Kick in the pants

I have a new boss

2008-06-28T10:37:00.004-06:00

...this doesn't change anything about my job, other than now I have to get him clued into how fucked up things are with some of our projects. He's been here a week and I think he was a bit surprized and the extent of the mess.

He seems like a good guy, and easy to work with. He has asked some very good questions, and I know he wants to do the right thing. I think our department is the only one trying to fix the problems at this place. But I look at it this way, if the other groups need to continue to work they have to go through us. Yes, we have the power to make their lives difficult, but I don't work like that. The VP of our section wants me to do things that could definitely make people take notice, but that would cause impacts to customer deliveries, so I need to find a better way to work them into our plans.

Tired...

2008-06-26T23:32:00.006-06:00

I am beat. I don't want to bitch about work. It wears me out to the point where I get home and don't want to do a thing.

Late weekend I kind of just wanted to sit around and veg, but I promised to take my kids to a Rockies game Saturday.

The Rockies are doing pretty mediocre this year, but I like to take the kids to a big league game once in a while. It was a great game and great weather. Yes, I have pics.

Even the sunset was beautiful.

Sunday I was just going to drop the kids off at a paintball park (is it a park?). Well, my good friend Mike was taking his whole family too, so they worked on me for a couple days prior. I ended up joining them.

I have never done paintball before, but I ended up doing really well, although I was EXHAUSTED by the end of the day. My legs were shaky from all the covert sneakiness I was doing. I think playing war type video games over the past few years taught me a lot :D But now I am bruised, and still a little sore 5 days later.

I am going to be sick if I don't get some rest.

Goodnight

Music is life

2008-06-02T22:37:00.004-06:00

I have always loved a pretty wide variety of music, and I have always enjoyed getting suggestions from friends on what to listen to. Melanie recently introduced me to a few new favorites. Now I am asking you all to make more suggestions.

I now have a play list over there on the right. Its by no means complete. I plan on adding a bunch more when I find the time.

On other exciting fronts...

Bizarro chick and I have had some really honest and difficult conversations as of late. I gave her a week off (basically I have been ignoring her calls). Tonight I was visible in IM, and she hit me up to talk. I kind of let her have it. I tried not to be hurtful, but there isn't an easy way of doing this.

Sooo.... She is still being extremely needy, even after all this. I told her that she needs some time to get her head straight after breaking up with her long distance guy. She tried trowing some of it back in my face, but that just made me feel like I was breaking up with a girlfriend.

So we may or may not be much of friends after all this.

groan

... and I haven't had any today

2008-05-31T09:01:00.002-06:00

I got this from Amorous Rocker, and thought I would share.

A silly test... and I could have done a little better. I am a master mouse clicker.

OnePlusYou Quizzes an

Sure Happy Its Thursday

2008-05-29T21:31:00.004-06:00

A couple from one of my favorite bands. Kind of fitting...

You Wanted More

Mean To Me

Bizarro - I hope that's it

2008-05-23T22:48:00.004-06:00

Let me paint the picture. She is 39 years old, but looks at most about 32. Medium long blonde hair, pretty face, and a very nice body. So for me to not want a romantic relationship with her is saying a lot about her issues. She is very needy with a capital N, and now she's on the rebound.

... So while I was down stairs fixing my friends computer she was watching Cloverfield. Luckily I had finished the blog post and was working on the other system because she snuck down to the basement and was watching me fall asleep at the workbench.

I had just finished what I was doing and started a defrag when I was dozing off. The movie ended, and she wasn't overly impressed by it. She's never had that great of taste in movies.

I got my sleepy ass upstairs and cleaned up a little, and she plopped her ass down on the couch. Apparently she wasn't going to leave on her own. This just means I have to deal with it. On top of that it turns out she poured herself a nice big glass of juice, and added a generous helping of my vodka to it (at least it was cheap vodka).

This wouldn't be the first time she might have to crash at my house, but I was determined to confront the "issue" and send her on her way. I don't think that was her plan at all. I got the distinct impression that she wanted me to drag her to my bed and do all kinds of fun things to her.

I wasn't taking the bait.

I do have some self control. I know that this is hard to believe for a guy. Especially from a guy that is not currently getting any. The situation reads RED FLAG in my mind, which makes me able to control my libido. I am certain that most guys would have done the nasty and ditched her. I don't play that way.

So she asks me point blank what the problem is with the two of us dating again. Suddenly I felt like I came to a gunfight with a pocket knife. I didn't want to insult her, or make her feel bad. I am not a very good speaker when confronted like this, so I probably sounded like a total moron.

After telling her that I just don't think it would work, which she wonders why I think that, I ask her if she is ok to drive. This gives her the semi-obvious hint that I want her to leave. It took another 10 minutes or so before she was finally getting up to go.

