A Statistic...

I am now a statistic. I was laid off from work yesterday. I am now among the millions of unemployed folks in the country.

THIS SUCKS!!!

Do any of you readers (all three of you) know of a Windows shop in or around Salt Lake City that needs a Sr. Systems/Network Administrator? I can also be a Database Administrator, though it's not my preference.

I think my lay off was politically motivated, because they used me as a scape goat for someone else's oversight. They've made some other personnel moves that have made me wonder a bit recently too. That's how it shakes out I suppose.

My resume is up to date, so now I'm searching again. Wish me luck in finding something really soon? Please?

This post was brought to you by the letters N, E, E, D, A, J, O, B, and the number 73.

I've Been Served...

Head on over to my son's blog and see just what I've been served. It's a crying shame. *sigh*

This post was brought to you by the letters R, S, T, L, N, E, and the number 46.

Live Fire? Really?

Who in their right mind gives the go ahead for a live fire exercise near a populated area during red flag conditions? Red flag basically says, the chance of uncontrolled fire is extremely high, so don't start one. Yes, I'm paraphrasing, but there it is. Live fire exercises have a good chance of starting a fire by their very nature.

I think someone in the military will get a STERN talking to about how they OK'd an exercise that burned approx 10000 acres and threatened hundreds of homes in a pretty heavily populated area. Luckily, the weather turned and out excellent fire fighters were able to turn back the brunt of the fire. Only 4 homes were consumed by fire, so there's a little lighter news.

My brother in law was evacuated as a result of this out of control fire and while I'm VERY grateful his house appears undamaged, I'm somewhat annoyed as to why/how the go ahead could have been given in this situation.

This post was brought to you by the letters F, I, R, E, and the number 15.

Updates

Since I suck at posting meaningful entries, I'll update a few events from previous postings.

After 2 months, Facebook has finally gotten back to my wife to inform her that her case is under review. WTF! Have those butt-munches not ever heard of the concept of "Customer Service"? Really? 2 months to say it's under review? They also flat lied to her saying that they had issued multiple warnings to her when in fact they hadn't issued a single one. So I guess we wait an additional 2 months for them to realize they didn't send any warnings and that she isn't a computer program.

Moving on...

The hole in the yard has been dealt with and the entire yard has greened up nicely. I need to to ratchet down the sprinklers a bit more and mow the thing, but it's otherwise doing great. Too bad the previous owner was such a cheapskate and used a sub-par stop & waste valve. Can you believe the guy is a general contractor running a home remodeling business? How can you have a business like that and do such shoddy work on your own home? How can you justify supporting your deck on piles of construction trash? That's yet another item I need to correct.

Next item...

We went on vacation this year to our local city. That's right, we had a stay-cation. While it wasn't as glamorous as flying to Florida or driving to Cali to have fun, it was just a full of stuff to do and just as exhausting as the other, more expensive route we could have taken. It took me the better part of a week at work to recover from the activities. I'm not saying I was slacking or anything like that so don't Dooce me, but I am saying that work was less hectic and stressful. Next time, it's a few days sitting on the beach drinking cool drinks, reading books, building sand castles. That sounds good, right? :)

This post was brought to you by the letters F, B, S, U, X, and the number 46.

There's a Hole in the Yard, Dear Liza...

I spent part of my Independence Day weekend digging a 5+ foot deep hole in my front yard. The stop and waste valve has gone bad and is leaking water into the ground. That's wasteful and causing an issue with the yard. Nonetheless, I dug a hole for the plumber to get at the bad part.

He'll get to put the new part in today after I get home from work and then, I'll get to put the dirt back into the hole. It's party time at my house tonight!!! :)

Couldn't I just bury my money in a shallow hole in the yard and bypass all the middlemen? It's going to cost on the order of $350 when it's all said and done.

Now, my back and left shoulder are killing me and Iam acutely feeling the effects of age. Getting old sucks!

Once again, this is proof that owning a home is a giant money suck.

This post was brought to you by the letters P, A, I, N, and the number 23.

Sanity Check, Please

I'm beginning to feel a bit of animosity toward FaceBook. That's right, I said it. FACEBOOK!

WHY? They disabled my wife's account for no reason. They claimed there was a policy violation, but didn't inform her of which policy she supposedly violated. My wife is notoriously the biggest rule-follower on the planet, so I fail to see what she could have done to deserve that. Perhaps they should perform a sanity check before disabling an account. You know, actually verify that there has been a violation.

Perhaps I should start spreading bad press all over the Interwebs. :) While that would be fun, I'm not sure just how effective it would be to get the 4 readers I have to be angry at FB.

At least I got to blow off a little steam.

This post was brought to you by the letters F, B, =, E, V, I, L, and the number 108.

