Sunday, October 31, 2004

If Vikki cried tears of joy when the Red Sox won the World Series, she must have had tears of sorrow when she watched her beloved Patriots get pummeled by the unbelievable performance of the Pittsburgh Stillers. Yes Vikki, now you too can bow down to the mighty Stillers and be in awe by their butt whooping ability. Maybe, just maybe, someday your puny little Tom Brady can be as good as the rookie Ben Roethlisberger. But until then you'll have to settle for your 21-0 streak being ended by a rookie QB and a guy nicknamed, "The Bus." It's just a shame really. Maybe if the Patriots could have turned at least one turnover things might have been different, but not. There was just shear and utter defeat. Look out Eagles, the Stillers are ready to end your little steak too! Shhhh, can you hear that? That is the sound of a future Super Bowl victory!

Saturday, October 30, 2004

Okay, so the party last night was quite the party! There was drinking and dancing and drinking, more drinking, and yes, even more drinking. Luckily I had to drive myself home so I took it easy on the booze. However, the party organizer who plays on my volleyball teams was quite wasted. Now, when I say wasted, I'm talkin' completely Joed (for those of you who are not familiar with this term, you'll have to talk to Joe Blake for an explanation)! But it was tons of fun. They had good and I knew the four people that I went with. I found some ripped up jeans and blue shades and that old purple vintage shirt and went as a hippie. If I had longer hair it might have been more ideal, but it was a costume. The more disturbing incident of the night was when they started to play The Thong Song and the overweight biker dude dropped his drawers to show everyone his thong. "Oh my gosh my eyes! My eyes! It didn't help either he didn't pull his pants up until the song was over. Again, it was quite the party.

So today I had an eye appointment. It's been the third year in a row without a prescription change! Very nice. I even asked about LASIK surgery since nothing would make me happier than to wake up and be able to find the bathroom without putting my glasses on. My eye doctor said I'd be a good candidate so I'm sure I'll pursue this further. It's a bit expensive but then I'd recoup that over the years with not having to purchase contacts, glasses or solution, all of which can add up fairly quickly.


Finally, I ended the morning getting my new driver's license. Boy they've got some interesting people working there. One guy looked at my birth date, did some quick mental calculations and told me what day of the week I was born on. I was impressed. Luckily it took me a whole 5 minutes to get a new photo and driver's license printed up. The people may be a little out there, but they got me on my way in no time. That's all that matters.

Thursday, October 28, 2004

So how do old you have to be before people start listening to what you have to say? 30? 35? 40? I guess 23 is just too young for someone to have anything of worth to say. Heck even if he is very experienced in what he does, why should others take into consideration what he tells them? Maybe that's why there aren't any 25 year old politicians. No wants to hear them. They are too young so obviously they don't know what they're doing. People today wonder why this country isn't developing as fast as it used to or as fast as other counties over in Asia. Here you have to wait until you're middle aged for people to believe what you speak and take to heart your ideas, while over seas, you've got 20 year olds managing corporations. But hey, what do I know. I'm just a 23 year with an IQ in the 99.9 percentile. Oh wait, that must 9.99 percentile . . . obviously.

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Lunar EclipseDon't forget about the lunar eclipse tonight! Partial begins at 9:14PM EST, totality at 10:23PM EST.
The funny thing about Andy's post is that I play volleyball with a Kerry, Barry, and Garry who are all brothers I might add. It was a real doozie getting to learn their names, especially since two of the three look alike (they are twins, how in da hell?)! For a small period of time, I thought they were the same person. Good God, they looked so much like the same person. I would say to them, "You want ice cream cone?" Both of them say yes!

So aside from that matter, it is poop spreading day here in The Cove! The tractors are out full force spraying crap all over the fields. The real kicker to this mess is that the farm across the street has this huge tub of dung that has been smelling for months and now that Farmer Brown is spraying that feces all over the place, it stinks even worse from a greater distance! It's the pits! As one fella once put it when referring to what my dad calls (small children please hold your ears) The Shit Kicker, "Hee hee, look! That thing is flingin'' poo!"

