My client meeting went well today. I had put together the agenda and was the driving force to get through it. Even though it was the consultant that did most of the talking and answered a good number of questions, I'm beginning to speak up more and take a bigger role in our processes. This is certainly appropriate as people are leaving the office and others will have to step up and fill their roles.
For lunch the office workers went out to say farewell to the "people manager" who is getting a job that will allow her more time to spend with her children. While I never really had to work with my boss, I will miss the attitude that she set in the office. People were more serious with her around and I always felt more confident knowing that she was in charge. I have no idea who's going to take on her role. I really think the title of "people manager" is stupid.
Fireworks are exploding around the city. SummerFest has begun. But I spent this evening at the office.
The stars have come into alignment and my checkbook has balanced. This has me concerned because I'm assuming that I've somehow made enough mistakes that they've all cancelled out.
Thursday, June 30
Wednesday, June 29
To do before Friday, July 8
1. Reserve a wet suit.
2. Acquire proper footwear and rain gear.
3. Finagle my finances.
4. Pay my bills.
5. Deposit the check.
6. Wonder where my state taxes refund is.
7. Compile a list of furniture I own and what I plan to bring to the new apartment.
8. Email that list to new roommate.
9. Organize and help run client meeting. (half-checked)
10. An entire pension valuation for a 5,000 participant plan.
11. May batch calculations.
12. Write to Sharon Lee.
13. Buy Dad a birthday gift.
14. Read Middlemarch.
15. Make plans to go to Philadelphia for training at the end of July.
16. Read Everything is Illuminated.
17. Clean bathroom.
18. Laundry (including linen).
19. Cook the meat and vegetables in my fridge before they go bad.
20. Make a list of "100 Things to do Before I Die" so that I can cross off "See Alaska".
21. Go to Summerfest. Sing along to Pat McGurdy.
22. Sober up.
23. See Howie Day at Summerfest. Roll eyes at anyone who didn't know him before 2001.
24. Use 3-day Summerfest Pass one more time. Count mullets at the Styx show.
25. Register for the sausage race. (I get a free brat at the end of the race.)
26. Finish puzzle.
27. Watch the Indian Jones Boxed Set and return to coworker.
28. Recycle.
2. Acquire proper footwear and rain gear.
3. Finagle my finances.
4. Pay my bills.
5. Deposit the check.
6. Wonder where my state taxes refund is.
7. Compile a list of furniture I own and what I plan to bring to the new apartment.
8. Email that list to new roommate.
9. Organize and help run client meeting. (half-checked)
10. An entire pension valuation for a 5,000 participant plan.
11. May batch calculations.
12. Write to Sharon Lee.
13. Buy Dad a birthday gift.
14. Read Middlemarch.
15. Make plans to go to Philadelphia for training at the end of July.
16. Read Everything is Illuminated.
17. Clean bathroom.
18. Laundry (including linen).
19. Cook the meat and vegetables in my fridge before they go bad.
20. Make a list of "100 Things to do Before I Die" so that I can cross off "See Alaska".
21. Go to Summerfest. Sing along to Pat McGurdy.
22. Sober up.
23. See Howie Day at Summerfest. Roll eyes at anyone who didn't know him before 2001.
24. Use 3-day Summerfest Pass one more time. Count mullets at the Styx show.
25. Register for the sausage race. (I get a free brat at the end of the race.)
26. Finish puzzle.
27. Watch the Indian Jones Boxed Set and return to coworker.
28. Recycle.
Monday, June 27
This one's for Tom (Gerry)
When I arrived back in Milwaukee - at my car in the airport's remort parking lot - I found a giant pick-up truck had been parked along side of it. This truck clearly had been parked in the time that I was in Boston, because I never would have tried to park so close to another vehicle. I would not have been able to get out of the car with only a foot of space between my driver's side door and the passenger side of the pick-up. For a brief second I thought about entering my car through my passenger side. But then I thought to myself, "It's late. I'm tired. And why should I inconvenience myself because this arrogant jerk, who spent too much money on a mode of transportation and who has no appreciation of the energy crisis we are going through, can't take the time to park in a decent spot? Specifically one with no other cars around?"
