So This is Where it Ends

Well I was caught off guard when I got home from work. I pull into the driveway and see Carly getting out of Kristen’s minivan. Two months ago, this would have gotten an “ah crap” response out of me. Today, the first thing that popped in my mind was “let’s do this”. We sit around the living room for a while laughing and goofing off. The typical male side of me can’t help but get a peek at her cleavage from time to time. I can’t help it, I’m a guy. We go out for dinner. When we get back to the house, Kristen tells me she has a bad headache. I agree to give Carly a ride back to her apartment. Carly is only the 6th female to sit in the passenger seat of the Miata. She’s only the 2nd female that wasn’t family. I put the top down and we head down the road. It is a perfect temperature outside. We have friendly conversation while driving down the road. At that moment, I’ve wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to tell her more than I had ever wanted to since this whole ordeal began. We arrive at her apartment. She gets out, gathers her things and thanks me for the ride. She also mentions how much she loved riding in the Miata. With that, she turns and walks away. I know I will see her again, but at that moment, it felt like I was telling her goodbye. It’s that unusual feeling you get when you know a chapter in your life has just come to an end. You think back to the events that brought you to this point. You feel a little uneasy knowing your life will never be the same and you know you can never go back. It leaves me feeling just a little sad, but mostly, I feel liberated. It feels as though this whole ordeal brought my life to a complete halt.

So this is where we are. It has most certainly been a long journey. The feelings are still there and I’ve accepted the fact that they will probably never go away. In another time or another life, I things might have been a little different, but I know it was something that was never meant to be and I can accept that and finally move on. I want to thank each and every one of you that traveled with me on this journey. I don’t know where I would be today if it weren’t for every one of you being there when I needed a shoulder to rest my head on, or being there with good advice and well wishes or even just being there to let me know I didn’t have to face this alone. I don’t know how often I will be by here, but I will try to stop by every now and then. Who knows, maybe one day I will start another blog. A better blog. A blog full of happy memories and tales of adventures. For now, I guess this is goodbye. May we meet again one day.

Accommodating a Vampire

Well Kristen has been on 3rd shift for about a month now. We have had to make a few changes here at home to adapt to her new sleeping hours. So far, things have progressed well. I have had to spend more time with the house work since she is working longer hours now. The trade-off is she is making much more money now so I don’t have to work as much overtime. When I do work overtime, I am able to spend the extra money on the growing backlog of projects around the house. We have decided our next big project is to remodel the guest room. With much larger projects collecting dust on my to-do list, it may seem strange that the guest room would move all the way to the top of the list. We decided to tackle the guest room first so that we will have a second room to relax and rest in. I usually work around the house while Kristen is sleeping and vice-versa. The guest room is in the opposite side of the house so having the option to sleep in either end of the house will mean a better sleep for both of us.

Insomnia

Well it has been about two weeks since I last fell asleep before 11pm. I can’t figure out what is wrong with me. I tried completely cutting out any caffeine, but I still lie awake in bed. Maybe tomorrow will allow me to sleep a little sooner.

I know I have fallen behind on following blogs, but I am going to try to get caught up this weekend. I noticed my buddy Jodi has returned. I miss Savannah’s sarcasm and it’s been a few weeks since Marian last made me blush.

Endgame?

April 11th. After looking back at how things have played out these past couple of months, I come to realize this was the last time I’ve had a bad Carly experience. It most certainly does not feel like three months have passed. I haven’t seen her in about two months. With each passing day, it becomes more and more difficult to remember what she looks like. I’m faced with an entirely new emotion when I think about the next time I see her. I’m faced with curiosity. I find myself wondering how I will react, how I will feel while interacting with her and, most importantly, how I will feel after she is gone. I think it is time to invite her over and see if it is time to bring this blog to a conclusion.

