I had a weird moment tonight. My parents had bought a pie- Key Lime- because my dad has this running joke about key lime pie. Back in the day, my mom would make a meal, we'd all eat it, and my dad would say, that was great, but I wish I had some key lime pie. It was kind of insulting, when you think about it, but he thought it was funny. Basically we laughed with him. He had stopped for a year or so (actually, I dunno, I was at school) but then he started up again. (when I started cooking) So my mom was buying a pie, so she bought a key lime pie, to keep the joke alive. Ha ha ha!
They had some friends over, they ate half the pie. I am not a pie sort of guy- I'm kind of at this phase now where I want to make sure I get in good shape. I want to be physically fit enough to:
- ski all day, even with some hiking to the top of hills, and then play racquetball*
- bike an arbitrarily large number of miles
- climb a mountain. I'm talking an overnight camping hike/climb up a mountain.
- do my age in chin-ups (almost there! I can do 15 on a good day)
- steadily increase general weightlifting capabilities until I am more "lean" than "skinny"
- never be overweight due to personal laziness
This is largely because I have no reason not to be in good shape. I'm 19, live in the nicest place in the world, and have every fitness opportunity within a half mile of my house. I go grocery shopping once a week, my parents don't even care what I get. I'm not a single working mother or anyone who's ridiculously stressed and has no time to exercise. If I'm out of shape, it's my own damn fault... so I better not be.
*This occurred last December, during my trip to the Rockies with Pete. Story may follow in a later post.
Anyway, they had this pie. I had some friends over too; after they left, I had a little sliver of pie, just to taste it. That's my policy with desserty food: my desire to be ridiculously healthy can't override my desire to try everything in the world, so I tried a bit of it. It was very good. The pie was the delicious meringuey creamy consistency, it was sweet with the perfect amount of lime taste. The graham cracker crust tasted like a cookie; the frosting on top just added a little extra sweetness. It was good. So I go to put the pie back
and the whole thing splats on the floor.
It was monstrous. Pie all over the front of the fridge, the bulk of it on the floor. If there had been a city living on top of the pie, this would be Hiroshima. It was a pie disaster.
And then, like in a movie, I just felt like I had to eat some of it. (not the part that's touching the floor... you know, the part that never actually made floor contact.) So I just took a handful of splatted pie, and ate it. Well sure, it was really tasty. Then I took some more, and more. Between handfuls I would wash my hands, like okay, I'm done, and then, well wait, I think I'll go get a bit more. It wasn't even an issue- this pie was on the floor, and it HAD TO BE EATEN BY ME. NOW. I wasn't thinking "I'll eat more because it's tasty," I was thinking "I'm not me; I'm the character playing me. In the script, Dan Tasse eats the pie on the floor... so that's what I'll do." It was ridiculous. And gluttonous too, of course.
This scene was the one where the son of very poor parents, who worked his way up to a job making $50,000 a year, and has lived very frugally, in a small house with his newlywed wife, only buying what they need so they can save for their kids and their retirement, where he just stops on the way home from work one day and buys a 70 inch plasma TV. A new computer, new camcorder, new stereo system... he keeps dumping stuff into the cart, with this vacant stare, checking out with $20,000 worth of equipment that he doesn't need or even want, but he's just buying it, just because... because... why?? he doesn't even know! but he is!
The scene where the mild-mannered high school senior, the nicest kid in the school, no enemies, he's not bullied, straight-A student, gets followed around by the little nerd. The one who just doesn't have any friends his age because he's socially inept, so he follows around this paragon of high school benevolence. The senior just punches this little twerp in the face, and then he can't stop, he's just wailing on the kid, he doesn't hate him, he just keeps hitting him, there's blood everywhere, huge commotion, no resistance, the punches make the sickening muted "thud"s that punches really make, no movielike "bam"s or "crunch"es, just thud, thud, thud...
So I'm being overdramatic. It wasn't that at all, it was that on a much smaller scale. I kept eating the pie, and then I cleaned up what was left (the part that had made floor contact). But I felt as if I were the $50k worker or the high school senior. It's the gluttony of it all, the "why am I doing this?!" sensation. At the same time, it was a little bit thrilling.
Ever drive down the highway, and think, I am just six inches from killing myself and probably innocent others? Just move your hands maybe 6 inches on the steering wheel, and unspeakable disaster. Or even other times: you're at a meeting with a professor. You could punch him in the face in under three seconds, and your life would completely change: expelled from the university, arrested for assault, etc. Even more when you walk by a cop and think "I could pull his gun out of his holster." Not that you'd ever do any of that, but the fact is, you could. In under a minute, you could throw away your entire life's accomplishments: the ultimate gluttony. Because I think gluttony is not doing what you like too much; it's doing it so that you don't like it anymore, it's that bizarre "why am I doing this?!" feeling that you would get if you stole the cop's gun and shot people with it. And gluttony in eating a pie off the floor is similar to gluttony in destroying your life and everyone's around you, and reminding yourself how precariously close you are to that edge is just a little little morbidly intriguing.
Hey, melodrama. Interesting? Warped? Well, yeah. But do you know what I mean?
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Thursday, July 28, 2005
The 90's were a good decade.
This post is all right, but if you haven't read my last post read it first, I want people's input, to let me know if I'm a raving lunatic before I put a bunch of time into this.
This post is also not as good as the 90's. The 90's was a great decade. It was a pretty prosperous decade, no major wars/disasters (erm. by saying this, i'm probably overlooking something huge, kind of like how history kinda overlooked the Armenian Genocide. So you've got the Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda. That's probably the biggie. Also the Gulf "war" aka the gulf "we win, but let's come back in 10 years anyway". Somalia was a bitch, as was Yugoslavia, and the Middle East and Northern Ireland kept coming back around to bite us. So I guess other than that, no major wars/disasters)
Anyway, other than that it was good. The Golden Age of America? What do you think? We may have peaked back there, when I was 10 or so. Beautiful economy (erm, don't take all the credit, Bill Clinton), ridiculous technological expansion including the INTERNET, the fall of Communism, I mean, shoot, the Human Genome Project... I could go on. Where am I going with this?
Oh yeah, good music too. Come to think of it, grunge was sort of crap. Well, we liked it in the day, but now it's morphed into shits like Staind and Nickelback. But it's the response to grunge that was fun, stuff like Weezer, Beck, Cake, stuff like Radiohead and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And while that was going on, Indie Rock was born.
So basically, I'm writing this all to say I kinda like Pavement. Slanted and Enchanted is a nice CD, more than I was expecting when I heard it was officially considered a starter of the "lo-fi" movement. Previously, I've heard lo-fi through a few tracks of Guided by Voices, and hated it. But it can be good. Plus I like Stereo, Shady Lane, Cut your hair, and other non-S&E songs I've heard. So Pavement, I like.
Built to Spill too, they're nice. Takes a few (okay a lot) of listens for it not all sound the same, but I do like it. See "Keep it Like a Secret" and "There's Nothing Wrong with Love"
A.C. Newman: not so good. After track 3, "The Slow Wonder" sputters out. But listen to the New Pornographers' Mass Romantic again, it only has a couple great tracks too.
Spoon: Better. I'd say it's worth $10 of the $16 I spent on it (buying cds? what?! Well I had a gift card, and they didn't have Sufjan Stevens's Illinois.) "I turn my camera on" is, as advertised, a pretty sweet song.
Speaking of which, Sufjan Stevens. The man is awesome. I am itching to listen to Illinois, I hear it's fantastic. Try "Greetings from Michigan" or "Seven Swans" too, they're both beautiful.
Bloc Party: Not, actually, so great. I'd count a half dozen tracks I really like, and the rest blend together. The ones that are good, though, are very good: "Like eating glass", "Positive tension", "The price of gas"
Bright Eyes, "I'm Wide Awake, it's Morning: The man himself (I guess I should say, his voice) is really growing on me. This CD, not as much. I've never been a really folksy guy, I guess I just don't appreciate it. But even listening to him tell a story (as in track 1, "the bottom of everything") is fascinating.
Interpol's "Antics" is a solid 7/10. Not brilliant, but I like it. w/o "Obstacle 1" and "obstacle 2" it's hard for it to compete w/ "turn on the bright lights", but it's still a good CD.
M83: Starts to grate on me now, after I've raved about it before. A lot of tracks are boring. That said, there are still a good 5 or 6 that I could listen to a lot ("unrecorded", "america", "0078h" especially)
Wilco: is steadily climbing. After 6 listens-through, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is now a CD that I would voluntarily pick out of my collection to listen to. For a previously not-so-folksy guy as myself, that's saying something.
Now: out of new music. Damn. Someone get me something to tide me over until I get back to school and i2hub.
This post is also not as good as the 90's. The 90's was a great decade. It was a pretty prosperous decade, no major wars/disasters (erm. by saying this, i'm probably overlooking something huge, kind of like how history kinda overlooked the Armenian Genocide. So you've got the Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda. That's probably the biggie. Also the Gulf "war" aka the gulf "we win, but let's come back in 10 years anyway". Somalia was a bitch, as was Yugoslavia, and the Middle East and Northern Ireland kept coming back around to bite us. So I guess other than that, no major wars/disasters)
Anyway, other than that it was good. The Golden Age of America? What do you think? We may have peaked back there, when I was 10 or so. Beautiful economy (erm, don't take all the credit, Bill Clinton), ridiculous technological expansion including the INTERNET, the fall of Communism, I mean, shoot, the Human Genome Project... I could go on. Where am I going with this?
Oh yeah, good music too. Come to think of it, grunge was sort of crap. Well, we liked it in the day, but now it's morphed into shits like Staind and Nickelback. But it's the response to grunge that was fun, stuff like Weezer, Beck, Cake, stuff like Radiohead and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And while that was going on, Indie Rock was born.
