The Evolution of Stupidity

Unleash the Casey

2008-12-09T16:29:00.000-08:00

We had an unexpected surprise/addition to our family over the Thanksgiving holiday. Psycho and SIL brought a couple of stray kittens north with them. They could not find any space for them in the shelters down in the OKC area so they decided to bring them up and see if they could find them homes. We are now enjoying the company of my new co-pilot Casey. I cannot seem to get anything done lately without his help.

I'm not dead yet!

2008-11-09T13:38:00.000-08:00

Well I said from the beginning that I probably wouldn't be good at keeping this thing up. There have been way too many things going on in my life lately. When I do have the time to update this blog lately I find myself just vegging out in front of the television.
Work is getting better since Sean came back. I actually feel as though we are making headway. We still however are being dragged into a lot of weekend work that sucks time away. Couple my hectic schedule with the change in seasons which always puts me in a dark mood and you have "Insta-Grump" (sorry 'bout that Nik), a character that most of you who know me are familiar with.
The band thing has been coming along nicely. We were supposed to have a gig a week or so back at a wedding but then said wedding got cancelled. I was a little disappointed but hey we only missed out on a show. Once I got my perspectives straight on that I realized that we will have many other opportunities. We are working very hard at the moment to put together a demo CD and a press kit to distribute to local clubs. It has been a lot of work and it won't be letting up any time soon. We recorded 5 rough tracks yesterday and Nik put us through the paces in a 200+ photo photo shoot. Now we have to sift through the results of the shoot and choose the best pics for our kit. We also are going to start recording individual tracks beginning tomorrow evening. I have to finish setting up my "studio" in the basement and test the systems. After that I have a band mate coming over every night until Thursday to lay down tracks. I am really looking forward to this experience but at the same time am looking forward to a little me time as well.
Time to get back to work on the studio. Hope everyone is well. Until next time please enjoy this standard "We are a tough yet sensitive band photo". Ooooooh Markov Chain is scary. LOL

August already? Better paraphrase my update

2008-08-05T08:52:00.001-07:00

I have not kept up with this blog very well. I just can't seem to get the energy to tell you all about my incredibly dull life. All I seem to do is work, clean house, work on projects, practice music (with or without the band), and not sleep enough.

The latest hire for my department at work seemed to be a good thing at first. He was a little young but he knew his shit. We made rapid progress getting stuff done. Then it becomes apparent that he is a bit of a mental basket case. I started feeling like a high school counselor. Needless to say it wasn't working out as well as I had hoped. My worries did not have to last very long however as New Guy #2 was terminated. It turns out that he lied on his resume. He stated that he possessed a Bachelors degree in IT when really he was a few credits shy.

Markov Chain has been progressing well even though we have had difficulties with schedules. We are all still very committed but it gets hard when life keeps intruding.

The storms that rolled through here in May trashed my roof and knocked holes in my siding. It has been a long tortuous process to get all of this sorted out. Today was supposed to be the day that our roof got done. The shingles were supposed to be delivered yesterday. I got home from the office around 4:45 and still no shingles. So I called the contractor. He "wasn't in the office" so he said he would call me back as soon as he figured out what was wrong, assuring me all the while that the delivery truck was probably just late.
It wasn't late. About 6:45 or so I finally got a call back. Not from the contractor but from the rep I had dealt with getting this all set up. He jumps in right away saying "I just found out that your shingles are on back order". So I replied: "You just found out because I called your contractor to find out why they aren't sitting IN MY FUCKING DRIVEWAY!!! Since the roof was to be replaced tomorrow I figured that they might possibly need those. . ." Of course he hemmed and hawed and promised shit just like every other low life piece of shit sales person out there. Since I rearranged my work and band practice schedule to accommodate this work that was supposed to get done you can imagine that I was very pleased to hear this news. We are now waiting for new shingles to come in. We were offered the option of picking a new color. What??? Why the fuck would I want to pick a new color? I picked the original color because why? Because that is the fucking color I picked DAMMIT! Anyway, I am sure the guys will give me shit for changing practice around so I could work from home and NOT have the roof done today. I am tempted to call the contractor and tell them to just forget it. *sigh*

See Mom. . .no nerds

2008-06-23T17:57:00.000-07:00

Nothing new

2008-05-12T13:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, I will admit that it has been a while since I have posted anything new. It turns out my life is really not all that exciting. I am still working a lot but we just hired a new guy on who started today. I am hoping this will go well.
Markov Chain is progressing a little more slowly than any of us would like. There are way too many thing going on in the summer to keep a regular schedule. I think we are mostly over the hump of weddings and trips that keep interfering with our practices. With luck (and a lot of practice) we will be ready to play at a club by the end of summer.

sigh

2008-04-06T18:37:00.000-07:00

You Are Fozzie Bear

"Wocka! Wocka!"

