Anniversaries and Travel Plans

A wonderful Monday to you all. Especially Paul & Jean (the in-laws) who are celebrating their anniversary today. Congratulations! And the same (belatedly) to Steve & Kathy as theirs was Sunday. There're a bunch of them next month, too.

Made travel plans this morning. Finally doing a trip and it's going to be fun!

it *feels* like Sunday

I keep waiting for Sunday night TV to be on. The 3-day weekend only felt like two days.

I didn't loaf around too much today. Cleaned the house a little, gave some books to the neighbor boy, watched Dune. I'm shipping two boxes to Becky tomorrow (along with books to her brother and 2 eBay items) and found yet another thing I'll have to ship later :p Maybe I'll get the chance to deliver it in person.

On that note, I'm ready to take a poll. Post a comment to vote for one of these three:
1) pursue Becky, carefully yet persistently
2) stay in touch, see what happens, but go on and meet other women
3) cut my ties and don't look back

I've been eating too much again, but, luckily, my workout self-discipline is better than my eating discipline. I went for a 45 minute run (meant for it to be longer, but turned out that was enough). Took this photo right before I left. Not bad, eh?

Back in the saddle

I finally got out on the motorcycle today. 285 miles, 5.5 hours, down to Baltimore and back. Turns out some of the weight I lost was padding on my butt!

Came home and made a homemade pizza. Now going to do a little reading, maybe have a drink.

A little lonely tonight. Can't stop thinking about a certain girl.

Ego boosting - friendship

I had a couple of good ego boosts today. Went for a haircut and the cutie haircutter recognized me. Even remembered my last name. Later, the bartendress at Ludwig's recognized me from the Iowans' Visit and chatted with me. Woohoo! I need to e-mail her :)

Along similar, but more profound lines, I had a great morning with Erin as we went for massages and then a tasty salad lunch. Tonight was a trip to Philly and drinks/snack with Melanie and Chad. So many good friends that I am rediscovering. So many good conversations that we should have had long ago. So many wonderful people I am connected with.

Trevor & Erin, Melanie & Chad, two great couples that really know what it is about and how to make it work. A toast to all of you. 'night

A Friday like they all oughta be

What a great day! Sun shining, jets zooming through the sky practicing for this weekend's airshow. I'm dressed casual, yet looking particularly good today ;) Playing with some data, using the SEM, had a great meeting with my boss to plan some more tests.

Also scheduled a massage for tomorrow morning. Going away party after work. Planning a trip (finally!). Talked myself down to a salad and soup for lunch (better than the cheesesteak I was thinking of). It's just a *beautiful* day in every way. And I needed one.

I might take a little motorcycle ride south on Sunday. Hope for some sunshine for me.

A day of unexpected success

I'm taking a minute from my busy day (yes, busy) for a quick post. I finished most of the "About Matt" area last night, so it's ready for perusing. Also had great success on a sample I was working on in the lab. It's nice when something actually goes better than expected. Or maybe my expectations have just slipped too low.

Tonight is dinner with a cute blond. Don't wait up for me ;)

One of those nights

I'm being prolific, though probably boring, with my blog.

As you can see, I am learning how to change the template and I figured out how to put an image in a post (see the one of Becky below). Yippee for me. Also bought some groceries, so I'm just performing in all aspects.

It was a lonely feeling night, though. Everything is going pretty well in my life - friends, job, etc. - but I miss that friend who was here with me for 10 days. We had a lot of fun and I'd grown accustomed to her face.

Words and sounds

Here's another peek into my mind.

On my drive to work this morning, I thought about how words are pronounced (I do this often). How people pronounce words differently, some making a long A sound like a short E, for example. If you say a word like that each way a few times, you start to realize that the sounds are very similar and it gets confusing.

Dipthongs are especially like that. I've been fascinated with dipthongs (heck, even the word is fun), listening how one sound blends into another.

Then again, anything with "thong" in it fascinates me.

On another note, Happy Anniversary to Mom & Dad!

Music Mixing

While Becky was here, I made a quick mix CD with some peppy music for an evening of cooking together. It was pretty good (for off the cuff) and she wanted a copy, but with a couple of changes.

So I just put together a slightly different one. 'Course, now I need to make sure it's all good as it's going to her. Oh, well, for the $0.50 for a CD, I can always try again.

Made myself go to the gym and run 3 miles tonight. It only hurt a little. Now to sleep.

Oh, yeah, my weekend's filling up already. A Friday night party and a date (no, not really) Saturday night. Fun fun!

Where'd all the food go?

