I can’t seem to get
I can't seem to get going this morning. I feel old. I seem to remember being able to stay out partying until three and be able to get up and function productively all day on a couple hours sleep. It doesn't make much sense to me since they say that the older we get, the less sleep we need. Hmmm. These days, I go to bed relatively early... much earlier than I used to... and my body pops and creaks when I get up in the morning. I'm in disrepair. So, the coffee is complete ass in the break room today. Most days it is and I don't know why I even bother thinking that it may be different on a regular basis. I came in around 9:00 last night and cleaned out the coffee machine. I rinsed and flushed and all that good stuff... fresh filter and grounds... carefully measured and set up... *click*. It was brewing. It was probably the best coffee I've had here since the company stopped spending $200K a year on Starbucks beans. No wonder we're in debt. Anyhoo, I come in this morning and the perpetual pot has already started. It's like that place in LA that claims that always takes a tiny bit of chili out of the pot before they clean it to put in the new batch... the idea being that there is always at least some chili from the original batch in there somewhere. I think the original batch was back in the 1950's sometime. Our coffee machine is similar. Lazy fucks that love drinking weak office coffee simply dilute the existing burnt-beyond-recognition batch to increase quantity. The result is some coffee that goes weeks or months in the cycle until some network guy that is repulsed by this has to come in and work late at night and takes the time to correct it. Why don't I fix it during the day? Good question. It's probably because I can get better bean from any of the myriad beaneries within short walking distance of my building. Let them suffer. Speaking of, it's time for my morning dose. I've been writing reports all morning and I need an ergo break.
You are old man. It’s the after effects of living out in suburbia and driving fuck’n an hour to work, and be one of the corporate slaves. So can I expect a mini-van soon? :)
as soon as EL gives me lots of babies…
We are all “getting older” but you need some biking to balance out the creaks!
P.S. You don’t have a clue, Irfan (not like you ever did). Suburbia is way nicer than inner-loop apartment living, where you get to listen to your neighbors listening to crappy rap music and the cars peeling out in the street (oh, and the immediate accessability of inner city smog). Even with the drive, suburbia rocks.
Sammy dude I grew up five minutes from your neighborhood ...
Yes C needs to get back on his biking. I will get the degreaser!
And they obviously kicked your ass out.
And, Irfette, the only people who call me Sammy are good friends, my mother and pimps.
so you just created the pimp category to fit Clayton in ...
Commuting is evil. After living in Katy while working in the Galleria area for two years (and a brief spurt living in Clear Lake while working in the Galleria area), all of my moves have been made with reducing my commute time.
I now live directly across the street from my office, in an apartment, just inside the Beltway.
Let me tell you, the garbage collecting, coke slinging, late night dog whistling, music blasting, tire screeching neighbors are more than made up for by the lack of commute. The volume knob on my guitar amp rotates higher and higher upon each of their loud transgressions. I live high in the knowledge (ah, hell, and just in general) that if push comes to shove I can buy a 4x12 cab and shred their eardrums with badly played renditions of songs nobody has heard of.
Let me put it in perspective. When I was in Katy, I spent 2-3 hours a day sitting in traffic. At least 2. So at 2 hours a day * 5 days a week * 50 weeks a year, that’s 20 FULL 24 HOUR DAYS in traffic. It is as if February, for the most part, never even happened. This said, the real question becomes:
Would you trade a lifetime of February’s for suburban living? Thus posed, my answer is, “fuuuuuuuuuck that.”
The positive changes I have noticed in my life sans commute far outweigh the benefits of living on the outskirts. Imagine the things that can be done with two hours a day. The benefits of more sleep. Less stress. More excersize. Above and beyond the two full years of 24 hour days of my life I will have had time to enjoy at the end of a 20 year career, my lifespan will have been increased greatly by the home cooking, excersize, and sleep I’ve been able to enjoy as a result of no commute. Studies are showing that sleep deprivation has greater long term risks than smoking, and goddamn, I didn’t give up my sweet sweet nicotine to die of something stupid like not sleeping.
YMMV. Obviously lifestyles differ.
word on the pimp slang
As for drive time - that is also 20 days of listening to books on cd’s and tapes and learning more than you would while spending twice that amount in front of the TV (should you choose to improve yourself). And, for the record, there is a HUGE difference between I45 north and I10 Katy traffic (from my 6 years experience).
I’d rather read real books while lazing on my couch than try to listen to some washed up voice actor or monotoned author drone on while fending for my life on the freeway and I don’t watch TV other than while eating lunch (it’s been nearly 2 years since I last had cable). Full hour lunch breaks at home, with time to go for a swim, enjoy herbal delights, or take a nap, is another definite plus point in not having a commute.
Maybe it’s just me, though.
I-10 is definitely trying to outdo I-45’s 25 year non-stop construction record. We’ll have to give them both another quarter century to see who the final winner will be. I grew up on the far southeast side of town, so I’m more familiar with both than I’d like to admit.
Two things will eventually drag me to the outskirts of town (though, preferably Austin instead of Houston):
1.) I want a garage. Bad.
2.) Working from home. I hope that someday in the next five years that this can be at least a partial reality.
Mainly, I’d like to leave Houston. That must always be the final goal. Other than my current work, I would not choose Houston to live over any number of other US cities, and living for work isn’t living at all.
hmm, sounds like you don’t have much good to say about Houston. Then maybe a move is in order?
As soon as it is feasible, yes.
My my but the venom is free-flowing today. Can’t we all just get along? The place with the chili in LA is Pink’s but I’m pretty sure the story about the mother batch of chili is just urban legend. Pink’s is the kind of place that when you drive by, if you’re really hungry or really drunk, it smells great, but if you’re not, it doesn’t.
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