My first thought when I got into this was that I would be glad when it was over.

Well, it is over. And I am glad.

My feet are KILLING me. It's around half-past seven local time, and my plane leaves in 3 hours. In about an hour I'll take a cab to the airport. It's less than a ten minute ride. I'll then fly to Atlanta, getting in at (too lazy to check) and then leave at (too lazy to check) for Orlando where I'll land at 8:15am Eastern. I'm sure I won't sleep on the plane. I just hope if I do happen to fall asleep nobody is snoring loudly and no kids are screaming and crying.

Today's session went well. Mark called me this morning. I thought he'd was calling for breakfast but he was at the airport. He was catching an earlier flight home because his son is sick. I putzed around a little, did a tour of the USS Midway, ate lunch at a local mall, and then headed back to the hotel to clean up and get dressed.

The show was ok today. Less people than yesterday, I think. Around 5pm people seemed to get more interested in drinking and eating than in anything we had to say, which was fine. Made some good contacts and met some nice Motorolans. We have some opportunities for follow-up, which is what this was all about I guess. I spoke to a bunch of people and didn't drop the ball or anything, so I'm happy about that.

Signing off now to lay around and moan and groan about my feet.

stay classy

ESPN.com - NFL - Favre's boyhood home a total loss, family safe

Of course, I am thankful his family is safe. But did Sportscenter really have to report this story and make a big deal over it? I'm sorry, but today I saw a story with a family from Gulfport. Their home was destroyed, as many were. The casino where the mom works was destroyed, the dock where the dad works was in shambles. They have nowhere to live and no jobs. Somehow I doubt they have a gajillionaire son to buy they a new house wherever the damn well they please.

Actually, one of the family's sons worked at something of a 'Sea World' type place. He said some of the seals and otters had been killed, and one seal was shot and killed when it got into somebody's backyard and was apparently unruly.

Hyatt | San Diego hotels | Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego hotel

The hotel I'm at.

Anyways. Tonight, work hosted an event onboard the USS Midway. I'd say a great time was had by all. Of course, with free food and booze for this crowd that alone was probably enough. There was a band there that played some Outcast and Black Eyed Peas along with Van Halen and Journey, so that was nice. Food was pretty good. This is the type of thing I haven't seen Moto do in YEARS. Everybody seemed impressed and all so far as I could see.

We manned the booth today, along with a half dozen other people. It went well. Better than I thought it would anyway. One mistake I did make...wearing the wrong damn shoes. My feet are killing...KILLING...me now. I have a HUGE damn blister on my left heel which hurts like hell. Tomorrow is NOT going to be fun. If only my Born shoes were black, damn it. One of the first things I
ll do upon returning is buy a nice pair of comfortable black shoes. The ones I have now are cheap dress shoes...they go with my "somebody died" black suit. They hurt like hell and were uncomfortable about an hour into the dealio today. Unfortunately, I had to stand for about 4 hours after that. For the event tonight I changed into khakis and my brown shoes, so that helped. But my feet still hurt like hell.

Mark leaves tomorrow morning, so I'm flying solo for tomorrow's session. Wish me luck.

Two things to remember to post about tomorrow...

• Rumsfeld (yes, him) at the Padres game)


• Idiot, IDIOT, I-D-I-O-T weatherman getting blown around in the hurricane

Fightertown, U.S.A (well, close to where it used to be anyway)

coming to the end of day one in San Diego. The clock here says 10:01pm but to me it's 1:00am since I'm still on Eastern time today. I got up at 6:00am got ready and stuff, and Court, Hooper, and I went to the airport. We said our goodbyes and eventually I boarded the plane at ~8:15am. The flight to Denver took over 3 hours. During the flight the pilot told us to look out the left side of the plane (where I was) and we could see the hurricane waaaay off in the distance. When I got off the plane I was ready to eat since it was like 12:30pm (eastern) and I hadn't really eaten anything. I went to MD to get a burger or something but they were still serving breakfast. It was only 10:30am in Denver, damn it. I waited a half hour and got a #2.

The Denver plane boarded at noon (pacific) and we landed in San Diego around 2:30pm (pacific).

