Posts filed under 'Bill'
I went to Fred Meyer on my lunch break yesterday to get a few grocery-related things I need at work (coffee creamer, mostly). While I was there, I went to the deli section to get something to eat. The woman behind the counter was almost finished weighing the order of the person in front of me, so I studied the food behind the glass while I waited. While she was down at the end of the counter ringing up that customer, a man came up and pushed his cart between me and the glass case.
A bit rude, I thought, but I figured he just wants to see what’s there for him to order, like I had done minutes before (though I hadn’t squeezed my way in between the other customer and the glass, I had just looked at the food around her.)
When the clerk came back, she looked me in the eye (obviously recognizing that I was the next to be served) and said “What can I get you?” As I was about to speak, the other guy started listing the things he wanted to order. The clerk shifted her gaze to him, but didn’t move to start getting his food.
“Did you seriously not see me here? You really didn’t notice that I was standing here waiting even before you pulled up with your cart?” I said. Which kind of surprised even me, because I’m RARELY confrontational. Something about this guy just set me off, I guess.
He said “I’m sorry, my mistake, where are my manners?”
Just kidding. What he actually said was “You were standing so far back, I didn’t think you were in line. You should have been standing closer to the glass case if you were waiting to be helped.” It was true that I hadn’t been standing right next to the glass, but I was standing close enough that he had literally inches on both sides of his cart when he pushed it between me and the glass. Plus the fact that I was just standing there waiting in that one spot, not shopping, not browsing, not wandering, should have been one of his clues.
“Oh, I guess they took down the sign that said whoever is standing closest to the glass gets served next, regardless of who was here first.” Turning to the woman, I said “I’ll have a bean burrito and a snack stick, and a fountain drink cup.” She smiled, got my food and took her sweet time ringing me up, which was just fine with me.
October 21st, 2008
Read part one
Read part two
Read part three
Read part four
After the show, we had dinner, checked out a few more casinos, gambled a bit more, then headed back to our suite to wind down.
Kathy woke me up about 6:00 AM the next morning, fully dressed, asking if I wanted to join her down on the casino floor. I politely declined (”Heck, no! Wake me back up at a decent hour!”)
She came back into the room and woke me up at the crack of 9:00, and I showered and got dressed. We had breakfast, then took a relaxing walk through the botanical garden at Ballagio’s conservatory. It was decorated with a display highlighting “Wonders of America” (or something like that.) We then walked through the Paris Las Vegas casino across the street.
We then drove to the Venetian hotel and took a ride on the gondolas through the canals. There are actually two separate gondola rides; one outside, and one inside the Grand Canal Shoppes. We decided to do the indoor ride.
Since the gondolas seat four, we shared ours with another couple. Our gondolier was very obviously faking his italian accent, but was still entertaining. At several points during our trip, he belted out some really loud, operatic songs that seemed to echo through the whole building. He was actually pretty good. He reminded us to kiss as we crossed under each bridge, which he explained is a romantic tradition in Venice, Italy. Is it really a tradition, or was he just playing up the whole “Look at me, I’m a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, Italian gondolier” thing? I have no idea; I just know I got to kiss Kathy many, many times.
We also went to the top of the Stratosphere tower. There is an outdoor obervation deck at the very top, with several thrill rides. Just below that level is the indoor observation deck. The windows here are floor-to-ceiling, and they are angled in, so that you can lean out just a bit and see straight down through the glass to the ground 1000 feet below. Kathy doesn’t appreciate heights very much, so she stayed near the interior walls while I awed and got a bunch of pictures.
After that, we took in a Fountains at Bellagio performance, drove toward Hoover Dam (then turned right back around when we saw that traffic was stopped to a crawl with six miles left to the dam), then ate dinner downtown. We then wandered through the amazing Fremont Street Experience for a while. We watched speed painters, browsed a few booths, rocked to an amazing cover band, saw a couple drunk guys come this close to fighting, and then watched the show above us as the canopy of millions of LEDs lit up in animation.
The next morning, we returned the car, caught the shuttle to the airport, and flew back home.
I uploaded a bunch of photos to my flickr page. Go check them out!
