Mood swings.

I just talked to a guy who pissed me off so much that my hands are shaking.

More time-wasting goodness.

You can tell its a Friday around here. We're dead as Dillinger around here. So, I'm free to cruise around the internet and do all those dumb things that I like to do.

Right now, I'm working on this Brain Exploder from McSweeney's. I'm having too much fun with it.

I've got 13 of the 29 solved, one I'm not 100% on, but I'm looking forward to seeing how other people do. Of course, you'd have to be crazy enough to do it.

[UPDATED] For the Molecular Physicist in all of us.

Check out this hard, but entertaining game. I've made it to the covalent bond first level, but I'm stuck. For now.

Have fun.

Now I've finished all the levels, even beaten the lowest score, but Mozilla won't save to it. Bummer. Try to beat my 55. Report your results in comments.

I agree with who?

Via All Things Jen(nifer), and Wonkette, you can futher request assistance in choosing who you should vote for using the Presidential Guidester. Personally, I think that you shouldn't let a website tell you what to think or who to vote for, but if you're looking for a fun time, give it a try.

My results: Bush 15%, Kerry 85%, Nader 0%

Wow.

Asshole commuters.

As I'm making my early morning walk from the train to my office, I was greeted by a hundred or so commuters from Union Station. This isn't a big deal, it happens every day for me, so I'm used to it. What I'm not used to is all of them taking up the enitre sidewalk, making it feel like I was a salmon, except I was getting constantly hit by other salmon going the opposite direction. I was quite annoyed. Almost to point that I was going to start yelling at those asshats.

Fortunately, I was able to retain some sense of calmness and didn't make a spectacle of myself. Barely.

Finally getting my shit together.

I'm finally filling out information for my passport. My father sent me my birth certificate through the USPS, certified, and they didn't realize they hadn't sent me a notice that it was received. Finally, I tracked it down, went there, and got it.

So, now that I've filled out the forms, I'm feeling pretty good. I don't expect to get this before my trip to Toronto next weekend, but I might give it a shot.

The process triggered a memory I hadn't shared with you from my trip back:
As I entered Logan on Monday afternoon, I walked up to the counter, license in hand, and a smile on my face. The agent asked me where I was going, then said "I notice you don't have a lot of bags for a trip to Chicago." I was taken aback- was he accusing me of something? Had I done something wrong? Should I worry?

I silenced the voices in my head and answered. "Well, I just flew in for the game last night." That seemed to work. Now, we're old buddies talking baseball.

I think that what caused my concern was that he was looking at my license which is from, of all places, Illinois, and states my address as being in Chicago. But it apparently never crossed his mind that I was from here and was headed home. I don't think I look like a terrorist, either. Oh well. Silly.

Great!

Genuinely
Sarcastically
Genuinely
Sarcastically
Genuinely
Sarcastically

Seems like one of those days.

Happy birthday, old friend.

Today is the 100th birthday of New York City's Subway System.

I have to admit that I do miss living in New York, especially the subway there. In my opinion, it's the best transit system, as far as convenience that I've seen. You can get pretty much everywhere by train. The same could be said of Chicago, but our system was built on the inconvenient "all roads lead to the loop" concept, which makes going from Rogers Park to O'Hare a real pain. Our train line are too far apart at points, too.

Anyways, I miss my old friend. I miss taking the C, N, R, or D train to work. I miss having all those options that got me to work fair and square. So happy birthday, old friend. I hope I get to see you again soon.

Is baseball on everyone's mind?

I know it's not exactly first and foremost in my head, but it is something I'm paying attention to.

Quotes from my day thus far:

"Get your BoSox injection!"
-Red Eye salesman at Irving Park Brown Line Stop

"You're the greatest thing since night baseball."
-Guy I just talked to on the phone

Not bad, not bad.

On hating the NHL.

Way back in the day(say the last time the Cardinals played in a World Series, I was a huge Twins Fan. I stayed that way for years, until the gloomy strike of 1994. Then, I just didn't see why I followed a team where the players bitched and moaned about the enormous sums they made. So, now that the NHL is having labor problems, what is my position?

It's simple, really. I'm pissed at the players for refusing agreements. I'm pissed at the owners for being pigheaded. Sports should be played for the love of the sport, not for the love of the money. So, when I read about this player, I get all happy-happy, joy-joy. It helps me believe that there are professional athletes out there who still believe that the love of the game is the most import aspect, not the love of money.

The NHL already has a very dark mark against it in my book, the whole fiasco of moving the North Stars to Texas. Fortunately for me, I still have my beloved Wolves, the team that helped to resurrect my hockey heart, and still makes me proud.

