Age...revealed.

So 10 days ago I hit a milestone with my age, nobody made a huge deal about which is nice, but for some reason, hitting that number (30 for those who don't know) has made me reflect alot.

I hate reflecting...I usually stay really busy during the week and even weekends. With three kids, a full time and part time job, it's not really all that hard...but for some reason I have had some extra time on my hands just the past week. So what do I do? I could spend the time working on my business...nah...that's just more work...I could spend time with the family...wait they aren't here (hence the time to reflect)...I know...catch up on sports...let's do that?!?! eh...my teams aren't doing so well...I could play video games...I never get to...and it just so happens...okay that was boring...Well...I guess I can sit and think.

It's amazing what you can think about when your mind is free to think about what it wants to think about. I thought about friends that I've been too busy too make time for...I thought about family that I have been too busy to make time for...I've thought about what has happened in the past year, 5 years and 10 years...hmmm...I can't say this is a mid-life crisis (it better not be...I don't want to die so soon) and I wouldn't say that I am dissapointed with the decisions I have made in life. I got married fairly young (22), but I have a wonderful wife to show for that...We started kids pretty early (3 years) but I have three beautiful children who are growing up to be smarter than their dad (not hard...but it makes me happy), I have had fairly stable job positions, even including being laid off a year ago.

Sure there are decisions that I would like to go back and change. I think they are pretty basic, but they would make a huge difference...I wish I could go back and be more disciplined with my money. I think about all the money I have spent on stupid things and it kind of makes me sick. I look at lost opportunities and I think that this might be the biggest area of concern. We had the chance to purchase a manufactured home for $5000 with about 2000 sq feet (3 bedrooms and an office, dining, living) but we were talked out of it. Boy that would have made a difference (it's bigger than the little 1600 sq feet we have now). We could still live there quite comfortably with 3 kids.

I don't know I think sometimes we can get way too caught up in reflection. Who cares about the opportunities missed, about accomplishments we made yesterday...isn't life all about reaching new heights each and every day? Well...here's to each day then...hopefully I get there!

Mondays....Eghhh

Okay so I know that hating Mondays is the working class' favorite thing to do, but can I just vent.

So after a long stormy weekend in which I had to try and replace the starter motor on my car in the middle of a snow storm, Monday came way to soon. It was my birthday yesterday and I am at work today. So I wake up this morning with no major events. I roll out of bed and stand there for a while (some would say I fell asleep standing up but I don't think that's really possible). Luckily my phone alarm was very persistent and I drag myself to the shower. I shower and get myself all cleaned up...and decided to stand there and let the warm water relax me and set me up for a great week. After standing there for a while, (some would say I fell asleep in the shower, but water wakes you from sleep right?), the water all of a sudden got really cold, something must be wrong with water heater (because I didn't stand there long enough for ALL of the hot water to be gone).

I head downstairs, eat breakfast and head out the door. To my ultimate surprise I find my dog, shivering on the front porch. Unable to figure out why she was out (I usually put her in the garage during the winter nights) I head back to the backyard (through the snow) and find that the door to the garage is open and her kennel door is wide open. She spent all night out in the frigid temperatures. (She probably is going to get some horrid disease and it will end up costing me a fortune). So now, because of the dog, and the extend time standing, not sleeping, in the shower and in my room I am late for work. I get in the car that I spent all weekend fixing and I start...I START....I START the *&%^* Car. Finally, the new starter gets the old engine cranking (I hope it's the cold weather).

I get the car rolling and go to turn on the CD player...it's no longer working. I think when replacing stuff over the weekend (I had to disconnect the battery) it shut everything down...Wonderful, the CD player in my car is broken...oh and on top of that all of my radio stations are all reset instead of preset. Under normal circumstances this wouldn't be too annoying, but it's Monday and everything is annoying.

I get on the freeway heading in to work for my 45 minute commute. I hear on the radio that the freeway is backed up due to an accident caused by the ice. Unfortunatley I am already on the freeway in stopped traffic, if I didn't have to reset my preset stations I could have heard that before I got on the freeway (see the annoyance is now compounding). I find out that the accident recently occurred so if I had been on time I would have missed it.

No bother, this gives me time to fix all my preset radio stations. Okay...that's done...I've gone how far now? 10 feet? WONDERFUL. Oh might I just add that I do know that today is a holiday recognized by every other living being in the United States of America, but I had to take Friday off to work on my car that wouldn't start, otherwise I would actually be sleeping in my bed, rather than waiting in my car. My regular commute takes 45 minutes. 1 hour and 30 minutes later I am rolling in to work. Finally, at least I can lose myself in work and not have to worry about the fact that it's Monday.

I walk in, dock my laptop and begin reviewing the 105 e-mails that I have waiting for me (because I missed Friday). The day is just getting better. As I begin reviewing my e-mails I receive a notice from the network that I missed a critical patch that must be installed. This patch was missed because my car wouldn't start on Friday, so now I get to postpone my 105 e-mails to sit for an hour while the patch installs and my computer reboots. Yes you can try and continue working while the patch installs, but this just leads to slower speeds and even more frustration.

So here I am sitting in the "learning center" where PC's are available, while my laptop installs the much needed patch, and writing in this blog.


Now things are going to get interesting. Have you ever wondered why Mondays are so bad? I do. Is it something about the name of the day. Do those who start work on Tuesdays, hate Tuesdays? Does the hatred of Monday stem from the fact that we are going back to work after a weekend? If so, the there should be Tuesday haters right? Hmmm...I don't remember hating Mondays right out of High School. I worked Tuesday - Saturday...I don't remember hating Tuesdays though either. Could it be that the reason we hate Mondays, is because we are supposed to hate Mondays? We are taught and groomed from the time we start school that we are supposed to love Friday, Saturday and even Sunday. What if...what if we taught our children that they need to love Mondays, could we change the perspective of an entire generation of students and workers? Unfortuantley that would require parents, teachers and workers to change their entire perspective and love Mondays as we can only teach by example.

Forget it...I hate Mondays way too much.