lunch, swim, fraud, shirt, game

We had a celebration luncheon yesterday for a project that I was only marginally involved in and which really isn't done - but the food was good and the dessert was excellent. So, my swim was a bit disrupted and I couldn't go until after work. I got in 30 laps and felt pretty strong, so that was okay.

I've been running a couple of online elections here on campus and we had a small incident of attempted voter fraud. I found it and reported it - ironically, I don't think it was enough to have made a difference in the elections. I dunno what the consequences will be for the parties involved, but it should be interesting.

Catalog season appears to be in full swing and I've gotten a few in the mail recently. One had a t-shirt that said:

"Non sequiturs are like Bicycles. They don't bathe."

FYI - ("Non sequitur" is Latin for "it does not follow.") And no, I didn't know that, but I was pretty close to the correct meaning when I've had the rare occasion to use the phrase in the past.

I fired up the playstation again last night and played some Little Big Planet. There are certain parts of the game that can only be solved by two players and though I've got a second controller and a room-mate that promised to play, I was on my own last night. So, with a little care, I was able to play as two characters and get a few more items. I felt pretty clever to have been able to pull that off - and a little sad that I was on my own. I suppose I could connect online and find someone that way on the playstation network -but most people I've encountered in online games were idiots.

I was supposed to go to a football game this evening, but my FRM's mom called and canceled. She's got bronchitis and decided against going. Which means she doesn't need a driver - letting me off the hook as well.

So, I've got a few errands to run after work - then it's a hopefully relaxing evening at home with a strong cup of tea and a good book. I might even try meditating a bit.

later...

growl

My morning has turned cranky. I'm not going to go into details cause it's all work related, but when my work phone rang and I noted the caller-ID, I let out a quiet and deep growl as I reached for it.

Before my hand could touch the phone, it stopped ringing. No voicemail, no nothing - it just stopped.

Out of fear.

And that, friends, is how it's done. I'm already in a better mood.

later...

computer, party, movies, costume

I helped my room-mate buy a new computer this weekend. I had suggested a desktop - since he needs it for work and almost never travels - but he had his eye on a laptop. A very shiny one. I finally gave up and shifted my function from "real practical advice" to "explanation of terminology"

The set up went fairly well - though I was surprised to find there wasn't any office products on there. Just a 60-day trial and then purchase. So, I set him up with Open Office. He had one eye on the football game while I was explaining it to him, so we'll see how that goes.

I went to a party over the weekend - my boss's wife and sister both turned 50 so there was a combined party for them. The food was good, the music was good but way too loud, and the only people I knew there were those that I worked with. I stayed for a bit, did quite a bit of folding, then headed out.

Watched a couple of movies over the weekend - Midnight Movie and The Unborn. Maybe I've seen too many movies, but these were both pretty predictable. There were a couple of "jump out at you" moments, but pretty tame.

I picked up a few more elements for my costume this weekend - still got quite a bit of work to do.

Guess that's it for now - later...

nerd, movie, melt, game

I had a bunch of files to move from my work computer to my home computer yesterday and it was really too much for email. And too much for the flash drive I usually use. Then I remembered that I had another flash drive - an officially licensed Star Trek flash drive wristband that I'd gotten for 5 dollars and 2 box tops from some cereal. And it had nearly a gig of free space. Sweet! So, I loaded it up, put it on, and wore it home. Well, I wore it to target first while I ran some errands. I got my data transfered and was able to work from home. Ummm... yea? Anyway, the fact that I was finally able to make use of my star trek flash drive wristband was a moment of pure nerd-vana for me. It was great.

I started watching Wolverine last night on DVD. I think it started a little slow - sort of - but despite some issues I had with the characters, it was pretty good. I didn't get to watch all of it - my room-mate was having it out on the phone with his sister while sitting out in the garage in his car. I tried to help him get settled down after that - it was very nearly a melt down - and by then it was too late to keep watching the show. I'll pick it up again today after work.

