One Blog Given

Been awhile

2009-06-22T17:13:00.000-07:00

I haven't been here in awhile. Odd for a blog's author to post that on his blog but there you go.

I don't have much to say I guess and that is why I am not posting. I like my Ducks but I am not the most knowledgeable so I let other people write about them.

I go to work and then go home so I don't talk about other things as much.

I guess I will try to post more when thoughts enter my head.

2009 and counting

2009-01-16T11:58:00.000-08:00

It is now 2009. I have not posted in awhile and I will tell you why. Back in October I had a co-worker that went on maternity leave. I got her work. That was fantastic. Now of course I was not caught off guard by her maternity leave. But she had to leave a month early. That is where I was blind sided.

See, the accounts that she works on had January programs and those would have been mainly completed during that last month. I got to do those instead.

Along with all my normal amounts which seem to double at the end of the year. Good times.

On to a happier note - the wife and I just celebrated our 10 year anniversary by going to San Francisco. We had a good time but that was the first walking workout I've had in awhile.

I posted pictures to my facebook account. If you follow me, find them. If you don't, find me.

I'm hoping to go through and post more of my office stories, but we'll see. If they find this blog then it might cause havoc.

I've been having fun on twitter since more people I know are on there. I'm trying to branch out on there, but we'll see if that is just a dream of today or an actuality.

See ya in 09.

Here's what I hate!

2008-07-15T17:00:00.000-07:00

I have a sales person that I work for on their accounts. The thing that really annoys me is when they say "Sure we can do that!" without ever consulting the people that do the leg work. Oh it's 4 o'clock and you need that by the end of the day. Sure. Of course I have no idea the amount of time or energy it takes to do this product but I will put a deadline on it.

"You want to get that ad out in under a month and some of the newspapers are on the other side of the country and you don't have artwork yet. No prob."

"You want to add new stores and see a profile. We can get that to you tomorrow no sweat."

When you a limited knowledge of Office products and can't do anything by yourself you should not be the barometer on the speed at which projects can be/are accomplished. I kind of hate having to "pull off the impossible" in order to just get my job done. It's tiring. If the economy wasn't so bad and I was afraid I would possibly lose my job I would miss one of these just to show what happens.

Sorry for the rant but I got this again this afternoon and I'm a little angered.

The Dirty Slacker

2008-06-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

Today is the Dirty Slacker. This guy owns the office where you have to walk as if in a mine field. Walk around the piles, don't step on any paperwork, hopefully you'll make it out alive. When not on a deadline, he comes in late, takes an extended lunch, and I think watches videos on his monitor. Not sure.

To give him credit he does stay late most days to make up for the time, but there is no guarantee that he works. I need to set up a spy cam.

When the boss gets on his case he does work and gets stuff out. But that is not on a dedicated basis.

Here's the problem - this is the guy in charge of the finances, IT and insurance. That's right - in charge of my income and health. Some days this does not invoke confidence. Whenever we need vendors to be paid it is always a break the system and get it done. Getting one check out the door takes manipulation, skill, and a few hours. And that is not a sure thing.

Here's a last tidbit - when clients come in and we have to dress up he wears dockers and a Hawaiian shirt. Because those have buttons. Classic.

8:30 am

2008-06-04T14:19:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it is not good to be dependable.

I work for a relaxed company. I get to wear jeans and t-shirts most days. We look good when we need to, but no Dockers 5 days a week for me. This is one fringe benefit that I get and enjoy.

When I started about 4 years ago I was used to being on time, dressing nice, the usual. Punctuality is ingrained in my DNA especially. Here's where that goes wrong.

I have become the 8:30 guy. See, our office officially opens at 8:30 but most of the employees do not. I work for a small company where the number of managers and the number of associates are almost equal. I get that managers can come in a little later. They have put in the time and earned the right. But when other associates come in at 8:40, :45, 9, that is when it gets to me.

See if I show up at 8:40 now, it seems like I am late. Of course that's the day when they need the door opened and the phone answered at 8:30. They blame me. Because I am the 8:30 guy.

The days I am sick they have to figure out the opening process all over again because they hardly ever do it.

The worst is when I have a busy day and have to stay late. When you are the one to unlock in the morning and lock at night - life sucks. There is nothing more tangible than that to say "Hey you worked the most today. Bet you can't wait for tomorrow."

Perhaps I need to be late every once in a while.

The Hacker

2008-06-04T14:08:00.000-07:00

This is the first in what will be an ongoing saga of my current work experience. The first person that I will describe is The Hacker. They are not technologically adept as you might expect by the name. No, the name refers to when they have the sniffles.