While Becky was here, the refrigerator was full, all the time and uncharacteristically. The day after she leaves, it's barren. I guess I did finish the leftovers. And there is beer. But there's nothing to eat! And once you go to Trader Joe's with Becky, you no longer want to shop alone.

So, I wakes up early, gets to work before 7 again, fill the SEM with liquid nitrogen (that's always fun). Now I take the 5 minutes to update the blog, get a cup of tea, and get Excel going again. Mmmm, graphs.

I'm looking for advice. My old PDA is not only big and slow, it's getting harder to connect to the desktop computer. I'd like to stay with the WinCE type, but I keep going around as to how much PDA I need. Everytime I try to go cheap, I think of how nice it would be to update my blog from the couch. And then I'm saddened that I'd think that would be worth money :)

Also, how do I get images to show up in my posts? Damned new-fangled internetwhosis.

time for bed

A busy day today. Ended up at the office until almost 6pm. Not too bad except I got there just before 7am. Oh, well, I owe some extra work for the past few weeks of slacking.

Becky found an apartment today. Yahoo shows it was a move of 2990 miles. Whoa! She gets to move in Thursday and it sounds like a great place. Maybe she'll send me a photo I can share with my readers.

Ebay came through on one item already. It was listed for less than 1 hr before someone did an instant buy. Woo hoo! Easy money!

And here's the last photo of Becky as she headed out the door last Friday. Cute even in her sweatshirt.

Good night.

Mondays have the worst mornings

It's bad enough to come back after a weekend, but after four days off *and* an impromptu wine-and-chat, this morning was extra tough. Some coffee appears to be helping, though.

It took Erin and I an hour or more to get a fire going in the old fire pit, but it turned out good enough to keep four of us warm while we chatted. I got to meet two new people (Erin's future relatives) and they turned out to be very nice. Anyone that Erin likes has to be great, right?

And, while we didn't shake on it, Erin and I agreed to goad each other to the gym to get in shape. I think she has enough exercise at home, actually, as I saw the HUGE stack of wood she and Trevor have made from their backyard trees.

For an hour or so Sunday, I continued what Becky started with some massive paper shredding. Hmmm, credit card statements from 7 years ago? Checks from 10 years ago? I estimate at least 5000 checks were shredded. What a pain! Now I have a lot more room, though. It feels good to minimize the amount of crap in my life and to get more organized. The lawn looks better now, too.

Now, as I promised, it's time to hit the work week hard. See ya!

Beautiful Sunday - end of the vacation

I woke up just in time to hear a transformer pop this morning. I guess that's an omen I should go to the gym (since the TV won't work). Did some weights and a hot tub soak to help my poor, sore back.

Now I'm back home, it's 9:30, the sun is shining. Time for some more house cleaning and reorganizing! I like how the place is coming together.

And, from previous comments, it looks like someone is reading my blog. Yippee! My first secret admirer :) Or stalker. I'll take either right now.

Tomorrow is another day at work. The 4-day weekend is over. And I've treated myself to 3 of those in the last 5 weeks! Time to buckle down.

She's now a California girl

Becky left PA today and should be in California by now. She's got some apartment hunting to do and will start her new job on Monday.

We had a great time together while she was here. We talking like we had never talked before and our friendship is about the best it has ever been. Too bad we are now 3000 miles apart.

We're both going to be ok and have great futures. I know we'll see each other again.

I can tell Lily misses her mommy already.

It's really only Thursday?

I took Thursday and Friday off to hang with Becky and help her get the last of her stuff together. We went into Philly last night and had a great time. Beers and food at North 3rd (decided bread pudding first and then a plate of steamers) and then more beer at Standard Tap. Home and tired by midnight. Both slept in until fairly late.

Now, at almost 5pm, it's frantic sort-pack-throw-it-away time. It's amazing how much stuff (hers and mine) we've thrown away in the past 9 days. I'd guess at least 6 large trash bags of garbage and 5 small trash bags of clothes (donated, of course). I still have more stuff of mine to go through. So much junk!

Our friendship is about at an all-time high right now and we are both very happy about that. We've both done a lot of changing and growing and we are both going to do much more, but we really need to do it separate. Maybe someday we'll get together again, but I'm not going to count on it.

Becky's still a great person and she is my best friend. :)

Wednesdays are good - especially this one

This one is especially good as it's my Friday. Yep, taking the next two days off to spend with Becky. Lots of house cleaning since we'll see corners we haven't seen in 3 years and hopefully a night in the city with some drinks and dinner. Only 2 more nights until she is off to California and we'll see each other who-knows-when.

Wednesdays are also good as The Onion comes out. It's my main source of news since I can't get Fark at work anymore.

