You Electrify My Life.

30 or so minutes into my birthday it was already a good day. I haven't felt that good since Archie Gimmel scored against Holland in 1978! I’ll have to remember to thank my friend? Will when I see him again for his butterfly flapping its wings creating a hurricane.

I was able to post every day for a month straight. I’m pretty proud of myself. I’m coming up of the 5 year anniversary of this blog. My wife says the tone and content of my posts has changed dramatically over the five years. I’ll have to start reading the archives and see. I imagine it has, when you know no one is listening you yell a lot louder. Now I can’t be fully sure who all reads this. I have a vague idea based on the IP traffic I can see. If you read this post, leave a comment. Anything. Just say hello if you don’t know what to say, or wish me a Happy Birthday, or I’ll block you IP address. I can do that. I’ve blocked several Opposite of Dog IP addresses so no one from work can actually look at this at work, can’t be too careful in that respect.

So yeah, there it is. I’m 29. It’s my last year of not being old. Yes, I’ve already got a careerish type job and a family and a mortgage, but if you’re still in your 20’s you can at least still say you’re in your twenties, grasping at those wonderfully free and burden free early twenties. Hopefully it will be decent, 28 wasn’t particularly great.

I have a Couple Rhetorical Questions.

The first being, Is it wrong that I find women’s curling mildly erotic? Strange I know, maybe it’s just pornography escalation coming full circle back to the mundane.

This has by far been the worst month leading up to my birthday ever. It hasn’t been all bad I admit, but the highlights have just been muted, like my promotion. I’ve only had it dangled in front of me for like 6 months, so getting it wasn’t full of elation, it was just a well yeah, I’ve deserved that for way longer than this.

Just people dying, relationships fracturing, frustration escalating, and fear rising.

The only thing I can think of to make things better is to make detailed plans to make things better, which in some cases I have.

As a birthday/promotion/make me feel better present to myself I think I’m going to buy some new hockey pants, Warrior brand of course. With gift money from my parents, remaining fun tax money left over after buying my new shin guards, and money from selling my old shin guards, they’ll only cost $29 of real money. I think I deserve that. I’m such a whore for Warrior gear. I think that’s about all the Warrior stuff I could buy other than shoulder pads, but they would be so overkill for a no check league it would be ridiculous. (Some dudes don’t even wear them, and I cut off the hard plastic pads on mine anyway.)

Looks like I’m going to make it. One more post tomorrow on my birthday and I’ll have done it. It wasn’t as hard as I thought, maybe I’ll be able to keep it up, maybe not once a day, but I’ve been able to see the anecdotes in daily life now again.

Second question: Am I less of a man for really, really liking show tunes?



Substitute Peoria for skid-row and downtown, too many syllables I know.

Mmmm, That Feels Good

I am pleased to announce the promotion of Lawryde to Senior Engineer effective March 1, 2010. For the last 3 1/2 years, Lawryde has been in the in Hydraulics System Development team at Opposite of Dog. He has been instrumental in the development and validation of Track-Type Tractor and Pipelayer Tier3 and Tier4 new product introduction programs. He has exhibited leadership and initiative with responsibilities for the D6T Tier 4i machine level hydraulic validation. This significant Tier4 machine has been aggressive and demanding. He has identified multiple issues and drove resolution through his strong working relationships within the product groups and Hydraulic Systems Group.

Please join me in congratulating Lawryde on a well-deserved promotion, and wishing him well as he continues to provide highly valued work to the enterprise.

**** *******
Opposite of Dog
Hydraulic Development & Validation
Opposite of Dog Proving Grounds
Phone: ***-***-****


Once again: They bought it.

You'll have a hard time convincing me

of any benefit of religion, or that there is an active God for that matter.

This shit breaks my heart.

16 months old? Seriously? Most 16 month olds only have the capacity to say a few words and certainly don't have a full understanding of the context of them.

What a fucking world we live in. What is the separation between these nut jobs and your common Christian. If you believe in a virgin giving birth why can't you believe God will resurrect your son you just starved to death?

Absolute bullshit. People like that should be stoned to death with crosses by women who've made the hard decision to have an abortion and gay men and women who can't get married.

OMG

This is it, final week of posting every day. Friday is my birthday. Have you picked out my gift yet? I’m pretty difficult to shop for.

