Tim Wasson's blog

Yeah, I went out and did it.

In Circuit City when you're looking at several walls of televisions, 50" for a TV seems pretty reasonable. 42" looked tiny in comparison. So I went for the 50".

In my basement, however, 50" looks ABSOLUTELY ENORMOUS, in a very good way. It's huge. It's beautiful.

I've spent a long time looking at these TVs, checking out their falling prices and improving specs, and I finally got into a place where I could afford it, financially speaking, and am fairly confident there's not going to be any huge leaps in technology or huge price drops in the next couple of years. Small ones, sure, but that's to be expected.

So now I've got my huge TV that I'll be watching during my little vacation next week, where my goal is at least 3 horror movies every single day until Halloween.

I really want to go home and watch my TV now.

So I spent the weekend in Houston. It was a short visit, and filled with a lot of "wedding" related stuff. It was my first visit to Texas, and unfortunately I didn't get to see the sights or "real" Texas. We were smack-dab in the heart of yuppie-ville, so most of the stuff there I can see in yuppie-ville Peoria. I was anxious to see the guys in huge hats, snake-skin boots, carrying rifles and chewing tobacco everywhere they go. What I got was people driving their Benzes and Lexuses and wearing suits or Polo shirts. Every once in a while I'd hear a hint of the Southern accent, but even those moments were few and far between.

Still, it was a fun weekend, and I continued my streak of never, ever, ever being delayed or late during flights. Okay, well, I got into Peoria about 8 minutes later than expected but that's pretty minor compared to some people's complaints.

Now that vacation is out of the way, and I'm going to buy a big, flat-screen TV. Yes, between the house deal, selling the Jeep, my old fridge, and rebate coming to me from the escrow on my old house, I'm doing extremely well financially speaking. I've been using my current TV for 5 years now, and for a tech-geek like myself that just won't do. Besides, my current TV was free because I sold enough cell phones to earn one... this will be a good one. I'm excited.

So, it's Blog Action Day where we bloggers are supposed to unite and talk about some specified topic. This year, the topic is doing our part for the environment. So this little post will be about the small things I do to help out the environment. None are huge on their own, but if everyone took these steps I think the world would be a cleaner place.

• Don't take bags from stores when you don't need them. If you are going to need a bag, take your own. If you have to take the store's bag, don't throw it away before re-using it for some purpose (packing material, picking up dog shit, whatever).
• Don't buy bottled soda or water. That bottle of water you just bought was packaged somewhere else and transported via semi to wherever you bought it from. Invest in a Pur water system or something and refill the old bottles until you can't refill them anymore. It saves money and saves the gas it takes for the truck to deliver the water. Same with soda... go with the fountain soda when you can.
• Drive your crappy SUV off an overpass. Your huge piece of crap car is a burden to the environment and your wallet. Trade it on on a hybrid, diesel, or, if all else fails, a small, economical car which gets good mileage. You won't miss your dumb monstrosity of a crap vehicle.
• Combine trips. Don't go to the store, then go home, then to Target. Make it all in one trip.
• Buy a bike. If you're anything like me, you'll be surprised at how many times you do something 1 or 2 miles away. A bike will take you a mile in 7 or 8 minutes without trying too hard, and you'll be getting in shape in the process.
• Take showers with your significant other. You'll be saving water and having a great time, too.

My point in this whole "saving the environment" thing is that it doesn't take a huge change in lifestyle to have a positive impact. Smaller changes still definitely add up, and any little bit helps.

I'm a guy who will always have a bunch of projects. Home improvement projects, pictures that need drawn, bikes that need sanded, webpages that need to be constructed. I've had a bunch of failures when it comes to projects made in the hopes of making it big, but also some successes thrown in the mix.

By all appearances, Horror Junk has been a moderate success. Because of that little project, I've collected a handful of dedicated fans who will post to the forums, email me, send me merchandise. I've met a bunch of celebrities, gotten free admission to horror conventions, gotten mentioned on very popular websites and other podcasts.

In other ways, Horror Junk has been a failure. It's stagnated. I was so proud of us at first for not talking much, and just freakin' DOING IT. Screw all the planning, and let's just put something up and see if it sticks. Well it stuck, but the format couldn't stick through the course of dozens of episodes. It needed to change, evolve, diversify. At the beginning, HJ was a fun project I looked forward to. At the end, it was a chore.

Well, I guess "the end" is the wrong term to use there, because its certainly not the end. With the departure of my partner and the introduction of a new partner, we can collaborate and make Horror Junk into a project I'm proud of again rather than the same 'ole episode a million times in a row. New life has been breathed into this project, and I'm so excited for the possibilities again.

Oh, and there's other projects I have planned too. I don't sit still for too long.

Well, another year older and another week or 2 wiser.

Birthdays have lost a whole lot of their meaning for me over the past couple of years. I suppose that's an issue that comes with age, but I guess I never thought its importance would disappear entirely. Well, it has.

Hill got me some great gifts, and I got some cards and gift cards from people at work. It was nice to be recognized, but I'm sort of done making it a big deal like it was last year.

I remember some bad birthdays of the past, but at 28 I'm feeling awesome. This was a great birthday. I'm not scared to be getting older or any of that anymore. Before, I always used to think I should have accomplished more than I had by whatever age I was turning. I still sort of believe I'm a notch or 2 below where I should be, but I also have a confidence about getting there that makes up for it.

But still, even if you're just looking at me at age 28, I think I've done better than most 28 year old men. In material possessions, I've done great. I own a house, nice clothes, nice stuff.

