Discouraged.

Hey all,

Hope you're doing well this evening.

I've been studying for the greater part of the day and I'm getting more discouraged by the minute. A few questions wrong here, a few questions wrong there. At this rate, I'm never going to pass.

Grrr...

I hate feeling this way. I may have to push back the desired testing date of Tuesday to Thursday.

-Kirk

Not in Kansas anymore.

Hi all,

Hope you're enjoying this long weekend. The full out, hardcore network training starts today. But just a quick note before I start...

I went to the one stop shopping joint with my mom this morning, and I noticed that the store had gotten new shopping carts. Now you're probably thinking, no big whoop - A shopping cart's a shopping cart, right?

No.

Not only were they painted a nice sporty blue, but

(brace yourselves.)

They had dual cupholders with a multipurpose section in between to put (dare I say) some snacks, perhaps a cell phone, or a coupon holder?

Swanky.

I tell ya, before you know it, the carts will feature 6 inch chrome rims and suede interior...

Cause we're movin' on up! (movin' on up!)

-Kirk

Longest day ever.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well on the start of the 3 day weekend.

Today, the office was almost like Christmas Eve. Seriously. I say almost because besides it was me, the office admin and the 3 upper managers. Kind of weird. If it were Christmas eve, management would have been gone as well.

Anyway, so yes, it was the longest day on record for me - I was really bored - I tried to diligently work like a good corporate citizen, but I was having trouble focusing. Oh well. I did get some stuff done though, which was good. I wanted to get more admin stuff done, but oh well.

The machinery of the man continues to churn...

At the office, we have containers where we collect empty pop cans and whatnot - Every so often, we take the cans and bottles and return them and all the proceeds go towards charity. So, today was the long overdue day where we took them back.

somehow I got drafted to be on the committee at the beginning of the year, so me and the office admin got a chance to be let out of the cage for an hour or so.

On the way back, we saw this dude's car - and as you know, I have a fascination with vanity license plates. Always trying to figure out what they mean. Sounding them out, whatever.

So today, I saw an easy one: DB2GURU

I guess NERD must have been taken.

Somehow I don't think that license plate helps him get the ladies. I could be wrong. Maybe I'll have to get a vanity plate as well. (shrug)

-Kirk

P.S. 3 out of 4 chapters read...

Amongst giants.

Hi everyone,

Hope you're having a good week. I can't believe it's Wednesday already.

I have 4 chapters to read by saturday. It's going to be difficult. I'm doing everything I can to procrastinate. (like writing in da blog)

Went off campus today for a "company function" for our umbrella organization. Our whole department had to go, so we figured we'd all leave at the same time and caravan out - Some of us (like me) weren't really sure how to get there so we figured we'd follow each other in the hopes of eventually finding the place.

Starting out, I was #4 in a procession of 4 vehicles. An Expedition, a Tahoe, and a Liberty. Then there was me. I felt as if I were driving a trial sized car. I couldn't really follow them because all I'd see in front of me is the back end of their trucks. When I drove beside them, all I'd see is the bottoms of their doors. So I just drove ahead of everyone until I got to the part where I wasn't familiar with.

There were so many people at this function - I guess I never really realized how big our part of the company actually was. I hardly recognized anyone. It was sad.

-Kirk

Hi all,

Hope you had a nice weekend. Just a few quick notes before going to bed.

Weekend was nice. Joe and Cassandra came down from Toronto to visit - They brought their new baby boy. He was sooo cute. They looked so tired though ;)

We did some light shopping at the shopping mecca, and there was a woman there with her relativly newborn baby. She looked like she hadn't slept in ages. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying she looked ugly or anything - just tired.

Let's see, what else...

I'm feeling a bout of spring cleaning coming up for me - I've been feeling like I need to get rid of some clutter around the house. I used to get the urge to clean whenever finals came up as well - Only a few weeks left of class...

Oh yeah, apparently, some reorg-action is happning around the workplace. Hopefully it's a change for the better. We'll see.

-Kirk

They paved paradise and put up an American Eagle Outfitters?

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well this weekend.

I had a doctor's appointment in Ann Arbor on Friday, so I decided to take the day off. We also had family coming down from Toronto as well, so the timing was perfect.

I've been feeling a tad disconnected from Ann Arbor as of late - I think I'm losing familiarity with it. It's like I can't remember where everything is, and I feel like I don't know the city as well anymore.

Sad but true.

I had some time to spare after the appointment, so I decided to head down to the local mall - You'd think that I'd cruise around the campus or something to see what's been going on, but no - I was in a mall mood.

So I get there, park in the same place that I usually would, go in my normal entrance, and turn the corner, expecting to see...

The Gap.

I was in temporary shock when I didn't see it.

