Radio edit.

Hi all,

Hope you've had a good weekend and are doing well this evening.

This whole time change thing really throws me off. It was dark outside by 5:30 p.m. today. Bleh. And even though the time was only 7ish, it felt like much later (like 9ish).

A couple of things today...

I never thought I'd say it, but for the first time ever, I like the radio edit of a song instead of the album version. I got a chance to listen to the unedited version of the Gwen Stefani song Hollaback Girl. The song gratuitously uses the word "shit" over and over. I can see it used maybe once or twice in the lyrics, but every time I heard the word I disliked the song even more.

Usually it's the other way around. Maybe that rule just applies to rap songs.

Today I ventured into a smelly bath and body store. Usually I can't stand them for more than 5 minutes (the scent overload gives me a headache). I mean, I don't even like walking by the store. But I wanted to get a gift so I took one for the team.

Anyway, for the life of me I coudln't figure out how the store was laid out. Every single square foot of wall space was filled with product.

I was totally overwhelmed.

Not to mention the center of the store was filled with a bunch of random displays too.

I did my due diligence - I walked around the store once, but I coudln't figure out how stuff was organized. By color? By use? By scent? By body part?

And yes, apparently there is a difference between hand and body lotion. Who knew?

So I broke down and asked for help.

The sales lady could see the beads of sweat building on my forehead and could sense my fear.

All I wanted was apple scented hand lotion. Nice and simple.

Could you believe it? The whole freakin store of wall to wall scents and lotions, nothing was just "apple" scented. There was seasonal apple cut with vanilla or something else - too holiday-ish. We walked around the store, and she showed me like 10 different products (I'm not lying).

I swear, after a few, they all smelled the same.

And the kicker was that she coudln't really tell me what the difference was between one product and the next. They were all "rejuvenating" or "repairing," and "really good."

Come on.

So I finally made my decision, paid for the thing, and got the hell out of the store.

I think I'm traumatized.

I'm really hoping that what I selected was ok - I don't even remember what product or scent I ended up going with.

-Kirk

Too nice to be inside.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well this evening.

So what's going on...

Today was a gorgeous day outside. I'm talking crisp cool temps, and sunshine. So instead of spending the day inside and just putzing around, I went out to visit Drew out in Ann Arbor.

Campus was beautiful - I'm talking college recruiting brochure nice. The trees were changing colors, there were leaves on the ground, and students were out and about.

And of course there was Mexican food and bubble tea.

As usual, I missed being on campus and being in Ann Arbor.

I know that there's not going to be many days like this left this year. I'm having visions of snow and extreme cold in the next few weeks.

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Enjoy your extra hour of sleep tonight :)

-Kirk

I have to do what?

Hi all,

Hope you're doin well this evening.

So next week is NYC!

I didn't realize that when I had agreed to go in place of B, I was supposed to give a 20 minute presentation too.

Hmmm...

Should be interesting...

-Kirk

Ass on the radio.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well this evening.

Tonight was our 6th guitar class. I can't believe it's been 6 weeks already. I can play some cheesy songs, but I've been getting lazy on learning some new riffs. The instructor was pushing private lessons on us once we finish our intro class.

We'll see.

For some reason, the radio station around me edits the word "ass" out of that Black Eyed Peas song, My Humps. I didn't think it was that bad. I'm sure I've heard worse on the radio. Anyway, that song's got a great beat and is funny as hell.

I've also been jamming to that Kanye West song, Gold Digger - Another great tune.

She was supposed to get Tyco witcha money...

What else is on the mind today...

I think the whole Instant Messenger and e-mail communications have caused my conversation skillz to atrophy. Seriously.

I need to work on my conversation skillz.

-Kirk

NY in the fall (business remix)

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well this evening.

This time it's for real. I have the confirmation in my hot little hands.

NYC here I come!

Through a fortunate twist of fate, I'll be there from 11/1 to 11/3 - Although this time it's business, not pleasure.

