Rain

I awoke to the sound of rain this morning. Not a hard rain, nor a soft rain, but a perfect rain that was enough to notice as I listened to my radio alarm. I was surprised because of my reaction. I wanted to hear it. I welcomed it.  And I thought "It's been awhile since I've heard this." I instantly decided that I was going to drink a Rainier at the end of the day. And, I did.

Delirium

Delirium Tremens: A Belgian beer that I'd been longing to drink for a long time. Some drinkers consider it one of the world's best beers. The other day I opened a Delirium Noel, the Tremen's winter beer. It was good. It was tasty. It was wonderful. Delirium Tremens takes it's name from the effects that occur after a period of heavy alcohol drinking, especially when the person does not eat enough food. Usually these occur after several months of heavy drinking; when there is a withdrawal.

Caffeine

The first time I had a coffee was on some early morning fishing trip with my dad and some of his friends. It  must have been 7 am, but it seemed like 4, and maybe it was. We were at a diner and they all ordered coffee, so I ordered some too and when the waitress asked "Black?", I said "Yes" because it seemed easy and I didn't want it to be complicated. I've drunk it black since. But I must explain here: Restaurant, diner, work, home, coast - it's always black. I love strong flavors and without the dilution of cream or milk or whatever else may go in there, it's tasty. When I go out to get coffee; it's always a soy latte, or a mocha or a mexican mocha. I never order straight coffee. Getting a coffee is a treat for me. It's not something I do regularly. It's like ordering ice cream on a summer day, or popcorn at a movie; it really is special, whereas when I pour a straight cup of brewed coffee into my mug at school, it's not special; it's almost a necessity, a ritual, something that has to be done. It's not even very good coffee, yet I drink it black.

I have recently re-discovered the joys of caffeine. Because I drink coffee in moderation (about a mug at day - not on purpose, it's just how it is) I don't feel the full effects of the caffeine. On weekends when I have a latte or mocha and if I'm on an empty stomach, caffeine hits me hard and gives me a buzz that I don't like. I'm fond of telling people that I prefer depressants rather than stimulants. But it's true: caffeine can make me sweaty, jittery, jumpy and difficult to be around.

However..

Recently I've been experimenting. On a full stomach and with a few full mugs of coffee, it's perfect. I have a nice amount of caffeine and it keeps me going. I tend to talk a lot more and talk about things that may or may not be important, but it can be a nice buzz. Coffee....

and I still drink it black.

Hand-y

I've always enjoyed working with my hands. One of my earliest memories of this is when I "helped" my dad put together my tricycle. I remember sticking his screwdriver into a tub of axle grease and smearing it onto the tricycle bearings. I think I was about three years old. I also loved taking things apart. I knew I wasn't supposed to do it, so I'd hide in my closet or in my bedroom or somewhere secretive. One time in particular (I was in 4th grade), I hid in my closet and took apart a watch that my grandfather had given me. It wasn't worth anything, and I probably thought I could put it back together. I loved looking at all the tiny gears and springs and such inside that watch. I never did get it put back together again and I'm sure I deconstructed many more watches and clocks and radios and things over the next few years.  I used to build things too. In fifth grade I took detached the wheels and trucks from my skateboard and my brother's skateboard and attached them to a flat piece of plywood. I put two sets of wheels in the back and one set in the front. I made some brakes that I screwed to the side of the plywood and then carried my street luge (this was before street luging was even a recognized activity) up to a nearby hill, sat on it, and then bulleted down the sidewalk. This was near a busy street and I'm sure my mom would've killed me had she known. Unfortunately the brakes weren't enough to stop my luge, so I had to employ sneaker brakes as well. I think that luge was taken away from me soon after that. Over the years I continued to build things, or take apart things, or work on things - bikes, cars, electronics, appliances, etc. Some I have been able to fix, others I have not. I wanted to write about this today because I took apart a Macbook at school today. I had never done it before, but I had some awesome step by step instructions from the Internet. I was replacing a bad optical drive in a teacher's laptop. It was really exciting doing this and I was so proud that it worked afer I was completely finished with it. I was thinking about the difference of how I worked this time compared to when I was younger. Today I carefully taped the tiny screws to the laptop to mark their location and took my time reading the steps and following them closely. This is totally unlike me! Usually I will speed through things and end up losing a screw or breaking a part or going Tourettes. But today I didn't and I feel great about that.

What is Furthur?

It's a shelf to keep my words. I can mix them up, twist them around, lean them against each other, or turn them upside down. It's where I can share my thoughts and rambles. Furthur will be a daily blog. Where did Furthur come from? I can't wait to see where it takes me....

Resolutions

I've never made formal New Year's resolutions. They've always existed more as floating ideas. I generally start thinking about things I'd like to do differently for the new year, but I don't really make a plan, or create a schedule, or set it in stone. Maybe I'm afraid of failure, maybe I don't want to get my hopes up, maybe I just don't care that much. I was amused by all the online Facebook proclamations about "This year i'm going to....be nicer to people." ".....run five more miles each day." ".....accept public transportation for what it is."

Currently the ideas i have floating around are: write daily, read more than i watch TV (and I watch TV about one hour a week, so I'm not sure how hard or easy this will be), walk to and from work as much as possible (and without feeling defeat from the weather), and try to eat smaller portions. :)

01-02-2010

Today on Facebook several people posted this as a number palindrome - 01022010 - which i think is pretty cool, however I would've never noticed it if no one had brought it to my attention. I guess something like this only comes around like every 80 years and only for a few years at a time? I could figure it out if I wanted to, but I don't feel like thinking too much right now. Next year we can look forward to November 2. (11-02-2011). I wonder how information like this was spread back in 1210? (01-21-1210). Individuals probably knew about it and told their friends, but there was no mass way of spreading it. People might find out about it three months later. "Did you know back in January that there was a number palindrome?" And does Europe recognize the same palindrome that we do? They would write January 2, 2010 as 02-01, 2010. Huh, poor Europe. No palindrome for them. :( ha!

January First, Twenty-Ten

This is an attempt to resurrect my blog that I attempted last year at the same time of year. I loved the idea of a daily written blog, but I couldn't devote enough time to it; if any time. I'm hoping this year is different. The thing is in the past I've always had a theme: 2006 - A Photo A Day, 2008 - A Daily Tally of Drinks. 2010 seems like a good year to begin another blog being that every two years I seem to have a new idea; however this year I don't really have a "theme". I just want to write, and I want to write daily. I may borrow just a bit from last year. We'll see where it goes....