Hi everyone,

It's the weekend! Woo hooo!

Again, if you ask me what I did today, I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly what. Some computer nerdy stuff, framed a few posters and whatnot that I had, and was on IM a lot. It's weird (and this may totally sound like a commercial) how you can communicate with a truckload of people, without actually saying a word. Even now, I'm mentally composing sentences, typing them into this machine, and the keystrokes are magically converted into ones and zeros, and eventually will get blasted out into the internet for all to see. Imagine that. Can you hear me now? ;)

Tonight I was watching some televizzle, and was watching some Comedy Central TV. On Friday nights, they have their standup comedy shows. Some comics are better than others. But I've decided that I would like to be with someone that will make me laugh as much as I'd try to make her laugh. On a regular basis. Enough so that we'd just lose bladder control for maybe a second. OK, half a second. No harm done.

Not exaclty sure what I'm going to do this weekend. Probably not too much. I'll let you know though...

-Kirk

Hi everyone,

Long time, no blog.

My mom finally got home Sunday night. And guess what? She's leaving again this Sunday. Craziness. Because of the time change, her sleep schedule has been totally wacked. I told her just to sleep whenever she was tired, since she'd be back to good ol Taiwan time within the week. Anyway, she's doing much better now. Hopefully she'll be allright when she goes back to the homeland for the funeral. Unfortunately, I will not be able to go out there with her this time around. I'm planning on making a trip out there in November. We'll see.

So let's see, what's been going on... As usual the days flash by, but I cannot recall what I've been doing.

As of today, I'm pretty much separated from my former employer. I now pretty much have no more ties with them. Other than my history and the people that are still there, I've successfully made the separation. It's a good thing...

So today was a big shopping day. I took my mom out shopping, and we definitely spent more than we needed to. But it was a good thing, because I got some food stuff, general supplies and whatnot. In fact, we even bought a new fish. It is pretty much 1/4 of the size of my largest fantail goldfish. It's pretty much the mini-me of the tank. I think the new fish will fit right in. It spends time just staring off into the background scenery picture just like all of the other fish. Lovely.

I went to an interview on Wednesday, so I will hopefully find out something about that as well. I know I shouldn't worry about it, but I always feel odd pulling into an American automaker's car lot with my Toyota. Don't know why, I just worry about these types of things.

-Kirk

Hi Everyone,

So this evening, I went out to get some dinner, and stopped by at the local McDonalds for one of their shakes. I've been having this chocolate shake craving for some reason. Anyway, I pulled into the parking lot and was surprised to see that it had not been plowed at all. I didn't have any problems parking, but when I got my goods and was trying to leave, my car got stuck. I wasn't able to get much traction with the supaflyride. After spending a few minutes rocking back and forth, this father and son duo felt sorry for me (they were watching me trying get unstuck), and gave me a push. Very embarrasing indeed.

So I got a shake right? I asked the server lady what types of flavors they had - She said the normal ones (e.g., strawberry, vanila, etc.) but she threw a curveball at me - Shamrock flavored. So I asked, "what's shamrock flavor taste like?" And she just gave me this horrified look like I had just asked the dumbest question on earh. I guess I should have known what shamrocks taste like. Because I am so Irish (which I am not) and eat them all of the time. Riiight. For those of you that are too embarrassed to ask, the flavor is mint. Who knew?

The best part of it was that I got a chocolate shake right? Well, the shake concoction must come out of the same nozzle, because I had a little mint action going on when I tasted the shake. Pretty cool. It was like mint chocolate. Vey tasty. So shamrocks and chocolate - a very tasty combo.

-Kirk

Hi all,

This morning I was woken up by bad news. My grandfather (on my mom's side) passed away this morning at ~6:00 a.m. E.S.T. (sigh)

(a moment of silence)

My mom is on her way home now (she's in San Francisco). I was going to wait until she got back home to tell her, but unfortunately, she beat me to the punch. She found out when she called one of my uncles out in Cali. Most likely, she'll have to bear that horrendously long plane ride again within the week. I'm going to try and go with her this time.

The last time I saw my Grandfather was when I was in Tawan during September 2001.