So basically, I'm writing this all to say I kinda like Pavement. Slanted and Enchanted is a nice CD, more than I was expecting when I heard it was officially considered a starter of the "lo-fi" movement. Previously, I've heard lo-fi through a few tracks of Guided by Voices, and hated it. But it can be good. Plus I like Stereo, Shady Lane, Cut your hair, and other non-S&E songs I've heard. So Pavement, I like.
Built to Spill too, they're nice. Takes a few (okay a lot) of listens for it not all sound the same, but I do like it. See "Keep it Like a Secret" and "There's Nothing Wrong with Love"
A.C. Newman: not so good. After track 3, "The Slow Wonder" sputters out. But listen to the New Pornographers' Mass Romantic again, it only has a couple great tracks too.
Spoon: Better. I'd say it's worth $10 of the $16 I spent on it (buying cds? what?! Well I had a gift card, and they didn't have Sufjan Stevens's Illinois.) "I turn my camera on" is, as advertised, a pretty sweet song.
Speaking of which, Sufjan Stevens. The man is awesome. I am itching to listen to Illinois, I hear it's fantastic. Try "Greetings from Michigan" or "Seven Swans" too, they're both beautiful.
Bloc Party: Not, actually, so great. I'd count a half dozen tracks I really like, and the rest blend together. The ones that are good, though, are very good: "Like eating glass", "Positive tension", "The price of gas"
Bright Eyes, "I'm Wide Awake, it's Morning: The man himself (I guess I should say, his voice) is really growing on me. This CD, not as much. I've never been a really folksy guy, I guess I just don't appreciate it. But even listening to him tell a story (as in track 1, "the bottom of everything") is fascinating.
Interpol's "Antics" is a solid 7/10. Not brilliant, but I like it. w/o "Obstacle 1" and "obstacle 2" it's hard for it to compete w/ "turn on the bright lights", but it's still a good CD.
M83: Starts to grate on me now, after I've raved about it before. A lot of tracks are boring. That said, there are still a good 5 or 6 that I could listen to a lot ("unrecorded", "america", "0078h" especially)
Wilco: is steadily climbing. After 6 listens-through, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is now a CD that I would voluntarily pick out of my collection to listen to. For a previously not-so-folksy guy as myself, that's saying something.
Now: out of new music. Damn. Someone get me something to tide me over until I get back to school and i2hub.
Monday, July 25, 2005
Okay, here's an idea
Yeeaaah! I remembered my damn password!
Anyway, so here's the idea:
DontBuyAnIpod.com
Thousands of confused middle-class white teens have $300 to spare.
Apple sells iPods for $300.
This works out conveniently for Apple.
However, at Heifer Project International, you can donate a water buffalo or two llamas to a hungry family.
Through CARE, which states that as little as 28c can provide a meal for a hungry child, your $300 could buy... 1071 meals.
Through the Nature Conservancy, you could save 4 acres of endangered forests in the East Kalimantan province in Borneo, Indonesia.
And think of what that $300 could do for the Red Cross, Boys and Girls Club, Wildlife Conservation Society, or tons of other organizations.
So here's the idea: a website that encourages people to take that $300 that they saved for an iPod, and donate it instead. Instead of continuing to be slaves to a corporate propaganda society that has pushed the iPod for its "coolness" as much as for its usefulness, they could do something huge (like feeding a kid for 3 years). Plus I'd send you a cool little jpg or something else... maybe I could make stickers or something and send them in real life.
And the best part is, it's really easy. Donors don't have to work countless hours, etc... they just have to do without an iPod. Like they have been doing for their entire lives. Or worst case, they could buy an iPod mini and donate the saved $100. If someone got really inspired, he/she could sell his iPod (they still go for about $250 at least on eBay).
But I'm not doing this to look down on people who own iPods (I know most of the readers of this blog do; and that's cool) ... this will be an entirely "soft-sell" website. It won't guilt or pressure you into not buying that iPod that you really really want; it won't make you feel bad for owning one; it'll just give you some ideas.
Please let me know what you think. I want to start making this site right away, get it up before I get back to school. I figure I can just buy a domain for a year (www.dontbuyanipod.com is still open), pretty low initial costs... and go from there. Do you think anyone would consider not buying an iPod after seeing a site like this? I mean, odds are it'd flop, but what if it became the next Internet cult hit? How cool would that be... using the internet to get donations pouring in to some worthwhile charity instead of Steve Jobs's pockets?
... leave thoughts!
Your resident idealist,
Dan
Anyway, so here's the idea:
DontBuyAnIpod.com
Thousands of confused middle-class white teens have $300 to spare.
Apple sells iPods for $300.
This works out conveniently for Apple.
However, at Heifer Project International, you can donate a water buffalo or two llamas to a hungry family.
Through CARE, which states that as little as 28c can provide a meal for a hungry child, your $300 could buy... 1071 meals.
Through the Nature Conservancy, you could save 4 acres of endangered forests in the East Kalimantan province in Borneo, Indonesia.
And think of what that $300 could do for the Red Cross, Boys and Girls Club, Wildlife Conservation Society, or tons of other organizations.
So here's the idea: a website that encourages people to take that $300 that they saved for an iPod, and donate it instead. Instead of continuing to be slaves to a corporate propaganda society that has pushed the iPod for its "coolness" as much as for its usefulness, they could do something huge (like feeding a kid for 3 years). Plus I'd send you a cool little jpg or something else... maybe I could make stickers or something and send them in real life.
And the best part is, it's really easy. Donors don't have to work countless hours, etc... they just have to do without an iPod. Like they have been doing for their entire lives. Or worst case, they could buy an iPod mini and donate the saved $100. If someone got really inspired, he/she could sell his iPod (they still go for about $250 at least on eBay).
But I'm not doing this to look down on people who own iPods (I know most of the readers of this blog do; and that's cool) ... this will be an entirely "soft-sell" website. It won't guilt or pressure you into not buying that iPod that you really really want; it won't make you feel bad for owning one; it'll just give you some ideas.
Please let me know what you think. I want to start making this site right away, get it up before I get back to school. I figure I can just buy a domain for a year (www.dontbuyanipod.com is still open), pretty low initial costs... and go from there. Do you think anyone would consider not buying an iPod after seeing a site like this? I mean, odds are it'd flop, but what if it became the next Internet cult hit? How cool would that be... using the internet to get donations pouring in to some worthwhile charity instead of Steve Jobs's pockets?
... leave thoughts!
Your resident idealist,
Dan
Kick me in the teeth with a steel-toed boot
... I reset my password yesterday, because we got that email about how we were supposed to reset them, and it's something super-secret, super-strong, and I forgot it, and I didn't write it anywhere or configure my account for easy resetting. Run me over with a goddamn bulldozer.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
No, you're not.
Can we put an end to this "I'm too lazy" business? As in, "I would take up guitar, but I'm too lazy." or, "I could be getting a 4.0, but I'm too lazy."
See, the thing here is that it's not about laziness, because most of the people who say this clearly aren't lazy. It's just that they've put other priorities above whatever it is that they are "too lazy" to do.
Maybe it's a last line of psychological defense- like "I could beat you at basketball if I practiced every day, but I'm too lazy." Affirming that you're better than the other person, except that the other person puts in way too much time, and his ridiculous obsession with basketball is the only thing keeping him better than you. Guys, this is weak. The other person put in more work, he deserves to beat you. Unless you believe that your God-given gift of basketball skill should make you win every time, no matter how hard he works- in which case, what's the point of ever trying at anything, because someone with more inherent talent will just beat you.
I can only hope it's that, because the alternative is that you truly are lazy, and take pride in it.
I just got a medicine that burns away canker sores. I'm not going to bow down and scream praises to God Almighty, but I might toss a little thanks to a minor deity- like Graddar, lesser demon of oral annoyances. Canker sores are a bummer, and I may be officially free of them now!
Oh shoot, I got tagged by Joe on this little music dinghy. What? I don't do memes! But I've been targeted, and I get a chance to talk about music, so here goes:
6 current favorites:
1. "A Good Man is Hard to Find": Sufjan Stevens + Flannery O'Connor = very pretty. I greatly enjoy Sufjan's music.
2. "Miracle Drug", A.C. Newman. Is it a bad idea to buy a CD based on one song? Probably. How about download it? I think I will, thank you. Anyway, the New Pornographers member turns in a 2:19 power-pop gem.
3. "The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine", Spoon. See above.
4. "Highway Chile", Jimi Hendrix. Okay, it's kind of an overplayed classic. But I love it. I don't normally go for classic rock at all, but Jimi Hendrix is so compelling, even on a CD recording. Talk about swagger. If I could meet one dead musician, I'm pretty sure it'd be him.
5. "Pick Up the Phone", the Notwist. You probably missed their 2001 recording, "Neon Golden." I did too. You may not have ever heard of them. I hadn't either. This is soothing and poignant, check it out.
6. "Night after Night", Dan and Jean. This song is hilarious... Ram, Aaron, and Alex, you are my heroes. But it's also terribly catchy- I've heard it exactly twice, and I can hum it in my head. I mean, I think in one song, you've hit "pop" much better than most "pop" artists.
6 all time favorites:
1. Ted fucking Leo, Walking to fucking Do. If I could meet one live musician, it'd clearly be him. And I actually think Walking To Do over Me and Mia, they're both so good. Or Bridges, Squares.
2. Cake, Short Skirt Long Jacket. Incredibly fun song, and wonderful lyrics too. If I could write a song, I'd like it to be this one.
3. Oh dammit, Death Cab for Cutie, Photobooth. Like the entire CD "We have the facts and we're voting yes", it almost hurts to listen to it.
4. Ekoostik Hookah, Thief. Go to their website and download it, it's free. This song is "summer" like no other song I've ever heard.
5. Weezer, Across the Sea. Incredible climactic moment at "Words and dreams and a million screams..." It's good enough to make me forget that everything post-1995 ever happened.
