And my birthday fortune is....
OK, so I treated myself to lunch at P.F. Chang's for my birthday, and I got two fortune cookies (I think they're not allowed by Chinese law to give them out one at a time.) So I have two options for my fortune, and I don't know if I get to pick, or how that works. Anyway, fortune no. 1:
"You find beauty in ordinary things. Do not lose this ability." OK, I hope that's true. I think that is an admirable quality, and I'd like to think that on occasion I stop to contemplate things like that, and how the everyday things of life have an inherent value and bear the imprint of the Creator. I guess we all kind of forget that from time to time. Anyway, no. 2:
"You will help someone in need." Hehe, I think P.F. Chang's is trying to inspire me or something! OK, that's another one that I hope turns out to be true. I guess we'll see.

BTW, it took me more than a week, but I finally christened the carpet by pouring Diet Coke on it. I'm surprised it's taken me this long frankly, and I'm just glad my iPod survived because it was directly underneath the pourage (or whatever you call that). Apparently they're at least semi-soda-proof.

So anyway, life is good - I'm still waiting for that blistering Vegas heat I keep hearing about. Yeah it's hot, but I've had worse. I probably shouldn't say that, it's like I'm taunting the weather. Anyway, I also found a great oyster bar at one of the casinos down the road - I had this Shrimp Feta dish which was shrimp, tomatoes and garlic sauteed in olive oil and served over linguine with feta cheese. Wow!! Needless to say I'll be back. I'm gonna have to watch my food budget here - there's so many great places to eat around here.

Anyway, my apartment is almost livable now - I have a few more things to put away and then it will be in its saturated state, meaning the final balance between space and stuff at which I neither have to buy more stuff nor throw stuff out. (See kids? Chemistry has real-life applications too!)

OK, it's Sunday afternoon nap time. More later!

I'm eating over the sink... and I love it!!!
OK, that's an exaggeration. Still no movers, they won't be here until Monday, so for the time being my place looks like it's been taken over by squatters. I basically have my new big-screen and stand, some bedding and a few pillows and the new computer desk i just put together. Oh, and my new ergodynamic chair which has been a boon! You don't appreciate a good chair and desk until you've been typing on a laptop while lying on your stomache in the living room.

So anyway, I am here to report that HD TV is in no way overrated. I got the HD-compatible DVD player to go with it, and the difference is astounding. I didn't even need to see the two pictures together to compare, the clarity and three-dimensional characteristics of the picture are amazing! Anyway, needless to say I've been rewatching a bunch of my DVDs until my cable gets hooked up.

Yes, that's right. The No. 1 proponent for the theory that cable companies are pure evil, me, is switching to cable television. Not by choice, just that the apartment is too strict on its regulations for me to install a dish. If I had a balcony I could set up a tripod, but no such luck! So I'll have to rough it with cable and hope that the group here is better than what I've experienced. So far, it's not looking good. For example:
- They're gouging me on price for high speed internet and virtually no discount for bundled service.
- They don't offer a wireless modem.
- When I ordered my service, they asked me if I wanted an HD DVR with it and I said no, I wanted to get it separately. At this point, someone should have told me that you can't GET an HD DVR except through the cable company. Since no one spoke up, I guess I'll just do without for the time being.
- I was told that my converter box would arrive on Saturday. So while I'm out running errands, a box arrives for me, which I'm pretty sure is the converter. Of course, they can't leave it on the doorstep, so essentially I could have had my cable hooked up yesterday had they gotten the dates right.

Yeah I know, all that's pretty picky stuff, and not a huge deal. But it's just a typical symptom of the attitude cable companies always have about being a monopoly and knowing it. They offer what they want, when they want, on their timeline, and if you don't like it, tough. That can be incredibly frustrating!

But anyway, other than that, life under the sun (and I mean that, it's been 100 degrees every day so far) goes on. I'll have to take pictures of the place once it's put together. But for now, it's all coming into place. And it turns out I'll be going to Colorado next week! They changed my training schedule, so instead of Indianapolis, I'll be attending client meetings in Durango for a couple of days. Man, I have a rough gig! I need to remember to thank God every night for finding me this job.

