Hi all,

Hope you're doing well.

For some reason, once in a while my computer at work just refuses to shut down at the end of the day. It's almost like the PC is giving me a hard time for working banker's hours. Taunting me. It's not my fault, really - It's the company culture ;)

I have to try shutting down the machine in 3 ways. The normal start menu shut down, the keyboard shortcut, and then my last resort, the Novell client thingy.

Sometimes even then the damn thing won't shut down. I know that it's tried to be on all night, because I unplug the machine and lock it up at night. When I come in (in the morning), the battery's dead.

Ahh well, I'll never understand it.

-Kirk

Hi all,

Another weekend down. Tomorrow it's back to the daily grind.

I must say, it's been a very quiet weekend. Not much to report. I felt like I watched quite a bit of television though. It's just been one of those weekends when it's cool enough outside (and in the house) to be in a pair of sweatpants and socks. Add that to curling up in front of the televizzle and you're all set. Can't be beat. Well, ok. The only things that could have made it better were a bearskin rug and a bottle of Courvoisier. And of course, young lizzadies. heheh.

Oh yeah, I paid bills too ;)

I was supposed to go put up my new window treatments at the city house, but I was just too damn lazy today. There's always next week...

-Kirk

If only I could live in a Gap ad...

It's like the perfect world...

Leaves falling, great clothes, cars, good music (September by EWF), and supermodels - What more could you ask for? Heh.

See the recent ad for pants from the Man's Uniform Store.

Hi all,

While doing my nightly tooth brushing / flossing session, I caught the last 10 or 15 minutes of Jerry Maguire. You know what part I'm talkin about - the bust into the women's support group "you complete me" speech. And then the "you had me hello" part? I know I hadn't seen the movie in a while (can you believe the movie is 7 years old!), but I had forgotten how cheeseball that whole scene was. For some reason, I had thought it was better than that. Oh well. Cute little kid though.

I like romantic movies and romantic comedies - They make up for the lack of romance I've got going on in my life. I know it sounds pathetic, but it's true. But not in a pathetic sort of way ;) Seriously, hear me out: I guess watching movies makes me see "what it could be like." You know, how people meet, how relationships go, etc. So it's kind of something to look forwrad to in a way. But I think all these movies are wacking out my expectations and now I'm expecting everything to fall into place perfectly when I start / have a relationsihp.

I've heard people say and read that in order to make a relationship successful, you have to treat it with as much diligence as you would you job (provided that you are good at your job ;) Sometimes I feel that I'm not ready to do that. I want the good relationship, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to put in all the time to reap the benefits. I think I'm still in a me-centric stage of life.

I was talking with a coworker of mine on Friday. We were talking about relationships and whatnot. She was saying that stuff always happens when you least expect it. I do believe that. that's how I've met all the people that I've (semi-) dated. Kinda crazy.

-Kirk

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well.

Wow, I didn't realize that I hadn't written since Tuesday. This week has definitely flown by. My recent evenings have been taken over by shopping trips, exercising, or answering e-mails.

First off, I have a new condiment that I've fallen in love with: Tabasco Garlic Pepper Sauce. Awww heeeell yeah. I got ahold of this fine product at Meijer's during the week, and tried it for the first time today. so tasty. It's become my new best friend at the kitchen table. I may have to start putting this magically special sauce on my Cookie Crisp in the morning. heh. I talked about "special sauce." Plus, the beauty of Cookie Crisp is not to be messed around with. You need to keep the Crisp experience true.

So let's see. I'm afraid that if I ever have kids, the inside of my car will never be clean again. The only time I'll see the car interior truly clean is when I drive off the car lot, or when I have to bring it back (if it's a lease) :) There have been many a car that I've ridden in where the owners have kids and you see stray cheerios and a plethora of other food morsels on the floor or on the seat cushions. :) I think my favourite is sitting on the stray Tonka truck or other construction vehicle. not that there's anything wrong with that...

