Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Dance class part two begins tonight. We should be learning more of the Foxtrot, but pacing it to music this time (not my strong suit) and gliding (or stumbling, whichever you can picture easier) around the room instead of going in a straight line.

I'll report back to let you know how we do. I know, I know, you're waiting with bated breath.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Hey boys and girls, do you know what time it is?

That's right! It's time to do your taxes.

Thanks to my home purchase, it looks like I will be getting back a nice chunk of change this year. I need to go change my deductions at work to prevent myself from loaning the government my money though. My objective is to break even every year, but somehow, no matter what I do, I ALWAYS owe Ohio money. Always.

Ohio, feel free to use my taxes to improve the roads of the north eastern part of the state. Some of the potholes around here have swallowed entire communities.

Also... it's snowing cats and dogs outside. I bet you didn't know that was possible, but it is. They're not too happy about it either.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Class # 2 of the worst class I've ever taken begins tonight.

I have come prepared with appropriate distractions however. I've decided that since I cannot use my laptop, I will have to resort to reading the book for the class. This will at least prevent me from having to do so out of class.

Basically what I'm telling you is that I'd rather do ANYTHING than listen to this professor.

What is the class? Ethics and Stakeholder Management. Codename: Excitement!

Friday, January 26, 2007

The President of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is hilarious.

I laughed. Aloud. Even though I was by myself.


Speaking of the past (did you just witness that smooth transition?)... when I was in Washington DC, I wasn't alone. Lindsay was my private tour guide during my first and only visit to DC. I apparently failed to mention this the last time. That's all.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Ballroom dancing yesterday went pretty well I must say. I thought that I'd be embarrassed, but I wasn't at all. It's a beginners class and there are 30 couples in there, so everyone is doing just about as bad as you so there's no reason to feel self-conscious.

We learned the Foxtrot yesterday. It's nice and easy, and I think we're getting to be pretty good about doing it in a straight line. I haven't mastered it with music yet, which is after all, the only reason you should be dancing, but I think I can get there.

All in all, it was okay. If the next 7 sessions go like last night, I could actually see signing up for another class.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

This just in: I am awesome!

In other news, Lindsay and I start our ballroom dancing class tonight. Yes. You read that right. Ballroom dancing. I actually suggested it too. Why you ask? Because I'm familiar with my whiteness and my lack of rhythm. With a year packed full of weddings, I'd prefer to not make a fool out of myself.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

This could very well be the worst class of my entire college career... and that's saying something.

We're not allowed to use laptops in class. Why you ask? Because he wants us to be focused on the useless drivel that is coming out of his mouth. No one is allowed to wear a hat. Why? Because we're paying his salary and as adults, we're clearly not intelligent enough to make our own decisions. If you're late to class by even a single minute then you have to write a 5 page paper that's due the next class. If you miss a class, again you have to write a 5 page paper.

If people want to skip the entire class with the exception of test days, then there should be no problem with that. After all, they're paying for the class and if it's their intention to get nothing out of it, then that is their right.

Hooray for marketing classes.

Monday, January 22, 2007

School starts today. Oh joy. I've only got one class this semester; from 6:00 - 8:50 PM on Monday nights. I chose Monday because there are 2 holidays on Mondays this year, so I only have 14 sessions.

Friday, January 19, 2007

The HVAC guy came out and said that there's basically nothing I can do to prevent it again. He said I could spend $20,000 trying to fix it and there's no guarantee that it would work.

The problem is that the area I'm in is very close to Lake Erie so it has a very sandy base and a high water table (hence why no houses by me have basements.) He said that when we have a lot of rain for days on end that the water table rises through the sandy base and seeps into the duct work. I asked him if drain tile would work or if a sump pump work work. He said a sump pump could work, but I'd have to dig up the foundation in order to try it, and he wasn't sure about how to place it in the duct work. Alternatively, I could try putting in a crock in the back yard that funnels out to the drainage ditch (we don't have storm sewers because of the high water table). That would help remove a lot of water, but it has to go somewhere still, and that somewhere could just as easily be my house.

He also said that I could never have this problem again... so that's where I'm at. A no win situation basically.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

The HVAC guy is coming out tomorrow at noon. The home warranty place was very helpful and didn't give me a hard time at all. They requested that I contact them before any actual work is done though so that they can approve it. Assuming all goes well, I'll have to pay my $100 deductible, but then everything else should be covered.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

My house was dry tonight. The little remaining water that I was unable to get to last night evaporated today. I have found my home warranty paperwork and will be calling them today. Accessible ductwork is covered, but I'm not sure what they consider to be accessible. My worry is that since this is under the floor, they'll deem it not to be accessible.

Monday, January 15, 2007

There's a new movie coming out. It's called "The Joy of Flooding."