Speaking of that, what a great company! They gave me a stipend to use on home office (a good one! more than I'll likely need to use) and they don't care if you use your blackberry for personal use, and just in general it's a totally different atmosphere than the one at Ford, where you're constantly feeling like every move is scrutinized. I actually feel like they trust their employees here, and that says a lot!

Anyway, that's enough for this morning. More later!

Some random highlights from today's drive
- I saw my first jackrabbit outside of Amarillo the morning I checked out of the hotel and got gassed up for the trip. Someone asked me if I was in the middle of desolation, and I said no, but I could see it right over there.
- I think it's more than coincidence that within 10 seconds of crossing the Texas border into New Mexico, I dropped my first cell call.
- It's ironic that I hadn't driven through rain in who knows how long, until today in the Arizona desert, where I did so twice.
- I drove through my first dust-devil today. Believe me, they're a little worse to drive through than they look from the outside.
- Hoover Dam really does look cool at night.
- I was pretty impressed with myself that I got to Vegas within about 15-20 minutes of my ETA.
- I was less impressed that it took me another hour to get to the hotel, despite my knowing pretty much where it was and despite being able to actually see it most of that time.
- My Mustang drives a lot better over distance than I expected. I didn't finish up the 13-hour drive today feeling like I needed to have a leg amputated! So that was a good thing!
- The good thing was that I was able to schedule all my utilities while on the phone before hitting the New Mexico black hole of cellular service. So I may actually be up and operational within a day! Oh, but my furnature won't get here until Monday. Anyone know a good chiropracter? Cause I'll probably need one next week!

Annnnd we're off... kind of
Well, I don't think Texas wants me to leave. I'm sitting in my living room waiting for the movers, who I've learned broke down on their way here. Which means my morning pickup is now my afternoon pickup. Which means my late evening arrival in Albuquerque en route to Vegas has now become my early morning (2-3 a.m. I'm thinking) arrival. Granted the bed will feel all the more comfortable, but at the same time, I'm afraid anything, including my car seat, will be comfortable enough for sleeping. So it's gonna be a long night I'm afraid.
So now I'm listening to classical music, eating lunch and trying not to blow a gasket. I'm told I'm pretty patient in some areas, but I'm not feeling it right now, so I'm working on not being in the mood to bite the guy's head off when he gets here.
Anyway, I'll miss Texas terribly - particularly the Tex-Mex - but I renewed my UT season tickets today, which is like a binding commitment that I'll be back.
I'll keep this up to date better now, I promise - I actually lost/forgot the link or I would have updated sooner. But I'll keep you guys up to date on here, assuming anyone still checks in. My lack of activity on here probably took care of that ;) but I'll try to do better from here on out. Anyway, more later!

