Checkbook? What's that?

Looks like I'll have to be making use of my checkbook a bit more frequently the next couple days. It's because Skippy decided that my wallet would be fun to chew on, and in the process of that, he got a hold of my bankcard and put some teethmarks right through the magnetic strip and even tore off the corner. Ergh. Don't know how long it's going to take the bank to send out a new card. What's most annoying is that it was the only card that was damaged.

Thanks. If you say it too many times in your head, it's starts to sound weird.

Yet another Thanksgiving has gone by. It's been a long, long weekend.

Wednesday was the Tap Room with Dan, Kristen, and Jessica with a special appearance by Austin and Sam.

Thursday I hung out with the family, fried 2 turkeys, made stuffing, ate too much and watched Cars.

Friday I went to a party at Muriel's with Dan and Austin, had some keg beer and Jello shots, then we met up with Beckie and Ryan at The Bosco in Ferndale. We also had food afterward at The Delmar. Unfortunately beer, jello shots and gin do not mix well.

Saturday, Austin and I helped John and Julie move their new exercise machine in the house. Then we went to Texas Roadhouse. Mmmm... delicious. Dan wasn't feeling well and didn't end up making it out. Austin and I went to a party in Westland, and then a party in Royal Oak. The party in Royal Oak was a "College" party, so there were kegs, beer pong, a beer bong, and the police.

This morning, Austin and I went to Wah Court in Canada for dim sum. It was delicious. Customs was also relatively painless.

I realized that this weekend has been relatively inexpensive for food and beverages. I didn't pay for beer at any of the parties I went to. I did spend a fair amount on Wednesday though, but food has been mostly leftovers, with the exception of today and late-night breakfasts. So sleepy now.

Like A Bee, I'm Busy, See?

Lots of stuff went on this weekend and actually during the past week.

Austin and I watched Battlestar Galactica on Monday and Wednesday. Tuesday he and I went to Jordan's to play Guitar Hero II all night. Wednesday also include Guitar Hero after BSG.

Friday night was Jessica's surprise Birthday Party. She was very surprised.

Saturday, I went to see Borat with Austin, Gerry, Melissa, Steve and Elizabeth. Then we went for food at Ted's and back to Austin's for more Guitar Hero.

Sunday I went to the Lions game with Julie. Julon's neighbor, Dave, came also with his son, Max. The Lions suck. After the game I went to my parents for dinner and then over to Austin's where Beckie and Jackie picked us up on our way to see The Return with Jenn, who we also picked up.

Much busy-ness.

Now, 2 second movie reviews.

Borat: Hilarious and disturbing.

The Return: Slow and false advertising.

From Rags to... uh... Rags.

I officially hate my mortgage company's website.

They double drafted me for my mortgage payment. If not for the money Jenn payed me back, I'd have about $50 in my checking acount. Thankfully they're going to refund my extra payment.

Here's the full story. They switched their system recently and made everyone resignup for the internet account management.

Well, somehow in the midst of this, they lost track of my autopay for my mortgage. That's why right before I left for vacation I had to scramble around to make sure it got payed. I thought I had it all straightened out when I got back, but when I deposited a couple checks yesterday, I noticed that my balance was only a little more than the amount I had deposited. This disturbed me.

I logged into my bank statement and saw that there had been a second draft from my account by the mortgage company. Logged into mortgage website and saw the 2 payments. I sent them email through the website but noticed they said it would take 3-4 business days to respond. Bah.

I called customer service up this morning and they were sort of able to remedy everything. They are going to credit back the second payment to me, and reinstate my autopay service on my second loan.

I just have to be very careful this next billing cycle to make sure that they don't do this again. Bastards.

Completely unawares

Last night we surprised Beckie. Haha! Jackie and Sarah organized the whole thing because Beckie normally goes to S&J's on Wednesday to watch Top Chef, so they knew she'd be there, and not expecting anyone. The look on her face when she walked in an saw us all was priceless. (Photo available for $39.95 plus S&H) Good times.

