psychonauts

Picked up a new game recently called Psychonauts for the Playstation 2. The main character is a kid named Raz who's at a Psychic Summer camp to learn psychic powers and earn merit badges. The game play is pretty good - though alternately too easy and too difficult. The best parts are the levels when he has to go into someone's mind. He has to track down luggage (emotional baggage) and figments of imagination, do battle with mental censors, and explore terrain ranging from Lungfishoplois to a surreal Milkman conspiracy.

Raz learns levitation, pyrokinesis, and a psi-blast - and he uses little clumps of anger for ammo.

All in all, a fun and slightly addictive game. And strangely enough, it hasn't resulted in any really weird dreams.

It's been a busy week and the weekend should be fairly busy too. Lots of driving to do. I think, if I've got time on Sunday, that I'm going to get some lumber and do a little building. I've been thinking about making a headboard for my bed and I'm running out of good weather to work on it outside.

Got a meeting coming up in a few, so I'd best get back to work...

dream of school and update on mom

I had a dream last night that I was back in college - though my first class was held in an elementry school. It was an art class and the first project the teacher showed us was a bit of origami. Which would be excellent, since I've had a lot of practice in that, and as luck would furhter have it - I knew how make the model the teacher was demonstrating. Materials were passed out and disaster struck. For some reason, everyone else got normal squares of copy paper - and I got a lopsided rectangle with rough edges. And it wasn't paper, it was a weird mix of velum and a plastic foil. So, it was difficult to make a crease since it tended to unfold and it tore really easily. When everyone else was done with their perfect (and very simple) models - mine was still a hideous work in progress. Everyone was stareing at me when I woke up.

In other news...Mom has been checking in and is doing fine helping at a shelter in Florida. She's working long shifts, but she's okay.

Work has been busy this week - so I guess I'd better get back to it....

sad songs, mom heads south, and lunch in the office

I've been listening to Aimee Mann's newest album - "The Forgotten Arm". Really great stuff, but there's one song on there called "little bombs" that kinda messes me up a bit. This part really gets me...

Life just kind of empties out
Less a deluge than a drought
Less a giant mushroom cloud
Than an unexploded shell
Inside a cell
Of the Lennox Hotel

Her album is a story about two lovers...so, of course tragedy. I haven't caught everything about the story yet, even after repeated listenings, but that little section just about reduces me to tears. The whole song paints a very vivid and precise picture of this person's reality and how it falls apart around them. You can almost see them standing there, being destroyed.

In other news...Mom has been asked to volunteer to help out with relief efforts in the south. We're not sure if she's headed to Florida, or Louisiana - it's scary either way. I'm glad she's able to help, but, well, you know...

Also, classes start this week so I'm hiding out in my office - and I brought my lunch today. It's usually a good plan for at least the first week of school. Parking is an issue and the student union is a mess at lunch time. I'm not sure I packed enough this morning - might have to make a snack machine run later.

Well, that's it for now. Back to work...

stained glass is tougher than it looks

I set up shop on the back porch for my first stained glass project last night. With instructions at the ready, I started out...

1. Scoring the glass. Easy as pie - I didn't try the more complicated inside curves, but the straight lines were literally a snap.

2. Adding copper foil to the edges. Not bad - I had a little trouble with the first piece, but it wasn't too tough once I got the hang of it.

3. Adding flux. Doesn't really count - any idiot could do that and this idiot was up to the challange.

4. Soldering. We'll start with the success part of this - the pieces of glass that I had prepped did stay together. However... ugly. Very ugly.

I think my problem was that the soldering iron cooled down faster than I expected. I'd be going along for a couple of seconds and it was suddenly stop being helpful. I guess I was expecting it to stay hotter for longer than that. Apparently, I thought I was purchsing a powerful tool and bought Barbie's First Soldering Iron (tm).

So, it's pretty ugly and I was frustrated toward the end of the evening. Ironically, it took a while for the iron to cool down to where I could put it away - especially since I couldn't get the stuff to stay hot for very long.

Anyway, that was my first trial run.


Last night I dreamed that a trans-dimensional shape-shifting cosmically powered alien landed in my parking space. It was the size of a gerbil. At least to start - then it started some pretty impressive shape shifting and ended up the size of a truck - though got back around to at least looking like a gerbil again. It went on and on about how it was there to study and test us - if we were worthy of keeping around after the invasion. I felt a little stressed that my actions might effect the fate of humanity, but I hung in there and made sure it had plenty of treats. I woke up before I learned what it concluded.

That's it for now - back to work...

a long walk

I was feeling peckish yesterday when I got home from work, so I decided to take myself for a walk. I've been wanting to try my hand at making stained glass - the real kind with solder and extream heat - so my planned destination was Home Deport, about 2 or 3 miles from my apartment.

The walk there was mostly unevently, though I did practice my "folding in the air" origami technique and built a couple of models while I was walking. I think I overextended myself as my hands got a little shaky, but I made it to HD with no trouble. I found the soldering iron, the solder, and the flux all in one section and did the self checkout. Borders is right across the parking lot, but I wasn't sure what to do with my current purchases. So, the solder and flux went into my pockets and the iron got tucked into the back of my pants.

I was looking for The Ring Two at borders, but they didn't have it yet. So, I got a magazine and a book on how to actually make stained glass (who would have guessed? I bought instructions.) and then trucked over to Wendy's for dinner. I got it to go, but figured the sandwich would be tough to eat on the fly - or on the walk, as the case may be. So, I stopped again at home depot and ate my dinner on the grass behind the sample buildings. It was peaceful.

The walk home was fine - though I wasn't able to fold as easily since I had the bag of stuff with me. And it mostly worked - I was tired and less cranky when I got home, though I'm still about 15% more cranky than usual.

Got me thinking a little about my internal walls - and I do have more than my share of them. I've got some ideas about my internal bricklayer, but I think I'll hold off on that topic for today. Too much to do here at work today to spend more time in the blog.

Later...

a crane in a traffic jam and a contact dream

On the drive to visit my family last weekend, I got stuck in traffic in a construction zone - behind an RV. So, no only was I not moving very fast, I also couldn't even see why we were stopped. Fortunatly, I had plenty of new music and a stack of Origami paper, so I was content to wait it out - since I really didn't have any other options. While I was singing along with the music, I glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw a woman in the car behind me - looking more bored than I've ever seen one human being look.

So, I quickly folded a crane and waited until we advanced a few feet, then came to a complete stop. Putting my car in park, I got out and headed back to her vechicle. She rolled down her window and I handed her the crane - telling her that I made it for her. She thanked me and I showed her how to make the wings flap. She told me I was clever - which I knew and which is usually my downfall. And I gave her a wave as I headed back to my car. The rest of the traffic jam portion of my trip I occasionally glanced back to see that she was in a much better mood.


Over the weekend, I had a dream that my gas-permable broke in my eye. Which is pretty bad, but the worst was that a sliver of the contact cut my eyeball and I started to bleed. I remember looking down and seeing the blood that had dripped out of my eye fall and hit the table. I think I was looking for some tweezers to pull the sliver out when I woke up.

The first thing I did when I woke up was gently rub my eyes to make sure they were okay - and I didn't put my contacts in for several hours after that.

Which makes me wonder. I have nightmares all the time and people usually blame them on all the weird books, movies, and video games that I enjoy. But, the contact thing wasn't related to anything like that. Are my dreams weird because of the weird stuff in books and games - or are my dreams weird because I'm weird and those elements just end up there?

Food for thought, I guess.

Well, back to work...

watching a headache and traffic travelers

So, two days in a row - while driving - I had people on foot look toward my car. See me. Make freaking eye contact with me.

And still walk right out in front of my moving car.

One guy was at an intersection talking on his cell phone - he crossed against the light. The other guy just crossed in the middle of the street.

And what really gets me is that they didn't even give the illusion of hurrying. Hello? What's up with that? If you're going to be so dense as to delibertly step out in front of a moving car, shouldn't you at least hustle a little bit? I mean, come on people!

So, I had to slow down to avoid hitting them. Which annoyed me. Again.

In other news, I watched myself get a headache last night. Ummm...yeah, better explain that one. The cluster headaches that I get will occationally have a visual element to them, a distortion that looks like the transporter effect from Star Trek the Orginal Series. Not the Next Generation, mind you, but the old style. Like hunderds of little points of light all clustered together that form in my perferial vision of one eye and then expand. It got worse for a little bit as it expanded, then it retreated. As my vision returned to normal, the headache started to kick in. Which actually worked out well as I had time to finish my dinner, take some Aleeve, and lay down with a cool cloth on my head before it really got bad. I went to bed early and slept pretty well - but my head still hurts a bit this morning. Aftereffects, I guess.

I had a dream last night that my great-grandmother was still alive and we all went to visit her in her hobbit house. My uncle (who's over 6 foot tall) and I had some trouble with the doors, but it was a nice visit. It should be noted that she had all her applicances lined up on one wall. Fridge, stove, freezer, washer, dryer - it looked like Sears. And she also called me Randy - though I totally let the name thing slide as at this point she would have been 104 years old.

Well, that's it for me. Got two back-to-back training sessions to conduct today so I'd better get ready. Later...

headache, Kmart, and sinking lozenges

I stayed home from work yesterday morning - woke up with a cluster headache. I thought I could get past it, but when I was dressed and nearly out the door a wave of nausea hit me and I decided to go back to bed. Fortunatly, my neighborhood is fairly quiet during the day so I was able to sleep. At some point the nausea came back and I spent some quality time in the facilities. Hence the need for throat lozenges later.

When I finally got up again a little before noon I was feeling better and decided to go on into work. I went to the downstairs bathroom and discovered, to my delight, that I had a dozen lozenges and they weren't expired. Which, given my bathroom medicine cabinet, is saying something. But, I fumbled. Blame in on the lingering headache or something, but one of the packages slipped out of the box and then...

splash.

