Goodbye Jason

Today was Jason's last day at Press Pass. He decided he had enough designing games and wanted to try something else. Not really much else to say other than to wish him luck and say it has been a really good two and a half years. Of course Jason will be at my house a good bit this fall/winter because he isn't moving and I get NFL Sunday Ticket. Good luck Jason.

First NFL Game

Tonight was the first NFL game for both of the girls. Sure it was only a preseason game and we only stayed a half but they both had a good time. The Little One love that she got to see Polamalu, her new favorite player. I'll have pictures later but it was good time.

Crystal Meth

I've been fighting a head cold for more than a few days now. We ran out of cold medicine recently and it was time to get some new stuff. It has been so long since we bought any medicine that I've never had to fill out a form, show them ID, and waste a huge amount of time just to fix my cold. I don't mind laws and I really think drug use/abuse is a problem, I however can't stand assuming your law abiding public is breaking the law. Just silly, like I'm going to make crystal meth, I just want to get rid of my cold.

Fantasy Football 08 Team #2

This is the team with players from my job and previous jobs. I completely drafted this team on my own, which is usually not a good idea. I think I'm okay with the team, although I'm a little weak at QB and I'm not very happy with my WR depth. Like the other team this one has a flex spot that RB is eligible so it basically means you need 3 starting RB, if you can get three decent ones. I think my 3 backs are pretty good provided that Clinton Portis bounces back from his injury and Frank Gore is actually as close to good as the hype.

The weirdest part of this team is the first seven picks were from the U, which is just wrong. I hate Miami but man can they recruit NFL level talent.

Starters
QB Philip Rivers
WR Reggie Wayne
WR Andre Johnson
WR Santana Moss
RB Frank Gore
RB Willis McGahee
W/R Clinton Portis
TE Jeremy Shockey
DEF Philadelphia
K Stephen Gostkowski

Bench
QB Matt Leinart (I always wanted a lefty)
RB Tatum Bell
WR Bernard Berrian
WR Mike Furrey
WR Derek Mason
TE Benjamin Watson

Fantasy Football 08 Team #1

This team was almost completely auto-drafted, I forgot about the draft until about round 9. I was smart enough to change my order a little bit and ended up with some players I like.

Starters
QB Matt Hasselbeck
WR Marques Colston
WR Hines Ward
RB Willie Parker
RB Travis Henry
W/R Thomas Jones
TE Kellen Winslow
DEF Baltimore
K Jeff Reed

Bench
QB Vince Young
RB Warrick Dunn
RB Rueben Droughns
WR Bernard Berrian
WR Issac Bruce
TE Jason Witten

Out of It

I've been so out of it since returning from the Midwest Death March. I was fighting a stomach thing mixed with fatigue. Now I seem to be fighting a potential head cold, man cons really can knock you out. I should be mostly recovered except for the weird head cold thing.

So Awful

Good lord the back end of the rotation for the Braves is just awful. They don't have to be good they just need to be a little bit better.

Life sure is weird

I'm finally home after 12+ days on the road, man did I miss my family. I recover from very little sleep and some con funk and figure I'd watch some MNF pre-season.

I was just at the RCA Dome and spent 7 days in Indy but right before that I spent 5 days in Chicago. So weird.

She's Only 17

Well she's 17 until Tuesday. I only know this because like 50 people over the weekend have told me once Hayden Panettiere was annouced as a guest. Of course I get a freaky picture with her standing next to Peter Adkison. Not really sure what she has to do with the Bella Sara booth but I'm also not questioning a gift from God at this show full of 99% men when I've been away from my wife for 12 days.

Convention Blues

Today is only day six on my twelve day trip through the midwest. I'm already missing home and ready to go. Maybe I'll feel better after my three hour drive to Indianapolis. More updates to come, maybe.

Damn Bullpen

Can't hold a lead but hey it is baseball. There is another game tomorrow and one after that, can't get too down.

Convention Time!

I'm off to Wizard World Chicago and Gen Con Indy. Jdub and I get to spend 12 days on the road, it should be interesting to say the least. I will miss the family but it should be a good time.

Isn't equality supposed to be equal?

When I first started at Toys R Us the best department, the one everyone wanted to be in, was Ticket. Ticket was named because of how product was sold, it was on a ticket system. It included Big Ticket, items that were too large to keep on the sales floor, stuff like bikes, swing sets, above ground pools. It also included Security Ticket, stuff too expensive to be stolen, things like video games, high-end Barbies, v-tech computers, whatever. They had different hours, a smaller department, never had to deal with seasonal employees, first to get overtime, and rarely had to run register. About a month into my tenure there I was moved there and worked there off and on until it changed.

