Thursday, January 29, 2004

Here's today's math lesson. Solve this equation. Snow + More Snow + Below Freezing Temperatures + 25 MPH Winds equals what? It equals road drifting shut. Particularly, the one in front of my house. I was driving home from work yesterday and there were cones setup just before the road I turn on to, to drive to my house. So I stopped and told the guy standing there I wanted to go home. After a few minutes of brilliant persuasion, I convinced the road blocker man that I did live just down the road and I wanted to get home. He let me pass and I plowed thru some snow that was blocking the roadway. The road only got worse. By the time my dad and I left to go to my grandma's house for dinner, we really had to plow our way through. And luckily we followed a plow onto our street on the way back from dinner. With out the actual plow, there would have been no more plowing thru on our own. It would have been push the car out of the giant snow drifts. But are 10 'o clock or so The State got the road cleared and traffic was once again allowed travel along that stretch of 866. Now if only the could hurry their little behinds next time, I wouldn't have to write this blog entry.

Today was day two of Training. Some sleepy heads today but all-in-all I think things are going well. Only 3 more classes to go. I might be horse by the end of next week. I've talked more this past week than I have this past year!

Wednesday, January 28, 2004

Hey Vikki, again I'm checking the back of my memory here but wasn't it you that slid off the road into a snow drift a block from your house and had to get your dad you come shovel you out? I believe your sister may have been in your car too at the time so perhaps she could back my story up.

On a side note, I watched my first American Idol tonight. I will admit, I laughed pretty hard sometimes. Is it something I'd pull up on TV because I'm bored. Definitely not. I'll take a Scientific America any day of the week.
First of all, let me comment on Vikki's car incident. BWA HA HA HA HA! Was it you that talked about how people in this state can't drive in the winter? My memory fails me sometimes. Just me lucky you didn't hit a cop car on your way off the road. Perhaps you should take lessons from me. I haven't run off the road yet in my new car, and I bet I've driving in worse stuff in the past week than you ever have. Bring on the snow!

Second, I'm hearing word that those who are registered as independents or non-party affiliation may get to vote in the primaries in some states. If that has any truth to it and applies to PA, let me know.

Tuesday, January 27, 2004

I just got done playing Quake III Demo over the internet with Hillner. It was us and about 25 other people. First let me just state how STUPID it is for your name to be a website. I'm not going to remember what it is when your done! It just makes me want to blow you up with the rocket launcher that much more. Pick a NAME, NOT a website. Second, I won that last match! It was quite intense. Just goes to show you I am still the video game master! Although I will admit the instant I won I threw my arms out and shouted "YES!" probably a bit to loud.
This just in! It has been brought to my attention that there is a class I can attend that will teach me how I can sell my body and make money from people doing research off of my disposables. I have many times commented about what a get way for me to make money but is it really necessary to have a class on how to do this? You be the judge.

I especially likes the class called, "Bleeding for Bucks."
Here's the story for today. As you can probably see, it's 3:30pm and I am writing my blog. I should be at work you say. Well work closed at 3pm today. Why? It's snowing harder than a Kid Rock concert. If you were to check the weather report at the time of this bog entry you would see they are calling for 1 to 3 inches of snow here at zip code 16662 before tonight. However, if I were to step out of this house right this second and measure the snow that has fallen in the last few hours, I would record at least, AT LEAST 5 inches. What is wrong with this? Now, I've always had issues with the weather channel and forecasters predicting the future weather. But this is the first time EVER I have known them to even come CLOSE to the CURRENT weather. My goodness! Adjust your frickin forecast! It's still snowing! STILL SNOWING! I guess we're supposed to get more snow tonight yet. Maybe they're planning on it snowing so much that the snow will be so heavy it will compact itself down to that 1 to 3 inches. I don't know. In any event, I got to go home early and drive in 4 inch, snow covered, unplowed roads for 25 minutes. I'm happy with that.

