Exhausted

I woke up tired today.  Just plain exhausted as if I hadn’t slept at all when in fact, I slept so hard that I don’t remember falling asleep.  I think that this week is just catching up with me or maybe I need to stop binge watching “The Walking Dead until 1:00am each night?  Probably the latter.  My morning routine has reflected this too with me getting to work around 8:00am.  I used to get to work by 6:30am or 7:00am at the latest.  I still wake up at the same time but rather than get out of bed, I just let myself pretend to sleep until the chickens start begging for food.  Then I hop out of bed and sleepwalk my way into the garage to throw chicken scratch out the back door to shut them up.  It is time to adjust this routine - if only to beat the chickens out of bed so they don’t make any noise that may annoy the neighbors.  I am not interested in getting to work any earlier these days.  If the girls don’t get their chicken scratch at first light, they cuss loud enough to be heard several houses away.

 

A chicken selfie from last summer with one of the "loud" girls

My writing has gone to shit lately so please excuse these lame blog posts.  My days usually contain at least one fun or exciting experience that deserves to be put to pen and paper but I just haven’t been writing them down.  One could argue that I am too busy with work and the boys lately now that soccer has started but that is just a lame excuse.  I could also argue that I just haven’t figured out how to write about these daily adventures but that isn’t true.  The adventures would write themselves if I just sat down to write them. The truth is that I am a chronic procrastinator and this is behavior is not conducive to achieving my goals with writing.  Back to my “fuck it” attitude I alluded to in my last blog post, I am not going to worry about it and let writing come naturally again.  HA!  As I am writing this, the song “Summertime” by Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince started playing in my ear - “And if it ain’t broke, then don’t try to fix it”  PERFECT TIMING!

So I am stuck today self-medicating my exhaustion with Diet Mountain Dew. 

 

 

Nine Gratitudes

Today is tough at the office. I have adopted my new “fuck it” attitude fairly well lately but that doesn’t help with the constant distraction of people around me that I don’t know. Yes – I have been in this office for almost 3 months now and the people I work with still don’t say hi or even make eye contact. I find this rude. Just this morning, I was in the kitchen when one of the “partners” came in to get coffee. I watched him walk across the room with his head down the entire way as if I didn’t exist – no eye contact or anything. To test him further, I said “good morning” and he did reply but still no eye contact. Maybe he was just hungover from his money grubbing (that has got to be exhausting) as he was one of the “partners” behind eliminating the receptionist’s position here for the sake of “progress and profit”. Yes, that is a direct quote from the “partners” during the all staff meeting immediately after they let her go. This office has grown to 75 people and they decide to let the one person go that kept the place running smoothly. Go figure but I guess I don’t understand the “progress and profit” business model. It must only work when employees are disgruntled and scared to have a conversation that is not work related (billable). Wait – they just fired the one person that can do unbillable tasks for the rest of us so we can stay billable and make more money. Seriously – I must not understand this business model.

 

Regardless – my new “fuck it” attitude is being tested today so I thought I should write about something not work related (or work related bitching might work too).  Here are 9 things I am grateful for today in no particular order:

 

1) In an attempt to drown out the noise and distractions at work, I got a wireless noise canceling headset and it is working miracles – I can’t hear my work headset ring anymore meaning no more phone calls at work.

 

Double headset at work

2) I was able to upload a short video of the family singing Happy Birthday last night to Jackson

 

3) I tweeted a photo of the gyro I ate for lunch and someone “liked’ it

 

Photo I tweeted

4) I successfully “squatted” at a desk reserved by someone else. They had a better workstation than I did and since they didn’t show up today, I just took theirs.  I am going to try again tomorrow. 

 

5) The snow that fell last night is already gone and warmer temps with SUN are forecast for the next week.

 

6) The Tennessee Natural Heritage Program boss contacted me about wanting to visit one of my project sites to look for Streamside Salamanders (Ambystoma barbouri). It just so happened that I had just booked my flight for meetings in Nashville next week and so I might actually get some field time to do what I am best at – looking and finding reptiles and amphibians. Gotta love perfect timing!

 

7) I am beginning to schedule snake talks again and was just recently interviewed by a local magazine writing a responsible article about rattlesnakes.

 

8) Outdoor soccer season has started again for the boys and I get to spend lots of time outdoors watching, playing, and coaching soccer.

 

9) Plans for me to reboot the Center for Snake Conservation are becoming concrete. The CSC has been on hold other than commenting on and watching what is going on in the herp world but it has needed a facelift. I am excited to say that in the next weeks, the facelift is going to be taking off and I can’t wait to share it all with you again.

 

I haven’t ever really been good at writing gratitude lists but I think that is because I overthink the lists. This list is just what came to mind that put a smile on my face. Some are humorous. Some are plans (can you be grateful for plans – YES!). Some are about as random as can be but that is who I am. Plus – random is fun. I might just have to start making more lists.

Snake Season

I woke up this morning happy.  This hasn’t happened in a long time and I am quite excited about it.  This morning’s happiness has led me to rethink my current situation.  I have been allowing the negative and nasty work environment I visit every day dominate my thoughts lately and if any of you believe in the power of attraction like I do, you know that this is a major problem for finding happiness.  I have been subconsciously attracting the negative and other shit into my life and this has got to stop.  This morning was quite eye opening and I am resolved to keep this happiness going to attract more happiness in the coming weeks.  Spring is almost here and that means SNAKE SEASON!  I need to be happy for Snake Season.

What is Snake Season?  Well – it depends on where you live but it really depends on what snakes you have in your area and if they are active or not.  For example, I was recently in Louisiana and despite cold and rainy weather; I knew I could find a watersnake out basking.  I just had to look hard enough.  In some places such as in southern Florida, southern California, or south Texas, you can find a snake on any day of the year so Snake Season never really ends.  In northern states, it can be short.  Here in Colorado, Snake Season runs from about the second week of March until mid-October.

Broad-banded Watersnake found February 2, 2016 near Gulfport, Louisiana

Regardless of when Snake Season starts, I need to be happy for it so I am super pumped I woke up smiling this morning.  It might be the gorgeous weather we are having this week.  It might be that soccer has started for my boys.  It might be that I am no longer caring about work and looking for options to get out of here as soon as possible.  There are so many reasons to be happy if you just look for one.  It is all about the power of attraction and making sure your energy is tuned towards the positive so that happiness just finds you – even in the middle of the night.

Here is a short video of my first snake in 2016 just because it makes me happy!