New Years Prep

I picked up champagne to drink with my wife at midnight to ring in the new year.

Actually all I will be doing is taking a small sip and pouring out the rest. I don't like the taste of wine or champagne.

The important part to me is that my wife and I speak to each other. For me it's the end result that is important.

Last work day of the year

We had a short day at the office because of the New Year coming upon us. I'm not sure when the office closed down but I took off at 2:30 p.m. because I have had enough for the day.

I spend much of the time pushing as much paper as I can but it's never enough.

Agony

Last night my wife called me before bedtime. Her mother was giving her a hard time and my wife had enough. Since I'm planning to visit them out in Utah in late January I told her when I get there we will pick up boxes and send all our belongings back home and all three of us will go back home, end of problems. She was okay with that.

Of course we have a conversation today that totally contradicts the events of yesterday. It seems her mother had a monment of lucidity and told my wife that she's aware of her behavior and wants us to stay and help her.

I can't begrudge my wife her feelings because it's her mother after all and I can understand her inherent desire to take care of her mother even though every other week her mother is making her miserable.

Right now it can go either way. who knows. Hopefully we can get to some kind of solution at some point. I'm just hoping we can reach a peaceful point before they're at each other's throats.

A belated Christmas

My wife received her package today. She was actually happy to get it. I thought she would be a little bummed because I got her a fleece jacked and flannel pj's as well as a charm bracelet.

She was very fond of them all. I was somewhat surprised. I was looking for an old school charm bracelet but all I could find was a spring loaded one with little charms that interlock within the bracelet.

Let me tell you it was a bitch to get the "Best Mom" charms onto the damn thing.

I also included in the box the cards we have received and the latest edition of Parents Magazine we've received. That with the card I signed to her brought tears to her eyes.

That alone made it worth it.

Price of gas

Queens Boulevard
Rego Park, Queens, NY

It looks like the pricing has raised by about ten to twelve cents since I last filled up.

Pics

My wife e-mailed me pictures of our son playing with the fire engine rider I sent him for Christmas. It's a Disney licensed toy, that said it came with a fire engine hat with Mickey Mouse Ears.

She sent me a picture of him putting on the hat.

I wish I was there with them.

Back to the grindstone...er...ok maybe not

It's a slow day today. Not much going on. I sent a package to my wife with her Christmas presents on Saturday but I don't expect her to get it until tomorrow or Thursday.

I've been spending alot of time telling her that it's nothing special so she doesn't get disappointed when she opens them and sees a sweater and a charm bracelet.

Christmas Observed

No work today and I am tickled pink. Of course I have to work at home. I have to move all the boxes I packed and stored in the bedroom.

Being the genius I am I stacked them all in front of the radiator and for the last two weeks we've had some very cold weather. With the radiator blocked the bedroom has been freezing.

Christmas in England?

The view outside is limited, there is a fog out there that makes it look like a scene from The Exorcist.

Good thought

At least I got Scrooge from Netflix. It's not shown anywhere else on television, broadcase, cable or satellite but at least I can see it one more time.

Christmas morning

Here I am. Alone.

Christmas historically has been cruel and kind to us at both times. This year we're apart, but we will eventually have a new place to live in. Once we sell this one and find another, and there is still the co-op on Roosevelt Island we filed for.

Last Christmas was great because I was our son's first Christmas, but I had the flu and I was sick as a dog and feeling festive much, but our son's presence made it different.

The year before last my wife was in a hospital room having had surgery to remove cancerous tissue. That was the cruel. The kind is my wife recovered and she was diagnosed as cancer free and will be with us for many more years.

I can't remember what happened the year before that. My memories are shot.

WARNING!!

Do not, I repeat. Do not by any circumstance rent, buy, or even entertain the thought of seeing the movie "The Crucifier" directed by Bill Zebub (I know, the name was a give-away but I did it anyway).

It is possibly the worst film made by heavy metal wanna-be avant garde film majors.

This is coming from someone that has absolutely zero expectations from a movie. Hell, I give every piece of crap a chance but this one had a crap story.

My guess is it was made so the director and his drinking buddies could get a bunch of girls to get semi-naked for them and to give the director's Rammstein-like heavy metal band some exposure by using their music as the soundtrack.

I tried for a bit but I had to give it up. IT WAS TERRIBLE!! And that's the kind words I have for it.

X-mas Eve

This year we're not together, my wife was hoping I would surprise her out in Utah today. Unfortunately I had to disappoint her.

I stopped by my friends place, they just had a baby the other day. 6 lbs. 12 oz., 18 inches long. She's a beautiful little girl. I'm still amazed our little one looked like that at some point.

Christmas

The staff on our floor organized a little party to celebrate the holidays. It started at 11:00 and it still was going on when I left at 2:30.

That was the first time we had a large party like that, usually this time of year we go out to lunch and just have a few drinks afterwards. It was a pleasant thing.

More trouble

My wife called me today in tears, her mom is having a downward swing and she's being verbally abusive to my wife. I have to bring them back here because it's not working out over there.

Her mom told my wife that my wife isn't helping her at all. While we know that it's her illness that's causeing her to behave in this manner it doesn't make it any easier to tolerate.

Maybe she needs someone who's not emotially attached to take care of her.

Strike no more

The TWU has agreed to end the strike and return to work in the interest of good will. My guess is they agreed to come back if they can minimize the penalties they will be forced to pay.

Easy ride

Traffic was not as bad today, it appears many people have chosen to stay home. I can't blame them since travelling without the benefits of the subway or a bus can be a struggle.

Finishing up

I left early today and good thing too, the packages I was expecting came today and I would have missed them if I was in the office and I would have to wait another day.

Now I can send them off to my wife. I didn't get her anything fancy but things I think she'll need.

I completed the cards as well so that was needed.

Driving to work sucks

Today was the absolutly worst. Traffic was a horror show. It took me 25 minutes to get 3 blocks, usually a 45 second trip. I could feel the vein in my forehead throb.

It took me an hour and a half to get to work.

Baby arrival

My friend had a healthy baby girl. The umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck so a C-section was required. He's been up since last night and he's exhausted but he's holding up pretty well.

Strike, this time they mean it

The strike is officially on and people are pissed. The union is looking for 8% increases, a lower rate of personal investment in their pensions and retirement at 55.

To me those ore the perks of 30 years ago, no one gets those kind of benefits anymore, except for maybe cops and firemen.

Personally for myself except for one short stint as a doorman I never had a job with those kind of benefits. Up until recently I would have to consider myself lucky to get a 5% pay raise. And let's not even discuss how old I'll be when I can retire and heck...what's a pension? Best thing I got is a 401k.

Holiday prep

Today I actually sat down and started writing Christmas cards, I printed out a couple of pictures of our son to add to the cards since I haven't written out cards for the last couple of years.

Since our marriage and the birth of our son things have been really crazy and hectic. Now that I'm trying to get this apartment ready for sale it's even crazier. I've not spoken to friends much recently.

I called one of my buddies to see if he's a dad yet, his wife is due any day now and since she's two weeks late their doctor decided it's time to induce. Tomorrow is his day.

Speedy surfing again

After the cable operators I've been talking to kept telling me that a 10 mb bandwidth is their standard, the technician replaces my modem and what do you know....a 100 mb connection.

