Today started out pretty well at work, most of the people calling in either disconnected the call prematurely or just needed help setting up routers(which we don't do). My oh-so-important call time was rather short and it made for a good day. By the end of the day so many of our team left on green time(unpaid leave) that there were only 4 of us left. I like the idea of green time but it also irks me. We're close enough to being sold to another company, and all these people signing up to leave early... I don't know. It's just weird. Is signing up for green time also signing yourself up to be laid off first?

In other news, I did buy my cousin a computer. She doesn't read this blog so it's safe to discuss here. It's a nice little thing, bare-bones with a 933mghz P3, 256mb of RAM, and a 20gb hard drive. It's perfect for what she needs. I've forgotten just how much security crap you've gotta download with Windows 2000. With XP it's just zip, zoom, maybe one or two restarts- but with Win2k I had to restart 7 times! At least everything is set up for her, with AVG Anti-Virus, Mozilla Firefox, and of course MS Office. Hope she likes it!

In more other news, the replacement gift for Amanda has been acquired. The suspense is probably killing her >

I seem to have lost the gift I got for Amanda! I've searched everywhere... Oh well, at least I can buy a new one. It'll be sent out tomorrow, hopefully. Speaking of gifts, The computer I bought for my cousin came in. It's pretty spiffy and I hope she likes it. Small, compact, but doesn't have a modem. I'll have to find a USB modem for her- shouldn't be too hard.

Work today was rather smooth and I even got to work on time. Not bad for this "New beginnings" plan. There are also other new beginnings planned as well, but more on that later.

The past few days have been hectic to say the least! Monday night I invited Dave over for dinner, and we enjoyed my famous baked chicken. It was great to just spend time catching up and talking. Despite Dave's idiosyncrasies, he's still a great friend, and I'm so glad he's on the right path. After dinner we watched two episodes of Firefly, and we both agree they are probably best in the series.

I had previously spent most of the day cleaning my apartment and getting ready. It's great having a plan and a goal in mind when accomplishing anything. Unfortunately, I planned to have my bathroom and bedroom cleaned up on Tuesday but it looks like those two are going to have to wait a little bit as well. Not to fear, it will get done. Speaking of Tuesdays, I did sneak in a haircut and a little bit of shopping, but for the most part I bummed around, played some WoW with Goob, and after he went to bed, I leveled my warrior up to 54 Closer and closer he gets to the real content of the game.

I managed to clock in late at work despite leaving early. I've been thinking about new beginnings and I hope that this is one habit I can drop like a ton of bricks.

It's been a fun time staying out in Batavia for the past two nights. My family celebrated our parties on the 24th, as my dad had to work in on Christmas. For the immediate family party I received a suede shirt and a $30 gift card for the clothing store I like. Later that evening, I received some Star Wars Legos (woohoo!). More importantly, I got to spend time with my parents and my siblings, which is probably the greatest gift of all. I know that sounds corny but it's the truth. I'm hoping to visit New Years Day, even though I work New Years Eve.

Besides visiting with folks, I stayed the night at my aunt and uncle's so we could go to church in the morning. An awesome service as our pastor worked in the story of the Polar Express into the sermon, and it was pretty cool. Also, we drove around listening to Bill Cosby and looking for an open restaurant, only to find one at a truck stop. I enjoyed a delicious steak and potato meal, and did a lot of talking with my aunt and uncle.

I'm grateful for my family and for the awesome times over the past few days. Also, I have one more gift to send out, and I hope Amanda likes it

God bless us everyone.

Today started like any other. I managed to wake up early, get ready for work early, and I even got out to the car earlier too. But when I got out there, I had a friggin flat tire. So, I had to take two hours of sick time at work to have it fixed, and fixed it is. Finally arrived at work, decided I wanted some green time so I signed up for it, and got to leave work at 10pm! I was only on the phones for just under 3 hours. Damn.

I did some more shopping, this time for myself. I picked up a center console for my car, as well as floor coverings. My car doesn't have much in the way of carpet, so these are nice touches. I also picked up a Mag-lite flashlight. Always wanted one of those. Still have two more gifts left to get, but that can be handled tomorrow. Tonight, I also bumped into Goob and we chatted for a bit. I hopped onto WoW too and did some major farming for a quest. I'm a goblin engineer now!

