Hi all,

Hope you're doing well. Through the miracles of technology, I am writing this to you from the comfort of my bed. Kinda crazy. I know, I know, I'm pretty late in the wireless game, but I just can't get over how fun this is going to be. I can pretty much sit and surf from anywhere in (and hopefully around) the house. Woo hoo!

Why am I writing this to you from my bed? Kind of Doogie Houser M.D.-esque, I was thinking I would put down some words before I go to bed. And this way, I could be closer to my bed, in hopes of someday eventually getting to the point where I can go to bed early. But there is just so much to do!

So let's see. Today instead of going to work as usual, I had to go to this new employee thing at the bank. It was ok. Not as painful as I thought it would be, but I guess I got out of one day of regular work - Although there were definitely times when I wished I were doing real work instead of doing this orientation stuff. But it was all good. I got to meet some nifty people today (the ones sitting around my table), and learn some stuff about my benefits and whatnot. Unfortunately, none of my benefits start until May... Kind of a bummer, but hey, what can you do?

The best part of it was when I was reminded that the bank is a totally different type of culture that I'm used to. The first session was your generic welcome stuff and whatnot. But then, later on that morning, we had this really really tall woman come and talk to us about 401k stuff. Now the first session was just normal powerpoint presentation stuff, no big thing... But the lady that did the 401k presentation had to "set up" for her presentation with something that she called a "technology change." So I was expecting a swapping of laptop, right? Wrong. She brings out the overhead projector... Mind you, I haven't seen an overhead projector presentation in ages. Probably since undergrad. Now it wasn't one of those scrolly transparency things where she wrote freestyle, but she had some nifty color overhead transparencies with some clip art. I was thoroughly impressed. Mind you, the presentation was just as effective, without the screen transitions and fancy backgrounds. Back to basics, I tell you. Back to basics ;)

So let's see, what else is new...

As I was cleaning out my car the other day, I noticed that my car seats were fading pretty badly. My normal grey interior was becoming a weird purplish color. Not good. So to combat the effects of the sun (since I no longer have covered parking while I'm at work), I bought some car seat covers from Target. I wanted to have a little fun, so I got the Asian boy rice rocket zebra print fuzzy seat covers. I know many of your are probably scratching and shaking your heads. I liked the look. I could have gotten the not as fuzzy seat covers that look like they belong in a Buick Century, but I decided to have a little fun :)

-Kirk

Hi everyone,

The weekend is here! Woo hoo! 2 days of relaxing. Nice.

I got to sleep in today. First time in a while, I think. Totally nice. I did wake up at my usual time for work, but I managed to fall back asleep (it really wasn't that hard) until around 11:30 or so. Reminds me of my former days of unemployment... It was a simpler time back then.

So let's see. Friday was payday was yesterday, so I did the Dave Chappelle, "I'm rich beyotch!" in my head as I opened my check :) I had to yell it in my head because I was at work... It's nice to be paid again...

It's kind of funny how when you meet a stranger for the first time, some of their mannerisms remind you of someone you know. That happened to me last week. I met this lady that in sometimes sits in the cube next to me and the way that she acted and moved totally reminded me of a lady that I knew in grad school. Very random.

-Kirk

Hi all,

My blog entries are becoming more sporadic - not because I haven't wanted to write, but it's that I've been running out of time after work to do more recreational stuff nowadays. I've been seriously trying (and failing) at going to bed early. On the nights that I'm more ambitious, I treadmill for a bit, then shower, then it's almost time for bed. Other nights when I'm lazy, televizzle gets the best of me, and that's all I need to say about that. Recently, I've been doing some of my favorite evening weekday shopping, and getting home fairly late.

Within the past few weeks, Target has put on sale some of the furniture pieces that I've been eyeing. So I picked up a couple of bookcases, a light up table, a folding screen, and a coat tree. But as of yet, still no couch. Which is the piece of furniture I need to buy the most. I guess I just haven't been in the mood to poke around furniture places. I'm not really looking forward to shady furniture salespeople. Even if they offer to pay my sales tax, and I don't have to pay anything until 2010. However, if Target sold couches, I'm sure I'd have one of those by now. But alas, they don't. The search continues...

Anyway, work is going aiight. I'm still in adjustment mode, so things are going allright, when I'm not feeling lost. I'm still having the trouble staying awake thing, but I'm still working on it. I miss the nice furniture that my old office had. And, I missed my rolly optical mouse. I was demoted to using an old skool ball mouse with no wheel. I tell ya, you get totally used to having certain features and functions, and when they're gone, it just feels odd. I can't really explain it. So many times I've tried to scroll using the rolly wheel on my mouse to see that there isn't one there. Dissed. It's like I woke up one morning, and instead of reaching for my normal pants, I decided to go into the storage closet, and bring out a pair of pants that I wore in high school. The pants still work just fine, but it's just weird being in them. I dunno, that's the best thing I could come up with.

