Whew... awake after a wild night of "Dancin' Goat" craziness. Funkmaster Pink suprised all of us and showed up yesterday for the new year's event, so we chilled for awhile and ended up going to a mutual friend's birthday party with Cody and Jen. I was feeling a bit under the weather, both emotionally and physically, but once i had a few beers in me all was well with the world. Hell, I was even dancing!

There's something to be said for that, since Goat's generally don't dance. We aren't very graceful creatures, so we often make fools of ourselves or sprain our ankles at work or do something equally stupid.

Alas, it was a fucking blast. There's nothing that completes a night like cans of keystone light, shots of Karkov, and Goat with five other dudes belting out Metallica's Whiskey in the Jar at the top of our lungs. I think there might have been a moment when we were singing to Culture Club and some other 80s tunes, as well, but I can't exactly remember for sure. :)

But, as often is the case, errands reared their ugly head today, requiring me to yank my lazy ass out of bed at the hideous hour of 9:00am. A time which most certainly should not exist whilst on vacation. Thus, i'm running on a good six hours of sleep. Granted, normally I only get about 5.5 or 6 hrs anyways, but again, on vacation such a thing is a travesty.

I might have to nap today, then, given tonight's massive blow-out at Cody and Pink's place. Pretty much everyone and their uncle is coming, and it sounds like there'll be some new girls there too, so it should be a kick-ass time. Sometime this afternoon Pink and I are planning a mall run to see if we can find more folks we know to invite, then go score some tasty beverages, and get the house all ready for a night of pure insanity.

This year has blown far more ass than expected, so if I have anything to say about it, it's going out with a bang.

Time for me to go tend to some laundry and other nasty details of normal, every-day existence. Have a rockin' new year's, reader, and be safe.

Song of the Noon Hour - Smashing Pumpkins - Geek USA

Dude... I slept in today!!!

Last night rocked - no weird dreams, no laying there for a good hour and a half until i fall asleep, and I actually was able to keep my ass in bed until 11:30. Yes! I'm sure this will cause me royal problems come next week, when I must return to the office, but for now, this is sweet sweet bliss.

The Denny's didn't even mess with me last night... there just might be hope for the Goat yet!

But, seeing that I just woke up about an hour ago, not much has transpired yet. All I've done today so far is freshen up, order some coins from the US Mint (work got me a $50 gift certificate for Christmas usable on the Mint's website), and eat a fine breakfast of honey nut cheerios. Seriously, one of the best cereals out there - right up there with frosted mini wheats, cinnamon toast crunch, and cocoa pebbles. So, all in all, it's been an okay morning. At the very least, the shop hasn't yet called to tell me the Taurus is done, which is fine by me since I'm a bit concerned about the final cost of all this.

Sometimes it's easier just pushing bad things onto the proverbial back burner and forgetting about them for a little bit.

For now, I'll just meander downstairs and watch a little more of the first season of Friends. Have a joyous Tuesday afternoon, reader.

Song of the Moment - Dave Matthews Band - #41

Whew... fun night out on the town with the Lobster and the Princess and, later on, July Lucille, too. But, alas, a night that left the poor Goat far too tired to coherently write.

Note to self, too, while i'm at it: I'm no longer in college... nasty-ass fatty Denny's food doesn't agree well with me anymore late at night like it used to. Bunk! I'm a bit on the queasy side, and i'm sure i'll end up having the hiatal hernia rear its ugly head tonight. It's honestly been quite awhile since it's given me hell, since as a matter of principle i don't eat late at night anymore, but ... this could buck the trend. We shall see.

All i really want is to just be able to sleep in tomorrow, really... i'm taking the time off of work - the least i should be able to do is sleep. I so could have today, too, if it wasn't for my awful ghetto Taurus. Took it to the shop today, who later told me it would cost something like $1075 to fix everything. Ahh... no. The coolant leak isn't too bad, so I opted just to get the rear brakes redone (since that's just one of those "duh" sort of things, being a safety issue and all) with a much-needed oil change thrown in for good measure. That should reduce the damage to about $450 (only) ... bah.

