It's not easy being Green

It’s not easy being Green…

At the moment, that’s how I am feeling.

Green.
Green to the stomach.
Green to the head.

I’m thinking that the cure is worse than the sickness.

Zelda and I caught something on the plane back from our honeymoon.

A head cold.

It’s quite popular at the moment.
The “Everybody’s Got to have it!”

I’d like to give mine away.

Well…

Not that I want anyone else to share.
There is something good about exclusivity in regards to flu bugs and colds…

Anyway.

Monday I was hacking up a lung, which makes it tricky to sleep.
So Z and I arranged for a Dr.’s visit Tuesday.

Z insisted.

She gets kind of nervous when her husband(s) get sick.
(Number one, I being number two, got sick and never recovered, so it’s understandable)

My Doc is not shy about handing out meds.

I once had a Doc who had the philosophy that unless you caught it early, and took the drugs at the onset, by the time you made it to his office three days later, the bug was on the way out already and just let your body do it’s magic.

Other wise we were just helping create Super Bugs, due to the fact that most folks never finish their meds.

*This one has decided it likes the décor and refuses my heart felt eviction notices…*

Yes, I will finish my LOVELY tasting prescription.

Even if it leaves me feeling worse than the bug.

*****
PBS has a fascinating program on right now tracing the rise of some cultures over others.
“Guns, Germs, and Steel” or something close.

Earlier in the year I learned that the Flu doesn’t occur naturally in Humans.

It’s a gift from the dinosaurs.
Carried down by their ancestors, the birds.

All flu viruses have the same number of H and N proteins.

16 H’s and 8 N’s.

Birds are the only animals that have the same number of H and N proteins as viruses.
Which is what makes them carriers, and great mixing pots.

Change up the number of the active proteins and you get a new flu.

Ie. H1N6. Or H10N3.

The latest killer in the news is H5N1.

Add pigs and we get a great cross over animal from Birds to People.

Prior to domestication of live stock, we didn’t catch the flu.

Thus 18 million, 95% of the native Americans, died when they were introduced to the Europeans.

*That’s something I don’t recall from History class.*

Native Americans didn’t have the kinds of live stock Euros did (cows, horses, pigs) and so never developed the resistance.

Which conversely, is also why they never developed their civilizations to the same level.
They spent most of their time working the fields to make a living. No large domesticated animals to work the land for them.

They have recently tracked the 1916 Spanish Flu that killed so many people in the first part of the 20th Century to a British military camp in England during World War I.

The military was experimenting with raising its own food, pigs and birds (geese).
Add in hundreds of thousands of men moving through the camp a month, traveling all over the planet, and we have a world wide out break.

Yet one more out come of World War.

Be well.

The office has final

The office has finally installed a new, up to date server.In the process, it was discovered that four of our machines were infected with a bot virus that was sending out spam. For any of you who may have been a victim, let me apologize.The viruses have been eradicated. (the bastards)It also means that if anyone in management were interested, they could see where I have been, namely, blogspot.And if they were curious,could visit Karlthebunnywhere there would be informationthat I would not care to share withmy fellow employees or employers.So, I will not be on the net quite as often...Maybe Zelda might get in and blog instead...Who knows?Pigs COULD fly...

By Design

Did I mention that it was by...




Intelligent


Design....???

Zelda

Dear Zelda,

I married you.

Not by mistake.

But by design.

Because I love you.

My house, now our house,

hasn't yet made it from "my mom's house"

to what we want it to be.

We may move before it ever makes it that far.

Not by intent, but by avoidance.

I am ready

and willing

to help make "our house" happen.

I am ready to play "27 things" everyday with you.

Till there aren't 27 things left.

klz

Making Plans (where no one gets sick)

Zelda and I are making plans.

Plans with the house,

about our jobs,

our financial future,

and about moving.

In February there is a financial workshop we have tickets.
Zelda has never been.

I want her to join me so that she can see that we have options.
And to ease in the idea investing our monies in something that will Pay Us.

