Old Hallow's Eve

The rush of trick or treaters is over and the tally was about 35 or 40. I think we're slightly down from the last two years. Ragged's mother called around 6 and she hadn't had a single one. Ragged said she lives for this type of thing, and her frustration was apparent in the short telephone conversation we had. One thing that irked me about the candy seekers was their lack of gratitude. There were very few thank yous and about half of them were, in my opinion, too old to be doing it at all. One group of them were obviously young teenagers and one of the girls had two bags, one for her "kid". There were some really cute kids and we have a new cat hanging around who was greeting and rubbing on everyone that came to the door. He's an orange and white cat who I've named Freddy. I'm promising myself that I won't become as attached to him as I was to Sally.

This isn't a picture of Freddy. This is Cooper (Boop Boop).

On My Way Down South

We made some signficant progress in preparing for our trip to San Antonio later this week. We got our hotel booked in The Ville. You see, our flight leaves at 6am EST and we live in the Central time zone, so we are going to spend the night, before flying out. We also our "to do" lists written, and although it has created a feeling of overwhelmingness, we know what has to be done.

The above is a picture of Sammy (left) and Ike (right). Ike had hoped to supplant Sammy of his place on the bed by lying too close to him, but it just ended up being a good picture.

I Haven't Seen Barbados

As usual, this weekend has been a busy one. Last night, Ragged and I made a quick trip to Sears and Best Buy to scope out some XM equipment. We also had time to rent movies before meeting Ragged's folks for dinner. After that, we went to see "The Sugar Bean Sisters" at the community theater. The play was a bizarre comedy with a dose of drama. I liked it and I laughed out loud on several occasions. There are some great one-liners in this play including "that makes my ass want to chew tobacca" and "go twist somebody else's titty" uttered primarily by one character. There are more but I can't think of them right now. After the play, we went over to Ragged's parents to review there photos from their recent cruise to Panama. The whole night as we ran around it poured rain. It was perhaps the first time I've been cold since the weather changed to fall-like.

We got home late and slept in late this morning which felt great. I ran some errands and worked for an hour today. Ragged and I then went out to lunch at Fazoli's to Target and to Walmart to get some groceries and some candy to replinish the stock Ragged and I have gone through. After that, we cleaned the house (boo) and washed clothes. I still have a couple of chores to do to complete my part of the housework, there will be some available spare time on Sunday. I squeezed in a short nap today too.

Tomorrow holds lunch with my family, hopefully me writing a paper, and perhaps some preparation for our coming trip to San Antonio. Somebody stop the world. I want to get off.

The above photo is one of many Ragged took today. The trees and bushes have taken a sudden, beautiful turn in color.

Glutton For Punishment

I have applied for another job similar to the one I was offered a few months ago, but with a different company. If you'll recall, I agonized over the decision but ulitmately turned it down. I drove everyone crazy with my struggle to decide, so much so that I've decided to keep it to myself as much as possible this time. Today, I took three tests to determine if I had an "aptitude" for the type of work they have. What they really meant to say was, they wanted to make sure I wasn't a slobbering idiot as the tests were reading comprehension, word meaning, and proofreading. The reading comprehension portion was the longest and hardest portion and I'm not certain I did well on it. It's difficult to read a passage of information you have never heard before and try to answer questions about it, at least it is for me anyway. The word meaning portion was much easier. There were only about 3 words of 36 I had no clue what they meant, and a couple of them I had some idea. The proofreading portion of the test was pretty easy too.

The results will be back next week. As he eyed me suspiciously, the guy who administered the test said he would give me a call if I had scored high enough. This felt a bit like a slam, but what could I do. If I attempted to assure him I wasn't a moron, he wouldn't have called me back anyway. They were looking for someone with experience moreso than education. What was the point of spending 4+ years in college? Not much it seems.

One funny thing about the whole experience, as I was waiting, another applicant was parading through the office. One of the employees asked another employee if everyone they were interviewing for the position was over 6 feet tall. If I accept the job, I'm going to call him 'shorty'.

Cache Slash 2006: Say That Three Times Fast

Everyone who is anyone went to the Cache Slash Fest 2006 hosted by the Cache Slash Crew this weekend. This was the first cache event Ragged and I have attended and we had a good time. There is some serious caching going on in the world and the intensity these folks feel for their chosen sport was palpable. I snagged a travel bug to take with us to San Antonio in a couple of weeks. On the poker run portion of the event, Ragged and I came home with a disappointing 6 of the 8 caches planted for the event. All the way home, I kept thinking what an appropriate Borg name this would be. We did get the other two caches, but it was the next day.

Much appreciation to Needles and Pilot for hosting us and to Rudy, Brando, Yin, and Yuri for keeping us entertained. We also send appreciation out to Hope and her hubs for the ride to the graveyard for the interesting and ultimately fun ghosting hunting excursion during the event. Ragged and I had a Blair Witch Project experience during the hunt which was captured on our digital camera.

We came back pretty early on Sunday, but stopped in a nearby town for some lunch by the river. At Cache Slash 2007, we'll be old pros.

