Leeroy Jenkins!

I’ve been debating for nearly a week on whether or not to post this video. My only concern is the file size… it’s a big one… nearly 15 mb (just under three minutes long.) I went ahead and decided to post it anyway because it’s just too funny!


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Just What I Needed, Again!

One more great slogan to add to the collection, this time brought to you by Creative Sounds. I caught this out of the corner of my eye as I was walking past mp3 players this morning. Does everything have to be some sort of sexual innuendo with me... Yes!

I Want, But Can't Have

I want to envelop you in my arms
I want to sooth your fears
I want to warm your heart
I want to wake with you and linger whispering in the dark
I want to push you to be more than you ever dreamed
I want to laugh with you
Play with you
I'm pretty sure I want to cry with you too

I saw this sweet poem on Mad Munkey's blog... I find it to be hopeful and soothing. Makes me feel like I'm still asleep dreaming; however, I know that when I awake, I'll have to come back to reality... my reality.

A Present For Josh

I'm definately gonna get one of these devices for Josh for Christmas... I understand that he could use it (or so he says!)


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Indecent Proposal... Priceless

This is a cute little video... my one and only issue with it is that I think it's just a bit too long. Otherwise, pretty funny!


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Jester's Dead

Our Loss Prevention department decided to do away with our old, convenient stockpicker belt harnesses... now we utilize these ridiculous full-body harnesses (crotch cutters, package pinchers, etc.) I have Maverick and Goose here modelling the new harnesses!

Drunk

This is great for all, but anyone who's ever been truly drunk off their ass can appreciate this on an entirely different level!


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My Dream Christmas Gift

This is why I never received a lightsaber for Christmas (other than the fact that they also don't exist... or at least that's what I've been led to believe!)


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Did You Hear That?

The air filter between my room and my office / ferret room / war room has been making the most peculiar noises. It sounds like ghosts or something… and it’s been freaking me out! I swear I can hear creepy voices seeping out of the vent! It’s literally going to drive me insane!

Good... Bad... I'm The One With The Camera Phone

Still shooting videos with the phone all the time now. Always looking for something interesting.

Some people act nervous or fussy when the camera is rolling. The entire persona transforms… once second you have a friendly and caring individual… the next, a scary and malign person.


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Others remain completely normal… they act as if the camera isn’t even there. These are the people born for reality tv.


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Now that Castpost is avaiable, I find myself taking more video with my phone... perhaps I'll catch something interesting... maybe not. I know that anytime Josh is involved, it'll always be amusing. He always has some absurd remark ready to fire at any given moment. Fabulous wit. No one makes me laugh quite like Josh!


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Road Trip

I start my district-wide tour tomorrow... travelling to stores that have new and/or inexperienced operations managers to assist them in preparing for their mid-year physical inventory. Luckily, I will have Beverlee with me to keep me company (and to make sure my sanity stays intact!)

Normally, I don't mind driving around from city to city for the company... but hell, gas is expensive (my car uses premium!) I made the store pay for my gas upfront ($115) for the next three days during my voyage around central Texas. I'm already for it to be over though!

Consumed In Darkness

I used to remember a time when I dreamed of a future where I would be happy with my life. I used to have such optimism in my heart… perhaps I still do, it’s just so much more painful nowadays. I miss those times… all I see now is darkness. I’ve managed to engineer a domain of misery that I can’t escape. I just want it to end. I’m through of wishing for happiness… I know that’s just a dream.

Once several years ago (I think I was 17 years old at the time), my mom came down with a horrible migraine. I drove her to the hospital and they drugged her up nicely! She was totally incoherent. On the way back home, she told me something that I always had suspected… she told me how my grandmother would always tell her how much happiness I bring them and that she’s always so relieved that my mom never had the abortion with me that she had scheduled months before I was born. I know she didn’t even realize what she had told me… she was way too drugged up with morphine to have any inhibitions on things she should or shouldn’t say. I’m sure she doesn’t even have a clue that I know now.

