Preview Day and Day 1

Notes from Preview Day/Day 1:

- As soon as I get to the hotel and walk in the lobby, sixteen 16-year olds walk out of the elevator and attempt to count off to 16 to take roll - a task that turns out to be significantly more difficult than what it ought be. Evidently girl #14 was running late but it took them three times of counting up to 13 before they finally realized that A) 15 does NOT come directly after 13 and B) 14 was missing. Evidently it' a girl's club soccer team, not an Academic Decathalon team.

- I go to check in and they tell me I don't actually arrive until tomorrow, which I find rather comical seeing as how my mere presence proves them incorrect. This would prove not to be the last of the hotel bumblings.

- I decided to actually go to preview day rather than wait 3 hours for everyone at the hotel. I kinda wished I'd just waited, as even Preview Day was packed. I was sad.

- The hotel told me they were going to charge me $15 if I wanted to park in their parking lot. I hear that parking on the street right outside the parking lot, however, is free. I'm going with that plan.

- Greg was able to use the words "dongle" and "weewee" in sentences without having either of them refer to a penis in any way, or so he claims.

- After preview day ended we all walked to Seaport Village for eats. The problem with that plan is the majority of Seaport Village closes their grills at 9:45. We got there at 9:48. So the folks decided that hot dogs were the best idea at the time. Greg and I, however, opt for the In N' Out approach. We win.

- Seaport Village at night still kicks ass! What am I talking about...Seaport Village any time of day kicks ass! San Diego kicks ass! *Contemplates not coming back home and quitting work...*

And with that, I'm off

Time to head to San Diego. I'll post from there if I can and, of course, bring back more pics! :-)

Sometimes you get the tiger...

...and sometimes the tiger gets you. Last week I felt like the tiger caught me, mauled me, skinned me, ripped my limbs off, beat my torso with them, then devoured me. Reviews are due. A new sales database is set to roll out to the staff. Other projects are going on. I'm prepping to leave for San Diego. Oh yeah, plus my team has their normal needs I should be attending to. I've been pulling long weeks for a while now and hadn't had a weekend for just relaxing/fun in too long.

I should have done some work this weekend, but the thought of such activity made me cringe for fear of Le Tigre. So, I said to myself, "F it. F work. I'm having fun."

Cheesecake Factory and a bad movie with a lovely lady for lunch; boxing matches and drinks with an old friend for dinner; and games and movies all day long on Sunday, just chillin'.

Take that, tiger. Take that.

And yes, I'm posting at work and I don't care (one final thumb towards work before I become productive again).

Making wise choices vs. living in fear

For those that haven't heard it on your local news, there are two serial criminals - one shooter, one rapist, apparently neither of which work together - on sprees in the valley. You can read about it here if you like. What it boils down to is hundreds if not thousands of residents are staying inside or otherwise living in fear because of these two criminals.

Part of me says, "Shame on you!" People die much more frequently in vehicle accidents and in far more random, unpredictable manners than with these two criminals. Why would you just start changing your behaviors and living in fear now?

The other part of me remembers hearing the experiences of a rape victim related in more detail than I ever care to hear again. It remembers how much I hate the act of rape, how disgusting, violating, and vile it is. It thinks of how I would react if it wasn't just me, but my son or daughter that I was with - would I expose them to increased risk factors just on principle? I don't think so.

Gang violence...terrorism...random accidents. These types of things, in my mind, are nothing to be afraid of. To live in fear of them is to be held hostage in your own life. But this rapist guy...I look forward to the day he gets hauled in. And boy, he better pray that the authorities kill him - they're supposed to do so rather efficiently - because heaven forbid an angry husband or an incarcerated murderer gets to him first. Me, on the other hand, I hope he gets castrated by someone setting his testicles on fire.

I know, I know...it's not my place to hand down judgement and punishment, but I just have little compassion for those that do something so terrible.

About Psoas

Okay, before I let someone massage or otherwise touch a part of me that's likely to trigger a primal emotional mechanism and cause ridiculous pain, I might consider...say, LEAVING? That's not massage, folks. Nope. I don't care what your silly textbook says. Yeah, and if someone tries that on me, right after the blinding pain but pre-tear-filled-emotional release, ima go Marine Corps on their ass, rip their arm off, and jab it through their torso.

But I promise to curl up in a fetal position and feel *reeeeally* bad about it afterwards, though.

A few more pictures - Cute kidlets

Brittney Jo and her Niece...


And my neice Bailey...

AnimeExpo 2006 Pictures

For costumed people and cool statues, click here.

For pics of booths and displays, click here.

For pics of Downtown Disney, click here.

Enjoy!

A week of firsts

I've been told I need to blog. Fine.

It's occurred to me that this week has been a week of firsts. For the first time in my life, during the past week I've...

- Read and written in French (sort of)
- Grown a goatee
- Seriously ripped a peer of mine for the actions of their charges
- Pointed out logic/coding flaws in a vendor's program...to the vendor (it got changed on the spot)
- Caught a girl checkin' me out full knowing she was checkin' me out
- Been bored watching UFC fights (what a terrible UFC night)
- Started the top two picks of the whole fantasy baseball draft on my team
- Realized just how much I don't like where I sit, and that I really *do* like people being around me in the morning - even if I don't want them to talk to me

Nothing necessarily earth-shattering...just kind of a neat week.

(Yes, pictures from the trip are still coming)

Please See Cashier For Details

As seen above every door of the Flying J truck stop at the Ehrenburg exit on I-10...


I'm not even sure where to begin with this. I'm hoping there's some trucker reason why this would be posted because otherwise it just seems...well...who the hell cares about the threat level? Do they shut down Disney at level Orange? Does everyone just ditch the fueling station and join the trucker militia at level Red?

And the request to "Please see cashier for details"...yeah, in theory, this means they train their cashiers to debrief the public on terrorist threat levels, what those levels mean, and current threats. And somehow I just don't think that's reality considering they could barely type in how much my Mr. Goodbar cost.

I've been working since about 8AM...

and I haven't even left the comfort of my own home! :-) But now it's time to go into the office for a bit. Heheh...still, waking up and watching the rain outside your window from home and working w/free coffee and such is FAR superior than being forced to rush to get ready and fight rush-hour traffic in the morning. I win!

And we're back...

Made it home safely, even through the hecka blowing winds and all - I drove through three dust storms between Indio and the AZ Mile post 1/Erhenburg exit. I've never had to fight the wheel so hard in my life! Saw some cool fireworks (both electric storm type and real type) on the drive home, too.

Pics will be posted later. Gotta actually work now or something.

Day The Last

Booth again, but it's a short day. We've got lots of lurkers at the booth because they want to be here for the raffle (which really isn't necessary since we'll call them if they won, buuuuuuttt, whatever). K, gotta run before I get mobbed. Out at 3...woohoo!

Day 3 Interupted

Okay, take a freakin' shower, people! GHAaaaaAAAA!!!! SHOWER SHOWER SHOWER SHOWER WITH SOAP EVEN SHOWER SHOWER SHOWER SHOWER!!!!!

/end rant

Day 3

Finally, a full day in the tourney room!

- Buca, as always, was all kinds of good yummy food. Mmm...cheesy garlic bread, mashed potatoes, meatballs, salad, spaghetti....mmmm....

- We actually have participants today, but we knew we would. It's regionals!

- I'll get to hang out w/Sonny tonight so at least I'll have a little bit of home here. The funny thing is I don't normally miss home that much when I'm at conventions (and never miss the weather) but I *really* wish others were here with me. It's just not as fun w/o the friends here. Kinda like the holidays, but not quite as bad.

- Robotech has a CCG now...gonna have to check that out. The cards look too dull, though, and that's a big part of the gaming experience for me.

- Part of me wishes I was good at our game because then I wouldn't feel like an idiot when playing; the other part of me is glad I'm not good because the better I am, the more pissed I would be at these types of thing. I lived that nightmare w/.hack, not gonna do it again.

- Trevor and Jason, this might be my last year of official convention volunteering. You've got me through GenCon Indy for certain. GenCon SoCal and beyond...yeah, not sure.

- Just watched the Transformer movie teaser...nifteh!

- If I come to AnimeExpo in the future I *might* just cosplay my monk, Shade. Might. Would be easy to do.

K, more later.

Days 1.5 and 2

- I am woken up at 5:00ish last night by security because evidently some of my roommates had a malfunctioning key and couldn't get in the room, nor did they want to knock loudly enough to wake me. When the security guy asked if the folks belonged to me I nearly said "No," but I was kind and let them in. Then Sonny calls at 7:30ish to say he's in town early. So much for sleeping...

- First day tournament attendance = 6 total participatnts. We'll get more today and tomorrow, though.

- Today is my full day at the booth. Full days at the booth suck, but they're a necessary evil. Net connectivity will be slim to none today so you'll get more updates tomorrow.

- Still humid. Double boo.

