Ah, Joy

If your girlfriend goes out with her friends for a weekend in Napa and comes back with a really, really nice bottle of Champagne for you, and says "I got this for you, we can share it together with a nice meal one night soon," do not, I repeat do not put it in the freezer and forget about it. Can you say "DOH!"

Also on a related note, always put your girlfriend above trivial requests by friends, like getting coffee for a buddy during a specially designated morning rendezvous with said lady friend. The friend will understand, she probably won't ;-)

Here Comes Mr. Louis!

I recall a VHS tape of Michael Jordan highlights I own, and having seen it gazillions of times I can recall the line very clearly, "Lookout Mr. Jordan is right!" exclaims the commentator, as Jordan dunks the ball in spectacular fashion. Adding Mr. to people's first names always gives them that air of importance, greatness, pompousness, arrogance . . . The same is true when adding that same prefix to your pet's name, except we do it because it sounds cuter, like Mr. Bojangles or something. It also makes them seem more human to us, "Aww, Ms. Piggy doesn't feel good, does she?" (said in super sappy pet voice) This odd introduction is the preamble to my post about the newest addition to my family, Louis (pronounced Lu-wee), an 11 week old, Miniature Schnauzer. In deliberating over what to name him I would prefix most names with Mr. just to see what it sounded like.

I've always been a dog person and my girlfriend has always been more of a cat person, by virtue of the fact that she had no experience with dogs. We deliberated for a few weeks as to the type of dog to get, some must have criteria where size = small, a nice temperament and one that doesn't shed. The Miniature Schnauzer fits the bill and is of course adorable. My parents also have one, so I had some first hand experience with a Schnauzer - hopefully Louis will not be afflicted by the same issues that "Genki" has which mandate that he takes Prozac in order that he may be a functional, productive member of society, ok, that was half said in gest Mum and Dad.

So far life with Louis has been wonderful:

- 3 in-apartment accidents in 2 days (he seems to be learning to wait unti we take him outside though)
- one much needed bath
- alot of sleeping as he is a puppy
- many hilarious accidents, the funniest one being him running into a glass door
- his odd way of sleeping on his stomach with hind legs stretched out behind him

I'd forgotten how pleasant it is to own a dog, there is something very comforting about having one around, perhaps quite simply it's the unconditional love they offer, forever tail wagging when you come home. Of course some cat owners cite this as a reason why dogs are less intelligent than their counterparts. I've always found cats sort of shifty to be honest, it's as though they don't trust you or something. You never know whether you are about to be licked affectionately or have your eyes gauged out in a hissing rage. Alright that's probably a little extreme. In any case, please welcome Louis to the family. Any friends that read this whose dogs/cats I have pet sitted for in the past (Kevin/Andy/Nik you know who you are) I'm about to make good on the return of some favors, aw yeah, that's right!

Procrastination and Not Finishing What I Start

I have started more than 2 posts over the past few days and not finished them because I get carried away and am a perfectionist and a slew of other things. Of the couple that I have saved I am posting them below: (I need to learn how to finish what I've started)

Unfinished 1.0

In the ten minutes that I've been at work this morning I have thought about updating my blog several times. I've even gone so far as to log in, wait, not do anything, and log out again. Decision making is not my forte. Ruminating, pondering, imagining, debating, postulating and wondering on the other hand are. I need to do less of this and more actual doing, or do I? Some of the best decisions I've ever made have been hasty ones and some of the worst have been the long, drawn out ones. The converse is also true.

Some of the best hasty decisions:

- Deciding one Saturday that I was going to by a 2006 Ford Mustang GT.
- Deciding to . . .