Tuesday should have been more productive, but I did manage to get some errands done. I picked up a couple pairs of pants from the Big & Tall, deposited money, and did some various Christmas shopping. I was meaning to give Dave Serenity for Christmas but he kept telling me he was all set to get it- then his car broke down and he didn't have the cash to get it. So this was an opportunity to pick up Serenity. Unfortunately I had to give Dave his gift early to prevent him from going out and getting it anyways. This was fine and he also took the occasion to give me my gift early as well: Mario Kart DS! Which is awesome, and very much like Mario Kart 64. I love it! As for the rest of the shopping, I have all but a few gifts left... What they are will remain a secret as some people who read this might spoil the occasion!

Christmas was slow to take hold of me this year. I usually get all gushy after Thanksgiving, but this year I've been so busy and concentrating on so many things that I haven't had much time to revel in it. Spending time away from home has also prevented me from enjoying the holiday spirit. But today feels different. It was a normal day at work, and I was sad to learn that we won't be able to do our pot luck dinner for work this week, but despite that I can't wait to get home(Batavia) and I can't wait to be with family.

Took my car down to my sister's. It is apparently an 0₂ sensor, and my brother in law is looking for one. Apparently I have two because I have dual exhaust. Hurray for redundancy. The big plus though is that I got the remainder of my car loan back, so I can use the money to fix a few minor details on the car(like getting a center console) and pay for Christmas gifts.

I also took my nephew to a JROTC(Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps) dinner. He looked so sharp in the uniform. My sister was telling me that when she first saw him she couldn't help but cry. It was rather stunning. I remember holding this kid in my arms, so small, so precious, and now he's a 15 year old kid. In 3 years he's going to be legally an adult, and he's thought of enlisting too. Man time does fly so fast, it makes me wonder just what direction I'm in myself.

I chatted a little bit with Amanda with AIM, but it was rather short-lived as she had to make dinner. Soon after, however, Goob showed up and we had some adventures with our WoW characters. He took a brief time out to visit the bar but none of his friends were there at the time. It was back home after that and we quested some more

All in all a good day. Tomorrow's adventures begin, as I hopefully get my hair cut, and finish my Christmas shopping. Can't forget to take out the trash tonight either. The bachelor's day is never done... sigh...

Work was boring, but I did get through the day. Our supervisor called in sick today, so no sup for us. They were letting people leave on green-time(unpaid leave) as early at 9pm today. I signed up but apparently too late, because I didn't get asked to go. Oh well. No callers of the day, alas.

Decided to splurge a little and got some pizza rolls(think egg rolls with cheese and pepperoni) and a taco salad. So delicious, but now I've got onion bad breath. While I enjoyed that yummy dinner I chatted with Dave a little bit about Christmas gifts and Firefly. Glad to see the lil bugger is holding up well.

I also hopped onto my warrior in WoW for a bit and even had a guildie help me out to speed through the process. A very cool lad in the guild and one of the few I've actually gotten to know. He and I tend to be the runts of the guild, and it's good that we formed this friendship. I didn't quite level but I'm very close. I'm hoping the Winter Veil quests that are available will help me reach level 53

Called my sister to see when it was best to expect me at her house. It's 6:30am now so if I go to sleep now and get at least 6 hours of sleep, I can be there between 1pm and 2pm. I do hope she knows how grateful I am to her and Charlie(her husband) for getting me this car.

And so it begins... The weekend.

Bills lost. Again. No surprise there. Buffalo Sabres won though. I think I'm becoming a hockey fan. That aside, today was somewhat busy at work, but I did manage to cut my call time down. It's easier to do when you think you don't have much time in between calls to lolly-gag around. Forgot to mention Caller of the Day for yesterday. Some guy verified his phone number, address, and account number, than proceeded to tell me that we messed his computer up and that he was going to come down and kick my supervisor's ass. I was to let him know that he was going to do this. He hung up and I obliged his request Today's caller of the day gets an A for effort in fishing for credit off his bill but made one mistake: he admitted already getting credit but he wanted more because our techs were incompetent. Since that isn't a creditable reason, I denied him and wished him luck.

Got to play some WoW tonight, missed mucking around with my shaman. A guildie ran me and another lowbie through Blackfathom Deeps and I picked up some awesome gear and 2 levels to boot. This Winter Veil stuff is silly and blatantly allegorical but I did the quests and had some silly fun.

Oh yeah, got shopping done for two people now 4 more to go.

Work was easy today, even though they canceled green time. I guess they didn't want people abandoning their posts during the snow storm. Speaking of snow storms, I managed to avoid any of the onslaught going in and coming back. Mother nature has been smiling on me lately

I made a list of things I need to get done before the new year. I hope can I stick to it to get everything done. I'm not very good at keeping lists, but since I've incorporated it into Live Journal, I shouldn't do too badly. No, it is not viewable, so don't ask.

