Monday, October 31, 2005
Halloween Blues
Well, the day of trick or treating is over, Amanda and I have both been tricked. Every year since like '00 we have bought Halloween candy with nary a visitor on this orange and black holiday. Well, this year we saw a sign-up form in the office to put your apartment on the "Will give candy to kids" list. Well, I eagerly signed up and was excited about passing out candy and looking at the kids in their costumes. I was so excited that we bought Caden (the little puppy) a costume. Amanda and I both dressed up as Army people (yeah, big stretch there!). We even camo'd up (painted our faces all green). I even had some left over MRE food to handout along with the candy. I was so excited...I was going to get some trick -o- treaters this year.
Well, the evening started out good, with the doorbell ringing right after 6pm. Two little girls in assorted costumes. Could this finally be the year? Did we buy enough candy? Do we have anything extra to give if we run out? Well...it was all downhill from there. The next doorbell ring was about 3 minutes later. I gave out the candy and a Chicken MRE patty...only to be told by the little girls big sister that they don't eat chicken. DOH! Upon closer examination it appears that they were Indian, and most likely vegetarian. I quickly grabbed a non-meat item and gave it to the little girl. I guess my grand idea of handing out MRE's worked out a lot better in my mind than in practice. Well, no fear...the night is still young.
Amanda and I get out our folding chairs and set up camp outside...ready for the little kids and to be able to enjoy the beautiful night. Well, the next trick -o- treater came 35 minutes later, and they were the last ones. After that Amanda and I gave up and walked down to E&A's to trick or treat. They were sitting outside and they had not had a single person come by! Holy crap...is is that bad to trick or treat? Are parents that fearful of taking their kids out? Trick or treating is one of my fondest memories growing up. It was so neat...hundreds of kids and their parents roaming the streets of subdivisions and the town. It was the one time of the year that you could dress funny...dress as someone you are not. To cap it all off you make out with a H U G E bag of candy. Unfortunately, I still make out with a huge bag of candy...but it's the candy that I bought to hand out!
Do kids still go out on Halloween? Or is this just the downside of apartment living? Who knows...it's sad nonetheless Maybe in a year or so, when we have a real house we can actually have Halloween visitors.
Not sure what the rest of the night holds...I'm pretty tired, so it will probably be a short night.
So, what does everyone think about Bush's pick 2.0 for Supreme Court? I was pretty disappointed that it's not a female. Granted that isn't the only qualification for the court, and it probably shouldn't matter at all since law has no gender, but keeping the court male dominated is probably not the best solution. Everyone knew that following the pounding that Bush took for not nominating a hard line conservative he was bound to nominate a true conservative...I just can't believe that he only found a male. Well, who knows...
Ok, off to my rest of the night...perhaps I'll take a little nap.
Well, the day of trick or treating is over, Amanda and I have both been tricked. Every year since like '00 we have bought Halloween candy with nary a visitor on this orange and black holiday. Well, this year we saw a sign-up form in the office to put your apartment on the "Will give candy to kids" list. Well, I eagerly signed up and was excited about passing out candy and looking at the kids in their costumes. I was so excited that we bought Caden (the little puppy) a costume. Amanda and I both dressed up as Army people (yeah, big stretch there!). We even camo'd up (painted our faces all green). I even had some left over MRE food to handout along with the candy. I was so excited...I was going to get some trick -o- treaters this year.
Well, the evening started out good, with the doorbell ringing right after 6pm. Two little girls in assorted costumes. Could this finally be the year? Did we buy enough candy? Do we have anything extra to give if we run out? Well...it was all downhill from there. The next doorbell ring was about 3 minutes later. I gave out the candy and a Chicken MRE patty...only to be told by the little girls big sister that they don't eat chicken. DOH! Upon closer examination it appears that they were Indian, and most likely vegetarian. I quickly grabbed a non-meat item and gave it to the little girl. I guess my grand idea of handing out MRE's worked out a lot better in my mind than in practice. Well, no fear...the night is still young.
Amanda and I get out our folding chairs and set up camp outside...ready for the little kids and to be able to enjoy the beautiful night. Well, the next trick -o- treater came 35 minutes later, and they were the last ones. After that Amanda and I gave up and walked down to E&A's to trick or treat. They were sitting outside and they had not had a single person come by! Holy crap...is is that bad to trick or treat? Are parents that fearful of taking their kids out? Trick or treating is one of my fondest memories growing up. It was so neat...hundreds of kids and their parents roaming the streets of subdivisions and the town. It was the one time of the year that you could dress funny...dress as someone you are not. To cap it all off you make out with a H U G E bag of candy. Unfortunately, I still make out with a huge bag of candy...but it's the candy that I bought to hand out!
Do kids still go out on Halloween? Or is this just the downside of apartment living? Who knows...it's sad nonetheless Maybe in a year or so, when we have a real house we can actually have Halloween visitors.
Not sure what the rest of the night holds...I'm pretty tired, so it will probably be a short night.
So, what does everyone think about Bush's pick 2.0 for Supreme Court? I was pretty disappointed that it's not a female. Granted that isn't the only qualification for the court, and it probably shouldn't matter at all since law has no gender, but keeping the court male dominated is probably not the best solution. Everyone knew that following the pounding that Bush took for not nominating a hard line conservative he was bound to nominate a true conservative...I just can't believe that he only found a male. Well, who knows...
Ok, off to my rest of the night...perhaps I'll take a little nap.
This probably won't be too exciting, since I had a pretty lazy weekend, but here goes. Yeah, I had high hopes for this weekend, but every once in a while you just have to be lazy and relax. That was my philosophy this weekend. All too often weekends turn into these huge rush and get exhausted fests in which you end the weekend more tired than when it started. I sure don't feel that way now.
Yesterday we went for dinner at Bravo, which typically is a pretty nice experience...this time it sure as heck wasn't. I was pretty pissed about the whole thing and it definitely ruined my mood. It's bad enough when you have to wait 45 minutes to eat...but it's even worse when you sit in a non-smoking section butt-ass up against the bar which is the only smoking part of the restaurant. MMMM...nothing compliments my Italian meal like the smell of f'ing cigarette. God did that just piss me off...and I'm normally a laid back person. The asshats in the bar just kept puffing away and blowing stuff in our direction...Come on Bravo spend a little bit of that huge profit you are making off your over-priced food and buy an air filter for the bar.
So as if the smoke wasn't bad enough our waiter was either new, an idiot, or both. We were in the table closest to the waiter station / soda machine and we still couldn't get a refill. That's like my pet peeve in restaurants...you want a good tip keep my glass full. Yeah, I drink a lot...but you are charging me $2 for a glass of iced tea. Then...for the icing on the cake the bread took forever coming up and he blamed it on being cooked. Yeah, shenanigans on that one...I had spent the meal to that point watching good servers bring the bread to their tables. To give the guy some credit, after I asked about the bread the service did improve, and it saved his tip.
So, that was my evening...nothing exciting. Went to bed pretty early...but I don't really remember that well. Today was pretty lazy...I met Amanda for lunch and then stopped by work. I had forgot my iPod there and was missing it so I picked it up. After that I came home and took the dog for a walk. Following the walk I took a nap and was awoken when Amanda called after she got off of work. She picked me up and we headed to dinner. We at at Sapporo, it was excellent as usual. We then went to Wal-Mart and got some supplies for the week.
So...here I am now. I'm finally starting to get tired, so this will be wrapping up soon...
What kind of headphones is everyone using? I'm on a non-stop hunt to find a pair that actually fits the bill. It's a never ending battle to find the prefect pair. For my computer I have a nice Koss open air headphone that is your tradition Walkman style. I bought them about a year ago on Amazon during a good sale. I've been happy with them. So happy, that I haven't replaced my closed style headphones that broke when I stepped on them. They have great sound quality and are pretty darn comfortable, but they are too large to wear with my iPod. They are here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00007056H/002-3420156-0036835?v=glance&n=172282&n=507846&s=electronics&v=glance . Nothing too fancy just regular old headphones. Good price and good sound, but not really the right kind of headphone when I'm out and about.
Well, the headphones that come with the iPod are horrible. I used them for a day before I gave up on them. I have been using a set of Phillips that I bought a year or so ago at target. They are these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001OY2W2/002-3420156-0036835?v=glance&n=172282&n=507846&s=electronics&v=glance . I bought them when the first came out and I have never really liked them. They have this ear cup that is a hair too large and makes my ear hurt. They also have tendency to slip out of my ear if I move. To make matters even worse, the cord will not straighten out and is all funky...then to make it even better, they have this "asymmetric" cord system so that the cord for the left ear is shorter than the cord for the right ear. Yeah great idea there! It's a pain in my ass. The cord lays all funky, and just suck. To make matters even worse, I lost one of the ear cups on the plane to Maine...now the uncomfortable headphones are even worse.
I have a pair of Sony headphones from '01. I bought them at Best Buy. They are similar to these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008VIX2/002-3420156-0036835?v=glance&n=172282&n=541966&s=electronics&v=glance . The ones that I have are a version or two before that, but they stink. They are uncomfortable and have the most awful sound of any headphones that I've ever used. Just not good headphones. I meant to return them after I bought them, but never got around to it. I tried giving these a go again, but they are once again collecting dust.
That leads me to the last week or so. I've been on a mad headphone hunt to find something that is comfortable and has good sound reproduction. There are a lot of headphones on the market, but nothing looks like a good bet. There are some audiophile headphones out on the market in the $80-100 range and I have been so close to buying them. I think they are called E2C and the E3C or something. I of course cannot bring myself to spend that much on headphones, but that has not stopped my hunt. I have been looking at headphones at nearly every store that I go to, and all that I find are the same old things. Hell, I couldn't even find a pair that looked interesting at Fry's...and they have the largest selection in town. Finally, after scouring Amazon, I found a pair that looks like they might work:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007N55LO/002-3420156-0036835?v=glance&n=172282&%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance . They have decent reviews and pretty good specs. I like what I see! Hopefully they hold up to the promise. I can't wait to give them a run. On a positive note, these are over the ears, so that should help them stay in place...I've been happy with my Jabra headset of a similar design, so hopefully these live up to my hopes. If not, they'll be returned...because I don't need another pair of crappy headphones sitting on my desk. Anyone interested in buying some surplus headphones? I have some :)
Ok, it's 1:30am, and I'm tired.
Yesterday we went for dinner at Bravo, which typically is a pretty nice experience...this time it sure as heck wasn't. I was pretty pissed about the whole thing and it definitely ruined my mood. It's bad enough when you have to wait 45 minutes to eat...but it's even worse when you sit in a non-smoking section butt-ass up against the bar which is the only smoking part of the restaurant. MMMM...nothing compliments my Italian meal like the smell of f'ing cigarette. God did that just piss me off...and I'm normally a laid back person. The asshats in the bar just kept puffing away and blowing stuff in our direction...Come on Bravo spend a little bit of that huge profit you are making off your over-priced food and buy an air filter for the bar.
So as if the smoke wasn't bad enough our waiter was either new, an idiot, or both. We were in the table closest to the waiter station / soda machine and we still couldn't get a refill. That's like my pet peeve in restaurants...you want a good tip keep my glass full. Yeah, I drink a lot...but you are charging me $2 for a glass of iced tea. Then...for the icing on the cake the bread took forever coming up and he blamed it on being cooked. Yeah, shenanigans on that one...I had spent the meal to that point watching good servers bring the bread to their tables. To give the guy some credit, after I asked about the bread the service did improve, and it saved his tip.
So, that was my evening...nothing exciting. Went to bed pretty early...but I don't really remember that well. Today was pretty lazy...I met Amanda for lunch and then stopped by work. I had forgot my iPod there and was missing it so I picked it up. After that I came home and took the dog for a walk. Following the walk I took a nap and was awoken when Amanda called after she got off of work. She picked me up and we headed to dinner. We at at Sapporo, it was excellent as usual. We then went to Wal-Mart and got some supplies for the week.
So...here I am now. I'm finally starting to get tired, so this will be wrapping up soon...
What kind of headphones is everyone using? I'm on a non-stop hunt to find a pair that actually fits the bill. It's a never ending battle to find the prefect pair. For my computer I have a nice Koss open air headphone that is your tradition Walkman style. I bought them about a year ago on Amazon during a good sale. I've been happy with them. So happy, that I haven't replaced my closed style headphones that broke when I stepped on them. They have great sound quality and are pretty darn comfortable, but they are too large to wear with my iPod. They are here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00007056H/002-3420156-0036835?v=glance&n=172282&n=507846&s=electronics&v=glance . Nothing too fancy just regular old headphones. Good price and good sound, but not really the right kind of headphone when I'm out and about.
Well, the headphones that come with the iPod are horrible. I used them for a day before I gave up on them. I have been using a set of Phillips that I bought a year or so ago at target. They are these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001OY2W2/002-3420156-0036835?v=glance&n=172282&n=507846&s=electronics&v=glance . I bought them when the first came out and I have never really liked them. They have this ear cup that is a hair too large and makes my ear hurt. They also have tendency to slip out of my ear if I move. To make matters even worse, the cord will not straighten out and is all funky...then to make it even better, they have this "asymmetric" cord system so that the cord for the left ear is shorter than the cord for the right ear. Yeah great idea there! It's a pain in my ass. The cord lays all funky, and just suck. To make matters even worse, I lost one of the ear cups on the plane to Maine...now the uncomfortable headphones are even worse.
I have a pair of Sony headphones from '01. I bought them at Best Buy. They are similar to these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008VIX2/002-3420156-0036835?v=glance&n=172282&n=541966&s=electronics&v=glance . The ones that I have are a version or two before that, but they stink. They are uncomfortable and have the most awful sound of any headphones that I've ever used. Just not good headphones. I meant to return them after I bought them, but never got around to it. I tried giving these a go again, but they are once again collecting dust.