-Kirk

Hiya,

Laundry's done. Kitchen floor has been Clorox Ready Mopped. Love that thing. Wood floors too.

I'll wait to clean the bathroom on saturday, and I'll be all good. woo hoo! now what to have for dinner...

-Kirk

Hi all,

Next time you have hard-boiled eggs, I invite you to deliberately leave a few residual shells on the egg. The shells add a wecome "crunch" while eating the egg. Add a little garlic salt, and you're good to go. Found out completely by accident, but now you know I'm going to be sloppy about clearning all the shells off the egg next time.

Today the cleaning process has started. :)

-Kirk

Hi everyone,

Hope you're doing well. Just a few food notes:

-Sushi rainbow rolls kick ass
-Kraft Handipack pudding kicks ass. (chocolate fudge and tapioca flavors)

Oh I forgot to say that magically, the cable modem conneciton came back on (there was an outage), so I was all good last night. Didn't have to resort to crazy stuff like reading.

I cleaned the fish tank today, because it was kind of algae-ified. It took me a while, but it should be all good.

-Kirk

Hi all,

So today, I finally left the premises and went out. It was nice. I picked a good day to do so too - It was actually nice out. Around the 40's according to the thermometer outside. Nifty. It was just me and my shiny car.

So today, I realized how "plugged in" to the internet I actually am. So I'm online, composing an e-mail, and then the connection just pukes. The cable modem is just going nuts with the flashy lights, and nothing was working. Power cycled things, unplugged and plugged stuff back in... Nothing. Finally I gave up and called the fine people at Comcast. After setting up an appointment for tomorrow morning, I got off the phone. And then I had this empty feeling. Like the feeling that you get when you say goodbye to a friend that you won't see for a while. What am I going to do? As I finished up closing all of the apps on my screen that needed the internet, I was left with a blank desktop. And for the first time, I got to see the desktop background (not upon startup). Weird I tell you.

My mind started racing - What should I do? Should I watch movies? Should I call people? Wackiness. Is this what it's become for me? I always have to be doing "something?" Do I have the adult equivalent of ADD and its cousin ADHD? Troubled, I tell you. Troubled.

So that's when I decided to go out and see what the world had to offer me (or what I could offer to the world). Well, it turns out that before I left, the connection came back on, and I was happy again. Whew! that was a close one.

So, I've decided that I need to start doing something else. Something that is not internet related. Maybe I'll even go so far as to do something that doesn't require electricity - Imagine that.

So I went over to my townhome (which is where I am now, typing this to you, using the Internet, heh) and I sat down on one of the 3 things to sit on, and just sat. And enjoyed the silence. No music, just the sounds of the house, and the outside (they're building more of the suburban housing projects). Pretty nifty, I tell you. I enjoyed the sun, the light, and was content.

What to do now? I think I'm going to go walk around. I'll catcha around.

-Kirk

Hey all,

I have not left the property for 2 days now. I would say house, but that's not true. I've been outside, I've gotten the mail, and shoveled snow. But I have not gone anywhere. It's not because I'm lazy (well, maybe a little), but it's mostly because I don't want to get my car dirty. I just washed it on Sunday!

I've also not talked to a live human since yesterday afternoon. I think I'm becoming a hermit. Light is starting to bother me. I am starting to communicate with grunts and gestures.

I need to find a job soon.

-Kirk

Hi all,

It was very windy today. Like take your breath away windy. That's brisk, baby.

So where do all the extra non-paired socks go? A mystery indeed. For the past 4 weeks while I've been doing laundry, I've always had one extra sock with no pair. And I have no idea where the other one went. I'm sad for my lone sock. Maybe the dryer ate it.

Today I went to go wash the supaflyride. My car is just caked with salt. I'm a regular at this car wash by my house, ya see. I go there at least once a week. I can tell you what happens inside the car wash, and what happens when. Usually, it's a pretty honest place of business. But today, the attendants tried to ho me. I wasn't havin none of that. If I pay for the best wash, they damn well better give me the best wash. I was very unhappy to see that they only gave me the basic wash. After having words with the manager, he let me go through again (and actually walked beside my car as I went through) and made sure that I got what I paid for. Pretty nifty. So, I got a free pre-wash :)

The weekend draws to a close. How sad.