Speaking of cars, I've been diggin' the new 2004 Toyota Camry Solara. Toyota really did a kickass job on this car. If I'll never be able to have the dual car (one all-season and one summer) dream, then I think I'd get a luxo cruiser coupe like this one. Who would have ever thought that I'd say that I wanted a Camry? I like the Honda Accord Coupe (current model year and previous body style) too.

Today's been quite the lazy day. I haven't done anything. it's not like I went to bed late last night, but I was just kind of tired today. Made me want to take naps. I didn't though. I was good.

I just watched tv mostly. Caught up on my Must See TV shows. The premieres were all pretty good. Unfortunately, I missed the last few episodes of last season, so I was a little lost at first. No big thing though.

-Kirk

Hi all,

First off, a happy brithday to Ali! He's 30 today. We're getting old. hehehe. It's the first day of autumn too.

Today was the first time in a while where I drove home from work with only one window down while it was sunny outside. It's getting quite chilly. I could have thrown my jacket on, but I was trying to resist as much as I could. Now if I had a convertible... ;)

Oh yeah, so it was cold enough this morning where I had to bring out the good old fleece jacket. Crizaziness...

OK, so what's been on the mind today:

I'm so glad that the record companies have finally come to their senses and have lowered the list price of CDs. I couldn't be happier. I almost bought the new Dave Matthews cd (released today) without having heard anything from the disc. Just because it was leass than 10 bucks. I know that with these lower prices, it'll make for more impulse buys of music from me. I think it's the magic threshold / price of less than 10 dollars a disc is what will help me buy more CDs.

I'll have to find out other ways to take money away from the children's mouths of record execs and recording artists... whatever ;)

Just wanted to note that 6 boxes of Cookie Crisp were purchased today for breakfast. I'm hoping it'll last me until the end of the year. I'm telling you, it is the best cereal in the world. I can't begin to explain how good it is. Little cookies. Mmmmm...

So I went to sleep last night at 10:30 p.m. and you know what? It felt good to wake up. I couldn't believe it. I need to go to bed that early every night. I was mildly drowsy today, but not as bad as usual. I should try it more often... Who would have ever thought. Me, going to bed at 10:30 at night. Sheesh. Whaddya know. I am getting old.

-Kirk

for all of tha big baller technophiles with lots of ca$hi$h.

L (that's the site name, just trust me, you'll see when you get there)

Hiya,

How's it going?

I forgot to mention that I had the day off today (in yesterday's blog). Well, I kind of had the day off. I was getting some drywall stuff done in the city home, so I had to be there for that.

Which is one of the topics of today's blog. How being "serviced" is quite the uncomfortable feeling for me.

My first memory of just being weirded out was when I was visiting my brother out in MA many years ago. We had stopped to take his car in for an oil change. It was one of those drive in joints where there's a access hole below the car and the people change your oil while you just sit in the car. Afterwards, you just drive out the back. I never told him that I was kind of weirded out - Well, I'm sure when he reads this, he'll know now...

Anyway, whenever I get my oil changed, I just stop the car at the dealership, and the supafly ride magically comes back a half hour to an hour later with "changed oil." I have my own hangups about car servicing, but that discussion will be for a later time...

So we pull into the bay (my brother had done this many times before, so it was no thang for him, I'm sure)... And we just sit there. There's definitely stuff going on under the car (we could hear people talking and tool-like noises under the car. And I was thinking to myself - should I get out of the car? Do we talk to the people that are around? What do we do while the servicepeople are changing the oil? I wasn't freaking out, but it was just a very foreign concept to me, I guess.

I'm sure I've peppered the blog about my hangups about being "serviced" by people, but here's another story...

So the year warranty on the city home is coming to an end (come 3 days on the 25th). And on the 11 month, you can call the developer people to come back and fix stuff that has gone wrong in the last year. One of the things on the agenda (the main thing, actually) was to redo some of the drywall that had shifted over the seasons, nail pops, etc. So today these two drywall dudes came by and worked at the house for about 5 hours or so. Patching, sanding, you name it. Anyway, the entire time these dudes were there, I felt uneasy. My mom had come along as well to keep me company, so at least I wasn't alone. Don't get me wrong. These blokes were really nice and friendly. No reason to think that they were sketchy. But that's the thing, I just didn't know what to do while they were there.