That leads me to the last week or so. I've been on a mad headphone hunt to find something that is comfortable and has good sound reproduction. There are a lot of headphones on the market, but nothing looks like a good bet. There are some audiophile headphones out on the market in the $80-100 range and I have been so close to buying them. I think they are called E2C and the E3C or something. I of course cannot bring myself to spend that much on headphones, but that has not stopped my hunt. I have been looking at headphones at nearly every store that I go to, and all that I find are the same old things. Hell, I couldn't even find a pair that looked interesting at Fry's...and they have the largest selection in town. Finally, after scouring Amazon, I found a pair that looks like they might work:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007N55LO/002-3420156-0036835?v=glance&n=172282&%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance . They have decent reviews and pretty good specs. I like what I see! Hopefully they hold up to the promise. I can't wait to give them a run. On a positive note, these are over the ears, so that should help them stay in place...I've been happy with my Jabra headset of a similar design, so hopefully these live up to my hopes. If not, they'll be returned...because I don't need another pair of crappy headphones sitting on my desk. Anyone interested in buying some surplus headphones? I have some :)
Ok, it's 1:30am, and I'm tired.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
SouthBendTribune.com: The wrong house
SOUTH BEND -- They married last September, bought their first house in April, and have since been preparing the home for the birth of their first child, a boy due Christmas Day. But on Thursday night, Aaron and Lanell Yoder arrived at 917 E. LaSalle Ave. to find their place padlocked, their front door frame damaged, their belongings gone. A notice indicated that their home was being taken in a mortgage foreclosure. In fact, the whole incident was a mistake, and the home to be foreclosed was at 917 W. LaSalle Ave. The situation left the couple angry and annoyed at the inconvenience, and eager to receive compensation.
Holy freaking crap. Read that story...that is absurd. It pisses me off to no end. I think that I would kill someone if that happened to me. I would press charges for trespassing, theft, etc. That's exactly what happened...they stole all their crap. Mistake or on purpose it doesn't matter a bit. I'm nearly at a loss of words on this...it's absurd! A young couple trying to get started on their life comes home to find this happen. Wow...
Ok, now that I've read the most absurd story of the day it's time to talk about the amount of protection that our police force really offers us.
So, yesterday, I was driving back from a late mover at Hollywood Bar and Filmworks (the place where you eat and drink while watching a movie). I was traveling north on Fall Creek Parkway and was about to cross over Keystone. Well, there is a Silver Ford F-150 in the middle lane with his left turn signal on braking...he backs up traffic, I signal right to go around. This guy speeds up, but I catch his license plate. I force myself to remember the license plate.
Well, I'm now about 300 feet behind this guy and he is all over the road...playing pinball with the yellow and white lines. He's over both of the lines. It's 1am on a Friday night, the guy is obviously drunk. Well, I call 911 (amazingly I wasn't put on hold this time) and reported his truck, it's description, it's license plate, what road he is on, which direction he is headed and where he is at. I then hang up and drive at a normal speed as Fall Creek turns into Binford and eventually I-69.
All the while the guy continues his erratic driving, except now he driving at highway speeds. I continued driving the speed limit behind this guy...he was probably 500 yards or more ahead of me. I follow him to the Verizon Wireless Music Center exit and head home. I'm sure that he didn't get pulled over and I'm sure that he was drunk.
Seriously though...it would not have been difficult to get this guy. All that had to be done was look up his plates which would give the owners address (probably the guy driving the truck) and look at what road he is on and then easily determine if he is headed home. But wait...that would be the police department PREVENTING an accident or crime...not just investigating one after it's done. That ladies and gentleman is why the police department offers you no real protection. The only protection that you have, is the protection that you yourself provide, whether it is from guns, pepper spray, locks, reinforced doors, audible alarms, panic rooms, or being a big SOB like me.
Just think about it...we have all watched the show COPS probably more times than we want to admit. How many times have you seen the police prevent a crime? Few if any. The only crimes that they catch in the act are stand-off's and traffic stops that turn into chases. Sorry if this has shocked you out of a false sense of security, but everyone has to be vigilant to keep themselves safe. In the great tradition of Smokey the Bear...only YOU can prevent crimes against YOU.
Ok, I'm getting off of my soapbox soon...I just feel strongly about people driving like this. Back from my firefighter days, I've seen drunk drivers injure people...and if it can be stopped I'm all for it. This guy last night was in a Ford F150 extend cab. That truck weighs in at 6500lbs empty...figure in gas and passengers and he is easily a 7000lbs hunk of metal traveling at 70mph. Do you know how much damage that truck can do that fast?
Ok...that's about it...I worked for a couple of hours at work this morning from home...so that was nice. Went to bed about 3:15am, woke up at 7:20...but feel ok now...although I'm getting a little hungry.
SOUTH BEND -- They married last September, bought their first house in April, and have since been preparing the home for the birth of their first child, a boy due Christmas Day. But on Thursday night, Aaron and Lanell Yoder arrived at 917 E. LaSalle Ave. to find their place padlocked, their front door frame damaged, their belongings gone. A notice indicated that their home was being taken in a mortgage foreclosure. In fact, the whole incident was a mistake, and the home to be foreclosed was at 917 W. LaSalle Ave. The situation left the couple angry and annoyed at the inconvenience, and eager to receive compensation.
Holy freaking crap. Read that story...that is absurd. It pisses me off to no end. I think that I would kill someone if that happened to me. I would press charges for trespassing, theft, etc. That's exactly what happened...they stole all their crap. Mistake or on purpose it doesn't matter a bit. I'm nearly at a loss of words on this...it's absurd! A young couple trying to get started on their life comes home to find this happen. Wow...
Ok, now that I've read the most absurd story of the day it's time to talk about the amount of protection that our police force really offers us.
So, yesterday, I was driving back from a late mover at Hollywood Bar and Filmworks (the place where you eat and drink while watching a movie). I was traveling north on Fall Creek Parkway and was about to cross over Keystone. Well, there is a Silver Ford F-150 in the middle lane with his left turn signal on braking...he backs up traffic, I signal right to go around. This guy speeds up, but I catch his license plate. I force myself to remember the license plate.
Well, I'm now about 300 feet behind this guy and he is all over the road...playing pinball with the yellow and white lines. He's over both of the lines. It's 1am on a Friday night, the guy is obviously drunk. Well, I call 911 (amazingly I wasn't put on hold this time) and reported his truck, it's description, it's license plate, what road he is on, which direction he is headed and where he is at. I then hang up and drive at a normal speed as Fall Creek turns into Binford and eventually I-69.
All the while the guy continues his erratic driving, except now he driving at highway speeds. I continued driving the speed limit behind this guy...he was probably 500 yards or more ahead of me. I follow him to the Verizon Wireless Music Center exit and head home. I'm sure that he didn't get pulled over and I'm sure that he was drunk.
Seriously though...it would not have been difficult to get this guy. All that had to be done was look up his plates which would give the owners address (probably the guy driving the truck) and look at what road he is on and then easily determine if he is headed home. But wait...that would be the police department PREVENTING an accident or crime...not just investigating one after it's done. That ladies and gentleman is why the police department offers you no real protection. The only protection that you have, is the protection that you yourself provide, whether it is from guns, pepper spray, locks, reinforced doors, audible alarms, panic rooms, or being a big SOB like me.
Just think about it...we have all watched the show COPS probably more times than we want to admit. How many times have you seen the police prevent a crime? Few if any. The only crimes that they catch in the act are stand-off's and traffic stops that turn into chases. Sorry if this has shocked you out of a false sense of security, but everyone has to be vigilant to keep themselves safe. In the great tradition of Smokey the Bear...only YOU can prevent crimes against YOU.
Ok, I'm getting off of my soapbox soon...I just feel strongly about people driving like this. Back from my firefighter days, I've seen drunk drivers injure people...and if it can be stopped I'm all for it. This guy last night was in a Ford F150 extend cab. That truck weighs in at 6500lbs empty...figure in gas and passengers and he is easily a 7000lbs hunk of metal traveling at 70mph. Do you know how much damage that truck can do that fast?
Ok...that's about it...I worked for a couple of hours at work this morning from home...so that was nice. Went to bed about 3:15am, woke up at 7:20...but feel ok now...although I'm getting a little hungry.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Weekend here I come
Yeah for the weekend! I'm excited. Well, the weekend always makes me excited! I'm still feeling great...so that's good. Yesterday I got a full nights sleep thanks for falling asleep early. This time it was not in front of the TV though. I was reading in bed...I think it was like 10pm or so. I was feeling pretty tired and decided that I would read in bed to test how tired I was. I guess that I was pretty tired since I only read a couple pages.
Work was busy today, like it has been for the last month or so. There is also a protected posting to go along with this one. It's only the second one that I've done...but it's there to read. I've added everyone subscribed to me to my approved list for the protected posting, so if any non-subscribers have been paying me regular visits, subscribe via this link and I'll add you
http://www.xanga.com/Private/SubscribeTo.aspx?user=jhartsell
Yeah, protected postings are pretty cheesy and really take away a lot of the openness of the whole blogging sphere, but it's a necessary evil in this day and age. Most of what I talk about is stuff that I feel comfortable sharing with anyone....but some stuff has to stay private. Not like it is super secret squirrel, it's just stuff that I don't want to share with Google and all the other search engines.
Well, enough on that...on to the rest of world.
It looks like New Orleans is slowly starting to clean up it's employees post Katrina. They fired 45 cops for desertion today. That's probably a good thing, although I hate to see anyone lose their job. Early on, in the immediate aftermath of the storm I watched a story on some news network about what happened to these officers. Yes, some of them were unable to get to work and some just up and left. Personally...I can't handle that up and leaving. Yes, I believe that family comes first...but how can you as a police officer justify leaving your post for your family? What if every officer did that? How is that keeping your family safe?
So....to play devil's advocate I would have to put myself in their shoes and think through what I would do. First of all, my family would have evacuated and if they have evacuated they would have been safe...because if you aren't safe evacuating, what the hell is the point of evacuating? Also, I know that Amanda would not be happy about being left on her own, but she is capable and tough enough to handle the situation, and hopefully she would not be as selfish as some of the wives that I saw on TV talking about their husband the cop. Ultimately though if these cops felt strongly enough to abandon their job they probably don't give a crap about being fired. It's the direct result of their action and they had to know that going into making the decisions that they made...or I sure as hell hope.
So would I have left my post? Hell no...but hopefully I'm never placed in a situation like that.
Well, between these two posts I've been typing for a long time...I need some food!
****Note***** The protected post is only available on xanga, so you'll have to register there to get an account. Sorry!
Yeah for the weekend! I'm excited. Well, the weekend always makes me excited! I'm still feeling great...so that's good. Yesterday I got a full nights sleep thanks for falling asleep early. This time it was not in front of the TV though. I was reading in bed...I think it was like 10pm or so. I was feeling pretty tired and decided that I would read in bed to test how tired I was. I guess that I was pretty tired since I only read a couple pages.
Work was busy today, like it has been for the last month or so. There is also a protected posting to go along with this one. It's only the second one that I've done...but it's there to read. I've added everyone subscribed to me to my approved list for the protected posting, so if any non-subscribers have been paying me regular visits, subscribe via this link and I'll add you
http://www.xanga.com/Private/SubscribeTo.aspx?user=jhartsell
Yeah, protected postings are pretty cheesy and really take away a lot of the openness of the whole blogging sphere, but it's a necessary evil in this day and age. Most of what I talk about is stuff that I feel comfortable sharing with anyone....but some stuff has to stay private. Not like it is super secret squirrel, it's just stuff that I don't want to share with Google and all the other search engines.
Well, enough on that...on to the rest of world.
It looks like New Orleans is slowly starting to clean up it's employees post Katrina. They fired 45 cops for desertion today. That's probably a good thing, although I hate to see anyone lose their job. Early on, in the immediate aftermath of the storm I watched a story on some news network about what happened to these officers. Yes, some of them were unable to get to work and some just up and left. Personally...I can't handle that up and leaving. Yes, I believe that family comes first...but how can you as a police officer justify leaving your post for your family? What if every officer did that? How is that keeping your family safe?
So....to play devil's advocate I would have to put myself in their shoes and think through what I would do. First of all, my family would have evacuated and if they have evacuated they would have been safe...because if you aren't safe evacuating, what the hell is the point of evacuating? Also, I know that Amanda would not be happy about being left on her own, but she is capable and tough enough to handle the situation, and hopefully she would not be as selfish as some of the wives that I saw on TV talking about their husband the cop. Ultimately though if these cops felt strongly enough to abandon their job they probably don't give a crap about being fired. It's the direct result of their action and they had to know that going into making the decisions that they made...or I sure as hell hope.
So would I have left my post? Hell no...but hopefully I'm never placed in a situation like that.
Well, between these two posts I've been typing for a long time...I need some food!
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Thursday, October 27, 2005
Well, this was a nice long post...but of course firefox crashed and I lost everything. I seriously am so tempted to just can firefox. I think that when the next version of IE comes out that supports tabbed browsing...I'll be leaving firefox unles they fix the stability issue. A browser crashing is totally and utterly unaceptable. So, now I'll try to redo what I've lost.
The main part of my post is that I'm in a damn good mood today. I'm kind of euphoric....don't know what though. You know how you feel when you are dog tired, and you take a nap and wake up super refreshed? That's what I've felt like all day...so I'm happy! Don't know why, it could be a combination of seeing some friends the last couple days, the nice fall weather, the dog not making a mess in the house as often, and maybe my little trip to Maine last week. Irregardless I feel good, but I'm sure that there is a let down coming...there always is...
To save retyping everything I'll give one sentence summaries of today. Work was ok, nothing special. Gave dog a bath. Susan came over for fall break. Ate at Cheeseburger in
Paradise.
There...now I'm caught up! So, on to the opinion piece of this post. For a while I've wanted a tattoo, but I've been up in air because of my terrible needle phobia. What I have always thought about getting was the earth on fire looking like a comet. Well, it didn't really mean anything to me, I just thought that it looked neat. Well...I think that I'm narrowing down what I'd get.
If you know me, you know that I'm one patriotic SOB. I love this country, the flag, our history, and the people that make up the US. I choose political science to study because I loved studying about what made our country click and work. Yes, we are not without our faults, but there is no where else I would rather live. This summer I took the Oath of Office when I was received my commission.
It's the same Oath that all officers take upon commissioning in the US Armed forces and it's more powerful than simple words spoken with my right hand raised. If you notice in the Oath, there is no mention of the President, Congress, the flag or anything like that. The Oath of Office is unique because you don't swear allegiance to a king, a president or some other person. It is my guarantee that I will do everything in my power to defend the Constitution and what it stands for. The Oath is my promise to this country that I will support the ideals that we were founded upon.
The idea of Oaths is not new, and has been in place for thousands of years. For a good history of it, check out http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj02/win02/keskel.html . Ultimately, it is this Oath and my love for this country that is driving my decision for the tattoo. So....I've decided that I want something along the lines of the preamble to the Constitution "We the People" along with some form of the flag.
