Archives 2009

Friday night I went out with my buddy from work.  We hit a place called The Keg and The Pub.  The Keg is a steak house with a bar.  I expected it to be quite full on a Friday night. Surprisingly it was pretty dead.  After that we swung over to the latest and newest hot spot in Naples, Mercado. 

The Pub is a british style pub with lots of dark beer, english style food and a lot of drunks.  One of the first things we were treated to when walking in the door was some douchebag in a costume with a large red strap on penis.  He was encouraging patrons to try to throw plastic rings onto his plastic phallus. 

We didn’t stay very long, just long enough to do some people watching.  There were lots of women there dressed to impress, looking to snag that lonely millionaire.  I kept my drinking under control all evening as I was the driver.  In total I may have had 5 light beers, a far cry from the triple tavern towers I consumed a couple weeks prior.  Going out and seeing the nightlife typically makes me thankful that I don’t have to deal with it on a regular basis.  This time was no different. 

I got home around 11.  Mom was glad to see I got home in one piece.  She was also glad that my arrival meant she could once again have her bed to herself.  She was sharing it with the dogs prior to my arrival.

After going to the grocery store with mom Saturday morning, I was quite busy with work around the house.  With no Ali to help share the load I was on the go for the majority of the day.  The longest time consumer was mowing and weed whacking everything by myself.  Mom washed her car while I mowed.  After I was done mowing I waxed the top surfaces of her car and cleaned out the interior. Throw in weeding, palm trimming and several other small chores onto the “done” list.  I was pretty damn tired by the end of the day.

One of the nice things about having mom there was she likes to cook.  She made stuffed shells on Saturday night and London Broil last night.  Mom also did all of our dirty laundry and was on dishwasher duty too.  Mom likes to have something to do so I don’t try too hard to discourage her.

Late Saturday I found out that the guy that was going to help me move the shed would be available on Sunday afternoon.  So I called up the shed owner and made sure she was ok with the shed getting moved Sunday which she was.  The bad thing was doing it Sunday afternoon meant I would completely miss the Eagles game.  I wasn’t happy about that but I wanted to get the shed moved more so I bit the bullet.

Sunday morning I went over early to do the basic disassembly before my help arrived.  I disconnected the hurricane straps and the electric that was feeding into the shed.  I also loaded up the storage shelves the owner was donating to me and brought them back to the house awhile.  I was done in about an hour.  Then it was just waiting for my help to arrive.

Ok so this was the outline of how the shed transport was going to go.  My guy has a big trailer and a big tractor with a front bucket and a grading box blade.  The plan was to use the tractor to lift the the shed into a position where we could get it on the trailer.  after successfully loading the shed on the trailer he would use the tractor to smooth out a clear path to trailer the shed to the 12 foot gate in the back of our fence line.  Once inside the fence we would drive the shed into position and once again use the tractor to help us remove the shed from the trailer.  Well besides the fact that the shed is now sitting on our property, none of the in between steps went as planned.

The first problem we had was the back of the shed was flush up against a deck.  The deck prevented the tractor from being used behind the shed to lift and push.  Instead we utilized a come along attached to the front of the trailer to slowly and I mean SLOWLY winch the shed towards the trailer.  Early on during the process one of the woman’s neighbors showed up.  He was one of those types that likes to be involved in shit and loves to offer up opinions on how to do them.  Immediately he started throwing up ideas on how to accomplish our objective and immediately I did my best to demonstrate that we weren’t interested in them. Luckily when he went back over to his house to get some “tools” to help us, the shed owner called him and told him to  stay put, we didn’t want/need his help.

Bill brought two come alongs with him.  He managed to bend the first one, it wasn’t a very heavy duty variety.  Luckily I had my come along with as well which was a bit stronger.  Winching the shed up onto the trailer was extremely tedious.  We used pipes, dock pilings, cinder blocks and various other items along the way to slowly inch the shed into position.

