Today is the first day for a long time that we've seen the sun and to top it off it must be 50 degrees out there. Of course, I'm inside all day. But I did volunteer to take out the trash so I got to walk to the dumpster. Days like today make me think of all the things I have to be thankful for. I have a beautiful wife who I adore and who loves me. I have great kids who I'm so proud of I could pop (bad visual) because they seem to be so adept at making correct decisions. Some are married with wonderful spouses and some are not but they all have bright futures with lots of happiness ahead of them. I live in a great place where the people are nice and I've been lucky enough to start a successful business because so many people have been so loyal to their eye doctor.
I know what you're thinking; who are you and what have you done with Geoff Bullock? I know this is very uncharacteristic of me to actually look at the positive side of life, but Merrianne and I had a talk and decided that we both need to do that more. Don't worry, I'm not going to burst through the front door of my office and skip across the parking lot of my office singing Zip-A-Dee-Do-Da. I couldn't do that if I wanted to without a couple of cortisone shots in very specific places. But I do realize that I have a lot to be thankful for so I'm gonna try to act like it. Keep in mind that this goes against my deepest genetic make up so I may slip occasionally, but I am going to try to be more positive.
On a lighter note, I feel a little thinner. I've been pretty faithful about exercising in the evenings and I think it's helping. Amazing how that works. Who'd of ever thought...? I can wear some of my shirts that were previously tight around my table muscle and that feels good. I have a long way to go though, so I'm not bragging just yet. I've got to keep at it until I hit 200. I'm thinking a Les Paul but I need the full 24 frets to the body for the really high stuff so I'll do my homework. Speaking of guitars, Savannah and I have a gig tonight. We're doing Teach Me To Walk In The Light for Young Women's New Beginnings tonight. She's singing and I be jommin on the guitar mon. I've got a cool lead solo between the second and third verse. (just kidding, come on lighten up.) I could do it if I wanted to I just don't want to.
Gotta go. Lunch is almost over. Gotta play eye doctor.
Cool huh
There's nothing like a trip to a foreign land with strange customs and a language that's difficult to understand (South Carolina) that makes you appreciate home with all it's comforts and amenities. Jake and I left on Thursday morning last week early to go see my Dad in Spartanburg. Due to a slight scheduling miscalculation we got to spend the night in the beautiful Detroit metro area just as a snow storm was rolling in. They speak a foreign tongue there too. We were ordering lunch and someone asked me if I wanted a seeyalid when all I wanted was a burger.
We met Todd and Darrell in SC at the airport the next morning and drove on in to see him. We got to visit a few people, take care of some repairs, and shop a little. I drove all over town and didn't get lost once. My initials should be GPS. Darrell got to see his Dad and Ma-Maw's rocking chair, ride in several different airplanes, and eat out all weekend. He was in heaven. Todd and I managed to fix Dad's TV on Saturday after so many trips to Walmart that I lost count. He hasn't been able to watch football for a year since lightning struck and a power surge took out his analog to digital converter box. So at least he can see the Superbowl now. After a relaxing, fun filled 36 hours we were at the airport again on Sunday morning and on the way home.
The flight from Detroit to SLC was in a 757 and it was completely full. It was almost 4 hours long and by the time we were down to the last hour it was really hot on that plane. Jake started feeling a little sick I'm sure from the heat and lack of fresh air. He made it all the way to SLC and we were standing waiting to get off the plane before he lost it. He's a much more dignified puker than I am; especially on a plane. At least he didn't miss the bag; and I'll say no more. We had a 3 hour layover waiting to continue on to Pasco and he started to get some the color back in his face. He was so worn out that he slept for most of the waiting in the airport and the entire flight to Pasco from SLC; poor guy. We were both glad to get home.
Jake and I both decided that we don't want to go anywhere for awhile. Right now staying home sounds pretty darn good. I've decided that I really love the blowing dust and tumbleweeds, the inversion that robs us of sunshine for most of the winter, the lack of freakishly crazy people and rush hour, summers that are perfect for riding a motorcycle for months at a time with no rain, mountains that are really just glacier formed hills of piled up dirt, and infinite numbers of goatheads. Yep, there's no place like home!
There have been many times in my life when I've wondered why older and wiser don't always go together. Some of us have a much flatter learning curve than others. Take me for example. I often don't see the forest for the red hemi Dodge Challenger driving by that I really don't want but I think looks cool. Especially when it has the Shelby stripes and the front end body kit. I realize that occasionally I'm easily distracted from important things. I stink at remembering some of the things that matter most while instead I think of things that are at best superfluous. You ask," So, do you want to do better?" And I ask, "Does a bear poop in the woods, do you need more than one napkin at Famous Dave's, do most NBA players have egos as big as their checking accounts; of course I want to do better!"
