So I recalled a few of the things that I was supposed to discuss. I noticed baseball season has semi-started, this is due to driving back from Band on Monday and noticing that Jacob's Field was lit up. I heard on the radio yesterday the Indians lost however. Oh well, good I don't pay attention too much.

Today is Sushi Rock with Val day. It should be good, but I need to get the car an oil change first. Stupid driving to get the latest dodge (as there's 3 in the used car lot, I should be specific) pushed it up a week or two.

Uhrm, I knew there was other stuff, I was highly annoyed yesterday because while I remembered some banana bread to snack on during the drive, I totally forgot a granola bar, so I was hungry. It was sad, I'll try not to do it in the future, but I can't move a bunch of granola bars until I get my permanant space. Omar bothered to pile his boxes all over the place, so I don't have much extra room. I didn't feel like complaining since its only for a few more days.

Oh well, off to work and exciting beyond.

You'd think I'd have an entry called nachos, but I aparently don't. Amazing stuff isn't it? Oh well, so its raining again today, which is fine, but I hope it doesn't get in the way of getting garbage set yesterday. Need to get on the fast track to finishing cleaning up everything outside, so when Jen's dad comes to pick up the green machine, everything is nice and spiffy.

In other spiffy news, I can't think of anything else. Today's thought is that when getting ready in the morning, its a good idea to keep track of one's time on a clock that doesn't run slow. It makes it much easier to be on time if the computer clock is correctly synching and not 10 minutes slow. just a thought.

so today is moving for the first time at work. Nothing too exciting. All my stuff fit in 2 boxes, and then there's the computer. I'm sure you're all feeling sorry for my having to move 2 20" flat panels. but hey, its worth it.

other then that, its just your average tuesday, so I should get going.

Oh and I did get my backscratcher from helen + walter, I'm a putz and forgot to thank for it. oops. I have used it several times, its sitting on top of a monitor.

Well its another monday. not very exciting, except I do move cubes this week, well first to 'temporary housing' then to my real spot. Not decided yet I think if I move into a conference room or a normal spot. I guess I'll find out shortly.

In other news it was a productive weekend, but I guess I do need a new car, since my leg hurt from driving for so long, I had to take 2 stops on the way back to rest it. Very unusual for me, but oh well. I'll work on that new car thing when I get around to it, other things are a bit more important at the moment.

Walter aparently has a job interview today or sometime soon, so we should all wish him well. Its a good thing to get a job in scenic wappingers. It cuts down on excessive commute times.

Uhh, I need to get going to work. It seems I'm always running a bit late on mondays, just not really motivated to get going these type of days.

Well now I have direct deposit, so I've already been paid today (I just checked). I'm not sure if its worth going to work now. In other news, I'm not really sure what else exciting is happening today. I think I'll wear my new (from last week or so) belt to work. It'll be slightly more casual fridaytastic.

So we were continuing in the getting new cubes thing, the 2nd of 3 phases, and since no one at work could actually get anything done, they were standing around doing nothing. The guys who actually had to do the difficult job of taking apart the old cubes found this quite sad. They all kept saying they should have paid more attention in school. their loss.

I don't really know anything else worth mentioning. Its a small road trip weekend to go pick up the new car. Or more appropriately so we can turn the driveway into an even larger parking lot. I guess that's the end of the excitement for today then.

Well since we're remotely on the subject of getting new cars, here's a link to all the crazy plates they have in queensland: or here I guess it'd be kinda cool to get a looney tunes plate.

Umm, I think I need to get going to work. Somehow this isn't the most exciting time, and I'm not that motiviated to go. Maybe this has something to do with jen working from home (at least that's what she's planning on doing). Oh well, have to do it. At least it'll be warm, and tomorrow's a payday! very exciting stuff. maybe I'll even have direct deposit this time. I know some people don't, but its taken me like 1 1/2 months of futzing to get them to start it, so its quite a pain for the priveledge.

I'm not quite sure why the polls stopped, I guess because I ran out of things to poll one day, and it all went down hill from there. Its not like things that aren't essentially polls (ahem, what to get the car guy) get any advice at all though. So oh well.