Days 0 and 1

Got to Cali safely, albeit slowly (not happy about that).

Notes so far...

- This is the only time I've ever driven in/through Cali on open, non-rush hour highways that people *weren't* going at least 10 mph over the posted speed limit. Driving slow in Cali FTW???

- We're on the 12th floor of the 14-floor Hilton. Good for the view (which, by the way, is absolutely perfect for the Disneyland evening fireworks...will get some great pictures!); terrible for elevator traffic w/no air circulation.

- Jared Arthur and friends showed up at about 1:30 AM, waking me up to come in the room. I'm thrilled that "and friends" showed up because it looks like a few of our other vols might not. Sadly I still have to refer to them as "and friends" because I don't know their names yet.

- There should be a rule that you *can't* cosplay Aerith if you weigh more than 150 lbs, and you *shouldn't* cosplay her if you weigh more than 130. She was rather slight of build - to see her buff or hefty just looks weird.

- Our first tournament was supposed to start at 2:00 PM. The computer clock says 2:10 PM right now. Not a soul is here but me in our tournament room. Sad days. It's the first day, though...they'll show up.

- Yesterday went to the ESPN Zone after arriving, got their Black and Blue burger with a baked potato and a Newcastle...yum!!!

- It's mad humid here! Much worse than in years past.

K, more later as I'm able.

Time for a show

Well, it's time to head off to AnimeExpo. For those that are going, I'll see you there. For those that aren't...well, I'll see you back on 7/5. Feel free to buzz me on AIM if you've got my screen name since the messages will still go to my phone. I'll be sure to take pics so some of you can finally see what a real show is like (GTS is nothing compared to this). I'll miss ya!

10 things you might not have known

Okay, if Bojo is doing it then it *MUST* be cool!

1. I could read at a 2nd grade level prior to entering kindergarten and my parents didn't know it. I watched the same episode of Sesame Street three times a day which eventually went through all the phonograms and taught me to sound out words. Three year old logic: "If a big yellow bird that's taller than you are says it's a good idea to sound out words along with a giant brown mammal, you listen." I got sent to the principal's office the first day of school when my teacher found out, then later that week I was whisked away to the Ohio State University Psych. dept. to be analyzed and tested by various child psychologists and psychometrists - they wanted to see if I belonged in some special school. I don't know what my IQ tested at but it wouldn't have mattered if I somehow managed a score of 413. My parents were pretty not well to do and public school was very much my fate. For the most part that worked out for the best.

2. I have trouble asking for help. It's not out of pride - frankly, if I cared all that much about what others thought I wouldn't have survived high school. I was, am, and ever will be a dork. It's more that I know others have troubles of their own and I value self-sufficiency professionally, so to ask others to help shoulder my burden means I'm just adding to theirs which seems decidedly unfair. Strangely...

3. I'll typically put down whatever I'm doing and help you when I'm needed, particularly at work. If my peers are behind on something I'll become a freakin' Ironman triathlete He-Man and go at whatever needs done until it's finished. Of course my work tends to get left behind, but whatever. This probably comes from the homefront - having and living with a disabled father, my work gets set aside to take care of him when the need arises (an almost daily basis at the moment, but this will change in some months).

4. One of the best gifts anyone could give ever me is their presence. Time spent together. I firmly believe that we make time to do the things we really want done or be with who we really want to be with. That's not to say that we all prefer work more than family (although some do), but that there are two places you can look at a person's life and find out what's actually most important to them - their check register, and their life outside of work. Where a person's money and time go, so goes their heart, and unlike money, we have a finite, non-renewable supply of heartbeats and minutes on this earth which makes it far more valuable. The fact that someone would choose to spend some of those minutes and moments with me is a wonderful gift indeed.

5. I'm an author of sorts. Many of you know I write various non-fiction articles, but only a few of you know I also write short stories and poetry, concept novels, and have collaborated with other amateur writers. I've written about the wonders of a little boy, Stephen, and his family as they watch him play and discover; Alexander, a vampire from the Crusades; dancing ballerinas; a guy that grew up on the wrong side of the tracks; and other, less tame subjects. Typically the stories are written for specific individuals and as such aren't fit for publishing so no, you can't see them. They were gifts for someone else.

6. I dont' know what I want to do for a living. Beyond that, I don't know that it even matters what I do. I'm not nearly as concerned about what I do for a living, or in life in general, as much as who I do it with. I've been in awful occupational conditions as well as conditions superb, but both were enjoyable because of the people there with me. Hell, the place I work now can be a grinder, but I go in every day because there are folks there that I very much love and care about. They help make the rough days survivable. So does beer.

7. I love water that is there naturally...rain, streams, rivers, oceans....that kind of thing. Leaving California is sooooo hard because of the ocean, and that's part of the reason ComicCon is such a difficult show for me since the water is RIGHT THERE but I'm stuck inside. For my lunches (assuming I get one) I typically just get a pretzel and go outside and sit by the water for an hour. I'm just more relaxed, more open, like I feel more at home. One day...yup, one day that little place by the water will be mine. One day.

8. I've never taken Biology in my life. Ever. I took Chem and Physics in high school and Chem and Astronomy in college. My aunt is a retired biology and chemistry teacher; one day in 6th grade I was reading a book that talked about mitochondria and asked her what they were. I proceeded to get a two hour lesson on microbiology, cellular structure, DNA and RNA, amino acids, protein chains, and the like. I still have the notes in an old memorabelia box and remember just about everything she taught me. That one lesson combined with knowing how to procreate is all I need to know about biology.

9. I'm dyslexic. I didn't know it until a few years ago, though. A psychologist friend of mine noticed some curious spelling and reading errors and on a whim asked if I was dyslexic. "Nope." A couple tests later... "Yup." It's not major and hasn't really handicapped me in life. I'm sure none of my teachers remotely thought to test me because I always did well in school, but it does make sense out of a lot of deviations - I always had a heck of a time in spelling compared to other subjects, my reading speed was significantly slower than most of my peers, my reading comprehension standardized test scores always came back much lower than the other scores, I much prefer columns, articles, and plays to most novels because it takes me so long to read...stuff like that. And yet I'm an English major and taught high school English. Thanks, Mr. Soderman. Thanks for making your curse of a prognostication come true.

10. I sing. I was a scholarshiped singer in college and have won multiple small/local karaoke contests. Keep in mind my college was very small and most competitors at the karaoke contests were enjoying some level of drunkenness at the time so one shouldn't infer the quality of my singing from my experience, but I can definitely carry a tune. Some of my favorite music is acapella versions of pop songs...Goo Goo Dolls, Sarah MacLaughlin...stuff like that.

Vacancy

It's been over two years since my ex left, yet I *still* miss having someone there next to me when I roll over in bed.

Making friends with Vampires

Part of the reason for the non-caffeinated post below, and hence my largely non-caffeinated entire day, was because United Blood Services was on site at work taking donations. I donate when I can but I have pretty low blood pressure and tend to be a caffeine junkie so you combine the two and it doesn't go very well. So I've been drinking all kinds of water all day yesterday and today to help the process and, let me tell you, I'm sick of water. I'm a gamer, dammit! Lack of caffeine in the blood stream would be like being a vegetarian - you might be able to live like that, but it's just not the same. Give me my soda and my chocolate-covered espresso beans!!!

Make a vampire happy. Donate blood. Look up the Red Cross or United Blood Services or any other of the friendly local vampire services in your area. It's essentially painless and effortless, costs you nothing but 30-60 minutes of your life, and it might help save someone else's. Or even your own.

I HAVEN'T EVEN HAD MY COFFEE YET!!!!

Those who have worked or lived with me for any length of time (such as a single day) can generally pretty easily tell I'm not a morning person, and those that have worked with me at hte CU over the years are definitely aware. I've gotten better over the years at masking my disdain for morning but it's still very much alive.

It's 7:54 at work and the day hasn't even started, and one of my peers comes in and starts blurting out, "HI! How is everyone this fine and wonderful Friday morning?!?" blah blah SHUT THE FILTH UP!!!! I'm not much awake, it's not even the start of the day, and I haven't had my coffee yet!

Ugh...morning. Let's get this straight - it's not a good morning until 12:30 PM. It doesn't mean it's not a good day, but "good morning" is a dirty oxymoron.

Enter the Night...

June 21st - the summer solstice, and the longest day of the year.

Jun 22nd - the first day that nights start to get longer and longer...

I can't wait until the sun is already set when I close at work. Bring on the night!

Night > Day

Wicked!

I can't wait!

The funny thing is I submitted the winning bid three seconds before the auction closed! Hahaha...BITCHEEESSSSSS!!!!! Of course that also means I probably made an enemy here in the Phoenix but oh well...I'll be safe in the theater watching the show! Unless, of course, that enemy is a decendent of John Wilkes Booth. Eh. I'll take my chances.

