Miser

So today coupled with this weekend have put me into a depressed state. The good boss is gone. The weekend partying was fun but not fabulous. I just feel old. I look old. I look tired. Maybe it’s the stress that’s getting to me. I know champions rise above (so cliché) but now that I’m in the thick of it, all I can think about is getting home to my family. Not busting ass for a company I’m not sure I believe in.

I thought about taking a day off but for some strange reason the idea of making money keeps me more plugged in than it should. It just has been recently and greatly occurring to me that there has been a change. I always wondered when the change happened. Lets face it for most normal young life we are adrift in a sea of optimism. Even those with a jaded front hold onto the gleam yet will deny this till their out of breath. For many of us only childs there comes the optimism that anything is possible. While that is still true. There are days when you feel like this is it.

I’m never gonna break this glass ceiling Im never gonna lose these love handles. I will love, produce and die. Forever a cog in some terrible machine.

Man oh man. Its only day one of this workload and I’m already waxing poetic about the futility of life. Someone get this baby a diaper cause I think he’s full of shit.

In heavy rotation on my Ipod

The Killers – Sams Town
My Chemical Romance – The black parade

Worth a read

I hope you have a great weekend. I don’t have much time write today but I stumbled upon an article from longtime feminist and Radio Talk show host Camille Paglia. It’s so rare to find a Democrat who completely and eloquently can summarize my political views.

Heres the link if ya have the time: http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/10/27/paglia/index.html

Here’s a quote stemming from a brief portion on religion and politics. There’s even more goodness in the link. Happy Friday.

Well, as long as the Democrats are perceived as the anti-religion party, we're going to lose the culture wars……. But religion is absolutely central to this country in ways that Europe's secularized intellectuals fail to understand. I'm speaking here as an atheist who studies religion and respects it enormously. In the history of mankind, the benefits that religion has brought to society in shaping behavior and moral choice are overwhelming in comparison to the negatives, which anyone can list -- like religious wars and bigotry. Without religion, we'd have anarchy.

Religion is also a metaphysical system that honors the largeness of the universe. It's that sense of largeness, which my generation used to call cosmic consciousness, that is missing in the cynical ideologies promoted by the elite universities -- like post-structuralism, which is obsessed with politics and language and has a depressingly debased view of human experience. Post-structuralism doesn't see the stars or the enormity of nature, which for religious people symbolizes God's power. So I think that the constant sniping at religion coming from liberal Democrats is really a dead end.

But there's reason for alarm at the right-wing intertwining of religion and politics, where the Bible is seen as the prophetic master plan of the universe and where Israel as the Holy Land must be protected at all costs from Muslim infiltration -- duplicating the agenda of the medieval crusades. But to claim, as Democrats often do, that there has always been a separation of church and state in America is misleading: The U.S. simply has no official state religion. The formative influence in our intellectual heritage came from Puritan dissidents in New England. Major universities like Harvard and Yale were founded on religious principles.

Am I really that busy!?!?

Guess not, because I had enough time to write this. Hello alts. So as we are currently T minus 6 days and counting until I take over the reigns of a 50 Mill/year companies IT department lets just get it over now and scream that the sky is falling. Every frickin meeting is a new acronym to write down and learn. Not only learn it I have to know it and answer questions relevant to our setup and the topic. And for some reason everyone has turned a blind eye to the fact that I have limited experience in the business or its overall architecture. I guess a confident demeanor goes farther than I thought. I have never been one to wear my true emotions on my sleeve but I can only imagine the look that’s going to be on my face the first time I am in some meeting with the director of operations and it is revealed that the guy holding the fort has rubber legs.

The way the volume of work has been piled on I am beginning to believe that I am already fired and now they are just screwing with my mind. Trying to break me. Sigh, so enough with the pessimism eh lets hit the optimistic switch and begin planning….our…

EXIT STRATEGY

So right now I have got a good story and it occurs to me that I have raised my overall value to prospective employers. What else do employers like hearing more than the guy who got placed outside the box and was then asked to hold the whole show together? It’s definitely a spinnable argument to make and now could be a good time to make it.

