fontosaurus

Well, my first day of being back at work is now water under the bridge. It was great to be back at it again...I got a lot done for my first day, and have a solid understanding of how the one site I'm renovating/updating works, and I'm starting to piece together a mental idea for the layout of the new one I have to build. I can't tell you how good it feels to be back at it. The people I work with are cool, quiet, and calm, and there's not this constant "hurry up and do this, even though we're going to change the project spec while you're working" attitude like at the dot-coms. It feels orderly, planned, and professional, and I love it. As it stands, my contract runs until Sept. 20th, and I'm hoping to god it becomes a fulltime gig.

Anyway, not much has happened since I got home. My dad is, of course, being a pain in the arse about shit. "Why are you so calm and quiet? Is something wrong? What's wrong? Is something wrong?" Yeah, dad, I didn't get much sleep last night, I'm fucking exhausted from my first day back at work in 8 months, and there's this guy who won't stop asking questions. *sigh*

I did, however, teach him to use iMovie today...he went out and got a DV videocamera today, which is coolio. I am going to play with it and maybe post some video later this summer of me doing silly shit like BMX racing, goofing off with my friends, and so on. Stuff to post on here.

In other news, I'm skipping out on Acme Comedy Club tonight. I'm pretty sure mso is still annoyed with me for not checking my voicemail/having my cellphone on me 24-7 this weekend, and not being around when I was needed. I mean, yeah, she's been very supportive and a good friend, but some of the shit she said on the phone when she called last night really pissed me off, and I think she was out of line.

Is it bad that I want to spend some money on myself already? I've been wanting to move all the components on my BMX bike to a new frame and fork, and it'll cost about $400. I think it's good after 8 months of being frugal and doing things like selling my Bianchi and my Olympics tickets. I'm entitled to buying myself something nice, right?

Anyway, all in all, though, I'm happy. I had a good weekend, the first day of work was good, and things seem to finally be looking up... :-)

First, lemme thank all of you who have been so supportive of me in my quest for the new job. It's meant a lot to me. I owe all of you for the good karma, encouragement, good thoughts, etc. I'm not sure how I'll repay the kindnesses, but I'm sure I will...

Anyway, for those that don't have all the details yet... I have a position that's an 8 to 12 week contract, fulltime, with the potential to go full-time after the contract is up. It's with the Carlson Leisure Group -- one of the Carlson companies. Schwanky facilities over by where 494 and 394 join up. $26 per hour. I am going to go in there, kick ass, and take names. I'll be doing some intranet development and design, and doing some stuff with their travel bonus site. Should be pretty fun. I'll be doing a lot of front-end user-interface stuff, and some light ASP and ColdFusion dev... I'm totally looking forward to it.

Friday evening I hauled ass down to Mankato to hang out with Carolyn...we were going to go out and get hammered, but by the time I got there, I was pretty tired. We played a bit of Chez Geek, then went down to the bars. I didn't feel like crowds, so we went over to Mexican Village, and had a tequila shot and a beer. Then to bed.

Saturday, we came up here and helped Dave shop for a new Macintosh system. He, as usual, was very methodical about what he should buy. In the end, he got a new G4 desktop. 933 MHz, 768MB RAM, 60GB internal drive, and then an additional 120GB external drive, a new digital camera, a router (which I have to help him configure once his cable service is back online), and some other miscellany. Oh yeah, and a 17" flatscreen. Beautiful system -- I'm mucho jealouso.

Anyway, after setup fun and getting him hooked up with a bunch of the important software, and then Carolyn, myself, Dave, and Kristin went over to Calhoun and went rollerblading. Quite fun. Kristin and Carolyn called it time for a rest after the first lap, and Dave and I did a faster second lap while they sucked down Powerade and kibbitzed.

Carolyn and I went and cleaned up and then had dinner at the Something Original Roadhouse Grill Something Something, which was good. They seem to be an Americanized knock-off of the Outback Steakhouse...their Bloomin' Onion equivelent wasn't very good. The steak and garlic mashed potatoes were awesome, however. Once I got us to 169, she drove the rest of the way -- I was so tired, I fell asleep almost immediate, woke up briefly in LeSueur, and then woke up again in Mankato. Crashed out.

