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sfaJack

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    2008

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Blog Entries posted by sfaJack

  1. sfaJack

    Mailbag...?

    By sfaJack,

    As one of the most anonymous posters at TSM with what is probably one of the least-read blogs, I'm sure this idea is doomed to failure. But I'm bored today so what the hell; I'll give it a shot anyway.
     
    Ask me anything, whether it's about me personally, something you'd like to get my opinon on, or something really difficult that I'm sure to get wrong and end up looking stupid. Maybe you want to know my favorite color, how I met sfaJill, or why I've lived in or near Houston my entire life yet hate the Astros. Do I have a favorite actor? Movie? Do I like country music? Maybe you need my advice on something (though God help you if you follow it). You could even ask for my detailed thoughts on nuclear disarmament (note: I don't really have any detailed thoughts on this) or suggest topics you actually might want to read about on this blog. Whatever. Unlike an Obama press conference, this floor is open to tough questions and I will not screen any of them.
     
    Submit them in the comments here or via PM if you want to be all secretive. I'll take questions through this Sunday night and post an entry with the answer(s) next Monday. If this actually works, maybe I'll do it again every so often. If I don't get any questions, well, fuck everybody.
  2. sfaJack
    I don't normally blog too much about office happenings because that can be dangerous in these days of employers using the interwebs to keep track of their employees when they’re not being unproductive at the office.
     
    However, this is a big day, for today's post is the first from my new digs as I have moved out of my cubicle home(s) of 7+ years and into a real office with four walls, a couple windows, and...a locking door!
     
    Does this mean that I have crawled through the river of shit that is the DAMN HUSSEIN ECONOMY and come out smelling of roses with a promotion that comes with bigger pay, a fancy title, and the tiniest shred of power via a single thin line on some company organizational chart?
     
    Uh, not exactly.
     
    So what happened? Get comfortable; this could be a long entry if I put in all the details. The events are real, the names may or may not be changed.
     
    A brief bit of background to our story: I spent the first six years of my time here working in the general accounting department, mostly doing account reconciliation and audit response. In 2005, my manager was forced to take this one lady, Doe, into our group because Doe’s previous position in the payroll department was eliminated and she needed to find a new home. Why wasn’t she ‘let go’ like most other people whose jobs are eliminated? Because Doe’s mother is a senior accounting manager here. Eh, whatever. I know that’s the way things go sometimes. I accept this…in most cases.
     
    The problem here? Doe is a completely worthless employee.
     
    Arrive late most days? Check.
    Leave early often? Check.
    Unexplained absences? Check.
    Loud socializing/phone calls in the office? Check.
    Poor attitude about work? Check.
    Subpar work? Check.
    Doesn’t know shit about accounting? Check.
    Overly inflated sense of self-worth/importance? CHECK CHECK CHECK.
    Bringing personal drama into the office? BIG GIANT FUCKING CHECK.
     
    Within two months of starting work in our group, we all despised her because the rest of us—the ones that actually showed up to do our jobs each day—were constantly having to put up with her enormous amount of drama and bullshit AND cover her substandard work. This was made even worse for me early in ’06 when I was put in charge of reviewing/approving her work each month but was not given any supervisor/managerial authority to deal with her.
     
    My manager, Sandy, responded to Doe’s poor work by refusing to give her any promotion or any raise beyond the company mandated ‘minimum living adjustment’ (usually 1-2%), which you get only unless you’re about to be fired or something. Things continued this way until the end of ’07 when management did a little shuffling of the deck chairs, resulting in Sandy going to manage another finance group and me getting shifted over to the project accounting group.
     
    I was free! I still had to see her every day (the ones she’s actually here anyway), overhear her inane conversations, and deal with the constant noise—but at least her poor work no longer directly affected my ability to do my job. I even got to move to a different cubicle around the corner from where her and her pals all gathered for their daily social club meetings, eliminating some of the distraction. It was almost as good an office situation as one could hope for…
     
    …and then Michaela, who did the tax work for the general accounting group—and whose office was directly across the hall from my new cube—recently left to go work for the corporate tax group. Who was anointed to take over her work? You guessed it!
     
    So Doe started sitting across the hall from me on the days she was doing the tax work. She asked John, the new boss of the general group—apparently a competent accountant but completely inexperienced in dealing with Doe—if she could move into the office full time and was told ‘no’ because she is classified as an associate accountant—the lowest accounting rank we have—and that it was not necessary for her to sit there all the time. Doe was PISSED because she isn’t used to not getting her way.
     
    So she rebelled by sitting in there a couple of extra days. And then a couple more. And then, before John knew (although those of us who know her know what she was doing), she had established a nice squatter’s existence in the office.
     
    The problem? The noise was even worse than before because now she was armed with a speakerphone…which she used—at max volume—for every single goddamn call she placed or received. And I mean EVERY DAMN CALL.
     
    This prompted myself and the two other old school guys—who are also not in John’s group—that sat in the same hallway as Doe to complain to John about the noise. We strategically spaced out our complaints over the course of two weeks so it didn’t look like we were all dumping on her at once. I was the last one to complain and was told by John that he had asked her to move back to her assigned space but that she had refused to do it but that he was going to act soon.
     
    So here’s a quick multiple choice of John’s possible actions regarding this situation:
     
    A) Reprimand her via formal written notice to HR
     
    B) Choice ‘A’, along with getting our real estate services department to clean the stuff she had moved into the office out, return it to her assigned cube, lock the office, and leave instructions for security that that office was not to be unlocked without their consent
     
    C) Fire her for insubordination and terrible job performance—my personal preference
     
    D) Burn the whole building down so there’s no more noise for anyone
     
    E) Allow Doe to keep the office, shuffle a couple of your own general accounting people around, and offer the complaining employees—who are all members of the project accounting group—the chance to move into the resulting empty offices on the next hall…where the rest of your general accounting group sits.
     
     
    If you said, ‘E’, you are correct. Unfortunately, there is no prize.
     
    So here I sit, out of cubicle hell in office #224. It’s great because I don’t have to see or hear Doe if I don’t want to but, more importantly, it’s a quiet, professional atmosphere.
     
    At least I can read TSM in peace now. I just hope that no one can hear me continually laughing at the sheer absurdity of moving 6 different people around—and having THREE people who have nothing to do with your group sit with your group—just so you don’t have to deal with one headcase. God bless middle managers.
  4. sfaJack

    Birthday fun

    By sfaJack,

    30 feels no different than 29. Big surprise. I'm still marching slowly towards the end. The good news at least is that I'm one year closer to 'Senior Citizen' status and all the various discounts and freebies that entitles one to.
     
    I stopped caring about my birthday 12 years ago. I figured once I turned 18 and became able to die for my country and blow all my money on lottery tickets, it was all downhill from there anyway, so why give a shit?
     
    sfaJill, on the other hand, loves birthdays. So at some point today, I will have to pick a restaurant so she can go buy me dinner, I'll have to pick a "fun activity" to do, and I'll have to open at least one present from her. In fact, we had this exchange last night:
     
    "Honey, I'm sorry. I think I gave you most of your birthday presents at Christmas."
     
    "So?"
     
    "Well, you're probably only going to have one to open tomorrow."
     
    "There's a 1% chance I'll give a shit."
     
    "I know, I know."
     
    (moment of silence)
     
    "Maybe I'll take you to Best Buy or somewhere like that and let you pick out something you want."
     
    "Yeah...maybe. I guess."
     
    ------------------------------
     
    So why am I queerin' up TSM this morning? Because my in-laws have this insane tradition of calling their children (and now children-in-law) at 5:30 in the morning on their birthday and (terribly) singing Happy Birthday over the phone and now I can't get back to sleep. It's gonna be a great day.
     
    Neither of us were amused by this tradition this year, particularly since it was nearly 3 AM before we went to sleep. sfaJill even lectured her dad saying, "You're calling at 5:30 on a SATURDAY morning; of course I'm going to assume something is wrong."
     
    ------------------------------
     
    It's the exact opposite with my dad. For YEARS he always got my brother's and my birthdays mixed up--he always thought mine was January 28 and my bro's was December 24 when if fact mine is January 24 and my bro's is December 28. Well, he called about 20 minutes ago and we had this conversation. It's funny to me; YMMV.
     
    Dad: "I was just calling because it's your birthday. Wait...it is the 24th right?"
     
    Me: (laughing)"Yes."
     
