"Now bless me father for I have sinned
 But it`s the same old story again and again and again
 Ah well,
 Such is the bread of an everyday life
 From mornin' to noon to this shadowless-night
 Rebels are we,
 Though heavy our hearts shall always be
 Ah, no ball or chain no prison shall keep
 We`re the rebels of the sacred heart
    Flogging Molly, Rebels of the Sacred Heart

Holy cow! If you ever want to really drive some insane get a Flogging Molly song stuck in their head. For those of you who don't know, Flogging Molly is essentially Irish Folk-Punk. Like the Pogues or the Dropkick Murphies. Anyway, its really upbeat and pounding and stuck in my head!!!

Had my review this moring, and all is well. Its seems that people have a favorable opinion of me and my work so I'm feeling pretty psyched. I also got The Numbers today (which is in reference to raises/bonuses/stock options). People told me this was a "lean" year as far as The Numbers go, but I've never worked at a job long enough to get anything like that before so I thought The Numbers were just wonderful. :-)

There was some discussion on Alissa's site about some "good" salmon. Alissa... its is a good thing you're coming out here this week. Its just not right having you wondering around thinking you've had real salmon until you've had Copper River Salmon.

"Slow down... you move too fast"
 You got to make the moment last"
    Simon & Garfunkle

Where did this weekend go? I recall the picnic, the Mariner's game, a movie, working late on Saturday, but that can't have been the whole thing! I demand a recount! There are lawns to be mowed and carpets to be vacuumed! We must be ready for Alissa! :-)

"She's perfect for you
 Man, there's got to be somebody for me."
    Counting Crows, Mr. Jones

Went to the Microsoft Company Picnic today. Quite an event. Tons of free food, beer, entertainment, stuff for kids (live animals, watersports, moonwalk type things), and most importantly: volleyball. All of this in the shadow of picturesque Mt. Si.

Interestingly enough I met the perfect woman for me: if she wasn't ten years older than me and married I mean. Phenominal volleyball player, excellent dancer, tecno-related job, and endless energy. Perhaps she has a niece...

I get the result of my annual performance review on Monday. I know I should have nothing to be nervous. However I am in fact terribly apprehensive about the whole ordeal. I don't know... what's the worst Scott, my dev lead/mentor, could say? "The code you produce is so bad you should want to kill yourself for having written it." Yeah. That would be one end of the spectrum.

Here's the thing: there are some unbelievably smart people here, and in the wake of what they have accomplished I know I'm not going to blow anyone away. That's OK. Honestly I'd just like to know that I'm meeting whatever minimum bar they may have for expectations of a new developer. So I guess the words at the extremely positive end of the spectrum would be something like: "You're doing pretty well as far as new hires go. Keep it up." That's what we're hoping to hear.

Come what may I'm better off for the work I've done here so far. I guess you could say I've come a long way since "Grantzoids". :-)

"I'm certain there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this."
    Everyone at some point

So after a long week of ups and downd I'm finally laying down to sleep it all off, but before I do I thought it would be fun to write just one blog entry why lying in bed. Why? Because I finally got my wireless network working working with my P.D.A., and as far as I'm concerned that makes me the Grand Wazoo.

Have a lovely weekend.

"Playground tactics,
 The rabbit-in-the-hat tricks..."
    Jurassic 5, Concrete Schoolyard

Spent all day yesterday at a park on Lake Sammamish with a superset of my co-workers, eating, palying volleyball, riding jet skis, tooling around in speed boats. I tore all the skin off the top of my right foot playing volleyball yesterday, which is really tragic because tomorrow Office is renting a movie theater so we can all go see Austin Power: Goldmember, and Saturday is the Microsoft Company Picnic so I really need to be in prime condition for Being a Huge Slacker. :-)

Before you get to mad at me you should know that I've just put in a 13 hour day to keep up. Work hard, play hard. :-)

A little while ago ScottBu, my dev lead, we regailing me and another new guy with amazing tales of Microsoft. Stories of people going from Millionaires straight back to ground zero with the rise and fall of the markets. Scott's 40, has been with Microsoft since 1986, and probably doesn't have to be working right now. He's a very down to earth guy, and he ended his little expounding session by telling us that the things he enjoys most in life are the same things he did when everything he owned would fit in the trunk of his car. In his case: a good day at work and a little basketball. I imagine most of us would rather be in his shoes (big house, financial security, retirement probably before 50), but its nice to realize that money is not a barrier from enjoying much of what's best in life.

