Mikey's Space

lean on me

2008-08-03T21:56:00.004-06:00

last weekend i came home to find my mailbox leaning at about 45 degrees away from my driveway. there is a curved tire track across my neighbors driveway, cutting thru the triangle of grass between ours, and across mine, heading directly for my mailbox. thru my mastery of geometry, i've figured out that a car has struck my mailbox. there was a policeman's business card in the leaning mailbox. i've left a few messages, and he's returned with a few back, we have not actually spoken yet. i assume he has more information than i do, which i'm really anxious to get. my theory is that the police were chasing someone, who turned down my dead-end court, and tried to round the court... and then the chase abruptly ended atop to my mailbox. i hope it's something that cool at least, i don't want it to be just something boring like the recycling truck nailed it while maneuvering around the court. i figure it's at least something semi-interesting because there was some sort of police involvement. we'll see, i'll let you know after i talk to the officer and get the whole scoop. the mailbox is on a plain old wooden post, which pushed straight back up with little effort. i borrowed a shovel full of compost dirt from my neighbor to fill the earth void, and tamped it down to hold it in place again. with a little rain, the grass will blend itself right back together, and the alleged crime scene will be undetectable.
on a lighter note, i went to my first roller derby match last night. it was really an awesome time! my friends know one of the girls that skates for the M80's, i've met her a few times, but didn't know she was a roller skater. she wasn't competing however, due to a broken shoulder. she stood on the sideline, one arm in a sling, the other holding her trusty PBR, and cheered the team on. yes, you read that right, they were selling Pabst Blue Ribbon, and if that wasn't classy enough, it was only available in 24oz. 2X4 Cans!!! i had Two, and they were Fantastic!! it really helped to round out the mood of the event. they handed out little programs which had all the rules and referee signals and such, which i will have to read, because i'm still cloudy on most of what i saw. well, our team won (they're undefeated this season) and they will go on to compete in the championship sometime in october. i'll be going for sure!

goodbye to another great one

2008-07-04T08:01:00.002-06:00

last night... couldn't decide where to go for dinner... i said anything but mexican, because i've not been impressed with any of the mexican i've had lately... the suggestion was thai food in the loop, that didn't really sound good to me, but oh well. so we're headed out 40, passing skinker, and i say "Hey, what about Chuy's?" "what's that?" i hear. only the best mexican food in st. louis! so i take the next exit and loop back like i know where i'm going, i've never driven there, only been a passenger, so i didn't have any idea where it was. a quick cruise down restaurant alley and there it is! i, of course, got a fantastic parking spot right in front... i'm good like that... it's late, around 8:30, it's totally packed, i figured it was just the happy hour crowd still there. the wait is going to be about 40 minutes, so i grab drinks from the bar. "you're out of corona?" si, we're out of almost everything. so i get a dos XX and a strawberry margarita, which he looks nervous about too... he looks back and says "that'll probably be the last one" i say fine. then standing around waiting, people are hugging the waiters as they leave, telling them goodbye, we'll miss you kinda stuff... i figured they were moving away or something... then a completely different group did the same thing. and i started looking around, and found a sign on the front door. it said that they are closing their doors, the last night of operation would be july 3rd.. it Was the 3rd! it said they were closing mostly due to the hwy 40 shut down, slow down of business and the rising prices of food. bummer, because it was a really good, fun place to eat or have a happy hour. when the bartender said "that's probably the last one", i was picturing the ice cream machine at pizza street, yes, it's empty, but it will be running again in 20 minutes... i didn't realize it at the time, but i bought the last frozen strawberry margarita from Chuy's in Dogtown. =(

yard work

2008-03-29T15:14:00.000-06:00

okay, i've thrown down the green gauntlet in the court by starting my yard work today. i put fertilizer out 2 weekends ago (before all the rain... perfect) so it's green and fairly tall in spots already. so i mowed this afternoon, tried to give it a chance to dry a little, it was still pretty soupy in low spots. when i finished mowing, i sprinkled patch master grass seed on my problem spots in the back yard, which has that killer blue fertilizer/mulch stuff in it, so it looks totally stupid, but it works pretty good.
what else is new, it's been forever since i've blogged. i need to order new burners for my grill, since i'm late getting started on grilling season. during my final grilling last year, i noticed a hot spot at the back of the middle burner cover, checked it out last weekend, and the burner tube has completely split open, it's basically a flame thrower. i have to order them from the internet, because home depot (where i bought it) doesn't carry replacement parts for this brand (don't get me started on them).
my next door neighbors (the ones i don't like) i thought the daughter was the only one that had a chance at being normal, well, i have a reason to dislike her now too. they got a new dog recently, it's some kind of little yippy kick dog, my cat could kick it's ass... so last weekend i was having ocd-fest, cleaning everything, and see legs walk past my bedroom window, it's daughter next door walking their new dog, i see the top of her head thru my kitchen window, hanging out over there for a few minutes... and sure as shit, she let it shit over there twice... anyone want a dog? or a very small fur coat??
well, my former arch-nemisis (the other contending best lawn in the court) has moved out, there are new people moving in this weekend. i heard from one of the court wives that it's an older couple... haven't met them yet, hope he's not retired and plans on working on his lawn all the time, i'll have to cut his achile's tendon... my neighbor on the other side's new fiance, that just moved in, runs a lawn sprinkler company, so we're already planning to put in-ground sprinkler systems in our yards... he can get the materials at cost, and the machinery for free, it'll be a pretty sweet deal!

decisions

2008-01-21T23:17:00.000-06:00

i've looked through all my options, and i'm going with the sponge... for my ceiling paint anyways... i've been dreading sanding my drywall patches all over my ceiling, because of the sand finish in the paint, sanding would leave big smooth areas... so i tried wiping the patched areas down with a damp sponge, and it worked great, it took the edges away and the smooth surface out of the new mud, and let the sand finish pop thru again. it also let pieces of sponge clinging to the ceiling, and big yellow smears all over, the sand finish was rough enough to shred the sponges, but the primer should cover all of that. which i hope to get done next weekend. i'm excited, because i'm almost ready to paint color in there... finally. my interior designer changed my mind about my kitchen color, it's not going to be such a bright orange, but more of a softer mustardy yellow/orange kinda color. it matches the other colors better. sucks that i won't have time to work on it this week, i've either got something planned, or i'll be working overtime, because i have a Bunch of big projects going on at once. i was off for MLK day today, but i worked for a few hours on the one that goes out this thursday. sorry, i usually try to finish with a joke, but i'm tired, and nothing really funny is coming to mind...

my car

2008-01-12T13:11:00.000-06:00

you never really realize the power of red bull and vodka until you feel it's wrath at 65 miles per hour, as someone turns your brand new shiny car into the BarfMobile. last night we had guy's night out, went to the fights and had a blast. Somebody took it upon himself to drink the better half of a bottle of skyy vodka and about 10 red bulls. said person was ready to go all night, and talking of going down to the landing, until we got in the car, and i asked him if he was sure he could handle the landing... he slurs Hell Yeah! and rolls down his window and starts spitting, which i've learned from past stories is the sign that he's about to hurl. so i tell him that the landing would only be open for about a half hour by the time we get there, which was more or less true, and i turn towards the highway to go home. as soon as i merged over a few lanes onto 270, his window goes down again, out goes his head... and he starts hurling, it's coming out like a red bull flavored fire hose... of course there are cars all over the place, and they won't get out of the way for me to get over really fast, so we were spraying them too, they either didn't mind, or couldn't see the red bull fountain coming from my passenger window. for the rest of the way home he sat there with a blank look, and about every 3 or 4 minutes, would roll down the window and spray some more or just spit. i even asked him one time, "damn, aren't you empty yet?" of course i kept talking to him... half to give him shit, and half to keep him awake, so he was alert enough to keep rolling down the window. so after many slurred street names and pointing and grunting, i got him to his house, and he got in by using the garage keypad code, which took him about 3 tries. i needed gas anyways, so i drove around and finally found a gas station with a touch free car wash that was actually open. filled up and sat thru the car wash hut, which was really cool. being all lemony fresh, i get home right around 3am. this morning, i cleaned out the interior, it was all over the place, both doors on that side, front and back seat, the windows on that side, and some streaks across the head liner, those were the hardest to get off. oh well, it's not like i've never done it so somebody else's car... maybe there should be a blood alcohol limit to be a passenger in a car too.

nice weather / drinking tip

2008-01-07T22:16:00.000-06:00

well, i had a nice relaxing Sunday working my ass off... i got up on the roof and took down all the Xmas lights, then i cleaned out the garage, because during the week, i was emptying the shop vac and knocking all the drywall dust out of it's filter, in the trash can right around the corner from my garage, so there's a mushroom cloud of white drywall dust all around me, which i am used to by now. out of nowhere, this giant gust of wind rips between the houses and u-turns right this whole batch of dust into the garage... car is covered, over then next few days, there were tire tracks and feet prints that you could clearly see, it looked like a csi crime scene... so i swept the garage out, washed and vacuumed out the car, cleaned the door jambs and all. i didn't clean inside the engine bay, maybe next time... then my buddy called and said he was bbq'ing, so i cleaned myself up and went over, and finally relaxed for a bit in the nice weather.