It was gone.

I clenched my fists in the air and screamed, "NOOOOOOOO!"

Not exactly, but seriously, I was confused. Doesn't compute. College town, no Gap? What is wrong here?

The Baby Gap was there. But no adult Gap.

I figured it had moved around somehwere, so I thought I'd stroll along the mall and see if I could find it.

In a moment of sheer panic (as I was ending my stroll) I went into the Baby Gap to see what the dilly was - Apparenlty, there had been some "disagreement" with the management company, and the Gap closed.

Just like that.

So there's no longer a Gap in Ann Arbor.

The closest one is in Novi or something.

Sad day.

The Gap was like the familiar face that you saw when you turned that corner. The corner that used to be a shoe shop. Down the hall from the photo development place (I think) that turned into a sushi shop.

Nuttiness.

-Kirk

Ain't no Mountain High Enough...

Hey all,

Hope you're doing well.

I've always said my life would go better if I had my own soundtrack. You know, just some tunes going on in the background.

But today, I had a moment where I think we could have been in a musical.

We had been having some computer issues that I was trying to work out all day today - As I was leaving, I said to my coworker (who I absolutely adore), "if you need me call me."

So she just chimes in with:

No matter where you are
No matter how far

If it had been a musical, we would have sung the song.

I dunno, if you're not laughing, I guess you had to be there :)

-Kirk

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well tonite.

I lucked out - No class this evening.

You would have thought I did something useful with the time, right? naaaah. I should have exercised. Oh well.

I don't know what was up with the weather today. It was totally nice until mid afternoon. Then all of a sudden, it was dark as night outside and raining like a mofo. I should have known better than to leave the sunroof open.

I was lucky that I went out to close it when I did. A little bit after I came in was when it got all crazy and stuff.

I talked to Suzy for the first time today in what has seemed like many many months. I've totally lost touch with everyone since school has started. I'm going to have to make more of an effort to call and talk to people when the semester's over.

-Kirk

Hot young vergens are waiting for me.

Hi all,

Hope you had a nice weekend.

Just a quick note before heading off to bed.

I've been fighting with Flash animation all day. I finally got the damn thing to work correctly. Sheesh.

For some reason, I've been getting more and more spam e-mail in my inbox. Not a fun thing. I usually can tell it's spam by the sender (it's usually from someone that I've never heard of), or the SUBJECT IS IN ALL CAPS. I sometimes get a chuckle out of reading the subject lines. I know, I know. the ads for various pharmaceuticals gets old, but for some reason, one that I received today made me laugh. Maybe not in humor, but more sadness for the poor schmuck who can't spell virgin right.

-Kirk

(Grumble grumble) Punkass kid (grumble grumble) BMW X5 (grumble grumble).

We interrupt the regularly scheduled blog for a small rant.

So I'm at the country home today, standing outside talking to my mom. Outta nowhere, this dark steel grey (sterling grey metallic, to be exact) comes screaming (well, significantly faster than the 25 mph posted speeed limit) down the street of the sub and pulls into a neighbor's driveway.

It was a car that I'd never seen before at the neighbor's house (not that I check) so I asked my mom to see if she knew who it was - Apparently it's the neighbor's daughter's boyfriend's car.

Jigga what?

OK, so I'm saving up my returnable bottles, cans, and spare pennies for the BMW dream one day and this kid is driving one already? At 16 or 17?

Come on.

-Kirk

Shake it like a Polaroid picture

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well this evening. Did you catch the last episode of Frasier? Following the hype (although much less fanfare and hype than Friends), I watched the final epsiode.

I haven't been a regular watcher, but I thought the last one was good. My only complaint was that it seemed too rushed. The same goes for the Friends finale as well. It's like the writers didn't realize it was the last show forever, and they just had to cram everything in that they wanted to do all along.

Huh. Sounds familiar.

I caught up on some correspondence tonight - First time in what seems like a while. As I was checking e-mail, I was listening to the Outkast album - Hey Ya still makes me smile time I hear it.

-Kirk

Arse towels?

Hey all,

Hope all's well this evening.

So today at work, somehow we got on the topic of bidets.

The topic of the bidet has always fascinated me. It's probably one of those things where i've never had or used one before. You kno, the fascination of the unknown.

Anyway, so one of the ladies was talking about how she stayed at a hotel where there was a bidet in the bathroom.

Of course, I was asking her questions about it. For instance:

- Isn't the water cold?
- Are there paper towels?

Just in case you were wondering - apparently, there is some sort of temperature control (whether it was truly automatic or you just let the water run until it gets to the temp you like is not for certain).

Also, at the hotel there weren't paper towels - there were what the coworker called "hand towels" by the bidet.

So of course I had to go there.

