Tuesday, November 30, 2004

I guess it's official now: GT is going to the Tangerine Bowl. I guess I should be happy for the team, but I feel like we're only getting the nod because of the Clemson/USC brawl and UVA's final exams schedule. The FCS has made it clear we weren't their first choice, and I think they're just settling for us because we're the only ACC team left, kind of like the Humanitarian Bowl did last year - they got us by default. It's just irritating. I want to play in a bowl that wants us there and will really be excited about what we can bring to their game and all that. Yeah, a GT/Colorado rematch would be fun - we beat CU to win the 1990 National Championship (co-champs with Nebraska if I recall). But I'd still rather play in a bowl game that really wants us. Stupid FCS. But "Go Jackets!" nonetheless.

According to an email I received this morning, Rent.com is finally sending me my $100 for signing a lease with an apartment I found through them. This occured and I reported it to them over 4 months ago. Insane. What's more, they no longer send out checks like they have in the past, they now send out prepaid Visa cards. I mean, I'm happy to have $100, but a check would be a lot more useful. And getting it shortly after moving in would have also been rather hepful. Oh well. Money is money.

Monday, November 29, 2004

Regarding the rumors about GT going to the Tangerine Bowl:
XchaosdawningX: yeah, cause the AJC is such a trustworthy source of GT news
Harris Engnr: yeah, i trust BuzzMom65 way more than the ajc
XchaosdawningX: I'd trust a hobo on the street before I trusted anything the AJC said

Apparently there's talk of us going to the Tangerine Bowl again, thanks to UVA being all about studying. I don't expect this will happen. And if it does, I don't want to go there. I hate FCS and they already made it quite clear this year that they don't want us in Orlando. And last year their website indicated we'd be going to the Tangerine and then they backed out. Well to hell with them. If they invite us, I say we turn it down out of spite. I don't want to be the "let's come rescue FCS" team because they blew it. Let them invite UVA and let UVA decline because the game conflicts with final exams (weak). Then let them scramble for a new team. Can't be Clemson who I guarantee they'd choose over us because they're jerks that way. Maybe Virginia gets picked up by the Gator Bowl instead and FSU goes to the Tangerine? Bobby Bowden won't like it, but I don't particularly care for him either. It's sad that I don't want want to go to a good bowl simply out of spite for the organizers. But they already voted to not extend us an invitation a couple weeks ago, and now UVA has thrown them a curve ball and I hope they don't come crawling back to GT for help. If they didn't genuinely want us in thr first place, they don't want us now either and they're only trying to cover their asses. Well you know what FCS? I want to go back to Boise now, maybe get to play LA Tech or Fresno State. Or maybe we work something out with Las Vegas (I still don't know how or why) and we get to play maybe UCLA or maybe BYU or Air Force. So you can take any "sympathy" offer you're thinking about making and shove it FCS.

~~~~SAP ALERT~~~~~~~~SAP ALERT~~~~~~~~SAP ALERT~~~~
I'm beginning to remember why they call it a 'crush.' Even after 15 months, I'm more than a little giddy whenever Emily is involved in something I do, be it talking on the phone, getting an email, taking a nap together, watching a movie, whatever. I'm crazy about her and after spending time with her in person, not beign with her is driving me slightly more crazy. But back to my original comment, yes, I still have a crush on her. How do I know? Because everytime we part ways, there's this weight that descends on me, crushing me. And the only way to lift that weight is to be with Emily again. (Fortunately, that's only 16 days and a handful of hours from now). But I think it's fun that I still have a crush on her even after 15 months. That's a good sign right? That after this long she still makes my heart flutter and my knees weak? That I'm more in love with her today than I was yesterday, and more yesterday than the day before, and so on? I've never felt this way for this long about someone before, so intuition leads me to believe that is a very good thing indeed. So here's to all our tomorrows and the temporarily crushing emptiness of being without Emily that only our love can prevent from destroying me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mmmmm, chocolate covered pretzels... Someone brought in a whole batch of them this morning and man oh man are they tasty. The only hard part will be letting anyone else have some.

