New Years Resolutions?

New Year's Resolutions - Who needs em? Well as I look around the blogosphere they seem to be all the rage. I think I like the retrospective followed by the resolute so here it goes.

2008 - Where did the time go?

1. CPA License. I consider this to the the achievement of the year. It took a masters degree, passing an awful exam, and working for two years and some help to get the application in while trying to work full time but I completed it, the board approved it and I now need to get my continuing education file together.

2. The House. Still not finished. More on that later. However, this year I did make great progress in the bathroom, move upstairs so I could finish the trim downstairs, get my shop organized, and install doorknobs all through the house. That's a big start.

3. Work. This was my first full year of employment out of law school. I am lucky to have a great job where I enjoy my work and practice with a good group of people. What a difference it makes.

4. Fun. 2008 has been a fun year. We have really had the chance to meet some new people and to develop our relationships with our friends in town. I've enjoyed playing golf with many of my friends on Saturdays and I started playing some tennis as well.

5. Ending on a high note. I started a "diet" a/k/a "healthy choices lifestyle" at the first of December. My high weight at the beginning was 222.5 pounds. I weighted in at 208.4 this morning. That's a loss of 14.1 pounds. I fit in my clothes, I feel better and I have more energy. We started eating tons of fresh vegetables and being more active. It has been a great change.

2009 - Something to Look Forward To.

1. Consider obtaining another professional accreditation? I am eligible to take the patent bar exam or even another bar exam in another state.... hmmm.

2. Work? I want to continue to progress in my current position. I would like to do more activities that would advance my skill levels. I don't know if there are enough hours in a day but I think it could be beneficial to start some sort of rote memory program for eminent domain law. In short - read more materials that are substantive in nature.

3. The House. FINISH THE EXTERIOR.

4. Fun? Take more trips. See more friends who live out of town. Continue developing the relationships here at home. Work on the consistency of my golf game.

5. The high note... I think for 2009 my first goal is to stick with this eating/exercise program. It was a difficult adjustment but it is getting easier with every day. If successful, my dietitian will have me at my college weight by the end of the first quarter of this year and I think that would be amazing.

2009... What's going on in your life?

A Good Weekend

I've had a great weekend. I hope you have too. We spent the weekend at home, making meals on the "plan" and went to a couple Christmas parties. I do love a good Christmas party. Its interesting though. I've stopped consuming alcohol while I'm trying to drop this 50 pounds and it makes some interesting "cocktail' conversation. I think me not drinking makes others more un-comfortable that me. I'm fine with not drinking and while I do miss a god gin and tonic, I don't need to drink to talk to folks and hang out. It does seem that people don't really know what to do when I say I'm fine or, "I'll take a water" or "Soda and lime". Man, the looks are classic. but I must say, I'm educating my friends on what is going on and for the most part they have been very understanding.

We made some progress around the house. I'm finally prepared to work on the dormers and other parts of the exterior that need work but this week I focused on making a little oak shelf for the upstairs kitchen. I'll have to take a picture later. I have made it to match the cabinets and glued it together so there aren't any fastner holes.

I hope your weekend went great as well!





not drinking on this plan and it makes for some intersting

You Are What You Eat

Well I'm on week two of this nutritionist diet and I must say I'm pretty impressed overall. We have never given food this much thought. Its amazing how persave our food choices can be. My nutritionist gives me a seven day a week, three meal a day plan and you pretty well have to stick to it. I've never eaten such variety in my life. I hated it for a few days (this could be because we hit 5 christmas parties last week and tried to initiate this diet but I digress). It's actually gotten to be a fun challenge to make the meals conform to the plan and be tasty!

I've lost 7 pounds, that is 3.5 pounds a week. I get hungry but I'm eating a ton of food. I bet my salad for lunch weights 16 ounces.

I eat a wide variety of things like fish, beef, chicken and even have to eat my carbs. She gave me a hard time for forgeting my bread with lunch one day. Seems that carbs help buffer protein or something like that. I've mostly stopped drinking alcohol and am required to exercise for an hour a day, all cardio, no weights. She say's we'll do weights later to keep me from looking too skinny. Overall its a pretty good deal and its nice to know that I'm losing weight and gettting the foods that I need to stay healthy overall.

Well back to work for me. I've got to hit the gym over lunch!

When it Rains, It Pours

Well the footrace known as Christmas has officially begun. We have bookings for every night of the week just about. Thankfully, we are home this weekend so we can recover. I must admit I do love a good Christmas party.