-Kirk

Hi all,

Hope you're having a good weekend.

I think I'm getting spring fever. I can't wait for jacketless days of being outside and enjoying the weather, before it get too damn hot. The days when the outside uniform is a t-shirt, shorts, and my trusty Tevas. It's times like this when I want to be able to drive around with the windows down, music blasting. Uh huh... I can't wait!

I love the spring because that's when you open up the windows of your house, let some fresh air in, and do some major cleaning. Best of all, the warmer weather lets me to fully clean out my car, after a winter of nasty salt and just accumulation of junk inside of my car. Woo hoo!

Speaking of cleaning, my mom comes home from the homeland next weekend. So I've started the house cleaning process. Hopefully I can undo the damage of a month "bachelor" living. Heh. We'll see. Hopefully I'll be able to pass the mom "white glove" test ;) I've been good about doing laundry and stuff, but just the normal upkeep stuff of the floors, the bathrooms, etc. have been kind of lacking. Hopefully the scrubbing bubbles will be on my side.

On the Valentine's day card front, I think the courting dance is over. The last song has been played. No response at all. Alas. I even tried calling her last night, so I'm guessing she was probably out. Oh well. Not much to say about that. But you know what, I think this rejection thing is becoming easier. Pretty neat, huh?

-Kirk

Folding fitted bed sheets is a pain in my arse.

-Kirk

Hi all,

Hope you're having a good week. Happy Valentine's day!

I didn't realize that today was Valentine's day until one of the customer service agents at a place that I called told me. It was nice to hear it from someone even if she was a complete stranger :) Seriously though. I think Valentine's day is a niche holiday. No other holiday continuously bitch slaps people not in relationships for an entire month leading up to the holiday. You get reminded pretty much wherever you go. On the radio, TV, print, store displays, whatever. I'd probably feel differently if I were in a relatively "new" relationship, but no, not now. And don't get me started on the equivalent holiday about six months from now created by the Man to continue the bitch slapping.

So anyway, I was at the store the other day doing a little grocery shopping. I was done living life on the edge - I had just finished drinking the last of my gallon of milk that was 4 days past the expiration date. Every morning, I'd cross my fingers and do the sniff test. And I manged to make it through without drinking spoiled milk. I'm very glad. I usually get antsy around the expiration date (for milk, especially) because I'm paranoid that it'll go bad. But I think 4 days is pretty good, don't you? Now I know for next time.

Anyway, so back to the store. I love shopping on the weekdays during the day. It's my favorite, as you might have read before. One thing that I've noticed, is that I feel out of place shopping during this time. I'm surrounded by people that are very senior to me, if you will. So I feel kind of weird. When I go shopping, I am Express Man. I'm trying to get into the store, and get out, as fast as I can. Once in a while I forget something, but it's all part of the game, I tell you. So I'm at the checkout lane, behind this elderly lady. When she gets checked out and it's time to pay, she brings out this big drug dealer sized wad of cash. I'm talking big baller style. It's folded in half, and it's just big pimpin'. I kid you not. She whips off a few bills like it's no thang.

I always pay with plastic. Just because I think it's way more convenient. So instead of having bills in my wallet, it's usually a bunch of receipts. Hey, whatever works, right?

If someone were to ever mug me just for cash, they'd be very disappointed. I rarely deal on a cash basis. And when I do have cash, it's usually under 20 bucks. Anti-big baller style. There are times when I have to scrounge for that last dollar in change when I'm at the car wash. Hey, quarters, nickels, dimes, and pennies are legal tender too :) But you know it's bad when I'm diggin in my car's ashtray for car wash money when it's supposed to be reserved for parking meter money.

-Kirk

Hi all,

Today has been a totally lazy day for me. I have done nothing that is noteworthy. Well, except maybe going to Costco for a hot dog lunch and a parmesan pretzel. After my thrifty, yet filling, lunch, I decided to take a stroll around the store (of course). I didn't buy anything except beef jerky because I had a craving. Kind of random, yes? Indeed. Anyway, I saw some pretty nifty things. Like you can buy a can of crabmeat (real, not krab) for about 13 bucks. Imagine, eating crabmet (although not fresh) without having to crack a single shell. Tempting. And, it's one pound, without the shell...