I'm also going to get back into the gaming mode. I've been avoiding the playstation 3 and the Wii for the past month to prove a point and that time has now passed. I've been a bit more productive, I guess, but not that much.

Work has been more crazy than usual these past few days. I'm not going to go into it, but I'll be glad when the week is done. My swim is going to be disrupted today - I'll have to go later this afternoon.

Guess that's it for now... later...

mood, clay, push, dream, chipotle

I'm in a much better mood today- and I'm sure everyone around me is happy about that as well. I did some work on a couple of projects last evening - including trying to make a TRON version of Gumby out of polymer clay. It didn't work out very well, but it was fun to try and I learned from my mistakes.

I'm also working on a project involving ash and rust - both of which are taking longer to acquire than I expected. The ash is currently coming from incense sticks - and is really too potent to be used indoors. The rust is from a piece of metal that I found, but it's not breaking down as quickly as I wanted it to. I may burn some paper - maybe even some damaged origami - for more ash. And apparently my room-mate's "new" antique car has some underside rust issues that may contribute. Eventually, when I acquire enough, I'm going to mix the items with a diluted glue/water combo and use them to paint on a small canvas.

Watched the movie Push last night. It was okay as far as the acting went, but really good in the "telekinetic ass-kicking" fights.

I had a disturbing nightmare this morning about a sub-basement where "something horrible" dwelled. Even after I woke up, I kept trying to get back into the dream to confront what was down there - which is odd since I know better. If there's potentially something evil in the basement - don't freaking go down there!

Just got back from Chipotle - the burrito was awesome. As to be expected.

back to work...

beams

People that drive at night are jerks. I know that's a sweeping statement - so maybe it's just people that drive near me at night that are jerks.

1. Xenon headlights. Thank you. I'm legally blind now. Why do you need headlights like that? Did you lose a contact lens while on the highway last time and now you're looking for it at 75 miles an hour - hoping that the magical headlights will make it twinkle on the pavement so you can slam on the brakes and pick it up? Jerks.

2. Trucks. Great, you've got a big-ass truck that could drive over a school bus. How awesome for you. Are you aware that the ground clearance also elevates your headlights? And that when you drive behind my normal, human sized, car - you flood the interior with enough light to make the dessert at noon look like the bottom of the freaking ocean? Thanks. I'm blind again. It would be even more awesome if you could please tailgate me for the next 50 miles. Jerks.

3. High breams. Take this quick quiz: "Am I using my high beams when:"

a). There's a car directly in front of me?

b). There's a car coming towards me?

c). There's a car anywhere near me?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, congratulations! You're a jerk. And I'm blind. Again.

I had this a lot on the drive back on Sunday. And as the winter months approach, my morning commute is darker and darker.

In other news... my default mood the past couple days has switched to "irritable". It's usually "slightly annoyed", so, a bit of a downgrade on that. Not sure what's going on and I'm hoping I get over it.

Back to work... later...

sign, shirts

Funny thing I forgot to mention about the trip. When we were going to lunch in Peoria we kept seeing signs for a Crash Inspection Area. We wondered if crashes were brought to the area, if there was an unusually high number of crashes, or if it was about alien crashes. It seemed close to the river, so it might have been something with the coast guard. But I also saw a sign that seemed to indicate car crashes. We were in a hurry and didn't check it in more detail.

Other news... two funny t-shirts from a catalog:

What would Yoda do? Your Ass, KICK IT he would!

I like poetry, long walks on the beach, and poking dead things with a stick.

later...

trip - Sunday and summary

Sunday morning we met up with my parents again for a quick visit with grandma. As before, she had some difficulty with conversations and kept falling asleep. We were outside a bit, but she got cold and we brought her back in to the dining room. We were just in time for the 'special guests' - a couple of miniature horses that visit every Sunday morning. Grandma didn't remember seeing them before, but apparently she had told the guy that her grand-daughter would love them. My sister wasn't the person she had been talking about, but went along with it. Right up until the horse sneezed on her. And there were chunks. She got it cleaned up and we headed into a lounge area to sit for a little while. Grandma drank some green tea that my aunt had brought - which was a good sign since for a while she wasn't able to swallow. She kept dozing off though and it was time for us to leave. She told my sister that she "couldn't wait to meet that new little baby of hers" - which was really good to hear. My sister isn't due until January and isn't showing that much - so, grandma had to have remembered on her own.

