Now that's funny

It's amazing how much they must spend on these productions.

West Side Story in the modern day... Web Side Story... Good stuff. Sadly, while there's satire here, it's quite tongue-in-cheek.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Gregsta'

They call me Gregster

I was thinking this evening about lots of things while I spent some time with my pal Aaron. Aaron, like me is a geek/nerd/dork/whatever. We have a lot in common. Except I don't do D&D. Don't be all shocked at once. More importantly, I was able to hang out with another geek. There aren't many of us left. I cherish the opportunity, as crazy as it sounds.

A little over a month ago, our friend Mo passed away. Suicide. It was sad and we'll never fully understand the circumstances. As time passes and we look back, I think there's a unspoken sadness that lives in all of us who knew her. Most of us knew her fairly well, as she was quite the outspoken and sharing type. Betsy knew her better than I. The point is, not knowing why someone could take their own life like that is maddening. I couldn't even begin to fathom even considering it, no matter how bad life gets. When there's that much of a deep rooted conflict of principals, it's difficult to find any peace in the matter. A month later, I'm no more resolved than I was the day she took her life.

We visited the camp grounds the other day (the "camp grounds" refers to the Apostolic Faith headquarters campgrounds) for a birthday party. It was my cousin (by marriage) Emily's birthday. I'm still trying to figure out kids today. They're pushy, bratty and all around completely out of control. I still can't believe how wound up and out of control all of the other kids were, too. Even the littlest ones were misbehaving and acting like clowns. I love kids, don't get me wrong. I adore them and hope to have several of my own with Betsy. I just hope we're able to bring enough discipline and structure to the party to keep them from being THAT out of control. Perhaps the fact that we aren't bringing them up in a strict, alternative religion will help. It worked for my brothers and I.

I still maintain that life is weird. I'll never fully understand or appreciate the complexities of what causes our lives to be so random, strange and unique all at the same time. I can understand the technical aspects and the big picture, but the "why" component eludes me.

Rambling? Yes. It's 3 in the morning. Time for bed.

Gregsta': Siesta.

Unga

Bunga.

This has been a stressful and busy week. I'm just ready to take a nice, long nap.

I know, not exciting, Gregster!

If life were always exciting, I would never have the energy to do anything but complain about life being to exciting. Did that make any sense to you? Me neither.

We're still waiting to hear back on the appraisal that was done on our house this last week by the buyers.

I've been neglecting a lot of my digital life lately, as I've found my real life has been far too busy for such idle-time contributions. Perhaps in a few more days, I'll feel inclined to put a little more effort in.

Gregsta': Yawn.

Daunt

It's Monday. Yay.

The iPhone 3GS is out and my staff keeps asking me questions.

I will get no work done anytime soon.

Greg

Couldn't leave well enough alone...

Pertaining to the last post, the question from comments:
Why did you go in front of him?

Getting out of downtown Portland in the afternoon rush hour is a game of deliberate, sometimes aggressive driving. The person who is the most deliberate gets out first. My goal was to get in front of a long line of cars that were mostly turning across a busy crosswalk, holding up traffic trying to get through.

Dude wasn't turning at the light like everyone else. Keep in mind nobody uses turn signals until the last 10 ft before turning, so I am forced to make some assumptions.

Sure, I could have sheepishly waited for him to go through the intersection. Refer back to my 'deliberate gets out first' statement. Truth is, Dude had the same technique as me.

When someone beats me to the line, I don't care. It just gives me something to work on for next time. Dude decided he had a sharp stick up his ass. Life is too short for that kind of anger. Save that kind of anger for when you catch your neighbor having sex with your dog.

Right or wrong? Not applicable. It's only wrong if someone's life is in danger or you are breaking road rules that affect someone in the immediate vicinity. Then you have to get caught to make it truly 'wrong'.

Gregsta'

Easy there

I cut off a brand new Dodge Charger yesterday that had intended to race to the next block upon the light turning green (likely to keep anyone from getting in front of him). The dude didn't like it all too much when I sped past him at Jet-speed and put myself directly in front of his gas guzzling hunk of metal. He honked, I waved and smiled.

I think he was butt-hurt that his American Muscle car was outrun by a Japanese Hybrid sedan. I totally had the torque advantage.