The front page of the employee guide for Ticket include the job expectations, stuff that was different than regular TRU, stuff like you must pass a background check, take car seat safety class, and lift a 50 lb bike on a ladder. It said it right there, on the front page of the guide. Before you can do anything in the department you see that you must be able to lift 50lbs while on a ladder.

There was this girl in the department for my first two years, an okay person on most days. She was very much into equality, at least to the point that she brought it up all the time. "You know Store Director X we don't have enough women building bikes", stuff like that. That is all good and probably has a place. However every year during Christmas season she would be the Department Head of the Big Ticket section and I'd be in the Security Ticket section. One of the closing jobs of Big Ticket was to refill the bike rack. Every single time she closed she would throw a fit, not ask for help filling the rack, but throw a fit. "I'm a woman, a man should be filling the bike rack," similar statements like that over and over again. Equality works when it is convenient I guess.

There is a person at my current office who makes "women get the shaft" comments all the time as well. Again I don't mind if you the conversation is that "women get the shaft", they probably do, I mean we deal with NASCAR companies, it is the south. But today I almost lost my temper. Jdub and I had to ship things for WW Chicago and Gen Con Indy. It was about 10 to 12 boxes, most normal size, under 15 lbs, but still 12 boxes. One of the boxes was pretty big and weighed about 80 lbs and another one probably 40 lbs. So Jdub and I prepare them to be shipped and have them set up for the UPS person.

Our UPS person is now a small woman and apparently has been for a few weeks. Well the Equal Rights for Women person absolutely flipped out. "I can't believe you left all that for that little woman", "you're a man you should have come up and helped her", "it is too hot to do that to a poor woman", and something else while I was walking away. The UPS driver knows that they can pick up packages weighing up to 125 lbs, I know this because anything bigger than that and we have to call them. The UPS drivers know it rains, snows, gets hot, cold, other various things that make life suck. They know this before they take the job as UPS driver but UPS drivers also make really good money. Again the pay doesn't matter because they know the job before they take it.

Again I guess equality is only important when it is good for you.

Larry!

Man fans in NY really don't like Chipper Jones do they.

Bad Customer Service

We all get it, we all get it a lot. Working a CS based job for 10+ years made me very unsympathetic. If I'm paying my hard earned money for something then I expect to get the service I deserve. I still understand there are times when bad service happens and I can leave it alone. Today was not one of those days.

I called our upcoming hotel in Chicago to try and make some changes. The lady at the front desk was not very helpful, which happens and then she followed it up with "we're very busy right now" and then she hung up on me. Yeah, that doesn't work for me.

It turns out that you shouldn't hang up on someone who books hundreds of nights of hotels a year at your chain, they give a nice preferred card and a special 800 number to call for help. I ended up getting three email apologies and two phone calls about it today.

When I worked CS based jobs an actual call/mail complaint to a higher up was really bad for someone. I've seen people get fired or get on the "one more fuckup and you're fired" list based on a complaint like that. And these were places that didn't give out a "you spend five figures a year with us" card. I'm sure the lady at the front desk had a really good day. When the hotel general manager has to make a personal phone call to a guest because you fucked up, it can't do wonders for your raise potential.

Are you ready for some football?

What a great day. Some nice steaks on the grill, some cold beer, and a Steelers game on TV. Sure it was a pre-season game but who cares, Steelers Football was back. They say the Steelers have a new coach but it looked like the same Steelers team I've seen for years. They passed early to get a lead, then ran the football, and ran the football, and ran it again. They were more physical than the other team and held onto the ball about 10 minutes longer than the other team. The could describe almost every Steelers win I can remember.

Sure it was pre-season and sure none of this shit matters. But it sure is better to win and look good than it is to lose and look like crap.

A Win!

I didn't see the game, JDub came over and we watched 300. I did see the score and Tim Hudson pitched well and the Braves won. The Mets and Phillies lost so all is well, at least for today.

Tomorrow is also the first Steelers pre-season game, good times.

Entertaining at least

Man was today's game, well yesterday's game, entertaining. Every position player, every pitcher from the bullpen, Willie Harris playing third base, Chipper playing shortstop, a few pitcher pinch hitting, one of them with the game winning hit. Too bad the Braves didn't win but it sure was entertaining. I love baseball.

Holidays

Given the day we've had and the fact the women are asleep I guess it is weird I can't sleep and I'm feeling very open to being insightful about myself. I am watching a incredibly entertaining Braves game but I'm exhausted, I should be sleeping. Anyway, onto my personal insight.

