lets say you went shopping to buy a bunch of things

and when you buy all these things you think you are going to be excited when you see the receipt because of all the super awesome coupons you clipped and by random chance the store actually marked discounts on the shelf for most of the items you are buying. But after you check out you and get a receipt for $18 and you look at your two, not completely full, grocery bags of stuff you didn't really need to buy but only bought because you had coupons and kind of wouldn't mind eating it, you see that your two boxes of cereal, 2 pillsbury breads in an exploding can, 8 cups of yogurt, 2 boxes of granola bars, and 2 pouches of taco seasoning really wasn't that much of a deal even though you saved 46%. But if you really weren't going to buy even one thing on that list if you didn't have a coupon for it, you really didn't get much of a deal at all. And in that 30 seconds it takes you to walk to your car with your two, not completely full, bags of stuff you didn't really want, you start to feel like a sucker for spending any money in the first place, especially when you originally decided to go to the store to buy milk and eggs and they're nowhere to be found in your two not completely full bags of stuff that you didn't really want anyway.

brush your teeth

and brush them well. Brush them twice a day. Don't forget to floss. And don't skip out on the dentist for a year and a half just because you didn't get any cavities for the first 20-something years of your life.

You know why? Because if you don't you're gonna end up with 5 cavities (4 in your wisdom teeth, which pretty much finished growing in 2 years ago) It gets worse when you find out you shouldn't have put so much trust in your orthodontist when he pulled out your second set of bicuspids when your mouth had enough room for them. It turns out that it's better practice to pull out a set (of 4) molars because you have 3 full sets including the wisdom teeth. And when you pull out the bicuspids you can develop some weird biting problems which may lead to jaw popping and grinding at an older age.

And if it wasn't bad enough, you find out 2 months after you get the cavities filled that one of them was so deep that repairing it irritated the nerve and to stop the numbing pain of drinking liquids that has recently developed, you have two choices, pull the tooth or get a root canal. The root canal is very expensive and actually requires 4 separate dental appointments, but if you pull one tooth, you're probably going to have to pull the corresponding tooth on the other jaw since there will be nowhere to bite down on when it is gone.

Brush your teeth or you'll end up like me having to pay several hundred dollars even with insurance to have this repaired.

I beat K to it!

The Chicago Spire

My weekend was pretty laid back because I have some crazy sinus cold that just kicked in Saturday morning. I hope it goes away Monday, that would be great! Anyway, on Friday, I hung out at Kristin's house and just lounged around. We talked a lot. I dunno what we talked about though. The cold is making me delirious!

Saturday, I watched a lot of TV in the morning and learned a quick way to make puff pastry, how to brine a pork roast (soak in salt water) and that Donald Trump is building a 90 story building in Chicago. Of course, that will be ironically "trumped" by a 150 story building scheduled to be finished in 2009 in the north side of Chicago. This building will be the tallest in north America, and strangely it will look like a giant screw. After that I rode my bike 10.4 miles to the youth group leader thing I do at the church. That was a lot of fun! I wore earplugs for the first time and it was so peaceful and quiet. I found myself becoming overly comfortable while riding like this so I made it a point to remind myself that I have to maintain 100% attention and scan for potential hazards just like they taught me in class! Luckily my nose behaved for the whole bike ride! After the youth group I ordered fried rice and watched Donnie Darko with Kristin. I still don't completely understand what the director was trying to get at in the movie. But I think Donnie could travel through time or something. Or he was just super crazy!

On Sunday, Kristin and I made white bean and chicken chili, sweet potato chips, with some special cornbread muffins with green onions, sour cream, sharp cheddar, and creamed corn inside. They were very soft and moist. With a little tweaking they could be some fantastic snacks! My nose is driving me crazy today and I think the cold is worse, but what can I do but wait it out... well I guess I could take 6 Sudafed, 1 Claritin, 2 Tylenol, and one vitamin! That oughta fix it! wait.... nope, didn't help.

More reasons I am glad I switched

...teams.

My old manager is taking everything back including accessories that I'd need to perform my job! So I have to order all new things. Here's the kicker. They're charging the same dept for the new parts I just ordered. there's some real un-telligence going on here....

