So I'm psuedo sick today. I've got a head ache, a cough, a sore throat, my arm fell off, and I'm tired. I'm still gonna try to do some work around the house, but I did waste the entire morning watching cartoons. Some good ones, Xmen, Spider man old school and new school, and Gargoyles. Those are some great cartoons.
I'll probably go out to lowes at 5 or so and pick upt he stuff to hook up the ice maker to the fridge. I hope i don't screw it up. Guh, tired.
I blog, for several reasons. One of them is not to threaten others, but that is a side affect of my rage... I got the rage. I thought about it... a few minutes really... and realized I blog to put my thoughts into words. I've often tried to keep a journal but my hand writing (much like my typing) is unintelligble and mostly looks like scribbles. I also like to entertain, and most of my blogs, unless involving a spiritual issue, should be taken with a giant truck load of good humor. There is some truth to what I joke about, I really do want to beat the crap out of this drug rep guy, democrats really do annoy the crap out of me, and the Notebook seriously did make me cry. But I tend to imbelish my emotion and make it sound worse than it really is. Just thought I'd say that.
Well the wife got back into town late last night. It was good to have her back as the bumps in the night we're getting scarrier and scarrier every night. We pretty much just went to bed last night and then had our respective work experiences. Some jerk yelled at my wife, some freakin drug rep who thinks he's the shiz. Wifey was 15 minutes late delivering the catering order and he yelled at her and refused to pay for the food and subsequently tip her. His name is Grant and he's a Drug rep, so if you know any one who's a drug rep and is named Grant, tell him that if A. I see him, I'll beat the living piss out of him, and B. if he ever demeans my wife again, I'll kill him. It ticks me off when people don't treat people well. Its a freakin food order, i mean its not like she was delivering a heart for a transplant.
ALso if you know any nurses that work for this Grant fellow tell them that they are the scum of the earth as well. They treated my wife as if she was common trash. So if I meet any nurses from here on out, I'm going to spit on them, I apologize for any nurses I spit on that don't work for Grant the Drug Rep.
So if you learn anything from Grant's wacking learn that it pays to be nice to your waiter, waitress, or food delivery person, cause you never know what psycho they're married to will do.
Today I went up to the Baldwin wedding in Nashville. It was a lot of fun, small wedding, really intimate, and a real joy to see two people who love each other get married. I also like it when the dad of the bride or groom does the ceremony. David's dad is a pastor and he did the proceedings and it gave it a real intimate feel to the whole thing, that and a real personal message. I took the camera but wasn't much in a picture taking mood, every time I did try to take a picture though it turned out super crappy. Here's the only one i took (Only took 6) of the bride and groom that came out remotely good.
It was great to be there and maybe hope to get to know Dave and Jen more when they move back to Chatty. I was Dave's RA his first year at Covenant, and knew Jennifer just from the association with Jungle, the girls hall above us. Dave was a guy I always liked talking to as he has a lot of opinions, a lot of passion, and makes a great cup of coffee. I always sought out his room when on the hall as it was usually filled with good music, good coffee, and good conversation. But as I was only on the hall for a semester with him, I didn't get to know him as well as I'd liked. But it was great being able to witness his wedding and hope to hang out with him and his bride in the coming months.
As I wrote this I thought to myself about passion and how it plays into my life. I tend to find myself drawn to passionate people. I'm usually in awe of them and love hanging out with passionate people as it is one of the traits that I desire, but don't seem to have much of. I rarely get "fired up" about stuff, whether it be angry, happy, "jazzed," excited, or whatever, I'm kind of like this guy on this mellow drug that leaves me neither high nor low. I do get happy, I am happy now for that matter, but rarely do I let my happiness consume me and come out of every pore of my body, though maybe my pores are clogged up...
I know sometimes I'll be driving in the car, at home, or at work and think to myself, "I should be really happy today." And then I get happy and joyful in a way about just being alive, in love, and the fact that I have too many blessings to count. Its ironic that sometimes I have to remind myself to be happy, I guess I just get distracted and worried by all the uncertainity and insanity in our world today.
But I digress... Dave and Jen, congrats, doubt they'll ever read this... but congrats.