Ode to my Nemesis

I was listening to a song the other day and the lyrics instantly sent me back to sixth grade...the first time I met my Nemesis. What a grand day...

In any case, I post them for your enjoyment and understanding.

(Please note, Colleen, that I know longer loath you. Now it's just pleasant contempt, respect, and general fondness. Or something like that. You can cut out that "whole life long" bit.)

What is this feeling so sudden and new
I felt the moment I laid eyes on you?
My pulse is rushing, my head is reeling
My face is flushing, what is this feeling?
Fervid as a flame, does it have a name?

Yeeesss!

Loathing.

Unadulterated loathing
For your face, your voice, your clothing.
Lets just say I loathe it all.
Every little trait however small,
Makes my very flesh begin to crawl,
With simple utter loathing.
Theres a strange exilhiration
In such total detestation.
It's so pure, so strong!
Though i do admit it came on fast,
Still, I do believe that it can last
and i will be loathing,
loathing you my whole life long.

And with a little luck, I'll be going to see this performed live. I'll find out tomorrow afternoon. Cross them fingers!

Depression

Residents of Seattle, WA and Columbus, OH areas tend to experience higher rates of depression because of how infrequently the sun comes out. Residents of the Phoenix, AZ metro area experience higher rates of depression because of this...

Stella and a 3" Steak

So we went to the Stockyards Restaurant yesterday - a very good but relatively unknown steakhouse - for dinner. I'd been there twice before for work lunches since it's just a 1/2 mile down the road and their lunches are very reasonable. On their menu I see a 12 oz baseball-cut top sirloin. I like me some sirloin, and the server says it's a circular cut with very little fat - woot! So I get that. Starts with bread, then comes the balsamic vinegarette salad, and then....then I see that they serve Stella Artois there (for those that don't know, it's a European-brewed beer). Now, this place has VERY Western American ambiance and is one of the last places I would have expected to serve Stella but I'm quite pleasantly surprised. So I ask for a Stella with my dinner.

Just a few minutes later, here comes my Stella and my steak...which had to be butterflied in order to cook it medium-well since otherwise it would have been a 3" spheroid!!! WTH??? It looked like someone would have taken a big ol' ice cream scooper to cut this thing! Baseball cut...no wonder. They weren't kiddin'.

Mmmm...Stella and a steak and potatoes....goooood!

And then we topped it off with white and dark chocolate mousse with raspberries.

I might not need to eat again until tonight at dinner. Still rather full.

Happy Father's Day!

Trevor, Mark, Bojo, Kirk, and all the others that might happen to glance at this whom it applies to...

Happy Father's Day!

Evidence of things unseen

There are things out there that we can't see. You can agree or disagree as you like, but it's true. Sometimes we just know they're there without much real explanation. Other times we have evidence of things unseen. Case in point - the wind.

You can't really see the wind, but we know it's there. It makes flags wave, spins windmills, creates ocean waves, and in Arizona it creates the phenomenon known as the haboob - a giant wall of dust that moves across a region. If you've seen Stargate (and I know many of you have), the storm that sweeps over the desert town is ushered in with a haboob. For those that haven't, or simply forgot what it was...

In any case, today a storm swept up from the south across the valley which is rather odd for this time of year...normally such things don't really start to occurr until mid-summer. In any case, I had just walked out of work and sat in my car when I saw the wall of dust just south of South Mountain (gee, where's that name come from?). Five minutes later, the mountain had been completely shrouded in dust and flying earth. It was almost surreal getting to watch the dust crawl down the folds in the mountain then spread out like fog...I'd never stared at the wall head on (normally you just kinda get hit with it or find yourself in the middle of one) and the mountain takeover was downright nifty to watch. But the dust and dirt didn't move itself, that's for sure. Only that which is unseen could create such a force that makes mountains disappear.

Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?

A new position was created at work - Project Analyst - that would be a feeder into Business Analysis and Project Management. I was looking at openings for a friend of mine when I saw the posting and was intrigued. I've seen what the analysts and managers at my company do and, in my not so humble opinion, with a little time and practice I could blow half of them away and hang with the rest. But to post out would mean to leave the team I took over just a few weeks ago...I took my previous team from worst to first in about 8 months and I intended to turn this team around as well. They're also probably going to be adding a manager to our department in the next year or two that I would be a prime candidate for (assuming I did well with this team which isn't such a huge assumption).

The problem is the acceleration of my career at the credit union. I've held four positions in 27 months there. That's not terrible since each was a promtion save for the most recent lateral move, but this would be a complete change in career path, and, politically speaking, a permanent one as far as my company is concerned. So do I stick it out where I'm at and go for the position that will be added in a year or two, or do I go where the opportunity for promotion will come sooner but likely dead end after that?

I decided to stay. I have unfinished business with my team and I don't feel comfortable leaving them in our current state. Besides that, there are people in my department, both peers and subordinates, that I've known for almost nine years and I'm not ready to leave them yet. We work well together, and that commeraderie and the relationships aren't easy to find or build. I still enjoy what I do, and I enjoy who I do it with (insert mom joke here). You can't hope for much better than that (insert another mom joke here) as far as work goes.

Baseball news

*hands Trevor a dustpan*

Hey Trevor, you wanna help us sweep up out there? Man, we handed you an L four games in a row at your park??? Wow. Sorry you had to go through that. But not really.

Of course Pujols going on the DL (crap...I really wanted to see if he could bust one of the records this year) doesn't help my fantasy team any so maybe Hobbiton has a chance to get back in it.

And this just in from Joe Morgan - a quote from his Sunday evening baseball broadcast of the Angels at Clevelend: "The 2nd Baseman's responsibility is 2nd base." I'm SO glad he gets paid for dropping such insightful nuggets of wisdom on us. I wonder if he's figured out yet that Who is on first.

The Ragnarok Family

When I've got time to kill, these are some of the folks I hang out with - the Genesis Guild. From left to right:

Reyna, Wizard - fun lil' gal out on the east side of the country somewhere. Took a break for a while due to grades and worked her way back.

Shade, Monk - This is me!!! I'm a hybrid monk, much more fun than serious character. I can heal and buff myself AND kick ass...sort of. If I ever get to 99 and rebirth I'll definitely do things a touch differently. I'm sort of the idiot of the crew that helps keep things fun. Kinda like in real life, the guildies often just look at me and shake their heads... But they know if they need me I'm there.

Rose, High Priestess - AKA Saveena. Orlando's g/f in real life, and wife in the game (yes, you can get married in the game, go on honeymoons, adopt children...kinda cool, actually). She's often the difference between life and death for me.

(Middle Front) Gyrick, Rogue - AKA Orlando. One of the coolest guys in the guild. He and Rose are out of the NY/NJ area. I make him laugh (a lot) and get him in trouble with his girlfriend.

(Middle Back) AC, Champion - AKA Yifan. The leader of the guild, and what I'll be after I rebirth. Christina's b/f in real life, and husband in the game. He and his g/f are also out of the NY/NJ area. He takes down some beefyness with single punches.

Chafrika, Priestess - AKA Christina. Helped my merchant a great deal along with Muffin who apparently still hasn't got her license yet (Muffin, not Christina).

Rikku, Assassin - She's...okay, she's one of the few people I've found in this world that can out-random me with great ease and even greater regularity. She pwns me and that's just the way it is. But much hella fun to have in the guild.

Ral Tafer, Crusader - Nobody really gave this guy a shot to be much of anything serious because of how he was building the character, but he's stuck out the long road and has slowly and steadly become one of the most dependable Sword n' Shield guys in the game. He and I worked extremely well together early on and is still great to have in a party.

Missing: Tellah, Priest - AKA Sonny. Husband of Izumi in game, and Pearl in real life. I'm the reason he plays this game at all. He's the reason I came back to it. Better at it than I'll ever be. I created a monster. He wasn't feeling well this night, though, and needed to try and catch some rest.

There's plenty more in the guild, but these are most of the regulars. These folks are the reasons my character is anything at all...one day I'll even get out to NY/NJ and see some of the crew!

Tattoo the Third

After having successfully fought off the urge to get another tattoo for a few years now, me thinks the time has come. Suggestions? Thoughts? Ideas?

And no, I won't be advertising for any CCGs out there with this new art no matter how many boxes of product you promise me (unless said boxes were filled with copious amounts of cash).

The "To Do" List

Years ago I started a lifetime "To Do" list and began to fill it with accomplishments that generally required more than just a couple days of work and effort, but were more process oriented. Some might call them "goals," but progress towards goals is usually measured and I don't much give a damn about measurement or progress or "action items" when it comes to my list. They're just things I'd like to be able to do before I die.

In 2001 my roommate in college commented on a quote he read - "People who write things down get things done." That sounds kinda nifty and my observations have found that to be true more often than not. It occurred to me today that I've never written down my list. It's time I took care of that.

