27 July 2006

Don't tell me that work doesn't treat me right, and Floyd, Floyd, Floyd...

Take a look at the photo seen here. Now don't tell me that work doesn't treat this kid right. Damn straight. I work 50+ hours a week for well over a year, and what do I get for my toil and trouble? A free horrible chicken lunch. Let me list what is wrong with the above picture. Sure, it looks delicious and tasty, but was it? Really, was it? Indeed, it was not.

1. The chicken was tasteless and dry.
2. The pasta salad was not cooked completely (the pasta, not al dente, just NOT DONE).
3. The bread, stale.
4. The cole slaw, too salty.
5. The string beans, well, I can't complain about those. They were actually pretty good.
6. Potatoes, not cooked semi raw.

Today was about an "employee celebration", or that's what the signs said coming into work yesterday. What we were celebrating, I'm not sure. Maybe loss of jobs to our Mexican sister plant, loss of overall work force, loss of productivity, loss of quality, loss of our Ford Motor Company certification, or maybe the loss of 2 of our plants in NC and SC. Yep, celebrations galore! Man, what a silly little thing to do, when before this you haven't even paid attention to the people working in the company at all, or even said, "Hey you're doing a good job out there." Or anything like that. Sure, it was a nice gesture, but that's about it. The folks I work with will forget all about this by the end of the day tomorrow, and remember how badly the company really treats their employees. But hey, a free lunch, everyone likes that. Don't they? Well, see my review above for the food. I should have gone to the sub shop for lunch instead, like I normally do during company lunches, or maybe I should have just skipped it altogether. Ah well. Nice thought and all, but it does fall a little bit short and all. I know some other folks in other companies around where I work who had some work lunches, and what did they get? Steak and lobster. Ah yeah, to work in a company like that. Ah well, it's a manufacturing plant, oh wait, so where those other companies I know of. What are you going to do. I guess it has been wearing on me, since the earliest that I've gotten home this week has been 7PM. That's a lot of hours, and I just picked up a new customer, and will probably be putting in 30 hours per week, just for that one customer I bet, mostly because they're needy. So much fun, I can barely stand it. I tend to bitch about work a lot don't I? Jeesh, someone should just tell me when I'm being a whiney puke like this. Call me out for crying out loud. Then again, this is my blog, I can write what I want. Can't I? Or maybe folks reading this tend to feel like I do about their jobs. Now, I know that there are folks out there who love their jobs, but I just can't seem to find anyone like that.

And now to the really disappointing news of the day. Yesterday, it was reported around the way that someone in the Tour de France tested positive for something during the race, and the rumor going around was that it was someone "big" someone in the top of the GC (General Classification). Then, there were reports that Floyd Landis had missed 2 post Tour criteriums, which lead folks to believe that he was the one that tested positive for something. There were rumblings around about it. Then today, Phonak released a statement saying that Landis was the one who tested positive for testosterone. The UCI had released the information to Landis and the team, and they went public about it to deflect speculation about who it was. This could be bad. Really bad. It is more than likely that his "B" sample will come out positive as well. Chances are then good that Landis will either be suspended by his team, or outright fired from his place on the team. And then his Tour de France title will be taken away from him, and given to #2 on the podium. And then Floyd Landis will spend the next 2 or more years trying to defend himself against the positive tests, which in the end will be held up by just about every sports court in the world. The odds are stacked against him incredibly, even if, and this is a big if, he didn't do it. I want to believe him, because his story made the race this year. Cracking spectacularly in one stage, only to rise and rage again the next day, it was an awesome sight to see, and of course now we have the questions of, "Hmm, I wonder how he did that?" Ah, Floyd, Floyd, Floyd... Not you too. Then again, back in the day when Tyler Hamilton got busted, I didn't want to believe that either, and now Hamilton is looking at a lifetime ban possibly if things are true about him about what is becoming uncovered over in Spain and Operacion Puerto. It's disappointing that the sport I love, is being torn limb from limb by these almost daily reports of doping and subsequent suspensions of riders from the sport. It stinks, it absolutely stinks to high heaven. I've always been a big fan of the game, but now, it's getting harder and harder to be psyched about a sport where almost everyday, there is bad news. To all the pro cyclists out there doping, and cheating to win; thanks you bunch of assholes for taking the sport I've loved since about 1986 and making me start to hate it. I hate feeling like this, but that's how it is. I hope that he's found "innocent" or that his "B" sample is clean, and that this whole thing goes away. I'll feel better tomorrow if it is, but time will tell.