This year we will be celebrating the season in a different way. I finally went to see a nutritionist to help me lose the weight I gained in law school and well folks, try not having alcohol, butter, cream, cookies, cake, pie, etc and let me know if your holiday season feels a tensy bit different. I'm trying to adjust and this plan is as good as it gets but it is amazing how little attention I paid to what I ate. I now have a hard time just getting in a coherent order. But i am working on it and have yet to go terribly hungry just yet.

We're moving things around in the office as well. Our paralegal graciously relocated to another office so we could make room for a new attorney. It will be an exciting new year here at work.

So, in short there is much going on here at cadleized. I hope your deep fall is going well too.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I'm excited about Thanksgiving and I hope you are too! This is a big holiday for our family and it's always fun to see everyone.

This year should be great because we finally were able to find couches for the barn. While the barn is a great place to have a dinner party, those same dinner chairs just don't get it done. However, thanks to "The Fortress", a liquidator, we now have 6 counches from some convention center in Atlanta which were deemed to old for service to enthusiastic conventionerrs. They show a bit of wear but hey, we're putting them in a bar.

So, amongst other things, I'm thankful for some old couches this Thansgiving. How about you?

I just thought this was funny

People come up with the craziest names! I have tried to figure out what it means to be a "Shrimp Pimp" and I must admit I come up empty handed.. any takers?

First time We Froze

Well the temperatures finally reached freezing this morning. It was very cold. To me anyways.

We had a great weekend. Down to the 'Boro for a randome party and to drop off some lumber and doors. We then returned to Macon and cleaned and got caught up on a bunch of house work and maintenance. Good times.

I am still stoked about the bagging mower. Our yard was full of leaves yesterday and, walaha, 1 hour alter, no leaves and all the clippings were packed into our trash can without the need for putting them in plastic bags. Good stuff.

Our former roommate returned last night. We all had a good time having a few beers and watching to football game in what was her apartment.

Good times.

I hope you too had a great weekend!

Getting back to work

Ah, what a great weekend! Wifey went out of town and boy did we party it up. I went to several clubs and it was crazy to get down here in the MActown! out of control....

Well if you beleive that I've got some oceanfront property in Arizona.....


Wifey did go out of town and I did have a good weekend. While I always miss her, its good to have her back after some quality alone time. Well, I take that back, I wasn't alone too much. Drinks with friends after work Friday, work around the house on Saturday morning, watch the Dawgs eek out a win over Kentucky Saturday afternoon with a law-school friend, more football Saturday night, do some work on Sunday morning and shoot a 98 out at the golf course on Sunday afternoon. So, I guess that's not too much alone time.

Now I'm back in the swing of thing for another week of work.

It Has Been Awhile Folks

Howdy ya'll. I hope you are doing well. Life in the Macon has been rather quiet lately. The wifey and I are adjusting to having a regulary old folks married life no room-mate. We miss the room-mate but I think we're starting to adjust pretty well. To compensate we went out and bought a big TV and moved all our furniture into the upstairs. We've been eating up there and really enjoying the new space. The idea being that I get back to work on the trim and painting remaining downstairs. I haven't been doing such a great job of that but, to that end, I've been working to re-organize my shop. I need a heater out there because it just got cold down here.

So, we don't have much furniutre downstairs but that will come soon enough.

Rainy Days

Well folks, we've moved. Upstairs. Over the weekend we got our neighbors to help us move some of our living furniture and a bed upstairs and we are really enjoying it. Its so nice to have a quiet, clean and finished space to hang out as its misting away outside.

I hope you're having a great weekend.

INC, Certified Public Accountant

Finally.

The Board of Accountancy accepted my application and I am now a licensed Certified Public Accountant. So very exciting.

Wifey and I went to the Marco to celebrate last night and finally were able to get the four course tasting menu. It was really, really excellent. We've been eyeing this menu every time we go in there but they normally have some kind of fish on it and wifey just doesn't eat fish. So, each time we pass until last night. Man, it was something. Four courses: (1) shrimp&arugla salad with a really great pinot, (2) beef ragu over fresh pasta with a mabec, (3) lamb and a great cabernet, (4) homemade cheesecake and frangelica, (5) peach cocktail of differnt peach alcohols combined with whipped cream and shaken.

We got 5 because our waiter wants to go to law school and, well, that's something I can talk about.

September has been a great month folks.

