Crazy game of poker

I don't know if any of you ever listen to the station called Jam On.. but they play some awesome improvisational "jam bands" such as Phish, Dave Matthews Band, Gov't Mule etc. This morning they played a song by a band I had heard of only in passing. I actually had a vesion of No Woman, No Cry by them, but this morning I heard 'Crazy Game of Poker' by OAR. These guys are amazing.

Give their song a listen. Its long .. so its in two parts. I know those of you who are somewhat afraid of the interwebs will probably pass or its just too much work to listen for 15 minutes, but believe me, its worth it.



PT. 2




Really.. give it a listen. Great stuff. If you don't like it, its probably because you are a communist or have had too many brain cells turned to mush from listening to Rascall Flats. I have been trying to warn people of the long term consequences of listening to that craptacular shitfest known as Rascall Flats, but some people just won't listen.

I say Of.. you say A.. Revolution

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Bleh...

90+ degrees. Sunny. Humid. This is the kind of weather that we get a couple weeks of in the summer time and I hate it. Its unpleasant to be outside. You can take a shower, get dressed and then you step outside and feel like you need another. BLEH.

For Father's Day the boys and I went to the movies to see the new Star Trek. I had big plans originally to go see the new Transformers on the Imax, but then I came to the realization that it doesn't actually release til Thursday of this week. So we went to Star Trek instead. Now I am not a Trekkie by any means and normally avoid the Star Trek movies, this one was done by JJ Abrahms and looked to be a restart to the franchise much like Batman Begins and The Dark Knight were to the Batman franchise. While it wasn't as good as the batman movies in my opinion, it was entertaining and overall I would say it was well done.

Yesterday I went to see 'The Taking of Pelham 123" with my brother and his father-in-law. It was a great flick. I like the complex heist type movies. This one had Travolta as the bad guy in it. As we were leaving, my brother said that while he is not normally bothered by profanity in a movie, this seemed over the top to him. I thought about it a minute and while I didn't agree that it was over the top, what bothered me is that it felt forced. Either the dialogue was just that poorly written, or Travolta couldn't quite pull off the super-badass-I-was-in-prison attitude. Sometimes it was ok.. but some of his tirades just felt like such a stretch for him. He is normally a good actor in my opinion, but this was definitely not his best role.

The boys and I, my brother and SIL and her parents all enjoyed happy hour together out at TGIFridays last night. It was a good time and it was a pleasure to get a chance to visit with her parents who are visiting from CA.

Stay cool everyone.

Big props to whoever invented air conditioning!

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MVNG!

I had to figure out how to turn the word moving into a 4 letter word.. so thats what I came up with. I have a lot of respect for people who move people for a living. I will tell you one thing though. The next time my brother tells me he is moving, he better also tell me that he is getting single story, ground floor apartment or he is getting a swift kick to the junk.

Here in WI we have had an amazingly awesome summer thus far. We have only had a couple of days where it has been over 80 and no really humid days. Most of the last couple of months the temp has been in the high 60s to low 70s which is perfect. I just knew however that when my brother said he wanted help moving on the 15th that it would be hot and humid. Forget complex weather forcasting models, just pick a day to move a whole ass-ton of furniture up stairs and you can pretty much plan on hot, sticky weather.

Not only is my brother's new apartment an upstairs unit, it has a loft with a small narrow staircase to get up there. Did I also mention that the doorway into his unit was as far as it could possibly be from any of the parking lots so we got to wheel and/or carry everything on a small hike before you could even start the joy that is stairs?

My brother and SIL helped me move some stuff around as well and all in all it was two days of backbreaking hell. So I have changing MOVING to MVNG as it is truly a four letter word in my book. I don't like moving my own shit.. I can't imagine moving other peoples shit for a living. My hat is off to those professional movers that do that day in and day out.

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Ungrateful

I had an odd experience when I was out with my brother and SIL the other night that has been kind of eating at me the last few days and I feel compelled to share with you now. It began with an epic journey to try and score some Ben & Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie Chunk ice cream.


The only location was downtown on State Street. There technically is one in the airport, but as it is behind the security checkpoint, it really doesn't count. So we make the journey downtown, park the car, put money in the meter and set off to find us some ice cream. We pass Cold Stone and head further down State. My brother has the address and after a quick look at the building numbers ASSURES us that we are headed in the right direction. After a few minutes of walking and ending up at the end of State St. and no Ben and Jerry's in sight I check the addresses for myself and realize we have been going the wrong direction the whole time. That's what I get for trusting the PILOT with the GPS NAV on his phone. /sigh

We turned around and walked all the way back up State St. As we were walking there was a guy shaking his container with change in it and asking for money from everyone walking bye. I was talking with my brother at this time and not paying attention as we walked bye but my SIL was listening and she was shocked as the guy was apparently yelling at people who were not giving him money and even said something along the lines of "Well fuck you then." when we passed him without putting something in his jar. I was shocked, but let it go and we moved on.

