One of the few

I didn't get out of bed right away this morning. I am one of the few that has to work today so I didn't see any need to be here at the usual time. Yet somehow, I got to work early. WTF?

I sit here still a bit disappointed with the Cowboys game. They had a chance to win which is all you can ask for. They stopped the Bronco's running attack. They were in position for the go ahead field goal. Ugh! But they played tough which is a good sign.

I have little clue exactly what I am going to do here at the office. I finished up a project on Wednesday so I do have much to do. I think I will skip out of here around 1. I can surf the net for only so long.

I do need to stop by the hardware store. I noticed the other day my toilet was leaking. Time to pull it up and put down a new wax ring. Last time I tried this I broke the toilet. But I know how I screwed that job up so this shouldn't be so bad. If it fails, I may to have A & J's more mechanically inclined husbands over early on Sunday to take care of it. But again, it should not be a problem. I have done this before. Successfully that is.

Besides the game, Thanksgiving was good. Me and my brother have a simple understanding of Thanksgiving dinner. Let us watch the game. He brought up the horror story of a couple of years ago at my dad's house. His wife refused to let us watch the football game and we had to sit and talk with everyone. I believe that was the last Thanksgiving dinner I had there. My bro assured me that whenever he has people over, it is known fact that we will watch the game. He ain't that bad afterall.

His wife had some family in from Connecticut. Her mom and sister. After dessert (or is it desert? screw looking it up!) I was stunned by the "coffee" she drank. She started with half a cup of coffee, added a quarter of cream, followed by Baileys, cinnamon, 4- yes 4! - sugars, and whipped cream. Un-fuggin-believable. How can anyone drink something like that? It would make a barista cringe.

I also watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving last night. What a crappy cartoon! What did I see in this as a kid? The jokes are lame, the characters lack morals, the story is dumb. But I did notice something that was disturbingly funny. Snoopy beat the snot out of Woodstock. I never caught that part before. Let's review what he did. He first flicks Woodstock out of his nest sending him flying many many feet through the air to land on his head. He lands on the other side of a bicycle. Of course, instead of walking around the wheel, he decides to go through it. But not after Snoopy spins it. See that! Snoopy tried to put the bird through a blender. Next, Snoopy brings out a ping pong table. He plays ping pong with himself (that sounds dirty). He flies back and forth, back and forth. When he gets bored, he smacks that ball right into Woodstock sending him flying again. But Snoopy isn't done with his ass-kicking yet. He now gets out a basketball and flattens poor Woody, then shakes him up. It was worse than a cage match. You need to see this for yourself. I never thought I would see Snoopy lay such an ass-whoopin' on his "friend".

Since I have little to do at work today, I am thinking of live blogging the day. Hey, it has to be better than me talking about repairing the toilet.

7:40
Just had the paper delivered so I have something to do. There is a good chance I am the only one working in my area today. When I say "my area", I mean the wing of the building. I am on the top floor behind the elevators in the smaller section. On the other side is where at the techies work. My guess is that 90% of them are not in today. Heck, I may be disappointed if someone else shows up by me.

I must also mention that I did peform a successful skullanalectomy on Wednesday. Yes, I got someone's head out their ass and them into the bar again. I won't name names but we all know who it is.

7:50
Going through email, I see my friend Corey sent me this: http://www.break.com/articles/houselights.html Hopefully it will get the song Mexican Radio out of my head. It is pretty neat what they have done here. I would like to know how they did it.

8:39
There is one other person working in my area. She is a quiet one so there will be no fun banter going on. For the record, I did do some actual work.
One way I know that the Christmas season is upon on is by the radio commercials. Beside being bombarded by various jewelers, we get to hear the one store that only advertises during this season. People in Milwaukee are familiar with the jingle. Sing it with me "Mike Crivello's world is a wonderful world of cameras...." Yeah, that will drive some of you nuts.

9:09
The first bout of boredom is setting in. I think most people are asleep. No blogs have been updated so there is little to read. I wish I could play poker here. Then the day could fly by. Instead I am searching for something to do. I am staring at some notes from a conversation I had with my boss two weeks ago. I am suppose to draft some emails but I do not have a clue what the topic is.

