Tuesday, August 29, 2006

There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright...

Ernesto

Tropical Storm Ernesto nears (above), and so preparations are underway here in Lauderdale. I'll probably spend most of the day/so Ernesto's around unpacking and maybe watching Muriel's Wedding (now that ABBA's Fernando is stuck in my head). That, and pondering how close "Lauderdale" is to "la-ti-da". And who knows, maybe I'll get to work tomorrow.

Anyways, all this less than a week after my birthday--woo-hoo (and either the crewU'rs have taken a break from reading or my birthday message was just too subtle).

And now that some minor guilt has been laid, I will go off on my search for bunny ears for the t.v.

Can you hear the drums, Fernando?
I remember long ago another starry night like this
In the firelight, Fernando
You were humming to yourself and softly strumming your guitar
I could hear the distant drums
And sounds of bugle calls were coming from afar

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Here comes the rain again, falling on my head like a memory

It has not been a terribly productive week, so far.

After the grand moving of all my big stuff on Saturday, I've not really managed to move much else. I talked myself out of moving stuff on Monday and Tuesday nights, and managed to get a little moved yesterday. I've gotten a few random bits over tonight and will hopefully get more later.

But at the moment, it's raining... again. It's been raining off-and-on all week, and unlike Texas that means it's been going from brightly sunny to darkly overcast throughout the day. In Texas, it just be dark and gloomy the whole time. The other main difference is that seemingly with every storm, lightening has been massively close. On Monday morning, as I was getting ready to leave for work, this meant that there were a strike or two at the end of the block (the kind were the lightening and thunder were on top of each other).

But atleast the only close to bad thing that's happened this week is that I got soaked Tuesday at lunch, when a downpour started while I was out and about... c'est la vie.

Now, if the rain would just let up at the moment, I might get back to moving stuff. Otherwise, I'll just be left to continue pondering why, with all the lightening and the practice cancellations it causes, are there no indoor pools in the area???


Here comes the rain again
Raining in my head like a tragedy
Tearing me apart like a new emotion

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Someday you will find me caught beneath a landslide, in a champagne supernova in the sky

Yesterday vs. Today

Well, after a long day yesterday, and with monsterous help by fellow-Masters swimmer Joel, all heavy objects have been moved into the new place.



The first picture is yesterday around 3:00 p.m., when all objects were moved over. The second picture is today around 3, after something this have been put away and most of the big items have been placed where they're to stay.



As for the bedroom, it's going well... the bed's partially in the closet, and I've got hanging space issues (again) but nothing I can't work with. Beside, now the bathroom is fairly easy to get to. There's still some clutter tho... (of course).


How many special people change
How many lives are living strange

Thursday, August 17, 2006

99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer...

I have made my first of 3 zillion mortgage payments... Actually, I have initiated the first of 362 payments (so if we equate that to days of the year, it means I've actually woken up on New Year's Day--all is quiet).

1 down, 361 to go...
atleast in 7 days when the payment gets to the bank (it's to be delivered by August 24, and won't actually be started until tomorrow--after hours requesting et al.).

I've now paid 0.08% of my loan off--woo-hoo! Course 88% of my payment today went to interest (statistics can be a bad thing sometime... maybe all the time). The cool part: I paid a whopping $9.69 extra, which will save me $74.54 over the life of the loan.

Exciting, I know... but then again, what do you expect from 99 bottles of beer as the subject???


As an attempt to compensate/reward you for making it through this post, here's a quote from H2G2 :

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof was to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."



Take one down
Pass it around
98 bottles of beer on the wall...

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

I fight authority, authority always wins...

After spending 30 minutes at the West Broward County Courthouse, I'm now the owner of a (as in 1) Florida license plate. And for the amount of money I forked over to get it, I would've thought they would've given me 2. But, apparently, cars only have a plate on them here, so only the back. On the plus side, I now can put my license plate frame on my car--which aren't really legal in Texas anymore (they block the plate from being identified).

I also had to pay cash or check, which almost screwed everything up, but amazingly I brought my checkbook with me (it was a last minute add).

As for the move, it continues. After a snubbing at a nameless store the other night, I vowed to not buy some shelves from them and instead headed to Home Depot. And at HD not only did I find a better set of shelves, but they were cheaper! (6 shelves for $20). That's them above, already loaded with most of my VHS collection and wedged under the shelf in my closet.

And also at HD, for $6 I picked up the little tool kit at left (which helped me put the shelves together).


All-in-all, not a bad trip.





They like to get you in a compromising position
They like to get you there and smille in your face
They think, theyre so cute when they got you in that condition
Well I think, its a total disgrace

Monday, August 14, 2006

Baby let me show you how to do this, you've got to move this, you're doing fine...

As the vast emptiness around the table indicates, moving of the big furniture did not happen this weekend.

Actually, vast probably isn't the right word: it implies way more space than is actually there. So I guess it's just emptiness. (KC, are you privy to the vocab lesson?)

