FIAIF

I have decided that TGIF is old and busted. The new hotness I am proposing is FIAIF... Fuck It All, It's Friday. I think it's time to modernize and get with the times. So FIAIF.

I finally broke down yesterday and dragged my girlfriend to the Verizon Store for a new phone. My old one finally got to the point that I wanted to use it as a clay pigeon or something. Hell, I still might do just that.

So I got a new phone. I got a Motorola Razr v3. I haven't even had it 24 hours yet so I can't say if I really like it or not, but so far all signs point to yes. At the very least it's an upgrade from my old phone which didn't even have a color display.

I am so geeking out right now.

I know what I want to do....

I sooo want to do this... then, I want to do this. If you think my grandparents are afraid to get in a car with me behind the wheel now...

Insert evil laughter here.

Something interesting just occurred to me...

So August 6th I'm planning on going on a rafting trip with my Uncle and Cousin and Girlfriend. It should be a hell of a lot of fun, except that it just occurred to me that the guide is going to be the father of an ex-girlfriend. So I'm going to be stuck in a boat with my current girlfriend, and laying my life in the hands of the father of my ex-girlfriend.... hmmm... I wonder if I ought to question the wisdom in this. Granted it was a very long time ago, in fact, I didn't even know my girlfriend when I was dating his darling daughter... just makes me realize what a small town Springtucky, Oregon is.

I can hear the banjos already.

Color me pissed

I just got a letter from my medical insurance informing me that they are not going to pay the $174 for my visit to my doctor... why? Because apparantly "preventive care services are not a covered benifit on this plan". What the fuck!?! Then what's the point of having medical insurance in the first place?

This is such bullshit. I hope that this turns out to be a mistake, because I'm not gonna be happy if it isn't... oh and get this, the "plan administrator" gets to decide what is "medically necessary" not my Doctor... the "plan administrator" is defined in my benifit book as Pacific Office Automation... So apparantly a company that sells copiers and fax machines knows more about what is "medically necessary" than my doctor does.

This is so fucking par for the course.

I'm such a wuss...

I was going to go without pants today, but I wussed out. Yup, I actually do have pants on today. I'm even wearing underwear. So really there's nothing special about today, it's just an ordinary pants wearing day.

Aside from that it's started out kinda shitty. I'm feeling very frustrated because I got my computer migrated over to Active Directory (here's a link if you need a nap) yesterday and everything has gone to hell since. The problem is that I'm trying to do my job across two domains, and while they're supposed to be talking to each other, some things aren't working right. It's just made my job that much harder because I have to find hacks and fixes to use the tools I usually use.

Needless to say, I'm a little frustrated.

I think things are settling down, but it didn't help this morning that the damn phone was ringing off the hook. I swear users seem to know when things are at their roughest and then wait until then to call. Naturally every call is very important.

riiiigghht.

Anyway, things have settled down a bit and my mood has improved. It was a temporary frustration... I'm not going to quit my job or anything like that... just having a momentary melt down.

But we feels much better now, don't we precious? Yesss... much better...

Looks like somebody's got a case of the Mondays

I've been kind of cranky this morning. At first I thought it was because it was the heat, but I realized it really isn't all that hot here at work due to the magic of industrial strength air conditioning. Besides that, it's actually not that hot outside... yet.

No, I realized that the problem is that I have a very slight headache which I realized can be attributed to the fact that I haven't had any coffee in the last 24 hours. Yup, I had a half cup of coffee this morning diluted with water and the headache is more or less gone.

So I know enquiring minds are wondering why I only had a half cup of diluted coffee flavored water... well, that would be because I got the very bottom of the pot this morning, which tasted a lot like Navy coffee, which tends to tast a lot like espresso, only without the cool machine to make it. In other words, I could have eaten it with a fork. Now, I like my coffee strong, but not that strong... so I diluted it and it wasn't half bad. This, of course, implies that it wasn't half good either. In fact, had I actually paid for this coffee I would have demanded my money back, but I tend to think of it like getting free beer, it doesn't matter how shitty it is, you don't complain about FREE anything.

