Teamless Effort

Today is a day where I'm ready to lose it.  I've never worked in a place so disorganized, unprofessional, and where there was a culture the opposite of teamwork.  Everyone here just goes and does what they do and doesn't work together in any way that resembles that we're all working in the same office.  It's like a group of tiny independent island nations that has a loose confederacy to keep them together for some shared purposes.

It's absolutely absurd.  No one works together, though in fact I don't think anyone really works.  I was told that when people give me work it's like a black hole and it never gets done.  First, that is utter bullshit.  Second perhaps that's because the lazy assholes in this office push the blame off of themselves and onto the easy scapegoat.  They sit in their offices and LITERALLY do nothing.  Then when something they were working on doesn't get done they act as if it was in my court.

Need to get some stuff uploaded to the web, right, I'd be happy to help.  Oh, wait, you were supposed to set up a template so I COULD upload things into the format that you want.  Oh, wait, you haven't done that yet.  But somehow that's my fault that you're not doing your job?  Pass the buck, don't take advantages of anyone's skills and talents.  It's all a load of shit.  The only thing that I have control of here is the coffee.  And guess what, every morning when people get in, they have coffee.

Oh, you were actually going off site the entire day, and didn't make me aware of that when I gave your availability to someone and now the meeting is a time you can't go.  Well, fuck me, I should have been able to read your mind.  Yeah, bitch at me that things aren't working when you are bypassing me so I can't do the job you're asking me to do efficiently and with any level of confidence.  I don't know what the fuck you're doing, so how can I do my job.

Oh, and I really appreciate you coming in all pissed off that I planned a meeting to the specifications that YOU said were fine, and now you don't like that.  Yes, yell at me and give me attitude because OTHER people aren't available till April.  If only I had done a better job by making sure someone is available for you at any given time.

Oh, yeah, and by the way, I'm at my desk for nearly nine and a half hours a day.  I don't leave for lunch because everyone loses their minds, and if I'm even five minutes late when there's a blizard outside then I get the Spanish inquisition.  But let's talk about how people come in at 8:30, 9:00, 10:00, 10:30 even and leave at say 4:00, or maybe 4:30.  How if I take too much personal time, even though I don't even use a fraction of it, yet some people seem to have a family emergency every Friday afternoon.  But, saved by the kid excuse.  Can't blame them.  There is no one here worth anything, and I wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire.  I hope a sinkhole eats this place tonight.












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This is Lando.  Look how cute!  We went to Scott's tonight for the regular Friday game night, and another person who comes to game night brought this guy with them.  We also brought Ronan, but he was off trying to eat Coda's (Scott's dog) face.  It was a good time, but Lando just looked sleepy most of the time. 

Starving

I don't know why, but today I am really hungry.  I woke up hungry, which doesn't often happen.  Then all throughout the day I was hungry.  I almost ate my lunch early because I was so hungry, but then I would just shift the hungry to the afternoon where I'd have to eat my mid-afternoon orange early.  Then my hungry would shift to the end of the work day when I had nothing else to eat.

There's really not much reason for it, since I really didn't eat any differently than I usually do, but for some reason to day is the day that I just want to eat everything.

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Today I started the final book in the Divergent series.  I started the second book on Sunday and finished it yesterday.  They're very quick to read and the story is interesting, though a little silly with all the "romance" in it.  I mean, you're in a war situation, but you're acting like you in high school on the way to class making out with your boyfriend.  But, that's just my opinion.

Spring Break

This week is what most colleges call "spring break", though WCC calls it "mid-winter break".  I wish it felt more like spring break.  I also kind of wish that I could be off somewhere else instead of just not going to class.  Our last vacation was in July, our last trip was in October, and my last time off was in December.  Though I never feel much like I'm getting time off when it's during the holidays because there is just so much to do.

Anyway, the point is that I wish I was doing something during spring break rather than sitting at work.  The upside is that I don't have to go to class, which isn't too bad, but it's still exhausting to go to work, which I hate, and then sit in a class for another three hours.  But, ya gotta do what you gotta do.

Picture 66
I think I've mentioned this stupid lamp before, but I just hate it so much.  I sit across from it and see it for 9.5 hours a day and it is just so annoying.  There is no plug anywhere near it, but they put it in for the look.  What look!?  It's a university, there is no need to waste money on something that will never be used.  Your tuition dollars/tax dollars at work.

Poor Service

Last week Becky and I decided to go out for a tasty lunch at Gratzi and discovered that the restaurant added a new dessert, crème brûlée.  Well, when Tori heard about this she decided that we need to go there just for desserts some night, and it turns out that night turned out to be tonight.  Becky made a delicious dinner, and then we all headed down to Ann Arbor for some delicious food.  As it was, Jasmine and I ended up getting some Tomato Bisque soup, since it's my favorite and was the soup of the day, and we also ordered a cheese plate before getting out desserts.

Well, apparently that wasn't acceptable to the waiter because he provided us with the worst service I've had in a long time once he found out that we were only going to order desserts and appetizers.  Now, let's not kid anyone, we didn't require much service, and out bill still came to over $80 when everyone had ordered appetizers, desserts, and coffees.  So it's not like this guy was only going to get a few buck and would have to work his ass off for it.  He literally only had to refill our drinks, and bread.  A minor task for the potential of probably getting close to $20 in tips over a very short period of time.

