Friday, January 06, 2006

Sleep


I can't sleep... you'd know that if the time stamps on blogs ever worked properly but since they just randomly reset themselves I've given up on them ever being right. It's 4:32 a.m. I've been up nearly 24 hours and I'm not even especially tired yet.

I've been working on a ton of MHA things all day. The first of the year is a busy time for me and there is more to do than I have time to get done. To top it off, I have a conference next week and will be out of the office Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

I also spent about an hour on the phone with D-Link Support. Let me just say - do not purchase a 624M wireless router. I'm on my second one in less than 90 days. And, apparently, I'm about to be on my third one. Needless to say, at this point I'd like to get a different model as this one has some obvious problems.

I will say, however, that you get to talk to a real, live native English speaker when you call, which is a huge bonus. I don't care if you label me as politically incorrect, I freaking despise getting "Jason" in India (like I believe that's the name his mama gave him) who wants me to do very complex things to my computer and its various components when I'm spending 80% of my energy trying to figure out what in the hell he's saying. Just because you can say the words doesn't mean you can communicate.

Trust me, no one appreciates the difficulty of learning a second language more than me. But I don't want you practising it on me while we're talking about complex technical problems. If it were a simple problem I would have already figured it out. Duh. Chatting about the weather... the museum... where you live... great. Wiping my hard drive... no.

Well, it's time for me to head upstairs and go to bed. Even if I don't sleep, I need to rest. Fortunately, I've gotten a large amount of what was on tomorrow's to-do list accomplished already. But, there are still plenty of things that have to be done in the work day hours.

Games People Play


I have this little game I play when I'm driving long distances. I will flip through radio stations with a question in my mind - maybe about a situation or a person or whatever. I make this little deal with myself that the second or the third or whatever number song will have some significance for me with regard to this question.

On the recent drive, I was doing this as I was driving on Highway 60 across southern Missouri. Twice I asked the same question and had the same song come up three songs later in answer to it. The question was about a relationship in my life. The song was "When I Get Where I'm Going."

I just went and got the lyrics online to consider them more carefully. It came up twice on different stations, in response to the same question, within an hour.

Why don't I ever get the simple answers like, "Here's a Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares," "He ain't worth missing," or "Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys?" Those are all much clearer directives. Regardless, none of those happened to be the song that came up...

Maybe this is why I rarely listen to the radio except when I'm driving.

When I Get Where I'm Going
Artist/Band: Brad Paisley - with Dolly Parton

When I get where I'm going
On the far side of the sky
The first thing that I'm gonna do
Is spread my wings and fly

I'm gonna land beside a lion
And run my fingers through his mane
Or I might find out what it's like
To ride a drop of rain

(Chorus:)
Yeah when I get where I'm going
There'll be only happy tears
I will shed the sins and struggles
I have carried all these years
And I'll leave my heart wide open
I will love and have no fear
Yeah when I get where I'm going
Don't cry for me down here

I'm gonna walk with my grand daddy
And he'll match me step for step
And I'll tell him how I missed him
Every minute since he left
Then I'll hug his neck

(Chorus)

So much pain and so much darkness
In this world we stumble through
All these questions I can't answer
So much work to do

But when I get where I'm going
And I see my maker's face
I'll stand forever in the light
Of his amazing grace
Yeah when I get where I'm going
There'll be only happy tears
Hallelujah
I will love and have no fear
When I get where I'm going
Yeah when I get where I'm going