The fact of the matter is that I wish sometimes that she would have just had the abortion. I’m sure she’d have a much happier life. I love my mother, but I feel that I’m the root cause of so much of the pain in her life. She and everyone else I’ve ever known would be much better off if I never existed. I’m just a burden. I don’t know how I could ever bring any happiness to anyone’s life… I can’t even make myself happy! I’m no good to anyone, especially myself. I just feel so worthless and unwanted! I wish the darkness would consume me... erase me from existence!

Maybe I’m just tired or need some artificial happiness (caffeine – artificial life and happiness.) I hate feeling this way! It usually emerges when I’m extremely tired, but can’t sleep (like now.) Hopefully after some sleep, I’ll feel more like myself… just mostly miserable, not completely miserable.

Don't Touch My Bone

Troy sent this to me and it is absolutely hysterical! This dog is really messed up... it's so great! I can't get enough of it!


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The Picard Song

In honor of the late James Doohan, I figured I would post something Star Trek related. I don't have anything particularly humorous to post about him personally, but I do on another Star Trek alumnus... Patrick Stewart. I received this mp3 from Josh months ago... I had just forgotten all about it. It's called the Picard Song, and it was created by DarkMateria. It's pretty funny and cleverly done!


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Twenty-One Year Old Lush

Wow! Kristy has been twenty-one for an entire day and she's not wasting any time on utilizing her newly acquired power (liquor purchasing power that is!) Perhaps one day she'll be able to hang with big brother!


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I don't think she's posted anything on her new blog yet. Hey Jen... when are you getting a blog?!

Dante's Inferno

Yes, yes... another one of those silly quizzes! What can I say... I'm bored at the moment... these quizzes give me something to do!!!

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Seventh Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very High
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Very High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Moderate
Level 7 (Violent)	Extreme
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Extreme
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very High

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

Beam Me Up, Scotty

Like I've said before, I'm really bad with current events... luckily, a friend told me about this (so I wouldn't find out about it weeks later.) On Wednesday, James Doohan (Star Trek's Scotty) died at the age of 85 from pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease. It's really sad that's he gone... no more Mr. Scot. He always seemed like such a nice guy... in fact, many tell stories of how great he was to fans at Star Trek conventions. But it really upsets me that he died from Alzheimer's disease... I hate Alzheimer's!!!

Anyway, although he became synonymous with the line "Beam me up, Scotty", it was never actually said in the series... which is ironic, because he'll always be remembered for that! Something else I don't think many people know is the fact that he wasn't Scottish... he was Canadian. He was simply a master of dialects.

It appears that his ashes are to be sent into space at his request. The Space Services Inc company said his ashes could be on a Falcon 1 rocket launching from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, tentatively scheduled for launch in September. When I die, I want to be shot into space in a torpedo (like Spock), or I need to be burned in the woods wearing a Darth Vader costume!

Weird Video

Elemmaciltur started using CastPost to post videos... so I decided, what the hell, let's give it a spin! For those of you looking to post videos, give CastPost a try... they are very helpful should you need assistance! They're also offering free accounts during their alpha testing stage!

Anyway, here's a weird video I found on my phone several weeks ago. I don't even remember someone taking my phone to take this video to be perfectly honest. I'm not really sure what's going on either, but it appeared to be quite funny at the time... David is on the left, I'm in the middle, and Beverlee is on the right! Just a bit bizarre!


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On The Go In My Car Of Death

My car could easily be the white horse of Death... though it hasn't recently tried to take my life! Speaking of which, I need to go get some artificial life, aka caffeine!

Spotter = Safe

Here's my advice for the day... always have a spotter when you do any kind of bench press with free weights. This sounds obvious enough, but many people ignore this safety practice... me included! Today during a set of bench presses, my right arm gave out and I dropped a 60 lb dumbbell on my chest, right near my shoulder. I was expecting it to tickle, but it just hurt.