Some of the worst long, drawn out decisions:

- Deciding that I wanted to "learn" Java programming for a job (or at least convince a previous employer that it's what I really wanted)

Unfinished 2.0

Super quick blog: Things Change

Things that have changed recently:

- Since the start of a new relationship I cannot remember when the last time I turned on the TV was . . . because
I am eating dinner with said girlfriend and talking (yes I am no longer sadly eating alone watching Seinfeld)*
- I have started caring less about my car, read a little less, I'm still fanatical about where I park it. However, things that have recently happened which may leave some of you who know me questioning my devotion to the automobile. Large scratch on rear bumper, chewing gum stuck in passenger floor mat (been there for 2 weeks plus now), haphazardly stuck on new registration sticker (before this was a complicated process of removing actual license plate and cleaning old sticker off and applying new one), no longer washing car by hand only (yes my baby has seen an automated car wash - ee gads!), etc.
- I no longer let pizza boxes pile up in the kitchen to the point of not being able to get INTO the kitchen before throwing them out.

Things that haven't changed recently:

- I still don't shave on the weekends.
- I still drink too much, not intentionally, but I usually just can't help it. Case in point this past weekend when I made myself sick by drinking a mix of beers and then drinking way too many glasses of white wine, ughhh!
- I still procrastinate.
- I still leave my dirty underwear on the floor in the bathroom.
- I still drink out of the OJ carton when noone is looking



* NOTE: this does not mean that come college hoops season I won't be watching NCAA games galore on TV.

I'm Looking forward To . . .

Things that I'm looking forward to (in no particular order):

• Release of Matchbox Twenty's new album Exile on Mainstream
• The Christmas holiday's and being with family
• Getting my haircut tonight
• My new car in 145 days, POW!
• The next time I suck down a cold one with Sasha, Willy, Kevin or Andy and just bullshit about life.
• The next time I use my new found ability to "Just Do It!" - meaning I don't waffle for days or years over committing to something.
• The next time I get to be alone with my girlfriend and don't have to think about anything else
• The realization of my dream job as Senior Designer at any major car company or Apple :-)
• The next time I go to play hoops and have one of those amazing blocks that requires you to risk sacrificing your whole body and elevate above someone who is driving to the basket full speed for a layup and slamming the ball against the backboard like a volleyball or just straight out of the gym (this last one I need to enjoy now because I can tell my body is too old for serious hooping)
  

Mandala Anyone?

The fruits of my labor from Friday night to Saturday afternoon, a Mandala like painting which took me about 13 hours. A few things I have taken away from the Color and Design class which I just finished taking.

• I have a ton of respect for painters. Painting is hard, time consuming and by the time you are finished you often hate the result.
• Some people have an eye for coordinating colors to create a desired effect. Sure you can be taught principles but some people just see color really well.
• Despite bullit number one I love how my Mandala turned out.

The details, for any artists out there:

It is painted in Gouache, a watercolor paint that is used I believe by illustrators and painters for it's speed in drying and matte like finish (when painted correctly). It is also quite forgiving, you can paint over it easily and remove mistakes if need be.

Now I am not sure if it conjurs up a feeling of tranquility and inner peace in you when you look at it. If you see it in person the color combination does have sort of a psychadelic effect. Either way it I completed it and my Color and Design class is over. Next up . . . Sketching for Communication! I can communicate but I can't sketch so it should be interesting!