We headed out and when to my cousin's again - this time everyone was home and burgers were being grilled. It was a crazy loud house-full of people, but it was a lot of fun too. We couldn't stay long since we had a long drive ahead of us - but we did get some snacks for the road.

6 and a 1/2 hours later - we were back at my sister's. I drove most of the way back and then she took over for the last leg. It was nearly 9 before I headed north and after midnight before I finally got home.

So.

1. I spent a lot of time lost - which I don't enjoy.

2. The trip didn't seem as long with my sister there - she's fun to talk to. Though apparently we have very different political views that we managed to avoid discussing.

3. The wedding was very nice and I'm glad I went.

4. Grandma is getting good care - but even the best of care doesn't seem to have brought her all the way back. It'll just take time - though it remains to see how much better she can get.

5. Dad drives slow.

I was back to work today at 7 am sharp and even got in my usually (though a little shorter) swim between my meetings. I'm very tired now and I think I may hit the sack pretty soon after dinner.

trip - Saturday afternoon and evening

Saturday afternoon was the wedding so after a quick trip to my aunt and uncle's to get ready, we headed to the church. We got there early and did our best to stay out of the way of the photography. My cousin looked beautiful and happy - though maybe a little dazed. I saw a bunch of relatives that I don't normally get to see. Oh, and with my green shirt and my sister's blue dress and scarf - I decided that we looked like algae.

The wedding was nice - and the pastor clearly knew them and spoke to them. Everything went smoothly - although a copy of the marriage license got lost for a bit. It was an autumn themed wedding, so, we threw leaves on the couple as they left the church.

We went back to my aunt and uncle's to relax for a bit before heading out again to the reception. We had the printed directions, but were following out parents with their GPS. They went the wrong way and we stuck to the directions. :)

We sat with my dad's cousin and his family - and got to see his daughter's baby twins and her husband. The twins were a riot - and were really packing away the snacks and then a lot of the dinner when it was served. I had the chicken.

There was a lot of dancing going on, but we mostly hung out and got caught up. My parents left early and my sister and I stayed a bit longer before heading out as well. We took my 14 year old cousin back - he'd already gotten in trouble for having champagne and decided to cut his losses.

It was late when we got back and we all crashed again. The long drive Friday and the long day on Saturday really caught up with me.

trip - Saturday morning

On Saturday, my sister fixed shredded wheats for breakfast. Turns out I'm not much of a fan. From there, we headed out to meet up with my parents and go to visit my grandma in her nursing home. I think we were a little nervous as to what condition we'd find her in. Grandma was in her room and needed help getting into her chair. She looked and acted better than we had expected but not as good as we could have hoped. We wheeled her out to the courtyard and talked to her for a bit. She could follow some of the conversations, but had trouble starting her own. Mom and Dad helped her get up an walk a little bit - and that hit my sister and I pretty hard that she was struggling so much and that she tired out so easily. We brought her chair back over to her and helped her back inside. It was getting close to lunch time at that point so we took her to the dining room. We gave grandma a hug before we left and she said to me "You look so much like Wade" - we laughed a little at that, but it was still disconcerting.

The place was nice enough, I guess, but it was disturbing to see so many of the residents that were so far gone. I think we were all a little troubled by what we saw in grandma, but she's getting good care and my aunt and uncle are on the ball with her care.

Also, apparently, Mom had ticked off one of the other residents. The lady kept wandering up and down the halls and when she got to us she told us that we were assholes and she hoped we would all die. So, yeah, that was fun.

