I've been out of the blogging loop for a few weeks now. Life has slowed down. It's been nice. I'm not sure that anyone actually reads this stuff anyway. Okay, I take that back. This is for the 3 of you that actually tune in here. Here is a collection of random thoughts, and some things that have been going on lately.
<Personal Stuff>
Well the knee surgery was a success. It's been just over two weeks, and I am now able to climb stairs in an “almost normal looking” fashion. The week before my surgery, I thought that I would take the time during that week to relax, recuperate, read some .NET books, work on some INETA community stuff, and “get caught up” on things.
Well that didn't happen. For the first 3 days I was on the couch with a huge leg brace, on crutches and miserable. The pain medication made me very sick. How's that for an added bonus? It was not a fun week at all. But, with nothing to do but sit around and hope that I didn't get sick, I had time to think about what's really important in life. I had time to think about the things that I do, and why I do them. I had been spending a ton of time doing things that only drew me further away from the things that are truly important in life. I was coming home from work, and going into a mode of “Gotta get this done, gotta get that done”, “Gotta email this or that person“. WHY? I hadn't taken the time to stop and think about what I was getting out of it, and what it was costing me.
<Short Rant>
There is the old adage that “time is money”. Well I don't know about that. But I do believe that time is an investment. The way in which you spend your time will have an impact on your future. That is something that I believe wholeheartedly. The more time that I spend with my wife and daughter will help to strengthen those relationships. THAT is something that is truly important in life. The same thing goes for the rest of my family and friends. The hours invested building those personal relationships will have a much greater return in life, than spending them in other arenas.
</Short Rant>
I managed to have lunch with my Mom and daughter this past Saturday. That was nice. We had a good time, and Katelyn made a big mess. She's good at that, but I love her for it. Then I took Katelyn to see SpongeBob at the mall. She loved it. She didn't want to get too close, so I held her while they snapped our picture. It was a quality time.
On a different note, it looks like we are going to need to get a new vehicle. YUCK! We had managed to pay off the cars, and we were going to drive our cars “till the wheels fall off”. Well it appears that time has come. The wheels are about to fall off. The mechanic (car doctor) has given the car about a month to live. It's pretty bad. Tomorrow we're going to test drive a couple and see what we think. The issue of “being debt free” has been overcome by the satisfaction of knowing that my wife and daughter are in a car that isn't dangerous, and won't leave them stranded on the side of the highway.
So that's where things have been lately. I've been inventorying what I spend my time doing, and more importantly, why I do it. When I first started doing all of this “community” work, I used to think “Wow. This is pretty thankless work, but I'm helping people”. Then later I was thinking “Wow. This is really thankless work, but I make a difference”. Now I'm just starting to question why someone would invest so much time in such thankless work that has very little or no return that is truly important in life.
I guess I'll go ponder that question some more.......................................................................................
</Personal Stuff>