Right into the toilet.

In my shock I nearly dropped the other package of six right in after it, but I recovered and saved. I looked down to see the six packaged lozenges slide gently down to the very bottom of the toilet. The toilet had been recently flushed, but I just really didn't want to deal with it then. So, I wrote a big note on my message board to myself - "TOILET" - the hopes that it would me remember. When I got home later that day I fished it out and tossed the package.

In other news...I sent an email to Kmart today regarding asking for my zipcode during a debit transaction. I'll post the response in the blog - if I get one.

That's about it for now...back to work...

helping move

Spent most of the weekend helping a friend of mine move. And the scrawny geek acquited himself well, if I do say so myself. The TV was the worst - down a flight and a half of stairs, across the sidewalk, then up two flights of stairs. Took a lot out of me. Lots of boxes, a computer, mattresses and box springs, etc.

So, I figured that last night I'd be so tired I'd be asleep before my head hit the pillow. No such luck. I went to bed at my usual time and tossed and turned for a while. Finally, around 1 am, I got up and played video games until I was fairly sleepy - sometime around 2.

Needless to say (though I'll say it anyway) - my posterier was dragging this morning. I'd really like to just crawl under my desk and take a nap. Hmmm...nah, I'd never get away with it.

Well, I'm going to try and get motivated and get some work done, so it's back to it...

Retail Annoyance (it's almost a given, isn't it?)

While running some errands this weekend, I made my way first to Kmart in search of a shower mirror for shaving. Which was impossible to find. After scouring the store, I gave up, got my secondary items (soda, beef jerky and a book) and made my way to the check out. After waiting 1.5 eternities, I got to the front and swiped my debit card for my purchase. Instead of asking for my PIN number, it prompted me for a billing zipcode. I told the cashier and she said I needed to put in my zipcode. I said, "but I don't want to put in my zipcode" - thinking it was some kind of marketing survey thing that I despise. She replied, "well, then you can't use your charge card".
I glowered for a moment, then relented and put in my zip code - and then my pin number, then verified the amount, then confirmed that I did not want cash back. While it was digesting all that, I commented that usually the zipcode is some kind of marketing thing. She didn't reply - though she did thank me for shopping at Kmart. I rather doubted her sincerity.

So, why was I tweaked at having to put in my zipcode? Well, it goes back to the idea of public vs private keys. A public key is like a user name or an email address. Fairly easy to find and work with. The private key is some secret bit of information that allows someone direct access to the public key and the information it holds.
In this case, the card - with my name on it - is something like a public key. If I lose it, anyone could pick it up and try to use it. My name alone is a public key and certain information is available without any special access. This information would include my address and zipcode.

If someone got ahold of my debit card and my pin number, then my zipcode is easy to locate. So, Kmart is attempting to verfiy my private key and my identity with multiple pieces of public information. It's pointless and gives only the illusion of security. And it's a waste of time and computer power.

If I hadn't already waited so long I think I would have taken the items back to their shelves out of sheer annoyance. But, I needed some level of success for my trouble and actually making it through the line would have to do.

After a brief stop to gather my wits - I headed to Walgreens. I found a shower mirror, VHS tapes, a magazine, and some Tazo tea (Giant Peach flavored). Got up to the checkout and the women in line in front of me was apparently paying by check. And the guy behind the counter ( I would use the term dottering if I was british) was having a difficult time pushing all the right buttons in the correct sequence. When he was finally done with her, he wished her a nice day and told her "God Bless You".

I knew I was in trouble.

His first action was not to start ringing up my items or determining what kind of bag I would prefer - instead, he opened up this weeks circular to see if there were any coupons for the items I was about to purchase. This involved a careful scan of each page, then his reaching over to a small damp sponge to wet his finger - allowing for easier page turning, then actually turning the page and repeating the process. Scan, wet, turn, repeat.

Yes, this is really what happened.

When he was finally done he concluded the same thing I knew just by looking at my own items - there were no coupons that were valid for my purchases. He then scanned each items with care before placing it in the bag and I was way ahead of him with my debit card before he came up with a total. No zipcode this time - thankfully, but he wished me a good day and also told me "God Bless You".

And again, I'm annoyed.

He used the exact same tone with me as he did with the woman in front of me. No inflection, no depth - nothing. It was as empty as if he'd mentioned something about the weather.

Shouldn't that mean something? A request for an intersession from the supreme being - spoken as though he was trying to determine if I wanted fries with my combo.

Granted, it's not like he told me - "Have a crappy day. or Burn in hell, sinner" It was a generic and mildy friendly send-off. But it was empty. And that alone seemed disrespectful in some way.

So, my foray into the retail world was not that great today ( though the cashier at Taco Bell said she liked my shirt that says "You're just jealous because the voices talk to me") - but I got through it and I'm now that the bile is out of my system I'm going to take my book and sit outside. Alone and quiet. And if you should see me, please don't ask me for my zipcode.

boats and thunder

Woke up at 4:00 this morning - massive thunderstorm. One of the crashes of thunder sounded like I was in a garbage can being hit by a sledgehammer - the size of a city bus. A really huge loud noise. Of course it's not the thunder that's the real problem - that's just sound. The lightning must have been pretty bad too, but I put a pillow over my head so I couldn't see it. It wasn't raining too bad when I had to get up and go to work.

A couple of days ago I remembered something that I came up with while canoeing with my uncle several years ago.

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the river.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Cold things make me shiver.

Not sure why I remembered that, but it struck me as funny.

I've been helping my friend move. He's only going from one building to the one right next door, but he only found out he had to move on Wednesday and they'd like him moved by the weekend. And the new place is filled with stuff (it used to be an office/apartment). And the current buildings entrance is no longer structually sound due to construction. The ceiling could collapse if the posts are "bumped".

So, yesterday we tried to quickly and very very carefully move things out and pile them in the new place where we could find room. We've still got a lot to do and there's just no space. I had to resist the urge to flip off the landlord every time we saw him.

Going to be a busy day here so I'd better get back to it...

the truth of things...

If you open a bag of Doritos labeled: "Now better tasting!", you should be aware that this means:

"Now tastes vaguely like Cheetos!"

and

"It's more orange colored!"


Knowledge is power.

Back to work...

you can't force a rant

I've been working on a particular entry for a few days - the annoyance of attention-getting devices.

It didn't work.

My muse was absent and the whole entry sounded forced, and it was. I guess the reason is that I hadn't been exposed to the stuff that really ticked me off in a while, so the righteous fury was absent. I still think those walkie-talkie cell phones are painfully annoying - but it's been too long since I've heard some bone-headed idiot use one that I couldn't devote an entire entry to them. I just wasn't cranky enough about it. If anyone has one and wants to stop over and demonstrate it for me I'm sure that will trigger my muse again. And maybe a hostile response, so maybe a demo isn't the best thing.

So, in other news...

Had a good visit with my mom - we went out for mexican. I had a tamale - it was pretty good. There was some green stuff mixed into the edge of the re-fried beans, but I was able to avoid that and the rest of the meal was good.

Over the weekend I went out to dinner with some friends and I had Hunan Tofu. My first tofu experience and it wasn't too bad. The actual chunks of tofu reminded me, at least as far as consistancy goes, of french toast sticks from Burger King - though chewier. They tasted like the sauce, which I understand is normal. Overall, okay - but I'm not sure I could eat it everyday.

I slept really badly last night - not sure what's going on there. Trouble going to sleep and trouble staying asleep. Woke up several times, but only once seemed justified (I had to pee). I was kinda cranky this morning - but work is actually improving my mood. Or at least it's not making it any worse and allowing my default personality to take over. Getting some stuff done and helping some people, so that's something.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Stop on over if you'd like to annoy me with one of those accursed walkie-talkie and are feeling brave.

Back to work...

weird vs tall - and a dream of DC

Over the weekend I went to a picnic/surprise birthday party for my friend's dad. While helping set things up, I made a comment of some kind to my friend's young niece. She replied -

"You're weird,"

I was busy with something, so I just tossed out a comment meant to slightly confuse and distract:

"Yes, but I'm also very tall,"

Which is true, at least in relation to how tall she was. She thought about it for a moment, then replied.

"You're more weird than you are tall,"

Her mother walked by at that point and told her that was rude and she shouldn't talk to people like that. I shook my head and said,

"No, she's right. I am more weird than I am tall. It's valid,"

And that was pretty much that.

In other news... weird dream last night. I dreamed I was in Washington, DC and had just stopped at a convenience store to get some groceries. As I was walking out of the store, three teenage kids ran up to me, knocked the bag out of my hands, and made off with my groceries.

Slightly upset by this and looking to balance the cosmic scales, I walked over to a nearby armored truck that was unlocked, unguarded, and ideling with the keys in the ignition. I got in and drove off. I was of course chased and since it was DC in an era of terrorism, they called out the military and various swat teams.

But, no one had gotten a good look at me. So, I got out of the van and walked around until I found a crowd of people watching various teams search a park. I watched them too, then started up a conversation with a young woman and her daughter in a stroller. We shared a couple of laughs and talked for a bit, then I told her I had to leave since I was pretty sure I was the one everyone was looking for. And then I just walked away.

I think, because I was so calm about things, she didn't believe me. So, I walked for a bit until I reached a street that was being blocked off by a soldier. I asked if I could cut through there and he said no and that I couldn't even turn my car around here. I told him that was okay since I was on foot - and that apparently was the wrong thing to say. The keywords of "restricted area" and "man on foot" must have triggered something in him and he told me to come with him - I guess he thought he'd found the culprit. While I was trying to think of something to say to get myself out of it - I woke up.