I hope you are enjoying reading this blog entry, because I almost poisoned myself. While eating my original flavored beef jerky that is oh so tasty but unfortunately not too tender, I almost ate the silica gel packet on accident. I was just concentrating on writing and eating, and look what happens. See how dedicated I am to you? ;)

As usual, I must sing my praises for shopping during the weekday. I don't really buy much, but at least it gets me out of the house (and wearing something other than fleece). Not that there's anything wrong with wearing fleece all of the time. Or sporty spice pants, for that matter.

-Kirk

Hi everyone,

I had my first interview today in almost 3 years. I was rusty indeed. I don't think it went extremely well, but I don't think it went badly either. It was probably about average. I just don't think I kicked as much ass as I normally could. Hopefully my charm won them over ;) We'll see.

To unwind, I went to the local mecca of shopping to try to jumpstart the economy. I didn't really buy too much, but the surprising (and blogworthy) thing that I saw was that this lady (who looked fairly wealthy) actually had her dog on a leash walking around with her in the store. As if FAO Schwartz was a pet store that allowed pets inside. It was the oddest thing. Everyone gave looks, but noboday really said anything. The security guards inside the store didn't say anything either. Next time I'm at the mall, I'm bringing Polly, my pot-bellied pig. Aww come on, don't get all animal rights on my ass. I'm just kidding ;)

Anyway, this dog was very well behaved and stuck close to his expensive owner, but looked very funny among the sea of stuffed animals (where her owner was). At first, I thought the dog was a stuffed animal on the floor, but when it moved, I knew better. The huge stuffed Patrick the Pup looked like it would eat the mini-dog for dinner.

Tomorrow will be back to the job search :)

-Kirk

Greetings everyone,

Hope you're having a good weekend. Too bad it's Sunday already.

It feels like I haven't written in a while, but I guess I have. Being unemployed makes time feel weird. You don't notice how much work is a big part of your life and how much time it consumes.

Let's see, what's been going on.

For the past week, I've had to buy greeting cards for people. Buying greeting cards can be a very time consuming process. Sometimes if you're lucky, you'll find one pretty quickly, sometimes you don't and walk out with nothing. It definitely helps if you know the person you're buying the card for well too. I usually work thorough all the relevant card sections (e.g., birthday, get well, etc.) and when I find the perfect card, I know it. For me, birthday cards are the easiest to buy. There's a ton of those, no matter where you go. The most difficult for me are the sympathy cards. Earlier this week, one of my dad's friends from work died of a heart attack. Since both my mom and dad are in Taiwan, they asked me to buy a card and send it out. So there I am in the store, buying a sympathy card for a person's family I don't really know that well. So I just went with the most simple card I could find. I thought it was pretty nice, I hope the family does as well.

So while I was out shopping for my sympathy card, I thought I'd buy another card as well for that certain young lady that I'm trying to charm. My situation was very specific. I was looking for the perfect card that wasn't too cheesy, too lovey dovey, or too explicitly friend-like (e.g., to my special FRIEND). Blah. I even thought about going freestyle and buying a blank card to write in. I don't know if it's on purpose, but even if the card type indicator/divider thing says that the card is blank, I'll still open to check the inside. Kind of strange, yes? I don't know if it's habit of just seeing what message is in the card, or if I'm just subconsciously checking the card to see if it's indeed blank inside :) Anyway, I ended up finding a suitable card today - It was very simple, and I think it'll do the trick.

I'm sad because I seem to have lost one of my favorite University of Michigan sweatshirts. It's a... bummer.

All day, it's seemed like people have been in a big hurry to get somewhere. Maybe I'm just feeling sluggish today.

-Kirk

Hi Everyone,

Hope you're doing well.