Its wednesday. this is exciting because its garbage day. Of course there aren't any extra large boxes hanging around, so the exact technique for how to through out random things could be interesting, but I'm sure I'll figure something or other out. You know, garbage is exciting these days.

Well I'm a slacker, so I got up a hair later then I expected. To avoid being late to work, that means that well, umm, I'm leaving. Like now. spiffy isn't it?

Yeah, so no comments, well besides one that says no comments.

What's interesting.. I went to starbucks on saturday I guess (when I was busy fixing the door lock - it required a new spring, but after spending $3.50 for a pile of random springs, none of them quite worked, so I screwed the broken spring half onto a new spring and cut it to the correct length, and all seems to be working, which is good. Aparently it pissess off the visitors when it doesn't work.)

Right, so starbucks. They have a handout now that explains most everything you'd want to know about order coffee from them. Of course this isn't huge news, and if you're a coffee snob, you probably already knew most of it, but some of its specific to them. Like admitting that a 'Short' exists. (8 oz cup). Anyway, sorta cool they've gotten rid of the hidden menu technique at least some what. I don't think they listed all the syrups though. I'm sure the point is to justify their prices by reminding people they can specify if they want. Not to mention the extra cost for several things.

A quad wet macchiato has 4 shots (duhh) but wet means more milk then foam. (I'm not sure if that ever got explained). dry is more foam then milk.

Aparently there's an amusing economic statistic - the jump in buying at walmart during the middle of the month. This relates to how many people are living paycheck to paycheck. And at last check, it is aparently still reasonably high. Oh well, stupid economy.

Oh, and on the subject of $40K trucks (there's a lot of stuff I kept forgetting to mention). If its a Dodge, I (and my spouse, but jen would be mad if you married me) get a discount on most (not vipers and such) Chrysler (not mercedes :( ) type products of 1% under invoice, plus all the usual incentives. Its nice to have your company give people lots of money. There's also a cool discount on AT&T wireless, but I'm still all undecided about what to do with my cell phone. Its not like verizion has any good deals at the moment. (And I'm not on a contract, for those wondering)

Its just another bloody monday. Etc, and the song goes on from there. So yeah, nothing too exciting, it seems that we couldn't entirely avoid snow, so a small amount has collected. You'd think that we'd either be done with this, or it'd be something bigger, since its supposed to be in the 50s for the rest of the week. Go figure, but it is getting rather annoying.

In other news, I sure hope NPR has finished asking for money. You'd think begging for a solid week and a half (at least, I lost count) would be efficient enough, but sometimes you never know how long they'll go. With that percentage of begging, they end up exceeding the commerical time of a normal station. I'm sure they'll mutter something like they provide unique programming, but blah, someone else would provide it if they didn't because there's a demand.

Umm, nothing else really exciting, except no one had any other suggestions on what to get for the car delivering guy. Slackers.

With that, I'm off to work. well to find my keys, which seem to have dissapeared since yesterday, but after that to work.

Oh, and I have 666 comments now. Exciting stuff. (That ignores the spam comments I've deleted). Anyway, I didn't blog yesterday because my computer froze when I woke up, and then was off doing exciting stuff like running adaware which took too long, so I didn't have time to blog. Especially since I needed to leave on time/early due to going to Erie. Which was reasonably fun, but a bit like going back into the 50's. Except for the few parts they had remodedled. One of which was a hallway that had stainless steel doors, walls and ceiling. (If you work with stainless, you can never have too much). Another was remodled in the 90's, and looked like a mall. With way too much teal. but it did have a fountain to entertain you while dining.

In other news, the point of the 3 spoke is the multi-function buttons are on the front (I think only one of the cars there has it that way) which is far less cool. That and it sorta looks like a play station controller. But I'll have to see in person. Also the wheel loses the button to select function (CD/Radio/Aux input)

The roof does open Targa style, here's a video of it, I've never actually seen.

So with Jen getting a new job, she's going to be getting the new(er) car. Which means buying it from Steris' leasing company, but inconviening some random sales guy to get it from him. I was thinking it'd be nice to get him something, but know absolutely nothing about him, except that he sounds grumpy all the time. (I wonder how he can sell anything if he's grumpy, but maybe I'm just reading him wrong). I was thinking a barnes + noble (snowball) gift certificate. Any other thoughts? No one really needs wine or food, and its always a testy type thing on preference, you don't want to go offending an AA member with a bottle of wine. Oh well, of to work and other such fun friday stuff. Though its not as exciting when its not payday.

