Happy Halloween!

Well, we were open from 5:30 p.m. to about 8:30 p.m. for candy business. We only had like 15 to 20 kids. There's still a bunch of candy left. Pretty much noboday came by to ask for tricks or treats after 8:00 p.m. Good thing though, as Must See TV was all new this Thursday. Which is why I'm guessing everyone went home as well. I probably wasn't going to get up to give out candy unless it was a commercial break. Luckily, there was no need to make such tough decisions. But we did what we could, trying to be festive and give out some good candy. I think the kids made out pretty good at our house. Judging from the bags of candy that kids had, it looks like many of our neighbors were trying to unload their loot as well. I don't know what it is this year, but the Halloween spirit was kind of low in our hood. I wonder if Christmas will be a little more low key this year as well. We'll see.

This year, I must note, the kids were much more polite. Maybe cause the parental units were taking their kids around. Last year, I had kids that just took candy and didn't even say "thank you." This year, the manners were in full effect.

A moment of silence for Jam Master Jay (1965-2002)...

I'm on vacation this Friday and Monday. I think I am in need of some mental health days, so I figured I'd take some time now while stuff at work was slow. I need some time to become more focused again. I'll let you know how it goes...

-Kirk

Just an extra bonus note...

Today my buddy Steve sent me a link saying that David E. Kelley's Girls Club show (Ally McBeal replacement) has been cancelled. Done. Over. Kaput. Dissed. The show was started and the decision was made to pull it before I even saw an episode. I guess I'm still in mourning for Ally. Ahh well. We hardly knew you Girls Club! I guess I won't have to watch those backlogged recordings that I have...

-Kirk

Happy Halloween Eve,

Whether it's still called Devil's night or has been rebranded as Angel's night, hope you're having a good one. It's the eve of the only night during the year when it's ok for kids to get (and consume) candy from complete strangers. On any other days, you're supposed to run in the opposite direction. Funny how that happens, huh?

A similar thing happens when you're looking to buy someone's house. An open house is the only time when it's socially acceptable (unless you're a burglar) to totally roam around a complete stranger's house. You can look in closets (check out how stylish the house owners are), cabinets (if they're eating well), basements (what they're hiding), rooms (clean or messy), pretty much wherever you want.

Anyway, today at work, I decided that everyone's a bit wacky in their own special way. We all have our quirks and compulsions. Some people just have different levels. There are people that are mildy quirky, and there are others that are totally nutty. I still haven't decided yet where the line from quirky to nuttiness is drawn. Or, is everyone just nutty, and we all have different skill levels of hiding it? Ahh, the mysteries of life. Something to ponder.

Make sure you have enough candy tomorrow. Oh yeah, make sure it's good too. You don't want to be known to the kids as "that house." Nobody wants to be "that house."

Take it easy,
Kirk

Hi,

I hate spam. Not the super salty processed mystery canned "meat." I'm talking about the extra special messages that I get in my hotmail box, and now my super secret personal mail. You know the ones. How to consolidate your debt into a payment of 1 dollar a month, get a MD degree in 5 days, make your manhood as big as a tree trunk, work at home and make six figures, how you've won a trip to the north or south pole, etc., etc., etc. The list goes on and on and on. In my hotmail account, I think I get 20 times more junk mail than legit mail. Ugh. I wonder what kind of a return companies get when they use spam. Is it really that effective of an advertising medium? I guess companies do get some sort of return, otherwise they wouldn't use spam as advertising, right?

I'm troubled that it's going to be cold on Thursday. What's up with that? Kids are not going to want to trick or treat in this cold weather, will they. Oh well, more candy for me. hee hee.

Today I was looking at a coworker's Halloween party digital camera pictures. There was a very tall woman in one of the pictures. I thought to myself, "wow, she's really tall." I'm definitely attracted to taller women. No good reason, but I'm sure it's because it will be good for my offspring. But the main thing is that I hope there's some above average height lady out there that will be looking at pictures, looking at the vertically challenged guy, thinking to herself "wow, he's short, I dig guys that are short." Here's hoping. (sigh) ;)

Catcha later,
Kirk

Hiya,

didn't get a chance to write last night, cause uhh, I had gone on a jaunt to do some errands and was preoccupied with watching my DEK (David E. Kelley) shows. I'm beginning to dread winter because it 1) gets dark so quickly (specially with the time change) and (as you've heard me griping before) 2) it's cold. At least it's gotten too cold already. This is more like November/December weather.

As the season changes (along with the new tv seasons starting), I'm losing a few nights of my week to TV again. Although this year I seem to be recording more shows than I'm watching. I've got a backlog of about 3 weeks of shows that I still need to watch. But you know what? I haven't missed watching them. I'm going to be OK.

So as many of my friends know, I hate wearing shoes. The minute I get inside the door of my house, the shoes come off. You see, I've got this thing with foot sweat. Ugh. Anyway, that's not the point. My point is, I wish the shoe makers would bring back the Velcro strips in lieu of shoelaces. I know, I know, they're just not cool anymore. Those shoes are the lazy Man's shoe. Those Velcro shoes were da bomb. You'd never get shoelace knots, they made a funny ripping noise when you "untied" them, and they always stayed "tied. So how did this wave of nostalgia come about? I was all ready to go, had the car warmed up, and then I had to go back into the house to get something. I had to untie my shoes, run upstairs, come back downstairs, and then tie my shoes again. At that point, in my laziness, I longed for the days when I could just slap the Velcro strips together and be done with it. Ahh the simpler times.

Better get back to work.

-Kirk

Hi Everyone,

Recently, I've had two experiences with buying paint. No matter how hard you try, once you take the paint home, it just doesn't look the same as the color chip did in the store. It goes through a magical transition once it leaves the store world. Kind of like how impulse buys seem like really good ideas in the store, but when you get home, you don't know what the hell you were thinking. The first time was purchasing stain for my parent's wood deck. The actual color turned out to be much redder and brighter than the picture (even though I was assured that the stain would dry darker). Most recently, the color change happened during the paint buying binge I had last weekend.