here's a story i get to blog about till now...
so, the day after xmas, i went to the blues hockey game with a friend. we had burgers and beers before the game, more beers at the game (i'm off work the next day, right?) then more beers after the game, we were meeting some people at McGirk's, right by my buddy's house, which is where i am definately staying the night by this point... Great irish band, with a guitar, a fiddle, and an electric bagpipe (it had an air pump attached, so it was just the pipes) very cool! so it's almost closing time, 12:30ish, and this Really Drunk guy stumbles in, literally... i mean having a hard time standing up drunk... so my buddy starts talking to the guy, cuz he's just like that... so this guy slurs "heyyyy, lemme buy you guys a driiiiink", so he staggers over to the bar and orders something, pays her $40 and doesn't get any change back. he starts waving us over because he can't carry drinks 10 feet to our table... here's the drinking tip... if some Really drunk guy is going to buy you a drink, perhaps this just might be the particular drink that has landed him in this state... so there on the bar are 3 Harp beers (for chasers) and 3 Irish car bombs. an irish car bomb is 3/4 of a draght glass of Guinness, and a shot glass, half bailey's irish cream and half jamieson irish whiskey. and he explains that you have to just chug it down or the guinness will start to curdle the bailey's, as he drops the shots into the guinnii (plural?) like depth charges... i'm always up for a challenge, so i slam mine with the drunk guy, my buddy says he can't do it cuz he has to drive (i later find out that it's just because he's done one of these before) so i slam his too. then we all stammer back to our table and drink the harp beer at a normal pace... last call lights come on, and we head a few blocks to my buddy's house, where i pass out on a futon mattress on his floor...
9:00am, he jumps in the shower and has to go to work, so i head home. what a horrible ride home it was, with a power hangover... i'm about half way, near the airport (where there are no exits or good places to pull over) and start getting the cold body sweats, i thought i was going to hurl, so i'm trying to plan a route over to the shoulder and i'll lean across, and take care of business out the passenger door... but with a quick opening of the windows, the cold air made it go away, and i was fine (with a headache) the rest of the way home...
That was the only day of my vacation that I didn't work on my house, i slept till like 3 that afternoon, and then watched tv (at low volume) for the rest of the day...

commercials

2008-01-01T22:25:00.000-06:00

i wonder if they'll soon have a device which could automatically change the channel whenever a Billy Mays (the oxi-clean guy) commercial comes on... i'd glady "call now" and "make an easy payment of 19.95" to never have to hear this putz again... maybe it's just the channels i've been watching, but i have to listen to him about twice an hour... maybe in 2008 i'll try to watch even less tv...

anniversary

2007-12-17T00:06:00.000-06:00

this week is my quitting smoking anniversary... actually, it was last sunday, i just haven't had time to blog since then. december 9, 1999, it's been 8 years, whew... and i don't miss it at all, can't believe I used to do that... Blech...
well, the snow was fun this weekend! today it looked like it was snowing Inside my house... i was sanding drywall mud on my living room walls all morning, see the pics in my house folder. i'll put some actual house pics in there when i get time to go thru them to find some good ones.
MikeY

oh, a little xmas note:
a severed foot is the ultimate stocking stuffer!
~Mitch Hedberg

workout

2007-12-05T23:44:00.000-06:00

Yay! i finally got in a full workout tonight! i haven't been able to with this headache that i've had for a few months... i'd try, then my temples would start kicking like a bass drum, have you ever seen the movie scanners???
they (read as "the overlords at work") sent out an e-mail about not going overboard with xmas decorations in your cubicle, they're not to extend to the outside of your cube, etc... so i bought a big stuffed santa, and put him on top of my book shelf, sticking completely out the top of my cube walls... heh! i was looking for a tree to put in my cube, but i couldn't find a free range, uncaged, humanely slaughtered tree anywhere... i'm going to work on some stuff this weekend to put up monday morning. i'm going to make a bunch of paper ring garland and staple it all over the ceiling over my cube, like will ferrell did everywhere in elf. i'm also planning on pulling down one of the ceiling tiles and wrapping it like a present with paper, ribbon and bow, and put it back up in the grid. normally i wouldn't be all gung heaux about it, but since they sent out that e-mail... i'm just sayin...

cheese

2007-12-02T15:13:00.000-06:00

i've had a very productive weekend. friday i took my car in for baby's first oil change, i get 3 free ones from the dealership, they washed it too, nice! i got home and trimmed and mowed the yard, hopefully the last time for the year, but i'll probably have to mow at least once more because it's still green and growing, well, except for the big areas where my winterizer weed & feed killed all the weeds, they're a nice brown death color. then i got up on the roof, because half of one of my xmas lights on the front of the house was not working. i head up there with my baggie of replacement bulbs, and figure i'll swap out the one where the string is dead, and it would all light up. well, not so much. so i start working my way along, replacing each one with my good bulb... 30 or so from there, i'm comparing how long it will take me to get to the end of the string to how long it would take to go get a new strand for $3.50. then all of a sudden, it all lights up! threw the bad one out and shazam! i'm at full xmas spirit potential! saturday, i brought the ladders in and scraped all the high spots and flaws from my ceilings. sunday i was up filling all the dents, hammer marks and low spots with drywall mud. i took a break around 2:00 and made a sandwich, i also heated up some cheese dip for some fritos. after heating it up in a little glass bowl (i didn't read the caution, will be hot after heating warning) i dropped it on the way from the microwave to the counter. i've never tested the explosive properties of molten cheese before... man, can it fly! i immediately noticed how the splatter streak up my leg was burning my right leg thru my jeans, and the skin melting from my left arm... it was all over the floor, cabinets, my shirt and in my hair. luckily i had the ladder in the living room, it allowed me to clean the cheese and green pepper stuck to the ceiling... a little spackling can fix anything... so next weekend will be sanding fest, i'm sure it'll be a bigger mess than the cheese dip.

good weekend

2007-11-25T23:26:00.000-06:00

well, i had a pretty good long thanksgiving weekend. i went to pujols 5 with some buddies wednesday night, it was okay. went to big paul and bonnie's (my parent's) house for thanksgiving day, ate too much of granny's chicken and dumplings (awesome), and put a new video card in paul's computer. yanno i can't to go anywhere without fixing something. friday got up early, picked up dr. mike and went to the guitar center, cuz i had a special 20% off coupon, and had my eye on an ovation 12-string. the coupon was only good for in stock items, and they didn't have the one i wanted, so i saved some $ and didn't buy anything. then i set big paul up with a laptop since the new video card didn't fix his computer, it's the motherboard... which i have to try to find on ebay. when i got home i put up my xmas lights all the way around the roof. then i went to see my friend margi's band in st. charles, that was fun. saturday i put up my xmas tree, got the lights and ornaments on it, but i need to get some garland or something, it's pretty boring. saturday night was paula's surprise birthday party at jive & wail. that was awesome! had a blast there... till everyone left me, all i had was the shot girl trying to get me to buy the rest of her tray of shots, which was nice. sunday i scraped my living room ceiling, i still have to do the dining room & kitchen half, then re-mud the whole thing, which will hopefully happen next weekend.

lost?

2007-11-11T23:25:00.000-06:00

everyone needs to keep an eye on me and my stuff... if my dreams last night were trying to tell me something. i usually don't dream at all, or don't remember them or however you see it... i just wake up. well last night i was dreaming, first one, i was on a camping trip with most of the people from the drunkfest float trip. there was a big bonfire, and a stack of hay bails that everyone was sitting on. i see a cute girl walk by, and just sit there and watch her go by. then i say to myself, you need to go ask her out, and stop being worried about getting rejected. so i catch up to her and start talking... and here's where the far fetched part starts, she's actually gonna give me her phone number... so i reach to get my phone (my brain and life-line) to write it down, and it's Gone!!! so i guess the dream me gave up on the girl and went frantically looking for my phone in the hay bails where i was sitting and all around the camp grounds... then i woke up in a panic, reached over to the night stand, and there was my phone... ahh, i'm better now, it's 3am so i go get a drink of water and go back to bed. then i start dreaming again... i'm driving my new car out highway 40, then down highway K, and i'm in a hurry for something, not quite sure... and i'm almost out of gas (like i won't even make it to where i'm going). so i pull into a gas station and go to fill up... the pump won't take my debit card, and you know how patient i am with electronics and machines that don't work... so i have to hit pay inside, and fill the tank. i go in the quicky mart, and have to stand in a line of about 8 people buying soda and smokes, one hooshier had a nascar calendar... their internet is down, so they can't debit or credit inside either, so i have to spend almost all of my cash on the fillup, and go out to my car.... where's my car??? it's gone!! someone's stolen my new car with a full tank of gas (which pissed me off to a whole new second level). then i woke up again, it's now 4am. i went out to get another drink of water, checked to make sure my car was in the garage... it was, everything's fine, back to bed and don't wake up till 8 when my phone alarm goes off (no dreams in the last sleep period). hit the shower and worked on my brother's house all day... we'll see what tonight's sleep brings....

motivation

2007-11-07T22:59:00.001-06:00

i'm having a serious lack of motivation lately, i don't know if it's the change in weather or what... i haven't practiced guitar in a few months, i haven't worked out for the last 2 or 3 weeks, i keep putting off my painting project in the house... i think most of it is due to this sinus bullshit i've had going on... i've had a headache for about 2 months straight, intensity varies from day to day, but it's really starting to wear on me. i've been sleeping even less than usual, which isn't good, my usual amount of sleep isn't supposed to be healthy. i took 2 weeks worth of antibiotics and musinex stuff, and neither did anything, i have no drainage at all, and the sinus pressure is still there, so it might not even be a sinus infection. i know nothing of these matters, only that it hurts and it sucks. so i played a guitar for about 15 minutes earlier, i was going to really try to work out tonight, but lifting is just going to make my headache pound... i'm going to make a big push on the living room this weekend. i need to mud the ceiling and sand all the walls, and hopefully start painting my texture coat of primer this weekend. we'll see how it goes, i'm sure i'll have to work on something for somebody else, or i'll sit around and just not do anything, and waste another entire weekend... we'll see.

