Dale Miller

Monday is here! Yea!

Okay, so maybe that’s a bit too enthusiastic. However, I did get a good night’s sleep last night, and the drive in to work was pleasant. I really enjoy seeing the sunrise across Lake Maumelle, even if it is only for a brief stretch of road.
I need to find a good project to work on at the office. I’m tired of the “busy work” that I’ve been doing lately. I really need to investigate enterprise-wide spam fliters. It’s really getting bad here. Of course, my mailbox is probably worse than most, since I have multiple addresses, web pages with my email on them, and I’ve had the same email address since 1992. I get tired of getting up in the morning and deleteing the 50 or so pieces of spam that have arrived while I was sleeping. Ah well, as Funky Winkerbean once said “Another whole week to screw up in.”

Lake Sylvia was open today. I went and laid out for an hour or so, and then came home and went to bed. Woo-hoo, and exciting day for Dale.

I’m trying to convince myself to go do something tonight, but I haven’t been successful yet. If I do anything, it will probably be sitting in Sufficient Grounds, and I’m not sure it’s worth the drive. Sometimes it’s fun (if the right people show up), other times it’s not.

I wish I knew how to convince my alarm-cat that it’s Saturday. :(

I decided to at least do something different this evening. I went to the north side of the river, wandered around McCain Mall, and spent too much money. I dodn’t spend all *that* much, but I really didn’t buy anything that was necessary, only things I wanted. I had dinner at TGI Fridays, and it was pretty good. Yet again the only person sitting alone at a table in the restaurant.

As I was leaving McCain Mall, I came across a large lighted sign which I had to photograph.

the caption underneath was “A classroom isn’t the only room where a learning disability embarrasses you.” I just thought it was cute. Unfortunately there was a man sitting on the bench directly in front of it, and he didn’t seem inclined to move. That’s why my picture is a bit skewed. I may have to go back and get a better one.

Anyway, that’s about as fun as my night got. Now it’s time for a book and bed. Tomorrow I’ll probably try to go to Lake Sylvia and work on my tan. That pretty much takes care of my weekend plans — unless some nice female decides she wants to meet me for dinner. I don’t expect that, but I can always hope.

I was late for work, and I’m officially in a lousy mood.

I usually listen to the radio on the way in to work in the mornings. Today, B98.5 (KURB) had a call-in for “women who had proposed to men”, Alice 107.7 (KLAL) was running the final day of the “bachelor FM” contest, and Mix 94.4 (KMSX) was talking about wedding planning. There’s just nothink like hearing about couples to make those of us with no prospects feel even worse. So… I’m waiting for my day to get better, but I’m not expecting much

I need to figure out something to do tonight other than go and sit at Sufficient Grounds. I can’t think of what it would be, but I want to do *something*. The optimist in me keeps thinking that if I go enough places I’ll eventually meet some nice woman who wants to date me. of course, it’s possible I’ve met several, but haven’t asked them out. And thinking of that makes me more depressed.

Happy Friday to me.

I don’t want to be at work today. Actually, I just don’t want to be awake today. It’s a rainy, dreary, feel-sorry-for-myself day. I’ve been doing that far too much recently. It’s summertime, and there are so many things I would like to do, but don’t want to do them by myself. Although I have actually met a couple of women recently, nothing seems to have “clicked”. I suppose I should be grateful for that much progress. I’ve taken more women out to dinner this month (3) than I have in the previous year.

Is anybody else depressed because of the “Bachelor FM” contest that Alice 107.7 is running? I suppose I’m just jealous. I want women to be lined up to date me — actually, that’s not true. I just want one, but I want her to be “the” one. But when I hear about it on the radio, my mood quickly gets worse. Fortunately, it’s going to be over tomorrow.

I am considering trying to get a part-time job to try and fill up some of my free time. Maybe then I wouldn’t brood so much. My previous attempts haven’t worked very well, but it doesn’t take too much effort to drop off applications. In the past, I have gone to Park Plaza, picked up an application from everywhere that looks interesting, filled them out, dropped them off, and never heard a word. I don’t know if my timing has been bad, or no one wants to hire me for retail. I really ought to try and get a consulting job. It would pay better, but there are times I just want to get away from computers for a bit and see people other than nerds.

