What a Person Says...

Does what a person says to you mean anything? Are we a society full of liars?

Those of you who know me know that I rarely make promises. Instead, I will tell you that I will try my best deliver on what I said, or something similar.

I have a reason for not making promises. (It seems to be a really good reason to me, but you may have a different opinion.) The reason I don't make promises, is that it absolutely tears me up inside to break a promise.

Perhaps, it's because of all the broken promises I received as a child (remember the abuse and all. Or some other leap of logic on my part, but as a result, I VERY rarely promise anything. I'm sure the Queen and the Princesses aren't too happy about that fact, but there it is.

I'm bringing this up because as much as I try not to make promises, I also try to always do what I say I'm going to do. I'm not always successful, but I try. I also, tend to expect this of others. I have an issue with people telling me they'll do something and then blowing it off. It seems disrespectful to me.

Perhaps, I'm just too caught up in the old ways, but I was raised that "A man's word is his bond" and "You have my word on it" were simple truths to live by.

Am I that old fashioned that I'm getting caught up on these things? Should I expect the worst from everyone?

I feel a little bit derailed, folks. I could use a little clarification. Better yet, don't tell me ABC unless you're going to deliver ABC.

This has been the first rant of the month by this old fart, but I really don't think it will be the last. You have my apologies for that.

This posr was brought to you by the letters W, O, R, D, and the number 9.

Last Rant of the Month... :)

I tried to give myself a bit of time to get over this one, but I did say I would post the rant, so here it is, finally.

So, here we are, paying an arm and a leg for airplane tickets on an airline that allows you to pick the seats you're purchasing and when we get there, the seats we chose are NOT available to us. WTF!!! Didn't I just mortgage off my spleen to pay for these tickets?! Didn't you allow me to choose my seats? Since that's the case, why in the living HELL didn't I get to sit in the seats I paid for?

If we don't get the option of choosing my seats, then remove that feature from your website you useless wastes of JP-10 (that's jetfuel). Along about this time, you're probably wondering who these CRETINS are who upset the Queen and I. Well, I'll tell you. The airline was Delta. Yes, I did indeed utter it aloud. It was Delta Airlines who introduced us to the shaft on this trip.

I suppose I should simply be happy we got there and back in one piece, but I can't help being a bit annoyed by their IDIOCY in screwing us over. That's why we'll try to give our business to someone else, like Southwest, United, or American the next time we fly, unless they are prohibitively expensive.

There... That's off my chest now. :) I can enjoy what's left of the Holiday. :)

This post was brought to you by the letters S, W, A, and the number 4.

Historic

Well, at least this election will be historic, whoever wins. :) We'll either have the oldest first term President and first female Vice President OR we'll have the first Black President.

And if - against all odds - NEITHER of them win and an Independent or Green party candidate wins, that will be historic as well. So for the fact that there will be some large historic strides made, I'm happy to be a part of this electoral process. As for the candidate for whom I'm voting... I'll keep you guessing on that one, unless you've figured it out already. If that's the case, please keep it to yourself. :)

America is good at doing historic things. :) I have to give us that much. We screw up a significant number of other things in the world, but we are certainly historic.

This post was brought to you by the letters H, U, H, and the number 8.

Sleep Inn - How Dost Thou Sucketh?

Let me count the ways. Not really, but I became quite annoyed when our room key stopped working each and EVERY day at our hotel stay. I swear, did they really not want our money? The service in that regard was so bad that they were constantly blaming us for the keys not working.

The room was not too bad overall, a bit on the small side, with only double beds, but other than that, the only real gripe I had was when we were continually locked out of the room and at times building unless we trekked all the way around to the front desk.

It is possible that they just had some really incompetent front desk employees, in which case they need to be either fired or trained. I don't know which was the case, and I don't care. The point is that they should have known how to program the cards so that they wouldn't lock us out each day.

This post was brought to you bu the letters L, O, C, K, E, D, and the number 5.

Family and Vacation...

Whew! We just got back from vacation. I'm not sure I can call it a vacation in that I'm as tired (or more so) as I was before we left. I suppose it's not a failure when all the people involved are still alive when it's over. I'm just not sure that some of what we went through was worth the trouble.

My girls met my mother for the first time during this vacation and I'm going to have to talk with them some time soon to see what they thought of the whole thing. They also met my mom's mother, and sisters, and a cousin and an aunt (this part was NOT planned more like SPRUNG) as the plan was to only introduce the girls to 2 people they'd never met. That part was annoying, but typical of the way that side of my dysfunctional family works.

The other side of my family has its issues (primarily planning just about anything), but once we are aware that they have planned something, we can just suck it up and realize that while it may not go as planned (and it usually won't) It's almost guaranteed to be entertaining.

So, all-in-all, it wasn't a complete wreck, but it was certainly not the IDEAL vacation that I would have hoped.

Hopefully, the next one will be better and a lot more relaxing.

Go, check out The Queen's Blog for more info and I'm sure she'll be posting pics soon. :)

The next posts will contain a few gripes about bad service, so if you're planning on flying with Delta or staying at a Sleep Inn, please stay tuned for future posts.

This post was brought to you by the letters C, F, and the number 12.

WTF!!!

So... 2 nights ago, at about 1am, we're awakened by someone banging on our door and ringing our doorbell. We don't know of anyone who would do such a thing. WTF?!

My first thought was that there was some drunk guy trying to get into the house because he was drunk and thought it was HIS house. So, I carefully come down the stairs to try to see who it is and on my way down, mystery person starts trying the doorknob. Again, WTF?!

I turn on the exterior lights and then peer through the peep hole. There's no one there, but the banging, doorbell ringing and doorknob rattling continues. I think I'm going blind, so I try the box bay window beside the door and again I see no one, but the racket continues. Are my eyes open? WTF?!

I go back and forth a few times and realize that it has to be a smaller person or they are trying to avoid being seen. I bang my door from the inside and yell at them to back off the door, but they either can't hear me or refuse to back off. Finally, they begin to get frustrated and wander back to the steps before returning to my door and I get a brief look at them. It's a 6- or 7-year old kid. WTF?!

I tell the Queen what I see and then open the door. The kid starts crying and I tell him we'll help him and to sit on the porch for a second. The Queen arrives and figures out that he's gotten separated from his parents just a few minutes earlier and it turns out he needed to go to the house next door. She leads him over and he walks up to the door, opens it, and walks in. WTF?!

So tell me, what real parent is going to lose their own child at 1am between their car at the curb and their front door 25 feet away? How can this happen if you're IN ANY WAY a responsible parent? I can't imagine the circumstances that could have resulted in this silliness.

WTF?!?!?!

This post was brought to you by the letters W, T, F, and the number 1.

Projects...

I hurt so much right now. Since yesterday morning, I've been working on the girls' bathroom. The sink (and possibly the toilet) have been leaking in such a way that it wasn't readily detectable and has damaged the floor. In order to investigate the damage to the floor and to determine just how bad it was, I had to completely disassemble the bathroom. I will post images of the ordeal once it is actually complete. :)

In the mean time, The Queen may have a few things to say on the matter and I need to get back to it so I can complete it today. I'd like the girls to be able to use their bathroom and not ours.

This post was brought to you by the letters G, R, R, and the number 5.

Hospital...

The Queen has been in the hospital since about noon yesterday. She will undoubtedly tell you more about it if we can get wireless internet in her room. If not, I'll tell you more later tonight.

Not to worry, she's doing just fine and should come home tomorrow morning. :)

This post was brought to you by the letters O, U, C, H, and the number 15.

Moody...

Sorry to neglect you all , but I've been somewhat moody of late and I suspect that any posts would be complaints/rants, so I'll spare you all the ugliness. I have not forgotten you, but haven't been up to posting anything for a while. I'll get over it eventually.

This post was brought to you by the letters E, I, F, O, and the number 94.