birthday

2007-10-23T22:45:00.000-06:00

so today was my 37th birthday, i got a good glimpse of what getting older is like right off the bat. well, as previously blogged, i got up at 5:15, went and got donuts, went in to work. paid for a parking meter next to the building, so i could go to my meeting at 8. my boss sent me an e-mail late monday about this meeting, he was going to be out of town, and could i go? sure, i don't know much about the project the meeting was about, but i could go and answer the electrical contractor's questions. so i get to the architect's office at 5 minutes till 8. pay for an hour's worth on a meter right by their building on washington. their freaking office door is locked. it's a glass storefront office, so i'm looking in, there's nobody anywhere... freaking architects are always late. so i start to think... and open the appointment on my calendar from my phone... it's supposed to be at the contractor's office, not the architect's. so i call in to my office to find out where the contractor's office is, i have no idea, never been there. our receptionist is on vacation, and i guess nobody was covering the front desk, because nobody answered the office phone, i tried calling in until almost 8:30... at which point i was already at my parking garage. so i make the hike to my office, pissed at myself for completely missing this meeting, and not having their address or phone number to at least call them and tell them i wouldn't be there. so i get to my desk and there's an e-mail from the secretary that i was trying to call for directions... i had e-mailed her to let her know i was going to be out of the office and wouldn't be at our engineering meeting... she replied "isn't that meeting for next tuesday?" so i re-read the e-mail for about the 6th time now... Yes, it is for next week. I had the wrong Date and Location for this meeting. holy crap, getting old sucks so far.

rant in e-minor

2007-10-22T21:49:00.000-06:00

well, i'm in a bitchy mood. someone started this stupid tradition at my office that when it's Your birthday, You have to bring in donuts or bagels or something. so tomorrow, i have to wake up Early-ER so i can go buy donuts to put out in the kitchen... you've seen piranha swarm on a side of beef lowered into a river, right?? then i have to go to an architect's office, and pay to park, for a meeting by 8am, so i won't even get to play "how many donuts till i throw up"...
update on the garage door opener, i called my sears today, and mistakenly forgot to ask the lady that answered if she had a brain, told her my opener problems, so she could put me on hold for 10 minutes, so i could explain the whole thing again to some other moron who had no idea what he was doing. he told me to call the support number, that he had to look up, so i'll try that tomorrow. i guess i haven't ever thought about the knowledge a sears employee should have, i've never had to ask one of them how to do something... i always thought that'd be a cool job for me after i retire, because you know i'm not going to sit around and relax... but i'd be Way over qualified, because i own and have actually used most of the equipment and tools they carry... the nerve of me...
i have some mexican neighbors... don't get me wrong, they're all really nice, the ones that don't speak english at least wave... more than i can say for my asshole neighbors... anyways, there's about 14 people in a 3 bedroom house, and they have at least 9 cars... so every night from 10 to around midnight, there's a circue de solei de mexico acrobatic car maneuvering show. they have 2 that don't run in the garage, 4 in the driveway and 3 or so, given the time of day, up farther in the court. well, the last ones in have to pull in the driveway so the others can get out early... it's kinda funny to watch. the cat gets all up in a snit while this is going on, i don't know if he doesn't like the headlights dancing around in circles, or if he just doesn't like the neighbors... is there some on-going fued between china and mexico that i don't know about? he is siamese, you know... i don't know how deep he's involved in his heritage, when i speak chinese to him, he acts like he doesn't know what i'm talking about...

where to start?

2007-10-21T22:20:00.001-06:00

wow, where do i start? it's been forever since i've blogged. the livestrong bracelet that i've worn for 6 or 7 years broke this morning. i bought 20 of them way back when, so i got a new one out, holy crap had the old one stretched out, this one fits right and everything. i have had a sinus headache and ringing ears for about 3 weeks now. i called my doctor, and he couldn't get me in for about 3 weeks, but they called and moved that one back 3 more weeks. so i went to an urgent care place friday, and low and behold, i was right... it's a sinus infection, and they prescribed me some antibiotics, which my doc could have easily done over the phone, but no... since i haven't seen him for 6 years, he has to see me as a new patient and all my records have been put away in storage. so i might still go and get a whole physical and blood checked, etc. when my appointment comes around. the really cute nurse asked me if i knew when my last tetinus shot was, and i said about 6 years ago, the last time i saw a doctor, when i put a large hole in my wrist with a flat claw (with big pointy nasty teeth). then she asked if amoxicillin usually worked for me, and i told her i had no idea, i don't think i've ever had it... so i've been taking this crap, and she told me to get some mucinex too, for 3 days now, and i still have a headache, dammit. this is why i don't have faith in most medicines, because they never do much for me. most of these pill pushers are just witch doctors with co-pays.
i've been fighting with my garage door opener for several months, it had a broken wire or loose solder or something that would make it's power shut off. with a swift punch or smack, it would turn back on and be fine. so a few weekends ago, i had it open, poking around, trying to find the bad connection, and Zap! a puff of smoke and a spark or 3, and the opener was fully dead. at least i found where the bad solder was on the power circuit board. (it was the one with the black char marks shooting out from it, sorry, i didn't take a picture). so i went to sears and got a new one, same one, just the 5 year newer version. of course i couldn't just replace the motor part, they've completely changed the design of the rail and chain, etc. so i had to take down the whole deal and assemble and put up the entire new opener. i have to call sears tomorrow, because either it's haunted, or somebody that lives around me has the same remote code. it keeps opening or closing on it's own. so i have it on lock, so the rogue remote can't open it, and i have to keep getting out to use the keypad (which had to be replaced as well).
well, there's more, but i'll put it in other posts... i tend to not read the really long blog entries anyways... maybe this will give me a reason to blog more often.

DrunkFest

2007-07-22T22:02:00.000-06:00

well, made it through another drunkfest float trip... the tent is all hosed out and dried and put away, laundry is all done, what exactly is it that makes river clothes smell like rotten ass? the float was awesome, weather was perfect, beer was cold. i ran into some friends from last year and met some new ones this year. hopefully i remembered a phone number correctly, i would say my math skills might have been a little fuzzy at the time. i'll try calling some night this week. my only injuries are matching big cuts and bruises on the front of my shin bones from dragging into underwater trees. i was trying to map them out, i think i found them all. i took out my car battery for the radio box, mine was used on the second half of the float. in doing so, it cleared my stupid engine light i've been worrying about lately, and it didn't come back on through the whole ride home, so that's a good thing. so a big thanks again to my good friends that set up, organize, and make happen... the drunkfest!

crappy day

2007-06-13T22:01:00.000-06:00

well, today pretty much sucked... work really dragged on, and i didn't get this job as done as i wanted to for a printing today... i didn't go over to dr. mike's for tequila shots, because i thought i had too much to do. i was going to go do some more shopping, but didn't go. i had to fill out about 50 forms because my work changed our insurance... i would rather have my fingernails pulled out one at a time than fill out forms... especially the same crap on multiple forms like tonight... and then there's all the boxes and questions that i don't know the answers to. it was about 2 hours of my life that i'll never get back, and it's not done yet.. i'll have to sit with the accounting lady that runs our insurance, and go thru it all and fill in the missing crap... with today's technology, couldn't our accounting lady give our basic info in a database to the insurance company... which could run a script to fill in all of these stupid forms, and save it all as a pdf, and not waste an entire folder of paperwork that i will never read... in fact, i'll probably put it in a drawer with the last huge packet of worthless info from the insurance company we just switched from... i'm just really tired lately of people doing things the old way, let's re-evaluate and find better, more efficient ways to do the things we do every day...

no gas day / walmart

2007-05-15T21:33:00.000-06:00

well, i filled up the p.o.s. with gas on my way home from dave's tonight, mostly because it was empty, but partially because the asshole in me wanted to thwart the efforts of the mindless idiots who passed around the mass e-mailing of the "don't get gas on this day" e-mail again. what small thinking... the little band of nitwits think they will crush the giant oil and gasoline companies... then those same people, who thought they were actually affecting the world, will all need to fill their gigantic sport utility or minivan up tomorrow or the next day, and average the week back out perfectly for the giant oil and gasoline companies. idiots! gosh!

