Brief Update

They made an offer, I countered, and now I'm waiting for their response. I hope to hear something tomorrow.

I told my boss, however, that I would be leaving the department soon. His response was priceless (and yes, this is a direct quote):

"I hate you."

Outstanding! I was so proud of that response that I typed it up, printed it, and taped it to my monitor.

AHHH HORSE MANURE!

My hit counter disappeared. I went to the statistics site and this is the message that awaited me...

*sigh*

***

Our apologies

If you are viewing this page now, we regret to inform you that the hit counter and statistical data for your account here have been lost. To continue using our service, you'll need to (1.) re-register/create a new account (below), and (2.) re-install the NEW counter code provided onto your site page(s).

Last week, PrecisionCounter experienced a major failure of the database which stores our account and statistical data. Basically, everything that could go wrong - did. We had originally designed our systems so that if our primary database were to ever fail (which it never has before) we would be able to restore service from a backup database within a few minutes. However, something also failed with the backup routines, and we discovered the backup data was corrupted and unrecoverable.

In the past year, PrecisionCounter has become a top provider of FREE traffic counters and site statistics - thanks completely to you, our customers. We'd also like to thank you in advance, for taking a few moments to create your replacement account and re-installing the new counter code on your page(s) so we may continue to serve you!

Best regards,
PrecisionCounter.com

***

Whaddaya want for free (answer: everything)?

My lowly little site had received 520 hits before I saw this message. I guess I start from zero again. Zero just isn't as sexy as 520 (not that 520 is all that sexy, but I'll take all the sexy I can get).

So for those of you that have visited before, thanks for your support and your continued readership. Looking forward to rebuilding...

EDIT: Suh-weet! Looks like I can at least choose my starting point!!!! Hail the resurrection of sexy!!!!

Bookstores - A Blogpost

I was at one of my two favorite bookstores last night - this one is a two-story Borders w/couches and chairs and all sorts of stuff on everything and you can have a coffee and sit up on the top floor and people watch - and was walking through the fiction section looking and hundreds and thousands of books I'll never read. These days you can find some rather interesting things on the covers of books. A couple of the more notables are a daisy of naked humans, butts up, in the middle of a field, as well as an extreme close-up of this girl's pink bra where the cups connect in the middle (is there a name for that?). And yes, this was the normal fiction section...not erotica or anything like that. In any case, besides...well, interesting photos, I noticed that many of the novels identified themselves by putting "A Novel" somewhere on the front cover.

This perplexes me. When you look at various classic literature, both ancient and more recent, the individual works don't identify their respective genres on the covers. Rather, they assume the reader is intelligent enough to figure it out on their own. Why is it, then, that authors/publishers/whoever feel the need to set apart their novels? Are readers dumber now (they probably are in some ways, but it's more of a rhetorical question)? Are the lines between poetry, reference text, and novels blurring?

Meh, whatever. If I get something published I guess I can do whatever I want with it. Until then, I'll assume you know what the heck you're reading (save for this post).

And for what it's worth, strange book covers aside, last night was probably the most enjoyable visit to a bookstore I've ever had.

Experimenting

I "upgraded" to the new Blogger Beta and will be trying out a few things over the next couple of days so you're likely to see some random changes for a while as I try things out.

So far all the added functionality is beneficial and the various new editing UI's are intuitive and easy to access/use. If anything sucks I'll be sure to let you all know so that you can shun the furmious bandersnatch as long as possible.

Crushes

I've had a crush on Drew Barrymore since I was four years old. ET. "Mom, who's that? She's cuuuuute!"

Yup, nothin' like seein' a cutie with an alien to make you fall in love. Heh...

Anywho, I've crushed on her from that moment. Yeah, she's had her skankier moments, but she grew up and calmed down, and now she's just cute with a side of weird. I realized today, though, that I have a second starlet crush, and have since at least 1995 - Alicia Silverstone. I don't remember exactly when this one developed, but I do remember her in Clueless. She's not the most talented actress, but she IS cuuuuute!

If most any star - sports, stage, or screen - were to suddenly appear in front of me, it'd be cool but I could at least keep my composure. If either of those two gals suddenly appeared in front of me, I'd be four years old again, wide-eyed and mouth hanging open, and without a recognizable vocabulary.

My computer is sad :-(

My MS Office files are corrupted and I can't find the disk that has the data files necessary to restore them. Most of the programs are still useable to some degree, but Outlook is shot. I'm going to be saving as much information as I can before I wipe it from the system but I may lose a few email addresses and such along the way. I'm downloading Open Office in the meantime and will be looking for a free version of Office XP or, preferably, 2003.