One of the things I thought would suck about getting here was that due to the VERY short notice I was only able to pick center seats through the online booking tool. Luckily, I was able to talk to the gate people and get a window seat going to Denver and an aisle coming here to SD. We'll see how the return flights go.

On the way here to Denver I sat with a woman who was afraid to fly and a 22-year-old girl from Holland who seemed to make friends with everyone she talked to. Her and the woman talked the whole way there. They apologized for bothering my reading and I told them it was no big deal. We talked for a little while. I was amazed that this young Dutch girl had gone to so many places....she'd been to Berlin and to a bunch of other places. I guess when you live in Europe going to another country is like going to Wisconsin.

Anyways, I landed here and Mark called me. We got in around the same time so we eventually found each other (well, he found me) and took a cab to the hotel. During the cab ride we passed the USS Midway (which we are having a reception at tomorrow night) which is now a museum ship with tours and flight simulators and stuff. There are some planes up on the deck...an F-14 and a few others I recognized. The real prize was across the bay though...CVN-76, the USS Ronald Reagan. Amazing. Even from far away it looks like it can kick ass. Very cool to see. I can't wait to get a better look tomorrow.

After we worked at making sure our booth presentation would work we had a meeting with the other Motorola people going over how things would go over the next few days. After that Mark and I went to dinner to a place called Anthony's which has very good seafood. I guess Uncle Bruce and Aunt Angie and Grandma came here when they were in for Matt's wedding. Mark likes to seafood but his wife doesn't so he never gets to have it. I had a chicken pasta which was good and it came with broccoli which I didn't eat but I know Court would have loved. The girl asked us about dessert and when she mentioned spumoni I couldn't so no. (shout to the Pag's days in DeKalb) I figured it would be a scoop but it was 3. Needless to say, I didn't finish it.

During dinner Mark and I talked about work stuff. Pretty boring if you don't know the details and people involved so I won't get into it. He did say that there's a lot of traction with our services and stuff with customers so that's good. Some other good things were said during our meeting today so it all sounded positive.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel. Mark's feet were killing him so he went back to his room. Me, on the other hand...

When I found out I had to come here I checked the Padres schedule. They were in town. They were even playing at times(7pm today, 7pm tomorrow, 12pm Wednesday) where I could see a game. When I got here I did a mapquest dealio to see how far I was from the park. .9 miles. I looked out the window, figuring I should be able to see it from the directions. I can. During the day it was a little harder to make out in the jumble of downtown, but it's plainly visible if you know where to look. Tonight, right now, with the lights still on, it's obvious. Anyways, I walked to the park, figuring I would get the best seat I could for around $20. I got there in the 4th inning and the guy told me he could get me a seat behind home plate for $40. I bought the ticket, and eventually sat down in the best baseball seat I've ever had, ever. Section 102 (right behind home plate, probably 6 inches to the third base side), Row 20 (20 seats back from the foul net), Seat 6. Amazing. Everything just *sounded* closer. It was VERY cool.

The whole point to visiting PetCo Park was to get a mini-bat, which I've begun collecting. I've got ones from PacBell Park, Bank One Ballpark, SkyDome, Dolphins Stadium, Tropicana Field, and now PetCo Park. I'd like to eventually visit each big league park so I can get them all. Obviously, I've been to Wrigley and Comiskey but didn't get bats. I'll fix that next year...or maybe if I get the chance when I get up to IL in 2 weeks. I left the game in the bottom of the 8th to beat foot traffic because I thought I might take a cab back. I ended up walking anyway and went right by the San Diego Convention center. Did I mention that VoiceCon is a Freeman show? heh

I noticed by the scores that the Cubs lost, White Sox lost, and bad for the White Sox since Cleveland and Minnesota both won. They better watch it.

Well, tomorrow is 'man the booth' day from 2pm-7pm, then the reception at 7:30pm. I asked Mark about meeting him tomorrow morning and he said 'sleep in, don't worry about it'. Of course to a guy that gets up at 5:30am sleeping in probably means 8am. That's fine by me. :)

ChicagoSports.com - Woe ... whoa, backup!: "That same crowd spent most of the first half lustily booing Hutchinson, who finished with a passer rating of 0.0 after going 3-for-14 for 33 yards, two interceptions and three sacks."

yikes!