It is late, though, and my comfy bed is calling. Sleep well, reader, and dream sweetly.

Results of the Match.com What type of women should you date? test:

Couch Potato

"It's unlikely you'd ever find this woman, as you don't seem to go out much or know too many females. But this type of woman, being the same way, wouldn't find you either. Try making an effort to be more social if you want to increase your chances!"

Shit, that means I need to get off my ass and actually be proactive about stuff. Being ambitious blows.

That suggestion, though, has one glaring flaw: if I go out on a limb and become more social (which I read must mean going to bars, joining a club, or doing some other civic-minded function), I probably won't meet some couch-potato chicas there either, since, well, if they're in the same boat as me, they'll just be sitting at home watching Friends or reading Lord of the Rings. What the hell...

But, I suppose there's other things I can do today, instead of nurturing my inner social butterfly. The gods of winter weren't smiling down on Bismarck too much yesterday, and in their benevolence dumped quite a nice load of white shit on us. Once I get ambitious this morning, I'll need to venture out into the waste and shovel my walk and driveway. Joy. And I do need to brave the streets later and score some leftover Christmas food from Pink's mother. She made this weird Norweigan rice pudding that I absolutely love, so I'm fairly stoked about getting some. Even though I hardly got any lefse this year, I can't say the holidays were a total loss if I can come out with some of Sue's rumegrout.

Thankfully my left ankle is quite a bit better, too. The first day - Christmas Eve - sucked ass, but the swelling has gone down quite a bit and it doesn't hurt all that much. I can walk on the thing, but I'm trying to keep off of it just to help the swelling go down and to hopefully lessen this off-an-on tingling sensation that I feel. Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing, but I'm leaning towards the bad, so we'll see how that one turns out. If I can avoid the doctor, though, that would be cool since I'm not much in a position this month to pay a deductible or simply the co-pay. The poor Vehicle of Destruction (Taurus) is way under the weather now, and I fear next week's repair bill will be kicking my ass. The coolandt system work alone will likely hit me for over $200, and I don't even want to think what the brakes will run - if I have them do 'em. My old man and I might just work on those instead and save some money.

Either way, cars just blow, since it always seems that whenever I get close to paying off my credit cards, they take a turn south... fast. But, if I can just ride the Ghetto Taurus out until next summer, I might be able to buy myself enough time to get the cards paid off and buy a nice black 5-speed Maxima. We shall see.

Enough bantering for now, however. I should go get a start on my day. Before I do that, though: more Match.com quizzes! Be like me and embrace your ambition today, reader, and have a fine, fulfilling Sunday.

Today was, by far, not a bad Christmas Eve. Just slightly out of the ordinary. I won't get into too many juicy details since

• I'm pretty tired
  
• my ankle is killing me, and i should elevate the poor thing
  
• spilling all the beans ruins the suprise!
  

Of course, reader, as you know my life really is fairly uneventful, so don't hold your breath, thinking I did something crazy like go out on a date, go skydiving, or eat mushrooms. I'll fill you in later on how the gift exchanges all went, though, stuff like that.

Thing is, like the second point above states, my ankle hurts like a mad bastard. Although I like to think of myself as graceful, virtually floating on air, in reality I'm pretty damned clumsy. In a raging display of my coordination skills, I misplaced a three-step leap down the stairs this morning at work and twisted the hell out of my left ankle. Besides simply hurting like a fucker, the thing made this sickening popping noise when I landed that I'm still a little concerned about. My grandmother (who, mind you, was a nurse all her life) thinks I should get it x-rayed. But, after a day of resting and intermittently icing it with a pack of snow peas I found in the back of the freezer, it's feeling better. So we shall see about going to the hospital... *crosses fingers*

Funny, though, that I had to gimp my ankle out at work on a day when I wasn't even supposed to be there! I just went in to get my laptop and some boxes that I forgot yesterday, which I needed so I could get some other gifts wrapped. Only needed to be there for, at most, five minutes. Just call me Dante Hicks from now on. :)

Have a content and touching Christmas, reader. Nestle in tonight with a warm mug of hot chocolate, or a glass of egg nog, and slip into slumber with a smile on your face.