A few weekends ago, I picked up a color PDA. Ever since then, 3 people that I know have picked up new PDAs as well. My brother, Geneman, and Steve are all proud owners of new Sony Clies. It's PDA shopping season :) The bad thing is that I haven't done anything useful with mine. I'm still using my new PDA the same way I used my old one. As a glorified address / date book. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But everone else seems to be doing stuff with theirs - Download pictures, playing mp3s, downloading apps, whatever. Me? Nothin.... I think it's just because I've got my new gig, and it's taking a bunch of my time as I get adjusted or something. Anywya, I'm going to steal Geneman's idea about writing his blog on his pda and kind of edit it for my own evil means. I've thought about stuff to write about during the day, but when I finally get a chance to sit down, the thought has been lost in the ether. So now, whenever I can, I'm going to jot a few notes in my pda. We'll see how that goes...

Oh yeah, I'm going to take a photography and a watercolor course next month. I'm finally going to learn what the hell f stops and stuff like that is. Steve is going to be my photography class buddy too. I'll probably be copying off of him all the time, since he knows more than I do. Should be a good time though.

I'm going to go to sleep now. I'll write more this weekend, hopefully.

-Kirk

One quick thing that I forgot to mention... About spam.

I'm always so amazed at how clever some of the e-mail spammers are getting. Always trying different ways to defeat mail filters, or making spam e-mail look legit so you'll open it (clever subject lines).

You know, they spell out d.i.r.t.y words or s p e l l them out funky. I sometimes think it's wacky when I get spam mail from unknown e-mail addresses whose display names are of people that I actually know.

I always get a chuckle out of the subject lines though... Today, I think I saw my favorite. It was from someone named "Cindy C" - Her subject line? I'm yummy. I'm sure you are, Ms. Cindy C. I am too.

-Kirk

Hi everyone,

Hope you've had a good weekend... It went by too fast for me, as usual... I napped for 2 hours today, and I'm still feeling sleepy. I think I'm going to try and go to bed super early today. We'll see how that goes. Even my usual goal of 10:00 p.m. usually becomes 11:30 or so.

My dad left again for the homeland this morning. He should be on his way from LAX to the homeland as I type this out. My dad is a totally seasoned traveller, and I'm amazed at how air travel doesn't bother him at all.

Today, the weather was odd - The forecast and the thermometer said it was around 50 degrees F. I don't know if the supposed warm weather just didn't make it to my neck of the woods or what, but it was a tad on the cool side today. However, I took advantage of the "warmer" weather, and cleaned out the inside of my car. Did a pretty thorough vacuum of the interior, threw out all of the miscelleneous pieces of paper I had inside, and wiped down the interior with cleaner. I was completely amazed as to how much dirt and stuff was in my car. Here's some of the more interesting things:

- a pair of Mongolian Barbeque (from Ann Arbor) chopsticks, still in original packaging
- a purple Oral-B Advantage toothbrush in a badly smashed box (the brush is new and mine, I hope)
- a souvenir display card with a piece of the Berlin Wall (my best friend Ali gave me this years ago when he was still in Pakistan)
- an old Sprint PCS wireless brochure (had to be from about 1997-1998
- a package tissue paper for a gift that I bought for someone but never used (1998)
- an unopened bank statement from June 1999
- random pieces of candy
- a hockey puck
- wrestling trading cards (don't ask)

So now my car is probably a few pounds lighter than before. I will probably see my gas mileage increase, and there will be no odd rattling noises from stuff shifting in my car anymore...

I also took out the 8 billion CDs that were sitting in my car as well. Today was the first time ever (since I've gotten the CD player installed in my car) that I've driven around without CDs to listen to. Weird. Hopefully I can trim down the # of CDs that I carry around in my car to just the select few that I've been listening to recently :) But let me assure you, with all the CDs that I had in my car before, I could have played music for a wide variety of people for days.

Tonight was sushi night. So good. A few California rolls, some sashimi, and rice were on the menu - Total heaven.

Over the weekend, I showed my parents my new digs at work. I think they were impressed by how big the bank building was. It's all good. I took in my lava lamp, but unfortunately, the bulb didn't make the trip. No biggie, I've got a bulb ready for the ceremonial lighting of the lava lamp tomorrow morning :)

Today (I think it was today) I read a little article in the paper about how love seems to find you when you least expect it. Oddly enough, I think this is very true. When I look back to the small sample size of who I've met and "dated" in my romantic career, this is definitely a true statement for me. I started to realize this a little while ago (before I saw it in print), but I think I'm going to try and just focus on other stuff in my life and just see what happens...

