Thunder of Wade

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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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…