She didn't plead or beg. She just said "Think about it" with a coy look.

I am afraid this has ruined our friendship. I know I'll always think that she is hoping I'll change my mind.

Bizarro - In Real Time

2008-05-22T22:37:00.003-06:00

Another ex-girlfriend of mine and I have stayed friends over the years. She's kind of flaky, but she is fun to hang with sometimes. We dated about 4 years ago. She has heard all of my strange stories since then about women I am dating, and the strangeness that eventually breaks the relationships.

There are a number of reasons I don't want to date this lady anymore. Some of it is just her personality, and other reasons have to do with her kids. It just doesn't work for me. I have remained friends with her, but made it clear that we would not be "a couple". She was always fine with this.

Last night she started texting me saying that she knows someone that has a crush on me. I found this odd because prior to dating her 4 years ago I went on one date with a lady that ended up being one of her close friends. So for her to say she knows someone else from my past was quite curious.

I asked her who it was, but she said she promised not to tell. It was cute at first, but then became very high schoolish and annoying. Well tonight she stops by unannounced (I thought she was going to call) and fessed up to it. She was drunk, and she was referring to herself. ARGH!... That's all I need.

So apparently last night she broke up with her long term long distance boyfriend that we've both known was a long term waste of time. She proceeded to drink herself into a mess, luckily staying at home. She then started the texting.

OK, I didn't want to date her before... Does she really think I'll want to date her after the school aged bullshit?

I had plans tonight to finish a computer repair for a friend, and maybe play some WoW. She knows this but asks if she can hang out and watch Cloverfield. She's upstairs right now. I am working on the computer. Now I need to kick her out soon.

The drama is sure to continue

Bizarro World...

2008-05-04T12:12:00.006-06:00

I've had what I would call a rash of strange discussions lately.

I never dated in high school. When I went off to college I met a girl in Phoenix that was nice. Unfortunately I met her about the time I needed to leave. We went out on a number of dates. I was 19, she was 16. I know what you're thinking... we never had sex.

Well, out of the blue she IMs me. She was leaving her second husband and heading back to Phoenix. Why does she contact me? I have no idea. Maybe she just needed to talk to a friend. We reminisced about the past a little. It got wierd but I kind of ignored it. Emotionally she's not in a good place right now, so I just let the "what if" questions go by without much of a responce. I have a feeling I am going to hear a lot more from her.

So Saturday, I am reading over e-mail and doing some research when I see that I have a message waiting for my on my Facebook. It happens to be from the girl I dated a few months after I got back from Phoenix.

Is this a warped episode of "You Bet your Life"?

This was the first girl I every had really strong feelings for, but that was over 20 years ago, which is hard to believe. She's been married for a while. We kept in contact about once a year with Christmas cards until she got married. She was always afraid my ex was going to get jealous, and my ex always did. But I was not going to tell a friend that she couldn't send a Christmas card. Hell, my ex used to get gifts from one of her ex-boyfriends. I was never threatened by it. The guy was as annoying as gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe.

Anyway, she now has her PhD in Fine Arts. She was a music major and a very talented teacher even way back then. She used to teach private lessons to beginner sax and clarinet players. I think that is one of the things I really liked about her. I am extremely proud of her accomplishments. It's funny that we've reconnected so many years later. I remember her saying once that it may not be soon, but someday she and I would be very happy together. I don't believe for a second she was still working toward that.

It's been a weird weekend with a lot of reminiscing. It makes me wonder what might be around the next turn. I think I'll go buy a Powerball ticket.

No Going Back

2008-05-02T08:01:00.002-06:00

I've had second thoughts up until a couple weeks ago about fixing things up with MS. I know it's hard to just change the way you think about someone. Maybe I've just been lonely. She was always around, and now for 6 months I have not really dated anyone. A random date here and there, but nothing that sticks.

We see each other now and then. She had asked if it was ok if she could stay in our board gaming group (we get together about once a month). I was fine with it. The first couple game nights were uncomfortable, but we've gotten past it.

She told me that Dan from our gaming group had convinced her to start playing World of Warcraft a couple months ago. I thought that was odd. Not the fact that she was playing a video game... she is quite a geek in her own right, but the fact that she was playing a PC game. She's an XBox player. I guess Dan and her had been playing a lot, and I had a feeling something might develop out of it. Dan confirmed it the other day. He told me over IM, and asked if I was ok with them dating. I did feel a little jealous, but I know that MS's and my problems would not go away. I was fine with it.

A week or so later MS and I talked about it. She knows I am feeling wierd about it, but she said it herself that the reasons I broke up with her were valid and would not be getting any better anytime soon. I think she was a little stunned by my little bit of jealousy.