Anyway, I guess I was a little surprised that there were actual towels instead of disposable paper towels.

Wouldn't that make sense? I'm sure I'm like the next guy who says that I'm comfortable sharing hand towels used for drying off hands, but I draw the line there, I'd say.

Who knows. If you do though, let me know :)

I also decided today that I probably woulnd't do well in sales. All of those power lunches would start to take a toll on me.

-Kirk

Mind the gap.

Hi all,

No class tonite - went to Costco instead.

Beats class, that's for sure.

So the whole work group went out to lunch this afternoon, to celebrate a belated admin assistant's day. It was the only time we all could show up to go out to lunch - Just a few weeks late, I know. Lots of people were on vacation and whatnot in the prior weeks.

So it is nearing graduation and prom time for the High Schoolers, so college and formal parties were some of the lunchtime conversation topics.

So then everyone goes around and starts sequencing their kids on who is next up for college. So you know, it's like L's eldest, then it's W's eldest, etc. etc.

And then I'm like uhhh, I guess I'll be last.

(shrug)

I'm not saying that my biological clock is ticking, but I'm feeling the pinch here. Maybe I should take out the battery.

What's worse (afterthoughts) is that 20 or so years from now, some of my coworkers will be retired from the company so they won't be able to share with them the lovely stories about my kids.

Bummer.

-Kirk

Skin crawl.

Apparently the top edge of my doorwall frame is prime real estate for paper wasps. I've been looking for ways to get rid of them for good. Windex is ammonia-izing them, but the damn things keep coming back.

I'm doing a little reserach on the web, and it feels like there are things crawling on me.

-Kirk

Happy Mother's Day.

Hi everyone,

Hope you're doing well. Happy Mother's day to everyone.

Blogger has introduced a new interface - not too shabby so far. I'm also going to turn comments on so all of my readers can send me stuff. Be nice.

Let's see what's been going on so far.

Thursday morning, I woke up with a pain in the left eye. I figured I'd wait it out to see what happen - Friday rolls around and the pain's still there. I made an "urgent" appointment for the eye doctor's. Apparently my eyes are too dry. So the doctor's gave me "magic eye drops" (as Drew called them) and by the next day, the pain was gone.

Magic indeed. Those umich doctors are damn good.

On the way home, I almost performed natural selection on two geese that were walking across the highway. They were standing and chilling in the middle of the express lane. That was the sweaty moment of the day - I'm sure hitting anything at highway speeds wouldn't have been pretty.

Why didn't they just fly across the highway? Stupid birds.

Drew and I put in the (hopefully) final installment of the car repair saga of 2004. My shoulder seatbelt in the supaflyride has been slowly unraveling. Every time I wear a zippered coat, the zipper rips off a few strands here and there. I finally broke down and purchased the replacement seat belts for the car and Drew help me put them in today. Not bad for an hour's worth of work. Everything was pretty painless so I was happy.

It was super nice outside for the morning and the afternoon - Drew and I got to cruise in the MR2 with the tops off. I was lovin it. I was quite lucky because the torrential rain held off all day until I came back home from Ann Arbor. It's been raining pretty hard outside ever since.

I took my take home online midterm yesterday. It was a little annoying, but I plowed through it like a good student. I was flipping through my books like it was a freakin' treasure hunt - looking for the sentence that was copied on the exam. Blah.

No class tomorrow though, so that's nice. I feel a trip to Costco coming on...

-Kirk

Happy ending.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well this evening.

So that's it. The last episode of Friends. That's all I've heard about all day today on the media. On the radio on the way to work, on the evening news, in the newspapers, etc. The final episode was pretty good and didn't stray away from the formula that made the show so funny and successful. I can't complain. Everything was expected - Ross ended up with Rachel (and that's how it should be).

I'm wondering what the spinnoff show (Joey) will be like. (shrug)

I can't believe Friends has been on for 10 years. I got into watching the show kind of late, maybe about halfway through-ish (around 98-ish?). I remember blocking out time in grad school to watch the show (when TV ruled my life - there I admit it). And then when I started working at the dot com, I rarely missed it (unless I was travelling or forgot to record it). Huh. What will I do with the extra time on Thursdays? I guess there's the spinoff show, right?

Well, the summer is approaching, and it'll be rerun city for TV again. Which is good, because I need the time to study for class again :) Oh yeah, the midterm went ok. I'll get it back next week. Hopefully I did aiight.

Today has been quite the intense day - I went in at 7 this morning and was tired the entire afternoon. It was nutty, but I made it. There's still stuff to be done tomorrow, but hopefully it'll be fine tuning stuff.

-Kirk

Flashbacks.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well this evening.

I think I'm going crazy. Either that, or I'm just really tired as of late.