after i got gas (heh! still chuckling to self) i stopped in at wal-mart to return some jeans i bought late last night. i was on a supply run, i go late in order to avoid the mad sea of wal-mart shoppers. so i grab all the stuff i went there for, and went by the clothes section and looked at the discount racks, and they had some jeans on sale, in my size, so i grabbed a dark pair and a light pair. turns out, they use a different size inch on their tape measures in malaysia. they were too tight, and not long enough, either that, or i'm just built like a circus freak. so, it's almost 10:00 and the lady at the door puts stickers on the jeans and tells me to hurry, the return desk is getting ready to close... i haul ass, well, my normal walking speed, thru the store, back to the return counter, and there's some lady there... returning a Stack of clothes... that she had obviously shoplifted... we're not talking about a few shirts that "made her look fat" she did that naturally... she had men's clothes, kid's clothes, bathing suits, women's pants and shirts, in all different sizes and colors and styles... we're talking about 35 to 40 items, and guess what... no receipt for any of it... so the poor worker bee finishes zapping all the tags, and tells the lady she needs a manager's approval because it's such a large return amount, without a receipt. a few minutes go by... she tells me, sorry, i have to wait till this goes thru to deal with you, even though there's another perfectly good register on the counter... a few more minutes go by, manager #1 shows up. she's all of about 18 1/2 years old, with her little manager badge, probably needed to get out of there because she's got homeroom at 8am... she punches some buttons, makes "shady" explain the whole scenario again... then calls manager #2. another few minutes of my life click away... #2 gets the rundown from #1 and the worker bee, takes #2 around the corner for a huddle... they come back and tell her that "they'll allow the return but next time she's gonna need a receipt" read as "you can still shoplift here, but you'll have to go to a different wal-mart to commit the actual return money crime". i walked up to the counter (faking like i was getting impatient) just to try to see what they printed for her or how much they gave her back, but i couldn't tell. so, she heads off to buy her crack and my return of 2 pairs of jeans takes all of about 45 seconds, and i'm outta there...

softball

2007-05-09T22:17:00.000-06:00

well, we lost the softball game tonight, not terribly badly though. the first couple of innings they had me playing center field, and i only got to chase 2 big hits down and throw them in. then i switched to 3rd base, and in my first inning there, i made all 3 outs. i caught 2 line drives, then someone grabbed a base hit and threw it to me to force the runner out at 3rd.. it was pretty cool. i made one more out in the next inning, then i messed up. i got the ball and had someone trapped between 2nd and 3rd, so i quickly did as braxton's old coach told them, held the ball up and charged the runner, then as they turned to run and were almost back to second, i threw it to the lady playing 2nd base. the runner turned before she could tag him, so she threw it back to me, i was in perfect position and should have just caught it and tagged him.... but i had to stretch way out to catch her throw, and fell and dropped it... as the guy runs past me and makes it to 3rd... i suck... but my good plays outnumbered my screw ups by far, i only didn't make it on base one time, and that time was because i just barely got beat by the throw. had some excitement about half way thru the game, one of our older players started spitting up and fell on his face and was convulsing on the ground right next to me. he was totally unconscious for a minute or so, just acting like he was choking, except i could tell he was breathing. i kind of propped him up and all of a sudden he came to, and started telling the 2 people who were already on cell calls to 911 to cancel the ambuli (plural?). he had just taken a swig of a beer, and he's got some kind of throat condition, he gets a bubble if not paying attention while drinking (anything, not just beer) and his oxygen level bottoms out, and he passes out... it was weird. he sat in my chair for a few minutes and was completely fine... he pitched the rest of the game... until we lost... not entirely due to my error on the run down... oh well.

what's this?

2007-05-08T22:19:00.000-06:00

What's this? you say... it Can't be?!?! a Mikey post 2 weeks in a row?? Yes, it's true.

had a good time at the Cinco de Mayo party, many coronas and tequila poppers were consumed... which leads to me spending the night at the party... so i barely slept 30 minutes on the couch (combined total for the night), left at 6:30, took an hour nap at home. then got up, took a shower and headed over to belleville to install a dishwasher for my buddy Rut. it took a long time, had to fit it into a cabinet that wasn't meant to hold a dishwasher, but it turned out looking and working great. so i leave at 11pm, get to the end of the street and can hear a tire growl... hang my body out the door and can see a flat back tire... shit... so i drive back to rut's, he's still cleaning up the kitchen, fire up his compressor in his garage and make a big ruckus in his neighborhood, and fill my tire... and see the huge nail sticking out of it, spray it with some water and see it bubbling a slow leak. screw it, i've gotta get home, so i leave at 11:30. half an hour into the ride home, i'm right by shit-ville st. louis, around the goodfellow/lucas & hunt exits, and i hear this ricochet ping, ping, bang, zing, out the back something goes... i think, holy shit, there went my nail, and this tire's gonna deflate and blow out on the highway... at midnight.. in the middle of crapville. i've got a butt load of tools (probably worth more than the car) that i didn't want to leave stranded... but nothing happened, it was just a rock or something that i kicked up, no flat... so, after a quick nap, it's time for work.. tire's flat, so i pump it up with my compressor and drive to work. get out of work (of course too late to make it to the tire shop) and have to pump the flat up with this toy roadside cigarette lighter powered little compressor... noisy little sonofabitch, especially in an echo chamber like the underground garage. took about 10 minutes running to fill it to 30psi, and drove home. went in late today after being the tire shop's first appointment at 7:30, got the rest rotated and balanced while they were at it...
tomorrow night is my first softball game for the office team. we lost our first game, i couldn't go to it, not that i could have probably affected the outcome... so i'm bringing my ugly purple shirt with the stupid ardvark, or groundhog, or whatever our mascot is on the front... of course i got number 37 on the back... we'll see how it goes, i won't be the worst one on the team, i can hit, catch and throw, and i remember most all of the things that the ex-almost-step-son's baseball coach used to yell at them all the time, so i should do fine... as long as i don't break a toe.

update

2007-05-01T22:30:00.000-06:00

So, it's time for my... now, bi-monthly update... i haven't had time to look at anyone's blogs, much less write in my own...
Last night, it's almost 3:30am, i wake up because i hear a loud noise. i sit up and look at a silhouette of the cat, he's sitting in the open window (on where the window sill will go if i ever finish trimming the windows out). he then starts shrieking and hissing, there's a crash against the screen, and he jumps down and goes screaming down the hallway, still making a horrible howling and hissing noise. i jump out of bed, and can see a whirl-wind of action in the back yard, Thing 1 is chasing Thing 2 around in circles in the back yard, and there's more shrieking and hissing out there. i don't know if it's Oliver (the cat) or not, so i felt the screen, and it's still intact (i thought he jumped through it and was getting his ass kicked by something) so i know he's still inside, and whatever is outside is still outside. so the battle heads across the back yard and goes away into the night. i go to find Oliver without turning any lights on, cuz i didn't want to rattle him any more... he's standing in the middle of the hallway, in a full karate stance! back arched way up, tail is about 3 inches in diameter, and straight up, and i can hear him panting... so i got down and reached out toward him real slow like, cuz i didn't want him to kick My ass again... he eventually calmed down, but didn't come back into the bedroom the rest of the night. this morning, i went out back to see what i could find, and there were little piles of rabbit tail fur all over the back yard, mostly right under my window. i'm assuming it was my new neighbor's cat, she lets it run loose at night. Oliver heard it attack and was scared to death, it was a riot. i don't know if he was trying to jump out, or if the one out there tried to jump in, but one of them ran into the screen really hard.
what else is new??? the lawn is looking pretty good. my neighbor Damien (i not only call him damien because that's his name, he is also the evil one, and has better grass than i do) threw down the gauntlet by fertilizing his yard one weekend before i could get to mine... so my fertilizer and weed killer are taking effect, and it's looking descent. after mowing saturday morning, i walked back and forth thru my mowing lines with weed-b-gone in one hand and dandelion/clover killer in the other. i looked like the Wyatt Errp of Lawnsville!!! man, were my trigger fingers tired.
i turned in all the paperwork for my passport monday. i went and got my picture taken for it at walgreens sunday, well, first their camera didn't work, then the scanner machine wouldn't work, then their photo printer wasn't working either. so i drove down the street to the next walgreens and got it done there. he even made me put on one of their blue "photo guy" lab shirts, because i had a white t-shirt on, and against the white background, it looked like my head was floating in space. i take all my stuff to the post office downtown because i'm close the the expedited shipping deadline to have it in time for the trip, and find out they don't do passports there, so i had to walk to the post office at olive and tucker (remember this is the first 90 degree day of the year). my postal worker said that expedited ones are only taking 3-4 weeks, which is shorter than i had heard, so i should have it in plenty of time...
i need to get back to work on the house, hopefully i'll get a bunch done this weekend. i need to frame out and drywall the shadow boxes, i've now got my LED lights, so i need to test and see how many i need for each shelf, and get that all wired up...
well, that's all for now

renovation

2007-03-24T16:02:00.000-06:00

today i started on my painting project. i'm going to paint the dining room, kitchen and living room in this phase. so i started by scraping off all the high spots, patches and broken corner beads everywhere. ladder day is tomorrow, i only went up as high as i could reach. it's got kind of a middle eastern look to it... like a bomb went off in my living room. there's huge black scraper marks everywhere, plaster is all chipped off of the corners.. it's lovely. after i'm done scraping down the high walls and ceiling, it'll be patching and a skim coat of mud over the whole thing, a full sanding, primer coat over the whole thing, then the paint.
well, i'm off for the races tonight, my company is having a work function over at fairmount parks... it's a little early in the evening to promise that i'll be "goin crazy" every 18 minutes, but i'll see what i can do...
i went to see my old friend Linda from the Ultraviolets last night at the new J Buck's out by winghaven, it has been a long time, we talked alot between sets. as usual, every time i hear someone play a guitar i get all ramped up about getting good enough to be able to sit in for a few songs... that'll just take time that i don't have.
well, gotta run... maybe i'll stop by and get some carrots to throw around the track.

