Archive for February, 2005
February 28, 2005 at 10:54 am · Filed under General
First, I’m upping the font size! No more tiny pixel text to test the limits of you ocular abilities. I never go back and read my own posts, so when I finally tried I found it annoying and tiresome.
So I have a fairly hefty backlog of contract work to try and plow through in the near future. I’ve really got to get 100% caught up by this weekend or else I may run in to troubles. That gives me 5 days to do a lot of work as I want to finish Heavy Media, Huntergreen Danes and some other dangling work for my friends at medialogical. Ugh. Doesn’t look like Keith gets to spend any time away from the computer in the near future.
I had a pretty solid weekend. Friday night was a write off because I was exhausted. I went to bed early and slept in. I think I played some Halo, but not enough. Saturday I finally took some time to restring my guitar and go jam with a buddy of mine. Actually, with my cousin’s husband, but he’s a cool guy so I can call him a buddy if I want. It was kinda sad because we’re both aging rockers with rusting skills, but we really locked in on a few tunes and rocked out. I’ll have to keep that up lest my skill fade into oblivion.
After rockin’ me Arleigh, Kelly (cousin and husband respectively) and my brother had a big steak dinner. Steak dinner rocks. Forget what I said about iced tea and pizza. I want BBQ’d steak every day for the rest of my life. If I die of a massive heart attack at 27 with 3 pounds of undigested red meat in my cancerous colon so be it. Steak is yummy. Caesar salad is yummy. Garlic bread is yummy. Beer is yummy. I do sincerely hope that when I die it’s as a result of eating delicious food because I can’t think of any better way to go.
Speaking of my obsession with food, I’m getting chubby. Not fat yet, but there are at least 10 pounds too many of Keith here. As I’m completely unwilling to stop eating yummy food stuffs, it would seems that exercise has become a necessity. My sweet wife and I are going to begin and hearty workout campaign tonight, so I’ll be sure to keep you all updated on that. My brother wants to drop his spare tire, and my buddy Julian wants to get into better shape (he’s already in approx. 10 times better shape than me though) so he might start working out with me too. If I can get all 3 of them lined up, I might actually find myself going to the gym from time to time. It’s harder to cheat when you have to explain to 3 different people why you don’t have the energy to work out. It’s easier just to exercise.
On that note on www.fark.com I read a ‘news’ story that claimed German scientists have discovered that staring at breasts for 10 mins a day is a benefitial form of exercise for men. At least horny German men at any rate. My being a horny Scandinavian/Welsh/German/EuroTrash I thought it might just be crazy enough to work. At least it would be worth it to give it a try. Mrs. IronKeith would probably disagree, unless of course they were her breasts…… Definitely worth a shot. Staring at the breasts of Mrs. IronKeith would probably lead to some for of cardiovascular activity anyways. It’s win win.
February 25, 2005 at 2:00 pm · Filed under Work
Finally I am all done work on nelsonriver.com. I think it took about 7 years or something like that. Maybe not, but a long time and I’m really sick of looking at it. I’m done now though and it’s online. Always a good day. I think that I’ll celebrate by juming right into another project that needs to be done. Heh.Last night I went out for dinner with some…. friends I suppose. I’d never met them before, but my wife had. We went to the Sicilian Pasta Kitchen which was yummy as always. I’m usually pretty opposed to meeting new people and fight it like grim death, but lately a change has come over me. I was even able to speak to them with little effort. Maybe I’m growing up, which would explain why I have to keep shaving ALL the time.We got to the restaurant at 7 and stayed until shortly after 10 which was unexpected. There weren’t really any lulls in the conversation either. I checked my watch when I noticed that the restaurant was cleared out and realized it was 10. I was actually having a pretty good time, I didn’t even notice time going by. When we all stood up to leave my ass was just killing me though. Seems like 3 hours on a hard wooden chair isn’t the most comfortable way to spend an evening. I totally didn’t mean to stay out that long either. I actually was supposed to get home kinda early and get some contract work done, oh well. Now I have to do twice as much tonight, but I always say “why do today, what can be put off for tomorrow”. Actually, I never say that. Man do I ever live it though. heh.
