Tuesday, November 27, 2007

It's Nice To Be Back

I don't believe I have ever gone this long between posts before. I thought maybe I'd just wait to make it 2 whole weeks but changed my mind instead. Next time I may make it. ;)

So, whats been happening? Thanksgiving was super nice. Nicci and I spent the whole 4 days away from family. Away from everyone. We decorated for Christmas. It was one of the better weekends I've spent in a long time.

We did take my Aunt (and Uncle) out for dinner the weekend before that for her 79th birthday. We did that on purpose too to get them alone for some time. The whole annoying family thing wasn't in us for that occasion either.

I'm sensing a pattern here.

I got a great deal on a new laptop this past week. From WalMart of all places. My boss was showing me an ad for a nice Dell laptop that was on sale at WalMart on black Friday from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. only. I never shop on black Friday. Its too crazy out there. But Nicci really needed to replace her laptop too. So I thought maybe I'd go get it when I got up and around that day. I'm not one of those crazy shoppers that have to be in line hours before a store opens. I decided that if it was there when I got there I'd get it. If not, cie le vie.

Nicci and I got there at maybe 9 a.m. and naturally they were sold out. The guy at the store told me they only got 7 in anyway. So we said the heck with shopping and went to Starbuck's. lol Then we decorated for Christmas.

Then on Saturday I kept thinking about it and decided maybe we should just go to WalMart and see what else they had available. Nicci didn't need a super hot-rodded laptop for her home stuff so we went to look at what was available at reasonable prices. Well, inside the case there were 2 of the laptops that had been advertised. So we went ahead and told them we wanted it. It was priced $150.00 more than the day before but it was a good computer. When the guy rung it up it still had the super sale price on it. We got the special one the day after the "limited time sale" for the lower price.

Everyone can clap now. It was a nice surprise. lol

What else?

Jersey Girl is excited these days. Her court date is the first week of December so soon she will be single. I'm happy for her. She has had a bad time with that guy she dumped. How come guys can be such jerks all the time until the woman leaves them and suddenly they are madly in love and everything is the womans fault? That seems to be a pattern these days. I'm not a big fan of guys in general anyway. The examples I see every day doesn't make that opinion any better.

OK, enough BS. It's nice to be back.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Another Boring Post

There are 3 young girls here now that are pregnant. None of them planned it either. Only one even has a steady guy. The one who works in our department was shocked she got pregnant. She even cried. She didn't want to have a kid. The funny thing about her situation is that her husband is some kind of missionary and has been away for almost two years. He came home the second week of October. She is now 8 weeks along. You do the math.

What gets me is how all 3 are surprised and claim "It was an accident." I disagree. (As usual.) There are no accidental pregnancies in 2007. It's all about carelessness. They just weren't caferful enough to prevent the surprise from happening. Especially the one who obviously has a boyfriend other than her husband. I wonder what she would have done had he not come home when he did? It's close enough to his arrival that she can get it past him. I guess she got lucky twice? lol

Oh well. Not my worry.

Yesterday was hectic. I was supposed to take off and play 36 holes with the boys yesterday but my conscience wouldn't let me. I had too much planned for the day to just let it to my girls. So all day I watched the weather with a smirk. The night before and the morning were rainy and cold. The afternoon wasn't too bad so they probably did OK. But the conditions still had to suck. But the truth is, I was still envious. Even a bad day golfing is better than a good day at work. *sigh

Anyway, the day just got more and more hectic and then suddenly it was 3:30. It seemed so sudden that I found myself wondering where the day went and then wondering what I should do with the last hour. After all the activity I was bored. The slow down happened too fast I guess. lol

Today I will leave early. Not much going on and I have the place to myself until maybe 8 tonight. The alone time is the best and every chance I get I take it. Hopefully things won't go to shit here and my tentative plans will work out. After lunch with Lindsey I should be free and clear. Sweet!

This Dilbert cracked me up. This is exactly how corporate america runs now. :)



OK, time for the first meeting of the day. Hopefully there won't be any dorks with too much time on their hands and not enough talent making decisions there. That will mean my afternoon plans could be in jeopardy.