From there we headed out to lunch so that grandma could get her lunch before splitting up to get ready for the wedding.

trip - Friday

I took Friday off to go to Illinois for my cousin's wedding. My sister had to work a half-day, so I was going to meet up with her at her house at 12:30 and we'd go from there. I had directions and did pretty well - until I missed a critical turn. I ended up way far out of my way and had to back track. I was looking for a South street and found the North version instead. It quickly turned into a dead end - and I've never been so happy to fail since it meant that a quick turn around would finally put me on the right track.

I finally got to my sister's house and we had a quick lunch before heading out. She did the first part of the drive and then we switched off after going through Indy. We had a good trip for the most part and the drive - though long - went pretty quickly. One funny bit was when I took over the driving. We were in the Wendy's parking lot and I had trouble with the non-standard gear shift. In finally got it into drive and my sister said - "yeah, except that you should start with reverse".

I drove the rest of the way and when we got there we were going to stay with the sister of the bride. I got lost several times in the sub-division where she lived and when we got there she wasn't home. We called her and when she called back she suggested we stay with her parents - so, we headed there and made ourselves at home. When they got back, I gave my aunt the flowers I'd made for her and we hung out for a bit before we all crashed since it would be a long day on Saturday. The bed they had for me was too short, but any port in the storm...

deadline, swim, SMEF, debate

We've got a project here at work with a launch deadline of Monday - and the folks supplying the information didn't get anything to us until yesterday afternoon. I'm going to be out of the office on Friday, so things got pretty rough. I worked from home last night to get caught up with what they did send and I've got more to do today. We won't be at 100% by Monday, but we'll be at least ready to launch. Makes me cranky - but not much I can do about it.

I had a good swim yesterday. I usually mix up the strokes - 3 crawl, 3 back, 3 breast, repeat. But this time I kept going with the crawl and did 18 laps of that in a row. Then I switched to back for 3 and breast for 3 more - finishing up with 3 crawl to give me 3/4 of a mile. The crawl is my weak stroke, I still don't have the breathing right and it wears me out. So, that many in a row was a big deal for me.

I nearly had a Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure moment last night - a moment where, if my concentration had lagged, I might have ceased to exist. I was taking an early shower, trying to get rid of a headache and I just got so weary with reality that I almost fell out of this dimension. Those usually hit me when I'm walking across campus to a meeting - it was a little unusual to have one strike when I'm actually trying to relax.

My room-mate and I have been having a series of debates recently. On his side - Christianity and extraterrestrials. On mine - beginning Buddhism and decades of reading about science fiction and fact. We were doing okay until he started to question my explanation of wormholes. It got a little ugly at that point until I got out the silly putty and made a model of the functionality. I guess my take on extraterrestrials is that I believe that they may be out there and may have the advanced technology to travel the vast reaches of space. But if all they are doing when they get here is mutilating cattle and probing people - well, what's the point?

Well, time for me to get back to work. later...

fold, walk, metal, 9, appreciate, driving

I worked on a couple of projects this weekend, both origami. A few years ago, I made a shadow box with a multi-layer set of Mette rings - in orange and yellow with a blue background - that looked like the sun. I gave this to my grandmother for christmas and she really liked it. About a year ago, my aunt asked if I would make one for her and I said I would - but I was a bit hesitant about it since I don't like to duplicate gifts like that. Plus, not long after she asked, my grandmother moved in with her and my uncle and took the sun shadow box with her. I figured that would be the end of it, but then I saw some sun flower scrapbook paper and figured that the sunflowers, done in the same style of origami, would be an excellent replacement. I cut down the paper so I could fit 4 of them in the shadow box - since she has 4 kids - and finished it up this morning. Photos to follow.

My cousin is getting married next weekend and though I've already purchased the gifts from the registry and wrapped them, I wanted to do a little more. So, I glued some white paper to foil - to match the wrapping paper - and folded a bunch of snowbell flowers. Again, photos to follow.

Yesterday, I lay out in the sun for a bit while I worked on the paper flowers, then took myself for a walk. I walked down to a nearby forested park and hiked the trails for a bit. On path took me near the lake and I sat there for a few minutes and wrote a tweet - in Haiku format, of course.