    Dad: "Well, alright."
     
    Me: "You didn't get us mixed up this year. What happened?"
     
    Dad: "I don't know. It's probably because Nicole (my sister-in-law) said something about it earlier this week."
     
     
     
  5. sfaJack

    Farewell Texas Stadium

    By sfaJack,

    You know you’ve wasted too much time here over the years when you’re driving on the Westpark Tollway, pass a business named ‘Kinetic Furniture’ on your right, and immediately think of TSM.
     
    So my Dad and I attended the final tragedy game at Texas Stadium this past Saturday night. I think I've written before about how we held season tickets to the Cowboys for the last four years but declined to renew this season for a variety of reasons. Going forward, we figured that we would just pick a game or two each season and acquire tickets from the Internet, possibly even throwing in a road game every now and then (if I can ever convince my dad to get on an airplane). For this season, we figured why not go to the final game ever at Texas Stadium?
     
    Well, that, uh, didn’t turn out so well.
     
    A couple of notes:
     
    We thought it was weird that the final game was against the Ravens. How can the league NOT have the Cowboys play one of their long-time NFC East opponents in the final game at Texas Stadium? It’s crazy.
     
    Then it came out late Saturday night/early Sunday morning that Jerry Jones petitioned the NFL before the schedule was finalized last spring to have the Ravens be the opponent in the final game because he thought they were an easy win.
     
    Memo to Jerry: stop hand-picking opponents. You’re embarrassing yourself. First of all, if you’re going to pick a homecoming opponent this season, how in the hell did you not pick the Bengals? Or the 49ers. At least you have some history with them. Secondly, do you not remember the last time you picked your opponent?
     
    Also, Texas Stadium is a neat place in that the Cowboys have played there for 38 years and won their first of five Super Bowls in the year it opened, 1971.
     
    But let’s not kid ourselves. Other than the hole in the roof—so God can watch his favorite team play—and it being the first stadium built with public financing (the bonds sold for $6 apiece), there’s really nothing special about it. We’re not talking about closing down Lambeau or Soldier Field here. It’s not the most photogenic place and it just kind of sits there in the middle of a huge, ugly parking lot. The concourse is crowded, it can get really hot in there, I don’t think they’ve put a coat of paint on it since 1994, and if you sit in parts of the upper deck without binoculars you should have just saved your money and stayed home. So there’s no reason to get overly emotional about its demise.
     
    (Note: the ticket prices at the new stadium they’re building in Arlington though? THAT is something to cry about.)
     
    It was nice to see that they did put some effort into making the last game a big deal though. The Cowboys must have installed some new video boards in the offseason and replaced a few light bulbs because the place just looked a little brighter than usual and you could actually read all of the text displayed on the video boards without squinting. And it was nice to see them trot out a bunch of legendary Cowboy players during timeouts and whatnot, though to be honest, none of them said anything remotely interesting. I don’t think half of the crowd even knew who guys like Don Perkins and Lee Roy Jordan are.
     
    As for the game itself, well, what needs to be said? It was truly historic because no team in NFL history had ever had two touchdown runs of 75 yards or more in the same quarter until the Ravens did it to ice the game late.
     
    The Cowboys’ offense was terrible the entire game. We knew that was going to be the case because Tony Romo looked terrible in pregame warm-ups, missing most of his throws high. And the defense, after a hot first half, turned in a dog shit effort in the second, particularly in the fourth quarter. The two long runs made for an unfathomable way to lose a game and easily surpassed any other loss in the four seasons we had tickets, in terms of sheer lunacy. (The playoff loss last year to the Giants still ranks #1 on the “disappointing loss” list.)
     
    It was so ridiculous and aggravating that we didn’t even stick around for the “closing ceremonies” after the game. Apparently at least half of the crowd felt the same way. Watching local TV news the next morning, we found out that it probably wouldn’t have been worth staying for anyway. The newscasters were puzzled that so few decided to stay for that ceremony but, really, would you expect otherwise after the “effort” the Cowboys put forward?
     
    The worst part might be that, on the way home, Dad and I made our peace with the Cowboys’ 2008 season. The combination of injuries, talent regression, and often-poor coaching just added up to a “Not Their Year”. Losing to the Ravens was really damaging to their playoff chances, as it meant they couldn’t get in without a lot of help from other teams.
     
    And then Tampa lost to San Diego.
     
    And Philly lost to Washington.
     
    And, suddenly, the Cowboys are back in control of their own destiny. Win at Philly on Sunday, and all is forgiven.
     
    Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in…
     
    I just wish I knew which Cowboys team is going to show up in Philly.
  7. sfaJack

    Boredom in Cubicle 211-A

    By sfaJack,

    This is probably the most boring day of work I've had since March or April. I basically have nothing to do as my latest project is at a point where I can do nothing further until I receive it back from the accounting manager assigned to it and either rework whatever needs rework or proceed to the next phase.
     
    So what am I left to do? Surf the Internet, of course. And post another high quality blog entry.
     
    Much like kkk yesterday though, I don't really have much to talk about. And my post won't even have the awesomeness that is the whale picture so you, dear reader, are screwed.
     
     
    A few minor news items, I guess:
     
    1. I got a jury summons in the mail the other day for December 1. This is the second time I've been summoned for jury duty but the first time I will actually have to go. While I'm kind of excited about doing my civic duty to convict someone, I'm hoping like hell I'll get downtown and be dismissed rather quickly so I can go back home and play video games all day. My company pays us if we're out for jury duty so there is NO WAY I'm going to the office even if my jury day is over at 9 a.m.
     
    Of course, my luck will be not only will I get picked, but it'll be a case that lasts for three weeks.
     
     
    2. sfaJill's been bitching lately about wanting a new cell phone because hers hasn't been working too well lately. Or something. I don't know. Since our cell phone contract was about to expire anyway, we went down to the T-Mobile store last Friday to renew it. I took advantage of the massive discount offered (with a 2-year extension of course) and snagged their new G1 phone.
     
    I've never got the appeal of the iPhone or any of that junk...
     
    ...until I played with this thing. I have no idea if it's 'better' than an iPhone or not but I don't care. I love this phone. I'm hooked. Call me a sheep; I do not care!
     
    Now all I need is friends to call or (preferably) text...
     
     
    3. I just returned from a lunch with sfaJill and one of her friends at Yao Ming's bistro/bar here in town. I'd never been there before and my unrefined tastes in food probably can't tell good Chinese food from vomit-inducing, undercooked crap...but this was good Chinese food. Lunch menu prices, too so it's a double bonus. Plus, Yao's uncle came around to greet our table. Dude is like 6' 7". It was kind of strange to see an Asian dude that tall and he's not on a basketball court.
     
     
    Let's see...what else. The list of the world's most dangerous toys is out.
     
    It's official: we should just wrap all the little bastards in bubble wrap each morning before we send them out into the world.
     
    Remember potato guns?
     
    Lawn darts?
     
    Trampolines (without the net around it)?
     
    Sleeping in an actual treehouse you built yourself?
     
    TACKLE football??
     
    Doing any of that shit would get your parents arrested these days.
  8. sfaJack

    Crime of the century

    By sfaJack,

    I forgot my wedding ring at home today. I'm not sure how it happened, but I walked out of the house without it on my finger and didn't realize it until I was almost all the way to the office. Oh well. Whatever, right?
     
    WRONG
     
    Fast forward an hour or so. This happens:
     
    *desk phone rings* sfaJill's cell phone number is on the display.
     
    "Hey, babe."
     
    "Hi, honey. I've got a question for you."
     
    "What?"
     
    "Are you feeling different today? Maybe more...single?"
     
    "Yeah, I know. I forgot my ring."
     
    "Uh huh."
     
    "You saw it on the dresser, didn't you?"
     
    "Uh huh..."
     
    (sarcastically) "And you're calling to lecture me about it, aren't you?"
     
    (seriously--definitely not sarcastic) "How did you forget it?? How did that happen?"
     
    "I don't know. I guess I just forgot to put it on."
     
    "But how? You have the same routine every morning! How did you not realize you forgot your ring?"
     
    ...
     
    "Are you really this upset about me forgetting my ring?"
     
    "No. But I just thought you would be more aware of it. It's your ring!"
     
    "You sound upset."
     
     
    And it went on for a couple more minutes. I neglected to bring up the number of times that's she either left her ring at home or we've had to pull back into the driveway because she suddenly realized she didn't have it. And nevermind that this is the first instance of me forgetting to put the goddamn ring on that either of us can remember.
     