Monday, November 12, 2007

I'm So Confused

Last night I had a conversation with my conscience. Actually, the conversation was with an old friend but a lot of our conversations these days end up with him trying to make me understand things I just can’t. So it’s like he is trying to be my conscience even though I don’t think it’s intentional. I also don’t think it’s necessary. Besides, most of the time the end result is that we simply don’t think alike. That’s sometimes a good thing anyway. Maybe it’s why we have been friends for 20+ years.

He said a few things I just couldn’t wrap my brain around. Things about how it bugged him that a mutual friend from his first marriage still hangs with his ex wife and how he is annoyed by hearing stories concerning his son from the mutual friend. I didn’t get that. What’s to be annoyed about? So someone else interacts with his child. It is the way things go. In my mind there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary but apparently I missed something.

He also mentioned how it isn’t so good when friends stay friends with both parties in a divorce situation. (I am paraphrasing of course but to write it all out here would be a long post). He felt it was disloyal. As in, when you meet a new sweetie and introduce them to your friends and then you split up, your friends aren’t supposed to be friends with your ex. You are supposed to be friends with your original friend only.

Nope, I don’t get all that. I’m still at a loss trying to understand it this morning. I don’t think I ever will.

Its odd how two people can be friends for decades and still not be able to understand each other. I think these days he and I see eye to eye a lot less. Maybe that’s what happens. I don’t like relationships. He does. I like being alone. He doesn’t. I think friends are just friends, no matter how you meet. He apparently doesn’t. Friends are a rare thing so to me it doesn’t matter where or how you meet them, when thing click, you hold onto it.

These are my thoughts only. I’m curious as to what my blog friends think.

In my old friends defense, he was having a hard time expressing what he was trying to get across to me last night. Maybe I’m all-wrong here with this summary. Maybe. But for today, all I am is confused about it all. :P

Friday, November 09, 2007

Weekend Chill

So this morning they finally fired this pain-in-the-ass engineer consultant that was brought in a while back. He has been sucking up thousands of dollars a week with nothing to show for it. Someone got smart (way too late in my opinion) and now he’s gone. But before he left he sent this goodbye email around to the groups and people he worked with that was hilarious. It was all about how happy he was to meet us and how we made him feel like family…….. blah blah blah.

Why do people do stuff like that? It was stupid. Besides, no one here would ever intentionally make him a part of his or her family. No one ever even wanted to talk to the guy let alone be his buddy. Those types of emails are sorry things and I can’t understand why anyone would write that crap.

But it is good blog material. :)

Yesterday was one of those days a Supervisor has occasionally when the whole day is wasted on personnel issues. We have a great group but it is all women. All but one guy. So the whole "she said-she said" thing goes crazy sometimes. All day yesterday I felt like I was back in high school listening to teenagers bickering. But this time I was in the middle being the referee. I didn’t like it. By the time I got home I was ready to crash.

I still say the world would be an awesome place without all the people in it.

I just a few minutes I am headed home. Nothing to do but sip on a nice Cabernet and chill. I am really looking forward to it. Everyone have a great weekend. I will.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Come To My Private Office

Yesterday afternoon was sweet! I had a great time. I left here and surprised Nicci by bringing her lunch. We hung out for an hour or so and then I went home to peace and solitude. Those times are very rare and I love them. This morning I found out that I will have a huge chunk of Saturday to myself too. Nicci is doing some thing with her boy so I'm left to myself for most of the day. Talk about scoring big.

That may sound odd to some of you but I am someone who needs his alone time. It's very hard to come by these days.

I had a weird experience this morning already. I was stopped in the hallway by someone who asked for my help. So I went with him and he took me to his dept. storage room. It turned out the his storage area was once the room that was the office area for my old department some 15 years ago. When I walked into it all the old memories came back at me. Not work memories per se. Naughty memories.

In that room I remembered many times having sex with an old girlfriend. I was single then but she wasn't. We would sneak away a lot back then and sometimes manage to fool around even during the work hours. Sometimes she would let me know when she had to come in on the weekends and we'd spend some quality time in that office.

It wasn't the only place we met for private time. Not at all. But it was one of the fun places. There is something about being sneaky and the possibility of getting caught that makes it all the more exciting. We did that a lot.

