half a cat

So, as it was put by Jon, today is “Singles Awareness Day”. That’s right, if you are single, today you REALLY know it. I don’t really have an excuse to buy a bottle of Veuve or a couple quarts of strawberries this year, but then again, does one really need an excuse to do that? I think this year is particularily annoying, as most of my friends here are now married or might as well be. Don’t they realize how unfair that is to me? =D

At any rate, if you do have someone special this Valentines day, do the rest of us a favor and go stick your genitals in the toaster. No seriously, you are bugging me! On the plus side, that should free up some folks for the rest of us. Hrm, ok, well let me rethink that — if you have someone special and are male, go play in traffic blindfolded. Gee, not bitter or anything am I?

So, you ask, what are my plans for the evening ? Well, I think I will start off with the day’s first shower, really just for good measure, then hit the grocery store for some fixins — not sure what I’ll make, but I am thinking chicken something-or-other, ooooh, I should grab some beer too. After dinner, I plan on getting toasted and making sweet, sweet love to the Tivo. She’ll never leave me, well, as long I as I keep sending in those payments.

Ahh yes, good old bourbon. I belive Shakespeare said it best: “It stimulates the desire, but hinders the performance”. I’m pretty sure the gate keeper was refrerring to getting ones winky wet, but I think it applies to anything — driving, speaking, not peeing on ones shoes, not peeing on other peoples shoes, etc.

So — Friday night was Matt’s birthday and Mandy threw him a surprise party down at the shop. Kris, Christy, Sam and I hit the Circle for some good spongein’ and then the liquor store next door for the nights refreshment. I was feeling frisky, so I splurged for a bottle of Maker’s Mark. I think the last time I had this was drinking at the Union League on someone elses tab. The party was pretty fun and I ended up drinking half the bottle. Yeah, whoops. One of these days I am going to realize that drinking continuously for 6 hours does make one VERY drunk.

It has been a pretty busy week at work — 2 of the 3 QA folks are doing final verification testing on a large deliverable for Cray, so I’ve been trying to hold down the fort for regular testing. I am quite looking forward to getting a few beers in me, and just relaxing.

On the pet front, I have settled on getting a Border Collie. I am going to be scouring the area for a good breeder and go from there. Now I have to start figuring out how to train it. Weee!

Not much else going on — just pooped. I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Oh wait! There is more! Ha!

So — In case you did not know, I am playing on a volleyball team at the local YMCA (Rec B league). I was pretty rusty to start, but thanks to Kris, Jenny, and Troy, I’ve managed to get back into the swing of things. I even managed to get up and finally hit a good spike or two the last game. Of course I am still blocking a few, but we video taped the last game, so I should be able to refine my TigerStyle.

As random chance would have it, one of the girls on the opposing team was someone I knew in high school. Stephanie Heleckson? Hellgeson? At any rate, it was fun to catch up with her. So starts the efforts of finding cool girls here to be friends with — lord knows my friends are not helping in that category. After the game we (the team, silly) headed to Tiny’s for a few beers. I ended up chillin’ with Kara after Sam, Christy, and Kris took off and chugging a few more Schoonies. It was quite nice getting to chat with her — turns out she is pretty damn cool. Good times, good times.

First off — if you are in the Boston area (Liza!) and want to hang out March 9-13, holler at me. It looks like I’ll be in the area for work those days and I would love to see a few of you again.

Work is treating me well — we are quite busy, but it is not retarded again…yet. I am enjoying a return to just cranking out testing and trying to keep on top of bugs, etc. Hopefully my efforts will pay off, we will fix a few bugs, and then we can get back to all the crazy automation work again.

So, I’ve gotten word that my deposit on the place in CT is being sent soon, so I am getting a dog. I’ve been tossing it around for a few months, and I’m set. I want a dog. It was either that or a new girlfriend, and seeing how both shed, consume food, require love and attention, and can make a mess all over, I am going for a dog. .

At first I was thinking a Wire Haired Fox Terrier like Max, but the more I think about it, I want a more mellow dog. Right now the current obsession is with either a Border Collie or Australian Shepherd. Both are dogs that are quite mellow, don’t shed much if groomed, don’t bark much, are good in the house, and are generally great companion dogs. Kiko says so, and I love Kris & Christy’s dog Sage (heck, I picked him out!). I’m thinking it would be fun to have dog that can play frisbee too, seeings as my frisbee pals are either in D.C (Marcus) or Ottawa (Coop).

Any suggestions ?

So, for now I am just checking the paper for puppies and waiting for that check…

So! It was finally time to have a house warming party at my new place. Pictures, sadly but a few, are up.

First up on the parade of details – Food:

• Roasted Garlic
• Southwestern Rubbed London Broil
• BBQ Pulled Pork
• Spinich Dip (Melanie)
• 7 layer Taco Dip (Mom)
• Assorted Chips, bread and soda

Honorable Mention to Melanie, Koeltzer, Mandy, Kris & Christy for helping out with rubble duty and cleaning.

