Jaded

I have been in the corporate world for quite a while now and still things surprise me or horrify me, maybe that's the word I am looking for. Probably a little of both.

And even that I am basically used to. I raise an eyebrow, ruminate on it for a day or so.. whatever. But these days it really takes a lot to jade me further.

This week (and what? It's only Wednesday?) has really done a great job of it.

It's been going out the window at breakneck speed since about 7:30am Monday morning. Today, I think the high point of the day was the fucking turkey that almost hit my car while I was going about 60 mph on the way to work.

Fuck. It just fails all words.

We are leaving tomorrow night to drive up to the Outlaws place. I have never been so grateful to be going to the boonsticks for the weekend.

I'll take my own advice and embrace the change of scenery.

Beer Location Device

Generally speaking, I consider myself to be a pretty pro-active person, but there are just somethings that don't really even make it on to my radar until a real issue occurs.

For instance, cell phones. I have never been a tech-hype person. I am never ever going stand in line all night long for a newly released video game console, computer, or phone. Should that ever occur, rest assured I have been poisoned or have actually snapped.

I tend not to replace these things until they either stop working all together or become a complete pain in my ass and my threshold for this kind of stuff actually exceeds the norm.

This goes for electronics and appliances mostly. My last laptop had actually gotten so slow (I think it was about 6-7 years old by this time) that it drove the husband to buy me a new one. It had actually not become a big enough pain in my pass to replace it yet. I didn't use it for work or anything other than email and after a while the 3 minute page downloads became the norm and served as time to put a load of laundry in, unload the dishwasher, feed the dogs, etc. Once he tried to start using it because it was easily accessible downstairs it was quickly replaced.

My last two digital cameras I used until there were quite old, slow and exceedingly bulky. The husband again replaced the first one, and then about 3 years later that one crapped out on me completely, so I had to finally suck it up and replace it. I bought a really really good one and I'll use it til it dies.

I don't buy into this, there's a newer-bigger-better-faster-cooler-looking-one-out-and-now-I-have-to-have-it shit.

If mine still serves its purpose, great - one less thing to mess with.

Our consumerism mentality for this type of stuff has really gotten out of hand. Why is it not acceptable to have what you need and that it work? I just refuse to get drug into this stupid cycle.

So when I do have to replace something electronic, I am pretty adamant about buying what I need not what they tell me I need.

I don't mind spending money on something I want that does what I need it to do with the intention of using it until it dies, not just until it comes out in a different color or is a little faster.

There's no way I am not going to go out and buy any of this crap without determining my user specifications and buying the one that best fits that.

I don't care what phone Paris Hilton has, what digital camera Vanessa Williams is selling, or what type of game console Justin freaking Timberlake has. And I don't want to be in any Best Buy, Circuit City, Verizon, Home Depot, etc. even one extra second.

I don't want to be upsold or told what I need. Don't give me that shit about how spending more will save me more.

No, I don't need a fucking pink case and I don't want the warranty that covers rampaging hippos.

So my cell phone was coming up on three years old. As far as I am concerned, this was poor planing by verizon to sell a phone that doesn't crap out in 2 years or less.

As soon as my contract expired they started calling me to resign up for a contract or to sell me a new phone. I told them I would buy a new phone and contract when this one died and until then if they kept calling me I'd buy a iPhone.

They stopped.

About 3 months ago, my phone randomly starting restarting itself. Sometimes after a txt came in or was send, a call was ended, or even when it hasn't even been touched and was laying on the table. It always came back on, never cause me to lose info or drop a call, so whatever. DFC.

The last month or so my phone has had problems charging, I think it's the connection with the charger that port seems to be worn out and sometimes it charges and sometimes not. Sometimes you have to sit it a weird angle to get it to charge and sometimes it won't.
A couple times over the last week I had gotten to work to find my cell phone dead cause it didn't charge over night.

Okay. Fine. Now it's time.

I'd been looking online at phones over the past few months just to see what's out there. I have friends who have the iPhone and it's freaking cool as hell, absolutely- but there are 3 reasons I decided that I didn't want the iPhone:
1) too much hype; it's the required accessory of the moment-no thanks
2) that's a freaking LOT of money to spend on a phone
3) I cannot get over the fact that when your battery dies you have to physically send in your phone for like 10 days. I just can't grasp it. I have tried. No dice.

