Havasimy

Am I the only one who doesn't really like the new format of TV Guide? I always liked the old size. I liked the fact that it was a different size. The new ones feel cheap. They remind me of the tv guide-type sections that come in the sunday editions of the local newspaper. Compared to the other weekly magazines I subscribe to, it's light.

I went to the Target store last week to get the new Aerosmith live album. I went to Target since I heard that the cd had Target exclusive tracks on it. It became one of the more aggravating trips to a store in my recent history. I went straight to the photo center because I wanted to get a couple digital pictures printed. I ordered 8 prints and figured I'd pick them up after checking out. I went to the cd section. Turns out there were two versions of the new Aerosmith album there. There was the cd/dvd DualDisc version without the exclusive tracks or the cd-only version that had the exclusive tracks. This pissed me off alot, but then it turned to only being pissed off a little when I noticed that the DualDisc did have the exclusive tracks, but just on the DVD side. So I got the DVD extras and the bonus tracks, I just have to listen to the bonus tracks on a dvd player.

Then I noticed that the new Martina McBride album, which I bought recently at BestBuy, had Target exclusive tracks. So I bought an album from one of my favorite acts from a store when if I'd bought them from another, I'd gotten additional songs.

I also picked up a small bottle of Mountain Dew. Then I went to check-out. I got in the express line with one person in front of me. She had atleast 15 items in the 10-items-or-less line. When I finally checked out, I notice that the person behind me had well over ten items in her cart. They really need to make the signs for the express lanes bigger.

I went to the photo center. The woman behind the counter was checking out a couple with a baby and over $100 worth of groceries. I was trying to pick up less than $2 worth of pictures. I don't know how it turned out that they were checking out at the photo center, but the place wasn't designed to checkout big orders. That's why they have the conveyor belt in the checkout lines. And that's why they have multiple checkout lines, so if someone has a big order, other people can go to other lines. When all the items were finished ringing up, they tried using coupons. The coupons wouldn't work. The clerk had to call over a manager who said that the coupons were one per order so, to use all the coupons, the whole order would have to be cancelled and rerung up with a few of the items rung up seperately. Thankfully, the manager took the couple somewhere else to check out.

This all happened, of course, when I was in a hurry and it was only supposed to be a quick run to a store.

Now that Halloween is almost over, it's about time for Christmas. (Only 55 shopping days left til christmas. ha ha) Would it be wrong for someone to buy an item that they suspect they'll be getting for Christmas because they don't want to get it as a Christmas present? Just curious.

The Steelers are on Monday night this week, which meant I had two productive days this weekend and can look forward to a halloween night in a bar with the Steelers on the tv and the waitresses in halloween costumes.

I rarely wore long sleeves to work last winter because the offices were kept so hot, I'd have worn shorts if I was allowed. I'm in a different building this winter and was hoping that maybe this one will be different, but they turned the heat on this week and it doesn't seem like I'll be wearing long sleeves this weekend either. My only hope is that when the weather gets really cold, the fact that I'm so close to the windows will keep my desk area cool.

I'm finally on just one project at work. At the beginning of September, I was drawn back into the temp project I was on over the summer part-time. That means I was supposed to spend 20 hours on that project and 20 hours on my permanent project. While both projects came down to deadlines a week apart. So, I had to do a fair amount of time juggling to get everything done. The temp project was at a desk in a crowded noisy area where I had a temp computer (which didn't some stuff on it that I would have liked, like firefox or my mp3's) and no desk phone. The only good thing about it was that I was actually coding Java (except when I had to do a monster of a ACCESS sql statement) and I could have my cellphone on. At my permanent desk, where I'll be on a regular basis, no cellphone but I do have my desk phone.

Anyway, tomorrow I'll be in training for one of many programs we use to keep track of our development process. I need to wrap this entry up quickly so I can get some sleep so I won't be sleeping in the class.

I'm holding my monthly poker game tomorrow night after work. We usually have it on a thursday when we have an off-friday, but that didn't work out this month so we're having it tomorrow. One of the reason I'm squeezing in a post tonight is that I'm not sure if I'll have time to post after the game tomorrow, I have plans for Tuesday, I'm driving back to Pittsburgh on Thursday night, and Wednesday night I'll be packing up and going to bed early so I can get to work on time so I can start my drive before rush hour.

I'm going to the Steelers game at Green Bay next month. A college friend emailed me and wanted to know if I wanted to go. The plan is we fly into Chicago seperately and then rent a car to drive up. I'll leave saturday morning and come back monday morning in time to do atleast a half day of work. I wasn't sure if I could afford the time or money to do it, but the Steelers only play the Packers once every four years and next time, the game will probably be in Pittsburgh so it'll be eight years til they play in Green Bay again and Lambeau field is one of the great places to see a football game.

This means I'll be out of town for eight of the next 11 weekends, that is if I go home for all the holiday and for all the Steelers games in Pittsburgh I have tickets to.

I don't have time now, but I do eventually want to write reviews for the movie "Shooting Vegetarians", the tv show "Wonderfalls", and the remake of "The Longest Yard".

And finally, I think this year I'm going to actually decorate my apartment for Christmas, even if it's just a little bit of lights and a very small tree. And even if the only people who'll see it are the guys I play poker with. The first Christmas I lived alone, I spent almost four full weeks of December out of town on business and, during that holiday season when I wasn't out of town, I was out shopping for christmas presents or spending time with family and friends at their places. I just never bothered decorating. The following year, I was out of work and didn't even feel like keeping the place clean, not to even mention decorated. Last year, I had moved out of town and figured, correctly, that no one would be visiting my apartment anyway. This year, even if no one sees it or just the guys from the poker game, I want a little bit of christmas decoration in my place. If I can get around to hanging pictures at my place, anything is possible, right?

