Maybe it’s not a good sign for the start of the week when you fall down the stairs and clog up the toilet. That’s how my Monday started this morning between the hours of 6 and 7 am. Luckily the fall wasn’t anything major (I was trying to avoid the cat at the base of the staircase) and the toilet wasn’t anything major apparently, so that’s good.

Did so much cooking last night while watching the Oscars and I also took to watching some program on John Gotti Jr. which I thought was pretty good. Did you know with the exception of some tiny parts of Thelma & Louise I have never watched a movie that had Brad Pitt in it. I actually can’t stand the guy. That’s not why I never watched any of them – it just happened to work out that way, but now I have to keep the streak alive. Never saw Fight Club? Nope. Seven? Nope. Oceans Eleven? Nope. Nada. None. I don’t think he’s that great to begin with – can’t act for beans in my opinion.

This morning started out with a visit to the dentist to get going on some procedures I need to get done and completed with a full set of new x-rays of my mouth. After that I prepared getting ready for what I’m making for dinner tonight – a little dish called Balsamic Fig Chicken with potatoes and mixed greens. Looks like a pretty simple recipe actually but that’s for later tonight….

Next, I’m working on some plans to do an overnight sometime up on Plum Island. Did it a couple years ago and it’s time to do it again – enjoyed ourselves there pretty much so it might be great to revisit. Maybe also check out the Pink ‘Spite’ House again. Speaking of that, I did pass by one in the North End of Boston last week,locally known also as the Skinny House. A spite house is a building constructed or substantially modified to irritate neighbors or any party with land stakes. Spite houses may create obstructions, such as blocking out light or blocking access to neighboring buildings, or can be flagrant symbols of defiance.

I then spent part of the afternoon going through and filing my taxes for last year. I decided to get through it all a bit early this year – now that’s that out of the way I can focus on other things.

Random thoughts: My amaryllis is down to it’s final bloom. I was pretty pleased overall with the way the plant did – to think I picked it up at a local supermarket. I’ve been reading some online articles about it and may attempt to get it to re-bloom next season, assuming I can keep the plant alive that long. We’ll see.

Also I need to be able to catch some breaks lately – plugging away but starting to get a little overwhelmed. It’s like two steps forward and one step back. However, I know I tend to jump to conclusions in my mind (maximizing worst case scenarios) that sometimes end up being way out of proportion, but after I sit with it for a while – I realize that that way of thinking was foolish and not helpful. Brains are weird. Hope that’s the case starting next week and that I’m freaking/bumming out for nothing. Until the next occasion which lately seems to happening all too frequently and all too quickly for my tastes and I do it all over again.

This is shaping up to be the year of live music shows for me. On tap for us so far are the following:

• Def Leppard/Motley Crue/Poison/Joan Jett @ Fenway
• Bat Out of Hell Play (Meatloaf)
• Johnny Mathis ( something different for sure for my musical tastes)
• Bon Jovi/Bryan Adams in Jerz
• Damone (possibly, but I saw them last year)

The following shows I’ve entered contests to win tickets:

• Hall & Oates (had entered to win tix but lost)
• Goo Goo Dolls
• Guns n Roses

and maybe some more to come! Seems like a lot of acts are coming out of the woodwork this year.

Finally heard back from that other group. I need to set up a meeting sometime next week to see if I’d be a good fit and if so formally apply for the position (which is weird because I’ve been here so long already and that kind of work for over 10 years now), so not to jinx myself but hopefully things’ll turn out right in the end. I think I’ll need to format my resume though – I haven’t done that in so long!

Well this day has started out great so far – my external monitor at work just crapped the bed – luckily after about a half hour the IT dept was able to get me another one so that’s back in business. Just a hassle, you know?