So now I'm starting to feel better. I've finished my coffee and am starting on a chai tea, which I like. However, (and I hope my lovely girlfriend can forgive this sacrilige) it comes in a tea bag and is made by Stash. The Tazo Chai is much better, but they don't carry it at Winco. We do have Tazo Chai here at work, but the stuff I have is decafinated and the Tazo stuff isn't.

Ok, that's it for now... tomorrow I'll write all about my adventures with no pants.

WOW!!!

This guy's good. Pachelbel's Canon on an electric guitar. I found it on a link from Fark. It's hosted on YouTube.com so you'd think it would suck ass, but the guy is actually really good. Check it out:



It kind of inspires me to take up the guitar... which I won't because I'm too lazy to practice... but I play a mean kazoo.

Sharks, big ones, with frickin' laser beams...

I am in an oddly strange mood today. I believe it may have something to do with it being friday, although I might be mistaken on that. The way this week has been going I'm not really sure how I've managed to keep up with the days. I kept thinking yesterday was Wednesday, so either we skipped Thursday altogether or I was mistaken in my assumption.

I just got back from Chang's Mongolian Grill. I went there for lunch with a coworker whom I don't usually hang out with outside the office. Don't get me wrong, he's not a bad guy. He can be abrupt and irritating at times, but overall he's a pretty decent guy once you get to know him. So when he asked me to go to lunch with him today I figured why the hell not.

Chang's is quite an interesting place. It's sort of a cross between a buffet and a grill. You go through the line and fill your bowl (or bowls) with assorted meats and vegetables, then you add your choice of sauces. Then they take it all from you and throw it on this big grill and cook it right before your very eyes. It's not quite as entertaining as Benihana, but still well worth the price of admission. Once you've eaten you can go back for more if you're still hungry... then lather, rince, repeat unril you're appetite is sated.

Speaking of good food, last night my girlfriend and I went to Kennedy School for dinner. We met up with Burton and his girlfriend for drinks and dinner. I was a very nice evening. We talked, we drank, we ate way too much... life has been so crazy lately that it was really nice to just kick back with friends and have a laid back evening.

Oh yeah, as you've probably noticed this post has nothing to do with sharks with frickin' laser beams... although they would be damn cool. They'd know it too. They'd be swimming around in packs or schools or whatever the hell groups of sharks swim around in, and they'd be the badasses of the sea. In fact, instead of Chicken of the Sea (which is really tuna) we'd buy Badasses of the Sea which would be just an empty can because the sharks would be too badass to get caught, ground up, and put in a little can. But we'd buy it because we'd know that those little cans are cool just for being associated with those bad ass sharks.

CSI

It's finally happened.

My girlfriend forced me to watch the pilot episode of CSI on DVD last night. I didn't want to, but she hog tied me to the couch and forced my eyelids open during the entire episode. I tried to turn my head, but couldn't due to the neck brace she applied.

So I watched it... against my will... struggling against my bonds screaming through the ball gag to make the pain stop.

Now I have to know what happens next. The subliminal mind warping has taken effect on my brain and I have to know how the next episode turns out... is Gibbs going to die? Will they find her shooter? I have to know!

Damn you CBS and your quality television!

EDIT: The character who is probably going to die... or not... is actually named Holly Gribbs, not Gibbs... the management wishes to appologize to the CSI geeks out there and pray they won't beat him soundly about the head and face for this rookie error.

Salespeople Give Me Gas...

Actually a lot of things give me gas, but salespeople are particularly adept at it. I realize that they have a job to do, and I could even argue that they serve some kind of function. What really irks me is this concept of "cold calling". I hate being at work, being extremely busy like I am today, and getting a call to see if our company would be interested in buying something from them. I really hate having my time wasted. I try to be polite because I figure the guy on the other end of the phone is just trying to make a living like the rest of us, but that doesn't mean I'm not irritated.

Of course, the irony of the situation is that I'm sitting here blogging about how I'm too busy to deal with these salespeople, but obviously not too busy to blog about it.

I prefer to think of it as writing while the inspiration strikes.

Race Weekend

Last weekend was a race weekend out at PIR. It was one of two three day weekends in the season, which I don't usually do because of the whole work thing on Friday, but this month I opted to take a day off and attend all three days.

