Monday, September 25, 2006

First Day Jitters

Well the day arrived and I slowly and shiftily snuck into my new job. The minute I walked in people started talking to me about the insurance exam. No one else had taken it and I was instantly notable for being over that hurdle. It seemed everyone regaurded it as an impossible hurdle blocking their path. Some people told me about a weekend spent feverishy pouring over there book after failing the first practice test Friday. In a way it s humorous that a test that I barely remember worrying about had so deeply affected these people. It isn't even like it's a big deal to fail, the next test is free and they tell you what areas that you didn't do so hot in. So you focus on those areas and hit it again. Anyway I spent most of the day telling people to relax about the test and that they would be ok. I said "take the practice exams to get used to the wording of the questions and then just use them to study from." Other then that I advised that they needed to make sure they slept enough to be ready for the test. Sleep, relax and study moderately. Anyway it helped me meet people quickly since everyone came up to me on the breaks. Other then that we looked at a contract, checked out thye online resources that help us have the answers and then I talked to HR while everyone else took another practice exam. Easy day.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

New photos and the contest winner

Well the week is over and now I await a new challenge on Monday. I am a wee bit nervous but nothing I can't handle. The tux job was a good time but I am looking forward to making more money. The tux job asked me to consider working a few Saturdays for them and I think I may just do that. I enjoyed the people I worked with and I could really use the extra money. It was nice to be asked.

I added a small photoset to the webpage. It is nothing to amazing and I probably will try and hit those places again at a different time of day but I think they are entertaining so check them out. Urban Scenery. Then let me know what you thought.

My mom won the free t-shirt I offered last week. Most of you are like free t-shirt? When, where, how? And yeah there was a t-shirt up for grabs and all you had to do was email me about the site or post a comment on the site or do something involving the site. Easy contest and yet only one person participated. Keep your eyes out next month for a similarly easy contest. I plan on doing a contest every month as long as the funds allow it. So keep an eye out for them and you can get some free swag!

Hope all is well in your little worlds! Mine is going along just fine!

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

All this and nothing at the same time

Well it was annual talk like a pirate day yesterday.... and I missed it. Even after this blog entry! I am sorely disappointed in myself! 40 lashes with a cat of nine tails for me! Landlubbbers beware this is no place for ye! Ok I think I feel better now.

At work I am counting down the days. When I told them I was quitting, the district supervisor cut my hours by 12 hours! I was like "Wow! Can we say petty!" So not real happy about that. My manager, the one that is excited for me and pissed at me at the same time is hooking me up with 6 hours so in the long run I only lose 6. My manager is awesome. Swab the deck! Sorry the pirate lingo is popping out, it is all due to having missed my day. Anyway the week at work is dragging along. I am ready for it to be over and for me to be moving on! It is only 3 more days I keep repeating like a mantra. I should get a big gong and sing the only 3 more days thing and hit the gong between each time. It would be like the gregorian chants ecpt it would be the mikeorian chant.

I recently updated the webpage. You should check it out Crazedlunatikdesigns.com. Then you should email me at crazedlunatik@gmail.com to tell me what you think of the new picture and color scheme.

In semi related news I did a redesign on my ninjashredz design. I am looking for a few inspired suggestions to take what I have and turn it from a paragraph of cleverness into a sentence or two of wittyness! If someone can help I will buy them a shirt from my various stores of their choosing. Email me at crazedlunatik@gmail.com


I have a large Ode to Stewey tshirt up for grabs to the next person who emails me something site related. It can be spelling errors, blog comments, critiques, or even a picture for me to post. Just relate it to the site and you will get a free shirt! Once again the size is Large so if you can fit it or you know someone to give it to get emailing now!

Monday, September 18, 2006

Quitting a job and living it up on the weekend

Have you ever felt guilty for quitting a job to get paid more? I have. The tuxedo job was fun. It was fun because the manager at my store was cool, the workers in the back were great and the owner was nice. The job itself was a little exhausting. Staying on your feet all day, rushing through the warehouse to replace a product. Measuring people and helping them make important decisions about their big day. Dealing with emotional brides and their harried grooms. Even better is the overzealous mothers that need to add their two cents and make the tension level rise. I always take this moment to remind people that it is a celebration of the bride and groom's commitment to each other and that means it should be a joyous and fun occasion. Then I say don't forget to breathe. There is a lot of good mixed with things I don't like but the money difference is too significant to make staying an option. I guess that is retail for you. Go figure.

