Tybee Time

At North Beach Grill on Tybee

The Stuff Of Legends

The countdown is almost over.. there is only one day left.

This year, the husband & I are meeting a group of old friends down in Savannah to ring in the New Year. We leave tomorrow right after work.

Three days of drinking and debauchery with a crew that's always fun. This is my kind of holiday.

The trip is modeled of a previous New Years Eve excursion in Savannah back 06-07. While the crew was much smaller and included some different players it was one of those trips that went from zero to infamous over the course of a few hours.

It had all the perfect ingredients:

Group of friends who hadn't seen each other in a while.
Reasons to celebrate.
Hotel rooms right in the thick of it all.
South Park inspired communications with perfect strangers.
A police escort.
A grade-A 5-star crazy bitch.
Numerous public meltdowns.
A Hostage (willing, but still basically a hostage)
An unlimited number of bars and a backup cooler & oh yeah and some Saki for good measure.
Beer cooler rodeo.
Universal debilitating hangovers.

Some of the major players from that incident will not be participating this year. However, the crew is bigger and different and includes individuals with much more impressive dossiers of past debauchery.. but so far there's no crazy bitch and our crazy-bitch attracting MVP is out...

It's an all-star cast including the husband & myself, The Master... Master P, Joker (hey Joker, don't forget the skull!), The Swamp Jackal (everybody stock up vitamin C & meds), Mr & Soon-to-Be Mrs. Towel and Otto in The Impala of Doom (that's what the husband calls it-Black impala, black tinted windows, barreling down the highway due east with smoke billowing out the windows and music blaring.. like the villain in an old Scooby cartoon)

I am SO excited. Maybe it won't be legendary.. but it's going to be a hell of a good time.

FOOTNOTE: Bill's still a Pansy, but at least he has a legitimate excuse. The Joe Show however, does not. You should be in Savannah.

A late morning view from the Intercoast Waterway through the fog at the OBX

Another One Bites The Dust

It's over and all and all it wasn't too bad. My concerted effort to cut out the unnecessary elements of Christmas that tend to only stress me out, made a huge difference..

The novelty of being in my own house has still not worn off, probably never will. I so enjoy going to do something, then coming home. No 8 hour drive or flight required.

We go off the couch yesterday long enough to open presents, walk the dogs, and go get Thai for dinner. It was the laziest day I can remember in a long long time.

There are somethings however, that don't change: It's the day after Christmas and I still feel listless. Maybe its holiday hangover.. who knows, but I have always felt this way on the 26th.

At some point I am going to have to decide what I am going to do and just go do it. I am not going near the stores- as much as I love the idea of huge discounts, I refuse to take on the other 500K shoppers- so that's out.

Tomorrow it's back out to the OBX for us for the day. There's 5 more beach houses we want to look at (because Santa didn't leave me a beach house under the tree like I asked).. I'm looking forward to that.

I love me a 4-day weekend. These things are great. I might actually feel fully rested when I get back to work on Monday.. just in time to head down to Savannah too!! .. beautiful....

Merry Christmas Otters!!

Xmas Eve Dinner at The LG

Too Good To Pass Up

Christmas Eve is not a holiday at my company. This is just fine with me, I don't mind working- pretty much all week the place has been vacant and there's almost nothing going on.

I rolled in this morning and I think there were 10 total cars in the front parking lot.

I turned on my computer and the decided it was a good time to fuck with a fellow coworker of mine who was also due in today.

So. I did this:

Not long after he showed up, the director told us all to head home (I was there less than 2 hours). He decided not to bother- we'll dig it out on Monday.

Unlike everyone else, at least I can say I accomplished something today!

Meat Scented Man

This has got to be a sign of the apocolypse:

If You Want To Smell Like Burger King...

*vomit*

A Nation of Whiners... Lazy Whiners

We are a nation of whiners for the love of it all.

Today on ABCNews.com there's a video article:

 

KIDS FORCED INTO FROZEN RECESS

Seriously? Shut the hell up.

 

I grew up in St. Louis, not exactly balmy winters and we had recess outside. Twice a day,  if I recall.

 

I remember being outside most of the winter, the only times we didn't was when the windchill was significantly below zero. I know people who grew up all over the county (including the mountains and the northeast) and the same principles applied. In the teens or single digits? 2 feet of snow? Don't forget your gloves!

 

Kids need exercise. Parents need to send them to school with warm clothes, coats, gloves, hats, ear muffs whatever. Plan on your kid being outside at recess. Kids need to get out of the building even if it's only for 20 minutes. This kid on the interview is in second grade- she's regurgitating what her freaking mother told her- mom's already got an extra chin. Maybe mom should go outside and run around for a while.

