When a young lady refers to her girlfriend, how am I supposed to know if if it's just a friend of hers, or a Girlfriend?! Enquiring minds want to know!

So. I killed a bird today. :(

This morning Diana and I woke up early to a crow somewhere pretty closeby caw'ing every so often. But it wasn't a normal caw. It had a little more of a shriek to it. But that happened a couple times, and then stopped.

A little later, Diana went outside to say hi to the neighborhood cat (which seems to come by on Sunday mornings to visit), and found the crow. It was just outside our bedroom door, and in bad shape. It was clearly aware, but it was sort of on its back, and ants were already going for it. The cat Diana was playing with was completely oblivious to it, which was a little weird. I got some gloves and inspected the damage. It's right wing was either broken or paralyzed, and it's right foot was floppy. Ants were gathering for the kill, and we decided the poor little guy wouldn't survive, and should be put out of it's misery. I put it in a trashbag and gently smashed it with a shovel a couple of times. Pool little guy. I feel bad, and can't help but wonder if we could have nursed the thing back to health or something (and then it would be my friend, and hop after me to work and stuff). But I doubt it would have lived, and that we did the right thing. Bummer.

Speaking of bummers, I've caught the cold that Diana had a couple days ago. I feel kind of crappy, but Diana only felt bad for a day, and I'm expecting the same, so whatever.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. Diana and I met up with Norm and Teri and played golf at Lake San Marcos Executive. That's a fun little course. Challenging enough for me, but forgiving on the beginners of the group. Everyone actually golfed really well, and a good time was had by all. Afterwards, we went to Teri's parents beach house and met up with another friend of Norm's and his perspective girlfriend. We had some dinner and made a bonfire and had a grand old time.

Today, I've postponed by yardwork plans for a later date, and have been lazing around watching TV. "Back to the Future" was on, and it made me nostalgic for movies of the 80's. Movies today seem so much more about hype and special effects than actually telling an actually fun, interesting story. I'm sure there are examples, but I'm too weary to think about it much more right now. Our furniture for the living shows up sometime today, which is exciting. Diana's parents are also showing up sometime today for some hanging out and birthday celebrating, which will be fun.

"Bendy" and "pointy" are definitely in my top 5 list of favorite words.

Water, water, everywhere...

So. A little emergency. Luckily, nothing too serious. I got home to Diana
welcoming me with a handful of towels on her way to the guest bathroom.
Apparently she was cleaning in the other room, and turned off the water in
there, and heard something from the guest bathroom. Water was spraying out
of the metal tube that feeds water into the toilet (so, clean water,
thankfully). Since this is old had for experienced home-owners like
ourselves, she knew exactly where the water shut-off valve was, and was
mopping up the floor. It didn't look like it was too much water, and didn't
get the carpet wet or anything.

Anyways, we got that all dried up, and I checked out the damage. The little
bendy pipe that feeds water into the toilet had come loose. The cap that is
supposed to hold the thing tight against the toilet had broken, and it had
(probably as the household water pressure rose and fell) dislodged and was
spraying willy-nilly. Quick trip to Home Depot (thank you TrendWest for the
free gift certificates... (suckers!)) and it's good as new.

In a potentially related water problem: when we turn off the hot water in
our shower, the pipes make kind of a clunking, rattling sound for a second.
I read a little about "water hammer" (you have to know the cool terms if
you're ever going to be a home repair guy like me) online. It's pretty rad.
Water doesn't compress, so when you turn off water really quickly, it all
kind of backs up onto itself really suddenly, and creates a shockwave that
travels through the pipes. From a website: "These shockwaves travel faster
than the speed of sound and can exert very great instantaneous pressures".
Neat! So, if you're taking a shower in our shower, please turn off the hot
water slowly!

Swingers

Diana and I rented "Swingers" from our friend Baditude, and watched it
tonight. I really love that movie. I can honestly say that I don't think
I've ever seen a more realistic portrayal of a group of guy friends in a movie.
I'm not saying that I've gone through all the experiences those boys did
exactly (the hockey playing, though is frighteningly familiar), but it
certainly resonates with my own experiences with my own boys, past and
present. I know this isn't really the point of the movie, but that's what I
like most about it.

