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This is an archive collection of entries from  my main personal blog, My Mundane Mid-Life.

This collection of entries is from December 2003.

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Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Did hell freeze over?

Did you see what happened in my favorite town - Las Vegas - yesterday?

It snowed.

OK, it snows there every once in a while. Not a big deal. It rarely accumulates.

This time it was 1 to 3 inches of snow. It was supposed to rain instead, but the temperature was just right. But, alas, it didn't last. I mean, this is the desert. Still... it makes you wonder what the hell is going on with the weather...

posted at 09:07 AM | Link | Mundane § |

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Better and worse and better...

Well, I finally have a machine that's up and running. I'm now in the middle of software installs. It looks like XP is all up to date as well as Office XP, though I'm having issues with my legacy Outlook 2000 PST file. At least I'm happy that my software is actually installing and seeing data. Yea!

On another personal note, we are in money hell, wondering if a Debt Management Program is going to work or if bankruptcy is our only option. I'm fighting this tooth and nail and hopefully things will work out. Pray for us, people. Or at least send some good vibes, OK? Thanks. Carol & I appreciate it.

On a lighter note, I started seeing referrals from Gapers Block. Turns out Andrew Huff from the site stumbled onto my Gigglesnort Hotel memories and pictures from back in the late 70's when I was a television puppeteer in Chicago, and he wrote a small paragraph linking here. Thanks Andrew and welcome to everyone who stops by here from Gapers Block! Leave some comments with the pictures if you remember anything! Share your memories!

posted at 09:13 PM | Link | Computing § |
Miss You

Damn.

I actually called out for him today when I was a little, um, "in need". It was one year ago today that I lost my dad. Yes, life hasn't been the same. Yes, we're all doing fine and moving on.

It's just... not the same, you know? I miss him.

I miss you, Dad.

posted at 05:58 PM | Link | Family § |
Nothing new...

... still no machine, still no money.

Life is hell.

posted at 12:52 PM | Link | Computing § |

Monday, December 29, 2003

Visitor

Dad? What are you doing up there?
I've been working on my computer for so long that Indy decided to come upstairs to see what I was up to. I think she's looking for some attention...

posted at 07:49 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
Still in computing hell

Using PartitionMagic 8.02 to copy partitions from my old drive to the new drive. Still haven't applied maintenance on XP, though I am actually excited about how much of my hardware it found correctly.

This is going to take forever. I'm changing the partitions from FAT32 to NTFS (which I should have done a long time ago) and it just takes time to do all of this. I'm still trying to fugure out how I'm going to find all of my software that I had installed, not to mention the praying that I'm going to have to do to make sure that it'll all run in XP without required upgrades.

I hate Microsoft with every fiber of my being...

posted at 05:42 PM | Link | Computing § |
The hell with the reinstall...

I've got XP Professional installed... no service packs, yet. I want to make sure that the devices are all intact first...

posted at 12:14 PM | Link | Computing § |
Reinstalling...

Well, the reinstall has begun. I couldn't get the original environment to boot-up with a decent environment. I lost a lot of drivers and software. I didn't have any network drivers or display drivers, so I decided to bite the bullet and reinstall the OS... but on a new hard drive. That way, I can get at my old data and start to piece together my life.

Yech.

posted at 09:39 AM | Link | Computing § |

Sunday, December 28, 2003

Still dead...

I'm nowhere closer to where I want to be...

... I'm going to bed...

posted at 10:03 PM | Link | Computing § |
Oh, oh...

My Win2K machine no longer boots.

Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEMced startup options for Windows 2000, press F8.

You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows 2000
Setup using the original Setup floppy disk or CD-ROM.
Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.


Oh, crap...

No backups. It's my world in there.

And no matter what I do, Repair dosen't work... Had a feeling this wasn't going to be good when I saw that the error message doesn't give me a file name...

Oh, crap...

posted at 04:01 PM | Link | Computing § |
My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé

I was watching the Bears game on Fox (which I had to turn off... I couldn't stomach any more of this sorry season), when I saw a promo for a new Fox reality show premiering January 19 - My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé. A woman is matched-up with... a big, fat, obnoxious guy and for $1,000,000 must endure an engagement and wedding.

Oh, God... Fox sure knows how to mess with a genre...

Oh, in case you want to see what I'm talking about, I captured the promo here.

posted at 01:22 PM | Link | Reality TV | 1 comment § |

Saturday, December 27, 2003

Wolves 4 - Grizzlies 0

Chicago Wolves Utah Grizzlies

read more of this entry »


posted at 10:37 PM | Link | Wolves § |

Friday, December 26, 2003

I've got an itch...

