Can't Help But Want to Help...

I was in the mood for chicken curry today. So I asked my boss if the teriyaki place she goes to served up some curry goodness. She wasn't sure but asked if I could get her some teryaki if I was going there anyway. Yep - I made a lunch run for her and our accounting manager.

I've always been weary of this particular teriyaki place 'cause it's a little hole in the wall and looks like the kinda place you don't want to eat. But I was desperate for curry and decided to give it a chance. But, alas, they didn't have the curry I was so looking forward to eating. I did find some very delicious beef bulgogi. Very good... at first. There's a weird after-taste. I guess that's what soda's for.

As I was making my three block journey back to work, I saw this lady carrying three boxes in front of me. The first two boxes she had were firm in hand with the top up to her neck. The third box was held at her side - carring it by one the flaps. She stopped at the corner, leaned against a pole, and repositioned the third box on top of the other two. Ahhhh, much better.

My first inclination, when seeing her struggle, was to ask if she needed help. It took me a lot not to assist. Because there was a light for me to cross the street, I had to walk away from her. But I made sure to keep my eye on her. My plan was to cross right back across the street if I saw her struggle without anyone stopping to help. She ended up being fine. Although people around her must have been worried for her - seeing this crazy guy stalking her from across the street.

I think I have to blame my dad for this natural tendency to want to assist others. I just can't help but want to help complete strangers. But that's just the way my father was - helping anyone in need. Stalled car on the side of the road? Slip on your bum while walking? Drop something personal like money, kleenex, child, etc? I'm there. Well, I want to be there. For as much as I want to help others, I've been thinking of my safety lately. Funny how that happens as I get older? I try not to stop in the middle of the night for cars on the side of the freeway. Those times do make me feel crappy for being scared to help others. But I think my loved ones will appreciate it more if I stay alive. And I guess that's another way I'm helping...

Photo Fun with Albums

A coworker's friend found this cool Flickr link. People take album covers with people's faces on them and then they pose with it. You have to click on it to get it. Very funny...

I'm so glad I was able to through this week's tests. Yesterday's was much easier than I thought it would be. I'm always happy when I've studied for more than the material covered. That doesn't mean I was perfect. But I'm sure I at least got a B. And, hey... that's good enough for me!

All-nighter Time

It's almost 1am and I'm only through two out of eight chapters which will be covered on my exam in about twenty hours. Too bad I have to work for eight of those hours. If I want to do good on the test, I'm gonna need to pull an all-nighter. I don't know why I do this to myself. My previous couple attempts at staying up studying didn't work out well. Both times, accidentally fell asleep. I haven't consumed any caffeine yet. I'm waiting until I get extremely tired... then I'll start drinking some Red Bull...

...

It's 8am now. I didn't make it. I slept close to 5am and woke up around 7:30. I still need to review four more chapters. Man, this is a disaster. I hope the test doesn't end up as bad as I think it will be.

Break Time

The company I work for occupies three floors in the building. On one of the floors, there's a locker room. That means there are four different male restroom options for me - which is important for my "Number Two" activities (which I'm self-conscious about). If I didn't think it was unhealthy, I'd try to hold it in until I was at home. But, since that just seems bad for my system, I always make sure to get to the toilet when nature is-a-callin.

I NEVER use the sixth floor bathroom because there's a high-volume of traffic. That's where all our Software Engineers and QA folks are. Too many dudes - I would never risk using their stalls.

On the other hand, the fourth floor (with the locker room) has been vacated for several months. The company plans on subleasing the space but that hasn't happened yet. You'd think that would be my number one "number two" option since there should be zero-low level of traffic. Wrong... on several occasions, I've tried using either restrooms on that floor. More often than not, I walk in to find someone's in there, pants draped around ankles. I always seem to get beat to these hot spots. Why must my master plan be spoiled?

When I need to go, I just use my first option bathroom - the one on the fifth floor. This location is very close to my office making it easily accessible with a low-medium level of traffic. That's the benefit of working on the floor with more females than males. But, the other day, I walked in and two people were having an impromptu discussion near the sink. I thought, "Blasted peoples!!! Why must you have a conversation in here???" Since I really needed to unload my...ummm... load, I joked, "Wow - nice place to have a meeting" as I walked slowly to the urinal, faking like I was simply going to pee, and even gesturing like I was unzipping. The two kept jabbering away as they exited. Once I heard the sound of the door completely closed, I made a quick b-line to "my second office" (the big handicapped stalls out of the two). Victory was mine!!!

...

I have no idea why I always use the handicap stalls in public restrooms. Though there's no need for a large of space to do my do, I feel comfortable with all that leg room. Not like I'm stretching out my legs or anything.

...

