Bacon

Brought home lots of work this weekend. I'm so far behind on getting organized and putting even the simplest of tools in place to manage my IT infrastructure at the office, it's pathetic. Fixing that today. Might help with my anxiety level.

It's that time of year when expenses are mounting (not due to christmas shopping) in the form of taxes, automobile registration renewals, insurance renewals, etc. It all comes roughly at the same time. Argh.

Betsy is working on getting the house a little more festive than it is right now. She's got her work cut out for her.

Gregsta': Jingle Jingle

Mrm

It's now the day after the day after Thanksgiving. After gorging (sort of) on Thursday and a Date-night style steak dinner last night, I never want to eat again. In fact, I look forward to that feeling of extended hunger that so many children in 3rd world countries feel every day.

Gregsta'

off to the turkey race

ahhh... away from the office finally. that is all. gregster mobile.

Almost there...

Off work soon. Turkey day is looming. I have bread to bake. I love baking bread. If I continue to talk like this, I'll eventually shed a few IQ points. I could use that. It's been too busy at work the past few months.

Gregsta':Out

UPDATE: BETSY IS HERE. IT'S TIME TO GO HOME.

Turkey Lurkey

This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for hair. Not everyone has it. That is all.

Gregsta'

Global Econ

To me, the global economy means:

A marketplace where businesses can use government military forces to circumvent international trade restrictions.

Gregster: Profoundly Cunning Linguist

Obama the Plate?

This is the kind of thing that I can't believe. It's great that Obama has been elected. But a commemorative plate? Really? What the hell? The commercial is putrid, too.

Why am I still up? Oh, right - Cool Runnings is on TBS. I love that movie. Makes me cry every time they walk across the finish line, carrying their sled. John Candy being dead makes me sad, too.

Looking for some kleenex...

Gregsta Mon'

Mooooonday

We had a good weekend, though I didn't spend nearly enough time studying LEED. I'm picking up the pace this evening after dinner.

Betsy and I are looking to sell the house and get something bigger, possibly. More to come on that. I don't want to jinx anything. We suspect we'll be able to find something nice, but it may take awhile.

I am so tired I could scream. Trying to get through the deluge of the day, finding that I don't want to deal with any of it because I'm so tired. I'm picking the low hanging fruit of tasks to deal with. Argh.

Gregsta'

Faster, Less Efficient

It's Friday. Thank goodness.

Comcast is going to upgrade my Internet service for an extra $2/month (mind you, I get no choice in the matter) to a faster speed. Faster? Why? I'm fine with it the way it is. Another reason for developers to stop making their apps efficient. This was a problem back 5-10 years ago for many software houses who would just tout their software worked better on a faster machine. Look at all the e-Waste that generated between 2001 and today.

So, what I'm saying is: Faster Commodity Internet Access = More E-Waste

It's a sad shame.

Gregsta': Blogger of Interest

Sharky

Yawn. Went out again last night. A friend was back in town that had been in Kuwait and Iraq for the last 2 years.

I need some sleep now.

Grind: On

Gregsta: [snore]

Sobering

There's nothing more sobering than visiting another company similar to the one you work for, but that's more than 3 times the size. In terms of IT things, it's vastly different. Makes me realize how little I really know.

Gregsta'

Bums, Bums Everywhere!

What better way to spend a clear, albeit cold, Portland morning than sipping on latte's outside of Nordstroms on the street corner. Hmm. Come to think of it, some indoor seating would be nice. Heat, perhaps.

One of the things that's a good indicator of economic hardship is the number of bums on the street. There are quite a few. Yet, I rarely see the Portland Police doing anything about the problem. Maybe there's no anti-bum laws on the books. There should be.

If I were Mayor...

Portland Statute Addendum #1
Rule 1a: All city street sidewalks, corners and other pedestrian exchanges are for the sole use of pedestrians that move along at a brisk pace. All others must exit the side walk (into the street where they can be hit by cars/lightrail is a good choice). Except where businesses and individuals have paid for a permit with the city, sitting, standing still, putting up any temporary dwelling or structure shall be prohibited. Anyone violating this statute will forefit their right to re-enter the downtown core ever again. Bwa ha ha.

Rule 1b: Panhandling, squatting, posting a sign (including handheld) requesting donations (beer, money, drugs, etc.) is strictly prohibited unless you have paid for a permit. Violators will be thrown into the back of a dump truck and taken to the Willamette river, where they will be dumped for a much needed bath.

Rule 1c: Raising your voice or creating noise about a certain db level is forbidden. You will be dragged into the middle of the square, tarred and feathered. Bwa ha ha.

Rule 2a: You must have a proven IQ of 85 or higher to enter the downtown core. If there is question of your IQ in the future, you can be retested at anytime. Violators are subject to attend 3rd grade again.

Rule 2b: Automobile operators must pay attention to all signals and yield right of way to hybrid vehicles. Tee hee.

