You've Been Warned

My band will be playing at the Tri-Delt Ultimate Chili Cook-off this Saturday, starting around 1 pm. So stop on by, or drive by, if you're curious. Admission is $7, but it's all for charity!

I Guess Thirty Degrees Does Make A Difference

No problem getting around Town Lake tonight. That might have something to do with the fact that it was 71 instead of mid-90s or higher. It was great, a girl caught up to me but then I kept pace with her (eventually leaving her behind). Then later after my stretching break I was able to pick out runners in front of me to catch up to, several times. I hope it stays this cool for awhile.

P. S.

Oh I forgot... I accepted the new job offer on Thurday. Thank to y'all, I followed my heart instead of my mind. So, instead of a 20% pay raise I get about 6%. Thanks guys!

Honestly, I should be much happier in this position. It was the best career move, really.

Notes

I'm happy that I made myself run six days last week--every day except Thursday. And, I did it outside, in some bad head and humidity. Hopefully, I'll be able to run outside through the summer. I'm not sure I've done that before down here. My distance/time is still quite low but I think to be concentrating on consistency right now is the key. I should probably start signing up for some 5K or 10Ks.

I got my hair seriuosly chopped yesterday. Normally I tell the barber to cut it short and they don't cut it quite short enough. Not this time.. they went a little too far. Oh well, I always say I won't complain if they take too much off, so I didn't. I think it makes me look older though, which I don't like.

Some band drama... one of our members is thinking of quitting. A bunch of small reasons, but he brought up one that is really starting to bug me and that is stage presence, which we don't have much of. I have noticed we don't have much but what I didn't connect to it is a big reason why--some of our players use lyrics/chords sheets. You can't exactly make eye contact with the audience when you're reading off a sheet. When I notice how much effort it being put into technical issues instead of memorizing songs, it really starts to bug me. A lot of the stuff we play these guys have been listening to for 30 years... and you're telling me you need to read the lyrics?

This afternoon I'll be pouring beer at the end of the MS 150 ride. I really enjoy pouring beer for people. Can you believe some people get paid for doing this?

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' Blackouts

So we have two big buildings at work. This is how I know I'm working in the wrong building. I had no idea Austin was experiencing rolling blackouts today until after I left work and heard it on the radio! Rolling blackouts, awesome! It almost feels like I'm living in California. So, the reason for the blackouts is that we are having unseasonably warm weather at the moment (high of 99 today), and since Texas didn't think they'd have to power so many A/C units, some of the generators are down for planned maintenance.

So what else to do in unseasonably warm weather but go for a run. And I did, and it wasn't as hard as I expected. On my way downtown to run, I happened to drive through some blackout areas. I knew this because cops were directing traffic at the stop lights that were out. I found myself wondering why streetlights weren't on a separate "vital" grid, with streetlamps and hospitals, but I suppose they just weren't designed that way and it's too expensive at this point to change.

Saturday

I was up very early for a Saturday, 6 am! You'll have to ask me in person why. I found some Saturday morning cartoons on TV and was napping on the couch by 10. In between TV and napping I somehow found the time to write a perl script to automate my daily podcast mp3 splitting and transferring to mp3 player--ok I'd better stop talking about that now.

And I filed my taxes online. The hardest part about filing taxes for me is finding the mail from several months ago that I need to do it. Thankfully tonight I found out that all my financial institutions have the tax numbers online finally. Getting the taxes done wasn't very fulfilling since I owed $200. I shouldn't have been surprised since I owed last year too, but I was. Oh well at least it's done.

Pomp and Circumstances

Uhoh, it's become one of those lonely nights where I start reminiscing and google some ladies from my past. It only happens once or twice a year I swear! So, I didn't find much but I did find that several have either just gotten or are about to get graduate degrees. Good for them! And that makes me wonder: what have I been up to all this time, instead of getting educated?