Safe and sound in Philadelphia
My Trip To Philadelphia

4:35 a.m.: What a surprise – I’m awake before my alarm goes off! It’s a handy talent really – I should really take advantage of that by getting out of bed and getting an early start on getting out the door.
4:36: Screw that, I’m not moving.
4:38: This is gonna be a fun trip, I think. I’ve never ben to Philadelphia before, and this will be a good chance to do that before I head up to Reading for the interviews. And with the layover in Chicago, I can at least get some deep dish pizza while I’m there. I have a good feeling about this trip!
4:40: Was that lightning? Well, I’m told that almost never hits the airplane.
4:55: Drifting off to sleep now, I’ll just pick up a few extra winks before I have to get up.
5:00: Alarm goes off. My “handy skill” is starting to feel a lot like a curse.
5:08: I’ve already passed on the morning shower in exchange for more sleep. Now do I get the really warm, comfy shirt out of the dirty clothes pile, knowing I’ll be glad for it when I hit the winter weather? Or do I think of the passengers next to me and pick out something fresher.
5:09: I really say “screw that” too much. I need to work on that.
5:16: It occurs to me that normally I would be printing out my boarding passes in advance right about now, except I was genius enough to try and install a new hard drive on my desktop last night rather than waiting until I got back. So as predictable as the sunrise (is that gonna happen sometime soon?) My computer has crashed and I can’t get anything to work. And here I was congratulating myself yesterday on how I had managed a simple installation with no major glitches.
5:17: Everything done but checking on the dog. Just have to check the perimeter to make sure the newfound mud hasn’t given him any more digging opportunities for while I’m away.
5:18: Taz looks so pathetically sad when he’s wet. But he still has this excited hope that he will get to go inside and shake his wet fur out all over my floor. Sometimes I think that’s what gets him through life.
5:19: Wow, it’s really raining out here! Urge to kill rising…
5:21: The yard looks ok, but I can’t risk him tunneling out, going to the humane society and being euthanized when I don’t come to get him within 24 hours. (That’s really humane, btw.) I crush his hopes for the second time in three minutes by hooking him up to his tether. I am officially the world’s worst pet owner.
5:22: Last chance to put my foot down and insist that they let me do this by teleconference.
5:23: On the road. I’m approaching this job opportunity in a positive light – sure it looks like it may involve a lot of ground-up networking, and could start slowly, but I really think I could do it!
5:30: My mental inventory of all the things I needed to pack is now complete and it looks good. Usually if I haven’t had to turn around by this time to go back and get something, I’m in good shape.
6:03: Boarding pass check-in time. God bless the guy that invented those kiosks! Now you tell me how this makes sense – I’m in the A group for my flight to Houston, but the connecting flight I’m grabbing to Chicago later in the morning has me in the B group. Guess people in Houston are more consciencious about getting their passes printed out early. Well thank goodness – if I’m gonna get stuck in a middle seat, I’d rather it be on the longer flight, and fortunately I have a whole 30 minutes to get to that gate and get in the B line.
6:04: I’m really sarcastic this early in the morning. I need to work on that.
6:07: OK, it’s time to handle the metal detectors. I had this down to an art when I was traveling every week.
6:10: My stuff is finally all in trays and I’m headed through. By this time, I’d normally be standing in front of the lunch counter debating the merits of eating a hot dog for breakfast, but between the extra bag, a watch (no wonder I never wore a watch while I was traveling – one less thing to take off!) and actually having change in my pocket (that never happened while I was traveling either.)
6:10.30: I note that while not wearing a belt did give me additional speed through the detector, not PACKING a belt, probably wasn’t the best idea. I wonder what else I didn’t pack?
6:11: The guy in front of me sets off the detector, prompting me to check one last time. Sure enough, one penny left in the pocket! I am seriously off my game this morning. I blame the lack of sunlight.
6:13: As the guy in front of me prepares for a full body cavity search, I present my boarding pass again. It occurs to me that I should try and figure out where the opportunity was for me to become someone other than the person on my ID in the 30 yards or so of heavily observed, fully metal detected, stuck-in-a-line and can’t do much other than put my shoes back on terminal space.
6:14: I note that Love Field has nicely redecorated the walkway to the actual gate area. It looks lovely and serves a stark contrast to the automated walkway next to it, which as usual, is not working.
6:14.30: “I’m walkin’ on sunshiiiiiiine! WOAHOHHHHH!”