In other news, today was my first day of plant training. No, I'm not the one that's training. I'm the one that is giving the training. Yeah me teaching a class, can you believe it? You should, it's not the first time. I taught a few calculus classes back in high school. When the calc teacher was absent, me being his TA at the time would teach the lesson. Kind of weird for a high school student to be teaching other high school students, but sort of fun as well. Anyway, I was supposed to teach more tomorrow but the class was cancelled. I'll lecture another 3 classes at least. I'm the ones that missed today and will miss yesterday will need to make it up sometime. These plants don't run themselves.

Monday, January 26, 2004

Just like Vikki said. Snow snow snow! Probably got about 6 inches in the last 24 hours. Reports are saying up to another 6 to 8 within the next 24 hours. This would all be good and dandy were I not unable to snowboard. Another foot of this white stuff and I'm declaring myself cured of this mono junk. If the rents don't like it, tough. There's only so much a snowboardaholic can take when he's been deprived of the snow for a whole year! Besides I feel fine. I haven't been tired all day and my soar throat is completely gone. Superior Immune System to the rescue!

Sunday, January 25, 2004

A few things before I get started. In response to Andy's blog, I would ski in -2 degree weather with a -17 degree wind chill. In fact, it's nothing I haven't done before. The only draw back is you only get about three runs before your feet go numb. The skip the cold part and go right to numbness. It makes for an awkward walk to the lodge to get warm. And in actually, the snow is much slipperier when it's well below freezing. When you ski/snowboard in wet snow you just stick around and makes from traveling the flats very difficult and tiring. Secondly, What is the difference between the Academy Awards and Golden Globes? NOTHING! Who cares! "Here have an award people you have fans! Maybe if you're lucky, you'll get another one in a few weeks for the same stupid reason!" I have fans! Where are my awards? I'll except money, I don't need no stinkin' trophy.

Now, since Vikki also mentioned going to the Holocaust Museum, I have a little story. For those of you that are easily offended and very judgmental I'd advise you not to read any further.

It was 10th grade. Field trip to DC! The only drawback is the trip to the Holocaust Museum. I guess we went there because we were learning about the Holocaust in history class. I don't know. So indeed the Holocaust Museum is quite depressing and it has the same affect on the people there. After a few hours my friends and I got sick of the depressing atmosphere. So we decided to spice things up a little and find humor within the Museum. You may think it's difficult to do such a thing respectfully. Apparently it is because a lot of people where glaring at us very rudely. Now, it's not like we were making fun of Jews or anything. Heck we were a diverse group of friends. A white boy, a black girl, an afgahny girl and an atheist boy. So it wasn't like we were mocking the pain felt by these people or anything. Their suffering was very understood, but we looked at it like, "If you're sad, then make yourself happy." Anyway, to make a long story short a lot of classmates didn't talk to us for a while. I still don't get it. I hate being depressed. Despite what some may say, there is nothing wrong with finding humor in every situation. I bet all those that suffered wished they could have had a laugh before they were slaughtered. And I don't think they would want us to suffer as they did. Any how, after we left the Museum we stopped to get a hot dog a few blocks away. Mine had a nasty booger on it. That was NOT very humorous.

Saturday, January 24, 2004

Occasionally I'll randomly check out my friend's away messages. Every now and again I'm going to post ones that catch my attention. So listen up people, make 'em good!