I always sleep so poorly the first night on my own after being with Emily. I toss and turn and wake up every 45-90 minutes. I need Emily back to I can get a good night's sleep again.

Sunday, November 28, 2004

So I finally got my first electricity bill today. It's for Oct 20 - Nov 18. *shrug* Looks like they screwed up pretty badly so I got July 21 - Oct 19 for free. Awesome. It's hard to argue with 3 free months of electricity, especially when those were the months I was running the A/C. Silly Dominion.

It's official. After the Jackets loss to arch-rival UGA last night, due in large part to inconsistent QB play by both Reggie Ball and Damarius Bilbo, and some horrible playcalling and bad advice from the offensive coordinator, I hereby want Patrick Nix fired. What's more, if Chan Gailey doesn't have the balls to do it, I want him fired too. Admittedly, we played better against UGA than in the last couple years, but a loss is a loss, and it's almost worse when the game was winnable and we stupidly let it slip away. This never would have happened if Joe Hamilton and The Fridge were still in Atlanta. Patrick Nix, you are hereby relieved of your duties as QB coach and OC.

Saturday, November 27, 2004

I just went to go see Finding Neverland with Emily and my cousins and their friends Tom and Narja. I highly recommend that you go see it. Be forewarned though, it's a bit of a tearjerker. Johnny Depp was awesome in it and probably has a shot at some sort of award because of it. If you don't know about the movie, it's the story of how the author of Peter Pan created the original play. Go ask IMDB for more info. Awesome awesome movie. I'm buying it when it comes out on DVD, no question about it.

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

I'm now in Charlotte after a horrendous drive. Horrendous until I got past Fredricksburg at least. Normally it takes me abotu 6.5 hours to drive from Fairfax to Jennifer's house since it's on the far side of Charlotte from 85. Today it took 8.5 hours. Why you ask? Because it took me 2 hours to get from my office at Fair Lakes, going down 123 to sit in the parking lot that was I-95, hopping over to US-1, getting stuck behind an accident, and then getting back onto 95 off of Rte 3 at Fredericksburg. On a typically day, I can get from my apartment to downtown richmond in 2 hours flat. I didn't even make it half that far in as much time today. Grrr... Fortunately, the rest of the drive was smooth sailing apart from a few people who got scared of a little rain and proceeded to forget how to drive. I made good time from Richmod on though, so I was happy about that. It's fun to be here with Jennifer and her dogs and various other pets and see soem of my fun family again. And tomorrow Emily arrives! Yay!

Mmmmm, hot chocolate...

I'm off to work for a few hours during which I have to go to Lockheed for my new ID card and meet up with Caryn to return her purse which she left here last night. But that's about it really. Then I'm off to Charlotte for Thanksgiving to spend time with Jennifer and Darren and their parents and then Emily will join teh party on Thursday night. Yay!

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

With UNC accepting the Continental Tire Bowl bid, the post-season picture for the ACC is shaping up. Florida State will almost definitely take the Gator Bowl because it's closest to Talahassee and FSU doesn't travel well. Miami or VT will get the BCS slot, and whichever team doesn't will go to the Peach Bowl as a concellation prize. Virginia will then likely attend the Tangerine (I will never call it Champs Sports) Bowl, even if they lose their final game to VT. With Clemson's inelligibility thanks to the brawl with South Carolina last weekend, the only remaining bowl eligible team is Georgia Tech. That means we'd fill the remaining ACC tie-in bowl and return to Boise, probably against UTEP. I would be okay with this. However, I figure the ACC owes us for screwing us with so many western bowls the last 3 years in a row, so they may fight for us to get the Tangerine instead of Virginia. Not lilkely, but possible. I'll bet Orlando is as nice on Dec 21 as it was on Jan 21. ESPN's "experts" predict us going to the Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl. I'm not sure how or why. This is not an ACC tie-in and the Humanitarian Bowl is. We'd have to get another team to fufill that comittment if the ACC sent a team to Vegas instead of Boise. I know the Pac-10 and MWC are struggling for elligible teams, but I just don't see how that gets an ACC team into that bowl. The only explanation would be that the Humanitarian Bowl doesn't want GT there 2 years in a row. *shrug* I guess we'll just wait and see. It would be nice to have a bowl game in my own time zone for a change though.

