December 31, 2005

December 31, 2005
Me:
Well, it's the end of another year. Where has the time gone? What's next? What do I want to be when I grow up, seems to be the prevailing question?
What will I do in 2006?
Will I finally get to regular work weeks of 45 hours versus the 60 hours a week I've been working for the last two months?
Will I go back to school, again?
Will I get back to eating right, and working out?
Why have resolutions when you can quandries?
May everyone find themselves safe and happy in the coming year!

December 27, 2005

December 27, 2005
Work:
What a Monday...yeah I know it's really Tuesday, but when it's the first day of the week...it's still a Monday to me...
Only 3 more days till the end of the year. Thank God. Between reviews, G/L, Tax Updates (or issues with) and coordinating the last payrolls, I wonder if I'm going to make it.

Me:
Christmas was nice. Got to hang out with the family, exchange gifts, good food, good wine. Collin was a pistol on Sunday. He was like the energizer bunny hopped up on sugar. Maybe it was the holiday, or maybe he had another growth spurt, but goodness he was rarin to go. He was so cute. Will be fun to see him on Friday for his birthday. He'll be 3, and we're having dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe, one of his favorite hangouts because of the animals and the jungle. Can't believe he's 3 already. Seems just yesterday at times that we were all leaving work early to get to the hospital on time for his birth.

December 11, 2005

Me:
I'm so ready to get back to work. I was out last week due to the flu. Hadn't left the house except to go to the Dr's. Even though the emails, issues, etc. are going to be somewhat overwhelming, I'm ready to get back to work.

It's year end, so it wasn't the perfect time to get the flu. With reviews (fortunately this year I only have four to do), interviews for two open positions, projects, and regular year end stuff, the timing couldn't have been worse. But is there ever a good time to get sick?

Christmas openhouse:
Did recieve a happy Christmas gift yesterday. My bestfriends Brett & Becky threw me a surprise Christmas openhouse. She managed to get in contact with my friends from work, and in general and scheduled it, prepared the food and snacks, and planned just about everything. I had no idea it was even going to happen. It was even held in my house. I was expecting B&B to come over for dinner wih her parents, just the six of us (including B&B's three year old son Collin). When they arrived, they started unloading all these trays of cookies, snacks, food, etc. At that point Becky proceeded to tell me, it's not just going to be the six of us, it could be 36 of us. I certainly didn't believe her, let alone know it was coming. It was a very special Christmas gift. Had friends over till about 11:30pm. It was a lot of fun. I hope everyone had a good time. I don't know how I'm going to convey to Becky how special the event was. I'm sure she was concerned that I was going to be upset at the surprise. I was certainly shocked, but not upset. I'm glad I recovered from the flu in time for the event to not have to be cancelled. I would have felt horrible had I still been ill after Becky spent all that time and effort coordinating the invitations, the food, and keeping it all secret. James even took the night off from work. It was great to have him there to share the event with me.

They bought me a Christmas tree, the guests brought ornaments, and fixings to decorate the tree. It was fun, and the tree is pretty. Will need to consider getting a second, or larger tree next year to accomodate all the cool ornaments that I received.

November 24, 2005

Me:
What is it that makes us eat until we're in pain :)
Had a really good Thanksgiving meal. Naturally ate too much dessert. Oh hell, who am I kidding...ate too much of everything.

November 20, 2005

And another hottie is found and it's not on Smallville that we've found him, it's on Desperate Housewives!
Mehcad Brooks certainly makes the streets of Wisteria Lane that much more fun to explore. Between him and the gardner, Wisteria Lane is going to become the new cruising street for all the men looking to catch a glimpse of suburban beauty. When do the tours start? And like the gardner, when does he take his shirt off?

November 18, 2002

Me:
Saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at a midnight showing. It was really good. This one, and the Prisoner of Azkibhan have been the two best so far. Now that they are getting older, the stories can get a bit darker. The special effects during the Tournament scenes were really good, especially the dragon competition.

I have to get back to work on the cabinets and on the frames tomorrow. Spent about 30 hrs last weekend working on them, and now I want to begin the finishing coats. Hopefully will be able to get at least one full coat on all the cabinet frames tomorrow, and maybe depending on how ambitious I am get a second coat on, on Sunday. I would love to be able to start putting the doors back on next weekend. If nothing else if I can get both finish coats done, I can atleast begin to use the cabinets and start unpacking the rest of the kitchen boxes.

Off to dinner for pizza and a salad.

November 14, 2005

Me:
Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire opens on Friday 11/18. Brett, Becky and I are trying to find a Theater to catch a mid-night showing. So far, Pacific Place is sold out so I have will have to try the Theater at Southcenter. We'll see...I hope it's a good movie!