    Yet, somehow, it was the crime of the fucking century this morning. Bitches be trippin'.
  9. sfaJack

    Office stuff

    By sfaJack,

    - Surprise, surprise. Barely one month after announcing that they were moving up our annual salary adjustment to January 1 (instead of the usual April 1), our managment has issued an e-mail stating that it has now been delayed "until after the first quarter of 2009" due to the DAMN BUSH ECONOMY.
     
    Sigh.
     
    And they honestly wonder why we're so cynical around here.
     
    ------------------------
     
    - Also in that e-mail was the announcement that they are delaying the construction of our new west Houston campus. This news was devastating to sfaJill as her company suddenly moved their offices to the southwest side of town last year. Since we live in the northeast side, she and I have decided that we will be moving closer to that area if/when construction of our new campus gets underway or we are able to get a decent price for the house. But, for now, she will continue making the 80-mile (roundtrip) commute that she hates.
     
    Somewhere, I'm sure EricMM is weeping...
     
    ------------------------
     
    - The official company holiday party is December 5. I RSVP'd that we will not be attending, without even telling sfaJill that this party exists. sfaJill, however, has RSVP'd that we WILL be attending her company's party on the 13th.
     
    ------------------------
     
    - The official Thanksgiving meal for our floor is next Wednesday. Normally, this would involve them collecting $5-10 from each of us to pay for the catered main dish and people would bring a pot luck side dish/dessert if they chose. Well, this year, according to the email: "As this is a busy time of year with both work and home life we will not be taking up any money for a collection for this luncheon."
     
    DAMN BUSH ECONOMY! Has it gotten so bad that people can't even spare $5 for cold, overcooked Thanksgiving turkey??? Dear God Osama, help us! We need you NOW!!!!
     
    I declined this party as well, for the record. There's no way I'm spending any time making a dish to bring and that apparently is the price of admission.
     
    ------------------------
     
    - I'm so glad I'm not a Houston Texans fan. I don't know if it's poor coaching or that their (apparent) talent isn't that talented or some wicked combination of both, but they might be worse than the Oilers ever were.
  10. sfaJack
    sfaJill is not very political and seems to only watch the news when there's something about a tragedy affecting young children so she can have a good cry. She's a registered voter, but I can probably count on one hand the number of times I recall her watching/listening to anything to do with the recent apocolypse election.
     
    She told me a few weeks ago that she didn't plan on voting at all because she didn't feel it would be right since she didn't know much of anything about either candidate, as if I'd divorce her because she didn't vote (though I did tell her I WOULD divorce her if she voted for the messiah--but that's neither here nor there). To paraphrase her:
     
    "All I know is that Obama is black, Palin's a woman, and you don't want Obama to win."
     
    Well, this past Saturday after the messiah's latest "redistribute the wealth" gaffe came out (in the form of that "I didn't realize selfishness is now a virtue" quote), I was bitching about it to her when she stopped me.
     
    "Wait, he wants to do what?"
     
    "Redistribute the wealth. Apparently we're selfish for not wanting to just give it away."
     
    "So he wants to take our money and give it away?"
     
    "Yes. Mostly to poor (black people)."
     
    "FUCK HIM. I work my ass off for my money. Those people don't do shit and he wants to give them MY money?? FUCK HIM! I want to vote for McCain."
     
    No comment as to whether I was suddenly turned on or not...
     
    ------------------------
     
    Drawmuh~! at the in-laws: I was somewhat surprised to learn that my mother-in-law absolutely hates McCain and has apparently been loudly and proudly telling people she voted for Obama.
     
    My father-in-law, on the other hand, was quoted by sfaJill as saying, "I'd prefer if McCain wins."
     
    ------------------------
     
    My dad--who HATES Jimmy Carter and has been saying Obama=Carter since before he vanquished Hitlery--had this to say when I called him Wednesday to talk about something totally unrelated:
     
    "Did you see what Russia already did today? I told you!"
     
    ------------------------
     
    On Wednesday, sfaJill and a few of her current and former coworkers got together for lunch. I was invited because, well...I don't know why. I went though because an excuse to get out of the office for lunch without coworkers is fine with me.
     
    Upon arriving and shaking hands with one of her coworkers he, noticing the black polo shirt I had on, leaned in and said, "Ah, man, I forgot to wear my black shirt to mark the death of the United States of America." Then we laughed.
     
    And, no, there was no motivation behind my choice shirt. It was just next up in the rotation. A great bit of political commentary in hindsight though.
     
    ------------------------
     
    One of my coworkers says she voted for Obama. Not because she's enarmored with Obama but because, "I want the Republicans out. They have caused all of our problems."
     
    I told her I'm blaming her for everything that goes wrong in the next four years and I expect to hear no bitching about any of it from her because, hey, the Republicans cause all of our problems.
  11. sfaJack

    Ah, vacation

    By sfaJack,

    The TSM Blogosphere has been busy lately with talk of vacations and all the "problems" that go along with them. This got me thinking about some of the trips we took as a family (myself, Mom, Dad, and little brother)...and some of the problems that came with them (though none of them involve my dad getting the cops called on him).
     
    Mount Rushmore/South Dakota
    I think this was around 1990 or so. I remember this was the trip that my mother tried an experiment to get the two of us to behave in the car during the long ass drive: bribery. She got two rolls of quarters out of the bank and gave one to each of us. Each time we "acted up" or otherwise got into some trouble along the way, we had to pay her a quarter; any quarters left at the end of the trip could be used at the video arcade and if we made it through the whole trip without losing any quarters, we would get another roll each to use at the arcade upon getting home. This was a big incentive to us...until we were fined a quarter each for horsing around at the motel pool in Oklahoma City after the first day's drive. Then we suddenly didn't care much anymore.
     
    The real disaster of this trip came out in the Badlands when the family car got a flat tire literally out in the middle of nowhere. The tire was so flat and our car so weighted down with luggage and whatnot that my dad couldn't even get the jack underneath it to change it out. Three hours of sitting in the hot sun, just waiting for some help. And me, being the little ultra-worrywart I was at the time FREAKED OUT at the prospect of dying out there. Eventually, a state po po came out and called a wrecker for us, but there were some tense moments as I was losing my mind and my dad was pissed off that he had a problem he couldn't solve alone. Then later, when my dad was forced to pay what he considered to be highway robbery for a new tire; well, that was good times at then end of that particular day.
     
    Washington D.C.
    Thanksgiving 1986. My mom, brother, and I had flown to D.C. (my first flight ever, and the only time we EVER flew anywhere as a family) to visit my dad while he was at his FBI Academy training in Quantico, VA. This trip was fine...until the flight home. That's when I, having neglected to tell my mother about the stomach ache I'd had all day, couldn't take anymore and threw up all over the guy sitting in the seat in front of me.
     
    My mother was mortified.
     
    The comedy highlight of the trip came later when we were close to landing in Houston when I reached into the seat back pocket in front of me pulled out the airsick bag, turned to my mom and asked, "What's this lunch sack for?"
     
    New Braunfels, TX
    I don't remember exactly when this was, but I was probably 8 or 9 or so. We went to stay at grandmother's house one weekend in New Branfels for a couple days of tubing down the river and playing at Schlitterbahn. Unfortunately, on Day Damn One we went tubing. My brother and I were sharing a tube and, when we went over one of the sets of rapids, the tube dumped over, spilling both of us. To make a long story shorter, I got caught in the current and couldn't make it to shore alone; this guy that was standing on the bank ran out into the water and pulled me out.
     
    As a result, I had no desire to go anywhere near the water the whole rest of the weekend which kind of threw a wrench into the whole 'weekend water fun' plan. My dad was frustrated by this, even going so far as to say, "You didn't drown! What is there to be afraid of?"
     
    Yeah, so anyway, there we were, heading back home less than 36 hours later, me terrified of the water, my dad pissed off at me because we had driven all the way out there for nothing.
     
    San Antonio
    Summer 1995. The brakes on the family vehicle give out on the way back to our hotel from Fiesta Texas. By 'give out' I mean the brakes would stop the car...but only if you were going 15 mph or less and had extra room to stop. Instead of calling (and paying for) a tow truck, my dad decides to drive the 20 miles back into town at approximately 10 mph, earning us probably 100 dirty looks from all the angry motorists behind us as they passed us.
     
