my new year's resolution

  Hadn't really thought about a new year's resolution until today,
   when it hit me that I should try journaling again.  So, the first
   attempt is going to using the blog as my journal.  My goal is to
   write something about my day every night.  No length requirements,
   just something every day.  I'm hoping that it'll help me work out
   personality trends, help me with my memory, etc.

my recipe

The Recipe For copaX

3 parts Attractiveness 2 parts Passion 1 part Vigor Splash of Seductiveness Sip slowly on the beach

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

my new album

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result as a comment in this post. Also, pass it along in your own journal/blog because it's more amusing that way.

Amaryllis project day 1

Amaryllis project day 1
Originally uploaded by chrisohio0122

Got an amaryllis from my sister for christmas. As long as I keep remembering ill take a picture of it and document its progress

motivation

motivation
Originally uploaded by chrisohio0122

Steve haz it

Xmas 2007 Pictures

CIMG0461
Originally uploaded by chrisohio0122

Click here to see Pictures from Xmas 2007

Main Page - LOLCat Bible Translation Project

Main Page - LOLCat Bible Translation Project


22. & Ceiling Cat sented them hais, and stuff, so letz u be happy and stuff. & sed all u aminals & burdiez & fishz go has baby aminals & brrdz & fishz & dont worry i wont watch u has sexxes.

FREEBIRD!!! *waves lighter*

Apartment Pictures

The Living Room: I've got two recliners, one I inherited from my great aunt after she passed, and the other I got new. It's got hidden compartments in the arms for holding remote controls and drinks and has built-in massagers and heat. And it's soft and comfy to boot! I'm currently using one of the storage bins I bought to move with as an end table. Once I get my couch in (sometimes after 9/14) I'll get some real end tables and a coffee table.



The Dining Room - Mom got this table for the basement, and had her 4 antique chairs around it, but when I moved out she gave me the table. I bought 4 chairs that surprisingly match it pretty decently. It's a nice table, and sturdy chairs. Will work well if I ever have anybody over for dinner.




The Kitchen - Good sized kitchen. The crock pot's not mine, it contained housewarming food from the Paridon's, and I've yet to get it back to them. In the corner of the counter is the appliance that will be used the most in my apartment, the Toaster Oven. Actually, it's a Convection oven, it can toast, bake, it can cook full-sized frozen pizzas. It's a handy little device, next to the Foreman Grill.



The Hallway - To the right of the Living Room. Kitchen is on the left, not in the view. The "Office" is the door on the right. Utility room is the first door on the left, Bathroom is the door after that, and Bedroom is at the end of the hall.



The Office - Full of unpacked boxes and empty bookshelves for the time being. Eventually I'll put a computer desk and chair in here and turn it into an office. The Office is towards the end of the to-do list.



The Utility Room - New washer and dryer, turns out to be the same control layout as my mom's so I don't have to learn a new set of controls :-P There's a laundry tub hidden by the washer.



The Bathroom - Note the toilet seat. Yes, this is a bachelor's apartment, thank you very much!



The Bedroom - Mom gave me her old bed and dresser. Lots of closet space, and a half bath which is currently housing the box from my new 40" tv from the living room.

So there you have it, that's my new apartment.

All moved in record time

Yay moving

The truck has been packed!

Moving day has arrived!

Ferris Bueller's Day Off and the secret to life

http://blogs.theage.com.au/lifestyle/allmenareliars/archives/2007/07/ferris_buellers.html

pretty interesting read. I agree with the majority of the points made.

"I sort of watched myself from inside. I realized it was ridiculous being afraid, worrying about everything, wishing I was dead, all that shit. I'm tired of it. This is best day of my life."


I think I need to make that my new mantra.

I suck

My blog sucks ass right now. I've been told I'm a decent commenter on other blogs, but I can never find good topics to discuss on my own blog.

Therefore, I'm putting out a request. Maybe like a summons. Ok, I guess maybe it'd be more like american idol. Regardless, give me topics, and I will expound upon them...wait, that sounded dirty. I mean, I'll try to give you my take on them as best as I can and try to make it funny/interesting at the same time. Thanks in advance!

Am-I-Dumb.com - Are you dumb?

Why do the right thing?