She is right, and I will get past this. It just feels weird. I've never dated someone then had a good friend date her later. There was this thing with my brother once, but that was a whooooole different story.

Long time, no HNT... Anti-drama

2008-05-01T20:57:00.007-06:00

It's been like 2 years (or more) since I've done an HNT.

I have a lot of friends dealing with drama lately. I can't stand drama. I wish I could just make all the negative shit just go away.

I know it's not being realistic, but damn...

One friend has a legal battle staring her in the face over a child. I can't imagine what this must feel like. I can't imagine trying to take my kids away from their mother. Just the thought of it can bring me to tears.

Luckily I had a couple of great days with her recently. I hope this turns out in her favor.

I have another friend that has a different type of drama going on. She is being stalked. She knows who it is as until recently they were dating. This guy follows her around. Knows everywhere she goes. Brakes windows in her car, and breaks into her house and steals things (2 laptops so far).

The cops are involved, and they are hoping to get some hard evidence on the guy. His actions are escalating, and I am worried about her saftey. Unfortunately she doesn't live here, so there isn't much I can do to help.

I lead a pretty simple life. I have my struggles, like everyone else, but it makes no sense to me why people have to be this malevolent. Why do relationships end up in such a spiteful manner? People need to focus their negative energy on something else. Get over yourselves!

Projects just keep coming

2008-04-24T23:14:00.006-06:00

There comes a time when you have to just say no. That time came today.

Last week I was working 12 hour days including on Saturday. We're finally able to implement some of the changes we've been proposing to our development group. I had my whole department in at work for 9 hours Saturday, then a couple of us had to be on-line from home to deal with some minor problems that a developer was having.

This first phase has really stressed me out. I have been wanting to get this done for over a year. Now that phase 1 is done I feel so much better. As far as I know there haven't been any complaints about our changes. I am pleasantly surprised.

The next phases will be equal or worse on the stress scale. Things are starting to pile up. Last year no one wanted to make these tool changes, but now that it's been drilled into their heads everyone seems to need us all at the same time. This isn't feasible, but that doesn't stop them from trying.

I was going to start testing of the data imports from one tool to another yesterday, but as I was setting my laptop on my desk, my boss comes by and asks if I was going to walk over to the Hyatt for the Project Management training class. My jaw dropped. I totally forgot to put that in my calendar. DAMNIT! So I've had to go in for Project Management training for the last 2 days.

The good thing is... now I know what my boss wants when he asks for a project plan.

For the last few months I have had a hard time sleeping before midnight. This week I've been falling asleep while watching movies in the evening. I think it all started this week because a friend came to see me, and kept me up until 5 AM Saturday night.

I am so tired... burned out...

I really want to buy a new trombone and join a community band, but something keeps me from doing it... the fact that I work in Denver, I don't think they'll be too pleased with me being later periodically. Maybe I should just do it, and see how it goes.

The Dating Persona Test

2008-04-03T22:57:00.003-06:00

I got this from Grace. I had nothing better to post that you haven't already heard me bitch about. I didn't expect to be marked as "The Gentleman" due to some of the answers I gave. I guess I am not too much of an ass.

The Gentleman

Deliberate Gentle Love Master (DGLM)

Steady & mature. You are The Gentleman.

For anyone looking for an even-keeled, considerate lover, you're their man. You're sophisticated. You know what you want both in a relationship and outside of it. You have a substantial romantic side, and you're experienced enough sexually to handle yourself in that arena, too. Your future relationships will be long-lasting; you're classic "marrying material," a prize in the eyes of many.

It's possible that behind it all, you're a bit of a male slut. Your best friends know that in relationships you're fundamentally sex-driven. You're a safe, reliable guy, who does get laid. In a lot of ways, you're like a well-worn, comfortable pair of socks. Did you ever jack off into one of those? All the time.

Your ideal mate is NOT a nut-job. She is giving and loving, like you, but also experienced.

Your exact male opposite:

The Last Man on Earth

Random Brutal Sex Dreamer

Always avoid: The Battleaxe (DBLM)

Consider: The Maid of Honor (DGLM), someone just like you.

Link: The Online Dating Persona Test | OkCupid - free online dating | Dating

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2008-03-17T22:46:00.004-06:00

I don't have anything new... Just a celebratory picture from a few years ago. I hope you all celebrated safely.