On my way, I picked up a piece of rusty metal. I'm thinking about doing a painting-type project with rust and ash. I've already been gathering the ash from a few sticks on incense - which I'm burning outside since it's too strong in the apartment. The neighbors haven't complained - I guess it's no worse than the occasional smell of pot that comes from down the street on a quiet summer night.

Finally, I went to see the movie "9" with some friends on Friday night. Good flick, a lot of depth to it. The ending was ever so slightly cheesy, but they meant well and that counts. It actually reminded me a bit of the Matrix movies in a way. I'd like to try and build my own little number "9" but I'm having difficulty finding good pictures.

Oh, almost forgot. I helped with the student appreciation day last week. We gave out a great honking pile of t-shirts in no time at all. It helped that we had a system - one guy would scan their card and then they would step over to me and tell me their size. I would turn and repeat the size to the three guys in the back - if they hadn't heard -and they would hand me a shirt that I would then hand to the student along with a food coupon. My boss was in charge of the large shirts at one point and I had to call for a large twice before he responded. I then joked with him - "Dude, you've got one job!' - and he laughed and said, "I know! Sorry!"

Well, it'll be a short work week - thankfully - but I'll have a lot of driving to do. 3 hours to my sister's, then 7 hours to Illinois on Friday. Wedding on Saturday, then 7 hours back to my sister's and three hours back home on Sunday. And I've got a football game to go to on Tuesday - busy week over all.

Speaking of football - the Zips won in their brand new stadium. Go ZIPS!

later...

namor, weekend

After a really rough morning on Friday, I turned it around with a swim. The pool was configured with the lanes "longways" - twice as long as I'm used to doing - but I stuck it out and did a mile. Three crawl, three backstroke, three breaststroke - then repeat. When I got done, I still felt great - like I could just keep going. But I had a meeting and I needed to get back.

Still, it was awesome.

The weekend has been something of a dud so far. Not really much going on - though I did watch a couple of cool episodes of Dexter. I finished up typing a story I wrote longhand a couple years ago and I'm heading into "edit mode". I've also done a great honking pile of reading. So, not a total waste, but not the top of excitement either.

I'm thinking about a trip to Panara Bread for dinner this evening and maybe over to target for the next season of Dexter. I'm also thinking about putting on some good music and just doing some more writing. Sometimes a story captures me when I read it - sometimes I get captured by writing it.

I've also been working on my Halloween costume - with not much to show for it yet. I'd better get a move on.

later...

stress

By the end of today, I will have had 11 meetings this week. It's also the second week of classes, which is a busy time anyway. Throw in family and room-mate stress, shake well, and I have turned into one really agitated dude. So, I took myself for a walk yesterday to try and calm down and clear my head. I also got a chipotle burrito - which helped a little. But the bugs started to bother me, my knee started to hurt, and I began to run out of daylight.

I got home, took a shower, and did some reading. The cool breeze through the open window did as much good for me as anything else and I finally settled down. It wasn't to last and I was keyed up again before I went to bed, but I'm grateful that I can put myself to sleep even under trying circumstances.

So, three day weekend coming up. If the weather is good, I'm going to try and get some sunshine. If not, well, I'll clean the basement. I think I need to be really relaxed and disconnected - or really thoroughly occupied.

Oh, and the height of irony? I'd like to start some kind of zen meditation - but I'm worried that I don't have the right set up, that my left knee won't be able to handle the position, and that I haven't found the right mantra.

Ack! Okay, enough of that. Back to work...

game

I went to a football game of 6-7 year olds for my FRM's youngest son. He was there, along with his wife (and her parents) and their new daughter. Also there was his former girlfriend, her mom and brother. And his older sons - and the oldest's wife and son. And then his grandmother and me. The game itself wasn't great to watch - very disorganized flag football - but seeing the whole extended crew together again was good.

I didn't get home under after 7:00 and then ate a quick dinner and did a bunch of reading for most of the evening.

May be headed for a movie this evening after work - we'll see how that goes.

later...