crazy cubemate

I heard my cubemate say to his wife on the phone, "I was looking at those things you can make dough with." I'm not sure how she replied, but she definitely didn't understand what he meant because he was trying to describe it a different way.

"A mixer.", I say.

"Oh yeah a mixer.", he says. "Thanks"

His conversation continues and I hear him say, "... those good ones. Kitchen Aid, right."

The scary thing is that I knew he was talking about Kitchen Aid when I said mixer, I've known him for two years and she has lived with the guy for 20 or more. Shouldn't she understand him a little better than me?

blahger

I just lost a damn fine post. Blah. Hehe, wouldn't it be great if there was a rival blog site called blahger.com?

Oh, I lied my post did show up. I still think it would be funny if there was a blahger.com.

Subway Soap Star

I used to work at Subway and I just don't understand these kids that work there these days. When I worked there I would regularly make three or four sandwiches at the same time if they were all going to be on the same order. The thing I hated the most is when a person would order one sandwich and wait until I had wrapped it up and taken off my gloves before they said, "Oh, I have another one." Especially if there was a line waiting. Putting those gloves on is one of those inverse proportion laws. The more people waiting the longer it takes to get them on.

Today I went to Subway for lunch with a couple of my friends. Since I had left my wallet at home today (which I did find on my floor, but not as quickly as I expected. I guess I should probably clean or something.) one of my buddies was covering me for lunch. Of course I tried to help the guy out by saying, "We're going to be together if that makes a difference to you." Apparently it didn't make any difference to him because he made my sandwich, wrapped it up, took off his gloves and was waiting for me near the register until I said, "The two of us are paying together."

Now I would assume that he just didn't hear me tell him the first time but... Right after I said that one of my pals made a snide comment about us "being together" so I jokingly replied, "Oh, not that we're together...". The Sandwich Artist (if that's what they're still called) said, "Hey that's your thing. It doesn't matter to me."

I love to give people options for why they may have done something, so here they are:

1. He took my statement of "Oh, not that we're together..." as a recant to my original statement and thought I was one of those screwed up customers that can't make up their mind. With those people you just ignore everything they say until they announce "Foot long turkey on wheat bread."

2. He believed I was making a statement about the state of my relationship with my friend and I was asking for his approval. "I don't care. I'll still make you a sandwich."

3. He's a dope.

The girl there is so much more efficient. And she's much nicer to look at. Of course I've never seen her handle four... never mind.

Sonic Assault

Today on my way to work I threw in a Sepultura CD. Apparently I cranked it way up on the drive in and turned the car off during a very heavy part of the song because the sonic assault that hit me when I turned the car on actually made me jump. If anyone had been standing next to my car watching me they surely would have been laughing their ass off.

Humility

For some reason I decided I need to feel my ass as I was walking into the office today and discovered that my wallet was not in my back pocket. It's actually kind of nice not sitting on it all day, but now I don't have any means of purchasing food and I'm hungry. I guess I'll have to do some begging so I can get lunch.

Will work for beer

A friend of my cousin's husband is trying to get connected to Xbox Live. I told him what he needed to get but he keeps running into problems and he has no experience with this type of thing. He finally asked me if I would go over his house and set it up for him for $50 because the cable company told him it would cost about $300 for them to do it. I said, "No man, I work for beer. Hook me up with a six pack and I'll take care of it for you." I've never seen someone so excited to buy a six pack in my life.

Gerbera Sunset

I finished the Gerbera series. You can see the results here

There's nothing like...

the smell of burning CDs in the early afternoon.

Daisy-framed cont.

I picked up some more daisies today. I wish I had been able to get more of the orange ones, but they only had red or white. I'm still trying to decide which of these I like better. I didn't really expect to have a shot of the red ones that was so much like the shot of the orange ones. Maybe I'll get some yellow ones and make it a series.

Google Search Star

Google Search: pizza crust

How about that. My buddy just told me that he saw my name when he was looking for pizza crust. Sure enough I'm in the description of the third hit for pizza crust on Google. My Google Star has risen just like my pizza dough.

So much for being Mr. Jones.

