Let's Party Like It's 1999.

1. Bring a few games and see if I can get some people interested in playing. Check.

2. Bring my own distinctive beer mug so it is recognizable as mine. Check.

3. Drop by the parents to have dinner with them before the party and play with Doghound. Check.

4. Remind Fabulously Game Roommate the party hosts told him to come along too. Check, but I don't think he heard me yell at him over the Wii.

Have fun tonight folks and hope you all get home safely.

Back To Work Tomorrow.

Ugh..I may take a sleep aid to help me crash. Of course that might make me drag my butt all day tomorrow. It was nice to have 5 days off. A shame I didn't get as much stuff down around home as I wanted, but it was a pretty relaxing time with lots of football of course.

Speaking of football: Louisana Tech vs Northern Illinois is just a sign there are at least 10 too many bowl games. Buh-bye to the evil New England Patriots as the 11-5 Pats don't make the playoffs after their perfect season the prior year. An 8-8 San Diego plays a playoff game early by beating Denver to get the privilage of a red hot 12-4 Indianapolis Colts the next week. I don't know how a preseason favorite Dallas Cowboys fails to get into the playoffs. Tampa Bay fails to get in by losing to the friggin' Oakland Raiders of all teams. The NFL announced they were having an expansion draft to put a team in Detroit. The Lions were recalled like a defective Chevy.

Later folks.

The Meloncholy Season

I admit it. I don't love this time of year. I don't hate it, but it doesn't feel my heart with joy and thoughts of peace. The holidays remind me of what I don't have instead of what I do have. Is it a long term jealousy or a long term reminder of the truer things in life? I suspect both. The holidays are supposed to be with loved ones, friends, and family. I haven't been in a relationship in a very long time so there are no loved ones. Most of my closest friends are married with families of their own and are no longer in the Big City area. As for my family I'm not emotionally close to most of them. I was always the odd family member compared to the rest of the family.

I can see that some things are finally turning around. I do have a stable job. I don't like the job for a variety of reasons, but a steady paycheck after multiple years of law school, unemployment, and job hunting is a big plus. In this economy we should be thankful for any jobs. Thanks to the Small Town job I've paid off about half my non-education related debt. If gas prices stay low I might be able to have that debt paid off by this time next year.

Since cash flow isn't as big a problem now perhaps I may allow myself the luxury of dating again sometime next year. The few times I've tried to get back into the dating pool these past few years always served as a reminder that dating is really a financial luxury. Many creative and wonderful dates can be had for a mere $20 or $30, but I didn't even have that much money to spare the last few years. For too many years I've denied my emotional needs for the needs of school followed by the needs of my finances. Perhaps next year I can pay attention to my wants and rebuild other aspects of my life.

As for this year at least I got to have a few weekend road trips. I started to live my life a little bit and I want to have more road trips and perhaps a true vacation. For 5 or 6 years I never let myself relax. Everyone needs some joy in their lives. With luck and I'm betting a lot of hard work and little sleep I can see some joy coming back. Maybe that is what the holidays are supposed to provide, some joy and hope for the future, even for people like me.

Less Busy = Less Productive?

Work has slowed down a bit. I haven't had too many hearings and except for a smattering next week I don't have any more the rest of the year. Without the rush of hearings you would think I could get tons of work and special projects accomplished.

What was I thinking?

I'm burned out and I know it. My attention wonders all over the place. Even without the pressure of hearings it seems like problems pop up that must be resolved immediately. With staff all over the place taking off personal time it seems like more crap pops up. Less people to deflect incoming garbage is the theory I'm working with. Perhaps I should enjoy the upcoming Christmas holiday. Walk in Monday as recharged as possible and give a big push to end the old year.

I just want those damned files out of my office!

Snowzilla Can't Escape The Law!

This story has it all. 1) A 2 story tall snowman. 2) The snowman's name is Snowzilla. 3) All this clean fun is dashed by a city code enforcement officer.

When you can't build a snowman in your own front yard I feel the Man has gone too far!

Winter Has Arrived With A Good Tailwind!

I don't know if it is actually snowing or if the wind is blowing what little snow there is around all over the place. When I see large flags flying straight I know there's a good wind blowing. The weather lady on TV is saying with the wind chill it could be in the negative teens tonight. NEGATIVE TEENS for a wind chill!!!!

With so little daylight (it is the winter solstice today) and the cold temps I simply want to hibernate this time of year. Someone wake me up when spring arrives.

Let's Avoid The Icy Death Please.