The main part of my post is that I'm in a damn good mood today. I'm kind of euphoric....don't know what though. You know how you feel when you are dog tired, and you take a nap and wake up super refreshed? That's what I've felt like all day...so I'm happy! Don't know why, it could be a combination of seeing some friends the last couple days, the nice fall weather, the dog not making a mess in the house as often, and maybe my little trip to Maine last week. Irregardless I feel good, but I'm sure that there is a let down coming...there always is...
To save retyping everything I'll give one sentence summaries of today. Work was ok, nothing special. Gave dog a bath. Susan came over for fall break. Ate at Cheeseburger in
Paradise.
There...now I'm caught up! So, on to the opinion piece of this post. For a while I've wanted a tattoo, but I've been up in air because of my terrible needle phobia. What I have always thought about getting was the earth on fire looking like a comet. Well, it didn't really mean anything to me, I just thought that it looked neat. Well...I think that I'm narrowing down what I'd get.
If you know me, you know that I'm one patriotic SOB. I love this country, the flag, our history, and the people that make up the US. I choose political science to study because I loved studying about what made our country click and work. Yes, we are not without our faults, but there is no where else I would rather live. This summer I took the Oath of Office when I was received my commission.
"I, (state your name), having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, in the grade of Second Lieutenant, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of The United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter. So help me God. "
It's the same Oath that all officers take upon commissioning in the US Armed forces and it's more powerful than simple words spoken with my right hand raised. If you notice in the Oath, there is no mention of the President, Congress, the flag or anything like that. The Oath of Office is unique because you don't swear allegiance to a king, a president or some other person. It is my guarantee that I will do everything in my power to defend the Constitution and what it stands for. The Oath is my promise to this country that I will support the ideals that we were founded upon.
The idea of Oaths is not new, and has been in place for thousands of years. For a good history of it, check out http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj02/win02/keskel.html . Ultimately, it is this Oath and my love for this country that is driving my decision for the tattoo. So....I've decided that I want something along the lines of the preamble to the Constitution "We the People" along with some form of the flag.
Not sure what the flag would look like, but "We the People" would be under it or something. I'd like to keep the same font, that it was written in on the Constitution, since it is pretty easily identifiable.
Ultimately, it fits the qualifications that I would want a tattoo to have...that being something that has meaning and importance to me. Yeah, I could just get tribal art or something around my arm, or Chinese characters on my neck, or any number of things....but how many people have taken an Oath to these things? How many have swore to protect their picture of a nude lady on their bicep?
Now for the hard part...actually photo shopping the images together so that it looks good. Unfortunately I'm pretty left brain, so I can't draw very well...so here is to hoping that I get lucky and throw something decent together.
Well, I'm off to watch some TV...
Ultimately, it fits the qualifications that I would want a tattoo to have...that being something that has meaning and importance to me. Yeah, I could just get tribal art or something around my arm, or Chinese characters on my neck, or any number of things....but how many people have taken an Oath to these things? How many have swore to protect their picture of a nude lady on their bicep?
Now for the hard part...actually photo shopping the images together so that it looks good. Unfortunately I'm pretty left brain, so I can't draw very well...so here is to hoping that I get lucky and throw something decent together.
Well, I'm off to watch some TV...
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
This will be a pretty short update since I'm dog tired, but I'm up watching the end of the White Sox game anyway's and I thought that I might as well just squeeze in a little update while I have the chance. It's the bottom of the 9th, and barring anything crazy happening, the Sox will get the championship.
Went to Fry's and then went to Applebee's with some bud's tonight...it was nice. They moved to Indy back in the end of August, but ended up in Mississippi for a month for the hurricane, and only came back a couple weeks ago. So, it was nice to finally see them. After that, came home and watched a TV show. Now I'm finishing up the game.
The main thing that I'd like to talk about is traffic. As most of you know, I've been pretty pissed lately at traffic and drivers. I used to believe that I had an anger management problem when it came to driving, I no longer believe that. I have decided that 99% of the drivers that are on the road are absolute morons that should not be trusted on a bicycle let alone a 3000lb vehicle capable of high speeds.
I used to just drive...but lately I've been watching and observing. I see so many people do stupid stuff it is absolutely crazy. I think that if I had 4 or 5 people that drive about 30-60 miles or more a day stick video cameras all over their car and just record every day for a show it would be great. I think of all the stupid stuff that I see on my own, now imagine a fleet of people recording the stupidity of drivers! How funny would that be?
So, what can we really do about the stupid drivers? Probably not much...although the thought of 99% of the cars on the road no longer there just brings a big smile to my face! Just think how the roads are when you drive at real absurd hours...totally empty .
WHITE SOX WINS
So, the Sox win...that's great. Chicago is going to go crazy. As for me, I'm not going to go crazy...just going to go to bed, put on my iPod and go to bed!
Went to Fry's and then went to Applebee's with some bud's tonight...it was nice. They moved to Indy back in the end of August, but ended up in Mississippi for a month for the hurricane, and only came back a couple weeks ago. So, it was nice to finally see them. After that, came home and watched a TV show. Now I'm finishing up the game.
The main thing that I'd like to talk about is traffic. As most of you know, I've been pretty pissed lately at traffic and drivers. I used to believe that I had an anger management problem when it came to driving, I no longer believe that. I have decided that 99% of the drivers that are on the road are absolute morons that should not be trusted on a bicycle let alone a 3000lb vehicle capable of high speeds.
I used to just drive...but lately I've been watching and observing. I see so many people do stupid stuff it is absolutely crazy. I think that if I had 4 or 5 people that drive about 30-60 miles or more a day stick video cameras all over their car and just record every day for a show it would be great. I think of all the stupid stuff that I see on my own, now imagine a fleet of people recording the stupidity of drivers! How funny would that be?
So, what can we really do about the stupid drivers? Probably not much...although the thought of 99% of the cars on the road no longer there just brings a big smile to my face! Just think how the roads are when you drive at real absurd hours...totally empty .
WHITE SOX WINS
So, the Sox win...that's great. Chicago is going to go crazy. As for me, I'm not going to go crazy...just going to go to bed, put on my iPod and go to bed!
craigslist: indianapolis classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events
Craigslist
Wow, if you haven't checked out Cragslist, check it out. It's pretty neat...basically how the internet is supposed to be...a free community for people to connect and talk. I've been checking out the Indy stuff daily for about 2 weeks now and I'm hooked. Give it a run, it's worth the look.
Craigslist
Wow, if you haven't checked out Cragslist, check it out. It's pretty neat...basically how the internet is supposed to be...a free community for people to connect and talk. I've been checking out the Indy stuff daily for about 2 weeks now and I'm hooked. Give it a run, it's worth the look.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
So, the Sox-Astros are tied going into the bottom the the 10th, pretty good game there! Hopefully while I am writing this the game will turn out in the Sox's favor.
Today was an all right day, nothing out of this world, but not too bad. Work was busy like it has been for the last month or so. Before work I did have an interesting encounter with an ATM though. Well, I went to deposit my check into a 5/3 ATM before work, and the ATM was in a bad mood. It ate my deposit and kicked up an error saying that my transaction could not be processed. I call the number on the receipt and they say that I have to call the branch.
Well, I call the branch shortly after they opened and told the guy what had happened, and he said that he would call me when they pulled the deposits in the afternoon and manually inputted it. Well, I could have guessed, but the guy never called back. Also, the deposit is not showing up. Friggin' worthless bank...is there a bank anywhere that is worth anything? All banks have problems, and I am just ever so tempted to just quit banking at real banks and start banking solely with fake banks that only exist online. Brick and mortar banks just don't do it for me...it's not as if I have car loans and a mortgage through them.
Well, the banking debacle was about the only low point of the day. Everything else went pretty well. I did have a training meeting for the Army stuff today. It wasn't too bad. I guess that I'm not getting paid for these, so hopefully sometime soon the pay shows up...because heaven knows that I could use a little extra coinage. After the meeting I was hungry and heading home. Amanda said that she had already ate, so I call RG to see if he wanted to get a burger and a beer or something. We ended up going to BW3's. It's been years since I've been to one and I had a pretty good time.
Amanda ended up meeting us there, we had some food and a couple drinks. It was cool because we had the first round bought for us...I guess that is an extra perk to the Army that the recruiter never tells you...civilians like to buy drinks for the Army dudes. So, after some food and a couple beers I headed home, and that is where I am now. The Sox and Astros are still tied, hell, it's still the 10th inning...I might have to finish this game. Well, be back in a few, I think the dog has to go out.
Well, that was good. I think that the dog has finally figured out that if he whines, we'll take him outside. That's good...it's the first step in helping him be house broken. Today was the first day where there was zero accidents from the dog. The cats on the other hand...ERRRR!!! They got into something and vomited on the floor, thankfully Amanda cleaned it up, I hate cleaning up cat puke.
Speaking of cats and dogs, the cats are doing a little better with Caden. Zoe still keeps her distance, but she has not been as stand-offish with us and the dog lately. For the first couple weeks we had him, she kept out of the way and was moody. Lately she is being more normal, and she has begun to sleep in our bed again. That's a pretty good step for her, so she is almost normal.
Stormie, is not as friendly as I thought that she would be with the dog, but she likes to watch him as long as he doesn't want to play with her. A couple days ago, Caden really wanted to play with the cats and he went crazy jumping around Stormie and trying to get her going...Stormie just sat back and punched Caden whe she got the chance. She doesn't hit hard enough to do any damage, so its pretty funny. Caden just thinks that it's a big game and he loves the attention, no matter how it is.
Well, that about sums up my day...no other exciting news. I'm off to bed, hopefully I wake up with the Sox up 3-0 on the Astros!
Today was an all right day, nothing out of this world, but not too bad. Work was busy like it has been for the last month or so. Before work I did have an interesting encounter with an ATM though. Well, I went to deposit my check into a 5/3 ATM before work, and the ATM was in a bad mood. It ate my deposit and kicked up an error saying that my transaction could not be processed. I call the number on the receipt and they say that I have to call the branch.
Well, I call the branch shortly after they opened and told the guy what had happened, and he said that he would call me when they pulled the deposits in the afternoon and manually inputted it. Well, I could have guessed, but the guy never called back. Also, the deposit is not showing up. Friggin' worthless bank...is there a bank anywhere that is worth anything? All banks have problems, and I am just ever so tempted to just quit banking at real banks and start banking solely with fake banks that only exist online. Brick and mortar banks just don't do it for me...it's not as if I have car loans and a mortgage through them.
Well, the banking debacle was about the only low point of the day. Everything else went pretty well. I did have a training meeting for the Army stuff today. It wasn't too bad. I guess that I'm not getting paid for these, so hopefully sometime soon the pay shows up...because heaven knows that I could use a little extra coinage. After the meeting I was hungry and heading home. Amanda said that she had already ate, so I call RG to see if he wanted to get a burger and a beer or something. We ended up going to BW3's. It's been years since I've been to one and I had a pretty good time.
Amanda ended up meeting us there, we had some food and a couple drinks. It was cool because we had the first round bought for us...I guess that is an extra perk to the Army that the recruiter never tells you...civilians like to buy drinks for the Army dudes. So, after some food and a couple beers I headed home, and that is where I am now. The Sox and Astros are still tied, hell, it's still the 10th inning...I might have to finish this game. Well, be back in a few, I think the dog has to go out.
Well, that was good. I think that the dog has finally figured out that if he whines, we'll take him outside. That's good...it's the first step in helping him be house broken. Today was the first day where there was zero accidents from the dog. The cats on the other hand...ERRRR!!! They got into something and vomited on the floor, thankfully Amanda cleaned it up, I hate cleaning up cat puke.
Speaking of cats and dogs, the cats are doing a little better with Caden. Zoe still keeps her distance, but she has not been as stand-offish with us and the dog lately. For the first couple weeks we had him, she kept out of the way and was moody. Lately she is being more normal, and she has begun to sleep in our bed again. That's a pretty good step for her, so she is almost normal.
Stormie, is not as friendly as I thought that she would be with the dog, but she likes to watch him as long as he doesn't want to play with her. A couple days ago, Caden really wanted to play with the cats and he went crazy jumping around Stormie and trying to get her going...Stormie just sat back and punched Caden whe she got the chance. She doesn't hit hard enough to do any damage, so its pretty funny. Caden just thinks that it's a big game and he loves the attention, no matter how it is.
Well, that about sums up my day...no other exciting news. I'm off to bed, hopefully I wake up with the Sox up 3-0 on the Astros!
Civil Rights Pioneer Rosa Parks, 92, Dies - Yahoo! News
Nearly 50 years ago, Rosa Parks made a simple decision that sparked a revolution. When a white man demanded she give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus, the then 42-year-old seamstress said no.
It is always a sad day when someone that started so many changes dies. She had a large role in awakening many peoples eyes to the discrimination that was going on legally in this country. The US is a better place because of her, and I hope, that in her final days she was able to look at this country and realized that we have became a better place over the last 50 years.
Thank you Rosa.
Nearly 50 years ago, Rosa Parks made a simple decision that sparked a revolution. When a white man demanded she give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus, the then 42-year-old seamstress said no.
It is always a sad day when someone that started so many changes dies. She had a large role in awakening many peoples eyes to the discrimination that was going on legally in this country. The US is a better place because of her, and I hope, that in her final days she was able to look at this country and realized that we have became a better place over the last 50 years.
Thank you Rosa.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Crazy Trip and Crazy Drivers
Well, I'm back home from my little trip to the east coast, it was fun, but I'm glad to be back. I've decided that traveling and exploring quaint little nineteenth century towns is much more fun if someone is there to share it with you! It's also much more fun to have someone to share travel troubles with you!
Yes, travel troubles! I knew it was bound to happen sometime, and it finally did. All that watching the show on A&E "Airline" prepared me well for what was about to happen. Well, Friday, I finish up with classes and waste some time before going to the airport. I was a good little traveler and arrived at the airport in plenty of time (2 hours). Well, I get there and US Airways check in kiosks are down as are all their computers. I sit in line for an hour and hear repeatedly the guy say "10 more minutes". Well, that never happened and they ended up issuing us hand written boarding passes.
To make a long story short(er), my connection was in Philly, and they were running late. That subsequently made my flight take off late, which would ultimately make me miss my connection back to Indy. Well, the computers were still not up, and the guy from the airline was unable to tell me if I was going to make another connection or something, and the only thing he said was to call the airline. Calling the airline got nowhere, so I looked up the corporate offices phone number and called them. They were unable to help because they were still on the other airline (from the merger) system. He said that he would call me back. Well, no sooner than I get off the phone with him, the flight is ready. I get on and fly to Philly because the airline guy said that I had a lot better chance getting home rather than in Portland, ME.
