Random Access

The day:

• Woke up.
• Gym.
• Hygiene rituals
• Work.
• Dinner.
• Home.

Highlights of the day include:

• Being the day after a holiday, mail should have been fairly heavy. It wasn’t… not that I am complaining. I even managed to get a little bit of drawing done during some of the downtime. Bonus. Not a lot of drawing, mind you, but I did get a couple of nice practice sets of eyes and mouths done.
• The Quote of the Day. Today’s verbal gem of wisdom came from Dee shortly after 7 PM. We were talking about some of the people with whom we work and commented on some co-workers’ lack of moral fiber and… umm… “intestinal fortitude.” When that led into talk about some of the supervisors and managers, he singled out one person with the comment: “That bitch has got balls, in spades!” And, he’s right: she’s Hell on wheels incarnate. (NOT to be confused with Chili Con Carne.) How do I get along with said person? I tolerate her and respect her position in our team, otherwise she’s pretty much a non-factor in my world. But, I couldn’t pass up that quote – it just fit TOO well.
• Dinner: I was having a craving for Italian food, so I suggested a trip to Romano’s Macaroni Grill to Jess, Dee, Gary, Julia and Land. Dee had to head home right after work, but everyone else decided to go; we invited Angie on the way there and Gary brought his wife – who also happens to work with Angie. My dinner choices: Calimari Fritti, Fettucini Alfredo with grilled chicken and a glass of Chardonnay.
  Dinner GOOD!!! ::: handgesture :::We closed the place down… and then stood in the parking lot and talked for at least another :30. It was a nice way to wind down the evening. And, to quote Captain James T. Kirk, “It was… fun!”

I’d better hit the rack. Tomorrow (Wed) is “Do-or-Die” day: the day that I either get a broadband connection or wipe this city off the face of the earth through sheer mental force. I realize that destroying everything (and everyone) like that may be a little… umm… “over the top,” just for a broadband hookup, but no one expects to live forever. This way, I’m just helping people cut out a lot of the middle steps. I’m all about helping out my fellow man like that. And… I did warn my friends and co-workers who live in the area to avoid the city – I don’t want them, or their families, to get caught in the psychic backlash. Nominates self for “Good Neighbor” award.

Peace.

You know that it’s going to be a good day when the alarm – which was turned on and the volume turned up – makes NO sound at the appointed hour. *sigh* Methinks I need a new alarm clock. We made it to the gym, nevertheless.

Work continued the “fun.” We got more mail than we were expecting – a site decided to send mail even though they said that we would not process mail for them today… AGAIN. (At least it wasn’t the same site that did it on July 4th.) On top of that, we had skeleton crews all day. And on top of that, I kept starting to nod off. Not good combinations, no matter how you stack them up. Thank God and Pepsico for Mountain Dew®.

After work, came home and basically killed a couple of hours until I had to go back and pick Jess up from work. Then we came home. Tomorrow, we get to do it all over again.

And that was my Monday. The end.

Peace.

“Another Pleasant Valley Sunday…. here in Salt Lake City-lannnnnnd!”

Umm… did I say that aloud? I did? Oh.

::: jedi mind trick:::
There was NO singing
Drawing at the pool was almost a non-factor today – I was too busy talking with the inlaws and such. And, might I add… I don’t think that I fully grok some kids today. I remember doing silly/crazy/stupid things as a teenager, but I can’t recall anything that could really be considered “life-threatening.” Of course, at that age, NOTHING is considered “life-threatening.” *shrug* Anyway… Jess’ mom, dad and brother came up to our complex to swim, one of her sisters and nephew live here, also, so it was basically “Family Day” at the pool. The pool is surrounded by a fence, as is normal in most/all apartment complexes. This fence has ornamental spikes on the top and is also segmented by brick and concrete columns. Some of the teens were climbing the fence, standing on the columns and then jumping into the pool. Did I mention that the pool is only five (5) feet deep at it’s deepest point? It is. Yet, in they dove. Repeatedly. *sigh* A number of people asked them to stop – not only because of the safety/danger factor, but also because there were young children there and this was not exactly setting a good example for them. Yet, in they dove. And the blatant disregard that they exhibited towards whether or not they splashed water on anyone else (namely US)… I don’t think that they could have cared less. BRAINCRAMP In fact, that was one of the leading factors in our leaving the pool area. I think that I will mention this to someone in the leasing office tomorrow.