Go here: Divergent Books. Buy things. Read them. Become enlightened. Help Tommy and Steph feed their menagerie. Everyone wins!

Nothing good could possibly come from this: Fox buys BCS rights starting in '07 for $320M.

Monday, November 22, 2004

And for Andy, although the pain has subsided, the memories will never die and the hole in my heart will always burn, but life goes on for the rest of us, day after day, without you:

Like a phoenix ignition
Like a crematorium
Like a swelling volition
From the barrel of a gun
From the ashes and the embers
Like a rocket I'll ascend
Like a cry gone up for a fallen friend
Like a cry gone up for a fallen...

Like a phoenix ignition
Like a crematorium
Like a swelling volition
From the barrel of a gun
From the ashes and the embers
Like a rocket I'll ascend
Like a cry gone up for a fallen friend
I'll ascend

Everyday tear down the walls
'Til cornerstones remain
Coming one step closer all the time
And although we'll never reach perfection
Always persist to try

No regrets, just rebirth
Move forward, and ignite
Incandescent reinvention
A new renaissance
A new fire each day


-Thrice, Phoenix Ignition

I meant to post this on Veteran's Day, but seeing as how I was in Bremerton with no computer access, it didn't happen. But at least I was surrounded by a bunch of 18-21 year old kids who couldn't afford and/or get into college and who operate an excessively lethal billions-of-dollars piece of equipment... If that wasn't scary enough, did you know that when a fully armed Ohio Class submarine (the ones that carry the sea-launchable ballistic nuclear weapons) goes out on a mission, it becomes the 3rd largest nuclear power on the planet? For that very reason, the commanding officer has an escort 24 hours a day armed with an M-16, even onboard. Anyway, enough scariness, here's an excerpt from Hatebreed's We Still Fight (ooo, scary music!):

How do you justify (you have no right)
The way you disgrace those who gave their lives
And how do you justify (you have no right)
The way you disrespect those who's loved ones died
Go!
This is dedicated to all the people who have given their lives to uphold their beliefs
Not to those who try to demean their sacrifices
You have no right
For those who fought for our rights & for those who gave their lives
And for the families whose loved ones died
It's their honor for which we still fight

Who got a bonus by way of an Employee Excellence Award at work today? Me! Yay for me! Boo for taxes on my bonus... But yay anyway!

Also from Brian: The Citroen C4 is my new favorite car. Oh, it doesn't really do that? Damn. And here I thought the French had actually made a Transformer.

I always knew AOL was cheating somehow. And yet, I refuse to feel bad for those 40% of their subscribers. It's just that Carl Lewen is simply too dumb for me to feel bad about.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

And speaking of FSU, there's still a chance they coudl win the ACC. With Virginia's loss to Miami a few weeks ago, they eliminated themselves from teh hunt. So Now that leaves FSU, Miami, and VT who could still take teh crown. This is intolerable. As much as I hate FSU, at least they're an "original" ACC team (more so than Miami and VT anyway), and I woudl prefer an ACC team to win it over an incoming former Big East team. But I hate FSU so so so much. Miami can clinch the title by beating VT. VT has to win out, beating UVA and then Miami to take the title. FSU is done with league play at 6-2. Miami is currently 5-2. VT is 5-1. Worst case scenario: UVA beats VT giving the Hokies their 2 losses. Then VT rebounds teh next week to beat the 'Canes finishing the season 6-2 in conference, tied with FSU for first place. Miami is 5-3 and tied with UNC, who will be placed above them in the standings because the Heels found a way to beat the Hurricanes. But since there is no conference championship game yet, the team ranked higher in the BCS standings gets the conference title. In this scenario, FSU is likely to be ranked above VT at the end of the season, so they'd get the nod. This sucks. More likely, Miami will beat VT to take the title. I'm also not happy about this scenario. VT would finish either 6-2 with a win over UVA or 5-3 with a loss. They be ranked above 5-3 UNC in that case, but because they lost to Miami, Miami clinches the championship because they beat 6-2 FSU and 6-2 VT. I guess my preferred scenario at this point tracks the underdog VT who has to win 2 games over 2 very tough teams to take the title away from perennial winners Miami and FSU. So go Hokies!!
