I've come to the realization...

...that I've been a really shitty friend as of late. I've been so caught up in my own little world that I've completely been ignoring those around me.

In particular, apologies go out to Daniel, Rick, James & Shelley, Jim, Sharon, Sheryl, most of my family and a whole slew of others that should be included in this list.

Shit's gonna change. That I guarantee.

Holy Crap

Its been a while. I almost forgot how to update this thing, not that anyone ever reads it...

Lots and lots and lots of changes. I'll write more later.

Did you know...

...that today (Monday, January 22nd) is Blue Monday?

Well whadya know

I remembered how to post messages here!

So until I can think of something meaningful to say, check out this video of some wild driving in Portland, Oregon.

Isn't it ironic

That within blogger, the word "blog" is not recognized in the spell check?

This is just bloody brilliant!

Found this out on the Intarweb-thingy today:

BRITAIN IS REPOSSESSING THE U.S.A.

A Message from John Cleese to the citizens of the United States of America :

In light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.
Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (excepting Kansas , which she does not fancy).
Your new prime minister, Tony Blair, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

(You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary)

1. Then look up aluminium, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

2. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters and the suffix -ize will be replaced by thesuffix -ise. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels (look up 'vocabulary').

3. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as US English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of '-ize'. You will relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen.

4. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

5. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent.

6. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

7. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

8. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

9. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) -- roughly $6/US gallon. Get used to it.

10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.

11. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as Beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

12. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

13. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full Kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).

14. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America . Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable.

15. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

16. An internal revenue agent ( i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).

17. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 pm with proper cups, never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; strawberries in season.

John Cleese

Future Me

I just ran across an interesting website this afternoon, called Future Me. Its a site that lets you write a letter/email to yourself, and select a certain point in time in the future to send it.

For example, you could write an email to send to yourself a day, week, month or years into the future. Seems like a slick idea. Not exactly sure how you could use it, but I think that's pretty much up to you.

Man, how things have changed...

...since my last entry. The whole job situation has shaken itself out, although not quite to my original expectations. But first, let me back up a little.

I've spent the past few years working as a contractor, on site at a large (unnamed) corporation's site here in Boise. Earlier this year they decided to make the job that I do a regular, full time position. So, of course I had to interview for the job that I was already doing (makes perfect sense), which consisted of telling the "interviewers" what I do on a regular basis. The real kicker came when I found out that, after all that, they decided to offer the job to someone else!

So now, I've had to train my replacement, while at the same time look for a new job. On one hand, its given me a little kick in the ass to get out there and find something else, but on the other hand, what a stupid freaking move! I'm going to walk out the door one day and never come back, and they'll be up shit creek without a paddle because, even after training the replacement, I'm still the only one who really knows how to do the job.

Sucks to be them.

Do I feel bad about thinking that way? You decide...

It's a comin'

The leaves have started to turn.
Evenings are a little cooler.
There's even frost on the grass from time to time.

Yes - changes, they are a coming.

A cog in the wheel

That's kind of how I feel at work these days, like I'm a very small cog in a very very large corporate wheel.

I've known this for a long time, but its no longer content just sitting in the back of my head. I need to do some kind of meaningful work. The majority of the jobs that I've held in my adult life have been those where I could see some sort of result of the effort that I put forth. My current job -- nope. Its as though the work that I do just goes into this giant black hole that is the large corporation, and I have to do it all over again the following month.

Maybe its because I've answered the same questions over and over and over and over again for the past three years. Or maybe its because I do the same things month after month after month. Either way, I'm amazed that I still have any hair left.

"So go get a new job" you might think. Yeah, I'd think that too. The problem, of course, is that I get paid fairly well to do what I do. I've gotten used to the income, and the benefits that come with it, including having a little extra free time to spend with my family. I'm not afraid to work, mind you -- I've had more than one job at a time for the better part of the past decade. I'd just like to think that at some point I can get to the point that I don't have to do that.

It will get better, I know it will. I just have to get through right now.