I'm going to try and do better, I promise.

See, I've been a really spotty poster lately, as I'm sure you've noticed.

It's not really my fault.

Or maybe it is, but you'll never hear me admit it.

Or maybe I just did.

In any event, the folks over at NaBloPoMo have issued me a challenge that I can't refuse. As you may (or may not) know, they now have monthly contests as well as their annual one.

I got an email from them, letting me know that next month's topic is 'change.'

At least one of you reading this will appreciate this topic.

It's also my birth month, so I've got one of those days coming up. Did I tell you that I share my birthday with my boss?

Yeah, wierd much?

So, keep your eyes peeled here for some change.

And Herman, I'm not ignoring you....I've just been less 'internety' lately.

That should change soon.

Buenos con queso,

T.

Welcome back, Kotter.....

Well, not really, you know, but I was stuck for a title (wierd i know) and that was the first thing that came to mind.

Oh, let's see...where to start....

I suppose it bears mentioning that we had a white Christmas:



Boy, I can't tell you what a joy it was to be out driving in that.

I have a few other photos that I'll get around to posting, but well, you know how I roll.

I had a pretty awesone Christmas, thanks for asking. Along with the traditional socks (thanks mom) I also got some conditioner, which I sorely needed (thanks sis), a Best Buy card (thanks again mom), and a Major Award.

I'll post pix of the Major Award later.....

I also wanted to share this with you, as I think it's one of the best parodies I've seen. I'm just glad someone took the time to put it up on Youtube:

Ragin Rudolph

That's all for now, I hope y'all had a good Christmas.

Oh, and my absence? I blame Fallout 3, and Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds.

Buenos con queso,

T.

Yeah, it's been a few days....

My only defense is that I've been busy as hell.

No, really.

Work has been nutsy fagin. We started doing 3 day auctions, and put 'buy it now' prices on some of our things, and for 3 straight days, all I did was pack and ship.

It was kinda hellish.

Only 3 more days until Christmas. Are you ready? Me neither.

It really doesn't feel like Christmas, even tho we did get a dusting of snow last night. I think the mountains got more, but I haven't really checked anything out yet.

In fact, all I've done so far this am is take a shower and pour a cup of coffee.

Well, and blog of course.

That will change shortly tho, as I do have to work today. It's a short week tho, cause we're closed on Christmas, so yay, another 3 day weekend.

Oh, and we're closed on New Year's Day, so I've got another 3 dayer in my future.

I know, don't I suck.

Buenos con queso,

T.

Texting is the new black.....

Well, for me anyhow.

I fucking love texting.

Yes, it's juvenille, and yes, it's more involved that actually making a phone call and talking to someone, but it wins in a couple other areas.

First and foremost, for $20 a month, all of us on my sis's plan get unlimited texting. No fucking minutes to worry about, no dropped calls....just pure, unadulturated communication.

Secondly, txting can be done while one is engaged in other activities, without much intrusion. I don't have to stop what I'm doing or stop talking to whomever I'm hanging out with, like you do when you receive a call.

I pause, of course, but txting takes less time, and it's much more to the point.

There are 2 kinds of txters, those that abbreviate wildly (do u no wht i mean) and those that do not. I tend to be a 'not,' but even so, I'm a pretty fast txter. I mean, I sometimes use '4' for 'for' (heh), and sometimes use 'u' for 'you', but for the most part, I use whole words.

What about the rest of you? Are you mad txters too? Well, if you are, and are brave enough to give out your number, email me (kvenya at gmail dot com), and I'll give you mine, and we can take our relationship to the txt level.

Buenos con queso,

T.

The Mystery of the Exploding Commode

Well, it didn't actually explode, but we did lose a toilet at work.

It was kinda wierd how it happened. I was in the bathroom taking a leak (or leaving on if you want me to be more accurate) and I noticed a crack in the tank lid.

I didn't say anything, because I was sure someone knew about it. That turned out not to be the case, however.

