12.26.07
Tagged as Faith, Humor, My Life
On Christmas Day, Faith and I decided to see a movie. Naturally, being theater geeks, we chose Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street—which, by the way, I can’t recommend highly enough. It’s a bit abridged from the Broadway production, but still very much worthwhile. So anyway, about halfway through the movie, as Depp slit a series of throats with his straight razor, blood sprayed all over the dingy sets, and bodies fell down a chute into the bakery with a meaty thud, Faith leaned over to me and said, “This is the best Christmas ever!”
She was absolutely right.
Later that day we watched a documentary about the evolution of the English language and I cooked lamb braised in Guinness accompanied by mashed potatoes, green beans, and sautéed mushrooms. I can’t help wishing I’d had the foresight to bake up a couple of meat pies, instead.
I hope your Christmas was just as pleasant.
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12.01.07
Tagged as Humor, My Life
I was picking up a few essentials at Raley’s (at Watt & Marconi in Sacramento) a couple days ago, and the young man bagging my groceries seemed really intent on helping me to my car. Generally I don’t accept this sort of help—in fact, I’ve never accepted it before—but this guy didn’t ask if I wanted help: he just asked, “Which way to your car?” Since I did have a box of firewood in the cart, I decided to roll with it. I pointed toward one of the exits, and off we went.
He was maybe eighteen, with blond hair, a thick Russian accent, and a valiant attempt at a goatee. On the way to the door, he asked me how I was doing. I told him I was doing well, and asked how he was doing. “Very blessed,” he said. One of those. We continued walking.
In the parking lot, about halfway to my car, he asked where I was from. “Around here,” I said, not wanting to get into a discussion about my recent move away from around there. “Downtown.”
“Can you guess where I’m from?” he asked.
“I’d guess Russia,” I answered—then, gauging his reaction, added, “or maybe the Ukraine.”
“Nope,” he said, a huge grin spreading across his face.
“Where?” I asked.
He nodded up to the sky and said, “Heaven.”
“Fair enough,” I said. At this point I was hoping to head off a sermon about how we’re all from Heaven and have been put here on Earth for some special purpose. I needn’t have bothered.
“Only those whose eyes are truly open can see that I’m from Heaven,” he explained. Then he loaded my purchases into the trunk and told me to have a blessed day. I told him to do the same.
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09.18.07
Tagged as Faith, My Life
Yeah … things are definitely looking up.
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04.24.07
Tagged as Humor, My Life
Via the Face Transformer, this is apparently what I’ll look like in a couple decades or so:
Speaking of aging, I think I’m going to need glasses soon. I was talking to a friend about this on Sunday, and the very next day I got a letter in the mail saying I have an appointment with an ophthalmologist later this month. This was interesting news, because I made no such appointment, the phone number they have on file for me hasn’t been mine for two and a half years, and the appointment is at UCD Med Center—which I’ve never even visited before—with a doctor I’ve never heard of. Nice of someone to think of me, though.
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04.16.07
Tagged as My Life
Today was my first day as an employee of the County of Sacramento—and also the midpoint of a nine-day work week for me. I worked Thursday through Sunday at Apple, and now I’m working a regular week at DHA. Actually, I’m glad I did it this way, because I was kind of sad to leave Apple, so it was good to plunge into my new job right away.
I think I’ll enjoy my new job, too. The first half of the day today was spent in New Employee Orientation, so I only had about three hours at my new job, but they issued me the tools of the trade—one of these and one of these—and showed me around the office and to a couple of remote sites. I think I’ll fit in pretty well.
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03.29.07
Tagged as My Life
Finally got a start date for the County job: April 16. I actually wasn’t sure for a little while there—not because of the background check, but because of the physical. As many of you may remember, my heart rate kept me out of the Army about ten years ago. Granted, it’s not something I’m too broken up about these days, but at the time it was disappointing, because I was really excited about going to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. I still think I could have handled boot camp, given the chance.