Instead, he didn't refill any drinks, he didn't refill the bread until the much later and only gave us a few pieces for a group of five, and piratically as soon as he set down the desserts he came back with the checks.  It was really terrible, and I'm quite disappointed.  We actually had a debate on if we should stiff that a-hole, but I decided to give him a full tip in hopes that in future he would not decide that a table like that isn't worth his time.  I don't care if you're only spending $20, a customer is a customer and you are still there to do a job.

Picture 65

We decided that we would go out and get some tasty treats after dinner.  I got the Tiramisu, which I don't care for anywhere I've had it, except for Gratzi.  I considered the crème brûlée, but decided against it, especially since Becky was willing to split hers if I split mine. The best of both worlds!

Divergent

On Friday I was able to finish my third book of the year.  As of the last goals update I mentioned that I was almost done with The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling, which I finished a few days after that.  After that I read the script for Macbeth, and then headed toward the young adult book, Divergent.  I wanted to read this before the movie comes out next month, so I figured it would be good to get started on it now in case I don't really get through it very fast. Turns out that wasn't necessary because It didn't take me long to get through it at all.

The basic idea of the book is that it's in the mid-distant future after there's been some sort of war and apparently some terrible natural issues.  In this future the world has been divided into different factions, each with a specific culture and job in society.  You've got your selfless faction that runs the government, the education faction that produces teachers and scientists, the hippy types that value friendship and grow food for everyone, the honest that value truth (they don't focus on them much or what they do, and finally the brave group that takes care of protecting everyone.

Well at the age of 16 teens have to choose which faction they feel they belong in.  They have a test that they take which gives them a result of which they are best suited for, but they can choose to go somewhere else.  The problem is when you leave, you leave everything behind including your family.  The idea is faction above family, which is weird.  The other thing is that there are some that the test is not conclusive for, and they are called divergent. Apparently these people are seen as dangerous and have to keep this a secret to stay safe.

I read through this book really fast, and finished it in a little less than two weeks, only reading it during my lunch break at work, and skipping a few days due to other work issues that didn't let me read during break.  I enjoyed it quite a bit, and I'm really interested to see the movie next month when it comes out.  I also went out over the weekend and bought the other two books in the series because Divergent just ends.  The end of the book had a special preview of book two, so I know it picks up exactly where it left off.

Anyone out there that wants a quick and fun read I'd recommend this.  It's engaging, it's a nicely set up world, and it's a quick read that's easy to get through and keeps you wondering how it will all turn out. 

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Listen here, pear.  Get your shit together.  You're too young to be acting like this and I really don't appreciate it.  What's with that gross top you've got going on there?  Now I'm going to have to cut you up with a plastic knife and throw out this gross bit.  It's going to be terrible.  Have you seen the plastic knives and how they work?

Annoyed

You may have noticed yesterday that I didn't post my steps for the day.  You also may notice that at the bottom of this blog there is no step information either.  Well that's because my tracking band isn't working properly at the moment.  It keeps freezing and not catching all the steps that I'm taking.  It's also stopped tracking my sleep after about two hours of sleep.

I'm not pleased about this, but I will say that they make it really easy to report an issue.  In my app I had a "I need more help" kind of a button so I pressed it and it auto generated an e-mail for me and sent it off.  The customer service rep suggested that I try some things and I've done that and sent back that they didn't really work.  So, now I'm waiting to hear back about what I need to do next.  I think there may be some sort of defect in it and I'll need a new band.  I'm not sure how that will work out.  I'd rather not have to buy a new one, though the newest version is wireless so I wouldn't have to sync up the same way that I do now.  Either way, I'd like it to get working again.  The upside is that it seems the sleep portion is still an issue, but after doing the reset the steps seems to be working better.  At the very least I may be able to get those tracking again starting tomorrow.

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I wish I could have got a closer picture of this, because he was almost pouting like Ronan does.  The problem is that when it was clear I was paying attention to him he moved his head and stopped his little pose.  He's weird sometimes.

Cheap Early Bird Movie: The Monuments Men

Today we decided to get up early and head to the theater to see a movie!  It's been a while since we've seen anything, back about a month ago we got to see The Hobbit.  Well today we decided to check out The Monuments Men.  We were torn on this or The Lego Movie, but decided early in the morning on a kid friendly moving wouldn't be the best option and decided to save that for Wednesday instead.

Right off the top I'm going to say that I really enjoyed this movie.  The story was very interesting and I wanted to read about the actual events that the movie is based on.  I enjoyed the casting, they had a good group of actors to work with so that was a major plus.  It was also quite funny. 

I'm not a huge art fan, and I really can't spend hours upon hours in art museums.  I think if I had some sort of guide to tell me about things then I'd probably fare better, but when left to myself it's just a "Oh look, a picture, that's nice." kind of an experience.  That being said, I do value art and it was neat to see a story about people trying to save it, and the thought of priceless things being destroyed gets to me.

So, as a rating I would say give it a "worth full price" rating.  It's funny, interesting, well done, and has some good story and characters.  Solid movie. Thumbs up.


