Man, it was muggy today! It was just hot, humid, and generally uncomfortable down here in Southern CA. Every time I turned on the radio (AM talk of course) they were talking about how hot it was, and how much power everyone is using. They warned of blackouts and such, telling me that I’m supposed to set my thermostat to eighty-somethig degrees… Now that’s just a bunch of bull if I’ve ever heard it. If I have access to an air conditioner, you better believe that sucker is going to be running to keep me as cool as I want to be. If the power goes out… I’m heading for the car where I can happily direct the vents emitting cold crisp air right into my face.

** as a little side bar I need to let you all know how happy I am to finally have an air conditioner in my car. Janey and I have endured two SoCal summers and a few crazy trips to Vegas with no air conditioning in my car. I was always very intimidated with how much it costs to repair AC systems so I did a lot of diagnosis and testing myself. When I had finally proven to myself that I couldn’t go any further with out specialized tools and training, I broke down and took it to the auto shop. I was so pleased to hear them say “it’s not as bad as you thought it was” I nearly jumped out of my shoes. They did a recharge, replaced a relay, and even did a little extra work on my deteriorating engine mounts all for under $300. For what it’s worth, if your ever in the Anaheim area and need auto service, I now have a favorite shop to send you to.

So lets get back to this weekend:
Yesterday was just as bad as today (as far as temperature goes). But Janey and I managed to make it a pretty swell weekend.

We finally took some time to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2 which I enjoyed quite a bit. I didn’t have the same complaints about it that several of my co-workers did. I think it’s because I went into it just wanting to be entertained. I didn’t want to look too deep for plots, sub plots, and all that other moviephile shtuff. I just wanted to see an action movie with some comedy bits based on one of my favorite Disney attractions. And for that it was wonderful. I was completely entertained the whole way through it. I couldn’t help but be just the slightest bit annoyed with some of the talent… but all-in-all… loved it.

The rest of the day is really a blur for me. Janey and I spent the day just running around town stopping wherever we felt like it. Had lunch at a cute little gas station turned cafe in old town Orange. Stopped by a health food store to pick of a back of some kind of nutritional powder that Janey wanted to try out in her crystal light. And we visited a few little antique furniture stores that are on the same street. (We’ve sort of found a new little past-time – Antiquing… it’s really quite fun)

Today was another lazy day. We went to Barnes and Noble where I read a bunch of stuff that I didn’t want to, then we went to Michaels crafts where I picked up a new fountain pen to play with. I’m having a great time. It makes me feel like I know how to write again. It’s really a skill that I have completely lost over the last few years. I just don’t have any need to handle a pen and paper. I do everything with my computers. But the fountain pen makes me feel good… like I have some sort of connection to the past. Its sort of hard to explain… but I highly recommend having at least one real fountain pen.

When we got back, we had a wonderful dinner of chicken soup Janey had made from scratch. Before we left this morning she came over and put all the ingredients into my crock pot. We came home to a wonderful wonderful home cooked meal. Mmmm

Sort of a random post… but it’s better then nothing 🙂

R.

alright alright… So I know it’s been forever since a good blog entry showed up here. I know that my last post was a half-ass’d-phone-it-in effort (but it was pretty funny right?). So, I’m going to make it up to you dear readers. Because today was a hell of a day.

Let’s start this story by stating one fact. I’ve had a pretty damned good health care package with Disney for some time. I’ve got health, optical, dental, mental wellness, group legal, and every other sort of coverage you might imagine. I even think there is something about “…dismemberment while in the workplace” that has always made me chuckle a little bit. Every time I read it I think of walking by a printer in the office when the paper tray suddenly ejects with such a force as to sever the leg closest to it. I guess something strange could happen when I’m out in the theme parks, it’s just always more fun to think of mundane office equipment attacking it’s operator.

So I’ve always understood that my company offers quite a good healthcare package. It should! I have a good chunk of my paycheck deducted for it every week. This in mind though, you may find my actual usage of those benefits strange. I just don’t use them. Since having all the wonderful coverage I could wish for I have made exactly one visit to an optometrist, one phone call to the group legal folks, and (as of today) one visit to the dentist.

This is where we could break of into a big fat conversation about why I don’t use all the services I’m paying for… but I’m going to stop you right there. The reason I pay for the insurance is simply the peace of mind the comes with it. I don’t feel the need to use all my alloted points, dollars, visits, calls, and such in my given calendar year. What I pay for is the knowledge that when it is time for a man in a white coat to tell me with a furled brow “your octopflopiatal lobe has absessed causing disseminated fibrilation of your fantoids” that all the emergency surgery and sponge baths while I eat mashed up popsicles in a cup are paid for. And until my fantoids start to hurt, I really see no reason to bother my white coated friends. So lets just move right on shall we?

The first 8 hours of the day were nothing out of the ordinary. I put in my hours at work getting ready for a few big events. All prep sort of stuff. Calls, emails, that sort of thing. There was the briefest moment of the day where I think I dosed off in front of my computer, but I’m sure thats just because I was reading the latest something-something our ever-in-touch-with-the-worker human resources department put out. The work day was normal.

