That's Embarassing

We got our new letters today at work. Signed on to work at Active Voice until August 31. I'm fine with working here a month longer since I was always intending on taking a couple of months off. To work on my blog. Oh, this glorious blog.

Before I turned in my signed acceptance, I asked my boss, "Will our severance package still be the same?" She explained that the reference to the plan presented to us at the end of February still applies. NEC can change their plan at anytime - but our plan still maxes out at six-months of severance. Awesome.

As I leave my boss' office, my coworker Kathy sees me and follows me to my office. I think, "She must have overheard my question and wants to discuss it further." My boss follows us as well but passes both of us and heads to the other side of the building.

Instead of commenting on the new letter/severance, Kathy says, "I was in the bathroom just now and I heard a strange noise. I sat there wondering what the heck that could be. I suddenly realize it's [employee-who-shall-remain-anonymous] snoring in the stall."

This unnamed coworker happens to be someone I've been unhappy with. She's never here 'cause of her back pains, sick children, appointments, etc. Pick an excuse, she's used it. And even when she is here, she comes in so late and she's just flat-out a waste of a resource. She never takes the time to think through issues and rarely overs solutions. She's one person who, on a professional level, I can't wait to un-work with.

And now what is she doing? Sleeping in the bathroom. Isn't that embarrassing? Kathy says she tried her best to waker her up. She slammed the stall door, stomped around, blew her trumpet... nothing worked. Still snoring.

So what did I do? Logged immediately into blogger.com.

Star Friggin Trek

On Friday, I was emailing an old high school classmate. We were making plans for lunch in June. I mentioned that I would be seeing Star Trek the next day. Her response:

Star Trek was AWESOME!!! If you don’t like it, then you’re a putz. Yes, I said it. THAT’s how confident I am on the movie! Besides, Chris Pines (james T. Kirk) is a hottie! The cast was outstanding and did a great job playing their roles well.

Hmmm. I wasn't quite sure if she liked it. So I respond back:

You’ve more than certainly overhyped the movie for me. Now, there’s no possible way I’ll be able to enjoy it. Just to be clear... Star Trek was decent?

She writes back:

I’m not a BIG trekkie fan, but I certainly appreciated the movie. IT was action packed and funny. The only reason why some people may not like is if they were deeply loyal to the old star trek and cannot accept another rendition of the old cast.

So there you have it. One friend who loved it. And I heard the reviews were mostly positive. But, on the other side of things, I heard some trekkers/trekkies/nerds were a bit unhappy with the new JJ Abrams movie. I'm thinking, I'll trust the friends who have seen it but will go in with an open mind considering there may be flaws based on the Star Trek "experts".

What happens? I LOVE IT! Dude... that was one badass movie. From beginning to end, I was completely entertained. The action & story just kept on moving and the casting ws spot on. There were little easter eggs for fans of the the original Star Trek AND fans of JJ Abrams other shows (Lost, Alias, etc). I almost agree with my friend's thought that anyone who didn't like it is a putz.

Unfortunately, I ended up talking to a friend yesterday who said the movie was "okay". I was shocked. I'm normally open & accepting of other people's opinions. But, dude... his "okay" wasn't really an okay. He was being nice in saying that. I don't think he actually liked it. Both him and his wife. That was just strange.

I'm curious as to what other people thought of the movie. That was some good stuff, yo. Can't wait for it to be on DVD.

Gonna stop that

I'm trying to stop that thing I do with compound words. I'll take compound words, split 'em apart, switch the words around, and then put "of" between them. I was just IM-ing G and had to backspace all this:

top of the lap

That's what I wanted to type instead of laptop. It doesn't even make sense. Yet, I have the urge to do it all the time. What gives? I've deleted at least three instances of this today.

Another thing, my Microsoft Word class has changed my spacing from two spaces to just one space after the end of my sentences. Like, instead of this:

The boy went to the park. He had a good time.

I'm typing:

The boy went to the park. He had a good time.