ugh

2007-03-08T22:30:00.000-06:00

well, at least tomorrow's friday, my thursday kinda sucked. going back to work at the office sucked, i got to work from home all day wednesday. i got so much more done than i would have at the office. our supreme revit being came over and we worked on revit mep engineering stuff all day. the house was buzzing with a high level of geekiness. today i was in the office, back to the usual unavoidable hearing of personal phone calls on all sides of me, the dick-weed that sits next to me, who smacks while eating, and chews with his mouth open, snacking all day... i want to throw up on him from over the cubicle wall. sounds like he's giving head over there, it's disgusting. so i put on my headphones and crank them way up, it still doesn't drown out cell phones ringing and the paging system. i listened to Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique on repeat today, one of my favorite albums of all time. that made the day a little better.
i thought i was going to cash in on the american idol dead pool. there is a pool where we picked our top 6 winners, and we get points for every round our people are still in it. there is also a side bet (the dead pool) for 5 bucks a week, where if you guess All of the people to be voted off, you get the pot... i was feeling very confident, because the 4 i had picked to go tonight all gave stellarly horrible efforts this week... well, the pool's still growing as of tonight because of the big upset. i have Sabrina to win the whole show, and she was voted off tonight. what a crock of bullshit!! she's been among the top 4 performances each week... gone. and sanjai (mowgli from jungle book) is still alive?? i wish they would post actual stats, such as exact number of votes each, age and sex of the actual voters. this is the first season i've actually watched american idol, i've always stood by my theory that they are all collectively not worth a shit as far as real music (what i like) goes. sure, the winner will cut one fake teeny/pop/dance shit shingle, that they didn't write, or play an instrument on. and all the teenage girls will make their parents buy it, so it will sell alot. but in the big scheme of things in the rest of the musical world, they will still just be an overrated kareoke singer. so i actually gave it a chance, and am being greatly disappointed, this will also be the last season i watch this non-musical popularity contest.
so, after watching the show, and an episode of south park, and general conversation, i head home at around 10pm. i was telling everyone how excited i am, because i'm getting my car window fixed friday afternoon. i haven't been able to roll down my window for almost a month. i remember on the way home that still have a 2x4 in my door holding the window glass up in place. so, not wanting to be the idiotic picture of the month on the car dealership's website, i took apart my door panel again, took out the lumber, and put the door back together. it didn't take too long, it's the third time, i'm getting pretty good at the whole door panel process.
i've also had a sinus headache all day, and developed a sneeze and runny/stuffy nose today. so like i said, at least tomorrow's friday.
if anyone's interested in looking at someone who has more musical talent than all the contestants from every year combined, check out my friend Jimmie Bruhn.

weekend update

2007-03-03T09:59:00.000-06:00

well, i got my first filling ever yesterday at the dentist... cool tools, i want one of those drills. i liked the big needle into the gums shot! he kept moving my lip and trying to distract me from concentrating on how much he was pumping in there and the grinding back and forth. i was looking almost crosseyed and could see it all. my lip was all numb for a few hours, that was kinda fun. the whole thing only took 10 minutes, and cost me 5 bucks, can't complain. i sounded weird, and thought i was drooling, i kept slurping like the elephant man to keep spit from running down my face, so that pretty much put the kabosh on firing on the dental assistant, who was incredibly hot! oh well.
monday night i had to replace a headlight in my p.o.s. car. chalk up one more reason to leave it on the side of the highway with a road flare burning in the back seat. what a pain in the ass!! i think the designer of that car had a mechanic screwing his wife, and having to work on this car is his payback. i couldn't figure out how to get to the light bulb. i had to go inside and look it up on the net. i learned the whole procedure from some punk-ass who has a "how to" on how he "modded" his headlights and actually likes dumping money into his car. he took the time out of his day to dremel out the whole back of the assembly to make those blue-white headlights fit into the original headlight assembly. thanks dude, what an asshole.
well, i'm off to do some shopping. then it's right back to learning this new software for work, it's kind of my date for the weekend. i'm putting alot of time and effort into learning what it wants out of our relationship, only to have it keep pissing me off.

Weakend

2007-02-24T11:54:00.000-06:00

well, the weekend is not starting off so good. the weather is pretty crappy and rainy. i have two different schools to finish the electrical design on this weekend, i'm working on one today and i'll do the other one tomorrow, probably 5 hours each. i'm on break right now. fun.
i just made the worlds ugliest bacon and cheese omlet. it started out okay, but i couldn't flip it because it wouldn't hold together. so when i was finally able to get under it, it half flipped and tore into 3 main pieces, and was already brown on the bottom (i hate anything even remotely close to being burned or fully done). so i tried to reassemble it hoping that the uncooked part, now on the bottom, would chemically fuse it back together... in the testing of my theory, i broke it now into 5 or 6 different pieces. so i put my velveta on the biggest piece and stacked the smaller pieces on it like it was folded over. i put the burned sides to the inside thinking they wouldn't taste as bad if i didn't have to look at them. so i flipped it one more time, not wanted the outside to burn too, waiting for the cheese to melt, and my puzzle piece top just fell apart even more. good thing was that the cheese melted faster, because now most of it was laying directly on the skillet, so i just poured the whole mess off onto my plate. i'd give it a 3 out of 10 on taste, the velveta was 2 of the 3 points. i'm usually pretty good at making omlets, maybe i'll just stick to sunny side up or scrambled, i never mess them up.
friday afternoon i went to the dentist for my normal 6 monther (i've never had a cavity before, ever) and my little scraper & picker girl starts to lean in and really stare at this one spot, so after she's all done, the real dentist comes in to give me a look over. he has to ask which one she was talking about, i think it was number 12, which made my tooth feel kinda just like a number in stead of a part of the whole mouth experience. so he leans in to stare, and starts sticking a pick axe in to the side of my tooth. "well, there's definately something there, i don't know if it's a cavity though" he says. so i have to go in next friday, he's going to put a white fitting in the hole he was making worse. i guess he's going to drill it out some first? i didn't ask how much this was going to cost me...
the friday after that, i have to go to the car dealership and get my window fixed... while i sit there... for who knows how long... he said they could get it done in an afternoon, for somewhere between 3 and 4 hundred dollars.
that's all for now, unless something else bad happens, then i'll append...

Mardi Gras

2007-02-18T20:26:00.000-06:00

Mardi Gras was awesome!! i stayed at my friend's loft right in soulard. we went to the parade and froze our asses off, it was alot of fun, caught alot of beads, saw some boobs. you can't bring bottles or cans out to the parade, so i poured a bunch of beers into a huge QT mug, and brought spares for reloading stuffed into all my coat pockets. i kept having to chip the ice out of the drinking hole in the lid, it kept freezing shut. i didn't know if anyone was going to be flashing, being that it was below freezing, but there were some real troopers out there saturday! after the parade, we warmed up for a bit and had lunch. then we went and watched the They Might Be Giants concert. it was at an outdoor stage, totally free! they started at 6:30, right after dark, holy shit was it cold, it also got very windy, making it worse. i was even kind of dancing around, just to stay warm. it was a Fantastical show!! they were awesome, i had never seen them live before.

something new

2007-02-15T22:58:00.000-06:00

well, i learned something new tonight. i did laundry tonight, overly full load of darks and jeans was first, got thru it without issue. next was the lights and whites load, getting them out of the dryer, i noticed something about my pillow case didn't look quite right. <> back several months ago, i got some wicked nice sets of pottery barn sheets. they're like a zillion thread count white sheets with matching pillow cases and such.... <> so this pillow case is half turned inside out, and there's this extra flap on one side. you put the pillow in the case like normal, then this flap goes around the other end of the pillow to hold it in place. all you other house wives are probably saying "Duh!!" well, shaddup and let me have my little moment of revalation. i've learned my new thing for today, so i'm done... till next time...
i'm going down to soulard for mardi gras, my buddy has a kickass loft down there. so he's having an all weekend party-fest with a bunch of people...
but now i'm gonna play some guitar for a while, then go to bed... using my pillow cases to their full potential for the first time

i'm dreaming of a white valentine's day

2007-02-13T22:13:00.000-06:00

yanno the best thing about shoveling the driveway this late at night??? there's absolutely no chance in hell your beer will get warm!! unfortunately, my fingers were colder than my beer, but they're thawed enough to type now, so i'll live. my neighbor and his kids were out playing in the snow when i got home, so i gunned the car and jumped the great wall the plow left in front of my driveway. his kids cheered, he wasn't impressed, as he has all kinds of 4-wheel drive vehicles. i wanted to go tear shit up in his jeep, but he couldn't come out and play.
what else has been going on? mailed the taxes off today, i had them done last week, but my ink is crappy, so i waited till i could print them at work.
well, i still haven't had time to call the dealership about my window. not that i have time to spend any time without my car anyways, but at least i'll know how much it's gonna cost me. stupid car.
happy valentine's day to all the ladies... and some of the men
MikeY

superbowl

2007-02-04T23:13:00.000-06:00

Hey, Indy won the SuperBowl!!! one of my favorite cities other than st. louis, well, just because "i'm with the band" when i'm there. Go Punch Judy!!!
well, i was hunting for the perfect e-card, but nobody makes one... so Happy Belated Groundhog Day!!! i wasn't able to post on the actual day... have you hugged a rodent today?
So, i fixed my car window by bolting a 2x4 into the door panel and the window bracket, to hold the window all the way up. nothing like doing a little auto repair with some lumber, it's almost as good as Bill's wooden snow plow attachment for the 4-wheeler... i'm going to call the dealership tomorrow and see how much the part is, and how much the labor will be, and when i can schedule it to get fixed, i'm hoping i can drop it off on a thursday night and have them fix it friday while i work from home. i'm also hoping this isn't going to cost my entire tax refund, which i'm mailing off tomorrow by the way, you slackers...
we'll have to see what the repair bill is going to be, there's also the incessant engine light, and any of it's 4 or 5 different codes it gives me when i scan it... i took it's title out to the garage and shook it in front of the car, letting it know that it was disposable... but then i started looking at cars, and realized that i can't afford a new, or even used car right now... i'd really hate to have to stretch out the money even more to buy something i don't really like or want just because my current p.o.s. forces me to get rid of it... we'll see, i'll post any updates.