Around 3:00 it was time to pick Janey up and embark on a new adventure that, though I would never admit this to Janey, I was a little nervous for. We were indeed on our way to my first dentist visit in my recent memory. My last trip to the DDS must have been over 5 years ago and that one ended up in a root canal. terrible terrible stuff. If it was permissible by society for a fat man to break into tears wincing from pain inflicted by an endodontist intern I believe I would have. But I digress.

Our trip took us to a charming town (read: a little scary) where the dentist we were referred to had a shop behind the gas station in a strip mall with the mexican food place and the dry cleaners. And as we strode up to the door I was heartened to read the sign advertising that my dentist also provides Notary Public services. DAMN, and I left all my legal documents at home! How convenient to get a filling and have a statement notarized all in a lunch hour.

I make fun, but I was actually a little scared. I must be a dentist snob because when I visit a dental office there are certain things I just expect to see. Ficus trees in the waiting room, nice but uncomfortable furniture, a stack of magazines that don’t interest me, and of course a fish tank. This waiting room contained canvas chairs that long should have been replaced, a small magazine stand, a TV on a stand, and a box fan from wal-mart. Despite my reservations I decided to swallow my pride and just let it all happen.

I’m going to fast forward through the mundane parts of the visit and just hit some of the highlights:

The assistant was a little strange and sort of reminded me of a mousey girl that I went to elementary school with. She took my ex-rays and talked a little bit. I’m not sure what she was saying, but I think it had something to do with “cleaning the…”, and thats about all I picked up.

While waiting for the dentist (which seemed to be a very long time as dentists go) I started playing with some of the tools that dangled from various pneumatic arms around my chair. Including, but not limited to: 1) that wonderful dentist light that makes great patterns on the wall when reflected off my Mickey Mouse watch 2) that gun-shaped metal thing with a button for air and water. The air doesn’t come out at a very high pressure, but the water will make it all the way out into the hallway. 3) the spitty sink water button the turns on the little water spout. Unfortunately it seems the drain was clogged and I was forced to find help when the sink nearly overflowed. and finally 4) the latex gloves. There will never be a day in my life that I won’t enjoy using a latex glove as a balloon.

The dentist checked me over and found ZERO cavities!!! can you believe that? I couldn’t. The only work I had to have done was a cleaning and replace a metal filling that I’ve had since before I remember (I guess it was leaking or something).

The sonic cleaning pick thing that she used was obviously invented by the devil himself to inflict the maximum amount of pain possible while performing run-of-the-mill tasks. That bitch hurt.

And so… I think that about sums it up.

I happy to be done with the dentist for another 5 or 6 years (just kidding). But I will try and update the blog more.

See you next time.

We had a great night tonight.  When I got off work Janey and I ran a few errands.  While driving we were batting around what we wanted for dinner and decided it was a great night for sushi.  I’ve become quite partial to a wonderful little Japanese restaurant at the Paradise Pier Hotel called Yamabuki (It’s where janey took me for my birthday last year).  So we stopped in for a fantastic dinner at the sushi bar.

About halfway through Janey actually made the suggestion of stopping by Disneyland when we were through.  Of course I was all over that like white on rice!!  I love going to Disneyland, and I’m always afraid that I will push her over the edge if I ask her to go with me too much.

So a hop, skip, and jump later we were inside the gates of the Magic Kingdom.  We were only there for an hour or so.  Just long enough to take in the atmosphere and go on Haunted Mansion.  Man, I’ll tell you that just a little dose of that wonderful little theme park just does me good.  I know I am there every day, but I don’t take the time to just stop and smell the roses… or vanilla as it were.  That was a little pick-me-up that will keep me going for a while.

Great night… great night.

So my wonderful girlfriend surprised me with a fantastic preasent for my birthday (today).

Thats right friends, it’s the gift that keeps on giving and giving. The entire Monty Python Collection (16 discs!). That includes all 45 episodes of Flying Circus, as well as a bevy of things I’m sure I didn’t even know existed. In fact… aside from the Hollywood Bowl show… I didn’t know they existed.

So I’m in for a few months or so of solid fantastic classic british humor by the masters themselves.

Thanks Janey. Love you.

So, as all six of my regular readers will know, about a month ago I did a big desk cleanup at work. You can read that post to find out about the motivation… What I’m here to do today is give you all an update on how it’s going. This entry was actually inspired by a comment made on that previous post.

So it’s actually been a little more then a month since I dug down to find the grey horizontal cubicle shelf that I refer to as my desk. The fact that I work in a monstrous cubicle farm is a subject I like to gripe about. We’re a creative company… with a decidedly uncreative work area. That, of course, is a topic for another post. For now lets stick with the organization of my little grey box.

