The 2KX Project

Best Things About Thursday

2010-03-25T21:58:00.001-07:00

1: Tomorrow is Friday

2: The day after tomorrow is Saturday.

3: Flash Forward (cool show)

4: DVR'd South Park

5: Did I mention that tomorrow is Friday, and that the day after that
is Saturday?

Commutes That Suck

2010-03-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

So from my office to Bellevue, WA has to be one of the worst drives in the nation. On a good day I can count on at least an hour to go 20 miles. I have had the damn drive take twice that on a bad day.

I used to have to do it every day. That was seriously lame.

Now I have to do it about once a month, and it still sucks. But at least it is far less often.

Today was some kind of freakish anomaly. I managed to get there in 15 minutes and had to kill the better part of a half hour simply because I had no desire to be at the Bellevue Office that early. So I got my car washed, and learned something very handy. You can slide an Audi S4 when all of the tires have soap on them... And it's a lot of fun...

I only wish that I could have gotten pics.

Banking Machine

2010-03-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

Busiest Day Ever...

And everyone came in to see me. My co-workers were complaining about how slow their day was and how little they got done. Go figure...

So now I am tired, I have nothing at home to eat (yeah, poor planning on my part), and no desire to leave the house to get food. Why doesn't Subway deliver? I would pay for that service.

In other news, I am moving... To a freaking palace in the sky. 20th floor condo with a full view of Puget Sound. Pics and updates will be coming soon. For now I need to pack some boxes. Night kids.

Uneventful Surprize

2010-03-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

OK, so for some odd reason today may have been the most unmentionable day of 2KX. Not a damn thing happened that was of any bit of interest to me.

In trying to come up with something to post about I am seriously just without any ideas from my day.

OH WAIT!!! I could rant about the Health Care Bill (Destruction Of Our Country)

Except everyone, myself included, is probably just tired of the BS that they went through all day at work about this one.

We can call it good at: "Stormin don't like it. Stormin feels like this is some shady shit. And when an ENTIRE party can't convince their own people to vote for it (let alone the opposition) without kickbacks and bribes, something ain't right."

Rant over.

Party To Hard?

2010-03-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

Wow. So to say that I partied to hard on Saturday would be the largest understatement of 2KX... I am one of those fortunate people that does not get hung over. That said, after my early wake up on Saturday and then staying up partying and drinking until 4AM today, I am a bit beyond tired.

This should make for an interesting day tomorrow at the office.

I Hate People

2010-03-20T04:04:00.000-07:00

Seriously. Someone just woke me up at 3:30AM on a Saturday. I have to go to the office today to talk to someone about something VERY important and this asshole wakes me up at three fucking thirty on a Saturday morning.

Fuck...

Now I can't fall back to sleep.

Loud Music

2010-03-19T22:08:00.001-07:00

Somehow it makes a Friday night better...

6 Funny Things Said At Work Today

2010-03-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

Anything in black is them. Anything in blue is me.

One of my tellers:

"That guy seriously said to me; 'I don't understand why I got charged overdraft fees. You need to refund them.' He's had a bank account with us for seven years and does this at least once every couple of months. This shit ain't new!"

Customer and I:

"Can you notarize a copy of a birth certificate? From Mexico?"

"I'm sorry, I can't certify a copy of any birth certificate. US or non-US."

"Well can you notarize a form saying that you watched me make a copy of the original?"

"I really can't. Unfortunately, part of that's policy, and part of that is the fact that I really have no clue what the difference between a fake Mexican birth certificate and a real one is in the first place."

Banker:

"You have to be kidding me? I have to do all this paperwork because someone went and died?"

(I really had to hold back laughter. It just sounded so heartless.)

Teller:

"Stormin, that irritating guy is holding for you on line one. And that chick that is crazy is waiting in the lobby."

"The hot one?"

"Like I said, crazy in the lobby and irritating on the phone..."

"Take a message. I'll call him back. It is the hot one in the lobby."

Customer:

"Yeah, I heard that (Major Competitor) is offering this amazing rate. And then I remembered that everything about banking with them sucked and that's why I moved everything here."

(We both started laughing.)

Banker:

"Did you just schedule me for that LAST Tuesday..."

"FUCK"

"So did you schedule it for next Tuesday or last Tuesday???"

"I just said 'FUCK' didn't I? What's your guess."

Serious Scrabble

2010-03-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

So I play a lot of Scrabble with my friends.

I know that probably sounds insane coming from a guy in his 20's, but we all bought the iPhone game (Words With Friends) and so the games go back and forth over the phones as people have the time to play. The competition has become quite fierce at times and it's funny to me that a group of people can be so into a game. I always think about Scrabble when I remember my parents as I was growing up. These people played CONSTANTLY! It was a good thing though, as the competition was always very close and it lead to a very developed vocabulary for me.

Right now my current win streak is at 5 games with 6 more games currently in progress. I won last night against MBC 355-325 and we immediately began another game. I am behind a bit right now in that new game, but the points change very quickly as the TW's and TL's become available.

The other games are all awesome, mostly because I have 50-60 point leads right now. (Remember, super competitive guy here.)

But it got me thinking, with a good effort and some work, what's the highest I can score? I am all about winning, but at some point I want to have a new challenge if I just keep beating everyone. So I decided that I will keep track of high scores here and see what I can do. Current personal best: 425 points.

Pandora Fight / Screw The New Toyota Haters

2010-03-16T20:48:00.000-07:00

Occasionally it seems like the Pandora App/Website just aren't thinking like I am about the things that I want to hear on the radio. In fact I have burned through all of the allotted skips on six stations at the time of writing this. Nothing that crazy either. Just some rap/oldschool/rock/80'srock/pop/techno. So just about everything that I can stand listening to is USELESS right now. How lame is that?

In other news I am enjoying some ice cold Coors Light thanks to a need for gas on the way home. I know that not everyone loves the delicious ice cold refreshing taste of Coors Light. To those people, screw you, this stuff is delicious and I could drink the rest of the twelve pack. A big thanks to 7-11 and the $8.99 twelve pack.

Oh, and screw the new pack of Toyota haters. All these people acting like they've been hating on the Prii since the beginning. Motherfucking car has a stuck gas pedal causing "sudden and out of control acceleration..." What a crock of shit. I have ridden/driven in a Prius (damn near against my will, mind you) and nothing about the way it drives is "sudden." I put my foot to the floor with an AUDIBLE "THUMP" of the gas pedal and was in no way impressed by the amazing lack of acceleration. And don't go thinking I am just spoiled by the 440HP car I drive. The Audi TT 2.0T put a smile on my face putting down about HALF the power my car does. The Prius is a lame piece of crap and all of the drivers duped into spending damn near $35K for that POS now are looking for a way to get their money back. Idiots.

Moving?

2010-03-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

I freaking hate moving... But there is a place that I really want in the city, and I have the chance to move there at the end of the month. The whole thing is killing me. I have no desire to move, and I can't explain that one well enough. My parents were military as I grew up and we moved a lot. So I guess moving now seems like a very shitty plan.

Pros:

Killer Place

Very Desirable Address

Middle Of The City

Commute To Work = Better

Cons:

Moving

Ugh. This sucks.

I will keep this thing up to speed as I figure out the plan.

4 Miles

2010-03-14T15:33:00.000-07:00

So I just got back from a four mile trip through the city of Seattle...

Seriously tired. Somehow MBC had never been to the International District so I decided that I should play tour guide. We walked from the north side of Belltown to the International District and back. Plus a short detour through Pike Place Market (hey, if I am going to be playing tour guide then we'll probably be doing some touristy stuff).

Going to the Market reminds me how big the tourism is to our city. Because obviously 80% of the people there are tourists and act like it. Meandering through the market as if they haven't a care in the world. God help those of us that go there to shop.

In other news, I bought a bunch of cigars and had one on the walk. Someone in the city actually had the nerve to say to me; "You should put that out. I don't like the smell."

ON A PUBLIC STREET CORNER.

I kindly replied back: "You should keep your opinion to yourself. Because quite frankly, knowing that it bothers you only makes me want to smoke more..."

