St Patrick's Day

I love St Patrick's Day. Okay, I love corned beef and cabbage. Cooked with potatoes and carrots. With Irish soda bread. My wife cooked the best corned beef ever. I could have eaten my weight. It takes hours for it to cook. It's worth the wait. It's worth the weight too, if it comes to that. To top it all off, a co-worker baked a green cake with green extra sweet frosting.
What? Green cake isn't traditional? Do I care? It tasted good, tradition or no tradition. I could have eaten the entire cake myself (but my co-workers might have hunted me down).
I had extra helpings of everything (except the cake, but that was at work). I feel full. I feel good.
I need a nap.
Life is good.

I'll exercise tomorrow.

How things change

I'm sitting in an office, getting the oil changed in my car. I'm suppose to be doing homework, but I'm counting this as my "break". I was thinking about how things have changed recently. Not for the worse and not for the better. Just changed.

My youngest is now in school. It used to be, when I would get the oil changed in my car, I would bring the stroller along and walk my daughter around the neighborhood while the car was worked on. We had just enough time to get fresh air and visit our favorite stores.

Some of our favorite stores are closed now. The Christian bookstore that I used to stop at and see if they had any "classic" christian CDs on sale is gone. (Yes, yes, I know. I'm old enough to concider my music "classic"). The toy store is gone. The fruit store is still there (not bad). The donut shop is still there (WOO HOO!!). Sorry, some foods take priority over other foods.

Now I sit, writing about my life and wondering if anyone is reading it. I'm not getting the fresh air or the fun with hanging out with my kid and no exercise at all, except for my fingers. Still, as long as I imaging people are reading this, at least I can say I'm touching base with my friends.

See, it's not change for the worse, or change for the better. It's just change.

Now I should get back to homework. I've put it off long enough. I avoid homework, when I can. See, there's one thing that hasn't changed since high school 25 years ago. So, sometimes, there's no change.

But, where are the jet packs?

I contemplated a few things, while my dentist worked on my teeth. See, the reason I was thinking was because the dentist was leaning over and blocking my view of the TV. Isn't that the coolest thing? A TV, in the ceiling, with HD cable. Life is really good. But, here is what I was thinking. When I was a kid, I imagined the future, and I tried to remember what has come to pass that I had looked forward to...

1. A TV in the ceiling while at the Dentist. I apparently spent a lot of time at the dentist, staring up his nose, wishing for something more fun. And what was more fun, when we were 9, than TV? And, lo, it has come to pass.
2. A TV small enough to carry around. Sure, I got one of those back in the 80s. But it was black and white and not very usable. Now we have DVD players small enough to carry with us, with a color wide-screen TV. So, lo, it has come to pass.
3. A TV where you could look in the TV guide and choose what to watch, no matter what time you happen to turn it on. Apparently, I thought a lot about TV. Most of the future was comprised of watching TV. And, lo, On-Demand has come to pass.
4. A tape player small enough to fit in a pocket and carry a lot of radio shows. And, lo, MP3 players have come to pass. My MP3 can hold many hours worth of radio shows. And, lo, lotsa tunes have come to pass.
5. A tricorder (I did say I watched a lot of TV) that could be portable, so you could play video games anywhere you want. Well, we have laptops. Heck, we have cell phones with video games (I just added Yatzee to my cell phone and I'm thinking about Simcity). And, lo, we have gadgets.
6. The ability to look up facts for school reports without going to the library and lugging heavy books. Hey, we've conquered a lot of this. Not just the internet, we have databases with varifiable data. We can now carry several hundred books on a flashdrive the size of fingernail clippers and read them on a paperback sized device. And, lo, blah, blah, blah.

And I even go to school while at home. Don't think I ever hoped I would be going to school when I was in my forties. But, hey, now we can. Hmmm, not as much fun as watching TV though.

Busy, busy, busy - did I mention busy?

I realized, as it was snowing, that I haven't updated my blog since the last snow. There are so many things I'm behind in.

• I had a midterm last week and another next week.
• We have a group project due tomorrow in one class.
• I haven't logged into facebook in three weeks. I have multiple requests there, waiting to see me.
• I have more e-mail than I could ever read.
• Both of my kids have Science Fair projects due. I spent half the day sticking wires into a potato trying to make it activate a lightbulb. Didn't work. I used my volt-meter to check and a potato only has .35 volts. No wonder it didn't work. My daughter was able to make dancing raisins, though.
• Um - lots of stuff around the house and yard. Behind in too much to list.
• The cubs are collecting food for the local food bank. My kids and I walked, in the snow and wind, sticking door-hangers on countless doors. I spent half the morning walking around the neighborhood, leaving notes asking for food. Next week, we'll drive around the same block, collecting the bags of food to donate.
• We need to build three cars for the yearly pine-wood derby. Haven't even started.
• The (real) cars need cleaning. Best wait though, just in case of snow.
• Homework. So much homework.

So much to do. Should get to work.

Think I'll play Monopoly with the kids tomorrow.

Priorities, you understand.