Busy month... but someone wanted an update

2008-03-15T12:05:00.009-06:00

So Kevin is the starting catcher for the freshmen baseball team at his high school. He is taking this year very seriously, both school and sports. I think it's funny how the school's eligibility standards are so low. If he is failing 1 class he cannot play... My ex has a much higher standard. If he has a C he cannot play. We'll see if she'll buckle if that happens. I am betting so. Kevin is still in 2 honors classes, band, and now sports. Yesterday he tells me that the coach wants him to play on the JV team this week to see how well he does. He is an awesome catcher, but I am not expecting him to get much playing time on JV. He is also on the freshmen team. So he has 6 games this week. UGH!

His grades are very good, not perfect, but I don't care that much about having straight As. If he gets them I will be extremely proud, and reward him in some way. He's been continuing his drum lessons away from school, but is about to put those on hold until after baseball season is over. He still plays trumpet in band, but I can tell he doesn't like the teacher. I have a feeling he is going to want to drop band unless this guy is less of a dick. I was going to have to call the guy because he was going to fail Kevin in band because he missed a concert. My ex sent a note stating that Kevin had a huge English assignment that needed to be done, so she was note allowing him to go to the concert.

I totally agree that he needs to make his best attempt at being at all concerts and contests for the band, but when an academic class is suffering, you have to focus there first. What an asshole. Kevin asked for his number so I could call him. He apparently chickened out and gave Kevin a writing assignment to do to make up for the concert. Coward! I am going to track down his number anyway, or at least his e-mail.

Erik tried out last week for little League. We find out which team he is on this week. He is excited. He is doing well in school as well.

He got his yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do a couple weeks ago, which he is also into very much. I think it is teaching him a lot of good things.

Erik is a reading machine these days. It's hard to believe that he was considered well below his class just a few years ago. Thank you J. K. Rowlings!!! We still need to work on his writing.

So work is again kicking my ass. The main reason I was hired aover 18 months ago was to implement some pretty substantial process changes and new tools. Well, most of the process changes require the tools to change. We JUST got the company to buy the tools a couple weeks ago. We've had a year to prepare for this, but there is only so much prep you can do ahead of time.

We've been working a lot of weekends lately getting things ready, and upgrading the servers to accommodate more people using them. Now I am going into presentation mode, trying to explain all of the things that we are putting in place, and of course dealing with all of the resistance that comes along with change. My stress level is way up.

One of my guys is under so much pressure (not from me) that I am afraid he is going to crack. His wife doesn't work, and she got into an accident (not her fault) totaling the very nice SUV he bought for her. She is now traumatized and is afraid to drive. He works a second job on the weekends. The only car he has now is a piece of shit 15+ year old Nissan Sentra. And now that is giving him trouble. The guy seriously works 70+ hours a week.

I was talking to a friend of his (we all play World of Warcraft together). Scott is a good guy. I've never met him in person, but we had a talk last night about Mike. He works with Mike at Mike's other job. He is concerned about Mike too. He also thinks Mike's wife needs to get a job. Apparently she does nothing. I guess one of the reasons Mike doesn't mind working so much is because if he had idle time at home, she would dream up projects for him to do on the house. I know this year he has built a deck, started finishing his basement, replaced a number of appliances, etc.

On top of all this she calls him ALL THE FUCKING TIME. I give Mike shit for leaving his cell phone on his desk, but now I know why. He doesn't answer it if he doesn't have it on him. I remember when my ex used to call me all the time at work. It drove me crazy. He is such a nice guy, I hear some of his side of the conversations, and she sounds like the neediest woman on the planet. I also think she is a hypochondriac.

So what's going on with me, besides kids and work? Nothing really, but there is something coming up.

I have casually asked the lady from work out, was it she that asked me out. She only works in the office 3 days a week. She works from home the other 2 days. I told her about 9 months ago that I owed her a drink for helping me with something. I never followed through with going out for drinks. I was just trying to tell her how much I appreciated her hard work. Sure there was a little flirting there. I am a flirter. What can I say? But the fact was, I was seeing MS.

The last couple weeks she's been helping me out with some other things. Her department needed some stuff from me, so she's been giving me shit about it. Our IM conversations turned personal. I've learned a lot about her recently. She's asked a lot about me. She thought I was still seeing MS. When I told her I wasn't she said she figured I was most of the way to being married. She then told me I looked married. What the hell is that? She then said something about making me look single again. I still don't understand. She then reminded me that I stilled owed her a drink. I took this as her giving me a not so subtle hint to ask her out. I didn't right then, but I told I do need to do that.

She is always there on Fridays, but yesterday I wasn't. It snowed something like 5 inches here over night, so I decided to be a chicken and not risk the drive. I sent her an IM that spurred a long conversation which she was disappointed in me for not being there. She said she didn't need to be home for the kids. She wanted me to take her out for that drink. I asked if I can take her out on Monday instead... so we'll see.

I am still very nervous about seeing someone from work. I just get the impression from her, that even if we don't work well in a relationship we could still be friends, but then again women are unpredictable.

