so maybe i lose your respect a little bit

I’m starting the day with a bit of advertising… I figure a little self-promotion might go a long way in this world. Besides, now that the Mrs. made me take down all my pay-per-view pics, I’ve been feeling a little ignored.

This is the new best site on the web: http://fridaywaster.blogspot.com/

It’s actually not all that new. I started adding the posts to create an archive of sorts, and to share the weeklies with people that I don’t really want to have my contact info. I’ve had a number of random people find the site on their own, and register to receive automated updates. I don’t even know who they are, which is almost a spooky to me.

Eff “don’t talk to strangers” … right now, I’m writing to complete strangers. Telling them about my psychological issues and physical shortcomings. http://tinyurl.com/58wg3w

Today is my oldest kid’s birthday. NINETEEN years old. No way. He’s older now than I was when I first spawned, got married, bought my first new car. His accomplishments so far are like a gold-star on my report card of parenting; I’m totally proud of him breaking the Sterling cycle and going away to school. He's been in multiple award-winning bands, and is on the ground-level of implementing a new frat. He’s coming home this weekend to see the family (translation: he’s hoping to collect a rack of birthday money from me.)

Report cards for the rest of the kids came out this week…. Kid2 is OUT of trouble: she’s back on the honor roll. She’ll be getting her cell phone back this weekend, and the driver’s license will follow soon. Her mom actually has the DL, they’re having some fight about some other silliness so the DL is still restricted.

Kid3 & Kid4 both did *mostly* good, with a couple of flagrant violations. Both had As n Bs mostly, but lower grades in one or two classes specifically due to slacking off. Slackers. Dunno where they might have inherited that trait from.

I spent the day working from home. Kinda sucked, actually. The weather is beautiful, but so much more tempting when I’ve got the windows open and the dogs running around. In the office, I still look out the windows, but I don’t have the urge to crack a beer and spend the afternoon out on the deck.

I totally picked the wrong day to stay home, too. I had to do it b/c I had a rack of paperwork to get done, but distractions in the office kept sidelining my efforts. But I wish it were a different day. Some of the guys brought an electric griddle in this morning to cook fresh hotcakes, and Friday lunch is nearly always shared over a pint or two. I traded fresh hotcakes for a bowl of Strawberry MiniWheats. :-(

It would have been a great day on the bike, too. I rolled 45 miles this week, and did it with a lot less effort than last week. Because last week was the first week of the summer on the bike, I was hurting pretty bad all last weekend. By Monday, I’d mostly recovered, and right now I’m feelin’ juuuuuust fine.

I do think I’ll hit the Jack once or twice before I head to the crash n tinkle of glass up at the ‘Hole. Jack is just a nice way to start the evening.

Everybody I know – have a great weekend. All you stalker strangers who have subscribed to this feed – step back! You make me nervous.

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Leslie has a new job. They don’t work her very hard. From all the jokes, links, & games that she sends, I’m pretty sure she’s slacking for the gubmint now. She sent the Japanese IQ test that you can try here.

Two, two, two ads in one! Audi and Iron Man team up to put commercial space all over your game time. I didn’t finish making my robot though: http://microsites.audi.com/ironman/index_standalone.html?language=en

Competitive typing. WTF? http://play.typeracer.com

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I think Brian may have some issues: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/zombiestrippers/index.html

What? It could happen. She could be real. Peter Pan’s shadow didn’t always follow him, either. http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/2008/04/93x-impossible-babe-of-day.html

Jessica Rabbit is NOT impossible. She’s the top of my fantasy list forever. Maybe even more so now: http://pixeloo.blogspot.com/2008/04/jessica-rabbit-untooned.html

Boom. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnwYhSz2P5E

where's waldo?

Just got back from lunch at Jimmy’s Old Town. MMmmmmmmm….. Jimmy’s. I never actually had any food there before I started working in Herndon. Jimmy’s used to be Destination Drunk for me, and now I’m a member of the Frequent Daytime Diner club. Buy 9 sammiches and get the 10^th free. If you’re lucky, Jimmy Himself will bare-hand a ½ pound of fries onto the plate with your North Philly Cheesesteak.