October 15th, 2008
Read part one
Read part two
Read part three
We left our room and got back in the car to find a place to get breakfast. It was after 9:00 AM, and we had both been up since before 4:00 with nothing to eat yet. We drove to the Flamingo and had an excellent champagne brunch. We walked to the nearby monorail station and rode it to another casino, then later rode it back. When we got back to the Flamingo, Kathy took a quick pit stop, and I took that opportunity to find the will call counter where show tickets are picked up.
We walked around the casino for a while, gambled a bit, drank a bit, gambled a bit more, then had lunch. When 3:00 rolled around, we walked to Nathan Burton’s Flamingo Showroom to be seated for the show. I wasn’t discreet enough earlier when I had been looking for this theater as we were wandering through the casino, so Kathy had figured out that we were seeing a show here. Of course, the whole time we were waiting in line, she thought we’d have some sort of nosebleed seats. The Flamingo Showroom is pretty intimate, however; there really aren’t any bad seats. I had purchased seats in a booth right at the front of the theater.
Nathan Burton’s show was great. It was funny, without being stupid. His illusions were amazing, without being too over-the-top. His assistants were beautiful, without being slutty or relying on nudity.
Toward the end of the show, he asked who in the audience was here on their honeymoon; there was a smattering of applause. He then asked who was here for a birthday; again, a few people clapped and cheered. He then asked who was here for their anniversary, and as Kathy continued to sink lower into the booth in a futile attempt to blend in with the upholstery, I clapped and cheered loudly. The audience spotlight was turned to shine on us, and Nathan asked, pointing at Kathy, if this was my wife. The audience laughed as he said “Hey, this is Las Vegas, you never know.”
He then asked how many years we’d been married, and I shouted “Twenty!”
The audience applauded, then he asked me what the secret to 20 years of marriage is. I said “Do everything she says!” He then closed the show with one final trick (turning a glass of water into white confetti in front of our eyes. You can see the confetti still in his hair in this photo.) As we were filing out of the theater, other audience members were coming up to us wishing us a happy anniversary. It was a wonderful ending to a perfect day.
I told Kathy that the show was the last surprise I had planned. The rest of the day, and the entire next day, we were free to do anything we wanted to do.
Read part five
October 13th, 2008
Read part one
Read part two
We put our bags in the car, and spent the next few minutes figuring out how to adjust the seats and start the car (there’s no “key” in the cut-piece-of-metal sense, just an electronic fob that looks like a thumb drive). Once we got going and got on the road, I told Kathy I’d booked us a room at a place somewhere here in town. I asked her to punch in 2000 Las Vegas Blvd into the car’s in-dash GPS, so it can tell us how to get there. As we passed many of the large resorts, Kathy kept asking if this was where we were staying. I faked innocence. “Is the GPS telling us to turn here? No? Then I guess this isn’t it. We’ll just have to keep driving until we find it.”
Last November, the whole family drove to Las Vegas and stayed for a couple days as part of a larger road trip vacation. We rented two cheap rooms at the El Cortez hotel, right near the heart of downtown old Las Vegas. It was fine for what it was, a really cheap place for the five of us to sleep. It wasn’t the least bit romantic (nor was that trip intended to be). We don’t have any bad feelings about the El Cortez, we just think of it more like the “McDonalds” of Las Vegas hotels, I guess. We mentioned to each other at the time how great it would be to be able to stay at a nice place on the strip, rather than having to settle for just a bed and a TV downtown.
While planning this trip, I knew that Kathy would have been happy just being with me no matter where we stayed, even if it was some fleabag far removed from the strip. I decided early on in, however, that I had just one chance to really blow her away. So, as much as I could afford it, there would be no compromises.
Kathy and I were still heading north on Las Vegas Blvd. in the Mercedes, passing resort after resort, with the GPS telling us how much more distance was left to our destination. Kathy started thinking that we might be staying at some cheap hotel downtown, maybe the El Cortez again. Soon, however, the GPS told us to turn left, and I dutifully followed its guidance into the parking lot of the Stratosphere Hotel, at the north end of the strip.