Me [12:01 PM]:
Hi, do you know who I'd contact to get new phone chargers and cables? My old team wants all of this back so I'll need to get new ones
New Team Admin [12:03 PM]:
They can be ordered off of Tigers, or maybe someone from our Validation team has extras.
Me [12:05 PM]:
well since I'm still listed under the old Manager, the bill would go to him at the moment, and thats why he wants me to give my accessories back. So would you be able to order them from Tigers so that I have them when I start? Or will I have to wait until I start to begin getting these items?
New Team Admin [12:06 PM]:
Do you have the part numbers, or the name of the exact items you want (part number would be preferrable, it's easier to find in Tigers)?
Me [12:08 PM]:
for charger #1 FMP5202A
Me [12:08 PM]:
charger #2 PSM5202A
New Team Admin [12:08 PM]:
anything else?
New Team Admin [12:08 PM]:
do you only need 1 of each?
Me [12:09 PM]:
well I only need one, but I'd like to have 2 of charger #1 so I can charge the micro USB phones from home
Me [12:10 PM]:
I already have a mini USB charger at home that I purchased myself
Me [12:10 PM]:
and I would need a micro USB cable to connect to the PC... only one... SKN6238A
New Team Admin [12:11 PM]:
Ok. When I order it, it will have to be approved by Dawn who is traveling to Turin today. Hopefully she will approve it this week. Either way it won't be here when you come in tomorrow.
New Team Admin [12:12 PM]:
Does the old Manager realize that the same dept will be charged? It would be easier if he could approve it.
Me [12:12 PM]:
I'm sure he realizes this, but I don't think I have the power to assert this point
Me [12:12 PM]:
same deal with the SIM card issue
New Team Admin [12:12 PM]:
ok
New Team Admin [12:12 PM]:
Got it.
New Team Admin [12:12 PM]:
alright, I'll order it.
New Team Admin [12:13 PM]:
You'll be without one when you come here tomorrow.
New Team Admin [12:13 PM]:
Let me talk to our validation managers and see if they have any extra, until your order comes in.
Me [12:13 PM]:
I hope they'll at least let me keep the items until my official start date for your team on oct 1
New Team Admin [12:13 PM]:
Let me see if the validation team has any to hold you over.
Me [12:14 PM]:
ok thanks a lot!

scripting is fun!

I know nobody knows what the stuff below means, but yay. pretty!

#! /usr/bin/perl
use strict "subs";
use warnings;

$time_id = "65546"; #0x1000A pack/unpack can also interpret a string as a number in decimal
$emp_id = 0x77777777;
$item = "fresh bananas!!!";
$quan = 0x3456; # short should be 16 bits shorter
$urgent = 0x1;

printf ("\$time_id: %s, \$emp_id: %x, \$item: %s\n\$quan: %x, \$urgent: %x\n", $time_id, $emp_id, $item, $quan, $urgent);

$rec = pack( 'i i Z32 s2', $time_id, $emp_id, $item, $quan, $urgent);
$packed = unpack('h*', $rec); # convert to a printable string
printf "packed value: %s\n", $packed; # prints representation of items stored in little endian
@decode = unpack 'i i a32 s2', $rec;
printf "unpacked value: %#x %#x %s %#x %#x\n", @decode;# $decode[0], $decode[1], $decode[2], $decode[3], $decode[4];



foreach $key (sort keys (%ENV)) {
print "$key: $ENV{$key}\n";
}

print "PID: $$\t time: ", time, "\n"; # $$ is the current PID, 'time' is short for 'time()'
srand(time|$$);
for($i=0;$i<10;$i++)>
print "\n";


$SIG{'INT'} = 'handler'; # catch ctrl-c

sub handler {
local($sig) = @_; # first argument is signal name (pg 97)
print "caught SIG$sig -- exiting!\n";
exit(0);
}

sleep(10); # wait 10 seconds for an interrupt

new clothes

This weekend K wanted me to buy some new clothes because apparently buying new clothes only once a year is too seldom :P So with her super girl-power persuading skills she convinced me to go to the mall with her. She told me she had a 20% off coupon for Express so we went there first. We picked out some button-up shirts and some graphic T's to wear in combination. She had me try on about 10 different pieces of clothing. This is a lot more than my average shopping visit. So after all of the experimentation with combinations I decided to get 2 shirts and 2 T's But then I realized that if I bought 3 shirts I could get the third for only $8 more than buying two with the multiple shirt discount and the 20% off coupon. So I got a third. We also looked at jeans and track jackets, but I decided for my wallet's sake not to buy any more. Even with the 20% off and everything the 5 pieces of clothing cost me about $130. EEP! Luckily for me the mall closed so I didn't have the chance to be tempted to buy anything else.