I just got done with the movie In America and it was pretty moving. I'm sorry but Irish + Dijimon Hounsou = Chris enjoying a movie. Plus I've been a Jim Sheridan fan, well at least of two of his movies, the rest I haven't seen yet. My Left Foot and In the Name of the Father are two of my top ten favorite movies. Though where those two were powerful and masterful, this one seemed to have all of that plus a sense of realism. Its like the other movies were so emotional and powerful that it lost some of the realism, this one however seemed very realistic (roughly based on Sheridan's life). Great movie, I wish wifey could've seen it but alas she's sunning it up at the beach. REnt this one, its good...
Everyone's conceding the NL central penant to the Cardinals, especially after pre All Star game and Post All Star game the Cards dismantled the cubbies and won't see them again for possibly a long time. Also I noticed the teams the Cards have to wrap up the season with aren't exactly pieces of cake. The Marlins, Mets, and Braves will be tough as both of they all battle for the NL east and will most likely all three step up their play. The Pirates are suprisingly not as bad as they should be and seem to put up a decent fight. And if you look at July Auguts it looks like all the cards do is play the reds. There's also the Astros who though out of the race for the most part, still have a great club that once it gets its act together will be a force. As well as the Brewers who surprisingly are fighting with the reds and cubs for a possible wild card. And if that weren't enough there's the entire west coast. Rockies (though bad historically the cards struggle sometimes against them), Padres, Dodgers, and Giants---all of which are battling for their division. So though the cubs are done with the Cards don't have it in the bag yet. They have to battle the best of the east and west. Hopefully they'll stay on top of their game and bring one home for the Holtie!
Well as you can tell by the pics the fridge came today. And it's looking good.
They had some trouble getting in the house, they had to take the door off the hinges (house door).
And as you can see it was a rather tight fit.
I woke up this morning and thought to myself, "Hmmm I should have measured that before I purchased a stinkin expensive fridge..." By the skin of my teeth I was lucky. It's working good though I have to hook up the ice maker/water thingy. It will require some doing as I don't like plumbing. I've heard its not hard by about 8 people now so it shouldn't be too bad.
Janelle left for the beach tonight so I ate some leftovers. She prepared all this food for me in her absence. I appreciate it very much as its very good, but She's only going to be gone a weekend.... I have no clue how i'm supposed to eat all this food.... oh well better go try to make a dent in it.
After all the entertainment center battling, we actually might not get one now. Our fridge conked out on us wednesday morning and we spent the morning frantically trying to find one. We went to Lowes and Home Depot and out of the two Home Depot had the better deal, mainly because they carry GE which is a little cheaper than Maytag, which was the only thing we liked at Lowes. We were about to get a GE 22sq ft one but decided to buy it after work. Wifey heard about this Ray Cox guy who sells dinged refrigerators. She went and found a bunch that she liked and told me to go on my lunch break with her. We did and basically we got an Amana (which is supposidly the nicest brand) 26sq feet for the same price as the GE. Its not fresh out of the box and its got a ding but it hasn't been used and still looks good. They're delivering it today so we'll have a fridge soon. What stinks is all the food that has probably spoiled. I had some ice cream last night and it definatley had those little crystals things on it.
But with this large purchase we may hold off on the entertainment center... or we might not... its still in the air.
Wifey's going to the beach this weekend with some friends of hers. SO I"ll be batching it. I'm looking forward to getting a lot of work done on the house as I have many projects that I hope to get accomplished. Maybe Strowmo can comeover and help me as he is batching it this weekend as well. I need to put the moisture barrier down for once which will require some upclose and personal contact with those freaking huge grasshoppers in the basement. I also need to paint some furniture we just bought from the crap store of Pier 1 Crap Imports. I also have to mow, and then spray the yard with some bug killer as the mosquitos are to a level that is not good. Also I'm hoping this will cut down on all the other bugs we have in our yard.
I'm also going to baldwins wedding with strow. Not sure if we'll go up for the bachelor party or not. Any who outlike shout
An apology is in order to Scott. I intended to bring some humor into the
discussion of entertainment centers (as it can be a boring topic) but
regardless of what I intended, I offended, which was not my intention. I
sincerely apologize to Scott, Bob, and Charity if I in any way offended or
be-littled you or your opinions. I know I did Scott as he whole heartedly
told me, which I appreciate, respect, and thank him for.