I bought one of the colours in the Olympic "whites" collection (or something like that). It's essentially a white base, with a tinge of blue. Very cool in the color chip. It reminded me of the sky on a sunny afternoon. So I painted my two bathrooms today with the help of my mom. Pop the top of the paint can open - The paint looked super white. Not a tinge of blue to be seen anywhere. I figured it would dry with more of a blue, as that's what the paint spotch on the top of the can did.

There were actually three phases of this paint. It went from super white, to blue, to a light blue/violet. Kind of funky. I forgot the exact paint color name - If I remember it next time, I'll be sure to record it here. I gotta hand it to the people that think up the color names. Totally cheesy. But anyway, my mom thinks that the paint has turned into violet. I'll have to wait and see how it looks in the daytime. With the incandescents, the walls look white at first, but then the color comes in. The coolest thing though, was how the different phases of the paint were changing, it reminded me of clouds. A very cool effect. Maybe a possible future decorating idea... Anyway, I'll let you know how I like the new color.

Painting was fun for the first 30 to 45 minutes. That's when we found out that we didn't have the paint roller extensions. So anything in the bathroom that could support my weight, I stood on. The toilet, the counter, the bathtub - anything to get the job done. Luckily I don't have cathedral ceilings in the bathroom :) There's a few stray paint splotches here and there, but everything went smoothly. However, I think I did something to my left index finger. It feels like I slammed it in a door or something. But the crazy thing is that I don't remember doing anything to hurt my finger. Oh well, hopefully it won't fall off.

Catcha later,
Kirk

Hey,

What's going on? Hope you're having a nice weekend.

Today was an administrative day. Meaning I took care of a bunch of errands I had to do, plus today was bill and finance day. Oh yes, the joys of bill day. It's the day when you look at that pile of unopened/opened mail, and you hope that there's nothing in there that's overdue. I'm "one of those people." Save everything till the last minute, and pay everything at once. I felt like my checkwriting was endless. My first taste of home ownership. I gotta find a way to automate all of this :)

So my check writing process is temporarily done for now. Until next time...

So we get an extra hour of sleep tonight! Woo hoo! I can't wait.

I washed my car for the first time in a while today. The high was supposedly 52 - I don't recall ever seeing the thermometer go above 50. Outfitted for action in my sweats and fleece, I was ready to battle the cold. Everything was groovy until I started working with water. MAN that was cold. Also, when your hands are really cold and kind of numb, it's always inevitable that you'll bang your knuckles against something and it hurts like a mofo. Always. It never fails.

Anyway, so yeah, I toughed out the cold and stuff, went through 2 pairs of socks, and finally got a nice coat of wax on my little car. I don't think the one coat is enough for a winter that is predicted to be pretty harsh. But that'll have to do for now. I don't think I'll be up for another wash and wax session for tomorrow. I'm going to try and do a little bathroom painting, I think. We'll see how I feel in the morning.

I'm still in denial that winter is coming, so I've still not brought out the heavy duty super deluxe down comforter. I usually save it for when snow is in the forecast. Like Christmas decorations being sold in stores, I think the comforter may have to make an appearance earlier this year.

That's all for now...

-Kirk

Hi everyone,

Hope you're all doing well.

Have you ever watched a movie for a second time, and it was just like seeing the movie for the first time? Today at work, we watched part of the movie "Kissing Jessica Stein." I had seen this movie a while ago, but when I watched it today, I hardly remembered any of it. I vaguely remember some scenes, but there were a bunch of other parts that I totally didn't remember. Maybe it was "added never before seen footage." Either that, or my memory retention just sucks. I'm sure it's the latter. I think it goes back to the my mind is turning into mush thing. Man, hopefully this sucky memory retention won't creep into other aspects of my life, and I'll forget where I put stuff sometime. Oh wait... Oh man, I'm screwed.

So today, I learned how to work with software known as Dreamweaver. I'm trying to post the pictures from my digital camera escapades. Hopefully I'll be able to show some stuff soon. I'll let you know when I get stuff done. Hey, it's a lot of work! ;) Special thanks to Jarrett who helped me with some Javascript action.

Tomorrow's Friday! How exciting.

It's funny how music can alter your mood. Kind of like a prescription-free Prozac. Some songs make us more upbeat and smile. Others make us more mellow. I was listening to a bunch of rap tunes on the radio coming home from work today (en route to Somerset) - Once I got out of the car, I felt like a baaad assed mamma jamma. But anyway, that's why boy and girl bands need to be such an integral part of our lives. That's right, our society's happiness could be based on another of Lou Perlman's creations.

Catcha later,
Kirk

Hey all,

How's it going?

Woo hoo! I got the hard case to my camera today. That should end my accessories buying spree for my camera. Or will it? You know, I could probably use another Compact Flash Card... I tell ya, they should warn you on the box that when you buy certain items, you will feel obligated (not really, but help me out here) to buy a truckload of extra acessories. Everything seems to cost at least 25% more than I usually plan to spend. Cases, batteries, media, cables, blah blah blah. Ugh.

So I got to check out and ride in a Mini Cooper today. It was swank. Now I want one. The only time that I've seen one up close was when I was in Milwaukee. But even then, I had to view the inside of the car through windowvision. What is windovision? It's the familar two hands cupping the upperface pushed up against the glass that is quite common when people try to look inside through windows that have a ton of glare. You know what I'm talkin about. If you still have no idea what I'm talking about, visit a closed car dealership on the weekend. People use windowvision there all the time. Peepers use it too ;)

I can't believe tomorrow's Thursday! Woo hoo! This week (so far) has gone by quite quickly. Hopefully we can fast forward through Thursday and Friday too. Heh.

-Kirk

Hey everyone,

I didn't write yesterday cause I was workin. Working late into the night. Worked until I gave up and couldn't keep my eyes open. I think having a work laptop is all part of the Man's plan. To keep us down, and make sure that we don't do anything other than work stuff, even after we leave work. I invite all of you with work laptops to leave them at the office. For those that have to take your laptop home, watch movies on it, surf porn, buy stuff, whatever, anything other than work.