DerrickAD:
So doodle and I went to EatnPark ok... and they got this new appetizer there now... Pop Corn Shrimp... mmmm... so we like wanted to try it right... But I saw it was like 5 bucks for this little tiny basket. And so I says to doodle - I says '5 bucks for... what is that?!! like 10 tiny shrimps! Good-ness thats alot of money! For that kinda money these little shrimps better jump up out that basket and offer to do my TAXES!!!! ...before they get eaten!!! And for that matter, after my taxes are signed, sealed and in the mail they should even ask me for my preference in sauces to sprinkle themselves with, climb up my shirt and patiently wait in line to be the next one to jump down my neck! 5 dollars - thats ridiculous! You hear that shrimps??! Ridiculous!!! Now get up out that basket! I'll be right back with my W-2's!'
I can't tell you how hard it is to sit at home after a fresh 4 inches of snow and watch my friend leave to go snowboarding without me. Here's a downside of living with a parent. If I were living on my own, this whole swollen spleen ordeal would not effect me and I'd be at The Knob right now enjoying a fresh 4 inches of snow and Stembogen Bowl. However, the parents that be have instructed that I not even think of such a thing. So here I sit watching the snowboarding season go out the window. I think Fate enjoys watching me be bored. But oh well, who am I to argue with Fate?

On a side note, since I couldn't be snowboarding I decided to watch The Matrix Reloaded. I remember when I went to see it in the theatres I didn't care much for it. However, after seeing The Matrix Revolution this movie is 1000 times better. Although there is still a lot of "lets blow stuff up" there's a lot more to look into and ponder about. If you have seen The Matrix Revolution I suggest watching the first two of The Matrix Trilogy again and find a whole mess of crap that you missed before. It makes me anxious for Revolution to come out on DVD!

Friday, January 23, 2004

I appreciate Tim telling the world I have herpes. Maybe someday I can return the favor. As for me, it was back to work again today. I realize you may be encouraged to take more time off when you discover you have mono, but I don't want to sit around the house all day. It's more boring than, well, than whatever else it is I do. Today was a god day. My throat still hurts like a motha but I wasn't too tired today. The tiredness usually lasts for hours after I wake up and hits hours before my usual bed time. Although this illness has been a major bruise to my ego, I'm still sticking with my superior immune system and I'm gonna be the fastest person to even get rid of this disease. Just watch and see.

So I was supposed to be driving to Lancaster right now for a wedding. Unfortunately I decided it probably wasn't the best thing to do at the moment. But I wish Lisa the best of luck and a lifetime of happiness with her new husband.

So back to me. Hmmm, I'm all out of things to say. I could comment on Ed like everyone else, but I don't want to follow the crowd. Let's just leave it at it was a good show, and all good things must come to an end. On the bright side, I haven't heard word yet that Stargate SG-1 is going off the air. If you like sci-fi and are fed up with stupid looking, bad acting, horrible costumes, and magic physics, then check out Stargate SG-1. It stars Richard Dean Anderson, who used to be McGyver. He may not play the intellectual he once did years and years ago, but he makes the show none-the-less. Also, another show at the top of my list right now is Joan of Arcadia. It struggles with real world family issues and demonstrated how God creatively works thru all of us. It may just help you see why things happen the way they do in your life.

Thursday, January 22, 2004

A few things I would like to say. First, I don't understand the big deal with bringing food into restrooms. Who cares? I eat in there all the time. Then again, I am the one with mono here. Secondly, I hear that NASA has not heard from its Mars Rover in over 24 hours. When questioned as to what could be the problem, NASA replied, "Well it could be either a hardware or software malfunction." Are you ****in' me! Of course it's one of those two scenerios! This is NASA we're talking about here. If they're dealing with problems like this, it's no wonder they didn't hire me. I was way over-qualified!
Well, there's good news today and bad news today. As you can see, I'm writing this during normal work hours which means I am obviously not at work. Had some trouble getting out of bed this morning so I took myself to doctors. The good news is there's a name for what I've got. The bad news is its name is Infectious Mononucleosis. What happened to my superior immune system? That lucky streak in Atlantic City must have helped itself to my highly advanced immune system. What was Luck thinking? That's the last time he does anything stupid like that again. More bad news, no sports for a month, tiredness could last for months and who knows how I'll feel as I wake up each morning. It wouldn't be too bad if I hadn't recently started a job and it wasn't prime snowboarding season. Of all the luck! OOOOO I hate that Luck!