Someone dumped a cat off in our neighborhood back before the winter. He started to hang around our house, we fed him, eventually brought him into the garage when the winters got really bad. Over time, my cat allergies never adapted to him, and my mom doesn't want another pet right now, so we're trying to do the right thing and give him the APL or Humane Society. But every one we've talked to so far keeps telling us they won't take him. Portage, Summit, Geauga counties all said no, and probably not for 2-3 months even, and this is after 3 weeks of making phone calls. So, the asshole that dropped him off and didn't care less gets away with their hands clean, and we're left to take care of the situation and for trying to do the right thing, we're paying for it. So, why do the right thing? If you say doing the right thing helps you sleep at night, guess what, it doesn't do me a lick of good anymore. I'm just getting really tired and fed up from having to put forth so much effort to do what's right, only to have some lazy asshole come along, cruise through, and give me more crap to try to make right. This doesn't mean I'm going to stop doing what's right, since it's burned into my dna for life, I'm just very frustrated right now. I realize that expecting to get anything for doing what's right is pointless, it just really irritates me when lazy/bad people have an easier time in life than those of us who give a damn.

bah humbug!

Don't mind me, just needed to vent, I'll be fine.

Jack Copac

Jack had to be put down Saturday morning. His liver had been failing, and his heart had gotten extremely weak. The vet suggested that he'd been throwing mini-strokes which had lead to dementia. He wasn't able to get up stairs, he was barely able to walk in general.

Jack was such a wonderful dog. He was in our family for close to 14 years. He was a gift to me when I was a senior in high school. He grew to become a family dog, though. He wasn't just mine. He and dad spent hours out working in the yard. He was very protective of his family and the household. His worst enemy was the "evil" UPS truck. Whenever he saw one drive down the street he would bark like crazy. He used to love jumping up on the back of the couch and watching the world go by. He'd also sit out on the deck and just smell the world.

He was an ornery son of a bitch too. He was very demanding of our time, and there were many times I yelled at him and told him to just leave me alone. I feel horrible for having yelled at him like that now, since I can't take those words back. He was just a dog for goodness' sake, he didn't know any better. I feel horrible for all the times he would bark at me for attention, and I would ignore him or yell at him.

Even though his last months/years were met with hardships and pain, I miss him so very very much right now. I miss the way he would incessantly (almost addictively) lick my legs when summer came around and I started to wear shorts. I miss how when I used to lay in bed on a sunday afternoon, and he had to be up on the bed with me, and laying across my chest. I miss throwing the ball across the living room and him fetching it. I miss how he would get a new squeaky toy and would play with them so much he'd break the squeaker. Whenever a guest would come over for a visit, if they were "good" people, he'd have to run and get a toy squeaking it incessantly, almost as a way of greeting them. I miss the different barks he had, and how I could tell just by the way he was barking what he wanted, whether it was food, a walk, or just attention.

It's quieter in the house now. Mom and I are able to do things we want to do for longer periods of time without him interrupting our plans. But it's not a good quiet, at least not yet. I miss you, Jackson. You be a good puppy up in heaven. Dad's waiting for you up there, you guys have alot of work to be done in the yard up there.

Movin' out - Part 2

Well, July 12th turned into June 27th. Just got back from walking through a model apartment. I applied for, and was accepted for, a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath apartment. My move-in date is 8/15. It'll be cleaned, painted, and have new carpeting, which'll be nice. So now I've gotta start packing, and shopping for furniture, and all of that fun stuff :)

New Blog Feature

I've added a new feature to my blog, it's a Google Reader widget (it's over on the right, underneath my ugly mug). I've gotten hooked on reading RSS feeds in Google Reader, and now whenever I see something I think would be interesting to any of my blog reader(s), I can click a button and it'll automagically show up in that little widget there.

Movin' out

I've started the process to move out. My best friend Scott (s-door) lives in Twinsburg in Deer Run apartments. I've gone up there to hang out with him practically every saturday, so I figured, what the hell, I'll get my own place up there. It's a nice area, midway between home and work, all the amenities close by. Not the fanciest of places, but I'm not the fanciest of guys, so what's the point. They're supposed to have one available to walk through on July 12th, so i'll check it out then. 2 bedrooms, either 1.5 or 2 baths, depending on which unit ends up being available. This is something I should've done years ago, but was either too afraid or too distracted by other things to make it happen. Hopefully I see it through this time.