 

I am sure there are plenty of families that can't afford warm clothes and that's a different story all together. Assuming that doesn't apply- Shut the hell up, put on your hat and gloves and go play. 

Just another reason to love the holidays

Lesson NOT Learned

They say it's a small world and indeed it is. This is why they say you shouldn't burn bridges.

This is also why they say that good things do come back around to good people.

What apparently seems to be missing here is the warning to not shoot yourself in the foot while you are waiting for that good to work its way back to you.

Earlier today my desk phone rang and on the other end of the line what a guy I currently work with also who I would consider friend. Apparently, this morning he had just interviewed a gentlemen with whom I used to work with and who by dumb luck I knew fairly well inside of work and on a semi-social basis outside of work. We'll call him Bob for the sake of this post.

So apparently, Bob interviewed this morning at my facility for basically the same job he had when I worked with him at the previous facility (which I'll refer to as Suxgen). When he was being interviewed the guy doing it didn't put together that we had worked together until after the interview was completed and that's when he called me.

He said that he and everyone else Bob interviewed with really liked Bob- thought it was a great candidate and thought he was better than everyone else in the pool so far. What did I think of Bob?

I liked Bob a lot. I thought he was nice guy, easy to work with, and I thought he'd be a great fit at this facility. He was a pretty smart guy, I think he would pick things up fast and I think the crew down there would like working for him.

There had been some integrity issues surrounding him at Suxgen, but considering that Suxgen didn't have very much integrity itself, I really didn't give the rumors a whole lot of credence. Even if we assume that the rumors were true, then he still functioned at a level higher of integrity than working average of the people in that position at this facility currently.

The day I resigned at Suxgen, Bob was actually fired. I remember because I found out just a couple hours after I had resigned and I was absolutely floored. Well, technically all I know for sure was that he was escorted to his car by HR upon his arrival and never seen again (and I never heard anything from him after that). Even for a small plant they manged to keep the reasoning pretty quiet- the rumor was falsification of data.

This is important, cause falsification and straight up lying was not uncommon at that facility. Lots of people had been caught and none were ever fired unless someone was gunning for them, which is pretty much what I think happened to Bob. There were some pretty nasty petty empire builders there, so it seems quite feasible that he pissed off the wrong person.

Do I think he was framed and that he didn't actually do it? No. I think they just chose to enforce the actual policies because of some other unknown factor. Falsification is not okay, ever and I would without blinking fire someone for it if I caught them. I also do believe people make dumb mistakes and I also think Bob was really never trained well enough to know what was okay and what was not and why.

I still think Bob would be a good person for that position, especially as compared to some of the other hires I have seen. I think Bob is deserving of a second chance and I was perfectly ready to go to bat for him.

Then I looked over his resume and there it was. Right there in back and white. He lied.

Lied on his resume.

Damn it. Why the hell would you do that? He said he worked at this facility 6 months longer than he did - I assume because he didn't want to show an employment gap between that and the next job. Also I think there was another job he had during that time that he apparently decided not to disclose.

Shit.

HR is going to find it anyway. They check up on all of that (apparently because they have been burned in the recent past for not actually verifying people's resumes). I know that he lied, I remember his last day because it was the day I turned in my resignation.

Damn it Bob. You just pissed away a really good opportunity because you lied on your resume.

Best way to prove you've learned your lesson about falsifying data? Lie of your resume.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

It took over 8 years, but...

I finally have something nice to say about The Decider!

He's got good reflexes!

Sitting Still

I am finally home this weekend following the last two weekends on the road.

Thanksgiving went fairly well all things considered. We made it up to the Ohio Valley to see the Outlaws and then up to Cleveland to see my grandparents. On the way back we managed to hit two freak snow squalls but other than that the trip was good and relatively uneventful.

Last weekend the husband and I headed out to the Outer Banks to look at beach houses. This is something I have always wanted and something that's been in the cards for us for a long time. We've been working towards it and with the current state of the real estate market, it's a great time to be a buyer. So we figured we may as well start looking and see what is out there.

We looked at houses from Rodanthe up to Kitty Hawk. Saw quite a few. I almost forgot what an ordeal it is looking at houses. Some of them (one in particular) are so freaking ugly (all original 1954 including floor/wall coverings and appliances) it makes me physically nauseous.

Some people too I think haven't really gotten that you aren't going to get what you would have a year or so ago, but they list prices haven't really been updated. But listings are starting to drop and owners are anxious to just get offers so for us, that's a good thing.