Finally I have a decent connection, it's always been slow but when it replaced dial-up and DSL it was faster and I didn't mind but as the years pass and the demands for speed were greater it was more noticable.

I'm also surprised that they came on a Sunday morning. I was told the technician would be here between 8:00 am and 12:00 pm. She arrived at 9:00.

I'm glas something worked out for a change.

Scramble

I have been picking up everything around the house today because the cable technician coming over. I was losing my connection repeatedly.

What a mess!

Strike

The tranit unions staged a mini-strike, only the buses in Queens and Brooklyn are out on strike. It didn't hurt me none.

I ordered some things for my wife for Christmas, I was going to have them sent to her directly but it was from multiple vendors and it wasn't practical. I'm having them delivered to our home and I'll ship it to her.

Strike?

There's talk of a strike by the transit unions here in the city. I don't think it will affect me much since I drive in the opposite direction and don't use the subways or buses, unless I go to the doctor.

We shall see.

Observation

Has anyone else noticed that the broadcast or cable networks no longer show the 1970's era Scrooge with Albert Finney?

Of course you get 50 showings of the 1930's A Christmas Carol as well as numerous showings of The Santa Clause.

What's the world coming to?

Price of gas

I had to fill up this morning and although I didn't have a chance to snap a picture I did keep in mind the pricing so here it is:


Today Previous
Regular: $2.47 $2.49
Premium: $2.57 $2.63
Super: $2.67 $2.73

Now the creep upwards should start again since it's cold as hell out.

Still sick

I'm still feeling sick but I'll have to go into the office today since I have long ago exceeded by allotted sick days. I don't think I'll be paid for the two days I have already missed.

Sick day 2

I'm still not feeling well enough yet. I woke up drenched in sweat. This is how I feel whwn I have the beginnings of the flu. I decided to stay home one more day and see how I feel tomorrow.

Sick day

I am sick and I don't want to expose myself at work because folks have been getting sick left and right there.

I decided to stay home.

Time to go out

I didn't feel too good today but I needed to get out of the house, it was hot in there.

It's 28 degrees outside and I have the windows open for cross ventilation and it's still hot in here.

I fell asleep at my friends huose and didn't get home until just now. I have to go to bed.

Lazy Saturday

I didn't have much going on today. I just did a little grocery shopping and did more packing. Hopefully It won't be much longer.

I'm glad I didn't have anything planned because I'm feeling kinda achy and my throat hurts. Maybe it's an after-affect from the allergy, not sure.

I'm allergic to everything.

I ate something that cause me to have a bad allergic reaction, it actually affected my breathing. The only things I ate up to that point was prepackaged trail mix and an Almond Joy bar. Considering I had an Almond Joy the day before without a problem, that tells me there was something in the trail mix that set me off.

My skin turned a deep shade of red, welts formed up, my eyes started to swell shut and the itching. God, the itching was all over.

I took allergy medicine and it started to clear up about 3 hours later. But by that time I had to leave the office because I could not concentrate and sit still because I was so uncomfortable.

It took a while but I made it home without looking like a radish.

Snow finally.

I woke up at 4:15 in the morning and there was not a single snow drop on the ground. I took a shower, got dressed and had breakfast. I took a guick look out the window and just an hour and a half later there was what looked like an inch of snow on the ground.

At that point I decided to take the subway and railroad. This is terrible for me because its a two hour trip as opposed to the 45 minute car ride I usually take.

More snow

Another snow storm is on the way. I'll see what it looks like in the morning before deciding on rail or road

Follow-up

My wife called our son's pediatrician just to be sure our son is ok.

His fall down the stairs was on a padded and carpeted staircase and floor so it could have been much worse.

No broken bones, no bruising and no bloodshot eyes. The biggest worry was a concussion and he didn't exhibit any signs of that. He's ok. We just have to get used to the idea that he's going to get himself into these scrapes from time to time.

We can't baby him but we do have to be watchful.

Temporary Scare

Today my wife called me at 8:00 a.m. in the morning, that's 6:00 her time and she doesn't normally call me at that time so I thought the worst.

Luckily she was just saying hello. I was freaked out at first. Today is not a good day for her because she needed to hear my voice early and she doesn't understand that I have a ton of work to do, but I still stop what I'm doing to speak to her because I don't want her to think i'm not being supportive. She has a lot to do over there and she's all alone so I want her to feel at ease as much as I can afford her to be.

Change of mind

I chose to take my car after all and it's a good thing too because all the snow that fell disappeared by 2:00 p.m. I would have felt silly taking the train home.

Snow storm?

Last night there work snow warnings televised every half hour or so to the point I expected to wake up this morning to alot of snow on the ground. Lo and behold it's just a sprinkling that fell. It melted as it hit the ground. Of course, it's expected to come down stronger as the day passes so I will just take the railroad into the office, which sucks because it's a 2 hour ride instead of the 1/2 hour drive.

I am not happy

Today was a lousy day. Throughout the day I kept getting interrupted from my work to finish up tasks that others let sit and linger to the point that they had to get done today at once.

That's the frustrating part. I get rerouted from what I'm doing for two months and now not only am I backlogged but now I can't even finish that.

It's at the point that I dread going into the office for fear I'll explode and say something that I can't fix.

With the boys

Today I'm heading to my friend's place for another game of Champions. Prior to last week I haven't played with these guys in over 2 years but nothing has changed much.

I missed the game sessions, they were my relief valve for sanity, however when you're married with a kid you have to refocus your priorities. But since I don't have my family here I have a little spare time.

I'm not going to play with them every week since the groups dynamic has changed as well, maybe one session a month.

At least it gives me an opportunity to socialize. I tend to be a hermit and stay at home. This gets me out the door.

Just my luck

I fell asleep late yesterday and didn't sleep much so I slept quite a bit today. I woke up and went to the supermarket for a few things. That of course was uneventful, but when I got home and checked my mailbox I found the replacement copy of The Hills Have Eyes.

It's a movie I've been wanting to see for some time and until just recently I didn't have the opportunity.

OK, so now I open up the envelope to play the move and when I take it out of the sleeve, wouldn't you know it, that copy was cracked as well.

I just reported the problem and noted they should send me the next one. I am just gonna have to get used to the idea that fate doesn't want me to see it.

Credit when credits due

Since I have been a member of Netflix I have had Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes on my list. For the most part it's been on a Short Wait status or when it was available is when I had other movies in my queue ahead of if.

That having been said I had a feeling of satisfaction when I finally got my copy yesterday.

I opened it to pop it in immediately and wouldn't you know my luck..it was cracked. Netflix has a pretty good system set up for reporting problems. I marked it as received damanged and I would like a replacement copy sent.

I was somewhat surprised when I received an e-mail from Netflix letting me know that my replacement copy was shipped, even though I just placed the damaged copy in the mail this morning.

That's pretty cool.

What now?

I walk into the office today with a laundry list of things that need to be done NOW!

It's hard to keep my cool when everyone thinks you have nothing that can't wait until their work gets completed.

Everyone's a boss.

New Hardware

Our office ordered a high volume scanner to grab all the documents we need to place on our website.

It arrived on Monday and the technician installed it today. Tomorrow they're supposed to train us on usage but it's not really necessary since it's all software driven and we're pretty good with figuring out software.