Tagged...

So, I've been tagged and I'm required to think and tag some others.

"Tagged?" you ask.

"Yes, tagged." I say. Here's the scoop. Once, tagged, I have to post 4 lists consisting of 3 Joys, 3 Fears, 3 Current Obsessions/Collections, and 3 Random Surprising Facts about myself. After the lists, I have to tag 5 people by listing their names at the bottom of this post and leaving a comment on their blogs.

Sounds easy, right? Grrr... :)

OK. Here goes!

JOYS:
1) Family when people aren't all grumpy/fighting. I love my family dearly, but can't stand the moodiness of the females in it. :)
2) RPGs/Computer Games. I've posted before that I like D&D and WoW, but they aren't the only ones that fall into that category. As for RPGs, I'm playing the Mutants and Masterminds and have played Sidewinder, Cthulu, and Star Wars in the past. On the Computer, I play Counter Strike: Source, Day of Defeat, and Call of Duty 4 as well.
3) Reading. I am a SciFi/Fantasy nut and read quite a bit, though not as much as I would like. :)

FEARS:
1) I will fail my family. I want to provide for my family, but It is a CONSTANT fear that I will fail to do so. A series of layoffs feeds this fear.
2) I'll become that which I can't stand. I was abused by my mother and that has had a profound effect on me.
3) Earthquakes. So why did I move onto an active fault line?

CURRENT OBSESSIONS/COLLECTIONS:
1) Counter Strike: Source. I need to get my average skill above 1000.
2) Yardwork/Garden: I want my yard to look great and I want my garden to be productive.
3) Web Comics: Check 'em out on the right side. I put a rating on them as a rough guide as to their content. :)

RANDOM SURPRISING FACTS:
1) I'm a good cook. I was taught by my Great-Grandmother. 'Nuff said. :)
2) I'm a Jack of all Trades. I can do all kinds of things.
3) I was raised by my Great-Grand parents. So I was raised old-school and I think it was great.

There are others, but I have to have something for next time. If there is a next time... :)

And now, for the unlucky suckers victims winners of my personal tagging contest. Please visit them and say hello.

Gorilla Buns
Lint Monkey
BopNopper9
Oh, The Joys
Gunfighter

Please visit them! :)

I call NO TAG BACKS! :)

This post was brought to you by the letters T, A, G, and the number 5.

Neglected

I'm sorry to make you feel neglected, but I really don't want to turn my blog into a mostly ranting, soapbox derby. (I really should make more use of my ranting blog just so I can do so. :) Most of the things I've been tempted to post recently have been rants and complaints, so i spared you all the nastiness associated with that.

I do have a question to post to you all. If you had a blog, (some of you do and some of you don't) is there a topic that you won't post about and what is it? I'm not asking to know why as you all have your own reasons why, but I'm curious about my readership - all 4 of you. :)

Thanks!

This post was brought to you by the letters A, R, G, and the number 6.

Memorial Day

Yesterday, We celebrated Memorial Day here in the United States of America. While I've never served in the Armed forces of America and I am not a fan of my nation's foreign policies, I believe in the people in our armed forces and I greatly appreciate what they do on a daily basis for our country.

I've had relatives in the armed services and friends in those same armed services. I hope the old friends I had are OK and I'd like to take this chance to thank them for their service.

Thanks to all our past and present military service men and women. It's a shame our country's policies put you in harm's way on a daily basis, but I thank you for hefting the mantle and doing a thankless job well anyway.

Thank you so much! Stay safe.

This post was brought you you by the letters U, S, A, and the number 4.

Explanation, Please?

So explain it to me using really short words. Obviously, I can't understand. Why is it that no matter what happens, it's a bad thing? And why the hell is it always my fault even when I did what was asked of me?

It's really beginning to frustrate me.

Apparently, I'm incapable of doing anything without pissing someone off.

And it continues even now...

I'm getting really close to being DONE!

PICK ANOTHER TARGET!

This post was brought to you by the letters W, H, Y, and the number 87.

What Fun...

...it is to have your head ripped off and venom spewed down the hole as a GREETING. It's positively the absolute best feeling ever! Please note the copious use of sarcasm.

An apology would be in order here...

This post was brought to you by the letters W, T, F, and the number 8.

Mother's Day...

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there and a special Happy Mother's Day to the Queen. Loosing Nemo wasn't easy for either of us a few weeks ago. She's been a little edgy for a few days now and while I don't like it, I can understand it because I've been a little off for a while myself.

I could have done a better job with Mother's Day this year.

The fact is, I blew it. No Card. No Present. No Nothin'. I feel like an ass.

Happy Mother's Day to you all. Feel better, my Queen. I'm here. I'm sorry.

This post was brought to you by the letters M, O, M, and the number 4.

Birthday...

Today is my birthday. I know I'm old and my kids remind me of it each day. :) Not on purpose, mind you, but they are too full of energy to do anything other. :)

Anyway, we're having part of the family over for grilled marinaded steak, garlic mashed potatoes, pasta salad, fruit salad, and cheesecake with fresh cut strawberries in homemade simple syrup. :) I'm making the steak, potatoes, and prepping the strawberries. My brother-in-law is making the pasta salad and the other brother-in-law is making the fruit salad. The cheesecake itself came from a local supermarket bakery.

I also had a chance to go outside and do some yard work. :) Please be aware that I LIKE getting outside and doing yard work. It feels like when I grew up. :)

Hopefully it'll be fun. :)

P.S. The Queen is an evil lady. If you're here because she sent you, please return to her blog and comment with raspberries. :) I know that's what I'm doing right now.

This post was brought to you be the letters D, O, B, and the number 100. :)

Outdoor Sportsman's Playhouse

If you're an outdoors man or woman, be sure to check out the 5.11 Tactical Pants and other items that are available at www.lapolicegesr.com. You might think it's a little odd to go there for sportsman gear, but think of it this way. What better place to get really good quality, rugged gear, than at a place where tactical teams go to get their equipment. You have to think the gear gets used in much the same way, right?

Anyway, go check them out and see what you think. I'm personally going to take a closer look at the pants I mentioned earlier.

This post was brought to you by the letters G, E, A, R, and the number 4.

Lettuce and Spinach!

We planted lettuce and spinach in the garden today. I figure that by the time they are close to germination, we'll be completely free and clear of frost danger. If not, then I've managed to waste some time playing in the dirt. :)

The garden is coming along pretty nicely. We have 3 rows each of lettuce and spinach and 4 rows of peas. The next things I plan to put into the garden is 1 hill of cucumbers, 1 hill of zucchini, 1 pumpkin plant, about 6 tomato plants, about 4 pepper plants, and a row or 2 of corn. None of the rest of this will be done before the middle of May. We'll be able to harvest something from the garden in late June if all goes well. :)

Anyway, I'll have to get some pictures when things start to come up.

This post was brought to you by the letters V, E, G, and the number 3.

Neet a Boot?

I was working on my deck just now and realized I could use some new boots. The ones I have on have seen better days and aren't as comfortable as they used to be. If you are in a similar situation, go check out the work boots they have at www.workbootusa.com. I personally like the Danner 453 the best, though the others look pretty good too. Some models even come with free socks. How's that for a deal?

Go check them out and if you like what you see, get yourself a pair of boots!

This post was brought to you by the letters W, O, R, K, and the number 8.

Not Your Fault

I realized last night that the Queen blames herself for our recent tragedy. I told her this last night and I want to say it again where the world can read it.

It is NOT your fault! I do NOT blame you!

Hopefully this will help her understand that sometimes things aren't meant to be. There was nothing she or anyone else did that was wrong and caused this unexpected and undesired loss.

I love you, Queen. I hope you can begin to feel a little better. You still have a loving family, albeit a little bent, battered, and bruised and we all still need and want you to be part of our little club. Remember that you can always talk to me and come cuddle up if you feel the need.

