Sephy’s Platzish

Admittedly, I didn’t take that many pictures this week - mostly because it was all the same - ice, ice, baby. However, I did get a bit of the stuff cleared away on Sunday and Monday, and a bit more of it gone today. In fact, I just popped my head outside (where it’s well above freezing - 52°F (11°C), with some wind and rain to help), and a bit more ice has gone away, but it will refreeze overnight. Ah well…

Sunday, 24th February

OMG! What is that? Could it be…the driveway? It is! That was the result of about two hours of labor with the icepick and a shovel. I had the pedometer on when I was doing this, so that might explain the distance for the whole walk…I did a lot of shaking

Distance - 2838 steps, 2.27km

Monday, 25th February

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a shot of this same area when it was all covered in ice. Here is what it looks like without ice. Well, not totally cos you can see the buildup of the scrapings off to the edge, along with the still stuck stuff in the foreground (the ice there was about 3 inches deep).

Distance - 763 steps, 0.61km

Tuesday, 26th February

And thus begins a bit of a photo blackout - this was the day I went for the paper-filling out and interview at the staffing agency, so I didn’t put in a proper walk, other than climbing up the stairs at the center that they’re located in - it’s a cool little place, with a Chinese restaurant literally next door. Though, I’m not too sure if I’d want to buy their buffet - it looked like a grocery store salad bar…not too impressive.

Wednesday, 27th February

I didn’t bring the camera along with me, mainly because I was making sure that I didn’t fall on my rear - there is one particular spot on the driveway that is really built up with ice the full way across the driveway. It’s not a coincidence that it’s right under the gutter downspout. I’d also do a bit of chipping (even though that was quite futile since the temps had fallen below freezing once again) at the ice while walking.

Distance - 1496 steps, 1.19km

Thursday, 28th February

No pictures again, but this time I did quite a bit of chipping, especially at the far end of the driveway (by the road) - solar heating can do really good when the blacktop is clear of ice and snow to let it warm up. I also cleared a hole in the driveway where the ice was approximately 2-3 inches deep (it was at the edge of the driveway, so the car didn’t suddenly fall into the hole and act like it was a pothole…

Distance - 2290 steps, 1.83km

Friday, 29th February

It just wouldn’t be a week around here without some more snow falling, now would it? As it turned out, we wound up getting the most snow in the area - even though we weren’t forecast to…that’s them weatherguessers for ya… Anyway, the two wide tracks are from a car going out of the driveway in the morning, and obviously the steps are from me walking to the end of the driveway. At least with the snow there, you had some traction over the ice…

Distance - 780 steps, 0.62km

Saturday, 1st March

No pic again, but I did do a little bit of walking, though the pedometer was only on for a walk in the store. The weather was actually nice though, but it’s always nice to be able to just stick around in the house, yano?

Distance - 1648 steps, 1.31km

In other news, if you hadn’t heard already, I have a job! I start tomorrow, and the drive in might be interesting because of the weather. Fortunately, I took some time today to take a drive down to where I’ll be working, and it’s dead simple to get to. In fact, I’ve been past there many, many times, and even attended a place in that area about potentially getting a job (which was one of those dodgy financial planning, become-your-own-office-manager deals; I wasn’t terribly interested when I was told that I basically had to pay to play for that one). No matter what the media in the area say about the privacy invasion of Google Street View, I have to say that it’s quite useful to get your bearings of what an area looks like from the ground.

Even though I’ll be working, I’m going to continue my appointments with my therapist, but I have to reschedule since they now conflict directly with my job. It shouldn’t be a big deal though, because I have mornings and early afternoons free still. I also have to make some adjustments to my meals - with lunch almost becoming the main meal of the day and dinner becoming kind of a late-night snack. The good (and, admittedly, bad) thing about where I’m working is that, on my route there, I pass 2 and a half grocery stores (the Wal-Mart has a food section, but not a full grocery store), plus just about any fast food, including a couple of Subways, a Quiznos and a Macca’s. Though I think I’ll still be having 95% of my meals home cooked.

I’m thinking a new cellphone battery, but I can deal with charging my phone regularly; anyway - I have a car charger, and one that plugs into the wall as well. But how can I buy stuff?

I got a call on said cellphone today, when I was at, of all the places in the world, the grocery store. It was the staffing company I talked about on Tuesday letting me know how it all shook out with regards to the job I had applied to just last Saturday.

I got the job, and I start on Monday!

Admittedly, this has to be one of the best days I’ve had in a long time - after waiting all day for them to call me back, I was starting to get a little concerned, but I then went along with my day, and right there in the cereal aisle, across from the oatmeal and pancake mixes, I heard the familiar ringtone (which is just the sound of a phone ringing - no fancy schmancy polyphonic tones for me, thanks!) and looking at the number on the display, I knew who it was.

I answered, and it was who I had been expecting to hear from all day today.