You're the life of the party, and you love making people crack up.

If only your routine didn't always bomb!

You may find more groans than laughs, but always keep the jokes coming.

The Muppet Personality Test

Wow! I am speechless.

2008-03-21T06:38:00.001-07:00

Your Rockstar Name Is...

Brooklyn Firecrotch

What's Your Rockstar Name?

The end of an error.

2008-03-08T21:53:00.001-08:00

It seems that my co-worker Chuck has decided to move on to better things. While this may sound like a bad thing it is not. Even thought he is technically alive and could take the pager every other week his ability to think on his own was very limited. I was thinking about it earlier and came up with a fair analogy. He has the common sense of a doorstop and the retention akin to the bladder of someone with advanced MS. Not to be too harsh on the folks with MS or anything. At least in their case they don't have a choice. This will also most likely be a point where my workload becomes overwhelming again (like it could get much worse). I will do my best to not fall off the face of the planet again. There are good things on the horizon. I can feel it. I just hope they get here soon while I am still sane enough to enjoy them.

New Post

2008-03-04T20:38:00.000-08:00

People keep asking me for a new post so here goes. I have not even looked at my blog in over a week and just spent a good half hour catching up on everyone else's. I suppose the first thing on the docket should be the name of the band. For those of you not already in the know we finally decided on Markov Chain as our new name. If you think that is lame try googling it and then get back to me. If you google it and still think its lame then go $#$% yourself. Hehe. . just kidding. Anyway, as good 'ol Dr. Nick always says, "Hello everybody". Take care 'n stuff.

And heeeeeeeeeeres . . . .

2008-02-09T02:03:00.001-08:00

The Dirty Fleas! So, here is the name that we are looking at right now for our band. This isn't really a poll but at the same time it is. Please comment and tell me what you think one way or the other. We would like to know. Thanks fer playin'!

Could this be a premonition??

2008-02-05T11:43:00.000-08:00

glumbert - Bad Day at the Office

This one's for you Bro

2008-02-05T08:50:00.001-08:00

This is the new bass. It is awesome. Nothing else to say.

Stupidity is my life!

2008-02-05T08:32:00.000-08:00

I do not know why I am not playing, but if you click on me and I will open into a new window and show you how I feel.

I am surrounded by morons who are surrounded by idiots who are surrounded by the completely ignorant brain dead. I really need a new job. I developed a twitch below my left eye last thursday and it won't go away. The stress is ridiculous and the expectations impossible. I cannot do any real work because I am either answering questions that people should already know or I am fixing shit that my trainee Chucklehead has screwed up. I understand he is new but when he fucks up he lies to me about it. Just giving me the straight answer would help in resolving the issue quickly. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!

Ow, my fingers.

2008-01-23T08:36:00.000-08:00

I just got a new bass. I cant seem to put it down for long. I played for about 3 1/2 hours last night. My fingers are raw. I am looking forward to band practice this week. We are starting to make rapid progress. We still need a name though. Beef Cookie just won't cut it.

I got nuthin'

2008-01-21T15:38:00.001-08:00

I really have nothing to say. I just had to post this so everyone knew I was still alive and ornery as ever. =P

Hehe. . .don't mess with me.

2007-12-31T09:29:00.001-08:00

Most Comprehensive X-Men Personality Quiz 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Colossus

Colossus is the strongest X-Man physically. His love for his family and his sister Illiana make him strong. Although he can be prone to fits of rage, he has a big heart under that organic steel skin. Powers: Can change his skin into organic steel making him nearly invunerable and exponentially increasing his strength

Colossus

80%

Storm

70%

Beast

70%

Cyclops

60%

Gambit

60%

Emma Frost

60%

Rogue

60%

Wolverine

60%

Jean Grey

50%

Nightcrawler

50%

Iceman

40%

I have had it!

2007-12-26T11:24:00.000-08:00

I think I have now been pushed about as far as I will allow. It is time to get out the power buffer and get to work on my resume. I will have to reconcile any guilty feelings I may have leaving my company but at the very first good opportunity I will be moving on. "Would you like fries with that?"