Friday was boring as hell. The morning was spent doing the novice schools, so there wasn't a lot of action. I think we picked up 6 bikes all day of which four were mechanical problems and two were actual crashes. One of the crashes was an instructor, oddly enough, which surprised me. No one was seriously hurt though, which is always good.

We made up for the lack of busy on Saturday and Sunday though. We ended up rolling ambulances at least six times, and had several riders transported to the hospital for injuries ranging from a punctured lung to concussions. Sunday ended up being very interesting because we ended up with a streak of oil running almost the entire length of the track. It took at least an hour to clean it up because the corner workers had to get out there with Clean Sweep and brooms to clean the track. It was awesome to see everyone pull together and work hard to make sure the track was safe for the races to continue.

Overall I'd say it was a good weekend. I highly doubt I'll do the three days in a row thing again, but it was fun. There was some drama, but then again, there's always some drama. I love being out there. I love watching the people in the pits and all of the activity. I love the cameraderie that exists amongst the rivalries. Racers that are bitter rivals on the track might take the time to help each other out off the track. It's a pretty cool thing.

Definitely looking forward to next month.

The beer fairy came!!!

I came in to work this morning and discovered two Coronas sitting on my desk. It isn't very often that beer just shows up on my desk randomly, so I'm pretty happy about it. Granted, Corona isn't the most fabulous of beers but I'm not going to argue.

Seriously, who complains about free beer?

And I was so looking forward to that rectal exam...

I went to the doctor today for the first physical I've had since I got out of the Navy. Come to think of it, I suspect I haven't had one since the physical I went through at MEPS when I enlisted. Needless to say I haven't had one in a very long time. It went very well. I only really have a couple of issues that popped up, my "good" cholestorol is on the low side, which is easy to fix with more exercise, and my kidneys might be acting up a bit, but its too soon to tell if its anything to be concerned about. The best part was that I didn't need a rectal exam, which I'm fairly certain the doctor was ok with too. I strongly suspect she wanted to shove a finger up my ass about as much as I wanted her to. She did fondle my balls a bit, which is a whole lot less pleasant than it sounds. For starters she had cold hands, and secondly these things just don't seem to have the same effect when performed in a clinical setting. I'm really ok with that though, I'd rather have my girlfriend fondle them.

Her hands are warmer.

Aside from that I got some questions answered. It turns out I don't have to completely give up my coffee, just limit my intake to one or perhaps two cups a day. I suspect that means one or two 8 oz. cups per day, so once I've had my venti coffee from Starbucks I'm pretty much done for the day. I got a tetnus booster, so now I can continue stepping on rusty nails and not have to worry about getting Tetnus.

On another topic, this last weekend was a three day race weekend out at Portland International Raceway. It was quite busy, but since I need to actually do some work I'll have to post about it later. I didn't take any pictures, but I should have. It was quite an interesting time.

Pre-bedtime post

I'm about to hit the proverbial sack, but I thought I would write something before I do so. Tomorrow I have to get up early to be at the racetrack by 7am. I'm actually rather excited about it, I even took a day off from work to do it. I have no idea what's on the agenda, but I expect it'll be something like gear tech then ride in the crash truck, which I love to do.

I might try to get some pictures this weekend. I still have some in my camera from the last time I brought it to the track, so I ought to post a few of those as well. I just need to get off my lazy ass and get the pictures up.

Alright, bed time.

Toys

We just got ourselves one of these. It's part of our company's move to Active Directory, but the best part is that once we get it installed and running I won't have to swap out tapes every morning like I currently do.

Yay!

Sometimes I love being a geek.

Mocha Valencia

It has come to my attention that Starbucks is discontinuing their Valencia syrup. This makes me profoundly sad because my favorite drink is a Mocha Valencia.

I'm very sad now.

Viva La Revolution!

