"OOOOOooooohhhh That Rahbbut!"
    Yosemite Sam

"I'm here to kick ass and chew bubble-gum, and I'm just about out of bubble-gum."
    Duke Nuke'Em

Chuck Jones passed away the other day. If you don't know who he was then just watch any old Warner Bros. Cartoon. The best ones were all direct by Chuck Jones.

In related news, I learned some interesting things about a fellow student at my dance studio who (by that mind-bogglingly random fundamental connectedness of all things) is named Chuck Jones. This Chuck is powerfully-built guy in his late twenties who originally hails from Texas. He's got a rich Texas accent and a real sort of "Aw, shucks" way about him that kind of makes me think of the character James VanDerbeek(sp?) was trying to play in Varsity Blues.

Well last night I was at the Century and in wanders Chuck. He's a good dancer, but still in the sort of "Oh I just want to watch" phase so I made sure to get as many of the girls there as I could to drag him out onto the floor (but don't tell him that). Its not like dancers need much encouragement anyway.

I don't know Chuck very well, and whenever he had mentioned his job in the past it was always something about his drawings or renderings. I figured he was an architect or some type of draftsman. Later that night we get to talking and it turns out that Chuck works for a software company called Valve. I don't think anyone who reads this will have heard of Valve, but they make some of the most popular video games on the market: Half-Life, Team Fortress, Counterstrike, etc.

I asked him how he got started down that road and he said he got a degree in art, started life as a tattoo artist, bought a computer, learned how to draw on it, and the rest is history. Chuck's one of their artists that they hired away from 3D Realms, where he was responsible for the design of every monster in Duke Nuke'Em 3D (another name that means nothing to yall, but was a big deal in the mid 90s gaming world). He's almost a nerd celebrity, and I think that's exactly why he doesn't tell most people what he does right off. :-)

Dancing geeks rule.

"If you can't explain something with numbers then you don't know what you're talking about."
    Howard Wyncoop, Mining Engineer & former mentor of Yours Truly

Well I've been pretty hard up for things to write about lately so I'll do my best to follow Old Howard's advice

"And it seems like it goes on like this forever
 You must forgive me...
 If I'm up and gone to Carolina in my mind."
    James Taylor, Gone to Carolina

Several of the testers I work with used to work in Microsoft's offices in Greensborough, NC. The other day we were having a meeting in the Atrium under the massive skylights. The sun was streaming in for the first time in weeks and one of them suggested that we need to find make a buisness trip to Greensborough. I couldn't agree with them more.

Now at this point we've all lived in a couple of different locals. Don't you every find yoursleves idily wishing to be back in some of them from time to time? Now North Carolina wasn't exactly paradise, and on the whole my life in Seattle is better. However, I miss Carolina sometimes. There were so many things that I just cannot get out here: Heatwaves, Dancing at The Warehouse, Pork Barbeque served family style, evenings on the UNC campus, nights on Franklin Street, concerts at Walnut Creek, Ben's Jamaican, Cobra's games at the Arena, Sweet Tea (pronounced: Swait-tay), sand volleyball courts every ten feet, and did I ever pass by one without joinging a game? As IF :-)

I hope yall* have a place you feel similarly about, and I also hope that you're there right now.

*: OK there are some things I could bring with me ;-)

"They'll be days of silver, and evenings of lead
 If you're loving how you're living or you wish you were dead
 You got to sit down partner till your ready to stand
 Sometimes you do the best you can."
    Indigo Swing

Time seems to be moving so fast that I've been using my analog watch as a portable fan. I guess this is good with regards to things I'm looking forward to, but its making work decidedly stressful. So many bugs... so little time.

So one of our cats, Samantha, has invented a new game. She takes a rattling plastic ball and chases it into our bathoom at 4:00am. She then preceedes to knock it around the 5' x 5' linoleum floor like a bad cop interrogating a prisoner for hours on end.