Generational Differences

So this is what happens when you're drinking with someone 20 years older than you... we are checking out the jukebox at LJ's and find a "Hot Rod" compilation. Beach Boys, Jan & Dean, you get the idea. I'm reading off the artists... Bert Convy? My friend says: "Yeah, the singer" while I say "huh, the game show host?"

I didn't know which song was his while we were there, but next time I'll have to put in "Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots."

Workin'

I'm in a pretty good mood tonight. I think it's because I felt valuable at work today. I haven't started the new position yet, still the old one, but for the last two days I've sort of been an authority at day long meetings, partly because I was the most senior guy in my group there, and since there were more senior people in other groups there that couldn't pretend to know the answers to the questions I was answering, it was even better.

There is a relatively new person in our group who's duties are time consuming, difficult, and important. Unfortunately she isn't getting much support from others in our group. It reminds me of when I first started at the company and was given many things to do simultaneously, which was a bit overwhelming. What sucked is that some people wouldn't assist because they felt above these duties. So, she was the other person in our group at these meetings this week and it felt good to help her out when I could. Because I've been there.

People are starting to pull the gossipy who's-a-good-worker-who-isn't stuff out of me, which is unusual because I'm normally very quiet about that stuff. I attribute it to the fact that I won't be in this group much longer. Another week, maybe two, and then I will hopefully be doing something more fitting to my education and abilities.

Congratulations Badgers

Congratulations to the Wisconsin Badgers for winning the national championship!!! Men AND women's hockey!

Cheating

Dammit... I guess I was looking for an excuse to skip #1, because when I couldn't find a parking spot I immediately proceeded to #2. I made it to #3 on time, but quit early, and this is where it gets somewhat interesting. I quit, because I think we were cheating! We don't need to cheat. One of our team members stepped outside with his cellphone during the second round and got the answer to one of the trivia questions... and this was after we had a perfect first place first round, without cheating at all. I didn't quite hear what he said to our scribe, so once he left for the restroom I asked our scribe if that is what happened, and he confirmed it. I became really angry. It felt kind of good actually, I haven't gotten emotional like that in quite some time. Maybe I got my heart rate up high enough to make up for #1. Anyway, I left early and might be on my way to getting #4 done in time to get a good night sleep, but I instead headed down to LJ's and might stop by Mugshot's after this. I haven't seen those guys in quite awhile, and they never cheat me. It looks like I might have a good reason to take the next couple of Wednesdays off of trivia, or maybe longer.

Day Plan

Everyone seems to be stealing my entries just before I write them.  Thanks for saving me the trouble!  Here's a glimpse into my plans for today:
1. Run, Town Lake probably; I haven't run at all since Sunday
2. Eat wings; haven't had those for a week
3. Trivia; Even after several years getting to know the regulars, it still seems that this activity/location has a lot of potential for meeting cool people, which keeps me coming back.
4. Find sound effects on keyboard for new songs and program them in, in preparation for practice tomorrow

If I decide to do 1 and 2, I will probably be late for number 3.  If I stay for the entire number 3, number 4 will keep me up really late meaning I'll be really tired tomorrow.  I may have to cut number 3 short, but I probably won't.  Maybe I'll cut number 2.  Oh but I need those wings...

Mohito

Hey, I finally own an acoustic guitar. First one ever for me. I bought it in a silent auction at the charity event I poured beer for on Saturday. Wait--did I say pour beer? Actually I was pouring more mohitos than beer. What a pain that was though! I poured them out of a big glass barrel thing with a small opening at the top, using a ladle. My arm was sore after only fifteen minutes, and I probably spilled more over the glasses than into them. Padre busily prepared the glasses before I poured with sugar, mint, and ice for me. I don't know what was supposed to be done with the mint but I think it was more complicated than what I ended up doing when Padre took a break—I just tore up little pieces into the glass. The mohitos didn't taste like they had anything in it, but I know that they did because I ended up feeling stupid and foolish by the time the night was over, which is not unusual, except for the fact I didn't do anything stupid or foolish. Or did I? Mahalo mohito.