Merry Fucking Christmas

2007-12-24T07:14:00.000-08:00

I just got up this morning to finish up my Christmas shopping. Honestly. I had nothing else in mind for today than to enjoy my "holiday". I made the mistake of looking at my computer. Either something serious has occurred in the land of SQL or some complete dumb ass made a concious choice to push a promotion that totally screwed 6 environments and affects 3 clients. I have just spent the last 2 hours on the phone with various work folk alerting them to the issue and will probably end up spending part of my vacation doing work. Needless to say at this point I am pissed off. I cannot say that I am burning out at this point. I think burnt up will suffice. I hope the rest of you can enjoy your holiday. Mine I think is pretty much fucked.

Perhaps I am not as big of a potty mouth as I had thought.

2007-12-20T06:08:00.000-08:00

Find Ultrasound technician schools near you

Who knew??

2007-12-17T08:12:00.000-08:00

Looking for payday loans?

Seriously, is it Friday yet??

2007-12-12T18:10:00.000-08:00

This has been a hell of a week so far. I have been busting my butt on work stuff. At this point I think I am spending roughly 80% of my waking hours working. That did not seem bad originally until H pointed out that the raise I got a couple months ago worked out to about 12 cents an hour on a 40 hour week. Seeing as I am salaried and I have been putting in 80+ hour weeks that pretty much translates to: Jerry is getting hosed. Patience and time are my allies right now. I just have to hang on for a while longer and hope and pray I can market myself successfully later. I need a break. A long one.

. . . and heeeeeeeeeerre's H!!!!

2007-12-05T20:16:00.001-08:00

You Should Be a Politician

Confident, assertive, and dedicated - you know what you want in life and how to get it.
Stubborn and opinionated, you can stand your ground... even if it's unpopular.
And while you have strong views, you never overwhelm people with your opinions.
A true charmer, you subtly influence people into seeing things your way.

You do best when you:

- Work according to your own rules
- Can change the world with what you do

You would also be a good lawyer or talk show host.

What Should You Be When You Grow Up?

Hahaha, this cant be true.

2007-12-05T15:07:00.000-08:00

You Should Be a Social Worker

You are deeply caring and empathetic.
You are able to take on other people's problems as if they were your own.
Sensitive and intuitive, you understand human emotions well.
Helping others gives you the most joy in life. You feel like it's your purpose in life.

You do best when you:

- Have a lot of responsibility
- Greatly impact someone's life with your work

You would also be a good philanthropist or stay at home parent.

What Should You Be When You Grow Up?

Gobble gobble!

2007-11-26T15:07:00.000-08:00

Another turkey day has passed and with it (aside from the poor turkey) another cold. I am finally feeling sorta human after spending most of my vacation in bed or on the couch. I spent entirely too much time working during my time off. That would include ANY time I spent working. Of course you can do that even when you are sick. . . if you are sitting on the couch. . .
We tried to enjoy ourselves this holiday. As much as you can when you are trying repeatedly to hack up a lung. We spent several hours at my in-laws on thursday and did the traditional dinner. Some of H's family were in town and then some we just don't get the chance to see very often. Saturday J & M and of course Mrs. B came over for a holiday meal. I will admit that I pushed for it to be at my house since I am practically chained to my laptop. I think it went pretty well. Mom got here around 8am and she and I started getting the turkey ready. We ran to the store and barely got back in time for J & M to arrive. We had a great meal and it was good to see J & M again. I don't get to see/talk with them nearly enough since they moved. H & I had to pass on their offer to go up to the Bone for drinks etc. that evening. Once our drugs wore off we were back to coughing like crazy. We ended up vegging on the couch and being as lazy as possible on Sunday. H is still coughing a lot but I think we are both nearly healthy again. I can't wait. I just left the house for the 2nd time in a week today to go to work. I have been cooped up for so long I am almost looking forward to Christmas shopping. That alone speaks volumes. Anyway, I hope everyone is well and has a happy, safe, and healthy holiday season.

Ugh. . .