Later that day I checked out ae.com to see if they had jeans my size online. They're much cheaper than Express so I felt safe going there. I also found a stackable 15% and 20% off coupon to apply to my purchase so I was happy to get a 32% discount. I decided to buy 2 pairs of jeans for only $56 after shipping and taxes. Now that's a bargain because I have to get 36' inseam pants and they rarely have those in stores and especially not for a discount!

All I have to do now is buy a track jacket and I'll look super fly. Well according to Kristin. I do agree that with her help, I was able to buy some pretty nice looking tops!

So I really got 7 articles of clothing for about $190 so each article cost on average $27. That's not too horrible especially considering Express's top-notch quality! I can feel the good construction in the seams and fabric texture :P The button up shirts even come with handy plastic inserts to keep the collar tips straight (yes they are supposed to stay in there, they give you spares with your purchase).

So here's the damage, minus the two styles I couldn't find on expressfashion.com

Express 1MX (dark brown instead)	Express 1MX	Express Graphic T (light brown)
AE Faded Indigo	AE Medium Stonewash

mmmhmm

On Thursday I made fried catfish for Kristin, her grandmother and her sister. They loved it. I cheated and used Zataran's cornmeal breading though instead of making it from scratch. Her grandmother also made some delicious traditional cornbread that contained only corn meal, oil, salt, and eggs. It reminded me of those corn cakes I tried to make once as a kid because I learned that George Washington loved em! I didn't like the corn cakes so much because they were very dense and had little flavor, but Kristin's grandmother's cornbread had plenty of flavor. I even put a little maple syrup on my piece.

Friday was a pretty awkward night. K's friend met a new girl about a month ago and they're already official. They call each other by nicknames regularly and cuddle more than any other couple I've seen. This made it kind of awkward because I find it annoying when people can't keep their hands off one another while in public. And they just met and they were cuddling like they knew one another for months. We played Apples to Apples entirely too long, and I suggested we stop playing that game and move to another once to everybody, but I was ignored. So I secretly begged K to intervene since it was her friend, but even that took awhile. The strawberry daiquiris were very good though. I only had a tiny bit because I was driving. Her friend is a good dude though so I hope he is happy with his new gf.

Saturday was a pretty laid back day. We made 49ers flapjack dough the night before and let it ferment over night. When Kristin came back over the next day, we cooked them up and they tasted more sour than we remember from Walker Brothers, but they were great with syrup. We decided that we'd try not to let them sit over night at room temperature next time and see if the taste was more similar. After that we did our youth volunteering thing at Kristin's church. They had a special speaker who told her story about how she tried to kill herself and how she found God afterwards. It's sad that she felt so desperate to kill herself though, but I'm glad she is happier now.

For dinner I had a Work Burger from Crave. It is one of the better burgers out here. It comes with bacon, onions, mushrooms and cheddar cheese. They even cook the beef to -order, so if you like yours a little more pink, you can ask for it! We then watched Apocalypto. It was a pretty good movie, but yes, Mel Gibson is still the king of gory snuff films. There was a lot of blood. He sure loves his blood.

On Sunday Kristin and I hung out at her parents' house and went shopping at random stores. Her parents fed me brownies with walnuts and I ate too many. But boy oh boy were they good. At least Kristin is keeping me working out over the weekends. That makes me feel a little better. We also ate dinner at her parents' house. I had Lou Malnati's pizza and herb crusted tilapia. After all that I watched Queen with Kristin and took an online "personality strengths" test. Apparently my strengths are: Competition, Achiever, Focus, Strategic, and Significance. So basically, I'm gonna kick your butt at whatever I do every time by focusing on my strategy and it'll be a significant butt kicking. yeah that's right. :P We tried making flapjacks again just to experiment and we only let the dough rise for an hour before cooking it. It was a lot more self-adherent and dough-like, but the flavor was better. We still have to experiment more to get the recipe right! Maybe leaving the flapjacks in the refrigerator over night instead of at room temperature, or adding more butter to the recipe will help.