So, I fly to Philly, and there are no other flights back home. They airline person there wanted me to pay for the hotel. I said to hell with that. They said that they don't pay for hotels if it air traffic problems. I told them that I would not have gotten on the plane to Philly if the computers were not broken in Portland. Eventually with a supervisor they paid for my hotel. So, I stayed at a Holiday Inn, in south Philly over by all the stadiums.
There was another stranded passenger with me, he was in the Coast Guard and we ended up eating together. The restaurant in the hotel was not serving food when we got there so we walked a mile or so in the cold to a place to eat. The place wasn't too bad, except that I got bet up there.
Yes, my big ass got beat up in Philly.... by a...wait for it...it's worth it....a crab! Yes, I was whooped by a crab. The whole trip I went easy on the companies spending account....well after the airline debacle I decided that I needed a couple beers and some good food. Needless to say, the crab won. It dislodged my thumbnail (right hand) which still hurts and I can't type right. It cut my right ring finger (just a little) and it sliced open my left thumb. When it cut my left thumb the blood was coming out pretty good and I admitted defeat with two crab legs left in the plate.
We walked back, I wished Pat a good life and I went up and went to bed for 4 hours of sleep. Woke up, took a shuttle to the airport and flew home.
Nothing else too exciting happened the rest of the weekend...I'm starting to work with Caden on obedience and training. He is doing pretty good...he has sit down pat, now for the hard stuff.
Ok, on to drivers. As you can see, I have a running theme on here, that drivers piss me off. Today was no exception. You know those roads where two lanes merge into one? They are all over, and 99.5% of the drivers, especially in rush hour knows that the road narrows and they say screw the manners and just bust their ass in the lane that is about to end in hopes of cutting off the nice considerate patient drivers.
Today, I'm sitting watching traffic fly by me and I have enough. Amanda says that I should be rude, and I say screw that. I swerved to the right and straddled the center line and blocked both lanes of traffic. I was going to keep my spot and screw over any inconsiderate drivers. It worked...I felt good and I'll probably do it again. I hate rude drivers. So, if you are an ass hole and want to try to cut off traffic, watch out for my ugly Mazda3 station wagon.
That's it for now...
Well, I'm back home from my little trip to the east coast, it was fun, but I'm glad to be back. I've decided that traveling and exploring quaint little nineteenth century towns is much more fun if someone is there to share it with you! It's also much more fun to have someone to share travel troubles with you!
Yes, travel troubles! I knew it was bound to happen sometime, and it finally did. All that watching the show on A&E "Airline" prepared me well for what was about to happen. Well, Friday, I finish up with classes and waste some time before going to the airport. I was a good little traveler and arrived at the airport in plenty of time (2 hours). Well, I get there and US Airways check in kiosks are down as are all their computers. I sit in line for an hour and hear repeatedly the guy say "10 more minutes". Well, that never happened and they ended up issuing us hand written boarding passes.
To make a long story short(er), my connection was in Philly, and they were running late. That subsequently made my flight take off late, which would ultimately make me miss my connection back to Indy. Well, the computers were still not up, and the guy from the airline was unable to tell me if I was going to make another connection or something, and the only thing he said was to call the airline. Calling the airline got nowhere, so I looked up the corporate offices phone number and called them. They were unable to help because they were still on the other airline (from the merger) system. He said that he would call me back. Well, no sooner than I get off the phone with him, the flight is ready. I get on and fly to Philly because the airline guy said that I had a lot better chance getting home rather than in Portland, ME.
So, I fly to Philly, and there are no other flights back home. They airline person there wanted me to pay for the hotel. I said to hell with that. They said that they don't pay for hotels if it air traffic problems. I told them that I would not have gotten on the plane to Philly if the computers were not broken in Portland. Eventually with a supervisor they paid for my hotel. So, I stayed at a Holiday Inn, in south Philly over by all the stadiums.
There was another stranded passenger with me, he was in the Coast Guard and we ended up eating together. The restaurant in the hotel was not serving food when we got there so we walked a mile or so in the cold to a place to eat. The place wasn't too bad, except that I got bet up there.
Yes, my big ass got beat up in Philly.... by a...wait for it...it's worth it....a crab! Yes, I was whooped by a crab. The whole trip I went easy on the companies spending account....well after the airline debacle I decided that I needed a couple beers and some good food. Needless to say, the crab won. It dislodged my thumbnail (right hand) which still hurts and I can't type right. It cut my right ring finger (just a little) and it sliced open my left thumb. When it cut my left thumb the blood was coming out pretty good and I admitted defeat with two crab legs left in the plate.
We walked back, I wished Pat a good life and I went up and went to bed for 4 hours of sleep. Woke up, took a shuttle to the airport and flew home.
Nothing else too exciting happened the rest of the weekend...I'm starting to work with Caden on obedience and training. He is doing pretty good...he has sit down pat, now for the hard stuff.
Ok, on to drivers. As you can see, I have a running theme on here, that drivers piss me off. Today was no exception. You know those roads where two lanes merge into one? They are all over, and 99.5% of the drivers, especially in rush hour knows that the road narrows and they say screw the manners and just bust their ass in the lane that is about to end in hopes of cutting off the nice considerate patient drivers.
Today, I'm sitting watching traffic fly by me and I have enough. Amanda says that I should be rude, and I say screw that. I swerved to the right and straddled the center line and blocked both lanes of traffic. I was going to keep my spot and screw over any inconsiderate drivers. It worked...I felt good and I'll probably do it again. I hate rude drivers. So, if you are an ass hole and want to try to cut off traffic, watch out for my ugly Mazda3 station wagon.
That's it for now...
Wow...what a crazy trip to get back home. Update will come later today. I was hoping to update this weekend...but I just needed to recuperate.
Friday, October 21, 2005
Hopefully everyone is doing good. It's about 1pm here, and things are beginning to wrap up. I fly out at 5:50 to Philly and the to Indy. I'll be glad to get home. It was nice to get away, but I wish that Amanda could have came with me. Hopefully the next trip she'll be able to.
I did a little shopping today on the breaks, so that is pretty much done. After this last block is done I'll probably just sit in the lobby of the hotel and relax until 3:45 or so, at which point I'll call a cab and get a ride to the airport. I have started reading "1776" and am beginning to enjoy it. I have had it checked out for a while, but haven't gotten to read enough of it yet. It's nice to start. I was hoping to get lots of reading done out here, but unfortunately, that has not happened.
I guess that it has and is rainy in Indy, it's been beautiful here, really crisp and clear. Hopefully the weather perks up in Indiana when I get home!
Not sure what is going on this weekend, I'm sure that Amanda will have some plans to do, and there is always wedding stuff on the plate. We'll have to go church shopping and pick a new one to go to this weekend...we have to make a decision in the next few weeks.
Last night I finally got to eat a Maine lobster! Took long enough! It was pretty good. Dinner was excellent, except for the salad, which wasn't all that great. The dessert was great, it was homemade apple pie and homemade vanilla ice cream, yummy!
Well, that's about it...I'll post some more when I get home.
I did a little shopping today on the breaks, so that is pretty much done. After this last block is done I'll probably just sit in the lobby of the hotel and relax until 3:45 or so, at which point I'll call a cab and get a ride to the airport. I have started reading "1776" and am beginning to enjoy it. I have had it checked out for a while, but haven't gotten to read enough of it yet. It's nice to start. I was hoping to get lots of reading done out here, but unfortunately, that has not happened.
I guess that it has and is rainy in Indy, it's been beautiful here, really crisp and clear. Hopefully the weather perks up in Indiana when I get home!
Not sure what is going on this weekend, I'm sure that Amanda will have some plans to do, and there is always wedding stuff on the plate. We'll have to go church shopping and pick a new one to go to this weekend...we have to make a decision in the next few weeks.
Last night I finally got to eat a Maine lobster! Took long enough! It was pretty good. Dinner was excellent, except for the salad, which wasn't all that great. The dessert was great, it was homemade apple pie and homemade vanilla ice cream, yummy!
Well, that's about it...I'll post some more when I get home.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
So, hopefully everyone is doing good! Me, I'm in Portland, Maine. So, far, so good, even after a little bit of drama checking into the hotel today. Everything eventually was taken care of so it all turned out ok.
My flight left out of Indy at 8:30am, which has to be about the perfect time to leave. You avoid the early rush, and don't have to get up at the crack of dawn...it can't get any better than that! Well, it turned interesting when I go to check in and show my photo ID when I realized that I had left my wallet in the car! It was later than I liked, about an hour and fifteen minutes until my flight so I had to go and take the shuttle to the long term lot. I then had to take the shuttle back to the airport and check in for real. I walked right up and into the airplane after I got to my gate. So, all in all it was ok.
I had a transfer in DC, and I just have to say that the view going into that airport was amazing! I was hoping for a glimpse of one of the sights, I wasn't expecting what I saw. I have never been to DC as sadly as that sounds, me being the Political Scientist and all...but wow. Coming into the airport you see the Washington Memorial, the Capitol, Lincoln Memorial. WWII Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial. It really brought chills to me and it made my eyes tear up it was so beautiful. I really didn't want to leave, and I wish that I had some time to go explore.
Well, we were only there at the airport for a little bit and we were off to Portland. The flight to Portland was pleasant. I just wish that I could use my iPod for the whole thing and not have to shut if off during takeoff and landing. We flew just to the east of New York City (another place that I've never been) and that sight was really cool. The sheer size of Manhattan and the other Burroughs is crazy! It's block after block after block after block of nothing but cement, asphalt, and buildings. The statue of Liberty was nothing but a thimble sized spec.
Coming into Portland we flew in from the east over the harbor. There were a ton of lighthouses, so that was pretty neat. We landed at Portland, got a taxi and came to the hotel. The hotel is this old hotel, build in the 20's and is showing it's age, but it's still pretty neat. My room has a sitting room with a sofa (pull out bed) two chairs and a desk. The bedroom area has a king size bed. Both rooms have a TV. It's pretty nice, and I feel guilty having this room all by myself and not having Amanda here. Too bad she is busy at rotations, it would have been fun to spend a couple days up here with her.
Well, after checking in and relaxing for a few minutes I left for lunch. The lady from work and myself walked around the city looking for someplace to eat. We walked for like 15 minutes or so until we found something. It wasn't too bad. We then walked back, she went to the room to take a nap and I walked around some more.
This city is pretty old, most of it build in the early nineteenth century. The streets are kind of crazy with lots of strange intersections, but it appears that the drivers are pretty pedestrian friendly. The people are really a strange lot...I think that Portland is the San Francisco of the east coast...a sort of magnet for the artsy/hippy/earthy type of people. I really enjoyed walking around...me, my iPod and a cool fall drizzle. The architecture is so different than what I'm used to, it was a refreshing change.
The downtown area has a lot of unique shops, a lot of bars, and even more cafes. These people have to like their coffee! There is at least 3 Dunkin Donuts within 10 blocks of each other! Wow, it's amazing everyone is not terminally obese!
I had debated about getting a rental car and I'm glad that I didn't. It will be fun to explore the downtown the next few days.
I had some drama with the WIFI in the hotel room. I couldn't get it to work, and eventually just tucked tail and came down to the lobby, where I connected with nary a problem. I even went as far as to go to a local Kinkos and pay $.20 a minute to download new WIFI card drivers. Luckily I was only on for 6 minutes. Well, I came back and couldn't get it to work...bastard! I really think this wireless card is going bad, since it is having trouble picking up a signal at home even. Oh well...they are dirt cheap now.
Well...that about sums it up...below are some pictures that I've taken on my cell phone!
Some of the old buildings along a narrow side street.
A street looking past some old buildings that look like they could be out of Moby Dick. In the background is the bay.
The wharf
The hotel at night, it was probably something else in the 20's.
My flight left out of Indy at 8:30am, which has to be about the perfect time to leave. You avoid the early rush, and don't have to get up at the crack of dawn...it can't get any better than that! Well, it turned interesting when I go to check in and show my photo ID when I realized that I had left my wallet in the car! It was later than I liked, about an hour and fifteen minutes until my flight so I had to go and take the shuttle to the long term lot. I then had to take the shuttle back to the airport and check in for real. I walked right up and into the airplane after I got to my gate. So, all in all it was ok.
I had a transfer in DC, and I just have to say that the view going into that airport was amazing! I was hoping for a glimpse of one of the sights, I wasn't expecting what I saw. I have never been to DC as sadly as that sounds, me being the Political Scientist and all...but wow. Coming into the airport you see the Washington Memorial, the Capitol, Lincoln Memorial. WWII Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial. It really brought chills to me and it made my eyes tear up it was so beautiful. I really didn't want to leave, and I wish that I had some time to go explore.
Well, we were only there at the airport for a little bit and we were off to Portland. The flight to Portland was pleasant. I just wish that I could use my iPod for the whole thing and not have to shut if off during takeoff and landing. We flew just to the east of New York City (another place that I've never been) and that sight was really cool. The sheer size of Manhattan and the other Burroughs is crazy! It's block after block after block after block of nothing but cement, asphalt, and buildings. The statue of Liberty was nothing but a thimble sized spec.
Coming into Portland we flew in from the east over the harbor. There were a ton of lighthouses, so that was pretty neat. We landed at Portland, got a taxi and came to the hotel. The hotel is this old hotel, build in the 20's and is showing it's age, but it's still pretty neat. My room has a sitting room with a sofa (pull out bed) two chairs and a desk. The bedroom area has a king size bed. Both rooms have a TV. It's pretty nice, and I feel guilty having this room all by myself and not having Amanda here. Too bad she is busy at rotations, it would have been fun to spend a couple days up here with her.
Well, after checking in and relaxing for a few minutes I left for lunch. The lady from work and myself walked around the city looking for someplace to eat. We walked for like 15 minutes or so until we found something. It wasn't too bad. We then walked back, she went to the room to take a nap and I walked around some more.
This city is pretty old, most of it build in the early nineteenth century. The streets are kind of crazy with lots of strange intersections, but it appears that the drivers are pretty pedestrian friendly. The people are really a strange lot...I think that Portland is the San Francisco of the east coast...a sort of magnet for the artsy/hippy/earthy type of people. I really enjoyed walking around...me, my iPod and a cool fall drizzle. The architecture is so different than what I'm used to, it was a refreshing change.