So I eliminated the iPhone.

It's not like I need the biggest and baddest phone on the market anyway. My user specs were fairly simple. I want all the features I had before, but in addition to that, what I needed was the ability to access the Internet specifically to locate breweries/wineries/beer festivals/etc during my travels.

Typically, I tend to take this information with me, but sometimes I end up somewhere unplanned where I can't find something or hear about something that I didn't know about. I always end up calling information (generally worthless) or calling friends hoping to catch someone in front of their computer.

The Liquor Fairy needs all the associated liquor-related tools, including the GPS, mapping, and searching capabilities to find the necessary locations. So yesterday I went out and bought the LG Voyager.

I was in and out of Verizon in 10 minutes. I want that phone with this plan. Thanks. Bye.

So far, I love it. It's exactly what I wanted - a Communication and Beer Locating Device.

Excellent.

29 Apr 08

28 Apr 08

Ironic, no?

America's Genitals has proposed a ban of fake testicles on vehicles

27 Apr 08

Everything you need for the morning after the beer festival: caffeine, water, more booze.

Next bar

Sunday Mimosas

26 Apr 08

Post Beer Festival Recap

The beer festival kicked ass. Everyone who didn't make it, missed out.

Last year we'd gotten down there about 20 min ahead of time and since they only had one gate and like two people taking tickets, it took us 30 minutes after the festival opened to get processed through the line and inside to get our first beer. I was hell bent on getting into line early this year.

On top of that we found out that there was a rally and parade scheduled downtown for the morning of the beer festival and they were expecting about 50,000 people. They had warned that there were going to be streets closed off and that parking might be a huge ordeal.

Perfect. Added level of difficulty.

My goal was to be out of the house and heading downtime at 10, in reality we made it out the door at 10:20am. By dumb luck, Rob picked the right street going downtown to where the festival that was not actually closed.

We got to the gate at 11am (festival start time was noon). We were first in line.

Hell yeah.

The weather was perfect, it was an absolutely gorgeous day. There was an excellent showing of breweries - especially the local/regional ones: Triangle Brewing, Foothills, Duck-Rabbit, Top of the Hill, Asheville, Red Oak, Sweetwater, French Broad, etc.

I think the two best beers I had that I hadn't had before were:
Top of the Hill, Blueberry Wheat (Chapel Hill, NC) - which I have had and didn't careful, but I think they have changed it since then.
Kona Brewing , Passion Fruit Wheat (Hawaii)

Otto was able to sample his was through the entire lineup at Foothills and Top of the Hill - two local breweries that make excellent beers across the board.

Rogue showed up, but apparently all of there kegs did not, so all they had was Dead Guy. Sweetwater was there, but I missed it on my first pass and by the time I worked my way back, they were out of everything except the brown. Poor planning on my part.

Sniff. Sniff. Blue! How I miss you.

After the beer festival it was dinner at Mellow Mushroom and then over to Rudino's Rooftop to continue drinking and enjoying the day.

Another successful beer festival.

First in line!

The Calm Before The Storm

I'm up sitting on the porch catching up with the world. I've already walked the dogs and made coffee and when everyone else starts getting moving I will start on breakfast.

The debachery is brewing.. you can almost smell it. This is the calm before the storm...

Last night was a good start, by the time I got to the bar with Otto the party had already begun. Towle & Gem landed 7ish and then it was straight back to the bar.

It was a respectable pre-beer festival evening of beer, bullshit, back-in-the-day, a ME Show on the side, topped off with the obliatory "Fuck You Lehto" mass text.

Better start the morning with a big breakfast, it's going to be a long hard day of drinking.

25 Apr 08

24 Apr 08

Brewer Fined For Promoting Drug Use

Seriously? This is what the ATF is concerned about? I am glad we don't have anything else in this country for them to be concerned with?

Nothing?

So the brewer at Mount Shasta Brewing company in Weed, California put caps on his current 5 beers that say: "Try Legal Weed" and the ATF fined him saying it was a drug reference.