Of course I'll always mix in a little pleasure...

(The rated PG type of pleasure, for those of you that are thinking dirrrty dirrrty.)

It will never be Stef and Lucy good, but it'll be nice to get out of the office.

Of course I'll be seeing Geneman again, do random laps around the city, and probably look again for some "authentic" goodz.

-Kirk

Sales guy ookiness.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well this evening.

Today I was mildly disturbed walking by the common area by our cube farm - There were these two sales guys talking to one of the internal marketing people.

They were talking quite loudly (non-inside voices) trying to make sales, using salesy words like "vis-a-vis" and similar terms that made me want to yack.

Don't be that guy.

-Kirk

No holding back

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well.

I remember an old Rod Stewart song that I used to listen to in undergrad - One of the lines in the song went:

Ain't it better to lose in love than to never love at all?

Does that still hold true? I'm not sure.

Last time I did that I got my ass beat.

-Kirk

NY in the fall again (but not really)

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well this evening.

Today I found out I had a chance to go to NY again at the beginning of November (for work). Unfortunately, due to a ticketing issue, the opportunity got yanked.

Bummer.

It would have been cool to go back to NY again, but oh well. Maybe next time.

On a sillier note, I feel bad for Diddy - I wonder how mnay Making the Bands he'll have to do before he gets the girl group he wants... Don't all the seasons just end prematurely because the bands fight or can't crank out a good album?

Speaking of good tunes, I've never been a big fan of Weezer, but I really like that song they play on the radio, Beverly Hills.

-Kirk

Weekend ramblings.

Hi all,

Hope you had a nice weekend.

Like usual, this weekend was way too short. Most of Saturday was spent at work. It wasn't painful, but not something I was looking forward to.

Anyway, let me backup for a sec...

So Friday morning started on a bad note - When I woke up, I knew I'd have to work the weekend so I was a little bit "off" from my normal mood.

But there was a bright spot in the day - From having ice cream.

My moment of zen.

And yes, ice cream is much more fun when you eat it with someone :)

Unfortunately, the zen was quickly repoed when we were there until 8:30 Friday night.

Luckily I didn't have to work today.

-Kirk

Weekend repo

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well.

I was at work till 8:30 tonight. And I have to go in tomorrow.

(sigh)

On a happier note, we found out that the neighbor's son works at the local Japanese food joint part-time. And you know what? At the end of the day, he gets to take home some of the stuff that is left over. I dunno if it's free or what, but it sounds like a kickass perk.

And I'm all about the perks. Especially the edible sushi kind.

-Kirk

I won't quit my day job anytime soon.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well.

Just a few quick notes before going to bed.

I got my 2nd use out of my fishing license Sunday. B took me and one of his buddies out fishin'.

I was the low catcher that day. I clocked in at one, while everyone else got multiples. And no, it wasn't a keeper. I think it was probably the same size fish as last time.

Maybe it was one of the same ones too.

We had a great time. I enjoyed being on the water as usual. Unfortunately I was a little under dressed, so I was a tad cold at times.

Plus, I got the bonus residual after effects of feeling like I was on the boat when I was tired Sunday night.

On the plumbing side, I'm happy to report that my toilet no longer leaks.

At last.

According to one of the home improvement store websites, the repair was to take 1 hour. Which was fine if you were Bob Villa or one of his homies. I followed instructions too much and it sucked.

Hand tighten my ass.

The instructions said to "hand tighten" everything. No tools. Obviously I'm weaker than the average hand tightener cause every time I tried running the water through, it started leaking.

So needless to say, it took a while - To undo and redo the connections a few times.

Using tools.

Anyway, so it's all good. And I even sprung the extra buck or two for the "whisper quiet" fill valve. It works as advertised.

So what else...

Today B and I had guitar class. Before class, we decided to visit the guitar store to see what they had. A sales dude (at least we thought he was a sales dude) let me try out some electric guitars. B didn't really want to try them, but I was brave.