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Becky and I haven't been out to eat in quite some time, so we decided that today we'd grab some Gratzi.  We've actually not been since December so it was a good plan.  I was heartbroken because the waiter said the soup of the day was my favorite, Tomato Bisque.  Turns out it wasn't and he was mistaken.  You can't get my hopes up like that.

Getting Stuff Done

Last night we had a company meeting for our theatre and I really feel if we keep things going the way they're going now we're really going to be able to get stuff done.  We've decided that we're going to have weekly meetings to help make sure we are staying on task and getting things done in a timely manner. 

We've got weekly deadlines, which is helpful because it makes sure the little tasks that we've been dragging our feet on are getting done.  We've got clear tasks assigned to people with a deadline and a meeting to check to see if those things are getting done.  It also will help us avoid marathon meetings because we'll be meeting more often and have less content to cover.

So far I'm happy after our first meeting, and glad we'll be doing the same for shows not just for company business.  Time to get some stuff done!

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Look who can drive again! Yep, Becky got the OK to drive again, and that makes her very happy.  She's not driven for nearly two months, and hasn't liked that it's kept her from being able to do things.  So, hooray today for getting driving privileges back!


Steps today: 8,526
Steps this week: 61,217
Daily average: 10,202

Relating

Today I had a little chat with my coworker who left our department and moved on.  It was amazingly refreshing because I got to hear someone else describe exactly how I feel and discuss how it did the same things to them.  There is something great about having someone validate what your feel or how you see things, and it's helpful to have someone say, "Yeah, I know what you mean that's exactly how it is."

This doesn't change my situation or my outlook on things, but it does confirm that my issues aren't just in my head and aren't just me but rather are rooted in exactly what I thought they were.  It also doesn't provide me with an exit strategy, though my coworker did give me some tips and suggestions on how to deal with things in the medium term if I'm not able to get out fast.  I also found out some interesting things that I wasn't aware of.

It's clear that I'll never be successful here, and that I have no growth opportunities.  But at the very least I feel like I can endure it a little better than I felt like I could yesterday.  The problem is I don't know how long I'll be able to hold onto that.  At the very least a few days since Beefus and Dr. Dickhead will be out for the next few days.

I need to figure it out. 

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Ok, enough with the snow.  I'm done with the snow.  Can't we all just be done with the snow?  Seriously, it's snowing like crazy.  I thought it was supposed to be in the 40s today.  What is going on?  Seriously, I'm pretty sure a glacier is forming on my driveway.  I think we've had enough winter.


Steps today: 8,615
Steps this week: 52,691
Daily average: 10,538

Cogs

Sometimes I feel like I've been asleep for a really long time and I've just woken up and I'm not sure how I got to where I'm at.  It's slightly confusing, and its not really a fun feeling.  However, then it seems much like when this happens in real life I quickly fall back asleep and hit the snooze button on being awake.

It's very annoying to be stuck doing something that was supposed to be temporary.  Or perhaps it was supposed to be a foot in the door.  Well, now I'm in the door but I'm locked in and have no way to get out.  The windows have bars on then, and the only way out is dangerous and probably wouldn't turn out very well.


However it's more than that, and it seems like there are many things about me that have disappeared.  Like a dream that just slips away after you wake up.  It was so vivid once when you first wake up, but as time passes it slowly disappears and you can't even remember what it was about.  I feel like I used to have a lot of things, did a lot of things, felt a lot of things but now I don't really feel much of anything, do anything, or think anything.  I'm just a cog that works day in and day out toward nothing.  No big picture, no plans, no interest, no likes or dislikes.  I'm a human cog working so I can go to a home and then come back and work again. 

The thing about waking up is when you get that glimpse of where things were and that realization of where things are now, there is a brief second where you feel like you could go back.  But then you realize that's never going to happen, and the confusion sets in.  How did it come to this?  Where do you go from here.  What's the point of any of it.  I serve no purpose other than to keep the machine running, which isn't even my machine.  It's someone else's and it benefits them, not me.

Picture 59
I found some strange art in the lobby of the building next to ours.  I thought it was kind of interesting, though I'm not really a big art person.  Anyhow, it was different so I figured it could be the picture of the day.

Steps today: 11,030
Steps this week: 44,076
Daily average: 11,019

What The Flix?

I think I mentioned previously that the big plan Becky and I had for Valentine's day was to sit on the couch, eat "Gilmore Dinner" and watch the new season of House of Cards that premiered on Netflix last Friday.  Turns out we ended up going out to dinner with Becky's entire family, followed by going out to see Jasmine's soccer game.  So, we didn't get to watching House of Cards.  We also didn't get to watch any on Saturday, or on Sunday.  Well, last night we sat down and decided to watch a couple of the episodes.

The show is amazing, first of all.  Second, everyone in it is terribly talented and it's one of the best shows out there.  That being said, they really started the season off with a bang.  I believe I actually yelled "HOLY FUCKING CHRIST!  WHAT!?"  I am known to laugh out loud at shows, something that Becky finds amusing since apparently not many people do that.  However, I don't often say things while watching shows.  I mean, perhaps when it's some sort of news event/interview type of show, but not just general talking.