To counteract the joy of new Onion, I have to sit through a 4 hour training module this afternoon. Oh, well. Small price to pay.

5pm notice for 7am meeting

Luckily (or unluckily) I stayed later than usual at work last night. At 5pm I got a meeting request for a 7am meeting this morning. Think of how blissful my ignorance would have been! For a change, I got to sleep before midnight. Becky's been keeping me up late watching movies and hanging out. Always a good time with that girl.

We got a lot accomplished last night. Becky went through the files and shredded 2 grocery bags of old crap, threw away a very full garbage bag of unshredded papers. Now I have to do the same to mine :p I earned a hug for finding the title to her motorcycle (it was in fairly plain sight) and we went to the gym where a very nice LA Fitness employee gave her 3 days of access for $15 instead of only 1. Nice! After the workout, we had a smorgasbord of goodies all washed down with a big bottle of Chimay Cinq.

Now, in order to boost some Googlisms for friends:
Becky Eby is a hot motorcycle chick
Becky Eby is going to take over Intel
Kellie Kreiser is future president of Thunderbird

First ride of the year

I finally got the VFR out this morning and rode to work. Thanks to Becky for taking it for inspection Friday.

It's going to be one of those weeks that goes on forever, yet is over too soon. Becky has almost all of her belongings packed. The movers come on Wednesday to take 20 or so boxes and her furniture out to California. Yes, just hers - she's decided she wants to be on her own.

So, for those of you who were dreading Team Eborne leaving the East Coast, you can relax knowing that only 1/2 of the team is leaving. Matt'll still be around. I'll probably keep this domain since I just renewed it, but the Team theme will dwindle.

Please wish Becky good luck on her move, new job and new life.

Friday of fun - weekend of rest

My routine is off having someone else around again. Staying up a little too late, not getting exercise, can't find stuff around the house, eating too much. I had forgotten what a good cook Becky is.

Another 8 hours to go at work and then off to Thunderbird Lanes for some bowling (another coworker departing the fold). Should be over early and then maybe we'll continue to party elsewhere. All I know is, I'm looking forward to a fun night and sleeping in tomorrow!

Thursdays are hard

It's a sleepy morning at work. A little rain on the way in, trying to read e-mail, crunch some data, drink my coffee. The mornings seem to be the worst part of the day for me right now.

Stayed up late helping Becky with some packing, eating pizza, watching a movie. Had a good time, though it's still damned sad that she's leaving. She changed her tune on my bubble wrap hoarding when she realized she needed all I'd saved and more :)

Looks like she may have her stuff out by next Tuesday, so there'll be room to lay out the Twister mat. Who's in?

And the packing begins

Becky's lined up the moving company, the sorting is underway, many things are being tossed. The little house is going to feel empty next week.

Becky's back in the 'boro

After a long day of flying, Becky made it back home. I think she was happy that Lily recognized her. With the time difference, she'll probably sleep until noon.

It's going to be really hard to concentrate on work today knowing that she's home. Maybe something special this weekend.

Beautiful weather, beautiful girl?

Another gorgeous day in PA. Mid 70s forecasted, new battery in the VFR (vroom!), plenty of sleep :)

And it should get even better as the Prettiest Girl is due in at 7:21pm tonight. I think she's still coming, haven't heard from her in 6 days. That's just her way sometimes. I'm sure the unloading and apartment hunting are taking all of her time.

I'll try to focus on work now, though I'm all jittery with the thought of Becky being home.

Travel Plans

I'm still searching for a good, short vacation idea. I'm leaning towards 3 nights in Cancun or Cozumel right now. Over the weekend, friends showed me their pics from Cancun and I must say it looks perfect. I just want a sandy beach, some sun, drinks and a good book.

I'm looking for suggestions! With any luck, Becky will go with me, but most likely it'll be a solo trip.

Happy Mother's Day

I'm transitioning from the "classic" page. It'll take some time to get things redone, but it's fun to work on.

A pretty good weekend overall. On the good side, the weather was nice, I planted many flowers around the house, I visited friends in Wilmington who I hadn't seen for about 2 years, and I dried sheets on the line for the first time this year. Mmm, clean sheets.
On the downside, my VFR battery needs replaced, I cut my finger, and I haven't heard from Becky since Wednesday.

Day 2 - test of e-mail post

Will it work? Only time will tell! Dare I try a photo, too? Maybe later.

Blog, Day 2

Well, it looks like this is going to work. And it's a good excuse for me to finally learn CSS (not as straight-forward as simple html).

Check back often and leave comments!