Random Access

Today GOOOD!!! ::: handgesture :::

• Slept in.
• Watched a little football – The Ravens and Panthers lost. The only bright spot was that the Dolphins had a bye this week.
• Took Jess to work.
• Went to Borders where I had a Cafè Mocha and some cheesecake while I perused a few magazines.
• Headed to the inlaws’ for a bit. Jenny – one of Jess’ sisters – and her son Connor were there.
• Came home and vegged to Enterprise and then… I…. CLEANED!!!
• Picked up Jess and we met Adrian for a late dinner/VERY early breakfast.
• Came home.

On the Highlights of the Day front, I talked to Bret (we grew up together) and Theo (verra good friend and ex-roommate). Bret is one of those “never going to change as long as you know him” types. The more that things change, the more he stays the same. We talked for about :40… and, aside from the fact that we haven’t seen each other in almost six months, it was like no time had passed. Theo and I talked for somewhere in the hour-and-a-half to two hour range; I haven’t seen him since last Christmas and it’s been at least two months since we’ve talked… so there was LOTS to catch up on. I’m blessed and lucky to have good them (and a few others, too) as my friends.

Anywho… gymtime comes early and it’s late.

Peace.

Saturday Evening Post… on Sunday, since the servers were down.

Saturday at a glance…

• Slept in. WAY IN. I made up for the complete lack of sleep that I had this week. Sleep GOOOD! :::handgesture:::
• Took Jess to work and went to the comic shop for this week’s take. I walked out with 2, yes that was “two” books. Light week. Maybe next week
  will be better. I picked up some lunch and…

• Went to South Jordan City Park. I’m not very “outdoorsy” by nature, but there are times when even I know that it’s good to be outside. Today was
  one of those days. I ate lunch on one of the picnic tables and then… I flew my kite. “I don’t want to grow up. I’m a Toys ‘R’ Us kid!” It might be
  more apropos to say that I half-flew my kite – the wind wasn’t as cooperative as it could have been. That’s okay. Kite flying is easily one of the most
  frustrating, irritating and just all-around fun things that you can do, even if the kite is aloft for only a few seconds. I haven’t made any attempts
  to fly it in the last few months, but even though the wind only came in short-lived gusts – it was worth it!

• I came home and spaced off the next few hours, picked up Jess and came back home.

Highlight of the Day: I talked to my sister, Rana, tonight/this morning. This isn’t too atypical. The reason that it’s memorable, though, is that Rana leaves at 9 am Sunday for the Ukraine. She joined the Peace Corps and is FINALLY going. I’ve mentioned the fact that her departure date had been pushed back a few times in previous posts. I would have loved getting a chance to see her again before she left, but living on opposite sides of the country doesn’t make that incredibly convenient. Jess and I did get to talk to her for a while… and that was good enough. After I hung up, I think that I had an inkling of what my mother felt when I moved out here:”[They] will be fine, but it’s sooo far away… and won’t be home for a long time.” I had another realization almost immediately after that: She’s a good person (even though she could be a royal pain in the ass when we were growing up) and I’m happy for her, not just because she’s my sister, but because she’s doing what she wants to do and what feels right for her. This is also something that I would have never tried to talk her out of doing although certain family members asking me to do so. The reason is pretty simple: It is what she wanted, and decided, to do; to talk her out of it would have been a disservice to her as her brother and her occasional drinking buddy. And, had I been successful or instrumental in talking her out of it, she would have spent the rest of her life wondering “What if…?” The fact that I am considered something of the wanderer in the family wouldn’t have helped much, either. But it was what I wanted. It was what I did. And, having done so, there was NO way in Heaven or Hell or on Earth that I was going to do anything that would keep her from this. I will miss her, but I am very proud of her, too.

That about wraps it up for now. Guess I should hit the rack.

Peace.

Friday. End of work week. Amazingly, the day went quickly.

• We attended a viewing for a close friend of Jess’ family; from what I understand, he was more like “extended family.” I never met David, but everyone that I have ever heard mention him had nothing but good things to say about him. There were a couple of things that I thought about there, but I’m tired and it would take too long to go into now; they’d be perfect for a mid-day digression tomorrow, however.
• Work. Veni, Scribi, Vadi “I came, I typed, I left.” Not much out-of-the-ordinary happened. In my brilliance, I left the batteries for my CD player at home. Yay, me! Jess brought some when she came in… along with Zours® candies!!! Just in case I haven’t mentioned this lately: I have the coolest girlfriend in the world. Bar none.
• Came home and vegged for a few hours and then went back to work to pick up Jess.
• We went bowling – actually I bowled and Jess hung out – with a couple that we know from a local IRC channel, their son and a friend of his. This was cool because, other than a chance meeting a few weeks ago, we haven’t seen them in a L-O-N-G time. My knee got that “you went bowling and didn’t wear a brace” feeling, but it’s not too bad. And it was fun.
• We came home and watched Thursday’s episodes of Whose Line Is It Anyway?! We laughed A LOT. It’s nice to have something that we can watch and enjoy together. After that, and DS9, I decided to play a little EverCrack – tonight was just a sightseeing/get reacquainted time. Tomorrow, I hunt!