One of the mechanics used the restroom shortly after me, and then it was on.

Nobody knew how the lid got busted, but I guess upon further examination, it was decided that we needed a whole new unit.

I won't bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say that we were without a customer/men's bathroom for most of the day. Finally, we had to call a plumber to finish the install (took him all of 45 mins) before the end of the work day.

The upshot is this: Nobody knows what happened.

All I know is we have a new toilet in there now.

Buenos con queso,

T.

Existentialism and eBay.....

Well, maybe existentialism isn't the right word. I'm not really sure what the ideals are, but it's the word that came to mind when I read an email at work the other day.

It was on a listing we had placed for a DVD set of season 2 of ER, the medical drama that was so popular a while back. We had it listed at $9.95, with around ten buck shipping. After reading the email, I checked on it. There were several other season 2's on sale, and at least 2 of them being bid on at a higher price than ours.

I checked my listing for errors....spelling...context....had I accidently put in a link to some porn somewhere....I was really confused.

I can see from your blank expression that you don't understand...Ok, here's the email:




You might have to click on the to get a good look at it, but it's only one sentance.

It says simply 'what is wrong with you.'

I've thought long and hard, and I'm still at a loss.

Not that I don't know what's wrong with me....I've known that list for a long time...no, more puzzled at what prompted the question, what this person was thinking.

I mean, I really don't know.

I thought of prefacing my answer with 'Well, my therapist says,' and then just going on some rambling diatribe, explaining to this total stranger the nature of my psychosis....a total fiction, of course.

Or perhaps something more concise: I wet the bed. (also a fiction thankyouverymuch)

In the end, however, I did the same thing I do with every rude, stupid, misspelled, non-grammatically structured email I've gotten at work: I printed out a copy, put it in the 'failmail' folder, and came here to bitch about it.

Tomorrow: The mystery of the expoding commode...

Buenos con queso,

T.

It's been craptacular.....

My life lately, that is.

Thus the lack of blogging.

Even tonight, all I have is this: It snowed today. And not even really a lot or anything. It didn't stick to the groud....just in few places.

It was like the 'low speed chase' of snowstorms.

Totally lame.

Much like this post, but I get shit when I don't post, so make the choice. Total lameness like this, or blank pages....

Buenos con queso,

T.

Clay. It's rain, dead leaves, dust, all my dead ancestors. Stones that have been ground into sand. Mud. The whole cycle of life and death.

So, that's a quote from someone named Martine Vermeulen. I tried to find out more about her, but I was pretty much unsuccessful.

The quote, however, is relavant.

You see, Michael left me some clay to play with. Now, I don't have a wheel, or any real artistic talent (except with my camera or keyboard), but I've made a couple things that I kinda like.

The toughest part for me is that once I make my stuff and let it dry, I don't have the facilities to glaze/stain/fire it. This means that I have to send them to Michael for finishing.

I'm still very new to it, but I seem to remember playing with it as a kid, so maybe I'm just revisiting my roots.

Or something.

Anyhow, I've been working on small pieces, and what Michael likes to call 'coins' or 'change.'

I may post some pix, but I may not, just to preserve the surprise for M when I send him my stuff....

Hmmm...Anticipation or what?

Not much else going on really....I'm still hating the holiday music, we are still snow-free, and I still want to win the lottery (or some other fabulous money prize) and retire at an early age.

Ok, I must away.

Buenos con queso,

T.

Remember the days when I used to post like, 2 or 3 times a day?

Yeah, well, we won't be going back to that anytime soon.

Or will we?

Only time will tell.

This is, however, my second post of the day.

I set out today with the goal of donating blood. This was accomplished with a minimum of fuss, and was actually kind of fun. I actually did the thing where they take blood, pull the red blood cells out, and give you back the plasma.

It takes logner, but they can get 2 units of whole blood that way, and I figure, I'm not using it, so why not?