My Lifetime "To Do" List (in no particular order at all)

1. Learn to play guitar as well as I can type.
2. Run in and finish the New York Marathon
3. Learn and speak sign language fluently
4. Own a Corvette
5. Travel
6. Have a little place on the waterfront and a small boat.
7. Compete on an organized volleyball team that I didn't organize or coach

Since I've never written this down before I'm sure I've forgotten a few things, so this is likely to be added to later. I dunno if doing this will necessarily help me accomplish any of them, but it doesn't diminish my desire to finish them in the least.

Mine Nemesis

As many of you know, my past doesn't like to stay there. Yesterday it found me again, this time in the form of the nemesis from my youth. From the moment I met her in 6th grade we didn't get along all that well, some days spitting such filth and venom towards one another that even Mike Tyson would say, "Damn, they're nuts!" She's the one that married me to my childhood love and wrote our divorce papers about two hours later. She's the one that disagreed with me on anything that mattered in the least...politics (what the hell...like that matters at all), religion, romance, entertainment, whatever. And she'd come up with some damn fine arguments, too. She was just always wrong. In fact, I dare say there's not 100 humans alive right now - and maybe not even ten - that have had more well thought out positions that were wrong. And that's really weird for a woman since they tend to be right. Of course I never dated this one so maybe that's why I was always right. Anywho, by the end of our senior years in high school we'd come to a point of mutual respect for one another, and the one project we actually worked together on landed our high school a $5,000 grant.

I noticed that earning the school money tends to cover up a multitude of absences.

In any case, she's my nemesis. And while she was never right (poor soul...), I'll say this much - I wouldn't be the same had it not been for her. She was, and probably will be to some degree, an intellectual honing stone and I'm thankful for the oportunity to have matched wits with her. The world better take cover if she ever figures out what she wants to do with her life. Or at the very least take notice.

For once, I'm even thankful my past found me.

Colleen, as you read this, take a mental picture. Store this one in your memory banks, email it to yourself, print it and send it to yourself in the mail, carve it in stone...just remember it. Neigh, savor it! It's the closest I'll ever be to admitting you're right about anything.

You've been linked.

Tucson Pre-Release Tourney Pics

Check'em out here. Enjoy!

Prescott Day Trip Pics

Click here. Enjoy!

The Wisdom That Only Comes From Prescott

Not long ago I spent the day in Prescott. No good reason, really, other than the fact that the thermometer was supposed to read 102 here, and it read only 82 there. That seemed good enough for me. It had been a few years since I've been there and, while the only real cosmetic changes I noticed were the new buildings, the make-up of the town seems to have dramatically changed. While laying in the shade in the park with my ladyfriend, these are some of the tidbits of wisdom I gleaned that can only be found in Prescott.

1. It's pronounced Prescott like buscuit.

2. Standing on your head is a good way to pick up chicks...almost as good as having a dog.

3. Giving away food in the park next to a big flag with a picture of the planet Earth on it is apparently the best way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

4. There are a LOT of hippies in Prescott!

5. The best way to grow a crop of weed is to not tell ANYBODY because if you do, chances are they'll steal it (since more than likely the one person you told also smokes weed...go figure).

6. There's a pot-smoking lesbian hippie commune in Prescott.

7. Pot-smoking lesbian hippies seem to enjoy saying "Mother Fucker" while reading poetry in the park.

8. McDonalds receipts taste the exact same as McDonalds hamburgers, which taste the exact same as everything else that McDonalds serves. I should know. One of the pot-smoking lesbian hippies told me so in her poetry. And then demonstrated en vivo.

9. "Pennies from Heaven" can evidently be very easily misread.

10. Prescott sun is still hot, but Prescott shade is WAY better than Phoenix shade.

The list goes on, but those are some of the highlights. Enjoy!

The 'dre days

I can shop for holidays for my folks pretty well and have done so for years. Christmas, Easter, St. Patrick's, birthdays...whatever. Not too difficult. Mother's and Father's day, however...those consistently stymie me.

For mom, much of the trouble lies in the fact that we historically haven't been the best of friends, nor have we ever spent a lot of time together (the latter being a partial function of the former). That's not to say that I'm not greatful. To the contrary, my mother's a wonderful woman and dedicated mother and wife. She wasn't around when I was younger, though, and we approach things from such opposite angles that our relationship has never been stellar. All that to say that I have little idea of what to get her.

For dad, he has no use for many of the typical "dad" type gifts due to his disability, and he already has ticket packages for three of the four major professional sports teams in the area. I don't want to get him the same things each year (he has a list of books and cd's that he wants that we typically draw from), but then again if he's asked for them I guess it's not too bad.

Given the fact that my parental situation is far from standard I probably should have seen such challenges coming long ago, but even if I did it wouldn't make it any easier. This year we did mother's day on Saturday because...well, because she wanted to. Kinda shot the weekend, but it's her day so no big deal. I ended up getting her a gift certificate to the Build-a-Bear factory. We'll see how that goes.

Tired

I hate it when I don't sleep well. Stupid too hot. Stupid dreams (not nightmares...just weird). And then I have to work off of limited sleep tomorrow because it's the day I switch from closing to opening shift and I end up lagging behind the better part of the day.

Bleh.


Oh well...at least I have Wednesday.

Hammer Time

Mom just hammered a bag of ice. Quite literally. She put ice in a baggie, set the bag on the counter, took out a hammer, and beat the crap out of the bag. There is no precedent for such activity in this household.

I'm afraid to ask, and I'm not sure I even wanna know.

But what if it could?

In the carpool van the driver typically has the radio tuned to an oldies station and this morning was no different. Shortly before we pulled into work the Beatles' classic "Can't Buy Me Love" was blastin' and I got to thinkin'...what if money *could* buy you love?

How much would it cost? How would it be packaged? Would it come in bottles? Bags? Vials? Trays? Flats? Maybe truckloads? Would it be sold by weight or volume? Would there end up being "brand name," "off-brand," and "generic" love? Could you get it flavored? Diet love? Who would afford it? Would there be an age restriction on who could buy it? Would they have to expand the DWI laws to those who were driving "drunk with love?"

If you could buy love, would things like cosmetics, cosmologists, and Cosmopolitan magazine be things of the past? Would "working girls" be out of a job? Would Latin American economies crumble? Would Russia and the Carribean still export so much booze? Would the companies comprising the Dow Jones Industrial Average be turned on their heads, if not replaced completely?

And what about different varieties? Could you buy love of the ocean or love of money (wouldn't *that* be ironic!)? Romantic love? Familial love? Puppy love?

Maybe it's better love isn't for sale. It seems to be more valuable without a pricetag on it anyway.

My Favorite Quote from this weekend

"You can't argue with intelligence!"

It was great seeing folks this weekend, and I can't wait for the summer season. Looking forward to 16+ hour days in the tourney hall...

(did I just say that?)

Me and My Peers

This is your brain...


This is your brain on drugs...

"To Be Continued" = Silent Treatment

I was watching House today (btw, Dr. House is like the modern tragic love-hate hero...it's great...think Sydney from Tale of Two Cities) and it ended as a To Be Continued. Now, that's the whole damn reason I don't watch shows like Lost or 24 or Prison Break until they're on DVD. I DETEST waiting for a damn TV show ending because I end up liking the show so much that I *will* keep coming back until I get my tidy little answers, thus bowing to the whims of the advertisements of corporate America and granting them victory.

Well...no, my reasons are far less idylic than what I just made them out to be...I'm just friggin' impatient and I don't like being a slave to the TV other than for sports.

In any case, it occurred to me that I hate To Be Continued as much as I hate the silent treatment. Dammit, be pissed at me, rip my head off, throw something at me, scream and yell and cry...whatever. I can handle all that. Just don't eliminate communication. I abhore that.

A First Time for Everything

I just submitted my first article to a real magazine today. I've had stuff printed online and in school and local and newspapers, but this would be my first national print publication. I don't really aspire to be a professional writer and it's not like it was a complex article - just a first cut/preview article - but it would kinda be a stamp of approval for an English major.

And a few extra bucks here and there doesn't hurt (which assumes the article actually gets printed...we'll see what happens).

Vegas Pics

So it's only been like a month since I got back from the Vegas trip. These pics aren't late or anything.

In any case, you can go here and view them if you want. There's only 16 of them that I posted and most of you that read this won't find them interesting. They're mostly just for family and friends that have little/no concept of what gaming conventions are. Or Vegas.

Pain

Why is it that I can suffer head trauma and only get a bump with little pain, but when I stub my toe it hurts like bloody hell?

(For those that might post anything resembling a legitimate medical reason, this is strictly a rhetorical question inspired by the blinding pain my small left toe recently experienced...)

Updates

I made a few minor changes to the blog...added some posts and included a few new links to the side.

Does anyone know if Kyle has a blog somewhere? If you talk to him, just let him know I said hello and I hope he's doing well.

