Slow as hell

Well it is the friday before the new years long weekend, so I am sure you can imagine just how dead it is around here. I have pretty much decided that we will close the office at noon. The phone has not rung once, and all of our regular adjusters are away on vacation. So the phone, I am sure can be forwarded to the answering service until 5.

Now I am a little groggy this morning, as Jenna came into town last night, and insisted on buying me a drink. Unfortunately I insisted on her buying me a few more drinks and the next thing you know, bam, i am hammered, and well so is everyone. All I remember is Jenna showing us her nipple ring while we all played pool. Now that is funny, but you must understand that crush was pretty much filled with people eating dinner, and then there was all of us rowdies. I am not sure how many people saw the exposed mammary that had been thwarted with a metal ring, but I am sure at least one old lady did. Moohahahaha

Now tonight is suppose to be my night to rip'r up, but I must concede that I am feeling like maybe I am not up for it. I might actually just stay in. NOT. I think what is probably most likely is that I will leave here at noon and go for a pint or two, and find myself home by dinner time, and in bed by 9 lol.....sounds pretty much like every other friday. But, I also really, really, really want to go to morgans again. Hmmm, what to do, what to do.

My next moral dillema is New Years Eve. Now Kraig and I had been bugging each other about the Oilers tickets for the past few weeks. They were mine, and then I voluntaryily said that Kraig could have them, if he really wanted them. He said that his father'n'law was going to be in town and that they would love to go to the game. So I conceded, but Kraig knew that I had planned on this game for a long time. He is now off on vacation and has not returned my messages. I have the tickets. Should I track him down at his home and ask if he still wants them, and risk losing them. Or do I just assume that he has conceded the tickets, and is basically saying "you go newman, there your tickets". Hmmm, what to do, what to do.

That pretty much sums up everything that is going on in my head right now. I know that might sound shallow, but hey it is almost new years and I am only a few days away from kicking into 2007 mode....the themes for 2007 are "savings", "travel", and "investment". But I will fill you all in on my plans come Sunday. Thats all for now, Newman out

New License

Well the new license came in the mail yesterday, and let me tell you, what a relief that was. It is nice to just have that baby in your hand, rather than somewhere in the mail. Upon receiving it, I also decided it would be best to get my new passport. Last weeks little scare with the old wallet made me realize that I need some more government issue identification to prevent me from getting stranded. So today I filled out my passport application and if all goes well I will head down the the Harry Hays building and get'r done. It will be so nice to be able to travel on a whim again. I can definately see me getting on a few planes in 07. The theme for 07 should be "anywhere but here".

Today has been brutaly slow at work. Linda is off sick, so we have no receptionist, which means either Ryan or myself has to be in the office all the time. He has gone out to look at Brad Bells flooded building, so I am stuck here till probably 3, and then I can leave to go to the gym.

I have been back at the gym now for a bit. Things are progressing nicely however my new workout format has given me some muscle gains that I was not really trying for, and thus my weight has only dropped a couple pounds. But I am pretty happy with how the waste-line is progressing, and still feel confident it will be "pool-worther" in a couple months. Or at least I hope cause I really want to get back in the pool and get back on the old springboard. God knows a couple hours on a diving board will go much quicker than a couple hours in the gym.

Looks like a bunch of us our going to hit Morgans tomorrow night. That should be a blast if everyone shows up that has said they would. I am going to do my best to stay away from Crush after work and only go to Morgans, preventing me from over-spending and also getting me ready for a month without Crush. For those who dont know, Crush will be closed in January and the first week of February some major renovations. I like this, and should also assist me in saving a few dollars and paying off a few bills. Which should also allow me to be back on track in February, and also to get on a plane with the little princess, and possibly a few others to Vegas. I have decided that if she cant get the time off work, I will just be forced to kidnap her. DID YOU HEAR THAT>>>I WILL KIDNAP YOU. lol

Anyway, I am bored at work, and basically just trying to kill time. So there was no real purpose to this blog other than that. Newman out

Goodbye Christmas

Well it is finally over, and now we can look forward to New Years lol.

Christmas was pretty much the same as every other christmas. A quick trip to the parents, some gifts exchanged, and some food in the belly. My presents were basically the same as every other year, some new socks, a shirt, a couple ties and a belt, and the bonus gift for the year from good old saint Nick was a new golf bag. I have wanted a new golf bag all year, but was just too lazy to go and get one. So I am very happy to have received this gift, and have already transferred my clubs and the other shite from my old bag over.

