Random thoughts

I've developed a cackle. My fiancee's noticed it. And so has her family. I just let out a big one with my coworker. Oh, no. Is it old age? I've become that loud annoying guy. Actually, maybe I should say louder annoying guy. The laugh feels really good to let out... but I'm sure it's shriek-ish.

...

I was on my way to lunch today when, at the corner, an old man looked at me and asked where the nearest Wells Fargo was. I pointed him in the right direction and went on my way. I turned around and saw him going the right way... but he was so old and slow. I felt bad for the guy. I went up to him and said I'd find myself some lunch at the mall where the bank was & would walk him over there. He had to have been in his 80s. It took us 15 minutes to get to the bank... a walk that normally takes only five minutes. Oh, well. At least I got him there safely.

...

The TV from Costco was delivered to my fiancee's mom across the street. I had been tracking it online via the UPS website. But what the heck? Even though there were people at home, the delivery guy just left it at the front door. What happened to getting a signature? Or at least knocking or ringing the doorbell? If nobody was home, the TV would have been left out in the open for anyone to steal. I love Costco but, man, did they not require a signature on a costly piece of electronics. Lame, man... super lame.

Redneck Medical Dictionary

Benign - What you be, after you be eight.
Artery - The study of paintings
Bacteria - Back door to cafeteria
Barium - what doctors do when patients die
Cesarean section - a neighborhood in Rome
Cat scan - searching for kitty
Cauterize - made eye contact with her
Colic - a sheep dog
Coma- a punctuation mark
D & C - Where Washington is
Dilate - to live long
Enema - Not a friend
Fester - quicker than someone else
Fibula - a small lie
Genital - a non-Jewish person
GI series - World series of military baseball
Hangnail - what you hang your coat on
Impotent - distinguished, well-known
Labor pain - getting hurt at work
Medical staff - a doctor's cane
Morbid - a higher offer
Nitrates - cheaper than day rates
Node - I knew it
Outpatient - a person who has fainted
Pap Smear - A fatherhood test
Pelvis - second cousin to Elvis
Post Operative - a letter carrier
Recovery room - place to do upholstery
Rectum - darn near killed him
Secretion - hiding something
Seizure - a Roman emperor
Tablet - a small table
Terminal Illness - getting sick at the airport
Tumor - one more plus one more
Urine - opposite of you're out
Varicose - nearby / close by

Weaning myself off of Facebook

I think I'm at a point with Facebook that I don't need to login everyday. But that's what I do. Every. Night. I waste time. It's not like an hour or anything. But it's sad when I can't go an evening without the laptop on my lap in the living room checking out what people are up to. It's not really necessary anymore. My email alerts are on for when people send me a message or add me as a friend. That'll suffice.

But, in order to reduce my usage, I added a new status just now:

Rodney Champaco is proving he can stay away from FB for a week... starting... now

Oh! A thought! Maybe I'll give up Facebook for Lent... hmmmmm...



Update (1/29/09): Does responding to the emails I get from Facebook using my email count? I don't think so. But somebody else thinks it's a form of cheating. I think not.

Funnies

I'm cleaning my inbox here at work and finally watched a couple of funny videos from a coworker...

Awesome kids (short vid)


Unbelievable NFL Skills


Star Wars thing (for fans and non-fans alike)

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Obsession can end

I’ve been in a horrible not-do-anything-but-research-LCD-TVs rut. It started last week after the weekend in Tulalip. The whole “winning money” thing has made me crazy. I don’t know why I’ve even bothered with all the in-depth research. I’ve always had a huge honkin CRT TV my entire life. Is it really gonna matter what TV I get? I’m gonna love it no matter what ‘cause it’ll be brand new and HDTV ready!

I’ve spent hours looking at TV reviews online. I’ve spent even more hours visiting various stores – Costco, Target, Best Buy, and Circuit City (with their not-so-great going-out-of-business sale deals). I was up until about 1am Sunday night looking at TV stuff before deciding to sleep. Then, I stayed up another couple hours finding the best deal on all the connections for the TV – HDMI cable, connection for laptop, digital optical cable for the audio from the TV to the Yamaha receiver, and component cables for the current DVD player. I bought everything on Ebay before going to sleep… and, even more oddly, before buying the TV.

But I did it yesterday. Costco.com won! The new Sharp Aquos 37” LCD TV should be here late this week or early next. All this research is so tiring. I had become overwhelmed and confused with all my research that I just didn’t know what to get. I finally went with Costco for the low price and extended manufacturer’s warranty.