I need more reading material for work, websites I can read in between calls. I've run out of good websites, so if anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

Did a ton of cooking tonight for lunches and meals for the next few days. Made some spaghetti rotini, something I've missed eating. I also baked chicken with that delicious hot sauce. On top of that, I slow-cooked some chicken burgers in a hot sauce/barbecue mix. mmmmm :9

I think I'm gonna help my buddy out and give him the carcass that is my Chrysler LHS. If he thinks he can fix it, he can have it.

A trend? I don't know. We'll just have to see. I've decided to no longer be constrained by numbers, inasmuch as I want to be able to flow from point to point instead of delineating bulletins.

I'm slowly getting used to driving this car. It's been a while since I've driven a tank and it's a learning experience once again. The car is fun, don't get me wrong, but I keep feeling like if I slip too much I'll end up in a ditch. It didn't help that it was icy out today. The car also turns on a dime, so it's not like my LHS.

The radio in the car is awesome! I can finally listen to some of the Rochester stations that I missed so much. However, there lacks an ash tray alone with the cigarette lighter slot... so I gotta find a better way to play my mp3 player since the iRock can't be plugged in.

I took green time today(When there's high availability, they let people go home early) so I could beat the snowstorm home. I heard it was going to be nasty by the time I would have gotten out normally, so getting out early was definitely a plus. Still getting used to driving on slushy roads...

Once I got home in one piece, I checked to find out that Goob secured a fair version of Percy The Puny Poinsettia by Elmo & Patsy(Of Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer fame), which I was able to clean up and make smooth. I also Skyped with my sister for a bit and she told me about her adventures with her current job. I'm glad she finally moved away from selling insurance. Not that she wasn't an awesome agent, it's just that it wasn't steady enough for her. Glad to know she's doing great now.

I apologize for not updating this more. Things have been pretty busy around here, as many things have transpired since Thanksgiving. At work I'm well on my way to getting bonus this month. I will be very happy if I make it(knock on wood). At our bi-weekly meeting, we came up with a plan to have a potluck dinner for our next meeting on the 22nd, and I've offered to make my famous fruit salad, and bring some egg nog. It was kinda tough getting people to offer up, as most of our team are nerds who don't know how to cook anything but toast. In fact one guy offered to bring s'mores pop-tarts, and he was serious too. The other guys did manage to come up with something they had a specialty for, and it looks like our main course is going to be chili, with a taco dip and other stuff. I think it'll turn out pretty good.

So work is going rather well, but on my way home Friday night, my car decided not to shift into 3rd gear. Previously, I was having trouble as my car would sometimes not shift until I revved to 3000rpms. I took this as an electrical problem as it was eerily similar to a car problem I had a year and a half back. Turns out that no, the car wasn't having an electrical problem, it was a leak in the transmission, and by the time I took it to the shop, I was down by 3 quarts(of 15 total), which wasn't bad, but bad enough to do damage. What did this event do for me? Well, the guy who looked at my car said he couldn't do much for me until Monday, but he'd do some research and try to find me a used transmission that had a guarantee. I had no way of getting to work, so I ended up calling in sick. I emailed everyone on my team at work to see if I could get a ride on Sunday... no such luck. No one lives near Lockport I guess. So I had to call in sick on Sunday too.

Monday rolls around, the day of my final chemistry exam, and I find out from the guy who checked my car that the best offer he could find was a transmission that had about 80k miles on it, good condition and it was guaranteed for 3 months or 20k miles. However, it would cost about $900 and with labor it would come to a total of $1600. The guy also told me that with all the other problems with the car(broken seat, oil leak though minor, and apparently a bad water pump), I was better off getting a new one that was inspected and ready to go for much less thank $1600. He said that his business was slow lately and he could have used my business, but he couldn't honestly recommend fixing the car up for what it was worth. I took his advice.

I stayed at my sister's place Monday, Tuesday, and part of Wednesday for several reasons. 1, she was dutifully unemployed and could run me to my exams, which she did. Also, her husband was a good mechanic and had connections to get good cars. Apparently he found a really good one, one that fit me well, and was in good condition, all for $1350. If you know me, you know how much I loved my Mercury Grand Marquis. That car was built like a tank, drove like a tank, and damn it plowed through several cars like a tank. Well my brother in law found me a 1997 Ford Crown Victoria, the Ford version of the Grand Marquis, and I tell you I fell in love with it. Turns out it's a former trooper car and you can see where the bubble gum lights and cage rack were uninstalled. It needs a console too(cup holders etc) but it is really nice. It accelerates like a beast and the speedometer goes all the way up to 140mph! So my sister helped me get the paperwork for the car loan, the plate transfer, and the insurance switchover. Things went rather well, and the car loan was for more than the car was worth, so I am planning on reinvesting that money back into the loan. Spiffy huh?