cold car

2007-01-30T23:19:00.000-06:00

this morning was a cold ride in to work. i was running around shopping last night, and had my drivers side window down about an half inch. this morning, i got out to highway 70 and my car was reading 18 degrees, so i went to roll the window up, there was a big pop noise from the guts of the drivers side door, and no window movement. so then, brianiac engineer that i am... decide i'll try rolling it down a bit, and then all the way up. so now, it's down an inch and a half, and won't roll up... i'm still not out of st. charles, mind you... so, it was a cold ride in to work today. after i parked in the garage downtown, i was able to pull up on the glass and roll the window up, so at least the car was locked. the window has just jumped off it's track, the motor is still moving the linkage, the glass is just not attached. so i won't be able to fix it until this weekend, so i'm going to be one of those idiots that has to open my door to swipe the card reader, or go to the drive up atm... oh joy!

Anniversary

2007-01-29T00:09:00.000-06:00

today was the anniversary of the closing day on my house, it's been 2 years now. this morning i went to brunch with dave & emily, then pretty much worked overtime all afternoon and night, in order to keep making the payments... i sent off the escrow balance payment, a whopping $3.60. and then i noticed, with my brilliant math skillz that my house payment is actually coming down by 9 dollars a month.. go figure. so i'll keep my autopay the same and eat a little extra principal each time... oh well, i'm tired, need sleepy.

things

2007-01-21T22:30:00.000-06:00

well, the snow was fun today, i got up around 8:00, i had a sleepover, because i didn't want to drive home in the snow, it was coming down pretty good. so, i brushed the snow off of 3 cars, then went and got bagels and donuts for breakfast... then when i got home, i got to shovel my driveway (free workout), and helped the neighbor kids build a big snowman in my back yard (it's the best sledding hill in the court).
what else has been happening? i've been working alot of overtime again, usually log on to my work computer and put in an hour or two each night (which i'm going to do in a few minutes).
i got my car fixed friday, i tried to tackle an 18-wheeler about a month ago... the truck won. i scuffed his back tires with my passenger side front fender and door. he didn't even know i was there. so it wasn't bad, but there were some dents. my buddy Ferd at Dent Squad (the best paintless dent removal shop in town) fixed them right up, it looks great. well, that side is now clean and doesn't match the rest of the dirtyness... he's a really cool guy, he used to play bass for john cougar mellencamp.
so, enough fun, back to work...

the wake

2007-01-03T23:30:00.000-06:00

kind of a bummer day, today i found out that a really good friend of mine's dad passed away on new years day. i'd lost touch of my buddy for about 2 years because he got re-married, changed jobs and moved, we used to be really tight, i was his best man for his first wedding. his dad had had a few heart surgeries, and alzheimer's was starting to set in pretty bad. he died of a stroke, which Frankie said was probably better for him than suffering for a long time. so i went to the wake for a few hours after work, i hadn't seen anyone in his family for a few years more than the last time i saw him. they didn't remember my name, but most of them remembered me. i generally get people to smile around me, i don't insite a clingy crying response. not like i was cutting up jokes, well, i was when i went outside to not smoke with Hoosh (Frankie). i dunno, i hope i made an unpleasant situation go by a little bit easier for those i talked to. so, Salute to Frank Senior where ever he is now.

New Years

2007-01-01T23:29:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone, Happy 2007!! this year has gotten off to a very slow, low light level start. i've half slept through discovery marathons of mythbusters and futureweapons all day... Thanks Dr Mike and Paula for hosting the "quiet, relaxing" new years eve bash... never had such a hangover from being so quiet and relaxed before, but that's okay, it was a Great party!!! i'm glad i got to spend it with such great company. perhaps i did have some of the rules of beer roulette wrong after all...
well, i'm off jan. 2th as well, so i'll hopefully get the tree and christmas lights taken down (unlike my hoosier neighbors, who still have theirs turned on, which started the week Before thanksgiving, by the way) i think there should be rules against crossing over holidays with you xmas lights. oh well, that's my cent and a half.

xmas season

2006-12-28T14:15:00.000-06:00

i've just looked thru my blog ideas list that i keep on my SuperPhone, and they are all pretty much outdated and wouldn't be funny at this juncture. the list goes back a few weeks, so i'm back to my bi-monthly blogging schedule, sorry to my fans... (just humor me).

well, one is worth mentioning. i went down to Llywelyn's in soulard to see Side Of 5's, they played an all acoustic show there, it was awesome! i will be going to see them again, let me know if anyone wants to go.

thanks to everyone who sent me a christmas card, i'll have to start doing that one of these years. thanks to Santa who got me a new digital camera (well, i had to go buy and pay for it myself, but it's the thought that counts, high 5 big guy). it's Exactly the one i wanted too!! i did get two unexpected gifts, and that was very cool.

if anyone is still looking for a last minute gift idea, or you're an Extremely early shopper for next christmas, think RapSnacks!!! the official snack of hip hop! try the virtual vending machine on their website, there are several different flavah's and rap personalities to choose from, Yo. one of my friends found this empty bag in a bus stop downtown, so i can't comment on the tasty-ness of them, but it smelled delicious! well, after filtering out the downtown bus stop smell.

so, my vacation is going pretty good. i'm extremely bored already, i have plenty to do, i'm just not motivated to finish any of my existing projects or start any new ones. the one i keep putting off is making new curtains for my bedroom and bathroom windows, i've bought all the materials, just need to measure and sew them up. i may start on them today. i have accomplished something so far, i nursed a nasty sickly virus ridden computer back to full health, Shhh, it's sitting in it's oxygen tent defragging. it no longer needs a router condom, i was having to take all of my stuff offline when it needed to be online. i'm half way finished loading software onto my new one. so i've got computer parts all over the place, oh, is it a geek paradise in this room or what?

xmas lights cont.

2006-12-10T17:20:00.000-06:00

so, the lights are all done. well, i have to get up there and change some stuff around after the ice melts, but that's no biggie.

hope you can see the picture, it's kinda dark. 1000 new sparkling lights, the new strings were a bit longer than the old ones, so i wrapped the column by the front door.

so nobody has read these new postings? or have no comments? maybe you're waiting for another 2 weeks to go by before you check in.... i dunno
oh well, i'm off to grill up a few burgers.

xmas lights

2006-12-09T21:02:00.000-06:00

i got half of my xmas lights up today, i'll finish the rest tomorrow. i joined dave's mountain man grilling team tonight by grilling a couple of chicken breasts out in the snow. they were fantastic with a baked potatoe. i only almost fell off the roof twice, the roof on the front of the house is still covered with ice, so i had to work the slow way on my magic folding extension ladder on some parts. i actually brought a shovel up and tried shoveling the roof, wasn't working so well. but i could walk on the very edges where it has melted. i'll try to get a pic when it's finished.

been busy

2006-12-06T23:36:00.000-06:00

hi all, sorry it's been so long since i've blogged. i've been absolutely swamped at work. today, we finally printed the last big school job we we've been working on. so i get to start a fun project tomorrow, it's a renovation of some labs in a mizzou science building. we're going to be using Revit Systems on this project, it's our first time using it on a real job. we normally use AutoCAD, which has been the drafting software of choice for a long time. this is an all new way of doing everything, it's gonna rock! yeah! high five with your most bad ass pocket protector on!

went to the hockey game last night, they retired Brett Hull's #16 sweater up into the rafters. there was a big ceremony with players and coaches from his past, it was really cool. then detroit kicked the ever living shit out of us in the game... go figure.

finished decorating the xmas tree tonight, well, as much decoration as it's getting this year. it's kinda plain, so it matches the rest of the decor. i just have to wait for the ice to melt off of the roof so i can put up my new exterior lights. i plugged in the old ones and there were more out than were actually lit... so i threw the whole mess out. they lasted me 4 years, i got my money's worth out of them.

oh, new band to watch for, Flyleaf !!! they rock!!!

also in music, i went down to the original Twister's in imperial last friday to see some friends' of mine's final gig ( three times fast ). it was a great show! yes, i skipped work because of the snow/ice, but went out that night, sue me...

Saturday night out at Bill's, went sledding on a rail sled being pulled by a 4-wheeler at about 20 mph!!! that was awesome! then there was the pole dancing... but that's another story

NE !!!!

new to blogger

2006-11-19T22:49:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone, i've finally moved to Blogger(because that's where i hear the real bloggers blog). i guess i'll continue to post on my myspace one too, unless it becomes a hassle. Oh well, i've got alot of copy/pasting to do, and will have to figure out all the features here.