I actually usually go with the daily specials. Today was Cajun Pork Loin. It was more “gravy” than “Cajun” but still a really good lunch. Broccorri, mashed taters, and brown gravy filled my belly just fine. Cap it all off with a pint of Guinness (done all proper with a clover in the head and everything) and that’s a tasty meal. Usually, I don’t even care that they don’t have Bass to make the black n tan. I still order a BnT, even though the best they can do is a half n half with Harp. Old habits, I guess. Today wasn’t even a 50/50, I got more of a 90/10. Whatever; if I have to stress over TOO MUCH Guinness, I guess life is good, no?

Out in the real world, I’m still waiting on grades and report cards to come in.

Joe keeps telling me he’s got much better grades this semester. I keep hoping that he’s just not a better liar now. He needs to get his a55 off academic probation so he can go back to taking a full course load. He *tells me* that he’s on track now, but until finals are done, I just keep hoping.

Sam’s teachers all have good news in their emails, but until I have the 3^rd quarter grades in my hand, she’s not out of trouble. She should easily be back on honor roll. She NEEDS to be back on honor roll if she wants her driver’s license back. And her cell phone. And to get off my bad side.

Meg remains on my bad side. We’re only one week into the 4^th quarter, and she hasn’t screwed up yet. Her third quarter grades are cr@p, though. Slacking, just like the others. At least she found out early that I can out-stubborn just about anybody.

E’s school reports continue to be solid. He’s so d@mn bright, I think it confuses the teachers. In class, he’s disrespectful, distracted, and just a general cut-up. Then he posts As n Bs, and it drives the teachers crazy. They just need to give him a bigger challenge.

I pulled the bike out this week for the first couple of rides. Monday was a chilly 38 degrees. Tues & Wed were even colder, so I drove the truck. Yesterday and today were bike days though, and much nicer than Monday was. I’m really looking forward to the ride home this afternoon in the sunshine.

I need to head home soon, so I have time to jump in the shower before heading to do the bar thing tonight. I’m hoping the ride and the shower will get enough of Jimmy’s Guinness out of me to be sober by the time I get to GDays.

Happy weekend!

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Jacob sent two games. One sucked. This one was cool, though: http://where-is-osama.freeonlinegames.com/

The newest hardest game ever. Drained my brain, twisted my mouse cord, and hurt my eyes: http://www.allgamesallfree.com/games1079-pongout.html

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Your kid is stupid, but he thinks just like I do: http://www.shootthestupid.com/2008/04/15/your-kid-is-stupid/

TouchCat submitted this vid. It’ll only take a minute of your time, but for the guys that made the vid I’m sure it drained multiple days. http://www.break.com/index/mario-theme-played-with-rc-car-and-bottles.html

BTW – “TouchCat” is on my list of favorite nicknames ever.

if you're not saying it out loud, you're doing it wrong

(The Friday email went out per usual, but b/c I still suck nads, I didn't get it posted to the blog on time. This was Friday 11 April.)

Iiiiiiiiiits FRIIIIIDAY

Last weekend was a lot of hard work, but good friends to hang around with. Tasty food and plenty of beers, too. We rolled out almost 3000 square ft of sod in the backyard on Saturday. The rain on Sunday was a good start to get things growing, too. The lawn looks great, and the dogs love having a lush place to crap now.

All day Monday and all day Tuesday I got stuck in unscheduled meetings, so I’ve been behind on workstuff all week long. Stupid gubmint.

Tuesday night, I started back to class, too. The first week isn’t ever too hard, but I’ve got a load of work coming to me in the upcoming weeks. I’ve even got to write a research paper for a CIS class – not.happy.

The kids are all home from school today. It’s the end of the grading period, and I think that they’re all in good shape. We’ve only got secondhand knowledge at the moment, but report cards will provide validation in a few days. I have talked to a bunch of MiddleWaster’s teachers, and they all report that she’s doing very well. I don’t doubt she’ll have her driver’s license and cell phone returned by next week sometime.

