Do you guys not have anything better to do?
Eric, Corey, Todd and Nick -- I know you guys are proud today!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Headline writers go wild.
So when this appears on my Star Tribune newsfeed:
Scott County preparing for hot times
..it makes you wonder. Last time I checked, Scott County wasn't exactly well-known for its "hot times." Of course I had to click on it...
Hey, Eric -- when do you get to go play on this tower?
Scott County preparing for hot times
..it makes you wonder. Last time I checked, Scott County wasn't exactly well-known for its "hot times." Of course I had to click on it...
Hey, Eric -- when do you get to go play on this tower?
Friday, May 16, 2008
your oven is a dry heat, too
So yesterday was supposed to be the hottest day of the year so far. Of course, what do I have to do? Play in a golf tournament for work, that's what. We sponsored a tournament at Castlewood Country Club in Pleasanton. Tee time was 12:30pm, right during the heat of the day. The high in Pleasanton yesterday was 103. No amount of iced towels, bottles of water, etc. can really help that any.
Today's even hotter. I picked up a couple steaks to grill this evening (hey, might not even need to use the grill!) and on the way down to the meat market, the car's thermometer hit 110.
To top it all off, there's this. This fire was less than two miles from our house. They're saying that wildfire season is going to start sooner this year (surprise.. it hasn't rained in six weeks and the next rain is expected in, oh, October or so.) Time to start with the active fire prevention around our place..
Today's even hotter. I picked up a couple steaks to grill this evening (hey, might not even need to use the grill!) and on the way down to the meat market, the car's thermometer hit 110.
To top it all off, there's this. This fire was less than two miles from our house. They're saying that wildfire season is going to start sooner this year (surprise.. it hasn't rained in six weeks and the next rain is expected in, oh, October or so.) Time to start with the active fire prevention around our place..
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Back when football was football...
...a guy writing one blog post every six months would have been shot for posting pictures like this. My family is going to hell in a handbasket.
First this:
from Zimm's Blog
mad Photoshop skillz, yo!
What's next? Eric eating mushrooms? Corey deciding that 99-cent-a-foot-linoleum from Menard's is the wave of the future? No, wait -- both of them going vegan! Yeah, that's it.
I move to California and all hell breaks loose. More updates to follow.
First this:
from Zimm's Blog...so what's next? It's gotta be this:
mad Photoshop skillz, yo!
I move to California and all hell breaks loose. More updates to follow.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Week Two Update
Well, everyone's getting settled into the new house. We're pretty lucky to have a fully enclosed back yard so the kids can play outside with no fears of running into the street or anything. We bought one of those blow-up pools, so they're having a grand old time splashing around in that thing.
Problem is, when it drains.. hoo boy. We started putting it on top of one of the drains in the back yard (is that a California thing to have a drainage system in your yard?) so that once it runs out, it goes down the drain instead of creating a swamp in the yard.
I've had to mow that thing twice now, and probably should have done it more; but I've been out of town so much.
Leah's in school now.. first day pictures are up on flickr for all to see.
As of now we're planning to be back up in the Upper Midwest around Christmas time. More info to follow.....
Problem is, when it drains.. hoo boy. We started putting it on top of one of the drains in the back yard (is that a California thing to have a drainage system in your yard?) so that once it runs out, it goes down the drain instead of creating a swamp in the yard.
I've had to mow that thing twice now, and probably should have done it more; but I've been out of town so much.
Leah's in school now.. first day pictures are up on flickr for all to see.
As of now we're planning to be back up in the Upper Midwest around Christmas time. More info to follow.....
Monday, September 10, 2007
I can't let this go by.
This is a travesty. For someone who used to drink good beer with me, it's shameful.
Truly, a sad state of affairs.
What's next? Dogs and cats living together? Mass hysteria? Moving back to... (gasp) the SUBURBS? (oh, yeah, wait, that's already happened.)
An open invitation to the three readers I have out there on the Internets -- if I ever get caught drinking the San Francisco equivalent of Premo.. whatever that is.. please put me out of my misery. Or, at least, ridicule me online.
Truly, a sad state of affairs.
What's next? Dogs and cats living together? Mass hysteria? Moving back to... (gasp) the SUBURBS? (oh, yeah, wait, that's already happened.)
An open invitation to the three readers I have out there on the Internets -- if I ever get caught drinking the San Francisco equivalent of Premo.. whatever that is.. please put me out of my misery. Or, at least, ridicule me online.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
We're here!
We made it to California in one piece... wiped out, but here. There are a couple of airplane pictures up on flickr, so go check them out.
Nothing fun or interesting to say. We're all exhausted. Only three more nights in hotels until we get our stuff back.
Nothing fun or interesting to say. We're all exhausted. Only three more nights in hotels until we get our stuff back.
Friday, August 24, 2007
The big move update, part 1
Well, it's started -- the big five-person move to San Francisco. The car shipper guy came this morning to pick up our cars.. after the big inland hurricane last night left trees down and roads flooded all over Chicago, I wasn't so sure they'd be here; but they were -- ninety minutes early! The phone rang at 6:30am.
It's fun when all the neighbors think your cars are being repossessed... I can only imagine what they were thinking -- "Why is he standing there, talking to that repo man as he puts the cars on the truck? Why isn't he mad?"
The company that we're using to move cars is eBay Motors' "preferred" car shipper, so the driver had lots of fun stories to tell about cars he delivered to people who'd never seen them, and the reactions that they give. He told about one guy who'd ordered a 70's-era Charger. This car looked mint in the pictures, but when it actually arrived, it apparently was a different story. It'd been in some kind of accident, the firewall was all jacked, axle kind of bent, etc. The sad thing is, once you get to that point, you've already purchased the car so you're kind of screwed. The guy who bought it didn't even want to sign for it, but he had to; he owned it so he was responsible for it. After delivery, you have to fight it out with the seller and eBay. Good luck with that!
Next on the hit parade -- packing, which starts Monday. We all will move into a hotel while this process is going on. Our place is way too small for five people and eight million half-packed boxes.
It's fun when all the neighbors think your cars are being repossessed... I can only imagine what they were thinking -- "Why is he standing there, talking to that repo man as he puts the cars on the truck? Why isn't he mad?"
The company that we're using to move cars is eBay Motors' "preferred" car shipper, so the driver had lots of fun stories to tell about cars he delivered to people who'd never seen them, and the reactions that they give. He told about one guy who'd ordered a 70's-era Charger. This car looked mint in the pictures, but when it actually arrived, it apparently was a different story. It'd been in some kind of accident, the firewall was all jacked, axle kind of bent, etc. The sad thing is, once you get to that point, you've already purchased the car so you're kind of screwed. The guy who bought it didn't even want to sign for it, but he had to; he owned it so he was responsible for it. After delivery, you have to fight it out with the seller and eBay. Good luck with that!
Next on the hit parade -- packing, which starts Monday. We all will move into a hotel while this process is going on. Our place is way too small for five people and eight million half-packed boxes.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
The new gig.
I started at the new place in San Francisco last week... so far, so good. There's quite a lot of travel, especially at first; the family is all back in Chicago so I'm doing a fair amount of 1,800-mile commuting via American Airlines. Everyone's moving the last week in August, so it won't be for long.
Much electronic ink has been spilled over the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Fortunately, to the best of my knowledge, no one I know was on the bridge or around it when it happened. It's kind of disconcerting to see the bridge in the river, knowing that I have been over that thing probably 500 times in my life. I was in San Francisco when it happened, driving out to our new house in Oakley, and they broke into the radio newscast to announce that it'd happened.
This week, I'm in New York City. We stay in downtown, not far from Ground Zero, because the bank's offices are on Wall Street. One of the ways to coming into Manhattan from LaGuardia Airport is via the FDR Drive.. of course, Manhattan is an island, and how do you get onto islands? Bridges. The FDR runs along the eastern shore of Manhattan and not only did we pass over a bridge to get to the FDR, it runs under every bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn/Queens from 113th Street south. Check the google map -- there are probably 20 of them, all told.
Not to mention that every time I've been to NYC -- and this time is certainly not excluded -- all of the bridges seem to be under some kind of repair.
No one seems to know what happened in Minneapolis.. whether it was the repair, whether it was as stress cracks, the deicing system installed several years ago, whatever; but it makes you think. I'd always been a "no-fear" bridge guy -- I did the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Walk, even -- but I thought twice passing under all of the bridges on the FDR.
Of course, chances are the guy driving the black car was going to kill me long before any crappy NYC bridge fell on my head... but there it is.
Much electronic ink has been spilled over the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Fortunately, to the best of my knowledge, no one I know was on the bridge or around it when it happened. It's kind of disconcerting to see the bridge in the river, knowing that I have been over that thing probably 500 times in my life. I was in San Francisco when it happened, driving out to our new house in Oakley, and they broke into the radio newscast to announce that it'd happened.
This week, I'm in New York City. We stay in downtown, not far from Ground Zero, because the bank's offices are on Wall Street. One of the ways to coming into Manhattan from LaGuardia Airport is via the FDR Drive.. of course, Manhattan is an island, and how do you get onto islands? Bridges. The FDR runs along the eastern shore of Manhattan and not only did we pass over a bridge to get to the FDR, it runs under every bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn/Queens from 113th Street south. Check the google map -- there are probably 20 of them, all told.
Not to mention that every time I've been to NYC -- and this time is certainly not excluded -- all of the bridges seem to be under some kind of repair.
No one seems to know what happened in Minneapolis.. whether it was the repair, whether it was as stress cracks, the deicing system installed several years ago, whatever; but it makes you think. I'd always been a "no-fear" bridge guy -- I did the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Walk, even -- but I thought twice passing under all of the bridges on the FDR.
Of course, chances are the guy driving the black car was going to kill me long before any crappy NYC bridge fell on my head... but there it is.
Friday, July 13, 2007
The big news...
Well, the story can now be told.
Today was my last day at ABN AMRO Bank. I've been offered -- and have accepted -- a job in San Francisco. The new company is going to move the whole family out there. I start in San Francisco on July 30th, with everyone coming sometime in the first week of September (give or take.)
In true Inter-tubes style, here's a FAQ:
Q. Why San Francisco?
A. That's where the new bank wants me. It was either that, or New York. Those who know me know I have no love for the Center of the Universe.
Q. Won't you slide off the earth when the Big One hits?
A. We'll be living in East Bay, past the San Andreas Fault. If I'm at work, yes. If I'm at home, probably not; although our place may or may not become beachfront property.
Q. Just how far away from San Francisco do you need to live if you want to avoid paying $2 million for a 700 square foot studio condominium?
A. Sacramento. No, really. Well, almost; eastern Contra Costa County. It's about 50 miles from San Francisco by car.
Q. Hell of a commute, no?
A. Thanks to the wonders of CTA and Metra (Hi, Lunt Bus!) my place -- a whopping nine miles from my office now -- is 75 minutes to work. Out there, it's about 80. A rounding error!
Q. What are you doing for the next two weeks, since you're not going to work?
A. Thanks to the bank's policy of asking people to leave when they resign, if they're going to the competition, taking a two-week paid vacation!
Q. Do you have new phone numbers/new email/new addresses?
A. No. No. No. We will in September.
Q. Will you update your blog more frequently?
A. Probably. I've been on embargo for a while, what with the negotiations and such; it's pretty much all that's been going on in my life for quite some time. Now that I've resigned, and I don't need to keep that particular secret any more...
Q. You're not renting a U-Haul to drive to San Francisco, are you?
A. Nope. The bank has hired this guy to take care of it.
Image ganked from I Can Has Cheezburger?
Today was my last day at ABN AMRO Bank. I've been offered -- and have accepted -- a job in San Francisco. The new company is going to move the whole family out there. I start in San Francisco on July 30th, with everyone coming sometime in the first week of September (give or take.)
In true Inter-tubes style, here's a FAQ:
Q. Why San Francisco?
A. That's where the new bank wants me. It was either that, or New York. Those who know me know I have no love for the Center of the Universe.
Q. Won't you slide off the earth when the Big One hits?
A. We'll be living in East Bay, past the San Andreas Fault. If I'm at work, yes. If I'm at home, probably not; although our place may or may not become beachfront property.
