Just Like I’m Walking On Broken Glass

I got my Zune in yesterday!!! It is AMAZING. I am so glad about my purchase, and I can’t wait to really dive into the features and see what it can do. My only problem is the battery life. It is decent if you just listen to music, but watching videos and playing games as I will be doing often really kills the battery. It only last a little over 4 hrs playing straight video. I will definitely need to get something to extend the life of it if I am going for a long trip in a plane or something.

Why am I walking on broken glass? Because it seems every piece of glass I touch becomes broken. I have already described what happened to the Zune. As a side note, the thing was pretty solid. I dropped it multiple times and never even noticed a scratch. I’m not sure exactly what happened when the screen broke. I think it was somewhat of a freak incident where I happened to put the right amount of pressure in the right spot to ruin it. None the less…. Broken glass.

On Saturday of last weekend, our sliding glass door in the back of the house shattered. Liz and I weren’t around when in happened, and actually didn’t even notice it until the next morning because we got home late. Here is a picture of it. It is the same picture that Liz has on her blog.



It was actually very fascinating to look at. Clearly it started as a small web of cracks and expanded to cover the entire door. If you stood next to it and were quiet enough, you could here a new small crack form. A new one would form about once every 20 seconds.

Since bad things always happen in threes, you know this isn’t over yet. On Sunday night, yes the night of the same day we discovered the screen door. I broke the LCD screen on my work computer. We were about to go to bed and I decided to turn a movie on my work computer, it was just convenient at the time because our personal computers were malfunctioning / being used for another purpose. I was sitting on the floor setting up the movie, and then went to pick up the computer and put it on our dresser. I grabbed a hold of it from the top of the screen (as I do with my personal computer all the time, but highly recommend not doing) and I pinched a little to hard…. and crack. It was actually quite similar to my Zune. The outside didn’t crack, but the pressure on the screen broke the LCD behind the protective screen. There was just a small crack, but on an LCD, the whole picture is ruined. I just sat there in shock. I can’t believe I just busted my work issue computer…. By means of broken glass!! C’MON!

I promise I’m not a klutz. These were just very unique, and odd occurrences that happened to fall near each other. Though I am happy to report that everything is back to normal. I have my new Zune, we called the landlord and he just finishing replacing the door today, and my office called in their dell guy to replace the broken screen yesterday. Luckily, no one cared that much at work, they simply accept that accidents happen. Plus our new door is much nicer than the old one. I guess it worked out overall. No harm done at work, and much improved sliding glass door with an actual working screen, and a sweet new Zune. Not bad, but I do tense up a little bit when I’m next to a window or closing my car door.

Salivate, Salivate….. Decision!

A few sad months ago, I broke my Zune. It was a very upsetting an emotional time for me because I loved that thing. It traveled with me every time I was in the car or a plane. It provided entertainment of tv shows and movies if I was waiting to meet someone, sleeping at someone else’s house, or performing a mindless process at work. And some time ago, the screen cracked. I’m not sure exactly how it happened. I got to work one morning, slid it into my pocket, walked upstairs and set it on my desk, and the next time I went to turn it on…. Cracked screen. I must have oddly bumped into something or crushed it against the arm of my chair when I set down. Either way, I no longer had a display. It could still play music when I was able to successfully navigate the menus, but no videos, and I couldn’t pick the songs.

I was an early adopter in the way of Zunes. Having never had a video mp3 player, I dove right in as soon as they came out. I had some problems in the beginning, some with the software, and some with the hardware. I even had to send it back once to get it replaced. But overall, I was happy with my device. When it broke I immediately wanted to replace it. I went back to the iPod vs Zune debates and tried to get talked into making a rash decision, but it didn’t work out. iPod still seems to be winning the debate, but I had heard some bad things about iTunes, and dang it, the zune is just cooler. For a moment there I thought about getting a new Zune, but I did have some problems and my old one just broke. This decision vexed me and I ended up not getting anything. I even went through the iPod store, picked the right one, and wrote out the engraving at least 3 times. It got to the checkout and I couldn’t pull the trigger. Eventually I gave up and decided I shouldn’t have one, after all quite the expense.