So I was caught in the memories this morning as I tried to focus on the guy's problem. It was a little hard to focus for a few minutes there. lol

When I see the 'girlfriend' today I know I'll have some kind of different reaction than I usually do. Yes, she still works here. Could be interesting.

Tomorrow I'm off work again. Have to take the car in for them to finish the job(s) they started over a week ago. The parts are in. I don't mind. I'll probably be able to get out of there early afternoon. Hanging at the BMW place most of the day isn't all that fun but hey, away from work is away from work, right?

Time for coffee. Starbuck's Italian Roast in the Yankee mug. Do I sound a little like Meritt? ;)

Monday, November 05, 2007

Giving Myself A Black Eye

So what do you think of a teenager that will get upset about something and punch himself in the face? Not just little punches either. Enough to get two black eyes? You know what I think right? Yeah, just put him to sleep so he doesn't infect the world with his sickness. Thats what I think.

I met someone like that this weekend. A friend of Nicci's boy. Plus, the reason he did that was so stupid. Something about not being able to use the parents new car to take his girl out. He still had his own car but I guess that wasn't good enough. When I asked if he knew how stupid and retarded that was I was shushed and then got to go home. Which is what I wanted to do anyway so it worked out.

Is that the new teen phase? "Give me what I want or I'll give myself a black eye!" You never know anymore.

This kid is going to go to med school too. Anyone else afraid for the world in a few years? Uh huh.

Otherwise the weekend was pretty quiet. The Patriots beat the Colts. I had doubts during the game but they managed to come through. That was the real challenge for the year. Maybe an undefeated season is on the way. We'll see.

I had some wine on Saturday night that made me feel really hungover on Sunday. I had what amounted to 1.5 glasses and then went to sleep. The next morning I was surprised (unpleasantly) to find I had a minor hangover. It had to be the type of wine. I never feel bad after even 3 glasses but that one got me. Too bad too because it was really good stuff. You just can't trust good wines these days. :)

I am supposed to go to band practice tonight but I think I'm blowing off half a day. No real reason. Just because. Besides, just how many times can a guy play Pink Cadillac and Blitzkrieg Bop without going nuts? About 2 more times I think. It's best that I skip tonight then. lol

Nicci and I have decided to give the relationship one last attempt. We are both tired of it all and have a plan for the next few months. If things go well we will be back to being into each other. If not, I'll be single by Summer. Either way things need to be addressed. This is the part of relationships I hate. It seems to me that if a relationship takes work then it really isn't worth it. Maybe I'm off base here but shouldn't a couple just click? Or is it really work? Obvioisly I don't know. Maybe I'm giving myself a black eye too by thinking that way? (Figuratively speaking, of course.)

I am ready to leave here right now. I can't wait for mid-day. Unmotivated me, once again. :P

Friday, November 02, 2007

The 8th Dwarf???

I rear ended a car this morning...and then got in a fight with the other driver...

I knew it was going to be a REALLY bad day!

The driver got out of the other car, and he was a DWARF!!

He looked up at me and said "I am NOT Happy!"

So I said, "Well, which one ARE you then?"

That's how the fight started...























Just a joke people. lol

Gingerbread Lattes On Me

Starbuck's now has Gingerbread Lattes! Talk about a nice surprise this morning. I always anticipate this time of year because I love those Gingerbread Lattes. Every year despite my anticipation it still surprises me when they show up and makes me smile. The funny thing is I don't care much for ginger anything else. Just the Lattes. So from now until mid-January I will make Starbuck's a little richer. Everyone, buy some stock.

Waitaminute....... I was just thinking, I do have a passion for something else "Ginger".







Now here's a warning I can heed. But I still wonder why anyone would need to be warned about such a thing?






Yes, we in America are so stupid we have to be told how to do everything right. Or maybe it's that we have to be told what not to do? Even when it's obvious. Either way we know the truth about these things. The lawyers are ruining the world.

