Profunksticated

Pro did not have a great week on the blog posting front. I made a crude comment regarding the First Lady on another site, calling myself being funny. But I got slammed big time. And then I was reminded that I made an inappropriate comment toward a female blogger on a social networking site a few days earlier.

I apologized to the site owner twice. The first was filled with justifications, an email borne of muddled thinking. The second, which I should have written first, was a straight-up mea culpa I wrote the following day that I insisted be published by the site owner under my blog name.

A day later I called the female blogger in question and apologized to her and she accepted, thank God. It pains me to realize, however, that I may have killed what was a budding friendship between myself, and this lady and her husband, who have in the past invited me into their home. I’m pretty sure now they will keep me at arm’s length. Can’t say I blame them; I’d probably do the same.

Suffice to say there are certain things you shouldn’t post anywhere, much less on a site read by strong women. If you want to know details, we’ll have to discuss it privately, although I’d just as soon put the whole embarrassing episode behind me.

On a related note, I’ve found myself making snarky comments on course material during discussions in my online class. I’m sure my instructor appreciates it. (Sure, right.) And I was called out on said networking site for denigrating a whole group of media as “idiots” for mispronouncing the surname of the President’s Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor. Again, I felt compelled to apologize.

All this had me considering abandoning blogging and otherwise playing online altogether, but instead, I’ve concluded this is a good time to put Profunksticated on hiatus for a few months until I get my head back together.

I believe the stress of working away from home, attempting to find another gig, trying to stay a step ahead of the spinning blades of the wheat thresher that is foreclosure, doing this master’s program and dealing with what I believe are some serious issues in my marriage is starting to catch up with me. And, oh, not to mention dealing with the mess (he doesn’t believe it’s a mess, obviously) my younger male sibling has created between he and his older sons.

You may think this sounds like excuse-making, but it’s the truth. I’ve got work to do on myself in terms of doing more prayer and more earnestly working the 12 steps of the recovery program. That leaves little time for blogging.

In the meantime, browse the archives. I’ll check in from time to time to see if a comment’s been left.

I’ll be back in a few months, I’m not sure exactly when. In the meantime, thanks for reading, take care and may God bless you all.

Again, sorry for the lag between posts. Work and grad school have taken up a lot of old Pro’s time. But now I’m at home in the Philly-South of NJ being Dad to my youngest one while The Spouse is traveling in, get this — Argentina and Uruguay in South America for 10 days. It’s a trip she’s taking with a group from the college at which she teaches as an adjunct professor. She’s using it as some sort of educational experience in conjunction with her doctoral program.

I’m going back to work next week, then I’ll take the following week off as my first week of company-forced unpaid leave. (I would have used this week as unpaid leave, but we cannot take such leave during a week in which there’s a paid holiday, in this case, Memorial Day.)

Other stuff:

My bro is getting married to his youngest son’s mom. I haven’t posted about bro lately, but you might remember that he’d had a longstanding relationship with this woman while his late wife was ill. His wife died in March 2008 and the kid was born three months earlier. I’m pretty sure his two older sons are gonna be less than happy. While on the phone with him, he passed it to her, when she asked me how she felt about having her as an SIL. I was taken aback, but blurted out “Fine!” OK, I was lying. But I’m hoping to have a convo with the both of them.

I’m stepping up my search for another gig. My salary at the current job simply isn’t justifying the costs of me maintaining a house in NJ and renting a room in northern VA. And speaking of gigs, I’m using my unpaid leave week to take the Foreign Service Officer’s Test for the U.S. Department of State. The test center is in Philly. (Seems the available seats for this upcoming test period filled up quick in the DMV area.) Look, I’m almost 50 and haven’t been outside of the United States, save Tijuana, Mexico and Nassau, Bahamas. I don’t think San Juan, PR, counts since it is technically is part of the U.S. And the nice thing about foreign service officer gigs is that you can be hired up to your 60th birthday. I can’t wait to show ‘em my passport as ID when I report to the test center.

I’ve gotten into juicing. I bought a $60 Hamilton Beach juicer from Wal Mart (OK, so shoot me!!) a few weeks back and have discovered how great carrot juice tastes. And just yesterday, I made a slamming carrot cake out of the carrot pulp! My thing now is to juice oranges, apples and grapefruit and then blend the juice with a banana and frozen strawberries. It makes a great breakfast smoothie and helps with the weight control.

And speaking of weight, I’m still holding at in the mid-220s range while doing mostly walking in the mornings. I’d like in the short term to drop below 220.

That’s all for now. Peace.

Just wanted to let ya’ll know that the recount in the Spouse’s bid for school board in our NJ town was held this morning and it confirmed that she lost by seven votes. She’s still glad she did it and hope it inspires folk to take a closer look at the school district that once employed her.

All I can say is that I hope this project raises her profile enough to where her husband will one day no longer have to work.

Hello, all,

With Mother’s Day approaching, I thought I’d share with you this poem by a friend of mine from my recovery fellowship. Give her some support though the site. Thanks.