Nobody told me

I just love this bit.

2009-03-19T16:18:00.002-07:00

I don't know who or what exactly Tracy Morgan is spoofing with this bit, but it's hillarious. I'd love to get the complete back story. Anybody know?

Click here for the mpeg.

I had to see it.

2009-03-16T16:45:00.004-07:00

Warning: I will be discussing major plot points, and the ending. So if you have not seen the movie yet stop reading.

I have this theory that the more hype I hear about how great a movie is, the more disappointing it will actually turn out to be. I was delightfully surprised in 1995 when, after several months out in the theaters, I finally let a friend drag me to see Forrest Gump. That movie lived up to the hype. It was that good.

I was also pleasantly surprised two months ago when I went and finally saw Gran Torino. Again, a great story that ran the gamut from hilarious to heart-breaking. Well done.

But my first thoughts after walking out of the Slumdog Millionaire theater (actually before I even walked out) were that this story was not "believable." And the lack of believability was at many levels. Perhaps I'm just a naive American who doesn't understand the horrible lifestyles that the rest of the world lives in. If so, then the world is in greater trouble than I thought (and I already thought we were in a great deal of trouble as it was). But, even aside from the horrors of the children (which, honestly, I'll have to do some research on), there were so many things about this movie that I just didn't buy.

First and foremost... If I've just spent the night being tortured (...and I don't mean lightly tortured, like being smacked around a little bit. I mean really harshly tortured by near drowning, and then being strung up to hang while electrodes are run through me...) If I've spent the whole evening and next day going through that, and then find myself sitting on national television with millions of people watching later that evening- the first words out of my mouth certainly are not going to be "Yes I'm ready to play for more money." They're going to be more like, "I want the world to know that you had me tortured last night you sadistic bastard!"

Also, how many times did that guy "go back" for his girl? If you're infatuated with a girl (or, ladies, if you're infatuated with a guy), and you have to go back again, and again, and again, and again... and again to win her back- she ain't worth it! And I didn't buy the convenient ending, either. If his purpose for going on the show was to find his long-lost girl, then why did he wait until the end to call her? I suppose one could argue that the more he won, the more attention he knew the show would get, and therefore he waited so the viewing audience would build. But what if he missed a question and got booted off the show before getting to use his phone a friend lifeline? That was an even bigger gamble than the questions themselves were. Nope, I just didn't believe any of that.

The realistic movie would have lasted 5 minutes. It would have been some kid on the millionaire show being introduced by the host... "Well, Jamal, why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"

"I'm an 18 year old kid who has been through unmentionable horrors! My girlfriend was kidnapped and forced into prostitution as a child! I haven't seen her in years, and I know that she is being held by organized crime lords! Latika, where are you! I love you, and I want to rescue you! Help police- didn't you hear me? My girlfriend was kidnapped by the mob!"

Now, aside from the plot holes, there were other things that I just didn't like about this movie. It was two hours of exposure to a story of how misguided children can grow up to become gangsters. Halfway through the movie I found myself thinking, "How is this movie any different from (Brian De Palma's 1983 Al Pacino film) Scarface?" Both movies had me feeling that I wasn't being shown any positive values at all. They were both just bad stories about how a bad person grows up realising the benefits of being bad, and as a result gets worse until he meets his demise in a spray of bullets. I never saw the appeal of Scarface. I never understood the infatuation with that evil rise to power. Why is that entertainment? If I didn't like seeing a grown man go through it, why would I have any interest in seeing some little kid go through it?

If the movie was supposed to take place in the present, then the horrible things this kid went through in his childhood were just 10 - 15 years ago. I am going to have to do some human rights research into recent Indian history and see if there is any validity to the claims that this movie makes about the horrible lifestyle in that country. I think I'll start with the Amnesty International web page and see what they have to say. I respect that organization. If you are curious as I am, then you can read what they have to say here.

Long story short: this was a two hour ordeal to sit through. A long, slow, depressing story, with unrealistic, unbelievable circumstances, and a neat, tidy ending that honestly just didn't work.

(And what the heck was with that Thriller video in the end all about?)

I was disappointed. Slumdog didn't fly. The real best movie of 2008 was Gran Torino.

time killer

2009-03-07T15:17:00.002-07:00

I have to admit, I've been playing a lot of the video game Left 4 Dead lately. I bought it for myself as a reward for passing my Network+ exam, and it's been nearly two weeks now. What is so appealing about running around a city shooting zombies? Dunno. But apparently I'm one of many, many other people who are enjoying it, too.

The game itself is a system hog. It took forever to download and install the thing. Then it said that my video card driver was out of date, and made me download the latest one of those (took just shy of forever, too). Once I got it up and running it was fun, but the on-line servers seem pretty weak. I'm constantly getting booted off line and dealing with lag issues. I thought that upgrading my RAM might help, so I went from 1gig up to 2gigs, but it's not much better. I think maybe the weak link in the chain is my processor. The minimal system requirements suggest a 3.0Ghz Pentium 4, mine is only 2.8Ghz. Still, I thought that by doubling my RAM (up to twice the recommended requirements) would be some help- apparently not.

Also, you are forced to download this additional software from Steam, which is used for on-line play. It controls the servers and multi-player aspects of the game... But I don't like it. It is also a system hog, and I am constantly turning it off after game play (which I don't like having to do).

None of this is detracting from my amount of game play, though. I play this thing for hours at a time. Any of my blogging friends players? If so, let's meet up for a game!

Bobo, you've inspired me.

2009-03-03T18:41:00.002-07:00

My on-line friend Bobo, The Wandering Pallbearer, has a habit of photographing his meals and posting the pictures on the internet. Not sure why, but what the hey.

Recently I discovered the Weinerschnitzel #5 combo meal (chili cheese dog, chili cheeseburger, fries, and a soda), and wanted to share it with all of you. I always add a second chili cheese dog to the combo. I must say, that's a whole lot of really good fast food (although my local Weinerschnitzel is anything but fast), made even better with the addition of chili.

Gotta go... hungry!

Get back on that horse!

2009-02-26T17:52:00.003-07:00

I took, and passed, my CompTIA Network + certification exam on Monday. You might think that I was immediately elated, but that was not the case. I spent 6 months preparing for it, and walked into the testing facility with a certain confidence. From the very first question, though (and there were 90 of them) I felt like I was in over my head. I was quite surprised at how many of the questions threw me. I barely passed the thing and, in fact, had myself convinced halfway through that I had failed it. At the end when the screen came up with the message "Congratulations! You passed." I was very surprised.

I think I know what happened. That test is updated every two years (or so, depending on what CompTIA feels like doing). When I bought my study material it was based on the 2005 test standards, which I was assured was the most up-to-date material. When I scheduled the test, however, I noticed that it was the 2007 version. I didn't worry too much about that though because I had been assured by the study material people that I did have the latest study guides. I even researched the test on the CompTIA website. They confirmed that the test was updated every few years, but that if it was between updated years that candidates should study the last updated material (again, the 2005 version).

I don't know if CompTIA came out with a new revision (the 2007 revision) between when I bought the material, and when I tested. But that seems unlikely, because I bought the material in November 2008, and the latest news then was that the test was going to be updated again in June 2009).

Bottom line- I felt overwhelmed by that test. And I'm sure that I had not studied the latest material. So, while I should have been thrilled for passing the thing, I actually walked out of the testing center angry because my score was so low.

Now, I know myself pretty well, and I know that when I am angry it is best to keep my mouth shut and deal with the situation later when I have calmed down (it took me a looooong time to learn that lesson, but I did finally learn it). Anyway, as a result I have not called the company (yet) that sold me the study guides. I'm still a little too upset to do it just yet, but I will probably call them next week. I want to make sure it never happens again. 6 months is a lot of time to put into studying for a test, and then almost fail it.

I passed, though, and got my certification. Now today (after a few days of ignoring it) I started posting my resume again. It's been a tough few months, not just for me but the whole country, with the banks crashing and the unemployment rate shooting up so high. I feel like I need to be telling myself, "Get back on that horse!"

Glad I passed. Glad I have the opportunities that I do. Gratitude.

A little nostalgia, anyone?

2009-02-26T17:02:00.003-07:00

Well, since this is officially my 101st post on this blog, I thought I’d make it meaningful. For two years I served in the US Army, in the 187th Infantry Regiment (“Rakkasans!”) with the 101st Airborne Division / Air Assault. Ironically, this was the same unit that my father did his early Army training with (way back when dinosaurs and dirt were new). So it has always had special meaning for both of us. I can’t see the number 101 anymore without it having significant meaning for me, so I thought I’d share that little tid bit with all of you.

God bless America, and all of our troops overseas.

For some reason, this is how I feel tonight.

2009-02-21T22:38:00.003-07:00

"Ironic, isn't it Smithers? This anonymous clan of slack-jawed troglodytes has just cost me the election. And yet, if I were to have them killed, I'd be the one who would go to jail! Well, that's democracy for you."

"You are noble in defeat, sir."

Okay, I have a big test scheduled for Monday. I just took a practice test, and barely passed. I guess that means I need to brew a big pot of coffee and hit the freakin' books some more!

(How's that for my 100th post, huh!)

PS... Happy Birthday to Melissa's liver. Love you both.

I need to put a plug in for these guys.

2009-02-21T13:26:00.003-07:00

The Chad Vader series from Blame Society Productions is hilarious.

Well, it's hilarious to me. I suppose it might not be hilarious if you're not a die hard Star Wars fan. I showed it to a buddy of mine who was not a Star Wars fan, and he did not think it was funny.

Anyhow, they are all over You Tube if you just type in Chad Vader. They did a whole "season" last year, and have just started their second one. Every now and then they'll do a series of side bits, which are also very funny (again, if you're a fan of the series, I suppose).

You can watch the latest one here. It's Chad doing his versions of all the movies nominated for Oscars this year.

Enjoy!

Sat through it.

2009-02-20T17:42:00.004-07:00

Well, couldn't find a friend interested in going to see the new Friday The 13th with me, so I went and saw it myself this afternoon. That's two remakes in one week! And a remake is what this is. The original Friday The 13th (released in 1980) had so many freaking sequels (countless) that it became almost a joke. Okay, it did become a joke. But this is not another sequel, this is actually a remake of the original first film. Technically, for you horror-geeks out there, this was a remake of the first two films, with a major emphasis on the second one (which was the first one with Jason as the main killer/character).

The one piece of genuine appreciation that I think this remake deserves is the fact that the first 20 minutes go by really fast. So fast, in fact, that I thought we were approaching the end of the movie, only to discover that it had been a pre-feature teaser (if you will) for the much longer second part of the film. That was well done. I didn't see it coming. Somebody (the director, the screenwriter, somebody) deserves credit for that.

I am a horror film fan, I have to admit it. And the Friday The 13th series was huge when I was a kid in the 80s. A few years later, in college, I worked at a Blockbuster Video between semesters in the early/mid 90s, and I made it a point of taking one of the films home each night until I had watched them all. Sometimes I would watch them alone, sometimes I would take them over to my girlfriend's place and we'd make out while watching them... The latter was always a much better scenario.

Honestly I lost count of how many sequels there actually were (and I think most people have). But I have watched them all, one a night, back to back, and I can tell you that they are pretty lame that way. There's no waiting or anticipation for the next sequel to be released, and the first 15 minutes of each film is always a recap of what happened in the last film. So, if you just watched the last film last night, it gets old pretty quick. Also, they stopped even trying to be creative with the many different ways that Jason comes back to life each time. Toward the end of the sequels, they were just ridiculous.

"But, Joe, those movies are ridiculous! All of them! That's what horror movies are all about." Yeah, I hear ya. But watch them all straight and you'll see what I mean. Ridiculous hits whole new levels you didn't even know existed.

There was a long period of time there where they didn't release any more sequels, and then one year they came out with one that takes place in the future, called Jason X. (I think the X was a reference to the new Apple MacIntosh operating system by the same name which had been released just before, and was all the "new" rage in computers that year, because they had certainly surpassed 10 sequels by that point). I honestly can't remember if I ever went to see that one in a theater, but I did buy the DVD and still throw it in from time to time when I want to laugh at the idea of squeezing what last few breathes of life there still might be out of a horror movie dynasty.

This remake was... Okay, I guess. I mean, it was horrifically violent. But then, back in 1980 when the original came out that one was considered horrifically violent, too. Although, if you watch the originals now you will undoubtedly laugh at the campiness. And, of course, they leave it wide open for a sequel, which is only fair, since it was this movie that really stretched sequel making to the breaking point. I mean, over a period of 25 years George Lucas only came out with 6 Star Wars films, which is piddly in comparison to what Friday The 13th did.

Will I go see the next one? Maybe. If I can find a friend who wants to go with me. But honestly, it just wan't fun sitting in that theater by myself this afternoon. And, another thing, there was a single guy sitting two rows behind me all by himself, too. And that kinda creeped me out. I couldn't help but think, "What the hell is that guy doing in here watching this thing all by himself?" Never mind the fact that I was doing the same thing. But I know I'm not creepy.