Thankfully I was only going the same direction as him for the next three blocks. I do hope that he enjoyed the remainder of his smoke free day. I know that I enjoyed the hell out of the rest of that cigar...

Fucking nerve of some people.

It has been a great day though. Daylight savings time has only messed with me a little bit, but I am sure that Monday will change things up a bit.

The Boss Is On Vacation (Pt2)

2010-03-13T19:29:00.000-08:00

So this is the second part of the boss being gone, and the awesomeness that it entails. This part of that whole situation is the amazing amount of fun that is now had at the office on a Saturday.

Normally for some reason we still try to have fun at the office on Saturdays. I think it's the combination of the people being there all knowing that we would rather be somewhere else, and the eventual realization that if we all do our best to have a good time at least the day will seem that much better. We crack some jokes, we will play around at times, etc... Typical office humor that nobody would be shocked by. Nothing that would make HR gasp, but at the same time it isn't just business as usual. We "loosen up the ties a bit" if I had to put a term to it.

Today we took the ties off... Literally and figuratively. Laughing most of the day and then getting out a little earlier than we had planned to boot. It seemed like a productive day and at the same time we all spend so much time laughing. At one point I was laughing so hard that I was crying. And this is at work...

The boss' vacation has turned out to be one of the best times at the office ever. :-)

Because Cooking Is So Much Work

2010-03-12T20:12:00.000-08:00

I am seriously doing everything I can right now to keep myself from just getting into the car and going to get some fast food for dinner. I am tired, I have to go into the office tomorrow, and I have no desire to put in the required effort to prepare a meal. No desire to do that at all.

In other news, the boss' vacation is currently just as good as I had hoped that it would be. The mod around the office is so much better, and while I am still not 100% sure that I want to stay when she get's back, I am pretty damn happy right now. Far to many people come in specifically to see me to make me feel OK about wanting to move, but at the end of the day being "happy" at work is critical.

I think I am going to get some Taco Bell. Nothing like skipping out on cooking AND getting diarrhea.

Seattle Sounders V. Portland Timbers

2010-03-11T22:05:00.000-08:00

So I am by no means a soccer fan. A friend asked me to go to this game, and I am in dire need of more time with my friends. So I agreed to go.

Shockingly, I had a fantastic time, even though Seattle lost. K's part of this whole group called The Emerald City Supporters. Crazy ass soccer hooligan fans. They kinda made the whole game a good time.

The Boss Is On Vacation

2010-03-10T20:03:00.000-08:00

So my boss has gone on vacation. There is no way to tell you all how happy that has made me.

Recently her and I haven't exactly been seeing eye to eye on a lot of topics. I don't know why we are suddenly butting heads, yet it seems to occur just about every couple of days. I'd like to say that it doesn't bug me, but I really have become quite frustrated by it all. It almost seems as though she is in some constant and consistently critical/judgemental mood with me. Nothing I do is 100% right, and when she can't find fault it's almost as though she just finds a way to tie in something from the past that did have even a minor fault. In fact, recently it has become so taxing just to work with her that I have actually contemplated asking for a transfer just to be away from her. I honestly can't see myself continuing to work in an environment where my coworkers can do no wrong, but somehow I can do nothing right. If her complaints seemed to have some significant merit I would be remiss to rant here about it, but they don't. Half of the time she is just being overly critical about how I chose to do something when (literally) EVERYONE else has done the exact same thing time and time again. To say that it's getting old would be the understatement of the decade.

But she is gone for a week, and so at least for the next seven days I can breathe a bit easier, and feel a bit less stress.

Next week should be very interesting. I am going to be out of the office for a couple of days right before she gets back, so I should be well rested and ready for her to return.

Tired?

2010-03-09T21:39:00.001-08:00

So tired...

I managed about 5 hours of sleep last night, and today was just NUTS
at work. I think I managed to be busy for most of the day, and it
really flew by. That leads to me just being absolutely drained
tonight. I left about 45 minutes later than I wanted to go home, and
spent the drive as an absolute zombie.

I am laying in bed, watching "How The Earth Was Made" on the History
Chan (see post about my nerdness elsewhere on this blog, I can't
hyperlink that in an email post). I am currently to tired to even grab
my glass of iced tea for a drink. A real shame, as it's homemade peach
tea that's really quite fantastic.

Neat show on about Gold. I've always wanted to move a bit heavier into
the commodities market...

As you may be able to tell right now, I am a bit scatterbrained right
now. I'll try to hammer out something more coherent tomorrow.

(PS: For some reason this post was written without autocorrect on the
iPhone. Please let me know if there are spelling errors that need to
be fixed.)

The Office Is All Mine

2010-03-08T19:37:00.000-08:00

Hahahahaha...

Those people at the office. The ones that have been frustrating me...

They're all feeling sick, and in some small was I have to feel the tiniest bit of responsibility.

They may have caught it from anywhere...

It could be that we all had it, and my immune system just began having problems fighting it first...

Perhaps what they all have now is something different from the illness that has debilitated me for well in excess of a week...

But perhaps, perhaps, perhaps, it's my gift to them. Just maybe the fools that criticized me for being "not at my best," and yet looked down on me when I finally took my first sick days in YEARS, will have a new respect for how "sick" I felt to take days off of work.

Or maybe their little rug-rats all brought home a similar cold from school. Who knows???

I Forgot?

2010-03-07T16:19:00.000-08:00

Usually I am very good with details. So good in fact that it has been declared by my boss to be one of my best skills at work. Something obscure that most people would forget? I remember that like I am being asked my own phone number.

Next week I needed to be out of the office Wednesday. I can not remember why... And this is no little thing. I don't miss out on a day at work for much. But for some reason I needed to be off. I remember it as plain as day. I just can't recall why!!!

Tomorrow I need to tell my boss that I will be off next Wednesday. When she asks why, if answering honestly, I will have to say I don't remember, but I know that I am not going to be in because I have something important going on. There is not a chance in hell that she will believe that I forgot...

Huge Ass Party

2010-03-06T21:01:00.001-08:00

Open letter to the obscenely rich person who just threw a party on
Puget Sound:

Congrats on all your success. I am amazed at how rich you must be.
That ship looked really expensive. The fireworks however, that was
over the top. And... That woke my sick ass up.

Don't worry, I opened my window and watched your fireworks. I was
amazed by the cash you must have dropped to show off to your friends.

But seriously dude... Next time just throw a party. That display had
to cost you $100,000...

Sincerely;
One very sick, and now very awake Stormin

Home Sick 2

2010-03-05T15:53:00.000-08:00

I just now realized that the title of this post and the last have a dual meaning.

I very much mean that I am at home, and sick. For me (as already mentioned) this never happens. I am the guy that rarely feels ill, and when I do I generally just tough it out and go in to work. But this cold has been something special. Usually in the first couple of days you feel the "sickest" and the feeling fades. Since Sunday this has just intensified every day. This morning I was woken up at 4AM by some of the most violent coughing in my life. Such forceful coughs that it actually gave me a headache. And they wouldn't stop no matter what I did.

In about an hour it subsided and I had a few swigs of NyQuill. That put me back out for a couple of hours until the alarm went off at 8:30. The only reason that I even set it was to let me know that I needed to call my boss and tell her that I wasn't coming in again today.

Back to sleep after that and awake about 11AM... I decided that being out of DayQuill was a bad thing, and so I took a hot shower (helped a bit) and headed up to the store for provisions. It is amazing to me how slow one can move and think while sick. It took me an hour to complete that task. Over a half hour walking around the store finding medicine, an apple, vanilla pudding, a bottle of water, a Red Bull, and Goldfish crackers. For some reason each of those items struck me as valuable commodities right now. Fifteen minutes to make the drive each way. I was EXHAUSTED after that trip.

And the rest of the day has been me laying in bed watching TV. The 47" flat screen for my bedroom being the best impulse purchase of 2009, I can enjoy good TV in every room of the house that is not a bathroom...

I also napped for about an hour. That's how I know that I am really, really sick. I do not nap.