In any event, Kate if you read this before I talk to you today, no wedding tomorrow. Tim, if you read this before I talk to you today, I can snowboard this weekend. It's up to you if you still want to go. That's it for now. I'm seeing Luck try and sneak out of the room nonchalantly so I'm gonna go catch him and beat him up. More to come on my illness as I feel up to it.

Wednesday, January 21, 2004

I'm happy to announce Roman has finally the Blog Crew. You'll find his link over the right hand side there with the rest of my blog links. Be sure to check out his Drink of the Week. I like that idea. Perhaps I'll have to have to drink when he posts it. Nice job Tim. I think you should have called your blog, "What Mother Doesn't Know" and then included stuff like test grades and weekend trips in there.

Next topic. Me. I had I had the worse soar throat ever yesterday. I was wrong. It was even worse today! I could barely eat. My mom thinks it's time to go to the doctor. I guess I'll appease her. Swollen glands and a fever don't constitute a trip to the doctors in my book, but I guess until I live on my own, I don't really go by my book.

I got a birthday card in the mail yesterday. It was only a half a month late, but it was from Andy and Janet so I don't mind. If his apartment is even half as clean as it was last year, then I'm surprised he even found it. But it is still much appreciated. Thanks guys, I was a funny one. One a second note, for the record, I did not bring my Gameboy to the restaurants when I was little. The main reason was back then, Gameboys didn't have backlights so you could only play in the direct light. Usually hard to come by at dinner time in a restaurant. But heck, now I play while I'm sitting waiting to go to work in the morning. Here's to backlights, and here's to video game-aholics!

Tuesday, January 20, 2004

Well I've got a soar throat to end all soar throats. It started a number of days ago and has progressively gotten worse. Today it hurt so much I could barely eat. I figured it was time to lose some pride and head to my local pharmacy and ask for advice. So now I'm sucking on these chlora-something-or-other candies. They don't taste too good and I think they work by making you swallow so much that the pain becomes customary. Stupid things. Oh well.

So who's watching the State of the Union address tonight? Anyone? Hello? Are you still reading this? And did anyone see Dean's loser's speech last night? If you watch any news at all I'm sure you've seen it. He's waving his arms and yelling the names of states he's going to conquer. I bet he lost lots more voters right there. What a goofball. That kind of reaction can't lead anywhere good unless you're looking to attract all the crazy people from Massachusetts.

So tomorrow I start a new project. It's my first solo project so I'm a little nervous about doing a good job. I'll be re-writing an application that reads a SQL Sever database and displays information regarding truckers and their times and locations. All new apps are to be written in .NET so I'll be doing a lot of learning with this one. I guess they'll want it to be web-based and they want user-level security. I'm told this would be easy, but I'll be the judge of that. More to come later.

Monday, January 19, 2004

Who owns Atlantic City? It should be me. I took the House to the cleaners Saturday. Vikki and Tim may have helped Trump out a little but I showed him who was boss. $15 baby! The House always wins what? That's right. One day of luck out of 8414 isn't too bad I don't think. Maybe this is a sign of life changing events that are yet to come. Then again, maybe it's that random chance I talked about earlier. Either way it made me happy. I hope to go back someday and maybe take them out of business.

The rest of the weekend was OK. A loss by a very sad team know as the Eagles didn't make the weekend end on a good note. I don't blame McNabb for giving up (yeah I guess he was too hurt to play) with the way his receivers were catching. Andy is write. This Super Bowl is going to be duller than my life. But you'll still catch me watching it in two weeks. I need some kind of excitement in my life.

Friday, January 16, 2004

What's with me and being around people that throw up? It there some cosmic magic that draws others to my location when they feel the need to taste lunch a second time around? In college I'd always wined up in the bathroom when someone storms in and makes a sacrifice to the porcelain gods. Today, i was stopped at a red light in Breezewood (The City of Motels) when the dude in front of me opens his door and decided to spew out across the highway. How lovely. Later in the evening I played some Trivial Pursuit game about pop culture. I sucked it up. Who cares about that crap anyway? Pop culture? How about pop stupidture.

