Off to A Good Start and Saturn Story #1

I'm off to a good start because I'm posting one day after my previous post. Also today was like butter at work. Paul used to say "like an old man sliding into a warm bath". That means it's smooth, easy, and relaxed. All Mondays should be like this. I mainly did administrative things at work today with our database and housekeeping (digital housekeeping that is). It's a good way to start off the work week. I also was able to send out a meeting request for Smash Brothers tonight. It's a mandatory meeting

A guy I work with, Bill, has two dogs. He hates them and talks about how he wants to kill them all the time. I mentioned that Shar Pei's have a short life-span, only 7.5 to 10 years. He said "That was a good choice then...you get a Jack Russell, you're stuck with that little F'er for 17 years or so". That's so weird to think of a dog as a comittment (in terms of years). I wonder what Walter and I will be up to in 5 years?

I also decided to start a special Monday post that will occur every Monday from now until May 19th. I decided this weekely posting would be random stories or occurances with my Saturn, since we only have a little less than 2 months left with each other before I divorce him. So let's start now, Monday, March 31.

Saturn Story #1

I bought you in February 2002 during my senior year of high school. It was by coincidence, really, that we met. I was with Grandma at the Saturn dealership while her car was being serviced, and noticed you off in the distance in the used car area. You had alloy wheels, a spoiler, and a sunroof, and were an angelic white color with black pinstripes. Surely you had Option Package 2, and would be expensive. I saw your price, $5,995, and didn't see you as cheap, but affordable. You had 88,900 miles on you in just 4 years. You were experienced in such a short time; my kind of car. I brought my dad back with me to look at you on a Sunday, when the Saturn dealer was closed and noticed you now parked in the customer parking. I thought you had been sold, but in reality I think you were about to be auctioned off because you had high miles. My first Saturn sat parked while I test drove you. The salesperson said my current Saturn was so clean he'd eat off the engine, and offered a good price on a trade in. So the deal was made, and you became mine. We had fun, you and I, in the first few colder months. Your sunroof was exotic and I used it even on cold mornings with the heater. Then I noticed your fault, and became worried...

Until next week...

A Sunday Update

It has been a long time since I posted. I'll do better this next week.

I just saw an advertisement for Lipozene, a weight loss drug, and one of their "customers" just said "I loved being able to loose weight without actually having to work for it". If you don't have any motivation to work in the first place...you're probably not going to loose weight, because it takes work.

I've had a fun weekend so far. Friday after work Paul, Dan and I went rock climbing in Ann Arbor. It's amazing how good rock climbing is for you. If you do it for a few hours (we usually stay for 3 hours or so) you burn around 700 calories. It's a good challenge too. I want to get a climbing harness sooon so I don't have to keep renting them.

Kiki was in Ann Arbor this weekend visiting U of M. So when Dan and I finished rock climbing we met Kiki downtown and got something to eat. I was glad I got to see her on Friday.

Saturday I took Walter to the dog park. We left a little early because he wasn't behaving very well. For some reason he did not want to come when he was called and kept walking away from me when I told him to come. I got to hang out with Kiki again on Saturday night. We played Rummikub and Fluxx in the lobby of her hotel and took lots of pictures.

I finished reading the book "Lamb" for the bookclub at work. It was actually very funny and a good book. The other one we're starting is supposed to be more serious and a tougher read. It's called "The Monsters of Templeton". I think I will start on it today. I still have to finish Paper Mario at some point. I will try to do that today, too.

A Movie

Tonight I saw one of the best movies: Elizabethtown. It was really, really, good and I recommend you see it.

That's all.

Happy Easter; Love Your Friend, Michigan

Instead of lillies, buds, and spring air we got this Friday for the Easter weekend. We had a nice week previously of actually seeing the ground, and the ground was starting to thaw out finally (i.e. it didn't feel like you were walking on a rock while walking on the grass). Then we got this. Luckily Saturday it started to melt but it was strange to see snow on the ground at Easter.

I didn't have to work Friday. A 3 day weekend should happen every weekend, if life were fair. I celebrated by sleeping later than usual, reading, teaching someone from work how to play Smash Brothers, reading more, then going over to Alex's to play more Smash Brothers, then I played 2 more hours with Paul online through Skype using a webcam.

Saturday I took Walt to the dog park. We had missed 2 weeks for whatever reason, but he was happy to go back and play with his dog friends. I also went rock climbing Saturday. I REALLY miss being able to do it for free at Clemson. Now I have to drop $25 every time I go. Friends from work go once or twice a week because they have year memberships (that's like $900). I try to go twice a month. I justify it because it's SUCH good exercise and a mental challenge as well.

I joined a program at work called "In Shape". The whole point is to be on a team, and encourage people to loose weight. Our engineering group formed a small team and I decided I would do it. Basically it's a 6 month long comittment in which you set a weight loss goal, and try to achieve it by the end of 6 months. As a team you're supposed to support each other. It's pretty strict, you have to keep a log of food you eat, and basically monitor calories in vs. calories out. I set my goal for 10 pounds in 6 months which I know I can do. I don't want to loose a tremendous amount of weight, but just firm up some. I lost 10 pounds in college, then another 5 pounds when I moved to Michigan. I attribute it to eating smaller portions, but still being healthy. I ate WAY to much when I lived at home. The portions were larger than I needed and there was always a snack of some sort on hand. So this program officially starts tomorrow.

Dan and I went to Easter service at church today. After that we went to Ruby Tuesday for lunch. I had Easter dinner with another friend from work, Paul, and his family.