The weather was not cooperating either.  Even though it was November 1st,  it was blazing hot with temps approaching 90 degrees.  Bill and I were drenched in sweat.  The shed also had a perimeter of fire ants which I was introduced to  multiple times as I crawled around in the sand.  It was in a word, miserable.

The job of loading the shed was considerably more challenging than Bill anticipated.  The shed was heavier than he expected and the inability to use the tractor to assist made the job a 100% manpower variety.  In total we spent around two and a half hours just getting the shed onto the trailer.

So we carted it back to our house and Bill did a survey of the route he would need to traverse.  Again, it was more difficult than he envisioned.  He didn’t realize that our rear gate was at the far rear corner.  To get to it he would need to smooth out a very long path that crossed several deep ditches he would need to fill.  He was also concerned that if he stripped to much of the grassy overgrowth the truck and trailer could easily become stuck in the soft sugar sand underneath.  Well he would give it a try.

So Bill got to work with the tractor and started the clearing process.  As I walked along the path he was clearing I had severe doubts about the viability of this plan.  Knowing how heavy the shed was and seeing the undulating terrain the truck, trailer and shed would have to navigate I had very little confidence in the success of the effort.  Bill came back towards the front of the property unexpectedly, pointing to his front tire.  He had a flat… wtf else can be go wrong? 

So Bill parked the tractor and we talked about our options.  He said he could try to trailer it back there with what he had cleared although he shared my dire outlook on the success of that option.  While he was trying to clear the path I was examining the fence.  I was considering just cutting the fence, pulling a fence post and driving through it.  Of course the idea of disturbing my beautiful intact fence line was not an ideal situation as it would require me to repair that section after the shed is driven through it.  However it seemed to me to be the lesser of two evils.  If the truck and trailer get stuck halfway back we were totally screwed.  I brought up the fence cutting plan to Bill and he was all for it.

I got some fence staples and hammered more in on the posts before and after the cut to try to maintain as much tension on the existing fence line as possible.  We cut the fence, removed the post and we instantly had a nice 20 foot wide entrance to enter the property.  We drove the truck and trailer on to the property and positioned it as close as possible to where I wanted it.  Then we begun the de-trailering process.

With the tractor sidelined with a flat tire we once again were forced to unload the shed by hand.  I drove my truck around and we used it as the stationary object to attach the come along to.  We had some hairy moments as the shed was being unloaded.  It wound up coming off at an angle that was rather precarious at times.  Once again we used various objects to stabilize the shed as it came off including a floor jack, landscape blocks, wood and the dock pilings.  I had visions of the shed falling off the trailer and breaking into pieces.  Luckily the shed is built very solidly and was able to withstand the abuse we were subjecting it to. 

Finally we got the shed off the trailer and after some more manipulation with the floor jack got it resting on it’s original cinder block pads. I caught my first break of the day when I put the level on the shed floor and saw that it was level without any additional manipulation.  Originally I had hopes of getting the shed reconnected to the hurricane straps but that was a battle I would fight another day.  I was beat.  I paid Bill for his time and worked right up until the fade of daylight putting all of the tools  away.

I was beat up.  Working in the hot sun all afternoon doing back breaking labor isn’t an ideal way to spend the weekend.  I was happy to hear the Eagles kicked the Giants ass in what may have been the best game of the year for the Birds so far.  I was sorry I missed it.  I wish instead I could have missed the Phillies game.

After losing on Saturday night the Phillies really needed to stop the bleeding and take game four.  Instead they once again collapsed down the stretch and are now down 3-1 in the series.  It seems like the Phillies have several problems in the series.  Certain key players are just not producing,  most notably Ryan Howard who has struck out an embarrassing amount of times.  He is one the verge of surpassing Willie Wilson as the biggest failure in World Series history.   When he is hot he is awesome, but when he is cold he is DREADFUL.  The World Series is a bad time for him to revert to NOT HOT status.