6. I think for a serious answer, the Dismemberment Plan, the Face of the Earth. However, Wesley Willis's Rock and Roll McDonalds belongs on here, because I think I have good memories of almost all of my friends in regard to this song, somehow or other. Shoot, Hey Ya belongs on here for the same reason.
I feel remiss for not including the Arcade Fire and the Fiery Furnaces. I think, though, that to pick a single song out for either would diminish the rest of their work. Look, I could gush about music all day (or have a serious conversation about it... basically if you ever want to talk music, let me know, I'm always looking for new ideas.) but now I'm done, and it's up to:
1. Connor (still... I'm genuinely interested in what comes up)
2. Ram (Corn Mo better be on there)
3. Alex A. (what music inspires someone to become a pop star?)
4. CourtK (you were tagged a while ago I think, and missed it)
5. Julie Brown (probably some swing music of sorts?)
6. Scoot (obviously the music-meme-loving type)
See, the thing here is that it's not about laziness, because most of the people who say this clearly aren't lazy. It's just that they've put other priorities above whatever it is that they are "too lazy" to do.
Maybe it's a last line of psychological defense- like "I could beat you at basketball if I practiced every day, but I'm too lazy." Affirming that you're better than the other person, except that the other person puts in way too much time, and his ridiculous obsession with basketball is the only thing keeping him better than you. Guys, this is weak. The other person put in more work, he deserves to beat you. Unless you believe that your God-given gift of basketball skill should make you win every time, no matter how hard he works- in which case, what's the point of ever trying at anything, because someone with more inherent talent will just beat you.
I can only hope it's that, because the alternative is that you truly are lazy, and take pride in it.
I just got a medicine that burns away canker sores. I'm not going to bow down and scream praises to God Almighty, but I might toss a little thanks to a minor deity- like Graddar, lesser demon of oral annoyances. Canker sores are a bummer, and I may be officially free of them now!
Oh shoot, I got tagged by Joe on this little music dinghy. What? I don't do memes! But I've been targeted, and I get a chance to talk about music, so here goes:
6 current favorites:
1. "A Good Man is Hard to Find": Sufjan Stevens + Flannery O'Connor = very pretty. I greatly enjoy Sufjan's music.
2. "Miracle Drug", A.C. Newman. Is it a bad idea to buy a CD based on one song? Probably. How about download it? I think I will, thank you. Anyway, the New Pornographers member turns in a 2:19 power-pop gem.
3. "The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine", Spoon. See above.
4. "Highway Chile", Jimi Hendrix. Okay, it's kind of an overplayed classic. But I love it. I don't normally go for classic rock at all, but Jimi Hendrix is so compelling, even on a CD recording. Talk about swagger. If I could meet one dead musician, I'm pretty sure it'd be him.
5. "Pick Up the Phone", the Notwist. You probably missed their 2001 recording, "Neon Golden." I did too. You may not have ever heard of them. I hadn't either. This is soothing and poignant, check it out.
6. "Night after Night", Dan and Jean. This song is hilarious... Ram, Aaron, and Alex, you are my heroes. But it's also terribly catchy- I've heard it exactly twice, and I can hum it in my head. I mean, I think in one song, you've hit "pop" much better than most "pop" artists.
6 all time favorites:
1. Ted fucking Leo, Walking to fucking Do. If I could meet one live musician, it'd clearly be him. And I actually think Walking To Do over Me and Mia, they're both so good. Or Bridges, Squares.
2. Cake, Short Skirt Long Jacket. Incredibly fun song, and wonderful lyrics too. If I could write a song, I'd like it to be this one.
3. Oh dammit, Death Cab for Cutie, Photobooth. Like the entire CD "We have the facts and we're voting yes", it almost hurts to listen to it.
4. Ekoostik Hookah, Thief. Go to their website and download it, it's free. This song is "summer" like no other song I've ever heard.
5. Weezer, Across the Sea. Incredible climactic moment at "Words and dreams and a million screams..." It's good enough to make me forget that everything post-1995 ever happened.
6. I think for a serious answer, the Dismemberment Plan, the Face of the Earth. However, Wesley Willis's Rock and Roll McDonalds belongs on here, because I think I have good memories of almost all of my friends in regard to this song, somehow or other. Shoot, Hey Ya belongs on here for the same reason.
I feel remiss for not including the Arcade Fire and the Fiery Furnaces. I think, though, that to pick a single song out for either would diminish the rest of their work. Look, I could gush about music all day (or have a serious conversation about it... basically if you ever want to talk music, let me know, I'm always looking for new ideas.) but now I'm done, and it's up to:
1. Connor (still... I'm genuinely interested in what comes up)
2. Ram (Corn Mo better be on there)
3. Alex A. (what music inspires someone to become a pop star?)
4. CourtK (you were tagged a while ago I think, and missed it)
5. Julie Brown (probably some swing music of sorts?)
6. Scoot (obviously the music-meme-loving type)
Monday, July 18, 2005
A banana a day
I come in to work, and we're playing musical desks. Some kid's sitting at mine. Well, cool, I find my new desk over by the window. I have a window seat! Fantastic! One of those little bonuses in life, like an aisle seat on an airplane. Mind if I take a little detour?
Airports have to be some of the most invigorating places in the world. First of all, they show a near-pinnacle of human power, just like those highway crossings where you have 4 levels of bridges over each other. How can you look at a highway crossing or an airport and not think, God, my species is the best! Ignore, for a moment, (I say this with no sarcasm) that we're ruining the planet, murdering millions, and subjecting 99% of our species to extreme poverty; and just look at one of these wonders, read a couple chapters of Ayn Rand, vote Republican, scowl at a beggar, and say, we humans really dominate this world, as no species ever has before! We're not perfect, but we're doing something right!
Of course, on a less philosophical, more immediate level, airports are one place where you can quickly sate your desire for buying souvenirs from whatever city you're in and magazines. Also fast food, or if you walk a little way (down the moving sidewalk) maybe overpriced bar-and-grill food. Everything at an airport is new, everything seems fancy, but in a subtle way, not like "look at me, I'm new and shiny." Every time I go in an airport, I get that same sense of wonder, the wonder that says "Now, I am in the future."
Airports are also fantastic places to juggle.
Umm... back to work. I sat down and had a mostly unremarkable day. Mandatory sexual harassment meeting at 1:30. We watched videos of situations and we had to decide if they were sexual harassment (obviously they all were). I would rant against this for its inanity, but why? Especially when you get gems like this: A guy saying to a girl "Hey, want some of my banana?" and pointing a banana at her suggestively. He continued to say "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"
Towards the end of the day, I was talking to two guys, and I mentioned that I went mountain climbing in the Tetons last week. (I did... well really I just climbed some rocks, it was easy stuff because I had never done it before. By the way, watch for it, there's a metaphor coming up). One of them immediately responded "Hah, I wouldn't want to climb a mountain, why bother?" and the other one said "I'd just fall off." I find it somewhat telling. Me, I'm still young, I want to climb every single mountain, going outward from Westlake, Ohio, in concentric circles, until I've covered the entire globe. I hope when I'm older I still do.
Really, that's the theme of my life right about now. Idealism and desire to prolong idealism, because if you can't keep that up, what can you do? I don't want to fade away like my 400 million middle-class brethren! I want to be remembered! Or if not, at least say, on my death bed, I ate the entire habanero pepper of life, spicy seeds and all!
... just like the 400 million others.
Airports have to be some of the most invigorating places in the world. First of all, they show a near-pinnacle of human power, just like those highway crossings where you have 4 levels of bridges over each other. How can you look at a highway crossing or an airport and not think, God, my species is the best! Ignore, for a moment, (I say this with no sarcasm) that we're ruining the planet, murdering millions, and subjecting 99% of our species to extreme poverty; and just look at one of these wonders, read a couple chapters of Ayn Rand, vote Republican, scowl at a beggar, and say, we humans really dominate this world, as no species ever has before! We're not perfect, but we're doing something right!
Of course, on a less philosophical, more immediate level, airports are one place where you can quickly sate your desire for buying souvenirs from whatever city you're in and magazines. Also fast food, or if you walk a little way (down the moving sidewalk) maybe overpriced bar-and-grill food. Everything at an airport is new, everything seems fancy, but in a subtle way, not like "look at me, I'm new and shiny." Every time I go in an airport, I get that same sense of wonder, the wonder that says "Now, I am in the future."
Airports are also fantastic places to juggle.
Umm... back to work. I sat down and had a mostly unremarkable day. Mandatory sexual harassment meeting at 1:30. We watched videos of situations and we had to decide if they were sexual harassment (obviously they all were). I would rant against this for its inanity, but why? Especially when you get gems like this: A guy saying to a girl "Hey, want some of my banana?" and pointing a banana at her suggestively. He continued to say "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"
Towards the end of the day, I was talking to two guys, and I mentioned that I went mountain climbing in the Tetons last week. (I did... well really I just climbed some rocks, it was easy stuff because I had never done it before. By the way, watch for it, there's a metaphor coming up). One of them immediately responded "Hah, I wouldn't want to climb a mountain, why bother?" and the other one said "I'd just fall off." I find it somewhat telling. Me, I'm still young, I want to climb every single mountain, going outward from Westlake, Ohio, in concentric circles, until I've covered the entire globe. I hope when I'm older I still do.
Really, that's the theme of my life right about now. Idealism and desire to prolong idealism, because if you can't keep that up, what can you do? I don't want to fade away like my 400 million middle-class brethren! I want to be remembered! Or if not, at least say, on my death bed, I ate the entire habanero pepper of life, spicy seeds and all!
... just like the 400 million others.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Waaaaa it's been a week
So (that's the conversation-starting "so", not the math-professor "so") I was in Wyoming all week. At Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.
Yellowstone was cool, what you'd expect really. I saw Old Faithful and all the tourist stuff. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone was the standout here.