"Got a call from an old friend
 We used to be real close
 Said he couldn't go on the American way
 Closed the shop, sold the house,
 Bought a ticked for the west coast
 Now he gives them a standup routine in L.A."
    Billy Joel, My Life

There have been a lot of things I wanted to jot down in the Blog recently, but I'm having trouble finding the time. However, I believe recent developements will allow me to write a little more frequently. In the meantime I'll just have to settle for what I can manage. :-)

So last Wednesday I had the coolest experience. I was out dancing, and I asked this little old lady to dance. I figured she was in her mid 70s, and she actually danced pretty well. A bit later I had a dance with another woman who was sitting with her. After the dance she takes my hand and says:
 "It was really sweet of you to ask my mother to dance. She really enjoyed it."
 "Your mother?"
 "Yes. She's 85, can you believe it?"
 "85?!?"
The song we had danced to was not a slow one, and this woman had no trouble keeping up. I don't know about yall, but I would consider it to be a minor miracle if I can still dance a fast East Coast swing when I'm 85.

"Dontcha know I'm just
 Waintin' for the train that goes home, Sweet Mary
 Hopin' that the train is on time
 Sittin' downtown in a railway station
 One toke over the line."
    Brewer & Shipley

Well its been an entire week since I took my car in for service. Apparently replacing the breaks invovled ordering parts from one of the moons of Jupiter. Those parts were supposed to come in yesterday, but instead they came in today. No, that's not quite right: parts came in today, but they were the wrong ones.

SOOOooo I've been using the King County Bus System to get around for the last week. I'm actually very impressed. Its lengthened my commute from about 20 minutes to closer to an hour, but it does take the stress out of driving :-) I'm actually a bit disappointed that the People Who Ride The Bus aren't as bizzare as I was expecting. The bus into Kirkland is all teenagers and little old ladies. The bus into Redmond is all Microsofties. Getting to ride the bus for free is a Microsoft benefit. :-)

I saw something really horrible involving a duck today. I'll spare youthe details, but I feel the need to document it so the next time I'm thinking about how much I hate ducks and geese (and I really do) I'll think twice before I actually wish any unpleasantness on them.

I came home tonight just in time to help Carl bathe the cats. Have you ever tried to bathe a cat? No? Its basically like trying to disarm a bomb in the same sink that you're washing your dishes. They've been walking around the house for the last hour with the reminants of their dignity matted into tufts.

One last bit: there's this really cute girl I always dance with at The Century and for months I have had no idea what her name was. It was a bit like that Seinfeld episode where Jerry forgets his girlfriend's name, but its Too Far Into The Relationship to ask her without really offending her. Well Sunday it was Sybille to the rescue. We bumped into this girl on the way into the building and Sybille (knowing my dilema) made a point to introduce herself. My friends rock. :-)

"It does a body good"
"Where's your moustache?"
"Got Milk"
    Contemporary Milk Slogans

"Everything in moderation"
    Conventional Wisdom

Ah the Milk Bet....

It seems that the sub organization I work for within Office (known as DDS) has a tradtion called the Milk bet. It works like this: the challengers each have one hour to drink and entire gallon of milk (2% or higher) and then must keep it down for 15 minutes after they finish the last drop. Why would they do such a thing? Because everyone in the organization kicks in money to a pot for the pleasure of watching people making fools of themsleves and then vomiting :-).

Today's attempt was for charity, and if you don't think this is serious then you should know that the "effort" raise over $1,800.00 for the National Parks Service. It was a hot sunny day so we did it in the courtyard. A good hundred people turned up for the spectical. I left a good volleyball game to come watch the event, but it was well worth it. There were three contestants. One of them was the driving force behind the fund raiser (its part of a larger fund raiser that involves him climbing Mt. Raineer), and the other two were co-workers that were just going in form moral support.

All three of them blew through the first half gallon in about 15 minutes. Then began the standing up, the pacing, the heavy breathing... it was great. Every so often one of them would fill up another glass and down it. Remeber the bar scene with the drinking contest from Raiders of the Lost Ark? It was a lot like that.