I didn't want to be in the way, but there was really no place where I felt we could really stay without being in the line of drywall repair. We ended up hanging out in the kitchen, because there was only one small area that needed patching.

I tried to be hospitable, offering them beverages and even lunch. They refused on the latter (apparently they had eaten on one of their breaks) so I went to get some sandwiches at this new restaurant that opened a few miles away. As a sidenote, these sandwiches were kickass. the shakes were really good as well.

anyway, back to the original topic.

So, after I brought the loot back to the house, I felt weird eating in front of the dudes. So I ended up eating my sandwich (which did I mention it was good? ;) really fast... My shake too. Even though they had told me that they weren't interested in lunch. And of course, the entire time I was eating, one of the dudes was mixing stuff at the kitchen sink. Ugh, who knows.

I dunno, maybe it was just odd for me to "carry on" as if nobody else (besides my mom) was there. For me it's like being in a room with a huge elephant in the corner that nobody is acknowledging.

So I'm a little odd. So what? ;) This is the same reason why I don't think I could fully enjoy room service. I know, I know. Don't knock it until you try it (or something like that).

what else...

So now in the city home, the walls are in need of a good painting since I have patches of bare drywall cement here and there. I wonder how much that is going to co$t.

I managed to set everything back up and normal again - In preparation for the drywall day, I put a bunch of stuff away to save it from the dreaded drywall dust that gets everywhere.

Tomorrow it's back to the grind...

-Kirk

Hi everyone,

Hope you had a nice weekend. Alas, it's drawing to a close...

I've had a pretty good weekend. I couldn't have asked for better weather.

Saturday was a great cruising day. Drove around with the t-tops off the entire time. I had gone out earlier in the morning with the supaflyride with shorts and a t-shirt on, but I ended up changing because I was really really cold. Once the jeans and long sleeve t-shirt was on, I was golden.

It's also quite sad, as shorts weather is slowly coming to an end as well.

Anyway, my search for car stuff continues... As I was driving around, I saw these two guys in a silver Neon that was all lowered, had tasteful graphics on it, with nice rims. At a stoplight, I asked them where he got all the stuff done on his car. One of these days I'll have to go check the place out. :)

On Saturday I had an "outing" of sorts. I say this because I don't want to call it a date - because it wasn't. Although at times, it felt like it might have been? Maybe not. Anyway, I enjoyed spending time with her. She smelled nice. But I don't know where it's going. Seriously.

(sigh)

I washed the supaflyride this evening. Did the one step Zymol. towards the end, I was getting very cold as well. On a more nerdy note, I drove around the block before pulling the car back into the garage, and I do hear a small engine sound difference with the new filter in. I dunno if it's making my car go faster though. Who knows.

Apparently, my high school reunion invitations were sent out a few weeks ago. Mine got bounced back because the address on it was wrong. the end of November is only 2 months away. I need to achieve pop stardom by then and then start up my clothing line soon.

-Kirk

Bob the Builder Called - He wants his pants back...

Hi everyone,

Long time no write... I haven't had much time. I've been busy doing e-mails and whatnot in the evenings that I've not been keeping up on my blog entries...

This week has been kind of funny. I think it's because things slowed down in comparison to last week, so I've been really antsy to get out of work. I wasn't like that before, but just something about this week. Don't know what it is. Oh well. the week's finally over...

Today was one of the best days that I've had at the new gig. We had a ton of fun - it was a mixture of Jeans day, and a fundraiser (dunk tank) that a group was doing. We got to see higher-ups get dunked in the tank. I'm sure the group raised a ton of money too. All for a good cause.

I really like jeans day at the office. You get to see everyone in a more relaxed atmosphere. I think it's neat to see people not looking all corporate and whatnot. Plus, I think people look "better" in more casual clothes. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the well dressed business casual, but I guess since I'm most comfortable in the more casual clothing realm, I think people look best in them as well. Is that weird? Perhaps.

