The bathrooms where I work are shared among a several offices. The 30-foot journey to relief brings with it a large charge differential so that when you touch the bathroom door handle you get a large shock. Going out the rear entrance has similar issues. Strangely, the reverse trips don’t have the same issue. Over the weekend something has changed or been fixed because now there is no more shock! It’s funny how much a minor and infrequent event can change your happiness throughout the day. Tension associated with the bathroom that I didn’t even know was present is now gone and the day feels more free.
May 072008
Feb 012008
This morning I planned to bake some things for work as a parting gift to my co-workers. I decided on this “Death by Chocolate” recipe (it’s not really deadly, but it is very good) and what some people call Sugar-Crack cookies (I should write that recipe up). I surveyed the ingredients, went to the store for what I didn’t have, came home, made the two chocolate pies and started on the cookies. Then I discovered with Nicole’s helpt aht I didn’t add up the butter right so back to the store for that. Then I came to the part that called for baking powder and remembered that I hadn’t picked up any since the last time I discovered we were out, so back to the store a third time! Finally I made the cookies and made it to work, but not before I apparently turned off the DSL modem, oh wait… Now I see the UPS looks like it’s decided not to work anymore so back into straight surge protector it goes.
Anyway, I made it to work and the chocolate pies were devorured along with the cookies. I checked in the last of my code changes, visited with a lot of people, had a goodbye lunch. Things were good. HR person wasn’t made aware until very late that I was leaving today so my exit interview was over the phone. I found the big box of kazoos from our wedding party that was left over and I gave them out throughout the building. I gave away the cube loot people wanted and since cube space was available at the new job so I carted all the stuff I was keeping on cart to the new cube in the new building. I answered some questions at the new job and ran back to the office so I could turn in my badge before the person I needed to turn them in to went home.
I had Dan go with me to Long’s so I could get back into the building after I bought a lot of chocolate to leave on my desk so people wouldn’t have to go cold turkey. Then I said my goodbyes to those still remaining and went home. I’m going to miss working with everyone there and I hope I get a chance to work with them again in the future.
Jan 262008
I’m leaving VeriSign (last day is next Friday, Feb 1), and while I’m sad I’ll be leaving my co-workers, I am excited to be moving on to a new job at Full Power (starting Monday, Feb 18). That gives me two weeks off before I start. It’s still local and in fact my commute will be shortened by a few hundred feet!
Jan 202008
It seems like an eternity in coming but there’s only one more year to the Bush administration!
Jan 012008
It was a mellow stay at home NYE watching movies and comforting the dogs as the explosions sounded. Unlike previous years where there are a few fireworks, this year there were a lot of explosions. Deeper and louded booms than you normally get on the 4th of July. The dogs weren’t freaking out but they weren’t really appreciative either.
Now that we’re in the new year I can get back on a more regular eating schedule that consists of more regular foods. I didn’t do too poorly over the holidays though; I gained 0.4 pounds from the day before Thanksgiving (November 21) through today. Now I just need to get myself to the gym.
It took only one day to start feeling like autumn/winter. One day after the time change and the fog came and it was overcast all day and it got dark early to go with it. Finally!
On October 12 we saw Weird Al at the Golden State Theater in Monterey. Now that he’s become somewhat popular he plays bigger venues and they also tend to be seated which allows for better control of the stage production but it’s not quite as fun as being in a free-form audience.
Highlights for me:
- Al looked like he was having the time of his life on stage, singing with a big smile on his face.
- Althought the stage was about the size of the Catalyst stage he still managed to ride a Segway out for White & Nerdy.
- He had a medley of his older songs that must have gone on for 20 minutes with about5 quick changes thrown in there.
- During “Wanna B Ur Lover” (he pickup line song) he came out into the audience and sang them to women in the aisle.
- He did his version of James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful,” which is “You’re Pitiful” while stripping off wardrobe. One of the shirts read “Atlantic Records Sucks” since they didn’t allow him to put that on his album.
- When the bomb drops in “Canadian Idiot” streamer cannons shot red and white streamers into the audience.
- During an “Al TV” interview with Michael Stipe he asks him for lyrics for a song they can collaborate on. Michael Stipe says “Everybody’s got cell phones, get real.” At the start of the encore Al sings the song he made out of it. Also everyone took out their cell phones and waved them like lighters.
- For his encore he performed “Albuquerque” which I had always hoped to see in concert but never thought I would since it’s about 11 minutes long on the album. He extended the doughnut section for another minute or two.
Oct 092007
We got a chance to see George Carlin on Sunday and it made for the perfect end to the weekend. Previous times I had seen him albums had been recently released, but this show was leading up to an upcoming HBO special so the material was all new. Enough so that he had his notes on stage with him. He even explain what the paper was for up front and surprisingly it didn’t hinder his performance at all. Â He would hold the paper in his hand for a given topic and glance as needed (rarely) without slowing down and then the paper would be put away. His voice isn’t quite as crisp as it used to be but his mind, his writing, and his delivery are still sharp. I even liked him giving the audience 3 jokes and breaking down why they worked as jokes showing he has a strong knowledge of the inner workings of humor which was also shown in the Aristocrats. I look forward to seeing him the next time he comes around.
Oct 052007
That was a great finale and I made something that won me a steeping teacup!
(spoilers at the end)
I made a  dessert appetizer composed of graham cracker, semi-sweet chocolate, and boysenberry butter. It ended up being a lot less sweet than I thought it would be which was a good thing since I was worried about it being too sweet. To make it I started melting chocolate chips while I got to work on the graham cracker pieces. I cut the graham crackers into quarters since ther perforations weren’t deep enough to break evenly by hand. I put the chocolate on one end of the graham cracker sticks in an attempt at a very shallow bowl and to leave an easy way to hold it without getting chocolate fingers. The best application I came up with was to use an espresso spoon to blob the right amount on and then do a swirl with the bowl in the center to spread most of the chocolate to the outside. The boysenberry butter was about 6 or 7 tablespoons of salted butter softened with boysenberry syrup added until it tasted “right”. I think that was about two tablespoons. The butter was then applied with another espresso spoon.
The final if the show I thought was great! I liked the live reveal in Chicago (where season 4 is filming right now). I liked the sous chefs they were provided and how they were delivered. It seemed to give a better look at the preparation and cooking than previous finals in Top Chef. I liked the head-to-head matchup of the food. I liked having many guest judges for the meal, and I liked the outcome! Going into it I thought Casey had an edge with her flavors as long as she didn’t panic, and Dale would be a contender if he stayed away from dough (altitude) and spicy (smoking has killed his hot receptors). I figured Hung would be excellent and finally able to bring his flavors which is exactly what happened.
Aug 212007
The past weekend was great! Nicole came back from the UK Thursday night and the Friday day we drove to LA for a family reunion on my dad’s side. Nicole held up amazingly well despite the jet lag. Our family met at the Laguna Sawdust Art Festival and wandered before going to the main Laguna Arts Festival and finally going to dinner. Everyone involved wants to try and meet more regularly so I look forward to seeing them all again soon.
The downside of the trip is that it wore Nicole out and now she has a cold.