Dishes, then bed. G'night.

PS: Diana eats cake from a teacup, and I love it.

Woot!

I just got some serious programming done, and I love it. I love the feeling of just getting so into a project that time flies by and the rest of the world doesn't exist for those couple hours. And I love that doing Windows widgets are so much easier than they use to be. So, I'm pumped. What fun!

Diana got in bed to study, and ended up falling asleep without saying goodnight or anything. If I didn't have to pee, I could have been in here for hours!

So, off to bed for now. More later.

Weekend in review...

Well, this weekend was the big bachelor party extravaganza. Well, not really. But it was a great weekend fill with good times and good friends. Let's see.

Friday night we went to see the Hulk. I've got pretty mixed feelings about the movie. I really liked the style and presentation, but the story wasn't all that intriguing, and just turned sort of silly in the end. I more and more can't stand movie theaters. People seem to think now that it's ok to talk full-voiced to their buddies, or make comments on every little detail. Or feel it's sufficient that if their baby is crying, they can just stand in the back of the theater rather than leaving altogether. Frusterating. Anyhoo, after the movie, we went back to Baditude's pad and played some Munchkin, which was really fun.

Saturday, some of the boys went mountain biking. I went to my companies summer picnic, which was sort of bland. We got some lunch, hung around with some people, and left. I met up with the boys, and we all headed down to a computer gaming center and played some 3 on 3 Counterstrike. That was a lot of fun, in spite of the monitors having a 60 Hz refresh rate. The flickering really is bothersome to me, and that kind of flickering can cause migraines in some people, so I'm scared of it. It turned out not to be a problem for me, however some people complained of headaches later that night. Anyways, the gaming was fun, and everyone did pretty well, n00bs and l33t alike.

After the gaming, we headed out for dinner, then to a bar for a drink or two to kill some time. We played foosball and pool. And then to the ol' DJ spinoff. I was hoping for something a little more dynamic, but it was still fun. Basically, each DJ got about 15 minutes of doing their thing before the next guy got up. None of us are dancers, and it was too loud to talk, so we mostly just sat their and listened to the music and people-watched. Then back to Baditudes, then home to bed.

Sunday, we all kind of slept late, and met up around noon and eventually headed down to the beach. It was somewhat cloudy, but a little sun poked through. More solid hangout time, which was really nice. Then back to Baditudes for round two of Munchkin, and home.

I got home with a good bit of missing Diana, so hopefully we can get in some quality time this week. We've got some movies to watch and are thinking of going to the fair and so forth, so that will be good.

So that was my weekend. And now I'm starting to feel a cold coming on. :P

So, the next weekend of fun begins.

A friend is flying down from San Francisco for a bachelor party weekend. We're going out to dinner and seeing the Hulk and hanging out tonight. Tomorrow, people are going mountain biking, then gaming of some sort (LAN center or Lazertag), then to dinner and a DJ competition downtown. That should be a blast. Then Sunday, to the beach or other chill spot for some relaxing. I can't wait.

Last night Diana and I used up some gift certificates to Vigiluci's (spelling?) that she got as a tip for being such a great teacher. It was really good food, and we had a really nice time.

Not a lot of news. Work is going well. Diana's busy with school and teaching. I played some golf with Iwan on Torrey Pines South, and scored pretty well (for me). I got a bogey-par-par on three consecutive holes, so I'm happy with that. The rest weren't as good, but not too bad either.

Oops! The weekend is starting already!

This weekend was pretty good.

Friday, Diana and I went to a high school graduation party for one of her students. I had no idea what to expect. It turns out there were really only like two or three actual high school students there, and then a lot of friends and family. It was nice to meet people I'd heard a lot about, and probably for them to meet me.

Saturday, we did a little more furniture shopping. We found a big sofa at Lazy Boy (or however it's spelled) that we both like a lot. We have mostly the same taste, but definitely some individual desires, and I'm pretty pleased that we found one that we're both happy with. So we just need to pick a fabric (we're pretty close, I think), and order the puppy! After that, we golfed at a mini course with Norm and Teri, which was fun. Diana's getting a lot better with her lessons. That night, pooped from golfing, we just hung out and watched "Old School" with Iwan.

