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Diamond Plate is a man’s best friend

Kevin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:57:43 +0000

Well not really, but it does have a nice ring to it. To the point, the doors on the newly-built shop have lacked thresholds for about 4 months now. This has not been a major issue since the weather has been very mild.

Starting just a day or two ago, however, the clouds have been notified that it is officially Fall and they have been dumping rain in teasing on and off again torrents.

This is not good for hardwood floors. Even thought the rolling doors have a large rubber gasket to seal the sill there was still potential for problems. Yesterday I installed some tread plate that I cut to fit around the doorway. I think it looks pretty nice and it is certainly functional.

I just realized I was talking a good game about it but hadn’t taken any pictures yet. I’ll be sure to get some up this afternoon.

Wild Dream

Kevin — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:11:54 +0000

Just had a crazy dream, I want to write it down quickly before I forget.

Jen and I were at the mall doing some shopping and decided to shop separately. I was wandering around and ran into a friend from high school who was in a utility area like you see down the restroom hall or something at the mall.

He waved me back to where he was and there were several more of the guys from high school and it turned out that they were taking the “Math for Everyday Living” class together. Again.

We were talking back and forth and I could tell that one or the other of them was constantly checking me out head to toe. I thought maybe there was something wrong with my appearance and started doing the same.

The first thing I looked at were my feet, and this was where I first realized this was actually a dream. I had on some nice leather dress shoes I hadn’t been able to find the other day when I was headed out but I was wearing them here.

Then, suddenly, class started for these guys and I didn’t belong. I made as if to leave and the instructor accosted me with the usual “Where do you think YOU’RE going?” routine. I told her I was headed to the bathroom, as an excuse, and was about to ditch when I saw that I was being followed by someone else from the classroom.

This woman attempted to give me directions and keep track of me. I found the bathrooms down another hall filled with classrooms and went inside. The trashcans were overflowing and I was compelled to clean them out.

I took the faces off the wall-mounted cans and walked them outside. And walked and walked, once I was away from that weird situation it made no sense to follow-through with the trash detail.

I walked into a courtyard that I now recognize as reminiscent of the courtyard at my former high school. There was a trashcan in the middle of it which I was going to make a point of using to leave the can fronts I was carrying leaning against.

As I walked to the trash can I noticed a small green pole with a yellow band around it a few inches from the top. The yellow band was flashing as a kind of alarm. I realized now that there was also an audible alarm and that I must have tripped it when I left with the trashcan fronts.

I recall thinking about how foolish it would be getting caught in what would appear to be attempted theft of part of a trashcan, laying them against the other can and walking away.

Or rather, attempting to walk away. I felt very sluggish and foggy. It seemed like I could only take a single step at a time before needing the rest.

Thankfully, it was about this time that Jen called and woke me up. It is super difficult to pretend you haven’t been sleeping with this on your mind and a big wad of drool threatening to leap from your face to the phone.

I think I played it well, the only way she should know to the contrary is when she reads this!

Solve problems by waving

Crotch-Pot Cooking

Kevin — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:28:33 +0000

Yeah, it really is that hot here right now. It’s 70 degrees at 8:30 in the morning. It’s going to be a brutal day.

We started moving some of the fixtures and furnishings into the new studio space earlier this week. I really need to get that process wrapped up. There will be several more things that need to get built to organize products in the new space but the first order has to be to get the stuff in there.

I don’t know about anyone else, but this heat puts me straight to sleep…

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Live your best life

Kevin — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:00:18 +0000

I suppose this is a bit of a rehashing of this post about excuses and goals, but it felt different so I wanted to put it in its own home.

A natural occurrence from making (and achieving!) goals instead of excuses is that you begin to focus on more positive aspects of your life. Once you stop saying things like “When I have X then I will Y,” and skip directly to saying “I am working towards Y, right now,” positive things begin to pave the way. Accomplishments beget more accomplishments.

“Someday, I’d like to know how to knit.” How about you curb that Real World 47 recap marathon and just go do it already?