(If any of you have versions of this software that you'd be willing to donate, lemme know please!)

Of course, this may be an early indication of a hard drive on the outs as well...

*hurries to back up downloaded files before she blows*

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Just wanted to wish you and yours a fantastic holiday! Some of us have found recent success and happiness. Others of us have fallen upon harder times. Where ever you might fall in that spectrum, be sure to take a moment and think about what you have to be thankful for...chances are you can find something.

Take care, all, and enjoy...

And now we wait...

- Show that I'm qualified for the position...check.

- Negotiate for a company laptop...check.

- Negotiate for a raise to be offered...check.

- Negotiate for a qualifying raise to be offered...hurry up and wait.

Now it's time for the various VPs associated w/the hiring process to cloister themselves away and come up with a number for me, but I've been given no ETA so it really is just hurry up and wait.

We'll see what happens...this is by no means a done deal.

"Every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp-dressed man"

Rockers in shades and funny beards may have said it a good number of years ago, but it's still just as true now.

I looked damn good in my interview suit today!

The calm before the storm

Two hours until go time.

I'm not nervous about the interview, although I did find out yesterday as I was walking out of the office that the responsible VP has requested to conduct the interview. So now instead of a peer and a direct supervisor conducting the interview, it's the direct supervisor and a 5-level skip above me conducting the interview. This is a good change - she's hired me before and I've worked for her for years in the past - but it does kinda make my resume look rather unnecessary considering she was there for the majority of it. Just an odd feeling to have her looking at a list of accomplishments and qualifications I know she's already familiar with.

As an added bonus, I'm getting a brief massage about 15 minutes prior to the interview - good times!

What a weekend...

It started with a terrible first half of a work day on Friday, followed by me yelling at someone I love, then just feeling like dung the second half of the workday.

I got home and a buddy of mine canceled plans.

Shortly after that, I find out that a woman I used to love recently was left by the same guy that was the catalyst of the end of my relationship with her in the first place. I went completely numb. I knew he would hurt her at some point so as she tells me what happened, it's like I'm seeing the end of a movie I've already seen. There's not even feelings of "I told you so," or "I knew it!" It was more like reading lines in a history book and you've already taken the class. She speaks as though maybe she wants to make amends for past mistakes - not get back together, just make amends - so I agree to meet her for coffee. This would mark the first time I've really seen her since the split. It will likely end up being the last time I ever see her in any meaningful capacity again.

After only a couple hours sleep I'm up and off to a volunteer "Mutt Strut" for a local canine rescue shelter through work. Evidently a group of my coworkers got together for what seemed to have been a rather...well, drunken time the night before and they weren't feeling so hot. I laughed. From there, it was straight back home for The Game.

Before the game started, tho, I find out someone I love was having a much rough weekend. I was happy to listen; fortunately everything will be okay.

The game started and my heart was beating at 170 and I was sitting the entire time, unless I was at the refrigerator or the grill. Part of this was because my heart sucks. Part of it was because the game was entirely too close for comfort. Good guys win, goin' to the ship. Now it's hurry up and wait to see if we get drawn for tix.

After the game, go to watch the fights last night and have my fill of beer and wings (NOT homemade wings, thank you). Silvia won in an exhausting 5-rounder that I'm sure Munson would have nearly won (if not won) if he could have even 4 more inches of height. Hughes lost to a very quick, very game St. Pierre. Can't wait for the rematch.

This morning/afternoon marked coffee with the woman I used to love. So strange. I thought I'd come away hurt, but I wasn't. There was nothing. It was like we just recently met and we were having lunch to chat. No hint of the past relationship was evident in her, and goodness knows I felt nothing. Barely a memory came to mind. On one level, it's mildly disappointing to think that the relationship wasn't strong enough to feel anything about just a few years after it ended...it's now barely more more than a casual acquaintance, but mostly it's just nice to see the proof of what I already knew - the healing is done; I've moved on.

Get home from lunch, watch football, etc, etc.

Strange weekend. I don't want to go to work tomorrow.

Meh.

And this isn't even close to overboard!

You all know that I'm an Ohio State fan, raised by Ohio State fans, all born in Ohio, and some of which attended the great educational institution and played in The Best Damn Band In The Land. Unless you've been to Columbus, though, you don't understand what it is to be an Ohio State fan, and you likely have no real concept of the fanatacism that surrounds college football. The following pictures should give you some idea of what it's like. Bear in mind that this is quite mild compared to some Columbus displays. Not pictured is the OSU flag we had on display in the front yard.

