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It's been a long time since I've sat down and taken the time to update my blog. It's been a long 12 weeks. I'm not even sure where to begin.

Work: I've got no less than 9 or so projects going at one time. Maddening, but fulfilling. The one I am probably most proud of at the moment is our Transitional Housing for the Homeless and Permanent Housing for the Homeless Disabled Projects. We have named them "Next Step" which is my idea and sort of sounds like a brand of kitty litter. Nonetheless, feel free to check out some of the renderings of the project: http://www.lai-arc.com/ncwvcaa1.html. It'll be right smack in the middle of downtown Fairmont and the look is going to elicit the same sort of effect as one could expect from asparagus or bluegrass music. People are either going to love it or hate it. We'll start building this summer, and thus will begin some very long, stressful days for me. I can't wait until it's finished. I'll probably just stand there and weep like a 7 year old girl.

Movies: I've tried to get back up to speed on movies lately. I just saw "Iron Man" last night and I really liked it. Other notable movies I've seen lately are "Into the Wild" and the entire "Comanche Moon" (Lonesome Dove series) mini-series. I seriously just took a Friday and watched the whole thing. I love the Lonesome Dove series. As far as westerns are concerned, you can't beat them. In fact, I shall rank for you my favorite Westerns of all time in order of quality.

1. Lonesome Dove Series. (not really the middle ones, but the original Lonesome Dove movie with Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, and Comanche Moon).

2. Silverado.

3. Unforgiven.

4. 3:10 to Yuma.

5. Tombstone.

If it weren't for pesky issues like laws and the continual progression of a technological society, I would have been a fairly quirky gunslinger.

Music: Both Megan's and my Mp3 players blew up quite a while ago and not having music on the go has been like some sort of sensory deprivation. I honestly would neve have guessed how it would have affected me, but it's seriously been sort of depressing. We used to sing (all three of us) a lot in the truck, and Kole has lost the ability to listen to some of his favorites that I squirrelled away for him in my music library (Kole, like his almost-stepdad, is a man of extremes. He is just as pleased with Dora songs as he is with Led Zeppelin or Tool). Kole's a bit of a rocker, though, and his tastes tend to lean toward harder, more aggressive music.

By the way, I love this video:


Also, Megan has talked me into going to Dave Matthews. The deal was, she has to go see my favorite band, Clutch, with me this week in Morgantown and I'll go to Dave Matthews. I underestimated how busy I was going to be this week, though, and I don't even know if we'll make it to Clutch now. I've seen them about 6 times, though, and it's been quite awhile. They are incredible live performers.

I just got a new Blackberry for work. My reasoning for this was two-fold: I am getting killed on minutes with my personal cell phone due to work calls, and I thought it would be cool to be able to check my e-mail on the move without busting out my laptop every 10 minutes. So far, I really like it. It's pretty easy to use and helps me keep on top of things. I always thought I might not want to be THAT connected, but so far (for the 15 hours I've had it) I like it.

We just celebrated Megan's birthday. I got her a big, new grill and a bistro set of table and chairs for her patio. She loves to grill and I got tired of seeing her struggle with her broken down, dollar store charcoal grill. So, I thought it was time for a big ol' gas grill. She's yet to use it because I need to go get a propane tank and it's been raining like crazy for three days. Check the grill out at top, because I couldn't figure out how to get it down here.

I've been running around screaming "I've got the apnea!", because I do. I have felt tired all the time for years. It's better when I am exercising regularly, but it's sort of all always been there. I have snored for years, and thus I have never felt like I really get a good night's sleep. Well, despite the general distrust for the medical community that I inherited from my dad, I decided to finally do something about it and go to the sleep lab. They hook you up to about 15-20 different diodes all over your body and they watch you sleep. Not the most comfortable gig in the world, but apprently effective. I just got my results, and found out I have severe sleep apnea. I completely stop breathing about 33 times during the night, have labored breath about 155 times a night, and, on the average, my sleep is disturbed every 1.5 minutes. My jaunts into actual REM sleep are brief visits at best. So, I go back in about 2 weeks and sleep again with a CPAP. It's basically a mask that forces air into your nose and mouth and allows you to get enough oxygen during sleep. Everyone tells me you feel like a champ after you get one, so we'll see. Maybe I won't need as much coffee as I do now? :)

Alright, that's pretty much all I've got in way of an update right now.