Long Time, No See

I'm not quite sure where time has gone, nor where I happened to misplace it. I've had time, lots of it, but it slipped unnoticed through my fingers of consciousness, somehow getting lost between unending days of boredom and unending nights of nothingness.

Nothingness. The bane of existence.

I'm not quite sure how I manage to look back over my shoulder at another completed year and not be able to find anything of note between the calendar pages. But I can, and did. I can find some milestones that were passed, but frankly I'd prefer to ignore them and so I did that too.

Life. What an oddity it is. Oh sure, I got up and went to work, paid my bills, complained about things, laughed at things, whined about things; and in the midst of all the mundane I look back and realize that I can say I was content. How very odd. Contentment.

In contentment you understand that life isn't a Hallmark commercial. In contentment you understand that being happy isn't always the gift you receive in life. While wrapped in my own little world, I've decided that contentment is the lack of stress, the lack of drama, the lack of pressure, the lack of sorrow, the lack of strife. This rather sounds like it should be "Happy" instead then, no? No, Because contentment is also the lack of passion, the lack of surprise, the lack of wonder, and last but not least, the lack of love. Without most if not all of those things, happiness is still an elusive commercial.

BUT, for this past year I will gratefully take contentment. Not as a default, but as as a reward. It was a unique, quiet feeling that almost passed without notice. It won't make me raise a toast on New Years with the feeling of 'OMG am I glad this year is over.' I've had a few of those too.

So..... for all of you this holiday season and for the upcoming new year, I wish you all every happiness life can bring you. But if happiness is still a bit out of reach, I wish you the very best contentment that you can find.

~ Sie

Another Monday

Saturday afternoon after "googleing" pool companies, I finally found one company that actually answered the phone.

I explained that I had just blown up the filter system.

He didn't act surprised. In fact, he told me that he had heard of that happening before.

After I described the damage to him, he let me know real quick that it would have to be replaced 100%. A filter designed to keep air pressure that has blown up and broken can't be fixed. Hey, a person can wish..... but I made arrangements to get on his schedule for Thursday of the week to have it replaced.

I figured I was about the be another $1k in debt and was pleasantly surprised at a $400 estimate, but as it turns out I don't know how much more in debt I am.

Seee..... ummm...

After blowing up the filter I was kinda frantic, depressed, and frantically calling pool companies, and scribbling down names and numbers from recorded messages. I was very happy when Chris answered the phone and I made arrangements to have the filter system replaced.

Even more surprising is that I arrived home from work on Monday to find pool repair people in my backyard replacing the filter. Seems a "pool down" takes priority and they got there as soon as they could.

They were also sub-contractors and as soon as they replaced my old cartridge pool filters with the new sand fitration system, they left.

They left without giving me a bill.

They left without me knowing what company had arranged for them to fix my pool.

They left without giving me an invoice.

All that I have is my original panic note from Saturday ... with a million names, numbers, notes, and with no clue who I owe.

I can't wait to get this collections phone call. oy.

Mother's Day Weekend

The weekend began great. It's always nice with all the boys home. And things were just humming pachingly along.... and then Saturday hit.

I woke up early and thought I'd do some work on the dPOD (the former damn pool of doom).

We've just 'opened' the pool, which means that the cover came off, new water added and the chemical warfare has now commenced.

Opening the ppol also means that the three large filters must be pulled out and sprayed off a few times a week to help the cleansing process. The filters are about 3 feet high and when wet, weigh a substantial amount. But it needs to be done. And so I did.

I pulled out the first filter and then I pulled out the second filter, and then I pulled out my back out.

*pop* *pop* *pop*.

yea. great. just freakin great.

So I hobbled my old ass back up stairs, took some Motrin, cussed myself for my stupidity and laid down, waiting for a son to wake up and help finish.

A few hours later (they're kids, they sleep til noon) one son wandered downstairs and I enlisted him.

He pulled out the remaining filter, we hosed them down, put them back in the filter housing (it looks like a really big weber grill) and then things went really, really, really bad.

Really.

Bad.

Apparently son didn't tighten the "O" ring enough on the filter housing and when I turned on the pump motor, about 3 seconds later...

KABOOOOOOM!

Yea. Um.. I blew up my pool filter.

broke. kaboom. blew fuckin UP.

Ever try to find a pool repair company on a Saturday?

umm.. yea.

Random Thoughts

I actually had two random thoughts today. I can't remember the last time my brain actually functioned.

In fact, I used to have daily random thoughts which would translate into... "Oh, I'll blog that."

I used to have an active blog. Now, it seems I'm lucky if I remember I have a blog.

But today, TWO thoughts. Woot.

Random thought #1:

I was driving to work this morning and saw a truck with tire manufacturer names on it.

You know, Kauffman, Goodyear, Atlas. But one company name stood out. Kumho.

Kumho.

A company dealing in rubbers (aka tires) named Kumho. WTF were they thinking?

Imagine answering the phone.
"Kumho."
"Hello, Kumho. How can I help you?"
"Welcome to Kumho. Where service is a pleasure."

le sigh. There's just no good spin to put on that name.


Random thought #2.

My boss sent me an e-mail telling me that I am the "gatekeeper" for information regarding an event our company is participating in.

Great. Just great. A gatekeeper.

My first thought was that I'm the gatekeeper in a company of fence jumpers.

I so wanted to reply that thought, but after 7 years of working for him, I'm still not sure if he has a sense of humor.

Remember When

Le sigh.... the good ole days.

Remember when I used to post daily?

Remember when I had a life to blog about?

Umm yea. I don't either, it's been that long.

So today's post is about nothing.





k. done.

The jerk

Remember the movie, "The Jerk", with Steve Martin?

There's an infamous(?) scene in where the phone books come out, and he's jumping around and screaming because his name is in it...

I felt like that this week.

But my excitement was a book. Two books. From Rebecca. :) (see sidebar for her blog)

Now I need to get my lazy butt in gear and return the favor. In the meantime..

The books are here! The books are here!

Yes, I'm easily amused at times.