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Aug. 10th, 2008 @ 08:33 pm Cat Available
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So, I screwed up and brought too many animals into my home. We brought in a stray cat about six months ago, and he's overall been pretty cool. However, since we also have two other cats, and since Sally has two dogs, I'm finding five pets just too many to take care of. In response, we're getting rid of two of the cats. Ben and Mike are probably going to take Pepper, and we're looking for a home for Cracker.

As of right now, Cracker, our 1-2 yr old male (neutered) black cat is available to the first good home that wants him, free. He's front declawed, loves to play, and is very friendly.

Please let me know if you want him, or if you know anyone that might want him, or if you have any suggestions on other places that I can offer him at.

I've called a lot of the pet adoption places, and they aren't taking any more cats at this time. I looked to see if I could post on Craigslist, but they don't allow pet ads. I just want to find a good home for this cat, and I'm open to any suggestions anyone has.
May. 14th, 2008 @ 10:43 pm Living in the moment
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I've felt the need to really sit down and write for quite a while now, but having the need is different from having the time and the motivation.

If you genuinely care about what I have to say, I ask that you break from reading this entry to follow this link, and read about the first ten paragraphs of this article. Once it gets into the in depth sports part, you can come back. Just read the beginning.

Go ahead, I'll wait.

Back yet?

Ok, now?

Alright. Well, that article hits on the head exactly the problem I've been dealing with over the past few months - I've been having a VERY hard time just living in the moment, ignoring the other concerns of my life.

I could go into detail as to why this is such a bad thing, or why its so hard for me, but really, that doesn't matter. My basic problem is that its damn hard for me to turn off my mind, so I always require SOMETHING there to fully engage it. Be it a group of friends, a cubs game, a good movie, whatever - I need something in depth to basically use up all my spare CPU cycles. When I don't have those items immediately available, my mind starts to wander, and it affects my ability to think happy thoughts, and to truly enjoy the moment I'm in.

My question for you guys is this: Does that happen to you as well? If so, how do you deal with it? How can you keep yourself focused on the moment?
Apr. 20th, 2008 @ 10:01 pm life changing fun
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So, I asked Sally to marry me and she said yes.

Lucky man is me.

That is all.
Mar. 28th, 2008 @ 06:55 pm I like sports
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I can't wait for Monday - baseball season! I know that probably NOONE reading this cares, but it makes me happy.

I've thought about the "why" of that a lot recently, and I've had a bit of trouble quantifying it. I guess part of it is the comfort of knowing that every year, baseball will be there. The same teams, mostly the same players, and the comfortable rhythm of a game that I know and love. But... why? Even I'll admit, it can be boring at times. Hell, I even fell asleep during a Cubs playoff game at the end of last year.

I am not sure I have a solid answer for this question yet, but I think I found something that points me in the right direction: here.

Even if you're not a sports fan, it's a well written article that really explains how easy it is to start to care.
Jan. 14th, 2008 @ 10:31 pm Too cool for school?
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So, I'm back in school. It's been a little over a week, and I have to say - I love it. Its nice to LEARN again, it really is. School is so much less stressful, too. I worry about it when I want to worry about it. I can see the time element coming back to bite me, though. Right now I work five days a week, have class mon and wed nights, homework tuesday nights, have mcnellies with friends thursday night, date night with sally on friday, and visit the folks on Sunday. That leaves... saturday. That day is the one day a week I have left to handle excess homework, work around the house, or relax. Right. This could get old, but whatever. Totally worth it.

With being back in school, I am feeling the need for a laptop. Technically I could use my work laptop, but it worries me for several reasons:
1. If its hurt on campus, would work forgive me?
2. If I leave/am forced to leave this job, what happens to all my work that's on the laptop?
3. Its bulky and a bit slow.

SO... all this leads me to an excuse to buy a new computer! Yay! I bought my last laptop in 2003, so I think I'm due.

I have to say, I'm leaning toward a Macbook Pro. With the developer discount (thanks Lemmata!), it's not unreasonable, and the reliability, battery life, and dual boot sell it for me.

One question to those of you running macs - can I virtual machine windows while I have Leopard running? I'd like to be running native Leopard but pull up a VM to run SQL Server or whatever is required.

Also - downsides to going with a mac? Any issues I should be made aware of? Mary - I'm looking at you, I know you just bought one.
Dec. 31st, 2007 @ 03:15 pm Ze Paper
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My momma made the news!
http://www.tulsaworld.com/lifestyle/article.aspx?articleID=071231_8_D1_hStai40351
Dec. 17th, 2007 @ 09:45 pm two months without an update?
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I'm alive, but I'm boring.

