Thursday, November 20, 2008

Insert Blog Title Here

I really need to keep up with my blogging better. The last few weeks haven't been all too exciting, but alas. Here's another bullet-point summary.
  • I have started to read Eragon. I decided to read some more of the shorter books and series before tackling The Wheel of Time. My wife will soon be finishing up her second reading of The Lords of Sargoff before (probably) starting The Lightning Thief, which is the first book of the series Percy Jackson & The Olympians.
  • My wife and I did see the movie Changeling, which wasn't too bad. My wife really liked it. A viewing of Twilight is scheduled for this weekend. We also watched the movie 13 Going on 30, which was on TV the other day, and was a little funnier and not as bad as I had thought.
  • I bought a new pair of Nike sneakers yesterday. Isn't that the most exciting thing ever? Did you know that finding size 14 shoes is not the easiest thing in the world?
  • We found out on Tuesday that my company is planning a company meeting in January. This one is more exciting though, as it is in Marco Island, Florida, right on the ocean (or, I suppose, right on the Gulf of Mexico). We will be there for 4 days and 3 nights, and will be staying at a Hilton.
  • I really would like to drop some weight. I had lost about 30 pounds after moving back to Minnesota in 2005, but I have gained that back, plus a couple extra. I have wanted to for a while, but I have gotten more serious about it over the last couple months. I did actually lose 9 pounds in September, but then gained most of that back over the election season (lots of catered in meals). So I will be trying to cut down my meal portions, drink lots more water, and use the treadmill that we bought earlier this year on a regular basis. I think one of my bigger problems is overindulging on snacks, so I will have to stop doing that. :) All in all, I could stand losing a good 50 pounds, I would think.
LotD: The Nintendo Choir. Classic.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Return to Normal

Well, the election is over.

Hallelujah.

Here's some highlights and otherwise random information that you may or may not care to know. :)
  • On the Thursday before the election, I started work at 10 in the morning and went home at midnight. I then continued to work until 6. That's pretty much a 20 hour shift with a small break for driving. So the next day, I worked about 14 hours (10 - midnight) on a little less than 3 hours sleep.
  • My company has been mentioned in the national news on a couple different issues over the past few weeks, or more, even if the company name wasn't always said. It all culminates with the fact that my boss (part owner of the company) now has his very own Wikipedia entry.
  • Over a 7 day period (ending with election day), I worked approximately 93 hours. This was down over 2006, where I worked about 102 hours over a 7 day period.
  • Ending Friday, I will have worked 19 consecutive days. I am looking forward to Saturday and a day off.
  • I am looking forward to getting back to some major work on The Lords of Sargoff. I also need to figure out what I am going to read next.
  • This weekend, my wife and I will likely go to the movie Changeling, likely followed a couple weeks later by the movie Twilight. These are movies that Megan has interest in, that I am going to because I like my wife. :) Personally, I am hoping for a viewing of The Day the Earth Stood Still.
While I wish John McCain had pulled off some miracle victory (though I rather doubted it), there is fair hope that Republicans will not have fallen as far as some people thought, as some believed the Democrats would increase their Senate majority up to 60 seats. My company has a fair stake in the recounts that will occur between Norm Coleman and Al Franken, as we do a fair amount of business with Senator Coleman.

One thing, though, that while many congressional Republicans did lose to Democrats, those Republican candidates that we worked for did comparatively much better, which makes us look good as a company, and may help us bring in more business.

LotD: CSI New York: The GUI Interface. Who knows if any of you have seen this. It's only like 15 seconds long. This will make sense to the computer geeks out there. Basically, there is a criminal who is using his website either to commit crimes, or to record or discuss the crimes he is committing (I haven't actually seen the entire episode). So, the police need to try to track him through the Web. Listen to what the last woman will do in an attempt to do that, and wonder how in the world this made it onto a major TV show. (My apologies for the little "thought bubble" that might pop up on the video... I couldn't find the clip without it.)