3-Apr-2000

    It's been nearly a week since I've written anything in here. If you doubt me, look at the date below :-) So, what's been going on in my life. 

    Work: My company bought another company which is 8 times it's size in personnel. The deal looks more like a merger than an acquisition, actually, at first blush it was hard to tell who bought whom. I would be concerned about it, but I've already been fired. I wonder if things will continue to proceed as they have been planned thus far, this could potentially change everything, although I don't think it will save my job here. More likely our plan to move our hardware and jobs to Colorado will be rerouted to some other location. Only time will tell, in the mean-time show me the money. Aside from the on-going changes, work has been quasi busy, we've started to devote some of our efforts toward the consolidation, my only concern is that I won't have a staff to transition with. 

    Play: This actually intersects with work, since many of the people I hang out with I've met at work. Another one of my dear friends has left the company. She is moving up in the world and I am very happy for her. This was the first wave of departures here, 4 down many to go. June 15th is the next day of reckoning. On that day we'll see another 20 go, though I'm sure not all 20 will stay until the end. I'm thinking of doing a casualty count for those who have left. I'll have to check my old documents to see if I an old roster. In other personal news, Volleyball is almost complete, playoffs are Thursday and since we're playing the first place team in the first round, I think we'll lose, badly. Once this season completes, I'll be playing on a different night with most of the same members that I'm playing with now, but I think the level of play is less, which means that we have a better chance of winning. The future of my pool team is in danger, the captain and his wife have quit the team, it remains to be seen whether or not we will continue to play with a smaller line-up. I would go into the details, but frankly I don't know them. Softball will be starting shortly (Yeah!!!) which will keep my social calendar busy. The downside is that my site will suffer, but since the weather should be nice (crossing my fingers) I won't mind so much. 

    Well, that's it for the highlights except for one. I saw "High Fidelity" last night, John Cusack stars in it. I totally related to the characters experiences and observations, though not his behavior. I thought it amusing and I think that I'll be putting it in my movie collection before long. My friends had more of a so-so reaction to it. I think it was because John Cusack's character was not completely likable, he did some fairly self-involved things. Check it out and tell me what you think. It was the first movie I've seen in the theatre since December. I have a laundry list of films I'd like to see. I'm getting behind in my old age, or is it my single status ;-)

    Well, goodnight all. And for the dearly departed in the first wave, sweet dreams and good luck. I'm sure that you'll find what you're looking for.  


8-Apr-2000

    The weather is finally getting nicer, which means less time to work on the site. I'm up to 1984 in U2's history. I've been working on the Unforgettable Fire and Pride (In the Name of Love) pages. I'll probably finish all the way up through 1985 by tomorrow evening. Once I complete that I will be knocking on the Joshua Tree door. The closer I get to the present, the more things I have to display, so the content should be easier to come up with. I have a few things coming up that I'm looking forward to putting up. 

    Our pool team is still intact, though we have two fewer than before. We did very well as a team this week. We won 4 of our 5 games. Two of us beat people that were ranked higher than us, which is really satisfying. I was happy with the way that I played, I only missed a few that I should have made and I made at least 3 fairly difficult shots. I now have a record of 3 - 3. I'll have to show up late to Pool this week because I have my first pre-season coaches meeting for the softball team. Yep, I'm the manager of my work team. I took over as manager half way through last year's season. It's been great, it all started because I thought I might be able to make a better lineup for the games we were playing and no one else really wanted to. We finished the season with a 5 game winning streak and we lost our playoff game by a run. The team we lost to ended up in the finals. Our first practice is in two days, it will be nice to be out there again :-). Yeah spring!!!!!!!!!!!!

    On other news, we had another couple of people depart this week. One of which is my age and whom I've chatted with frequently enough, but I don't really know all that well. It seems that you get to know these people on their way out more so than when they are here. Her boyfriend and I get along very well, so I suppose I'll be seeing them more often than I ever did when they worked here. On a related note, her boyfriend is in a local band called "ARC" they were featured this weekend on "Sounding Board" a local television program which spotlights local talent. I wasn't sure if I was going to like them, but I was pretty impressed with what I heard on the show. Since I'm full of opinions, I chose to put them out there and I guess if I want to become a full time promoter the job is mine. It's an intriguing idea, and I wonder if I could do a good job of managing a band. I suppose it wouldn't be too different than managing other people, but being in a band is not all about the job, there is an artistic heart that beats inside which you can't manage or even toy with. My tendency is to want to do things my way, that doesn't mean that I don't listen to other ideas, but if I have a vision, I want to see if it works. I'm going to have to go and see the band play live and listen to the disc that he gave me before I muse about what I would do in that situation. On first take, I think their musical style is different than the image they are trying to push. It's almost like false advertising. They are pushing a country-western look and they sound more like electric-folk. I have a dim view of Country Music, even though it's the step-cousin of folk. Personally, I think that folk music normally has more to say than country and the good stuff doesn't have that annoying twang. It's just my completely biased view of things. 