So, I went and opened my driver's side door. As far as the truck - and then a little more. And then I closed it. And then I put my luggage in the trunk. And then I opened my door again. And then I made sure the door was open as far as I could get it, as I squeezed into my seat. (I am embarrassed to say that I then hit the truck with my door again.) As I sat in my car, looking for my parking ticket, I began to feel remorse for what I had done. But then I noticed how shiny the pick-up was. It clearly wasn't used for hauling anything - just carting the owner and his small feet around the city. I also noticed that the scratch I put in the paint was only as high as the truck's wheels. If the pick-up had been older and used for an actual truck purpose, I would have gone out of my way to protect its paint. If the truck were smaller - even an F-150, I would have avoided damaging it. But the lumbering hulk just made me so angry with all that it stood for. Perhaps if the driver wants to ride in something with a lot of power, he should take the bus. He'll save money. He could put that money towards his kids' college fund.
On a similar vein, an ER doctor on NPR the other morning talked about his experience over the years. He mentioned how smog and asthma have increased since he began practicing medicine. He talked about how people came to the ER with children and the elderly suffering from asthma and asking the doctors for help. He said that the look in their eyes conveyed a plea for help that would mean doing anything to help their loved ones breathe again. The doctor then pointed out that most of these families drove to the ER in their giant trucks and SUVs.
So, I went and opened my driver's side door. As far as the truck - and then a little more. And then I closed it. And then I put my luggage in the trunk. And then I opened my door again. And then I made sure the door was open as far as I could get it, as I squeezed into my seat. (I am embarrassed to say that I then hit the truck with my door again.) As I sat in my car, looking for my parking ticket, I began to feel remorse for what I had done. But then I noticed how shiny the pick-up was. It clearly wasn't used for hauling anything - just carting the owner and his small feet around the city. I also noticed that the scratch I put in the paint was only as high as the truck's wheels. If the pick-up had been older and used for an actual truck purpose, I would have gone out of my way to protect its paint. If the truck were smaller - even an F-150, I would have avoided damaging it. But the lumbering hulk just made me so angry with all that it stood for. Perhaps if the driver wants to ride in something with a lot of power, he should take the bus. He'll save money. He could put that money towards his kids' college fund.
On a similar vein, an ER doctor on NPR the other morning talked about his experience over the years. He mentioned how smog and asthma have increased since he began practicing medicine. He talked about how people came to the ER with children and the elderly suffering from asthma and asking the doctors for help. He said that the look in their eyes conveyed a plea for help that would mean doing anything to help their loved ones breathe again. The doctor then pointed out that most of these families drove to the ER in their giant trucks and SUVs.
Wednesday, June 22
Any day in which you can get a tan at work is a good day at work.
This title was a quotation of mine from earlier today.
Today was my company's golf outing. We spent all day on the links. 18 holes. Beautiful weather. Good lunch. Comp'ed drinks from the beverage cart. Good dinner.
Luckily my four-some was not too competitive. We were playing "scramble" which means that the whole team takes their shots from the position of the best lay of the previous shot. This is a great way to keep less experienced golfers from being frustrated. I don't really have any good stories from today. I think golf makes for bad blog material. However, the consultant, the two client representatives on my team, and I had a great time. We laughed a lot. Mostly they laughed at me. I spent most of my day looking for my balls in the brush and the woods and on other fairways. But this was some great practice and maybe some incentive to go out again this summer.
Also, my team one a prize. For highest score. It's a good prize, though, I don't mind winning it at all.
And, after golf I went to the Brewers-Cubs game. Brewers won. Great day, but back to the grindstone tomorrow.
Today was my company's golf outing. We spent all day on the links. 18 holes. Beautiful weather. Good lunch. Comp'ed drinks from the beverage cart. Good dinner.
Luckily my four-some was not too competitive. We were playing "scramble" which means that the whole team takes their shots from the position of the best lay of the previous shot. This is a great way to keep less experienced golfers from being frustrated. I don't really have any good stories from today. I think golf makes for bad blog material. However, the consultant, the two client representatives on my team, and I had a great time. We laughed a lot. Mostly they laughed at me. I spent most of my day looking for my balls in the brush and the woods and on other fairways. But this was some great practice and maybe some incentive to go out again this summer.