Weekend Update

Ok, this'll take a few minutes, so I'm going to try to section things out for easy readability. We'll just see how it works.

Friday
Got home from work, and headed straight into cleaning up for the arrival of my mom and stepdad. Got the things I needed done done with time to spare, thankfully. We went to dinner at my favorite German restaurant, and decided we were all tired, so we stayed in and watched the Ladykillers. They went to bed, and I stayed up surfing the net for a while.

Saturday
Went to breakfast and picked up a camera on the way back. I had won $2 in the lottery, so I got another ticket and a scratch-off. Got back to my place, and, well, just hung out. We finally made the decision to head to the Museum of Science and Industry, but decided to skip actually entering the museum, and instead I gave them a tour of Chicago. I drove us to Wrigley first, where we took pictures, then down Lake Shore, all the way to the museum, where we turned around, hit downtown, then up to my old neighborhood, then back to my house. That's when the weather finally cleared up, but we decided to stay in anyways, and watched Slap Shot and ordered pizza. After that, we headed to the Wolves game with Jen and my friend A, where we witnessed one of the best comebacks I've seen in hockey. We went back to my house to watch the end of the BoSox game and I finally went to bed about 12:15.

Sunday
I woke up at 4. I was very, very, very, very, very unhappy to be awake at 4, considering that my sleep was disturbed when my roommate got home, so I wasn't terribly well rested. I did, however, manage to get myself out the door on time, but when I got downtown to catch the Orange Line to Midway, there apparently was no service. I got really pissed, and hailed a cab down to the airport. By the time I got to Midway, I had already spent $47 on cab rides. This is not a good way to start a vacation on a very tight budget. On further review, I have discovered that I read the wrong day on the schedule, so I could not have expected a train, at least, not for another hour.

I managed to catch a nap on the flight out, which was extremely necessary. We landed around 10:15 Eastern, and Wendy, who made this entire trip possible for me, picked us up at the airport. We went to lunch, and just hung out at her apartment until it was time to head to the game.

Well I love that dirty water...
The game was awesome. Sure, it was cold, and I wasn't properly dressed, but our seats were amazing, we were in center field, about 20 rows in front of the CF scoreboard. The energy was intense. I'm always amazed at how the crowd is at Fenway, but it's even more incredible when it's a World Series game. My pictures didn't all turn out, nor are they all there or in the proper order, but you can access them here. I'll get the rest of them posted tonight or tomorrow.

We got home late(sorry, Wendy!) and hit the sack.

Monday
We took the bus into Harvard Square and met up with Wendy at her office, then walked around the square for a while, went to lunch, and, well, walked around some more. We hung out at the Fox Sports airport bar, then flew home.

I was so happy to sleep in my own bed last night(first time since Thursday) that I overslept and was late to work this morning. This is especially bad, because I have physical therapy this afternoon, so I'm leaving early. I've since volunteered to come in early for the rest of the week to make up the time.

All in all, I had a great weekend, if completely exhausting.

For the record- literally, I used 16 links in this post. I think that's a personal best.

How I'll see things.

Courtesy of this site, here's a view of what I'll be seeing on Sunday night:


My view of Game 2
Posted by Hello

Now that I've calmed down, the story of the procurement of said wonderful tickets.

I knew this question was coming, but I was too busy calling up my friends and making them jealous to answer the ages-old riddle: How did Dave secure tickets to Game 2 of the World Series?

Here's how it worked out:

My former boss and close friend G works for a guy who develops condos, so needless to say, especially in this city, he's got more than a couple coins to rub together. G's boss(my former boss as well) bought him two box tickets for the game on Sunday. Pretty damn cool. G calls me(I was the first person he thought of) and I decide to go.

So, that's the story of how I get to go to the World Series.

Pretty cool, no?

Bursting.

I'll admit that I've been sitting on this for, well, about 4 hours or so.

Ask me what I'm doing this Sunday.

Go ahead, ask.

Ok, I sometimes forget that I'm doing a monologue here. Let me just cut through all the bullshit:

On Sunday, October 24, 2004, I will be attending Game Two of the mutherfucking world series in none other than Fenway Park.

Say it with me, 'cuz I've been saying it for hours. Holy shit.

Wendy was kind enough(of course) to spare us the cost of a hotel room and let us stay with her, so big thanks go out to her, too.

I'm going to go back to trying to contain my excitement. If I don't, well, I might just explode.

I'll try not to break my arm.

But I'm all filled with self-appreciation, as I just wrote a parody of Sweet Home Alabama. It's pretty decent, I'll have to admit. And the scary thing is it only took me about 10 minutes.

