A story for all you frappuchino lovers
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You know what jealousy is?
It's walking up to your truck and two spots down from you, you see one of these puppies:
I love working here, but I hate working here, because someone has this sexy beast and I don't.
It's a Caddy CTS- V . Basically, it's a somewhat sporty rear-wheel-drive Cadillac sedan, with the engine, transmission, and brakes from a Corvette Z06. 348 cubic inches, producing 400 horespower.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooh, Monica! ;-)
Best euphemism I've ever heard for being blessed with many children: "overrun with nose-miners".
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I've felt awful all morning, but after the torrential rain passed-through and I took 2 Advil, I'm feeling better.
I have a brand new picture pasted to my office wall to the right of my cubicle:
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I feel a wave of relaxation and good feeling coming over me today; three of us on the team are doing neat things with our code, and we're doing them "The right way". No shortcuts, no hacks, just right. Let's see how long that lasts.
My day yesterday was wonderful: I got to code some, and I made something work by 7 pm that as recently as noon I'd said "No freaking way is this gonna work." That's when I get scared of my job, folks: Not when I hate it, not when I think I'm going to be outsourced to India, not when there's more work than we can possibly do. No, I get scared when I'm absolutely LO...
MINI Cabrio ad:
"Immer offen" is German for "Always Open".
Driving home the other day, I really could see owning one of these little girly beasts. I've never thought of the MINI as girly (though I've often thought of the similar New Beetle that way). It's not bulbous or effeminate; rather, it's curvy in front but squared-off, well proportioned, and hunkered-down. Whereas a New Beetle looks ready to roll over, pod-like, when it's turning, a MINI just looks hunkered-down. One of these would be even moreso.
Sadly, this is one trifle even I couldn't justify. I mean, maybe as a 4th car or something, an in addition to that Blue/Black MCS w/the autocross suspension that I lust after, my BigRedTruck, and a minivan ;-)
Sleepy, tired, sleepy, and HUNGRY...gaa...
Got up this morning at 6, promptly reset my alarm for 7, snoozed 'til 7:09, and was utterly famished from then until I'd consumed 16oz of Sumatran, 2 Blueberry non-frosted PopTarts, and a sausage/egg/cheese biscuit from Burger King.
No idea why I was so ravenouse; maybe because I only ate leftovers and granola last night for dinner.
According to the SelectSmart.com Belief System Selector, my #1 belief match is CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN/PROTESTANT. What do you believe?
Visit SelectSmart.com/RELIGION
LOL...some probably won't believe the above, as I'm an old-earth creationist, which is sufficient heresy, I suppose.
my (modified) Creed:
I believe the Earth is millions, or possibly billions, of years old. Do I find that this challenges my Christianity or my faith in God? Not a bit. Even in the fossil record, humans have only come about in the last 10,000 years, which jives with Genesis nicely. Even the most jaded scientist will admit that.
I'm sorry, but attacking the creation story of Genesis is a non-event for me. Go right ahead. It explains little up until the creation of Man, and from my reading it isn't intended to. We might just as well deny the existence of Aborigines in Australia because the Bible doesn't mention them.
The main thing is, I'm ...
Tampa Bay, day 2.
After deciding that we had to have a rental car, I rented a Mitsubishi Lanzer OZ Rally Edition from Thrifty:
It's red w/a spoiler, and looks for all the world like an Evolution 8, but with none of the engine, suspension, chassis, and 4wd tweaks.
Still, it's been an unexpected pleasure, with a smooth ride, good steering, and great brakes. However, it's an automatic, and the engine + tranny combo is just not up to moving the car; I find myself in 3rd gear under all circumstances except freeway, and 2nd in many situations on the street.
I wouldn't mind having an Evo 8, though, given the goodness of the chassis, even in this neutered form.
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So, with my new (rented) wheels, I headed-out to explore St. Petersburg a bit. St. Pete, Clearwater, and various other municipalities all occupy this teardrop-shaped peninusla that juts into the Gulf of Mexico. The streets + avenues follow a very well-designed grid (are you listening, Lexin...
It's said the bloggers are so compulsive that they'll blog in the middle of the night, at people's houses during dinner parties, and on their vacation.
Well, count me in. This is Day 1 in Tampa, and here's my report.
We awoke yesterday at 6 to make it to SDF by our 9:45 flight. We found ourselves on a "Delta Connection" flight on a Canadair regional jet from Louisville to Cincy. Total flight time: 22 minutes. Seems kinda wasteful, really, when there's a Southwest Airlines flight from Louisville direct to Tampa twice a day. But oh well. :-)
After a 2 hour layover in Cincy during which we watched the first bit of "The Godfather" on Whitney's laptop, we had a 2 hour flight on a 737 down to Tampa. This was the longest flight of my life, but at least it was on a relatively spacious 737. They even threw 8oz of Coke and a bag of pretzels at us.
Once we got to Tampa International (TPA), we got our bags and got on the shuttle van to...
Exercise reports: Jogged most of the way around the site today, finally slowing to a cooldown walk when I was 100 yards from my building. Felt just awesome! I didn't go fast at all, but the equilibrium I felt moving, sweating, pumping, breathing was nice.
Didn't overdo, and treated myself to some nummy protein--Double w/cheese from Wendy's--afterwards.