Well ok, that's a lame title, but you get the picture. So we went out to dinner yesterday, which was fun, except got a very odd waitress. She had some sort of non-descript accent, europe somewhere or other. She kept taking the empty glasses away, would wait 5 minutes or so, and then bring a full one back. It was rather odd. I could understand how it saves water and the like, but this isn't a big concern of mine. There's sort of a large lake a few miles from here, and last time I checked, Cleveland complained people didn't use enough water and they were losing money. So in the end, it just means it takes 5 minutes to get more water each time. blah. (or iced tea, whatever you were drinking)

Here's a zillion pictures from the Geneva convertible launch: (mmm, link) There's pictures on there of the 3 spoke, as well as some other stuff that will probably appear on the '05 models. I'm still undecided on the new Xenons.

In other news, I need to get to work, which will involve a bit more car cleaning off, so I should hurry up. I had to park in the street, because since its getting warm I didn't feel the need to clean the driveway, but its too deep to get the car up. (6" or so...)

Well aparently its supposed to snow a few (a handful) of inches today. This is annoying, since it could seriously impact my ability to get home in a timely manner. I hope it doesn't turn out to be too annoying, but its probably the last big snow of the season, so I guess I can';t be too picky. I'm trying to improve my odds by going in early, so I can leave a bit early, except that I snoozed, so it'll probably end up only being 15 minutes early. Also I have a meeting until 4:30 anyway, but that could finish early. Lots of hope I guess.

In other news, there isn't much exciting at all. I need to figure out how to start plans for someone's wedding in FL, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. I guess I can subscribe to the if there's no invitations, its not worth it.

Oh, I finally got the registration sticker for my car. Handy, since it had officially expired on my birthday. (Though it was actually registered, the sticker was just lost. The replacement came yesterday) Its much friendlier to be registered, and now I don't worry about the end of the month coming and it being very obvious its expired.

Need to grab some banana bread and head off to work.

So today starts my 3rd month at work. Very exciting stuff. Doesn't make it more fun to wake up. Even though I like work, I'm really not a morning person. So blah. Oh, its quite bright in the morning now, I guess that's a good benefit.

I had a few things to mention, but I can't seem to remember any of them... I'm annoyed at NPR for doing its pledge drive last week, so I was switching stations, so I got to listen to the whole big mess about Howard Stern getting kicked off Clear Channel. I'm not sure if this is exciting or not, but it is better then listening to people mutter about NPR shows and then ask for money in between their feeble attempts to sound interesting.

Nothing really too exciting. I'm off to Erie on Thursday to visit Steris' Erie plant. I'm not sure what the rest of the week holds, but there's more banana bread to be eaten, so I should get downstairs and get some of it, (and some coffee - running out at work) so I can get going. Tres exciting...

Ohh, the MINI salesman I talked to months ago called me to say they have some cars with the 3 spoke steering wheel in, I guess I'll stop by there sometime when I have a few minutes and check it out. At least its progress towards getting a car.

Exciting as the week was, its always good for it to be over...

So as I was sitting at my desk doing something or other, my boss walks up behind me and introduces the Senior VP of something or other (reports directly to CEO). Unfortunately besides me being dumfounded at randomly having to meet this guy and look presentable, he also had a really thick irish/scottish (I can't remember which, it was too confusing) accent. Oy... I survived I think.

In other news, there was supposed to be some huge (well a few inches) snow storm, but that seems to have not occured, which is good news, since there's only less then an inch on the ground. Always happy when I have less car to clean off. Also not driving the van means I don't need to spend 10 minutes cleaning all of it.

Well it should be an exciting weekend, hopefully some more of the house stuff will get done, but in any case, its a weekend, so I don't need to wake up at 6am.

Amazingly, (though as predicted) its almost time to stop using headlights on my drive to work. Very exciting, it may not happen exactly today (its hard to read the gauges in dim light even if its easy to drive) but it should be very soon.

