Fishers Freedom Festival

Every year, Fishers celebrates the 4th the weekend before, complete with a parade and fireworks. I've lived in the Town for six years, and never went. Until this year.

I always figured it for more of a family thing. And I was right. Lots of kids, lots of dogs, and lots of teenagers. Yes... teenagers. I guess this is a place they can come with the parents and not be seen with them. It seemed like more of a social gathering for high school girls. There weren't nearly as many teenage boys... do they now know where the girls are?? I don't know.

Anyway... we just walked around a bit on Saturday... grabbed some food, listened to a little Zanna Doo, and people watched. There was plenty of that to do!

On Sunday, I went over to Jen and Tony's to actually watch the fireworks since they live close enough to see them from their neighborhood. That was a good time - just a low key evening with some friends.

So now I can say I've been to Fishers Freedom Fest. It only took me six years to get there, but I finally made it. :)

Victim of the Economy

I wanted change... well, I got it. Just not on my terms, unfortunately.

I got laid off yesterday. Completely in shock. The COO himself did the letting go, which just made it even more stunning. I came into work on Friday morning, thinking it was just another day. I never thought to think that it was the end of the quarter. Which means budgets were being reviewed. I figured I'd just be coming in and doing my normal thing at the office. Yeah... not so much.

I was one of four people let go in my department. Not sure if this was planned or mere coincidence, but we were all on the same team. All that was left of the 'team' was Eric. He's pissed! Can you blame him? Wouldn't you take it rather personal if of the entire department, it was only your team members let go?? Not cool.

So now I get to search for another job. I loved what I did there, and would love to stay in development, but I don't know how feasible that is with the economy today. At least they gave me a little severance to give me a little time before I really have to panic. But it doesn't make it suck any less.

The good news is, the change I predicted came. There's no guessing 'what's coming?" or wondering if I'm making the right change. That decision was made for me. But I think I'll be alright. I have some connections I'm feeling out and had an outpouring of support from friends, clients, and consultants I used to work with when they heard the news. That gave me great hope.

Besides, it could be worse. I was helping a family of four move at midnight last night (nothing illegal)... there's nothing like taking your mind off of your own problems by delving into the middle of someone else's problems.

Building a Better Blog

It was brought to my attention (by someone who shall remain nameless) that I do not blog about nearly half of the things I could be blogging about in my life.

For example, I said nothing about the Italian Fest two weekends ago. Also, I could've blogged much more about last weekends party. But in my defense, that was more of a time constraint issue. :P

Anyway... there is actually much more going on in my life than what I've been writing about so far. So I'm going to work on that. :)

Okay... Here They Are...

They're posted here for anyone who wants to see them.

To be honest, I'm a little bummed I didn't get more good ones. My camera was having light issues... or maybe it was the person behind the camera having drink issues. Either way, my 'drunk camera' did not come through for me this time. But I think you can get the point. :) It was a good time.

A Good Weekend

Not to say I don't normally have good weekends, but this weekend seemed better than usual. Probably because I took Friday off. :)

Friday I didn't get everything I wanted to do done, but I got a nice chunk done. Enough to feel motivated to do more on Saturday, in which I felt great doing. Maybe by the 4th of July, I'll feel back up to par with my life.

Saturday night I went to a party at some friends'. I took some pictures... after I download them from my camera and see if there are some decent ones, then I'll post some. :) But I thoroughly enjoyed my self with the consumption of adult beverages. And Jello shots - my specialty! They were a hit, as usual. I can't even tell you what time I actually left... I think it was around midnight. A few of us hit up the Chatham Tap on Mass Ave. for some late night grub. Great place to go, if you've never been there (or go back to if you have been there). I think I fell into bed around 2am.

Sunday was a little rough to start. Like I said, I enjoyed myself thoroughly. But after some food and focus on other things that needed to be done, I was alright. Would've liked to get more done, but I think I earned a little time off.

Despite the good weekend, getting up this morning wasn't any easier. It's just the early thing, I think. I never was a morning person... don't think I ever will be. :P

A Day Off

I played hooky from work today. It was nice. I really needed it. Could use another day or two off to catch up on life, but it was a start today.

A Change Will Do You Good?

Change. Change is usually a good thing, even if it doesn’t seem that way at first. It happens for a reason, whether you instigated it or it was brought about by some unforeseen force. (or as I like to call it, fate!) The question is, when do you know it’s time for change? Fate works in mysterious ways and won’t always hand you the change you need… you have to figure it out for yourself.

This philosophical thinking is coming because I feel like change might be coming my way. But I’m not sure where to look because, quite frankly, things are good for me. So I find fate being very cruel to me right now cause it’s causing the ‘Boredom Bell’ to go off in my head. I just start getting bored with EVERYTHING as a push to change something! My dilemma is, “What should change in my life?” So let’s look at things…

On the job front, change is a horrible idea with today’s economy. But economy aside, I generally like my job. This is what I wanted to do for the longest time and then they came to me with an offer. It’s a good job and I think I’d be an idiot to make the change there.