And now, it’s time for sleep. Since we had the viewing today, we are switching our gym day to tomorrow. And on that note…

Peace.

Gym… blah blah…Work… blah blah… Dinner at Redrock… blah blah… Heather’s graduation… blah blah… Coffee with Dave and Jenn… blah blah… Home.

It was good to see Heather, and Jenn, his gf. Yes, we saw Dave and Heather this past Saturday, but we haven’t seen Jenn in a month of Sundays, so that was an added bonus. We also met Heather’s family tonight. Something struck me at the graduation: Things here in the western part of the country have a FAR more casual tone than they do back east. I was amazed (yet again) at how casually most of the graduates (and their friends and families) were dressed and at the very relaxed nature of the graduation itself. I’m not saying that this is a “bad” thing; it’s just… “different.”

Have I mentioned that it’s too early for it to be turning as cool as it is? It is. Ok, maybe it isn’t. Maybe I’m just missing the warm Carolina autumns. And if I remember correctly, the Maryland ones aren’t that bad, either.

Enough rambling, it’s time to try and get a decent night’s sleep… unlike last night.

Peace.

You have to love a morning that starts out with: hitting the snooze button and then turning OFF the alarm, with all intents of just laying there for “just a minute,” only to be saved by the phone ringing. It broke the 10:00 rule, but since it was what FINALLY woke me up and got me moving, I can’t complain. We still had enough time to go to the gym before work. We did a short routine, but any workout is better than no workout.

Before work, we stopped at South Towne Mall to get some of the frosted almonds that I wrote about a few weeks ago. Can you say “tasty,” boys and girls? I knew you could! And “tasty” they are. I foresee many mall-bound almond-gathering trips in my future.

Work was.

I’ve also heard a few things this week that reinforce my belief that people should engage – or make the effort to engage – the filters that lie somewhere between the brain and the mouth. You know the ones: the “keep me from saying something completely asinine” and the “let me show you just how ignorant I am” filters. Apparently a few people missed the factory recalls for the defective ones. This isn’t to say that my filter is 100% effective, excluding the times when I simply refuse to employ it, but it is usually active.

“…and that’s all the news from Lake Wobegon: Where all the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the children are above average.”

Peace.

Okay… I just noticed that what I had thought that I had posted last night apparently didn’t get through. Fortunately, there wasn’t much to it. I’ll just recap the Quotes of the Day:

• From Dee’s son, Nick: “Hey Daddy, did you know that girls are also called ‘chicks?'”
• And this one is at Dee’s request:Our friend, Jim, stopped by our workstations to say “hi” before he started his shift. Dee looked at me and said, “I think he’s taken a liking to you.” I replied,“Can you blame him? I am a sexy bitch!”
  

One down, four to go.

Absolutely NOTHING special about work today. Hmm. That may not be a bad thing, though. After work, we hit the gym. I’m actually increasing the amount of weight I’m lifting – I’m bench pressing a little more than my body weight. Yeah, yeah… it’s not like pressing 250 lbs. Yet. But I’m moving in that direction! After that, groc-shopping because we have to have something to eat. And then… home.

I mentioned, yesterday, that the cats were being calm. The other shoe dropped around 7:30 am this morning (Monday) – they were back to business as usual. Surprise. But they are still fairly cute, so that makes up for a lot.

Peace.

Okay, this was a depressing football day: All three of my teams lost. Oddly, I actually got to watch the Ravens play. ::: boggle ::: It was odd because neither Baltimore nor Green Bay are exactly “regional;” we usually get San Fran or Denver games. So, even though they lost, I can’t complain TOO much – I got to see them.

Otherwise, it was a quiet day. Even the cats have been calm… I’m not sure if I should be frightened by that or not. Time will tell. I think that I will go and instill fear in… something… on EverQuest. Hmm, I wonder if I still remember how to play it…

Peace.