22 July 2006

What's next???

Check out the linked story here:

Teacher to possibly get axe for expressing opinion

It kind of makes me mad and angry and, well downright infuriated when I see stories like this. Why? Because what the hell is next on the agenda? Thought control? Big Brother ala 1984? Revocation of freedom of speech? You have these high and mighty law makers, who hear something that they don't like, or isn't what the mainstream view of the world might be, and what is their reaction? Fire this guy! This is stupid. And again, it is another slippery slope that we as a nation don't want to go down don't you think? If you start getting fired for expressing an opinion, whether or not it is something that you agree with or don't agree with, where do you go from there? We've already had the Congress of the United States try to ban desecration of the US flag, which is an invasion of our freedom of speech (please bear in mind it is an act that I wouldn't encourage or participate in, but still), and now these fine folks in Wisconsin want this guy fired for expressing an opinion about something? What the hell is going on in this country? The craziest thing about this though, is that this guy expressed his opinion on a talk show, not during his class that he teaches at the University. It's a good thing that the State assembly in Wisconsin refused to take up a resolution/law calling for this guy to be fired. At least someone in Wisconsin has some damn common sense. Now it doesn't say in the story, but I'm willing to bet that every representative and senator who signed the letter were all Republicans. I almost have no doubt really. Attack Cheney and throw out some looney theory about 9/11, and all of a sudden he deserves to be fired. It does look like he is not going to get the axe, but even for the mere fact that it has gone this far is silly. Absolutely silly. Remember, don't go contrary to the prevailing opinions, because your job, your career, and maybe even your life could be in danger. Again, it's just infuriating. Again, I don't agree with this guy's opinion, but hey, he should be able to say it if he wants to without fear of reprisal.

Then of course we have le Tour going on right now as well. It has been a crazy race thus far, and well, it all comes down to the TT today in France. There are 3 guys within 30 some odd seconds of one another, and several more just a couple of minutes back. Floyd Landis rode his rednecked ass off the other day on Stage 17 after cracking badly the day before. The man lost 8 minutes to the leader on stage 16, and his Tour looked to be over for this year, but, the phoenix will rise again. The very next day, the man attacks 70km into a 200km stage, rides over the 7 minute gap to the early breakaway, passes them like they're standing still, and keeps on motoring up the road. He catches the early guys, and only one man could stay with him for any length of time, and then he gets to the Joux Plane, and almost immediately, Sinkewicktz goes off the back, and he's done. Floyd climbs that last col by himself, comes over the top and uses his very good descending skills to put even more time on his pursuers. Down in Morzine, he crosses the line, and the next guy doesn't come across for another almost 6 minutes. Floyd makes up most of the 8 minutes he was down at the start of the day, and lo and behold, we have a new race.

I've got to say, this has been one of the best, if not THE best Tours de France that I have ever seen. The exception of course being the 1989 Tour final TT with Fignon and Lemond, but that is about the only exception. This race has been incredible this year, with the outcome still far from decided. Today, again, we have the final TT, and whoever comes out on the top of this one, is probably going to roll into Paris the winner this year (by top I mean, whoever finishes on top of the top 3). I'm basically disavowing the TV today, until this evening so I can watch the taped coverage from this morning, and see it shake out in front of me. So if anyone is reading this, and watching the Tour, don't call me with any results. I need to be "surprised" by what happens today. I am thinking though, after Landis' ride the other day, the man cannot be stopped. He will not be denied. But, I will add a caveat. It's been a wild Tour de France this year, and really, just about anything could happen.

17 July 2006

Airport lurkers...