As for my exams, my final in Chemistry was an A+, missing only 1 point. How cool is that? For Oceanography, I have to wait until our esteemed professor returns from a seminar in California before I will find my grade for it, but I'm sure I did well.

In other news, remember that girl I mentioned before? The one who blew me off several times but still kept asking me to call her? Well she offered me a ride home after the exam, and she even gave me a Christmas card. Perhaps she is worth a second glance after all.

Stay tuned!

I'm coming out of a terminal of some sort, be it an airport or subway, I don't really notice. However, I do notice things look different. The way people dress, the way they look at me, and the cars look like the ones from I,Robot. I discover I'm in the future, but strangely I feel like I'm viewing it as if from a movie. Strangely enough too, I'm a black man, tall and thin, but even then I don't *feel* like I am, more like I am watching myself from outside of myself, kinda like that Jon Malcovich movie.

I proceed out of the terminal into the lobby. I see TVs hanging from the ceiling so people can watch, but their broadcasts are unintelligible to me. People seem surprised to see me. Somehow I get the feeling this is going to be a string of "Demolition Man" scenes. I was right. The scene changes...

I'm walking through a food court. I see food prices are astronomical. Yes, Taco Bell was there, $7 for a drink, $20 for a burrito. My mouth dropped when I saw it. The Chinese restaurants nearby however were much more reasonably priced,($10 for a meal) and the workers kept encouraging me to patronize their establishment. Since I didn't know how much money was in my bank account, I decided to go with the cheaper option. People still look at me funny. The scene changes...

I'm in what appears to be a bank, but it looks more like a McDonalds with the low food counters and a cash register at the front. Two fat bald guys in blue shirts and ties(they look like managers?) were waiting there for me. I ask to withdraw some money and they do so, and when I leave I heard one of them say to the other, "Did you tell him he only has 20 dollars left?" "No, he'll find out sooner or later." The scene changes...

I'm invited onto a basketball court and I realize why people stare at me. I'm the only black person on the court, and I'm also the only black man in this entire dream. So I go onto the basketball court, thinking I was gonna shoot some hoops. I get tossed a squishy-feeling volleyball. What the heck? I can't dribble with this. Instead I throw it at the hoop for a three pointer. My "teammates" get angry and yell at me. "Don't you know how to play trollerball?" I tell them to give me a basketball. They do but it's one of those small novelty balls they give out at carnivals. I proceed to shoot from the 3-pointer line, sinking it in. I then slam-dunk it several times(which isn't all that hard). When I'm done I look around at the court and everyone is just staring at me awestruck. The scene changes...

I'm coming out of that terminal again, however I have a girlfriend on my arm. She's short, somewhat thin, with shoulder-length black hair. She tells me her name is Jackie. We enter the lobby and I remember that first time here in the future. She tells me everything's going to be okay now, and I say, "I know Janice, but it's still not my home." She gives me an angry look and says "Janice?! My name isn't Janice!" and she stalks off into the lady's room, a place where no man can go. I sigh at she leaves, and I know she's gone for good. Just then a blond woman walks up to me and asks me if I was that famous basketball player on TV. I said, "yup." She takes my arm and we walk out of the building.

And then I wake up.

20 Things That Sound Dirty at Thanksgiving But Aren’tw, that’s one terrific spread!
19> I’m in the mood for a little dark meat.
18> Tying the legs together keeps the inside moist.
17> Talk about a huge breast!
16> It’s Cool Whip time!
15> If I don’t undo my pants, I’ll burst!
14> Are you ready for seconds yet?
13> It’s a little dry. Do you still want to eat it?
12> Just wait your turn. You’ll get some!
11> Don’t play with your meat.
10> Just spread the legs open & stuff it in.
9> You still have a little bit on your chin.
8> Use a nice smooth stroke when you whip it.
7> I didn’t expect everyone to come at once!
6> How long will it take after you stick it in?
5> You’ll know it’s ready when it pops up.
4> Wow, I didn’t think I could handle all of that!
3> That’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen!
2> Just lay back & take it easy… I’ll do the rest.
1> How long do I beat it before it’s ready?