Damn it... something has got a hold of me and I don't know where it came from... I'm getting the urge to do something that I've never done. Most people do it pretty regularly, and most of them do it pretty well. Me? Never did it.

I blame Trading Spaces.

I blame that damned perky Paige Davis, or that nymphette Genevieve Gorder. Certainly that wack-job Hilda Santo-Tomas - she of the feather walls, flower walls and corogated cardboard walls. Yes, I could do better. Kia Steave-Dickerson? Oh, yes. Vern Yip? Ummm... errrr... well... OK, probably not.

What the hell am I talking about?

read more of this entry »


posted at 04:15 PM | Link | Mundane | 2 comments § |
Slimy Molluscs

I knew I didn't get much traffic here at the ol' website. I also knew that no one really links to me either (let's face it - a mundane life is just not worth linking to). I registered at The Truth Laid Bear to be part of the TTLB Blogosphere Ecosystem.

Well, I've found out that I'm not a Insignificant Microbe (which actually made me feel better), and I'm not a Multicellular Microorganism, Wiggly Worm, Crunchy Crustacean, or a Lowly Insect.

I'm a Slimy Mollusc, and I'm not sure how I feel about being one of them. I'm not the bottom of the food chain, but... Slimy Mollusc? EW....

posted at 08:32 AM | Link | Blogging | 1 comment § |
Friday 5 - New Year's

The Friday Five
Time for another Friday Five...
1. What was your biggest accomplishment this year? heh... being employed
2. What was your biggest disappointment? not being employed at a salary level that is anywhere near what I used to earn...
3. What do you hope the new year brings? A more positive earnings outlook (boy, this seems one track right now...)
4. Will you be making any New Year's resolutions? If yes, what will they be? No, no resolutions. I just don't do it... I never wind-up keeping any, so why bother?
5. What are your plans for New Year's Eve? The annual party at B&B's!

posted at 07:38 AM | Link | Friday Five § |

Thursday, December 25, 2003

Christmas

Mom's tree Opening Christmas presents Melinda blowing out her birthday candles
*whew*

Just spent the whole day at Mom's house. Got some very surprising presents (I'm going to have to update my Amazon Wishlist to pull a few things off!)

We had brunch, presents, and dinner and the day absolutely flew by.

Melinda's birthday was yesterday, but we celebrated today in a more "intimate" setting than last night. Guess the day was more draining than what we expected - Melinda couldn't blow-out the candles on her cake!

This Christmas turned-out better than I had thought, and better than I had hoped. Sometimes family quietly makes things better...

posted at 09:20 PM | Link | Family | 1 comment § |

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

Christmas Eve

Diane's live tree Homemade cookies! Yum! The inevitable happens... people gather around the kitchen to talk... The dinner buffet spread More talking around the table after dinner
Christmas Eve.

Diane's house.

Family.

Food. Presents. Grab bag.

Good.

posted at 11:51 PM | Link | Family | 1 comment § |

Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Stand Down

Hmmm... the start of a White Christmas? Eddie Izzard - Circles
Well, we got an unexpected piece of news today at work: "... a mandatory holiday deployment stand down throughout the NE region effective COB 12/23. ... All NE region Dell staging, deployment and sweep activity will stop from COB 12/23 until after the first of the year."

Crap. We had a lot of work planned for next week. What's worse (from my perspective) is the typical contractor's lament: no work = no pay - a <sarcasm>wonderful place to be during the holiday season</sarcasm>. So, I am on Stand Down until January 5th, the day after my birthday.

The flip-side to all of this negativity is that we've hired a new Admin who'll sit next to me. It was bad enough last time when we had a new tech join us (she's been great to work with), but this time it's going to cause more problems - younger, taller, and gorgeous. There's too many geek guys around for her not to get hit on...

I bid adieu to my colleagues and walked out to the car where I noticed it started snowing. The traffic home made the drive miserable. The Tri-State was a mess. It's not normal to actually come to a stop on the tollway, so I got off on Golf Road to take that all the way home. Well, that was fine until I was within a mile or so of Woodfield Mall. We were stopped again. This time, I realized that right at the mall, the traffic lights were out. Not good, especially right at Christmas around one of the biggest/busiest malls in America. Then I saw what the problem was - a white panel van slid off the road... and ran right over the top of the traffic control electronics box. That's going to be down for a while.

