Generic trade show

I went to a trade show yesterday. I saw a talk where stuff I'm working was demo'd.

whee... (a la Mo)

I was bored out of my skull. No internet (yes I was jones'n) The food was ... the same as it ever was. Same as it ever way.

The best part was driving out of seattle and getting completely lost and having to get directions on the phone. In short I went the wrong way.

a new saying

I said today, "Ah plungers... they aren't just for toilets anymore!"

And then I changed my shirt.

Don't ask, K?

Bingo Bingoing binGONE

Well my last PTSA thing went down last night. I have to say other than a stray call to 911 from a kid (the officer was so not pleased) it went down rather smoothly.

Prizes. Crazyness

A floor that needed mopped. (some not the whole floor)

Can I just say I love people who try to figure out where we went wrong while we're actually still doing the event. That is such an endeering quality. Right up there with people who, at the last minute right before the event want to tell you that your advertisement was shit (not enough clip art I guess) and you're not going to get many people.

fuck em.

Fuck them all. I'm done.

Ah the smell of summer

Last night we had to open the window because it was hot. I love the smell of fresh air in the morning. I'm sure it will get rainy and crappy again before it really hits summer, but I like to enjoy it when I can.

A post about the weather... I so SUK

Jacket collection weather

I have no less than 5 jackets in my car. Every morning I put one on and every afternoon I chuck it in the car...

They add up. Soon I won't be able to see to drive.

for the record

I can't fix the damn all consuming right now.

I'm still reading "everything and more"
I'm done navigating.

Moby Dick... well... what the hell was I thinking?

Oh you gotta see this...

If you see me, ask to pick a card... k?

Books...

I finished reading some books. Finally I finished my land navigation book. What an albatross around my neck... but maybe I won't get as lost next time I'm in the woods with my GPS.

I also finished "Mouse Tales" That's a great book. The writing isn't stellar but the content more than makes up for it. It seems very factual as he reports from actual documented cases. I really liked reading about a corporation that really watches it's image by someone outside of the corporation who is giving it a fair unbalanced account. The author does a really good job here as he's a big fan of Disney but doesn't seem to be afraid to tell it like it was. The book is a bit dated and often refers to things in the present tense that are gone. I loved the book.

Now on to more and different books... hmmm what to read.

Flashback... again

When I graduated from Highschool my parents gave me luggage. I took the hint.

My parents (and I) lived in Cincinnati and when I went to college my SAT's were Med-High but my grades... well not so much. I went to a state school because I knew A. I'd get in and B. I could afford it. With loans and crap. It was 120 miles away. Just far enough, but not too far.

I moved into Morril tower along with a billion other freshman. We lived with 4 people in a room and 4 rooms in a suite and 8 suites on a floor. That meant there were 16 guys (and usually 2-4 girls (lucky bastards)) per bathroom. 4 sinks, 3 toilets and 2 (count them...) 2 showers.

I moved the very first day you could. I have a few days before classes would start and I moved into the rather sterile building. I didn't know it at the time but the architectural design was actually for a low security prison or jail. They just reversed the locks so we could get in and out.

My parents helped me move in and I started meeting other guys in my suite. Dana (yes it was a guy) and Mike who were best friends in Highschool. OK people if you're best friends with a guy in Highschool, DO NOT live with them in college, k? Dana was later known as the "sloth" and Mike was just so highstrung we thought he would die from heart failure before we graduated.

We were walking through the lobby and some girls were trying to get a foot locker upstairs so we helped them. I didn't know these two guys at all, but we carried it to the elevator and up to whatever floor and into the room and when we dropped it off Dana said to them (you can't make this up). He looked at them and without even a smile he said, "What? No blow job??"

Mike and I (Mike was his best friend) explained quickly that we didn't know Dana at all. We made our exit, but it pretty much set the tone for my whole freshman year...

None of my roommates showed up that day. I got the bed I wanted, the dresser I wanted the desk and everything. One of our roommates didn't end up showing up. He had bailed, but I'm ahead of myself.

My parents took me out to dinner and my mom was being a bit emotional and so was my dad. I knew it was a big moment for them, but fuck it was huge for me. We got caught in this huge line of cars on Olentange Ave. Lots of kids moving into the dorm. I was anticipating the goodbye and I really didn't want to deal with them having their last child "fly the nest." All my shit was in my room. We were just stuck. I was in the back seat of the car. I can see it like it was yesterday.

I said goodbye rather matter of factly and I got out of the car right into traffic.

I told myself I was "saving" my parents the pain of saying goodbye. I told myself I was saving me from having to see it. I thought it was better that way. I think they did a U turn and headed home. I walked about a 1/2 mile to my new home. It was a long 1/2 mile. I put them behind me and I dealt with my fear about living there and being in college. I set them aside, til about now. As a parent I can see it from their point of view some almost 20 years later.

We can't be proud of all of our flashbacks, now can we?

Having a rubber band in your mouth

is a really bad idea. I snapped it off while eating (they said to leave it in) and it popped the shit out of my cheek.

owch.

ok I'm done wussing now...

Upgrades

So I went to the orthodontist today. I got upgraded. In most cases that's a good thing. In this case, it isn't.