Oddly Enough News | Fake Explosives Lost

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com: "PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Security screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport lost a bag containing fake explosives used to test the airport's bomb-detection system, federal officials said on Wednesday.

The bag was mistakenly loaded on a Continental Airlines flight to Amsterdam, where it was retrieved on arrival, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration said. The airport near New York City was one of three used by the Sept. 11 hijackers."

Rene had posted about some french cops that lost some explosives a couple of weeks ago. Now I find out that we're almost as bad. Unlike the french though, we didn't use real plastic explosives AND we were able to retrieve the bag.

Rock on

I actually got off my ass tonight and went to the rock gym with my brother. In the beginning of the year we went there few times and were thinking this would be our new thing. Between overworking ourselves and being short on money we ended basically forgetting all about that idea. Well, my brother got a gift certificate to EMS (because my cousin saw the super long line at the bookstore and this store was right next to it) and immediately thought "climbing gear".

So now we have a plan, and tonight we actually put the first part of it into place. We've pre-paid for our next four visits, which means no getting out of it because of a funds shortage. Perhaps more importantly we didn't kill ourselves tonight. We had a good time and I'm looking forward to our next visit. And that, my friends, is the key to me getting off my ass with any regularity.

The Laugh Police

So the manager I'm now calling the Laugh Police came by my desk today. The conversation went something like this:

Laugh Police: Mr. Jones*, are you busy?
Jay: Let's see, right now...
Laugh Police: You're not doing anything. I left a message with Cool Boss about this client but I haven't heard back from her. Would you be able to set up their upgrade?

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm usually not rude to people by cutting them off when I'm asking them to do something for me. It wouldn't have been wrong of me to inform him that he'd have to wait to hear back from Cool Boss, but the client would have paid for my petty revenge and that wouldn't be right.

Why did he have to be rude? I've come up with two possible reasons:

1. He's got a bit of a god complex and feels that his higher purpose outweighs the rules of order and decorum.

2. It chaps his ass that he has to go through me one way or another to have these things to get done.

I'm going to console myself by believing in option number 2.

*Jones is a good, generic last name, right?

Daisy-framed?

Over the weekend I bought these gerbera daisies with the intention of taking a picture of them that I could give to a friend as a present. Unfortunately I never quite made it outside to take some pictures in sunlight and now the daisies are too droopy. The only flowers I usually keep around are origami, so it's kind of odd to see petals start to wilt.

Below are the two shots I like the best. My room makes a pretty poor background so the original background was replaced on one of them to spare your eyes. Pretty flowers brighten up a room and all, but they don't do miracles.

Now I have to ask for your help. Is either of these shots "wall-hanging" quality? If yes which one? I can always get more flowers, so don't be afraid to say, "Sorry Jack, these are whack."

Speaking of "wall-hanging" quality photos, I received my print from Bryan on Friday. It looks great. I took it to get framed and the lady there was remarking at how nice it was. There was a big discount on the mounting, matting and framing if I dropped it off and picked it up in January, so I have to live without it being around for a couple of weeks. Thanks Bryan.

Shhh! No laughing allowed

Apparently I'm too boisterous at work for one of the manager's taste. I was warned by a co-worker that he had made comments about me when he had a meeting for his department. Of course he's not my manager so it's not as if I'm in trouble. I guess this is what happens when you pack people from four different departments into one area of the office. Departmental personalities don't always quite jive. I guess I'll think about avoiding "laughing all the time." Nah

Judge taken off criminal court

This story was sent to you by: Jay

Here's what happened to the judge that screwed up.

--------------------
Judge taken off criminal court
--------------------

By Robert Perez
Sentinel Staff Writer

December 6, 2004, 3:26 PM EST

SANFORD -- Seminole County Court Judge John R. Sloop was taken off criminal court today, three days after he ordered 11 people jailed for arriving late for their traffic court hearings.

All 11 had been directed to the wrong courtroom and were about two hours late for their hearings, but Sloop refused to hear their cases and had them arrested.

Records show seven people were jailed Thursday by Sloop under similar circumstances.