This morning, we went and had a healthy (yeah, right) McDonald's breakfast, then went and saw Lilo and Stitch. Normally, I have a love-hate relationship with Disney. You can never fault the art, music, etc., it's just sometimes a little to saccharine for my tastes. This one isn't the typical Disney fare -- it's got a lot of juvenile humor and a lot of non-whitebread/suburban characters. It managed to make me laugh like hell, and even had me a little choked up at a couple of points. Does that make me a wuss? So be it.

Anyway, I also hit Old Navy -- mom was nice enough to float me $100 for some biz casual clothes, and lo and behold, they had polo shirts on sale, so I grabbed a trio of them. I'm going to hit a few other places tomorrow for more. Variety good. Variety very good.

I guess working in biz clothes is the last step in growing up eh? I can't say I won't miss the jeans-and-t-shirt jobs, but I miss money more than I'll ever miss that.

Well, I went to a Twins game last night with my buddy mso, expecting to see the Twins do well, given their recent run of good luck. It was not to be. As it stands, EVERY baseball game I've ever gone to, the home team loses. Tonight was no different. The first couple innings were alright, but then in the 5th, they opened up on us and ran the score up to 9-0. We toughed it out until the end of the 6th, when the score was 11-0. We bailed.

Sitting there, though, I came to the realization that the Twins do need a new stadium. The dome fucking sucks. It was a beautiful night last night, and to have an open sky over the place would have made the game much better, even with them losing. There's something sterile about eating Dome Dogs and watching baseball under a roof. Ah well. The company was good, anyway.

I came home, futzed around on LJ for a bit, talked to some people on AIM, and read some of the third Harry Potter book before crashing out for the night.

When I woke up this morning, I was instantly alert and completely awake, and the sky was just beginning to lighten. Time for a good session of introspection, right? Sure. I started thinking about my friends who got married in their early or mid 20's...and I felt both envious of them and sorry for them. Is that odd? Part of me wishes I had something as stable and sure as that in my life, but the other part of me is so glad that I have my freedom, that being an unmarried guy at 29 (almost 30! yow!) doesn't really bother me. I just wonder if that sense of freedom is going to be what keeps me from it, and how I can balance the two.

I was close to getting married once. I opted to end the relationship instead. I'm sure that a part of it was my independent streak. She wanted someone who would bring home the bacon (to borrow a phrase from timmyeatworld) and let her sit around the house and pump out babies, and I want someone who can have a life of their own and not depend on me for everything. Because two independent people together are better than one independent person and someone looking for her M.R.S. (Mrs.) degree.

It's not that I have a fear of commitment -- I just can't envision marrying someone like Kristin, who wanted nothing more than to watch TV, see movies, and hang around the house. It felt like she was in a competition with her friends to see who would have the most extravagent wedding, the best honeymoon, etc. -- I'm not kidding. I'm just glad I realized these things before I put a ring on her finger.

So I'm free, and I'm happy. I don't have a job yet, which puts a crimp in my social life, but even as such, I'm getting out, having fun, and I'm the happiest I've been in a long time. I'm so happy I came back to Minnesota. :-)

Anyhow, I'm off to the Mall. Need some clothes-- sandals and shorts.

Well, mso's birthday was fun. We started with a dinner at the Napa Valley Grill at the Mall of America -- nice, upscale place. Good wine, a lot of good laughs, etc. From there, we proceeded upstairs to the bar complex -- we started at Little Ditties, a piano bar, and our waitress was in sharp contrast to the name of the place. She had Tig Bitties (you do the verbal acrobatics). Far, far beyond even DD-cup. HUGE. Anyway. From there, we went back into the All-American Sports Bar (or whatever the fuck it's called...very generic name), shot some pool, and I ogled to two gorgeous Asian girls at the next table, and the blonde working at the Ice Tub O' Beers. Heaven would be those three girls at the same time. Wow. From there, we went over to Jillian's and Seth, Kellie, and I had an in-depth conversation that started with genetic engineering and progressed to humanity/post-humanity while mso got more and more tired. We argued and bitched at her, regardless of the fact that it was her birthday and contrary to what she wanted to do, until she agreed to go to the strip club (Dreamgirls).