This post was brought to you by the letters N, E, M, O, and the number 3.

WTF!?!?!

I HATE UTAH WEATHER!

If I've said that before, please forgive the repetition. If I haven't said so in a while, please allow me to say it again. The weather here SUCKS!!! I hate the fact that yesterday it was 80 degrees outside and today there big fat snowflakes falling to the ground at an astonishing rate with 35 degree temperatures.

WTF!

Why can't we have a steady, gradual change to the seasons like other parts of the country? I was hoping to be done with snow and the like until the latter parts of the year. Sheesh!

This post was brought to you by the letters W, T, F, and the number 35.

Firearm Equipment

I have several friends who target practice with handguns. I've also had several friends in school over the years who have gone into the military and possibly into law enforcement. Any of these friends may be familiar with safariland holsters and would be able to tell you a lot more about them. I've always had tremendous respect for the people who protect us and uphold the law. It looks as if I have a chance to look at some of the equipment they use in order to complete their assigned tasks.

Take a look at what www.lapolicegear.com has to offer our law enforcement/military protectors and be sure to thank the next military service member or law enforcement officer you meet for a job well done.

This post was brought to you by the letters G, U, N, S, and the number 4.

Spring has Sprung?

Guess what? It's 80 degrees outside! Wow! I love it! Unfortunately, my little princesses are outside blatently violating the Queen's rules about Christmas Music. According to her rules, it shouldn't be sung except between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. Other than that. It's BANNED! Silly girls.

This post was brought to you by the letters H, O, T, and the number 80.

The World of the Paranormal

How many of you out there believe in something paranormal? Whether it's ghosts, spirits, or even UFOs, you can find a Social Network about Paranormal activity out there somewhere.

I'm not convinced either way just yet, but if you're at all interested, you should be able to find a like minded individual over at www.ufogaga.com to chat with or exchange ideas. I'm fairly certain the truth is out there somewhere. You just might be convinced that there are such phenomena or you might just find a new friend.

This post was brought to you by the letters U, F, O, and the number 3.

Goodbye Nemo...

We lost what could have been our new son today. The Queen suffered a miscarriage last night. She appears to be recovering pretty well, but I already miss him - yes, I had been thinking of the fetus as a him. We had been affectionately calling him Nemo.

On April 1 we decided to play a joke on all you readers and announce we'd have a child in November and then mentioned that we were indeed posting on April 1 insinuating that it was an April Fool's joke. We intended to reveal our deception at the end of the month, but sadly, Nemo's time came first.

There are more details at the Queen's blog. I'm not sure just how much I can stand talking about it without becoming particularly emotional. Yeah, that's kinda hard to imagine, right?

Rest in Peace, Nemo.

This post was brought to you by the letters S, O, N, and the number 1.

Interesting Phone Call

So, I just got off the phone where someone I don't know tried to guilt me into going to a religious ceremony for a religion I am not a member of and don't agree with. How screwed up is that? I mean come on! I consider myself pretty intelligent. Isn't it possible that I've thought through the arguments you've given me and made up my mind?

Give me a break!

So I'll toss it out to you all. What's the most interesting phone call you've gotten in the last few days. Post it on your blog and put in a link to it in the comments. If you don't have a blog, just post it in the comments.

This post was brought to you by the letters W, T, F, and the number 6.

What's the Holdup?

OK. In 5 days, tax returns are due. How many of you fine folks have completed and filed them? A lot fewer that should have, right? :) If you're getting money back, why haven't you filed them?

I know why they haven't been filed if you owe, but it just doesn't make any sense not to file if you're getting money back. If you wait until the last minute, it will take longer to get your money back. It just seems like a no-brainer to me, but I'm sure that far too many people out there haven't filed yet. It's a shame really...

OK, enough of the finger shaking. Hopefully you'll all get a giant return and will be able to afford a huge trip or something. :)

Please forgive my rant, I just needed to get it out. :)

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

Custom Thank You Cards!

We all have to send Thank You cards at some point. In some cases, we have to send a lot of them. Most of us will trek out to our local department store of choice and pay a lot of money for a generic card that looks like all the others and says something that isn't your words. Why not use your own words on a card that you customized so that it will be unique? Why not do all this from the comfort of your own home? Take a look at these Thank you Cards and pick one out that you like. You can even customize the text on the interior.

This one was my favorite even though it's a business card. They have a pretty large selection of cards. They are geared towards business cards, but most of these have personal applications. I'm sure we could all find at least one that matches the way we do things. I'm pretty sure my wife would prefer to have this one.

Be sure to go to www.cardsdirect.com and take a look at what they have. If you don't like what they have in stock, you can customize cards with a picture of your choosing.

Get all these options for a better than most price! Check out their prices and be aware that you can have custom, professional quality Thank You cards for a niceprice in about a week. How can you do any better?

This post was brought to you by the letters C, A, R, D, and the number 4.

Leeches...

I gave blood to the American Red Cross today. So now I can say that I've contributed to society. :) Unfortunately, I seem to have the same sort of difficulty with the needles they use as with the ones the doctor's assistants use to do blood draws at the doctor's office. The thing works for a moment and then the person has to giggle the needle around in my arm so that it'll work again.

OUCH!!! Please, for the love of all that's nerdy, DON'T DO THAT!!!

At least this time the needle didn't go all the way through my vein and hit the nerve.

Anyway, I gave blood and they'll be able to tell me my blood type. :) I can give again near the end of May if I remember what they said correctly. Hopefully, that experience won't be the same as today's um... fun.

This post was brought to you by the letters A, B, O, and the number 470.

Interesting.

Just how much stock can a person place on announcements on April 1? :) Why not see what the Queen has to say about those sorts of things. An additional hint could be found in the sponsors of my last post. A little rearranging and you'll get there. :)

Good news! I now have an office at work! I got a call this morning asking which tasks I was working on and to move my equipment into an office around the corner. Apparently this office was earmarked for me already, but I wasn't put into it when I was hired. Go figure! :) I no longer have a window, but I do have an office.

I'll have to use the company webcam for a periodic view of the outside. :) Besides, I'm in IT and we typically don't like too much of the "Evil Day Star." :)

This post was brought to you by the letters O, F, F, I, C, E, and the number 23.

April...

Wow, it's April already! Time flies these days. Things have been busy and both the Queen and I have been slacking on posting regularly. We have our reasons, of course, but the Queen is much better with words than I am so I'll let her tell you all about it.

Meanwhile, I'm preparing to put in the first crop of our garden (if the snow will ever stop that is). At least as a result of the very wet winter, we are officially out of the drought! Yay! Water! :)

The pager went off twice last night. :( I was up from 2am until 4am with about 10 minutes of sleep in the middle when I fixed one issue before the second one hit. I'm pretty tired at this point.

I'm going to get back to work now. Later!

This post was brought to you by the letters, O, D, L, F, O, E, and the number 1.

Happy Birthday Princess!

The Princess had a birthday today. Unfortunately, both the Queen and I are under the weather and her celebration was quite minimal. I have to apologize to her for ruining her celebration. Hopefully whatever I have (it feels like the stomach flu or some such) will clear up enough to allow me to go to work without too much issue.

So, in keeping with traditions...

Happy Birthday to you-
Happy Birthday to you-
Happy birthday, dear Princess,
Happy Birthday to you!

I could go on, but I don't think I will. :) Hopefully I'll feel better soon.

This post was brought to you by the letters F, L, U, and the number 8

Queen Grump.

The Queen is not feeling well. This is NOT a good thing. When the Queen is not feeling well, her fuse is clipped to the length of about a millimeter and packed with a lot more punch. Woe be to you if you're in her line of sight when the fuse becomes lit.