Grand Tetons were cooler. I really enjoyed this park, the mountains were awesome. Went on a hike between two of the mountains, that was cool... but the real star here was rock climbing! I tried it one day, man, that is fun! I mean we didn't do anything tough, basically learning the ropes (literally!) and some easy climbs, but it's got me stoked for more. Anyone ever try this? (and does anyone know of anywhere in the Cleveland/Pittsburgh area it can be done?)
Then Friday: I go with Beej, Aaron, Ram, and Mike Yin to meet Jearl Walker (see: Kinetic Karnival ... also get out your encyclopedias and look under "awesome", or possibly under "portrait of virile masculinity") At any rate, this Cleveland State professor made some physics videos that we watched in 8th grade. They were remarkable for their 70'sness, kinda slipshoddyness, but generally coolness, as this guy would get sandwiched between 2 beds of nails, or walk across hot coals, or dip his hand into molten lead to illustrate physics principles. And lo and behold, due to the magic of Brian Gray, we managed to meet this guy! I was so excited. I got his autograph too. We all agreed that he is a pretty awesome dude.
We met Theresa Lin and got some tasty pizza at Rascal House, but she had to leave as we were going to They Might Be Giants... which was a great great concert. First, the opener, Corn Mo. If you've never experienced Corn Mo, it's hard to explain. He's got an accordion, a keyboard, and a large jar of rocking the heck out, with a pinch of mumbling between songs, creepiness, and a song entitled "Hava Nagila Monster." Then TMBG, um, opened for themselves with a fun bunch of songs, then played their regular set, then played 2 encores (the second with Corn Mo). Hits include Snail Shell, She's an Angel, and Fingertips. I was stoked. For a band that a lot of people think of as just a joke or something, they really rock. Not even kidding.
Thanks to the Grays for having us overnight, and to Mrs. Gray for a delicious breakfast. It was good. (and we watched some of the Kinetic Karnival)
The Mustard Seed Market, however, was not as good. Well actually it was great, it was deluxe, but stuff their is pretty overpriced.
List of Grocery Stores, from Least to Most Hippie:
-Marc's (just cheap. kinda depressing. but very cheap)
-Aldi (never been here, just guessing)
-Giant Eagle (pretty standard. not too overpriced)
-Trader Joe's (i think the pinnacle of grocery shopping so far. some organic stuff, all good quality, mostly very cheap. the only downside is that you can't complete a shopping trip here alone, as it's kinda small)
-Mustard Seed (lots of organic things, lots of dietary supplements, a bit pricey. very nice though, they have 2 stories and a cafe with a live band upstairs. whoa.)
-Whole Foods (again, just guessing. this is like the hippie foods hangout though, am I right?)
Basically, go to Trader Joe's. If you can't get everything you need there, go to Giant Eagle. Unless you're stocking up on nonperishables, then go to Marc's or Aldi. My mom likes Aldi... downside is it's all generic stuff I guess. I should go to Whole Foods sometime, maybe I'm vilifying it too much.
Saw Pete and Adam today. It's weird, we can't find stuff to do like we used to. Well we can, today was just a bit subdued. It was great to see them though, I'm sorry Dave couldn't make it. (and Kemal too... he's in Michigan? who knew?) Saw Brian too, I wish him and Billy Mats and Alex Z. the best of luck at IJA Davenport. But even if they lose big, I'm still wowed by the tremendous growth of the Circus Co (size and skillwise) the year after I left it.
... gasp, wheeze, done w/ this post. You win! Now go read your Harry Potter book, so I can borrow it.
Yellowstone was cool, what you'd expect really. I saw Old Faithful and all the tourist stuff. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone was the standout here.
Grand Tetons were cooler. I really enjoyed this park, the mountains were awesome. Went on a hike between two of the mountains, that was cool... but the real star here was rock climbing! I tried it one day, man, that is fun! I mean we didn't do anything tough, basically learning the ropes (literally!) and some easy climbs, but it's got me stoked for more. Anyone ever try this? (and does anyone know of anywhere in the Cleveland/Pittsburgh area it can be done?)
Then Friday: I go with Beej, Aaron, Ram, and Mike Yin to meet Jearl Walker (see: Kinetic Karnival ... also get out your encyclopedias and look under "awesome", or possibly under "portrait of virile masculinity") At any rate, this Cleveland State professor made some physics videos that we watched in 8th grade. They were remarkable for their 70'sness, kinda slipshoddyness, but generally coolness, as this guy would get sandwiched between 2 beds of nails, or walk across hot coals, or dip his hand into molten lead to illustrate physics principles. And lo and behold, due to the magic of Brian Gray, we managed to meet this guy! I was so excited. I got his autograph too. We all agreed that he is a pretty awesome dude.
We met Theresa Lin and got some tasty pizza at Rascal House, but she had to leave as we were going to They Might Be Giants... which was a great great concert. First, the opener, Corn Mo. If you've never experienced Corn Mo, it's hard to explain. He's got an accordion, a keyboard, and a large jar of rocking the heck out, with a pinch of mumbling between songs, creepiness, and a song entitled "Hava Nagila Monster." Then TMBG, um, opened for themselves with a fun bunch of songs, then played their regular set, then played 2 encores (the second with Corn Mo). Hits include Snail Shell, She's an Angel, and Fingertips. I was stoked. For a band that a lot of people think of as just a joke or something, they really rock. Not even kidding.
Thanks to the Grays for having us overnight, and to Mrs. Gray for a delicious breakfast. It was good. (and we watched some of the Kinetic Karnival)
The Mustard Seed Market, however, was not as good. Well actually it was great, it was deluxe, but stuff their is pretty overpriced.
List of Grocery Stores, from Least to Most Hippie:
-Marc's (just cheap. kinda depressing. but very cheap)
-Aldi (never been here, just guessing)
-Giant Eagle (pretty standard. not too overpriced)
-Trader Joe's (i think the pinnacle of grocery shopping so far. some organic stuff, all good quality, mostly very cheap. the only downside is that you can't complete a shopping trip here alone, as it's kinda small)
-Mustard Seed (lots of organic things, lots of dietary supplements, a bit pricey. very nice though, they have 2 stories and a cafe with a live band upstairs. whoa.)
-Whole Foods (again, just guessing. this is like the hippie foods hangout though, am I right?)
Basically, go to Trader Joe's. If you can't get everything you need there, go to Giant Eagle. Unless you're stocking up on nonperishables, then go to Marc's or Aldi. My mom likes Aldi... downside is it's all generic stuff I guess. I should go to Whole Foods sometime, maybe I'm vilifying it too much.
Saw Pete and Adam today. It's weird, we can't find stuff to do like we used to. Well we can, today was just a bit subdued. It was great to see them though, I'm sorry Dave couldn't make it. (and Kemal too... he's in Michigan? who knew?) Saw Brian too, I wish him and Billy Mats and Alex Z. the best of luck at IJA Davenport. But even if they lose big, I'm still wowed by the tremendous growth of the Circus Co (size and skillwise) the year after I left it.
... gasp, wheeze, done w/ this post. You win! Now go read your Harry Potter book, so I can borrow it.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Highlights for Kids!
- I'm going to Yellowstone tomorrow, and the Grand Tetons after that! (be back in a week, that is, next Thursday night.)
- In said Tetons, I will (probably, hopefully, likely) be climbing a mountain (or at least a bit of a mountain) on one of the days!
- Reel Big Fish concert tonight, it was pretty sweet! And I got Scott's guitar pick! (it says "Don't Hurt People" and on the back it says "Reel Big Fish" It's sweet.)
- They Might Be Giants concert next Friday!
- No work until next next Monday!
- Music highlights: Bloc Party I enjoy a lot, M83 is pretty darn nifty, and I'm sure Bright Eyes's "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" will grow on me. Beck's "Midnite Vultures" has really grown on me... I listen to it as much as Odelay or Guero. Also I like this CD I bought at the show tonight by a band called "Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer"!
- That's all for now. In the next 15 hours, there's a whole lot of sleeping and packing to do! (Walking To Do by Ted Leo is by far my most played song at work. Did I mention I want to steal his children?)
- In said Tetons, I will (probably, hopefully, likely) be climbing a mountain (or at least a bit of a mountain) on one of the days!
- Reel Big Fish concert tonight, it was pretty sweet! And I got Scott's guitar pick! (it says "Don't Hurt People" and on the back it says "Reel Big Fish" It's sweet.)
- They Might Be Giants concert next Friday!
- No work until next next Monday!
- Music highlights: Bloc Party I enjoy a lot, M83 is pretty darn nifty, and I'm sure Bright Eyes's "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" will grow on me. Beck's "Midnite Vultures" has really grown on me... I listen to it as much as Odelay or Guero. Also I like this CD I bought at the show tonight by a band called "Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer"!
- That's all for now. In the next 15 hours, there's a whole lot of sleeping and packing to do! (Walking To Do by Ted Leo is by far my most played song at work. Did I mention I want to steal his children?)
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Now, life.
What is it, really? I'm pretty sure it's all about other people. So if that's true, the best thing you could be doing with your time is spending it with people you love. Sounds good, no? I mean, when in your life have you been the happiest? When you're with other people, right?
But then what about the happiness you get when you accomplish something big? Is that less good then? What should priorities be? 1. other people, 2. accomplishing worldly things, 3. other stuff...
Right now, I'm looking at this:
1. Spend time with other people
2. Work in the summer, school in the other seasons
3. Hobbies/stuff that you can look back on and say "I got better at this"- right now, cooking, building that computer, listening to music (damn! listen to M83 sometime! I am really enjoying it!), a little juggling- kind of the "bragging rights" bit of life
4. Physical fitness- exercise every day, really
5. Other annoying tasks- cleaning out my room, etc.
6. I never really get past #4 anyway
and I'm pretty happy with this. If I can hit those top 4, I'll be pretty happy. This is boring reading though, so I'll provide another easy-to-read list, but this will be more entertaining.
