N'awlins at heart

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Wish bone

As you all know, we stayed in Houston this year for Christmas. We also stayed here for Thanksgiving. Due to this, we had our own turkey that day. It was really good, and traditionally, we left the wishbone out to dry. It's been sitting next to the kitchen sink for a few weeks and we decided while we were in the kitchen, Christmas was the perfect day to make that wish. So we did.

Now I know normally whomever gets the large end of the wish bone gets the wish. But what if the 2 sides snap apart and the center Y shaped piece flips through the air and hits you in the eye? Because that's exactly what happened. I got hit in the eye with the wish bone. Needless to say I don't expect my wish to come true any time soon.

Merry Christmas all!

Monday, December 24, 2007

It's no Trans Siberian Orchestra...




But it'll do. Yes people, it's Christmas Eve. Sorry it took so long to blog but you know how it goes. Once again, not a lot has been going on. We got all of our Christmas shopping out of the way for the most part. And we took a short ride today. It was nice but a little chilly. We may go look at Christmas lights tonight but I'm not sure. The first year we moved here we did that on the bike. But it didn't work out so well. We went up and down the streets and I got disoriented. We found a familiar street and I went the wrong direction. Hours later we made it home. Ha ha. But it was still nice to get out for a bit.

Chia, you are very welcome for the help with mom's gift. I hope she likes it. I wish we would have been there. But there is always next year.

We will probably spend the rest of the evening watching Christmas themed shows (if I can find any on TV). If not, I'm sure A Christmas Story will be on all day tomorrow. I have to get my Ralphie fix. Ha ha. "OH FUDGE!"

Work was very slow last week. My boss was out for the 2 weeks before Christmas, and that seems to motivate us to work harder. Not! Ha Ha Ha. Speaking of Christmas, it looks like my neighbor got a gift a little early. There is a guy with an older silver R6 who parks near the entrance of our apartment. When we returned from our ride today there was a brand new blue R6 next to the older one. It still had the temporary plate on it. I'm quite sure he's pleased. And we also got a surprise gift that was unexpected. We went to check the mail today and had a slip in the box stating we had a letter sized package at the front gate. We curiously headed that way and found a letter from W1's cousin. In it was a CD with her picture on it, a picture of a guitar, and it stated it was her music "revealed". I can't wait to pop that gem in the old CD player. Ok, just picking with her. I'm sure it's very nice, and it was very thoughtful of Melissa Ethredge, I mean, W1's cousin, to send it to us.

I will make sure to take lots of pictures to share with everyone. Have a Merry Christmas and we will talk to everyone soon. We love and miss you all.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The continuing saga...

As some of you may already know. My friend Erik got hit on his bike last Thursday. He broke his humerus, his knee is swollen, he has some road rash, and got about 20 stitches in his leg. He is a great rider, and it was unavoidable. When the accident happened, he was riding along on the highway with a group of people, and a guy to the left of him "decided he needed to pee, and shot over so he would make the exit" without bothering to look. Tomorrow morning he is having surgery on his arm to screw 2 metal plates into his humerus. Please keep him in your prayers.

As you also may know, we went to NOLA again last weekend. It was a nice visit, but definitely a hectic one. We did get to visit with everyone, but once again it wasn't long enough. We actually flew in for W1's Company Christmas Party. (Er, I mean holiday.) It was at Commander's Palace. The food was good, even though they put onions in everything. Soup, salad, steak, and I'm pretty sure I even tasted an onion in the Bread Pudding (okay, that was an exaggeration). But it was a really good time. Afterwards we went to the Old Pointe Bar. It was a lot of fun hanging out, and seeing people we had not seen in a while.

Unfortunately I was feeling a little Ill last Thursday and the plane ride didn't help. Neither did the one coming back to Houston. I toughed it out and went to work yesterday. And I should have known better. I forgot my badge, so I had to get a temporary. So as luck would have it, their printer was down, and I was behind a group of about 15 visitors. 30 minutes later I finally got to my desk. The day went along okay, until I went out for a break around 6:30. Apparently they canceled my temporary access at 6:00. After tracking down the 1 person with access who was still there, I decided to call it a day. When I got home, W1 and I went out for a nice Birthday dinner at Chili's.

This morning I felt like crap so I stayed home. I went back to sleep and around 1:00 W1 came home and brought me soup and crackers, and a shit ton of medicine. She is so fawesome. After she headed back to work I decided to try one of my presents. She got me "God of War" which I played until she came home. Even though the game is like 10 years old, it's new to me. Ha ha.

The rest of the night I have spent watching "Most Shocking: High Speed Chases 3" (it was on Court TV) and blabbering to you people. So now I guess it's, back to bed.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

It's the little jabs that get ya.

(And 2 posts in 1 day. Go figure.) So I head out to lunch with a friend. We ended up at the Pizza Hut lunch buffet which is my weakness. I ate way too much, as I always do when we go there. Now, one of my co-workers has a habit of asking me to bring him back food when I head out to lunch. Well, usually he asks to join us, and I tell him "yeah", then when it's time to go he backs out. (But asks why we never invite him any more.) The worst part is, he never tells me what he wants. I have enough trouble deciding what I want, now I have to guess what he likes too? Fine, whatever.

Being that we went to a lunch buffet, I couldn't exactly bring back a few slices. So I did the right thing, at first. I called him and asked what he would like from Taco Bell. He went with a #6 baja something or other, a side of nachos, and a coke. Pretty basic order. Then we pulled to the window. Once the order was received we were asked the standard question. "Would you like some sauce?" To which I responded, "Yes, mild."

As we pulled away my friend turned to me and asked "D likes mild sauce?" To which I responded, "No, nobody likes mild sauce. But can you imagine the look on his face when he realizes that's the only sauce in the bag?"