I feel... old.

I've been accepted to OSU Tulsa's MBA program to start in early January. 7 semesters at two classes a piece, and I'll have an MBA. For those of you counting at home, I'll finish in Spring 2011. That seems a long way away :)

I guess that makes me officially on the management track as opposed to the technical track. There are days where I question this decision. There are days where I'm certain this is the right decision. Either way, an MBA can do nothing but help, and my company is picking up around 80% of the tuition. If all else fails, it gives me three years longer to figure out the rest of my life. You know, no pressure.

Anyway, I'm doing the whole "lets have a christmas!" with the house this year. The girlfriend has provided a fake tree and stockings, and I've provided ornaments, presents, and a couple christmas themed wall-hangings that have been stolen from my parents. This is something I don't entirely understand. I've never once in my entire life been excited about decorating for christmas. But this year I have this whole ideal of sitting by the tree with my girlfriend that I'm looking forward to. I have this whole mental picture of sitting on the floor with her, opening presents and eating orange cinnamon rolls. I really don't have any idea where this is coming from.

We were INSANELY lucky with the ice storm. The fence didn't collapse, nor did the old tree above my driveway. We were without power for two days, which sucked HARD. We were without tv and internet for a week, but honestly, that wasn't the end of the world.

The learning curve on winterizing a house is pretty steep. I learned all sorts of things, such as:
1. Having a gas furnace does not help if it has an electric trigger. = no heat.
2. Just because the hot water heater has hot water shortly after the power goes out, does not meant it will last. Brr.
3. In 8 hours, my house temperature dropped 18 degrees. This means I have a shit-ton of drafts that I'm going to need to get looked at, and this worried me greatly regarding my pipes and appliances. I spent one afternoon tying up blankets around door jams to try and conserve heat.
4. Wandering around the outside of your house while it's sleeting WILL cause you to catch a cold.

I need to spend some time writing down some of the great experiences I've had recently. We had the corporate holiday party last Saturday night, and that was a trip. I love it when the bosses get so trashed that they wobble.

I saw Tool about a month back - AMAZING show. I can't believe they didn't play Aenima or Sober, and I REALLY can't believe that I don't overmuch care.

I've cashed in 4 vacation days, combined with the fact that we get the 24th, 25th, and 1st off by default, and that means that starting Saturday, I will have 11 days off without ANYTHING being required of me. Hopefully I get something fun for Christmas to play with :)

As an aside - For those of you still experiencing the aftermath of the storm, I have a spare bedroom if anyone needs a place to crash for a few nights.
Nov. 5th, 2007 @ 10:22 pm razor?
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*cough
BSG:Razor
*cough
Oct. 19th, 2007 @ 09:29 pm It's Friday night, and I feel alright
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Thoughts on the day:
1. I laughed at some of these sport quotes/
2. I was emo today. Tired, cranky, and overly apathetic. That hasn't happened to me in a long time. No idea why. I relaxed on my own and watched TV all night, and I feel tons better. Weird.
3. We have an IM program at work that allows you to have a "status" that is listed under your name on the client. It's generally used for things such as "working from home today" or "focused on project X". The best thing I could think of to put there was "I ain't got time to bleed". Yes, I need suggestions on good work appropriate quotes. I have no originality.
4. I wish the Cubs were still playing. At least I have football.
5. I discovered the Jimi Hendrix song "All Along The Watchtower" last night due to a cover band. I think I'm in love. Its not like I'm 30 years too late or anything.
6. We're having an 80's themed halloween at work this year, and the rest of the guys on my team think I should dress up as a baby (since that's what I was in the 80's). I'm strangely tempted. It'll definitely be an improvement over last year's costume of a horse head and a noose (hung like a horse... get it? See, it's a pun? Yeah?... ok.)
7. I bought a Wii as a present for Sally earlier this week. I hate to admit this, but I'm sitting here and have almost zero desire to play it. Is it possible for my love of gaming to have completely died? It only looks fun when someone else is playing.
Oct. 7th, 2007 @ 11:04 am ORLY ORU?
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I'm enjoying this link about Oral Roberts being in trouble a little too much :)
Oct. 3rd, 2007 @ 03:30 pm I should be studying...
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So, stuff going on:

1. Cubs are in the playoffs! If you care about being my friend, you will leave me the fuck alone while they are playing. I mean that in the nicest way possible.