We made it all the way to the other end of State St. and found the address. There was the sign, but there was nothing inside. Apparently it had closed recently. The building was up for lease. /sigh. So while I mocked my brother for leading us on a 20 minuted wild goose chase for nothing, we headed back to Cold Stone so we didn't have to go home without something to show for our efforts. My SIL and I got out little servings of ice cream and my brother gets some nasty cotton candy flavored milk shake.. bleh.

It was nice outside, so we decide to sit on the benches outside and enjoy the weather and the atmosphere of the area which is right in the middle of the UW campus. As we are sitting there enjoying our ice cream, a gentleman walks up to us and at first I assume he is just being friendly and we chit chat for a minute before he launches into his spiel. He tells this story about how he just bought a foot long sub at subway, ate half and was saving the other half for later and was just trying to get home, but didn't have enough money for the bus. It was a long and involved story and at the end, he of course asks for money. My brother is sitting across from me and graciously pulls out his wallet and gives the guy a buck.

Now if you are asking for money and someone gives you money.. one would think you would be at least a little bit grateful right? Not this guy. He starts going on about how that a buck isn't enough to catch the bus ride home and does he have any more money? He then turns to me and TELLS me that I must have money I can give him. I told him that I wasn't going to give him any money. He gets really indignant now and there is anger in his voice. However, he does finally leave.

I know.. I am a heartless bastard that doesn't help those in need. Well let me paint a picture for you. This guy was dressed in pressed khaki pants. A pressed button down shirt. A leather type jacket and an nice pair of sunglasses. He was clean and well groomed. He had on nice shoes. There were no stains on his clothes. This was not a guy that was sleeping on the street.

So maybe he is down on his luck like a lot of people are these days. I tell you what. If I only have 5 bucks to my name, and there have been weeks where that has been the case, I make sure that I buy gas for my car first and foremost so I can get where I need to go. I don't go out for dinner at subway. So here is a well dressed guy who just told me he spent his last 5 bucks on a footlong at Subway, but is now getting pissed and because my brother and I won't pay for a bus ride for him? Maybe you should have bought the 6 inch sub and had enough to get home. Or maybe you should have bought a loaf of bread and some peanut butter and had sandwiches for a few days and STILL had enough to get a bus ride home.

In this time period in our country I don't think anyone is unaware people are struggling. That people are hurting and there are many situations where people suddenly do need help. My problem with this situation was his attitude and the decisions he was making. If I was stuck downtown and needed bus fare to get home and had to go ask people to spare some change, I would sure as hell be humble and grateful for ANYTHING someone gave me. Only have a quarter in your pocket? THANK YOU. You have a dollar that you are willing to give me in exchange for nothing? THANK YOU.

This guy felt like we owed him something. He felt that he was being done an injustice because we weren't giving him more money. My brother is more patient and gracious than I am because after that little ungrateful outburst, I would have told him to give me my dollar back. Ungrateful sonofabitch. If someone holds a door for me, I say thank you and am grafetul they did. This guy is asking for free money and doesn't have the common decency to at least pretend to be appreciative? Fuck you then. Oh .. and the bus that you were 'waiting' for just stopped and you didn't get on even though I watched several other people hand you money. Guess it wasn't that important for you to get home after all was it?

I know it seems like I am a callous prick, but in a time when everyone is struggling and cutting back and trying to make ends meet, acting as he did when someone is trying to help him just floors me.

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Seriously?

My brother and I often get together on Mondays as I have the day off and he does fairly often as well. We usually grab lunch, watch a movie or two and lately we have been doing happy hour after my sister-in-law gets off work. This week we were at Friday's where they have 1/2 price apps and taps during happy hour. We usually get a few appetizers to share and this week was no exception. We have tried most of them on the menu, but this week we decided to try the nachos.

What comes to mind when you think nachos? A big plate of chips .. with melted nacho cheese on them. Sometimes other toppings as well. So Friday's menu description says that theirs comes with 'bacon–infused refried beans, spicy nacho meat and cheese'. Now my brother and I weren't too keen on the refried beans so we asked if we could get the nachos with just the meat and nacho cheese. We were told the beans and meat were a mix and so no, they couldn't do that. After some discussion, we decided to try them anyway and got that mix on the side for my SIL as she wanted it.

