Being Sick Sucks

I've been home the last two days with the flu, and it really fucking sucks. Not totally the being sick part. It's just that daytime TV is terrible. At least yesterday The Flaming Redhead was home to pamper and take care of me. (Ouch, I laughed so hard at that one it hurt.) No one was home today, and while the solace was nice, it would have been better with something to watch, my head hurts too much to read, and I just couldn't sleep anymore. Seriously, it's all soap operas and crappy court TV shows. At least I got to catch a show the Rev. Jim has been telling me about - The First 48 Hours. Pretty cool...

Seriously, though, with the drivel on during the day, you'd think that the jobless problem would be a lot better than it is. People should be applying for work out of sheer fucking boredom. I'm actually kind of looking forward to going back to work tomorrow, simply for something to do during the day. Although I'm dreading what my desk will look like when I get there. No one at my office can do a damn thing without me, and it's really fucking annoying...

100% Pure, Unadulturated White Trash

This is fucking awesome. If it weren't for the accents, I swear this could be where I live. It starts a little slow, but the ending is spectacular!

It's Finally Over!!

So, the Inaugural ceremonies took place yesterday. Being a ticket broker in the DC Metropolitan area, we were selling tickets for all of the events. My office was a madhouse, especially on Monday. We were tearing our hair out trying to fill some of these orders. We even had a satellite office in DC where people could pick up tickets, or drop them off if they were selling them. That place was insane. It was a condo we rented for a few days not far from the Verizon Center. There were people all over the lobby throughout the day waiting to get the orders filled and get their tickets. At one point, a Secret Service agent told our crew that they were not allowed to have that many people congregating in the lobby and they would have to take their business upstairs. Turns out he lives in the building and was probably pissed there were that many people there, but it's still kinda scary when the Secret Service shows up while you're doing something the government is trying to make illegal... So, after they moved business upstairs, there was a line of people about fifteen deep leading out of the unit. I'm sure they loved that too...

A couple of us calculated, and we determined that between Thursday and Monday, we had worked about 60 hours apiece. With no overtime pay. No lunch breaks. Absolutely no fun. This morning we were all zombies. I have no idea how I got anything done. I barely even remember the last few days. All I know is we busted our asses and we're apparently getting rewarded for it with bonuses. I do know that had McCain been elected, it wouldn't have been nearly as bad. I also know the company wouldn't have made nearly as much money, so I guess it all works out in the end.

To make things even worse, the people who were manning the "satellite office" technically don't even work for us. They are the wife of and friends of my boss. So, I felt a little bad about all of the trouble they went through, especially the people screaming at my boss' wife. She's just too nice of a person to deal with that shit. I'm also waiting for all of the angry phone calls from people who couldn't make it into their ticketed areas for the swearing-in ceremony or couldn't make it to their parade locations from the swearing-in ceremony. Oh well, it's not our fault. We told everyone to get there very early, and they most likely couldn't get to both, logistically speaking.

I have made two mental notes regarding the next Inauguration:

1. Make sure that we get a hotel room reserved well in advance where we can handle all of the ticket distributions, since people milling in and out of a hotel lobby is actually normal.
2. Make sure I have another job so I don't have to go through this again.
   

Eclectic Tastes

Okay, I'm going to cop out and take a page from Del-V's book. Plus, I have no idea what to write about. I rarely listen to my iPod on shuffle, because I keep skipping to the next song, and I tend to want to listen to one band at a time. So, here's a sample of what is on my iPod...

1. "She Builds Quick Machines", Velvet Revolver, Libertad
2. "Folsom Prison Blues", Johnny Cash, Complete Live at San Quentin
3. "Traveling Riverside Blues", Led Zeppelin, BBC Sessions
4. "We'll Meet Again", Johnny Cash, American IV: The Man Comes Around
5. "Out Ta Get Me", Guns N' Roses, Live Era '87-'93
6. "Rehab", Amy Winehouse, Back to Black
7. "Sea of Sorrow", Alice in Chains, Facelift
8. "Venus De Milo", Miles Davis, The Complete Birth of the Cool
9. "Last Dead Mouse", The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Don't Know How to Party
10. "A Place in My Heart", Social Distortion, Social Distortion
11. "Born Under a Bad Sign", Jimi Hendrix, no album title
12. "End", Big Audio Dynamite, Megatop Phoenix
13. "She Talks to Angels", The Black Crowes, Shake Your Money Maker
14. "You Belong to Me (Live)", Elvis Costello, This Year's Model (Deluxe Edition)
15. "Front Porch Entertainers", The Hentchmen, Three Times Infinity
16. "Alison (Live)", Elvis Costello, My Aim is True (Deluxe Edition)
17. "Footprints on My Ceiling", Social Distortion, Sex, Love & Rock N' Roll
18. "The Rebel - Johnny Yuma", Johnny Cash, The Essential Johnny Cash
19. "I'll Work for Your Love", Bruce Springsteen, Magic
20. "Salty Dog", Flogging Molly, Swagger
21. "Night Rally", Elvis Costello, This Year's Model
22. "What Was Was Over", The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Don't Know How to Party
23. "Pinball Wizard", The Who, Greatest Hits
24. "Soft", Kings of Leon, Aha Shake Heartbreak
25. "All Women Are Bad", The Cramps", Stay Sick!
26. "Since I've Been Loving You", Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin III
27. "Brendan #1", Fugazi, Repeater
28. "No Way Back", Foo Fighters, In Your Honor (Disc 1)
29. "Last Exit", Pearl Jam, Vitalogy
30. "I Turned Out a Punk", Big Audio Dynamite, Planet BAD: Greatest Hits
    

