Merry Christmas

We're on our way out of town for a few days but wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas before we left.

See you in a few days.

Rocky, Rocky, Rocky!

I'm at a complete loss for words after seeing Rocky (#5, because Rocky #5 didn't happen) Balboa. It isn't that the movie is that good, although it is really good. In fact it is probably the best movie I've seen all year. My surprise and amazement comes from that how unexpectedly good it was and the crowd reaction. I love all four Rocky movies (again there is no #5, just like the 1996 World Series it never happened), the first one is an incredible sports movie, #2 is pretty good, and #3 and #4 are just great guilty pleasures. I wasn't expecting much from this one but I had time to kill and for some reason I wanted to see it. It was really, really good but again the thing that really got me was the audience's reaction. Twice in the movie there was a huge ovation including a standing one at the end of the movie. This was in a very uppity part of town, I wasn't expecting that at all.

If you like sports movies or Rocky movies or both do yourself a favor and go see Rocky Balboa. Make sure you stay through the credits, that was the best credit sequence I've seen in a long time.

Expensive Days

The past two business days have been pretty expensive.

On Friday I received a notice that the IRS wants $2200 from two years ago. They say I received an investment dividend and didn't report it as income. I never received any money. I know this because mainly I didn't receive a check but also because I didn't have any investments at the time, nor did I ever have any investments with that firm. The fun thing is that with the IRS and back taxes the burden is on me to prove I never received that income. Hopefully the investment firm will work with me, if not well I guess I get to pay an additional $2200 this year.

Today we had our first snag with our new company. We finally found out about our new 401(k) plan. The issue is two-fold both involve vesting. Vesting going forward with any new money and then what happens with any money that was previously not vested. The vesting going forward is bad but not bad for me since I'm only 20% vested. Starting January 18th everyone starts their vesting schedule over again but again not a big deal because it effects new money. Now the part I'm upset about. I'm 20% vested with RC2 so 80% of the company match and the dividends that money earned I don't have. RC2 has decided it wants that money back which is really nice of them. It only costs me about $5500 or so. What makes me even happier is that it was only two months later and I would have an additional 25% of that $5500.

The only hope I have is that we're done with this and the near exponential increase in money I'm losing doesn't continue tomorrow. I would hate to lose $11,000 tomorrow.

At least the Steelers destroyed the Panthers.

IT Hell

I think I’m just destined to work at companies that aren’t exactly the best in terms of IT. The service industry jobs I’ve worked were not state of the art at all and most people who read this blog know the greatness that was D’s IT quality. RC2 actually had pretty good IT people we just did our best down here in Charlotte to work around them, against them, or ignore them. Now that we’re not part of RC2 it really shows how good our in-house IT people are. To get a great view on how things really are, myself and one of our TCG designers are now helping with the migration and support issues.

I bring this up not to pick on my newly formed company but to give a funny quote. The quote needs background or it isn’t funny. One of the things I’m helping with is migrating email from the old soon to go away server to the new hotness server. There were some things, not overly complicated, but complicated enough that everyone had to do to insure you wouldn’t lose any email. The designer person and I helped some people with the tasks. One day before I left I checked in with the head of the office to see if he had completed it or needed help.

Trevor - “Did you move your email over?”
Boss – “No.”
Trevor – “Do you need help?”
Boss – “No.”
Trevor – “Well, okay. You know it needs to be done by tomorrow right? I can help if you want.”
Boss –“I told him [the IT person] I wanted him to come do it. He told me to follow the instructions that were given out and it would work. I didn’t understand them nor do I have time to figure them out. He told me my email would go away if I didn’t do them and he said I should follow the instructions”
Trevor – “Again, I can help.”
Boss – “Nope that’s okay. I told him to do it. I dare him to delete my fucking email.”
Trevor – “Okay, sounds good.”
Boss – “Have a good evening, see you tomorrow.”

Tonight's the night

If there is going to be a time for New Cleveland to defeat the Steelers it would be tonight. The Steelers are without both starting wide receivers and both starting safeties. As bad as that is it also puts Pittsburgh without their two best players, Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu. Some would argue that Alan Faneca is their best or at least second best player but I think Troy is #1 and Hines #2. They are very different teams with those guys in there 100% compared to without them. Anyways this is your time New Cleveland, come into Pittsburgh and defeat the Steelers, put up or shut up.

I love my daughter more than anything, a lot more than even the Steelers. That being said why do you schedule her Christmas recital the same time as a Steelers game, that is just mean.

This shirt is dry clean only...which means it is dirty.