On Blogging

I don't like blogging about blogging. It's redundant and annoying but here's the deal...

I had another blogging hiatus while both my computer and cell phone were down for the count. Now that I have both of those recovered I am ready to get back to much more regular blogging.

The question is what do I write about? I already know what I will continue to write about. I will continue to keep you updated on my life, or at least attempt to. This blog is one way I reach out to friends and family back home in Albuquerque and elsewhere so it's important to me to keep them informed.

But here's my simple question to you (and I'd really appreciate answers):

What would make you want to read more?

Even if you rarely visit this blog, I just simply want to know what topics keep your interest. Is it job talk? Music? Guitars? Spiritual insight? Church? Friends? Romantic life? Are you here to read the latest news or to hear my thoughts?

You let me know, I'll keep it in mind as I continue to write.

P.S.

"Romantic life" was a joke. I actually have a self-set rule on that. Just because of it's volatile nature, you probably will never hear about my romantic life on my blog until it's set to become legal, i.e., engagement.

I'm Back

...and hopefully better than ever. Not only did I get my phone replaced under warranty but I managed to finance my way in to a new Macbook.

So armed once again with my cell phone and laptop, I reenter the blogosphere to bring back some level of continuity to this blog.

Glad to be back.

Did you miss me?

Technological Tough Luck

Here's the deal...

My laptop is dead. No clue what's wrong with it. No clue when it'll be fixed.

My phone is also dead. At least that will be replaced through warranty in less than a week.

In the meantime, times are rough and blogging is probably going to be at a standstill. Hopefully things work out soon but meanwhile I'll just have to cope without my technological standbys.

It's tough but I don't have much of a choice...

Mobile: Typical Lunch

Brown bagging it at work... Turkey sandwich, Sun Chips, black cherry soda water.

A Hug for Mother's Day

Yesterday, near the end of my 8 hour shift answering phones at work, I took a call from an elderly gentleman needing assistance with his bill which is of course the basis of my job. Dealing with older people over the phone is often a hassle either because of problems hearing and understanding or because sometimes they're just a little cranky. This was not the case with this man. He was friendly and not rude, even when asking me to slow down or repeat myself.

As I was wrapping up the call and getting ready to hang up, he threw out a question that I didn't really hear at first.

"I'm sorry, sir, what was that?"

"Is your mother still alive?"

"I'm sorry?"

"I said is your mother still around?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do me a favor, give her a big hug for me."

I actually choked up a little but after a short breath I told him,

"Yes, sir. I will."

So today and every single day, be very grateful for your mother. Don't take your time together for granted. And it should go without saying that they deserve all of your love and gratitude.

And to my mom, I send you a big hug and I miss you and love you so much...

Moustache May

I haven't completely committed to it, but I'm flirting with the idea of participating in the phenomenon known as Moustache May. I've already taken the first step in participating:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

So any thoughts? Should I go through with it? Or should I quit while I'm ahead?

Introducing @grumpyeric

Many of you at some point may have had the displeasure of meeting my disagreeable alter ego: Grumpy Eric. Either at the end of a long day or when running on very little sleep and sometimes for absolutely no reason whatsoever, this crabby, curmudgeonly persona makes an unwelcome appearance.

 

Well unfortunately I must report that Grumpy Eric has set himself up with a Twitter account. You can now read his perturbed and often angry status updates by following @grumpyeric. I'm pretty sure he means no harm by it and, if anything, this will be good outlet to get out some of those silly, ill-humored ideas in his head.

 

So if you've got a Twitter account and a sense of humor, follow Grumpy Eric at http://www.twitter.com/grumpyeric.

Visitors, Gospel Music, and Tornado Sirens

Well this sure has been an eventful weekend.

Nick, Steph and their daughter Ava came from Dallas, Texas on Thursday so that Nick could play bass for Sean and the band for a charity concert we did on Saturday evening. It was a blast having them in Enid all weekend. They pretty much went everywhere and saw everyone in Enid, which is entirely possible in a few days.

We put a lot of hard work and effort into the concert on Saturday. We put a lot of work into getting all of our gear as well as ourselves ready. We practiced late nights all week and the day before the concert our sound check went something like this:

• 1 hour of loading our equipment
• 2 hours of setting up our equipment
• 1 hour of sitting around waiting
• 3 minutes of sound check
• 30 minutes of tearing down

Even the day of the concert was a lot of work for just two songs. But in those two songs I feel like we represented ourselves very well and it was definitely worth our efforts. We had a great response that night with a lot of enthusiastic compliments, which always feels good.

And then as we get ready to pack and load our gear in Hector's truck we hear the sirens...

Tornado sirens.

While we had been busy listening to the rest of the Gospel Music Explosion, a huge storm was passing right over Enid. Most everyone cleared out pretty quickly but we were left waiting to pack up our equipment while the storm hopefully passed over quickly. Eventually it quieted enough for us to load up and head to Sean and Constance's house, where Constance and Steph had spent part of the night holed up in the bathtub taking their tornado precautions.

I can't blame them for being cautious. In fact it turned out that a tornado did hit in North Enid, way too close for comfort. I've never had to deal with tornado weather and this was by far the closest one had ever hit to me.

Eventually Hector and I made it back to the apartment and just as I thought we were in the clear and I could get some sleep, another round of sirens started. Fortunately our apartment is mostly below ground already, so I just watched the news to track the storm until it passed through Enid without another incident.

Suffice it to say, I had an eventful weekend.