raewhitlock dot com » Life

Out of whack.

Rae — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:22:07 +0000

Okay, so I lied. Heidelberg’s been sitting there at one post for three weeks now (along with the rest of the blog, really). Truth be told, I’ve personally been a bit out of whack lately. Stress has been unusually high and energy has been low for a multitude of reasons, and it appears that one way I deal with that is by closing off from others and being quiet. (Blame my INFJ personality, perhaps.) I’ve also noticed that those others who I tend to close off from include Jesus and my family, so this is unhealthy.

If you have a minute, pray for me. I’ll get back to blogging soon.

Someone’s 5 today.

Rae — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:27:21 +0000

She’s a little too good at busting out the poses when a camera’s around, IMO.

(BTW, I totally need to call my dad. I just realized I haven’t done that in forever. Dad, if you’re reading this, I’ll give you a call tomorrow!)

Burn* your kids’ Bible storybooks . . .

Rae — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:13:41 +0000

. . . and get the one pictured/linked here. Seriously fantastic stuff.

Unless, of course, you like your kids learning their Bible stories as simplistic, poorly-illustrated morality plays with absolutely no connection to the person and work of Jesus, that is. Then, by all means, keep the one you have.

Zoë’s loving hers, and so are Mommy and Daddy.

(* Feeding to the dog or shredding for use as rodent bedding are acceptable substitutes for burning.)

Countdown to Thirty

Rae — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 18:52:35 +0000

Three hundred sixty-five days until I hit thirty years old.

I’m not sure how I feel about this.

Hiatus until sometime after 10/6

Rae — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:55:21 +0000

Things are crazy-busy here. Life will return to being somewhat normal after October 6, so stay tuned.

Zoë’s First Day of Preschool

Rae — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:45:43 +0000

My little girl is growing up, and I’m an old, OLD man.

Shoutout to Jackson, TN!

Rae — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:50:23 +0000

Looking through my stat logs, I’ve seen some IP address hits from my old stomping grounds of Jackson, Tennessee. I’m pretty sure I know who some of those hits are coming from, but either way . . . if you’re from Jackson (or Humboldt or other surrounding communities) and you see this post, leave a comment! I want to know who you are.

I might not see my wife for a few days . . .

Rae — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 04:28:20 +0000

. . . because she’ll be busy reading that damned Harry Potter book. Yarr!

At least there won’t be any more, so I won’t have to deal with this again.

(Thanks are due to GFM for restoring my access to the site, btw.)

I’m fat . . .

Rae — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 17:07:29 +0000

. . . and I’d like to not be fat anymore. I’ve gone from about 190 pounds to 250 in the two years since we moved to Ohio (and that’s after going from about 160 to 190 in the Tennessee years).

Now, I don’t expect (or even want) to go back to my high school/college weight of anywhere between 150 and 175. Looking at pictures of myself from those days, I wonder how I even survived being that skinny. I look darn near emaciated. (And honestly, short of some horrible disease ravaging my body, I don’t think I could get there even if I wanted to). I actually like being a bit bigger than I used to be. I just don’t like having a gut.

So, I suppose if I have a weight goal, it’ll be 200. Fifty pounds lost. In reality, though, my only goal is a flat stomach. I actually feel fine, but I hate the way I look in just about everything I wear.

Thing is, I have no idea how to get there. I’m convinced that running/jogging is from the Pit of Hell, so that’s out (or at least a last resort). I used to play tennis avidly, but haven’t played in years and have no one to play with here. As far as diet is concerned, that’ll be a little easier. Far fewer high-fat foods/sweets. More veggies. Less beer (maybe . . . three a week isn’t much at all).

Any success or failure stories are welcome.

Adventures in Identity Theft!

Rae — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 03:02:27 +0000

I generally go to my financial institution’s website once a week or so to make sure everything’s lining up with our own records, that nothing out of the ordinary is going on, etc. Until this week, everything was fine.

Then on Wednesday, I noticed three mystery charges. They were for $19.99 each, and each had “BLIZZARD-ENT*ELECU, 800-592-5499, CA” in the description field. “Blizzard Entertainment,” I thought. “That’s the World of Warcraft company.” After a little Google sleuthing, it seems that I was the victim of identity theft. Some pimple-faced teenager (or some 40-year-old comic store employee living in his mom’s basement) who couldn’t afford the $20/month decided that my money would be well-spent on a WoW account. And it seems that I wasn’t the only person that this exact thing had happened to recently.

I immediately called my bank, canceled my debit card, and had them send me a new one with a new number, so next time the loser’s account cycles, it’ll get canceled. Called Blizzard, but they weren’t too much help (but they were cordial). Tomorrow, I’ll be filing a dispute with the bank to get my $60 back.

All things told, this was little more than an annoyance, but it was a HUGE annoyance. I’m quite vigilant when it comes to my personal information on the Internet. Unfortunately, that was taken out of my hands recently, as I received a letter from the Ohio Department of Taxation, stating that my name and SSN were among those contained on a stolen computer (this story was all over the news). That’s the only way I can think of that this fool could’ve gotten the information needed to make charges to my card. Fortunately, the letter offers a free year of “identity protection” from a company called Debix.

I think I’ll take them up on that.