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Wednesday: November 01, 2006 - Several Pets We have a pet rat at our office. Actually several. Actaully since we've seen two we probably have upwards of 30. The one residing closest to me I have named Donald and the rabid one that we see on the front porch I've named Top. Neither are New York sewer-sized rats but they are definitely not mice. Top runs in rabid circles with no fear of human contact. Donald, clearly the brains of the outfit, has but a single path--from the fridge to the conference room and back, similar to my own daily path. I feel obligated to mention at this time that we also have a cat in our office and it belongs to possible the smartest person I know, our programmer Liz. Her cat, Tuxedo, is a hunter but has yet to try to eat Donald. Don't get me wrong--even though I have named these rodents I want them dead and I don't care how cruel their passing is.

For my birthday Jamie got me some more tropical fish for my fish tank. Yesterday I found a snail in that same tank so I asked her if she had bought a snail and she said no. Apparently this magical snail arrived when I took the stucco plants from the office tank of my boss, Kurt. They were very nice, high quality decorations so I greedily took them when offered. However, they sat in the conference room for at least a week because I kept forgetting them. Once they made it to my car they sat in there for at least two weeks before finally making into the tank. Somehow this snail, who spends all day underwater, was able to live for a month with no water or food AND in open air. I remember when I was at FSU said probably the most profound animal-comment I've heard after I voiced my conernes about Chompy (then Ginger) dying while I was at class. He said, "Dogs are self-preserving animals; they don't want to die in your apartment either". And it's true. They don't. Happy November. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Thursday: November 02, 2006 - Professional Interview I've decided that my life would be much, much better if I had journalists interview me after every day. Not just any journalists but those women ESPN sends down at halftime to talk to college football coaches. I'm sure they were first in their broadcasting classes in Columbia but come on. Not to say that men do any better in these interviews but at least men like football (present company accepted).

Broadcaster: So Mike, tell us about that first JavaScript error.
Me: Well, I knew I needed to put the correct characters on the screen and I just wasn't doing it.
Broadcaster: What are you going to do the rest of the day to try to combat this?
Me:Well, I'm going to come out and try to not mistype.
Broadcaster: So you're going to try to make sure your fingers are not hitting the wrong keys?
Me: Well, it's a job of finesse--a large part of it is making sure you're not just hitting the wrong keys but hitting right keys too.
Broadcaster: If you do successfully get that web service written how are you going to feel?
Me:Well, I reckon I'll probably feel pretty darn good.
Broadcaster:And if it doesn't get done?
Me::Well, I reckon I'll probably feel bad but right now I just have to focus on making sure my inner.HTML's have periods in the right place.
Broadcaster:That's it from down here! Back to Large Blackman in the studio!

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Weekend: November 05, 2006 - Pick Me, Choose Me I spent most of my time this weekend studying for the GRE, which I am taking on Tuesday. I have been scoring over 1000 and while that is only around the 60th percentile that's all I care about. My single-word skills are pretty darn good. I can analogize and antonymize all day long but I don't think my math skills will ever return. In more exciting news FSU managed to win in a 33-0 shutout over UVA. Jamie had gotten us good seats as a birthday present and it was nice to see the home team win. I also have reclaimed my rightful place as the #1 College Pick'Em'R after picking Wake to upset BC (Go Kathy!). [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Monday: November 06, 2006 - eGREgrious Tomorrow is the GRE. All I did was study. I've done no work in reading comprehension nor in writing. Not to say those things are beyond hope but cramming won't work for that like it will with math. I think because I studied so much over the weekend I was really smart all day today. I was solving difficult problems all day even though they didn't involve square roots or radii. I think being able to determine if things are true, false, not true or not false is a more important skill anyway.

PUPDATE: Congratulations to who will be flying to TCU for the last round of interviews. Yeah buddy. I got a combined 1210 on the GRE. 670 Verbal / 540 Math. Almost the inverse of what I got in 2001. I didn't get one single geometry question even though I focused 80% of my math time there. Oh well, it met the two main requirements: a) over 1000 and b) it's done. :) [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Wednesday: November 08, 2006 - SimLost With Lost now over until February there's only one thing that can replace it: SimCity 4. But enough about that, let's get back to Lost. First of all, are Jin and Sun still alive? Shouldn't they have been with Sayid? I've heard rumors (from Jamie) that one of the characters is going to come out this season. Glancing quickly through my mind's eye's list of characters I don't see any good candidates. Boone was probably the only one that met the looks/grooming standards and he's long-dead. Desmond's got the looks but the hygiene is too suspect. Hurley is definitely not in shape enough. John Locke? Charlie? I bet it's Juliette. I'm calling it now--Juliette.