As it turned out, there were oh, I suppose 30 people here over the coarse of the night. I have to say it was a freaking blast. I got to see almost everyone in Billings I know at one place. It was very nice to have a place large enough and setup to have that many people — not once did it feel overcrowded. I look forward to doing this again this summer, perhaps for some wicked BBQing. Hrm – the driveway is definately large enough for an inflatable pool.

Everyone seemed to have a good time, especially once we busted out Brooke’s gift of Beer Checkers:

Now for the usual bullet list of fun:

• Amount, in square inches, of counter space left open after beer cases were set down: 0
• Number of Full Moon cell phone picutres taken on Melanie’s phone against her wishes: 2
• People who fired up my Harley just for fun: 6
• Approximate start and ending times: 6.30pm and 5.30am
• Overnight guests: 3
• Number of welcome (and planned) overnight guests: 2
• Bags of beer cans, bottles and cardboard cases tossed out: at least 8, you freaking booze hounds
• Amount of food left at 9pm: 75%
• Amount of food left at 2am: 5% . Drunk people get the munchies too.
• Gifts recieved: 4 – Beer Checkers, Candles, Oriental Dragon statuette, Lambic Beer
• Tours of the house give: too god damn many, that is for sure. Next time it is “Hi, glad to see you; Can I take your coat? Make yourselft at home – hey leave the pants on, for godssake”

Friday night was on of the 4 ArtWalks in Billings. I heard about it from Kit, and convinced Matt,Mandy, Kris and Christy to go, albeit Kris grudgingly at first. We managed to hit almost all the galleries, and it was surprisingly fun. I was not that crazy about most of the art, but there were a few pieces that caught my eye. At the Depot Gallery I even found 2 canvas transfers of CM Russel Paintings — one of them is soooo mine next month. It was quite fun to look at the art and talk to the friends — each of them has very different tastes. Some of the pottery was quite fun too — especially since it was Matt and his home studio where I started throwing almost 10 years ago.

After we got done, we headed to the BrewPub for drinks and grub. It was a good time, I even attempted to go and hit on random girls. Apparently I need to work on my game, but it was pretty fun to exercise those muscles again. We drank ourselves pretty silly, then headed to the WildWest for more fun. All I have to say is that shooting Sambuca and Wild Turkey together is a shitty idea. Chasing them with beer is only slightly less retarded.

Oh, where to start…

Ok, first off — I’m cured! Well, almost 100%. I feel tons better thanks to the giant f#$cking Q. I managed to put in a good days work, the first all week. Hopefully I can bust ass tomorrow and really get caught up. Sigh nothing like a week down the toilet.

It was another day of 60F here in Montana, so I took the Harley down to the local Harley shop. I’ve noticed, and so has Kris, that the bike is a bit sluggish, at least compared to what I was used to in CT and Philly. They checked it all out, and said nothing was the matter, that it runs like all the other FatBoys that they sell. Bah I say, Bah! So, now I am contemplating the Power Commander as a way to regain some of the lost tuning. The HD shop guys all say they are worthless, all the posts I can find online sing nothing but praises. I suppose I will just end up coughing up the $300 USD and giving it a whirl. If nothing else, I will have another toy to tinker with — nothing beats hooking a laptop up to the Harley to fiddle with fuel and timing curves. Dyno you say? But of course, a trip to the dyno would be grand!

My Mom has a very cute way of well…getting us kids to come and hang out. We were chatting on the phone, and she said “Come get me, we’ll go to DQ”. “But of course”, I say Turns out DQ was closed, but I managed to get some Taco Bell for the taco hole. Mom got some carmel apple random tex mex word here.

All in all, not a bad day.

So, I must have jinxed myself – my sister, Melanie, and I went out and terrassed the town Friday night. We hit the Billings Hotel comedy night with her friend P.J and P.J’s sister Ole. I love it when parents name their kids after cheap beer. Just says ‘Redneck’ to me.

The lead act was a total douche bag. Here is a hint: If you are white, Mormon and from Boise – DON’T DO STANDUP. Seriously, I’ve met dead people that had better acts. The main act however, was a total 180. This lady had her excrement in a proverbial mound. I don’t think I have laughed that hard in ages. After the comedy was over, we continued to the Wild West to continue the hillarity, otherwise known as Nic dancing. Yes folks, he dances, but only after some serious drinking. Now, I’m not sure if it was the booze or the fact that I am participating in the Great Women in Montana Snipe Hunt, but P.J seemed to be quite cute and could dance. Too bad she has a boyfriend — although, for those of you who know me from Penn — that’s never really stopped me. (Editor’s Note: it was only twice, and both times I was attacked like a 3 legged cat at a dog show).

Well, come Saturday, Karma must have caught up with me, because I’ve caught a nasty cold. It is Tuesday now and I am still reeling from it. It better be gone by Saturday, cause come NyQuil or not, I am drinking my butt off Saturday night. Why you ask? I’ve finally decided that a housewarming party in the new place is in order. This should be good….