Pop Word

Are you looking for a new addiction? Do you like word games? Then have I got the game for you. Go here and look up "pop word". This game is totally awesome. It's a combination of tetris and boggle. Enjoy

Fall In Step

Finally fall is here. This weather is right up my alley and like McDonald's, I'm lovin' it. We've been enjoying the weather and the weekend. Friday night, Ragged and I went out for dinner and ran into Kissed Knitter. We followed up dinner with coffee at Starbizzles. I have to say, it hurts to pay $4 for a cup of coffee, but sometimes splurging on things like this feels so good. Saturday, Ragged went out to get some punkins while I was under the weather. Eventually, I got to feeling better and I went to work out and then met Ragged for some lunch and a Target trip. At Target, I was going to purchase a car charger for my new cell phone, but I realized it would be a perfect gift to ask for for Christmas, since I can't think of much else I want and I'm constantly being asked what I want. We walked down to the new Best Buy, but I walked away with nothing. We then went to rent some movies, choosing "The Butterfly Effect 2" and the "River King". We spent the evening watching them and I ate everything in sight as well. This morning, I went to Walmart and got some supplies including some stuff for chicken and dumplings, a request of Ragged's earlier this week. I have to say I'm looking forward to cooking something different. I cook about once a week and it seems like I'm cooking the same 2 or 3 things over and over and over. What I should have done was get the stuff for Needles' soup, but I should have started yesterday to accomplish that. Anyway, I've been piled on the couch most of the time with at least one cat snuggling. We have turned on the heat for the first time and there's no doubt it's fall. Good riddance summer.

Squeeze Play

Things are changing at my job. A new supervisor has been named and we are getting two new employees come Monday. My old supervisor ascended to a position that will keep her out of our office but in our region most of the time, but she will still be around. I have to say I'm glad we are getting new employees to help with the overwhelming casework, but with new people come more desks in our relatively small office. So far, with the prior new additions, I have maintained my own private office, but I fear these two new people and a new supervisor will encroach on my fortress of solitude. I fall somewhere in the middle when it comes to seniority unfortunately. Until now, I've been able to shut my door and have privacy while having a private phone call or simply to shut out all the craziness that goes on in the day-to-day operations of our office. Nothing official has been said, but I can feel my days of aloneness coming to an end. I hope I'm not thrown into the crowded area where all the newbies are located. That would just be more than I could stand.

No Time For Us To Play

I am the laziest person on Earth. If you don't believe me, I have a plaque from the contest I won. Anyway, during the week I don't get alot of my household chores completed, so I have to do them on the weekend. You see, this clashes with my propensity for near coma laziness. Yesterday, I did a few things, but Ragged and I spent most of the day running around shopping and the like. Ragged had a free movie rental so she graciously rented XMEN 3. It was good, but there was something wrong with it that I can't put my finger on yet. Perhaps with a little more thought I'll figure it out. Oh, anyone who hasn't seen it or may not know, watch until after the credits. I was advised by the rental store clerk to do so. So anyway, today I was thinking of all the things I needed to do today and I made a list. Eight items were on it when I completed the list. Here it is:

1. mow yard
2. go to wal mart
3. clean tub
4. sweep porch
5. clean car
6. pick up dog poop by the back door
7. clean litter box
8. clean off cat mat

Making this sort of list helps me stay focused and I get more done. In fact, I think it's a proven fact that people that make lists get more done, so there you go. It's noon and I've completed items 2, 3, and 6-8. I'm about to tackle number 5. It's like torture. I just want to lay on the couch and watch Superstar.

Johnny-Come-Lately

Without the influence of Pilot, Rudy, Needles and Brando, I don't think Ragged and I would have any interests. The possible exception would be ST:TNG for me and photography for Ragged, but those would be the only exceptions. Anywho, with the cool previews for the new season of Battlestar Galactica and frequent mentioning of the program by the aforementioned 4-some, I had to tune in to the 2-hour season premiere. I wasn't disappointed. Although I don't have alot of the backstory, it was easy to fall in step with what was going on and I was very impressed. With no new Star Trek series currently being shown on the boob tube, I need a sci-fi fix and I think I've found it. Now I have to go back and catch up on the two previous seasons.

Royal Flush

To quite from Ragged, "There's nothing worse than" not being able to take a dootie at your own home. You see, for the past couple of days our toilet hasn't been flushing. We've had some gurgling too, which apparently is pretty typical when it's rained as much as it has and you're doing laundry beat 60 to boot. Anyway, today I called the plumber and they came out and within a few minutes had the problem fixed. As any home owner is probably acutely aware, it doesn't matter if they stay one minute or 59 minutes, the cost is per hour plus parts. Well, they made an adjustment in the back of the toilet to make it fill up with more water. I stood there and watched the dude, who against all stereotypes did not have his crack showing, flush the damn thing twice with no problem. Satisfied, I paid him and hightailed it back to work. When I got home after work and tried to flush it, the same problem existed. I don't know what the deal is, but it's very frustrating. I called them and they are going to send someone back out tomorrow. It's Ragged's headache tomorrow as I will be out of town for another of the many trainings I've had to attend in the past month. Hopefully tomorrow night we'll be sitting on our own thrown doing our business.