    I'm still amazed to this day the we a) didn't rear-end somebody and b) get pulled over for going 10 f'n miles per hour.
     
     
    Quick highlights from some other trips:
     
    - My dad bought my brother and I new fishing rods before one of our many trips to the lake. One the first morning of this trip, we'd been out there for about an hour when I reached back to cast my line...and somehow let go of the rod as I flung it forward. SPLASH! My brand new fishing rod is damned forever to the depths of Lake Somerville. Dad is pissed when he realizes what happened.
     
    - My brother leaves his winter coat at a Long John Silver's on our way back home from a family gathering in central Texas. He realizes this within five minutes of us leaving the restaurant, but fails to tell my mom out of fear of getting in trouble. Instead, he chooses to wait until we are over halfway home to say anything; that doesn't go over well with the parents.
     
    - And I won't even mention the time we were in Arlington and decided to stay at Six Flags Over Texas an extra couple of hours instead of walking over to the Ballpark in Arlington and purchasing tickets to that night's Angels/Rangers game as we had talked about earlier in the day.
     
  12. sfaJack

    No pizza on Sweetest Day

    By sfaJack,

    So sfaJill and I were in Target last night walking up towards the registers when I noticed a display of 'funny' Halloween cards featuring our Presidential candidates. There was one with the Obamessiah on it that read something to the effect of "this man might be our next President--and you thought Halloween was scary" (cue laugh track).
     
    I briefly thought about buying it and sending it to my dad, but decided against it because he'd probably 1) think I've turned gay because I sent him a card in the mail and/or 2) lecture me about "wasting 43 cents to tell me something I already know."
     
    Then I noticed a display for greeting cards for "Happy Sweetest Day!" This conversation occurred. Guess who is who:
     
    "What the fuck is 'Sweetest Day?'"
     
    "I don't know. What are you talking about?"
     
    *picks up a 'Sweetest Day' card* "This. What is this for?"
     
    *looks at card and then display* "I guess it's kind of another Valentine's Day!"
     
    "Great! Another day to waste $80 on flowers that will be dead in 72 hours!"
     
     
    After some checking of the world's leading information source, it appears Sweetest Day is some midwest Yankee tradition that started innocently enough but has since evolved into another Hallmark holiday that's now starting to spread overpriced candy and unfunny cards to our neck of the woods down here. When will this crap ever stop?
     
    Though I must admit I'm shocked that it took this long for it to reach Texas. I guess George W. must have spent some of his time laying off some people in the Hallmark marketing department and they're just now catching up on the workload.
     
    I told sfaJill not to expect anything for Sweetest Day. She seemed fine with that.
     
    ----------------------------------------------
     
    The party's over for kids who pass Texas's high school standardized test.
     

    I remember taking this test, then called 'TAAS', in 10th grade. I also remember all of us getting to go to Pizza Hut to celebrate passing this very basic test of academic skill (you know it's basic skill level when my dumb ass misses only 4 of the multiple choice answers ON THE ENTIRE TEST). I do not remember not seeing the kids who failed the test not being at this wonderful celebration but I didn't think anything of it. Of course, it was nearly 15 years ago now.
     
    This is my favorite part of the article though:
     

    Note to Robert Scott: it is also pretty easy to identify which students failed this test when, on state-mandated "Re-test Day", they are 'absent' from class because they are in the library retaking said test. No, that's not obvious at all. Nope. No way.
     

    So if I decide to NOT meet the basic requirements of my job, my boss should not give raises to everyone else so that I don't feel too bad about myself?
  13. sfaJack
    So around 11:30 Sunday morning, I'm sitting at the house just fucking around with the rosters on Madden football when our neighbor from across the street knocks on the front door, two tickets for the 1:05 Astros/Diamondbacks game in his hand. He says he and his wife didn't feel like going and he thought we might be interested. Never one to turn down free baseball tickets, I said hell yes.
     
    As it happened, yesterday was also the retirement of Craig Biggio's #7 jersey. By the time we made it downtown, parked, and made it inside of Minute Maid Park, it was two minutes before scheduled first pitch (not bad, considering it's a 20-25 minute drive and sfaJill had to get showered and dressed before we could leave) and the ceremony was just finishing up.
     
    Ah, gee, we missed it. Oh well. To me, retiring numbers is one of the most stupid things in sports. I know fans eat it up and teams sell a few extra tickets and make a few extra bucks selling commemorative t-shirts so more power to them, but, to me, it takes the 'hero worship' of pro athletes just a little too far.
     
    Don't get me wrong--I'm all for honoring a team's great players. Lord knows as a fan that I appreciate the great ones when they help my teams do well. But do we really need to make sure that no other player ever wears a certain number again, as if that number is magical and had anything to do with his success??
     
    If you absolutely MUST retire a number or honor a player or whatever at least have the decency to follow the Dallas Cowboys' Ring of Honor model--that way, the player is honored forever (with their number) and the number is continued to be circulated. This also allows for Bob Hayes and Emmitt Smith to make #22 great, just as Drew Pearson and Michael Irvin made #88 great.
     
    As for the game: well, Roy Oswalt had his best start in probably three years--8 IP, 1 H, 10 K, 2 BB. He got the last 15 batters he faced out. Randy Johnson really only made one mistake all day--a 3-run HR to Ty Wigginton in the 1st--but it was more than enough to lose it for him. I've never seen a pitcher dealing like Oswalt was dealing yesteday in person. Just ridiculous.
     
     
     
    On a side note, Biggio's is the EIGHTH number retired by the Astros (nine if you count Jackie Robinson's #42). This makes no sense. You're talking about a franchise that's been around for only 47 seasons, has won only one pennant, and zero Hall of Famers (for now, anyway). Are there really eight Astros worthy of number retirement??
     
    Houston Astros who have previously had their number retired:
     
    5 - Jeff Bagwell
    24 - Jimmy Wynn
    25 - Jose Cruz
    32 - Jim Umbricht
    33 - Mike Scott
    34 - Nolan Ryan
    40 - Don Wilson
    49 - Larry Dierker
     
     
  14. sfaJack

    Obligatory pet post

    By sfaJack,

    Weird. I wrote this post at least a month ago, but apparently forgot to actually publish it.
     
    -----------------------------------
     
    Posting about pets is the latest craze to sweep the TSM blogosphere so I thought I'd blatantly steal the idea and post about our pets.
     

     

     
    Sassy
     
    I'm not really a cat person. I don't mind them, but, if given a choice, I would opt for a dog. That said, this is Sassy. Sassy is about 8 years old. sfaJill got her after seeing a posting on a campus bulletin board back in 2000, which means she's had Sassy about a year longer than she's had me.
     
    Sassy is a very 'talkative' cat and used to be pretty tolerant of other kitties/animals--until she became an 'only cat' after sfaJill and her sister stopped living together a few years back. I know this because when we were keeping her sister's cat a year and a half ago during their move, Sassy would spend all of her time keeping Cocoa (who isn't very well adjusted and thus terrified of just about everything) "trapped" in a particular corner of the kitchen. It was so bad that we ended up having to put another litter box in that corner because Cocoa--too afraid to leave the safety of her corner perch and risk getting attacked by Sassy--would just do her business on the kitchen floor. Stupid cat.
     
    Where was I? Oh yeah...
     
    Sassy's had a pretty charmed life: all the food she could want, constant attention from sfaJill, sleeping on the bed with us, etc. She's even managed to make some strides in getting my general household rule of "no animals on the furniture"--a rule that held firm for about 5 days after sfaJill moved in back in December 2006--relaxed by constantly testing my patience with it to the point where it's not worth the effort to fight it anymore.
     
    Sassy probably felt like she was the queen of the world. So imagine her dismay this past New Year's Eve when we brought home...
     

     

     
    Wrigley
     
    Yes, he is named after Wrigley Field. We got Wrigley when he was 8 weeks old from sfaJill's aunt, who breeds Huskies, Akitas, and Bernese Mountain Dogs. Wrigley was free to us because he supposedly has some joint defect in his leg and was thus unable to be sold (note: thus far, there is no sign of that defect). sfaJill, who has never had a dog before Wrigley, had been pushing to get a dog for a while (supposedly because I 'needed' a dog); I was against the idea because, as someone who's had dogs most of my life, I know how much work it can be to take care of one--especially a puppy--and our lifestyle (gone 12-13 hours a day for work) might not be a great fit for a dog. Certainly not one that requires a lot of attention like huskies do anyway.
     