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Again, up in arms with The Workplace, but still truckin' along (pun intended). You know what I was pondering today? Why do I do what I do? I mean, I look at what other people do and I think, "Yeah I could do that." I can make cabinets for a living. I can teach students for a living. I can landscape, I can design roller coasters, I can dig for fossils. I can do it all! Of course all of that stuff would require more education, but that's easy enough. Why should I sit around coding all day when I could be off in Outback, Australia tending a bar, or Antarctica researching . . . Well, whatever it is they research there? It really makes me ponder if I will ever find a "true calling." Don't get me wrong, I love what I do, but I can hardly think of something I wouldn't love to do. I'll tell you this, with all that's out there waiting, and all the time I've got to live, I'm going to experience one heck of a lot of stuff!

Monday, October 25, 2004

Okay, so Friday was quite an ordeal at The Workplace. However, I have vowed to not criticize The Workplace due to that fact some day, somebody, somewhere might come across this that also works for The Workplace and that could potentially make my life pretty bad. So, if you wish to know what is going on here in more detail, please feel free to ask me about it. I'd love to tell you.

So, in other news, I went to my second high school football game ever this weekend. Can't say it was any better than the last one I went to. How people can get caught up in high school football is beyond me. I mean, are they watching the same thing I am? I don't think they are! I'm seeing penalties out the wazoo and no flags! I see more penalties when I play NHL '03 with Andy (comment here is funny because Andy turns the penalties off)! There was definitely no such thing as roughing the passer in the game I watched. Also, Should it really be allowed to have a player that is 2 feet taller than anyone out on the field, including the coaches?! Heehee, you should have seen that kid run!

Finally, what is it with flies falling dead from the air at The Workplace. If you remember, I commented about this last year as well around the same time. It sort of freaks me out. I mean, how would you like it if you were coding along, minding you're own business when suddenly a fly bounces right off your computer screen and falls dead on the keyboard right on top of the home keys? What the heck! These flies have to be dead in the air! Honestly, how many times have you seen a fly in your house bounce right off a window and fall dead to the sill? I don't think so . . .

Thursday, October 21, 2004

So maybe I can finally get some rest! It's been well over two weeks now since I've had more than 6 hours of sleep a night. Most nights probably border on the 5 hour slot. If it weren't for stupendous baseball, friends, volleyball, and business trips, I'd be a little better off. Oh well. What good is life if you just sleep it all away? I'd much rather experience life tired than sleep it all away.

By the way, if you decided to go to bed early last night and not watch the end of the Sox game, what was your deal? It may have been the most nerve racking game yet! But it was good. I now expect Boston fans (particularly Vikki and Megan) to just calm the heck down. Let's face it, the World Series is going to as exciting as a snail race thanks to the ALCS. I'm not making any guesses right now as to the victor. In my book, Boston has won way more than they ever have expected and my guess is this whole World Series deal is going to feel pretty surreal for them and all of their insane fans!

Does anyone else know that YOU'RE RISKING A PATIENTS LIFE!!

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

I take it all back! Baseball Jesus has finally proved his worth! Six to nothin' baby!
So I dediced to do some link cleaning today. This is what you get people when you don't keep bloggin'. Or when you only make comments about how cool only one person is.
So here we are. One game away from knowing who the AL Champions will be this year. Will it be the interfering, home run complaining Yankees, or the heart and soul, stick it out playing Red Sox. I'd love to see the Sox finally win it. Though I think Boston might be upset they have nothing left to complain about again. All I have to say is that if the Sox win tonight, the Yankees fan sleeping a few doors down from me who also goes by the name Dad is going to be woken up by door banging and obsessive shouting! It should be good!

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

So, I found out why I need a QuickTime plug-in to view Xanga blog pages. Apparently there is music playing in the background of the blogs. Doesn't make me want to install it. I try to keep my PC Apple-Free. About the only thing worth viewing in QuickTime is the short Troops and trailers from Episode I. Which, by the way, were way better than the movie itself.

So how about them Sox?! I watched all 14 innings last night to be absolutely encapsulated by the 8th inning. There was no turning the station at that point. I'll tell you what, the World Series is going to bore the crap out of me thanks to the Sox-Yankee series. The question on everyone minds tonight is, "Can the Sox win 2 more and make some serious history??" I'll root for 'em. Go Red Sox! Down with the Yankees!

Hey, by the way, did anyone else here that there will be no professional hockey played this year? What's up with that?