In still more news...my mom is in town for the day for work and she and I will be having dinner before she heads back home this evening. So, that should be fun - looking forward to seeing her.

And now it's time to get back to work...

sick (literally) from video games and misplaced mind

I fired up the video game Katamari Damacy last night - hadn't played it in a while. Essentially, you roll a giant ball around a house and eventually the planet, rolling stuff up. It's strangely fun and a fairly interesting head-trip, but the problem is in the rolling things around. You tend to roll in circles to pick things up, and this causes the camera to rotate around too. And then I started to get motion sick. Yes, motion sick from a video game.

Stop laughing now, okay?

Thank you.

So, I stopped playing and looked for some pepto. I had some, but it expired 2 years ago. Apparently, I don't get sick to my stomach that often. Instead, I did the dishes, took a shower, and went to bed really early.

And had some serious reality bending dreams. I think I was awake, or at least partly awake, for some of them - and had a lot of trouble waking up this morning. Or more accurately - had a lot of trouble getting out of bed.

I think I've addressed this before in a blog, but it felt like something got left behind in that seriously messed up hodge-podge of dreams. Not sure exactly where I ended up last night while I slept, but I'm not sure it's worth going back there to get whatever might have been lost.

It's already 11:00 in the morning and I'l still a little out of it. Which is scary since I was on the road coming to work around 7:00. Good thing I take the same route every morning - I think my car was on auto-pilot.

Well, not much of an entry, but I should get back to work...

the mythos of the comic book - plus, my grandmother kayaks

I'm 32 years old and I still read comics. Not ashamed of it either. Hey, it's one of the reasons I've got a job - to support my comic book habit. But why do I still read them when they are so easy to dismiss?

The stories. Every month - good vs evil. The age old struggle to protect the innocent from those who would harm them. While Superman is at the top of the heap, he's not my favorite - though there is a good discussion of Supes in Kill Bill vol.2 that I recommend. My fav is the Flash - an everyday dude that has been gifted with incredible powers and who stuggles every day to protect his community and at times the entire world from those that mean it harm. He does this by running fast - but that's a simplification.

Over the span of several issues, the Flash out-races Death itself beyond the boundaries of time to save himself and the woman he loves. He runs faster than an instantaneous signal to win a bet and save the earth. And in one issue - which all takes place over the span of a second - the Flash saves the entire Justice League.

His story is about doing the right thing - no matter the cost. And when he - or anyone in the Flash legacy - makes a mistake, he takes responsibility and tries to make it right.

Ultimately, even with all his power, he's still human - he's real, he's accessible. And he never gives up.

All that for a couple bucks a month - not bad, eh?


In other news...talked to my sister last night. She relayed to me that our 74 year old grandmother went kayaking recently - and loved it. She's thinking about getting her own and paddling up and down the river. Go grandma!

That's it for now - back to work...

escape from a parking lot - and the Flash on tv

I went to a festival over the weekend - the standard carnical rides and elephant ears sort of deal. Not normally my cup of tea, but I was helping out a friend who was part of the committee running it. I got there early evening on Friday and though I had a special pass, I wasn't sure where to park. So, I followed the signs that said additional parking was available at the school. So, I found a school - discovering that it was under construction as I pulled in - and parked there anyway. It's not like I had to go off-roading, but it still wasn't a finished lot by any means.

I enjoyed the festival for a bit, but didn't stay too long. I made the trek back over to my car, but as I tried to leave, a woman was pulling a baracade across the exit/entrance. I pulled up and waited a moment until she noticed me - then she came over to my car and asked me a deeply stupid question:

"Are you leaving?"

My instincive response was to say "duh" - but she still did have things blocked off. I don't think she would have tried to trap me there out of revenge, but you never can tell about crazy people. So, instead, I nodded and told her yes. She then proceeded to tell me that the lot wasn't supposed to be open - and that they had conducted a band event there which is why there were cars there since it was under construction.

I, of course, didn't give a rats posterior about the explaination - I just wanted to leave. After a couple of minutes of droning on, she finally realized what I had known all along. That being:

1. I was trying to leave - making me no longer part of the problem - but part of the solution.
2. I didn't care what she was saying and I really just wanted her to get out of my way so I could leave.

She moved the baraicade just slightly off to the side giving me barely enough room to pull out into traffic and let me get on my way.

I think she was blinded by the problem before her. It might have even been her fault that it wasn't blocked off to festival parking or that there weren't better signs. But she was so caught up in her own vision she couldn't see that the fastest way to resolve the problem was to get the cars out of there - and I was trying to help.

While I appreciated her problem I was still annoyed by her. Which is pretty much standard with me. I try to avoid being strongly angry about things since it rarely does any good - but I can't seem to help being annoyed.

Also this weekend I watched the latest episode of Justice League Unlimited on Cartoon Network. Only a small portion of the population of the planet might actually care about this part of the post - but that's better odds than what I usually have - so I'm going to write about it.

The Justice League faces off against the combo of Brainiac/Lex Luthor - and the JL gets their butts kicked. They make a little headway and Brainiac/Luthor makes alternate version robo-clones of the Justice Leagues - as based on an alternate version where the Flash dies. Since there's nothing to base the Flash clone on - they used the Reverse Flash: Professor Zoom from the comics! While everyone is battling their clones, the Flashes are racing around. The good Flash stops, begins to vibrate his hand at super-speed, and plunges it into the chest of his clone - causing it to explode (a power that works just like it did in the comics - and incidenatally, the same way that the comic reverse flash was taken out - though less messy).

The Flash is heard to say "I won't be trying that one again".

A little later in the fight, Brainiac/Luthor knocks out all of the Justice league - except for the Flash. Brainiac/Luthor tauts the Flash and he runs away. A moment passes and suddenly there's a blur and a piece of Brainiac/Luthor's armor is knocked away. Another blur and more is torn away. Then we see that it's the Flash - racing past B/L and tearing him apart piece by piece - far too fast to be stopped. We catch a view of the Flash in motion, running across the planet to build up tremendous speed. After several more hits, the Flash comes at B/L at near lightspeed and tears into B/L - fists hammering at the armor and lightning flashing. The rest of the Justice Leage is recovered by now and watches as an explosion obscures the area. When the smoke clears, Luthor is fully human and Brainiac is destroyed - but at a cost. The Flash is now translucent and fading fast - vibrating at incredible speed. He says,

"I think there's something wrong,"

Then he vibrates out of existance.

The Justice Leaguers' jaws drop (mine did too)- then Luthor starts posturing and has words with Superman. Suddenly, the Martain Manhunter shouts that the Flash isn't gone yet, that he's still nearby but fading fast. A portal open up and Hawkgirl reaches in. We hear the Flashes voice, describing where he is - "a force - made of speed - it's wonderful"

(Just like in the comics!)

The Justice Leaguers form a chain and together pull him back from the Speed Force. When he's finally rescued he says that "I can never go that fast again or I may never come back" - harkening to the comics where he used to have a mental speed limit based on his fears and how only his connection to his wife would be enough to pull him back from the Speed Force.

There's a bit more to the show, but it's mostly about Superman.

But, that's not important - the important part is that, once again, the Flash saves the day.
...

This is already a really long blog for me - so I'll wrap it up for now and next time I'll talk about why any of this matters.

another random day

A pretty ordinary day - and a fairly plain evening yesterday. I did purchase a paper-shreder, so that was kinda cool to fire up. Well planned and well executed destruction - gotta love it.

Also picked up the new Gorillaz CD - a little disappointing. What was even more disappointing was Target's music section - I had a list of 5 cds I was looking for and I was lucky to find even one of them. Not very organized.

My playstation 2 is still chugging away. I'm not sure if I should get a new one so that I can play all my games again - or if I should just wait until the PS3 comes out.

Read a new Buffy book - supposedly taking place after the end of the series. I really enjoyed it - right up until the end. If I read it right - they made a sacrifice that was too precious to have made. I may have to re-read the ending again.

Speaking of reading - I saw that the Pope doesn't like Harry Potter books. I'm thinking that maybe he should be focusing on more important issues, but that's just me.

Well, I've got a few things to work on before lunch and my meeting - so, it's back to work...

still sore and the squirrels

I took a look in the mirror last night and saw the underside of my tongue. It was still raw looking and sore. And it's still sore this morning. I'm considering trying to get a picture via my webcam, but a few things are making me re-think the notion:

1. Ewww...that's gonna be a gross picture.

2. What if someone walked into my office? How in the multiverse am I could to explain that one? "So, working hard today, Anthony?" they would ask.

3. The logistics and lighting issues are daunting.

4. What if I got eveything lined up for the shot and it's no longer a visible wound? How lame is that?

So, I think I may pass on the photo op.

Watched a clip of the Wonka movie - the squirrels are excellent. Very focused, very clever, and easily pissed off. And very decisisve. Just like I would imagine squirrels would be if suddenly gifted with substantital intelligence. Though, for all I know, they could be well along on their path to world conquest.

Hmmm...maybe I should buy some peanuts for the ones in my backyard. Just in case. But none for that one that broke into my apartment and peed on my laptop. No nuts for that one.

And that's it for now...time to get back to work.

food related injury and "wait animation"

Last night, while playing a fairly intense video game, I made the mistake of eating some pretzels. And I'm not talking about the tamed "Mr. Pretzel with his arms folded" variety. No, I'm talking about the harpoons of salty death. The kind that, if you grab a handful, there's no way you'll be able to get them anywhere near your mouth without puncturing your cheek.

With a little maneuvering and not a lot of sense (remember, I was distracted by a video game) I managed to get far too many pretzels in my mouth. And then something terrible happened. Through some quirk of fate, one of the aforementioned harpoons of salty death slid under my tongue and stabbed the underside of it. You know, that part that connects the underside of your tongue to the floor of your mouth? Yeah, that part.