Munson

The great Larry Munson announced yesterday that he would not be doing the play-by-play on any more football games at the University of Georgia. Its amazing that such an anouncement can be a truly profound reminder of the things that are important in life.

For me, the memories of Munson calling the dogs hail back to listening to the radio and watching the Dawgs on the 13' color TV in my parents house while Hershel Walker was driving down the field for the score. Of Boy Scout Hiking trips where we would hike for miles punctuating the great outdoors with hoots and calls as Larry fed us the play-by-play. Of working in the yard with my dad to build some new structure or hang something from a tree while we listened to Larry deliver his rendition of the the news from Athens. Of moving off to college and driving my finger into the roof of the ceiling as we finally beat Florida in 1997 after the dark years of Donnan. Of toiling on my own home and listening to Larry call the plays as I fought my own battles with tile and plumbing fixtures.

Its amazing how one person can be so inextricably intwined with the fabric of one's life. Larry will be missed but his legend and the memories associated with him will live on for an eternity.

Thanks Larry!

Of Wedding Bells, Marital Bliss and Reoccupation of Allied Fronts

Well folks, that weekend is finally upon us. The weekend where we marry off our 'adult child' and decide what to do with her room. Well, make that apartment.

We spent the entirety of last night cleaning like mad folk so our home would be ready should the bride's family choose to decend after they arrive tonight. Our house is in the best shape its ever been in. I almost even have the masterbath finished. All the requisite fixtures work and that's more than we've ever been able to say.

I have to get the yard picked up this evening and then we're done.

Let the games begin!

Moving On

Well the explorer is moving on quite nicely. A hefty bill and we are shifting down the highway. I've even been driving the gas guzzler during the week this week to feel like I got my money's worth.

The hurricane moved on to North Carolina and we had a great time at a wonderful wedding at the Beach Club. The band was great and we enjoyed seeing some friends from law school.

I hope your week is going well!

A Short Week & A New Transmission

Well, not a totally new transmission, but a re-built one. $1,550 dollars later, the 2002 explorer will ride again. Thank god for the Corolla.

I'm off to Nashville tomorow for a firm event. We have a wedding down on the coast this weekend but there is a tiny hurricane brewing in the bahammas so, we'll have to wait and see how it works out. I don't think the thing is going to hit at this second but I'm not weather man.

I was reminded of my trailer-park neighbor yesterday. His name was Mr. Benny. He liked to work on lawn mowers and he and I would always horse trade to keep me in a good lawnmower in working condition. He was a good man. The guy repairing my transmission reminded me of Mr. Benny and I hope he is just as fair and does an equally excellent job. We'll find out soon enough!

This is Good

If you've never listened to the Public Radio program This American Life, this is a good time to start. The link below is a really weird but hilarious take on breaking up.

And everything with me and the wifey is fine, I just heard this on the radio on my way to court and thought it was too good to pass up. Expecially the part about Phil Collins...just listen.

http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=339

A Fresh Market!

Yiggity yo - we got a freshmarket today!!! This is exciting news. I wonder if they accept direct deposit....

www.freshmarket.com

PRODUCE HAS COME TO THE MACTOWN!

Trial is Over and It's Raining

It was a successful week in Canton where one of the most attentive juries I will probably ever see found just and adequate compensation to be 223,000. The other side said it should be 65k and we said 500k so the jury more or less split the middle. However, at any one time, at least five of these good people were taking notes, paying attention and nodding along. I was really impressed that they managed to hang in there for a three day trial and then they spent almost an entire day deliberating. It's neat when the system works.

In other news, Wifey is joining the Junior League and she is riding in a trolly all day seeing the sites in the rain. This tropical storm is giving us some rain and some moderate wind. We'll take it. I need to get to work on the bills and other household matters but I thought I should deliver the good news first.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its off to trial we go

Ahh - I'm off for the second trial of my career. I've been promoted to being in charge of exhibits. I hope we win.

It Finally Happened

I was at a fun party last night when someone said something that no one had yet to say to me...."So, I found your blog." And all I could think is, oh really...hmmmm....

Well, its odd when someone you know finds your blog. I make an effort to put somewhat interesting stuff up here and to give a factual acocunt of the happenings in my daily life and to keep it reasonable so that if the above happens I don't come home and crank up the proverbial paper shredder.

So, after waking up at way too early in the morning, I now wonder what do people think of the blog, what do I need to explain more, etc. I just think it is rather fascinating that after 3ish years of posting someone just now told me they found this thing and well, they seemed to think I did a good job with the material they gave me.