Bet they’d take me if I enlisted now, though—but they missed their chance.
Anyway, the County required a pre-employment physical, and sitting in the doctor’s office, memories of the Army physical came back. The doctor took my pulse twice, and both times it was well over a hundred beats per minute. But she told me not to worry about it, and, true to her word, she did give me a positive recommendation for the job. I still have to do one more TB test tomorrow, and then have that read on Monday, but this is the second stage of that test, and I’m not worried about it.
Now I can go back to having coffee in the morning—I was holding off until all this medical stuff was over with, even though, judging by my own measurements, it makes very little difference in my pulse. More importantly, I have a permanent job, with benefits and a retirement plan and a bit more money than I’ve been making. Less to worry about, in other words, which should help with that heart rate. Now, if I can just pass these exams next month…
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03.17.07
Tagged as My Life
Well, this day started off on a high note.
As I headed out the door to work, one of my cats (Touch, for those of you who’ve met the little retard) decided to try jumping on top of my monitor. That sort of behavior was merely annoying when I had a 19-inch CRT monitor, but now that I have a 20-inch flat-panel iMac, it’s nearly catastrophic. The whole computer took a dive, sliding off the edge of the desk and landing face-down on the floor. It’s a bit dinged up now, but the scratches on the screen itself buffed out to enough to be unnoticable when the monitor is on. I’m still not thrilled with the situation.
I cleaned things up a bit and made sure the computer still powered on (the tumble had pulled the cord out of the back), then rushed out the door, figuring I’d just barely make it to work on time. Got to my car, and noticed that someone had broken in during the night. The passenger-side rear vent window was broken, and stuff was tossed around inside, but the only thing missing was a $12 pair of sunglasses I was planning on replacing anyway because they were badly scratched. I called my insurance company, but on weekends they only take accident reports—the “glass only” department is only there on weekdays. Not that it matters, really, because the entire cost of the replacement came to about a third of my deductible. I called an auto glass place (Dynamic Auto Glass, on Fulton), and an hour and a half later the truck was in front of my building. It took less than ten minutes to fix the window and sweep the broken glass out of my car.
My prescription for days like this: take the day off work. Get a chili burger at Willie’s on Broadway. Watch a DVD of Kevin Kline in Hamlet. Figure out how I’m going to pass the four exams I’ve scheduled (and paid for!) six weeks from now.
On the bright side, I heard back from the County; I’m going in to sign some paperwork on Tuesday.
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03.03.07
Tagged as My Life
It’s been a long time since I posted a real update here, and too much has happened to go into detail about any of it. Here’s the ultra-brief executive summary, in approximately chronological order:
- My shipping problems continued in comical fashion throughout the holiday season. There was enough fodder for several blog posts about it, and in fact I started writing about it more than once but never found the time to finish. The US Postal Service lost two shipments intended for me—in one case, they actually returned what the shipper described as “a fragment of the box” to him. I got my money back both times. I also had an opportunity to pick up a shipment at the big FedEx Ground terminal off Power Inn Road, and I think I’m a stronger person for the experience.
- I bought a new 20-inch iMac. Fortunately, this shipment arrived without incident (thank you, UPS). It is a thing of beauty.
- I applied for a couple of permanent jobs: a graveyard shift at Apple, and an IT Technician Level II position with the County. Didn’t get the Apple job, but I got a tentative offer from the County yesterday. Next week I’ll do the usual background and medical check; assuming that goes well—and I have no reason to think it won’t—I’ll be leaving Apple soon. I have mixed feelings about that, but it means job security, a little more money, good benefits, and an 8-5 schedule, so overall it’s a good thing.
- I turned thirty.
To quote the great philosopher: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
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12.06.06
Tagged as My Life
My contract at Apple has been extended—looks like I can count on being employed there at least until next October. Also, Ty got a graphic design job, my dad got a consulting gig, and Timm seems pretty happy with whatever it is he’s doing these days.
You let the Democrats take over Congress, and just look what happens….
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