CruizerBlog

Rings True

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2005, WHEN


1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is
that they don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You go home after a long day at work and you still answer the phone
in a business manner.

7. When you make phone calls from home, you accidentally dial"9" to
get an outside line.

8. You've sat at the same desk for four years and worked for three
different companies.

10. You learn about your redundancy on the 11 o'clock news.

11. Your boss doesn't have the ability to do your job.

12. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if
anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

13. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the
screen.

14. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have
the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic
and you turn around to go and get it.

15. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your
coffee.

16. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. :)

17. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

18. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this
message.

19. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

20. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on
this list.

Weekend

Weekends are too short. I hate it. But what are you going to do? I never post on the weekends because I am always busy doing something, that usually doesn't involve the computer. And when I am on the computer, it's usually for specific reasons, not jsut messing around on the net.

Friday:
School as usual. Then went home and watched Hotel Rowanda. Very good movie, I think. The Russ and Shawn picked me up and forced me to the bar against my will, and we met Katie, Shelly, And Kelly at the bar. Didn't stay out late, was home by 11:30. Had classes in the morning.

Saturday:
Had to take manditory orientation classes for the MLS system (Multiple Listing System, it's what realitors use to list the selling of homes, and what appraisers use to find compariables with). The classes are not orientation, but realitor continuing education classes. So the first class I slept, the second I read a book, and the third, I slept again. It didn't matter, literally, I just had to be there. The informaion did mot pertain to me at all. Christina and I met Russ and Shawn for supper at Pepe's, then went to the bar section, and met up witha bunch of friends to watch NSM (formerly Naked Spatula Monkeys)play. First time I heard them with their new lead singer. And they still rock.

Sunday:
Christina and I met Shawn, Russ, and Kelly for breakfast. Then Christina and I went to Kouts for my sisters baby shower. I dropped her off and went to my parents where I hung out with my dad and uncles watching racing and eating burgers from the grill. After we went home I noticed because the Academy Awards were on, no other channel was playing their normal shows. I was pissed. So I just boycotted TV all together, and worked on my trainset stuff.

The Dukes

I now own both Season 1 and Season 2 of The Dukes Of Hazzard! Hurray!
I watched the very first episode last night. I saw Christina taking a few peaks at it, so that's good. She usually doesn't like older shows, movies, or music. I don't know why, perhaps it's because she never grew up with them.

My friend Furby dropped off the subs and amp I ordered from him yesterday. He's a wholeseller, so he sold me the stuff fo what he bought them for. I got 2 Alphasonik PSW110's 10" subwoofers, and an SPL XL2-400 amp. I got everyhting for 185, personally delivered to my front door. I can't wait to put it all in!

New Blogger

Today I added a new Blog to my ever so small but personal list of blogs.

HManPhoto's Random Musings

He's a fellow motorcyclist from southern Indiana. He rides a very clean Busa, and likes to dabble in professional photography. I've met him at least one that I can remember, but I am sure it has been at least a couple of times. When we have met, it's been for our annual Brown County motorcycle rides in downstate Indiana. He's always eggen' me to go all the way down south to his part of the state to ride. It seems that no one wants to ever ride the straight narrow roads along the beach while staring at the steel mills up here. I'd like to do it, it's just finding the time and money to go. Plus, I serisouly need some track time...hold I think this is about to get long.....

I love to ride my bike (where heading off subject here). But where I live we have mostly straight roads. I can go fast, but I still have a problem with cornering. If I am following someone I seem to do just fine, as long as I can see their line. But once I lose sight of that, I freak out and tend to miss the corner. This all stemmed from my one (and only) accident, where I took a sharp corner fast, and the condition of the road (potholes and patches) didn't let my tire keep traction and I went into a ditch. After that I couldn't take a corner descently for about a month. Then I start to get back into the swing of things and I can take corners ok, but not at high speeds or comfortably. I believe I am putting more trust in my bike that I comfortable with. Still, more then once, I have gone off the road because I freaked out at the last minute or halfway through. Some things that keep me from pushing myself more are:
*If I can't see around the corner.
*If there are obsticals on either side of the road. If I feel that I lose control and can't go off the road without hitting something, I don't try.
*If i don't know the road and the corner.
*I paid $9000 for this bike, and each piece of plastic costs $600 or more to replace. I don't want to scratch it up!

