Rave: I hit a new record on my overhead squat today. Double Rave: I'm down to pretty much the smallest I've been since I had my second child. Triple Rave: I still have an ass. Rant: My deadlift went down. Son of a bitch.
Rave: My diet is going well. I've already lost a couple pounds this week. It's probably mostly water weight but hey! It's a good start. Rant: Plain yogurt is some naaaaaaasty shit.
Rant: rejected from 2 jobs this week. Fuck. Neither were perfect, but both would have been a big step forward from my current job (basically, I can't imagine anything being as useless as my job at this point, except for the fact it's in the industry I want to work in). For one, I was surprised I even got a call in the first place, but the other I thought I had. They even took me out to dinner last week, and told me they were really impressed with me. Not impressive enough - the hiring manager told me I was edged out by some internship experience the other guy had. Greaaaaaat. I'm less qualified than interns now. At least this keeps my alternate life plan of moving to a ski-town for at least a season alive. I posted in the Help thread, but anyone that sees this and has advice (preferably having done something like that), should totally shoot me a PM.
Rave: I left work early today, and I am typing this from my barn. Rant: Why? Because my gelding is colicing. It's going to be a long night.
Rant: It finally happened. My crazy neighbor mowed my lawn today. The fuckstain cut it way lower than I do. He must've noticed that I've been coming home every day around 4:30, and that my wife is also usually gone all day, so he knew he was safe to come over and mow it without me being home to tell him to go fuck himself. I always see him looking at it longingly, wanting desperately to mow it, but he knows I am home, so he stays the fuck away. I've been waiting for him to leave his house so I can tell him to fuck off, and I'm sorry if my 50 hour work week is making my lawn grow a little long for his convenience (for the record, I mowed it on Sunday, and it is Thursday, and it hasn't rained, so it wasn't even that fucking long). I'm ready to punch a bitch. Rave: The back yard is fenced in, so he couldn't fuck up both the front and the back lawn simultaneously. Huge Mega Rave: Two of my student teaching projects had their due dates pushed back. The school I'm at just started this week, which for this area is pretty late (most kids have been in school for at least two weeks by now). The schedule of when things were due was mostly determined by the early start dates, so I was freaking out about not having enough time in the classroom to be able to complete these projects, one of which was due tomorrow. Obviously someone at the school figured it out, and they gave me a two week extension, which I desperately needed. I can actually sleep tonight now, instead of staying up all night writing an ill-prepared and researched paper.
Rave: I have never seen an episode of Battlestar Galactica until now. Where have I been?? Thanks, Netflix.
RANT: FUCK AT&T. They installed service in two neighboring units today, and somehow this made my DSL go out for eight hours. I called them and after an hour of confirming my identity and explaining I had already tried everything on their standard troubleshooting list, they say they can send a tech out tomorrow. Catch is, if he somehow finds that the issue is not 100% fault of the company, it's a $110+ service charge. I tell them, "Fuck that. I'll figure it out myself, and if it doesn't work out, I'll get a different provider who has decent service." I call an hour later after finding about this morning's installations, and the automated system tells me I still have a tech support coming out tomorrow. And ten minutes ago, I notice my DSL is back. These Indian motherfuckers give me a goddamned headache. Now I have to call and fight to get the tech cancelled so they can't assfuck me on a service charge, and spend more time explaining that I really don't want to sign up for home phone service, and that yes, I mean that, just like I've meant it EVERY GODDAMNED TIME THEY'VE SHOVED IT DOWN MY THROAT.
What the fuck is with people lately? I'm at my desk this afternoon and a guy comes in and asks to speak to me. Long story short, a roof I designed got delivered and the guy was unimpressed with our driver/crane operator and wanted the hoisting charge removed from his bill. I can't make that call. In fact, in my four years at this company never once have I seen someone come back and demand such a thing. I called our production manager, who came in and spoke with the guy and agreed to the refund. Now the fun begins. Customer goes on a rant that he thought our shipper was an asshole, and had the shipper said to his face what he said over the phone, customer would have given him a black eye. The problem is the shipper was standing right behind the plant manager when this happened. Both our shipper and plant manager are Latino. Need I say more? Shipper: That was me you spoke with on the phone. Customer: Well, you almost got the trusses returned to you, and if you'd said to my face what you said on the phone I'd have punched you. Shipper: I'm here now. Customer: You're lucky I'm not doing anything. Shipper: No one's stopping you. Customer: You speak to me like that, you get spanked. [Seriously. A 50+ year old man said those words] The funner part: our production manager used to be a personal bodyguard for Pinochet. He's the one beside the car in this picture. For years he served as a Chilean Secret Service agent, all during the Cold War. When the customer got uppity and stood up to have a fight with our shipper, all I could think of is that this guy has no idea that our production manager could end his life before he hit the ground. Seriously people? This is the second almost-fight I've had in less than 24 hours. People need to take their heads out of their asses.
RAVE: 32 hours until tailgating! Seriously fuck Christmas! This is the most wonderful time of the year!!!
