Why Do I Bother?

Today was a great day! I traveled to Bend today for a training and a Mentor/Mentee Match Ceremony. You may remember me talking about the mentor program I was going to be a part of? The young man (I won’t name him here) I was telling you about is about 6 1/2 weeks into his program and we finally got to get together for a matching ceremony to officially begin our mentor/metee relationship. He looked great and seemed so proud of himself for what he has accomplished already. I am very proud of him too, and I told him so.

I have been looking forward to this for a long time. It was a great feeling to hear him talking about his school, and his future plans with hope. I will do my best to live up to his expectations of me, he has already lived up to mine.

The hardest part about today was getting up at 4:00 in the morning to get ready for a 3 1/2 hour drive to central Oregon. I gave myself about an hour of extra time because I wasn’t sure how bad the pass would be. It turns out the pass was just fine and it only took 2 1/2 hours to get there.

For pictures and movies of the event, look here.

Technorati Tags: Mentor, ceremony, school, future, hope, drive

Tags: Friends, Mentoring by Jeffrey
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March 1st is the date in sight for the launch of Blogmad, a new blog referral service. If you have not already signed up for this exciting new site, you can do so here. If you are already a member, go to the blogmad forums tomorrow at 10:00 am GMT to participate in blogmad bugday and maybe get a chance to get into the site early. I will be out of town, but let me know if it has been worth the wait!

Technorati Tags: Blogmad, blog, bugday

Tags: Announcements, Blog Help by Jeffrey
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(link to title reference)

I haven’t had a good nights sleep for oh … at least 3 to 4 months. By that I mean that it is typical for me to be up 3 or 4 times a night for whatever reason; to pee, to check the thermostat, to get more water, to check out strange noises, whatever. Needless to say, my physical and mental health have been suffering because of this.

Did you know that sleep deprivation is used as a method to torture prisoners? Did you know that sleep deprivation and sleepwalking has been successfully used as a defense in murder trials? Did you know that Sleep deprivation afflicts about 25% of americans and results in limited physical and mental functioning and has even been linked to adult diabetes?

Now before you call in emergency services, I was not yet to the point where murder seems like a reasonable behavior. So far, my symptoms were limited to my own personal suffering. Who knows what might have happened though …

Maybe my wife already knew about that murder thing when she agreed that we should get a new bed. I had been complaining for a couple months that our bed was inadequate and last week we finally went and invested in a new bed. I say “invested” because it is no small expense to buy a decent bed. We decide to get one from Sleep Comfort. You know the Sleep Number Bed? Lindsay Wagner?

It arrived via UPS after about 4 days. I came home to find 4 large boxes sitting on my front porch. Thank God I live in a decent neighborhood where it is somewhat safe to leave $1800 worth of mechandise unattended on your front porch. Anyway, after about an hour of work the bed was in place and beckoning to me.

I spent the first night alone, since Mel had not yet returned from Chicago. For the first night in a very long time I didn’t get up once! You can’t imagine how relieved I was to look over at the clock by the bed and see that it was 8:30, not 2:30!

There are a few things that you should never skimp on in my opinion. They are a good pair of shoes, a quality vehicle, and a good bed. I might also add a good shot of scotch to that list.

Technorati Tags: sleep, pee, physical, mental health, sleep deprivation, torture, sleepwalking, defense, murder, diabetes, bed, Sleep Comfort, Sleep Number, Lindsay Wagner, Mel

Tags: Health, Home by Jeffrey
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Mel is out of town again until Tuesday. She left Thursday afternoon for a conference in Chicago. By now I should be used to her being away on trips, but it never really becomes easy. I’m sleeping alone in a bed that is uncomfortable even when she is here. I have to beg the cats to sleep at the foot of the bed to keep me warm.

Our work schedules are so incompatible that I cherish all the time we have together. She says it makes our time together more special because of its rarity. I say I want more of it anyway. It’s no fun being alone and missing her.

She called tonight to say that she had read my blog and was hoping to read something about her here. This post after the fact isn’t going to make me any points, but it is worth saying again publicly anyway that I miss her and I love her.

See you Tuesday, hon.

Technorati Tags: Mel, conference, Chicago, work, schedules, time, alone, miss, love

Tags: Family, Love and Marriage by Jeffrey
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Blog break …

It’s off color, it’s bad taste, it uses explicit lyrics, and it’s funny as hell. If you are sensitive to coarse language or political humor, don’t visit this link. If not, go listen to Cheney’s Fulsom Prison Concert. Don’t forget to turn on your speakers first.

And now back to our regularly scheduled blog …

Technorati Tags: Cheney, shooting, shotgun, Fulsom Prison, Corpus Christi, Johnny Cash, political humor

Tags: Just For Fun by Jeffrey
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I read a post entitled “Dad” today at the Martian Anthropologist that really made me reflect on how lucky I am to have such a great father. The Martian (I’m sure he has a real name) paused to think about his role as a father and his regret that he doesn’t have the sort of father he needs.

He says:

I was thinking today, as I often do, that it must be nice to have a father. Or even a father figure. It must be nice to have someone in your life that is stronger and wiser than you are; someone you can always lean on, someone who can give you advice.

With all that has been going on with dad’s health recently, I have become very aware of my relationship with him with all it’s blessings and shortcomings. I know that I haven’t always been the son that every father dreams of. I know from conversations with him that dad feels like he has not lived up to his end of the bargain either. Quite frankly, we are probably both right.

But for all of the regrets of my youth, I am so happy and grateful for what we share today. Over the past few years my father has become my good friend. Whatever we missed out on in the past, what we share now is more than I could hope for. I count myself among the lucky ones.

I am not a father. Someday maybe I will get the chance to try on that role and I hope to do it well. In the meantime, I hope that I can play the role of a man half as well as my dad does.

And to the Martian I say, you already have a head start on your wish to be the kind of father to your son that you wish for yourself. You love him, I can see that. Tell him as often as you can. He’s lucky to have you … you are lucky to have each other.

Technorati Tags: Dad, Martian Anthropologist, father, father figure, health, relationship, blessings, son, regrets, happy, grateful, lucky, man, love

Tags: Family by Jeffrey
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