We went inside and walked up to the check-in desk. I handed my credit card to the agent at the counter, and a few minutes later we were off to find the elevator to the 18th floor. When I opened the door and let Kathy in to see the room, she said “Wow, this is bigger than our first apartment!” I had rented a 650 square foot suite, with a king sized bed, a couch and chairs around the TV area, a small kitchen area, a dining table/work table and chairs, and a gigantic marble bathroom. The windows faced south, so it had an amazing view of the strip. It was perfect.
As Kathy started to unpack, I told her to hurry, we really need to get going. She tilted her head to the side, squinted her eyes a bit and asked if I had even more planned. I just said, “I’m really hungry right now, we haven’t had breakfast yet. And remember, don’t worry, I’ve taken care of everything.”
Read part four
Read part five
October 9th, 2008
Read part one
We park the car at the airport and I open the trunk, and only then does Kathy realize that I’ve already packed for us both. She still doesn’t really know what’s going to happen or where we’re going, since I won’t tell her anything ahead of time. Whenever she asks anything, I just say “Don’t worry, I’ve taken care of everything.” She asks if she needs to call her boss to let him know she won’t be in.
“Don’t worry, I’ve taken care of everything.”
As we take the escalators to the ticket counter level, she asks if we need to stop at one of the ticket counters. I had already printed our boarding passes online the evening before, of course. “Don’t worry, I’ve taken care of everything.”
As we are about to go through security, I mention to the TSA guy that Kathy doesn’t know where we’re going yet, and ask if it is possible for him to verify that she is a ticketed traveler without letting her see the boarding pass. He obliges, and this part of the surprise is safe for a bit longer.
We arrive at the gate so early that the agents haven’t even updated the board for the flight yet. This works in my favor, since it is that much longer that Kathy is kept in the dark. We sit in a section of seating near the next gate over, so Kathy still won’t be able to see the board once the agents do update it. She still doesn’t know where we’re going until an hour or so later when they finally announce the boarding over the intercom. “We’re going to Las Vegas?!”
The flight left on-time at 6:00 AM sharp. It was a great flight; quiet, not crowded (we had the entire row to ourselves), and relaxing. Even though she had only slept about four hours and I had slept only three, we were too excited to snooze. It’s pretty rare that we get to take a plane anywhere, so it’s always a treat to look at the scenery go by 30,000 feet below. She wanted to know what we were going to do once we got into Las Vegas. “Don’t worry, I’ve taken care of everything.”
We land, and I tell her that we should probably see about renting some cheap wheels to get around town. We catch the shuttle to the off-airport rental car center, and I find the Dollar Rent A Car counter. I tell her to wait in the lobby, which is far enough away that she won’t be able to hear the transaction. She tilts her head to the side, squints her eyes a bit and asks if I’ve already reserved a car? And if so, what kind? “Don’t worry, I’ve taken care of everything.”
Ten minutes later I have the rental agreement in hand, and we make our way out to the garage to get the keys. As we’re waiting for the attendant to tell us which car is ours, we are standing right next to a new Corvette. I joke about how cool it would be to drive a nice car like that for the week-end. She groans, in a “Yeah, right” kind of way. I don’t think we’ve ever driven anything nicer than my Volkswagen or her Honda. “Sir, here are your keys. You car is right there, three spaces down.”
As we approach the CLK500, Kathy says “No way! You rented us a Mercedes?!”
Read part three
Read part four
Read part five
October 7th, 2008
July 9th, 2008, was our 20 year anniversary. I wanted to do something big for Kathy, and I started planning early. After discussing options with many people, including her best friend Lori, I decided to surprise her with a weekend in Las Vegas. My grandparents lived there years ago, and other family and friends still live there, so we’ve been there many times, and always have fun. Every time we’ve visited however, there has been something “missing”. Kathy’s hinted that she would love to see a show sometime. We always seem to stay with family, or in the cheapest room we could find. We always seem to make one compromise or another. I hoped to make this a trip that she would remember for a long time.
I arranged with her boss for her to have Saturday July 19th off (she has Sunday-Monday off normally.) I told him what I was planning, and asked him to keep it quiet until we were back from the trip. I also arranged with Lori for her to pick up Lexi sometime after we left the house and keep her for the week-end. I knew the boys would be OK on their own.