RANT: You know, the kids of Jersey Shore make more than my entire teacher's salary in one episode. And I have a double masters which means I make more than most teachers. Jersey Shore and I are counter-productive. I'm watching the Mike-Ron fight episode tonight and thinking I'd be terrible on that show because all I would do the first season would be to get drunk. Every subsequent episode, I'd just get drunk, cash my paycheck, sit Indian-style on my bed, and throw my money up in the air screaming, "weeeeeeee!" Seriously. Every. Single. Day. Rinse, repeat. Fuck those idiots. RAVE: (For the eastcoasters) Wawa frozen limeade. Cabo Wabo tequila. GM. Best margarita I've ever had. Ever.
Rave: The next episode of Entourage is airing on my On Demand, which is awesome since I won't be around to see it. Head over to the TV episode page if you want to know details, but be warned, it's a huge freaking spoiler.
Rant...kind of: So tonight I go to my first four hour long ESL tutor training course and despite being the least qualified volunteer in the room all is well until this pale long haired red head who was running late sits down next to me. Like 5'5, thin, wears those gaudy silver rings. Holy shit that very specific type of girl makes my brain go retarded. Like half a second after she arrived all I could think about was bending her over the conference table and railing her until I threw out her back. She also smelled really good. Cue awkwardly shuffling in chair and trying not to stare at her raw attractiveness. We chatted a bit during break but I was so goddamn paranoid about starting to sweat or saying something stupid or whatever and maybe she noticed me staring. Usually I can be pretty witty on the fly. This time I was a fumbling awkward poopface. Meeting cute redheads has become this terrible paradox where I want to fuck them so bad I get super self-conscious. Monkeyballs.
RANT: Pity party. Table for one. Sure, this oughta help: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=yQIQ-1vpWfs&NR=1[/youtube] Edit: I can't get this video to show up here. Apparently I'm not just pathetic, I'm retarded too. Excellent.
RANT: We've got a court case on Tuesday, and the other side's lawyers tried to pull a dick move and serve two affidavits on us at 4.55pm this afternoon (Friday) by facsimile (allowable in the tribunal hearing it). RAVE: I say "tried" because the transmission got cut off and only put through half of the first affidavit. I went into work tonight to double check and got the fax journal to prove it. Sent them a letter telling them service is ineffective. One dick move backfired.
Rave: Some of you remember, about nine months ago I fell from a balcony that was, well, lets just say "negligently built", and it almost cost me my life. I spent a week in the ICU, and then about 2 months on the couch at home, unable to even stand up by myself for most of that time. When I proposed to The Wife, I had to get her to help me get to a knee and back up again. After a time, I could go to work again, but it was painful to even sit behind a desk for 8 hours a day. I'm not even going to get into the memory issues that I now found myself dealing with as a fallout of the head trauma. Some more time passed, and I was able to function as I normally would, except for the fact that I could no longer do the exercise and physical activities that I was used to- no fishing, no running (which I had grown to love), Hell, I couldn't even walk a couple of miles a day. The first time I tried, I spent the next two days in bed because my lower back felt like it was going to break into a hundred pieces. I started to gain some of the weight back that I had worked SO hard for the past year to lose. I was miserable with myself. My doctor told me that I might want to take up swimming, because from what he could see from the MRIs of my back and neck, he didn't think I'd ever be able to run like I had before again. I said "fuck that". I signed up with a physical therapist and a gym. This was back in March or April, I think. As of last Monday, I was able to run the same distance I normally did before my accident. Today makes 2 straight weeks of doing that same distance every day. Its not as fast as I was doing before, but I'll get there. I was 205-210 at 6'6 before the accident, and had shot back up to around 245-250 after. Now, I'm around 220, but with about 10lbs more muscle than before. I'm just as thin as I was, but I look and feel healthier. I started doing the 100 Pushup workout (mostly just using it as a starting point), and could only do about 16-17 at the beginning. This morning, I did 230 pushups over 5 sets. Most importantly, I can now hold my baby for long periods of time without my back exploding in pain. I'm happy. Rave: And I'm not stopping there- my accident happened on November 19th. My next goal is to run a 5K on the anniversary.
Rant: I hate my crazy neighbors. There is a crazy couple that live down the road from me, and they cause nothing but problems. Because of them, the sherriff's office helicopter circled my neighborhood, with the spotlight on from 2 am - 3am. Why? They decided to get shitfaced, and the wife thought her husband was cheating on her so she decided to shoot at him six times. She missed all six times. There were cops everywhere. I hope she never gets out of prison. Rave: My horse is doing much better this morning. It was a very, long night, but very much worth it. I will be living on Mountain Dew today.
Rant: Moving sucks. Every muscle in hurts, my body feels like it rolled down a rather large hill and we're not even done cleaning up the old place. Two floors down, one left to go. Rave: Goodbye long, narrow townhouse, this new place is laid out much better and shit actually fits everywhere. Rave: Going to see the Reverend Horton Heat tonight! God damned they always put on a kick ass show!