Also, my team one a prize. For highest score. It's a good prize, though, I don't mind winning it at all.
And, after golf I went to the Brewers-Cubs game. Brewers won. Great day, but back to the grindstone tomorrow.
Monday, June 20
Hold my Hand
I heard an uncommonly large amount of Hootie & the Blowfish this weekend while I was in NEPA. Most of this was while cruising in my mom's white LaSabre.
The trip was nice. Three days is the perfect amount of time to visit home. I saw all of my family and enough of my friends. I got a little drunk. A couple of times. Everyone was nice to each other and we didn't run out of things to talk about.
The wedding was nice. Patty and Bird. A cute couple. High school sweethearts and now husband and wife. I still have Bird's little league baseball card of him when he was in third grade. It's cute. The men in the wedding party all wore cowboy boots and hats. When I was in the mens' room at one point of the evening, a man from another ballroom broke the "no talking at the urinal rule" and asked me if we were from Texas. "No, Thornhurst" and I left it at that and he asked no further questions.
In a previous post I had some anxiety about the wedding. Some of my concern regarded my circle of friends who are growing apart - mostly because some of us have moved away and others haven't. But we were all gracious (or at least drunk) and had a good time. No cash bar - the Yuengling flowed freely. We pushed aside our differences and spent most of our time reminiscing.
My much bigger anxiety regarded Bird. He recently began treatment for some sort of cancer. I can pronounce the type of cancer but I'm surely not going to try to spell it. I was worried that the wedding would be very sad, but it wasn't. We celebrated and had a great time. In our Polish tradition, we paid a dollar to dance with the bride and then surrounded her so that the groom couldn't steal her away. In our honky-tonk tradition, we line danced. And despite our homophobic tradition, we did the "YMCA." I was selected to wear the headdress.
I caught up on my gossip. The 9th grade English teacher is having an affair with my geometry teacher who is getting a divorce. My high school principal, who's a moron, is finally retiring. He was married to the 10th grade English teacher but divorced her to marry my 8th grade English teacher. She previously had been married to the physics teacher, who currently is married to the librarian. I do have the dirt on other small-town politics but that's not nearly as interesting as who's sleeping with whom.
Back to the wedding: the best man ended up sleeping with one of the bridesmaids. Neither of them came out to the bar with us after the recepetion. Neither did my 2nd grade teacher, whom Palmer tried to convince that she should come out drinking with her previous students. Yes, "Wreckin' Ball" Palmer was in prime condition. Her stories made even less sense than normal and she kept offering our nachos to the band. And then they actually took them. (On a side note, Wreckin' Ball was given her drinking name by our 11th grade English teacher, who went with us to Greece. He also dubbed Patty's drunken alter ego - "Danger Girl". As far as I know, he has not slept with any other teachers from my school.)
As Patty commented, it was a great way to end a wedding - surrounded by old friends, drinking beer and eating nachos, and listening to Greatful Dead Covers.
The trip was nice. Three days is the perfect amount of time to visit home. I saw all of my family and enough of my friends. I got a little drunk. A couple of times. Everyone was nice to each other and we didn't run out of things to talk about.
The wedding was nice. Patty and Bird. A cute couple. High school sweethearts and now husband and wife. I still have Bird's little league baseball card of him when he was in third grade. It's cute. The men in the wedding party all wore cowboy boots and hats. When I was in the mens' room at one point of the evening, a man from another ballroom broke the "no talking at the urinal rule" and asked me if we were from Texas. "No, Thornhurst" and I left it at that and he asked no further questions.
In a previous post I had some anxiety about the wedding. Some of my concern regarded my circle of friends who are growing apart - mostly because some of us have moved away and others haven't. But we were all gracious (or at least drunk) and had a good time. No cash bar - the Yuengling flowed freely. We pushed aside our differences and spent most of our time reminiscing.