Too much coffee last night followed by too little sleep. :( The LiveJournal Meetup was interesting. I really didn’t talk to too many people, but I listened a bit. While I like SG, we really didn’t have a good space to sit and talk.

All-in-all a nice group of folks. There were a few ladies I could fall in lust with, but I probably shouldn’t go naming names.

Hey, it’s after three o’clock. That means less than an hour until I get to leave the office. :) Today has been okay, but I’m having real trouble getting excited about my job recently. I need a fun project to work on.

LJ meetup tonight! I’m looking forward to putting faces and voices to some of the names I’ve been reading about. Of course, I won’t be able to keep track of who is who, but that’s okay, too. it will be interesting to see who shows up. Hopefully some eligible females that like men who wear skirts. :)

I’m probably going to show up way early and work on reading more of the new Harry Potter book that I borrowed from my son last night. So far I’m 200 pages into it, and it’s pretty good. Watching the movies has made it both more and less interesting. When I read the books now I see the characters from the movies, which gives it a bit more realism, but it removes some of the joy of trying to imagine how things look. When I read the first books, I had pictures in my mind of how people and places should look, and the movies have modified those in many cases.

I have heard some on-air radio personalities discussing the book, and, in one case, saying he would wait for the movie. I know that I’m strange, but I woudl almost always read a good book than see a movie. I will admit that some movies are well worth watching, but not to the exclusion of reading. Tom Clancy’s books are a prime example. The movies based on them are okay, but none are as good as the books.

I hope I don’t scare too many people tonight. I think I’m going to be in one of my more “interesting” outfits. At least it’s not terribly revealing. :)

Another day at the office. Nothing happening here. Move along.

Actually, today has been okay. I actually got a good night’s sleep last night. I think Oscar misses Felix. He slept right on top of my chest, which he almost never does. It was sweet, but I know he misses having someone to play with. Hopefully he can manage to convince Oreo or Sandie to start being his friend.

I’ve known for a long time that the world isn’t fair, but there are days that are harder than others. I got up this morning to find one of my cats, Felix, dead. I had noticed him sleeping on the couch when I went to bed last night. When I got up this morning, he was still there. I went over to check on him and realized he had died during the night. It’s not fair! He was a young cat! I’m down to three cats now, and a bit scared to get any more. I have lost cats before, but never had one just die. I buried him in the backyard. I will miss him. He was such a beautiful cat.

I depend on my cats for emotional support. No matter how bad the world seems, they will listen to me, and allow me to pet them. They never want to complain about how their day was, they just purr and play. I think some times that they are all that keeps me going.

Felix was a foundling. I was coming home one night on Kanis road, and this little orange-and-white kitten walked out onto the road as I was coming around a corner. I swerved to miss him, and then pulled the car off the road, and went back to look at him. He was a tiny thing, just big enough to fit in my hand, and covered with fleas. I took him home, gave him a bath, and took him to the vet the next day. Once he was de-fleaed he quickly began growing and made himself right at home. He had this beautiful long fur. He also had this habit of sucking on the end of his tail when he was content. He would walk in a circle until he could catch the end of his tail, then curl up and suck on the tip. It was always funny to see this bushy tail with this pointed, wet tip. He always wanted to play, as kittens will do. He tried really hard to get the older cats to play with him, but with only limited success. A couple of months later, Oscar was brought into the household (thanks to Jessie), and the two quickly became best friends and playmates. They chased each other all over the house and yard, and tumbled about on the floor in the evenings. During the cold months he liked to sleep curled up right beside me on the bed. While it was sweet, it did make it difficult to move without disturbing him, and I really hate disturbing a sleeping cat. All cats have their own personalities, and Felix had a lovely one. I think he enjoyed his life. I only wish it had been longer.