Jimmy Rollins also has done very little from the lead off spot, not nearly what the Phils need him to do.  The Phillies have hit a TON of homeruns during the series, however I think every single shot was with the bases empty.  When they have runners on base they have being going down quietly.  The Phillies relievers basically suck.  They simply do not get the job done.  Brad Lidge is the biggest surprise of all in the bullpen.  Last year he was Mr Automatic, not blowing a single save opportunity.  This season he has blown a ton of leads and once again last night  he fell apart, giving up 3 runs, giving the Yankees the win in the process.

The Phillies just seem to be missing that magic combination they had last year of clutch play with a sprinkle of good luck.  If they manage to dig themselves out of this hole it will be a comeback of monumental proportions.  Hey the Red Sox did it to the Yankees once before, maybe the Phils can wake up and do it once again.

Oh well the Phils couldn’t pull out a win last night but in the big picture they are coming out of New York in good shape.  A few hits in key situations last night and they could have pulled the game out.  Pedro pitched well, especially considering the situation.  Yankee fans HATE Pedro from his time on the Red Sox.  Despite a stadium full of haters, he went out there and pitched great minus the two solo homeruns he gave up.

Yesterday at the gym it was shoulder and abs day. Well for some reason I got it in my head that I wanted to try to do the ab exercise that Stallone did in Rocky IV.  Basically you get on an ab bench and then extend your legs outward with nothing but your shoulder blades touching.  In the movie Stallone was actually doing reps, raising his feet up and down.  I just wanted to see if I could hold the position.

Now of course Stallone is built much differently than me.  He is a short, compact guy.  I have a stretch armstrong build.  As a result of my long torso and legs there is a ton of leverage needed to keep myself in that position.  I was able to get into what felt like a similar position but it took all I had to just hold it there.  It felt like the muscles in my chest and upper abs were going to rip apart.  I held it for a few seconds and that was all I could do.  I tried one more time with similar results.  It was a cool thing to try and I may attempt to do it more regularly to see if I get any better.  I think I actually made the move tougher than it needed to be because I had the ab board tilted down instead of flat as when Sly did it.

Tonight I am going out with a buddy of mine from work.  I don’t plan to go off the deep end like I did a couple Fridays ago.  No tavern towers will be consumed. 

Not much else to say really except “They were who we thought they were!”

Man that Phillies game was fantastic.  I actually saw it till the final out.  Cliff Lee’s performance was incredible.  Not only did he pitch fantastic, he seemed remarkably relaxed throughout the entire game.  It was like pitching in game one of the World Series was old hat to him.  As a former pitcher, I have insight on what the pressure of a situation can do to your performance.  Lee seemed totally immune to it.

Chase Utley’s home runs were masterful.  In each situation he worked the at bat until he got a sweet pitch to hit and hit it he did.  Like Lee, Utley seemed unfazed by the accomplishment, just another day at the office.   To put more of a gold star on the performance, most of the game was played in a steady misting rain in raw 50 degree temperatures.  I think the Phils made a definite statement with the win.  They are not there to F around or be the Yankees bitch.  Far too many Yankee fans thought this was going to be a cakewalk. 

So Ali is on her way to Pa for a few days.  My mom is going to drive out to our place tomorrow to hang out over the weekend.  This marks a big moment, in case you read the last line quickly and didn’t notice. Mom is going to DRIVE HERSELF to our house.  I’m not quite sure when the last time she drove that amount of distance but I would guess it’s been between two and three years.

Having mom there will save me from having to drive home to let the dogs out on Friday and Monday.  I warned mom there would be a generous amount of Phillies and Eagles watching going on which she was fine with.  I’m sure we will have a good time.  I know the dogs will be thrilled to see her walk in the door tomorrow.

I have neglected to mention that I have seen some old familiar faces since I have gone back to Planet Fitness.  One of them was BBCPG (big butt cell phone girl)  You may remember her as the pretty one with a large back end that always was talking on her cell phone.  She also would do cardio machines at ridiculously easy resistance levels so it wouldn’t interfere with her conversations.  Surprisingly, it seems like she managed to shave off a few pounds even while doing all of that jabbering, she looked good.