Let's start with "ouch" and move on from there. My video game character nearly died, but fortunately she's feisty and runs away pretty well. I managed to retreat until the throbbing in my mouth died down to a dull ache (which is still there today).

And then, because I'm a guy and I had the muchies - I had another handful and got back to my game.

Yeah, I'm an idiot. In my defense, I was more careful - but a thinking and rational person would have thrown out the pretzels and opened up a container of yogurt.

And to add insult to injury (literally) - the game insulted me. See, way back in the day, there was a game called "Sonic the Hedgehog". And if you let the controller sit idle for too long, Sonic would turn slightly toward you, glare, and tap his foot impatiently.

Well, in Balder's Game: Dark Alliance 2 - the concept of an impatient character went a little too far. While I was recovering from the self-harpooning, my character on the screen thought I'd waited too long and said:

"If I have to wait here much longer, I'm going to strangle you with that controller cord"

And my response to that was: "Yikes! Okay, okay, give me a second".

Of course she didn't respond, but she did stop grumbling at me.

And that was pretty much my evening.

Back to work...

Gray hair and restricted access

So, last night I discovered a gray hair on my chest. The gray on my head, well, I started getting that when I was a teenager. The gray in my beard, that's been within the past couple of years. The gray on my chest - that ticked me off. I'm only 32. How is gray chest hair fair? Dang-it.

In other news... I was heading out to a meeting this morning and I headed out the back door of the building, since it lead to a more direct route. This is essentially a one way door and I would need to use my swipe-card to get back in the building via a differnt door. No prob.

As I was getting back to the building, I noticed one of my colleagues step out that one-way door to have a cigerette break, proping the door open behind her. I smiled and waved - then headed in that direction. I figured she could let me in that door and I'd get a short-cut back to my office.

No can do. Apparently, once the building went swipe card access only, a rule was put in place prohibiting anyone from being let in through that door. And if anyone was let in that door, then the "smoking dock" (since it's the door for the loading dock) would be taken away.

Theoretically, I could have gone around the building and out through that door and joined her for a smoke - if I was a smoker - and then gone back in through that door that was propped open. But I'm not and I just went back to my desk.

Rules are rules. I understand and appreciate that. But, according to the letter of the law - should she have been allowed to prop open the door? Technically, she went outside via that door and then re-entered via that same door.

And what if I hold the door open for another colleage if I'm entering via the card-swipe door and they have their hands full? Should I require them to use their card, even if I know them and sit not more than 5 feet away from them? Would I be in the wrong - or would they?

It's not a big deal either way and I'm not even sure it's worth an entry in the blog. But, I thought it was odd and I figured that what this blog is all about anyway - documenting the odd.

I guess that's the problem with having so many rules. They have to cover every situation and they have to be enforced. Maybe it would work better to change the rule so that you can only let in people that you know work there and are allowed in. Or maybe just put a card swipe on that door too and have people swipe to get back in after a break. The current set up just seems a little weird to me.

In other news...I need a nap. But, instead, it's back to work...

under the (radar) gun

So, I'm crusing down route 8, minding my own business and trying to get home - when, all of the sudden, everyone in front of me hits their brakes. So, I hit my brakes too - wondering for the billionth time what's going on up ahead. Accident? Idiot? Cosmic glitch in space/time?

Nope. It's a cop standing nex to his car, aiming his radar gun into traffic like a papparatzi tracking Jennifer Aniston. He's hunting speeders, so everyone slams on the brakes so as not to be a speeder. And nearly causes an accident.

Now, I've heard about this big push to get rid of the "speeding cushion" to "help save lives". Well, I've got news for you. It doesn't matter how fast you're going - the real danger is from idiots on the road that don't pay attention. Maybe they're talking on cell phones or yelling at their kids or putting on makeup - they're still under the general catagory of idiots and they're still a menace on the road.

So, everyone slows down to the speed limit for awhile - then once we're all past him, everyone speeds back up to about 5-7 miles over the speed limit.

Is this really the best use of this officer's time? Aren't there bigger problems out there that he could have helped with - or prevented?

Seemed like a waste to me - but hey, what do I know? I'm just one of the majority of people out there that think they are better than average drivers. :)

In other news...been working my posterior off with a file for work. The freaking thing is 9.7 mb and I'm trying to get it down to 2 or 3 mb. I've flattened the images, ripped out the fonts, and tried every compression option I can find. The best I've been able to do is 9.5 mb. I think I'm going to have to call in the experts - or maybe just delete a few sections. Think anyone would notice if I skipped pages 20-160?

I guess that's it for now...time to get back to work...

vacation blog part 4

Work on Friday was too busy for me to make an entry in teh blog, so, better late than never.

Over the course of the vacation week we:

1. Fought with the rain - getting things set up on the beach and retreating when the clouds took over.

2. Walked on the pier and the beach - and bravely laughed at talk of sharks from the safety of dry land.

3. Went out to eat several times - including a trip to the Hot Fish Club where I, ironically, got some fish that was mostly raw (kinda like sushi)

4. Did some touristy shopping and a very small degree of site-seeing.

And then we said our good-byes to the beach and ocean and headed back. We left very early on Saturday morning - and dealt with the overheating again, though it wasn't as bad since the position of the sun made it less intense.

Then finally home to unpack and relax before going back to work.

The massive sunburn put a damper on the trip and the weather could have been better - but as I said all along, "No email, no phone, no voicemail, no work - still a good vacation"

I learned several valuable lessons and had quite a bit fo fun anyway - so, it all balances out to a good vacation.

Next time... back to the usual entries of funky dreams and random rants.

Later.

vacation blog part 3

So, Tuesday night - instead of going out with my friend for his birthday - I went to the Doctor's Care office in Surfside. I folded paper like a madman to keep from scratching and made a couple of complex models while waiting to be called. I gave them away to a kid in the waiting room. The first nurse got my weight and other vitals, then the doctor came and was somewhat amazed at the degree of sunburn. He wrote a prescritption for a painkiller (though it was itching more than hurting), and sent in nurse #2 to slather on about a pound of heavy silver-something cream. I kept folding and the cream helped - though she felt bad when she had to add more to a sensitive area of my back 'cause I would gasp. She got some origami when she was done too. Heck, I gotta give the stuff away or I'd be buried in it.

They put a hospital gown on me - backwards, so it was like a vest - then sent me on my way. We got the perscriptions filled - then headed back to the condo for cake. I took off the "vest" and kept threatening to hug everyone.

The next couple of days were a bit of a blur - and though I kept seeping with the blisters, I was getting steadly better. Spent a little time on the beach - fulled dressed under an umbrella - and in the pool, which really seemed to help. Though, I felt a little bad about "shedding" flakes of skin into the pool. It was a little gross, but I did try to stay away from everyone else in the pool.

Next time: wrapping up the week and heading home.

Now, back to work...

vacation blog part 2

Sunday had some great weather - lots of sun and blue skies. I was on the beach building sandcastles or swimming in the ocean for most of the day. I was starting to get warm and knew I was sunburned, but didn't realize how sunburned until later.

We went out for dinner that evening and I got the shivers - which I thought was just a reaction to the really cold resturant. I only ate about half my dinner and took the rest back to the condo. That night, in an increasing amount of pain from the sunburn and ensuing blisters - I lost my dinner in a fairly spectacular fashion. And I had a sore throat the rest of the week as a result.

Monday was spent indoors, fully dressed, and watching TV. Still cold, but feeling ever so slightly better to be out of the harsh sun.

Tuesday - and the blisters are taking on a life of their own. But only on my back. My front is a bit sunburned as well, but not as bad. So, I put on some aloe on my chest to help forestall any problems. Turns out - big problem. I had a terrible reaction to the aloe and started itching like crazy. And when I say crazy - I mean full-blown-put-me-in-the-psych-ward kinda crazy.

Part of me wanted to scratch. Part of me knew better. My compromise was to rub the affected area - which still wasn't good, but was better than humping a tree.

Got the aloe washed off and tried a couple more anti-histmine flavored sprays - and it kept getting worse. I was in full freak-out mode. So, armed with a stack of paper to keep my hands occupied I was taken to the stat care down the street.

Next time: Lots of cream and a spiffy new vest.

vacation blog part 1

It's been a bit since I've blogged - I've been out of town on vacation. I'm back to work now and trying to get caught up, so I'm going to break down my vacation report into several days.

We headed out the Friday before last - driving south toward Myrtle Beach. The car was having some overheating issues, so for a good part of the trip we drove with windows down and heat turned on. I don't really mind the heat so I wasn't too bothered by it, but the hot air did tend to dry my contacts out.

Over the course of the drive we passed though:

Virginia's Technology Corridor - which appeared to be mostly trees.

Bland, NC - where we stopped to have to some white rice, plain backed potatoes, dry toast and water without ice. Just kidding - we didn't stop there.

Polymer Alliance Zone (WV). Not sure what that means, but I felt good about it since I work in Akron - Aka Polymer City.

We arrived at our waypoint for the trip a few hours later and stopped for the night. We were awakened at 12:30 that night with a loud pounding on the door, but when we finally answered it, no one was there. We're still puzzled about that one.

It was raining when we got to the condo the next day and it would rain on and off for much of the week. Saturday was for grocery shopping and settling in.

Sunday, the weather broke and we headed for the beach. I dutifully put on sun block, but apparently the ocean washed it off much sooner than I anticipated. The results of this situation were soon to become painfully obvious.

Next time - the beginning of the blisters.

Back to work...

trouble sleeping and the Flash

The past couple of nights I've had some trouble getting to sleep and this morning when I woke up had a master of space and time moment - one where I attempted to defy the passage of time - then realized it was still early and I didn't need to worry about getting up.

