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Posted on

killing spree

Moving and and getting comfy before certain death.
Wednesday night already, week’s going fast. Gonna be a short entry tonight, not much to write about and not much time left to write it. Fell asleep on the couch right after dinner, 8pm-ish, and didn’t wake up until around 11pm. Did the dishes, took the trash to the curb, and logged on to do one late-night work e-mail check and finish up the blog.

I’ve got another trip to Taiwan coming up in early September, and I’m super-bummed because I can’t stay at the Sherwood. For those who’ve never read my Taiwan posts before, the Sherwood is a posh hotel that’s practically across the street from where I work in Taipei – and it’s my favorite hotel ever. Turns out there are several conferences in town the week I’m there, and the hotel isn’t offering their “extra low” company price that week. Since their regular rate is more than twice the discount rate – I just conscience spending that much more when there are cheaper hotels in town. You don’t understand how much this disappoints me, half the reason I look forward to going to Taiwan is staying at the Sherwood. I love the hotel, and I love the hotel bar – where I’m good friends with the staff. I have friends there, I’m comfortable there, and it’s familiar. I don’t want to stay at some other hotel. I even went so far as to have a buddy try and work a deal with the front desk to get me the cheap rate hookup. While he was able to score the company rate for a few of the nights, the hotel wouldn’t give me the whole stay – so it looks like I’ll be staying across town. Great. Now I’ve got to pay for a cab to and from the Sherwood bar to the hotel where I’m staying each night.

The other day I popped my head out the garage sidedoor to throw a bag of trash into the dumpster. For some reason, I stepped outside to survey my bleak and barren backyard landscape. Looking closer at my fence, I noticed a large colony of wasps had setup shop under one of the cross members in the fence. Moving in for a better look, I noticed two smaller hives in the same section of fence. Immediately, I was excited. I love spraying wasps with that long-range wasp spray. For them, a poisony death from the sky; for me, a chance to play God, annihilating an entire city – wasp-Sodom. Standing back a good 10ft, I hit them with the foamy asphyxiator and listened for the “plop” of their flightless bodies hitting the ground as they dropped dead. Wasps that were away begin returning, only to find their under-construction neighborhood is now a dripping mass of death, and fly around in confusion.

Guess I’m going to bed now. Two paragraphs is better than none I suppose. Goodnight.

Posted on

dreaming of murder

Bastardgrass.
Came home for lunch today to get away from the cubicle. The bread had little blooms of bright yellow mold all over it, so I made a bunch of little turkey and cheese sandwiches out of Club crackers instead. They were just as good, and they filled me up. My fingers smell like rosemary turkey and pepperjack cheese. Watched a little Andy Griffith (the one where Andy makes Opie give up football to spend all his time studying, and then sees the error of his ways and relents), and then decided to come back here and write a bit before I have to head back. I’m in no rush, work didn’t rest while I did last week and I’m doing double-duty to catch up. I think I’m back in the swing of things, all caught up on mail and working hard to offload a lot of things I’ll no longer be responsible for now that I’m a facnypants “manager.” My goal is to be able to give my focus to the “new” stuff I’m supposed to be doing, and portion out the “old” to others. It’s working… I’m slowly disengaging… but it will take time and effort to fully untangle my previous commitments and set them adrift on their own. I’m still happy though, not burned out yet, and not ready to give up yet – so, bring it.

After some serious frustration over trying to rid my yard of what I thought was a crabgrass infestation, I sat down at the PC and did some serious research. Turns out what I have is actually bermudagrass and not crabgrass at all (actually, I think it was Pat who 1st suggested I may not be dealing with crab, but some other weedgrass). Anyway, after actually going out into the yard and pulling a “runner” to hold up to the monitor in comparison, I was 100% sure I was dealing with bermuda. This beast of a weed has gotten out of control, it’s creeping runners are splayed out onto the sidewalks and driveways in the worst spots, like glaring neon signs shouting “poor lawn maintenance” to the neighborhood. After several unsuccessful applications of specialty weedgrass killers (albeit, most mistakenly targeted at crabgrass), I’ve had no luck stemming the march of this devil across my lawn. What’s worse, I think it’s sucking up all my real turf’s nutrients and making it struggle for survival. I… hate… this… grass.