This person is normally loud to begin with. You know, the one who has the door to their office closed and yet you can hear everything because they think the louder they get in conversations the more you can hear them. Well, when they have the sniffles it gets 10x worse.

The phlegm at the back of their throat "must" be cleared out. Loudly. In the middle of the office. Certain days feel like you are in a hospital ward when the Plague still existed.

If this were not bad enough, manners would at least help the situation. A hand in front of the mouth, CLOSING the mouth, apologizing, something. Nope. Just endless throat clearing.

Those days are fun.

Twitter!

2008-06-02T08:16:00.000-07:00

I have become obsessed with Twitter thanks to Mattrix. This is a site that you update what you are doing and only have 140 characters to do it in. It's shorter than a blog post but enough to get your point across. I have Twitterberry for my new blackberry and it makes it extremely easy to update and check what others are doing.

I have posted my updates on the sidebar of this blog too. I don't know what people will do with the information but I love the idea and am already hooked after about a week.

Do you Twitter? Then follow me!

Work life

2008-05-29T22:04:00.001-07:00

I don't talk about work much here. Mainly because with my luck the first post will be seen by people from work. But since it consumes the highest percentage of my day it is the subject that I have the most to talk about.

I will be posting updates and anecdotes as I go along but since I've been there over 3 years I have some stories saved up for a rainy day.

Anything you want to hear about?

Like mud

2008-05-28T22:15:00.001-07:00

Have you ever walked in a river or near the shore of a lake that has mud that sucks your feet in?

Every step takes twice as long and is twice as hard. The smallest effort takes all your energy.

Yeah, that's how my brain felt today.

Stanley Cup Finals

2008-05-27T22:25:00.001-07:00

The Stanley Cup finals are two games in and it appears that the Western Conf. team has things well in hand.

The Detroit Red Wings are shutting down the young Penguins. Part of me is really glad that the "face" of the NHL and his team is not doing well.

I'm also glad that this is still showing the current dominance of the West. We'll see as game 3 is tomorrow.

Indiana Jones

2008-05-26T21:24:00.001-07:00

We went with the fam on Sat. To watch Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I really enjoyed it. The music, the sound effects, the one liners - they were able to take me back. Don't get me wrong, this wasn't Raiders. But then again is anything?

If you haven't seen it (anyone?), and you like action movies, then you should see it.

Test email post

2008-05-26T15:31:00.000-07:00

This is a test to see what a post from email to Blogger looks like. Maybe I'll be able to post more if this works.

Tell me what you think.

Blackberry

2008-05-16T15:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it was time for cell phone updates and I went all out on this one. I had money saved up from bday fun and got myself a Blackberry Curve 8330. It actually doesn't work as a phone right now due to changes to the plan that we had earlier in the cycle. But come the 22nd I'll be up and ready. I love playing with the BB and I can see what people get addicted.

Hopefully I won't go overboard, but I can say that there is a chance.

Now I'll be able to get Ducks and friend updates no matter where I am.

Ducks Out

2008-04-21T17:22:00.000-07:00

Well, the unthinkable happened last night. The Ducks were eliminated from the playoffs. Sad day indeed. I was able to watch the game with friends so that was fun, but the outcome was not. Since this is the first time in awhile the Ducks have been out this early it's a little time to fathom.

Hopefully some rest and good moves this summer helps us have another great year next year.

Recent Changes

2008-04-09T09:44:00.000-07:00

So, a lot has happened since I last posted. Cristi and I moved to Rancho Santa Margarita to a 2 bedroom apt.

Cristi got a new job that starts on Monday.

The Ducks made the playoffs.

It's been a little crazy all around with changes happening every day. It's hard to get used to things. It was the first time in about 7 years that we had moved so it's an adjustment.

Zoe loves having a room and bathroom of her own. She got a big bed and has all her toys at her fingertips. Loves it.

We love not having to get up to take her out of her crib in the morning!

Hopefully I'll remember to post more and give more updates.

Frustration

2008-02-07T12:12:00.000-08:00

One of the aspects of my job is making sure the things that we order get to the place that they are supposed to on time. Most of the time they do. When the place that is supposed to receive their ads says they haven't arrived, it creates a panic.

Yesterday I spent 3 hours and stayed late in order to track ads all the way back to the place that said they hadn't received them. They were in their warehouse. Already.

No apology. Just a "Yep, we found them." As if the boxes of ads were playing hide and seek.

