A sign that I need a vacation

I always listen to my iPod on the way to and from work, and this morning was no different. When I arrive at work, I generally put my MP3 player in a small black carrying case and take it to the office with me, since I am afforded an opportunity to use it while coding away.

This morning I arrived in my office, put my lunch in the refrigerator, and then brought my carrying case and book with me to my desk. When I set the case down, I noticed that it felt lighter than usual. I looked inside and, sure enough, the iPod was missing. No biggie, I probably just put it in my jacket pocket, right? Wrong! It was not in any of the 237 pockets that my jacket possesses.

"No matter," I thought, "I just left it in the car." I casually go back down to the parking garage and spot my car. Inside, however, was no iPod. Now I was starting to get worried. I didn't hear anything hit the ground, so I didn't believe that I had dropped it. It's absence, however, was not helping to assuage my fears.

I ran back to the office, scanning the ground the entire way with no success. I got back to my desk, looked all around it unsuccessfully, and then decided to go back down to the car to see if I had perhaps dropped it under the seat or something. I was just reaching the point of desperation when I stopped myself in the kitchen. I thought hard for a second and then, on a whim, decided to investigate my lunch. Sure enough, in between the sandwich and the banana was my iPod.

So yeah, hopefully this isn't a precursor of what my day will be like. I should probably just go home and climb back into bed, don't you think?

-Mark

Mark's Monday brain dump

Hello, all. Here's an update from the world of Mark:

I'm currently reading Tom Clancy's The Teeth of the Tiger, which has started off pretty well. It's a lot easier to read than his more complex novels like Rainbow Six, which I have started to read about three or four times but never finished. I have only read one book since I completed my Harry Potter marathon a few months ago, much to my chagrin. I love to read, but I always relegate it behind other lounging activities, so I'm trying to resolve that. I'm also trying to finish reading all of the five or six books that Stacey loaned me back when we first met in September—she watched all four seasons of 24 that I loaned her in that time, while I have only managed to read one book. As you can see, my slacking is not limited to my blog alone!

I don't know about you, but the new U.S. version of The Office is really starting to grow on me. Maybe it helps that I've actually been watching it this season? In any event, I liked the U.K. version (and I will get that on DVD one of these days), and Steve Carrell does a fantastic job in Ricky Gervais's place as the Dilbertian boss. If you haven't checked this out yet, then by all means tune in on Thursday nights—or go out and buy a TiVo already!

I went to Fry's yesterday, mostly just to look since I hadn't been there in months. It also helped that there was no meaningful football game on for Bears fans like myself. (No, the games that were on don't count!) Anyway, I was looking at the cameras they had to offer and none really knocked my socks off. Of course, I'd never pick a camera based soley on the information available at the store—including salesmens' opinions—so it's not like I was planning to buy something anyway. I still need to do a lot of research before I make a decision, although I must admit I was definitely in the mood to buy after my sister dropped off some prints from her digital camera that she had "developed" at the store.

Although I didn't purchase a camera while at Fry's, I did pick up The Grid on DVD. It's a short-lived show that's apparently similar to Alias and 24, so you can see why it would pique my interest. I will let you know how it is once I've delved into the digital goodness.

Apparently Kobe Bryant scored 81 points last night. Holy shit, that's a lot of fucking points! I really don't think that's a good sign, though. As dominant as Michael Jordan was—and as bad as his teammates were early in his career—his high in a game was a mere 69 points. I think Kobe, feeling as if he has to shoulder the whole load since he sent his better half to Miami, has flipped the proverbial ballhogging switch. Without Shaq, the Lakers aren't very good, so this is the only way Kobe will get the attention that he craves. On the positive side of things, at least he's not Terrell Owens.

Stacey's coming to meet me for lunch today. I don't know where we'll go, since the restaurant selection around here is pretty damn sparse, but I'm sure we'll figure something out. Hopefully some jerk parker hasn't blocked in my car again!

After work I have a class on Microsoft BizTalk Server at my company's office down in Westchester, so I'll be heading down there for some learnin'. The class will take place every Monday night for the next four weeks and will feature actual homework. It's just like being back in school, minus the bitching sleep schedule. Thank goodness for the aforementioned TiVo, otherwise I'd have to set the VCR to tape 24 for the next month—knowing me, I'd surely forget at least to do so at least once.

-Mark

Happy birthday to Stacey!

I was all ready to slip back into my lackadaisical blog update schedule when I noticed that Stacey had used it as motivation to post a new blog entry. See, she doesn't want me to "win" the blogging battle, so she has to one-up me. (Nevermind the fact that she hadn't made a post all year prior to that—and she actually used to mock my blogging inadequacy!)

Anyway, today is her 27th birthday and I'm heading down to her place after work for dinner. There won't be much time to hang out after that, since I have to get back home (damn work!), but I'll see her on Saturday so it's okay. Before dinner, we'll be stopping over at her parents' house so that they can take advantage of my computer expertise. They're purchasing a new laptop and it's my job to make sure they get the best bang for the buck, without wasting any money on items/features that would be superflous for them. The current family PC is a desktop, circa 1998 (I'd estimate), with Windows 98 (ugh!). Let's just say it's old, slow, and now infested by malware. I told Stacey that this is akin to someone who drives a crappy car, gets into an accident, and finds out that it'd cost more money to fix the car than it's worth. Sometimes you just gotta buy a new computer—and when you do, I'm the man you need to call. :-)

Well, I'd better get back to work. (Shh! Don't tell anyone I'm blogging whilst on the clock!)

-Mark

Free parking?

Lunchtime came today and I planned to go out and grab something, so I headed to the parking garage to hop in my car. When I got there, I discovered that somebody parked their car literally a foot away from mine. Thanks to the inconsiderate prick who botched this parking job, I got to climb in through the passenger-side door—quite a challenge for someone as gangly as myself. My question is, why do people—no, why do assholes park their cars so damn close? Part of the problem is that the spaces in the garage here are small, but that hasn't prevented the other 99% of commuters from parking correctly.

Anyway, this isn't much to complain about in the grand scheme of things, but things like this are a pet peeve of mine. I have to say, they fit in nicely with all of my pet peeves involving moronic drivers (who need to learn how to use their $@&%ing turn signals!)

(Deep breath)

Okay, now I feel better. :-)

-Mark

R.I.P.

Very little could have cheered me up after today's Bears loss against the Panthers than 24, so thankfully it was on immediately after the game. If you haven't seen the first two episodes yet then you probably shouldn't check out these links:

R.I.P. #1

R.I.P. #2

Needs to R.I.P. very soon

-Mark