Thursday, January 15, 2004

Tonight I just feel like writing something. There's really not too much going on in my mind right now which is quite a rarity and a treat. Maybe it's not so much many things as usual but a few big things. Currently I'm having these bizzaro thoughts about where my life is heading. Most of the time I feel like life is passing me by. Some people just roll their eyes at this statement but I take it pretty seriously. You have those that have seen half the world, won national sports championships, and even have invented crap that has help end starvation and disease by the time they are my age. And what have I done? I graduated college with another Xty-X million students last year and got a job in a small rural town about 5 people have heard of. That's it! There's so much to do out there! When will I ever do it all? Sky diving, bungie jumping, surfing, hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro, flying a plane, extreme snowboarding, trekking Antarctica, experiencing the weightlessness of space. There's so much I want to do and yet now, looking at my life I think, "When will I do it?" I find my life quite dull. My uncle pointed out to me the other the day the excitement of getting my hairs cut. Boy what a life huh? When the excitement for the week is getting your hairs cut can you imagine how wonderfully dull life can be? I'm so grateful for people that take me away from this emptiness and help me live a little. Some day, I think, I'll have my pilots license, and my big sport trophy, next to my half shark-eaten surfboard, atop of my sliced in half snowboard, under that pair of hiking boots that stepped foot on all 7 continents. Someday, I'll get to see the pyramids at Giza, the Australian outback, the freezing Antarctic, the Mayan Temples, the Himalayans, and maybe even the wastelands of Russia. But for now, I'm slowly losing my contentness to live a perfect, no action life. Maybe someday, when my days look the exact same I may find myself going off to explore the world on my own. Away from those that have help me trek on so far, away from those that have helped me up and away from those I'll never know. But don't worry, Ill be back around again. I'd miss everyone too much if I never saw them again.
The snow fell last night! Probably a good 6 inches too. The Knob got around 11 inches, and it's a good thing since I'm heading up there next weekend to do a little Snowboard Dance. Work consisted of coding all day. Today I allowed for automatic Bin Fill even if a plant has no Ultra Sonic or some other sort of analog sensor. The plant must at least have some sort of level detection that consists of a low and high point, but that's really all that is needed. Then, I worked on the beltscale that has been put off for a while. Things look good. We look to do some testing shortly. The main concern now if figuring out if calibrating the scale on a horizontal conveyor belt can be done the same as on an inclined belt. Gary says we need to factor in the incline grade, but I say no. If the zero is given on the incline and a load is given on an incline, then the calibration is done. With the load on the incline it's already adjusted for it. Let me know your thoughts. Well, that's about all for now. Adios!

Julie's Friend's Quote of the Day: "Wow Julie. These iced cubes stayed cold a lot longer than mine. You must get expensive iced cubes."

Wednesday, January 14, 2004

I enjoyed Andy's blog about other people's blog. If I read more people's blog I might do the same. A few comments though. Janet, you do need to update your blog. Has it been month now? What are you thinking. A job is no excuse. NO EXCUSE! And folks, this is NOT MTV, shoutouts, are just plain annoying and stupid. Before I forget, props to my friend Roman who has proven me all-knowing.

Now, for the weather. The spider monkey didn't wake up today so I had to make the forecast. Luckily I saw the weather report on TV and decided it was going to snow. I was right. The white stuff is falling right now! I'd like to give a shoutout to all those people that "thought snow" a few days ago when I told them to.

On a final note, if you didn't notice, my TTLB Ecosystem status has advanced to Crunchy Crustacean. Andy, you may have noticed your's changed as well. This is due to me signing The Vikster up for TTLB Ecosystem. I wanted a higher status, you can't back out now Vikki. Andy, you can thank me later.