Happy Blogiversary

2008-02-17T22:29:00.002-07:00

Today is my 3 year anniversary of blogging. Thank you all for being part of it.
It may not always be pretty, but I think it is all me.

CHEERS!

I am confused

2008-02-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

Women are a constant source of confusion for me.

I met a woman a couple months ago, actually, she IMed me in Yahoo out of the blue. I tell her she is my stalker. I've kept this on a just friends basis because I wasn't really wanting to "date" anyone. I had just broken up with MS, so she understood, and was fine with just being friends. We probably talk once or twice a week, so i started learning a lot about her, as well as she learned about me.

There are a lot of things going on in her life that make her a bad candidate for dating. The fact that she is married is not the biggest of problems. I won't go into all of it.

She really seems to like me, but gives me plenty of space. She gets flirty with me, but then tells me that it takes a lot before she would trust a man enough to have sex (not that I was trying). From further conversations it was pretty obvious she wanted to "go out".

We met for dinner right before I went to Michigan for Christmas. No pressure for calling this a date. We were just meeting and talking. No different than us chatting on the computer.

After this I got very busy, but continued to talk to her on IM, as well as an occasional phone call. There was never any pressure or guilt laid upon me if I didn't talk to her for a week or so. I would get an IM, just saying that she hoped I was having a good week, or something like that. I appreciated the space as well as the occasional "hello".

I like having women friends. Part of it is probably the sexual tension that is naturally present. But I think most of it is just the different kind of things I can do with a woman friend, that guys don't really do together. Although I will go to a movie with my guy friends, it doesn't happen often.

I think another aspect of it is I can talk pretty openly with a woman about my love life, where I can't with most of the guys. It's just not "manly" to talk about relationships. With her it is different. I'm not as open about these types of discussions.

She got very flirty with me on the phone a couple weeks ago. I played along for a little while, but for some reason I felt guilty about it. Almost like I was leading her on in a way. So I got serious with her. I was very candid with her about things going on in her life that I had a problem with (from an angle of dating her). She didn't take it well. She got very upset with me, and told me that she was amazed at how nice of a guy I was... up until this conversation. The fact of the matter was that I was just telling her my feelings about my hesitation to be anything more than friends with her. Trust me, there is a lot here.

She started crying, which is like torture to me. I wasn't trying to insult her. She had to have known that the circumstances she is in is not conducive to being in a relationship. I told her she was over-reacting, but we all know that once a woman gets this upset I was just dumping gas on the fire.

A day or 2 later she sent me an e-mail apologizing, and saying she hopes we can still be friends. I was fine with being friends as long as the drama was gone. The last couple weeks have been drama free... pretty much back to normal.

We went out to a movie last night (only our second time face to face). There was no drama, and we did have fun, but it's just not feeling right. I feel like I am in limbo land, somewhere between dating, and friends. It's very odd, and will probably just fizzle.

I think I've become cynical.

I know I'm slow

2008-01-26T16:10:00.000-07:00

I've been awfully busy lately. Work has been difficult, as usual, but on top of the normal bullshit, I had to get my employee's reviews done. It is one of the main things I dislike about being a manager. It sounds like my boss wants me to do more management stuff, instead of being more of a technical manager (I work as well as manage... hehehe). He's recommended I do some training, but I am not sure what kind of training will be available.

Last weekend I had a great weekend of skiing with the boys. My sister and a bunch of her friends came to Colorado to ski for the week. She wasn't flying in until Sunday, so was hoping I could take a day off and bring the boys up. The funny thing was, I already took Monday off because I was going to take the boys skiing for Sunday and Monday. We just changed oour plan as to where we would go.

Normally we go to Monarch a lot because it is WAY cheaper, and the crowds are not nearly as bad as anything up west of Denver. Patti and her friends were coming to ski Winterpark, which I have never tried, so I figured what the hell. I got a room at the Best Western, and we headed up. She was traveling Sunday, so I skied with the kids that day. The conditions were as good as I have ever seen them. Fresh powder, sun shining, and no wind. It doesn't get much better than that. The crowds weren't too bad considering it was the weekend.

I forgot to take my good camera, so I had to take these with my new Helio phone.

Of course, there were no pictures of me.

I didn't take the new car up there. I still have the truck, which is 4 wheel drive, so I keep it around for things like climbing over Berthoud Pass. That is a winding mother of a road.

But as promised (and nagged about), here are some pics of the new wheels.

I am really liking the car, but I still feel weird whenever I see a Vibe on the road. I know I shouldn't be that attached to a car. I realize it is not the pretties car on the road, but there was something about it I just loved.