Arby's kicks ass. The sandwiches that they have there are so tasty. Today for my late lunch I had one of their industrial sized market fresh sandwiches. Ham and swiss. With curly fries of course. Anyway, I think my order taker / server person was the manager or something. She was totally rationing out the sauce packets. I must have looked like some punk kid who was going to put the extra sauce packets in people's shoes or under car tires or something. She would only give me one packet of each. Since I'm definitely a multi-packet ketchup guy, I had to specify exactly how many other sauce packets I needed. Sorry, I'm just used to the high school kids giving you a 6-month supply of sauce packets with each order.

-Kirk

Hi all,

Good evening.

I will never complain about commercial breaks again. Well, maybe a little. I now see the value of them. For the first time in a while, I caught a NOVA show on (gasp) PBS this evening. I know, I know, by watching this program, it's pushing me that much closer to adult-dom. But the show was this nifty documentary about the NASA X-32 program. I was channel surfing just like normal, and I just lingered there on PBS for a while.

But man, I had to pee. Bad.

But there were no commercial breaks, so I was stuck. Well, until I couldn't hold it anymore. Then I had to miss a few minutes.

So thank goodness for the every 10 to 15 minute break MTV and prime time tv gives you to relieve yourself. Now you may ask, why every 10 or 15 minutes and not just once say, every 15 minutes? It's because everyone's on a different cycle. How are the networks supposed to know when in time you just finished off that 64 oz Big Gulp before you sat down? The networks have to figure in the variability of bladder sizes and individual control. I'm sure they figure every 10 to 15 minutes, all their viewers will be properly covered. Too technical? I don't think so.

See the value of the commercial break. It's not just for advertising anymore :)

-Kirk

Hey all,

OK, so I admit it. I watched that damn Fox show tonight for the first time while treadmilling. The one with the construction guy that's living a lie - Chuck Mizzilionaire. Pretty interesting stuff. I think I may have to fight the urget to watch it next week. Hey, it was on after Boston Public, ok? ;) My favorite part was when Chuck was out with the first lady, and kept on staring at her chest during dinner. And then he made the statement in Beavis and Butthead fashion, "uhhh, I like legs." His Freudian slip while talking about the 2nd lady was funny too - He asked about her breast, when I think he was trying to ask about her dress. Priceless.

And what is the dilly with the latest Levi's commercial? Totally dumb. You know the one that I'm talking about - Yucky haired guy and girl are walking along the street, and then there's a stampede that comes towards them. I don't get it. I don't think I'm going to buy those jeans if they attract animals to come charging at me, that's for sure.

-Kirk

Wow, so yesterday was my 4 month anniversary for writing in my blog! Imagine that. thanks for reading.

-Kirk

Hi all,

Happy Sunday. :)

I had a great morning today. I slept in late, and when I woke up, I just stayed in bed listening to CDs. I was relaxed, enjoying the tunes, and clumsily walking the fine line between sleep and being awake. With that and a couple of cat-like stretches, I was truly happy.

The half-assed job that I did yesterday shoveling snow is coming back to haunt me. Now I have a driveway that is a treacherous ice rink. Wonderful. I almost slipped and fell a few times while getting paper today.

I'm a victim of clever television advertising. Last night, I was seduced by a commercial for a sourdough ham and swiss melt. Mmmm. I think I know what I'll have for dinner tonight.

-Kirk

Hi Everyone,

Hope you're having a good weekend.

Happy Lunar New Year to you. But at the same time we have to take a moment to remember the astronauts that lost their lives today. (sigh)

Apparently, the planning has started for my class reunion. E-mail contact has been established, and the date has been set. It's going to be in November, so they gave us plenty of time to have anxiety about it :) It's going to be my 10 year, and by the time the reunion rolls around, I'm going to be 28. So I now have 10 months to either get really rich, or become a pop star. I better get busy. :) It hink it'll be good to see people from the old 'hood again, I think. Ask me again in November ;) What will I wear?

Today I got to experience why it's better to get your snow shoveling done in the morning. It was a little warmer today, so some of the newly fallen snow started to melt. Which is all good, but then a layer of slush develops which makes snow a little more difficult to shovel. The snow is heavier, so it's just a beotch to move around. Of course, I went old skool and shoveled by hand (I didn't think the snowthrower would do well with slush). Took me a while, and the driveway still looks like it's got snow on it. I hope it melts more tomorrow :)

-Kirk