22 July 2006 0132 EDT
Anyway, the good part was that I got an awesome parking spot. Yes, it took about fifteen minutes of driving around to find it. And yes, I read the e-mail wrong and we showed up fashionably after the event was supposed to finish up, but still a good time. To my credit, I got one set of digits and Ben got none. Yeah, okay, so it was a guy's number and I already knew him, but that's better than nothing, right?
We stuck around for Gonzo's Nose, a pretty cool local cover band. Their setlist was amazing, almost as if they stole it from one of our late-night karaoke jams, including Banditos by the Refreshments, Think Twice by Eve 6, Buddy Holly by Weezer, and American Girl by Tom Petty. Oh, they threw in Mr. Brightside by the Killers and She by Green Day on top of a bunch of 80s stuff.
We followed that with a trip to the new IHOP right by my house. It was pretty awesome, and we even ran into two of Ben's friends who also happen to live in Centreville. They just showed up after watching the Nats game tonight. So we ate there until about fifteen minutes ago and I have to get up in about seven hours to head to the grocery store to get the last of the ingredients to make lasagna for the family get-together at Jane's tomorrow. Good times.
20 July 2006 2000 EDT
Speaking of which...contractor came by this afternoon to give me an estimate. He said around 7K for some drywall work to repair some water damage and reworking some things in my bathrooms. Yeah, that was a little steep, so I may be making a few more phone calls this next week. I definitely don't want the timeline on this to shift to the right, but it's looking like it might. We'll see.
Anyhoo...I finished up the last of my lasagna tonight, so I think it's off to the grocery store tomorrow afternoon to get some more ingredients. I'll follow that up with a TJ alumni event thing at Clarendon tomorrow, and who knows what other hilarity will ensue. MTF
19 July 2006 2322 EDT
Now, do you believe in coincidences? Me neither. It just so happens that there is a taco bell just two blocks down from the post office. Of course I make a quick detour to hit that on my way back. I walk in and there's this asian kid standing there. I just stare at him in silence for what must've been ten seconds, giving him the "do I know you" look...which is great when you actually know the person, but awfully awkward when you don't. Fortunately for me, he called me Mr. Louie. That's right...Mr. Louie. I am so popular these days. I walk to a random taco bell in Merrifield at 10:30 on Wednesday night and get instantly recognized. Anyway, I chatted with him for a few minutes and excused myself to my midnight snack of spicy chicken crunchwrap supreme, spicy chicken burrito, and beef fiesta burrito. I know that seems a little much considering that I already had two plates of lasagna today. But I promised myself that I would do a couple extra sets of exercises when I came home...and I did. So there. Good story, right?
19 July 2006 2018 EDT
Without giving too much away, the book basically takes a look at the ten most important emotional needs of men and women. In the Men are from Mars vein, men and women generally rank these differently. For men, it goes 1) Sexual fulfillment 2) Recreational companionship 3) Physical attractiveness 4) Domestic support 5) Admiration; and for women, 1) Affection 2) Conversation 3) Honesty and openness 4) Financial support 5) Family commitment. Take into account that this is kinda for marriages, so not all of the categories may seem to apply to you single-folk like me. It also talks about the idea of this love bank where positive feelings and events associated with certain people are like deposits in their account and negative ones withdrawals. With those two ideas in mind, he profiles different scenarios and relationships as they go through their highs and lows and what happens when one of these emotional needs is neglected.
Anyway, I really liked it. It made me feel good about stuff...which never hurts, right?
I just got off the phone with mom. We're working on yardwork/landscaping tomorrow starting at 0530h. Umm...yeah. That's early, but I have so much planned for tomorrow. I have a couple of hours of tutoring in addition to a contractor stopping by the house for an estimate. Oh!!! Did I mention that the girl I was tutoring just finished up her high school diploma?! Go me! Oh, and she probably had a little something to do with it too. Whatever.
18 July 2006 2301 EDT
Yeah...so I drove home after that, pushing the limits of my fuel tank with the light on for the last thirteen miles or so. I rolled in to the Sunoco by my house easily, though, and even picked up a mega millions ticket while I was there. Cross your fingers, okay?
