Usually if I’m working late, I’m out by 9:30PM or so. I get there between 8:30AM and 9:00AM, so that’s a fairly long day. I knew I could make the Mike Doughty concert if I really hustled, but I didn’t want to risk having to work especially late. Well, I was there until 2:30AM. I’m guessing Mike Doughty isn’t like George Clinton and was probably finished by that time, which is about the time George is getting his second wind.

When I got home at around 3AM, my mail ordered CD of “Haughty Melodic” was waiting for me.

So I only had 3 1/2 hours sleep last night. I’d better try for more today.

I didn’t post last night because I usually remember that I didn’t post about the time I’m ready to go to bed. So I stay up a little later and try to remember what exactly it was that I wanted to kvetch about earlier in the day. Last night I decided to give it all a break and go to sleep early. THAT JUST MEANT I WOKE UP EARLIER AND HAD TO TRY TO GO BACK TO SLEEP.

In any case, I’ve decided that Afrin works well and my nostrils don’t need to have some sort of surgical drilling. The huge solar flare from last weekend didn’t affect me much because I haven’t turned on my radio in weeks. And although Mike Doughty is playing tonight, I may have to work late so I didn’t get tickets. There’s my laundry list for the day.

Of course I had to watch the last show.

In any case, anyone wonder why I don’t like to park under trees?

I took the car to a U-Wash-it before I moved it out from under the tree (in front of our house) to a spot in front of a neighbor’s house because I thought it would be rude to park such a dirty car in front of someone else’s house. Of course, under the leaves was a layer of black grime that dripped off of the trees. I couldn’t get that off with a pressure hose.

So I know I’m supposed to go to see my doctor to get some Flonase, but he’s all the way across town. I bought some generic Afrin substitute to see what that would do. The pharmacist kept telling me that I can’t use it more than 3 days in a row and it was bad for me, but I finally bought it anyway. So far, it’s clearing up my nose! Maybe I really do need to score some Flonase to see how that works.

Is to find out when I get crafty ideas. OK, so I STOLE this crafty idea, but this is really kind of fun. A little creepy, too, but fun! Just remember to make the dragon’s head so it seems inside-out and it works!

So, Costco was entirely pleasant and changed the accounts around without much worry today. They were incredibly busy, as you’d imagine, since it was Sunday. I forgot to mention Ringside was incredibly busy yesterday, too. Almost all the tables were kids on the way to their proms. I didn’t go, and I always point out to my Il that he’s a big stud because he went. Well, he went to a JUNIOR prom, but I figure it counts.

So, I’ve given people directions and for some reason, I’ve sent a couple of people to 24th and Nicolai, in the NW Industrial area. The first guy was looking for the pickup for Wickes Furniture, which is just off of 24th and Nicolai. The second, a young woman, was looking for the other establishment that I know is at 24th and Nicolai, the Nicolai St. Clubhouse, a strip club.

OK, so that’s a stupid coincidence, but I’ve got nothing. I went out to dinner for my friend Greg’s birthday and had a couple glasses of wine and my head feels heavy. Almost hurts, but what else is new?

The long movie rambling with little point. Well, maybe they’re saying Wine Spectator and Richard Parker(?) are ruining the individuality of wines as is the huge Mondavi corporation.

And since it’s so late, that’s it for now. I had something about something but I’ve already forgotten, since I want to hit the hay.

So I spent most of the evening filling out forms and now I still have to write a letter to Costco to switch my membership around. Where did the evening go?

Tiger seems to be working well. It’s supposed to be faster, but I don’t really have two similar systems to compare.

You know, filling out forms sorta sucked the information out of my brain. Sort of like how moving the office is going to suck the productivity out of us as well. Everyone is complaining about having to work in a cubicle. It’s where most people in “high tech” end up. We don’t even know where we’re going to end up, or even if we’re moving, so this is just an additional nonsensical stressor at work. Which is why they have to pay us to show up, I think.

Tasty Japanese hamburgers!

I’m still in the middle of updating my Mac OS X to 10.4 (Tiger) so I have little to say.

I suppose some people use blogs as “news” and even read internet news sites. (I must admit I read the NY Times and BBC headlines online.) But some people are even holding blogs up to journalistic standards that our news media won’t follow. I came to this from reading some unflattering comments about a neighbor. The guy is wound a bit too tight (he’s from Philly) and was “caught” making backroom deals in Portland. Not illegal backroom deals, but ones that we don’t cotton to out here in the west. Well, I know I’m being equally deluded in that comment, but you get the drift.

In any case, the blog post and the subsequent bullying by anonymous sources are around 17,000 words long. And I mean bullying. Than, who is the one under scrutiny, fired off some rather bullyish statements that could be taken as funny but aren’t. And then others got into it, including one guy (male or female I don’t know since they’re ANONYMOUS) who must have had a job writing getting paid by the word. And other thinly hidden Libertarian crap.

Come on people, this is the intarweb. It’s used to host knitting blogs and unsound physics and whatever sorts of pr0n you’d ever want. Come to think of it, maybe wonkism is political pr0n.

So, it turns out Costco isn’t all that pleasant to deal with. My dad is slowing down so my mom wanted to change the membership over to her name instead of his. The people at Costco weren’t all that helpful at first.

Me: My dad is unable to use his membership so much so I’d like to change the membership to my mom’s name.
Costco: WHAT’S THE CARD NUMBER?
Me: Well, I can tell you that my mom’s not on the account.
Costco: Well, GIVE ME THE ACCOUNT NUMBER.
Me: 7111..
Costco (interrupting angrily): THAT’S NOT THE CARD NUMBER, THAT’S THE CREDIT CARD NUMBER.
Me: Hell, how am I supposed to know? Let me read the whole number first. (Keep in mind that I don’t have a Costco credit card, just a membership card and that’s what I was reading off of.)

I finally get her the number.

Costco: YOU CAN’T DO ANYTHING WITH THIS ACCOUNT. IT’S TOO LATE, NOW THAT YOUR DAD IS DEAD.
Me: I didn’t say he was dead, I said he’s unable to use the account. He’s 89 years old!

Anyway, you can imagine how much I enjoyed that conversation. What a bunch of maroons.

Work, at the moment, is pleasant because I’m doing virtual weeding. Getting rid of crap from a database that isn’t being used. And going to the gym yesterday was ideal since the wind was blowing the rain sideways.

Got my dad a small dog pencil holder (the dog is sitting like a human and holds the pencil in its front paws) for his birthday. It’s just the kind of thing he likes, fortunately. And I got my mom what she always wants for Mother’s day, lottery scratch tickets. I think the $5 I spent on the tickets paid out $27 this time.

Best of all, I got a ride downtown with my neighbor because she’s going to see Al Franken downtown!

My friend Craig has a computer I gave him. It came from Greg, originally, and after fixing it I was told that I could only give it away for, well, sex. I’m not about to have sex with Craig, so I think I violated that part of the agreement.

In any case, I gave him the computer a while ago and he’s on dial-up. That means he hasn’t updated any of the software and I had to reinstall virus programs, and I had to do it for him. I probably would have been screwing around with my own computer if I wasn’t screwing around with his. This way, however, I got some beer out of the deal since Craig works at the local pub.

I did do some yardwork beforehand, and since the yard debris garbage can was full I didn’t feel so bad about stopping. I suppose I could get a chipper and do some more composting, but that sounds like work, too.