In my career I've done well. I'm a supervisor, and I make a good living that affords me plenty of free time. I get recognized often for a job well done and I'm respected at work as a guy who knows what he's doing and knows what he's talking about.

In my relationships, I'm doing well. Hill and I are a great, active couple who love trying new and different things, always having fun while doing them. We're not content to just sit at home on the couch watching TV when we could be out for a run or playing Frisbee or taking the dogs on a long walk. My friendships are also doing really well. I don't see Fabish nearly often enough for my tastes, but I know that after over 27 years, he's still always there when I need advice, or someone to take care of the mutt while I'm out of town, etc. Polk lives too far away to see on any kind of regular schedule, but we keep in touch with phone calls and emails, and he still leaves me with a positive outlook after any kind of communication. Because of the new dodgeball season, I see Alan, Kelly, John, Dave, and Emily every week, and sporadically more often. It's true that if you compare my "friend roster" this year to... say... 2 years ago, it's significantly shorter. But now it's also filled with people who I admire and appreciate, and I know they can say the same about me. And really, what's the point of being friends with someone you can't admire or appreciate?

I'd also mention my running group and friends from work, but I know they don't read this thing so I won't bother. But I do absolutely enjoy my time with them and I'm thankful to have them around too. Now I just need to catch back up to their running schedule and I can start joining them for the weekly runs/dinners again. With Hill kicking my butt back into gear, it shouldn't be too long until I'm back on track (pun intended).

Anyway, the point is that I'm doing great at 28 (that should be a t-shirt), with no major complaints and no major drama in my life. And that's fantastic.

Biting my tongue. Biting. It's bleeding. I'm trying to be mature.

Anyhoo, things have never been better in Wassonland. Last night Hill and I went out to celebrate a couple of big steps in our lives... me going back down to just 1 mortgage and 1 set of bills every month, and her newfound freedom to find a job that will suit her a little better.

Tonight is another celebration... my first solo show followed by a little chat with an entrepreneur in the podcasting world who may be able to help me take my show to the next level, introduce me to hundreds of thousands of listeners, get me sponsored, and more. This will be a great opportunity for me and the show. Cross your fingers that our little chat goes well.

Tomorrow is another celebration. And this weekend, yet another. Yes, things are going good and I get to spend all my time surrounded by friends and family who hate drama as much as I do. I'm so blessed and lucky to have these people in my life.

Another busy weekend in the bag.

Hill was on call or otherwise preoccupied, leaving me to my own devices for the entire weekend. I took advantage of my alone time with a bunch of horror movies, watched while in my boxers of course, and ordering some pizza.

Saturday I spent the majority of the day at a friend's house, clearing out a basement and ripping out carpeting, and then ripping out the tile underneath the carpet that we didn't even know was there. I politely bowed out of their plans to go boozing downtown, since I had a couple horror flicks at home I hadn't quite digested yet.

Sunday was the first game in the Fall Dodgeball League, which was awesome. We won 3 out of 5 on the first night putting us almost at our record for the entire last season. It's fun to win, don't get me wrong, but stressful to actually care about the outcome rather than just assume we'll lose. And I had my 1 awesome move, getting a guy out right at the buzzer, keeping us in the game (sort of).

After that was dinner with Fabish, who I don't see nearly often enough. The weekend was also sprinkled with phone calls to Polk, who I don't talk to nearly often enough.

And my house is selling today, which is the second huge boulder off my shoulders. Ah, I'm free as a bird now, and it feels fantastic!

So, I sold Jeepy this weekend. It was a tearful separation, for sure. Very emotional.

Wait, that's not right. I didn't really care at all. She was 10 years old and in need of some money and hard work to make her pretty again, and I wasn't interested at all in that. A friend of the family was interested, offered me a fair price, and I took it. So good bye, sweet Jeep. I'll miss you.

I took the dough and went and bought a Wii. After playing with Wolford's for about 10 minutes, I was completely hooked. So I bought the Wii and a couple games, and Hill and I proceeded to play it for about 5 hours, laughing hysterically pretty much the entire time. It's the first video game system I've bought since the Sega Genesis, and I'm certainly not a "gamer", but man, that thing is so much fun.

Anyway, now I need to just sit on the rest of that cash and not touch it until the closing on my old house, so I can figure out exactly how much money I'll have left over after this whole exchange. My guess is that I won't have much to spare, but whatever. My Wii is worth it.

Okay, so it's 3 weeks until habit, and I'm 4 weeks into my exercise schedule. And I feel great. This morning I jumped right out of bed, right into my workout clothes, and was out on the street within 5 minutes.

I locked myself out of the house, which really sucked. I broke back in by breaking up my screen on my window and squeezing in through the window. So that was fun.

And it's been a long, long weekend. My dad and I tackled my kitchen at full force, so I finally have upper cabinets and a microwave now. Next weekend, I should have a counter and a sink, and that will be great. I've made a lot of excuses this year as to why I couldn't exercise, why I couldn't eat healthier, and how I was too busy to really get anything done. With my kitchen complete, all my excuses will be right out the window. And honestly, that's going to feel great. I really believe the weight will start  melting off once I'm able to make my own meals instead of having to stop somewhere on my way home for something fast and cheap.... fast and cheap is rarely healthy.

So its been 4 months without a kitchen, but the end is in sight. I can't wait until I can  put my dishes away, retake my dining room space, and plug in my George Foreman Grill. Ah, the small pleasures...