17 July 2006 2354 EDT
As far as tomorrow goes, I don't really have any plans...and I think I'm okay with that. I feel like I need to be more productive, but I don't know. I could do this for a few more weeks while I get my house ready to sell. After that, I'll make myself do some work, okay? Promise.
16 July 2006 2234 EDT
As far as the rest of my life goes, I got a lot of sleep in today and I had lasagna for lunch and dinner. Yes, very exciting, I know. I cleaned out about 200 messages from my inbox and about 10 hours of tv on my DVR, too. Umm...yeah, that's pretty much it. Tomorrow, I go from being a physics tutor to a math tutor as the girl I'd been working with completed her correspondence course in record time. I think it was only like two weeks that I was working with her...something like that. She didn't get the best scores in the world, but she passed. Anyway, I need to track down my old SAT and GRE books tonight. Wish me luck.
16 July 2006 0120 EDT
Hehe...it was cool watching the movie tonight with John too. Plus, the lasagna was sooo good. What am I doing with my life?
15 July 2006 1850 EDT
Yeah, with that said, I hung out with Ben and Thuy last night, playing poker, singing karaoke, and splitting 50 wings at Hooters. We also did a little bit of driving, stopping by a "swingers" bar that Thuy had heard about and then hanging out at Tyson's for the last half hour before circling back to the house. Um, yeah...don't ask me for more details because I really don't have any. I just wanted to drive and we just went with whoever seemed to have the best idea at the time. Karaoke started around 0100h and went on until 0400h, at which point Ben was really cranky. I probably could have gone for another couple of hours; but then again, I don't so much have a job or a sleep pattern that I have to maintain.
I stopped by the house this afternoon and hung out with Yenny and grandma. We watched the World Series of Pop Culture on VH1, and I was extremely disappointed by the level of knowledge of the contestants competing. I came home to nap after that and recharged for another night out with the guys. It'll be interesting.
13 July 2006 2058 EDT
Tomorrow, the FIOS guy comes by between 0800h and 1700h to install my wireless internet. Yeah, a nine hour window. That kinda makes it hard to plan my day, so I probably just won't. I need to get back to exercising, though. I can do that while I wait. Then, if he finishes early, I think I'll go back to the old house to do some weeding...or at least collecting all of the brush from off the ground in my backyard. Baby steps.
Oh!!! I finally talked to a live person over at Whynter...the people who make my water cooler. They said that they have a record of receiving my water cooler back in May, but they don't have anything further. To which I responded, "yes." Anyway, she said she would try to track down all of that e-mail traffic that seems to have been ignored. And the worst-case scenario would be that they would just send me a new water cooler. Hopefully, there will be a happy ending there, but only time will tell.
12 July 2006 2354 EDT
The whole day wasn't a wash though. In fact, I got a lot done, beginning with my morning walkthrough with the realtor. She made it seem like I've been doing a good job clearing out the house and cleaning, but I still have a laundry list of things to fix - or better yet, have someone fix for me. She gave me a couple of contractors who would defer payment until after closing, so that may be the option I go with. We'll see. Anyway, there was that and tutoring and then impromptu karaoke with Ben before dinner. Which reminds me, does anyone have like a best of Backstreet Boys CD I can borrow? Yeah, that's it for today. Tomorrow is another story.
12 July 2006 0110 EDT
Anyway, that was my morning. I followed that up with a visit to the old house before going grocery shopping. My main aim was milk for cereal and cleaning supplies for the house. I came home to rest for a bit and then I went out again in response to a response to my plea last night. I dropped off all of my girly magazines at a tanning place in Reston where one of my students worked...a little awkward, but oh well. It makes me feel so much better than throwing them away. Then since I was in Reston already, I stopped by Ben's to taste some of his spicy meat. We played a few hands of "poker" while I was there too.
I didn't stay long, though, as I was set on accomplishing my goal. I was going to clean my house. I don't know how maids do it, but I am completely exhausted right now. I spent maybe the last four or five hours at the house alternating between dusting, washing, flushing, vacuuming, and tossing. I honestly don't know where all of the stuff is coming from, but I've somehow filled up two more trash bags. In the end, I wound up cleaning the kitchen and three bathrooms. Plus two of the bedrooms are cleaned and vacuumed and ready to be shown off now. The third is close, with the exception of one corner where I consolidated just about everything else I have in the house. I've got the dad's neon right now, so that doesn't help with moving things. I can only get so much with each lift...but it is slowly coming to a close.