Rule 2c: Bicylists are no longer allowed on the roads in the downtown core. Violators will be shoved in lockers, middle school style.

Rule 2d: Pedestrians are to get out of the way of vehicles. The cars have the right of way.

Gregsta': Never gonna be Mayor, sadly...

Monday allready!?

Just had the nice people from Earth Advantage out to the house to see how much it leaks. It's pretty bad. Turns out most of the leakage is because of the shitty install job the contractor did on my air ducts. Also turns out that my ducts going to the upstairs are encased in drywall and insulation. No chance of getting to those without ripping out sheetrock. Time to sell.

The weekend was nice. We ended up with a few new pairs of shoes from the Dr. Martens sale this weekend. Ironically, Betsy is the shoe person and she got one pair. I on the other hand grabbed two pairs and a t-shirt. What the hell is wrong with me?

FWIW: Sitting in a lounge chair and working on a laptop isn't as comfortable as you may think.

Time to head back to the office.

Gregsta': Outtage

Marmolade

I have the evening off tonight. The wife is heading to her sisters for a girly party of some sort (it's been explained to me a dozen times, and I still don't understand it entirely - something where they sell stencils Amway-style...I'm so confused,) the house is clean, the laundry is mostly done and I don't anticipate working late at the office tonight.

The trouble is, my first inclination is to go out and drink and play darts all night, which is exactly what I'll end up doing. That's fun and all, but I feel as if I've lost my ambition to try new things. Part of me wants to do something different. Maybe not more exciting, but just different. Bitch, moan, complain. I know. I should be so lucky, right?

Side Note: I stare out my window every day and see a Red Bull vending machine in the building across the street. It just now struck me that's a rather odd item. Oh wait, that's in the Heald College student break room. Now it all makes sense.

Since I'm pretty much constantly engaged with work and domesticated life and having no interest in gossiping about TV shows, celebrities or anything else, I think this blog continues to slide downhill in the interesting ratings. Not that it had a lot to go on in the first place. I just am not passionate about much these days other than geeky business, technology and sustainability things. Perhaps it's time to take up muddy trail running. Maybe I should start volunteering at the childrens burn center. A visit to the local YMCA might shed some pounds playing B-Ball with the kids.

On second thought, I like things just the way they are.

Gregsta': MeeDeeOhCure

I'm ready for a nap

You know that feeling where all your pressure points start to twitch, ache or otherwise make themselves known? Yeah, I'm there. Tired.

Sneaking off to the car early for some Z's.

Gregsta'

Ruck Yeah

Just virtualized yet another server at the office. That's 3 virtual servers, 1 virtual workstation and another virtual workstation in the works by Mr. Gooch on a single physical server. I fucking love this shiznit. We're upgrading the physical server with more memory to handle all the VM's.

Gregster: Geekin'

Hero

I am something of a slouch today. I've got so much to do, yet I'm tired and looking forward (?) to an evening of studying. It's becoming increasingly difficult for that life/work balance thing to happen.

Betsy reminded me that it will let up at some point, trouble is, I just don't know when that's going to be.

Gregsta': Out of my mind.

full

Random Friend to another random friend: I need to see your eyebrows for the full facial experience.

I'm still laughing.

Gregsta'

Intent

I intend to do very little today at the office. I'm just simply worn out.

I'm going to clean up my desk a little. It's looking like a pig sty.

Hell, this whole IT department looks pig sty'y.

I love the banter on the morning radio, post election. Obama is going to adopt a dog from the shelter for the White House. That's so sweet, yet so unimportant. Bush's dog snipped at a Reuters reporter? Who honestly cares?

Do you think he'll have the White House repainted, I don't know... Almond perhaps? It's earthy, right?

My handbasket awaits...

Gregsta': Going Coastal.

Ah!

Time to go to work.

Ah!

Gregsta'

Electoral

Yay! I can sleep at night again now that Obama has won the election!

Of course, copious amounts of alcohol consumed in a single evening has the same results.

Gregsta': Happy, tired and ready for a nap.

Dewey Obama?

I'm really anxious. I think just about everyone is. Nobody wants a repeat of the 2000 election bullshit, and at this point, nobody is reporting issues with the voting system or hinting at another Republican rigged election.

I'm anxious, but at the same time hopeful. Obama is looking good and everyone is stopping just short of declaring him the winner. It's starting to look like we're going to have us a good Dem' in the big chair. I just hope everyone has worked hard enough and haven't stopped working yet.

We can only hope now that this doesn't happen again.

Gregsta': Needing a drink.

Weekend: Recap

Why is it that Sunday is always the busiest fricken day of the weekend? It might have to do with all the procrastinating we do during the week - "That laundry can wait until Sunday" "The dishes can wait" "The cat box isn't THAT full."

Got lots to do this week.

G'Mo: In the Office shortly.