Monday, December 26, 2005

Well, it's over

Christmas is done. It was strange to have Christmas on a Sunday. So far, so good, thought. No complaints about the gifts, yet.

Like I've been telling everyone at work, it's been a Hot Topic and Leather Christmas. Lots of bondage pants and long leather coats. Not alot of stuff, but an apealing haul, none the less.

What was my best present? Hard to say. I really like the coat. I would say the gift I use the most was from Steven. But he got the idea from me. In fact, there were at least 4 of them given at our house. The Belkin Nostromo n52 Speedpad. Awsome gamer toy. You can configure it to be an entire keyboard, all for the left hand. Cool stuff.

I do like the leather coat, though. I guess I look OK in it. I really don't care. I like it, so I guess that's all that matters.

I got the Air Force Monopoly game, too. Cool idea. Nice game pieces.

I got a nice bath robe, too. And a Homer Simpson tie.

Of course, the cool "family" present was a new LCD TV for the living room.

On a different subject, I'm really looking forward to this Friday. Jackie and Carlo's wedding. The big thing over winter break for Det 330 AFROTC!

Well, work tomorrow, so it will be a long day tomorrow. I need to finish my 88 hours this pay period before Friday morning (that is, the end of the year).

Merry Christmas.

Monday, December 12, 2005

Long overdue

OK. It’s been like forever since I’ve blogged, but I’ve really been busy. Well, OK. Not REALLY busy, but busy none the less. I’ve changed jobs (that was a real shock to my old boss, but not unrecoverable) and now I am a Systems Analyst. I can now geek out at work and get away with it!

I’m on a plane to Orlando right now. I really like Southwest Airlines. The “Flight Attendants” are fun and actually have a personality. That always makes flying easier. Not that I don’t like flying, but I just don’t like NOT being in control. I guess it’s OK for me to not like flying now that I’m not in the Air Force any more.

I’m holding in my hand a funny thing. OK. The bags of peanuts have gotten MUCH smaller since I started flying. There’s almost a mouthful in the bag now. Almost but not quite. But that’s not the funny thing. The label on the bag says:
“Dry Roasted Peanuts
Ingredients: Peanuts, Dry Roasted, with Salt and Tapioca Dextrin.
Produced in a facility that process peanuts and other nuts.”
Like I didn’t know that dry roasted peanuts would be produced in a facility that processes peanuts! What else would they process there! Come on, really. That’s going just a LITTLE too far with CYA, don’t you think? If someone is allergic to nuts, don’t you think they would be smart enough to realize they shouldn’t eat peanuts, because they contain . . . peanuts? Wow.

Speaking of Wow, (I just can’t leave it alone). I guess that’s my new addiction. It’s a great stress relief, but I often wonder, how many of those female characters are actually guys (like me)? Who knows. I do have fun, though.

Small companies are interesting. After leaving a company of about 500, starting with a company of about 30 is a refreshing experience. I like the structure, or lack thereof. I like the unpretentiousness of the whole thing. Easy-going is a good description. I guess I didn’t explain WHY I’m on a plane for Orlando. 1st day on the job and already I’m going on a business trip! And of course Orlando is a good choice. The bad part is, today is Marie’s birthday, so I didn’t really get to see her except to wake her up this morning and say Happy Birthday. We did get two birthday dinners out, though. I guess that’s close to making up for it. I guess when I go down to Norfolk, I’ll have to make sure to take her with me.

I don’t want this to drag on, so I’ll stop for now. I’m really hoping the hotel has WiFi. If not, well, it’s not much of a hotel in my book. WiFi to me is just as important as cable TV in the room. For business people on the road, WiFi is a fact of life, and I don’t want to have to try to find a coffee house to connect at (and have to pay).

I’ll try to keep you updated more.