Fathers Day was Sunday. Diana and I went out with my parents to the park for a picnic lunch, and then saw a play, which was pretty good. Nice to spend some quality time with the fam. At least one son is. (Zing! :)

Work has been keeping me hopping lately, which is good. I had some downtime, but now things are picking up. I still find time to play foos, though. BUT, I've instituted a "no foos before noon" rule. That was a last resort before medication and physical restraining devices.

Last night while falling asleep I had a GREAT (well, I think so) idea for a play-by-email game. Actually coming up with an idea is easy. Actually finding the time and creating the game is the hard part, so don't get your hopes up yet. But I'm pretty excited about this. (It's obviously a secret for now).

That's about all for now.

Cellphone Manifesto.

Here's what I want:

I want a cellphone, but with these conditions. I want a cellphone that has full duplex communication, so that I can speak AND listen at the same time. I can't stand when both parties try to talk, and both phones cut out. I want one that is small and sleek. I don't need games. I don't need the internet. I don't need annoying fucking ringtones. I do need to store other peoples phone numbers. And I need vibrate mode.

I want a good cellphone plan. I don't want ANY monthly fee. I don't want to pay for minutes that I don't use. Instead, I want to pay ONLY for minutes that I DO use. I don't want a two-year commitment with substantial penalties for cancelling early. I don't need nationwide coverage. I don't need free long distance.

Maybe I'm living in a dreamworld, but that's what I want.

TrendWest

So. We just got back from our second TrendWest presentation. This is a timeshare company that bribes you to coming to hear their presentation with a free trip along with gift certificates and whatnot. Their hope is, of course, that you sign up for their product, which is a snazzy sounding timeshare deal. We saw a short group presentation, and a short film, and then talk individually with a salesperson who gives you all the info and tries to wrangle you in.

We went last year. We promised ourselves that we wouldn't sign up for anything, but we also wanted to keep an open mind. I won't speak for Diana, but I actually did keep an open mind, and by the end of the presentation, it really does sound like a good deal on the surface. You pay a one-time fee, and for that fee, you get 12,000 "credits". You get 12,000 credits every year, and they roll over for up to four years. You then use these credits to make reservations at vacation spots all over the world. You can also buy more credits for cheap, and you can sell them, will them to survivors, etc. Sounds almost like unlimited money.

Last year, what really turned us off to the idea was that we NEEDED to sign up that day. No time to think about it. No taking home papers and pouring over a cost analysis. The choices were to put down thousands of dollars on the spot (or sign up for a financing plan), or get the hell out. And they made us feel bad for saying no. Like we'd personally dissapointed them.

We ended up getting a gift certificate to the Cheesecake factory (where we went right afterwards), and a trip to Vegas which expired just a couple days ago. We really wanted to go, but just never got around to planning the trip (maybe if we had this timeshare thing, we wouldn't have had that problem! oh!)

Anyways, fast forward to two hours ago. Diana picks me up from work, and we show up. Sit through the presentation with a perky guy telling fun stories about how great it is to be a TrendWest owner and trying to get the crowd involved. Then watch a silly movie that I spaced out in during the whole time. Then we met with our sales lady, who actually was pretty nice (at first). She did a little survey, asking us about our vacation habits and what we like to do, etc.

She also noted that we'd been there before, and I think asked why we didn't sign up before. In any case, we were given the opportunity to explain that we are NOT impluse buyers. We simply do not conduct business like that on a conversation. We might be interested if we were given all the information on paper, so that we could run some cost analysis on it. She said something to the effec that they do NOT do pressure sales there, and she apoligized for whoever was helping is before. I was shocked (and said so) that she said that. The whole point of there operation is you NEED to sign up that moment. And they use bullshit tactics to make you feel personally guilty if you don't sign up. And that's not "pressure" sales? Anyways, about the need to sign up on the spot... she gave some bullshit answer about real estate deals and for some reason it HAS to be signed up for THAT day (regardless, apparently, of the fact that they run the operation all f'ing year and twice on weekends). Anyways, she could see that we weren't so hot on the idea, but we were obligated to stay there for another 15 minutes or so. She ran through the options and benefits which I half listened to, nodding when appropriate and answering her questions however she wanted.

