I’m back from Texas. I’m having trouble readjusting to NJ – everyone here is so rude, and speak with such strange accents.

I’ll post about the tail end of SXSW and whatnot in a bit. I’m just trying to get some things (read: laundry!) done first.

This time next week…I’ll probably be drunk. Well, not really. But it’s finally starting to hit me that at the end of this week, I will be in Austin for Southby. Included in that realization is that I really don’t have a lot of time to get done all of the stuff I need to get done before I disappear for a week. My “to do” list currently includes:

• Get a haircut.
• Find a travel charger/sync cable for my Palm.
• Reconfirm my air, hotel, and rental car bookings for Austin.
• Pick up some new clothes and a new pair of brown casual shoes (to replace my old ones, which are worn out).

(I actually got this done this weekend – I was a good little consumer…)

• Run the score-match processes and select recipients for one of the scholarships I administer.
• Dig up historical data from the last two years for another one of my programs to assist the client with an audit.
• Prep my boss for a application review committee meeting that’ll be taking place in Sacramento on…yep, you guessed it, Friday.
• Finish producing the various materials for said meeting and FedEx them to the Sacramento office.
• Make sure that Performance Scoring Services is prepped for the application review committee meeting on the 17th – since I’m only getting back to work on…yep, you guessed it, the 17th.
• Get my father’s computer equipment connected to a router and bridged to their wireless network (attempt #2).
• Pack. (Duh.)
• Figure out how the hell I’m going to wake up at…oh dear Brak…4:30am…for a 7am flight on Friday.

And that’s just the stuff I could remember off the top of my head. Admittedly, the timing for the trip isn’t the best, but…really, it’s not like there’s a better time of the year to be away, so I figured, what the hell.

A side note: I was at DSW looking for shoes earlier today (don’t laugh – they have a good selection of men’s shoes in wide widths – and I’ll take any bargain I can get), when I noticed a tag that I’d never seen before. “Security Friendly”. There was a picture of an airplane on the tag, but no explanation of what the hell it means – I mean, last time I checked, most airport security checkpoints make you take your shoes off and run them through the x-ray machine. So how, exactly, are these shoes any more “security friendly” than any other shoe?

In reviewing my archives from the last few years, it seems that I fall into a February lull every year. It’s not like I’m depressed, or bored, or anything like that – it’s just that February is my busiest month of the year at work (excluding the Siemens competition, which is actually an ongoing thing), so I don’t find myself really thinking about my blog. That, or something will pop into my head, like this little nugget:

Random Thought: Political bumper stickers should have self-decaying glue.
Read the rest of this entry »

Since it seems to be what all the cool kids are doing, here’s a quick shot (via my cameraphone) of the scenic vista from my balcony. What you can’t see (because it’s on the other side of the building) is the parking lot. Sometime after I woke up this morning, it occurred to me that I might want to go outside and clean my truck off today, because I’d be all grumpy if I had to do it tomorrow before work. I was greeted by a good foot of snow on the roof and hood of my truck, and a 2-3 foot wall of tightly packed snow all around my truck, courtesy of the Canal Pointe snowplow. *grumble* In the end, it took about 1 hour to clear all the snow and move my truck into another, cleaner parking spot. (And before I forget, a quick shout-out to Neighbor With Shovel Whose Name I Can Never Remember, for giving me a hand clearing some of the snow in front of the truck.)

There seems to be a concensus that the snowstorm this weekend was a waste of snow, seeing as how the roads are going to be clear enough for me to get to work in the morning. Granted, I’d rather have the storm happen this weekend than, say, on one of my committee weekends for work (when even 3 inches of snow equals a really bad day for me). But I had things I needed to do this weekend – like go to the supermarket (which I haven’t done in about 2 weeks, and my kitchen cabinets are looking especially pathetic for it), and had the snow waited a good 24 hours, I could have done what I needed to AND gotten a snow day from work out of it. Oh well.

In other news, I guess I might as well mention that I’m all registered, booked and confirmed for South By Southwest Interactive 2005. Ostensively, I’m going for work – to support my personal development as it relates to our department’s efforts to move online. But really, I had wanted to go anyway – especially after being in Austin last year and meeting all the DFW Bloggers. So, this year I’m going to find out what all the hubub is about. Can’t wait to go.