    Well, my completely uninformed point of view is now out on the web, and I'm sure that I'll be wrong about it, but if nothing else I'll be able to look back and say "Whoa, did I read that situation wrong!" It's late and I'm babbling. 

    Goodnight all. See you on the next go-round.  


9-Apr-2000

    The weather today is insane! They are forecasting a foot of snow. Spring time will never arrive. Global warming is a myth you tell children, not unlike telling stories about the bogeyman. If it exists, throw some up our way. The upside to it all is I'm working on my site. The downside, of course, is THAT IT'S APRIL 9, APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS, APRIL SNOWS, JUST BLOWS. Ok, rant over with.

    This is crazy, I have a friend who is flying back from a beautiful trip to Florida, I hope they bought a souvenir Mickey Mouse shovel to dig their car out when they arrive. Talk about jet lag. I hope they don't have any difficulty landing with this junk. It looks as though I'll have to cancel practice tomorrow. Snow ball isn't as popular these days as it used to be in the ice age. 

    Maybe I'll write more later, but right now I'm just going to go downstairs and take a shower. I'll pretend it's warm and the birds are singing. Maybe I'll even do some singing. Shower water provides excellent acoustics. Imagine how much cooler it would be if we all had echo boxes going on wherever we went, we would sound so confident and sure of ourselves. Ok, I've lost it completely. Time to stop drinking so much coffee. More later. 

    It's now officially later and I've done all that I wrote about and feel loads better. I even went outside to confront the snow. You know what? It was just about the most packable fun snow you can have. I can only imagine the forts you could build with this stuff. 

    I dusted off the car and went for a drive. Mostly I drove around to blow the snow and ice off of my car. I think it's great when a big snow ball rolls off your hood and onto the street. Simple pleasures. Sue me. I stopped at the video store for the first time in perhaps 6 months today. I wanted to see if they had the "Sixth Sense" and of course they didn't, I almost rented "Episode I" but I wasn't in the mood to watch it. (Take my temperature, I don't want to watch "Star Wars"?) It's true, I didn't feel like dishing out money today. I really should just buy the thing, and I probably will in a few weeks after I pay that blasted Niagra-Mohawk bill. I hate utilities in New York State. 

      Hmmm, you're probably bored with my line of babble tonight. That's ok, so am I. Tomorrow is Monday and I think it's going to be a very busy week for me. 

        Take care and sleep well.


16-Apr-2000

    I haven't written in this thing for a week. I've been working on other parts of the site. I've changed the front page slightly and moved the old background to my Me page. Nothing spectacular really, but I really hated the way it looked before. I've got another 6 - 10 pages in the U2 portion completed. Take a look at it, I've gotten all the way through the Joshua Tree, I need to add the "Did You Know?" portion to several of the Joshua Tree singles, but it will come along soon. I'm pleased with how much site work I got done yesterday. I started grooving on getting the Joshua Tree part up. I think it is because there is more material to work with, which makes designing interesting pages easier. Wait till I reach the 1990's. I have a lot more stuff to put in for that era of U2. 

    I suppose I haven't written much because I have had a lot to absorb in my work and personal life. I guess I feel the need to encapsulate things into bite size descriptions, and when I'm in the midst of change I can't break it down into any hard facts. A part of the transition team came to Albany this week to meet with us. They  all seem to be very nice people. One of them was a U2 fan, which totally made my day. He thought he was the bigger fan, but from the indications, we are both big fans and I've reached the age where we don't have to pull out a ruler to see who the bigger fan is. :-) I'm not sure who said it but I think it's true "Every argument between two men, can be settled with a ruler." It makes me laugh, particularly when I'm in a situation where it appears that a rivalry is developing. Just as I start to open my big mouth to top what they just said, I think of the ruler, and it usually stops me from being overly competitive or macho about it. Even though all the people were nice and professional, it was hard to not feel a bit inferior because we're the smaller fish which has been swallowed by the larger corporation. For me personally, I want to be the best at what I do, and I think I've done a really good job here, but when I compare myself to my counterpart, I feel like I didn't get as much done as I would have liked to. The truth is, our roles are different. My department has been filling the holes that are left by other parts of the organization. Good or bad, I've taken responsibility for things that I probably could have dished off to other departments. This whole thing will be good for me, I'm relatively young and I've had enormous amounts of responsibility here, and I've enjoyed it. I've had the autonomy to create some really cool solutions, and yet I still have a defined role in this organization. The interesting thing to me, is that there isn't a me in Colorado, that I can tell. I've been a jack of all trades here, master of little, familiar with all. 