2. I take the GMAT exam tomorrow, trying to get accepted to OSU Tulsa's MBA program. Wish me luck.
Sep. 13th, 2007 @ 05:39 pm Yes, I am alive
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Wow, it's been a while.

I am alive, and my life is... different.

I live in a very packed house. My home currently houses:
1. Me
2. My girlfriend (temporarily)
3. Her two dogs (black lab and black mouth cur - 120 pounds combined of sheer DOG)
4. My cat Garfield
5. A stray black kitten we wound up taking in, and after discarding blatantly racist black names, decided to name "cracka". The black cat Cracka. Funny? Racist? You decide!
6. Roommate 1: Ben
7. Roommate 2: Arlo

It's always entertaining here, that's for damn sure. The lab is a bit of a nightmare - extremely hyper, barks throughout the night, and has even put a HOLE in my wooden fence - but the girl is worth it, so whatcha gonna do?

I had an awesome trip to Chicago with my dad about a month ago for a couple Cubs games, which I never got around to writing about. It rained too much, but the company was good and Wrigley never gets old. It's a good year to be a Cubs fan - as I write this, they are currently tied for first place in their division, so they have a good chance of making the playoffs for the first time since 2003. I think I may try to fly up for a game if they do make it - just gotta find the funds.

I've also been thinking a lot about my job. I think I'd like to pursue a management track, and I'm thinking very seriously about getting my MBA. I'm still kicking around options, but its something I'd like to do. It's been going well - I won the award for the "thankQ" for the quarter. Basically it means that during that 3 month period someone decided I was the most helpful person. Man, I guess they still haven't figured out I'm an asshole, huh?

So - yeah. I'm alive. I'm busy. I'm very happy. I'll write more sometime. Tonight it's time for a nap before I head to McNellies at 8 and then catch a band called EOTO at Blank Slate at 10. Peace!
Jul. 30th, 2007 @ 10:54 pm the 'tussin
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I've been on a hardcore MC Chris kick since I saw him live Saturday night. I didn't even realize he had a cd come out last year, but he did, and I think it's his best yet. I listened to it twice at work today.

But - the show. I don't know if it was because I'd been drinking, because I was there with friends, because I was already having an amazing time, or what it was, but his show was like the perfect storm.

It was too hot, and too crowded, and the sound kinda sucked, but... WOW. The guy can rap, and rap WELL. There had to be close to a thousand people packed into this little club downtown, standing shoulder to shoulder, and nearly everyone knew all the words to every song. I mean, come on, he opened up his set with the fucking Duck Tales theme song! How cool is that!

I haven't had that much fun at a show in many years - probably since high school. Some random girls tried to get up on stage to dance with him or something, and he stopped his set so we all could chant "bitches, get off the stage." They leave, and he has the entire crowd flip them off. THEN, he turns back to the crowd and says "this show is for people who were picked on when they were 12 years old, not you bitches." That recollection is slightly booze tinted, but I'm pretty sure that's how it went down, and I fucking love him for it.

I feel like a little kid, how excited I STILL am, two days later. DFEST was worth every penny, just for his show. The fact that I got to see the Flaming Lips and a bunch of other bands? Gravy, baby. Gravy.

"Go take a hike... and don't forget the trail mix, bitch!"
Jul. 15th, 2007 @ 09:47 pm this was a good weekend
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Life is awesome-sauce. Had a great party with quite a few friends last night, and followed it up with a relaxing night tonight with a movie and some pizza.

The diet has gone to hell over this weekend, but I don't care, it was a good, fun, weekend with no drama and no destruction.

Thanks for everyone who has come over to the house recently for being awesome.
Jul. 9th, 2007 @ 08:47 pm A happy post!
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( Life has been good to me recently. )
Jun. 25th, 2007 @ 05:59 pm Long ass day
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So, today sucked. Lots of stuff broke at work, and I spent over ten hours straight running from place to place trying to fix it all. The worst part is that even though 90% of it I'd never even seen before, since I'm the 'representative' of the department who builds the product, everyone in the company was angry at me today. Not truly "you bastard" type of angry, but angry that more work was made for them, so they're going to take it out on me or stop me and complain to me.

10 hours. One person has something broken - fix it or make a note to have someone else fix it. Next person - fix it or make a note to have someone else fix it. Get harassed by someone else. Get yelled at by management for not having fixed problem A yet. Drop everything to look at a newer, bigger problem. etc.

