Thunder of Wade

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…

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…

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…

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…

1. …a man wearing a black cowboy hat, a black leather duster, and grey-ish boots make from (or made to look like) the skin of a cold-blooded animal. Maybe a gator.

2. …a guy wearing gray hooded sweatshirt that said “Smartass University”

3. …a girl with purple streaks in her hair wearing a leopard spotted coat. The leopard spots were a normal color.

There’s never a dull moment as long as you pay attention.

Back to work…

I got a call last night from a charity group. I won’t say which one, but I will say that they used the “gosh, oh golly gee, ah shucks” approach to communication – as though that will ingratiate me to support their cause. You know what, if you’re the token idiot (or if you just sound like one), don’t freakin’ call me, okay? It’s not amusing and I’m not your buddy.

This morning, on they way to work, I saw a guy on a bike on the sidewalk pull out into traffic to swerve around a car – who was also pulling into traffic. Hilarity would have insued if it was actually funny. Instead, there were screaming brakes, loud horns, and I’m sure some general swearing. Idiots.

Wal-mart, self checkout. Okay, if I’m using one of these things, it almost automatically means I’m not an expert at it. I was trying to get a few oddly shaped items scanned and into some clearly defective grocery bags and the woman behind me had already placed all her crap on the converer belt – and was tapping her foot and looking at her watch. Well, maybe she wasn’t actually doing that, but dammit, she might as well have been. It wasn’t like I was standing there reading the labels on a soup can or something, I was trying to get out of the braincell killing flurecoent lights and a little patience on her part would have been nice. I glared at her when she started to scan her items and made her move so I could get my cash back. Wanker.

And yes, I do complain about people in lines being slow, but this is my blog and I say she should have been patient.

Let’s see…I’m really on a roll at this point. What else is pissing me off?

Holiday shopping is usually annoying, but I haven’t really started that much yet. And World Market was cool as usual. The weather has been cold, but I’m adapting. Got a bit of a cold, but it’s not bad. So, I guess that’s it for now.

Back to my regular mood and back to work…

This is going to be something of a random blog entry – a little bit of all over the map.

1. The last time I visited my family, while we were in my parents mini-van coming back from dinner, my sister made a joking comment about how not knowing what I was getting her for Christmas might kill her. I replied and said “Well, I’ll send flowers. I mean, I’ll bring flowers. Yeah, bring flowers”.

I think you had to be there to appreciate the comedic timing, but trust me – it was freaking hilarious.

2. A couple of weeks ago I actually saw someone on a segway. First one I’ve ever seen “live” and in use. He was moving along pretty well with it, but he still looked like a dufus.

3. I’m feeling a little under the weather this morning – pretty much all the stuff that nyqule is supposed to take care of, but I didn’t actually take any. I was late to work this morning and I’ll need to stay a little later to make up for it.

4. My grandmother is in the hospital with pneumnoia. She’s doing better now, but they had fist diagnosed it as the flu and that she should just “tough it out”. We’re generally a little cranky about that one, but not much we can do from here. At least she’s getting good care now.

5. There is no five. I’ve run out of stuff to say that doesn’t talk about mucus and I think that’s a line I don’t need to cross today. So, time to get back to work…

I was off-work last Friday – though I went in for a bit to work on my web page and do a little reasearch. When I got home, I decided to go for a walk. Along the way, I was waiting to cross a busy street and I noticed a girl on the other side – very intently watching the traffic. The cross traffic stopped, left turn arrow kicked in, and I watched for the left turn lane to clear so that I could get an early – but still safe – start across the street. When the lane was clear, I started walking so did the girl – holding up a small red stop sign. She met me halfway across the road, then escorted me the rest of the way to safety of the curb. Apparently, she was a crossing guard and while it was the time for the school-aged children to be getting off of school, I do not look like a school-aged person. I guess she was there for anyone crossing the street, but I’m pretty sure I could have handled it myself.

Later that evening, I went to a bonfire one of my friends was having. The directions I got off the net were ever so slightly wrong, so I ended up parking in Sri Lanka and walking until I found the right place. Had a good time there – mostly just good naturedly bitching about work. 🙂 I left a little after midnight and then had an early morning for breakfast with my ex-roommates mom and grandmother. Yeah, I said I would try and distance myself a bit, but the her pancakes are the bomb!

Also over the weekend, I had a weird dream that I grew hair on the bottom of my feet. Kind of like a reverse hobbit or something. I also dreamed that I was driving a jeep and I had to cross several hundred plank bridges, all in a row, at high speed. It was bizzare.

That’s it for now – time to get back to work…

I dreamed last night that my family had moved back into together and back into the first house we lived in while in Illinois – a big 2 story farmhouse. It was christmas time and mom was busy decorating the house – and unfortunatly woke up the ancient vampiric horde that had moved into the basement. I carved myself a couple of nice wooden stakes, hardened them in the fireplace and went hunting. My sister went the Palidin route and was in charge of the holy water. She prepped a big red bucket of the stuff and we doused the head vampire before I moved in for the staking. Crossing the two stakes held him at bay, then I staked him and used the second stake to pound it in. Worked pretty well and I didn’t have to worry about a hammer. Unfortunatly, instead of turning all the ohter vampires back to normal, killing the head vampire only pissed off the rest of them. We spent the rest of the dream on the hunt through the house and then the rest of the town. I was exausted when I woke up.

Back to work…

So, I was over at my ex-roommate’s mom’s place – putting plastic on her windows. She’d been wanting me to do it and though I usually call first, this time I just stopped by after my post halloween hair-cut.

I had the double-stick tape in place and was trying to get the plastic unfolded when my ex-roommate pulled up to deliver some fish to his mom from the resturant where he works. We talked for a bit and he helped a little with the plastic, but it was….

It was the kind of awkward of two people who were friends, but haven’t seen each other in ten years and realize that they don’t have anything in common anymore.

I could tell the converstation was struggling, so I asked “How are your boys doing?” – which should have been a fountain of topics for most parents.

His reply was “Oh, you know how they are.”

Except that I didn’t – I haven’t seen them in a year and I was asking. I realized then that it was over – if he wasn’t willing to share even the most simple of topics, we couldn’t really communicate.

I was still working on getting the plastic in place when he announced he was leaving. He said his good-byes – leaving me to finish put the plastic over his mom’s windows. I finished up my work fairly quickly – I’ve done this several years in a row – and headed out too.

I think I need to distance myself from his mom and his grandmother a bit more – until he makes an effort to seek me out again, I don’t think I want to run into him. It was just too awkward.

In other news…man, work has really sucked this week. And it was a short week for me at that. I’ve been swamped pretty much all the time and I keep getting these big projects with impossible deadlines. I guess it’s job security, but man – I’ve been hopping. And I found myself clenching my teeth in a meeting. Not good.

But, hey, it’s Friday. And I’ve got no major plans for the weekend. Maybe I’ll clean out my closets and do a little woodcarving.

For now, though, it’s back to work…