The lurkers at the airport. You know the people that I’m talking about over here. I’m talking about those assholes who lurk around the gate entrances as soon as they call for boarding on the flight that you’re going on. Never you mind that they are sitting in the dead front of the plane, and their row, and or zone won’t be called for who knows how long. But jeesh man, look, you’re here already, the plane isn’t going to leave without you, ease the hell up, and have a seat and kick back and relax for a few more minutes before you have to stuff yourself into an undersized seat next to some smelly guy (probably the same one lurking at the front of the gate area) who you won’t talk to, or even acknowledge the entire length of your flight. Let’s not pretend that you’re excited to get onto that plane, what you want to really do is establish your armrest dominance before your seat mate gets onto the plane and plops his ass down next to yours. You want to get in there, get comfortable, on the aisle of course, and look all disgusted and dejected when someone comes in and you have to get up and move so that the other person can crawl in. Never mind that you won’t make too many concessions in trying to be nice about it, but hey, you wanted to get in there so fast. And listen, if you’re sitting on the aisle, and it’s a 2 or 3 seat set-up, you can pretty much be guaranteed that there is going to be another person coming to sit next to you, because in the all of the planes I’ve been on over the years, it is a very rare instance when you actually have an empty seat next to you. Of course, it’s nice when you do, but let’s face it, it doesn’t happen that often. So don’t go looking all pissed off when I roll in there, and say, “Yeah, I’m in 9F. Can I get in?” If you’re going to be that disgusted and mad about having to move around for me to get in there, why don’t you wait until the plane is almost done filling up, and THEN go into the plane? I mean, that would be the best solution right there, but instead, you’ve got to hustle in there, take your time getting into your seat, take up the armrest space, and the overhead bin space, and generally make everyone else’s experience miserable. I mean, it’s air travel in the year 2006, it’s supposed to be miserable, and I don’t know some damn gate lurker making it worse for me. Have a seat chief, and just wait your turn. Alright? If not, I might just arrange an in flight “sickness” and maybe I might something on your tasseled loafers. Serves you right you miserable retch. As the semi famous line goes in that Kevin Smith movie Clerks, “I hate people, but I love gatherings.” That can pretty much sum up my stance on a lot of things.

Why am I flying this week? Well, my little brother got married this weekend in Portland Maine, so it was time to leave the dirty South for the clean North, and to make travels to cooler climes. Of course, this was a wrong assumption. The day I got there, the weather was nice, meaning, high 60’s, and a little rainy, but it cleared up later on. The next day though, hot and steamy in Portland Maine. Gross. I can get weather like this in Durham North Carolina, I don’t need to travel North to get this crap, but there it was, waiting for me like a wet blanket. Saturday, more of the same. Sunday, check. But then again, looking at the nationwide weather, Maine was cooler climes this weekend. The rest of the country was and is a sea of red when looking at the weather maps on the television. Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the last, well, many years, you know that this indicates a general heat wave across the country. No respite for Maine, that’s for sure. The best part about this whole little heat wave in Maine was that the hotel I was staying in for the weekend festivities had a serious problem with their air conditioning, which means, it wasn’t working. Factor in that the room we were staying in contained 4 adults and that makes for one hot assed room. The sweat factor during sleeping was high, the pull out bed uncomfortable, and hotel management, unreasonable, as far as getting things fixed. I could probably rant and rave about the hotel for a long time, but I’ll digress. Just know that there is one angry consumer letter being written almost as we speak, and being addressed to the hotel we were staying at. I will point out some high points. One, when the front desk finally got around to telling the maintenance guy that our AC was busted up and not working, he made it right immediately, and was generally cheerful on an otherwise crazed weekend (so he said). Then when the condensation pan in said AC unit started to leak, and he was called back, again, very professional and very nice about it. Big props to the maintenance guy for being a bright spot in the hotel staff. The other good person on the hotel staff, the waitress we had for brunch on Sunday. She did a good job for a large table of people who were interested in just about anything other than eating. Good service from her as well. Again, there was lots of bad stuff going on over the weekend, and that could be another entire blog entry in and of itself, which we’ll explore later on down the line when the wounds aren’t so fresh. Service, let’s just say, it was in the gutter at that hotel. Ah well, overall the rest of the weekend was a blast. The wedding went off more or less without a hitch, Joel and Melissa are not betrothed, and everyone I think had a good time. Many drinks were consumed, many gallons of sweat were produced (remember, not much in the way of air conditioning in Maine, especially in really old churches, like the one the ceremony was in), and many new and old friends made. Good times. Melissa of course looked stunning, Joel, nervous on the inside, but Mr. Calm, Cool, and Collected on the out, made it through the weekend without too many hitches (Nate, one of the groomsmen did come up short on one pair of pants for his tux which was a brief moment of panic). I think I may have had too much drink on Saturday, and well, Friday as well, but believe it or not, not too much in the hangover department, which surprised me, because normally, I get unbelievably hungover during these little drinking expeditions. A little stomach rumbling, but then, nothing. It was amazing. Must have been the gin and tonics I was kicking back for most of the weekend got to love the clear liquor.