Plus Jenn was there, so she gave me a check for her half of the Hawaii expenses. Yay. I can pay off part of my credit card bill!

Couch inclined

Well, I got a new Shuffle. I managed to get the old one working because Apple posted a utility to fix the problem, but I sent it back anyways. We'll see what happens with that.

This last weekend there were many Halloween partying oppurtunities. I took advantage of some of them.

Friday, I went to Austin's parent's house for a little while for Allen's birthday party and then went to Ann Arbor with Austin to see Dave Grammer's band. That was a good time, Dave was dressed as Gallagher, but didn't have any watermelons thankfully.

After seeing the band, Austin and I went to the Necto. The gays were fabulous. Jeff was dressed as Jem from the 80's cartoon series. Austin's costume was the "Hastily-Prepared-Crappy-Cylon" which people thought he had spent a lot of time on, but which he was trying to make kind of lame. I of course, went as Magnum P.I. for which my only preparation was shaving.

Austin, Beckie and I all kind of pooped out before the costume contest winner was announced, but Ryan posted pics for the truly interested. I drove Austin back to his parent's and headed home.

Saturday morning I drove to GP to help Kristen move. She had hired movers besides all the relatives and friends that showed up to help move, so, there wasn't so much to do. It was very nice of her to feed us though, and I did help by returning the truck. That seems to be a common thing for me to do on these moves. I just don't want to move myself anytime soon. We've also decided that if we have to help Jessica move again, it should only be in the months of May or September.

I had dropped off Skippy at my parent's house in the morning and after the move, I went back there for dinner. Then I fell asleep on the couch for a couple hours and came home. I decided not to go out that night and just watched TV for the rest of the night.

That's also pretty much what I've done all day today. I'm still doing a lot of catch-up on tv, though I've gotten caught up on some shows, but I still have many shows that I am mutiple weeks behind on.

I did leave the house to have dinner with Austin. We were going to go to TGIFridays, but the one that Austin had looked up had been converted to a Kruse & Muer so we went to Chili's. Then we watched some of Season 2 of Battlestar Galactica. Nerds.

I should go to bed earlyish. I reset all but my alarm clock, so I should remember to do that before I go to sleep. Sleepy.

Shuffle interrupted

This is a bummer. My iPod Shuffle decided to crap out on me. I went through all the troubleshooting steps, and even used my PC to try to restore the software, but something has gone inconceivably wrong. I guess Apple's gonna send me a new (refurb) one and I send mine back. Hopefully I won't be too long without it. Maybe I'll just have to buy one of those Nanos...

The Boys are Back in Town

I'm back in Detroit. I'm back to to work. I don't know how a 2 week vacation can seem so short. I had an excellent time though.

The 2 days back at work were surprisingly rough. It was hard to wake up, especially because of the 6 hour time difference. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to get back into a more normal schedule.

Of course Skippy was very happy when I got back. Although I was happy to see him too, that quickly faded when he began misbehaving. Friday morning, he was staring out the gate, so I went to see what he was looking at.
There was a loose dog. When I opened the gate to grab the other dog, Skippy darted off. I had to chase him about half a block. After I got him and the other dog, I put Skip inside my house, but only closed the screen door, and didn't lock the gate.
I called the number (there was also an address) on the loose dog's tag, and then just decided to walk him to his house, which was down the block.
When walking back to my house I saw Skip in the front yard. The screen door must not have been latched. I ended up having to chase Skip about 4 or 5 blocks.
Then that night, since I was up late because my schedule's still screwy, I let him out and he started howling which woke up my neighbor. When I went out to get him, he started running around the yard like some kind of loon. What a goof.

My Birthday Deathbed

"Dead & Bloated" - Stone Temple Pilots

I am smellin' like the rose
that somebody gave me on
my birthday deathbed
I am smellin' like the rose
that somebody gave me
'cause I'm dead & bloated

I just heard that song on the radio. I like the "birthday deathbed" line.

