Welcome to 2015.
Jan. 2nd, 2015 02:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kv0925Sorry to say, my 2015 is not off to a stellar start. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad per se, and not even anything out of the ordinary. But maybe that's it--this time of year, I'm supposed to feel optimistic about what lies ahead, and I should be making plans for what to do with myself in the new year. And I'm really.. not, and just feeling really blah.
Maybe it's this lingering cold. I feel okay, but I keep coughing and clearing my throat in vain, with the gook firmly and stubbornly in place. I finally broke down today and got myself some Mucinex, hopefully that will help clear things out.
The bright point of the year so far was lunch today, with a couple colleagues at Buca di Beppo, a favorite place of mine. That Chicken Limone with fettucine alfredo.. mmmmm.
I was off work for the past 3 days, which makes today really feel like a Monday--but then I'm off again for the weekend, of course, so I'm all screwed up.
The days off themselves were.. meh. We had plans to go for a day trip to some distant state parks we like, and maybe toss in a new spot or two. But Tuesday the weather looked crappy, and said the next couple days would be better, so we waited. Wednesday, the weather still looked crappy, but Thursday would be better, so we waited. Thursday the weather looked iffy, but we went.. and it rained, of course. It ended up being an okay excursion, but not as good as it could have been.
Meanwhile, on the rainy days, at least I did get some things accomplished. I procured and installed a new set of speakers for my car, as I'd been talking about doing. Audio quality being so subjective, and cars being such varied listening environments, every speaker model I researched had reviews running the gamut from "omg these are awesome!!" to "wtf these are worse than the stock speakers." So finally I just decided to go with something reasonably priced by a manufacturer I respect, and got two pairs of Pioneers. And I do believe they accomplished what I was after, which was more clarity and sparkle on the high end and a tighter, punchier low end. So I consider it money well spent. I might go back in and apply some soundproofing material to the doors, which seems to help reduce road noise and better focus the sound from the speakers. But that can wait.
I also took Hallie to Home Depot, where we got stuff to build a puppet theater out of PVC piping. She's shown a proclivity for puppets for some time, and her favorite Christmas present was this nice Muppet-style princess puppet. We definitely want to encourage it, so I found a plan for a simple theater and I built the frame while Heather sewed some curtains. It came out pretty nicely, I'll have to take a photo sometime.
But anyway, here we are in 2015. I turn 40 this year. Maybe that's where my blahness really comes from. Getting old, with what seems so damn little to show for it. And lamenting the man I am, I guess. I've been a little down on myself lately, as a person, as a father, as a husband, as a friend.. you name it. I'm sure it will pass, as it always does. But for now I'm wallowing a little.
As for what I want out of this year? The same stuff I say I want every year, I guess. To learn more, to be more creative (and maybe monetize some of that creativity), just to be more and to be better. I'd like to start taking a little better care of myself physically, too. I'm rounding around the middle, definitely need to nip that in the bud. And cut back on sugar, mainly in the form of soda. And get to the dentist, and the doctor for that matter.
To help with the creativity angle, I jumped on a clearance deal earlier today--a guitar interface for my iPhone. I have an electric guitar here in the office which I often pick up while on conference calls or just waiting for something, but I have no amp so it's not all that satisfying, plus it lets me play sloppy. Maybe having lots of tones to play with via the smartphone will help make me pick it up more and get more out of it.
Okay, I'll leave it here for now. Happy New Year to you all--I hope 2015 has great things in store.
Maybe it's this lingering cold. I feel okay, but I keep coughing and clearing my throat in vain, with the gook firmly and stubbornly in place. I finally broke down today and got myself some Mucinex, hopefully that will help clear things out.
The bright point of the year so far was lunch today, with a couple colleagues at Buca di Beppo, a favorite place of mine. That Chicken Limone with fettucine alfredo.. mmmmm.
I was off work for the past 3 days, which makes today really feel like a Monday--but then I'm off again for the weekend, of course, so I'm all screwed up.