What To Do..?

Went to lunch with Josh today… he clearly doesn’t like our store director. This actually got me thinking though… our district manager has only promoted one kind of person… “yes” men. I find this to be truly regrettable because this kind of person will not make the company successful… in fact, they’ll run it into the ground. If no one ever has the courage to disagree with a bad idea (which there is an over abundance of at our company), what hope does the company have of being successful?

It just disappointments me that all of the store directors he’s promoted in the nine months he’s been in our district are incapable of independent thought. They are simply extensions of our dm. What kind of person would want to lead a bunch of mindless morons… someone who has such low self-esteem that they need to surround themselves with incompetence so that they can feel better about themselves.

I think our store director is a great person, but he doesn’t have the respect of the store. In fact, most have told me that they think he’s plain dumb, which isn’t true at all. He just lacks experience. He’s too much a “manager,” and not enough a “leader.” What’s my role here? Am I supposed to help him gain the respect he needs to effectively run the store, or should I let him deal with his own problem? Is it my responsibility to make him an effective leader?

Poor Abby

When visiting my mom today, I noticed that Abby had injured one of her paws. My mom tells me that she sliced her paw on a broken piece of glass a few days ago... hence, the taped up sock on her rear paw. Poor baby!

Spending the Night at Work

Alex and I just finished playing Star Wars Legos for PS2 in the breakroom theater... On to watching He-Man now! Though having to be here all night long kinda sucks, this job does have its benefits!

Friends, Romans, Countrymen Lend Me Your Ears...

Wow! I had to be up at the ass crack of dawn this morning... Josh is holding a meeting with his sales associates on "Back to School" promotions. Not really sure why I'm here for this (hence the mobile blogging.) At least Josh can keep it interesting and up-beat!

Meeting moment of Zen (minus all of the sexual innuendo and lude humor): Josh trying to use a German accent, but sounding like an Indian accent instead!

Bomb Threat

When you recognize that a call is a bomb threat, please try to remain calm. Be courteous, try not to irritate the caller in any way, listen carefully for any vocal or background indications of the caller's identity or location. If possible, take notes while the caller is on the phone, write down anything that the caller says. Try to keep the caller on the phone as long as possible. Don't upset the caller; be as cooperative as you can. Try to get as much of the following as possible by asking:

• Where is the bomb?
• When will it go off?
• What does the bomb look like?
• Did you place the bomb?
• If so, why?
• If not, how do you know about the bomb?
• Are you working alone?
• Are you affiliated with a group?
• If so, what is the name of the group?
• Can you get in contact with them to discuss the situation?
• Will you call again, either before or after the bomb goes off?
• If so, will you be contacting this same phone number?

(This is actually a part of our emergency action plan at work on how to handle a bomb threat... I especially enjoy the last two questions!)

Sales Myth

Earlier today I observed my store director, Gilbert, training one of our technology senior sales people, David. Gilbert suggested to David that he tell customers he's not on commission. I found this to be very odd. There was a time after our company did away with commissioned sales people that it was required of us to inform customers that we were not commissioned, but we haven't done that in quite some time now. Even back then, it always irked me to tell customers this because it reinforced a false stigma about commissioned sales people.

Here's what most people assume... someone who works on commission is only concerned about selling you the most expensive thing possible so they can make more money off you. If you're not buying anything expensive, they won't want to help you. It's also assumed that sales people who are not commissioned will be more attentive to everyone, regardless of purchase price, and are more likely to help you find what you need.

This could not be further from the truth!!! The fact is a commissioned sales person is definitely more likely to make sure you get what you need and won't over-burden you with extras you don't want. Here's why... a commissioned sales person only gets to keep their commission if you keep your product. If they over sell you on something, sure, they'll get a big commission up front... but when you return it, they will lose the entire commission, thus their income. Because of this situation, a commissioned sales person is definitely going to make sure you really want what you purchase.