2007-11-18T14:37:00.000-08:00

So I had thought I had kicked the cold. It turns out it was just lying in wait like black ice on a Minnesota freeway. I had what I thought was another allergy attack yesterday. Machine gun sneezing and just feeling all over crappy was the theme of the day. Today is much worse. I have no energy left. I have been trying to sleep or lie on the couch all day. That did not work either. I have a client going live tomorrow at work so of course something work related had to happen. I have been working pretty much all weekend anyway trying to get this stuff ready. I thought I had made it. I was wrong. Again. (You see how often this happens?) Anyway, some asshat in charge of this project thought it would be a good idea to run the daily interfaces for this client when there is absolutely no support staff available. I have managed to run 2 out of 5 programs after debugging them. Keep in mind, I was never given a chance to actually test this stuff. The programs that needed to be in place for me to run my automation were not available until either Thursday or Friday. Now I sit here feeling like microwaved shit and trying to communicate with coworkers via email to get this stuff done. This is the weekend. Nobody is around. I don't see this ending very well and right now I just don't fucking care.

Tis the season to get sick. . . wait what?

2007-11-08T12:10:00.000-08:00

It is once again that time of year. Thoughts of turkey dinner, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. Family gatherings and lazy days. Not to mention all the craziness of shopping for Christmas. This time of year also tends to bring sickness. I had been hoping that this year I would avoid the plague since I am not dealing directly with the public on a daily basis. I was wrong. H brought home something this past week that has knocked me out. My energy levels are very low and what little I can do wears me out quickly. I have been working from home for the past few days in an attempt to recover more quickly. I think I am almost there. I really hope so because I have a backlog of stuff to finish around the house in preparation for the cold weather. I still have to put plastic on 9 windows just for a start. I have also been trying to build a "loft" in my garage so I can improve on my storage and also so I can access the furnace mounted on my ceiling. I have made pretty good progress considering I have been ill. I have tried to put an hour or two a night in on the project and am hoping the framing and flooring will be done by late sunday. I am also looking forward to the guys coming over again this saturday to play music again. We are sucking less every week. Pretty soon we might even be good enough to be heard by the general public. Well soon enough anyway.

Work is still crazy as hell but I feel like I am getting a better handle on stuff. I have two new people lined up to start in my department. Now I not only have to do all the work but I also have to train people in. What fun!!! This should eventually make it possible for me to have somewhat of a social life again and I am really looking forward to that.

Feeling cool again

2007-10-25T18:48:00.000-07:00

So last weekend I got to hook up with some good friends that I have not seen in a while and play some music. Granted we are not an all star band by any means. Jim just bought his first electric guitar and is still figuring out the intricacies of electric vs. acoustic and Chris and myself just really have not been playing much for the last few years. I have to say I had a blast. My fingers hurt like all sorts of swear words because they are as soft as a milk maids but that will change in time. I really have missed playing music and have been looking for an excuse to get a hobby that did not involve working on my house. I guess this is what I have been looking for because I cannot stop thinking about it. I have been playing both my bass and my classical guitar this week and I think I am going to restring my steel string and break out my electric as well. I guess I am a bit obsessive/compulsive but it is a nice break from working on the computer all the time. Before I started programming I had WoW, World of Warcraft for all you non techie folks. I could log in and kill people and waste all sorts of time on meaningless pixels. Now that I spend my days on the computer I really have no desire to do this even though killing people from Uzbekistan (sp?) with poor english skills is entertaining as hell. I have even started looking on ebay for a new bass. Surprisingly they are about 1/3 the price there as they are in the store. The guys are coming over to my house this weekend if all goes as planned and hopefully we will get at least one song down. Ya gotta start somewhere after all.

The end of the road is here

2007-10-24T17:50:00.000-07:00

Tonight H and I did some painting in the master bedroom. We got a ton done. This is the last room to be painted to complete the top two floors of the house. As soon as this room is done the painting supplies will be put away for at least 6 months. I am hoping much longer. There are many other projects that I am planning in the near future and I do not know when I will get any of them done. Thankfully painting is not among them at the moment. I consider this my "mini retirement" from the brush. I have made a part time career out of this activity since December of '02 and I will not miss it at all. Sayonara Mr. Brush. May you burn in Hell.

MY SERVER IS UP!!!!!!

2007-10-18T15:04:00.000-07:00

After basically the most stressful week of my entire life, today I was able to get my server back up. We had to replace the motherboard and I cannot believe the replacement price for a motherboard for a 7 year old server (actually I am not sure how old this thing is but it uses 4 - 700 mhz pentium III xeon processors if that means anything to you). Regardless the sucker is back up and running smoothly. I have caught up and actually advanced to beyond where I was last friday. Now I just have to figure out how to migrate this server to a newer more reliable server. That makes me wish I had spent more time playing with Linux server setups. Anyway, things are definitely better for the moment. Perhaps I wont hit 90 hours this week after all.