She figured that I was planning something, but I wouldn’t give her any sort of hints, or even confirm whether I was actually planning anything or not. When it came time to actually start booking and purchasing the trip, however, I finally had to acknowledge that I was up to something. The only thing I told her was that I had some plans, and that she was not allowed, under any circumstances, to go on-line and look at the checking or credit card accounts. This was about 2 and a half weeks before the trip. I told her that all would be revealed soon (but I didn’t say exactly when), and not to ask any questions. Any at all. Not a single question. None.
That didn’t last long. I was able to deflect almost every question with an answer of “You’ll see” or “You’ll just have to wait” or something else along those lines. At some point, she even asked point blank “Does my boss know what’s going on?” This wasn’t a question I could sidestep without it being very obvious that I had in fact arranged for some time off with him, and since this was to be a big part of the suprise, I had to lie to her.
“Your boss? No, of course not! Why would I involve him? He doesn’t know anything about the plans I’m making!”
I did make it clear that when the surprise started, she would very definetely know it. If she ever thought to herself, “I wonder if this is part of the surprise?”, the answer had to be “No”, because I was going to make it VERY obvious when it did start.
The morning of Saturday July 19th, I woke her up about 3:30 AM and said “Get up and get dressed, your surprise is starting right now.” She asked if she should wear her work clothes, and I told her just to wear something casual, that we’d be back in time to change clothes before she had to go to work. Since she wasn’t going to be working again until Tuesday, I didn’t technically lie. I said not to worry about packing anything, just to get in the car so we can start the suprise. In the trunk of my car were two suitcases I had already packed with several changes of clothes for both of us. I had even purchased travel size toothpaste, toothbrushes, soaps, etc, so I could pack absolutely everything ahead of time without her noticing that stuff was missing from the bathroom.
We drove from our house in Beaverton to 26 East, then to 405 South, then to 5 North, then to 84 East, then to 205 North, the whole time trying not to be too obvious that we were heading in the direction of the airport. Once on 205, I tried to stay in the left lanes. Just when we were about to pass the off-ramp to PDX, I swerved across all lanes (remember, it was about 4:00 AM and the freeway was empty) and took the exit. She just about screamed, “I knew it! We’re flying somewhere!”
Read part two
Read part three
Read part four
Read part five
October 5th, 2008
10. Monitor tan.
9. You become physically ill at the mention of the RIAA, and visibly excited at the mention of object-oriented programming.
8. You have a poster on your wall of the Linux penguin.
7. You’re mad because all your friends got goodnight kisses after prom, but your sister just slugged you in the arm and said “Thanks, bro.”
6. You think having twice as many computers as there are people in the house is a bare minimum.
5. You feel that living life like the movie “Tron” would rock!
4. In your little black book, you list (both) the girls you know in order by IP address.
3. You can type faster than you can speak
2. When your shrink says “Mother . . . ” you say ” . . . Board.”
1. If, by some happy accident, you someday have kids, you want to name them after your favorite fonts.
September 14th, 2006
I know I haven’t posted anything yet about my diet routine. Sorry, still been kinda busy. I can report that I’ve lost 9 pounds so far since the first of August. Yay me!
One of the things that kept me busy recently was a family reunion organized by my Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Don. Every family member in the state was there, and aunts and uncles from Texas and Nevada even made it. Everyone had a great time. Photos are in the photo gallery:
Family Reunion Photos
August 19th, 2006
No, I’m not changing the name of this site, but I am going to change the focus of my posts for some time.
“What posts, Bill? You haven’t posted in two and a half months!”
I know, but I will be posting much more often from now on. Hopefully every day, but at least several times a week. Been a little busy with work and the move into the new house, but I do now have time to post more often than I have been. Now, on to the announcement:
I am going to lose a bunch of weight, and I’m going to document it all here. I weighed myself recently, and I was 290 pounds. I’m a pretty tall guy at 6′2″, but 290 is still way too much. I am going to lose at least 75 pounds, and I’m giving myself 18 months to do it.
Today is August 1st, so by my 39th birthday in February 2008, I will be down to at least 215.