This past Sunday my ballroom did a "Vintage Night", which means they played only songs that were recorded prior to 1945. Most excellent. I also got a chance to speak to Seattle's Cutest Public Defender about my encounter with Crazy Woman. Turns out she does this to lots of guys, and I should consider myself lucky because she's been known to lick peoples hands while hitting on them.

Its still cold here in the Convergence Zone, but lately its been clear as a bell. There's all this bright light coming from this strange yellow circle in the sky. I have a vague distant memory of such a thing, but its been so long... Thank god I don't have a window in my office. Have a lovely day.

 Even Cagney knew when he needed a hand
 Sometimes you do the best you can."
    Indigo Swing, Best You Can

I think that is my new theme song. Of course without the music its probably not doing much for you so you'll just have to take my word for it :-)

Well the recent past has definitly been interesting. I seem to have gotten over my bout with Foot In Mouth Syndrome, but I can't quite figure where January went. My works going really well, yet I still seem to be falling behind.

I guess part of that might have been the day long moral event last Thursday where most of the Office team went Skiing. I got to try snowboarding for the first time in my life (pictures pending). It was really a blast. Part of it was just that I've never been on a mountain that big in the winter. Also, being that it was Seattle (read: overcast) there was this really strange effect: there's a point where the white of the snow-covered mountainside meets the white of the clouds and its really impossible to tell where one begins and the other ends. Wild.

So last week my otherwise happy-go-lucky existance hit a bit of a snag, and I'm hoping someone who reads this might have some good advice. Picture this: Its 11:30pm on a Wednesday. I'm sitting at a table beside the dancefloor at the Century Ballroom. I'm waiting for my friend who I came with to finish her dance so I can ask her if she wouldn't mind calling it a night. One of the women who I see there almost ever week walks over to me. She's probably in her early 30s, and fairly attractive. However, from the times when I danced with her I always thought she was a little insane, and I don't mean in the Charming, Young, & Reckless sense. I mean a little disturbed. When she talks to you she tends to turn her head and roll her eyes. She always made me a little nervous, but I had danced with her in the past and everything seemed normal enough.

Anyway, she comes over to me wearing her jacket. I figure she's just saying goodnight to people on her way out. Here's is an approximate transcription on what has to be one of the most surreal conversations of my entire life:

• Her: (Taking my hand) I wanted to say goodnight
  
• Me: (Not thinking anything of it)Oh... well have a goodnight.
  
• Her: So why aren't you dancing with your girlfriend?

• Me: Oh she's not my girlfriend. We're just friends, and we carpool from the Eastside.
  
• Her: So you're available?
  
• Me: "!"

• Me: Uh... in a manner of speaking
  
• Her: What's your sign?

• Me: Cancer?
  
• Her: July?
  
• Me: ...?
  
• Her: Opposites attract, you know.
  
• Me: ...!
  
• Her: Well I'll see you next week
  
• Me: (Barely suppressing sigh of relief)Have a good night.
  
• Her: (Starts to walk away. Pauses. Turns back.)Shall we exchange numbers?
  
• Me: ...! Uh, I'll see you next week.
  
• FIN

"Other rappers talk s***, but they gotta concede
 That I'm a three sandwich eating
 Supermodel meeting
 Step to me punk and you're gonna get a beating..."
    MC Hawking, E=MC Hawking

Well perhaps I'm not complacent as of yet (I sa-MOKED five bugs today), but I've come down with an equally dangerous disease: Foot In Mouth Syndrom. Usually I just say stupid things in front of girls I'm interested in so that's really nothing new, but today I really had a beaut.

The real killer is that I honestly mean well: it just doesn't occur to me until after the fact that what I've just said is incredibly rude and/or stupid. I guess the portion of my brain that filters that sort of thing is sort of overworked.

What happened was that I saw one of the guys on my team moving into a new office. He had all these boxes, computers, and pieces of furnitute to move so I thought it would be nice if I helped him out. I wandered over and asked him if he needed a hand. Sounds innocent enough right? Well this particular guy only has one hand. Brilliant...