In other conference title news, if BC beats Syracuse next week, they outright win the Big East even if WV manages a win over Pitt because BC beat the Mountaineers not too long ago. Then BC will leave for the ACC next year, which would be disastrous for the conference and might result in revokation of it's BCS status. On the other hand, when Louisville joins the Big East, they should be able to win the title easily and have easy access to a BCS game. Utah looks like they will eb the first non-BCS conference team to play in a BCS game, which is awesome for Urban Meyer and his team. Poor Boise State is going to get screwed in all this, not getting a BCS game this year and not moving to a BCS conference.
Here's what needs to happen: Notre Dame gets the boot by NBC, tells the flagging Big East to go to hell, and joins the Big Te(leve)n, forming the Big XII-2 and institute a championship game like SEC, Big XII, and ACC. The Pac-10, in order to stay up to par withthe other BCS conferences will invite Utah and Boise State to join, and start a championship game as well. USC/Utah/Cal will dominate the south region. Boise State will win their northern division as easily as they crushed the other WAC opponents. The Big East will dissolve, or lose their BCS status, creating an additional at-large spot in the 4 BCS bowl games, thereby solving the problem of having to add an 5th BCS game. Even better, the Big East's former spot will be a guranteed mid-major spot to whichever team from a mid-major conference is ranked highest in the BCS standings. Now everyone's happy, right?
Back to the WAC, with Boise State kicking so much ass this season, they will liekly once again be picked up by a better bowl than their home-field MPC Computers (formerly Humanitarian) Bowl. This means an ACC team (probably GT again) would be liekly to play an astoundingly improved UTEP team who were ESPN Bottom 10 favorites a year ago and are now ranked 24 in the AP, are 8-2, and placed second in the WAC, losing only to champions Boise State. I'd love a crack at wonder-boy Mike Price's team back of the Smurf Turf.
And in Atlanta, I think some coaching changes are needed. I'll give Gailey one more year. As I've said before, our team has talen, but isn't being coached well enough. Our awesome defense is the only reason we're 4-4 in conference. Jon Tenuta is the best thing to happen to GT football since Fridge and Joe Hamilton were orchestrating come-from-behind 2-touchdowdowns-in-45-seconds victories 6 years ago. Reggie Ball has so much potential, but Patrick Nix, the quarterbacks coach and offenseive coordinator, isn't doing his job. I'm sorry Patrick, you're fired. Curtis Modkins, the RB coach does a good job coaching one player every year, but if he gets hurt, we're screwed. Joe Burns, Tony Hollings, PJ Daniels. Our QB should NOT be our second leading rusher. Mobile quarterback's are good, but he shouldn't be running that much because that means the O-line isn't very good. Though it is improving, so Joe D'Alessandris can stay for now. Gailey needs to work on recruiting some more talent at RB and in the secondary. Our D-line is awesome and moving Chris Reis from safety to linebacker was the best idea every Mr. Tenuta. But it weekend our secondary, and it needs help downfield. Our O-line is at least improving. We have some talented WRs and RBs, but they need better coaches to improve, as do our QBs, especially Reggie. After we lose to UGA this weekend, Gailey will be 20-17. He's lead us to (barely) winning seasons and 3 conecutive bowl games, but I've seen NO improvement in the program since Gailey took over. Florida has at least improved since Zook started (don't even get me started again about how wrong Florida was to fire Ron, but great win over FSU on Saturday!). How about we give Gailey one more year and then pick up the Zookster instead?