I also have been reintroduced to Mr McFeeley.  He was the guy that did every single exercise in an incredibly stupid manner.  Every thing he does uses next to no range of motion and is performed at a very rapid pace.  He is also the guy that was pissed off at me because I accidentally knocked his glasses off of the Reebok step during a 300 work out.  He still is as dorky as ever and still does every single exercise incorrectly.

I also saw the creepy guy that used to try to initiate conversations with Alison when she would walk Nicki around the nursing home.  The guy ALWAYS wears a plain white undershirt, I’ve never seen him in anything else.  I don’t think the elevator goes all the way to the top floor.

It’s interesting to see these gym characters again but I can’t say I have said one peep to any of them, nor do I have any plans to in the future.

Early  in my IT career I was exclusively a hardware tech.  I fixed pc’s and printers primarily.  One of our biggest accounts at that time was Meridian Bank.  Meridian had a number of offices in downtown Philly, one of which was at Liberty One, one of the the centerpiece buildings of the city.  Since Meridian was our biggest customer they generally tried to service the account with techs that were good.  Generally speaking if you were sent on Meridian calls you more or less knew your stuff. 

Driving from Reading to Philly for service calls was not fun because of the dreadful traffic you would run into.  However when I finally would make it there I always felt important as I would pull my cart of tools and equipment into the atrium.  When you are pulling a cart of computer equipment people check it out.

 My cart was always loaded down on trips to Philly.  If you were going to travel that distance you wanted to make SURE you addressed the problem either by bringing an abundance of parts and/or a piece of loaner equipment to get them back in business.   I eventually went there enough that the security guards recognized me and would wave me through without issue.

Those five or so years I spent as a hardware tech were probably the most hectic of any in my IT career.  Each day I would be thrown into another “emergency” in various places dealing with tons of different people and businesses.  My pay rate was low, my stress level was high but I enjoyed the job, a lot.  I got big sense of accomplishment each and every day as I would take care of my list of calls.   

That is the one thing that is dreadfully lacking in my current job situation, variety.  Sure I am still the go to guy and I still have many daily dilemmas to solve and conquer.  However all of these challenges occur in a very small space of the world.  I deal with the same people in the same seats day and in and day out.  It can be in a word, boring.

Don’t get me wrong, the positives of the job outweigh the negatives by far, especially in today’s rocky job market.  Still there are days when I wouldn’t mind being on the road on my way to a new place not knowing exactly what I’ll be facing when I get there.

I missed the gym yesterday because of a ridiculously long tech call.  As a result I did an EA Active workout.  I actually did the 20th and final  workout of the 30 day challenge.  The 30 day challenge is awesome, it’s too bad it took me 3 months to get it all done.  For various reasons I just have not had the time or motivation to workout an additional 20 times on top of  my already 5 day a week gym routine.  The last workout was tough as expected, especially on the lower body. 

I questioned the wisdom of having  jumping squats as the third exercise when my body was not really warmed up yet.  On top of that I was doing regular squats, squats with a hold and calf raise, rear lunges, front lunges, side lunges with a toe touch and the dreaded split lunge jumps.  I went through the challenge on medium difficulty, if you can complete it on hard level you are definitely no fitness slouch.  There is no mercy.  

I wanted to mention something odd about Transformers 2.  In one section Shia LeBouf is being seduced by a hot college co-ed.  Well at one point she has him pinned on a bed and all of a sudden a big metallic tail came out from under her dress and she attacks him with it just as Megan Fox showed up.  This made zero sense.  Never has a transformer had the ability to become a human being made of flesh? They have always been MECHANICAL beings that turn into machines.  It was really out of place as for a moment I thought I was seeing a skin job from Battlestar Galactica.    This was really a disservice to the hardcore Transformer community in my opinion.  Everyone knows Transformers can NOT transform into humans.

