Z.Monkey’s Blog

And only two days late!  London was fun, Chicago was less so.  I am currently feeling very ill but trying to get a little bit of work done before I bail out and go lie on the couch.  Garr… my stupid phone is blinking that I have a stupid message.  Stupid.
I’d like to thank Jefe for picking us up at the airport even though it made him (us) miss the 1st period of our game last night.

My last day at work was less than usualful.  It seemed like I was fighting with everything, plus there was a lot of anger and fingerpointing due to our budgets.  I guess I am leaving just in time!  Time for a little repacking (it’s going to be warming than expected), breakfast and then off to the airport in Jefe’s pseudo-new car!  Wooo….  a wooo. woo.

I’m sure all of you have seen/read something about the British government saving our citizens from terrorist attacks. And I’m sure you’ve seen our federal governments response (i.e. Banning all liquids in carry-on baggage… including toothpaste). Awesome, I almost never check a bag because getting your bag off the carousel adds hours onto your flight (there is nothing like standing in a airport lobby at 1am waiting for your luggage and wondering if you’ll fall asleep on the drive home). So now I can’t bring toothpaste, shampoo, shaving cream, or even water. Tis pretty annoying, if you ask me. But what really gets my goat is that no one is really taking this ban seriously. If they were would they be doing this? Seriously. I really hope terrorist don’t start using book bombs… the movies they show on planes are awful!

An accessory for all you ladies… it’ll go well with your Barry White CD. Um… This does remind me of the accessory that came out with the game REZ.

Answer: You are still allowed to bring your OhMiBod onto a plane… but no lubricant.

Just posted a few pictures from our trip to Boston. They can be found here.

Heidi and I are heading down to Beantown for the weekend. I want to get to the Green Dragon, while this is originally not my idea it still seems like fun. We’ll probably hit up the MFA and we’ll be going to the Aquarium (Heidi is chaperoning a field trip). I think I might listen to Steve Zissou’s theme song while walking among the fishes. Not sure if we have any other plans but we are staying over Saturday night, perhaps in a hotel. Not really sure yet. We may decide to sleep under a bridge… I hear the Fenway stop is nice.

I had a goal in our last hockey game. I’d like to say it was pretty but it was not (it looked like the goalie shit out the puck… at least from my angle it did). Unfortunately we lost. Jared is supposed to send me some photos from the game which I will then post for your edification. Perhaps reading this will inspire him.

A short little song from Heidi to you (actually it was to me but I felt like sharing).

Sitting around with nothing to do, do da, do da,
Waiting for the website guy, oh do da do da day.No word if I’ll lose my job, do da, do da,
Just have to sit here and wait for things to do, oh do da do da day.

Going to be one of those jobs, do da, do da
Where I sit and wait for hours on end one day,
and don’t have time to sit the next, oh do da do da day.

Go to be proactive, walk around and ask for work, do da, do da,

If that doesn’t work I will hang out with the security guard, oh do da do da day.

Then I will sit,
and look for new jobs,
just in case my fate is set,
for a departure at the end of the “physical year” oh do da do da day!

And some humorous political jokes. Now get back to work you slackers! Khaaan!

Gwargh!

I have noticed that several people I know have very dreary weblogs. The color gray just reminds me of cloudy winter days when there is no snow on the ground or work. So I would recommend coming up with a better color scheme. Pick a color and use one of the following to come up with complementary colors: http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html, http://wellstyled.com/tools/colorscheme2/index-en.html, http://www.steeldolphin.com/color_scheme.html. Or use the Treemeat Goat color scheme. Once you have done this you can modify your style sheets to make use of these colors, or just give me the freaking colors and I’ll make you a god-damned style sheet! Fire and brimstone.

I tried to post something similar to that last paragraph last week but I failed. Apparently if you click on a link while in the post editing dealy (where I am typing right now!) it will open the link in the post editing dealy, thus destroying all of your hard work. Try it!

So yesterday Heidi and I drove down to Cape Ann to check the place out (as this is where Heidi will soon be working). While I do not often like taking road trips because they make my ass hurt and my brain cramp, the company was nice, the area scenic and we avoided major highways, which are the suck to drive on. Plus ‘Wait, Wait — Don’t Tell Me‘ was on the radio… at least for the drive down; check it out they have a podcast [link to show archive]! Downtown Gloucester seems a lot like Portsmouth in case you are wondering though it was so cold outside that we spent most of our time there in a car or a bar (hahaha).

