It's Been A Month

OK, this has been a tough year. It's funny but I looked forward to turning 50. I was nearly fifty for so long that I did not care that this was a milestone. I was happy at work, Pat was happy, Stu was Stu. What more could a guy want. I wanted to celebrate a half century of not being a putz. Fifty was going to be a great year.

Well, Pat has been having minor health issues all year. Nothing big, nothing lasting, just enough to make her miserable at times (which makes me miserable). The problems have been enough for her to consider her mortality and read the AARP magazines from cover to cover. Age creaps up on all of us.

The work thing has been a real pain. I was really hitting my stride - getting projects funded and completed, making clients happy, forcing IT to relook at how they fund and staff projects and small work so that they reviewed and created a more sustainable process. I was smokin' - until the axe fell. I must admit that it was tough to go from 75 to zero all at once.

Plus I have discovered that no one really wants a fifty year old guy to work in their department. If I get close to getting a job the job is eliinated or withdrawn. It chips away at you.

As this birthday has crept up I have not been happy.

Then Pat let me know that she had plans for my birthday. So, I have that going for me (that and the secret of life from the Dali Lama).

And I am a damn good cook.

Plus I have been a terror at the library getting DVDs, CDs and the occaisional book to make Pat happy and relaxed at home. I now know all sorts of tricks to get what you want from other town's libraries even if they normally don't transfer media to your town. Pat wanted new exercise playlists on her Ipod (by the way - we still call them 'Exercise tapes") and I learned alot about creation of playlists, multiple IPods on the same PC, etc.

Oh, Mindy, you had a book waiting for you at the Newington Library - I was there picking up Nirvana's "Unplugged" album and they tried to give me your Sales Success book. Good luck with that.

The job hunt still stinks. We are looking way out of the box now.

And, Stu is still Stu - so I have that going for me.