I really don't like holidays, almost any of them including my birthday. About the only one I do like is the commercial American version of Christmas. I take that back, I really do enjoy the Little One's birthday. I don't really like any of them, for various different reasons. But I'm talking about birthdays mainly now.

It isn't that I mind getting older, I don't care about that, although last year was tougher than I expected it to be. I just don't have found memories of birthdays. I only remember a few that didn't go well so I assume the others went well but like most things you remember the poor more than the good. I also remember poor experiences with other family member's birthdays as well.

This just causes me to hold birthdays in poor regard. This really hasn't effected how I treat The Little One but it has unfortunately caused Pretty Bird to have some blah birthdays. It also causes me to forget or at least do a poor job with other family member's birthdays. I feel bad for them but I also don't see myself changing despite any efforts I try to put forth. It isn't because I don't love them but I'm sure on their birthdays they don't care. Sorry about that.

When it rains it pours

It actually isn't the bad, at least we'll both be okay. But I took today off because I had a appointment with my doctor to check up on issues. I'm supposed to see him every six months and it is has been seven. Now that I'm over thirty I guess I should pay more attention. Prior to last year I only visited the doctor every 18 months or so, which made my wife, mother, and doctor very upset. So now I'm a good patient. The appointment since it is only a checkup was only going to take a 30 minutes or so and my doctor is on the south side of town.

I took the whole day off because Pretty Bird was off and we've been promising The Little One for over two years now we'd take her to Carowinds, the local Paramount themed amusement park. With me traveling four out of five weeks and her going to start school during that time I really wanted a little family time. Sure we didn't need to spend the money but we figured what the hell, let's do it.

The park in most cases would have been a good day. However today was not meant to be a good day. Apparently the Little One hasn't been feeling well for a day or two and been hiding it because she really wanted to go to the park. She didn't eat breakfast but hide it from us so we wouldn't know and be upset/make her eat/not let her go to the park. She does fine for the first 90 minutes or so at the park and then she doesn't want to eat lunch. She does drink a decent amount and we're able to get her to eat a little bit. At first we thought it was just her not liking the food. Well another hour or so and we can really tell she isn't feeling well. It only gets worse from there, partly because she hasn't really eaten all day, it is 95 or so, and she really doesn't want to leave the park. Leaving the park early, a few calls to the doctors, and some nervous temperature watching and we almost end up taking her to the hospital. Obviously it is some sort of stomach bug but now probably combined with dehydration and/or heat exhaustion. Then she up and starts eating everything she can see. She is still slated to go to the doctors tomorrow but it seems things are better.

Pretty Bird almost always, eight years now, gets sick when The Little One gets sick. It is obviously just nerves/stress but sometimes she gets herself really sick. Today was almost one of those days, again probably mixed with the heat. She was doing pretty poorly but of course hid it from the Little One. She is actually doing much better, probably due to eating and the Little One eating.

Me, I think I'm okay. I visit my doctor today, my condition really hasn't bothered me much in months and then today about 5:30, bam. It was a very mild one but none of them are fun. I get about six different types of attacks and this one was almost the easiest to deal with. It really isn't much pain, just knocks the wind out of me and sometimes a pretty bad migraine follows it, like today. I'm writing this with the lights off because it does hurt but it is much better than my chest hurting. Yes, my condition is almost always brought on by stress and I have a good bit right now. Hopefully I don't get a real attack in the next few weeks, Gen Con and WW Chicago are big deals for us.

Which brings me to my other source of stress, not that work or an almost trip to the hospital aren't enough. I knew to call my dad today early in the day, I even reminded Pretty Bird to tell me while we were at the park. It is his birthday, so Happy Birthday Dad. With all of the craziness I just forgot to call him. I knew something was bothering me at the back of my mind and I didn't put my mind on it until I remembered about 15 minutes ago. With my mom fighting her stuff they go to bed earlier than 10pm. So of course I'm a bad son and didn't call him. I will call him tomorrow and fell like a deadbeat. Hopefully he'll understand.

Well both the womenfolk are asleep. The Little One kept her food down and doesn't have a fever. Pretty Bird should be okay but will probably still be stressed tomorrow about The Little One and stressed over me being stressed about my dad. Still a good day, the womenfolk appear to be on the way to recovery, all is good.

Good start

Well 12 runs is a good start. Of course they scored 11 runs last night and 14 runs on Sunday. Welcome to Atlanta Mark, it is looking like a good summer.