Change is good. Take my blog layout for example. I changed it again. Why, you ask? I say, why not? I do it because I can, because I am a revolutionary. I seek to effect change on the world one blog post at a time. I advocate world peace and world wide nudity. Everything would be better if we all just got naked. Think about it for a minute. If everyone was naked no one could hide weapons. People could walk along the streets at night and not have to worry about being attacked by a knife or gun wielding mad man. Women wouldn't have to worry about men imagining them naked, and breasts would be so common place that men would not feel as compelled to talk to them instead of looking women in the eye. Granted, it might be a little cold in the winter time, but that's why I'm also advocating mandatory group hugs every ten minutes, every five minutes during the winter. So every five minutes everyone on the street would have to engage in a group hug. This would allow people to share body warmth every five to ten minutes and prevent hypothermia. In extreme cold, clothes could be allowed but would have to be removed as soon as a person entered a building. Public spaces could have a designated cold weather clothing storage space. We could achieve world peace because people are a lot less threatening when they're naked.

My god, I'm brilliant.

Tiger 1, Teenager 0

I just read this article about a 19 year old girl who climbed over two fences, crawled through some bushes, and stuck her arm through a third fence into a cage with several tigers in it.

Big surprise, the tigers attacked her.

The best part is that the animals won't be destroyed as a result. This pleases me to no end because it seems to me that all too often an animal is destroyed because some asshat does something stupid and gets bitten, mauled, or otherwise harmed by an animal that is simply behaving as an animal does in that situation. I understand that in some instances it can't be helped, that sometimes an animal must be destroyed in the interest of public safety. However, in this case the girl had to go to great lentgths to put herself in harm's way. Had the girl not been a dumbass this would never have happened.

Hopefully this girl doesn't ever breed.

Home Ownership...

For a few years now I've had the bug in me to buy a house. I've kept putting it off because I was in college and the future wasn't very stable. I always said that once I got out of college and into a job that I liked and was stable in my life I would start considering it.

Well, that time has come.

I've been looking at houses online and found several that I like, but seem to be way out of my legue price wise. I just can't afford a $500,000 home. So I'm going to have to scale back a bit and try to find something that's a bit more reasonable.

Fortunately, in my research I found The Portland Housing Center. They actually offer classes on how to buy a house and how to manage your money in such a way that you'll be able to afford the house you want. They also assist in the process from start to finish. For a first time buyer this sounds kind of nice. I find that my first inclination is to assume that I can't afford what I want, then usually the research shows otherwise.

So I'm going to do the research.

I figure I won't be actually buying anything until some time next year, but I can at least get the ball rolling.

Very exciting stuff this.

Hair

My girlfriend has hair, which is good because I don't think I'd like dating a bald woman much. My girlfriend has long hair, which I really like. In fact, she mentioned something about "getting her hair done" which I am hoping doesn't equate to actually cutting it... at least, not much.

But there is a down side to hair. As much as I love my girlfriend and her hair, it gets everywhere. In fact, I just found a long blonde hair on my keyboard... at work... and she's only been in the office once... before we started dating.

I have a theory... hair migrates.

It is the only explanation as to why I just found this hair here. I can't prove it belongs to her, but the evidence is pretty strong... the hair is long, and it is blonde... my girlfriend has long blonde hair... 'nuff said.

I actually just thought of another theory. In the animal kingdom it is customary to pee on things to mark ownership. See that tree? mine. See the rock? mine. See the blade of grass? Yup... also mine. My thought is that perhaps all this hair I'm finding serves a similar purpose. Perhaps my girlfriend is in effect marking her territory by leaving her hair on my clothes and in my car.

Well, I guess it's better than having her pee on me.

One last post...

I'm getting down to the wire.

In about ten minutes I am going home. I am going to put my feet up... then I am going to sign into World of Warcraft and make a run into Sunken Temple with my friends and my girlfriend. I am going to spend several minutes trying to explain to a 30 lb dog why she can't be on my lap while I am playing... then realize it is futile as she licks me incessantly about the face and neck. I am going to eat macaroni and cheese with my girlfriend.

Some might say... "get a life"... I respond to those nay sayers with a resounding raspberry.

I have a life.

I have a good life.

In fact I have a very good life.

No, I have a fucking awesome life... so there.

Not Motivated to Work, but Joyful Anyway

I got a lot of good things going for me.

I have a beautiful girlfriend who loves me.

I have a job that I actually like, even on days like today where I'm not feeling particularly motivated to work.

I have a plethora of friends and family who have my back when I need it.

I can spell the word "plethora" and know what it means.