Update, just finished moving all my blog entries from myspace to here, and boy is my right clicker tired...

blues hockey

2006-10-31T23:34:00.000-06:00

i got to go to the blues game monday night, got free tix from the Laclede Gas rep, in their box suite!! free beer and food, it was great!! it was an exciting game, we were tied 3-3, then the ducks scored 2 pucks... then we came back and tied it at 5 right at the end, nothing happened in overtime, then we lost in shootouts... oh well, still a good time

p.s. Buy Laclede Gas. thank you, lol

halloween weekend

2006-10-29T22:48:00.000-06:00

all in all it's been a great weekend. friday we won the world series. saturday i went to a fantastic halloween party, didn't win the contest though (new pics posted, i was Sir Bevedere from monty python and the holy grail). today i worked some overtime hours, took a break and washed my car, worked some more, grilled some orange roughy, and worked some more. so, until next time...

credit card update

2006-10-23T19:25:00.000-06:00

ahh, the feeling of having money (only the feeling part applies, not so much the having part) my brand new shiny credit card finallly showed up Saturday... (nice 7 to 10 (read 14) days to get it). so i'm gonna go buy stuff for my halloween costume and house decorations on it tonight... i've gotta out-do my neighbors spooky blinking bats... it's scary over there. so i'm off to lowe's, then to fight thru the wal-mart hoosiers (i say that like i'm not one of them... well, we just don't tell anybody) okay? okay!
happy birthday to me...

the future

2006-10-13T14:52:00.000-06:00

i wonder what the future generations will think of our times... think of how we talk about our close ancestors. the cave men hunted with sticks and rocks, and didn't even have e-mail. the people that explored and settled in america used cap and ball guns, and didn't have electricity. schools in the future will look back at us and scoff, they used to think Pluto was a Planet, and that Clay Aiken might be hetero... it'll be funny how we used to use Gasoline to get around, and that we actually had to Leave our houses...
oh well, we can only work with the technology that we have...

credit card

2006-10-06T10:01:00.000-06:00

so, tuesday night when i get home, there's a message on my machine. it's some lady from capital one (currently in my wallet), she's from the fraud department, wants me to call about some questionable purchases. i call the number, and it's some stupid lady with worse ebonics than flavor flav, AXE'ing me for all this information. i asked her how i would know if she was actually a scammer herself, and she didn't really have a good answer. so i hung up and called the actual number on the back of the card. so i get thru to someone who speaks better english, she's from india, mind you, but she at least sounds intelligent. turns out there are 2 transactions form over the weekend that they denied, something from aol g-shop for $100, and something from kennith cold for $350... somebody's got my shit!!! so they went thru all the recent transactions, and these are the only 2 that aren't mine. they froze the account and cancelled the number, i'll get a new card with a new number in 7 to 10 days. hope i don't have to buy anything, i almost stuck it in the gas pump tonight, but remembered to use my bank debit card instead. scary stuff, good thing i have those barbarians from capital one following me around!! i'm going to call them back and see what kind of info i can get out of them... who it was, where they are, how they got my info.. if it was something i did, or didn't do, that i need to stop or start so this doesn't happen again... i don't know what all they can tell me though. oh well, i'm tired, seeya

america's army

2006-10-05T23:59:00.000-06:00

whew, just finished downloading the newest version of america's army. there's not patches, only a full version, 2.49 GB, took 3 1/2 hours. boy are my Cat 5E's tired...

things on my mind...

2006-09-27T21:35:00.000-06:00

does it bother anyone else?? that the theme song in the KENTUCKY Fried Chicken commercials is Sweet Home ALABAMA?????
and another thing that's bothering me... you people that follow sports as deeply as i do, know that in baseball, the magic number, is some combination of wins and losses that is used to calculate a percentage of something or other, blah blah..... so i keep hearing during the sports news about the cardinal's magic number, and how it keeps moving around... i have just one thing to say to these people... they should have watched more saturday morning cartoons than sports...
"Three is the magic number!!!"
have you heard the Blind Melon version??? rock!

yard work

2006-09-22T17:22:00.000-06:00

ran the cat down to the vet this afternoon for his checkup visit... all symptoms are fine now, except he's got no appetite. i've been coaxing him to eat by feeding him tuna, then mixing tuna in with his food, so he's eating more now, he just won't go eat on his own though.
so i get back from the vet, and i'm getting ready to cut the grass, and it starts raining, i was talking to my neighbor, and said screw it, i'm gonna cut it in the rain, so i went in and changed, when i came back out, it was sunny... lasted till just now when i finished, and it's starting to rain again.
i put down some patch-master grass seed on my yard's bald spots. i wish that Scott's made Hair seed and fertilizer... so i'm trying to not have my lawn match the top of my head, hopefully we'll get alot of rain this week and it'll germinate really well and fill in...
if only i could spend the amount of time and care Dave gives his lawn, mine could look like the fairway too...

workless

2006-09-21T22:21:00.000-06:00

well, so much for getting any work done tonight. i can't log into my vpn at work... so i can't get to my drawings and files... so i'll have to fix it tomorrow, so i can work this weekend, maybe i'll go in early-er... good thing my IT guys have me to do their job for them... good thing is that tomorrow's my boss's birthday, and one of the other electrical guys is bringing in donuts!!!
grumble... guess i'll play some guitar... perhaps i'll learn some scorpions, that's what i'm listening to now

oliver the cat

2006-09-15T18:38:00.000-06:00

Oliver, the Six Million Dollar cat, had to go to the vet today, because he's been sick. He had the sneezes last weekend, but they went away, then yesterday he got worse, he had even less energy than normal, and wasn't eating... So i took him in this afternoon, got a whole gamut of tests run, came home and cut the grass, then went back to pick him up. So, $241.36 later, they're not exactly sure what he's got, hopefully just an infection, he's running a fever, that's about all the conclusive evidence there is of being sick. I've got a weeks worth of antibiotics to give him (fun, he loves pills) and we'll see how he's doing after that. He's lucky i like him, he was almost totaled today... $241 is way more than his blue book value...

caught !!!

2006-09-08T15:32:00.000-06:00

Oliver the cat, isn't supposed to be on the dining room table, as a general rule. well, i had just finished cutting the grass, and i walk in the front door and hear "Umph" like the cat does when he jumps down from somewhere... so he comes up running, rubbing my sweaty grass stickin to leg, purring... the dining room table and i have parted ways recently, so i replaced it with my cheesy little card table, it's black with a poofy fake vinyl top and black chairs... so, i look over and see 4 little feet prints unsinking as the foam stretches back up... i looked at the cat and said "Caught Ya! The proof, my friend, is in the Padding". not that he cared, he'll be up there next time i walk thru the room, or in his favorite round chair, working on his memoirs.

energy

2006-09-07T19:50:00.000-06:00

Someone says: yanno, it takes more energy to frown than it does to smile...
Reply: yeah, yanno it takes more energy to point that out than it does to leave me alone...
- Bill Hicks

flea market

2006-08-27T13:08:00.000-06:00

i went out to the wentzville flea market this morning, i asked around, and there's still nobody selling fleas... i was looking for things to hang on my walls, trying to replenish the house. a bunch of the booths had closed up because it was drizzling a little.. i was noticing that most of the women there had more tattoos than teeth, and had a brilliant idea. why not have a booth that sells new and used bra's!! most everyone there could have used one, even some of the men. perhaps give a few away, to the "biggest" offender of the hour... there wasn't anything worth buying, redecorating mission failed. i'll try again when there's nicer weather.

dentist

2006-08-25T14:36:00.000-06:00

Ahhh, just got back from the dentist (enter minty breath). it had been over a year since i was there because they stopped sending out reminders, and didn't remind us about this... but anyways, still cavity free... haven't had one yet.

Hmmm

2006-08-22T23:41:00.000-06:00

Hi fellow bloggers, readers of other people's crap, freetime enhanced folks, alien creatures milking my wireless node... whoever's watching... it's been about a month since my last blog.. haven't had anything to say lately, had alot to think about, but nothing to publish... is "blogger's cramp" in the dictionary yet? it's a strange world out there (you aliens already know that) oh well, it's bedtime... g'nite

LOG

2006-07-23T15:14:00.000-06:00

What rolls down stairs alone or in pairsRolls over your neighbor's dog?What's great for a snack and fits on your back?It's Log, Log, Log!
It's Log, Log, it's big, it's heavy, it's wood.It's Log, Log, it's better than bad, it's good!Everyone wants a log! You're gonna love it, Log!Come on and get your log! Everyone needs a Log!"
From BLAMO!!!
And introducing New High Fashon Log for Girls!!

float trip

2006-07-16T14:45:00.000-06:00

another Great float trip!!! had a blasty!!! got home, vacuumed out the minivan, set up the tent in the driveway, and hosed it and the tarps out, cleaned and put away the coolers, i broke the open button on my playmate cooler, so i'll have to fix that later. the van is airing out and the tent is drying in the sun, yanno that horrid death smell of dirty river water festering in the coolers and float clothes... yeah, awesome. got showered and got laundry running, i'll roll up the tent in a little while, i'm pretty tired. ta ta for now...

gas station

2006-07-14T14:39:00.000-06:00

friday evening, heading out for the DrunkFest Float Trip, we picked up Mindy, and stopped to fill up the minivan with gas and get ice. well, i hit the "pay inside" button, filled the big-ass tank, went in and told the geek that i was on pump #1, and i needed 5 bags of gas and a powerball ticket..... Bags of Gas?!?!?! he says... i told him Yes, better make them waterproof bags...