Don’t look at me like that…

And for all you friends out there who are do gooders, who in the back of your mind are asking why I don’t just suck it up and take initiative and take charge. Believe me I am doing that. But let’s face facts. This company has seen 5 senior management changes in less than two years time. Often I had wondered about what they are seeing and now that I am getting a taste of that level the warning signs are becoming clear.

The Wisdom of Jarvis Cocker

Help the aged. Because one day they were just as you. Drinking, smoking, sex and sniffing glue.

Bueno Politicos

At this point from mid year elections I would advise simply to turn off the pundits. Find out where the politicians stand and vote from there. Everything will turn to spin and mud from this point forward. Don’t let it get you down. Don’t let it allow you to think of not voting.

It was as if a million voices cried out and then were silent….

So my favorite hobby had been planning a large scale update to the volume of content available in their product. Unfortunately they followed the paths of every other major software distributor and have pushed back their release date. Which is fine by me; more time to keep pushing my alts into a ready for expansion level. Also with the delay goes guild drama as suddenly everyone has a little more reason to return to actively pursuing current content. Also a post January release also means I might actually be able to get some time to enjoy it in the first week.

Final thoughts

1. Admins make surprisingly good money to take lunch orders.
2. If you are backed into a conversational corner by a question dismiss the premise of the argument. This will give you time to regroup your thoughts to address the issue.
3. You can jump whenever you’re told but eventually you’re going to come down.

Correction

So in conjunction with yesterdays post I would like to make a few notes. For one my wife was not totally swayed by the ills of the salesman. In fact once she had been brought up to snuff on my schemes she actually improved the situation by negotiating some free accessories for the new car. So a big kudos to her for the adaptability that she was able to show. Beauty and grace under pressure. Shes the real deal.

If ya don’t know no ya know…

I hope you all took my advice and watched the Bears last night. While not the epic slaughter many including myself had predicted it still proved to be one of the most dramatic games I can remember. I truly believe that if I was a die hard Cardinals fan that I would have plucked my eyes out. Then again maybe they are like Cubs fans nation wide and have leathery thick skin immune to disappointment yet porous to false hope.

Changes….part. XXXIX

So today my boss, my mentor, reveals that he is leaving the company. He gave kind words and an offer to come work for him at a later date. Even still this only means that I will be crushed by a soon coming tide of work and responsibility. I am already mentally preparing myself to try to stand tall. This is a big tree to climb but if I can climb it the rewards could be great. Stay tuned and stay attuned.

Happy Tuesday.

~B

Mission Accomplished

So after a month of work and complaining about work through blog I can finally say that the days of 1 car living are officially over. ‘Twas truly a sinister month and I’m glad to see it in the rearview mirror of my new 2007 Pontiac G6. As is the only question you ever ask beyond car details, “how was your sales experience?’ Well to be honest it wasn’t too bad. The only moment that truly became awkward was when the sales person tried to get us into a lease.

I swear to God the sales persons overall disposition changed it appeared that suddenly she became very tired, very ragged very sweaty. I wondered for a moment if I put on the same veneer when I have been trying to land a company initiative with a mark. Even worse suddenly my wife begins to side with the sales person. HA!! So I pull Tif to the side and beg her to follow my every lead from this point forward. I know the game I did sales for almost five years. I know what I want in this deal and I know that no where in that lies a car lease.

At a last attempt the sales person tells me that every time my credit gets checked it drops my credit score 5 points. So now I’m thinking of walking out as under her logic when I bought my home my credit dropped no less than 100 points as I shopped my credit to tons of banks while looking for the best deal. Much to her dismay I keep a pretty healthy tab on my credit score and found no reason to be worried. I called her on the lie thinking it would get me on a faster track to the finance officer.