It's still got a pulse, Chuck

I just saw open-wheel racing on CBS. Chuck, I hope you got to see it!

How can you be afraid of ET???

One thing that I distinctly recall about the friendship between Shannon and myself was her fear of ET (the alien, not Entertainment Tonight, although some might make a case that Mary Hart is one in the same). I, on the other hand, loved ET, largely because of Drew Barrymore's presence in the movie and claim upon my heart - yes I was smitten at age four - but ET was still cool in his own right. In any case, I came across another cutie gal at work that also has a fear of ET and it got me to thinkin...how can you still be afraid of ET?

Let's review.

ET never hurt anyone that was nice to him.
He's way smart.
He fits in with stuffed animals.
He'll trick or treat with you and not steal your candy.
His arms are toothpicks and his legs are like 9 inches long so you don't really have to be afraid of melee attacks, and even if he had a close-range weapon, all you have to do is walk quickly away.
ET can't give chase to you since his legs are only about 9 inches long - his 40 time would be something like 23 seconds. Think about it...if he starts barrelling down the trail after you at too fast of a clip his body is so proportionately long that eventually he'd just plop over because he's too top-heavy, and even more so if he does his go-go-gadget extend-o-neck trick.
He'll even chill with you and have a beer or ten!

These are not things to fear...these are things to cheer! Yup, I give ET my golden stamp of no-fear approval.

Moments and jelly beans

It seems to me that life is like a bag of jellybeans - a collection of brightly-colored moments, each of which fills you with something. Some are more pleasant than others, some are bigger than others, some are just filler, and some clearly impact the remainder of your life.

When I met my first Arizona friend is one of those moments.

I moved from Ohio to Arizona when I was 5. I only went through one year of schooling in Ohio; it was called kindergarten but techincally it was closer to first-and-a-half-grade. I was bounced between first-and second-grade classrooms during the day for reading and math, then took recess with the kindergartners. I didn't understand that this was unusual at the time, but I knew I wasn't exactly well liked. When I got to Arizona I had no family and no friends, and largely entertained myself with little trinkets and toys I opened on the drive out here (yes, we drove from Ohio to AZ and got here on a day it was 118 degrees).

The first day of school came up here and I was put in first grade. I knew nobody. We played soccer at recess...well, they played. I tried, but I didn't understand for the life of me why you couldn't pick up the ball inside the lines. I ended up committing several "hands" penalties not understanding what I was doing and instantly villifying myself. Then lunch came, and Shannon Ashenfelter, a blonde-haired, pig-tailed, blue-eyed cutie asked me to sit with her at lunch. We had pizza...the kind that was cut into rectangles and used powdered cheese. We talked - strangely I don't remember what the conversation was about - and she became my first Arizona friend.

I was a rather timid individual and, had she not befriended me, I strongly believe my young life would have taken a drastically different shape, one far less pleasant than how it's turned out so far.

My family only stayed in that house for one year. Shannon's family and mine kept in touch for a few years, then grew apart. As fate would have it, though, she was dropped back into my life for a brief moment at work a few years ago. My company ended up hiring her as a representative and when I saw her name on the new-hire list I almost fainted. Instead I smiled as all the memories came back. When she first saw me in the department she dropped her pen and her jaw, stared for a second or two, and said, "Oh my god, it's like I'm looking at a ghost." We briefly hugged, smiled, laughed, then went about our days. Eventually, though, I sent her a letter at work thanking her for what she did so many years ago, and I count myself extremely fortunate to have received the opportunity to do so.

We all should be so fortunate.

Choices

In my line of business I value someone that can make a choice. Most of what's done where I work can be undone if the need arises so I can tolerate a certain amount of mistakes in judgement, but I can't get refunded the time lost to indecision.

Make a decision, execute it, and live/deal with the consequences.

And yet to this day it will still take me up to a half-hour on occasion to decide what I want for dinner.

Irony.

Edmund Dantes Reincarnate

V is for rock on!

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, I'm referring to The Count of Monte Cristo and V is for Vendeta. I finally went and saw the movie and it more than lived up to my expectations. For those that might not have seen it I'll not divludge much of the plot, other than if you mix The Count with 1984 you've got a nice little summary.

And they just happen to be two of my favourite books!

Edmund is one of my favorite characters, if not my single favourite, in all the literature I've seen. I can only aspire to have the same skills to the same degree as he. It was great to see him in a new fresh setting.

The price of admission to see Edmund, however...now that's a different story. Nine dollars. Nine friggin' dollars to see a movie. Given the price of gas right now, that makes this summer's movie viewing a little more difficult since I won't be shelling out that much money each week to see a new one. Maybe I'll finally invest in a Netflix dealio.

And Reese's pieces. My favourite movie-watchin' treat!

News Fraud

Until recently I was under the impression that the "talent" on the news was so titled because they wrote their own stories (which are often largely biased and/or sensationalized). I didn't think many of them were all that talented writers producers, but whatever. Then I found out they don't even write their own stories for the most part and...yeah, not that I watch the news any longer, but now I really just don't care.

Talent? So now sitting there, lookin' purty, and reading someone else's half-assed crap is "talent?" Ugh. Whatever.

Here's an idea...someone go out and gather information, write it down for either me or yourself to read, and leave out any stupid sensationalistic nonsense. I can handle some mild bias, and if it's an editorial then bias is just fine, thanks. But for cryin' out loud, is there news out there that just speaks for itself? That doesn't need a pinwheel or fireworks to be good?

I'm actually kinda serious...if anyone has news sources they like that go easy on the bling (particularly bias towards any political party...i'm an issues guy, not a party platform guy), lemme know. I'm sure there's plenty of it somewhere but you just need to know where to go.

My children are a pack of wild animals (and I love them for it)

In my little neck of the woods at work there is one chief, six lieutenants (that'd be me), and depending on staffing levels somewhere around 55-65 worker bees who I affectionately refer to as "children." This has nothing to do with age, DNA, or paternal instinct, but rather the fact that they're just that damn whiney and needy sometimes, and many of them do things because they just don't know any better. And I love'em. I don't love what they do sometimes but when the rubber meets the road they're largely just quality individuals and I'm blessed to have them work for me...particularly when we stay open three hours longer than we're scheduled to and only have 80 minutes of lead notice to prepare for it.

In any case, my children tend to have lots of personal problems on the homefront. The vast majority are ages 18-28 and are dealing with school demands, parental challenges, childcare issues, abuses, addictions, and various other scourges. During the week they work hard and stress hard, then the weekend comes and...holy shit, it's like an orgy! They all have each other's cell numbers and myspace addresses and all that happy trash, so once Friday arrives it's not a question of IF there's a party, but more when and where. I took a look at their myspace network today and was definitely enlightened. I'm glad they all mostly get along, though. Many of them stress over the same things so it's somewhat theraputic (even if it is at the cost of vital organ function).

I also found out that, on occasion, I'm the topic of discussion amongst some of the folks at work. Evidently I've been known as "the hot supervisor" by some of the lady worker bees. This is flattering, to be certain, but I'm also "the only male supervisor" so I kinda take it with a grain of salt. Regardless, I'm told that some of the employees have had some lewd thoughts about me so now I can't help but wonder when I'm in meetings, "Is she listening to me, or just undressing me?"

I think I'm okay with both.

Your license to complain has been revoked

Anyone who doesn't have more blog entries per month than I do is no longer allowed to complain that I don't blog enough. License revoked.

(I blame you)

I'm just not that kind of guy

I'm a little shocked at some of the correspondance I've received regarding my post entitled "A Good Night" (two posts down). Those of you that know me and read this pretty much know or could presume that I'm not so much a kiss-and-tell kind of guy, and if I *do* tell, I'm not about to tell it like that. Yet I started to receive various emails and messags... blah blah disrespectful...blah blah cheauvanist...you make me sick...etc.

Are you kidding me? Even if I *was* speaking literally, this is the internet for cryin' out loud!!! Refreakinlax! This isn't CNN, The Wall Street Journal, 24, or something important like that. If you're going to complain about something, do it about something that actually matters. Besides, I'm not sexy enough to make something like that happen (yes, Hayden, I know we can all work on our Sexy index but knowing me I'd probably stab myself with one of those little mixed-drink swords in the attempt, so I'll just stick with the lovable dork angle...it's worked so far).

Anywho, here's the explanation. Read it and laugh, or at least quitcherbitchen.

A lady from work asked me to come over and help her move this unusually large box out of her apartment. She's a bit on the short side and the box is roughly 4' x 8' so I buzz over there to assist. When I see the box and the hall/stairs i have to navigate it through I shudder a little bit, so rather than carry it awkwardly I set it down on the stairs and ride it down to the bottom like a toboggan. So I rode her box.

After that was all taken care of we were just chillin in her apartment and she had a hole in her jeans at her knee. I started playing with the tear and she asked, "Are you fingering my hole?" Why, yes...yes I am.

