Pac-man turns 30 today! Yay!
Where have I been? The question to ask is what have I been (doing)? And the simple answer is work. I could be clever and type the word "work", like, 50 times or I can capitalize it and type periods after each letter. I could say something about all work and no play blah blah blah. However, as you may have guessed, I have been working day and night and weekends for longer than I can remember.
All work and no play make Jack something something.
I need a break. I need a promotion. I need a nap.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Happy Mother's Day!
Happy Mother's Day to all you moms, baby's mama, and ladies with lil' chil'ren running around!
We had a great Mother's Day brunch this afternoon. We had all the mom's over along with the rest of the family. We made a kick-ass breakfast and went through nearly 3 dozen mini-muffins from My Favorite Muffin (didn't even know that place existed until yesterday... now will never forget it). Future parties should *always* be brunch. Delicious!!!
We had a great Mother's Day brunch this afternoon. We had all the mom's over along with the rest of the family. We made a kick-ass breakfast and went through nearly 3 dozen mini-muffins from My Favorite Muffin (didn't even know that place existed until yesterday... now will never forget it). Future parties should *always* be brunch. Delicious!!!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
May the Fourth Be With You
This is what Kelsey txt'ed to me. I thought it was very cute. Get it? May the Fourth be with you... May the 4th? The Force? Get it now? Aw sheesh, we're such Star Wars nuts!
Friday, April 30, 2010
Oaks (andeverythingleadinguptoit)
What a week! Work, exercise, eat, paint, play, sleep. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Finished the "First Saturday" piece last night. Everyone at work loves it. We'll see how much it raises tonight at the Julep Ball. Excited. Drove Pat's Miata yesterday. Put the top down. Rides nice. Little cramped. Needs gas. Listening to new Wu-Tang album. Actually just Rae, Ghost, and Meth. It's good. Had coupons for Chik-fil-A breakfast items. Breakfast burrito sucks. Chicken minis are good. Chicken biscuit was the shit. Completed 6-week assessment for Heuser. Put on some weight. Lost some inches where it counts. Slightly improved on the physical aspects. Yay me. Work has been kicking my ass. It won't let up until the end of May. It'll only get worse. Thanks Jed. Keep missing getting together with Jed and Vian. Keep putting off lunch with Casey. Issue 17 for City of Heroes came out. It's so much fun. I love video games. I need to get serious about doing my comic book. Or I need to stop talking about it. I need to catch up on some sleep. ZZzzZZzzzzzZZZzzzzzz...
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
The Bike Incident
This story has been ongoing for a while. Every time I tell it the story is funny. As the story draws out, it almost becomes unbelievable. Well, the ending to the story happened yesterday and now I'm going to share it with you (as well as myself when I go back and read this entry... "Hello Future-Self!").
Since I started here at Genscape, way back in October 2009, there has been a bike sitting up here on the third floor. No one really noticed it at first because we have several guys who bike into work. So it kind of blended in.
Well, we happened to realize that the bike didn't belong to anyone up here on the third floor. We asked around a bit and decided it must have been left by the former tenants (kind of unlikely now that I look back on it). We saw that it was from Scheller's so I did the right thing and called to tell them about it.
They were very nice and appreciated my effort to find the owner but said that their computer system couldn't look up an owner by the serial number. They could look up a customer and see what bikes, by serial number, he or she owned but not the other way around. When asked what I should do next their response was, "Brother, it sounds like you have a free bike."
So, as I have mentioned on several occasions, I am a coordinator for our charity here at work. We are raising $60K to build a water purification system for the small village of Asiento Viejo, Nicaragua. As a coordinator I am charged with coming up with ways to raise money for the project. An idea I have babysat is an auction site where people donate items and we auction them with all proceeds going to our charity.
I put the bike up for auction and it didn't sell. It didn't even receive a bid. WTF?! I put it back up. Afterwards I noticed that there was something terribly wrong with the auction site. I fixed the problem (after Steve Akers bought the bike for $25 [and graciously returned it]) and happily watched the price skyrocket from $25 to an ending price of $250.
