While walking home from downtown there was a kid on the phone with his friend on his stoop. He asked me if I spoke Chinese. I was going to lie but I told him I didn't. I listened to him explain to his friend as I walked away that he truly just asked a stranger if he spoke Chinese. He clarified several times that I wasn't his dad.

Yes, life has been brighter. I'm not here to write the sad post and cry about the multiple issues with cars, water heaters, and slate roofs and list my current music as as "Simple Plan" but I have had better halves of weeks in the past. However, I'm sleeping soundly so everything can't be that bad, right?

First off just for the record: I'd still boink Björk. I don't care what anyone says. I still find her attractive. And if my wife is reading this: Honey, put The Icelandic singer on my list.

I'm sure there are tons of things I have yet to find out about my wife. I tend to be a very internal person at heart and live in my own head a lot so I'm sure there's questions and details I've missed in the years we've been together. I'm not saying we never talk. We're not one of those duos that share a space where both agree on the design of the living room or the pair where one that does the other's bidding. There's just a lot of time to find out more and that's pretty fucking cool.

Fucking. Not that eloquent of a adjective but it's been while since my last post. I'm sure I'll come up with better words once I get warmed up.

Last night my wife came up to my side while we were in bed and put her head near mine. I went to kiss her forehead and bumped her slightly with the rim of my glasses. I took them off and gave her a peck. After a few beats she says to me,
"You know for the the longest time I didn't know you wore glasses."
"Really?"
"Yep," and she snuggled closer. I had to remove my glasses again not to bump her.
"How long did you not know?" I muted the television while asking. I found this detail more interesting than Jon Stewart and crew at the GOP convention.
"A few years," she idly replied.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Seems like a long time."
"You were wearing contacts." This was true for a long time I didn't wear my glasses so that made sense. I was almost satisfied,
"Did you know I wore contacts?"
"Nope."
"Really?" She replied with by looking up with a slight eye roll. My constant need for confirmation was getting to her and keeping her awake.
"Nope. No clue."
"What about all my contact lens stuff?"
"I wouldn't have recognized it. I never dated anyone with contacts."
"You never saw it in the bathroom?"
"Where did you keep it?"
"In the medicine cabinet." As I replied she curled back up to my side getting ready to wind the conversation down.
"I never looked in the medicine cabinet. i had my bag below the sink with all my stuff in it."
"Really?"
"I'm going to punch you."
"Night, babe."
"Night." I took off my glasses and gave her another kiss.



So I was thinking as she went to sleep: Next time I sit there and wonder: "Why does she do [insert current action/habit/dance move here]?" I'm just going to ask her. Instead of letting it slip by for years. And I hope she'd ask me the same questions. Actually she often does, she's far more extroverted than I am. It's a nice yin and yang thing we have going.

Yet she still has never asked me what I think of Björk. A small detail to when she finds out I'm sure I'll have a few "Really?" questions to respond to. Which will lead her to discover things about me that will help her understand me more. Small facts similar to her own that make us, us. Like I know I can hide things in the medicine cabinet and she won't look there for years.

My day was shaping up to be pretty shitty. Dunks burnt the coffee, work slammed me with several major issues right out of the gate, and I'm pretty sure my car needs a new muffler. I needed someone who could turn it around quickly before the day went to total crap. My co-worker upon seeing my distress sent me the man who saved the day. He's a stage hand from Hollywood, CA:

I've been real tired. The kind of tired the main character from Fight Club experienced: "You never really asleep or awake." I haven't been able to focus for more than a few minutes let alone hack out an entry for months so sorry for the internet silence.

One of the many reasons you get married because you know there's some one who cares more about you then yourself. This is true with Crystal. I might have gone another 6 years with out going to the doctor (I get nervous in hospitals and doctor's offices) but she asked me to go when she said I had stopped breathing multiple times in the night for brief periods of time. That paired with my not being able to remember the last time I slept for more than a few hours I agreed and off we went.

After an hour or so in a hospital cover I my doctor suggested I get a sleep study done. I made my appointment and last month I went down Saint's Memorial in Lowell for my test. Upon arriving I was told to sit and watch a video all about what they were testing me for. Part of it went something like this:

"Most sleep study centers have rooms that look much like hotel rooms. These rooms are designed to help you feel comfortable during you monitoring session."

After which they lead me to a room that was much like a pale green colored hospital room. This room was designed to feel like it housed mental patients.

I sat in a chair for about 10 minutes while they stuck wires all over my body. The technicians were very nice people and assured me the 20 or so wires and large bundle coming out of the back of my head would not disturb my sleep at all and to ignore the camera mounted on the ceiling as it was just for monitoring purposes.

I slept lightly. I felt that there was no way they could have gotten an accurate reading and wondered why they placed the sleep center above the ambulance entrance for the ER. I woke up and went to check out. I asked how it went and they explained to me that they couldn't tell me.

A few weeks passed until Sunday night when they called and said I need to be fitted for a breathing masking that should help the airflow as I sleep as I have sleep apnea. I'm not really looking forward to this but if it means a good night's sleep I could really use it.