There is no way Sawyer dies. I must have said this fifty times during the episode. No way. It seems as though Kate was the only one of the three who The Others actually wanted. Weird. What could Kate have? And if they can leave whenever they want and surely have contact with the outside world, why did Ben leave for surgery at a real hospital? Where are all the kids that we saw in Season 2 that were marching around with The Others? Where's Daniella? Why did Desmond get the ability to see into future? Hopefully all of these will be answered in February. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Thursday: November 09, 2006 - McSteamy I'm not sure when we're going to play poker again but I hope it's sometime soon. Since everyone had plans I watched Rutgers sneak past Louisville and a less than interesting Grey's Anatomy. Now that the Democrats have formally won I'm concerned that my time to get in this anti-Republican joke is drawing to a close. Why don't Republicans use bookmarks? Because they just bend over the pages. My very liberal neighbor told me that. Jamie and I most likely have tickets to the Wake Forest game so we can go watch FSU lose at home again. At least this time it will be to a ranked team and not NC State. Have a nice weekend. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Weekend: November 12, 2006 - Big Trouble Chompy Before she was Chompy, she was Ginger. Before she was Kathy Smith, she was Kathy Biddick. Mind you, this was long ago. Let me take you back to a time. How far back? Far, far back. Kathy and I were on a trip to the beach, my new dog Ginger in tow. We were Kathy's RAV4 and Ginger was exiled to do her shedding in the cargo area in the back while we rocked out to Boston in the front. Ginger, possibly starving for food or upset to leave the house decided to have a little snack. A seat-belt snack. She managed to chew threw a good half of the middle seat-belt. Flash forward to today with Kathy Smith trying to get her car certified in Virginia. She can't because Chompy had chewed that seat-belt! Fortunately Fed-Chris had a friend at work who saved me a ton of money in the replacing of it. Dogs have many hidden expenses. Don't forget it. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Monday: November 13, 2006 - My So Called Life There are a lot of things wrong on my work computer. I get duplicates of just about every non-spam email and triplicates from a couple people in the office. Instant Messenger works about 10% of the time and Photoshop does weird things like superimpose pictures of Abby in the background. My home computer isn't much better. It takes about 45 minutes for it to start up so it lives in a constant state of Standby. It sits behind my TV, cover off, so it doesn't overheat although I did just buy a new power supply last week.

My brother Steve will not be coming to the FSU Homecoming game against WMU. Marty is still planning on the trek so we will once again be reminded what it's like to have more than two friends (thanks Ricky and T-Chris!). I got my transcripts from FSU yesterday and the very top line was my GRE scores. I probably did not have to retake it again. I outscored 2006 by 100 points plus it has the ever-impressive ANAL 800 on it. Soon that will be replaced by the WRTNG: LOL! I'm thinking I might like to write the great American novel except for that it wouldn't really have a point in a Steinbeckian or Hemmingway way. I need to go on that Deal or No Deal show so I can win $100k (I'm not greedy...that greedy) and then take a year off to cruise across the country with Chompy and take candid photos of us visiting Nebraska's largest ball of string. I think it'll be a good book and you should buy it. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Tusday: November 14, 2006 - Jeff Bowden Resigns Joy. Bliss. Cheer. Comfort. Delectation. Delight. Ecstasy. Elation. Exalutation. Felicity. Gaiety. Gladness. Glee. Hybilance. Merriment. Mirth. Pleasure. Rapture. Revishment. Refreshment. Rejoice. Satisfaction. Wonder.

I looked up "joy" on thesaurus.com to see which word to use to describe my feeling that Jeff Bowden resigned. The problem was that they all just seemed so darn appropriate. I didn't hate the player, I just hated the game. Especially the part of the game called for HB draws on 3rd and 20. I don't doubt that Mark Richt's shoes were difficult to fill but seriously. Insteading of blaming the coaches you could blame the players--just look at Louisville. They're Heisman-shoe-in RB was hurt the first game of the season and their Heisman-shoe-in QB got knocked out just shortly after that. Look at where they ended up--oh, oh, wait. Until they lost to Rutgers they were #3 in the country without them. Hmm, I blame the coaches. I blamed Dusty Baker for the Cubs' woes and I will continue to blame Jeff Bowden for FSU's anemic offense. What I want to know now is--since he's leaving at the end of the year does that mean he'll go balls-out for the rest of the year? I would. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Wednesday: November 15, 2006 - CMUBGSU? At work I've been plugging along on my new credit card sorting website. It's nearing completion and that will do my heart good. I'm still missing two of my recommenders and that's stressing me out. MS came through and MW was supposed to come through but where the hell is EJ? Of the three of them I would have predicted him to come in first. I'm going stalking on Friday to get some freaking answers since Jamie and I will be cruising next week.

Is there anyone famous who is not totally insane? How about we make today a Caption Day--the only rule is that the caption has to involve the girl in the lower-left of the picture. Ciao. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Thursday: November 16, 2006 - Zero Gun Salute Last night my dealing of another crushing poker victory was tempered by the death of two of my cichlids. What I suspect happened is that my Red Zebra died under a rock and slowly...exfoiliated himself. This poisoned Bumblebee who was on his last legs and also possibly tainted Al Capone, Spike and New Guy. I scooped both Red Zebra and Bumblebee with no problem but Bumblee was not 100% dead and apparently I had taken his size for granted. It took two flushes to get him down. Enough sadness for one day.