- reading "A Heartbreaking work of Staggering Genius" by David Eggers. It's mostly brilliant. It's a little dull in some parts, but most parts are exactly the book I would want to write if I wrote a book, so I adore it.
- I've been juggling bocce balls! check it out- it's like weightlifting and juggling at once. How excellent is that?
- I played chess against one of my friends from North Olmsted tonight, said friend being brilliant at chess. He demolished me quickly, but it was cool just to watch someone so good instantly come up with the right moves. I think it all went downhill when I moved a pawn up two spaces, forgetting a crucial rule: I quickly was en passanted, and I lost soon after.
- Sketch idea! You know the phrase "you drive a hard bargain"? it'd be a commercial, about a car company named Hard Bargain. It'd be so cheesy: two guys would be haggling about a car price, the buyer would say "wow, you drive a hard bargain." The salesman would go "Yep, and now, you do too!" We can add more cheese as necessary. That brings sketch idea total to 3, along with "Adopt a Racist" and "the man going through puberty backwards." Is the sketch comedy troupe going to happen, or was that just a rumor?
-Wow, I went jetskiing today. The first couple rides were a little hairy, but I soon got the hang of it. After that it was a lot of fun. Thanks Brad and Brad's family for inviting me, it was cool.
-Going to freakin Yellowstone in a few days (this Thursday through next Thursday). How cool is that?! I still have to figure out what to do there. Hike a lot. Climb something, dammit! I'm young and sprightly, I want to conquer mountains and stuff! Of course I have no experience or equipment, so this may not be possible... well, I'll see what I can do.
But then what about the happiness you get when you accomplish something big? Is that less good then? What should priorities be? 1. other people, 2. accomplishing worldly things, 3. other stuff...
Right now, I'm looking at this:
1. Spend time with other people
2. Work in the summer, school in the other seasons
3. Hobbies/stuff that you can look back on and say "I got better at this"- right now, cooking, building that computer, listening to music (damn! listen to M83 sometime! I am really enjoying it!), a little juggling- kind of the "bragging rights" bit of life
4. Physical fitness- exercise every day, really
5. Other annoying tasks- cleaning out my room, etc.
6. I never really get past #4 anyway
and I'm pretty happy with this. If I can hit those top 4, I'll be pretty happy. This is boring reading though, so I'll provide another easy-to-read list, but this will be more entertaining.
- reading "A Heartbreaking work of Staggering Genius" by David Eggers. It's mostly brilliant. It's a little dull in some parts, but most parts are exactly the book I would want to write if I wrote a book, so I adore it.
- I've been juggling bocce balls! check it out- it's like weightlifting and juggling at once. How excellent is that?
- I played chess against one of my friends from North Olmsted tonight, said friend being brilliant at chess. He demolished me quickly, but it was cool just to watch someone so good instantly come up with the right moves. I think it all went downhill when I moved a pawn up two spaces, forgetting a crucial rule: I quickly was en passanted, and I lost soon after.
- Sketch idea! You know the phrase "you drive a hard bargain"? it'd be a commercial, about a car company named Hard Bargain. It'd be so cheesy: two guys would be haggling about a car price, the buyer would say "wow, you drive a hard bargain." The salesman would go "Yep, and now, you do too!" We can add more cheese as necessary. That brings sketch idea total to 3, along with "Adopt a Racist" and "the man going through puberty backwards." Is the sketch comedy troupe going to happen, or was that just a rumor?
-Wow, I went jetskiing today. The first couple rides were a little hairy, but I soon got the hang of it. After that it was a lot of fun. Thanks Brad and Brad's family for inviting me, it was cool.
-Going to freakin Yellowstone in a few days (this Thursday through next Thursday). How cool is that?! I still have to figure out what to do there. Hike a lot. Climb something, dammit! I'm young and sprightly, I want to conquer mountains and stuff! Of course I have no experience or equipment, so this may not be possible... well, I'll see what I can do.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
I'm sure everyone's heard the recent, sad, news
I don't know what to say, other than the shock I felt when I heard about it. I didn't even know him, really, I think we might have said hi once. But he seemed like a good guy, always smiling, etc.
I could fill this with more platitudes, but I don't think that'd help anyone.
At any rate, kudos to those planning the memorial service. I wish I could be there.
I could fill this with more platitudes, but I don't think that'd help anyone.
At any rate, kudos to those planning the memorial service. I wish I could be there.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Hylame!
So, during a down moment at work (read: any time in the entire morning), I decided to check up on the ol' email, see if anyone sent me:
1. an email
2. a request for a sub at WRCT, even though I'm 2 hrs away, because I can't unsubscribe from their e-mail list as long as I'm a member there
3. a curiously misspelled advertisement for soft-ware from ado be or micros;oft, or possibly "vi@gra or other Licensed Iove t@bs", or maybe even something called "The Extender" (... err, i wish i were kidding)
But instead, I was greeted with:
this lady. I think. Ms. Young Professional herself, complete with low-cut but conservative red blouse and smug "I own this company and, therefore, am disgustingly rich" smile. Flanked by her bodyguards, err, coworkers, "I'm too masterful at Tae Kwon Do to even cut my hair" Boy and "My white shirt hides my enormous muscles, but my bald head makes no effort to conceal that I have a brain the size of a rat doot" Man. She kindly informed me that access was denied to webmail.andrew.cmu.edu, because of "policy violation." She did not inform me that I was immediately put on probation to ensure that I didn't commit other seditious activities, but I'm pretty sure it's true. I think an agent is watching me as I type right now.
At any rate, I think it was that lady. It could have been this one though:
Ms. "My neck is so crooked because I'm actually Stephen Hawking." HER bodyguards can fade into the background, chameleon-like, until, all of a sudden, your jugular is no longer entirely inside your body.
Well, no more email for me. Boo Hyland for doing something lame. Come to think of it, that's really the first lame thing they've done though, besides existing in a boring field, so I'll cut them some slack. Besides, if you have a pressing urge to contact me, you can still email me at Daniel.Tasse (at) onbase.com. Fantastic.
1. an email
2. a request for a sub at WRCT, even though I'm 2 hrs away, because I can't unsubscribe from their e-mail list as long as I'm a member there
3. a curiously misspelled advertisement for soft-ware from ado be or micros;oft, or possibly "vi@gra or other Licensed Iove t@bs", or maybe even something called "The Extender" (... err, i wish i were kidding)
But instead, I was greeted with:
this lady. I think. Ms. Young Professional herself, complete with low-cut but conservative red blouse and smug "I own this company and, therefore, am disgustingly rich" smile. Flanked by her bodyguards, err, coworkers, "I'm too masterful at Tae Kwon Do to even cut my hair" Boy and "My white shirt hides my enormous muscles, but my bald head makes no effort to conceal that I have a brain the size of a rat doot" Man. She kindly informed me that access was denied to webmail.andrew.cmu.edu, because of "policy violation." She did not inform me that I was immediately put on probation to ensure that I didn't commit other seditious activities, but I'm pretty sure it's true. I think an agent is watching me as I type right now.
At any rate, I think it was that lady. It could have been this one though:
Ms. "My neck is so crooked because I'm actually Stephen Hawking." HER bodyguards can fade into the background, chameleon-like, until, all of a sudden, your jugular is no longer entirely inside your body.
Well, no more email for me. Boo Hyland for doing something lame. Come to think of it, that's really the first lame thing they've done though, besides existing in a boring field, so I'll cut them some slack. Besides, if you have a pressing urge to contact me, you can still email me at Daniel.Tasse (at) onbase.com. Fantastic.
Sunday, June 26, 2005
A fantastic weekend
So first, I got to see my Cleveland friends- the usual gang, Kemal, Adam, Pete, Dave, plus Kevin, Grace, and Emma. That was great fun, we went to Kemal's and futilely attempted to play a lot of sports. Sat around, ate hummus, reminisced about Ignatius, etc. Man, that was only the second time this summer I've seen some of them (I think) and it's almost July! What the heck?!
Saturday was excellent- woke up super-late, bought some food, cooked it, Pittsburghers came over- Gerrit, Catherine, and Zach, followed shortly by Beej, Julie, Kaitlin, Connor, Tim, Joe, and Ashley. Made for a great time- we ate picnicky style, threw a frisbee, burned those little toy expanding snake things, played tag variants (also "Man with Bags"!), made a fire, a bunch of fings. It was generally fantastic.
Then Sunday, we went to the Unique Thrift Store, bought some shirts, played Whirlyball, ate at the Winking Lizard, the whole deal. Good times.
It was a good weekend- whichever half you were there for, you probably remember. (or neither, in which case I'm sorry I didn't get to spend time with you)
Another week of WORK! bloogh! (drowns) time to catch up on SLEEP before said week! (this is lame, all my entries end in how I'm going to go to sleep. Whatever. You want original entertainment, go see some improv or something!)
Saturday was excellent- woke up super-late, bought some food, cooked it, Pittsburghers came over- Gerrit, Catherine, and Zach, followed shortly by Beej, Julie, Kaitlin, Connor, Tim, Joe, and Ashley. Made for a great time- we ate picnicky style, threw a frisbee, burned those little toy expanding snake things, played tag variants (also "Man with Bags"!), made a fire, a bunch of fings. It was generally fantastic.
Then Sunday, we went to the Unique Thrift Store, bought some shirts, played Whirlyball, ate at the Winking Lizard, the whole deal. Good times.
It was a good weekend- whichever half you were there for, you probably remember. (or neither, in which case I'm sorry I didn't get to spend time with you)
Another week of WORK! bloogh! (drowns) time to catch up on SLEEP before said week! (this is lame, all my entries end in how I'm going to go to sleep. Whatever. You want original entertainment, go see some improv or something!)
Friday, June 24, 2005
Was it that obvious?
