blood drive, comics/dice, dryer vent

I went and gave blood again yesterday - and again, it took quite a while. I think I was there for about an hour and a half, most of that spent waiting. They were understaffed and didn't anticipate the number of people coming in. I even saw one guy get all the way to the waiting area just before you give blood - and then he left. All that waiting, and he couldn't wait a little longer - he was even next when the left.

Fortunatly, the guy that took my history also came over to help with the donatation area - and I didn't have any problems getting the tubes filled, though a lady that was there did.

In other news...I tried the burger king Chicken Fries. Eh, they're just chicken strips. And they tasted okay.

Also made a trip to the comic book store. While getting the latest issue of the Flash, I also picked up some dice for one of those DVD "Scene it" games that I've played recently. The dice that came with the game are too big and they don't shake well in a person's hand. So, we kept rolling the same number and catagory. I'll need to paint/label one of them, but that's minor. The 6 and 8 sided were for the game - the 20 was just for "coolness". It harkens back to the days of dungons and dragons and getting better outcomes for rolling high numbers. I didn't really play dungeons and dragons, but I'm geeky enough that I should have. Anyway, I saw a t-shirt that said, simply, "I roll twenties". I thought it was funny, so I got myself a 20 sided die, just in case I need a little extra power or smarts. Or something, I'm not entirely sure why I bought it. Still, for an impulse buy, it only cost me 80 cents.

And last night while doing the laundry - the $#@#()* dryer vent fell off again. I did a little swearing and put it back on. So, my basement is warm, but that's about it. Not even sure why I keep bothering - I should just replace the damn thing with a regular hose and be done with it.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Time to get back to work...

chewie gets a sweater/hat, another minor coke bottle incident, and glitter

It's "Take your wookie to work day" again - this time, Chewie is sporting his new sweater.


Silly wookie.

In other news...a .5 liter coke bottle will not fit in my cup holder in my car. Coming into work, it leaped out of the protective confines of the cup holder and vaulted to the floorboards. It was still closed, fortunatly, but still annoying.
Again, no issues in opening it.

Finally, I had to call my sister last night. I got a christmas card that had glitter on it - and the glitter of course got on my hands. My sister has glitter, ummm... "issues" and she was the first one I thought to call to help get it off me. She suggested that I not touch anything and immediately scrub my hands. But by that point I had already touched the phone and the phone had touched my head - setting off a mock panic attack for both of us. It was pretty funny.

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

in the news, and a strange headache

In the news today we've got:

The NSA spying on America
The president apoligizing for the war
and the House voting to cut health and social programs.

Of those three, the apology upsets me the most. Mainly because it's so empty. Do we really believe that he's sorry? Do we really believe he's taking responsiblity?

Nope. And the thing that really gets me is that he's still not doing anything to end the war and bring our troups home - troups that shouldn't have ever been deployed there.

I think that someone saying "I'm sorry," by itself, isn't saying much. People should follow an apology with an attempt to make things right. Repair what's broken. He's still doing the same things and making the same mistakes.

Along those lines, I saw a T-Shirt with a big "W" on it - the label was "Worst Ever"


In other news...my school has a new slogan that actually makes me vaguely interested in the sports teams. "Fear the Roo". :)

In still other news... I had what I think was a cluster headache over the weekend that I mostly slept through. Woke up in the middle of the night having to pee and with a headache. Took care of what needed to be taken care of - then went back to sleep somehow. I woke up with a bit of a headache and that soon faded out to the sharp stabbing pain that only manifests when I cough. And today, that's nearly gone too. I guess if I'm going to keep having these, at least I slept through this one.

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

flying soda, echeck, parking rant, phone bill

This morning, while I was getting into my car, I set my bottle of soda on the roof so that I could check to see if I needed to scrape my windshield or if I could just brush it off. Instead of putting my soda in the car - as I should have - I left it there and reached in to start the engine and get my scraper. The ice on the roof - with the vibrations of the engine - caused my plastic bottle of soda to fly off the roof, hit the ground, slide under the car next to mine and come to a rest in a snowbank.

