Time spent, but not well

God damnit what a shit day! I had my manager meeting today and it was halfway across the damn city! So, the drive was long ass to start. The meeting itself was a fucking joke! JOKE I say! I am sure it was suppose to be about something! However it was eight hours of NOTHING!

God, I am just beyond pissed right now. One huge wasted day topped off by a rush hour drive home that took me an hour and a half! Now, mind you, I live like ten minutes away from my work. So me and long drives through traffic do not mix well. To make matters worse, I ended up getting my ass lost in the tangled jumble that is the Phoenix highway system.

Do you ever notice, that whenever you get lost you always end up in a "bad" part of town? You know, when you start seeing wired, freeked out people and you have to double check that your windows are up and your doors locked? I've never been lost while driving and end up saying to myself, "wow, these homes must be like a million dollars!" or "wow, this is a nice neighborhood, I should look into getting a place here." No, it's always like, "Damnit, I need to get my ass the hell outta here before I get in the middle of some crossfire!"

This is only a simulation

So, my week of work meetings begins tomorrow. I think it is about bagels. I really have no clue, but something similarly absurd I am sure. Just a total waste of time. Then I get to send each of my crew to a similarly mundane meeting during the rest of this week. Next week, more of the same. Save me from stupid company's and their meetings of uselessness.

So, my woman's sister has been talking to her about the game The Sims. The woman went out and bought said game tonight. Now, the Sims has been fairly popular as as single player type game. Honestly though, I have no clue what the draw is. For me, there is zero appeal.

If you are unfamiliar with what the Sims is about, you basically create a home and a character or characters (person or family) and you walk them through life. Everything from eating, sleeping, dating, working, and so on. This also includes all the pitfalls of life - getting a job, paying the bills, buying items, buying food, aging, dying. A simple, yet good example of this is the woman's first attempt at the Sims tonight that promptly ended in her "sim" and her date being burnt to cinders in a house fire.

So, that all being said. Why there is any interest in a game that you already LIVE is beyond me!

"Gee, let me come home from work or get done doing my chores and I will play a game about working and doing chores! Hooray!" Pfffttt!

Whatever floats your boat I suppose.

I'm a doctor. No, really.

Ah, a day off! I enjoyed it thoroughly! Even though the day is not quite over yet. Moving fast tough, unfortunately. I am dreading next week. It will be full of various meetings for myself and my crew. Very annoying to say the least.

I just ran across this article today. I had once thought of doing this myself, but figured "nah, that won't work." Of course, once again, I have underestimated the stupidity of the general populace!

So, the story goes that this guy posed as a doctor, went door to door, and offered free breast exams! I mean, hey, who can turn down a FREE breast exam right? Well, two dumbasses fell for it and let him do his thing. Jesus, what the fuck is happening in our world? People get stupider and stupider every day. I've mentioned this before, but I think it is a societal issue that we have become so politically correct that we ALLOW the stupid to continue to be stupid, instead of allowing the repercussions of there stupidity to change there behavior.

So, what have we learned from this?

1) Most of the population is stupid and deserves to be taken advantage of.
2) If it's FREE, there is probably a catch.

Signs of the Apocalypse

Alright, riddle me this Batman!

So, my folks have a cordless phone. The battery died. The battery, I find, costs about $14.00. Now, hold on to your socks - I can buy the exact same phone for $15.00!!! What the hell is this?!

*shakes fists in frustration*

So, instead of a collection of dead batteries I get a collection of useless phones! I mean, COME ON! Who is doing the marketing on this one?

In a similar vein.. perhaps you have heard over the past few months that Apple Computer has switched from IBM Processors to the dreaded Intel Processor. Intel has, of course, made processors for PCs. Then this week, Apple announced that you can now run Windows XP on an Apple computer. Whaaaa?

So, let me get this straight. A computer that runs an intel'ish motherboard and an Intel processor, running Windows XP. Guess what folks, that is a PC! So, Apple has just become another Dell, or HP, or Alienware. They make Intel computers that run Windows.

*waves goodbye to Apple Macintosh*

At the very least, I hope this move will push those crazy ass Apple fanatics a bit further underground. If you have ever dealt with one, you know what I am talking about.

