Wow, I've been neglecting the blog. Which, when I look at that sentence brings to mind way too many jokes. Anyway, I haven't posted recently because of all the stuff that's been going on. Hmmm, where to begin... I guess Saturday since the last day I posted was Friday.
On Saturday we headed out to Mitch's parent's house. They live in the country on a farm. Sounds scenic. It is, and very distant from the bustle of city life in Pittsburgh. As soon as we pulled in the driveway my cell phone went, "Beep, no service," just as a cow mooed. I guess the cow isn't all that unusual since they live on a dairy farm. Anyway, upon arriving I headed up to the hay mow in the barn to play dek hockey. An allergist's worse nightmare. After an hour or so of this I was sufficiently winded...okay almost dead. We headed into the house for some food and then the football game started. I haven't played tackle football since...um...ever. Since Kate, the only girl, wasn't opting for the two-hand tab I figured I couldn't either. The first three plays involved my head. The first two my head bounced off the ground and in the third the ball bounced off my head, courtesy of Tom. After an hour or so of this form of torture we were ready to celebrate what we were all there for in the first place. Mitch has finally become a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and had a birthday along the way. So after we ate cake and Mitch wore cake we settled down to a nice game of canasta and then headed home.

Sunday dawned and I wasn't dead so I got up and worked around the house in preparation for the guests coming to the house Monday night. After the majority of the day's activities were over, I settled down in my leather recliner to watch the Nascar race. The race was about half over and I was about half asleep when I heard a knock on the door. I opened the door and there were Joe and Dwight. Joe looked at Dwight and said, "See I told you." Apparently they knew that I would not only be home, but in the living room watching Nascar. I'm either that reliable or that predictable. We hung out and talked of all sorts of things and then later on played canasta. I learned one very important thing between the two evenings of card playing. "House rules mean the difference between winning and losing." However, I compensated and Joe and I made a huge comeback at the end of at least enough to support the ego.

Monday was Terri's birthday. We called off sick and spent the day tackling little projects around the house. I finished making the cake and mowing the lawn. I know, anyone who has seen either the lawn or my cakes know that those aren't little projects. However, they got done. Monday night we had people over for cake. Glen, Amy, Niki, Tony, Mitch, Kate, Tom, and Tiff. It was the first time Niki and Tony had seen their Christmas present from 2002, (don't ask). Niki was terrified. Something will have to be worked out I think. We also finally got to see the end of Porn 'n Chicken. Again, it's probably better if you don't ask. Oh, and Happy Birthday dear.

Tuesday rolled around and it was out sick again. We did absolutely nothing productive. I started re-reading the Stephen King book, "It." Tom had lent me the DVD and the commentary talked of several things that I didn't distinctly remember. So, I bumped a re-read past all of the novels that I actually haven't read yet. I guess I'm allowed to do that, it just seems bad in my mind. My library is overflowing with things that I want to read. And, I have several book lists that I'm attempting to work off of. However, I did read this once and it was a nice read so I think it'll go faster. The first time I read the book was for a 7th grade book report so it's been a good number of years. I had forgotten how quickly I could read if I just sat down and read instead of trying to fit it in amongst all of the other things going on in my life. Maybe writing would be the same way. One Day.

Now it's Wednesday and I'm back at work. Amidst all of the jokes that I had SARS was a pile of work that multiplied as the morning wore on. Apparently I'm the office bitch when it comes to the English language. Which, is midly ironic since I usually try to rebel against all of those wonderful grammer rules. Maybe I really am anal and everyone around me is right. Probably not.

All the hockey series stand at 2 to 1. Two of the four are even going my way.

I think that's all for today, at least for now.
Oh, and a very belated Happy 1st Birthday to Morgan Lee.

