Envy Me!!!!

I met Arkie last night. It would take me way too long to tell you how much fun we had but it was great and we're gonna hang out again tomorrow. If we can find a Karoake bar we're gonna do that and I'll test those ear plugs by singing for her. Unfortunately my laptop is totally dead and I only have a minute to tell you on this public computer at the hotel how incredibly great she is.
We ate dinner at Boca DiBeppo (I hope I got that right) , it was an awesome Italian restuarant where they parade you through the kitchen on your way to your seats so you can see the chefs making everything from the salads and breads to your main courses. They even have a table in the kitchen that you have to reserve if you want to watch them cook while you eat. We talked about everything from A to Z, see I've known Arkie for years and we've had great conversations both deep and light since the beginning so this was just a great opportunity for me to meet one of my RL Friends that I just doesn't live near me as opposed to my local friends who I've known for years and years but actually talk to less often. Funny how that is.

Well you can envy me again tomorrow cause we're gonna do it again and this time with music.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

What song do you have stuck in your head?

I Walk the Line

By John R. Cash

Recorded 4/2/56

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine

I keep my eyes wide open all the time.

I keep the ends out for the tie that binds

Because you're mine, I walk the line

I find it very, very easy to be true

I find myself alone when each day is through

Yes, I'll admit I'm a fool for you

Because you're mine, I walk the line

As sure as night is dark and day is light

I keep you on my mind both day and night

And happiness I've known proves that it's right

Because you're mine, I walk the line

You've got a way to keep me on your side

You give me cause for love that I can't hide

For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide

Because you're mine, I walk the line

I'll dedicate this song to my baby since I sang it last night at Karaoke for her and I never would have known it's existence if she hadn't made me watch that movie. I saw the whole thing, someone else I know fell asleep in my lap at least three times during it. I also sang Purple Rain by Prince last night. It was the first time that I've not been on the road and gone out anywhere by myself in quite a while. Next time she comes down I'll take her to the club and sing it for her again.

Training the Boss

Well, I got a new boss yesterday. We had been interviewing for new people to help restaff the HelpDesk here since we've lost quite a few over the last year and hadn't been replacing anyone. The job isn't God Awful but anyone that's ever worked in Customer Service of any kind knows how it can suck dealing with end users especially if you have to do it over the phone. Luckily though in our business we do more System Administration than anything and we have remote access to our customers via modem or VPN. I work in the draining mostly male world of SCADA, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. Our customers our utilities like your local power, gas or water company and they use our hardware and software to monitor their systems to make sure you have power, water and stuff like that. That's how I get to travel to exotic places like Lamar, Co or Madisonville, KY but I definitely can't complain because it's also allowed me to go to San Francisco (hi Chelli) , the Dominican Republic and Barbados.

Anyway, the department was all but decimated over the last year or so and those of us left were catching fire like a tree in the San Diego woods. Then our old boss left and it really sucked because we'd started together and were real good friends too. He was a bit of a puppet boss unfortunately because they didn't give him enough power to do things that would really have made the department better or easier to deal with. They mentioned that they would post his position after he left but we all pretty much said, they could forget about any interest from one of us. Sooooooo...at first they said they weren't going to fill the position and instead would have our boss' boss who is also a great guy and someone I worked with at my last job just assume direct responsibility for our group as well. It was ok except he's really a marketing guy and everyone including he and our contracts administrator would come to me for the real answers to how we do things around here. So I knew about a few of the people we interviewed cause I interviewed several of them.

Friday we had a department lunch and they announced that we had hired two people and they were both starting monday. One would be working in the pit with the rest of us and the other would be our new Technical Lead. I said in other words our boss, I dont know why our boss's boss was reluctant to say it himself. So they both started yesterday and it was actually the first time that I met my new boss as I was teaching when they interviewed him. Walking him in and showing him his office and where everything was, I realized just how much things change since when you first start out all bright eyed and bushy tailed out of college. I would have been nervous as heck talking to my boss for the first time back then. Yesterday it was , here let me show you to your office and tell you what you're gonna be responsible for. I set up a UNIX machine for him and gave him and the other new guy some basic training on our software and how everything works around here.

So that's how I spent my day yesterday. Showing my boss how to do his job and it's just the beginning because while he has several years of experience in the Industry he doesn't know our system at all and the toughest part for him, he doesn't know UNIX at all and that's our primary platform. Normally people would probably expect me to be upset about having to train my boss but really the job isn't worth the additional stress and headaches.

DarthKiddies

Well I'd hoped to post pictures of my Best Friends kids all decked out in their Star Wars apparel. Instead Blogger doesn't like me and wont let me *pout*

Update since blogger is blogpooping my photos I listened to the always smaht cq and posted them to flickr. I'd have used photobucket but I already had a flickr account.







Speaking of pouting, have you ever been over at a married friends house when they have an argument? What do you do? Do you bail? Find any excuse to get out and away?
How about if you're trapped in a Van with the kids about to goto to the store with mom, when the argument happens and next thing you know, you're in the car with dad and the kids going bike riding when you know it's too cold outside? What do I do? I play with the kids and pretend I dont notice anything. These are my best friends so of course I never take sides and I'm never asked to. We just pretend like it didn't happen.