So, I went around and picked it up - there was a lot of foam at the top, but the bottle was undamaged. And on the way to work, I sort of forgot about how shaken up it was and that I should be careful. I twisted off the cap at my desk and...

...nothing happened. It was fine. The soda must have settled down somehow during the car ride. Strangest thing.

Last evening, I went to get my car e-checked since my registration is due in January. And if I did it in 2005 to avoid the long lines, it would be free instead of the ususal $19.50

Now, I'm not sure how the line lenght is going to be differnt from year to year - but free is better than 20 bucks. There was no line when I pulled up and my car passed. Took maybe 7 minutes total and I was on the road with my certification in hand.

I had been a little concerned since there had been issues with the cars computer and the oxygen sensor, but they must have been electical ghosts and didn't affect the tests.

This morning, I had to pass up a prime parking spot at work since some dufus had backed into their space - and done a poor job of it. This is one of the many things that annoy me. If you're going to take the extra time to back into a space - do it well so that you don't mess things up for anyone else. And frankly - you're not Batman. You don't need to fly screaming out of your parking space to chase down the bad guys. Get over yourself.

This past week, I've been taking a closer look at my phone bill. I was concerned about the amount I was paying for my local service and the plan I had wasn't really what I needed. So, I called them up and looked for options. They couldn't offer any savings on intraLATA calls and the unlimited residence service, even with all the extra stuff removed, was still over 20 bucks. I ended up saving 5 bucks, but I've got no features on my phone. Hell, if it was any simpler I'd be using bare copper wires or tin cans and string. And it's still over 20 bucks + all the the federal fees and charges.

I'm strongly considering giving up on a land line entirely and going the cell phone route.

Now, before you get all up in arms - keep in mind that my biggest concern with those things has been the people that use them. I'd be getting a simple phone with a simple plan and using it primarly from home.

The very notion still makes me queasy, but the merger of SBC and AT&T doesn't give me hope for better customer service or reduced prices.

And I guess that's it for now. Have a good weekend and I'll get back to work...

danger at the supermarket - and dessert

I had to make a trip to the supermarket last night to get supplies for the holiday party dessert I was making. As I headed toward the entrance, I heard/saw two people sitting just past the soda machines outside, having a smoke break. As I came past the machines and into their view, one of them threw a cigerette at me.

Now, I know that they were already throwing the cigerette when I came into view and they didn't hit me - the cig landed between my steps. I shot them about half a glare since no damage was done and if I got really worked up every time someone did something stupid in my presence I'd be in jail now.

They shouting an "I'm sorry" as I walked on. I think one of them was still out there when I left after getting my few items.

And of course I forgot one thing I needed - so later that evening I walked down to the Circle K and picked it up - then walked back.

For those interested - the dessert I made is as follows.

27 Ho-ho's
1 large package of Jello Chocolate Pudding (with three cups of milk)
24 crumbled shortbread cookies
1 full container of cool whip

Yeah, it's evil, but I only make it once a year - so, it's okay.

That's it for now, gotta go do some work...

A trip to the mall

Well, I did it. I went to the mall again. There were some "items" that I didn't get enough of - and I had to go back for more. I headed out right after work - hoping my slightly early exit strategy would shield me from the masses. It only partly worked.

I went to JC Penny's and rightly surmised my "items" would be on the second floor. But if there was a pattern or an organizational scheme in place for the stuff there, I couldn't find it. And as a result I had a difficult time finding my items. Once I did - I had to stand in line. That part went better than I expected, despite someone trying to place a catalog order. Hello? Isn't that why you have a phone? Or the Internet?

Anyway, got through the line and headed to my car. And then things went horribly wrong. Every route I tried was backed up. And I'm reasonably familer with my area, so I know a lot of routes. After several attempts at a better route, I finally got myself on a straight shot and waited things out. I was lucky that I got gas beforehand - that's all I'm saying.

