Brett H Perkins – Murfreesboro, Tennessee

My thoughts… My experiences… My life.

Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

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Yay. Three Day Weekends are AWESOME!!

Posted by bretthperkins on January 17, 2010

So, yesterday was a good day.  I did some work on Sharp-Blogger, then headed up to Nashville to pick up my Mom for a family event.  My brother-in-law Doug, Staci’s husband, has been planning her birthday for like a month, and last night was the big night.  Doug went ALL OUT!!!  I mean…  DJ, huge guest list, food, dancing, the whole thing… and to top that off, it was a surprise!!!  Well, let me tell you…  SHE WAS SURPRISED!!!  It went VERY well.  All in all, there were over a hundred people there, and it was a great night.  I’ll be posting some pics on Facebook later tonight, but unfortunately, I did not get that many…  the lighting was weird, a lot of mirrors, and my camera sucks. :(

Today, I did a little more work on the site before getting REALLY frustrated at my keyboard.  My keyboard has these really cool looking “tough/heat sensitive” buttons on the top for the function keys, you know F1, F2, etc…  and, until now, that has been fine, but now that I am REALLY working on this computer, I am finding that they are not that great.  My pinkies like to float at the top of the keyboard and if they get close enough to the buttons, they cause all kinds of havoc…  I can’t have that, so I went out on a quest to get a keyboard…  and look at desks.  The current placement of my desk is also becoming problematic.  I never really WORKED at this desk before, and now that I do, I realize that having the displays positioned they way they are is not the best.  Sure it looks great, but with them being so far away, and so high, it is difficult to read, sometimes.  So I am searching for a replacement.  I have a lot of things in mind, but I am not sure what I will end up with yet.  Anywho…  shopping ate up much of my day, and I was not even able to really do my Sunday routine of laundry and grocery shopping.  I did some of my laundry, but not all…  alas, the title of this blog.  Three Day Weekends are AWESOME.  I can just do it tomorrow!! :)

Tonight was fun, I had pizza for like the first time in 2 weeks.  It was amazing.  I kinda feel like crap, now, though.  My body is not used to all the grease.  I watched some T.V. with Medardo and Eric, and they were being playful…  *vomit*  and that is about it.  Going to go post pics now.  Ciao!

-=brett=-

Posted in Family, Friends, Parties, Thought | Leave a Comment »

Busy Mind, Busy Life :: Finding Balance

Posted by bretthperkins on January 11, 2010

As I figured… I didn’t even make it a full week before skipping a day of posting (3 actually… last post was on Thursday). With that, I have decided that I am going forget about trying to post every day. I think that it was a bit overkill, anyway. While I am sure that there is nothing anyone would rather do than read my amazing and adventure filled life of cleaning, coding, and working… with some song and dance thrown in just to keep it exciting, I am going back to my old ways: Update whenever I can, when sometime monumental or otherwise “noteworthy” occurs. So… here I am:

Carolyn –

Carolyn is getting better, which is good news indeed. But it is different this time because Dad actually called us all to tell us that she was there. It is, of course, not her first stint in the hospital. She has been there many times before with various “smoking-related” health problems. She is a smoker and over the last few years, it has all caught up with her. Usually, Dad just takes her to the hospital, they stay for a bit, she gets better, and they come home. Dad usually doesn’t even call us (my siblings and I), as I suppose he feels like it is not that serious (Although, I would prefer he call, regardless of severity, but that is another entry). This time, though, he did call, which leads me to believe that these visits are becoming more serious… and I don’t handle loss and death very well. I will not remark on fortune thus far in life, for good luck’s sake… I will just leave it at my dislike for loss. Anywho… back to now: She is doing better, after a scary Saturday night… Dad told me this morning that she may be able to come home on Thursday. :) He asked me to help get the house ready for her, and to get some things together to occupy her time and mind because this time, coming home also means no more smoking. He is settled and convicted to making sure that Carolyn actually QUITS smoking. NOW. To this effort, I pledge my support unconditionally. And for all those that read this, and have any direct interaction to Carolyn’s life, I am asking for your commitment as well. There are several smokers in the family, and it may be very easy to say “Okay” if Carolyn asks for a cigarette, or even just a puff. Please honor Dad’s wishes and say no, and accept my sincerest gratitude in advance. For the other smokers in the family… I am asking you to reconsider the choice to continue. I am SO grateful that my Mom decided to quit year ago. There is no way of knowing how things would have turned out had she not, but my belief is that things are better. :) I do not want to see another person for whom I care suffer they way Carolyn is now, and I can probably safely bet that everyone else feels the same way. I feel myself getting close to my “Stop-Smoking” soap-box, so I digress. We all know the outcome. I just pray that informed decisions are made.

Moving onto other things:

Sharp-Blogger: Is WELL underway. I created the database over the weekend and began the creation of the Stored Procedures to retrieve and send data to the Database. For those reading this with limited knowledge of Database Design, think of a Stored Procedure as a “door” and the database as a building with many rooms. To get into a building’s room, you have to use a door. Data is stored in the various “rooms” and “doors” must be built to every room in order to enter or exit. Once this is done, I will be able to build the actual content code to accept and display data from the Website. :) My goal is to complete the stored procedure creation by the week’s end. Then, I will take the weekend to build the code layers and content logic. Once that is done, I will begin the website design. :) I am SUPER-EXCITED about this site, although I am detecting more complexity than I anticipated. Luckily, the world today has a wealth of information on the Internet… and I am able to look up how people solve their problems and incorporate their solutions. Of course, the plan is to also document my methods as well, so I can afford the next developer the same privilege as my predecessors.