I appreciate when people have the courage to show me the error of my
way. I'm a shoot from the hip kind of guy and respect and appreciate Scott
for shooting me when I needed to be shot. When you have a problem with me,
disagree with me, or think I'm wrong; tell me and don't sugar coat it or
beat around the bush. Tell me strait up and we'll talk about it. Here Scott
did that, I see he was right, I was wrong, I offended him and ask for his
forgiveness.
My sense of humor can sometimes get the best of me, that whole
thinking before I speak thing sometimes doesn't work for me. I thought and
reflected long about that post, trying to see if in any way what I wrote
could be taken in any way other than in jest. I concluded it wouldn't be
taken as offensive so I went ahead with the post. The thought crossed my
mind to simply send "the Scott part" to just him, but I didn't. When in
reality I should not have written it at all.
I talked to Scott about it and we both sort of agreed my humor at
times settled too closely sometimes on the blurry line that separates truth
from jest. And just for clarification I don't think Scott is like a tree. He
is anal, but that is his gift, it suits him well and has gotten him very far
in life. If I too were anal, maybe my yard wouldn't look like a dung heap.
My wife is anal, and I often see it as her strongest compliment to me as her
husband. And I like his goatee, ear ring, and biking shorts too. Those
comments were all in jest, nevertheless it is my fault for their insulting
tone, to which I apologize to Scott.
For those who know me and those who don't, I at times cross lines
without knowing it or realizing it, its the curse of being raised by a TV
and having no human interaction till College. Also I'm not a good arguer.
Usually when I lose an argument with my wife (which happens often) I realize
my defeat and resort to second grade responses, "Takes one to know one, you
can lump it..." and or various random noises that cannot be typed as they
will make little to no sense. What I tried to do with Scott, Bob, and
Charity was respond to what they wrote, in a way that respected their
opinions, then expressed why our situation was different, and/or why I
disagreed, and then make light of the situation all together. This failed
miserably. I can see now how I offended Scott, and his friend Matt. Charity
and Bob, if I offended you too then I apologize and feel free to tell me via
post or email holtoch@hotmail.com. Also feel free to punch me in the stomach
next time you see me, as this is the typical punishment I offer others to
inflict on me.
If there are any more concerns, please let me know. Sorry again.
First let me say, I appreciate everyone's feedback, I really do like it when people provide advice and pointers from their own person experience. Many thanks to Bill, Charity, Bob, and Scott.
But I must say, don't count us out there, folks. Scott we've been looking since May, so don't insinuate that we haven't been looking long enough...if you were insinuating that, it sounded like you were, if you weren't then ok, but it sounded that way, and if it sounded that way then maybe subconsciously you were insinuating that, which then that means subconsciously you want to be me because of my insane coolness. (Insert your own laughter here)
I truly have been looking for a long time for an entertainment center. Entertainment centers are somewhat of weird fascination of mine, mainly cause I've always wanted one, and never had one. So I'm somewhat of a student of the entertainment center. Back in July when wifey's parents got us their wedding gift of a dinning room table, I hinted that I'd rather have had a solid oak entertainment center, but it was way over a $1000 maybe even upwards of $1900, I just know it had 4 digits, and wifey wasn't about to let me get my way on that one, which was a good thing in the end.
Also an entertainment center is something our house desparately needs right now. For starters the table our TV is currently on is a wonderful Cherry end table that we received as a wedding gift, due to the fact that a 27in tv is on it no one can really experience the table and the Feng Shui it brings to the room. Our living room is our main socializing room, we don't have a sitting room, sunroom, or fun room so its the living room or the dinning room. Also our living room lacks the focal point of a fire place. Fire places not only provide great heat but also act as a sort of center of attention and tie a room together, much like the Dude's rug tied his room together. So since we don't want to install a fire place, an entertainment center is the next logical choice.
Now let me respond to each person's comments:
Bob, thanks for the info, great help. The furniture is not put together so i doubt its refurbished. Also when you get it and if you notice any damages to any of the wood that occured while shipping, you can send it back free and they'll send another one, which is cool. Also shipping costs are $2.95 regardless of size, weight, or race.