Damn. I went out to procure a Mother's Day gift on behalf of the family for my Grandmother and the whole time I was out with Terri I kept thinking that I was missing something. After I quick check, I realized I had my pants, but I still couldn't shake that feeling. We got home, put some stuff away, and finished watching the movie, Rat Race and went to sleep. This morning when I got into work, I found an e-mail from Mark saying that the overtime hockey games were killing him. All at once it hit me that I missed both of the opening games of the second round of the Stanley Cup.
The Ducks won their 5th straight (first against Dallas). It took them into the 5th overtime to do it. 5 overtimes and I slept through all of it without even realizing what was going on.
And, New Jersey won again. Hopefully Tampa can repeat their winning ways. I'd love to see New Jersey knocked out in the second round.
Now, even with my hockey disappoint, Today was a decent day. Not too stressful, no one really bothered me until the afternoon. Someone in the office has it in their head that just because I'm writing the instruction manual for the office, I'm a good one to teach the new people. My mom is a teacher by trade, but I lack her enthusiasm for the job. I'll train, but all things being equal, I'd rather be slacking. So, I lost a good portion of my afternoon to training. I'm still supposed to be periodically checking in on her, but seriously...how much work actually gets done at 4:00 on a Friday afternoon?
Another bright spot are all of the articles that are being generated about the Washington Capitals. They took a huge loss this year, got knocked out of the playoffs in their usual style and now the wild speculation that Ted Leonsis might not welcome back Jaromir Jagr is just wonderful. Unlike many Pittsburghers who despise Jagr simply because he left, I decided long before the exit that Jagr wasn't the player he was made out to be. He is a talented hockey player, there is no doubt about that. World class talent most definitely. However, most talented player in the world...not a chance. Not even top 5 in my opinion. So, I was happy to see him go and happy to see everyone else begin to realize what I've known for a long time. I've already prepared myself for the New York Rangers line of Alexei Kovalev, Eric Lindros, and Jaromir Jagr with Kovalev playing on his off wing so Jagr doesn't cry. And, they'll still be 5 points out of the playoffs.

Um, just in case anyone reads my e-mail anymore...welcome. hope you all enjoy.

One thing I forgot to post today, and I'm hesitant to draw attention to it, is a McDonald's commerical I saw last night. Normally I wouldn't eat McDonald's if they delivered right to my desk and paid me to have lunch. However, I have to give credit to the ad people. They came up with a commercial that made me laugh so hard my wife came downstairs to make sure I was ok. The commercial starts off very innocently. A shy little boy makes his way over to a group of girls standing outside a school. He asks very nicely if the cute little blonde girl wants to go with him to McDonald's. She turns him down flat, getting his name wrong in the process. When he corrects her she blows him off again. At that moment, looking better than I've seen her in years, Tiffani Thiessen walks up and says that she'd love to go. Everyone turns in amazement as she says, "McDonald's and a guy like you? A girl would have to be crazy not to go." The little blonde girl hangs her head as Tiffani and the little boy walk away. Out of earshot the little boy looks up and says, "Thanks Aunt Tiffani that was so cool." I lost it. Granted, it won't make me eat at McDonald's, but I'm not sure gunpoint could make me do that.

One out of three isn't very good. And, that's all the hockey gods gave me last night. The Leafs had a complete breakdown and let Philly walk to the second round. Same with Colorado. Hope Roy is better at his short game. Vancouver made me proud though. That was one prediction I had nailed dead on. So, after going 50% in the first round here's my second round picks.
East

Ottawa Senators over Philadelphia Flyers [sorry Matt] (6 games)
Tampa Bay Lightning over New Jersey Devils (7 games)


West

Dallas Stars over Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (5 games)
Vancouver Canucks over Minnesota Wild (5 games)


Sorry boys, the upset streak stops in the second round and actual talent has to take over.

Outside the world of hockey not much is going on. I need to finish up a lot of the little nagging projects around my house so that I can find some time to read and watch some of the movies that I have. Then I'll have some other things to blog about, or bitch about depending.
Oh yeah, and the job thing of course didn't fall my way completely, but I did get out of a week playing receptionist so all is well with the world once more.

On the hockey front there are three game 7's this evening. ESPN is gearing up for a major meltdown if the Flyers/Leafs game goes into overtime. They can't delay the start of the next game, and even if you could how would you know when the first game will be finished. It could end 30 seconds into overtime, or three periods into overtime. Oh well, just another reason for me to dislike ESPN's hockey coverage. Not that I need multiple reasons in that respect. Anyway, go Leafs, go Colorado (only because I like Tony Granato), and go Vancouver.