In her defense, we were pushing her buttons, by not feeling badly. We should have known better. Silly family... :)

I can understand her shortened temper as mine becomes shortened when I'm not feeling well just like hers, but it's a real bitch to be on the receiving end of it. :) I'll have to try to do something that may help her feel better. Hmmm... perhaps I'll offer her some chocolate (anyone have some Belgian chocolate), a warm, comfy blanket (we've got a couple of those around here), and a hug (any time she wants one). :*

Wish me luck! :)

This post was brought to you by the letters S, I, C, K, and the number 6.

10 Years

The Queen and I've been married for ten years now and we're going out to celebrate tomorrow night. :)

Happy anniversary to us!

This post was brought to you by the letters H, I, T, C, H, E, D, and the number 10.

1 Month!

Today marked 1 month at the new job. So far, so good. I'm getting the hang of things and people seem to appreciate my efforts and understand that I'm new. I think it'll all work out and I'm beginning to understand how all the software interacts with the various databases. Yay! :) I've put a lot of hard work into learning the particulars of this specific position.

Next week I have training for 3 days which means 3 consecutive days of getting there at 7:00 and leaving at 14:30. Joy - NOT!

So far this week the pager has disrupted my sleep each and every night. I'm hoping tonight will be different, but I doubt it. Anyway, I just wanted to mark the occasion. :) Now I can get back to my regular posting. :)

This post was brought to you by the letters D, B, A, and the number 1.

Leashed!

I am now officially leashed! My new job has seen fit to provide me with a cell phone/pager with which to keep me in tune with the SQL Servers.

Yipee!

Then again, maybe not. Along with the leash, I was informed today that I'm now going to get a turn in the rotation... starting on FRIDAY!!! As in 2 days from now! Sheesh! I thought I had until at least the 1st of next month before I was thrown to the wolves. Oh well... :)

Wish me luck!

This post was brought to you by the letters T, R, E, O, and the number 750.

Paintballin'!

I've always wanted to go paintballing, but have never had the opportunity. I'm still interested and I'm planning on looking for someone out here to play with. You know of anyone? If you're interested, please let me know. If you're really into the game, I know where you can get some good paintball equipment. Go check out the folks at www.pntball.com and check out their selection of Tippmann guns, Smart Parts guns, spyder guns, and more. There's a whole laundry list of other equipment from Empire, Gen-X, VForce, Draxxus, and others.

Whether you're looking for a new mask, a nice extra capacity hopper, a new elbow, or a new barrel, or even a complete kit, www.pntball.com is the place to go. Hopefully, I can get a group of people together this spring and summer and we'll be able to go paintballing.

This post was brought to you by the letters F, U, N, and the number 4.

First Week

The first week is now over and I've started the second week. I have to say that last week was nothing but tiring. There was so much information thrown at me that I haven't recovered yet.

I will say that so far this week, I've had a chance to digest more of the information that from last week. I've been able to actually USE some of it productively. :) Yay me! I still have quite a way to go with it though.

They're interested in me enough to have me look into some training courses they could send me to which means they're interested in investing more into me. It also could mean that they think I need a lot of help, but we'll just stay on the positive, right? :) Right!

Anyway, I just wanted to tell you how things were going at the new place. I'll post at a later date!

This post was brought to you by the letters D, B, A, and the number 2005.

Day One.

Today was my first day at my new job. I met some pretty nice folks there and I think I'll be fine there once I get up to speed. I'll have a bit of homework to do in order to freshen up my DBA skills. Ayone know where I can find some good, free, online tutorials? :)

Please keep in mind that it's possible that I've seen a particular tutorial, but I appreciate anything that you recommend, because it's quite possible that I didn't see it with my search. :)

Anyway, I'm off to do a little homework. Wish me luck at work!

This post was brought to you by the letters J, O, B, and the number 5.

An Excerpt...

Seen on a VD card the Queen gave me yesterday.

FRONT:
Roses are red,
and sometimes they're thorny.

When you're not with me,
I get really...

It starts out pretty interesting doesn't it? I'm supposed to be thinking a certain way on VD, right?

INSIDE:
...corny.

I know what you were thinking.

Shame on you.

Tell me which one of you wouldn't have been caught by that one?

No lies! Be honest!

That's better... :)

FYI: I still wore all black yesterday. I can't stand VD. :P pthpthpthphthtph!!!

This post was brought to you by the letters C, O, R, N, Y, and the number 7.

New Entertainment

I have found yet another way (or twelve) to decrease productivity. Find some web comics! :) I have a few links to some of the ones I follow on the right side over there, but there are tons more available. Check out www.keenspot.com for a couple dozen different ones.

I'm going to add a few more to my list of frequented webcomics. Be warned, that they may not be agreeable to you. They are NOT the same comics you'd find in your Sunday paper. :) You have been warned!

This post was brought to you by the letters C, O, M, I, C, S, and the number 6.

Accepted!

I have accepted the position I was offered yesterday. There is a pay increase of just over 12.5%, a LOT more benefits (costing me slightly less out of pocket), and a TON less responsibility. Not to mention, the company is a LOT more stable than my old one.

I'd say I'm MUCH better off now. :)

My thanks to Dubby and everyone else for the great reference. I start work at 8am on Monday!!! Woot!

This post was brought to you by the letters J, O, B, and the number 18 - yeah, I repeated the sponsors - sue me. :)

An Offer!

Today, I picked up a packet of paper from my second choice of employment. It is a job offer and since it appears that the curse of "The Financial Department" has delayed the decisions of my first choice, I'll probably accept it.

As a result of the curse, it will be a couple more weeks at least until my first choice would have an offer for me. The other drawback about my first choice is that they want to bring 3 contractors for a short term contract and at the end, offer the best 1 person the position. The offer I got today from my second choice is a direct hire position. Which do you think is better for me and you only get 1 guess? :)

I'm pretty sure that unless my first choice pulls something out of a hat (like an offer for a permanent position) tomorrow morning, I'll be accepting this offer. They want me to start on Monday. Can you tell I'm pleased? :)

This post was brought to you by the letters J, O, B, and the number 18.

Bullseye.

Perhaps I need to get a personal fire-suit. You know, the kind professional race car drivers use to protect them from fire. I say this because apparently, I wear a shirt with a giant bullseye painted on it. This bullseye happen to be completely invisible to me. It's either that or I'm blind. I'm not sure exactly which.

Twice today, the Queen has become unglued about something completely out of my hands, and directed her ire at me. Trust me, you don't want to be the recipient of that fire storm. I can accept her flames if I'm the actual cause of it. You know, if I had done the typical husband thing and screwed up her plans or her property, I would actually deserve it.

I see no reason to be anyone's whipping boy just because they need to be pissed off at someone. I could even deal with it if I got an apology when I'm wrongly persecuted. Unfortunately for me, that's not happening and I need some creative assistance in resolving this issue.

I'm sure I'm not the only one around here with this problem. How do the rest of you handle it. I'm not sure whether to become unglued myself (probably not a good idea), scream something sarcastic back at her and let her stew in her own juices, shut up and take it (I KNOW this one isn't a good idea), demand an apology and tell her to redirect her anger at the true target, or something else that I haven't considered.

Do any of you nice folks have a suggestion? I'm on my knees and asking for assistance. Thank you very much.

Upset!

Wow! What a game! The Giants won 17-14 over the Patriots! That was not expected. I guess the Giants just wanted the win more I guess. :)

Congrats to the Giants! They beat my Cowboys on the way here and now they've beaten the unbeatable.

Congrats!

This post was brought to you by the letters W, O, W, and the number 1.

The American Money Sink...

You all have 3 guesses to figure out what the Great American Money Sink is. OK, so you don't really get 3 guesses and this isn't the one at the TOP of the list, but it's pretty close. :) A house is at the top of the list, but the automobile follows closely behind.