I spend a lot time being busy. My job is often a series of clients that each have their own section of the internet that's about to collapse and their business is about to suffer greatly unless it regains the internet support it needs. The people I deal with are often tired, stressed, and have reached to the lowest possible option by calling me. These I.T. professionals feel like they should be able to fix anything. Probably because that's what they're asked to do on a daily basis.

I like being busy. I like it because I hate work. Work is boring and tedious my job keeps me moving and is often interesting. It doesn't seem like work most of the time. It's rarely sitting around doing nothing.  It takes a lot of focus and multi-tasking to get the problems solved. That being said I can't think of one person who doesn't love a good sexual innuendo I.M. when on a confrence call about a client's new software package:

(1:33:10 PM) Kyle: I support their package.
(1:33:43 PM) Miles: My package is huge. The plugins are outstanding
(1:33:59 PM) Kyle: nice.
(1:34:06 PM) Kyle: lots of accessory options?
(1:34:09 PM) Kyle: upgrade features?
(1:34:22 PM) Miles: Oh yeah. I got a firmware package
(1:34:33 PM) Kyle: yeah but how's the hardware?
(1:34:37 PM) Kyle: no one cares about the software.
(1:34:41 PM) Kyle: it's the hardware that really matters
(1:34:47 PM) Miles: Lots of RAM
(1:34:58 PM) Kyle: plenty of cycles per second, I assume?
(1:35:13 PM) Miles: Just one actually then it goes into sleep mode
(1:35:23 PM) Kyle: 15-20 minutes?
(1:35:23 PM) Kyle: lol
(1:35:27 PM) Miles: LOL
(1:35:28 PM) Kyle: of sleep mode.
(1:35:29 PM) Kyle: >.>
(1:35:35 PM) Kyle: then you can boot it back up.
(1:35:53 PM) Kyle: boch's new to you!
(1:36:01 PM) Kyle: kia mitsubishi!
(1:36:23 PM) Miles: heh Um the previous versions actually rebooted quicker. The most recent version is a little bogged down
(1:36:34 PM) Kyle: that happens with age, the hardware gets old.
(1:36:35 PM) Kyle: outdated.
(1:36:40 PM) Miles: Ouch
(1:36:46 PM) Kyle: LOL

I hate going to work more than Indiana Jones hates snakes. I've enjoyed night jobs I've had more than the day jobs. But I there's too much going on in the evening to be working night jobs and have a life.  My current job wants me to move to 11a to 7p hours. I hope they do it soon. That's perfect.

Today's band name from Band Name Maker

Hair Of The Boston Hero

(optional word "Boston" was entered)

Stay awake for safety's sake,

Miles.

It's been a while, Internet, I've missed you. Come her and sit next to me. Come close this is going to be hard but I feel I need to say this. I love you, Internet and I have a confession. I'm married. That doesn't mean we can't still be friends though. We just need to stop seeing so much of each other.

I should have been more up front with you, I'm sorry. But yes that's why it's been 4 months since I posted on you. I hope in time you'll learn to enjoy the happy entries we had together but the frequency had to stop. Crystal... Her name is Crystal. She's becoming suspicious of us and I love her. I don't want to break her heart.

In my absence I hope you can enjoy this link. That it will make you forget me sooner: Band Name Maker.

But seriously folks :-). Work's been a bit slow lately so I've been playing with the updated version of Google Maps. That drag and drop feature to make changes in your route is awesome! I've planned several driving trips across the country for me and Crystal. Someday when I have the time and I can convince Crystal to do a long car trip (she's not a fan of the long car ride, and she gets a little nutty after the 6th hour of a road trip) I want to drive to LA and back to Boston.  Here's a few places I want to go that I've never been:

Cleveland: I hear it rocks. I've wanted to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for years. I was in Columbus once and I pray that Cleveland is somewhat more exciting.

Chicago: 2nd City! Everyone I've met that's lived, been, or passed through Chicago said that Bostonians will feel at home there. I used to have a cousin that lived out there but I never got the chance to see him. I've regretted not going out there to see the city for some time and would like to correct that.

Seattle: This is where the music of my generation came from. I hear the coffee is great but they better have a Dunks.

San Diego: The wife and I both love zoos and I hear theirs is one of the best.

Memphis: Graceland. Seriously what more needs to be said? I was in Nashville a few months ago and was disappointed when my work wouldn't give me a day to go out there. TN food rules though.

Someday before we're old and feeble Crystal and I need to take a trip. I love to travel. Business trips aren't the same as going out there to see a new place. Business trips make the world boring and take the wonder out of the world. You see people in cubes and offices that look the same as yours and it makes you wonder why you left to even come here.  Doing your job somewhere else just makes you more aware of the feeling that a job ain't nothin' but work.

EDIT:  I hate that I don't pay more attention to LJ and my comrades there. I just reviewed a bunch of entries from my friends list. I missed people who might have needed a kind word, jokes I could have been in on, and stories that if I commented now would just seem like delivering a birthday present 4 months late.  I'm not going to repeat the promise that I will try to pay more attention here, I can never keep it. I really hate myself for that. Always losing people because I can't get my shit together.