Q. Just how far away from San Francisco do you need to live if you want to avoid paying $2 million for a 700 square foot studio condominium?
A. Sacramento. No, really. Well, almost; eastern Contra Costa County. It's about 50 miles from San Francisco by car.
Q. Hell of a commute, no?
A. Thanks to the wonders of CTA and Metra (Hi, Lunt Bus!) my place -- a whopping nine miles from my office now -- is 75 minutes to work. Out there, it's about 80. A rounding error!
Q. What are you doing for the next two weeks, since you're not going to work?
A. Thanks to the bank's policy of asking people to leave when they resign, if they're going to the competition, taking a two-week paid vacation!
Q. Do you have new phone numbers/new email/new addresses?
A. No. No. No. We will in September.
Q. Will you update your blog more frequently?
A. Probably. I've been on embargo for a while, what with the negotiations and such; it's pretty much all that's been going on in my life for quite some time. Now that I've resigned, and I don't need to keep that particular secret any more...
Q. You're not renting a U-Haul to drive to San Francisco, are you?
A. Nope. The bank has hired this guy to take care of it.
Image ganked from I Can Has Cheezburger?Monday, July 2, 2007
Identify the city.
Aw, crap, what am I getting myself in to? They need signs for this?There's a 95% chance of some big changes coming up here soon... I will post more about it once I get some arrangements made.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
**chirp**
That sound you hear? Yes. Crickets.
Not cicadas, although those are supposed to be around here; the Great Cicada Invasion of 2007 never materialized (at least, not yet) here in Chicago. The burbs are reported to have a bunch, but I haven't seen one yet. I live in an older neighborhood, too; nothing's changed here since 1990 when the last bunch of these guys laid eggs and croaked. So, who knows where they went... but that's ok. I don't really want to hear three kids running around, screaming about the "icky bugs." Spiders are bad enough. Three-inch long flying cockroaches would cause heart attacks.
There's been some stuff going on around here which cannot be posted.. yet. Stay tuned. I promise to update more frequently than every month, starting with the resume-polishing that I've been doing. I sat in a small cubicle (smaller than my own!) in the burbs today taking a three and a half hour exam (which, yay for me, I passed!) that now allows me to put the letters "CTP" after my name on my resume. High excitement!
Not cicadas, although those are supposed to be around here; the Great Cicada Invasion of 2007 never materialized (at least, not yet) here in Chicago. The burbs are reported to have a bunch, but I haven't seen one yet. I live in an older neighborhood, too; nothing's changed here since 1990 when the last bunch of these guys laid eggs and croaked. So, who knows where they went... but that's ok. I don't really want to hear three kids running around, screaming about the "icky bugs." Spiders are bad enough. Three-inch long flying cockroaches would cause heart attacks.
There's been some stuff going on around here which cannot be posted.. yet. Stay tuned. I promise to update more frequently than every month, starting with the resume-polishing that I've been doing. I sat in a small cubicle (smaller than my own!) in the burbs today taking a three and a half hour exam (which, yay for me, I passed!) that now allows me to put the letters "CTP" after my name on my resume. High excitement!
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Policy change...
So is this farewell to Zimm's Blog (and others?)
Looks like the Army has decided to impose censorship on blog posts from members of the Army in Iraq and other places. According to the article, some leeway is supposed to be given to individual unit commanders.
Now I don't have any military experience, but I do have management experience. I can tell you, from experience, that when you leave things up to "manager's discretion," 90% of those managers immediately enter "cover your ass mode." That means that whatever the activity that's up to "discretion" is, is immediately disallowed. No manager wants to be called on the carpet and asked to justify why their employee did something that was allowed by "discretion," when the boss's boss doesn't have the same idea of what's ok and what's not.
I can only assume that this holds true for military commanders as well.
From a political standpoint, it's pretty obvious that one of the few remaining strong PR voices in favor of our presence in Iraq is that of the folks on the ground themselves. The political leadership in the US lacks credibility (that's being polite, I think) and many of us look to the opinions of the people actually in the country to find out what they really think.