Windmills and Bumpy Roads

Well at least I got to visit with family last week. I drove the Miata ALL the way up to northern Illinois for our big yearly family reunion. Well I don’t think I’ve ever been on worse roads than the ones in Illinois. There was at least two occasions I thought I was going to blow a tire with all of the potholes in the road. Next time I go up there, I’m taking the truck. I did manage to find one geocache while I was up there. I was stuck in a tree on the side of a gravel road in between two corn fields. It didn’t look like anything other than tractors have seen this road in years. Imagine my surprise when a Prius drives by. Along the way to the reunion, I pass by a very large group of windmills. Where I live, there are mountains all around and not a single windmill to be found. This was my first time seeing one in person. On the drive back, I couldn’t resist the urge to pull off of the interstate and stop to take a few pictures.

I still can’t get over how large they are. Once I’m done taking pictures, I get back on the interstate and leave Illinois as quickly as possible. I made it home in record time.

Goodbyes and Hellos

Well this is certainly a busy week. I haven’t really written much lately, but I do intend to keep writing. Things have been crazy. The biggest news I have would be Kristen’s last day of work. She has been looking for another job for a while and finally found one in her field, with benefits, more pay and full-time hours. The catch: she will be a 3rd shift baker. Her shift starts at 10pm and she bakes the breads for the next day until 6am. She has never worked a night shift before and I have been helping her prepare for the changes she is going to have to make. For starters, I have installed heavy curtains in the bedroom. Now it’s pitch black in there any time of the day. This will help her sleep during the day. It will take time for her to adjust, but I believe she can do it.

This week also marked a final day for another family member. On Sunday, my dad returned home for work for the last time. He is now officially retired. I am so happy for him. Being a second generation aircraft builder, I can relate with his anger and frustrations when it comes to work. Now he’s free. My parents said they will be visiting us much more often now as they’re both retired.

Tomorrow, I return home. I will stay the night with my parents before we head out early on Friday for Illinois. I had originally planned to pick up a radar detector so we could travel up there “Smoky and the Bandit” style and maybe shave an hour off of our trip, but money has been tight due to several unexpected expenses and I never picked one up. Instead, I will have to rely on my eyes and 6th sense to keep the blue lights out of my rear view. They will follow about a mile behind me and we will communicate with CB radios. I have to admit, I’m not that crazy about going. It has been about nine years since I last went to our family reunion.

I probably will not be online for the rest of the week. I’m not sure if there will be internet access where I’m going. It’s hard to get good wi-fi when you’re stuck between two giant corn fields.

Back On the Couch

Well here I am stuck on the couch again. This time, however, it has nothing to do with my heel spur. Sunday was our six year wedding anniversary. We decided to try river tubing. To make a long story short, we didn’t have the greatest of times and now I’m stuck with a major sunburn on my legs. Kristen’s sunburn is even worse. It hurts to walk with any clothes on other than my underwear, so the clothes come off as soon as I get home from work and I head right for the couch. Well at least this will give me a chance to get caught up on some TV shows that I have been missing. It will probably be next week before I’ve healed up enough to ride my bike.

The Things That Go Through A Miata Driver’s Mind While Driving A Truck

Well I do have some things to post about, but I’m really tired from today’s bike ride so I thought I’d just throw some humor out there. For the past few weeks, I’ve been driving my truck to work instead of the Miata so that I can keep the miles off of the car. Needless to say, it has taken some time to get used to it. I thought I would list some of the thoughts I’ve had while driving the truck.

• Wow, the bench seat on this thing goes on forever.
• I hope I don’t fall and break my neck when I jump out of this thing.
• I must be 10 feet off of the ground up here. (The truck is only a stock S-10)
• I don’t get it. I’m pushing on the gas, but it’s not really moving……oh there it goes.
• I wonder if Eibach makes a suspension kit for this thing.
• I bet I could drop this thing at least three inches.
• Am I going to make it to work on time in this thing?
• Oh God! Brake! Brake!
• Oh crap! I just unintentionally drifted a truck!
• Will this thing ever get up to 60mph?!
• Hey, I don’t have to come to a complete stop in front of speed bumps with this truck.
• If I had some tie down straps, I bet I could fit a Smart Car in the back of this thing.
• Hey, I finally got it up to 80mph. Crap, I’m scared. I’m slowing down now.
• I wonder if I can get a convertible top for this.

