Friday, July 24, 2009

10 ten simple activities i love

Bryan started it. So, here is my contribution:

10. Drinking Mt. Dew.
09. Reading a book.
08. Walking through the back door, after getting home.
07. Reading to my kids.
06. An unmentionable act that one does with a spouse. I am not sure that it is "simple", though.
05. Riding my bike.
04. Cooking a good dinner. Eating a good dinner. Eating dessert. Eating. In general.
03. Watching really funny TV shows (Arrested Development, 30 Rock, etc.)
02. Listening to music.
01. Coding. Creating something from nothing.

Obviously, I screwed up the order. Drinking Mt. Dew is #1 after I dew #5. #2 is #1 almost all of the time, but can be done with all other things. #3 should not be done with #6. Not a good idea. #6 and #5 don't mix either. Tried that. Didn't work. #8 sometimes changes from #1 to off the list when I hear the screaming and yelling going on. It can also change from off the list to #1, when everyone rushes up to me with open arms screaming "Daddy!"

I work for an *ss H*le

I got into an argument with my boss about a trip that he wanted me to take. At first, when he stated that he wanted everyone in the group to go on this trip, I protested. He didn't listen. Then he told us that one of the other members of the group would just go for one day, while the rest of us are going for five days. I didn't say anything at this point.

This trip was basically to support our large code(s). He wanted us to go and work with a group that I have been working with a lot over the last few years. I have been extremely supportive of this group and have been doing code modifications for them a lot over the last 6 months.

At a meeting about 2 weeks ago, he went around the table asking people when they were going. I said that I wasn't going because I have been traveling way too much, and that I would support the meeting over the phone. The room went dead silent. Eventually, it passed and the person who was going for a day said when he was going. I volunteered that I could possibly go for a day also.

But, that day came, and I didn't go. I didn't tell him that I wasn't going. I didn't talk to him at all about the trip before the trip. He didn't ask. I didn't volunteer. So, he called me when he got off the airplane to ask me where I was. I was in my office. He blew up. I blew up more. I yelled at him about how he doesn't listen to me when I talk to him, so there was no point in actually talking to him. I told him that I didn't want to go, expressed this to him, and he didn't listen. He said that I obviously didn't think that the people and the relationship with the people he was visiting was important. That is when I exploded. I yelled that I had supported the people more than anyone else in the group. That I spend days and days writing code and testing and doing all sorts of crap for them, while no one else in the group had done this. (There is one other member of our group who has probably done as much work as I have, I should say...)

Eventually he said, something like "I guess there is nothing else to say." I said "I guess so." and we hung up.

About an hour later I was on the telecon talking to the people about the code problems. I help resolve some issues and I think that we made the code much more stable. Without me being there. I did a bunch of runs at work and contributed to the meeting.

So, today (three days later), I get this e-mail:

[Crab],

Your membership in `group-CORE' has been suspended. You are still a member of
the `group-ALL' group.

If you wish to discuss this please make an appointment with my assistant. I will
not respond to email about this matter.

[Your boss]


Nice. I am punished.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Lance in Third

Yesterday, Lance dropped to forth place, but today he climbed back up to the podium. He has one more incredibly difficult stage to go, but I am confident that he can keep third!

Let's cross our fingers!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Some Kick-*ss Balloon Footage

Click here to see some really freaking cool video of our last balloon flight.

If you get tired of watching, fast forward to about 2:45, and watch for the next few seconds. It is crazy!

Monday, July 20, 2009

No! Lance! No!

Lance all but gave up yesterday. He didn't climb as well as he used to and basically stated that Contador was a much better climber. He also said that there is no way he will win at this point.

No! No! No!

Oh God!

No!

Don't do it Lance! Don't give up. You only have to believe harder! If you want it bad enough, your legs will be stronger in the mountains! You only have to believe!

Or... as some believe... is it only a deception, and he will come back on the last day, and whip everyone's *ss? Yes. That must be it! He is just holding back a few days. Just waiting for the perfect time to win! That must be it!

(Oh God Lance! That's it, right????)

Sunday, July 19, 2009

New Bike!

I got a new bike yesterday:



It is a Felt X-City with a Shimano 8-speed internal gear hub. This is so that the maintenance is minimized. The wheels are road bike sized wheels. It has an aluminum frame too. So, it is like a road bike, but has fatter tires and more of a mt. bike geometry. It should be a good commuter bike.

I rode 16 miles this morning and then Crab Boy and I rode to the lake, which is 4 miles away. He splashed around a bit, and then we rode home. So, 24 miles in a day.