$8 cover, plus you were required to buy one drink. $8 for a free-refills glass of Coke. Jesus. Lap-dances were $20 (I think, I didn't get one). [DISCLAIMER: the following link is for those of you 18 and up!] Gina Ryder was the featured performer. Cute, but didn't look like she was too into it. I imagine that the job is like any other -- it gets to be the same old shit all the time. Anyway, Kellie bought mso and Seth some lapdance action. She said she'd have bought me one if she had had the money...no worries, though. Take care of your roommate and boyfriend first. :-) Besides, there were only a few of the strippers that I'd be interested in. So around 3am, we made our departure. While Seth and I waited by the door, one of the more attractive strippers came over and tried to entice me into a lapdance. Cute, but she talked like she was running a phonesex line -- you could tell that she was trying to sound really slutty and in the end, it was more amusing than arousing. That's also the first time I've ever had my tie licked. Of course, it was also the first time I ever wore a tie in a strip club. (I was dressed up b/c of the upscale-factor of the restaurant.)

So, anyway, we all split up, mso, Kellie, and Seth went back to the apartment, and I drove home. I got in around 3:30 a.m. or so, read Harry Potter for about 15 minutes. The alarm went off at 6:00 a.m., and I got up and got on with my day.

Yes, on a little more than 2 hours of sleep I rode a double century -- that's a 200 mile ride for you non-cycling types. Something happened Saturday night that screwed up my upper back -- same as it was before -- and I wasn't going to let it deter me this time. Anyway, at the first rest stop, I pulled in, begged some Icy Hot and some Advil, which took the edge off...for the next 125 miles or so. After the rest stop, I joined up with a paceline that was trucking along at about 23 mph and hung in with them for a good chunk of distance 70 or 80 miles. The Advil/Icy Hot Cocktail had worn off with about 30 miles to go, and believe me, I was feeling it. My back was in total agony... Anyway, with no fanfare and no particular emotion other than relief to be done, I finished. I stumbled to the car, got the bike onto the roof rack, made use of my sun shower (hair, face, armpit and crotch being the most important points), crawled into the back of the truck (heavy tint on the rear windows) to change into some comfy clothes/sandals for the drive home...and promptly fell sound asleep on the rear seats...for 10 hours. I had a Powerbar and a bottle of tepid Gatorade for breakfast. Yum.

Anyway, I'm home now. My legs and butt feel fine. It's just my damn upper back. Yuck.

Well, I picked Kristin up at a bit after 4pm. We got to the Mall of America, got her blades, I returned my Vikings license plate frames (they covered the registration stickers, dammit) and got a Vikes car flag and a window sticker. We grabbed some Subway and met Dave over at Lake Calhoun. We ate our subs sitting by the lake, watched a cute girl's micro-dog cop attitude with a giant Doberman (or something), and, of course, commented on its bravery.

This was Kristin's first time on blades, and she was obviously hindered by inexperience. She did manage to biff it pretty hard, once...and had a couple minor dings along the way. It took us over an hour to circumnavigate the lake once. She took my keys and sat in the XTerra and read my copy of Harry Potter (the first one), while Dave and I blazed through a lap in 22 minutes. Not a speed record, but still fun. We did agree that we're all running the Twin Cities Marathon next year (2003), which should be great fun...I haven't done a marathon since 1993, when I was stationed at Ft. Bragg.

Sweaty and gross we blazed from Uptown down to Apple Valley to see Ultimate X on the IMAX screen -- my third time seeing it, D & K's first. They were incredibly impressed by the photography, which is to be expected. Filled up the tank -- despite depositing a large unemployment check today they refused my cash card. Bastards. Dave was nice enough to cover for me. We stopped by my parents' place and they finally met my two cats after dozens of missed opportunities in the past two years. Dropped them off at home after that, came back here, chatted with mso for a bit regarding the birthday plans for tomorrow, and now I am going to get a shower and go to sleep. Yay me!