Yeah, I know, why be this anal about a lawn? I can’t answer that. I don’t know why it bothers me so, grates on my nerves, makes me grumble every time I drive home and see it creeping into my driveway. But boy does it, and for that reason – it must die. So, delving deeper into the bottomless resource that is the internet – I ended up finding what seems to be a miracle product. A specialized weed-killer that specifically targets the bermuda nightmare grass, and kills it dead while leaving desired turf unharmed. Oh, I was doubtful, but I saw pictures folks – real, live pictures of the before and after results. This guy successfully annihilated an infestation that appeared to be much larger than mine. Of course, this godsend toxic chemical isn’t available in stores. But, it’s made right near here in lovely Fresno, and it’s available… wait for it… right through the internet. So, I whipped out the credit card and authorized the ~$60 pint to be shipped right to my front door.

You don’t even realize how utterly excited I am about this. I simply can’t wait to kill, murder, destroy, and/or obliterate this crap. I have fantasies about standing over huge patches of bermudagrass, browning in its throes of death, as I toss back my head in maniacal laughter. I’ll watch you die, bermudagrass, then I’ll spit on your grave. If I can get the bermudagrass killed and green up the real lawn, get a new tree planed where the old one has been long-dead, and do something with my sideyard planter that’s just a weedy pile of mulch – I’ll have a front yard I can be proud of again.

I still haven’t been over to anyone’s place where there’s a scanner so I can scan in Lil’ Chino’s ultrasound pictures… sucks that my scanner is busted.

‘Night.

Posted on

speaking of “watery”

Scooping.
Oh man… Peter Jennings died. What a bummer. My folks were ABC News folks, and I grew up listening to Jennings do the evening news every night. When my turn for adulthood came, I, too, chose ABC News for my occasional didn’t-get-to-check-the-internet-much TV news outlet – and Jennings was still there. I watched the first tower fall live in the top “window” of a Woodstock-style two window layout, the bottom one containing Mr. Jennings. Not like he was family or anything, but something about people who report the news gives me respect for them… like they are so much more “tied in” then us John Q. Publics. Now he’s just another old-timer reference that Lil’ Chino won’t understand, like Cronkite to my generation.

I don’t know what’s up with this new Death Cab album yet, I can’t seem to peg it. For some reason, I can only get about halfway through before I want to switch to something more uppy like the World Leader Pretend or HARD-Fi albums Ben recently turned me onto. Death Cab have always been good for some melancholic languid indie pop, but this album sounds particularly watery-weak to me after the first few listens. Maybe I’ll get over it, it’s not fair really since I’ve not yet once sat down and listened to it once front-to-back. I wonder if any Mr. Gibbard’s radio-success with Postal Service will spill over into this new album? I’m sure that, since they’re now under the major label umbrella, they’ll release a single proper, and perhaps even have some help payola’ing it into rotation. My thoughts are that, from these first impressions, they’d’ve done better commercially riding the last album rather than this one. But what do I know.

11:11pm and I’m working. Trying to get back into the “swing” I was in before strep took me out of the game. Sure, I’m still busy; and sure, I have crap due tomorrow that I’ll be working on tomorrow… who cares. The whole being sick thing kinda forced me to see that the company lives on with or without me, and I’m not nearly as critical as my swollen head may lead me to believe. That’s good, really, because it gives me some leave to slack a bit – and when I say “slack” I mean not work until midnight.

Wow, what a crap entry. Goodnight.