The downtown area has a lot of unique shops, a lot of bars, and even more cafes. These people have to like their coffee! There is at least 3 Dunkin Donuts within 10 blocks of each other! Wow, it's amazing everyone is not terminally obese!
I had debated about getting a rental car and I'm glad that I didn't. It will be fun to explore the downtown the next few days.
I had some drama with the WIFI in the hotel room. I couldn't get it to work, and eventually just tucked tail and came down to the lobby, where I connected with nary a problem. I even went as far as to go to a local Kinkos and pay $.20 a minute to download new WIFI card drivers. Luckily I was only on for 6 minutes. Well, I came back and couldn't get it to work...bastard! I really think this wireless card is going bad, since it is having trouble picking up a signal at home even. Oh well...they are dirt cheap now.
Well...that about sums it up...below are some pictures that I've taken on my cell phone!
Some of the old buildings along a narrow side street.
A street looking past some old buildings that look like they could be out of Moby Dick. In the background is the bay.
The wharf
The hotel at night, it was probably something else in the 20's.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Bad moods and the Post Office
Well, it's been a couple days since there has been an update, sorry...but I have been gone and didn't have access to a computer. I left for drill Friday afternoon and drill was pretty busy. I won't go into specifics, but being a leader is more work and more fun than I thought that it would be. I knew that it would be work, and when it actually came down to it I just had to sit back and tell myself that I've been in charge plenty of times before, and it's no different...except this time it's for real. By the end of the drill weekend I was feeling pretty comfortable about what I was doing. Well, enough about that, I had the intentions of going into specifics, but I'm not going to, it's late and I'd rather talk about more current issues.
Well, today I worked and it was ok. I'm pretty busy getting ready for my trip to Maine, and there is only one work day left. Tomorrow night I want to get all my packing done and be good to go so I don't have to do anything in the morning. I'm bringing a laptop with me along with my PDA, so I'll be online there. I might post a couple pictures for fun if there is anything interesting. It will be nice to have a couple semi-relaxing days. I'll be working on Saturday a couple hours to catch up on stuff, but that's no big deal. Saturdays are usually dead...so it will be nice to have a 5 day block with no work. I think that the whole issue of coming back from Washington and rolling straight to work is starting to catch up with me...so this trip couldn't have came at a better time.
Ok, so after work I stopped to pick up some vegetable for dinner. Amanda was making chicken breasts and wanted to have some steamed vegetables. I came home and Caden had shat in his cage, just like he did every day last week. Thankfully he wasn't needing a bath...but it was a start of a worse than normal nights.
I took him on our typical walk route and that went ok. He was a little more belligerent than normal on this walk, so I didn't try to walk anything extra. On the way in I decided to stop by the mailbox and see what was in there. Well, it was the start of a subpar evening.
Inside the mail was a plastic envelope that enclosed a damaged letter from the post office. There was a stamp proclaiming "DAMAGED BY MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT Please accept our apologies". Yeah, well screw you too. Whatever was in the envelope is no longer there since the damn envelope is empty. Yes, the post office managed to lose whatever was in there. No idea what was in there, but the person that sent it had to use two stamps. I don't recognize the return address nor the name. The person is from Noblesville, and my name and address was hand written. It's just frustrating since I pretty much never receive a real piece of mail. I think that I might write the person back to let them know that whatever was in the envelope is not long gone.
That started my evening. To make a longish story short...the dog was just whiney all night. Amanda has decided that he needs to stay on the leash in the house since he has been having accidents, and we want to keep a little better eye on him. Well, he was relentless. I can't get him to relax for anything. Amanda went to bed early, and I figured that I could have him go to bed with her...she wasn't too keen on that idea so I ended up taking him. I took him outside 5 times this evening and he doesn't want to go to the bathroom...he is just whining for the sake of whining. I really think that if it is like this tomorrow the whole leash in the house thing will have to go. He is cooped up in the cage all day and the last thing that he wants to do is be on the leash. The whole leash thing worked fine for Amanda this weekend since she was home all day...but I don't think that it will be working during the week.
Speaking of during the week, we need to step up our efforts to find someone to get him during the day. It's just frustrating to come home to have him upset and soiled. I can't really blame him either. Then on top of it, Stormy is misbehaving and the fish tank needs a new air pump and filter. Ugg...I guess when it rain it pours.
I'm sure that tomorrow will be a better day, and even my usual jovial self needs a bad day once in a while to keep me grounded. I'm just so used to good days that the occasional bad day just throws me for a loop.
About 1:30 or so, I was taking the dog out and some lady came up to me. She was wearing scrubs and said that she was locked out of her apartment and wanted to see if I had any idea how to get in if the privacy deadbolt was locked. Basically there is a deadbolt inside of our apartment that cannot be opened from the outside. Her husband was inside, asleep in the bedroom with a loud fan in the room. She was calling the phone, ringing the door bell and pounding on the door...nothing worked. I think that she eventually gave up and was sleeping at someone else's house. Boy that sucks...they didn't have a garage either, so they couldn't call maintenance to let them in that way. She seemed pretty upset and looked like she was going to cry. She said that she had a bad night at work (she works in the ER) and was tired. I think that her husband will probably feel like an idiot tomorrow when he wakes up and she isn't there.
Lets see...what else...the White Sox are in the World Series, so that is cool. Hopefully they win, it's been a while for them.
I also finally upgraded my cell phone. I'm supposed to be grandfathered in with my old phone plan, so if I get any surprises on this coming bill I might go crazy. Originally my phone was programmed wrong and my voicemail and my picture mail did not work. That made it interesting...finally today I was able to get a competent person fix my problems. Whew! The lady last night was pretty bad. I now have video on my phone but I'm not sure how much I'm really going to use it.
Ok, that's it for tonight...I'm off to bed now...I feel a lot better after writing this...it's a start of a new day in 3 1/2 hours!
Well, it's been a couple days since there has been an update, sorry...but I have been gone and didn't have access to a computer. I left for drill Friday afternoon and drill was pretty busy. I won't go into specifics, but being a leader is more work and more fun than I thought that it would be. I knew that it would be work, and when it actually came down to it I just had to sit back and tell myself that I've been in charge plenty of times before, and it's no different...except this time it's for real. By the end of the drill weekend I was feeling pretty comfortable about what I was doing. Well, enough about that, I had the intentions of going into specifics, but I'm not going to, it's late and I'd rather talk about more current issues.
Well, today I worked and it was ok. I'm pretty busy getting ready for my trip to Maine, and there is only one work day left. Tomorrow night I want to get all my packing done and be good to go so I don't have to do anything in the morning. I'm bringing a laptop with me along with my PDA, so I'll be online there. I might post a couple pictures for fun if there is anything interesting. It will be nice to have a couple semi-relaxing days. I'll be working on Saturday a couple hours to catch up on stuff, but that's no big deal. Saturdays are usually dead...so it will be nice to have a 5 day block with no work. I think that the whole issue of coming back from Washington and rolling straight to work is starting to catch up with me...so this trip couldn't have came at a better time.
Ok, so after work I stopped to pick up some vegetable for dinner. Amanda was making chicken breasts and wanted to have some steamed vegetables. I came home and Caden had shat in his cage, just like he did every day last week. Thankfully he wasn't needing a bath...but it was a start of a worse than normal nights.
I took him on our typical walk route and that went ok. He was a little more belligerent than normal on this walk, so I didn't try to walk anything extra. On the way in I decided to stop by the mailbox and see what was in there. Well, it was the start of a subpar evening.
Inside the mail was a plastic envelope that enclosed a damaged letter from the post office. There was a stamp proclaiming "DAMAGED BY MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT Please accept our apologies". Yeah, well screw you too. Whatever was in the envelope is no longer there since the damn envelope is empty. Yes, the post office managed to lose whatever was in there. No idea what was in there, but the person that sent it had to use two stamps. I don't recognize the return address nor the name. The person is from Noblesville, and my name and address was hand written. It's just frustrating since I pretty much never receive a real piece of mail. I think that I might write the person back to let them know that whatever was in the envelope is not long gone.
That started my evening. To make a longish story short...the dog was just whiney all night. Amanda has decided that he needs to stay on the leash in the house since he has been having accidents, and we want to keep a little better eye on him. Well, he was relentless. I can't get him to relax for anything. Amanda went to bed early, and I figured that I could have him go to bed with her...she wasn't too keen on that idea so I ended up taking him. I took him outside 5 times this evening and he doesn't want to go to the bathroom...he is just whining for the sake of whining. I really think that if it is like this tomorrow the whole leash in the house thing will have to go. He is cooped up in the cage all day and the last thing that he wants to do is be on the leash. The whole leash thing worked fine for Amanda this weekend since she was home all day...but I don't think that it will be working during the week.
Speaking of during the week, we need to step up our efforts to find someone to get him during the day. It's just frustrating to come home to have him upset and soiled. I can't really blame him either. Then on top of it, Stormy is misbehaving and the fish tank needs a new air pump and filter. Ugg...I guess when it rain it pours.
I'm sure that tomorrow will be a better day, and even my usual jovial self needs a bad day once in a while to keep me grounded. I'm just so used to good days that the occasional bad day just throws me for a loop.
About 1:30 or so, I was taking the dog out and some lady came up to me. She was wearing scrubs and said that she was locked out of her apartment and wanted to see if I had any idea how to get in if the privacy deadbolt was locked. Basically there is a deadbolt inside of our apartment that cannot be opened from the outside. Her husband was inside, asleep in the bedroom with a loud fan in the room. She was calling the phone, ringing the door bell and pounding on the door...nothing worked. I think that she eventually gave up and was sleeping at someone else's house. Boy that sucks...they didn't have a garage either, so they couldn't call maintenance to let them in that way. She seemed pretty upset and looked like she was going to cry. She said that she had a bad night at work (she works in the ER) and was tired. I think that her husband will probably feel like an idiot tomorrow when he wakes up and she isn't there.
Lets see...what else...the White Sox are in the World Series, so that is cool. Hopefully they win, it's been a while for them.
I also finally upgraded my cell phone. I'm supposed to be grandfathered in with my old phone plan, so if I get any surprises on this coming bill I might go crazy. Originally my phone was programmed wrong and my voicemail and my picture mail did not work. That made it interesting...finally today I was able to get a competent person fix my problems. Whew! The lady last night was pretty bad. I now have video on my phone but I'm not sure how much I'm really going to use it.
Ok, that's it for tonight...I'm off to bed now...I feel a lot better after writing this...it's a start of a new day in 3 1/2 hours!
Friday, October 14, 2005
Sewage sprays into Muncie home | IndyStar.com
City crews cleaning out sewers accidentally blew raw sewage and roots into a home, covering the walls and floors. Now the homeowners are looking for someone to pay for the cleanup.
Wow, that really stinks (no pun intended). I cannot believe that there is even a discussion on whether or not they should pay for the crap cleanup. The guy in there saying that it was an accident doesn't mean anything! I wonder when the last time that line worked when you get pulled over by a cop. "I didn't mean to drive 94 and then blow through those 3 red lights, it was an accident!". Yeah, like that would ever work.
I don't blame the people for being mad either, I'd be mad as hell if the city decides to crap on me like that! I'd be calling my lawyer and the crap would really hit the fan. Ok...enough of my pun's its not punny any more. Oh, that is just awful, I should probably erase it to save me from embarrassment later on in life, oh well!
Well, lets see about what happened yesterday. We went to dinner with M and her husband at Ruby Tuesdays. I had their salad and nachos. Once again their salad was excellent, and I didn't find any live worms in it, so that is a plus! We were pretty pressed for time so we all ordered appetizers. I had the nachos and they were the most disappointing nachos that I have ever had in my entire life. They didn't taste bad, it's just that they were totally different than the picture. The picture had nachos with beans or beef covered in melted cheese and topped with jalapeno's. Pretty standard...well, all that they were were nachos with their stupid ass queso dumped all over them. If I wanted queso, I would have ordered queso. I was pretty disappointed since in my mind nachos are only nachos if they have cheese over the top and then it is melted in the broiler. This produces nice stringy cheese that tastes great and sure beats queso dumped on the top. Uggg, just so disappointing.
Well, after that we went to see a premiere of "Elizabethtown". It was a great movie, probably the best movie that I've seen in a long time. It was funny and heartwarming, and even a tad emotional. It's definitely a must see! After the movie we came back home and went to bed earlyish. The dog was a little bit of a pain though. I took him outside and he didn't do anything but sit on my feet and look around. After standing outside for 10 minutes I cam inside and went to bed. Well, he was barking and whining non-stop. Amanda asked if I took him out, I said yeah, like 5 minutes ago. Well, I took the little guy back out and he peed! Hello, I was just out there for 10 minutes with you, and you didn't do anything! Well, I came back in and put him in his bed, and he was quiet.
I don't mind if he barks or cries at night, if it is only to go outside. Overall he is being pretty good. He has a number of accidents, but he is still pretty young. He is doing good on a leash, which is really nice. We go for a long walk everyday, about 1/2 mile or so. Yesterday he met his first big dog and he pissed himself (literally). It scared him so bad, but then he was ok once he realized the big old golden wasn't going to eat him.
Today I have to go to drill. It's a MUTA 5, so it's Friday-Sunday. I'm not working, I have a lot to do, so I'll be pretty busy. I'm going to go get a new ID card, since I need one. My current one is pretty out of date and the rank is wrong. Looks like the weather will hold out for me this weekend, so that is a big relief! It's no fun to be cold. I'll be bringing my gore-tex coat just in case though.
Also, ever since I've been out of school, I feel like the creative part of my mind is going to the wayside. I miss writing and putting my thoughts on paper. So, I've been trying to branch out and get involved in some writing on the side. I've started to do reviews for a movie/game/music site. Nothing too big, but it was pretty fun. My first review was published http://www.justpressplay.org/music/reviews/Gorillaz/77-Demon_Days.html , there is a typo that I didn't catch and it is bugging the hell out of me though! I also did a review for the movie that I saw last night. I'm not sure how long I'll do this for, but it has been fun and didn't take too much time.
I'm also thinking about doing some creative writing for a new magazine/publication in town. I'm meeting with someone about it next week, we'll see what comes out of it. It is purely fun and shouldn't be anything major. We'll see where that goes...but it is nice to use my brain a little bit! Ok, time to get busy...here is my to-do list!
1) Get ID Card
2) Eat lunch with Amanda
3) Polish boots
4) Get Poogey Bait
5) Try to sew my stuff on another set of uniforms and my Kevlar cover.