What else? Oh yeah, so about the line up top. That was one of the comebacks I had for Brizzai when he was giving me a hard time about my construction barrel / convict orange button up shirt. For jeans day, he wore trendy carpenter pants (jeans). He is such a cool guy. I just thought it was funny because I would never have placed him in Carpenter pants. Come on, I don't even have carpenter pants ;) I'm sure his kids must adore him. We laughed our asses off today. good times ;)

Otherwise, you've not missed much. Just been regular-like days at work. I'm glad it's Friday though.

It rained today (thanks Isabel) so instead of driving the MR2 today, I drove it in to work yesterday (Thursday). It's definitely getting cooler, and it is the absolute perfect time to have an open-top (semi or complete) vehicle. I like the weather that we've been having as of late. The only thing that is a bummer is how I'm getting robbed of my precious daylight time. It gets dark around 8 o'clock now. Bummer dude.

Only a few weeks left to wash the cars too. Now it is crunch time, as I need to get as many coats of wax on the supaflyride before the winter comes. I won't be able to wax the car again for like 4 or 5 months. With weekly automatic car washes, the car is going to need as much protection as it can get.

Not much planned for this weekend. I have to get stuff ready for the drywall people that are going to be fixing stuff on Monday. I'm going to have to put some stuff away, cover up stuff, etc. I'm not looking forward to all the drywall dust that is going to be around...

-Kirk

Oh yeah - Step count for today: 9,570.

Muffin tops. mmmmm...

Hey all,

Just a quick blog entry today. I need to get to sleep.

What is it about muffin tops that make them so good? I always leave that part for last. Too bad you can't have muffin top goodness all the way through the muffin (like the stump). Not that there's anything wrong with the stump. The stump is good on its own as well.

I have a weakness for baked goods, if you couldn't tell :)

-Kirk

Good evening,

How are things? Let's see, a fairly significant milestone has passed - last Saturday was my 6 month anniversary at the (not so new anymore) job.

I will have owned the city home for a year come the 25th.

At the end of the month, my blog will be 1 year old.

How time flies...

This blog has been pretty cool to have. It's been a neat outlet for me to write about random stuff. But at the same time, I wonder how much information people can find out about me by reading everything I've written. Not that I'm saying my life is as riveting and award winning as a New York Times bestseller, but still.

i'm sure psychology students and professors are analyzing my writings and finding out how crazy and deranged I may be ;)

So anyway, what made me think about all this stuff? Not about how nutty I may be, but rather if it would be better to have people get to know me first, ahd then read my blog, or vice versa? Everyone that knows that I keep this blog knows me pretty well. And I'm sure no matter what I wrote or did (short of causing people harm), they'd still all continue to be my friends. Well who knows, I think even if I did cause people harm, some of my friends wouldn't mind either. They'd just be more cautious around me I guess. ;)

Seriously though, so I've been thinking about my instant messenger (IM) friend who I got to see a picture of (on Saturday). The whole dynamic of our relationship completely changed, I tell ya. Quite unexpectedly too. She went from being pretty much a digital form to someone that's become more real. Provided that she's been honest (i.e., that the pic I saw is indeed her picture) which I have no reason to belive that she isn't, I am definitely attracted. I've thought about her quite a few times since Saturday. Not sure if this is a passing thing (crush) or if it's something more real.

I wanted to say something about her picture, but I just never did. I wasn't sure what to say, and I didn't want to come across as a freaker, you know? The thing is, I feel like I know very little about her and I would like to get to know her better. Not really sure how to go about it though. Do I tell her that I would like to know her better? Do I let her know that I keep this blog? I'm wondering if all the stuff I write in here will let her know too much about me. But then again, what's in this blog is definitely me. I also think it's kind of sketchy that I have this sudden interest in her becuase I have seen her picture. Is that bad?

For me, attraction is a fairly important part of a relationship. I know it may sound very shallow, but there has to be some sort chemical reaction, or spark, if you will, for things to happen. (shrug) I dunno, just my take.