Maybe I'll just wait 10 years and then buy all of the sequels (the NEW sequels that is) on disc and have a Friday The 13th party or something. By then we'll all be ready to laugh at those, too.

I'm sorry, but this was just too funny not to post.

2009-02-17T11:26:00.003-07:00

...click to view The Star Trek Love Boat

The Omega Man (1971)

2009-02-16T21:21:00.003-07:00

Okay, you know how one little reference can get you thinking? For years?

Back in 1983 Bob and Doug McKenzie (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas of SCTV fame) took the success of their late night skit The Great White North to the big screen with Strange Brew: The Adventures of Bob and Doug McKenzie. It is one of my all-time favorite comedies. Anyway, there is a line in the opening that goes, "I was kinda like a one man force, like Charleton Heston in Omega Man. Did'ja see it? It was beauty." Well, I never did see Omega Man (excuse me, THE Omega Man as I've learned it is actually titled), and in fact never gave it much thought after that, except when referencing that amusing line.

In 2007 the film I Am Legend with Will Smith was released. I never did go see it in theaters. It just didn't seem like a flick I'd be into. But then somebody mentioned that it was a zombie movie, and I really dig zombie movies, so last year I rented it with a friend.

A few weeks ago another friend of mine mentioned in passing that I Am Legend was a remake of The Omega Man. This same friend is a pot smoking conspiracy theorist who says all kinds of wacky things, so I usually take whatever he says with a grain of salt. Anyhow, being fascinated with remakes, as I am, I eventually (tonight) decided to see for myself.

First of all, yes, it is. And apparently lots of other people are already aware of it. When I did a google image search to find a pic to go with this post I immediately encountered several other blogs and web sites dedicated to both films. Once again, seems like I was among the last to figure it out. That's okay, I don't mind being the slow guy.

Anyway, since there are several web sites already dedicated to the discussion, and since I literally just finished watching it for the first time about 15 minutes ago (and it usually takes several viewings before a movie really sinks in with me), I will avoid a deep analysis of the film at this time. I will say, however, that I liked it. So we can chalk up another 1970s Charleton Heston film to my list of favorites (including Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green).

Like Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green this was another view of what people in the past (the 1970s) thought the future would look like. It is yet another sci-fi epic from Heston, which makes me wonder what kind of actor did I really think Charleton Heston was, anyway? Growing up I knew he was famous for his portrayal of Moses, and Ben Hur, but I never saw those movies... Not true, I actually saw The Ten Commandments long ago as a kid. But all I remember was his famous descent down off the mountain with the tablets. The rest of the movie never stuck with me. But aside from that, Charleton Heston (to me anyway) was always the NRA spokesman and the guy who did all of those background narrations of The Bible for those books on tape series. I always had in mind that he was some kind of ultra right wing conservative old man, not a sci-fi action hero. (quick note: not that there's anything wrong with being an ultra right-wing conservative, but honestly could you see Rush Limbaugh as a sci-fi action hero?)

A quick glance at imdb shows that Heston is accredited with well over 100 films dating all the way back to 1950! So, I'm not going to analyse The Omega Man, or even attempt a half-assed movie review (not yet, anyway), but what I am saying is that I have recently discovered that I really dig Charlton Heston! I look forward to watching many of his other films now that I've discovered I really like him.

Anyone who has seen The Omega Man, and/or any other Heston film, and would like to make comment I'd love to hear them.

"Looks like we made it!"

2009-02-15T21:27:00.002-07:00

(wasn't that Barry Manilow?)

hiking stud, and two hiking babes

2009-02-15T18:39:00.002-07:00

Went up Camelback again this morning. Took the southeast Cholla trail this time. On a scale of 1 - 10, with 10 being the hardest (and Echo Canyon being a 10) this was about a 7. We made it to the top, but those photos are in Suzanne's camera... Will have to post them later. Thanks to Suzanne and Pearl for being my hiking babes!

(PS- Driving back afterwards we saw an awesome red motorcycle! LOL inside joke)

Touche, Seth. Touche.

2009-02-15T01:17:00.001-07:00

Seth Myers concluded weekend update tonight by saying, "Well, today is Valentine's Day, so for those of you watching at home... Better luck next year."

But I digress....

2009-02-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

Sitting on the floor sipping my morning coffee I decided to post something having to do with Valentine's Day. I'm in a funny nostalgic mood, so The Love Boat pops into my mind. I went on line looking for a good Love Boat picture to post, and found several on IMDB, along with this picture of Ursula Andress (who apparently was a guest on at least one episode back in the day).

So, I decided to kill two birds with one stone: since I have been lacking in my "babe of the month" posts (I know I already did Drew Barrymore this month, but hey, it's Valentine's Day! Can't I post two this month?) I decided to also include the pic of Ursula and name her my Runner Up Babe of the Month.

Now, I suppose some of you are too young to remember Ursula Andress, and perhaps some of you are too young to remember The Love Boat (although the latter's heavy representation in pop culture makes that one hard to believe). Ursula Andress was one of the many wives of photographer John Derek, who always managed to submit pictures of his wives in Playboy magazine back in the late 60s and early 70s (I told you I was feeling nostalgic).

Now, this photo of Ursula is probably decades old (since The Love Boat ran in the late 70s and early 80s), and you may not think she looks particularly like a babe in it- so I suppose a recent pic probably wouldn't steer any of you toward my conclusions, either (I don't know who I'm talking to here). But she's still a babe regardless of age because of who she is. So there.

For you youngsters who are interested in history, you can read more about the ground breaking, world-changing television show The Love Boat here: http://www.classic-tv.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=239:love-boat-the&catid=37:1980s-shows&Itemid=59

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Reality check.

2009-02-13T00:36:00.000-07:00

Star Wars is now a 31 year old movie.

more geek-speek

2009-02-12T17:17:00.000-07:00

Well, finally got my Linux and Windows machines "talking" to each other. There is a program called Samba (samba.org) that assists with inter-OS communications. I had been reading about it, but didn't fully understand it. I thought that I had to load Samba onto my two Windows machines so that they would see my Linux machine, but I had it backwards. I helpful guy on the Launchpad Help Forums page (launchpad.net) explained to me how it really works. Samba is actually a mask that Linux wears so that Windows machines think it's just another Windows machine.

I installed Samba on my Linux machine and had instant communication. Success!

Also, I went ahead and scheduled my Network + exam for Monday, February 23rd. So now I'm not just studying, I'm working toward a concrete goal of being ready to test in 10 days. Wish me luck!

moment of clarity

2009-02-08T09:15:00.000-07:00

So, I'm sitting here on the living room floor in front of my new Ubuntu system, reading through news websites and blogs while I sip that first morning coffee. Referring to my own blog, I look at the "recent posts" and realize that back in August and September I posted more blogs in those two months alone than I have in the five months since (combined)!

Now, there's a reason for that. The whole reason I started blogging in the first place was because I was slowly dieing (sp?) inside as I sat in a dead end job for 8 hours a day, and I was looking for a release. I'm no longer in that situation, and the life force is starting to flow back into me. So, fewer hours in the day spent blogging.

But I like blogging, and I want people to participate in my blog. So, I thought to myself, "Self. What blogs do you read?" And the answer was the ones that are updated. Ergo- it's time for more frequent updates. Meaningless as this one may be, here we go:

Had a little party last night. A few friends came over and we watched movies, played games, and stuffed ourselves with pizza, cookies and Doritos. Afterwards we flipped on Saturday Night Live, and the guy hosting was some actor in that new film "He's Just Not That Into You." Who was he? Who cares. The point is, Drew Barrymore made a cameo appearance. And man, she is hot.

Here's to you, Drew! How's that for a meaningless blog entry?

We have... arrived?

2009-02-06T20:48:00.001-07:00

This week I successfully loaded Linux Ubuntu on my third machine here on my home network. For those of you who are not geeks: Ubuntu is an alternative operating system (like Windows XP, or Macintosh OSX, for example) that is "open source" meaning it is not copyrighted (sp?) like Windows and Apple operating systems are.

Unix and Linux are often used interchangeably to refer to this operating system, which (since it is open source, and therefore can be changed/improved by anyone) is often released over and over in different versions called "flavors." Ubuntu is a flavor of Linux which has gained recent popularity because of its user friendly reputation.

I installed Ubuntu as an experiment. Since I am studying networking, and since a big part of networking is getting different operating systems to recognise and "talk" to each other, I thought it would be a great hands-on learning experience. I've had it on the machine just a few days now, and I have two initial reactions:

1) disappointed

2) impressed

Now, those two may sound like opposed reactions, but let me explain. i am disappointed because I was all hyped-up and excited to experience this "new" operating system which I thought was going to be like nothing I'd ever seen before. That was not the case. Ubuntu looks just like the Apple Macintosh operating systems that I used back in 2005-2006 when I worked for a company up in Utah that only used Macs. For those of you who are familiar with Macs, and their recent operating system releases, my initial impression of Ubuntu's look and feel is that it resembles a cross between OS9 and OSX. I think I have read that Apple's OS was based on Unix (I may or may not have that right, since I am new to Unix/Linux), but I can tell you that the similarities are obvious. So, having said that, I was disappointed to discover that there really wasn't anything "new" to see in this operating system.

I am impressed, however, in it's ease of use. I installed it in about a half an hour, and it immediately was up and running on its own with little need for any interference on my part. Not only was I surfing the internet and sending e-mail right away, I also discovered (to my pleasant surprise) that networking with it was a breeze! Everything that I had been reading in my textbooks on the subject of networking alluded to a difficult process I'd have to walk through before I could get these different machines to communicate with each other. My Ubuntu machine, however, immediately recognised the two Windows machines on my network, and (to my surprise) was pulling documents, spreadsheets, images and even video off of the Windows computers right away! Very impressive, Ubuntu!

My two Windows machines, however, have yet to "see" the new Ubuntu machine on my network.

So far this has been an exciting few weeks for me, what with fixing a broken computer that my Dad sent me, installing a new operating system, and getting the network up and running. I am certain that this experience will be a benefit to my studying, and look forward to learning more as the weeks, months and years roll on.

One more cerebral hurdle cleared.

2009-02-01T20:36:00.000-07:00

2/3 of the way there. I finally got the motherboard working, and successfully loaded an operating system. Next I'll try to install Linux.

Long story short: removed the battery from the motherboard, effectively clearing the CMOS settings. Corrected some incorrect cable settings and jumpers, and told the BIOS to boot from the optical drive.

Result: broken computer working again! One happy (and proud) computer geek.

"Look, Dave, I can see you're really upset about this...

2009-01-27T22:11:00.000-07:00

"...I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill and think things over."

It's getting late, and I'm tired, so this will be quick. My dad sent me an "old" computer that he said didn't work anymore so I could play around with it. It arrived Friday, and I quickly assessed that it had a bad power supply, which I fixed tonight be installing a new one. It powered up fine, but then I could not get the OS (Windows XP) to load, which was frustrating- but not the end of the world because my plan was to load Linux on this machine, anyway. I spent several hours on the phone with a couple of nerd buddies of mine, and downloaded a copy of Linux (PC Linux OS 2007) which I then burned to disc as an .iso file (bootable operating system disc). But then I could not get the computer to boot from my optical drive, so it didn't work.

My plan for tonight was to: 1) fix the power supply, 2) load Linux. Well, had I known the other problems that this machine had my plan would have been: 1) fix the power supply, 2) get Windows to load, 3) install Linux. Having said that, I was 34% successful in my goals tonight.

"You're gonna need a bigger boat." Going to bed.

When it rains, it pours.

2009-01-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

Ever see the 1995 film Crimson Tide with Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington? It's been several years since I've seen it myself, but there was one scene in there that always stuck with me. The Chief of the boat has a heart attack down in the galley, or is injured, or something... Anyway, while the men are scrambling to go to his aid, the Captain (Gene Hackman) decides to run a boat drill. So he gets on the intercom in the middle of the crisis and announces that it's an all hands on deck drill and the men have to scramble to their battle stations. It causes quite an intense few minutes in the sub, and I think the Chief even dies during the chaos.

Later, Denzel Washington goes to Gene Hackman to confront him. He is mad that the captain made the decision to call for a drill during the chief's heart attack. Hackman defends his decision saying that it is during tough times that men are truly tested, and that he took advantage of the Chief's heart attack to see how the men would handle themselves under the pressure.

Now, regardless of what you may think of that rationale, it does illustrate a good point. We never know when emergencies are going to arise in our lives. If we did, we would prepare for them and handle them with an organised calm. But sometimes when bad things happen, and then another and another I get to thinking, "Man, I could handle any one of these things, but not all these at once!"

That's not how it works! LOL That's why they're called emergencies. I had a scenario tonight creep up on me that made me nervous, apprehensive, and uncomfortable. So I called a good friend to talk about it (my sponsor, for you 12 steppers out there), only to discover that he is in the hospital for emergency surgery tomorrow! Then I tried to call another friend (a former sponsor up in Utah), and could not get through... So I kinda feel like too much is flying at me at once.