Finally, congrats to Iowa for getting a share of the Big Te(leve)n title with Michigan. They play so hard with less talent. They are the ultimate underdog. Congrats also to JoePa on his Nittany Lions' thrashing of stupid Sparty. Congrats to Ohio State for playing a good game of football for the first time since they beat Miami to win the national title 3 years ago. Why isn't Oklahoma #1? They're hands down better than USC, who I suspect would struggle against Auburn right now. Given a second chance, California would probably knock off USC as well. National title game should be Oklahoma vs Auburn, especially if AU knocks off Tennessee in the SEC championship and OU trounces Iowa State, Nebraska, or Colorado in the Big XII championship. USC is only #1 right now because they started there. And huge pat on the back to Urban Meyer and Utah for crashing the BCS party and to Boise State for going undefeated. College football is awesome.

Inspired by one of the thousands of SPAM I received in my inbox when I got home: A guy involved in porn named Penetray Sean. Mildly witty, but it doesn't really work as well as my variation for a girl: Penny Treyshin. Cause, what the hell kind of name is Penetray? I know I know, it's porn, not a lot of thought involved here, I'm just saying Penny is a better and more believeable first name than Penetray. I guess it's better than Craphonso Thorpe from F$U though...

Happy belated birthday to Alcivar! Sorry for thedelay, but I've been in Bremerton again, hopefully for the last time. We stayed at a nicer hotel this time, but I still spent 12-15 hours a day working in the submarine. That's 2 weeks in a row now of working 60+ hours. Suck. But at least this is a short week where I get to see Emily, my favorite cousin Jennifer and her family, and eat eat eat eat. As if I need to get any chunkier... Anyway, I got home yesterday afternoon, washed my laundry, watched some football, and went to bed. I thought my cell phone ringing this morning was my alarm clock and that today was Tuesday. All this cross-country travel and working on the weekends has seriously screwed up my internal clock, and this 3-day week isn't going to help matters. But I'll get back on track eventually. Submarine's don't smell funny until you get off themfor a couple days and all yoru clothes have a weird funk coming from them. Casino's make me hack and cough from all the smoke, which kind of covers the submarine funk, but mostly just makes it worse the next day. I guess I'm not impulsive enough to enjoy gambling. Even if I knew I'd break even (which I didn't), I can think of a hundred better ways to spend a couple hours than in a smoky casino full of hicks. No wonder chain-smoking Dave from West Virginia like them so much... Oh well. All in all it was a better business trip than last time.

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

I'm off to Bremerton again. I should be back Saturday afternoon. Call my cell if you need me since I may or may not have internet access.

Monday, November 15, 2004

Today was soooo busy at work. Tomorrow will probably be the same, and then I'll be on a business trip again that will probably be 12 hour workdays, but at least I'm getting paid overtime for working on Saturday now. Here's hoping that my overtime pay will cover my new tattoo(s) as I'm hope it/they will be (an) early Christmas present(s) to myself.

I'm still at work and probably will be until 8 or 9 tonight. Maybe I'll work a half day tomorrow before I leave again on my business trip so that I won't end up billing 70-80 hours this week.

Whee! I got paid overtime for my travel on Saturday! Yay for 8 hours of overtime pay! Even still, I worked 50+ hours last week and am only getting paid for 40 of them, so I won't feel too broken up if I waltz in late every now and then (like this morning).

Sunday, November 14, 2004

Yeah, it's November 14th again. Sometimes it feels so long ago, sometimes it feels like only yesterday. But no matter how long ago it feels, I still feel his spirit with me when I need him. I miss you every day Andy.

Saturday, November 13, 2004

You'd think for being on the west coast the last few days I wouldn't be this tired right now. I mean, it's Saturday night, I should be out living it up, or at least as much as I ever do, which means I should be staying up until 2 am watching college football or playing video games. But after getting up at 5 am PST and flying back across the country today, and after working 12+ hours the last 3 days straight incramped quarters on a submarine, sleeping in a crappy hotel on a mediocre bed with the worst pillows ever, I guess being tired kinda makes sense. Even still, getting ready for bed at 9:30 on a Saturday night feels awfully lame, even for me. Especially since it's only 6:30 pm in dirty dirty Bremerton and I've only been awake for 13.5 hours today.