Got home, got the incomplete present unwrapped and re-wrapped - then watched "the ring: two" again and played video games.

Also, one of my colleagues sent me a gift bag with Coca-cola, Doritos, and chocolate as a thank-you for helping her out with a variety of projects over the year. I gorged myself - it was excellent.

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

broken boot

I have a sort of love/hate relationship with my work boots. I think they're comfortable and they say, "This is a guy that knows which end of a hammer to pick up," - which I do.

However, they are fairly difficult to take off and put on - without almost totally undoing the laces. Which I didn't do last night. And as I grabbed the heal to give them a good yank - the heal came unglued from the rest of the sole.

I managed to get the boot off - and I think I can re-glue the boot with some shoe-goo. Still, I'm bootless for the moment and had to wear shoes that are not suited for this kind of weather. Annoying.

Well, I guess I could keep typing about other non-important things, but I've got a meeting to go to...so, back to work...

something in my soup

Today, for lunch, I had Campbell's Chunky soup, with sirloin burger and country vegetables - and brown rice. Anyone looking though my kitchen cabinets will find many more cans of this same soup - it's something of a staple for me. Today, however, I was surprised by what I discovered.

In the middle of a bite, I bit down on something that I couldn't immediately identify. Which is odd all by itself since I'm deeply familier with this soup and rice combo. It "felt" like I was biting into a piece of wood.

I spit it out and it sure looked like a small piece of wood on closer examination. It had grains and the texture and hardness were along the lines of wood - though there was a small hook-like protrusion on one side. Since I can't imagine how wood would enter into the soup making process (except maybe a wooden crate with vegetables in it - though I would hope they have a filter for that sort of thing) - I studied it a little more carefully and decided it must have been the solid core of a carrot. It was the only vegetable that might have produced this unique shape - though the hardness was unusual.

I check the rest of the soup and discovered no other weird items. Still, it was damn odd and I'm going to see if I can get a picture.

That's it for this update - though I will say that holiday shopping today wasn't as bad as I feared. With the exception of Best Buy - it was worse than I expected.

Later...

the heat is on

The call to the landlord was successful - by the time I got home, the heat was back on and my apartment was toasty. Well, not toasty since I don't keep it that warm in there, but still nice.

Christmas shopping is proceeding on pace - I've got my list of people to buy for and I think I'll be able to knock it out this afternoon with a trip to a couple of stores.

Had a moment of swearing on the drive to work this week - a small section of road closed for no apparent reason. It's not the first time this has happened on this stretch of road - nor is it the first time that I've gotten in the turning lane and then been trapped by other traffic when I didn't seen the poorly positioned signs. As I've mentioned before, I'm a Point A to Point B kinda guy - and I had to loop around past Point E to get to work. Annoying.

Let's see...what else is going on? Well, we met the new VP on Friday - seems pretty cool. From his resume, he's got a "rep" of sorts about downsizing companies - but from the brief talking to him, it sounds like he's got some good plans and that he's got the same kind of concerns for our processes that we have. So, should be cool.

I guess it's time to start my deep breathing and non-stress shopping mantras. I'm...well, let's just say I'm not good with crowds. I had joked about wearing a protective cup and carrying a sword, but I think instead I'm just going to play it cool. As the Jets would say:

"Just play it cool, boy. Real cool"

And on the disturbing note of me quoting West Side Story - I'm outta here...

cold in the apartment

I usually keep my apartment a little cool in the winter - but it was downright cold yesterday when I got home from work. I turned up the heat and went about my business - but eventually noticed that it was still pretty cold. I checked the vents - no heat, no air movement. Not good.

I had company over last evening and we checked the furnace. If the pilot light was where we thought it was - it was out. All of our attempts to get the furnace going met with failure - but fortuantly I live in an apartment and it's not always my problem. I bundled up for the night and just made a call to the landlord - and left a message.

Fingers crossed that they can get over there today and get things resolved. I've got a back-up plan (I always have a backup plan) - but it's still troublesome.

