Archive for January 2008
Dad: The Truthseeker
Posted on: January 31, 2008
I escaped work for my break and dialled my Dad at work (as is my routine every Wednesday). His assistant patched me through and I found my Dad in a remarkably good mood. We chit chatted about upcoming vacations, my sister’s toddler, my little bro’s new job, and all the normal topics. And then, he asked a question about my love life. It is a horribly dreaded question that, unfortunately, I have heard many, many times in the last few months. Usually, I answer it blandly with a ‘fine’ or an ‘okay’ or anything-that’s-not-the-truth-but-also-not-a-lie. Not so… Instead, I admitted to my father that I’ve found myself in the relationship that no girl ever wants to be in – the we’re-going-nowhere-but-at-least-we’re-not-in-a-hurry-to-get-there relationship. It’s the basic plotline: I want to get married + he does not want to get married = eventual break-up. When? I don’t know and I guess it doesn’t particularly matter. Whenever I feel like it, I suppose. Why did I tell my Dad? Read the rest of this entry »
When Work is Awesome
Posted on: January 26, 2008
This entire week has been nothing but numbers, budgets, Excel sheets, charts, dollar signs, and a seemingly endless number of reports. It was all in order to prepare for this morning’s meeting. Honestly, it was hard work and it took all my energy. It seems like every night I came home and just sat in front of the television until I fell asleep. Even in my dreams, there were excel charts and budget changes. It was frightening. I almost started crying last night when Boy asked me a simple (really, really simple) Excel question and I could not answer him. It was awful.
This morning, I woke up happily – surprising? yes. I thought I would wake up dreading my day. But, as it so happened, I woke up better than good. I was fantastic. I got dressed up in meeting fashion and headed out (extremely early) for work. My boss was already here – something that usually throws me off kilter because of its rarity. However, it was great to see her and be able to speak with her about the meeting before it began. She made (counting…) three large changes and thirteen (yes, thirteen) small changes to the meeting materials. I scrambled to get it all fixed in the midst of setting up the conference room. I even managed to run and grab the coffee well in time for the meeting to begin (9:30 a.m. meeting, thank goodness I was early) Read the rest of this entry »
The other night the power went out. As a result, not only did all our clocks reset to a fascinating blinking 12:00 (in reality, you don’t see much of that anymore), but we also lost our internet.
To be more specific, the internet itself wasn’t “out” so to speak. What really happened is the wireless router decided to stop working. The lights are on, but nobody’s home. The wireless network itself seems MIA and a direct connection to the router didn’t seem to produce any results either.
What I need to check next is the actual modem to see if a connection is at least getting to the house. Even if not, the wireless router should at least allow me to get on the network – though it’s not. It looks like I’ll be off to RadioShack to pick up a new one. Hopefully the modem is ok.
Take me down to Paradise City…
Posted on: January 24, 2008
Burnout Paradise is a recently released video game (for XBox 360 and Playstation 3) that I picked up the other night at BestBuy. Girl, as wonderful as she is, came with.
Unfortunately, Girl was far unaware of the implications of this purchase. It will lead to countless nights of hours of game playing – and this instead of attention to Girl. It’s sad, I know. But as a fan of the series, I’m already hooked.
Last night I spent the better half of the night playing Burnout (and yes, their theme song is, in fact, the Guns ‘n’ Roses song, Paradise City) before promptly falling asleep after dinner.
How ‘guy’ of me.
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! It’s the day of the year (one of many) that I get to go to work while other people, like Girl, don’t. How fun for me! High-five to everyone else who sucked it up and went to work today! You other people… I don’t want to talk to you right now.
So I’ve been watching this cheesy, nay, bad, sci-fi show called Earth 2. You may have heard of it. Well, if you’re not familiar with this show, consider yourself lucky. It’s crap. I’m a fan of sci-fi, especially Star Trek, Stargate, and Battlestar (notably the first season or two of the newer series), and Earth 2 pales in comparison.
One thing that really stands out with Earth 2 is their use of the hawk – a sound clip of a hawk usually heard outside in a wilderness setting. Most shows with settings in the wilderness will have similar clips of a hawk to help viewers identify with the environment, Stargate (one of my favorites) included. However, Earth 2 uses it excessively. And the sad thing is, the whole show is outside. In the past 5 minutes, I’ve heard the hawk 3 times – the same audio clip. It’s sad.
The next time you’re watching a movie or TV show that takes place outside, especially in some kind of wilderness area, keep your ears peeled for the hawk audio. You may be surprised how often you hear it once you start looking for it. Earth 2 will make you recognize it without looking.
P.S. I only have one more show to watch to get through this stupid series… oh! What do you know, I just heard another hawk! Make that two (as I was typing that).
Am I Invisible?
Posted on: January 18, 2008
Do you ever feel invisible? Like the things you do or say just don’t matter or are not given the proper attention? I feel that sometimes at work, but it’s been especially rough this week. For example, I’ve recently given feedback for something along with a number of other people, and those people are given responses, but I am not. Meh.
Avoiding purchasing a pack of cigarettes.
Avoided falling down the stairs at Bloomingdale’s.
Avoided drinking a shot of Vodka with lunch.
Avoided chewing gum.
Avoided (narrowly) complaining to my Dad.
Avoided eating candy or other calorie-crazy foods.
Avoided checking my cell phone for text messages.
Avoided calling my sister.
Avoided drinking coffee.
Avoided being hit by direct sunlight.
Avoided listening to the crap that’s loaded onto my iPod.
Avoided letting my misery inflict itself on my co-workers.
Avoided the urge to cry.
Avoided the urge to cry (I know I said it once, but trust me).
Clap on, clap off… THE CLAPPER!
Posted on: January 16, 2008
That’s right, I got a clapper – got it for Christmas. And not just any Clapper, its a brand spanking new super duper state of the art Clapper that not only responds to claps, but also has a remote control. I was finally able to install it last night (I’ve tried before but was thwarted by Girl), hooking it up to a light in my bedroom.
Aside from the normal, expected hilarity, I would say it works pretty well. The light only went off twice during the night as a result of the TV or Girl laughing. Not bad, right? I was able to turn it back on right afterwards with a couple of claps… after a couple of attempts…
OK, it’s not the best, but I like it and it’s fun. I mean, come on! It’s the Clapper!
I’m going to start drinking more water. I’ve decided that. After talking with a colleague at work this morning, I realized that I’m not drinking as much as I used to. In fact, I’m not drinking nearly enough as a normal human being should – and, really, that’s a lot. What is it, like 2-3 liters a day? What ever it is, I’m going to try it, or at least drink more than I was before. Ideally this should also improve my health, right?
Here’s the plan: stock up on bottles of water and have them sitting on my desk throughout the day with the intention of drinking them all. Today I used 3 (1.5 liters). I think that’s a good number, though I have just under an hour left in the (work) day and I only just finished the second bottle. Yikes! No worries, I can down a bottle in 50 minutes. And hopefully, I’ll be able to go to the bathroom before heading out for my train ride home.
Speaking of the bathroom, that is something I have noticed (though, not unexpectedly) as a result of the increased intake of fluids: I’ve been peeing like a fish! (Do fish really pee all that much? Who’s to say they drink all that much either? I’m sticking with it!) Seriously, I’ve been getting up almost evey half hour to use the bathroom. Well, maybe not that much, but a good number of times more than I’m used to. The thing is, the bathroom is not the place I like spending a lot of time. Hopefully my newly hydrated, and healthier self will be worth this sacrafice.
Girl vs. Boy 