Monday, October 18, 2004

So homecoming was this past weekend. I made it this year! If you check back about a year ago to blog entries around homecoming last year you'll notice I didn't quite make it there due to stupid wet roads and police locations. Though it was raining on Friday I was determined to make it this year. I did and it was tons of fun. It was great getting to see some people I hadn't seen in years and thought I'd never see again. People like Jeff Bryant (who by the way, if you're reading this, drop me your email) and Steve Shaffer. For a while I questioned whether or not I'd ever see Amy again, but I did. Even though she did run off to talk to Shoe Stealin' Kim during the volleyball game, and was rooting for the Yankees during Saturday night's game, It was still a fun time!

The drink of the weekend was Woodchuck. Heck even Andy didn't mind it too much. You know you've found a keeper if that's the case!

Speaking of Andy (and Julie for that matter); it's too bad your Cowboys couldn't handle what Roethlisberger had in store for them. Maybe Testaverde should learn to hold on to the ball a little tighter next time. Two friend's teams down, one to go. Though the Patriots may put up a fight, you're Still(ers) (HAHA! Get the pun??!!) going down Halloween day Vikki. You'll be scared silly! Maybe if Megan is lucky, Big Ben will spill some beer and champagne on her shirt. By the way, is it really that great if someone who has been 1 for 18 in their last at bats and has forgotten how to cut his hair has spilled beer on your shirt?

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

So after a nice O'Brian Burger at the Pittsburgh airport, the Automation Posse(Me, Gary, and Randy) made it to the plane to Chicago with our clothes and luggage still intact. After a few attempts of trying to get the pilot to show the Stillers game for the in-flight TV show and being declined each time, we sat patiently in the plane, waiting for our arrival. Once at the Chicago airport, we hopped a cab to our hotel (the Hyatt) just a few blocks away from the Navy Pier. We checked in and went our separate ways to our rooms only to meet down in the exhibition area where the open bar awaited my arrival. Who new conferences had open bars? Well it seems everyone but me. Though I wonder how much faulty information is being sent and received with talker and listen alike both half sloshed with the fullest bladder you could possibly imagine (Hey, I had to celebrate the Stillers' victory (is Roethlisberger the next Tom Brady or what!)!)

With the exhibits over for the night, he pick up 2 other members of The Company and head out to some good steak eating! A nice 12 oz. medium rare filet, a few more beers, some mashed potatoes, ice cream, and coffee and I was darn near full! It was great! The best part was, it wasn't my money! Though I think the bleeding steak and 5 beers had a bit of a quarrel in the stomach (that or I just ate way too much) as the next few hours after dinner were quite uncomfortable.
For Sale: Red duffel bag-style suitcase. Contains some chemical that sets off the X-Ray scanner in the airport. Will be searched and chemically swiped whether you carry it on, or check it in at the airport. Provides hours of entertainment, or annoyance (depends on how you view the situation). Great for gag gift! Great for hated friend who wants to borrow your stuff to go on his trip to Australia!

Seriously now. I can't go anywhere with this thing! And the airport people won't tell me what's wrong with it. They open it up! Swab the thing with chemical cloths, swab my stuff inside. My shoes, my shirts, even my deodorant! Of course anyone's white powder Old Spice is going to look like crack in a plastic can, but hey I don't see you guys opening up Joe Cool's bag to do an inspection. Oh well. It was humorous to what them scratch their heads over this.

So there is so much to tell from Chicago if you can't tell already. I mean the story starts even before we board the plane! Now while my bag is being places into a large Ziplock bag for CSI to examine, Gary has set off the metal detector and is basically being felt and grabbed all over! He's got his shoes off and in about 10 seconds, his pants are going to be taken off next. After frisking him for 10 minutes like he was a drunk hooker, they find a small penny dug into his right pocket that was setting everything off. In the mean time, I was as the airport woman tried to decipher the flow chart in front of her as to what to do with this red bag and where to proceed next. She spends the next 5 minutes copy the information from my driver's license. Funny, I've never seen any normal worker struggle so much copying a driver's license. I guess the font was hard to read. That and her pen moved really slow. She should probably get a new one that moves a little faster.

In the mean, Randy has a very suspicious looking plastic fat suitcase that contains a whole mess of wires, prox switches, magnets and even a sharp screw driver! Of course, he zips right thru the X-Ray scanner. I mean what is suspicious about a suitcase full of that stuff? Funny, the sine there at the security showed items that would not be allowed on the plane. I though the one object looked like a screwdriver, but I must have been mistaken. I mean it's pretty easy to mistake a screwdriver for a gun!