They really hooked you with the first episode, and then brought you back down a little only to totally kick something else out a few episodes later.  They are not afraid to do whatever they want and what ever makes sense for the characters, and I love it.  The only question I have is if you start Episode One off at that level, where in the world are you going to go the next 14 episodes?  I can't wait to find out.


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I had to go to a different building today to work an event for lunch.  Turns out nearly half the people didn't show up, so I had to carry two dozen sodas, and 15 boxed lunches back to our office.  Let me tell you, that was exhausting.  Anyhow, here is a picture out of the window of the building I was in.  During the summer the area covered in snow is a fountain and pool.  It's a nice sunny day today, so enjoy!

Steps today: 11,403
Steps this week: 33,046
Daily average: 11,015

Work Changes

Well, today is the first day after some changes at work.  I've often talked about how I feel about work, but the one thing that I had was that one of my coworkers was actually good to work with.  Well, the one person that I actually was ok working with left our department and moved to another one.  Her work got moved to one of the other guys that works here, and he's ok, but he's just not great about getting stuff done.  He tries to get other people to do any work that he can so that he doesn't have to do it.

I'm not sure how much longer I can take this job now that there is no one left in that place that I can stand.  No one else bothers to talk to me like I'm a human, or talks to me about anything other than work.  It sometimes feels like I'm on some secret reality show and someone is trying to throw as much shit at me before I go insane and lose it.  I used to say that everything happens for a reason and that there are things to learn, but I've lost my ability to believe that anymore.  I've been in this shit for so long that there's nothing left that I could learn from this.  There is no reason that it continues, there is no reason that that I'm still in this situation and haven't been able to move on.

It's time for things to change.

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This self portrait I titled, GO THE FUCK AWAY, WINTER!  Yeah, as I've mentioned it's about 0.8 miles from  my office to my car.  Today, despite being 18 degrees out, the wind was blowing so hard that it felt awful.  I am totally 100% done with winter.  I just want it to not be winter anymore so I can have some warmer weather.  Spring now, please.

Steps today: 13,226
Steps this week: 21,643
Daily average: 10,822

Office Work

Today I got to do some work on my office and get some things up on the wall that I've had for quite some time.  Back when we were in London we went to the Churchill War Rooms, which was pretty much the headquarters during World War II.  While there we I picked up a few World War II propaganda posters that I thought were really neat.  I also got an excellent poster from Tori at Christmas that had one of my favorite John Green quotes on it.

I had to move my SOK Harry Potter, but I had plenty of space above my desk so that worked out well.  I also had to move my Earth at night, but that actually looks pretty nice in the guest room because there wasn't much on the walls in there and looked kind of empty.  I've got a few more things I'd like to do in the office.  I need to get a new case to put my collectibles in, and my bookshelf needs to repainted.

I'm really happy with how my office is now, and it's a good space.  It makes me want to be in there more.


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This is the poster that Tori got me for Christmas.  It looks great in the frame, I wasn't sure about the type of frame and it took me for real 24 hours before I decided that this was the frame that I really wanted to go with.  Doesn't it look great.







Picture 55
Here are the posters I got in London in their frames.  I'm so happy to finally have them on the wall since they've been sitting around in poster tubes for the past three years almost.





Picture 56
Here is the final product with the bookcase and everything.











Steps today: 8,417
Steps this week: 8,417
Daily average: 8,417

Demon Spawn

I'm not sure who all follows me on Twitter, but for those of you who don't are unaware of the utter nonsense that went on at my work yesterday.  Being Valentine's day, there were of course deliveries to some of the people in the office.  One of these deliveries was an Edible Arrangement.  Well, the person it belonged to wasn't in the office, so I placed it in the fridge and waited for her to return to the office.

Well, when she got back to the office she was not interested in her delivery, said that it was a prank, and that every year her former coworkers would buy one for her because she hated them.  She then put it on the back counter and sent an e-mail out to everyone telling them they were welcome to eat the fruit if they felt like it.

Ok, first off clearly someone like this must be some sort of devil, demon, alien, inhuman monster if they don't like an Edible Arrangement.  It's literally fresh fruit delivered to you.  I mean, yes, it is as expensive as can be for what it is.  The arrangement she got was $45 and probably had about $8 worth of fruit.  Probably $10 if you count the vase.  But, since she didn't pay for it, what about it could possibly be bad?  I mean it was pineapple, strawberries, and then chocolate covered strawberries.  What the hell is wrong with people.  What would possibly case them to not want to eat that.  For real.

I ate the whole thing.  It seemed appropriate.  It was delicious.

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Look at this butt head!  Or, perhaps a better word would be the one that was invented tonight: butt sack.  He's far too cute to deal with, though he's looking a bit scraggly and needs a trim.  I just never seem to get around to it.


Steps today: 4,021
Steps this week: 60,184
Daily average: 8,598

Valenteen Day

Today is Valentine's Day.  I have never really been one to celebrate the occasion.  First, it's very arbitrary.  Yes, today is the day that you're required to purchased roses that are jacked up in price due to supply and demand, or chocolates again with a mysterious boost in cost.  Second, I don't like that it's like the "today is the day that you do this" just because everyone else does.

I personally feel that it's better to do that sort of thing regularly.  I frequently purchase flowers for Becky, even though sometime she is with me and picks them out herself.  Sometimes I'll just randomly bring them home, or go buy her a raspberry cup from Godiva.  But I don't often do anything for Valentine's day.