Tomorrow, if I am up to it, I am going into the office to catch up a bit. I know that I have to have a pile of work that's two feet deep waiting for me.

Home Sick

2010-03-04T13:09:00.000-08:00

So for the first time in years... I am at home sick instead of being in the office at work.

Oddly enough, I didn't do that the right way. I got up, showered, got dressed, and headed into the office. I made it all of an hour before I had to leave and go home. The weirdest thing it, it wasn't the feeling bad that drove me to go home. It's that every time I tried to talk I started coughing. As long as I wasn't saying anything I was fine, but the second a conversation began I just could not stop coughing. Painful coughing, at that. Like the kind that just makes your eyes start watering no matter how hard you fight it.

So I told my boss I was leaving, and headed home.

Time to get ready and drive to the office: 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Time at the office: 1 hour.

Time spent driving home: 30 minutes.

Now I get why people just call in the morning. That was one serious waste of time and resources.

So I get home and immediately attempt to sleep it off. Not happening. I am one of those people that doesn't nap a whole lot, and so resting to kill off the cold isn't going to happen. Just drinking tea and taking care of all the things around the house that I knew I had to get done. Not talking to anyone at all. :-) I don't want to start coughing again.

A Few Pics

2010-03-03T22:14:00.000-08:00

This car was a very entertaining drive, and I really like the feel that the rear wheel drive provides. Having driven the AWD Gallardo several times before, the rear drive car definitely feels more intense. A couple of times during the drive the car did what it could to make me worry about the rear end coming around in a corner. One very determined push merging onto the freeway comes to mind... Driver skill and the car's very capable traction control system made for a good catch on that corner.

The car itself is amazing. Fit and finish are right up there with the finest of luxury sedans, and the vehicle is very driver friendly. A beautiful two tone interior with very comfy leather and a neat series of off-set stripes to match the car's paint job. The navigation and stereo are a similar unit to the Audi RNS system that has gotten a ton of praise (from myself included, I have one), and the car comes with numerous features to make living with a supercar easy. One of them is NOSE ASSIST. When you come to a steep driveway or a speed bump the car will electronically lift the nose so that you do not scrap. A brilliant system that I used today.

The E-Gear continues to lag behind Ferrari. The shifts in the F430 Scuderia are faster and feel cleaner. Admittedly, Ferrari has thrown a race car transmission into their street car, but there is something to be said for the time and development that they have put into that one part of the car. I think that when Lamborghini catches them in the transmission department, the Gallardo will be my favorite car. For right now I still prefer the Scuderia if I could have only ONE simply for it's incredible transmission. That said, the Lamborghini Gallardo Balboni is one very superb car that turns heads and draws crowds wherever it goes. It's aggressive styling and intoxicating engine note draw people in far more than a car from Maranello could hope to... I think there were at least 50 cell phone pics taken by passers by in the hour that I had the car. The thing really turns heads, especially on the freeway...

Some more variants of the top pic just for fun.

Color Delete

Fast Sitting Still

Selective Focus

Canvas Effect

Brush Effect

Chrome Effect

Test Driving

2010-03-03T10:13:00.000-08:00

I'm off to take the new Lamborghini Gallardo 550-2 Balboni out for a test drive.

More pics and a review if I make it back alive. ;-)

I Don't Know What This Is...

2010-03-02T20:38:00.000-08:00

Seriously, I am currently patient ZERO in the worlds next medical pandemic.

We've had swine flu, and bird flu... Those were both weak shit. This is some crazy new strain... I am convinced beyond belief that the next "whatever flu" starts with me right now.

Ladies and Gentlemen, as the first patient I think that I should get to name it, so you heard it here first.

Koala Flu.

2010 is going to be the year of Koala Flu.

I Don't Care If I Am Sick

2010-03-01T22:38:00.001-08:00

I am so deathly ill. But I seriously do not care. I get to drive this
car Wednesday. I was invited to drive this car...

Silver for USA...

2010-02-28T14:57:00.001-08:00

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

It's the little things...

2010-02-27T10:02:00.001-08:00

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...

2010-02-27T10:02:00.000-08:00

So it's the USA vs Canada?

2010-02-26T19:45:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-25T20:38:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-24T20:50:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-23T21:43:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-22T21:38:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-21T23:34:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-20T17:02:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-19T22:40:00.001-08:00

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

2010-02-18T22:53:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-02-18T21:22:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-17T14:05:00.001-08:00

"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

2010-02-17T13:07:00.001-08:00

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

2010-02-16T21:29:00.001-08:00

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?

2010-02-15T23:00:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-14T19:15:00.001-08:00

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

2010-02-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

Meh

2010-02-13T21:13:00.000-08:00

Competitive

2010-02-12T14:14:00.001-08:00

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

2010-02-11T23:14:00.001-08:00

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?

2010-02-10T20:52:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-09T21:36:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-08T20:45:00.000-08:00

Enough said... Fucking Saints.

Fuck New Orleans

2010-02-07T18:51:00.000-08:00

Seriously...

Fuck those motherfuckers...

GO COLTS

2010-02-07T09:46:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-06T23:30:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-05T20:54:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-04T14:38:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-03T21:01:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-02T21:16:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-02-01T20:21:00.000-08:00

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?

Sunday Already?

2010-01-31T23:29:00.001-08:00

I can not believe that it is already Sunday. Where the hell did the
weekend go?

So I feel like I got nothing done this weekend and it should bug me
but it doesn't...

Weird.

Hillarious

2010-01-30T21:24:00.000-08:00

I can't stop laughing at this photo:

Lame Night

2010-01-29T21:57:00.000-08:00

Home at 8:30 and just now finishing dinner. It's 9:50.

I really understand why certain things in my life are the way that
they are... I'm addicted to winning, I am overly competitive, and I
will push myself until I drop.

Today my boss set an unachievable goal. And we met it. In the last
minutes of the day we made it. Through a huge play by me and a
teammate, we did it. We achieved the impossible and I don't know how
we did it, but we did.

The Perfect Gift For Mom...

2010-01-28T21:20:00.000-08:00

So in looking around I have found the perfect Christmas Gift for my mom.

The Apple iPad...

For me, a total tech nerd and ridiculous gadget whore, the iPad is a waste of money. I have had a Fujitsu Lifebook Tablet for a couple of years now and I wouldn't get rid of it as my mobile computer for the iPad right now for a key reason: NO Multi tasking. I could forgive every "missing feature" if the thing had multitasking... I get it on the iPhone. Bogging the processor with multitasking wouldn't make sense, it's a phone. But iPad isn't a phone and the A4 processor should be able to handle it (even if that reduces battery life, no big deal, my tablet is at about 4 hours). If multitasking shows up in OS4.0 I will buy an iPad.

I don't care that it has no camera, only works on AT&T (why would I not want it to work on AT&T, I know people there and get an amazing discount), and isn't widescreen...

I want multitasking.

But this isn't about me. This is about Mom. This thing is perfect for Mom...

Last year my dad bought my mom a laptop. She owns an accounting business, a real estate business, and keeps pretty busy. The woman is only somewhat computer literate, and she uses two desktop computers. One for the accounting office, and another for the real estate office. We bought her the laptop in order to have one computer for everything. She hates it and rarely uses it... It's to heavy, the programs run slower than on her desktop machines, and the thing only works on the WiFi networks at home and in her office. She is reluctant to buy wireless service for the thing because she would only use it when working on real estate. During the months when her accounting business is busy she does nothing with Real Estate and would not want to be locked into a two year contract when she only legitimately needs seven months of service a year.

-"Pay as you go"-esque service. The iPad data service is month to month and bought RIGHT FROM THE DEVICE. I'll admit, that feature alone is super sweet. Renew month to month with a tap-tap-tap on the screen.

-Light weight. Nuff said.

-Simple, beautiful interface. Simple is key for my mom. Hell the unitasking is probably better for her than a multitasking device.

-Calender and Email. The two features that she uses more than all others combined. They look like they will be fantastic on the iPad.

-Apps. Tap on what you want to do. Flick back and forth to go to the page where the stuff you want is.