For the pics, please click here.

Hail to the Victors!

They made it more exciting than I wanted it to be, but "The" Ohio State University beat that school up north, and Tressel beat Carr yet again. A score of 42-39 never sounded so sweet...

If you're playing for that school up north, and you're wearing #22, and you're seeing this, you're probably going to be seeing the rest of the game from the sidelines. Whoops! ;-)

The one thing I can't stand about the game is the comments of Mike Hart. As taken from a transcript of the post game press conference...

REPORTER: Why were you able to have some questions running the ball compared to last couple games?

MIKE HART: Because, you know, their defense wasn't -- their defense played good, but they're not as good as people thought, I guess I could say. We knew we were going to be able to run the ball, but we didn't put enough points on the board. There's nothing special about that defense.

Nothing special. Not as good as people thought. Well, Mike Hart, you might recall that 9 of the cats you saw trying to tackle you this year were different than last year. And yet they still were able to beat...well, everyone they played. People thought the defense would give up big points and would likely lose at least one game early in the season. And consider this - they did what nobody else was able to do to your school this year - BEAT YOU! If that ain't special, I don't know what is. Ass.

Now it's hurry up and wait to see if we're drawn for tickets to the BCS championship game. Hope it works out!!!

What the heck?

Three sets of plans canceled within two weeks spanning multiple people...what gives? Do I have leprosy or something?

*frustrated*

The national holiday approaches

I'm considering doing what would be a first for me - a live blog event. As most of you are aware, this Saturday my beloved "The" Ohio State University Buckeyes take on that other school for the right to play in the national championship. I still think that other school wins the game this year - their defense is pretty dag'gone good - but I'll still watch. Mom's turning the house into an Ohio State shrine. I'll be sure to post some pics in a few days.

In any case, if I do it, you'll get a live update on my insanity as the refs blow calls and people make idiots of themselves. If I do this, though, I warn you now - ethics, reason, and character are going to go out the window. There's likely to be swearing and cursing and general filth. This can't be helped, nor can it be held against me.

Remember that. Nothing held against me. Diplomatic immunity 'n stuff.

Why I love In N Out Burger

I went to In N Out Burger for lunch for the second time this week (yes, Greg, you can drool...or hate me, whichever you prefer). Some people think that's stupid. If you don't like the food, fine. I can accept that you're an alien. But if you do like the food and you're going to buy fast food, why WOULDN'T you go multiple times in a week? I got to thinking why I like them so much...here's what I come up with.

5. Cool cars. Corvettes and Cobras. Raw American musclecar power.

5A. Their secret menu. Being able to order something animal style or ask for a 4x4 and know what that means makes me feel like a secret agent...the 007 of the lunch world. Knowing secrets is good!

4. Cleanliness. I have yet to go into In N Out where there wasn't at least one person cleaning something. Now, granted, if you go in the middle of the lunch rush you're gonna find some dirty tables...they work quickly, but not at light speed. Still, they run a pretty tight ship there.

3. Value and price. Put their meals up against the meals at any other fast food burger joint and they're highly competitive. You get plenty of food and it's made to order.

T-1. Service. The employees get paid quite well, and for that wage they expect the best service fast food has to offer. The employees deliver. They don't have customers - they have guests, and they greet every guest that walks in the door. If you ask them how they're doing, they'll tell you and thank you for asking. They say please and thank you for everything. They work their tails off to make things right for you. And, most importantly, they never....EVER....get my order wrong. Ever.

T-1. Quality. Fresh food, never frozen. You can watch them make their fries from real potatoes. The slice the tomatoes and lettuce right in front of you. It's real beef pattied right in front of you. Fries made to order - even a little well done if you want that. Shakes that are the yum. They make four things - hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries, and shakes (Coke makes the soda ;-) ). Simple yet delightfully tasty.

Top to bottom, they've got the right idea. I like their work ethic, and I like their food. They've earned a lifelong supporter!

Just one quick blog post...

It absolutely drives me crazy. At first I thought it was just a couple of people at my work. Then I started noticing it from a LOT of people at work. And now I just hear it all over.

"Just one quick question..."

Really? Is it really a quick question? Is it just one? And is it quick because the question itself is quick (although the answer may be ridiculously involved)? Or maybe it's quick relative to the time it takes Neptune to revolve around the sun?

You know what would make the questioning experience even quicker???? If you didn't preface it with "Just one quick question," or any variation thereof!!!