The multi-function light/windshield wiper/washer switch in the steering column of our 1996 Dodge Intrepid died today in the middle of what can only be described as a mini-blizzard and when it died, it did so rather dramatically. :)

Apparently, there was acrid, black smoke that poured from the steering column for a while while the switch was in its death throes. This absolutely freaked the Queen out and she called me nearly hysterical. Like a knight in shining armor, I went to her rescue and once the machine was back home (I drove it :), I investigated and found the source of the issue.

Tomorrow she'll be picking up a used replacement part for $35 (a new one runs $145) and I'll install it tomorrow afternoon. Joy! :)

Wish me luck!

This post was brought to you by the letters C, A, S, H, and the number 145.

The Interview

It went well! :) I'm happy to say that it went much better that I had anticipated. I was grilled of course, but the same thing had been done to me when I interviewed for the place that just gave me my pink slip.

I was impressed with the scrutiny of the people interviewing me and I think they were impressed with my responses, at least the remarks they were giving each other during the process seemed to indicate that. They also said to me point blank that they were recommending me for a second interview. They also used some of the interview time for the next guy to talk to me further. After they kept me for 15 minutes of the next guy's interview time, they introduced me to the man I'd be having the second interview with and I talked to him for an additional 20 minutes. I'm not sure if I had my second interview already or not. :)

Their plan is to bring in 3 people on a temp-to-perm basis for this job, work us like mad for a month or so, and then keep the 1 or 2 that did the best. They seemed to indicate that I was by far the best of the crop they had interviewed to date.

Wish me luck! We'll see what comes of it.

This post was brought to you by the letters L, U, C, K, and the number 1.

Interview...

In less than 2 hours, I have an interview with a local company. Although it's another smaller company, I'm hoping it will go well. If it does, then I'll have income again after only a short time without. :) I really like the sound of that. If it's not what I'm interested in, at least I'll have had a chance to polish up my interviewing skills.

Wish me luck! I'll post later today with my impressions on the interview.

This post was brought to you by the letters H, O, P, E, and the number 3.

The Search Goes On...

So far the search has been exhausting. I've looked into at least 60 positions and have applied for about 30 of them. I have a lot more to do, but I have confidence that I'll have a new job by the end of the month. Wish me luck in achieving that goal. :)

Anyway, if you're wondering why I haven't posted since last Tuesday, this should answer that question. I apologize for not posting something about my situation sooner.

This post was brought to you by the letters R, E, S, U, M, E, and the number 30.

Nailed!

The hammer fell today at work and I happened to be one of the 2 folks caught under it. That's right people, I was laid off today any I'm not happy about it. I could rant and rave about how I hate the company and spit bile about the situation, but I won't. I'll simply say that through no fault of my own, I'm no longer a full-time employee there (I'm a contractor until the end of the month) and I'm available to anyone looking for a full-time Senior Systems/Network Administrator in the Salt Lake City area.

The owner of the company decided he wanted to suck more money out of the company into his own pocket and decided that since he doesn't like IT, I was just so much overhead. He'll find out shortly, when the systems begin to crash that I wasn't for show. I wish the rest of the IT staff good luck in finding employment elsewhere, because they'll need it.

Stay tuned for the next development...

This post was brought to you by the letters P, I, N, K, S, L, I, P, and the number 2.

Relationship Maintenance

Hey guys, (ladies too) are you looking for some ideas to help maintain your relationship with your significant other? You might want to get some romantic ideas from RomanceForEveryone.com. They have a lot of suggestions and ideas on how to keep your relationship from fading.

Whether or not you're a romantic at heart, you could probably make positive use of the information found on the site. I know we could use it here in the castle. :)

Anyway, make sure you check out their sweet love notes or the read a love poem to your wife. You can also do this for your husband, girlfriend, or boyfriend. Take a look and see what you can find. There's plenty of information for anyone who happens to be picky.

This post was brought to you by the letters S, A, P, P, Y, and the number 2. :)

The Lumber Is Gone

The tree has been disassembled! It's nice and cozy in its box in the basement. The lights (lingerie) came off it pretty easily. :) We now have a lot more usable space in the living room now. It's a nice change.

If the weather will cooperate with me, I'll be able to take down the lights on the outside of the house, but it looks like that won't happen before February, if then. Oh well, such is life, eh? :)

This post was brought to you by the letters G, S, I, N, V, and the number 45.

Art Appreciation

I'd love it if my daughters, Pink Princess and Purple Dragon, became famous artists and supported the Queen and me, but I won't count on it. In the mean time, I'll continue to check out Park West Art Gallery to see the good stuff. I don't claim to be an art connoisseur, far from it in fact, but I do know where to see the kind of art I like.

You should try them out as well. If you really like something, you can get it from them as well. They have auctions frequently and I'm sure there will be something you like there.

Who knows - you might discover the next Van Gogh!

This post was brought to you by the letters A, R, T, and the number 7.

Timber!!!

The Queen is stripping our Christmas tree. Soon, it'll be mostly naked and it'll be up to me to remove its lingerie and bed it.

For you gutter-minded folks, that means remove the lights, take the tree apart and pack it in its cardboard box. :) You should be ashamed you even thought that way about our innocent tree. :P

Anyway... The tree and its associated decorations are coming down and will soon be packed away.

This post was brought to you by the letters X, M, A, S, and the number 9.

I Want To Go On A Cruise...

...for my honeymoon, albeit 10 or so years too late. The Queen and I never went on a honeymoon when we were married oh so many years ago. I've wanted to go on a cruise again since 1992 when I got to cruise to the Bahamas with my college roommate. I know the Queen hasn't really gone on a cruise and I think she'd really enjoy herself.

As I said before, I cruised to the Bahamas. It was incredible to be out on the ocean in the sunshine simply relaxing and forgetting all about anything that had worried me before. The ship made port in several locations and I got the chance to go snorkeling above a live reef. That was one of the most memorable experiences I've ever had.

I think I'd like to cruise to the Hawaiian Islands next time, though I'm not sure how long that would take. :) I'd also be interested in another Caribbean cruise, only this time with the Queen instead of my college roommate.

If you've been considering a cruise to somewhere warm and exotic, try Apple Vacations, Disney Cruise Lines, Princess Cruise Lines, or any of the others you can reach through the good folks at www.all-travel.com.

Right now, it's a little on the chilly side here in the U.S. Why not warm up the blood and go on a cruise.

This post was brought to you by the letters Z, X, Q, and the number 0.

Breakfast For Dinner

Tonight, we had breakfast for dinner. There were a number of items in the freezer that were various types of breakfast food and we needed space, so, we had breakfast for dinner. Toaster Strudel, Eggo Nutrigrain Waffles, and Pillsbury Maple Pancakes all played a big part in the sustenance had in this household tonight. Add to that a big glass of milk and we're all set. :)

What do you expect from royalty? We're known for being lazy anyway (royalty, that is).

I think every household should have breakfast for dinner every so often. It brings out the kid in us. Don't you agree? :)

This post was brought to you by the letters Y, U, M, and the number 6.

Now Where's My Password?

I've lost my password enough times that I need to have a utility to help me get them back or recover it using the Excel password recovery tool they have over at www.password-studio.com.

If you have a password or eight from an Office product or products, you need a utility like this. Take a look at what they have to offer and see if it fits your needs. I just wish I had something like this when I lost all my passwords. Everyone who has a computer needs a good set of utilities just in case the worst happens. Just don't forget your passwords, OK? :)

This post was brought to you by the letters O, H, N, O, and the number 5.

Quiet House

The house is strangely quiet. Just moments ago, the Dragon requested time to play on the computer. The Queen said no and the dragon proceeded to continue harassing her until the Queen raised her voice. Now the quiet is deafening. It won't last too long though - the offspring will be at each others' throats in no time.

I think the Dragon is getting a bit too pushy in pushing her boundaries.

So have your youngins done this recently?

Why must we snap to get them to understand no means no?

This post was brought to you by the letters N, O, and the number 8.

Recover a Stranded Web Site.