Finally Gary is given his clothes back, I get my bag and license back and we sit down to board out prop plane to Pittsburgh. Once on the plane I reach into my wallet to discover a nice big 50 cent piece and my metal belt around my waist. Never once did it set the alarm, but a penny! Whoa look out!

We decided at that point to check all luggage in on the ride home. You can only guess the excitement then, but that will have to wait! Stay tuned!

Sunday, October 10, 2004

Out to Chicago! Be back Wednesday.

Friday, October 08, 2004

As a side note, I read your blog Roscoe, and I know those people!
So the trip to The Subsidiary went over quite well. They 5 guys I wrote software for pretty much fell in love with the app. There were a few bugs and some minor changes, but they accepted it without any problems. And I'm told those guys do not handle change well. They were even ready to trash their old program today! I told them to quit being stupid (though in a little nicer way) and to test out the new stuff for a week before they trash the old. I will say though, having people like your work that much, pretty much makes it all worth while. What can I say? It makes me happy to see other people happy.

So because of my trip, I missed out on the first few hours of the weekend, but that's okay. I'm going to Chicago on Sunday for a few days anyway, so it's worth it. At least this business trip I get to go with some other people. I wonder how many beers The Workplace will pay for . . .

Thursday, October 07, 2004

So I'm heading down to The Subsidiary tomorrow for the day. This will hopefully once and for all rid me of my dreaded web application for work. I'll be releasing the first official version. I'm sure they'll want more bells and whistles, but, you never know, I might not be up for it. I'll fix the bugs, but I may just have to pass off new features onto someone else. I wrote the documentation for the beast Monday and Tuesday. All 20 pages of text. And that was without screen shots. Though once I handed it off to our technical writer, she was more than thrilled that I had done such an efficient job on the documentation and really all she had to do were the screen shots and play with the app a little. It made the endless hours of writing this week worth while just to have someone appreciate what I've done. So anyway, let's hope all goes well tomorrow and I won't be back to The Subsidiary for Project TS (the web app is an online application that allows the company to dispatch their trucks) EVER!

With that said, I'm getting ready to head off to St. Patricks Elem. School for some Thursday night volleyball. After this past Sunday, I'm really cravin' some nice hits. Tonight's setter treats me a little better, not that my other setter doesn't, it just seems whenever I get the set . . . well, it's not a good set.

Oh yeah, I hate the Yankees!

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

You know, I can understand not wanting to support the Rally Monkey because your favorite sports team of all time is playing against him right now. But to tell me the Rally Monkey is dead, and for no apparently reason is just plain rude! Let me tell you something! Telling me that the Rally Monkey is dead, is simply telling me you don't believe! So, you go ahead and cheer on the big guys. But, let me say this, if you're gonna root for the underdogs in one sport, you sure better have some good excuse to not do the same for baseball.

So winter is apparently just around the corner! What are the tell-tail signs?

  1. The grass has a nice glossy frost on it

  2. It looks like you're exhaling a cigarette as you walk out your front door

  3. Every time you touch a door knob or get out of your car, you get a nice little shock!

  4. When you run, it takes about 3 minutes for your throat to be completely dry making you swallow ever other step

I love fall and winter!

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

So it has been brought to my attention that space boy (that's me) hasn't brought up the whole Ansari X Prize deal. Well, the truth is I'm a little saddened that someone has won it and the race is over, but also I'm saddened by the media coverage. The fact is, if SpaceShipOne (and come on! Couldn't they have spiced up the name of the ship even just a little?) hadn't spun out of control on their first launch it probably wouldn't have even made the Today Show or Nightly News. It's saddens me that people would rather focus on the depressing war in Iraq and the confrontations of Kerry and Bush than on this exciting new frontier we have just taken on. I guess it's hard on someone that loves science while the rest of the world just thinks he's crazy. Oh well. You won't see me in space anytime soon. I'm not quite ready to fork over $200,000! But over time, that price will go down and space flight will become more popular and I'll get there some day. I just hope that with the X Prize finally won, private space flight becomes as big a push as they hoped. With the new X Prize Cup in the works, I think it will get there eventually.