And please....PLEASE....if you insist on saying that, please don't have the nerve to follow it up with some stupid, unnecessary background information. Just ask the damn question so I can answer somebody else's quick inquiry.

In my area at work, seconds count. The funny thing is that the representatives are the ones that should be counting the seconds the most (considering there's financial gain to do so, not to mention higher end-user satisfaction), and yet they're the biggest offenders.

Heh. Irony.

Sorry. I just heard it said one too many times today.

/end rant

It's all that's there...

So much happened tonight, but as I sit down to write, all that keeps coming out is this...

I'm really cold, and I don't want to go to bed.

Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak,
Whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break.

-Shakespeare (Macbeth 5.1.50)

Maybe I'll Read It

The book I mention below really has me intrigued, and it's not too big to be intimidating to read. If that goes down then for the first time in....wow, maybe ten years or so?...I will have read a novel for enjoyment.

An English teacher that doesn't really enjoy reading books. Who does that?

(And I'm still cringing at my "today is still today" bit. Friends don't let friends blog tired.)

For One More Day

I went to Starbucks today for the first time in a while and realized how much I miss just sitting there with good company sippin' on a coffee and talking and laughing. Coffee is gooooooood...

Got the coffee today. They were fresh out of company tho.

In any case while I was waiting in line for my drink I saw they were selling Mitch Albom's novel For One More Day. I had no idea who the author was (although a little mild research reveals I've at least heard of his best sellers, and that whole "best seller" part indicates, if nothing else, he has an audience of best buyers so he must be serviceable, unlike Trevor's runningback corps ;-) ) or what the book was about, but the title got me thinking - if I could have just one more day with someone I'd lost, who would it be? And would I actually want to do it?

I've lost a lot of family and by a lot I mean nearly all of them but , but I moved away from "home" when I was four years old, so I really wasn't close with any of them to speak of. I've had a lot of broken friendships/relationships, and while there's a few of them I would like to have one more day with, for the purposes of my discussion here I'll limit the prospect pool to the deceased.

That leaves two options that come to mind. The obvious choice would be Stuart, my dear friend who was killed in a drunk driving accident on the way home from a California vacation on Memorial Day weekend. I'd love to have him back, but I don't need to. I made my peace w/that one long ago. The one I don't understand and I'd be curious to chill with for one more day would be James, another elementary and high school friend who took his own life. He was pleasant, relational, had an incredible gaming mind, and simply brilliant in his own way. His death was an absolute shock as we all found out on Christmas a few years ago.

The real question, though, is would I really want to do this?

Nope, not a chance. Let the dead be dead. That's easy for me to say since I've never lost a parent, I don't really have any siblings to lose, and I have no wife or children. I think that if I'd lost any of those, it's entirely possible such a decision would be dramatically more difficult. Nonetheless, it seems that exchanging that one day's experiences for what's likely to be many days or weeks of additional grieving is a bad trade-off. Generally speaking, I don't see any sense in reopening those old wounds.

What did I just do?

I "emailed" my sister. Found her on MySpace (which I still can't stand, by the way, regardless of what happens with sis). Tomorrow - which is technically today, although I don't believe that tomorrow comes until you wake up, and given my extremely recent inability to get to a state which I can wake up from, it means today is still today by my definition - is her birthday. She'll be 27.

I didn't know what to say to someone I haven't spoken to in over a year (maybe it's over two years now?) and haven't seen in almost 5 years, so I simply offered a Happy Birthday and told her I missed her. I don't know if I'll hear back from her. Part of me wants to. Part of me is terrified to. So now I guess I'm just waiting on the whims and caprices of the birthday girl.

OMW, did I seriously just say "today is still today"? By my definition? I must be retarded. Or a genius. Possibly both, but I doubt it.

Alright ima stop now.

Torture

For someone that hates the process of going to bed and falling asleep - not being able to get to sleep.

Anyone tried the new beta Blogger?

If so, lemme know how it works for you? What's new that you actually use? Anything work particularly well? Particularly poorly?

That'd be cool

I think it would be really cool if one of my stories actually came true...

(And lest life play a cruel joke on me, I think I'll clarify that the story doesn't come true unless I'm the lead male role. I'm not gonna have some random Joe receive the benefit of my stories....)

I can't stand MySpace

Broken or errors out half the time.

Too damn much advertising (TruE dat...).

Webcam shows I don't wanna see which spawn emails I don't want to get.

Awkward editing interfaces.

Top 8's and all the arguments that start because of them.

"Friends."