6) Pack gear
7) Get haircut
8) Got to Costco and see about getting a new cell phone.
9) Arrive at the armory by 5:15pm, which means I have to leave by 4:30 or so.
Well, it's 10 or so...time to get going.
City crews cleaning out sewers accidentally blew raw sewage and roots into a home, covering the walls and floors. Now the homeowners are looking for someone to pay for the cleanup.
Wow, that really stinks (no pun intended). I cannot believe that there is even a discussion on whether or not they should pay for the crap cleanup. The guy in there saying that it was an accident doesn't mean anything! I wonder when the last time that line worked when you get pulled over by a cop. "I didn't mean to drive 94 and then blow through those 3 red lights, it was an accident!". Yeah, like that would ever work.
I don't blame the people for being mad either, I'd be mad as hell if the city decides to crap on me like that! I'd be calling my lawyer and the crap would really hit the fan. Ok...enough of my pun's its not punny any more. Oh, that is just awful, I should probably erase it to save me from embarrassment later on in life, oh well!
Well, lets see about what happened yesterday. We went to dinner with M and her husband at Ruby Tuesdays. I had their salad and nachos. Once again their salad was excellent, and I didn't find any live worms in it, so that is a plus! We were pretty pressed for time so we all ordered appetizers. I had the nachos and they were the most disappointing nachos that I have ever had in my entire life. They didn't taste bad, it's just that they were totally different than the picture. The picture had nachos with beans or beef covered in melted cheese and topped with jalapeno's. Pretty standard...well, all that they were were nachos with their stupid ass queso dumped all over them. If I wanted queso, I would have ordered queso. I was pretty disappointed since in my mind nachos are only nachos if they have cheese over the top and then it is melted in the broiler. This produces nice stringy cheese that tastes great and sure beats queso dumped on the top. Uggg, just so disappointing.
Well, after that we went to see a premiere of "Elizabethtown". It was a great movie, probably the best movie that I've seen in a long time. It was funny and heartwarming, and even a tad emotional. It's definitely a must see! After the movie we came back home and went to bed earlyish. The dog was a little bit of a pain though. I took him outside and he didn't do anything but sit on my feet and look around. After standing outside for 10 minutes I cam inside and went to bed. Well, he was barking and whining non-stop. Amanda asked if I took him out, I said yeah, like 5 minutes ago. Well, I took the little guy back out and he peed! Hello, I was just out there for 10 minutes with you, and you didn't do anything! Well, I came back in and put him in his bed, and he was quiet.
I don't mind if he barks or cries at night, if it is only to go outside. Overall he is being pretty good. He has a number of accidents, but he is still pretty young. He is doing good on a leash, which is really nice. We go for a long walk everyday, about 1/2 mile or so. Yesterday he met his first big dog and he pissed himself (literally). It scared him so bad, but then he was ok once he realized the big old golden wasn't going to eat him.
Today I have to go to drill. It's a MUTA 5, so it's Friday-Sunday. I'm not working, I have a lot to do, so I'll be pretty busy. I'm going to go get a new ID card, since I need one. My current one is pretty out of date and the rank is wrong. Looks like the weather will hold out for me this weekend, so that is a big relief! It's no fun to be cold. I'll be bringing my gore-tex coat just in case though.
Also, ever since I've been out of school, I feel like the creative part of my mind is going to the wayside. I miss writing and putting my thoughts on paper. So, I've been trying to branch out and get involved in some writing on the side. I've started to do reviews for a movie/game/music site. Nothing too big, but it was pretty fun. My first review was published http://www.justpressplay.org/music/reviews/Gorillaz/77-Demon_Days.html , there is a typo that I didn't catch and it is bugging the hell out of me though! I also did a review for the movie that I saw last night. I'm not sure how long I'll do this for, but it has been fun and didn't take too much time.
I'm also thinking about doing some creative writing for a new magazine/publication in town. I'm meeting with someone about it next week, we'll see what comes out of it. It is purely fun and shouldn't be anything major. We'll see where that goes...but it is nice to use my brain a little bit! Ok, time to get busy...here is my to-do list!
1) Get ID Card
2) Eat lunch with Amanda
3) Polish boots
4) Get Poogey Bait
5) Try to sew my stuff on another set of uniforms and my Kevlar cover.
6) Pack gear
7) Get haircut
8) Got to Costco and see about getting a new cell phone.
9) Arrive at the armory by 5:15pm, which means I have to leave by 4:30 or so.
Well, it's 10 or so...time to get going.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Shooter and Sushi
Well, last night I had the pleasure of seeing Shooter Jennings. If you don't know, I've thought the guy rocked since I first listened to his album back in June...just check out this post http://www.xanga.com/item.aspx?user=jhartsell&tab=weblogs&uid=293078718 if there is any doubt! Well, yesterday I went to see him at the Music Mill.
RG, CB, and myself met at Asaka for some sushi before the concert. It was sushi happy hour and we ate some good sushi. Interestingly enough sitting at the table next to us there was a mom and her two kids. They were all eating sushi! The kids couldn't have been any older than 4 or 5, but they were downing it! See, it just goes to show you that a kids pallet is definitely influenced by the parents more than anything. Hopefully when we have kids we can expose them to a wide variety of food so that they aren't prudes about trying new things. You might be thinking "Jason, but last week you went off about crazy crab lady!" Yeah, I did complain about her, not because she let her little kid have crab, but rather she didn't help the kid eat it nor did she show the girl how to use the tools...she just wanted to engulf her food and then eat the kids crab. Ok, so back to my night!
Well, after sushi we left for the concert. We made it there about 2 minutes or so before the doors opened up for the general admission concert. So we were there about 7:30 for the 8:30 concert. We hung out and drank some beers waiting for the show to begin. It wasn't too packed, so people weren't fighting to get close to the stage, so that was good. About 8:40 or so the opening act began.
The opening act is a semi-local band, from Seymore, IN. They are called The Elms, and they seem to have a bright future. They have a record deal, and have a pretty good sound. The band seems to have good chemistry, and they played some good music. Look for them in the future. Oh, and they are not country.
Funny thing happened while they were playing though, to the left of me was a heavily tattooed guy. He had a thick wallet chain and was pretty buff. Well, there was a group of middleaged guys messing with him. They kept yanking the guys chain and then acting all cool like nothing happened. I could tell that the chain guy was starting to get pissed off. He was just there rocking to the music. Well they eventually stopped, The Elms were done and the guy left.
After a L O N G set changed Shooter Jennings and his band The .357s came onstage. Guess who their drummer was? Yes, none other than chain guy! How funny is that. Here is a picture of him playing ping pong with another guy in the band...and probably the same damn chain that he had on last night.
Well, last night I had the pleasure of seeing Shooter Jennings. If you don't know, I've thought the guy rocked since I first listened to his album back in June...just check out this post http://www.xanga.com/item.aspx?user=jhartsell&tab=weblogs&uid=293078718 if there is any doubt! Well, yesterday I went to see him at the Music Mill.
RG, CB, and myself met at Asaka for some sushi before the concert. It was sushi happy hour and we ate some good sushi. Interestingly enough sitting at the table next to us there was a mom and her two kids. They were all eating sushi! The kids couldn't have been any older than 4 or 5, but they were downing it! See, it just goes to show you that a kids pallet is definitely influenced by the parents more than anything. Hopefully when we have kids we can expose them to a wide variety of food so that they aren't prudes about trying new things. You might be thinking "Jason, but last week you went off about crazy crab lady!" Yeah, I did complain about her, not because she let her little kid have crab, but rather she didn't help the kid eat it nor did she show the girl how to use the tools...she just wanted to engulf her food and then eat the kids crab. Ok, so back to my night!
Well, after sushi we left for the concert. We made it there about 2 minutes or so before the doors opened up for the general admission concert. So we were there about 7:30 for the 8:30 concert. We hung out and drank some beers waiting for the show to begin. It wasn't too packed, so people weren't fighting to get close to the stage, so that was good. About 8:40 or so the opening act began.
The opening act is a semi-local band, from Seymore, IN. They are called The Elms, and they seem to have a bright future. They have a record deal, and have a pretty good sound. The band seems to have good chemistry, and they played some good music. Look for them in the future. Oh, and they are not country.
Funny thing happened while they were playing though, to the left of me was a heavily tattooed guy. He had a thick wallet chain and was pretty buff. Well, there was a group of middleaged guys messing with him. They kept yanking the guys chain and then acting all cool like nothing happened. I could tell that the chain guy was starting to get pissed off. He was just there rocking to the music. Well they eventually stopped, The Elms were done and the guy left.
After a L O N G set changed Shooter Jennings and his band The .357s came onstage. Guess who their drummer was? Yes, none other than chain guy! How funny is that. Here is a picture of him playing ping pong with another guy in the band...and probably the same damn chain that he had on last night.
So yeah, that whole chain incident was pretty funny. Shooter played a long set, he played every single song off his album 'Put the 'O' Back in Country'. He also played 2 of his dads songs. It was a great seat, and I'll definitely see him next time he is in town. He also played the keyboards on a couple songs as well as his trademark V guitar, and the same guitar that his dad used. The place was rocking pretty good. What was neat about this show is that he is still pretty unknown in the whole music world, and most the people there obviously had his album since everyone sang along to every song. That was neat, and it probably won't be replicated again.
Well, after the rocking concert, we went to get some food at Perkins since we were hungry and sushi, like all Asian food only fills you up for like 20 minutes. I got home pretty late, not sure what time but it was 1ish Well, we are going to a movie premiere for Elizabeth town and getting dinner, take it easy!
Well, after the rocking concert, we went to get some food at Perkins since we were hungry and sushi, like all Asian food only fills you up for like 20 minutes. I got home pretty late, not sure what time but it was 1ish Well, we are going to a movie premiere for Elizabeth town and getting dinner, take it easy!
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
A Crappy Situation
Well, the last two days I've came home from work and have been greeted with a little puppy that needed a bath. I won't go into specifics, but it hasn't been pretty. I'm not mad at him, it's not the little guys fault...but it has to stink for him. I feel bad enough leaving him in there all day...and this week has not been good. I think that we are going to have to find someone and pay them to let him out during the day. I might put a posting in the apartment complex and see what comes up...if not we will have to just keep dealing with this. The little guy is really good too, so it's really too bad.
Well, it's about time to leave for the concert...just wanted to vent for a few minutes. Now, it's time for some country baby! Speaking of country...anyone heard Garth Brooks "Good Ride Cowboy". It's his tribute to the last Chris LeDoux. Not only is it a great country song with a catchy refrain and good lyrics it makes me realize how much I miss Garth. He really is missed by everyone, I wish he would start making music again...he can't stay out of the business too long, he HAS to miss it enough to turn out another studio album...and boy, does he still have it going!
Ok...Shooter here I come...I might be trying the mobile posting feature...so you can see pictures live from the concert...and maybe our sushi meal beforehand! If only I had a cowboy hat!
Well, the last two days I've came home from work and have been greeted with a little puppy that needed a bath. I won't go into specifics, but it hasn't been pretty. I'm not mad at him, it's not the little guys fault...but it has to stink for him. I feel bad enough leaving him in there all day...and this week has not been good. I think that we are going to have to find someone and pay them to let him out during the day. I might put a posting in the apartment complex and see what comes up...if not we will have to just keep dealing with this. The little guy is really good too, so it's really too bad.
Well, it's about time to leave for the concert...just wanted to vent for a few minutes. Now, it's time for some country baby! Speaking of country...anyone heard Garth Brooks "Good Ride Cowboy". It's his tribute to the last Chris LeDoux. Not only is it a great country song with a catchy refrain and good lyrics it makes me realize how much I miss Garth. He really is missed by everyone, I wish he would start making music again...he can't stay out of the business too long, he HAS to miss it enough to turn out another studio album...and boy, does he still have it going!
Ok...Shooter here I come...I might be trying the mobile posting feature...so you can see pictures live from the concert...and maybe our sushi meal beforehand! If only I had a cowboy hat!
Lanes...Lanes....Lanes....
This will be just a quick update. Looks like I'm going to see Shooter tonight. RG is going, so that should be fun. I'm excited...I've wanted to see him since I first listened to his album, 'Put the 'O' Back in Country'. Yesterday was an ok, nothing spectacular but ok. I'll do an official update tonight when I get back, but I just want to touch on one little thing....lanes on the roads.
Those of you that know me, know that I'm a happy and jovial person...but I turn into Mr. Hyde when I drive. Driving is my downfall...I hate to drive and hate other drivers. Ever since I've moved to the city it has only gotten worse. I think that it is safe to say that the average driver in Indianapolis would fail a comprehensive driving exam...probably upwards of 70% of all the drivers. The current thing that has been driving me crazy is lanes.
In some parts of the country the police agencies vehemently enforce the fact that you drive in the right, pass in the left. Basically, get the heck over! Well, when I was down in Florida the past March there were signs up all over stating that fact. Also, on the interstates, and other divided highways cars would flash their lights at you to get over. Well, I've taken that back over with me here.
Yes, I'm now a light flasher. Not all the times, but if you are in the left lane, and not passing the car to your right, then you best get over. If I can't find a way around your slow and inattentive ass, then I'm flashing you. Thus far, in my newfound flashiness, it has been pretty successful. Cars seem to get over. It's like they suddenly tune out of their cell phone conversation and remember how to drive. Ugg...Cell phones, that's a hole different ball game...I'll touch that later. Just remember, drive right, pass left!
This will be just a quick update. Looks like I'm going to see Shooter tonight. RG is going, so that should be fun. I'm excited...I've wanted to see him since I first listened to his album, 'Put the 'O' Back in Country'. Yesterday was an ok, nothing spectacular but ok. I'll do an official update tonight when I get back, but I just want to touch on one little thing....lanes on the roads.
Those of you that know me, know that I'm a happy and jovial person...but I turn into Mr. Hyde when I drive. Driving is my downfall...I hate to drive and hate other drivers. Ever since I've moved to the city it has only gotten worse. I think that it is safe to say that the average driver in Indianapolis would fail a comprehensive driving exam...probably upwards of 70% of all the drivers. The current thing that has been driving me crazy is lanes.
In some parts of the country the police agencies vehemently enforce the fact that you drive in the right, pass in the left. Basically, get the heck over! Well, when I was down in Florida the past March there were signs up all over stating that fact. Also, on the interstates, and other divided highways cars would flash their lights at you to get over. Well, I've taken that back over with me here.
