Hmmm.... almost two weeks between posts, guess I'll try to get back into the swing of it again.

Went ice fishing with my dad yesterday. Will post a couple pics when I'm feeling a bit more ambitious. Not that it'd really be all that difficult, but I don't have any hosting set up right now, and I don't feel like doing it before bed. We caught a couple dozen fish, and ended up keeping 17 of them. Nothing real big, all pretty moderate-sized sunnies, but was still a blast to catch them. Moreover, I look forward to trying my hand at cooking the fillets... I haven't had pan-fried fish in 15 or more years. I'm just glad my dad volunteered to clean the fish... I'm not squeamish about it, just don't have the talent with a fillet knife to do a very good job. Next time we go I think we're gonna try to drag my brother-in-law along... the more the merrier.

Internet outages suck ass. We rearranged our livingroom recently and about a week after doing so we began to see our cable internet signal degrade. Gradually, over the course of the last month or so, it's been getting worse, and now it actually goes completely out for spurts. This is particularly irritating for me seeing as how I just began playing Everquest II again, which is an online game. So I guess I'll be calling Comcast tomorrow to schedule a service call. I've already tried all the simple crap that they tell you to do when you first call tech support. I've tried changing every coaxial cable in the line between the wall and the modem. When we moved our furniture (computer desks included) we didn't change the way we had our system wired. We have had one four-way splitter feeding the modem, the tv, and my computer's tv card since we moved to this apartment three years ago and we never had a problem anywhere near this severe until now. /vent off.

I started playing Everquest II again last night after having taken a 4 month break. It was kinda fun to be back, but weird at the same time because all of my characters are currently guildless. Alot of the reason I decided to take an extended break from the game was because of the fallout my last guild underwent. Small groups of players broke off and went to other guilds while another group hung around to rebuild and merge with another guild. After having been through a couple of rebuilds with that guild, I decided I didn't have the energy or ambition for it again. Was good to see that a few of my old friends are still around though. I'm sure I'll eventually find a guild to torment with my bad jokes and radio voice. :)

I did that whole walking thing I mentioned in the last post. I used to go to the track three times/week and actually kept that schedule up for a few months... not sure why I ever got out of the habit. Was fun, got to use my new bluetooth headphones, and let me tell ya, headphones that have no wires are a stroke of genius. Now I'm just waiting for someone to call me while I'm at the walking track so I can answer via the embedded mic... it irritates me slightly when other people around me are talking on a bluetooth headset and I think they're talking to me... but for some reason I don't care nearly as much when I'm the one with the headset. Anyway, my hip joints are a bit sore from the walking, probably a side effect of my choice not to stretch a bit before walking. And it's a sad statement on my flexibility and physical fitness when walking a mile makes me sore.

I can't help but be a little inspired to do more for my physical fitness when my wife starts doing the same. I think her ambition for doing more for her physical fitness rubs off on me a little bit. Don't get me wrong, she's not an aerobics freak who wakes up and drinks a protein shake and spends the first two hours of every day sweating, but she seems to go through phases where her physical fitness is important to her alot more often than I ever do. The problem I have is knowing where to start and then making it a habit. I tend to want to change too many things about my bad habits at once and as a result I get overwhelmed and the whole idea collapses. But now that she has started paying closer attention to her fitness again I feel like I might be able to bring myself to do a few small things to further my well-being as well. Not sure exactly what those things will be yet... will probably try to start walking at the public track in Shakopee again at the very least.

Ate at a restaurant in Burnsville tonight called Roasted Pear (www.roastedpear.com) and the food was awesome! We decided to get appetizers and by the time the entrees came I think all four of us (me, Bri, Joe and Ross) were close to stuffed already. We had some excellent bruschetta and baked brie glazed in a pear sauce, served with toast. For dinner I had a nice 14 oz. ribeye that was cooked perfectly and definitely ranked in the top five steaks I've ever had. Overall the price was pretty surprising - in a good way - for the amount of good food we got. And the atmosphere was actually more friendly than I'm used to experiencing in a place that serves this quality of food.

First Post

New Year's Eve was mostly a blast. Would have been perfectly good if not for an unusually bad night for tips at work. Fifteen cents isn't a tip, it's an insult. I darn near told one lady to keep her change... I wanted to tell her that if she couldn't tip more than fifteen cents she probably needed the money more than I did. My better sense prevailed and I walked away grumbling. Aside from a bad night at work things went well today. Saw the movie Yes Man... good flick, better than I expected. After work I went to my sister's place and played Songstar on PS2. No drinking tonight, but I'll have just as bad a hangover from the '80's music in that game. Jefferson Starship is firmly stuck in my head. "We Built This City..." will be the theme for my next few days I think...