I'm not sure which makes me more self conscious - the odor or the sound. Well... that's actually easy. The sounds of the explosion out of me and into the water can be so embarrassing! Especially the irregular episodes. Ugh... sometimes flushing flushing doesn't cover up those blasts! That's why I'm glad for ventilation systems - they can cover up the sound and are very helpful for the toilet's next guest.

I guess I could follow the tip of one of my friends. He said, "Just line the surface of the toilet water with toilet tissue before you go. That way, when you crap, the poop won't make a sound as it lands on the toilet paper." Yeaaaaah, right. That's why he always clogged it up! No thanks...

Miscommunication

Setting: It's Monday, January 21 in a West Seattle home occupied by RC & GS. It's early in the morning. Sun fills the couple's northeast corner bedroom.

Clock time: 7:43am; Actual time: 7:03am
RC miraculously hears his alarm, sees the time, hits the snooze button, and returns back to sleep.

...

Clock time: 9:01am; Actual time: 8:21am
RC wakes up, sees GS still sleeping. In a half-asleep panic, RC tries shaking GS awake...

RC: G! G! It's 8:21am. You haven't even showered yet. Wakeup!

GS: [barely awake] W h a t? W h a t d a y i s i t ?

RC: It's Monday! C'mon, wake up!

GS: [eyes closed, half-conscious] T h e r e ' s n o w o r k t o d a y . . .

RC: [sudden revelation] What? You're not working today? You have the day off?

GS: [now fairly aware of surroundings] Yeah. What? You're working today?

RC: Yes! We don't get Martin Luther King's Day off.

GS: I thought you were off today.

RC: I thought you were working today!

GS/RC: [together] Silly us!

[audience laughter]
...END SCENE...

You Have Chosen...

G-Cat (as opposed to G-Dawg) and I had just enjoyed a pleasant evening of shopping and eating. Before returning to our car in the garage at Pacific Place, we had to pay for parking. There were so many lines to choose from. The line behind the one functional automated machine only had three people. Two other lines with a live cashier had a good five plus people in them but there was this one line with only one guy and his gal pal. I thought, "Hmmm... why isn't anyone behind that guy? Ummm... EASY decision."

PAUSE STORY - INTO THE MIND OF RODNEY

Whenever I have an immediate decision to make, I think of one of the final scenes from Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade. Indy's danger filled journey ends in a room where an old knight is protecting the Holy Grail. The final test is choosing the correct cup to drink from out of a vast display of options. This bad guy and his female companion make it into the room as well. They decide to choose a cup first - a very shiny gold one. After the villain drinks from it, he suddenly ages quickly and shatters into flames and ashes. The knight says, "He chose... poorly."

Indy knows the cup would be one belonging to a carpenter so he picks a "simple earthware jug." Ah, yes. That's the right one. The knight responds, "You have chosen... wisely."

RESUME STORY

So I go into the line with only the guy and his gal pal. It looks like he's filling out some form but I'm thinking that shouldn't take long. The automated line to my right clears in no time but other people have lined up in the spot I would have been in. The live lines are moving slowly but, still, I think, "Man, I should have went to the other line. I have cho___ ..."

G-Cat must have noticed me surveying the lines 'cause she looks at me and says (with a mild British accent), "You have chosen... [wait for it-pause for dramatic effect] ...poorly." I LOVE SAYING/HEARING THAT LINE! Even better? Love it that she was thinking the same thing I was.

I decide to switch back to the automated line which, initally, appears to be another bad decision. The guy was out of my original line a few seconds before I got to the automated matchine. Turns out that switching lines was the best decision 'cause I was quick with the self-paying machine. I wonder if there any competitions for checking-out speed. I'd totally win a contest for inputting my phone # and paying by debit card at Safeway. But, yes, in the end, paying at the machine was the best option. The ol' knight from The Last Crusade would have said to me:

You have chosen...

[wait for it]

...wisely!

The Dream Drink Machine

At work, we have a soda fountain. Nothing fancy. There's no music or lights accompanying the soda shooting out in various patterns. It's just a plain soda fountain with six different types of drinks. The current drink options are coke, diet coke, lemonade, orange fanta, and two others I can't think of right now. If I could have my very own dream drink machine, the beverage options (in order of most favorite) would be:

1. Thai Iced Tea
2. Pepsi
3. Cherry Coke
4. Iced Mocha
5. Hawaiian Punch
6. Hi-C Orange

And if I could have a second dream drink machine, I'd have the same flavors but they would come out in an icee/surplee form. What can I say? They're my dream machines...

