So, my sister screwed up this Access database, and to fix it (which I really haven’t finished yet) I had to install another database and write a program that took way too long for me to figure out. I’m feeling quite silly about it, but sheesh, why couldn’t this have been discussed earlier? (Actually, it probably was, and I probably wasn’t listening.

I probably should also NOT mention that I had possibly several thousand spam trackbacks on my blog. Yeesh, I mean I post about six times a week and get about 3 comments a week (not counting the dozen or so spam that get filtered out each day) and then I get FLOODED. The guys on the WordPress IRC channel weren’t exactly unhelpful, but they’re not exactly nice, either. The Bad Behavior plugin is what saved me, by the way.

I only have a few meetings a week and half of them are on the phone. Today when I picked up my phone, it was dead. Well, not completely dead. Lights were on and I could hear myself but no dialtone and the keys didn’t make beepy sounds (a technical term, to be sure). Turns out they were doing some work over the weekend and my phone was probably dead for about four days. I never noticed.

Well, other than that I got almost nothing. It’s still hot, and since it’s sweeps they keep showing things I want to watch until 11PM. Come on, some of us need sleep and have no will power. Give us a break!

I’m a native Oregonian, and I like it a little cooler out. The record high for May 15, for example was 86°F and the average high is in the 60’s. But today, the high was 92°F. Not my cup of tea. I got used to sleeping with the doors and windows closed and I’m afraid I won’t have that luxury today.

In other news, my ID let me in the door at megacorp today. The CEO has been talking about “downsizing” and everyone’s afraid their jobs are going to be over. My manager and his cronies went to an off-site meeting on Friday and that usually bodes ill for the workers. So far, so good, though.

Time to find some earplugs and try to sleep. I see heat lightning (also an anomaly for this area) and often that means a lot of people out late watching the free show. Stupid global warming.

I’m still following the New Years resolution Steve made for me (he’s a noted comic book artist). I went to a housewarming party for a co-worker and met lots of people from India. They’re all from different parts of India, so I don’t really feel like an outsider. We’re all from different cultures. Well, OK, mine is more of a bacon eating culture, but you know how it is.

My friend Terri and my ex both think it doesn’t matter to women what kind of car I drive. Somehow, I think they expect me to meet someone non-superficial and, well, not suburban, who doesn’t want a peek at my bank account before letting me get to first base. And honestly, I can’t even remember what getting to first base entails, it’s been so long.

I just watched a bunch of episodes of House and Prison Break because I’m stupid and I keep piling them up. I finally got rid of a bunch of episodes of Alias because I knew I’d never watch them. They were a bit silly anyway, since I only started watching last year.

I also haven’t been posting much because, well, what was I going to write? I got up, went to work, got sleepy, came home, did or did not go to the gym, and stayed up late doing whatever I wanted to on my computer. Rinse, later, repeat. I suppose last night was a little different, as I went to a friends’ house to watch L’Enfant which was a beautifully understated movie. I mean, it was a about a young low-life whose girlfriend has a baby and he sells it. You can imagine how horrible or how sappy that could be. But it wasn’t.

Anyway, it was a wonderfully sunny day today, and I actually got out and did some shopping. Tobacco, coffee, water filter, and shoes at the REI sale. I hate having to buy tobacco, but like I say, my dad is 90 now and if he wants tobacco, I get it for him.

Oh, yeah, and there’s a house listed down the street that used to be a run-down disaster full of skate rats. One-point-four million dollars. Geez. I mean, the house two up from my parents is only $1,075,000 with six thousand square feet and a pool. You’d have to live two houses up from hillbillies, but still.

Back when I was moderating a list for local Ivy League Alumni group leaders, I had this weird interaction with a guy who sounded to me like a complete jackass. It went like this, and keep in mind “Other guy” never did ‘fess up to his name, just his email address of builder@XXXXX.com (blocked for, you know, reasons):

Me

Subject: Does anyone know Ken XXXXX of the Stanford Association of Oregon?

He is requesting to join the XXXXX-leaders group.

Other guy

He’s the President of SAO, jerk. Just say “Welcome, Ken”.

Me

Well, I’ve added Ken XXXXX, and removed builder@XXXXX.com.

Thanks for the feedback.

Other guy

arrogant functionary. we’ll meet some time. watch your back.

Me

Nice threat. I’d report this to the police but I figure you’re a coward.

Other guy

Couldn’t get into med school….can’t get a good job….time to get your life together young man.

Don’t ever send out an email asking a question like ‘Who is Ken XXXXX….he wants to get onto the list I manage….. you insulting little twit. Respect your elders. You might get somewhere in life.

The reason I mention this is that I found out that the guy’s name is Jay Kushner and is running for Oregon State Representative in District 44.