According to Jim

Just taking a look at this sitcom and I know there is no where near reality.

In the real world there is no one who looks like Jim Belushi that would be able to get a woman like Courtney Thorne Smith as a wife.

Let's face it guys, cheerleaders don't go for C- guys

Ahh

I actually had sleep. For the first time in about 2 weeks I woke up refreshed. I don't have the option of getting 10 hours sleep a night. Maybe I'll try that during the weekends.

I'm just so busy doing nothing that it occupies my time.

Ugh

I left early because I'm terrified that I'll fall asleep on the way home and get into a car accident. So in what is a small level of desperation I sucked down 2 cups of double espressos and vibrated my way to my car.

I managed to not kill myself. So all-in-all it was a good ride.

Now to get some sleep.

Insomnia?

I woke up at 1:00 a.m. with only 3 hours sleep. That coupled with the fact that I didn't sleep much this weekend sets up for a long day.

I will have to get up and walk around the office several times so I don't fall asleep at the office.

I thought it was just a movie

I never knew that there was really a hotel built from ice. I thought is was just a James Bond movie thing.

My way of relaxing.

I have been playing alot of City of Heroes and now City of Villains online. I don't play much of the single player games anymore.

Since I'm alone now, this is what I do to keep myself occupied when I'm not working in the house.

Yes, pretty lame but that's all I have.

Out with the boys again.

Today I hung out with old friends and dis a bit of pencil and paper roleplaying. We usually play Dungeons & Dragons or Champions. Today was a Champions session.

It's been several years since I played, I haven't been with the guys since I med my wife and we've had our son. That's about 3 or 4 years now.

I know that many folks consider it a loser thing but I don't think or worry about those things.

I had a good time, even though I was tired as all hell,

Drats

I guess I'm gonna have to get used to the idea my wife has a form of schizophrenia. Today she's not too sure about coming back home at this moment.

I understand this deals with her mother but I will have to pull the plug on this at some time. She's putting herself through a ton of stress that she doesn't deserve or need.

Of course, I have to admit to a degree of self-serving attention here because I miss her and ou son immensely.

It pains me to get telephone calls from her in pain.

Problems afoot

My wife called me last night distressed because of problems with her mother and sister. Our final decision is for my wife to come home now. It will cause problems out there but I think it will be better with her here. Of course she'll be trading one level of stress for another but we'll be together.

For one thing we don't have a bed anymore. I've been sleeping on the couch and our home looks more like a warehouse than an apartment. I'm not sure what will happen now or when her timetable for return is but we'll figure something out.


The part that burns me is the cost of shipping all the items back home that I sent to them. It cost me about $500.00 to send the packages out there so it will probably be another $500.00 to send them back home.

Turkey day

This may be one of the most depressing days yet.

This is our first Thanksgiving my wife and I will be apart, that coupled with this as our son's 2nd Thanksgiving and he's advanced so much that it's killing me to be here alone.

Yesterday my wife told me our son started running.

I miss them so much, I'm feeling sorry for myself. I just have to find a way to deal with it.

Price of gas

Queens Boulevard
Rego Park, Queens, NY

Another dime drop in low grade from last week but mid-grade and high grade get a six cents drop from last week.

Tension at the office

Today I got into an argument with my boss. He wanted me to give him a solution to our website issue.

The thing is I had a solution but it's not the one he wants. When I developed the site I made it as simple as I can make it. The problem is simple isn't always time effective and that's what he wanted to avoid.

I had to get creative with what we had available to ur and what my HTML skills allowed, not to mention my budget was $0.00 dollars. So I got it to work but there were a myriad of details to follow. That's what he didn't want now.

Yada...Yada....Yada, he stormed off frustrated with me because I didn't have an an acceptable answer and I asked him, "What do you want me to tell you, because I see this is how this conversation is going, so I'll lie to you".

Lazy Sunday

Well yesterday was a sluggish day. I met up with my buddy who had my jacket, of which I consider myself very fortunate. I was very worried about identity theft or the possibility of it.

We hung out for a couple of hours. I picked up City of Villains which looks like a cool game. I already play City of Heroes so it doesn't add to my subscription cost.

I was so tired that I fell asleep at 5:00 p.m. watching television. Eeks.

Aftermath

Well...

I woke up in bed fully dressed. The kicker is I don't remember much of last night after a few beers.

The part that really bothers me is that apparently I lost my jacket. That's not a big deal because I can always buy another one.

The bad part is the jacket contained my paystub from last week, which contains my name, address and social security number. Bad move on my part. I also think I left my bank deposit slip as well.

I'm calling the bar to see if my jacket is there but so far no one's picking up.

Uh oh

I changed my mind. I'm going to the bar cause I gotta get out of here. I need to blow off some steam.

Time to go out.

I made a commitment to go to Hogs and Heffers in downtown Manhattan tonight but I think I'm going to cancel because I don't want to get too wrecked.

Without my wife here I'm afraid I might not be able to control myself.

Eating fish in a land locked state

My wife isn't feeling too good. We only spoke once yesterday, the night before she ate linguine with clam sauce out there and it didn't sit too well with her.

Free again

I am no longer tied down to the bidding process. I can now feel my normal level of hostility rather than the elevated levels of serial killer. I don't want to feel too over the top. It gives me too much tension and stress.

Price of gas a year ago

Price of gas

Queens Boulevard

Rego Park, Queens, NY

Another week another dime. I guess the line of logic from the oil magnates would be, "Look at the amount of money you're taking out of the mouths of our employees families."

News on my son

My wife told me my son is now saying "mama", "cracker" and "Benny" (my mother-in-law's dog). There were two or more words but I can't remember.

I miss them both so.

Work sucks.

Bidding is starting to come to a halt for this month. We're supposed to hit another 20 or so bids for next month but that's all rumors.

We hired another employee to help out with the bidding process but it turns out that she's already looking for another job.

Just my luck that I'm about to be cut loose from the Bidding Department that I'm gonna get stuck in even longer.

Like Michael Corleone said, "Just as I'm getting out they pull me right in!"

Happy face

I realized I haven't posted a picture in a while so here goes.


I noticed this one on MSNBC.com and thought it was too cool to just let it sit.

Semi-Busy

It's been two days and my legs still ache for the walking I did on Friday.

It doesn't seem like a big deal but considering that amount of walking was the most excercise I got in the last year I suppose I should be happy my legs didn't fall off.

I still had to take a walk and pick up more tape to seal the boxes.

Another busy Saturday

I sent another 2 boxes out to my wife, they contain only a few toys for the baby, plus a few diapers and things.

I also included the booster chair for the baby. My wife was hoping for it.

I kept myself busy today packing a few boxes and grocery shopping.

Lousy Friday

Today I took a half day at the office to make a doctor's appointment.

It turns out my blood pressure is too high and my blood sugar is high as well. I have to cut on my smoking and alcohol consumption.

To make matters worse the subway system lost power on the line that takes me home. I had to walk a couple of miles to get home.

What should have been a 1 hour trip back turned out to take 3 hours. My legs began to cramp up in the last 1/2 mile.

Still going

I picked up 10 small boxes to pack the books in our living room. I'm hoping to have them all packed by the weekend.

