| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 |
February 27, 2005
Torn
Last night was a very interesting night. I went to dinner with my sister and ended up seeing my roommate's girlfriend out with another guy. I texted him and asked if they were seeing other people and he said "not that I know of." He seems to really like this girl, so I told him that she was there with someone. He didn't know about it. In fact, he thought she was somewhere completely different. Today, apparently, they've worked it out. She was supposed to go out with several people and they all stood her up except one guy. So it just looked bad. Then of course, it turned out even worse because I ended up at the same restaurant.
It was a very, very weird meal.
I was deluged with a flood of strange emotions. Of course, my loyalty was and will always be with my friend Erik, so obviously I felt the strong need to tell him, which I did without hesitation. But soon after, I felt a strange feeling that I was getting involved in something I shouldn't have. With all respect to his girlfriend, I don't need to feel any loyalty to her. But still I felt I was overstepping my bounds. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I made the decision I did. I just had so many emotions fighting within me that I became overwhelmed and confused by all of them. I don't know exactly how to describe it, but it was a very weird moment.
February 27, 2005
TV Spoiler
Last night, I spent the good part of a couple of hours discussing films and filmmaking with one of the producers from The Apprentice who is in town working on an independent film. It was a lot of fun and I may end up helping with his film. Also, if anybody wants to know who is in the final two for the show, just ask.
February 26, 2005
I'll Tell You What It Is, It's Crap!
On Friday night, I went to see What Is It?, Crispin Hellion Glover's independent film. You may remember Mr. Glover as George McFly, in Back to the Future. The night actually started out with The Big Slide Show, which was essentially Crispin reading 10 of his books from slides displayed for the crowd to read along with. From there, we watched his film, and then he came out for almost an hour to answer questions.
Well, in case you couldn't tell by the title of this post, I hated the movie. It seemed to be too focused on being artsy and symbolic instead of actually trying to say something. It was vague, ambiguous, and crap. I know he was trying to say something, but for the life of me, I don't know what it is. I've even spent the last couple of days letting it sit to make sure I couldn't figure it out and well, I can't. I have no idea.
With all of this, you may be surprised to hear that I am actually glad that I spent $15 to attend this train wreck of a film. Based on the trailer, I had a pretty good clue that i wasn't going to like the film but I decided to attend because I thought it would be interesting, which it was, but not in a good way. So if you have four hours to waste on watching crap, but thoroughly enjoying the experience of it, go see What Is It?
In fact, I think a more suitable title could have been, What Was That? because you'll be asking yourself that exact question as you leave the theatre.
February 23, 2005
Don't Call Me, I'll Call You
One of my workplace pet peeves is when somebody emails me and a short time later calls or stops by to say, "hey, I emailed you." To which, I typically respond, "Cool."
Then they start to talk about their email. I've decided I'm going to start telling people to either stop by or email, but not both. I can't handle it. It's so frustrating. This happened twice yesterday. TWICE. On two separate occasions somebody emailed me and then stopped by within an hour to talk about it. I sat there and didn't respond to them until they shut up, then I answered with:
"Let me check. You emailed me at 1:22. It is now 2:04. To be perfectly honest with you, I haven't even read your email. I'm too busy working to read all my email the second I receive it and respond to it and all the other emails simultaneously. From now on, after you email me, please allow me to contact you before you contact me."
The other occasion, the person simply stopped by to say, "I emailed you." That's all. I emailed you. Five minutes after she emailed it. It takes five minutes to walk from her office to my office. So she basicly hit "Send" and then walked down here to tell me about it. What the hell? What do you say to that?
From now on, I'm just going to ignore them when they come in my office. And when they try to get my attention say, "Oh, I'm sorry I was reading and responding to email."
February 22, 2005
Cobb Accessport
Yesterday, I drove down to Modern Garage and picked up a Cobb AccessPort for my Rex. I'm running the Stage I map because I haven't done the downpipe yet. Now, I assume I'm running about 275hp, but once I have that DP I should be hitting at about 300hp.
This handheld computer is a pretty cool little gadget. You plug it into the computer in your car (below the steering wheel on my car), which you can do even while the car is running, and change "maps." If you don't know, how your car performs is based on a map that is held in your car's computer. When somebody says they have "chipped" their car this usually means that have either "reflashed" their computer or added a piggyback chip that attaches to the stock computer. Mine does neither of these, but allows me to change the map on the fly. This handheld device can hold up to 10 maps that I define. Some of the maps included are stock, economy, anti-theft, valet, and a few performance maps. This is desirable to me because if I choose, I can still take my car in to the dealership and they won't be able to detect it because I can just change the map to the stock one. Pretty cool, huh?