She had originally asked for a picture of me. Being in pictures is not a favourite thing of mine. About 99% of the pictures I take don't include me. The pictures that do have me in them probably have me doing goofy stuff or are vacation pictures where my parents made me be pose for photos (it shows too ;)

Of course, she really didn't say anything about my picture either (other than how I looked young) :) Of course, the only photo (that was in digital form) that I could think of to post was a goofy picture of me on my scooter that my brother took while he was here last weekend. But I think the photo definitely captured my essence so hopefully she thought it was cool or funny to some extent.

Heh.

Oh yeah, one other thing. Nothing's ever easy - She also just happens to live about 2500 miles away from me :)

-Kirk

Hey all,

I appreciate my "alone time" every weekend when I just chill at the city home and just not do much.

As of late, I've been on this learning how automotive under the hood stuff works kick. I may have passed this link on before, but just in case I haven't, here it is again. The site is called How Stuff Works. The content is pretty informative, and the illustrations are great as well.

My brother asked my why I've been all interested all of a sudden. Not sure. I've always wanted to learn about car engines and stuff like that, just never got a chance to, I guess. Then again, it's never to late to go back to engineering school again ;)

I guess one of the reasons is because I want to appreciate the supaflyride more. And maybe a little to learn about what mods I can get will do, so I can make an educated decision if the situation ever came up.

It's raining outside, so alas, no joyride in the MR2 tonight. I made sure to get some pleasure driving in last night around sunset to make up for today. The best time for open air driving is when the sun is setting. You get nice skyline, it's cool outside, and there's just less traffic around. Just don't drive west ;)

Alas, I will probably not get to wash the supaflyride tonight. I do need to get the tree sap off of it though.

-Kirk

I've got this weird taste in my mouth. I've had it since lunch. Not sure why it's not going away. I've brushed my teeth too.

Grr.

Hi everyone,

We meet again (well, you read again) ;)

Have I ever told you sbout my chatroom buddy that I met 4 years ago? Umm, let's see... A little background info for ya. So in the summer before my last year of grad school (August 1999) I decided to hop on one of the chatrooms. I forget what the title was. No, it wasn't hot young teens, or anything like that ;) I think it was gen x or something. Whatever.

So I chatted with a guy and a young lady for about 3 hours online. The guy was from Idaho (I think) and the young lady was from British Columbia (vancouver-ish). With the time change, I was up till around 4 a.m. chatting. Anyway, since that night, we've kind of kept in touch off an on through e-mail at first, and then through instant messenger. (just in case you were wondering, I have no idea what the hell happened to the guy)

We had a pretty good online friendship going. I think I'd talk to her about once every 6 months or so. Every time she seemed pretty genuine, and was pretty cool to chat with.

So why did I bring this up all of a sudden? I finally got to see what she looked like today :) Kind of random. It's been weird. Kind of like that You've got Mail movie. Appearance just never came up, I guess. Kinda wacky, huh?

Again, just in case you were wondering, yes, I do find her attractive...

-Kirk

Whatever happens at work, stays at work...

Hi all,

Wow, so I've been feeling like I've not been writing much in the blog as of late... Not sure why. Have not been in the mood for writing, I guess. Not sure.

So the big news for today is that the K&N filter that I ordered finally came. Finally. I got the e-mail that it had shipped yesterday morning. So one day delivery is not too bad. It was coming from Ohio. The only thing that kind of blew was how I had to wait like 2 weeks for this thing to show up. But, the silver lining is that this filter's pretty fresh - It supposedly came from K&N directly. :)

Installation was super easy. Took the old one out, put the new one in. That's it. Loved it.

I can definitely tell a difference. With a combination of driving around with a dirty airfilter and a new higher flow airfilter, the supafly ride definitely seems to move a little quicker. Although I'm not sure how much is placebo, but whatever. As long as it feels better and I got my money's worth, that's all that matters, right? ;)

So while I was joyriding, I happened to see the black Toyota Celica that I see around town once in a while. Totally riced out, in black, with silver flames coming from the front of the car, all the way onto the side windows. Pretty nifty effect. This car had the grapefruit shooter, was lowered, and had pretty deep dish rims. The car has caught my eye before, but I've never been able to check it out. To my surprise, there was a young lady driving the car! Aww yeah. You go, girl!