For a while we dreamed of buying a newer house in the Dallas area, renting our current home. Then moving on after two or so years, converting that house into a rental.

Or moving into an apartment so that we could purge and migrate this house into a rental.

But Dallas does not like Zelda.
From the traffic to
allergies to
the heat to
the mentality of the population.

I need a change as well.

We are making plans!

wish us luck...

One man's dribble

Zelda is currently in the office entering our (my) checkbook into the computer.
Normally I have handled this.
I don't mind.

Z wants to help out. (it's not much fun...)

thanks sweetheart.
***
On the way to the big box discount, gotta have a membership (but isn't Wal Mart or its sister companies), Z and I discussed our Blogs.

She hasn't had the time as of late.

We couldn't (and still can't) remember the movie we saw in October for our date night.
She was saying it was *abc* and I was remembering *xyz*.

I gave her the benifit of the doubt, because she Does have the better recall.
But it just didn't sound right.
So we turned to our blogs to find out.

I admire her blog, and always have, because it is almost always poetic, beautiful, and very reflective. She thinks it out.

She told me she finds my blog "better" than hers.
It has a better time line if nothing else...

(I see the majority of my entries as mundane and boring...Not alot of deep thought.
Not like those I posted last year at this time when we were full of more energy.
I see hers as better...)

She is also flirting with moving her blog to blogspot... the method of posting (by the month) and ease of adding photographs...

I told her I didn't want to loose her previous entries. Can we save them?
I enjoy them.

It has also been an interesting way to keep track of our new lives together.

I had the correct memory of the movie. But we still don't remember even part of the story...
The second show was "Ghost Busters"...For the life of us, we just draw a blank...

This blog will never be as deep as say,

Waiter Rant,
or
Third Grade Mind,
or
Real Live Preacher...

but that's not what it's meant to be...

And that's O'kay...

Teenagers...

We enjoyed "Underworld; evolutions".

I enjoyed the original, vs the sequel, but that's not a suprise.

It 'fleshes' out the 'rest of the story'.

(It's an action movie about vampires and werewolves)

One of the reasons I think the original 'Star Wars' was so great, is that it talked about things, history, but never "flashed back" or explained things. They were left to the imagination of the audience.

I often wondered about the "clone wars",

now I wish I'd never been told.

It was a mystery, which is how it is in real life.

I don't always want to 'know it all'.

(Makes for a better story, don't you agree?)

******
I regularly study at the coffee shops in the West Village area of Dallas. It is an upscale shopping/business/living development.

Lately I have been studing closer to home.

The difference in clientel is striking.

Where as I regularly over hear college age students talking about classes (90% are medical students), travels, jobs (see "medical" above), and professors in West Village, I now am subject to highschoolers.

One couple was waiting on classmates to discuss a group project they had to work out.

"He better get here by 7:00pm or I'm leaving and he can get a failing grade".
"He'd better be here by 7:03 or he's in trouble!!"
Why was she so worried bout this other kid? What's it matter to her?

Tuesday I over heard a young woman telling her friend about boy troubles.

We all have those stories I thought, and continued focusing on my site planning.

She was describing how a guy she had hung out with got too frisky and she said, "No".

He said, o'kay".

But he wouldn't stop bothering her.

On a second visit, they were again laying in bed and he started, she said, "no", he didn't stop.

"We he finished and rolled over", I heard her tell to her friend, "
'Do you know what you just did?!' I told him,"
He said,"oh...".'"

She then asked her friend not to tell anyone...

What he did was Wrong.

What she did placed herself foolishly in harms way...

Should she have told a person in authority?

What happens to the next girl he dates? ... Would he do it again?

As I came back from the trash can I glanced over at her table,

they couldn't have been older than

13 or 14...

******
And speaking of teenagers...

we had some teenager troubles at the drive in last night.

During the first show a car that had snuck a couple in kept turning their lights on. When I finally walked over to ask them to turn off their lights, Zelda got nervous. (they never did stop. On off on...)

