Saturday, July 29, 2006

Ulthwe, for the win.

Another long day for the persons.

Y'know, I started to write this blog, then had to walk away after writing that first line and now I have no clue where the heck I was going with that. But I'm going to leave it. On a whim. Sucka.

Today was another pretty good day, despite having to be in at 10AM. (When will they learn?!) Work was actually rather blah. I got a few things done, but not really enough. Mostly because of the lack of help going around. See, even with the new full time employee, we've got a part-timer getting the heck out of dodge. And this new guy knows his stuff, he was even a Double Agent, but he doesn't know precinct work. So we've got to teach him the methods we use. I hate teaching. Renny was 45 minutes late today. Which is bad enough. But this story goes back a little farther than that. See, there was a blood drive today. And Annie and Amie were getting people signed up to give. I figured I hate avoided it long enough, and it was time to bite the bullet and just give. So I sign up for 2:45 in the afternoon thinking that surely I would be able to eat lunch before giving blood. Enter Renny. See, Renny should have been in at 2PM. Enabling me to immediately go to lunch, get cleaned up and give blood. Remember that 45 minutes late I was talking about? Yeah. Renny got there just in time for me to give blood. On an empty and growling stomach. So I'm lying there on the almost comfortable chair thing. That was designed for someone much smaller than me. Now, I can stand the sight of blood. I can handle the sight of my own blood. But apparently, I'm not so keen on seeing a dark red tube hanging from my arm. I've still got to twitch and shake my arm thinking about it. And they took from my right arm. Not my best arm. But back to the empty stomach. About 3/4 of the way into it, they notice me being visibly pale. I'd have said something, but speech was a little more than I could do at the time. Thinking was fine. Moving wasn't. So they immediately pump me full of about 4 cans of Pepsi and some crackers until I'm done. I don't think the nurse liked me too much. There appears to be a lot more donor involvement than I thought. And in situations like this, I prefer to just kinda nap through it and zone out. I think I would have been okay if I had eaten before. Even right now, though my right arm is still weak. I don't know if I'll give again.

In other news, Jerod is up for a day or two. My Eldar now stand, technically 2-0. Though these victories have been very narrow. But it's nice to win. Eldar tanks rule.

There's more to tell about the day at work, but I'm going to turn in "early." Still kinda tired.

sephiroth! sephiroth!

Thursday, July 27, 2006

A day of rest.

Aaah. Sleep. How I have missed thee. So far, my day off has been restful, unproductive and all around fantawesweetastic.

I played WoW until around, oh, dawn or so. Because it is, in fact, very fun to do so. Especially when you're running around kicking ass as a Paladin. Mmm, Paladin. I just learned the Ressurect spell, so I am well on my way to becoming a very viable party member.

I only ended up sleeping until around 11:30AM today. Which is far earlier than my usual 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. Heh. But it was a very nice six or so hours of sleep. I felt very well rested when Chris came in to wake me up to deliver some really good news.

See, we've been muttering to ourselves of late. Along with many plans we're putting into the works, we also came up with the notion of making a proposal to the apartment complex about being on-site, in-house security. Our plan is to make regular nightly patrols until a fairly reasonable hour. Flashlights, pseudo-tactical clothing, duty logs, incident reports, all that. We were going to ask for a small concession on our rent. Around $300 a month for the three of us. Chris went in with his proposal today, laid out our ideas. They agreed to everything but the concession. The offered HALF OFF THE RENT with the garage for FREE!!! That's right, instead of $400 a month a person ($1200 a month for rent, garage, water), they're talking about $600 a month for a 1,400 square foot apartment with three bedrooms. $200. A. Person. Holy cow.

Hugh is on his way out up here and we plan to celebrate with some fine Japanese cuisine.

now you feel like numba one, shining bright for everyone

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

I'd Forgotten

It's been a really long time since some on called me self-righteous. I'd forgotten how satisfying that is to hear. Especially if the person is trying to mock you when you're trying to offer support to someone you thought was a friend. I guess they all really do hate paladins.

*sigh*

Who are you people again?

Tired. Hurt. Too much work, not enough play. Rah.

Also? The smell of pot being smoked makes me sick to my stomach. If I had been thinking a little more clearly, I'd not have gone over there. I knew the guy smoked pot. But I didn't expect 12 of his stoner buddies to show up and begin to pass around the stuff. Which is pretty dumb. Most stoners only hang out with stoners. They being the only people that can really stand pot smoke. Perhaps I made the incorrect conclusion when I thought that it was a sometimes thing he did, not an Every Day After Work kind of thing. Eesh. I also made the mistake of complaining about said upset stomachness to some co-workers. Who glanced about and made sarcastic comments indicating that they, too, dabbled in the marijuana. Just another reason I want out of the place.

I've been enjoying World of Warcraft. Shut up, I'm new to the game. Anyway, I created a paladin, which is more fun than my warrior in many aspects, mostly survivability. Until, of course, level Ridiculous opposing characters (two of them) storm into what amounts to the Newbie Area and kill. A lot. I died at least a dozen times just trying to contribute to the defense of the area. Being level 11 at the time, going against what was later determined to be around 50, seems foolish. But there were many of us. But it was foolish. I didn't have to go, I could have gone along my merry way, but I like to play true to character. Paladin. Honor. Defense of the Realm and all that. But it was still fun helping bring them down. Eventually.