The winning bidder was Azim from the Boston office. Hooray! Everybody wins!
Yeah right. What kind of story would that be? BORING!
I was warned that Azim was a dick. And that any transaction with him should be handled quickly if I had any say in the matter. I fired off an email and Azim paid that day. Things were going so smoothly.
A few of us discussed shipping options (should have thought about that before I put up the auction). It was decided that we were going to break down the bike and ship it in a bike box. The bike box guys were called and the box was on its way. A Genscape employee named Mike just happened to walk by right about that moment.
"That's my bike."
I wasn't there for the conversation that happened after he uttered this. But I can imagine how it went and am pretty sure that is how it started. It turns out that Mike had purchased the bike many months ago, ridden it a few times, and "stored" it up on the third floor.
Are.
You.
Serious?
Okay, okay. So it's Mike's bike. Shiiiiiit. I called Azim but he did not answer. I emailed him with a vague message about a "development" about the bike. Well, he called back yesterday. And to say we had a nice little chat would be about the opposite of what happened.
He chewed me a new one. But I knew it was coming and I can't really blame him. I would have been a little upset myself. I just kept my cool and repeated the facts. He eventually calmed down and I promised to send him a check.
So that's the Bike Incident story. Sometimes I just can't make this stuff up :)
Since I started here at Genscape, way back in October 2009, there has been a bike sitting up here on the third floor. No one really noticed it at first because we have several guys who bike into work. So it kind of blended in.
Well, we happened to realize that the bike didn't belong to anyone up here on the third floor. We asked around a bit and decided it must have been left by the former tenants (kind of unlikely now that I look back on it). We saw that it was from Scheller's so I did the right thing and called to tell them about it.
They were very nice and appreciated my effort to find the owner but said that their computer system couldn't look up an owner by the serial number. They could look up a customer and see what bikes, by serial number, he or she owned but not the other way around. When asked what I should do next their response was, "Brother, it sounds like you have a free bike."
So, as I have mentioned on several occasions, I am a coordinator for our charity here at work. We are raising $60K to build a water purification system for the small village of Asiento Viejo, Nicaragua. As a coordinator I am charged with coming up with ways to raise money for the project. An idea I have babysat is an auction site where people donate items and we auction them with all proceeds going to our charity.
I put the bike up for auction and it didn't sell. It didn't even receive a bid. WTF?! I put it back up. Afterwards I noticed that there was something terribly wrong with the auction site. I fixed the problem (after Steve Akers bought the bike for $25 [and graciously returned it]) and happily watched the price skyrocket from $25 to an ending price of $250.
The winning bidder was Azim from the Boston office. Hooray! Everybody wins!
Yeah right. What kind of story would that be? BORING!
I was warned that Azim was a dick. And that any transaction with him should be handled quickly if I had any say in the matter. I fired off an email and Azim paid that day. Things were going so smoothly.
A few of us discussed shipping options (should have thought about that before I put up the auction). It was decided that we were going to break down the bike and ship it in a bike box. The bike box guys were called and the box was on its way. A Genscape employee named Mike just happened to walk by right about that moment.
"That's my bike."
I wasn't there for the conversation that happened after he uttered this. But I can imagine how it went and am pretty sure that is how it started. It turns out that Mike had purchased the bike many months ago, ridden it a few times, and "stored" it up on the third floor.
Are.
You.
Serious?
Okay, okay. So it's Mike's bike. Shiiiiiit. I called Azim but he did not answer. I emailed him with a vague message about a "development" about the bike. Well, he called back yesterday. And to say we had a nice little chat would be about the opposite of what happened.
He chewed me a new one. But I knew it was coming and I can't really blame him. I would have been a little upset myself. I just kept my cool and repeated the facts. He eventually calmed down and I promised to send him a check.