Anyways, just a few signs that the Apocalypse is near...

Week of crappy stuff

Sorry for the lack of posts, but this has been a week of hell. I have never "lost" a friend before. The whole situation has been, well, like one would expect I suppose. It is the saddest thing having to go through their belongings after they have gone. The whole life of a person summed up in items, trinkets, and in this particular case, photographs. Especially photographs.

The oddest feeling I have at this point, are those random thoughts of "oh, hey, I remember when we did this.." or "Hmm, I wonder what they are up to this week, I think I will call and see... oh wait.." There is just an empty block of your life where someone use to be. It really sucks.

So, today, being really my first day off in a good two weeks, (I can not really count this three day weekend for obvious reasons) I have been trying to get some errands out of the way so I can maybe get SOME relaxation time in.

My first God damn mistake was going to the United States Post Office. What a waste of friggin time! I get there and they have ONE, yes ONE person running the whole joint. Customers packed all over the place. No joke, one person. I am done! I have learned! I will never, ever go the USPS again. I will pay the one or two bucks extra and go to UPS or Fedex. It is worth it have zero grief. In and out, transaction completed, thank you.

So, I am back home now. I am turning off my cell phone. I am closing all the window blinds. I have enough food and beverages to last the night. I'm firing up World of Warcraft and I plan to have some fun and relaxation for the rest of the damn day.

The Longest Day

My woman and I decided to get out a little bit today. As you may or may not know, my woman LOVES to get out and do things. As for me, the sun hurts my eyes. So, anywhoo, I decided to bite the bullet and get some fresh air with my honey.

Our decided upon desination? Well, that would be the Phoenix Zoo. Or, as I like to call it after our visit, The Zoo of Invisible Animals! So, to start, the place is friggin huge! I felt like I was on safari with how much we walked! I was actually hoping to pass out so someone would be forced to carry me back to civilization. We are both damn beat now.

To top it off, most of it's exibits seemed devoid of animal life! I mean sure, we saw the lion's and the tigers (wait, sorry, just one tiger), and um.. giraffes, but a lot of the exibits were either empty or inhabited by animals that were simply having none of the being seen by spectator action. It was really like "Oh, what a great display of plants and rocks!"

I am home now and pizza is on it's way! I can't wait to hit the shower though because I smell like zoo! Oh? You don't know what zoo smells like? Let me tell ya, zoo smells just like elephant shit...

Farewell to an old friend

Well, not the news I would want to receive on any day, but certainly not on my birthday. I was informed today that an old friend of mine, someone that I have known for almost 20 years, will not live out the weekend.

Her name is Robin. We met way back when we both worked at Kits Cameras. We were both photographers and ended up photographing a lot of various shoots together. Our "crew" back then was pretty tight and we always went out to do things or just hang out. Out of that whole group there are only two that I still retained any contact with, Robin being one of them.

She has had diabetes since I have known her. She always told me that one day it would "catch up with her." I guess I really do not think along those lines. I always scoffed at her statements, thinking, nah, that can't happen. I just did not even think in that realm.

Today, Robin's illness caught up with her. It was sudden. I am told that she is already "gone" and that there is nothing they can do for her. Only life support is keeping her body alive. Life support that will be terminated within 72 hours.

I still can not quite get a grip on the situation. I keep alternating between doing my every day mundane tasks, sobbing, and then thinking of calling her relatives and asking again "Are you sure?!".

So, in memory of Robin. A wonderful person, a great photographer, and my friend.

You will be missed.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Yay, it's my Birthday!

So don't piss me off today! I'm suppose to be happy!

Procrastination is not a good thing

Alright, so.. as my birthday looms ever closer, the woman and I have decided to stay over night somewhere local. She has been asking me for weeks now. Of course, I said, no worries, I'll think about it. Stupid me. Here we are only a few days away from our trip window and I got nothin!

Been looking up north in Sedona for a place, but the few I checked this morning have no availability. I also checked out the Marriott in Desert Ridge. It's not really a trip, as it is right down the road from us, but it is a super sweet hotel. They have availability, but it's tough to book a place that wants two weeks of you pay for just one night!

So, guess I am going to have to do some scrambling to pull something together fast. Perhaps I will just pitch a tent in our living room?