A sales person who does not work on commission could care less if you purchase anything or not. Your decision to purchase something has no effect on their income. A commissioned sales person is interested in assisting anyone with anything because they'll make a commission on anything they sell. If they aren't helping customers, they aren't making money. Non-commissioned sales people are also less inclined to have a great deal of product knowledge. There's no incentive for them to know everything about every product they sell. Whether you get the product that's right for you or not, it makes no difference to a non-commissioned sales person.

This is all a generality, and there are exceptions to these cases I've mentioned... but in my professional experience with sales (both commissioned and non-commissioned), this is the conclusion I come to regarding the matter.

Dreaming of Sleep

Up bright and early this morning... had to be at work at 6am (again) to let the janitor service into the store to do the floors. This time they arrived on time. I really wish I was in bed sleeping right now.

I think I tore some muscle in my chest while doing dips yesterday... it aches whenever I breathe! I did discover that very heavy bass feels very soothing on a sore chest (the subs actually have a practical application!)

I'm wondering just how early I can leave today... I'd really love to go home asap so I can go to bed! If I were to close my eyes for more than three consecutive seconds right now, I could easily be in a deep sleep!

Always Something!

It's always something... I was thinking earlier in the day that this might be my first real normal day in a long time. However, destiny would not have it that way! There always has to be some weird situation that becomes a travesty of sorts.

I'm driving home from the gym... my legs are still quite sore! Rather than take the shortest avenue home, I take a pleasant scenic route through the back roads of Pflugerville. It was an absolutely beautiful night; not a cloud in the sky. So I decide to open the sun roof (I hate opening it during the day because the sun always manages to irritate my eyes) and crank up the music (of course I most definitely have the loudest sound system in the area!)

I'm cruising down the road listening to Seven by Prince when I come to a red light. I honestly don't know where my mind wandered off to, but it clearly wasn't in the car with me... I treated the red light as a four way stop. I made a complete stop, and then I went right through the red light. I didn't even realize what I had done. About 30 seconds later, I see some red and blue lights appear out of nowhere! Just then it occurred to me that I ran that red light.

What could I possibly say... what defense could I give... I had no reasonable excuse for running the light... day dreaming won't work as a great excuse! I'm so screwed, and this time it was unconditionally my fault! Joking with police officers had worked in the past, maybe it would work again... hell, I was too exhausted to think of anything funny to say.

I rolled down my window to greet the officer... hey, I recognized this guy from somewhere, perhaps high school. I remembered the face, but that's about it. What the hell was his name... Jeremy... Derek... Adam... hell, I couldn't remember! My memory has really deteriorated over the last several years! Apparently he remembered me though... he didn't even ask for my id, he just started right in to "hey man, you remember when..." The fact of the matter was that I did not remember his name or any story he told, but I sure as hell played along like I did! After discussing my car speakers for awhile, he finally left, and I was spared getting a ticket. I still can't think of his name or where I know him from!

Daily Dilemma

I love the people I work with... hell, it's even fun to get to play with all the new electronics day in and day out... I'm definitely in a nice comfort zone... however, I unquestionably despise my job whenever my district manager or regional vice-president are involved. I have no respect for either one of them... they have no leadership skills and they constantly make the worst decisions possible.

I'm completely at a loss on how I should continue. Should I stay and just put up with their hypocrisy and corruption... should I expose them and probably get fired in the process... should I simply move on to something new... I just don't know. I'm afraid that anything I choose will be the wrong choice!

I'm gut is telling me to move on at the moment. The only problem I have goes back to the beginning... I love the people I work with. I need to make sure that they are all taken care of before I decide to leave.

No Work Today!

Today was not a bad day at all. First off, I get a call from Eagle Transmission early this morning. My transmission and clutch are in excellent condition... so, to you hippies that told me that I didn't know how to drive my own car, screw you! LOL! I guess the only problem is that the car still occasionally makes a weird noise that no one can explain.