Like I said, it's the little jabs that get ya.

W1's "special" friend.

Yes, W1 has a friend that is truly "special". To say the least. This girl is off the wall. But a really nice person.

We went to her new apartment Saturday Night to watch some movies and have dinner. The night started out well. We went out to a little place near her house and had sammiches. They were delish. The place was a little strange though. It was a BYOB and Wine joint. They didn't sell alcohol, but were more than happy to have you bring your own. I have never heard of this. (Other than the strip clubs here.) Apparently this is nothing strange for that area. They said many restaurants in that area do it.

Afterwards we headed back to her apartment (shotgun house style, very nice) to watch movies on her brand new 32" flatscreen TV. We flipped through hundreds of cable channels before moving on to the DVD's. Now, this DVD player was something else. I will not mention the brand because they seem like the kind of jerkfaces (Ha Ha, used it again) who would sue somebody. Anyways, we pop in "Bad Santa" and here is where the trouble began. Apparently this particular DVD player was won by her friend as a door prize. Over 2 years ago. It had been sitting in this friends garage the entire time, unopened, unused. When we popped in the movie things looked ok, but the sound was terrible. You had to set the volume all the way up to barely hear it. And to watch the movie with sound, we would have needed to sit in a semi circle about 2 feet from the TV. I fidgeted with the wiring but it all looked correct. I didn't have the heart to tell her the DVD player was a piece of crap. In the end we watched "To Catch a Predator".

Sunday W1 and I were out and when we returned we noticed her friend had called and left a message. I won't get into the message even though it was hilarious. (Ok, one quote "I was about to say fuck TV, but I really like to watch it"). The just of the message was, after spending 2 hours on the phone with the local cable technician, they had deduced (over the phone mind you) that the TV had a bad input. After she hung up from leaving her hilarious message, she was heading back to Best Buy to return the TV.

Now, having known about the brand of DVD player, not to mention the constant care they gave it sitting in a musty garage for 2 years, I guarantee the TV is not the issue. Maybe try replacing the $20 DVD player first. I'm just saying.

Sunday, December 02, 2007

*You may be right, I may be crazy...

Well lucky readers, W1 has found "Little House on the Prairie" so you get a post.

I was thinking, as long as I'm on a complaining roll, what is with people who can't do their jobs? We have been having issues with some of the new test machines at work. So temporarily we have people working in our area from the manufacturer. For whatever reason, they need to connect to the Internet via our cable modem. They just can't connect through any of our other 5 internal networks. It has to be a cable modem.

In their offices, then needed to be wirelessly connected (because they can't figure out our "standard" switch panel?). Being the intelligent individuals they are, the hooked up the wireless router incorrectly. Yes, a basic wireless router. The exact same kind millions of people use in their homes every day. The antics that ensued were glorious. You see, we use the cable modem for particular tests at work, but those tests are few and far between. However, a couple of co-workers use this available tool, to play "World of Warcraft" throughout the day. Along with "Eve Online" etc... And the way they hooked up the router, all of the local connections were lost. Which means, no games.

After my co-worker, and the manufacturer guy, took turns changing the connection and effectively "bumping" each other off the Internet, I got to sit back and watch. MG states that if he can't connect, he can't work. And they are here for very important reasons. Then CW gets buck, stating his job is just as important as MG's. This occured at the end of the day Wednesday, and both parties eventually left for the day.

Thursday morning, it starts over again. I explained to my boss, what the issue was and how to correct it. So he told me to get with them and get it working. By this time, they had called in a Network Guru from upstairs. I informed him that it's a basic home setup, and told him how I would have connected it. To which he responded "That won't work because WAN and NAT and blah blah blah..." So I let it go, I mean, he OBVIOUSLY knows what he was talking about. He used big words, and acronyms. And who am I to tell him how to do his job? (Information to the reader: That is the first sign of an "I read a book technician". The worst kind. Just because you can read something, and retain the answer long enough to parrot it back on a test, doesn't mean you have the slightest grasp on how things work. They are easy to recognize. When they come into your office for "routine maintenance" (this is usually when your old working equipment bites the dust) or to repair something, you ask them a question. Instead of a simple answer, or just jumping right on your system and fixing it, they spew a bunch of info and acronyms at you. Then when they are gone, you are still in the same boat. See, at that very moment, you witnessed an "I read a book technician". In it's native environment.) And yes, I am guilty of spewing out a lot of confusing info, but as long as I'm fixing the issue, no harm done. Other than forcing the person to listen. We'll call that tax.

Back on track. Friday morning and all is still not well. This is basic stuff people. I did the exact same setup at Chia's house 6 years ago. This isn't some new technology. When I returned from lunch they (Network Guru, Manufacturer Guy, our local employees) were still there. By now they had decided the issue was our server. Yeah, the one that has worked fine for the two years I've been there, and countless years before that. (Just a note, if a piece of computer equipment works great for years, then someone goes in there changing settings and connections, and it quits working. Then you are told the equipment needs to be replaced. Fire that person. They are obviously an idiot, and should have left well enough alone.) So they all ran off. I used this time to set everything up the way i originally told them days earlier and all was up and running. When they returned with handfuls of equipment, I got to inform them everything was working. And when they asked, I didn't give them a simple answer. I told them each and every step I did. Which consequently, they had already heard. The first time I told them to do it that way.

In the end, my boss sent an email to his bosses, glorifying me, and telling them how a standard "tester' was able to fix the network problem their "Guru" couldn't fix in 3 days. But I still hate telling people how to do their jobs. It just upsets me because they didn't listen if the first place. They should have, I mean, after all, I am special.

*Billy Joel - You may be right.