After dealing with that this week I had a nice break from the norm with a visit from my dad. I worked everyday but today so I was disappointed that I couldn't drag him to Mt. St. Helens (which is smoking apparently) or to some other random place. We did try a breakfast place or two out. We also went sports bar hunting. We drank beers mixed with limes in glasses lined with salt. They were not high quality beers we normally drink. In fact the first night they were an awful beer called Kokanee. I had tried it on a whim and had hated it but with salt and lime the beer was good. We had ribs one night, wings the next, and pork chops another night. We smoked a pipe and we went to bars. It was a good time. As far as the sports bar hunt goes. It was a wee bit disappointing because the sports bars near me consisted of a couple small tvs showing a few games with the sound off. We finally found a passable place but I am not sure the search should end there. I demand a sports bar that lives and breathes sportiness and bar-i-ness. I want it all baby! Every tv has football on, the tv volume is loud and the fans are raucous! I mean after all what else is there to do in a bar on a perfectly nice Sunday? I mean who needs blue skies and birds singing when there is football? I could do with more shots of the football cheerleaders between plays but football season is great fun. Even when your team chokes big time. Grrr! Stupid crappy Cardinal-Seahawks game! Damn those overeager Seahawk fans/bandwagoners in there hideous blue and neon green jerseys! I mean who decided that color of green was a good idea? And what shade of blue is that anyway? What was with all their passing, running, rushing, blitzing and scoring? They needed to lose! Seriously!

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

A Rambling Review of "There are worse things I could do"


"There are worse things I could do" by Adrienne Barbeau

Last month I went and listened to Adrienne read excerpts from her book about her life and by the time she was done I had bought her book and I was on my way to becoming a fan. Adrienne Barbeau has led a fascinating life full of entertaining stories and experiences and this book is a collection of those. Some are funny, some sad but all are well written and ultimately filled with optimism. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her experiences on movies that were hits and some that were not (like the infamous rat movie). I enjoyed reading about her experiences on Television shows such as Maude and Carnivale. I was engaged as I read about her battle with self esteem, asking for what she wanted, and her various relationship stories that ultimately led to what sounds like a rewarding marriage with her husband and her three children. It is a book that works the broad spectrum of being a human. Her book is told in short stories that are actually perfect for the way I like to read, since I count pages of chapters before I begin to decide if I want to continue reading. I found myself reading further then I would normally because the chapters were engaging and not too long. I really liked her honest style of writing. She makes you feel like you are talking to her while sipping a cup of coffee and that maybe you are old friends. It is a great book and I recommend you look for it at your local bookshop. If you like audio books I have come to understand that she is going to be releasing one as well. She will be the reader which is such a treat because she made the stories come to life when she read them to us. The whole audience asked her to read more when it seemed she was wondering if she should stop. She also was amazingly approachabel and her autograph lie was a little slow because of it, she actually listened to what people said as she signed and posed for pictures. I did not go to the reading because I knew a lot about her or that I was a fan before but after I read a little and I got to know her I will be keeping my eye out for her in the future, in film and in print (she is going to be writing a vampire series).

http://www.abarbeau.com
http://thereareworsethingsicoulddo.com/

Monday, September 11, 2006

Another Baby

I recently put in a lot of information in my blog about Kevin and Becky's baby. I also talked about my cousin Robert and Denise's impending (April) bundle of joy in my newsletter. That prompted my other cousin Jeremiah to send pictures of his new addition. I had promised these pictures a while back and they are finally here and she is a cutie! Her name is Maile.







This last picture is so funny. She has a beautiful smile!

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Barnes and Noble and all the dog poo you can handle

I was at home after a long Saturday of work. I had watched my Netflix rental and I was starting to get antsy. I had not done anything after work because I had felt tired. Now 3 hours later I had no idea what to do with the rest of the evening and my tiredness had faded. I hadn't eaten dinner but I wasn't hungry. I had watched TV but now I couldn't find anything decent to watch. It was too late to really hop a bus and find something to do downtown. So I headed to my old back up plan. Barnes and Noble. I can kill a few hours reading a Graphic Novel (also known as big comic books) and pretend like I was doing research for the comics I want to start producing..... When I got there the parking lot was pretty empty. The only places still open were Chili's, Macy's and B&N. I parked and headed to the door and along the way I saw a trail of dog poo.... fresh dog poo. Then I saw a man and his dog. I kept telling myself just go inside and don't worry about it. Then my righteous ingignation flared up and my mouth opened and sound came out. "Clean up after your dog!" He looked at me startled, then decided to forego any response and merely ignore me. That was probably his worst mistake ever, being ignored only increases my dramatics as I am sure a lot of you have noticed. "I know you heard me. If you are going to own a dog you have to know it will take a crap occasionally. Knowing that, you should be ready for that occurence and clean up after it. If you don't want to pick up dog crap don't own a dog. However, since you do in fact own a dog and it has defiled the walkway it is now your duty to clean up after it." He continued to ignore me by staring through the Barnes & Noble window at the books on display. I had just gotten primed and I was not done. "You can click your sparkly red shoes together and recite 'There is no place like home' all you want Dorothy but it doesn't seem to be working. So you might as well pick up after Toto." This got a snicker from the high school kids who sat on a nearby bench. It also made the man walk away real fast in the other direction. I yelled, "I hope you are running off to get a little baggie. There is a whole lot of poop back here!" His pace quickened as he yanked the little dog behind. I finally went inside and fell into my book and soon I was being told over the speakers that the store was closing. When I came out the poop was still there. Damn that Dorothy! And his little dog too!!

