i wouldn’t consider myself to be a very political person. let’s say that i am mildly political, but i do believe in fulfilling my civic responsibilities and being an informed voter is one of them. so it looks like part of this weekend is going to be spent reading up on political issues and deciding what to vote on.

[url=http://www.mypollingplace.com/find.php]my polling place[/url] is a good resource if you don’t know where your polling place is. go vote. it prevents cancer, helps you lose weight, and makes you more virile, you know?

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i recently have been dying at work. i just feel so far behind that any kind of progress seems only to be celebrated with the reminder that there is just so much more left to do. [url=http://www.track15.com]dardy[/url] will probably know the pain that i’m going through as i’m tearing up someone else’s code and extending it to suit the new needs of the business. let me just say that the existing code had some rather disturbing shortcomings so now i’m left with the task of making things better.

it’s been a long day, but it started a little late for me, too. i got into work a little after 9AM today (shockingly late, compared to my normal 7AM arrivals) and i’m still chugging away at the code at 6:53pm. i’ve been dreading the part that i’m working on now…rewriting the security layer of the application. i hate dealing with permissions and users and stuff. lame to have to reinvent the wheel with a twist. oh well.

but i am making progress, so i guess i can’t be complaining. i guess that’s one of the advantages of working a 10+ hour day, right?

i really should just go home now…and if i feel so compelled, i should just work at home tonight, but for some reason i’ve been finding it harder and harder to work at home. i’m not sure what it is, but there’s something that just makes it really rather hard.

i’ve got elvis costello’s the very best of album playing now. it’s rather soothing. i think that i generally found melancholy music to be soothing and relaxing when i’m stressed. kind of weird, huh? i like the rain too.

not much going on today and it doesn’t look like much else will be going on seeing how i’ll probably end up working the night away until i fall asleep. maybe i’ll grab some pearl tea on the way home.

at least it’s hump day…half the week’s over!

it’s been a while since i think i have been able to say that. got a lot of work done today and also got some really good volleyball in. it’s been a while since i’ve been able to say that too.

work has thrown me a few loops lately, but i made some great headway to finish up some of the new tasks. so i’m pretty happy there.

volleyball today was great too. i came in thinking that i would be able to play my normal position again, but it turns out that i’m setting this season too. i’ve been getting more and more comfortable playing setter, but it’s been a long time coming. i got some really good sets in today and i was overall pretty happy with how i played. as a team, we went 3-1, not too shabby for a late night start. i’m looking forward to playing next week.

for the first time in a long time there was this excitement in the air. i was pretty happy to be playing and it was a great and much needed release.

and my new hard drive came in today. 250GB of pure storage ready to be outfitted in its external enclosure. paul suggested that i try something out to fix the USB connectivity and it appears to have worked. it’s formatting now, but it’s taking FOREVER to format. but i’m quite pleased with that. now the big question is whether or not i can find some little nubbings because my enclosure didn’t come with the rubber feet that it was supposed to come with.

as soon as i can check to make sure it has been formatted right, i think that i will be heading off to sleep.

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after reading an [url=http://leafee.ocliw.com/comments.php?id=188_0_1_0_C]entry of leeya’s[/url] recently, i felt the need to reexamine the issue with being friends with your ex. many people have just as many opinions about what the right thing to do is and i’ve been thinking about that myself.

i think that i take a rather different approach to the topic of maintaining a friendship after a break up. sure, it all depends on the situation, but i do not believe that there is anything inherently impossible or wrong with being friends with someone that you dated. now, truth be told, i do not really share a very close relationship with any of my exes right now. there are a few that i wish i could keep in more regular contact with because whenever we do spend time together the friendship that we share is stronger than many of my other friendships. but life, for whatever reason, has just made it such that it is either inconvienient or not worth it to make the effort.

some relationships i’ve had with some people are best left forgotten. maybe it was too traumatic, maybe it was too painful, but there are some people who i make no effort at all in maintaining a friendship because it just wasn’t worth it for me.