Charity: I tried Southeastern salavage however the real deals there are mainly on building materials and random pieces of art. I found their prices on furniture were either the same or more than other retailers in chattanooga. I found a similar piece of furniture there was about 200$ less at Factory Direct, I believe it was a China Cabinet. And if you think about the ethos of Southeastern Salvage, its a salvage yard, they get stuff thats been left over from houses that were built or overstocked stuff, the furniture... not sure where that comes from. Some of it is really good pieces, but you also have to realize with a large item such as this, I'd have to get a large truck, and the furniture at Southeastern Salvage and Factory Direct is already put together and they don't deliver, which is a huge pain and a very large risk and liabilty. But thanks for your post, I'm being sincere, I appreciate the help.
Scott, I saw your entertainment/armoirs, and they're cool. I was very impressed with your craftsmanship and creativity to make them work to your specifications. However, I'm neither as handy nor as patient. If i were to shell out the benjamins for a piece of furniture, I don't want it to need some modifications that I'd have to do myself. I don't want to buy a fixer upper piece of furniture, unless I'm getting a fixer upper price (fixer upper price in my mind is under 100$). Also note that Bob did not say it had too much stain, only a lot. And Scott don't you think you're a wood pretending to be a man??? Think about it... you're tall (trees are tall), you're anal (wood is very anal), and you can hurt me (trees hurt me too). Also Pine can be whatever color it wants Scott, don't judge the pine man, I don't tell you not to wear an ear ring to work, or to not have a goatee, or to not wear bike shorts even if you are biking at the time of you wear them....I'm so fired aren't I?
Finally this entertainment center has several things I like: First off: Its simple. A lot of entertainment centers try to get too complicated and busy by adding lots of compartments. This being said, I do like a lot of compartments in an entertainment center, however rare if ever have I ever found one with the right dimensions and extras. Also I've noticed that most of the compartments are too small for my Dvd player which is a home audio system receiver that is a behemoth. The ones I saw at Factory direct had this problem and the only way to fix it would be to take some extra wood and make it the way I want... which sort of defeats the purpose of shelling 100s of dollars on a piece of furniture. This one gets delivered to my door for two dollars and nintey five cents. It has matching book shelves that go alongside it or will go in another room if we feel it is a bit much for the living room. Though it is pine, i have seen pine that looks like this before. We had two books shelves back home that were pine and heavily stained and they looked fine. They might not have had the snob appeal that cherry, oak, and concrete have but it did its job and was a nice piece of furniture. Remember, furniture, especially pine, are people too....
One thing we need in the house of houses, is an entertainment center. Our living room doesn't have a fireplace, the whole house doesn't come to think of it, and the living room's focal point is the tv. This is something we're not proud of, but it is what it is. I basically told wife that there was only two pieces of furniture that I would permit us to buy when we bought the house, a guest bed for upstairs (which we got) and an armoir/tv entertainment center for the living room.
We've looked for a long time. So far the only place in town with anything worth looking at is Factory Direct which had two different types of armoirs. One was a chest high wide variety that was really great, but the partitions were to small to fit my dvd player in so we had to pass. The other one (also at factory direct) was a three piece combo set with book shelves on either side and a large center in the middle, this piece was a little more grandious than i wanted. We thought about going the cheap route and just getting something from walmart or target for a few hundred, one of those pressed wood deals that will biodegrade in about 10 years but we thought we should make it worth our money and get something real. We've saved what the wife's made for the past few months and think we've found one at overstock.com.
The site has some good stuff, but its always a gamble when you buy something like this over the internet. Will probably do it b/c of the deal it is and the fact that it seems to be what we want. The customer feed back gives it a good rating. This piece
is what we're looking at, the side pieces are separate, but we'll probably purchase them anyway. I don't know, we're not a 100% but we're getting there.