Did you watch the USA vs Canada hockey game last night? It was probably one of the best games I’ve watched in a long time. The way the bracket is set up now, either Canada or Russia can’t win a medal. Neither of them might if they lose earlier or later, but if you asked someone to predict who would medal you would have said Russia, Canada, and Sweden, maybe the United States if they got their shit together. Now who knows how it will go down?

Totally unrelated, I know that if you’re religious it really matters to you, but I really can’t stand people who are so obsessed and into it that it’s the only thing they talk about. Yeah, I know you love god and it just makes you so great, but stop talking about it. Remember what Jesus said about the Pharisees. I vaguely do, so you really should know because you love Jesus so much. Carter loves Jesus and he’s only 4, and we don’t ever go to church. I guess that’s god trying to lasso me back in. At least he’s just being subtle and not shoving it in my face like all his crazed followers constantly do.

I Hope Tomorrow is a Snow Day

I'm really tired from laying carpet in our basement (my hands are dry and raw), playing hockey (losing 10-0 and getting in a ruckus at the end of the game), and watching the Olympics this weekend. (Awesome USA Vs Canada game)

I really want it to snow enough tonight so I don't have to go to work tomorrow.

6-8 inches could justify that in Peoria.

Calling a Spade a Spade

Apparently that phrase is not racist as it predates the racial slur of calling African American's "spades". (I wasn't going to title the post this, but I checked and it's OK.)

So I've found that Menards yard rats are the same jack off no nothings even when they work at the upscale we're too good for Peoria one in Washington. Fucking pretentious Washington.

We got some carpet for the basement today and they didn't have enough at the Peoria Menards so we had to go to pick up our third 15' section at the one in Washington. I had to go to the yard to pick it up. Ugh, I thought I'm going to have to talk to a dirty yard rat. Literally the bottom rung of societies jobs. (It's funny I was worried about being racist at the beginning of this post. Although yard rats are not a race, just a socioeconomic class I think.)

So I drive to the gate the head yard rat tells me to go to, and I talk to this kid who looks like a slacker geek. I hate to judge books by their covers, being a tattooed engineer, but I do it all the time. I think I've thought every person I've ever met (including friends) is a huge jackass who I'd never want to associate with, and then later find out they are pretty cool.

I don't think that would happen with this kid. He goes and gets my carpet, which isn't already cut like they said it would be. He comes back with this other kid and they give me some quick mental math thing about how much they gave me, which doesn't sound right to me. He claimed he gave me more than what I paid for and he had "saved me big money by shopping at Menards" I smiled a pained smile and thanked him.

I hurried out of the yard so as not to draw any more yard rats to my vehicle.

When I unrolled the carpet I think he gave me a bit less than I actually paid for, luckily I over estimated to allow for some scrap. Seriously, can't trust a yard rat.

7/64

I'm thoroughly convinced that the engineers at faucet companies are incompetent douche bags. Back when I was trying to find an adapter to fill our birth pool I found our sink aerator had 55/64-27 threads on it.

Our Moen shower cartridge valve is leaking so I need to replace it. The set screw on the handle has an allen head on it. I tried all the allen wrenches I had at home and none of them worked 1/8 was too big and 3/32 was too small.

Really guys, you had to use one with a 7/64 allen head? Really? 1/8 too common for you? Is it trying to be different or just difficult? Why not make it a torx bit to make it even more of a pain in the ass to change, or how about those queer bolts with just to small holes on the head like they have on elevator panels. Make it a real challenge to get into.

I guess that's the way you tell the world to fuck off because you're designing shower handles.

I can see that design review meeting right now.

"Whao! Whao! Whao!, Johnson, what the hell is that? Is that an 1/8 allen head set screw you've got holding that handle on."

"Yes."

"How long have you been working here son?"

"6 months"

"Ah, the impetuousness of youth... You do realize you're designing shower handles? You're going to be designing shower handles for a long time. You really want to give Joe Pulic the ease of taking off an 1/8 allen head set screw?"

"It's serviceable though, everyone has an 1/8 allen wrench in their set."

"You're Goddamn right it is, and you're Goddamn right they do. You better make it a 7/64 allen. We are fucking shower handle designers, are we not."

And.... scene.

Go Olympics

Yesterday the Olympics had higher ratings than American Idol. That's awesome.

Maybe there is hope for use yet.

(Shortest post ever, but it counts.)

Gingervitis

Just watched Shaun White win gold in the half pipe. He is just so much better than everyone else. Too bad he's an ugly ginger kid. I do dig the American flag bandanna over the face too.