My much bigger anxiety regarded Bird. He recently began treatment for some sort of cancer. I can pronounce the type of cancer but I'm surely not going to try to spell it. I was worried that the wedding would be very sad, but it wasn't. We celebrated and had a great time. In our Polish tradition, we paid a dollar to dance with the bride and then surrounded her so that the groom couldn't steal her away. In our honky-tonk tradition, we line danced. And despite our homophobic tradition, we did the "YMCA." I was selected to wear the headdress.
I caught up on my gossip. The 9th grade English teacher is having an affair with my geometry teacher who is getting a divorce. My high school principal, who's a moron, is finally retiring. He was married to the 10th grade English teacher but divorced her to marry my 8th grade English teacher. She previously had been married to the physics teacher, who currently is married to the librarian. I do have the dirt on other small-town politics but that's not nearly as interesting as who's sleeping with whom.
Back to the wedding: the best man ended up sleeping with one of the bridesmaids. Neither of them came out to the bar with us after the recepetion. Neither did my 2nd grade teacher, whom Palmer tried to convince that she should come out drinking with her previous students. Yes, "Wreckin' Ball" Palmer was in prime condition. Her stories made even less sense than normal and she kept offering our nachos to the band. And then they actually took them. (On a side note, Wreckin' Ball was given her drinking name by our 11th grade English teacher, who went with us to Greece. He also dubbed Patty's drunken alter ego - "Danger Girl". As far as I know, he has not slept with any other teachers from my school.)
As Patty commented, it was a great way to end a wedding - surrounded by old friends, drinking beer and eating nachos, and listening to Greatful Dead Covers.
From Moscow
| I just sat down at my sister's virus-laden computer to give a brief update of my weekend in Moscow, PA. But my mom just called because she's ready to give me instructions on the yardwork that I'm supposed to do. I suggested yardwork so that she and I can spend some quality time together. However, I don't think she understood my goal because I'm going to do "yardwork" while she does "housework". So, this brief update is extremely brief. The rhododendrons are calling. |
Thursday, June 16
it's a nice day...to start again.
I'm going home this weekend for a wedding. This will be first wedding of high school friends. Patty and Bird. They dated in high school and now they're finally getting hitched. I've known Patty for a long time; she was my semi-formal date in 11th grade. But there are no hard feelings. Bird was my best friend in 3rd grade. Back then I called him Jason. Because that is his name.
Part of me is extremely excited to go home and see my friends and family. But then most of me is not. Some of this feeling is due to the "Class Reunion" atmosphere that this wedding will have. Also, the fact that I'm one of the only people who will be coming in from out of town Everyone else sees each other all the time, so I'm the odd-man out. Also, a good number of these people and I parted ways a few years ago, after a difference of opinion in London. The opinion was that since moving away for college, I had become a pompous ass. You can probably guess which side of the opinion I fell on. Anyway, this wasn't going to ruin the good time for, but it would provide some awkward situations - but nothing a keg of Yuengling couldn't smooth over, however.
The real reason I don't want to go to the wedding is because of something I learned this week about my friends. I don't feel that this is the best forum to discuss it - perhaps after the wedding. And it's not something shameful, so don't start the rumormill. But it's had me thinking.
Today, at work I was thinking about this a lot. And my trip home. And some other up-coming trips that I have. And then I didn't respond to some clients that I should have. And tomorrow the consultant will find out that I didn't. And then she'll find out that I haven't fully prepared the data for the valuation yet. And then she'll find out that I'm leaving early and won't be in on Monday. I also thought about the fact that just when I thought I had found a good roommate, I found out that there are no other 2 bedroom places available in my building. So, I was stressed out today at work. And my computer wouldn't print correctly. That's the real kicker.
But stressful days make for excellent after-work evening runs. And I did have a great run. And then I went back to the office.
Part of me is extremely excited to go home and see my friends and family. But then most of me is not. Some of this feeling is due to the "Class Reunion" atmosphere that this wedding will have. Also, the fact that I'm one of the only people who will be coming in from out of town Everyone else sees each other all the time, so I'm the odd-man out. Also, a good number of these people and I parted ways a few years ago, after a difference of opinion in London. The opinion was that since moving away for college, I had become a pompous ass. You can probably guess which side of the opinion I fell on. Anyway, this wasn't going to ruin the good time for, but it would provide some awkward situations - but nothing a keg of Yuengling couldn't smooth over, however.