For her last …Last trick she tried good old fashion guilt. She gets on the phone to “someone” and lets them know that she TRIED to offer us the best deal but we had declined and were requesting that we wanted to go with straight financing. I inform my wife to keep signing the finance papers. Sigh…

Anyways our credit gets run we go in to talk to the finance manager and we have a nice time. Making sure to hit them up for every refreshment offered. New rule: If you don’t walk out of a dealership without having drunk at least two liters of soda you did not spend enough time negotiating!!! Minor rate/bank/down payment negotiation drops the price even more and lo and behold I make it out of there with payments right in my range and a dependable car that the wife can beat up for the next 5 years.

So it is nice to actually feel like you pulled off a win once in a while. My inner cynic still tells me I was duped and I probably was to some extent, they are sales professionals for a reason. But getting that car into my price range regardless of what they made on the deal is still a win.

The battle still continues…

So no rest for the wicked. As we still have a home that needs heat. I dropped forty bucks on a space heater so at least the bedroom holds some comfort. I’m currently still trying to go through the friend of a friend route in the hopes that it’s a minor issue like an igniter or hell maybe a switch that needs to be flipped to the appropriate setting. Just to prove I am a nerd I researched the model online and started reading through the product manual. Unfortunately this only confirmed that I am not mechanically adept. So it looks like we’ll need a technician shortly as I am too much of a paranoid kid to keep using this space heater.

Da Bears!!

Oh I need this day to pass quickly so I can get a comfortable spot on the couch, some hot pizza and maybe a beer or two and watch what should be an absolute massacre tonight on Monday Night Football. I haven’t quite bought into the hype yet as our local radio stations are full of pundits spouting about a perfect season. However I will say that if you have abstained from fully committing to sports team now is your chance. The Bears are that good and the rest of the NFC Central is THAT bad. So playoffs should be locked by weekd 10 or 11. If you don’t want to be counted with the number of those that true fans tend to deplore I would buy your Urlacher jersey now and paint your face in orange and blue before confidently striding into work tomorrow.

News

Is the evening news worth watching to any of you? I know my age demographic seems to prefer there news to come from Comedy Central. Didn’t we have some sort of controversy last week? Man that died quick. Those involved and those who were directly or indirectly burned by recent scandals laid out a blue print for all to see on how to make a touchy situation disappear fast. I see it as this:

1. Acknowledge - (my bad)

2. Action - (the problem has been sent away)

3. Dismiss - (the problem does not exist any more now lets stop discussing)

I’m sure opposite party members would like this little drama to have played out until election date. They just fired their round too quick. Bad timing. Bad everything. Damage is done. Blast pattern had a solid radius but really there should have been greater collateral damage. Did north Korea run the PR on this? They seem good at creating dud bombs. Clearly the republicans are getting better at the art of firefighting. So whats next? Only time will tell but I personally feel a little dismayed that we saw the “November surprise” in early October. Now all we have left is random mud throwing.

The Wisdom of Gnarles Barkley

I wouldn’t call it schizophrenia but I’m at least two people a day.

Things to watch while you wait for the next season of The Shield…

There aren’t too many reasons to subscribe to Showtime. In fact the only reason I stumbled upon this show was through complaining about poor service to my provider. Showtime is essentially HBO without the new premiers, relevant movies, relevant series or quality boxing. However I think they have a little gem on their hands with this show called DEXTER. It is the heartwarming tale of a man who works in the forensics department of the Miami police department. Oh by the way he’s a serial killer.

It’s a lot of very dark humor as they make Dextor very likable right off the bat by having him kill a child molestor and murderer. Dextor is a monster in every way. He enjoys being a witness because going to the courthouse gives him new opportunities to find victims. Of course he the total anti hero that a lot of us geeks love. The writing is good with a lot of wink wink nudge nudge jokes thrown in there. Especially when the cops visit new crime scenes and dexter starts ranting about how beautifully done the kill was. Meanwhile all the cops around him give each other sideways glances.