Anyways, weekend was fun. I was very drunk on Friday. I think because Beckie kept handing me her half-finished drinks. That and Jager-bombs. Denny's sucked. Steak and Shake was ok, if a bit weird. I was so very tired driving home from Sarah's parents.

Saturday during the day I ran a bunch of errands. I went to get my hair cut at the Berkley Chop Shop, but they were booked up for the day; I dropped off my Birks at the shoe repair to get them resoled, but they were loaded up with repairs and couldn't get them back to me until mid-October. I shouldn't have left those errands until the last minute, but it happens. I also was looking for some new shoes for walking/winter. I went to Oakland Mall.

I had forgotten how much I dislike the mall until I went to the mall. I didn't find what I was looking for there, but I did stop at the barbershop in the mall. It was not the greatest haircut I've ever gotten. I think my bangs ended up a little uneven. Oh, well, my hair grows pretty fast so it'll be shaggy again soon enough.

After the mall I went to Dick's Sporting Goods, and found some shoes that are kind of sneakery-boot-ish and should be good for the winter.

Later, after Austin had napped, we went to dinner at Rexy's for Thai. It was pretty good. We just kind of hung out at my place afterward. The girls were hanging in Novi, but both Austin and I were tired, so we didn't end up going out to meet them.

I cleaned more on Sunday. I cleaned the stove and vaccuumed, and finished cleaning the bathroom. I started some more laundry. I went to my parents house for dinner, my mom made Jambalaya. That was very good. Skippy's dewclaws were getting long, so we were going to clip them when I was there. One was fine, but the other was not, it started bleeding when we tried to clip it and Skip would let us touch it. I hope it's not infected or anything, 'cause it'll be hard for me to take him to the vet. I'll see if he'll let me do anything to it tonight. I'm gonna give him a bath. Haha.

So, just a few more things to do before I go.

Counting 5-4-3-2-1

Counting down the days until I leave for Hawaii. 5 more. Or is it 6? It's 5 days but do I count today also? That would make it 6.

Many things to do.

I need a haircut. I need to get my Birk sandals resoled. I need to clean more. I need to decide what I'm going to pack. I need to do more laundry. I need to figure out how I'm getting to the airport.

I did start to clean my bathroom. I scrubbed the tub and the toilet. Still need to do a bit more. Still need to vaccuum. Still need to clean the kitchen. Still need to give Skippy a bath. Still need to change the sheets and towels.

I want to get some new walking/hiking shoes. I want to get a new external case for a hard drive for the computer to save all the TV it'll be recording while I'm gone.

I should have gotten new glasses. I should get LASIK.

All in all, there's nothing that really is a major roadblock. It's gonna be so hard to concentrate on work the next couple days.

Just like Jessie Spano

I'm so excited! It's like less than 2 weeks until my trip to Hawaii. I have plans and not planned other things. Mostly things depend on Jenn. Probably I'll just have to pick some times and let it be at that.

*Several hours later

I booked the interisland flights. I couldn't use only one airline because of trying to find non-stop flights and at times I thought were reasonable. I also have cars reserved finally. Woohoo. Also my credit card called me, no literally, it got out of my wallet and asked me if there was any suspicious activity. Actually I got an automated call. It's all right. Just because there were several transactions in a row they flagged it.

I'm still feeling sick today. I've kept myself rested by planting myself on the couch and watching TV all day. It's been nice. Although I didn't end up going out with Austin to his friend's surprise birthday party or to Ypsi to see Dave Grammar's band.

Productivity. It's a good thing.

(Ooo. I need to do laundry also.)