AAAAAAAARGH!!!!

2007-10-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

Today will officially go down in history as "Black Monday". I finally thought that I was starting to make some headway at work and out of nowhere one of my servers blows up. I could type for hours telling you in how many different ways this has screwed me but we will leave it at this will probably set me back about 6 days at least. That is just to get back to where I was as of friday. Stress is building and my head is pounding. I am beyond pissed and I really just want to break shit. I know it won't help but it sure would feel good. Enough whining. . . back to work.

My just desserts

2007-10-09T16:19:00.000-07:00

So, almost two years ago now I decided to take a chance and get into a "career job". For the most part this has been a really good choice for me. I have learned a lot and I have increased my confidence in my programming skills quite a bit. At the moment I am just plain disgusted. I know that this job will give me the skills and the opportunities to move on to bigger an better things and it is very hard for me to wait until that time is right. I really don't know where I am going with this other than to say that I am really sick and tired of people. Stupid people who's entire existance seems to be to make my life harder. I have to deal with these folks on a daily basis and it is really putting me in a foul mood. My company doesn't seem to realize that everyone has a limit. They are pushing me towards mine very quickly. They continue to load more and more work on me and even working 50 - 60 hour weeks I cannot do more than just tread water. Even when things start going smoothly I end up having to clean up messes created by others. I feel put upon and abused. I feel like I am lying at the bottom of the hill that shit rolls down and it is piling up on me. One of my co-workers who used to be my boss is quite possibly the most annoying person I have ever worked with. Generally he is a nice guy yet he has this ability to take even the most minor issue, escalate it or confuse it with something of more importance and pass it along to me. This happens at least four times a day and I just want to rip my hair out. My all time favorite example is once when working on a project (actually thrown into a project) he kept sending out emails to our VP saying that we had everything we needed to do the work. The truth was all we had was a poorly filled out questionnaire that basically held no value for me other than to use as tinder. My breaking point hit when I recieved an email that he had sent out to several people in our office including my VP saying "We have everything we need. Now we just have to get it." Wow. That is soooo fucking profound. It pretty much summed up to everyone involved that this man actually has not a single clue as to what he is doing. Yet he still remained my boss for at least another month. Now he is in charge of gathering information for me so I can concentrate on programming. I don't think there is a single email that crosses his desk that he does not forward to me asking what I need. This includes emails that I am also included on. *mad laughter commences*

Another issue I have been having lately is that I feel a bit like a prisoner. I miss seeing my friends. I miss being able to go to the bar for dinner and a drink. I miss having any freedom whatsoever. It seems that if I leave my house to do anything other than go to the office it has to be commando mission and must be completed as soon as possible so I can be home in case I am needed for work. On call 24/7. Right now life pretty much sucks. /end rant.

I would never have guessed this one.

2007-10-01T17:03:00.001-07:00

Your results:
You are Wash (Ship Pilot)

Wash (Ship Pilot)		80%
Jayne Cobb (Mercenary)		70%
Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)		65%
Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)		60%
Alliance		60%
Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic)		50%
Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic)		45%
River (Stowaway)		40%
Derrial Book (Shepherd)		40%
Inara Serra (Companion)		25%
A Reaver (Cannibal)		20%

You are a pilot with a good
if not silly sense of humor.
You take pride in your collection of toys.
You love your significant other.

Click here to take the Serenity Personality Quiz

The "Decklet" completed

2007-10-01T16:51:00.001-07:00

I have been meaning to post this but work has been crazy to say the least. The decklet is done and I am now on to work on inside projects. Well. . . at least inside the garage. We will see. I have enough painting to keep me occupied for a while but I do have some organizational issues going on in the garage. I guess I had better make up my mind. Oh, and I know I said I was going to post a picture of my new fence but surprisingly chain link fences dont really show up well in photos. At least mine doesn't.

Dammit!!!!!

2007-09-21T17:41:00.000-07:00

I just found out that Robert Jordan has left our ranks. I know he has been ill for quite some time but I was hoping he would finish out his epic series "The Wheel of Time" before he ran out of time. This is the series that really hooked me on fantasy novels. At least the first five or so books. I stopped reading them around book nine because I just couldn't take waiting for two years between publications to find out what was happening only to blow throught the newest book and have to wait again. This series holds a lot of memories for me. I introduced Jim to these books and when he finished the first three books and realized it was not a trilogy he spent years biding his time to get back at me for getting him into it. He finally got me back by loaning me George R.R. Martins "A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE". Anyway, I hope he is at peace now and with any luck he will run into Kurt Vonnegut and they can discuss the benefits of writing short concise stories. They better not farm off the remainder of his work to some half-wit relative to finish. . . that would just be an insult.