    But because she was so insistent and I would have had to put up with an unprecedented level of whining if we passed on a 'free' dog, I went against my better judgment and agreed to get the dog. The results? Mixed, at best.
     
    Good:
    - He is fun to play with.
     
    - He is always thrilled to see anybody and is usually happy to just be in the same room with you.
     
    - Gives me an excuse to go to the dog park and semi-flirt with the MILFs that bring their dogs there. (I'm kidding. Sort of. I just like looking at the MILFs.)
     
    Bad:
    - The dog has seperation issues. We actually had to start leaving him outside during the day because he was either destroying the kitchen or climbing over the gate into the living room and destroying stuff there, in addition to pissing and shitting on the carpet. He's been better since he's been staying outside, but still...way too anxious about being by himself.
     
    - Nothing in life is free. What I mean is that, within three months of our getting him, he had to go in for surgery because he ate a piece of bark mulch out of the flower bed and it got lodged in his intestine, making him unable to digest anything and/or poop. Total cost? $2600. At least we were able to get him neutered at the same time.
     
    Since then, the 'tab' has kept on growing. For instance, just yesterday, sfaJill told me that after I had left work and while she was in the shower, he ate $4 worth of winning scratch-off lottery tickets.
     
    - He has dug a few holes in the back yard and absolutely destroyed the back door with his constant jumping and scratching at it. This has not made me very happy, for obvious reasons.
     
    - There are other things to list here, but I doubt anyone gives a shit and I'm going to have to get back to work here. Suffice it to say, I'm not totally impressed with the dog.
  15. sfaJack

    Friday bullet points

    By sfaJack,

    - Not paying too much attention to the Olympics, but then again I never really do. I'll probably watch a little more once the track and field stuff gets going but until them, eh. Whatever. All I know is that Phelps is fast in the pool and the Chinese are apparently cheating at gymnastics.
     
    - FUCK AUDITORS (sorry, Smues). Seriously, I've spent the last five weeks basically leading our company's response to 993 seperate questions raised in a client audit about all of our 2007 invoices for this one job we have. Don't get me wrong--it's important work, especially since it's this company's second-most profitable job. But when I have to waste my time trying to track down what an $11.62 charge at a little bodega in London on some dude's expense report from March 24 of last year was for, well, let's just say that it's not exactly a great use of my time.
     
    - Story of the week in Houston has been Victoria Osteen vs. a Continental flight attendant. At least the jury came back with a sane decision. The only way it could have been better would have been to award Ms. Brown $1.
     
    - Cubs in first place, 4 1/2 up on Milwaukee. Times are good.
     
    - We've hired a contractor to paint the inside of our house over Labor Day weekend. Normally I would be opposed to doing so, but 1) I hate painting and 2) we've been talking about painting it ourselves for 4 months now. Clearly, hiring someone is the only way it is actually going to get done.
  16. sfaJack
    Soaring gas prices, rising grocery bills, and the mortgage crisis (equally fueled by shady lenders and stupid borrowers). These are things that people often cite when bitching about the DAMN BUSH ECONOMY.
     
    But at least it's comforting to know that the murder-for-hire market hasn't been hit with soaring prices yet...
     

    You know, there's probably someone out there that wouldn't mind if I got bumped off. God knows there are some days when sfaJill's bitching makes me think it wouldn't be so bad. But I think I'd be insulted if someone thought it was only worth $150 to have me killed.
     
    ---------------------------
     
    So while wasting some time browsing TSM yesterday, I clicked on mole's not-very-successful summer box office prediction thread. Being a semi-frequent movie-goer (though 75% of the movies we go to are not my choice), I thought I'd go down the list and see if there are any that I'm likely to see.
     
    MAY
    IronMan - Haven't seen it, but will probably Netflix it at some point. I'm not now and have never been a comic book guy so I rarely have much interest in these movies. It's supposed to be good though.
     
    Speed Racer - Haven't seen it, probably won't. I couldn't stand the cartoon when I was young; why would I watch the movie, especially when it sucks like this one apparently does.
     
    What Happens in Vegas - It's got Kyle Korver and Cameron Diaz in it and a stupid premise. No thank you.
     
    The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - This one might be a Netflix rental one day, but I never read the book and, while I liked TLW&W ok, Narnia stuff isn't exactly on my list of "must see."
     
    Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Saw it (90% because sfaJill begged me whined until I agreed to go, 10% morbid curiosity). While the original movies are some of my favorites from my childhood, I'm not an Indy geek or anything. They're just good, fun movies that I've watched probably 25 times in the years since.
     
    That said, this is easily the worst Indy movie and I really wish I hadn't spent $9.25 on it.
     
    Sex and the City - I'll never see this one. And sfaJill isn't the slightest bit interested in it so I'm in the clear there.
     
    JUNE
    Kung Fu Panda - I'm never interested in stupid crap like this, but there are rumors that my in-laws want to take the 4-year-old nephew to see this. I'm already rifling through my rolodex of excuses to get out of that one because I know that sfaJill will want to latch onto that little family outing.
     
    You Don't Mess With The Zohan - You know what's funny? We saw a trailer for this months ago in the theater and sfaJill said it looked "funny" and stated she wanted to see it when it comes out. A couple of weeks ago, a trailer ran on TV and, after it was over, sfaJill asked "Who would go see that piece of shit?"
     
    I laughed. "You said you wanted to see it!"
     
    "When?"
     
    "We saw a preview at the movies a while back and you said it looked funny."
     
    "I did?!"
     
    "Yes."
     
    "Are you sure?"
     
    "Yes!"
     
    "Wow. I can't imagine what I was thinking."
     
    The Incredible Hulk - Didn't they just do a Hulk movie last year or something? Either way, I don't care much (that whole "not a comic guy" thing again) and probably won't watch it.
     
    The Happening - Pass. It's M. Night Shyamalan. I thought Sixth Sense was good and Unbreakable was pretty good. After that...not so much.
     
    Get Smart - I'm really, really looking forward to this one. I loved Get Smart as a kid, Steve Carell makes me laugh, and Anne Hathaway is one fine piece of ass. Plus, I've seen the trailer(s) several times and laugh each time. Can't wait.
     
    The Love Guru - WTF is this, an Indian version of Austin Powers? This is not gonna end well...
     
    Wanted - I haven't even heard of this one and know nothing about it. Thus, I am unlikely to see it.
     
    Wall-E - I'm sure I'll be watching this one at some point because sfaJill is VERY excited about it. I'm not so much but if it's half as much of an animated Short Circuit as it appears to be, it might be tolerable.
     
    JULY
    Hancock - Yeah, I'll see it. sfaJill loves Will Smith and keeps asking me when this is coming out, so...yeah.
     
    Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D - Saw a trailer for this one before Indy 4 and my only thought was "This is stupid." So, no, I won't be watching. And didn't the whole concept of "3D" movies die back in the 1950's or so?
     
    Hell Boy II: The Golden Army - Nah. Didn't watch the first Hellboy and probably won't see this one either. A trailer for this one ran before Indy 4 as well and I wasn't impressed.
     
    The Dark Knight - Yeah, I'll see this one. Batman is the one "comic" that I'll watch any movie of. If nothing else, my one friend (who is a HUGE Batman freak) will drag me to it at least once.
     
    Mamma Mia! - Had to look on IMDB for this one. Does it really use ABBA songs to tell the story? Dear God help us all...
     
    X-Files: I Want to Believe - Nope. I never watched X-Files. Besides, hasn't it been like 10 years since it was on? Why make a movie about it now?
     
    Step Brothers - I'll see this one. I think Will Ferrell is hilarious, though I'm a little apprehensive becasue Blades of Glory and Semi-Pro sucked real bad. John C. Reilly and Ferrell were great in that Nascar movie though; hopefully, that will carry over to this one.
     
    AUGUST
    The Rocker - Dwight Shrute gets a leading role in a film? I'll watch, but it'll probably be via Netflix.
     
    The Mummy: The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - A Netflix rental all the way. The first couple of Mummy films were ok enough so I'll watch, but I'm not paying for it.
     
    Pineapple Express - I've seen three of the "Apatow" movies? Knocked Up (average), Superbad (funny, but overrated), and Forgetting Sarah Marshall (best of the three). This one looks like it could be good, but I think I'll wait for the DVD.
     