windows are all installed

2006-07-11T22:25:00.000-06:00

i finished the kitchen window and the whole bay window sunday, started at 7:00am, and finished cleaning up at 8:30pm, Bill and Big Paul helped me... they look awesome!! (the windows that is) i still need to put the sills and interior trim wood on them. i can't figure out how to put pics on here, so you'll have to take my word for it, or come by and see them.

windows

2006-07-03T20:10:00.000-06:00

well, it's the end of day 2 of window weekend. Bill helped me, and show me how to remove the old ones and install the new master bedroom and master bathroom windows. today, my dad and nichole's father helped me do the two front bedroom windows. i picked the hottest 2 days of the year to be doing this.. idiot... i'm completely exhausted, and my back is dark red from the sun. i almost had a big injury, i came down off the ladder, and stepped on a board with a 3" nail sticking out of it. my shoe stuck on it for a half second, and then it pierced and sunk in way deep. i yelled and thought for sure i punctured my foot, sat down and pulled the nail about an inch and a quarter of the nail out of my shoe, still dreading... pulled off my shoe and sock, and all it did was scratch my big toe, it went right up between my toes. scariest part of it all, was that the toe that it rode up between, was The toe, the one i keep breaking... so, i've still got the kitchen window and the whole bay window to replace, might be wednesday, not sure, i'll need more people to handle the bay window, the middle piece is one continuous piece 8 feet wide. well, i'm going to go make something for dinner, sit and watch a movie, and pick the caulking off of my fingers.

Nirvana

2006-06-30T16:40:00.000-06:00

Nirvana (Unplugged in New York)WHERE DID YOU SLEEP LAST NIGHT -
Tune down a Half-Step (Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb)
Voicings:
E5 - 022x0x or 022x00
A - x0222x
G - 320033 or 320003
B - x2444x
B/F# - 22444x

Intro: E5 (E) (F#) (G) (E) A G B B/F# E5 [Repeat 2x]

E5 A G
My girl, my girl, don't lie to me
B B/F# E5
Tell me where did you sleep last night
E5
In the pines, in the pines
A G
Where the sun don't ever shine
B B/F# E5
I would shiver the whole night through

My girl, my girl, where will you go
I'm going where the cold wind blows
In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun don't ever shine
I would shiver the whole night through
Her husband, was a hard working man
Just about a mile from here
His head was found in a driving wheel
But his body never was found
[Repeat first verse]
Interlude: play verse progression
[Repeat second verse gently]
[Repeat first verse loudly]
My girl, my girl, where will ya go
I'm going where the cold wind blows
In the pines, the pines
The sun, the shine
I'll shiver the whole night through
[Repeat Interlude]

the sandwich

2006-06-25T22:00:00.000-06:00

i've been making a sandwich for lunch, or whenever... it's turned into my favorite, i call it the Dyslexic BLT. it's a BCTT, Bacon, Cheese, Turkey, and Tomato... good on white or whole grain bread
enjoy

the wreck

2006-06-24T21:35:00.000-06:00

so, saturday morning, i'm on my way home, stopped first in line at the light at mexico and hwy K, in the left going straight lane. a car (we'll call it Car A) pulls up and stops on my left, in the right left turn lane. everyone following along? got the picture? when all of a sudden, BANG, some blonde ditz (we'll call her car B) hits car A next to me, not very hard, but enough to do some minor damage. Lady A gets out and starts walking back to see the damage. Ditz B is now going to attempt to help lady A see the damage, and proceeds backing up..... HONK.... BANG. yup, she hit the pick-up truck that had pulled up and stopped behind her (truck C, for those keeping track)
what a fuckin idiot

father's day

2006-06-18T09:57:00.000-06:00

bless me father, it's been quite a while since my last blog entry...
well, it's father's day, which we're hosting at our house this year. i've had a big estrogen fest so far this weekend, after cutting the grass, i swiffer dusted everything (not as orgasmic as the commercial makes it look), sponge mopped and swiffered all the floors, vacuumed all the carpets, and cleaned both bathrooms extensively. i still have to make the shrimp marinade, and figure out what i'm going to do with the steaks, a dry rub perhaps.. i dunno yet. then it'll be about time to fire up the mega grill. i'll try to squeeze in a minute to relax for father's day if i get a chance.
happy father's day you mothers!

ice cream man

2006-05-22T22:08:00.000-06:00

sunday as i was hanging the new screen door on my new back door, i hear the ice cream man's van coming around in the next court over. oddly enough, the song it's playing is La Cucaracha (the cockroach in spanish)... sing along with me...
La Cucaracha, La Cucaracha... scurries up and scurries down...
La Cucaracha, La Cucaracha... come eat an overpriced treat from my dirty bug infested work van...
YUMMY!!!

nails

2006-05-02T22:47:00.000-06:00

So this new dickweed that sits in the cubicle next to me at work is trimming his fingernails this morning for about 43 minutes... ANNOYING.... Who doesn't have time to do that at home? Or can't it just wait a few days until you get time?? Maybe my nails just aren't that pressing of an issue to me...

my broken toe

2006-05-01T22:56:00.000-06:00

As some of you know, i broke my left pointer toe (the one next to the big toe, duh) last year playing in a full contact, deathmatch, wiffle ball battle match extreme. The very next weekend, as it was healing, i broke the same toe again, well, my cat, Oliver, broke it. How TUFF do i sound?? Anyways, it's been slowly healing ever since, i've been taking it easy on it, only playing "bar sports" pool, darts, foosball... where i can only hurt my liver, and maybe get an eye poked out... Anyways, i go in today to see Dr. Mike to get cracked, and we started Physical Therapy on my toe tonight. He starts pulling and bending on it like it were a normal person's toe. I kept expecting to hear it break again and yell out in pain, but it didn't hurt at all, it's only mildly sore now.

windows

2006-04-27T19:45:00.000-06:00

Santa showed up this morning in his big yellow Pella Truck!! my new windows and doors are here, now i just have to install them...

bill's garage

2006-04-25T23:54:00.000-06:00

Well, since Doug and I have taken over american idle (not misspelled) and dr. house night at bill's, and nobody else shows up any more... just thought i'd let everyone know that the garage guitar has been returned... cleaned, re-strung, and set up by yours truly... go by and give it a strum, it's fantastical

storm

2006-04-19T20:04:00.000-06:00

Whew, we just narrowly missed the Severe ThunderStorm Activity and baseball sized hail with killer tornados last night..... as it just rained for a while... imagine if we could be wrong at our jobs as often as weathermen (weatherpersons)...

easter

2006-04-17T23:25:00.000-06:00

an easter question... as you all know, easter is the celebration of the resurection of a bunny rabbit, which now has the magical power to lay chocolate eggs... Jesus H. Christ... what's the H stand for???

rain delay

2006-04-07T18:16:00.000-06:00

friday afternoon is Lawn Day, so i work around the house with the trimmer, then start mowing, i'm mowing at an angle, which looks really good, i rotate 45 degrees each week, yanno. so nichole is making fun of me, taking pictures, as i make my way into the back yard, it starts raining. doesn't phase me, then a few stripes later, it starts really raining... so i mow my way into the garage, clean all the grass off me, go inside for about 10 minutes, then look out the window, it's sunny again... so back out to mowing, finish that up, then washed my car. kinda like some product "By Mennen", i washed that gray right offa my car, it's red again, and all is well.

windows

2006-04-04T22:18:00.000-06:00

my pella order is officially placed, i'm excited!! all new fiberglass frame, double-hung, low-e coated, argon filled windows for the entire house, and a new back door with new storm door. they'll be here in 3-4 weeks... duration of installation to be determined at a later date...
peace, out <~~ read in Kip's voice

cars

2006-04-01T13:33:00.000-06:00

Another Car Bombing in Iraq kills a government sensored number of people.... Where are these idiots getting all these Cars?? can't we send a team out to steal all the cars left in iraq? call it a mobile disarming

escalator

2006-03-31T16:44:00.000-06:00

I like an escalator because an escalator can never break. It can only become stairs. You would never see an "Escalator temporarily out-of-order" sign. Just "Escalator temporarily stairs. Sorry for the convenience." We apologize for the fact that you can still get up there.
- Mitch Hedberg

laundry

2006-03-29T22:22:00.000-06:00

i lean toward obsessive compulsive yanno, today i couldn't get my shirt tucked in quite right, or it wouldn't lay flat or something, it was bothering me... so later in the day, i went to the bathroom, and when i sat down on the seat (after thouroughly wiping it off) here comes a dryer sheet falling to the floor in front of me... it was a white shirt, i guess i never saw it.. it went for a ride downtown, the freeloader.

panhandler

2006-03-21T23:55:00.000-06:00

a buddy took me to the blues game tonight, it was about 25 degrees outside.. of course, i left my coat in his car because i didn't want to carry it around during the game.. on the walk to savvis center, a guy, who smelled worse than the blues played that night, asked us if we had any spare money... i looked at him and thought, Hey, i'm also currently Cold, And out of Beer... Fend for yourself... then told him i didn't have any money, watched the horrible game and drank a few $7.50 not very cold draft beers...

blogness

2005-09-19T21:43:00.000-06:00

first blog entry.... captain's log... star-date 12.6.7-9er is there anybody out there?