Had a three day weekend for Veterans day. James and I spent most of the time working on the kitchen cabinets. Got them all sanded, cleaned, and even managed to get two coats of primer on them. I am taking a vacation day on Friday 11/18 so that I can get the first coat of finish paint on them. Hopefully the paint will cover well and won't require two coats.

Lost:
So, this week, on the 11/16 episode, they are giving us a look back at what happened to the passengers on the rest of the plane. The group of 23. Now we get to see some of what has caused them to be so paranoid. It shall be interesting. As part of the 11/09 episode, Shannon saw Walt in the jungle. Could anyone figure out what he was whispering when she saw him? Was anyone else surprised to hear her get shot. I was not expecting that at the least.

October 20, 2005

Smallville has done it again. A hotter superhero than Superman. If that's possible. Introducing, to your dreams and fantasies is Alan Ritchson as Aquaman. Clark better look out, or get back in the gym :) Either way, this will certainly increase the viewer population!

October 19, 2005

Lost.
All the numbers add up to 108. The same number as the count down timer in the bunker.
The last two numbers, 23 and 42, are the same numbers as the size of the two groups that survived the plane crash.
The boss for Locke and for Hurley are the same person. Name of the boss is Randy.

June 28, 2005

Me:
While in Boston, I visited the site of the Boston Tea Party. In a modern/civilized city of the 21st century, the site was quite un-impressive. What today would be considered a tiny dock, was no more than 50 feet in length, with a few single story shacks on it. All quite small and inconsiderable.

History makes reference to the fighting, a few deaths, and the amount of Tea tossed from ships with crates floating in the river. The ships must have been small (but weren't most ships of that age?), and the scene was more than likely hectic due to the small pier. If there were 20 or more people on the pier amid the few shacks, it may have appeared to be a riot of sorts. Today, a bigger scene can be witnessed outside (or inline at) any local Starbucks.

June 18, 2005

Me:
Saw the new movie, Batman Begins today. It was good. The fight scenes were fast and frenetic, but seemed well done. It was a much better Batman movie than the last two or three that they've made.

Weather was a pleasant surprise. Mid to high 60's. Great day to ride. Took the motorcycle to the theatre. Pacific Place offers motorcyclists $5 parking, with in & out priveleges all day till midnight. Pretty good deal, especially the in & out. Hung out at Alki for a while. Got some information on some local bike clubs. Will hopefully find some sane and safe people to ride with. I'm not into the zipping in and out of traffic, wheelies, etc. on the highway. It's not safe, and it's not worth my life. Hopefully, tomorrow will be just as nice, and another day to get some more seat time. Did have my first experience today at getting driven off the road. Was heading South on I-5, in the right hand lane, to take the West Seattle bridge exit. This lady, swerved over not one, but two lanes, to then try and take the Spokane St exit. No blinkers, no look behind her, nothing. I had to slam on the brakes and try to steer away from her. She finally saw me there, and tried to just wave. Followed her to the next stop, asked her to be more careful, and told her she should use her blinkers. She nodded and pathetically tried to apologize. As she drove off, she made two more turns without using her blinker! Some people shouldn't be allowed to drive. If I thought it would have done any good, I would have called 911 and given them her license plate number.

Picked up Untold Legends for the PSP yesterday. So far, seems a cool game. Will be a fun Wi-Fi game. Have to still learn all the moves and codes, but it looks like fun. Another game for James to beat me at probably :) but it will be fun to play together.

June 13, 2005

Me:
Well, got my QTD grade, a 3.8. That's without taking the final. The teacher allows us to drop the lowest test score, even if it's the final, so I'll not be taking the final :)

Finally, the school qtr is over. I'm so ready to have my nights and weekends back, at least for the summer. Free from class, homework, studying, etc.

Finally saw Aviator over the weekend. Saw it with Brett and Becky. A little long, but otherwise good. Of what I know of Howard Hughes they appeared to stick pretty close to history. I'm not too intimate with his relationships, but felt that they had captured the essence of his business acumen, and his gov't deals quite well. Certainly seemed to capture his descent into madness. Wonder who/what he would have become had their been diagnosis and treatment of his ailments? Given that, what a remarkable man...to accomplish what he did, with the mental challenges.l

Work:
Finalized my travel plans to Boston for the week of 6/27 - 7/01. Will be doing stock admin testing with Fidelity. Should be interesting.

I don't think Benefits will be ready for the Payroll testing. Having read the Benefits testing plan, I don't see how they will be ready to demonstrate the delivery of the stock file to Payroll/HRIS. We have yet to see the file layout, PSW (a Fidelity system we'll use to validate/balance the files before they get loaded to an Off-Cycle), successful file trf after PSW selection.