Posted on

world debut

Yargh.
Sharaun and I went to get Lil’ Chino’s first ultrasound last week. Man… what an amazing thing that was. This little baby, barely four months old and two inches long… was kicking and squirming and moving all over. Going in there, I expected so much less… people had set me up to expect seeing a peanut-looking thing with little definition. Turns out that’s about as wrong as wrong can be. This thing had a lot of definition… little arms, little legs, fingers and toes you can actually count, and clearly visible facial features. Looking at the little guy, alive and moving around on the screen (and even more impossibly, alive and moving around somewhere in the depths of Sharaun’s belly), it was hard to believe that something that’s already that real-baby-looking is, in reality, just a two-inch long “tadpole.” We got to hear the heartbeat, and got to take home Lil’ Chino’s first pictures. I was going to post them today, but my scanner is broken…

This weekend was a barnburner for music. Heard some ill tunes while at a party at Ben & Suzy’s place, and downloaded that. The album’s by some group named after an REM song, World Leader Pretend, but there’s this one song on the album that is just outstanding. I’ll try to find a link before I post this. Also at Ben’s party, he decided to kick the new Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! record, and to my surprise, it sounded different than mine. Then I remembered that my copy was seemingly patchwork in song titles and bitrates, and figured it must have been cobbled from various sources – some obviously including EPs of the same songs that were much different than the released album versions. Still, it’s nice to have heard the fetal version of some of the tracks – but the album versions have a nice shiny polish of studio applied, and I like it better. Then, Saturday morning, someone leaked the new Death Cab album. A pretty boast-worthy leak which surprisingly wasn’t accompanied by any release group hubris – which leads me to believe a lowly college-mag reviewer or record store worker ripped and released his/her promo copy for the love of the tunes. Not sure how I feel about it yet, but I’ll let ya know.

I think, had I been born 5 years later, I would’ve been a great MP3 release group insider. For those not familiar with how the whole pre-release MP3 thing works, the general process involves an “insider,” someone who has access to new albums before they are released for sale. This person could work at a radio station, newspaper, or in a record store that has access to promos. The insider gets the album, and sends a copy to the group’s encoders. The encoders follow the release group’s ripping and verifying protocol, ensuring a high-quality rip. The encoders then send the newly ripped MP3s onto the packagers/releasers. The tracks are then “packaged” for release and posted to one of the top-echelon underground FTP distribution sites. Within hours, a secondary group of folks, distributors, go in and download the album and spread it around to file-sharing locales accessible to us folks who aren’t “in.” Speed is key in the entire process, as the bragging rights only come for those who hit the ‘net first with the newest stuff in the best quality. It’s a huge deal, and it’s the machine that keeps me fed.

Anyway, when I was in college, I worked at a mom-‘n’-pop record store, and had daily access to promo releases of big albums. I know, because I used to beg my manager at the time to let me take choice ones home and rip copies to cassette (the pirate’s medium of choice at the time). That’s how I was tired of the Pumpkin’s Mellon-Collie before it ever hit the shelves; why, to this day, my copy of OK Computer is just a white disc with a black and white illustrated paper sleeve. Once I became “assistant manager,” I had unlimited access to whatever promos I wanted – and I used the privilege to be benefit. Transplanting those days five or so years into the future, I can completely see myself participating in the digital pre-release trade. Maybe not hooking up with a release group proper, but at least being an “indie” ripper/releaser for the glory of it. Y’know, the whole “I had it first, but am feeling benevolent… so here, you should hear this” thing.

I like the headline from CNN today, “Typhoon hits China, killing at least 1.” Not that I like typhoons, or them hitting China, or even killing, I just like the statement. Doesn’t the fact that some “killing” happened pretty much guarantee “at least one” was killed? If it were any less than one, you couldn’t really say any “killing” happened at all. I think it was the “at least” part was funny to me, it’s like CNN got some word that folks had died – but no hard numbers. Then, in a macabre desperation to post a body-count, they went with the safe “at least one.” Hey if there’s death, at least one poor dude must be dirt-nappin’… logical to me.

Goodnight.