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Indeed it does seem to be the end of an era doesn't it? Four years with Hot Rod (a.k.a. President Sawatsky of Messiah College) and I thought he'd be president there forever. It's amazing how life is so random on the cosmic scale, yet seems so coincidental on the microbe level. Why me for his final four years? Why should I be one of the last to experience his reign? Why is it that when we think about someone we haven't in a long time, their name seems to surface the very next day? Why is it on the day we decide to not go fishing we hear about the largest fish ever caught? How can life be so huge, yet pay such close attention to each and everyone one of us that it seems the world revolves around us? That guy you passed on the highway the other day, you didn't think twice about the person behind the wheel and him having some sort of conscience what-so-ever. It was just another "thing" in your life. An obstacle to get around. How could anyone else out there actually think and react the way you do? Yet they all do, and life has an incredible way of making everyone feel like the universe is tuned just for them. There is only one explanation and it does not have to do with complete and utter randomness. That sort of randomness would never allow two out of 6 billion people who attended kindergarten to meet up again someday in a cafe half way across the world. Sorry, that is not random, that is not chance. Yet it is cleverly disguised. Real chance is insignificant and never acknowledged. How could it be? It's chance, it's random, it's pushed aside. Next time you think, "Wow, what's the chance of that happening?" instead think, "Of course! Why wouldn't that happen? Why would I not be the center of the universe?" It's not egotistical, it's very true. We are all the centers, but my center does not and can not possibly acknowledge your center. Our task is to acknowledge our center, but make that attempt at realizing everyone else has that center too.

I wish the best for you Hot Rod, and may you settle into your center as some day our paths will cross again. Not by chance however, but by life.
I do believe I have found the second best computer program ever created! The first of course being a little application called SAUSAGE. It is a technological breakthrough that no one wants to acknowledge. I don't really know why, it is way better than anything else out there. Anyway, the second best application is called DVD-To-Pocket PC. This converts a DVD to a file that can be stored on a memory card and then played on my Pocket PC. Andy, you'd wet your pants over this. Since a pocket pc's battery life is way longer than a laptop's, I can watch twice as many movies on my Pocket PC than Hillner can on his laptop. It is the coolest. I tested it with X-Men and it worked quite well. The picture never broke up and although the sound isn't Bose quality, it didn't cut off or anything! I'm hooked. It might just make me start watching more movies. The only drawback is I (or someone at least) must have to DVD so it can be ripped. Other than that, all I need is an application to make popcorn and soda pop out my Pocket PC and I'll be all set!

On a side note, I'm going to Atlantic City this weekend. I'm brushing up on my Blackjack skills. Roman informs me that counting cards is not really welcome so my typical means of winning card games is out of the water. I downloaded a Blackjack cheat sheet so for the next few days I'll be memorizing it. Not a real hard task. The house wins huh? Plus now I can watch movies in the car on the way there. ATLANTIC CITY BABY!!!

Monday, January 12, 2004

Where's the snow? I mean, come on! I've seen more snow coming from a teenagers head than what we've had this winter so far. It's colder than a polar bear's fart outside but yet no snow! Only when the temperature seems to get above freezing does it precipitate. I don't like that. That McDonald's commercial is driving me mad! Those snowboarders think they're all cool and junk. I could show them all up if only there were snow here. So, just think snow, lots and lots of snow. Reality lies within the mind, so if we all think its snowing, than it will. Isn't that how it works? It's how it should work. Just you wait! I'll be able to move stuff with my mind soon enough. No I have not been watching too much Star Wars! Hmmmm, there's a thought process worthy to be called Hillner's, from snow to Jedi's. I'm going to go play I-Ninja now and hopefully earn my black belt. Karate Kid who?