I strongly advise against ever going here or here. I was at the Pugest Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bangor Trident Base on my business trip. The base was actually kind of cool. The shipyard was a dump, and pretty much exactly what I would have expected from a shipyard. The surrounding town was even more of a dump. Our Best Western was far from "best," there was no place that looked decent to eat, and getting anything done on the shipyard meant wasting several hours to get approval from someone. At least the Navy's sonar guys who deploy with the sub were really cool and seemed genuinely interested in what our system was capable of and how it could help them, so I guess the trip wasn't a total loss. But a lot of stuff broke while we were there, so I'm not sure if I'm going back next week or not. Guess I'll find out on Monday. In the mean time, my whole Saturday got wasted in the process thanks to traveling and no overtime, but Beth and Moon said I could just take those hours off at a later date, especially considering that I worked over 50 hours this week before even counting my travel time for today. Oh well. Buisiness travel is business travel. I learned a lot about the sub on the trip and we'll see what happens next week.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

I'm off on my first business trip for GD. I should be back Saturday afternoon. Fortunately, it's warmer in the Seattle area than it is here. This whole 26 degrees outside my apartment thing is not making me very excited about leaving the house this morning, but at least it's currently 50 up near America Jr.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Nothing is quite as exciting as going to ESPN and seeing a giant Buzz on the frontpage along with a picture of Paul Hewitt as a teaser for the preview of the upcoming basketball season!

Monday, November 08, 2004

Happy birthday to my little brother, who I'll always think of as little, even though he outweighs me, is a hair shy of being taller than me, and is now the ripe old age age of twenty one. I hereby dedicate Under 21 by Save Ferris to Ben (and not just because he looks good in a dress):

The other night I tried to go to a show
But the man at the door
He told me no
He said, "No one under 21 allowed"
But he must have been stupid 'cause I saw my friends in the crowd
He said, "You can't buy an alcoholic drink"
"So we don't care what you really think"

[Chorus]:
Why's this happened to me
And the show was for free
It sucks to be
Under 21

So I went and got myself a plan that would work
And I went on home and got a real short skirt
And I flirt my way right through that goddamn door
But once inside the music was no more
Well I guess I got there just a bit too late
I guess it's just my luck
It's just my fate

(Repeat Chorus)

I only want to have a little fun
But every time I try they tell me "You're not 21"

Penny Arcade offers further proof that hardcore gamers are meek and afraid of people in general. It further illustrates their distaste for non-hardcore gamers who begin to play video games as they become more and more mainstream. I feel the same way about music, as I've no doubt mentioned on countless occasions. Knowing about an awesome band is like a special secret that I only share with my close friends who will truly appreciate the intricacies of the music. And then they get on the radio 6 months or 5 years later and suddenly it's not special anymore. Video games are the same way, the more mainstream they are, the less special they seem to me. Maybe that's why I always had such an affinity for games like Karate Champ on the NES or Kengo: Master of Bushido on PS2. That's why I don't particularly care about the new GTA release or Halo 2 (I also don't have an XboX). The singular exception to this rule is the Gran Turismo series which is probably one of the most played games ever on the two generations of Playstation, and still one of my personal favorites.

When I left my apartment this morning it smelled like a ski resort outside. I'm not sure why. It's not the cold I smelled cause it's only like 45 or 50. Maybe it's the humidity? Maybe it's just wishful thinking? Maybe it's my windbreaker getting moldy because I wear it all the time? I dunno. At least my apartment complex doesn't smell like laundry this time.

Sunday, November 07, 2004

Clemson, why you gotta make me smack you? Despite GT's awesome win over NC State today, we're likely to get screwed out of a bowl game now thanks to Clemson beating Miami. With just Duke remaining on their ACC schedule, Clemson should finish 5-3. Meanwhile, UNC with Duke and Wake left will likely finish 5-3 as well, along with VT (assuming they lose to Miami and UVA). In any case, us no longer being tied with Clemson means that we're likely to get screwed over, even when we beat UConn next week to become bowl eligible, on getting a bowl game at all, or at least getting an ACC tie-in game. As it stands right now (via my own predictions), UVA will win the ACC, Miami will take the Gator Bowl, FSU will go to the Peach Bowl, VT will go to the Tangerine (to hell with Champs Sports, I'll never call it that). That leaves Clemson, UNC, and us for the Tire Bowl and the Smurf Turf Bowl. With our 4-4 ACC record (assuming UVA destroys us like they probably will), and coming off a crushing loss at Georgia to finish the season, why would either bowl select us over a 5-3 team? Especially when you consider how long it's been since UNC went to a bowl game, they're bound to bring a tons of fans to wherever the game is, even Boise. So once again, GT gets left out of the loop. Our only hope is that we can get some sympathy from some crappy bowl somewhere else where another conference (possibly the Big East) hasn't qualified enough teams to meet their bowl allocations. Stupid Clemson. I hate the Bowdens. Stupid Miami for letting Clemson beat you. Grrrr...