I've been a little cranky and stressed the past few days. Taking a little vacation soon and travel stresses me out. Plus, you would not believe the weird ass phone calls I've been getting this week. All I want to do is get my job done and get the heck out of here.

The power just flickered here - not enough to take down my computer, but enough to flicker the lights. Could be a really unplesant day if I get in the middle of something and we lose power entirely.

Well, I guess this post won't be much except me being cranky and complaining a bit. What? Did you expect a sonet?

Oh, one quick thing - I found out from my favorite DC Flash site that a Flash movie is in pre-production. All three of the legacy flashes are being considered for the focus of the movie and it's expected to talk about the Speed Force. Those of you out there in blog land who are looking to get smacked around by an angry geek should at this point ask me a question referencing Flash Gordon. Not the same guy, people.

Flash Gordon = Lame ass ex-football player hero wanna-be.

The Flash = Coolest superhero ever. Outruns time and death itself. Saves the entire world in a half-second. Leaves Superman in his dust.

That's it for now, time to get back to work...

who you gonna call? - and an art project

Let's start as I started this morning - at 5:58 when the sanitation engineers came by to empty the dumpsters from the parking lot in front of my apartment. Granted, my alarm was set for 6:00, but still...

The banging of the dumpersters yanked me out of dream - one that had an element I wasn't familier with. In the dream, I was playing an online game with two friends. The object of the game was to score points by wandering around and looking for spirits to capture. It took place in the real world - as viewed through goggles - so a trip to the grocery store could end up being a challenging level. My goggles broke, so I just had a piece of glass that I carried around to look through. And, when I looked in the right place, I could see the spirits that we were supposed to capture.

To do that, I needed to hold up my right hand in the direction of the spirit and concentrate. The spirit would be drawn toward my hand until I had captured it. Once captured, a raised bump would appear on my hand until I released the spirit - and earn points for it. The funky part was, though it was a game, you could become sick if you gathered up too many evil spirits and didn't release them quickly - a real problem since the release areas were few and far between. And not just sick in the game, but sick in real life as well (yes, I'm aware it was still just a dream).

My team and I were the best - mainly because I could hold up to the pain better than most.
It hurt to drawn in a spirit and my hand would ache until those spirits were released.

And here's where things go off the deep end. I distinctly remember that it hurt to draw in a spirit. I remember the senstation of pain on contact, the ache in my hand and my whole wrist while I stored the spirits. I remember feeling the cold of the day as we hiked out to get "just one more spirit" before quitting for the day.

Real pain. To the point that I was surpised when I woke up and found my hand undamaged and without any raised bumps of stored spirits - since I woke up before releaseing them.

Now, I know that you aren't supposed to feel pain in dreams...but I remember it and it sure as heck felt real. Good thing we were winning the game...

---

Back to reality... Ever heard the expression "Like a hot Dremel through Plexiglass"? No? Well, there's a reason for that. It doesn't go all that well. It'll work, just like cutting a frozen potato with a dull spoon will work, but it ain't fun. For one, it smells bad. Also, the shreaded plexiglass tends to fly off and that stuff is hot. And the dremel bit tends to get fouled when you let it stop as the plastic cools and fills the bit.

Now, why was I cutting plexiglass with a dremel? Well, I was trying to make a mask. Yeah, yeah, I know..."what hairbrained project are you up to now, Anthony?" Actually, I've been working on some masks in various mediums (paper mache, clay, etc) and I figured plexiglass would be the next logical step before tying to carve one out of wood.

I actually had some good success and would have done more to smooth the edges, but it was getting late and I was losing the light - since I was working outside to minimize the mess and I was wearing sunglasses for my safety goggles. I may have time to finish it this week, but it's no big deal if I don't.

And before I close - a big shout-out to my colleague and friend for inviting me to his bonfire last friday. I had a good time and enjoyed the food and the company.

So, that's it for now in this slightly longer than usual blog. Time to get back to work...

2% memory

I had a f'ed up dream last night. I was back at school in Miami - florida - and I had just joined my fraternity (something I didn't do in real life until my second year of school at akron). I was also working at a well appointed clinic when a terrible accident occured. To save me, they cloned me and transfered my consciousness into the clone. But, they only got about 2% of my memories - and all of my bad temper. Then, the sick and injured orginal of me took off and I had to try and track him/me down so that I could get the rest of his/our/my memories. The process would most likely kill "him", but the idea didn't seem to bother "me". During the course of my pursuit, I ran into my former room-mate - who wanted me to look at the art work one of his son's had done and tell him what it was about. It was meant to look like a photo taken of a collage of newsprint, but it had all been done on computer. I started to explain it, but then I got a lead on my orginal and had to leave. I think I had him/me cornered in the basement of a frat-house when I woke up.

Apparently, I have some issues.

That's it for now... back to work....

warped time, rain, giving blood

I decided to give blood yesterday after work so, as is my usual plan, I went to Wendy's to get something to eat beforehand. Otherwise, I tend to get woosie. On the way to Wendy's the sky opened up and it just freaking poured. Not as bad as over the weekend, but still really intense for several miles, then it abruptly stopped. Very strange and a little unnerving - though it did wash the bird crap off my car.

Got to Wendy's and had a snack, then stopped to get gas, then on to the blood donation site.

The place was nearly empty, but unfortunatly that included staff as well. So, I had to wait until the one person ahead of me was nearly done before they got started with me. It was then that I noticed that the big clock in the room wasn't working right - the second hand was stuck to the minute hand. Looked really odd and upset my Master of Space and Time sensiblities.

Finally got through the history section and ovet to the donation area. Normally, I have no trouble with any part of giving blood, but this was not one of those times. First, the needle hurt going in. And it kept hurting, even after she pulled it nearly out and put a pad under my arm to change the angle. It got a little better but it was still kinda painful - like a sharp pinching sensation. Took slightly longer than usual to give the blood and the direct pressure didn't stop the bleeding right away. Finally got that under control and I got woosie. So, they had me lay back and elevated my feet - then put a cold cloth on my head. The site was starting to hurt again, so after my head felt better and I sat up, they gave me an ice pack to put on the site.

Meanwhile, the procedure for reporting a reaction had changed - there were new codes or something. So, there was a lot of hurrying around and such to figure out the new codes and how to report the fact that I felt woosie. Seemed a little weird. They took good care of me, but it was still mildly chaotic.

After a bit I felt well enough to go over to the canteen area and got myself a cookie and some juice. When that was done, I thanked them and they thanked me and I went home.

All the rest of the evening I felt sore and tired - which is unusual for me after I give blood. I skipped the shower last and went to bed early.

I'm dragging a little today, but at least I don't have any meetings.

Well, time to go answer some email.

One thing before I go. My experience with giving blood yesterday was not typical of me or of people in general and I strongly encourage everyone who can to go and give blood. Check out the red cross's site for more information.

http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html

Back to work...

here comes the rain....again

I've told this story to a few people already, but for the rest that haven't heard it, here you go...

On the way to visit my parents this past weekend, I encountered some rain just south of Columbus. And then I got pummeled by more rain than I have ever seen in my whole life. Visibilty was so low I sometimes couldn't see my hood. The wind was so intense from the side I thought my windows might break. And the lightning flashes would blank out the windshield. It was amazing and not a little scary. I got through it, but was a little shaky for a while.

The rest of the trip was fine, had a good time visiting with everyone.

Had a dream Saturday night that I ate some blue powder and shrunk to 11 inches tall, which was okay since that's how tall a Ken doll is and it was easy to find clothes. I also tames a cat, threw a saddle on it, and rode off to explore.

In other weird news... I've decided to switch to diet coke with lime, instead of regular coke. Yes, I'm serious. No, it's not the end of the world.

Oh, and I also visited the largest Walmart in Ohio, which is also the second largest in the country. Yes, you should all be very imprssed.

Time to get back to work...

yip yap yip yap yip yip yap yap yip

My neighbors now have a dog. I'm not sure which ones have the dog or what the dog looks like. But I know what it sounds like.

Yip yap yap yip yap yap yap yip yip yip yip yap yip yap

I don't know where they got this dog - maybe the 5th circle of hell ("The angry") or maybe the 7th ("Violent against neighbors and fellow men"). In any case, I heard it last night while I was trying to sleep. I had the fan going and the windows open. A good cross breeze was just starting to form and I was headed to dreamland.

Yip yap yap yap yip yip yap yap yip

And then, just for variation...

Yap yip yip yip yap yap yip yip yap

And every so often, a plantitive howl at the moon. But, since it was only a small yapper dog, the howl at the moon was just a pathetic shadow of what a real dog could do.

Yap yap yip yip yap yap yap

After 20 minutes I considered closeing the window.

Yap yip yip yap yap yap

Yip

Another 10 minutes and I got up to get ear plugs.

20 minutes later and the dog finally YAPYAPYAPYAPYAPYIPYIPYIP (howl) YAP

Okay, 30 minutes later the dog finally shut up.

Yip.

That one didn't count, but I left the earplugs in.

Now, I'm a dog person and I really like dogs. But this little yipper was getting on my nerves. Oh, and did I mention that it echoed between the two buildings so it sounded twice as loud? Well, it did.

Sleep was an elusive misteress last night - hell, let's just say it like it was. I was so ticked off from the noise that I didn't think it would ever come. And I tried everything - well, not everything, but enough of my tried and true methods of getting to sleep that I was really stressing. And apparently the stress of not being able to sleep tired me out enough that I eventually fell asleep.

This morning? I'm king of the yawns. Yea. And all I really want to do it go back home and sleep some more. Or maybe I'll just crawl under my desk.

