Peer Pressure's a Bitch

Okay, okay, I'm giving in to the pressure and devoting a few threads in my brain to come up with the Partner Attribute List. A PAL for my Pal's if you will. I'm sure it'll be very original and entertaining, if not trite and boring. Contrary to the usual list methodology I follow, this one is more or less in order. Read on...

1. Intelligence: This is extremely key for me. I do not suffer fools and have little patience for stupidity and ignorance. Bearing in mind there's a huge difference between doing something stupid honestly and being honestly stupid. I suppose it boils down to the fact that if I can't have an intelligent conversation with someone, well, I'd rather be talking to myself. That being said, I'm not into walking brains either. I like people that are smart, without being smart. That probably doesn't make sense right now, so see #2.


2. Humility: "He who is humble is confident and wise. He who brags is insecure and lacking" - Lisa Edmondson. Apply this to everything and 'nuff said.


3. "Young": I'm not talking about age here. This stems from my grandparents, of which I had two sets. Although they were relatively all the same age, one set was "old" and the other was not. One set had fruitful and adventurous lives, the other did not. Can you guess which was which? When someone says to me, you're not acting your age, I say thank you. Be it good or bad, I am forever young at heart and crave others that are the same. Note: Not to be confused with immature. Acting young and acting immature are two completely separate things. If you disagree, well, I'm thumbing my nose at you.


4. Supportive/Outgoing: This is really a conglomeration of a bunch of different things, but basically someone who is positive, encouraging and pretty much the opposite of me. I tend to reflect the more pessimistic sides of life and I keep pretty much to myself. Therefore I try to surround myself with people that cancel that out. Look at the people I choose to spend time with and you'll see a common theme.


5. Sense of Humor: Read the following sentence and you'll know if you passed or not: Fart jokes are funny. (Get it...passed...oh nevermind)


6. Uniquely Dorky: I thought and thought about this one, and there's just no way to describe it. There is too much that goes into this one and it spans too many subjects. Suffice to say, if you are, you know it. If you're not, well, you're either not a dork at all or you're a nerdy dork. If you can't describe this one in your mind, well you're not my perfect partner, and that's what we're talking about here. So there.


7. Dedicated: Why is this towards the bottom of the list you ask? Well, as I see it, if someone makes it this far, we're probably quite compatable. Dedication should come easy. But still worth a mention.


8. Not Annoying: This is my catch-all category just in case somebody actually makes it through the rest of the criteria that really shouldn't.

Honorable Mentions:

• Well read - Not just books, just...everything
• Diverse - As in enjoying many things
• Relaxed
• Low maintenance - Not slobbish, but definitely not flashy
• Fun - That's it, just plain fun

So, there you have it. It took way too long, and it's probably already out of date, but hopefully it was a worthwhile read. I had to leave a few rather important things off in order to stick with 8 (sure, I kinda cheated), but best to keep 'em guessing right?

Weekend Rocks

So I've noticed that most of my blog entries have been a tad on the depressing side over the last, well...since I started. So, to liven things up a bit:

Things That Rocked About This Weekend
(as always, in no paticular order)

• Finished my book
• Onion Rings
• Finally figuring out the secret to playing Hexic
• Onion Rings
• The Addams Family in HD
• Addams Family Values in HD
• Doing pretty much nothing
• Marble Blast Ultra
• Cherry Coke, 50's style
• That much closer to Denver

Triva Note: I guess it's been a while since I watched the Addams Family movies. Did you ever notice that the sequl gave up-and-comer roles to Cynthia Nixon (Miranda) and Tony Shalhoub (Monk)?

Trivia Note 2: I used to have a girlfried that my family referred to as Morticia when I wasn't around. I had a good laugh years later when I found out.

Playing Tag

I seem to be on a post frenzy today, might as well keep it up...

Jimmy threw me in his tag list for the following thingy:

Tag 8 victims to join this game & leave a comment on a post letting them know they have been tagged. If tagged before, no need to contribute.

8 attributes (in no particular order) of Ever's "perfect" (perfect in quotes, because no one really is!) partner:

Hate to disappoint, but I'm going to cop out on this one.

It's a funny thing really, me and relationships. Looking back across the years, I've historically been a poor judge of all that. Plus I'm about as introverted as they come, so I have never really *looked* for a partner. They've always found me...never been a first move kinda guy. Therefore, I'm not really qualified to say what would make a perfect partner for myself. Yes, I know, sounds stupid.

Anyway, that's the short of it. I can't very well call "cop out" and then dive in to a huge narrative.

I tag:
Well, nobody. As usual, everybody I know has already been tagged.