It got late and I ended up crashing there. I was ready to just lay down on the couch and she said she would share the bed with me, so we did. So yes, I slept with her all night long in the same bed. All clothes remained on.

So that's it. All the "juicy" details you need to understand that the post was nothing more than a simple double entendre, and you can bet that if other similar situations occurr I'll post about those, too. I *am* that kind of guy.

I don't take myself very seriously. To think that others did...well, I'm not sure if that's sad or just plain funny.

All systems go...sorta

So work's been two steps shy of hell this week and of the 58 hours we were open this week, I was there for 54 of them. I could go in tomorrow morning and help but, given that this is my only reprieve, I doubt I'm going to. Fortunately by the end of this week they brought all the systems back up to about 80% capacity in the disaster recovery center but the backlog of work was a bit overwhelming.

It turns out that when you mess with people's money and tell them they can't have so much of it, they get a little miffed (read as: "I'LL KILL YOU IF I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!!!"). I still like my job, stressful as it's been, and they really do a good job of keeping morale up in these mosts stressfull of situations. Lots of food. Free massages. Grab bags-o-fun (no moms included, though). Little things that go a long way in keeping the nasties at bay. Plus I was surrounded by some great people...a great team of supervisors that I work with, great employees that were quick to pitch in and lend a hand, and co-workers that happen to also be friends, confidantes, and loved ones. It doesn't get much better than that.

I didn't exactly finish it well, though, and yelled at someone I care about just before I left. That's not like me. I wish I hadn't done that. Not fun.

A good night

I rode her box, fingered her hole, and slept with her all night long.

Good times!

(No mom's were injured during the creation of this blog entry)

Did I Just Hear A Cow?

That's the first thing I said as I was getting out of the moving van today.

Yup, it was a cow.

Moo!

That's how far my mom's boss moved away from civilization. No, it wasn't a dairy farm. Just his neighbor's cow. WTH?

Anywho, there are certain things one should do when moving such as clear out any obstacles so your movers don't trip. At this place, however, there were vacuum cords, plant pots, and fountains in the way. Good times! I nearly had a safe dropped on me when I ripped the power strip out of the wall!

One should also consider asking for help. We were moving an entire house, starting at 7 this morning. It was myself, the husband, and one of his employees. That totals three bodies - mom and the dude's wife were inside doing cleaning or rearranging or something far less tiring - to move a whole fucking house, including the appliances, safe, HDTV, furniture, and 250 lb concrete turtle (yeah, weerd). My hands are swollen from scraping against oak furniture all day long. There's still essentially an entire house-worth of boxes to move. I'm not going back.

Oh, and while this doesn't have anything to do with the act of moving stuff, if you're building a $400,000 house (in California the home would go for about 1.2M depending on the area) you should consider painting it a reasonable color, one that doesn't make your friends point and go, "Geewwwww!" when the first see it (aka white and lemon yellow...the surrounding area is far more neutral). The inside is immaculate and the floor plan is particularly intelligent. Too bad all the good ideas ran out before it came to the exterior. But still, they've got a killer house and I hope they enjoy it.

Business Vocabulary for 2k6

Normally I simply abhore forwarded emails, and I can count on my fingers the number of times I've actually deemed a forward forward-worthy and continued on the chain. This is one of those emails. For those of you that work in a cube-farm office building or the financial services industry, you'll definitely understand.

Essential vocabulary additions for the workplace (and elsewhere)!!!

1. BLAMESTORMING : Sitting around in a group, discussing why a deadline
was missed or a project failed, and who was responsible.

2. SEAGULL MANAGER : A manager, who flies in, makes a lot of noise,
craps on everything, and then leaves.

3. ASSMOSIS : The process by which some people seem to absorb success
and advancement by kissing up to the boss rather than working hard.

4. SALMON DAY : The experience of spending an entire day swimming
upstream only to get screwed and die in the end.

5. CUBE FARM : An office filled with cubicles

6. PRAIRIE DOGGING : When someone yells or drops something loudly in a
cube farm, and people's heads pop up over the walls to see what's going
on.

7. MOUSE POTATO : The on-line, wired generation's answer to the couch
potato.

8. SITCOMs : Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. What
Yuppies get into when they have children and one of them stops working
to stay home with the kids.

9. STRESS PUPPY : A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and
whiny.

10. SWIPEOUT : An ATM or credit card that has been rendered useless
because magnetic strip is worn away from extensive use.

11. XEROX SUBSIDY : Euphemism for swiping free photocopies from one's
workplace.

12. IRRITAINMENT : Entertainment and media spectacles that are Annoying
but you find yourself unable to stop watching them. The J-Lo and Ben
wedding (or not) was a prime example - Michael Jackson, another...

13. PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE : The fine art of whacking the crap out of an
electronic device to get it to work again.

14. ADMINISPHERE : The rarefied organizational layers beginning just
above the rank and file. Decisions that fall from the adminisphere are
often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were
designed to solve.

15. 404 : Someone who's clueless. >From the World Wide Web error Message
"404 Not Found," meaning that the requested site could not be located.

16. GENERICA : Features of the American landscape that are exactly the
same no matter where one is, such as fast food joints, strip malls, and
subdivisions.

17. OHNOSECOND : That minuscule fraction of time in which you realize
that you've just made a BIG mistake. (Like after hitting send on an
e-mail by mistake)

18. WOOFS : Well-Off Older Folks.

High definition static and presidential elections (in this case, they’re not the same thing)

My folks’ TV went out last Tuesday so the quest for a new on immediately ensued (dad really looked sad – like we had to put down the dog or something). The following day they brought home a 36” plasma screen flat panel HDTV. *YUM* Mom and I take it out of the box as dad starts salivating, and as soon as I hook it up, plut it in, and turn it on…static.

“Wow…even static looks better in high def!” says the paternal unit.

No, old man, it doesn’t. Well, maybe it does, but that’s not what he was looking at. The folks didn’t understand that HDTV didn’t mean what we were watching was high def. It just meant a silly little distorted picture of normal TV. See, they didn’t order the high def package from the cable company and dad would sooner pull all his teeth out individually with pliers than pay more to watch television. The TV went back the next day (insert “shot the dog” look here).

At this point mom starts doing research, visiting 5 different stores, talking to different people, looking up dimensions of boxes and televisions, reviewing articles about what the FCC intends to do with TV in the next five years…just to purchase a television that, no matter what, won’t cost her more than $500. Three days of this goes on over $500 when only four hours went into the original $2k purchase. The way she was stewing over this you’d have thought she was single-handedly choosing the next president of the United States!

Anywho, they finally got their TV, a 32” flat screen unit, and they are much pleased with it. Which, I guess, is pretty good considering that I’m not about to package up another TV and truck it back for them. It shows a clear picture and can veto legislation. Live with it.

I know, I've been a slacker

Yes, I'm keenly aware I've not blogged for a while. I've been pushing back my duties to my blog as going back to work after vacation really hit like a freight train. People keep telling me I should write more, though, and the blog is one of the few ways that I actually enjoy doing so on a regular basis so this isn't going away anytime soon...unless, of course, Google starts to charge for this thing at which point I'll drop it like it's a funnel web spider.

Note: Bah. Go figure. When I try to publish this a little yeller icon appears saying it couldn't connect to Blogger.com. Stupid free blog. I demand service!

Note 2: An hour later, it seems to work. Cheers!

Sorry for the delay folks

Yes, I'm keenly aware I've not blogged for a while. I've been pushing back my duties to my blog as going back to work after vacation really hit like a freight train. People keep telling me I should write more, though, and the blog is one of the few ways that I actually enjoy doing so on a regular basis so this isn't going away anytime soon...unless, of course, Google starts to charge for this thing at which point I'll drop it like it's a funnel web spider.

Bah. Go figure. When I try to publish this a little yeller icon appears saying it couldn't connect to Blogger.com. Stupid free blog. I demand service!

This wouldn't be news anywhere else

After 143 consecutive days without measurable rain, a fast-moving storm raced across California only to get to AZ and hit the e-brake for a while. We already broke our single-day rainfall record at the airport with 1.29 inches and counting (still 85 minutes left in our day here). Some places in the metro area even got snow, and up in the middle plateau areas (roughly 5500-6500 feet) they received 28 inches in 24 hours. Here's some pics snapped from around the metro area today...



This one is actually a palm tree with water on the lens...
Evidently ending 143 days without precipitation is enough for even horses to celbrate for...

Vegas, baby!

By this time tomorrow I'll be in Vegas, and by this time next week I hope to have pics of the trip posted somewhere for you to view. Of course, many of you will probably have been there yourselves, so I don't know that you'd be interested. In any case, I'll post when I get back.

You take the bad with the good, I guess

Good: Baseball, at least right now. I love spring training and the early part of the season, but (forgive me for saying this) I think baseball loses its mind in the post-season. But it's baseball.