Had that been the sole funcion of my day, I would have been happy. Upon returning home, however, Pops asked me if I up for a run to a couple grocery stores. Light-headed from bloodloss, I agreed.

I did have to get my check, of course.

We went to Safeway, and then to the Salvation Army thrift store.

We also hit a (and i cant believe i dont have a photo of the) Bangkok Tokyo market. I did take pix of this:



Oh, and this as well:



Take a close look at that second one. If I ever saw an egg that looked like the ones on the label, pretty much the last word I'd be thinking is 'kindly.'

I guess I should also tell you that I'm at my buddy J's house. In direct opposition to the advice I received from the blood techs, I drank today.

Are you shocked? I mean, really?

I had a couple at the casino (lost my ass thanks for askiing) and the J told me that I needed to come over....do you see a pattern here....and, of course I had to go hang out with him.

Well, it's the subject of an upcoming post, but Michael will be happy to know that I was spreading change tonight.

And with that.....

Buenos con queso,

T.

Technology is coooool.....

As most of you have prolly surmised, either just from casual reading here, or from the fact that I have a tendency to gush about things technical on a semi-regular basis, I'm a tech nut.

It can be summed up pretty well by this phrase: 'If it's cool, and it's electronic, I want 2, and I pretty much want them.....yesterday.'

It's always been that way, and I'm not sure if it's just a guy thing, or if it has more to do with the era that I grew up in.

I mean, a lot of guys I know, they like tech, but it's very narrowly defined. My Pops, for example is all about the new HD TV's, but couldn't really care less about iPods, computers, or the next hot game console.

Hell, he doesn't even have (or know how to use prolly) a cell phone.

Me tho?

Yeah, I'm a whore for it.

I wait with bated breath for the next advance.

The cell phone that shoots video as well as still photos? Yup, got one.

Digital SLR? Yeah, got one of those too.

You already know I'm a slave to my PS3. Hell, I remember how stoked I was when CD's came out. Really? A whole album on this little thing?

That's so fuckin' cool.

Dvd's? Even cooler, cause there's so much more on one. Portable external hard drives? I have a 500 gig one. There's one thing I never got before, though, and I'm kinda glad I waited.

I'm referring, of course, to the USB flash drive. You know, that handy little thing you plug into one computer, transfer data to, and then plug into another computer to retrieve the data. Much quicker, eaiser, and fun than burning a cd/dvd. More cost efficent too, cause you don't waste the cd/dvd.

So, without further ado, I give you:



I know it's small, but that's just on the outside.

On the inside, this baby sports an unbelieveable 8 gigs of storage. According to Apple's website, an 8 gig nano can hold up to 2,000 songs in 128-Kbps AAC format, 7,000 iPod-viewable photos or up to 8 hours of video.

I know, right?

This tiny little thing holds as much as 2 DVD's. It's also made of stainless steel, and is water resistant. You can literally wash fingerprints off.

The best part? This little baby only set me back $19.99, and that was with free shipping. Yeah, less than 20 bux. I'm such a cheap date.

In Other News

Please give a big shout out to Kilamori. She's having her birthday today, and everyone likes birthday wishes. I know, most of you are shocked that I used a full name on my blog instead of an initial, but fear not: Kilamori is her EQ character's name, so I'm not betraying any confidences. I've known her for a good portion of my EQ career, and if all goes well, I may be visiting her and her hubby/family this summer. Cross your fingers.

Buenos con queso,

T.

And then the cops showed up and hauled him away.....

Working in a pawn shop, it might not surprise you to find out that I see cops in the store on a semi-regular basis. It's not that we're all that disreputable, but some of the folks getting loans from us are.

It's not like they show you in the movies. Not at all.

For one thing, you need a picture id to sell/get a loan against something. Most of the criminals in the movies never have one, and thus, in reality, would never get any money.