Sunday, January 11, 2004

Wow, wow and double wow. I think I spent about 1/2 of my weekend on the edge of my seat. The real kicker today was the green bay/philly game. Get it, kicker..hahaha, I miss those that used to laugh at my puns. Anyway, since I've got my pool going with the guys in Automation I had a few teams to root for. Going into the Eagles game tonight I was 1 for 3, so a victory for the Eagles was quite necessary. Things were not looking good and around the 2 minute warning of period 4 until the end of the game I may not have blinked at all. Let me make this statement, even though McNabb was sacked about 9 times, at least he didn't just chuck a ball into the air in the hopes that there would be a player in the remote vicinity of the ball. I thought Favre was better than that. He came into today's game with i think 32 post-season victories under his helmet. What was he thinking?? I was more thinking, "What is Amy yelling at the TV right now?" I'm guessing some words flew that were more profound then Britney Spears last music video. Amy, let me know what you were thinking, and maybe let me know how that taste of defeat tastes.

I can only hope next weekend will be even half exciting as this weekend was. Now it's back to work and a dentist appointment for me tomorrow afternoon. How can people say that they love the dentist and they love getting their teeth cleaned? Am I missing something here? They pry into your life and make you bleed, why are people liking this? I'd be quite content to never sit in a dentist chair again. With advances in toothpaste and fluoride enhanced water in the past years, is the dentist actually doing anything at all? This sounds like a fleecing of America to me.

Wednesday, January 07, 2004

I mean is it cold, or is it COLD? WOW it's cold! I'm pretty the snot in my nose froze up faster than a deer in your headlights. To top it off, the heat at the office isn't working too well. It was 49 degrees in one guy's office this morning when he got in. It was in the mid 60s in my department. Cold fingers does not make for pretty code. But at least I'm out of the office tomorrow. I get to go work on a plant conversion out in THE FRICKIN' SUB DEGREE TEMPERATURES! But that's ok. I suppose that is what winter clothing is for. Bring on the hand-warmers, and the toe-warmers and the nose-warmers, and the . . .

Today's Video Game Quote: "I couldn't open it. That lock was harder to pick than a broken nose!"

Tuesday, January 06, 2004

While Vikki may look at Britney Spears "divorce" as stupid, I look at it as an opportunity reawakened. Britney is just holding out for me I'm pretty sure (Kate, if you're reading this, either one, stop, or two think it's not true. Hey, if you had a blog I'm sure you'd write about Sean Conrey all the time anyway). Maybe all the fan mail I've sent her has finally convinced her that I really am the one for her. I must admit, this past weekend was very sad for me knowing that I may have lost Britney forever, but luckily I can once again bring myself out from under my covers and hold my head up in hope and wonder!

Now, onto a much more serious note, it snowed some today! YAY! It wasn't much, but it was still snow none the less.

Monday, January 05, 2004

I would consider myself a fair humanitarian. But let me state on the record that those other humanitarians upset with The Crocodile Hunter's performance this past week just need to calm down. Honestly, have you (other humanitarians) seen what teens are doing with their babies these days? Yeah I guess purposely leaving your baby in a Walmart to be trampled to death by mad hoards of people isn't quite as dangerous as having one of the worlds leading experts on crocodiles handle HIS OWN child while cautiously feeding the animal. I can also see how abandoning your parental duties by leaving your new born in a trash heap is much more responsible than teaching your child the dangers of sharp tooth reptilians. I mean, crocodiles are just so uncommon in Australia. Did The Crocodile Hunter actually believe that his child may one day come across on of these animals in the wild? Yet let's allow our sharp clawed felines to romp free around a house and into a baby's crib so the child can be clawed and suffocated to death. But hey, I understand, Down with people who are not like us! Boo to them! No, boo to you (other humanitarians) for making such a huge stink and how about teaching your child something and spending time with him?

On a completely different note, if you're a big bootlegger and constantly feel the need to download music and viruses, I'm not naming names **Kate** then check out this FREE application. It's called PeerGuardian. Every time you launch it, it checks the web for IP addresses of known RIAA agents and blocks them from your computer so they can't see what you've got. Hillner, you might want to check this out too.