10:33
I just did some work! Seeing how I get paid to be here I figured I'd give a little back. Oh yeah, I also checked out the link Erik provided. That link may be even more useful later. I had mentioned the gathering I am having on Sunday. So far, I have responses from 10 people, myself included. I figure on at least 5 more. My plan is to start with 4 cases of beer. I figure 8 beers a person, excluding the soda drinkers, is 90 which gives me leeway of 6 beers. If people are drinking out of their gourds, I always have a liquor store a block away.

10:42
Just received an email from the aforementioned friend Corey. It simply said "You there?". Hey, you read the blog this morning. You know I am fuckin here!

10:59
Just place the order for food on Sunday. Don't like a party sub? Too bad! Don't like vegetables on it? Too bad!
I spoke to a rather stupid sounded person named Jamie. When I asked her how I could split up the size of the sandwich (I wanted to make sure I could go half club, half special), she responded "I don't know. I just make the tiny little subs". Uh..ok. So I get placed on hold until some grunt named AJ picks up. He is a real brainiac too. I think he said "Uh" at least 20 times while I placed the order. People need to make sure you bring enough munchies and eat them because if the sub don't last, you are on your own. Plus I don't want any leftovers.
Speaking of which, maybe I should go downstairs and get some food.

11:56
I see the country's biggest coward is back in Texas. She don't matter to me. But I couldn't help but laugh at one line in this story. The goofballs had a traditional Iraqi meal for Thanksgiving as a way to call attention to the innocent Iraqi victims in the war as well as the fallen soldiers. One crackpot said:

"It's significant because the people of Iraq are suffering under our
occupation, and for people in America it's business as usual stuffing
themselves on fat turkeys."

The innocent Iraqi victims? Like the hundreds of thousands that Saddam killed? Or are you referencing the ones that are targeted by terrorists today? Life in Iraq is more normal than ever. Who is suffering? Those who want to kill children, policemen- Iraqis who are trying to make their country a good place- that's who! Did this person ever pay attention to who is being bombed? Comments like that are amazingly ignorant.
But I am not dumb with this moron. Americans were stuffing themselves with fat turkeys. So what? We have not earned that? How much money have the turkey gourging Americans given to others this year alone? Who was there to help in Malaysia? Who was there in New Orleans? The American people have been asked- actually expected now- to give time and time again when disaster strikes. So if we cannot have some time to enjoy ourselves and be thankful for what we have, the screw you lady!

12:30
I have pretty much decided that I am leaving at 1. The plan is to stop by the hardware store, get what I need and fix the toilet right away. Then I can spend my time in a manner fitting a drunk like myself.

1:13
After flirting with a girl and trying to get her to "discuss some things" in a private office, I have decided to be done with the cock tease and go home. Soon it will be me, a wrench and some wax.

2:07
As I get home, my tenant is leaving. He stops for some idle chit-chat and then asks if I have any screws for the door. I ask for more information. He tells me the screen door on the porch has a loose handle and it is about to fall off. I ask if he has tightened the screws. He said no, that is why he needs screws. I looked at him dumbfounded. What happened to the screws? He doesn't know. I then ask why the screws weren't tighted down before the suddenly made a break for it with a successful escape. He gives me this "I am not here all the time bullshit story". Here is a hint. I am not responsible for everything that you break. If you do not inform me of minor repairs before they become major repairs, you will pay for the repair. I am getting sick of this bullshit from him. Time to fix the toilet.

2:41
It took about 15 minutes to unbolt the toilet, scrape the wax off, try to stop the water supply from leaking, application of new ring and sitting down to bolt it back on. In the end:

StB 1

Toilet 0

I hope the score stays that way. It should. I even paid the extra 50 cents for the ring that had 40% more wax. More wax has to be a good thing in this case. Oh yeah, one other thing. Make sure you do not need to use the toilet before starting. I think it is one of those mind things. You realize that you may break something and not have a toilet so you mind tells you to go now just in case. Second tip. When you bend over to loosen the bolts, remember to put the seat down. Otherwise you face is going where your ass should be. Not pleasant.

So I think I can reward myself with a little poker play now. The window insulation project can wait until tomorrow. I deserve a reward.