The MySpace network is a freakin' goldmine and the originators are have made a truckload of cash. Bravo! Now please leave.

Woahhhh... talk about unexpected!

The following IP showed up suddenly in my visitors list....

gateway.decipher.com

I'm baby retarded

This is largely intentional, mind you, but it's true. When it comes to the birthing process I know to create babies and prevent them, and that's roughly it. Make a baby, 9 months-later the catcher gets down below the equator with the mit, pushy pushy, and poof! Baby!

Yes, I know it's not like that for real. But in my mind it is.

I've never witnessed it nor have I seen a birthing video, and no, I'm not missing anything. I don't care what you say. I don't need to see it, hear it, smell it...nope, no sir. If I ever become a father I'll totally become like Mister Baby Know-It-All, but for me to get from ignorance to bliss it will take the love of a good woman and a child of my own. Nothing less will accomplish such an otherwise impossibily difficult feat.

This was confirmed when I saw video of a pregnant woman's naked stomach on the TV. I gasped and pointed. Totally freaked out. Then I left the room.

The experience reminded me of a time when a girl I used to care about very much went into early labor. She hopped in the car w/her mom, her bf, and myself and we flew to the hospital. I guess she had a contraction or something (or maybe she was just scared) because it was way after hours but one loud scream-n-shout later, that door magically buzzed open and up the elevators we went.

As they wheeled her to whatever room she was going to we passed by a birthing room - empty, of course. I saw a birthing...chair? Table? Aparatus? Idunno what it's really called, but it resembled a medieval torture device. Stopped me dead in my tracks on sight. I stood there in terror, jaw dropped, stupified and bewildered that life could actually come out of a contraption like that, gripped with confusion to the point that I couldn't bring myself to look away - so much so that her mom had to come and find me after she realized I wasn't with them in the room. Then after she finally brought me into the room where her daughter was I saw these little black paddles on her stomach and I freaked out because there were beeps and jellies and buzzers and wires all over the place and I wanted the baby to be okay and her stomach was big and I'd never seen any of this crap before (nor have I since, thankfully).

Her mom turns to me and says, "It's okay, Scott. The baby's just stressed?"

"How the heck can a baby be stressed when it hasn't even been born yet??? Is it hearing her parents' discussions about bills and stuff?"

"No, stressed physically."

And no, I'm not making this up. That all really happened, and I'm still totally weirded out by baby stuff to this day. A couple years ago someone at work explained to me what an episiotomy was...I damn near fainted.

Baby stuff is just icky. Until, of course, it's my baby with my lady :-)

Sorry all...it's just work

I've been totally neglecting my blogging for some time now as work has been sapping the energy out of me, and by the time I get home I largely just haven't given too hoots about much of anything.

Totally blah to the max!

Okay, so now that the 80's time warp has passed (what the heck didI just say???), here's a synopsis of the past couple of weeks:

I cancelled my vacation so I could manage my team through the four halves of two seperate projects we were piloting at the same time. What ended up happening, though, is only one of the four halves was actually implimented while the two project managers went on vacation.

The Auditing dep't. started our sales incentive audit, and boy howdy did we bomb it....baaaaaadly. Oh, so badly. I did receive a commendation from the VP of Auditing, though, for being the only guy there that could actually help with issues. And all of my incentive payouts were accurate.

Through an unusual series of circumstances I became the most senior supervisor in the department.

Each supervisor has a lead representative to help them manage their team and develop them into leaders and future management. My lead was recently promoted to supervisor and is now my peer. Not only that, she was the unanimous favorite, and simply blew the other candidates away.

Our workforce supervisor's been out of the office for various reasons, and I happen to know how to interact w/the workforce system and data. I stepped in to save the day.

Noticing a pattern here?

So I've decided I'm going to get a raise to the tune of 20-25%. That's quite a bit, yes, but I'm no longer your average bear, I've proven myself head and shoulders above the rest of my peers, all of my peers have been in position (and largely in company) less than seven months, the state unemployment rate remains near to 3% yet we continue to be in the top three contact center markets in the nation. All of that works to my favor. I've informed my boss of this so he's well aware, and I've actually got another vice-president angleing to steal me away from him and essentially build a second contact center in the credit union - it would be mad hours like now, but the pay would definitely be there, and probably months sooner than what can be arranged where I'm currently at. So while the decision of stay vs. go isn't yet made, the decision of make more vs. not is definitely made - they only part about that in the air is will I start making that in one month or four.

So sorry about my lack of attention. It's just work. Back to my regularly scheduled blogging.