half a cat

Duuuuuuuuude, Harley season is sooo near. Not quite, but it was close damn enough to bust out the long johns and leather again today and ride the bike into work. If I get to ride my HD into work most days this summer, boy does commuting not sound like such a bad thing

The ride this morning was a bit chilly — I decided to forego the helmet option, I figured it was warm enough I really didn’t need face protection. Dumb idea 40F at 60 mph is a bit cold. It wasn’t so bad after ~5 min, I either got used to it or my face whent numb. The speed limit between Auds & work is 50 mph, and in MN that means 55mph minimum. I was more than happy to oblige! I’m looking forward to chowing my lunch at my desk and getting out for a nice noon-time ride today, might as well get it while I can.

The day starts well….

What a great weekend. Saturday was a marathon shopping day (yes, I do feel a bit odd admitting that) - craft show with the girls, then to a very near closed stained glass supply shop — they were selling the shelves, to the Pinball Warehouse, then another 40 minutes north to the biggest damned furniture store I have ever seen.

The pinball warehouse was just the coolest — seriously. They probably had ~25 refurbished machines on the floor and you could play most of them for free. There was an Indiana Jones game that totally tripped my wicket but at 3100 bucks, I’m going to have to save for a bit. They also had an older Star Wars machine that was still living up in storage that was only ~1900. Portana drooled, I could see it. I’m thinking once I pay off the credit cards and get my eyes laaaazered…yeah, pinball machine. Or Tivo Series 3 — it is a race to see if the v3 comes out in time… Oh sweet sweet dual HDTV tuners and cable card…ahhhh!

The furniture store was fun — an astonishing collection of stuff. Portana and I managed to find a end table and coffee table set that will go well with our newly purchased sofa & loveseat — but not before a Battle Royale was had. We agreed on the wood, but it has beveled glass inserts which I am less than fond of — we agreed we could get marble or granite tiles cut and use those instead. We really only wanted the one end table, but as it was in the “outlet” wing of the store, it came in a 2 table & coffee table set. Frass. Portana is dead set (and for good reasons) against having a coffee table in front of the T.V, so her & Aud had to beat me about the head and neck to convince me that it will make a good T.V stand. I compromised…we shall see Aud managed to make a pretty good haul — lamp tables, curio and appolstered chair (wing back? too many seen to remember) to match her new sofa.

We had left at around 10 am that morning, returning around 8 pm or so — tired, very tired. It was a good tired though — a great day of getting things done, but boy was sleep welcome

I awoke Sunday with the grand intentions of being a bum. There was NAPCAR and College Hoops to watch, other T.V to surf in the meantime and I made some mean coffee to start things off. I was doing well with my “Day o Laziness” until around 11am where apparently the Wild Hair started sprouting…it was 40F+, why not wash up the Harley and get out for a ride. There is never a good answer to that…other than yes A quick trip to the storage unit for leathers and helmet later, I was off to the self-service car wash to give the bike a good warshin’. It was pretty filthy — 1000 miles of bugs and road grime, not to mention moving dirt. Thankfully some “pre-soak” and a nice pressure washer later - no bugs! I tooled around (including a nice rear tire roasting coming out of the carwash — god bless a little water and cleared the cobwebs out of the motor. Boooooy is having real air again nice, Hello Msrs Horsepower and Torque, oh look there is your tag-a-long Mr Adrenaline. I boogied home to give Portana a call so we could get out together and enjoy some V-Twin Therapy. We checked out the local HD dealership for a bit, then motored over to Champs for a NAPCAR & Basketball grubbin. Not sure if it was being tired or what, but that ride home was a bit chilly. We both passed out pretty quickly on the sofas watching the race…damn you Rubberhead.

That about does it for the weekend — there was a small battle with Auds furniture (moving it out to the garage to make way for the new stuff), but other than that — crashed I’m reqlly looking forward to this Saturday - we should have the movers, the cable t.v feller, and the new sofa & loveseat all in one day. Wow, what a whirlwind weekend this will be Oh yeah, supposed to be in the 50s this weekend…soooo going out riding again.