11 July 2006 0042 EDT
I was chatting with my sister tonight, and I was talking about a couple of boxes of magazines that I'd hate to throw away. One's full of men's magazines like Stuff and Maxim while the other is full of women's magazines like Redbook and Cosmo...stuff like that. I'd hate to throw them away, but I really don't see myself reading them. Please, someone tell me you want them. I will even drive them over to your house for you.
Anyway, it was a relatively productive day...albeit somewhat unplanned. The dish guy called early saying he was going to be late. So I went to my tutoring gig and left a little early, making it home just in time to meet him at the door. The install went pretty smoothly and then I puttered around for a little bit before doing a quick security clearance interview for one of my soldiers. The investigator called while the dish guy was here and I just figured I'd knock it all out today. I filled out a survey for a different soldier's clearance paperwork and mailed that in today too. Then it was naptime and off to the parents' for family dinner. All of the sibs ended up showing at some point, so that was really cool. Then I puttered around the house a little more before deciding to work out.
And for some reason, I'm up past midnight again. I need to re-resolve to go to bed earlier, but it's tough when I don't have anything scheduled for the morning. Maybe I should start training for that marathon soon. Ideas?
09 July 2006 2218 EDT
Other than that, I did some drill stuff today and then hung out with Ben and Thuy for a little bit before circling back to the old house to collect up all of my Dish Network stuff because the installation guy is coming between 0800h and 1200h tomorrow. So yeah, I have that and tutoring tomorrow, followed by some more clean-up at the old house now that I'm getting not-so-sick. We'll see how my motivation is come morning though. MTF
08 July 2006 2328 EDT
I wish I had more to write about, but we released early today after all of the classes wrapped up. Then I just sank into my bed and napped until the sun went down. After that, I declined a couple of offers to go out tonight in favor of some warm soup and a light workout. I see tomorrow as being much of the same. NSTR
07 July 2006 2126 EDT
0730 - 6000mg of vitamin C in 6x1000mg pills
0900 - Ate a plate of General Tso's Chicken and beef-broccoli
0930 - 2000mg of vitamin C in 4x500mg pills
1120 - 2000mg of vitamin C in 4x500mg pills
1150 - 8000mg of vitamin C in 16x500mg pills
1220 - 8000mg of vitamin C in 16x500mg pills
1250 - 8000mg of vitamin C in 16x500mg pills
1320 - 8000mg of vitamin C in 16x500mg pills
1330 - ...more General Tso's Chicken
1350 - 8000mg of vitamin C in 16x500mg pills
1358 - Onset of diarrhea occurs
1406 - ...continued diarrhea
1443 - ...continued diarrhea
1452 - ...continued diarrhea
1615 - ...continued diarrhea
1727 - ...continued diarrhea
1925 - ...continued diarrhea
1933 - Ate one balance bar with 60mg of Vitamin C
2110 - 2000mg of vitamin C in 2x1000mg pills
Dr. Frederick Klenner's clinical trials he conducted on his patients and children. There was an interesting anecdote where he dosed his kids with vitamin C in such a pattern that they had the measles for a month. He basically gave them enough VC to reduce the symptoms for two days and then stopped for two days. It wasn't enough to kill off the disease, so it just kept coming back...and he kept it up for a month....on his own kids! Hehe.
Anyway, I was waiting for the diarrhea to subside before I took another small dose, as recommended by the Vitamin C Foundation (might they have some other agenda? Hmmm...). But it's been about fifteen minutes since my last dose and I can hear a grumbling already. Maybe I should call it a night with all of this experimenting and let my immune system work through morning. Good idea.
Oh...wait! I forgot to tell you the most important part. The symptoms. I started off with a painful cough with the occasional thick mucus build-up in my throat. As the day continued, the pain actually subsided, so that was a good sign. The mucus build-up continued, however, and I would even say increased. But it wasn't painful to cough up any more. Energy level dropped tremendously after the onset of diarrhea, but I think that had more to do with dehydration than anything else. I continued to hydrate throughout the day, consuming somewhere around a gallon of water in total.