The real reason I don't want to go to the wedding is because of something I learned this week about my friends. I don't feel that this is the best forum to discuss it - perhaps after the wedding. And it's not something shameful, so don't start the rumormill. But it's had me thinking.
Today, at work I was thinking about this a lot. And my trip home. And some other up-coming trips that I have. And then I didn't respond to some clients that I should have. And tomorrow the consultant will find out that I didn't. And then she'll find out that I haven't fully prepared the data for the valuation yet. And then she'll find out that I'm leaving early and won't be in on Monday. I also thought about the fact that just when I thought I had found a good roommate, I found out that there are no other 2 bedroom places available in my building. So, I was stressed out today at work. And my computer wouldn't print correctly. That's the real kicker.
But stressful days make for excellent after-work evening runs. And I did have a great run. And then I went back to the office.
Wednesday, June 15
Full Day
How can a day be so full and yet I have nothing to report? The most exciting part of today was driving to Qdoba for lunch and blasting the ABBA's Greatest Hits CD. Not my pick - lunch, nor the CD.
what a day!
Every day should be Flag Day.
I woke up early. Hit the pool. Swam a mile. Go me.
I brought red, white, and blue M & M cookies to work because it's my treat day and it's Flag Day. They were homemade, which impressed everybody.
Two of my coworkers kept "fighting" over me to do their work. Both of them are on both of the client teams so they mostly teased me about getting more work done than I could possibly do. The three of us report to the same consultant so it would be easy to tell her that one project was not completed because I was working on the other. She would have to set priorities for us.
I received a response to an e-mail I sent to someone who is looking for an apartment in Milwaukee. He's looking to move in the summer and I am looking to move into a cheaper two-bedroom place in my complex. From his e-mail I found out that he graduated from BU in 2003. And then, when I got to his name at the end of the e-mail, I realized that I knew the guy. Actually I knew of him, not him personally. His brother had been active at the university chapel. And he was an RA in my building the year before I became one. What a strange coincidence. I feel like I've already done a background check on him and he's passed. I know based on his brother that he's trustworthy and laid-back. And based on what the other RAs said of him, he's a cool guy to be around too. This has the potential to work out well.
After work, I took Ann to meet my book club. We discussed the first half of Middlemarch. Ann agrees that they're an odd group of people but they are intelligent and have a good deal of insight into the literature. She's coming back next month to discuss the second half of the book.
I picked up Molly from her nunnery. Molly's in town with Habitat for Humanity. They're building a house, but they're not too organized so she's frustrated. Also, the rest of her group is concentrating more on the partying after hours than the building. We went out for a later dinner and walked around the city a little. It's great to talk to an old friend. We caught up. We compared our life events from the past year. Being that she's getting married in September, she has much more interesting life events in the last 12 months than I've had. She's not really in a nunnery. But she and the other 6 girls are staying a church, in its parsonage or whatever Catholics call the dormitory for their priests next to the church.
I arrived home late after such a full day. And tomorrow will be here soon.
I woke up early. Hit the pool. Swam a mile. Go me.
I brought red, white, and blue M & M cookies to work because it's my treat day and it's Flag Day. They were homemade, which impressed everybody.
Two of my coworkers kept "fighting" over me to do their work. Both of them are on both of the client teams so they mostly teased me about getting more work done than I could possibly do. The three of us report to the same consultant so it would be easy to tell her that one project was not completed because I was working on the other. She would have to set priorities for us.
I received a response to an e-mail I sent to someone who is looking for an apartment in Milwaukee. He's looking to move in the summer and I am looking to move into a cheaper two-bedroom place in my complex. From his e-mail I found out that he graduated from BU in 2003. And then, when I got to his name at the end of the e-mail, I realized that I knew the guy. Actually I knew of him, not him personally. His brother had been active at the university chapel. And he was an RA in my building the year before I became one. What a strange coincidence. I feel like I've already done a background check on him and he's passed. I know based on his brother that he's trustworthy and laid-back. And based on what the other RAs said of him, he's a cool guy to be around too. This has the potential to work out well.