Have you had a computer failure and loose the local copy of your website? Want a local copy of your blog? Need to get that website you created for that long, lost computer course you made in college? How about the website you created several years ago and forgot the password to? You can get it if you have some software that can traverse and capture website.

Www.web-site-downloader.com has a piece of software that can download your site so you can view it or edit it while not connected or copy it to disc. The software indicates a quick, easy setup and download. Go check out their site and see what they have to offer.

I have had several sites that I wish I could recover and it took me quite some time to remember or recover a password, find ftp software and perform the download. This is another alternative. See what you think!

This post was brought to you by the letters W, E, B, and the number 6.

Visitor...

We have a visit from Diana this weekend and while we considered simply haveing her watch our kids, it just doesn't seem fair to make her do so. So, we'll pay her to do it. :) Free room and board for the entire weekend as well as a feast of food preped with loving hands for her to consume. She'll also got some tech support thrown in.

I'd say we getting the better end of the deal. :) LOL!

Good luck at BYUID!

This post was brought to you by the letters F, U, N, and the number 4.

Looking for Web Hosting?

If you're out there looking for a web host, be sure to compare for the best price and features according to what you're looking for. A good place to do your comparisons is over at http://www.webhostingchoice.com. With a few parameters entered, and a few clicks of the mouse, they'll churn out a comparison chart with a recommendation for you based on what you requested. You can then click on the hosts in the chart to get the specific features and services they each offer.

It doesn't matter if you're looking for a host for a personal site host or a business site. You'll find some good information at their site. Go on over and check them out!

This post was brought to you by the letters H, O, S, T, and the number 3.

Feeling Better

I'm feeling much better today. The chills, fever, and cough all seem to have gone the way of the Dodo. I'm really glad the worst of the sickness is over. :) Had it not been, this would have been an unpleasant weekend. :) Good thing I have the entire thing to relax and recover!

That's all for now, I'll catch you all later.

This post was brought to you by the letters G, O, O, D, and the number 24.

Inkjet Cartridges on the Cheap!

Which of you don't have a printer? That's right, very few of you. How many of you are rich? Again, very few of you. Why not save a bit of cash when you buy your inkjet cartridges? I thought you'd like that one. :)

If you're like me and have a Canon printer, please check out the cheap Canon printer cartridge at inkjetdeals.info. If you have a Brother, Dell, Epson, HP, or Lexmark printer, this is the place for you. Check out these tips for saving ink in your printers. There are some really good ideas in there.

Check out the site and save up to 80% of the cost of the name brands!

This post was brought to you by the letters I, N, K, and the number 80.

Sick Again

I'm sick again. That may explain my feelings of getting old. :) I went to work feeling down in the dumps and left within 2 hours because I began to feel even worse. I've taken meds for my sinuses (we're having some serious pressure turmoil in the weather lately), tossed back a few vitamin c tablets, Downed and Orange and some orange juice and napped most of the day under lots of layers of clothing and blankets.

I just took a shower and feel mostly human again. :) My head is still a little stuffy and I have an occasional cough from the drainage, but I think I'm through the worst of it. The aches and chills are all gone and I'm fairly certain I'll live.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

This post was brought to you by the letters C, C, C, C and the number 9.

Landscape LED Lighting

I just read about Landscape LED Lighting and I'm excited about the possibilities. I've mentioned before that I'd like to look into using LEDs all around my home.

Another possibility with LED Landscape Lighting is that it's possible to use solar panels to recharge the system and cut costs even more since LEDs require low voltage. It's not that you'd need to worry about the costs of using LEDs as they are up to 90% more efficient than standard lighting.

With creative use of up-lighting, back lighting, and indirect lighting, you can really make your landscaping POP! Take a look at the low voltage landscape lighting options at LizardLighting.com for more specifics.

I'll keep it in mind when I start planning out our landscape lighting.

Can we replace all our lighting with LEDs? It sounds like a good idea to me.

This post was brought to you by the letters L, O, W, V, O, L, T, and the number 90.

Feelin' Old

I'm feeling really old these days. It's really sad when you're falling asleep at 7pm. I took the Princesses to a movie at the planetarium tonight and part of the way through the movie, I found myself falling asleep to my horror! What's wrong with me?

I'm OLD! That's what's wrong. Perhaps I'll look into getting a new sporty car or something to help deal with this crisis.

This post was brought to you by the letters O, L, D, and the number 35+. :)

Decorative LED Lighting

Recently, the Queen told you that I expressed an interest in replacing out Christmas lighting with efficient LED lighting. I am indeed interested in replacing all our lights with LEDs. LED light strings can burn for 50000 hours or more! That's a lot of years of use.

They can be used year round if you're just a bit clever on your use. They can be used on the edge of a deck or in flower beds as accent lighting. They can be used along walks to provide some ambient lighting to avoid tripping hazards. When arranged appropriately, they can provide nearly any type of lighting you could want.

These lights are also extremely efficient. When a string of 2000 LEDs is used for 8 hours a day everyday of the year, they cost just $50 a year to operate. That's a lot more efficient that standard lighting. Please view the Christmas lights they have to offer at HolidayLEDs.com for more information.

I'm likely to use them for hidden lighting on the deck I'll be working on this spring and summer. That way I can make much better use of my deck well into the night.

This post was brought to you by the letters L, E, D, and the number 2000.

Happy 2008

Happy 2008 to you all! Hopefully, it will be a great and productive year for all of us. :) Please remember to be responsible for you actions and words. Enjoy yourselves!

This post was brought to you by the letters D, Y, Q, X, and the number 6.

2 Weeks in a Row?

[begin rant]

For the second week in a row, my pro football team has played like crap! I understand the need to rest up the starters, but c'mon! You can at least come to the game ready to play and have a good showing for the first half before taking the starters out and easing up.

The coach needs to get a piece of the owner's mind for this lack of preparation.

As you can tell, I'm not happy about this performance.

[end rant]

This post was brought to you by the letters L, O, S, S, and the number 3.

George's Revenge

George the cat got his revenge today. I put him in time out (in hindsight, stupid move not a good idea) and when I released him, he decided to leave me a steaming pile of poo under my bed. When I realized what he was doing and tried to put a stop to it, he dug his claws into me and hurt my hand.

He was put into the gulag isolation our spacious master bathroom while I cleaned up the poo and my bloody stump hand.

He is now napping on the old couch with a smug grin on his face.

This post was brought to you by the letter P, O, O, and the number 3.

I Will Ruin Your Life...

...if you have too much to do with me. So you should keep your distance.

The Queen has informed me that I make her feel as if she has failed every day. I think I understand what she means and I suppose that would ruin one's life. That was definitely NOT my intention and if I really have made you feel like a failure every day, then I'm truly sorry for that.

So, like all married men, I'm going to take the blame for whatever is wrong, because that's what we do. Even if it's ultimately cousin Richard's fault. That's what we do.

I'm sorry.

This post was brought to you by the letters G, S, W, I, and the number 9.

To answer a couple of questions.

I appreciate the assistance the fine people of Virginia have offered. :) The rest of you lurkers can get in on the action as well. :)

This post is an attempt to answer a couple of questions the aforementioned Virginians had. Hopefully this will make things clear. As I understand it, clicking on the Green bar at the bottom of the sponsored posts helps me boost my ratings and get a chance at more opportunities to post for pay. Replying to any of the posts I have that are sponsored helps me as well, though I'm not sure just how much it helps.

Thanks for your assistance! I really appreciate it!


This post was brought to you by the letters P, A, I, D, and the number 6.

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

The Night Before...

It's the night before Christmas and finally, everything's wrapped and shoved under the tree where it belongs. I had to work today for a half day, and then I did the last little bit of shopping I needed to do to be sure the things I wanted to get for people were acquired without prior knowledge.

