So yesterday got even better after I got home last night. Food was excellent. And then Katie gave me her present, a 15gb Ipod. I was floored. By far one of the coolest presents I've ever gotten. And this one has an crazy story behind. For obvious reasons she wasn't going to be able to get me one (I've wanted an Ipod for some time now). But then her co-worker heard that I wanted one and told Katie that she would sell her a brand new one for $100. Turns out this woman had won it as part of a big prize from the Oprah Winfrey show. She does this 'Favorite Spring Things Giveaway' every year and this year an Ipod was part of the $4000 grand prize. Anyways, this woman had never opened the box and said she'd sell it to Katie. And now I have it. I suppose I really ought to be indirectly thanking Oprah, but wow. Yeah, my girlfriend rules.
Oh yeah, the iPod...its brilliant. Unfortunately I don't have firewire setup on my computer so I have to get a usb adapter before I can use it. That's on the agenda for tonight. I'm planning on getting the really cool in-ear speaker/headphone things that everyone seems to love. I also got a hefty gift certificate to Amazon.com from my parents, which is very cool. I think I might have to load up on some CDs and movies I've been holding off on getting. We'll see.
And finally, to top the night off, we went to an English pub called The Coat of Arms in downtown Portsmouth. Truly an excellent place. They have all my favorite beers from the UK, though sadly they were out of Belhaven. I had a Guiness as my first drink. It was excellent.
It was a good day.
So I'm 21 now. I'm receiving veiled threats from my coworkers that if I don't come in severely hung over tomorrow they are going to come after me. Normally that wouldn't bother me but I DO work for a trash company. One which has a rather thuggish reputation around here and is occasionally linked to the mob. Hehe...
Just to give notice: Spoon, you owe me a drink when I get back. Thought I'd let you know.
Right now the plan is go home in the next 15 or so minutes, eat dinner (a pot roast...mmmm), play baseball for a few hours, eat ice cream, and then go to a pub in Portsmouth. Somewhere in there Katie wants to give me her present as well. All the people at work gave me a card with a meal pass in it. Basically gives me free food for a week in the company cafeteria. That and one of the girls across from me made me a birthday hat out of some waste paper. It is currently staring at me from the top of my monitor.
Its been a good day.
Last night I watched one of the best baseball games I've ever seen. Red Sox v. Yankees, 5 people thrown out because of a bench clearing brawl that started between A-Rod and Jason Varitek. Yankees were winning by two going into the ninth and Bill Mueller hit a two run walk-off homer to win it, 11-10. Incredible. To make it even better the Sox won again tonight.
The only downside to these games was that they were nationally broadcast. Fox took Saturday and ESPN did Sunday. The commentary was truly awful on both parts, but especially for Fox. They kept trying to compare the game to a musical (actually comparing several players to Frank Sinatra) and just had no clue in general as to what was actually happening on the field. They submitted a 1 hour rain delay as the play of the game. I'll repeat that, a DELAY before the game even started was suggested as a PLAY of the GAME. Awful.
ESPN was a little better, but I'm convinced that the Democratic party sent the company a large check to have them show pictures of John Kerry every five minutes. Then they interviewed him for 10 minutes. I'm sorry, but when I'm watching a game I want to watch the game. I do not want to be blinded by the reflection of the lights off Mr. Kerry's forehead and teeth (the man CANNOT stop smiling). To make matters worse I could practically hear the synapses misfiring in Jon Miller's head throughout the game. He would be in mid-sentence and just stop talking and take off on a new topic. Intersperse that with random yelling over routine plays:
And THERE'S A SOFT GROUNDER TO SHORT. NOMAR HAS IT! HE THROWS HIM OUT AT FIRST!
Its unecessary and annoying. Please stop.
Right, enough about baseball. Everyone should go check out the massive argument regarding dating over at Spoon's place. I purposefully didn't get involved since I've already voiced my opinions here. I always like seeing how these discussions turn out. Usually the end result is the same, but every now and then it gets interesting.
I'll blog some more tomorrow from work. By then I'll be 21. I will legally be able to purchase alcoholic beverages in this great country of ours. Scary.
Its been so long...
Honestly, I just can't stand doing ANYTHING on a 56k modem. I have about zero incentive to look at anything on the internet at that speed...much less spend a bunch of time writing. Ok, so I'm a lazy bum. That's also pretty true. Regardless, I cannot wait to get back to my house in Chatty where broadband cable goodness is calling my name. That and a certain 32 inch high def television which also has cable and a certain group of housemates who have nothing better to do than sit and watch...hehe..I LOVE you guys :).
It recently occurred to me that I haven't blogged since I was an employee of Orion Seafood International (over a month ago) and I thought I should at least throw up an update as to my current state of slavery. At this point in time I am an employee of trash overlord Waste Management. I'd like to point out how ironic it is that just yesterday my buddy Chris blogged about how a trash truck slammed into his car. See, if that had happened up here (in New Hampshire) I would quite likely have gotten a very angry call from Chris (and rightfully so). That's what I do here. I take calls from people who have problems or who want their trash picked up. Typically these people are angry, they quite often feel personally offended that our trucks might be an hour or two late picking up their trash (which in most cases is still only 11am, FYI). In general, my calls are from old people who have nothing better to do than count the number of trash cans still out on their streets and then call in to report. Its quite insane really and I've decided this job is doing nothing to improve my impressions of senior citizens in general. But hey, I get paid roughly $100/day to do this so I really have no right to complain. I get my own cubicle, computer, phone account, etc etc...not bad for a temp job.
I've been playing lots of baseball up here too. Me, Katie and her brother Sam pretty much single-handedly organized a church baseball league. We play each Thursday night and practice lots of other nights. Its great stuff. Really frustrating at times when the people who really have no idea what they are doing are called upon to bat or make a play in the field, but what are you going to do... I think I want to try and start one of these at Cornerstone when I get back in town. I'll probably try to enlist JQ and the boys in the Flat 54A House to grab some people and help me get started. We'll see.
What else...oh yeah, saw Spidey 2 twice. Absolutely incredible movie. After finding out who the scriptwriters were I knew it would be great, but wow. If anyone reading this hasn't seen the movie yet you had best get going, make sure you read Mesh's review also...great stuff. I've also been watching large amounts of The Simpsons and (recently) The West Wing, which is actually quite funny and well written.
Anyways, that about wraps it up for now. I've been writing this in between phone calls so it has taken alot longer than it should have. Its good to see that Covblogs is still alive and kicking and that some new blood is coming in as well (and it brings joy to my heart that Eb finally has a blog). More entries will be forthcoming....