So let's see, what's been going on today. I must tip my hat to true DJs. The ones who know what they're doing. I'm not talking about your average "music player" at an occasion. I'm talkin bout the DJs workin the clubs, mixing tracks together, making all of the tunes that they play flow into each other. Introducing bits and pieces of the next song into the song that's playing. Leaving trails of the last song played in the song that's playing. Intermingling two songs at once and making it sound GOOD. What brought this on? Tonight I spent over an hour or so trying to mix two tracks together and make them sound good. Nothing. It all sounded like noise. No matter what I did, it sounded like a low budget war scene between songs. Except in this war, nobody won. Just casualties. Ugh. I gave up, but I'll probably try again sometime, because I liked the punishment, err, I mean challenge.

I walked on my treadmill for 30 minutes today. It's the first time I've used one since I travelled to North Carolina for business. That was over 2 months ago. Sheesh. It's been longer since I've used my own treadmill. There were spiderwebs around where the walking belt was. After wiping the webs all away, it was all good. Just like old times. I think when people like me buy exercise equipment, we're buying more into a dream than actual physical fitness. We're buying into the dream that we'll be physically fit by buying this magical machine of fitness. Just like that. If only it were that easy. I'd buy 500 lbs. of weights if that were true. I'd be a ripped mofo with a really thick neck. But seriously, the brochure that I saw made fitness seem so simple - 5 days a week of fast walking for 45 minutes. That's all. Riiight. I'm still waiting for my dream of fitness to come true. Perhaps I'll try to revive the dream again someday.

Catcha later,
Kirk

Hi all,

Hope this blog finds you well. It's Sunday night. I don't feel like going to work tomorrow. Too bad those two lottery tickets that I bought on Friday didn't match ANY of the chosen numbers. But hey, I guess that's lucky, right? It all depends on how you look at it. Not matching any numbers is totally skill, baby. And I'm damn good at it.

So do you ever have one of those days where you've felt like you've done a ton and have gone to quite a few places, but when you think back, you can't remember exactly where youve been and and what you did there? Ugh. Where did I go today? I feel like I bought a lot of stuff today for the house. The big thing was buying paint. I bought like 5 gallons for the garage, my full baths, and trim. I'm going to be busy :) I bought some other stuff too, just don't remember what it is at this point. But I'm sure good old credit card statement will remind me in a little bit, don't you worry.

I think my mind is slowly turning to mush. Either that or it's getting brittle and pieces are going to break off some day, slowly turning into dust. Part of the circle of life.

So my buddy Steve breaks his cell phone, right? He gets his replacement, and needs to get the numbers transferred from one to the other, or else he will lose quite a bit of his contact list. Sprint was able to do the transfer for him because his phone is still being sold. So it got me thinking - If my phone breaks, I'll be Screwed with a capital S (ouch!). Sprint no longer supports my phone at all. No more accessories at the store, not even online. I'm sure my phone would get treated as a second class citizen at the service counter. It's like my Motorola phone is one of the interchangeable group members of Destiny's Child. You know that there used to be four, but now there's only three. Do you remember the name of the fourth child, or the other ones other than Beyonce? I didn't think so. There were also other substitute child(ren) here and there as well, before it was Beyonce and her present two homies. But do the interchangeable members get any props for helping get the group to where they are? Nope. A message to the other two children: Be careful. You never know...

So wait a minute - what was I getting to - Oh yeah, about phone numbers and my mind going to mush. I remember there was a time when I thought speed/memory dial was stupid (boy, times have changed), and I'd remember each and every phone number that I'd have to dial. Either that, or I knew exactly where the little piece of scratch paper with the number on it was. How's that for high tech. Now I've become so reliant on speed/memory dial, that I think the phone number remembering portion of my brain has not been used since the late nineties when I got my cell phone. So you can bet yourass that I'm going to back up the numbers on my phone. Sometime. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week...

Ahh well, going to sign off for now. Catcha later.

-Kirk

Hey all,

Hope you're having a great weekend.

Tonight's writing and surfing music is provided by the one and only Britney Spears. Why? Cause I was in Home Depot today, and "Baby One More Time" was playing on the overhead speakers. My girl's got skillz. Made me want to dance.

So what's the dilly with all of this American Idol crap? The network's going to do more? Are they going to change the show's name to American Idols? Are the American Idols going to have an Idol-off to see who is the best American Idol of all? The uber-American Idol super delux? Ugh. I'll pass, thanks. You can take that shite show Survivor too.

Sorry for the TV rant there. I don't know what came over me.

So why is everything in Home Depot always filthy? Have you ever noticed? Everytime I get done shopping at that place, my hands always feel dusty, and I feel like I need to wash them. HD needs to get their associates to dust or something. Sheesh.

Today, my friends and I did a little furniture shopping at this contemporary furniture place. Pretty swanky indeed. I think I'm a contemporary furniture type of guy. Still, nothing major purchased. Still looking at the lay of the land of the furniture world. It's pretty cool though - of all the places that I've visited, I rarely see any of the same furniture pieces twice. So I know that I will eventually find my magic couch, dining table, chairs, and all of that stuff. Hopefully it won't cost a billion dollars. Furniture seems to be a tad pricey for my taste. I think bean bag chairs, milk crates, and cable spools are going to be my contemporary style for a while.

Hiya,

I was delinquent yesterday and didn't write, but I had a good excuse - I was at the optical place at the mall trying to get outfitted with some new glasses, because my present ones are way scratched. Saw some really cool frames, saw some not so cool frames. How cool are the ones that are totally frameless and just have the center bridge part and the 2 side pieces. Totally swank. Alas, because of my silly industrial strength prescription, I was denied. However, I did end up picking a frame that was ok. The sucky thing about being blind as I am, you can't pick out new frames and get a good idea of how you look in them, because you can never really get a clear view of how you look in them. I miss having contacts. That was probably the best time I had picking out frames. With my contacts in, I could see everything clear as a bell. Soo, now I'll probably have to wait like a month before I see my new glasses, and see how I actually look in them. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I made a good choice.

