Silly Stuff

Well, I should have known. Things rarely go as I plan. I ended up missing lunch. I wasn’t that hungry since we had a Welcome Back Breakfast (not Welcome Back, Breakfast) at work for an employee who came back after she had a heart attack…

Anyway, plan SOCA has entered a new phase I like to call Actually Making An Attempt™. More news later.

In the meantime, I’m having fun with BlogLines. I subscribed to a feed at Flickr that contains cameraphone photos that people send to the image hosting service for posting on their blogs or emailing to people. It’s interesting to see what people take photos of. Street signs in Japanese, random people, buildings, concerts… it provides much needed entertainment for my otherwise dull, corporate day.

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful, a miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical. And all the birds in the trees, well they’d be singing so happily, joyfully, playfully watching me. But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible, logical, responsible, practical. And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable, clinical, intellectual, cynical.

There are times when all the world’s asleep, the questions run too deep for such a simple man. Won’t you please, please tell me what we’ve learned, I know it sounds absurd, but please tell me who I am.

Now watch what you say or they’ll be calling you a radical,
liberal, fanatical, criminal. Won’t you sign up your name, we’d like to feel you’re acceptable, respecable, presentable, a vegetable!

(Repeat chorus.)

I celebrated the new year tonight with my father, his girlfriend, her son, and several of their friends. It’s wonderful to have a really nice meal once in a while. Challah, gefilte fish, chicken liver, horseradish, matzah ball soup, turkey, brisket, kugel, broccoli, dessert. If every day were a holiday, I’d be set.

Well, technically the day was Darren‘s since it was his birthday. He posted a picture of me from sixth grade or so, and I felt it was only fair I do the same. Although he claimed it was in response to something I did, what I did wasn’t nearly as public.

I hope he had a great birthday—I heard a rumor there was some sort of dinner involved. Click on the picture for some instant gratification, for lack of a better term.

Here’s a promise to myself: I will not miss the Perseids this year, like I normally do. I’ve even added it to my calendar.

I’m off to Giants Stadium to work at the drum corps show. It’ll be a reunion with people I used to work with, who have all left the organization for their own variety of reasons…

I spent a whopping thirteen hours in Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure yesterday, and enjoyed every minute of it. Here are the photographs to prove it. Some of the highlights include the Tower of Terror, Muppet*Vision 3D, the Electrical Parade, the Indiana Jones Adventure, test-driving a Segway HT at Innoventions, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Space Mountain and Splash Mountain were closed.

The best thing in the parks is called FastPass. Using this saved me and Becca more than an hour of waiting time. Instead of waiting on line for the popular rides, we picked up a ticket for each. The ticket told us what time to return when we could move close to the front of the line. Between receiving the FastPass and our return time, we did some activities that did not require a wait.

At the end of the night we saw the fireworks. It had to be one of the most beautiful displays of fireworks I’ve ever seen, and it was timed well with the music. It was also probably the most expensive fireworks show I’ve seen put on, and they do it every day. That’s amazing… but I guess it’s just part of the magic of Disney.

Boaters find kitten swimming 3 miles offshore in Gulf of Mexico. I miss having kittens.

I think I’m tired of the name “Spike.” No one has called me Spike since high school — a good ten years ago — and I’m thinking of moving on. I re-adopted the nickname a few years ago when I decided I needed a more anonymous internet identity. I still need a slightly anonymous identity, but I just don’t know if Spike fits. Maybe there’s something out there that fits my personality, whatever that is, if I even have one. If you have any suggestions, they’re welcomed here. If you don’t have any suggestions, they’re still welcomed.

Today’s post-midnight thought: If I were a cicada, my hacker handle would be bRo0d/X.

Michelle’s up and running with Movable Type and Mark V. Shaney has been writing again..

Today I…

• Had a nap-dream about moving up in an elevator, floor by floor. Yeah, I shouldn’t be napping, but it just kind of happened.
• Got a call back from one of my job prospects and set up an interview for Thursday.
• Received a tour of a few towns along the Jersey shore (Bradley Beach, Ocean Grove, Asbury Park, and Deal) where I saw some nice things such as the Great Auditorium, a factory where the best marimbas in the world are made, and the house “shaped” like a grand piano that Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley apparently sold to “Arabs…”
• Gave my music theory class their final. I’m happy that class is over…
• Watched Office Space Wars and laughed out loud.