The biggest issue we found is erosion. Some areas of the Outer Banks are eroding incredible fast (others are actually adding beach, it's the natural order of things), seems they loose an average of one house per year in Nags Head. My guess is that this is going to be the next one:



This picture was taken at low tide too. The city no longer allows sandbagging, so it's not going to be long before this one is gone. The front stairs are already ripped off. The one directly behind this one across the street is for sale- I guess in a year or so that other one will be considered ocean front.

We saw some places we like, one in Rodanthe and a handful up in Kitty Hawk. We're still doing some research and such and we aren't in a big hurry. I expect we'll be heading back in a few weeks to see the other places we've added to the list over the last week or so.

I am trying not to get ahead of myself. I am so freaking excited about the possibility of having a place at the OBX that I can't quantify it. I especially love the idea of spending weekends there on the off-season, like this time of year. I took these pics from of one of the houses we are looking at, it's beautiful.. this I can do.



In the meantime, I am trying to keep distracted with everything else at hand.

Work is the same, the level of crazy seems to have decreased based on the fact that so many people are in and out for the holidays. I am going to try to enjoy the lull through the new year if possible.

Right now, I have this weekend to myself. I have some things I want to do and some things I need to do. Right now though, I am just enjoying sitting in one place and listening to the silence.

Nailed It

 

The Liquor Fairy-Claus

I found my Christmas Spirit today. In the strangest place too... work.

 

The brother of my co-worker is developmentally challenged and lives in a group home over near Chapel Hill. Money is scarce there and this year especially. Typically, their Christmas is provided by Volvo (owned by GM) but for obvious reasons, they backed out this year.

 

So their Christmas just got cancelled.

 

A lot of families of the people here are not very involved with the home or the residents it seems and the few families that are involved now hold the burden alone.

 

He came in today and asked us (our department) if we could help.

 

I don't hate Christmas. I hate what Christmas has become. I hate being bludgeoned with it. I hate the emphasis on giving people useless crap. I hate receiving useless crap. I hate the tradition of opening something- materialistic and excessive, not useful or thoughtful.

 

I also hate the idea of someone being denied Christmas. I am lucky enough to have the option to participate as much or as little as I want.

 

But not even having the option of Christmas? Cancelled?

 

I can't even grasp it. And you know what? I am not going to.

 

This is something I can help fix. I would LOVE to buy things for people who need and want things.

 

And that's exactly what I am going to do this evening. I have a list of things that the residence need or would enjoy. I can get all of it.

 

I know of a little farmers market where I can get beautiful wreaths and I know of local bakeries that make lots of good Christmas candies and cookies.

 

I can't think of a better use of my time and money and nothing would make me happier.

The Perfect Gift

I think this is a great idea:

Species Name Auction Offers Wild Holiday Gift Idea
A bat named just for you? Purdue auctions off naming rights to 9 newly discovered species

Maybe it's the science nerd in me.. or the animal lover. Whatever. Either way, I think its freaking great. This beats the crap out of a fugly sweater, sparkly Avon heart earrings, or a ceramic snowman soap dispenser!

I once adopted a bat at Carlsbad Caverns, but this is so much better.. Imagine a three-gram central American bat named the latin equivalent of The Liquor Fairy!

Love it.

Fuck InBev

InBev said that the AB headquarters in St. Louis would remain after the merger. They didn't say that all the people in St. Louis would keep their jobs.

Today they annouced intentions to axe approximately 1000 people in St. Louis about 3 weeks after the completion of the merger. I'm surprised it took this long. The paperwork must have stalled somewhere.

So. The moral of the story?

No one drinks Bud/Budlight because they taste good and now that isn't not even a pride in supporting a local or American Brewery, there's no legit reason to drink that swill. It's dead and over. Demand better.

Support your local microbreweries!

Balls

 

Merrill's Thain seeking 2008 bonus of $10 million

News: According to MySpace

I find it amusing how the standards of journalism have evolved:

In an article today on ABCnews.com, they are reporting on a bizarre love triangle in New York which recently ended in a murder-suicide. The women involved was a Ph.D. student who moonlighted as a dominatrix named Jade Vixon (required sensational element - check).

According to the article:
[She] could not be reached for comment Thursday. A MySpace page for Jade Vixen said she is "brokenheartedly dreaming of a beautiful future never to come" and described her mood as "numb."

So. She couldn't be reached for comment. Therefore, the MY SPACE PAGE of someone with the name linked to her dominatrix alter ego is an acceptable source for journalistic information?

Is this amusing to anyone other than me?

You'd think by now I wouldn't actually expect anything that could be loosely described as a basic journalist standard- or if there is, it's a common one shared by ABCnews, FOX News, The National Enquirer and like US Magazine.