I know I'll get through all this, and be stronger for it in the end. But I just had to laugh when I thought back to that scene from Crimson Tide. Tonight I got hit with a couple of things all at once, and I wish I could take them one at a time- but I'll get through them.

Next rung up on the ladder.

2009-01-15T23:13:00.000-07:00

As many of you know last year I studied for, and eventually passed, my CompTIA A+ Certification (see Sept 11th blog: Books that I'm reading.). This was part 1 of a two-part plan: get certified, find a job in an IT department. I accomplished them both.

The next next plan is to get my Networking certification. I read a book last year called "Teach Yourself Networking in 24 Hours" by Joe Habraken and Matt Hayden. It's a 24 chapter book, that you are supposed to be able to read one in an hour (one chapter per hour). I finished that book, and then bought some study materials in November.... A new textbook (650+ pages!!), and 12 hours worth of lectures on DVD by Mike Meyers (no not the comedian, or the serial killer... well, can we be sure about the last one?). Anyway, I've sat through all 12 hours of the lectures, and watched portions of them again. Then I finished reading that massive textbook, and am now starting to study for the exam, which I plan to take next month.

Thanks to all my friends (geeks and non-geeks) who helped me study last year: Melissa, Terri, Ahmari, and Mike. I've already started calling them all back for another round of cramming!

Wish me luck!

It could happen!

2009-01-11T17:59:00.001-07:00

Well, the first two weeks of playoffs are over. Now all that remain are the NFC and AFC championship games, both played next weekend (Baltimore at Pittsburgh, and Philly at Arizona). This means that there is a 25% chance that Superbowl LXIII could be the Steelers vs the Cardinals. In my opinion, that would be a terribly exciting game. Keep your fingers crossed.

Nerd alert!

2008-12-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

As many of you know I am studying for my next certification exam, which will be in networking. I am reading a textbook that is over 600 pages in length, and I have a set of CD ROMs with 12 hours of lectures on the subject... I actually enjoy this stuff!

Anyhow, I understand the logic behind networks, and how they work, but I have no hands-on experience. It's all been theory to me so far. So, yesterday (after months of wanting to do this) I went out and bought some equipment. The first thing that I was excited about was the fact that I saved a bunch of money by shopping around. I did some research on the internet, and then drove all over east Phoenix looking for the best prices. I found them (the best prices, that is) at Fry's Electronics. The router I bought alone was $20 cheaper there than at other stores I had looked in. With the money I saved I bought some additional equipment and $92.00 later came home feeling like a kid at Christmas.

I sat down and read all of the manuals (like the anal retentive guy that I am) and then set it all up. The good news: I got both of my computers on line simultaneously using one NAT IP address, and was able to send/receive and browse the internet. The bad news: I have yet to get my two computers to see each other and communicate. I'm sure it's something simple that I forgot to do, and with a little research I'll get it figured out. But in the meantime I'm thrilled.

The router I bought also came with a wireless access point, so I set up a wireless connection with my ooooolllllddddd laptop (a 2000 model Sony VAIO which originally came loaded with Windows 98, and only has 192mb RAM). The darn thing worked, too! I was amazed. When I was a computer tech half of my calls were from frustrated people who couldn't get their wireless connections to work- I got mine up and running on the first try. That actually surprised me.

So, for those of you who may have been concerned that I wasn't doing enough "geek" stuff lately, rest assured I am getting closer and closer to putting tape on my glasses (I don't even wear glasses) and buying a pocket protector!

Happy New Year everyone.

Merry Christmas to all.

2008-12-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

...and to all a good night.

Where DOES the time go?

2008-12-23T01:42:00.000-07:00

Well, next weekend is the last weekend of the regular NFL season. That means that the 15 weeks of the 2008 season have come and gone... And I didn't watch a single game. If you had told me back in 1998 that a year would come when I totally didn't watch football- well, I'm not sure what I would have thought, but I would have given you a funny look at least.

I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I guess primarily it came be blamed on geography. As a kid I grew up in Atlanta (Georgia and Virginia both, actually... But Virginia does not have a pro football team) and I fell right into the whole Falcons thing, especially when Jerry Glanville took over as head coach in 1990. That was when the Falcons switched their colors to black, and the Glanville-esque attitude really took effect in a whirlwind of renewed enthusiasm from fans all over, especially as we won all of our pre-season games that year. A few years later the Georgia Dome was opened, and that had all eyes on the Falcons once again, especially with the hype of the upcoming 2006 Olympics, which were to be held there (in Atlanta- with many of the events taking place in the Georgia Dome).

Two years later in 1998 (ten years ag0) the Falcons finally made it to the playoffs, and into the Superbowl the following early 1999. That was an exciting season for me. My parents got me tickets to the final game that year, and I drove down to Georgia for it. My friend Steve drove up from Florida, and we went together. We won that game, and went on to play Minnesota in the NFC Championship game the following week… And we won? Yes, we did. The Falcons beat the undefeated Vikings and went, for the first time in franchise history, to the Superbowl.

Where they were stomped by Denver. *cough*

Anyway, the following year I took a job that moved me out west. And as the years went by, and I moved further and further from the east coast, it just became harder and harder to follow a team from Atlanta. Long story short- I thought that when I moved to Phoenix in 2006 that I might find renewed enthusiasm for the NFL, since I was now in a city that had a pro football team again. But when I got here I found the local fans to be apathetic at best, and I just never got into it myself, either.

So, here we are, 10 years from “The Year” and I honestly can’t remember the last time I watched a football game, much less a Falcons game. Tonight, partly from nostalgia, partly from boredom, I went to nfl.com just to see how the season had shaped up, and I was surprised to see that the Falcons (at 10-5) had clinched a wildcard slot! They will be going to the playoffs again. (And, for those of you here in Arizona with me, so will the Cardinals, by the way). So, if I’d had any enthusiasm this year and watched the season, I probably would have had a pretty exciting time with it! Oh well.

Next Sunday the Falcons host the Rams, and the Cardinals host the Seahawks. It will be the final games of the regular season. Maybe I’ll actually watch one of those games. Anybody feeling it for some football?

"The Most Delightful People of 2008"

2008-12-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

I couldn't actually embed this video, so I only hope this link works...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26852192/vp/28257993#28257993

...you just have to watch this. Melissa, especially you, because it has a reference to Gary Busey.

Everyone else, just two comments from me:

1) I was disappointed to hear that the guy who shot his lawn mower was not from The South.

2) I had no idea there were cameras in that Burger King.

Okay... hrmph! Then how about THIS?

2008-12-18T23:30:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I'm hearing minimal support for the Natalie Portman thing, and even fewer people care about JD Powers, or discussing great cinema moments. How about Dave's sneezing monkey, then?

"You're gonna need a bigger boat."

2008-12-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

All of us have those few scenes in motion picture history that really stand out in our heads. They usually sum up the whole movie, and seem to instantly bring us right back into the experience of watching it for the first time.

We all know that Steven Spielberg has made several well known movies (to say the least) that have all done very well at the box office, and left a lasting impression in our minds. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Jurassic Park (1993), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Minority Report (2002), and many, many others.

But arguably, the movie that Steven Spielberg is best known for was 1975's Jaws. This was the first film of his that really made people sit up and take notice of him as a director.

One of my favorite movie scenes comes from Jaws. It's the famous "You're gonna need a bigger boat" scene, halfway through the film. Every now and then I think of that line, and that scene, as it seems to come up often in every day conversation.

I remember two years ago I was in a staff meeting at work and our boss was telling us all about the long days ahead as we were about to enter the busy season. There seemed to be a lot more work than the 6 of us could possibly handle, and somebody in the room sarcastically muttered, "You're gonna need a bigger boat." I smiled because I immediately appreciated the line, it's meaning, and it's significance to this situation.

I have often thought how amusing it would be to get screen shot of that scene, and then frame it and hang it up over the desk in a very busy person's office. Surprisingly there are no screen shots of that scene anywhere on Google image search or Yahoo image search. I have tried every imaginable search criteria from "Jaws" to "You're gonna need a bigger boat" to "famous movie lines" to "Chief Brody" to "Roy Scheider"... The list goes on. Every time I sit down and try to find it the results always yield nothing.

For some reason I felt like blogging tonight, and that scene was in my mind. So I got the idea that if I took my DVD copy of the movie and played it on my computer, I would be able to take a screen shot and get the image. But, alas, Microsoft (and other media playing software manufacturers) had already thought of that, too, and the copyrighted data on the disc would not "capture" as a jpeg. Sneaky software writing bastards.

Then, for the first time, I though that maybe I'd be able to find that scene on You Tube. Remarkably it came right up an my first search attempt! Although I was able to capture a screen shot off of You Tube it is unfortunately not a very clear one, but it will have to do.

I'd be curious to hear what your favorite movie scenes are, fellow bloggers, so please let me know.

I'm really sorry to put you all through this.

2008-12-14T22:48:00.000-07:00

Faithful followers of Nobody Told Me:

Since the original reason for starting this blog was to vent my frustrations while at work, and since I am now unemployed, I have subjected you to some pretty lame blog entries lately... And here's another.

So, last night I was over at a "friend's" house, and we were watching TV. We had just come back from a big holiday dinner, and I was sitting there eating junk food and staring at the food network talking about Giada De Laurentiis. (Ah, just picture it, ladies. Big slothful Joe all splayed out on the sofa, shoving slim jims in his mouth and commenting about "babes on TV." It's enough to make you drool, isn't it, girls!). Anyhow, I made the comment that she looked just like Natalie Portman, to which my friends immediately disagreed. Then they both proceeded to tell me how crazy I was for making the connection.

So, hurt and belittled I wandered home. This morning I woke up with a renewed sense of energy, enthusiasm, and the need to vindicate myself. After only a few clicks on the Internet not only did I find several photos of Giada De Laurentiis that could easily have been stunt-doubled by Natalie Portman, but I also found another guy's blog who stated "She looks like Natalie Portman, and she can cook! What a woman!"

I present the evidence for your review.

Thank you... and somebody please give me a job!

Okay, is it just me...

2008-12-08T23:33:00.000-07:00

...or does it seem like JD Powers is always saying that everyone is always the best at customer service? Kinda cheapens the award when everyone gets one, doesn't it?

Hey, I recently won the JD Powers award for best customer service in the category of "unemployed guys in Arizona who have absolutely no customer interaction with anyone ever."

What? You're not impressed?

I don't get it.

2008-12-08T15:01:00.001-07:00

Burger King has this new ad campaign called the "Whopper Virgins" where they go to the remote corners of the world and conduct taste tests between the Whopper and the McDonald's Bic Mac. These are places like rural Romania, Thailand and Greenland, where there are no Burger Kings (or McDonalds). The gist of the commercial is that people who have never tasted either will be able to satisfy the controversy once and for all over who has the better burger.

It seems like there is a basic flaw in this thinking, though. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that one of these two burgers (okay, we'll go with the Whopper for now) gets more votes as the tastiest burger, and "wins" the taste test. What does that prove? Does that mean that back here in the United States if I happen to prefer the Big Mac that I am "wrong" and need to re-evaluate my own tastes?

What do we (fellow Americans) care what some third world country thinks about how burgers should taste? A lot of these places eat boiled dog meat and raw whale fat.

If the Whopper wins out, will Burger King start opening up fast food restaurants in those places? Is this some sort of intimidation technique to prevent McDonald's from moving forward with their top secret plans to open up burger joints on the frozen land mass of Greenland?

What does Burger King hope to prove with this? ...okay, I suppose they hope to prove that the Whopper tastes better than the Big Mac. But what does that prove? If the US Supreme Court established by law that the Whopper tasted better than the Big Mac, what would that even mean? That Big Mac lovers were somehow "wrong?" The only reason that this "experiment" would have any bearing is if there were actually a bunch of Burger King executives sitting around a board room trying to decide whether or not to open up restaurants in Romania. And, when you get right down to it, it actually wouldn't even have any logical bearing on that decision. If there really are no Burger Kings or McDonald's in Romania, who cares which tastes better? Whoever puts a store up first runs the monopoly! There is no competition at all.

Why am I taking the time to blog about this? Two reasons: 1) there is nothing better to blog about, and 2) I'm upset that during this period of personal unemployment Burger King is throwing money away on silly experiments instead of paying me to sit around on my ass (which would be just as productive, by the way).

Can you imagine how many millions of dollars Burger King is throwing into this thing? Come on, BK, throw some cash my way. For a minuscule fraction of what it's costing you to run this ad campaign you could pay my rent for a year (I still don't know where January's rent is coming from, by the way), buy me that new Vista laptop I want, and fly me out to Savannah to see my grandmother for Christmas! Now that's money well spent.

Let's hope something better to blog about comes up soon or this is gonna get really bad.

I guess three weeks is long enough...