The nice thing about it is that Becky is like that too, she doesn't buy me anything.  She doesn't make a big deal out of it.  It's really just another day because we don't feel the need to try and cram it all in on one day a year.  For us the plan was to get some take out, and watch season two of House of Cards.  It's not about buying shit, or giving gifts, but rather just spending some time with each other.

That being said, even though I don't subscribe to the nonsense and consumerism of it all, Becky knows that I love her and that she's awesome.  She is kind, caring, giving, clever, and a particularly good finder, which means we make a good team because when I have some crazy idea she's willing to just go with it and matches me.  She always put 100% into things which means she's a harsh judge because she expect the same, but rightly so.  Anyhow, Happy Valenteen Day to my lovely wife.

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A coworker brought in some doughnuts from Benny's in Saline.  I'd had their cake doughnuts, and I thought they were really tasty.  The glazed yeast sort weren't my favorite.  I'm certainly used to Dom's, which is quite a bit better, not that I'm complaining.  There's not really many doughnuts I've met that I don't get along with.


Steps today: 8,519
Steps this week: 56,163
Daily average: 9,361

Olympics

I think I've mentioned before that I love the Olympics.  The winter Olympics aren't really my thing, it's really just 15 different kinds of sliding.  Sliding on skates, sliding in a team, sliding on a stick, sliding on two sticks.  I much prefer the summer Olympics.  Though that hasn't stopped me watching the winter Olympics as much as I can.  Though it helps that most of the things I watch are on break since no one apparently wants to compete with the Olympics.  Though, perhaps that would be good marketing since there's nothing else to watch, but I guess that's a separate topic.

When I watched the opening ceremonies I decided to set up the Tivo to season pass the Olympics and tape everything.  I kind of glanced at the schedule when I did this and the Tivo was empty so I didn't think it'd be a problem.  Well, when I came home from work on Monday the Tivo was 100% full.  I was not expecting that.  Though I quickly freed up a lot of time by deleting the daily recap because I don't care about that, I just want to watch the competition.

I also went through and deleted all the NBC recordings because after watching a bit over the weekend I found that the CBC is way better.  They don't jump around as much, they show more, and it's in more of a linear so it's easier to follow.  They stick to a sport and let you go through the whole thing before moving on, for the most part.  I also found the commentators to be far more nice.  I mean, it's kind of a stereotype that Canadians are all polite and whatever, but they certainly weren't nearly as snarky when people made mistakes.

So far I've been able to see most of the figure skating, we also watched a bit of Alpine, and some Luge and Skeleton, but we have a lot more still on the Tivo that we're trying to catch up on.  It's much nicer to skip through the commercials, as well as the part while waiting for scores or for the next competitor.  I think we're down to something like 30 hours or so left on the Tivo, haha!  Of course we'll never make it through all of it, but I think I can skip the three hours of Curling that taped yesterday.

Picture 51
I realized that I often have photos from my side of the desk, but not really any from the other side of the desk.   It's actually kind of stupid because they have nothing behind me on the wall, but over on the other side of the building where our office isn't at they have a sign for our office.  It makes no sense.


Steps today: 7,982
Steps this week: 47,644
Daily average: 9,529

Cheap Movie Wednesday

I hate that I have a class on Wednesdays because that means I can't make it to cheap movie Wednesday.  There is the option of going to movies on Saturday or Sunday for the first show, but that requires getting up earlier than I'd like to on the two days that I'd actually get to sleep in.

Picture 50
We have a map printed on fabric.  It's Earth at night with all the lights from the cities.  I have a poster like this but it's much older so it's not quite so bright in some places.


Steps today: 7,063
Steps this week: 39,662
Daily average: 9,916

Goals Update

I know it's a bit late for the monthly update, but I figured I should really do an update on how the first month of work toward my goals is going.  So here we go.

Goal Number One - Get A New Job: Yeah, nothing going on for this.  Nothing on the horizon, it's just a continued NOTHING!

Goal Number Two - Read At Least 12 Books: As I mentioned earlier this week I've finished my first of twelve books (and as with last year I'll count plays too).  So I finished The Casual Vacancy, and I'm starting Divergent.  So far so good.

Goal Number Three - Go Out West: I've looked into a few possible ideas here.  I'd like to go to California for VidCon in June, but it sounds like there's a big stupid event that week at work so unless I get another job I'll never be able to go.  Though if I get a new job I won't have vacation time so I still wouldn't be able to go.  Stupid.

Goal Number Four - Be Consistently Active:  The first few weeks of the year I didn't do this, then I got moving which was good.  I hurt my ankle on the ice on Sunday so I've taken some time off so I don't hurt it more.  I think I should be up and going soon so I'll say I'm making good progress towards this.

Goal Number Five - Digitize My Photos: Haven't done anything on this yet, but I'm starting to schedule out my time better so I should have some movement here soon.

Goal Number Six -  Have Seven New Experiences: Nothing new yet.

Goal Number Seven - I've been thinking about these projects and I've started putting together to do lists to get them moving, so I think we've got small progress

So there you go, a brief update of what the what is going on with my goals.

