Leelanau Whippersnapper

Finally, I’ve had a reasonably relaxing weekend.  Of course tomorrow I head back in to hell for what will likely turn into a 6 day work week.  We begin a major re-set in my department tomorrow morning, there is a ton of work to be done and only 1 week to do it.  I’m going to have to be a cheerleader most of the week and that is indeed exhausting work.

Today I packed up the dog and headed out to the lake.  The sun has been out for the past few days, something exceedingly rare this time of year and I figured I would take advantage of it today by bringing my camera along.  I ended up going down to a beach I had not been to in quite some time.  It was further south than I usually go but still on Good Harbor Bay, just down the road further.  It was quite nice.  There were a few people out today but because of the Super Bowl and my complete lack of interest in sports, it was pretty quiet overall.  Gavin was able to run around off the leash for a while and I spent some time trying to capture a few good pictures.  I’ve uploaded a new gallery at leelanauphotography.com, just click the picture below to check it out.

The folks are off to Iowa for about 6 weeks tomorrow morning.  They’ve decided to spend some time away from here this winter since it’s easy to get really stir crazy this time of year.  We still have a good 3 months of shitty weather before spring starts to hit, I really hate this time of year up here.  Luckily, my job keeps me quite busy so it’s hard for me to care much.  Mom and Dad will be staying with Sarah, Brian and Christopher and I’ll be interested to hear how that all works out.  I love my folks to death but given the choice, I would not choose to have them live with me for any extended amount of time.  I’m pretty sure my folks would say the same about me. Our family dynamics are a bit much to tolerate day in and day out.  And, at my age, and their age, that’s the way it should be.  Christopher will be spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa for 6 weeks, and, that’s the way THAT should be too!  He’s a lucky kid, even if the only words he can say are “doggie” and “LOOK”.  We’ll see if Grandpa can teach him a few words during his stay.

I have made a new purchase since my last entry in this blog.  Last week, I broke down and bought a Wii so that I too could join the ranks of 30 something’s who are sick of being out of shape but who don’t want to join a gym.  I have always enjoyed video games even though I suck at them and I like the concept of being more involved in them rather than just sitting on a couch with a controller.  The Wii promises to at least get me off my ass for a little bit each day.  Eventually I’ll buy the Wii balance board and Wii Fit Plus game so that I can actually start getting in shape.  Sadly, they are sold out nearly all over the country and it’s going to be several weeks before they get back in stock.  Oh well, I’ll be busy enough at work.

Bonus time at work is fast approaching.  Profit Sharing checks are handed out Feb. 16th and my Managers bonus is due in mid March.  Crazy thing about my job is that I make more in the first 3 months of the year than I do the next 8 months of regular work just because of bonuses.  It’s nice to get big fat checks but it’s also dangerous because it’s easy to just go out and spend it.  If I had this job at any other time in my life, I’d be broke all the time but fortunately I’ve learned how to manage my money in much healthier ways so I’ll be able to save what is necessary but I’ll also be able to go out and get a few toys to play with.  This year I am buying a keyboard and I’ll write more about that when the time comes.  So for now, enjoy the new gallery.

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I decided to do a little movie marathon this weekend and watch all 3 of the Back To The Future movies.  I remember going to see all of those in the theater.  You don’t see movies like that much any more.  Sure, there is Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia but Spielberg isn’t churning out the epic flicks like he used to.  Anyhow, I enjoyed them then, and I enjoy them now.  It would be fun to be able to travel through time.

This is Memorial Day weekend and it is PACKED up in the northwoods.  It was a little chilly today (low 60’s) but that didn’t stop people from enjoying the sun.  There were tons of boats on Lake Leelanau today and of course everyone was up at the lake today.  I played with Gavin for a good 2 hours letting him chase the ball into the lake and retrieve it (his favorite thing to do in the world).  We then went over to Lake Michigan and played on the beach for a while.  It was nice to get away.  Tomorrow I head back to work.

Anyhow, here is a new picture.  Do you ever wonder what it would be like if we humans had to do this when we got wet?  Don’t have much else to write about tonight.  Time to go watch that 3rd Back to the Future movie!!

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Well, as you can see there is a new theme that I am trying out on this blog.  As you know, I can’t stand to have things look the same forever.  It gives me a headache.  I’m not sure if I will keep this one or not but until I have time (maybe this weekend) to play around a bit more, this one will have to do.  I’ve uploaded a great new gallery tonight at leelanauphotography.com featuring the Cherry Blossoms of 2009 (among other things).  Be sure to check it out.  I had a nice day off today out at the cottage.  Mom and I went for a drive with Gavin up to the Northport area and stopped at Peterson Park.  It’s still a little cold up here for what is fast becoming late spring however I was able to get some great pictures.  Gavin is now snoring loudly sprawled out on my bed, exhausted from a day of hiking and swimming.  Doesn’t take much.

The folks are off to Iowa in a couple days and leaving me to fend for myself over the Memorial Day holiday.  I’m not sure yet if I will venture out to the cottage or not this weekend.  I’m not really sure I want to deal with the droves of people who will arrive for a few days and then disappear until the 4th of July when they will come back.  It seems crazy that people spend all this money on a lake house and only use it a few days out of the year.  I know people have to work, it just seems strange.

Not much else going on right now.  I am slowly working on a new web site but I’ve not yet come up with a name for it or a general theme.  I don’t want it to detract from my readership on this site so it has to be something completely different.  I’ve got to figure out what I have time for and what I want to explore.  I picked up a web hosting package in December for $20 for 2 years (SUPER cheap)…frivolous spending since I didn’t need it and now I’ve had it for 5 months and not done anything with it.  We’ll see.  Maybe I should create an autobiographical web site….from Birth to Old Fart…the life and times of David the Dork….haha.

Here is a picture from the new gallery.  Check it out.

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Amazing sunny day again today in Leelanau.  It’s in the mid 40’s and the sky is really blue.  I’m finally home from work and thankfully I have tomorrow off.  I have to prepare myself for what I think is going to be a busy weekend.  It is supposed to be in the low 50’s and partly sunny which means people will crawl out of their homes and hopefully start thinking about home improvements!  That means profit, added payroll, and much less bitching from team members about how few hours they are all getting.  SPEND, SPEND, SPEND – RAH, RAH, RAH!  Always a fucking cheerleader.

The roommate situation isn’t getting any better, you’ll remember before I blew up the blog that she’s done nothing but sit on her ass all week and play computer games.  She must do her homework somewhere else because she sure doesn’t do it here.  I was informed that she also has tomorrow off which means I need to leave for the day and hide somewhere.  I can’t wait to be in my own place where I get to make the rules again.  When you think about it, this fall will be the first time I’ve truly lived by myself.  Its also really been the first time in my life where I can actually afford to live by myself.  I’ve always had crumby roommates and with the exception of Jirar who was my husband, I’ve always come to seriously dislike my roommates.  Oh well, a few more months and you’ll be reading about my apartment search.

Not planning on doing much the rest of the day today.  I’ve taken the dog for a walk and I’m quite tired myself.  These days suck because I am up and out the door by 6am.  By 3PM I’ve already worked more than a full day and I am exhausted but there are still lots of hours left in the day!  Got to love retail.

I got some great pictures back the other day from my photo site.  I decided to get a few developed.  One of them is below.  My camera takes amazing pictures!  I guess you do get what you pay for and boy did I pay for this camera!  I’m glad I did though, I’ll have these pictures forever.

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