Ok with the lists, but I’m feeling lazy and am going to amuse you with this one… Good times…good times.

1. My roommate and I once: Plotted to get a feret stoned and then roll him around in that plastic ball thingy.
2. Never in my life have I: Wanted less.
3. The one person who can drive me nuts, but then can always manage to make me smile is: Mom. She knows all the stupid buttons to push, but is a super awesome person.
4. High school was: painful, but with lots of loose women and drugs.
5. When Im nervous: I talk. A lot.
6. The last time I cried was: a long time ago — I know I have, just don’t remember details or the dates.
7. If I were to get married right now my bridesmaids/groomsmen would be: On a sailboat in the Mediteranean.
8. Would you rather run naked through a crowded place or have someone email your deepest secret too all your friends? It’s Nekkid Time. I’d probably walk for the fun of it.
9. My hair: always great. Good genes.
10. When I was 5: I broke my arm.
11. Last Christmas: Super great — too many reasons to state.
12. When I turn my head left: I see my Aunt snoozin on the sofa.
13. I should be: working out more.
14. When I look down I see: a laptop…duh.
15. The craziest recent event was: Celebrating a new job like a freakin’ rock star. 8 Manhattans do not make for a pleasant morning — for you or your babysitter.
16. If I were a character on Friends Id be: Ross and Chandler cross.
17. By this time next year: I want to own a pinball machine.
18. My favorite Aunt is: Audrey - she’s letting us mooch !
19. I have a hard time understanding: Stupid and Illogical folks. Like wiping before you poop…
20. One time at a family gathering: I was fed a whole bar of exlax and I had to take ownership of the only #2 bathroom in the entire facility. I soooo owe those cousins some payback…
21. You know I like you if: I don’t punch you.
22. If I won an award, the first person(people) Id thank: My Dog. It’s funny.
23. Take my advice: You are going to die.
24. My ideal breakfast is: nekkid time!
25. If you visit my home town: You will wonder how the hell you ended up on the other side of the Twilight Zone. Dooodoodooodooo.
26. Sometime soon I plan to visit: Philly, No Dak
27. If you spend the night at my house: You best not keep me up or wake me up.
28. Id stop my wedding if: I sobered up.
29. The world could do without: Rules, packaging, urban sprawl and stupid people.
30. Id rather lick the belly of a cockroach than: Have sex with a gorilla, close but taking the cockroach.
31. The most recent thing Ive bought myself is: New Cell phone. Freakin’ Raaazor baby.
32. The most recent thing someone else bought for me is: Dinner & booze — tanks babe!
33. My favorite blonde is: The fantatic bombastic incredible Portana!
34. My favorite brunette is: Portana!
35. My car must have a sign on it that reads: Greenpeace approved.
36. The last time I was drunk: working on a good one right now. Mmmm Port.
37. The animals I would like to see flying besides birds: Dogs, I bet that would be funny.
38. I shouldnt have been: so bad with money in college.
39. Have you ever shaved your pubic hair? No, but it was removed in other ways.
40. Last night I: Watched basketball and cooked Elk fajitas.
41. Theres this girl I know who: is scaring me at work. You are old and annoying, leave me alone.
42. I dont know: Where I’d like to live in the Twin Cities permanently.
43. A better name for me would be: nothing, names are irrelevant.
44. If I ever go back to school Ill: get my Masters.
45. How many days until my birthday?: lots, it is in December.
46. One dead celebrity I wish Id met is: Teddy Rosevelt or Abe Lincoln.
47. Ive lived at my current address since: little over 3 weeks.
48. Ive been told I look like: Conan, and you can bite me.
49. If I could have any car, it would be: Aston Martin Vanquish. Duh.
50. If I got a new cat tomorrow, I would name it: Balls. A small reminder that I have none and caved into getting a cat.

Life has been pretty sane lately, just continuing to settle into a eat-sleep-work-poo routine that is suiting me quite nicely. It does feel like I’m in stasis a bit — there is only so much that you can do and relax when staying in someone else’s house without a majority of your stuff. I never realized how much I enjoy Ms Tivo — watching live T.V sucks balls. I’ve been missing the dog a bit too, I’m really looking forward to cleaning up poo and playing frisbee too. He would be SO much fun to take on runs here, something I need to get back doing quite soon.

