So all of the stuff that we weren’t able to do the last couple of weeks because we had the Test From Heck going on? Well, the Test From Heck ended. We had to do all of the stuff that we weren’t able to do the last couple of weeks. I had a day off scheduled for tomorrow (Friday) to make up for the three-day weekend I didn’t get (or maybe the snow day I didn’t get)… and, of course, everything is nuts.
So I talked to my boss and I rescheduled my day off for Monday. “You don’t have to do that!”, I was told. “Well, there’s stuff that needs doing and I’m still the new guy. The day we have to give the lab back to the customer? I’ll take *THAT* day off.”
I did not mention how the first Friday of the Month is also Donut Friday and I’ll be darned if I miss one of those.
So when it comes to what I have cookin’, I’ve got a 3-day weekend! I will, of course, be spending Monday at the mechanic getting the 6000 mile maintenance done. So it’s not like I’ll be partying or anything. That’s what Sunday is for. Saturday will be spent gaming.
So… what’s on your docket?
Just landed at the DC airport. About to drive a couple hours. Five hours of driving down, two hours to go. Between The driving and the flying, I am not going to want to sit again for a while.
And by partying, Jaybird means we’ll be spending the day with the in-laws. At a birthday party. (I am curious to find out whether our 6-year-old nephew is too big for Uncle Jay to dangle upside down on request, yet.)
I’m sure that he will be upside down at least once.
But we’re getting into “over-the-shoulder” territory.
You’ve still got some time. I can still upside-down my nine-year-old.
There will be Vermeer.
artwork or yardwork? I’m hoping the former as a am a big fan of Dutch masters. Of course it could mean some pop culture thing in which I am completely ignorant but I hope to hear that you will be seeing classic artwork.
Artwork:
http://girl.famsf.org/
I followed the link and was greatly disturbed.
First, there was auto-play on the music, which is a huge violation of what I consider to be internet norms. People are trying to goof off at work, you might get them in trouble!
Second — she winked at me! That ain’t right, man.
Seriously, enjoy the show.
These exhibits always end up being smaller than I imagine they will be.
We’ll be at the in-laws on Saturday, but before that, I have to head across the river to pay a rather large speeding ticket that I neglected to pay right away.
By the way, every negative thing you’ve heard about the Quebec government (or will eventually hear) is absolutely true.
No plans whatsoever, but I suspect there will be spring training games to listen to on the radio. These are fun because most of the people players at any given time are people you’ve never heard of before and will never hear of again, so the broadcaster fill the time with stories. Last week the subject was Joe Garigiola, since he’s taking early retirement at only 87. I had never heard that he was a Giant: needing a backup catcher, they traded for him towards the end of 1954. In this famous picture of Willie Mays’s catch in the ’54 World Series, that’s Garigiola in one of the windows.
Ya know, I’ve never actually seen a picture of the catch.
I’m trying not to gouge out my eyes from the allergic reactions to Pasadena thinking it’s Spring, and staying awake from all the Benadryl.
Also, I have a midterm on Tuesday. And we have a houseguest over the weekend. Ah, but the sister will be here tomorrow to watch the kids while I get poker night and Kitty gets to take advantage of a last minute invite to go see Morrissey.
Tomorrow my teenage son, girlfriend, and I are waking up early to get some Torchy’s tacos and then head up to Ikea to get some bedroom furniture for the son, who has decided that all of his old bedroom stuff is too childish.
I should note that I absolutely hate Ikea, so the Torchy’s was the bribe the son and girlfriend came up with to convince me to go. Torchy’s is one of the main reasons Austin is livable even with the heat and the hipsters.
Ugh, that wasn’t supposed to be a reply to Pat. Or maybe it was… maybe it was.
Ikea is the worst. Many that rail on Wal-Mart fail to realize that Ikea is just the European version; semi-low prices, often with corresponding semi-shoddy quality, resulting from presumably-similar practices. (no politics). And the way they have the stores organized – so that once you enter the labyrinth, if you are not careful you’ll traverse the entire warren.
That said, I got an inventive small sofabed there; if the quality/execution isn’t 100%, the IDEA/design is pretty terrific.
Pat – I guess Morrissey recovered? He had a bleeding ulcer and inflamed irony glands or something. But I’ve seen him a couple times, and the man is a showman.
I think I’d rather see Johnny Marr.
Eh, to be a Smiths fan always meant accepting the infuriating/ridiculous along with the sublime. Polarizing as he is, Morrissey can legitimately claim to have both literally and figuratively expanded pop’s vocabulary.
And live, the extent to which it is apparent that he has studied masters like Bowie and (weirdly) James Brown, so as to compel and manipulate an audience’s emotional responses, is frankly astonishing. If you get a chance to see him, take it, I think you’ll be surprised.
(Not to denigrate Marr, who was both a genius and a relatively level-headed guy).
Morrissey raised depression to an art form. The bottle now hits him.
You have to understand, that bottle just couldn’t keep its emotions…inside any longer.
http://torchystacos.com/food/breakfast/
If any of you are ever in Austin, the migas taco is quite possibly the most important invention in human history (I get it with no pico).
First full week in the new position is almost done. It has been a long week. The guy that was supposed to train me has been out sick all week and our supervisor hasn’t really bothered to give me any real work to do. So I’ve been cleaning out file cabinets stuffed with paperwork from 2009 and wondering what the heck I have walked in to. So basically at 4:30pm today I will probably walk out of the building weeping tears of joy.
Painting the bathroom and installing a new light tomorrow. UFC tomorrow night.
Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association tournament. My school has won it 5 of the first 6 years we’ve had a team (losing in OT last year) and we’re heavily favored this year, having gone undefeated in conference and finishing 5 1/2 games ahead of 2nd place.
