Heave ho!

It's usually a good morning when you awake, and realize that death isn't a more appealing alternative.

Let me explain (before you start sending me pamplets and websites and phone numbers.) I finally got over a pretty nasty run-in with a stomach virus of an epic proportion.

As a wonderful souvenier of our weekend trip back to my parents' house this past Easter weekend, I picked up the remnants of a virus both my folks recently had. My mom informed us when we arrived Saturday that she wasn't going to hug us, etc., because she had just gotten over a 2-day flu bug. That was Wednesday-Thursday, so she figured she was fine, but "just to be safe." What they both failed to mention was that my dad had the same bug on Friday... but his was only 24 hours (I found this out yesterday.)

On Monday night, at around 11PM, I knew something was amiss. Less than an hour later, I was laying on our living room floor by the television, hugging a pillow. An hour later, I was in the fetal position in my bed, my wife asleep on the couch.

Every two hours, like clockwork, until about 11AM Tuesday, I threw up.

First off, I hate puking. Even more than that, I hate the dry heaves. I drank as much water as I could between small bursts of sleep, partially for hydration, but mostly to prevent those damn dry heaves...

Tuesday was a wash... I spent all day and most of the night laying in bed (I did, however, drag myself out of bed to watch American Idol... and I'm not proud of that, but I got strangely hooked on that show for the first time ever.)

I woke up Wednesday sore from laying in bed, my chest sore from the previous night's cataclysmic events, dizzy and weak. I decalred it another wash... there was no way I was going to be able to go through a day of work, let alone operate a motor vehicle to get there. I proceeded to sleep some more.

Later in the day, and into the evening yesterday, I felt myself getting better. Realizing all I had consumed the previous 40-some hours ahead was water, and a cup of chicken broth earlier in the day, I finally had an apetite. I had a salad.

The flu sucks... but I feel tons better now.

...on the positive side, I lost three and a half more pounds in just two days (not my preferred method, but it knocked a notch out of my goal of my diet - I'm down seventeen pounds now!)

...and Ace finally got voted out (I'm just surprised he didn't cry like the little bitch that he is.)

...oh, save it.

Little moments of time...

Tonight... well, technically, tomorrow morning, marks a quirky little moment in time. It's not a huge thing, although I find it neat in a dorky way. Just past 1A.M. - two minutes and three seconds past to be exact - it will be 01:02:03 04/05/06. It's the first time ever this has happened (for blatantly obvious reasons) and it's sort of neat. Now I'm sure there's some tool out there who is having some massive celebration, and they'll count down to it like it's a New Year's celebration... and then they too will have that moment like all of us have at approximately 12:01A.M. on New Year's Day where they go "Hmm. I think I'm gonna go to bed now." I'll probably still be up at that time, but I'm not going to sit here and wait for it. Just reflecting on it now is fine for me.

On another note, I feel so grown up lately. My vocabulary these days include words like "interest rates," "re-financing, "mortgage," "appraisals" and "escrow," the latter of which I think I only used when someone would ask "what's that awful noise outside - is that a bird?"

("Yes... escrow.")

As you can likely piece together, I am in the process of getting my finances together, and I have an appraiser coming over tomorrow to evaluate my house so I can refinance it. The best part of the deal is that hopefully, when all is said and done, I will be credit card DEBT FREE. It's an amazing concept to me... and will no doubt change me and my family's life. Hopefully, in a few months, I'll actually be able to start saving money once again, without sending it all off in the form of bill payments and the like. The only cost it will be to me most likely is losing most, if not all, of my equity to date... but when weighing the benefits and interest rates... I will come out way ahead. Sure, we may be living in this house for a few more years than we had originally hoped... but it will be worth it. There just may be a light at the end of the tunnel after all. Which is nice, because I'm sick of watching my paychecks disappear almost faster than they come in.

My stepson Alex also turned seven yesterday. We had a little party for him here on Saturday, where our house was taken over by a group of unruly kids for a good portion of the day, and yesterday he got his gifts from us, including a new bike to accomodate his rapidly-increasing height (he's about three-quarters of the size of my wife already.)

When I met my wife, he was just turning two... so it also marked the five year mark of being together with her. It's a strange concept when I think about it... while it feels like we've been together for much longer, it still is hard to believe it has been five years. I know it's a bit of a contradiction... a "paradox" if you will (hah!)... but it's true. It's still been a great five years... and many more to come (and no, I'm not just saying that because she reads this thing now...)

I've also been officially on a diet for eight full days. I'm eating healthier now, and my appetitie is also getting a bit smaller (that's a good thing.) I did this about two years ago and lost about forty pounds. In the last year, I've gained back all but about five pounds of that. That bothered me enough to make the switch back to healthy eating... and it is a little harder this time around. I've been able to resist all the goodies they always have laying around at work, and the birthday cake from this weekend. I cheated and had one slice of pizza... but overall been very good. Six pounds down. Twenty-nine to go...

Dammit, I miss chocolate.