It's great to have the car back (even with the jacked up rear end and hot pink painted under-carriage). Kimball's car had no XM and the air conditioner wasn't working very well at all. It's been entirely too hot outside recently for the air conditioner to not be working correctly! I dropped his car off to get looked at. I think it just needed some more freon.

Today's workout at the gym was particularly hard. Leg day on the German volume training. I can take the pain relatively easy on any other part of my body, but when my legs start hurting, I feel sick to my stomach! I am proud that I did complete the entire workout for the legs today, even with the constant possibility of me throwing up the entire time! Afterwards, Justin wanted to see if I could run... I took about five steps running when my legs just about gave out on me and I almost landed on my face. Everyone within viewing distance should have been thoroughly entertained by my stumble!

Finally got to see The Fantastic Four tonight. It wasn't the greatest movie ever created, but I still really enjoyed it... I may be a bit biased because I love the comic book so much. Damn, Chris Evans (Johnny Storm / The Human Torch) is so incredibly hot! He's got such a sexy body, and the movie showed it several times! That may have made me even more biased on my praise of the movie.

Still Working...

Yes, Josh and I are still at the store re-merchandising it... and no, it's not fun at all! In fact, it down right sucks! It doesn't matter how much work we put into it, things still look like crap because the store is so rundown and old. It's kinda like putting lipstick on a pig! I'm not even supposed to be here today!

This Shit Is Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!!!

I think there’s something severely wrong with my transmission! The engine is making too much noise… the rpms are a bit high as well. I hope it’s not the clutch. That would be way expensive to fix!

I dropped it off at Eagle Transmission on Manchaca, but they were closed today (of course). Luckily, I was able to commandeer my old car from Kimball for the next several days while they figure out what the hell is wrong with my car.

I need to try to find out what I did to get on God’s shit list! This wrath that I’m incurring is really starting to take a toll on my livelihood!

Red Ross

Ross is pretty pissed off right now (he's my roadshop manager). Our corporate office is constantly raising his sales budget. I keep telling him they're only doing this to him because he's the best... he really is though.

I hired Ross several years ago to be a roadshop sales person back when I worked at the Round Rock store as a customer service manager. He's always been a powerful asset to the store.

I hate to see him feeling down because he's really one of the best people I've ever known. He's so caring and generous to everyone. Hey, I was able to get a smile out of him this morning!

How Ghetto?

I'm always telling people how old and ghetto my store truly is, but I don't think they fully grasp the scope of the matter. This is a picture of the "key" we use for many of the doors in the building!

Our store is simply considered to be too old for our corporate office to invest any money into improving anything (even the broken doors)... instead they keeping telling me that they'll relocate our store in the near future, and then we'll have the new hotness for everything! I'll believe it when I see it!

Time For Bed!

Longer day at work today. I got there at 6:00am because our janitor service was supposed to clean the floors this morning (in fact, they just called yesterday to confirm their visit for this morning)... well, they didn't show up until 8:30am! I was slightly perturbed by this!

My store is the oldest store in the district (I think it's 15 years old). It needs to be relocated badly (or at least remodeled!) The store is so ghetto looking inside because the layout and the building are ancient and outdated! I spent the entire day trying to make the store at least appear more presentable than it's looked in years. I didn't get finish until 9:00pm.

I'm completely accustomed to working all day, but today just wiped me out for some reason! I am so exhausted, physically and mentally! I really wanted to go see The Fantastic Four tonight, but I'm just too drained! I think I'm going go to bed in just a few minutes... gotta be back at the store at 7:00am tomorrow morning! Just what I needed!

Warehouse of Doom!

Since Patrick has been feeling down about cutting his wrist in the warehouse yesterday, I decided to share some of my own personal past warehouse blunders with him.