    The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 - Why the fuck did this one need a sequel? No thanks.
     
    Tropic Thunder - I'll probably see this one eventually. The team of Stiller, Black, and Downey Jr. should make for at least a semi-enjoyable movie.
     
    Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Eh. I'm kind of sick of the whole Star Wars thing, personally.
     
    House Bunny - After looking this one up on IMDB, I've determined that, while it sounds stupid as hell, I might see it on cable or something one day simply because Anna Faris and Katharine McPhee are in it.
     
    Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Never heard of it. A check of IMDB shows that it is something I will probably never see unless Scarlett Johansson gets nekkid or something.
  17. sfaJack
    So I was interviewed by one of the Houston Chronicle's sportswriters yesterday for a story they're doing about sports and the economy. On Wednesday, on his blog, he asked for reader feedback on the topic; specifically, has the DAMN BUSH ECONOMY affected your decisions to attending sports events, be they high school, college, or professional.
     
    My dad and I have had season tickets to the Dallas Cowboys the past four seasons. Other than most of the shitty preseason games, we've not missed a single game during that time. This season, we are not renewing our tickets. Our decision has nothing to do with the massive playoff disappointment of last year or ever-rising ticket prices ($130 a game this last year vs. $78 back in '04, our first year). Rather, with gas likely to be at or near $4 a gallon by the time the season starts and a decent hotel room now costing between $85-90 (as opposed to $60 back in '04), making 8-10 500-mile round trips to Dallas just doesn't make a lot of sense anymore. We've been priced out. Neither of us are very happy about it (and will probably kick ourselves if the 'Boys end up hosting the NFC Championship Game or something), but other than lay out a couple thousand dollars in travel costs (in addition to the tickets), we don't have much choice.
     
    Anyway, since the topic struck a nerve with me, I sent an e-mail to this guy briefly describing our dilemma and decision; he wrote back and asked if he could call me to do a formal interview on Thursday. I said sure and our game of phone tag finally ended last night around 6:00. During our chat, he said he's heard from several folks like me so there's no guarantee that he'll use our story, but I thought it was kind of cool to be part of it.
     
    sfaJill wasn't quite as impressed, but strangley had no comment when I asked if she'd prefer I have my name in the paper because it's in either the obituaries or the police report for slapping her around a while...
     
     
  18. sfaJack
    For anyone who thinks that college professors are not liberally biased, I present this evidence to the contrary:
     

     
    Am I surprised? No. Do I really care about this? No. There is liberal bias in the press every day; what does it matter if there are liberal professors in college classrooms, right?
     
    Speaking from personal experience though, I graduated from a Texas college and I don't recall a great deal of liberal bias in any of my classes. Then again, I was an accounting major and wasn't required to take very many courses that could be politcally slanted. Although the prof of my graduate-level international management course had a crazy, almost personal obsession with Augusto Pinochet.
     
    The most political prof I ever ran across was in, strangely enough, political science. That guy made it clear from day one that he was liberal and never made any bones about touting such views. You'd think that could make lots of folks unhappy, but, surprisingly, the women in the class were the ones most appalled by him. The most entertaining day of the entire semester was when he pissed them all off by saying that women should lose their right to vote because we elected great guys like Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln before they could vote and guys like Nixon, Reagan, and Bush 41 since they got the right to vote. Highest of high comedy that day...
     
    ----------------------------
     
    So where has "Notes From Cubicle 211-A" been the past two and a half months? Busy. Thanks to our company reorg, I've been reassigned to our Project Accounting division and my new duties have left me with precious little time for TSM, the no-longer-green board (WTF happened there??), and porno. It's a real bummer. Hopefully though, all this real world shit has finally eased up and I can get back to my normal daily routine of pretending to work.
     
    Ah, wedded bliss:
     
    We did some furniture shopping over the weekend. sfaJill's been having some trouble sleeping and has decided that it's my fault because my tendency to toss and turn several times during the night disrupts her. And of course, to her, the obvious, not-expensive-at-all solution is to buy a new, king sized bed. After most of Saturday shopping, we found exactly one that we she liked. The price for the just the king bed though is $2,200 so it's back to the drawing board.
     
     
    Also while we were out, we stopped into JC Penney so I could pick up some new slacks for the office. While sfaJill was waiting outside the dressing room for me, this little boy (who couldn't have been more than 2) who was waiting nearby with his mother, started talking to her. sfaJill loves kids so of course she was eating this up. So when I come out to model the new slacks for sfaJill, the little boy moves behind me and is now standing between me and the dressing room door. I turn to walk back in, and this exchange happens:
     
    Boy's Mom: "Jared, please come here and get out of his way."
     
    Me: "Oh, he's fine. I've got a dog at home that is always in the way, too."
     
    I didn't think much of it. In the truck a bit later though, sfaJill, who had been sitting in silence most of the way, suddenly said, "You know, you really embarrassed me back there."
     
    "What are you talking about?"
     
    "With that little boy. You compared him to a dog right in front of his mom."
     
    "What? You're embarrased by THAT? It was a harmless comment."
     
    "You called him a dog in front of his mom. I don't think she liked that."
     
    "Did she say anything about it?"
     
    "No."
     
    "Then how do you know it offended her?"
     
    "Well, it embarrassed ME, so I would think it bothered her, too."
     
    "Oh. Um...I'm sorry? I guess my 'filter' broke again."
     
    "You should really get that thing fixed or replaced or something."
     
    I thought about sarcastically asking her to put it on the honey-do list, but decided it was best not to risk pissing her off and ruining the rest of the furniture shopping fun.
  19. sfaJack
    In my inbox this morning, this little piece of spam (with today's date stamped on it no less) made its way past the filters:
     
    From: JEFF TALLOW
    Subject: NOBODY CAN STOP BRADY & MOSS!!!!!!!!!!!!
     
    The entire body of the message was: "The Patriots rule."
     
    That's it. No penis enlargement ads...no phishing links...no offers to give me 10% of a secret Nigerian fortune--just "The Patriots rule."
     
    Oddest piece of spam I've seen in a while...
     
    ---------------------
     
    For those that argue that weed has no harmful long-term effects, I present evidence to the contrary:
     
    Link
     

     
    ---------------------
     
    Yesterday was my boss's birthday. To mark this glorious occasion each year, the whole group goes out to lunch at whatever local eatery she picks. Normally, I don't go on such group outings because 1) I don't really enjoy the company of most of my co-workers and 2) paying nearly $10 for lunch isn't fun but since this is the boss and I'll only be working for her for a couple more weeks I figured what the hell and went.
     
    Big mistake.
     
    What was supposed to be a group of 10 turned into a group of 15 thanks to a couple of the dunce caps in the group inviting extra people. The problem? The table that had been reserved was for 10, which led to all of us getting a little too close for comfort. Throw in the fact that the bun on my chicken sandwich was hard as a rock and the ice tea tasted like it was made with the dish water and you have the recipe for a fun outing.
     
    At least I was able to escape the crowd after a bit and waste a few minutes playing the Ms. Pac Man machine that I saw on my way in through the door. And it was only 25 cents a play. I haven't seen a 25 cent machine in probably 5 years.
  20. sfaJack
    - So the Giants won the Super Bowl. Whatever. I didn't even turn the game on until halfway through the 3rd quarter, but I guess I saw the most important parts of the game. What a spectacular 4th quarter. If you'd offered me a $1,000 bet that ELI MANNING of all people would lead his team 83 yards in just over 2 minutes to win the Super Bowl, well, you'd have $1,000 of my money because I'd have taken that bet.
     
    As for the result of the game, well, it sucks...and yet it doesn't. As a Cowboys fan, I fucking hate the Giants. Plus, I wanted to see the Patriots go 19-0 just because 19-0 is really fucking impressive and will probably never happen again in my lifetime, if ever. On the other hand, neither Randy Moss nor Junior Seau will be getting Super Bowl rings. So I'm torn.
     
    Pitchers and catchers report in a couple of weeks. That's all that matters at this point.
     
     
    - Tax cuts my ass. After doing a quick estimate of our income taxes this past year, it appears that getting married did nothing for me except reduce the amount of my refund by a little more than half. Of course, total income reported is more than double what it was last year, but still?
     
     
    - sfaJill is pissed off. We turned in our wedding album to the photographer in September and still have not received the final copy of it despite it being promised to us "no later than January 10." She just called to say that she is on her way over there right now to (presumably) beat the hell out of someone. I told her I'll stop by the bank on my way home to pick up her bail money. She laughed.
     