This is going to happen, they are children after all. And it is part of Drive In rights of passage.
I wasn't going to "tattle" on them, but I do want them to be respectful of those of us who are paying. (I see similar behavior at the Opera and Symphony...)

They left after the first movie.


What was troubling

was the car that pulled up next to us for the second show.

Again teenagers, but these were there to get high, drink, and visit with friends.

They kept coming and going, turning on their dome light, and having new friends come by.
At one point they cranked their rock station up so loud we could hear it in our car.

I rolled down the window to ask them to turn it down as some of them were having a conversation out side our door.

They couldn't hear me.
And the alcohol fumes filled our car.

Later when I opened the door to go
complain to management, Zelda became Very nervous. She's been in situations where things like this went bad wrong in a hurry.

Eventually they left to party elsewhere.

I checked the Galaxy web page and they have security and the sherif on site.

This morning I wrote them the following email...

"Howdy!

I am so glad you opened the Galaxy!
Dad took us to many movies at the drive in durning the 70's.
I have told many of my friends about you and have linked your web site from my blog.

My wife had never been. Thanks to your establishment we have made the Galaxy a regular for our "date nights". We can't buy a movie and dinner cheeper anywhere else.
(My wife has your menu announcement memoried after only two visits! She noticed "White milk and chocolate milk" were not mentioned last night! )

*She really does folks, you should ask her to rattle it off on her blog for you*

I am writing to ask you to provide a security number we can call from our cars and provide it in your announcements.

Last night we experienced some teenager problems. One car snuck a couple in along with food, which will happen. But this same car repeatedly turned on their lights through out the first movie. I spoke with them about it, but it made my wife very nervous.

The real concern was at the second feature (walk the line) a car load of kids pulled in next to us. They were drinking and smoking and continually turned on their dome light, got out the car to go visit other friends in other cars, bumped our car, and at one point cranked their rock station so loud we had to ask them to turn in down.

Finally we put our blanket over our window to cut the light.

This again made my wife very nervous and she did not want me to leave the car when I attempted to go to the concession stand.

They did eventually hook up with more friends and left half way through the show...

It was dissappointing, and is bound to happen from time to time and will not discourage us from visiting.

It would be very helpful to know that this service (an announced security number) is available should we need it again.We look forward to many more (quiet) nights at the Galaxy! "

Karl and Zelda Bunny

Let's hope the management listens
It would be a shame to stay away because we are fearful.
And the bad PR...

AND WHAT'S UP WITH TEENAGERS?

I Know it's part of that part of life, but where are the parents?

I will not ignor the problem and let potentially drunk drivers I could have done something about out on the road next time,
even if it does scare my wife...

There's always 911...

Date Night!!!

Friday after work Z and I are going to the Galaxy Drive in for a double feature and some movie popcorn.

Now showing!

"Underground; Evolutions"

!!!

Mission Control

we have a problem.

I was able to successfully aquire the wireless signal with my laptop.
And Zelda still had access to the internet...

And then I tried to network the two computers thru the router...

I haven't been able to get Zelda's machine to connect to our regular server since...

As you can see, I CAN get on the net, but we have to go through windows explorer.

I don't know why...?

Even "restore" didn't solve the problem...though it did repair some of the other things I confused...

This is supposed to be "easy".
Where's the "easy" button when you need it...?

Anyone out there with computer savy have any ideas???

Even when I take her machine off the router and plug it straight into the modem, I get connection, but I get a "can't connect to server, check your connection" error when we try to sign on.

I have been able to plug the router in, and gain access to yahoo through my laptop via the wireless...

Why won't Zelda's machine find Yahoo directly?

Arrrgggghhhh!!!!

When the mood strikes!

Last Friday we stayed late at the office to get a check set out to the client.

I was not aware of the new improved (later) deadline, (because someone didn't tell me even though I asked to meet on this project) and when that someone was out of the office and the client called, I told them MY dead line (what I was shooting for for my personal check set.).