Now all I need is a date.

And I don't mean the fruit.

Wendy and Joey, or Joey and Wendy, if you prefer, have set a date for their nuptuals.

I'm so excited!

And another thing.

I'd like to take back a lot of the bad things I was saying about Johnny Damon earlier this week. That's an exact quote of what I said last night, when, say, a certain player hit his second home run of the night.

Nice job, boys.

Doesn't it make you proud to be Scottish?

As I'm crossing the Jackson Boulevard Bridge today, the sounds of the Chicago Police Department's Emerald Society comes floating over the river...

And a smile grows on my face.

It's the little things.

Kinda like playing the stock market, I was very happy to see that the price of my flight to Toronto next month went up after I purchased it.

Things are starting to look up.

It's just that kind of week.

I'll only say this. If I had any hair to pull out, I'd be pulling it out right now.

nuff said.

She turned me into a newt... I got better.

Sorry if yesterday's going postal post was over the top. I was in a serious state of unhappiness, and the constant barrage of asshat apprentices was really making my day worse- which I didn't think was possible.

Anyways.

After work I beat the hell out of myself at physical therapy, and I made my PT's day by donning my new headband with her name on it(see this post for more info), but encountered something I really wasn't expecting- sharp pain. Both of us were concerned about it, so we cut my workout a little short. By a little, of course, I mean we cut out the very last thing, one of my favorites, actually. Things got better, of course, the pain subsided(although creeps up from time to time).

After that I went home, and chowed down something fierce. I was extremely hungry. I also finished up watching season one of Six Feet Under. I can't wait to get the next season on DVD. Good stuff.

Then came Pub Quiz. Unfortunately, for the second week in a row, there wasn't enough people to play. What made me very happy was when the new waitress told me there were people asking about it at a table out front. When I introduced myself, M said "are you Logan's Dave?" It occurred to me that this was the first time I had met a reader who I didn't previously know in real life. She had heard about my pub quiz by reading my blog, which made me happy. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask for your URL, M, so please send it to me at logansdave@gmail.com. Thanks so much for coming out last night, and I hope to see you next Tuesday!

I hope to see all Chicagoland readers next Tuesday- I could use the numbers. Bring friends.

So, afterwards, my friend S and I headed back to the homestead for a nightcap, and stayed up watching the wonderful Sox/Yankees game. We turned off the commentators during the 9th inning, though, to listen to some Johnny Cash.

This all leads to not getting much sleep, which led to a silly thing this morning- as I was sleepwalking to the train, I walked to the turnstile and put my corporate keycard to the Chicago cardreader. I was terribly surprised when the turnstile wouldn't let me though before I realized that I was trying to use the wrong card.

I thought it was funny.

DUCK!

click-click

RATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTA
TATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTA
TATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTA
TATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTA
TATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTA
TATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTATATTA

No use for a title.

Ok, first of all, according to this site, the moon is currently a Waxing Cresent. Somebody please tell the world- because our calls are getting weirder and weirder and more and more assholier(is that actually a word?).

In other news, this article teaches me how much tolerance has been taught to certain people in this country of ours. And I quote:

"Hey England, Scotland and Wales, mind your own business. We don't need weenie-spined Limeys meddling in our presidential election," was one of the e-mail reactions to the campaign."

and because that's not nearly a good enough representation of our populace:

"Real Americans aren't interested in your pansy-ass, tea-sipping opinions. If you want to save the world, begin with you own worthless corner of it," wrote one from Texas.

Don't get me wrong- I love my country and I'm completely content to recognize these folk's right to free speech, but please represent the country that I love properly. Schoolyard insults should not becoming of an adult voting citizen of this country.

Full moon?

I'm thinking that there's a full moon due today. That would definately explain why most of the calls I've gotten so far today were either assholes or bitches. The last one being a real treat.

I'm a people person. I really, really am.

I demand a recount!

You preferred Kerry's statements 67% of the time You preferred Bush's statements 33% of the time Voting purely on the issues you should vote Kerry Who would you vote for if you voted on the issues? Find out now!

I don't really believe I agree that much with Kerry or Bush. I think I'm a third party kinda guy. Thanks to All Things Jen(nifer)(again) for the quiz.

Semantics.

I was just looking at my myspace account, because I couldn't remember what my "about me" section said(right now it's the lyrics from the Beta Band song Needles in my Eyes).

Then, I saw something that I was already aware of, and figured I was adjusted to: my age. 31 years old. I checked my Blogger profile. Same thing.