Christmas Eve turned out to be a pretty good one. It was the Crush Customer Appreciation party. Or as some prefer to call it "the come and have some free food and drink you single and sorry excuses for customers" party. It went over pretty well. There were only about 6 of us, but Brad and Corey took extra good care of us and ensured we were all well liquored before sending us on our way to Michaelangelos. Now this was only my second time at M.A. It is a small room with a few tables a few sofas and the sort. One of those places where all of the "tragically hip" and "artsy" people like to go, when they go slumming it. It reminded me a great deal of the basement bar at the Big Hunt in D.C. It had camoflauge webbing on the ceiling, and was very dimly lit. A great place to just chill out and get drunk and that we did. In tow were myself, Jessica, Soren, Andy Todd, and finally John. All drinks were on special for three bucks, so we drank them out of corona and made a good dent on the kokanee. The usual suspects, were all being extra suspect right in front of Andy, now it is a good thing he is a cool cop. Andy and Jessica seemed to hit it off pretty good. Maybe there will be handcuffs in her future lol.

After M.A it was off to the "a bar named sue" to listen to Soren play his old guitar and belt out a few numbers. And it was around this time that the old Primal Self Preservation Instinct kicked in. YES thats right PSPI, or you might have come to know it as "pulling a Newman". I walked the whole way from the Sue to my apartment, and because it was christmas eve I didnt even stop for pizza....damn. Now although people have been getting on my case over this primal instinct, I am grateful for it, because I am becoming well aware that nothing good ever comes after 2am. And even if it is good, it usually involves something bad. And from what I hear John and Jessica had a little tiff at around 2am, so I am glad I wasnt there cause god knows it would have been us, and then the vicious cycle would just start another lap. I guess I am growing up after all.

Well that just about sums it up. I was pretty impressed with my general lack of reflection this xmas season. I am really looking forward to 2007, and I think it is going to be a great year with plenty of positive changes, additions and deletions in my life, but we will talk about all that closer to the New Year.

Newman out

Wallet/Wassail/Lethbridge

Well much has happened since Saturday night. To start with I found my wallet on Sunday. This was sort of bitter sweet. Sweet because I had all my ID back, and bitter because I cancelled all my credit cards. So basically I am in the old red for awhile. Another good outcome of misplacing the wallet, was that I had my license replaced, which was something that I should have done a long time ago, and something that was causing me a little anxiety as of late.

Sunday was our Christmas wassail at lodge. This was a huge success. Turnout was around 65, a few more than I expected. There was plenty of food for everyone, and we collected quite a bit for the food bank. Suzanne played the piano for the first part of the social and she was a huge hit, and a number of the members asked me if I could get her back for the wine and cheese event in march. The wassail pretty much took up my whole day, and I did not get home till after 10pm. This was my first real glimpse at the commitment I will be making if I take on the chair of Junior Warden next year. Lets just say it is going to be a lot of work.

On Monday I attended my second last class toward my CSO, it was on Prime Contractor legislation, and was pretty basic, and we were out a bit early.

I was in Lethbridge yesterday and today. Lethbridge's program and staff are progressing better than I could have imagined. Everyone is trying hard to complete their paperwork, and all are giving me the right input in order to design systems specifically for their needs. This is such a rewarding project. Kelly is also bringing ideas to the table that I hadn't even considered, and I hope that I will be able to table them and have them adopted by the other offices as well. But enough shop talk.

Last night while in Lethbridge I sat in the Pizza joint next to the hotel and watched the Oilers game. Now the Oilers lost 7-6, but this was a great game of hockey. It would appear that the AVs just have our number this year. But I do hope I get to see more hockey games with that much heart. It was a fluid game, that at times, almost seemed choreographed to maximize the highs and the lows.

Today, I finished my Christmas shopping. Well I shouldn't say that, I finished buying my family presents. It looks like I am going to have to put off the friends until New Years, as the cancelled credit card is really taking a bite on my fundage. I am sure NYE is a better time to do presents for friends anyway, as I doubt I will see anyone on Xmas day.

Elsewhere in Newmanville, I am doing my best to ward off the melancholy of the festive season. As always this is easy to do by keeping myself busy and focused on work. Jenna called today, she seems to be dealing with the same things. Luckily though, it sounded like she was halfway through a bottle of wine. I cant wait till Friday, when I can enjoy a nice bottle of wine as well. This is my fourth Christmas alone, and in ways it is getting easier, and in ways it is getting harder. The easy part is that I have work to focus on, and work seems to be providing me with more and more to focus on. On the hard side, my decision to stay away from the sex until I find or commit to a relationship, means that I am without one of my normal defense mechanisms to deal with the Christmas season.