Since some of you were wondering, I haven't done anything about asking out the lady at work. Part of me wants to, but actually part of me is still liking not dating right now. I'm sure my thoughts on this will change when my horniness makes the decision for me.

The Car and Thanks

2008-01-14T23:44:00.000-07:00

No one was around this weekend to take a picture of me modeling with the new car.

I posted that picture because it is the color of my Malibu. I think the picture doesn't do it justice. The background color is too blah. I really does look sharp. It is called Dark Grey Metallic. It looks really good with the 2 toned leather interior :D

I promise to get some real pictures of it up. I am very pleased with it. It is the nicest car I have ever owned.

I know I was bitching about the car. I realize how close I came to being a meat puppet. I choose not to dwell on that. I am very happy to be alive and in one piece. Thank you all for your regards. I REALLY do appreciate it.

Chrissie... I know you love your PT Cruiser. Why, I'm not quite sure. I would bet you have some decent extras. the one I had sucked hard, and not in a good way.

Saturday I spent the day being the total geek that I am . I packed up my computer and went to a guy's house who I've never met before for a LAN party. There was about 16 guys in the basement of this house playing computer games together. It was a riot. I sucked. I was typically down toward the bottom of the stats for each game. I was there for 12 hours straight. When I left they were still going strong.

Sunday I did laundry ALL F-ING DAY, and watched The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy on HD-DVD. That shit is way too cool. I was going to watch Ultimatum tonight, but I took the boys out to dinner.

I have been extremely busy at work writing personnel reviews and devising more plans to fix the world (ok, maybe just this company). My boss finally got a real office, so he doesn't sit in the cube next to me. Since no one else from my team sits near me I am having myself moved over toward my team. If I stayed put I would have been surrounded by QA women. That sounds great on paper, but trust me it wouldn't have been good.

Jason, one of the guys on my team, is trying to convince me to ask our recruiter out. She is very good looking, and very friendly. Kind of too bubbly in my opinion. I've done some checking and she is unattached. I would bet that she would go out with me, just from my impression from the way she is flirty with me. I just don't think it's a good idea. I've done the work romance thing before. It can be pretty ugly if it goes south. On top of that, she's in the HR department.

Not a New Years Resolution

2008-01-12T00:04:00.001-07:00

... but something was resolved

I said goodbye to the Vibe last weekend when I went and ripped out the stereo in the lot next to the collision center. Don't worry, I was allowed to do it. It was sad to sit in that dead hulk of metal and broken glass. I thanked it for saving my life.

The insurance company of the guy who caused the accident finally called me the other day to get my side of the story. I know they were just corroborating what they had already heard. I was kind of annoyed though. I was at work, and she was trying to twist the story as I told it. I know it is probably her job to do that, but I was frustrated. The good thing was that she finally agreed to take care of the liability. I'll get my $500 deductible any day now. They also conferenced in the Enterprise office and got that transferred to be billed directly to them.

I was hesitant to get a Malibu. I hadn't been impressed by the styling or the power since to 70s pony car versions. But this one is SWEET!

I had been having a hard time finding one I liked. Either the wrong colors or missing options I wanted, but I finally found one with all the options I wanted and the color I wanted. I got the sunroof, which I didn't really want, but these cars are selling so fast they can't keep them in stock. The guys at the Chevy dealer said that the Malibu was about the only thing they were selling. They sold maybe 2 other cars since the beginning of December that weren't Malibus.

Now I wonder if I am going to regret it when the new Vibe GT comes out in March. sigh

The latest before I head out

2007-12-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I'll get a chance to say it before the 25th, so...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

These last 2 weeks have been intense. Work is unreal, but add to that trying to get things in a state where I can go on vacation, and then the car. I've rarely ever been this stressed.

The latest on the car is that the insurance company totaled it. I haven't decided on a replacement yet, and won't until I get back from Michigan. I still have not found out the name or the insurance company of the guy who caused the mess. The owner of the other truck involved called me yesterday thinking I was either the guy who caused it, or knew more information about the guy. It was hard to tell because his Spanish accent made it hard to understand him. He seemed like a nice guy. I asked him if any of the 6 guys in his truck were hurt. Apparently one of his guys was, but not bad.

So we're just waiting to get the report from the state patrol. Actually I don't have to wait. I have collision insurance, so I can buy a new car anytime. My insurance company is already getting ready to pay off the credit union that has the loan.

I hope to talk to you all soon. One or 2 of you I might even see in Michigan :D

Vibe One Down, Vibe One Down...

2007-12-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

As I said, I had to go to work Saturday. It snowed a little Friday night, but there wasn't much accumulation, I figured the main arteries and the interstate would be clear, which they were for the most part. BUT, I got in an accident just the same. A 3 car pile up (does 3 cars constitute a pile up?) on the Interstate. It was not my fault.