Did I do all that I could / that I shoulda done? - Dave Matthews - Stay or Leave

Have I done all that I could? Am I...
strong?
as good a person as people think?
Am I really that stable?
really a girls' wet dream?
Am I smart?
Am I up to the task?
Can I get the job done?

Can I do this?

Do I deserve this?

Sometimes I wonder. These are just a few of the little things I think about from time to time (aside from financial matters and girls and Funyuns and stuff).

Merry Christmas, reader. Be at peace this season, and go forward with smiles.

Grr! I couldn't sleep in today!

You have no idea how lame this is - I've been looking forward to this all week. Of course, I suppose getting up at 8:30am could be considered "sleeping in" since I usually wake up around 5:00 or 5:30 in the morning. Alas.

Since I'm up, I might as well go work out, do some laundry, and go score the remaining Christmas gifts that I need to buy. And tags, too - like the village idiot that I am, I bought some wrapping paper and scotch tape with Brianne last week and spaced buying tags. Lot of good that does... haha.

Hopefully you, reader, are still sleeping! If not, go drink some good coffee and enjoy this beautiful sunny morning.

Well, a mild Friday night is finally winding down, and it's almost time for me to nestle into my queen sleigh bed for a long night of blissful winter slumber. This evening I took in Return of the King again, this time with the lobster, which was a lot of fun. 'Tis always good kicking it with those important to you, especially when you don't get to see them all that much.

Other than that, I didn't do a whole lot, but I did on a whim decide to go meet the old man for happy hour. Mind you, this ended up being at this wonderous establishment over in Mandan called the Stage Stop. Any third-rate bar with a totem pole out in the parking lot is something I tend to avoid just out of principle. However, feeling a bit intrepid, I decided to give it a shot. Hey, can't knock trying something new, can ya?

Well, I can in this case. All in all, it wasn't a totally terrible time, but definately not the best happy hour experience I've had. Seeing my dad for awhile was awesome, but the bar was indeed "special" and certainly did not suprise me in a good way. A bit on the WT side of things, full of the folk that I think must be looking at me weird because i'm not wearing oil-stained Carhartt overalls. One of those places, also, that the sort of older-age women (40+) that apparently think i'm hot shit might likely frequent. Nor was the food terrible, but nowhere near anything I would write home about, either. All this made for a fairly anticlimactic experience, if nothing else, and put a big red X through any future plans to return - mostly because of the ladies-the-age-of-my-mom thing.

I can't be that damned enticing, can I? I've begun to realise that I must have something that some girls dig, but I'll be fucked if I know what that is. And mostly it's just gotten me into some fairly bizarre situations in the local bars here, getting hit on by these forty-year-olds. Aaaaa.... If only I knew what it was, maybe I could keep it at bay if I ever end up at someplace like the Burnt Creek Club, or the bar up at Capitol Lanes, or (god forbid) the Stage Stop or Lonesome Dove.

Chances are, though - knowing me - I won't have to even deal with that potentiality. If I'm going to go out anywhere here, it's a restaurant, the Comfort Inn lounge, or Sidelines (the old Army's Sports Bar). I really doubt I'd get into awkward situations at the first two, and the last, well, everyone is pretty laid back there anyways and a bit on the younger side (mid thirties at their oldest, for the most part). That's not so bad; it's by far less creepy, and if i need to weasel my way out of weirdness, it's not as hard.

Alas, I likely bore you with my rants, reader. I shall hit the sack now. Hope your Friday was pleasant, and have a great Saturday.

Tonight should be interesting... one of those nights where you have plans, but they fall through, so you end up having all this time on your hands, with absolutely no idea of what to do with it. I'm sorta pooped from the whole LOTR expedition, too, so I don't feel like lifting and working on increasing my insane buffness. Likely, I'll just stay in front of the box for awhile here or read or something.