I think this is one of those moments to have a discussion about things that are useful to have around - such as someone who has a pen and  conveniently placed post-it notepad available for you. Yeah, I wound up taking notes on the job on a piece of post-it note, right in the section where the Quaker rice chips are sold.

When I got off of the phone, I think anyone in the store around me might have thought I had just gotten a root organized or something cos I had this really huge smile on my face, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I wasn’t hovering a couple of inches off of the ground.

It’s been a long time, but it will definitely be nice to work to make some money.

Ok, anytime winter wants to switch off and go into spring, I’ll be quite content.

Sunday, 3rd February

A bit of Americana here - one of the few road signs that are permitted to be in the opposite lane of travel - the NO PASSING ZONE sign. It’s also one of two triangular signs along the road - but the only warning sign. You probably also guessed that this is not on the road I walk on, but rather the road that crosses over it.

Total distance - 1370 steps, 1.09km

Monday, 4th February

No photo today, but I did log some walking from when I was trying to not fall after the rain that had fallen all day started to freeze when I was walking into and out of a couple of buildings…

Total distance - 1861 steps, 1.48km

Tuesday, 5th February

A bit of a perspective shot here. This was how much ice had accumulated in a section of the driveway - about 1/2 inch or so. It wasn’t too bad to walk on with some salt, but a little further down the driveway, there was absolutely no traction at all. I wound up spending the time cleaning up some of the ice, but not all of it. There also was some walking in a store involved here.

Total distance - 3026 steps, 2.42km

Wednesday, 6th February

No walking at all, but a few pictures (we had somewhere around 18 inches of snow (45cm or so), and it fell literally all day).

The snow accumulated, literally on the side mirror on one of the cars, to a height of about 1 foot.

My favourite tree here, with the snow accumulated around it. I got this shot in quick before the dog went out and jumped (a la Pepé le Pew)

Another perspective shot, this time from about 2 inches off of the ground, looking towards one of the cars, and you can see all the snow piled up from drifting and just plain old falling here.

Thursday, 7th February

This is what the driveway looked like at around 2 pm the day after the snow fell. Our normal plowing service was very slow in getting to the driveway. While I was out walking and fighting through the snow (and the foot of accumulation between the road and the mailbox), they came, so I had to follow them up to the car while they did their work.

Total distance - 2243 steps, 1.79km

Friday, 8th February

A railfan special!

This is an old-meets-new shot here, with the lead unit, SD-70MAC BNSF 9821, in the BN’s final paint scheme (known as “Executive” and quite snazzy if you ask me), followed by one of the railway’s newer acquisitions, BNSF 9366 - an SD-70ACe, in the Heritage 2 livery, complete with new logo. If you look closely, you can see somewhere around 20 of the 24 wheels carrying the locomotives.

Total distance - 1809 steps, 1.44km

Saturday, 9th February

You’d be excused for thinking that it was foggy, but in fact, it was snowing, with about 30 mile per hour winds. I love the snow effect on the lights of the locomotive. Needless to say, it wasn’t the longest walk in the world (and the weather hasn’t improved yet, but the snow has stopped).

Total distance - 747 steps, 0.59km

In other news, I had the weekly therapy appointment on Monday, and I learned a bit of something about the treatment I’m getting. My therapist said that for some it would ruin how it works, but to me it makes sense. What happens is that when you choose a color to replace something with, that color has significance for you. Apparently there are some therapists who discourage some colors from being used, but as she said, it’s about the patient, and not about the therapist.

On the job front, I picked up an application for a service station to fill out. It’s not the job that you’d think that I would like, but I’m interested in it - it’s a new servo in the area, and they have night and weekend positions open. When I head over for my therapy appointment tomorrow, I’ll drop off the application. Also, I’m going to contact an employment agency in the area (one of the bigger ones, and most respected) to see what they can do for me. I had sent an email to one of their offices, but they left a voicemail for me saying that I’d be better off going with one of the more local offices to me.

I’ll say it again - with another 3-6 inches of snow forecast for tomorrow, when will it end? I know it’s nothing like 1947 or 1979, but for me, this has to be the most snow I’ve seen for a long time (plus the temperatures going below zero every two weeks or so is getting really annoying!)

Someone remind me to come back here when I’m whinging about the hot weather in summer to point out why it’s better to be warm than cold, ok?

Let’s take a walk, shall we?

Sunday, 30th December

No photo, as almost all of my walking was done in the annals of Orchard Field, Chicago. As it turned out, I had plenty of time to wander around the airport, as we were sitting there for almost 90 minutes waiting for the flight to come in. I went up to the check-in hall, and it was practically dead; the only folks there being some folks waiting for an Iberian flight to Spain, or wherever they were flying to punctually. For an airport that is the world’s second-busiest based on number of passengers served, you’d think they’d have more than a Starbucks and a (according to someone I chatted with who’d experienced this before) poor hot-dog joint in the public areas (i.e. before the security screening). Heck, even in Milwaukee, you have a wide variety of places to have food, pick up the newspaper, and even get some old books in the pre-security area. Ah well, that’s enough for the ranting.