My next obsession was looking for a TV stand. I spent a good chunk of time yesterday looking online. Again, all the same stores… Costco, Target, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, etc…. Thanks goodness I found a used gem on Craigslist right before sleeping. I emailed the seller late last night and called him at 8am this morning. We’re headin’ over to Bellevue tonight to pick it up. I really feel like we’re getting a good deal… but we’ll see. My fiancee’s been very good through all this. It’s her money too and I’m really glad she has faith in me choosing all the right items for our living room. I hope we both end up lovin’ everything at the end…

Comic book geek? Present!

Watchmen is coming out on March 6, 2009 and I cannot wait. That's right, 3/6/9... three-six-nine! I love seeing patterns in dates and times... like whenever the time is 12:34... one-two-three-four.

As the movie opening nears, there's a viral campaign to get people ready for the release. This has led me to become very giddy and geeky this morning:

The New Frontiersman

I haven't explored it much... but I'm already hyped. I'm not sure if it's the knowledge of this website... or just the coffee I've gulped down.

For those who don't know, Watchmen is a twelve-series comicbook which was released in 1986-1987. The story has been ranked as a modern classic by Time Magazine and Entertainment Weekly - not for graphic novels... but for just books in general. In 1988, it won a Hugo Award, an award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements. I believe Watchmen has been the only graphic novel to win this award in the "other works" category.

Here's a quick plot summary (from Wikipedia):
Watchmen is set in an alternate reality which closely mirrors the contemporary world of the 1980s. The primary point of divergence is the presence of superheroes. Their existence in this iteration of America is shown to have dramatically affected and altered the outcomes of real-world events such as the Vietnam War and the presidency of Richard Nixon. In keeping with the realism of the series, although the costumed crime fighters of Watchmen are commonly called "superheroes", the only character who possesses obvious superhuman powers is Doctor Manhattan. The existence of Doctor Manhattan has given the U.S. a strategic advantage over the Soviet Union, which has increased tensions between the two nations. Additionally, superheroes have become unpopular among the public, which has led to the passage of legislation in 1977 to outlaw them. While many of the heroes retired, Doctor Manhattan and the Comedian operate as government-sanctioned agents, and Rorschach continues to operate outside the law.

In October 1985, New York City police are investigating the murder of Edward Blake. With the police having no leads, costumed vigilante Rorschach decides to probe further. Discovering Blake to be the face behind The Comedian, a costumed hero employed by the United States government, Rorschach believes he has discovered a plot to eliminate costumed adventurers and sets about warning four of his retired comrades, Dan Dreiberg (formerly the second Nite Owl), the super-powered and emotionally detached Doctor Manhattan and his lover Laurie Juspeczyk (the second Silk Spectre), and Adrian Veidt (once the hero Ozymandias, and now a successful businessman).

I can't wait!

A good weekend

Early in the month, G asked me if I wanted to get away during the three-day weekend this month. At her job, MLK day is a paid holiday - not for me. Because we cancelled our Portland trip in December due to the snow, I thought this would be a great idea. My boss kindly gave me the day off.

Instead of driving two plus hours to stay in Portland or Vancouver BC, we decided to just stay for one night at the Tulalip Resort & Casino. It takes less than forty-five minutes to get there so that meant less time driving and more time at our destination. And, because we only gamble once or twice a year, we thought we'd have fun playing with those cleverly animated slot machines.

Before we left the house on Saturday, we fed the cats two helpings each. I told them, "Listen - eat half now and, in the morning, eat the second half for breakfast." But, being Luna & Maddie, they simply shoveled food down their mouths and, most likely, ate everything that night. We didn't have anyone feeding them in the morning so we needed to keep that in mind and make sure to be back at a decent time.

What a hotel! We paid only $150 for an amazing room! I've stayed at three different hotels in Vegas and must say that this was right on par with those places. The room was beautiful - it has to be a four or five star hotel. There was a 47" flat screen TV and one of those showers with three different water nozzles to wash your entire body.



We ate at the buffet around 6:30 and were stuffed by the time we started playing slots at about 8:30. We were both able to play for a couple of hours with me losing only $40 and G losing only $25. The place was packed and we weren't able to play our favorite Leprauchan game. Instead, we played three different slots and finally settled on a two-cent Angels & Devils game for awhile.

After a very relaxing evening and a good night's sleep, we decided our plan for Sunday would be to eat brunch, play slots for a little bit, and go shopping at the nearby outlet mall before going home. The cats were probably hungry and we didn't want to get home too late. After stuffing ourselves at the buffet (again), we settled down at our favorite Leprauchan slot machine around 1:30. We played two hours. G had lost her $40 but I was able to break-even. We decided to leave and that was fine with me. I had only lost the $40 from the night before.

