Rant/rave: thanks to your brilliant suggestion, we might not even have to meet them at our house. But there is still plenty of time for a confrontation or drama. She tends to be an ass at restaraunts which kills me more than the average person since I've worked waiting tables and bartending for several years in the past. Get your popcorn and wine ready. Or cheese and wine or whatever rich Canadians do.
RAVE: RedZone Week 1 while working in the shop on a cooler, ugly, pre-fall day... it's a great thing.
Rave: Iceland. Its awesome, everyone should go there. This was my third time and it was worth it just to see the look of awe on my wife's face at the scenery. The only thing that rivaled it, but in a very different way, was driving the Icefields Parkway in Canada. The people are kind of odd, and the weather is unpredictable, but it was surprisingly easy with a toddler. Rant: The flight home fucking sucked. The kid would not settle down.
RAVE: Local electronics store (Visions) had a typo on a web sale promoting the grand opening on their new store. I managed to get a new, 70" 4k UltraHD LG TV for under $600. Normally retails for about $2k. RAVE: They honoured the deal, and I picked it up today. It barely fit in the bed of my pickup. RANT: It doesn't fit on my current TV stand, so it's going to be wall-mounted.... Amazon Prime to the rescue... pieces-parts should arrive tomorrow. RAVE: First world problems! New TV for the first time in about 15 years.... should be fun.
RANT: Earlier this week I made my daily round to my hometown paper's website and checked out the news. In the obituaries was a girl with an unfamiliar name,, but was in the age range of folks I went through my younger years with. I clicked on the link and once I saw her maiden name a singular memory came flooding back. We knew one another, we moved in overlapping social circles. One night many years ago she confided to me at a party that she was going to turn 18 at midnight. Many beers later we were counting down the seconds until she was legal. I was an asshole, I admit it. She was a sweet kid, I was 22. Anyways, stuff happened. That's probably not the kind of story you want to put in her memory book on the funeral home website, no matter how much I edited events down to PG.
Rave: Yesterday was my wife's last day at a job that was going to kill her. She's been there 20 years, and it's sad the stress and the absolute incompetence forced her to that decision, but our sons and I are happy about it. Rave: Even the CEO sought her out to say he was sad to learn she was leaving, but told her he respected her decision and wouldn't try to talk her out of it. He then asked to meet with her the same day, as he suspected there were some things she had to tell him. She did, and boy did she. When you ask someone who's been up and working since 1am for an opinion, you're gonna get it. I have a sneaking suspicion the manager above her ( and one who prompted all this to begin with ) isn't gonna be there long. He was not pleased, but that's how it works there. Middle management only tells their bosses what they want to hear, not what they need to know, which is why the place is bleeding money. Rant: We're "headlining" a festival here in our hometown, which doesn't happen often, and the weather sucks once again. Just once I want a hot, sunny day/ evening that keeps the people outside drinking. At this rate I hope they move us indoors which is where everyone ended up last time this happened.
Rant: My buddy's girlfriend is a psychotic bitch, and started her usual shit with him last night. Rather than listen to it, I just threw my shit in the car and left. Just because he chooses to be miserable with her doesn't mean the rest of us have to be.
Rave: After more rejections after interviews than I can even count, I finally found a new job! I started this last week, and it's a 15% pay increase over my old job. I really enjoyed my first week there, too. Everybody in the office was really friendly and chill, and on my first day there was a potluck where someone even brought some dessert shooters! They even keep beer in the refrigerator in the break room, along with an ample supply of snacks, candy, and soda. The people on my team go out to lunch together almost every single day, not that I can afford not to brown bag it most days. We were also going to go out for drinks on Friday, but too many people had to drop out. And my new boss keeps Nerf guns in his office that he likes to shoot at us just for fun. I am really thinking that this is too good to be true. Rant: It probably is, since I am starting out on a 6-month contract through a staffing agency. I had a good first week, but I still have a lot to learn and will have to prove myself if they're going to hire me on. They said that work is slow right now, which is why they chose now to hire a new person who they could train, but if it doesn't pick back up as planned then I could also end up doomed. Moreover, I am going to have to sign up for either COBRA or Obamacare when my health insurance from my old job runs out at the end of the month, so this will almost certainly end up being a slight decrease in pay unless I end up being hired on with the company.
SEND HELP: The internet shat out on us yesterday morning, but the ATT outage map was lighting up like crazy so we figured they were just being generally terrible like they are sometimes. We reported the outage online and went about stealing internet from the neighbors like we always do. This morning, trying to work from home, the neighbor's internet isn't up to snuff and ours is still out so I break down and call them. They say they need to send a technician, but the first available appointment is on SATURDAY FROM 8AM TO 8PM. What in the actual fuck. I never thought I'd say this, but I can't wait to go back to Comcast. Fucking trash internet providers in a race to the bottom.
RAVE: Went to San Francisco this weekend to watch Beach Blanket Babylon and it was an absolute blast. Being in SF, possibly the most Left city in world, I was expecting a ton of anti-Trump skits but it was pretty fairly directed at everyone. https://www.beachblanketbabylon.com/the-show/ RAVE: Even for all their whack-a-doo politics, that city is beautiful and an awesome place to hang out. Not sure if they're shuttling all the homeless to different areas of the city but we saw very few homeless people which was nice.
Rave: only took about 5 months but I'm finally seeing major progress in the gym. Waist went from a 36 to a 32 (buying new jeans gets expensive though), dropped 25 lbs, "grew" about half an inch taller at my last doctor's appointment because strengthening my core un-fucked my posture, lower back pain is gone and my shoulders -- which were previously messed up from torn rotator cuffs -- are showing signs of working again. Rant: after running my first 5k in 12 years, I learned that my knee pain is the result of a partially torn meniscus in both knees, excess fluid in both knees, and they believe some micro-tears in the patellas as well. Apparently I've had this injury for at least a few months, which explains my so-so 30:10 5k finish time. They told me no leg exercises for 2 weeks, and no running at all for 6-8. Rave: no surgery required (yet) and the trainer I'm using is really good with leg injuries, or at least he's been helpful with my specific injuries so I haven't had a need to see an actual PT person yet. In about a week and a half I'm seeing significant improvement in knee pain, which I didn't anticipate.
RAVE: I'm back in Tokyo for a week, and on my flight over I ran into 8 rugby players I used to play against years ago. I was sitting beside 2 of them on the plane. It was like old home week, and we almost became one of those news stories you read about in the news. We got cut off a few times. They are doing a 3 week tour to watch a ton of the Rugby World Cup that is going on here... they threatened to abduct me, and I would have been OK with that. The client, not so much... Spoiler RANT: They get to spend 3 weeks travelling Japan and watching rugby... and I don't.
Rant. A good friend and someone I work with often with mutual clients, lost his 21 year old son last night. It was a solo auto accident, he was driving much too fast. I have no other words.
Rant: I called yet again to try and get a response from the lady who handles employee insurance matters ( my wife left her job, thus losing her insurance so we got what my job offers.) Finally the lady responds, and tells me she tried calling my cell but couldn't leave a voicemail. Hmm... okay, my wife did yesterday, there's no indication in the phone log. She then proceeds to lecture me about not setting up my work e mail like so many of my co-workers, mentioned by our union local. I explain it is, I check it regularly. I'm looking at it, and I didn't receive a response. She insists she sent it on the 25th, and there's nothing, not even in the deleted mail file. I'm trying to explain I. Didn't. Get. It. I'm trying to be nice. And all she wants to do is repeat I need to check my e mail regularly. I hear a click and she says she sent it. An hour later, I still haven't received anything, despite getting other mass e mails from their office. If I have to drive over there in person, chances are I won't be so nice.
Rant: according to neighbors, this past winter was real bad. It kicked my ass. Rough adjustment for someone who is used to winter time temps of 50. There was plenty of ice and snow for a couple months solid and since our small town doesn't plow neighborhoods or side streets, I am at a tire center getting tired sihpped or however you spell it. I asked the lady about studs and other winter prep since I know shitall about that subject. According to her, our last winter " wasn't that bad." Fuck. Plus side? Already planning on hub's big Christmas gift to be a snowblower. We have a corner lot and I'm not throwing my back out again over that stupid shit. Ain't nobody got time fo dat.