I think I have to work pretty much all this weekend, which I’m not really looking forward to. At least I get paid though, and I do like getting paid. I’m starting a new site ‘on the side’ for some sweet additional income. I’m all about additional income. It makes me happy.
Finally, I’m getting fat. Nothing gross yet, but definately soft around the edges. If I don’t do something soon man boobies seem inevitable. With that in mind I’ve preordered an iPod shuffle and I’m going back to the gym. It turns out that pizza and no exercise aren’t an ideal combination for staying in shape. Live and learn.
February 23, 2005 at 3:46 pm · Filed under General
So I maybe go to McDonalds once a month. Just often enough to sate my cravings. Ever since I saw that stupid “Supersize Me” movie the whole experience has been soured. So today for lunch I decide that today is the day that I’m going to treat myself to a yummy Turkey BLT and, my personal favorite, a large iced tea. McDonalds iced tea is like sweet heaven in a paper cup for me. If I were on a deserted island and only got one thing to eat and one thing to drink it would be pizza and McDonalds iced tea. That way if I wasn’t rescued soon I’d die of a heart attack, fat and happy.I got home and started to lay my lunch out before me. First, my fries were cold. Not a big deal because since I cut out McDonalds I can only eat a few before I feel kinda sick. Sandwhich, check. Napkins, check. Large iced tea, check. Straw….. straw? Noooooo!Such a minor annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless. The real kick in the arse though is that this is the second time in two trips that this has happened to me. Do I have a sticker on my car saying “don’t worry, I brought my own straw”. I didn’t think so, but I checked just to be sure.
So I was left to try and drink my iced tea lidless, which if you’ve ever tried you know is almost impossible. The cup is slightly more sturdy than tissue paper without that lid, so when you go to take a sip it get’s all ‘ovally’ and it’s difficult to drink without spilling down the sides of your mouth. My one monthly McFix has been ruined two months in a row.
I march on in the face of pure evil!I think I’ll write a letter to the Pope and see if he’ll saint me, because if this isn’t perseverance in the face of overwhelming circumstances then I don’t know what is. Oh yeah, everything else.
February 22, 2005 at 10:31 am · Filed under General
Well, another weekend gone by. I must admit, this one was much better than the last. I pretty much just caught up on sleep and some side projects. I was going to work on Heavy Media some, but I was distracted by my buddy Thom. That’s his spelling btw, not mine.Business wise things have been shaping up nicely lately. I’m getting a steady flow of contract work, which is great because I’m trying to save as much cash as is humanly possible before we move into the new house. Luckily we keep having all kinds of difficulties consolidating our plans and at this rate we won’t be moving in until sometime in 2015. I should have loads of cash saved up by then. Actually, we should be in mid June, so I should really get to working.
All the contract work has been keeping me away from the old blog of late. Spending this much time working on a computer really takes away from my will to blog. Also, with all of the working and sleeping I don’t really do all that much worth blogging about. I’ve once again started to play guitar. It turns out that if you don’t work on it you get worse with time. Who knew? I’m attacking the guitar with a renewed vigor these days. I have to if I’m going to maintain any level of skill.
It’s a short entry today because I’m at work so I don’t want to waste too much time. I’ll write more when I think of some more worth writing about.
February 15, 2005 at 10:29 pm · Filed under General
Well it’s been pointed out that I did not blog even once in the last few days. I have not already grown tired and neglegent, quite the opposite. Sadly, a friend of ours was tragically killed in a car accident. She was one day younger than me, only 23 years old. She was married and had two baby boys.
