The latest before I head out

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...

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

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

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

****** 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...