She would definitely be a keeper ;)

Heh.

So I drove the MR2 to work today. I didn't drive it on Thursday because for some reason, there was hella fog that morning. Foggy enough that I couldn't see much in front of me, and oncoming cars just seemed to appear out of the fog. Kind of scary and intriguing at the same time. Anyway, I was trying to minimize risk.

So driving the MR2 to work was pretty fun. You can bet I got to work with a big smile on my face :) Brizzai and I went out to lunch in it as well. I'm not sure if he enjoyed the car as much as I did though. I guess it's more fun to be driving the car than riding in it. Although I think I enjoy both.

For the ride home, I took the t-tops off and drove home in the sunshine. Yes, convertible life is for me. Some day...

But yeah, I took the supaflyride out for a joy ride after I put the air filter in as well. And man, do the two cars drive very differently. The MR2 feels a little bit heavier, but is quick. My car seems much lighter, but of course is slower. I'm not sure if this extended "test drive" with Drew's car is going to be a good thing or not. I'm hoping the whole thing will cool off my desire for a new car, but it may end up biting me in the ass, and I'll want an even faster car :) We'll see.

Turbos are fun though. The sound of the engine, the power. Good stuff.

I think I've been having a better attitude at work. I think the funk has passed. Which is good. There's still stuff that bugs me at work, but I try not to let it get to me. It's better that way. To me, work is kind of like how the commercials for Las Vegas say whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas :)

Last night I took the MR2 out for a spin - Drove out to the 'Hills to buy the new John Mayer CD. I've heard it about 3 times all the way through (playing in the background), and it sounds pretty good. It's got some good tracks, but the style is definitely different than the first one. not that it's a bad thing, just different. I'll let you know what I think.

I also heard the new Sarah single on the radio while driving last night. Pretty cool. It's the first time I had ever heard it on the radio ever since it's release. It's been a while since we've heard anything new, but her sound is definitely there. It's definitely a trademark Sarah track. I can't wait for the new CD to come out (rumour has it that it's due to release on November 4th, 2003 and is called Afterglow.

So let's see, what else...

I've been in this small electronics buying slump too. It's weird. I was at Best Buy (buying the CD) and I really didn't feel like looking at much. I'm not in the market for computer stuff, stereo equipment, music, video, etc. I think I was in and out of the store in record time. (shrug). Now if it were Costco, it'd be a totally different story ;)

Ahh well, better go to bed for now.

-Kirk

Hi everyone,

Hope things are going well this evening.

I have been quite the busy at work. Since I had Monday off, I had a bunch of stuff that I had to catch up on. I guess that's one bad thing about vacation, huh.

This evening, I washed the MR2. Unfortunately, it got darker a lot faster than I had expected. I pretty much dried the car in darkness (the oudoor garage light was on) and pulled it in the garage to do some waxing action. The car looks good. It's going to need a few more coats of wax to match the finish of the supaflyride, but I have a pretty good start. Provided we have good weather (I'll have to check the forecast after this), I will probably drive it to work tomorrow.

What else...

Hmmm, I guess tha'ts it for today...

-Kirk

Hey all,

I don't know what the deal was today... From the moment I woke up, to about early afternoon, I felt dizzy. Not sure why. No sudden movements, no stunt driving. I felt like the world was rolling around under my feet.

I'm not sure if I was dehydrated or what, I just knew that I was feeling wacked.

Today we had a vendor come in to give us a presentation regarding their web capabilities. Again, it's kind of weird being on the other side of the table. But listening to the presentation made me reminisce back to the days of the internet binge. I do kind of miss it, I guess... The travelling, the more varied work, etc. How soon I've forgotten the uncertainty, and instability of my former job...