Stopped at White Hen to get a few tickets for tonight's Mega Millions game (the pot is up to $100 Million tonight). After I slid into my parking place, I had to wait for one of those "Lottery women" that have all of their multiple tickets all filled out, leaning over the counter with the worker, just chatting up a storm, and moving pretty damn slow. Then she starts singing Christmas music... not what was playing over the Muzak in the store. And she's terrible. And in a syrupy-voice she says (to no one in particular) "Oh! How beautiful the snow is!" and she starts dancing a little in place. I just want my effin' tickets - get the hell outa my way!

So, there's snow on the ground, traffic sucks, I'm not working for almost two weeks, and - worse yet - Carol & I are broke. So, needless to say, I'm a bit down in the dumps.

But then, I see a box from Amazon.com on the counter.

I can't tell you how much of a surprise and how much it meant to get something from your Amazon.com Wishlist from someone out there in the Blogosphere.

In this case, it was the Eddie Izzard DVD of Circle from Erin (we saw Eddie in Circle here in Chicago back in March of 2000). Erin, it made my day! Thank you! Make sure you visit her blog! She's a good egg!

posted at 07:40 PM | Link | Work | 1 comment § |

Monday, December 22, 2003

This is winter?

Went out to lunch and was shocked to experience the weather.

When I drove in to work, there was a thick layer of overcast clouds, making the drive seem really dark for the time of day.

At lunch, it was all blue sky and warm sun with hardly any breeze. The temps are in the 40's, but it seemed a damned bit better than that.

And today is the first full day of Winter. Of course, it's supposed to rain and snow in the next couple of hours...

posted at 12:56 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Traffic bliss

Ah, the holiday season is upon us, which means people are taking vacation days and aren't on the roads during Rush Hour. Ahhhhh....

Well, so far, it looks like "Code Orange" doesn't mean anything different where I'm working. But then again, I work in a building that's not actually on the base. I don't have a need to go on base today. I'm not in any hurry to see if there's anything different. I'm going about my daily business like a good American...

posted at 09:27 AM | Link | Mundane § |

Sunday, December 21, 2003

Damn good food...

We went to B&B's last night with Debbie for our Holiday Dinner. Normally we would celebrate at a nice restaurant like we have for the last couple of years, but we can't afford it and Barry has been out of work for months as well, not to mention Debbie had to go to work at 10 pm. Barry made a great beef tenderloin that we were fortunate enough to bring the leftovers home with us. I really enjoy getting together with these guys - something we just don't do as often as we'd like.

Sleeping last night was another thing entirely. I didn't, basically. I may have overeaten just a little bit and my stomach told me that all night long. I'm a wreck this morning. But the sun is out and it's in the 40's, so how bad can it be.

posted at 08:30 AM | Link | Friends § |

Saturday, December 20, 2003

Oh, just get on with it already...

I've been subjected to the absolute lamest publicity segments on the Channel 5 news this week. They built "Studio5" which is one of these studios that's on a plaza with glass around the studio down on Michigan Avenue - think Today Show in Chicago. They've been promoting this damn thing for well over a week. I really don't understand how this is going to help the local early morning news market at all. Well, they finally opened it this morning. Two things jumped out at me - they don't have a clue on how to light the set. I mean Andy Avalos was in from of a chromakey-green backdrop to do the weather and he had shadows all over him, not to mention the anchors being underlit (and shadowy) against the bright plaza behind them. It's awful. The audio levels were all over the place or non-existent. It's not like the audio guy doesn't know how to run a board... does he?

It's all a case of making the studio a news story, which I just hate. They even had Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Mayor Richard M. Daley out in the alleged "crowd" outside on the plaza (along with Rev.Jesse Jackson, who and former POW Shoshona Johnson, who was in town).

Ugh.

posted at 11:16 AM | Link | TV § |

Friday, December 19, 2003

Sportsless

Without any baseball around, I realized that I haven't been watching ESPN at all. In fact, even though we have 36 sports channels on DirecTV, I just skip over them all. I just don't have any interest at all.

It may have something to do with being in a town where your football team sucks, your basketball team sucks, and your hockey team sucks...

I can't wait for pitchers and catchers to report!

posted at 07:05 PM | Link | Mundane § |

Thursday, December 18, 2003

*urp*

Note to self:

The next time Carol gets home late on a Thursday night, it is important to finish eating dinner before watching CSI.

Watching CSI during dinner is not... safe...