It brought back an episode from last week. I was on the phone with a client and I realized that I can no longer say that I'm 30. I am now in my thirties.

I know I spend too much time being hung up on age. It's something I try to avoid thinking about, but something that keeps creeping up and rearing its ugly head. Keep in mind this blog was supposed to be a theraputic way for me to cope with the inevitable turning 30(hence the witty title), and hopefully to help others as they hit the big 3-0.

Yeah, so does anyone have a good motto idea? I could think of something, but then there's just no audience participation in that.

Crazy. Crazy for feelin'...

Yesterday was a wild ride.

Today, so far, has also been pretty crazy. One of my co-workers called in sick, and called me at 6:15 to let me know, unfortuately, I had a follow-up with my surgeon, things are looking good, so there's not too much to worry about. So, we're short one guy, which makes for a busy day.

Here I go. Again. On my own.

Busy, busy, busy.

What is it with weekends lately that I'm always so damn busy? Oh yeah, that's right- it's just the way it is.

Today I did a little shopping with Jen, and got myself a new set of flannel sheets as well as two new shirts, and sweatband for doing PT. Believe it or not, I get quite a bit going when I'm riding a bike. The underlying joke is that I've written my Physical Therapist's last name on it ala Jim McMahon. I guess it's kind of a Chicago joke.

In other city news, I purchased my plane ticket to Toronto today, to visit a certain engaged couple on one of their birthdays.

Yee ha!

Anyone surprised by this?

Via All Things Jen(nifer), my brain profile:

Your Brain Usage Profile:

Auditory : 60%
Visual : 40%
Left : 50%
Right : 50%

Dave, your hemispheric dominance is equally divided between left and right brain, while you show a moderate preference for auditory versus visual learning, signs of a balanced and flexible person.

Your balance gives you the enviable capacity to be verbal and literate while retaining a certain "flair" and individuality. You are logical and compliant but only to a degree. You are organized without being compulsive, goal-directed without being driven, and a "thinking" individual without being excessively so.

The one problem you might have is that your learning might not be as efficient as you would like. At times you will work from the specific to the general, while at other times you'll work from the general to the specific. Sometimes you will be logical in your approach while at other times random. Since you cannot always control the choice, you may experience frustrations not normally felt by persons with a more defined and directed learning style.

You may also minimally experience conflicts associated with auditory processing. You will be systematic and sequential in your processing of information, you will most often focus on a single dimension of the problem or material, and you will be more reflective, i.e., "taking the data in" as opposed to "devouring" it.

Overall, you should feel content with your life and yourself. You are, perhaps, a little too critical of yourself - and of others - while maintaining an "openness" which is redeeming. Indecisiveness is a problem and your creativity is not in keeping with your potential. Being a pragmatist, you downplay this aspect of yourself and focus on the more immediate, the more obvious and the more functional.

Does it hit the nail on the head?

Weird, wild stuff

So, I was all sleepy and groggy and the like after I got out of Physical Therapy last night. I managed to ride 3.52 miles in 10 minutes on the exercise bike, so I figured I deserved a treat, so I stopped by the Globe and had myself a Dave(yes, a sandwich named after me) and a couple Guinness before I headed home. And there was much rejoicing.

This morning was a little weird, simply because my roommate is heading to Miami for a bachelor party, and his friend G is in from Ireland, and I woke up at 4 so I could do a load of laundry. So, instead of the usual flurry of activity that I cause when I'm skulking around the house at 5:15 in the morning, I had S in the shower, his friend G on the futon, probably wishing he would have stayed at another friend's house, and S's friend K stopping by to pick him up. It was kind of amusing, to say the least, but really confused the hell out of my poor cat, who just wanted to sleep in.

So, the really odd thing to happen out of all this is I actually made it to work with time to spare- something I'm completely unaccustomed to.

I couldn't resist.

Firsts
First job: first real job: Student Advisor, Kaplan Educational Centers, 1989
First screen name: Maurice
First funeral: Great Grandma Dorothy, 1976
First pet: I had a cat when I was about 1 1/2, but can't remember it, so Gracie.
First piercing: Left #1- 1988, L #2- 1989, L #3 1990, 2nd attempt 1991, L #4 1993, R #1 1996 R #2 2000
First tattoo: Yin-Yang on chest, 1993
First credit card: Visa
First kiss: Jennifer D., 1978 or so.
First enemy: Some guy I grew up with named Adrian. That's all I remember. It was a long, long time ago.

