Reality Me

Category: Daily Life

Ramblings, often stream of conscious, journaling the events of my life.

  • Coffee Java java java java

    How important is coffee to me? I sent my daughter to Costa Rica to bring back some grounds. Today I broke into them and the coffee tastes great!

  • Parenting is hard

    When I said I want to be "that tv dad" I didn’t mean Red.

    I suck at parenting.

  • When I die

    Let my tombstone read: "Could have been worse."

  • Doug’s Mantras

    Be a knowledge seeker. -DM

  • Catch-22

    My mind is so stressed that I cannot work; I must work to reduce my stress.

  • There’s a drum circle in my skull

    I think my head is going to explode.

  • Vacation Done

    I have just completed a wonderful vacation, yet I find myself so stressed that I cannot think straight and an unclear mind does not lend well to eliminating the causes of the stress. Stress in this regard is a self-perpetuating disorder. Once upon a time, a hunter in the field was met unexpected by a herd of lion too numerous for the hunter to engage. Fight or flight stimulus, aka stress, kicked in and the hunter fled to safety where his adrenaline returned to normal levels and the hunter calmed. In today’s society, our stress response rarely eases and our body and mind suffer. I have been under constant stress for twenty years. I am ready to escape to safety. I want to know calm.

  • Spider-Evan

    Yesterday we took Evan rock climbing at The Climbing Center in Knoxville. He is a natural! Once attached to the rope, he shot up the 40 foot walls without fear. Understanding that his next handhold could be discovered by straightening a bent leg seemed intuitive to him. Noah made it up the wall twice before feigning to hunger. Cathy only had her hand sucked into the ATC (brake) once. My supple skin only lost a few layers of epidermis due to belaying. We had a blast!

  • Sending her to Costa Rica

    My ten year old girl has this wonderful opportunity to travel to Costa Rica. This is where she will be:

  • Confession

    Occasionally I purchase a lottery ticket then refuse to look at it because the thrill of thinking I am walking around with a winning ticket is more fun than the disappointment in verifying that it is a loser.

  • At war with my house

    My garage looks like it could do a guest appearance on the television Hoarders. This weekend I declared war on that garage and made significant progress yesterday. Today the battle continues!

    Update: I’ve dug out our commercial grade deep freezer! There is food in there that reads "best used by 7/1/09." Yuck.

    Update: The garage has gone through a major transformation. I performed archaeology. Found things long since forgotten. Threw away a lot. Created a large donation pile for Ladies of Charity. And transformed the garage from a good candidate for Hoarders to a good candidate for This Old House or the Martha Stewart show. I hope to work this hard on the house every weekend.

  • Shopping Pain

    Took the wife and ten year old shopping during lunch to prepare for my little girl’s upcoming Costa Rican adventure. Now my left ear feels like someone is doing brain surgery through it. Coincidence?

  • Trade Wars

    I feel like the odds are stacked against me. Apparently I’m the guy no one wants to see win.

  • From the mouths of babes

    Evan, 7 years old, talking to Mom: "I thought Daddy and I were still cleaning the garage today. I’m his best helper."

    I love that boy so much!

  • No sign of letting up

    This has been a long hard day. Unfortunately, it needs to continue well into the night. Maybe on Sunday he can rest.