Mistake.

Client decided He needed a copy too.

Thus this brings us to Friday night.

This caused me to think about my attitude.

I arranged for our print company to FedEx the package out for Monday delivery.

Senior Architect practices the philosophy of "Do it all yourself, to make sure it gets done!"
Including waiting on prints to be run, checking them, and running the set to FedEx himself.

This would not be necessary if one ran a check set a day or two before the dead line, which is My way of thinking.

Well, this morning I got a call telling me that the prints never made it to FedEx...
(they blamed FedEx for not picking up).

I felt guilty and frustrated.
Why work long and hard to get something together only to let someone else screw things up for you?

Which will cause the client to think less of me.

Zelda backed me up with my thinking of not everything will be in the realm of my control.

But I was concerned that she was supporting me and not being as hard as she might be knowing Senior Architect was behind all this. (she is no fan of his)

I finally relaxed when I remembered that:

Leadership means Delegating to others that which you don't or can't do.

Yes I am ultimatly responsible, but at the same time, I have to Trust in others to do what they are asked. Which is also a sign of Leadership.

If this were a BIG company I wanted to spend a good part of my professional life with, and I knew I would be rewarded for going "above and beyond", there would be no question as to the "Right" answer.

This is Not one of those companies.

There is also the arguement that getting and keeping a good client is everyone's number one job, but I don't care with this company.

Because they don't care about me...

Let the Senior Architects do it.

He's divorced after all.

Wireless at Last!!

It took buying a new wireless router last night, but I am now out of the office!

Yeah!

Zelda made very wonderful Pancakes this morning after some snuggling and other bedroom sports.

Now to figure out the security side of it.
This router, (linksys) says that it allows for computer to computer connection as well, so I should be able to access Zelda central.

Nap time.

Yesterday was so full of activity.
We picked up Zelda brother's girlfriend's washer and dryer yesterday morning.
(But not after we had some morning nookie, I think I see a trend...)

We were very rested.
It helped to keep the day happy.
In fact it felt like a week of vacation.
Ending with "4o year old virgin" and some bedtime snuggling.

And today we can lay about the house.

Cheers!

We can both access the net at the same time now... so I hope to see more posts from that ZeldaPinwheel person...

We'll see...

Sugar in the

Sugar in the morning,
Sugar in the evening,

Goes the song...

Makes life MUCH sweeter!

Test Exams

I have gotten back into the swing of studying for my Architectural Registration Exams.

It amazes me how much time it eats.
My childhood memory is just that, a thing of the past.
As Zelda put it, "as a child, your head wasn't as full of as much stuff, bills and such"

Exam 5 of 9 is scheduled for January 30th.
Number 6 is two months later.
And so on till I find out I failed a section, or I get finished.

Structures has me nervous.
(See "failing memory" above)

I think I may hire a tutor so I can get it over with.

This all means...
less time with Zelda.

May she grant me this time "away" so that I can achieve a life long goal...
That and we will be able to move out of state if we so choose.

"Reciprocation"!!

More from Colorado

Zelda Power

Zelda is in the land of Tuck-son, Az. this week for work related study.

This leaves me "a bachelor".

Translation, a little quite time to reflect on the last 6 months.

"Being Married" is not such an "odd thing" anymore.

It has settled in nicely, and I snuggle up with it and feel protected.

Yes, it has put a damper on my 'dating', *snicker* and "personal" time,
but it has been well worth it!

Looking forward to my Zelda's return!

or...

The Return of Zelda!


(Which reminds me hon,

when you gonna up date your blog?)

Safe travels

Goals for 2006

Two goals for 2006.

Complete (meaning Pass) my Architectural Registration Exams.

Payoff all Credit Card Debt.

Irish Stew

Saturday Bunny Sister called to ask Z and Me if we'd like to have dinner that evening.

We were feeling crummy that morning, but decided to go ahead and accept.

It's not very often that we go out to dinner with Sister Bunny and Bunny in Law.