Thank you so much Jerry Bruckheimer for those wonderful autopsy scenes...

posted at 08:38 PM | Link | Mundane § |
TWO YEARS

2 Year Blogiversary!

I started "My Mundane Mid-Life" two years ago today, and I'm still trying to write something every day. Somehow, the blog becomes more and more mundane as the days pass by. I feel the need to apologize for that - though I'm not sure why. I've said this before, I write for me and about me. It's just a slice of life - a dull, boring, mundane life, but it's my life.

I don't get a lot of traffic here because of that. I'm not a popular guy - I just write about the things I do in my life along with a few pieces about things I like/dislike or just catch my eye. I don't try for anything deep, anything philosophical, political or edgy. It's just me. I don't have a lot of friends out there who read this blog, and certainly not a lot of family members either. I'm OK with that. I guess if I write for an audience of one (me), I won't be all that disappointed in my traffic or my lack of comments or even the frequency of what I write.

So, if I'm just writing for me, hopefully I won't dissapoint me by trying to keep writing almost every day. I feel the need to do that - don't know why. Perhaps it's this feeling that may, just maybe, if people stop-by regularly and actually read this thing, then I should keep it going for as long as I can. Maybe I can get one or two more readers that way.

I feel odd reading other blogs, and getting that sense (after a while) of "knowing" a person. I can't tell you how upset I get when a blog all of a sudden disappears. You feel that you connect to a person just by reading what they have to say day after day and then all of a sudden - poof - they're out of your life, most likely forever. It's an odd sense of virtual-loss. There are quite a few people that I miss. (Dawn and Robyn come to mind...)

Thank you all for visiting. I truly appreciate you taking your time to do that. Make yourselves known every once in a while be leaving a comment or two and signing the appropriate GuestMap. Please stop-by again!

posted at 06:34 AM | Link | Blogging | 4 comments § |

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

100 Years of Flight

100 years ago today was Wilbur and Orville Wright's first successful manned, motorized flight at Kill Devil Hills, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

1903 - the first manned flight. Mind you, it was only a 12-second, 120-foot flight, but it was the first.

11 years later was the first commercial air service - flying passengers 22 miles across Tampa Bay in 20 minutes for one dollar.

Under 44 years after the first flight, on Oct. 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager flew a plane faster than the speed of sound.

65 years after the first flight, Apollo 11 lands on the moon.

Today, commercial flights are like taking a bus ride. Ordinary. Common place. Mundane.

It's too bad, for many people, the excitement of flight has been lost.

posted at 09:08 AM | Link | Current Events | 1 comment § |

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

Party Time

The Avellino Room upstairs at Maggiano's Little Italy in Schaumburg Oops... the Schaumburg Fire Department showed up... Carol & me at the party
Just got back from Carol's company Christmas Party at Maggiano's Little Italy in Schaumburg. We were there last year, but in a different room upstairs. Different seating arrangements this year (guess the group is a little popular). A lot less drinking this year than last. Moment of the night - the fire alarm going off and the Schaumburg Fire Department showing-up.

posted at 09:31 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Windy

Weather-wise, we've been lucky this morning and yesterday. Temperatures have been in the 40's. Yesterday, there was hardly any wind. Today - well, we're making up for it. Had to hold onto my fedora as I walked across the parking lot this morning to keep it on my head. It was drizzling when I left the house, but there must be a cold front coming through - we're supposed to get snow this afternoon and the temps just take a nosedive.

I don't mind snow, it's the cold I can't stand. If there was a way to have snow and still have moderate temperatures - I'm there.

posted at 08:37 AM | Link | Mundane § |

Monday, December 15, 2003

Saddam-isms
Saddam, when the 4th Infantry Division and Task Force 121 find him his "spider hole: "I am Saddam Hussein I am the president of Iraq, and I want to negotiate."

Soldiers: "President Bush sends his regards."

Now that Saddam is out of his hole and cleaned-up, he's back to being his ol' pompous self, replying to interrogators' questions with nationalist or patriotic rhetoric:

From Time magazine correspondent Brian Bennett:

"He was offered a glass of water, and Saddam said, 'Well, if I take that glass of water I will have to urinate, and if I have to urinate, I will have to go to the bathroom, and how can I possibly go to the bathroom when my people are enslaved?' "
"He also said he didn't play nice with U.N. [weapons] inspectors so that he could protect the privacy of his presidential areas."

posted at 11:38 AM | Link | Current Events § |
Accidents and a-holes

Ever since I started driving 40 miles to work on the tollway system, I have been astonished on how well (generally) the drivers have been. No real idiots, everyone doing about 80 mph (when we can) and everyone is behaving.