Yup... I got a lot of good things going for me. Sometimes I like to just sit back and think about it because on a day like today where I'm a little bored and unmotivated, it's easy to get focused on the negative parts and just sit and whine and complain. What I've discovered is that if I sit down and list even a couple of the really good things I got going for me my whole outlook on the day seems brighter.

To be honest, the original intent of this post was to complain about how bored I am today, but then I got to thinking about last sunday's sermon at church. It was about complaining and how to not complain... one way is to thank God continually for the things that are going right in your life. So I decided instead of writing about how bored I am I'd list a few of the good things in my life... guess what... I feel a whole lot less bored than I was. In fact, I feel absolutely fabulous.

What is too fast?

I've been told that I tend to move too quickly in relationships and with this new relationship with my girlfriend, the thought has been in the back of my head. What is "too fast"? Certainly asking her to marry me after only one month is fast, even for me... yet there are other things happening that make me pause to consider this. There have been things discussed that are perhaps coming up early in the relationship... things like children and even marriage. Now, neither of these subjects are being seriously discussed at this point. They're just random discussions of "hey, how do you feel about...?" I have no problem with these discussions, and figure they have to be talked about because they are things that could make the relationship last or be things that are complete deal breakers. For example, if she desparately wants children and I don't... could be a problem.

So these things are coming up, and things are happening... and I love that all of these things are happening, but the big question is whether or not they're happening too quickly. I don't want to stop or even slow down, I just want to make sure that we at least take a pause to consider what we're doing instead of rushing headlong down a path at the detriment of ourselves, our relationship, or the people who care about us and support us.

Ordinarily this wouldn't even be an issue for me... all things being equal I would say that yeah, things are moving rather quickly for two people who have only been in a relationship for a month... but we haven't been in a relationship for just a month. We've known each other for nine years. It is only the romantic part of our relationship that's been one month long. This has made the lines between appropriate and "too fast" blurry to me. It makes the real question not "what is too fast" but "what is too fast for us"... which no one can answer but us.

I love my girlfriend. I love the relationship we have. I like the direction we've chosen to take together. I definitely want to continue... I just want to make sure we do so wisely.

No Gutbombs For Me, Thanks

I did something kind of silly, kind of not.

Today there are free burgers and hotdogs in the lunch room. I have chosen to go out and purchase lunch instead. Why? Because I've been thinking a lot about my health, and after tasting one of the hotdogs and realizing how much salt was in it, I decided that a guy with high blood pressure ought to avoid such things and look for healthier alternatives. I could have had a burger instead, but after watching the grease pour off of the cooking burgers I decided not so much.

So I went to the store and got one avocado, a small package of grape tomatoes, and a microwavable soup thing (Clam Chowder, 90% fat free). So my entire lunch really only constists of the sodium content of the soup, which I thought was just a single serving, but turns out to be closer to two. So my lunchtime sodium intake is about 1800 mg... between that and the Burger King breakfast I had I think I'm pretty much done for the day on my sodium intake.

I've been thinking alot about my health (as I said) and how many years of bad eating are starting to catch up to me. Salt is my biggest downfall. I love chips and popcorn, and just about any other salty snack you can name. I'm not so big on sweets though. The problem is that due to years of all those high sodium snacks my blood pressure is through the roof. I'm on two medications for it and my kidneys are starting to give me problems.

So I guess I need to give up some bad eating habits, try to make healthier choices, and get a little exercise here and there. I've been researching the DASH diet my doctor gave me. It's an interesting diet. Basically all it does is emphasize portion control, balance between food groups, and cutting back on sodium intake. Apparantly when they were researching it they saw dramatic results in just a few weeks with just lowering the sodium intake on participants.

My goal at this point is simply to be aware of my sodium intake and try to keep it to under the recommended 2400 mg per day. I think I can do it, but it's not easy. Try reading the nutritional labels on just about anything... then remember that the values they present is PER SERVING. So the soup I bought for lunch has 870 mg of sodium listed on the label... but there's two servings, so the actual amount is twice that if you eat the entire containier, which I'm certain most people do. I did notice that on some Gatorade products they have the nutritional information listed twice, one value is the per serving value, the other is for the entire container. I think that's pretty cool.

Ok, I go eat my semi-healthy lunch now.

