Reason #2942 why being a parent is fun

Reason #2942 why being a parent is fun

My youngest decided to come into the master bedroom last night and vomit on the floor. Once everything was cleaned up I decided it was a good time to trade beds with my daughter.

Having children is like adding a random event generation unit to your life.

A good start to the week

I managed to forget my Treo and my phone at home this morning.  I realized this when I was already on the bus.  The bus almost went right past me this morning.  The driver said “I didn’t see you.”  Yes, I guess me waving my arms wildly was just impossible to make out.  He then went past the stop I usually get off at.  I had to walk a couple of extra blocks to get to work.  Stupid driver.

Pumpkins

Pumpkins

Work on Friday was fun. They fired someone who had been there for about a year and a half. And while he was certainly incompetent, it always freaks me out when this happens. I tend to second guess myself a lot and my performance. I think it comes from having laid off and fired so many people myself.

I guess I should be thankful this guy is gone. He was supposed to help me with a 120 minute presentation in February and literally 30 minutes before the presentation was set to start he said he couldn't take part in it. I had to wing it and fortunately someone else stepped in to help. Yet I still feel bad for him.

In addition, it looks like some people I used to managed at my old company are going to get laid off. I find this extremely disappointing. All of them work very hard at what they do to make ends meet. To be told after years of services that they're not needed is distressing.

Fortunately, Saturday was much better. We had lunch at a little burger place up the road and drove to Canby which is about 20 miles south of Portland (southeast of the river). We went pumpkin picking which is something we try to do at least once a year. They had a little train that took people around to a petting zoo and then to a 20 foot tall hay-bail pyramid that the kids could climb on. There you could pick pumpkin and bring them back to the main shop (barn) for purchase.

There was maze under the hay-bail pyramid which was pitch dark. I took my youngest through it and realized I couldn't see anything at all. By the time I realized that it was too late to turn around. I figured it we just walked around the edge we would find the other exit. I felt very lucky to be right.

I stayed with my oldest most of the time at they hay-bail pyramid and my wife took my youngest and looked at what they had on sale at the main shop. She got a huge bunch of dried flowers and other assorted decorative items.

As I write this on Sunday morning I realize fall is upon us. Gone are the days of wearing short shirtsleeves and sandals. It's not supposed to leave the 50s today and the rest of the week looks like it's going to be rainy and hazy...you know, like Portland.

For fun here are two of the strangest excercise videos you'll ever see:
Poodle Exercise with Humans
I was Robbed By Two Men

No, I'm not dead

No, I'm not dead

It’s been forever since I’ve written. I’m still around, but like most bloggers if you don’t stick with it and make it a habit, you never do it.

The problem is I’ve been writing at work so much I’m all written out by the time it’s time to write anything.

The last week was spent in training. Starting Sunday (Yes, Sunday) my week has pretty much been training non-stop with lots of after work activities.

We did paintball on Sunday, which I’ve decided I don’t like. Paintball hurts and it was fairly gross since there were pools of “paint” on the ground because this was an indoor place that obviously didn’t clean up much. Since I’m fairly tall I did a lot of hunching and running while halfway crouched. I discovered this works muscles I typically do not work. The muscles in my legs were pretty much on fire the rest of the week.

I ended up having to walk home a fair amount of the way from paintball, which was great. I was told I’d have a ride home. There was no such ride.

On Monday night we cruised the Willamette River on a smallish boat called the “Crystal Dolphin”. Dinner and drinks were served. I drank way too much and then talked to the CEO all night. I’m shocked I didn’t get fired. I don’t recall anything I said.

I’m in the process of withdrawing all my money out of my PartyPoker account. Basically the GOP amended the port security bill to include a nice piece of legislation that pretty much makes most online gambling illegal.

I assume at some point there will be ways around this. Alas, other than moving money to another country and then into a poker site, I don’t know of any. Even that seems fairly easy to track. I’ll wait for the smart people to figure it out and I’ll follow suit.

Currently I’m worried about getting the money out as I had to verify my account by faxing a canceled check to an 800 fax number. This seems like a very non-secure way of verifying my information. Then again I’m not sure how much more I can do to prove my identity and address.

I’m sitting at my desk at work right now and I swear I smell beer. My rational thought is that I couldn’t possibly be smelling it now and yet I am. Maybe someone here is a drunk. At least that would be exciting. This office is pretty boring.