The Frosty Weather

I haven't blogged in quite a while, and seeing as I always get a little sad when my friends don't blog, it seems only fair that I try to do it too. Life's been pretty hectic for me, thanks mostly to a really big story we broke and then covered for three weeks in the paper. The last thing I want to do is talk about the story, as I've probably poured around 100 hours of my life into it over the past three weeks. I would like to talk about some of the ramifications of the story though.

This is the kind of local politics story that inevitably leaves some people thinking you're a hero and some people thinking you're a villain. While I fully and completely stand by the story, and our fact based approach to covering it, I will say that the fallout from it is most unpleasant. I've spent my life being a fairly likable guy. I'm not abrasive at all, and I've never made any enemies as far as I know. So getting to a point where you walk into a room where there are people who actively hate you, and people that wish ill on you, it's a really crappy feeling. It's not like I'm crying at night over it, because really, if that's how people want to be then there's not much I can do about it, but there's no denying that it's a bad feeling. I'm a positive, optimistic guy, and this just just a negative, pessimistic situation.

But, it'll all come back around, as things tend to do. Something else will happen, and this story will be forgotten as stories always are, and the people that muttered things like "you're not welcome here" today will be the people patting me on the back a few months from now.

Investigative reporting, it's a bastard, folks. Sorry to be crude, but that's just my honest take on it. People get hurt, friendships get busted, and the truth gets revealed. Even if you feel like you're on the side of "right" and "truth", it doesn't mean you're immune to the fallout and the frosty weather that follows.

So, what else is going on? Here's a picture I took today, let's look at this handsome dude for a moment. I think I'm going cross eyed or

something in that picture, not sure what's up with that. The thing that I really like about this picture is the intersection of my lime green pillow, my orange pillow, and my purple blanket, which is all visible over my left shoulder (not your left, MY left). That blanket is by far the greatest thing

I've ever purchased, and is hands down the softest thing ever manufactured on planet earth. What else can we talk about? I need something so we can change the subject from my pillows and blankets, because let's face it, this is boring.

How about Del Taco? This fascinating eatery just opened locally, although I did eat at one when driving to Las Vegas. I tried it out tonight, which turned into a huge mistake. I've been trying to get healthy (finally), after 30 years of abusing my body via sitting around all day every day and eating garbage all day every day. So we got a treadmill and an exercise bike, and I've been eating all of my meals at home, and even just in a week of regular exercise and a better diet, I feel so much better. I don't think I've really lost any weight yet, but I don't care, I know that will come. For now, I feel more like I'm going to live to see 40, and that's a good first step.

Why do I share all of that? Well, firstly because I'm excited about FINALLY making these much needed life changes and starting to get myself healthy. But, I also share that so I can illustrate for you that Del Taco was the first fast food I've had in over a week, which is a big deal for a guy who used to eat fast food at least once per day. You'd think that it would be this amazing treat, like the greatest thing to ever be tasted, but the opposite happened. It tasted like the garbage, nastiness that all fast food really is. I guess that's a good thing, that I've adjusted to eating fresher, healthier foods, but I sure was looking forward to that burrito. Oh well.

Is there any other mundane and boring aspect of my life that I feel the need to share? I don't guess so. I think I'm going to change banks, as mine has been sort of screwing me for a few months and then today really screwed me. The problem is, I'm pretty madly infatuated with this one teller at my bank, she's so awesome. So if I change banks I'll never see her again. Logic says that I could just ask her out to coffee or lunch or something, but I'm pretty much just living like a coward and never doing that. We always end up talking for quite a while when I'm at the bank, it feels like there might be something there, but then I can get sort of negative and convince myself that she just has great customer service skills and isn't actually enjoying talking to me. Who knows, maybe I'll just do it, let her know I'm switching banks but that I'd love to exchange info so we could still talk. Probably not much harm in that, but considering I've got like three years invested in my whole coward plan it's going to be hard to reverse course.

I think I'm blogging longer because I don't want to go to sleep. Because once I go to sleep then I have to get up early tomorrow (early by my standards, which is 9:40 am) so I can go pick up the paper at the printing press. Yes, the logic is flawed here, because the later I stay up the worse it's going to be getting up early, but I am who I am and this is just how my mind works. Plus I'm not tired at all. Just not even close.

So let's talk about something else then, shall we? How about my super amazing new double monitor setup? Okay, here's the rundown. My brother built me this awesome super bookshelf thingy that's integrated into my computer desk. So on desk level I've got my laptop, which is my main computer. Above that, I've got my TV where I watch DVD's and stuff while I work. Well, I hooked up a few cables, wiggled my fingers, exclaimed the magic words, and boom, I turned that TV into a second monitor. Behold the amazing picture, which illustrates in one simple image what I took an entire paragraph to explain with my words.

Open on top is Spotify, where I was listening to some nice heavy metal via the Adrenaline Mob, and on bottom on my main screen was... facebook it looks like. My laptop looks puny in this picture. But, the whole setup is really rad. I just sweep my mouse up, and it flows off the top of my laptop screen up onto the TV screen. I've been tossing youtube videos and like, documents full of notes up there while I type below. It's cool.

Alright well, I guess that's officially enough rambling for one blog post. If you read this far, you're a good person. If you didn't read this far, you'll never know I was talking about you one way or the other, so I guess any witty comment directed towards you would be wasted here.

Hope everyone is having a good week!