I don't even KNOW what the fuck that's supposed to be.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Thursday, January 28, 2010
But what does the tiny monkey with the turntables really represent?
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
I like to call it "F**kin-A, Wubbzy!" But I guess that'd be wrong.
Although the accompanying screenshot of the episode above seems to indicate that his excitement is halfhearted. But I guess I would be too, if I had species-identity issues.
Off the record, I think Wubbzy kinda blows. And My Son Cool has never had an overwhelming interest in it, so I can say that without feeling like an ass.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Got a text message from Goodwill the other day. They wanted me to go through my closet and donate whatever old clothes I could part with to the Haiti earthquake relief effort, because there is such starvation and devastation there.
But if the Haitians could fit into my clothes, then they sure as hell aren't starving.
Besides, they'd probably take one look at my old Napalm Death t-shirt and say, "Thanks, but we'll go shirtless."
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Saturday, January 16, 2010
I like their coverage alot
(Sorry I didn't post sooner, I had to go to the store to get some grapes and they turned out sour.)
Update: Again, from the Star:
Farve. Good gravy. The future of newspapers is in the very best of hands.
For the record, "Dwayne" Wade is still acceptable (vs. the unbelievably correct "Dwyane"), I believe, but the statute of limitations is starting to run out on that one. Brett "Farve" has been in the public eye long enough that any headline writer who can rub two sticks together to make a fire can avoid that pitfall.
Sorry; I get pissy. I like to think that I didn't abandon journalism so much as journalism abandoned me, but I know that's not true. I think. (More grapes, sir?)
Fun fact: My high school alma mater, Shoals, has not had a three-game winning streak in boys basketball since the 1997-98 season, when it won its last four regular season games and the first game in sectional. Until now!
Fun fact #2: That season was also the last season that the Jug Rox have had a three-game winning streak in conference play. Until now!
Fun fact #3: Entering the season, Shoals was on a 22-game losing streak in Blue Chip Conference play, and had not won three games in conference since 2001-02. The losing streak is history, and at 3-2, they currently reside at 5th place in conference.
Fun fact #4: 2005-06 was the last season the Rox had won 5 or more games in a season. They now sit at 5-6 on the year.
Wow!
Update: At 5-6, the Rox aren't even at .500 yet. But to give you an idea of how surprising the last week has been for Shoals - to go from 2-6 to 5-6 - take what I heard this morning from WITZ sportscaster Walt Ferber. He was reading basketball scores from last night, and when he got to the Shoals game - a 35-27 win over North Knox in overtime - he said, "Shoals, having a really nice season ..."
Fun fact #2: That season was also the last season that the Jug Rox have had a three-game winning streak in conference play. Until now!
Fun fact #3: Entering the season, Shoals was on a 22-game losing streak in Blue Chip Conference play, and had not won three games in conference since 2001-02. The losing streak is history, and at 3-2, they currently reside at 5th place in conference.
Fun fact #4: 2005-06 was the last season the Rox had won 5 or more games in a season. They now sit at 5-6 on the year.
Wow!
Update: At 5-6, the Rox aren't even at .500 yet. But to give you an idea of how surprising the last week has been for Shoals - to go from 2-6 to 5-6 - take what I heard this morning from WITZ sportscaster Walt Ferber. He was reading basketball scores from last night, and when he got to the Shoals game - a 35-27 win over North Knox in overtime - he said, "Shoals, having a really nice season ..."
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
We can't keep this violent pace.
Work has been, well, work the last month or so. When I've not been celebrating holidays or inclement winter weather, 10-, 11- and 12-hour days have been the norm. The staff is overloaded, and while there is a light at the end of the tunnel as we wrap up our fiscal year in the coming weeks, I can't help but wonder if I'm cut out for this.
I'm struggling with two types of balance in my life right now. The first is trying to maintain a balance between responsibilities to Corporate and responsibilities to the project managers of the programs I have fiduciary responsibility for. That's something that we all deal with, and I don't think there's a correct answer, even though my personal feeling is that my time would be better served by providing local support to my managers ... but it's Corporate who signs my checks.