Here goes :)

-Kirk

If it were only possible to make a semi-dressy shoe as comfortable as my gym shoes...

-Kirk

Of course, I forgot to say - The best part of the weekend is how I don't have to wear business casual clothes for 2 straight days! Dusted off the fleece gear, and I'm ready to go! Total comfort, here I come!

-Kirk

Hi all,

Friday is here! woo hoo!

I'm very happy. I will need this weekend to rest. My dad is leaving on Sunday, so I'm going to take him and my mom to see my new office space tomorrow. I will also try to take in some office-type decorations. My desk is pretty bare, and if you didn't pay any attention, you would never know that someone is actually working there. I'm going to take my lava lamp, and whatever else I can scrounge up. We'll see.

I love how e-mail has made it so easy to keep in touch with people. I've been writing people that I haven't talked to in a while, and it's very nice to hear from them. Always nice to get an e-mail from old friends.

It's funny how when my car's totally clean, I rarely have passengers. And when my car is at it's peak of uncleanliness, I end up having driving someone around? Odd, huh.

-Kirk

Hi Everyone,

I'm happy that it's Thursday. This week has gone by pretty quickly. So that's a good sign, right? I've been pretty busy at work, so I haven't been clock watching - A sure sign that I've been workin it. I've adjusted to working again, just not the staying fully awake during business hours part. I'm doing better, don't get me wrong, but I still have a little ways to go.

By the time I got out of work, the very nice warm weather that everyone had been commenting about had passed. It wasn't the nice 60's out, but I was still able to drive home without a jacket on. I'm totally diggin my short commute too. It's half the time of my old one, and the traffic actually moves pretty well. It's not as much time to jam to music, but I'm willing to take the tradeoff. :)

I'm sad to report that a long time member of our goldfish family passed on to the fish tank in the sky this evening. It was the prized silver and gold one. He lived a long and prosperous life...

I'm getting itchy to spring clean my car. Man, is it messy inside. I'm hoping that one of these upcoming weekend days will be nice enough to squeeze a hand wash in with a super duper delux waxing session. We'll see.

-Kirk

Hi all,

So it's actually happening. War has begun. (sigh)

Special thanks to all of the American men and women who are overseas kicking some ass for us.

-Kirk

I am out of control...

At work, they block instant messenger traffic. So I'm suffering from not using it during the day. Just now, I was working it, doing 4 simultaneous conversations at once... Craziness.

-Kirk

Hi everyone,

It seems like It's been forever since I've written. I've always thought about writing, but I always end up thinking about doing it so late in the evening, and I have to get to bed early because I can't sleep in anymore...

So a quick little recap:

My mom and dad came home last Wednesday. They came back on two different flights, so I had to make 2 trips out the airport. That, in addition to my multiple trips out to the Northwest terminal while I was travelling for work, has made me quite familiar with the international arrivals, domestic arrivals, and the departures level of the terminal. My mom and dad both got home safely, so all was good.

On 3/13 (last Thursday) I put away my uniform of fleece sweatpants and t-shirt for the more coporate uniform of business casual. After a short one ahd a half month of being on involuntary vaction, I am again working for the Man.

It's good to be at work again, let me tell you. Right now, I'm trying to get up to speed with work, meet new people, trying to stay awake during business hours, and working out my daily routine. The fantastic amenities that I was used to both at home and at my former job are no more. Water is no longer a few steps away from the computer. Nor is the bathroom. There is no dedicated refridgerator for me to use and keep my lunch in. And of course, there's no naps :)

The first day was very meeting-ful. And as many of you may know, whenever there's a meeting, it's like I've taken a sleeping pill. I have to fight so hard to stay awake. Nuttiness. Not quite used to wearing khakis and a button up shirt yet, so that adds to the challenge.

Friday was much better. Much less meetings, but got to meet a few more people that were very nice. The peeps at work are not my usual crowd that I roll with, but it's all good in the 'hood. I'll report again sometime in the future, I'm sure.

This past weekend, I bought into the PDA craze again and bought a fine Sony product. I was pretty geeked. Hopefully, I will fare better with this one than my earlier Palm product. We shall see. I am now in the Memory Stick family.

Oh yeah, happy St. Patrick's day!

Let's see, what else...

With the totally awesome weather we had today, I got a taste of the great Spring weather, as I got to drive home from work with the windows down and my sunroof totally opened. Again, I'm going to be jealous of all of the lucky people wtih their drop tops. One day - one day I will have my own rag top to drive :) With the boom in the trunk, of course ;)

I also got my work ID today. So now I'm legal, and can get into my building without waiting for someone to let me in. Woo hoo!