Work continues to be fun, I am just flat enjoying the work. Just ask Portana, I’m sure I babble on and on about it People here are super nice, smart as hell, and reasonable. Whodathunkit! I even have a picture and plant in the office now.

I do find myself missing the fam, amazing how much fun we had hanging out this last year. I’m kinda bummed that I’ve yet to give the sister a hug for the engagement, not to mention seeing The Rock. It has got to be fun to say X carats vs X of a carat. Nice! Sisters: You are visiting me this summer, no excuses!

Friends: Yeah, that is going to be the tough one here. I absolutely dig my friends from MT, real salt of the earth* folks who know how to do things, can drink like no others, and are genuinely great folks. I tend to avoid computer people, so making “friends” with people here at work doesn’t have a nice ring to it — not to mention I’m a good 10-15 years younger than the average bear here. I do hope that warmer weather and riding the Harley might be good for meeting folks, it would be nice to get a few new friends here.

The girl: She rocks, just sayin’! You so get the GFOTY.

Getting fat. Egads. Between the Aunt and the Portana, I’m gonna get FAT. Cake, ice cream, pizza, more ice cream, eclairs, good god. Soon as it starts getting warm enough to jog in the mornings (like tomorrow?) I’m starting. I’m not loosing all the hard work from the past year towards looking good. Buggers!

Productivity..oh yeah, time to work! Hey, shouldn’t you be working too — get back to it slacker!

• Salt of the earth is actually an old saying from the time when wars were started over salt. Meaning real gems or valuable chunks. I like valuable chunks

One of the funniest things I’ve read in a while. Salmon day and swamp donkey! In the spirit of things I’ve added a few of my own:

• Muffin Top Fat (sorry, horizontal constrainment challenged) girl in tight pants, where as her squishy middle parts roll over the pants.

• DINK Double Income, No Kids. The blissful blissful life lead by “young professionals”. Sorry Coop, no more DINK for you.

• Heisenbug A computer programming error that goes away when you add code to help fix it.

• Histerical Raisins The not so logical reasons for current behavior or situation

• Sweaty Chunky girl in summer. Sorry.

• Slow-brained mutant Genetically challenged folks who just don’t run at the same clock speed as the rest of us.

• Mental midget 500 The race that ensues going to and from work where the physically challenged attempt to kill you through vertical lane changes and refusing to use the mirrors or blinkers on their vehicles.

• Playing Chewbacca Where somone uses you to talk a problem through and therin solving the issue just by thinking it through out loud. Your only job is to grunt and say “see you later”.

• Sleighing One of my favorites from college. As in “Sleigh her like a Reindeer”. Classic

Huh, that is all I have for now. I’m gonna work on this ….

So, I’ve been a Bad Person(tm) again and not kept the world updated on my running amuck here, so here come the quickies!

• I moved. Woot! We spent a couple of nights using the pickup to move Portana’s stuff over to my place and packing up my place. This wasn’t too bad, sure gave me something to do:) The movers showed up Wednesday (March 1st) to pack up the kitchen, living room, “other stuff” and load up the truck. It took most of the day until they were done, but MAN is that the way to move. I would most certainly recommend Mayflower — they rock. I drink coffe, walk around with the dog, and watch. Yes — I was “that” guy, but feck it — I’m paying for it! Ok, well the new job is paying for it…but still. Bogart got a massive PetSmart shopping trip for chew toys, food, and an airline crate for the trip out here. It was hard to leave him at Mom’s, but I know my niece will wear him out daily — I’m sure he is enjoying that!