Well, time to get back to work...

two phrases

Heard a song on the radio last evening - really liked the lyrics, but the station didn't identify what the song was. Fortunately, one line of the song stuck in my head and from that I was able to do a search this morning and locate the song:

"Breathe (2 AM)" - ANNA NALICK

The line that stuck in my head was:

"And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table."

Struck me as deeply profound - and yet a very simple and clear image. I don't normally buy CD's on the basis of one song, but I might break my rule for this one.

On the drive work this morning I went past a church with a sign out front. Normally, this has some kind of pseudo-meaningful phrase on it that is quickly absorbed and ignored. This time it said, "The truth doesn't hurt, unless it should."

What in the heck does that mean? Let's analyze some examples:

1. My shoes are black and green - Or - I'm wearing pants today.

Both of those are true and not painful in the least. In fact, I'm sure a few people around here are relieved at the second one.

2. I could stand to lose a little weight.

Yeah, that's true too. I think I'd be mildly cranky if someone walked up to me on the street and said that to me, but I wouldn't be emotionally scarred about it.

3. I'm slowly going bald.

That's true too, and while I'll just shave my head when it gets bad - some people would be horribly offended if someone said that to them. It might be true, but pointing out someone's flaws without trying to help them overcome them is just cruel. A few episodes of the Surreal Life with Da Brat are good examples of using a perceived truth to gain attention and just be cruel.

Did no one listen to Elvis? Hello? "Don't be cruel"

I still don't understand what they were trying to say in that sign.

Anyway, time to get back to work...

I'm on a roll

So, yesterday, I head to the vending machine to be a late afternoon soda. I'm in need of a caffinee fix and the hot water for tea or hot chocolate has been shut down in the lunch room. I put my change in the machine and hit the button for "Pepsi". I'd much prefer Coca-Cola, but they don't stock that on campus. Instead of a satisfying "thunk", I see a little message on the screen- Selection Unavailable. It's then that I notice the little orange light. So, I hit the Lipton Iced Tea button and get the same message before noticing the light is on for that one too. The machine is nearly dripping with Pepsi logos - but it's only got one area for actual Pepsi dispensing. I could choose from a variety of Mountain Dew products instead, but I hoped to sleep at some point that night and didn't need that much caffinee. So, I get my money out of the machine and go to the juice machine next to it - figuring that if I can have caffinee, I should at least have something good for me. I choose the Peach Papya - which was luckily in stock - and headed back to my desk. It tasted funny and I checked the date - best if used by April of this year. So, I poured that out and had water. Not sure who I'm angy at - maybe the poor sap who fills the machines.

Then, driving home from work on the highway I get stuck behind a slow moving parade. I'm trapped there for several miles while we poke along at 20 mph and everyone else flies past at 65. Things finally clear out when the guilty party takes an exit. He's got his hazzards on and is creeping up the ramp. I don't know if he was having car problems or he's just a really timid driver, but he nearly caused some accidents by driving so slowly on a highway.

Today, I went over to an office to do some training for a staff member. I went up to the front desk and since no one was there, I rang the little bell. I don't like to do that since I don't really care for the noise in that situtation, but I had no other choice. After a few moments, a woman walked....no, she didn't walk, she slowly lurched around the corner. She had on a sweater over her shoulders and sandels on her feet and if I hadn't seen her breathing I would have thought she was undead by lack of expression her face. And you know how I feel about zombies.
I smiled, said good morning, and asked for the person I was there to train. She didn't speak, she just walked out of my view toward the security door and opened it for me. She asked if I knew where his office was and I told her no - so she lead me down into the depths (read: bowels) of the building's basement. My trainee wasn't there yet, so she introduced me to the other occupant of the basement and since he was cheerful I was a little more at ease. My guide headed back up the stairs. So, I waited a bit and plotted my escape routes in case she came back down for a "snack".

There's no real connection between any of these stories, so don't waste a lot of time trying to figure them out. It's just me being annoyed and we should all be used to that by now.

Time to get back to work...

I'm not loving it.

Two extreme views of customer service today. First - a trip to the bank. I use National City usually get good customer service when I stop by the local branch. Today, I headed over there at about 10 til noon - and I expected a bit of a crowd. Instead, they had 3 tellers on hand and one was open as I walked in. I went right up to the counter and was greeted with a smile. The transaction was swift and efficient and friendly. I was on my way in a matter of moments.

Then I went to McDonald's for lunch. Not having gone to McU, I can only guess at the staffing procedures, but over the years I have decided that if you go at a peak time, you'll have to fight a crowd, but you'll get better service. If you go at an off peak time, no crowds, but less efficient service since they have inexperienced people on at those times.

Today, however, blew that theory totally out of the water. I got there at 5 minutes to noon and they had two registers open. One was staffed with a trainee and had a huge line. The other was staffed with a person I've seen before - who has worked at nearly every fast food restaurant in the area. I know her to be inefficient, short tempered, and she mumbles. I picked that line, reasoning that at least she would know how to run the register. Once I finally get up to the front, I start my order.

Two hamburgers, lettuce only.

And then I repeat it at her request. She then begins the process of entering that into the register - an expression on her face as though she's trying to remember a complicated trig formula. After a few moments it looks like she's closing in on a solution, so I continue with my order.

Medium fries.

Instead of punching that in - she holds up her index finger to silence me. She's still working on that pesky hamburger problem. Finally, she looks up at and asks what else I want. I tell her Medium Fries - thinking that she may not have gotten that. But, lo, she did get that - and she starts to roll her eyes in impatience at my foolishness. I proceed with the last phase of my order.

Medium coke.

To which she responds by slamming an empty medium sized cup on the counter. Apparently, I am expected to get my own drink. She then mumbles the total - and go with what I see on the display as it's not even close to what I think I heard her say. $4.08

I hand her a $5 and dig in my pocket for a dime. This combination throws her for a moment and she needs to ring it up so that the computer and do the math for her. She hands me my change and rudely instructs me to wait over to my left. I move into position and begin the waiting.

She bellows incoherently to get someone to come over to her line after inadvertently sending them all away - then waits on the next customer to place their order. Meanwhile, I can see my burgers being made and watch as they are tossed in a bin. The person that waited on me is now ignoring me and that notion that my food is ready - instead, she's filling the order of the customer behind me. Which includes 6 small milkshakes.

I'm doomed.

After waiting for a few minutes, someone takes pity on me and fills my order, shoving the empty cup in my direction as though to further emphasis that I'll be expected to get my own damn drink, thank you very much.

Which I proceeded to do and got out of there thankful that I still had my life and most of my wits about me still. Incidentally, no one thanked me to choosing that restaurant or suggested that I have a nice day. I would have doubted their sincerity anyway.

To their credit - my sandwiches were prepared correctly and any scaring will be emotional and therefore not visible to the naked eye.

It used to be good food fast. Then it was mediocre food fast. Then bad food fast. And now it appears to be mediocre food slowly.

And that wraps it up for me. I hadn't been in this McDonald's since it opened - and I don't think I'll be going back. No catchy jingles or slogans will win me over either - they have fallen too far to be redeemed.

Thus endeth the story and so I do now again return to the task at hand...

glue and microchips

Last night I dreamed that I had been involved in an industrial accident involving elmer's glue. I survived, but ended up being coated in a damage resistant layer of some exotic polymer. And it made me look really shiny when it got wet. So, since I was now more durable than the average person, I was recuited to go on a special mission. I took a series of cabs across town to a confernce center/hotel and was supposed to sneek inside the adjacent building. I found a service entrance and managed to slip into a stairwell, but I could only go up so high before I was forced to exit onto the main floor.

The building turned out to be some kind of training center/ school - and very high security. The stairwells were locked so I couldn't use them to go up any further and the elevators only had "down" button, unless you had a key. The floorplan had a hallway around the offices in the center and I made a couple of loops trying to find a way up further when a woman noticed I wasn't supposed to be there. She confronted me and asked what I was doing. I thought about it for a moment, then told her the truth.

There was a transmitter on top of the building that was close enough and powerful enough to a signal from the radio tower nearby. That radio was going to generate a pulse of energy as a test, but it would start a chain reaction that would destroy the atmosphere. If I could get to the roof in time, I would be able to install a tiny microchip in the transmitter that would not only block the signal, but cause it to bounce back. The equipment I had with me would allow me to track where the signal bounced to - and I could then call in that location and get them stopped from trying it again.

She was skeptical, but reassured when I showed her all my equipment and told her that the transmitter was part of the cable tv system for the hotel next door and wouldn't disrupt her building. I also told her that she could come and watch me work.

So, she agreed and took me to the roof in the elevator. I was in the process of installing the chip when I woke up.

Yeah, I think it's weird too... Back to work...

take your wookie to work - part 2

Sort of in a weird mood today - could be because I woke up with a line from "The Muppets Take Manhattan" running through my head.

"Because you share a love so big, I now pronouce you Frog and Pig"

I apparently need a great deal of professional help.

In other news, Chewie joins me at work again. He's not much help, but he does have fun.

1. Chewie visits the internet. You can't really tell in the picture, but he's looking up Wookie at Google.



2. Chewie, on the phone, again. It's the 1-900 calls that really bother me though.



3. Chewie consults the oracle. I wonder what he asked?



4. Not even at work for an hour and he's already taking a nap. Lazy wookie.



It was a short nap, as he's over in the corner readying a server administration manual now.

Well, not all of us can goof off at work - I've got web pages to build and data to extract. So, it's time to get back to work...

me and dad vs. The Joker

Had a dream last night that my dad and I were on the run from the Joker (the batman villian, not a playing card). We decided to stop by the house to pick up a few things before leaving town. Dad wanted to take the TV with us, but I was sure that the Joker had gotten to it first and rigged up a trap. So, we wheeled the TV out onto the driveway, connected it to a really long extension cord, and turned it on (using an old style knob instead of a button). With the TV switch in the "on" position, we plugged in the TV from a safe distance. Sure enough, it exploded in a shower of glass and fire.