Work sucks

...like a pool pump sucks away unsuspecting children's intestines. If you didn't know, there have been many cases of pool pumps sucking out kids' intestines when they sit on the intake at the bottom of a pool. Now you may think this is graphic, but work makes me feel like I am in an abusive relationship and I just keep taking one hit after another.

I got hired almost 2 years ago. They took well over 18 months to give me my first inflationary 3% raise. So technically, I'm still making less than I did last year because my bills for the same apartment and electricity are still about $50 more a month than my raise. Go team! Anyway, you'd think that when your manager says you're on track for a promotion and that your hard work has been recognized means that you will get to reap the benefits of your hard work, right? Not with this company. Those who know me know that our company is having financial difficulties at the moment and this is no fault of mine. However, because of this my promotion, and well-deserved raise has been delayed indefinitely. You typically get this first promotion a year to a year and a half after you've been hired. Now remember, it's already been almost 2 years for me.

So in utter dissatisfaction with my job, co-workers, and company outlook. I have been looking for other jobs. So far I haven't been able to line anything up outside of this company but there is a small glimmer of light because there is now an opening in the first team I interned for. This job would actually allow me to use my brain and I like the team members. Unlike me normally, I actually made it a point to keep in touch. So that appears to be working to my advantage. But to make this another negative, my manager asks me to come to his cube today and he asks me to think and make sure I'm making the move for the right reasons... Is he trying to guilt me here? He said that the grass is always greener on the other side and I told him that i knew that I would most likely have to work late some Fridays and be "on call" every 4th weekend. But since I dislike my current position so much and the team mentality makes me want to trow up, I'd gladly take these negative aspects if it meant I wouldn't have to avoid certain team members because they depress me and that I'd actually be able to use my problem solving skills to write scripts. I just can't believe my manager tried to guilt me like that. Maybe he did that because he realizes that I'm a better employee than some of my other teammates, but still. That just makes me feel even worse.

das Wochenende

On Friday Kristin and I made bratwurst and vegetables at her house. She got tired and fell asleep watching TV, I fell asleep too and then woke up and realized I fell asleep. Then I drove home super sleepy! Don't worry, I'm still alive!

Saturday was Kristin and my interview for the youth group at the local church. It was a lot more laid back than I thought it would be. The guy asked me more about my job than anything else! It was pretty funny. Guys love their technology! Immediately after our interviews we were told to go teach the kids. It was super chaotic that first time because they normally send out the lesson plans in advance, but since we just met everybody, we saw the plan for the first time, 5 minutes after starting the small groups! Kristin's sister is one of the main leaders for the ministry so at least we had a little tutoring. I rode my bike to and from Schaumburg so that was pretty fun!

Stone Manor at Lake Geneva, WI

Like I said earlier, Kristin rode my bike on Sunday and she did really well! I also worked out an extra day for the first time I can remember since starting working out. I've taken so many days off, it's about time! After that I went to Lake Geneva and hung out with my friend from college and some other friends along with his family at their party. They had grilled pork tenderloin and turkey along with an assortment of sides including some great varieties of potatoes, stuffing, croissants, fruit salad, and other fun stuff. It was great! They put out the desserts later and it was all so tasty. I had some wonderful strawberry cheesecake with strawberries mixed inside! I met James' girlfriend too, so that was neat. Kristin didn't come along, and everybody asked where she was! It is so beautiful in Lake Geneva, I can't wait until I am rich and can afford a weekend home!

On Labor Day I went over to Kristin's to make breakfast. I brought croissants and we made spinach, feta, tomato and onion omelets. Kristin made them American style. I made a French omelet. Don't tell GWB, I'll prolly get put on the no-fly list for that! We then went to a local parade and got lots of free candy and cheered on her dad's float. We walked around the local carnival too and we had a great time. After that we had a lot of random shopping fun. And I went home and did laundry, and so went my weekend

Riding a motorcycle

It really is a different experience. I've been riding for a little bit now and I am finally getting used to how it feels. The wind and the movement of the bike due to road grooves and imperfections was the hardest to get over. But once you get used to the fact that the bike will move around a little and nothing catastrophic will happen, then it's not too bad! I've got a few hundred miles under my belt now so any time I'll be a pro, j/k!

Kristin rode on the road for the first time today. I am so proud of her :P