Incident 1 (October 2002): I sent two new warehouse associates out to a customer's house to deliver a TV. As the associates brought the TV into the customer's home, they hit a glass coffee table. Some lit candles that were sitting on the coffee table fell to the floor and started a small fire on the carpet... the glass on the table fell on the customer's puppy's neck and pinned it to the ground (I was told that the puppy yelped for about 30 seconds as they frantically tried to get the glass of its neck and put out the fire at the same time.)

Incident 2 (November 2002): The warehouse manager was on vacation, so I (being the customer service manager at the time) was given the responsibility of running the warehouse while he was away. This meant handling the replenishment trucks as they came in. These trucks carry product for several stores... each store's merchandise is separated by plywood held up by load bars (large metal bars that expand in length and are set up horizontally like a shower curtain rod.) After our product was unloaded, it was my duty to place the load bars back up. Not knowing any better, I placed the top one first. I expanded the bottom load bar just a bit too much which made the walls of the truck expand apart more... this caused the top load bar to fall... right on the back of my head! I crawled out of the truck (dazed and confused), and threw up in a small trash can in the warehouse. Yeah, I had a severe headache that lasted for about two weeks!

Incident 3 (January 2003): I had one of the worst migraines of my life. So bad I had to go to the hospital for morphine that night... I think they gave me four different shots because nothing was working to alleviate the pain! So needless to say, I was clearly drugged up! The next morning I had to go to work... we were starting physical inventory. My store director wanted me to count the merchandise in the warehouse... this meant I had to use the stockpicker. I probably shouldn't have been using any heavy machinery for several days, but he didn't care. So I got on the picker and started my count. As I was almost finished with the count, I had the picker raised up about 30 ft off the ground. I forgot that I had a 60" inch TV right under the picker. I lowered the picker and the TV was completely destroyed. It looked pretty funny... the screen shot out like a bullet!

Incident 4 (April 2003): I was stocking the floor with product we had just received from a replenishment truck. A lot of the product that belonged in my area of the store was delivered in large plastic totes that were secured with heavy duty twist ties. While opening one of the totes with a box cutter, I sliced my left index finger very badly. It was bleeding profusely, but oddly enough it didn't hurt. I bandaged up the wound (with about 50 feet of gauze because it kept bleeding through) and continued to stock the product. Later that day, I used the injury to gain sympathy with customers... everyone purchased whatever I told them. Manipulation is a great tool!

It's Always Something!

Today has been an incredibly long day (not bad, not great... just long), and I'm overjoyed that it's finally winding down!

When I woke up this morning, my legs ached very badly! For awhile, it felt like my legs were going to buckle under each step I took. Yesterday, my entire workout was just focused on legs... don't think I'll do that again! Luckily I just finished my template training... now it's on to German volume training beginning Monday afternoon. Justin says it's awesome, but I'll be completely sore for about a week after starting it.

Work was considerably interesting today. Normally, we get a significant amount of bad customers in on Mondays... however, each time a holiday falls on a Monday, we get these preposterous people all week instead! So naturally, it was just one after another today. In all fairness, I actually do enjoy dealing with the difficult and irrational people. They're so easy to toy with, and they never even catch on to that fact!

Later on, I had a meeting with my management staff... Beverlee, my customer service manager... Matt, my warehouse manager... Sean, my planogram and signage manager... and Carla, my merchandising manager. It first started off great! We ordered some lunch from Jason's Deli... they were way late in delivering the food to us, so they gave us some free cookies! As our meeting progressed, Matt became confrontational with Sean... I stepped in, and then the heated exchange was completely between Matt and myself. I had to dismiss the other three so I could finish up with Matt... I could tell they felt unusually awkward... they scurried out of the room immediately when I suggested that they leave. I felt so bad for Carla because I just recently promoted her (so this was her first big meeting with me). I hope she wasn't too freaked out by the squabble.

After that lovely meeting that didn't quite go the way I had intended, Patrick (one of my warehouse associates) cut his left wrist on some glass while placing garbage in the trash compactor. He's a tough kid... wasn't bleeding too badly, but he was clearly in a great deal of pain. After I got him taken care of, I decided that I had experienced enough upheaval for one day and went home!