Winter may start on Sunday but she has already arrived. Bad enough temps have been so cold the last week that my temperature gauge barely moves during the long commute from Big City to Small Town, but to have the entire road coated in a thin layer of ice is just too much. Given the number of accidents I saw and the times I saw some cars and trucks slip a bit I'm surprised my commute only took an additional 45 minutes. Sadly I'm not surprised by the number of idiots who decided to go nearly full speed. 4-wheel drive does not provide traction on ice people!

I hope I'm not as exhausted when I arrive at work tomorrow. I seriously needed a nap after keeping my car steady on today's drive home.

Quote Of The Day.

"I prefer the company of a good dog over most human beings."

I don't blame you.

It Never Occurs To People To Be Smart

*In the middle of an interview.*

Me: Okay, so you decided that it was best your mother take care of your child. You were getting back on your feet. I get that. When did you give your mother the child?

Woman: I guess it was spring in 2006.

Me: Did it ever occurs to you to tell someone that you no longer had the child living with you?

Woman: *quizzical look as if this thought has only now occurred to her.*

Me: Haven't you received some welfare benefits since then?

Woman: Sometimes I'm on welfare and sometimes I'm not. It's hard to keep track.

Me: Are you aware the welfare office still have the child listed as living with you and not your mother?

Woman: No, why does that matter?

Me: I'm pretty sure part of your welfare benefits are related to how many children you have living with you at the time. With the extra child you get extra benefits.

Woman: Oh. Is that wrong?

*I bang head on the table at this point.*

Random Thoughts

It was nice to have a 4 day holiday. Okay I worked 4 hours on Friday just to catch up on a few things. Key word sadly was 'few.' At least I got the files out of my inbox and got rid of a few things.

Winter has arrived. When you wake up to a half inch of snow today it is an easy conclusion to make. A shame it melted away by this evening.

How the hell is my checkbook off by around $500.00 after I've balanced it? I'll take a closer look at it during lunch tomorrow. Perhaps I added something when I should have subtracted, or transposed some numbers, but it balanced last month! My checkbook always used to balance, but the last few years it always seems like my checkbook is off by some pocket change every month. I'm convinced the bank has some program to randomly steal or deposit all the half penny transactions in a branch and play with my account. Give me a break, a personal checking account isn't that hard! You only deal with addition or subtraction.

For all the money I pay Sallie Mae couldn't they provide the envelopes to send in my student loan payments? My credit card companies and utilities send envelopes, so why not Sallie Mae?

The final episodes of Battlestar Galactica start January 16, 2009. It's about damned time! I really hope writing and stories pick up. Season 3 and Season 4 had some clunkers for stories. The Cylons may have had a plan, but I'm not sure the writers did.

Speaking of the SciFi Channel, why is SciFi canceling Stargate: Atlantis? I believe they're having the best ratings ever or pretty close and SciFi decides to can the show.

How did a pathetic San Francisco 49ers team gain 195 yards of offense, score a measly 10 points, allow the Buffalo Bills 350 yards of offense, and STILL WIN THE GAME? San Fran 10: Buffalo 3!

I would like to thank LSU for choking in the back half of the season. Your losses assured I would get 3rd place in my pool. I'm still mad Ball State was taken the pick before mine! 12-0 would be so convenient for my pool right now.

Thanksgiving leftovers are already in the tupperware for tomorrow. Cheap and yummy leftovers are good for lunch. I hope I can stand them until Wednesday since I have plenty.

"As God As My Witness I Thought Turkeys Could Fly"

After all these years the scene still holds up.

This Is A Bad Sign.

I keep having a fantasy. My fantasy involves a vacation. I saw an ad for a kayaking trip with a mothership to ferry people around and sleep in. I've never kayaked before, but it sounds like fun. Being ferried around on a old tugboat or trawler to various kayaking spots sounds like fun. I keep having visions of being on the water and paddling around. I can see myself nearing a forest rimmed shore. I can smell the salty air and feel the rush of gentle waves. I already hear the gentle low rumble of diesel engines powering an restored antique mothership.

I hate my ideas for vacations. The fantasies seem unobtainable for now. Perhaps someday, perhaps someday.

All I Wanted Was A Nap.

I wanted a little nap when I got home. Next thing I know I awoke 5 hours later. I woke up at the time I normally go to bed and now I can't fall back asleep. Perhaps some late night pizza and blogging will put the Z's back in my body.

There needs to be a cure for this.