Uh oh, my heart stopped... Okay, there it goes.

The Wife (heretofore known as The Flaming Redhead, in honor of Dr. Z of Sports Illustrated fame) and I came up with a joint New Year's resolution this year. I say it is a joint resolution because it's the same as everyone else; lose weight and get in better shape. To help with this, she bought us the Wii Fit for Christmas. I tried it out for the first time tonight. Nintendo needs to change its programming. When you first set up your profile, it takes your weight, height and age and calculates your BMI, as well as somehow measuring your "fitness age".

Your fitness age has something to do with your posture, weight, body mass index and balance. A little about me. I smoke. I smoke a lot. Way more than I should. I also eat a lot. Sue me, I like food. I like food as much as I hate exercising. Now, while I get measured as being overweight, somehow my "fitness age" is 26. I'm 31. I should have been way above where I was on the chart. It gives me some hope. Maybe I can get my fat ass into shape. Maybe that will help me with my other New Year's resolution.

On another note, the food so far has been pretty good. Food.com and DisccoveryHealth.com have some pretty good healty eating recipes. The problem lies in portions. Damn New Year's resolutions...

Digging Up the Past

Lately I've been thinking about an old girlfriend of mine. I don't know why. Maybe it's all of Del-V's discussions of old girlfriends. The difference is, his stories are generally funny. This one isn't really. This is the girl that absolutely ripped out my heart and stomped that sucker flat. In fact, she may as well have been this guy...


I have no idea why I would want to dig up old, painful memories. I did, though. I was able to track her down through the internet. Now before you call me some sort of creepy stalker, she did the same thing to me about six years ago, so this is payback, I guess...

Well, we've been e-mailing back and forth for a couple days. She seems well. She's married, house, pets, no kids... I realized, though, how much we went in separate directions after we broke up. Not even sure we'd get along that well now.

I guess it's closure. Not really sure. Not even sure how I feel about getting back in touch with her. I was actually ready to propose to her the night she broke up with me. It pretty much left me walking around like Mikey from Swingers for months on end...

Well, I don't know how getting back in touch with her makes me feel, but I do know how this makes me feel...

Pretty damn good...

I Need to Move

I think it's really getting to be time to get the hell out of Maryland. First of all, it's getting too crowded here. It's a short distance from DC. Therefore, along with northern VA, we're getting more and more overloaded with people in politics. Also, for some reason, living in Maryland has seemed to become some sort of status symbol. Also, our taxes just got increased. Yeah, yeah, I know. It's just a 1% increase. But that's an extra 20% I have to pay to this state.

Also, I can't stand the traffic. It's bad enough when the weather is good. When it is raining, people in Maryland suddenly forget how to drive. God forbid it actually snows... And that's another thing. I hate snow. I don't just dislike it, I HATE it. Shoveling it, driving in it, whatever... I could go on and on, but I don't want to bore you.

Anyway, I think I have it nailed down to two places: San Diego or Tucson. What do these places have? Sun. Lots of it. Nice weather, especially San Diego. What do they not have? Snow. Also, the traffic in Tucson can't be nearly as bad as it is here. I think I'd prefer San Diego, because I've always wanted to learn how to surf. I think Tucson would be the better bet, though. My wife is a nurse, and she has always wanted to be a flight nurse. Because of the large amount of open spaces in Arizona, there is a big need for flight nurses. Plus, I think it would be really cool to learn how to fly the helicopters.

Regardless, due to family constraints, I don't think we'll be moving until the kids go to college.

One more thing: Del-V & Rev. Jim, this is for you...