Yes, I'm now a light flasher. Not all the times, but if you are in the left lane, and not passing the car to your right, then you best get over. If I can't find a way around your slow and inattentive ass, then I'm flashing you. Thus far, in my newfound flashiness, it has been pretty successful. Cars seem to get over. It's like they suddenly tune out of their cell phone conversation and remember how to drive. Ugg...Cell phones, that's a hole different ball game...I'll touch that later. Just remember, drive right, pass left!
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
To Shooter or not to Shooter, that is the question.
Wednesday Shooter Jennings will be at the Music Mill and I'm debating if I'm going to go or not. I know that Amanda probably won't get going since she despises country. So what am I to do? I'd really like to go because he probably won't be back in the Indy area for another 6 months or so. I figure that I'll ask a couple guys tomorrow if they want to go. Hopefully someone wants to go.
This past weekend was pretty busy. Saturdays main focus was wedding stuff. We scouted churches, did the save the date cards, and looked at wedding cakes. I think that we did other stuff but I can't remember. Sunday we tried out one of the churches. The whole church issue stinks...since we aren't that far away from the wedding we eliminate a good number of churches. Truth be told, if we weren't here in the Indy are the church wouldn't be that bad, but here in Indy the bulk of the churches are huge monstrosities with thousands of people in the congregation. The church that we went to Sunday wasn't huge, it only had maybe 60 people at the only service time. That was nice, but then again it's not nice in some ways. The church is new and just starting out, so all the people there are eager to have new folks there...that is nice. Then again, since it is new, they don't have pews but rather just folding chairs. UGG, what to do.
Part of me says that the facilities shouldn't matter as much as the people. Yeah, the church isn't the huge beautiful catholic church like I grew up in, and that will be impossible to have this close. I also have to tell myself though that we are not just looking for a church for the wedding, but rather a church for the future, so the fancy church shouldn't be the focus, but rather the people that are there...that should be the focus. Well, we will see.
So, after the church trial v.1, we went up north for my dad's 50th birthday party. Because of church, we weren't able to leave super early, so we came home grabbed what we needed (mainly the dog) and left. We got to my grandparents around 4:30 and we headed to the restaurant. Everyone managed to get there before my dad arrived, so it was nice. It also was the first time since last summer that I managed to see my extended family on dad's side. Because of distance and military stuff, I hardly ever get see them, so it was an added treat.
Of course, this is the one time that I forget my camera, so I don't have any pictures. I need to ask Steve to send my over some so that I can have a couple. Jane was cute and the food ok. I think we were at the restaurant for 2 hours or so, too bad we didn't have lunch there so that we could have stayed longer. I didn't get to talk to everyone as much as I wanted to, so that was kind of a bummer.
It seems that every time that there is a family gathering, I have drill, so it was nice because I didn't have drill this past weekend (it's this weekend!). On the bright side, since my grandparents (dad's side) have sold their home in Florida, they won't be down there for the whole winter...which means that for the first time since I was in 4th or 5th grade there *may* be a family Christmas. God, I hope so! I just hope that we don't have it on the traditional Christmas Eve, but rather a week or so before! Basically, when my grandparents started to go to Florida for the winter, they were going to come back every other year, but unfortunately that only last two years. We continued the family gatherings for a couple years after that for Christmas, but I don't know if they do anything now or not.
I really miss the whole family gathering thing. It' strange because growing up they seemed like such a chore, but now that they don't happened for Christmas, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Birthday's, Easter, Thanksgiving, etc. I miss them. The family gatherings are slowly becoming less and less, and the whole Army thing has taken away some other family gatherings. It seems like drill has the uncanny ability to be scheduled on a lot of the get toghethers, besides the fact that the 120 miles+ is not really too conducive. Ugg...
So, this weekend is a drill weekend, so I'll be gone Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Then the following week I'll be in Maine Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. So, it will be a busy couple weeks. Ok, its 3am, I'm off to bed.
Wednesday Shooter Jennings will be at the Music Mill and I'm debating if I'm going to go or not. I know that Amanda probably won't get going since she despises country. So what am I to do? I'd really like to go because he probably won't be back in the Indy area for another 6 months or so. I figure that I'll ask a couple guys tomorrow if they want to go. Hopefully someone wants to go.
This past weekend was pretty busy. Saturdays main focus was wedding stuff. We scouted churches, did the save the date cards, and looked at wedding cakes. I think that we did other stuff but I can't remember. Sunday we tried out one of the churches. The whole church issue stinks...since we aren't that far away from the wedding we eliminate a good number of churches. Truth be told, if we weren't here in the Indy are the church wouldn't be that bad, but here in Indy the bulk of the churches are huge monstrosities with thousands of people in the congregation. The church that we went to Sunday wasn't huge, it only had maybe 60 people at the only service time. That was nice, but then again it's not nice in some ways. The church is new and just starting out, so all the people there are eager to have new folks there...that is nice. Then again, since it is new, they don't have pews but rather just folding chairs. UGG, what to do.
Part of me says that the facilities shouldn't matter as much as the people. Yeah, the church isn't the huge beautiful catholic church like I grew up in, and that will be impossible to have this close. I also have to tell myself though that we are not just looking for a church for the wedding, but rather a church for the future, so the fancy church shouldn't be the focus, but rather the people that are there...that should be the focus. Well, we will see.
So, after the church trial v.1, we went up north for my dad's 50th birthday party. Because of church, we weren't able to leave super early, so we came home grabbed what we needed (mainly the dog) and left. We got to my grandparents around 4:30 and we headed to the restaurant. Everyone managed to get there before my dad arrived, so it was nice. It also was the first time since last summer that I managed to see my extended family on dad's side. Because of distance and military stuff, I hardly ever get see them, so it was an added treat.
Of course, this is the one time that I forget my camera, so I don't have any pictures. I need to ask Steve to send my over some so that I can have a couple. Jane was cute and the food ok. I think we were at the restaurant for 2 hours or so, too bad we didn't have lunch there so that we could have stayed longer. I didn't get to talk to everyone as much as I wanted to, so that was kind of a bummer.
It seems that every time that there is a family gathering, I have drill, so it was nice because I didn't have drill this past weekend (it's this weekend!). On the bright side, since my grandparents (dad's side) have sold their home in Florida, they won't be down there for the whole winter...which means that for the first time since I was in 4th or 5th grade there *may* be a family Christmas. God, I hope so! I just hope that we don't have it on the traditional Christmas Eve, but rather a week or so before! Basically, when my grandparents started to go to Florida for the winter, they were going to come back every other year, but unfortunately that only last two years. We continued the family gatherings for a couple years after that for Christmas, but I don't know if they do anything now or not.
I really miss the whole family gathering thing. It' strange because growing up they seemed like such a chore, but now that they don't happened for Christmas, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Birthday's, Easter, Thanksgiving, etc. I miss them. The family gatherings are slowly becoming less and less, and the whole Army thing has taken away some other family gatherings. It seems like drill has the uncanny ability to be scheduled on a lot of the get toghethers, besides the fact that the 120 miles+ is not really too conducive. Ugg...
So, this weekend is a drill weekend, so I'll be gone Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Then the following week I'll be in Maine Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. So, it will be a busy couple weeks. Ok, its 3am, I'm off to bed.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Busy weekend...lots of driving. I got home late last night and went to bed, so I didn't get to give out the recap...I'll update this afternoon.
Friday, October 07, 2005
The Dilemma of Dinner Time
Well, time for a little update. Nothing exciting went on today that is really worth talking about...but I do want to talk about the dilemma of dinner time. When I was younger and not in the "grown-up" world...it was pretty common to go to dinner 9-10 at night. Well, now that we are getting older (as scary as that is) we now find ourselves in restaurants from 5-6pm. This is a somewhat different environment than what we previously would experience.
The early crowd is full of families with little kids and retired people. There just isn't many people our age without kids eating at that time...usually just us. So now...instead of having drunk annoying people eating with us we now have screaming kids. today...it was the worse possible situation.
So, for our Friday treat to start our celebration of the weekend Amanda and I went to Red Lobster. We get seated in 10 or 15 minutes at a table near the middle of the non-smoking section. Well, right behind us is the big behemoth of a table that sits like 8-10 people. This large family sat down there shortly after we were seated. It was mom, dad, their 3 kids and the grandparents. Well...the daughter that was probably 5 or so was a whiney little brat. She was fake crying over everything and no matter what she did her mom got more and more agitated. Well, the mom made matters worse because she obviously had absolutely zero parenting skills. She either didn't know how to deal or is going on her 5th year of post-partum depression. She looked ragged and quite bitter. Well, the daughter started fake crying and then I heard a dish get clanked down...I thought for sure that the daughter threw it down. Nope, it wasn't the daughter it was mom! She went nuts and raised her voice and drug the daughter out of the restaurant.
Now, don't get me wrong...I wish that more parents would actually parent instead of letting their kids walk all over them, but she was miles ahead of where she was supposed to be. Granted her husband just sat there the whole time, so she should probably be a little upset about that, but this lady seemed nuts. But wait, crazy psycho mom wasn't the only parent in the place that was a couple screws loose.
This second lady was having dinner with her daughter that was probably 5-7 years old. Well, they get the dinners...both of them have a meal that includes crab. Now, who the heck gets crab for a kid that old is beyond me, but that's not really the kicker. The kicker is that during the meal, the mom goes on to eat crab like she hasn't eaten in a week! She is going nuts sucking the meat out of the arms and cracking them open. While she is doing this the little kid is just sitting there holding a leg and not really know what to do. Turns out that the little girl doesn't have any of the proper crustacean eating equipment (the cracker and the little fork). By the time that the mom realizes what is going on and asks the waiter for the equipment she is 70% done with her meal...and the little girl still hasn't ate a piece!
So, the waiter brings a set for the little girl and the mom continues to eat. She did take maybe 15 seconds to show the girl, but the little kids hands are too small and definitely not strong enough to crack the legs. The mom continues to eat. Now...what would most parents do? Yeah...you are right...most parents wouldn't order friggin' crab for a kid to begin with...but if you were so inclined you would at least help her out a little. Well...this lady doesn't help the kid and eventually the little girl gives up and is done. The mom doesn't stop there...she goes on to eat the daughters crab! Then, instead of ordering some sustenance for the daughter the mom just orders chocolate cake for desert!? Wow...good to see that the girl is eating healthy...and we wonder why Indiana is always one of the most obese states.
The mom on the left...daughter on right.
Well, time for a little update. Nothing exciting went on today that is really worth talking about...but I do want to talk about the dilemma of dinner time. When I was younger and not in the "grown-up" world...it was pretty common to go to dinner 9-10 at night. Well, now that we are getting older (as scary as that is) we now find ourselves in restaurants from 5-6pm. This is a somewhat different environment than what we previously would experience.
The early crowd is full of families with little kids and retired people. There just isn't many people our age without kids eating at that time...usually just us. So now...instead of having drunk annoying people eating with us we now have screaming kids. today...it was the worse possible situation.
So, for our Friday treat to start our celebration of the weekend Amanda and I went to Red Lobster. We get seated in 10 or 15 minutes at a table near the middle of the non-smoking section. Well, right behind us is the big behemoth of a table that sits like 8-10 people. This large family sat down there shortly after we were seated. It was mom, dad, their 3 kids and the grandparents. Well...the daughter that was probably 5 or so was a whiney little brat. She was fake crying over everything and no matter what she did her mom got more and more agitated. Well, the mom made matters worse because she obviously had absolutely zero parenting skills. She either didn't know how to deal or is going on her 5th year of post-partum depression. She looked ragged and quite bitter. Well, the daughter started fake crying and then I heard a dish get clanked down...I thought for sure that the daughter threw it down. Nope, it wasn't the daughter it was mom! She went nuts and raised her voice and drug the daughter out of the restaurant.
Now, don't get me wrong...I wish that more parents would actually parent instead of letting their kids walk all over them, but she was miles ahead of where she was supposed to be. Granted her husband just sat there the whole time, so she should probably be a little upset about that, but this lady seemed nuts. But wait, crazy psycho mom wasn't the only parent in the place that was a couple screws loose.
This second lady was having dinner with her daughter that was probably 5-7 years old. Well, they get the dinners...both of them have a meal that includes crab. Now, who the heck gets crab for a kid that old is beyond me, but that's not really the kicker. The kicker is that during the meal, the mom goes on to eat crab like she hasn't eaten in a week! She is going nuts sucking the meat out of the arms and cracking them open. While she is doing this the little kid is just sitting there holding a leg and not really know what to do. Turns out that the little girl doesn't have any of the proper crustacean eating equipment (the cracker and the little fork). By the time that the mom realizes what is going on and asks the waiter for the equipment she is 70% done with her meal...and the little girl still hasn't ate a piece!
So, the waiter brings a set for the little girl and the mom continues to eat. She did take maybe 15 seconds to show the girl, but the little kids hands are too small and definitely not strong enough to crack the legs. The mom continues to eat. Now...what would most parents do? Yeah...you are right...most parents wouldn't order friggin' crab for a kid to begin with...but if you were so inclined you would at least help her out a little. Well...this lady doesn't help the kid and eventually the little girl gives up and is done. The mom doesn't stop there...she goes on to eat the daughters crab! Then, instead of ordering some sustenance for the daughter the mom just orders chocolate cake for desert!? Wow...good to see that the girl is eating healthy...and we wonder why Indiana is always one of the most obese states.
The mom on the left...daughter on right.
So...remember yesterday how I said that I wrote Jimmy John's? Well, at 6am I received an answer.
Wow, I'm quite impressed. That was a quick and concise response. Less that 12 hours for the response and probably most impressive was the time. He responded at 6:11am, which really says something about the guy. I'm glad that they didn't just forward it on to the same owner that didn't follow through. While I'm impressed by this guy, I'm still kid of bitter about the restaurant in general. I should just e-bay the certificates or something. Who knows though, it would be hard to turn away free food.
Well...that's about it...I'm going to go to bed even though there is a lot of shows to watch on the PVR. I'm really tired right now and know that as soon as a start watching a show I'll be asleep. Amanda thankfully will be taking the dog out tonight!
Dear Jason,
I am very sorry that we never were able to deliver on our promise to you. That does not speak very well for our company if we forget to follow-up after making a mistake. Thank you again for taking the time to let us know about your concerns and problem. I will make sure you are taken care of today. I will have several J spots sent to the address provided. Thank you for your patience and understanding. If there are any other problems or anything else I can do for you please call me at 317-213-XXXX.