Picture 49
Had a reception at work today, and this was one of the center pieces.  They looked kind of nice, and I'm not familiar with the strange small bendy looking yellow flowers.  The recption had decent food, including some little pasta pouches with truffles in them.  Tasty.


Steps today: 9,396
Steps this week: 32,599
Daily average: 10,866

The Casual Vacancy

Well, in my goal for reading I've now finished my first book of the year, The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling.  I've actually had this book for quite some time, and it's been on my must read list for a while but because I was trying to finish books before the movies cam out I wasn't able to get to it until now.

The first thing I can say about the book is that it is certainly not Harry Potter.  The Casual Vacancy deals with very real world issues, and doesn't avoid language, sex, or violence.  In fact, there were moments of the book that combined all of these together.  Additionally, the book didn't center around a single character for the most part, but rather took you to the point of view of multiple different people in the tiny village of Pagford.  This actually was a bit of a problem for me as I started reading because I had to read in short bursts and had a hard time keeping all the characters straight.  By the time I reached the end I was for the most part able to remember who was related to whom, and keep everyone straight.

I actually had a very hard time in general with the majority of this book because in addition to having trouble keeping the characters straight, there wasn't a main character that I felt I was supposed to be getting behind and hoping that they prevail.  For the fist portion of the book the main character seemed like it was the man who created the casual vacancy.  There was no one that seemed like they were the person that the book was focused on.  Further the more I read about the characters the more I felt like I hated every one of them.  The characters all go on about how great Barry was, but then to see everyone around him you see petty, hypocritical, terrible people.  Some more terrible than others, of course, but there was really no one that you sympathized with, mostly I hoped they all would just drop dead. As the book went on, though, I began to become attached to a few of the story lines, and I started caring about what happened to the characters. 

In the end, don't expect that you'll end up with a Potter like ending where everything is resolved and good triumphs over evil.  Many things are left unresolved, but that is the way of life, and I feel there is a very realistic point of view that this book has.  Things are ongoing and when you have issues that have been issues for decades, centuries, or perhaps since the beginning of history, don't expect them to be resolved in a 500 page book.  Some people seem to get what is coming to them, while others don't.  Some people grow, others remain stuck in their ways.  It's similar to what life is like, and I think the bigger message of the book isn't what happens to the characters but rather how the world works and a commentary on that.

From what I saw a major theme was how many privileged members of the community are content to disregard the struggles of the poor, the sick, and those in a life that they can't even understand.  The thought that people who are poor should just get jobs, people on drugs should just stop, people who have nothing are just lazy and no good and should be looking after themselves rather than by society.  Further, it calls out the self-absorbed nature of these types of people, or perhaps all people.  How they are so focused on their petty feuds, their own personal dramas, their own life that they can walk around paying no attention to others needs or problems outside of themselves.  They lack empathy and what it means when people do that. 

As for my review, I liked this book.  I thought the characters were terrible people and hoped that none of them got what they wanted, but it was an interesting read and I wondered where the story was leading us.  I found it very much like a mirror to society and called out a lot of issues that are in the world today.  When I finished I wasn't sure how I felt about it because as I said many things were left unresolved, but upon thinking about it I realized that it was the only realistic way the book could end.

Picture 48
Behold, the sun coming out today! Still cold as something that's very cold, but at least it's sunny.  I'd just appreciate it if the sun would melt some of the glacier that's on my driveway that I'm not able to scrape up.  I hear it's supposed to get warmer in the next week or so, if we could melt off some of this crap, that would be great.


Steps today: 8,595
Steps this week: 23,202
Daily average: 11,601

The Best Laid Plans

It's very late so just a quick not tonight about the board of directors meeting we had this evening to start planning out our 2014 season.  It was quite exciting and I think we have a good framework set up to jump from.  We've still got a lot of details that we'll need to work out so that we're sure we can get to the point we are going for.  I'm excited for a few of the items we have on the list, and I'm looking forward to working on them, assuming we can get all the requirements out of the way.

So, look for some fun things in the future form the theatre company.

Picture 47
If the snow doesn't stop I'm going to have a wall in the north of my yard to keep out all those white walkers.  Winter has come, but I think it's time for it to go. 


Steps today: 14,607

Steps this week: 14,607
Daily average: 14,607

More Time

I hate when you're right near the end of a book, but you don't have enough time to finish it.  I've been reading The Causal Vacancy by J.K. Rowling for a few weeks now.  I read it during my break so it's taking me a bit of time to get through it, but right now I'm less than 100 pages from the end and all I want to do is finish the book!  I'm not even sure where this thing is going because I don't know what the point is or who I'm supposed to hope "wins" in the end.  Perhaps it's no one and really just a commentary on the hypocrisy of people and the petty things they do. 

However, I won't know that until I have time to finish the book and as it was today I spend the entire day working on a project for class.  Tomorrow I hope to finish it up, but I also have a load of stuff on the schedule so who knows if I'll be able to finish it off.  I need more time.

Picture 46
Ronan insisted on laying on the bed and not getting out of my way so I could go to sleep.  He was being kind of a dick, but look how cute.