I am now on my way to go pick up Kristin, who is going to buy some rollerblades. We are taking Dave's rollerblades and workout clothes with us. We are meeting him at Lake Calhoun. We will rollerblade around Lake Calhoun many times, and I will look at all the honeys. Then we are probably going to go see Ultimate X at the IMAX. Have I mentioned that I love rollerblading? I do. I was bad a few weeks ago -- I bought a pair of new rollerblades, when I shouldn't have, because I'm on unemployment and that money's supposed to be for just the bills.

mso's burfday is tomorrow. I have to get her a card or something. A bunch of us are going out to dinner and to the piano bar in the Mall of America tomorrow. It will be fun.

Here's a couple I've been working on.


This is a pseudo-art deco thing that I'm liking. No idea for a name yet.


Someone tried to tell me a decent gothic block font couldn't be done. I'm trying anyway.

I'm bored. Someone post a bunch of stuff for me to read when I get back from delivering mso her chicken soup. I may go over to Calhoun and blade a couple laps, too.

I guess the best thing about being unemployed is that I've managed to keep busy. I just got home from Dave and Kristin's place -- played some Chez Geek and some Scrabble. Discussed Dave's upcoming Mac system. Lots of bad jokes, as always.

Got to pick mso at the airport tomorrow. Also going to try to get over to Calhoun for some rollerblading.

I'm so happy with Apple's handling of my iBook repairs -- to fix the flickering screen, they replaced the battery/power sub-unit, and not only did it resolve that, but my battery life is much-improved. After an experience like this, I'm so pleased, I'd take a bullet for Steve Jobs.

Anyway, it's been a long day. I finally figured out what book I wanted to buy -- two hours after B&N closed. I'm going to pick up a copy of Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose. Yes, the book the HBO miniseries was based on.

But, I'm sleepy, so it's off to bed for me. G'nite.

And rain be damned, too! I broke down and went for a ride. I couldn't help it. 34 miles of hammerfest in the rain and chill -- and it FUCKING RULED -- today was one of those days where I remembered why I started riding in the first place. Even when the conditions were miserable, I was hauling ass, and the heart rate was only around 150 (my max is around 204 these days). Got it into the big ring in front and did some intervals that got me into the low 190's for heart rate. Mmmmm. Endorphin rush! And even the rain couldn't wipe the grin off my face.

Going to go play Chez Geek with Dave and Kristin in about an hour. I guess I can take the down time to clean up my bike, which is fucking filthy -- sand, mud, water, and road grime.

Fuck, I love to ride. *happy sigh*

Well, I've been laying in bed for an hour now. My cats have been lounging around with me, instructing me in the fine art of being lazy. They're such an inspiration.

I'm supposed to be riding a century right now (that's a 1-day 100-mile ride for you non-cycling types), but with the way my back feels, it's pretty much out of the question. Major drag. I was looking forward to it.

Dave and Kristin are coming back into town today -- they were in Iowa yesterday for a wedding. We may be getting together to play some Chez Geek today...or tomorrow. Who knows?

For those that don't read my postings over in the Macintosh community, I'll recap here. Friday, I dropped mso off at the airport. I came home, and my parents were unloading all sorts of toys from the back of my stepmom's Grand Cherokee. My stepmom got herself a top-of-the-line Powerbook G4 (the titanium monster), a new iPod, etc. (I tell you, that iPod is going to disappear into my boxes when I move out). My dad has decided to make the switch and will be buying an iBook of his own, shortly. Then my friend Dave called to tell me that he might be getting an iMac and a bunch of video production stuff. Too cool! Looks like I'll be teaching a lot of people the innards of OS X.

OS X good. Windows bad. Remember that.

The iBook just arrived! How cool is that? Everything's kosher now! They replaced the battery subassembly and my old battery, and replaced the hard drive. The only downside is, I'm going to be spending my day getting all my shit working.

Must remember that I have to take mso to the airport today. She's going to Atlanta to visit a friend. Personally, I think it's a Nookie Run, but whatever... :-)

A friend of mine lost a friend of hers today. I don't know the circumstances, but I'm sure it's not easy for her to cope with. And I'm bothered by the fact that despite the number of friends I've lost, I have no idea what to say to her to alleviate the pain and frustration.