And how’s this for contradictory behavior: A couple of the divers were the same ones of whom I had made comments only minutes earlier about being courteous to others in the pool. One of the kids was horsing around and nearly swam into a small child. His friend told him “Watch out, there’s a kid right behind you!” And his response: “Oh! Sorry!” and then swam away from the child. In the words of Chuck Berry:“‘C’est la vie,’ said the old folks, ‘It goes to show you never can tell.'”

The rest of the day was relatively calm:

• Picked up this week’s take at Ye Olde Comics Shoppe;
• Jess, Angie and I went out for lunch;
• Jess and I headed to her parents for a while… I had to work on the puters (again).
• Our friend Heather came to the inlaws’ and gave me a full-body massage; she’s a student at the Utah College of Massage Therapy. She’s about a month away from graduating. And the massage was wonderful.
  Massage GOOOD! :::handgesture:::

• Came back home, and Angie came over. She and Jess watched… some movie… while I read this week’s comics.
• Watched the Sisko Show.

I should try to get into bed at a decent hour since tomorrow begins Week 3 of GymQuest, which is going pretty well. And then, I get to go to work. Yay. And I won’t try to predict what the mail volume will be like. If it’s heavy, it’s heavy. If it’s light, then that will be a bonus.

And before I forget, this is for creampopp: Check this out. I think that you’ll like it.

Sleep beckons.

Peace.

On the whole, a nice Day 1 of the weekend:

• Took my car to the shop – it’s being a little recalcitrant.
  I took it to have a friend of mine look at it… which he did. He said that the response from the testing machine wasn’t one that he recognized, so he looked it up. It wasn’t in the manuals that they had in the shop, so he called DaimlerChrysler directly. Whomever he spoke to told him that they “could not release that information” to him. This means that I have to take the car to a Dodge/Chrysler dealership. BRAINCRAMP
• Dropped a book-on-tape off at the library for a friend.
• Had lunch at Guru’s with Jess, Peggy, sivvy, Larry and Mycah.
• Took Jess to work.
• Stopped by Adrian’s to see what was going on and to drop off something from Jess’ dad… and wound up completely spacing off the whole “dropping off something” part.
• Cruised down to the inlaws’, but they weren’t home… so I had the whole place to myself (except for the cats).
• Went to Barnes & Noble with Peggy for “Coffee Chat” after an unsuccessful search for a TCBY.
• Came home.
• Went to pick up Jess.
• Came home again and watched the Sisko Show.

While we were at lunch, Jess and Peggy, through the course of conversation, wound up talking about me. No big surprise there. Sivan was surprised, no make that “astounded” at how casual and open they were in talking about me… especially with me sitting there! Have I mentioned that I have the coolest girlfriend and ex-girlfriend in the world recently? No? Well, I do. Jess is even fine with the fact that Peggy and I hang out. Hell, THEY get along so well that they even do things together when I’m not around. Coolest girlfriend and ex-girlfriend EVER. I am a lucky man.

And now, I think that I’ll retire and wander the wildways of The Dreaming for “Poolside Pencils” is tomorning! Melody won’t be coming, though – she will be out freestyling on her bike. *sigh* I shall draw alone, unless I can convince Angie to stay out of the pool and draw with me. We shall see.

Until tomorrow…

Peace

And on the today’s menu…

• Gym… and “Yes, my legs still ache.”
• Work.
• Home.
• Out to dinner with Jess and Angie.
• Sisko Show.
• Drawing – interspersed throughout the day.

Oh the whole, it was a good day and rather uneventful. Can’t complain about that… especially on a Friday.

Some good news that I heard today: A friend of mine, who has been having some medical problems, FINALLY (and I mean “finally” as in “this took WAY too long”) got a complete and correct diagnosis for his condition. He had seen someone about it a while ago; he was sent to another doctor, a specialist, for more tests. Fun. BUT… the tests determined that the first diagnosis was not only incorrect, but also that the treatment that he was being given only exacerbated the condition. *sigh* But, that’s not the important thing here. The important thing is: His condition is not even remotely as bad as he had feared AND it is a relatively short-lived condition, given the proper treatment. This is important for a few reasons:

• He is going to be fine. Very important
• There isn’t any doubt about what he has.
• He, and his family, can get on with their day-to-day lives and no longer have to expend mental energy worrying about “What ifs…”

I am glad and thankful about this news. I was also glad to notice a marked change in his demeanor with the this new information – He’s a good friend and I don’t like it when my family and friends are troubled (especially when there is nothing that I can do to help). And that, alone, made the day “good.”