6:16: I’m rethinking my career options. Maybe I could have my own sitcom.
6:43: The announcement for the cattlecall that is Southwest Airlines comes over the loudspeaker, prompting about 10 people who have been sitting wayyy over there to walk up and form their own line next to the A group that actually got here and got in a line early. Fortunately, they don’t give me any dirty looks when I don’t let every one of them cut in front of me.
6:58: The good news is I have an empty seat in the middle between me and the other guy – who actually seems quite nice. The bad news, my mental inventory of things left now includes my iPod charger and the cord that hooks my digital camera up to my laptop. Nothing serious, so that’s not too bad.
6:59: My usual panic sets in as to whether I still have my car keys. They’re still there – I wonder what would I actually do if they weren’t? If I’m gonna freak out about that, seems like I’d do it BEFORE I got on the plane, but whatever.
7:21: I become hooked on this number logic game in the Southwest magazine. It’s a 9-by-9 grid divided into nine 3-by-3 squares, and the object is to arrange the numbers one through 9 so that there is only one of each number in every row, every column and every 3-by-3 box. They give you a few numbers to start out with, and all the stuff I brought to entertain me on the flight gets lost in the shuffle.
7:28: The first of MANY diet cokes.
7:42: I realize that because of the game, I’ve forgotten all the witty comments I had stored up to write down during the layover. I make a mental note to hire a secretary or something when I get back.
7:55: We’re in Houston. If I had more time, I’d explore the option of eating breakfast at the Mexican restaurant (Pappasito’s). I’ve never had enchiladas for breakfast, and it’s something I want to do one time before I die. Chances are those two events will probably be linked somehow.
8:03: I settle into the B line behind a small family wearing straw cowboy hats and carrying a small Texas state flag. I’m guessing they’re not actually from Texas.
8:28: Wow, B group and I still get a window seat – that almost never happens! God wants me to have a good trip, and I’m going to try to have a better attitude from here on out.
8:29: Is that ice on the wing?
8:34: The attendant reminds us that Chicago is also in the central time zone. In other words “Yes, the flight is exactly as long as it says on your ticket.”
8:35: I begin silently chanting to myself “I am not paying for this flight. I am not paying for this flight.”
11:20: Worst. Landing. Ever.
11:21: I realize how long this day’s going to be when I stand up and realize that I now have the strength of a 12-year-old. I’m just glad I didn’t drop my bag on anyone’s head. Who needs a repeat of that???
11:25: I spot the pizza place. OK, granted, a layover may not count as visiting Chicago, but at least I can say I had the pizza. Sort of. Well, it’s not Sbarro, at any rate, and they do have the prerequisite bottled peppers on the counter. So it looks kind of authentic.
11:28: I receive the smallest $1.89 drink ever. I pause at the counter to get my stuff together, and the lady asks me if I’m missing anything from my order. In my head, I snap off “You mean besides about 12 ounces of Diet Coke? Nahhhh!” But I say nothing. I don’t think I’d make it in a big city.
11:29: My sitcom could just be about me wandering around airports. I think this would sell!
11:33: OK, random thought. The unbelievably bad ratio of the number of women who wear low-cut jeans to the number of women who actually look good in them is just one reason I want this style to go away now.
11:36: It may be the exhaustion, but this pizza rocks! I can feel the coating of grease starting to congeal in my mouth even as I type!
11:44: They’re begging someone to get off the flight before me, and are now offering a night in Chicago plus dinner and a travel voucher. I wonder if they’d believe me if I tried to take them up on the offer.
1:11 p.m.: I’m on the plane and things are looking up! A row alllllll to myself. I decide it’s time for a long-awaited nap.
1:15: I start reading one of my books.
1:21: I start another numbers puzzle.
1:28: I start wondering if I have ADD.
1:29: I decide to take a side trip to Scranton while I’m in the area and see if Dunder-Mifflin is hiring.
3:48: Things are looking up! The landing is beautiful, we’re early, it’s nice weather outside. OK, now we’re talking!
3:51: Awww a text from Jennifer! That made my day! (Well, I was really tired, so it didn't so much make the day as provide me a huge pick-me-up. Thanks Jenn!)
4:03: We pull up to the terminal (yes, that time is correct.) Out attendant makes the joke that Southwest flies so cheaply because it flies you halfway there and then drives you the rest of the way. I’m too tired to laugh.
4:09: OK, if this were the city of brotherly love, they wouldn’t make us walk a quarter mile uphill (yes, it was uphill!) to get to baggage claim.
4:14: Pretty much can’t express my joy when we finally get to the moving sidewalk.