The order moving Sloop to the county civil court, issued by James E. C. Perry, chief judge of the 18th Judicial Circuit, goes into effect immediately and until further notice.

Eleven people jailed Friday spent eight hours or more at the Seminole County Jail before being released without being required to post bail. Sloop reversed his decision to have them jailed, although it is unclear why he had a change of heart. Attempts to reach Sloop have been unsuccessful. Perry also ordered the 11 released Friday.

The seven people jailed Thursday were not so lucky. While some were able to post bond that same day, others spent as many as three days in jail before posting bond.

Copyright (c) 2004, Orlando Sentinel | Get home delivery - up to 50% off

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Courtroom mix-up puts 11 in jail

This story was sent to you by: Jay

Here's the full story about those people that were jailed for being directed to the wrong courtroom.

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Courtroom mix-up puts 11 in jail
--------------------

They were misdirected, but a Seminole judge locks them up.

By Robert Perez
Sentinel Staff Writer

December 4, 2004

SANFORD -- After being directed to Courtroom 1B, the six men and five women waited Friday for a judge to hear their cases. And they waited and waited, but their names were never called.

Meanwhile, in an adjoining courtroom not 100 feet away, Seminole County Judge John R. Sloop was waiting for the 11 defendants to appear before him. When they didn't show up, he signed warrants for their arrests.

By the time the 11 finally discovered that they had been misdirected by court personnel and asked to appear before the judge to explain what had happened, he would not see them and ordered their arrests.

"When the officers came out, they had handcuffs," said Irving Merced, who was in court on a ticket for driving without a license. "I thought, 'I'm getting arrested? Why?' "

Before everything was straightened out, the defendants spent eight hours Friday in a Seminole County Jail cell.

Many of the defendants were angry and some began to cry as they were taken into custody, Merced said.

"I'm hungry, I'm tired and I'm disgusted," said Frantarshia Coleman, after she was released from jail Friday night. "This is ridiculous. This is disgusting."

Coleman, 33, of Orlando was in court on a ticket for not having her registration and proof of insurance. She was quick to pull out a wrinkled, yellow traffic ticket indicating her court date in Courtroom 1B. She and the others were supposed to be in 1A.

Theresa DeClue, 28, of Heathrow and Aileen Nunez, 24, of Orlando also recalled their shock at being jailed.

"I really thought, 'This is a joke. This can't be happening,' " DeClue said.

Nunez said she would contact an attorney.

"I hope that judge gets fired," she said.

Nunez and the others would have stayed in jail longer -- likely overnight -- had Sloop not signed paperwork later in the day allowing them to be released without having to pay bail. It is unclear why Sloop reversed his decision. Attempts to reach Sloop were not successful.

About the time that Sloop was reversing himself, Circuit Judge James Perry, chief judge of the 18th Judicial Circuit, took similar action to make sure the 11 would be released Friday.

"When I was made aware of this, I tried to reach Judge Sloop," Perry said late Friday. "When I was unable to reach him, I took steps to make sure they were released on their own recognizance."

Perry would not discuss Sloop's handling of the case or whether he planned to speak about it to Sloop next week. When asked, Perry said he would not have handled the issue the same way as Sloop.

Sloop has developed a reputation as a hard-nosed judge and was the only one of 10 Seminole County judges to receive the lowest rating -- "poor" -- in the 2004 Central Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers poll. Sloop's lowest rating in the poll -- 2.08 out of a possible 5 -- was for "demeanor."

Robert Perez can be reachedat rperez@orlandosentinel.comor 407-772-8046.



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Dreams

I've determined that you should always try to remember your dreams. How else are you going to accomplish them?

I remember having a dream recently where I read most of a 300 page book in 5 minutes. A co-worker asked if I remembered what happened in the book. Damn, if I could remember what happened in the book I could write it and make some money, because it was good.

Like Mitch says, "I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm gonna find out where they're going and meet up with them later."

Yahoo! News - Teacher Faces Fine for Using Doorstop

Yahoo! News - Teacher Faces Fine for Using Doorstop: "State Fire Marshal Sterling Lewis Jr. said the corridor wall that contains the door is a smoke partition and the door must be able to close if there is a fire to hinder the spread of smoke. He said not all doors in the building fall under that designation, so some can be propped open legally and some can't.