I'd never played an electric guitar for real before.

So I whipped out the 3 guitar riffs that I knew, and I was just goofin around. I tried like 3 or 4 guitars. And then the dude let me try the ultimate...

A custom electric guitar that was 3200 bones.

Sheesh.

The guitar was really nice, had a great sound, but I couldn't see myself dropping 3200 bucks on a guitar. (shrug).

Maybe if I were a rock star.

Right now I'm just Eric Klapton. Like crab with a K.

Anyway, so that was my excitement for the evening.

-Kirk

Toilet talk

Hi all,

Since I got up early today, I was feeling home improvementy and tried to do some stuff around the house.

My toilet's been having issues (the water cutoff isn't working) so I've been running all ghetto with the tank lid open for quite a while. The fix went from just pulling up on the floaty thing, and then has now degraded to an old toothbrush wedged in, holding the floaty thing up.

So it was about that time.

With the help of my good friend the internet, I've successfully removed the faulty parts and am on my way to purchase new parts.

I'm guessing the person who had the responsibility of naming toilet components was definitely a guy with a strange fascination.

Nobody else could come up with things like ballcocks, flappers, and tank balls.

-Kirk

I think I can feel my brain rattling.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well this evening.

My electric toothbrush from college (maye even high school) has finally been retired. After many years of off and on service, it no longer keeps its charge, and makes a rattling noise when in use.

So yesterday was the first time I used my new Oral-B electric toothbrush. This thing is badass. I can believe that it's actually moving 40,000 times per minute.

I still haven't gotten used to the timer thing (it goes off every 30 seconds) but besides that, it's all good. And my teeth do feel cleaner.

(Placebo effect warning)

Anyway, the fierce thrashing of the brushead makes quite the vibration and noise. While I was brushing, I could feel it going through my teeth.

So this morning, I had to get up for a 9:00 a.m. conference call. To hear that nothing was going to happen today - and to call in at 9 tomorrow.

I was going to be all ghetto, wake up at 8:55, roll over and dial the phone while I was in bed (I had everything ready to do that). But I just coudln't do it (It didn't feel right). I ended up getting up about 15 minutes early and at least brushed my teeth.

Good enough.

All night I was worried about oversleeping and missing the conference call.

This morning I even dreamt that I was back in New York walking around and got lost. I don't remember exactly where I was (downtown somehwere) and I kept on looking at my watch. I ended up missing the conference call (in my dream).

So that woke me up - and I still had plenty of time to sleep.

-Kirk

Bloom.

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well this evening.

Did a little window shopping at the mall today to see the nano.

Also went to Target an bought the new Sarah remix CD, Bloom. I've only heard 2 tracks, but so far I'm diggin the remixes.

One thing of note - I don't appreciate all the anti-piracy bullshit that's printed on the back of the CD case. They've even tried to make it all official looking by including a cheese "FBI Anti-Piracy Warning" seal/logo next to the text.

Grr.

-Kirk

Not down with the king.

Is it just me, or does the Burger King commercial with the king guy / character creep you out too?

I wasn't able to find a link to a picture of the dude, but there's a small pic in this Slate article.

-Kirk

NYCommentary

Hi all,

Hope you're enjoying this very sunny weekend.

I keep on bracing for the time when we'll have to bring out our winter coats and comforter.

So I've been back from NY for about 2 weeks now. It's seemed longer cause work has been so busy. Plus I've been a complete lazy arse and haven't done much after work.

Which reminds me, I have to practice guitar at least once this week.

So where was I?

Yes, New York City in the fall rocks. Although I'd recommend going even a little later for optimal temperatures (for me, at least). The weather was nice and warm when I was there, but a tad humid still. In fact, it was warmer in NY than it was in Michigan.