Have you ever heard of people that treat symptoms instead of problems?  Doctors and especially pharmaceutical companies LOVE these type of individuals, hell they try to breed them.  The game works like this.  People willingly abuse their bodies via smoking, overeating or lack of exercise (or any combination) and as a result they develop health conditions.  The pharmaceutical companies then will happily swoop in and give you a miracle pill to treat the symptoms of your ailment.  In their ideal world people will simple continue to abuse their bodies so they continue to suffer the symptoms so they can profit as a end result.

To me, it’s pure insanity for someone to rely on a plethora of pills to maintain their day to day existence when they could simply work on the real source of the problem and address it directly.  I mean really, wtf?  If you kept hitting your hand with a hammer every day would you continue the behavior and just keep taking pain pills for the pain or would you stop swinging the hammer? (or at least get some better aim) 

Of course as much is in life, it comes down to convenience/laziness.  It is far easier in many peoples minds to just take some pills than to change a lifestyle that they deem comfortable.

It’s a dreadful cycle that has been exploding over recent years.  Self responsibility becomes trivialized when you can rely on modern medicine to keep you alive despite your best efforts to the contrary.

So the Eagles did what they should, they beat the shitty Redskins, a team that beat them twice last year somehow.  Let’s go over the good points about the game.  The Eagles made some big plays both on offense and defense.  Desean Jackson went nuts scoring twice on a long run and a long pass.  The new linebacker the Eagles picked up immediately made an impact catching a deflected pass and running it back for a touchdown and creating a turnover while chasing down the QB from behind. Nice!

Ok the not so good, besides the couple big plays, the offense did nothing, zippo, nada.  They were unable to put together a single sustained drive the entire game which concerns me.  Once again the running game was more miss than hit, something that surely will continue to haunt them. McNabb had some dreadful missed throws to open receivers.  Sometimes his passes somehow wind up with the nose of the football pointing almost straight down.  I’m not quite sure how he manages to do that.

Westbrook went out early after getting a knee to the head and sustaining a concussion.  His status is questionable.

Mike Vick only played a couple snaps and again did nothing at all.  He completed a 4 yard pass and he was getting ass slaps on the sideline like he made a big play.  They must have zero confidence in him. 

Hey, it’s a win and at this point it’s all that matters.  However if they hope to live off a few big plays next week against the Giants I think the outcome is going to be dramatically different.

My fantasy team scored 109 points and I still lost by 71, amazing.  On top of that Chris Cooley, my starting TE broke his ankle.  I now sit at a lackluster 3-4.  My running backs have been my biggest liability all season long.  So far in 7 weeks only once have any of my running backs scored double digit points.

Ali was out Friday night at the ‘So You Think You Can Dance” show in Tampa so I was left solo.  I had no big plans for the evening.  For those of you with a good memory you will recall that Friday was the scheduled date for  my HUGE Windows 7 House Party! Well my party was a bust.  In fact I think that of the nearly 20 invitations I sent out, only one was actually received.  It seems that houseparty.com has some technical difficulties.  I sent an email invite twice to certain people and they never saw it. Oh well, instead I “partied” by playing WoW and then sitting down with the dogs to watch Transformers 2.

I saw the first Transformer movie and was not all that impressed.  I found it rather confusing trying to follow the action, the robots all started to look the same to me.  Sadly I found this movie felt pretty similar.  The CGI used to make the movie is absolutely incredible, the detail of the Transformers is flawless.  The thing is, flawless, incredible CGI is commonplace in today’s film industry, it isn’t enough to carry a film. 

One of the biggest talking points of Transformers 1 was Megan Fox.  She instantly became one of THE hottest chicks on the planet.  To me, other than the much publicized clip of her bent over the motorcycle in this film, she didn’t really live up to the hype for me.  If you look closely she actually has a big girl build from the waist down.  I think she has to work really hard to keep things under control.  Plus she wears pounds of make up in every scene and of course everyone has heard of her semi-clubbed hand thing she has going on.  Needless to say no Megan Fox posters will be adorning my walls anytime soon.