-Kirk

Hi all,

Tomorrow's the big day. I join the working world again. Woo hoo! Excited but nervous. Hopefully the other kids will like me, and I won't get beat up at lunch time for my lunch money. I'll let you know.

-Kirk

Hi everyone,

Hope you're having a good weekend.

I just spent an hour cleaning out the drain to my tub. I pulled out this crazy industrial sized wad of hair and yuckiness. I was scared. It made my skin crawl. (even though it was my own hair). I need to stop shedding in the shower, or I need to devise a method of drain hair clog management.

Sorry for that gross out moment. I'm sure you really needed to hear about that. I think it's funny how dirt like substances seem to attract each other. Take things like lint. I'm always amazed how lint attracts other lint particles. Like when I clean out the lint trap on the dryer. Which reminds me...

Anyway, so what else has been going on...

On Friday, I accepted a job offer! Woo hoo! My involuntary vacation ends Thursday. A new chapter of career life will begin on that day. I will have to retire my current uniform of fleece and sweats and adhere to the new business casual dress code. I'm very excited. But I won't believe it until I'm sitting at my new desk... I'm going to have to start getting adjusted to the 9 to 5 ish schedule. No more sleeping in and cat naps during the day. Alas. I'm pretty geeked to go back to work though. Now I feel I can get on with my life.

-Kirk

Hi all,

I have a small gripe for this blog entry. So I went out and bought the Osbourne's DVD yesterday, right? Of course, I bought the uncensored version. (Why would you buy the censored version, anyway?)

I started watching some of the bonus footage yesterday (very funny) and watched some of the broadcast episodes. Well you know what? It's not all the way uncensored. It's kind of a scam. Don't get me wrong - you get to hear all of the great dialogue, but there are scenes where stuff is still blurred out. For instance, when Ozzy shows his arse to the audience during a concert and the other time when he flips the bird while yelling "Rock and Roll!"

So a word of caution - the DVD, despite all of the warnings, is only "semi-uncensored." It's false advertising. What a bummer. The claims on the box are all lies! Lies!

For those of you that do want to see Ozzy's arse, it's on the bonus footage section on the 2nd disc. Just FYI :)

-Kirk

Hi everyone,

Since I've been at home on involuntary vacation, I've received a large number of telemarketer calls. I cannot wait for the national "do not call" registry to go into effect. It will not be soon enough.

I have to fight the need to be nasty. I'm usually a fairly polite person, but when people you don't know call when you're trying to sleep, or of course during a meal, it gets annoying. As I was leaving to go to the condo, some lady called me. I recognize the telltale pause in response (as the automated system connects the call to the telemarketer), so after I said hello, I just stayed on the line and didn't say anything. Just waited. After a few hellos on the other side, I could still hear people in the background getting rejected ("ok, I'll try back later", etc.) 15 seconds :) In silence, with someone that you don't know, that's a long time. I ended up hanging up first, because I was bored.

I know, I know. It's not the person who randomly calls me who is at fault. It's his/her job. That's why I usually nip the converstaion in the bud right away, and say "sorryI'mnotinterestedhaveaniceday" and hang up. The telemarketing profession is probably one of those that tops most people's most annoying profession list.

-Kirk

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well.

Today I visited an old friend. One that I hadn't seen in a long long time. It's been at least six months. And when I got there, it was like I never left. The big yellow sign was a welcome sight to see as I drove up. I love Best Buy. But since they've had free shipping, I've been lazy and just had stuff delivered. Well today, I thought I'd go old skool and pick up the DVD myself.

I was also at the local grocery store to pick up some milk and cereal. Oh yeah, plus my 25 Hershey's candy bars. Yup, 25. Regular and with almond. You see, Hershey's is running a special offer where you can get a free t-shirt with proofs of purchse. If you too would like a piece (heh, no pun intended) of the action, check out www.hersheyshappiness.com. They have 4 designs you can choose from.

-Kirk

Hi everyone,

Hope you're doing well. Today is my brother's birthday. I think he's 33 now.

My mom is also on her way to the homeland again. I dropped her off this morning. The plane was delayed about an hour or so, but other than that, everything's groovy.

Something is causing the CD player in the den to skip. The disc that I'm playing is relatively new and unplayed, so I'm not really questioning the media (yet). The playback skips through some tracks rather randomly. The funniest thing is that on the last track, as the song is ending, the cd skips to somewhere in the beginning of the song. The song never ends!

-Kirk

Hi all,

It boggles my mind. The fine people at Kleenex can make regular tissues, double ply tissues, extra strong tissues, tissues with lotion, pocket sized packs, wide boxes, tall boxes, etc. But they can't manange to create a box where when you first open it, it's easy to pull just one tissue and not two?

-Kirk