So yesterday, my brother sent me a computer (we'll call it "factory refurbished") for my mom to use, as the current machine that she's been using is a whopping pentium 166 supercomputer. Although it is of the highest Sony quality, the computer has served our family well and is probably ready for retirement soon. But, as all of my computer installations and software reloads go, nothing is going smoothly. Ugh. I'm guessing the carrier who delivered it played "drop it from the truck" a few times, and the machine suffered internal damage. I can't even get the os to install properly. Sheesh.

Let's see, what else is new...

I've decided that my den in the basement is a big black hole. For those of you that have had the pleasure of seeing it, I'm sorry. Nobody should be subjected to it. But anyway, I swear I've put stuff on my desk, and it gets eaten. Poof. Gone. Nowhere to be found. I could be just losing my mind, but I will play the blame game and just say that the desk ate it. Or the gnomes. Whatever it is, I am losing stuff that I keep down there.

It's cold here. I think I'm dreading winter already.

-Kirk

Whazzzuuuuup?

How YOU doin?

Ok, first off, mint Oreos continue to be a strong performer in the dessert list. Mighty tasty. I wonder if they just sell that green minty stuff.

Next, I'd like to admit that I have a problem. My name is Kirk Tizzai and I have very very very bad e-mail management. E-mail quotas are evil. I like to purposely live life on the edge and teeter on the "your mailbox is over its size limit" threshold. I like the thrill of wondering if the e-mail system will make good of its promise that I "may" no longer receive e-mail if I don't clean out my e-mail box. I know hotmail enforces this policy. Umich does too. But, so far, my company has made only empty threats of cutting me off. Which brings me to why I'm writing about this topic today. I was forced to bring my e-mail folder size below 100mb. We're doing some sort of e-mail migration, and well, now the powers that be say that they will be enforcing the quota for sure this time... Plus, if the mailbox size is not down below 100mb, there will be "issues" with the migration and there will be "big problems" or something like that. My e-mail folders were about 180 mb (that was at the end of the day today, where I was dumping off large files like a madman). This evening, I cleaned, and now it's down to 88mb. So I made the cut. But I'm only 12 mb away from the printed limit. Are they really going to cut me off this time for real? Like a child wanting to know what the electric outlet is really all about, I have my fork in one hand...

I got my extra compact flash and reader today. Kudos to TigerDirect for hooking me up with the next day air when I only paid for 2 day. Woo hoo! I'm going to go camera crazy now. Digital cameras rock my world. I think I've taken more pictures recently than I have for many many years (~70 pics). My only complaint so far is that sometimes the camera stalls a bit to take a shot, so spontaneous pictures may be lost. Grr. I've been trying the camera all over the place, just to get a feel for image quality and whatnot.

I just wanted to say, for the record, that I have continued to be in control, and have not been seduced by any seafood. I was especially tested when I went out yesterday (Monday) to the Chinese Buffet for lunch with my mom. Although the tuna sushi rolls and mussels continually sang and called to me like Cristal does to a gangsta rapper, I held my ground and was strong. After tomorrow, it will have been one week since I've tasted the food of the sea. I wonder how long this will last before the Fish and Wildlife Service calls me to help reduce the snow crab population, or I just break down and have to visit the buffet because of withdrawal symptoms, whichever comes first.

It's getting cold. It's getting darker soon. Winter is coming! So much for fall, huh.

Take it easy,
Kirk

Hi All,

I finally finished sealing the tile on the floor of the guest bathroom today. I just have some very minor stuff to do (vertical walls this time), but I should be good to go. Or so I think. Once again, I question the value of "sealing" but hey whatever works. One scary thing though, while sealing the tile by the toilet, I was ambushed bya nasty ammonia smell which quickly turned into a bad stinky feet smell. Woo hah. It was bad. I'm glad the bathroom has an exhaust smell. I'm guessing the sealant stuff reacted with some residual stuff that was left on the floor before. The smell from the master bath? Baby barf.

So, a new product has been added to the Kirk "strong buy" list. Mint Oreos. Try them. You will not be disappointed. Unless you don't like mint, Steve and Suzy. It's not overpowering though. Just a refreshing twist to an old time favorite.

I ordered my memory card and reader for my camera today. I got tired of just being able to take 15 pictures before my card is spent. I did take some pics today of my new place, and some pictures at Somerset. Pretty swank. I just need to figure out a way to present them (other than in a line/folder list) on my website or something so you too can share in the joy.

I really really need to wash my car. I've been neglecting it since I got the new place. I need to get a nice coat of wax on it before the winter comes.

My day off rocked. That's all I have to say. Need to play the lotto more so I don't have to work anymore.

-Kirk

Hi Everyone...

I know, i'ts been a few days since I've written... Well, the ecommcerce and shipping powers that be smiled upon me and blessed me with Saturday shipping. Here's the shipping info, just for the records...

Oct 12, 2002 12:34:00 PM Troy MI Delivered
Oct 12, 2002 01:22:00 AM TOLEDO OH Departed FedEx sort facility
Oct 11, 2002 04:36:00 AM TOLEDO OH Scanned at FedEx sort facility
Oct 10, 2002 11:15:00 PM TOLEDO OH Arrived at FedEx sort facility
Oct 9, 2002 07:48:00 AM RIALTO CA Departed FedEx sort facility
Oct 8, 2002 08:11:00 PM RIALTO CA Scanned at FedEx sort facility

In a matter of one day, it had magically gone from Rialto, CA to Toledo, OH. I'm hoping my camera was on a plane somewhere, and not some truck driver was trucking all night long to make it to Ohio (sheesh!). From Ohio, that's where the "ground" shipping comes in, I guess. But man, those fine people at FedEx are working 24/7 to get your stuff to ya. I wonder if "Brown" does that?