I found this picture below online. This is the exact car I want to get in May. It's the same model and the same color I want. That's only about 2 months away now so it's getting closer.

Sort of Like Milo and Otis

I completely stole this from someone else, but I had to, because it's such a good video about a dog's relationship with their owner. I love it.



Yesterday when I was taking Walter for a walk I felt like Captain Olimar from Pikmin because on the grass I found a role of electrical tape, a pack of lifesavers, and a flip flop. What random litter, that could be treasure.

What I Did

I did a whole bunch of nothing this weekend. Friday night I went to one of the German intern's going away party. That was a lot of fun, but there were only 4 Americans there so I listened to a lot of German being spoken.

Saturday I decided to treat myself to some new clothes. I haven't bought any new clothes in a while, and decided I deserved some. Today after church all I did was read for most of the day. I'm trying to finish the book "Lamb" for the book club at work. I should actually be starting on our second book by now.

Tomorrow and Tuesday I have threaded fastner (i.e. nuts and bolts) in Troy, so I won't actually be at work for the next two days which will be a good break. This past week work was very annoying and just not fun. We have Friday off for Good Friday, but I have a very good feeling I will have to go into work to finish by a deadline. You know what's the most annoying thing: to be on a phone conference, and have 5 people say "you need to get this done ASAP so we can move forward...when can you have it done?". Yes, that's a legitimate question...however...I have learned so far that in this job, something that should only take 1 day, usually ends up taking 4-5 because there is a domino effect for everything. So that leaves me with the answer "I'm not sure, but I'm working as fast as I can". That gets frustrating. So a 2 day break is a good thing. If I didn't, I may turn into Paul. He already has 2 "me" days dedicated to himself!

I have been keeping up with my favorite quotes from "Lamb" and when I'm finished, I'm going to comprise them into a blog post. This humor should be shared.

Yuck

Today was not a good day. This week has not really been a good week in general, to be honest. I had to go to work for about 30 minutes to print stuff, and then drive to a meeting at one of the "Big Three". I won't say which one, but I will say their name begins with an "F" and ends with a "d" and has "or" in the middle of it. If I didn't have Subaru, and had to work with them only...I don't think I could do this job very long. Working with them is about as fun as watching paint dry, but worse because they give you work that is about as important as paint drying (i.e. not important at all). It's not all their fault to be honest. I am still learning a lot of the technical information, so I couldn't answer some of their questions, and I hate answering a question with "let me check on that and get back to you". So I was frustrated with myself too. Just imagine being in a grey, dark, drab building with nothing but middle aged men in tight cubicles arguing over whether or not a value should be 2 kN or 3 kN. It will kill your brain cells too, I promise.

The day did get better when I played Brawl online with Paul and got to beat him with Sweet Nana since he was playing as that dike, but then it got bad again when I noticed Walter was being way too quiet and not bothering me. I looked over at him: "Oh, he's just chewing on a bone". About 5 minutes later, I check again and the bone is beside his mouth, but he was chewing on something else: my phone. I yanked it out of his mouth, but he completely destroyed the bottom of it. It's mangled plastic and the charge port is dented, so they charger won't go in like it's supposed to. So if you call, and I don't answer for a few days, it's because I'm probably going to have to drop $150 for a new phone.

So...I'm just ready for this week to be over. Woe is me.

Short

Not much new to post, other than the Wi-Fi Smash Bros. Brawl is a lot of fun, especially the taunting. That's all for now.

A Lot Can Happen in 3 Hours

Just as I was reading an article on Wikipedia about the most populated metropolitan statistical areas in the country, my Monday went from bad, to worse, to really great all in a matter of 3 hours.

The bad and worse you'll hear about in person, because I suppose it is significant. The great will stay to me, because the "great" is a life lesson I think I learned late at 24, but am glad I did. Things seem much clearer and balanced now.

I'm going to bed now, because tonight was a whirlwind and I'm ready for it to end.

Bulleted List

1) Tonight is a very special night. At 12:00 AM, besides the time change, Smash Brothers Brawl is going to be released. Alex and I are going to the Gamestop around 11:00 for the pre-party and getting our games at midnight. This has been a long time coming. If I were to guess, there probably won't be much posting next week due to me playing that game, but we'll see.

2) Last night Katey and I went to Troy to eat at the California Pizza Kitchen in the Somerset Mall. The Somerset Mall is a really fun place to walk around. It's 3 stories tall and nothing but high end stores. Then we came back to my apartment and watched House. She wanted to watch House, I don't really like those CBS shows but it was ok.

3) I looked at some more houses today in Plymouth, 3 to be exact. What I saw today was much nicer than what I saw when Mom and Dad were here. The prices were lower and the houses were in much better conditions.

4) It snowed again today.

Gotta go!

Wow

Have you seen this? Amazing.

My Goal - Crushed

One of my goals was to get through my first winter in Michigan without slipping and fallig on ice. We've had ice around since November, so I thought I was doing pretty well now that we're in March. Last night I got out of my car, had my jacket and a drink in my arm, and went to walk inside. When I stepped behind my car I felt myself go, and WHAM I was on the ground, and my phone / keys / drink were sliding over the pavement. My leg and arm just burned; my arm hurt the most. It felt really hot, really fast. I busted my elbow open from the pavement. I'm fine now.

It's a good thing nobody was around to see me, but I wish I could have seen myself because it felt like a good fall. My feet actually left the ground and I came down full weight on my leg and elbow. I wish I could have seen it, not felt it. It would have been a good laugh.