Silver for USA...

Well... Really wanted to win that game. Good game. Just didn't end the
way I would have hoped.

It's the little things...

Every once in a while you just need to cut loose and buy something that is a genuine waste of money, but you want it.

Anyone who's read a post of two here knows that iPhone and I are the best of friends. I love that damn thing, even though I spent the longest period of time NOT buying one. A few friends sold me on the idea, and I have to admit that I have already told them all how right they are, and how wrong I was.

So of course when I decide to buy this months (waste of money) new gadget, iPhone was at the forefront of my thoughts. I was once given an iHome by work but I didn't really like the thing (this was pre-iPhone) so I gave it to a girl that I was dating. She loved the damn thing, and I was "thanked". She thanked the hell out of me... I feel that it was a good trade.

However, now that I have an Apple product the loss of the iHome kinda seemed like a bad idea.

Then I found THIS:

This thing is seriously BA... So I bought one at Best Buy last night.

Digital screen, alarm clock, speakers, and an iPhone dock.

The coolest feature discovered so far? The thing will play movies from the iPhone. I watched a couple minutes of "The Hangover" on my alarm clock. Seriously awesome.

I am sure that the new toy will make some appearances in future posts. Probably with better pictures too.

It's the little things...

So it's the USA vs Canada?

Alright, in a completely expected and no way shocking turn of events, America will play Canada for the Gold Medal in Olympic Hockey.

As an avid hockey fan, and as a serious patriot, this game occurring makes up for almost all of the crap that has gone wrong with this Winter Olympiad... I don't blame Canada for the lack of snow, weather is going to be a fickle thing and the winter Olympics are one of those weather dependent events. But I do blame NBC for their mistakes. Mostly for being the worst broadcast network in the history of sporting events...

Anyways...

USA v Canada

Sunday at Noon

IT'S ON!!!!

Training Day

So today we had a mandatory corporate training day, and it was nothing like that movie with Denzel... Not a damn thing. There were no Russian gangs, no Mexican gangs, no dirty cops, and no heroes.

There was a three hour seminar on client profiles though. That was pretty badass. Oh wait, it wasn't badass at all. It was kinda informative, but not really. I guess that in real life, training day is kinda lame.

Explanations

So THIS got explained today... Now I feel like a jerk. There are some serious things going on in the coworkers life. I know that I would have a hard time coming into work and being cheerful if it were me, so I guess that I can really get over being a little butt hurt about being snapped at.

Company Discounts

So normally every company has some perk for working there besides your salary. Some kind of discount or higher level of service that just makes working there a little bit more valuable.

I thought I had our perks figured out, but today I found A LOT MORE of my company's little gifts. Sure my accounts are covered, and I get some cool rates on loans/L'sOC, but I want STUFF.

I found the stuff and boy oh boy is there a lot of it. Discounts on stuff that I had no clue I could even hope to get discounts on. If anything this was a bad discovery. Just going to lead me to spend more money on things that I don't REALLY need... I love it...

Bad Attitude

Something really bugs me when someone has a bad attitude with me for no real reason. It just puts a lot of undue stress on all involved. I do my best to be a cheerful person, and then someone comes along and feels the need to ruin that with whatever is bringing them down... Life is full of jerks I guess.

Today the jerk was someone at the office. Someone normally cheerful, and normally a pleasure to work with, who was probably just having a bad day and got asked a question at the wrong time. So he snapped at me and responded with an answer worded to make me feel less intelligent than him. An answer designed to belittle me because of my lack of knowledge on this one particular subject. Problem is that I know on many topics that I am far more intelligent than he, so it just came across as a futile attempt to one up me one time. Compensating for a lack of knowledge about a broad base of topics by besting me this one time. That kinda just made me feel bad for him. Wonder whats going on in his life that he feels the need to bring someone else down just in an attempt to feel a bit better. And it bugged me all day. I wanted to pull him aside and ask what was up... The time just never came about. Perhaps tomorrow I'll ask if everything is alright.