Euler's Disk - fun for the whole family

Truth in advertising!

Razor - Foo Fighters

If I ever, ever, ever get to the point in my life that I can play this song, I will be able to die a happy man.

The 3rd brick building....you know...cause there's only one direction to count buildings

So I had an appointment at the cardiologists office. First off, got a little confused, they moved it from the Ravenna office to the "Expansion office next door" So I called today before I left work to make sure I knew where I was going. Obviously I was a little preoccupied being at work, so I didn't think twice when the receptionist said "You know where the Ravenna office is, right? Well that's the 2nd brick building, you just want the 3rd brick building" Not until I got there and realized "Hey wait...which direction do I count from?" Needless to say I counted the wrong direction, and went to the "1st" brick building, which was the "3rd" brick building the way *I* counted. I'll have to write a letter, get them to rearrange the buildings.
Anyways, got in to the proper building, had an ekg done, talked to the nurse practicitioner or physicians' assistant, whatver he was. He said my echo from last week looked ok, there was mild dialation of my right ventricle, and a few other technical things which he lost me on (pre-load vs. post-load pressures, you'd think I have a hydraulic system in there...oh wait) Anyways, the main thing he said was that there's nothing glaringly obvious that they're seeing that would make them say "Hey! that's probably what caused him to go into atrial fibrillation!" Which is both good and bad. On the good side, there's nothing major wrong with me. On the bad side, there's still the whole unanswered question of "Hey! what caused me to go into atrial fibrillation?" Sleep apnea is still a suspect at this point. And honestly I think I probably do have anea. With my sleep problems, and my lack of energy, the heart stuff, it all kinda adds up.
Which is a perfect segueway into my new life goal. I'm going to weigh 250 lbs within a calendar year. 03/07/08. That's about 50 lbs of weight loss (give or take 5 lbs), which works out to around 4-5 lbs weight loss a month. The NP/PA/WE said in his opinion if I got down to 250 I more than likely could get off the blood pressure medication. And it'd help me across the board. I'm just sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. And I'm getting fed up with these condtions that lead to tests that lead to no answers. Other than I'm fat which is not a good thing to be when you've got the family health history I have. So I'm sure some of you are asking "How do you plan to lose 50 lbs in 12 months?" I really don't know yet, other than I've gotta get more active. I need to walk more, gotta get back into hiking again. After I get back into exercise, then I'll worry about tweaking a diet.
So we'll see what happens. Maybe I can pull it off, maybe I can't. won't be the end of the world either way. At least I've got something in sight to strive for.

Brandywine Falls

Finally got outside for a bit this weekend. Garland, his mom, and I went to the covered bridge in Boston and Brandywine Falls to test out her new camera. I took a few pictures, and made the following YouTube vid of how much the falls was flowing thanks to the thaw. Hopefully spring shows up soon so I can get back out there and start hiking again.

Link to my Yahoo Photos

Another Movie/Radio Show Recommendation

I'm torn with this one. I'm not sure whether to recommend you watch the movie first, then check out the radio show, or the radio show first, then the movie. It's probably best that you check out the radio show to start. Either way, this is a wonderful movie to watch. Robert Altman directed it, and it was his last film actually. It's got a star studded cast, and it really does a great job of portraying the essence of the radio show, and of it's creator Garrison Keillor.


On a personal note, I've been promoted to Programming Manager, as Zak has spread his wings and flown to greener pastures. I've also had to deal with a bout of atrial fibrillation, where my heart just felt it was too good for beating like normal hearts do, and went for more of a syncopated or jazzy rhythm instead. Thanks to the wonders of modern medicine, I was spared having to be shocked to get the heart back into step. At this point, things are still a little cloudy as to the cause. Sleep Apnea looks to be the odds on favorite for the time being, possibly aided and abetted by stress. Any who, I'm doing fine now, save for some nasty blueish/purplish bruises on my forearms due to failed IV draws, and a rather persistent and nagging sense of "When will I go into afib next?". Funny thing, when you go into afib, they tend to like to use large bore needles, something about needing to get the drugs in you that much quicker.

Go watch the movie above (and the one below if you still haven't yet), and we'll chat another day.

Little Miss Sunshine

Everyone needs to see this movie. And if they don't like it, well, then you need some help, I'm afraid.