EDIT: Okay if you combine the 5 hours after I got home with the 3 hour 'nap' I had before I had to go into work I did have 8 hours sleep. Sure they were spread out over 12 hours, but hey best sleep I've had in awhile.

I Decided 3 Hours Before I Voted.

I didn't automatically hate one candidate, but I wasn't enthused with either candidate either. Combine both and you would have a pretty good candidate for president.

We Can't Predict Who You Voted For

According to our quiz, there's a 55% chance you voted for Obama. But that means there's an 45% chance you voted for McCain. You aren't very typical. You tend to be independent, and your vote is highly coveted. While we can't predict how you voted, there's a good chance you voted for the winner!

Did You Vote for Obama or McCain?

Why Did I Go In Today?

I hate working on a holiday. I'll rephrase that. I've worked numerous holidays, but I hate working holidays that I am supposed to get as an employee. 5 hours on Veteran's Day and I feel like I barely accomplished anything. I am so swamped. Our office is so swamped. What makes it worse is that I'm not at 100%. I'm tired. I get distracted easily and can't focus for long periods of time. I simply can't work on things for long periods of time. I can get files ready for hearings, but writing all the paperwork takes forever.

I can't work late every night. I lack the energy. In theory I can come in on weekends, but between attending football games on Saturdays and simply getting personal things done on Sundays I haven't had "free" weekends to head into the office. I'm burned out and I know it. I have no idea how to resolve the situation.

Speaking of Veteran's Day. Thank a vet. Their sacrifices allowed you to be here.

Confirmed: I Am A Know It All!

There Are 0 Gaps in Your Knowledge

Where you have gaps in your knowledge: No Gaps! Where you don't have gaps in your knowledge: Philosophy Religion Economics Literature History Science Art

Do You Have Gaps in Your Knowledge?

How To Work The Polls.

3:50 a.m. Alarm goes off. Eh didn't really sleep much anyway.

5:00 a.m. Arrive at the Big City Courthouse downtown.

5:15 a.m. Finally get past the deputy who is doing security. If we're on the list can't we just be waved in. In the alternative, how about having more deputies to check our bags.

5:20 a.m. Be in the jury pool room with over 200 other poll workers being held in reserve to plug gaps. Smartest thing this bumbling County Clerk has done in 2 years.

6:30 a.m. Jury pool room has around 100 people left.

8:00 a.m. Jury pool room has around 60 people left.

9:00 a.m. Cross the street to grab some coffee.

11:00 a.m. Call for all members of one political party to go to another room.

11:01 a.m. Person in the other room wonders what the hell all these people are doing in her room. Screaming on walkie-talkie begins.

11:05 a.m. I'm back in jury pool room reading a book.

11:15 a.m. More specific party members are grabbed to be Commissioners who deliver absentee ballots to the precincts by cab.

11:18 a.m. Wolfrham Hart is back in jury pool room since they only needed three Commissioners.

1:00 p.m. Cross the street to grab lunch.

1:20 p.m. 38 people left in the jury pool room. Wolfham Hart is the last known specific party member standing. Bring it other party members!

3:40 p.m. Last of the jury pool room is being sent out to be extra staff to help count votes and deal with all 100,000 absentee ballots. I've already figured that's an average of 160 or so absentee ballots per precinct. 30 is traditionally considered a lot.

4:00 p.m. Wolfrham Hart arrives at the predominantly Democratic/AfricanAmerican precinct as an undercover brother. 235 absentee ballots are 30 seconds behind me.

4 to 6 p.m. Prepare, organize, and qualify 235 absentee ballots. I hope I can get some ballots through the machine before closing time. Otherwise we'll be here awhile. Based on the steam of traffic coming in that doesn't look likely.

CLOSING TIME. No line finally and we close the polls. I happen to be holding the instructions concerning absentee ballots and read them aloud. One lady states what she did with the absentee ballots in another district earlier today. I read the instructions IN MY HANDS again aloud!

Begin feeding 232 qualified absentee ballots into a glorified scantron machine for the next 90 minutes. It only jammed once and rejected 2 ballots.

Interesting observations. Many absentee ballots are straight ticket votes with most being for the Democrats. I'm surprised by the amount of ticket splitting.

90 minutes after CLOSING. Precinct inspector and I collect votes from all machines and get a printout reporting the results.

95 minutes after CLOSING. Attempt to get extra printouts and get weird messages from the machine. We do Step 6. We do Step 7. We do Step 8. At that point the instructions state,"Before performing Step 8 you must..." HEY SHOULDN'T THAT WARNING BE IN FRONT OF STEP 8! Vote machine starts beeping and producing odd messages.