Kind of reminds me of the Flobots. Did he steal it from them, or them from him? Hmmmm.

I'm taking a half day tomorrow. My parents are here, and I also want to play hockey later tomorrow night.

It's a shame too because I kind of felt good again about work today. Earned my raise as it were. Came up with a creative solution to a potentially expensive problem. It was just hanging their in the meeting we were having, and no one else could grab it. I was reluctant to because it potentially meant more work for me, but I had to let it fly. I got some "Oh, sweet idea, why didn't we all think of that" looks and comments. It felt good.

Yeah, and Maybe I'm a Chinese Jet Pilot

I have nothing else to write about so it's going to be this sexist post about women's hockey.

In particular Chinese Women's hockey. It's really just painful to watch. It's so slow and so lack luster. It's like looking at a Kohl's women's underwear add when you could be having sex.

I'm sure if the Chinese worked on it they could have the best women's team. Which is like being the being the winner of the ugliest dog competition.

I had watched like two women's games and then saw the men's Canada vs. Norway, and I could barely follow the action, my mind had fallen so asleep and docile. It was like coming out of the dark ages into the Renaissance.

For any women who read this blog, I'm really sorry. You're sex is just not exciting to watch play hockey. I'm not a huge fan of watching sport in general so I need something to wow me.

The Dreams in Which I'm Dying are the Best I've Ever Had

I'm having a hard time keeping this up.

I finished my paper review so I can get my raise. I did it in 2 hours. Makes sense though, it takes most engineers weeks to do their reviews. Writing papers on time got me my raise. It's what I can hang my hat on.

I also get to have a one on one with my bosses boss on my birthday. Hopefully I get a big pat on the back since that's the last day I'll just be an Engineer, and I'll be reborn as a Senior Engineer.

I fell asleep putting the kids to bed tonight thinking about dying. It was kind of funny, it was kind of depressing, but no fear.

Marcus Aurelius is Dead

I walked out of my first hockey game earlier tonight.

Let me set the scene for you.

Our goalie doesn't show up. He didn't realize we had a game tonight, so when I called him he was at a Rivermen game. Ok, I can deal with not playing with a goalie. It sucks, but at least we still get to shoot at a goalie. It's implied we are going to lose. I can deal with that. I just want to skate hard and get better personally.

So we play and it's like 4-1 at the end of the first, so the game is pretty much over. One of their dudes skates over and is like, hey why don't we switch ends and our goalie can play for you for one period.

mmm, no thanks I say, because then it will be dumb because we'll just take a bunch of cheap shots to try and get up and then you'll just take a bunch of cheap shots to win the game. Let's just keep it how it is and roll with it. You guys are going to win, whatever.

Period two starts and they score a few more goals. Then I'm on the bench and halfway through the period they just say hey we're switching ends and we're going to shoot on our goalie. I yell from the bench "No, no way!!" They just go right ahead and do it anyway. I say, fuck this, I'm out of here. You don't get to win, and get to shoot on your own goalie for half the game and have him let a few in if we happen to get close on the open net. Fuck that. I have better things to do on a Saturday evening than pay a babysitter so I can shoot at a shooter tutor.

So I pack my shit up, shower and leave. I was fucking pissed. My guys just went along with it and switched ends. Did they really think they were giving us a chance to win? I'd already said at period break we weren't going to do it. I'm the goddamn Captain.

I'm over this town, and now I'm starting to be over this hockey league. Jackasses poaching down into lower divisions, that can't even win gracefully. If you can't win with some class I'm not going to be your wiping boy you let shoot at an open net to try and feel a bit better.

Holy Shit

Don't watch this if you have a weak heart.

The Olympic investigation said something to the effect that the dude just overcompensated in the turns prior and it was all his fault he lost control and is dead.


Mmm, maybe if you had some fencing along those steal girders he just would have glanced off it rather than imparting all that energy into his spine.

You see the more time it takes for an impact to happen, the less energy that is transferred into the parts of your body you need to live. Hence crumple zones and padding.

Take some responsibility for this guys death. Put up some snow fences or something like they have in downhill skiing, maybe it won't look as nice, but it might save someones life.

Bologna Skins

My wife is heading to Fargo today for her friend's mom's funeral. Yesterday I got the tires rotated on the car she was taking. Turns out the reason it's been a death trap skid machine in the snow this winter is that two of the tires were worn down to the steel belts in spots and had no tread left. Stupid Hyundai and their shitty OEM tires. (33,000 and two of them are toast and the other two have like 6000 miles more in them maybe.) I guess that's how you drive down the purchase price.