With all that said and this blog getting long, I will bid you adieu. I am sure I will be writing quite a bit come Saturday, Sunday and Monday. There is always so much to think about as Christmas gets closer. Plenty of soul searching, plenty of drinking, and thus plenty of writing too. Ciao

quiet saturday night

Well it has not been a good week, and it all started on thursday. Sometime between leaving the house on thursday night to go the gym, and awaking friday morning, my license went missing. It is hard to imagine it being stolen, as it was in my locker at the gym, and my locker was locked. I must assume that it fell out of my pants when I was changing, and that someone picked it up. Which really pisses me off. But there is another part of me that still believes that I have simply forgotten taking out it and putting it down somewhere. Lets just hope I come across it this week.

In my wallet were all the things you usually find in a wallet, so you can guess how my friday was spent. I had to deal with the bank, and my boss. But one of the things that was most unsettling was that I had a number of outstanding tickets on my license. This meant that getting a new license was not as cheap as it would normally be. I guess it was only fate, seeing as how I have been putting off paying those fines, and putting them off, and putting them off. This pretty much made me deal with my own procrastination, and my own stupidity.

So this morning I made the trek to the registries office, paid my fines, and got my picture taken for my new drivers license. I also chose to renew my license so now I should be done with the registries for another seven years. This, under normal circumstances would mean I can apply for my new passport. But as luck would have it, my birth certificate and my Health card were in the wallet, so now I have to get those replaced again in order to get my passport. This all reminds me of 1997 right before leaving for England, but I hope I get the passport earlier in the new year so that I can go on a vacation which I so desperately need.

Due to all of that excitement, I made the choice to go on a real tare last night, and it was a good one. It started at Crush with Mike from next door. Then Jenna showed up for a couple drinks out of the blue, on her way to see Daryl. Then Crystal joined us. Then Andy showed up with a fireman friend of his, who just so happens to be a bartender at Morgans. So the party moved from Crush to Morgans. Morgans was a pretty good time. There were a few hotties, and Andy and I spent some time chatting up a couple of them. Andrea and Jessica, one hot, one not so hot. The not so hot one was from Windsor, which helped to break the ice. But then Andy struck out with one of them and wanted to leave, so we all then went back to crush. I wasn't there long before Mike turned the party upside down, and I headed home for the safety of my bed.

Today has been a quiet day. I had lunch with Clay. I went to M&M meats. I went to Walmart. I had a visit with napzilla, and I cooked a ham for the wassail tomorrow. Right now it is about 9:30 and I am thinking about heading over to Crush for a pint or two. But I really don't want to be out late so part of me is thinking to just stay in. However, Julie, the cool girl from Sundog will be there celebrating her company Christmas party, and I really wanted a chance to talk with her again. So I am sure I will cave in and head over there shortly.

Not much else to report. I will be in Lethbridge most of this week. Although my new credit card will not arrive till after I get back so I am going to have to figure out the details of the trip on monday, and find some solutions for some of the requirements I will no doubt have while on the road.

And thats how the last few days have transpired, Nooman out

Finding a footing

Well work is peculiar these days. For the first time in a long time, it is not my job to put out fires. I have been left to cut out my niche and basically create a job for myself. The outline is there. I know I have to develop and maintain a safety system for Edmonton, Calgary, and Lethbridge that will be audit-able, and accountable. I also know that I have to act as the front man in engaging new clients, and to maintain relationships with the clients we already have. But other than that it is an open playing field.

The monitoring aspects of the new job are going well. I have been getting out to see everyone while they are working, and that is a good thing. I have also figured out a way to put all the paperwork the guys need onto one form. So they wont have to look for this form, and that form anymore. If the format works in a trial, I will be able to make workbooks up for all the guys and they can just take it with them to the worksite. This has been the highlight of my problem solving over the past week or so. And the form is pretty ingenious if you ask me.

Outside of work, life is life. I have been feeling very single lately and it has been a long time since that has bothered me. I think this stems from my visits to Edmonton and my visits with Shauna. In recent years I have put to much focus on the bullshit that goes along with maintaining a relationship; the mind games; the manipulation: And I somehow forgot or repressed how good it feels to just sit and watch a movie with someone, or just chat about everything and nothing with someone you trust. Sitting with Shauna is still as easy, and effortless as it has always been. But of course, timing is everything and I am the king of bad timing.

On that note I think 2007 will be the year to remedy all this, and maybe step out of my comfort zone, and possibly start looking for a girlfriend again, as well as other things. I have not thought about LeeAnn in awhile, and when I have they have been happy thoughts. Happy that she has created the life she always dreamed of. And in a strange way, these thoughts have inspired me to maybe start climbing that mountain again in search of my own dreams.

With that will come plenty of writing and plenting of editing. And maybe not so much time focusing on words which have already been regurgitated to the point that they have made my mouth sour, and my spirit bitter.

