Ok, so I didn't make it out to see
Guy last night. I made an evening trip to the park to play with long exposure settings and get some fresh air before spending a quiet evening at home. I actually went to bed early... slept late... much needed. Sleep, in my opinion, is vastly underrated. There is something going on with some of my drive space over at
Fotki this morning or I'd post some of the hoo-ha from last eve. When I'm in a hurry or just being lazy, I link the scaled image off Fotki instead of storing a local copy on my server. That's why sometimes you get this blogournal with fucked up little placeholders where a picture should be. Isn't that happy? I'm off to be measured for my tux and to buy a couple cases of wine, then it's summertime bar-b-que get together at
Sam's tonight. I think there were like twenty or thirty people invited, but who knows how many will show. He's got the space for it. Maybe I can ride his
'58 Vespa again tonight. Woohoo! I love those white walls. Anyhoo, have a great day!
Most of the shots (including these) thurned out really bad, but I was taking some of them in near darkness... so I assume it's going to take some time to get the hang of it.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I'm not sure what the hell this sign is all about, buy these guys still have the best lamb in Houston.
Ok. Fotki fucking lost the image in some wierd server crash or something. I hate it when that happens.
Today was crazy busy. I just got home and EL is in fix-the-house-up-before-we-leave mode, so we're off to Lowes. I bought the wrong paint by mistake last time. It was one of those Murphy's Law things. If there is a shelf of
nothing but antique white paint
except one can of white... well, you get the idea.
Guy is playing at the Rhythm Room tonight. I really want to go, but I'm seriously beat. I could sleep right now. Maybe I was just to tired to understand the sign at lunch. Any ideas?
Temperature of Houston, TX...116
Temperature of Duluth, MN...53
*shock**gasp*...*faint*
pr0n!
hey... they don't call 'em love bugs for nothin'!
The coffee saga continues. I've been tied up in meetings all day. I went to a different Starbucks about 30 minute ago to get some joe before an upcoming conference call. I offer to run for a coworker too. The joint is out of every syrup he asked for... so I walk a few blocks like a pre-mall opening power walker to another known Starbucks... it's closed. Ack! I jog cheerfully to the one that had no coffee yesterday hoping the lynch mob and posse of last eve forced an emergency repair of whateverthefuckwasbroken. Success! However, I've now wasted the only free moments I had and have to hit up the meeting. Damn. I hope EL is having fun. She didn't sleep well last night so I set her up with an hour full body massage at a nice day spa here in town. Tonight is nothing but pampering for her... she certainly deserves it with all the work she's been doing planning this wedding. Remember how I bitch about hating meetings? Well, meetings involving multiple parties on conference (audio, video... no matter) as well as those right there in meatspace are ten times worse. There is always that stupid fuck that puts you on hold while not realizing he is Muzaking everyone on the line... or the faction that mutes everyone so they can have internal discussion on how to defend their team and don't pay attention to what's going on in the meantime... so you explain and re-explain. I'm so fucking glad tomorrow is Friday.
So my tire was flat last night when I left work. I ended up leaving the car in the parking garage and EL picked me up. Sam met us briefly for spring rolls at Mai's before jetting off. I was seriously exhausted. I think I went to bed earlier last night than I have in years. I know now what it is about this week that is making it so unbearable. Monday was a holiday. That extra day got me in don't-go-to-work mode and I'm paying for it now. The only cure is another weekend. One more day. That's it. Hurry...
Looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong day. Big network problem at work that because much worse when too many hands tried to stir the pot at the same time. Meetings filled the gaps between shit breaking and the day passed quickly albeit painfully. I ate at my desk... working. I didn't have a single drop of coffee today. I didn't have time. I ran across the street with Dwayne around four when I had about 15 minutes of freedom before my next meeting. My only target was espresso... espresso and lots of it. Guess what?
Yep. The fucking Starbucks
had no coffee. The worst part of it all is that I didn't have enough time to make it to another coffee shop before my meeting.
Ugh!
I must unwind.
Let's take a ride back to 1986 to help my afternoon pass by...
"how here's a little story - i've got to tell
about three bad brothers - you know so well
it started way back in history
with adrock, m.c.a., and me - mike d.
been had a little horsy named paul revere
just me and my horsy and a quart of beer
riding across the land - kicking up sand
sheriff's posse on my tail cause i'm in demand
one lonely beastie i be
all by myself - without nobody
the sun is beating down on my baseball hat
the air is gettin' hot - the beer is getting flat
lookin' for a girl - i ran into a guy
his name is m.c.a., i said, 'howdy' - he said, 'hi'
he told a little story - that sounded well rehearsed
four days on the run and that he's dying of thirst
the brew was in my hand - and he was on my tip
his voice was hoarse, his throat was dry - he asked me for a sip
he said, 'can i get some?'
i said, 'you can't get none!'
had a chance to run
he pulled out his shotgun
he was quick on the draw - i thought i'd be dead
he put the gun to my head and this is what he said,
'now my name is m.c.a. - i've got a license to kill
i think you know what time it is - it's time to get ill
now what do we have here - an outlaw and his beer
i run this land, you understand - i make myself clear.'
we stepped into the wind - he had a gun, i had a grin
you think this story's over but it's ready to begin
'now i got the gun - you got the brew
you got two choices of what you can do
it's not a tough decision as you can see
i can blow you away or you can ride with me'
i said, i'll ride with you if you can get me to the border
the sheriff's after me for what i did to his daughter
i did it like this - i did it like that
i did it with a whiffleball bat
so i'm on the run - the cop's got my gun
and right about now - it's time to have some fun
the king adrock - that is my name
and i know the fly spot where they got the champagne.'