(Hello Sweetwater "420," Humbolt Brewing Company's "Hemp Ale," and there always tried and true Budweiser slogan: "This Bud's For You.")

In a letter explaining its decision, the agency, which regulates the brewing industry, said the wording could "mislead consumers about the characteristics of the alcoholic beverage."

Mislead consumers? Consumers so stupid that they could think that drinking this beer is like drinking weed? What?

"We protect consumers of alcohol beverages against misleading advertising and labeling," he said.

Wait til they find out about Red Wolf Beer! Not only is it not red, there's not a single ounce of wolf in it!

Good thing they are out there protecting us.

A Greek Tragedy Among Sheep

UNC Mascot Dethroned

Ungrateful little shit.

23 Apr 08

22 Apr 08

21 Apr 08

Retrospect

Isn't there a saying something along the lines of how we tend to remember only the good things over time when viewing in retrospect? I can't seem to remember what it is, but that seems to have been the gist of it.

I got home late this evening. After the gym, I hit the grocery store and happen to be in the middle of feeding the dog-foon, herding the cats, trying to start dinner while unloading groceries out of the car, and listening to messages on the answering machine when the phone rang.

Caller ID: "Incomplete Data."

Okay, I'll bite - what the hell.

So it's some poor student from my academic department at the ol' Alma Mater. Calling to update my alumni information, ask various questions about my experiences in relation to her graduating next year with the same degree, yada, yada, yada....

She caught me in a good mood. Lucky for all of us.

I know all of this is leading up to the give us money pitch and I feel no guilt at all saying, "When the school decides to change the name back to what it was when I attended I will be willing to cut a check. Until then, better hit up the alumni who's degrees actually have the name you are soliciting for" but I just let her go on.

So before we get to the money thing, during the question gauntlet, she asks me: "What did you enjoy the most about attending college here at 'the school formally known as ..'"?

*blink*

What? I am sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Could you repeat it?

She did.

And it was the same question.

*cricket*

Enjoy?

So I am spinning through my mental Rolodex, looking for a truthful and acceptable response based on my memories and nada. All I've got is:

"Enjoy? I don't remember it actually being something I would consider enjoyable."

I mean don't get me wrong, I had some fun. Mostly due to underage drinking and various other non-university endorsed activities and that wasn't a super often thing for me- I had too much other shit to juggle.

But as far as the rest? All I remember is being sleep deprived, working constantly and studying pretty much most of the time I wasn't working, trying to figure out how I was going to cover my rent, feed myself, and manage to keep a decent grade point average so that someday someone would hire me and pay me enough so that I wouldn't be wondering how I was going to feed myself, buy deodorant, and do my laundry this week on $8.

I think it surprised me to look back and not really find anything about it really enjoyable. That's probably not exactly the term for what I should be looking for, but I am pretty literal, so enjoyable was what I was looking for.

It's been almost 9 years and my retrospective view has still not faded to rose-colored yet. I guess that surprises me.

Oh yeah, and when she asked me if I had any feed back for the university, I told her to write in the little box: that I was still torqued about the name change and that I'd met the new chancellor and that I thought he was a Yankee elitist blowhard - and that is why I wasn't donating.

Spared

Clinton, Obama won't debate in N.C.

Oh thank God. Not only are we North Carolinians not going to be invaded by another political/media shitstorm, but all of us are going to be spared yet another worthless two-hour bullshit horse and pony show the same old pointless distraction questions.

Right on.

20 Apr 08

5K Run for Wishes, RTP

19 Apr 08

18 Apr 08

Craigslist

I have been a huge eBay fan for years, but I haven't had much use for Craigslist until this past Wednesday and now... Love.

I love it.

I have intended to put an office area for myself up in the bonus room, because sharing a desk/office space with the husband just doesn't work. I need my own space and sharing a desk/computer with him is going to make me batshit crazy. I am going to be taking an online class this summer and I going to be taking some classes at UNC in the fall so it's time.

So I need a desk to start. I don't care too much about a desk- it needs to be 60" wide or less to fit into the eve I want to put it in; I decided I would like wood, but didn't care if it was painted or not. It doesn't have to be nice and I don't feel like spending a lot of money on it, no ones really going to see it in the bonus room. I just don't care that much.