Steps today: 4,953

Steps this week: 54,504
Daily average: 7,786

Olympics

Tonight we watched the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.  I love the Olympics, though I'm not as keen on the winter as opposed to the summer.  Even though the ceremonies had a few glitches here and there, I enjoyed it quite a bit.  I mean, nothing can be more impressive, I think, than the China games.  That being said I like the history and culture presentation that they did, though it did seem that they kind of forgot about the whole Revolution-Fall of the Communism part except for a few things here and there.  Well at least at first, they did at the end of the performance have the giant faces with the hammer and sickle.

The thing that made me laugh the most though was in the background they had a little snippet of the Trololo guy. I got a kick out of that, so it was a nice opening ceremony and though I don't care for the sports in the winter games as much as the summer, it should be fun.

 
Picture 45
When I've been sitting too long I get up and take a walk through the labs just to get my legs moving.  It actually adds quite a few steps to my daily count.  Though this week has been low because I'm breaking in new shoes and I haven't got it to a point where they don't give me a blister if I walk too much.


Steps today: 7,095

Steps this week: 49,551
Daily average: 8,259

A Little Theatre

Tonight we decided to go out and see a preview performance of Oliver! at The Encore Musical Theatre Company in Dexter.  I've never been there to see a show but I have read a lot about them.  An old friend/coworker as well as the son of Becky's boss are both in the show, so we figured now was a great time to see what Encore does.

I'm going to say that I was a little surprised with the production, and that it didn't really meet the expectations that I had built up from what I know about the company.  That's not to say it was a bad production, but it was certainly not what I expected.  I think the biggest surprise was that for a musical theatre company the fact that they clearly used synthesized music was very off-putting to me.  I mean I"m a huge music person when it comes to musical theatre, so this really kind of caught me off guard.

In terms of the production there were some really good performances, my friend/coworker was brilliant and every scene he was in really was a bright spot in the show.  They also had a really strong girl playing Nancy, as well as a few of the more minor characters.  Their Oliver was decent, though the beginning seemed very rocky, so overall it was an acceptable performance for the price we paid, though I'm not sure I'd feel as happy if it was a regular priced ticket (since we were there on previews it was $18 instead of $26-$32)

The set was decent,  it had some really neat features where furniture pieces could slide right in under some of the platforms, which I thought was great.  Though one thing that did bother me was something about it reminded me of other shows I've worked on where there was something missing, some detail or some quality that it just didn't quite have.  It wasn't bad, but it just had that feeling of not quite polished up.  It could just be the design reminded me of someone else who is terrible with execution so I just linked it in my mind.

Other than that, the costumes were good, the space was interesting, and over all it was enjoyable for all.  If you're interested it runs through the rest of the month.

Picture 44
Our first visit to the Encore Musical Theatre Company.  Becky's boss's kid was in it, as well as Tobin. 


Steps today: 8,818

Steps this week: 42,456
Daily average: 8,491

Working Ahead

I'm often known to leave things until I'm at a point that if I don't do them I'll run out of time.  I find other things to do with my time, and put things off until I have no choice.  Things always get done, and it's not to say that the quality is less than if I spent more time on it (in many cases, though I'm sure there are also cases when the quality does suffer). 

That is not the case this week.  I've actually finished some work that I won't need to use until much later in the week.  It's done, I've set up all the information that I needed and I'm ready to do phase two when I get around to it.  That's kind of exciting.  Additionally, the work that I am doing also is a lot of planning for work that I'll be doing later.  Basically setting up a timeline for some big projects that we'll be doing, or at least the foundations of timelines.  The point is I've finished early with more than enough time, and that's progress.

Picture 43
I was falling asleep in class today.  It was just so boring.  I was able to keep it together though. The guy next to me did not do so well, he was nearly snoring through the lecture.  I have a project for this class due next week, it's not the most interesting. 
Steps today: 7,618

Steps this week: 33,638
Daily average: 8,410

Class Update

I think I like the subject of the class, but I really wish it was online.  I don't care to spend three hours in a classroom twice a week for these two classes when everything could be done online.  This is coming from someone who really doesn't care for online classes.  In this case I really feel I need to be going at my own pace.  It's moving too slowly and I'm ready for more advanced projects and material but I'm stuck at skills that I have already.

The bright side of it is that it's making me use these skills on a regular basis, so at lease I can consider it practice.  Maybe I'll just start working on my own in addition to the work I'm currently doing.

Picture 42
The plant I saved when my office moved to the new building doesn't look like it's doing so well.  I mean, there are new shoots sprouting up, but the current ones are looking a tad rough. 


Steps today: 7,668

Steps this week: 26,020
Daily average: 8,673

Exiled

Today I decided to not play the games I usually do in the morning.  I found that when I play these I kind of get stuck in them.  I just keep playing as a way to kind of ignore how unhappy I am on a daily basis.  I can just destroy the candy, save the pets, kill the pigs, and make the words and before I know it I've reached the end of the day and can go home and ignore it all by sitting on the couch and watching tv.

Well Today I decided that I wasn't going to play any of them.  Instead I made a list of things that I've had on the back burner and I got nearly all of it done.  I felt a lot more productive, and it kept me busy enough that for the most part the day went by pretty quick.  They're actually quite terrible, but keep time moving.  It did kind of drag during mid-day.  We'll see how day two of the game exile goes.