One Of The Nicest Days

Today was a remarkably beautiful day in the city of Seattle. I spend the entire day wandering around town and just enjoying what felt like an amazing spring day... In February.

Usually we get a nice week or two in Feb, and then the cold and rain returns until spring actually arrives. Just this once I am hoping that the great weather is here to stay.

So after 6 miles of walking through the city, I am pooped. Off to bed. Good night.

Saturday Slam

So today I wanted to go hang out with my friends in the morning and play around with the cars... Instead I went by the office where we had so much to do that I missed everything.

LAME...

Apparently I missed a whole lot too. Ending that one with this:

Rest In Peace Flat Black Ford GT, you were a pretty BA car.

Troubling Times

After a big thing at work, something that unfortunately I need to be
vague about, I am pretty concerned about this next year.

Very concerned.

I know that EVERYONE has to be capable of seeing that the government
is spending like crazy. But not everyone views that it has got to have
an impending consequence for the US Economy. Some people even believe
that it is a good thing.

Something very shocking happened at work, and now even those that I
knew to believe in the opposite of what I know to be true (Gov
spending = Nightmare), are finally seeing the light. And they're now
rapidly on their way to being terrified of the impending consequenses.
All because of some very interesting occurences over a few hours. Just
people, their actions and reactions, and suddenly everyone's view is
shifting.

When even those that felt it couldn't go wrong are now affraid, how
far can the outcome be from coming to fruition?

The Best Of Craigslist

The following text was stolen from Craigslist Houston... I want to go rent the damn room.

HOLY CRAP! IS THAT A ROOM FOR RENT ON MY CRAIGSLIST?!?!?

"You bet your nomadic ass it is. Do you want to be homeless? Then you better come check this room for rent out. It has WALLS and a CEILING. BLOCKS THE FUCKIN WIND AND RAIN FOOL!

ZOMG THE LOCATION IS THE SHIT. You can WALK to Washington Avenue from here. So you can get your drink on and do some mackin playa. 10 mins from UH and Rice cause we all about higher education up in here. You could hit Memorial Parkway with a ROCK. But don't. We keep it civilized.

We got carpet up in this hoe too. They wanted to come put in hard wood floors. But I was like FUCK THAT. I don't want my feet to be cold when I get out of bed at night. Carpet. So soft. Transcends the walking barefoot experience.

Man the room... You can put your bed and furniture UP IN HERE!!!! So you can sleep, chill, even EAT. You got a private bedroom! We ain't bunk bedding out this motherfucker.

AWWW SHIT! YOUR OWN PRIVATE BATHROOM!!!! WTF!?!?!? YUH! You can shower and take a shit w/o anyone being up in your business!!! I'm not bullshittin either... I'm talking HOT WATER IN THE SHOWER.

We got ELECTRICITY. POWER ALL YOUR APPLIANCES. Play my XBox360 because I never do. No need for candles or firewood, because I got LIGHTS and HEAT.

-this pad has doors so people don't come up in yo space son
-this place has windows so you can see outside and shit. WHATSUP NEIGHBORS!
-tennis courts, 2 pools, parking garage, a park in the back, brand new gym so you can get swoll. Sand volleyball court WHAT!

Pic related, its me. Your bad ass new roommate."

By All Accounts...

By all accounts, from everyone in the office, today was an amazing day. One of those days where everything just clicks and the place runs like a swiss watch.

I had a ton of work, the day flew by, and it really put a nice positive note on the feelings and mood going into Friday. I love days like today. Not necessarily the most profitable or even a horribly good day money wise, but everything we needed to get done somehow got finished with moments to spare.

Even had the boss smiling and got a; "Nice work today, I'm impressed." Nothing like a well timed compliment...

Quote Of The Day 2/17/2010

"You should know you're screwed when the judge's first comment is,
'nice suit.' At that point there's no hope."

The Olympics on NBC

So for those of you not living in this country, consider yourselves
fortunate just this once... You don't have to watch the horrendous
attrocity that is NBC's Olympic Winter Games coverage.