On the subject of the drive to work, I find it highly amusing that the one small section of 90 that is very close (like 20 feet) to the lake, always seems to have an odd scent. Its rather amusing, but expected, once you realize how close you are to the lake. Of course I can't quite connect what is actually causing it, probably rotting vegetation or something.

Anyway, It works better when I'm on time for work, so I should probably hurry up and do that now, otherwise I'll get stuck in random traffic, like yesterday, even though I was early. I hope traffic isn't moving earlier as it gets lighter.

So after the quite good dinner at locktender's, Bob called, and said that the car was done. Excitingly we drove down to pick it up (have I mentioned everytime I drive to Bob's I think I'm actually going to end up in Kentucky, its so far south). Besides his adjusting the seat and parking it about 8" from another car, so it was impossible to even adjust the seat, much less get in it, it seems quite happy.

In any event, it will be a nice change from having to worry about driving the van all the time, it had been a long week.

In other news, there isn't much. Birthday is over, that's very boring. I guess I need to move onto the next exciting thing. I think that's cleaning my ears, they suddenly feel a bit dirty. I'll go do that now. And try to remember where I put my shoes.

Well excitingly enough, it seems to have snowed a bit for my birthday. I'm not sure this is good, since the 7 is still being fixed (no news from Bob, the parts must have not come in yesterday) so I have to go out and clean the snow off the van.

Besides the whole birthday thing, nothing too exciting. I thought I thought of some other thought, but now I can't remember it.

Oh well, enjoy your day. I have some snow to deal with.

I didn't feel like getting up, but after I did, I guess its not so bad. Oh well, it was a very productive weekend, so I guess I should feel good about that, and now I can go off to work and do whatever it is worky that needs working. Or however you'd say that so it made sense.

In other news, the airpump on the 7 broke - which I really don't need, but will probably fry the cat quickly and break everything, and as the car needs to get emissions tested, it means I need the airpump. Though because Bob is cool, it should be only around $200, and should be done today or tomorrow. Until then, its more excitement driving Old Rusty the van around. Which needs gas, so I need to leave a bit early. The last time the 7 needed gas and I left early it started this whole belt fiasco, I'm hoping we don't do this again.

Other then that TOWM and Anne are in town, though sleeping, because oddly, they didn't want to wake up at 6 for an exciting breakfast. Go figure.

Ohh, and Walter has my Birthday wrong on his calendar - its tomorrow, not today. So no errant 'happy birthdays' I told you when it was, so you can gracefully know since you probably forgot anyway, because we all can't have birthdays the day after christmas or on tax day or other random well known holidays.

I'm so bad at keeping track of entries, aparently this one is 401... Oh well, belated something or other.

I really don't think I mentioned this, but on wednesday, in the middle of the car/belt issue (I did call Bob so that will hopefully get fixed this weekend) I went and got an OH license. not because I really needed one (my NY one didn't expire until 2009, this one expires in 2007) but it made chasing down the registration for my car much easier, and I got to register to vote in the process. So yeah, very exciting stuff, and hopefully I can replace the registration sticker that's lost in the mail somewhere.

I thought there was something else I was going to mention, but I can't think of it at the moment.... Oh its supposed to be in the 70's today. I wonder if the dress code that's only remotely enforced allows shorts, I'll have to check into it.

Ok, time for work... I hope there's the typical less traffic on a friday.

I'm not sure what's exciting about today, mostly that yet again I was rather tired, and didn't feel like waking up, even though I slept for a long time. A bit odd I guess, but I'll just try to catch up on the weekend I guess.

In other news, nothing else really exciting is happening. I forgot to call Bob about getting the belts fixed, so I need to do that. I could do it myself, but that's just a pain in the neck and not worth it.

Can't really think of anything else exciting, I didn't do much yesterday, except take out the trash and some other house stuff. I guess that's what wednesdays are about, middle of the week excitement. Oh well.

I need to see when I'll be going to PA for that work trip, its probably coming up. (Just in time for me to not be able to figure out what's going on with cars I'm sure)

The downside of being done with school (not like 7 weeks is very long anyway) is that you have to find a job, and be unemployed, and find somewhere to live, blah, blah, etc. Its not the best of time, at least until you find stuff you like.