09 July 2006

Disappointment...

This evening, the fiance and I went to see Nacho Libre, which we both had great hopes for. We both love some Jack Black, and thing that he is one hilarious human being, but let me just say this. If you haven't gone to see this movie yet, and are thinking about it, don't. Just don't do it. It will be the worst money you've ever spent I think, I know it was for us.

Unfortunately, everything about this movie is weak. The script, weak. The acting, weak. The wrestling, weak. The damn kids who play the orphans, weak. The plot, weak. This movie could have easily been a 25 minute TV show without any problems. The thing with that, is that it would have been good for only one episode, and then it would have been cancelled no doubt. They kind of tried to keep using the same jokes, over and over again, when they weren't really funny the first time they showed up on the screen. This movie was a lot about Jack Black prancing around, and making fart noises, and or poop jokes. Sure, I like a good fart and poop joke as much as the next guy, but these weren't even done that well. And sad to say, they weren't that funny. I'm not even sure what the entire movie was about really, there was no good ending to it, there was no good start to it, hell, there wasn't even a good middle part. Overall, 2 thumbs, and 2 big toes down on this one. Disappointment reigns in the house this evening after seeing this disappointing Jack Black venture. I mean, his premier in High Fidelity was top notch. Saving Silverman, funny as hell. This, I give it the huge assed raspberry for sure. Just awful. I am thinking that this little movie was a pet project of his, and he used his fame to get it made. I guess everyone has to have a stinker once in awhile, and I hope he can recover from this one, although I think it has taken in a decent amount of money and all. Maybe it is because I haven't read too many reviews of it around, maybe people are tricked into thinking it IS going to be funny, only to pay their money, and be let down like I was. I have to say, for maybe only the 2nd or 3rd time in my movie going career, I felt like getting up, walking out, and going home, that's how bad it was. And I've seen a lot of bad movies in my time I'll remind you.

On the bright side for the movie goers this weekend though, I did see a report that the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie that came out this weekend went gangbusters. Meaning, they racked up over 132 million over 3 days, which gives them the record for best 3 day opening weekend, ever. They squashed Spiderman from 2002 easily, making something like 20 million more than that movie did. Also, in the report I read, they said that the 132 million that Pirates took in was 4 times what the original movie made in its opening weekend. Damn, Johnny Depp knows a good thing when he sees it. He's now an actual player in big time movies. Orlando Bloom already was, and Keira Knightly, she didn't do too badly either in the past. I'm actually looking forward to checking it out, I dug the first movie, and I have to believe, reading some reviews, that the second and third movie will be much the same as the first, so I don't think anyone really loses out on this one. Good stuff all around.

08 July 2006

Time trial results...

OK, so I was wrong, and didn't pick this guy at all. Sergeui Gonchar riding for T-Mobile has taken the time trial, the first long time trial in the Tour de France, placing him at the top of the general classification (must be the breathe right strip he is sporting on his nose). As I mentioned in my earlier post from today it is going to be an interesting Tour, especially after today. Gonchar is at the top, Landis is sitting nicely in 2nd place. Could we have another American winner this year? Landis is looking good right now. We'll see.