Anyway, the jerk tailgated me all the way across the Hawthorne bridge, through SE Industrial until finally turning of Division onto 11th (about 3 miles).

Mind you, I was moving fast, doing as much as 30 over the speed limit at times. Yep, still tailgating me.

Upon turning off onto 11th, he had the nerve to flip me off. Really? You're mad at me? Come on, grow a dick. Be a man and accept that your fake "Hot Rod" isn't a golden ticket to be a douchebag.

It never ceases to amaze me how "tough-guys" in their muscle cars think they're just that hot and important.

By that logic, if I'm an uneducated, filthy asshole, I should be allowed to break all the rules.

Wait. Now I'm confusing myself with my own conclusions.

To the Hybrid!

Gregsta'

Monday is great

I love Monday.

Two people I know were in car wrecks over the weekend. I wasn't.

Feeling very fortunate.

Greg

Did you know?

Many of you (okay, the 4 people that read this site with any regularity) probably don't know about my other blogs. That's okay, they're not that exciting and really are aimed a specific crowd.

http://schillerhouse.blogspot.com
This is the site that we're tracking progress on the house being built for Betsy and I. It's a really cool process to watch. It's updated more often that this site. Sorry. It's more interesting.

http://architecturetechnology.blogspot.com
You see, I work for these Architects, and well - they design buildings. It's a whole subset of technology that most people don't know a lot about. I'm using this site to share my deep insights and expertise. Something that we would have charged for in another time...

See, I'm not just a rambling, boring blogger.

I'm a diversified rambling, boring blogger.

Gregsta'

At this point in time, I'm frustrated. You see, I get that way when things are taking too long to happen. The sale of our house, vendors getting back to me at work, raises - that sort of thing.

There is simply too much work to be done by too few people. I'm CONVINCED.

Here's your "Get America Working" solution, Obama: Require all companies to hire some people doing the extra work that the other employees don't have the time for. I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful that would.

Getting sleepy. Must. Finish. Tasks.

Gregsta'

Sunday Post Op

Ahh, Sunday. Nothing like an otherwise relaxing day than to be kicked out of your house long enough for agents to show it and an open house to be held. Fun, fun!! I hope to see some offer-action this week!

Or else.

Gregsta'

Do you hear me?

Staying on the 18th floor of the Red Lion in downtown Seattle.

Like a genius, I neglected to grab a key card to get back into my Seattle office this morning. Fortunately, a kind co-worker is coming down to let me in.

Don't ever let anyone ever tell you that IT work is easy. Also don't ever let anyone tell you that cause and effect are simple or even applicable with technology.

I feel like the blog is on its way out and something new is on its way in. Not Twitter or Facebook, but something else. I think I need to invent a device that records your every move (video, audio, thoughts, etc.), analyzes it, and then writes a coherant and interesting blog (complete with Multimedia) for you.

Then again, nah. Who wants to waste their time reading that crap anyway?

Oh, sorry.

Gregsta': Out.

Bitches

Too busy, distracted and otherwise overwhelmed to get anything productive accomplished.

Who's a whiner!? ME!!!!!

Seattle tomorrow.

Recovery Sunday.

Hell Monday.

Gregsta': Stuck in drive

Lemonade

On the House Front...
We had a major breakthrough today.

We found a new financing option for our new house. The new financing option means that we will need less funds for downpayment and closing... Did I mention that we'll spend less/month!?

I'll spare the details, but let's just say that Credit Unions are where it's at!

Oh, I probably won't have to sell my car now, either. :)

You can watch the progress on the new house at http://schillerhouse.blogspot.com. I've got a big update slated for tonight!

On the Social Front...
We've been working our butts off trying to keep our house saleable, thus it's been cleaner than it's EVER been for this long of a period of time. Regardless, we still ended up going out to Vertigo last night and having a few drinks. As is normally the case, we didn't roll out of there until just before midnight. We're whomping up a strategy to do that less often. More to come on the success (or failure) of that.

On the Star Front...
I understand that this new Star Trek movie is all the rage. Hoping to go see it this weekend when I get back from Seattle. Yes, I'm going to Seattle again. For work. What fun.

Gregsta': Happy for the moment