Today I went to a Cleveland scavenger hunt. Run by a group called (i)Cleveland. An event for interns all over the city. They want us to stay in Cleveland after we graduate, and I don't want to stay in Cleveland after I graduate. Fair enough.
They got us to run around downtown, getting pictures of stuff like "a piece of public art," "an elected official," "a segway," and so on. Whatever, I got paid for it. And I got to meet other interns from around Cleveland, which was nice. The guys I came with, from Hyland, were the biggest nerds. So when we got thrown into random teams, I thought, great, new people. To divide us into teams, first they asked "who's been skydiving?" Two people, out of maybe 100. "Okay, who's been to another country?" Probably 90. So I finally got arbitrarily assigned to a team, and we made awkward introductions- my voice is so damn low. I can't be heard, and my name is one ambiguous syllable- "Dan." Jim? No, Dan. Hello, Emily, Bill, Amber, Matt. Err, good to meet you... some more words I can say to keep the conversation going.
It as at this point that I looked around and remarked, "They could have just given us all random numbers." And Amber, tan, beautiful, wearing a low-cut shirt and lip gloss, (that's what it's called, right? just to make her lips shiny, not add color) Amber looks at my name tag and asks "What company are you from?" I said "Hyland Software," but remember, my voice is very low, a gravelly, nasal bass. So she asked me again, and I raised my voice to the audible range. "HY-lend SOFT-ware." "Oh. That's what I guessed, something technology-related."
I sputtered back, in the most cocky, self-assured swagger I could muster, "Heh heh. Was it that obvious?" but I was lost in the deluge of conversation and background noise. The gravelly, nasal bass flopped around in the bottom of the conversation boat.
Later, I asked her, where do you work? "National City Bank, in advertising." Oh, that's what I thought, something SHALLOW.
Well, she was really a nice enough kid, I talked to her for a bit- she was on my team, after all. She meant no offense. Still, it was a label. And I will never see these kids again. Isn't it ironic how, defending myself from her labeling me, I labeled her?
Err... I have to go now. I meant this to be a normal blog entry, really. At any rate, that's the most interesting thing that's happened to me in the last day. Hey, scaveneger hunting > working.
They got us to run around downtown, getting pictures of stuff like "a piece of public art," "an elected official," "a segway," and so on. Whatever, I got paid for it. And I got to meet other interns from around Cleveland, which was nice. The guys I came with, from Hyland, were the biggest nerds. So when we got thrown into random teams, I thought, great, new people. To divide us into teams, first they asked "who's been skydiving?" Two people, out of maybe 100. "Okay, who's been to another country?" Probably 90. So I finally got arbitrarily assigned to a team, and we made awkward introductions- my voice is so damn low. I can't be heard, and my name is one ambiguous syllable- "Dan." Jim? No, Dan. Hello, Emily, Bill, Amber, Matt. Err, good to meet you... some more words I can say to keep the conversation going.
It as at this point that I looked around and remarked, "They could have just given us all random numbers." And Amber, tan, beautiful, wearing a low-cut shirt and lip gloss, (that's what it's called, right? just to make her lips shiny, not add color) Amber looks at my name tag and asks "What company are you from?" I said "Hyland Software," but remember, my voice is very low, a gravelly, nasal bass. So she asked me again, and I raised my voice to the audible range. "HY-lend SOFT-ware." "Oh. That's what I guessed, something technology-related."
I sputtered back, in the most cocky, self-assured swagger I could muster, "Heh heh. Was it that obvious?" but I was lost in the deluge of conversation and background noise. The gravelly, nasal bass flopped around in the bottom of the conversation boat.
Later, I asked her, where do you work? "National City Bank, in advertising." Oh, that's what I thought, something SHALLOW.
Well, she was really a nice enough kid, I talked to her for a bit- she was on my team, after all. She meant no offense. Still, it was a label. And I will never see these kids again. Isn't it ironic how, defending myself from her labeling me, I labeled her?
Err... I have to go now. I meant this to be a normal blog entry, really. At any rate, that's the most interesting thing that's happened to me in the last day. Hey, scaveneger hunting > working.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Observations
I locked my bike to the bike rack today, locking it but only twisting one digit, in such a way that if anyone tried a couple combinations, plus or minus one, he'd be able to steal it. Not that anyone working at Rich Software, inc. in Suburbia, USA would steal an average bike anyway. Someone stole my helmet off my bike the other day at Giant Eagle in Suburbia, USA, though. The lock was locked the same way, just twisting one digit- and still locked when I returned.
I got myself a glass of ice water, even though pop (and coffee) is free. Most of the people I work with are overweight. I read somewhere once that "engineers in general tend to be in good shape. Computer hardware engineers in particular. Software engineers tend to be a bit rounder."
As I left the cafeteria, (called the "diner" for nostalgia's sake, I guess, although the CEO is probably in his 30's- he doesn't have anything to be nostalgic about! Called the "diner" for the same fake sense of nostalgia you get when people talk about the good ol' days of baseball) I ran into George, the Vice President of QA. QA means Quality Assurance, which means software testing, but I guess you can't have a Department of Testing. Just one level too direct.
Anyway, George, probably in his late 50's, clearly defies the "round" standard of software engineers. He's tall, skinny, and angular. And imposing. A gangly bogeyman Vice President of Quality Assurance. He's always around our cubicle area, I constantly hear his tall, angular, and imposing voice, when he's telling people to "update to the latest build" or some such nonsense. Some people, particularly managers, say he's a great guy. Our "training director" said that George was the reason he came to work at Hyland. It's true, he seems likeable enough- almost paternal. He learned my name the second day I was there, I give him credit. The tall, forceful, fatherly skeleton Vice President of Quality Assurance.
He gave me that nigh-condescending "How are you today, Dan?" with a touch of "and" before the "how", like Stan Laurel or something: "And how are you today, Dan?" His presence forced my voice into submission; my strong, planned "Hi George, good, how about you?" ran together as he strode past (quickly, of course). It came out as a mumble, "Hijorgoodhrbrt you?" This is partially because I've never been too sure about addressing the Vice President of Quality Assurance as "George", even though everyone does. He's the kind of guy you wouldn't want to offend- he'd laugh it off, but there'd be a subconscious tick back there somewhere, and since he probably controls the company, he'd eventually have you fired and blacklisted. He responded "Good." with a downward pitch. I couldn't tell if that meant "I'm good too" or "It's good that you're doing good." Probably both.
I swiped my card in the clock-in machine. It was 9:13. Oh well, last time I came in on time was a long time ago. Does anyone notice? I'm sure someone does. And hey, it comes out of my paycheck, so there you go. Yesterday was nice: as I was clocking out, I fumbled with my wallet, and just before I swiped my card, the clock's minute changed. That fumble earned me 25 cents. (17.18 cents after taxes, but hell, whatever. Why whine about taxes? Everyone else already is.)
I fired up my computer, packed my bags for the day-long cruise in the ocean of ennui. Looked at my map of Copper Mountain ski resort, realized how nicely divided the trails are. There are your green circles, all in one spot, there's a lift serving only blue squares. There are the back bowls, slashed with yellow to indicate "high alpine adventure terrain." The back of the mountain was closed the day I was there, but you can tell their majesty just from the map. Nobody talks much around here, even at lunch, but one of my coworkers noticed my love of skiing today and it provided a good four minutes of conversation.
The other day, I burned my hand while cooking- the first thought through my head was not "ow" but "at least this will provide something to talk about."
Damn, that got grim in a hurry! Sorry about that! Maybe I'll continue it and turn it back to a happy note. What do you think? More observations or other somewhat creative writings? or "stop being a pretentious corporate-america-bashing indie fuck and go back to writing what happens each day"? or "good start, but that was really poorly written, and it didn't even have a conflict"? let me know if it held your interest, shoot, post anonymous if you like. It was fun to write anyway.
I got myself a glass of ice water, even though pop (and coffee) is free. Most of the people I work with are overweight. I read somewhere once that "engineers in general tend to be in good shape. Computer hardware engineers in particular. Software engineers tend to be a bit rounder."
As I left the cafeteria, (called the "diner" for nostalgia's sake, I guess, although the CEO is probably in his 30's- he doesn't have anything to be nostalgic about! Called the "diner" for the same fake sense of nostalgia you get when people talk about the good ol' days of baseball) I ran into George, the Vice President of QA. QA means Quality Assurance, which means software testing, but I guess you can't have a Department of Testing. Just one level too direct.
Anyway, George, probably in his late 50's, clearly defies the "round" standard of software engineers. He's tall, skinny, and angular. And imposing. A gangly bogeyman Vice President of Quality Assurance. He's always around our cubicle area, I constantly hear his tall, angular, and imposing voice, when he's telling people to "update to the latest build" or some such nonsense. Some people, particularly managers, say he's a great guy. Our "training director" said that George was the reason he came to work at Hyland. It's true, he seems likeable enough- almost paternal. He learned my name the second day I was there, I give him credit. The tall, forceful, fatherly skeleton Vice President of Quality Assurance.
He gave me that nigh-condescending "How are you today, Dan?" with a touch of "and" before the "how", like Stan Laurel or something: "And how are you today, Dan?" His presence forced my voice into submission; my strong, planned "Hi George, good, how about you?" ran together as he strode past (quickly, of course). It came out as a mumble, "Hijorgoodhrbrt you?" This is partially because I've never been too sure about addressing the Vice President of Quality Assurance as "George", even though everyone does. He's the kind of guy you wouldn't want to offend- he'd laugh it off, but there'd be a subconscious tick back there somewhere, and since he probably controls the company, he'd eventually have you fired and blacklisted. He responded "Good." with a downward pitch. I couldn't tell if that meant "I'm good too" or "It's good that you're doing good." Probably both.
