Over-the-top October

One of the things I love most about this little old blog is the power it has to hold me accountable.  For some reason, I feel like if I post something on here for "the entire world" (or handful of faithful readers) to see, that I'm somehow contractually bound to accomplish/complete/aspire to achieve whatever it was that I posted.

Back in April it was a 30-day exercise challenge.  Last October I began the 101 list (which, by the way, I haven't forgotten about).  But this October, I'm doing something drastic.

I'm giving up Facebook.

For the normal person, this might not be such a huge deal, but for me, a slightly-abnormal, highly-addicted person, it is.

Would you believe the motivation for this is 101-list related?  (See how I tied that all together?)

Numbers 5 and 6 on the ol' list are to take and pass the Professional Engineer Exam, respectively.  The PE Exam is a licensing exam, which, if I pass, would give me the power to approve construction plans with the mighty power of my very own stamp.  It's a huge responsibility (read: liability); one that could and should make me more desirable to employers.  I registered to take the exam when it's given on October 29th which leaves me just 3.5 weeks left to prepare.  (Or 3.5 weeks to prepare.  Period.  Because I'm a procrastinator in the worst way.)

I've known it was coming since April.  Actually I've known it was coming since I passed the first hurdle, the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam, in April of 2005.  So yes, I'm quite the procrastinator.  I'm not sure this will ever change.

Well I have a plan.

Number 1 on that ol' list is to get up when Sam gets up for an entire month.  I've resisted this up to this point because he gets up before the rooster.  Shoot, he gets up before the college kids have gone to sleep.  When his alarm goes off around 4:30am, I'm ordinarily a useless heap of mangled sheet, covers, and grumbles.  Yesterday, however, I got up, staggered over to my programmable coffee maker which was waiting for me with the nectar of the gods a fresh pot of nearly-instant energy.  And I sat at the kitchen table that I'd actually de-cluttered and de-syruped from breakfast-for-dinner night the evening before with a stack of reference materials, practice problems (and solutions of course), my trusty calculator, and a brand spankin' new pencil and notebook.

And I worked problems until it was time to wake the kids and dash like mad to only be 15 minutes late to work.  (Because apparently getting up 2 hours early doesn't change that.)

And then this morning, I did it again.

Tomorrow, I will do it again.

I have to say, it's making me feel a little bit like a soldier.  You know....that whole "We do more by 9 in the morning than most people do in an entire day" thing.  I can't believe I'm about to admit that I almost like it.  And I also can't believe that I'm about to admit that I seem to remember a lot more stuff from college than I thought.

Keeping with the theme of being an eternal pessimist realist, I whole-heartedly believe that I will not pass it the first time.  The pass rate for the civil portion of the test is 64% for first-time test-takers, lower than nearly all of the other disciplines.  If I go in expecting to bomb it, imagine how pleasantly surprised I would be to pass.  (Man, "pleasantly surprised" would be the understatement of my life.)  Right?  Okay, so that's not super hopeful, but that's what I do.

In other completely-unrelated, October news, we wished our beautiful princess a Happy 4th Birthday last weekend.  Her birthday is sandwiched between her Grammie's and Aunt Celeste's birthdays, so we make it simple and celebrate them all together.

In the interest of brevity (and thanks to a camera I borrowed from my boss while our's is off being repaired), here is the shot of the weekend.  Grammie's five grandkids, all looking in the general camera direction.

A night shot of Grammie's cookout house.  I know we're not supposed to covet, but man, that place is awesome.

 An elated birthday girl!

After a rousing game of Pin the Cupcake on Pinkalicious (during which Abby clearly cheated), cousin Chloe and little Sarah discuss pink cupcakes.

A "whole barnyard full" of My Little Ponies.

Th-th-th-that's all, folks!

(But if you wouldn't mind praying for me between now and October 29th, I'd truly appreciate it!)