Down but not out ...

My life has been temporarily interrupted by technical difficulties. My computer crashed this past weekend and I lost everything. I’m going to chalk it up to a couple of lessons learned:

1. backup often
2. don’t buy any more HP products
3. did I say backup often

Ok, I think that covers it. In my mindless downtime of reloading all my purchased software and getting my settings just right on my new Toshiba (which I love so far), I’ve had quite a few random thoughts. One has been the most prominent. Consider the cinematic careers of the following actors:

• Billy Dee Williams vs. Denzel Washington
• Harrison Ford vs. Danny Glover

That’s all I’m going to say about that – for now. I will flesh out the madness for you in the coming days :o)

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This is the most fitting post for today ...

Link to The King Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

Change ...

I’m reminded of a quote I read from Henry Ford which said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” This quote lead me to the following question … What is the true catalyst for change? Is it necessity, boredom, frustration, profit, a natural progression, personal or individual demand … what is it that makes people want to change themselves and/or the things around them? I would like to attribute today’s entry to my desire for innovation, the betterment of mankind or my ability to be forward thinking or to transcend outside of “the box”, but I’m basically sick and tired of being sick and tired. I guess that would fall into the category of frustration. So, in this instance, frustration is my catalyst for change!

I have battled with weight problems for most of my life. I had huge success several years ago but have found myself back in the “weight gain” cycle again! Well, dang it, I’m tired of this and I AM READY TO FACE THE MUSIC!!!

I know exactly where my pitfalls are but I fall into them every time. I’m at the point now where it’s now or never … do or die … go or no go. It is truly D-day for my unwanted pounds. There’s no point in putting off what I can do today for tomorrow – right? It just gets harder as I get older and there is no excuse for eating poorly, over-eating and not exercising. I am my most valuable asset and it’s time I started acting like it!

With that being said, I vow this day to never look back and to press forward and stay on task because my life, both in terms of longevity and quality, is at stake! I am looking to my readers/followers to help hold me accountable and to encourage me as I travel this road to better health and well-being. Today is the beginning, the dawning of a new day … VIVA LA REVOLUCION!!!

Conquering fears …

Hurray … One fear down, ten thousand to go! I had my annual eye exam on 1/11/10 and the doctor, Dr. Cargus, and I always have a discussion about my getting contacts. Well, for those of you who do not know, I DON’T DO EYES!!! I can’t stand to see other people touch their eye and the thought of touching my eye makes me blink profusely and my eyes begin to water. Dr. Cargus became aware of my fear last year when we were having our usual conversation and she began to demonstrate the “technique” on her eye. Let’s just say, there was some squealing and some eye closing and this was not from Dr. Cargus. Mind you, my eye was not being touched. I was simply looking at someone touch their eye! Even as a child I can remember being chased around the playground by those kids who liked to flip their eyes inside-out … why?

Any way, I digress. This year, I bit the bullet and got contacts. The young lady who “trained me”, Colitha, said I was not the worst person she’d ever trained and my performance time was not that bad … meaning I wasn’t in there for an hour whining and squealing like a wimp. She may have just been saying that so I wouldn’t feel like a big baby but I wanted to believe her, so I did :) I’m attaching pictures of Dr. Cargus (1st picture), Colitha (2nd picture) and myself (both pictures) on my big day.

The introduction ...

Hello … I feel an introduction would be fitting considering this is a blog about my thoughts and the events of my life. I’m sure you’re asking yourself … who is this person. Well, my name is Sarenna and I’m an Alabama native. I currently work in the outer-limits of healthcare which means I work for a software development company who develops software for insurance companies.

I’m working on an engineering master’s degree at The University of Alabama – Birmingham (UAB). I chose the Information Engineering and Management (IEM) graduate program at UAB because it is not your traditional graduate school program which I think is a strong plus. I love it so far and would highly recommend it.

On a personal level:

• I am older than 30 but younger than 50 (a lady never tells her age … right)
• I don’t have any pets (afraid of nearly every animal, except humans which is where the true danger resides!)
• I don’t have a MySpace or Facebook page (can you believe it?)
• I call my Mom everyday because I want to not because I should
• I got interested in blogging as the result of a class assignment for school
• I enjoy meeting people and learning about their thoughts, the processes behind those thoughts and generally what makes them tick
• I am an introvert with strong extrovert tendencies (some of my friends attribute this to my birth date falling on a zodiac cusp)
• I truly believe laughter is medicinal and take a dose several times a day

I guess that’s enough for now. If I haven’t bored you to tears, please feel free to follow me. You’ll have an opportunity to get to know me better as this blog goes on. Please stop by and drop a comment or two – but please be nice :)