Topsy turvy

I left early today.

I didn't plan on leaving early it just happened. I left at 4:00 thinking it was 5:00. I was thrown off between the time difference and my not changing the time on my clock at the office.

Price of gas

Queens Boulevard

Rego Park, Queens, NY

Another week and another dime. This on the day they testify before Congress. I'm still not impressed.

Back to work

Heading into the office and I don't know what I'll do. My stress is still making me a little jittery.

A me day

I took a personal day today because I just couldn't deal with things today.

I had a bit of anxiety and anger. I know that if I went into the office I would end up doing something that would get me into trouble. So I took the day off rather than get fired or quit.

My levels of stress are just driving me up a wall.

Wierd weekend

I was going to see Doom today but I was too tired because I didn't sleep much last night. I was up since 3:00 in the morning and fell asleep in the middle of the day.

I woke up at 5:30 in the evening. My first worry was that I woke up on Monday morning and I was running late. I turned on the television to see the news and the TV's guide told me it was still Sunday. Lucky me.

That was a bit disorienting.

Not much of anything

I sent off another 2 boxes to my wife. I did a little grocery shopping and that's about it.

I was feeling particularly lazy.

Now what?

I woke up at 2:00 this morning with numbness in my left arm. I was worried that I'm having some kind of stroke but it went away mostly.

I still have a little numbing in my pinky and ring finger. I think I just pinched a nerve but I'm worried that this is something that will get worse.

There's never a good time for this kind of thing to happen but this is one of the worst times.

Office craziness

Heavy bidding at the office today. We have a bid going in on a semi-large job for the DEP. In DEP terms it's a small job, it's estimated budget is $11,000,000.

Things are a bit frantic here today.

Yesterday we had a large amount of drama here. Something about harrassment. I don't know all the details and I don't think I want to. Let them all fight it out and those of us on the outside will just do our jobs.

Not too sharp

I was watching television this morning before heading into the office and I was watching a KFC commercial that's been on for weeks or months for their wings but I never really paid attention to it.

I actually heard it and realized they were playing Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama to push Kentucky Fried Chicken.

That don't make much sense to me.

I'm such a geek

I got home and my copy of Star Wars Episode III was waiting for me. While it's not a big deal by any means I now have all six movies.

It gives me a sense of accomplishment.

I liked this episode although I think they went to great means to tie up all the loose ends.

Price of gas

Queens Boulevard

Rego Park, Queens, NY

Another 10 cents in a week. This comes after Exxon reports a 74% increase in profits for the last quarter.

We're supposed to feel sorry for them. The sad part is that there will be no backlash and the oil companies will get away with it.

Trick of Treat

My niece and nephew went trick-or-treating last night as Kung Fu Masters. The fact that they just came back from martial arts training didn't hurt any.

They had a good time and gathered a nice haul of candy. My sister is good at limiting the kids' intake. Ironically when we were kids, my sister and I had no such monitoring. Perhaps that's the reason she's so diligent about it.

All Hallows Eve

Our son had a great time at family Halloween parties over there in Utah. He was dressed up as Superman.

The next thing will be Thanksgiving. I don't know if I'll be able to make arrangements to head out there for a few days.

I'm going to have to pick up the pace a bit if I expect to sell this place off in eight weeks or so.

Need sleep

I managed to pack most of what remains of my wife's clothes. I packed up 7 large boxes. One box was solely for her shoes.

It's time to turn the clock back one hour. For the most part there are only two clocks I need to turn back: my alarm clock and the kitchen stove. Oh ya...me wristwatch too.

I didn't get to sleep until 3:00 a.m. and then I woke up just a little while ago. Again I only get a few hours sleep.

Lack of sleep...again

I got up at 3:00 a.m. this morning because I couldn't sleep yet again.

I managed to pack 12 boxes and ship off 2 to my wife. They are filled mostly with our son'e toys and some of my wife's clothes.

All in all a boring day. I managed to get the grocery shopping in too.

Pathetic

I saw the saddest thing in the world today. I was on my way to the highway and I was slowed down because someone in a Hummer was driving slowly trying to avoid potholes.

Let me repeat that.....SOMEONE IN A HUMMER WAS DRIVING SLOWLY TO AVOID POTHOLES!!!

What the hell is that all about? I don't get it. Did they buy it to go over anything or just to look cool?

Either way you look at it it's pretty sad.

What a day.

During this bidding session I'm working with a completely different staff than the last time.

Previously all I did was take-off the projects and the rest of the staff would give me the values to assign to the units. That staff is no longer working on bidding.

We have been reduced from a staff of 7 or so people to a small group of 3, myself included. I'm no longer taking off jobs but now I'm contacting sub-contractors getting quotes, calling the owners for any addendum to the projects and sending out drawings and specifications to various bidders.

The big problem I'm having right now is that I'm forced to reduce the cost of mailing out of drawings and specifications. To do that I began e-mailing the drawings and specifications after I had them scanned into our system.

Unfortunately for me the size of the files can be large. Not everyone can receive a 10 megabyte file. Our consultant gave us a solution, a localized FTP server. The downside was the cost at $20,000.00.

Our company is watching costs and they are not willing to spend that kind of money on hardware for a site that might not get the use we're expecting. I got the idea of web-hosting. It seemed like a good compromise and it only cost $40.00 a month.

We got the go-ahead and arranged everything except for the site design. Our IT guy wimped out on setting it up because he didn't want to get involved with it.

That left me holding the bag. Once again I get the work that no one wants to do because they think it's beneath them (which I guess means there's no one lower than me in the company) or they don't have the time to do (which translates to "I'm not doing anything").

I set up the website to function but I'm not a web designer. I don't have the creativity to make a beautiful site. I don't have the technical knowledge to make it secure and up to date. All that considered I got a basic site thrown together.

All in all it's the best I can do, which is a far side more than anyone else did.

So instead of people giving me some kind of acknowledgement, I get criticism on the overall site structure, design and appeal.

That's when I decided to go home early.

Not cool

I woke up at 2:00 this morning and I just couldn't get back to sleep.

After tossing and turning I gave up and got out of bed at 3:00. Now I'm in the office and tired as all hell.

To make matters worse I forgot my cell phone, I'm going to have to call my wife from my office line, I prefer not to. I don't want anyone to say I'm abusing the company's resources.

But then again, I'm using our resources to post this message.

Oh well..... In for a penny, in for a pound.

I could use one of these

It supposedly relieves stress through sound waves. Fact or fraud? Who knows but I can't afford one at this point in time.

Price of gas

It appears that gas has dropped 20 cents for mid and high grade and 10 cents on low grade at this station in the past week.

It's not yet at it's lowest for the year but it's getting close. All I know is that filling my tank today cost me less than $20.00. I can't remember when the last time that was.

Dilemma

My wife called me yesterday a little panic stricken. She's feeling anxiety staying at the house. She doesn't like the sounds that come from a house. She's not sure that the sounds are normal sounds that travel through the house.

She's doing so bad she asked me to come out there to help watch the baby while she deals with what she has to do for herself and for her mom. I knew at some point she wouldn't be able to handle living there alone with the baby but I tought it would last longer than 10 days.