The relationship. Without going into detail, it’s going great. Granted, he can be an ass at times, but then all guys can be, especially when they get caught up in some task at hand. I think I do good at keeping him on the right level, though. Besides… I love him to death and can’t see myself without him.

The home life. Sure, I could move. But where? Anything out of the area would mean changing both of the items above, too. I don’t think I need that much change. Back to the economy issue – this is a horrible time to try to sell a house if you don’t have to. So I think this is out.

Let's be real… you can’t change family, so that’s not even on the radar.

Do I just need a REAL vacation… something I want to do without necessarily having family involved for once? Maybe I just need a little change, like a new hobby or similar vice. Or do I need the drastic “F- it! I’ll take a chance and do _____!!”

I don’t know. But if I don’t quiet the boredom soon, it will be drastic. And probably stupid. :P

I'm sorry, Mother Nature

"On behalf of everyone I know who has, or hasn't, wronged you, Mother Nature, I apologize for any and all wrong doing to you. On this day, I swear I will step up my efforts, and see that others do the same, to conserve and take better care of you. Can you please let up some on us now? We can't take much more."

Can you believe this weather lately?? Obviously, I'm mainly seeing and focusing on the Midwest, specifically Indiana. But it's everywhere!

Is started (locally) with some tornado action two Fridays ago. I got caught in some flash flooding in Castleton on that night! I was watching the Sex and the City movie at the new AMC Theatre... the movie started at 8pm, and it was dry as a bone going in. Coming out at 10:30pm, however, it was a torrential downpour! I watched for a bit, but realized it wasn't going to let up anytime soon and decided to make a run for it. So I did. And almost fell over my own feet as I started stepping (running) in knee deep water. Holy crap!! There's water to my knees in the middle of the parking lot! So I stop and actually look around, realizing I'm standing knee deep in water with a pretty severe thunderstorm going on... which means lightning. Hmmm... probably not a good idea. So I locate my Xterra and see the water is up to the step bar... wow, I'm lucky I have a truck!! There's water to the middle of a lot of car doors (for those who don't have trucks). THAT really sucks!

So I head home. I'm soaked to the bone. There's water to the edge of the pavement on the interstate... they design these to drain better than your average road r/w, so this is further proof of the crazy rains. I get home and turn on the TV and realize how bad it really is. Man... glad to be home. And as the night wears on, I hear about the damage on the east side caused by high winds and what was ultimately declared an EF-2 tornado! Saturday morning comes along, and the sun comes out, like nothing ever happened. Unless you were in one of the ravaged areas.

So the next week comes (which would now be just last week), and I do one of my normal work travels to FL. Don't hear much about what goes on back here... until I get back here and learn they had another night similar to what we had the Friday before! Kind of glad I missed it, and I don't know anyone directly affected, so all is okay... for now.

Then comes last Friday night/Saturday morning. First off, Friday is HOT! Steamy hot. The type of hot that growing up in FL you learned to expect a pretty good afternoon storm. Well, there was a storm alright. But it was a little more than what we got in FL. And it lasted longer than the previous Friday night. The worst of it hit south of Indy, near Edinburgh - they got nearly 11 inches of rain!! So a lot of southern Indiana is completely flooded out - the worst they've seen since the Great Flood of 1913 (which I never heard of until this past weekend). In fact, it's just inches below that flood, which was severely devastating back then. All the pictures and videos that have been in the media are amazing! I can't believe I'm so close to such devastation - areas that never experience flooding are experience flooding.

And the kicker is they're predicting more rain tonight. The front may even stall over Indiana. I really hope that doesn't happen.

And all this is just Indiana!! Further west, they're getting tornadoes and hail. Out in Colorado last week, on storm system brought them heavy rains, hail that covered the ground with nearly 6 inches of ice, and even snow! Meanwhile, down south they have a severe drought happening. They desperately need this rain we need no more of!! Lake Okeechobee is so low and the weather is so dry that there's been wildfires burning the dry lake bed areas!! A few weeks ago, the dry weather prompted quick spreading of fires in my hometown of Palm Bay, FL, ultimately burning over 11,000 acres and damaging or destroying over 160 homes!! Sadly, that was started by an arsonist, but if it wasn't so dry, it wouldn't have spread the way it did. Then you have the wildfires on the west coast, that will ultimately lead to more mudslides when the wet season come there. And this is just the tip of what's going on in the world... *sigh*

I see all this in the media, and think the world is truly seeing rough times. Is it global warming? Is it just a freak time for us? Or is the media coverage that much more abundant that it's making it seem worse? Whatever it is, I think it should be a wake up call for everyone. As if the gas crisis we're in doesn't make things seem bad enough, this seals the deal on needing to pay attention to what we're doing to the environment and really re-evaluate what we really need from the earth and take better care of it. I think if we take better care of it, it will take better care of us. Something to think about.