Of course, I miss the people, the filtered water, the kitchen, and cable tv. Oh yeah, having the heavenly butt pampering Aeron at work was nice too :)

Ahh well, we should have known that the days of excess couldn't last forever.

-Kirk

Hi,

Just a shorty blog entry today. I gotta get to sleep...

So my 3 day weekend draws to a close. My mom and I took Mark to the airport around 5 ish. Traffic was a little slow, but pretty smooth sailing all the way out there.

This afternoon, we went to a more local bubble tea joint (yes, I pretty much am addicted). I was just looking for a source that I didn't have to drive an hour for. Alas, it was bubble tea, but the flavour was all wacked. too sugary. Too artificial. I'm guessing it's because the place used powdered flavour, instead of syrup like the place in Ann Arbor does. I'll keep the local place in the back of my mind for use when I'm really feeling the need for a bubble tea drink, but it's definitely not my first choice...

Afterwards, we hung out a coffee place. Enjoyed tea, coffee, and a scone. The mango tea that I had was pretty good.

After dinner, my mom and I did some light shopping, and drove around in the MR2. T-tops were off, and it was a perfect night for driving. Loved it.

Well, that's all for now, I'll write more later... I'm exhausted, and I need to get some rest before work tomorrow :)

-Kirk

Does this car make my butt look big?

Hey all,

So Mark, my brother, was supposed to come in on the 11:00 p.m. ish flight from Washington DC on Friday. But alas, the connecting flight to DC was delayed, so everything got wacked (he wouldn't have made his connecting flight here). Poor guy, he was at the airport and everything.

So, he got on the first flight out of Boston the next day, to get here by noon-ish.

The whole fam went to pick my brother up. And no matter what route we tried to go back and forth from the airport, we were unable to avoid contstruction and traffic. Not sure what the hell was going on there. We were slow traffic magnets or something. Driving home, my dad recommended that we take local roads. It was pretty painful. I wanted to zoom supafast, but I would have settled for fast. I got none of each.

During the day, my brother and I did some light shopping and I showed him the city home. We had to eat dinner with the parents so we only had a few hours before we had to head to the restaurant... There was some sort of engagement party there, so at times, things were quite chaotic. I'm not sure if I'd actually have my engagement party there either. (Shrug) Hey, I guess if you like chinese food or something. After dinner, we went to Dave and Buster's for a little gameplay and table shuffleboard. Good stuff. Haven't been there since the day after Helen's wedding when a bunch of us met up for Geneman's birthday. And even then, we didn't stay due to the fire alarms and sprinklers going off...

Let's see, today was a late start day. We slept in kinda late, so once we got up, we had to leave for Ann Arbor - We were going to meet up with Drew for some lunchage. I wanted Mark to meet him because they're both pretty much "car guys." So we had some Panchero's, bubble tea, and some good conversation about "car stuff." We also walked around campus a little, to umm, "see the sights of Ann Arbor." School is definitely in session ;)

So about the line at the top - Drew is letting me care for his car (the MR2) while he's away on a business trip in Japan. So I'm in posession of this nifty turboed vehicular device. I'm totally lovin' it. Now I want one ;)

This evening we took it easy. Nothing too crazy for a Sunday night.

My brother leaves again tomorrow. Bummer, dude.

So let's see, what else. I've never really recognized until now how much stuff I have that comes from the newly distinguished preferred vendor, Costco. (Love the Costco). A large amount of stuff that I own is from that place. Again, love the Costco. I'm sure many other people share the same feeling.

Speaking of Costco, I strongly recommend the cookies that they sell. Oral ecstasy, I tell you. These cookies are 3 inch diameter pieces of heaven. I would not steer you wrong :) I wouldn't recommend janky stuff.

What else. I am very very tired today. I needed a nap come afternoontime.

Oh yeah, Drew has this crizzazy massage chair that is just heavenly. And it puts the chairs at the Sharper Image to shame. He brought this thing over from Japan (while he was there for 2 years) - This chair controller comes with lcd panel display, and it even talks to you! In a soothing Japanese dialogue of course, with a womanly voice to boot. I only tried it for a few minutes - I was afraid that if I got the full massage, I'd never want to leave his house. Plus, we were on a schedule ;) There's always next time...