She has a small idea of what it will cost us for me to go out there. There is a possibility I can lose my job over this. This is a heavy bidding period and they need me to help out since they don't have enough people to handle the flux right now.

I don't know what to do just yet. My gut instinct is to tell her she has to deal with it but I don't know how constructive that will be.

MSNBC - News of the Weird

Now this guy is commited. To have his finger amputated in lieu of surgery. This way he doesn't have to miss any games and deal with the aches and pains of physical therapy.

Also look at Ronnie Lott, he had the tip of his finger amputated because he didn't want to miss one game. I hope he got a bonus for that.

Punisher

For you punisher fans here is a wallpaper a friend e-mailed to me. I think the image is from Welcome to Big Nothing.

Feel free to e-mail me your faves.

Chance meeting

I spoke with my wife today. She went to church with her mom today. She said a typical Sunday service in the Mormon church lasts about 3 hours.

Her mother hasn't been to this church yet since she just moved to her house. After the service they spoke with the Bishop or Deacon of that particular church.

During their conversation my wife mentioned we were considering moving to Utah and I would have to find a job there. He asked my wife what I did for a living and when she told him I am a project manager for a construction company specializing in public works he was very interested.

It turns out he owns a construction company that is opening a branch in Utah and is looking for project managers for the company. He handed her a business card so I can give him a telephone call and discuss it with him.

It was a lucky break their speaking with him. My mother-in-law swears she had not met him before and doesn't know him. She thinks it's a sign from God that we were meant to go out there.

I don't quite believe that but one never knows.

Early day

I didn't sleep more than a 1/2 hour at a time last night. I eventually gave up trying to sleep and got out of bed at 2:00 a.m.

I spent more time trying to get the matting from the cat and I did the dishes. Not a very exciting time I had.

Small accomplishments

I only got a few things conpleted today.

I shipped out 2 boxes to my wife that she was looking for which she couldn't pack on her flight out. I sent her some clothing for the baby, a few Baby Einstein DVDs and a couple of bottles and sippy cups and spoons for the baby.

Not alot of things but some things she was looking for.

I also got the grocery shopping done, aside from that I only got one other thing done: I groomed the cat.

Our cat had some heavy matting of her fur on her sides. I usually stay away from her so I hadn't noticed it.

Having no knowledge of how to care for her I did a little research online. While it may be an indicator of a worsening condition I have to groom her anyway. However, she doesn't like me and that required me to gain her trust enough to allow me to take care of it.

It took all day of slight contact and attention. She finally allowed me to touch her and inspect the matting. Using the scissors was a different matter. That she didn't like one bit.

She gave me a good scratch, and basically put our relationship back to square one. After more time she let me touch her again. I had to use my fingers to pry apart the matted fur and use a brush to work it out. She could only tolerate just so much so I had to let up and hope she'll let me finish tomorrow.

Finally

I spoke not too long ago. Just as I thought, her mom had created an amergency situation. She gave a handyman a check that would bounce.

Something like that is embarrassing but not an emergency normally, however, this handyman is a genuinely nice person and mom-in-law can't afford to lose him. Other handymen have taken advantage of her.

So straightening that out created a domino effect that's normally reserved for motion pictures.

I feel better speaking with my wife. My anxiety was starting to get the better of me, I don't like it when routines are altered. It's usually because bad things happen.

Hm.......

My wife hasn't called me yet. We normally speak 2 or 3 times a day but she hasn't called me yet today.

I'm 50/50 on worrying and not worrying. It could be an emergency is keeping her from calling me because she's in the middle of something or maybe she's in a location that doesn't have reception.

When I call her, her phone goes straight to voice mail and there's no answer at the house.

I'll hope for the best.

Knucklehead

This guy complained to me because I parked too close to him. He didn't see the irony to it when I showed him this picture.

He still thought I was in the wrong.

Mel Blanc

Looney Toons is one of my favorites as it was when I was a kid. With the passing of Mel Blanc, the cartoons produced since then have lost a certain luster to them, even though his son picked up from where Mel left off.

I suppose I'm a bit biased for the animations than remind me of my youth.

Long days

I'm starting to lose my patience. We have 16 bids about to go in and I'm getting frazzled cause the Chief Estimator keeps changing my focus.

I will kill him if he keeps it up at this point. I don't like doing this and I don't believe I'm saying this but I want to go back to my usual grind.

Wacky inventions - again

I don't even know what the hell this is for.

Is it for keeping you standing as you sleep? Is it for auto accident victims? Is it for people with no neck?

WHAT THE HELL IS IT FOR?

At the office

Work has been brutal. Since I'm now working with the estimating department on bids I dont have a lot of time to dedicate to my other duties.

Of course they have to get done but I don't relish the idea of working 20 hour days so my company has to compromise. They accept that my work will be a bit behind.

What sucks for me is that I end up playing catch up for 3 weeks pulling 13 hour days after this flux of bids is done.

Wacky inventions - again

This was designed to keep the sleepy subway riders from laying their heads on the shoulder of the person next to them.

To me it looks like the user is getting some kind of brainwash treatment from a cheap baseball hat they sell at the stadiums for kids.

I hope the sign says I'm a light sleeper so don't go through my pockets.

Sleep

I got more sleep last night than the last couple of nights. I fell asleep at about 8:15 p.m. which was not what I expected since I had laundry in the dryer and I had to pick it up at 8:45.

I quickly woke up at 9:50 and rushed down to get the laundry. I folded it, put it away and went back to bed somewhere around 11:00.

I didn't get back up again until 2:30 a.m. and fell asleep again until the alarm woke me up at 4:15.

That was the most sleep I've had and I'm glad I'm starting to sleep again cause it's been murder at the office.

I've been getting groggy and dozed off a couple of times.

Price of gas today

Queens Boulevard
Rego Park, Queens, NY

It's been a week since I've last gassed up the car and there has been no change in the price.

I guess I should be grateful that it hasn't gone up again.

Changes at work............Again!

Yesterday my boss let me know because of shortage of manpower I would be working on estimating bids again.

We have 16 jobs on the board with another 12 coming on and they are all due between today and 3 weeks from now.

The next two ro three months will be a bit frenetic at the office. I have alot of work ahead of me since my regular duties have not been taken off my hands.

So that leaves me with change order follow up on 8 existing HVAC jobs, change order follow up on 18 new GC jobs, regulatory follow-up on the HVAC jobs and the GC jobs with HVAC. regulartory follow-up on a Plumbing job, preparation of safety plans for 14 of the GC jobs and now the estimating. I'm sure I forgot about something but then again I never have too much time to think about anything else.

Long days indeed.

Sleep is dwindling

This is the 4th straight day of not sleeping well. I woke up a 2:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. I got up once before at 11:00 p.m.

On a positive note I only got up twice last night. That's not so bad. I just wish I was able to sleep without waking. I'm really tired during the day.

Monopoly

According to a Discovery television show this guy is THE guy for taking new baseballs and rubbing mud on them before they are sent out to any professional baseball game.

It's something about the "uniqueness" of the mud in his state that chose him. It's been a family business going back a couple of years. When it started I'm not sure. I wasn't paying too much attention to it.

I kinda zoned out when I learned that this guy is the sole entity for doing this. It seemed like an arbitrary choice.