After work, I took Ann to meet my book club. We discussed the first half of Middlemarch. Ann agrees that they're an odd group of people but they are intelligent and have a good deal of insight into the literature. She's coming back next month to discuss the second half of the book.
I picked up Molly from her nunnery. Molly's in town with Habitat for Humanity. They're building a house, but they're not too organized so she's frustrated. Also, the rest of her group is concentrating more on the partying after hours than the building. We went out for a later dinner and walked around the city a little. It's great to talk to an old friend. We caught up. We compared our life events from the past year. Being that she's getting married in September, she has much more interesting life events in the last 12 months than I've had. She's not really in a nunnery. But she and the other 6 girls are staying a church, in its parsonage or whatever Catholics call the dormitory for their priests next to the church.
I arrived home late after such a full day. And tomorrow will be here soon.
Sunday, June 12
Eight
That's the number of bugs that were on my face when I arrived home from my run today. It's pretty gross but I like to think that I was traveling so fast that the bugs didn't have time to get out of my way.
In other exercise news, my swimming spreadsheet is incredible. By entering how many laps I do each day, my spreadsheet calculates the number of meters I swim each day and each week, the total and average miles I swim each week. It calculates the average number of times I go to the gym in a year, a month, a week, and each day (that last one is the probability that I went to the gym; I'm not going multiple times a day.) It is also tallying how far I go in a year. Currently my average is about 4.5 miles of swimming each week. Michael Phelps averages 45 miles a week. I'm one-tenth of an Olympian, but 10 times an Excel god.
In other exercise news, my swimming spreadsheet is incredible. By entering how many laps I do each day, my spreadsheet calculates the number of meters I swim each day and each week, the total and average miles I swim each week. It calculates the average number of times I go to the gym in a year, a month, a week, and each day (that last one is the probability that I went to the gym; I'm not going multiple times a day.) It is also tallying how far I go in a year. Currently my average is about 4.5 miles of swimming each week. Michael Phelps averages 45 miles a week. I'm one-tenth of an Olympian, but 10 times an Excel god.
Friday, June 10
Qaulity Documentation
This week my office manager sent an email to the office explaining the proper procedure we should follow before sending anything to a client. Mostly the use of peer and supervisor reviews were highlighted (or highlit). However, a good amount of space was also spent regarding spellcheck and how we should really concentrate on catching our errors and typoes.
The title of the message was "Qaulity Documentation."
The title of the message was "Qaulity Documentation."
Thursday, June 9
long day
After a day like today, I'm glad that I live alone. It's hot. Not too hot. But Milwaukee is hotter than it's been since I moved here 10 months ago. Or so it seems. But because I live alone, I can walk around without pants. Of course, some people don't wear pants even if they live in one of the largest dormitories in the US (Ray). But I only feel comfortable pantless when I live alone.
I woke up early today - 6am. I was in the pool by 6:30. I had to drive half an hour to get to a 9am meeting in Racine for work, but first I had to stop in the office to pick up the meeting's agenda. For some reason, my consultant didn't do that in her preparation for the meeting. Anyway, I was the first to use the color printer today so I had to wait for it warm up. This made me late, which made me speed, which made me frightened when the cop pulled up behind my car. But he actually wanted to pull over the BMW in front of me. (Yes, there are some foreign cars in Wisconsin.)
The highlight of our meeting today was when one of the women found out how much my company charges for its services. This woman is just about to retire herself, so she has asked us to do many things for her over the years. I am surprised that she's never seen the bills that we send her. I suppose she was mentally tallying up how many charges she's accrued over the years. She requests a lot of calculations from me. I've done 250 in the past 3 months. And at $350 a pop, the bill gets up there.
After the meeting, I stopped for a Burger King Kid's meal. I want the toys. I'm not ashamed to order a kid's meal with no kid in sight. I live in Wisconsin. They were foam cheese on their heads. I really shouldn't feel ashamed.
I arrived back at the office to find so much work to do. The days of being bored at work are long behind me.
For those of you that use Excel, I think it's interesting that today I opened a file that was too big for it. The file I wanted was 80,000 lines, and Excel can only handle 65,536. So, I did what anyone in my situation would do. I gave it to the intern to fix. Actually I came up with the solution but I made him go through the grunt work.