Tons of funny and lots of thought provoking material regarding the idea of truth versus justice. Check out “Dexter” on showtime. But avoid their show “weeds”. Any show that warrants a guest visit from snoop dog means that they are just pretenders.

Links to make you…

Herb: Father, Gamer, Agent

Words from a wise man that I respect and work with through one of my favorite hobbies. I agree with him completely on the topic of late night miracle pills. I will however contend that the diet pills offered in a lot of those ads are great sources of energy. And while they will do nothing to help you lose weight they do a LOT to getting your mind lit up and fully aware in a matter of a half an hour. Can’t imagine how people run or work out on that stuff though. 2 pills would make my heart pound out of my chest. Can’t imagine what would have happened if I had been doing anything more than studying.

Final Thoughts

Man God bless ya if you’re still reading through all this….

1. Optimism is the hard part. Cynicism is the 8 hours watching tv while eating potato chips.
2. The government does not trust you to make decisions for yourself.
3. Don’t be afraid just because the TV tells you to.
4. Always support your armed service men and women.
5. Conan O’brien is till the best late night talk show host.

Stalled

Once more a big congrats to J and his upcoming bride.

So this looks like its going to be a disjointed post as my life is currently in a state of limbo. Which is always better than a drunken free fall, but not quite as exciting. Just as the need for a new car issue begins we also discover that the heat in my house has cashed in its 401k and headed to a warmer climate. So its double the fun right now. Man just writing that put me in a grumpy mood.

Which brings me to my latest quest….

Where the hell do I find money to pay for this crap…..

First off I refuse:

1. To take money from friends or relatives, (funds totaling more than $50)

2. To get any amount of credit card debt beyond what I can pay off in a month

3. To touch my retirement funds

So we need a car and it appears that we will need about $2,000 in down payment to cover. The last two friends who had heating issues averaged out to around $2,300 in repairs.

So lets game plan…

Priority (Car vs. Heat)

Not having a car sucks right now because:

1. Gas bills up 25%
2. Primary car now driven twice as much a day (depreciation)
3. 3 Hours spent in traffic a day due to carpooling situation

Not having heat right now sucks because

1. Its cold at night

Ok so clearly the heater issue can wait till the end of the month until we have the car situation worked out and before it becomes brutally cold.

Decision made, were getting a car.

Taking the hit…

So in preparation to lose 2 grand worth of disposable income:

1. Trim the fat; looks like I am going to give up smoking at work, and start bringing my lunches. Expected weekly savings: $22
2. Re-examine current contracts: Found a promotional discount for my sprint plan enabled immediately. Weekly savings $5

Suddenly you have an extra $100 a month

Now I am not going to lie and say that the non cig smoking and home lunch taking are definitely going to happen. But the point is the funds are there it just depends on what I am willing to give up.

Happy Wed folks don’t let the world get ya down.

~B

A Smattering of News

Jayson is back for another round of this blog thing.

So, I got engaged just over a week ago. It is really sweet, but I'm more looking forward to the wedding than I am looking forward to the planning part. Check out White Collar Moxie for all the details.

Jayson's Sports Talk

Brandon may like to talk about baseball and football, but I bring a slightly different sport to the table. It was birthed by America's neighbors to the north, and it coincidentally is the greatest sport on the face of the planet, with the exception of Jai-Alai. The NHL season kicked off last Wednesday, and my boys the Maple Leafs are off to a rough start at just 1-1-1, but they did shut out the Senators the other day, so they really are 3-0 in my mind. I joined a couple fantasy hockey leagues on Yahoo!, and I'm not doing so hot, but I'm having fun, and that's what really counts, right?

The Departed

I went and saw Scorcese's latest opus, The Departed on Friday night. It was really good. Leave the kids at home, though. When they say 'pervasive strong language', they aren't kidding about the pervasive part. Nicholson, Damon, Di Caprio, Baldwin, and Marky Mark all turned in a superb jobs in the acting department. Also, it's really nice to see that Scorcese can still make the mob films like no one else. Yak, if you read this, go see this movie, you will enjoy it.

