GnomeMonastery

Believe it or not, I am now engaged to a very beautiful and wonderful woman whom I love very very much.

I am running on very little sleep right now and feeling a mixture of excitement, being nervous and being terrified.   But I have never been happier in my life.

I have tons to do, so that’s it for now, but I will try to post more later.  I have been meaning to post about my trip to Portland but I have been a bit busy lately.

Ciao

Wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Hope you have a great time with your family and that next year is a great one.

The title really does not mean anything special, just that it is November and this morning I woke up to the first snow of the season.  I don’t mind the snow but I really wish it would stay off of the roads and sidewalks as I am not a huge fan of shoveling or driving in it, of course I doubt too many people are.

In my last post I had said that I signed up for eHarmony.  Thanks to them I have been seeing a wonderful lady for close to two months.  I don’t want to jinks anything so I will just leave it at that.

I celebrated my 34th birthday by seeing New Moon.  I have to say that I felt pretty old being in a theater full of high school kids…by the sounds of their oo-ing and ah-ing I would say mostly high school girls.  The movie was good, I think I liked it better than the first one.  The books, though, are still better.

Speaking of movies, there are a few movies out and that are coming out that I would like to see like 2012, Avatar, Ninja Assassin, Sherlock Holmes…there is another one but can’t think of it at this time.  Need more time and money.

I am taking some time off at the end of the year.  I want to go somewhere but not sure where yet but was considering Seattle or Leavenworth.  It’s not the greatest time to travel though as the cost to travel and stay at hotels is a lot higher the week between Chirstmas and New Years.  I will figure something out.

Not much else going on.  So that’s it for now.

Ciao

I tried for a head turning title rather than the ubiquitous “Update” that is too often used.  I can’t really say that much has not happened as there have been some big changes in my life, perhaps nothing earth shattering but for me they are pretty big.  The first is that I am now a homeowner.  I can’t say that I feel all that different though, with the exception of the huge debt that goes with being a homeowner.  I been doing a few minor home improvement type things like replacing some windows and putting down some grass in a few places.  Next year if things work out I would like to have it sided but I need to save some money for that first.

Speaking of saving money, life sure does not make that easy sometimes.  I took my car in this week to get the snow tires put on, the oil changed and a problem with lack of power looked at.  Well it turns out that my 13 year old car needs a new clutch.  The repairs are going to cost about as much as the car is worth.  I went and test drove a few cars but I decided for now to just get my car repaired.  I don’t want to be rushed into a decision on buying a new car and my car only has 97k miles on it, it has to have some life left in it still.  So the plan is to start saving for a new car…yep something else I need to save money for.

In other news, I also signed up with eHarmony to try to meet that special someone.  I am way outside of my comfort zone with the whole dating thing and I find it a bit stressful.  Other than that, I am not going to say a lot more about it at this time.

At work, I am switching into a new role.  It is actually almost exactly like my old role except rather than working on a lot of smaller projects I will be working on a few big projects that are more closely managed.  Kind of excited about the change but also nervous.

I am sure there are other things that are new as I have been horrible this year about updates.  But that is all I can think of for now.  If anyone is still reading this blog…well…sorry.

Ciao

Well I did Bloomsday again this year. For those who do not know, Bloomsday is a 12 kilometer (7.46 mile) run that is held in Spokane, WA each year. This year I wanted to do it in an hour and 30 minutes and I am happy to say that I did it faster than that…although not so happy to say that I hurt like hell right now. Next year I am shooting for under an hour. Anyway, here are my results for this year:
Finish Time: 1:20:32
Overall Place: 10,914 out of 44,490
Ran with a pace of 10:47 per mile
The average pace for 33-year-olds was 14:23
Placed 215th among 684 people the same age
Placed 3,840th among 17,717 people from Spokane, WA
Placed 8,328th among 35,983 people from Washington
Placed 7th among 26 people with the same last name
Placed 6,536th among 18,141 males
Placed 101st out of 219 among 33-year-old males
And for comparison here are my results from 2008:
Finish Time: 1:47:02
Overall Place: 18,592 out of 42,761
Ran with a pace of 14:20 per mile
The average pace for 32-year-olds was 14:42
Placed 297th among 614 people the same age
Placed 6,674th among 17,398 people from Spokane, WA
Placed 14,027th among 33,995 people from Washington
Placed 12th among 28 people with the same last name
Placed 9,637th among 17,496 males
Placed 130th out of 213 among 32-year-old males
Here is a map of the run generated by RunKeeper for my iPhone for those that are interested. The time does not exactly match up because I started it early and stopped it late but it is close.

That’s it for now, I need to get some sleep.
Ciao

Should have gotten this up sooner rather than…well now.  I am doing the MS Walk again this year and have put off registering till just a few days ago and the walk is Sunday.
I know the economy sucks right now, but if you can, I would appreciate it if you would sponsor me.  Here is the link to sponsor me.  Thank you.
Will post more later, at work at the moment…although really not that much new.
Ciao

Well I finally got a round to going to the gym and renewing my membership. I also picked up a few sessions with a personal trainer to force me back into a routine. I start Monday morning at 5 which means I need to get back into the habit of getting up at 4 every day. I will go to the gym Monday, Wednesday and Friday and spend some time on the treadmill the other days.
Ciao

Of course, don’t we all.  It always amazes me though that I seem to need more time but when I look back at my day, I can’t recall where all the time went.  Anyway, sorry for the lack of updates, I keep saying this so it probably does not mean much…but I will try to update more.  I never know what to say though.  I want to put something down meaningful but I never have anything meaningful to say.
Learning to play the guitar is HARD.  I practiced 30 minutes a day and thought that I was doing well.  However, once I was in my lesson and playing in front of my instructor it all went to hell.  I messed up EVERYTHING and my fingers kept getting confused on what string they were on and…well let’s just say it was a mess.  I need to practive more I guess.
Have not been back dancing since I quit almost 2 months ago.  I do miss it, but affraid I forgot too much and don’t want to make a fool of myself.  Plus I really don’t have any friends to go with and would rather do something with people rather than by myself.
Speaking of which, one of my mother’s coworkers is trying to get my mother to set me up with her sister (the coworker’s not my mother’s that would just be wrong).  My mother gave me the number and said it is up to me.  I don’t think I am going to call, but was thinking that if I did, I really have no idea what I would even say or do for that matter.  I so need to meet a lovely lady that is a take charge kind of gal because I don’t think I am ever going to meet anyone if it all is left to me to deal with.
Well I need to get back to work, took a few minutes during lunch to type this up.
Ciao

Sorry about that.  You can now register for the site if you want to.
Ciao