The time came when she described the credits. Credits are $1.55 each, and you buy 12,000 of them. But you get 12,000 each year automatically for no extra charge (but there is a yearly "maintenance fee" of a couple hundred dollars). When given the opportunity, I asked why there was this abstraction between dollars and credits? Why aren't things just described in dollar amounts? She said she couldn't really answer that, but that lots of other timeshare places are converting to this sort of "credit" system.

Then I had a real stroke of brilliance. If you HAVE to sign up that day, and they don't let you take paperwork home with you, maybe we could have some paperwork so that NEXT YEAR when they call us back in, we'd have a more informed decision for them? This didn't go over so well. They simply do not give you the information in writing until you sign up. "But you're given three days to back out, if you wish." She also said that all this information is on the internet, and that I had a *whole year* to do the research, and basically I'm a sucker for not coming prepared. But she stilll flat out refused to give me any marketing materials.

So, we didn't sign up, obviously. She said "well folks, here we are..." in a this-is-the-big-moment sort of way. I said "You're a very nice person..." (which she seemed to be). She kind of was exasperated and said stuff basically like "well, if you're going to pass up an opportunity like this, I guess there's nothing I can do." I said, honestly, but with a smile "Don't take it personally, we just don't do business like this." to which she responded "I do take it personally." Oh for fucks sake, lady. Gimme a break.

She said thanks for coming, and we said thanks for the gifts. I thought that was our cue to leave, so turned and headed away. Apparently she stuck out her hand to shake mine, but I swear I didn't see it. Diana said I fully snubbed her, which I feel bad about (I don't feel bad about saying no, but rejecting a handshake is just rude). But I honestly didn't know. Anyways, Diana shook her hand, and we walked out of there.

Time spent, about two hours (which would have been spent in traffic, watching some TV, and maybe playing some computer games).
Profit: $50 in gift cards to Home Depot. $10 gift card to Shell gas stations. Plus a 4-day-3-night stay at some hotel in a variety of different cities. We still need to read the fine print on this one. But even without the trip, for $60 in almost-cash, I say we made out like bandits.

Oh yeah... when I mentioned something about "the next time we're here" or whatever, she said something like "Well, you probably won't be invited back" in a hurt, snotty sort of way. I kind of laughed and said to Diana "This well is tapped out!" We shall see.

I have no doubts that lots of people are satisfied with their TrendWest timeshare purchases. I don't mean to slander them or anything. I just can't believe the way they conduct business. There's a catch somewhere, and they don't give you enough information to figure it out before you sign up. That just feels wrong.

Links!

There are some links on the left side of the page now. These are blogs that I read on an almost daily basis. Let me explain:

1) Baditude. One of my best friends in the whole wide world. The world would be a better place if there were more hims around.
2) Eric Cheng. Eric is an old friend from high school, who is an extremely accomplished photographer, musician, programmer and journalist.
3) Tundrah. I don't know what "tundrah" means, but she's a rad chick who I've semi-known off an on through the years, and I like to read what she's up to.
4) Unsustained Focus: I stumbled across this blog in a random search, and have been reading daily since. Her name's Desiree. She's Canadian. She's funny, and writes well. That's about all I know.
5) WWDN: Wil Wheaton (best known from "Star Trek, The Next Generation" and "Stand By Me") is my new best friend (sorry Baditude). He seems like a good guy, and runs a very popular blog.

So, check'em all out!

Mornings.

Mornings are my least favorite time of the day. Literally. The moment I sit up and the covers fall off my body, that moment (hopefully and usually) is THE lowest point. I groan and mutter something about how I hate mornings, and Diana says something sweet and reassuring. I actually gain sentient consciousness sometime during my drive to work, and from then on, I'm golden. But man, that first five minutes of uprightness kills me.

Diana and I have talked about watching every Oscar winner for Best Picture since the beginning. We haven't actually made a good effort to do so, and I think that if we're going to do it, we should really do it right and do it in chronological order. That would be starting from "Wings" in 1927, I guess. Anyways, we borrowed "To Kill a Mockingbird" last night from her parents, and watched most of that. Good movie. In fact, up until this very moment, I thought someone told me it was a Best Picture winner, but indeed it was not. In 1963, the winner was "Tom Jones". Oh well. There goes my whole paragraph structure.