2008-12-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

...is this the kind of thing you were looking for, Melissa?

Hi friends. Been unemployed for 3 weeks now, and since blogging was something that I did at work to break up the hours of insanity, I have not posted in a while.

Happy Holidays everyone!

disturbing...

2008-11-10T21:01:00.000-07:00

On many levels.

The Johnnie Cochran Defense

2008-11-10T10:24:00.000-07:00

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Chewbacca. Chewbacca is a Wookie, from the planet Kashykkk… But he lives on Endor with a bunch of three foot tall Ewoks. Now, think about that for a minute. That does not make sense. Why would a Wookie, and eight foot tall Wookie, wanna live with a bunch of three foot tall Ewoks? It does not make sense!”

oops!

2008-11-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

Stepped on the scale this morning and had gained back the same three pounds I’d lost last week.

It’s my own fault. On Tuesday I grabbed a handful of candy at work, and that started the ball rolling. On Wednesday I went to a buffet with a buddy and had three plates of food. Thursday night I stopped at the Circle K and grabbed several Slim Jims, and a bag of Doritos (family size, of course). Then yesterday (after a job interview) I had to stop at Denny’s for some chicken strips and a piece of French silk pie. On the way home from the Denny’s I hit the Circle K again and did the whole Slim Jim/Doritos bit… Adding a huge Snickers bar this time, too.

Now that I say all that, I guess it’s a wonder I only gained three pounds!

Frustration... more of it

2008-11-03T11:32:00.000-07:00

This morning my first call was transferred up to me from Tier I. The customer was listed as a “frequent caller” which means that Tier I is supposed to treat those people as if they are “special” and get them right up to our level here in Tier II. They never do any troubleshooting. All they do is ask what the issue is, and then transfer the call up to our level.

Now, even in my most negative angry tirades I rarely use the word “stupid” because it is so harsh a term that it is almost abusive (at least I think so). But these frequent callers are not special- they are stupid! Why, you ask? Keep reading…

Now, understand, that when Tier I transfers a call up to us they have to put the customer on hold, sometimes for a long time. Sometimes for a really long time! And if it’s a “frequent caller” then all the Tier I agent is going to do is have the customer state the problem, and then put them right on hold. After I don’t know how long the two of them beeped in my ear and I answered the phone. Tier I explained to me that he was transferring a frequent caller, and that the issue was he couldn’t work his remote. It took another several minutes to transfer the case, and then he brought the customer on the line.

I asked the customer what the problem was, and he said his remote control no longer turned off his TV like is used to. He said that it worked fine for a long time, and then mysteriously started acting funny about a week ago. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t! He had no idea what was wrong.

I asked him if he had tried new batteries, to which he replied, “Ohhhh… No I didn’t think of that.” So I told him to change the batteries in his remote control and call me back if that didn’t work. Then I released the call.

I don’t know how long that guy waited on hold to get Tier I to answer their phone, and then waited on hold again for Tier I to transfer the call up to me… But man, that is time that he will never get back. And all because he was too stupid to realize that when a remote control stops working it’s because the batteries are dead.

I hung up the phone and sighed to myself. The clock said 10:20am, which meant that I still had another 10 hours and 40 minutes here today. Taking calls like that one.

Man, getting fired from this job would be a relief!

Down another 3 pounds.

2008-11-01T15:59:00.001-07:00

Had another solid week of eating right. No candy, no junk food, no processed stuff. (No candy! On Halloween week? Yes!)

...Okay, I have to be honest. Yesterday I met a friend at Village Inn and had chicken strips and two slices of French Silk Pie. But that was honestly the only stuff like that I have had in three whole weeks.

Jumped on the scale this morning and was down to 198. that's three down from last week's 201. Feeling pretty good about that. That's 12 pounds in 3 weeks. At this rate I'll be in pretty good shape come Thanksgiving.

Still want to throw another hike in. Anyone game?

"REE - DIK - YOU - LUSS" (scream it)

2008-10-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

It's 6:00pm. I've been here at work for 8 hours now. I just made a fresh pot of coffee... Why? Because I'm here for another three freakin' hours!

I do this 5 days a week, people!

(Somebody throw me a pity party)

One of those "where have I been?" moments.

2008-10-26T09:28:00.000-07:00

So, this morning I was sitting at home in my boxers sipping that first cup of coffee (as I'm known to do) staring at the computer screen and waking up. I was looking for something interesting on CNN.com to read. I noticed the headline "Palin 'annoyed' by Katie Couric" and thought that would probably be worth a read.

It was the typical sensationalised headline for an otherwise boring story that the media seems to love to throw at us (and why not- it worked on me). But what really got my attention was the description of the pre-rally Hank Williams Jr performance! I have been a huge fan of Hank for 20 years now. I have seen him live, twice. I own many of his albums, have several videos, and I have followed his career with fascination. I don't think I have ever known him to be an outward supporter of any political candidate, though. I find it "interesting."

Here are some more shots of the rally...
http://hankarmy.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=1

I am not a McCain / Palin supporter. I am also not an Obama / Biden supporter. I was planning to go to the polls on election day and write in Ross Perot again (I love that little guy!). The fact that one of my heros has endorsed a ticket does not sway my decision. But, again, I found it "interesting."

And since I was sitting there in my boxers sipping my coffee specifically looking for something interesting to read I guess what I'm really saying here is- thanks, CNN?

...but really, where have I been that I didn't know Hank Williams Jr was endorsing a ticket? I need to move out of that cave on Mars that I've been living in, I guess.

The Gateway M-7317u

2008-10-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

3 gigs of RAM
160 gig hard drive
built in wireless
built in video camera
DVD burner w/ Labelflash technology
American company that boasts US-based tech support...

only $530.00

I WANT!

"...and here I am looking totally ripped!"

2008-10-25T10:08:00.001-07:00

Wow! I am a little overwhelmed by the amount of responses to my last blog! Slow 'em down, folks. I can't respond that fast.

Stepped on the scale this morning (as I do every Saturday morning) and was down another 3 pounds. Beefcake! BEEFCAKE!

And then, one day... they were gone.

2008-10-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was one of my two days off each week (Wednesdays and Fridays) and I spent most of the morning in bed. I half-slept through the noise of tractors and construction crews which have been congregating outside my bedroom window for two months now. Aside from the fact that they start at 6:00am, and that they throw tools against the outside wall of the building (my bedroom wall), they also do something to the lines in the building which shut off my AC all day. So I always wake up “hot” on those mornings that I like to sleep in. Very uncomfortable.

This is just the latest in a series of complaints I have had this summer about construction workers letting themselves into my apartment, and then leaving the door unlocked. The water being shut off. A mess of blockades out in the parking lot making it near impossible for friends to stop by for a visit. The list goes on.

Anyway, getting back to yesterday morning… I finally got up and went out to see some friends and get errands done. I came back in the afternoon, parked the truck (far from my apartment because of the construction), and went in to take a nap knowing I would be going back out again later that evening. I woke back up at 6:00pm and headed out to meet friends again. I walked around several buildings to get to where I had left the truck, and when I went to pull out I noticed that the tractors were gone. The huge piles of dirt were gone. The barricades were gone.

It was all back to normal.

I guess the construction is over. (Actually, I know more construction is coming because they are putting in covered parking next month- but it looks like the major construction is over.) I have been very upset all summer, and have been contemplating moving in January if things didn’t improve.

Also worth mentioning… I have asked at work to be moved to a different team several times now. I got word from the director on Tuesday that he’s going to be reassigning me in November.

Could this be the start of a new era? Have I ridden out the storm? Or is this just the tide ebbing before the tsunami hits?

Another attempt at a video embed...

2008-10-21T09:02:00.001-07:00

...and I still can't get it to work!

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/3083431/8784532

Anyway, this had me almost spit up my coffee this morning it was so funny.

Melissa, I think this one has to be dedicated to you!

Anyone need a second look?

2008-10-19T21:27:00.001-07:00

I mean, come on. Somebody else has to see this, too!

Okay, is it just me...

2008-10-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

...or do Kiera Knightley and Natalie Portman really look alike to anyone else?

Another Weekend Update

2008-10-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

Well, for a guy who complains to Melissa (http://mellylifeliver.blogspot.com/) as much as I do about not posting more often, I guess I should apologize for not putting anything new up myself last week.

For those of you who missed it, Sarah Palin was on Saturday Night Live last night. I was excited to see it, and we were talking about it at work yesterday afternoon. One of the things I mentioned in the discussion was, wouldn't it be funny if they did a 30 Rock spoof, with her playing the Tina Fey role? Well, they did not do that, but they alluded to it. Sarah asked Lorne, "Hey, why didn't we do that 30 Rock sketch I wrote?" And Lorne replied, "Honestly, Sarah, not enough people know about that show." It was a pretty funny sketch, and if you missed it you should definitely check it out on nbc.com or utube (I would put a link here, but I'm at work, and videos are not accessible.... sorry!).

The big highlight of my week last week was Friday, I had two job interviews scheduled. The first one was for an outfit that I definitely don't want to work for. I went to that one just as a safety net in case I get fired (or angry enough one day to just walk out- which would be stupid, I know, but I've done it in the past).

The second one, though, I was very interested in. It was an IT Coordinator position, and the job description was exactly what I was looking for. I wrote up a nice cover letter, tweaked my resume, and turned the packet in. They contacted me Wednesday and said that they were "definitely interested" in having me come in for an interview on Friday. I went there very excited and psyched-up to put my best foot forward. But the interview was not at all what I had expected. I'm not sure what the hiring manager was looking for, exactly, but it seemed to be a jack-of-all-trades type project manager. I was caught off guard, and found myself answering a whole lot of non-techie type questions.

Now, the obvious question is: Do I still want the job? Yes. For two reasons. First, I hate my present job at this call center. And second, it would be a step up and the opportunity to see a more expanded version of the IT world.

But mostly it’s because I hate my present job at this call center.

I think I could probably handle the job, but what really frustrated me was that I went in there unprepared to answer her questions. I have no idea what she thought of me as a candidate, but she did keep me in there for over an hour.

What else… Oh, I ate healthy all last week and dropped 6 pounds. Several weeks back I passed the 200lb mark, and two weeks ago I topped out at 210 (for reference, the heaviest I have ever weighed was 218, and that was 1.5 years ago just before joining Weight Watchers). I paid attention to my food intake all week, and on Saturday I stepped on the scale at 204. I was very pleased with the results. If I keep that up, and throw in another hike or two, I might end up dropping another 15+ pounds by Thanksgiving.

Nothing else to report, just been trudging the road. Thanks to all my friends for encouragement along the way. Later!

PS- Hey Jodie, if Melissa continues with this trend of not posting, you feel free to make this blog right here your daily read! I would say the same thing to Glenda, except that Glenda has never posted here (not even after I wished her a happy birthday). So for now it's just Jodie that I'm stealing from Life Liver. LOL

"Stay on target... Stay on target!"

2008-10-13T23:32:00.000-07:00

Got up early this morning, started it off with a cup of coffee (of course) and wrote up a nice cover letter for a job that I discovered this weekend. Then I tweaked my resume, polished up my references list, and got the thing off. I thought it was going to take me days to get that package together, but I got it all accomplished this morning. I feel really good about the action I took on that.

At work I found out that one of the other members on my team is also getting picked on by my boss. He's a great tech with lots of seniority over me, so it felt good to know that he was being harassed, too. Not that it's good to hear about someone else's misfortune, but it's good to know I'm not alone!

For those of you who don't know, my boss just joined the team a few months ago and has already fired two members of the team. I feel like I am being set up to be fired, and it makes for an extremely uncomfortable work environment. When the other tech told me about some heat she had brought down on him, too, it was actually a feeling of relief.

Some days I get so frustrated I feel like walking out and just quitting. That would be financially unsound (understatement) in this fiscal crisis that the nation is in. I have been at this job for nearly 11 months, and I keep telling myself to "...just hang in there! Stay on target!" My friends and family are all telling me the same.

The positive action I took today (that's a shout out to you, August) made me feel good.

"Stay on target!"

"Jane, you ignorant..."

2008-10-11T20:12:00.000-07:00

(There’s a little bit of anger in this one, so proceed with caution)

Okay, it is the weekend, and this is an update, so I suppose that makes it a weekend update? My first post was August 8th, and over two months have passed us by since Nobody Told Me was on the air. I thought I’d do a little update, partly because I want to… But mostly because none of my friends seem to be posting on their blogs today, and I am bored.

My very first post was entitled “Here we go again” and it described the frustration that I felt coming in to work here everyday. What has changed? Well, I still come in to work here every day, but I am even more frustrated. In fact, we have surpassed frustrating. The best way I can make an outsider understand is with this example…

Several weeks ago one of the employees here was hit in the eye with a rubber ball and had his cornea damaged severely. He had to go to the ER as a result. He came back several days later and returned to work after having a doctor look at it and tell him that it was a very close call. You’d think that would be all it took to have HR step in and say “Hey folks, no more throwing balls around in here.” But no. Not only do they still throw balls around in here, HR just ordered hundreds of little rubber balls with the company logo on them, and now EVERYBODY is throwing fucking balls around in this place.