Yeah, so this needs to be brief, because I want to leave a bit early, since I need to drive the VAN to work. (VAN in capitals, because its a 3/4 ton dodge van, not a wussy minivan). Hopefully it won't rust off anything important, but that's pretty minor compared to driving along route 2/I-90 when the odd squealing that started yesterday on the 7 suddenly stops. And behind me in my mirror I see little bits of belt on the road. This isn't a huge problem, except that then the car starts to get hot, because the fan + water pump (as well as alternator - since 2 belts actually broke, but the battery got replaced a few weeks ago, so that
s fine) stop turning. After stopping for 15 minutes at a nice park on the lake, I try to make it through down town. That fails, because in addition to the usual traffic, there's an accident, so there's too much traffic, causing more overheating, and I have to get out downtown after a mile or so. Not fun, because there's traffic there two. So I end up stopping twice for 10 minutes for cooldown in various places. Then hop on another road, and get slightly lost, so I end up in Lakewood (directly west of Cleveland). I figure I'm fine once I recognize a road that has a parts store. After another waiting period, I get to the store, only to have them say 'no - we don't have any emergency belt kits, but I know exactly what you're talking about. we do have the real belts though, but that won't help you'. That store would be Advance Auto with an F and U if you're keeping track. So I try using a bungie cord to tie things up, but that fails as well, though the car didn't feel like starting. Once it finally started, I just drove home carefully (with my lights off, even though it was dusk to save battery) and managed to get here all of 1 1/2 hours late. A quick trip to Autozone, and they had the emergency belt, but I don't want to drive the 210 miles until the weekend with an emergency belt (70/day * 3)

Anyway, time to go now... lets hope I don't run over any traffic.

I was driving past (technically through, its big) the cleveland clinic on my way too and from band yesterday. They had a banner proclaiming it was something like national colorectal something month (cancer I think). Well good for them, its always important to be uhh, aware of those neglected body parts. That and to make everyone driving by (at least those who are literate) squirm. I'm not sure which was the real point - you know dr's have an odd sense of humor.

I was planning on sending then grandmother flowers for her birthday, though I keep forgetting to actually order them. Not exactly a huge problem since they can be ordered quite late. I did that last year (or was it the year before) and she really liked them. I suppose one could order larger flowers and combine them. I recall her getting ice cream from other familiy members at one point, so while it sounds good, it might end up being a repeat topic.

It's mitch's birthday... Very exciting stuff, though I couldn't exactly remember the date, so I was keeping track of super tuesday political stuff. Too much effort I think. especially since I'm not registered anywhere, but OH could have some impact, though unlikely I think - I'm sure it will be much more of a swing state in the actual election, so perhaps I should register by then.

Aparently Dr. Seuss' pen name was because his mom's maiden name was Seuss. Not exactly secure in the days of credit card fraud is it? Anyway, you can read the annoying NYTimes link about him if you like:

So as TOWM is awake procrastinating on homework, I must admit, the perk of work is that while I have to get up early, and seem to be tired for no good reason since I did sleep for like 8 hours, I don't have to bring anything home. So when I leave, its all done. At least for the moment, perhaps it will change, but then they should be paying me more.

Well I think this is sufficiently long, I need to go pick out a shirt, since I checked and its supposed to be 50 or so, which allows short sleevededness.

So I don't have time to say anything interesting because I didn't bother to stop and get gas on my way home on friday, and I need it. I'm not sure if I need it before 5 miles, but in any case, I need to allow time to stop and get it before work, because I need it before 35 miles....

In other news, it was an exciting weekend, and the weather is warming up. Aparently its like 48 degrees out, which is always good news, mostly because it means less heat is needed. And I can wear short sleeves to work. The bad news, I have a spring jacket that I bought and have no idea where it is. But I did find my belt, I'm not sure if I mentioned that.

Should be a fun week, its you know, very spring and marchlike. The time of birthdays and such. Speaking of which, I should get my grandmother a present... must do that today or tomorrow - tomorrow could be better, when I'm not excercising my right to vote, it'll be more productive.

Anyway, out of time...