The days off themselves were.. meh. We had plans to go for a day trip to some distant state parks we like, and maybe toss in a new spot or two. But Tuesday the weather looked crappy, and said the next couple days would be better, so we waited. Wednesday, the weather still looked crappy, but Thursday would be better, so we waited. Thursday the weather looked iffy, but we went.. and it rained, of course. It ended up being an okay excursion, but not as good as it could have been.
Meanwhile, on the rainy days, at least I did get some things accomplished. I procured and installed a new set of speakers for my car, as I'd been talking about doing. Audio quality being so subjective, and cars being such varied listening environments, every speaker model I researched had reviews running the gamut from "omg these are awesome!!" to "wtf these are worse than the stock speakers." So finally I just decided to go with something reasonably priced by a manufacturer I respect, and got two pairs of Pioneers. And I do believe they accomplished what I was after, which was more clarity and sparkle on the high end and a tighter, punchier low end. So I consider it money well spent. I might go back in and apply some soundproofing material to the doors, which seems to help reduce road noise and better focus the sound from the speakers. But that can wait.
I also took Hallie to Home Depot, where we got stuff to build a puppet theater out of PVC piping. She's shown a proclivity for puppets for some time, and her favorite Christmas present was this nice Muppet-style princess puppet. We definitely want to encourage it, so I found a plan for a simple theater and I built the frame while Heather sewed some curtains. It came out pretty nicely, I'll have to take a photo sometime.
But anyway, here we are in 2015. I turn 40 this year. Maybe that's where my blahness really comes from. Getting old, with what seems so damn little to show for it. And lamenting the man I am, I guess. I've been a little down on myself lately, as a person, as a father, as a husband, as a friend.. you name it. I'm sure it will pass, as it always does. But for now I'm wallowing a little.
As for what I want out of this year? The same stuff I say I want every year, I guess. To learn more, to be more creative (and maybe monetize some of that creativity), just to be more and to be better. I'd like to start taking a little better care of myself physically, too. I'm rounding around the middle, definitely need to nip that in the bud. And cut back on sugar, mainly in the form of soda. And get to the dentist, and the doctor for that matter.
To help with the creativity angle, I jumped on a clearance deal earlier today--a guitar interface for my iPhone. I have an electric guitar here in the office which I often pick up while on conference calls or just waiting for something, but I have no amp so it's not all that satisfying, plus it lets me play sloppy. Maybe having lots of tones to play with via the smartphone will help make me pick it up more and get more out of it.
Okay, I'll leave it here for now. Happy New Year to you all--I hope 2015 has great things in store.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2015-01-03 02:11 pm (UTC)Once that's done, though, it's as simple as unscrewing the old speaker, removing the plug, and connecting and screwing in the new one. Okay, the connecting the new one part can be tricky--most cars these days have special plugs to connect the speakers. You can buy new wiring harnesses to add the plug to the new speakers, or do what I did--pry the plugs off the old speakers and solder them onto the new ones. But that requires a soldering iron, of course. Maybe Isaac is handy with one of those? :)
no subject
Date: 2015-01-09 08:37 pm (UTC)Neither of us is proficient in soldering. Hm. I suppose it still wouldn't be terribly expensive if I took the car to Best Buy or some place similar to get new speakers and a stereo installed. Couple hundred? Could be a good birthday present... :)
no subject
Date: 2015-01-09 08:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-09 08:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-09 09:15 pm (UTC)My car's stock stereo has an AUX input but nothing digital (except for mp3 cds), so I added a little system for that plus Bluetooth connectivity for my phone, which is all very handy. It has an SD slot too, so like the van I keep a big SD card loaded up with tunes plugged in there.
The other benefit of all this is when I travel and rent a car--I take one of my music USB drives along in case the rental has a USB port, which they increasingly do. Saves me from having to surf the radio to find a good station, though it can be fun to come across a cool independent station, of which there are still a few here and there. :)
no subject
Date: 2015-01-09 09:28 pm (UTC)