On Sunday I leave with the Brinkmeyer clan for a week's journey to the Caribbean so enjoy the entries while you can. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Week Off: November 26, 2006 - Week Off We are back safely. I somehow got the flu while driving back to town and will have to write more later because I am still really sick. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Monday: November 27, 2006 - Back For Real Now that I have returned to the world of the living I reckon it is time to share the details of our trip to the Caribbean. We left Cape Canaveral on Sunday and on the first day at sea Jamie played in a Texas Hold 'Em tournament where she finished 5th of 11. The problem was that you could buy back in so how challenging is that? That's why I didn't play but Jamie still did pretty well.

Next we hit Haiti, the place I was the most afraid to go. Little did I know that Royal Caribbean leased (and thoroughly fenced off) a hunk of the island. Apparently on the other side of the fence there were thousands of people begging for food but I didn't see them. Knowing that, I felt a little bad about throwing my hot dog and hamburger away but that's how it goes. The beach was beautiful.

In Jamaica Jamie went on a jungle adventure and got a huge bruise on her ass. I hung out with her sister and fended off the locals before we ate at...that's right, Jimmy Buffet's Jamaican restaurant. I even got a pilsner glass for drinking a whole Red Stripe all by myself.

Storms came in so we had to skip the Cayman Islands. They took us there anyway for some reason so we could "see it for ourselves". Personally I would have rather had another day in Cozumel but whatever. We were supposed to go snorkeling so there went my one excursion.

Cozumel was nice but since Jamie was seasick I mostly kept her company. I played mini-golf with Jamie's brother-in-law and he whomped me. Shocking. For Thanksgiving we had turkey, ham and instant mashed potatoes.

It was really, really, really windy on the trip back. The winds were 54mph so my rematches of mini-golf didn't go very well.

We drove back to Tallahassee and Ricky and AJ did a great job of attending to my dog. As soon as they left I got really, really sick and stayed that way all day Sunday and Monday. Bummer. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Tuesday: November 28, 2006 - Psyche! I left work early yesterday because I felt like crap after looking after a monitor for four hours. Since my day was so uneventful, and because it's the time of season, I will present some donation options. The goal is not for pure $$$ but to raise awareness.

Habitat For Humanity - Doug Brinkmeyer House: Believe it or not, in just under a year over $35k of the $47k needed has been raised. The rest has to be in by February.

Dr. Help: Based out of the University of Florida. "Bringing medical aid to people in distress is an attempt to defend them against what is aggressive to them as human beings. Humanitarian action is more than simple generosity, simple charity. It aims to build spaces of normalcy in the midst of what is abnormal. More than offering material assistance, we aim to enable individuals to regain their rights and dignity as human beings."

Second Harvest of the Big Bend: Somehow they're able to turn each dollar of donations into six Christmas meals. I sent them $50 so that should feed just about everyone. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Wednesday: November 29, 2006 - Muzak I can't believe it's already the end of November. My applications are squeeling along. I use "squeeling" so that you can take it to mean whatever you want. I have MS' letter in-hand and he assured me that if the application was letters alone I'd be anywhere I wanted. That was nice of him. I'm sure MW and EJ will come through too. Last night I spent a lot of time trying to find the best continuous 1:00 of music from my trip to Uruguay. The problem is that the minute looks boring. There is nothing impressive visually on those pages of the score. I guess that's how it goes though--I'm sure they'll be doing more listening than looking. At least that's what I hope. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Thursday: November 30, 2006 - Giving Thanks Since I was gone for Thanksgiving I didn't a chance to thank the powers that be for the good fortune of my family and friends this year. And since this sappy entry will only be around for a day before it gets replaced by December, it seems the perfect time to do it!

I am thankful...that Jamie was able to get through this really difficult year.

I am thankful...that Kathy found the right man and got married.

I am thankful...Chris and Michael are happy at Indiana University.

I am thankful...Ricky didn't blow off my inane web design questions two years ago; I'd probably be cleaning toilets otherwise.

I am thankful...Steve got into the University of Chicago even though he hates being there now.

I am thankful...Brian doesn't block me from Instant Messenger since all I do is ask him questions. Still.

I am thankful...Marty is on the brink of getting the job at TCU.

I am thankful...T-Chris still hangs out with me and has done so weekly for the past three years.

I am thankful...for P-Chris and Elena doing so poorly in College Pick 'Em. Without them I would not be in first place going into the last round of the season.

I am thankful...that I like working with everyone in my building and don't hate my job like so many people.

I am thankful...that Christine goes out to lunch with me a lot. Otherwise I'd have no one to complain to/with.

I am thankful...for Chompy and Abby because man, they're the best dogs in the world. [Comments: 4]· permalink · · ·