So when we do our Brown County rides, I feel like I am slowing the pack down. I don't want to hold anyone back, so I try to stay in the back. I tried the front once, and I did great, as long as I could follow the line of the rider in front of me. But on one corner he got ahead of me and I lost sight of it. I flipped out, and went right into a field, in front of like 20 people. I was not embarassed at all, I was just pissed at my inability. I've been riding for like 5 years at least, but I believe most of my inability comes from the roads I travel on a daily basis.

OK, I think I am done now.

Weekend Roundup

Well I had a wonderful weekend. So this will most likely be a really long post. I shoulda posted some of this over the weekend, but never got around to it.

Friday:
Didn't do much. Worked, then did an apprasial, went to school, and then went home, ate supper, and watched Anchorman. Funny movie if you like stupid funny. I do, Christina doesn't.

Saturday:
Saturday was good. Now mind you this is the first weekend in literally 2 months I didn't step foot in a bar. I shoulda went to the bar, I would have spent less money. In the morning I ordered an Extang Full Tilt Tonneau for the truck from Truck Xpressions. I happen to come across them while searching online. With their 10% off online ordering, and $10 lowest price guarantee, they really can't be beat. I tried, and I failed. I am going to order some other things from them too. If you own a truck, go here, I almost guarantee you won't find a better deal.
Then Christina and I went to Merrillville shopping around until our Dinner reservations. I bought a Craftsman 5 Drawer Roll-Away toolbox for $160, original price $250. I also bought 2 sweaters and a t-shirt from Penny's for a total of $20, which full price woulda cost me about $100. Everyone was having a President's Day Sale. Then it was time for dinner.
Christina took me to Rodizio's at Meyers Castle. It was quite wonderful. They encourage you to eat, alot! And to pace yourself, which was very good advise. The one thing the web site does not mention is that there is a Pasta Bar, where the chef cooks up your pasta order, as you tell him what you want in it, right in front of you. It was just incredibally awsome.
Then we went and saw the movie Hitch, extremely funny!

Sunday:
Didn't do a whole lot. Went abck to Merrillville to pick up my toolbox (we didn't have the truck with us saturday). Then back home. I spent a good portion of the afternoon cleaning up my hobby room in the basement, so that I can work on my model railroad stuff in the near future. Russ and Shawn stopped by on their way home from Muncie, then we watched Shaun of the Dead. yet another funny fovie.

Boring

If I had a more interesting life, this place would be hopping. But I don't, so I'll tell you about my day yesterday.

I went from work straight to the pet store,a dn bough some "Reef Crystals" aquarium salt. Apparently it takes me 8 months to use 50 gallons worth of salt on 10 gallon tank water changes. I went home and mixed the salt in the water, and let it mis with pumps. I did a water change and cleaned the freshwater tanks. I have that whole process down to 15 minutes now, including adding the necessary chemicals, and mixing up a new batch of CO2 mix. Then I went to this ritsy neighborhood (Shorewood Forest) and did an apprasial. Then came back home and cleaned and did a water change on the saltwater tank. I ordered pizza from Hungry Howies and watched TV. My friends Russ and Shawn showed up for a visit, so I hung with them. Christina got home from school about 9:30 and we all just chilled.

I did however, come to the conclusion I am an idiot.

I noticed the other morning that water was leaking in from the back wall of the basement. With the new garage being 2ft higher than the house, and the new driveway sloping in almost all the way to the house, I just naturally assumed this was the problem. I took pictures and called the landlords. They asked me to print out and send them the pics, so I did. Well the neighbor came over last night asking to borrow my drill (he left his on a jobsite). So as I was downstairs looking for the drill, I noticed the floor was wetter than ti was before! We haven't had rain for a day or two, this shouldn't be. So I began to look for something leaking, when I noticed a bucket next to the utility sink that was full of water, and dripping. That's when I saw it. Back up to sunday, I cleaned the entire house, and even cleaned the old, and new sheets for the bed. The electric blanket needed to be hand washed, so I used the utility sink. Well I have a Reverse Osmosis filtration system that sit on the shelf above the utility sink. Well the watewater hose from this filter runs into the secon basin of the sink. Well when I was washing the blanket, I moved that hose into the bucket (just in case it turned on while I was working in the sink). I never moved that hose back. So what was happening was that the filter was filtrating water, and removing the waste water into the bucket, and the bucket was overflowing onto the floor! So now I feel like a complete idiot. Fun huh? I flooded my own basement.