On the way to work this morning...

Vanity plates are always entertaining... I'm going to guess that this person is some kind of musician. I need to get some that say "Sith Lord" or "Punk Ass" LOL!

Another Casualty

That crappy, broken alarm officially killed my battery! I'm at Advanced Auto Parts on William Canon purchasing a new battery... a much more powerful battery! This one should last awhile... I hope. I was told that this is the best battery on the market that will work with my car. So what's next I wonder... I'm still standing with a smile on my face... I have not been destroyed... I'm ready for anything else life wants to throw at me!

Cartoon Villains

Yes, there are plenty of other cartoon villains... I just picked the ones I liked. I especially like Skeletor, StarScream, and Cobra Commander... they all have the same voice! LOL!

Tragic Heroes

I've been watching old X-Men cartoons all morning. The characters that most intrigue me are Wolverine and Magneto. Both are what I would consider tragic heroes (much like Anakin Skywalker). I have always been able to relate much more with this kind of character rather than the traditional super hero. Normal heroes are great, but they've always lacked a certain realism to me.

To me, a tragic hero is essentially a character that has some of the personality flaws and ultimate fortune traditionally assigned to villains but nonetheless also has enough heroic qualities or intentions to gain sympathy. Tragic heroes can be awkward, obnoxious, passive, pitiful, and even obtuse... but they are always, in some fundamental way, flawed or failed heroes. Hell, this is what makes them tragic! That's why I love comic books... they feature these tragic heroes who are characters fighting for the side of good, but either with some tragic flaw or by using questionable means to reach their goals. The great irony to me is that a tragic hero is a paradoxical character who is, within the context of a story, a hero but in another context could easily be seen as a villain. My favorite stories and characters draw a subtle line between a tragic hero and a villain... and it sometimes is not really clear which category they fit into.

A tragic hero is a character who constantly moves from one disappointment in their lives to the next, without end, with only occasional and fleeting successes. But they persist and even attain a form of heroic success by never giving up or changing their goals. These characters often keep a deep seated optimism that one day, they will succeed. But in the end they still meet the ultimate fate of a traditional villain... failure. Sometimes I feel that this is what I'm doomed to live.

FUBAR Tire #2 Finally Dies!

Been there, done that! On my way to work today, FUBAR tire #2 finally blew up (on MOPAC again)... it didn't kill me... I haven't decided yet whether that's a good thing or not. The car tried to lose control again, but I was able to keep it from crashing, again. In addition to the current fantastic situation, it's hot like hell out here! The ground, the tire, the tire bolts, and the crowbar are burning me bad! It feels like my hands have been branded! I'm literally soaking in sweat... and I still have to go to work!

Tom Cochrane - Life Is a Highway

Life's like a road that you travel on
When there's one day here and the next day gone
Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand
Sometimes you turn your back to the wind
There's a world outside every darkened door
Where blues won't haunt you anymore
Where the brave are free and lovers soar
Come ride with me to the distant shore
We won't hesitate, break down the garden gate
There's not much time left today

[Chorus:]
Life is a highway
I want to ride it all night long
If you're going my way
I want to drive it all night long

Through all these cities and all these towns
It's in my blood and it's all around
I love you know like I loved you then
This is the road and these are the hands
From Mozambique to those Memphis nights
The Khyber Pass to Vancouver's lights
Knock me down get back up again
You're in my blood I'm not a lonely man

There's no load I can't hold
Road so rough, this I know
I'll be there when the light comes in
Tell 'em we're survivors

[chorus x2]

There was a distance between you and I
A misunderstanding once but now
We look it in the eye

There's no load I can't hold
Road so rough this I know
I'll be there wehn the light comes in
Tell 'em we're survivors

[chorus x3]

Bong for the Children

It looks as if there was a slight misprint on this Donkey Kong price tag at work today... or we're going to start selling bongs.