The city’s excited

I have to determine that the city is quite excited this morning. Last nights game vs. Oregon State was unbelievable… specifically Ian Johnson (22 carries 240 yards and 5 TDs) was the most unbelievable. My gage for the mood of the city is admittedly rudimentary. I had to take my car into the mechanic this morning. I have interacted with exactly 3 strangers this morning, all before 9:30 am. The mechanic, he didn’t mention anything about the game. But I dropped my car off and went to get a newspaper at the Cheveron station and wait for the taxi. I bought a newspaper, and the lady behind the counter was very excited. We discussed Johnson’s performance and how good the game was. Then, the cab driver was listening to sports radio and we were talking about the game the whole 15 minute trip back to my apartment.

I’m no math major, but I would think that if 66% of the people you see today are talking about the game, then thats a pretty good percentage.

I got home from the game last night, and I made the mistake of firing up my DVR to watch the game. I thought, “I’ll just until Ian’s first touchdown…” Well, that didn’t last. I ended up watching the whole thing. The High Def was beautiful. The announcers were great. Sometimes when we get national guys when we’re playing a bigger opponent, they spend the whole time talking about the opponent and shafting us. But, Fowler and Herbstreit were terrific. And, seeing Johnson’s runs again were just amazing. He (and the O-line) made that Pac-10 defense look silly.

I think running the table could be a real option. I’m very excited.

Car update again…

Just got the call from the mechanic. Apparently the radiator is shot and needs to be replaced. $310 parts and labor. *sigh* What can ya do? At least I have the peace of mind knowing that this guy is not screwing me. If it were anyone else, I might get a second opinion, but I know this guy is legit. Speaking of which, if any of you out there live in the Treasure Valley and own a Honda/Acura, you will find no better mechanic than Dietz Automotive at 24th and Fairview.

Car Update

Finally got a hold of the last honest mechanic in the valley. He can’t get me in until Friday morning. *sigh* What can ya do? Yes, for the record I’m still driving the damn thing. Roll the dice. Go for the gusto. No guts no glory. Damn the torpedeoes. Etc. Etc.

I’ll just carry extra coolant and a oven mitt. What’s life without a little gambling, right?

Hopefully, it will just be a leaky hose or something. But, I really can’t complain. The car is 10 years old (only 91k miles though) and has pretty much been bullet proof for the 7 years I’ve owned it. *knock on wood*

Site update… I’ve had renewed problems with the database. I’ve lost posts and comments when they for some reason re-restored my site from backup about 48 hours after they did it before. Anyway, I think it has re-solidified. No guarantees, but we’ll see what happens.

More football tomorrow. According to USAToday, BSU is favored by 8. I don’t know if I’d agree with that. Seems a little high. But then again, I would be supremely pleased with another 40 point blow out.

My team here at work is having a potluck tomorrow. Actually, the whole call center is (even though we aren’t even in the same building as the call center anymore, we’re doing it too). They’re calling it a ‘Tailgate Potluck’ for the BSU/OSU game. They’re encouraging everyone to wear their blue and orange, giving out prizes and crap like that. I can say with all sincerity that I have no doubt that I am the biggest bronco fan on our team. Just because I don’t paint my face or wear an orange fright wig doesn’t mean I’m not passionate about it. On the other hand, part of me just hates potlucks. I don’t know why.

Site update… I realize I haven’t written a “feature” piece in a while. Mostly been riding on the everyday minutiae of my rather boring life. That will change. I have a couple of ideas I want to get done.

So keep checking back. There will be more to read, I promise.

By Popular Demand

My day, the finish…

I would have to say the day finished sucessfully, although not exactly smoothly.

I started the wiring and hooking up of the surround sound. Of course, I ran into some snags. First, I had a bunch of speaker wire left over that I was using. Unfortunately, I don’t have a handy dandy wire stripper. I did at one time, but gee… I don’t seem to have it any more. *sigh* So, I’m trying to strip this cheap ass wire with just regular old needle-nose pliers. Needless to say, more often than not, I cut the flimsy little wires as I was stripping them. But, eventually, I got them all hooked up. Wait, check that. I had enough wire to wire all but one of the rear speakers. So, I had to go to target, yet again.