I was very lucky. The roads were not very slick in the lanes, but apparently the on-ramp was a different story. I was in the left of 3 lanes. A red Chevy crew cab pickup was in the middle lane just ahead of me. Suddenly I saw a tan Toyota pickup sideways entering the center lane ahead of the red pickup. I slammed on the brakes as I saw the red pickup t-bone the tan one. A fraction of a second later, the tan truck was spinning toward me. I just remember the air bags deploying. I'm not sure why I thought this at the time, but I remember thinking that the air bag was nice and soft. I then realized I was in a very fast spin. I thought to myself that someone else is surely going to slam into me while I was spinning out of control, but eventually I stopped on the right shoulder without any more bumper cars.

I sat there thinking I had to have been hurt, but I didn't feel any pain. The hood was crumpled, especially on the passenger side. The windshield on the passenger side was smashed in and sliced into the air bag. The passenger window was gone and glass was everywhere. When I finally took a breath and realized I was fine a lady in a big SUV drove up to me to see if I was alright. She explained to me that the police were already called, and then kept talking to me to make sure I was OK. Up where the other vehicles were there were people all around. I figured that couldn't be good. I stayed by my car. I was about 100 feet further down the road. That would have been interesting to watch someone spin that far.

I checked the rest of the damage around the car. The engine was still running when I finally came to a stop, but now I could see that the front of the car and part of the engine compartment were pretty mangled. I saw the radiator cap, and part of the radiator it was attached to, sitting on the battery. The passenger side front quarter panel was not there, so I thought. Actually it was still there, but was curled up like a long sheet of foil and sitting on the ground behind the front tire. The passenger door had some crumpling at the front of it, but the door could still open and close.

A fireman was walking toward me, so I met him half way. he wanted to see the car and make sure it was shut off, so we walked back to the car. I figured he would be used to seeing this stuff, but when he saw the front of the car he was surprised I was not hurt.

I am assuming that the insurance company will total the car. If so I have to get a new one (I am leaning toward a new Vibe of course, but thinking about a Saab as well). I'll probably know Monday. Kevin was going to get the Vibe after he can drive. I wasn't thinking I'd be in the market for another year. I've been discussing going to a police auction with a friend of mine for an alternative vehicle for Kevin. Now that is probably the way we'll go.

So for the time being I am driving a piece of shit PT Cruiser (I have dubbed it PT Loser). It's a gutless car. But why would a rental car company get cars without cruise control or anti-lock brakes? Due to this I don't think I'll be driving it to Michigan. We are still planning on going, but I'll turn it in for something better for the trip.

Pushing forward

2007-12-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

It is Friday night, and I have to go to work tomorrow. It's cold, and probably snowing as we speak. I guess we'll just have to see what happens. (bitch bitch bitch)

We doing our second attempt at moving the folks in Iowa to a new server. We think it will go well, but then again we thought that the first time.

I don't really have to be in the office, but 2 of my guys are going in, and one Systems Engineer. I'll probably work on some database crap I need to finish. That or do some performance review paperwork (somebody shoot me).

I will also take the guys out to a nice lunch... ON THE COMPANY!!!

Feeling Good

2007-11-30T19:27:00.001-07:00

I am getting older...

Today is my birthday, and nobody realizes it is. I like it that way.

I feel weird telling people it's my birthday, so I don't. Regardless I have received a number of e-mails, IMs, and eCards today, 90% of which are from people that have never met me. They probably only know it's my birthday because MySpace, or some other site told them. I do appreciate the well wishes.

The guys generally couldn't give a damn (for the most part). I know the guys I work with would probably have bought me lunch, but I don't like it when anyone makes a big deal over me. Maybe its my social anxiety.

Birthdays don't really bring me happiness. They haven't for many years.

On a good note...

I mentioned back in September that I have been working out. At that point I had been going to the gym in our building for a little over a month. Jason at work, who is also a friend, really motivates me. There are days that I can't go down to the gym in our building because of meetings and such. He definitely doesn't hound me about it, but he reminds me to get my ass down there.

This gym is quite nice. It isn't huge, but it has a lot of really good equipment. One room is full of weight lifting equipment, and the other has treadmills, elliptical machines, stationary bikes, etc. I mostly do the weight machines, but 1 or 2 days a week I'll get in some time on a bike.

I think I have only missed one work day of working out in the past 3 weeks. I am at the point where it feels good to get exercise everyday. This is totally foreign to me. I've never been much into this. I think the last time I got into any regular amount of physical exertion was when I was in college and my roommate and I played racquetball a couple times a week.