Nicknames

Just a question for the two of yall who actually read my blog..lol. I was just chatting with T and she called me babycakes which is a cute nickname but one that an old flame used to call me. Last week she tried sweetoe which was also cute but again, already retired. So, my challenge for you, should you decide to take it is to come up with an original nickname for me. That, or you can tell me what nicknames you and your SO use or past flames.

FYI: I will not answer to puddin, so puddin is not an option.

Waiting

I know there's a movie out by this name. I don't remember if it went straight to DVD or was ever out in the theatre. Watching some of the previews, I thought I would really want to see this movie cause I've worked in fast food before and know all of the horror stories and have a few of my own. But then I saw another preview and some of it was just so gross that even from the preview I knew I wouldn't want to see the movie because no matter how funny it was, there were parts that would probably just make me sick to my stomach.

So, you're wondering, is that all this post is about, some movie you don't want to see? Not exactly. Last night we took some customers out for wings, drinks and karaoke. Of course when you get a bunch of military guys together, they're gonna order hot wings and the first round of wings were pretty good if not super hot. So the second round, we decide to get even hotter wings and when they come out we have the waiter point out which are the hottest. We start in on the wings and they're not even as hot as the last batch. This is the part where of course we fucked up. We tell the waiter that these can't be the hot wings cause there isn't a hot one in the bunch. Wings look like wings look like wings so our waiter said he thought they'd sent out the Habarnero (I have no clue what that means, but they were supposed to be hot) but maybe there was a mistake and he'll go tell the chef (do you really need a chef to make wings??). BIG MISTAKE First off, you know that when you send something back, you're likely to get special sauce in your meal when you get it back...but telling a chef that his wings weren't HOT enough!!!!!!

Let's just say that when they brought out the last batch of wings, eyes were watering before the chicken ever touched anyones mouth. I picked mine up, licked my fingers and was in instant pain. There was much crying and slobbering from sinuses being completely released and we ate, drank and licked anything we could find on the table that we thought would quell the volcano in our mouths. There were seven of us and eight wings so of course we asked the waiter to have the last one. Sucker Even he had to admit that there was no way anyone could say those wings weren't hot. After that and the few beers it took to quell the burning, I even got brave enough to get up and sing "Return to Sender" by the King for the karaoke contest they had going on. I didn't win but I did get an honorable mention and asked to come back and sing again next week. The jury is still out on that one.

Oh yeah, one last thing. I always thought people were joking when they would make comments about "if you thought it burned going in........just wait till it comes out". I learned this morning that THAT is no joke.

Weekend Update

Well I guess it would be except I think both Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey quit and I dont think I can do the whole show by myself. My co-workers are telling me that I must be excited about the wedding cause I talk about more details than any guy they've ever known to get married. I guess they're right then.

T showed up thursday and we took a trip over to the chapel. I'd say I had the whole "Going to chapel and we're gonna get married" theme in my head but actually it was Black Eyed Peas "My Humps" blaring in the car. I'm sure T mentioned somewhere before that we were getting married in a strip mall. She found the concept funny and cute. Me? Notsomuch but alas we're on a budget, a very tight one what with a baby in the works too. So the last time we met with Lisa the wedding lady, she told us they were moving to a new location, bigger and better she said. We pull up at the new place and I'm instantly relieved, it's not in a strip mall anymore. T thinks it looks more like a apartment complex but really it's an office park that just doesn't have many offices in it. So other than the fact that there was no sign to indicate which office had been converted into the chapel, I was pretty happy with the place so far. Of course we then went inside and hilarity ensued. Ok maybe not hilarity but some of the stuff that came out of peoples mouths for the next 2 hours was cause for laughter. I'll let T talk more about that if she likes when she gets home.

Saturday was very nice as I spent nearly the whole day at home in bed. Before you get too many smutty ideas, T went out and about and found a florist and took care of a few other wedding things before settling in for the evening with me to watch movies.

Yesterday we did more wedding stuff , getting her dress altered and picking out the grooms gifts and a few other things needed for the wedding. I learned one very important lesson yesterday. Engraving is expensive. Lets just say we bought something that cost all of $5 but after telling the lady what we wanted engraved on it, the lettering alone was $50. Yeah , ouch but still it's a once in a lifetime thing and we are having a blast (ok I'm having a blast, she may be having a breakdown just kidding) preparing for it.

So that was our weekend and it was good. Hopefully in two weeks I'll be back up there for another doctors appointment. We did get a sonogram last time but it was too soon to tell the sex of the baby. By the end of the month, that should no longer be a mystery.

Borrowed from Iggy

I never realized how many states I've actually been to until I did this. I didn't do the country one because I've only been to Barbados and the Dominican Republic. I've been to Canada and Mexico but sorry , I just dont really count them.

For our Reigning Queen of Smut

This is totally worksafe. It's a MasterCard type commercial described in MM's blog post.


View this clip on Vimeo

I'll take it down after a few days because I think most browswer force you to download the whole thing before you can read anymore of the blog.