Things on the job front are more irritating than anything else. I'm not a big advocate of wasting time or working on things that I feel waste my time. Which, considering the nature of the project I'm on, I'm frustrated to begin with. However, now that we have an "interim" boss, who is a very nice guy by the way, everyone has taken this attitude that we need to immediately change all of the wrongs that the department has caused. Now, don't get me wrong, I've been saying that there are problems and I've been proposing solutions to these problems since day 2. The irritation comes from the fact that now that I have an ear that might actually listen and be able to effect change to the good, middle management has decided to try and do their jobs. However, they've been lax and non-effective for so long they don't actually know what they're talking about anymore. But, they still are a rung above me and therefore their opinions seem to mean more, even though they're actually saying less and simply parroting what has already been discussed to death. They will contradict themselves on a dime and change the tune that they whistle to suit whatever drummer they are following that day. Oh well, I never cared much for office politics before and I'm sure as hell not gonna start now. I'll simply retreat into my "I told you so" mode. As asked, I'll present exactly what needs to be done and when the change goes into effect after 18 months of discussion and being proposed by two other people, I'll return to the original discussion and say...(c'mon you know what's next) I TOLD YOU SO. Does this happen everytime? No. However, it's skewed well in my favor which is probably part of the problem anyway, my ego has always been a significant part of who I am.

Oh, and I guess since I started the tradition with Niki, here's another belated birthday. On Friday when I was talking about Mitch and the various discussions, I should have wished him a happy birthday. So, happy birthday (3 days late) Mitch.

Ok, apparently I'm not committed enough to actually log on from home on the weekends. Anyway, that aside I had a typical Easter split between my parents and her parents as all holidays have been since 1992. At least there were no extended in-laws this year. That made things slightly more bearable.
On the hockey front, Tampa Bay wrapped up their series against Washington beating them in 6 games which was only one more than I thought it would take them. I guess they borrowed the game from the Ottawa series. So once again Washington joins the golf circuit by being knocked out of the first round. Now I just need Philly to finally choke in the East and all will be well with the world. In the West, Edmonton held out two games longer than I gave them credit for. Dallas finally took the win in 6 though. Vancouver and St. Louis looks like it's been the only long series and they'll be playing game 7 tomorrow. Colorado could wrap up tonight.
Not too much happened over the weekend. Played an interesting game Saturday at Tom's apartment. It was called Tripoley. Not usually being very good at betting and luck games in general (my wins come from skill) I was surprised that I stomped the competition. However, when you've got it, you've got it. Saturday daytime was spent trying to tame the jungle that is our yard. The very sweet old lady that owned the house before we came in, spent all of her golden years tending to the yard. We have every type of plant, tree, and flower imaginable and some that no one recognizes. (It's not a weed, it's a tree) So, after filling five lawn bags full of stuff, Terri and I called it a day and went over to see Tom.