Morning Musings 3

Hmm . . . let's see, August 9th, 2007. If I'm starting out a journal/blog entry with hmmm do I really have anything to say? Of course I do. I mean c'mon I'm the guy whose cube mate at work quit because apparently "he talk's too much." Listen you stupid ***** I was trying to be welcoming and friendly, trying to make your transition to a new job an easy one. In my mind there is nothing worse than a job that you feel uncomfortable being at. For example, I can recall a contract job for what I thought was a really cool company, while I won't say the name I can tell you it sounds like redenvelope.com. It's not so much that the people weren't nice, because they were, it's just that no one ever took the time to welcome me or to introduce me around, show me the lunchroom, point out the nice restaurants in the neighborhood, or even ask me the de facto personal question "how old are you?" De facto personal question you ask yourself, what you were thinking something more along the lines of "where are you from?" No, I like to ask people how old they are, it's much more telling. If you know how old someone is you can immediately deduce how well you are aging by comparing your face/hair/etc to yours, you can tell how smart they are because if they are doing the same job and they are several years younger chances are that they are smarter (hopefully they are not getting paid more), you can tell if you can count on them to pick up the slack when you want to go home early at 5pm on a Monday, you can tell whether or not they have the same jaded and bitter, sense of humor that you do, and a slew of other things. Unfortunately, asking this question of people during job interviews is not allowed, hmmm I wonder if that's why my company doesn't let me interview people any more? I don't actually think I asked a potential *********ian candidate that question ever, but it has be posed to me that perhaps I did. This post is very random so this might seem out of place but I just remembered the worst thing about not talking to someone at work, or rather not having someone to talk to at work - you get really bad breath, I remember that so vividly from working at re, all morning I would sit at my desk updating some CMS and would not talk to anyone, when I eventually did open my mouth, my breath was horrible.

In other more exciting news, the Peet's Coffee Strawberry scone is a hit. Finally what I have been looking for in a scone: strawberries + a non-crumbly, doesn't get stuck in your teeth scone. Two thumbs up Peets! Oh and on the Muni today I gave up my seat to a pregnant woman. I am so chivalrous - well actually she sort of looked blue in the face and I was scared that she might vomit on me.

Morning Musings 2

Nothing like a Wednesday at work, brief summary so far:

• Contact lens in right eye is for some reason extremely irritated, left glasses and solution at home, drat.


• Ate scone from Peets too rapidly and now I have too much bitter black coffee with nothing sweet to go with it


• Got in argument with girlfriend about what seems like some sort of insurmountable hangup I have


• Wore my new sunglasses to work, despite the fact that it was a typically gloomy, overcast morning in San Francisco


• Now am being pestered by a coworker, who god bless his heart I cannot get mad at, to compare the styles of two fonts which one random user of our app believes to be a different family

Other less normal things that I thought about today: will I ever get married, will I ever have kids, will someone(not a family member) love me after I'm gone, will people ever understand what it's like being me. I feel the following: loathed, envied, loved, betrayed, liked, missed and under-appreciated. OK enough of the negativity, about face. Do what you believe is right, exude positivity, take chances and live life.

Morning Musings

Why is it that I am not motivated to do any of the things that are on my "Life Plan To Do List" when I get home after work, yet in the mornings when I first get to work my brain is firing on all cylinders, and all I want to do is open savings accounts, design my on-line portfolio, finish writing my book (note: start it first), update my resume, plan a new workout at the gym (note: start working out), go shopping for new work clothes, clean my car, pay my bills, plan something special for my girlfriend ---- anything but work! Could it be that I really don't like work, perhaps, quite possibly. Well let's see, what have I been doing since graduating from university . . . despite my one year stint at the Japanese Government, really just a little information center type of thing, but I like to tell people it was the Japanese Government, hyperbole is my forte. Basically the thought I'm trying to get down here is that outside of the high profile gig with the Japanese Government, all of my jobs have been tech company jobs where my main skill-set has been HTML coding (lately CSS has been sprinkled into the mix). OK I sell myself short, I've done Struts, Java, Java-script, etc. but the mainstay, the bread winner, the go to guy, the favorite pair of jeans has been good ole HTML! What better way to make this post sound techie than by throwing in a link to:

http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Guide/

An awesome 10 minute primer to HTML. You can learn in 10 minutes what has enabled me to live modestly for 9 years! The picture of the guy who wrote it was probably taken about 40 years ago, so it's worth checking out even for non-techies. OK tech blog over . . . now I feel better, better you ask, well my reason for posting today was spurned by envy. My girlfriend is a blogaholic, she reads all kinds of tech blogs, life blogs, etc., which leads me to think . . . do you read all of these blogs because your life (read: our life is not that great) I know that's not the answer, it's just her thing, but this blog/post is sort of indirectly for/to her, I feel left out honey, even though I know you love me.