I also bought a new digital optical cable to connect the cable box audio to the receiver, but once I had it connected I finally found my old one. I just love buying crap I don’t actually need. Plus, my receiver is old and cheap, as it only has 2 digital audio inputs. So, I connected the cable box and the DVD player. That leaves the xbox high and dry in just using the TV speakers. Well, we can’t have it all.

It’s also a bummer to have to keep the volume low on the deal. Goddamn apartment living. Oh well.

Other events today. I watched Tiger finish off his fifth tourament win in a row. That guy is a machine.

I whipped up a hamburger caserole for dinner (and had to go out to the grocery store to get the goods too). Amazing how much you use your car when you’re trying not to.

Finished the day by watching ‘Glengarry Glenn Ross’. It was ok. I didn’t love it. Thought it would be better.

So, coming up I have to figure out how in the hell to take care of my car. But, to balance that out, I have a second date tomorrow night.

It’s always something.

My day… continued

So, I forage out for grub.  In addition, my plan for the day was to get my surround sound system setup.  So, I stopped at Target to get a few cables I needed and some speaker stands.  As an aside, maybe there will be some day when I can walk out of Target without spending $100.  I have probably spent a thousand bucks there since I moved here.  Anyway… I get my gear, then head down the hill to get something to eat.

All of a sudden, I notice my temperature gage going thru the roof and steam coming from under my hood.  Oh shit.  This can’t be good.  Luckily, I’m right near a gas station, so I pull in and turn off.  After some adimittedly rudimentary troubleshooting, I realize that my radiator is bone dry.  Not good.  I was able to purchase some coolant, and after spilling half of the bottle all over the place (I had no funnel) I finally get it in.  I was ingenius enough to use an old magazine I had in the back as a makeshift funnel until I had poured enough out of the bottle so I could tip it easier.  It still got all over though.

Being labor day, there aren’t any car repair joints open.  My regular trusted mechanic (the only one I’ve ever found) is all the way downtown.  I guess I will take my car down there first thing in the morning, and rent a car.  See, this is where being single is a giantic pain in the ass.  When you’re married and have 2 cars, it is a minor inconvenience.  Now, it is a huge hassle.

Now, I’m off to hook up surround sound.  If something goes wrong with this, I’m giving up and going back to bed.

Wish me luck.

It’s back

The blog is back. After some technical difficulties, we are back up and running. Initially there was a scare that this all might be gone into the computer ether, but we’re ok.

Happy labor day everyone. For the record, is there anything worse than waking up absolutely starving, but not having a damn thing to eat in the house? I have some Cheerios, but no milk. I have some aging wheat bread, but nothing to put on it. Perhaps I could whip up the never before seen ‘Cheerio Sandwich’. Were this a normal work day, I would be at work and could hit the cafeteria for something. I really gotta stop watching the Food Network before I go to bed. Last night it was ‘Good Eats’ and he was doing tenderloin. Dear god… I cannot tell you how bad I would like that right now. Tenderloin, that is, not ‘Good Eats’.

In other news, I read this morning that Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, was killed by a stingray. He was filming a show called “Ocean’s Deadliest”. Gee, you ain’t kiddin. But honestly, who couldn’t see this coming? I would have bet $1000 that one day, one of those animals would catch up with him. I’m sorta surprised that it didn’t end with a croc chomping down on his head Joe Dirt style. Anyway, I feel sorry for is wife and kids.

In other other news, I’ve discovered something very cool. I have been a netflix subscriber for the past couple years. I love it. I’m not as fast as I used to be watching and returning the movies, but the selection they have is second to none. Plus, anytime I think of a movie I want to see, I can head right out to their site and put it in my queue. Brilliant.

Anyway, I received my latest shipment this past week. It had been at least a month or more since I had last returned movies. So, when I got my movies much quicker than I had before, I was confused. Turns out, Netflix has opened a shipping facility in Boise! Before, we had to send them to Salem OR, which added at least a day each way. Now, I can get a disc turned around in half the time. It is terrific. That will be great for getting the TV serieses on DVD, when they are like 6 discs for a season. You can ship the first disc back, and still be watching one of the ones you still have when the next arrives. Perfect.

I can’t recommend Netflix any higher. They have a free trial, and if you love movies, you should try it.

I’m going to now go forth, foraging for food.  Wish me luck.