Thunder of Wade

lunch, lane

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On October 7, 2009

In Uncategorized

Yesterday afternoon, I got an invite for lunch today as a thank-you for helping on a project. It was going to be at the student center where I usually have lunch anyway – but at least someone else was buying. That was the plan, anyway.

Instead, I got a note in my outlook this morning that the invite to lunch was canceled. No info, no phone call. Just canceled.
Now, I would still help out as much as I can with the project without a lunch invite. And if we did have lunch, I wouldn’t have been able to do more for their group. In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter much either way. But to invite someone to lunch as a thank-you and then cancel with no explanation – well, does that negate the thank-you as well? I’m not really upset about it since it meant I could do my regular swim (27 laps, thank-you-very-much) – but it was a little odd.
Speaking of odd, I ran into someone in the pool today. I was doing the backstroke and getting close to the end of the lane when I literally ran into a guy in my lane. I’ve seen him before and I know he’s visually impaired – but it was still a surprise. Apparently for both of us – though I’m not a quiet swimmer generally speaking.
The lifeguards helped sort things out – which meant sort of kicking me out of my lane to a non-demarcated area of the pool. Which is okay, but it makes it more difficult to do the backstroke since I’m usually all over the lane. Eh, pretty much how the day has been going.
later…

phrase, lazy

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On October 5, 2009

In Uncategorized

On my hurried walk up to the pool for my mid-day swim (only 18 laps, I was in a hurry – as I may have mentioned) I heard the following fragment of a conversation. Spoken as clear as the day is long – and keep in mind it’s Monday, the longest day of the week – I quote the phrase exactly and in its entirety:

“He pooped on Amanda”
I have no idea what that exactly that refers to. If it was a baby or a puppy, well, it’s almost cute. Anything else, and well, gross. In any case, poor Amanda.
On the way back from my swim, I saw the most lazy thing I’ve ever seen. Even more lazy than in that Jumper movie where the guy teleports to the other side of the couch because the remote is out of reach.
I saw a person in a power wheelchair crusing down the walkway at a pretty good clip – with a person seated on the back of the chair between the handles. Now, I have no way of knowing if this second person was able to walk on their own, but I strongly suspect that they were perfectly capable of walking or even pushing the chair if it came down to it. Lazy.
Almost meeting time… back to work…

darko, game

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On October 5, 2009

In Uncategorized

I watched Donnie Darko and S. Darko (the sequel) over the weekend – back to back. The first was excellent, the second was pretty good – time travel, alternate universes, the end of the world, teen-age psychopathic activity – but watching them both in one day may have been a mistake. I had some seriously f*cked-up dreams this morning. Like it was personally my fault that reality was falling apart. I was never so happy to have to get up and go to work.

I played a bit more of “Folklore” for the PS3. Had to fight a big sea monster – it involved electrocuting him, cutting off his tail when he was thus stunned, and finally shooting rockets at his head and then ripping his “id” out. Oh, and cowering in a corner in between attacks. With a force-field.
Better get back to work – going to be a busy day.
later…

costume, law

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On October 4, 2009

In Uncategorized

I went looking for supplies yesterday for my Halloween costume and was very successful. Got a few items that I’ll be able to use next year as well – if I’m careful. While I was out and about though, I had the opportunity to see several cases of “the Law in action”

In one busy and crowded store, as I was about to check out, a customer in line reported that his daughter was missing. A nearby customer reported seeing her in the children’s section reading a book. So, off he went to find her while the clerks called in a very disorganized “code ADAM”. There were several calls back and forth across the loud speakers before finally got her description and name – important things especially for the ones standing at the door. The father found her in short order and the code was cancelled – though a few people were still looking for her until they too got the update. Good that they had a plan – but it wasn’t well executed.
On the way home, I saw two cars pulled over. Not that unusual in itself, but maybe a little odd for the location and the time of day.
Went out to Burger King for dinner and saw a police office’s car – with lights going – almost, but not entirely blocking the entrance. The car in front of me edged on past him and I did the same. When I got my car parked I turned and saw that the officer had a teen-aged guy up against a minivan with all the doors open. The officer quickly frisked the guy and then marched him around to the back of the police car. There was a guy in another mini-van talking animatedly on his phone. He didn’t have any food in there that I could see and I’m guessing he was part of the “incident”. I went in, got my food, and left.
Very early this morning, I woke up to hear what sounded like dog barking in the house. I half thought it was somehow the neighbors dog had gotten out of there place and into ours. When I investigated it turned out that my room-mate was awake and had been blowing his nose.
Yes, it sounded like dogs barking. He reported that he heard a gunshot and that was what woke him up. I’m inclined to believe that he was dreaming, but we do have some wooded areas near the apartment and some neighbors – if the local walmart can be used as an indicator – that are not very refined.
I’ll concede that not all the events was directly related to law enforcement – but they could be connected without much effort. I’ll wrap up this post with one more not-quite-connected thing – tomorrow we relaunch the School of Law’s website. Coincidence? Ummm…yeah, most likely.
later…

paddle

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On October 2, 2009

In Uncategorized

There were only two lanes open in the pool today – the rest of the pool was taken up by a kayak class. There were quite a few out there paddling around and it occurred to me that the phrase, “Up the creek without a paddle” isn’t really accurate. If you’re up the creek – that is, upstream from your starting point, you can at least drift back with the help of the current even if you don’t have a paddle. However, if you’re down the creek, well, the problem is only going to get worse as you get further and further away from where you started with no way of controlling or reversing your movement.

Just something that occurred to me.

nerd

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On October 2, 2009

In Uncategorized

I’ve crossed a line recently, falling from the safe haven of geek-dom to full blown nerd. Not physically, I don’t have tape on my glasses or a pocket protector. But my mental state is on shaky ground. Evidence…

1. Getting ready to leave the Chipotle parking lot yesterday, I started my car only to have it fail. The steering wheel locked up, some – but not all – of the warning lights came on, and the car wouldn’t go. I was still in the space so I quickly turned off the car, then started it again. It behaved normally from then on. I referred to this later as “rebooting” my car.
2. We were discussing “under construction” webpage and how much we don’t like them. We compared them to newspapers with blank pages, or movies with missing sections. One of my co-workers said it was like going to see Up! in 3-d only to find that the movie was actually Hannah Montana. I said it was like the movie was “redirected”
3. Finally, my car has recently crossed the 100,000 mile mark and I’ve been noticing and noting every time the number are binary – and how I’ll be sad when 111,112 comes around and it will never be binary again.
I’m considering professional help.
later…

lunch, swim, fraud, shirt, game

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On September 29, 2009

In Uncategorized

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

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On September 28, 2009

In Uncategorized

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

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On September 27, 2009

In Uncategorized

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

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On September 25, 2009

In Uncategorized

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…

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