07 July 2006 0850 EDT
- Humans, apes, guinea pigs, the red-vented bulbul, a fruit-eating bat, and a species of trout are few of the only animals that do not produce their own vitamin C
- The human body possesses three of four enzymes used to manufacture Vitamin C in large amounts. It fact, the body actually begins to construct vitamin C, but then disassembles it when it realizes that it is incomplete. Some hypothesize the loss of the functionality of this fourth enzyme to be a result of a genetic mutation that occurred many years ago.
- Vitamin C is an antioxidant that also prevents scurvy and aids in the body's production of collagen, dopamine, noradrenaline and adrenaline, and carnitine
- Vitamin C has a half-life of 30 minutes in blood plasma.
- The tolerable upper intake level set by the US Dietary Reference Intake is 2000 mg/day, with 11,900 mg/kg being the median lethal dose for rats.
- The main side-effects of ODing on Vitamin C include diarrhea and acid indigestion. The onset of diarrhea will occur between 5-25 g/day in healthy individuals and up to 300 g/day in seriously ill people, with all effects subsiding once intake is lowered.
- A goat will produce about 13,000 mg/day of vitamin C in normal health and up to 100,000 mg/day when faced with life-threatening disease, trauma, or stress.
The last two points are very interesting, almost leading one to believe that the body's increased tolerance to vitamin C and its inclination to increase production during times of illness may be for a reason. This has led me to conduct my own isolated clinical trial. As I mentioned earlier, I am currently sick. So this morning, I began with a 6000 mg dose of vitamin C, about 10,000% of the daily RDA, but in line with Linus Pauling, my dad, and other VC advocates. I think I will have some breakfast and then take a nap, followed by about a 2000 mg/hour dose until a) I am no longer sick or 2) severe diarrhea ensues.
07 July 2006 0053 EDT
That endeavor only lasted about an hour or so before we ordered some Chinese from Maple House and circled back to the house to sing some karaoke. That was fun...and then Joe walked in on us doing our thing. That was pretty funny. We talked about karaoke for a little bit and then Joe and Ben got started on role-playing games for like the next hour. I didn't have much to add, so I just kinda sat there and smiled while they went back and forth about all of their past obsessions. It was pretty interesting.
Did I mention that I was sick? I'm hoping that I'll be better tomorrow. I've been fighting this possible upper respiratory infection with lots of water and vitamin C. I think I've had a gallon or so today...I know I've #1ed about six times, so I'm guessing it's around there. Anyway, sleep will be an important ally against this most unwelcomed invader, so that's where I'm headed. Tomorrow, I think I will spend making lasagna. Come over if you want to share and/or sing karaoke. MTF.
05 July 2006 2247 EDT
Anyway, I started spending some time on Craigslist today and started thinking about maybe renting out the old house instead of selling it. That way, I could actually have two houses...and maybe a third eventually. Thoughts?
Other than that, I started working out again. I just needed to move around the stuff in my basement after the move so that I'd have room for everything. I feel a lot better after that. It'd been three days. I started to keep track of my workouts via an Excel spreadsheet too. I think that'll help me in some manner. How, I'm not sure. But hey, it's Excel.
I've started eating lots of food too. I've had a spicy chicken crunchwrap supreme, two spicy chicken burritos, a small loaf of cornbread, five corndogs, a chicken cordon bleu, six taquitos, two balance bars, and five bowls of cereal in the last two days. I've taken like three naps too. I guess I kinda burned myself out with all of the crazy moving stuff this last week. I'll finish up soon and then I'll look for some motivation. I know I left it around here somewhere.
04 July 2006 0947 EDT
Also nice to find at the old house this morning was about a thousand dollars. Yeah, there it was, just lying there. Okay, not literally, but close. You see, about six months ago, I submitted my travel voucher for my seventeen months of active duty. It got shot back, however, because I was missing a copy of my orders for a 14-day span - my HAZMAT course in Aberdeen. Well, sorting through my papers as I cleaned out my desk for Joe to move today, I found a beautiful, beautiful set of orders. So now I just have to find where I packed away the rest of my packet and resubmit it for my free money. Pretty cool, huh?