There were some things I enjoyed in Transformers 2.  Of course the biggest is one of the main Transformers is a new Camaro.  I enjoyed the scenes where Bumblebee was involved the most.  All of the Transformers were GM based vehicles as far as I could tell.  I can only imagine how much money was spent to secure that deal.

There was lots of action, lots of explosions and surprisingly a lot of off the cuff humor in the film.  It wasn’t bad but I am certainly glad that I didn’t drop $20 per head to see it in 3D in the theaters like I originally planned. Overall I’d give the film a B.

We caught a break this weekend and didn’t need to mow.  Rain has been sparse recently and the recent cold front seems to have somewhat stunted the growth of the lawn which is fine with me.  We of course still found ways to keep busy with other things.  One of the unplanned things involved a trip down to the running store to pick up last minute race entries.

We have a real problem with people that participate in our races waiting until the last minute to sign up.  For this past race we had 70% of the runners wait until the last three days to sign up.  The main reason this happens is because the club does not charge people more for the race fee as the race approaches.  Tiered race fees is a normal practice in the race business yet the powers that be in the club have resisted the change.

When the club used to time races manually by handing runners finishers cards that they wrote their name on it did not matter if people registered early or late for a race.  It didn’t negatively affect anyone.  However since we have been using the chip system for over a year and a half it has become apparent how much of a pain this is for the people that time the race, namely Ali and I.

When people wait until the last minute that means they will be submitting paper entries.  Paper entries SUCK.  Ali and I are continually amazed at how clueless people are sometimes.  We constantly get entries that are incomplete, incorrect or illegible.  Why is it a difficult thing for someone to fill out a registration form correctly?  So getting bombarded with all of this paper means Ali and I have to punch it all into the system ahead of time.  If a runner enters the race online I simply download their information and boom, I’m done.

Well things really got messy on the day of the race.  Ali planned to run this race since it was a 5 miler and she was scheduled to do 5 miles on her training schedule. For awhile things were ok, we had a few runners signing up on the spot but it was slow.  Then all of a sudden the gates exploded and we were inundated by people signing up late.  It was a mess.   Since Ali was going to run she had to get loose about 15 minutes before the race started, meaning I had to hop in there and try to get the entries in.  Ali is a much faster typist than I am so it was not a good combination.

Adding to the stress was the fact that I had to get to the start of the race to synchronize the race time.  This race is a logistical nightmare.  The start line was literally almost a half mile from the finish/registration area. So with stop watch in hand I start running to the start line.  I made it with about 30 seconds to spare.  After the start I had to run back to the finish to complete entering the 20 or so registrations that I had not gotten done yet.  The only thing that was working in my favor was the race was a 5 miler which gave me some extra time.  At the time when the race started I hadn’t even had the time to hook up the timing mats.

In the end it all worked out ok, the chip system itself worked just fine although I was still angry about the situation. (late runners)  I plan on really pushing for all of our races to start adopting new race fees in 2010 where people pay a low price if they register up until a few days before the race.  After that the price jumps $5 and then another $5 if you walk up the day of the race.  Sure people will gripe but soon they will realize that if they want to pay the lowest fee they will sign up EARLY.  Getting that agreed upon by the majority of the club may be difficult.  

Lost in the pre-race drama was the fact that Ali had a great run, finishing the distance a full minute faster than the prior weekend.  I was proud of her as she crossed.  However later in the day the happiness from a good run was replaced by pain.  I think Ali was dehydrated.  She only had part of a small bottle of water after the race.  Ali thinks it was something else.  But whatever the reason, she had horrible abdominal cramping that kept her in bed a good portion of the day.

As a result of Ali being laid up I spent a good portion of my day being a man maid.  I swept floors, cleaned counters, washed sheets and more.  Surprisingly despite my 4am wake up time I didn’t feel an overwhelming need to take a nap, although when 10 pm came I was out like a light. 

Ali is feeling better this morning thankfully. 