Anyway, so yes, I recommend going to New York - You could spend a few months out there and never see the same things twice. Unless you wanted to, of course :)

There's so many areas to explore - Midtown, Upper east side, SoHo, etc. - that I felt like I just lightly scratched the surface. So I definitely want to go back sometime in the future.

I can understand why people love it out there and NY is the backdrop for many movies. There's something about it. A certain energy, if you will. Plus, you can get pretty much anywhere without a car with public transportation and walking.

So that's one big thing I noticed - The majority of the native-looking New Yorkers all looked good. Both women and men were very stylishly dressed and looked pretty fit. Must be from all that walking and stress. I didn't ask for ID or anything, but you could tell the touists because we all had subway maps in our hands and were always looking around, taking pictures, getting in the way of the natives.

Plus we waited for people to get off the subway before we got on.

At the end of my trip I got the hang of it. It's a free-for-all.

Anyway, so one weird fashion trend that I saw that I didn't really get - Dresses and skirts with boots. I get the allure with the tall leather ones. But these were different - Like some had cowboy boot-ish type, and others had like boots with fuzz at the top.

It just looked hot to me. Literally.

Not down with the foot sweat. However, I'm sure that trend will come to the midwest in a few years.

So anyway, back to the public transportation. It was fun to ride in the subway when there weren't that many people. But man, once the trains got busy, you were standing pretty close to complete strangers.

I value my personal space, thank you.

I like all the personal space I get in my little car :)

Riding in subways was fun though. There was a gentle rocking that could totally put you to sleep. In fact, a few days later, as I was getting tired, I could feel myself rocking forwards and backwards like I was on the subway again.

Oh yeah, one thing of note - the subway stations get pretty toasty and humid. Like a sauna. I don't know how Geneman and all of the other New Yorkers can stand it in the summer when it gets into the 90s.

Be sure to bring your own towel and water to pour over the rocks.

Just as you think you're about to pass out from the heat, the subway comes and you're nicely chilled in the air conditioned cars.

Heh. I'm surprised I didn't get sick from going in and out of the temperature extremes. Actually I did get sick, but I think it's from being on the plane...

Let's see what else...

It's hard to find a fake Rolex. At least we didn't know where to go. I only found one dude that was selling them - And we wanted $100 bucks for it.

Um, no.

I was willing to pay 30 bucks for one, but not 100 for a gag gift - I wanted to get one for B just for shits and giggles. I don't care how good of a haggler you are :)

Oh yeah, that's the other thing - I actually ran out of cash while I was out there - The buying power of plastic failed me.

Normally when I travel I use the credit card for everything. So I usually take 100 bucks or so, and come back with the majority of it. This time I had to hit up Geneman for some cashish for the cab ride back to the airport (which I didn't need, luckily). So lesson learned - Take at least 200 to 300 bucks for a weekend NY trip. Make it 400 if you want that Rolex ;)

Speaking of souvenirs - China Town's the place to get the touristy stuff (magnets, mugs, t-shirts). The only drawback is that everyone's got the same stuff - There's little variability. It's like the truck from the mainland China distributors shows up outside all of the booths and just drops off the same I (heart) NY stuff.

I love that campaign.

It's so simple, but it captures so much.

Of course, I have to give major props to my native tourguide Geneman for putting up with my shit all weekend and taking me everywhere I wanted to go. Being a tourist is more fun when you've got a guide :)

Plus, he did it all with only a few hours of sleep a night!

Last, but certainly not least, the added bonus of meeting the lovely Stef and Lucy made the trip for me.

Until next time, NY.

-Kirk

Taiwan in the Winter?

Hi all,

Hope you're doing well.

Taiwan in the winter just doesn't have the same ring as NY in the fall...

So it's official. I've got the confirmation in hand. I'll be in Taiwan for the first week and a half of December. I haven't been there since 2001 so it's a trip that's been long overdue.

Winter in Taiwan is usually in the 60s, so it will be nice to get away from the Michigan winter.

Cross your fingers for no typhoons or disasters like last time.

-Kirk