Ouch

This seems like it might be a little painful.

People are unbelievable.

A different sort of lunch

Today I splerged a little and bought myself some sushi for lunch. I don't claim it is good sushi, I got it at Fred Meyer, but it's not bad for what it is. I bought California Rolls and Inari. It cost me around $8, but it would have cost me at least that to get the Pad Thai I was thinking about getting instead.

I never thought I'd like Sushi because I always associated it with raw fish. But as I get into the whole suchi eating thing I'm realizing there's more to it than that. I find that I love california rolls even though I'm pretty sure they aren't "authentic", but they're still pretty tasty.

What I decidedly don't like is Wasabi... I just accidentally ate a very small particle of it and man... my mouth... fire... burn... pain...

Wasabi is like Horseradish, only with less horse and a whole lot more radish.

Business Ethics an Oxymoron? Apparantly not always

A recent article on CNN has given me pause in my usual cynicism regarding large corporations. My general attitude is that "business ethics" is an oxymoron, especially in the wake of the Enron and Worldcom scandals. Yet, it turns out that two companies actually have a sense of ethics. If you haven't read the article, the story is that a Coca Cola employee attempted to sell some of Coke's trade secrets to Pepsi for an obscene amount of cash. Pepsi's response was to call the police.

Let me say that again... Pepsi's response was to call the police.

I find this to be absolutely amazing, especially being at an age where I remember (ahem, vaguely) the great cola wars of the 1980's. It almost restores my faith in corporate america... almost. At the very least it goes to show that not every corporation in america is run by money grubbing asshats, some actually run an honest business.

At this point I say, drink Coke, drink Pepsi... whichever you choose drink knowing that you're supporting one of the few companies that actually believe "business ethics" is something more than an oxymoron.

I'm declaring a new work day... from 12pm to 5pm

It's early.

No, let me rephrase that... it's fucking early.

I usually show up at work around 7:30 or so, not because I want to, but because if I leave my house any later than I do I'll be late. It's just how the joyous rush hour traffic works. It's kind of like the Geico commercials... fifteen minutes could save you the hastle of sitting on the parking lot... er... freeway. Seriously, it amazes me what a difference just a few minutes will make in terms of the volume of traffic.

Today, however, I am here intentionally early. I was told there was a video conference this morning and since the guy who usually runs these things couldn't make it, I said (being the kind hearted soul I am) I would do it. So I dragged my ass out of bed and (with much grumbling and growling) came in to work. I was rather pleased with myself because I managed to drag myself away from a nice cozy bed and make it to work with a few minutes to spare.

Imagine how happy I was to arrive and discover the meeting was canceled.

Yup. They sent out an email yesterday canceling it... but I have to ask... who the hell checks their work email on their day off? I mean honestly, why would anyone say to themselves on their day off "I'm not worked enough, so I'll just check my email and see what's happening." I certainly don't, so I showed up as requested, and now I'm bitching about it on my blog because I can.

At least there's all the coffee I can drink here.

Anyway, all the bitching aside, yesterday was the Fourth of July. All of my American readers will know exactly what that entails, and since I don't have any non-American readers (that I'm aware of) I'm not going to explain it. Actually, now that I think about it if I'm lucky I might have a reader or two in the exotic location of Canada... but I don't count them because let's face it, it's Canada.

So what did I do yesterday? Nothing. Yup, I slept until 1pm. Then I played just a little bit of World of Warcraft, and took care of my girlfriend's dog while she was at work. Then I discovered that her parents were at the pool at her apartment, so (since I was planning on spending the time with them anyway) I joined them at the pool, then for a barbeque after.

Let me tell you about this barbecue. This is something we do every year, and it's something I always look forward to. This year, however, was different in that I had no one to act as a buffer between myself and my girlfriend's family. What I mean is that I was completely on my own hanging out with them without my girlfriend or someone else I know being present. Usually there are more people at these little soirees, but this year was just myself and the girlfriend's family.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I felt a little odd spending time with them without Heather around, but I found myself relaxing as the evening progressed. I think it helped that I've known them for a number of years now, so it isn't like I'd just met them and suddenly found myself hanging out with them. It also helps that I have grown rather fond of them over the years that I've known them, so the time spent is well worth it.

