I find annoying, particularly given my habit of making regular above-the-minimum payments.
I am not interested in counter offers, I don’t care to argue about it, and all I want is to close my account. Please don’t tell me you’re closing it and leave it open, please don’t hold it open pending an exit interview. Just close it.
How hard is that to understand? Apparently too hard for the idiots who pass as AT&T customer service reps nowadays…
Now that I’m resigned to selling the car, I’m ready to get my garage back. I want to put a few woodworking tools (router table, table-saw, drill press) where the car is and hang a heavy bag that we have in the front area for people to look at and think that I actually work out. I need the space as soon as I can get it, our garden needs a fence around it and the grapevine has fallen (cheap iron lattice broke). I want to build a nice wooden lattice fence across the back and put a wooden pergola in the corner for the grapes.
The hottest prospect says he can’t get here until the 24th. I need to get off my butt and get the car ready for him. That can’t happen soon enough.
I knew the car was priced to sell, but I’ve gotten two serious inquiries already and one other set of questions. I called the first one and it’s as good as gone.
Kelly Blue Book sucks. They would put the value of my car at $4,075, while Manheim Gold puts it at $9,000 (assuming fair condition, which it is). A car lot will look at Kelly to do your trade-in (where it brings a whopping $2,850), but will price it at Manheim’s value when they sell it. I don’t really care, it’s worth about five grand to me and I want to see it sell quick. I just didn’t think it would happen THAT quick. Of course, having once been a Jag enthusiast I might have known…
I’m kind of sad, I really loved that car and will hate to see it go.
This is the first post of my first blog, which is really the first diary/journal I’ve ever kept or considered keeping. Why start now, in the throes of middle age? Well, it’s pretty simple. I enjoy reading what others have written and done on a subject that interests me, and hopefully this site will make a contribution to all of that information out there. If nothing else, it may be a starting point for others who are kind of like me.
Over the past decade an obsession has been building inside that’s probably a little goofy, but it’s mine so I’ll do what I want with it.
Basically I want to build a sailboat and go up and down the ICW to the keys (I live in North Carolina). No big deal, right?
To me the adventure will be the build process, but sailing will likely be a lot of fun as well. I hope you’ll excuse the “have to build it” attitude I have, I’m fixated on it and prepared to make this a five year project (that will probably be just in the planning stages for the next couple of years). I’m not worried about the budget too much (within some limits of course), and I have a good grasp of my capabilities and will talk about them in my posts on the subject.
This blog will focus mainly on the adventure of building a boat, and once I start I promise to throw up a lot of pictures and talk about what’s going on with it. Until then, you’ll have to be satisfied with my research on the subject and musings on why I’ve decided to do this instead of that.
Thanks for reading, enjoy your stay!