It was very nice.

We spent the evening catching up on our vacation. She reads our blogs, which can be possibly embarrassing at times.

I forget that this is no longer totally anonymous anymore...

I scored points that counter act leaving the cabinet doors open in the kitchen and leaving the toilet lid

(not the seat, which I always leave down)

up on occation,

which has caused Gaea some embarrassment when she has not checked before jumping...

(Yes, I put the toilet lid down, not for my wife, but for her cat...
Does that mean I'm Pussy whipped?)

The adjacent table tourned over three times while we sat and talked.

Which is one of the things I love about Sister Bunny.

this week in bunny land

Stop by post office to buy new 2 cent stamps to mail out bills.

Grocery shopping one evening this week while Zelda is out of town.

Complete permit set for Friday, even though our scope of work has grown and the design changed while I was out on vacation...

Spend one hour studing each night for my Site Planning Exam...

Clean house....

Put away Christmas Tree and decorations.

Make sure I don't relapse with this cold...

Feed the cats...

Write thank you notes from Christmas...

Finish Resume update and send out.

Read Career Change books.

Welcome Zelda home Thursday befitting a bunny!

Return dead car battery...

Price new tires for Hondo...

Balance Check Book...

Garbage out Thursday...

Call the Kid for Lunch one day this week...

Prep lunches for this week...

Get to bed early....

Take one day off for Sabbath...

Thank G*d for life...

Under the Weather

What ever is going around right now is pretty harty. It has landed in our sinuses.

I worry that should, or when, the Bird Flu makes to the USA, that Zelda will not fare well.

With her asthma and our allergies, it could very well be fatal.
I would lose that which I love most.

And that would suck.
******
We have talked about where we want to vacation next year.

Camping is still on the list, but I think room service has created a Monster!

I am sure when Z gets back on line, she will comment that life is full of color when all you need do is pick up the phone, and hear on the other end,

"How may I help the Bunny party?
Yes, Mrs. Bunny, right away."

Where they park your car and pamper you.

We have talked about Chicago, to visit Rick Bayless's restaurant.
We talked about San Francisco.
And Vancouver, B.C.
And Spain, France, Great Britain, Germany, and Italy.
Japan, I've always wanted to go there.

She's getting her hair done today.

Life is beautiful,
and so is the weather.
******
I think Zelda and Bunny Sister may plan a Spa holiday for next year and invite the Zelda friends!

Who Said...

I , uh, borrowed these quotes from Waiter Rant, they were too good to pass up.

“Marriage is society’s recognition of a deep spiritual and psychological process that occurs between two people. Most couples skip the process and just get married.” – my therapist

“Don’t get too wrapped up in dogma. Who knows? When we get to heaven there might be a Big Buddha laughing at us while we’re all running around going ‘Oh shit……!’” - a Catholic bishop

“It’s just a feeling. You don’t have to act on it.” – spiritual director

“Sex isn’t life. But life’s impossible with out it.” - unknown

Necking Party Post Poned!

Date line Dallas:

Zelda Pinwheel and Karlthebunny have post poned their evening of making out.
When asked about the change of plan, Zelda replied, "I was ready to do it Wednesday".

"We thought it was allergies, being back in the Land of Dallas, but neither of us found relief in our meds. So I took an additional Over the Counter."

It seems the couple has sucumb to the common cold, most likely picked up on the flight back, and do not have the energy to engage in "Bedroom Sports".
There was great disappointment.

This reporter enquired as to how Mr. Bunny was feeling this morning.
His response was, "dizzy, and tired".
Seems Niquil is not agreeing with Bunny's head.

We will keep you posted as to the continuing saga of
"the Necking Party that Wasn't!!"

"Glad we DIDN'T send out invitations".

Scary

Pat Robertson is just plain
Scary...
(there is another word that begins with "S" but I think that one is obvious...)

Self Portraits

If this will ever finish uploading...
Some attempts at self portraits New Years Day and at the Garden of the Gods.