After work, I went out for dinner with some friends to celebrate Ann's birthday. She's now old enough to run for the House of Representatives. Sweet! We went out for African food. It's wasn't so special. It reminded me of non-spicy Indian food.
Afterwards, we went to the Comedy Club. April had a deal so that we could all get in for $1 each. I think I got $1's worth of humor out of the evening. And a good deal of that was from when Andy spilled his wine.
And now I'm back at home. I'm listening to the radio and I'm wearing just my underwear - because it is hot and I live alone.
I woke up early today - 6am. I was in the pool by 6:30. I had to drive half an hour to get to a 9am meeting in Racine for work, but first I had to stop in the office to pick up the meeting's agenda. For some reason, my consultant didn't do that in her preparation for the meeting. Anyway, I was the first to use the color printer today so I had to wait for it warm up. This made me late, which made me speed, which made me frightened when the cop pulled up behind my car. But he actually wanted to pull over the BMW in front of me. (Yes, there are some foreign cars in Wisconsin.)
The highlight of our meeting today was when one of the women found out how much my company charges for its services. This woman is just about to retire herself, so she has asked us to do many things for her over the years. I am surprised that she's never seen the bills that we send her. I suppose she was mentally tallying up how many charges she's accrued over the years. She requests a lot of calculations from me. I've done 250 in the past 3 months. And at $350 a pop, the bill gets up there.
After the meeting, I stopped for a Burger King Kid's meal. I want the toys. I'm not ashamed to order a kid's meal with no kid in sight. I live in Wisconsin. They were foam cheese on their heads. I really shouldn't feel ashamed.
I arrived back at the office to find so much work to do. The days of being bored at work are long behind me.
For those of you that use Excel, I think it's interesting that today I opened a file that was too big for it. The file I wanted was 80,000 lines, and Excel can only handle 65,536. So, I did what anyone in my situation would do. I gave it to the intern to fix. Actually I came up with the solution but I made him go through the grunt work.
After work, I went out for dinner with some friends to celebrate Ann's birthday. She's now old enough to run for the House of Representatives. Sweet! We went out for African food. It's wasn't so special. It reminded me of non-spicy Indian food.
Afterwards, we went to the Comedy Club. April had a deal so that we could all get in for $1 each. I think I got $1's worth of humor out of the evening. And a good deal of that was from when Andy spilled his wine.
And now I'm back at home. I'm listening to the radio and I'm wearing just my underwear - because it is hot and I live alone.
Tuesday, June 7
Yankees suck
I bought season tickets to see the Brewers this summer. Tonight was my first game, and it was against the Yankees. We won. And it was wonderful. I felt a little let down that the Brewers fans do not cheer like the Red Sox fans. Not once did I hear "A-Rod's an A-hole" or "Yankees suck, Jeter swallows." One would think that fans of a team called the Brewers in Miller Park would be more raucous than the Sox's fans. But no.
Gallagher
When Ray came to visit we bought a watermelon. We ate about half of it and the other half is now too old for me to eat. So, I either have to cut it up into pieces small enough to fit in my garbage disposal or I get to throw it down the garbage shoot. I will certainly be throwing it the 24 floors. Pity the fool that is at the bottom when it lands.
Sunday, June 5
Riversplash
Last night was great. Pat McCurdy rocked Riversplash. Simon and I met up with Laura. We got drunk on Miller Products and sang and danced with our fellow Milwaukeeans. Pat McCurdy started with "Tonight, I'm gonna ruin my life." and ended with "Sex and Beer". I forgot how bawdy his show is. And everyone sings along and does the strange dances. Simon was impressed at how much we, Americans, got involved in the show. He always comments on how little dancing and singing we do in bars compared to Europeans. It was great having Laura come out with us as well. She's a great deal of fun, especially in these loud kind of parties. She met up with us at Jazz in the Park on Thursday night and kept pressing us for what our "Stripper songs" would be. I picked Soul Decision's "Faded." Simon copped out with Randy Newman's "You can leave your hat on."
Very hungover this morning.
