Havasimy

I just finished my fantasy draft. Got stuck with the sixth pick in the draft. But I think I got a good team. The only player I really targeted before the draft that I didn't get was Larry Johnson on the chiefs. He was a middle round pick. I decided to go with a top tight end for the sixth pick and put off drafting him until the seventh and he got chosen two picks before my seventh round pick. Sixth, even seventh round, would be a bargain for him if Priest Holmes gets hurt, which I have a gut feeling he will.

1. D. McAllister
2. S. Jackson
3. C. Johnson
4. T. Brady
5. L. Fitzgerald
6. J. Witten
7. Ma. Jones
8. W. Parker
9. K. Warner
10. A. Randle El
11. Indianapolis
12. T. Williamson
13. J. Reed
14. F. Gore

Am I the only one who hears Faith Hill's new song "Mississippi Girl" and feels like it's trying to be the country equivalent of "Jenny from the block"?

And speaking of Faith Hill, I hear Tim McGraw's single "Do you want fries with that?" and it doesn't have the same effect that it would if it was sung by a singer without a famous wife. It's about a guy who works at a fast food drive-thru window and has to serve the guy who's now with his wife, is driving his old truck, etc... McGraw having a high-profile celebrity marriage just takes away the power from a "some guy has my old life" song, even a humorous one.

I went back to visit my family this past weekend. Had a good visit. Went with my family to Dave & Busters, got an iPod (a iPod shuffle, which is all I really need), got some cool presents from friends, and saw the Dukes of Hazzard movie (wasn't as bad as I feared it would be, but not a good movie overall).

Anyway, at work I'm in the process of learning a new project with completely different terminology. I'm moving to a desk to an area in a different building where cellphones must be turned off and no flash drives or recordable devices. And I'm hosting a poker game on thursday night after work. So life's been busy. But I'll try and get to write another entry here this week and I should be much better by the weekend.

Okay. I got a bunch of little items saved up to blog about, but this one I had to put up before anyone else I know points it out. (I found it in this Mark Bechtel column)

Now, this story comes off like a late night infomercial. After every details, there's almost a invisible voice saying "But wait there's more...". There was a streaker... But wait there's more... At a demolition derby... But wait there's more... He got tasered... But wait there's more... and he (well, you'll just have read the article for the last bit.)

Now, I've seen streakers on tv at football games and at least once I've seen one simply get hit with a block by a player who was much larger and fully padded. This guy was at a demolition derby. He was running naked around moving cars whose purpose are to run into things. They can do more damage than a football player. If you're going to streak, go to a baseball game, a sport where players have gone on the disabled list for sleeping on their arm wrong. Streaking at a demolition derby is simply stupidity.

And I won't even comment on the result of the tasering. I would comment on the PA announcer's comment, if he had come up with something original. Making a must-be-cold-type comment? Come on, there were cars crashing, nudity, police, and bodily fluids and that the best he could come up with. I hope he doesn't quit his day job, which is apparently writing Jay Leno monologues.

I was heading to bed, but decided now was as good a time as any to start posting every day, or atleast every day I'm in town. I'll be around Pittsburgh over the weekend, so no posts friday through sunday.

I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I liked it better than the first movie based on the novel, but the movie didn't blow me away visually like I expected from a Tim Burton movie. One thing that did scare me a little was how much Veruca Salt in the picture looked like Tim Curry in drag in close-up shots.

I bought a can of stain protector for hats last weekend and needed a well-ventilated place to spray it on, so I went up on the roof of my building to do it. It is so nice up there. I was up there for almost an hour waiting for hat to dry so I could put on a second coat. I should go up there and relax more often.

One last note: I've been saying that I should be off my current project soon. Well, the technical director for the project came into my office not long before lunch today and said that he was told by project management that they had to start shedding people from the project immediately so they won't go over budget. I had the functionality functional on the piece I was working on, even if the code needed some polish, so I immediately saved the code and stopped working on that project. I also found out which project I'm scheduled to go to next, but I'm currently not scheduled to start on it til end of this month, so unless my start date gets moved up, I'll be doing various training courses the company has bought. Today, I watched a three hour video course on Introduction to C#, a language so much like Java I never needed to take any course on it. I'm not sure how I managed to stay awake through it.

Once I start the new project, I'll probably have to give up my temporary office. Shame. I was just getting used to it, even if it didn't have a phone and the computer wasn't as good as the one in my permanent cubicle over in the other building. It was still my own office.

It's been a while since I last posted. Been busy with the project that I'm still working on, but it's almost definite that this will be my last week. I also was attempting to get my place ready for my family's visit last weekend. They ended up not coming because first my niece and then my nephew got sick. I was actually thankful. My mom keeps telling me she feels guilty for having not visited, but quite frankly, it's easier and less stressful for everyone if I visit them. I just jump in the car and drive home. I don't have to clean up my place, figure out places to take them, or sleep on the couch. My family doesn't have to make the drive cramped in one car. My parents don't have to sleep in a strange bed. My brother doesn't have to worry about a hotel room or any of the problem that arise when traveling with a 4 year old and a 11 month old. And for an added bonus, when I visit them, I can go to church, as well as visit my friends still in the Pittsburgh area.

So my parents aren't coming to visit, which is best birthday present I could hope for. I think I've posted before about my issues with presents I receive, mostly from my family. It boils down to this: I don't really like what I get, but when I don't pretend like I like them, I get lectured that good money was spent, so I should atleast pretend like I like what I get. So, instead I just feel guilty that I don't like what I get, which often ends up making me feel sick, literally. It's actually more complicated than that, but it's now to the point where, even if my family got me a great present, it could never cancel out the dread I feel from just thinking about getting the present.

For my birthday tonight, I went to see a movie. I saw Mr. & Mrs. Smith. It was a really good movie. Maybe a great movie, but when I go see a movie on a workday, I often trouble staying awake in the early parts of movie and I was struggling with staying awake early on. But once the main action sequences kicked in, it was a great movie. Great chemistry between the stars. Also, this movie is in the vein of True Lies in the way it mixes action and comedy, so don't go thinking in too much details about various plot devices and setups.

Okay, well, I had a big post in my head looking back and discussing and comparing the last few years of my life, but it's late and I don't feel like going into it now. I'll save that for another day. I'll just leave with one point. Yes, I'm getting older and my body is looking it, but my mind still feels young and my recent years have been more eventful than those ten or more years ago. This past year was my 31st on the planet and looking back, it seems more filled than almost any year before it. It's definitely in the top two of my adult years. So, things seem to be looking up. With just a little luck, year #32 can only be better.