we rode for six hours the we hit the spot
the beat was a bumping and the girlies was hot
this dude was staring like he knows who we are
we took the empty spot next to him at the bar
m.c.a. said, 'yo, you know this kid?'
i said, 'i didn't.' - but i know he did
the kid said, 'get ready cause this ain't funny
my name's mike d. and i'm about to get money.'
pulled out the jammy - aimed it at the sky
he yelled, 'stick 'em up!' - and let two fly
hands went up and people hit the floor
he wasted two kids that ran for the door
'i'm mike d. and i get respect
your cash and your jewelry is what i expect'
m.c.a. was with it and he's my ace
so i grabbed the piano player and i punched him in the face
the piano player's out - the music stopped
his boy had beef - and he got dropped
mike d. grabbed the money - m.c.a. snatched the gold
i grabbed two girlies and a beer that's cold."
"Paul Revere" - Beastie Boys
Vacation... time away. Time to be away from everything. I know that's the case because this "three day" went by like a "half day". It's the typical burn out scenario. I'm a few steps short of bringing an assault weapon to work with me and mowing down the bad people... well, not quite, but still. The only thing that is really saving me here is EL and her patience with me and everything. Our weekend, when broken into smaller, more manageable bites, was excellent. The dissatisfaction with total stress reduction was the kicker. Yesterday was pretty cool. EL made this crazy spiced pepper peach salsa grilled chicken with a fresh baby spinach mango salad and grilled fresh peaches doped up with the spicy stuff for lunch. She did all kinds of handy work around the house while I sat in my cave and was grumpy. It helped a lot. I need alone time. I mean, seriously... alone. I am around people all day at work. I am around my family when I'm home except when sleeping. I need some time where there is no one but me around. Usually, this is in my office at home because of my predisposition for laziness when I'm not working, but I made a few outings this weekend that were very relaxing. I'd like to ride around town on my bike and photograph stuff, but inevitably I feel guilt for not spending enough time with EL, who deserves more time than I could possibly give her. She's the best. Anyhoo, today is not happy. Fuck today. I was in a meeting all morning and have been busy as hell since lunch. I really need to consider a new job. I like what I do, but the people here have all turned sour. It really does only take a few bad apples to spoil the bunch. The drama surrounding the near foil of our home purchase isn't even worth repeating here, but seems to have stabilized. I'm waiting on a few quotes to come back from the insurance agencies EL queried and then we're done until the close. Between my fucked up job status, the wedding planning, and the home purchase, I am ready to live in a tent in the jungle for a while. I wish I had a remote control for life... complete with volumn knobs and channel buttons... pause, rewind, scan, etc. You see... *that* would be a worthy invention.
I want. I need. If I don't, it will happen.
I'll hate.
More time at the park. I love photographing bugs. I suck at it, but I love it. It's like a blended shake of patience, luck, strategy, and determination. It simply sucks that I suck at it...
but tomorrow is another day.
If any of you have been reading my shit for a while, you know that I hate Freecell game #617. I don't want any of you to torment like I have in attempting to solve this hand. Here... go save yourself:
Consider the four free cells as a, b, c, and d (left to right), the other top row is h for home. The eight columns are 1, 2, 3,...8, again left to right. So "83" represents moving a card from column 8 to column 3, "c5" represents moving the card from the third free cell to column 5, "bh" represents moving the card in the second free cell to home, and "5c" means move the card in column 5 to the third free cell. The moves are:
83, 53, 6a, 6b, 6c, 56, c5, a5, b6, 2a, 4b, 45, 21, 41, 72, 4c, 4d, 47, ch, 51, 54, 5c, 56, b6, 76, d5, 14, 15, 12, 7b, 7d, 76, 17, 14, d4, 1h, 27, 21, 25, 71, 7d, 27, d7, 2d, d2, c2, bh, 8b, 87, 8c, c8, 78, 58, 37, 35, 3c, a4, 34, b4, c2, 13, 1a, 1b
Yes.
Last night was fab.
Sam and I met
Michael at
Downing Street for some relaxation before rolling over to
McGonigel's for the
Asylum Street Spankers.
The pitchers were deep and the cigars were good. Stan is retiring in October, so it was good to definitely see him perform again before he goes...
We ended up at the Continental after things at the Duck died down. There was this performance art meets metal band playing named Beans Barton and the Bi-peds. These guys were whacked out. The photos aren't fit to post because it was so dark and I wasn't really in a photojournalistic mood last night, but if you wanna see 'em, they're on
my Fotki site.
It was a good time all and all.
EL and I had a great day at the zoo... however, I must say first off: There were no rabbits. I was a little disappointed actually. It was about 90 degrees out and a beautiful day. The animals were quite cooperative (except for the big cats... who were mostly sleeping) during my photo frenzy. I was like the Japanese tourist extras in action films that always get pushed out the way in a street chase. There were a lot of people there with cameras for the new giraffe. Which I managed to get a few shots of...
I was having serious camera envy. There was this lady taking shots with my dream camera... the Canon
EOS-1Ds. If it were about $8000.00 cheaper, I'd have one of those today! My heart fluttered. Anyhoo, we weaved through the exhibits and had a lot of fun. I ended up taking about 87 shots and most of them were crap. I picked out a few of the better ones to stick on this post. I gotta run... hope everyone's weekend is going great thus far...