So I got on Craigslist and in 10 minutes I found a desk that had been posted for about a day that looked really nice (as opposed to some of the complete pieces of shit I saw posted - I particularly liked the ones that that people didn't even bother to straighten all the crap on it to make look less like a pile of shit exploded on a pile of nailed 2x4s). It met my dimensional requirements and was listed at $100. So I called the people and asked if I could come see it.

I went over there Wednesday night.

The desk is beautiful. It's solid hardwood, dark stain. There's not a scratch or nick on it. The insides of the drawers are lined with leather and there is a built in wooden pencil holder in one of the drawers. The middle drawer front actually folds down to be used for a keyboard. They bought it about a year ago for almost $400 dollars so they would have someone where to work on their laptops, but they found that they never used it and decided to just sell it and get back the space.

I asked them what type of chairs they had for it (I had been looking on line already in case I bought it to figure out what kind of chair I would need to buy). They said when they bought the desk they bought 2 leather and wood chairs that matched it (a "his" chair in dark brown and a "her" chair in beige). The "his" chair they were going to keep for the bonus room, but they were going to get rid of the beige one- they just didn't put it on Craigslist yet. Did I want to see it? Not a big fan of beige leather, but hell I may as well look at it right?

It's beautiful. Like the desk, it's perfect, not a scratch. Super comfortable. How much? She said she'd take $45. I'll take the desk & the chair.

I believe that is at least a $150 chair. I just bought a $550 perfect wood desk and matching leather chair for $145.

I win!!

Until, it dawned on me that I was going to have to help this guy get the desk out of his bonus room, down the freaking stairs, and into the back of the Hybrid.

Dear God.

That MF has to weigh 200 lbs. We managed to get it unto the Hybrid, but not before I pulled my left quad again.

I got home and managed to help Rob get it out of the car and into the house. It's sitting in the Gallery. It is not physically possible for me to help him get that thing UP the stairs and into the bonus room. My legs are freaking killing me.

WTF was I thinking going to buy a desk wounded without the Husband for backup? Poor planning.

So it's still in the Gallery (that's the pic from Wednesday) and that's where it's going to have to stay until I can sucker someone into coming over to the house and help Rob drag it up the stairs or my legs heal.

It's awesome tho- I love Craigslist.

17 Apr 08

16 Apr 08

15 Apr 08

14 Apr 08

Four

Do you know how it feels to pull a quad muscle while playing soccer?

How about pulling both quads while playing soccer? And then played most of the game after the injuries?

Guess what!

Now, I do.

Last night within the first 5 minutes of the game I pulled both quads. First my right, then my left. I continued to play (if not there would have been no available female subs), not well mind you, but I played. I couldn't turn or run fast and I could barely kick the ball. But I made it through the game.

It had to be one of the most painful hours of my life.

When I got home, just getting from my car into the bedroom cause tears to run down my cheeks. Rob had to change me and physically pick me up and put me into bed.

This morning, after some of the swelling went down I realized that in addition to the quads I also pulled a right groin muscle and a left lateral thigh muscle. 4 pulled muscles in my legs. Nice, huh?
I did make it to work, thank god for the elevator (I never could have made it up into the Penalty Box at my old job). I didn't leave my desk any more than necessary. Didn't drink water or tea, hurts too bad to walk to the bathroom.

I spent the day in my cube alternating a heating pad to both legs.

I made it home and on the couch - me and my heating pad. The husband is supposed to pick up another heating pad on the way home from work for my other leg.

Its uncomfortable just laying here. Walking is excruciating.

I am already getting bored.

There's zero chance of me being able to lift or run this week. What the hell am I going to do to entertain myself? I could go to the bar (a bar with no stairs) but then there's the trips back and forth to the bathroom, that's more painful then laying here.

Cripe.

Planning For The Pain

I ended up getting and incredible amount of things done around the house yesterday. My early start really paid off. I got all the house work done and finally got to washed down the porch, patio, out door furniture etc. I feel like I have finally reclaimed my porch!

I even finished the day with a 5 mile run. It felt good.