Speaking of "brown," those UPS commercials are all over the place. Brown does this. Brown does that. What can Brown do for you? I'm just hoping it goes down the toilet properly. Especially when I'm at other people's houses. There have been many a time... Nevermind.

Anyway, so for the past few days, I've been playing with my digicam, sealing my garage floor, and trying to jump start the economy by buying stuff for my new place. Stuff adds up let me tell you.

Garage floor sealing went well. Nothing to write home about. On Monday, I'll do the water test to see if water actually beads. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I did the sealing right. Otherwise, I don't know what the hell I did to my garage floor.

Today it was pretty cold. What's up with that? It's still too damn early. I was shopping today with my mom. Everyone (seriously) had the sniffles. It was a big snifflefest at the checkout line. It was pretty funny. Sniffles in stereo.

There's an "upscale" furniture store around Troy that's going out of business. They're having a "going out of business sale." Hmmm... I would have hated to see their "we're in business sale." But anyway, my Mom and I went and walked through this store for (what I think felt like) an hour or so. There was some great stuff there. But everything seemed to be a tad on the pricey side for my taste. I think I probably set off the silent "get your ass back to Ikea where you belong, son" alarm when I went in. Because "Stewart," the sales guy that was desperately trying to work it never approached me to help. Neither did his trendy cohorts wearing black and dark grey. Don't get me wrong, people were buying huge pieces of furniture like it was no big thang. However, I did get to touch a USD$ 13,000.00 rug. I think that was the highlight of that trip. I'm also troubled that people can spend over 13k on a rug.

OK, it's late. I'll write more tomorrow...

-Kirk

Hi everyone,

Well, the day has finally come. My magic camera has shipped. The only bad news is that it's coming to me from pretty much the furthest point away from me in the contiguous United States. A mere 2300 miles away in a city called Rialto, in SoCal. Well, I'm sure the weather's great out there.

Now, at 2300 miles... If you averaged 60mph the entire trip, it would take you about 38 hours. Sooo, it would be about 5 days if homey drives around 8 hours a day. Five business days from now would probably put us at Thursday. (sigh). Well, at least it's on it's way. And, as advertised, I would indeed get my order in 7 to 10 business days. Now I get the fun of tracking my camera all throughout its journey through the US. Wow, my camera is going to be better travelled in the US than me. Sad, huh.

Let's see, I got home from work around 7:30 today. That was a bummer. Luckily, I got back home in time for Must See TV. No, tv does not rule my life.

I got my Toronto pictures sent to me today. Taken on my cousin's Canon Powershot A20. I like them, they look pretty nice. Once I figure out how to batch process them to shrink them down, I'll post a link to them here. I love the instant gratification of taking digicam pictures. If it don't like it, I delete it. I know that my pictures are decent after I take them, and they're "processed" or downloaded as fast as I can do it. I love technology. I'd love it more if I could get my stuff sooner.

Today I put in a request to take Monday off. It'll be my first real day off since probably March when my brother was around. I might have taken another official day off here and there, but I don't really remember. Monday is Columbus day, and since my client's a bank, they get it off. So I will too :) Don't know exactly what I'll be doing, but I'm hoping to get more house stuff done. I got the rest of my window treatments put into the place today. At last, all my windows are covered, and I won't have to worry about the sun bleaching my carpets out and whatnot.

Tomorrow (actually now it's today) I'm going to finally seal my garage floor. Hopefully the weather will stay above the magic 50 degrees farenheit. Or else... You know, I don't really know what will happen. The labe just says to do it when the temp is above 50. (shrug) Who knows. Hopefully I'll be able to park in my garage say on Sunday.

OK, must go to sleep. I'll catcha later.

-Kirk

Hola,

Feelin SPANISH today. Just kidding.

Today I was smart and put in a CD. No crapulent music for me, thank you very much. But of course, I listened to the radio on the way into work this morning. Old habits die hard. One station had Jon Bon Jovi in the studio. Interesting. All these years and he's still rockin. Pretty nifty. I'm not really into his music, but it's cool that he's still around. I wonder how many stars we hear on the radio will have as much staying power. Britney? Justin? The American Idol? Whatever. On the other station? They were outing Sponge Bob. For real. I kid you not. I have never watched the cartoon fully to judge for myself, but the discussion around the topic was very amusing. like when they outed Tinky Winky. Just because he carries a Magic Bag. Come on. Bob lives in a pineapple under the sea or something like that.

It is very interesting how people have such a fascination with people's sexuality and other stuff too. Is he or isn't he? Boxers or Briefs? Bikini or Thong? Paper or Plastic? Heh.

Why is it that whenever elections come around, there are always commercials paid for by different groups to slam on each of the other candidates? One commercial I saw had the normal slams, even listed the slamee's phone number. Hopefully it was his work number. How do you like them apples? Annoying, to say the least.

So, the count now is 3 days... no camera shipped yet. Ugh. So it inspired me to write a poem.

Costco Costco where's my digicam?
I hope your website isn't a big digi-scam.
Standard shipping is seven to ten business days,
To get it here faster I could think of many ways.
On my doorstep I will patiently sit,
Hoping within the next week I'll get my sh..tuff.

Heh.

I did call the Cost Corporation today, and they said that my order was being processed and they were not waiting for anything from me... We'll see.if they make good on their promise. It's odd, because usually, an ecommerce site tells you when stuff is shipping. This one just tells you that you'll get your stuff in 7 to 10 business days. Something a little different I guess. But I was reassured by Sherri (if that is indeed her real name or probably just her phone persona) that my order was being processed and everything was going ok.

Friday is going to be seal my garage floor day. Please mark it on your calendars. Just show up around 4 p.m. or so, so we can finish before it gets dark. Thanks.

So recently, I decided (voluntarily) to give up seafood for a bit. Please, remember to breathe. I know, this is totally unlike me, and the US department responsible for the snow crab population is going to have to find someone else to help control the numbers for a little while. I just want to see if I'm allergic to it. I'm hoping not. That would be bad.

