The New Floodgates of the Mind

I’m absolutely going STIR CRAZY today!!!!

GAAAAHHHH!!!!

Yoinked from thothmeister:

Interest Ranking

That employee promotion I hinted at a few weeks back has finally happened! The employee I helped move into Core Technologies and for whom I kept pushing a promotion has finally been given his papers. As of yesterday, he was officially made a Senior Programmer!! Congratulations Marc! I’m so happy it finally happened! All your work and mine has paid off 🙂

So, to summarize, in a little over a year, I promoted 2 Junior Programmers to Programmer Analysts and one Programmer Analyst to a Senior Programmer. And, I’m also responsible for pushing some high-tech high-end Java/Websphre training for a large group of employees spanning various departments. This is gonna help them keep their skills quite high. That’s a nice feeling of accomplishment.

There was so much good about this weekend that I’ve decided to only report on it in point form since I don’t have the time I thought I would have had:

– A very nice Friday night. Chantale, Melyssa and Casey picked me up at the Train while James stayed home doing homework. Chantale seemed wiped so I invested a half hour into just holding her on the couch while we caught up on the day with each other and with the kids. Then, I told her to relax and got supper going. The three of them were in the basement while I set the ambiance with candles and fixed a healthy and tasty supper. Very nicely enjoyed and after cleaning up, we all spent the evening downstairs working on homework and other activities. Peaceful and wonderful my friends.

– Only getting out of bed at 10am on Saturday. Happy sigh 🙂 Taking a relaxing morning to take a long shower, shave, and get ready to go to lunch. Everyone was ready on time and we headed out to an Italian restaurant in Little Italy to spend lunch with my Parents and siblings. Unlike what usually happens, this was a nice family gathering! Even my little niece was in a good mood! 🙂 From there, we went to my parents for more chatting and deserts. Mmm. 🙂

– Dropping in to briefly see Karine and Adam (by the way, negative on that report. Try again next week 🙂 ) and then going to Metro to pick up some last-minute food items (including non-alcoholic Beck’s Beer 🙂 )

– Again getting the house all cozy with candles and soft music while cleaning up and preparing supper. Francisco and Line came over for supper and it has been ages since they were last here. So, we gave the tour of all the “new” stuff around the house after having taken a walk through the neighborhood to see all the houses that have been built in the interim. Supper was wonderful. Simple, yet quite delicious. Even something as easy as Apple Pie and Chocolate Ice Cream becomes a slice of heaven with a cup of Hazlenut coffee in the right atmosphere 🙂

I’m telling you – Saturday was a day of pure relaxing pleasure and we ALL enjoyed ourselves tremendously! Even the kids were incredibly well-behaved and happy 🙂

– Sunday, the kids and I had English Muffins with Blueberry jam – mmm! 🙂 Afterwards, Melyssa and I headed out to Rona to pick up some paint and other items to begin work on the basement. It feels good to “work” on the house 🙂 Then, after lunch, we headed out to a small farm and bought a bunch of pumpkins and other decorations (if you’ve seen the picture of Casey on my site in front of the bale of hay, that’s what it looks like 🙂 )

– Another nice and cozy supper brought our day and weekend to a comfortable ending. I love my family and adore the time we spend together and this weekend… ah, this weekend was nothing short of a blessing 🙂

I had heard about Pierce Brosnan no longer being Bond but I didn’t know why. Now, thanks to Sci Fi Wire, I finally found the article:

09:00am ET, 14-October-04
Brosnan: No More 007

Pierce Brosnan confirmed to the Toronto Sun newspaper that he did not quit his most famous role as agent James Bond: He was fired. And there is no going back, he told the newspaper. “It’s over. It’s over. It’s absolutely over,” Brosnan said.

Brosnan said that he was willing and eager to do a fifth and final Bond, adding that 007 producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson had asked him to return, although no contracts were signed. Brosnan’s last Bond movie, Die Another Day in 2002, was the 20th official installment in the franchise, which started with Sean Connery in Dr. No in 1962, the newspaper reported.