Not a great way to end yesterday.

That's okay. The Ducks play tonight and I get to watch Selanne play once again. (More on that in an upcoming post)

Updates!

2008-02-06T16:35:00.000-08:00

Coming soon to this blog - actual posts.

I will be providing excruciating minutia about what has occurred recently. Prepare to be blown away.

Ducks v. Coyotes 11-7

2007-11-08T14:37:00.000-08:00

Last night's game was better than Monday's. We scored 5 goals total and came back from a two goal deficit.

Unfortunately the Coyotes scored 6 goals. The last one happened with 30 seconds left in overtime. There were some flashes of great offense, lots of shootings and hits, and good defense. But there were some bad plays that caught us in the end.

We still have a really good team. It's just disappointing to lose. Luckily our division is not doing as well as a whole, so there is time to catch up and move. It seems like all the pieces are there. We just have to put them together. I know the guys are working hard. I just hope they see the reward.

Zoe and Halloween

2007-11-06T10:51:00.000-08:00

This is Zoe as Jesse from Toy Story 2. This is what I call her "magazine" shot. Very adorable.

This is her in her "No more pictures" look. Hard not to laugh even though she is serious.

This is her in the traditional Princess dress. She likes going around in this getup.

Game Last Night

2007-11-06T10:34:00.000-08:00

It's still been too long. Oh well.

I was able to go to the Ducks game last night. It was my 5th or 6th game so far. Thanks Ebay. Well, last night's game was not as fun as some of the previous games. The Ducks had a good first period and they were only down 1-0.

But in the second they fell apart. They ended up losing the game 5-0. There were some great hits and the Ducks had a chance. Hopefully they will have a good game tomorrow.

I will be posting some pictures of Zoe for Halloween soon. Stay tuned.

Recently

2007-09-25T11:43:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been awhile since I have updated. I will give you a list of that which has been happening recently.

1. I have touched and been with the Stanley Cup. (see left) This is the Cup that was recently won by the Anaheim Ducks.

2. I have been walking/running. I have done close to 40 miles in the last two months. I need more time at night and with new shows starting that is going to be difficult.

3. Zoe turned 2 last week. We haven't done anything big, but a lot of little things.

4. The house, due to the busy schedules, is a mess. It's been a little crazy.

5. Apple has released new ipods. My gadget/music taste buds have been drooling, but I must save and wait for purchasing. Hopefully by the time I save up all the bugs and problems will be solved. That's my silver lining.

6. Work. Busy, busy, busy. I come in, sit down, go constantly, take a lunch, go constantly, go home. I haven't had anything gigantic. Just A LOT of little projects that have hiccups all the way through them.

That's it.

Additions

2007-08-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

I have added a couple of things to the sidebar recently. The first is for iTunes, which I am a huge fan of.

The second and third are from Nike plus. They have made a lot of improvements and additions since I started doing this last year. If you have a nano and want to get in shape, I really recommend this.

If you have any questions, let me know.

Also, the Ducks preseason is now 3 weeks away. GO DUCKS!

Newscasters as celebrities?

2007-08-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

Something has been annoying me lately. The idea that people who are hosts of news shows are now celebrities themselves. You know, how the hosts of shows like Entertainment Tonight are taken as celebrities.

Years ago, this never would have happened. Nobody would be like, "Walter Cronkite, who are you wearing?" or you wouldn't see the headline "Where was Ed Sullivan this weekend?"

It seems that once you are on TV that's it, you are a celebrity.

How to get visitors

2007-08-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

I figured out ways to drive up traffic to your blog. There are several.

1. You can post about politics and take completely extreme viewpoints.

"Let's go ahead and turn Montana into a holding place for all undesirables. Then we can send the research and development departments of our major medical companies there to do free testing."

2. You can post about the latest IT gadget and claim to have inside information that cannot be substantiated.

"The next iPod will have your choice of a 60GB flash drive or a 120 GB hard drive, come with a touch click wheel and have a built in wifi to listen to your iTunes over the air."

3. You can post music like the mp3 of Hey there Delilah, Umbrella, or about 50 Cent.

Do you have other sure-fire ways to drive traffic?

Aging

2007-08-13T11:18:00.000-07:00

Do you have those "Uh Oh, I'm getting older" moments. Like a co-worker is talking about their weekend and how their night starts at 10:30 pm. The only thing I'm thinking is "That's kinda late".

I can still listen to music that's turned up. Unfortunately it takes about 30 minutes to hear anything afterwards.

I still have all my original parts though!