Sixth-grade teacher Susanna Robinson said her door was not labeled a smoke partition. She said the windows in her classroom do not open, teachers have been told not to adjust the thermostat and the room is too hot when it is filled with students."

More infuriation. I'm hoping the judge ends up being humanitarian enough to drop the citation.

Guinness World Records

Guinness World Records
Fastest Pint Of Stout
Multiple record-holder Peter Dowdeswell drank a pint of Guinness stout in just 2.1 seconds at the Millwall Football Club, London, UK, on April 24, 2001.

Brian and I agree that his is one record we wouldn't mind trying to break.

Yahoo! News - 11 Directed to Wrong Courtroom Arrested

Yahoo! News - 11 Directed to Wrong Courtroom Arrested: "By the time the 11 finally discovered that they had been misdirected by court personnel and asked to appear before the judge to explain what had happened, he would not see them and ordered their arrests."

This simply infuriates me.

Yahoo! News - Notable Quotes

Yahoo! News - Notable Quotes: "'I'm Colin Luther Powell

Public service is my thing

Don't do it for the ring, don't do it for the bling.'

--Secretary of State COLIN POWELL, making his debut as a rapper at the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington."

Hunka Hunka Burning...

As I was tooling along towards NYC on Saturday I saw a plume of black smoke coming from over a hill up ahead.

When I got close enough to actually see fire I thought it was the grass on the side of the road burning because some jackass had done something stupid.

But when I got closer I realized it was some sort of heap that was burning not just the grass. But why wouldn't the fireman just put out the burning hay bales?

I finally realize that I'm seeing a vehicle burning. As you can see the entire thing was engulfed in flames. I was able to determine that it was a Ford pickup truck because the tailgate was still visible. I guess this doesn't do much to disprove the Found On Road Dead acronym.

I certainly hope no one was in the truck. I wasn't able to find any news articles about it. Seeing this makes me feel even more fortunate that my "proof that two forms of matter can't occupy the same the same space at the same time" as Joey put it, wasn't more serious.

This was just on the way to NYC. There's more to come. No more fire, but certainly some heat to talk about.

New York City

I just wanted to do a quick post to say that I'm in NYC. So far I have a little story to tell that involves fire. I'll post more when I get home.

phil ringnalda dot com: Right-click Add Live Bookmark

phil ringnalda dot com: Right-click Add Live Bookmark

For anyone that likes the Live Bookmarks feature in Firefox, but wishes there was something like a Live Bookmark This Link... this extension is for you. It gives you an Add Live Bookmark option in your context menu to use on those sites that simply give you a link to the URL for their RSS feed instead of having the information built into the HTML.

pics of the damage

I'm sitting here on the phone in a training class, so I figured I'd post a couple of pictures of the damage to my car from the other day.

scary lunch meat

I hate scare lunch meat. It always waits until you have the mustard and cheese on the bread before it yells, "Uggada Uggada UGG" making you toss it in the trash in disgust. Of course the scary lunch meat is always the last lunch meat in the fridge which leaves you with nothing to put on your sandwich.

Hydroplaning Horror

I had a really rough time getting myself moving this morning. I did finally get myself started on my 40 minute drive to work in the pouring rain. I was cruising along in the fast lane not even half way there when my car starts turning sideways.

I'm hydroplaning and my tires have decide to treat the water that's under them like it's ice. I quickly turned the wheel to keep my front wheels pointing in the same direction as the highway and the car cooperated by starting to straighten out.

My instant of relief was very brief as I realized that the car was now turning past straight to go the opposite direction. I was able to get the wheel turned the other direction and also became aware of a car in a lane that I was now creeping towards.

I don't know how long my fight for control lasted, but I turned the wheel back and forth 5 or 6 times. The fight ended when the car turned past the point of no return and I realized that I was about to be looking at people's oncoming headlights.