Random Book Thinger

I don't have any interesting books here, so this didn't turn out so well.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence on your blog along with these instructions.

Note: Don't search around and look for the "coolest" book you can find. Do what's actually next to you.

The closest book to me that I could reach without moving stuff is the Adobe Photoshop CS User Guide. Page 123 gets me into Chapter 5: Selecting.

"If you are satisifed with your results, you can choose Layer > Merge Down to merge the new layer and layer mask with the underlying layer and make the changes permanent."

Excitement!!!

Friday Five

1. Age?
23
(it's the thought that counts)
(I'm also dyslexic)

2. Sex?
XY

3. Location?
Washington

4. Single?
Technically, no.

5. How long have you been doing the fridayfiver?
Too lazy to look backwards, but somewhere around 8 months I'd guess.

The Post That Wasn't

I had a post, a post you would have liked the most. It was a good 'ole post, that post I was going to post. I'm not trying to boast when I say this most perfect post would have you engrossed, but it's not quite done so I'm leaving it to roast.

Homecoming

Times have changed and times are strange
Here I come, But I ain't the same
Mama, I'm Coming Home

Okay, the song doesn't quite fit, but it popped in my head as soon as I heard the news. Haven't booked my tickets yet, but if all works as planned I'll be seeing ya'll Feb. 1 - 4.

Getting My Fix

Hallelujah! The King has arrived just in time to shove the needle in my eyes and end my reading shakes.

Coming tomorrow to a bookstore near you!

PS- Can anyone spell hallelujah without looking it up? What an awful friggin' word.

Seen From a Car

There's a lot of money on the roads out here, much more so than when I lived in Denver. Sure, I would see a nice car now and then, but out here it's just out of control. Although I never found them impressive in the least, Denver seemed to be a place where you'd sometimes see a nice BMW, Porche or on the very rare occasion, a Viper (usually around the Pepsi Center). And those that had them always seemed to think quite highly of themselves. I want them all to move out here.

People that drive those cars out here are like people that drive Honda Accords back home. Nice, but nothing special. Sure, they still think pretty highly of themselves, but they are certainly "not all that".

On the way to and from the office today, I followed, or was followed by, the following: 1 Lotus, 3 Ferrari's, 1 Lamborghini.

I'm still trying to figure out the Lamborghini owner. He had a vanity plate that said "MR BUBLY". Guess he either owns a winery or is an extremely gay sports car owner.

evrFid yaFi

1. What do you normally eat for breakfast?
My breakfast typically involves quite simply one of these.

2. Are you more likely to drink coffee or tea?
Coffee. With Bailey's if you've got it.

3. Would you consider yourself a good cook?
Yes, however it is quite unfortunate that I only seem to be good at cooking things which are NOT low fat. The worse something is for you, the better I am at making it. Terrible curse really.

4. What is your favorite meal?
I like food too much to answer this question.

5. Green eggs and ham: would you eat it?
No way. I've got a thing about food that just don't look right.

Thursday Bliss?

How do you describe bliss on a Thursday night?

Cooking a recipe that calls for 1/2 cup of wine. Mmmmmmm, leftover ingredients.

Bla

That is all.

Today's Fortune

Self-proclaimed glutton for punishment, I did it again:

Life is a series of choices.
Today yours are good ones.

Talk about ambiguous, how lame is that? Really, you can't even play the "...in bed!" game with it. Let's see, should I sleep on my left side or my right side tonight? Doesn't really matter I guess. No matter what I choose today, it can't be wrong now.

The Cookie Hath Spoken!

As Seen on a Car

People out here have a weird facination with license plate frames. I swear I never saw this many when I lived in Denver. Every now and then I see one that is actually entertaining. Such was the case this morning:

If your (sic) going to ride my ass



You should at least pull my hair!

Edit: A quick note to backup my initial statement above, I just walked past 30 cars in our parking garage...23 of them had license plate frames. Crazy freaks.

Happy in a Sad Way

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
The lord giveth, and the lord taketh away.
What goes up, must come down.
For each action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
...

There are a lot of ways to describe recent events, but there are no ways of explaining them.

On Thursday, January 12, 2006, my sister welcomed her first child into the world. He's a glowing little boy with a knack for sleeping.

On Friday, January 13, 2006, the youngest son of a good friend of our family committed suicide. He was only 19 years old. I used to babysit him and his brother when I was growing up, and I'll always remember the endless hours we spent playing Dr. Mario on Nintendo. Their mother was always a great inspiration to me, I only know one other person that smiles as much as she, I hope this doesn't steal it away forever.