Speaking of the cold, it is currently 53 degrees F in our apartment. The power went out Friday… sort of. The power to our bathroom, heat, fridge, stove, dishwasher and the office went out. But not most of our lights. The god-damned kitchen lights would work but none of the appliances. Now all that has come back on except the building’s heat. I will stop typing now because we will soon we will be heading to the local coffee shop for heat and coffee, plus my hands are cold. There I will try to apply for some more jobs. I’ll also post my job on monster as that apparently works.

Right. So that’s done. This year I received the correct amount of clothing: 2 shirts, 2 pairs of socks (taken from my father in-law because I am a failure at packing), 2 vests and 1 pair of pants. My body is like the Ark. Woot. Instead of clothing I received fun stuff: a DS, a Nano-rific music device, a large stack of porn, a NAS, a campin’ stove, and some other things.

Currently I am watching an NECN report on Kwanzaaaa. It looks like this is coming becoming more popular, but that practitioners are worried that it will become commercialized like Christmas. Haha. If you really think about it all American holidays are commercial… even personal ones like birthdays and anniversaries. I mean there is Christmas (gifts), Valentine’s Day (candy/flowers), Halloween (candy), Mother’s Day (candy/flowers), e&c (candy/flowers). The only holiday I can think of that actually does not involve me buying something for someone is Thanksgiving (food/drink). Hmm…

Now go, kids, go.

I am on a train from Boston, waiting to move. I am in Boston because of I had an interview at a little school in Cambridge. This is the first time I have actually had an interview since the last time I applied for a McJob. One could argue that that is not really an interview as they will give anyone a job. I did not have an interview for my current job… they just gave it to me. So, to the point!, I did not know what to expect. This is what I got:

12:30 - Show up for a brief orientation (I guess that’s what it was) at the main Library and drop off some paper work.
1:00 - Move on to library number two, for interview one with a librarian.
1:30 - Brief tour of the Library.
1:45 - Second interview with an IT guy.
2:20 - Imprompto interview three with department head (who is moving to Rome).
2:30 - Luncper consisting of a stout and a meatloaf sandwich.

It appeared that the whole thing was haphazardly done. Why wasn’t there one large interivew? I would think that would be the most effecient method as it would take less of their time and allow them to gain a better perspective of me (everyone asked different questions of me, hell the IT guy just talked at me). Hmm… Maybe, I’m just used to interviewing people using that method.

Oh, I am guessing that you are currently wondering what type of job I interviewed for? Well, maybe I’ll feel like writing about that when I actually post this. Snarf! {Answer: No.}

So, outside my interview, I had one errand: pick up a physical representation of my knowledge. I called to make sure that it was there and told them I would pick it up at such and such a date, namely today {12/15}. It turns out that the registrar closed early today, at 3pm! Bastards. Now I have to pay money for them to mail the piece of shit to me. You give someone $25,000 and what does it get you?

Melt you banana, melt!

I guess the holy day week end went well. Heidi and I went northwest to almost Canada to see my aunt, cousin, his wife, their kid, my parents, brother, his fiance, my grandparents and my uncle who is not married to my aunt… they are siblings. We did the turkey eating thing and pretty much hung out.

We were back home by Friday night but missed the DDRing and such proclaimed by this guy. I hate driving or sitting in a car for any lengthy amount of time. I was tired. It is too bad though perhaps my sunny personality would have made the night more enjoyable. Ha. Ha. The rest of the weekend basically consisted of me reading book 11 with Harold and Kumar, some eating and some running thrown in.

Last night was hockey night. We got thromped to the toon of 5-0 (actually I did score a goal but the stupid ass ref whistled it dead… after it was in the net). After the game several of us went out for some beers. I returned with some smelly clothes and a severe case of the hiccups. I was up quite late waiting for them to go away. Currently I am tired, drink a coffee and eating a bagel. You?

I am sending packages this morning. It is fun near mindless work, though everything seems to be broken this morning (but just for me, joy!). So I am feeling a little bit more relaxed since I got back. I think that being around people you know and just taking it easier is helping. For example, I woke up this morning, then went back to bed for a hour, then went for a run, after which I stretched a little and sat around. Only then did I get up and go to work. Now I am here and things are not looking to bad. There are a couple of things I need to do today, but nothing really urgent. I just need to keep on top of things so everything does not get out of hand. The only annoying thing is I forgot to bring a lunch again, but that is easily remedied.

Not much else to add here but that there is a hockey game tonight, and most likely turkey, football and beer/wine/spirits this Sunday with some friends. And next week it is up north to the hippie state to repeat next Sunday with my family.

Also, Heidi is putting together a froogle list for the upcoming celebration of commercialism. I wish everyone would do this so that I would not have to think about what to get people… blah. People do it for weddings! Why not this!