Just about the same time I was completely facing the opposite direction I also came into contact with the guard rail and suddenly realized I had this thing called a brake. I came to a complete stop in the high speed lane, facing traffic, with part of my passenger side becoming intimately acquainted with the guard rail.

Of course the next thing I did was jump out of the car to assess the damage. There was one concerned gentleman that pulled his truck over in the breakdown lane to make sure everything was alright. I assured him that I was fine, saw that the tire closest to the guard rail seemed whole and jumped back in to get out of the rain.

At this point I realized it would be a damn good idea to put my emergency flashers on. Of course if someone sees headlights pointing at them in the high speed lane it's a pretty safe bet they're going to realize there is something drastically wrong.

I waited for a break in the cars going by, pulled a Uie, waved at my concerned friend to say thanks and proceeded to work.

If my concerned friend does read this let me tell you that I am extremely grateful to you for stopping and checking on me. If I knew who you were I would buy you a beer.

Yahoo! News - Men Arrested for Dumping Dirt in a Forest

Yahoo! News - Men Arrested for Dumping Dirt in a Forest

Deputy Robert Gomez said the U.S. Forest Service confirmed that it was illegal to dump anything, including dirt, on the federal land.

I suppose this means we're not allowed to take a dump on federal land either. So remember folks, you can't just throw your dirt anywhere. In fact you should probably keep it inside if possible.

joy of rss

i've spent the evening discovering what a wonderful thing rss is. unfortunately the shift key on this laptop has decided to not work, so i'm stuck with no capital letters. i've set up both my yahoo and bloglines.com. i think i'll end up sticking with my yahoo to read everything, but i've got my blogroll and notification set up through bloglines, so i'll just see what happens. if you're using rss please let me know what your using to get your feeds.

a picture

I just noticed that I hadn't put any pictures up with my last few posts so I figured I'd throw one up. I've really enjoyed the last few pics that Bryan has posted and this is as close to the same style that I have.

That was all I was going to say, but then I noticed something while I was putting in the tag for the picture to show up. I am such a perfectionist about some things. I never just put in the address of the picture in my img tag. I also specify the height , width, alt text and title text. I laugh at my dad for being so anal, but I can be just as bad. Of course this isn't the first time I've noticed this. In fact I've had some laughs with him about the whole thing, but it's always amazing when I realize how much alike we are.

Brushes with Fame

Yesterday my brother was watching Awesomely Badder Fashion on VH1. I'm standing there watching it for a minute and two girls come on to comment on something. My brain goes a little something like this. "Hey these girls are pretty cute. Hmmm, that name seems familiar. Wait that can't be... It is, I read her blog." I say to my brother, "I like, know her kind of. I've e-mailed her and... hey, I've given her html advice."

If you like criticizing celebrity fashion you should definitely check out the site that got the girls onto the show.

Today I hear on the radio that Julia Roberts is a new mother of twins. I actually met Julia close to ten years ago when I was deployed to Haiti. Congratulations Julia.

So I've had two "brushes with fame" in as many days. It's amazing how significant having had contact with someone you see on tv seems.

Mitch

After missing the first two appearances Mitch Hedberg made in RI this year I managed to catch my favorite comedian's show tonight. I am so glad I did because the show was awesome. There were plenty of jokes I had never heard, and plenty that I was saying right along with him. There was one joke where he stopped because he said he couldn't remember the rest of it, so my brother and I finished it off. We're pretty sure he would have said something about that if we were in the front. He's touring with Stephen Lynch who also put on a great show. Bottom line, if they're coming to your town and you don't have anything planned, go see them.

I actually had a choice to make when I found out that Mitch had added Providence to the tour schedule. Tonight was also my 10 year high school reunion. It wasn't a difficult choice since Mitch was cheaper and I enjoy him more than any high school classmates. I'm sure no one missed me.

I just got a statement that says I've paid off a credit card. What a wonderful feeling it was to delete that payment from the recurring payments in my online banking.

I got to work and realized that I didn't actually have anything to do today. My boss took today as a vacation day and her boss has already left for the day. Since I didn't manage to get home until 5pm last night I'm getting out of here.