And so on and so forth. This thing is prefect for mom, and downright affordable next to my Fuji. And it sure is pretty...

Blog Of The Union

2010-01-27T21:27:00.000-08:00

So of course I have this whole speech DVR'd and will be blogging as I watch it. I have a feeling that I am going to get furious during this one so bear with me.

-He's talking about the wars, the debt, the finance industry, and the economy when he took office. Then he has the audacity to say that the worst is behind us? How's that Mr. President?

We have more debt than ever before. The war in Afghanistan has gotten worse and worse. Every major component of the finance industry is trying to figure out what Obama's administration is going to do to punish them (US, remember I am a part of that "evil" industry) for not failing last year. And last but certainly not least, in case everyone missed it, the economy and the job market blows right now.

Wow... "Tiny" Tim Geithner looks like shit. That is all...

-"The letters I read each night..."

BULLSHIT...

And there we have it. 15 minutes in and the banks are the bad guys that have made all the bad stuff happen. The union workers (auto, health, teachers all mentioned) seem to be going to work and rebuilding this nation. And everyone hated the bank bail out that he's now claiming he did. Bush got that one running, not Obama. WTF, he's claiming responsibility for a program that he didn't start. And now we (the banks) need to pay money even when we PAID THE MONEY BACK WITH INTEREST ALREADY.

-"As a result, millions of Americans had more to spend, and we haven't raised income taxes a dime..."

No douchewaffle, you have burdened America with a debt that we may never be able to repay. You're so busy "saving or creating jobs" that you aren't realizing that your stimulus is like an unemployed person just putting it all on credit.

-Small business. Small business. Small business.

Here's a thought. How about letting the banks (any bank) lend to the small businesses and offer better rates? Maybe a tax incentive so that the interest on those loans can be written off similar to how we treat housing right now? Benefit the business without cutting the funds to anyone (oh yeah, except the government due to decreased tax levels)...

This is already all but unbearable. This guy seriously has no fucking clue about how the system works. The problem with most of what he is saying is that the government has no clue about how the private sector operates. Business has to be PROFITABLE or whats the fucking point. Has the government been able to turn a profit at anything (and no, The Fed doesn't count)?\\

-"I'm not interested in punishing banks... We can't allow financial institutions to take risks that threaten the economy. We can not let them win this fight."

Seriously? Seriously? Does Obama really think that we are in this to take unmeasured risk and screw people? He wants to allow government to be able to limit the size of a private sector company. Not through the prevention of a monopoly, but in giving them FULL DISCRETION about when to break apart a private company with no anti-trust lawsuit or legal action necessary. This is the most dangerous thing that is in the Senate right now.

-"I know that there are those who disagree with the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change..."

Nothing. I got nothing. Lemme delete some temperature data that doesn't support this "debate over" climate debacle. Oh wait, the scientists doing the research took care of that for me. Kind of them.

Education reform is a terrifying thing to listen to this misguided fool talk about. He wants to change the way we teach kids? He can't figure out basic spending principles (money in - money out must be above ZERO or you're fucked), and he wants to improve math education? He wants to forgive student loan debt, and oh yeah, forgive it sooner if you take a government job... What a crock...

-Healthcare

What a bunch of political pandering this is... He took on healthcare to socialize one of the largest and most necessary sectors of the nation. To make people dependent on the government for yet another thing. Screw him and his healthcare plan. If they pass it, I will cancel my coverage and refuse to pay the IRS fine. And then when the come after me, I will sue. The government does not have the right to MAKE ME buy anything to be a citizen.

Furthermore, insurance premiums are a RISK POOL that these fools don't understand. I will go into more depth on the risk pool and how insurance works in a later post. Perhaps tomorrow.

And if you want to bring down the deficit, open up interstate competition. Reform the laws to protect doctors from frivolous lawsuits. Allow doctors to make things cheaper. These people took an oath to do no harm...

Wow... Bush, Bush, Bush... Clinton/Bush made the debt 8 trillion dollars in 10 years. Mr. President your administration has added 4 trillion dollars to that number in ONE YEAR! ONE MOTHERFUCKING YEAR!!!! George Bush made numerous mistakes, as did Bill Clinton. But neither of them managed to rack up four trillion bucks in a year. Bravo members of Congress and Mr. President, you should all be ashamed of yourself.

-"We in the government face a 'Deficit of TRUST.'"

No shit Sherlock.

-"Earmark Reform"

Yeah... I'm not holding my breath. Publishing all earmark requests online. Perhaps that will happen right after C-Span makes it into the Healthcare Reconciliation.

I love the fact that he had the balls to give a shoutout to the Democrat majority and their need to act decisively. And to call out the Republicans in attempting to use one vote (Brown's) to slow the change that the current rulers in DC plan on shoving down our throats.

Oh my God. I was unaware that you can't hug with nuclear arms...

Seriously... I can't blog about this speech anymore. The only part of the speech I agree with: "I never said it was going to be easy." Dead right, and it sure as hell hasn't been Mr. President. But why is it that you seem determined to make it harder, but not any better?

Open Note To Pandora

2010-01-27T05:30:00.000-08:00

Pandora;

What the fuck dude... I don't like death metal. Ever.

I have never clicked "Like" on a song that comes even remotely close to being death metal. I click dislike every time that you play something that's even close to death metal. Stop playing that shit..

Thanks

-Stormin

What does that say?

2010-01-27T04:35:00.001-08:00

So this morning I was woken by some weird ass dream involving snakes, a movie theater, and cowboy boots. I know that sounds weird, but ya know how you always forget dreams? Happened to me... All I got left is snakes, theater, boots. It's weird.

Anyways, the dream was unremarkable, and I don't recall being afraid or anything, but I woke up and was both wide awake and very alert. I roll over to look at the time, and I was PISSED! My immediate reaction was; "What does that say? What the fuck is going on?!?!"

3:58AM

I get waking up a little early, but before 4AM is a solid two hours early, and while I don't get a lot of sleep I do like the sleep that I manage to get. As I mentioned in yesterdays post, we have important people coming into the office today and the last thing I want is to be groggy and not running my best when the higher ups are visiting.

So I have been perusing the internet and trying to catch up on all of the stuff that I missed. I'd love to go back to sleep, but there's all this stuff that I missed. In fact, there's a whole lot of it. Apparently something big about "Pant's On The Ground." That seems to be what everyone is ranting about. I'll have to check out YouTube. Given how busy the job has kept me, I may be the last person on Earth seeing the video.

Anyways, I'd say expect a full update later about all of the fun that we are going to have in the office today... I can't wait to see how this one goes.

Oh Happy Day

2010-01-26T18:42:00.001-08:00

So we have a new guy in our Division Office. New guy is coming by the office tomorrow to spend the day.

I can not tell you how thrilled we all are that the new guy from division plans on spending the day in our office. Just beyond happy that he is taking the time to spend an entire day with us.

:-D

Happy!

Unproductive

2010-01-25T23:09:00.000-08:00

It seriously feels like I did nothing at work. I was there all day and yet for some reason it seriously feels as though I had done not one damn thing to be productive. Just kinda coasting through the day. Which is unexpected and downright odd when I think about it. I got all of the work done that I needed to, and my calender is clear for tomorrow morning.

My house is still torn to shit... The floors are being replaced, and currently the second floor is a fucking mess. I have no stove to use, no pantry really (had to move everything to the garage), and I am growing really tired of restaurant food. But I have done no work on the house. I have people to do that...

So seriously, while watching 24 (Jack Bauer like a mother fucka!!!) I realized that this may have been the most unproductive day of 2010.

-Stormin

GO COLTS!!!

2010-01-24T20:06:00.000-08:00

Colt vs. Saints in the Superbowl.

I have screamed at the TV until I was hoarse...

I have drank a dozen beers, and had some seriously delicious food.

I can't wait for the Superbowl! GO COLTS!!!

New Car?

2010-01-23T20:02:00.001-08:00

Not for me. For a friend...

I think it's awesome. Spent 45 minutes driving it earlier. The only
difference is that hers is ordered in black.