Tomorning starts my weekend; I am only getting two days off since I volunteered to work on the holiday. What a good little Capitalist I am. It was academic, really: Work on Labor Day, get double pay (hours worked AND holiday pay), and then I can take Wednesday off and not have to worry about using eight hours paid leave or losing a day’s pay. Yup, that’s a definite no-brainer. That, along with the fact that the mail should be light on Monday, means that it should be a pretty light workday. Of course, I said the same thing on July 4th and look what happened…

On that note, I think that I’ll call it a night.

Peace

Today was good, even though my legs are still sore from yestermorn’s workout. It was a rather uneventful day at work – which is a pretty good thing. I passed a couple of hours talking to a coworker and somewhere in the course of the conversations wound up recounting the “embarrassing moments” stories from the past week-and-a-half:

• Last Monday’s gym shoe mix-up.
• Last Tuesday’s Mochalotta Chill surprise.
• And last night’s like lapse of sanity: I had taped The Wayne Brady Show on an old tape. Being the incredibly brainy person that I am, I started mid-tape rather than *duhr* at the beginning like a normal person. After coming home and killing a couple of hours, I rewound the tape. So far, so good. When it stopped I pressed play and wandered off to do something else. I came back into the room just as 7 Days came on! BONUS!!! So, sci-fi addict that I am… I watched it. Not only did I watch it, but I even suggested that some people on IRC turn it on, too. They said that they couldn’t find it and again, brainy person that I am, I was telling them “It’s on (channel name and number)! You can’t miss it!” Then a commercial for Dracula 2000 came on and the only thing that came to mind was:”Their engineer must be asleep to be showing a year-old trailer like that.” Fortunately, it was just about this time that my brain actually turned on and started registering all available sensory input – namely, the whirring of the tape heads on the VCR. *sigh* Genius at work. I told the IRCers about the tape and they had a good laugh about it… as did I. But, I still felt “special.” Oh well.

Other than that, it was just another day at the office. Not much else to say about the rest of the day but fairly quiet days are nice every so often, so I can’t complain.

And that’s a wrap for tonight.

Peace.

I survived another leg workout today. Gym GOOOD. ::: handgesture :::

Work wasn’t too bad, on the whole. There was the brief talk with my supervisor about, of ALL things, when I was taking my lunch. I’m “supposed to go” at Time X, but I went at Time Y, instead. Welcome to Kindergarten (version 2.0). I thought that it was a little much, but what are ya gonna do? But like I said, it was an overall a good day, so I won’t dwell on that little cloudburst at the end of my shift. Wait. I just said that I wasn’t going to say anything about it, didn’t I? Hmm. Oh, well.

Other than that… went to the mall to pick up a movie poster from a friend. He works at theatre and got a “Tomb Raider” poster for me. Actually, it’s not for me… I’m giving it to another friend, but that’s yet another story. After that, we came home and that about wraps it up.

What a fun day. Of course, since it’s over, that means that I am yet another day closer to crawling out of Dialup Hell. Dialup BAAAD ::: handgesture ::: But, in the infinitesimal chance that the technician tells me that I am unable to get broadband, this also gives me a few extra days to come up with insidious methods of torture that would make Torquemada and the Marquis deSade proud.

But for now…. of to visit Morpheus and the other denizens of The Dreaming.

Peace.

On the whole, it was a good day:

• Gym. Gym GOOOD ::: handgesture :::
• Work. Did I mention “work?” Work. This one was a little “not good,” because the air conditioners on the workroom floor are borked. This, in and of itself, wasn’t too much of a problem – I cope with heat MUCH better than I do cold. All things considered, the temperature was no problem. The problem was: I had this overwhelming tendency to start nodding off. NOT a good thing. But, after a tasty (and quickly-imbibed) Mountain Dew® after lunch, I was good-to-go!
• After work, I went to Liquid Joe’s, “A private club for members,” (see below) to hear Angie’s band. And it was mullet-tastic! Why don’t I remember seeing that many mullets when I lived in that part of town?!?
  “A private club for members” is how ALL of the nightclubs and bars in Salt Lake – and the rest of Utah – identify themselves as places that serve alcohol and where smoking is allowed. Of course, that still doesn’t excuse the stoopid “one drink on the table per customer” law, which I find asinine, but you take what you can get.
• Picked up Jess from work and came home.