After waiting, our big plate of nachos came. Chips piled high with melted nacho cheese! Oh.. wait. WTF is this crap?

Seriously.. W T F is that? Oh.. I'm sorry, I thought we ordered NACHOS. I know we are in Wisconsin and all and we are not exactly bordering Mexico or anything, but Fridays is a national chain and surely you can afford to send someone to research what the hell nachos are supposed to be. Really.. if you ran out of nachos, then come out and tell me you are out of nachos. Don't russle up some stale taco shells and break them in half and then melt some co-jack cheese on top and try to pass them off as nachos gringo!

If you decide to go to Fridays for appetizers, stay away from the not-so-nachos. If you want to recreate the experience for free at home, then just leave 4 hard taco shells out on the counter for a few days and let them get nice and stale. Then break them in half, melt some cheese on top making sure its not actualy spicy nacho cheese as that might get too close to real nachos. Then put them on a plate and scoop some baby food pees into a pile in the middle and call it guacamole. Voila! You have Fridays 'nachos' of your very own!

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The roof .. the roof..

....is apparently on fire. Actually, the whole place has burned right to the ground. I'm of course referring to the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop in Vassalboro, Maine. The entire building was destroyed, including the families living quarters that were attached to the back. State fire officials have confirmed it was arson.

I understand that some people may oppose a topless coffee shop. I get that some uptight people are probably quite uncomfortable with the concept. However, this is one of those cases where those people need to get the fuck over themselves and either deal, or move the hell away.

Someone was so offended by this 'atrocity' that they decided it was ok for them to take the law into their own hands and burn it to the ground. Nevermind the fact that it was a popular business that employed 14 people. Nevermind the fact that the owner, his two daughters, their boyfriends and 2 grandkids were all asleep in the attached living are when the arsonist set the place ablaze. Luckily an ambulance crew returning from another call noticed the blaze and were able to wake the family and get them out safely.

Just when you think we are making progress as a society something like this rears its head. What kind of message does this send? The topless human form is a horrible thing, but setting someone elses property and business on fire and possibly killing 7 people is ok if you REALLY don't like something. Good game. If they catch the arsonist, I say that he/she should be forced to watch as his home is burned down while hedonistic topless people dance around around it cheering. Then, they should shave off his nipples like they guy from Pink Floyd's The Wall since nipples apparently are offensive to him. I wouldn't want him suffering emotional distress when he looks in the mirror!

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I'll get right on that!

We have a department here at work that I won't mention by name, but let's just say it rhymes with Shmurveillance. Now this is a department you would expect to be on the ball. On top of things. They are technically one of the 'watchdogs'. They should be aware of whats going on and be proactive and all that jazz. Right?!?

Due to regulations here, we are not allowed to replicate certain data to our hot site unless there is a camera there that is monitored by said department here. It can't be monitored by security at the remote site, it HAS to be monitored from here to be in compliance. So this presented a bit of new situation for the department and so we have been working with them to come up with a viable solution to this problem.

Now, this situation first came up close to 2 years ago.. and we have been working/fighting with them since. We finally got some equipment onsite in January of this year. When they brought it up, I questioned the purchase and if they actually had everything they needed. They bought the camera and one signal converter. I asked them "Don't you need another signal converter on this end to get it back to what you use in your system?" Queue up the quizzical looks and head scratching. /sigh

So they agreed to go back and research it with the company. Apparently 'research it' meant 'forget about it for an extended period of time and hopefully it will go away'. This phrase, 'research it', was much like an old supervisor of mine using the phrase 'let's tag-team this' which really meant 'you do it and I'll take credit'. It's all about knowing the language I guess.

Anyway, in this extended time period that we have been waiting for this camera install, that same department insists on sending EVERY work request up to us with "URGENT" or "ASAP" or "EXPEDITE" all over it. Oh the irony. It's that whole scratch-my-back-i'll-scratch-yours thing. Only they seem to want a back scratch, then a massage, and even a happy ending to boot and are not willing to even look at our backs in return.

In this vein, I stumbled across some new office words that I found helpful to know the definition of:

Blamestorming - A group discussion of why a deadline was missed or a project failed and who was responsible.

Glazing - Corporate-speak for sleeping with your eyes open; a popular pastime at conferences and early-morning meetings. “Didn’t he notice that by the second session half the room was glazing?”

Percussive Maintenance - The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again.

Salmon Day - The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get screwed in the end. “God, today was a total salmon day!”

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