Saturday, November 06, 2004

In Brian's own words: Snazzy!

Friday, November 05, 2004

This afternoon felt like it was crawling by at a snail's pace. And I finally figured out why. Because I'm dumb. I forgot to wind my watch this morning because I was running late. So my watch stopped around 2:30. And at nearly 4 pm, I was looking at my watch and couldn't figure out how it was still only 20 of the hour. Until I realized it was the 20 of wrong hour entirely. Oh well. At least it's already 4 pm now and almost the weekend. =)

Hooray! They finally turned the heat on in our building! It was so nice to come in this morning and not have to wear my windbreaker around the office for an hour until the heat from all the monitors being on warmed up the area. Now it's nice and toasty in here instead.

Thursday, November 04, 2004

Spurrier won't coach Gators - Duh...

Apparently (according to my Simpsons calendar), yesterday was Sandwich Day. Good thing I had a turkey and swiss sandwich for dinner last night along with a pickle and some olives. =) I'm so on top of things, even when I don't know about them until the next day!

Boo for rainy cold days. I'm soaked even though I had an umbrella when we came back from lunch. =(

I get paid every two weeks on Fridays. But my pay periods end on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of every month. What this means is basically that when I get my paycheck, it's not for the current week (because that week extends though Sunday), it's for the 2 weeks prior to that. When I get my paycheck, I also get a statement of what my vacation balance is, because I earn 5.89 vacation hours per pay period. My amazing realization of the day is that I actually accrue that time the day the pay period ends and not on the actual payday. So even though I get paid tomorrow, my time off accrued last Sunday. Why all this whole post over something so insignificant? Because for the first time since I started working, I have a positive time-off balance of 1.23 hours! Yay!!

So I'm going to the Seattle area on business next week. I was curious what kind of weather I was going to be faced with. A week away, it's hard ot predict, but Accuweather is saying highs of 49-50 and lows around 36. That's not too bad at all. I was half expecting it to already be winter up there and for me to have to go dig out all my ski gear or something. *phew*

I almost pulled a Rob. Yesterday I came home and realized I hadn't paid my rent yet for November. Even though rent is "due" on the 1st of the month, there's a 3 day grace period, afterwhich you have to pay an extra 10% or something in addition to your rent. Usually I've got my rent check written out and stuck to the door by the 27th or something, all ready to go on the first. But this month somehow my brain didn't want to pay rent or something. "But, I paid that last month!" Stupid stupid Rob. I wonder if he ever got married... Poor Jill. Oh well.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

As it turns out, Optimus Prime never had a chance. What with his being born on Cybertron. I'm sure that an exception could be made for an entity that has been in America since before it was even the New World, several million years before, in fact. Or perhaps Transformers would have been treated like other inhabitants who were here before Europeans claimed the continent as their own: herded onto a few acres of land and forced to run casinos. Such a fate should never befall a proud and noble culture like the Autobots... Optimus would never stand for it. Transform and roll out!

So I guess Bush is our President again for the next 4 years. *shrug* Can't say I'm surprised. Kerry was simply not a strong candidate. He said and did nothing that encouraged me to vote for him. "But Adam, he got 48% of the popular vote! What's the deal with that?" I suspect that has less to do with people genuinely supporting Kerry and more to do with people genuinely hating Bush. The problem with the democratic candidate in this presidential election is that people who weren't voting for Bush weren't voting for Kerry either. They were voting for Mr. Anyone-Who-Isn't-Bush. This is not how you win an election.
