One more Espresso shot

First day on Concerta. Took as prescribed. One of the possible side-effects is drowsiness? WTF? That is exactly the condition for which I am taking the damn things.

We will see if I can manage to know feel like sleeping from 9 to 11, and 1 to 3 today. Dammit, I would still prefer the provigil based on the drug information. I wonder if the Dr. office can just f'ing lie to the evil insurance [ insert explicative of choice here - I was thinking of using "dildo" just now, but that would be a grave disservice to sex toys everywhere ] and tell them I have the machine and they should give me my Doctor's first choice in drugs. Perhaps if these do not work I can convince my doctor to get things done via social engineering. Hell, it is how I get half of my work done around here.

More later.

This morning I was very tired, not sure why, but I managed to drag myself out of bed and get to a seminar from Compuware. It included a free breakfast. And not just the usual donuts and bagels. Cantaloupe with real whipped cream, french toast, coffee, water, orange juice, scrambled eggs, bacon, and breakfast potatoes. All served to us, not even buffet. Wow. Very sad the turnout was so small, but the information was good. Not really a product I could use in my job, but definitely something the company could use.

Got home, checked email, grabbed a bus 20 minutes later for downtown. Grabbed lunch on the way in, nice custom sandwich from Au Bon Pain. Got a bunch done at the office, delegated some tasks, grabbed the bus home. Had to walk a few extra blocks due to construction, but its all good. Read Queen and Country #30 (Rucka does good - a nice quick single issue story, that still leaves me excited about the comic. Then off to kickboxing. Whew. Warm. Drank 40 oz water during class. As I said when I finished - who put the wading pool under me? And at the class end ... I did offend. Nice bike ride home to cool off, and now I am here. Writing this.

With all of the recent posts about bikes...

Last night, after yoga, I worked on my bicycle. I had to unbend a portion of the big gear 9no, i don't know how it got bent in the first place) and then spent some time adjusting the derailleur for the front gear. Grabbed my helmet, filled a water bottle, and rode on the trail to downtown. The around on Hennipen (as an interesting aside - LJ wants to fix this word, and one option is Heinlein) to the new library. Turned around and rode back home. 11+ miles, about an hour or so, with at least 15 minutes tied up wandering downtown. A guy on the bus told me to head off on the dirt trail and come in on 10th. That was cool, but left me woefully unprepared to find my way out again. Once I spotted a fellow biker I got going in the right direction again, and then had my destination confirmed by some helpful bikers whilst we were waiting at a light.

Got home, neighbor was out working on his new retaining wall. We had a beer and chatted for a while. Turns out he is a closet geek and plays EVE Online. So we talked EVE and WoW and drank our beers until it was dark and we both needed to be domestic again and take out our respective garbage. Not to overanalyze the beer, in this case a Mich Golden (from his fridge, not mine). Not too bad when you are sweaty and tired. And a Guinness, which i <3, but to be honest, is a little heavy after 2 hours of working out.

( work and tech geekery )

Saturday was gaming day, in which we covered a good chunk of section B of The Worlds Largest Dungeon. If I had paid money for this module, I would have been stalking the authors in order to punch them. Possibly repeatedly. But we had fun none the less. Much beer was consumed, and so were huge amounts of MSG.

Before gaming, I went to yoga (Hatha Yoga - good stuff) and then went to Uptown to visit my favourite bookstore - Dreamhaven. Talked to people for a while, then home for gaming.

While we played, mle292, the Best Girlfriend Ever, changed the oil in my car. Very cool. TehDae and a friend of hers worked on a diorama for a school project, and we did not get in each-others way at all. They even managed to clean up from the construction pretty darn well, with a big hand from mle292.

Sunday was yummy pancakes made fresh by BGFE. Then she took TehDae home in order to get that good teenager at home rest time. I worked on the yard, did dishes, did laundry, then off to kickboxing to round out the night. I did not sleep well, and mle292 passed a rather minor head-cold on to me, so I called in sick, napped, and played around on the computers. I need to run off to the shipping place soon, then maybe yoga tonight.

Last night I was lifting. My mind started wandering and I was thinking why am I here? Not in the big cosmic sense, but what am I doing lifting. Note to self: When chest pressing 185 pounds and the bar is only half way up and is currently above your chest and neck is not the time to have thoughts like that. So I quickly channeled some Henry Rollins, "Iron doesn't lie" and kicked out another 4 to complete the set. Then I thought about it when there was a meager 60# of dumbbells above my skull. I gave it some thought on the drive home along the lines of I already spend 3 days a week kickboxing, and C is about to start yoga classes too (2-3 days per week). Hmmm. Then I got home and turned on my phone to several vms, and ran off to mle292's. If you need to know why you can read her post.

Holy Bureaucracy Batman!