In upcoming posts, I’ll give many more details of what I’m changing, what I’m going to be doing, and how I’m going to be doing it, and what I’m going through.
Keep reading!
August 1st, 2006
Big apologies for not posting regularly for quite a while. Things have been quite hectic at work.
My department used to have about 15 people in it, then a reorganization moved some people to other departments, cutting us down to about 12. Another reorg resulted in several layoffs, cutting our numbers to 8. Then, economic factors outside the organization’s control resulted in management making the decision to layoff 10% of the workforce. Because of federal, state and local laws governing our financial structure (we are a large public agency), the 80+ positions would be removed from departments that made up about 50%-60% of the organization. My department was hit the hardest, with half being laid off, including my infamous manager Ted. You can read more about Ted here (and here, here, here, here, here and here.) We were all not so surprised that Ted somehow managed to be the only laid off employee interviewed on the air by KOIN 6 news on the day the layoffs were announced (yup, it was that big a deal when that many people were laid off here, it was one of the top news storys on that day back in September 2004.)
So aaanywaaaay, at that point there were four of us, in effect doing what 15 people used to do, doing all the end-user IT support for an organization with close to 1000 users. Just recently, after our industry’s economy started picking up again, it was announced that we would be hiring another Technical Analyst like the four of us, as well as a supervisor, bringing our number up to six. We all applied for the supervisor position as well as many people from outside the organization, and one of my co-workers got the position. I’m not at all upset at the decision (you know I would have no problem venting my frustration here otherwise), and I’m really glad that management and HR decided to promote from within.
However, in addition to all that is happening at work, I have even bigger news: we bought a house. It is a three bedroom, 2.5 bath common-wall (one half of a duplex) here in Beaverton, with 1480 square feet. It sits right next to a greenspace that will never be developed, so the kids have literally acres of fields right outside the back door to run and play. It was built in 1995, and is in great shape.
Several things were found when the home inspector walked through the place. Most are pretty minor, like the garage door opener not working, but a few were pretty serious, like failing LP siding. So far, the seller has agreed to all of our requests for repairs. If nothing goes wrong, we will be signing all the paperwork in a few weeks, and we will pick up the keys on May 18th.
I’ll post some pictures of the place here as soon as I can, so keep checking back!
May 1st, 2006
I’ve mentioned before how much of a geek I am, and that number patterns fascinate me (click here to refresh your memory.)
Another one is coming tomorrow! Two, actually; one in the morning and another in the afternoon. You see, at three seconds after one oh two, the date and time will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.
April 4th, 2006
So something happened the other day that, for the first time that I can remember, actaully made me feel old. Having two teen-age sons? Nah. One of them a sophomore in high school? Nope. Getting his driver’s license in 3 months? Still doesn’t make me feel old.
Kathy and I were watching American Idol the other day (Breanna got it right, by the way, Paris and Taylor are the two best performers by far), and something one of the gals said made me frown. She was singing “Never” by Heart (which of course is led by my all-time favorite female vocalist, Nancy Wilson), from their self-titled album (which I bought on vinyl when it was first released back in 1985, by the way).
So why did this make me feel old? It was referred to as a classic rock song. Classic rock! Whenever I hear the phrase “classic rock”, I think of Woodstock and free love, and singers and performers who’ve died choking on their own vomit, or at least a ham sandwich. (And, yes, I know the “ham sandwich” thing is a myth. It still makes for a better end to the previous sentence.)
But a song that I dug when it was brand new is considered classic rock?
Now I feel old.
February 24th, 2006
I am 37 today. As always, life itself is good (see my previous birthday posts here and here). However, in a different development from past years, I have now joined the ranks of folks who hate their jobs. I may go into detail some other time, but then again, maybe not.
February 22nd, 2006
The following is an example of how much of a dork I am. The faint of heart should probably refrain from reading this post.
Continue Reading November 12th, 2005
I read anything, all the time. If I can’t find something to read with breakfast, I’ll read the back of the cereal box, the nutritional info, the ingredients, anything. I’m always reading, and I read all kinds of thing. I have subscriptions to two computer magazines, I used to have several subscriptions to RC Car magazines, and I’ll even buy any issues of Mad magazine I see when I go grocery shopping. In fact, solely as a geek exercise, I recently created a “What I’m Reading” sidebar for this site (you can see it on the right, under the random Simpsons quote.)