Total distance - 6443 steps, 5.15km

Monday, 31st December

One of the horses in the paddock gets some protection from the harsh cold that was due to set in over the next day and a half. Needless to say, the temperatures were very bad (as in near or below zero degrees Fahrenheit; -13 and lower Celsius).

Total distance - 2451 steps, 1.96km

Tuesday, 1st January

I didn’t get too far in the walk - all the way to the end of the driveway before the harsh winds got to me. Spring and summer can’t come soon enough for me; something I never thought I’d say!

Total distance - 709 steps, 0.56km

Wednesday, 2nd January

A look over the snow-covered field towards the sun in the southwest. I love the contrast between the shadows and the snow that creates them. It’s one of the beautiful things of winter, and despite my dislike of the extreme cold, one reason why it’s really cool to have 4 seasons around here.

The walking distance includes some steps that I took at a store while purchasing some salt for our water softener, just so you know

Total distance - 3255 steps, 2.60km

Thursday, 3rd January

I don’t think I’ve shown many train photos for these walks, but I have to say that this is one of my favorite ones that I’ve taken. Now, photo purists will say that the fact that the cars beyond the locomotives are out of focus, but I say pfft! I like the photo and that’s all that matters

Total distance - 2145 steps, 1.71km

Friday, 4th January

This is kind of an odd shot, but this is what happens when you have snow that drifts over your driveway - you drive the car through the drift, spin the tyres, back up, and go through it with more momentum. As you might be able to see, the rightmost track is straight, and I am proud to say that this was my handiwork.

Total distance - 2218 steps, 1.77km

Saturday, 5th January

Yeah, I’m not feeling this whole feeling blah thing. I was so tired all day that my walk consisted of a short saunter to the mailbox and back to pick up the mail and papers that had collected in the 24 hours since my last trip there (it’s not a lot, but it does add up, and we do recycle). No picture, but I can describe the look of the day - it was gray, but the snow was going away slowly as it was above freezing. The fog wouldn’t set in until later (which at its worst on Sunday, was so bad that you couldn’t see more than about 20m in front of you and there were people driving with no lights on!)

Total distance - 492 steps, 0.39km

In other news, I went back to my therapist on Wednesday and we had a good session, talking about ways to get my motivation sparked; it’s something that we will be focusing on I think over the next couple of weeks or so, and we’re scheduled out to the middle of February. The trip down to the airport on Sunday wasn’t as eventful as the trip down the first time (since we had change for the tolls, thankyouverymuch), though the last leg to home was a little bit hairy with the snow starting to fall gently, but it was not that much of a big deal for me to contend with.

This week, I’m looking to debut my first redesign of a blog template - it’s about 99% complete; the only thing left to do on it is make one more adjustment to the header size (making it take up much less space than it does currently; I’ve previewed it and it looks sharp). The other thing I need to do is figure out how to make a testing platform that is similar to the one that is used on the WordPress themes site - I don’t think it’s going to be that hard to do, but we’ll see.

Happy New Year y’all!

Of course, this is the day that it would seem that half of the world says that they’re going to do all these lofty things - change their life, lose however many pounds/kilos/stone, get out of debt, have a piece of cheese every day, etc. with the resolutions.

I’ve never made any resolutions - if you think about it, a New Year’s resolution is just you saying that you’re going to do something because everyone else is saying that you should do that thing. Of course, these same people will then go ahead and possibly stick to these changes for a week or two, but eventually they’ll fall back into their old rut of life as it was back in the old year. And then they wonder why they failed at their resolutions.

The reason, I think, is simple - they didn’t want to change in the first place. It’s something that I’ve learnt from experience - for the longest time I just didn’t want to change my ways, staying in the hole that was depression, but then I made the choice to get out of there. As most of you know, this didn’t come at any holiday in particular - it came in the middle of July. The reality of the situation is that, on a Holiday, you may just say things about what you’ll do after them, but it’s a lot of peer pressure getting you to say that.

Look at the schedules for the shopping channels - shows like “New You 2008″,  “Walk Yourself Fit”, “Eating Smart”, and a whole host of other similar programs airing today. It’s like Valentine’s day - some marketing hack has realized that people will be wanting to buy pointless stuff to show a commitment to something that, really, they aren’t committed to (if you’re committed to the person you’re in love with, why do you need to prove it more on Valentine’s Day than on any other day?)

Anyway, it’s like Craig Harper says - “Your world will change when you change.” You can’t say that you’re going to achieve these lofty goals without actually changing your life.

The key about resolutions, to me at least, is to not make them - resolve to do things when you want to do them; set a goal for the year? Sure, just make sure that you’re going to commit to that goal - and don’t make the goal on January 1st; you can make it anytime during the year.