Lunch consisted of stealing a sandwich from another department's lunch buffet while I was standing in another manager's office having a meeting.

This is all for the company that I thought fired me on Friday. My access card to move from room to room and from floor to floor got deactivated between 4pm and 5pm on Friday. I was locked out of my own cube, wasn't able to get my laptop and go home until someone let me in. I half figured I'd gotten fired - why else would my card stop working at 5pm on a Friday?

Luckily (I think) that wasn't the case, but it still prevented me from getting into the parking garage or my office this morning. I parked in visitor's parking and had someone else let me in to my office. I was able to get it sorted out - they deactivated my card by accident, but it still sucked getting around until it got fixed.

The cherry on top of my shitty day? I forgot I left my car in visitor parking, and sure enough, I got a parking ticket.

I love it.
Jun. 14th, 2007 @ 11:24 pm foot in mouth disease
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Ye gods, I'm a moron when it comes to women.

Especially women I give a shit about.
Jun. 5th, 2007 @ 10:39 pm never go browsing your old entries when bored
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Jeebus.

I suck at life.

For someone who is very goal oriented, to realize that I set a goal for myself and didn't reach it is really bothering me. I was browsing through the archives of this journal and found this post, reading:


A little over two weeks ago I hit 220 pounds on the scale. This is, for the record, over twenty pounds heavier than I have ever been in my life. I know I've written on here about my weight before, but for some reason I've truly been motivated this time around.
[...]
My goal is to completely eliminate my gut. I have no idea what weight that is, and I don't really care. I just want the gut gone. It's also nice to be able to actually see muscle on my upper body. That had been really bothering me. Mock me if you want for eating salads, but I'm gonna keep this up while I'm motivated. By next spring, I'm going to be able to take my shirt off and not be ashamed. Mark my words.


My words have been marked, and they have been found lacking.

I'm better than this.

All of you bastards need to yell at me about this - I've only dropped about ten pounds from that point (although I have added muscle), and its been six months. There's no excuse for this. NONE.
Jun. 5th, 2007 @ 10:19 pm ten things of note
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Well, what the hell, lets see if I can't come up with ten interesting things to say:

1. I've re-started the tradition of weekly McNellies trips, every Thursday night at 8pm. You're welcome to join us. Yes, YOU! I've had a really good time the past few weeks.

2. I plan on attending D-Fest this year, as mc chris and the flaming lips are two of the awesome bands that will be there. If you don't know who mc chris is, you aren't a geek. You just aren't. It's right here in Tulsa in July, check it out: http://www.dfest.com/festschedule07.htm

3. Work is going quite a bit better than it has in a few months. If you really care, hit me up privately and I'll go into it.

4. I know I'm late to the party, but the new Incubus and Nine Inch Nails cds are both really damn good. I'm going to have to legally buy them (and new Linkin Park, for that matter)!

5. I made meat sauce that I'm damn proud of last night. Fried up ground beef with an onion and garlic. Added more garlic, thyme, parsley, oregano, red pepper flakes, cracked black pepper, two bell peppers, another onion, a tomato, a splash of red wine, and some starter sauce. Let the whole thing simmer overnight for about 12 hours, then used it to make lasagna tonight. Ben contributed some bruschetta, and we feasted on this fine eve.

6. Knocked Up = fantastic movie. Pirates 3 = long movie.

7. This is number seven. I like number seven. I can't be out of things to say already!

8. Arlo has been an excellent addition to the house. He, Ben, and myself have hung out quite a bit recently, and I've had a damn good time. I'm going to see if I can't convince him to start cooking with us more, but I've got no complaints thus far.

9. I apparently suck at fantasy baseball. This hurts me more than you know. It could be because I'm starting 3 Cubs, and the Cubs suck this year. BUT THEY WILL TURN IT AROUND, DAMMIT!

10. I'm loving the weather these days - there's few things in this world that I love more than driving around with my windows down and the music up. It's just instant relaxation.

Well, at least it was ten things to say, you be the judge on how interesting it was.
May. 20th, 2007 @ 10:37 pm (no subject)
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Man, it looks like I only ever use this LJ to bitch about stuff. Not sure when I became such a whiner.

Well, I had a great time at Priya's birthday party Saturday night, and also a great time with a couple buddies from work playing pool on Friday night. All in all, a pretty decent weekend. You know, other than the time that the girls told me they wouldn't sit next to me any longer if I kept making jokes about bestiality with a cow. Apparently that's not dinner-table conversation :)