Then back to yesterday, I started tutoring over at The Alternative House...I think that's what it's called. It's a federally funded home for single moms that helps them to get back on their feet. Anyway, I worked with this girl on thermal physics stuff for about two and a half hours and it was great. She seemed so motivated. She'll finish up reading some things on her own and then take a test. Then we get to work on optics when I go back on Wednesday. If I too good of a job, though, she'll be done in like two weeks and I'll be out of stuff to do again. Oh well...
02 July 2006 2310 EDT
Other than that, I did a lot of unpacking today. My whole kitchen is almost set, with the only problem right now being lack of shelf space for all of my pasta. There is a pantry set for that, but I need to rework some shelving before that will be usable for storage. I actually went through unpacking maybe a dozen boxes today, and I packed a few up with Yenny's things for her to pick up. On top of that, I made three more trips back to the house to pick up odds and ends. I've actually got a technique for helping me finish the move. You see, I'm leaving all of my personal hygiene stuff at the old house. That way, I have to go back there to shower...and with every trip I take back to the old house, I pick up a few more boxes to carry over here. Ingenius, no?
Anyway, other than moving-related stuff, I am going to start my volunteer gig as a physics tutor tomorrow. I'm kinda excited about that, but I'll tell you tomorrow how it really turns out. And other than that, NSTR.
02 July 2006 0109 EDT
The whole event actually took a little while longer than I had expected...maybe by an hour or two. The World Cup and the power outage were somewhat unexpected complications for me, but enjoyable in their own way. As of right now, I'd say 80% of what needs to be moved has been moved here. I have lots of small trips left and about a day or two of unpacking and organizing, I think. I'm hoping things will pick up once I get started though. Today, I spent my afternoon playing poker and pigging out with Ben and Thuy, so the progress ended some time around 3:00 this afternoon. That's okay, though. Everyone was so productive this morning...everyone. So thanks again to mom, dad, Jane and Ian, Lenny and Steph, Yenny, Ben, and Thuy. I know there were others out there who offered to help, but I didn't really give you guys a chance by giving notice just a few hours ahead of time on this site. Your offers to help are much appreciated, though.
Okay, bedtime now. I'll have plenty of time to write tomorrow during daylight hours.
01 July 2006 0148 EDT
30 June 2006 1732 EDT
That's pretty much it. It starts tomorrow at 1000h at my current residence. If anyone wants to show up early to help me grab the truck, that'd be cool too. I got insurance, so you can even drive it if you want. I know...it's very out of character for me to buy insurance. I could have rented the truck for half a day too, but I shelled out the extra Jackson to keep it overnight. I can't explain it. I just decided to play it safe this time.
As for the rest of the move, I got all of my A/V equipment moved in and installed today. I just need to pick up a really long video cable to hook my projector up to the rest of my system. Who knows...if everyone isn't tired after my projected 2-hour move, we can even have movie time...or even better, karaoke time. MTF
30 June 2006 0902 EDT
I guess I bring it up because I found myself drowning in tears yesterday. And it wasn't just a regular cry. It was an all out sobbing, ugly-face-making kinda cry. I wish I had a camera to capture the moment, but I wasn't really thinking that at the time. It took about 45 seconds to get it all out, and then I felt a little better. And then I decided to start packing. I mean, I was listening to sad music anyway...why not pack while I was doing it, right?
I've got most of the living room packed up and I think I'm going to be installing my movie screen/surround sound in the new house today. Then I'll pack up my kitchen, leaving only enough food for maybe three or four days. That'll give me some motivation to really get moving. I think I'll save the big furniture for Saturday and then that's pretty much it. I need to get off my butt and call Verizon and Dish Network reps too. Yenny still has RoadRunner going, so that'll help...but I should still transfer everything sooner rather than later.
Oh yeah...ordered in Maple House GTC for dinner yesterday. I don't think it's ever tasted so good in my life.
29 June 2006 0921 EDT
28 June 2006 0149 EDT
I went to Borders after that to pick up a book that I read about in Psychology Today this morning. It's a relationship book about healthy and not-so-healthy arguments called Why Can't You Shut Up? I don't know...it just spoke to me. Anyway, I spent most of the afternoon reading that while listening to music and reclining in my papasan.
