I just thought of something.

So, I have a blog. You didn't know? Oh, it's because I haven't updated the thing for a while. Oh, I just found out that I can totally skip the stupid Blogger WYSIWYG editor. This, is a major bonus for me. I seem to spend more time making it look right than I do writing this damn thing.

So, where was I? You know, I don't think I really had a thought when I started this. Well, the only real news I have is that I have a new temporary job. Same company, I'm just on special assignment to another department for a few months. After week one, it's great. It's all about data security. Best thing, I'm not confined to the scheduling rules of a call center anymore. I set my own hours, lunch and breaks. It's so weird having that freedom after five years in the call center. And I'm going to try my damnedest to impress the pants off the managers so maybe I can be brought on as a permanent employee. So far, so good. I've been the go-to guy to create the process and show it to the other members of the project, and the managers seem to come only to me to help with the next move and such. Feeling pretty good about that. Hope I can keep it up.

In other peoples news, H has posted many new photo's and two new videos. I just finished putting up her latest video that she shot this weekend; A friendly glass of wine.

Oh, and one last thing...my new favorite show...

The Flight of the Conchords. I realize that I'm probably a little late to the party, but I don't care, it's tons-o-fun.

Until...well, until.

hummm...still can't figure out how to tag my post from Google Docs...oh well, not that big of a deal.

I hate 10

Wow, it's been some time now since I've done any blogging. I usually do this in the morning hours at work, and I write it in an email so it looks like I'm doing real work if the boss shows up. Using Google Docs for this home entry. But they've been pimping out my team to other departments for the past few weeks so I've been without the time. So, this entry will contain some info that's a bit old, but if I hadn't said anything, you'd be none the wiser.

So, this is the straw that broke the bus's back. It was five-thirty-one A M this past Monday. I was in my car with my wife waiting for the bus to come. That right there was odd. The bus I take (the 10, from Northtown) is usually there when I get there. It hangs around until five-thirty-nine and then it's off to downtown Minneapolis. So, the bus didn't get there until five-thirty-eight. A rider got off the bus (odd, I've never seen anybody get off at that time) and he was just laughing. Great, a weird-o, just laughing. Then I realize why, the bus driver is not my usual fella. He's one of those drivers that wears the captains hats with a bunch of gold pins on it. I know these types. They think they are the God of bus drivers. Always with this stupid shit-eating grin (I love that phrase, like they really eat shit, and smile about it) and just giddy about the world. He also sat really high in his seat too, like he was above everything. Jerk. O.k....whatever right. I start to doze off almost immediately. I wake up to find were still bumming around Northtown. It's like this shit-eater though idle was the way to get places. I knew right then I was going to miss my connection in Minneapolis. And guess what, I got there just in time to watch my connection drive off. This means I'll be 30 minutes late to work. I won't lose my job over it, but you know, still not cool. This seems to happen at least once every two weeks. This prompts me to look for another route to take. Good move. I find a route that near guarantees me to catch my connection with time to spare. Best part, it's in a ramp! Indoor freaking ramp that's nice and heated, keeps me out of the snow and rain...life it good. With that, I decide to find another route home. I get home 15 minutes faster now, and it forces me to walk five blocks. We're a go for exercise!

I'm done typing now. I don't have proper typing techniques so my hands are starting to hurt. I'm going to watch my DVR'd Survivor, Catch the rest of the Wild game. They just scored! M. Bergeron on the power play. It's what he does best. I'm watching the game summary from their site so I'm not sure, but I can bet it was a wicked slap shot from the top of the circle. O.k...I'm off to watch, and get sick from Hawaiian Punch and crackers. Wife is off on a photo shoot in St. Paul, so night to myself. Yes! Writing this while rocking to the Dead Kennedys. 

LET'S LYNCH THE LANDLORD MAN!! Ok....this time, I'm done.

The Oscars, and one loser.

So those Oscars were on again last night. I normally don’t watch them because I don’t watch enough movies to really know what’s good or not. And I don’t really follow the hype either. This year was a little different. I’ve been listening to and reading a lot more entertainment podcasts and blogs lately so I kind of had an idea of what was out there. Still didn’t make me want to watch most of the movies though. So, I decided to watch the last half hour and catch the really big awards. Silly me, to trust that there really was 30 minutes left according to the on screen menu. This brings me to the second reason why I don’t watch the Oscars. I always get this feeling that I will never have the recognition doing such great things. It just depresses me. But as I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep, I got to thinking. Why am I looking up to these people in such a way? I mean really, these people are just actors. They are not in any way the people they are playing on screen. So they can cry on cue. They can portray another person well enough for you to think it’s all true. Good for them. But when the cameras are off, they are just normal folk like you and I.

Hulu.com

I tend to think I'm pretty smart when it comes to things with the internet, but I'm just not getting this one.

If it's too small for you, click this.

I opened up Google Reader at 4:47p (box 1).

Looks like the post was posted at 4:02p (box 2).

Somehow my Hulu show was added to my queue at 8:21p (box 3).

Unless the Hulu servers are in another time zone, but I still don't understand how it was be almost 30 minutes off.

Any thoughts gang?

Things I'm doing right now:

Doing: typing up my blog and checking Twitter

Foods: Just finished up my Jimmy Johns sandwich.

Drinks: My Coke is now empty, I think I might have another.

Ears: Listening to Nightwish. I just can't get engouht of this group, and the symphonic metal genre in general.