I’m not sure why he was on the mailing list (which is one of the reasons I removed him). I thought I’d never hear from the SOB again, but he’s running for public office. One of our State Representatives was recently convicted of meth possession after being run over by a janitor’s girlfriend in some sort of love-triangle fiasco, so I probably should avoid insulting people who may not be law-abiding citizens.

I knew one of these days I’d leave my keys at work. We have to lock our laptops and I have my key on my key ring with my house key. My car key is on a separate key ring, since I found that anything else on that key ring hits my knee and annoys me. Well, I got home without my keys and nobody was here. I called my sister’s house, her cell phone, my brother-in-law’s cell phone and nobody was around. I broke out my work laptop and since I have wifi, sat on my back steps and logged into work. I had a co-worker who was still at work hide my keys. I wasn’t about to drive another hour-and-a-half or more to recover my keys. I called Dave the Trainer and told him I couldn’t make it to the gym because, well, my shoes were inside the house. (I wasn’t about to run up the stairs in my Blundstones.)

Anyway, I got home a little after 5PM and I got inside the house around 7PM. I had offers from several people for a place to wait, including two neighbors, my buddy John, and my sister (who finally called back) but I just sat and read the book I keep in my bag “just in case.” The Dante Club is really quite good but I never can seem to keep reading it. I suppose it may end up like Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner, a book I carried around for years until I finally forced myself to read it. It was an excellent book when I finally got into it.

My only disappointment is not seeing the women at the gym. Pretty pathetic, but a guy has to have his fun. I ran up the stairs on my own, probably pushing myself less since there was no one else around, and I still felt like falling over when I was through. At least I got to see all of NCIS today.

It’s my dad’s 90th birthday today! My sister got him a cake and a present. I, of course, regifted something Carolyn gave me. It’s a kangaroo pen and it’s sticking out of his pocket. I figured it would make him happy. I quite enjoyed using the punching function of the pen, but my dad is the toy guy. I’m sure I’m in trouble now with Carolyn.

And here’s a close-up of the cake. We all thought he’d want a lemon meringue pie, but he wanted chocolate cake. Mariko bought it at JaCiva’s and it’s a little rich, but quite tasty. And look how pretty.

In other news, my friend told me what he figured it cost him to drive to work every day. So, here’s the rough calculations. I fill up about every six days and I drive about 259 miles. That means a round trip is about 43 1/6 miles. So, I get about 25.1 MPG and with gasoline at $3.20/gal, my round trip costs about $5.50 in just gasoline. A trip on public transportation costs $1.95*2 or $3.90. But my commute time is only about 35-40 minutes each way in my car and it would around an hour-and-a-half each way on public transportation. Well, we’ll see what the reorganization at Megacorp yields. I may not have a work to drive to next week!

I know I heard the paper being delivered last night, but this morning I found nothing except eggs on my car. I suppose that’s going to be another advantage of the new car. It’s harder to wash things off of the cloth convertible top than a hardtop.

My buddy Il got me some PSP movies for my birthday, and he forgot to bring them on Friday. I happened to be in the neighborhood today (helping my sister move a mattress she bought off of Craigslist) and I told him I’d come pick them up. He said he was too busy playing World of Warcraft with this woman who says she’s a Czechoslovakian pr0n star. He spends a lot of time online with her. He just left the movies on his doorstep so he didn’t have to waste any extra time answering the door. On the plus side, I finally saw Hellboy, a movie I convinced all my friends to see, but one I neglected to see until Il gave it to me on UMD.

A while back I heard my ex was worried about hanging out with me because she might see herself on my blog. I find this unfortunate, because how am I going to exaggerate about a person if I don’t have any contact with them?

Il and I went to Ringside last night and both had something called a “bone-in filet.” It was a tenderloin with the bone still attached and that gave it more flavor than a regular tenderloin. It was excellent, and that’s no exaggeration. We also had a strong-flavored red wine. I can’t remember anything else about the wine other than it cost $65. Dinner, for the two of us, was $206.40. Woo-hoo. Good thing I still have a job at Megacorp.

I went to the car dealer this morning, expecting to have the guy look at my car for five minutes. I left the dealership about two and a half hours later. In that time, all that happened was a guy looked at my car and then told me I couldn’t have the options I wanted. All I wanted was a car with a dark interior and a navigation system. Navigation systems are hard to come by, and so are specific colors. Well, I got the color I initially wanted anyway (silver), and it looks like the cars with the dark seats still have beige-y plastic so they look a bit silly. I paid a non-refundable $500 deposit and they’re going to call me in a few weeks when the car comes in. I’m hoping “few” means a couple of weeks and not a lot more.