TUF 3 finale
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: TV
The Ultimate Fighter season 3 finale was last night.

The first fight was a season 2 contestant, Keith Jardine, against a UFC newbie. The fight went three rounds, and Jardine won by decision.

The next fight was Ed Herman Vs. Kendall Grove. This fight was back and forth, first Ed was in charge of the tempo, then Kendall would break free and get in a shot of his own. The next round, Kendall was in charge of the fight...he was able to get out of every one of Ed's submission attempts. Kendall ended up winning by a close decision, but Dana White decided to give them both contracts.

As I expected, Michael Bisping beat Josh Haynes. Josh is great at surviving submission attempts, he was able to get out of, or outlast every attempt. But in the end, Bisping was just too good.

The main event was Kenny Florian Vs. Sam Stout. Stout had been talking about how he wasn't going to be taken down, but it didn't take long to hit the mat. Kenny choked Stout out in less than 2 minutes.

Carolina won
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Sports
The Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup last night. It was another game 7 cup finale.

Edmonton made one hell of a run though...especially when you consider that they started out as the last team in the playoffs!! And they almost overcame a 3-1 game deficit...that's only been done once I think!

My first day...
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Work
Today went well...I ended up getting there 40 minutes early! I wasn't sure what traffic would be like, so I left much earlier than I will from now on.

I think I'm going to like working there...it seems to be a fun group of people and the ones that I talked to seemed to know their stuff. I should learn a ton!!

Finally!!
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Work
Well, today I had an interview with an IT company across town. The interview went well, the guys that interviewed me were really nice.

I was on my way home, when my phone rang...it was my future boss asking me to come back to the office. They wanted to extend an offer to me. So I promptly turned around and headed back to the office.

So I signed some paperwork and I'll be back early Monday morning to do the whole HR thing...then I start on help desk until I get my feet wet and learn the company policies...then I'll be out in the field.

Should be fun...

Yawn!!
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Work
I was up until 3:30 AM researching, writing and re-writing my resume. I think I've come up with a much better one...hopefully it will yield some quick results.

The new one has incorporated suggestions from friends, family and free resources on the net. Professional resume writing services wanted around $300 to redo it...that's insane!

Ok...this sux!
Mood:  down
Topic: Work
I'm putting this under the Work topic...even though I still don't have a job yet!

I wouldn't mind sitting at home, not having to go anywhere, if I had some sort of income. But sitting here because I don't want to waste gas and endlessly searching the Internet for jobs is really getting to be a pain in the ass!

You'd think there would be a company somewhere that would love to have a fresh Masters grad that wants to prove himself. But I guess everyone is looking for someone that already has tons of experience and no new perspective on anything.

All that time and money I wasted on these degrees would have been much better spent on getting on certifications. Oh well.

Party time.
Mood:  lazy
Topic: Life
I went to a 1st birthday party for a friend of mine yesterday. There were lots of little kids there. Pretty much all of my friends now have kids...in fact three of the couples all had girls about three months apart! The youngest of those was the birthday girl.

Our parties sure have changed...instead of beer bottles rolling around on the floor, there are now sippie cups...we used to sit around the pool and drink & talk...now they were playing the pool with the little ones...& there are tons of toys...everywhere!

Already been a month!
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Life
It's hard to believe that we have been back in Tampa for a month already!! Time sure does fly when you're having fun...or unpacking...but don't confuse the two!

I'm still looking for a job...I've had a couple of nibbles...but I can't get anyone to call me back!! I hate that! I just want to work, and no one is willing to freakin hire me!!

I'm about to the point where I'm gonna have to work at McDonald's again for a little while! Doesn't that sound like fun!

UFC 60
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: TV
I just got home from watching UFC 60. What a great night of fights! 2 guillotine chokes, a triangle choke, two referee stoppages and a straight-up knock-out!

Matt Hughes pulled off a win by getting a referee stoppage. He had Royce in a straight out arm bar, but Royce's face didn't show anything...the man is a machine! I can't wait to see more Royce in the future in the UFC!

Melvin from The Ultimate Fighter, season 2, showed a lot tonight as well. In TUF 2, he talked a lot of crap and then was the first to go home...but he knocked out his foe cold! I was impressed.

UFC 61 is July 8th...we are gonna have to show up much sooner...I drove by the Hooters we were going to go to a few minutes after 9...it was packed, I stopped by a Winghouse...it was packed. So we ended up going to Barnacles where we had to pay $10 to get in...but we had great seats.

UFC 60
Mood:  happy
Topic: TV
This weekend is the fight between Royce Gracie and Matt Hughes...it should be a good fight. I remember Royce...and Shamrock and Tank Abbott from the first few UFC's. Shamrock and Tank haven't faired too well recently...we'll see how Royce does.

This is the first UFC match where Royce is fighting someone smaller than he is! Knowing that he has beaten guys almost twice his size...it is hard to believe that Matt will be able to do much to hurt him...but Matt is one strong little mother!

If Matt can keep Royce on his feet...Matt might be able to knock him out (assuming that Royce doesn't have good stand-up...and no one really knows, because he has never used any)...if it goes to the ground, Royce all the way!!