The Grudge

Watched The Grudge last night. Interesting movie, although the whole thing was slow. Slow moving, and even the characters were slow moving. It seemed like the entire time they thought they were in a horror flick. I mean at least act normal for the non scary parts! The movie had me jumping quite a few times.

I really didn't quite get the movie until we watched the special features. This was originally a Japanese film. The film was rewritten to include American characters, but to stay as close to the original story as possible. They even used the original japanese director. The thing you have to remember when watching this movie is Japanese horror is alot different than American horror. They place their story lines differently, and create more of a suspense until the end. You really have no idea what is going on, until about the end of the movie. In american films, it's the bad guy is revealed, why they came about, and how to defeat them. In Japanese movies, the horror of the bad guy is bigger than you, and you can't defeat it. And they don't really want you to know how the bad guy came about until the end.

Worth at least renting once, in my opinion.

Day After

Had an excellent Valentines Day yesterday.
Christina was woken up yesterday morning with a card and two red roses. Yesterday afternoon, she received half a dozen roses in a vase, and a huge ballon shaped like an umbrella that says "Showers of love" and it has little hearts raining from it. Then yesterday evening, she received two more cards, and a gift set from Alivans (a Harry Potter wandmaker/magic store). In that gift set was a chocolate frog, candy hearts, a Gryffindor scraf, a Gryffindor patch, and a Mohagony wand with essence of Unicorn Hair. (Christina took the wand wizard test some time ago, and this was the wand that was chosen to fit her best.)

I got the Dukes of Hazard, Season 2! Yeeee Ha!!!
I love that show! Apparently she looked for season one, but could not find it. Now I must try.

Valentines

Happy Valentines Day!

I had a pretty good weekend. I played "Big Pimpin B" friday night. It was my friend Katy's birthday, as well as her friend Sheyy's. Her other friend Laura got them a hotel room for the entire weekend. I treated both Shelly and Katy to supper friday night, and then we hit the bar. At one point in time I was surrounded by 7 women. I had a big Pimpin hat on, and had the women on my arms all night. For one night in my life, I had bunches of other guys jelous. It was great.
Saturday I did apprasials, and helped the neighbor move some furniture. Then met Katy and her friends again at BW3's, and then it was off to Karoke. Then the bar. Not quite as exciting because they were all still feeling the effects from the night before.
Sunday I spent almost all day cleaning the house, so Christina had a nice clean place to come home too after her long weekend in Indy. It was her last weekend in Indy, so it;s probably my last weekend of bars hopping. Not that that's all bad, it was starting to get expensive.

Bad Friday

Well I was hoping to have good news today. But I don't. That thing I went and did on tuesday, i found out today I wasn't picked. :( I was really hoping to go there, but they chose another candidate. And I thought I was a shoe-in too!

Phone Conversation

Last week I talked with a homeowner/contractor about a radiant system he is putting into his own home. I told him that I would send him some information when we got it in this week. Well tuesday I was out sick, so I didn't get it sent until Wednesday. Today he calls me up and inquires about the information:

Me: I apologize, I was out this week sick, and I didn't get the information sent.
Him: Ok, I was just checking. I hope you are feeling better and I hope it was nothing serious.
Me: Oh, I think it was just something I ate.

Are you ready for this?
And without a hitch, he says:
(click Read On)

"Well, you have to watch out for those women!"

I laughed for about 10 minutes, and thanked him for making my day!

Sunrise, Sunset

These pictures i took sometime last week, but kept forgetting to get them off of my camera. I wish they were bigger, but I had my camers set on the low quality setting that I usually use for appraising.

The first picture is from when I was walking into work one morning.
The second picture was when I was driving home as I was crossing over the big bridge outside of work.