Of course I could stop being a tool and give some people a call, but I'm in one of those moods where that's kinda hard to do for some reason. Been this way for the past few weeks. Perhaps its the weather or something... or the weirdness of Christmas-but-not-Christmas-cause-I'm-not-a-kid-anymore-but-a-real-life-software-engineer. I have no decorations around here, it's depressing. But maybe I don't have any because it would feel so depressing having them, all the while knowing the only reason they're up is for me, that I don't have anyone to share the moment with (at my place that is).

Alas.

But on a far lighter and brighter note, dude, LOTR fucking hauled so much ass! I'm seriously at a loss for words on this one; you just have to go see it. Being a complete and utter confirmed junkie of this about a minute into the last film (if i wasn't made one from just seeing the damned trailer in 1999, at least!), there was only one way i could think, during the last half hour of the film, to describe it: it was like i came ... for thirty minutes straight. Just absolute insanity. Just the battle sequences on their own will own you.

There's some tentative plans in the works to go check it out again tomorrow night. I can't wait! Until then, have a content evening, reader, and drop me a line or give me a buzz if you're bored. That would kick ass.

Peace.

You know what hauls major ass? That I found out today, just after lunch, that the good movie theater here is running a midnight showing of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. I am beyond stoked about this; the movie series is stunning, and I can't wait to see it end. It'll be weird since I've been looking forward to it for about four years now, but life always has a way of giving one plenty more things to look forward to, and lots more things to get excited about.

New things always spring up, capture one's fancy, and lead you through life on a tether of golden thread so light you barely even notice it.

But you see it; deep down you see it, and it's exciting.

Alas, the movie is freakishly long at almost four hours (but who cares? More LOTR, the merrier, i say) so I won't wander out of the Grand until close to 4am. So what to do? Sleep? Hell no, i'd never get up in time. Instead, i'll go to work.

what??

Yeah, work, at four in the morning. Insanity. But hey, i'll actually get some stuff done since it'll be nice and quiet, and then i can head home around 1:30 or 2 and nap. Naps are wonderful, besides, and I hardly ever get to take them unless it's the weekend, so tomorrow should be badass. For now, though, until it's time to go line up again to see this masterpiece, I best turn my persuits away from writing for my own pleasure (and yours too, dear reader, of course!) and to more important matters - like my 6th-month performance review for work. I have a set of questions to fill out, and i need to spend about half an hour on those tonight before I head to the theater. Bah... but if it could mean a raise, that hauls.

Stay safe and content tonight, reader, and if you get a chance, take a moment and dream of the upcoming summer - the thunderstorms, the slow, fragrant rain, the feel of that special someone in your arms... let it bring a smile to your face. Cause it's a good smile, and it might just bring a little warmth to these cold winter nights.

Ahh... today was nice.

Other than the fact that winter totally blows and i had to shovel my driveway and sidewalk at the unholy hour of 7:00am, all was well. Work moved swiftly and I got quite a lot done, and I finally got my headboard replaced on my bed. I've been waiting, well, since about June to get a replacement and the furniture guys brought it over lunch.

Of course, this new one is messed up, too, but I'm just sick of messing with it. The last one was worse, however (one side of the headboard threatened to pull away entirely, causing - if nothing else - horrendous structural stability issues). Unlike the last headboard, the one they brought today just looks like someone at the factory failed to take Introduction to Principles of Wood Glue, or something. One peice isn't glued the best, and it looks cracked actually, but isn't. Whatever... it's still under warranty, so if it gets worse I'll just see about getting another replacement.

Besides fighting snow and sub-par furniture, though, the rest of the day went well. This evening was really relaxing, and I'm just overall content. It really looks to be, for once, a good start to the week. Perhaps it's in part due to this past weekend, also. July Lucille came back, so I spent time hanging with her and Brianne and Katie. My old friend Steph and I hung out too on Friday night, which was a blast - watching movies and catching up on old times is always fun.

I'm also really digging the new cell phone. Evenings and weekends are far cooler now since I have unlimited minutes and free long distance. So, in addition to socializing, i spent some good time keeping in touch with Funkmaster Pink, the Toaster, General Assdick, and Steve. And I talked to the lobster last night too, which was awesome. All in all, a much-needed string of pleasant days.

Hopefully things are pleasant in your world, too, reader. Dream sweetly tonight.