February 21, 2005
To Move My Face Down
Wow, so last week I wrote at least three whole posts that didn't make it past the draft stage because I didn't like what they turned out to be after I finished them. But now I'm writing this just to move my ugly mug down the page. I hardly ever post pictures of me and when I finally do, I leave it up there for a week. This just goes to show you that I am not quite the left-brained, Red Personality Color Code, anal guy that you thought I was and I am actually unpredictable.
February 15, 2005
Mountain Man
I haven't shaved in about five days and boy, oh boy, is my face itching today. I shaved on Friday before work and then not at all, as is my custom, on the weekend. Then usually Monday morning I get a good shave in for the beginning of the workweek. But since, I was feeling sick over the weekend and it bled into Monday, and even today for that matter, I couldn't bring myself to putting a blade to my face.
If my mom could see me, she'd most definitely call me "disgusting." My mom has a way with words. This time, I think I'd have to agree with her. I don't think I look very good with facial hair. Some people look great, my roommate for one, looks very good with a five o'clock shadow. So, I think I'm going to have to get off my butt tonight and shave my disgusting face.
You can tell that I'm sick in that picture. Maybe I should take that down.
February 13, 2005
Mortgage Woes
In recent news, I've been going through the motions of getting approved for a mortgage. My credit score is pretty good and my debt-to-income ratio is good. Sounds like it would be easy to get approved to buy a home, right? And since you see billboards and radio ads and television commercials all the time pimping out the idea of "owning your own home" and "rent is for suckers," etc. I figured it would be a fairly simple process. Well, my friend, and you're a probably saying to yourself "Haha, first time home-buyers are so cute," it's not that easy. They are throwing all of this Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM), Fixed Rate, Interest Only, etc., etc. at me and to be perfectly honest, it all seems pretty overwhelming.
I was extremely nervous last year at this time when I bought my car, but considering that in six months time I could be almost a quarter of a million dollars in debt, sheesh, that just sounds bad. Last year I kept thinking, "do I really want to be $30,000 in debt?" Now that just sounds so small in comparison.
February 11, 2005
Did You Get Your 8 hours Last Night?
Today, I feel about 95%. Last night, I went home from work, took some Tylenol Cold and Flu with Cool Burst™ played a few games of Socom II and went to bed early. Today, I feel great.
It's amazing how much a good night of sleep can do for you.
February 10, 2005
Under The Weather
I'm sick today. My body aches. I have a tremendous headache. And I can't stop coughing. The worst part is, I think this is only the beginning.
Believe it or not, I actually came to work today. I've put in a pretty good day too.
February 08, 2005
Singin' In The Rain (Updated)
Awesome VW Golf commercial.February 07, 2005
Super Bored?
Apparently, a lot of people were either bored or didn't watch the Super Bowl. I for one was less than impressed by this year's commercials, but the game was almost second-to-none. Sure there were several turnovers, but the defense for both teams were excellent.
Personally, I thought it was the best Super Bowl I've seen in a long time. It even came down to the last minute.
So, the city of Boston has two tremendous victories under their belt and one sad loss. Let's see if the Celtics (a longshot), who are leading the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division can make it a trifecta.
As for me, my sports predictions have been perfect as of late. All 11 victors of the NFL playoff games this year I predicted correctly. Too bad I'm not a gambling man.
February 07, 2005
Suggestive Signage
As I was coming into the office this morning, I laughed audibly to myself upon seeing this sign on the door.
Then, upon returning to photograph the picture, I noticed the sign on the opposite side.
February 04, 2005
A Leaf Blowing On The Wind
"We consider the animals to be lower, and to me, that makes no sense at all. If you look at a tree or a mushroom or a squirrel, it's perfectly in tune with itself. It has no problem being exactly what it is, and it does what it's meant to do without any complaints or problems. Because we create all these problems in being, we think we're somehow higher than the animals. But it's we humans who have a difficult time even caring for our children, or anything."
Jeff Mangum said that in an interview more than a couple of years ago. I agree wholeheartedly. Jeff Mangum, in case you didn't know, was the lead singer and spiritual leader of a now defunct band called Neutral Milk Hotel. If you haven't heard of them, I'm not surprised. I first heard of them a couple of years ago. They're strange, different, and odd ... but in a good way. Very good stuff. Pick up their last CD "In the Aeroplane over the Sea" and give it a listen.
He also said:
"I think the reason I love Eastern thought so much, and mysticism in general-- but especially Buddhism-- is because it seems to me an attempt to look life squarely in the face, as it is. And to try to deal with the brute facts of the suffering in life, and the joy in life. I'm trying to find peace in the world, as it is. I'm feeling this sort of slow stripping of my mind, like the layers of an onion. I'm starting to see through all these little structures that have been imposed on me by my society that tell me how I'm supposed to view my life and the world. What I'm supposed to find to be important and what is not. Sometimes you see through so much of it that you feel like you're just a leaf blowing on the wind."
Sort of a modern-day hippie. And I like it.