Bad: Joe Morgan. I wish he'd get picked up by some station in Alaska that would be thrilled to hear his stories about Houston and Cincinnati because I just don't care about them.

I know why I'm good at this now

Back in 1993 a buddy of mine introduced me to my first RTS game - Dune 2. It was the predecessor of the Command and Conquer series... flawed in some respects, but the Dune engine itself was years ahead of it's time. In any case, I ended up spending hours and hours at a time staring at brightly colored little units on a screen doing this and that - whatever I wanted them to do, really - while enemy folk tried to blow up my work. At it's core, it boiled down to how quickly I could manufacture good guys and tell them to shoot at the bad guys. If I hit the ground running and got a good start, I won. If I didn't, I didn't.

It occurred to me that what I do today is largely the same thing. I spend my day staring at brightly colored little rectangles on a screen that represent people answering phones, email, and envelope items - or whatever I want them to do, really - while enemy folk (a.k.a. "members") try to either destroy our work or bog down my team. At it's core, it boils down to how quickly we can manufacture good guys and put them in place to handle the load. If we hit the ground running and get a good start, we win. If we don't, I'm fired.

Today General Patton himself couldn't have managed the war on the phones any better. Five people called in to start the morning. Short on captains (supervisors). Veteran employees performing less than efficiently. Key pieces of software going haywire. Over 22,000 new compromised cards. Credit cards being mysteriously reissued and cross-branded unbeknownst to the department that handles such things. Increased Monday call volume. Preparing more troops to switch to a new system without personel from Training. What, is that a bad day? Hmmm...lemme just move some of these brightly colored rectangles where they need to be, and move this back here, and put that over there, and...yup, there we go! Just as my boss sat down with his boss and his boss' boss to discuss the situation, the queue was cleared. "What back log of calls?"

I hear it's good to make your boss look good, and I owe it to Westwood Studios.

An Interesting Question

Someone at work came up to me today and posed this question:

If you had all your senses taken away but one, which one would you keep?

Something of a sobering thought, yes?

There were seven of us that were asked that and after a few minutes we all independently offered the same response. Take a look inside the comments section and see how yours compares.

A dark week

Every year annual raises are granted based on the two semi-annual appraisals our employees receive. The second one is based on the months of July-December, and typically delivered the last week of January. If an employee receives a rating of "Needs Immediate Improvement" they then have 30 days to turn around whatever deficiencies were stated in their appraisal. This week marks the 30-day mark for most of those employees. Some turned it around. Some didn't. The firings started Tuesday and haven't stopped yet.

I had to pull the trigger on one today. The decision itself was easy - about as cut and dry as they come. Even relaying the decision to her, although certainly not fun, went smoothly. The hardest part, though, was taking the elevator ride down to the bottom floor and escorting her out. That never stops getting awkward.

The joys of being in management.

This same week I find out that an employee of mine who's pregnant with her first child had one of the early ultrasounds on Monday. Not good news. Evidently there's something terribly wrong with the child's heart, and the doctors have recommended termination. If she carries it to term the child will need several surgeries over the first few months, and if it survives, they've said there's no reason to believe the child will live past three to four years old. A decision needs to be made in the next couple weeks, if not sooner.

Ah, the joys of being in management.

I really do enjoy my job and I love my team, but you take the bad with the good.

How Cool Would This Be?

I have to admit, I watched the closing ceremonies of the Olympics last night hoping to see a redux of the openers, waiting for that Mystery Science Theater 3000-esque moment where production became perfect blog material. It didn't happen.

But I'm not disappointed. Not in this case. Just before they aired the closing ceremonies, they displayed a condensed version of the mens 50km cross-country ski race in which Italy's Georgio Di Centa sprinted to the front of the pack...

Just to cross the finish line first in front of his countrymen and celebrate like this...
...and have 30,000 more of your countrymen cheering for you and singing with you as your national anthem is played because you won the gold medal.
By the way, the gold medal was presented to him by his sister, a previous Olympic gold medal winner, so it wasn't just in front of his countrymen but his family as well. It doesn't get much better than that - not only realizing the goal of previous four years of pain and hard work, but doing so in front of friends, family, and countrymen on your home turf while on international television.

That's good stuff. If that were me, I'd have balled my eyes out up on the medal stand.

It made me remember how much I missed my sister. I haven't spoken to her in about twenty months, and haven't seen her in a little over four years. Sad thing is, so much has happened in each of our lives now that I'm not sure the relationship would ever be the same even if we did start talking again. But god, how I miss her.

Sis, if by some chance you're reading this, I love ya'.

My First Meme...

Forgive me if I indulge myself a bit. I haven't done one of these before.

3 JOBS I'VE HELD: Inbound call center representative; Assistant Branch Manager/Supervisor; High School English Teacher

3 MOVIES I COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER: The Blues Brothers; Tombstone; The Matrix

3 PLACES I'VE LIVED: Columbus, OH; Phoenix, AZ; Payson, AZ

3 FAVORITE TV SHOWS: Football; Sportscenter; The Simpsons (I needed at least one non-sports show, although NHL and college hoops are both right there)

3 VACATIONS I'VE TAKEN: Catalina Island; Oceanside, CA; Disneyland; Vegas; GenCon Indy. That's five. Sue me.

3 WEBSITES I VISIT DAILY: Every blog/link listed to my right; ROEmpire.com; yahoo.com

3 FAVORITE FOODS: Pizza; creme brulee; baby back ribs.

3 PLACES I'D RATHER BE: In a condo by Santa Monica Pier or Newport Beach; In a home next to a stream in the woods; in the rose garden of our back yard on the hill overlooking the ocean with the one I love watching the sunset.

V is for "I wanna see this movie"

I'm quite intrigued by this movie. I haven't seen a lot of trailers/info on it and I want to keep as fresh of a mind as possible before I see it, but The Wachowski Brothers didn't let me down with the Matrix trilogy (yeah, yeah, they got worse as they went on, but still much fun to watch). Kinda looks like D'artagnan meets 1984.

And I likes me some Alexandre Dumas.

(Come to think of it, I like most French novels and poetry I've read...)

(Yes, I know. 1984 isn't French.)

American Idol (not the music kind)

As a culture, America has largely outlived the idea of mentorship. For the most part we no longer make our employees complete an aprenticeship prior to graduating them into the real workforce, and we continue to have dual-income families which leads to kids at home alone more frequently. While, to some degree, I can see we've sacrificed some of these practices out of perceived necessisty, the more our young folk lose contact with responsible, upstanding adults, the more we leave the future up for grabs.

By and large, whether we like it or not, many of us are who we are because of what we learned from our parents, caretakers, teachers, or coaches...our own personal American Idols, if you will. Of course rarely did we adopt or reject practices consciously...more often than not we simply observed what our folks did over and over again, then when we faced a similar problem/situation, we fell back on our knowledge base - whatever we'd observed in life - and acted in kind (or in the oposite manner if that's what our observations told us might be better). Put that into real life. I'm no saint, but I largely am who I am because of my parents and my youth pastors. Much of what I know about computers came from watching others. Much of what I know about judging came from watching others and listening to others. Almost all of what I know about teaching comes from having been taught by the best our district had to offer. I'd be willing to bet that, when you peel away all the other stuff, almost all of you are largely the same.

And who/what are our young people around now? Parents are away, so we have the TV and internet to acompany them. We're short on good, qualified staff and becoming more "efficient" with our funds, so computer-based training has become much more prevelant. And many of the best veteran teachers are retiring soon, while some of the best would-be educators are being priced out of the market because a teacher's wage can barely support an individual in many areas, let alone a family.

I was one of the lucky ones. I had two loving parents to raise me the whole way, along with caring teachers and pastors as significant supporting staff. I'd encourage all of us to do the same for the young people we're around, especially teens. Not coincidentally, many of us go to tournaments or conventions where we're around that crowd. By no means am I suggesting that we all have to turn on our halos and walk on eggshells. I'd just hope that, in some way, be it coaching, mentoring, training, or whateva, we've all passed on some of what we know to those younger than us so that they can carry on or even best whatever success we've had in our lives.


Except for Kiki. Please, somebody lock that guy up before he corrupts an entire generation...

Who Am I?

You tell me. Let's see if we agree.

What would I buy

The Powerball Jackpot is $300M+ right now. Yes, I bought a ticket. But the weird thing is that, materially speaking, I don't really have a lot of wants.

The biggest would be a little place of my own by the water - preferably the ocean, but even a sea, lake, or stream would be fine. And a Corvette to park in the garage. Of course I'd pay off all my debts and those of my family (I hardly have any family so it really wouldn't take much). And I'd pick up a few gadgets...a laptop, a new stereo, and maybe a cool little football-and-dvd-watchin' theatre system. But after that there's not really a lot that I want as far as "stuff" goes. A lot of it would probably end up in various investment accounts so that there's no shortage of living money down the road. That's no to say I couldn't or wouldn't spend a-plenty, though. I'd love to go traveling and I'm sure I'd find stuff to buy as I went around the globe, and with that kind of money a little impulse buying won't kill me. Although, since I could afford to hire an outstanding hitman, it might kill someone else.