“They invited me back right before I went to present that film, before I went on the road with Halle Berry to sell the movie,” Brosnan said. “They said: ‘We’re so happy with the success. We want you to come back!’ I went on the road a happy man, you know? I thought we’d get a fifth and no more. That would be it, really. I’d done it. You get bored. You get older. You give of yourself to something and then you have no more to give. But I thought a fifth would be good. And then one day the phone rang—I was here [in Nassau, Bahamas, shooting After the Sunset]—and my agents told me that the goalposts had moved and that they had changed their minds.”

Brosnan added, “It’s very hard to find the truth in that town [Hollywood] or in this business at times. But it was their prerogative to change their minds. They can do it.” And they might have done it “to go younger,” Brosnan added. “It was disappointing. It was surprising. And I accepted the knowledge after 24 hours of being in shock.”

Can’t the days ever really last forever like you want them to?

I’ve had a most wonderful weekend and I will happily write about it in full detail later tomorrow (Monday).

For now, I just wanted to let you all know that I’ve put up some new pictures of the Kids and of Casey over at my site. Head on out to SavageLand.Com and click on the Fatherhood/ Parenting page. You’ll notice three new Family Album entries of which a number of montages in each. James 10th Birthday party, Chantale teaching Melyssa to play the Keyboard, and a few cute pics of Casey 🙂 Oh my how they all grow so quickly! 🙂

I finally cleared out the latest church newsletter so I can now get my butt into bed (Chantale fell asleep on the couch a few hours ago and I came into the basement just to “finish some things”… sheesh.)

I’ll catch up with everyone else tomorrow as well!

[Future at the Speed of Thought – October 14, 2004]

On the mark, adrenaline shoots through my body causing my legs to push, my arms to pull, my lungs to expand.

At the speed of thought, the line is in sight as all else around me blurs.

Danger follows beside me, taunting, challenging, as my face twists into a mask of pain when my muscles begin to burn and scream. Teeth grinds teeth and no release escapes my lips.

Nothing is real outside of the end. Nothing makes sense except for the end. Nothing matters but the end.

The end of the pain. The end of the road. The end of now. The end of the line.

I’m across the field and over the line before a breath has been taken. It’s over before it’s begun.

My eyes look up from the ground while my fingertips support me. A coiled spring ready to explode, I wait for the starter gun to go off. I’m already there.

“…get set…”

[Story (c) Mike Aragona]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Well isn’t that funny (especially the spelling mistake in “often” :> ) :

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Who wants to come and play in my world? 🙂

So I’ve been quiet lately. I can’t say if it’s really because I’ve got nothing to say OR that I’ve got too much to say. In any case, my mind’s been extremely distracted lately. Much thought has been spent on work and my career and just as much has been spent on home, family life, and personal goals.

Sometimes I feel like I’m skating on the thin edge of depression. Almost as though I can see the water flowing rapidly under the ice at my feet. And then, in a moment’s snap, I’m up and jumping around. It’s not all from fatigue, though. I’m getting as much sleep as before, but I’m waking up less often at night thus making me feel more refreshed. Maybe I’m getting edgy, looking for a fresh start at work, or looking to do more with my life. I’ll sit at my desk and go from moments of extreme dizzy decision making, to long lulls of thinking about the future.

[shrug]

Maybe it’s just the grey day outside. Almost feels like the first snow flakes are just dying to drop. Chantale got me an amazing winter jacket this year so I’m ready in that factor. Now I just need new boots and I’ll be ready for winter 🙂

On a good note, my Parents celebrate their 44th year wedding anniversary tomorrow! We’re all going out for lunch to celebrate 🙂 Afterwards, on our way home, we’re picking up some pumpkins so Chantale, the kids, and I can carve our Halloween “protectors” 🙂 (Karine, I’ll probably drop by your place either before or after the lunch!)

I’m hoping for a really nice/ lazy/ relaxing weekend…