So many things to blog about today. A quick blurb on the hockey front since three of the eight series have now finished. Congrats to Ottawa, it only took them 5 not 6. However, Boston disappointed me severely. I thought that Joe Thornton was going to elevate his squad and eventually overpower New Jersey. However, as they'll be the first to tell you, one game of that is not enough and so they join the Pens on the golf course. And the third, of course, is one of the biggest upsets (for me anyway) the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. I'm still not sure what to do with that.
Anyway, on to the next topic of the day...which actually began last night. Mitch, another good friend of mine, is finishing up his degree at Pitt and last night was his senior seminar reading in his creative non-fiction class. It's been a while since I've been to a reading of any kind and it sounded like a great idea. And it was. The professor was very engaging and welcoming and the class structure, or lack thereof, was a nice atmosphere to be back in for me. So, 18 readings later was I still as happy? On the whole yes, there were some very talented writers in the class who showed points of creative breakthrough that highly impressed me. Not that impressing me was their ultimate goal, but it has to be a good feeling nonetheless, even for "toolboy". So, where was I leading with all of this...well, Mitch has very definitive ideas about the world around him and more specifically the lack of discernible intelligence in most of the mediums of today and that's one of the reasons we have such good conversations. So, when I handed him the URL to my blog, instead of the response I was expecting, which was "You're writing again, great.", I got a very different response. "I hate blogs." I was puzzled for certain. Mitch has been on my case to write something, anything, for the longest time and usually trusts me to be a good sounding board and proofreader for his work. In fact, the title of the blog is due mostly to him. Now, I didn't immediately spam all of my friends with the knowledge of the blog's existence. Most don't even know it exists yet and that includes my wife. I wanted to see if I'd actually keep up with it, and for a good steady period I have, which impresses the hell out of me. If this was a diary or journal kept in a notebook, after entry number two or three you'd see a 100% drop-off in participation. So back to Mitch's lack of "love" for the blog. The basic idea is that blogs give everyone the idea that they can write and most of the stuff churned out is pure crap. This I can agree with. If everyone was able to write and write well, we wouldn't need majors for that sort of thing. I guess since someone has yet to develop a website that allows everyone to perform brain surgery this is an adequate argument. If everyone was proficient at everything, we wouldn't need professional anything. However, and this is where he and I part company on this matter, I feel that the blog offers a creative outlet for anyone that needs it. An angst filled teenager can spew his poems of undying love and a beer swilling Nascar fan with one tooth can proclaim that Michael Waltrip makes the greatest commercials ever, but can't drive worth shit. It can influence the masses if enough people get a hold of it, but that falls to lack of education on the part of the masses. Just because something is in print does not make it so.
I can't write that Julia Roberts is the second wife of my thirty girl harem, followed closely by Drew Barrymore, whom I keep around solely so she won't act in any more movies. This is not a true statement. Neither is most of the stuff swirling around on the internet and the populous of today need to be smart enough to realize that. That's why most major publications have fact checkers on staff. Anyway, where am I going with this rambling. Absolutely nowhere other than to say, this writing is basically an outlet for me. Love it or leave it, I don't give a damn. I'm not doing it for you, I'm not doing it for Mitch (though he was part of the reason I started), and I'm not doing it to have hundreds of people logging on every day to see if I have anything else to say. I'm doing it for me and for the occasional visitor who pops by. That is what keeps me going. If I have a string of a week or so where the page counter is only logging me, then this will dry up and blow away for there will be no purpose and the man who talks to himself is usually deemed insane. Ok, enough with the moral rantings, my writing is hard enough to follow without making it thirty pages to boot.

Not too much going on today. I'm pretty upset that I missed the overtime goal that swept the Red Wings out of the playoffs, but I fell asleep somewhere around 1 AM and they were still going. Sucks to be me I guess.
Anyway, this isn't a hockey blog, although around the playoffs it certainly feels like it. Especially since the Penguins aren't in the running this year. I don't have a clear team to root for, just ones to root against; like Philly (sorry Matt). So, enough with hockey for now. I'll just periodically throw my 2 cents in as certain series wind up.

I got an interesting e-mail from a good friend in Connecticut today. I won't hold the fact that he lives in Conn. against him any more than I do the fact that he's a Flyers fan. If you haven't guessed, I'm talking about the Matt that I've apologized to several times throughout the course of my ramblings. Matt opened the can of whoop ass by sending an e-mail detailing the sampling of an Aerosmith song by Eminem. Since I've been referred to as a purist in the respect that I can't stand to see anything re-made especially if it's ruined in the process (Charlie's Angels, Oceans 11, Madonna's American Pie, etc.) I immediately joined the rant. Midway through I realized that I'm turning into Dana Carvey's grumpy old man..."That's the way it was and we liked it." Twice in the past month alone I've found myself reverting to phrases such as; when I was in this organization, and the way we did things when. Christ, I might as well be telling people I walked uphill both ways to school in the driving snow with only one shoe that I had to share with my twelve siblings. Really, at 28 am I turning into my parents? (Not that that's a bad thing Mom and Dad, I'm just not ready for it) I limp around on two knees that barely support me wondering where the youth I used to experience has gone. And as more and more things such as this Eminem song creep up, I spiral further and further down the geriatric aisle. His e-mail wrapped up with the fact that most youngsters will now think that Dream On is down by Eminem and that Paul McCartney is just that guy from Wings. As scary as that may be, it ties in with what I was bitching about yesterday. The ruination of Billy Joel's songs by that one particular reality show. And the fact that reality shows in general are ruining television. Oh, my...too much to bitch about. I think I'll just quit while I'm behind and accept the fact that my tastes are getting older and apparently so am I, though I never really accept anything that doesn't directly benefit me, so you'll probably be hearing more about this in the future.