Sony changes strategy

In a reverse of their usual designs, Sony decided to stop making their game consolse smaller but to begin focus on making them larger.

Blog spam

I have to watch and maintain vigilence what with the bots that automaically attach spam to my posts.

I thought that once I set the blog to accept only registered users it would clear it up. I notice some blogs have the authentication script to weed out the bots.

I have to figure out how to use that.

Sleep

I fell asleep somewhere abut 9:45 or so last night. I woke up again at 12:30 and 3:00 before falling asleep again. Unfortunately my alarm went off at 4:15 in the morning.

That plus my wife called me and left a message on the answering machine. I missed her call and with the two hour difference she probably fell asleep about 3 hours ago.

Now I'll have to wait until 11:00 this morning to speak to her.

Tonight

There's a full moon out. This is the best I can get out of my camera. I know very little about the technical qualities of photography so I didn't play with the focusing of the camera (digital) or with the ISO (I think it has to do with lighting).

I guess I'll learn something as I keep playing with this.

One of my tatoos

My friend asked me about one of my favoite tatoos. This is the Tasmanian Devil with angel's wings and a halo. It just seemed like a great combo. The devil as an angel.

I have it on my right calf. My son is always touching it looking at it on my body, noticing he doesn't have it.

Our cat

Ever since our son started crawling the cat has ensconced herself in every nook and cranny she could to avoid him. On the unusual occasion that she would venture out of her hidey holes our son would walk/crawl or maybe the word is meander towards her and proceed to get acquainted.....slapping, pulling or petting.

Needless to say she didn't like it. Him being a baby and all he wasn't aware of how close he was to getting scratched or bitten every time he approached her.

Now that my wife and son aren't here our cat, Gwendolyn wanders out of her hiding spots more and more often. Last time my wife went away for more than a few days Gwen would come into bed with me and nuzzle in my arm. She wants contact. She thinks she's a human being with all rights and priveldges and I kinda think she considers our son an intruder that we have givent preference over her.

Of course she would be right as far as I'm concerned but that doesn't mean I'm cuel to her. I'm just not a pet person. I hate having to clean up after them. And with Gwen approaching 15 years she's gonna need alot of attaention soon. I just hope she doesn't get ornery in her old age.

Er....

At a younger age I would find this pretty cool, but now I just think it's annoying.

What do you think about this?

More lack of sleep

I just work up about an hour ago and I can't sleep.

I didn't do much of anything yesterday, grocery shopping, little laundry and cleaned some dishes.

A friend called in the morning to invite us to a Tech Expo at the Jacob Javits Center but I wanted to get a few things done first. I have to get a few boxes so I can ship out some things to my wife.

Artist's Rendition

This is supposed to be the aids virus.

Photo found

NYC during the big blackout of the NE 2 years ago. The lighting you see in the background are the buildings that are using emergency generators.

The next day

I woke up this morning without a startle. I would consider that progress on my part. Except for one small detail: I woke up a 2:00 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep.

I hope this does not become a habit with me.

Sin City

I fully watched the DVD of Sin City.

My wife and I tried to see it on Sunday but she felt it was too over the top with violence and I couldn't watch it because my son was disruptive that night. I watched it today.

It was a great film. The most faithful rendition I have ever seen of a comic book movie. This is pure Frank Miller, I loved him from the Daredevil work he did but this is his Magnus Opus.

I think that the film worked best as a black and white film with the color splashes. If it had been done as pure color it would have been a shameful copy of a Sam Peckinpah film.

The casting is star studded with Bruce Willis as the virtuous cop; Micky Rourke in my opinion what is his best role since Pope of Greenwich Village as the tough guy loser who's trying to get justice for the one person who gave him a peek into love and Clive Owen as the killer trying to start over facing a turf war that will have repercussions beyond his existence.

Not just them but also a few other folks: Benicio Tel Toro, Jessica Alba, Rutger Hauer, Powers Booth, Rosario Dawson, Josh Hartnett, the kid from Gilmore Girls and even Frank Miller himself gets into the game as a priest that gets whacked.

If you're not too shy on violence and you get a kick out of the grittiness of graphic comics give this movie a try, I think you'll get a kick out of it.

The real new James Bond?

This should be the guy!!!

New James Bond

They can't be serious that this is the guy who's the new Jimmy Bond.

Shaken not stirred indeed.

Wacky inventions - again

Is this really a good use of children? It kinda looks abusive, takes away a child's dignity.

Frantic call

My wife called me at 12:00 p.m. Utah time crying because her mother locked them out of the car while they were going out for a few things.

She was tired from the flight and stressed from her mother and she had no supplies or stoller for the baby because they were going out for a fast run. It was a bad time for her. I tried to calm her down but I wasn't successful.

She called me back an hour later and she was better. She managed to get a few items from a local store and her mother had Roadside Service come and open the car door for her.

I warned my wife to carry the spare set of keys in the future just in case it happens again.

Smurf is Hell

You have to admit the creative force behind this ad looked beyond the regular "We do good things" mindset.

Not a good feeling

The alarm clock went off this morning as it does every day at 4:15. I opened up my eyes and jumped with a startle because my son wasn't sleeping next to me as he usually does.

I thought maybe he was in the living room with my wife. Then I slumped back onto the bed remembering that they are out in Utah now.

They are such a large part of my life that I will probably jump like that for a few more days until I'm used to the fact that they are not here.

This is the part that sucks.

On the way

My wife has boarded the plane and our son is still kicking up even though it's an hour passed his usual bedtime.

I told my honey to call me when she lands in Utah. It will be 2:00 a.m. here but what the hell.

Wacky inventions - again

OK, it looks to me like it's the anti-shower for public use. It's more than a little too ridiculous.

Heading out to help mom

I drove my wife to the airport and expected to get a Security Pass allowing me into the gate area to help my wife to get through security and onto the plane.

Unfortunately the airline did not grant me a Security Pass, they cited and elevated security level...I don't know, what is it nowadays? Armageddon Red? Who knows?

Anyways, my wife went through the gate without me. I watched from a distance and made sure she went through without a hitch.

I drove home and called her when I got home. She said the security folks were very helpful and courteous.

Thank you, JetBlue.

My son at the office

I brought in my son to the office since he won't be back until January of next year of never. I wanted my co-workers to meet him. Several of my office-mates from our Brooklyn office already met my wife at our wedding so that wasn't my main focus.

All in all my son was the life of the party so to speak. Everyone loved him.

They said he looked just like me except he's cute. I'll take that. I'm not a great looking guy but I have a certain charm about me. Everyone loves me.

Maybe it's my pheromones. I sweat like a pig.

Yet one more thing

Either George Lucas is licensing the hell out of Star Wars or things are getting way out of hand

Wacky inventions - again

What's more important, dry shoes or your dignity?

Wacky inventions - again

I see a terrible glue stick/butter stick confusion in the works.

Isn't butter too hard right out of the fridge for this to work? Or if it's too soft won't it just plop out?

Wacky inventions

Maybe it's just me but I prefer the little packs of tissues. Especially on a rainy day or a windy day, nothing more embarrassing than TP'ing yourself and still having a runny nose.

Price of gas

Queens Boulevard
Rego Park, Queens, NY

Continued preparations

I have to talk to my boss and let him know that I will be taking a half day on Thursday so my wife can take care of last minute things.