We had a nice little pizza & beer party for one of the long term guys in the office who is leaving today. He’s a good one, too, I’m sad to see him go. Since MBI was purchased a few months ago, the climate is starting to become much more corporate. He’s heading to Germany for a while, and he’s got something lined up for when he returns.

I’m leaving the office in just a few minutes. I’ve got a few afternoon errands to run before heading into GDays for the night.

Not sure what the weekend holds yet…. I think it mostly depends on the weather.

Happy Friday!

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Brian sent this submission … says it’s the best puzzle ever. I’m convinced that there really isn’t a solution. http://www.humorfreak.com/media/3612/Submachine.html

Here’s an addictive one with a twist. It took me a minute to figure it out. You’re the tank, but your weapon is yourself. The object is actually to GET blown up, then use the arrows to bounce around and destroy the enemy. http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/indestructotank_ae

Spidy kinda sucks. Cool to see him swallow the fly though. http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/mighty_spidy

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Cool new toys: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/04/segways_new_rmp.html

It’s not my fault! Wah! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24036031/

Say it out loud. Click the picture to see the next... www.omnomnomnom.com

i actually wrote this waster on saturday

(The Friday email went out per usual, but b/c I really suck nads sometimes, i didn't get it posted to the blog on time. This was Friday 4 April.)

This week has kicked my tail. Wow.

Last weekend was productive, but took a bit of work. We’re re-doing the backyard: leveling the ground and laying new sod. Saturday we did some prep work – spread a truckload of woodchips under the trampoline and got a bunch of the organizing done. I figure if the kids crash off the tramp, they’ll just get splinters instead of broken bones.

Sunday saw a rack of people come by to help spread a truckload of topsoil. Each of us is a lazy slacker, but the combined 10% effort that we all put in added up to about 150% work ethic. Under 2 hours, and we had it all laid out.

Monday whipped me. I lost. I started the day at the dentist, then worked until about 1030 pm. I didn’t even finish, but I had to stop working anyway b/c my spelling was really turning cr@ppy. T-W-T were long days, too, with an addition of kidstuff.

MiddleWaster is heading down to Richmond this weekend for state WinterGuard competition. They’ve got two performances tomorrow. Not sure if they’ve got stuff on Sunday yet – it may depend on how they do on the first day.

The weekend has more yardstuff in my future. I’ve got a delivery truck in my driveway right now, unloading pallets of sod. Tomorrow morning we’re getting the power equipment out to start tilling the backyard. Then we’ve got rolls and rolls of grass to unroll. Yeah, I know. None of you has ever seen me UNroll the grass.

I’ve been driving all over the state today, meeting to meeting, and picking up different bits of equipment. I’m about ready to GTF outta here.

We’ve got a new-guy manager at the bar tonight, so I’m not overly thrilled to make it to work. Breaking in the new-guy managers really wears on my patience. It always takes ‘em a month or two to realize that it’s actually MY effing bar, and they’re lucky that I allow them to work it while I’m not there during the week.

Happy effing Friday! :-)

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Mel sent a bit of a quiz, and a bit of a game… either way, it definitely fits the season. http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/tests/hoaxphototest.html

Another quick little game that just might add to your frustrations by being harder than it should. http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/skybuilder

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Couple of good april fool’s day items in the mix this afternoon.

Google’s gmail effs with the fabric of time: http://mail.google.com/mail/help/customtime/index.html

Google is also trying to help save the human species: http://www.google.com/virgle/index.html

Brief thought from Jess, and it’s not a hoax: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6577234

FSM at the courthouse, totally not a hoax: http://laughingsquid.com/flying-spaghetti-monster-statue-outside-of-tennessee-courthouse/

Jules knows she’s not on this list… b/c I likes her. http://www.stuffnobodylikes.com/

Mike thinks these are good ways to pick up chicks http://www.deepthoughtsbyjackhandey.com/index.html