La Vita E Bella

2010-01-22T22:33:00.000-08:00

Best Italian restaurant I have ever been to...

http://www.lavitaebella.us/

Dinner there tonight on a whim, and I couldn't be happier with the choice. So delicious. Belltown's finest.

Go when they have the Osso Bucco, and go early because they will run out.

The Lexus LF-A

2010-01-21T21:48:00.000-08:00

So among some of the guys I know, luxury sports cars are bought and sold like kids trading baseball cards. Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches, and everything of the sort are not an uncommon sight when we get together for coffee and pastry on Saturdays.

You would not believe the amount of scorn that the Lexus LF-A has generated among the crowd of guys that could buy one with the couch change...

It has nothing to do with the vehicles $350,000 price tag, or the performance that really doesn't justify that price. The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione is just as rare, just as overpriced for it's performance, and the guys love it. I love it too. In fact, it's one of my favorite cars of all time.

It has nothing to do with the Lexus brand either. HALF of these guys have a Lexus as their daily driver. On days when a Murcielago or a 430 Scuderia makes no sense, the Lexus LS 460L seems to be their drive of choice. And these guys have nothing bad to say about those cars. In fact, they all love them.

The LF-A pisses them off because of the perceived arrogance of Lexus management. If you want an LF-A, you are interviewed to buy one, and Lexus decides if you're "worthy." To a group of guys who have worked hard and earned more money than most, the thought of being told that they aren't "worthy" of Lexus' car really is quite crap... And it's not them being told no, but the thought that anyone who wants to / can spend $350,000 on a car should be more than welcomed by the company charging more than a third of a million dollar for a sports car. The crazy thing is that 500 isn't even that low of a production number, so the rarity isn't really that big of a deal...

Honestly, Lexus (and honestly, Toyota) screwed the pooch on this one something fierce... They would have done much better releasing a car that cost a third as much, calling it the new Supra, and limiting production to 5000 a year worldwide. They would have sold every one of them, and they would have leveraged the heritage and history of a beloved sports car that commands $55,000 for a model that's a decade and a half old.

Thanks China

2010-01-20T12:42:00.001-08:00

Thanks a lot. Maybe easing into the restriction/cutting back?

It was a shock to see EVERYTHING down. All Indexes and Precious Metals
at once... Whew...

The Next iPhone Killer

2010-01-19T20:51:00.000-08:00

What is it with everyone trying to declare the "iPhone Killer," as if
they are talking about the slaying of the anti-Christ? I just sat
through six minutes of some tech nerd on TV talking about the Android
operating system and it's superiority to Apple's iPhone. Some yuppie
with a suit and a pony tail talking about how useless most of the Apps
on the iPhone are, and how Android has "all the good stuff." Cut your
fucking hair rockstar, then MAYBE I'll listen to you babble about
Google being the Apple of this decade. Weren't the pony tail wearing
douchebags the ones that kept Apple alive in the first place?

First off, I am the last guy on Earth that should be singing the
praises of the iPhone.

For the longest time I refused to get any Apple product. I hated their
interface (One Mouse Button, WTF?!?!?), their design, and their
marketing. I wouldn't buy anything they made, and I was pretty
confident that would never change.

Then a while back something happened. A lot of friends who work for
Microsoft all went to the iPhone. Not just a few of them, but pretty
much everyone went out and bought an Apple product. Microsoft
employees... Apple product...

So I played with the phone for a bit and realized that this thing was
seriously good. The interface is simple enough that my computer-
illiterate mom finds the phone to be "fun," and yet complex enough to
be rewarding to the user who likes to change around features and
functions. After that I had to buy one myself.

And of course, this makes everyone think that I have just jumped on
the Apple bandwagon. That statement couldn't be further from the
truth...

I still hate their computers and the associated commercials with a
passion. I actually told my best friend that she was an idiot for
spending $2000 on a MacBook Pro that does LESS that my $1500 Toshiba
Tablet PC. Which is a BA computer, and the tablet functions still
impress two years after it came out...

Even iTunes pisses me off. My music is all bought on disc and saved to
my PC. I just transfer a copy to my iPhone AND a copy to my Microsoft
Zune. As a portable music player, I still think of the Zune as a
superior product, and it accompanies me to the gym and in the car.

The point of the above ranting being that as an "all in one", Apples
iPhone is superior to everything else I have ever used. It may not be
the best computer (got a different one), or music player (got a
different one), but when I need to leave the house with one thing in
my pocket, it's iPhone. Not my iPhone, or an iPhone, just "iPhone."
The thing is good enough that I will refer to it in the third person
like it's a pro athlete.

Let's take a look at the previous contenders for iPhone killer:

The G1... Already on the G2 (called something else in America), and
that isn't hugely popular.

The Palm Pre... Hahahaha... Seriously, when the "next generation" of
the phone is called the Pixie, you should know it's a dog.

The Droid... To big, to bulky, and has totally failed to get the jump
on the market even with Moto and Verizion shoveling money into
marketing the thing during it's holiday season launch.

The Nexus 1... Time will tell. I'm thinking that it's going to be a dog.

The big thing being Android... Here's where that falls apart.

My buddy Mike's Cliq uses Android. His roommates HTC Touch Pro uses
Android. And yet for some reason an App written for and running on the
Cliq crashed the HTC. Differing versions of the same OS... Apples
product works so well because there is ONE product. Different pieces
of the same pie (2G, 3G, 3GS, and even the regluar iPod/iPod Touch),
vs different pieces of similar pies. At the end of the day if it isn't
identical it isn't going to work 100% of time.

As always, the above is an opinion. And educated one, from someone who
has used multiple devices in the past year, but an opinion
nonetheless. :-)

Burns

2010-01-18T20:16:00.000-08:00

I burned my damn hand while making dinner.

Had a pan in the oven, transferred it to the stove, and turned to grab
a spatula.

Turned back, and stirred the pan. When the pan moved I grabed the
handle with my free hand. The 450 degree handle...

Fucking hurt, but I got dinner done.

Broiled Sea Bass, saffron orzo, sautéd mushrooms and leeks. The Sea
Bass is plated on top of Avocado slices, and has a white wine and herb
sauce spooned on top. Fantastic enough to make me forget about my
hand. At least for a minute.

Floor Mischief

2010-01-17T11:34:00.000-08:00

As the floor is being ripped out Sunday (today), we decided to decorate it last night. After a few beers..

We spent the entire time laughing so hard we couldn't breathe.

Colts WIN!!!

2010-01-16T21:07:00.001-08:00

OK, they are going to have to play a heck of a lot better against whomever wins tomorrow, but the Colts have won.

I might be a bit tipsy. Photos of mischief sometime over the next couple of days.

The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday...

2010-01-15T21:57:00.001-08:00

So I guess I would call today a tough day at work.

A bunch of people had to cancel/reschedule appointments. It pretty
much made for a dead day. And then the kicker comes in. One of the
people who canceled wanted to meet with me tomorrow.

Of course I value my clients, and so I am going to be in tomorrow
morning for one appointment. It's going to be a rough day when that
alarm goes off tomorrow morning.

On Being Late...

2010-01-14T20:29:00.000-08:00

To me being late is like having a black eye. It doesn't matter what reason you give, or how good it is, everyone is still looking at you funny.

I can not stand being late, and nothing drives me crazier than knowing that I am going to be late when I left on time or even early. I am that guy that will call from the car to let people know that I am going to be 5-10 minutes late. I just hate waiting myself, so I don't want to make anyone else wait either.

Today someone was an hour and a half late, and then had the audacity to say; "Sorry I didn't call, I had no idea I was going to be so late..."

WHEN in the HOUR AND A HALF that passed between when you should have been here, and NOW, did you not feel that you should notify me that you were still on the way asshole? Was there something so grand and important that it made it impossible to arrive here on time, and precluded you using the phone to notify someone? And if so, perhaps saying that might do more to calm me than telling me that you had no idea that you were going to be so late. A simple; "Sorry I am so late, a lot of stuff happened at home/work/whatever that got me behind schedule," would have been fucking fantastic. Something to let me know that shit was going down, and that you were in the middle of it.