Dad and I just looked at each other. I wanted to go back inside and get my shoes, but Dad thought the whole place might have been trapped, so we just left a note for my mom and my sister not to go inside and took off. I was still complaining about the shoes when I woke up.

Which is just as well, since I drank way too much water before I went to bed. I must have gotten up 4 times - which is unheard of for me.

Today, when I went to lunch, I tried to get my Usual #1 - rigitoni with meatballs, no sauce. But they were out of meatballs. So, I decided on my Usual #2 - 1 pepperoni and 1 mushroom. Nope, out of mushroom. So, 2 pepperoni. I was waiting for her to tell me she was out of bottle Pepsi too, but they had that and I went on my way. I was only mildy annoyed, which must mean I'm having an okay day.

And that's it for now - back to work...

blog by proxy

Went for a long walk on sunday and came back to find a message on my machine from my sister. Seems she was calling me from the road and had someing weird to report that would be good for my blog - hence this post.

Apparently, a bumblebee struck the antenna of her Jeep Cherokee and got sliced in half. It was still stuck there and one leg was still moving weakly when she called from her cell phone. I'd say the odds of this happening are pretty slim - so it qualifies as weird and thus is appropiate for this blog. (is it also a drive-by-blogging?)

In other news... during my long walk, I noticed not one, but 2 abandoned shoes. They were quite a ways away from each other and not the same type of shoe. Made be wonder though, how a person loses just one shoe? If there are wearing the shoes, then you'd think they'd notice. And if they were transporting them, why would only shoe get lost -wouldn't they be together? Yes, I've actually thought about this.

Today I came into work and fired up my email - over 150 spam messages, most of them in German. I'm not even sure if I should be offended since I can't read German - but I know I'm annoyed by it.

Well, I guess that's about it for now - time to get back to work...

foam and kilt

Well, today is a kilt day. Work boots and a long sleeve shirt complete the outfit. It's a little tight around the mid-section - yet another indicator that I need to start working out again. Still, I think it looks good and it's very comfortable.

Today is the last day of finals week around here - so as tradition goes, someone has dumped some detergent into the big fountain at the entrance to the performing arts hall. There were big piles of foam floating down the street as I drove into work. Officially, as a staff member, I should be upset at the work it will take to clean up the fountain - but it was so pretty I couldn't be bothered.

Well, looks like I've got a lot to do today so it's time to get back to work...

being nicer, corn cob pipe, and a coke with lime

On the trip back from my folk's this past Sunday, I had to slow down to go around some debris in the road. It was a somewhat busy road, just off the highway, and there was enough traffic that it was causing a problem. Apparently, a guy was hauling a new mattress and bedframe in the back of his truck and the wind caught it. So, I pulled on past, pulled off to the side, and went and helped him clear the road. Once the road was cleared, we loaded the mattress back into his truck. I offered to help with the rest, but he said he would unload what he had and come back for the pieces. He thanked me several times - I think it surprised him that someone would stop. Just seemed like the thing to do.

I think I'm going to try and react more - helping where appropiate and telling people when they are being annoying.

Yesterday, as I was walking to lunch - I saw a guy with a corn cob pipe. Yes. You read that right. And not just as an affection, he was really smoking it - I could smell it even from a distance. He looked like a reasonable intelligent adult - but the pipe just made him look, well, stupid. He crossed the street before I could say anything.

Last evening, on my walk for art supplies, I stopped at a drug store and bought a Coca-cola - with lime. Now, I'm something of a purist when it comes to my carbonated beverages - but I decided that it sounded good and I'd buy a single 20 oz bottle.

It doesn't really taste like coke, but hey, not too bad. I don't think I'm ready to switch over entirely, but it might be good to have again.

That's it for now, back to work...

eating soap, reading, and garbage

Haven't blogged in a bit - guess it's time to get caught up a bit. Visited my folks for Mother's day - had a pretty good time. One odd thing: when we got back from dinner on Saturday we found that the dog had made a mess on the floor - an unusual occurance. Turns out, the dog had eaten an entire bar of decoratve soap from the gift basket that I got for Mom. Not just nibble and then random destruction - but the entire bar. The dog was sick for a while, understandably, but was doing fine the next day. We made a few of the obvious jokes and that was pretty much it. Despite the dog's intelligence and trick-learning skills, she's still just a dog.

I got a new book not too long ago - # 4 in a series. Unfortunatly, I've read so many books between 3 & 4 that I felt like I was missing some kind of connection. So, I decided to re-read them all in sequence - just so I don't lose the flow of the story. And these are fairly massive hardcover books - may take me a while, though the warm weather means that marathon reading sessions on the porch are viable.

Should have been - Garbage, the band. Picked up the new CD and it rocks. Feels like they never left.

Played a video game the last couple of days - Metal Arms, a Glitch in the system. Good game, lots of robot-on-robot violence, but it makes me really dizzy and sick to my stomach. Too much spinning around looking for targets.

Guess that's it for now. Back to work...

red lights and a trip for tools

So, I get out of work late yesterday cause too many things happened at the last minute. I've got a map and an advertising flyer in my hand - I'm on a hunt for water pumps for my Dad; he likes to build fountains. The sale price is excellent, so I'm on my way.

The map and directions are okay in that I eventually find my way there, but not okay in that I'm pretty much feeling lost the entire time. While on the way there I see something I've never seen before. A white van pulls up next to me at a red light, pauses, then goes ahead and runs the light. No lights or sirens, he just ran the light. Fortunatly, the intersection was clear and he went on to the next one. Up ahead, I could see the van change lanes before he got to the next intersection - everyone was stopped there at a red light. He pulled behind the person waiting to turn left, went around them on the left (putting him the opposing lane of traffic) and then crossed the intersection - and the light was still red. I could see a third intersection that was fortunatly green that he went on through, then I lost track of him since I was turning left now that my light was green.

People make mistakes and sometimes don't process a red light in time to get stopped. If they're lucky, they get through without hurting themselves or anyone else. This guy, though, knew exactly what was going on - and he was a traffic accident waiting to happen.

I arrived at my destination unscathed, found what I was looking for, and headed home. The ride home was a little intense as well since I've been trying to drink a lot more water through the day and it was having an effect. But, I got past that okay too.

So, that was my adventure yesterday. And when I got home, I baked a bunch of cookies.

And now it's time to get back to work...

The fundamental interconnectedness of all things...

Douglas Adams (also the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) wrote a book called "Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency" - which I read and enjoyed several years ago. My favorite part of the book was the afformentioned "fundamental interconnecteness of all things" - Dirk's theory that since everything is connected, whatever you do must be part of the solution to any problem. He applied this to navigation - whenever he got lost while driving he would just pick a car at random that looked like they knew where they were going. It might not take him to where he wanted to go - but it usually take him to where he really needed to be, since everything is connected.

Yesterday, while driving back from dropping off my rent check, I noticed that a police car had pulled someone over - though they were still totally blocking the lane I needed. I was annoyed by that, of course, but that's the subject of a differnt blog. The problem was a ways up from me, but I wasn't familier with the area enough to strike out on my own. The car in front of me made an abrupt right turn well before the stopped cars and looked like he knew where he was going.

So, I followed him. Subdivsions, backroads, hidden byways...all fell before our mighty navaigation endeavor. A few times I wanted to go off on my own - thinking that we were headed the wrong direction. But, I stuck with the "tFIoaT" and followed.

Things started to look familier and just before we got to the stop sign and turn I was looking for - he turned off into a driveway, leaving me with a clear shot to my turn and smooth sailing on home. I waved to him in thanks, though I don't know that he saw me.

This is the second time I've tried this - worked even better this time around. I think the secret is having a bit of extra time on your hands and just going with the moment.

So, thank you, stranger - you will never know it, but you helped me get home.

That's it for now - time to get back to work...

a variety of topics

A few things to note:

1. Last night, I stopped at Border's - and didn't buy anything. Wasn't sure it was possible, but it happened.

2. At target last night, the cashier asked if I wanted to sign up for a target credit card. Does no one read this thing?!?!

3. Saw a man this morning using a leaf blower on his driveway - at ten till seven in the AM. His neighbors must hate him.

4. Today is my third day of drinking a lot of water. Over the past two days I've had 4.5 liters of fluids. I'm hoping it will give me superpowers.

5. Played Katamari Damacy last night in eternal mode - no timer, no goal. I rolled up everything on the planet. Felt really powerful.

6. Saw a bilboard for a soft drink claiming to have unified "one calorie and full flavor" in something they called "oneify". The "one calorie" image looked like a smiling electron and the "full flavor" looked like a drop of blood from the old red cross blood drive ads. Not sure where they were going with that.

That's it for now - back to work...

Epic dream - the plant

I'm going to try and capture this before it fades away - it was really weird. And that's saying something.

I dreamed I was swimming in the ocean with 2 of my friends and when we got out I noticed that each of us had a cluster of seedpods/egg cases under our skin. Mine were on my shoulder and I lanced one with a pin. Instead of pus as I expected, there was a little clear fluid and then a narrow green plant stem. I squeezed the skin around it and more of the plant pushed though until it was about 4 inches tall. It had green and blue leaves that dried fuzzy - the blue leaves arranged like the red leaves on a poinsettia - though much smaller. As we watched, tiny white flowers bloomed on the small plant. It didn't seem to hurt though we were all very worried. The three of us located a marine botanist at a local research center who found the plant in one of her books - but had no idea what to do with it.