Not much else is hanging... I've already beat Rogue Squandron 3... yep just rented it friday. It has a killer multi player though having co-op or dog fighting. The problem with the game is the lame 3rd person as I think I mentioned before. They corrected themselves from Rogue Squad 2 which was trying to correct Rogue Squandron 1. Basically the first one was super easy but a blast, so then they made the sequal and tried to tough it up, but it wasn't fun anymore, now the 3rd one is easier again, but now it has lame parts like the 3rd person. The flying is still cool. My favorite ships are the B wing and the Jedi Starfighter (Obi Wan's ship in attack of the clones). The plots are a little weak as they make plots up that occur between Star Wars and Empire Strikes back and a Return of the Jedi. Other than that not much else is hanging
I decided to take the wife to a chick flick, since the past 10 or so movies haven't been of the feminine variety. She opted for the Notebook which I had no idea what it was about, but I went with only one request: Popcorn. I had my cynicism in check as I didn't want to ruin the movie for the wife. Now I'm not a tearful man, I didn't shed a tear at many sad moments in history... I'm just usually in control and don't usually get emotional about stuff.
That being said, I lost it at this movie... it was rough. I haven't cried this much in a movie, in my entire life. I'm prepared for the onslaught of my masculinity and my movie taste, bring it on, but I truly loved this movie. It was seriously the most moving movie I've seen. Sure it may have been aiming for the heart strings, but it got them and tugged till it hurt. Actually my face did hurt as I was trying to hold in all the tears, but alas the levy could not hold!
I don't want to give the movie away as that will ruin it but I'll give a short synopsis. Starts off in a nursing home where James Garner (you could put him in the worst movie and he'd rock it) is reading a story to this old woman. Its a love story. Basically in the love story this young couple falls in love one summer (summer romance type thing) she's the rich southern girl, he's the poor southern mill man. Opposite ends of the spectrum, find love, and are torn from each other by her parents... well it goes on and so could I but I don't want to give it away.
Seriously if you have a girl, a wife, a pet rock, whatever! Take them/it to see this movie. Its truly touching, check the cynicism at the door too, as that will ruin any good movie. I found my cynicism almost ruined Seabiscuit, and that was a good movie. But the Notebook is a sad, love story that makes you cry but makes you feel all warm and fuzzy too.
It also sort of had a personal touch with me as the movie deals with dymensia and old age, and having a grandmother struggle with Alzeihmers till her passing it was very moving to me on many levels. Not only from the love story part of it, but also from the old age and that aspect of dealing with not knowing who you are anymore. I don't know, with all the crap on TV, crap on the screen, and crap in the media, this movie is just a breath of fresh air that makes you happy and sad at the same time. Go see it, if you don't like it, then I apologize but this cynic certainly thought it was way worth the price of admission.
I went to blockbusta on the way home from work to find something to watch while wifey made some bread and butta at the restaurant. I was there for 45 minutes and came up with nothing that really floated my boat. I got In America, which I've wanted to see for many moons now and will watch this weekend with the wifey, possibly on sunday. But I couldn't find that one movie, that one that makes me glad to be alive, and glad robots and aliens will always be killable by humans with big guns and super powers. I find myself looking a lot more at the anime section and what classifies as the weakest Sci-Fi section I've ever seen but alas blockbusta is no longer busting the block. I really want to rent some of Bruce Cambell's lesser known flicks like Mindwarp, Sundown: the Vampire Retreat, and Moontrap. Some of the anime stuff seemed interesting, and some of the hokey Sci Fi stuff seemed plausible, but nothing seemed well made as tends to be the case these days.
I've always tried to maintain my interest in Sci Fi. I told Scott today of my few day plunge into Isaac Asimov... I got lost after 50 pages. I couldn't tell who was a robot and who was a human, which is key. When I was a kid I was a sucker for the book covers. I found one book I bought about some space crew that got left on the moon and thought the cover was so cool. I begged my mom for hours to buy it for me, she did (i was the youngest child...) I read maybe 20 pages and got bored with it. I think the problem with Sci-Fi books sometimes is there has to be to much explaining of the science and the fiction. With fantasy books there's explanation of the fantasy (history of the fantasy world too) but everything else is left to the imagination. In the end a fantasy book doesn't have to make sense... its fantasy. Whereas a Science Fiction book has to make sense in a way to be somewhat scientific.