I got new steel wires. Shout outs to my peeps from Pittsburgh!

I got new chains from 6 to 6 and from 4 to 4. Let's hear it for the lateX industry!

And this just in: A class 2 rubber band from my bottom left molar to the half way up the top on the same side. Boo ya. Thanks to Dr. Grey for that little baby.

Forecast this morning: Pain off and on throughout the morning settling into a dull ache this afternoon in time for a rather stormy dinner. Discomfort to continue throughout this week and next.

Stay tuned! Up next a visit to the urologist. (I'm so kidding.)

Beatles Sound Check

I got to work and dropped the iPod into it's docking station. I do that almost every day. I certainly do it every good day. I needs my iPod. The beatles were already playing. I had been playing them over the weekend and apparently they just kept playing. It was A Day in the Life and it was just ending and that was sad so I hit skip back to get it to the beginning.

John wouldn't sing. I knew he was temperamental, but to be able to years after your death make my iPod stop putting out your voice seems a little powerful even for the legend behind Imagine. (Do you realize the period at the end of that sentence may or may not be italics and you'd never know... not without doing view source. If you look at the tags in this post to see if the dot there is italic or not, you're way sicker than I am.)

His voice was just gone. It was like I was required to some quick karaoke work right there. Then it occurred to me that it was also really quiet in here. No John ... Just Paul and kinda quiet... oh ya my left speaker got unplugged.

So I went into the den of wires that is under my desk and corrected the situation.

Jeeeezus this is a boring post.

Everyone has a price...

So I took a really long shower recently and as the hot water runs out and it's colder and colder... eventually you're going to get out of the shower...

Everyone has a price and a temperature.

morale event

so i'll skip the i've been busy so i didn't post apology bullshit.

We had a morale event today and it just sucked the life right out of me... desired effect, I think not.

The Target one hundred dollar dash

Whenever I got to Target it costs $100. I don't know why. It seems we go in for one thing and those clever bastards always get me to buy some other crap that granted I need, but still. It seems like every they should just take it out of my wallet when I walk in. It would save me some time and also I wouldn't wonder how much it's going to be.

So we have a black tri aussie in addition to our blue aussie and so we needed a new vacuum cleaner. Yes stay with me, k? So we actually borrowed one (ours has been dead for years and the cleaning invasion that happens every other week has been dealing with it for it years so we didn't have to until now) Do you know how embarrassing it is to call up your friends and ask them, "Hey I know you're coming over for dinner tonight and our house is a real mess so could you bring your vacuum for us to borrow??" So Gina and Darren brought over their vacuum and we used it. It worked really well so I wanted to get one. (See where Target fits in here?) I went to Target to get one "Just like Gina's" and I got me a dirt devil jaguar and it only cost me (along with the other crap) 59.98. I was all "holy shit I got out for less than an 100." The check out dude looked at me like I'm insane (shut up).

So I get home and start to put the mutherfucker together. I knew something was amiss when I opened the box up and there was a bag. Gina's didn't have a bag. Fuck. Tammy and I looked at it and shit I got the wrong one. So I got my ass back in the car and I took the mutherfucker back. The very nice lady behind the desk told me to go get the one I wanted and she'd do the exchange. So I went and got the 'bagless' one. (Very nice by the way I highly recommend it.) and brought it back. She did the scanning and the beeping and the typing and asked me for $42.33 which was the "difference". Well fuck me. $100 dash.

This was a while back. Why did I think of this now? I was talking to Gina a few days ago about this incident and she had just been to target that day. She told me it had been $60 so she had escaped the $100 dash. I told her they would charge me for the rest I was sure.

Yesterday Tammy and Gina went to a charity auction and I was home with the kids. Max was begging me to go to Toys-R-Us. As we started to leave he switched gears and said he could get the Bionicles at Target he was sure. I, without thinking as per usual, go, "sure."

I kept asking him how much he was gonna spend and he never really had a figure for me so whatever. He's 10 now and Samantha really wanted to clothes shop so I let him go to toy department on his own. Samantha is 7 and shouldn't know how to clothes shop. Nobody taught her really. Tammy doesn't like to clothes shop so she's very practical and just gets what's needed and gets out. She doesn't browse. How did Sam know how to do that? She looked like a pro going from rack to rack pulling stuff out and showing it to me. I was standing there with my Jaw on the floor as she pulled out a skirt and said, "Daddy this one is reversible so I can wear it with flowers or with stripes."

Cleverly I respond with "uh huh. Do you need to try it on?" She didn't know size so I had to call Tammy at the auction to find out what size top Sam needed. All this time Max was loose in the store. He came up to me right after I got off the phone. He was so proud because he couldn't find me then he did find me. That was a moment for him. He said he went this way and didn't find me then this way then over there. I started to say, "To find me in a store-" He stopped me and said, "I used my ears because you're loud daddy!" Which I have to admit is exactly what I was going to say to him too. From there Sam tried on her new outfit and we went to check out....

Total? $40.00... I guess Target trips are like celebrity deaths coming in 3's. (Which, of course, is a bunch of bullshit.) Target trips come in $100's. Thanks to Gina for saving me the $60