Thats all from me today. Hope everyone is doing well

Children and Christmas

As a bachelor, it is easy to forget about children. They become those little people you see on television. There is very little opportunity in the every day to day world, for most single people to come in contact with children. One of the reasons I look forward to attending church on Sundays is to see the children. To see their curious faces, and to listen to their simple responses to questions during the childrens sermon.

Today at Campbell-Stone the normal service was taken over by the children. Yes the annual christmas pageant. It was the same format as last year. The theme "the road to bethlehem". All us adults followed in the footsteps of Joseph and Mary. Into the gym, where four scenes had been set up. All re-enacting the journey. We came across the three wise men. We were given some bread for our journey. We were turned away at the Inn. And finally we found the new born baby in the manger.

As a single man with no children, there is much of the Jesus story that I cannot fathom. Part of the story I will never fathom, until I have been saved by a child. In making my trek through the gymnasium with all the parents and grandparents, it was quite apparent why the birth of the baby Jesus resonates so dearly with these people. It is simply because they know the redeeming quality that a child provides. There is no doubt in my mind that many of the parents, especially the fathers, understood the story of Jesus only when they had their child. It made me think of the words of that man so long ago, "there is no way to the father, but through the son". That might not be an exact quote but the idea is there.

This raises even more questions knowing that Jesus was a single man. And this is where the original authors of the story must be given credit, over the man himself. He might have preached it, but had the story of his birth not been included, we would not have this profound lesson in any form that could be understood.

So thats the kind of service it was. It was nice to watch, and nice to have such complex ideas presented in such a simple way.

Some other theological ramblings on this subject would have to be the nine months between Easter and Christmas. We celebrate Jesus birth almost exactly nine months after we celebrate his death and Resurrection. I dont know where I am going with this, but there must be some ideas out there regarding it.

Dont really know if any of that made sense. But suffice it to say, Christmas hasnt been Christmas since I was a child. And I doubt it will ever be again, until the birth of a child. So to all those lucky parents out there, happy holidays, Merry Christmas, and god bless the children.

Nooman out

Busy Busy Busy

Well, it has been a busy couple weeks. The new job is going well but has me doing plenty of driving. The perks to the new job are definately spending some free time in Edmonton. I was able to spend time with Shauna on Monday night. She was sick but we still got to chill out, eat popcorn and watch a movie. Now it would seem that she is into these older flicks so we watched an old movie called "what ever happened to baby jane" or something like that. It was made in the sixties sometimes, but had a much earlier feel, and I think that was on purpose, as the movie had quite a bit to do with "arressted development"

I am not sure yet whether I liked it or not. It was long, and there was plenty to think about. As well the characters were very intense. This film was made in a "different time", and I think the viewer needs to have lived in a "different time" in order to understand it. And that is where the movies true greatness comes out, because that is basically what the movie is about. Very strange, but I guess I do think it was a great movie after all.

I also took my mom and dad out for dinner to celebrate their 39th wedding anniversary on Monday. We went to Tony Romas, and it was the first time I have tried there original pork ribs...GOOD CHOICE....yummy. Mom and Dad are doing well. It sounds like Dad has 2 more years of work to go. Although it was one last year, so I think he is just going to keep putting it off, and putting it off, and putting it off.....And I wonder where I get my procrastination from. lol. Mom is doing well and getting a new car in January, she is excited about that. And it sounds like family matters down east are the same as always. I really need to think about getting out east in the spring for a visit, but I will keep you posted.

On tuesday, Kelly and I went for sushi, and it was nice to catch up with her. She is doing extremely well, and I am so proud of her for over coming so much in such a short amount of time. We spoke in length how I did not think she was going to make it. I honestly thought she would be dead soon, and now she is on top of the world. Well maybe not on top of it, but definatly climbing again. We also spoke about how the people you worry the most about end up doing ok, and the ones who you think should be able to pull there socks up, sometimes are the ones that dont make it. Life is funny that way I guess. Kelly is also starting at the mustard seed, so one all my clearances go through we can be "mustard seed buddies" lol. Anyway enough about kelly.

Elsewhere, Dyron and Sunde had there babies on the weekend. Ross and Clare, twins. WOW. I am sure there will be plenty of adventures to come, and I am sure Dyron and Sunde will make the best of parents. Happy Parenting.

I am just about finished making up my NewYearsResolutions. They are pretty harsh, but I think the rewards will be awesome. As well I am thinking about picking up a rental property next year in Ontario. The prices there are affordable, and with another investor or two, namely my father and brother, the payments would be manageable even while living in Calgary. And at the end of a rather short time the property could be paid off, and used to by another, without the weight of trying to do such a thing in a market like Alberta. But I will keep you posted on that over the coming months

And that is about everything from me, as I am not allowed to write about any participation in certain peoples lives anymore, because it causes them to "feel bad" or something. But I hope you are all having fun in your lives nonetheless.

Newman out