• Housecleaning fun. Yeeeah. I’m never going to be able to do that for a living. I must be the Slowest Cleaner Ever. I spent a good 2 days working through the house, through a recockulous checklist from El Landlordo. Clean the wall behind the fridge? I think NOT. At any rate — lots of dusting blinds, washing windows (inside only, honestly…), mopping and repairing any damage. Thanks to Landon & Kris for doing some drywall putty work on the office (whiteboard) and the garage door (lonely dog) - that helped a ton. I also had to remove 2 tubes of silicon adhesive from the office wall where I tried to use it to hang the whiteboard before I went all collapsing-molly on it. Fun, in that proctologist sort of way. Super big thanks to Sister Melanie and Jeff — they helped me out Friday afternoon to take the biggest turds out of the house before the looming rental inspection. Heh, sometimes it is a really good thing to flirt — it works for boys too! It also helps when you used to party with the girls doing your move out inspection. I’m going to get dinged for the professional cleaning of the carpets, but other than that — clean bill of health. Good thing they missed the fireplace I didn’t clean out

• The drive, at a Greenpeace approved 8 mpg. Immediately after getting the move out inspection, Jeff & I loaded up a 5×8′ UHaul (should be called U Damage) trailer that was going to house all the “non-allowables”. Freezer with an entire Elk, propane bottles for brewing, toolbox, my clothes, boxes of kitchen foods, bathroom stuffs, garage chems, etc. You get the picture… oh yeah, and the box of toilet paper and kleenex, damn good thing that wasn’t on the truck…honestly. I did a quick run to get the drycleaning, kiss the g/f good-bye, and on the road I go. So…yeah. I wasn’t quite aware just how much crap I’d crammed into the trailer, but it was very quickly made evident. Taking off & stopping were much slower, but not like it was out of the abilities of the Brown Beast. Once out on the road, I managed a fair clip — 65mph or so but big hills would really cause me to stuff my foot into the gas and I’d slow down to 55 or so. Not that bad, when you think about it. I did notice the truck running ~ 10 or 15 degrees warmer than usual and over the course of the trip I managed to burn 2 quarts of oil. I’m thinking the oil temp was a bit higher than normal and coupled with the truck running really hard was breaking down the lube. I managed Dickenson, ND that night, hit the Quality Inn there for some MUCH needed sleep. Off the next morning, quick stop to hug the grandparents and hauling arse across ND. I don’t want to do that trip EVER again by myself. Sucketh to the 9th degree. I had to stop twice for a powernap, it was just too damned boring. Long story short, I made it to Apple Valley Saturday evening in time for dinner, 300 some odd dollars in gas poorer.

• Staying at Aunties. Quick praise to the Hotel de Huber. We have a big screen T.V, plenty of parking, a super comfy bed and very nice place to act as the Base of Operations for the next month. I’m trying my best to clean up, cook and generally be a non PITA. A boy can dream, no ? The location is treating me well too — just over 11 miles and 15 minutes to work.

• Started new job. Woot Cray! I got settled quite quickly into the new office (pictures coming once I “decorate”). Lots of really nice and interesting folks here that are quite interested in picking my brain ala Lustre. I managed to track down & find the source for a very critical customer issue with Lustre too. That was FUN, and it is quite cool to be doing this all again. I’ll have to expound more on the folks here, but I’ll sum it up by saying I’m a VERY happy camper in the new job.

• Portana arrives and non too soon! Her drive was much the same, except for making 4x the gas mileage It was kinda amusing how it is taking us a few days to get into a rhythm again. We’ve not really been able to just hang out and enjoy some sane company for quite a while now. It is really nice just to start having fun again! It is fun to have someone to annoy and spoil here again!

• Found new place. It is always nice to find a place nice and early! We are going to be in lovely Rosemount. Yes, yes out in the burbs — some would say way out. Bite me It is a nice 11 mile or 20 minute drive to work, and really only 30-35min to downtown. The house is fantastic - friggin huge back yard, 3 car garage, super new and fantasmic kitchen, big deck, and a nice double bathroom. We likely. Parties shall be had! For the really curious, check out this link . Not sure how long that will be valid, but I’ll post some pictures once we move in. It looks like the Big Day will be April 1st, (ha! ha! um…yeah) - just need to get the movers to unload our stuff now!

• Getting settled. Finally. I’m petering out here, but life is settling into a nice routine of wake up, shower & eat, work (free coffee, etc) come home, dinner and nice relaxing evenings. It is good to be me. I promise more updates soon!