So, we pulled it out, marveled at the root system it had in me - then decided to check with a local expert on "things put inside the human body". This guy had just recently created a hollow cavity in a person's back and had filled it with water - and four goldfish. The fish, we found out, weren't entirely real - sort of like cybog fish. They had real guts and skin, but their skeleton was artifical.

A little more study and we learned that the skeletons contained computer information that - when put together - completed a research paper.

So, for lack of something better to do, we deciphered the information and discovered that a 2 year old boy who was working on his doctorate was actually the reincarnation of a young black woman from africa who had been working on her masters in virology. It seems this young woman had exposed herself accidentally to a virus and had then experiemented on herself looking for a cure. She was unsuccessful, died, and was reincarnated as this young boy who was continuing her work.

We had inadvertantly uncovered an ethics violation - since none of the experiements she had done were cleared for use on humans. And that ethics violation apparently followed her to the next life.

Still no closer to the "plant growing of my shoulder" thing - I gave up and went to my parents house, where they helped me pull all the plants from my shoulder. I think I went there 'cause they have a nice yard and would know about pulling weeds.

And then the dream just kinda stalled - like when a conversation is over, but you're stuck with a person and have nothing to say. So, I just hung out there until I woke up.

And checked my shoulder for a plant. Or even a suspicious bump.

For those of you playing along at home, this is the third dream where something has grown out of my skin.

And now that I've got that written down - it's back to work...

annoyed at Best Buy

So, I'm in Best Buy, having successfully naviagted the maze of a queing system to reach the checkout, and the fun begins.

The cashier first asks me if I have a reward zone or best buy card. I tell her no.
She then asks if I want to sign up for either Entertainment weekly or Sports Illustrated. I tell her no.

Then she attempts to teach me how to use the debit card swipe tool. I seem to do okay on my own.

Then she asks for my phone number. I tell her no.

There was something else she wanted to know from me, but by this point I was so annoyed that I couldn't form new memories. Whatever it was, I told her no.

All I wanted from that tranaction was to pay for my purchases and get on with my life. This whole suggestive sales / marketing thing is really getting on my nerves. Let's break it down.

1. If I had a best buy card or a rewards zone - wouldn't I have that out already? The lititure for these things is plastered all over the store - it's not like I could miss it.

2. Magazine subscriptions - you know, it would be a differnt story if I was purchasing a single copy of one of these magazines. Then, an offer for a subscription would make sense. Nothing I was buying was sports related and I might think that Entertainment Weekly is a rip off with pretty pictures and little content.

3. Debit card? Who doesn't know how to handle a debit card? And, Hello? - the directions are right on the screen.

4. Phone number. You know, I don't care if it's for market research or telemarketing - you are not getting my phone number unless it's essential for the transaction. I'm not in Best Buy as an inviation to be bothered, I'm there to get some stuff and get gone.

5. She wasn't paying attention to me - or she would have noticed that the insessant questions were annoying me. I'm less than 2 feet away from her and she's talking to me - but also essentialy ignoring me.

Where's the friendly banter? Where's the meaningless discussion of the weather? Where's the human being that's suppose to assist me with my purchase?

All I had was a suggestive sales drone who was determined to get through her pre-programmed list of questions.

One of the movies I bought was a sequal - maybe mention that the orgianal just went down in price too. One of the games I got was really cheap - maybe mention that the Greatest Hits section of PS2 games had recently expanded. Maybe tell me that Entertainment Weekly had a great review of the other movie I got - that it was worth the price tag.

I think the next drone that launches in with their questions is going to get a slightly terse response from me regarding suggestive sales. Thank goodness I wasn't buying a big ticket appliacne - I might still be there enduring their warrenty and extended warrenty plans at exaustive length.

---Holy shit. I just got a spam from Best Buy wanting me to sign up for a reward zone cared. Coincidence, I'm sure, but still deeply annoying. And a little creepy.

In other news - I had a dream last night that I was in a car accident, but that the paper reported it the next day with someone elses name - and that that person had died. I was trying to get to the bottom of the mystery - as the Scooby Gang would say - and took time out to coodinate the suggogate birth of a human from a kangaroo. Apparently, it was an emergency situation and the kangroo had gotten away. I was apparently in change of the situation and we decided on a c-section. I was trying to keep the kangaroo calm when I realized it was having the human baby by natural birth. So, we skipped the c-section and let the kangaroon do the work. The baby was tiny - though still massive by kangaroo standards - and the dream ended with us not being sure if the child would live.

The kangaroo seemed fine though.

Well, that's it for now - back to work...

zombies, navy spam, too much video games

Reading Savage Love this morning - a column from Dan Savage in seattle that discusses some of the weirder issues of love, sex, and life - and a reader sent a letter in about having a Zombie Fetish. I'm not going to go into details, but as someone with a Zombie PHOBIA - well, it was extra creepy.

Got an email this morning as well from a navy recruiter - offering "money for your education, experience in highly technical positions, all while staying in the local area." Seems a little odd that a branch of the US government would be sending spam, but there you go. I'm going to hang onto this one - might be good evidence for some future argument.

And I think I may have played too many video games. Had a dream last night that was a combination of Prince of Persia and Pitfall Harry. Essentially, get from point a to point b - and pretty much everything between is some kind of trap. I woke up exausted. Guess I need to take a break from those.

Might be the dream, might be the last remenent of the cold - but I'm feeling slightly disconnected from reality this morning. Or maybe like I'm waiting for something to happen. I dunno, it's weird.

Well, I guess it's time get back to work...

"Your total comes to -$3"

I did a good thing this afternoon while I was getting my lunch. Stopped off at the bank machine first and got $30 out - then headed to the Student Union to get sushi, fried rice, and a pepsi (since they don't sell coke on campus).

There was a line for the checkout and they were pretty busy. When I got up to the front the cashier rang up my meal and said, "$7.00". I handed her a $10 and almost didn't catch when she said, "out of $20". She was moving pretty fast and I saw her put the $10 in the cash register in the $20 slot, then grabbed a $10 and 3 ones, which she started to hand to me. I stopped her, told her that I'd given her a $10. She looked puzzled and I asked her to open the cash drawer again. I pointed to the $20 slot and indicated the $10 she'd put there by mistake. Realizing her mistake made her a little flustered - so I helped out and told her that she owned me 3 dollars back. She thanked me, handed me my change, and I went on my way.

I guess I'm used to certain rhythem to a transaction for a meal and it took me a few seconds to catch the error. If I hadn't, she would have been off by the cost of my meal, and I would have gotten my lunch for $-3 dollars.

The sushi was pretty good, the rice wasn't that great, and the pepsi was pretty much the same as any other pespi I'd had - i.e. not as good as a coke.

There's my good deed for the day - quick thinking and a little honesty.

Back to work...

cirque du sole and the Prince of Persia

Had a dream last night that I was at a cirque du sole performance - in a mall foodcourt, I think. The two performers were strapped to a huge circular ring on either side and a large piece of white fabric was stretched across it. The ring was hinged on either side and the performers could, with the help of a rack of burners like a hot air balloon would use, fly and perform airobatics. The were both really strong and painted, for some reason, like gargoyls. After the performance they joined the small audience for snacks. It was beautiful - and very surreal.

In other news, I finished Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within. Good game, pretty amazing. I had some instructions on how to get the alternative ending, I may try it again to get the regular ending.

Watched part of the Lost Boys last night before bed - great movie. "My own brother! A god-damn shit-sucking vampire! You just wait until Mom finds out!"

Work has been busy the past couple of days and things are starting to ramp up around here again. Best get back to it...

reality rewritten

Had a weird dream this morning, but then, aren't they all? In this dream, I was in a house that had a typewriter in the front hall. It was constantly typing out everything that happened in the house - dialoge, actions - the whole deal. And anyone in the house could take over and type something to make it come true. All the pages were stacked to one side, so if someone in the house left for a bit, they could read what happened and catch up. On the surface it would seem pretty chaotic, but everyone "played fair" and didn't abuse the typewriter. We all (I think there were 5 or 6 of us) got along pretty well. And to make matters stranger, the dream started with the story being told from the perspecitve of a cat that wandered in.

I woke up when the alarm went off, then drifted right back into the dream to keep it going. I'm really hoping its the drugs I'm taking for my cold - 'cause this was way messed up.

I'm feeling a little better today, not as much mucus. Which is always nice. Got a bit of a cough, but it's not bad. Could just be because I left a window open last night. I guess I'm rushing summer a bit.

Did a bunch of reading yesterday and listened to music. A pretty quiet evening - something I need at least until I'm feeling all the way better.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Back to work...

still 28% miserable

I guess it started a little bit last Wednesday evening. A slight cough, a bit of phlegm, no big deal. Thursday, I filled my garbage can at work with tissues. Friday, I couldn't even go to work - spent much of the day in bed or otherwise laying around like a bump. Spent most of the weekend sick and did a lot of sleeping - though I did force myself to get dressed and go outside for a little shopping and errands.

Today, I'm back to work - and wishing I was home playing video games. Or sitting outside reading. Throat is a little sore, mild headache, etc. But, I'll survive and get through the day.

Saw my ex-roommates Mom last week - with a vague invitation to breakfast or a dinner. Still haven't heard from him since he stopped by - beginning to wonder if it was a hallucination.

Had a string of calls Friday night at 1:14 AM - hmmm, I guess that would be Saturday morning. No info on the caller ID - and they just hung on the line long enough to piss me off while not saying anything. After the third one, I just left the phone off the hook. I don't like doing that in case something important really happens, but it was either that or not sleep. It's the kind of thing my ex-roommates ex-girlfriends used to do. You'd think the two "exs" in that one would stop that kind of call, but they still pester me. Or at least I think it's them.

Well, better wrap this up and get back to work...