Monday Musings...

We’ve come back to daylight savings time, much like a drunk returns to church, or a guilty husband returns home: We know this is where we need to be, but it’s hard to do. We now have daylight after work to play with, and that leads to MORE hyperactivity and less sleep. Had a great time this weekend up with Whitney and Joe-man, who is celebrating his 4th birthday. He got some Transformers, which I think Whitney and I love more than he does. Go figure.

2005-04-04 · 1 min · Harold Combs

Behind enemy lines

Two hot cars line the lot here, deep inside Indian country. Thor and the Pup, their catalytic converters ticking, sit in the parking lot on Breckinridge Lane, in the city that’s holding its breath. Yes, I’m a Wildcat fan surrounded by Cardinal Red. It’s eerie. * * * It’s a cold day in hell (aka Louisville), and Whitney, Joey, and I watched a good exhibition game this afternoon between the Cincinnati Reds and the Toronto Bluejays at Slugger Field. A stiff breeze blew in towards home plate from left field, and it was COLD. The Reds jumped out on bad Toronto pitching to a 3-0 lead, but Toronto came back, taking the lead in the 6th. After a full line change, the second string for both teams saw Cincy knock-in two to take the lead finally at 7-6. ...

2005-04-02 · 1 min · Harold Combs

All is not necessarily well in house-ville

For every magnificent up, there’s usually a sickening down… Just got back from my home inspection, done by a very thorough, straightforward man named Philip Preston. He found some “issues” with the house. First is the grade. The house is on a completely flat plot, and there’s not grade away from the house, so water will naturally tend to pool around it. Thankfully, he said the crawlspace was very dry, despite being poorly vented. (It has fewer vents than current code requires, but it’s per code for 7 years ago). ...

2005-04-01 · 2 min · Harold Combs

April Fool's day...

My favorite part of April Fool’s Day? Prank tech stories on slashdot

2005-04-01 · 1 min · Harold Combs

WOOOHOOO!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, My offer on a house has just been accepted!!! w00t!!!! I’ll be moving 2 miles down the road to a domecile with a 2-car garage, a large central living room, and 3 Bedrooms, 2 baths, and a basketball goal. I’m about to faint. That is all.

2005-03-29 · 1 min · Harold Combs

Defining Bachelor moment...

You’re eating “Macaroni and spaghetti sauce”, because you made Kraft Mac’n’Cheese without realizing you had no milk.

2005-03-24 · 1 min · Harold Combs

Day one of burnout induction...

Up at 4:45 this morning, and I’m still at work. Yikes…this team lead thing is about what it’s cracked-up to be: All the responsibility, no benefits, no real power. Grand.

2005-03-21 · 1 min · Harold Combs

He he...

2005-03-18 · 0 min · Harold Combs

Life changing events...

Had a feeling 05 was going to be life-changing, and that’s come to pass. * I’m wanting to get married * I’m trying to buy a house …And… * I’ve been promoted/demoted/reassigned to be team lead of my product. I now get to “drive” the new function, attend all the meetings, and generally be the point man for the whole thing. This should look good on my resume as I’m assuming more responsiblity and leadership. ...

2005-03-18 · 2 min · Harold Combs

Consultant, Day 1

This week, our software departments gets the rare pleasure of having an on-site consultant. I say rare in that this happens once every 5 years, and such visitation sparks a flurry of new products. It’s a “Big Bang,” if you will, without the follow-up munchies and stinky bedsheets. Anyway, the guy, C, is a unapologetic Canadian ass with a golden-hammer attitude towards the product he’s advocating. “It can do everything well,” he says. Thankfully, the product is free (they make money on consulting), so at least we didn’t have to listen to a hard-sell on the software. ...

2005-03-14 · 1 min · Harold Combs

movie reviews, part deux

Things you remember @ odd moments: The other movie we saw was Cold Creek Manor a disposable thriller starring Sharon Stone, and Dennis Quaid, who must be dying for work at this point. It’s charitable to say the film is slow; it’s more accurate to say it’s a complete waste of your time. All characters are stereotypes, and it’s overlong for what story there is.

2005-03-14 · 1 min · Harold Combs

Movie weekend...

With my day off on Friday to stay with Bella after her surgery, we got to watch lots of movies… First up was Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow with Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and the hamming Angelina Jolie. It’s a beautiful film, though HIGHLY implausible. Glad to have watched it on DVD instead of the theatre. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the movie in the middle…I just can’t! Last was Y Tu Mama Tambien, which I still find to be a good movie wrapped inside a disgusting, hollow shell. At it center are the Solipsitic trio of Tenoch, Luisa, and Julio, two horny teens and a hot older woman who head for Del Playa Boca Cielo (Heaven’s Mouth Beach). Tenoch is of the Castillian upper-crust, Julio is lower middle class, and Luisa is from Spain. The film highlights the disparity in Mexico between the haves and have-nots. With a nice twist at the end.

2005-03-14 · 1 min · Harold Combs

Self flagellation...

- I was so keyed-up I didn’t fall asleep until midnight. - I LEFT MY FRICKIN MORTGAGE APP on the table instead of bringing it to work to fax it in. I am so upset by this. Had the darn thing done on Saturday night, but I waited until Monday so I could fax it in from work (read: free). Well, guess I’m not faxing it until tomorrow. Frick. - I got boggin’ (toboggin) hair so as soon as I got to work, I took my UK boggin off and my hair was standing straight up. Had to wet it and comb it for 10 minutes in the bathroom to get it to lay down. ...

2005-03-14 · 1 min · Harold Combs

House Shopping

House Shopping… Whitney’s Account of our house shopping yesterday.

2005-03-13 · 1 min · Harold Combs

Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs is one very, very disturbing movie

2005-03-10 · 1 min · Harold Combs

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As promised, pictorial of the Fire at my apartment complex

2005-03-09 · 1 min · Harold Combs

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Article on the Apartment Fire

2005-03-09 · 1 min · Harold Combs

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This makes a week exactly since my last blog, and more like two since my last substantive update. I was sick last week until Friday, going totally ape whilst staring at the four walls in my rather lonely apartment. Work on Friday was a pure joy; I was freshened and eager, though I sounded like a megaphone stuck in a tin-can when I spoke. Friday was re-org day here on the Software-Development floor of LXK. My old manager, K, whom I respected is gone to her next tour of duty, replaced by the newly-promoted S, another woman. Instead of K’s even-temperedness, we now have S’s volatility. Combine that with her complete ignorance of my product, and we’ll see. I know one thing…I’m sure she won’t be having monthly one-on-one meetings with her subordinates the way that K did. ...

2005-03-09 · 3 min · Harold Combs

Dr. Bud E. Bryan

Don’t ask me why, but I find the melodrama of Dr. Bud E. Bryan amazing. Here’s this middle aged-guy who has THREE women after him: Jolene (his wife), Nadine (his psycho ex), and Carrie Anne (the chiseled coed). To beat it all, he has the real details of his life in his column in a CAR MAGAZINE.

2005-03-02 · 1 min · Harold Combs

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Oh the joy of not having a jackhammer headache and a 103 degree fever!

2005-03-02 · 1 min · Harold Combs