Picking up where I left odd...

No, that wasn't a typo in the title, it was a well-designed pun. I'm so clever, sometimes I only SEEM dumb. Then I do a brain ninja like thing on you and you only realize it later. Example: earlier I said our really old industrial shredder (which stands about 3.5' tall) wasn't actually a shredder, but had a miniature Viking inside that we fed paper. "Vikings," I said," are actually more eco-friendly people than we give them credit for. That's why they created Greenland." Think about it.

So, some things are the same since I last wrote, I think. I'm trying out a gluten-free diet to the best of my ability and am trying my best to diet overall. It must be working; yesterday I weighed in at 238! That's 16 pounds less than 9/29 without trying very hard for most of that period (and I know it went up during that time). And no... I'm not trying to become a model or anything. I just want to fit into my Halo 2 t-shirt.

My friend Travis and his wife Kim are here to stay, having moved from New Hampshire for Christmas! Yay!!! It was all a big conspiracy; they sprung it on their family after they got here and on us the day after Christmas (when we were all assembled together). Sadly, when their stuff finally arrived here a month later (SUPER late, as I understand it), much was broken. Hope it all works out, guys!

What else... we still haven't gotten a house yet. If I haven't posted about that before, by the way we're trying to buy a house (I assume you read my wife's blog anyway if you read mine). We've been trying for some time now; I imagine our poor realtor will be very happy to be rid of us! We got close one time but the bank was playing hardball with us and something about the area didn't sit right so we decided not to go with it. Otherwise we've had a lot of near misses. Our friends Matt and Angela got one the first weekend they went out...but it does have termites. That sucks.

Sorry for the absence, by the way, my computer has been down for most of this period and I haven't been motivated enough to wrest my wife's away from her when I have the time to do an entry. She has claws... Anyway, I have Dynasty Warriors, Rock Band, and other things ( mostly like looking for houses and work) to keep me busy lately. My brother was finally able to bring me back Star Wars TFU, so I played it again...and promptly deleted my saved game and uber leveled up character. Scott was unhappy. I did discover downloadable content with a new level that looks interesting, so hopefully I get to play it this weekend.

Finally got to have dinner/coffee with my friend Katrina, who had moved here...um...a few months ago. Yeah, it's not easy to get together with me. Ask Andrew, he'll tell ya. After that I got to go on a diaper-purchasing adventure. Lesson learned: the boxes for wipies and diapers look similar. Probably should take one's time a bit on that aisle. Speaking of Andrew, I also got to have dinner with him, and once a month is not enough, mein freund. We shall do this again, sir, and there shall be much rejoicing in the land.

Got to see the Cardinals win the championship game to be eligible for the Super Bowl in a couple of weeks, which was exciting. I'm not really into football, as you know, but it was fun watching it with my dad and my friends. I'm expected at Travis' parents' house for the Super Bowl as his mom is an ardent Steeler's fan and his dad is a Cards fan so it will be advantageous not to sit in the middle. :-)

Other than that I can't think of anything more. Hopefully once the house thing gets done stress levels will be reduced a bit in our household and we can move on to something else. I'd like to get started again on school before too long here, of course, and I'm bemused to actually find myself missing it. I guess after so many years of being a student it just gets under your skin; I don't know.

Next post will not be so delayed, I hope!

Corporate Speak

I used to keep a book of quotes called Random Jottings for instances like these. Actual quote from Nate (other Accounting guy) on the phone with a client:

"We process those using the processing process."

Priceless. :-)

Amusement

I have been amused lately by several things. One of them (or two) is the Dane Cook media I bought. I say "media" because it had both CD's and DVD's, so yeah. Much happiness has generated from them. Additionally, I finally got Josh's PS2 working. W00t! Granted, it doesn't compare in some ways to the awesome yet evil XBOX 360 (also in my room, but mostly not owned by me), yet has its own appeal. One of these appealing features is that, to my knowledge, Sony's executives still have souls. Bill Gates...not so much. That doesn't make me enjoy Halo any less, though, so I'm not sure who is the bigger sellout is; him or me.

I took my RE school test yesterday. Wow. I felt like my spirit had been broken into 200 tiny pieces after I was done. It was 200 questions and took me 3 hours. At least 40 minutes of that was doodling or staring into space...it was hard! I needed a 75, and l got a 53. That's pretty close, though, or at least closer than a 52. I realize that that's not amusing, but I hope it will be when I look back on it years from now.

It's funny to me how suddenly things have changed with my friends with the presence of the 360. I barely see Bock, but he comes over all the time now with the others. It's pretty cool, but amusing nonetheless.

Finally, my friend Micah got jumped last night. Yes, I know, this shouldn't be amusing, but if you knew the story, and especially if you know Micah, you would understand. In all fairness to me, though, I asked him if he was okay, and started laughing only after determining that he is. So points for me.

Lastly, I just have to give a shout out to Greg. Despite the overwhelming pressure of his existential dilemma regarding the rapidly-widening black hole in the pit of his broken heart, he still maintains a sense of humor. Hang in there, buddy.