Time passed, and I made the life adjustments to non video mp3 player life. I would still take a look at them if I found myself in a store with some time to kill, but would just sigh and walk away. Toward the end of last week I decided to see what was new in the Zune world. I typed in some random search, and BAM! “Zune 3.0 software / firmware released today!” Apparently there were some significant changes to the previous versions and the Zune is even better than before. After reading the release notes of 3.0 and salivating a little, I found “zune 120 released.” Just a week before Microsoft came up with a Zune with 120 gigs of space for the same price as the iPod 80 gig. Now I didn’t really need that extra 40 gigs, but that got me to salivate even more. After reading some more notes and reviews, the decision was made. I shall no longer subject myself to a dull and dreary non video mp3 player life. I bought one the next day. Check this out.

Isn’t that just sexy? So much cooler than those apple doohickeys (except for iTouch). I know iPod just came out with their own 120 gig version to compete, but I just like this so much. Sleeker design, bigger screen, and apparently they greatly improved the wifi capability. It should be coming in the mail today or tomorrow, and I am ridiculously excited. Unfortunatly, I am worried about breaking a screen, so I went out and bought this guy.

This is a pretty nice looking leather case that is also quite fashionable. It is more like a nice man’s wallet than a goofy case. I am all sorts of excited and I can’t wait to find some good music and videos to fill this thing up with. I hear tell that it also has games now. All I have to do is get used to the goofy squircle.

Here Comes The Rain Again

You may not know this about me, but I absolutely adore times in my life where songs apply to my situation. Even in the bad times, if a song applies, I will embrace it and sing it at the top of my lungs and honestly feel better. You may remember my post “23 Syndrome” where I discussed the songs about people that were 23 years of age. A couple months before I turned 22, I couldn’t wait until I turned 23 and could sing those songs of personal significance. Every time I hear one of those songs now, I always turn up the volume and embrace it. When I turn 24, my excitement for these songs we most likely decrease.

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when September ends

This song just has a good sound to it. I’ve always liked it, and like it even more in the month of September. Looking at the lyrics, it doesn’t really apply at all other than the fact that the current month is September. None the less, if I happen to hear that song this month, its go time for singing in the car.

Picking a favorite song is a really hard thing for just about anyone to do. Most people say it is too hard to pick, or revert to a lame answer like “it depends on my mood.” In an attempt to not be lame, I decided a couple years ago that my favorite song is “I’m Moving On” by Rascal Flatts. What can I say? I like everything about the song, including the sound of my voice singing it. Yes its true, we’ll deal with that issue at another time. Another reason I like the song is that it applies to my life only on occasion. It doesn’t often apply, but it doesn’t never apply. It applies occasionally at significant moments in my life like when I got a new job, moved on from a relationship, or relocated. Many of these moments were scary and full of emotion, and that song just gives me hope that I am doing the right thing and the change will be better for my life in the long run.

This brings me to my last point. I am happily married. I love my wife and kid (whoa) and celebrate just about everything about marriage. There is one thing that I realized a few months after getting married: All of those songs about heartbreak will probably never apply to me again. Granted, Liz and I could get into some kind of grand argument and those songs my quasi apply, but they should never fully apply again. Part of me is a little bummed out about that. It may be a little sick, but I really like some of those songs and they will never apply to my life in the foreseeable future. I know that heartbreak is a terrible feeling, and I would have never wished it on myself before marriage, but dang it, I really like when songs apply. I guess I’ll have to lean on the songs of joy and about having a family and what not, but I’d say a large % of the songs out there relate to heartbreak. Oh well.

Thanks for reading.

Baaaaalooooogg

It appears that I have this web journal of sorts and said journal requires my attention. These things unfortunately do not update themselves, and in order to keep my audience captivated, I need to post more than once every 3 or 4 weeks. Bearing that in mind my dear reader, know that I really don’t have a lot to talk about. Life has jut been ticking by and I’ve been doing my thing. I have been really busy at work for the past few weeks which I am happy about. Being busy makes my days go faster and gives me a greater sense of accomplishment. However, the lack of posts has been a direct effect of that busyness. For a while there, I was in a consistent routine to go to work, come home and exercise, eat dinner, and watch the Olympics until I feel asleep. Then the Olympics were over and we filled some of that time with tv, or cleaning out the nursery. That has mostly been my life. Somewhere in there Keith came over for a weekend and we played a bunch of Rock Band, saw Tropic Thunder, and hung out at the Coliseum. There was also a 3 day weekend in Beaverdale hanging out with Liz’s family and playing golf.