It stars... me.
Co-starring... my house.

I came home to approximately 300 gallons of water in my duct work on the first floor. Why do I say approximately? I was able to remove 285 gallons with the shop-vac, but the rest will need to be professionally removed. The ducts need to be cleaned now anyway.

Stupid 3 straight days of rain.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

We went to a restaurant named Sans Souci tonight. I was very disappointed. It has gotten nothing but stellar reviews from everything that I can tell, but the food was totally average, the service was average, and the seating location was very sub-par.

I requested a corner table (note that I made the reservation 2 months ago). Well, we happened to get a corner table, but it was right next to a table of four. I literally could have reached out and touched them. This is despite the fact that there were at least 30 open tables in a restaurant that only had 50 tables. Granted, the other tables filled up as the meal went on, but still...

I won't ever go back. There's far better places to go in my opinion.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Lindsay and I are off to play poker soon. Maybe we can reverse our fortunes and actually come out ahead instead of just donating to the cause of others...

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

I picked up a new phone last night. I got the Samsung A900M (otherwise known as "The Blade"). It's got some nice features from what I can tell. I've only played with it for a few hours now, but it seems like the interface is fairly intuitive. It's a thin phone and looks a bit like the Razr, so I'm interested in how the battery life holds up. So far the phone gets a thumbs up, even though I have to re-enter all of my contacts because they couldn't transfer them off of my old phone.

Monday, January 8, 2007

My prediction for tonight:

Ohio State - 31
Florida - 23

Even though Florida is in the national championship game, I never really got the feeling that they were the true cream of the SEC. I think that goes to LSU. Yes, LSU lost to Florida and had 2 losses this year. I still think they're better than Florida. Does that necessarily make sense? No, but since when is that required from me?

Other than UCF and Western Carolina, who exactly did Florida blow out? No one. They did beat down Arkansas by 10 and put up 38 in the process, but other than that, their offense didn't really roll over anyone. I don't think that's going to start tonight either.

Sunday, January 7, 2007

The NFL playoffs are on today and my prediction is that I'll watch none of the games. I can probably tell you who is playing, but that's only because I was asked to make a prediction of the outcomes. I really don't care at all about the NFL. Is that because of how bad Browns are? I'm sure that that doesn't help the situation, but I'm much more interested in college football as compared to pro football. The next game that I'll watch will most likely be the Super Bowl.

Saturday, January 6, 2007

Lindsay is taking me out for Christmas dinner tonight. Yes, I realize that it's either a little late or extremely early, but we decided on the date before Christmas. I'm taking her out next week. Because of all the travel and some out of town guests (from Australia) it's just easier to do it this way.

I think I know where we're going, but I won't know for sure until we get there.

Friday, January 5, 2007

Three going away parties at work today. Rats fleeing a sinking ship? Maybe. Two of the three are staying within the company though, so I don't think that's it. I think it's more likely that there's some exhaustion with management. I get the feeling that there could be a lot more changes coming down the pipe.

Thursday, January 4, 2007

It makes me feel better now that Notre Dame has been blown out again in a bowl game. Yes, Purdue is el sucko, but it's somehow more tolerable knowing that the greatest football coach in the world still cannot lead the greatest college football team ever to a bowl victory.

I love you Fat Tuna! Brady Quinn, you're my hero! Surely the referees were against you last night. What else could possibly explain how you didn't win that game? Nothing! You're obviously the most talented team in the world. You would win the Super Bowl without even having to show up... so why does God seek to put you in the bowl desert for 9 years? Oh Notre Dame, why art though forsaken?

I'll tell you why. You're just not good. You have a few talented players, but in general you're over-hyped and over-rated. You have a fat TV contract that makes the media practically fall over themselves talking about how great you are. You're not great. You're mediocre. You'll never be dominant. You may win a championship again, but you won't be a big power anymore. The faster you get used to it the more happy you will be.

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Not only have I been traveling for the past two weeks, but I have also been sick for the past two weeks. That doesn't excuse me from posting the daily excitement that is otherwise known as my life, but that's the reason why I haven't been keeping up with this.

During the break in posting, the following things happened:

Justin and Melissa got engaged.

I saw We Are Marshall. It was pretty good. There were definitely some touching moments in it. I thought that they handled the subject matter appropriately too.

My Christmas decorations went up and have now begun to come down.

Purdue went from having a good offense to being a horrendously bad team.

I came in at just about my budget for Christmas shopping, but I still feel broke.

I saw Washington DC for the first time. Spent about 5 hours checking out some of the monuments. I'd love to go back in the spring or summer and just walk around for a week. That won't happen this year, but hopefully sometime in the next few years it will.

I'm sure other things happened too, but that's all I can recall at this point in time.