Every time I stop to smile over my sister's news, I also want to shed a tear over the other. My thoughts are constantly with both families right now. One trying to learn how to begin, the other trying to learn how to continue.

Happy Birthday Nathan Gregory S.

R.I.P. Patrick M. 1986 - 2006

Friday the 13th

Just thought I'd point that out before I forgot.

Friday Five eviF yadirF

Wow, finally a decent set of questions. It's been a while.

1. Are you timely or always late?
I'm a timely person who is always late. Usually not my doing though, drives me nuts.

2. Do you wear a watch?
Well, watches and I have a very interesting relationship. Maybe I'll tell ya'll about it sometime. But to answer the question, currently, no.

3. What is the most important event you have been late for?
I was once late to a friend's wedding. Thankfully I wasn't in it or anything. I arrived just as they were walking down the aisle...after the ceremony. Suck.

4. What kind of system (do) you have for keeping track of your bills?
Don't have one. They always seem to get paid though. Autobill is a good thing.

5. What is your favorite time of day?
I usually peak around midnight or 1AM.

Secret Reveled!

Okay, so I'm pretty sure I pin-pointed the exciting secret. I thought it might be some news I got this morning, but I just learned of a better one. I'm sure this is it because it follows my usual Fortune Cookie luck of a curse in disguise.

Turns out my favorite band of all time is going on a US tour. They play a lot of shows around Europe, but they only make it stateside like every 6 or 7 years.

Exciting secret for sure!

The curse? No dates set for anywhere close to me. Closest is San Francisco. So what's the real rub? They're playing in DENVER. Goddamit!!!

Good Fortune

I grabbed a fortune cookie with my lunch today.

A friend will soon reveal an exciting secret to you!

Okay folks, fess up, who has the winning lotto ticket and intends to take me on a spectacular Caribbean vacation?

Of course, other secrets are welcome as well, as I like being in the know...I always seem to be the last one... But really, doesn't the Caribbean sound nice this time of year?

Happy Birthday!

Happy happy birthday
To a real cool gal
Happy happy birthday
I'm so glad that you're my pal

Happy happy birthday
I really cannot sing
Happy happy birthday
So don't expect your phone to ring

Happy happy birthday
I hope your wish comes true
Happy happy birthday
From this big 'ole dork to you

Flawed

I'm slowly coming upon the realization that a career change is in order. Not an industry change mind you, but I think I need to mix things up a bit. My head just isn't in the hardcore developer role anymore. I'm not having fun with it, and that tells me a lot. I was spoiled with my last position by having full creative freedom over what I was doing. Now, working off a set list of specs done by somebody else, it just doesn't appeal to me. I'm so much better at details and coming up with what should be done than I am with actually doing it. To an extent anyway.

Now, I know you're wondering what sped this process along. Well, nothing really, I'm just starting to listen to the voices in my head a little more lately. Plus I've been thinking about elevators a lot. Yes, elevators.

You see, the elevators in my building are flawed and it bugs the hell out of me. There's nothing I can do about the problem, and it's not my job to come up with a solution. But I suppose it could be. You may or may not agree with my assessment, but I worked up a little demonstration so humor me if you will.

Here's the setup:

You get on an elevator and push the number for your floor. Then, just before the doors close, somebody comes running up trying to catch your elevator. Now, your first reaction is problably to wish the doors closed, but that usually doesn't work so well. So assuming you are feeling nice that day, your second reaction would be to hit the "door open" button. Ah ha! That's there the problem begins. You've only got a split second to decide which button to push. You know there are two door operation buttons: door open and door close. But which one is which? They aren't labled very well, and you don't have time to study them. As it turns out, I always push the wrong one.

I don't have a camera here, so I can't get a "real life" demo going, but I put my meager Photoshop skills to use and worked up a diagram. This probably isn't going to work very well because I can't truly recreate the conditions, but we'll see.

I'll wait until a few comments are posted before I give you my reaction and why. I know my reasoning is sound, but my reaction may not be the norm.

So put it in your mind, you want to OPEN the door, do you push the button on the left or the button on the right? Don't think about it, just pick one. Ready?

Show Me The Picture

The Disaster Zone

The Disaster Zone
Originally uploaded by That Will Guy.

See, I wasn't kidding. :) It's even slightly worse since I took this picture, oh, yesterday!

Probably not going to get any better until this summer when it stops raining. Then I can throw everything out on the driveway and sift through the junk. As it sits now, it's like doing one of those puzzles where all of the pieces are jumbled up and you can only slide one of them at a time. Only this one is much bigger and in three dimensions.

Holy Crap!