I have a desk at two different offices, and when I’m working at the far office (which is basically one week a month), I’m on Max for about an hour in the morning and another hour on the way home, plus I usually read for an hour at lunch. During these weeks, I can easily read two novels a week.
Despite all this reading, I came to an intereseting realization recently: I’ve never really read any classic literature, with just one exception. Just like probably everyone, I was forced to read a bit of it in high school. I remember having to read The Scarlet Letter, but I really don’t remember anything about it, nor whether I thought it was any good or not. And I don’t mean the story; Of course I get that, but I don’t remember whether I enjoyed the style of the writing, the prose, the symbolism, all that stuff.
I’ve read every single fiction book written by Stephen King, and I’ve almost read everything by Dean Koontz. I immensely enjoyed Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker series, and I’ve read a few other suspense, horror, and science fiction authors. But I feel like I’m missing out, never having read anything by the greats: Hemingway, Steinbeck, Faulkner, et. al.
So, my question to you is: What should I read next? I’ve got my library card in my hand, ready for that bar code scanner to do its thing, I just need you to give me some ideas. What do you recommend?
August 4th, 2005
At work, I drink a lot of Coffee Mate Hazelnut creamer, flavored by adding a few drops of coffee and a few packets of sugar. Recently, out of frustration, I had to tape a note to my bottle of creamer in the fridge:
I truly am a generous person (ask anyone who knows me), so I honestly don’t mind if folks help themselves to a swig of my creamer.
But PLEASE close the lid when you are done! TWICE now I have had to clean creamer off the side of the refrigerator (and the counter, the floor, my pants, my shirt) when I “shake well before using” only to find that lid has been left open.
-Bill
July 27th, 2005
Today is our 17th wedding anniversary. Kathy and I have now been married longer than either of us had been alive when we first met. (Huh? Did that sentence even make sense? Here’s a translation: We were each 16 when we met, and we’ve now been married 17 years. Better?)
It’s kind of amazing, really. In so many ways, we have grown together, and are more alike now than when we met. I imagine this is true of any couple that has been together this long, especially a couple who grew together from such a young age.
But what is really interesting, to me at least, is how much we have grown apart in so many ways. And I don’t mean that in a negative way, like we don’t enjoy each other’s company, or anything like that. Quite the contrary. However, we have each developed our own hobbies, different tastes in some things, etc.
For example, I live and breath everything having to do with computers, but to her they are pretty much just a tool, like a coffee maker or dish washer.
When we first met, in 1985, we were both pretty much on the same page as far as music was concerned. Neither of us really liked the new wave stuff that was popular, like Flock of Seagulls or Duran Duran. We were both into more mainstream rock and roll. Now, our musical tastes have greatly diverged: She likes country, and I like much harder rock.
Differences like this haven’t acted as a wedge driven between us; on the contrary, they have allowed us to have our own separate interests, which I now understand is very important for any couple. It allows Kathy to have a wonderful night out with her best friend Lori attending the Kenny Chesney concert, without worrying about whether she should feel bad that I wasn’t there with her instead, ’cause she knows I wouldn’t enjoy the concert much anyway.
It also allows us to playfully rip on each other. She’ll theatrically swoon over Tom Cruise (she still hasn’t gotten over that underwear scene from Risky Business), and I’ll point out that he’s what, like 70 years old now? I’ll try to explain that country isn’t really “music”, and she’ll point out that she can’t understand the lyrics that David Draiman is shouting in the latest song from Disturbed.
The bottom line is, I love her more now than I ever have, and I don’t see how that love won’t keep growing forever.
Happy anniversary, sweetheart.
July 9th, 2005
Go here and here to see what this is all about.
1) You have unlimited funds to buy Kathy ONE gift. What do you buy her and how do you present it to her?
I’m going to veer off the reality highway and rush headlong into the realm of make-believe. I would go back in time and give Kathy a proper marriage proposal. Allow me to explain why: I proposed to Kathy over the phone. No engagement ring, no tearful soul-baring on bended knee, no man-to-man talk asking for her father’s permission; nothing but a “Hey, would ya marry me?” She deserves so much more than that.