Anyway, that’s enough travel log. Let’s just say, I got the hotel, it’s incredible, the shower and bed are outstanding, and tonight I am going to see the sites of Philadelphia – at least the ones I can see from my window. I am beat! But the room service made up for staying in!

As you can tell, I’m too tired to be funny now – well, to attempt to be funny. I’ll keep you guys up to date on how the interview sessions go this week. For now, it’s time to relax!

Just when you think you know your dog...
OK, this was funny. To give you a little back story, my dog has always had this weird fascination with garages. Not just mine, my sister's too, when he stays with her. He just loves them. When he's in the house, sometimes he'll just trot back there and wait for me to let him in, just so he can poke around back there for a while. I started putting him to bed there when the weather got cold because he had a cushion in there and the cold hurt his hip, and a lot of times he'd just go back there on his own when he got bored or wanted to take a nap (because he had given up on trying to talk me into taking him for a walk or whatever). So if I left the door open, he'd usually just go back there on his own. In fact, he seemed to even prefer it to sleeping in the living room!

So our bedtime ritual is this: I put him outside for one last trip to the doggie restroom while I brush my teeth and get ready for bed or whatever. When he's ready to come back in, he starts his "woe is me I've been abandoned in the yard" bark. So I let him in before one of the neighbors decides to kill him, i tell him it's time for bed and we go to the garage where I shut him in for the night.

OK, so anyway, the dynamic has now shifted. Maybe he's just finally figured out that the living room cushion is just as comfortable or something, but he's sleeping more in here now while I'm up and around. But here's the weird part - the last couple of nights when I've gone to put him to bed, he's been kind of hesitant. So this is what's happened the last two nights: I put him outside as usual, he starts crying as usual, and I let him in. We go into the living room and I tell him it's time for bed, and he kind of pauses in the living room for a while and just looks at me. I ask him if he wants to go in the garage (he knows that word, btw) and he kinda tentatively coming to me, and we go out there. I open the door and he goes in but I can tell he's not really happy about it. Normally he just goes in and walks around or settles in, but this time he just stops in the doorway and gives me this pathetic look. And then he kinda skulks back past me into the house - that walk that says "OK, maybe if I'm pathetic-looking enough, he won't tell me to go back." And here's the funny part: he heads straight for the back door again which means he wants to be put back in the yard! Now bear in mind, it's pretty freaking cold out there right now, and he was begging to be let in NOT TWO MINUTES AGO!!!! So I put him out and I NEVER HEAR A PEEP OUT OF HIM THE REST OF THE NIGHT!!!! What's up with that????
I guess he's finally figured out the concept of bedtime and the idea that 1. he wants to sleep outside rather than be enclosed, and 2. once it's time for bed and he picks a spot, there's no point in complaining about it.
Anyway, this is probably only weird to me, but I just found it funny.

Are all contractors liars????
OK, so some of you may know that I'm trying to get bids on a foundation repair job on my house. I've compared the process to root canal for your home, btw, although the pain seems to be more financial.

Anyway, I've been agonizing on a choice between a more expensive method that's supposedly much better, and one that's less expensive. Lots of different factors, but anyway, long story short: The more expensive company told me that their system, while different from the one outlined in my engineer's report, has been accepted by my engineer. According to the guy that came to my house, they've worked with the engineer and he's been willing to sign off on their type of repair process.

Well I heard back from the engineer today, and it turns out he does know them, he is familiar with their type of pier, and he does NOT sign off on it, and never has. So it's good to know honesty and integrity are still alive and well in society!

Anyway, I may know something on one of my leads in a week or so. I'm not gonna say much about it now cause I don't want to jinx it. I do think it's promising though, so we'll see what happens. I'm optimistic, just a little impatient.

So hope everyone's doing well. Sorry this one wasn't more entertaining, but I may do one devoted to The Office here pretty soon, because that show cracks me up!!! There's a great quote I just heard by the office suck-up Dwight about downsizing, that seems appropriate:

"Downsizing? I have no problem with that. I have been recommending downsizing since I first got here. I even recommended it in my interview. I say, bring it on!"