It was funny to watch all the news outlets though. You could see their own political leanings cropping out as they began to call states. Before I went to bed last night, Fox News had given Ohio to Bush. But it wasn't until noonish today that CNN and C-Span finally (begrudginly) uncrossed their fingers and declared victory for Bush.
Points of interest: Virginia - The race was much closer than I would have ever expected. I mean, I know 54 to 45 is a 9 point marign of victory, but for such a historically heavily Republican state I would have expected a wider margin for the incumbent. Florida - for a state divided by 500 votes or whatever in 2000, winning by nearly 4 million votes was a landslide for Bush. What the hell happened there? Must have been Brian's influence. Gay Marriage - Every state with a ban measure on their ballot passed it with at least 57%, and bible belt states like Mississippi with 86% in favor of a ban on same-sex marriages. I am continuously appalled by the puritanical values and the close-mindedness of the majority of this country. I've lived too close to a major city for too long to identify with the overwhelming majority of Americans any longer. Unfortunately, I'm afraid all these passed ballot measures will establish a dangerous precedent for passing anti-homosexual legistlature, and in many ways could have a negative impact on heterosexual marriages as a side effect of poorly-worded documents.
I hope Mr. Badnarik appreciated my vote as one out of 1,557 in Fairfax County and one of 11,767 people in the state who thought him a better choice than either Bush or Kerry. I hope one day we'll have a more representative system of government than our two major-party behemoths and all the other parties out there. About every four years I get to thinking that maybe a coalition government is really the way to go afterall. Maybe not for stability or progress necessarily, but it seems more democratic to me. Too bad we live in a republic instead of a democracy.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

See, now that's what I'm talking about!

When the first word in your campaign slogan is God, you've lost my vote before I even knew who you were. And then I find out you're endorsed by peopel waving confederate flags and who think the Republican party is too leftist. Yikes. Of my 4 choices on the Virginia ballot for president, I wouldn't vote for Peroutka if you put a gun to my head. I'd probably consider voting for Bush if you cocked it and took the safety off. Kerry has been lambasting Bush with claims of "4 more years of the same thing." As horrifying as that concept is to me, at least I know what to expect from Dubya. Meanwhile, everyone's favorite ketchup-heiress's husband has made every effort imaginable to not answer any questions I wanted answered. I can't in good conscience vote for a candidate who won't tell me what he plans to do other than in broad generic hand-waving idealisms. Which leaves me with my 4th option on the ballot. My Libertarian candidate - Michael Badnarik. Although I don't agree with all of his policies and opinions, I consistently find that most of the points I feel the most strongly about are echoed by the Libertarian party and their candidates. Although I'm not exactly fond of the fact that Mr. Badnarik is a Texan (no, I am not afraid to mess with Texas, in fact, Mexico can have it back for all I care) and opposes all gun control, I do agree with the majority of his policy plans. But if push really came to shove, and I had my druthers, you'd better believe I'd be voting for Optimus Prime. No, not that one, this one.

Monday, November 01, 2004

I would like to remind everyone about the impending elections tomorrow. Even if you think your vote for president won't matter (and due to the electoral college system, really, it doesn't), you shoudl still go vote. Why? Because there's more at stake than the next president. There are also electiosn being held for Senators and Congressmen, which are important elections as well. And it's entirely possible that there are referendums on the ballot that you will be asked to vote for. So I urge you to spend some time tonight doing some research on who else is up for election and what other issues might be on the local ballot in your state or district and making a choice there as well. And of course, I reccomend voting for president, even if you are voting for a third party, because it shows support for those weaker parties and encourages them to run again. Voting is a privelege in this country, not a right. Make full use of it. And if you vote, it is your responsibility to make informed decisions. Think, plan, vote.

Stupid loud groundskeeping crew mowing the grass and using leaf blowers at 8 am... grrr...

Emily's out of context comment of the night: "I think you've already volated."

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  • I'm Rev. Adam
  • From Oakton, Virginia, United States
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