A possible point of interest to add to this post is my consideration of joining a gym. I have not really found a consistent time at home to work out. There are other distractions and I want to spend time with Liz, so I end up not working out as much as I would like. A while back, I was running on my lunch break, but it was a struggle to get the work out in, get a shower, and make myself some lunch. It got even more challenging when Liz stopped working and I wanted to say hi to her and see how her day was going. Lunch break workout was too cumbersome, morning was miserable, and directly after work took up too much of my precious free time. I have therefore decided to switch back to the lunch break workout, but in a gym. That takes out any distractions at home, and I save time because I will pack my lunch in the morning and eat it while I am working after my lunch break. It may not be 100% optimal, but a 1hr lunch break is too much time to waste eating and sitting around doing nothing. I’ve decided to go to Planet Fitness because they have the best deal by far. $30 to sign up and $10 a month! That’s not bad at all. There is also no contract, so I can stop at any time. I checked out the place yesterday, and today will be my first day of exercising. Wish me luck.

Also, if you have any suggestions for a work out plan at a gym exercising 40 mins a day 5 days a week, let me know. I’ve been looking online, but haven’t found any specific plans that meet my needs. I don’t want to waste my time doing meaningless exercises that don’t really do me a lot of good. I want to make sure I am doing hard workouts to progress forward and get in shape. I know that will be a challenge with my time constraints, but it has to be possible. Thank you for any comments and suggestions.

A Week of Fishing

Today is Saturday, and since I have been posting around the end of each week, I figured I might as well throw something out here. Last weekend Liz and I ventured to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. We went last year toward the end of the season and had a wonderful time. It was the first time we had been there in quite a while and it was purely fantastic. Last weekend was opening weekend and again it was good time. We did not get into the spirit of the Renaissance to the same extent we did last year, but I still greatly enjoy a day at the Shire. It has been colder outside the past times that I’ve been there, so going to the Faire reminds me of the Fall. Now I am in the feeling of Fall, and changing leaves, and Halloween, but still a long ways off. Next time I go to the Ren Faire, I will wait until the end of the season, and I think I will enjoy it more.

Anyway, I had an odd thought about the business world this week and felt obliged to share it. You know the phrase: “Catch a man to fish, you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you’ll feed him for a lifetime.” That is a wise saying, but I believe quite the opposite is true in the business world. Allow me to explain.

I have been well known in my past 2-3 jobs as an Excel wiz. I wear that hat proudly. I greatly enjoy creating models and manipulating data to generate results viable for decision making. When I started my current job, I was introduced as the Excel expert which greatly increased my popularity. The more people I met and was friendly to, the more micro projects I got to help people work through their projects. I really enjoy that aspect of my job and that place in my career. In my past job there was one other guy in the office that was, well, almost as good as me. I moved a bit faster and knew more techniques, but he knew as well as I did how to figure things out. Namely, if he needed to create some sort of macro, you don’t have to write out the code, some one else in the world has probably created a similar macro before. We both knew this well. “I need a macro that will sort and combine 3 sheets of address data, sort by last name, and delete any duplicates.” What do you do? Google Excel + Macro + address sort + delete duplicates. Before you know it, you find somebody out there that posed a similar question, and some Excel / VBA guru that answered their question by posting code. Copy and paste the code into your work book and voila! My favorite website was called CPearson, my coworker at the time often found code on MrExel. Either way, we could generate results quickly.

To get back to my original discussion point. One day at my previous job, I had another coworker ask how I write such elaborate macros. Granted I can write my own macros these days, but none the less, I mentioned the websites that I often find this code and explained my process. The person was grateful, but I somewhat doubt she ever tried it out. None the less, the other Excel guy in the office overheard me sharing trade secrets and later pulled me aside. You can’t be telling people about those sites, if they learn how to do all the technical stuff we do, they won’t need us anymore.” He said this in a joking way, but clearly had some truth in his statement. That was over a year ago and I still think about it now and then. He made a good point, I stay busy at my job helping people with their Excel questions and creating technical models, if I shared my knowledge and people were able to do things on their own, I wouldn’t be as busy. Some may consider this terribly wrong, but in the corporate world, you have to hoard your skills to be known and prove yourself useful.

The wise saying makes sense and holds true for most settings in the world, but in business: “TEACH a man to fish, you’ll have a job for a month. CATCH a man a fish, you’ll have a job for a lifetime.