There are many other examples of what’s screwed up around here, but if you really want to know them just read that original post from Aug 8, it’s all in there. And I really don’t feel like going in to it anymore.

I have been applying to other jobs, and I even had a pretty promising interview last week… Which ended up yielding no results in the end, though. I’m still trying, but honestly it was hard two months ago, and since then the market has crashed, so it’s only gotten tougher.

So let’s see, since then my truck has broken down; the US Gymnastics Team lost the gold, but won several post-team individual events; I started running and hiking a lot, not to mention I’ve been watching a lot more sci-fi movies from the 70s; I coped with my age; got a little more frustrated with work; became infatuated with Sarah Palin and Amy Cohen; finally did the whole Pink Floyd / Wizard of Oz thing; sent out a few “please post more” messages to my new on-line friends; wrote a couple of ridiculous politically incorrect posts just to see the reactions I’d get; expressed my interest in igloos and snow caves; reported on my sweet little cousin who is an adult now; got even MORE aggravated with work; wrote a couple of obituaries for Rick Wright, and made a few international blogging friends on the whole Pink Floyd thing; climbed to the top of Camelback mountain… again!; watched the market crash; had a “birthday”; realised that I hated American Beauty just as much the second time around; and, last but not least, discovered the joys of Wonder white bread.

What will the next 60 days yield? Only time will tell!

Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow.

I'm in love...

2008-10-10T13:02:00.000-07:00

...with Wonder White Bread! Man, that stuff is the bomb! I haven't had it since I was a kid, and bought some at the grocery store the other day. Throw some totally processed preservative packed cold cuts and mayonnaise on two slices and you're living the good life!

Where has this stuff been all my life?

I remember when I was a kid white bread wasn't supposed to be good for you... So the parents always bought wheat (a tradition I carried into adulthood). But, man, this white bread is freakin' delicious! If my kids want to eat white bread I'm gonna let them! I'll let them do anything they want, in fact! (I'm gonna be a great parent, aren't I)

By the way... Did you know that if you do a Google image search for "wonder bread" that porn comes up? I'm not saying that's a good thing, or a bad thing... I'm just walking through life making comments here, people.

can't post... sleeping...

2008-10-09T22:45:00.001-07:00

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz................

I still don't get it.

2008-10-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

Back in 1999 I went to see American Beauty when it was still a new film out in theaters. I didn’t like it. I took a date to it, and neither one of us liked it. Even though the story turned me off, I felt like the movie had that certain “something” that the academy award people always seem to like. To this day I still can’t put my finger on what exactly that something is, but as we were walking out of the theater I said to my date, “That was really bad, and I bet it wins some academy awards!” Of course, it did. In fact it won Best Picture that year.

To me the story had no redeeming value at all. It was about a guy who was miserable with his life and sought redemption/salvation through statutory rape and drug use. When the movie won best picture that year I quit watching the Oscars, and have not watched them (or even taken a slight interest in them) for 9 years now.

Last year I was chatting with a buddy about the film and he mentioned some points that I had not previously considered. Then, a few weeks ago another friend watched it and gave me her perspective on it. I thought I would give it a fresh viewing. I rented the disc yesterday and then watched it last night. This time I was paying special attention to the lead character’s job (which he hated) and tried to pull the message out of his narration, and the other parts of the film.

One of the things that had really confused me the first time around was the film’s title. What exactly was meant by “American beauty?” How did it differ from, say, European beauty, or any other type of beauty for that matter. One of my friends suggested that it was a story about pursuing the American Dream, and that once the main character realized that his idea of the American dream was not beautiful, he attempted to turn around and find beauty elsewhere. If that is the case, and that is what the supposed message of the film is, then I still see the same thing… a guy who is miserable with his life and seeks redemption/salvation through statutory rape and drug use.

Perhaps that’s not the message, though. Another friend suggested that the message might be seeing beauty in everyday situations. There is talk of this, and it seems to be a theme suggested by two of the characters, but it is not a theme that makes sense (in the context of the movie). At one point a character states that the corpse of a dead bird is beautiful, and in a different instance another character finds beauty in all things immediately after he is shot (dead) in the head.

I still see no redeeming value in this film. I have no idea what the Academy saw in this movie. I am disappointed that a group of motion picture professionals decided to put this empty plot up on a pedestal with praise and admiration. I still don’t get it.

I would love to hear feedback from my friends on this.

Back to the top. Again.

2008-10-06T13:56:00.000-07:00

Climbed back up Camelback Mountain again yesterday. This time I went with my buddy, Chris, and we made pretty good time. I shaved about 15 minutes off the Sep 23 climb up with Nancy... All my fault, by the way, on that one because Nancy stopped and waited for me several times on that climb. So, thanks again, Nancy, you are a great climbing partner.

Still had to stop for plenty of rest breaks this time too, but made it up there eventually.

Reality check? Sitting at the top exhausted and breathing heavy I glanced over to my right and saw this little 6 year old girl sitting there wearing a pair of pink Converse Chucks and eating a bag of saltines as if the whole thing had been effortless to her. I felt ashamed and "insulted."

So I threw her over the edge.

No, but seriously the climb felt great. On the way back down we passed the group of little girls and told them they rocked. To which they replied, "You guys rock!" which made our day.

I'm already planning to go again. Who wants to go?

Thank you

2008-10-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

Bill, Bob, most of all God... Thank you.

"Avoid then, the deliberate manufacture of misery, but if trouble comes, cheerfully capitalise it as an opportunity to demonstrate His omnipotence." pg 133

What is the secret of Soylent Green?

2008-10-04T14:27:00.000-07:00

...it tastes like chicken.

"I'm sorry, what was the question?"

2008-10-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, honestly I am not smart enough to understand Wall Street. It’s been explained to me several times by several different people… But still it’s like teaching algebra to a dog. The overall comprehension just ain’t there… ya know?

Anyhow, having already stated how ignorant I am, I have to pose the following question (which has been on my mind for about a week now): Has capitalism failed?

What’s with all these banks collapsing? I never understood the whole Enron thing, and I’ve even watched documentaries on that. Still doesn’t make any sense to me. You either have money or you don’t? Right? Apparently not.

…and I know this is ridiculous childish thinking, but man, if I had a time machine I would go back to a few days ago when all those stocks crashed 700 points and buy as many as I could. Then I’d sell them the next day (when they rose again), wait for them to drop again the next day (by 500 points this time), buy them back (even more, using the money I’d made on the first transaction) and be rich by now!

Anyone wanna work on this time machine project with me?

Feeling better today

2008-09-30T10:34:00.000-07:00

Got up early this morning, started it off right with a good cup of coffee and started doing research on both the apartment situation and the job search. I think I got some positive stuff done and hopefully will be seeing results soon. Stay tuned!

Waiting for that boot to drop...

2008-09-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

I'm miserable at work. I'm miserable at home... Where do I go? What do I do?

"N is for name of your crush"

2008-09-28T09:46:00.000-07:00

If you recall my post "The ABCs of Joe" dated August 17th I stated that I don't have any crushes, but that from time to time I obsess over a celebrity in the media. Last month it was clearly Sarah Palin (and I think I was in good company with thousands of other men). This month it is the best-selling author of The Late Bloomer’s Revolution, Amy Cohen.

I would say that I don't exactly know what the appeal is... But that would be a lie. The appeal is that she's a babe. Now, if I wanted to seem deep, philosophical, and sensitive, I would say that it's because she is an attractive young go-getter with the initiative to write a best selling book about a tough period in her life, setting aside the fear of being judged and ridiculed... But, no, it's just that she's a babe.

I realise that most of my blogger friends are female, and so I always hesitate to post things like this (after all, I don't care to read about cute guys, or "Michael Phelp's rocking body"), but I was just tired of being angry at my apartment management company, and I thought I'd post something new.

F-ing mad!

2008-09-27T15:22:00.000-07:00

This will be a quick vent... I'm mad, and sometimes it helps just to let others know that I’m mad. That way I don’t feel isolated in my anger.

Ever since I moved in to my new apartment this past summer it has been one big inconvenience after another. They constantly turn the water off, sometimes for 9 hours a day (right in the middle of my Monday/Tuesday weekends). For the past month there have been construction workers in my apartment (again, on my days off), and the parking lot out front is all blocked off making it difficult to find a parking spot, invite friends over, or even get to the dumpster.

Last night I got home at 7:20pm and my door was open, with a property management pass key in the lock. There were supposed to have been inspectors walking through reviewing the recent construction, and they were to be out by 5:00pm. That means that by the time I got home my apartment had been sitting open (not just unlocked, but the door open) for at least 2 hours and 20 minutes!

I could have been robbed blind. I was furious. I hardly knew how to react, so I just got angry. Today I made a call to a renters’ advocacy group here in Phoenix, but they said that all they could suggest was a complaint to the Better Business Bureau. It is Saturday, so the BBB is closed. But I will be calling them first thing Monday morning to make my complaint, and if I knew a lawyer I would ask him/her about any other action I could take. I might seek one out.

I have the keys, and I am not giving them to anybody but the elusive property manager once he discovers they are missing.

I hate being argumentative and confrontational, but dammit I am mad!

Waters and Gilmour and Wright! Oh my!

2008-09-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

If you haven’t heard, there is this urban myth that says Pink Floyd’s album Dark Side of The Moon syncs up with the MGM film The Wizard of Oz. Supposedly if you start the album (disc) right at the third roar of the lion in the beginning it will sync up and actually appear to be a live action soundtrack. I heard about this for the first time about 12 years ago. A friend in Virginia gave me a newspaper article that described it. I’m a big Pink Floyd fan, but for some reason I never did get around to trying it myself.

Every now and then you’ll hear it come up in pop culture conversation. If you Google it there are tons of web pages about it (here’s one http://www.everwonder.com/david/wizardofoz/). There’s an episode of Family Guy where Peter and Luke Perry are chatting, and Peter says, “Oh, I’m telling you, Dark Side of The Moon totally syncs up with The Wizard of Oz.” To which Luke Perry responds, “Really? Shannon Doherty told me that once but I thought she was just being a bitch!”

I mentioned it in passing to a friend a few weeks back, and she said that she had tried it and that it actually works. Her comments were “It actually works! It's really creepy.” I thought it was time to give it a try.

I was actually kind of excited to see this phenomenon for myself. I asked the guy at the video store if he had ever tried it, and he enthusiastically said that he had and that it works. I asked, “Does it just sort of sync up, or is it dead on?” He said it was dead on. So I was expecting this total music video experience… I was disappointed.

I invited my friend over, and we started the movie and the album (disc). There is a scene in the beginning where Dorothy is balancing on a fence post and falls. At that point in the album Gilmour sings “…and balanced on the biggest wave, you race towards an early grave.” But for the most part I sat there staring at the screen waiting for something to happen that never really did.

Honestly, there are only three events worth mentioning, but they are pretty cool.

The most impressive one… During the song Us And Them Gilmour sings “Black and blue, and who knows which is which, and who is who?” At the exact moment that he sings the word “black” the wicked witch of the east appears in a puff of orange smoke all decked out in her long flowing black robe, cape, and pointy hat to top it all off. Then, as he sings the word “blue” the camera immediately goes to Dorothy in her blue dress. Then (in the same scene) when Gilmour sings “which is which?” the camera goes nicely back and forth between Glenda the Good Witch, and the aforementioned wicked witch of the east as if to suggest that the actual lyrics are “witch is witch?” That was actually pretty cool, and my friend and I both dropped our jaws and stared at each other on that one!

Other than that, there are two moments where the music starts right at a scene change. All of the clocks chime in (for the song “Time”) loudly and abruptly just as Mrs. Whatshername (the mean one who’s trying to take Toto) rides in on her bike. Also, the cash registers on "Money" start just as Dorothy pushes open the door of the house to the first color scene in the film. I don’t know exactly what (if any) the significance of “Time” and “Money” are to those particular scenes in the film, but they do sync up nicely.

I thought someone told me once that “The lunatic is on the grass” was supposed to sync up nicely with the Scarecrow dancing on the grass… But it doesn't. By the time those lyrics are being sung the Scarecrow has moved off the grass and onto the yellow brick road. You could make the argument that the whole introduction with the scarecrow (who, ironically, doesn’t have a brain) happens during the song “Brain Damage,” but that’s all.

The only other thing worth mentioning (which is actually kind of cool) is that if you put the disc on repeat play, and let it play through to the third time, the lyrics “home, home again” are sung exactly when Dorothy wakes up back in Kansas.

Admittedly there are some neat correlations, but I think it’s just a coincidence. But if you’re looking for an excuse to have a couple of friends over for an evening you could do a lot worse. Have fun!

ass = kicked

2008-09-23T21:57:00.000-07:00

If a picture is worth a thousand words then I'd like to present this "essay" describing my climb to the top of Camelback mountain earlier this morning.