For some reason this year is entirely on Tape Delay, and by the time
everything I want to watch is on TV, I've already read the results on
the web. Absolutely ridiculous...

First off, lemme tell you a bit about the events I like.
-Freestyle Skiing (Moguls + Jumps = BA)
-Downhill Skiing
-Snowboarding (all of it)
-Luge (Exception, Men's 2 Man Luge looks pretty damn gay)
-Skeleton (Mostly because of how insane it is)
-Bobsled
-Curling (Mostly just going to watch the final, but it's somehow like
fishing on TV, you just get sucked in)
-ICE HOCKEY!!!

The list above is a lot of the winter games. And usually I get to
enjoy a ton of events on TV. This year that isn't the case...

Furthermore, I don't get the obsession with Short Track /
Speedskating, and Figure Skating.
In the races, I at least get the concept of speed... I like a lot of
racing, I'm just not that into the sport itself. In fact I really
don't have a lot of love for any circle track racing. I find NASCAR to
be the equivalent of a heavy sedative.

In regards to Figure Skating... Yeah... It's gay... I play hockey, I
understand the difficulty in the skating and spins. I understand that
it is incredibly challenging, but it's still just a bunch of jumping
around and spinning. Gymnastics with ice skates. I get the women being
into it. They like "pretty" things. It's just not for me.

NBC, on the other hand, is totaly into Short Track and Figure Skating.
It seems to be all that is on when I turn on the TV. Just after the
local news, where they told me the results of all of the days events...

Moral Dilema

Ok... I really have a severe problem with two things.

-Someone I know is milking the hell out of the unemployment system. I
mean the guy seriously has made ZERO effort to find employment, and
just collects his check every week.
I know that it's not my place to judge, but WTF should I do about
this? Because I have a serious moral dilema in him collecting a check
of taxpayer dollars while not even trying to find work... There may be
tons of people doing the same thing, but I don't know them and I can't
do anything about their behavior. But this is someone I know.

-The second problem is that I'm pretty sure the dude in question
spends the time (when he should be job searching) sitting around the
house smoking weed. I can't prove that one, but I know that the guy
hasn't been hitting skunks in his living room... There is no wildlife
problem in his appartment complex... But I can't prove it.

Seriously though, I can't believe the position that this guy has put
me in. He's a friend, but I really think he's a son of a bitch when it
comes to this whole thing.

What Can Brown Do For You?

They can FUCK UP your delivery and your day.

Screw UPS... Screw them even if I find their marketing to be clever (and I think I have mentioned before how much I appreciate good marketing).

Today I had something important that was supposed to be delivered. I had it shipped to my office address and was planning on picking it up there. It was the first thing that I was going to do today. One of the main reasons that I made sure to be there early. I even made sure that there was a sign on the door making it clear that even though almost every bank in the country was closed, we were indeed open. Then I parked my car right in front of the building. Right at the door just to make sure that it looked as though people were there. And turned on all of the lights first thing when I got there. Do we all see where I am going with this?

The UPS guy is almost always in before ten. He usually beats the FedEx guy, and thats one of the reasons I chose UPS for this delivery VS FedEx. I was all but confident that UPS would come through on this one.

So when at 10:15 I had no package, I got puzzled and pulled up the tracking info.

Package X 9:07AM - Delivery not possible, business was closed. Will reroute for delivery next business day.

LYING SACK OF SHIT DRIVER! Not only with my full window view of the parking lot did I never see any UPS truck (and I was watching, because I have been anticipating this delivery), but the dumb asshole had the nerve to claim that we were closed at 9:07. I arrived well before 8:30AM and by 9:00AM there were at least eight people in the office. He never came by, he just made an assumption based upon what my business is.

So I called UPS, dealt with the phone tree for about 10 minutes until finally getting a human being, who told me that they would call me back with the status of the package.

On the return call almost an hour later they tell me that the package was already returned to the DC, and that the earliest they could deliver was the next day. No apology for not attempting to deliver my package, no explanation as to why the driver did not do so in the first place.