Thats true. When someone can sucessfully sue McDonald's because the coffee is too hot there is something really wrong. Or how about the dork that got run over while riding his bike at night without lights. He won a lawsuit against the bike manufacturer for not warning him that he needed lights at night. I say retards like that just need to be killed so the rest of us can get on with life. lol

I think Lisa and I are heading out for sushi today. She hasn't confirmed that yet but we talked about it Wednesday. She will probably just show up ready to go. Thats how she is. Once you talk about something with her it's a done deal. I always have to be ready for her even if we didn't make a definite date. It's a good thing we understand each other so well. Otherwise some misunderstandings could easily pop up. Many, many misunderstandings. lol

A couple of the ladies from another department just dropped off an ugly green tshirt for me to wear. It's a tradition with them and another department to wear these awful glowing green shirts on Fridays. They were given to us as a gift earlier this year for Lab Professionals Week. Everyone knows they are ugly as sin so some people wear them Fridays for fun.

Another group here wears Hawaiian shirts every Friday. Normally I'll do that. I have a nice collection of those. So now I'm torn between two traditions. The girl who gave me the greenie is in the band with me so I feel obligated. Plus, it really is a gross shirt so that appeals to me a lot. But I am already doing the other tradition.

*sigh* What to do, what to do...................

It must be Friday. If thats the only serious decision I have to make I think this will be a pretty OK day. Cheers! :P

Thursday, November 01, 2007

TGI Friday Sucks

So this morning I am back to having coffee in the Yankees mug. Jersey Girl was in for our morning 'meeting' too. All is right with the world.

I just got back from a big meeting where this consultant guy had everyone in the room wanting to beat his brains out. He was hired at a very high price to do a few things our internal people have been struggling to get done (read: they are incompetent and lazy) but trying to get our moneys worth out of him is going to be hard. To start with there is a simple communication problem. No one can understand half what he says. He is an Indian guy (India, not American Indian) and he really doesn’t have a great command of the English language. Talking with him reminds of trying to get tech support from Dell or something. Impossible because you can’t understand them either.

Anyway, the guy can’t communicate and he also has not done his homework. He presented this proposal that in no way, shape or form resembles our processes here. Then when questioned he gets defensive and argues about pretty much everything. Imagine a guy whom you can not understand getting angry and argumentative and jabbering about 100 miles an hour while all of us are trying to decide what he’s saying. The room of 15 people was all looking around at each other wondering wtf to do. I finally got up from the table and started to leave. My boss asked where I was going so I turned and said “Well, I don’t understand the proposal and I understand the discussion of the proposal even less. I think I’ll get lunch.” Everyone in the room thought that was funny with the exception of one person. Can you guess who that one was? I’m betting that I am the last person he comes to for help on his project. Bummer for me. Lol


Last night was odd. Nicci and I decided to do something a little different and went to this big Outlet place. I don't know what I expected but what we found was a huge shopping mall pretty much deserted. No one around. No annoying, rude asses to bug us. No noisy, whiney kids begging parents for stuff. Just a quiet walk around. It was so cool!

Then we decided to try dinner at TGI Fridays. I can't remember if I ever liked that place but after last night I am sure I won't be going back any time soon. The fun started when we walked in the front door. The place appeared to be run by high school girls all of which were completely disinterested in helping us out. We waited for a few minutes at the door until I finally asked if we should just seat ourselves. (Keep in mind there were no other people waiting and the place was half empty.) The little girl I spoke to looked me up and down and then pointed to another pair of girls behind her and without looking at me said “They can seat you. We are greeters.” So I asked her when she intended to greet us. She just rolled her eyes at me and walked away. Nice.

Then we were seated in the non-smoking section. Nicci is allergic to cigarette smoke so we have to be careful but what these places consider non-smoking is a joke. Can anyone tell me how it is a non-smoking section if all that separates you from the smoking section is a little 4 foot tall wall? Have you noticed that places like TGI Fridays and Outback all have the bar area as the center of the restaurant and the “non-smoking” areas are all wrapped around the bar areas? Yeah, that works well.

To make a long story short(er) we ended up as far from the smoking area as possible, which was just a table between us. Then the order was screwed up twice. I’m not too sure how I can order a steak and get a chicken and salad but I did it. Then the steak was raw. I like medium rare but I have learned to order medium at those places. I ordered medium and got raw. Then the girl waiting on us gave us another tables check. Basically it was something you would see in a sitcom. It was nice to get out of there. They can keep the place. The only good thing about it all was the appetizer. Give me KFC any day.

Come to think of it, that sounds like a good suggestion for dinner. :)