The "Decklet" in progress

2007-09-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

Now that we have a fence we decided that instead of waiting until next spring to build our deck we would put up temporary stairs. So the "Decklet" was born. Granted, it is nothing really special but the wife and I did the work on this all by ourselves. This way we can let the dogs out to play or go to the bathroom. This is especially handy since winter is coming up. It really sucks to have to stand out in the cold waiting for Bandit to find her place to go. Next summer hopefully will be the "Coming of Deck". If everything works out as I would like we will be having a BBQ on the 4th of July. We watched fireworks from 5 different cities this past year and that was from ground level. I am as excited as a teenager with a six-pack.

It's fixed I tell ya!

2007-09-19T12:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I did read the bible cover to cover years ago. Since then I have read hundreds of things and plain just tried to wipe out my brain cells with beer. I will admit I guessed on a lot of the questions here but I in no way expected to do this well. Perhaps I should get ordained, then I could skip out on taxes like all those pro atheletes.

You know the Bible 79%!

Wow! You are truly a student of the Bible! Some of the questions were difficult, but they didn't slow you down! You know the books, the characters, the events . . . Very impressive!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

Stress is my life

2007-09-17T18:57:00.000-07:00

So my friend and mentor is leaving the company I work for and persuing possibly better opportunities. I won't say that this is a bad thing because he has not been happy in his job for a while now. For me however, it is not great. I know I will not be losing a friend but I will definitely be seeing less of him. I am facing the prospect of having to prove myself not only to my bosses but also to myself. This is slightly scary for me so in my typical style I have been stressing out and being a cranky bastard. I really do wish Sean the best at his new job but his presence will certainly be missed. Not only because as of this coming Saturday I will be the only person in my department and will be on call 24/7 for the forseeable future but because he is one hell of a good programmer and it's always fun working with him. Good luck Sean! I hope I do as well as you have. Now bring on the shitstorm cuz I am gonna go down fighting!

Time to go back to school.

2007-09-13T13:17:00.000-07:00

I know I am getting older but I had no idea that I was getting that forgetful. At least I beat my Bro for once.

You are 73% Knowledgable regarding US State Capitals!

Nice Job! Still, you do have some room for improvement. Keep up the good work. Be sure to try this again!

Do You Know Your State Capitals?
Make a Quiz

Really??

2007-09-07T06:58:00.000-07:00

Your results:
You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern		90%
Spider-Man		80%
Iron Man		80%
Robin		50%
Hulk		50%
The Flash		50%
Catwoman		45%
Superman		40%
Batman		40%
Supergirl		40%
Wonder Woman		40%

Hot-headed. You have strong
will power and a good imagination.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

Okay, cooler than Psychos but Richard Dreyfus???

2007-09-02T23:27:00.000-07:00

http://www.myheritage.com

I admit it, this one kind of peaked my interest. I got some pretty cool ones out of it but also some fairly weird ones. Richard Dreyfus? Jim Henson?? LOL

Silly yes, but I couldn't resist

2007-08-29T06:20:00.000-07:00

My pirate name is:

Iron Jack Roberts

A pirate's life isn't easy; it takes a tough person. That's okay with you, though, since you a tough person. Two things complete your pirate persona: style and swagger. Maybe a little too much swagger sometimes -- but who really cares? Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Not lazy just busy

2007-08-28T06:02:00.000-07:00

I know, I am slacking. I said at the inception of this blog that I would try to keep it up. This spring and summer has been quite the ride. To begin with I finally got up enough courage and exhaustion to cut back to one job. This was probably a good thing. I have been putting in a ton of hours just at the one. We have been going like gangbusters to keep up. On top of that, my colleague and mentor Sean is now out on paternity leave.
<--Insert gratuitous baby photo-->

I have been keeping busy on the home front as well. On March 17th we added another puppy into our midst. Pepper is a high energy attention whore who keeps us from sitting still for long.
<--Insert another gratuitous baby photo-->

After many years of feeling guilty for ripping down her old (and extremely dangerous) deck, I was finally able to participate in building Mom B a new one. Between Jas hitting his head on the joists and me falling into footings it was fairly comical yet we still managed to do a pretty good job. The inspector had issues with only a few things and we are still working on getting them fixed. I think we have addressed most of the problems so far so the end is in sight. The best part however is that Mom is happy with it. Also it was good practice for me to eventually build my own.