CNN.com - Bush: We will complete the mission - Aug 24, 2005

(this is the story I speak about below)

I saw something on CNN today that made me think. Cindy Sheehan (sp?) was returning to Crawford to resume her protest. I guess there are also people there that are supporting the President too. Anyway, during some meet-and-greet somewhere the White House produced the mother of a family where the husband and one son just returned from Iraq and the other two kids are still over there. They're in support of the President and our mission (whatever that is, natch) in Iraq. The mother did say that Cindy Sheehan is mourning in her own way, and it's not particularly the way she would mourn, so I thought that was nice. Anyway. I'll say two things.

- Trotting out (and this was a trot-out, no doubt) this family to put them as an argument answring the Sheehan people seems pretty silly. Also, I'd say that if (G*d forbid) somebody in this woman's family is killed her support for the President might fall, especially if she starts thinking a lot about why we're over there and what prompted this.

- Secondly, I heard the President say that if we leave now 'the terrorists' will have thought they beat us. I don't have the exact quote, but he basically said the old "If we run away with our tail tucked" dealio. I'm just wondering...what do 'the terrorists' have to do with why we're in Iraq?

The President continuously uses a lot of terms that dance around the fact that he believes people who are against the Iraq war are not patriotic. That makes me want to puke.

This day has bounced back and forth. I got a last-minute trip dropped on me for this weekend. Me and the boss will be heading to San Diego on Sunday and staying until Tuesday or so.

This means that I'll be traveling Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, then coming back home and then leaving for Canada the next Sunday--->Friday then Canada straight to IL for a week.

Not a happy thing.

A really nice thing though. Court made a special trip on her lunch to buy me a new hat. Also, she bought me a Red Sox hat (for the playoffs, baby) as well. So that was a nice capper to a kinda crappy day.

A Purrfect Storm: "We didn't even get any oil out of the deal. Remember how much of the war's cost was going to be repaid by a generous new Athenian-style government from its bountiful oil revenues?"

I've been wondering this myself. Where's all our oil, dagnabbit???

CNN.com - Northwest mechanics go on strike - Aug 20, 2005

I've heard it said that these guys would rather see the company go backrupt than have wage and benefits cut.

Union boneheads.

ChicagoSports.com - Still searching for signs of a miracle: "Still searching for signs of a miracle
Cubs lose 3rd in row on Jones' blast in 9th"

Shell was at the Cub game last night. The Cubs have driven me nuts since the all-star break. I'm not happy that they lost, but at least Shell got to see her favorite player (Chipper) single-handedly win the game for the Braves.

That's me all over.

CNN.com - Tiger kills teen during photo pose - Aug 19, 2005

Tiger killed for being a tiger, basically.

Who wouldn't want to pose for their senior picture with a siberian tiger? (sarcasm)

I feel bad that after 4-5 good days (including a visit from Aimee and Chris and our 2nd anniversary) I'm writing right now in a pretty crappy mood.

Last night I went out to ship some things I had sold on ebay. On the way back I heard a weird brushing-type sound from my left front tire. I just wanted to get home so I could take a look at it since it was 10pm and there wasn't really anywhere to stop. Of course, once I was SURE my tire was going flat I was just about to go up a hill about 10 minutes from home. I drove and drove, hearing worse noises from my tire as I went on. At the point where I was driving on the rim I was able to turn right at a stoplight onto a side-street.

Yeap, it was on the rim. And worse, the tire was totally shredded. I don't know how it happened...I didn't notice anything jarring until I heard the brushing noise. Of course, there's nothing like Florida idiots blowing by you as you're changing a tire on a hot, humid, weekday night. Some idiot didn't even get into the other lane all the way while passing me...not that there was ANY other traffic around for him to avoid. Idiot.

So I get back home, my knees killing me from having to kneel in the street, I took a shower and got ready to go to bed. I went out to get a pillow that was on the chair and banged my left knee on our coffee table giving myself a nice bleeding gash that still hurts right now. Good times.

We're going to the Yankees/Devil Rays game tonight. The Cubs won last night so they are 1-1 in the MHBOOTT* era. I got a nice Cubs jersey from Court for our anniversary and she liked the thing I got her so that's good.