as leeya points out, if a friendship is one-sided, then you really have to question why you are continuing to make the effort to stay friends. but for some people, a one-sided friendship is all that they really want or need. they are completely satisfied with the friendship, even if they are making all the effort. this is how i feel about dido, britney, and lexa doig. my relationship with them is very special, though completely one-sided. but this is true of any friendship, be it with an ex or otherwise.

but the question posed is “what is the point?” for one to consider maintaining a friendship with their ex means that you still value their friendship, without the emotional entanglements. leeya asks can you settle for less? i don’t really see it as settling for less. just because you were in a once loving relationship doesn’t mean that being friends is a step down. maybe, for whatever reason, the relationship just wouldn’t work out. that’s completely plausible. maybe this is just an evolution in your relationship from lovers to friends. i believe that the potential for being a great friend is still there. i don’t think that you have to be really close friends to be able to “salvage” a friendship out of a broken relationship. i don’t see it as salvaging something from something else that was once greater. maybe you will work out better as friends than you would as lovers.

when it comes to emotional baggage, i think that it does take a level of maturity to be able to set aside the feelings that you had for someone and to pursue a friendship with them. you cannot continue to hold on to feelings for the other person and hope to have a friendship with them. it just doesn’t work like that. some people will never be able to put aside their feelings for another. that can’t be helped either.

but it is sad for me to think that just because you’ve dated someone, if things don’t work out, you will automatically outcast them from your life forever. maybe that’s the easier way to handle things. maybe that’s why it happens so much. well, most breakups don’t end amicably anyway. and it’s a lot easier to forget the person than to be friends with them if that friendship will be a reminder of what once was. i guess that’s really the heart of the issue: can you get over the fact that you dated the person and do you have a desire to be friends with them?

there are two people that i can think of who i dated and who i would enjoy having a great friendship with. with the first person, it seems that her situation will never really ever let this happen. there are circumstances beyond my control that just won’t allow us to be friends. it’s a pity, but such is life. with the second person, whenever we do find the time to chat we do enjoy this certain bond of friendship that sets us apart from others. it’s an easygoing banter that we have that i do enjoy. but our communication is far and few between, so our friendship is more like a smattering of correspondences throughout the year.

i guess my point is that i don’t believe that being friends with an ex generally means that you are carrying emotional baggage with you. it’s more a matter of getting over your emotional baggage before you can pursue a friendship with that person. there’s a difference between being friends with an ex because that’s all you can get and being friends with an ex because you want their friendship. if you are being friends with someone hoping for more, then your motives are not pure, and continuing this friendship could go down an ugly path.

in bulk at a local brick and mortar for a reasonable price.

if you know of a place where one can find such joy, please email me.

thanks!

i don’t know how it happened, but i have this huge addiction to trident bubble gum. i just keep popping them in my mouth. sometimes i find myself chewing gum and not knowing how it got there.

but what’s worse was that i was in my car and i was about to leave work when i couldn’t find the pack of gum. panic actually ran through my body as i searched for it.

that is so sad.

gum, anyone?

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i woke up early this morning to get into the office only to see that there was a large leak in my office as well as in the hallway. i got some trash cans set under the leaks and called the admin who helped talk to various people to see if they can fix it.

now, just a few feet away from me is the constant dripping of water into the trash can. it’s getting to be a little annoying. i have music on, but the unmistakable sound of the dripping can still be heard. *sigh*

i do like rainy weather, though. i don’t like driving in it, but when you are warm and inside, i do enjoy the rain coming down outside. i don’t know why, but i find it soothing. there was some lightning on my drive to work today. it was close to pitch dark when i left the apartment. traffic wasn’t so bad, but i have to admit that leaving when it was that dark did feel a little weird. at least daylight savings is coming up soon. that ought to make things a little better.

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