We also made the trip down to Oklahoma this summer to help Jas and Michele move. It was nice to get away for a few days. Next time though I am not moving anything. Overall I think the move went pretty well.

The next highlight of our summer was the addition of a fence to our backyard. After several weeks of planning and acquiring permits and basic putzing around, we finally got started on the project. Shortly after beginning, the weather turned foul and rainy. This delayed our construction a little but as of last Saturday we are pretty much done. We did have to send a gate back to be re sized but the hole it left in its absence was patched temporarily and Bandit and Pepper have been able to run free for a bit each night (photos coming soon). We have also planted a few trees to eventually shade our back yard. We had two maples donated from Mom B and three oaks from Mom and Dad G. Now we get to start plotting and planning our landscaping. The deck will be waiting until next spring due to the unexpected cost of the fence. As of now we are debating building a set of temporary stairs to hold us over in the meantime.

Now as we are nearing fall I am regretting not getting out on the motorcycle a bit more but I am happy with all that we did get done. Work on the inside of the house will swing back into high gear once the weather turns and all the festivals and other extra curricular activities are done. With that said I will get back to slacking. I hope everyone is well and I also hope to see you all soon. Carry on.

Keep on keepin' on

2007-03-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

Life has started to fall into a very steady pattern lately. This is not necessarily a bad thing. I work, come home, work on the house, make dinner, work on the house some more, and go to bed. Except on the weekends. Friday I work pretty much from 7:30 a.m. until around 3:00 a.m. Saturday morning. I go home, sleep for a few hours and then work for another 10 or so. Sunday is pretty much recovery day. I typically end up getting out of bed between 1 and 3 in the afternoon and try to be lazy for the rest of the day because I know it is all going to start again on Monday. The good news, and main reason for this post is that we have finally rented our townhouse. Basically it is a contract for deed type rental. I get to spend a year playing land lord and hopefully at the end of this time we will close. This being said it means that I can now consider at least cutting back on my hours at the bar. Since I had been hoping to "retire" from bartending in January I guess this isn't as great as it could be but I would like to restock the cupboards and refill the coffers before I finally feel comfortable cutting back to one job. I am highly anticipating that day. Not only will I actually have a little free time but I will also have more time to finish stuff up around the house. I am now officially one room away from being done painting my main level and 3 rooms away from being done painting the top 2 floors. There are so many things I would like to do this summer on the outside of the house or in the yard, yet I really want to finish this painting up first. I figure I have been painting for pretty much 4 years solid with only minor breaks. Anyway, that is pretty much all for the moment. If all goes as normal I will probably get another post in here in a month or so. I will try to shoot for something sooner though.

Tagged!

2007-02-17T12:08:00.000-08:00

Here I am minding my own business and out of the blue I get tagged. Now I actually have to engage my mental faculties and try to come up with 5 odd things about myself. Please bear with me because I don't know that I am really that odd.

1. I have been described as an "Undercover geek" because I really like fantasy/science fiction, I play mmorpg video games, I work as a computer programmer, and I don't fit the typical visual type.

2. I am very well liked. Most people would assume that is because I am a really nice guy. Now this can be true depending on the situation, however I see myself as being ornery, cantankerous, and extremely anal. Also I find that I have a very short amount of patience for anything or anyone I consider to be ignorant and/or tiresome.

3. I have a great memory for peoples faces and what they drink (legacy of too many years as a bartender) yet for the life of me have the hardest damn time remembering names.

4. I have an aptitude for figuring out how things work and will often take on extremely daunting projects around the house personally rather than pay someone to do them.

5. I have a great aversion to calling people on the phone. It does not scare me, I just don't like doing it.

Now seeing as this was passed my way by my lovely SIL I guess I will have to pass it along as well. Sorry Nik but here you go

Not much going on. . .

2007-02-16T09:25:00.000-08:00

Life has been very calm lately. I really kind of like that. Work on the house continues at a slower pace than I would like but I only have so much free time to put into it. I have totally gutted my 1/2 bath and will hopefully be putting down tile in the next week. My goal is to have the room reassembled within the next 2 weeks. The cold outside has not helped me with my ambitions since I have not really had the drive to go get the supplies I need for my projects. I am still working way more than I would like and will continue to do so until my townhouse sells. Even though I love paying the mortgage on 2 houses simultaneously I will be more than content to only have 1. Sorry this was not an earth shattering proclamation after such a long hiatus but then I really have nothing profound to share at the moment. Carry on all, the warm weather is coming.