Since the Queen handles our finances, she'd notice purchases and harass me about going over budget. I didn't want that harassment, so I waited until the last minute to get what I wanted to get her. Either there were a lot of other people who felt the same way, or a ton of people who just waited until the last minute because each of the locations I had to visit were INSANE!

Anyway, I'm just glad it's over. Now I can just go to bed and wait until Santa comes to town and delivers for the Princess and the Dragon. :)

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Merry Christmas!

This post was brought to you by the letters H, O, H, O, H, O, and the number 8 (9 on foggy nights)

Winter

Happy First day of Winter! Today is the Winter Solstice which means the days will be getting longer from now until the middle of Summer! Yay! Perhaps it will motivate me to get out and about more. :) We can always hope, right? :)

Anyway, I wanted to wish you all Happy Holidays and good cheer to everyone.

This post was brought to you by the letters T, Y, M, C, and the number 12.

Final Journey

Journeyman has officially been canceled. That SUCKS! This was a great show! It had a nice mix of drama, science fiction, and action. The mix was so well done that the Queen, who does not like science fiction, actually liked the show.

I'm sure she's going to deny that she doesn't like science fiction - she just pretends for my sake sometimes - but what matters is that she liked the show, or at least seemed to like it. It's too bad that the networks have decided that shows need to be absolutely perfect in order to be successful.

At least they knew early enough that it wouldn't go too much longer that they wrote a suitable ending for it. :)

I'm done with this rant, so I'm gonna call it a night. Later!

This post was brought to you by the letters R, S, K, T, and the number 23.

Get Paid to Post

So I have a chance to get paid for informing you nice folks of my opinions. Of course, this requires you fine people to read my posts. :) So if you all kindly read and occasionally click on the included links, I'd really appreciate it. Please read up on the word of mouth ethics I need to follow. Let me know what you think!

I also have a chance to make a few bucks by doing this and I'd love to make enough to purchase a few nice things for my family. The wife and kids deserve something for putting up with my crap for all these years.

One of my tasks is to review something that I'm interested in and let you all know about it. So, I'm going to tell you how much I enjoy World of Warcraft and why. This game allows me to step out of the real world and into the imaginary world for a brief amount of time each time I play. The down side of the game, as with any game, is the possibility of the player to blur the lines between what's real and not, resulting in hours and hours spent online and ignoring the real world. My advice to the new player is to play with moderation.

If you intend to play this game, I'd suggest using a relatively new machine with a wide aspect LCD monitor to get the most out of the game. Be sure to crnk up the settings and be pleased by the amount of detail in the imaginary game.

This post was brought to you by the letters P, P, P, and the number 20.

Decor!

Head on over to the Queen's blog and check out some pics! If they aren't up yet, it's only a matter of time. :) Merry Christmas to all!

I'm tired so I'm gonna cut this short. G'Night!

P. S. There are only 7 more days until Christmas! All you kids be nice and Santa just might bring you something nice. :)

This post was brought to you by the letters P, I, C, S, and the number 9.

Playing like CRAP!

I'm a Dallas Cowboy fan. They are arguably the second best team in all of the NFL, yet today, they played like the 32nd team on the league of 32. The game isn't over, but even if the Cowboys win, I'm far from impressed with them today. Most of the team seems to have taken the day off. Most especially the quarterback, Tony Romo.

That annoys me. I'll get over it, though.

This post was brought to you by the letters S, T, U, P, I, D, and the number 9.

The Lights are Finally Done!

I have finally completed setting up all tht Christmas lights. We now have a family of deer in the front yard, some twinkly snowflakes, a couple of lighted topiaries, and some stake-based decorations. I think it looks pretty good, but I'll ask the Queen to take a few pics and show them off to you all.


At the moment, I'm a little chilly, so I'm calling it a day.

:)

This post was brought to you by the letters L, I, G, H, T, S, and the number 3.

Christmas Concert

We attended the Christmas concert tonight at the LDS Convention Center. While I wouldn't call it my favorite event ever, the music was pretty good actually. The music was choral and while that isn't my favorite type of music, it fit the season.

I do have a question for you readers, though. What is the purpose of getting dressed up in one's "Sunday Best" in order to go sit in the dark and view a concert? I understand wearing decent, clean clothes, but come on! It just seems to be a bit of overkill to me. Of course, that's my perception and I'd appreciate you guys telling me why people do this. :)

The only other issue I had with the evening was security. I told them I had steel-toed shoes on (the ones I wear to work) and I had to go through metal detectors 5 or 6 times, each time wearing a little less. I was nearly to the point of saying, "Nevermind! I'll just go home. I don't want to be here that badly." They finally believed me when after using the wand, they verified that my shoes were indeed setting off the detector. This is worse that Airport Security where they'll just have me remove the shoes and x-ray them.

Such is life I guess. I lived through it so I guess I'm OK.

This post was brought to you by the letters G, O, S, R, and the number 6.

We Gots Sofas!

We now have a deep red sofa and love seat. Thi is our early Christmas present to our little family. I appreciate my colleague for helping get them here. I'm not happy about my rec room's current layout, but the furniture's here.

Anyway, I just want to say WooHoo for the furniture! :) It's here and all done!

This post was brought to you by the letters R, E, D, and the number 2.

Furniture a No-No!

Talk about HORRIBLE customer service! We ordered a sofa and love seat from this local furniture warehouse and asked them if we could pick it up on Wednesday at 5:30. They said yes!

I arrange to get a truck through my brother-in-law and it turns out that a cargo van was available instead. Great! No need for bungies or tarps! So we yank all the passenger seats out of the van and schlep out to the warehouse to pick up our items.

We arrive and find that there is not a SINGLE LIGHT on in the place.

WTF!!!

It turns out that there is no one there on Wednesdays and whoever said yes is an idiot.

If it wasn't for the fact that we really liked this sofa and loveseat (and got it at a really good price), I'd have said "Screw it!" and demanded a return of funds. Instead, I'm wrangling my brother-in-law into helping me pick it up tomorrow. Sorry, Bro.

Happy. <-- Please make note of copious sarcasm!

This post was brought to you by the letters, S, E, R, V, I, C, E, and the number 0.

Geeking!

I got to go Geeking tonight! :) Those of you who know me will know that I really enjoy D&D. I got the chance to play tonight instead of Friday. I can't play on Friday since my wife has a Creative Memories event to attend and most of the rest of my group can't play on Friday either.

So we got to play tonight and we killed another dragon! What fun! :)

Anyway, I'm in a pretty good mood as a result. Too bad I'm going to bed as soon as I possibly can. I'm really tired.

This post was brought to you by the letters D, I, C, E, and the number 20.

A Play

Tonight, we went to see "The Foreigner". It was a play at one of our local theaters. It was pretty good. We kinda 'lucked' our way into it.

It was quite amusing actually. :) I enjoyed the interplay between the characters and was pleasantly surprised I liked it. I won't give too much away, but the play is basically about how a socially withdrawn man is left in the company of a bunch of deep southern people. It is explained that he is a foreigner and understands no English. As a result, he is privy to all the private conversations of those people. The entertainment ensues.

This post was brought to you by the letters P, L, A, Y, and the number 3.

Simple Electronics

Simple electronics really know how to get me going. We have icicle lights that I've been trying to hang for about the last 2 weeks. I tested each set so that I could be sure to put up only the ones that were WORKING.

So, I wander out there in the freezing temps, hang up some lights, borrow a longer ladder, hang up some more lights, turn them on and...

Oh. The. AGONY!

One section of the lights I just tested, and carefully hung on the house, is out.

So-- What now?

I get a replacement bulb and go out there to find the offending bad bulb. I give them all a viual inspectionn and they all seem fine. I check the wiring and it all seems sound. Only one thing left, start swapping out bulbs until I find the bad one. An hour later, I find it (one of the last few I change out). Grrr... Stupid simple electronics...