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

My Labor Day

My labor day was just packed.

I woke up around 9 to embrace the day with a bowl of oatmeal. Then I ran out the door and caught a bus downtown. It was free admission at the Oregon Historical Museum..... apparently everyone else in the state (that weren't at the beach) got the same memo. It was crowded. I tried to peer at the exhibits but it was like 3 people deep. I kept getting elbowed and people kept bumping me out of the way. Some muttered apologies and some looked at me like I had offended them by being in their way. One guy ran into me and I picked him up and threw him through the "I like Ike" display in the Presidential exhibit. I am typing to you from prison. Bubba says hi and he thinks that I have a "purty" mouth. Ok so maybe I am at home and imagining hurling that guy through the exhibit, being in the pokey and having a guy named Bubba compliment my mouth. The guy I wanted to hurl most definately existed as did the "Ike" paraphenalia, they are both still intact though. It was way too crowded and I ended up speeding through the exhibits because I couldn't stand all the random people jostling me about. I couldn't read the words explaining the exhibits anyway, I could never get close enough. So I looked and noted that I would come again.... unfortunately the presidential exhibit is going away soon so I guess my views from afar will have to suffice. I had been in the museum for an hour and I was really tired of the crowd. So I headed down to Powell's. I grabbed a mocha and an available chair and busied myself reading a book for a while. I was there for about the same amount of time as the museum when I got antsy and bolted. I started walking South. Hoping to catch the tram to the bus stop. I never did catch the tram. I did not have patience to wait for it. I walked to the bus stop and as I rode away I finally saw the tram come by. Had I waited I would have been waiting again for the bus. I headed home. I was a little irritated with the way the day turned out. I had a coupon for a free rental from Blockbuster. So I stopped by to use it, in hopes that this movie would be my saving grace. It wasn't. The movie I rented was not even something that could hold my attention for very long so there will be no review. In fact I won't even mention the name. I found myself sitting at home watching Buffy again when I remembered that the Mission Theater Pub had Buffy night on Mondays. Big movie screen, beer and food + 3 episodes of Buffy with other buffy lovin' freaks!! What more could I ask for? I hopped in my car and this time followed the mapquest directions (something I failed to do last week which resulted in lack of Buffiness). I got there and there was a line of similar minded geeks waiting to be let in. Once we entered we heard that the projector had broke and a new one was on the way. With a slight delay the Buffy show would go on as planned. I ordered a beer and a cheeseburger and picked a spot. It's a theater pub so that is why I had a beer.... I already said that, try to keep up. I waited and waited and waited. The projector that was brought in was not able to be set up. I think it was because the guy didn't know how.... but whatever. He announced that if we wanted a refund on the food and beer purchased (the Buffster was free) he would gladly do it. He also said that for those that would like to stay we could watch Clerks 2 for free. The film projector worked, the digital projector didn't. I had already thrown my reciept away so even though I had seen Clerks 2 I decided to watch it again and wait for my food. It was much better the second time. I think most of Kevin Smith's movies are better on the second viewing. Anyways the beer and burger were good and the movie was a lot funnier. Maybe because all attendees were over 21, as opposed to the matinee I had seen with mothers and daughters and old men trying to beat the heat. Or maybe it was the fact that I was watching it with a beer in hand. It was a slight disaster of a day but it was a fun disaster. Next Monday I will try it again, the Buffy part I mean. Not the disaster part. Or the hurling people part.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Writing sucks... sometimes

Every once in a while I have trouble putting words to paper. I hit a wall and nothing seems to flow out right. I have ideas and things I want to write about but I can't get them to follow a pattern that makes sense. All the ideas try to rush out at once and all I have is several paragraphs of confusing nonsense. You can tell there is a point I am trying to make but you are not sure what it is. At these times I usually head for a book called "A Creative Writer's Kit". It has one idea everyday for the whole year. I do not follow it religiously it is just for back up which means that in 2 years I might have used 20 ideas from it. Most of the ideas I find incredibly stupid or hard to work with but I force something out so I can move on. I have never had an idea from that come out so well that I share them. Like I said it is my back up. I use it to help me get going again. Usually it works but I don't think it did today. What came out was a bigger mess then usual. I will just have to force myself to get out tomorrow, experience life and try again.