I can’t begin to understand having hopes and dreams, like we all do, blowing 10 hours watching television on the weekends, and then moaning to your co-workers and friends about the “if-only” scenarios you’ve concocted as being unreachable.

To me, it seems worse still to watch “reality” television. What is so enticing about the artificial drama, the creative editing, and the completely outlandish contexts? Is it to make the viewer envious of these other lives, looking in from the outside? Or maybe is it so that the viewer can think, in some small way, that they are better than the people they are watching?

Get a clue, seriously.

Giving away giant chunks of your consciousness and productive time is monumentally foolish. It is an insult to your future self. Do you honestly suppose, some time in the future, that you will regret going for a hike in the woods, or learning to play the harmonica?

Maybe I’m wrong, perhaps you will look back and fondly remember that time you spent 70 hours watching Buffy on DVD.
It’s not like you had anything better to do…

p.s. This is not a rant about tv, I am certainly a fan of good television entertainment. Substitute television in the above argument for whatever that gaping hole is in your life that steals your future. Almost all of us have one.

Westport weekend

Kevin — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:11:27 +0000

Jen and I tanned to a nice shade of beet red this weekend in Westport. It was a lot of fun, though. We got to see Joel’s team win their division in the Sand Castle building competition. We also cruised the chainsaw carving event, and Jen went with her dad to the Pirate Day festivities. I have a bunch of pics to show, but I’m off to a b-day party. Hopefully I’ll get them up tomorrow.

PSA: Wear sunscreen! =D

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When there are no more excuses

Kevin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 07:03:26 +0000

Today was my first day off for the summer. It seemed like I ought to feel liberated and free, kinda like Sheila commented after this post. The thing is, the freedom from a daily job brings some hefty baggage along for the ride.

Gone now are the excuses, the reasons for doing a little less than should be expected. I can’t really say now, “I’m tired” or “I worked all day, I need a break” or anything else along those lines. All the pretense and bullshit has been stripped away. Do it or not, there are no excuses.

When I think in those terms, everything seems a bit clearer, a bit more real, as if I am not hiding anything from myself anymore. There’s a kicker though. If the things that I am working toward are things that I really want, there never should have been any excuses in the first place. If you want something you have a character imperative to move forward.

In a literal sense, if you were ever confronted by an all-powerful genie or whatever, and they said “I am giving you the choice to make your life fuller and more rewarding, or to stay exactly how it is, choose” who could honestly say they would choose no change?

An excuse is the same as choosing nothing.

Take your incredibly intimidating task and bust it up into tiny pieces and do one, right now if you have to. Do you have a goal that sounded full of promise and light several months ago but sits neglected here and now? Dust that thing off and move forward already.

Live your best life

The end of an era

Kevin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:21:58 +0000

Here it is, the close of another school year, Brady is heading into sixth grade, and the cycle begins anew.

Except this year feels different. I am not sure what it is, exactly, that gives me this feeling. I get the sense that we are at a tipping point. Brady is definitely feeling his pre-teen oats, he’s still the same great kid he’s always been, just now with mood swings.

I can’t speak for Jennifer, but I feel like we’re at a point where increased income no longer equates to a similar increase in freedoms and happiness. Right now, every dollar of income carries an obligation for the future, an option against personal time, and has been doing do for a year or more.

I suppose that means while I feel that changes are coming, there are things that absolutely must change in order to preserve our sanity or some semblance of a life worth living.

My last day of work before summer vacation is next Tuesday. After that, in order to open a door to the future one or more doors will have to close to the past. I am both excited and fearful for all of the opportunities.

Hopefully, like parachuting, when I turn and face the jump door, I still have the guts to follow-through.

Brady’s Getaway

Kevin — Sat, 02 May 2009 18:03:39 +0000

I’m not really sure if he was having fun or hiding out, but Brady spent the afternoon sitting in a tree a few days ago. He seemed happy enough. I’ll just chalk it up to kids being weird.

What’s up dog?

Kevin — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:18:11 +0000

I don’t have a dog, don’t particularly want one. But if I did and I did…I would name it Gravy. That’s all. No related posts. No related posts.