Last
Last car ride: Saturday night cab ride.
Last kiss: Tuesday night.
Last movie watched: Sixth Sense
Last beverage drank: 7up
Last food consumed: 12" Tuna Salad on Wheat
Last phone call: Some customer
Last time showered: 5:45 this morning
Last CD played: Bootleg of the Beta Band live in San Francisco, thanks to Henry.
Last website visited: Henry

Now
Single or taken: Single
Gender: Male
Birthday: October 4
Sign: Libra
Hair color: Bald as Kojak, baby!
Eye color: Golden brown
Shoe size: 12
Height: 5' 9"
Wearing: Grey pants, blue shirt, Yellow Submarine tie.
Thinking about: Sleep
Listening to: The pestering voices in my head. Oh wait, it's just the sounds of the office.

Thanks to All Things Jen(nifer) for the meme.

A strange day.

I was just IMing with a friend when I realized that I'm having an amazingly productive day today.

What's even scarier is that I'm getting some kind of good feeling- some kind of job satisfaction that I'm completely unaccostumed to. I did a quick check, and I'm not on any drugs, not drunk, and not in love...

So what's it all about? Did some miracle happen overnight that I'm unawares of? Did I sleep just the right way? Did I dream of just the right thing?

Should I just accept this sudden euphoria and shut the hell up?

Bloggership Down

I finally, after trying to almost 3 hours, got my post to finally go through.

Sorry, if any of you were out there waiting for me to get my shit together- I was actually waiting for Blogger to get theirs together.

Smiles all around!

Getting to know you...

I gave up on Yahoo! Messenger for Trillian. I like it so far- except that I'm still working out some kinks with it. I like new toys. They're fun.

Other than that, I don't have anything to say. I'm bored. That's all. I watched the debates last night, and I was bored, because it was two talking heads spouting the same crap they did the last time I watched- kinda killed the mood.

Anyways, I'm going to find something to get mad at so I have something I feel like writing about.

Even I have my limits.

I like to think that I'm a fairly laid-back person. I know it's not entirely true, but I'm not one to follow rules too closely. One thing that I am completely unhumorous is biking safety. So, when I see a presidential candidate biking, using a cell phone, and not wearing a helmet, I have to wonder why I would be compelled to vote for someone, even if he is(in my perception) the lesser of two evils.


What's wrong with this picture?
Posted by Hello

I mean, c'mon. I'm supposed to believe that you're an intellectual when you don't have the mind to put on a fuckin' helmet when you go playing in traffic on a bike? Don't even start me on the cell phone, man. That's just too much. A big shiny kiss for whoever adds the warning from the Jackass show to that in photoshop. I might even buy you dinner.

New one liners.

I crack me up:

on whether or not a broker should listen to my trading advice:

"Listening to my trading advice is NOT recommended by four out of five persons who use Refco Express."

to a broker who didn't listen when my boss told him to always log out, not just terminate Refco Express:

"As your techincal support professional, I'm telling you that you have to log out- don't just kill the program."

I do. I crack me up. I can't believe I get away with this shit, either.

The tide is high...

I am, as always, holding on.

So, pub quiz was a bust last night. Odd, cool thing that did happen was a friend from out of town called me up, so we were having drinks when the 6 people who did show up for pub quiz showed up- so we all sat around drinking. It was nice.

Then, the bad news from NYC came, and then, I stayed out too late, so today I am dragging. Dragging like something that drags a lot.

It's odd that when I get together with a certain friend and her friends, I always seem to be out too late. No help was given by my internal clock, which felt the need to wake up a full half hour before my alarm was going to go off- not that I didn't fall back asleep- it was just a pain in my ass.

I have to publicly apologize to my dear cat, who was booted off the bed a couple times this morning when the snooze went off. My bad.

All work and no play makes Dave want a nap.

I've been writing rounds for tonight's pub quiz, and I'm almost done.I've got 3 more questions for this round, then one more round after that.

And I had lunch. Lunch is good.

Unfortunately, it's been a day of frequent bad calls and nasty e-mails from a certain customer of ours.

Anyways, back to work. Gotta get me that pub quiz all wrote!

Still in a good mood?

Yes, yes I am.

Although the news I've gotten isn't nearly as important as the news I got on Sunday.

My fantasy football team eked out only my second victory this year, 91-89. My picks this week weren't all that good, but I still managed to move into a 3-way tie for first place in my division. The Astros beat the Braves last night, so I don't have to hear that awful goddamn chant anymore. So, I'm happy as far as the sports world is concerned.

In other news, I have a great idea for a Halloween costume for myself this year. If I have the opportunity to use it, I will certainly post pictures. I'm sure they'll be worth a couple thousand words. Until then, however, it's a secret.