The youngest guy was well ahead twenty minutes into it. So it really wasn't all that surprising when he blew it all back up just shy of the half-hour mark. I have never seen such an impresive volume of stuff coming out of a persons mouth.

The other two were much more conservative. Things were pretty slow in the second half hour, but right at the end it got interesting. People started offering to double their pledges if the contestants would just finish the drinks they currently had, which (I should add) they had been staring at with a pained expression for the last ten minutes. With 40 seconds left one of them put the challenge to the other and the went for it! Less then fifteen seconds after the final effort began it was all over. I've never seen stereo vomiting before, but it was a sight to behold. They were still bring up milk when I left.

I love my job. :-)

"London calling,
 Yeah, I was there, too
 An' you know what they said?
 Well, some of it was true!"
    The Clash, London Calling

Well slap a dress on me and call me Nancy! I was browsing the Virgina Tech Fencing Club web page a few days ago and saw some familiar names listed on the active roster. Not believing that they could still be hanging around Blacksburg I dropped some of them a line. Here's what I learned.

My friend and former mentor, Aaron, was back in town working on his PhD in Engineering Science and Mechanics. Basically its a degree in Nasty Math. He was getting his masters when I was a freshman. He taught me to fence and he also let me tag along to one of the first dances I ever went to. Last I had heard from him he was living in Jersey with his girlfriend (wife now, maybe?) and they were both working Real Jobs. He wrote me to tell me that he and Beth were both back at Tech weorking on Doctorates. Her because she wanted more from her career, and he because he needed a break from the real world.

I also wrote Brighid, an ex-grilfriend of mine. We graduated at the same time, and she has been working in Blacksburg since then while her boyfriend finished his masters. Here's the kicker: she tells me they were just married two weeks ago! One of my Ex-es is married! Suddenly I feel older than I should...

Dog: Woof woof.
Man: Did you just say 'Woof woof'?
Dog: 'Coarse not. Dog's can't talk.
    Terry Pratchett

My friend Sybille is dogsitting for a co-worker. She's got two Golden Retrievers, Penny and Zoe, and they're both about 1 year old. We had a dance class together last night and afterwards we took the dogs for a walk in Marrymoor Park which is just down the hill from Microsoft. Marrymoor has several acres set aside for a dog-off-the-leash area. Its the coolest thing! Baggie dispensers and trashcans all over the place, plenty of convenient doggie access to the lake, and all the other dogs you could want. The area is HUGE and contains fields, forests, waterfront, and the whole thing is fenced in.

I came told another friend of mine about it afterwards, and he said, "Yeah, I used to borrow a friends dog and take it for walks there. Its a great place to meet women."

Nothing says romance like a wet dog and a bag of poop I guess.

"17 has turned 25*
 I'm surprised that we're still livin'
 If we've done any harm
 I hope that we're forgiven."
    (*:With apologies to) John Melloncamp, Cherry Bonb

So I've reached the quarter century mark, and it feels pretty good. My car insurance rates have dropped, I can now rent a car without that stupid $15/day extra premium, and I have no longer spent a quarter of my life in college. (25yrs/4 < 6yrs :-)

It does feel strange not being in Lancaster for the 4th of July. I know I've missed it in past years, but its just sort of a bio-temporal association that my body has: 4th of July means I will be in Lancaster. So I've felt a bit off all week.

Random piece of advice. There's a Powerpuff Girls movie in theaters. For reasons I cannot explain I went to see it on opening day with some of my coworkers. Scott's review: save your money. Those of you who don't know what the Powerpuff girls are then you should forget I mentioned this. Those of you who DO know what they are: you should forget I mentioned this too.

Anyway, hope yall have a happy 4th! Take care.

"Desmond has a barrow in the marketplace
 Molly is the singer in a band
 Desmond says to Molly, 'Girl, I like your face'
 And Molly says this as she takes him by the hand

 Oh-blah-dee, oh-blah-dah, life goes on bra'
 La-la how the life goes on!"
    The Beatles

Two of my friends were laid off from Tech jobs last week. Both of them saw it coming and seem sort of fatalistic about the whole experience. What bothers me about this is that they are both friendly, hard-working, guys with a lot of integrity. I guess the moral is that you should try to control what you can control, and then make the most of the stuff you can't.