Ketchup

So, I haven't talked to you all for a while. Let's see what I've been up to.

Today, Diana left early for some work, and then we met up at her parents house, and headed down for some furniture shopping. We got some ideas of things that we liked, but nothing really popped out at us. We then watched "Bruce Almighty", which was fun, and went to her parents house for dinner, and just got home. Yay.

Yesterday, Diana was gone for much of the day teaching. I did some very serious software development beta testing work, and odd jobs around the house.

Friday night, I went out with Baditude and Iwan and associated lady friends, and met up with them out at dinner. We then all met up for a li'l bowling with Little Buhr and some Redlands crew, which was a lot of fun. I haven't been bowling in a long time, and it was a lot of fun.

So, that's what I did, but not a whole lot of interesting thoughts or conclusions. Sorry about that. More later.

Wednesday

The sun is shining, and I think Diana and I are golfing after work today at the mini's course again. That should be fun. I forgot how crappy the greens were there. Oh well.

Work is going well. We had meeting 4 (of 5) today presenting our architecture design for a certain project, and it was approved (after 4 cumulative hours of presentation). So that's nice. I think they're keeping the 5th hour blocked as a meeting, even though we're done, because lots of the folks go to too many meetings and will appreciate being able to ditch one. Now, we move on to the specific design, which will be challenging and fun.

That's about it for now. I slept in the guest room last night. Went to bed around 9:30pm and got up around 8, which felt good. I hate sleeping apart from Diana, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. And what I needed to do was sleep on a different mattress. I know, I know, less complaining, more problem fixing.

Oh yeah, one more thing. To the jerkass on I5 south this morning... It's not cool to speed up to not let me change lanes in front of you, and then get pissed at ME for cutting you off. Just keep going the same speed, or (*gasp*) even slow down JUST a tidge, and you'll be much less likely to burst a blood vessal in a major organ.

I need some Geggy Tah. "All I want to do is to thank you, even though I don't know who you are..." That song rocks.

Oh yeah... another thing which Makes Adman Happy:

When birds are flying (just little sparrows or starlings or finches), and they stop flapping their wings and just turn into a little bullet for a second, then then continue flapping. I love that part!

Well, let's review the weekend.

Diana and I met up with Norm and Teri to see "Finding Nemo". I really enjoyed it, and was completely awestruck by the state of computer animation. It really looked incredible. And how they make a fish actually look like Ellen Degeneres, I'll never know. What really surprised me was how many legitamately scary parts there were in the movie. The mom in front of us was covering her kids eyes during some of the scenes. It's been a long time since I've been a little kid, so I'm not sure what's too scary and what's not, but it seemed a little much for really little ones at times.

On Friday, I may or may not have been accepted to beta test some Big Deal Software coming out sometime soon. If I was accepted, I probably would have signed some sort of agreement saying I wouldn't talk about it. And I probably would have spent a lot of time this weekend playing... I mean, TESTING this very important piece of software. Yay me.

Saturday, Diana and I did some gardening, paring back some overgrown stuff. I don't like gardening even one little bit. But it's definitely something that's got to be done. That night we watched "Unbreakable". I'd heard lots of good stuff about this movie, but didn't think it was all that great. Worth watching, I guess, but not really as good as I'd hoped.

Sunday, Diana had a friend in town come to visit, so they went for walks and lunch and talked about girl stuff. I did very important software testing for a major company. We went and golfed at the Minis Course, which was really a lot of fun. Diana has gotten MUCH better at golf in a very short period of time. She shot about double-bogey average, while I had about a bogey average, which, considering the crappy state of the greens on that course, isn't bad at all. We had a lot of fun and are going to try to head out there more often during the week after work. After golf, we went to my parents house for dinner, which was nice. It was neat to see the upgrades they've made to the house recently. It looks quite a bit different then the old days of the big orange wall and brown carpet!

And now, back to work. I have disturbing memories of being awake during the early morning hours and not being able to get back to sleep, and I'm sort of feeling it this morning. Bleah.