Then it’s spring break, and I can get caught up on some things.
NO SWIM MEET. Ah I can finally say that particularly as this year I drove to the majority of swim meets this season and catching up on laundry that a fortunate snow day mid-week made a bit less daunting.
What do you play? …or as a lawless, anarchy-loving libertarian are you just the enforcer, James “John Kordic” Hanley?
Hah, I’m 47 years old! I sit in the stands (season tickets from day one–best seats in the house, really truly) and bang on the sheet aluminum wall every time we score, getting dirty looks from the old people for making noise at a hockey game (really truly, sigh–we have the worst fans in all of hockey).
Here’s the conference standings (check out the goal differential).
And speaking of enforcers, they’re hockey’s football problem</em, no? (Not criticizing you for bringing it up; it just made me think.)
Hah, I totally misread your comment. Do have fun, even with all the fuddy duddies.
I have a huge problem with the culture of violence/fighting/goons in hockey. The BS Don Cherry posturing about how it just breeds respect between teams and eliminates dirty hits is infuriating. No other major North American sport requires this.
John Kordic falls into the same tragic category as Boogard, Rypien and Belak, just a decade or so early. I once read that his offseason preparation included sitting on the couch, watching TV, repeatedly punching the floor to toughen up his fists.
Personally, I think hockey has a lot of problems regarding player safety that they’re unwilling to address (unless things have changed – these things have really turned me off the NHL, so I don’t watch much anymore). They need to expand their rinks (which I heard they might do), institute no-touch icing, start suspending goons for extremely long periods, and force players to wear helmets that have actual useful chinstraps.
You just have to look at what happened to the Senators Karlsson recently to see how much the NHL doesn’t care about its players. Cook, who has injured multiple players in the past, slashes Karlsson’s achilles tendon with his skate and there’s no disciplinary action.
Every time the Olympics roll around, casual hockey fans revel in the display of skill (and some hitting), but hardcore NHL fans claim that it’d be impossible to have that sort of game – scrubbed of all the dirty play and thuggery – in an 82 game season. Bullshit.
College hockey also manages to do away with (most) fighting, and still has a great show.
Oh, and that is a crazy goal differential. That’s dominance.
Hah, I’m 47 years old!
I was about to offer my condolences. Then I did the math and realized how much closer it is than I’d like it to be. If anyone needs me, I’ll be sobbing in the corner.
I’ll buy you a drink.
What’s your favorite donut?
Glazed. Perhaps glazed with a layer of chocolate frosting.
The beard precludes anything more complicated.
Beards preclude many things. There is nothing sadder than watching a bearded man eating soup.
I’m still getting the hang of eating with a beard. Even as short as mine is, it’s surprising how much it can complicate the process.
Yes, but you get to enjoy your meal longer. Like all day.
I might be taking my son to the Bay Area Renaissance Festival Saturday. I have not decided for sure. He has never been to one, and I think he would enjoy it.
BARF!
Got a full dance-card this weekend. The Four and a Half Year Old has soccer in the morning tomorrow. Then we’re cleaning the house and going grocery shopping in time for the babysitter (also the Four and a Half Year Old’s favorite teacher at daycare) to show up at 5. Then we’re heading out to the City for a concert dubbed the Fifth Annual Texas Independence Day festival starring Pat Green, where I won a meet and greet.*
Then we’ve got at least three of the Four and a Half Year Old’s friends, along with their parents, coming over on Sunday. And somewhere in there we’ve got to find time for The Wife and I to watch The Hurt Locker.
*You read that correctly – a Texas Independence Day concert in New York City. This makes sense somehow. That I of all people will be in attendance makes even more sense with my Prius owning wife makes even more sense.
I’m finally starting to get out from underneath a mountain of accumulated deadlines at work. So I may well have more time to blog!
I did not mention how the first Friday of the Month is also Donut Friday and I’ll be darned if I miss one of those.
It’s funny how much people are motivated by free food. Someone who averages $75/hour will still work an hour of unpaid overtime for a $10 dinner. God help us if employers ever figure out that people will literally work for peanuts.
This really is the aptitude test for programmers. If free food in the break room lasts for more than 10 minutes, there’s something seriously wrong.
So the way it works for me is that I “earn” a day at the house for every six days out and you have to stay out a minimum of two weeks (well, ten days or whatever). Anyway, I find it generally works out better to stay out three weeks and take a three day weekend. So last Sunday I put in a request to be home Friday. It’s now Friday night and I’m not home yet. I’m picking up a load in SE Missouri tomorrow to deliver in Oklahoma Sunday and that’s supposed to put me in position to pick up a load that goes through the house. So now instead of Fri-Sun at the house I’m hoping for Sun-Tues or maybe Mon-Wed.
It’s awfully hard to make plans with this job.
So my weekend is going to be much like other working weekends. Mostly marked by the programs I listen to on XM.
Friday: Science Friday on Talk of the Nation (NPR)
Saturday: 8 am – On The Media (NPR)
9 am – used to be Car Talk but now they’re just re-runs so spin the dial
10 am – Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me! (NPR)
Spin the Dial until 1 pm – 4 pm — Leo Laporte the Tech Guy
4 pm – 7 pm — Science Fantastic with Michio Kaku (sometimes, depends on topic, great scientist, terrible talk show host)
7 pm – Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe
8 pm to 10 pm – Star Talk with Neil deGrasse Tyson
Sort of pathetic, but there it is.
Tiresome that you have to work, but (if it weren’t for it being the umpteenth day in a row doing so), I’d actually kind of like to spend the day covering ground and listening to radio. Jaybird and I used to daydream about doing your kind of work, back when we were young and too stupid to realize how hard it was.
Apparently I’m going to spend today having my car fixed. Tomorrow will be spent catching up on chores I was going to do today.