Anyways, I didn't get the big stuff moved this weekend (i.e. bed, dresser, sofa, etc.), due to various issues (no truck rented, last minute friend visit, I'm not strong enough to lift the stuff by myself, etc...). So, instead, I spent the weekend doing a couple of carload moves, and sorting through the various junk mail that's already managed to find me at the new place (there are way too many mortgage life insurance companies around). Oh!, and I managed to take the legs off of the table, transport it over, and put it all back together. Amazing, I know... no, need to applause (maybe).

So, all-in-all, terribly exciting, once again. About the only--other--newsworthy bit, is that I got an explanation of the affect/effect difference today that might actually affect my being able to tell them apart to create the desired effect (but it's probably too early to call).

I should get back to movin'...


Baby let me show you how to do this
You've gotta move this
You're doin fine...
There's nothin to it
You gotta groove it
Come on and move this
Shake that body for me

Friday, August 11, 2006

She says she talks to angels, says they call her out by her name...

So, thanks to the World Series of Pop Culture, I've got She Talks to Angels stuck in my head (Erin does as well--but I so rocked! the 90 lyrics category). It was just lead up to watching Project Runway, anyways... so only slightly annoying that it got stuck there (Vincent still needs to go, btw).

But otherwise, been a fairly dull week. I started carting stuff over to the new place Tuesday night (which made my lower back sore), ran some more stuff over Thursday night and tonight, and on all three nights proceeded to go eat sweaty into various restaurants--such fun. What else? Let's see, I registered to vote in FL last week, and last night I got FL car insurance (so I can get my FL license plates)--which I had to switch from my Texas provider so my rates would double.

And tomorrow, I'm still thinking of trying to move all my big heavy stuff... course I don't know what I'm moving it in, just yet, having not contacted rental truck places or whatever. Added to this is the fact that one of my old friends from TX, Karen, is in town tomorrow and I'm gonna try to meet up with her for lunch before she jets back to Oklahoma.

Hmmm, and from exciting work land, I can tell you that there is a school whose mascot is the Fightin' Squirrels, the Fighting Sioux are fighting the NCAA, there are things called Ooks; and I would be remiss if I failed to mention the Keelhaulers or the Gettysburg College Bullets.

She talks to angels,
Says they call her out by her name
Oh yeah, yeah, angels
Call her out
They call her out, by her name

Monday, August 07, 2006

And I know that he knows I'm unfaithful, and it kills him inside...

Over the weekend I had Rihanna's "Unfaithful" stuck in my head, for some reason. I don't particularly like the song, yet it was still stuck in my head. And I don't completely understand why it's called "Unfaithful" and not "Murderer", which is the obvious choice, to me. But then again, Rihanna's 12 (or 18), so I guess she's kinda too young to have a song called "Murderer"... that and she's not much of a gangster (thankfully).

As for the weekend, it went. I didn't get much moving done, which means I'll have to pick up the pace, and I didn't get all my work done (which sucks even more). I did finally manage to get my oil change, which was good--I worried that my engine was about to burn out.

And I got to read a bit more of Hitchhiker's Guide, so now I'm wonder what the question is to "42", and enjoying the fact that Editor Lig Lury is "Missing, Presumed Fed". That, and trying to plot what next to move (not a SEP, unfortunately)...


I don't wanna do this anymore
I don't wanna be the reason why
Everytime I walk out the door
I see him die a little more inside
I don't wanna hurt him anymore
I don't wanna take away his life
I don't wanna be...
A murderer

Friday, August 04, 2006

Hey, hey, I saved the world today...

After a few weeks of procrastination, I went and saw An Inconvenient Truth last night. I quite enjoyed it: the movie was both educational and engaging. Given the semi-technical topic matter (global warming), the latter was a significant achievement.

It's was apparently good that I saw it last night, too, as it's no longer playing where I saw it (that, and it wasn't ridiculously crowded in the area, like it can be on the Friday nights when I have been going).

As for the movie, itself, it does a good job of explaining the science/research behind global warming, and even mentions where the average person, like me, can go to get more information about how I can do things to help: the website: www.climatecrisis.net or you can check out the book version.

Maybe even reduce my carbon footprint some...

Oh, and congrats to Casey, who dropped 5 seconds in her 800 today, despite her cap ripping as she was getting onto the blocks.


Some days there's nothing left to learn
From the point of no return
You're leaving

Hey, hey, I saved the world today
Everybody's happy now
The bad things gone away
And everybody's happy now
The good thing's here to stay
Please let it stay

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Video killed the radio star

Happy birthday MTV! (it's 25 today). Had I but-known that, I would have delayed my closing until today... well, that, and I would've avoid getting pro-rated a day of insurance at closing, and maybe would've had an entire additional month before I had to start making payments

But, then again, Tropical Storm Chris officially formed today near the Leeward Islands, and that would've prevented the closing from happening (apparently, you can't close while there's a named stormed formed). So, instead of wondering when Chris will go away (completely), I'm left instead to ponder whether/not MTV killed the video.

That, and what was that guy thinking running on the beach in just a thong?!? (at least he was in decent shape)

Video killed the radio star
Video killed the radio star...