Can't believe I told you so

Strangely, I haven't had much to write about recently or rather I didn't feel much like writing. Last weekend I had Bentley and Sydney again. Monday was the 5 year anniversary of 9/11, which is a little hard to believe that it's been 5 years, and to believe that it's only been 5 years. Monday I also ended up having to drive to my mom's to drop of the dogs. My mom had some pictures of New Orleans and Biloxi that she took when she was down there. It's pretty amazing the destruction that was done.

Less depressingly, Austin, Beckie and I have had dinner a couple times this week while Beckie's housesitting at Julon's. Tuesday we went for sushi, and Thursday we went to the Blarney Stone which had extremely slow service. I think tonight, Austin and I might go to late-night Dim Sum.

Tomorrow is super-cool day, when Austin and I are going to Gerry's and then I think there may be something in the evening, but I'm not sure.

In vacation news, I was up late last night and finally booked one hotel for Hawaii. I still need to figure out where else we'll be staying on the other islands.

I bought The Office seasons 1 and 2 "Severance Package" special edition box set at Best Buy at lunchtime. Kind of ironic to bring The Office back to the office, even ironickier is the "Severance Package" considering the downsizing that is happening or will happen or might happen.

I'm sorry if this is just a dis-jointed jumble of thoughts, but the complaints about not updating had just gotten so frequent, I was compelled to put something up.

Three Dog Night

So, I'm watching Bentley and Sydney this weekend. My mom went down to New Orleans where my dad is going to be working for a couple months or so... he's not sure how long the project is supposed to last.

Anyways, the dogs are here until Tuesday. It was definately cramped last night in my bed with three dogs vying for position. At one point I was lying diagonal with my head in the corner and my feet hanging off the side.

There have been lots of happenings this weekend. Thursday night Dan, Austin and I went to Luna in Royal Oak with Coronado for his birthday. We ran into Austin's friend Alex there. She was using us a defense from this guy she knows that was at the bar.

Friday Dan, Austin and I met with Jenn and Beckie in Novi for bar-ness. Beckie left early but we stayed and also went to Mixx Lounge. We went to Denny's and there were drunk assholes sitting at the next booth.

Saturday, Lani dropped off the dogs and then at night I went to Austin's for poker. I lost, but Dan came in second.

It's now Sunday, and supposedly people are coming over. Fun.

Come On I Wanna Lei You!

It was a busy weekend. Friday was Jordan and Ellen's fundraising* Luau party**(*****)**********. Saturday was Rob and Emily's*** birthday party******(*********). Sunday, after going to dinner at my parents*******, Dan, Austin and I went to the WAB for drinks. Last night Dan and I met up with Jenn in Novi for Happy Sushi and Snakes on a Plane******** and drinks at Mixx.

*Jordan and Ellen are doing a Triathalon for Leukemia/Lymphoma.

**That party was so straight. Especially the hetero-man circle pictured here...


***Emily is Jordan's sister, and Rob is friends with Dan**** and also Dave and Lori and Gerry, and Jordan, and I'm not actually sure how they're all interconnected but somehow Austin's friend Betsy from Border's is now dating Matt who knows Dan**** and there's a lot of lingering man hugs.

****Dan being in this case, not Dan Mitchell, but a Dan that knows Austin's youngest sister.

*****This was the first of several things Hawaiian-related that happened this weekend.

******During the party Jenn called me to tell me she had booked her ticket for Hawaii.

*******While at my parents, my dad gave me a couple of his uncles phone numbers, those that live in Hawaii.

********The beginning of the movie starts in Hawaii. Jenn and I will have to watch out for M*therF*cking! Snakes! on our plane ride back.

*********I forgot to mention that I made a mistake driving there and ended up not staying on 275 but getting onto 96, but I realized my mistake soon enough and we enjoyed a scenic jaunt down Newburgh Rd. Except for that part where the bridge was out and we got detoured.

**********Thanks to Coronado for pointing out I had mis-asterisked one of my addendum.

Ladies, prepare to be boarded...

They just need to crosspromote with beer makers...