I spent the last 4 days in Cold Lake, trying to be helpful in any way that I could. Mostly I just tried to keep busy so that I wouldn’t have time to think about it. The memorial was monday afternoon. It hurt me very deeply to listen to people talk lovingly about how extraordinary her life was. She was a missionary in Peru, a registered nurse and a mother of two amazing kids. She did so much good in her life. It forced me to acknowledge that we all have our time and there is nothing that you can do to about it.
I see now why so many people try to change their lives after something like this. I’ve really been feeling rather selfish lately. Wondering whether or not my life could measure up. Wondering what kinds of things people would say at my funeral. It’s shallow, but it really opens your eyes to things. Nothing seems like that big of a deal anymore, this whole ordeal really puts the trivialities of everyday life into perspective. Don’t sweat the small stuff and it’s all small stuff. That kind of thing.
She was a wonderful person and an amazing mother. To quote her husband “she was super great, and now she’s better”.
God Bless Faye Ann Hodson (1981 to 2005)
February 8, 2005 at 10:36 am · Filed under General
So I let myself get to the point where if I didn’t do laundry I’d be wearing either dirty or no underwear. Not my favorite position to be in, not to mention a difficult choice. Luckily I had the necessary 2 loonies and 6 quarters to do a load.So I put a fairly large load of laundry in and set it. An hour or so later when I go to switch it to the drier I notice that the load hasn’t spun and all of my clothes are right soaked. I ring them out as best I can and transfer them to the drier. I assume that everything will just work itself out in there.
At 11 when I am getting ready for bed I remember my underwearless situation and that I was in the process of doing laundry. So I head back to the laundry room to reclaim my now clean underpants. Sadly, the drier has failed me and my clothes are still soaking wet. Lacking the time and quarters to attempt a second round with the drier I opt to scatter my laundry about the apartment and assume that it will dry by morning.
I get up, walk the dogs and am about to feed them when I notice the laundry scattered about and remember my predicament. I check the nearest pair of underpants…. soaked. I check several more pairs of underpants. Soaked. Lacking time, options and quarters I resort to desperation as the thought of having to wear wet underwear is highly unappealing. I crank the oven up to 150 and lay some underpants on the rack. Then I go shower.
Seems like a pretty stupid thing to do doesn’t it? Well it worked so lay off. I’m actually thinking of using the oven instead of a drier for now on because:
a) it works, and
b) it’s free
Then again maybe not, as I can only dry 2 items at a time. For $1.75 I’ll just use the drier, assuming that loading it with a giant soaking load of clothes didn’t burn out the motor. I’m pretty sure I broke the washer because when I was done the bottom of the wash basin was full of water. I don’t think that’s supposed to happen.
Also, not that anyone but me cares, last night I played a rumble pit game of Halo 2 and won. Not that impressive but my next nearest opponent (there were 7 of them) only had 19 kills to my 25. I owned those dudes. Then I realized that out of 8 nerds, I was the clear victor by a large margin. It’s a hard pill to swallow when you realize you’re the biggest nerd in a room full of nerds. Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s a suppository.
February 7, 2005 at 3:54 pm · Filed under General
I had a sweet weekend full of nothing, which was exactly what I felt like. It was great. I found out that Bungie.net keeps incredibly accurate and comprehensive stats from every game of Halo that I’ve played online…. the obsession grows stronger still. I had chili and beer and watched the super bowl. I’m sure there was some other stuff in there too, but I’ve forgotten.So today is the big day. Today we consolidate our housing contract with Jayman and they begin building. Yikes. It’s not every day that I agree to spend a quarter of a million dollars. I’m really excited and nervous all at once. On one hand it will be incredible to have a house. On the other it will suck to be house poor. The other big downside is that I have to be steadily employed and attempt to increase my yearly income. That sounds a lot like something that a grown up should be doing…. not me. Actually, this whole house buying procedure has felt a lot like playing ‘grown up’. Five years ago if you would have said that today I’d be married and buying a house I don’t think I’d have believed it. 5 years ago I was living in ‘the house’ with Justin & Sean. It was a time of video games, McDonalds and filth. It was a time of loud guitar and late nights…. and I think I went to classes a couple of times. The fact that I was able to achieve passing grades at the U of A is more a testament to their lack of caring than my intellect.