97 minutes after CLOSING. After reading the display messages the tech states if he was there he would kill us. We reply the instructions are crappily written and any warnings should come BEFORE the step!

More observations. In a precinct that normally gets 200 to 400 votes, we got 803 live votes. Add in the 232 qualified absentee ballots we totaled 1,035 votes. Obama got 914 and McCain got 115. In this precinct it is a Democrat landslide.

Help the inspector fill out a metric buttload of paperwork until two hours and thirty minutes after CLOSING. We drive separately to a regional collection place to drop off all the ballots and other stuff.

Three hours after CLOSING. We're checked out and dismissed. I want some Burger King right now and need to crash so bad. I'm totally exhausted. I'm amazed this country can hold elections every few years with mostly volunteers. Why is my first hearing at 8:15 a.m.? If you work the polls you should be allowed to take the next morning off. I hope you all voted one way or another.

I Volunteered For What!

I'm working the election tomorrow. Oh crap what did I get myself into? I must be a glutton for punishment. I have to report no later than 5 friggin' A.M. Are they serious?

My sense of civic pride will get the better of me.

I voted early yesterday since I would be working the polls. You know the election is odd when a junkie like me can't make up his mind until a few hours beforehand. I've never stood in line for nearly 3 hours before. Perhaps is more people had been interested in elections over the past 20 years the country would be in different shape.

Oh well at least the people will definitely speak this election. But will the politicians care about what they hear?

Here Be Ghosts Or Bigfoot.

One of the reasons I find Halloween to be the best time of the year: ghost tours. A dark moonlit night, a crisp and cool wind, a spooky Victorian era neighborhood, and a creepy dude in a trenchcoat as a tour guide. Oh yes, this would be so good!

I saw the blurb in the paper and quickly texted some friends. Luckily T and the Lady D could come. They were surprised such a neighborhood existed in Big City. You go around the suburbs and yes you get lots of vinyl villages, apartment complexes, and commercial corridors filled with strip malls and megamalls. This was a neighborhood with Victorians, Tudors, Arts & Crafts style homes with 2 or 3 story buildings housing pubs, coffeehouses not named BuckStars, non-chain style restaurants, non-chain bookstores, a Masonic temple, and a scooter store. Ciao baby! A quaint village only a few miles from downtown Big City, but in some ways a world away. Of course this village has a deep and dark side perfect for ghost stories.

The wind blew as the guide told of chess pieces that would move on a chessboard, before the coffeehouse opened up and the owner was by himself. A little cottage had cats disappearing into a drawer full of socks with no way for the drawers to open up by themselves. The same cottage supposedly had an evil force outside trying to get inside while the catnapping good spirit kept it at bay. Another house of a famous murderer supposedly would have smoke rings from a cigar appear out of nowhere. The murderer was noted for his fine cigars. One basement stairs would have the presence of a small cat rubbing against your leg, but don't reach done to pet the cat or you'll be shocked when you find nothing.

Wandering around the neighborhood with over 50 people I wondered if we would find any ghosts or at least Bigfoot. I told T and the Lady D we shouldn't mess with Sasquatch like those idiots in the beef jerky commercials. Some of the trees were very large and could hide something big. The highlight of the evening for most people was the tape recorder. The guide played a tape with a child's voice during a conversation with a homeowner. The homeowner had no children and the ghost that supposedly haunted this house was a child. People were surprised to hear the voice. The only problem I had was I never heard the voice.

I never heard any spooky voices. I never saw any spectres. I never saw any chess pieces move, and I never saw any random Bigfoot wandering around. Okay the tour never advertised Bigfoot, but hey you never know when you'll run into the big fella. I had a fun time. T and the Lady D had a fun time. They thanked me for inviting them. You're welcome. I love showing off the interesting sides of Big City. Even if they are the creepy and spooky sides of Big City.

Boo!

The World Turned Upside Down.

I had a 5 game lead in the pool until this weekend. Thankfully North Carolina and Navy are doing as well as I expected and they won this weekend. Now I know South Florida, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, and Louisiana State University are all ranked in the Top 25, but are not invulnerable. But did they ALL have to lose in the same weekend? Even my boat anchor Kent State Golden Flashes WON this weekend!

The League Commissioner will provide updates by Tuesday. I could still be in the lead, but even if I am still ahead my lead got crushed like an empty beer can. At least I don't have money invested in this pool. I just want the bragging rights baby!