Birthday Weekend Extravaganza Roundup
Current mood: happy

Friday:  For the noon sales meeting, we usually present the birthday celebrant with a cake and a few kind words.  Me?  I got a plate of Twinkees, Zingers, Ho Hos, Ding Dongs, and cupcakes.  With a candle on top.  It was oddly perfect.  After work, April and I headed over to the ol' Hangar 17 Bar on S and 17th Streets.  I was expecting it to be the first of many stops.  Half a dozen beers and about 8 shots of Jagermeister later, we were still there.  My night started and ended at Hangar.  Got home around 11 and went straight to bed.

Saturday:  Woke up at about 12:30, after a nice long 13 and a half hour sleep.  Had a few myspace messages, text messages, voicemails and emails from well-wishers, which I appreciate.  April brought in In-&-Out, and we watched the Mets beat the Dodgers 3-2, courtesy of some late inning theatrics.  A salad at Jack's Urban Eats for dinner because I was good and done with heavy greasy food.  April presented me with my birthday present, a Garmin Nuvi GPS system, which we used on our cruise out to Davis to see Chris and Nick play Sophia's Thai Kitchen.  It was only 11:15 or so when we left Davis, so we hit the end of David Houston's show at Luna's, then on to True Love for a couple more hours.  Skott Lenny led the back patio in a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday To You in my honor shortly after midnight.

Sunday:  My actual birthday.  Time of birth:  3:35 PM Eastern.  My folks treated April and I to Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  Verdict?  A tepid thumbs down.  Too much CGI, thank you very much George Lucas.  After the flick, we went home for another Mets game (6-1 victory over the Dodgers), and cooked steaks on the barbeque.  Accompanied by a fine selection of root beers.  And after that, the night wound down quietly.  We watched some tube and then hit the sack around 11.

All in all, a great weekend.  Fun, but calm.

Now I'm back at the office, and that kinda sucks, but whatever.

1:34 PM - 8 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

The Empty Space In My Driveway, And In My Heart

January 17 was a long day at work that I somehow managed to wrap up into a nice bundle and get out of the office on time at about 5pm.  It was the six year anniversary of April's and my first date.  My folks had offered to take us out to dinner, but we wanted to make a stop at True Love first.  True Love, where it all began.  Kinda.  At the other location.  But that's beside the point.

We had taken two cars that day because April had to be in early, and I had customer calls to make and was starting in the field.

So we drove separately to True Love, and sat for a few minutes and drank coffee.  Then we left.

On the way home, on Interstate 5, about halfway between the J Street and Richards Blvd exits, in completely stopped traffic, some schmuck in a Ford SUV came charging up the entrance ramp and cut into traffic, poorly timing the speed of other cars.  He rear-ended a girl in a big green Chevy sedan, who rear-ended me, and I in turn rear-ended the white Toyota sedan in front of me.

Great.

We all pulled to the shoulder, and before long the Highway Patrol showed up and took a report, and about an hour after the incident I drove my car home, a distance of about 6 miles.  They would be my last.  The next day my insurance company sent someone to the house to look at the car, and they told me my car, a 1999 Honda Civic, which I had affectionately dubbed "The Silver Bullet", with only about 84,000 miles on it, in pretty good condition overall, was totaled.

I cleaned out all of my stuff and the car sat there in the driveway for a few days.  And Tuesday while I was at work a tow truck came and took it away.

With me at her helm, that car made countless trips to and from Sacramento and the Bay Area.  The occasional Reno trip.  One end of Interstate 5 to the other.  Ashland, San Diego, Los Angeles.  Phoenix.  The oceans, and the mountains, and the desert.  I saw it all from the window.  And it wasn't all distance.  I took April on our first date in that car, six years previously.  And the car and I navigated the tricky shortcuts of Sacramento with ease.  Midtown was our short-track.  The Silver Bullet never broke down on me, never left me compromised, never tricked me.  She was, all in all, above and beyond, a good car.

And I didn't say goodbye to her.  I had forgotten the tow truck would be coming that day when I left for work, late, in a hurry.  My dad called me in the early afternoon and said, "the car is gone," and I was silent for a little while.

So, Silver Bullet, you have my gratitude for your years of exemplarily service.  May you find happiness in your next life.  Hopefully as a Camaro or a Charger or something cool.  You will not be soon forgotten.

1:27 AM - 5 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Not one but TWO NEW SONGS

For your listening enjoyment I present:

Forgiveness Now, a quick little ditty about sitting in church and not knowing why; and...

Tour Of The Great American South, another song about traveling away from something good.  Think of it as the Radio Cure song that never was.

Word.

10:07 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Work work work work
Current mood: angsty

Work work work work work work work work work work work work work work
workworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkwork
workworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkwork
workworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkworkwork

5:34 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

’Roid Rage

Regardless of the fact that steroid usage is wrong and should be outlawed from professional sports, I have to ask the following question:

If you're making millions of dollars per year (in some cases tens of millions) and live your life in the public eye and know full well that you are participating in an activity that could get you publicly humiliated and kicked out of professional sports to be left only with a legacy of disgrace attached to your name for all time, in the name of all that is holy WHY would you write a PERSONAL CHECK to a DRUG DEALER?  And in some cases even include a personalized note written on team stationary?  PAUL LO DUCA I AM LOOKING AT YOU, MORON!

11:36 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

a poem for Henry The Cat
Current mood: awake

my tape dispensor
emits a squeak
that sounds like Henry
at 4 a.m.
loud and untimely
but cute

Currently listening : The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (with Bonus EP) By Josh Ritter Release date: 21 August, 2007

9:43 AM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

14 and a half hours later...

... and it is becoming apparent that I MAY have anger issues.

10:56 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

To the person or persons who broke into my car at 8:30 this morning

I hope you die in a fire.  I hope your genitals turn black and rot.  I hope you fall off a 40-story building into an industrial chipper-shredder.  I hope you suffer from deformities so foul that your family disowns you and children scream at the sight of your face.

9:29 AM - 5 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Desparate Hamburger Times Call For Desparate Hamburger Measures
Current mood: chipper

Those of you who know me well know that in addition to my great love for hamburgers, I enjoy complaining to large corporations about trivial instances.  For a change, I decided to write a politely worded email to the CEO of Nations Giant Hamburgers, my favorite regional hamburger chain in the bay area.  I love those goddamn hamburgers!  If you've ever eaten one, you understand.

I hope they respond!

Currently listening : Hallelujah Sirens By Dirty on Purpose Release date: 27 June, 2006

2:25 PM - 5 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Scavenger Hunt

As you may have already heard, I asked April to marry me on Saturday night and she said YES!





I'm an extremely grateful and lucky man!  Cloud nine all the way.  It was an amazing day, because I had known for a week that Saturday was going to be my day, and also because I knew April had absolutely no idea it was coming.

Anyway, you can check out the spot in Capital Park where the question was popped if you go to http://maps.google.com and copy/paste the following line:

38.575946, -121.489896

Then switch the view to SATELLITE and zoom in all the way on the slider and you're there.  The X is a walkway through a flower garden and we were standing dead center and facing north, which provides a beautiful view of the downtown skyline.  I was especially proud of my improvisational skills, as I had planned for the location to be the Capital Rose Garden, closer to 15th Street, but there were two people humping furiously away on one of the benches, so we had to move our show down the street.  But our X was a far more picturesque location than the Rose Garden, so I was pretty thrilled.  It was about 9:30 in the evening and all of the buildings were wonderfully illuminated.

Anyway, that's all the news from here.

11:23 PM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment