Oy, I’m a bit tired today. Last night was the first final for the BCC. They had 11 contestants! OMG! it was fun but waaaaaay long! I didn’t get home till just before 2:00am. At least it’s friday.
I’ve been neglecting the blog as of late. Not out of some profound life enjoyment, mainly just busy w/work. I’ve also been neglecting my gym time and starting Monday on a brand new routine. (where have I heard that before?)
Looks to be a busy weekend….details later.
My friend Bobby and I went to see the new Amityville Horror movie yesterday before work. Overall, it was a good remake. They made some changes to the plot but the overall story is the same. There were some decent scary scenes as well. That said, we both felt the original was better. Ryan Reynolds turned in a spectacular performance and looked pretty damned good at it too! This was kind of a different role for him. He normally does comedic stuff. Even in Blade:Trinity he was sort of a comic relief. This time he was all serious, all man, and left me definitely wanting more. *EG*
The shoutbox appears to be ca-poot for awhile. Like any free service, it has to balance being free against the server demands by its users. So it may disappear all together eventually. If it does, I’ll look around for a replacement.
How is that for a play on words? *g*
The ex and I got together to swap out some furniture early Sunday. (ok, early for me which is noonish) It was pretty uneventful up until we discovered my bed frame isn’t a full/queen hybrid as I’d thought. So the mattress provided by the ex didn’t fit. For the moment, I’m reduced to having a boxspring/mattress on the floor until we can get together again to swap out the rest of his stuff w/another frame for me. He was very kind enough to donate a frame. I am grateful.
Sunday seems to be turning into a regular blogging session for a small gang of buddies. This past Sunday was no exception. Later in the day, I found myself in the Castro at Le Bon Gateau hanging out w/Mostovic, Norm, Tim, and Bobby. The latter two of the group don’t blog. I think we did more talking than blogging this time. That said, a fun time was had by all. I forgot to take pics. On a side rant, Tim has decided he wants me to create a new sub-blog just for him so he could blog about my blog. I’m still confused over that one but I thought I’d share it. *note – his prozaic prescription is low – could be the reason*
Afterwards, Mostovic and I went off by ourselves and had great discussion about God. It was great having an adult conversation about faith w/o someone ending up angry. So few folks can discuss religion w/o getting pissy. I think most folks are used to just following what they’ve always been told vs actually having any sort of in-depth knowledge of their faith. So anytime, that is questioned, they feel theatened and lash out. But I digress. Our conversation was about the core difference between our beliefs – the purpose behind the creation of humanity, the duality of the flesh/spirit, etc. I won’t bore you w/the details as that is a post unto itself. My only failing is I wasn’t able to articulate my thoughts into speech as easily as I understood them. Probably because I don’t read up on religion much anymore and am a bit rusty in the terminology. (who da thunk it, me speechless?) However, Mostovic seemed to be in the same boat, albeit not as bad as me. We spent about 3 hours just talking and listening to each other. It was the most enjoyable theological conversation I’ve ever had in my entire life.
Before we knew it, closing time was upon us and we had to bail! We ran into T from the BCC and had a late night meal together. Afterwards, I went home to watch my tivo shows! Not a bad way to spend the weekend.
Real quick as I’m at work. The weekend was uneventful but fun. I was originally scheduled to go to a play on Sat. night but due to scheduling problems w/Mostovic and I, it wasn’t in the cards. So instead, we had a nice dinner at a new Thai place on Polk St. Afterwards, we hung out at my place and watched Godzilla (The new version w/Matthew Broderick). Go ahead and laugh but I am a huge Godzilla fan. Mostovic said he wanted to see it so, of course, I had to accommodate his wishes.
Sunday was a whole new ball of wax, jwill write more later.
I frelling hate taxes!
Leave it to bureaucracy to make something that should be simple, incredibly difficult. I’ll never understand why they don’t just take what you owe out of your check the first time. Then, you would only need to file when and if you had credits, deductions, changes in income, etc. If you make the same amount every year w/o fail, there is no reason to have to ‘guesstimate’ every year. It’s not like the IRS doesn’t know what I make already.
I filed my taxes w/just 30 minutes to spare last night. I had a busy day of training at work so it only served to aggrevate my mood. I normally claim just enough every year so I end up owing a little or getting a little back. However, the last two years the owe amount has been getting higher. Since nothing on my end has changed, I can only assume it is because of changes in the tax laws. *Thank you once again for fucking me Dubya – At least you could use a little lube*
I do have some good news. I didn’t know I could deduct my work for charities as the IRS only offers “noncash” deductions in the form of real property. Well, it never dawned on me until recently that the work I am providing for the BCC is a “real property”. It is digital but still a physical object. If the freaking recording industry devils can sue people for copyright infringements for music then I sure as hell can claim my work as a deduction. So, for the first time in 3 years, I am getting roughly $500.00 back.
The bad news is I owe California roughly $450.00. I’m still ahead $50.0o bucks so I shouldn’t complain. I spent $30.00 of that e-filing my state return. I used to have to pay for both but this year a lot of the online sites offer free federal turns to everyone. I stuck w/H&R Block’s services as I’ve used them in the past. It was a good thing too as part of my state deductions were based on how much I paid last year. I couldn’t remember but H&R had it on file and imported the data for me seamlessly. This one single item was the saving grace of my mood last night.
I had an opportunity to go out w/Mostovic last night but I was in such a mood I didn’t think I’d be much fun. He went out w/the gang from the BCC. I really wanted to go but I know how I can get sometimes.
My mood is better today but still a bit fowl. I went to bed early but proceeded to wake up at 2:30am and spend 2 1/2 hours watching tivo’d shows. I finally crawled back in the sack around 5:00am.
Can I just tell you how much I love my Tivo! I knew I’d like it but I just didn’t realize how much. The simplicity of it is amazing. No more clunky VCR/DVD settings that seems to drive most people nuts. You find, select, and click and your done. Don’t even get me started on how ‘way cool’ it is to pause live tv for a pit stop. I can see already why it has developed such a following. Being a total Stargate fan I set it record every occurance of the show and it does all the work for me. I just come home flick on the tube and get comfortable.
Yeah, I know I sound like a high school flunkie who just discovered caffeine. I can’t help it. We all get our petty enjoyments in life and I guess Tivo is mine.
OY! This is funny. I got this from Republic of T and it’s hilarious. It’s supposedly a vid catching a happy cadet in the act of ‘shaken his groove thang‘.
I got a kick out of it. I think you will too. Now the question is….is whitey straight?
Don’t you hate those annoying little tags they insert into new undies? “Inspected by #11” or “#7 approved”. *just a rambling thought that settled into the spinwheel that is my brain.*
Yesterday was the first day w/the new trainee. I snagged this lovely shot of us on channel (radio). She is in her final rotation. That means at the end of the next 4 weeks she either gets released into solo capacity as a dispatcher or terminated.
My first impression: she has a good foundation but hasn’t really had the hardcore training she needs. Not trying to toot my own horn, I am a fantastic trainer. And I say this only because it takes a separate talent to teach someone a new skill. There are plenty of dispatchers who are excellent at what they do. However, very few have the real skills to teach what they know to others effectively. I have this skill in spades it seems. (Go figure, I almost became a teacher)
J and I have something in common in that we ‘play for the same team’. If you don’t know what that means, you should read my profile again. 😉 That doesn’t really make a difference in her training to me. I mention it only because she is the first “team member” I’ve trained.
I broke down and bought a Tivo system online. It arrived today. I couldn’t help myself. It was on sale on their website. I just couldn’t resist. After rebate, I’ll only have spent $100.00 on the system so thats not a bad deal for the midgrade model.
So far the setup has been pretty simple. The only downside is once you get it programmed you have to wait 6 hours for it to ‘process’ all the download data. Not a problem, as I’m off to work in a bit anyway.