Going back to work, I am tired. Too much work, not enough days off. In a row, at least. By the end of this week, I will have had two days off in a row at the very beginning. That's it. The progression of the 21 days will have been as follows: off, off, WORK, WORK, WORK, WORK, WORK, off, WORK, WORK, WORK, WORK, WORK, off, WORK, WORK, WORK, WORK, off, WORK, off. And off the 15 days there I'm working, 11 were openers. I haven't worked a mid shift in weeks. I'm better at closing. I struggle when I open. Struggle to be in on time, struggle to perfom, struggle to give anything that even resembles a rat's ass about customers, their computers, managers, budgets, anything. But still they schedule me to open. Why?!?!

where is my mind

Monday, July 17, 2006

"Weekly" Post

I really meant to post something a few days ago. But I am a lazy fart. But here's the skinny, yo.

So my phone came in this week, and so now I have a cell phone. Unfortunately, I don't have anyone's number anymore. So if you know me and have/had my cell phone number, give me a ring sometime so that I might re-add your phone number into the list. Or message me. Or whatever. It's a pretty nice phone. Been on the market a month or so, maybe. KILLER battery life. I've had it on since Wednesday, and I've got 3 of 4 bars of battery power. And this is WITH the heavy amount of talking on it that I've been doing the last couple of days. Well, heavy for me anyway. It's black, and it's a flip phone. Not a ROKR, though. So I've lost my iTunes on a phone capability. I'll manage, somehow.

I also got a hookah all of my own this week. It's the Vicinity two hose model, offered by Southsmoke.com. Her name is Galadriel. She's a very pretty item, too. I got some nice tobaccos with her, too. A small sample of mint and a mix called Winter Flower, which combines mint, rose, apple, and cola. It's a very nice perfume smelling smoke, with a unique taste. But it might take a little getting used to, as it's not the immediately sweet flavor that we're used to. I'll have to take some pictures of her, soon, as the picture on the website doesn't really do her justice.

World of Warcraft. I am now a paying member. I like it, what can I say. I wish more MMORPG's offered free trials WITHOUT having to buy the software. I paid $39.99 for the "activation" and a "free" month's service. Whereas I could have paid $50 off the shelf never having tried the game at all. It's a very slick move on Blizzard's part, and I applaud them for it. But the game is really fun. And on top of that, it's very easy to start a new character and succeed with it. I'm tempted to start a new character, though I am loathe to toss away the work I put into my warrior. Always had a soft spot for the paladin class...

Today I had a rare weekend day off. Which I promptly spent sleeping in a bit then hitting the pool for three hours. I forget what a nice summer afternoon feels like, constantly being chained in my underappreciating job. Got a little sun, enjoyed the pool. It was nice. Though with the highs being in the mid-90's all week, I'm kinda glad I'll be indoors during the hottest parts of the days. Downside? I have to open almost all this week. This does not make Justin happy. Not one bit. Tomorrow/today promises to be a long one.

i still hate ipods

Monday, July 10, 2006

WoW

World of Warcrack.

A few days ago, I found a link, though I forget where, to a free 10 day trial for World of Warcraft. And, of course, I opted to give it a try. At first, I was loathe to delve into the game. It's artwork and colors are all very stylized and cartoon-like, full of bright colors. I guess I had grown used to Final Fantasy XI's more 'realistic' and muted colors and design. I was also somewhat put off by the fact that you can only learn two main professions. Which, in reality, means you choose one profession, and then have to learn the gathering skill for that profession. It wouldn't make any sense to make a Skinner/Blacksmith or an Herbalist/Leatherworker. But free? We can give it a shot for free. We can handle that.

And so far I'm liking it well enough. It's a lot (a hell of a whole lot) easier to level skills, professions, and class. Which is a double-edged sword. I remember it taking months to level to 18 in FFXI, but in the span of about three days of playing, I'm halfway to level 14. My profession skills are maxed out until I can find another trainer NPC. It's fun, though. And solo-ing is a lot easier to do, I've found. The drawbacks are there, though. The Looking For Group chat is constantly spammed with Chuck Norris Facts. And people yelling at the people spamming the LFG channel. And the people yelling at the people yelling at the people... A level 60 character is a little diminished in WoW, though, because it denotes a significantly less amount of time devoted to the game than, say, FFXI. If you saw a level 70 ANYTHING running around Vana'diel in FFXI you knew that cat had been around a while. Though, really, I think the highest level I've seen in my playing is around 25. I'm still in the n00b area, but my few trips into the main city, I haven't seen a whole lot of higher levels. I think I'm in a new server, but I haven't researched it or anything.

But if you play WoW and see a human warrior named Iustis running around on the Aerie Peak world, give a shout.

cry holy, holy, LORD

Monday, July 03, 2006

Ah, food.

First "real" meal I've cooked in ages. I've been pretty good about the nutrition of late, but not when cooking so much. Granted it centered around one of those pre-packaged box meals, but that's just the foundation. Made up two boxes of chicken/mashed potatoes/biscuits in our big ol' casserole dish. Then cooked up some corn and peas with a box of mac and cheese. And I made some goooooood mac, I tell ya what. Added 5 oz. of milk, instead of the 4 it asked for and then made up for it with a whole lot of parmesean and american cheeses added to the cheese sauce mix. While it maybe wasn't, ah, slimming, it was, at least, nutritious. And no seconds. A full plate, true, but just the one plate. Which means that I have plenty of leftovers. Nothing like an easy lunch!

And a Cheerwine for "dessert." Mmmm, Cheerwine.

and they call me mellow yellow...