LIE TO ME. Tell me about the gunfire that you just saved the school children and puppies from. Tell me about dragging those nuns out of the burning bus on the side of the road. Hell, if the story is good enough I might like you more for the creativity and the ability to make me laugh.

He actually said; "thanks for meeting with me, I know that you're pretty busy, and it was a long wait."

UGH!!! Fuck you asshole.

I love some of my clients to death. Just the nicest and most honest people around. This guy can kiss my ass.

Scares The Hell Out Of Me...

2010-01-13T11:17:00.000-08:00

There are few things in life that scare me. Very few things, but some of them scare the hell out of me.

Part of the overall lack of fear is a size factor. Since early in high school I have been over six feet tall, and always very strong. Hockey and football throughout school also made me very unafraid of physical contact/confrontation. On top of my physique, I live in a "Right To Carry" state and I have exercised my right since I got my permit done at 21. So for the most part a "dark alley" scenario isn't scary to me. I'm bigger than most people, and I know their only weakness, bullets... I am only terrified of something large, and something small.

Something small: Spiders

Fuck spiders. I can't stand spiders. I do not like spiders at all. Not any spider. Even right now just typing about spiders makes feel unwell. And I know why I hate spiders so much.

Arachnophobia came out when I was seven. For some reason when it made it to VHS the next year someone thought that showing it to the eight year old was a great plan. Thanks a lot ass hole. That movie scared the shit out of me, even though I understand now that the effects are, by todays standards, laughable. Ugh... Seriously, even typing about it sucks.

Something large: Sharks

Let me get one thing straight. I love sharks. Sharks are bad ass creatures. I just don't want to be in the water anywhere near them. They seem like the ninjas of the sea, and just like ninjas, I know that they can just flip out and begin killing at any time.

A while back I was on vacation. I had spent the morning surfing, and like so many time before, I came off my board. In the water I struck a SMALL hammerhead shark. Probably no more than four feet long.

I have not been surfing since. At the end of the day I know that it was more afraid of me than I was of it. I had to be twice it's size and appeared out of nowhere... But that doesn't matter. It kind of put me off of surfing. Kind of like God giving me a smack to the back of the head. Maybe that sport isn't for me.

Since then I haven't been in the ocean, and I am pretty sure that will be the case for a while. :-) Something about hitting a damn shark and having nothing happen that makes me think I have used up all of my ocean related luck. Living in the Pacific Northwest we have incredibly cold ocean water anyways, so I have no need to go anywhere near that for now. Lake Washington is enough for me.

The Goose That Laid The Platinum Egg

2010-01-12T20:27:00.000-08:00

In providing horrible customer service, a competitor of ours lost an account. That account holder stopped by to see me, and we spent some time working on what we could do at my bank to meet his needs. Honestly I don't feel like it was really "above and beyond" what I do for any client. Yet the client assured me that he felt better to be with my bank than any he'd been with before.

The new client has been so much fun to work with. Really a knowledgeable person who understands the business and it's complexities. Someone with patience, intuition, and a great sense of humor to boot. Clients like that are better than gold. We joke around the office about how easily banks/credit companies throw around the term "platinum"... This guy is someone that I would think is actually deserving of the title. He makes the job fun, and that to me means so much more than a lot of other factors.

In making a client feel the exact opposite of how good service would have made him feel, the other banker really turned out to be the goose that laid the platinum egg. I guess I owe him a thank you. In not doing his job, he has made someone truly appreciate my bank and the job that we do.

Just ONE Drink...

2010-01-11T23:08:00.000-08:00

So why is it that my friends do not know how to meet up for one drink. Not "one drink," or one drink (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), but a single beer/cocktail at the bar after leaving the office.

Seriously, I can't understand these guys and the fact that every time we get together it somehow ends up being all of us miraculously making it home sometime near midnight.

But at the same time, they're my friends and I love them to death...

Up tomorrow (a bit of foreshadowing) The Goose That Laid The Platinum Egg.

Stay tuned boys and girls.

So Crazy

2010-01-10T22:06:00.000-08:00

So I got a summons in the mail. I've never gotten a summons.

Now I have to go to a freaking courthouse on Wednesday, and miss out
on the office.

LAME!

Food Inc

2010-01-09T17:28:00.000-08:00

So I guess that I am a heartless bastard.

A friend told me about the documentary "Food Inc" and recommended that I watch it. What a crock of shit that was. Seriously I can't think of a single motive behind the production of the damn thing beyond promoting a return to an archaic system of production and business. I really wonder how much the SEIU contributed to the production budget. The film talks about the need for more unions and seriously glamorizes, of all things, the auto unions. What the hell do you think has driven the American auto industry to near bankruptcy? And now we want to do that with the food supply? They talk about subsidizing organic and natural foods. Fuck that.

The current methods of farming and production have kept Americans well fed, and provided Americans with one of the lowest cost to income ratios for food in the world.

And it's not just Americans. Much of the world has benefited from the current methods of food production, and the world's population could not be sustained by "going back to the old ways." Is anyone complaining about going to a store and paying $3.00 a pound for meat? I am pretty sure that everyone would complain about paying $13... If you have a problem with the system, but "organic." Buy "free range." But don't try to vilify the system that keeps food on the table for a couple hundred million Americans and billions of people worldwide.

Farming is not "pretty," farming is not "glamorous," and farming is not something that most people want to see. As the grandson of a corn, wheat, and cattle farmer, I have seen the system in action and I know that it works. It may not be pretty, but it works.

And the "organic farmer" in the film was a joke. Some old hayseed hippie ranting about the way that things should be, and how he feels about the animals. Screw his cattle, I want a steak, NOW. Screw his pigs, I want some bacon, NOW. And last but not least, screw him. The thought that just because he wants to live in harmony with nature, I should overpay for beef, pork, and eggs?

Laughable.

His desire to not be "the biggest," and to care about his animals and the land...

The world isn't a damn Disney movie, and the "old ways" were left behind for a reason.

The film's attacks on the Bush administration were truly LOL funny. Give me a fucking break. There hasn't been a president in my lifetime who has argued heavily for increased regulation of food production...

My heart aches for lady in the film who lost her son to E-Coli. No parent should lose a child like that. I lost a brother when I was 13. He was 12. It hurt like hell... But, I heard nothing about PROPERLY COOKING FOOD mentioned in her arguments. Preparing a hamburger "well done" kills E-Coli. Plain and simple. 73,000 people have infections from E-Coli every year, and only 61 people die. The young are more susceptible, as are the elderly, but at the end of the day cooking food properly would have saved him.

As for fast food. Another instance of "give me a fucking break." The film states that fast food companies are "engineering food" and that Americans have very little choice.

FUCK THAT

Americans have massive amounts of choice.

Type-2 Diabetes : Put Down The Soda. The family makes the comment "the soda is so cheap." Yeah, water runs from my tap for a very low price. I bet that it comes from their tap at a similar low rate.

Monsanto... The company patented a genetically engineered strain of bean that produced a higher yield. They spent MILLIONS developing a specific strain of the bean that was resistant to pesticides and disease, and it is their property. I love the comparison to Microsoft, as if somehow that is a bad thing. Microsoft is a company that has developed a product that a majority of users willingly choose as the best on the market. They have made billions as a result of that production. If Monsanto is "monopoly" then they can be sued by the government. And yet somehow they have not. Perhaps it's because people can choose to not use Monsanto's product. They can buy and plant whatever seed they please.

The hippie who owned the organic food company made a point that I think fits best. "We had to prove that we were profitable." This ass sold out to Dannon, and he is somehow going to bash people who sold out to Coke, Colgate, Johnson & Johnson, etc... What a freaking hypocrite. He's sitting there talking about how bad large producers are, and in the same shot he is going to talk about a multi billion dollar deal with WalMart? And that's where this whole "natural" movement will fail.

People want to profit. Enough people want to profit that they are going to chose to work towards the most profitable end result. And at the end of the day, the "old way" is not profitable.