So I decide to lay down some decent money for two Goodyears that have a 65,000 mile warranty on them. I figured that if I bought a set of shit tires, I'd just be replacing them in 33,000 again rather than these that should last twice as long so it's actually a bit less than replacing them twice, saving on the mounting and balancing fees.

The tread on these new tires is sick compared to the old ones, even when they were new. I'll be able to rally car it in the snow next year, since I'll have to replace the other two by then.

So I guess I've been cheating death for the past few weeks on the bald bologna skins that could have failed at any moment due to being down to the steel. Glad I found out before my wife took them another 1400 miles though, and what else would I want to spend the first month of my promotion raise on rather than two new tires?

I can't think of anything.

Everything will be Alright

I’ve tried to convince myself of that. When I was younger I had overwhelming optimism which made it easy to think that during difficult times.

I’m more realistic now. Your life is bound to have a bad ending, until then you just need to tread water so you don’t drown.

I hope I don’t pass that on to my children. I’d like to teach them not to fear life, not to die 1,000 deaths worrying about their own.

My Grandma had a picture or sewn thing in a room of her house that said Why worry when you can pray. Maybe that’s my problem. I can’t put my fate in the hands of an unseen benevolence, but in doing so I put all the pressure on myself.

It’s why I don’t like flying. I’m not in control, relying on someone else’s talent and wisdom to keep me safe.

I’ve got to hand to the management at work. I didn’t think forced morale was possible, but they are making our performance rating for this year count to our merit increases next year. Super smart and clever way to prevent people from slacking this year with no possibility of getting a raise this year. Whoever came up with that one should get a big fat raise… next year of course.

Google Loves Me (Gonzo Engineering)

Although I somehow need to get above that dude who has the gonzo engineering website.




On a side note about engineering, everyone is shocked or surprised that Toyota is having these quality problems. I’m not.

Here’s how it works, you build a name for yourself by having stellar quality when you have low market share. People flock to your product because of it’s high quality and you drastically increase your market share.

You no longer can really gain much more market share, or increase your price so the only way to increase your profit (which is all anyone at the top cares about) is by cutting your product cost.

THERE IS NO WAY TO MAINTAIN QUALITY WHEN YOU CUT PRODUCT COST. Period

Things cost more for a reason. Someone spends time and care making them and/or they are made out of higher quality materials. This is true for a purely manufactured good. Once you’ve made it to the product level this may not be true because then you may be paying for a name or marketing.

So Toyota, you got greedy. You get to sleep in the bed you made, which is speeding away uncontrollably fast.

Waves of Emotion

So that tingling feeling of something going to happen, happened, as it were.

My boss instant messages me and tells me he set up a one on one with me the next day early in the morning and wants to make sure I can make it.

My brain immediately recoils in horror thinking that I’ve been caught using the interweb too much, or that fact that I’m at work for exactly 8 hours a day now, not a minute more.

I try to feel out the situation so I don’t spend the evening throwing up in anticipation.

I message back, sure no problem. Do I need to have some yearly goals put together to discuss or something like that?

He messages back, Well, I wanted to tell you in person… Oh shit … that your promotion went through.

Cooling calm and joy fill my heart. All my finishing reports on time has paid off. I tell him that’s awesome and thank him for working it on his end.

So I get 5%, and now I’m a Senior Gonzo Engineer. Maybe the Gonzo won’t be listed, but we all know the truth. I guess the grays in my beard are deserved now. It will look nice on a resume too, puts me in a different category and bargaining position.

This morning the kids don’t wake up at some point from 5-7. Seriously, the day I need to get in by 7:30 and they don’t make a sound. On top of that we find out my wife’s friend’s mom died this morning. I’m full of panic, self worth, and sadness. I need to get to this meeting so I get out the door buy 7:08. Luckily Peoria did a halfway decent job clearing the streets after 3 inches of snow.

I tear up a bit as I climb the hill to work. It’s a combination of relief of getting this promotion they’ve dangled in front of me for so long, and the loss my wife’s friend has to deal with. I remember her wedding and talking to her mom, this kind, lovely, gracious woman, nevermore. I try to pull my shit together and navigate the country road without killing myself.

I make it to work 5 minutes late, no big deal, everyone is 5 minutes late to every meeting they go to.

I sit down after the meeting, which is really nothing groundbreaking after finding out the high point the day before, and I am able to breath and let my head stop swimming.