Tonight I decided I'd crack it open and give it a try. I can definitely attest that when they say this stuff is dangerous, they are NOT kidding around. I grabbed a can of regular 'ole Campbell's Chili at the store, not some special "hot" version (no beans of course) and added some of this Blair's Reserve to it. Oh. My. God!

First off, it was near impossible to get the resin off the bottle to even open the darn thing, so I figured they were serious about it. And keeping in mind the warning that 1 teaspoon per gallon creates extreme heat, I was very careful when mixing it up. I actually just took the handle of a regular dinner spoon and dipped it about 1/2 inch into the bottle, then stirred it into the chili. This was nothing like regular hot sauce, it has a tar like consistency and a very deep blood-red color to it. When you smell the bottle, you can tell it's hot, but it doesn't give you that coughing sensation that smelling a cut habanero does.

Anyway, after it warmed up on the stove I gave it a little taste test. Even with that tiny amount that I added, it about knocked me on my ass. It was so hot, I honestly couldn't eat it. I added another whole can of chili to the pot to dilute it and it was still hot enough to make my head sweat and my nose run!

But the good news is, I survived the experiment and now know how very little it takes to spice up a dish. As it turns out, the best part about this stuff is that it adds an amazing amount of hottness, but doesn't affect the flavor of the food. Normally to make something that hot you'd have to add several hot peppers and it would affect the overall flavor, usually in a negative way. This was awesome, an extreme rush, yet the chili tasted superb!

High on my recommended list, but holy crap, be careful.

What's Update

So I guess it's been a while since I drafted a real post. I took Christmas vacation to the extreme *shrug*... So a quick catch-up on the pseudo-enigma that is me (in no real particular order, but numbered anyway, just cuz):

1. No HNT this week. I actually had a good idea, but alas, too lazy right now.
2. Bought a new TV over vactation, beats the fuck out of the old setup. Game on!
3. Speaking of game, my nights have been totally consumed by the 360. I think I've been playing till 2 or 3AM just about every night since I got the latest one. I simply cannot tell you how friggin' cool it is. Even if you aren't a game loser like myself, to see it is to love it.
4. Paving has begun behind my house for the new development. Construction can't be far away now.
5. My garage is a complete and utter disaster zone.
6. I didn't try any new and exciting beers over vacation, however I polished off bottles of Gray Goose and Bailey's Irish Cream (man I love that stuff).
7. I'm still in a funk and the rain lately hasn't helped much.
8. Neither have other things which I don't really discuss much.
9. Still not happy at work either, and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone.
11. Rockst*ar continues to be one of my good friends. I tried some Bawls today (don't go there :P) and wasn't too impressed
12. Of course I tried it after having a morning dose of Rockst*r. Goddam I'm jittery now. Can't be healthy.
13. I didn't make any New Year's resolutions.
14. Although I am going to start going to the gym again.
15. Next week.
16. I still need to take my Christmas lights down.
17. Rain sucks, I want the fog back.
18. I got cash from the folks for Christmas, not sure how best to spend it.
19. Leaning towards one of these because we get a hell of a discount on them at work.
20. College football rules.
21. Yeah, Nebraska won their bowl game. Rock!
22. CU is just getting pounded in every possible way. Double Rock!
23. I'm behind on my reading.
24. I'm behind on my news.
25. I've decided I really have no life; sex, social or otherwise.
26. Acceptance is the key to learning to live with it I guess.
27. I need a real vacation, somewhere that involves a beach.
28. I don't care about a lot of stuff anymore.
29. The Keg has good martini's.
30. Crab Legs are heavenly.
31. My neighbors still suck.
32. I love my extended family, but I'm growing tired of being PC Support Tech.
33. Costco is a good thing.
34. I've used my hot tub once in the last 2 - 3 months.
35. There's a good investment.
36. I find myself irritable lately, and I hate that.
37. Stagnation is never fun.
38. I've been taking my vitamins.
39. I bought a new hoodie the other day, it's soft and velvety on the inside.
40. I actually cleaned my desk at home, I mean really cleaned it.
41. I like it.
42. I have way more misc. computer parts laying around than anybody rightfully should.
43. What the hell do you do with old 9GB hard drives?
44. Seriously, I'd like to know, I think I have 50 of them.
45. Okay, maybe more like 12.
46. This post really cracks me up.
47. My brother got a new computer for Christmas. Finally! Although, it seems to be generating more "support calls" than his old shitty one.
48. My sister's baby is due any day now.
49. I really need to call her.
50. I think I'll stop now and do just that, she's awesome. Plus she always laughs at my dorky comments.
51. Cool, and right at an even number too.
52. Whoops, guess I fucked that one up.