So now my fingertips, ears, and toes are all numb, but the lights are hung. Happy Day!

So, tomorrow, I get to put out the moving deer, light up the topiary bushes, and line the walkway with nice seasonal lights. Sounds like I'll have some more numb toes. :)

This post was brought to you by the letters T, A, I, V, and the number 8.

Correction...

I went back and re-read my last post and realized that it reads as if I lost my position at that point. In actuality, I was just insulted by being introduced at a lesser title than the one I hold and not actually demoted on the spot. Please accept my apologies for any confusion this may have caused. :)

This post was brought to you by the letters O, O, O, P, S, and the number 6.

Stupid People

So how many times have you been demoted by your boss in front of potential company partners. How many times has your boss given you a 20minute task at the last 2 minutes? Mine just did and I want to smack him for it. Grrr...

How stupid can a person be?

This post was brought to you by the letters D, U, H, and the number 2.

Exhausted...

Hello all. I'm exhausted.

Whether or not you want to know about it, I'm going to tell you why. :) In an effort to spend less money (and as a result put more money in his own pocket), the owner of the company where I work rented out half of our space. Chowderhead!

As a result, we've had to uproot all our equipment and put it into half the space. Also, we have a really important meeting with some potential partners tomorrow. So the entire week, we've been killing ourselves to get the place clean and presentable.

So, I'm tired and I'm tempted to play hooky tomorrow and stay home. I WISH!

This post was brought to you by the letters R, E, E, K, and the number 5.

Battlestar Galactica

So, which of you out there are Battlestar Galactica fans? I'm talking mainly about the new series, but the old one would be fine. So, is anyone other than me truly saddened by the fact that it takes so increadibly long between seasons these days? I really like this series, but to make me wait so long between episodes is brutal. Too bad I didn't have nice huge capacity DVR when it the series first started. Oh well, such is life.

I like the fact that this new series makes better use of ethnicity than the old series. If my memory serves me correctly, there was only one minority in the entire show. That would be Boomer. :) There were pitifully few (if any) women in any sort of leadership roles. This new series has women and minorities all over the place. I'd like to see another brother or sister as one of the top-tier characters, but I'm not going to complain. :)

That being said, go watch the mini-series and as many seasons as are on DVD. It's a really good show. I really like what was done to the Cylons. I think you will too :)

This post was brought to you by the letters B, S, G, and the number 2003.

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The Digging is Complete!

I finally finished the expansion to my garden! At least the rough turnover of the soil by hand. :) I still need to till it up to properly incorporate the remaining plant material and grass clippings into the dark clay-like soil in order to loosen it up and enrich it. Next year's garden will be better than this year's garden was. :) It will be bigger overall and the things I plant won't be so crowded. I'll actually be able to weed it, not that weeding is fun, but I'll be able to perform said weeding next year since things will not be so crowded. :)

There are a few sprinkler heads that I'll have to change out and a few other specific things, but the hardest part is done! Yay me!

I'm sure most of you aren't interested in my gardening exploits, but there they are anyway. :)

The next large-ish project is to put in some duct work in the basement so it will be heated this winter. We'll see when that'll get done. :)

This post was brought to you by the letters G, A, R, D, E, N, and the number 7.

Turkey!

Tomorrow is Turkey Day! I get to cook the turkey! This bird is HUGE. Nearly 24 pounds of turkey meat waiting for me to season and shove into the oven.

JOY!

Anyway, I need to do some prep.

Later!

This post was brought to you by the letters T, H, C, and the number 23.

Haiku for Our Four-Legged Friend

Energy bundle,
active dynamo of fun -
Harry the fur ball.

To appease my royal family, Here's an alternate final line.

George the curious. :)

This post and the doggerel it contains was brought to you by the letters G, H, S, and the number 8.

Blame this on Gun Fighter

I will torture you all now with bad haiku and blame the Gun Fighter for it. :) You have my apologies.

Consumed by apathy,
subsumed in indifference,
the laughter has died.

This post was brought to you by the letters H, A, I, K, U, and the numbers 5, 7, 5, and 17.

Complainer...

Long time, no see. It's been nearly a month since I've last posted. I've been tempted to post quite a few times since then, but I realized it was a complaint and consciously decided not to post because it was specifically a complaint. I don't want to be known out there in the blog-o-sphere as a complainer, because I'm not. I'm sure the Queen will have something to say about that, but she's in a unique position and can comment as she wishes.

So, I'm going to try to cut down on my percentage of complaints in the coming posts. Let' hope I can make it happen. :)

This post was brought to you by the letters W, H, A, H, and the number 26.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to the Queen! :) She is 29 today. :)

This post is brought to you by the letters Y, S, F, B, and the number 29.

Vista?

So... M$ releases a new OS at the end of last year and so far, in nearly a year since the release, they haven't solved some simple compatibility issues with software that's LESS than a year old. In fact, software that's been released since the new OS was released doesn't work with it because of OS issues. M$ says there are issues with it's memory management which is at the root of a bunch of problems. Yes, I'm talking mostly about games (and the demos).

The argument can be made that it's the game manufacturers' responsibility to make their software compatible with the OS, but it also means that the OS manufacturer needs to make the OS able to deal with NEW software and give the game manufacturers USEFUL tools and specs (that aren't out of date immediately and/or changed every 2 months) to use to develop their games. I don't think M$ has lived up to their responsibility, especially since their OS costs so much more than it should.

If you compare the features that Vista offers, to the other OSes out there that offer comparable features (notably nearly any version of UNIX, any distro of Linux, or release of MacOS), you'll find that Vista is over-priced by a factor of 10! MacOS X for instance costs about $40 and Apple is still making money on each copy they sell. If Vista cost only $40 a copy, I think we could more easily swallow its flaws. As it is, $400 a pop should buy me an OS that was ready for the main stream and has all the tools that was promised. This thing is reminding me of what happened with Windows ME (and even M$ admits that ME was a failure).

This may or may not happen with this OS, but I'm only partially impressed with the OS. It has NOT lived up to the hype so far. Sure, you can perform word processing, web browsing, and other mundane things in this new OS, but you can't play the graphically intensive games people want to play. There are 3 versions of Battlefield, for instance, that you can't play on a Vista box. There are a number of other games that perform significantly WORSE on Vista than on any other OS. This was after making adjustments for Vista's memory issues.

Oh, by the way, WoW seems to work fine, but then again, this machine is so much faster than the other machine I was using that I wouldn't be able to notice any performance issues Vista did or did not introduce because the rest of the equipment is so much better.

I think I'll have to dual boot my machine in order to run the apps I'd like. Currently, it looks like I should get a second hard drive and install XP Pro on it. That way, I can have my gaming setup on one drive and everything else on another.

This post was brought to you by the letters X, P, and the number 2.

At home

So Last Night, my walking pneumonia decided it wanted to kick my ass again and the net result is I wake up with a 101 degree fever, pretty hefty lower back pain, sweating through my shirt, and no sleep for my trouble. What gives? I felt OK yesterday and have been on the Doctor's meds for a few days now.

The fever broke less than an hour ago so I decided to get dressed and imitate a human for a bit. :) I guess it's time to remote into work and get some things done.

This post was brought to you by the letters T, E, M, P, and the number 101.

Finally

Hello all. It's finally happened. Last week, I was allowed to order my laptop. I got the rep to expedite it and it arrived yesterday. I'm using it right now! :) Of course, the Queen isn't happy with me at the moment because I've installed WoW on it and I'm waiting for the updates to download. :)

I'm so far really happy with my new laptop. It's a Dell Inspiron 1720 and it's pretty much maxed out. I'm stoked! I just have to finish installing the rest of my software. That'll take the better part of the rest of the week.

I've been diagnosed with mycoplasma (walking pneumonia) and I'm on meds to clear it up. I'll be better in a few days.

This post was brought to you by the letters U, D, I, S, and the number 8.