I mean, I get it. He saw a financial institution and thought; "OK, banks are closed on Presidents Day..." Failing to realize that we are more than just a bank, and that I pretty much would live in the office with a large enough TV and a comfy enough sofa. But for crying out loud, at least pull through the parking lot and take a quick look at the door. Make a tiny bit of an effort.

Or to his parent company, at least apologize for the lie. Give me that small bit of courtesy.

So... "Here's what Brown can do for me." Shove their clever marketing up their asses. I will ship everything FedEx or USPS from now on.

The Two Pics Below

I am so very sick and tired of friends texting me pics and asking
"which ones the hottest" or telling me how much I am "missing out"
because I didn't make it to some particular party. Two of said photos
are below, forwarded from iPhone.

If I didn't want to go to a party, I am missing nothing. Not wanting
to go meant that I had better plans. Fortunately most of the parties
that people I know attend are the same party over and over again. So
if Klarissa and Sarah are in their underwear making out this week,
they'll probably be doing it at the next party too...

And "Which one's the hottest," may be the dumbest text ever. If there
are three reasonably attractive women in the photo, odds are that all
of my friends don't have a chance with any of them. Mostly because
they aren't good enough to focus on only one of them. They'll get
busted staring at one while talking to another. It's inevitable... :-)

Meh2

Meh

Competitive

I don't know if I made mention of it before, but I am an increddibly
competitive person.

Seriously.

So today at work; "Ya think, because I bet we can beat you," was said.
It has been "on" ever since, and at 2:10PM I am completely exhausted.
Just seriously drained with no drive to even move from my chair now at
lunch. It's odd how much you can wear yourself down just thinking and
talking, but when you push yourself and your mind for five hours... It
takes a toll, to say the least.

So now I am relaxing for a moment. Drinking a Sugar Free Red Bull, and
smiling because at least it is Friday, and I know that I am not going
to come into the office tomorrow.

Presidents Day weekend, and the kickoff to the Olympics. It should be
a very nice relaxing weekend.

The Best Part Of It All

For some reason nothing makes me crack a small smile more than a cold
beer after work. I have a few dozen beers that I'd be more than happy
to drink, and the list of beers that I won't drink is easier to list
than the ones that I enjoy.

I personally can't stand Bud, Bud Light, Corona, Modello, Red Hook,
Widmer, and Alaskan. The rest of it is usually a hit. Every once in a
while I do find a new brand I dislike, but it's less common than a
blue moon. Which coincidentally is an amazing beer.

Tonight is a couple ice cold Coors Lights. Something that's just
refreshing, with no nuance or fu-fu required to enjoy the hell out of
it.

Stay Home Sick?

I am not a "Stay At Home Sick" kinda guy.

The last time I took a single sick day was two years ago. I tore some ligaments in my right leg and could not really walk the next day (a Friday). I was back in to work the next Monday, and all through my recovery, that Friday was the only day that I missed. Going back through my professional career, in the past seven years that one day is the only one that I took off as "sick." I honestly think that not being able to walk qualifies as being sick. :-)

As for everything else, from allergies to the flu, I seriously just very rarely get sick.

The last time that I was actually ill, I spent a week in bed with pneumonia. That was three years ago, and TOTALLY COINCIDENTALLY happened while I was on vacation. I will admit that I couldn't have gone in if I had needed to, but I was off for the entire week anyway. Just one of those little things that kept my near perfect record intact.

So yesterday someone at the office took the day off "sick," and it really got to me. She was just burning the time because she had it and didn't feel like coming in... And it's not as though I needed her there for anything. If that had been the case I would have said something all but immediately. This was just one of those things where she had all of her work done (for the most part) and felt like planning a "one day vacation" so she called in and burned a sick day.

I have no idea as to why, but it really has been getting to me. I just really am bugged by people skipping out of work just because they didn't feel like coming in.

