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Always look both ways before crossing the street... and apparently while crossing the street.

I am a Starvin' Marvin.

Apple just released their 30" cinema display capable of running a 2560 x 1600 pixel desktop working area. Of course, you have to have a Power Mac G5 with the new Nvidia Geforce 6800 Utra DDL. The rumor seems to be that PC's are also supported as long as you have a video card that has "full bandwith dual-link DVI support and DDC support". Looks like candy to me... a digital photographers dream desk.

With even more Microsoft Internet Explorer vulnerabilities released regularly, I would recommend you try Mozilla Firefox as a fast, efficient alternative. Today is a complete blizzard of meaningless work crap. It's my last day before some vacation time and there is no way in hell I'm completing everything that must be done by close of business today. Shit happens. I am really looking forward to the time away. The office Lotto pool paid out this morning. I won $0.44... forty-four cents. I'm pondering the possibilities. So many shopping options come to mind... it's overwhelming. My coffee lady was robbed this morning. Someone crowbarred into her register and locked credenzas. I feel terrible for her and the security folks don't seem to care much about it. Lazy fucktards. Meetings. Meetings. Meetings. Entirely too many meetings here. I don't think I'll miss them much this coming week.

I firmly believe that, for a Texan anyway, the de facto standard food of choice when utterly inebriated is a double meat, double cheese, all-the-way with jalapeños, Whatasized meal from Whataburger. It is something that must be done. Can I get an Amen?

Tiger Woods was at the top of the list of the highest paid athletes on Earth last year at $80.3 million dollars. Michael Schumacher came in second at $80 million. Tiger's status at the top loses some of its flair though when you consider that Schumacher been in the top 10 for over 10 years, and has been number one 6 out of those 10 years... oh, and he gets to drive Ferraris around for a living. So my afterwork plans have changed due to a last minute jet to New Jersey. It happens. I was talking with Joe about his weekend in Louisianna gambling. Apparently, a good time was had by all until Dirk's lady friend's purse was pilfered and about $200.00 stolen. Yet another instance of purse-pick-pocketing theivery at the slot machines. It happened to a friend of my mom's recently too. Dirk's lady happened to hit a jackpot on the slots on her way out the door that paid a grand, so she got her money back in the end. When Sam, Lou, and I were in Vegas, I won $113.00 on a quarter slot machine, but I've never hit the extra digits. I needs me some Lotto money.

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan- like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion." Wrecks in the morning have become a common sight. It seems that not a day goes by that I don't witness some sort of traffic mishap along the route of my commute. It's really getting old. This lady felt the need to explain why the elevator was traveling so slowly this morning. "It's hydraulic," she said. Thanks. I appreciate the info. I'll file it with all the other useless crap that delays my mental lookup of perceived important information on a regular basis. Today is the big day for Henry, Éclair, Bianca, and Penny to go to grandma's house for a while. EL has a rendezvous with my mother in Victoria to break up the drive. I still can't believe that I'm not going to be a desk jockey for a full three weeks. It just hasn't settled in as fact. Granted, it's not all vacation, but even a business trip next month is not sitting in Houston watching the minions of Corponomics like an ant farm. I hate being one of those ants. Tonight is boys night out for Greg and I. He and I have had conflicting schedules for some time now and finally nailed down a time. It totally cracks me up to read archived shit. I wrote a lot more back then... a lot more. Irfan mentioned last night that I have become lazy here. Noted. I am full aware of my lack of letter leakage onto this page, but like I said last week, I'm going to stop posting so many pics and start posting more alphabet. I need to get back to caressing my coffee cup and get some work done this morning. Ugh! Mondays. The work week needs a facelift.

There is a growth period with any new hobby and golf is no exception. It's not that I suck. It's not that I'm good. It's just that I have no consistency what-so-ever. We played 14 holes this morning before the wind, rain, hail, and lighting forced a retreat. The first nine were hit and miss. Erin and Sandra were having so much fun not giving a rat's ass about how they were doing that Urs and I actually had to shush them a wee bit so as to not get booted off the course by the wandering enforcers on their battery powered chariots. You could seriously hear them both for 2 or 3 holes in either direction. Women. Heh. They headed out for lunch after the first nine and Urs and I continues alone. My game improved dramatically between nine and fourteen to the point that I was driving like a rock star... Well, a rock star with a serious slice at any rate. Good fun at any rate. When we were forced back to the clubhouse by the torrential downpour and driving hail, we had to detour because several of the golfers playing the Creek Course were in the tunnel enroute blocking our way. Urs and I actually had to drive the cart across the main road to get back to base. We looked like drowned rats when we arrived. I slept the afternoon away. It wasn't my intent really, but once we got home and were clean and dry, the bed was so inviting. What is it about a rainy Sunday that tempts coma? I think it was around five o'clock when I dragged my carcass out of the rack. Irfan was leaving his mother's (near my place), so we met for coffee. I needed a multi-shot espresso to revive me to the land of the living. Pei Wei take out and some dinner and convo at home over a nice bottle of red followed to end the daylight hours of a full Sunday. My Saturday wasn't glamorous, but it was certainly booked. EL and I had a fab brunch with friends before taking in some Shrek 2. More an adult film than a children's film if you ask me... and I don't mean the full penetration sort either... not that there's anything wrong with that... but still, the references were far beyond the typical fart jokes that kids eat with a spoon full of sugar. I dug it all. Thick and juicy steaks were on the grill and the feast was on. We played cards, finished a bottle of wine, and moved on to a fine, aged single malt before wrapping up the night in light of our early tee time. Friday is a blur really. It's probably best I don't try to remember Friday at this point. It seems the weekend has slipped away and the old adage about time and fun is in fact true after all. Monday is back to work, but only for a day of two. Vacation is on the horizon my friends. w00t!

"On Tuesday, Cheney, serving in his role as president of the Senate, appeared in the chamber for a photo session. A chance meeting with Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, became an argument about Cheney's ties to Halliburton Co., an international energy services corporation, and President Bush's judicial nominees. The exchange ended when Cheney offered some crass advice. "Fuck yourself," said the man who is a heartbeat from the presidency."

Yes, so the site update is still in progress, but the online ordering is working now as well as the contact form. I just need to re-write descriptions and fill in titles and shit. Oh, and of course add more photos. *sigh*

Camera collector I am not, but this is very cool none the less.

LMAO.

Scientists have discovered a naturally caffeine-free coffee plant.

It was monumentally difficult to get my arse out of bed this morning. The storm last night and light pitter-patter of the rain against the french door in our room this morning were blissfully sedative. Once I managed to summon sufficient will, I made myself ready for public consumption and headed south for the work day. Complete and total shit was all to be found on the roadways. TEXDOT and METRO put up these little informative roadside signs that digitally convey road conditions ahead and estimated travel times to designated waypoints for the drivers enroute. The first sign I see in the morning usually states travel time to the outer belt to be about 7 minutes. This morning, the sign said 18 minutes. Another memorable sign along the way usually is in flux between 18 and 21 minutes depending on the hour, but this morning is stated 39 minutes. Fuck. I hate traffic... but not as much as I like being out of the herd after hours. So the big news of my week is that my brother Sean might be coming to visit us soon! He has a new woman and that is sugar and spice and all things nice as far as I'm concerned. I am working a new template for the photo site and hope to have that up soon. I am quite sneezy this morning. I must be allergic to work and being at the office is causing a flair up. Oye! *sigh* Must work now.

Some shizzle... like monkey cliff diving, but not... I'm going to completely change the CBP site up and get rid of photos on this blog because they make me lazy. I figure, if I stop posting photos here, I'll write more. Yeah, that's the ticket.