Monday, October 04, 2004

Hey where are you going? I'm not done yet! The stupid thing is you'll read this before the first entry. Anywho, I got hooked up with yet another volleyball league starting in November. The team is pretty much people that went to Rehoboth, but the younger of us, me of course still being the youngest. But only by a month, and hey, what do I care? That just means I'll be playing longer than anyone else out there. Our team should be really good! With me also being the shortest guy on the team, I'm seeing a lot of victories here!

So my friend Kimba from high school got engaged this week. I'm pretty sure she doesn't read this, but I was to wish her a congratulations anyway. With any luck it will be the first not-dry wedding I've ever been to. And I've been to at least 5! Come on now people! Let's think a little.

I also picked up the Star Wars trilogy at the mall yesterday as well. It was just sitting there discounted staring at me in the face. Of course I had to get it. And of course I'll have to watch it and say every single line before it actually happens! Hey! Don't you call me a mindless philosopher you overweight glob of grease!
So after eating pizza and watching the Stillers for a few hours yesterday with great company I headed off to the mall to get myself some new kicks (that's shoes for you old timers reading this). I started getting some killer shin splints while running a few weeks ago and did some quick math and determined it had almost been a year since I had a new pair of running shoes! That's way too long! So I liked the pair I had had for the past 10 months so I just figured I'd get the same kind. Well, Fate told me that they didn't have my shoe size in that style at Foot Locker so I went with something new. I took them for a test drive last night at the Sunday Volleyball League. Well, at least I thought I was going to. It turned out I didn't really do a lot of moving. For whatever reason, my setter thought I just wasn't set worthy last night as I'm not even sure I got 10 sets the whole game! I didn't even break a sweat! The gel was still keeping my hair in place for crying out loud! And it wasn't as though the team we played against was super stinky, the ball just never came to me, whether it was offense or defense. So the shoes didn't get a real good workout, but the little I did play, they seemed pretty darn spectacular. Though keep in mind I've probably been running around on wooden planks for the past few months.

Saturday, October 02, 2004

I have way too much time on my hands! Refresh my page in awe as you watch the picture of me randomly change! Oooooooo! Ahhhhhhhh! Feel free to steal my code!
By some amazing act of God, my dad and I got done trimming all the shrubs and cutting all the grass in just one day! Grant it we started at 900AM, but we were done by 400PM, just in time to watch some football and take a short nap. I'm sure the pain will set in tomorrow. Usually it's in the arms and the back. That's fine with me really. My back is constantly in pain from playing volleyball, so might as well throw the arms in there as well.

Penn State plays tonight at 800PM. I'd love to watch a victory but their -14 point favorability just doesn't provide me the confidence I need. Oh well, I'll root them on anyway. Let's hope they are able to keep their #1 QB for longer than 1 minute this game.

Friday, October 01, 2004

This just in! Beside the fact that I'm home at 900PM on a Friday night, check this juicy tidbit of information out. It can be found here.

The only whale capable of swallowing a man is the Sperm whale and in 1891 a seaman named James Barley was claimed to have been swallowed alive by one and then retrieved after the whale was killed. Although mentally unbalanced for several weeks, he is said to have eventually recovered from the ordeal.
If you haven't checked out the Internet Movie Archive I highly suggest you take a look at it! There you'll find some great informative documentaries of the 60's, 70's and who knows what else! Now I'm talking full legal downloads here! Did you ever see those black and white dating videos from the 60's? Or wondering what to do in case of a nuclear attack? This is place for you. In fact, I may even think that junior high student's most favorite video can be found there, "The Miracle of Birth!" I'll tell you what, if that video didn't make me want to have kids, I don't know what did. If you ask me, it was a pretty good form of birth control. I guess most of my high school skipped out on the day they showed that in health class . . .
Ode to the weekend! So it hasn't been a really busy week, but it is nice to see the weekend here. Too bad I'm trimming shrubs tomorrow and Sunday. I don;t mind it too much, but the trimmer is a gas one and my arms just plain hurt a few days after I trim. Oh well I guess. So I'm hoping to get out on the weekend evenings maybe. Too bad there aren't placed around here where you can go listen to some good live music and down a few drinks. I guess if you down enough drinks you can imagine there is some live music playing. Though I try to stay away from places with that philosophy . . .