Hola!

Today has been quite a bit better than the last, and I'm infinitely thankful for that. Chilling with Brianne rocked tonight, and stuff at work progressed at a fair clip. But, it was still laid-back enough to give me that warm-and-fuzzy feeling of "yay, it's almost Friday!" instead of the darker, more insidious "holy christ, this blows, thank god tomorrow is happy hour..." type of feeling.

Perhaps that was a little vague, but maybe you get the drift.

Thing is, it's been a little odd adjusting to this whole adult thing. Those of you that are down with the Goat are pretty well aware that i'm pretty level and mature and what have you, that most people think I'm at least 26 when they meet me. Alas, i'm not... I suppose in a lot of ways I do seem older than the average dude my age, but that doesn't make the task of going from a college lifestyle to the 9-5, Monday through Friday office lifestyle any easier. It's a royal pain in the ass getting out of bed at 6:30am, even when I do set the alarm for something like 5:25am cause i'm pathetically lazy and just love to hit snooze about eight million times before I actually get up.

And it's weird adjusting to the "happy hour" aspect. One tends to get in this mindset where Mondays are the unholiest of unholies and Fridays are about the best thing in the world (aside from Saturday mornings). It just so happens that cheap drinks and free food go hand in hand with Friday afternoons, too. By association one starts off particularly shitty monday mornings longing for Friday at 4, when i can sit down in the lounge with my $1.50 margarita and some buffalo wings or nachos or chicken strips or something and forget about the crappiness of the week for a bit. Well, for about an hour and a half, i guess, because i usually get bored and head home after that.

I'm definately not 40, and i'm trying like a bastard not to grow up any faster than i already have. This means, amongst other things, keeping my life diverse enough so happy hour doesn't become one of my few driving forces during the work week.

All in all, i think i'm pulling it off, too. I've been writing a bit more lately, and totally keeping up with reading, so I'm stoked about that. Nor do i do the happy hour thing every week; i've missed a few here and there, and in fact i'll be missing one tomorrow. We're having the company Christmas social at six, effectively fucking me out of going anywhere for drinks. That's beyond okay, though, given my cold (drinking whilst sick is just bad, my immune system usually gets thrown way out of whack) and the fact we're getting free Walrus food, too.

Free food from The Walrus ain't something you just turn down... :)

So i figure i'll go and make an appearance tomorrow night, score the free eats, and make a graceful exit. Probably won't stay too long since i have a funny hunch it'll be plenty weird hanging around a bunch of 40-year-old engineers and their wives, but i'll see. If there's anything that'll make you feel more single and out of place, though, it's that, dude.

That's it for now, i guess. Time for some beauty rest. Dream sweetly this calm and cloudy night, reader.

Boredom reigns supreme this week, but my apathy level is pretty fucking close. I just have no motivation to do anything. Yet i'm not depressed enough to sleep the evenings away, so what the fuck... Too bad its not warm and like light out and stuff, i'd so go for a bike ride.

These past few days have been quite the little ride, but i'll spare you the specifics. Today was pretty kick-ass though since i got some more crap done at work, and also found out the ArcSDE problem i've been fighting since Friday is actually a potentially-undiscovered bug. It blows that i spent all that time on it, without knowing of its bug-ness, but at least i know now i'm not a raging dumbass and it wasn't my fault the thing didn't work.

Tonight the chi threatened to get knocked off kilter again, though, for a few other reasons i'll not necessarily delve into (but that i can say with some openness has to do with the mother). We shall see what comes of this. For some reason, though, the stabilty that has been fairly constant in my life seems to have been eroding away this year, moreso after August and september, and i'm trying to hold on with a deathgrip to what i've got. I could really use to forego any familial weirdness for awhile, and i inwardly hope it all just sort of goes away.