...Nancy, my hat's off to you. You are a true athlete!

Had to add this one, too...

2008-09-20T19:07:00.000-07:00

Rick Wright (1943 - 2008)

2008-09-20T09:58:00.000-07:00

Where to begin.

Two down, three left. Rick Wright of Pink Floyd (pictured front and center above) died on Monday due to complications with cancer. Last year Syd Barret died (the band's founder). That leaves Roger Waters, Nick Mason, and David Gilmour (who joined the band later) left to carry on the legacy.

This apparently happened Monday, but I just found out yesterday, so my apologies to any die-hard Floyd fans who read this late.

Last night I went home and dug up some old Floyd albums I hadn't listened to in a long time. This morning, on my way in to work, I had Money blaring out of my truck speakers.

I'm in the high-fidelity first class travelling set and I think I need a Leer Jet!

Rick was the piano player/keyboardist for the 4 man band (5 members because David Gilmour took over lead guitar from Syd Barrett in 1969). Rick was one of the 4 original founders, and after a brief respite in the early 80s he returned to write and tour with them for another 25 years.

The band had a history of stormy weather from it's creation in 1967 through to present day. In 1969 Syd Barret (the band's founder) began to lose his mind in what many attribute to years of drug abuse. At that point David Gilmour took lead guitar and the band produced several more albums before making it huge with 1973's dark Side of The Moon (still one of Billboard Magazine's top 10 best selling albums of all times).

In the mid 70s they put out an album about every two years. Roger Waters began to steer the group at that point, and even said in a 1988 interview "By that time it was my band." In 1979 they realeased one of their better known albums, The Wall, which became a hit MGM movie the following year. It was after that album that Wright took a break from the group. It was said in interviews that Wright was going through a nervous breakdown of his own in those years, and tried to find relief in excessive cocaine use. Waters states that the lyrics he wrote for the song Nobody Home reflected his images of Wright at the time...

I've got nicotine stains on my fingers,
I've got a silver spoon on a chain,
Got a grand piano to prop up my mortal remains

Three years later Waters left the band, and in 1987 Wright returned and was a full participant again under the leadership of David Gilmour. They had two very successful albums in the late 80s and early 90s (A Momentary Lapse of Reason, and The Division Bell).

In 2006, during the St. Petersburg G8 Summit, Bob Geldof organised Live 8 and had several popular bands come together for days of concerts all to benefit African poverty. Waters and Gilmour had been at odds for years, and had not performed together for nearly 17 years. Geldof used his friendship with the band members to convince the four to get together once more for the sake of charity. I remember watching the Floyd set on TV that year, and it was moving to see all 4 of them up there together, putting aside their differences for the greater good. I don't think I'll ever forget that image of them standing there arm in arm waving to the ecstatic crowd after their set. The sense of togetherness was emotional and moving.

This is by no means supposed to be an epitaph or official obituary for Rick... Just some personal feelings that I had and wanted to share. Bye, Rick! You'll be missed, buddy!

Would you like to say something before you leave?

Perhaps you'd care to state exactly how you feel?

We said goodbye before we said hello...

What color is your parachute?

2008-09-19T19:23:00.000-07:00

Had an awful night last night. Kept waking up from working dreams. Went in today and had a bad customer service survey. Pretty bad, actually. I've also had two bad phone evaluations from my boss in the last two weeks. I feel like I'm getting lined up to be fired.

Applied for a new job (very similar... same stuff, different place) at the competition where a bunch of my buddies have already run off to. Finished a 45 minute on line evaluation and set up an interview for Wednesday morning.

Don't wanna quit... But don't wanna get fired even more! Thought it was time I strapped on a parachute.

"Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day"

2008-09-19T08:28:00.000-07:00

Here are some interesting words to plug in to a Google image search:

1) voip

2) canoe

3) misfraction (and, no, I did not mean malfunction)

4) cirus

5) allocation

6) snowshoe

7) discombobulation

8) can

9) fail

10) receiver

...enjoy!

17 years ago....

2008-09-18T06:49:00.000-07:00

Back in the summer of 1991 I met the cutest little creature who ever walked the face of the earth... My little cousin, Eliza. This photo has so much meaning for me. This was the first time that I met her. She was 10 months old, and we (the family) were at Duck, NC for a week at the beach renting a beach house. The house was crowded with my mom's sisters, their spouses, cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles... You name it. I was 23 at the time, and had just finished my first year of college. I had also just discovered that I was an alcoholic, and this was the first summer that I tried to go "dry." I walked around all the time with a glass of Kingsbury (non-alcohol beer) and lime in my hand, and was smoking, too. This was 2 years out of the Army, and as you can see from the photo I was experimenting with hair again... Wow, somebody should have really sat down and had a talk with me! LOL

Anyway, it was a tough, transitional summer, and the highlight was meeting Eliza. She was cuter than a room full of puppies. The problem was- she hated me! I couldn't get near her without her crying. I tried everything... Entering the room slowly. Inching up to her... Crawling up to her low on the ground. Nothing worked. As soon as she spotted me she would go into this awful crying spell, as if to say "Get this monster away from me!" It was heart-breaking.

One afternoon I was holding her and trying to get her to like me, but she wouldn't have any of it! She hated being in my arms and was putting up a fuss. My dad snuck in from the side and caught her attention briefly with his camera. For a split second she turned away from me and gave him this curious look, and he snapped the picture. I love this picture! It looks like a sweet little girl having fun with her big cousin Joe... But the truth is, she was not "happy" at all, she was just distracted! It goes to show how the right moment caught exactly how you want it can convey a different message than the truth! LOL

By the way, over the years she decided to give me a chance and I eventually grew on her. She loves me now... awwww

Anyway, Liza turned 18 last weekend, and she just started her freshman year at college. I love her, and I miss her. I will be seeing her this Thanksgiving when I go home to Virginia for the first time in 22 months, and I'm really looking forward to catching up with her and hearing how college is going. She's my little sweetie-pie, and I'm very proud of her.

And there's your "blast from the past" for today!

Another bad one...

2008-09-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

Did I mention that for the last two "weekends" I have had construction workers in my apartment from 8:00am - 5:00pm doing work that I don't even want done, and will probably have my rent raised for, too? What a bummer (to say the least).

I'm a real fan of the Alien movies, and a huge fan of the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger classic Predator. When AVP (Alien vs Predator) came out in 2004 I eagerly rushed to the theater to see it. It was cheezy, but good. I liked it so much that I bought the disc.

Now, don't get me wrong, it was not academy award material or anything like that. It's just a good action flick with monsters and stuff. In my book, if you don't expect too much from those types of movies they can be fun to watch. Every now and then when I'm bored and want to watch something "light" I'll throw it in.

So I'm at Wal Mart last night and I see that the sequel, AVPR (Aliens vs Predator "Requim") is available on disc for $13.00... What a bargain! One of my friends loaned me her place for the "weekend" so I could do some laundry and avoid the construction workers, and I'm gonna be up most of the night doing laundry anyway... So why not treat myself to this cool movie!

Not so much. Pretty bad. Worse that Jaws 4 the Revenge, probably right there with Tron (although I know that contradicts what I've written before about Tron). Anyway, to be avoided.

OMG! Too funny!

2008-09-14T09:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm perusing through the funny images on http://ihasahotdog.com/ and came across this one. At first I laughed because it was a white dog in a black afro- just like my blog member "photo." But then I read the caption and realised they were making fun of the TV painter Bob Ross. That made it even funnier.

I am a huge Bob Ross fan! I have two 8-hour VHS tapes of him that I watch all the time... Okay, honestly, I don't watch them, I listen to them. I put them in the TV at night and listen to him talk and paint as I fall asleep. He's got these great quotes, like "Everyone needs a friend" and "let's put a happy little tree right there." He also talks about living in Alaska, and ends each show with "God bless, my friends."

Here's to you, Bob! Hope everyone's got a smile on their face now. I know I do.

Season Premiere

2008-09-13T15:34:00.000-07:00

I have been an SNL fan since the 1970s. I honestly can't remember if it was the first season or not, but as a little kid I (me and my two step-siblings) would stay up and watch it each Saturday night. One night we had a babysitter who wouldn't let us watch it and we were furious. The next time we had a babysitter on a Saturday night we stood there and made our parents tell the babysitter in front of all three of us, "Yes, they are allowed to stay up and watch Saturday Night Live." I'm a very big fan, and have been for decades.

Tonight is the season premiere. Michael Phelps (the Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer who won 8 Golds) is hosting. I remember back in 1994 when Nancy Kerrigan hosted... She was awful. Same scenario, a popular olympic athlete hot in the pop culture of the day hosting the show. I wanted her to be good, I eagerly anticipated the show. But she was really bad. She was a cue-card reader who put no emotion at all into her characters. I was very disappointed.

I assumed Peyton Manning was going to be bad when he hosted last year, but I was wrong... He was very funny! From his opening monologue through pretty much the entire show he was making me laugh constantly. I was pleasantly surprised.

How will Michael Phelps do tonight? I guess we'll see.

Is there anything the British can't do?

2008-09-11T22:59:00.001-07:00

Okay, feel free to call this "I want to build an igloo part II." Here's another way cool video on building a snow shelter. I couldn't embed the video, so you'll have to click on the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOJQPz1s-1c&feature=related

Enjoy!

Books that I'm reading.

2008-09-11T16:37:00.001-07:00

I see that a lot of people are blogging about the books that they’re reading lately, so I thought I’d do the same thing. I’m not really a reader. I’ve got books on my bookshelf that were given to me as gifts years ago that I still haven’t read. My dad is the kind of guy who sits in bed at night reading technical books and magazines… And each day that passes I realize I am more and more like him.

For the past year (10 months) I have been reading technical computer books. It all started with a career change back in October of last year. I left HR and decided to pursue IT. I know a lot about computers, but last year I did not know enough to actually be employed in an IT department. So I decided to start studying for an exam called the CompTIA A+ Exam. CompTIA is the Computing Technology Industry Association, and they are a set of standards for IT professionals to certify themselves as knowledgeable techs. So I studied and studied and studied… For 6 weeks. Then I went and took the first test, and failed it. After several weeks of moping around and feeling defeated I decided to start reading a textbook on the subject. After several months I went and re-took the first test (in March) and finally passed it. Then I read the second half of the textbook and went and took the second test in June… and passed.

I received my official documentation in the mail last month, so now I am a certified computer technician. The next test I want to take is my networking exam. With those two certifications, plus the 10 months on the job experience I’ve had here as a computer tech, I should be able to impress somebody somewhere into giving me a job in their corporate IT department.

So, these are the books that I’ve been reading. Again, I’m really not a reader, and I don’t particularly enjoy reading recreationally… But I have genuinely been enjoying these. I’m a third of my way through the networking book. Keep those fingers crossed for me as I prepare for this next exam!

Controversial Blog # 2: Don't wear seatbelts!

2008-09-07T15:52:00.001-07:00

One of the biggest lies put out by the left wing liberal media is this crazy seatbelt thing. Seatbelts do not save lives. Seatbelts were first initiated into the Big 3 auto makers of Detroit (Sony, Quaker Oats, and Motorola) back in 1987. Before that year cars didn't even come with seatbelts. Prior to 1987 all vehicles built in the USA had special composite-sponge dashboards and hard rubber steering wheels that were harmless to head and upper body during a sudden stop.

After Jimmy Carter was re-elected in 1985 the Georgia-based string and twine conglomerate Zeetbelltz, LLC (a German / Suisse based company that had been US based for decades) declared bankruptcy citing the Democrats as the reason. In fear of retaliation the Carter administration decided to award the next big government contract to the Zeetbelltz Corporation in an attempt to get them back on their feet.

That year, the Air Force developed a hovercraft which was a hybrid between a Volkswagen beetle and a Hummer (Hummers were officially released the following year). During its initial test flight the hovercraft slid into water and crashed. The pilot was killed.

The pilot was Chuck Yaeger, an influential member of the socialist bourgeois movement out of Rhode Island. In the late 1980s Rhode Island had not yet undergone its famous reduction in size, yet. The state boundaries stretched out west to what is now Eastern Kansas. The US House of Representatives was dominated by Rhode Island congressmen who were furious at the Air Force for allowing one of their own to be killed in the line of duty. As commander in chief President Carter decided to avoid bad press and kill two birds with one stone...

1) He made it mandatory for all vehicles in the US (military or civilian) to be built with supplemental restraining systems.

2) He gave the government contract to Zeetbelltz, Inc. who promptly re-named the company to avoid bankruptcy repercussions. The new restraint devices were named after the new company: seatbelts.

The whole thing was a combination government bail-out / bad press reaction from a third-term, lame duck president who was already independently wealthy off of Billy Beer.

Since 1987 the number of highway traffic fatalities in the US has tripled, while the string and twine assembly workers union of Georgia has earned billions of dollars, and grown so large that last year they actually purchased CNN.