Other:
Michael Jackson was acquitted of all 10 charges of child molestation, taking advantage of minors, endangering the welfare of minors, etc. 6mos of trial, and now probably 6mos of juror interviews, public debate, etc, will the circus never end? Will he ever get caught? Is he guilty? Can he be innocent? Same question maybe, but he does raise suspicion.

June 12, 2005

Me:
Managed to get out on the bike today. Weather turned into a pleasant surprise. Mid 60's and little wind. Perfect riding conditions. Covered about 50 miles. Wish I could have found some cool people to ride with.

Would have been fun to have a destination in mind, and spend the day touring around, getting some safe highway miles in. Sometimes it seems people only want to ride down to Alki and just sit there all day. That can be fun, but I want to ride. The flip side is that I want to ride safely. I'm not into veering in and out of traffic, doing wheelies, being a hazard, getting chased by cops, etc. Maybe it's my age, but I'm just not into that. Not to mention the hazards to self and machine, both of which can be devastating.

James and I played some more Wipeout Pure on the PSP's. I need more practice, because I can't seem to beat him, and most of the times can't even come within a few seconds. On occasion I'll use the downloaded ship (what we call the cheater) and that helps, but damn, even then I can barely keep him challenged. Will have to practice some. Find I am enjoying the PSP though. The games are fun on the bus, along with the music. The movies can be handy, albeit expensive. Will take the unit to Boston, and at least have Spider Man 2, to watch. Will shop for other movies, but price will definitely be a factor. Movies are currently running between $15 - $30. A lot considering DVD's for home use are usually less than $15. What game I'll game next?

June 11, 2005

Me:
Finally, a call from Aurora Suzuki. My front, and right side skins are finally in. After 8 weeks of phone calls, hassle, and a general pain in my a*%!

Now I just have go up and view them to make sure they are right. I don't want to get stuck in the same position as last time, and not check the parts until I drop off the bike, just to find out they are the wrong color.

Had a massage with Danielle. She has gotten quite good. She properly diagnosed and treated my recurring neck condition. She effectively treated it, and provided some relief. Usually I only get that by being seen by Alexa. Unfortunately, I don't think she'll be able to squeeze me in before the Boston trip. I may have to make an appt to see Alexa for a tune-up.

USA Today news tidbit...

98,000 people still die yearly from medical mistakes.

How can certain people in gov't want to curtail medical malpractice and set punitive damage limits? How can that be the solution to a system that seems to breed incompetence, and no accountability?

Weekend of 5/15...a 16 yr old boy is tracked down in a Chapel Hill hotel, after the police learn that relatives can not contact his parents. The 16yr old Son is taken home, where he shows the police his parents corpses that he left wrapped in blankets after having shot them to death over the 4/29 weekend. To date no motives have been offered/provided. Son is in custody and police continue to investigate.

Is it me, or have I become my parents? It wasn't like this when I was kid!

Class

Had the 3rd chapter test in class tonight. Was so not ready for this one. Even with the little 3x5 card that we were allowed to have for notes didn't help much. I remembered more than I thought I would, but was not as prepared as I should have been.

It's my own fault. I didn't have the homework done and had missed a day of class. We'll just have to wait and see come the results on Monday. We'll see what this does to my GPA so far. Still hoping to not have to take the final.

LOST

Was a good episode tonight. The French lady, the smoke, the raft. And by the way...are we ever going to get to find out what that huge things is tromping around in the jungle? The French Lady now calls it a security system. That's not much help.

Next weeks 2 hour finale ought to be good. At least it better be. It was good to se Sun & Jin make up. Walt was very unselfish and generous. Letting Shannon (the selfish little twit) keep the dog for company and support. Sawyer was surprisingly nice. It was good to see him finally tell Jack about his encounter with Jack's Dad. Hopefully this will give Jack a little well deserved comfort and peace of mind.

Separation of Church & State

I believe there should be a separation of Church & State. The government should not endorse, condone, or license marriages (a religious institution and tradition). The government can and should support civil unions to afford all couples the same rights and privileges.

I believe anyone is entitled to a civil union with the one they love. If they choose to then seek a marriage from a church, that is then their perogative to do so. However, I don't believe it appropriate for me to not be allowed a civil union solely because my choice of a partner is another man.

My choice of partner via a civil union does not threaten anyone else's choice of a civil union, or subsequent marriage if they so choose (via a religious affiliation).

The Kick-Off

Today's the day...
I'm beginning my 'blog'ging life...
This will turn out to be an interesting experience, I hope.