Feeling guilty: Because I want to eat the cocolate I got for H for V-day. I won't though, I got myself some Oreo's. But, I have to pace myself.

Will be doing in five minutes: Making a cheesey V-day card for H, then off to watch 30 Rock from Netflix and work my puzzle.

Side note, I really hate drafting my posts in Blogger's WYSIWYG editor.

I found a puddle

I was taking Daphne out for her last bathroom break for the evening. She’s a little princess and doesn’t like to walk in the puddles that collect on the sidewalk near my apartment. Yeah I know, puddles in Minnesota in February? And rain! Even weirder is that there is ice that lines the sidewalks. I decide to follow Daphne around the water because I have my dog walking shoes one. They have holes in the heal. Most water is kept out of the shoe, but if I really force the issue, I’ll get wet feet. I figure, I’ve been doing this walking on ice thing for 29 years, I can avoid the water no problem.” I forgot that when you have ice, and add water, it gets very slippery. So, I slip and drop my ass right into the inch deep puddle we were trying to avoid. Of course, sure footed Daphne did just fine. I laid there for a bit mumbling curses to myself. I get up to see that I had let go of her leash, but like a good dog she stopped and waited for me. Funny moment, she came back for me, but stopped right at the edge of the puddle. Not even I, the great dog master, am good enough for her to wade though the water to me. I take a few steps toward her and realize that I feel much taller. Damn, My glasses fell off. How the hell am I going to find them in the dark, and not step on them while searching. Well, no need to concern myself, I found them pretty fast. On the way back, it was sort of fun splashing through all the water. I was all ready wet so I didn’t really care. As I am undressing from my wet cloths, I see that my jacket has some mud caked on it. Crap, it’s not mud, it’s crap. I clean that up and all is well, aside from a sore, wet butt. Holy hot mess I am long winded.

ramble ramble

So this is what I was afraid of when I got it in my head that I wanted to start blogging. One day I would just have nothing. That day has come. Nothing worth chatting about has come through my life. Right now I have 11 followers on Twitter. That’s 11 more than I thought I ever would. That makes me think, why did I hook up with Twitter in the first place? Maybe just for fun. Maybe just to see what would happen. Maybe to cross promote my blog. Not sure really. How about you tell me. My Google Reader has been backing up. As of now, 260 unread items. I usually have to keep it at 50 or less before I feel comfortable. My job has me working too much to catch up. Weird right? Working at work. Oh! This is news, for me. I’m getting my wife a gift for Valentines Day. She’ll be receiving a brand new hatchet! She’s on her own to get the chocolates. She knows what she wants better than I do. This is news because I never get her anything. I think this is the dumbest, made-up holiday out there. Right next to Independence day. (yeah, that was a joke. But because I have to explain it, it’s a lame joke. But hell if I’m going to delete it!) It’s 7:35a. I’m eating some M&M’s. How sad. My over-the-wall cube mate gave me and my shared desk cube made to bags of the 14oz. M’s. She’s awesome. I’m fatter. We’re all happier for it. Now, 270 unread items. I have to go catch up.

Guess I didn't have a Target on my back.

I’m not sure how far the news reached, but I’m sure it was a national story.

My employer, Target, laid off about 1,000 employees yesterday at 8:45a. It was a weird day in the office. It started out like normal. Just sitting at my desk catching up on my blogs and other internet things waiting for the phone calls to start. If I haven’t mentioned it before, I work in one of the very prestigious call centers. Glamorous work I tell ya. But really, I’m glad I still have it. Around 8:15a everybody, and I mean everybody got an email from the boss man, Terry Scully, President of Target Financial Services.

That right there made me wonder. We never get email right from him. Usually it's from his admin or some other corporate email account and signed by him. All it really said was there was an important announcement and every body should meet in the common meeting place for their floor at 9:00a. That too, was a red flag. They never have everybody meet at the same time like that. Especially the call center part of our building. Got keep some folks on the phone you know.

Around 8:50 my heart really got racing. I had a feeling what the meeting was and I was having one of those life flashing before you type of moments. If I lost my job, well, you can imagine it wouldn't be good. So, let's see...my bosses boss boss boss is the one who delivered the news. The meeting was at 9:00a, she said that everybody who was affected was notified at 8:45a that morning. So I was quite relieved. After that, I've never heard a call center so quiet. Even people who were on a call were quiet.

Slowly things got back to normal. Until I saw this girl who sits pretty close to me cleaning out her desk. Then it really hit home for me. I wasn't friends with her, but I will never see her again. She seemed in good spirits though. That was good to see since I have never seen this girl smile, until yesterday. Throughout the day I got IM's from former co-works who are now in other Target locations asking me if I was let go and how the rest of the department fared.

I guess this is where I reflect. I don't really want to though. I know a few others who got the boot yesterday. Yes, it sucks for them but I don't really feel to much for them. I wasn't that close. I guess this is a good argument for myself for why I don't have many friends. It's by design, not that I couldn't have any if I wanted to. Or maybe I can't, and I just say this to fool myself. I don't know. I have my two friends, Brother Dan and my wife H. They are the two I care the most for. Yes yes, I care for my other family too, but I don't really connect with them like I do with Dan and H. I wish Dan had kept up with his web site so I could link to it. It was going to be rad.

----END RAMBLING---

Right now, I'm listening to Rage Against The Machine - I'm Housin' (Live)