So that's the Bike Incident story. Sometimes I just can't make this stuff up :)
Monday, April 19, 2010
Panties
A have a new trainer down at Heuser that I've been working with. His name is G and I had heard stories about his taskmastering ways. Well, the stories are true and he is a punisher. To make matters worse, I made the mistake of telling him that I rarely push myself out of my comfort zone. He made sure that I pushed. In fact, he started calling me "Panties" because I couldn't push my heart rate to 170. I explained that I was a cross country runner and I can breathe pretty efficiently. He didn't want to hear it. He pushed me hard. And my heart rate peaked at 168. That was close enough for him. Afterward, he referred to me by name... and called all the other guys in my class "Panties" :)
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Really, what are the odds?
I kind of half-way looked this up on the Interwebs by starting out with basketballs getting stuck on the rim. But there aren't really any stats on that, nor odds of it happening, so I gave up. Unless you think unlikely shit happens everyday, or just aren't impressed with the strange little things that happen in life, then this is going to blow your mind.
I was throwing the ball to Boba the other day. I have a few of those Chuckit! balls and I like them because they bounce high and they are pretty durable. I like to throw them long and/or hard and watch Boba catch the ball on its first bounce. He's pretty good (when he tries) and it's a fun game.
Well, yesterday I was tossing the ball and had a bit of a janky throw. The ball soared a bit behind me and was heading toward some tree limbs. The ball hit a branch and I was expecting it to pinball down the tree but it just stopped... THUNK! It stuck between a fork in the branches and stopped dead in its fall. What are the chances, right?
But wait, there is more!
So this morning I had the bright idea of getting Will's soccer ball to throw at the branch and loosen the Chuckit! ball from the branch's hold. Boba was pretty interested in the soccer ball which only slowed my efforts. And then one of the neighbor kids (one of the Australians... GRRRRR!) came over and stuck his nose in my business. About 15 throws later, I fired off a pretty good throw that deflected off the branch and GOT STUCK BETWEEN A FORK IN THE BRANCHES AND STOPPED DEAD IN ITS FALL!
What are the odds of that happening? I mean, I couldn't simply throw a ball into a tree and expect it to get stuck up there within any reasonable amount of time. And I certainly couldn't expect it to happen twice. Two balls stuck in one tree within 24 hours! Holy hell, seriously, what are the chances?
(Sidebar: I was explaining to the Aussie, as I climbed up the tree, that I was wasting my effort because I don't want to spend another $6 on a pair of Chuckit! balls. After I loosened and freed the two balls, he promptly throws the ball into the common area and is called in by his father immediately after. "Where is the ball?" I asked him as he walked away. Son of a bitch! [I found it eventually])
I was throwing the ball to Boba the other day. I have a few of those Chuckit! balls and I like them because they bounce high and they are pretty durable. I like to throw them long and/or hard and watch Boba catch the ball on its first bounce. He's pretty good (when he tries) and it's a fun game.
Well, yesterday I was tossing the ball and had a bit of a janky throw. The ball soared a bit behind me and was heading toward some tree limbs. The ball hit a branch and I was expecting it to pinball down the tree but it just stopped... THUNK! It stuck between a fork in the branches and stopped dead in its fall. What are the chances, right?
But wait, there is more!
So this morning I had the bright idea of getting Will's soccer ball to throw at the branch and loosen the Chuckit! ball from the branch's hold. Boba was pretty interested in the soccer ball which only slowed my efforts. And then one of the neighbor kids (one of the Australians... GRRRRR!) came over and stuck his nose in my business. About 15 throws later, I fired off a pretty good throw that deflected off the branch and GOT STUCK BETWEEN A FORK IN THE BRANCHES AND STOPPED DEAD IN ITS FALL!
What are the odds of that happening? I mean, I couldn't simply throw a ball into a tree and expect it to get stuck up there within any reasonable amount of time. And I certainly couldn't expect it to happen twice. Two balls stuck in one tree within 24 hours! Holy hell, seriously, what are the chances?
(Sidebar: I was explaining to the Aussie, as I climbed up the tree, that I was wasting my effort because I don't want to spend another $6 on a pair of Chuckit! balls. After I loosened and freed the two balls, he promptly throws the ball into the common area and is called in by his father immediately after. "Where is the ball?" I asked him as he walked away. Son of a bitch! [I found it eventually])
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)