I couldn't sleep tonight, though, so I jumped online and caught a bunch of old students on AIM. That was cool. I chatted with Jackie, too, and we compared notes on relationship stuff and even made some plans for tomorrow afternoon. That'll be fun. But I think I'm gonna finish my book now and then go to sleep. MTF
27 June 2006 0815 EDT
From there, my next stop was Mason. I'm registered for 12 credits right now in the fall. I sent out a few e-mails and filled out a transfer of credit form too. If all works out like it usually does for me, I will be able to graduate with my Masters if I take 18 credits next semester...or spaced out over two. The worst case scenario is that nothing works out and I have to take two 15-credit semesters to wrap up. Either way, things look relatively promising for my "plan." On my way out, I stopped by the VA office and dropped off my GI Bill paperwork for last semester, so hopefully I'll have a nice little check deposited into my bank account in the next few weeks. Oh, how I love free money. I've got all of my stuff filled out to turn in for next semester too. I'm just waiting until my schedule stabilizes before I turn anything else in.
After that, it was a ten minute walk in the downpour to get to my car. I was completely soaked and didn't dry off until about four hours later when I got home and stripped down as I threw my clothes in the dryer. Before that, though, I drove out to Edsall Road to take care of things with the personnel office. The only problem with that plan was that the personnel office wasn't on Edsall Road anymore. Yeah...right. I showed up there to an empty parking lot and a strip map to the new location in Falls Church. Luckily for me, the rain had subsided a little. So I took out my pen and copied the strip map onto the back of my left hand before heading out on my own little scavenger hunt.
I showed up at the new Human Resources department about a half hour later and linked up with the reps from the licensure office and the leave office. It was a good thing I showed up, too, because I ironed out a few kinks. In the end, my provisional license will be extended one year so that I can teach next year if I want. Then I got my leave of absence fixed so that I can go back to South Lakes for the 2007-2008 school year if I want to.
I came home after all of that and got in a nice workout before cleaning up and getting a package ready to send out with Mix CD#2. I even picked up some milk along the way since I didn't think the bottle in the fridge was any good after my two week absence. And here I am blogging this morning with a bowl of cereal in hand. Does life get any better than this?
26 June 2006 0740 EDT
When I got home, I spent most of my afternoon catching up on the news via the Daily Show. While that was going on, I did my biceps and abs exercises and worked on a mix CD for the gf. We caught up on the phone yesterday and things feel much better. We still haven't seen each other in about three months, but sometimes it's good to give people space...right? Hehe...I'd like to think that I'm a pretty smart guy, but this relationship stuff is much harder than physics.
At one point yesterday, I found myself just relaxing on my sofa with some music playing while I flipped through some magazines. These days, I don't read much other than my Psychology Today and my Western Interiors and Design. I'll flip through Maxim occasionally, but that doesn't really entertain me as much as it used to. Anyway, the reason I bring it up is because there is this one advertisement that blows me away in Western I&D. There are actually two that stand out, an awesome yin-yang deck from Trex and a house built into the mountains of Vail, Colorado designed by RKD Architects. I wish I had a higher res pic of that last one, but this was all I could track down. Anyway, that was definitely relaxing...the kind of stuff you like to do on your first day off after working twenty straight.
Alright, enough goofing around on the computer. It's time to jump in the shower and get all prettied up to run some errands. MTF
25 June 2006 1000 EDT
But yeah...things with the gf haven't been working as perfectly as I was hoping, so instead of visiting her in Baltimore, I ended up going out with the boys last night. It was a really good time though. Ben, Thuy, and I started off playing some poker before going out on a search for GTC (...general tso's chicken, that is) and settling for the Jack Daniel's stuff at TGIFridays. After that, they did some pre-gaming before we drove out to DC for a little celebration for his friend Eleanor's birthday. After hanging out for about two hours with loud music, smoke, and slutty girls, though, Thuy found himself slumped over the relatively clean toilet in Steve's Barroom, and we made a slow exit. It wasn't until after Ben targeted in on some nice Asian girls and Thuy got a couple handfuls as well. Me, I had a good time too. Did I mention that I got into Ben's pants? Hehe...maybe I'll explain that some other time.
Anyway, we didn't get home until about 0200h, and we all just crashed at Ben's. This morning, we played some poker to start off, and I'm blogging on Ben's computer (I got pushed out early) before we go to IHOP for some breakfast. I've also got make-up Father's Day lunch at the parents' around noon. More good times...