Until this morning.

We had accidents (a 3-car one that had to be someone not paying attention). I had a pickup truck in front of me who's right taillight didn't have it's red lens, so everytime he tapped his brakes, I've got a bright light in my eyes. Then - at the same time - I had a Jeep Grand Cherokee behind me that has his right headlight pointed upwards - right into my rear-view mirror. The truck infront of me taps his brakes one more time while we're in the left lane going about 70... and then cuts sharply across 3 lanes of traffic to get off at an exit. Moron. Lots of people going under the limit and not yielding to merging traffic, too. Weird.

Then I get on Buckley, on my way to the base when a stretch limo screams out of a hotel parking lot to make an attempt to get across 3 lanes of traffic so he can make a left. I think he forgot how long the damn limo is, as he didn't exactly clear my lane (the left lane). Bastard.

I think the holdiday humbugs are finally out.

posted at 08:44 AM | Link | Mundane § |

Sunday, December 14, 2003

Too much time on your hands?

Too much time on your hands?
Heard about this at Chelby's party yesterday... took a while to find, but here's the text I found with it:

"Yes in the comfort of your own home, or someone else's, with just a sharp knife, a bottle of tequila, some large limes, a little time on your hands, and a brain-dead cat, you can learn to fashion these authentic lime-skin football helmets. Chin straps not included."

posted at 12:59 PM | Link | Odd § |
Not much of a snow update

Snow in the neighborhood
Well, there wasn't much snow overnight at all. The neighborhood looks like it was diusted and that's it. I think there's supposed to be about 2" up by work, but I'll have to see tomorrow.

posted at 09:13 AM | Link | Mundane § |
One down, one to go

Footage of Saddam Hussein after his capture is shown during a press conference in Baghdad, December 14, 2003. U.S. troops captured Saddam Hussein near his home town of Tikrit announced U.S. administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer December 14, 2003, in a major coup for Washington's beleaguered occupation force in Iraq. (Reuters TV) Footage of Saddam Hussein after his capture is shown during a press conference in Baghdad, December 14, 2003. U.S. forces found Saddam, dirty and sporting a greying beard and hiding in a cellar Saturday near his hometown of Tikrit. Until then he had been as elusive as al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar. REUTERS/Reuters TV
A photo of Saddam Hussein after his capture is shown during a press conference in Baghdad, December 14, 2003. U.S. troops captured Saddam Hussein near his home town of Tikrit announced U.S. administrator in Iraq  Paul Bremer on Sunday, in a major coup for Washington's beleaguered occupation force in Iraq. Photo by Reuters (Handout) A photo of Saddam Hussein after his capture is shown during a press conference in Baghdad, December 14, 2003. U.S. forces found Saddam, dirty and sporting a greying beard and hiding in a cellar Saturday near his hometown of Tikrit. Until then he had been as elusive as al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar. RUTERS/Handout
Osama bin Laden is still out there (the ultimate bastard to catch), but at least the other bastard has been caught - Saddam Hussein is finally in custody. He was captured yesterday at 8:26pm in "Operation Red Dawn" in the town of Ad Dawr, which is just south of his old hometown of Tikrit. His identity was confirmed today. He looked like hell. He "was found in a "spider hole" underground, about two to two-and-a-half meters (six to eight feet) deep with a ventilation pipe to enable him to breathe. The hole was camouflaged with bricks and dirt." He was wearing a white T-shirt, dark trousers and a long-sleeved dark shirt, and was thin and dirty.

Good for him.

He was found with about $750,000 in U.S. $100 bills along with two AK-47s, a pistol and a white and orange taxi. A white and orange taxi???

posted at 07:29 AM | Link | Current Events § |

Saturday, December 13, 2003

Slick

Snow sticking to the streets in the neighborhood
Driving down rural roads is a real trip when there's fresh, slick snow on the ground without any salt trucks in the area. Fortunately, it's just a very thin coating - even though it's been cold and the snow is accumulating, there's not enough there to really screw up traffic. It's just really slick out there, and the local towns and villages as well as the county and state haven't really handled the salting duties very well, and certainly not consistently from town to town.

posted at 09:04 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Chelby @ 31

Yakking upstairs in the dining room/kitchen The Stitch-N-Bitch alive and well in the basement Chelby cutting one of her birthday cakes
Our friends Chelby & Damian moved up to Wisconsin back in... oh... April? We haven't seen them since. We went up to see them (they're barely in Wisconsin, between Genoa City and Pell Lake) for Chelby's 31st birthday (which is today). The house is, well, a bit of a mess right now as they're still in the middle of painting/decorating, and considering the Chelby is 6 months pregnant, they're running out of time to get a nursery ready - I hope they make it!