Logitech TouchMouse

So I already have one very cool peripheral for my computer, the Logitech DiNovo Edge keyboard/touchpad. Handy for never being tethered to a desk. In fact my computer currently has an HDMI output to a 50 inch LCD display. I am sitting about eight feet from it, very comfy and I can't say enough about how much I couldn't go back to the old school LCD monitor way of doing things. A 20" display is no way to go through life...

So recently iPhone went and made my life even easier with the introduction of the TouchMouse App. This thing makes the iPhone a wireless trackpad, and has a keyboard interface. Ya know, for those days when grabbing the keyboard is just to much work.

The thing is fucking sweet. Yet again iPhone proves how worth every penny it is.

The Superbowl Is Gay

Enough said... Fucking Saints.

Fuck New Orleans

Seriously...

Fuck those motherfuckers...

GO COLTS

So my beloved and truly amazing Indianapolis Colts take on some crap ass team from New Orleans today in a game that is going to be intense.

The crap ass team from New Orleans is getting an inordinate amount of good press, and I don't really understand why.

-Hurricane Katrina? The dumbest reason to support a sports team ever. A lot like the miraculous flood of Yankee fans not living in NY after 9/11... Give me a break, I feel bad for the city and it's people, but in no way do I think that it means that they "NEED" a Superbowl Championship. Or anything sports related for that matter. They need developers to sink money into rebuilding neighborhoods, and jobs to draw back people whom still have not returned after the devastation of that hurricane. They need a Superbowl like Oklahoma City needed a professional sports team... More on that one in a later post.

-Rooting for the underdog... Screw that. Wanting the inferior team to win means that your priorities are all kinds of screwed up. That means that a team which was "better" takes a loss because of random events that all occurred at just the right time to take victory from them. Take a look at Superbowl XL... Neither team played well, and as a result, the outcome of the game came down to a lot of very controversial calls from an officiating crew that would have been out of place in a high school football game. Granted the Steelers victory is not universally loved, but it's not as though the Seahawks played well enough in that game to make the case that they had the victory taken from them... Either way, wanting both teams to perform their best means that the statistical favorite should have the edge. If the Saints win today it will be because of a combination of Colts mistakes...

-They've never had a Superbowl win before... Yeah, and I have never had a cavity in one of my teeth, that doesn't mean that I go out and root for it to happen. If the team could manage to win, and had repeatedly had Coug'd It (a term describing Washington State University's Athletics Department for the last hundred years... To snatch defeat from the jaws of victory), doesn't "deserve" to win one. One B. Favre might have gotten some sympathy from me, but the NOS do not.

There are a ton of additional reasons, but I need an Ice Cold Refreshing Coors Light. Have fun watching the game peeps. I sure know that I will.

Sherlock Holmes

So I went and saw Sherlock Holmes, finally.

I was very worried that it might be horrible, and it actually turned out to be quite good. Thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and it didn't even really have any "slow parts" that I remember. For a whole two hours it manages to be very involving.

But of course the ending sets up a sequel. Which I will go see promptly.

Friday's Supposed To Be Fun!

I feel seriously bad using my blog to bitch about work, but today was a seriously lame day.

It was just one of those days where you get almost nothing done and the entire thing feels as if you somehow wasted time by actually being there. Like I owe the company money, because we sure as hell got nothing done of any substance while I was there. Definitely don't feel like I earned my salary...

I am going in Saturday to try and recover from the waste of time that today was...

Project From Hell

So if you recall my post a while back showing my floors covered in writing, the house is currently being remodeled. I am currently sick and tired of this project and I have no idea why it was believed to be a good idea in the first place...

There was a wall taken out... No big deal, no problems found. Holes in the connecting wall and celling have been patched. Texture and paint applied.

-Time to complete: 3 weeks

All new can lights put in. A dozen of them spaced out over two rooms (so six per). Holes cut, problem found... Holes patched, new diagram for lights drawn, new holes cut, no new problems found. Lights installed and wired up. Dimmer switches installed.

-Time to complete: 2 weeks (thanks to problem #1)

LCD TV wall mount installed and HDMI cable installed in wall to make connecting TV easier. Bracket up, holes cut, problem found... Holes patched, bracket moved, new holes cut, no new problems found. The TV is on the wall and good to go.