See that? Only one space after park instead of two. It's the correct way to do it these days. That's right. You just got educated. Boo-yah.

And it's all Bossch's fault

Dude. I am so effin/friggin tired today. Ugh. Slept at 1am last night. Which, normally, isn't so bad. But today is different because of the long weekend I had. Let's rewind.

Thursday night. Cleaned up the house like crazy for the next day.

Friday night. Had some folks over. Ate good food. Played a game (Hit or Miss = great board game). Great company. Slept around 2am.

Saturday. Woke up hecka late. Went to the Mariner game. They lost but it was just good to hang with my buddy Eric. Good times had by both. Got home, watched SNL, slept late.

Sunday. Brunch at Eats Market Cafe with an-out-of-town friend. She's so swell. Best friends with G's sis. I consider her a close friend now. Sorry G's sis. Worlds have collided and I'm claiming her as mine too. ;) ...after brunch, packed up some things and made the drive down to Portland. Stayed at the Westin for cheap (only $65 a night thanks to Priceline).

Monday. Sushi for lunch at Sushiville. 'Twas not good, but not bad. Conveyor belt style. Interesting. Afterward, went to Powell's Bookstore. Great place... LOTS of books. Bought a bunch of graphic novels. G bought a bunch of books. Went to the outlet mall in Woodburn afterward. Came back to the hotel. Ate pizza from Pizzicato in the room while watchin Dancing With Some So-Called Stars. Then read for the rest of the night. One graphic novel until Four-Friggin-Thirty-In-The-Morning. Or is that Four-Thirty-In-The-Friggin-Morning? Either will do.

Tuesday. Woke up early. Got ready, packed up, had lunch at Mother's (damn good food). Left Portland around 1:30-ish. On the ride back to Seattle, encountered the worst rain on I-5. I was scared out of my mind. As G slept peacefully next me, I gripped that steering wheel like crazy, praying that we'd make it home safe. I woulda pulled over somewhere but we needed to get home for b-day dinner with G's family. Made it safely home, had a great dinner, but stayed up until 1am.

So here I am. Tired as hell. And why is that? I blame the reading I did on Monday night/Tuesday morning. And what was I reading? The Walking Dead. It is such a GREAT graphic novel! The art is one thing - but the zombie story, the struggle of survivors, it's just got me wanting more and more and more. I have three more "chapters" left in this book of eight chapters.

It's all Bossch's fault. He loaned me the first three trade paperbacks years ago. I hadn't read it since that time and now I had to buy this juicy fat compilation when I saw it at the bookstore. Actually, G bought it for my b-day. Dude. I'm so lovin' the story. I just kept reading and reading and reading... But now I'm paying the price. Fatigue. I'm a zombie. The walking dead. Zzzzzzzz....

(but, for real... thanks Bossch! i love, love, love Robert Kirkman. great writer!)

...and we live to fight another day.

My secret wasn't much of a secret. It was just work related. My boss spoke to me on Thursday afternoon to say that our system transition from Active Voice to NECii wasn't going as scheduled. The IT people involved had NO idea what our order configuration system's like.

That's been the problem at Active Voice. Our voicemail system is just way too complicated. We've got this thing called the Configurator that allows sales support to answer a buttload of questions to customize a customer's order for any number of features. And we offer our customers an infinite number of features to choose from. We try way too much to offer an affordable system while wanting added revenue for every bell & whistle. Kinda sucks when we develop pricey features that people don't want to pay for.

Anyway, it's madly complicated and the peeps at NECii had no idea what they were getting into. Why do you think we've been so unprofitable? Anyway, great secret news is that... my three buds who were leaving at the end of May aren't leaving! Whoohoo! Well, I shouldn't speak too soon. They were asked only yesterday to stay - but I'm thinking they don't have anything lined up yet. I hope they'll accept the new proposal.

