family coming in to town this weekend.

always a good thing.  love to see them, but also like to see them leave so i can get back to a normal routine [is that bad?]

birthday on tuesday, party on sunday.

i'm not one to have a big fuss thrown over me, but somehow i don't think i'll be able to get out of this one.

oh well, you only turn 30 once.

boss loaned me the new dan brown.  only about twenty pages in so far, but i like it already.  good "candy" reading.

traveling mercies,
jdh

...i used to get a postcard in the mail every october [my birth month] for a free happy meal.

in and of itself, this was a welcome piece of mail - how often does a little kid get something with his name on it in the mail, anyway?

only problem was - the "toy" that came with the happy meal was the same EVERY OCTOBER which really wasn't all that exciting.

the toy?

this:

mcdonald's halloween pails.


i can handle one year of getting a plastic pail, but after many years of getting the SAME THING every time, what's a kid to do?  i only had so many legos i needed to sort in to different containers.  needless to say, i was bitter for many years. [well, as "bitter" as a kid can be getting a free hamburger].

now that i've got that off my chest... ;)

traveling mercies,
jdh

the first of the original twelve steps from alcoholics anonymous deals with the admission that we are powerless over alcohol.

here is my first step: i am powerless over perfection and i am admitting it.

but i have a plan to help overcome this condition: i've signed up to participate in nanowrimo this november.  the thing that drew me to the willingness to participate was found on their web page:

"make no mistake: you will be writing a lot of crap. and that's a good thing. by forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. to forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. to build without tearing down."

so many times in life i have found myself with a lot to say but without the perfect words to convey what i wanted to say.  this event will hopefully help me get past that.

---

i have a theory that i am working with: people don't realize just how much space they take up.

i notice this theory in action when riding the bus on my morning commute.

the bus is almost always standing-room only by the time it gets on the freeway and heads south in to the city.

i get on at an early stop so i always have a seat to sit in.  by the time it gets to the last stop, there are only about 1/3 of the seats still available and enough people to fill those seats plus more.

now, i'm a big guy - not fat, but solid [that's my excuse anyway - what my wii fit tells me is a different matter].  and there usually is another guy sitting one seat away from me who looks like he could play linebacker for an nfl team [or at least a cfl team] leaving one small seat between us for someone petite [or perhaps a midget].

enter big person, exhibit 1.

i think that there are a lot of people walking around who think they are thinner than they really are.  they try to squeeze in to places that no one in the right might should squeeze in to.  they sit between me and nfl linebacker man and spread the shoulders all the way out so as to push nfl man and me away - me, pressed up against the window of the bus.

i try to read my book but am keenly aware for the entire 40-minute ride that my back is tweaked in a manner unknown to man and that probably should stop by HR before going to my desk to seeing if my insurance policy covers chiropractic work.

traveling mercies,
jdh

i always like going to a home improvement store.  it makes me feel, well, like a homeowner.

of course, with being a homeowner comes the responsibilities of keeping up the homestead as it were.

tonight as i was making dinner, i wandered into the living room where one of my two cats was staring at something in the corner.

usually, i wouldn't think twice about it, but something she saw really had her attention more than usual so i went over to investigate.

there, crawling up and down the side of the wall by the door, were lots and lots of tiny little bugs.  i also found them climbing up and down the front window in the living room as well.

ack!!!

after a quick run to the home improvement store that is conveniently located less than a mile from my home, bug-pocalypse occured, leaving mass casualties of little creatures.

hopefully, this is the end of this saga.  the bug-killer that i purchased claims to work long after the initial spraying [and yes, it's pet safe].

i can't help but feel a little bit dirty after all of the spraying and cleaning up afterwards - i think a shower is in order.

traveling mercies,
jdh

my soul is tired and weak.

i want to care about more than myself, but i do not feel as though i have the energy to do so.

i complain about not getting rest and yet when i have the opportunity to do so, i busy myself with meaningless things that do not allow for the renewal my spirit needs.

i want to throw my hands up in the air and shout, "i'm done!  i've had enough!"



afterwards, i would get in my car, fill the gas tank, go out on the open road and end up who knows where for who knows how long.