Thu Aug 24, 9:59 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters)

Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. won U.S. approval to sell its Plan B "morning-after" contraceptive without a prescription to women 18 and older, the company said on Thursday.

Younger girls still need a prescription for Plan B, Barr said in a statement. The Plan B pills may prevent pregnancy when taken within 72 hours of sexual intercourse.

The Food and Drug Administration approval follows more than three years of controversy. Backers and opponents of wider access had fiercely lobbied the agency, and the feud stalled the nominations of two FDA commissioners.

Plan B will be kept behind pharmacy counters, Barr said. The pills should be available in a dual nonprescription and prescription package by the end of the year.

"While we still feel that Plan B should be available to a broader age group without a prescription, we are pleased that the agency has determined that Plan B is safe and effective for use by those 18 years of age and older as an over-the-counter product," Barr Chief Executive Bruce Downey said in a statement.

I call Shenanigans!

It's Monday, and yet again, I'm compelled to recap some of the weekend's events.

Really, the low point of the weeekend was Friday morning. I had to go down to Ford for meeting and missed the company-wide meeting, where they announced that were going to be having a headcount reduction. That basically shot the whole workday. I've definately got to get some feelers out there, and have an idea what I can do if I do get layed off. Still sucks though.

Friday night though, Austin and I played Magic with John Machiorlatti and Chris2. Eventually, John, Austin and I met up with Beckie and Jenn at some bar in Novi. John took off back to Lansing after a while, but Austin and I stuck around to help get the girls home. We met Jen, Jenn and Beckie's new bar friend. There were shenanigans. Eventually Austin and I figured out hope to lock Jenn's apartment to keep out any potential rapists prowling Novi.

Saturday, Austin and I went to a LAN Party at Gerry's. We kicked butt. Then we headed off to Toledo for the Mitzvah. We got to Ryan's before everyone headed off to the bar, so we walked over to RHouse with them. There was drinking. More shenanigans occured.

Sunday, we went to IHOP and then the scariest Dollar Store ever. When Austin dropped me off at home, I went to Mike's to pick up Skippy who'd spent the night there. Later, I went to GP to go to the visitation of a friend's mother who had passed away last week. I at least got to catch up with some of the other RATs there.

All in all, it was pretty busy weekend, and I'm paying for it now. People need to stop doing things I want to do. Darn it.

Sometimes you just gotta face it

Automated Taunting Machine

So, this story really begins Wednesday night, when I went to dinner with Austin and Audrey. I was going to pay with my checkcard, but it got denied. I thought it was odd, but figured that some pending debits or something confused it. I was also unable to pay for lunch on Friday with my card and began to get concerned. Then Saturday when the ATM told me my card was canceled, I realized the depth of my problem.

Speaking of Saturday, Austin and I went to Ann Arbor and picked up Sam for dinner at Blimpie Burger and then to Jay and Eric's housewarming. Their condo is really nice. I also went with Austin to his friend Alex's for her birthday after getting back to R.O.

Back to the checkcard saga, I called them today, and found out that because a vendor that had my credit card info had a security breach, they sent out new cards and the old one expired on Wednesday. I had not received it, but talking with the customer disservice representative I found out that the new card had been sent to my parent's address. Thankfully my mom had not thrown it out, so I am now able to get money out of the bank! Yay!

Friday, lest I forget, I went over to John and Julie's to hang out with Jessica who was dog-sitting Max. Jackie also stopped by after having drinks with What-his-name. We watched Monk and Psych and also House which I haven't watched much before.

Livin' Long and Prosperin'

Best inspirational posters ever...

For more of the posters go to this site. They're awesome.

Via TVSquad

As Rod Stewart would say...

Every Picture Tells A Story...


Sand castles at the beach


Apparently I am Lance Bass


Jessica, Ryan and Austin debate the finer points of crossword puzzles


John does his best to not be flipped out of the hammock by Max


Beckie imitates Slash


Austin gettin' his nerd on