Sunday, January 04, 2004

Well the weekend has come to a close and it's back to work for me tomorrow morning. Today all I really did was watch football on TV. I'm sure Amy was pulling her hair out by the time the Packers game went into overtime. Favre may not be as lucky next week when he challenges McNabb and his fairly descent Eagles. The Colts game I lost interest in around the 3rd touchdown pass. Aren't playoff games supposed to be closer than that? At least a stadium of crazy fans were happy.

On a side note, what happened to the red haired safe auto lady? They got a new one. Same black guy, new white girl, no red hair or red clothes. And the guy doesn't even notice he's talking to someone different! If I spent my job with the same "lady in red" day after day talking about cheap car insurance, I would sure as HECK notice when someone new came in place of her. Oh well, I won't complain too much. This new girl is much more attractive.

Saturday, January 03, 2004

It seems sort of surreal. We put the Christmas tree lights up when it's 60 degrees outside and we take them down when it's 60 degrees outside. I don't know what the weather gods are thinking. They are melting all the great snow. I can only hope that next week those goofballs get their act together, otherwise my pet spider monkey will have to start warming up his dart throwing arm.

Today was a rather uneventful day. This afternoon I did a little pre-Christmas shopping. I got a few CD's, some birthday gifts, and some memory for my PDA. I forgot how much I hate shopping. I guess it's not that I don't like it, I just don't care a lot for the crowds of people. Don't they have some other place to be on a Saturday? Like spending time with their kids? Maybe I'll just stick with buying everything online. You can't really go wrong. Especially now that Gap has a tall section on their webpage.

The day spruced up when Julie's birthday party came around. I had pizza and soda (one of my favorite meals) and enjoyed talking to all of Julie's goofy friends. To those of you who may stumble upon this website and are one of those people, do not take offense. It's a good goofy. I think hearing stories from Seri was the highlight. From no one else can you hear stories about the time she mixed mustard with vinegar instead of honey to make honey mustard sauce, or the time she mistakenly ate already eaten ribs. I miss spending time with people. It was nice to hang out in a group again this past week and today. Now all I need to do is find some Ultimate Frisbee and Volleyball buddies and I'd be happy forever.

Friday, January 02, 2004

Well, another year has come and gone and yet I still have not acquired a taste for the New Years Day Sauerkraut. For those of you not from the great Common Wealth that is Pennsylvania, the traditional meal of New Years Day is Pork and Sauerkraut. Don't get me wrong, I love pork, but the sauerkraut I could do without. Tradition says that having this meal on this day brings good luck for the new year. I don't think any amount of sauerkraut could improve my luck.

On a completely other note, I spent New Years at my friend Roman's house. It was great fun. We ate meat until we were stuffed and then hit up Dave & Buster's afterwards. We made it back just seconds after the ball dropped. Sorry Vikki, I know you wanted to see that too. Luckily my head was spinning so much by the time I went to bed that the Solstivus Gift that was given to me that evening did not truly hit until mid-next day. There has been talk about this mystery gift from Roman's brother The Mortician for the last few days. Well, thankfully the item was not stolen from a dead guy. Instead, I received a canister that would carry the burnt deceased across the country. Once this canister arrives with the departed's remains of dust, his ashes are transferred from this canister to a proper dead guy urn. I believe, although I will need to confer with my committee, that this is indeed a Solstivus Hall of Fame Gift. Official name: Used Burnt Guy's Travel Canister. Thank goodness for the mind numbing "effects" of New Years Eve. Without them, I may have been disgusted.

Luckily Vikki and Roman's Mom had some other Solstivus Gifts for me so it continues to be quite a joyous Solstivus. Less than a month of the Blessed Holiday remains. That is still no reason to not start saving my junk for next year!