Oddly enough, I buy my food from a locally owned market. One of those things that I do to support a local business that I feel best represents my interests, and the interests of my community. And I buy locally grown produce when possible.

I do not "look for" organic, and for the most part I do not make any effort to buy organic. If you want to, good for you.

But to make a film indoctrinating people with the idea that somehow large farming operations are evil, and to not provide a single counterpoint is just ridiculous.

A Giant Production

2010-01-08T20:58:00.000-08:00

So I really am one of those people who hates it when something becomes a bigger deal than it needs to be. Today's big production was someone thinking that they were more important than they are...

I spent almost an hour on the phone with them today talking about policy changes that they were made aware of months ago. There are rules, I do not write the rules, but we will all live by them because we have no choice...

Except this person. They were convinced that they were above the rules, until I told them that they were not.

Then they tried to get me to OK a change in the rules just for them. They kept on it for a while but I didn't budge. The rules are the rules. I did not write them, so I don't try to change them.

So after a bit of back and forth they seemed to get it. Until they called me back no more than ten minutes later to talk about the possibilities of an exception if I had time to touch base with the people above me who did write the rules.

Do some people just not understand "No," or is it just me that thinks of that as a pretty concrete term? The craziest thing is, if it had been someone trying to sell me something I would get it. I understand sales people, and I "get it" when they are persistent. This person was just a self absorbed jackass.

Screw them... Rules are rules... (Unless I actually liked them, then I might have worked to make an exception, but I didn't.)

To Connected?

2010-01-07T20:48:00.000-08:00

So in reading some articles from the WSJ that I had sent to myself, I came across one that I really thought was nuts. People complaining about being "to connected" to the world. The article wasn't talking about people in an age bracket that wouldn't be considered tech savvy, but young people in their late twenties/early thirties. People my age...

This got me thinking about it, and for the life of me, I can't fathom being "to connected."

The fact that I email myself news so that I remember to read it aside (yeah, I know that's weird, but I won't remember to read the stories if I don't), I think that I am no more "connected" to the internet than the average person my age. I have the web at home and at work, I have iPhone, and I have PSP (built in web browser). As a whole, I have access to the internet every hour that I am awake, but I don't see that as being a bad thing at all. It's not as if I spend every hour on the net, and I think that the convenience of having the world at my finger tips is something that I wouldn't ever want to give up.

The more I read into the article, the more these people seemed like me. Ordinary professionals that updated a Facebook and a Twitter, but for the most part they suffered from no "internet addiction" or anything the looked remotely like a bad habit. And trust me, I know what an addicted internet user looks like, so I get that a problem can exist. An old roommate of mine spent every hour that he wasn't working/sleeping on Facebook/Myspace/Poker/whatever... The last I saw of him he was getting into something called Mafia Wars. Looks dumb as hell to me, and as such I haven't bothered to play it at all. For the most part, thats what every "internet problem" I have ever known about seems to be. People playing games online rather than dealing with the real world.

But the people in the article weren't gamers, they weren't addicts, and they didn't seem to have a problem. Maybe a bit of a stupidity issue. They were willing to pay a company to delete their Facebook/Twitter/MySpace accounts.

So now I have this idea rattling around in my head like a penny in a clothes dryer... WTF is "to connected"?!?!?!?!

Blogger Block

2010-01-06T13:25:00.000-08:00

So I took the day off today, and for some reason I have been just brain dead. I can't think of anything to write about now that I have all the time in the world to do so.

There are so many little things that I need to get done around the house, and I haven't worked on any of them.

I have played around on the internet and uploaded some music to iPhone. I also read two articles in todays WSJ, which is sitting right next to me and still somehow not getting read.

I know that at sometime I will need to have something to eat, and I know that I should do some laundry.

Beyond that, I am totally lost right now. Perhaps perusing the internet a bit more to track down music that I want to buy. The one thing making it so easy to sit here and waste time is how good Pandora has been today. I think I have skipped all of three songs since I put it on hours and hours ago.

Behind Closed Doors

2010-01-05T21:37:00.000-08:00

What ever happened to "open public debate," and "no more closed door
meetings?"

I know that it's a short post, but I am so far beyond mad. An
Administration and a party that promised me (I guess all of us)
openness and transparency in Government is now reconciling the bill
which will be the largest change to America in my life time behind
closed doors. WTF!!!

Not that I should be shocked. Most of the people in DC seem to be
crooks, and it seems like no matter how hard we try to change that,
they all just get more and more crooked.

My favorite comments of the day:

"The Louisianna Purchase" - Referring to Mary Landrieu's $300MM vote.

"Nebraskans need not worry. If unemployment forces them all onto
Medicare, at least it costs their state nothing."

"Nobody read the bill before passing it the first time, do you really
believe that they're going to bother reading it this time? The debate
behind closed doors could be a week or two of playing Wii. Hopefully
at least they're playing Wii Fit..."

... And May Lose Value

2010-01-04T19:56:00.000-08:00

I have always had a passion for investing and the stock market. Long
before I became a part of the finance industry, the stock market
fascinated me. Being a "stock broker" was one of those jobs that
seemed so much cooler than pro-athlete or famous movie star... As I
grew older I learned more about the field and learned that the job I
really wanted was being a fund manager for a mutual fund.

Years later, I'm on my way to that goal, and yet somehow my goals have
changed again. More on that change later...

For now, me and my buddies have a "fantasy stock market game." Much
like our Fantasy Football Games, our stock game is a heated
competition and the season never ends. We all kicked off with a
million dollars and numerous investment restrictions that are to
monotonous to list here. As of today I am showing a return of 116%
this year, and leading the game. Granted, that is with tremendous
investment risk, and is by no means any way that ordinary people
should invest.

But DAMN it is fun to have shown that kind of return!

2010 kicks off a new year, and new numbers. The market did some great
things today, and kicked off the year right for me. I'm sure that you
will hear more from me about the game on The2KXproject, good and bad.
Please never take any of it as investment advice. Just remember that
investments are not FDIC insured, are not bank products, and may lose
value...

:-)

Stormin And Sports

2010-01-03T09:09:00.000-08:00

There isn't enough time left in the NFL season. The regular season ends this week and while I love the playoffs I can't stand the thought of missing watching the Colts on Sundays.

I know what you're thinking; "Bandwagoner!" You would be dead wrong.

I have been a Colts fan for ages, and even though I NOW live in Seattle, I have lived everywhere and been exposed to everything.

As the child of an Air Force parent moving was always the norm. It was never a surprise to hear that we would be moving, and it really is something that I just "got used to." So when I tell people that I have moved to a different state ten times in the first 16 years of my life, the number doesn't shock me at all. It has made me a very adaptable person, and given me an immense amount of confidence in talking to others and making friends out of strangers. The only true "negative" of that upbringing is being a sports fan.

My first love was hockey, and the Minnesota North Stars. We were stationed in Minnesota and the Stars were a constant talking point in school. A team that never was the greatest when I was a kid, but always the best part of winter. While I watched their games on our TV in the suburbs of Minneapolis, I resolved to learn to skate and play that amazing game. My brother and I each got our first pair of skates one winter, and we went to a frozen pond near our house to see if we could skate. Two pair of thick socks, several minutes tying and retying my skates to make sure they were tight, and I stepped onto the ice for the first time. I'll never forget that feeling. The cold on my face, the hesitation in my mind, the though of watching those NHL guys glide onto the ice... I knew I could do it, I'd seen it done a thousand times.

I put one foot onto the ice, pushed off the snow with the other, and I skated across the pond. I cut back and forth to get a feel for the ice beneath the blades, and I was hooked. With no lessons or help, I skated for hours. In one of the most amazing moments of my life, I found that I could naturally skate. Hockey has been a passion since that cold evening on a pond in White Bear Lake, MN. When the Stars announced their move to Texas I was devastated, and I had no idea what I would do.

The next month I got the greatest news of my young life. We were being transferred... To Dallas...