Our old housemate Tom had a subscription to Sports Illustrated when he lived with us. I'm sure he still does, but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, there was a feature called "This Week's Sign of the Apocalypse" It was usually a slightly humorous view on some minor sports happening that was twisted around til it seemed way more important than it actually was. If tonight's game falls in favor of the Ducks and they sweep, I'm sure that would be a sign of the apocalypse. Now after all that rambling I'm sure you're wondering why I actually brought this up...or I lost you several sentences ago and you never actually cared. Either way, I saw, and in this case heard, a sign of the apocalypse. My wife and other seemingly bright people that I know are obsessed with this reality crap that is American Idol. From the small examples that I've been forced to see and hear, I call it Bad American Karaoke or Small Town American High School Musical Tryouts. Either way it was that show that is going to bring about the end of the world. Every week apparently they have some sort of theme that the "contestants" pick their songs from to slaughter that week. This week's theme was Billy Joel songs.

Billy Joel has long since been one of my favorite artists and one I've been particularly envious of, simply because of his piano abilities. (of course, there was Christie Brinkley, but that's another story). I can't actually blame Billy. He ran into the same situation that landed Richard Harris into the world of Harry Potter. However, I don't know if he knew just how badly his songs were going to be mangled. Beautifully arranged piano songs were turned into synthesized pieces of pop crap. Detractors of Joel have claimed for years that he just churned out whatever bubble gum pop music was popular at the moment, but even they would have to give the edge to American Idol for single handedly ruining most people's sense of tone and pitch. And if Randy Jackson says "Dog" one more time I'm going to...do absolutely nothing because taking action would mean that I gave a rat's ass about what actually happened on that show. In fact, the space I've given them here is already too much.

Well, it's been almost a week since the playoffs started and as you can see my psychic abilities just aren't what they used to be. Or, maybe they are what they used to be and they just always sucked. Anyway, so far here's how things shake out.

In the East

Ottawa is leading the Isles 2-1 in the series so my 6 game prediction could still happen.
Boston was looking like it was gonna drop in 4, but if my prediction comes true, they'll have to take it to 7 with New Jersey.
Tampa Bay is only down by one game, but it'll have to go to at least 6 if they are gonna win.
The Leafs could still pull it out in 5, but I'm sure the Flyers will give it one last gasp.

In the West

The Stars are also only down by a game and they are up by one at the beginning of the second, however they really aren't gonna sweep at this point so Edmonton picked up their game. Who would have thought Tommy Salo would have rebounded from his Olympic Goal.
Ok, here's the shocker. I picked the Wings/Ducks series to be a sweep. I just never thought the Ducks would be the ones doing the sweeping. However, I would hope that the Wings won't go down quite that easy, but it's made for some good hockey.
Colorado is keeping up with my prediction, but really...against the Wild...who cares?
Vancouver is also down by a game, but the series is still very close and St. Louis is a perennial favorite to choke. (which is to say nothing of the plea to have me drive out to Philly to perform the maneuver that used to be known as the Heimlich on a professional hockey team out there.)
Oh and did I mention that I still despise ESPN announcers and now have come to dread their "fresh" camera angles.

On a sadder note, Rick Kehoe was released of his Pittsburgh Penguin coaching duties today. One of the names being tossed around by everyone outside of the organization is Bryan Trottier so that could be cool, but Kehoe's a good guy in the hockey world and not being given an adequate team to coach is kind of a let down both for him and the team. Oh well, such is life. C'mon CBA in 2004.