Think about it.

Controversial Blog # 1: Encourage babies to drink!

2008-09-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

Babies should be encoraged to drink at an early age. Too often young people don't get introduced to alcohol until high school. This has got to stop. Alcohol is the solution to all of life's problems. The sooner children realise this the happier and more productive they will be. Imagine a baby who was too drunk to know that his diaper needed changing! He would never cry or complain, he would just crawl around in a peaceful, stinky bliss.

"But Joe, that's ridiculous!" I hear you say... "What about the smell?" Well, if the parents had been raised properly themselves they'd be drunk, too, and the smell would not bother them. Sure, they might stumble around the house accidentally stepping on and kicking the baby... But it's a drunk baby. He's not gonna feel pain.

See how easy this works? What if we required the United Nations Reps to be drunk whenever they were in session... Can anyone say "Peace on Earth? " Don't bother to thank me.

I'm confused??

2008-09-07T08:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, my post to response ratio is not good lately. In fact, this week it’s been 6:3 (six posts, only three replied to). That’s not good, considering I started blogging in the first place to give myself some interesting things to read from people who had comments to make on things that I might have to say. Not enough of you are “commenting.” As a result, I sit here bored at work constantly checking my blog for responses, and being disappointed when I see none.

So what’s the solution? Maybe my blogs aren’t interesting enough to be commented on? Maybe I haven’t made enough blog friends yet? I try… I hop around to other people’s blogs and leave comments for them. But few reply. I know that I have a few friends out there who read, but do not post replies (Steve, Ginni, Vard, Suzanne, Ahmari… I’m looking your way!)

Maybe my posts aren’t exciting or controversial enough? I know that Melissa posted three large photos of her ass on her blog, but only got 2 comments (That’s not a very good ass-response ratio, by the way, Melissa. I’d be concerned if I were you.)

What should I do?

Maybe I'll spend today posting nothing but shocking, controversial stuff...

Are video games and girls diametrically opposed?

2008-09-06T14:12:00.000-07:00

I work in a world of geeks- computer nerds- techno scum. What gets me is that many of them have girlfriends. Some of them I've even seen and they're pretty good looking for nerd girlfriends. (Have times changed that much? When I was younger it wasn't cool to be a nerd).

So, not only do these nerds have good looking girlfriends, but they talk about how much fun it is to play video games with them! These girls actually enjoy "gaming" with these nerds.

Now, aside from one amazing girl (thank you, Melissa) who used to come over and watch me play Duke Nukem for hours at a time, I have never encountered this. Where are these girls who enjoy gaming? Are there any out there?

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present...

2008-09-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

...one of the worst movies ever. I mean, I think I'd rather watch Tron again. Not even Michael Caine could save this flick. TBA (to be avoided)

I feel good!

2008-09-05T10:23:00.001-07:00

Yesterday afternoon my buddy, Brad, backed out on running with me. So all day I was in the mindset "I'm not running tonight." That means (for me anyway) that the laziness started to creep in and had a firm hold on me by the end of the day. Well, later toward the end of the day Brad said that he'd changed his mind and wanted to run. I was already decidedly lazy, and not going to run. When Brad left he said, "Call me if you change your mind."

So, after work I'm in Wal Mart getting a few things, and I'm exhausted from yet another 11 hour day at the office. I'm starting to think how good some junk food would taste... As I head through the check out line I'm looking at the candy bars, but I avoid buying any, thinking to myself, "Come on Joe, why pig out tonight? Just go home and eat some healthy food so you can lose another two pounds this week." It's like there was a battle in my head between wanting to pig out on the sofa, and wanting to have a good weigh-in on Saturday morning. I made it out of the Wal mart without purchasing any junk food. I was sitting in the truck, staring at my phone, and wondering if I should call Brad...

Once, several years ago, someone said to me "Most of our life can be defined by the decisions that we make." I always respected that, and as I sat there staring at my phone I made the decision to call Brad.

We went for a good run last night. And I didn't have any junk food. I went home, had some stew, watched Planet of The Apes, and went to bed. This morning I woke up with a great attitude. I made two good decisions last night, and today I feel good!

"If you lose me!"

2008-09-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

My running buddy is backing out on me again tonight... So looks like it might be a good night to sit on the sofa and explore the Planet of The Apes!

Man, I have such an exciting lifestyle.

No more Sarah Palin!

2008-09-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, this obsession I have with Sarah Palin has got to stop. So, instead of another pic of her, I have decided to post a picture of puppies (which are also cute).

I'm going to go ahead and say that I don't think she and McCain can pull it off, though. I think the youth/experience combo is working better for the Obama and Biden Combo than it is for the McCain and Palin Duo. First of all, Obama is a popularity freight train. I mean, he has Oprah behind him! Second, I didn't catch the first half of Sarah's speech last night where she discussed her own credentials, but I just don't think a first-term governor can beat out a senior senator like Biden. Overall I don't think the McCain Camp has the support behind it to beat an energized popularity powerhouse like the Obama Camp seems to be.

I mean, hey, Obama already beat a Clinton... And they don't go down easy.

I will say that the images last night of her on stage with her whole family, holding her baby, after the speech were powerful. It had an effect on me, and I think that it will speak to a lot of working class women (and other men), too. But I don't think it will be enough.

Personally I have issues with both Obama and McCain, so I am not going to vote for either one. It looks like I'll be writing in Ross Perot again this year (which I have done in the past). Or heck, maybe I'll just vote for the Green Party... Although I probably don't agree with a single part of their platform. I say, global warming? Bring it on! Heck, if it's a little warmer in the arctic maybe I could try my cardboard box experiment.

So, for the last time on this blog, “Sarah Palin is hot.” And now, in the immortal words of Forrest Gump, “That’s all I have to say about that.”

…no more on Sarah Palin. Probably.

"If she were the president she'd be Baberaham Lincoln!"

2008-09-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

Nothing much to post today. It's my Monday. Had a pretty good weekend. Applied to a couple of jobs. Met with some friends. Got some rest.

I am obsessed with the whole Sarah Palin thing and might even watch her speech tonight. Anyone elese planning to?

Call the police (part 2)

2008-08-30T10:34:00.000-07:00

Another stolen image from somebody else's blog... But so hillarious I had to re-post it.

Thanks to Art Vandelay at http://vandelayenterprise.blogspot.com/

Time

2008-08-30T08:01:00.001-07:00

Back in 1973 a couple of dope-smoking college drop outs in their early twenties wrote the following:

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day,

You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way,

Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town,

Waiting for someone or something to show you the way...

Tired of lying in the sunshine,

Staying home to watch the rain,

And you are young and life is long, and there is time to kill today,

And then one day you find, ten years have got behind you,

No one told you when to run,

You missed the starting gun...

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking,

And racing around, to come up behind you again,

The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,

Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death.

...how did they get it so right?

Talking to the minorities, here...

2008-08-29T14:14:00.000-07:00

Allright, I realise most of my blog friends are female, but on the off chance that one of my male friends decide to visit this blog and make comment... Is it just me, or is Sarah Palin kinda hot?

Did I imagine this cartoon?

2008-08-29T10:16:00.000-07:00

Continuing with the theme of cartoons we used to watch as a kid (from Melissa's blog: http://mellylifeliver.blogspot.com/)... Most people remember George of The Jungle. But, for some reason no one remembers the other two cartoons that were also a part of that show:

Tom Slick

Super Chicken

I'm not sure why nobody remembers Tom Slick or Super Chicken... Maybe I just imagined them. Maybe they weren't real cartoons at all... Except that I found this picture of Super Chicken and his sidekick, Fred (a big goofy lion who spoke with a lisp), on Google image search.

Super Chicken was always telling Fred to do dangerous things. Fred would always get wide-eyed and exclaim, "But, Super Chicken..." to which Super Chicken would always immediately interject with "You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred!" I always thought that was a very funny line. And there are many instances where I'd love to say it to someone... If I thought they would get the reference. But, of course, no one ever does.

My co-worker, Brad, gave me such an instance this morning, and I said it to him. He didn't get the reference. So I'm posting it here in hopes of enlightening the masses.

Okay, I just watched Tron...

2008-08-28T23:06:00.000-07:00

...and I gotta say- wow. What a bad movie.

efficient night!

2008-08-27T23:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm feeling much better. Tonight I accomplished:

three loads of laundry
balanced my checkbook to the penny
figured up my bills for next month
set a legitimate weight goal for the rest of this year
applied for a corporate IT job

No one to blame but me...

2008-08-27T15:53:00.000-07:00

Another Wednesday (which, for me, is another Monday) and nothing to show for the weekend. I didn’t balance my checkbook. I didn’t work on my resume or apply to any jobs. For a guy who bitches about work as much as I do there is no excuse for not attending to at least some of that this weekend.

On the plus side, I did stick to my healthy eating regimen (something I find hard to do, particularly on weekends), and as of Saturday I was down 2 lbs.I weighed in at 207 two weeks ago, and kinda got that reality check moment there on the scale. (For reference, 6 months ago I was down at a nice 185).

Speaking of weight control / health, I also did not run last night as I’d planned to. I called my buddy and we both felt like skipping… So we did.

No excuse. I’m hoping that the motivation I’m feeling right now extends into the night, and the week!

call the police

2008-08-24T15:22:00.001-07:00

Okay, I totally stole this from someone else's blog... But I had to re-post it here. Rock on nerds from the 70s!

the horror... the horror... of getting older

2008-08-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

Well, Melissa recently did a post about cartoons she used to watch as a kid, which got me thinking about being a kid. I was chatting with a buddy here at work this morning and somehow the movie Apocalypse Now came up. My buddy had never heard of it (which in itself was a little bothersome), so I started to tell him about it. I said that it starred Martin Sheen… At which point he interrupted me and asked “Is he related to Charlie Sheen?” I just stared at him for a few seconds. I didn’t know what to say. Finally I responded with, “Yeah, that’s his dad.”

The fact that my buddy (who is 21 by the way) had never heard of Apocalypse Now and/or Martin Sheen was a reality check for me. And not a pleasant one, either.

I am freaking old… which takes me back to the original idea of discussing cartoons I used to watch as a kid. Not only am I sure that most of my friends will not have heard of them, I am sure that they simply will not believe me when I tell them that I used to have to sit on the floor in front of a TV that was actually a large piece of furniture, wait 10 minutes for the tube inside to warm up, and then stare at a color pattern for 15 more minutes while I waited for the local TV station to start broadcasting for the day.

I’m f-ing old. I don’t feel like talking about cartoons anymore.

Melissa, this one's for you... LOL

2008-08-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

"There are those who call me.... Tim?"

- or even better -

"Who are you that can summon fire without tint or flinder?"

plot flaws...

2008-08-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

Oh, so I’m a movie critic now? No, just a geek with too much time on his hands.

Okay, we all know Star Wars is one of the coolest movies ever. But, like any other story, it has flaws. Some of them even ridiculous. For example, in the original (Episode IV: A New Hope), Darth Vader knows that the stolen plans which can destroy the Death Star are inside R2-D2. He puts a tracking device on the Millennium Falcon so that when Han, Leia, Luke and the gang escape he can track the ship to the hidden rebel base. But why let them escape at all? Why not kill them, destroy the droids, and live happily ever after ruling that galaxy as a dark sith lord? The argument is, of course, that he wanted to know the location of the secret rebel base, and that’s why he let them escape so he could track them and locate it. So, okay hey, why not remove the plans from R2, and then let them escape? Then you can track them to the secret rebel base, when they get there they’ll realize they don’t have the plans, and you just cruise in with the Death Star and blow them up?

And, on the same issue, Princess Leia knows they’re being tracked. She even says to Han “They’re tracking us. It’s the only explanation for the ease of our escape.” Alright, so if you know you’re being tracked, why fly right to the secret rebel base? Why not fly the Millennium Falcon to an abandoned Wal Mart parking lot and just leave it there? Or, better yet, fly it to Wrigley Field in Chicago and park it there. Then, when the empire shows up they look like a bunch of stupid Nazis standing there in the parking lot, just like in the Blues Brothers! Then, you casually make your way back to the secret rebel base using public transportation, download the plans at your leisure, and go launch your attack on the Death Star later?

And, my favorite… In the final episode (Episode VI: Return of The Jedi) you’ll recall that the empire is building a new Death Star to replace the destroyed one in episode IV. So why not go and destroy it? Well, that’s the plan, but there’s this shield generator which emits from the surface of Endor (where those freakin’ little Ewoks live) protecting it. So, even if the rebel fleet arrives it won’t be able to destroy the Death Star because there’s a shield up. But then the rebels learn the secret location of the shield generator (on Endor) and plan their attack. Well, toward the end of the movie the Emperor says to Luke, “It was I who revealed the location of the shield generator. Your friends are walking into a trap.”