Blatant Promotions

My very talented friend has a website she just launched to promote her writing, so I'm going to do my part and pass it onto the blogsphere. Check it out here.

Also, if you're in Chicago on any given Tuesday night, you should come down to the Globe Pub for my pub quiz. Bring up a team of up to five people and flex that brain muscle, have some fun, and have some drinks. A five dollar donation per person goes ENTIRELY to the MS Society of Illinios, as a part of my fundraising(link goes to last year's website- new one will be up November 22). Prizes are awarded and fun is had.

To make up for taking the weekend off, I seem to be over-blogging.

I will, sadly, and without a doubt, painfully be rooting to the best of my ability for the Green Bay Packers, my hated rival football team to the north, because of this article.

I guess I just need to believe in something.

The new scale for behavior.

I don't usually do things like this, but I became completely enraptured with this article. Although my exploits have significantly reduced in their frequency and severity due to a change in lifestyle and well, surgery, I still remember the days.

One of my favorites, when my now roommate and I were walking back from a night of Guinness and more Guinness when he casually, and completely spontaneously ran to and tackled a sapling- which got up before he did. It was funny as hell.

I'm not saying that I don't do stupid things when I'm drunk, but most of my drunken silliness is sleeping with the wrong person or buying things I don't need. I also like to throw things. I'm also very good at falling asleep on the couch with the TV on, playing some movie I just had to see at that time.

Perhaps my best moment(although no one was hurt) came from a Scottish Country Fair at Macalester- the line for the bathroom was a tad too long, so I, in my kilted glory, walked over to the side of the gymnasium, lifted the front of my kilt and, as I was going commando, let it fly. I realized that I might want to take a look around and make sure I wasn't being watched when I spied a family sitting, having a picnic not more than 20 feet away, staring in horror.

In other, non-wedding related news.

I had a full weekend, the frosting on that proverbial cake, of course, is the impending nuptuals. Let's check out the rest of the weekend:

Friday was our "team building meeting" for work. You should read this as: six tech support guys on a boat getting drunk. Sadly, after a run-in with the Coast Guard, we were back in the harbor before we really got going, but we had fun nonetheless. I will, however, voice a certain controlled about of contempt toward that body of our government, but I'll leave it at that. I've got to watch out for my blood pressure, after all.

Saturday was my roommate's and my best friend's birthdays, so there was some very drunken cavorting both nights. We had fun. We turned 33 and 30, respectively. It was entertaining. I got to hang out a lot more with a friend of mine who I haven't really had a chance to hang out with, one-on-one.

Sunday was football-oriented, at least until I went to pub quiz, when I got the call I talked about in the previous post(it's still a source of bubbly happiness). After I managed to calm down enough(although I never really made it to calm) we won the pub quiz, which was also good.

Needless to say, it was a wonderful weekend.

Doin' the happy dance.

I was so happy to log on this morning and find this entry(this one, too), because when she called me last night and told me the news, I was so happy I could barely sit through pub quiz- I just wanted to shout it out to the world.

Wendy is a dear friend of many, many years. Joey is a wonderful man who certainly deserves such a wonderful woman. They are wonderful together and bring hope to this cynic.

Congratulations to both of you.

Funny acheivement.

I actually made reference to Occam's Razor during a call today. It met with limited success, as the customer felt that was an excuse for me being lazy.

I managed to not go into my usual diatribe about how the true art of tech support is following the idea that to solve a problem, you need to eliminate the possible explanations until you find the actual solution- layers of an onion, that kind of thing.

Of course, when you have a person on the line who instantly believes that the problem cannot in any way be on his end, you're kinda fubar. Even if you explain Occam's Razor.

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum.

I was checking up on my cat's myspace account when I came across the following e-mail, with details eliminated to protect the innocent:

Hey, My name is [NAME]. I am [AGE] years old (look younger I think), [HEIGHT], [WEIGHT], short sandy brown hair, baby blue eyes and a gotee. Nice guy with a great sense of humor. I work in public relations. I am single, not married, no kids. Looking to do something different, exciting and fun. I have been to a swingers club by myself in Ft. Lauderdale before, but never in Illinois. I would like to do that, or just get together for fun times. I give a great free, full body, erotic massage. You can return the favor if you want. I am available tonight or tomorrow, even late night. I have a pic, but only want to send it if you are serious about meeting soon. If you are serious, call me on my cell at [PHONE NUMBER]. As soon as you call, I will IM or e-mail you my picture.

Mind you, I changed my cat's age to reflect her age in cat years(approximately 45) and have her sexual preference listed as "swinger". Perhaps I should make some adjustments in that to avoid future e-mails from desperate men. Note the misspelling of 'goatee' as well.