     
    - After FOUR MONTHS of discussion, my company's latest "reorganization" has finally been completed. I've been here just over six years and this is the SIXTH official "reorganization" during that time. It's mindboggling.
     
    Anyway, this one has actually affected me because I am being pulled out of my little corporate accounting black hole and switched over to our projects group, which is a total change in job responsibilities--and exactly what I needed.
     
    What's ironic is that the day this was announced was the very same day that I spent some of my time in the early morning browsing the job listings in the paper for the first time in three years.
     
     
    - sfaJill and I signed up with 24 Hour Fitness over the weekend. I don't want to pay $50 a month for this, but since our gym here at work closed and we have no room in the house for workout equipment it is the best option (especially since I hate jogging and will do damn near anything to avoid it). Our first workout is tonight. Should be fun.
  21. sfaJack
    I'm sure at least one person has missed the high-quality posts I churn out here, right? Right?
     
    ...
     
    Hello?
     
    Anybody?
     
    Shit.
     
     
    Oh well. So what has happened in that month? sfaJill and I went to Kansas City over Christmas for her cousin's wedding (DRAMA~! ensued), I returned to work on Dec. 27 only to go home after three hours because of a NASTY illness that prompted me to wish for death a bit later that same day, 2007 went away (thank God), and the Jack household acquired a new puppy. There was also more work drama that caused me some grief, but that's so par for the course these days that I've stopped caring about it too much.
     
    Here's the highlights:
     
    As I stated, sfaJill and I flew to Kansas City to attend her cousin's wedding on Dec. 22. I was actually excited about the trip because, as a guy who has lived in southeast Texas my whole life and whose family is all in Texas, I've never seen real snow. So when I heard that the KC area was supposed to get a heavy snowfall after we arrived, well, I got excited. Sure enough, about four hours before the wedding, the white stuff started falling, slowly at first and eventually turning into a blizzard heavy enough to prevent a few local family members from attending the wedding. I was delighted. SNOWii
     
    (Side note: I was ecstatic about the snow until I realized I was going to have to drive in the shit.
     
    I wasn't aware of it, but, apparently, as the husband of a bridesmaid, I was eligible to be volunteered for random jobs related to the wedding. It was determined the day of the wedding that I was to chauffer the bride and her accompanying bridesmaids to the spa where they were getting their hair and nails and shit done, sit around and wait until they were finished, and then drive them all to the church (thank God said spa was in the middle of a shopping center that had both a Borders and a GameStop within it). By the time they were ready to go, a solid sheet of white had covered the ground, meaning my first snow driving experience would be with the added pressure of having a nervous bride on her way to her wedding in the car. Nothing bad happened--so it's all good--but when you have zero experience with snow and that black ice shit all over the road, well, it is a little unnerving.)
     
    The drama of the weekend came later that night, after the wedding. As we would learn the next morning, upon arriving at her room for the night, the bride discovered that the nearly $300 in cash she had had in her purse earlier that day was missing. She conferred with her sister and discovered that $60 was missing from her purse and one of the bridesmaids noticed that her purse was cleaned out as well. It was determined that someone had stolen it during the ceremony from their purses, which were left unattended down in the bridal room.
     
    The problem? sfaJill, her sister, and the groom's sister (yet another bridesmaid) didn't have any money stolen from their purses.
     
    This led to sfaJill's brother being accused of the crime. The theory was that he had the opportunity (someone said they heard him say he was "going to the bathroom"--just down the hall from the bridal room--just before the ceremony started) and a motive (needed money to buy more weed, which he does smoke from time to time); the fact that he was arrested last year for having beer in the trunk of his car when he was only 20 years old is further proof of his being a ruthless criminal. Also, there is supposedly a tape that shows he was the last one to come back up the stairs, but no one but the bride and her parents have seen that tape so who knows.
     
    Well, once THAT little accusation came out, all hell broke loose. sfaJill was livid (if there is one thing you don't do in her presence, it's talk shit about her family). Her parents were livid. Lots of ugly words were exchanged from all sides, and the entire rest of the trip was just an ugly, drama-filled mess that has cooled off only slightly since. What fun. God bless family.
     
     
    On a happier note, we got a new puppy. sfaJill's one aunt is a breeder and gave us one that she won't be able to sell because of a double-jointed front leg. He's a Siberian Husky that we've decided to name Wrigley. sfaJill's cat is less than happy about the dog's arrival.
     


  22. sfaJack

    $5 strippers

    By sfaJack,

    Well, not exactly. The strippers aren't $5, but it might cost you that to see some boobies:
     
    Link
     

    Huzzah, I guess. I don't remember hearing of this latest sneaky attempt by our state Legislature to increase sin taxes (again), but, much like per pack cigarette taxes, I don't care too much since I don't go to strip clubs and thus am not affected by it. And, frankly, anything that might help prevent taxes I actually do pay from rising is fine with me.
     
    The problem is that, of course, the government will win the suit, collect this tax, completely waste the money, and then find a new way to tax everyone anyway. So, uh, go strip clubs! Stick it to the man!
     
    My favorite part of the article is this:
     

     
    One of my favorites (behind "seperation of church and state" and "RAYCISM~!"): the "FREE SPEECH VIOLATION" card.
     
    I know some commie judge will agree with this and overturn the law, but how much of a restriction of free speech is this? The government is not banning strip clubs or imposing more "5 feet away" rules--it's just requiring a $5 cover charge to get in the club. Debate all you want on whether it's fair to levy the fee or not, but I don't get how it's a free speech infringement.
     
     
  23. sfaJack
    mole started a thread about some con artist that tried to get their hands on a free GPS thingy that seems to have turned into yet another “retail horror stories” thread. Reading it made me reminisce about my days working in a grocery store deli/bakery back in college—the one and only job I’ve ever worked where interacting with dumbass customers is/was an integral part of the job—and, since I only bring interesting, hard-hitting content to this blog, here are a few of my fondest memories of that job, presented in no particular order, in a countdown format.
     
    The year was 1999…
     
    #3
    The store was understaffed on an unusually busy day, so the courtesy booth clerk and assistant manager were forced into checker/bagging duty, making it our job in the bakery/deli to answer the store’s phone. I was the lucky one to answer this call:
     
    “Good afternoon, thanks for calling Brookshire Bros. How can I help you today?”
     
    “Uh, yeah…I’ve got a question for you.”
     
    “Ok.”
     
    “Are ya’ll still gonna sell gas after Y2K? ‘Cuz, uh, you know, I hear there won’t be gas and stuff like that.”
     
    “Yes, sir, I imagine we will.”
     
    “Oh. Well, ok. That’s good.”
     
    *click*
     
     
    #2
    One week, there was an unadvertised sale of 8-piece fried chicken dinners for $2.99 (insert joke here). Or at least it was supposed to be unadvertised—when the weekly circular ad ran in the paper that Sunday, the 8-piece deal was listed. Problem was that, since it was supposed to be unadvertised, our manager had only ordered a bit more than our usual amount of raw chicken for the first part of the week.
     
    I’m sure you can guess what happened. By early Tuesday afternoon, we ran out of chicken. This was bad news for me since I worked the evening shift.
     
    So this one bluehair comes in around 5:00 or so and, of course, asks for the special. I launched into the same “I’m sorry; we don’t have any more chicken” speech I’d already given 35 times in the past 3 hours. This was incomprehensible to her.
     
    “But your ad says you have chicken meals for $3.”
     
    “I know, ma’am. But we are completely out of fried chicken.”
     
    “So if you don’t sell chicken, why do have chicken on sale in the paper?”
     
    “No, ma’am. We do sell fried chicken. We just don’t have any in stock at the moment.”
     
    …
     
    (points to the rotisserie chickens) “But isn’t that a chicken right there?”
     
    “Yes ma’am, but that is a rotisserie chicken. It’s not on sale.”
     
    “So which chicken is on sale then?”
     
    “The fried chicken.”
     
    “But I can’t buy any?”
     
    “No, because we don’t have any in the store.”
     
    …
     
    “I don’t understand why I can’t buy that chicken right there.”
     
    “You can buy it. But it’s not on sale.”
     
    “I can’t buy that chicken for $3?”
     
    “No.”
     
    “Well, I just don’t think that’s right.”
     
    And just like that she was gone.
     
