Ice Storm Cleanup

After nearly two and a half months, we’re mostly cleaned up from the ice storm. We’re not completely done, but things are getting back to normal. As the trees begin to grow new leaves, the damage from the storm will be covered up somewhat.

All the fallen branches are gone, though we have a lot of small sticks that we’re paying The Boy by the trashcan to pick up to put out for yard waste pickup every week. It’ll take a while, but he’ll get it and, hopefully, learn something about the satisfaction of working hard and getting paid for that work.

Our back porch cover was smashed by a large branch that fell from our sycamore, and it’s been taken down and hauled away. We’re now left with just a concrete slab porch that’s not all that enjoyable or useful. But, luckily, a good friend is an architecture student, and he and a classmate are going to design and build us a new deck. They’re going to start after the semester’s over in a few weeks, so we should have a great new deck by the end of May! The best part is, since they want a real-world project that’s actually been built in their portfolios, they’re going to do the labor themselves for free! All I have to do is pay for the materials, though I plan to help them build it, as well. Look for updates as soon as we get started.

My History Via Google Street View (Part I: The Early Years)

All of the houses I’ve ever lived in have now been photographed and tagged in Google Street View. Now, that might not sound like such a big deal if I hadn’t grown up in two little (pop. 6,000 and pop 9,500) towns in Arkansas. Real nowheresville sort of places (esp. Newport, as at least Batesville has a great little college, Lyon College). The effort required to document, input, and store that sort of data for the whole U.S. is pretty staggering. Should Google ever become evil (and some argue that it already has), we might be in (more) trouble (than we’re already in). But, in the interest of nothing much other than ego, I suppose, I mapped out all the houses I lived in growing up (but none of my family lives in now).

[Read more »]

Icepocalypse ‘09

The week of January 26, 2009, Northwest Arkansas (and a lot of the rest of the upper South) was hit with a massive ice storm. People called it a “category 5″ or “generational” storm. It did millions of dollars in damage to the area, which has been declared a state and federal disaster area.

Personally, it was a VERY disturbing and motivating experience. We were out of power for 6.5 days (early Tuesday through the next Monday afternoon). We lost a number of large limbs from our lovely trees (we live in an old neighborhood with large mature trees), our electrical service was ripped off the house by a fallen limb, and our back porch cover was partially smashed. We’re still cleaning up the yard (and waiting for the crew our insurance company hired to remove the porch cover).
[Read more »]

New Year’s Resolutions 2009: Sleep More

My second New Year’s resolution for 2009 is to get more sleep. Studies show that people who don’t get adequate sleep have all sorts of problems: higher rates of heart disease, anxiety, auto accidents; are less productive at work; and myriad other problems. I probably average around 6 hours a night most nights. My goal is to get AT LEAST seven and to try to get eight hours of sleep a night. For the few nights I’ve done it so far this year, I’ve really noticed that I’ve felt better the following days.

New Year’s Resolution 2009: 40 by 40

So, I’m going to be 40 years old at the end of July 2009. For the last seven to eight years, I’ve slowly gained weight until I’m back at the size I was when I dropped 40+ pounds 10 years ago. My primary goal for this year is to lose 40 pounds by my 40th birthday.

Experts say one of the best ways to keep a resolution (New Year’s or other varieties) is to tell other people about it. At work, one of my co-workers writes down everyone’s New Year’s resolutions on her desk calendar for the year, so that when she gets her new calendar for the next year, everyone reviews the success or failure of the previous year’s resolutions. So, in addition to announcing it here for (the theoretical) entire world to see, I’m also on Melissa’s desk calendar. I also announced it on Facebook (I think —- and I will do so if I haven’t yet).

Anyway, here’s a line in the sand on those 40 pounds that contribute to my feeling miserable (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually) most of the time. I’ll post updates along the road.