For the last month I have actually done very well with keeping the area clean. I’ve received several tips via email by folks who apparently don’t like to comment on my blog. These people have all sorts of tricks they use to stay organized. Even my Mom chimed in with a tip of her own. In the end though, I didn’t heed a lot of the tips… I just sort of did it.

It’s actually taken a lot of real thought to do. The first few days I would find myself instinctively just putting papers on the desk after I’ve read them and moved on to something else. I had to stop what I was doing and remind myself to put it in it’s correct file. Luckily my work is project based so it’s easy to come up with an organization system. Each project has a folder, and each folder has a slot on a desktop folder display/ramp/holder thingy. So in the beginning it was tough, but now I’m kind of on autopilot.

Another tough part was making sure my desk was clean at the end of each day. I work like crazy all day, and it’s really fast paced. so I used to just work right up until my leaving time… then when the clock hit the designated time I dropped what I was doing and left. Now when I arrive I set a little alarm on my cell phone for about 15 minutes before quitting time (changes from day-to-day). When the alarm goes off I start my cleanup. Most days that just means sorting a small stack of invoices, POs, requests, photos, drawings, and other stuff into their folders. Other days it means making sure that my computer desktop is clean of icons as well… all those data documents have a folder too! And if I have somehow gotten my hands on an old fashioned graphite pencil, that day will call for a wipe down of the desk surface (for some reason I can’t hold onto a pencil without writing all over everything and getting graphite shavings everywhere).

I still can’t say that it’s made me any more effective, or more efficient in what I do. But I’m sure it’s nicer for folks who have to look at my desk… And hopefully it looks like I’m totally in control. Of course I will still maintain that it’s nice to show up in the morning to a clean desk, so I guess it does help me capture that hour or so of work I was losing while I got situated in the morning.

I’ll post again about this if anything really comes of it. 🙂

So I just did something that I never do. Well, at least something that I’ve never done before. I actually completed a second reading of an entire book, a novel to boot.

The subject of my determination was “Angels & Demons“, a novel written by Dan Brown. This was Mr. Brown’s first book in what looks to become a series starring the character of Harvard symbolist Robert Langdon. The second book being, the wildly popular, always controversial, and soon-to-be blockbuster movie “The DaVinci Code“. Several fan websites say that Dan Brown is working on a third book, with the same starring character, having to do with American secret societies.

I’m not sure what prompted me to actually read this book a second time. Getting me to read something once would normally take an effort akin to coaxing a proclamation from God, but for some strange reason I just felt like reading. I do go on reading kicks now and again, but being a very critical audience, with an incredibly short attention span, it’s difficult to find a story that doesn’t irritate me to the point of closing the book after the first paragraph. But Dan Brown has a brilliant sense for including the perfect amount of detail without letting it slow the story down. I really love his writing.

He’s got four books and I’d recommend them all. Now go do some reading.

My sister Geina had a healty baby boy this afternoon. As of my last phone call home he didn’t have a name, but I’m sure they’ll get that sorted out soon.

Say hello to…  No Name.

I’ve been knee deep in so many projects that I thought I’d never be able to get back here for an update. But I’m taking some time out this afternoon to make sure you’re all informed.

Things around here are interesting and boring all at the same time. I’m about 99.9% moved into my new apartment. It’s the same size as my old one in the same complex, it’s just been renovated a bit and it’s on the second floor. Those of you who’ve been reading a while might remember that the first floor hasn’t been so good to me. So that’s going well…

Work is picking up like crazy, I’ve got more events than I know what to do with. It’s fun, but a little stressful. Some are big, some are small, but they all seem to be challenging me quite a bit. Also a new project has hit my plate rather unexpectedly. It’s one of those that I can’t give details about online, but it’s a fun brain twister that I’m having a good time with. This special project alone has called for some pretty late nights.

Lets see, what else? Oh, Janey’s new roomie is all moved in and they did a much better job of cleaning up after the move then I did. I’m still living out of crates, bins, and boxes. I imagine I will be till it’s time to do laundry.

And I think that’s it. I know it’s a short update, but hey… at least I’m doing it!

All my life I’ve been a messy person. Not gross messy… like stinky, dirty, don’t-want-to-touch-you type messy, just clutter messy. You could say that an outsider would consider me visibly disorganized (though I will always maintain that my mental file system is quite reliable), and that my friends, is the important note for this conversation. Before I dig in though, lets chat a little more about my history.

When I was young, “messy” meant that my bedroom was very rarely presentable. I left laundry on the floor, toys all over the place, extra pocket change was dropped on whatever horizontal surface was near when I changed my pants, in short I just kind of let things lie. It was not uncommon to have to dig a small hole with my foot before I could step on carpet as I walked across the room. Of course my parents and sisters would get on my case about it, I even remember it coming to a few shouting matches, but I just had no interest in cleaning it up. My ADD just took a hold of my brain and wouldn’t allow me to focus on cleaning. More often then not I would enter my room with the best intentions of cleaning up, but wound up face down in a soft pile of laundry for an afternoon nap!

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