Like I said, all-in-all, a good day. That’s about it for now. Tune in tomorrow for another exciting episode of My So-Called Utah. Or is it Utah’s Creek? Or 7th Utah? Ally McUtah? No, I know that’s not it. I keep getting them confused. *shrug*

Peace.

Week 2, Day 1 of GymQuest was good. ::: flex :::

Not much otherwise to report: Work, a trip to Borders – to check for a couple of magazines, and home. Yup, exciting day here.

Jess told me of more supervisor assignment shenanigans at work. *sigh* From what happened, we may lose another Acting Supervisor, and that’s a shame: The one that I suspect will drop from the program is good at what he does… when allowed to supervise, that is. I hope that I’m wrong about this.

Anyway, I guess I’ll watch the X-Files now since A&E saw fit to move Law & Order to make room for The Sandra Bernhard Experience. *sigh* Oh well.

Peace.

Note about yesterday: After the bike ride to Riverton, I am usually a worn-out fleshsack. Yesterday when I got there, it wasn’t bad at all. My calves were still a little sore from the Wednesday workout, but I think that the ride helped me stretch them out a bit. A shower and change of clothes later, Jess, Angie (who came down later), the inlaws and I went out to dinner and then watched The Green Mile. It was my first time seeing it. Movie GOOOD. ::: handgesture ::: I do believe that I shall have to put that on my “to be purchased” list.

Today was another good day. Jess and I laid out by the pool for a bit this afternoon with her aunt and cousin and Angie and Melody. Ok, let me change that a bit: Melody and I sat by the pool (and drew) and the others spent some time in the pool; Melody is coaching me in my drawing… she’s good. Very good. In fact, I should just pack up my drawing materials and never touch them again. ::: thinks ::: Nah. After pooltime, J, M, A and I came up to the apartment and hung out for a bit; a little later Ang left for band practice (Groove Dilemma) and Mel went home.

Later, it was comic and get-groceries-so-we-don’t-starve shopping time. We came back, and I cooked (steak, wheat pilaf and green beans) and watched “Walking Shadow” on A&E.

SIDEBAR: I am a BIG fan of the Spenser series and I have been waiting all week for this. I’m still a bit of a purist and miss Robert Urich and Avery Brooks in the roles of Spenser and Hawk, but it *is* Spenser and I got my fix, so I can live (pretty easily) with Joe Montegna and Ernie Hudson in the roles. And it was a good adaptation of the novel, which also helped immensely.

After that, I killed a couple of hours until it was time for DS9 – along with IRC-commentary and the obligatory bowl of ice cream and Cheerios®. Yes, “ice cream and Cheerios®.” Honey-Nut Cheerios®, to be exact. If you can put sprinkles or syrup on ice cream, why not Cheerios®? Mighty tasty.

I should probably wrap this up now and call it a night. 0830 hours – and the gymtime – comes early and then I have eight hours of the bliss known as “work” to look forward to. But there is always frozen mocha goodness or even homebrewed hot coffee goodness to help make it through the day, so that should help.

Until sometime tomorrow…

Peace.

Getting this done early, so that I don’t have to worry about getting today’s (Sat) entry done later today/tonight.

Since I slept in and have only been awake for… an hour or so, not too much has happened. One of the maintenance guys came and installed a peephole in the front door. Yes, we’ve been here for about six months and we just got a peephole. *shrug* We kept forgetting to ask about it whenever we went to the leasing office for something. Go figure. But now, we can see whomever makes the trek up to our (or our neighbors’) apartment! And we won’t even have to open the door, either! Ain’t modern technology great!?!

On deck for today:

• Heading down to the inlaws’. I think that I’m going to bike down there – my legs are still a little stiff and that will be a good way to work out the stiffness… assuming that it doesn’t just kill me. It will also be a good cardio workout. And then I can pass out in their living room.
• Other than that, I have no clue.

Time to get ready and to pack a change of clothes. Five miles, two wheels, the open road…. and traffic. That’s a good way to start the day.

Peace.