The second type of balance is work-home. This hit me as I left work at 7:30 last night.
The company I work for is top dog in the local market. Whether you look at revenue recognized or employment numbers, we are number one. We do amazing work for the customer, and the customer recognizes this, as they continue to award high-dollar contracts to our company based on our past performance.
And as I left work last night, it hit me. There were about 10 or 12 cars still in the parking lot of our company. I looked across the street at our main competitor - parking lot was empty. I scanned the lots of the other two buildings across from us - no one was there. It warmed me to know that even though we're number one, we were still working hard instead of resting on our laurels.
But at what cost?
I worry about work-home balance, and I wonder how much I really give a shit about being number one. I love the company I work for, and I don't mind working hard to help achieve my own personal financial goals (more long-term than short-term, as I'm salaried and, by the rules of my company, not eligible for overtime), but I worry about my priorities and what these insane hours mean for my relationships at home, not to mention my overall health.
It's not as though things would be *that* different at home if I came home at 5 instead of 6:30, 7, 8 o'clock at night. Because of the way things are arranged right now with My Son Cool after school, it's not as though I'm missing a lot of time with him. But doesn't he deserve better than this? Doesn't he deserve better than a daddy who is tired and irritable?
I will grant that my company is VERY good to me as far as family-type responsibilities go. Last week, when we got The Weather, school was called off for Thursday and Friday, and I stayed home with him both days instead of dumping him off at a sitter or daycare. And not a cross word was uttered at work. This is how it normally goes; I never have caught any crap for keeping my family as my ultimate first focus.
I don't really know what the correct answer is - check that; the correct answer is always "family first" - but I do also recognize that we live in the real world. Even though I do concurrently recognize that in the world of business, I'm just a worker drone that will get discarded when my "use by" date is up. I know that I don't make a difference on a personal level to corporate types - I'm just an employee ID and a badge photo. But I will always make a difference to my wife and my son. And I want to give them as comfortable and wonderful a life as is within my power. So where to draw the line?
I'm struggling with two types of balance in my life right now. The first is trying to maintain a balance between responsibilities to Corporate and responsibilities to the project managers of the programs I have fiduciary responsibility for. That's something that we all deal with, and I don't think there's a correct answer, even though my personal feeling is that my time would be better served by providing local support to my managers ... but it's Corporate who signs my checks.
The second type of balance is work-home. This hit me as I left work at 7:30 last night.
The company I work for is top dog in the local market. Whether you look at revenue recognized or employment numbers, we are number one. We do amazing work for the customer, and the customer recognizes this, as they continue to award high-dollar contracts to our company based on our past performance.
And as I left work last night, it hit me. There were about 10 or 12 cars still in the parking lot of our company. I looked across the street at our main competitor - parking lot was empty. I scanned the lots of the other two buildings across from us - no one was there. It warmed me to know that even though we're number one, we were still working hard instead of resting on our laurels.
But at what cost?
I worry about work-home balance, and I wonder how much I really give a shit about being number one. I love the company I work for, and I don't mind working hard to help achieve my own personal financial goals (more long-term than short-term, as I'm salaried and, by the rules of my company, not eligible for overtime), but I worry about my priorities and what these insane hours mean for my relationships at home, not to mention my overall health.
It's not as though things would be *that* different at home if I came home at 5 instead of 6:30, 7, 8 o'clock at night. Because of the way things are arranged right now with My Son Cool after school, it's not as though I'm missing a lot of time with him. But doesn't he deserve better than this? Doesn't he deserve better than a daddy who is tired and irritable?
I will grant that my company is VERY good to me as far as family-type responsibilities go. Last week, when we got The Weather, school was called off for Thursday and Friday, and I stayed home with him both days instead of dumping him off at a sitter or daycare. And not a cross word was uttered at work. This is how it normally goes; I never have caught any crap for keeping my family as my ultimate first focus.