Secondly, you can't just 'trade some stuff for a gun.' Yes, we sell guns, quite a few actually (even more since mr anti gun won the presidency) but in order to walk out of our store with one, you need the aforementioned picture id, and you have to pass a background check.

This is accomplished with a phone call, and if you've been a good boy (or girl) it usually takes less than 10 minutes. If you have a common name, or a name similar to a fugitives, it can take up to 3 days. Either way, the state runs your name, and if you come up dirty, you leave empty handed.

Ok, I guess I've digressed enough. My only point was that I'm used to seeing cops in my store, and I've gotten further off track than I intended.

So yesterday, T (my boss) comes into my office, and says 'we need your office for a few minutes.' I look up and see two suits, obviously detectives, and G, a recent hire at the store.

I gathered up the jewelry I was working on, and headed out of my office to put it in the safe, my curiosity runnin' wild. I went out to the other computer I use regularly (work email and such) and waited until I could get back to listing. After a bit, one of the detectives came out of the office talking on his cell phone. Shortly after that, the other came out, and went into T's office, closing the door behind him.

He spent a few minutes in there, and then the two of them left, with G in tow.

And the worst part is, that's all we know. The cops didn't give us an explanation, they just swept him away, leaving his van parked at the store.

I haven't been in yet (obviously) so I don't know if there's any new inforama on the sitch, but if I hear anything, you'll be the first to know.

As if you care.

In other news....

I've got a couple posts I'm trying to get up, but something always seems to push them into the background.

Keep an weather eye out for 'Fun with peanuts,' 'Strange names,' and 'Technology rocks' sometime in the near future.

I hope.

Buenos con queso,

T.

You can take all the Christmas music and shove it up your ass.....

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I can't stand Christmas music.

Well, that's not entirely true, I suppose, but I really only need to hear the songs like, once a year, and then I'm done. That's not usually how it goes, though.

Take, for example, the radio station that they play at work. They're in their full on 'all Christmas, all the time' mode, and it's slowly driving me insane.

Or not so slowly.

Listening to holiday music all day long is a low-grade form of tortue.

Let's pick a song at random....or not, 'cause I know which one I'm going to use: Jingle Bell Rock. I like this song.

Kinda. It always takes me back to Mean Girls, which I suppose isn't the most butch admission I've ever made, but the other day I heard it five fucking times!!!!

I mean, really?

And it's not just that one, of course. I chose that song to prove a point. If I can get that fed up with a song that I kinda like, how pissed off do you think I am after hearing 'Silver Bells', or 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree' for the 3rd or 4th time.

In a day?

You have no fucking idea.

I mean, it's not like I'm a humbug or anything. I like Christmastime, and the holiday season in general, I just wish they didn't bombard us with the same old songs, 24/7 from November whateverth until December 25th.

C'mon radio stations/retail stores. Give us a break.

Buesno con queso,

T.

Did you ever have one of those days?

You know, the kind where work just kicks your ass?

Well, I that's what I had today.

I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that by then end of my shift, I was beat.

Dead fucking beat.

And it hasn't gotten any better.

I'm so tired right now, I can't tell you.

Well, I guess that's not really true, as I just did tell you, but you know what I mean. I'll try to do better tomorrow.

Buenos con queso,

T.

My week revolves around Monday now.....

You see, Monday is when they air my show.

Which, in case you don't know, is Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

The only problem I'm finding with this is that the show never lasts long enough. I mean, it's an hour and all (less commercials of course) but it's only 1/168th of a week.

I need more.

Sure, I can go online and watch past episodes (i fuckin love the net) but that just doesn't do it for me. Don't get me wrong, I've watched every episode of this season a couple times at least, and it's great and all, but...

I need more.

I guess I could move to Hollywierd and get a job on the show. Then I'd eat, sleep, and breathe the show. I'd also know what's gonna happen, cause I'd have a copy of the script every week.

Yeah, I think I'll try that.

Buenos con queso,

T.