Variations on a theme...

In case you were tired of rock-paper-scissors, there's a new version. Read. Learn. Challenge your friends.

Secondly(albeit unrelated), I finished watching Passion of the Christ last night. It was a powerful movie- I can see why christians found it so moving. But, as a scientifically thinking person raised without religion, I spent the entire movie wondering about the plausibility of the movie, as well as the historical accuracy of it. I mean, I'm not a doctor or anything, but it seemed to me that a lot of the wounds received by Christ would have been fatal long before nails were put through hands and feet(which I felt was unnecessary to show all three- I got the idea long before). The movie is shot wonderfully, too- no complaints on the cinematography. What I really enjoyed was the linguistic slant- the constant codeswitching from Aramaic to Hebrew to Latin- I got a kick out of that(I'm also such a nerd that I knew each time it happened).

On the whole, the movie did inspire me to learn more of the history of that time. Having been raised without religion, I know nothing about the story(90% of my christian knowledge comes from movies like this and Dogma), nor did I know who any of the characters were, but would like it if anyone has any reference books they could recommend so I could accomplish this goal. I, for one, do not believe in the bible as a historical book, but am open to other suggestions. Drop a line in comments and I'll check it out.

Fleegoogeegoo!

I've had a steady march of silly songs stuck in my head today. This has been compounded by my co-worker listening to a well though out 80's mix CD. My mind is swimming.

I did some birthday shopping last night, and did some more this morning. Last night, most of my cash was spent at Best Buy, where I purchased Fahrenheit 9/11, The Sixth Sense, Pulp Fiction(special edition), National Lampoon's European Vacation, and The Last Starfighter. I just finished ordering some ties for myself, and a birthday present for a certain someone who will remain nameless.

Let's just say that the ol' bank account is getting a workout today.

I am having fun with it, though.

Stuck in my head...

This song keeps playing over and over and over. I listened to it a couple times now... I love it, but damn, I need something new. Time to breeze through the mp3's me thinks.

A brief shot of levity.

I've been flexing my nerd muscle so often lately, that I had to go over the top and take this quiz about the movie Bladerunner.

I won't tell you how I did(not yet), except that the number I got right is three less than the number of e's I used in the previous sentence.

How'd you do?

A tribute of sorts.

I've been surfing around, trying to find my favorite Rodney Dangerfield quotes- here's a brief list of them:

From Back to School:

"Hey, don't knock Vanessa; she gives good headache."
"Well, why don't you come and see me some time when you have no class."
"Bring us a pitcher of beer every seven minutes until somebody passes out. And then bring one every ten minutes."

From Caddyshack:
"Oh, this is the worst-looking hat I ever saw. What, when you buy a hat like this I bet you get a free bowl of soup, huh? Oh, it looks good on you though."
"Hey, did somebody step on a duck?"

I can't get to regard.

RIP, Rodney Dangerfield.

Warmest regards.

A nice compliment.

This morning, I took a little long getting ready, as in, I really didn't like waking up at 4:30, so I was miserable trying to get out the door. So, I fell back into a bad practice, and I took a cab to work. On the way, maybe 3 miles from my house, the cabbie starts to talk to me:

Him: You know, I've been driving a cab for 27 years, and I have to tell you that what I'd really like to see is a book written about how to hail a cab.
Me: Ok...
Him: I mean, it seems like pteople just don't get how to do it property, they're just not paying attention, or they're expecting us to stop in the middle of the street and hold up traffic.
Me: I know what you mean.
Him: I mean, you know how to pick up a cab. You should write a book about it.

I'd like to announce the beginning of my career as a writer. My first book, The Cabhailer's Guide to Chicago will be on shelves as soon as I can write it and find someone crazy enough to publish it.

Just FYI.

2004: a birthday in review.

Yesterday was pretty much exactly how I wanted my birthday to go. It was relaxing, predominately solitary, and rather fun. Here's a brief synopsis:

7:30 am: Woke up, got online, played around for a while.
9:30 am: Turned off Regis and Kelly(they annoy me) and got in the shower.
10 am: Played with Twyla and waited for the cable guy at Jen's house. Watched VH1.
11:30 am: Dealt with cable guy for a while.
12:15 pm: Went home, played Civ III: Conquests for a little while.
1:15 pm: Called my best friend to see if she was awake and wanted to get lunch.
1:20 pm: Went to lunch at the Globe.
2:22 pm: Left a message for Wendy to again wish her a happy birthday.
2:30 pm: Checked e-mails, read through very nice e-cards from various people.
2:45 pm: Continued the tradition by watching the Blues Brothers.
3:21 pm: Got a call from Wendy and Joey, wishing me a happy birthday and giving me some wonderful turning 31 advice. Much appreciated.
5:05 pm: Finished movie. Switched over to watch the Simpsons.
6:45 pm: Left to go find a place to have birthday dinner with Jen.
8:45 pm: Showed up at Sylvie's for a birthday drink.
9:45 pm: Went home after watching the end of the first half of football.
10:00 pm: Watched the Simpsons, again.
10:37 pm: Turned 31 years old(offical time).
10:45 pm: Decided to go to bed.
11:24 pm: Got a birthday call from my dad.