Posted on

call divorce court

Die you microscopic bastards, die.
I’ve had it. Call Divorce Court; I’m not happy in this relationship anymore and I’m gettin’ out. This fever moved in without so much as a word, and took up residence acting like she owns the place. She doesn’t care about me or what I want, and I have a feeling she’s just using me as a warm body. So I’m filin’ papers, I’m done… I’m walking out on this one-sided relationship. It’s 2:30 and I’ve taken 3 doses of the antibiotic that was supposed to “make me feel a world better after just on dose,” and I’m still at 103 laid flat in front of the TV. Fast-forward a few hours and I’ve broken that last one, but still feel craptacular enough that I’m just a couple hours of feeling this way away from surrendering tomorrow’s workday. Tomorrow is Sharaun’s ultrasound and heartbeat appointment. I had planned to take an hour off in the afternoon anyway to attend, and regardless of how I feel I’m still going. Four days. That would make me out of work for four days. If it wasn’t me, if I was on the inside and someone else was out this long, I’d think they were either milking it or must have malaria or something. Four days is a long time to be out of work, especially considering I used up a Sunday “for free” as well.

Wrote that paragraph last night… but my my fever climbed to it’s second highest later on and I never got around to posting it. Thursday morning now and I’ve cautiously upgraded my condition to “feeling better.” No fever yet this morning, and I seem to have my strength back. I even went so far as to make some phone calls to key work folks, y’know – grease the skids before what I see as my imminent return for a hard Friday’s work. Later, I plan to sit down and tackle the e-mail that’s been piling up, see what emergencies I’ve missed and whether or not I should care about them. Being sick sucks, I hope the gods of sick recognize this as my “jury duty” for at least a couple years… the way I look at it, I’m paid up at least through 2007. I mean, half of the torture of being stuck in bed not being able to do anything is the list of things you’re not doing continually running through your head: the crabgrass you had big plans to hit with a second dose of poison and really finish off, finish painting the living room, work, etc. Stupid strep throat.

I’m outta here, don’t care if it sucks.

Posted on

yet they still call

Flarin' up real good there.
Tuesday morning, and I have enough of a respite from my fever/flu/whatever that I feel like writing. Last night was different, and found me covered in sweat the entire night long – rather than the one or two sweating-out sessions of the previous nights. It was uncomfortable, but I sure felt better this morning. Better still isn’t quite “good” yet, but it’s getting closer. Today my fever is hanging around 100-101, a few degrees cooler than Sunday and Monday – but still high enough to make me feel crappy. My throat isn’t doing too hot either. Hurts to swallow. Taking my mom’s advice, I made an appointment to see the doctor for this afternoon, just to see if they can possibly pinpoint my problem – and maybe even tie it to my mysterious ER visit last week. I dunno, I’m never sick… is this what getting old is like? My body has betrayed me.

I think I worry too much about missing work. Even feeling like crap, I surreptitiously log on a couple times a day and check my e-mail. I have a great fear of falling behind, but honestly, I also have a great love for “dropping out.” Things as they are right now at work, I wouldn’t think of pulling the old “mental health day” thing and taking a couple unwarranted days off – but I have no problem using deserved, malady-driven, sick days. Oh sure, calls still come in on my cellphone… and I hit the “silence” button and think of how I’ll claim I was probably sleeping at the time. I have been asleep a lot, after all. I’m not delusional, it’s not like I think that work will crumble without me. It’s just hard, especially in extremely busy times, to accept that the world will continue to turn should you step away from the small post that you man – but, it most certainly will. Having said that, I guess it’s obvious that it’s more of an ego thing than a genuine concern for the job. Peoples, humans that is, are funny like that – so accomplishment driven and high on themselves.