I swiped my card in the clock-in machine. It was 9:13. Oh well, last time I came in on time was a long time ago. Does anyone notice? I'm sure someone does. And hey, it comes out of my paycheck, so there you go. Yesterday was nice: as I was clocking out, I fumbled with my wallet, and just before I swiped my card, the clock's minute changed. That fumble earned me 25 cents. (17.18 cents after taxes, but hell, whatever. Why whine about taxes? Everyone else already is.)
I fired up my computer, packed my bags for the day-long cruise in the ocean of ennui. Looked at my map of Copper Mountain ski resort, realized how nicely divided the trails are. There are your green circles, all in one spot, there's a lift serving only blue squares. There are the back bowls, slashed with yellow to indicate "high alpine adventure terrain." The back of the mountain was closed the day I was there, but you can tell their majesty just from the map. Nobody talks much around here, even at lunch, but one of my coworkers noticed my love of skiing today and it provided a good four minutes of conversation.
The other day, I burned my hand while cooking- the first thought through my head was not "ow" but "at least this will provide something to talk about."
Damn, that got grim in a hurry! Sorry about that! Maybe I'll continue it and turn it back to a happy note. What do you think? More observations or other somewhat creative writings? or "stop being a pretentious corporate-america-bashing indie fuck and go back to writing what happens each day"? or "good start, but that was really poorly written, and it didn't even have a conflict"? let me know if it held your interest, shoot, post anonymous if you like. It was fun to write anyway.
Friday, June 17, 2005
God damn, Ted Leo
So it's pretty trite to say that I want to have his babies, but maybe, whenever he has kids (wait, he doesn't already, right? does he? i don't even know, he's 34, it's possible), maybe I could say I want to have his babies in the sense that I could actually steal them. Because if they rock anywhere near as much as their dad, that would be a lot of rocking.
Forget all the modern pop/rock music. I hope the list of "rock heroes" who will be remembered from our modern era will somehow include Ted Leo.
On another note, I'm thinking said list will include System of a Down, for which I'm not sad. Among the alternative rock crowd, these guys might be the only ones to put out a solid, original product. And they've been doing it for 4 albums, still good, still popular, and they have a double album coming out I guess, which may be their "big" album, you know? So if they end up being recognized as much as, say, Metallica or some other less-good band, I'd be happy.
(instantly loses all "indie cred") whatever. they're pretty good and you know it.
Went to see "Man with Bags" tonight- it was weird and absurd and experimental. I think I had the wrong outlook- I kept looking for a plot line. It was super-tenuous at best, because it was weird, absurd, and experimental. There were definitely cool parts though. And it was good to see Miss Brown and Mr. Gray again. (quote my mom: "you're going with people named 'Brian Gray' and 'Julie Brown'? okay, you're making that up. That sounds like a box of crayons.")
Tomorrow: Family party! Glug! That's not a happy noise. I'm missing a gathering with good friends from grade school that I haven't seen in a long time for it. Also it's in Tiffin, which is 1.5 hrs away, and it will involve many relatives that I don't know. I will recite the standard conversation, "hello, i'm fine, i'm going to CMU, studying computer science, it's going well, i'm working at Hyland Software, it's going well too," about 78975168496 times.
aahahhhahahh sleep, or I'd post more. Guten nacht, Herr Fischer!
Forget all the modern pop/rock music. I hope the list of "rock heroes" who will be remembered from our modern era will somehow include Ted Leo.
On another note, I'm thinking said list will include System of a Down, for which I'm not sad. Among the alternative rock crowd, these guys might be the only ones to put out a solid, original product. And they've been doing it for 4 albums, still good, still popular, and they have a double album coming out I guess, which may be their "big" album, you know? So if they end up being recognized as much as, say, Metallica or some other less-good band, I'd be happy.
(instantly loses all "indie cred") whatever. they're pretty good and you know it.
Went to see "Man with Bags" tonight- it was weird and absurd and experimental. I think I had the wrong outlook- I kept looking for a plot line. It was super-tenuous at best, because it was weird, absurd, and experimental. There were definitely cool parts though. And it was good to see Miss Brown and Mr. Gray again. (quote my mom: "you're going with people named 'Brian Gray' and 'Julie Brown'? okay, you're making that up. That sounds like a box of crayons.")
Tomorrow: Family party! Glug! That's not a happy noise. I'm missing a gathering with good friends from grade school that I haven't seen in a long time for it. Also it's in Tiffin, which is 1.5 hrs away, and it will involve many relatives that I don't know. I will recite the standard conversation, "hello, i'm fine, i'm going to CMU, studying computer science, it's going well, i'm working at Hyland Software, it's going well too," about 78975168496 times.
aahahhhahahh sleep, or I'd post more. Guten nacht, Herr Fischer!
Monday, June 13, 2005
Fish tonight!
So I kinda forgot to defrost it ahead of time, and the marinade wasn't very good, but thanks to the magic of GEORGE FOREMAN, it turned out fine. Add broccoli and rice, and all together, it made for a successful meal. Thanks, GEORGE!
I think I'll just turn this into a food blog. Where I go "yayyyy food!" every so often.
Also hooray Ted Leo thursday! And most other things.
I think I'll just turn this into a food blog. Where I go "yayyyy food!" every so often.
Also hooray Ted Leo thursday! And most other things.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
err... FOOD!
2 nights ago: mandarin orange scallops
last night: jamaican jerk marinated pork and "salsa vegetables"
tonight: fajita things w/ chicken, leftover salsa vegetables, and brilliant black bean and corn salsa from Trader Joe's
later tonight: pineapple cake!
So the jamaican jerk marinade was excellent, and so was the George Foreman grill I was cooking it on. Look out Webster 403, George will be sharing the residence next year. Umm... throw in "omelets for breakfast" (ingredients: see "fajita things" ingredients, plus eggs) and it's pretty much been a good week for food all around.
Tomorrow: whitewater rafting traveling. Well hey, it's not work. I don't know any of the kids going, because it was organized through my high school, and my dad, being very involved w/ the high school, decided to go, so there we go. A lil' awkward. But hey, rafting, cool.
What else... Oh! Music at work! I just figured out that it's generally accepted for people to listen to music there, so might as well join them.
Good list:
Interpol (had never really listened through their cds before)
the Flaming Lips (okay, I'm a tool who just jumped on the bandwagon at Yoshimi, but I like it a lot)
!!! and Ted Leo* and the Shins and Beck (obviously)
ARCADE FIRE ep (not as stellar as Funeral, but man, listen to "No Cars Go" or "Headlights look like Diamonds" and tell me there wasn't greatness in the making there. Wait, there was.)
Not bad, but not suiting my tastes as much, so don't reply angrily with "Hey, this band's awesome!":
Elliott Smith (too quiety... I do like "Rose Parade" and a couple others though)
Matt Pond PA ("Closest" is fantastic, and I don't mind "Lily Two" or "KC", but as for the rest, see description of Elliott Smith)
Fiery Furnaces's "Gallowsbird's Bark" (sorta fun pop, but really just an appetizer for the greatness that is "Blueberry Boat")
*so, does "Me and Mia" have a video? I don't think so, yet, anyway. So here's how it should go: A guy sitting in a cubicle, surrounded by other cubicles, watching his computer's clock tick. An e-mail pops up, it's his boss, asking what time he'll be in tomorrow or something, like lumberghesque. He's puzzled, he thinks for a bit, then types something short and defiant, like "I won't." sends it, dashes out of his cubicle, vaults over the railing of the 2-story atrium's balcony, jumps on his bike. As the song ends, you see a gridlock of cars, and him riding his bike joyfully past.
It has nothing to do with the song, and it's terribly trite (har har. cubicles.), so it shouldn't be like that at all. But that's what I felt like today, while listening to the song. Minus the bitchy boss and jumping over the balcony.
Speaking of which, they'll be in Cleveland, one week from today. Hot! Y'all should go.
My friends are home from college! And they'll be here soon. WooOOO! So I'm out.
last night: jamaican jerk marinated pork and "salsa vegetables"
tonight: fajita things w/ chicken, leftover salsa vegetables, and brilliant black bean and corn salsa from Trader Joe's
later tonight: pineapple cake!
So the jamaican jerk marinade was excellent, and so was the George Foreman grill I was cooking it on. Look out Webster 403, George will be sharing the residence next year. Umm... throw in "omelets for breakfast" (ingredients: see "fajita things" ingredients, plus eggs) and it's pretty much been a good week for food all around.
Tomorrow: whitewater rafting traveling. Well hey, it's not work. I don't know any of the kids going, because it was organized through my high school, and my dad, being very involved w/ the high school, decided to go, so there we go. A lil' awkward. But hey, rafting, cool.
What else... Oh! Music at work! I just figured out that it's generally accepted for people to listen to music there, so might as well join them.
Good list:
Interpol (had never really listened through their cds before)
the Flaming Lips (okay, I'm a tool who just jumped on the bandwagon at Yoshimi, but I like it a lot)
!!! and Ted Leo* and the Shins and Beck (obviously)
ARCADE FIRE ep (not as stellar as Funeral, but man, listen to "No Cars Go" or "Headlights look like Diamonds" and tell me there wasn't greatness in the making there. Wait, there was.)
Not bad, but not suiting my tastes as much, so don't reply angrily with "Hey, this band's awesome!":
Elliott Smith (too quiety... I do like "Rose Parade" and a couple others though)
Matt Pond PA ("Closest" is fantastic, and I don't mind "Lily Two" or "KC", but as for the rest, see description of Elliott Smith)
Fiery Furnaces's "Gallowsbird's Bark" (sorta fun pop, but really just an appetizer for the greatness that is "Blueberry Boat")
*so, does "Me and Mia" have a video? I don't think so, yet, anyway. So here's how it should go: A guy sitting in a cubicle, surrounded by other cubicles, watching his computer's clock tick. An e-mail pops up, it's his boss, asking what time he'll be in tomorrow or something, like lumberghesque. He's puzzled, he thinks for a bit, then types something short and defiant, like "I won't." sends it, dashes out of his cubicle, vaults over the railing of the 2-story atrium's balcony, jumps on his bike. As the song ends, you see a gridlock of cars, and him riding his bike joyfully past.