For some reason, I'll just be doing something (like I normally do, say brushing my teeth) and I'll have a flashback of something that's happened in the past. The picture is very vivid too - like I'm there again. Not sure if there's a trigger or not. You know, like a certain smell, or an object, or a memory or something. (shrug)

I classify it differently than a memory - You know, a memory is like taking a walk "down memory lane," where there's an initial thought that leads you to think of something. For these flashbacks, it just shows up, out of the blue. No trigger.

Maybe it's the midterms :P

-Kirk

Hi all,

Hope all's well this evening.

We got out of class early - it was still light outside, so that was a nice change.

The broadband router is slowly losing its mind. Every so often it needs to be powered off and on again because it gets confused. It gets stingy with the IP addresses - which is not very nice.

Midterm is in 2 days. I should be studying for it now :)

-Kirk

You're doing the 12 mile, right?

Hi all, -

Hope you had a nice weekend. I can't believe it's already over. Everything's truly been in fast foward since Friday.

This morning started at 5, when I had to drive my dad to the airport. I was yawning all the way there and back.

I had to be at the MS walk around 8 - I got home barely in time to get ready. It was freakin cold outside today. And as an added bonus it was rainy. So I brought out the good old sporty spice pants that had been retired since the days of curling. Oh yes, fleece lined and the dual white stripes on the side.

So sporty.

The night before I was hoping that it would be halfway warm - So I had hopes of wearing a short sleeve t-shirt and shorts with a sweatshirt to start the morning out with. Out of all the things that I had picked out, I wore nothing.

I ended up going with a long sleeve t-shirt, fleece lined sporty spice pants, a sweatshirt, and a rain jacket. I thought it was winter again.

I figured I'd be able to bear the cold until I got walking - cause I would get warmed up, right?

No.

I could have used gloves too.

So let's see, a few things of note today:

I have a fear of walking across and up bleacher seats. I was watching people walk up them as if they were stairs. Not me. I'm just afraid that I'm going to trip and fall on my ass or something. I think it's that whole thing of walking without a railing or something. So I walked up them like an old man doing hurdles. (shrug)

I tried the Propel Fitness Water for the first time. Kiwi Strawberry - A good flavor. But I felt kind of guilty drinking it because I wasn't doing anything close to what the people on the commercial are. You know the ones that go "bloop" and pop out of the water droplets? I wasn't running, playing tennis, whatever. I was walking. I'm glad I wasn't sweating droplets of color liquid too. That would have stained my clothes. Would I buy this vitamin enriched super delux water again? Hmm. That's a tough one. Maybe if I was trying to impress some lady at the drink cooler, but most likely not. I will be sure to try it the next time I'm encapsulated and falling in a drop of liquid and popping out to play tennis.

If I ever get a real professional full body massage, I think it's going to take me a few times to fully get used to it and enjoy the experience. After the walk, the local college was giving away free 8 minute massages done by students in their massage therapy program. It was my first time on a table, as opposed to a chair massage. I think I liked it a lot. But I think I was kind of tense through the whole thing. I was trying not to laugh (some parts were ticklish (not in the bad way, mind you). And after I was done, I felt like jelly. I felt like I couldn't sit up in the chair afterwards.

So I guess it was good.

So, back to the walk...

The walk was really nice. Even though there was crappy-esque weather, lots of people showed up, which was good. We had quite a turnout from our company too. So that was nifty. I got a nice hat out of it too.

We got rained on, but it was all very light, so it could have been worse, I'm sure.

So there were 3 courses you could take - the 3, 6, or 12 mile course. I seriously would have been ok doing the 12 mile track if there was better weather, and I wasn't under a time crunch (I know, excuses excuses.) Again, another reason for feeling guilty about drinking the Propel water stuff.

I think I was home by 11ish, so it was pretty quick.

I got home and did what any human being would have done...

I took a 1 hour nap.

Again, it was good.

I did some schoolwork afterwards and had to meet with my group project people.

We also had burrrrritos for dinner as well. Good stuff.

I still have to study for my midterm on Wednesday - I am kind of nervous about it. I reviewed some stuff, but I still have more to do...

-Kirk

Busy weekend

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well and having a nice weekend. Unfortunately, it's raining outside so it's a little on the dark side today. Today's become my Sunday. Tomorrow I won't have much time to do any schoolwork. I have my midterms next week as well. (sigh)

In the morning, I have to take my dad to the airport. Then I have the MS Walk. After that I have a project meeting with my school group. And that's all before 5. Craziness.

After 5 I'll be pretty tired, I'm sure.

I was so tired from my mixed schedule week that around eleven last night I was ready for bed. And I slept in until 10:30.

And I'm still tired.

What to give for Mother's day? Hmmmm...

-Kirk