Traveling through snow

Last night Kansas City was served it's first snow of the year like an unflavored slurpee from the sky. And just like 7-11 the sky was open all night. Apparently this same snow storm moved east today and landed on Chicago, the city I have a connection through to get home. I'm sitting in the Kansas City airport being told that all flights are being delayed a minimum of two hours. I knew flying the day before Thanksgiving was not going to be fun and that has certainly held true.

On the brighter side I went back to the 75th Street Brewery for lunch today and really enjoyed the beer this time. But what I enjoyed the most was the apple cobbler. It was simply amazing.

Ironically the only thing on tv catching my interest is the football game.

Are you ready for some football?

I'm not. While I was trying to get to my hotel I got stuck in the traffic heading to the stadium and had to turn around just inside the booths where you pay to park. What a fun little adventure. I saw plenty of New England Patriots jerseys heading for the stadium, so I don't feel that I'm abadoning any duty I might have to represent New England.

Alicia Witt is stunningtly beautiful.

I ate at the 75th Street Brewery for dinner. The greek pizza and happy hour prices were very nice. The beer however didn't excite me and that made me kind of sad. I was gonna keep drinking beers until I had a great one but something about consequences and being responsible echoed around in my brain and I decided to call it quits. Maybe one of these days I'll have to admit that I've grown up.

Jay

Kansas City Zoo

I arrived at my hotel here in Kansas City to the welcome view of a taco bell right next door. I am also right across the street from the Kansas City Chiefs stadium. Interestingly enough the New England Patriots are playing there Monday night. I'm not really a football fan, so I'm not going to go watch it, even if the home team is playing.

Yesterday was a beautiful day for the zoo. Unfortunately the Africa section of the zoo is closed for the winter. I knew that before I got there, but I didn't realize that half of the exhibits are in that section. I would have really liked to see the chimpanzees again but I still had a great day.

This elephant not only likes to paint, she likes it so much that she won't let the other elephants at the brushes. You can buy them at the gift shop starting at $25. I considered getting one but passed. If you want to see some elephants mess with some lions see the Imax movie Roar: Lions of the Kalahari. In fact go see it anyway if you get the chance. It was very good.

I don't think this dingo moved all day long. I went by his place twice a couple hours apart and he was in the exact same spot both times.

This maned wolf was napping the first time I went by as well. When I came back he was nice enough to get up and roam around.

I love the red pandas. I could hang out with them all day. It doesn't hurt that they're right next to the maned wolf, so I get to visit both at the same time. I do have a video of one of these guys that I might post later on.

Equally adorable is the tree kangaroo.

Seals are always fun to watch. While I was watching them a guy was idly playing around with a lock on a gate. Apparently these guys thought the sound meant they were about to get food, so they all came over and looked at us waiting for fish. While I thought it was kind of fun that we found this out, I didn't like the fact that the guy kept playing with the lock to get the seals to come over. Teasing just isn't nice.

I wasn't at the zoo long before I heard a rustling in some bushes and looked down to find this peacock. It turns out that there's more than one of them wandering around the place. Some little kids like to chase them. Others try to get their attention by yelling, "Peacock! Peacock!"

As it turns out the peacocks aren't the only animals that aren't strictly confined. The kangaroos don't get to wander the whole zoo, but they do wander onto the path that the people walk on.

You might wonder where kangaroos might want to go. Well some kangaroos apparently like to go visit their cousins the wallabies.

I can't wait to visit the zoo back home again. That's all I've got for right now. If you want to see more pictures from this zoo check out the Kansas City Zoo Photo Club's site.

Jay

St. Louis Zoo

I woke up this morning believing I had the day to myself but fate had other plans for me. I had to go visit the client again for a few different reasons which may have included the powers that be not giving me what I asked for yesterday. Fortunately I was out of there pretty quick and I still had time to visit the St. Louis Zoo before I headed here to Springfield despite a bit of rain here and there.

I zipped through pretty quick because I knew the zoo closed at 4 and that I had a 3 hour drive ahead of me. In fact I spent just over an hour there altogether. I managed to see pretty much everything I wanted to and I got plenty of pictures. You'll notice that I even got a picture of a squirrel that happened to be in the middle of the path having a snack that's about the same size as he is.