Time to Question number 1

I find the desire to be Professional,
conflicts with my desire to be a
Family Man.

Working hard to provide for my wife and cats.
Having the energy at the end of the day to engage them in a meaningfull way, other than grunts and "yeah"s.

Z and I are both refreshed and I feel that Energy I had last year at this time when we were mearly 'Interested' in each other.

We have scheduled a Thursday night necking party, so those who have our numbers, we WON'T be answering the phones.

*Oh, this will be a Private Party.
Invitation only.
Sorry, we aren't sending out invites.*

You'll just have to throw your own necking parties!
*****
Recently I had my eyes checked.
For many years my perscription had been holding.

This evening as we exited the car to enter the house I looked up to see
STARS!!!!
I have blamed light polution for my inability to see but only the brightest...
*In '73 when we moved here, we could see the Milky Way. That is long gone.*
But there are more of them out there than I believed!

Way cool!!

Value #1 - Professionalism

I want to be treated as a Professional.
To be seen as Professional, by others and myself.

That is,
to act like what I believe it is to be Professional.

1) This means, (pardon the cliche)
No Fears.

2) Being in Charge of my own destiny.
Which has been hard, because I am Not in touch with what I want my Destiny to be...

3) Being HONEST, with myself and others.
(Office politics promote either lies or truth. What kind of office do I wish to be working.)

4) Customer Service.
Going above and beyond.

5) Completeing my licensure as an Architect in Texas.
Providing for more $$$, responsibility on projects, and flexibility in where I live.

6) Awareness.
It is my responsibility to plan for MY future.

7) Develop myself. Constant improvement.
What are the systems I must have in order to keep my edge?
What do I need to learn, which programs, what systems, which books, do I need to keep on top of my faulty memory. What attitude to I need to learn and adopt?

8) Discipline.
Nuf said.

Our vacation took both of us into areas outside our comfort zone.
I made some mistakes, and have learned from them.

If I want something, I have to ask for it.
If I am unhappy with something, I have to acknowledge this dissatification.
If I have this awareness, I must act on it.
If I act, I must be prepared for the results.
If I don't like the results, I must have a resolution which will work.
I must have high expectations and act on them.

It was a glimpse of "someone else's' life.
That could very easily be mine.

With the right
Attitude.

Promises

I am not one to make "Resolutions" as they are never kept.
It's not the time of year but attitude that makes the difference.

In light of this, and having just returned from a wonderful vacation, which IS based on the time of year, I want to keep in touch with this refreshed attitude and clarity of mind that only comes from having rested.

To become aware of what I value, what My Values are, not those of the advertisers, church leaders, or bosses.

So towards that end, this winter I am going to do some unsensored self examination.
Some of which will make it to this blog...

Vacation Days

Time to pay….

Our wonderful stay at the Broadmoor is almost over.

Z is in the room getting ready and I am sitting in a New Favorite lounge over looking the lake with the morning sun streaming through the windows, across the desk, my face, and onto the carpet. At the moment I am down loading the photos of the week onto my computer. (No wireless to up load anything from this lounge, so look for them later).

New Years Eve we danced, and made new friends, and ate an eight course meal.

Z wants to come back here for her birthday in March and bring her mom along.
I teased her about wanting to bring Her Mother!, instead of her Husband!, but I can understand wanting to share this place with someone special.

It’s why I brought Z.

This holiday seems to have a food theme.

In addition to the spa, they have 10 different places to eat, which makes it wonderful in that you need never leave the property.

Z and I took a walk last night through the neighborhood in front of the hotel, in an attempt to exercise off some of those courses. We didn’t make it too far…

We stopped in at The Golden Bee, an English pub from the 19th century.
Very cool.
There is a sing along each evening.
I think some of the best food we had here was at the Bee.
Simple, but good.


******
Well we are back in the land of the working…

Back to reality.
The reality that we have made for ourselves.
Our reality.


Time to remake into something as pleasurable as a week at the Broadmoor…