Today was billed as a "Stitch-N-Bitch", where people come over (sort of Open House style) with sewing projects and everyone just sits around and sews and yacks and sews and drinks and sews and eats. Actually, it was a great time - even though Carol & I didn't bring anything to sew. (Hey, I did my part - installing some software on their computer).

Carol & I were the only "hockey friends" there - everybody else was from the Renn Faire circle of friends. It's always interesting going to a party of any sort where there are multiple circles of friends that are centered around a couple. The union of the two sets is interesting - they're swell people and there are so many similarities and it's just all comfortable.

It was a good time and I miss those guys. I'm surprised my allergy medicine lasted without incident!

posted at 07:25 PM | Link | Friends § |

Friday, December 12, 2003

Friday 5 - The Holidays

The Friday Five
Time for another Friday Five...
1. Do you enjoy the cold weather and snow for the holidays? NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! OK, snow, yes, cold, no.
2. What is your ideal holiday celebration? How, where, with whom would you celebrate to make things perfect? The entire extended family together in one place. Period. None of this split-family stuff where no one gets together, only to go their separate ways to celebrate their own ways with their families. Just once I want all of us together. We're losing too many of our family members and I feel that we're losing quality time together.
3. Do you do have any holiday traditions? We have always had a Christmas Eve extended-family get together, and Christmas morning has been at my parents.
4. Do you do anything to help the needy? Toys-for-Tots, whenever we can. I'm just feeling a little needy myself this season...
5. What one gift would you like for yourself? Money. Just money. Nothing else. We need to get out of debt. I don't need anything else.

posted at 06:08 AM | Link | Friday Five § |

Thursday, December 11, 2003

Damn whistler...

Look... we all have Pet Peeves. I have a whole list of ones just about driving.

But there are a few things that pop up every once in a while that, well, just piss you off.

I work in a raised-floor room with 15 guys that stage about 35 machines at a time. It's quiet in here - not a lot of chit-chat.

One of the damn techs is sitting here friggin' whistling. Now, I'll give the guy props on the quality of his whistling, but, damn it, STOP THE FRIGGIN' WHISTLING! I want to wring this guy's neck... I Mean he's a nice guy and all, but when he puckers-up, I just want to smack the guy...

It's just one of those things that get on my nerves.

Add it to the list of:

  • Cracking knucles

  • Popping gum

  • Chewing with your mouth open

posted at 10:42 AM | Link | Work § |
Weather report: nothing to report

Snow sticking to the grass
Well, the snow that was supposed to be blanketing the area never happened - just a little accumulation on grassy areas. Big deal. It's now just cold.

posted at 07:05 AM | Link | Mundane § |

Wednesday, December 10, 2003

Still the same

OK, I'm still feeling crappy. Now, Carol is in the race for who is feeling worse. She puts in a ton of overtime this time of year. Works Saturday and even on Sundays. Stress level - high. Sleep - not so much. Last night, she had a ton of trouble sleeping, mostly because her stomach wasn't feeling great.

The weather is starting to change, however. Yesterday's fog and rain was just heavy rain this morning. The rain ended, the temperature started to plummet. Tonight when I left work, we're now onto the sleet phase of the latest storm. On the way home I think I saw a thin coating of snow on the cars at one of the many car dealerships in the neighborhood. High in the 20's tomorrow, and the next few days.

More things to torment me.

Oh, and we're broke. I mean broke. And it's Christmas time. I'm just so friggin' happy...

posted at 06:44 PM | Link | Mundane § |

Tuesday, December 09, 2003

Wet, slow, and foggy

It's been foggy almost all day
Working close to the lake has interesting weather aspects. It's been really foggy all day at work, and it's been raining. The rain got harder as I tried to drive home during the evening rush. Although it took me an hour and a half, I didn't mind it - I like rain and fog and it just kept me... interested.

posted at 06:59 PM | Link | Mundane § |
BlogShares: The Resurrection?

It looks like BlogShares is attempting a comeback with new ownership (thanks to Jay Campbell). They were able to salvage the majority of the data from the backups and the Spiders are a-Spiderin'. Yea!

posted at 06:20 AM | Link | Blogging § |

Monday, December 08, 2003

I can't stop this feelin'...