The Eagles play tonight.  Hopefully they can beat up on the hapless Redskins.  My fantasy team has hit a huge string of bad luck lately.  After a 3-1 start I am currently at 3-3 and about to go to 3-4 since I am down over 100 points with only a few players to play. My team has scored a good amount of points in every game I lost but it seems that each time I just happen to go up against another team that has it’s best score of the season.  It frustrates the shit out of me.

Phils and Yankees in the World Series starting Wednesday.  Wow how sweet would that be if the Phils could take out the vaunted Yankees??  Yea we won it all last year but it was against the Devil Rays, not exactly a feather in the cap.

[podcast]https://blog.duf.net/podcast/Cat-Jeremy.mp3[/podcast]

Some more thoughts recorded on the way home last night.

I am flying solo tonight as Ali is going up to Tampa to watch the “So You Think You Can Dance” tour with a friend of hers.  I’m sure she will enjoy it as much as I will enjoy not going. 🙂

Feeling sort of mellow.

I was working out today and I as I scanned the gym I could not believe how many people, mostly men, wear the cheap, ugly shirts that are included with your membership.  When I received my shirt it immediately got relegated to the dirty work t-shirt collection, shirts that are used for jobs like changing the oil.

Today I saw at least a dozen individuals proudly displaying their Planet Fitness attire.   It just struck me as weird.  I have two Gold’s Gym shirts at home but hey, at least they are cool looking and represent a real gym. I guess it is the same mentality as wearing your smiley underwear to Wal-Mart.

[podcast]https://blog.duf.net/podcast/Phillies2.mp3[/podcast]

[podcast]https://blog.duf.net/podcast/Phillies1.mp3[/podcast]

Since I didn’t make it to the end, maybe you didn’t either.

I threw together an unrehearsed, impromptu podcast on the way to work, enjoy.

The Phillies took care of the Dodgers easily last night.  It is just an awesome thing to have your team step on the other teams throat and never let up.  I was telling Ali how I remember the Phillies / Dodger playoff games from my youth where more often than not the Dodgers got the upper hand.  It still doesn’t feel quite right to have Davey Lopes coaching for the Phils and Larry Bowa wearing Dodger blue. Bring on the Yankees.

Ali almost got in an accident last night.  I just happened to be following her home when it happened.  There is a point in the commute where we make a left hand turn on to Wilson Blvd.  There is a convenience store that is right on that corner, on your right hand side if you are turning on to Wilson.

I was behind Ali making the turn.  All of a sudden I see the brake lights on the Camry flash on simultaneously with the car veering suddenly to the left.  I see a greasy looking schlub dart out in front of her.  Ali said this guy whom had been zig zagging between traffic prior to the left turn had pulled an incredible stupid stunt.  He was in front of Ali, making a left turn.  He then made an immediate right turn into the entrance to the convenience store.  Then without pausing or looking he immediately swung a U-turn back out in front of Ali to get back out onto Wilson going the opposite direction.

Ali said she had no idea how she missed the guy.  His stupid u-turn was blocked from my view so I didn’t realize just how idiotic of a move it was.  If he would have hit Ali I would have lost it on the guy.  There are just so many assholes on the road.  I can only hope he is among that 55% I spoke of yesterday, f’in asshole.

I knocked out another 300 yesterday.  It went well until I was waiting to get on the pull up bar I prefer for my last set of 25 pull ups.  I soon tired of the two hispanics that kept rotating in to do poor form bicep curls so I went over to another location.  I grabbed the handles, quickly pulled up into my first rep and promptly cracked the top of my head on one of the various obstacles overhead.  I dropped off and tried to control the surge of anger that comes with such incidents. The anger did come in handy to fuel the last few reps of the session.

You gotta love switching a major server to different hardware, going from 32 bit Win Server 03 to 64 bit Win Server 08 and not get a single call from an end user the next morning.  Besides running several in-house Cobol apps the server runs our time clock system which is used by everybody. That’s why they pay me the big bucks.

[podcast]https://blog.duf.net/podcast/NearMiss.mp3[/podcast]