This hamadryas baboon seemed kind of sad. In fact all of the baboons seemed a little down. I would have jumped in there and played with them to cheer them up, but I've been warned about doing that again.

They actually have both african and asian elephants which you don't often see.

They had a few different types of bear there. These two guys were probably my favorite animals of the whole day. Look at them. What's not to love?

This kangaroo was staring me down big time. I didn't notice that evil glow in his eyes until I saw the picture. I'm glad I didn't stick around there too long. If you hear about anyone going missing after a day at this zoo make sure you tell someone to investigate this kangaroo. Who knows what he's managed to get away with over the years.

This rhino sure looks tough, but he was actually slipping in the mud. Alright, I guess that doesn't mean much, since I tend to slip in mud too. It's just nice to know that animals aren't perfect either.

I was surprised that this sifaka sat still long enough for me to get this shot.

These penguins on the other hand were just standing there. It was kind of cold in that exhibit. Maybe no one ever told them that you stay warm if you keep moving. Maybe they were looking up at a clock because they were waiting for the next swimming session to start. "Swim session A is now over. All penguins with blue bands around their ankles must now exit the water."

The last animal I saw today was a chicken, but it wasn't at the zoo. In fact it was made out of rubber and was hanging off of a truck.

Jay

I know better... part 2

and I almost run right past my gate. I get onboard and settle in. I'm glad I didn't kick myself back in the line, because having to sit now wouldn't be very fun.

I saw a full spectrum sunset through the window of the row in front of me. I managed to get this shot of it, but it doesn't do it justice.

Since I didn't download a book to put on my Palm I read the airline magazine. It would have been nice to have some music, but I couldn't convince myself to go pick up a soldering iron on Friday night to fix my mp3 player. Perhaps I wouldn't have noticed the sunset if I had those other forms of entertainment but it sure would have been nice to have the distraction.

Once I got here to St Louis I realized that I had downloaded directions from the hotel to a brewpub, but I hadn't gotten any directions from the airport to the hotel. "Not to worry," I think. After all I have a map program on the Palm. That's what it's for. Oops, I didn't download the map with St. Louis. I guess I'll have to rely on the directions Avis can give me, except that they give me the wrong card. But they were nice enough to include a map in the Avis folder which got me going in the right direction. As I'm cruising down the road I hit the scan button on the radio, since of course I don't have an mp3 player with me, and find Howlin' Wolf singing about his lil red rooster. At this point I know everything is just fine.

Now I'm sitting in my hotel, using the free high speed wireless internet and digesting the free cookies they gave me. The moral of this story certainly is not to shirk responsibility because everything will turn out ok anyway. The moral is to keep a positive attitude until you know you're screwed. Then you need to keep a positive attitude too. Otherwise you'll be sitting somewhere with a sore butt and that's never fun.

Jay

I know better...

Friday night as I was driving home I told myself that I was going to pack on Saturday. I knew that I didn't have anything planned for the day and for once I wanted to not stay up late to make sure my laundry was done or have to pack in a hurry. I wanted to have everything ready so I wouldn't have to worry about a thing.

My flight was at 4:55pm, which means I should be at the airport between 3 and 3:30. Since I hadn't done any laundry on Saturday I threw some in when I got home from church on Sunday. I'm kicking around the house waiting for the laundry to dry when I realize, "Hey it's already 3:10. I haven't packed anything yet."

I stuff all of my gadgets into my computer bag and start tossing clothes into my suitcase. It won't be my proudest moment if security decides they need to open my bag up, but at least everything I need is in there. It's just hitting 4 when I get to the airport to find one of the longest lines for security I've ever seen.

That line was only getting longer as I had to stand in the line to check in and then the line to get my bag screened. I find myself near the end of the big line around 4:20. At this point I really have no idea how things are going to turn out and I think about starting to kick myself. It may have been the possible danger to the people around me that stopped this or it may have been that I just accepted that I'd have plenty of time for self-flagellation if I didn't make the plane. There was just no reason to get all bent out of shape for a "what might come".