...deep inside of me...

oops, sorry. I'm still feeling a bit "punky". I'm really bloated, I'm having problems fitting in my clothes.... I feel like Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory when she got to the dessert of the three course meal gum... ("It happens every time, they all become blueberries!")... I can't fight this weird-ass feeling. I thought the weekend would help. In many ways, it seems worse... Is this what's going around?

I really don't do "sick" very well at all. I knew I wasn't feeling right the other day when I started talking to myself. When I don't feel well, I find myself talking through everything I do out loud, as if to help me focus on what the hell I'm supposed to be doing. Weird, eh?

Man... I shouldn't have brought up Willy Wonka...

read more of this entry »


posted at 06:08 PM | Link | Mundane § |

Sunday, December 07, 2003

Makin' 'em mad...

Sign shown during the Packers-Bears game
Saw this great sign during the Bears-Packers game...

Update: Bears lose 34-21. We suck.

posted at 01:12 PM | Link | Bears § |

Saturday, December 06, 2003

I ain't doin' nuthin' today...

I'm feeling somewhere between a cold and a flu today. I'm not dong anything today, just laying around, watching TV.

Nothing to see here... move along... move along...

posted at 03:16 AM | Link | Mundane § |

Friday, December 05, 2003

Where the hell is the snow?

I usually get to work about 30 minutes early. I don't mean to, it's just since I drive 40 miles one-way, almost all on the limited-access tollway system, you just don't know how traffic is going to go minute by minute.

Last night, I asked Carol (who gets up way before me in the morning) that if there was snow on the ground then wake me up because I'll need the extra time for the traffic problems.

5 o'clock this morning Carol wakes me up to tell me there's no snow, but it's still raining and there may be ice out there and the travel times were going up.

Fine. So, I decide I'll leave a half hour early and that way I have a one hour cushion for my drive time.

I got to work one hour early. There's no snow. There's no ice. There's no traffic. By lunchtime, there wasn't a cloud in the sky!

Crap. On top of that, there was nothing to do. We didn't get any data to get machines into the staging area to get the staging crew to work, so we sent home almost everyone.

Sucks when you're a contractor and you get paid by the hour. Sucks, I tells ya.

posted at 09:00 PM | Link | Mundane | 1 comment § |

Thursday, December 04, 2003

75,000

1997 Infiniti I30 - 75,000 miles
A little bit of everything today...

First, my car turned over 75,000 miles today on the way to work.

The drive to work was light - the drive home was horrendous. The weather critters are saying to expect 1-3 inches of snow tonight (it used to be 3-6 inches, but they've backed-off of that) and it's been raining for a few hours now. Now, normally, rain doesn't slow down traffic all that much, but I think that people have it set in their minds that "Oh my God! It's going to snow! Oh no! What is this rain? It's got to be turning to ice! I've got to slow down!!!" So the evening commute turned into an almost 2 hour mess - and not a lick of snow or ice to be seen.

Can't wait to see what the morning rush hour brings...

Carol got a voicemail at work yesterday and because she is so busy with orders for her company, she couldn't get through her voicemails and she had to have some co-workers to pull the messages and return the calls (it was way over 60 messages...). She missed her brush with greatness.

She missed a voicemail from Peter Jennings. Yes, that Peter Jennings.

Also, a quick props to my girl Erin for leaving the 200th comment to my crappy little blog (her's is soooo much better). I knew I didn't have a lot of readers here, but I appreciate each and every one that stops buy and says hi every once in a while, and, a she herself would say, Erin is a "good egg".

A good measure on how popular a blog may be is to look and the number of posts and number of comments. If the comments far outnumber the posts, you've got a popular blog that many read and participate in.

My blog? Well, how about 1,593 entries and 200 comments in almost two years. I'm OK with that. No, really I am. I'm doing this for me. If anybody else stops by and reads this regularly, that is just so much cooler and really means a lot to me. To those of you that are regulars, whether by visiting the site or catching up through RSS feeds - Thank You.

posted at 06:43 PM | Link | Mundane § |

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

Ouch

Left index "trigger" finger
OK, I'm feeling slightly better today. Another "good busy" day at work. I have, however, injured myself and it's really hurting.

For those of you that know me, you know that people kid me because they think I have 9˝ fingers (well, 7˝ fingers at 2 thumbs). That's because I have a finger that only partially moves. I have a captured tendon in my left index finger that doesn't allow the finger to go straight. In fact, it only opens halfway. There's no pain, it's just that it doesn't fully extend. (The common term is "Trigger Finger" or Stenosing tenosynovitis.)