The saga ends...
Mood:  don't ask
Topic: Life
We got tired of playing around with the Staples people, so I called the local Staples where we placed the order (they told us then that they had the desk in stock, but not the bookcase) to see if they still had the box we needed in stock.

They said they had it, so I ran over there to get it. The manager there told me that they would cancel the delivery and then do an exchange for the one to come out of the store...some paperwork magic I guess. So anyway, I got the box, came home and put it all together over the weekend.

Today, the delivery people showed up again...trying to deliver the box we got over the weekend. The Staples delivery/warehouse system needs a serious overhaul it would seem.

It doesn't matter to me though...we are done with Staples!!

The saga continues
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Life
Well, some Staples people showed up today with orders to deliver two boxes and pickup one. That's pretty stupid! Turns out that they tried to give us a duplicate box also. I guess they weren't on back order after all...big surprise, another lie!

Another call to Staples, and another promise to deliver the last box on Monday. I know we asked them to cancel the order...but that obviously didn't make it down to the warehouse.

Our Staples story.
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Life
This is how the whole thing started:

Monday, the 15th, we placed an order for a desk and a bookcase at a Staples store. They had the desk in the store, but didn't have the bookcase. The guy there said it would be delivered the next day, Tuesday the 16th. He also said that since they were going to have to deliver the bookcase, they might as well deliver the desk also.

Tuesday morning, Madge called the 800 number to try and get a specific delivery window. They told her 9AM to 5PM, that's a pretty big window! They delivered one box out of three (2 for the desk plus one for the bookcase)...one of the desk boxes. We called them later in the day to find out why they hadn't 1)delivered all three boxes, and 2)told us in the morning that not all of the boxes were coming. They didn't really know what happened, and then said that they couldn't even guarantee that the other boxes would be delivered the next day, Wednesday the 17th, but that they would be delivered on the 18th.

So Wednesday I sat at home all day, and about 2PM I called the 800 number to see if they were coming at all. I was told that Madge had called and told them not to deliver the boxes until Thursday...I told them that wasn't true and they had no answer. Then an hour or so later, Madge gets an automated voice mail from Staples saying that the order we placed yesterday, the 16th, wouldn't be delivered until Friday, the 19th. She was at work and called me, told me about the VM and wanted me to call Staples. I called them and I was GUARANTEED that the order would be delivered Thursday.

Well, today is Thursday, we called them this morning to see if they could limit the delivery window...and they told us that it wouldn't be delivered today. So Madge went off on the lady and got the district manager's number and ended up talking to the Staples President's office. Of course that woman told her that the order was on backorder...and that furniture takes a week to deliver. After an hour or so of phone calls and yelling, we told them to cancel the order and come pickup the box that they did deliver.

Then we were informed that we wouldn't get credit until the box had been returned...well, their window to come and pick up the box?? Sometime during the hours of 9AM to 5PM in the next three days!!

The main thing is that they lied to us multiple times! It's not like every time we called we talked to the same person and just that one person lied to us...no EVERYONE that we talked to there lied to us. It's like there is a policy at Staples to lie to their customers. I'm sure that there isn't a written policy that says that, but there obviously aren't systems in place to stop it from happening...so what's the difference? Why can't businesses just figure out that telling the truth is much better?

I think it is safe to say that we will never be shopping at Staples again!

A minor setback.
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Life
I was getting errors yesterday when I tried to post, so I guess I'll double up today.

I would have posted last night that my $1M idea was dealt a minor setback when the legality of it was brought into question. I spent most of yesterday and last night researching the laws and finding loopholes or safer avenues. I believe I may have found a couple...so I'm back on track with some minor modifications.

Bush's speech.
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Politics
I watched Bush's last night, and I thought that he did a good job of delivering it...he only fumbled over three words...not bad for him.

I liked some of it...I thought most of what he said was either right on the money or was a "duh!" moment. His first part of us needing to secure the border...ya think so W? I mean, I thought that having illegals and possibly terrorists crossing our southern border was fine...it's been that way for decades, why change now? Oh yeah...that little thing called 9-11. But that was 5 years ago!!!! This shouldn't even be an issue by 2006...or borders should have been locked down tighter than my fridge would be if I invited Michael Moore over for a drink. (FYI - my drink would contain ice, Triple Sec, Tequila & Margarita mix...Michael Moore's would contain the same with a slight aftertaste of Drain-o!) :)

The temp guest worker program is a good idea. I mean, people are already coming over the border to work for a few years before returning to their homeland to be with their families. This way, we know who is coming in, we match them with a job, and then we can keep better track of them...and know when they are leaving. Sounds like a plan to me. At least this way we can legalize that portion of border crossers and make them into temporary tax payers also! Not to mention that we will...er...should know who and where they are.

But after listening to talk radio today...I'm kinda slipping on the "technology fence" thingy/idea. A good point was brought up that we supposedly used that in Iraq...and that is obviously working well, since the "insurgents" are actually foreign terrorists from Iran, Syria and other hostile nations over there. So with a track record like that...how could it NOT work over here??