The Interview

Yesterday, I spent almost an hour speaking with Katrina, an intern from the CWU College of Business. She's a writer for "The Beacon", the semi-annual newsletter for the business school. I'm going to have a featured student profile in the upcoming Spring 2008 issue! My Intermediate Accounting teacher nominated me last quarter and I guess I was the chosen one. What? That's right! Me? [shucks]

It was really awkward talking about myself for so long. Sure, I had fun chatting, but I really don't see my story as an exciting one. The other profiles I've read feature stories of single moms, people who survived cancer, and many more of the same. I've had my own struggles but nothing compared to these other profiled students.

I'm glad Katrina's going to let me read the story before it gets published. I really can't wait to see what she got out of our little talk. I have to get my picture taken later this week. A friend of mine's gonna help me out with that one. I hope something decent will turn out!

I'll be sure to post the article when it comes out in June. For now, read some of the past stories by clicking on the following link: http://www.cwu.edu/~cob/beacon_index.html

Flirts

I’ve been a little perturbed by the amount of inappropriate flirting and drifting of eyes that goes on in my office. By no means am I Mr. Innocent – I can most definitely recognize the beauty of the opposite sex. But that recognition does not result in inappropriate behavior. I think of myself as very respectful and making sure that I don’t make others feel awkward.

But, lately, I’ve been noticing how many of the married guys in my office are obviously checking out my female coworkers. It’s so obvious how their eyes are just roaming up and down the bodies of these ladies. It’s all so disrespectful. I can’t help but notice these things ‘cause its really so blatant. Am I becoming prudish? Checking out a girl down the street is one thing but, c’mon, can’t we be tactful about the women in our office?

Even worse is the “balls” some of these guys have in the comments they make to these women. They’re really pushing it. My HR manager and I were inflating balloons a couple months back. A couple of guys, at different points, had to make obvious idiotic jokes about her and “blow jobs”. Really? You’re actually saying this to our HR manager? I can’t think of all these different instances of obvious inappropriateness but the tone is definitely there.

Why do people think they can ignore the rules and act the way they do? Why do coworkers allow this to happen? Is it really okay when they say it's okay? Or is it just easier to let these things slide? That just gives these guys the go-ahead to test the waters and keep crossing the new lines that are extending further and further.

They're Baaaaaaaa-aaaack

When I saw a commercial for American Gladiators last month, I got so excited. Hella excited (<- translation = "very excited"). I don't remember watching the 90's original religiously or anything. All I know was that I always dreamed of competing. Not on national TV... just on a closed set with nobody watching. The different competitions seems like so much fun! Especially the final obstacle course. I can't remember ever "doing" an obstacle course but I definitely wanna do one in my lifetime. I'd settle for the Double Dare final obstacle course. I've always wanted to pick the red flag out of that oversized nose. But, yeah, if given the choice of a camp for NASA or American Gladiators, I'd definitely go with AG. And I'd compete against the female gladiators. Ummm... if I go ANY further with that thought, this blog could become unpublishable.

I could never quality to compete on today's show - but it sure would be nice to be in shape like the competitors and gladiators. Maybe this can be the year that I get off my butt and live a healthier life... Heh heh heh... good one, Rodney. Good one...

Back to School

Last night was the start of another quarter in school. I'm slowly beginning to tire of classes but I'm not all that pooped out. Not quite yet. This quarter should be an interesting one since I only have to go to school on Mondays & Wednesdays. I like the idea of driving down to Des Moines only twice a week as opposed to the usual four days a week. But, man, being in classes from 5:40-10:30 at night is a lot. There's just so much new information my poor little brain can take.

During the Winter break, friends & family would ask how much longer it would take for me to finish school. What a good question! I haven't kept track of what I've accomplished. With many classes to take, I've just signed up for whatever has been available. Here's what I've done so far:

Winter 2007
MKT 360: Principles of Marketing
ACCT 350: Cost Accounting

Spring 2007
MGT 380: Organizational Management
ADMG 385: Business Communications & Report Writing

Summer 2007
ACCT 350: Intermediate Accounting I
ACCT 346: Income Tax Accounting I

Fall 2007
ACCT 351: Intermediate Accounting II
ACCT 455: Accounting Information Systems

Winter 2008 (in progress)
MIS 386: Management Information Systems
ACCT 430: Accounting for Non-Profit Organizations

What's left? Actually, not too much:

FIN 370: Introductory Financial Management
OSC 323: Operations Management
MGT 489: Strategic Management
ACCT 460: Auditing
ACCT 450: Advanced Accounting (or any other accounting course for elective fulfillment)

Wow. If I really wanted to, I could have my accounting degree by the end of 2008. That is, as long as all the classes I need to take are available. Then again, if the courses I want to take aren't available, I'm not worried. I'll just take classes to go towards the 225 total college credits needed to qualify for the CPA exam. Here's how it looks:

121 - Transferred credits (UW, South Seattle Comm College)
40 - Credits completed, thus far, at CWU
35 - Credits left to take to fulfill Accounting degree
---
196 - Total