* - My Hat Blew Off On Test Track

No clear finish line in Iraq - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com: "No clear finish line in Iraq
Timing is muddy for U.S. withdrawal"

Wow, so glad our men and women are over there. What's the criteria for finally leaving? "Uh...i dunno."

Wonderful.

ChicagoSports.com - Absolutely no relief in sight

The Cubs have totally imploded.

CNN.com - Jury convicts video game defense killer - Aug 10, 2005: "While the judge barred jurors from hearing testimony linking the 2003 shootings to the game, defense lawyer Jim Standridge reminded them that Moore, after his arrest, told police 'Life is a video game; everybody has to die sometime.'"

What a joke. This dope goes nutso and tries to play the 'videogames made me do it' card.

Is it any surprise that the idiot woman who almost ran right into me as she was cutting me off yesterday with her huge SUV had a 'Bush/Cheney' bumpersticker?

CNN.com - 'Discovery is home' - Aug 9, 2005

Woo hoo!

In about 4 hours the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery will be landing back here on Earth.

May God Bless them and keep them safe.

"Gentlemen, what are your intentions? I'd like to go home."

I had expected to be awakened by Discovery's sonic booms as it returns home to Earth. Court said it was enough to wake up someone sleeping and also disturb Boots enough to freak him out. I went to bed around 3am so I figured that after only being asleep for an hour or so I'd most likely be awakened. I was not.

When I woke up in the morning, I was a little freaked out. I was afraid something had happened to the shuttle. I turned on CNN right away and learned that Discovery will try to land tomorrow. Whew!

CNN.com - Peter Jennings dies of lung cancer - Aug 8, 2005

I didn't even know he had cancer.

RIP

tomluv: Who's your favorite faux Christian ex-rock star?

This guy looked like a total idiot on Celebrity Poker Showdown, that's all I know.

The future's so bright...

I tend to put off things that I know I will enjoy. Kind of a 'saving it up for later' type deal. For instance, I've never seen the Godfather part anything. I know I'll probably like it when I sit down and watch it, but I just haven't gotten to it yet. Also, I know getting my wisdom teeth out will probably get rid of the (pretty much) constant headaches I've had for the past few years. The reality is I'm just too lazy to do anything about it and I'm saying I'm 'saving that for later', but I digress.

I watched the movie Super Troopers the other day on Comedy Central. I was looking through the Tivo listings (probaly for Superman or super-something) and I saw Super Troopers on there and I set it to record. Normally when I do this I end up deleting the thing anyway because I don't think I have 'time' to watch it. With this, I made the time and I'm glad I did.

The movie (done by the same people who did Club Dread, which I liked) isn't one of those 'stupid funny' movies. One of the funniest bits is one trooper betting another one on how many times he can say 'meow' to a guy he pulled over. It was Comedy Central so they cut out the swearing (dubbed with other words, and maybe 4 times through the whole movie) and some nudity...it suffered a little for that because there's a part where Rabbit (rookie trooper) gets in trouble for something that really didn't show at all so it kind of came out of nowhere.

Anyways, I bring this up because The Dukes of Hazzard, which opens tonight was directed by the same guy and has the people from the Broken Lizard comedy team in it. I think that Thorn (the director) and his partner might even be in it as 'themselves'. As if having Jessica Simpson AND the General Lee in the same movie wasn't reason enough to go see it...

CNN.com - Police: Handcuffing girl not a violation - Aug 4, 2005: "The girl's mother, Inga Akins, sold her story exclusively to a tabloid TV show, and her attorneys have notified the city that she plans to sue. "

There are enough idiots in this story that I'm not even going to single them all out. Nice to see the 'parent' will get to cash in...what is this world coming to?

I weep for the present.

"The point is ladies and gentlemen that greed, for lack of a better word, is good."

I went through my closet and collected up some stuff to sell on ebay. Basically some toys that I had seconds and thirds of and hadn't taken out of the packages. Of three things I've put up two have sold. They've gone for a little over what I paid for them. It's not about the money, though that's nice, of course, it's mostly about cleaning up my closet and getting rid of some stuff.

Once I sell this last thing I'm going to put some more stuff up.

Oh, and Shell, good luck with your ROOT CANAL! :)