No rest for the wicked

2006-12-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

I have been keeping very busy lately. I have not really sat aside the time to update this blog but as I previously stated, I am really not that good at putting things down. Work has been good but the Monday - Saturday schedule pretty much sucks. I have been trying to spend a couple of hours a night working on the house and at the rate I am going I should have the inside painted by spring. I did promise that I would take a break from painting until after the holidays. I still however have to do some carpet cleaning and I have to reassemble a bathroom. It is still undetermined whether or not we will be hosting any out of state guests over Christmastime. The holidays have come again with their various unexpected crises. The wife's car has been acting funny lately. As a former motorhead I am fairly stumped with its behavior. The battery has died without reason 3 times now. Once after replacing it with a brand spankin' new Sears and Roebuck "Die Hard". Now this poor car has been through a lot in the last few years and has held up remarkably well. Last winter Wife(tm) was in an accident and broke her headlight. Now all of the sudden the damn thing won't stay in place!!! It had been flopping about while driving and now the blinkers don't work. I will be working on that this evening. It is a good think I can carpool to work in the morning. Oh, wait. I did not have to carpool this morning. It was 62 fucking degrees in my bedroom this morning and dropping when I awoke! I guess I get to work from home and pay 50 bucks to have someone out to tell me the BRAND NEW FUCKING THERMOSTAT that I just put in is a COMPLETE PIECE OF BROKEN SHIT!!! At least it was not more serious, but when I inspect the new thermostat I realize that it has been installed somewhere before! Man I love exclamation points! I think I am going to use them more often!!!!!!! Now what kind of scheming cheap ass returns a thermostat that has obviously been installed for quite a while (the mounting plate was yellowed with age)? And what in my hurry to install said device caused me to miss this? I don't have any answers. I will look a bit more closely at the second coming of "Thermostat" in any case. Anyway, I had to spew a little bile forth for the holiday spirit. Now I will be taking the advice of my mother and "chilling out". At least until it gets warm in here again. . .

Can I please just sleep?

2006-12-02T07:37:00.000-08:00

I am awake again. It seems to be a never ending cycle. No matter if I go to bed early or not I can't seem to get a full nights rest. I went to sleep last night at 1:00 which is early for me on a Friday night. I had my holiday party for Insurity so I did not have to work at the bar. I have been up 4 times since I tried to go to sleep. For some reason my dog Bandit seems to think that I really am the only person around after the lights go off. I managed to sleep for about 30 minutes before she arrived the first time. I awoke to a dog standing on my head. This would not be so bad if she were a little thing, but she weighs in at about 25 - 30 lbs. She also has really bony legs. . . Of course I cannot fault her for waking me, she had to pee. Heather had managed to fall asleep on the couch so she was obviously not going to be paying attention. The second time she showed up she stood at the side of the bed and layed her paws out in front of her and scratched at my pillow. It was not her intent but she also managed to scratch my nose. This time she was afraid. Heather's cell phone was not charged and I could hear it chirping from the kitchen (my dog is a pussy). After plugging in the cell phone I crawled back in bed and had to hold Bandit until she calmed down. I am really not getting much sleep at this point. At 7:30 this morning she has come back. *Groan* Now we have to go out again. It is bitterly cold outside as the wind is whipping around my house from the open field across the road. We go outside and she has to smell EVERYTHING!!! On a good day it takes her 10 minutes to find a location worthy of depositing her urine. On cold days we can double or even possibly triple that time frame. I finally get back to bed and warm up over the course of 30 minutes or so. Finally, I can get some uninterrupted sleep. 9:30. . . She is back. . . can't this damn dog consolidate. Now we have to poop. This is the big one. The spot we find to deposit our feces must be perfect. There can be no compromise. We will have an in depth survey of every inch of my half acre lot just to find that Shangrila of pooping places. This gets really old really fast when your ears are frozen solid. It must be time to break out my hunting gear for prolonged exposure. Once again I manage to get back inside and find that now I am fully awake. I have to work in 7 hours. I will be tired well before then. As I type this I am contemplating going back to bed. And Bandit is sitting by my side with her head on my leg. A sure sign she wants to go out.

I am not sure why. . .

2006-12-01T06:17:00.000-08:00

I started this blog. I am not really that good at putting stuff down. Oh well we shall see how it all ends up.