    I finally started to work on my resume and I quickly became tired of it. How do you sum up 2 years of work? How can you possibly describe the difference you have made in a body of work? Once I figure that out, I'll have a great resume. My problem is that anything that I do, I tend to underestimate it's value. Because once I learn something, I see it in simple terms. The up-side to that, is that I can normally break it down for other people to absorb. I think it's that teaching gene that my family seems to possess. I have 5 1/2 months before this project ends and then I will have needed to make a decision about where my life is going. I mean that in the physical sense. I have 3 possible places to go. I have where I started (Virginia), where I came from (Colorado) and where I'm at (NY). 

    A brief history lesson for you: When I was 13 or 14, I told my family that I wanted to go to school in New York, it was a big deal for me to end up in New York as a student. Nearly 10 years later, I did end up in New York as a student, and I had forgotten completely about what I had said. I also thought that I would meet my wife in College, I thought it was the logical progression. Once you complete school it is harder to meet available young women, or available older women as the case may be. Your best shot is the women you work with, because you get to see them in better light, than you would if you met them in a bar. Bar life never works out, so I wonder why people even try any more. In any case, not all predictions come true. I'm not done with school yet, but I can't see myself in school again until I've resolved my work situation. 

    Maybe I'll talk more later. For now, I need to post this and get moving, there is a lot of daylight to absorb on this Sunday afternoon. 


22-Apr-2000

    This week has been packed, I haven't been able to work on the site at all. I've done very little so far this Friday/Saturday. It's cold and rainy again, which is  just depressing. I think that the weather will drive me out of upstate NY faster than anything else. I had a fairly stressful week, but I have had some things to be thankful for, and I'm still feeling a bit empty. The future looms large and there is much to do between now and then, and still I feel as though I'm just holding my breath. 

    I found out yesterday that my company is going to put up most of the funds needed to play softball this year, which is fantastic, but it's stressful trying to put a team together. The games day to day are easy (or were last year) to manage. The weather has been so abysmal that I have only had one practice, and only 6 people showed up. I hope it gets easier once we start playing. I'd like to see us get off to a strong start so that everyone can feel looser out there. Once everyone gets loose, then it will be easier to have fun, and since I'm the manager, I know I'll personally take the blame if we lose. Pool is still going, I think I have another month and a half left in the season, and though I enjoy it to a certain degree, I'll be relieved when it's over. I won this week! I beat a guy who was ranked higher than I was, which is very cool. They'll probably bump me up after that one. He obviously didn't play his best game, and I gave him a lot of chances to beat me. I just want to remain consistent when I play. Volleyball will also be starting up again soon. So, for the next month, my schedule will be packed. I'll also have to make it out to Colorado in the next month or two. I just need to put together an action plan so that I can make things easier on the group that will inherit my department. 

    I also had my date with the Auction winner. It was a really good time. We went to a nice Italian restaurant, and talked a lot. It's great to get to know people outside of work. You learn things about them that you can't learn at work. Which is also one of the benefits of softball. After dinner we went to Proctor's Theatre and saw "Victor Victoria", which was very funny. It was an entertaining play and the theatre is beautiful. I'm glad that I got a chance to go there. 

    I better get moving, I need to go grocery shopping today, since I'll be spending Easter with my family. Happy Easter everyone!


23-Apr-2000

    Bad weather. Good Day. Even though the weather hasn't changed yet, I think I've become used to the dreariness of it all. Or perhaps I just got some sleep. I'm not sure I care much why today is better than yesterday. Perhaps because it's Easter, perhaps it was the time spent with my parents, perhaps it was because I was fed properly, perhaps it's because the Orioles are playing and ESPN is broadcasting it. Or maybe because tomorrow is Monday and I can find purpose at work. I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing that I enjoy my work as much as I do. Obviously, it would be a bad thing if I got up every morning and thought, "Man, I don't want to go to work" I've been there, the Air Force was like that, Domino's was like that. This is the first job I've truly enjoyed going to. The down side is that I don't always make the most of my weekends. Mainly because I don't have a lot of friends my age who aren't married. And since I'm not dating anyone right now, I'm not making plans with her either. But, then again, I'm not sure right now is the right time to be finding anyone anyway, I have a little over 5 months until this job is complete, and then I have to make a decision about my future. I started working on my resume last weekend and I quickly became tired of it. I think that I should work on my resume on a day when I have an overblown sense of self. That way I can beef it up without feeling like I'm lying. Well, the Orioles are up 2 to 1. Let's hope they win and beat down the Yankees this year. If that happens, I should probably move back down to Virginia. Maybe I'll stake my future on the pennant race, or maybe I'll just stop writing before I loose it completely. Yep, it's a good time to say goodnight. I hope everyone had a happy Easter.