I think that's all for today. Still 1-0 Dallas in the middle of the second. Time to go do something slightly more useful.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday. Happy Birthday Niki [cripple :-) ]

Ok, I guess I'll make a post before today wears on too much. This weekend was Carnival weekend at Carnegie Mellon which means only one thing...Buggy. We did well this year placing both 3rd in Men's and Women's races. The party even went smoothly, with no police involvement when I was there which is always a good thing. I realized that the party is most typically the same every year only the people change. This year was no different. There was a head mechanic who had every right to be drunk off his ass, a chairman who was trying to figure out how to fill the buggy void after graduation, recent alumni trying to recapture the feelings of a year or so ago and older alumni, like myself, who are beginning to wonder if perhaps they may be a little too far away from graduation to be attending functions like that. Although that didn't stop me from bartending or administering the "Bull-Moose" oath. This year, however, I did take an old friend of mine to the party. Joe had never seen buggy or been to a buggy party before. After wandering around midway and seeing the different booths that were built this year and then watching the buggies roll around the course he seemed to derive that while CMU students had a lot of fun, it took an awful lot of work to produce the fun. That might be just the explanation I was looking for to justify my college years.


I also realized, after meeting the "interim" boss in our department, that being the new guy is never easy, no matter how much experience you have. This guy looks like he's incredibly good at his job, but after the 10th or 12th employee introduction, he seemed just slightly overwhelmed. Well, more updates on that as they come along.


There are lots of good buggy pictures that I've already seen, but I decided just to post this sole link. I'm certain "someone" will be interested in it. So here you go Random alum.

Well, after a nice bout with rain this morning the dimwitted Sweepstakes folks (associated with buggy) had called races off before they even had a chance to evaluate the rest of the day. Dorks. So, after a nice breakfast with the mechanics I headed home to nap and prepare for the rest of the weekend. Not too much else going on today, just wanted to keep up the continuity of writing everyday. Last night, however, I watched the underdog Anaheim Mighty Ducks take the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings to a third overtime period. Watching the game I realized a couple of things...It would have been nice to have Brett Hull play for Pittsburgh...It's a shame that we didn't get a goalie like Jean-Sebastian Giguere...I despise ESPN announcers more and more for their lack of, of, well, pretty much everything. They're biased, and apparently blind. However, that's a much longer rant than I have time for today.

After re-reading the first paragraph of yesterday's post, I need to do some self-editing. What a convoluted piece of crap. Anyway, this month is looking to be extremely busy. Several graduations, birthdays, and of course buggy. If you've never been to Pittsburgh in the spring, chances are you've never seen buggy. Perhaps I'll explain buggy in more detail if I have a week to kill. Buggy is an obsession and an addiction and that's pretty much all you need to know for now. However, by this time tomorrow I'll have been drinking for about 10 hours with another day or so to go.

And on the hockey front it was nice to see the Islanders pull out a win, and God bless Toronto [sorry Matt]. Hopefully I'll get to catch some hockey action this evening. I'd love to see Tampa beat the crap out of Washington. Oh well, I guess that's all for now.

Ok, I realized that there was something else that I wanted to post today that got kind of buried in everything else that transpired today. Tonight starts the playoff hockey season. So, even though I'm sure I'll be proven way wrong, here are my picks for the first round.



East



(1) Ottawa Senators over (8) New York Islanders (6 games)

(7) Boston Bruins over (2) New Jersey Devils (7 games)

(3) Tampa Bay Lightning over (6) Washington Capitals (5 games)

(5) Toronto Maple Leafs over (4) Philadelphia Flyers (5 games) [sorry Matt]





West



(1) Dallas Stars over (8) Edmonton Oilers (4 games)

(2) Detroit Red Wings over (7) Anaheim Mighty Ducks (4 games)

(3) Colorado Avalanche over (6) Minnesota Wild (5 games)

(4) Vancouver Canucks over (5) St. Louis Blues (7 games)



I won't predict beyond the first round at this point so that I'm not completely humiliated in my psychic abilities, or lack thereof. I do a lot of my predicting with a fair mixture of facts and hope for my outcome. I've been told that Boston probably isn't going to end up in the win column for the series, but who knows. And, is anyone else with me on wanting to see the Buffalo Sabres trade Miroslav Satan to the New Jersey Devils? I would consider buying a Satan Devils jersey. Ok, enough dorkdom. Time to do something productive, or at least something else.