Simon packed up his stuff today and I drove him to the bus station. He left me with a good deal of extra items that he would not bother to carry home. I don't think I'm going to need to buy paper products or cleaning supplies for the next year! I certainly will miss having him around. Having a buddy next door reminded me of college life - always someone to eat dinner with, go out for a drink, or just to wind down after a long day. As we parted, we both said that if the other was in his home country (or continent) that we should let the other know. I was serious (not just polite) and I think he was too. A trip to Europe would be cool. I will have to plan for one in the next year.
In other news, I signed my lease for another year in my current apartment. So, I'm not buying a condo. I'm not even moving to another floor in my building. I thought about Freshman year of college and how I moved, thinking that I could find something better. But sophomore year, I regretted my decision. So, I'm staying put. And if I do end up finding someone willing to split a two-bedroom, there are some great ones available in my building.
Tonight's Riversplash is finally breaking up. The sudden rain showers are driving people out a little early. I watched the fireworks from my apartment. I could also hear the music from the Styx tribute band.
"Why must you be such an angry, young man? Well, your future looks quite bright to me."
Very hungover this morning.
Simon packed up his stuff today and I drove him to the bus station. He left me with a good deal of extra items that he would not bother to carry home. I don't think I'm going to need to buy paper products or cleaning supplies for the next year! I certainly will miss having him around. Having a buddy next door reminded me of college life - always someone to eat dinner with, go out for a drink, or just to wind down after a long day. As we parted, we both said that if the other was in his home country (or continent) that we should let the other know. I was serious (not just polite) and I think he was too. A trip to Europe would be cool. I will have to plan for one in the next year.
In other news, I signed my lease for another year in my current apartment. So, I'm not buying a condo. I'm not even moving to another floor in my building. I thought about Freshman year of college and how I moved, thinking that I could find something better. But sophomore year, I regretted my decision. So, I'm staying put. And if I do end up finding someone willing to split a two-bedroom, there are some great ones available in my building.
Tonight's Riversplash is finally breaking up. The sudden rain showers are driving people out a little early. I watched the fireworks from my apartment. I could also hear the music from the Styx tribute band.
"Why must you be such an angry, young man? Well, your future looks quite bright to me."
Friday, June 3
Riversplash
Riversplash starts today. This is Milwaukee's official kickoff to the summer's weekly festivals. Lucky for me Riversplash is only a few blocks away. I can hear the music playing already. Tonight, Simon, April and I are going to see Pat McCurdy, a local favorite. He sings in the Irish ballad/drinking song style. A year ago, I saw him perform when I was here looking for an apartment. I got really drunk that night and I don't remember a lot of it. It was a great introduction to Milwaukee. I remember being impressed that beer came in resealable plastic bottles and that everyone drank in the streets. The only songs I remember Pat McCurdy singing were "Sex and Beer" and "I'm an Idiot for your Love." Milwaukee is a classy place.
Simon just stopped by. His laundry must be done and the evening's debauchery can begin. Tomorrow he flies back home. Next week April moves to Washington and I begin to rebuild my circle of friends.
Simon just stopped by. His laundry must be done and the evening's debauchery can begin. Tomorrow he flies back home. Next week April moves to Washington and I begin to rebuild my circle of friends.
Thursday, June 2
Mixed Blessing
Ok, having an intern is not so helpful when I have to explain everything to him before he can do it. It is helpful, however, knowing that the questions he asks me are the same ones I was asking last year (and last week).
Wednesday, June 1
intern
Yesterday I was told that I would be doing an extra valuation this year. This is because of the recent resignations of a coworker close to my seniority. This is fine: more overtime and the ability to reach my billable hours goal. Also, the previous guy had a much higher billing rate which means that chances are that I will be under budget. Also, I was told not to do the work myself but to give as much as possible to the intern.
Today I actually began to give work to the summer intern. It felt sort of weird. This is the first time that I have someone working under me. He actually asked me if he could go home at 5:30. I said, "Of course not, get back to your cube!"
Today I actually began to give work to the summer intern. It felt sort of weird. This is the first time that I have someone working under me. He actually asked me if he could go home at 5:30. I said, "Of course not, get back to your cube!"
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