Today I am back to work, tired, and just a little cranky because I didn't really need to be here as early as I was. Should make for an interesting day.

Shhh... be vewy vewy quiet....

Today is turning out to be a pretty decent day. While it sucks to be at work the day before a holiday (why we didn't get a three day weekend I'll never know), it's been kind of nice because it's been really quiet. I had a grand total of three phone calls this morning... one to set up a laptop for a new hire, one for a forgotten password, and one for a random email problem that I fixed in less than ten minutes. Aside from that the hardest part of my day has been trying to stay awake.

It isn't that I have nothing to do, it's more like I don't want to do anything. It's kind of the same thing that happens every friday... I know I have tomorrow off, so my motivation to work is suffering. I think the other problem is that our IT staff is cut down to 50% because my boss and I are the only ones here today.

All that aside it's been kind of nice. It's quiet except for the occasional sound of the small air compressor running in the little sprinkler room in our office. I'm not real certain what it actually does, but it's hard wired into the building power and is connected to the sprinkler riser. My theory is that it presureizes the sprinkler system to make sure the water gets through in case of a fire. Either that or it's just there to annoy the hell out of everyone.

Hmmm... what to do for an hour and a half...

Can I have an Amen...

I am feeling very content. We got Heather moved over the weekend, which turned out to not be as big of an ordeal as I originally thought. Her former roommate was out in plenty of time for Heather and I to clean the apartment and get the last couple of items out before she had to return the keys to the apartment office. So the mission, as stated in a previous post, was accomplished. Heather didn't have to pay for extra time in the apartment, all of her stuff is moved, and life is returning to normal... or something resembling normal.

It occurs to me that in the month that Heather and I have been together we haven't had a chance to see what "normal" really looks like in our relationship. Up to this point there has been something to do, some crisis to avert, something keeping us from settling into our relationship. I'm glad things are more or less settled down so we can start doing exactly that.

On another topic, church wasn't another brick to the head as it has been in previous weeks, more like a gentle slap. It was about standing firm in the face of adversity and having faith that God will see you through. It got me thinking about the way I've handled certain people in my life and how I allowed them to get me all bent out of shape and lose sight of myself. I'm not necessarily talking about the most recent events in my life, more like a lifetime of allowing this to happen.

It's hard to stand up for what you believe in. It's hard to take a step back and stand firm in the face of adversity. It's hard to have enough faith in yourself that you'll pull through even the most sticky of situations, and it's hard to have faith that God will see you through the parts you can't do on your own.

I found myself avoiding certain people, and I kept asking myself why. At first I thought it was just that I didn't want a confrontation, but as I thought about it I realized that wasn't it at all. I mean, that was part of it, but the main reason I avoided her was because I don't trust myself to not get sucked back in. There is a falicy to that thinking in that I can only get sucked in if I allow myself to be sucked in. It's a choice, not an inevitability.

So I've stopped taking the long way to my car, or walking away from this person's apartment, or just avoiding her altogether. If I run into her (and I will) I'll be civil, but I don't have to actually have a conversation with her. That's a choice, and that's where I have power in this.

That knowledge makes all the difference.

The Devil Wears Prada

I went and saw "The Devil Wears Prada" last night with Heather and Malia. It wasn't too bad for a chick flick. It would have been better with a little gratuitous nudity in it, but I suppose that would have to involve naked men since it's a chick flick so maybe it's better there wasn't.

Overall, not a great movie. I can't quite call it terrible, but it definitely doesn't rank high up on my list of movies to buy on DVD. It was entertaining at best. The story is about a young woman fresh out of college who takes a job as an assistant to the boss from hell. In the process she learns something about herself... yada...yada...yada.

To be honest, the movie is cliche and fomulaic. I can't think of anything about it that was truely memorable, or at least memorable enough to make some kind of impression. I couldn't tell if it was poking fun at the fashion industry or trying to redeem it. There's a scene where Andy (our heroine) points out that two belts look identical when Meryl Streep's character goes on a long diatribe about how the clothes Andy is wearing came from the fashion industry... or something like that.

Anyway, go see it if you've got nothing better to do... or even better... get someone else to buy the tickets.