I did have surgery on it back in the 80's but it's happened again. (Did you know that for a local anesthetic they inject you in the webbing between your index finger and middle finger? Do you have any idea how much that hurts?) Actually it's been this way for a while. Like, oh, a decade. Muscles have atrophied and all I want to do is just streeeeeeetch this finger out... but I can't. You have any idea how much of a pain this is? I can't get my hand into my back pocket to get my wallet out. It's an extreme struggle put on gloves, and I can't put on a baseball glove at all (and that pisses me off). I can't use that finger at all for typing - and considering I've been in the IT industry for 25 years, I can tell you that it bothers me every day.

Now, remember, this also means the I can't lay my hand down flat. Now, imagine something I do every day in this job - moving up to 20 boxes of Dell Optiplex machines on a palette for transport and delivery. Sometimes 4 palettes at once. Oh, and I'm a bit short - I'm only as tall as 4 boxes on a palette - and the palettes get stacked 5 boxes high.

Do you have any idea how painful it is to get my finger smashed between a couple of boxes? Since the finger doesn't move, the pain is excruciating. And it doesn't go away, since you injure muscle and joint tissue.

Oh, I want this fixed... but I can't.

No money. We can't afford any (and I mean ANY) unusual expenses at all (lots of financial hurt for us right now). I just don't know how much longer I can take this. I know people keep saying "Well, you lived with this for so long, you can wait longer". I'm tellin' ya, I can't take it any more. I want my finger to unlock and move!

I even have the doctor picked out - it's Carol's surgeon that did her breast reconstruction surgery after her double mastectomy - believe it or not, he specializes in hand surgery.

All I want for Christmas is a new finger... a new finger... a new finger...

posted at 06:12 PM | Link | Mundane | 1 comment § |

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

Oh, oh... I don't feel so good...

My shadow on the tollway
I feel terrible. Nothing specific, but I feel bad. Yesterday, I was exhausted. So much so that I don't remember how I got to work. I'm walking to the Staging area in the morning and I realize that I can't remember a thing about the drive. On the way home, I almost fell asleep in stopped traffic on the tollway. I'm exhausted and to me that's a signal that I'm getting sick. I'm not tired from doing anything - I'm tired because my body feels like it's fighting something. Fighting what? Don't have a clue. I'm not sneezing, I'm not coughing, my throat feels fine, no headaches. OK, there's a little G.I. problem, but it's not significant. I was really busy at work today (a good busy, if there is such a thing), so it kept my mind focused and off my weird feelings. I even worked overtime tonight. Now, I feel that I need to eat and then watch a little Celebrity Poker Showdown and go to sleep.

posted at 07:20 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Liberian Christian scam?

I'm not sure what to make of this. I'm sure it falls under the guise of Nigerian 419 fraud, but this one just seems out of place with a new twist to all of the other email scams I've seen...

read more of this entry »


posted at 05:44 AM | Link | Nigerian 419 Fraud | 1 comment § |

Monday, December 01, 2003

Welcome, Yuebing!

Hello, Yuebing!!!
I can't tell you how bad I felt when I heard Oolong the Japanese bunny had died (yes I can - I blogged about it). The guy that owned Oolong (owned? you don't "own" a bunny - they're more like your companion) just had such a sweet outlook and photographed him constantly, even in death (I still tear-up when I see those damn photos).

Word now comes from Japan that Oolong's successor has arrived! Welcome Yuebing, a female gray Netherland dwarf bunny born on October 10. She's already filling Oolong's shoes (like Oolong had shoes...). Go check her out!!!

posted at 08:44 PM | Link | Bunnies § |
R. I. P. BlogShares

Oh, well. BlogShares crashed last week and Seyed said it won't be reopening. Nuts. It was an interesting "game" while it lasted. My last Total Worth was $6,320,238,942.05. At the beginning of November I was ranked 111, and my overall growth in net worth for the month was 265.49%, so I think I'd move up a bit. There weren't a lot of billionaires in the game. But, alas, it's all over.

posted at 08:00 PM | Link | Blogging § |
*twitch*?

Aw, Nuts! I forgot about "Rabbit, Rabbit!" Now I've got to remember "Tibbar, Tibbar!"

posted at 06:09 PM | Link | Memes § |

 

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This Blog was last updated Friday December 18, 2009 13:03:12 CDT (-06:00 GMT)
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