Finally feeling like I should. Recently I was looking at some old e-mail and feeling nostalgic about that time and some people and stuff going on and wanted to be able to look back and read this later basically.
I’m back from the 100 day break, I’ve been back maybe 3 months now. It’s been good to be back, mostly picked up where I left off pretty much. Learning to program in Powershell and did a console app in C# last week. I came back as an STE II (Software Test Engineer 2) instead of STE I, also got a pay increase and came back as a v- which means I’m a vendor, not a regular temp style contractor, so I don’t have to take the 100 day break. It’s kind of a big deal to get v-, especially after only one regular a- contract.
Everything with Erin’s been going real well. We’re trying not to put the cart before the horse but we’re both thinking basically we’re on a trajectory to ‘ride off in the sunset together’ as she puts it. I wanna try to buy a house in the next year or so, trying to save for a down payment, trying to have enough while house prices are still low. Tiny bit scary step buying a house and then having Erin move in but it should be real cool to have my own place and be able to share it with her.
Last time I went back for scans, last June/July, I flew into KC and a buddy and I drove up to Chicago for a buddy of ours’ wedding. Erin flew in the day of the wedding and stayed a week. Erin really liked Chicago, most days we were at a museum or the like: Art Instituted, field museum, Zoo, Chicago history museum (a museum on the history of Chicago). Almost went to Shedd aquarium but it was free week so the line was like 4 or 5 hour wait to get in! Went to field museum instead. Went up in both John Hancock tower and the Sears tower (in this moment I can’t even remember the bullshit they renamed it). Went up in both because we got City Pass and Hancock was one of the tickets, so it was basically free since we already had the ticket. Sears tower is much cooler, but Hancock was alright, the screen in area was interesting because you could feel the wind and temp it was up that high. Sears tower has a cooler view though, also, we went there right as the sun was going down, so we were able to see day time, sunset and then night time. It was really neat. Saying neat right there felt slightly lame but it’s true, it was. 😛 Everyone who’s met Erin has later said she’s cool and liked her. My dad after dinner one night goes, “So are you thinking of marriage?” My mom jumped in and was like, “THAT’S NOT FOR YOU TO ASK! WHY WOULD YOU ASK THAT?! THAT’S NOT FOR YOU TO ASK!” I responded with, “I’ll just say this, not anytime soon.” Little while later my folks went on a walk and my mom said she talked to him and ask him why he’d ask that and he said, “I can tell they’re really in love and want to see Eric happy.” It was kinda funny and sorta classic for my Dad. It wasn’t ‘a thing’ or anything, Erin and I laughed about it and we’d already sorta had the conversation of, that’s sorta where this is going but lets not get ahead of ourselves, so it was totally fine. It was super hot in Chicago at the time, Erin didn’t know what to do, it was WAY to hot for her. Before we went I was thinking and apparently had a look on my face and she ask what the deal was I go, “I’m slightly worried you’re going to wilt in Chicago summer heat” and she was slightly indignant but was like, “I’ll deal”, well, when she was actually there and it was humid and like 100F she’s like, “Ya, you were kinda right.” with a smile.
I then drove down to St. Louis had dinner with one uncle and then to Jefferson City and saw my relatives there and then took the train to KC. It was 106F that day
Later while I was still on my 100 day break, my folks, my brother and his girlfriend came out to Seattle. My dad rented a condo for them to stay in for the week, it was pretty cool to have more of an actual place to stay vs. hotel rooms and was probably actually cheaper. Did a bunch of fun stuff and hung out a bunch, the Olympics was on TV, so most evenings we watched at least some of the summer Olympics. We all pretty much got city passes again and went to some museums and the zoo and stuff. It was fun. Went on the Seattle underground tour, which was pretty neat as well, interesting and cool looking. They all loved it out here and all plan to move out here. My folks were wanting to retire somewhere other than Chicago because of weather mostly, since I’m out here and since the weather is way better and since it’s a nice place overall, they’re serious about getting out here. Should be pretty cool.
Lets see, what else has happened… I got a tattoo. One hashmark for every CT/PET scan I’ve gotten to check if I have hodgkin’s. The red ones are ones I failed, the black ones are ones I pass.
That pic is from right when it was done. The lines are a little less straight now actually. My skin didn’t like the red ink that much, so it was angry and didn’t heal as well, which is sorta funny considering what the red hash marks mean. Â I’m totally fine with the way it looks, since I didn’t really want it to be perfect anyway. Â I have one scan that isn’t represented yet. Â After my scan in December I was thinking of getting another tattoo and he said if I got something else, he’d throw in the hash marks basically. Â I wanna get a dragon in honor of Dr. Dragon most likely on the other side of my shin/calf. Â That’ll probably be what I do next. got it from this guy: http://www.tattoogarden.net/ pretty cool studio that’s more of like an art space vs. a parlor. Just a room that he paints and draws in, in addition to tattooing. Big window that looked out into some sort of forest preserve marsh looking place, pretty cool.
Thanksgiving was yesterday. Erin and I with David, Renoir at David’s/my place. Erin made the turkey, it was REALLY good. She’s real good at making gravy, but when she went to make the gravy, David handed her what he thought was a canister of flour, turns out it was a canister of powdered sugar! We only realized it when the gravy wouldn’t thicken and Renoir was like, “Wait, did you use the canister up there? That’s sugar!” and pointed to where we got the “flour”. The gravy was decent, kinda weird and sweet but still decent. It would have been amazing if it wasn’t for the mishap. It was good to have a quite Thanksgiving at home with friends. That’s how Thanksgiving is supposed to be.
It’s starting to be that time of year, staring down January basically, with the scans coming. So far I’m feeling it less than last year this time. I’m still sorta waiting for the other shoe to drop, like life’s been to good, like I don’t believe in luck but I have bad luck, and shit’s been going to well for me. Like I said, I still sorta feel like that, but less. So at least it’s the right trend, heh. We’ll see how I feel in Dec, still need to schedule the scans, I really should call this coming week.
Guess that’s all I can think of for now.