Woo, is there really nothing interesting going on in my life?

I have to admit that I’m OK with having a fairly dull life most of the time. Sitting at home, in front of the radio, sending Morse code to weird countries and waiting for a postcard that confirms that I talked to that country is something I like to do. Paying way too much money to replace electrical and lighting fixtures in the house is another thing I like to do. Those are activities that are much better when they’re a little dull as “exciting” might mean “electrocution” or “lightning strikes.”

I did go to a wedding on Memorial Day, which sounds like a weird thing to do but I had a great time talking to the friends of the bride (Jenny) and groom (Rob). I know Jenny from the gym and she’s a firecracker. Being a firecracker, her friends were quite interesting as well which made for one of the more interesting and fun weddings I’ve been to. Other than wanting to fall asleep at work today, it was perfect.

Other than that I was lucky that it rained a bit during the weekend because that reduces the power line interference so I pretended to know Morse code during a ham radio contest. That is also another reason I haven’t written anything on my blog lately because it would be work, gym, ham radio, repeat and that’s even boring for me to write about let alone for anyone to read about. I did spend $400 on lighting fixtures but no one would notice unless they were going down to the basement (stair lighting) or were my brother-in-law (because I replaced the chandelier he would hit his head on every time he came over).

My mom is back!

I’m incredibly happy to see my mom back but I’m probably going to gain back the 5 lbs I lost when she was gone. I half-assed a weight lost challenge at the gym but I did lose some weight. Oddly enough, the biggest loss came on the day after I ate the two Big Macs. Most of the time, though, I ate less at lunch and dinner and that isn’t going to happen with my mom home. She buys food like she’s going to eat it like a normal person, but she eats like a bird and gives me the leftovers. Plus, I had a steak, an elk burger, and a crab cake sandwich for my dinners this weekend and that’s not going to help. Ah well, if things were easy, they’d be easy.

I also like thinking that my iPhone is telling me things when I have it playing music on shuffle. It started playing music from my high school years that just reminded me how lonely I was back then. At least back then I was filled with hope and didn’t know what I’d be doing in 2012. Teenagers are suicidal enough without know what is awaiting them in middle age. Later it played “Lady Marmalade,” which probably suggests that hookers are my only chance for companionship. At least the last song it played before I shut it off for the night was “Alcohol” by the Bare Naked Ladies which reminded me that I’m a happy drunk. A happy drunk with a full bottle of Scoresby, the Scotch you drink with a straw, waiting at home.

Maybe I’m lonely because I haven’t heard many people on my $5000 ham radio lately because of poor ionospheric conditions. Let’s just say that’s it so I can call it a night, unlike last night when I stayed up late watching the last two episodes of Fringe and then wondered just why I bothered.

NEW BASEMENT STAIRS!

Well today was kind of an off day. Off from the gym, off from work after about 10AM. Last night at about 1:30AM I woke up with stomach pains. I do what I usually do, which is roll over and go back to sleep. After rolling over several more times, I finally had to get up and take what I often think is some sort of Japanese placebo called “That’s 21”. Or at least that’s what I think it’s supposed to mean (the label is in Japanese after all). I got up and went to work as usual, but started feeling lousy around 9-ish so I cut the day short.

The reason you’d really know I was sick is because I went home to a house with contractors in it. And the basement stairs are directly below my bed most of the day there was lots of yelling, sawing, and hammering and so it wasn’t calming. But the math is much better: my floor at work has several hundred people and six toilets and three of them can be closed at any given time for cleaning. The house has two toilets and the contractors aren’t coming upstairs so that means one, WITH A HEATED SEAT, all to myself.

I did send out a bunch more QSL cards (the ham radio confirmation postcards you send out after talking to someone) and I rewired the kitchen light. Woo is it bright now. I hope my mom likes it. Also put a connector on my antenna cable. I’m all set for now, I think.

So darn tired.

Last week I was tired most of the time and sore from the gym and yesterday I couldn’t get to sleep. Now I’m back to just about passing out and, at the same time, staying up late.

I bought a direction finding antenna to locate the source of the power line noise in the neighborhood. I think I narrowed it down to a pole, but I have to get the attention of the power company to fix it. I’m about to buy yet another toy to narrow it down even more. Walking around carrying a big antenna isn’t really making me look like a normal person, but the noise is interfering with the guys I’m trying to hear on the other side of the planet!

Walking around looking goofy sure beats doing work on the house. I bought a $180 light fixture that didn’t go together the way they said it would and broke the end off of a compact flourescent bulb. Turns out I had to modify the fixture before it would fit together, but they never told me about that. I also had to move around some expensive light switches since contractors are replacing my basement stairs so they wouldn’t damage them. That’s what I get for buying an industrial light switch that costs $40 instead of using the one from Home Depot that costs $2.50.

Someone needs to stop me.

It’s about the time for my yearly Big Mac and I’m dead tired and I wasn’t having the best of days (even though it wasn’t all that awful, either) so I gave into my craving. Besides, I’ve found that if I was to go to a fancy restaurant to get a higher-class of hamburger (and there are some tasty ones in Portland) not only would I be consuming more calories, I’d probably also be sitting next to ANOTHER FIRST DATE and I did that once this week already. I’m skipping the fancy for now.

But I just ate TWO Big Macs. I did a few calculations and a Big Mac lists at 540 calories (all of it from fat and salt and miscellaneous carcinogens, I’m sure) and a large fry list 500 calories PLUS 15 calories per ketchup packet (and I’m guessing I’d use about four). So two Big Macs are better, calorically, than a Big Mac and fries anyway, and I get that extra roughage from the iceberg lettuce on the burger.

None of this takes into account that I usually only get one Big Mac, no fries, no drink, and no dessert. But a Big Mac is $3.98 and TWO Big Macs are $4.00. You know what that means, Ronald McDonald is telling me, “GET TWO, IT’S CHEAPER, AND YOU CAN SHARE IT WITH YOUR SPECIAL SOMEONE. NO SPECIAL SOMEONE, HUH? WELL SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIEND. NO FRIEND, HUH? YOU MUST REALLY SUCK!”

Well f*ck you Ronald, Imma buy TWO FOR MYSELF and ENJOY THE HELL OUT OF THEM ALONE. (Otherwise I’d probably just feel sorry for myself and buy a McFlurry, and those are 640 calories.)

Bastards.