Actually, not so much of the first. I’ve lost about 25 pounds since the first of the year — KrisDi and I have been ‘dieting.’ You may have heard of the technique. Eat less food, make sure the food you eat isn’t deep-fried lard with sugar on top (and a delectable nougat center). Eventually, we’ll probably start exercising. *continues sipping Vertical Epic — it’s reminding me of Leffe Blonde — yum!* But still, not particularly svelte.
However, happy and lazy still apply abundantly. A few other things. I’ll cover happy first.
I have lots of reasons to be happy. KrisDi is number one, of course, for her awesomeness as well as her other awesome attributes, including (but not limited to) indescribable hotness, sweetness so thick and juicy you could drown in it (or grill it and put barbecue sauce on it), incalculable adorability, and the ability to lift entire city blocks with the power of her capacious mind. I love her immensely. I also like our house a lot, which is pretty cool (not so much the mortgage, but it’s livable). I like Seattle, and I like beer (holy moly, that Hard Liver Barleywine Fest was awesome — I went three times, and probably sampled 80% of the barleywines available!). I like my job, which transitions smoothly to the next paragraph…
…I got a promotion (which most people who read this already know). The VP called me from Japan a couple weeks ago. I couldn’t answer because I was attempting to park my manual transmission car; eventually KrisDi and I figured out that the +81 on the caller ID was Japan’s international prefix. Then we pondered and puzzled about whether or not it was a Navy guy who still happened to have my cell number (not very unlikely, really). He called back later and offered me the System Engineer position (for which I had not applied, but whose work I had been doing part time for several months) with a raise (handy for a guy who just got a mortgage). They had interviewed several people, found one person who was promising and had much more experience, but they “didn’t think he’d do as good a job.” I told the VP when he called me that I had been waiting for more feedback on the work I’d already been doing before officially expressing interest, and he said something along the lines of, “Well, this should serve as pretty positive feedback.” Apparently they’d been considering me for the job for about six months (which puts it around 4-5 months after I started working as a Test Engineer). It’s pretty gosh-darn neat to be recognized for hard work and capability. I like it. It’s also nice to get promotions and raises. Unfortunately, the next “promotion” would mean management (I’m now reporting to my original boss’s boss). DO NOT WANT!
Enough about that. What else is making me happy today? Not working tomorrow (took the day off to watch the contractors who are coming for one-month warranty work on our awesome house). My terrific and expansive selection of entirely legal mp3s. I’ll mention KrisDi again, because I love her a lot. My family’s pretty cool. I like KrisDi’s family, too (they can drive me absolutely nuts sometimes, but what’s family for?). I also like that KrisDi’s older brother E-Dubs bought a townhome within easy walking distance of one of the best Belgian beer bars in the country (Brouwer’s Cafe). I’m happy my friends are healthy and happy (to the best of my knowledge). I’m happy I shouldn’t have to move any time soon. I’m happy Monocular Ben is supposed to come visit and eat some Chicken Tortilla Soup with us (and I hope he recovers from whatever obscure illness he’s contracted most recently). I’m happy GirlAndi’s daughter appears to enjoy the Domo-Kun doll I got her for her first birthday. I’m happy the Pope gave me a bottle of Glenkinchie Scotch, even though he shouldn’t have, because the purpose was to thank him for helping us move by giving him a nice meal, not to finagle a bottle of Scotch that cost more than the nice meal we gave him. It probably won’t happen, but he should come down and drink it with me and play some Scrabble. That’s more than fair for him — he’s one of the few people I know whose working vocabulary easily exceeds mine, and Scrabble gives no advantage to folks who type fast.
Speaking of Monocular Ben (I don’t know if he likes being called Monocular Ben, but I call him that because I know or have known at least two other Bens socially and work or have worked with at least two more, and a two-dimensional outlook on life certainly sets him apart from the others for the sake of others who know him not), I got a call from Joe (that’s really his name; I don’t know any online monikers for him), a guy from OU, yesterday. Apparently he’s settling down (as much as a military person can settle down) in North Carolina, and he’s thinking about coming out to Seattle to reunite with myself and M. Ben. I think it would be fun. Ben and he and me could relive our struggling-to-juggle days and wonder where the time has gone. Speaking of which, apparently my ability to juggle four balls has increased without any sort of practice. I’ve learned this at work, where I pick up my juggling Koosh balls when I do too much 3d geometry and need to clear my head.
Lazy? Yes. I wanted to post, and I didn’t feel like doing anything special like ‘preparing photographs’ or ‘thinking ahead’, so I started drinking beer and typing. Two of my greatest (and least marketable) skills. Perhaps those are two of the reasons I got promoted? I hope so, I don’t see an immediate end to either hobby.
Yet somehow I spent the greater part of my weekend working at others’ houses (E-Dubs and Mom). E-Dubs is currently enjoying a patented Created By snaotheus ™ Network Configuration, while Mom is being blinded by The Light (patent pending — I’m certain Mom will soon have a photo up). I did do a little work at my own house. I needed to straighten out the tools in their five-ish toolboxes in my garage, because every time I went out there for something specific, I’d spend 30-60 minutes looking for it, and then come back in a shitty mood sans whatever I was looking for. KrisDi doesn’t need me in a shitty, snipish mood without a good reason.
I re-did the Darth LaRyantrelle Photoshop for Mr. and Mrs. Andi, since apparently Mr. Andi found it hilarious. You may have seen it in my previous, diminutive post. Andi sent me a high-resolution version of the source picture, to which I added the light saber again and from which I removed the flashlight again. I think I did a better job with the the light saber, but I think I did a terrible job fabricating the shelf top between her fabricated legs (here comes the Gaussian blur…). The fake hand is so-so, but it was so-so when I started with the 640×480 version.
It has come to my attention that I’ve typed many words. This has come to my attention because I ran out of beer and my Modest Mouse album (Building Nothing Out Of Something) ended. Reading this may be a chore for many of you. For that I apologize. Drink a beer and curse my name and lineage if that will make you feel better. Mail me beers and scripts for curses that I might drink and curse in your place, should you not feel up to the task. Is ‘martyrical’ a word? It would rhyme with ‘lyrical’. Unfortunately, it appears that ‘martyrish‘ is the word. What the hell does that rhyme with?