OK, that's it for now. Catcha later.

-Kirk

Hey,

So what's the deal nowadays with the radio stations that I've been listening to? It's all become a Jerry Springer-like trashy tv crapfest. Are stations hurting for ratings that badly? Sheesh. And for those of you that know me would know that I'm probably the last person to say this. Most of the time, I've got some sort of music playing in the background. Whether it's in the car, at home, at work, wherever. Like LL Cool J used to say, I can't live without my radio. But now, I'm starting to think that I can. I tip my hat to CDs and MP3s. I'm glad I've got a cd player in the car. But I'm a very picky listener of music, depending on my driving mood. There are over 50 CDs in my car, and there are times I can't find anything to listen to.

As I write this, I've already turned off two of the stations that I normally listen to. Now, I'm listening to some cheezy easy listening radio station for old(er) people, in commercial hell. Ugh. I can't win tonight. Also, the dj is the one with the really really really deep Barry White like voice. We'll call him Alan "Cashew". I'm sure there are many women swooning now to the sound of his voice. Gak.

Anyway, so as of now, my digital camera hasn't shipped. It's been 24 hours. I want my camera now! Grr.

I had full intentions of working a little bit tonight. Seriously. But I can't seem to get motivated, and it's almost time for me to go to bed. I'm even writing to you on my work laptop. I thought I'd just work until my battery died (a couple of hours), and then go to sleep. Well, one deficient laptop battery depleted later, I'm still sitting here on plug in power... (sigh) Why do they call it a laptop anyway? I wonder how many people actually use their computers on their laps. I do when I'm at the airport, but that's it. My computer gets super hot, to the point that I have to shift from one leg to the other. Not fun.

I was at the Cost Company warehouse club last night, and I saw a two disturbing things. They had Christmas stuff out already. I tell ya, it gets earlier every year. In a few years, we will probably see displays of merchandies in August. I can see it now. Dancing hip shaking Santa Claus shaking their money makers in unison at the front of the store. Whoo ha. I dunno, 2 months ahead is still kind of early for me, but I'm sure people will start doing their Christmas shopping soon too. Perhaps I should soon too.

Oh yeah the other disturbing thing (but kind of strangely cool at the same time) - They had the Coach Edition Steelcase Leap chairs on sale. I got to try out the floor sample. It's probably the only time that I'll ever sit in one. My arse felt honored and pampered, in the Coach leathered and chromed goodness. Kind of like J.Lo's, but without the Coach Leather and chrome. The cost to take this fine piece of furniture home? USD $1.5k. Hmmm... I'll pass on that one.

I must say though, my favorite place to park my rear end is in my Herman Miller Aeron chair at work. Still the #1 choice in my book. A true all time favorite. The mascot of the dot com era. (sigh) I'm sure Herman is sitting back in his Aeron, fully reclined, with the tension spring totally loose, lumbar support in the right spot, chair arms turned in, counting his fortune. Oh yeah, he's laughing his ass off too.

Aiight, gotta go to sleep now. I'll catcha later.

-Kirk

Hi All,

You know, you never realize how much you depend on that little red squiggly line under your misspelled words until you don't have it. Thanks to Billy G and the Microsquishy tam for allowing us to be sloppy in our typing, never having to correct our mistakes manually, and being able to fix our typing issues with a right mouse click. But now, even better. Those words that we frequently spell wrong? Once you finish typing the word incorrectly, the program instantly corrects it for you. Another tool to allow us to not learn. Hmmm... Interesting. My favorite typing feature has to be the automatic uncapitalization that happens to me all the time whenever I start a sentence. You know, when you accidentally type a word that is capitalized, and due to some strange phenomenon, you get two capitalized letters in a row, like THis? I'm the worst offender of that one when I'm trying to type stuff quickly. But no, of course it's not MY fault. It's because the computer is not quick enough to recognize the short gap that happens right after I let go of the shift key and type the next letter. Riight.

Oh yeah, so what brought this up? I was just loking at my blog entry yesterday, and I saw that I spelled some stuff wrong. I'm too lazy to go back and fix stuff. Not because I don't know how to spell, it's just that I type it wrong :) Please, know what I mean, not what I type ;)

Ok, so let's see. what happened today. Hmmm...

I ordered my digital camera today. That was my big highlight, I'd have to say. Supposedly, I'll get it in 7 to 10 business days. We'll see if the internet eCommerce Gods smile upon me. Oh yeah, the dudes at the shipping department too. I've wanted a digicam for a long time now. I've always enjoyed going through old pictures, reminiscing about good times, people that I've known, etc. But I never seem to 1) have film or 2) have my camera with me. Both are big bummers. So I'm hoping with a digicam, I'll capture more stuff, and not have to worry about physical print management. If I want to review my pictures, I can just thumb through them. I'm also hoping to have more pictures on a website somewhere to share. We'll see, that's for sure. Quite the premium though, to get into digital photography. I'm sure professionals drop a whole lot of cash into their equipment. I'm probably investing nothing close to what they're spending. But hey, I'm not a professional (yet) ;)

So recently, I've been struggling with what I think is being content and happy with one's life. I realize that this topic may not be a light one, and probably (most likely) cannot be answered in a blog entry (not that I'm trying to). But that is what has been gnawing at me for a bit as of late. I know that my original "measuring stick" was a certain monetary value and of course, material posessions. You can reasonably associate these things with "success." But there has to be more than that, right? You know, that old saying how money can't buy you happiness? Come on, I'm sure it can get you pretty darn close. Seriously though, at the end of the day, there's gotta be more than just material and monetary stuff, right? Good relationships, family, good health... and other stuff... What does it mean for me to be happy? Will I know when I get there? What if it passes me by? Ugh. More stuff to ruminate about.

Take it easy,
Kirk

HI Everyone,

I'm back. Back in the Michigan again. Canada was nice, but nothing beats being at home, that's for sure.