X was Larger than the Cost of Recall

I’ll admit, I’m not a strong proponent of American cars, but I also don’t have a huge boner for the Japanese philosophy of design and engineering. Much like many of the people in the company I work for do, and they had a hard time hiding it until now.

Nothing softens you up like a family of four uncontrollably accelerating into a 25 mph curve on a country road.

This whole thing proves that Toyota’s methodology, and the Toyota Production System are nothing special. They just got lucky for longer than their American counterparts. Eventually you’re going to design something that kills someone.

Maybe all the American design and manufacturing firms should stop trying to be like the Japanese and get back to what made us great, innovation and Gonzo Engineering. Take your philosophies and methodologies and go sell them to someone with too much money. Let’s just design some cool shit.

You Have to Know the Answer to this Question.

Narrator: [Tyler steers the car into the opposite lane and accelerates] What are you doing?

Tyler Durden: Guys, what would you wish you'd done before you died?

Ricky: Paint a self-portrait.

The Mechanic: Build a house.

Tyler Durden: [to Narrator] And you?

Narrator: I don't know. Turn the wheel now, come on!

Tyler Durden: You have to know the answer to this question! If you died right now, how would you feel about your life?

Narrator: I don't know, I wouldn't feel anything good about my life, is that what you want to hear me say? Fine. Come on!

Tyler Durden: Not good enough.



I didn't feel good about my life this morning. I was tired and angry, and I didn't want to be awake with the kids, and I didn't want to go grocery shopping, and I didn't want to be in Peoria, and I didn't want to be working a job I find no meaning in anymore.

Luckily we went skating this afternoon. Carter was able to let go of the buckets and just hold my hand and skate. His fourth time on this ice and he's almost on his own. Pretty impressive. Oz is just too young. Somehow he fell on his but and bit his lip and was bleeding about 5 minutes into the whole thing. Poor little guy. He looked so tiny on the ice, totally out of place. He's not even two yet.

Then tonight while most people were enjoying the Super Bowl, I found a spot on one of my basement tiles. Devil water... There is no containing you. Turns out I had fucked up my drain line routing on my kitchen sink back when we did it a year or so ago. I didn't have the straight far enough into the trap so the little ring didn't have enough surface to seal on. So I ran over to Lowe's and grabbed and extension and put it in. No leaks after running a bit of water through it and the dishwasher draining into it. I probably should have looked for a vacuum breaker since my vent pipe in that line is also fucked, (I'm guessing a possum is stuck in the line, or so my Canadian friend and I have theorized) but I was in a bit of a hurry at Lowe's so I didn't stay and look around much for the breaker.

Tomorrow we are supposed to get like 5-7 inches of snow. Maybe I won't have to go into work, or Tuesday maybe.

I told my wife I had a good feeling that some company was going to call me this week. Either that or the feeling relates to some other looming system failure in my house. I guess I'll find out.

Getting it in Under the Wire

My mind is like a fog. I have no good ideas for a post, and am just trying to put something down out of obligation to myself in saying that I would post once per day until my birthday no matter what.

Today the snow outside was perfect. It had melted a bit from the sun and the boys and I and the dog went outside. I picked up handfuls of snow and wadded it up into a ball. Carter tried to do it, but he kept pushing too hard and they wouldn't stay together for him. I made a few for him, as I made my own and threw them against the dead/dying tree in our back yard.

The pop of a snowball as it impacts something is one of my favorite winter sounds. There's no other sound like that. It ranks right up their with the scrape of skates on the ice, and the sound your breath makes when it's absolutely silent out after it has just snowed. Pure and distinct sounds, ones that would make you sad to be deaf.

I'm a lousy aim so I only got to hear it four times out of like twenty. We went inside and did mundane things for the rest of the day.

The perfect snow made today worthwhile.



Still kind of seems like a StoneSour song to me. Live you get a bit more of the special percussion though.

Working Title

To wrap up my discussion of my new Warrior Hitman shin guards, which I’m sure has been enthralling for everyone to read, they are fucking awesome.

They are much lighter than my old ones, although I don’t know if this is because they have less dried sweat on them or if they are truly lighter. They fit more snugly than my old ones. The strapping system is better, and the inner material doesn’t slide on your skin as easily. They have more of a curve and contour to them as well which make them hug and fit your legs better. I’m super happy with them. I had a couple goals at rat last night, and I can really only attribute them to the new shin guards… or something.