Erwin & Channing will be here until the end of July. Greg's here until the end of August. AND, my end date has been extended a month until the end of August as well. Selfishly speaking, I'm stoked 'cause I won't be stuck with the folks that irritate me to no end. These guys are drama free (for the most part) and I'm lovin it, lovin it, lovin it! I especially wish Erwin was leaving the exact same time I was but because of our functions, we'll always be a month apart.

This changes my plans a little bit for taking a month off and the CPA exam. But we'll save the plan revising for later.

Secrets

When someone tells me to keep something a secret, I'm pretty good about keepin my trap shut. Actually, I haven't used the word "secret" in such a long time. I usually say "it's confidential" or "keep it to yourself" nowadays. The word "secret" sounds so... high school. Ish.

So, yeah, I've got this secret that I'm supposed to keep right now that I want to tell to people but I won't 'cause I shouldn't and I would get in trouble if ever someone reveals that I shared when I shouldn't have. Actually, now that I typed all that, I don't have the urge as much. But it is a game changing piece of information. All will be revealed in the next few days. But, for now, mum's the word.

(Oh what could it be? Personal? Work? School? WHAT!!!!???? WHAT IS IT?????)

Jose Chargualaf Barcinas

Read the obituary for my uncle who passed away last week:

(February 24, 1942 - May 5, 2009) Chode of Pigua, Merizo, passed in the grace of our Lord at the age of 67. Police Officer, Harbor Patrol, Retired GovGuam Firefighter. Mass for Jose is being said at San Dimas Church at 6 pm. & on Thursday, May 14, 2009 mass will be said at 7:00 pm. Last respects for Jose will be held on Friday, May 15, 2009 at San Dimas Church in Merizo, beginning at 9:00 am and concluding at 12:30 pm. Mass for a Christian burial will be offered at 1:00 pm. Interment will follow at Merizo Cemetery where we will bid him farewell and a peaceful rest.

I added a little something on his online GuestBook linked to the obituary above. I kept it nice & sweet... but one thing I would have really wanted to add is my memory which stands out the most about him.

The first thing that ALWAYS comes to mind when thinking about Uncle Joe is the time him and my aunt visited us from Guam in 1990. They were staying at our house in Port Orchard. My uncle had the absolute stinkiest, funkiest number two I have EVER smelled in my whole entire life. I mean, I walked into that bathroom after I had come home from high school and hit an absolute brick wall of stank. It was absolutely incredible. And I needed to use it badly. My pants were already half way down and my junk needed to unload. No way I could back out. It was like something rusty - just horribly rotten. To this day, I can still smell it. That's a shit that has made quite an impact... almost twenty years later.

RIP Uncle Joe. Much love to ya.

How I Met Yo Mama

Just watched HIMYM. VERY VERY FUNNY EPISODE! But I wasn't so thrilled with the end. The reveal. Boooo. Not a fan. But, definitely enjoyed the rest of the show!

Jessica's biggest... stalker?

Okay, I like Jessica Alba. Sure, it's mainly 'cause of looks. I could lie and say I think she's a phenomenal actress. But she isn't. For an actress who should have her choice of roles, she sure doesn't go for anything moving or deep. Which is fine and I like her since she comes off as very personable on interviews and yada-yada-yada.

My point is... I can be a fan, an admirer, a person who appreciates someone's beauty... without it going beyond that. Honestly, I don't know if I'm fanatic about anything these days. I think my friends would disagree with that statement... but it's true. I don't go gaga over anything or anyone anymore.

But, dude... you HAVE to check out this dude's Twitter account. I think he created it solely to track Jessica. It's just crazy... crazy yo.

http://twitter.com/JAsBIGGESTfan

Gotta watch the whole thing

Another email forward from a coworker. I start watching. I think... "Okay, am I really gonna enjoy this?" Watched the whole thing and...wow. Got goosebumps. No wonder there are over five million views of this video. Dang. Kids these days. So clever.

This is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20 year old. The contest was Titled "u @ 50". This video won second place. When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause.
So simple and yet so brilliant. Take a minute and watch it.