Good thing too. I have a soccer game tonight and based on last week, I am trying to plan my upcoming week on the assumption that I am going to be in excruciating pain again through about Thursday- so good thing I got all of that out of the way.

13 Apr 08

12 Apr 08

Everything is covered in pollen.

Sunday Morning

As much as I hate the mere idea of having to drag myself out of bed at the asscrack of a sunday morning, I have to admit, I do like being up and drinking my coffee in peace.

Nothings up and moving yet. All I hear is the click of my keys, birds chirping outside, and the hum of the refrigerator.

I wish I had longer to soak up the peace.

I don't expect that I will have to work more than an hour or two (we'll see) and I figure since I am out, I will hit the gym on the way back. Today is my chance to catch up on what went out the window yesterday.

After the car debacle, I came home and napped between like 5 and 9pm, then went to bed for the night at 10pm. I am definately rested.

Craptastic

Wow. Today just sucked.

I knew it had gone irreparably to shit about 9:15 am and then there was just nothing that could be done to save it.

I had an appointment to drop off my car for a oil change/maintenance at 9am right before my hair appointment. The plan was to drop of Rob's car after we picked up mine, I figured we'd have this all knocked out by noon and be free to go on about our day.

Wrong again.

The people at the dealership informed me that they couldn't look into a weird vibration I told them about because they were only staffed for oil changes so I would have to come back during the week.

I can't come back during the week, I work like 25 miles west of here. Besides, isn't this the freaking service department? This one is always crazy busy on Saturdays, why isn't it staffing accordingly?

The response? Well, no one likes to work Saturdays.

Are you fucking kidding me? No one likes to work weekend. Most of us don't like to work at all. I have to go in tomorrow to keep a project moving so it's doesn't delay a single bottle of product one extraneous second. We are also a service industry and we have to staff accordingly, like my dumbass having to go in on a Sunday morning.

So the dealership, that isn't staffed to do work other than oil changes on a Saturday- took 4 hours to change my oil, air filter, and fuel filter. We didn't get Rob's car dropped off until after 1, they called half hour later to say there was a recall on the battery harness in Rob's car, they could replace it but it would take an extra two hours.

Of course.

The car was finished in time for them to call us and tell us to come get it, it was done and they were closing in 10 minutes (4pm).

Perfect.

This entire time we were out on that side of town, with my car it was running some errands, had lunch, etc. By the time Rob's car went in I had lost my humor and run out of shit to do. We ended up a bar just waiting for the phone to ring.

I can't believe this thing just hijacked my entire freaking day.

To add insult to injury, I get to my haircut appointment this morning, I am there like 10 minutes and Chris (best stylist I have ever had) tells me that he'd decided to move to Dallas and he's leaving in a week!

URRGGGHH!

I know he's been seeing a girl in Dallas for about the last 5-6 months and he was all tore up about the long-distance thing and honestly I figured he'd eventually move there, but I never for a second thought it would be now! I figured end of the year, fall at the earliest!

Damn it! Damn it!

It's a chick thing, I know. When you find someone who does a great job on your hair who you really like (i.e. has a personality but isn't a freaking nutjob or acts like you sitting in their chair is a huge pain in their ass) then it's like you've hit the jackpot.

Chris was creative and super talented and above all of it, I liked him.

I feel like I've been dumped. I'm listless now.

He recommended someone for me at the same salon. I don't want anyone else. Matter of fact, I don't think I even want o get my hair cut anymore. Theoretically, I don't actually have to have my haircut until Katie's wedding and that isn't until September.

Maybe by then I can get over my crushing sense of loss.

11 Apr 08

Linus and the Bull

I sent an email out about a week ago to see if anyone was interested in going to Opening Night at the Durham Bulls and I got very little response.

My intention was if there was a big enough group, that I would buy the tickets on line ahead of time so we could all sit together, but since it looked like there would only be a handful of us, I figured that we could just buy them at the game before hand.

Yesterday afternoon, I got online to make sure there were tickets and found out that every seat had sold out, there were only lawn seats available (which is fine with me, more leg room anyway), so I bought them online just to be sure we got the seats. They were $6 a piece, plus the inconvenience fee of $1.50.