I'll probably be sore, but I'm trying to develop a good habit of jogging M-W-F. Definitely wanting to lose some weight and get back into the shape I was in 1999-2000, when I was cycling 10 miles a day and running for 50 minutes at a time. Hard to believe, looking at me now :-)
Key learning from my 45-minute ordeal putting my contacts in this morning: It helps a great deal to aim for the spot just below your iris and then blink the contact into place once it's actually on your eyeball.
I must've dropped/wrinkled/turned inside-out both my contacts at least a dozen times before this (rather obvious) technique came to me. I remember Whitney doing it with her gas-perms, so that reminded me.
My eyes feel a little dry with 'em in today; not painful just a mild irritation in the right one. I'm wondering if I got the darn thing inside-out... The left one feels very comfortable, by contrast. 'Course I did poke at my right eye about twice as much as my left trying to get 'em in there. :D
Said goodbye to an old, dear friend just now.
He's not dead, just excommunicated.
Kinda sad that we humans must be that way sometimes, but as adults we must know our boundries, our circles of influence, of friends, and of love. And certain people must be excluded from them for us to survive.
Know that I miss this guy, world; I have since the day of our falling-out. (Well, really the year of our falling out, as it 'twas a long spiral of mutual loathing...). But I had a friend once, a person who knew all my secrets, possibly too many for one not bound to me by blood or covenant. And such was my personal downfall, the end of our friendship.
Sorry to be dramatic, but I feel like there should be some sort of ceremony here...something somber, something appropriate, but our society lacks any such thing. Had one of us died, there'd be mourning, but that something so wonderful died bears not a metion--that just seems WRONG!
"Stay tuned for a message from the big, giant head..."
(apologies for a not-so-bright look on my face and severe 5 o'clock shadow)
Today was the first time since I was in 3rd grade that I've been able to see my own face in a mirror without eyeglasses. It was a really, really altering experience.
I went to the optometrist at 3, and he put two of the daily-wear soft contacts in my eye and then told me to go sit in the waiting room for 15 minutes. They didn't hurt, but I got a weird headache immediately. I figured-out what it was: Unused to having peripheral vision, my mind was trying to process much more information than I was used to.
Basically, my eyes are so bad w/myopia and astigmatism that I have about a 6 inch window right in front of my nose that I can see. As I age and acquire far-sightedness, I'll lose even that. However, with the contacts in I could SEE!
It's still a little weird. I wore them for 4 hours today and then too...
The blogging is going to be pretty random today...my brain is mush and even coffee isn't helping.
First of all, thank you all for your well-wishes and prayers; Norie is set to go home from the hospital today. She had a successful operation to clear her lungs of blood late Friday night, and spent Saturday and Sunday in the CCTVU, whatever that is, is St. Joseph's hospital.
Mom's H-P Laptop (yeah, i know...how could she get an H-P!) has had a hard drive meltdown, so I shipped her home my old (but still rather speedy) 866Mhz Pentium 3 Dell tower w/its 19" monitor. :-)
Autocross was fun but frustrating yesterday. Overdrove the course, ending-up third. And my tires are sort of dying
Did I mention I was sleepy?
Ronald Reagan died on Saturday. Sadly, I've missed most of the coverage and mourning. Internally, I don't feel much mourning: The man lived an awesome, long life, accomplished much, and he's moved on (Whitney/Stu term, but I feel it...
:) for those of you not big on melancholy, I have happier, more involving posts than this is likely to be.
For some reason, I'm lonely tonight. Truly, the Christian is never alone, washed as he is in God's love, but in the dark watches of the night, witnessing the glorious sunset as I did today, and yet seeing the frailty of life as I also did today, it makes one yearn for his loved ones to enclose him, their love a talisman against death and solitude.
I always remember a quote about Dante's Inferno , about limbo the level of hell that contains the virtuous pagans like Socrates, Plato, et al. Theirs was an eternity without pain, but it was also an eternity away from God, and that was the real torture. Hidden in that reflection is a truth: Humans are creatures of group, of belonging, of allegiance.
My Love is far away from me now, vacationing in Tennessee. I wasn't expecting to hear from her tonight, but she called. It was wonderful, and it was also painfu...
Can I just say, getting your pupils diallated is not cool! The process itself is not painful, but having to go out into the BRIGHT SUNSHINE AND DRIVE HOME WITHOUT KILLING YOURSELF is.
So, looks like I'm a go for contacts as soon as they come in next week, no glaucoma, no cateracts, and my corneas look good.
Now, I'm going to a dark room to hide for a couple hours.
:) Such a lovely spring morning in...June :-)
I guess the one thing we can thank the storms for is some very pleasant, dry air that's descended upon Kentucky in tha past few days. Yestderday was beautiful weather for any sort of outdoor activity, and last night was so cool and clear that I slept with the windows open and just my fan on, and I didn't want to get up!
Did get the Pup washed yesterday; after weeks of hard autocrossing, she surely deserved it. I'm going for my eye exam today, and I'm thinking of trying contacts. I know...GAA! Harold in contacts! My eyes are funky; highly astigmatic, I've never been a good candidate for contacts in the past, but supposedly there are new contacts out that can work w/astigmatism. Basically, technology advances and I ask about contacts every 5 years or so. Usually, I'm turned down.
I must say, i'd love to not have to get special sunglasses anymore. Wouldn't mind one of those $300 pairs of Raybans...