I can not believe that it was anything short of fate that put me in that city, back with my team. I will always be a Stars fan, even now that I am thousands of miles away. When they won the Stanley Cup in '99, I was screaming at the TV at the top of my lungs. 2000's SCF were a devastating shock... To this day I think that the Buffalo Sabers are a bunch of whiners, and I HATE the New Jersey Devils. (And Martin Brodeur, screw that guy...)

Once we were in Dallas I had to pick a football team. Did I keep watching the Vikings, did I adopt the Cowboys, or did I pick someone entirely different? Different was where I ended up.

My father lived in Baltimore and was a Colts fan. The team left the city the year I was born (while my parents were stationed in California). I had heard stories of the team growing up and kinda somehow fell into rooting for them on Sundays. It was easy to be a fan of another city's team, and one that I already had a little family support in loving. It was also easy because the teams middle of the road performance made anyone think twice about calling me a bandwagoner. :-) I might not have loved the Cowboys like everyone else in Dallas, but at least I wasn't simply rooting for an out of market team that was doing well.

Years later, after numerous ups and downs, we're in an "up" again. Peyton Manning looks to be one of the greatest people to ever play QB, the Colts receivers are looking good, Dallas Clark is the most underrated tight end in football, and we now have the defense we needed for so many years.

I guess that it's easy to see why the people in a city who's team went from a Superbowl appearance several years ago, to being (game ain't over yet, so I assume) 5-11 this year, might want to call me a bandwagoner. But if anyone needs to confirm it, I have a collection of hats (of all things) to prove my devotion. An "on-field" hat from every season for the past decade. My simply tribute to the team every year since 2000 (when I had a job for the first time so I could buy things like that), and the one thing that I will wear around town. I don't feel the need to have T-Shirts, Sweaters, Jerseys, and the like. A simple hat from the field, and I am fine.

Kicking Off

2010-01-02T11:13:00.000-08:00

So on my drive into work today I got pulled over. Happy New Years
Renton PD! They're starting 2010 with a little revenue generation.
First time in two years, and the reason that the cop gave was total
BS. I am in a suprizingly good mood for my streak having ended, and
owning the car that I do (Audi S4, the thing is my baby) I am shocked
that I made it this long without a collection of tickets, so I guess
it was inevitable. I will be calling my lawyer, and I'll pay him
whatever fee he requires to pay them less money. Millions in defense,
before a penny in tribute.

Happy 2KX

2010-01-01T19:31:00.001-08:00

So New Years was CRAZY. Partying in downtown Seattle always is.

There was me, my best friend Jess, Melissa, Chet, Kelly, and some dude
who's name I don't remember. Supposedly I had met him before, but for
the life of me I can't rememer this guy so it's less than relevant
that he looked familiar.

Kelly is an old aquaintance and for some reason he knows the worlds
collection of douchebags all to well. And I say this next part in the
nicest way possible: probably because he's one of them. We all know
the "My New Haircut" guy... Kelly went as that guy for Halloween the
year that video hit the net. He didn't need to dig to deep in the
closet to find the costume. Kelly was that guy before even that guy
was that guy... So Kelly is defined.

Kelly's friend made Kelly look like a gentleman. Mouthing off to
everyone, acting the fool, and really making an ass of himself.
Literally, 30 minutes in, a tipping point had been reached. Then a
comment got made to Mel, and I chucked my drink in his face. Zero to
fighting in mere moments. Douche got in a single punch to my head, but
I fight smarter. One punch from me square to his groin and the fight
was over. Nancy boy had been bragging about his gym routine all night.
He learned a very important lesson about strength. It doesn't matter
how strong you are if someone else smarter... It was funny as hell to
have him laying on the floor and me fiddling with my contact lens.

So Kelly and the man with the wounded groin peaced out, and I left
Kelly a voicemail about not bothering to bring his people by any more.
He's welcome, but his friends ain't.

After that the night took off. It was a ridiculous blend of drinking
in public, party crashing, and pictures with my peeps or random peeps
throughout the city.

We began drinking at a much quicker pace after the last brawl of '09.
There was Tequilla (hate it but drank it to get Chet drinking),
Jaegerbombs, Blue Moon, Coors Light, and bottle after bottle of
Champagne. So much Champagne...

The group headed over to the Space Needle for the midnight fireworks
about 11:30. Ten years living here and I have never been there for the
fireworks on NYE. Check that off the list now. Very cool to finally
see the fireworks and the massive crowds of people. Everyone was
social, everyone was having fun, and everyone was drinking or already
drunk. Jess, Chet, Mel and I each had our own personal bottle of
Champagne and were drinking in public during the entire fireworks
display. Standing next to a cop... Or three. Maybe six. Could have
been more. I do believe that they were just out to keep the peace and
Seattle's Finest did a damn fine job of it. There was a crazy big
crowd of people and the whole fireworks display was so very cool. I
don't think anyone there even realized that it was raining the whole
time.

So we headed back to Mel's place, and on the walk we passed by our
favorite restaurant in Seattle, Shallots. It's one of those small city
restaurants with a dozen tables that I would be willing to have to
wait for, but fortunately never have had to. Easily the best Chinese
place that I have ever been to, and it's run by good people. Peering
inside we saw our regular waiter Tony. A guy we see often enough that
he buys us drinks when we're in. We stopped in, Champagne in hand, and
got a picture with Tony. Reviewing these photos, we were not the only
drunk people in the restaurant. (Thank God)

After that we stumbled back to Mel's place and ended up heading to her
buildings seventh floor (25 stories total) to show Jess and Chet the
view of the space needle. It's an absolutely beautiful view and one of
the best things about her building. Somehow, we ended up in someone's
NYE party.

We were there for all of a dozen minutes, ended up in a few pictures,
used the bathroom, and had a decent little tour around the place.

After the random party crash, we went back to Mel's place and everyone
just called it a night sometime after 2AM.

Time is hazy. Honestly I have no clue as to how long everything "took"
after midnight. There are photos time stamped at about 2AM of us all
in the elevator, but none of us have any clue as to how long the night
went on.

Today we went to breakfast for chicken fried steak, and biscuits &
gravy. At noon... Everyone but me looked massively hung over, but
that's nothing new. I've never been hung over in my life. Just the
genetic lottery winner of a magical liver and a need for very little
sleep.

So 2010 kicked off with a bang. And here we go with The 2KX Project.

The 2KX Project

2009-12-30T14:37:00.000-08:00

The idea for the 2KX project began years ago with NaBloPoMo, and the thought that perhaps it was possible not to simply post every day for a month, but every day for a calendar year.

The 2KX Project is simply. Without rhyme or reason, me doing my best to post for a year. I am armed with internet access virtually everywhere I go, and iPhone which is almost always referred to in the third person. I love it, and don't bother to comment about how much better you think your Blackberry/Droid/G1/MyTouch/Whatever is, I do not care and I do not think that I need Google involved in every moment of my life. Honestly iPhone is a damn decent all in one, and my corporate discount makes the thing cheaper than I can believe. Aside from iPhone, I'm a PC.

Some days my posts will be photographs. In fact many days will be photographs. I have a decent Nikon setup and love photography, but by no means am I a professional. That said, the rights to everything posted on The 2KX Project are reserved by me and images can only be used with permission. Given the open nature of the net, this is more a request than a threat. :-) If you would like to use an image please contact me (there's a little thing about how to do that in the margin) and generally I will be more than happy to send along a watermarked high rez version of the image as long as long as there is no profit involved.

Some days will be me ranting about politics or finance. I am a banker by trade, and quite politically involved as well. For me this leads to a constant battle with my representation and occasionally posts may be their responses to e-mail that I have sent. I usually add my own commentary while doing my best to represent what is original writing and what is my opinion by changing text colors. At no moment should anyone assume that the writings on The 2KX project are in any way affiliated with the people that I am mocking. I will also add the disclaimer that recently my Senators and Congressman have not needed any help from me in making themselves look stupid. They seem to be more than competant in doing that all by themselves.

Some days will be short and sweet, other days lengthy and bitter, but for one year begining January 1st 2010, there will be SOMETHING new here every day. Stay classy internet, and thanks for stopping by, but mostly stay classy internet... Thanks for stopping by...