To reach 225 credits, I'll need to take an additional 29 credits (about 6 more classes). What to do? Keep taking classes at CWU? Or just be done with graduation and take cheap/easy classes at the community college? In any event, by the summer of 2009, I'll be done with school and prepping for the CPA exam. I can't wait for all this to be done with!

in the dark with my palm treo and blake lewis

i cant sleep. so what am i doin? im typin a blog from my palm treo... in bed. just found that this google blogger site has a pretty easy to use mobile site. i might not be able to sleep but i could care less about wasting my time with correct use of caps and punctuation. this is my instant messaging style...

i never know if it's okay to use bad grammer during online chats with people. i let the other person dictate how poorly i will type to them. my writing is at its worst when the other person types something like "ur funnee" or "4 realz".

i'm not a fan of the acronyms out there. brb. roflmao. lol? nah... i like to say, "dude, that was so funny that i'm seriously laughing out loud." i type fast enough that i feel that i can afford a few more letters. what's the best way to type my laughing? "hehehe" is easy to type but it doesnt look right. "heh heh heh" looks better but takes too long to write... just a thought.

i dont mind that people use all kinds of shortcuts when chatting. but i do get a bit disappointed in english majors who use very poor style in their chats. if we get too used to this shorthand, won't it crossover to our other writings? ive seen it... in emails. people just dont seem to care anymore.

i'm listening to the new blake lewis cd. me and the fiancee need music when we sleep. we like the background music. the only problem? it's hit or miss with this old 3-cd player of ours. trays 1 and 2 just dont work anymore. and the last tray doesnt play personally burnt cds... only the store bought cds can play in the remaining tray. most of the time, it takes several attempts at the "play" button in addition to a few prayes. gotta add "new cd player" of things to buy in 2008.

damn. the music stopped playing. a whole cd played with me not falling asleep. drats. time to try restarting the music. this seems like a perfect time to stop typin...

Watchmen

I’ve haven’t read non-school books in such a long time. Thankfully, I recently had a chance to read one of the best known graphic novels (comics) of all time. The Watchmen (written in the mid-80s). I read it during the last week of December, most of it during the time I was sick. Oh yeah, I was sick in December.

The whole time I was thumbing through the pages, I kept wondering, “Why was I previously unsuccessful in getting through the first of The Watchmen's twelve individual issues?” My coworker loaned it to me on two other occasions – both times, I gave it back to him saying I wasn't feelin' it. Maybe I wasn’t in the right mood.

You really do have to be in a certain frame of mind for certain types of entertainment. Almost a year ago, I was raving about the Dream Girls movie. I couldn’t get enough of the soundtrack. Every car ride was filled with Jennifer Hudson belting, “…and I’m telling you.” Now the DVD I received for Christmas is sitting, unopened, with the other abandoned movies. That should be a New Year’s resolution of mine – to watch, at least once, every DVD I received after pleading for them via my birthday/Christmas wish lists.

Back to being in the right mood - same goes for Jim Carey's Bruce Almighty. I saw it in the theater years ago and thought it was awfully corny. But when it was showing on TV a few weeks ago, I thought it was awfully genius. What gives? Is being in a particular state of mind the reason a brilliant show like Journeyman is thought of as “not so good” by certain friends? I think my revisiting The Watchmen was based on thinking that it was written by Neil Gaiman. And Neil Gaiman’s name came up because La Fiancee was reading one of his books (Neverwhere). But, nope, it was Alan Moore who wrote The Watchmen. Thankfully, my facts were wrong - thus, initiating what ended up being a very good read. BTW, Mr. Gaiman was once Alan Moore's protégé. It’s true – just Google that info and the always reliable Wikipedia will confirm what I am saying.

Now I'd better get back in the mood for working...

Finally Finishing Fantasy Football Fun

I used to love my fantasy football leagues and picks pool I was involved in. But that's all in the past... "used to love". I'm growing tired of this hobby of mine. It's not the actual drafting/managing of players in my fantasy leagues or making of the weekly picks that gets me. It's the "being in charge" business that I want to get out of. I somehow took over the picks a couple of years ago - and the football league? I've been the "commissioner" (like Gordon) for years now. I'm tired of it. I just want to be a play-ah in these leagues. Can I bamboozle anyone into taking over? Will someone in these two different leagues step up and take my place? And, at this point, do I really care whether or not someone does take over? Yeah, I do. I would be honestly sad if these annual traditions came to an end. But full-time workin' and part-time schoolin' has me beat. Managing all this extracurricular stuff takes away from my TV time. Speaking of which, I can't wait to see the Apprentice tonight. Will this be the first of many celebrity seasons, ala Dancing w/the Stars? Or will this be another short-lived Celebrity Mole? We'll find out soon enough if The Donald's got what it takes...