So, I'm at work and at least it's warm here - better...

wait...

Yes, it's for real. One of my co-workers (and I use the term "work" loosely) - was just now snoring in his cubicle. Loud enough that I could hear it over my headphones.

His phone started ringing as I approached his cubicle and that woke him up.

That's just...you know...wrong.

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

traffic and groceries - the clueless reign

So, I'm driving on route 8 south recently and noticed that traffic was slowing down. I attributed this to late rush hour traffic, but then I heard on the radio that there was an accident. On route 8 south. Just before the Perkins exit. I glanced up to see the sign above me: Perkins exit, 1/2 mile.

Great.

But, traffic never came a complete stop for more than a minute or two at a time. It mostly just moved slowly until I got right up to the exit. Police stopped all the traffic for a moment to get the ambulances out of the way, then they headed out too. Suddenly, the way was clear and we all surged forward with the post traffic issue euphoria. Like emerging from a dark and evil forest into a sunlit meadow - or maybe I've read too many books with evil forests in them.


Last night, I stopped for groceries. Which is always an adventure in itself. I'm pretty good at moving past the clueless, but a poorly placed shopping cart changes things. I got stopped a couple of times by these people, but was mostly unscathed until it got time to check out.

The store I went to is poorly designed in that there is little approach room to the checkout area. So, instead of forming proper lines, everyone just gets kind of bottlenecked. I saw an opening, looped around the doughnut display and was about to queue up when an elderly woman blocked my way. She asked me "Are you going out?"

Now, I think pretty quickly so this is a slowed down version of what when through my head:

1. What?
2. What is she talking about?
3. "Out?" Does she mean outside?
4. Does she think I'm going to steal my groceries?
5. Maybe she's angling for help getting her groceries to her car.
6. Then why did she ask me before I was done checking out?
7. Maybe she's referring to "out" as a direction to move my cart.
8. But "out" which way? Out toward the frozen food? Out toward the check out?
9. Wait, maybe she's trying to invent some grocery store slang and "out" becomes the shortened form of "check out".
10. Hmmm...well, duh. Of course I'm going to check out. She can't be that daft.
11. I've already spent too much time figuring this out - time to use misdirection and then cut and run.

So, I pointed in a direction past her and said "I'm going that way". Then I re-angled my cart, went on past her and found a line that looked longer, but saw that people only had a few items each.

I lost track of her at this point, but it was a strange moment - and that's what this blog is all about.

Back to work...

a trip to the gas station

I had to stop for gas last night after work - and I passed up a couple of stations on the way so that I could go to the one I usually go to. Which was cool since the "regular" station had cheaper gas than the others in the area. Of course, everyone else knew that and it was chaos to get in there and get to the pumps. I got in line and I'm sitting there waiting. I don't really want to move since there are so many cars going a lot of differnt directions and I didn't want to add to the confusion. Since the woman in front of me has gone inside to pay for her gas - and apparently rewallpaper the building since it took her so long, I decided to pull around her to the only open spot in the place. Though, this will entail me going in reverse which I don't like doing.

I finally get into place, get out of my car and go to fill up my tank...

...And I realize that the gas tank is on the other side of my car. Embarassed, annoyed, cranky and irate at myself - I get back in my car and leave the station. I go down the road to a nearly empty station (with slightly higher prices) and get $15.00 worth of slightly more expensive gas.

Now, I've owned my car for several years now and I don't think I've even done that before. I'm going to blame it on the frustruation of the crowd, but it could just be that I'm slightly stupid.

And on that note...back to work...

weatherstripping, dryer venting, and epic danger

This past weekend was "project weekend" - a mystical time where I actually try to get a bunch of stuff done instead of just sitting on my ass playing video games that whole time. To be fair - I did plan some games, but I also got a lot done.

DVDs - I went through my collection, found the ones I didn't want anymore and traded them for a couple new ones and a CD.

Video games - same deal here, except that I had so much in trade that I had to get a "trade slip" for a future visit. Which is cool.