There were of course some shake ups. I think we can firmly discount Mr. Hincapie now for the overall, as well as Leipheimer, they both took a big swing and a miss at today's time trial. Paolo Savoldelli rode decently for Disco, so he might now be the new team leader for Disco going into week #2. Very interesting Tour this year, very interesting.

le Tour de France, week 1...

The Tour this year started off with a bang, and not a good one. The people reading this that are in "the know" know exactly what I'm talking about. Operacion Puerto came up with a large list of folks who may or may not have been doping through a Spanish doctor in Madrid, and get this, he is an OB-GYN, which makes this whole thing a little bit funny in my opinion. A list with about 200 names of sportsmen, and possibly sportswomen is being tossed around, and on that list of names, there are about 60 cyclists on it. Anyone who was on that list and who happened to be at the Tour start in Strasbourg was immediately asked to leave, and to not participate in this year's Tour de France. Among the folks tossed from the Tour this year were the 2 tip top favorites. One Jan Ullrich and one Ivan Basso. Both, gone before the prologue riders even rolled down the ramp at the start. Also gone, not due to his name being on the list, but due to most of his team being on the list was one Alexandre Vinokourov. So many of his teammates were on the list, that he couldn't start. His team would have been too small, in other words, it would have just been himself and one other guy out there plying the roads of France looking for a win. I'm sure that he is pissed, as this could have been his year. Same for Basso and Ullrich, although, if they are guilty of what Spanish authorities said they did, they only have themselves to blame for this whole mess. And if they are innocent, well, I'm sure for Ullrich, this could have been his year again. Lance is gone, and there is nobody to oppose him, especially with a couple of long time trials in this year's Tour (one going on as we speak), and not too many really hard mountain passes. Basso, he blew his chance to get the double. The Giro and then the Tour. He could have been the first since Pantani, who won the Giro in 1998, and then won a doping tainted 1998 Tour de France (Festina scandal anyone?). Again, if guilty, he deserves to not be there. In innocent, well... 'Dems the breaks right?

I have to say, with the favorites being out of the race, and with a lot of uncertainty surrounding the race, it has been an exciting first week. No team is out there showing dominance and control, and the first week is generally the realm of the sprinters and the prologue specialists, which is what we've seen thus far.

The prologue winner was not a huge surprise, but it was someone who wasn't picked to win it. Thor Hushovd of Norway took the prologue, and had the distinction of wearing this year's first yellow jersey. George Hincapie of the good old US of A took 2nd on the prologue stage, and it was a just barely second place. He finished something like 73/100ths of a second behind Thor. Essentially, they were on the same time, but they had to break it down that far so that they could award someone the yellow jersey. Hincapie was understandably disappointed. Mr. Dave Zabriskie, winner of last year's prologue in le Tour rolled in a couple seconds in arrears of Hincapie and Hushovd, and had to settle for 3rd place this year. The following days, Sunday through this Friday all pretty much ended in sprint finishes, except for one day that saw Matthias Kessler from T-Mobile make a late race attack near the finish, and saw him take the win solo across the line with the field charging hard behind him. This was made all that much better of a win because the day before, same guy was in a breakaway, and ALMOST made it to the line solo, but was run down by the peloton about 200 meters from the finish. Disappointing for him no doubt, but at least, he did make up for it the following day by taking that win.