Pretty average Friday:

• We went to the gym, yep that’s a full week. :::flex:::
• Went to work, but we left at 5:45. Hey, we were there the rest of the week, that’s going to have to be good enough.
• Met Angie for dinner and then met up with Scott and saw “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” which was pretty good.
• And then we came home.

Now… umm… uhh… sorry, momentary lapse of sequential thought. Angie and Scott are supposed to be on the way here, in fact… I think I just saw them drive up. What we’re going to do, I do not know. *shrug* Oh, well.

Guess that will wrap it up for now.

Peace.

Today was fairly uneventful. After the way the week started, I put this under the heading of “good thing.”

• Woke up. (Good way to start any day).
• Did Hygiene Ritual (Part I).
• Went to the gym. Yes, this is four (4) consecutive days, now.
• Came home.
• Did Hygiene Ritual (Part II: Electric Boogaloo).
• Got dressed, fixed a pot o’ coffee and lunch, and headed to work.
• Worked. (Good way to ensure that you earn money.)
• Came home.

We’re supposed to be meeting some friends for a late bite to eat, shortly. And since there wasn’t much (translation: “any”) wackiness to report today, I figured that I’d get an early start on tonight’s entry. About the most noteworthy thing is the fact that I ache pretty much all over.

I [heart] getting back into a workout routine.
Of course, it will be better when the soreness goes away and I get used to having a regular gym schedule – one of the benefits of not supervising and thereby having my schedule bounced all over Hell and half of Georgia. But in the meantime… *ow*

Better scoot (that’s about as fast as I can move right now) so that we aren’t late.

Peace.

I am on a roll!!! Three… count ’em – THREE… consecutive days at the gym.

::: flex :::

Today was my leg day. Have I mentioned how much I… umm… “dislike” leg days? No? Oh. Well, let’s just say that they are not my favorites. But I did it. I am such a trooper! Walking up the steps to the apartment after working out wasn’t even a problem. Walking down them, on the way to work, however was something entirely different. Can you say “rubber legged,” boys and girls? I knew you could! That was me. I usually go up and down steps pretty quickly. Not this morning. And by the time we actually got to work, going up the steps was a rather slow-going process.

And in other news, my shoulders and back are still sore from yesterday’s workout. That’s okay, though. “Ah am gonna be sooo buff!” Fortunately, those muscle groups will get a little bit of rest tomorrow – it’s chest and arms day. But, I’m sure that they will be just achy enough to remind me of what I put them through. *shrug* No rest for the wicked, I guess.

And… ~dramatic pause~ …I needed neither Garanimals shoes nor a full-body bib today!!! I must be growing up! It’s almost bedtime, gotta get up early for the gym.

::: turns on night light :::

Peace.

Today was Day Two of GymQuest… and this time I even managed to wear two shoes from the same pair! Of course, I didn’t remember to check this until just before I left – but I did remember!

I came home and got ready for work. We left a little early so that I could get a Cinnabon from the mall for breakfast. :::bliss::: We went to the mall, I got a Cinnabon and a Mochalotta Chill. What?!? You expected me to eat the Cinnabon without a “refreshing beverage to wash it down?” (Thanks to Jules Winfield for that line.) As we were on the way to work, I didn’t dawdle and went straight back to the car. I opened the door, sat down… and then it happened.

I spilled part of my drink in my lap.
BRAINCRAMP

Yay. Let’s look at all the factors to consider here:

• I was sitting in a car with a lapful of Mochalotta Chill.
• I didn’t have anything to change into in the car.
• We had :25 to get to work – no time to go back home and change.

That left me with two options:

• Go to work with a stain in a highly-visible (and somewhat embarrassing) place or
• Buy a new pair of jeans.

BRAINCRAMP

Actually, this was pretty much a no-brainer: I was at the mall, there was an Eddie Bauer, I like the cut and fit of their jeans, so I bought a new pair. I walked back into the mall – stain and all, walked into the store, found the style and color of jeans, and looked for my size…. which they didn’t have!!! And the clock was still ticking. *sigh* I chose a darker denim and looked for my size in those, which they had! I paid for the jeans and headed for the nearest changing room to make like Clark Kent. I changed and headed off to work, old jeans in the bag.

We made it to work with a little time to spare. And, like yesterday, the rest of my day was nowhere near as “interesting” as the early part of the day. But… if anyone knows where I can find a full-body bib, please let me know. Apparently, I need one to go along with my Garanimals shoes.