A few weeks ago Jason put up a challenge to me and the other guys in my department that have been working out. The challenge is that we need to lift the full stack of weights on one machine. We only had to lift it once. We get to choose which machine. We had through December to work up the strength to do it.

I have pretty strong legs. I was pretty sure I could already do one lift of the stack on the leg press, I was already doing full sets of 8 reps at close to the full stack. So Monday I proved I could do it. I think that is equivalent to about 220 pounds. I then decided to try this on the rest of the leg machines. I was successful on all 3. Somehow I felt this wasn't a good test for me since my legs have always been pretty strong.

I knew that the bench press machine was something I could not do a few months ago. My boss, who doesn't look very big came down to ask me something while we were down there. I think he also wanted to check out the gym. He sat down in his Dockers and dress shirt, and easily lifted the 200 pounds on that machine. The whole stack. My jaw dropped. After he left I sat down and tried. I couldn't even budge it. I felt puny.

When Jason made the challenge I had it in the back of my head that the bench press was one that I was not going to be able to do. I worked on it every other day, and although I was able to lift a lot more I didn't think I could do it.

Today it was just me and Jason. I was feeling good, except for my left shoulder I have to baby a little because of an ATV injury from about 7 years ago. I made some comment about the bench being my nemesis the other day. He told me I was full of shit, and that he thought I could lift the whole thing.

I got on the bench this morning. I was lifting a few plates less than the max (goal) to see how it felt. "POP" went my right shoulder. What the hell was with that? I set it back down and walked away. My shoulder didn't hurt, it just freaked me out a little. I did a few other machines and it felt fine.

I psyched myself up to give it another try. I told Jason what I was doing. He came over to encourage me. I decided to just jump to the max and give it a shot. He kept telling me it was easy. I did it!!! One clean rep of 200 pounds. It seemed a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Hurray for me! I am older and stronger than I have ever been.

Delays, and more delays

2007-11-27T07:54:00.001-07:00

****** UPDATED ******

See the added photo of the face...

It's been way too long since I posted.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I had a good time hanging out with my brother and his friends. Lots of booze, food, and football. I started drinking at 10:30 when I got to Mike's house. I was immediately handed a very tasty Bloody Mary.

Football that day sucked (for me).

I had the pleasure of playing host to a friend of mine the previous weekend. I had tickets for a comedy show the night she flew in, so we went to see Rodney Carrington. I needed a date since I bought the tickets months ago and MS and I are no more. It was a great show.

We did some sight seeing the next day. Something I don't do much of here in Colorado Springs, but I couldn't have a friend in town and not show the the Garden of the gods. Here are a couple pictures.

I love the soft focus effect here... but actually I think that was because my lens is dirty.

A picture of me, since it is so rare that I like a picture of me.

Can you see the indian face on the rock formation? The Ute Indians named the park. Obviously we white people translated the name.

Check out the rock climbers sitting on top of that out cropping
Now can you see the face?

On to Christmas...

My son, the drummer

2007-11-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

Stacy let loose all the pride that she has over her son. I started telling her about my son, and realized I was just gushing on about him to the point that it was really my own post. So I decided to put it here instead.

Kevin, My oldest, who turns 15 in a couple weeks, was interested in playing drums back in 6th grade. His mom and I were against him playing drums. I tried and failed to get him to follow in my footsteps and play trombone. I didn't push very hard. He decided on trumpet, which I knew was going to be a decision he might regret. Trumpet and drums are the 2 most popular. He was not the best trumpet player, but he was far from worst. We never had him take private lessons. We should have.

He asked again to play drums a little over a year ago. My ex and I decided then that it would be okay, but knew his teacher wouldn't let him play in the band as there were already WAY too many "drummers" in the band His middle school was way over populated. But she did encourage him, which I appreciated. We started him in lessons. My ex-mother-in-law bought him a drum kit (which stays at my ex's house). He did very well in his first year of lessons. I sat in on a lesson one day. I was absolutely amazed how well he played.

My son has a few friends that formed a little garage band. They knew Kevin took lessons, but never heard him play. Kevin's drummer friend let him play on a couple songs. They were amazed at how good he was considering he's never played drums in a band. Kev isn't joining their band. Who needs 2 drummers (besides .38 Special)? But it got him really excited that he could play with others his own age.

Kevin took time off from the lessons due to baseball and vacations in the spring and summer, but is back at it. His drum instructor decided to move to a new location, just a couple miles away (WOOHOO! No having to cart him half way across town at rush hour).

His grades are excellent (not straight As, but damn close), he is athletic, a musician, and is in general a really great kid. What more can a parent ask?

Here he is in his Halloween costume.

Oh, and he has a truly great personality and sense of humor.

YEAH KEVIN!!!