I'm also going to bring our son into the office too that way people can meet him before they leave since it's theoretical that they might not come back.

Columbus Day

Wy wife had her last appointment with her OB/GYN here. My wife prefers him to any other doctor whe's had before. He's the one that picked up the cancerous tissue, who recommended the gall bladder surgery and delivered our son.

As you can see in the short time that we've been in contact with him we've developed quite a history.

After that we went home where my wife took a nap while my son napped. After a few hours my wife got up and prepared a turkey for us for dinner. With carrots pototoes and onions and stuffing it was very filling. Since we won't be together for Thanksgiving we had it early as a family. We didn't have any dessert but that's ok, we were done.

Our son doesn't eat much solid food anymore. I gave him fruit which he liked. He wasn't too crazy about the stuffing, although he did enjoy the BBQ potato chips that my wife had on Sunday for lunch. Of course it gave an interiesting hue and aroma to his stool.

Sunday on the move

A few things can take up all day. We got up this morning at 8:00 and sat for a bit before we headed out for our day.

We went grocery shopping, had lunch, picked up a book we left at our friends house and visited my sister so that she and her kids can see my wife and our son before they leave on Thursday.

After all that was complete it was 5:00 in the evening. We drove home and picked up KFC on the way so we wouldn't have to cook. My wife is starting to pack tonight. We started to watch Sin City but my wife thought it was a bit too brutal.

I was getting into it though. I guess I'm the Dirty Harry type.

Watchmen

Nothing like a happy face with blood on it.

Another day of shots

We took our son to the pediatrician today. He got his 15th month vaccination and his first round flu shot.

We'll have to wait until they get to Utah to get his second round shots.

My son cried alot after getting the shots but he handled it well. After a short while he fell asleep. We went to lunch where he slept. He woke up shortly during our lunch.

The shots and the Tylenol we gave him is affecting him because he was lethargic for some time.

He is currently asleep, as is my wife.

Anomaly?

Is this the next step of the Darwinian evolutionary ladder or is it a genetic fluke? Is there such a thing? We're a short lived species. Do we really recognize in one instance the product of millions of years of evolution?

It's all set

My wife and son are heading out to Utah next week. They won't be back until the end of January.

I'm gonna miss them but I'll be really busy because I'll be preparing our co-op for sale. Not alot of work to do to the apartment itself but alot of clutter cleanup.

I have to call my sister and see if she'll let me stay with her during the time the place is empty and I'm at the apartment showing it.

Not so long ago and not in a galaxy far away

I bet George Lucas never envisioned this when he wrote any of the Star Wars scripts.

Bush's selection of friend raises questions of cronyism - Yahoo! News

I assume this is coming up because Republicans aren't too crazy about this niminee.

Either that or I am completely off the mark on the last 5 years.

Errr

There's a reason why Pirates of Penzanz doesn't have the longevity of denim.

Price of gas today

A change of 4 cents from two weeks ago, very slow pace. The experts are saying that we won't see a decline to pre-Katrina prices for six months. So they're saying that in the two weeks they were effected, we see an immediate spike and a 8 month decline.

So in the times they have a glut, where's our vig?

Queens Boulevard
Rego Park, Queens, NY

Moving right along

Over the weekend while I was sick a few things also came about. Saturday night my wife's sister and mother called us.

It turns out her mother is not as good as we thought. Her vision is getting worse, her eyesight is getting worse to the point she can no longer drive herself. She needs help taking care of her day to day activities. Bottom line they would like my wife to go out there for a few weeks and help her out.

My wife offered to do so weeks ago and her mother told her she doesn't need the help. Things have changed and her sister is working so she can't put her job on hold to take care of her mother, added to that she's a Muay Thai fighter so she is training ptractically on a daily basis. After discussion we decided maybe it's better if we were to move out there.

It would make taking care of her a bit better. There's not really much keeping us here, my sister and her kids are here but we don't see each other as much as we speak to each other on the phone. My wife doesn't speak to her half-sisters as much as she would like. The relationship between the sisters is strained really. However before we can think about going forward I think my wife has to concentrate on helping her mom, at the same time she can get a feel for Utah.

The way I see it, my wife is the more even tempered of the both of us, so if she can't handle things in Utah there's no chance that I could deal with it out there.

Right now my wife is set to fly out to Utah next week and she'll return, if she returns, in late January. Once my wife calls and gives me the word I will start packing things and arrange for a truck to ship our belongings to Utah.

I'll sell our co-op and then arrange for the transition between me and my replacement at work.

This is the biggest thing I've ever done in my life but if it makes our life better than we do what we have to do.

Back to work

I'm heading back to work today. I'm feeling a lot better. Of course I haven't eaten much during the last 4 days. I'll take my pills and we'll see how I'm doing.

It even has accessories

The carrying strap is the AC adapter and power cord. It kinda looks like one of those inventions you would expect to see on a late night informercial....For 3 easy payments of $33.99

Versatile

The folks at MIT made it very versatile. It can be a laptop, a tablet or an e-book. Depending of the stats I might be very jealous.

Model T Ford laptop

A $100 laptop with a crank for poorer countries. I could use one of those. My laptop's battery doesn't hold a charge for more than 20 minutes.

Maybe it runs on the Palm OS to minimize memory needs

Down at the farm

My wife took our son pumpkin picking today. They toured a farm and had a great time petting several barnyard animals. They brought home a pumpkin too. My son had so much fun running around he fell asleep at 5:00 for the night.

He's still asleep.

Dumb is everywhere

This link was passed down to me from a friend.

Aches and pains

I may have to see a doctor, which means a trip to the emergency room today. I'm getting some severe stomach pain.

I thought it was because I forgot to take my medication, I did take it last night once I remembered but it's been almost 8 hours and I'm still experiencing a little pain.

I took my dose for today and we'll see how it turns out.

Memories

I smoked a Cohiba cigar that was given to me by a sub-contractor who came back from El Salvador from a family crisis.

That reminded me of a friend from the company that we lost about a year and a half ago, actually more. it was the late Spring after our wedding he passed away.

I miss him, he was a great guy who spoke his mind regardless of the circumstances.

Danny, you are missed every day.

Yet another day home

I had to take another day off because I'm not feeling any better. I'm waiting to get an appointment from the doctor. He's gonna tell me to take a lot of liquids and take it easy but my wife is nervous especially since her hospital stay this Summer.

One of the best villians around

How can anyone not dig Darth Bobo?

A classic

Everyone knows this one.

Looking for merchandise

I used my personal Amazon account to order 2 cameras for the owner's trailers at 2 separate projects.

I didn't want to use a third party vendor but my office didn't think it was a problem. Anyhoo, it is now a week into it and the cameras haven't shipped yet. According to Amazon the camera's shipping parameters are September 30 to October 16. That is quite a wide range.

Just great!

I forgot to come down and move my car in time so I got a ticket for parking in a street cleaning zone for today.

A half hour earlier and I would have been fine.

Required day off

I needed to take a day off today, although I have a meeting to attend today and I'm going to have to miss it.

I'm sitting in the house with fever, sweats, muscle aches, diarhhea and a deep need to vomit although I tried unsucessfully several times.