Why tell the rebels where the actual shield generator is? I mean, if all you want is for the rebels to show up so you can kill them, why not lie and tell them a false location for the shield generator? Then when they show up they won’t be able to turn the generator off, the Death Star stays protected, and you kill the rebels! But no, the Emperor tells them the actual location of the generator, they show up and destroy it! And then, of course, the rebels proceed to destroy the Death Star, and the Emperor in it, too.

What was the Emperor thinking? What was Darth Vader thinking? I mean, I understand the idea(s) behind the strategy (strategies)… But never hand a man a loaded gun just to see if he’ll shoot you with it!

You know I’m really bored here at work when I’m dissecting 30 year old science fiction movies made for children.

THX 1138

2008-08-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

Alright, so last night I settled in and watched THX 1138, George Lucas’ first movie (1971). This is one of those movies that I didn’t think I liked until the end… Spoiler alert, I will be discussing major plot points, and the ending. But then, if you haven’t seen this movie in the 37 years since its release, what are the odds that I’m really spoiling anything for you, now really?

Okay, I actually saw this movie many years ago as a kid… But even then it was still “an old classic.” It was many years after the initial Star Wars craze, and like many other folks out there I wanted to see George Lucas’ early work. I didn’t remember much of it, except a few scenes at the end involving some motorcycles. So, it was almost like watching a new movie last night.

This movie really bugged me for about the first hour (it’s only an 86 minute movie), and I found myself having to pause it and walk away several times just to keep from going crazy from what seemed to be lingering pointless scenes of bright white rooms of infinity and crazy bald people rambling about this and that.

But toward the end of the movie I started to get interested. The last 20 minutes or so are the only “action” sequences. Not that I need action sequences to be interested in a movie (after all, my favorite movie of all time is 2001: A Space Odyssey, considered by many to be the dullest movie ever made), but honestly it was really slow, dull, and confusing up to that point, and the concluding 20 minute chase was a welcome relief.

Three convicts escape from prison, and the police are after them as they run through this futuristic city. That’s basically the last 20 minutes. The first 60 minutes get you there. You have to have the patience to sit through the first 60 minutes to begin to see the significance toward the end… And still there is no real clarity until (arguably) the last scene of the movie when Robert Duvall actually escapes.

Having sat through all 86 minutes now I have decided that I really do like this movie. But I can see how many people would probably get fed up and quit watching soon after it starts. The end, I believe, makes reference to Plato’s “Allegory of the cave” which you may remember from that philosophy class you took in college your third semester when you lost interest in your major but realized that you still had several years left to go so you better take some interesting elective courses… Wow, did I just think that and write it?

Anyhow, in Plato’s allegory of the cave there are a bunch of cave men sitting in a cave around a fire, which is all they’ve ever known, and which they accept as being “real and absolute.” Long story short, one of the cavemen either wanders out of the cave, or is dragged out by an animal or something… The point is, once he gets outside he sees the sun for the first time, and realizes that there is more than just the fire in the cave. He feels compelled to enlighten his fellow cavemen, but none of them want to come out of the cave. He eventually drags one of the other cavemen out of the cave, kicking and screaming, who also becomes enlightened as to what truth actually is, and the two of them try to decide if they want to continue dragging others out of the cave or not, seeing as how none of them seem compelled to follow them out. It’s that whole “can truth be forced on somebody, or do they have to discover it for themselves” thing… You know (Melissa), that old chestnut. LOL

Well, having made it through the movie to the end, and realizing at least one of the points that I think Lucas was trying to get across, I now want to watch it again and try to get the rest of it. There seem to be several Orwellian themes thrown in there that, while obvious, I wasn’t really paying attention to the first time around. And I’m a big George Orwell fan, too.

Anybody else seen it?

The end of another "weekend"

2008-08-19T22:42:00.000-07:00

Well, it's Tuesday night, which is my Sunday night. What did I do this weekend? Well, on Monday, as is the norm, nothing much. I'm not even sure I left the apartment. I did get out of bed a few times to get something to eat and to use the bathroom. But Mondays are usually my crash days after a mentally exhausting week.

Today, I got up, went out and met some friends. Ran some errands. Went to the video store where I rented (don't laugh) Tron and THX-1138. When I got home and sat down comfortably on the sofa to watch Tron I discovered that it was badly scratched. I tried cleaning the disc, and even tried watching it on my computer's DVD player... But that disc is toast. Unwatchable. Now, many of you who have actually seen Tron are probably saying "That's not such a bad thing, Joe... Tron, after all, sucks!" Well, I know that, too. But since I left HR and got into IT this past year I've been wanting to watch a lot of those old computer movies that were popular when I was a kid, in a way I was actually kind of looking forward to watching Tron this afternoon. Oh well.

I also rented THX-1138, George Lucas' first movie (1970). Like Tron I have actually seen this movie, too. But it's been so many years that I thought it would be fun to watch it again, as well. Well, after discovering that Tron was unwatchable I laced up my running shoes and met some friends for a 2.5 mile run... My first run in about two months. So now I have that good kind of tired feeling, the kind you feel like you've earned, and I'm gonna take a shower and go to bed. I recorded both episodes of The Office on TBS earlier, so I will probably watch those and go to sleep.

For all of my blog friends out there, tomorrow is actually mt "Monday." The start of a new depressing week. Please update your blogs with fun things for me to read, and I'll hopefully be chatting with you all soon.

Goodnight! ...Joe

The ABCs of Joe

2008-08-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

I got this idea off a friend’s blog. Here we go…

A is for age:

over 30, and that’s all I’m saying

B is for booze of choice:

I don’t drink

C is for career:

miserable computer tech working in a call center

D is for your dog's name:

I don’t have a dog, but I love dogs and want one. I think I want children, too… But should probably try a dog first!

E is for essential items you use everyday:

coffee- without that there is nothing

F is for favorite song(s) at the moment:

Comfortably Numb, by Pink Floyd.
I am sad to report that the song was actually written by David Gilmour, and not Roger Waters. I decided to stand on the Waters side of the fence after the band split up in 1984. I’m not saying anything bad about David Gilmour, just that I wish I could say that my favorite Floyd song was written by Waters. And it’s not. Good job, Dave!

G is for favorite games:

Football, to watch. I used to be a lot more into it than I am these days. I’ve actually road tripped hundreds of miles numerous times just to see an NFL game.
My favorite game to play is a video game called Star Wars Battlefront. I have a few friends at work who log in some nights and the three of us play head-to-head. I have to be honest and say that frequently there are little 10 year old kids in there from Germany and Australia who kick my butt on a regular basis! LOL

H is for hometown:

A land far, far away

I is for instruments you play:

I own a bass guitar. It is really cool looking, all black with an Amnesty International sticker on it. I bought it because I had a friend who played guitar, and he suggested we jam together… Then he moved away. Now I have this cool looking bass sitting on a stand in my living room collecting dust. I don’t play it. I’ve never had a lesson, and I don’t understand music. So, I guess the real answer is “none.”

J is for jam or jelly you like:

Strawberry. What red-blooded God-fearing American doesn’t love strawberry?

K is for kids:

Some day I’d like to have one daughter, and I plan to spoil her rotten!

L is for last kiss:

Wow! It’s been a while. But it was at the drive in, and I’ve forgotten her name. Isn’t that awful!

M is for most admired trait:

well, let’s see… My parents are really impressed with my “memory.” Although it is only random useless facts that I manage to store in there. For some reason, they are still impressed with that.

N is for name of your crush:

I don’t have crushes. I obsess over certain athletes and celebrities that I see in the media, but those are not crushes. For example: Natalie Portman… What a freaking babe! (I sound like a pre-pubescent boy there, don’t I!)

O is for overnight hospital stays:

Maybe back when I was a kid and had my tonsils out? I had elbow surgery a few years back, but they let me go home the same day.

P is for phobias:

certain numbers (I have OCD)

Q is for quotes you like:

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
“What if this is as good as it gets?”
“Open the pod bay doors, Hal.”

R is for biggest regret:

Not being more decisive while in college and pursuing a degree that would actually help me get a job. Also, not participating in any internships while in college.

S is for sweets of your choice:

Okay, I have this ritual of eating several Reese’s Peanut Butter cups all at once. I buy like 12 – 18 of them at a time, put them in the freezer for 20 minutes until they are crisp, but not frozen. Then I individually unwrap them, put them on a serving tray, cut some of them in half, and sit in front of the TV systematically downing them all. I’ve never let anyone ever watch me do it. I think it might frighten them off.

T is for time you wake up:

NPR begins to wake me up at about 6:10am. I hit snooze several times before eventually getting out of bed at 7:00.

U is for underwear:

boxers

V is for vegetables you love:

Does anybody really love vegetables?

W is for worst habit:

Hmm… I would say smoking. But I quit several months ago, so now I clearly have no bad habits! LOL

X is for x-rays you've had:

lots

Y is for yummy food you make:

For my birthday this year a friend took me to The Cheesecake Factory and I had their meatloaf platter. I gotta say, that was pretty freaking good! (Oh, I just re-read that... Food I make? I don't make any yummy food).

Z is for zodiac sign:

Taurus…. But I don’t believe in any of that crap (awful “stubborn” of me, eh?)

Letting the days go by...

2008-08-17T08:29:00.000-07:00

I used to get up in the morning, shave and put a tie on and drive up the road to my office where I would sit and push papers and make $16,000.00 more than I make now. I never worked weekends. I never worked overtime. i took breaks whenever I wanted to. I walked around and chatted with co-workers while holding a cup of coffee... Everything was very nice (no comments, yet, Melissa!).

Now, I get up 5, sometimes 6 days a week (including weekends) and come in to a call center where I work 10 hour days tethered to a phone. I work with barely more than kids, most in their early twenties, wearing ripped jeans and t-shirts, with pierced lips and faces, colored hair, and inappropriate images on their desktops. I get phone call after phone call from angry people who just want to argue with me. The tools that I am supplied with to assist these "customers" in alleviating their problems are always broken themselves.

It is a constant state of frustration for me. What happened? Like the Talking Heads say, "I may ask myself, well, how did I get here?"

(Okay, Melissa, now you may comment about how miserable I actually was at my last job).

Tech Puppy... I feel your pain!

2008-08-16T17:16:00.000-07:00

I don't really have anything to say today. I've been reading other people's blogs trying to stay entertained while here at work. But I had to pass this photo along that Melissa sent me earlier.... This is EXACTLY how I feel every day at work! LOL

A few random thoughts…

2008-08-15T14:15:00.000-07:00

First of all, how about a shout out to Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson for winning the gold and silver, respectively, last night in the women’s gymnastics all-around competition! Good job girls… Now what?

I got my truck back. The damage was $565.00. It was a bad alternator, and some other stuff they saw under the hood when they popped it. $565.00 is not so bad. I was able to pay it. But that was a big chunk out of my checking account that I hadn’t anticipated spending! My truck also has no air conditioning. It broke last summer and I’ve been 13 months without AC… Living in Arizona! Freakin’ hot. I really want my AC back, but I was quoted $1,000.00 last year and so I put it off. I can’t afford it this year either. And the door handle on the driver’s side just broke, too! LOL I have to actually roll down the window to let myself out of the truck. I’m wondering if, after 10 years and 131,000 miles, maybe I should be shopping for a new vehicle? I love my truck… I LOVE my truck! But I have a great big V8 in there that guzzles gas, and I’m only getting 14 mpg. With gas at $4.00 a gallon that’s another thing on my mind. I don’t want to get rid of my truck… I love my truck (did I mention that I LOVE my truck?), but I used to love my teddy bear as a kid, too, and yet the time came when I had to give that up, as well.

Maybe I will start “looking.” I’m thinking it would make a whole lot more sense to use $1,000.00 toward a down payment on a new vehicle with a working AC and a smaller (more fuel-efficient) engine, that fix this one. Especially if other random things are starting to break on it more frequently.

I am sad.

"Give it to me straight, doc! Will she make it?"

2008-08-12T16:38:00.001-07:00

There are few things in life that really put me in a "panic." One of them is realizing that I have a negative balance in my checking account (which has not happened in a long time), and the other is having my truck break down.

This morning my truck broke down. It happened 20 minutes before I had to be somewhere important. So, I called a friend, who did a u-turn and came and got me. Then, when I got home, I called AAA and had them come tow it to my dealership where it can be looked at. I’m actually sitting here in my apartment now awaiting the arrival of the tow truck…

I have a nice balance in my checking account, so I’m hopeful that I will be able to afford this. But what I’m really feeling right now (aside from annoyed) is grateful. Grateful that I had a buddy willing to do a u-turn and come pick me up this morning. Grateful that I have thoughtful parents who keep renewing my AAA membership each year even though they live in Virginia and I live in Arizona. Grateful that I have money in my bank account. Grateful that I have a job to replace the money in my bank account which will be undoubtedly drained after this. Grateful that I have family and friends who can come to my aid should I need it… Just grateful.

It’s my “Sunday.” Here I sit, waiting for someone to come tow my broken baby away. I could think of a lot better ways to spend my weekend, but in the grand scheme of things this really isn’t so bad.