Hmm...maybe I'd see if I could become a minority owner of a team in each of the four major pro sports leagues...

(and to those that would point out that the actual cash value of the Powerball jackpot taken in lump sum after taxes is only around 75M, I say "Lemme dream. You STFU.")

Bleh

Sometimes you could just use a drink.

Maids of the world rejoice! The future is now!

Those crazy Brits...what will they think of next?

There's even a broom controversy!!! I love this sport!

A case for broadened drug testing by the IOC

Clearly performance-enhancing drugs, HGH, and other blood-doping substances have tainted the national and international sports scenes. From Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGuire, Jose Canseco, and Bonds (don't even try to tell me he didn't juice) to East German lady swimmers testing positive for "male," Bode Miller's stoned and hungover downhill runs, the USA and Canadian track team scandals...the list goes on. The IOC has done a fair job of testing as rigorously as reasonably possible to clean the assorted sports and games, but I contest that their scope isn't yet as wide as necessary. As evidence, I present the following pictures...



What part of "Dude, you should light your back and head on fire and go skate around out there with a space helmet!" sounds like a good idea? Note: the creators of this costume appear to be fans of Spiderman; it smacks of the Green Goblin. But red.



Apparently this fellow needed a fix bad enough to dress up like a cow. In this frame he's having second thoughts...


...but, alas, his dependency takes hold of him.

Although you can't tell very clearly from this picture, they put men in the trees and made them dance around. Clearly this scene was evoked by a similar LSD-induced episode out in the forest...dancing trees with dancing cows...


I haven't the words...


Acid-tripping during a biology video, me thinks...


Okay, now this looks like somethign I killed in a video game last night. Or a circa 1980's punk rocker, sans the black vest.


They even go so far as to showcase the Swiss weed-smoking team! Biggest bongs I've ever seen. Note the man on the left is holding it in for effect, while the man on the right is ready for another hit. Can I get a "Reeecolaaaaa", anybody?

This is an outrage! Contact your local Olympic delegation official today and demand drug testing for the opening ceremonies! And if that doesn't work, take it straight to the IOC. I hear bribes work well (case in point - 2002 Winter Olympics landing in Salt Lake City). If you send cash, though, be sure to include a note saying them's for spendin' , not for smokin'.

All's well that ends well

Here's to the Bus...I'm glad you got your championship and happy to see you go out on top!

And now that the big game is over, here's one of my my favorite short films from Super Bowls gone by:



Do I love what I do? Hell yeah....

The most decorated microphone ever

A buddy of mine called me up yesterday and said he had a spare ticket to the Lenny Kravitz/Aerosmith concert tonight and asked if I'd like to go. Granted, I'm not the world's biggest fan of either band but when you get a free ticket offered for something like that, you take it. Or at least I do. So I did.

Good times. Kravitz played a lot of his hits from the past 5-10 years, while Aerosmith largely focused on their classic hits from the 70s and 80s with only a couple songs from 1990+ thrown in. Here's some observations:

1) Steven Tyler might just be the only man on earth that can wear multiple brightly-colored and/or patterned silk scarves and not be accused of being homosexual by the American public.

2) Tyler was using a wireless microphone so he could trapse around the stage and surrounding "piers" that spiked off, but when he went to remove it from the stand he couldn't - it was tied in by multiple brightly-colored and/or patterned silk scarves (for real!) so he had to just carry the microphone stand with him everywhere he walked.

3) While Tyler was walking through the crowd ladies proceeded to throw their panties at him - a tradition long held by lovers of rock stars and Wayne Newton/Tom Jones. That got me thinking...as much as the idea appeals to my love of the ladyfolk, if girls threw their thongs at me while I was walking around work, I don't quite know what I'd do. I suspect I'll never have to worry about that, so let's move on.

4) A short-sleeve, cotton concert T was $35; long sleeve was $55, hoodie was $75. I thought they maybe just forgot to switch out the price buttons from the hockey game last night, so I got in line to ask. They didn't forget. I got out of line and went back to my seat.

5) There was quite a variety of ladies there, ranging from 16-60, and from trailer trash to stunningly beautiful. And I saw more breasts there than I really cared to. Many of them were decades old and hadn't seen a bra since the training bra they wore 40+ years ago. I think I tripped on a couple of them. But there were definitely some good ones, though; and if you like breasts (and I know that many of you are big fans), it was a good concert to be at.

6) I've never heard of tailgating after the event, but evidently I was in the minority. I saw more people sitting on the back of trucks after the concert workin' on a 12-pack than I really wanted to. My only consolation was that they were drinking in a parking lot and NOT on the roadways.

7) We haven't had rain in almost 110 consecutive days here, but it was still f'n cold outside after the concert.

8) Kravitz put on a great opening act, and his band sounded far superior to Aerosmith from a tech/accoustics standpoint. Aerosmith had the guitars so loud that it simply pushed the red line so the vocals were largely indecipherable, the lead guitar became distorted (not the effect kind, the crappy kind) and 1/2 the mic's on the drum set were effectively rendered useless.

9) As good as Kravitz' band sounded, I had to continually get up and stand behind a wall in the concourse. The bass drum was hitting so hard that my heart started palpitating as bad as it ever has, and I now start to wonder if it's time to finally go on medication for it.

10) Steven Tyler's lips have got to be some of the widest and loosest around (kinda like Hayden's mom's - you can put that in the blog if you like). He can still whale on the vocals but at some points I swear he was attempting to ingest a watermelon whole.

Just when you thought football was over...

The arena league saves the day!

GO RATTLERS!

(It doesn't end, Shannon.. it *never* ends!)

Deliverance (Not the movie kind)

(yeah, dem backwoods boys is weird folk - insert "dueling banjos" riff here)

My new phone was delivered to me a little after 9:30 am this morning - well done, DHL! - and the phone was activated shortly after that. Thanks for your patience over the past couple of days. :-)

Good - Same model, updated firmware

Bad - Missing contacts :-(

If you're reading this and have previously provided me your phone number, it's a safe bet I don't have it any more. Please do me a favor and either msg me, IM me, or email me with your cell numbers (for most of you, I already have your work numbers where applicable).

LOST

Whatever you do, don't lose your cellphone. Evar.

The good news is no account numbers or terribly sensitive personal info was in there, and I got my phone number suspended quickly. I also have that phone replacement insurance so I only have to pay a $50 "deductible" vs. a $225 new phone.

The bad news is that I lose my contacts list, I have to wait until Friday to get my phone back, and I was going to be getting a new phone in March anyway. So now I have to pay $50 for a phone I don't really want, then pay a couple hundred later for a phone I actually want. Plus I have to call and file a police report just because the insurance place needs a report number - and you wonder where our tax dollars are going to. Yup, that's right. It's paying the cop to sit his ass down and take my report so I can get a name and number to get a new freakin' phone that I don't really want in the first place.

Damn, do I love bureaucracy. You'd think that I might start getting used to it now that I've been in management for a while...but no. It's still just a bunch of litigious crap and I hate it as much as I always have.

Kirk, you got your wish.

You begged all year for someone to beat USC. You got your wish.

So are you sayin' "Hook'em Horns!" now?

(I hope not)

Bonus

Management gets an annual bonus on top of their raise. I just found out they're doubling my bonus this year.

Double bonus is good.

And I think they give it to the manager's at the end of the month as a carrot to actually work through the end of the month when the employee reviews are due. Otherwise you'd get a LOT of managers tendering their resignations on 1/16 every year.

I enjoy my job, but the work this month sucks, and right now my desk is working with only half the normal staff, so...yeah. If you hear about someone plummetting to their death off the Emerald Palace, just check to make sure it wasn't me. At least until February, when things start to become more sane.

Pictures

I've never been much of a picture guy. I always hated taking pictures because so many came out crappy but you still had to pay for them, and I generally don't much enjoy looking at pictures because...well, it's just not the same as being there. My friends and family don't really understand what it is to be at a convention, though, and they'd like to see some pics; and some folks that check out the blog are interested in seeing some of the folks here, so for Christmas I figured I would take some money and get me a relatively cheap digital cam. My folks one-uped me, though, and bought one for me along with a new printer (which I know they got for free because my parents are "frugal" but, even as decent as my printer is, this free one is still way better), so the deed is done. Neet. So now I've got this camera but no convention until May, and I really have little idea at all about what to take pictures of? Any thoughts? Requests?

I figured maybe I'd take a picture of the sun and post it up here for Mark in case he forgot what it looks like, but that's just mean (truth be told, Mark, we *really* need that rain you're getting up there - we're on a 90+ day rainless streak).