Picture 40
I noticed the rain chain near the front door outside of the lobby of our building had built up quite a bit of ice.  I don't think the picture really does it justice.  It was actually really cool looking, but I did my best to get a picture of it.







Picture 41
A picture of the ice from another angle.  This gets more of the tree which is pretty nice in the summer.  In the winter without the leaves I end up with a lot of sun in my eyes.  Luckily we've moved enough in the tilt of the earth that the sun is now starting to hit the top of the building so it's keeping it out of my eyes, but from the middle of December until sometime a few weeks ago it was pretty bad.


Steps today: 8,008

Steps this week: 18,352
Daily average: 9,176

Disposing Of A Disposal

This morning while doing some cleaning I rinsed some dishes and saw the sink wasn't draining much so I turned on the garbage disposal.  The cabinet door that houses the disposal was slightly open and I was quite surprised when I turned on the disposal water shot out of the disposal under the cabinet so fast that it hit the door and sprayed up out of the crack about to eye level in a steady stream.  It was finally time to bite the bullet and get a new disposal.

The disposal hadn't been in great shape when we bought the house, it was gross looking, terribly loud, and vibrated quite a bit.  We also noticed that it did have a little leak, nothing major, just some drips every now and again.  So, since it was still in somewhat working order and we had a lot of other priorities we just found a leak solution which was a giant flower vase that sat under the disposal to catch any of the gross water that dripped out.

So, we went down to the Home Depot with our gift cards we got for Christmas.  Actually that's a funny little side note.  We got a Christmas gift from Cindy and Chris,  however Chris was the one that went to pick it up.  He thought it would be hilarious if instead of getting one $50 gift card, he got us ten $5 gift cards.  The best part is that in order to use a gift card at the U-Scan you have to scratch off a little area to reveal the pin number, for every single gift card.  It took us quite some time.

Anyhow, we went to the Home Depot and looked at the selection of disposals.  There were the type we already had, which was loud and awful, but for a bit more there were a variety of nicer, quieter, and more efficient models.  We decided to go with one of those, and debated the pros and cons of each of the three.  We quickly eliminated the lowest of the models, and debated if the nicest one was necessary of if it would be better to go with the mid-grade model.  In the end we went with the mid-grade model.  It's funny because I recently read an article talking about how when given options business will see higher sales if there are three options and they make the middle option the item they want to sell.  So if someplace wants to sell a high end beer, then sell that as the middle option and more people will convert from the lower beer to the higher beer as long as there is a more expensive option.  We did it because we didn't feel that the highest end model had enough features to justify the steep price increase.

We got home and got to installing the new disposal.  It turns out that the hardest part was actually removing the old disposal.  From the instructions and my handy do-it-yourself book that we've had for years it seems that they did not install the old one properly.  It was disgusting and awful, but we eventually got the old one removes, and everything cleaned out.  We then installed the new disposal pretty easily and now have a lovely new working disposal.  It's quieter than the last one, and it took down some onion pretty well.  Consumer reports said it tested this model shoving whole potatoes in it, as well as beef bones.  So I think it'll do for what we need.  I'm just glad that we don't have a leak anymore, that it's clean, dry, and nice.

Picture 38
Meet the craptastic old garbage disposal.  Look how terrible it is.  BOOO!  Boo to the old garbage disposal.  It was loud, inefficient, and ugly.  However, we thank it for its service, and relieve it of all duties.








Picture 39
Hooray for the new garbage disposal.  May it see many years of efficient and wonderful service destroying old bits of food.  And look how pretty!










Steps today: 10,344

Steps this week: 10,344

Daily average: 10,344

I Don't Get It

Why is it every time I see these super churchy buttholes on TV who are on some sort of reality show where they're building a house, or buying something (not like reality tv in the sense of like Jersey Shore, but more like Love It Or List It, HGTV sort of shows) and they are all about having kids, and having lots of kids and the whole big family thing, but for some reason one of them is infertile, so they spend tons of cash on medical procedures trying to get knocked up.

Now, I get it, you want to have a kid.  You also want to have something that looks like you running around doing whatever it is you see them doing in your head.  The thing is, if you're so godly, and so interested in all that bullshit, then why in the world are you not adopting and doing good in the world?  God works in mysterious ways until he won't let you get knocked up and so you then turn to science.  Or maybe, you should help the poor, sick, and in need by adopting someone that needs a family.  Seems more godly to me to be the person that helps those already here if you are unable to produce your own.  Seems to me that perhaps you should be taking the hint and finding another way. 

Like I said, I get it, you want a kid of your own making.  I'm not completely different in this sense.  I'd like to have a kid of my own, but if for some reason one of us couldn't make that happen I wouldn't spend tons of money trying to make it happen.  There are other ways I can have a family and I'd have no problem "taking the hint" even though I don't believe that.  Even if we do have kids, I'd rather only have one, and then adopt after that.  There are kids that need homes and people who will love them, I don't need to make more. 

Picture 37
Saw these while I was in the store today.  I don't eat Fruity Cheerios, and I can only assume from how they look that they're some sort of Froot Loop type cereal.  However, I really enjoyed that I look up at the cereal shelf and there is Animal staring down at me.  I love the Muppets, and I'm glad to see them out and about on things.

Steps today: 9,568

Steps this week: 70,402

Daily average: 10,057