I really was looking for something like a Matrix, Gataca, Dark City, 12 Monkeys... then the classics like Blade Runner, Star Wars, 2001 etc. (I put those in no particular order, only the ones that i thought of first). Blade Runner was I think was one of the most creative and vivid movies providing detail, graphics, and sets way ahead of its time. I found the story to be a little slow and Harrison Ford doesn't seem to talk much, but it had that Film Noir/Sci Fi thing going so it worked. Matrix seems to me to be the last well done movie that was way out there, though its very similar to Dark City in some ways. I guess Minority Report was somewhat Sci Fi, but it wasn't out there enough for me, it was cool, but it wasn't super futuristic or anything. Also I left out A.I. I consider this to be a potentially great movie, that Spielberg screwed up. It seems a lot of times that Spielberg took Kubrick's great idea (I realize he did it as somewhat of a homage to Kubrick, never the less still somewhat hacky), then Spielberg sort of watched Blade Runner and said to himself.... "this is what the future should look like..." then put his spielbergian touch to it, "Now I'll take that dark world, and put some of my love into, throw in an obnoxiously cute kid, and throw in some wierd robots that are merely left overs from Close Encounters at the end and I'll have a movie that is nothing like Kubrick would have done and something the whole family can enjoy..."
Then there's I-Robot opening this week I guess. I don't know, might have a bit too much of a Big Willy Style Feel to it. I like Will Smith, he appeals to the unhip white geek in me, but that doesn't mean I like him fighting robots. I like him as the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, teaching those upity rich whitey's how to be cool and hip and turn your blazer inside out.
So I settled for no movie at all.... I was going to get Once Upon a Time In Mexico, but I didn't want something alright... I wanted to be blown away. So I settled for Star Wars Rogure Squandron 3 which incidentally sucks. The flying's ok but they put this lame 3rd person shooting part in that is just annoying. It'd be fine if it was 1st person but the controls are so awkward its not fun, more tedious. Anywho its late.
As I work my way up the corporate ladder and make my way into middle classdom (I'm still in the lower end of that spectrum), I come to realize, socialism sucks. I'm not a fan of the welfare state. I was when I was in college, mainly cause of the "free thinking" one does in the college world. A student is filled with a lot of liberal, progressive thinking, which in of itself isn't all bad, but its certainly impractical at times. Its easy for academia to speculate and preach what they think is best for the world, however I find a lot of academia really doesn't seem to have much connection with the world they live in. I found that true at my college and at most universities I see. I found the way I was taught in college: the ideas, theories, and philosophies were really out of touch with reality. And now that I'm in the corporate world I find that I've become increasingly more capitalistic in my thinking. It erks me that I make about $10,000 less than what I'm supposed to due to taxes and social security (also some healthcare expenses which I'm sort of screwed on too, but thats not necessarily the government's fault---though it would help if they passed some sort of medical mal-practice law or something here soon).
This whole blog was born out of reading Bill's article in last week's pulse. I was out of town last week and a friend of mine gave me his copy today from last week. I loved Bill's article because i had heard about Hillary's communistic speech but wondered, "Is the liberal media that loyal that they won't rag on one of their own communistic leaders????" I mean if a Republican calls for less taxes on large companies they get railed as being a friend of the rich... little do they know that if my company pay's less in taxes they may be able to filter that money down to the working stiff like me. And unless you work for enron, tyco, or Screw Its Employees Incorporated that money will be seen by the workers. You may not see the cash, you may just get a dorky mouse pad or a dorky t-shirt but hey, its something. I certainly could put a 10$ t-shirt to better use than the government with my money. If you didn't catch bill's article you should check it out on his blog its pretty good as usual.
So they found bobby fisher. Good for them. I never knew much about the grand
master chess champion, just what I saw from the 1993 movie,
"Searching for Bobby Fisher" which coincidentally had nothing to do with
Bobby Fisher. It turns out our friend bobby is not that much of a patriot.
He rejoiced in the 9/11 attacks and is pretty much a flaming anti semite, despite
his mother being jewish. He described Jews as "thieving, lying bastards." So
he's a bit of an Adolf if you will. He was arrested in Japan for his
involvement in a chess match in Yugoslavia back in 1992. Back then
Yugoslavia was under sanctions for supporting the Bosnian war and he went to rematch his old nemisis, the Soviet dude he beat back when he was a teenager.