The Audition: for “Nashville in Harmony” is tomorrow at 7:40 P.M. and I am REALLY excited about that too. Of course, with Sharp-Blogger, I doubted if I should continue with the plans to join this musical group. I juggled it in my mind, and I decided that I should. There is something dangerous about having a hobby, Sharp-Blogger, that consumes too much time. I could potentially burn-out and/or lose interest… which puts the project at risk. This group will give me the time away from Sharp-Blogger that I anticipate I will need. Plus, I like to sing, and am very rewarded by that, as well as writing programs… so it is a win-win!

Balance: Like I said in the last paragraph, I just have to really make sure that I am keeping my ADHD-like mind hopping. So bouncing between movies with friend, Sharp-Blogger, Work, and Singing, I should be OK to NOT burn out. Just gotta keep the cycle going… and get BACK to the Gym!! :)

And, that is about all that is on my mind. Work continues to be a wash, so I keep learning and doing what I can. Maybe soon, I will be given more to do here, not that I am complaining.

-=brett=-

Posted in Diet, Family, Friends, Health, Technology, Thought, Work | Leave a Comment »

A Look Back :: A Look Forward

Posted by bretthperkins on December 31, 2009

So… here we are. A new year is, literally, on the horizon. Today is the end of one of the best years of my life. I am honestly quite sad to see it go!

A Look Back :: What Made 2009 So Great –

· Promotion at Deloitte: The year began with a move up for me at my previous job. It really was, in my opinion, quite an accomplishment to move up as quickly as I did at Deloitte. Granted, I have since moved on to other things, but I am still quite proud of what I did there. :)

· Wicked: I went up to Indianapolis to visit Tai and see the Musical Wicked. It is an amazing show, and I recommend seeing it if you have not already. I also had a great trip up to see Tai in Indy.

· American Idol: In the summer, Eric and I took a road trip to Orlando, Florida to audition for American Idol. It was a fantastic trip full of nothing but happiness and leisure. It wsa a HUGE break from my, then, stressful job. We met some incredible people, I met Eric’s friend Charlon, and we got to sing… in front of thousands of people. (Sort of).

· Epcot Center: On the trip to Orlando, I finally got to go to Disney World. I had never been, and I have still not been to a big chuck of Disney World, but I did get to go to Epcot with Eric, Charlon, and a couple of other friends. It was great! :)

· Moving in with Eric: I love David and Daniel like brothers. We lived together for about 6 years. That is a huge deal to me and they will forever be a part of my life… but the time was right for us to take our separate paths. Daniel has moved in with his partner Vinny and David has moved on to his own place. They are both doing very well. I do not want to live alone, so Eric and I, after talking about it for several years now, have finally moved in together. And I couldn’t be happier. We are such a perfect match and living together has, so far, been nothing but awesome!

· New Townhome: Moving out from the 3 bedroom townhome into a 2 bedroom was SUCH a great move! I got a bigger room, the place is nicer, decorated, and it just feels like home! It is in the same compex as my old place, but in a different section. I love that townhome, and I know that Eric and I will be there for at least another year.

· New Job at Kroll: I know that the first thing on this list is a promotion at my previous employer, but that is only one thing. I have since moved into a new job with career aspirations that are incompatible with the entity at Deloitte to which I was affiliated. So moving to this spot, for me, makes the absolute most sense. I am still very excited and forward looking into this job, and hope that it turns into several years of good work, a path up, and happy times!

· Weight Loss: I started thinking about my weight again last year in December… I even wrote a letter to myself. But, I did not have the discipline to follow through with a weight plan. Well, that is all different now. I have lost 23 pounds and still counting. I look better than ever and I am really excited about the coming year.

· Figuring Out More About Me: I am complex… and in that complexity comes ambiguity and question. I still did no really KNOW who I was… and to be honest, I think that I will continue to change and figure things out until I am gone… but I really starting thinking about who I REALLY am and what REALLY matters to me. I became a bit more focused on myself than I have ever been before, and you know?! It has really made a huge difference. I am still a considerate friend, but I am out for ME now. No one else!!! My friend Deana put it best when talking to her husband about a difficult situation. She told him that “I love you, but I love me more.” And that is SUCH a profound thing to say and realize. I had to learn to LOVE me more. And to be honest, I think that because of that, this year has been SO great!!!

A Look Forward :: What To Expect From 2010 –

Honestly… I haven’t the foggiest idea what to expect. I learned long ago that expectations are quite the paradox. They are good and they are bad, they are right and they are wrong… and sometimes, expectations are the HARDEST things to manage. Life is not scripted, and not everything is planned in advance. You can never know what will happen, nor should you. So with that in mind, I look into the next year with excitement and wonder. I hope that 2010 will be as great, if not greater, that 2009.

With that, I close out this year on bretthperkins.com. I am working on a decade retrospective, but I won’t have that ready for a few more days… so look for that.

I hope that everyone reading this has a safe and memorable holiday today, and if you choose to drink or otherwise party, please use good judgment and be safe! The last thing anyone wants is for 2010 to begin with tragedy.

May the new year bring happiness and good fortune to you all.

-=brett=-

Posted in Family, Friends, Health, Holidays, Parties, Randomness, Thought, Work | Leave a Comment »

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