We all met up at Tyler's Taproom next door, the place was mobbed. So I am standing in the bar waiting on everyone else, with a Foothills Pale Ale in one hand and a huge blanket rolled up under the other arm.

Eventually everyone showed up and we found a place to sit at the bar. We opted to wait til the game started to head to avoid the rush.

By dumb luck, on our way to our lawn seats one of the guys I used to work with called ME and said that he was in a corporate skybox it was big enough for 30 people, but only like 5 people showed up, so why didn't we come up there and join them?

So we and all of our blankets headed up to the skybox. Best $7.50 seats ever.

We had a ball. They lost, but I did get to see someone hit bull and win steak!

There was quite the impressive fireworks display afterwords.

Now it feels like summer.

After the game and the fireworks, we all headed over to the Mellow Mushroom for beer and pizza. Carrying my blanket the entire time. I felt like Linus all night.

I'm sure there will be more Bulls Games in my future.

Yesterday

Short of playing hookie and heading to the beach to drink and soak in the sun all day, yesterday may have been the best hookie day ever.

I guess because I just needed it. It was like having a bonus day. I got to go work in the garden finally. I put in my tomatoes, green peppers, radish, and lettuce (we'll see what actually grows). Checked out my herb garden looks like I have dill and cilantro coming up- nothing yet in the parsley and spearmint.

After I worked in the garden, I headed over the the Ale House porch for Happy Hour; a couple of Magic Hats and some buffalo shirmp later- today was a good day.

I am sure I accomplished more here at the house yesterday than I ever would have at work.

Tonight is the opening day for the Durham Bulls (Go Bulls!) so we will be heading over there after work; the weather's supposed to be great today.

Should be a beautiful night for some beer & baseball.

10 Apr 08

Hookie

I woke up this morning and promptly decided against going to work.

I am playing hookie. Let's call it a Mental Health Day.

This is the one day this week I am not deluged with meetings and possibly the only day I can possible not go in and not have a major impact on anything. I am going to have to work Sunday it looks like anyway. The weather today was supposed to be beautiful, sunny (yes! the sun! finally!!) and in the 70s.

A real actual Spring Day. Whoo hoo! Carpe Fucking Diem.

I slept late, walked the dogs, and just finished a leisurely lunch. I am planning to head outside to go play in the dirt. I am finally going to get the chance to plant some of my veggies in the garden.

Husband's also playing hookie, I think he's going to be heading out to mow the grass and fix the screens on the porch.

Sad that we have to bail on work to get a day nice enough to do freaking yard work. Every nice day that we actually have had up til this point has landed during the work week and then the weekend's have been crappy as is predicted for this weekend.

And you know what? I am still going to happy hour tonight even if I didn't go to work.

Bullshit Links Posted In The Comments

All right assholes.

Almost every time I post, some fucking bottom feeder posts some bullshit link crap in the comments. I love to get comments and welcome it, but this is crap.

I delete them as soon as I see them, I don't want anyone reading this blog to end up with the blue screen of death. So if you see these comments before I get to them, don't click on the hyperlinked "here."

To all you fucking losers who have nothing better to do than surf blogs and post comments that link back to virus and other misc. crap: Get fucking lives.

Beaten With An Ice Scraper

Woman Stops Alleged Burglar With Scraper

Shout out to Derdre Rodriguez in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

She came home to find a burglar going out a window with jewelry, cell phones, video games, etc. She ran after him while beating him over the head with an ice scraper until he gave up and then she made him go back and pick up all the stolen loot he'd dropped.

Right fucking on.

09 Apr 08

Ouch.

Maybe all the running I have been doing lately has gone to my head. Is it possible that my brain might be getting too much oxygen or something?

I joined a soccer team. Yep. Co-ed Adult Soccer.

I haven't been on the soccer field since college and then only for intermurals. I haven't played competitively since high school. I played from the time I was five into high school.

I have missed playing for years. I haven't never really had the opportunity- contract/traveling for so long made that almost impossible. Then there was the smoking thing. Then after that went away there was the too out-of-shape, I'll die excuse.

Now, there are no more excuses...