-Kirk

Hottie, aisle 1...

Hi all,

It's me again. As I was writing that last sentence of my blog this morning, the builder representative guy showed up. He just wanted to see the stuff that was wrong, other than the drywall stuff. Well, on my list, there were just 2 things. So needless to say, his visit was short. The drywall dudes will be fixing stuff on the 22nd. I have until then to find stuff for them to fix (drywall-wise).

So anyway, yeah, I had to finish up the blog entry and go talk to him. After that, I had to go back to work...

What's the dilly with this weather? It's like the end of summer got pre-empted by cold (not colder) fall weather. Still warm enough for both car windows open though.

So where was I?

Oh yeah, semi-recapping the week so far. Today was kind of light, in a relative sense to the past two days. So that was nice. Tomorrow I've got a meeting at 4:00 p.m. Grrreat. On a Friday too. so much for leaving early :)

Did I tell you? Mark (my brother) is coming to visit this weekend. Should be fun. I haven't seen him in over a year and a half. I'm not sure what to do with him while he's here. I'm sure we'll find something interesting to do. I'm sure my parents will want to see him too ;)

So about my opening line. Yesterday I went out and did a little shopping with my mum. So we went to the Japanese grocery store, and Costco. (Love the Costco!).

My mom was buying some stuff for my brother's visit at the Japanese market. There was this total hottie in line with her carryout from the little sushi bar/restaurant they have inside the store. She was dressed very well. She smiled (total bonus points). She had this swanky black holey (semi-transparent) fuzzy sweater on. (She had a tank top underneath, don't get any funny ideas now, dirty). Nifty swishy skirt too. Needless to say, I was totally smitten. I was trying to give her the eye (I think she might of returned it too). The entire time she was in the store, I felt like I was in a movie dream sequence. Complete with the hazy vision with a clearer center area.

So what was I to do?

I stepped up to her and struck up a conversaion... Exchanged numerals. She let me taste her carryout...

(record player needle scratch)

Oh wait a sec. You mean what actually happened? ;) Alas, pretty much nothing. I wasn't really sure what to do anyway. (shrug). As Brizzai would say, "you'll get 'em next time" :)

I'll just have to go to the Japanese store to buy stuff more often.

-Kirk

Kinda weird, but entertaining at the same time.

Here's looking at you ;)

-Kirk

Hey all,

Seems like it's been a while (to me at least). Even though it's just been like 2 days. This shortened week became a compressed week on Tuesday and Wednesday. I guess you could call it my first Internet .com binge days deadline in a not so .com world. I must have gotten to used to the banker's hours, because it's been one of the later days that I've stayed at work (~6:30) and the first night (yesterday) where I had to bring work home. Heh. I guess I've adjusted to the new culture more that I've thought :) It's about time though, as I've been there for almost 6 months now.

Yesterday was odd though - I had been up a little later than normal and didn't get a good night's sleep. So I was a tad whiny, bitchy, and cranky. Not a good combo. But I managed to pull myself out once the afternoon came around. But I was pretty busy the entire day, so everything just flew by really really fast.

So why am I so boldly blogging during the precious work hours? I've passed the 11 month anniversary for the city home, so today the builder dude's going to come and check out if there's anything to fix...

-Kirk

Hey everyone,

Oh snap! this extendo weekend has gone by way too fast. I can't believe it's been 3 days already. And you know what? I don't have much to show for it either. (shrug). I guess I'll have to mark this one down as one of those weekends where I didn't do much. I did see some people, uhh, got some rest, and that's pretty much it.

Oh yeah, Drew and I went to go see Dennis Miller this evening. Pretty good stuff. Humour's quite different from Carrot Top though ;)

Let's see, what else.

I am not sure if this long weekend has helped me recharge my batteries. It's hard to say. I will probably have to take a real vacation sometime later. The big test will be to see how I feel at work tomorrow.

-Kirk