Got some christmas shopping done - and then decided to really get to work. Started with rearranging my movies and games - since they now fit better on the shelves. Then I headed to the door.

The weather stripping around my front door has been coming loose for a while now and though I could have called the landlord on this one, I figured that I could handle it myself. I mean, how hard could it be? (yes, I am an idiot)

I bought the new stuff at home depot - then did some rough measuring and tore out the old loose stuff. The new stripping looked like it could only go in one way so I got it in place and then tried to close the door.

Note the use of the word "tried". Yeah, it didn't really go well. I found a couple of problem area and found a nail that was coming in at a bad angle. A bit more swearing and I finally got the door to reluctantly close.

Next up - the clothes dryer. I wanted to get one of those airflow re-directs that you put in the hose to send warm air into the apartment, instead of outside. It's a good idea in theory and didn't seem to look too difficult in install. (see note above about me being an idiot).

My first attempt was using the exisiting vent tubing. The inherent problem is that the tubing is a spiral - and the re-direct box opening is round. So, the cuts were a problem, the fasteners were a problem (and it didn't help that one was broken out of the box), and it was dark and dusty behind the dryer.

20 minutes after it was all in place - and in the middle of drying cycle - I heard a crash. Sure enough, it was in pieces on the floor. Not broken, just fallen loose. I swore, put it back together and started it back up. Later - another crash.

So, back to home depot for more tubing, since I had convinced myself that was a the problem (still an idiot). The foil tubing seemed more flimsy, but also more fire resistant and the new metal ring clamps seemed the way to go. This meant that I also needed to get on the floor behind the dryer to fasten the tube to the dryer itself - and since I didn't have/couldn't find a flashlight - I did this by candlelight. Don't worry - I vaccumed most of the dust up first. Tightened everything up and it looked great.

Then - another crash. Swearing. I tried again and tightened up every clamp within an inch of total molecular fusion. Started it up - threatened the dryer, the vent system, the entire basement and it's contents.

And it's still in place - or at least it was when I left the apartment this morning.

So that - along with shopping and wrapping some christmas presents - was my weekend.

Oh, on a final note. I've gotten into the pseudo-habit of pulling an Emeral style sauce pan spin when I'm getting ready to cook (i.e. heat up something from a can). This weekend, however, the pan flew out of my grip, sailed through the air, and hit the gound with a crash. It didn't have a lid, so the huge dent in the side doesn't seem to matter - except as a warning to all my other kitchen implements.

I barely made it out of the weekend alive. Now I'm safely back to work and it's time to get busy...

man out of time...

Which sounds a lot more interesting than just saying that I forgot my watch. Which I never do. I'd be more likely to forget to put on pants than to forget my.... wait, okay, I am wearing pants this morning. I had to check.

Had trouble getting up this morning - and then I had to scrape off my car. I hate that. It's my least favorite part of winter. I'd rather drive in a blizzard. Well, not in NE Ohio - most of the people on the road with me seem amazed by this strange "snow" thing. They have to drive really slowly to observe it. Madness.

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

messed up dreams, messed up hair

I'm back from an extended Thanksgiving weekend (well, I was back to work yesterday, but I was really cranky and didn't feel like blogging), and started out this morning with a really weird set of dreams that I kept dipping in and out of. They mostly revolved around getting a team of scientists to work together in a lab that was full to about waist level with a very runny clay. It was sort of a team build exercise and sort of a computer engineering problem.

I took a quick shower and apparently didn't dry my hair enough - the hat I wore to work really messed up my hair. Which I didn't think was possible considering how short I keep it cut.

Actually, I'm only guessing that it's messed up. I can feel that a section in the middle front is sticking up - and the rest is fine. Oh well. I'm in a cube farm and with no meetings I might not actually see anyone else today, except when I go to lunch and I'll be wearing my hat again.

I beat Spawn: Armageddon last night - on easy mode. The normal mode? Quite a bit more challenging - though ultimatly nothing to write home about.

And I guess that's about it - time to get back to work...