House Full of Sick...

Our realm has been invaded by the sickness! Since Saturday, each of our short folk have dealt with it in some way or another.

The oldest Princess spiked a fever Saturday afternoon and it reached 104 degrees on Sunday. She's since recovered and seems back to her old self. She even went to school today. :)

The Prince attempted to recreate the movie "The Exorcist" on Sunday night. He was quite prolific in his ability to spew forth a ton of liquid and chunks of food. Since then, there has been horrific amounts of foul liquid coming out of the other end. He's never seen so many baths in such a short time span. It hasn't stopped yet, but he seems more like his old self.

The youngest Princess vomited at school today, which prompted an immediate return home. She has vomited twice since being home, the latest 30 minutes ago. I'm hoping her stomach settles really soon so we can administer some meds to keep her fever under control.

I suppose when it rains, it pours. So we'll just have to suffer through it. The Queen and I have been cleaning up all sorts of nasty messes. We'll do what we have to, I suppose.

This post has been brought to you by the letters R, A, L, F, and the number 94.

1 Month

It's bee 1 month since I last posted and it's been quite the month.

My attempt to remove my left thumb from my body failed and it appears to be healing nicely. The scar isn't very noticeable and the numb spot isn't really large. :)

The Prince's birthday party went off without very much of a hitch and was a big success. The Queen and I worked our arses off to make that happen. We estimate we had over 70 people come out and enjoy our hospitality. :)

The Queen developed pneumonia and was nearly hospitalized. I stayed home from work for most of 2 days to play nursemaid. She got better and I went to work the following Monday. She's doing fine now. :)

My sinus infection assaulted me while I was nursing the Queen back to health. I got an RX and fought it off like a champ. :)

The Prince developed an ear infection which had to be dealt with. He did so admirably. He has also learned to crawl and is now routinely doing laps in the rec room of the house. :)

The Queen and the Prince took a trip to Texas to meet the Queen's birth-mom. She came back refreshed and happy, so I can only mark that down as a success. :)

I has another birthday. I'm catching up to the age of dirt. The day overall did NOT suck, so I'll call it a success. :)

I'm sorry I didn't keep you all (all 3 of you?) informed better, but posting just didn't seem as important for some reason. :) I'll try to do better, but I can't promise anything. :)

This post was brought to you by the letters R, W, B, O, S, and the number 82.

A Few Things

I have a few things to say.

1st: My son is a year old today! YAY! Pretty soon, he'll be getting into trouble like I did when I was a wee little one. :)

2nd: I hate UTAH! I have another sinus infection and it's because of all the weather turmoil and unnaturally dry air here in Utah. I'll live through it, of course, but I really hate this particular feeling. :(

3rd: I apologize again for taking so long to post again. Too much going on and not enough well time. I'll try to do better, but we all know my track record here. :)

4th: The thumb is healing nicely. Now it just looks like there is an old scar except it isn't old and it's still a bit on the tender side. In another month or so, I'm sure it'll be fine.

5th: I have to remember to change my password on my laptop. Apparently, my son hacked it and posted to his own blog as me. I think we'll have to have some words. It can wait until tomorrow, so I don't ruin his birthday. :) Silly little boy.

This post was brought to you by the letters O, N, E, and the number 52.

Threadless

My thumb is now thread-less. I had a friend remove my stitches today. While it didn't go completely smoothly (1 really tight stitch and 2 others that didn't get cut on the first try - I could tell when he pulled on them - OUCH!), I'm glad to be rid of them.

Anyway, after I dried up all my tears (no tears really) and the stitches were removed, I have an injury that needs to finish healing and a mysteriously numb spot near the nail on my left thumb. I suspect a nerve was clipped. No worries, there will not be a malpractice lawsuit as the moron who clipped the nerve, was me. :)

Anyway, the stitches are out and that makes me happy. :)

A great big "Thank You" goes out to the friend who removed the zipper. :) Thanks a bunch! I know you'll probably never read this, but there it is anyway.

This post was brought to you by the letters Y, A, R, N, and the number 39.

What's 5 Stitches Between Friends?

In the time since my last post, I managed to stab myself to the bone with my pocketknife (5 stitches worth) , have yet another craptastic week at work, and piss off my M-I-L. How many more ways can I ruin this week?

My 12th wedding anniversary is tomorrow and I'm afraid I'm going to manage to ruin that too. You should all just forget you even know I exist for the next week and hope for the best - or that you won't get hit by any of the shrapnel.

I need a stiff drink and a long nap. IN! THAT! ORDER!

This post was brought to you by the letters T, E, T, A, N, U, S, and the number 33.

Getting Close...