Ok, I'll need to give you a little background information about me so that you'll understand what comes next.



I graduated with two writing degrees and promptly threw them in the closet to stumble into the dot com world. After two dot com jobs I decided that was enough. So, I thought about heading back to school to complete a trifecta of useless degrees. I ended up with a job at a University in the Accounts Payable department with the option of applying for grad school and paying staff rates for tuition. Good deal, if it ever happens. About the only thing the job I was hired for has in common with the job I do now is the fact that they are both called jobs. I was hired to pay bills for the University. About a month into that particular gig, someone found out that I had not one, but two writing degrees. And then someone else realized that the department didn't have an actual documented process manual. Fortunately, or unfortunately for me, I haven't decided yet, those two people got together and decided to create a dream come true so they sprinkled gold dust....whoops wrong train of thought. They decided that I would subsequently "volunteer" for the wonderful job of documenting each and every process, no matter how minute, within the office. I could write page after page about that, but it's not the story I want to tell today.



About two or three months ago they hired a consultant in our office to evaluate certain documents and procedures and make recommendations. After all of my "Bob" jokes..."I wouldn't say I've been missing it Bob."...I found out that I was once again "volunteered" to give up my cubicle so that the consultant could sit among the common folk. I didn't mind too much. I would be away from the noise in a completely different department on a completely different floor. Then lady luck, not realizing it was me, apparently, actually favored me with something. An office, actually The Office, on our floor opened up unexpectedly. So I got to move into an office, a corner office, all by myself. It was spacious, quiet, and my own little slice of heaven. Then today happened.



Today there was a re-org in our department. I had be forewarned that I might get an office mate. Turns out, I lost my office completely. I'm back in the same cubicle where I started. Don't get me wrong, I have a window seat with a great view, but I no longer have my office. So, I'm not in the happiest of moods today.



Anyway, no good way to end the story other than the fact that I did a whopping twenty minutes worth of work today and don't really plan on adding to that. See what happens when you take away my office. Friday is coming quickly though and instead of drinking away my new roommate, I'll drink away the fact that my office was snatched from me. Ah, to buggy.



And, congrats to Glen and Amy on finding out about Cole "onoscopy" May he be the spoiled little bundle of joy that we toasted to.

Well, I think I made a page counter work, but so far it's only counting me, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I think I'm important enough to be counted, multiple times if necessary. I've noticed that it's only been two days since I started this idea, but already it's very addictive. Maybe I need to concentrate more on my actual work...no, who am I kidding?

Alright, someday I may actually even tell people that I'm working on this, but for now it's just mine. So, I'll pull out the "woe is me" card and gripe about the fact that my private office at work is only about one day away from being a semi-private office. I don't deal so well with change especially when it inconveniences me, so I don't think I'll handle this well. On the upside though it's a shortened work week due to the fact that my alma mater has the annual spring carnival event this weekend. So, I'll have all day Friday and Saturday to drink away my new roommate.

I'm sure at points along this journey I'll reveal points of my personality and even some personal interests, etc., however, I don't want this to turn completely into the life of ___, so for a while I'll probably just ramble on about things that spark my interest or piss me off. One thing currently pissing me off is the fact that for the second consecutive year the Pittsburgh Penguins did not make the playoffs. I take a lot of flak for being the only optimistic fan of the group. I see a Stanley Cup banner being raised every year and then fail to understand how it didn't materialize. But, things don't always go your way. Maybe more on that later today.

Oh yeah, and I'll figure out how to deal with the template at another date as well.

Ok, with a large circle of friends nagging me to write the "Great American Novel", or at the very least, "a profitable" novel; I decided to start small and with the recent readings of Joe and Dwight (I'll figure out how to link stuff at a later date) here we go.