Now I’m buying a house. It’s 1750 sqft too. That’s a pretty nice upgrade from our current ~800 sqft apartment in Bayhood. Our move in date is tentatively June 1st so far as I know. I figure that they’re building it in the winter though, so maybe they’ll haul ass getting it framed and insulated so they don’t have to work in the cold. I know that I would. The sooner we move the better though. We’ve been paying an extra $50 a month to avoid signing a lease so that we could move out on short notice. If we’re still living in Baywood come august that decision will have cost us $600 which would be unacceptable. Nothing would make me more angry than having spent extra money all year in order to live somewhere I don’t really like living. To tell the truth I miss my highrise….. sigh. Too bad the rent was over $900 a month.
Well that’s all for now. I don’t really have any interesting anecdotes or stories today. Hopefully something will happen tomorrow to drive me insane. I find blogging far more rewarding when I have something to complain about.
February 6, 2005 at 12:12 pm · Filed under General
I’ve been keeping it real layed back like all weekend. Literally, I’ve done nothing. Slept a lot. Watched Futurama DVD’s a lot. Played Halo 2 a lot. Cleaned up one and a half metric tonnes of dog poop…. which was a lot.
My puppies are hilarious. Gunner and Abby have taken to controlling my life, and to tell the truth I don’t really mind. Last night I went to bed at 2 after a good 4 hour Halo marathon (I’m a nerd you’ll recall) and after spending the last 2 hours sound asleep Gunner decides it’s bark and bite Abby time. Abby, who has also been sleeping, doesn’t take kindly to this so a rousing game of chase and bark begins. Most people would get pretty mad if this went down, especially in their bed while they’re trying to sleep, but I thought it was hilarious because Gunner is way too clumsy to catch Abby. I watched for like 15 minutes until they both tuckered out and instantly went to sleep. Dogs are fun.
Well I think that I’m going to go buy some beer and cook a vat of chili for the superbowl. I don’t really like football or care about who wins, but I do love beer and chili. I wish we got the american commercials though. They’re better than the game most years.
February 4, 2005 at 11:48 am · Filed under General
Well my seemingly endless days of copy & paste are finally behind me. I’ve completed work and have moved on to a new project. Hazaa!Well yesterday was a pretty full day. I got to wake up early so that I could attend my final 2 house appointments, one at lunch and one at 4. Isn’t it great how I’m spending a quarter of a million dollars to hire people to build me a house and they aren’t willing to meet when I’m not working? Imagine the rest of the world worked like this, it would be chaos. No other service industry would dare to be so bold as to tell their clients “screw you, you’ll come to us when we tell you to and you’ll like it”. Wait a minute, banks do that too. Too bad I only get one smack a day on my card, because there are some contractors and bank officials that really have it coming to them.
So I get to skip my lunch break, chow hog on some leftover pizza, and learn all about furnaces. The guy telling us all about furnaces is seemingly unaware of how boring I find his job to be so he goes into great detail for many of the features this furnace offers. What’s more, he’s a slow talker. “Well, ummm uuh, iiiii …. think, that umm uhhh….” grr argh.
So after we blow $5000 there (strange that we have the uncanny knack for doing that) it’s back to work! Who needs a rest when you’re manually completing a boring and repetitious task. Not me, that’s for sure!At the sweet release of 4 its off to yet another appointment, this time with draperies. Or blinds. I don’t know the difference. Meh. Now I thought that furnace guy was a little dry. He was a flaming ninja monkey making me breakfast compared to the blinds lady. I swear to God in heaven it was all I could do not to smack her. Honestly they had like 20 different types of blinds up in the windows and for each set she went into the same spiel, “pull this string and the blind opens, pull it again and they close. Pull this string and you can open them from the top, pull it again and they close…. from the top”.