Sharaun and I have been talking about the things we’ll need to do before Lil’ Chino gets here, and one idea she came up with was to have a garage sale to try and move some of our built-up junk (potentially, for a profit). I thought it was a great idea. There is so much junk I could stand to get rid of (no, I’ll cling to my Garbage Pail Kids collection with my last dying grasp), and Sharaun’s got plenty of clutter too. Actually, it was the idea of a garage sale that got me excited – I’ve only “participated” in one once before, at least that I can remember. I’ll never forget making the decision that the potentially realizable $10 I could get from selling my entire He-Man and Star Wars action figure collections was more appealing than holding onto them for posterity (pure idiocy). There’s something very American about having a garage sale, very appealing.

Late-breaking update: Went to the doctor today, turns out I have strep throat. Means another sick day tomorrow, since I’ll be contagious for at least another 24hrs. That, and I still feel like crap. Woohoo – another day of fevers and sore throats and daytime TV.

Goodnight.

Posted on

sick leave

Over and over and over again.
Took the day off from work today (Monday as I write). An endless cycle of fever plateaus and sweaty fever breakings, topping out at 104.2 last night. Maybe it’s just me, but it always seems that when I have a high fever – my skin, especially on my scalp, becomes extremely sensitive – sore to the touch even. Anyway, today’s plan was to see the doctor… but I was so tired and drained that I just ended up sleeping and sweating. And now it’s nearly 8pm, and I’m feeling pretty decent having just come off my last high of 102 – but I’ve pretty much already decided that I’ll be staying home tomorrow as well, to really see the doctor this time and give myself one more day to recoup. I’ve got several important meetings that I’ll likely miss… which does make me feel bad… but I almost feel like I deserve it – I’m hardly ever sick to the point where I miss work. So, pay-up work, I’m calling in my unused sick time right now… cough, cough.

One thing about spending an entire 48hr period in alternating asleep and awake states, it gives you a lot of time to think. TV gets old fast, and the headaches that accompanied my fevers the past couple days pretty much ruled out reading, so sometimes I’ll just lie in bed daydreaming, waiting to drift off to sleep. I like “leading” my daydreams, I used to do it sitting at my desk in high school – I’d imagine vivid scenarios (yes, usually sexual, and yes, usually involving the class being “locked in” due to hurricane – my fantasy high school chicks always got so loose when they thought they were about to die). So I did a lot of daydream-seeding today, about all sorts of things. For some reason, my drifting-to-sleep fantasies are often tied to the position I’m sleeping in when they start. What I mean is, if I start laying out some storyline as I’m falling off, and then I change the way I’m lying – I won’t be able to get the fantasy “back” until I’ve re-situated myself. Weird, huh? At least I know it’s not just me, Sharaun was reading my draft of this post and totally agrees.

Again, being couch-ridden for two days does wonders for TiVo housecleaning. Lying there today, flipping around trying to find something to watch in my boredom… I decided that I don’t have enough interesting and/or varied programs set as Season Passes. Now, you know, I hate to talk TV like it’s all-important to me, but over these past couple days… it really has been. I mean, when I wasn’t asleep, the TV was on and I was watching something. So, I set about trying to find some new programs to add to our auto-record stuff. I’m pretty pleased with the results. First off, Gilligan’s Island, the original. I’ve always loved that show. Next, Timmy & Lassie, again, the original. Holy crap that show sucks. I remember it from when I was kid and Nickelodeon was brand new, and, only having only a few items of original programming, would play a whole bunch of strange Canadian stuff and 50s and 60s programming to fill up the time. Watching it now, it’s clear to me that each episode was just a form of mind-control for kids: don’t play by abandoned mines, don’t get too close to road construction, etc. Next, History Detectives on PBS – a show I’ve always loved. SportsCenter may seem out of place, being that I’m not much of a jock. But, I have some really fond memories of tuning in each night to watch it with my roommate in college – and I figure it’ll buy me man-points if I can at least converse intelligently about Palmeiro’s ‘roid problem. Next, Benny Hill – for a dose of that wacky British humor I’m a fan of. A put a few more on there too, the Honeymooners, PBS’s Nature, etc. Seemed like a good idea being home all day, but I’m sure I’ll be deleting most of it once I’m back to work.

Goodnight.