So I joined a team and my first game was yesterday.

I loved it. It was great. I had so much fun. My team is a collection of people just like me, who used to play religiously in high school or college but haven't played much but decided it was time. The team is pretty new, this was the 5th game of the season and they hadn't played together before, so I am getting in at a good time.

We got our asses kicked. But you know what? There's a lot of solid talent on that team and everyone played hard. And that's exactly what I want. I play hard. We have a lot of work to do individually and cohesively as a team and I am excited about it.

I played better than I thought I would and worse at the same time. I played the whole game except about 3 minutes. I made some mistakes, I am defiantly rusty, but I did pull off some good plays and got a compliments from my teammates and even the other team.

I walked on the field and forgot initially that any time had pasted. It didn't take long, I took a fullback kick, it was good- perfect contact, good form, and then... it barely made it half way down the field! It felt to me like it should have gone all the way down and then I realized again, my body is not where it used to be. I lost the strength I used to have in my legs.

But I didn't love my aggressive play and that's something. I got in there with guys bigger and faster than me every time. I realized I have never played against guys before, so that was new- much more of a challenge. I still hold my own and I'm not intimidated, so that actually hasn't changed.

Running & Lifting weights religiously over the last few months is probably the only reason I didn't die on the field.

But running and lifting is nothing compared to the sprinting, turning, stopping, etc. on the field.

By the time I got home, I realized I could barely extract myself from the car.

I woke up this morning and realized that everything I had hurt. Even shit I didn't know I had hurt. I thought I was going to have to call into work. 4 Ibuprofen and a hot shower later, I made it to work and as long as I stayed at my desk I was fine. I had to wear sandals today because of the blisters on my feet.

Next game is next Monday. Can't wait.

My Tax Dollars At Work

Raleigh Bans Garbage Disposals

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1004668.html

Still Raining

It's been raining pretty much non-stop for almost 3 weeks now. It's a welcomed blessing- no doubt.

Just a few months ago we were trying to figure out how to truck in water at work to continue manufacturing. All the areas in Raleigh and the surrounding areas have been on Stage 2 water restrictions for quite a while now. No washing cars, no filling pools, no watering your yard. They aren't messing around either, hundreds of people have been fined. (I think just a couple days ago have they been rolled back to Stage 1.)

As spring has slowly crept into the area, the rains have finally come and now they won't stop. I haven't seen the sun in, I don't know how long (barring while I was in Cleveland; ironic huh?).

It's cool and raining and I am sick of it. We are all sick of it. I keep reminding myself how much we need the water.

But damnit, I am ready for spring already. I am ready for warm days and sunshine, damnit, damnit, damnit...
I want to sit outside and drink a beer in the sun.
I want to admire the sparkling blue of my pool in the afternoon.
I want to put in my vegetable garden.

We (North Carolinians) have changed our lifestyles to adapt to the drought, it's all been a good thing. People have been more conscious of water usage- these are important lessons.

But ahhh.... How quickly we all start to forget.

Wakefield Plantation homeowners association decided that residents having too many rain barrels didn't fit the neighborhood's image and limiting resident to 2 rain barrels per home and requiring them to be a certain color kept in particular hidden areas and people who have already installed more than 2 have to remove them.

So I get the color and placement restrictions. I get that no one wants to see 30 bright pink, blue, and purple rain barrels being used as a property divider by your neighbor across the street when you pay stupid amounts of money to live in a community that has a homeowners association to limit that type of crap and protect the resale values within the neighborhood.

But if you want to purchase and install 15 barrels (with the approved color scheme and installed a location secluded from street view, of course) who fucking cares? Right on.

What the fuck? This is exactly the type of crap that makes homeowners associations look like batshit-crazy/bored/get-a-real-fucking-job/grude-harboring/plastic/soccer-moms.

08 Apr 08

07 Apr 08

06 Apr 08

Mushroom & Sauerkraut perogies at Seven Roses Deli, Cleveland, Ohio.

05 Apr 08

04 Apr 08

Delayed, of course.

03 Apr 08

02 Apr 08

That's pollen floating in the rainwater.

01 Apr 08

31 Mar 08

One day it was there, the next day it was not.