So, all in all, it was a good day. I did it my way.

Is this thing on?

My post from this morning didn't seem to go through, and now I can't get into my previous writings.

Strange. Frustrating.

I'm babysitting Jen's apartment waiting for the cable guy. What a way to spend a birthday? Exactly what I'm thinking. At least she's got cable- making me happy. And I've got the giant Twyla monster on my lap- mewing for attention. She must miss me.

Ah, the joy! The rapture!

I can't even sleep in on my birthday...

I've been up for a couple hours, but Blogger wouldn't let me past the login, for some reason, so you haven't heard from me yet.

I cruised around the sites that have my age on them to I could see the new number. It's a little strange, but I'm coping nicely. 31. It's a funny looking number, ya know?

Well, I'm off to send out birthday cards to some friends, then I'm going to spoil myself for a while with toys and possibly, if I'm crazy enough, I'm going to get a tattoo today. Either that, or new glasses.

Birthday, birthday...

Sha la, sha la la...

Anyways.

I had written a post this morning about how horribly hung over I was this morning, afternoon, and, sadly, evening. I've gotten past it, by the old hair of the dog rule. The post, incidentally, was eaten by the internet.

So, funny thing: all three people in this picture are celebrating a birthday today. Allow me to pass birthday wishes onto both of those lovely ladies, and that I miss them both terribly.

That's all for now.

Hangover.... if it catches you you're through.

Wow. Despite my efforts to reduce or even destroy the hangover I was expecting this morning, I am desperately fucked up.

But I had a good time. A VERY good time. I'm going back to bed, methinks.

Thanks to everyone who attended.

It's fall.

How do I know? My cat cuddles hard against me at night. It's cute.

Today has been so wonderfully productive, I don't know where to begin. I had PT this morning, went to Osco and got my perscription filled and got meals for the week.

Now, I'm off to feed myself lunch, then I'm going to do the minimal amount of cleaning I need to do in order to make my place reasonably presentable for Pat, who is on his way here for the big bad birthday bash.

What a busy day!

Joy, and pain. Sunshine and rain.

I got some good news when I got home- the first of my birthday presents.

Then I got some bad news.

Now I'm just waiting for the next round of good news- hopefully a winning Mega Millions ticket.

I'll let you know later.

Catch the deluge in a paper cup.

We got hit hard today. Seemed our entire quote system was down, and I swear I didn't put down the phone for 70 minutes.

The nice part about that is time flies. And that's kinda important on a day like today. Consider: It's Friday. It's the day before my birthday party. It's the day after payday. It's 3 days before my birthday. I've got fun plans for the night.

Essentially, things are looking up for yours truly.

Now, if I could just get out of here and get home, I'll be all happy.

Blogacatakah

Joey had a post the other day about BlogACatMas, which happens to be today, where you post pictures of cats on your blog. I like the idea, I've even pondered the absurdity of starting a blog for my cat. But, because I am not christian, and well, I'm trying my best to raise a Jewish cat(she loves to play dreidle with me), here's my contribution to Blogacatakah:


Mia kitty
Posted by Hello

Notice the bald guy in the background... trying to hide from the camera.

I'll do this just once...

I will admit that I watched the debate last night. I have never gotten into politics as much as I have this year. I was less than impressed. I gave my input to the CNN poll, and I was again, not terribly nice to either candidate. Kerry's hands shook like he was jonesing for booze for about the first 40 minutes or so- nervousness isn't something I look for in a president. I will give him enough that at least he was smart enough to be scared. What I'm dieing to see is an actual count of how many times Bush uttered 'um' during the debate. When I voiced my option on the CNN poll, I gave him a F for delivery. I've taken a few speech classes in my time. I know it's death for your presentation if you say 'um' even once. I was also annoyed that he kept asking for rebuttals- something that's technically against debate rules, from what I remember.

At least it's over with. Next time, I'm going to have friends over and we're going to drink every time Bush says um- with an official scorekeeper. Should be fun.