Then, we have the sprinters. Jimmy Caspar took stage 1 for le Francais de Jeux, which was nice because it is a French team, and a French guy taking the first stage in a mass sprint with some of the best sprinters in the world (Caspar included in that of course). But he beat Tom Boonen the world champion to the line, and Robbie McEwen, and of course that day's yellow jersey Hushovd. Hincapie took an intermediate sprint somewhere in the race, and collected some bonus seconds, which landed him in the yellow jersey. Hincapie being only the 3rd US Postal/Discovery team member who has been able to wear yellow during the Tour de France. Of course we had Lance Armstrong, and they also had the first Columbian ever to wear the jersey, one Victor Hugo Pena. Hincapie may just end up being team leader for Disco before this race is over. If he does a good time trial today, and can hang in the mountains, he might just have a really good chance to win this race overall when it rolls into Paris. I wasn't sure if he could before, but again, with Basso and Ullrich out, he has a much better chance. Also, another favorite crashed out of the race this week, Alejandro Valverde crashed in the middle of a stage, and busted his collarbone, out. He had a good shot at winning as well. Going back to the sprinters though, now we have Robbie McEwen winning 3 stages before the first time trial of the le Tour. I hate this. Why you might ask? Because I hate Robbie McEwen, I don't know why, I think it might be because of his little weasel looking mouth, or just his attitude, or a combination of the 2, but I hate that guy. And hate, might actually be too nice of a word to use when describing how I feel about McEwen. And honestly, as much as myself, and just about everyone else that I know, hate Robbie McEwen, we love Oscar Freire, who also took a sprint win this week rolling in Caen France. As Darden says, have you ever seen anyone so happy to win a race in your life? I'd have to say that no, indeed not. He appears to be the happiest guy ever when he wins, and a 3 time world champion to boot, he can ride the bike that's for sure.

As I write this, the time trial is going on in France. The big guns are getting ready to roll, and from what I just read, Bobby Julich has just crashed out, and got loaded into an ambulance and taken away. Seems as though his race is over now, and that's too bad because he would have probably been the team leader for CSC as he probably had the best chance to do something now that Basso is gone. He did finish on the Tour podium once before, and he was riding well during the 1999 Tour, but then he crashed in the time trial and couldn't continue. Are we seeing a pattern develop here maybe? He also crashed last year, although I don't believe it was during the time trial, but crashed nonetheless.

There should be a general shakeup of the general classification after today's stage, so we will have to wait and see where everyone lands, and who comes out on top for this time trial. I'm going to have to go with Americans possibly occupying the top spaces for today. Leipheimer, Landis, Hincapie, Zabriskie, and even Julich (he's out now though) are all very good time trialers, and have the ability to win this race against the clock. Of course we also have Mick Rodgers who is the reigning world time trial champion who sits very near the top of the GC right now, and should have a good race of course. Also, Cadel Evans who is a decent guy against the clock. Ekimov. Popovych. Thor. And there are a bunch of others who are good against the clock. Time to see who can win the race of truth today. Looking forward to watching the race later on this afternoon. First, have to get rid of this headache...

The race is wide open. Can't wait to see what shakes loose today, and then in the mountains.

07 July 2006

Is it just me???

Do these things just happen to me, or do they happen to anyone else out there? What I'm talking about is the single thing that probably gets on my nerves the most. The grocery store express lane.

Sure they have a sign up there that says 10 items or less, but does that stop the person in front of me from unloading their entire full cart onto the conveyor belt? No indeed it does not. What I would like to happen in this case is that there is an automatic item counter. If you go over the prescribed 10 or 15 items that the sign says you are limited to, small taser devices raise up from the floor, and you are given a choice. The choices are:

A. Take off enough items so that you only have 10 or 15 on the belt (whichever your favorite grocery store limits the express lane to).

or...

B. For every item that you are over, you get shocked for 10 seconds. An example would be, the sign says 15 items, you have 25. So you get shocked for 100 seconds, or about a minute and a half, and then you can continue your checkout.

or...