Since this is the first of the year and tradition dictates making several resolutions and then placing bets on when I'll break them, I've decided to make some conscious changes (since unconscious changes are so much more difficult.) I really want to eat better and I now realize after all these years that more is not better. That goes against everything I was taught growing up. So I will eat more healthy meals and in more moderate amounts. With any luck by summer I can lose20 or 30 or 40 pounds. You may ask yourself "why the sudden philosophical change and uncharacteristic desire to do better?" Well, Merrianne has told me that if I can get down to 200 pounds I can buy a new guitar. OK, there, I said it. I really do want to do better but I also really want a Les Paul; or maybe an SG; I haven't decided yet. There's nothing like the warm, fuzzy sound of a Gibson humbucker pickup when its overdriven and pushed to the limit. Trust me. It'll make even me sound better.
So there you have it. I'm really a very shallow, transparent person who wants to make changes for the better for the right reasons too, but also for a very good wrong reason. So hopefully next time you see me I'll be a little older and a little thinner. I still can't guarantee the wiser part.
Well... I did it. Saturday I bought myself a new car, truck, SUV, whatever it is. It's a Jeep Cherokee Loredo so I guess it's more like an SUV. It's the base model but it's still the nicest car I've ever had. My old truck hasn't had air conditioning in years and now the radiator leaks so fast that I can't keep enough antifreeze in it to have heat either. It uses 2 quarts of oil every 500 or so miles, my power door locks have never worked, it pulls to the left no matter what the tire pressure is, and my custom shift knob won't stay tightened. The shift knob is what put me over the edge. My bike is great but when it's below 20 degrees out there my old bones and connective tissue reconstructions don't like it.
To be honest I have a little problem getting something this big for myself and to a small degree I have to supress a small, gnawing, always-in-the-back-of-my-mind feeling of guilt. But you know what, the more I drive that thing around and listen to the stereo (with a subwoofer), play with the digital gadgets, and experiment with all the things it will do (even the things I haven't discovered yet), I think I can get past the guilt.
Everything else around here is pretty normal. Saturday I'll fire up the old truck and make 4 or five trips to the landfill so I can clean out the garage to make room for the new one. Those of you who have seen the garage understand that this is no exageration. For those of you, and you know who you are, who have used our garage as your personal storage unit with no monthly fees and unlimited ablility to store your "valuable stuff", there is a remote possibility that about 5 or 10 years from now you may have a thought come to you something like, "I wonder whatever happened to my..." and then the light bulb will go on and you may think bad thoughts about me.
Merry Christmas!!
According to a recent study, two-thirds of all people in this country think they are smarter than the average American. Don't think about that too long...
Well, another Thanksgiving has come and gone- and I survived. I may have actually learned some valuable lessons this year. Time will tell. These are a few my first thoughts after Thankgiving 2011.
First.....Never, and I mean never get a steroid shot in your knee the day before Thanksgiving; the day when its legal to eat yourself into a stupor. Steroids can make your blood sugar much higher than normal even if you're not diabetic and when you combine that with insane volumes of high carb, delicious, yet traditional dishes of your favorite Thanksgiving goodies you're setting yourself up for one miserable weekend. So unless you enjoy having your head feeling like its going to explode and looking like a ripe tomato, Don't Do It!
Second.....Consider upgrading your water heater, or even adding an additional one, before your children return home for the holidays with their spouses and their dirty laundry. I never realized there are so many varying degrees of tepid when considering the perfect temperature to jump into the shower. Once you realized the water is never going to reach your preferred temperature, how long do you let it run hoping that it will warm up a little more while you, in fact, are letting what minscule amount of tepid water you have left run right down the drain without giving you the tiny bit of warmth it has to offer. This is a very complex question; one to which there is no satisfactory answer. Basically whatever you do, it ain't gonna be pleasant. So you just jump in and set a world record for the fastest shower.
Third.....When taking a large group out to dinner to celebrate all the birthdays that have passed while not at home, or which will pass in the future while not at home, or birthdays of those yet unborn, do not go to the newest and busiest restaurant where the staff has the least experience. And when you order your steak medium its not unreasonable to expect medium. A steak burned beyond recognition, unidentifiable because there's nothing left but carbon, is not medium. And when its replacement is brought to you and it is so rare that it should be "R" rated for gore; that's not medium either. I guess we should just be thankful that we got out of there without injesting e.coli or anything else. I was a little disappointed though. I ordered catfish.
Now everyone has left and returned to their cozy apartments and/or houses. Order has been restored and our house is not in a state of constant entropy. Oh yea, and this morning's hot shower was great. Of course, I mean that in the nicest way...
It seems like everybody just left and now they're all coming back again for Thanksgiving. Where has the time gone? I was just getting used to being able to go in my music room and play my guitar whenever I wanted and now there'll be somebody living in there. We've got rooms figured out for everybody and only Cameron is sleeping on the floor (sorry Cameron), but we still only have 3 bathrooms. Think about it... a house full of people, we all stuff our faces until we can't walk... what do you think is gonna happen 4-6 hours later? I think we need some additional port-o-potties outside in the yard. I think the neighbors would understand. They've seen stranger things going on at our house. How may times have you seen people jumping off your neighbors house with a cardboard wing, or doing donuts in the cul-de-sac with my truck (that was me), or trying to get airborne during a windstorm with a tarp. You see? It's been worse. Port-o-potties would be no big deal as long as the wind is coming from the north. Just a thought...