As we walked away from the slots, G said, "I had done much better at the Angels & Devils game..." Hmmm... I asked if she still wanted to play. I could tell she was entertaining the thought of reducing her $65 in losses. And, of course, I was all about staying. The slots have fun bonus rounds. I still wanted to try to hit those.

Moments later, we were back at the slots. G's luck changed! She started with $20 and, after an hour, she had won back her previous losses. I, on the other hand, was doing very badly. I quickly lost $15 at Angels & Devils and told G I was going back to the Leprauchans game. But after only 15 minutes, I lost my remaining $25.

Now I was now down $80. $40 was of my own cash from the night before. G had loaned me the other $40. I went back to her and asked for another $20 cash. I sat next to her, played slowly, but still lost all my money fairly quickly. Gone. Ugh. But she was still having fun and I wanted her to keep playing while she had her luck.

It was getting late. We had a decision to make. Does G keep playing with all that luck? If she does, do I continue to gamble? What about shopping? And what about the cats? It was already 4:30. They must be starved.

Okay. I was down $40 of my own cash and $60 of G's. I told her to continue on with her luck and loan me just another $20... no, wait... another $40. After we were done from the casino, I would go to the bank and withdraw the $100 I owed her. Forget about shopping. She would just keep rolling with her luck and we would see how it went.

It was horrible for me. I lost $20 again very quickly. I was trying to go as slow as possible. I would watch G play three or four games then I would play one. I was still having fun but just felt so unlucky. I finally decided to screw it. I needed to just focus on my game and develop some sort of rhythm. I started developing a pattern with my wagers and concentrated on my own machine. I soon won back the $20 I had just lost and was having so much fun!

In no time, my last $40 turned into $80. G had the same amount. She looked over and couldn't believe I had matched up to her. My history with slot machines is riddled with bad luck. But, now, I was just feeling great! I started wagering more and my luck was changing dramatically. I was hitting all types of bonus rounds and loading up so much! All of a sudden, one game gave me $200 plus in winnings! I was up to $250. I kept betting more and more... suddenly, I was just under 30,000 credits... at two cents per credit, that meant almost $600! I couldn't focus. What had just happened was unbelievable. Being at $250 was nerve-racking but I just couldn't think anymore. I played a bit more, lost some, and finally settled at $500.

What a great weekend! We had an awesome place to stay, good food, and great entertainment... all for free and with about $120 to spare. It was like someone paid us $120 to go out and have fun. I've always heard of other people gambling in Vegas and winning so much that they left with their flight & hotel paid for and extra money. This was my first! I hope it happens again someday, preferably in Vegas. That was so much fun... and the cats didn't seem too unhappy with us when we came home around 6:30. They were just happy for us and our winnings. Meow.

Time for a good night's rest

This was a very good weekend. I didn't think of work even once. I'm two lessons ahead in my online Excel class. Actually, it's a bit ridiculous that I'm paying to take this class just to get credits for the educational requirement of the CPA exam. But, I wasn't interested in any other online classes. I've worked extensively with Excel for 13 years. It's like a Mexican taking a Spanish class. Or a Spaniard taking... ummm... Spanish.

Also, had a good dinner with friends on Saturday night at OCB... that's right, Ol' Country Buffet. Oh, my. That place has the best buffet. I could care less for the overpriced casinos in Washington. This was good stuff. That was fun being there for two and a half hours, eating slowly and seeing our friends and their cute little happy baby.

I got a chance to actually watch some NFL playoff games this weekend. Awwwwww... poor San Diego out of the playoffs. At least I don't have to hear from certain fans about their precious team. Tee hee hee... If my Seahawks are out, I'd rather not get text messages from "someone" and their Chargers. But what the heck this season? Philly versus Arizona in the NFC? And Pittsburgh versus Baltimore? Wow. I would never have thought these would be the final four teams.

What's made this a really good weekend is that I just now finished taking care of bills for the month. I dread calculating who owes what and submittinng payments 'cause it just makes my head hurt. Sure, I'm an accountant by profession. But that doesn't make it any easier. Now that all that's out of the way, I'm gonna get a good night's sleep!

Shortcuts

In my job, I like to be efficient. If there's ever a way I can cut down the amount of time I spend on certain tasks, I'll try to implement the process in order to save time. Our accounting software system includes all types of ways you can save time. My one example today is the entry of dates. When I used to input accounts payable invoices, I would simply enter the month & day and then the full date would populate.

For example, to enter January 5, 2009, I would simply key 1/5. By entering those three characters, the system would automatically display 01/05/09. Actually, I could enter just 5 and (since I'm entering the date in the month of January) the same date would be displayed. I hope that makes sense.