I saw the movie Serenity again. I now remember the quote I was trying to remember from it. It goes something like "Half of history is covering up the truth."

The place I go to watch Steelers and Pirates games doesn't have a satellite package for hockey so I'll have to find someplace else to go to watch Penguin games.

I got my credit card bill that I use to buy gas. Sunday will mark a full month since I've had to buy gas.

I sometimes watch NFL network at the sports bar if the place isn't too noisy. Interestingly enough, the channel isn't closed-captioned (making studio analyst shows useless in a noisy place) but the commercials are. Anyway, I think that if I had access to the NFL network at my apartment, I might never leave my place.

I found this blog entry today. I forget where I got it from, but I believe it was from a column on Slate. Anyway, it's written by Barack Obama. Like a lot of people, I first heard of him around the Democratic convention. Now I was skeptical at first about him, as I am with anyone or anything that seems to come out of nowhere to suddenly get a lot of hype. One moment I had never heard of him and the next everyone seemed to be touting him as a presidential candidate in 2012 or even 2008. But I can honestly say that this piece impressed me. Essentially, its message is that the Democratic party should not attack its moderate members for not following the party line on an issue.

Of course, attacking is the way politics seems to be done nowadays. No more debates. The sides seems always to have been decided before hand. Since there are few people left to be undecided, the only way (really not the only way, just the easiest way) is to tear down anyone with an opposing views. This isn't just in politics. It's in other parts of life. Someone says something that is, or simply can be interpreted as, prejudice and the public immediately calls for his head. No apology accepted. He (or she) must resign in disgrace, even if the objectionable action was an accident. This is wrong. If it truly an accident, you've lost an potential ally. If it wasn't an accident, you've just driven hardened an opponent's feelings. Now, if someone says something you disagree with, tell them why they're wrong. Maybe they don't have all the information or don't have a good understanding of the issue. You convince someone to change their views, you not only lose an opponent, you gain an ally that has seen both sides and chose yours. That's alot better result than if you go tearing someone down.

A great example of people liking to tear others down are sports fans. Not all, but a good portion. They don't want to debate who's better or why. They just say their team rules and your team sucks. They're the reason why I don't go on sports internet message boards. Now that I can't watch football games in a Steelers bar anymore, I have to watch surrounded by fans of other teams. Occasionally someone will come up and say "The Steelers suck" and I'll ask them why. "Because they suck". If I go as far as to say someone or some team sucks, I try to have a few reasons to back up my statement. When the steelers did suck two years ago, I could tell you why they sucked.

Tomorrow is supposed to be an off-friday for me, but I'll be in work to finish up the final assignment for my temp project. After finishing that up, I'll go in monday and tie up some loose ends and will be down to only my main project which will help my stress levels. Up until this week, there was a time crunch on both projects and the desks I worked at were on two different floors and dividing my time was a major pain.

Ever since about the middle of May, I've been getting a call from a headhunter about once every other week inquiring about my employment status and whether I was still looking for work. Apparently the job market in Pittsburgh has gotten better. Of course, I'm not even thinking of getting another job right now. First, I really like this company. Second, it's by far the most secure job I've had since college. Third, if I make it til February, it'll be the first time that I've been at a job longer than the previous one. I really want to reverse the trend of ever-decreasing employment time.

The reason I brought this up is that I got an email from someone at a company (not a headhunter) that I had put my resume in with last year. It was the company I was most interested in. They had no openings at the time. The email I got today said that they have openings now and if I'm interested, I should send them an updated resume. This company is probably the only company that would have positions that I'm qualified for that I would consider leaving my current job for right now. There are many reasons why I should stay at my current company and I imagine I will end up doing so, but I am planning on sending an updated resume. If I get a job offer, I'll decide then, after hearing all the details. What I really hope for is an interview, a chance to see what the company is like on the inside, and a start of a dialogue that will put me in a good position to work for them if/when the time come for me to leave my current place.

Okay, okay. A real quick post because I really need to start going to sleep sooner each night.

I had a good quote I wanted to use for the quote of the week. It's from Serenity. Unfortunately, I can't remember it now and it's not on the quote page from IMDB.

I went and saw Serenity on Friday. It was really good. It's a spinoff of Firefly. It was definitely darker than the tv show. I think I like the tv show better because creator Joss Whedon is really good at building emotion and storylines, which he didn't have time for in the movie, but it is really good. Anyway, this movie was worth full price for the movie. In fact, if I had the time this weekend, I'd see it a second time.

I also saw Into the Blue. I heard it described as a movie you watch on mute. That comment makes sense. It has Paul Walker for the girls and Jessica Alba and Ashley Scott for the guys. The whole cast wears little clothing, but that makes sense considering where it's set. The beginning and end of the movie I found to be really good. But there's a good 45 minute or so section where the movie just dragged. There's a whole morality play in the movie where the main characters have to balance their dreams versus their personal ethics. Jessica Alba, who I've been a fan of since a small part in Never Been Kissed and the love interest in Idle Hands. In Idle Hands, as well as the movie Sin City and the tv show Dark Angel, she does really good playing characters that are simultaneous sweet and dark. This time though, her character is too sweet. Too goody-two-shoes. Except for the one moment where she calls another character a crack whore, her character is straight out of a Disney movie, albeit a Disney-via-Victoria's-Secret movie. This movie was worth the full price just for the eye candy and, I guess, because of its attempt to make a real plot out of an action movie. I won't be seeing it again in theatre. I'll probably see it on DVD, but it's likely I'll be fast-forwarding or finding something else to do during the slow part in the middle.

One more note: Steelers had a bye week this week and a Monday night game next week. It's convenient for me that the last two weekends I'm splitting my time between two projects at work, there's no football game on Sunday to distract me.