Really? You just pull a string? I didn’t know that because I’ve been living in a cave on the friggin’ moon for the past 40 years! Man, how the world has changed, it’s a beautiful thing. Hail to the future! Three cheers for stating the stunningly obvious!
At least it only took TWO HOURS to learn how blinds work and choose nothing. Time well spent. Where’s my slap card, I’ve just found my new candidate.
After that I had a good night though. Hung out with the Missus and played a tad of Halo. Watched the movie ‘Ray’ which I don’t personally recommend. It’s like 3 hours long and nothing happens. Seriously, I could have told that tale in 15 minutes.
Ray grows up.
Ray learns piano.
Ray goes to seattle, gets hooked on drugs and signed to a record label.
Hits and touring. He screws it if it moves and starts a powerful smack addiction.
He acts like an ass and alienates everyone who ever loved or helped him.
He kicks heroin, briefly fights for black rights, and is praised as a hero despite the fact that he’s a total loser who never did anything for anybody but himself.
If anyone needed some comupins’ it was Ray Charles, based on the movie anyways. No kidding though, they forewent such movie trivialities as character development, story, and plot in order to show more footage of Jamie Foxx pretending to sing infront of people pretending to care.
Oh yeah, I think there was a happy ending because in a drug induced stupor Ray forgave himself for all the crappy things he’s done to people. Heartwarming. They totally skipped the parts where he was a soda pop spokesman, which is how I knew him. Diet Coke? I can’t remember.
Well, that’s a Thursday for ya.
February 3, 2005 at 3:45 pm · Filed under General
Starting this blog has really brought to my attention how truly atrocious my spelling and grammar have become over the last few years. I blame MSN and the people I chat with therein. MSN is the grammar devil, encouraging such wonderful proclamations as OMG LMAO, or btw. I try to avoid using ‘web savvy’ lingo whenever possible, but I fear that constant exposure to such grammatical rapings has dulled my senses and left me slow and useless.All of this lead to something that has always bugged me. I hate it when you ask someone how to spell a word and they tell you to look it up in the dictionary. That is the damn dumbest thing you could possible recommend. I’ll write this in bold type to really make my point here:
The dictionary is sorted alphabetically.
This is common sense to most people but for some reason people (teachers among them) seem to think that having no idea how to spell a word would not preclude me from being able to spell at least the first half of said word. That’s garbage sister. From now on if anyone tells me to look something up in the dictionary I’m going on the offensive.
It would save everyone some time if they’d just spell it for you. Unless they can’t spell it and are trying to play it cool so you don’t know that they’re just as dumb as you are. What about words like llama or ghost or island. If you didn’t know there were silent letters in there you’d never friggin find them unless you resorted to reading the entire section of the dictionary. I’ve got better things to do.
What do you even learn looking it up in the dictionary? Where’s the advantage? I already know the friggin’ alphabet, otherwise I’d be asking you how to spell, not how to spell a word. I’m not going to learn how to spell the word any easier by finding it in the dictionary. Oh yeah, obligatory, that was on page 1075 of the 2005 Webster’s dictionary so it must be spelled…..
I think a solid smack should be allowed anytime someone suggests something that stupid to me. In general, not just in this instance. I want a law cleared that would allow me to smack one stupid person every day. Only one though. Otherwise the world would grind to a halt and be consumed by the deafening roar of a million bitch slaps. Seriously, if I had one slap a day I’d really save it for when someone did something paticularly stupid. Then, wa-SMACK, and I’d feel better. As a plus eventually stupid people would learn to just sit there silently, and I think we can all agree that that would be a good thing. Maybe there could be a punch card system or something. It’d go like this:
keith: how do you spell ‘renaissance’?
person: look it up in the dictionary.
BITCH SLAP
person: you’re right, that was a terribly stupid thing for me to suggest.
keith: no problem, could you punch my card for me?
Then the world would be a better place.
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