     
    #1
    It was a normal Saturday afternoon. I had been mostly working the meat slicer that afternoon, but thanks to my coworker’s impeccable timing, he went on break just minutes before a big, angry guy came into storming over to our counter, carrying a bag of our fried chicken. He put the bag on the counter and said, “I need a refund.”
     
    “Ok, sir. What’s the problem?”
     
    “This chicken ain’t cooked, man. It’s all raw.”
     
    “Alright, well, I apologize for that. I can definitely help you out. Would you just like another bag of chicken instead?”
     
    “Nah…I just want my money back.”
     
    “Ok. Give me just one moment.” I took the bag and looked inside to see if the chicken was actually raw. What did I find inside?
     
    A pile of chicken bones, stripped almost completely clean.
     
    After a double-take, I spoke up. “Sir, did you eat this chicken?”
     
    “Well, yeah, man. How the hell do you think I know it ain’t cooked?”
     
    “So…wait a minute. You ate this chicken, even though it was raw?”
     
    “Uh, yeah.”
     
    “I can’t give you a refund.”
     
    “Why not?”
     
    “Because you ate the chicken!”
     
    He protested again and asked that I call for the manager, which I was more than happy to do. The manager, who wasn’t all that sympathetic to customers’ problems to begin with, listened to my recap of the story, took one look in the bag and told the guy that not only would he not be receiving a refund but that he was not to order chicken or anything else from our bakery/deli or bother any of his store’s staff with anything else ever again. After bowing up and trying to look intimidating, the big guy declared this to be “shitty customer service” before leaving rather quietly.
  24. sfaJack

    Awkward company parties

    By sfaJack,

    So sfaJill's company's Chirstmas Holiday Party was last night at the fabulous Houstonian Hotel. This is the third one of these things that we've attended (although this is the first one at her new company) and I absolutely hate them because, for me, it's four hours of standing faithfully by her side, making small talk and cracking terrible jokes to a bunch people I've either never met or only see once a year at these parties (and thus don't remember their names anyway). Not exactly a good situation for me, given my general lack of ability to socialize.
     
    Toss in the guarded tension in the air (as in people always seem to be reluctant to cut loose and say and act they way they really want to out of fear of harming their career by offending either the boss or one of the affirmative action hires) and the usual office cliques still being in effect and it's usually a pretty awkward situation. Last night's gathering also featured a balcony where all the smokers spent most of their time and, since I am allergic to cigarette smoke, sfaJill and I spent a lot of time sitting at our table entertaining each other because she was afraid to leave me by myself out of fear I would have a totally miserable time (as opposed to the semi-miserable time I ended up having).
     
    The comedy highlight of the nights were these:
     
    - The little DJ they hired. Dude had so many problems with songs either cutting off or skipping uncontrollably that, at one point, one of the drunk guys in the back (it was open bar) yelled, "Great job with the music man! YOU ROCK!" I do have to give the DJ a little credit though--any guy that can seamlessly merge "Stayin' Alive" into George Strait's "I Cross My Heart" has to have some mad skillz.
     
    - sfaJill's boss. Dude is from deep Louisiana Cajun country, which is almost enough entertainment by itself. However, last night, he was wielding a camera and insisted on taking several pictures of damn near everyone in the place, including a couple with me, sfaJill, and...a couple of the other office females sitting my lap. Maybe you had to be there, but the way he basically ordered them all to just have a seat and smile big while sfaJill just sat there with a WTF look on her face was priceless.
     
    Oh well. At least that's over for another year. Now I just have to get through another party next Saturday night, this time at the home of one of her coworkers. I've been told to be ready for a few "party games." Oh, God...
     
    On Dec. 22, my company is hosting their first "official" company Christmas party in nine years at the Hilton downtown. Fortunately, we won't be attending. We have to go to Kansas City for sfaJill's cousin's wedding, which is the same night. Oh, damn the luck. sfaJill is really annoyed by this though, because I've been at my place of employment for over six years now and, because I do NOT hang out with any of them outside of work, the only time she's ever met any of my coworkers was back in September at my Mom's funeral when four of them showed up (and that wasn't exactly a social occassion). She claims she is dying to meet those people because she can "finally put a face to the names you come home bitching about" but I think she just wants to see if I have any hot female coworkers she can get jealous about. I don't know. I told her it's just as well we have to be in KC that night because I probably wouldn't go to the party anyway.
  25. sfaJack

    Thanksgiving fallout

    By sfaJack,

    Another Thanksgiving has come and gone and what a glorious day it was. The Cowboys rolled over the Jets, the temperature outside FINALLY dropped out of the 80's around here, and I enjoyed a tremendous Thanksgiving sirloin at Benigan's (the only thing open in Dallas on Turkey Day, besides IHOP, which sucks). What about all the family stuff? Well...
     
    At the last moment Thursday morning, sfaJill decided that she'd rather go with me and my dad to Dallas to watch the Cowboys than to her sister's house to hang out with that clan. Her reasoning was some crap about being together on our first Thanksgiving as husband and wife, but I think she just didn't want to deal with all the potential drama I wrote about last time. The plan was for us to go to the game and then hook up with her family upon getting back to Houston on Friday, which sounds easy enough.
     
    So Friday morning rolls around; her dad calls about 10:30 to find that we're still a few miles north of Houston's far northern suburbs. Plans are made for us to go home, get unpacked and call them back when we're ready to meet up (note: it took sfaJill nearly 15 minutes on the phone to decide THAT because God forbid anybody on her side make a decision about anything ever). Whatever. We've still got nearly an hour's drive to get home.
     
    Around noon, after we've gotten home and my dad has headed off to work, sfaJill and I are ready. She calls her dad back and thus begins another 20 minutes of that world-famous game "where do you want to eat?" The choices are finally narrowed down to Golden Corral (which is awesome) and this Chinese buffet near the house (which is also awesome), so, really, we can't lose either way. After some back and forth crap on the subject, I'm asked for my "opinion" (translation: nobody wants to decide everyone else's fate so they're going to try to get me to do it); I reply that since I had just eaten breakfast a few hours earlier, I'm not really hungry and thus don't really care where we go since I probably won't eat much either way (which actually was true). That frustrates sfaJill to no end, but it is somehow finally decided that Golden Corral is the choice.
     
    Not five minutes later, while sfaJill is still running around the house frantically searching for a hair brush to toss in her purse, the phone rings. I answer. It's my father-in-law.
     
    "Hello, Jack."
     
    "Hey, Martin."
     
    "We've got a change of plans."
     
    "Oh?"
     
    "Yeah, your mother-in-law wants to go to the Chinese place instead."
     
    Sigh. I swear...
     
    So, anyway, we all meet up at the Chinese place to find her dad, mom, brother, and 3-year-old nephew. No sign of sister or brother-in-law. We were told they didn't want to come. Good. That made the lunch actually kind of enjoyable because there is always less tension without sister there. Father-in-law even pcks up the check (score!).
     
    It was going really well...and then sfaJill invited everyone over to our house for the afternoon. The problem? They're not allowed to bring the nephew to our house, says mother-in-law. Apparently, sister has decided that since we had such a problem with his behavior the last time he was there that it's best if he just not go over to our house anymore. Thus, my in-laws are afraid of taking him here, out of fear he will mention to mommy that he was at Uncle Jack and Aunt Jill's house and then they will catch hell about it.
     
    (I should note that the "problem" with nephew's behavior last time was that he kept pulling cushions off our couches, jumping all over them/throwing them everywhere , and then didn't put them back on the couches after both sfaJill and I told him to stop. Sister wrote that off as "He's three! What, you think he can sit still for 10 minutes?" and after I told her "Uh, yeah" and sfaJill backed me up, sister's been "punishing" us for it ever since. This happened back in June, by the way.)
     
    sfaJill was PISSED.
     
    We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Sam's Club in an effort to spend some quality time together, but I wouldn't call it that. sfaJill and her mom did nothing but bitch about sister the whole time, which just made everyone but the kid unhappy. It was a long day that ended with an invitation (from the in-laws) to us to come to sister's house today for something called "turkey pie." I have no idea what that is. sfaJill said she doesn't want to go if she's not welcome there, to which her dad said "Well, I'M welcoming you". So, I think we're gonna go. Should be awkward silences for everyone!
     
    Yesterday was not a total waste though. I did find 7lbs of 90% lean ground beef for $16 at Sam's Club yesterday. Can't pass up a deal like that.
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