So, I and a co-worker attempted to so something simple - migrate our desktops to laptops, so that we have access to information and are able to present in meetings, which is important because I spend 2-4 hours per day in meetings.

We have a process here for requesting laptops - it is simple enough, fill out the online form, put in free-hand text of what software you need, and press submit. And email is sent to the laptop people and one to your boss for approval. Wow, cool, no big deal.

It could not possibly be that simple. It is not. The laptops come with WiFi. We have WiFi available throughout the buildings. It is another form to get your laptop on the wireless network. It is another form, oh, wait, not actually a form - an email you have to send to one (1) person to request a docking station (what a fantastic process for a $50 billion company), then she decides if you get one. We have custom software that we use to do our jobs. It is not approved, and has not been since we have always had local admin rights (we are Technology, we are all Sr-System Engineers and above) so it has not been a problem. Now it is. We have to have another group that has not been around as long as us, nor as long as we have been using said software, approve it now, so someone can install it on our new machines. So, that is 4 separate requests that go for separate ways to get one simple thing done.

On top of that, since we are changing our insurance from something that works (BCBS) to the evil empire (UHC), all new cards are to be received, and they have the new fuck-you-in-the-ass-without-lube program called HRA's, which basically shift the initial cost to you and only cost UHC (henceforth known as those cum-guzzling-gutter-sluts) is administrative until you spend over $X, then it goes to the normal 80/20 type of thing (oh, but you get your 1 free checkup each year - it is probably government mandated, and if so then our legistlature is probably busy at work attempting to remove that pesky rule, "for the good of the people", but I am not bitter). Then they have the fucking audacity to say, your health is important. Fuckers. Fucking CGGS's. Now, with BCBS, we have this great fitness thing - go to the gym 8 times, get $20 towards your membership dues, all handled through the club and BCBS, you never see anything. The CGGS's don't like this program, as it requires something from them, like work. So, now, we have a form to fill out monthly and it is only valid at their list of clubs, which you cannot see until you have your card and register on their website and they will go above and beyond and grandfather all of us current users in. Gee, thanks.

Did I say I was not bitter? I lied.

I have had a personal trainer with whom I have met for about 4 years. I have actually had 3. The first one left to pursue her Masters and Physical Therapy work, the next one took a job at another club where she had more responsibility, and I have been with Sally for quite a while now.

Ever since I stopped traveling 50%+, I have been spending like I was getting quarterly travel bonuses and having half my meals covered. I went from 0 (yes, zero) credit card debt to over... well, more than my car is worth. This needed to stop. I was living like a typical American and overextending myself. I have cut down on plenty of extraneous spending, cutting down easy places like DVD and CD purchases, cutting out MMOs that I no longer played often, and recently cutting out lattes in favor of plain old coffee (and attempting to take advantage of discounted or free refills). But I still don't drink that crap in the cafeteria.

Well, the easy stuff out of the way, and over 80% of tax return to debt reduction, now the hard decision. Dropping my Personal Trainer. Without that cost, I should be able to get back on top of my credit card and get it to 0, as well as pay off my motorcycle this year (car has been paid off for quite a while). Then I can work on the HELOC. Aggressive, and I am sure plenty of financial planners would rather see it go into a roth or other investment, but hey, it's me....

There, more of my money issues than you ever wanted to know.

Yes, I have the Best Girlfriend Ever. mle292 was over at my house after the snow stopped and cleared my walkways and the driveway. She even cleared a path to the firewood. How cool is that? :)

And jmanna, where is my button?

Tomorrow is dinner and a movie with jschmidt and S, and hopefully mle292, but I have not seen any confirmation yet. Saturday is up early for a drive to St. Cloud, as tehDae (it was supposed to be "Teh Di" or "Teh Dee", but that didn't sound right, and it just came out like today so why fight it...) has to be up there for State/Regionals, I am not entirely sure, so a driving we will go.

I need (NEED) to get to Dreamhaven soon! I hope we have time on Saturday to get there. Other than that, I am not sure what my weekend holds. Hopefully a little time for WoW.

I was walking to the bus this morning. I need to cross a fairly busy street, so I use the crosswalk (no lights here, just signs). There is a law that states that cars must yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk. This does not actually happen very often. This morning, I walked up to the crosswalk, and the cars in both directions stopped. The first cars! Not the third or fourth or twentieth. The first, both ways. Amazing. Wow. Two people managed to start my day with a smile, by doing something as simple as following the law.

My "Be" protein bar lists NutriSoy as an ingredient. Some of you may be thinking, I have heard that term somewhere...

Life immitates art:
Quotes from the Shadowrun Official Rule Book:
The nutrisoy may not taste great, but at least it's hot.
And from Shadowrun Slang:
Nutrisoy n. Cheaply processed food product, derived from soybeans