Here's a picture from the reception last saturday. Notice my odd, brothers, sleep safely america, these men are armed to the teeth... yikes. Then there's me, sweating like Roger Ebert and as pale as Powder. I think the girl in the middle was lost or something... she's too hot to be hanging with the likes of the Holton boys.
I did a bunch of yard work today as the wife was workin her tail off for a bunch of ingrates down at the tortilla factory. Some punk ass kids left her no tip and not enough money for their food so it came out of her own pocket. They probably go to McCallie to, bastards. But anyway. I get angry at stuff like that.
So I did some yard work, mowed the lawn and all, and grilled a piece o chicken. I also dined on some tortilla chips topped with some nice Phat Wraps Secret Sauce. Scott gave me a bottle of the stuff which he mistakenly put his name on the sauce, this is a mistake as he did not create the recipe he merely bummed it off the Phat Wraps guy and then slapped a label that says, "Kennedy Hot Sauce."
Though I do thank him for the sauce as I enjoy it often. Though if he ever tries to charge me for it, I'll just go to his sister in law and she'll gank the recipe. I must say though it is kind of hackey to name the sauce after himself as he did not provide the creative and cullinary skill to develop it. Its like entering a Cake contest and entering in a cake you made strait from the Betty Crocker Cook Book. But hey, as long as Scotty keeps the juice flowing, I'll call it "Kennedy's hot sauce" all he wants.
Work is going ok. Though I've sort of been given an ultimatum. Basically a few monthes ago some people from the mother ship came down and asked us how we liked the job. I said it was ok, but said, "I'm not one to complain about pay or anything, but this job, for the amount of work and responsibility, does not pay an adequate amount." My justification being the work we're expected to do is a butt load and people in my department we're leaving for other departments which had somewhat easier jobs with higher pay. So I guess some one up there listened so they've decided to upgrade the job. They figure everyone should be a job grade higher than they are and then they'd be adequately compensated. That affects about me and three other guys who were hired from outside the company (everyone else was already with the company). So they put it like this, "Basically you have 60 days to prove you can work a job grade higher.... if you can bust it out and turn it up a notch and prove to the company that you're worth the higher job grade then you'll get a bump up." In other words: if i bust my tail off for the next 60 days I'll be bumped up to a higher job grade and most likely higher pay. I asked many times about the pay and they said I'd make more so thats good. How much more, we'll see. I've got a figure in my head and if they don't meet that then I'll probably take that as an insult and might look around town for something else. But basically if after 60days, if they don't think I'm worth the bump in pay, they'll give me the boot. So needless to say I've been trying to work a bit harder than normal as my job sort of depends on it. My boss said she wasn't worried about me, and is confident I"ll be fine, as am I, but its always nice to have the threat of a layoff or firing to light a fire under your butt.
In other news... copper's bout with diarea is getting better, so thats good news for us. And the teddy bear hunt gave the dog has been ripped to shreds and will be thrown away.
Well we made it back from our week or so long excursion. We traveled up to St. Louis last wednesday. It was a good time overall. Concerned and I got to play golf, it stunk as far as my play, only one par the rest was ugly. Wifey got to frequent the Galleria and I took her out to the Cheesecake factory. We had a nice homecooked meal with my mom and Concerned wednesday. Thursday we just sort of hung around and that night went to my cousins rehersal dinner in one of the parks in town. It was good food and great alcohol. Thats what I love about my catholic heritage... open bar's at weddings and rehersals. It was good. A bit long as the bride and groom thanked everyone under the sun and gave personal testimonies as to why they picked who the picked to be in the wedding.
Friday we just sort of played around (I must admit we didn't do anything to exciting during the day light which was mostly my fault as I was content to just stay home and relax and squeeze a little rest and relaxation into the trip). Though Friday night we went to the Cardinal's Cubs games and watched a homerun derby as the Cards trampled the cubs! It was great. Pretty much evey run but one was scored via a solo homerun, it was amazing. Plus the seats... oh yeah nine rows behind homeplate! Here's a picture of the wife and I soaking it in, as you can see i bought a new hat, one appropriate of my st. louey heritage.
After the game we went out to a few bars in Clayton but I was pretty tired so we went home.