I don't really know what the correct answer is - check that; the correct answer is always "family first" - but I do also recognize that we live in the real world. Even though I do concurrently recognize that in the world of business, I'm just a worker drone that will get discarded when my "use by" date is up. I know that I don't make a difference on a personal level to corporate types - I'm just an employee ID and a badge photo. But I will always make a difference to my wife and my son. And I want to give them as comfortable and wonderful a life as is within my power. So where to draw the line?
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
The coolest (or saddest) thing I realized yesterday
Standing outside at work yesterday, smoking a cigarette in a wind chill of 0, I was told that I was a dedicated smoker for enduring such bitterly cold conditions in pursuit of my nicotine fix.
I realized that you can't spell "dedicated" without "addict."
(Or "addicted"!)
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Friday, January 01, 2010
F**k you, 2009. Hey, 2010, how you doin'?
* If there was an elderly person that would have been best served by a "death panel," it would have been Old Man 2009. I hated that old bastard. He always smelled like Old Spice and kept on grabbing my junk.
* Trying to break My Son Cool of the habit of saying "two thousand and ten." Cause you wouldn't say that I was born in "one thousand nine hundred and seventy-four." Ticky-tacky, I know, and really, we have bigger fish to fry as far as he is concerned. He wants to quit karate, which breaks my heart - not because he comes from a long line of accomplished martial artists (you should see my crouching snake), but because I still think that it can instill the proper discipline that's been so sorely lacking in him to date. (Read: it can instill the proper discipline in him where I have failed.)
And he's not going to be a quitter.
And besides, Wife and I went and watched him yesterday. The class has progressed into fighting. And he was DAMN impressive, moreso than I would have expected. He doesn't realize it, but all of the practicing before this point - think "wax on, wax off" from The Karate Kid - has set in, and even though he is bored by it, it served him well. You could have knocked me over with a feather. He even kicked another little kid in the chin. Solid, too! I turned to Wife and whispered a celebratory expletive.
* Nothing better than moving heavy stuff with a New Year's hangover. And so we inherited a new (to us) HE washer. Cleared out a spot in the garage for the old (LE) one, awaiting the new one, which is in transit as I write. It is red. This is the only thing I know about it.
If we build in five years as planned (it's been "five years" for about the last three), I'm not going to settle for secondhand stuff or hand-me-downs. That method of obtaining appliances has been ok for us to this point, but I'll admit that sometimes I feel like we deserve better.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
* Trying to break My Son Cool of the habit of saying "two thousand and ten." Cause you wouldn't say that I was born in "one thousand nine hundred and seventy-four." Ticky-tacky, I know, and really, we have bigger fish to fry as far as he is concerned. He wants to quit karate, which breaks my heart - not because he comes from a long line of accomplished martial artists (you should see my crouching snake), but because I still think that it can instill the proper discipline that's been so sorely lacking in him to date. (Read: it can instill the proper discipline in him where I have failed.)
And he's not going to be a quitter.
And besides, Wife and I went and watched him yesterday. The class has progressed into fighting. And he was DAMN impressive, moreso than I would have expected. He doesn't realize it, but all of the practicing before this point - think "wax on, wax off" from The Karate Kid - has set in, and even though he is bored by it, it served him well. You could have knocked me over with a feather. He even kicked another little kid in the chin. Solid, too! I turned to Wife and whispered a celebratory expletive.
* Nothing better than moving heavy stuff with a New Year's hangover. And so we inherited a new (to us) HE washer. Cleared out a spot in the garage for the old (LE) one, awaiting the new one, which is in transit as I write. It is red. This is the only thing I know about it.
If we build in five years as planned (it's been "five years" for about the last three), I'm not going to settle for secondhand stuff or hand-me-downs. That method of obtaining appliances has been ok for us to this point, but I'll admit that sometimes I feel like we deserve better.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