The Sweet Sounds of Risk Management

I’ve been working at my current job for 5 full months now. I have had a great deal of different experiences and have learned a lot. I am happy to say that I’ve enjoyed my job and the company that I work for. I have also been fairly certain that people around here like me and are happy with the work I’ve done. This was recently confirmed when I was offered a new position. I really didn’t see it coming. I knew our treasurer was looking to hire someone new, but didn’t really find out what position she was hiring for. Then one day, she pulled me into her office, and offered me a new job. Apparently, my boss’s boss thought I could be a good fit for what she is looking for. Though I have no experience in that particular field, I know the company well and have a good understanding of our accounting.

After a little discussion of salary and title, I accepted the offer the next day. I am now the Risk Management Coordinator. What exactly does this mean? I’m not 100% sure. I know I will be doing a lot with our insurance policy and developing a return to work program. I also know I will be reviewing claims against us, and forecasting the amount of money we need to set aside for insurance and claims. It may sound a little dull, but I think it could be fun. My new boss seams great, it is definitely a step up, and I will probably spend more time talking to people instead of plugging away at a computer.

I am excited to learn something new and gain some additional responsibility. The new position is effective immediately, so wish me luck as I dive right in. Given the topic of my new position, I felt obliged to leave the reader with this memorable Seinfeld scene.

GEORGE: Alright. Listen, I gotta get some reading done. You mind if I do this here? I can't concentrate in my apartment.

JERRY: (checking out George's textbook) Risk management?

GEORGE: Yeah. Steinbrenner wants everyone in the front office to give a lecture in their area of business expertise.

JERRY: Well what makes them think you're a risk management expert?

GEORGE: I guess it's on my resume.

…………… Later in the episode.

GEORGE: I take an eye test; I flunk it, the next thing you know I am swinging to the sweet sounds of risk management.

In Waiting

I am writing this in an airport waiting for a flight to Nashville Tennessee. I figured this would be a good way to kill time until it was time to get seated. My flight today is on Southwest airlines. Now I haven’t flown many airlines in my time, but I think Southwest is alright. There is no assigned seating, you just get a boarding position based on when you arrived at the airport. I think this is a good system. If you are picky about having a window or aisle seat, you just have to get to the airport early. If you arrive late, you are assured to land yourself a middle seat between two people, but at least you get to choose the people to sit between. Last time I flew I was one of the late comers and had to sit in the middle, but I was lucky to find a seat between two relatively skinny individuals. The thing I find funny is the people that fly together, but still refuse to sit in a middle seat. I don’t blame them, but recently I sat myself down between a father and son. Neither of them wanted to have a middle seat, so they foolishly hoped no one would sit between them. I plunked myself down, and forced them to have very little conversation. Silly people. I get to board in the middle of the pack today; perhaps I’ll score a non middle seat.

The post was made in two sections 4 days apart. On that flight, I did not end up in a middle seat, but found an aisle seat along with 2 other people in my row. It was still cramped. I think they need to make these seats a little wider. I’m not huge by any means and my shoulders travel past both sides of the seats. Anyway, I am making the 2nd part of this post on the plane on my way back from Nashville. Normally my computer would be in the overhead bin, but I scored a window seat with no middle person, so I have my bag sitting on the middle seat. Though it makes me a little queasy, I love to look out the window of a plane and see all of the clouds beneath us. As a side note, I really like that this airline still serves peanuts on its flight.

There is surely a lot I could talk about in the post with all the work I’ve been doing lately and what not, but that would take up too much of this post and no one cares all that much. I’ll get to the goods… Liz and I found out we are having a boy!!! I am so excited! There was a good part of me that was hoping to have a boy. I also really want a girl some day, but hooray for the boy and the teaching him sports, and taking him on adventures, and all of that great father / son stuff. I can’t wait!! While I was in Tennessee Liz told me I should look for something to buy him. I got so excited about that idea. When I got there, I kept an eye out, but I was working 10 hour days and had 2 hour fancy dinners to attend that cut into any time to go shopping, plus I didn’t have my own car. When we were in the airport before coming home, I did take some time to look around the gift shops. I found some things, but they were really weird, or obscenely overpriced. There actually was a baby store, but they didn’t have any Nashville clothing, just animals and inappropriate sayings like “milkaholics anonymous” or “I love boobies”. I would never buy anything like that. I found some cute onesies that said “future country music star” and “little buckaroo” I liked those a lot, especially the buckaroo, but they were $30. I wouldn’t even spend that much for a sweatshirt for myself, let alone a small piece of fabric for the baby. Am I silly for thinking that is too much to spend on a baby outfit? I don’t know. Unfortunately, I am coming home empty handed.

I believe we are beginning our decent into Baltimore, so I am going to sign off. Thanks for reading.