-Time to complete: 1 week (thanks to problem #2, should have been 1 day)

Carpet and linoleum removed, new hardwoods installed. Got the carpet out, the linoleum removed, and even the sub-floor taken out. The hardwood is here... Except a couple of pieces that I kinda need, and the slate tile for the entryway. Problem created out of thin air... Supplier can't deliver on time.

-Time to complete: IN PROGRESS

This project is now past two months and I am dying here. I have no idea why in the hell I thought that this was a cool idea in the first place. I just see a torn up house with a kitchen that I can't really use. A place that I pay to live at, but have no desire to be in at all right now. Seriously lame...

Missing Appointments

I hate people who miss appointments... It seriously blows and makes
everyone involved miserable.

I went into the office for ONE appointment, and the person missed it
and didn't even bother to call and notify me.

Fucking people...

History Channel Nerd

So I am a total History Channel nerd. I could watch some of the shows on History for hours, even days.

"The Universe" - An awesome show on the knowns and unknowns of the universe. The show covers just about everything, and has definitely taught me a thing or two.

"How The Earth Was Made" - I find myself saying "duh" a lot at the TV, but almost every episode teaches me something I did not know about the planet we live on. There are always going to be obvious points being made, but theres a lot of neat stuff to learn about the planet and how it has changed over the past several billion years.

"Pawn Stars" - Let me preface this with the disclaimer: "I HATE ALMOST ALL REALITY TV." But this show is good. One of the few reality TV shows that I will watch.

and

"Gangland" - Wanna learn about Americas street gangs? This is the show for you. I absolutely love it.

Nerd or not, I can't get enough of the above shows. Check 'em out sometime.

Are We Evil?

So of course "the banks" seems to be a hot button topic right now, and we banks seem to be catching a lot of heat over stuff that doesn't make any sense to me. It really doesn't make sense to anyone at work, if you look at it from a logical point of view.

TARP - Many of us didn't want it, and almost every major US bank has repaid the funds with interest as required. We repaid our loans... Loans that many of us DID NOT WANT but were told that we were taking. And now because we haven't gone bankrupt we are somehow vilified as "evil." Nothing but a bunch of Fat Cats on Wall Street... Even though most of us are on Main Street, not Wall Street.

So we are profitable now? YEAH, and that's a good thing. Most of the banks in this country help all Americans lead an easier life on a daily basis. We provide security (not only in deposits, but in transaction security and fraud prevention), access to money that makes life simpler and easier (hell, I transfer balances on iPhone whenever I need to), and funding to those that have worked hard and earned good credit (home, student and credit loans). People abuse those things. People take on debt that they then decide that they can not repay. People spend irresponsibly...

If someone gets into a car accident, do we blame the auto maker for their bad driving?

Hell no, most people realize that is ludicrous...

But yet somehow when people make bad fiscal choices that's their bank's fault? I guess I know how cigarette makers feel. Perhaps the Treasury should add a printed warning to currency:

"WARNING: Excessive Spending can lead to debt, bad credit, and even bankruptcy..."

How stupid does that sound?

At the end of the day I am just sick and tired of ill informed and downright ignorant people blaming the banks for everything that has gone wrong in the past two years. Perhaps people need to open their eyes to the truth.

-The government kept interest rates low despite rampant growth and an unexplainable rise in housing prices.

-The government pushed lax lending standards and stood behind Fannie and Freddie as they back mortgages that were foolish contracts.

Banks made mistakes, but the government was right there making bigger mistakes and pushing an agenda that was unsustainable. They bragged about the large numbers of Americans buying homes, and now berate the banks for giving those Americans loans using lending standards that the government itself was backing.

At least the banks cut spending, revamped policies, and are returning to profitability. Is the government good at profitability? Hell, is the government good at running anything with even decent customer service standards? Losing money or not, has anyone every felt satisfied with the PEOPLE who work in government offices and the service they received while there?