Today was rather quiet, on the whole. It started with something very simple: I slept in. And, being the weekend, I’m fine with that. I didn’t do much today, but I did get to talk with the coolest parents in the world. Ok, technically I “talked” to one and “instant messaged” the other, but it’s good enough for government work and close enough for jazz.

We went bowling again tonight. We went to the place where we first started bowling as a group about a year or so ago. They do “Cosmic Bowling,” which means black lights and florescent paint and music. Thankfully, the music selection has gotten better since we were last there.

As I didn’t rest well last night, sleep is a welcome and rapidly-approaching friend.

Peace.

Tis finally the end-of-the-week. Today:

• Gym.
• Work (6 hours, just wanted to start the weekend ASAP).
• Side trip to Borders and Jos. A Bank (men’s clothing store).
• Dinner for two at the Macaroni Grill.
• Home.

And that, as they say, is that.

I can tell that I was in geek mode tonight: I watched 2-1/2 hours of Star Trek TV. I’m not sure if I should be worried yet. On the one hand: I enjoyed them (1/2 hour of Voyager and then DS-9 and Enterprise), and all were eps that I hadn’t seen. On the OTHER hand: it WAS 2-1/2 hours of ‘Trek. If I collected comic books and played video games, then I would know that my journey into geekdom was complete.

::: looks at the DreamCast and stack of comics :::
Uh-oh.
I also had an interesting experience on IRC. I was talking with a few people in an open-forum channel and found out that one of the people with whom I was chatting works for the same (relatively small) department store chain that I did; I haven’t been with that store for seven years now. When I worked for them, it was in their newest (at that time) store, number 36; this person works in one of the newer stores, number 227. To quote my high school physics teacher,”It’s just so bizarre!” To think that in seven years the company has grown to roughly seven times its size. Yeah, “bizarre” is a good word for it.

Peace.

Yes, yet another rare and elusive midday post!

I was feeling accomplished for having somewhat updated my site (and LJ user info) and wanted to share. Y’know, the simple pleasures really are the best. Wow. Who would’ve thought it…

Better finish getting ready for work.

Peace.

And then, there was Thursday… and unless I get caught in a loop like Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day,” that means that tomorrow is Friday and the start of the weekend!

It was a fairly standard day: Work. Gym. Home. Sisko Show.

Quote of the Day This little nugget of joy came from Dee at the end of another wonderful workday: “I’m going to drink myself beautiful.”

And, like two red (and one colorless) mana, after casting Summon Hurloon Minotaur, I’m tapped. Goodnight, all.

Peace.

I am up WAAAY later than I had planned to be. Why? No good reason.

Imagine that.

It was a pretty standard day: Work. Gym. Home. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Quotes of the Day, courtesy of Dee:

• “I think that every bad thing is a result of peoples’ selfishness.”
• About someone who is more than a little obsessive about her things:“I’m going to spray paint her name on it; that way EVERYONE knows…”

And, I have to share , since it’s late and I seem to be easily amused. Okay, I think that about wraps it up for now.

Peace.

Well, it happened… just like I said yesterday. It snowed a little on the mountains last night. Look at the mountain in the background here. Not much, but it is snow.

It was a good day, including a VERY short workday. A few of us left early and headed to lunch. And to the mall. And to the parking lot… we had to get our cars. On the way home, traffic was the usual SLC valley rush hour snarl. Yay.

Came home and hung out for a bit and then… “and then… and then, along came Jones. Tall, thin Jones. Slow-walking Jones. Slow-talking Jones. Along came long, lean, lanky Jones.” Umm. Sorry about that. Having a Coasters moment. It’s been one of those days – they were playing Oldies at the restaurant. I like Oldies; but I haven’t listened to many lately. It was a nice change of pace. ANYWAY….. What I was GOING to say was that we went to the gym after work. We had a good workout.

The Quote of the Day, from my friend Jason, is simply: “Rock On!”

Today’s LJ entry was brought to you by the letters “W” and “S” and the number “6.”

Peace.

Another nice day off… even though it was overcast and rather drab-looking all day.

• Slept in.
• Went to Guru’s for lunch with Jess, Peggy and Shasta.
• Tooled around town for a bit, including a trip to the comic shop and B&N.
• Home.
• Gym.

And that’s how I spent my Columbus Day vacation. Tomorrow it’s back to the grind, but it’s only a four-day work week. And SOMETIME in the next day or so, I have to remember to touch-up some pictures and get them distributed.

And there’s a chance of SNOW in the forecast!!! Before Halloween?! INSOLENCE! Maybe I’m geographically spoiled, but it should never snow before December… just like the song in “Camelot” says!

Peace.