In my defense, I was only 16 years old, and didn’t know any better. Yes, 16. Kathy and I have been going out since we were 16. We were married at 19, and our first child was born when we were 21. That’s how we can be about to celebrate our 17th anniversary, have a son who drives and will be a sophomore in high school, and still be just 36 years old.
But if I knew then what I know now, I would have made sure to do it right, and I’ve regretted it ever since I knew enough to know that I should be regretting it.
2) Tell us a secret….
I once ate an entire 1/2 gallon carton of Breyer’s Cookies and Cream ice cream (the original, not that newfangled stuff with Oreos) in one sitting.
3) You’ve just laid the deed to your house on the black jack table. You’ve been dealt a seven and a five; the dealer has a nine showing. Do you take a hit? Tell us your thought process.
Take a hit? I didn’t even inhale. Drugs are bad, mm’kay? Now pass the Doritos, I got the munchies reeeal bad.
Seriously, I’m not a gambler, I don’t know anything about playing the odds in blackjack. I guess I’d take another card and hope for the best, and whatever happens, happens. If I lost the house, I guess I’d be pretty ticked, but I’d do what I’ve done in the past: Start over. One thing I’ve learned over the years is no matter how bad the situation is, you can always start over, especially when it comes to something as insignificant as money. The things that are really important can’t be lost in a card game.
Quick example: When Billy and Matt were babies, I was working three jobs (yes, three) to support us, and Kathy had broken her ankle and so she couldn’t walk or even take care of the boys. I had to drive them down to L.A. to stay with her mom while she healed for several months (driving straight through and back in one week-end with no sleep, ’cause I couldn’t take any time off), and I wasn’t able to even talk to them for several weeks since our phone had been shutoff. I even missed seeing Matt take his first steps. At the time, I felt like a complete and total failure, and pretty much worthless. Now, 13 or so years wiser, I realize that a person’s worth isn’t measured by how much money they make, or where they live, or how many letters are after their name on their business card (or if it says “trainee” on the nametag on their uniform.)
4) It’s all up to you; does the United States re-instate the draft or instate a mandatory two-year military commitment from everyone over eighteen? You must choose one, and state why.
Whoa, tough one. My dad was in the Army when I was tiny (I was actually born in a military hospital on an Army base in what used to be West Germany.) His service was up and we moved back to the States when I was about two. I have no recollection of any of his service, so I’ve never considered myself the son of a military man. My brothers and I have never served either.
Billy and Matt have occasionally mentioned that they might like to join the military when they get out of high school, to help with education, serve their country, gain experience, etc. Not much serious talk of that recently, however.
As much as I may disagree with idea of forcibly inducting some people into the armed forces, I guess I am even more strongly against a mandatory stint in the military for all adults. That just seems more un-American.
5) Why do you get so mad?
Stupidity makes me mad.
People can be ignorant, and people can be stupid. Ignorance is not bad. All of us are ignorant of most things. If something goes wrong with my car, for example, I can’t fix it for the life of me. I’m ignorant of the knowledge needed to make it start working. That’s OK, because I don’t really have a desire to learn it, it’s not worth my time, and I’m fine with paying someone else to fix it who does have that knowledge.
However, if I keep driving when I notice the “check engine” light come on instead of taking it to a mechanic, and my engine explodes, I’m not being ignorant, I’m being stupid.
OK, so I’m supposed to extend the invitation to be interviewed by me to the first five people who request it. However, seeing that it took almost three days just to post my answers to RM’s questions, I probably won’t get around to coming up with five interesting questions for five different people within our lifetime. So… I’m going to extend this invitation to just two people. I know, I’m probably going to suffer a terrible accident for “breaking the chain” or something, but I’m willing to risk it. Any takers?
June 23rd, 2005
So are you kinda nervous ’cause today is Friday the 13th? Then you’re kinda dumb.
It’s just another day of the week, like all the others that came before it. I happen to have absolute proof that not only is Friday the 13th not unlucky, it is actually (for me at least) very lucky indeed.
