Somedays We Just Don't Feel Worthy...

...or is this just me? I have been remiss in mentioning honors others have bestowed on me, as if they didn't really mean anything. Nothing could be further from the truth. I can't explain what has been going on in my world lately, other than to say I haven't been particularly productive. Part of it might be because I'm currently in 'Technical Writing Hell' as I work on a 20+ page project for graduation. If you've never had the pleasure of doing technical writing, you have no idea what you're missing out on. Here I am trying to pare down my writing, clear out the fluff, make everything precise and effective. Along comes my technical writing project, and they actually demand and expect a huge amount of fluff. I have to re-iterate things multiple times, just stated in different ways. To say it drives me crazy is a huge understatement.

Needless to say, a number of my fellow bloggers have bestowed awards on me and I would be remiss if I did not mention their names. Windy, TereLiz, and Jenna all have awarded me with the Kreativ blogger award. TereLiz even went so far as to re-work the icon so that it is more "manly", just for me. I hope you don't mind me stealing and posting it here. I just really like what you did with it and think everybody should see your awesome Photoshop skills!

I have been given the Kreativ blogger award before, but I cannot express my thanks to the three of you enough this time. As I said, I haven't been feeling very creative, so this reminded me that I have a job to do and a muse to keep happy. Since I can't possibly follow ALL the tenets of this award (naming 7 other individuals to give it to, meaning 21 other people), I will at least tell you 7 things about myself that I haven't revealed before.

1. In high school, I was my Biology teacher's assistant for two years straight and was often referred to as "Beeker" by my fellow classmates. For those who don't know, Beeker is the lab assistant in the Muppets. Not exactly a flattering nickname perhaps, but probably closer to the truth than I would care to admit.

2. In 3rd grade, I wrote a poem about my grandparents house in Missouri. I still have it laminated on posterboard somewhere in my garage, so if I can find it, I'll post a copy of it here.

3. I have a tattoo on my chest of Superman and The Incredible Hulk. The former is for my younger son, and the latter is for my older. Hulk towers over Supes, almost in the same manner one brother towers over the other, and he's just as protective. The bad part is I still have to go through probably 4 more hours of work to get Hulk finished.

4. I was given an Article 15 (disciplinary action for those who don't know) in the Army - during Basic Training, no less - for going to the Main PX (general store) on base even though I was not allowed to be there. Oh, the fact that a few of us were taking keepsake pictures (via an Instamatic camera) of fellow soldiers and selling them at a buck a piece didn't help either.
5. I was in the All City choir in middle school, All State choir in high school, have played piano since I was 9 (although its been a few years since I've "tickled the ivory"), and I even tried out for the Army Band - unsuccessfully, of course.

6. Despite the fact that I have lived all my life (mostly) in Denver, Colorado, I have never tried skiing or snowboarding. The funny thing is, there are more of us like that here than one would think, and the skiers that come from out of town stare at us in wonder. How could we dare live so close to the Rockies without skiing? My answer is simple: I like my bones unbroken.

7. I truly believe I am part lizard, because I absolutely love hot days. There are times I will drive home from work with all the windows up, after my truck has baked in the sun all day, just basking in the waves of heat like a sauna. As far as I'm concerned, it's never too hot.

Robyn over at Putting Pen To Paper has honored me with an award for Energizing and Inspiring Reading. I don't know if I consistently attain that level of writing, but I'm happy she seems to think so (or at least did long enough to add me to the list, heh heh). Thank you Robyn for the award. I hope you know my delay in acknowledging this was not an intended slight.

Finally, if anyone out there can help me put these awards on my blog in a side panel or whatever, I'd appreciate it. Despite the fact that I'm a 'puter geek, I can't ever seem to figure out how to adjust my layout for things like this.

Oh, and do you have any advice for effective technical writing? I'm hoping I won't have to resubmit my project more than once, but I'm open to any words of wisdom from the experienced technical writers out there.