My son is rapidly approaching his 1 year birthday and I'm looking forward to it. I'm not looking forward to the Queen's stressing out about it, but I'll live I suppose. He's doing really well, though there are a couple of milestones he hasn't met yet that I had hoped he would be beyond by now. He is by no means behind, however, so don't think that's my issue. I just wanna see him crawling. :) He is SOOOOOOO close, but just hasn't made that last couple of connections necessary to take off. :)

Of course, I say this now and once he starts going, I'll wish that he was stationary again. I'll get over it! In the mean time, he's 11 months and 3 days and absolutely adorable.

Please pardon me while I play the part of "Proud Papa" for the audience.

This post was brought to you by the letters M, J, H, and the number 24.

Frakking State!

Have I told you kind people lately, that I hate the state of Utah? No, then let me say it again. I HATE THIS FRAKKING STATE!

Between the frakked up weather, the overwhelming number of idiot drivers, absolute lack of humidity, and the utter absence of the color green, I am convinced that God saw this place and decided "Ick!"

/end rant

Ok. All done. You may carry on with your business. :)

This post was brought to you by the letters J, A, I, R, and the number 11.

Rough Couple of Weeks

It's been 2 weeks since I posted last and for that, I apologize. It seems I'm doing an awful lot of that lately.

Anyway...

After living through the hype and crap associated with that ghastly holiday last Sunday, we've come to understand that our son has a double ear infection and the rash he had for about 2 weeks was probably scarlet fever. To say that I'm not pleased with the various medical professionals who took a look at him, would be an epic understatement! WTF!!!

How does a trained medical professional miss these things? WTF, indeed!!!

He's on meds and seems to be a much happier little man now. We just need to get him to regain the weight he lost as a result of not feeling well and pack on some more to boot since he is a little on the small side. :)

I'll try to post a couple more times this week to make it up to my 4 followers and maybe 2 or 3 other readers.

This post was brought to you by the letters A, C, K, and the number 8.

Superbowl!

Yesterday, I watched what I think was the most entertaining SuperBowl I've watched ever. I'm happy for New Orleans as that city really needed something to celebrate given what's happened to it over the course of the last fist full of years.

Also, yesterday marked 10 months since my son joined our family. He's putting on weight like a champ and he is now armed with 4 little teeth. The drooling little fellow has quite a playful personality, when he isn't hungry or tired, and he's been playing repeat-after-me games with anyone who would play with him.

He certainly brings smiles to my face whenever I think about him and his games. :) I've been in a really odd head space recently, so please forgive the long absence from posting. It is related to the Queen's new blog and one of her disclosures. As a result, I think any entry from me would have been skewed heavily. Not only that, but some of the things I may have posted would probably have been somewhat harsh when the problem is that I just needed to digest some of what's been going on. I felt it best if I did my digesting before posting.

Anyway, I hope my friends from the east coast are able to dig out before round 2 hits. I'm sure it's beautiful, even if it is a mess. Send pictures! :)

I'll probably get started on the bathroom downstairs soon. Perhaps, I'll swipe the Queen's lappy for a bit and get the pictures of the basement remodel so I can post them. Sound like a plan? :)

This post was brought to you by the letters N, O, S, and the number 92.

Weekend? PLEASE?

This week has been filled with what can only be described as an emotional roller coaster. First, I have to admit that I've been feeling real sorrow for my fellow human beings in Haiti. My heart goes out to them.

The Dallas Cowboys have won a playoff game and won in December all within a few weeks each other. I have to be happy about that, right? :) I've gone to one physical therapy treatment for my neck and I have to admit that it feels a bit better. I'm going back for the next treatment tonight and then I get to go hang out with some friends and be geeky. :)

We've decided to finally try D&D 4th edition after it's been out for nearly 2 years. I'm looking forward to it. If it's a spectacular failure, it will still be an escape for me.

I need an escape after this week of work. Wow! I can't tell you any specifics because this is "teh Internets" (and it's always possible that someone from there could read this and then I'd be Dooced), but suffice it to say that it has NOT been a pleasant week. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad to be gainfully employed, but this week has been difficult. I can only hope that next week is more pleasant for all parties involved.

This post was brought to you by the letters M, J, H, and the number 9.

WOW!

I'm happy my Cowboys were able to end 2 really bad streaks in the last few weeks and I just watched one of the best offense-vs-offense games I've ever seen. 96 combined points in the Packers vs Cardinals game. That was an offensive war if ever there was one. :)

You all have my apologies that I haven't posted more in the last 3 weeks but there was the holidays and the simple fact that it's not my favorite time of the year. As a result, I was pretty sure that any of my posts would be decidedly negative, so result=hiatus! :)

Anyway, the new year has begun and this is my first post of it. Enjoy!

GO COWBOYS!!! :)

This post was brought to you by the letters N, F, C, and the number 6.