So… segue to mere moments ago. Our Accounting Manager, Kathy, comes into my office to ask me a check-run related question. I do my best to help and then decide to mention, "Be careful that Dale isn't accidentally entering invoices from last year and using the wrong year." I explain the way I use the date shortcut and, if Dale does the same, she should remind him to be mindful of entering invoices from last year. If he enters just the month & day, it might turn the invoice date into a November or December 2009 invoice (instead of 2008).

Shaking her head vehemently, Kathy says, “Oh, no. He shouldn’t be using shortcuts.”

I’m like, “Well, IF he does, you should just warn him and make sure he watches out for the year.”

Obviously agitated, Kathy retorts, “Accounts Payable does NOT use shortcuts.”

Shortcuts. She said the word as if it was a bad word… as if though ANY type of shortcut is evil.

I tell her, “Well, okay. But it won’t hurt to just say something him. Just in case.”

She answers back, “I will but he should NOT be using shortcuts. That’s where the two of us are different. I never use shortcuts and A/P should not use them.”

Okay. I’m annoyed. Here’s another situation where Kathy’s imposing her low-tech philosophy & processes on to others. I’m trying to help her out while easing her discomfort with wicked shortcuts. I would have been alright with her if she was talking just about herself. But, nope, she’s completely dictating the law of the land.

I finally say, “That’s not true. Our systems are designed to make us more efficient. It’s okay to use shortcuts as long as you know how to use them. I wouldn’t say you can’t use them…”

At this point, I can see it. She’s done with me. She quickly says, “I guess we’re not going to agree on this…” and walks away from me, basically throwing her hands in the air. Ugh. That was very (VERY) annoying. But, I won’t let her bring me down. For 2009, I’m gonna be a less irritated person. After she left, I smiled, chuckled a bit, took a deep breath, and logged right into my blog.

Food dreams...

Last night, I had another very long dream. The only thing I remember was being hungry. I was on the floor, in pain, screaming to people that I was very very hungry. Nobody cared. When I woke up, I wasn't really that hungry. Odd.

It's Wednesday. It feels like Thursday for some reason. That's never a good thing. The weekend is that much further. It's been a long time since I worked a full week. Because of the holidays, planned time off, and snow days, I haven't worked a full week since the week of November 17. That means the past six weeks have been short ones. Thankfully, I'm very busy this week. That'll make it quicker... well, that's what I've convinced myself.

Friendship dreams

I had another bad dream last night. These don't happen too often - but they do occur when I feel bad about certain friendships. Actually, the older I get, the less I dwell on not making time to hang out with people. But I think my dreams are less forgiving with me. And it's not necessarily with the people I see on a regular basis or those people I rarely see who are great to see no matter how long we haven't seen each other. The issues I have are with those around me who are more sensitive, high maintenance, or naturally jerky. These vivid dreams put me in awkward situations with past friends who I'm no longer in good terms with.

They're horrible dreams. I get stuck in a world where we're being nice to each other on the surface - but I'm just wanting to get as far away from them as possible. I accept that people come and go in my life life. I do try to hold on to those friends who have a positive impact on my life - no matter how small or large the influence. But maybe there's a part of me that feels guilty about losing those people who I no longer want to deal with. Is it closure I need?

I tried to meet up with one of those people for lunch in December. Damn Facebook. Keeps me connected with friends... but also finds me in touch with frenemies. We made plans when I was in one of my better "yeah-let's-hangout-together" moods. But I ended up cancelling on the guy 'cause I needed to work instead. But now that I've cancelled, I don't think I'll reschedule. Why go through that awkwardness? I'm completely uncomfortable around the guy 'cause, I really feel like I tried to save our friendship years ago by being open and he never reciprocated back. Life is too short to be macho-macho-man. To me, a close friend should be able to tell me if I've done something to hurt them while also listening and understanding to any issues I might have with them. None of this happened with us. He just pretty much dismissed anything I had to say. I'm not a bottle-it-up-inside guy. I don't pretend "it" never happened. I don't need anyone to change their ways. But I need us to talk it out. And I guess that's why we were never truly close friends. We had completely different philosophies on how our friendships should be.

He and his wife were in my dreams last night. She was truly bitchy and he was laughing it up the entire time. Truly, truly awkward. I think I might continue to have those dreams as long as I hang on to the past. I think that's what I'm doing inside. I had the worst relationship ever with my ex-girlfriend. But we talked years later and left that all in the past. Though it had ended badly, we were able to accept that we weren't meant for each other and expressed that openly to each other. Since that time, she has never ever been in any of my dreams. But I won't ever be able to do that with these old friends. Maybe that's the closure I need... to just accept that that's the way it is.