So last night when I left you, it was about 3 a.m. I woke up at 8:30 to 9:00 thos morning - I was really tired, but I knew that I had to get up. Man was it difficult. Well, we set out around 9:30 ish, and we were off to downtown Toronto for some "express" sightseeing. It's more like go somewhere, snap a picture. Go somewhere else, snap a picture. I'm still on a quest for an inexpensive digital camera, so I ended up borrowing a digicam from my cousin Cassandra.

Saw some great skyline scenery. Some shots of the nearby water too. There's something about big city living. I've never stayed in a city for more than say, 3 days or so. This visit was the first time (in my memory) that I've seen downtown Toronto. I saw the CN tower, tons (tonnes, heh) of high rise loft and condo complexes, condo complexes being built, some nifty boats, and other sailboats from far away. Oh yeah, I saw the converitble topped Skydome. I thought it was broken or something at first. When it's converted (open), it looks like the original builders didn't finish the roof. Cassandra said that the skydome takes like 45 minutes to go from open to close. Hopefully it doesn't rain much during games. Waiting for the roof to close would take forever!

I don't know if I'd enjoy big city living. I didn't see the city at night, so I don't know what it's like. But, from what I saw, I liked it. Something about being dwarfed by tall buildings and standing in the shadow of them when it's sunny is pretty cool. Looking up from the bottom towards the top of the buildings is pretty neat too. It's a wonder how these buildings get built in the first place. Kudos to the architects and engineers that do that stuff.

It was pretty cool temperature wise, but I wonder how cold it must have been in the water for the people sailing. But it's definitely sweater weather out there right now. I don't know if it's going to be like that from now on, or it's just a cold spell. After all, it is October already. I could use a few more days of warmth before it gets cold. But I can't wait to pull out my cotton sweaters and my always favorite fleece to wear.

The trip home was pretty uneventful for me. I think I slept for 75% of the trip. I was soooo tired, it was hard to keep my eyes open while in the car. That's pretty much how all trips end for me. It's all of that staying up late and not sleeping in or something. I definitely have to go to sleep early tonight, or else I'll be useless at work.

Oh yeah, I got to try a Tim Horton's "fruit explosion" muffin today. Like products featuring lingonberry and lingonberry essence, the muffin a must try. It has the Kirk seal of approval. A fruity muffin, with fruit goo inside. Now if only the fruit goo was lingonberry... heh. I did not try one of their famed doughnuts though. I've kind of cooled off on doughnuts. They make my stomach kind of turn. They're too sweet.

This evening, I took all of my Ikea purchases to the new place. Luckily, nothing got broken in transport. I still have to put up my extendo mirror in the bathroom though. That'll happen hopefully later this week. I also have to stain the wooden key box that I bought too. Geneman will be coming to see the new place sometime later this month, so I have to get stuff ready for his inspection. ;)

Going to get ready for bed now... Catcha later!

-Kirk

Hey All,

Through the power of the Internet, I'm able to write you from the great white north - Canada. And sheesh, it sure is cold out here today.

Right now, I'm at my cousin's house, just hanging out. And like all the other blog entries, this one's pretty late again. I tell ya, this weekend is going to make Monday hell - I'm going to be so tired from lack of sleep.

So I was at the furniture store of the man today. Oh yeahk, for those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm talking about Ikea.

Ikea, Ikea, Ikea...

One thing is for sure, I'm glad I don't live by it. I would blow so much money there. But I think if it was close to it, my house would be very Ikea like. Just like the catalogue. I pretty much just bought small stuff for the kitchen, bathroom, etc. Nothing too exciting to write home about.

But before I sign off, I must tell all of you about products featuring the lingonberry. What is a lingonberry you ask? Apparently, according to foodreference.com, it is a member of the cranberry family commonly used to make jams and preserves. But wait... There's more. If you ever go to an Ikea store, they feature a lingonberry fountain drink. In fact, they even have lingonberry mousse! Complete with your choice of lingonberry preserves on top or whip cream. I recommend the whipped cream. Mmm mmm! Tasty. Try it, you will not be disappointed!

Now the funny thing, is that I was at a tea store this evening - and guess what they had. None other than lingonberry bubble tea. Cool, huh? Another tasty treat indeed.

Going to get going - Must get up in less than 6 hours.

-Kirk

Hey there,

It's me again.

I don't know why it happens, but it's late again. The big man's furniture store journey is scheduled to start today at 7:00 a.m. And I'm still online. I was making a list, checking it twice. Want to buy some cool sheeat today. I'm peepin the Canadian Furniture Store of the Man's website. Looks like I'm only going to get to the "Kitchen" section - Alas, I will have to rely on being seduced by the store displays and making my selections that way.

Isn't the web great? I can read my mail, surf the web, write in my blog, and drink water, all at the same time, without ever having to get up. Except for bio breaks. And food. And more water. So maybe the web's not so great after all. It's a great supplement to life though. The answer to any question that I (or anyone else, for that matter) have can be answered in a few keyboard and mouse clicks. Good old Google. Thanks to John for introducing me to that search engine. What did we do before the Internet? Remember "World Book" encyclopedias?

The only time that I have a breakdown in the knowledge quest process is when I ponder a question and there's no Internet near by. Oooh, not a pretty sight. That question is left to stand in the cold, lonely, not well maintained ghetto area of my brain that is labeled "temporary storage facility." What is this facility that I speak of, you ask? Hmm. It's like a change machine. Remember those at like arcades and whatnot? You put in your dollar, and crossed your fingers that 4 quarters/tokens would come out. Yeah, it's kind of like that. All you're trying to do through this interaction is to leave with the same amount of whatever you put in, right? Well, properly maintained machines, no problem. Put in the dollar, get the 4 quarters. Poorly maintained machines? You'd be lucky to get 3 quarters. You get my drift?

For instance, I was in North Carolina a month or so ago. I'm sitting at dinner with a coworker. I believe we were having crablegs. Anyway, not relevant - during our course of conversation, there are 3 or 4 burning questions that I had. Obviously, in your average restaurant, the internet is not easy to come by, especially when your hands have a strong amount of Crab "essence" on them. So, I took a chance and placed the 4 questions into the "facility." Fast forward to next morning - Sit in front of the computer, draw a blank. I ended up, through many times of circling the facility and trying to pick up thoughts, managed to rescue 2 of the 3 or 4 questions. Retention rate = bad. I'd be beating the crap out of that vending machine by now.

