Yesterday was the ten year anniversary of my brother's death. I spent the day playing DND with some friends. It is a new campaign set in the Forgotten Realms. My character is a sun elf wizard from Evermeet. We have just started so I don't really have much more to say, but I am thinking of putting together a blog for my character. Anyhow, it is hard to believe it has been ten years, but then I look at my nephew and niece and see how they have grown. I guess it still depresses me somewhat.

It has been a rough month so far. I spent the last two weeks in Plano, TX for work. I have to say, I am not sure it was worth the money to send me down there. I think they are trying to get me to care about the project, but the program manager keeps thwarting their effort. It didn't help being stuck without a car. There were four of us sharing a car. I did get the car most of the week end, but I didn't go hardly anywhere. I mostly stayed in the hotel and watched TV. BBC America was having something of a Footballers' Wives marathon and I must have watched 6 or seven episodes. It kind of got me hooked. It comes on Sunday Night and I have watched it the last couple of Sundays. I'll have to see if I continue to watch much longer.

Also, I haven't had a dance lesson in four weeks due to a variety of reasons. In the end I had gained several pounds since dancing is really the only exercise I get. The trip to Texas didn't help either. I went to the Saturday Social on Saturday, but I didn't dance much. We actually tend to socialize more at the social than dance. I really needed the exercise, but it was easier to sit and chat.

During the trip I actually bought an iPod. I am not sure if I am going to like it or not, but I did buy an episode of Monk for the plane trip home from Texas. It was kind of cool. There aren't that many TV shows available on iTunes and I don't travel as much as I used to, so I still wonder if it is worth it. I also ordered a bunch of Legos from lego.com. One of the items I ordered is the Lego Star Wars: The Video Game. Unfortunately it requires an nVidia graphics card and I don't have one. I wanted the game after I played it with my nephew when I went up to my sister's house for her nurse pinning. Now, I feel like I should have bought a used Game Cube or something. The video game was $30.00 and the game pad I bought was $20.00, and now I want to buy a game system that will let me play the game. I should return the game and the gamepad, but I probably won't. I am so bad about returning stuff.

Until the next time.

My parents were here this weekend. They drove up Thursday and Friday and then we drove to Omaha on Saturday for a commissioning ceremony. She is in a nursing program and now that she is starting the next phase of the program. It was a nice little ceremony, but my sister wasn't all that excited. She will be more exciting when the actual pinning ceremony occurs and she is fully commissioned as a nurse. We came back to my house after the ceremony on Sunday and then my parents left for home on Monday morning.

I was quite surprised that my parents made such a long trip over such a short period. It was nice to see them and my sister and her family as well. My parents were kind of different this time. They didn't want to run around and do a bunch of stuff, they just relaxed. Mom even let me do all the cooking at breakfast both Saturday and Monday. I think the trip took more of a toll on them then they let on.

They weirdest part was that we watched the last of the SuperBowl when we got home Sunday. We never really watched any sports when I was growing up and Dad never talked about sports that I can recollect. Mom's family is from Washington state, so she was rooting for the Seahawks. It was so funny to listen to Mom armchair quarterback. She was so disappointed when they lost. She called her sister in Washington to discuss all the issues with the game. I just couldn't get over it.

On a different note, we played D&D a couple of Sundays back and the DM killed us all. It was pretty horrible. After we killed the zombie troglodytes and the minotaur, the evil cleric raised the minotaur who basically took the rest of the party out. We rolled up new characters and we will start a new party in the Forgotten Realms on Sunday. I am somewhat excited about playing a new character after I got over the death of the Gareth Oldrich. Hopefully I will have some time to post about the game.

On a work related note, I have to go to Plano for two weeks on Sunday. I will need to leave the game a little early to make my flight. I really don't want to go on the trip, but I really don't have many options. The more changes the executives make to the company, the more I wonder if my job is the right one for me. I used to enjoy my job, but the last several years it has been pure drudgery. I wish I had the energy and the drive to get a new job. I just don't know what I want to do. I don't think I want to be in IT any more. But I make good money and I am not sure I could get the same money at a new career. Maybe someday I will let go of the material things and go for a lower paying job that I enjoy. If such a thing exists...