I don’t really have any special plans for this Super Bowl weekend. I got invited to a party, but I don’t know that I’ll go. We’re going to take both boys skating earlier in the day for sure.

Consecutive Blog Post #10

This gets a bit easier as you go.

My new shin guards are pretty tits. (That’s hard to read, like is it beautiful tits, or is it very nearly tits? I don’t know. I guess I’ll go with beautiful tits, although that wasn’t the original intent.) I’ll give them a little test run tonight at rat. Hopefully they will perform as such.

I tend to get to work pretty late these days.

I don’t even wear a tie to work anymore.

Little Oz woke up this morning all bleary eyed and sauntered into the bathroom while I was getting ready for work. He pulled up a stool and sat down and just watched me for like 5 minutes. I looked over at him, his hair all disheveled, and he gave me a big smile.

I find both boys incredibly lovable and entertaining after they’ve decided to get up and have made it out of their room on their own.

I need to seriously look into employing a headhunter to find me a job in Wisconsin. My current strategy is taking too long. Anyone know how that works? I don’t really.

On Death and Dying

I have a friend who's Mom is dying. Cancer. Not the funny kind, the kind that kills you.

It sucks. I'm so wrapped in my own mortality that when someone else is dealing with death I have a hard time pushing it out of my mind.

I've had these mini-rapid fire fear of death episodes in the past few weeks. Not the typical long philosophical wanders of my mind that eventually lead to me realizing I will die and then panicking for several minutes. More of all that compressed into like 10 seconds. It's nice in that it passes quickly, it sucks in that it's unexpected.

And then I read this story today about this woman who stabbed her two infant/toddler sons to death and it makes me doubt the existence of any higher power or thing after death.

There's still the possibility time is just a loop for us, but that still doesn't make me feel any better for those little boys, or my friends dying Mom.

There is no Why.

My homage to Nihilism tattoo sounds better and better to me. The concept is 9X4=38 in block lettering and then all my favorite quotes that tend to be dark and Nihilistic in the style of a schizophrenic's journal written inside the numbers. Kind of like Homer's writing of No TV and no beer make homer go crazy all over the walls in that Simpson's episode.

I've Got Special Unique Specialness.

I've met God across his long walnut desk with his diplomas hanging on the wall behind him, and God asks me, "Why?"

Why did I cause so much pain?

Didn't I realize that each of us is a sacred, unique snowflake of special unique specialness?

Can't I see that we're all manifestations of love?

I look at God behind his desk, taking notes on a pad, but God's got this all wrong.

We are not special.
We are not crap or trash either. We just are.
We just are, and what happens just happens.

And God says, "No, that's not right."

Yeah. Well. Whatever. You can't teach God anything.

I long for a phone call from any company in the Milwaukee or Madison area I've applied to. I'm a really good engineer. I swear it. Don't take all the negative things I say here seriously. It's just where I come to blow of some condensed water vapor. (See I didn't even call it steam. Steam isn't visible. I'm super smart.)

I have no desire to start working on another machine at work. I like (or in some cases can put up with) my D6 guys and don't want to deal with other people's quirks and expectations.

My lusted after shin guards are somewhere between here and St. Louis right now. They will be in my hot little hands by tomorrow, in time for rat hockey on Thursday, and I even already got my Federal tax return so they are paid for too. Not that I dropped all that money just on shin guards, I just allotted some for fun stuff, not just fixing and paying off stuff.

That's Your Theory?

It's amazing how things go downhill so fast. The desperate fight against the mass disorder and unraveling of the universe is impossible to hold off for any amount of time.

I wasn't even feeling that great, maybe kind of zen after that kid spared me.

Then a little bit of this, some of that and then it looks like you have an internal water leak in your wall. I think it's not quite that bad, but my spigot is all fucked up. The freeze cover didn't work. The plastic cover I had burst when it froze and water started leaking back into the wall. Not cool.

What a shitty freeze cover. I need to rebuild the internal shutoff and the outside spigot itself, as long as I haven't actually created a leak inside the wall due to freezing. Then I'd have to replace it all with a freeze proof silcock. He he he silcock.

I don't know. I really want some company to call me and tell me I can leave here. I'm don't feel like I have a purpose at work. I'm getting jerked around on this promotion. It's not doing it for me.

Ordered my lusted over shin guards. They came down $20 so I snapped them up. One bright point, although they will probably not have them in stock or some bullshit.

That's the way things are going. Higher and higher levels of entropy.