What are the questions we had, you may ask? Hmmm... I only remember one now. It was what a "snow crab" looks like when it's whole. Before it is reduced to legs and the white part on the top that joins them all together. Here's your quarter - Don't spend it all in one place ;)

OK, must go to sleep now - otherwise, I won't be much fun in the car, I'm sure.

Catcha later,
Kirk

Hi everyone,

How are you today? I hope this evening is finding you well. This entire experience is still kind of wacky for me. Who exactly am I writing to? My friends and random people that may stumble upon my blog. For those that know me, welcome back. For those that don't know me, thanks for stopping by. If you've stumbed upon, please get off.

A few things on my mind today:

Jack Osbourne on Dawson's Creek 2 hour premiere? Many things disturbing to me in that last sentence. Jack Osbourne? Dawson's Creek? 2 hour premiere? Sheesh. Sorry, it's been on my mind because my friend Suzy likes that show (she told me about the premiere), and I heard a commercial on the radio this morning. Just for fun, I thought I'd tune in during dinner - I didn't watch all 2 hours, honest. James Vanderbeek (sp?) looks way different to me. Is he the same dude? And I'm not alone. Katie Holmes' character Joey thought he looked different too. Although, I'm sure for different reasons. They finally got together. It's about time. how many seasons did it take? And oh yeah, whatever happened to Felicity?

No, television does not rule my life. Heh.

OK OK, it did in college though, I used to schedule everything around Mondays and Thursday nights. Well, ok maybe some other nights too. Allright, maybe not just in college. My worst times were when I used to watch over 6 hours a week. When I used to travel, I always seemed to pick hotels that had very few stations on the television, or I'd get back so late I would miss my shows. So in my absence, I'd try to record the ones that I'd miss. I'd run out of tape on a 2 hour in SLP mode. Man those were bad times. I was hooked. Had to catch my shows. But I'm better now. The first step was acknowledging that I had a problem. Now I've got the "patch."

I always enjoy the summers, because my evening time gets returned back to me and is not consumed by television. And all the evil commercials that come with television. Speaking of commercial, my friends and I are going to be making a small weekend shopping trip to the Great White North. We're going to drive across the border to visit the Furniture Store of the Man. I'm pretty geeked too - before doing my blog entry, I was looking on their website for stuff that I wanted to get. That's why it's so late already, and that's why this update will be cut short. I'm tired. Anyway, I'm looking for swanky new stuff to put in my place. It's quite empty.

Ugh, I'm going to go to sleep. I'm going cross-eyed.

Catcha later,
Kirk

Hi all,

Maybe I'm just too picky, but I have had the hardest time picking out the look and feel of my blogger site from the provided templates - I ended up taking one that I kind of liked, and totally hacking and using it for my own evil means. I'll probably end up changing stuff around again, but for the time being, this will be it. I've already spent too much time "tweaking" it. More like experimenting and hoping that things will turn out right. If you can believe it, I ended up picking and working with the template that I originally chose the first time I registered. Go figure. Life can be funny like that.

So I think I'm going to enjoy doing this for a little while. Doing a weblog, err, I mean "blog" (sorry still getting used to the lingo) will be interesting. It'll give me a chance to sit down at the end of the day, and reminisce about things that happened, or things that I've thought about during the day. For instance, why is my car making a funny noise (whum whum whum) when it drives? Why won't the suwoofer tube in my car stay put (it just rolls from one side of the trunk to the other)? Why can't I easily find jeans that have an inseam of 28 inches or less? Am I destined to go through life looking like how Avril Lavigne does on the cover of her debut album? Perhaps.

Other random thoughts and questions for today include:
Why don't I drive a red Porsche Boxster with a black convertible top?
Daniel Bedingfield's singing voice doesn't really match the way he looks. I'll have to catch him in an interview or something to see if he sounds different in regular life.
I need to try those new mint Oreos. I think I'm going to like them very much. You should try them too.

One last thing before I sign off:
Why is it that when I'm driving my mom's station wagon, I see nice young ladies in cars next to me, but when I drive my own car, I only see yucky hairy-armed dudes driving minivans? Just for clarification, the dudes have hairy airms, they are not armed (with weapons) and hairy, although they could be and I'd never know. For instance, I was driving around (over the weekend) in my mom's station wagon because I was moving stuff, and saw this lovely lady in a black convertible Saab. Nice. Today, while driving home I look over, and what do I see? Yucky hairy armed man with gold watch, driving a metallic pea green Ford Windstar (luckily, I didn't see him look back). (shrug) I dunno how to explain this phenomenon.

Allright, it's time for me to go to sleep - Lately I've been sleep deprived, and my coworkers caught me taking a catnap on Monday during a meeting. :)

Catcha later,
Kirk

Hey all,

Welcome!

So here we are. For some reason, I've always been intrigued by well written, interesting web logs. There have been quite a few that I've stumbled upon, and ended up spending quite a few days (not continuously, mind you) just reading the entries. Perhaps it's just my part of the "reality tv" / voyeur fascination that the public seems to have right now, or perhaps it's just that I like to live vacariously through other people. Perhaps it's both.

Anyway, what it boils down to is that I just wanted to join in the craze, and see if I can captivate people with my thoughts as well. Just to see. Although, my friend Geneman tells me, these weblog things are old skool, and nobody does them anymore. We'll see Geneman, we'll see. But anyway, I have to pour him out a 40 because he told me about this site. Thanks buddy. I also wanted to say thanks to Maria for telling me about this site as well, a day after Geneman (and they don't know each other). How's that for a coincidental nudge. So easy (so far). Although I might have to brush up on my html though...

So I think that'll be it for now, I'm going to send off my first post...

-Kirk