Saturday we had the wierdest wedding experience ever. The wedding was a catholic one, which is wierd to begin with. Then the wedding was at two, rehersal wasn't till 7. So we go to the wedding on the Hill at St. Ambrose or something. Then we leave so the catholics can do their saturday mass, and we just sort of had to go home and relax till 7 pm for the reception. It was weird. Wife and I got bored so we went to Macaroni grill and got some food and drink, which was a good thing cause the reception food wasn't stupendous. Though the alcohol was again stellar. I must say the Gin and Tonic is a great drink.... i have to tip my hat to roe on that one for introducing us. That and the Bloody mary always remains a good pick me up. So the reception was fun, much drink and much dancing, it was like a bunch of hobbits dancing around, well for me it was cause i'm short and i might have been bare foot.
Sunday we headed off to Lexington KY which is way too far away, but was worth the drive to see wifey's friends. The unfortunate thing was we had Copper. Alas the dog was fun in st. louis as my parents and brothers loved the dog and loved playing with him, but in Lexington he became a nuisance. I played golf with Eric, wifey's friend's husband. We played a small par 3 course 18 holes and we both did pretty well. I just bombed about three holes which left him the win. He had some good holes, a birdie and a few pars. My tee shot on the only par 4 hole went right on the green leaving me with an easy chance for eagle or birdie, but i blew both and settled for par. I had a few good par's, one putt from the fringe for par, which is always fun.
Well work should be fun tomorrow... or not.
Congrats to Bud and Leslie, may they live happily ever after... Here's some pics from the wedding...
So my brothers came up for the 4th yesterday. Its been fun trying to keep them entertained so that they don't leave. Basically if we don't find something for them to do they'll get bored and leave. Right now they're out getting some supplies for house work. We need to install a new kitchen faucet and some of the pipes down below the sink that are leaking. That and mow my lawn, which I was doing till i ran out of gas. The dog was fine for the weekend, though Andy will be rewarded for his troubles. I felt bad since the dog is a pain and I feel bad he had to take care of him. Oh well least he gave his leg some loving. Josiah Mesh and company attacked our house yesterday while we were at Lupis for dinner. The used a barage of fireworks, I didn't care, except now the dog's affraid of the outdoors.
We might try to go to the Lookout's game tonight. Hopefully it won't be sold out.
Nashville was fun, we got to see some old friends that we hadn't seen since our wedding. We went out and did the respective bachelor parties. Wifey went with the girls and I went with the guys. It was fun, very much a Buddly time. Nothing to crazy but still fun, drinking beer and chattin. Then the wedding was great, a lot of fun, good food, and great times. The whole covenant crew went out afterwards and hit the nashville scene. It was crazy there on 2nd street but we found a place that was close to home, Big River. It was funny that is where we ended up, but they were the only place not checkin id's at the door, thus being able to get everyone in (One person forgot their id). So we went there and it was interesting they had different beers than Chattavegas Big River did, but I still stuck with my stout. And since they took so long to get me my stout i got another on the house, which was fine by me. Good time had by all.
On another note I'm going to the Cards Cubs game at Busch stadium this weekend. I'm so psyched, I love the baseball games, and the fact that its a good year for not only the cards but also the cubs will make the game hopefully exciting. I hope to see my Rolen, Pooholes, and Renteria (THE ALLSTARS WOOO!!!) Tear up the cubbies. Should be fun.
In the words of Forrest Gump... "thats all i got to say about that."
Tomorrow, we lutz, we lutz like we never lutzed before. "We're gonna Lutz like its 1999!"
Tomorrow we head to Nashville to hang with Lunger and MRs. Lunger in the wedding of the century. Or something like that. Should be a lot of fun as Bud's bachelor party should be tomorrow and I'll try to make him do to me what he did to me or something. Or maybe do to him what Roe did to me, yeah thats better. Now where can i find a walking bridge in down town nashville????
Have it rain non stop for two to three weeks. Thus making it impossible to ever mow the soggy grass. I haven't mowed mine in three weeks! It worked for me, now it can work for you. Send 80$ care of "I want to be lazy and never do yard work again like Holton" PO box 11111111 Shlausburg, North Dakota 32141