C. You take all of the crap that you just put up there, and go to the real checkout line.

See, if the person chooses A or B, then the people in line behind these callous individuals (most of the time it is me) feel that justice has been served, and also, we're closer to making it through the check out line as well. We're in the express lane for a reason people. We want to get our shit, and move like we have a purpose. We don't want to wait around for you to get your 100 items through the express lane. That's what lanes 4, 5, and 6 are for jerkwater. Now, to add insult to injury for myself this evening, there I am, standing in the express lane. I have 2 items, count them with me here. 1. 2. And that's it. I have a quart of skim milk, and a box of Frosty Paws dog treats. The old lady and her husband in front of me have a half of cart of groceries. Man, they had to have about 30 or even 40 items. Does the pleasant women working the cash register say anything? Heck no. I mean, what's the point of even having an express lane if you're not going to enforce the "laws" here at the Food Dog (real name, Food Lion)? Going back to insult added to injury here though. This couple gets done checking out, and what does the woman pull from her purse? No, not cash. No, not a debit card like the rest of the civilized world. She pulls out a damn check book. A check book! Hey, grandma, it was OK to use a check book say in 1980, but it is now 2006. Obviously, you have a bank account. I'm more than willing to bet that said checking account could have a debit card attached to it very easily (someone dare to tell me one modern bank that doesn't do this for all of their checking accounts). Get the damn debit card, and stop writing checks! Now, she has to write out the check. The woman doing the checking out has to call the manager to get approval. Said lady writing the check can't seem to find her driver's license. She has to go and get her husband from the parking lot where he's pulling the car around so he can show his license. They verify his driver's license, and then have to make sure that the check clears, so they call it in. Finally, they get approval, and move on out. Bear in mind, I've been standing in the alleged "express" lane now for about 15 minutes while this mini drama is going on all around me. I have 2 items. Both are time sensitive to being out in the warm air, and the Frosty Paws are not getting any colder, and are starting to melt. Even though I'm not a violent person, there are times when I wish I wasn't so patient, and could yell at someone in public. Maybe just give them a good cussing out, that's all I really want to do. Maybe throw some loose grapes at them or something. I mean, this was just ridiculous. To top it all off, I have a bad headache, and my tummy tum is not feeling all that well either, and this is just pissing me off to no end. I finally get out of there though, and make it out of the parking lot before the hapless duo does even. They're still loading their damn minivan when I engage the turbo on the WRX and go peeling out of the parking lot.

Why do I always pick the short line and end up waiting the longest? I have quite possibly the worst luck in the world. I shit you not. Don't even get me started on the asshats that clog up the self checkout lanes with full grocery carts...

Insomnia and I are becoming close buds again lately. Last night, the boys who live downstairs from us were having, not a party, but a very loud conversation. I have never heard people talk this loud before in my entire life. No, really. Loud talkers, all of the people taking part in this conversation, and it kept going, and going, and going, and going, and going some more. It was like a damn Energizer rabbit thing. Now, once the loud talkers stopped for the night (college kids forget, or don't know that actual people who go to work everyday have to get up at, oh, 6AM and sometimes earlier, and enjoy their sleep when they can get it), the loud pets that we own got into it. First the cat, jumping up and down on the bed all night, knocking her water bowl around, scratching the floor, and so on. Then the dog started whining, with a whimper and a bark here and there. By the time the cat stopped jumping up on my side of the bed, and the dog shut up, it was, oh, 2 in the morning. The alarm is set for 6. This makes for a 4 hour nap. This is of course, if I can get to sleep right at 2. This doesn't happen. I'm up until 3 tossing and turning and trying to fall asleep, and finally, blessed sleep at around 3 in the morning. Now we have a 3 hour nap on tap. I wake up with a dull ache in the head, not too bad, but just enough to know that it is going to be bad later. By the time I get home, the headache is raging and continues to root around in my skull as I type this into my computer. Reference above grocery store trip, and the fact that I am so tired that I'm not going to ride the bike, even though it is 80 and sunny outside with just a nice light breeze blowing, no I can't do it. The head hurts, and I feel like I almost fell asleep about 30 times driving home from work. I feel this way because I almost did fall asleep driving home from work about 30 times today. Then on the way home, traffic is going at a crawl, again. Another person cut me off and almost caused me to crash, and people were just driving too slow (I mean 40 in a 50 zone and things like that, Mario Andretti I am not, but these people for the sake of Pete). And now, as it approaches 9PM on a Friday night, I should be tired enough to be crawling into bed, but am I? No. For some reason, I can almost fall asleep driving home from work, but when it really matters, when you really want to get some sleep, does the old brain come through for me? Hell no. I'm sitting here wide awake and unblinking. Arggghhh. Ambien, take me away. Which reminds me, time to renew that prescription. I haven't had any Ambien for months now.