Back when I was a teen-ager (decades ago, back when cars could still run on leaded gasoline), my uncle had a construction business. He bid on a construction clean-up job on a Nordstroms being built in Glendale, California. He loaded a bunch of us nephews in his van, loaded the trailer with equipment, and we drove the 1000 or so miles for the job. We were there for a couple months, and it was a pretty incredible summer.
One Friday at the job site, Friday the 13th to be exact, I was walking along from somewhere to someplace else, and came upon a huge ladder setup in the middle of the floor. I was about to walk around it, when I thought “what the heck * “, and started to walk under it. I figured that since I was walking under a ladder on Friday the 13th, I’d better think good thoughts to counteract the bad luck. So, I thought “good thoughts”. Literally. I was saying the words “good” and “thoughts” over and over in my head as I walked under the ladder. I didn’t really know any other way to think good thoughts.
And what did I find on the ground on the other side of the ladder? A crumpled $5 bill. Which, to a teen-ager in the early ’80s, was like finding a chest o’ gold. I pocketed it and spent it all on slurpees over the coming week or so.
I swear this is a completely true story.
* “Heck” wasn’t the actual word I thought. I was a teen-ager. You figure it out.
May 13th, 2005
I think everyone would agree that the spoken “I love you”s are essential in a relationship. However, there are times when you want to say it but you just can’t, or you shouldn’t, or it it isn’t appropriate. Kathy and I have come up with a language all our own for these occasions.
It all started years ago when I worked in front of the public, and when Kathy and I would talk on the phone, it just seemed inappropriate for me to be all lovey-dovey in front of customers. Kathy knew it put me in an awkward position if she insisted I say “I love you!” while Mr. Grumpypants is standing a few feet away from me scowling. So, we came up with our own “language of love”. When either one of us in such a position, we are totally permitted to simply say “you too!” and it is (for that moment) the equivalent of “I love you!” The recipient of the “you too” is basically acknowledging that the sender of woo can’t come right out and say “I Love You”, but still does want that sentiment to be expressed.
Even though “you too”, in normal conversation, is used as a response to something the other person said, in our language of love either one of us can just blurt it right out:
ME (as customer walks up to me): It was good talking to you, but I have to get going now.
HER: OK, you too!
ME: You too!
Does anybody else do anything corny like this?
May 6th, 2005
{HIC} Hiccups. I just {HIC} hate them SO MUCH {HIC}.
May 2nd, 2005
I turn 36 tomorrow. 36 isn’t old yet, is it? I’m not in the best physical shape (I could stand stand to lose several dozen pounds, but that’s true of just about everybody, right?) but I feel great. Maybe I’ll start feeling old when I turn 40. Just check back in four years to see how I feel then.
February 21st, 2005
Lexi turns seven years old tomorrow. In March, Matt will be a teen-ager. Billy is half way through his first year of high school. It’s kind of strange knowing my kids are this old. I guess I never thought I’d live this long.
February 3rd, 2005
Well, it’s been a while. This is the third (and hopefully final) domain name I’ve used for my personal web site, and I think I like this one the most.
As you can tell, this is a standard blog site, which may seem so last year, but it is something I’ve wanted to do for a while. I’m going to try to update this much more frequently than the old sites, and with Blogger’s excellent tools, I should be able to do that; in fact, I expect to update it almost daily.
In the meantime, I have imported all of the text and photos from the previous site. I’m still not sure if I will transfer any of the RC truck videos from my first site. I guess I’ll have to see how much time I am able to dedicate to this.
It’s good to be back!
January 17th, 2005
I turn 35 in two days. My oldest son starts high school next year. It’s weird though, I don’t feel old at all.
A lot of things have happened since the last update. On January 12th, just four days after the last update in fact, 12 people in the IT department were laid off, most from my division. 11 of the 14 people in my division were let go, and one person from another division was moved to ours.
Last Sunday, our dog Sissy had puppies again. Kathy was here to help with the delivery, and actually did a little bit of puppy CPR on one of the little things when it came out limp and unresponsive. All four made it, and they are doing fine. Here are some pictures:
February 20th, 2004