That is all I can think of for now. I just wanted to post something so everyone knows I still have a pulse. I will try to post more this weekend because I have plenty to post about.

I Like My Women Real. Fakes Need Not Apply

Warning. This post could be offensive. You have been warned.

I was just reading Jodi’s latest post about a new show called Take Me Out. No, I haven’t seen it. I don’t even need to see it to tell it’s a bunch of lonely desperate women humiliating themselves on TV. I’m sorry, but I’ve never found anything like this even remotely attractive. As the title of this post says, I like my women real. What does that mean to me? Well let me give you some examples:

• Neither Kristen nor Carly wear makeup. The last time Kristen wore any makeup was during her cousin’s wedding and only because she was a bride’s maid.
• Kristen is a confessed dork and she is proud of it.
• Carly is a confessed nerd and she is even more proud of it.
• Kristen is happiest when she is in blue jeans and a t-shirt. Of course, I’m happiest when she is in one of my t-shirts and nothing else.
• When Kristen laughs really hard, she has a tendency to snort.
• Both Kristen and Carly love to sing and, though they know they’re both usually off-key, they don’t care if others can hear them.

That is just the beginning. I could go on all night. However, if Kristen ever discovered this blog, she’d probably divorce me for sharing these little tidbits. My point is, she was never worried about trying to impress me when we first dating. She was who she was and she wasn’t going to pretend to be someone she wasn’t just to land a date with me. Where am I going with this? No where really. It’s just a late night rant. This is just one of those things that annoy me. I’ll step down from my soap box now.

Bad News, Good News, Green Flag and Ditching Cable

I went to the podiatrist yesterday. He x-rayed my foot and confirmed there is a small to medium-sized spur on the back of my heel. He has given me instructions for different things to do to prevent any more episodes like the one I had this past week. I also have to go back next month. This isn’t the greatest news I’ve received this week, but I guess it could be worse. He also said to be careful when I do any biking or hiking and to cut back on it if it aggravates my foot. As it turns out, my Dad has a spur on his heel as well. He said the instructions his podiatrist gave him worked so Hopefully I can get through this with as little pain and harassment as possible.

Well now on to the good news. After returning home, I grabbed the truck and headed to my mechanic. He changed the plug and wires and recharged the A/C. Now it’s running smoother and I don’t have to worry about heat stroke when I’m driving it around this summer. I still need to flush the brake fluid and change the oil, but I am ready to start driving the truck to work and back. This should help keep the miles off of the Miata. She just turned 93,000 miles this week. I put 60,000 of those miles on the car myself. I know I have about 70,000 miles to go before I trade it in for another Miata, but I would like to stretch that out as much as possible. It is a fun car to drive, even to just work and back. The other good part of driving the truck to work is I can load the bike in the back and drive straight to the bike trail after work. I would love it if I could hit the trail every day.

Speaking of the bike trail, I was finally given the green light to return to the trail. I’ve been stuck on the couch for over a week and all I could think about is getting back out there so I didn’t lose the progress that I have made over these past few months. Kristen is trying out for a new job today so I threw the bike into the bed of the truck and headed to the trail. It felt great to be back. I kept a slightly slower pace this time and was able to finish the trail with only three rest stops. I didn’t time myself this time, but I know I finished with a faster time than the last time I rode by myself. I’m hoping that, if I ride every day the weather permits me to, I should be able to ride the trail non-stop in about a month. After that, it’s on to the next trail. I can’t wait.

Kristen brought our cable bill to my attention yesterday. They raised our bill again. I think this is the second or third time this year. It’s now over $70 just for basic cable and one DVR. We both agreed that it is time to drop cable. I think I am going to give Boxee a try. Boxee will allow us to watch most of our shows for free and also supports Netflix. They also have an add-on for live local channels. If I can save $70 a month doing this, then they will pay for themselves in two months.