Not a whole lot else to report right now, although I have been negligent in thanking Amanda for playing Siskel to my Ebert, as well as tour guide around DC on the tail end of New Year’s Weekend. Looking forward to the sequel. =)

Update, 10:00pm: Alright, so I got a delayed opening for work tomorrow. So I guess that’s something.

I suppose 2004 was a pretty good year, but in the end, it’s just me, still alone at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

I’ve decided that I’m not going to make any resolutions for 2005. That way, at least I can’t be disappointed when 2006 rolls around.

Movies I want or need to see before I have to go back to work on January 3:

• The Assassination of Richard Nixon (presuming “limited release” includes our area)
• The Aviator
• Blade: Trinity
• Closer
• House of Flying Daggers
• The Incredibles
• The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
• The Merchant of Venice (again, presuming “limited release” includes our area)
• Ocean’s 12 (presuming I can catch “Ocean’s 11” on video first)

“Ray” would be on that list too, but the closest theater that’s still showing the film is up in the Amboys. “Phantom of the Opera” would be on the list, except that, as I’ve pointed out elsewhere, I’m not overly fond of “Phantom” in any medium – and that the actor cast to play the title character apparently can’t sing. (How is that even possible, anyway?) I may end up seeing it tomorrow night anyway, depending on how the group decides. (I’m hoping enough people come around and choose “The Life Aquatic”, but I’m not counting on it – in which case, I’m pulling for “The Aviator”.)

There are also a number of movies coming out in January that I want to see, so hopefully I can knock a bunch of the ones I listed above off the list over the next week or so.

So…who’s up for a day at the movies? =)

From the people who brought you Bry’s “I’m A Rocker” shirt…

=)

So, I went over to my parents’ house to help them move my mother’s computer and office furniture to their new place in Monroe. And as I’m disconnecting the computer that’s given me so many goddamn headaches over the last 5 years, it occurred to me that this would probably be one of the last times I would step foot in the house I grew up in. And then I realized…I was pretty much ok with that.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ll miss that house. I spent 22 of my 29 years (plus college breaks and trips home to mooch food) in that house. Good times, bad times, you know I had my share. But most of the better times of my life were spent away from home – Stagedoor, college, London – I was away from home for all of those experiences. Sure, it was always nice to know that the house was there to come home to, and I’ve always thought of it as ‘home’, even after I had my own place. But when my parents said they were selling the house…well, the new house is not even 3 minutes from the old one, and all my stuff’s already moved out. Plus, the new house is much, MUCH nicer. There’s also the fact that Twin RIvers just isn’t the place it was when we were growing up there, and the fact that some of the people living in my parent’s court are just flat-out jackasses. So I wasn’t too sad to see them move.

Besides, it’s not like they’re following Darren’s parents down to Florida. So I’ll still be able to mooch.

So, I’m at the Whole Foods Market tonight, and I pick up a pint of their 365 brand “Cherry Nation” ice cream. And on the way back to the apartment, it hit me – the name must be a pun. Just like Ben & Jerry’s “Cherry Garcia” is a play on Jerry Garcia’s name, clearly “Cherry Nation” must be a riff on the late Terry Nation, creator of the Daleks.

…what?

I was actually sleeping pretty soundly this morning – for me, that is, which means “not very”, but still – when I was suddenly and abruptly brought back to consciousness. But not by the overly chipper voices of Katie, Matt & Al, or by my clock radio, which is, ironically, set on “stun”.

No, this morning I was greeted by what seemed to be the endtime. There was shaking, banging, scraping, and soforth, and I just lay there, not really knowing what to think (aside from, maybe, “here comes karma, and it’s pissed”). That is, until I heard a voice from over my head scream, “Where’s the fucking coffee already?!?!?!” And I realized that the world was not, in fact, ending – at least not today; rather, it was a bunch of loud workmen replacing the shingles on my apartment building roof, and they picked this morning at 7am to start on the area directly over my head.

I really hope they finish today, because you can only wake up to the end of the world so many days in a row before you lose your mind.