OK, I know, not getting the year off to a good start
So I probably have a lot to update. I'm gonna do better about this year - I really am! Plus I heard about a study that said job-seekers who keep a journal are more likely to land a job. Don't know what that's about other than just having an outlet to spew all the bad vibes and such. Well, I'll just have to spew more!
Anyway, I had a good phone interview a couple days ago, but the downside is they're in a transition situation which, while it very likely could yield some opportunities, they're just not sure exactly when. I do think something will happen with them soon, but in the meantime, it's searching as usual. I have a couple of job fairs coming up, which frankly are usually good mainly for practice and for a chance to get info about other companies. Having said that, you never know, I guess.
BTW, HOW BOUT THOSE HORNS????? That was an amazing performance, and as much as I wish Vince was coming back for his senior year, I have to admit I'm a little intrigued about next year. I think it will be relatively low pressure, since everyone seems to think we only won because of Vince, and without him we're a mid-top 20 team. So it's an ideal chance to prove some people wrong. I figure if you're going to start a season with an inexperienced QB, you might as well do it in a year where you're loaded with experience everywhere else. So whichever kid comes in should have a lot of help. Anyway, I'm still basking in the glow!
I'll post a few more things as I go, and I'll try to make this a little more interesting this year. I need to do more with my website as well, but we'll see. ;)
Hope everybody's having a great 2006 so far, and Happy Friday the 13th! (Not that I'm suspicious or anything! ;) )

Happy New Year!
OK, so it's that fun period between Christmas and New Year's where no one is really expected to get anything done! I love that!! The job search continues unabated - and I may have a couple of leads that I hope will come up once the New Year rolls around. I've been focusing more on getting my house in order this week - I need to get it organized and cleaned up a little, plus I need to get my foundation repaired. I have to put 10-13 piers in! OUCH!!! I think that's kinda like giving your house a root canal, only it's painful to write the check!
So anyway, I've thrown out two or three garbage bags full of stuff and boxed up a couple more, and I've got work to go yet. I dropped a bag of clothes off at Goodwill, which is a cool place because I think they focus on job skills and employment for the underprivileged. To me that's something that's definitely worth supporting.
Anyway, I got the usual array of nice shirts and things for Christmas along with a great pannini sandwich maker (I've made like eight sandwiches since I got it - it's great if you like toasted sandwiches!) And I also got a very cool gift package including a DVD and some chocolate! So it's been a good holiday all the way around.
Hope everyone has a great New Year! I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing week of football, followed by (hopefully) a national championship win for Texas and then (even more importantly) to hit the job market running in '06. Lord willing something will present itself soon, but I'll see how things go.
Anyway, best wishes!

Another day, another pyramid scheme
Well, not one, but two such deals came down the pike this week. Ok the second one wasn't a pyramid scheme, but I'm pretty sure it involves door to door handing-out of fliers. You know, those annoying offers from people who go knocking doors around the neighborhood? Well, the girl who gave me information about the company and the interview mentioned that they had a parent company (red flag no. 1), and when i checked them out, i found out that they are the self-proclaimed "dominant force in referral marketing." Strike two for the use of "referral marketing". I don't know about the company I was going to interview with, but other ones under the same parent company basically get you in for a marketing job and you end up passing out fliers and selling stuff door to door. Hmmm... I'll pass, thanks!

Anyway, I got an e-mail from an automotive company wanting to know when I could set up a time to interview, but they never responded to my response, and it's been more than a week. So I don't know what's going on there. Basically, it has been one of those weeks where you find yourself getting your hopes up about a lot of opportunities only to be disappointed. So hopefully things will turn around.

Hey, the good news is it will only cost me $1600 to replace my fence! Woohoo! And the engineer will be here tomorrow to assess any possible foundation repair issues I may have with my house - woohoo again!!!

Oh well, life goes on. ;) Hopefully something else will present itself.