July 2005 Archives July Fourth in PortlandJuly 09, 2005 — Some new pictures from a recent trip to Portland.  July 18, 2005 — My recent lack of posting has been more due to laziness than a lack of random thoughts. I have plenty of those. Here's a sampling from today: While reading Entertainment Weekly this morning, I saw an obituary for Luther Vandross. I found that really strange because I thought he died a few years ago. Turned out it was just a stroke. I find it weird that I thought he was dead but he wasn't. But he is now. In other news, despite rumors to the contrary, it turns out that Paul McCartney is actually still alive. I went to a meeting this afternoon that was in the third basement. There was a yellow sign on the door that said "Situation Room." I hope it didn't say that for anything too serious because I found it hysterical. I was hoping to see some kind of crazy interactive map of Wisconsin projected on the wall (or at least see West Wing episodes being played back on ReplayTV). I guess I'll just have to keep playing with Google Earth. Sagittarius. A few years ago I put colored key rings on my keys so I could tell which was for the building door (red - I think) and which was for my apartment (black - I think). While visiting me this weekend, my parents pointed out that my system doesn't seem to work. After about entering the building about 20 times, they pointed out that I always try the wrong key first. It wasn't until this morning when I figured out the solution to my problem. Switch the key rings. I'm obviously trained to use the wrong one. So if I switch them, I should use the right one. Two Weddings and a BabyJuly 21, 2005 — Whether it's an email, a blog post, or a business document, I like to write in threes. So when Greg and Erica got engaged a few weeks back, I was hoping for two more pieces of good news. Engagements, pregancies, and lottery wins would all help round out the trilogy. So I was very pleased to hear about the follow two pieces of great news:
* Refers to Mike and Stacy Senior, not Mike and Stacy Junior. Bike Injury #2July 25, 2005 — As you may remember, I fell off my bike a few months ago. Fortunately, I've managed to keep my balance in recent months and have been injury free. I even got a fast new road bike since then. Last week my luck ran out when I experienced my latest injury -- a minor, yet relatively bizarre, one. When I ride, I'm usually concerned about hitting animals. Dogs, cats, birds, squirrels, geese, chipmunks, and even babies make me nervous. I generally don't worry too much about bugs. Colliding with them is to be expected. They splatter against your face, your arms, and even your glasses just like they splatter against your windshield when you drive. It can be nasty and it can even sting a little. But I never thought they could injure me. I was wrong. I think my recent encounter qualifies as an injury, albeit a minor one. While riding, I felt a bug collide with my lip. As a disgusting taste filled my mouth, I immediately stopped and started spitting. I then wiped my mouth with my fingers to make sure all the guts and remains were removed. As I looked down on my fingers I saw blood. My blood. The bleeding did not last long but the swelling started immediately. I felt a little puffiness but it didn't seem so bad. So I kept riding. It wasn't until I got home and look into the mirror when I saw how nasty it looked (see below). But when it comes down to it, I guess I did much better than the bug.
July 28, 2005 — If you've ever eaten fast food with me, you've probably already heard this rant. Why don't they make the ketchup packets bigger? When I'm eating french fries, I spend way too much time opening up about 6 to 8 ketchup packets and making a little mound of ketchup. I can only imagine how long this takes Aseem. There is so little ketchup in one packet. It's very inefficient because most of it gets stuck to the sides of the packaging. There's too much packaging and too little ketchup. Why not make them double the size? They've supersized everything else, why not supersize the ketchup packets? A packet of ketchup is the food equivallent of a single square of toilet paper. It's not nearly enough. Here comes to the story...July 29, 2005 — I'm still thrown off by hurricanes having people names, especially when they are used without any hurricane context. I saw a headline that said "Emily heads for Mexico" and my first reactions were "Emily who?" and "what is she going to do in Mexico?" Super!July 29, 2005 — Aside from Superman or supermarket, I can't really think of a good reason why a normal adult would ever want to use the word super. Super is not an acceptable answer to "how are you?" I think people who talk like that are super obnoxious. If your boss told you that you're doing a super job, that would just be condescending. I also really can't stand it when people use it to modify something that is negative to begin with, as in "I'm super tired" or "super hungry." There's nothing super about being tired or about being hungry. The word is just too dramatic to be used in every day speech. If you're being sarcastic you could get away with it. But that's all. So if you hear me use this word, please stop me. I think I sometimes use it and I really wish I didn't. |
Congratulations to Mike and Stacy* on their recent engagement. I was very impressed with Mike's forthcomingness with this great news. After all, this is the guy who neglected to tell his best friends when he got his driver's license in high school. We only found out because we saw him drive off in a car one day. Anyway, I'm very happy for Mike and Stacy. They're wonderful people individually and ever better together! They even have a 
Congratulations to Marty and Jen on their (her) pregnancy. They're another great couple and will definitely be great parents. Marty will no doubt discover many new and interesting features of babies and I'm looking forward to hearing him eagerly share his new discoveries with everyone. They even recently obtained their first picture of the baby. Since it could not be digitized, here is an artistic recreation of it. Since Marty and Jen already look so much alike, there's really no surprise what this baby will look like.