On the lighter side of life, though, i looked at couches tonight. The one i have is pretty ghetto (i scored in in MSP last summer from a dude i worked with for $25, and it certainly served the purpose and is pretty comfy, but... yeah) so i'd like to see if i can't score a new one. I, for the most part, have a pretty big thing against leather (the swass one gets) but i did get to sit in this absolutely gorgeous down filled leather sofa that would just look beyond rad in my place. At $1799 though, it's a little bit out of my league. If i could find something for like $500-$700 though, I might be more open to it. I found one that could maybe work for $698, but it's microfiber, and the jury is still out on that one. Feels too much like funky fake suede or some shit. But it looks nice and is high enough so my ass doesn't sit a foot below my knees. Being tall sometimes kinda sucks.

I suppose that's it for now... nothing else too remarkable going on in my life, so perhaps i'll go watch some TV or read. Hope you're making the most out of your day, reader, and staying warm on this bitter night. Have a good one.

Ah, another Monday... :)

Today was just like most other Mondays - nothing too special. I did somehow make it to work at 7:20am today, however, so that was a bit exceptional. Most mondays i don't make it in till 8 or sometime after that, cause i'm so shot from the weekend. Alas, i didn't get a whole lot of sleep this weekend either, like the usual, so i dunno how the hell i got my ass out of bed this morning.

Somehow i did, though, and made it to work, and got some shit done. Not lots, though. I'm at a bit of a point where i could pick from probably eigth different things to do, and i need to talk to my project manager a little more and see what i should tackle next. Conveniently, he was out today, so i just busied myself with a few other little things. All in all a pretty relaxing day.

Had lunch at Camly's with my uncles and cousin, too, so that was pretty badass. I guess they have a lunch buffet there, which i wasn't aware of. Such tasty delights as curry chicken w/ coconut milk, garlic green beans, egg rolls (that are to die for, btw), these little vegetarian fried dumpling things... damn dude, good shit. And after work i scored some leftover chicken noodle soup from my grandma, so i'd have to say all in all, besides being relaxing, today has also scored pretty high as far as chow is concerned.

Now i get to settle in for a night of corporate reading. Joy! I've an article to hit concerning the complex nature of software systems - and how, if we don't rethink some shit, we're fucked even more as time progresses - and a book on some management styles or something. I have to read a good 45 pages before the 17th, when I have a group meeting to discuss it. Double joy. But it looks like it shouldn't be too bad; a quick read and a welcome refresher to reading constantly about stuff like ADO.NET and ArcSDE.

Have a stellar evening, folks, and keep warm and toasty.

all i want for Christmas is... to go to a fucking Deftones show

So yeah, other than dreaming of mosh-pitting and such all day today, i didn't do anything terribly exciting yet. Spent the day at work fighting ArcSDE, as ye can see from the post below (i was somewhat victorious, but of course i can't be completely... so more fun on Monday), and ran off to happy hour with the old man and his friend Cindy. This was at Space Aliens, so i got to have my usual tall Killian's and a cajun quesadilla. And, to boot, i saw nick the drummer there; i was suprised, but he didn't recognise me, so that was bunk.

Then i went over to my grandma's place and had dinner there with the relatives and stuff, since my uncle is back this weekend from California. All in all it was a good time, being able to see him and one of my cousins, too, whom i never usually run into.

So we'll see what tonight holds. A good relaxing one is certainly in order, i reckon, so PlotMaker might be pushed off until sometime tomorrow morning. Now, though, is couch time. No more computer for the night! Have a peaceful evening.

If anyone knows how in the hell ArcSDE generates OBJECTIDs (or ROW_IDs, if you wish) on SQL Server 2000, hook me up. I created a table through sql server itself with an OBJECTID column and made sure whilst building the table that all the values were unique. Problem is, the column ain't an Autonumber column, since evidently sde doesn't use those. How's sde to understand what the next key value should be?? you've got me... the fucker keeps wanting to choose shit like 22, 23, 24 for the values even though i have 130 records in there already (so OBJECTID ranges from 1..130). You'd think the next value should be 131, but nooo, it chooses 23, of course causing all hell to break loose when you try to do an update on the table.

grr!

there's some stored procs it looks like that do this under sql server 2000, for these iXXX tables, where XXX denotes each table's registrationID. but these procs are buffaloing me a bit... so wtf.

Any SDE gurus out there? :)