It has nothing to do with the song, and it's terribly trite (har har. cubicles.), so it shouldn't be like that at all. But that's what I felt like today, while listening to the song. Minus the bitchy boss and jumping over the balcony.
Speaking of which, they'll be in Cleveland, one week from today. Hot! Y'all should go.
My friends are home from college! And they'll be here soon. WooOOO! So I'm out.
Monday, June 06, 2005
Tripsburgh!
Yeah, I took a trip to Pittsburgh! It was hot! I mean awesome, not actually climatically hot, but it was that too.
Thanks first and foremost to Kaitlin and Beej, for letting me stay at their abodes, making me foodstuffs, and tolerating the fact that I basically said "Hello, I'm in Pittsburgh, I have no plans, entertain me!" :)
Thanks to Alan, who came down to the 'burgh with me, and Tim, who almost did, and was prevented through no fault of his own.
Thanks to Leslie, Brianna, and Diana, for hosting Zach's birthday party and making delicious burritos with mole, and to Zach, for having a birthday to merit such a celebration. Thanks to Beej, Ram, and Aaron for spearheading the trip to the Oaks Theatre to see Psycho, and congrats to Aaron for winning a shower curtain.
The "I wish I had a video camera" moment goes to Connor O'DinosaurMalley.
Thanks to Beej for getting me to start listening to the Beatles, to Scott and Katie for letting us invade their apartment to play board games, to the dice for ... okay, I rolled seven dice (each with two zeroes, two ones, and two twos) and came up with a total of zero. I soon lost the game.
Houpla to the Church Brew Works for being awesome, having a little less churchiness and a little more restaurantiness than the average church, thanks to Gerrit for teaching me how to throw a frisbee, which was bought at said Beer Works.
And congratulations to Ken Tew and all of us for creating a fantastically awkward moment by not acknowledging each other at the Eat'n'Park visit.
I love you all, have a good night.
Thanks first and foremost to Kaitlin and Beej, for letting me stay at their abodes, making me foodstuffs, and tolerating the fact that I basically said "Hello, I'm in Pittsburgh, I have no plans, entertain me!" :)
Thanks to Alan, who came down to the 'burgh with me, and Tim, who almost did, and was prevented through no fault of his own.
Thanks to Leslie, Brianna, and Diana, for hosting Zach's birthday party and making delicious burritos with mole, and to Zach, for having a birthday to merit such a celebration. Thanks to Beej, Ram, and Aaron for spearheading the trip to the Oaks Theatre to see Psycho, and congrats to Aaron for winning a shower curtain.
The "I wish I had a video camera" moment goes to Connor O'DinosaurMalley.
Thanks to Beej for getting me to start listening to the Beatles, to Scott and Katie for letting us invade their apartment to play board games, to the dice for ... okay, I rolled seven dice (each with two zeroes, two ones, and two twos) and came up with a total of zero. I soon lost the game.
Houpla to the Church Brew Works for being awesome, having a little less churchiness and a little more restaurantiness than the average church, thanks to Gerrit for teaching me how to throw a frisbee, which was bought at said Beer Works.
And congratulations to Ken Tew and all of us for creating a fantastically awkward moment by not acknowledging each other at the Eat'n'Park visit.
I love you all, have a good night.
Monday, May 30, 2005
More about fings
Hey!
So life's flying past as usual. I had to go and get a job this summer, which makes the weeks go fast but the days go so slow. Sigh. So about this company:
Pluses
-Very casual, almost no dress code, free pop/coffee/tea
-Fun things, like going to see Star Wars during work, or having an all-afternoon party involving racing mini battery-powered motorcycles
-Getting paid approximately $infinite/hour
-Biking distance from home
-I'm sure I'm learning a ton
-Resume booooooooost!
Minuses
-Boring. If this is what life is like as a worker in computer science, get me out now. Long days sitting in front of a computer, making minor changes to a tiny part of a document management software suite.
-The people. Besides a few, most are standoffish and unfriendly. Well, not unfriendly, so much as just not very social.*
-Long days. But I can't complain about that, that's, er, a normal 40-hour work week.
-I fell off the damn mini-motorcycle. :|
*I swear, if my life were a movie, everyone in that company is a reused actor, someone I've met before, acting in a completely different role. We've got my high school economics teacher, one of my juggling friends (in a few years), my cousin, a kid from my high school... it's not quite uncanny, but it's only partially canny.
Anyway, as for the rest of life... this weekend was cool, saw a lot of folks from high school. Oh shoot, my birthday happened too! Yeah, I got a cell phone, which is pretty cool, for convenience reasons. I also got a George Foreman grill- oh yeah, I've been cooking! Damn! Cooking is fantastic! Next year, I'm cooking a lot, and you're all coming over to Webster for some delicious meals! And hey, other people like to cook too- we should all cook stuff and eat stuff! It could be like some lame cooking club, except it wouldn't be lame, because COOKING! Hot!
Man, cooking is so good. And there's this new grocery store near where I live too, called Trader Joe's, and it is so good too! Good healthy tasty natural foods, for cheap! Too bad there's not one in Pittsburgh (is there?)
So yeah... I really like food!
So life's flying past as usual. I had to go and get a job this summer, which makes the weeks go fast but the days go so slow. Sigh. So about this company:
Pluses
-Very casual, almost no dress code, free pop/coffee/tea
-Fun things, like going to see Star Wars during work, or having an all-afternoon party involving racing mini battery-powered motorcycles
-Getting paid approximately $infinite/hour
-Biking distance from home
-I'm sure I'm learning a ton
-Resume booooooooost!
Minuses
-Boring. If this is what life is like as a worker in computer science, get me out now. Long days sitting in front of a computer, making minor changes to a tiny part of a document management software suite.
-The people. Besides a few, most are standoffish and unfriendly. Well, not unfriendly, so much as just not very social.*
-Long days. But I can't complain about that, that's, er, a normal 40-hour work week.
-I fell off the damn mini-motorcycle. :|
*I swear, if my life were a movie, everyone in that company is a reused actor, someone I've met before, acting in a completely different role. We've got my high school economics teacher, one of my juggling friends (in a few years), my cousin, a kid from my high school... it's not quite uncanny, but it's only partially canny.
Anyway, as for the rest of life... this weekend was cool, saw a lot of folks from high school. Oh shoot, my birthday happened too! Yeah, I got a cell phone, which is pretty cool, for convenience reasons. I also got a George Foreman grill- oh yeah, I've been cooking! Damn! Cooking is fantastic! Next year, I'm cooking a lot, and you're all coming over to Webster for some delicious meals! And hey, other people like to cook too- we should all cook stuff and eat stuff! It could be like some lame cooking club, except it wouldn't be lame, because COOKING! Hot!
Man, cooking is so good. And there's this new grocery store near where I live too, called Trader Joe's, and it is so good too! Good healthy tasty natural foods, for cheap! Too bad there's not one in Pittsburgh (is there?)
So yeah... I really like food!
Thursday, May 26, 2005
I, um, work for this company...
Background: This week, Hyland Software got its 5000th customer. So they planned a party... for this Friday (tomorrow)...
Email I received: (And by "mini-bike" they mean those little motorcycles that are so small they look silly. Ever played "pocket mode" on Moto Racer? It's that. Obv. these aren't too powerful- they go like 15mph. But still. Here's the email:)
The Hyland 5000 mini-bike races will be held tomorrow in the back parking lot. Each grouping will race to determine their representative in the finals. We grouped certain areas together to facilitate the race times and such. We will then have the semi-finals races to determine the top four for the final race.
This is a "race at your own risk" event. If you plan on racing, we recommend wearing pants. We have gloves and helmets for those who wish to race.
1st Prize - $500
2nd Prize - $250
3rd Prize - $100
The four finalists also get to take their mini-bike home with them. The others will be raffled off.
Here are the times for the departmental races:
TIME - DEPARTMENT(S)
12:00 - Diner & CEC
12:10 - Tech Support
12:30 - Development
1:00 - Sales, Latin American Sales
1:30 - Marketing
1:45 - IS, OnBase OnLine
2:00 - QA, Documentation
2:30 - HR, HSU
2:40 - Product Management, Education Services
2:55 - Operations
3:10 - Installations, Project Management
3:20 - PSG, Custom Solutions
Thanks and Good Luck!
Err... so my company, it's a Dilbertesque cube farm, but it's, uh, evidently an awesome Dilbertesque cube farm.
Email I received: (And by "mini-bike" they mean those little motorcycles that are so small they look silly. Ever played "pocket mode" on Moto Racer? It's that. Obv. these aren't too powerful- they go like 15mph. But still. Here's the email:)
The Hyland 5000 mini-bike races will be held tomorrow in the back parking lot. Each grouping will race to determine their representative in the finals. We grouped certain areas together to facilitate the race times and such. We will then have the semi-finals races to determine the top four for the final race.
This is a "race at your own risk" event. If you plan on racing, we recommend wearing pants. We have gloves and helmets for those who wish to race.
1st Prize - $500
2nd Prize - $250
3rd Prize - $100
The four finalists also get to take their mini-bike home with them. The others will be raffled off.
Here are the times for the departmental races:
TIME - DEPARTMENT(S)
12:00 - Diner & CEC
12:10 - Tech Support
12:30 - Development
1:00 - Sales, Latin American Sales
1:30 - Marketing
1:45 - IS, OnBase OnLine
2:00 - QA, Documentation
2:30 - HR, HSU
2:40 - Product Management, Education Services
2:55 - Operations
3:10 - Installations, Project Management
3:20 - PSG, Custom Solutions
Thanks and Good Luck!
Err... so my company, it's a Dilbertesque cube farm, but it's, uh, evidently an awesome Dilbertesque cube farm.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)