While I understand the need to make sure that people aren't leaking anything important -- what's that WWII saying, "Loose lips sink ships?" -- this broad brush is limiting everything. Are any of these bloggers really saying "hey, Iraqis, we're attacking HERE tomorrow?"
I certainly haven't seen it on Zimm's Blog...
Looks like the Army has decided to impose censorship on blog posts from members of the Army in Iraq and other places. According to the article, some leeway is supposed to be given to individual unit commanders.
Now I don't have any military experience, but I do have management experience. I can tell you, from experience, that when you leave things up to "manager's discretion," 90% of those managers immediately enter "cover your ass mode." That means that whatever the activity that's up to "discretion" is, is immediately disallowed. No manager wants to be called on the carpet and asked to justify why their employee did something that was allowed by "discretion," when the boss's boss doesn't have the same idea of what's ok and what's not.
I can only assume that this holds true for military commanders as well.
From a political standpoint, it's pretty obvious that one of the few remaining strong PR voices in favor of our presence in Iraq is that of the folks on the ground themselves. The political leadership in the US lacks credibility (that's being polite, I think) and many of us look to the opinions of the people actually in the country to find out what they really think.
While I understand the need to make sure that people aren't leaking anything important -- what's that WWII saying, "Loose lips sink ships?" -- this broad brush is limiting everything. Are any of these bloggers really saying "hey, Iraqis, we're attacking HERE tomorrow?"
I certainly haven't seen it on Zimm's Blog...
Monday, April 23, 2007
aw, crap.
I know, it's been a long time since I've posted. I've been busy, my travel schedule has been hectic, three children have been vomiting (although not at the same time, good thing,) yada yada.
I visited Clark Devon Hardware (see this picture) and it was as expected - completely old school. I'm going back tonight to have three screens made.
But, what brings me from my hiatus? This little tidbit. For those keeping track, this makes my fifth corporate merger in twelve years.
I promise, I'll be posting more frequently...
I visited Clark Devon Hardware (see this picture) and it was as expected - completely old school. I'm going back tonight to have three screens made.
But, what brings me from my hiatus? This little tidbit. For those keeping track, this makes my fifth corporate merger in twelve years.
I promise, I'll be posting more frequently...
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Got Any Jacks?
Miami Airport
Originally uploaded by bryenz.
The American Airlines terminal in Miami is undergoing "modernization" right now. Rumor has it this will be done in 2015 -- apparently in Miami, like most other places, public works projects take eons to actually complete. Going through Terminal D, it looks like you're in the middle of a giant construction war zone.. then you get to the "smoking room" - they still have one! - where all the smokers are in a hermetically-sealed glass room surrounded by clouds. It kind of looks like a "cancer under glass" exhibit. Further on, you get to the completed part..
There's some pretty cool public art in the completed spaces, too. This one, titled "Got Any Jacks?", are replicas of actual fish found off the coast of Florida.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Busy-ness
I seem to be on a posting schedule of about once a week here, so in the best tradition of infrequently updated blogs, let's do the Week In Review:
This week, I..
This week, I..
- ..went to Miami on Sunday evening, didn't get there until 11:30pm, and got to see absolutely none of the city except for that part of it between the airport and Coral Gables. Which, just sayin', isn't much.
- ..went to Troy, MI on Tuesday. Flying into Detroit was interesting. Now that I'm an American Airlines flyer, we get to fly into the "old" terminal at Detroit (also known as the Aviation Ghetto, apparently.) Wow. Someone described it as "retro." They were being generous.
- ..drove from Troy to Grand Rapids on Wednesday. Dear Western Michiganers: Why do you insist on putting "Gd Rapids" on all of the expressway signs? Is it really that difficult to spell "Grand?" I mean, really; budgets are tight and all that, but three letters per sign can't be that much.
- ..flew back from
GdGrand Rapids to Chicago on Thursday. The airport there is pretty nice, comfortable and certainly not busy. The flight was interesting because of chaos caused when one of the luggage conveyor trucks at O'Hare ran into the E-145 that American Eagle was flying into GRR, thus causing one full flight to be canceled. Not many rebooking options exist from GRR-ORD, unfortunately. I feel sorry for the gate agents at GRR that had to work that flight!
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