First real mountain stage today. It is exciting!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

I'm Sorry Mom

A lot of people tell me that my son is exactly the same that I am.

This morning, he wakes me up, and we go down stairs to eat breakfast and stuff. It has been about an hour now, and he hasn't stopped talking to actually breathe yet. I am waiting for him to pass out from lack of Oxygen. Talk. Talk. Talk. Talk. Talk.

He is now talking to me about how we can wash our hands in the water behind the dam that he is going to build in the water run off thing by the side of the house. And there are going to be rocks in it. And it will last forever.....

If I was like Crab Boy, I am sorry mom. Truly sorry.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

In the Grips of the Tour

I have tour-mania. If you don't know what I am talking about, then you are obvious a football loving American.

Will Armstrong win again? He is in 3rd place right now, only down 8 seconds from the leader. Very exciting stuff! It is quite funny listening to him talk now, since he seems to be much more relaxed about stuff and jokes about how serious everyone else is. He makes comments about how old he is. It is a little more refreshing. Lance said in an interview before the race, something like "look, there will be a break away. The Peleton will pull them back. Cavendish will win, since it is a flat stage."

Paul Sherwin just said "completely and utterly", which is his saying. Every year. Every day. Completely and Utterly.

Cavendish wins again! Surprise!

The thing that I hate about the tour this year, is that many (many!) of the mountain stages end with a long downhill section. This means that if you beat a bunch of bastards up the hill, they can catch up on the way down the mountain. This means that riders are very hesitant about exerting a lot of energy on the way up, when other people can just catch up to you. So, there is no real race there. It is very sad! Two monster stages last week ended up being completely blah because of this. Oh well.

Monday, July 6, 2009

At Grammy's

Well, we survived Chicago. I gave a talk at the Adler Planetarium. We went to the Museum of Science and Industry, Field Museum, the top of the Sear's Tower, and the Aquarium. Quite a weekend.

It was a wonderful, family filled weekend in which we really had nothing important to do. Very nice.

Tomorrow we are going to go to the beach and spend a few hours just playing. We then have to drive home and get back to reality. Wednesday, work and dogs!

Friday, July 3, 2009

A Fish Out of Water

Today we are in Chicago to see the fireworks. I have to give a presentation on Monday, so we thought we would come to Chicago a few days early to see the fireworks, which are raved about. We booked ourselves into a relatively fancy hotel (thank goodness for membership cards and AAA!). The parking is valet only and is about $45/day. So, we abandoned the car in South Chicago and took the train. It was definitely an interesting experience. Not bad, but interesting.

When we got to the hotel, we got a room and then went out to watch the fireworks, since it was about 9:00 at night, which is what time the guy at the front desk said they would start. We got to the park as they were starting.

The "Taste of Chicago" is going on at the same time, so the park was full of booths and lights and stuff. We started to walk into the park, and I got bumped by a cop who was manhandling someone in handcuffs out of the park. Nice. About this time, I think we realized we were in a very different place than our normal firework viewing location. The people around us we not hillbillies. They were more of the inner city type of folk.

While we were standing there, with thousands of others watching the fireworks, some people started running out of the park. It was like a bomb had gone off and everyone was panic running. We stepped behind a barricade thing and just stood there watching the fireworks while people ran like crazy for about 10 seconds. And then, everyone calmed down and it was over. Very, very strange.

Next a little golf cart dealy with a stretcher came racing from the entrance, horn blaring. Everyone moved out of the way to let them through. Another little vehicle came through with more police on board. It was all just a little surreal.

We moved a little bit away from the rest of the people, down an isle of trees, so we could see a little better and get out of the main stream of things.

Then, the fireworks ended. Just like that. Well, there was a nice ending, but it was all of a sudden.

There was a little kid standing in front of Crab Boy with a little light saber. He was waving at him, basically saying "Look what I have!" Once the fireworks ended, his big brother took the light saber away from him, broke it in half and threw it on the ground. Then proceeded to smack him on the butt a few times because he was crying his head off. Nice. Once we got far away from them, Crab Boy asked us what we would do to punish him if he was in our family. I don't really know. It is so foreign, that I just can't really comprehend it. Crab Boy suggested that the older kid have to buy the younger kid a $100 Lego set.

Now we are in our hotel room. In the water.

Next year, we will probably stay at home and watch the fireworks from our normal place near the car wash on the lake, with all of the hillbillies. While we will feel like fish out of water there too, there will be less people and fewer police.