I need to see my doctor. I thought maybe I needed to take some diabetes medication but I'm showing a 137 blood sugar and that's fine.

Struggling evening.

My wife has bible studies tonight. I dropped her off at the church and took the baby home. He fell asleep on the way there and hasn't woken up since.

I have had a lot of intestinal discomfort (that's the nice way of saying it) tonight.

Not feeling well

I did not feel well at all today. I left the office early because the last thing I want is the intense need to puke while I'm sitting in traffic.

Voting took place

We had a co-op board meeting last night. I had never attended one before even though I've been here for about five years or so.

There were some tenants that were running for the board and over the weekend they have been campaigning for the buildings votes. Out of the four that were trying to replace the existing board, three successfully won a position.

It's unusual to me the entire process. There was quite a bit of infighting. The existing Board President remained however she's in the capacity of Vice President now.

It was so hot in the room I had to walk around with our son to keep him calm. By the time it was over and voting took place I filled out our ballot and took our son upstairs leaving my wife with the others.

Katrina's toll

Is it any surprise that there would be some form of graft flying around? When you deal with money on that level, the people on the in are usually the first ones out of the box with contracts.

Lobbyists have seen to that.

Cosmos

It's been 25 years since this series first aired on PBS. There have been quite a few advancements in how we perceive and dectect objects in space. The graphics have been revamped. I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Rising prices

In one week another drop of about 10 cents. Of course that means an increase of 35 cents is coming since Hurricane Rita made it's way through the Gulf.

At this rate we'll see gas prices go back down to it's normal pricing sometime around NEVER!

Price of gas

Maybe this will fix it. I think I figured out the problem. If you're uploaded image is named the same as a previous image you will have a problem. I ended up copying the posting of a previous image and changed the name of the link to match the new name I gave this image and it seemed to work.

Hopefully I didn't screw things up too badly.

Price of gas

I can't post the image of the gas chart for this morning. I'll try again later.

Hmm.

For some reason I can't upload any images. I guess I'll have to wait until it works or if it's a security issue with my computer here at the office.

Gloomy Sunday

Our son had a hard time last night. He had a really bad bout of diaper rash. He had a large area of redness across is entire butt. It even spread to his testicles.

We spread a liberal amount of diaper rash cream on him but it didn't help. My wife gave him a bath hoping it will make him feel better but he wanted nothing to do with it. Apparently the water just made it feel worse.

He managed to fall asleep out of sheer exhaustion, although on the positive side we were able to have dinner while he slept. I made a meatloaf (how original) with mashed potatoes and corn. Very simple but effective.

Jellyfish in love

Another one that I found on my computer.

Watched a movie

We popped in a DVD called Sherlock: A Case of Evil. As if you couldn't guess it was a Sherlock Holmes movie.

It starred James D'arcy as Sherlock and Vincent Donofrio as Moriarity. I thought that Donofrio was Sherlock in the description on Netflix but I was wrong.

It had Sherlock older than Young Sherlock Holmes but younger than Basil Rathbone. It portrayed Sherlock as a playboy of sorts and a publicity shill as well. Donofrio was a flamboyant Moriarity with a nice stamp of archvillian making him a good choice as the bad guy.

It was an interesting take on an old subject. And it had a nice touch of resonance to modern topics as well.

Overall I enjoyed it.

But then again, I have very few expectations when I watch movies.

Found on my computer

I have no idea what this is or why I had it but it definitely has this Hellraiser feel to it.

Jellyfish

I found this picture on my computer. I thought it had a nice appearance to it.

Chilling out

My son was getting worked up but after a little while he starting cooling out with Noggin and Oobie

Comments

You really have to pay attention to the comments that are posted because sometimes they're just spam pointing to one thing or another.

Keyboard troubles

I was fighting with my son trying to complete the previous post as he kept reaching for my keyboard and mouse.

If it wasn't for Miffy and Friends on Noggin I'd have lost the fight. The channel is just enough of a distraction that I can get things done.

Our son loves the moose and bird (I bet you thought I was gonna say squirrel) in between each show.

Right now he's digging Blue's Clues. I'm really gonna have to get picture-in-picture if I expect to see anything on TV while he's awake.

Long night

My son was a handful last night. I got home at a decent time I'm normally home by 6:00pm but today I managed to get home by 5:30, My wife also had a long week so I let her take a nap while I watched our son.

I put Cellular on the TV as we played. My son seemed like he wanted to nap so I set up his chair for him. We have it in front of the TV with toys piled on it to keep him from banging on the TV.

So I put him in the chair and gave him some milk to drink. He looked like he was about to sleep but all of a sudden he got this spurt of energy and tried to bolt from the chair.

I had a drink that I wanted to enjoy, not much just Rum and Coke. However it was the last of my Rum so I wanted to savor it. It was high and away since my son manages to find everything he shouldn't go near and I really don't want Child Services coming to my house because my son got his hands on my booze.

I took him out of his chair and started putting the chair back in front of the TV and started piling on the protective layer of toys. As I finished and stood up I see my son on the couch reaching for my drink. He is quite fond of ice cubes and he wanted one. However I placed it far enough that he couldn't reach it but it was close enough that his fingers could graze it.

He must have been reaching for it for a minute or so because it didn't take long for me to pile up the chair and I turned just in time to see his hand slap the cup off my computer and spill everywhere.

You can guess I was a bit upset. I had to clean it up, get rid of the ice before my son could pick it up and put it in his mouth. Plus I'm all out of Rum. To keep my son out of the way I put him in his highchair and turned on Classical Baby which was currently running on HBO on Demand. I gave him a few Goldfish crackers and some milk but we were out of whole milk all we had left was Skim Milk. It won't do him any harm but he needs the fat content that my wife and I are trying to avoid.

At the same time our cat was crying for food so I had to feed her. Turns out we have just enough cat food for this feeding.

Just wonderful I thought to myself, no milk, no catfood, no rum...what a night. Then the lightbulb went on! Ding! I can take our son out and I can pick up a few things. The fresh air will be good for him and I can get my booze. (I'm not fooling myself, I just needed to formulate the right angle I was going to take with my sophistric argument) I took the opportunity to pick up some mango for our son and a cheese cake for my wife. Everybody is happy!

But by then I was too tired to enjoy my drink because I could feel it's coming on bedtime for me. So at least I have my rum for today.

My spedometer

I was rushing to get home. This has been one long week.

Try this

Hit the Next Blog button and see how many times you can do it before you find:

1. A blog without the Next Blog button
2. A blog pointing to commercial links only
3. A blog pointing to porn sites
4. A blog about sports gambling
5. A blog in a language you don't understand

Me, I didn't go past six.

'Grand Theft Auto' maker enters film business - Games - MSNBC.com

Rockstar Games to release 'The Warriors' film for the PSP to coincide with the release of the game.

Releasing a game on a 20 year old product sounds crazy but then again they issued a game for The Great Escape so maybe not.

Not a good day

I got this funny feeling about today. I feel like staying home but I gotta go to work.

Lottery

Still no word on the co-op lottery. It's only been 10 days since the cut-off deadline so I'm assuming it's not a first come-first serve situation.

I hope it's good news that we haven't received our money back yet.

Price of gas today

Oak Street
Mount Vernon, Westchester, NY