Clay LXXXXXXXXX
Franchise Consultant
Well...that's about it...I'm going to go to bed even though there is a lot of shows to watch on the PVR. I'm really tired right now and know that as soon as a start watching a show I'll be asleep. Amanda thankfully will be taking the dog out tonight!
Thursday, October 06, 2005
My Online Shopping Cart
Let me just say how much I love buying stuff online. I absolutely positively love it! I made my first online purchase in '98 when I bought a new computer mouse...that was the first time but definitely not the last since then I've bought: pizza, groceries, cameras, computers, flashlights, clothes, boots, socks, jewelry, books, music, movies, gifts, guitars, and a myriad of other things. It is definitely the most revolutionary shopping medium since the enclosed mall became popular somewhere in the 50s-60s. The whole experience is so unique.
Shopping online has two distinct phases...each important to making shopping online great. The first phase is the research phase. Shopping online allows the consumer to price shop unlike any other shopper ever. Yes, before the Internet you could shop around, but that mean catalogs, calls, or walking...now it's as simple as froogle, mysimon, dealtime, or google. You can easily compare the prices at thousands of merchants and get the best price. That is the easy part, the hard part is doing the research. Whenever I build up to buy something, I spend time researching and learning about what I'm getting myself into...and the Internet is a Godsend in this department. I can look at product reviews, product descriptions, pictures and even videos of the product. It's just so neat!
The second phase that makes shopping online great is the delivery phase. In this phase, you get to actually receive your purchase, albeit 1-5 days after you've purchased it, but that's ok. Often times I'll buy a good deal that I stumble upon and end up buying what I've found. That's all well and good until I forget what I've bought in a few days....then there is a knock on the door and I now have a gift that I have forgot about. Yeah, most the time it is nothing too exciting nor very earth shatter, but it's like a present to myself. It's so neat.
Let me just say how much I love buying stuff online. I absolutely positively love it! I made my first online purchase in '98 when I bought a new computer mouse...that was the first time but definitely not the last since then I've bought: pizza, groceries, cameras, computers, flashlights, clothes, boots, socks, jewelry, books, music, movies, gifts, guitars, and a myriad of other things. It is definitely the most revolutionary shopping medium since the enclosed mall became popular somewhere in the 50s-60s. The whole experience is so unique.
Shopping online has two distinct phases...each important to making shopping online great. The first phase is the research phase. Shopping online allows the consumer to price shop unlike any other shopper ever. Yes, before the Internet you could shop around, but that mean catalogs, calls, or walking...now it's as simple as froogle, mysimon, dealtime, or google. You can easily compare the prices at thousands of merchants and get the best price. That is the easy part, the hard part is doing the research. Whenever I build up to buy something, I spend time researching and learning about what I'm getting myself into...and the Internet is a Godsend in this department. I can look at product reviews, product descriptions, pictures and even videos of the product. It's just so neat!
The second phase that makes shopping online great is the delivery phase. In this phase, you get to actually receive your purchase, albeit 1-5 days after you've purchased it, but that's ok. Often times I'll buy a good deal that I stumble upon and end up buying what I've found. That's all well and good until I forget what I've bought in a few days....then there is a knock on the door and I now have a gift that I have forgot about. Yeah, most the time it is nothing too exciting nor very earth shatter, but it's like a present to myself. It's so neat.
BREITBART.COM - Just The News
At least one hotel chain has asked some Hurricane Katrina evacuees to check out so it can honor the reservations of incoming guests. Hilton Hotels, the parent company of Hampton Inn and other brands, is trying to find other rooms for the evacuees but said they were warned when they checked in that their stays would be limited by room availability, said Hilton spokeswoman Kathy Shepard. "We're doing our very best to accommodate these people," she said.
Oh, you are doing your best to accommodate "these people" are you? Well, does your best include kicking them out? This, like so many things that big business does just ticks me off. It's not as if the Hilton brand is about to go bankrupt or something. It looks like in the future if I'm booking a hotel, I'll try to avoid on of the Hilton owned hotels.
Speaking of the hurricane, what is up with the housing boom in the places hit hard by the hurricane? Houses are selling for 30-40% more than what they are worth. I've heard murmurs that it is actually large corporations buying up these properties that are now destroyed so that they can build casinos, hotels, shopping centers, and condos. It's kind of disturbing, but then again it is capitalism at work. I wonder what happens to the people that had insurance? Do they get paid by the insurance company for the destruction of their house, and then get paid again by the home/property buyer? If so it might make a terrible situation bright for some. Yeah, it is bad that these old neighborhoods will be razed, but most of them are destroyed right now anyway's.
One bad thing relating to all this house buying is that many of the poor renters are going to be really in trouble. They are going to lose where they are living and not see any monetary gain out of the situation. That is really the sad part about the whole situation, because many of these victims also did not have renters insurance, so they will not have any monetary compensation for their damaged goods.
Oh, just want to reiterate my bitterness towards Jimmy Johns. To make a long story short, I'll attach my e-mail(s). Basically in a nutshell their subs are too small, too expensive, and they are unable to follow through with promises.
What a good company! And to think that after all of this went down I recanted my negative thoughts about Jimmy Johns. Boy, I guess that I was wrong! Hopefully ol' Scott won't call me and offer me some half-assed excuse like he didn't have my address (which I gave him) or he sent them out and they got lost. Well...I'll keep you updated about what happens.
Today I also opened up another blog over on http://jhartsell.blogspot.com . Back in '00 or '01 it was my first blog site, before I started using Xanga. Well, I've now discovered a little 'ol thing called AdSense from Google. It's a decent way to make a little change, and I can't get it to work on Xanga. So, until Xanga is able to work with Adsense, I'll be posting on both places, so you won't be missing anything. Personally, Xanga has the advantage of the blogrings and a pretty tight community, but blogger has a lot more options and customizations. Hopefully Xanga adds some more features soon, because I'm pretty bummed out about them adding all the "premium" features to regular users. I paid to have extra features that they now give everyone for free. The only thing that they offer me right now over the regular user is 2gb of photo storage...which is no big deal. The photo upload interface isn't all that hot, and if I wanted to put that many pictures online, I would just Flikr or something.
Well, not sure what tonight holds, but Survivor is on and I have to watch LOST, which is where I'm going to be going right now!
At least one hotel chain has asked some Hurricane Katrina evacuees to check out so it can honor the reservations of incoming guests. Hilton Hotels, the parent company of Hampton Inn and other brands, is trying to find other rooms for the evacuees but said they were warned when they checked in that their stays would be limited by room availability, said Hilton spokeswoman Kathy Shepard. "We're doing our very best to accommodate these people," she said.
Oh, you are doing your best to accommodate "these people" are you? Well, does your best include kicking them out? This, like so many things that big business does just ticks me off. It's not as if the Hilton brand is about to go bankrupt or something. It looks like in the future if I'm booking a hotel, I'll try to avoid on of the Hilton owned hotels.
Speaking of the hurricane, what is up with the housing boom in the places hit hard by the hurricane? Houses are selling for 30-40% more than what they are worth. I've heard murmurs that it is actually large corporations buying up these properties that are now destroyed so that they can build casinos, hotels, shopping centers, and condos. It's kind of disturbing, but then again it is capitalism at work. I wonder what happens to the people that had insurance? Do they get paid by the insurance company for the destruction of their house, and then get paid again by the home/property buyer? If so it might make a terrible situation bright for some. Yeah, it is bad that these old neighborhoods will be razed, but most of them are destroyed right now anyway's.
One bad thing relating to all this house buying is that many of the poor renters are going to be really in trouble. They are going to lose where they are living and not see any monetary gain out of the situation. That is really the sad part about the whole situation, because many of these victims also did not have renters insurance, so they will not have any monetary compensation for their damaged goods.
Oh, just want to reiterate my bitterness towards Jimmy Johns. To make a long story short, I'll attach my e-mail(s). Basically in a nutshell their subs are too small, too expensive, and they are unable to follow through with promises.
Hello, back in August I had the last of many terrible experience at a Jimmy Johns franchise location in Indianapolis, IN. I sent an e-mail to you and was promptly contacted by the store owner Scott XXXXX. After talking to him on the phone I was able to understand his growing pains of purchasing a store that was already on shaky ground and short staffed. Well, we spent some time talking about what he is doing to fix the problem and improve this store. I told him that if I was in the store and noticed a problem I would kindly let him now, and he said that he would make my problems right by sending me complimentary sub certificates (or something like that). Well, I have not heard anything from him, and that was back around the end of August. So, I just thought that I would pass on this update to you, as well as remind you (the corporate office) about the problem. Below this message is my original e-mail sent on August 21st.
Jason
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I have been a fan of Jimmy John's since my freshman year at Purdue University in 1998. I have since moved to Indianapolis. We lived close to the store in Broad Ripple and frequented there. Last summer we moved to Fishers (on the north side of Indy) and were without a Jimmy John's, but we still frequented the Broad Ripple location when we were in the area.
This past winter we were pleased to see a store opening up near us. This store on East 96th St, is only about 4 1/2 miles from us. Unfortunately this store does not deliver to us, but we nonetheless would still go there. The problem is this store is the worst Jimmy John's (among the 6 I've been to). I'll recount some of the problems: Three times I have been there and subsequently turned away because there was no bread. Twice I have been there when the lights were on, neon was on in the window and have been turned away because they were not open. Note that this location does not have posted hours nor an open sign. And finally the nail in the coffin happened today.
I went into the store and ordered a Turkey Tom and a Beach along with chips and a couple cookies. I took my food home for lunch for my fiancee and myself. Well, we sit down to eat only to find out that the subs that we have were not what I ordered. I call the store and inform them what happened. The girl that answered the phone knew that I had the wrong subs and said that I could come in and get mine. I asked if that is all they could do and she said yes. I asked if they could deliver me the correct subs and she checked and they said yes. I then gave my address to the delivery guy so that he could mapquest it. Well, I waited for over an hour for my delivery and never received the correct subs and am now going to buy a second lunch, this one will not be at Jimmy Johns and I'll be throwing away the wrong subs that were given to me (no bag, no number on them, no confirmation of what I ordered, etc).
Sorry Jimmy John's but a poorly managed franchise has ruined your reputation for me and lost the entire chain a couple of customers. On the bright side, I have a good rant for my blog.
Jason
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I have been a fan of Jimmy John's since my freshman year at Purdue University in 1998. I have since moved to Indianapolis. We lived close to the store in Broad Ripple and frequented there. Last summer we moved to Fishers (on the north side of Indy) and were without a Jimmy John's, but we still frequented the Broad Ripple location when we were in the area.
This past winter we were pleased to see a store opening up near us. This store on East 96th St, is only about 4 1/2 miles from us. Unfortunately this store does not deliver to us, but we nonetheless would still go there. The problem is this store is the worst Jimmy John's (among the 6 I've been to). I'll recount some of the problems: Three times I have been there and subsequently turned away because there was no bread. Twice I have been there when the lights were on, neon was on in the window and have been turned away because they were not open. Note that this location does not have posted hours nor an open sign. And finally the nail in the coffin happened today.
I went into the store and ordered a Turkey Tom and a Beach along with chips and a couple cookies. I took my food home for lunch for my fiancee and myself. Well, we sit down to eat only to find out that the subs that we have were not what I ordered. I call the store and inform them what happened. The girl that answered the phone knew that I had the wrong subs and said that I could come in and get mine. I asked if that is all they could do and she said yes. I asked if they could deliver me the correct subs and she checked and they said yes. I then gave my address to the delivery guy so that he could mapquest it. Well, I waited for over an hour for my delivery and never received the correct subs and am now going to buy a second lunch, this one will not be at Jimmy Johns and I'll be throwing away the wrong subs that were given to me (no bag, no number on them, no confirmation of what I ordered, etc).
Sorry Jimmy John's but a poorly managed franchise has ruined your reputation for me and lost the entire chain a couple of customers. On the bright side, I have a good rant for my blog.
What a good company! And to think that after all of this went down I recanted my negative thoughts about Jimmy Johns. Boy, I guess that I was wrong! Hopefully ol' Scott won't call me and offer me some half-assed excuse like he didn't have my address (which I gave him) or he sent them out and they got lost. Well...I'll keep you updated about what happens.
Today I also opened up another blog over on http://jhartsell.blogspot.com . Back in '00 or '01 it was my first blog site, before I started using Xanga. Well, I've now discovered a little 'ol thing called AdSense from Google. It's a decent way to make a little change, and I can't get it to work on Xanga. So, until Xanga is able to work with Adsense, I'll be posting on both places, so you won't be missing anything. Personally, Xanga has the advantage of the blogrings and a pretty tight community, but blogger has a lot more options and customizations. Hopefully Xanga adds some more features soon, because I'm pretty bummed out about them adding all the "premium" features to regular users. I paid to have extra features that they now give everyone for free. The only thing that they offer me right now over the regular user is 2gb of photo storage...which is no big deal. The photo upload interface isn't all that hot, and if I wanted to put that many pictures online, I would just Flikr or something.
Well, not sure what tonight holds, but Survivor is on and I have to watch LOST, which is where I'm going to be going right now!
Ok, everyone has my apologies. I've been so lazy it's been pitiful. I haven't been on the computer as much due to the dog, the new tv and stereo, plus the fall tv shows. Truth be told, the single largest factor is that I've been falling asleep on the couch! How terrible is that! So, I usually wake up anywhere from 1-3am, get up and let the dog out and then go back to bed. Thankfully my back isn't hurting (yet)...but I'm getting mad about it. I just need to start sitting up when I'm watching TV, because there is a direct link to me going horizontal and me going ZZZZZZ. I think that Amanda has given up on me since she hasn't even tried waking me up recently. So, for the next 7 days...no more falling asleep at the couch.
I've also been bad at some of my other goals...I have reverted back to biting my damn nails. Yep...I was doing so good, and wham...I'm back to the old way. Well, that's going to stop also...my main problem is that I never have nail clippers when their length is bothering me, so I will have to carry a pair with me or something. All right, that's about it for now...it feels good to be back in the groove!
I've also been bad at some of my other goals...I have reverted back to biting my damn nails. Yep...I was doing so good, and wham...I'm back to the old way. Well, that's going to stop also...my main problem is that I never have nail clippers when their length is bothering me, so I will have to carry a pair with me or something. All right, that's about it for now...it feels good to be back in the groove!
The new co-blog!