Jai-Alai

Maybe you read my earlier comment about Jai-Alai and asked yourself, "Jayson, what is this Jai-Alai you speak of?". Apart from the weirdness of asking yourself a question directed at me through a computer monitor, I will tell you what it is by posting a quote from this website:

The world's fastest sport, Jai-Alai, offers more excitement, more action, more thrills and more fun than any sport in the world. This fast paced games stands alone on the merits of it's agile athletes who hurl a rock-hard ball, back and forth, at speeds up to 150 miles per hour! But, when one adds the dimension of wagering, with the opportunity to win up to $10,000, jai-alai becomes the ultimate sport!

So, there you have it. It is fast and people bet on it, making it the ULTIMATE SPORT.

One very bad thing

Behold your elitist American pig infidels!! I’m Brandon and welcome to the countdown to thirty.

Auto Erotica

So after 12 years of service my second car chugged its final sip of gasoline. Ah yes this 94 saturn poorly named the golden rocket will no longer be carrying me about for all the random tasks you use a second car for. So what does the loss of one car equal? 3 hours of total drive time a day for me, up from 1 hour. Also there is this fine gas bill that now is twice as much. Darn you suvs, for all your conveniences you still forget to appropriately regulate fuel consumption. So that situation is no fun but it does bring up the better topic of negotiating my new chariot with the ilk known as salesmen. You know if you look into their eyes you can see an all consuming darkness? That is because they sold their soul. For a good deal 9 point markups above dealer invoice.

Any how looks like I am going to have to sack up for this weekend and try to coerce my way into a deal.

Nerd Humor

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

BWAHAHAHAA.....

Happy Friday

~B

4 Good things

How was your weekend? Mine saw 3 people I know and 1 person I love getting engaged and a big round of congrats go out to all of them. These are big steps in your life and I am happy that you chose to make them.

Also found out that the power of modern medicine reigns supreme as all it takes is 5mg of some concoction to keep my blood flowing smoothly through my veins. My cholesterol dropped 60 + points in just a month. Screw you diet and exercise! Give me science to cure my ills. Now I wonder why I spent 3 months out of my life eating rabbit food. Oh sure the weight loss and added energy were great but that life style went against everything my racial heritage stands for. Now I just need to pick up a velour track suit and some gold chains and I will be set to enter retirement.

Sports

Take heart cubs fans as now you get to find a new reason to suck. Sure Dusty was a pariah manager but if you had to work in that organization you would be too. And good luck to whatever form of poor schlub that gets placed in that cave. At this point fans would get Ronny Woo Woo in there and call him baseball jesus. Such is the life of the cubs fan and one of the MANY reasons I do my best to not associate with that form of yuppie trash.

In relation to teams that actually may be worth a damn. Go bears!

Bueno Politico!!

So we finally have gotten our first good scandal of the midterm election as it has come out that some dude was trying to hit up his page boy. A disgusting allegation and I cling firmly to the resolve that if he is found guilty that he should be incarcerated at 26^th and California for the majority of his remaining years. What is really interesting here is the timing of this whole affair. How long was this known about? Who had access to these private messages and from what point did they chose to come forward? That’s where the real story is but even these details will get lost in the blood bath. Rightfully so of course if he is guilty. It just is always funny how these things seem to come out at such inappropriate or should I say overly appropriate times.

Sports cliché to make you feel motivated until you stop.

Amateurs practice till they get it right, professional practice till they can’t get it wrong.

Sean Connery is better than you….

Was accidentally killed on set of the movie Highlander. Found three days later covered in dirt at a bar drinking sailors under the table. Claimed he was just method acting.

Spammer Poetry

PE enriching by sjlnxnt@csoft.net

asual discussed swingers country.
lacks drama largely facing huge declines
Europe East Asia fallen helped
maintain overall poverty.
infant unseen anywhere else developed world.
averaging slightly apiece average woman.
mask trends different abroad

Happy Tuesday

B 100