I get through security, put my shoes back on and hustle towards the gate. That's when the announcement comes over the PA. "This is the final boarding call..." I start running...

to be continued

Jay

It's never too cold for the zoo

I woke up this morning to find that we had our first snow of the year. I believe the very next thought after "Wow, there's snow." was "I hope my parents flight got out alright." (Jay suddenly realizes that he never followed through on that thought and checks the flight status at the airlines website.) Not to worry they'll be landing in Cancun in about an hour. Right on top of the concern for my parents was concern for my own flight tomorrow, but I doubt there will be any problem with that.

I started out dreading this trip. I'm being sent there with a promise to our clients in Missouri that I can fix all of their issues with our product. I was the one that installed this product for these clients in the first place, which is a little positive and a little negative. The positive part is that I know exactly what to expect at each place. The negative part is that I know exactly what to expect at each place.

One of these places had one problem after the other when I was installing this originally. In fact this will be the third time I visit this particular client. Another place has a CEO that is fairly demanding. Now that I'm thinking about it the other three places don't worry me much.

Here's the new positive light that's shining on this trip. This last week I had to update two local clients with the same product. One of those clients was an absolutely train wreck the first go around, but was a dream this time (this will actually have it's own post). I was done with the other client in about half a day. This means that for the first two places that I'm going to, where I scheduled two days at each, I very well could end up with some free time.

What could I do with some free time? Well, I was talking to my boss yesterday about the trip and how I'm looking forward to going back to the Kansas City Zoo. She mentions that St. Louis has a really nice zoo. St. Louis happens to be the first place I'm going, is one of the places I've scheduled two days for and is one of the places that I didn't have many problems with the first time I was there. How awesome would it be if I was able to visit two zoo's during one business trip? How cool is my boss that I can tell her that if the client doesn't need me the second day I'm taking it off and going to the zoo?

One thing that I can definitely bank on is that I'll be going to the Kansas City Zoo while I'm there over the weekend and this time I'll have a camera to take pictures of those crazy kangaroos.

Jay

Watch a baby rhino being born.

Father, Entertainer, Friend

My parents are leaving for vacation in the morning. My brother just told me via IM that at some point today the power went out at their house and my dad said, "What if the power goes out during the night and we don't get up in time and miss our flight?"

I knew exactly how my brother would reply to this and sure enough he told him, "Don't worry Dad, I'll set the alarm on my cell phone."

Dad comes back with, "You better put it right next to your head."

Anyone that knows my father can appreciate the humor in this little story. Since my friend Brian knows him I copied it and IMed it to him. Whadda ya know, he was on the phone with my dad at the time and actually heard that conversation.

Jay

The more I listen to any Cake album the more I like it.

Belgian Beer Fest

The Boston Belgian Beer Fest was fun, but we didn't get to enjoy it to it's full potential. Since my brother had to work until 5 we didn't get to leave until close to 6 which is when the second session started. By the time we drove up to Boston and found a spot to park it was almost 8. Then we find out that they're at capacity and can't let people in even you've already bought tickets. Apparently their only plan at that point was to have us stand in a line and wait as people came out smoked cigarettes and went back in. After about half an hour they started letting people in. I also heard someone come out and tell the guys working the door that they should ask people that came out if they were leaving, and to take their wristbands if they were, so they could let new people in.

Once we were in we grabbed the nearest beer and then made a beeline to see our buddy from Unibroue. We also got to see Matthew from Offshore. Other than that it felt like a mad dash to get around and use up our tickets before we got cut off at 9:40. No beer came home from this event kiddies. I wish I could at least remember some of the beers I liked, but it was mostly a blur. Except for that guy in the restroom taking pictures of the ceiling.

Jay

I just took the one thousandth picture with my camera. Unfortunately the picture doesn't rate to be posted.

Life in the Office

Normally my job requires me to travel fairly often. Lately I've been stuck in the office. Fortunately I have some great people in my office and today through a collaborative effort we were able to produce a full size replica of the upper body of a co-worker that was on the road.

For some reason people keep telling me I need to get back on the road.

Jay