This is not to say that I have not gained any wisdom from the passing of my friends -- quite the contrary. What I have learned is this: a friend is someone who leaves a permanent mark on your life. Someone who ten years after their death leaves you smiling at their memory...knowing that they'd be laughing along with the joke with you, or just as engaged in your conversation as you are... And after enough time passes, it doesn't really hurt anymore...you remember them fondly, but you realize that gradually other people have slowly grown to fill in the spots in your life left vacant.

You don't remember them in their darkest depression, about to try something incredibly foolhardy, or blood-spattered on a battlefield a thousand miles from home. You remember the time they picked you up and dusted you off, the time they believed in you, or the time they made you laugh so hard that milk came out of your nose. And the best thing you can do is try to be that person for the people you surround yourself with.

Laugh, love, live. Your friend would want that for you to do these things as much as you wish they still could.

I know this sounds horribly disjointed, but I'm writing strictly off-the-cuff, and it's dredged up a lot of memories, and I'm smiling and missing some people at the same time.

Sleep well, meira. I hope that in time, people in your life will grow to fill your freshly empty spaces, and that time will ease your pain and leave you remembering your friend fondly.

mso and I have been hanging out a lot lately...she's a great friend, and I missed her while I lived in Philly... Being unemployed, she's been buying a lot of the time when we go out -- movies, beer, food, etc. I'm starting to feel really guilty about it. I don't want her thinking I'm hanging out with her for the sake of mooching off her... I mean, shit, she's a great friend -- I'd take a bullet for her. I'll have to take her to Valleyfair this summer or something, once I'm employed.

Unemployment really blows goat.

Thank god that weekend is over. I mean, it had it's ups and downs, and all in all, it wasn't too bad. I'm just glad it's over.

Friday...um, Spiderman. Spiderman rocked my afro (okay, I don't have an afro, but I wish I did). I don't care about the purists' whining about the organic web-shooters. Fuck you, fanboys. I have loved that comic since I was five (1977), and I say quit yer fuckin' bitchin'! This is a hell of a good start to the summer movie season. There's so much shit I want to see, it's crazy. I better get employed soon so that I can afford all this. On my agenda: Star Wars Episode 2 (of course), MIB2, Bad Company, Windtalkers, Sum of all Fears, Goldmember, Minority Report (MAYBE -- Tom Cruise can be offset by Phillip K. Dick, who wrote the story that became Bladerunner), The Bourne Identity, and I'm sure that there's some dramas, etc., that I haven't seen previews for yet, that I will probably end up going to. I love movies.

So that was Friday. Saturday I did housework, futzed around, read more of Gaiman's American Gods,etc. Went rollerblading...crashed. Badly. I'm sure it looked quite funny. Anyway, I wasn't wearing any safety gear, and I landed on my left hand and the top/rear of my pelvis. Until that moment, I'd never landed on my ass so hard I thought my face was going to explode. Anyway, I bladed home and groused about the pain for awhile. Rather than go to the doctor, I went to a party with mso at postumus and maus's place. Had a pretty good time, but there were some annoying underage chicks there that, while cute, were just irritating beyond all belief. (Discuss Fight Club and get an, "Oh my god, I am SUCH a BIG Brad Pitt fan!" *insert scatterbrained giggle here*)

So Sunday morning, I went over to the VA to have my wrist looked at. Supposedly, it's not, but a specialist is looking over my x-rays today, and if there's any question, I get to have an MRI! Whee. Went to breakfast with mso, Kellie (her roommate) and K's boyfriend, Seth, at this groovy place down on Lake. Went from there to the Mall of America, got some safety gear for rollerblading (about 24 hours too late). Went to mom's place to mooch a coupon for a free car wash at this place that charges like $23 for one...she gave me the rest of the book, which is groovy. Rain was on the forecast for Sunday and Monday, though, so I am going to wait on washing the XTerra until Tuesday. Played mom in Scrabble, and she beat me by 110 points -- in our last game, I used all seven letters on my opening move, this game, she turned the tables. Ow! How demoralizing. Then, I went over to Amy and Kellie's Sunday night, and Amy and I made a batch of cookies from pre-mixed dough and I bitchslapped her at Scrabble, then everyone else when the four of us from breakfast played again. (Seth is the Official King of the Three-Letter Word!)

So I came home, crashed. Woke up this morning with a nice headache and a bag of leftover chocolate chip cookies. Yum!