Thursday, November 16, 2006, posted by Q6 at 5:42 AM
Late for work again
Standing in the hall, perplexed
Where did my keys go?
 
Monday, November 13, 2006, posted by Q6 at 8:42 PM
They’ve created a DVD version of Parker Brothers’ Clue®. Is nothing sacred? I mean, it's bad enough that the new Monopoly® uses debit cards instead of paper cash. At 37, should I feel this old?
 
, posted by Q6 at 8:00 PM
I can only imagine what's going through my girlfriend's mind when it comes to the subject of children. She wants to have kids--or did, until this weekend. I am divorced, with two kids (boy, age 14; girl, age 12). The boy lives with me full time, the girl with her mother 250 miles away. Both have grown used to seeing each other infrequently, which is both a shame AND for the best; when they are together, like this last weekend, it's . . . well, it's exhausting.

So over the three day weekend we went to dinner with my mother, went to the movies, went to a play, and through all of it spent a lot of time in the car, or walking around, or sitting with each other. In short, we spent a lot of time together. At one point, my girlfriend turned to me and asked, "How did you do this when they were growing up?" I went into a short monologue on the value of television and Disney's Sing-Along-Song video library. Now that they're teenagers it's more brooding and drama than it is noises and broken things, but the exhaustion factor is more or less the same.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE MY CHILDREN. And if they were to both live under my roof together once more, I would welcome it. But you two can really be tiring when you're both on full power all weekend long, y'know? :) Not bad tiring, not good tiring . . . just "I need a nap" tiring.

All in all, I'm sure my girlfriend would still like to have kids one day . . . okay, maybe a kid. On a related note: just a quick shout-out to all our parents . . . we love you, and we're sorry for putting you through all that. Really.
 
Sunday, November 12, 2006, posted by Q6 at 10:56 PM
I have, in the past, been accused of being indecisive. Former wives, friends, co-workers--even my children--have, at one time or another, complained that I can't make a decision on my own. They'd have all been very proud of me this last weekend. I spent the whole time making decisions, and all thanks to three little words:

"I don't care."

Here's the razor's edge I've been walking lately: it's always been my goal to make things as pleasant as possible for the people around me. For that, I need input . . . so I ask questions. I try to learn from the answers so I can do better next time. I'm not great at it, and I suck even more at picking up clues. And when I get "I don't care," I have to take a stab at it for myself. It's probably a good thing, really--it gives me chance to learn from experience rather than playing it safe. I heard a lot of "I don't care" from the people around me this weekend (and I'm not complaining--it's better than not having them there at all), and it just seemed like no one would throw me a bone on any of it.

So here's my plan from now on--instead of focusing more on the people around me than myslef, I'm going to go 50/50, and in some cases weigh it in my favor. If they don't like something, they'll say so, and I'll have my input. When they don't like it, I'll cope. When they like it, cool. Either way, I'll learn something along the way. Life's like that.

Cool, huh? My own little "self-help" moment, brought to you by my loved ones.
 
Saturday, November 04, 2006, posted by Q6 at 4:55 PM
It's one thing to tell yourself that when you get your new computer, you'll set up a wireless network throughout your house. This can seem like a daunting task. What computer do I get? What wireless thingee? "Router," you say? What's a router? What do I need to make it work? Will the computer work with the router? I may need a--what's that? An adapter card? Oh, my. This all sounds rather technical.

:) Say hello to my little friend.

It's a Gateway Notebook, with 2 gigs of RAM, 160 gigs of hard drive, four USB 2.0 ports, and integrated wireless. In short, it's more computer than I will need in the next several hundred years. And it works great with my Linksys Wireless-G router. I have a secure wireless network throughout the entire house. It's one thing to tell yourself that you'll do it; it's quite another to be able to cross it OFF your list.

What's that? They make wireless-compatible printers? Really . . .