New toy for Tommy and me

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XKCD Comic regarding lasers

Outdoorsy Work

I decided to grab a pair of work gloves and have a go at a bunch of dead stuff around my house. I may be a single guy who doesn't care about the way his stuff looks, but that doesn't mean I don't care about the way my stuff looks.

First off, here's a rose bush that's gotten severely out of hand. It was out of hand when I bought my house. I decided to hack away at some of the dead stuff still clinging to the rest of the bush and I still think it's out of hand. Ridiculous!

Behold my miracle tulips! I didn't do anything to make these babies grow. I don't even know who planted them, they're just a pleasant surprise. I didn't notice them last year because I didn't move in until June/July. It's strange to think that a year ago this time I was house shopping.
Most of the work I did today involved hacking up a big dead bush that you don't see in the upper-left quadrant of this photo. It's gone now.

This is Tommy's all-time favorite spot: on the back of the couch sitting in the window. Of course, he could see me outside taking pictures and I assure you he was trying his darndest to break my heart with all the whimpering and whining I could hear through the window.

Just a better shot of the tulips. Why not, right? Clearly I still have plenty of work, getting rid of a bunch of dead grass and whatnot. Want to come over and help?

Shameless photograph of Tommy.

Donut day

Today in the office we had a meeting to be introduced to our new head of office. I showed up to the meeting a couple of minutes early and there were plenty of seats to choose from, so I took one right in the front row. I figured the room would be packed and people would crowd around me out of necessity. I figured wrong. It was the slightest bit awkward sitting in the front row by myself.

On the plus side, this occasion was a good excuse for the company to buy an excessive amount of donuts. I got two and am calling it lunch.

VBlog - Ode to Tommy 2 Toes!!!!!!!

Weekend Review

Last weekend I didn't do nothing. Use of a double negative there was entirely intentional. Because I did do something. I merely stated it as such to emphasize that this past weekend was different from others, during which I may do absolutely nothing.
Saturday morning I drove to the city to take part in a ceremony for Wreaths Across America, an organization whose goal is to place wreaths on graves of those who have served in the American armed forces. My part in the ceremony: bugler. I was asked to play Taps along with a few other trumpeters/buglers during the ceremony as well as a couple other short military calls. It was a really interesting experience in that a) I had not touched my trumpet in a month or so, b) I had never played Taps in front of people...or loudly...or maybe I've never even played it all the way through, and c) I had never heard of the other calls before and thus have never played them. To top that off, we only pseudo-practiced before the ceremony. It was a real hodge-podge kind of deal, but we pulled it off and I think it sounded great.
Last night I drove back into town and went caroling with members of my church. There were a few reasons I went. I thought it would help get me in the Christmas spirit. I thought it would be nice to cheer up those for whom we sang. I thought it would help me get to know some people in the church, where I am still relatively new. Really, I just thought it was the right thing to do. I had a good time, but all that singing made me thirsty.

VBlog - Meet Tommy

VBlog - Weekend Review