So it is known:

-I am on vacation. I will be back in Chicago on the 1st of May.
-I still have a job, despite my, seemingly, best efforts at not having one.
-I am in Denver now, and will be getting into DC Wednesday night.
-I know. Shut up. I will never be a travel agent.

Otherwise, I'm having fun and kicking back. If I post anything, its gonna be, well, odd. Because as we all know, vacations are made for letting yourself go, and I've been holding in my drinking desires lately. This equals at least three terribly, terribly awkward moments created by booze for me.

Expect hilarity at my personal expense.

Addendum: And you will Know us by the Trail of the Dead is FUCKING AMAZING live. If you can, see them. Now. Go.
- posted by Pat @ 9:17 PM

 
Monday blues...

Not this time. A morning rocked by Air and Joseph Nothing. Spectacular fever dreams on the train to work. Dreaming of my vacation while going up the escalator. Being happy I am always 15 minutes late while sitting down at my computer.

Wondering what my teammate is doing.

Getting stuff done. Fixing old code. Getting bugged to do random shit I know I shouldn't be supporting. Getting it done right. Finally. Fuck you. Eating a ham sandwhich. With Mayo. And an apple.

Wondering what my teammate is doing. Really, your job is not that complex.

Remembering that it was my teammate who said we should shorten the deadlines we were offering to our boss. Being very glad I didn't listen to her. Finishing my work until Wednesday. Realizing I need her to finish now. And a dba. In dulles. Where I can't hit him.

Wondering if it really takes 3 hours to find a file. That seems a bit excessive, teamy.

Chatting with friends. Heading to a concert on Friday. Got tickets. Yes Koby, no Adam. Damn. Got reallly bored. Read some quotes. Got tired. Got hungry.

Stop pouting and furrowing your brow, your job is not that complex. Seriously. Blah.

Also, yes, I am your boss. Stop bothering other people first.

Four days left. All I need to do is last four more days without going off the handle, then vacation. This is actually one of the things that concerns me with vacations. As long as I know there is no change, I grind. When I know there is a vacation coming, I get all worried I am going to miss something. Which means I am actually more in need of the vacation when it happens, then if I never planned it in the first place. Vacations are stressors for me. I need more surprise trips to foreign lands. I suppose I should start with one.

Rembering that I am strange and wondering if stream of conscious posts are ever entertaing.
- posted by Pat @ 5:00 PM

 
In anticipation.

My personal odometer rolls over tomorrow. Weee....

I, like Koby, have crazy shenanigans planned for my birthday: I'll be watching anime and drinking coffee. I am the craziest fucker in town. And then, I will go home, sleep and probably be late for work on thursday. This is, in a nutshell, exactly what I want to do. And, surprisingly enough, its what I would have been doing even if it wasn't my birthday. Except maybe this time we can finally watch the next episodes of Ghost In the Shell: Standalone Complex. My heart cries for them!

And my great birthday plans for the weekend? Nothing for me. I've been drinking waaay too much lately. I'm gonna go out and have tons of fun with good friends, but its gonna be non-alcoholic fun. There will be mad boozing going on around me, but I gotta take a pass. Why? Why? Well, lemme tell you...

"I get the red out
when I take my lead out."
-Aqueduct

Confused? Rad. I fucking win. Happy birthday to me, its a day to be chill. And when its your turn, lets kick ass and take names all over your major metropolitan area. When its your turn, lets make sure the cops are involved and that someone is getting arrested. Don't worry, I can always post your bail. But its my ballsing day. No pushing in front. No pushing in the back. And GODDAMNIT SHITBRAKE, stop MOSHING to FUCKING TMBG!

Its been over 4 years, those fuckers still piss me off. SO MUCH HATE.
- posted by Pat @ 11:33 AM

 
In spite of Paul.

I hit a bar last night with my sister and a friend. We were enjoying a Guiness and my sister offered to buy me a beer if I went and karaoke'd "I'm a little teapot". Now, this was a particularly devious ploy because at the start of the night I had clearly stated, "Hey guys, I need to hit an ATM for I have 5 dollars and want more then one beer." My sister and our friend said they would buy me beers. And now I must sing for them.

I, reluctantly, accepted the Guiness in exchange for 64 seconds of tormenting the world with my vocals. There was much cheering and revelry. Apparently making an ass of yourself is still in. This is a comforting idea.

On my way back to my booth, and free beer, I am hailed by one Tommy R. I haven't seen Tom in 6 years. And he only recognized me because I was singing. Tom is also friends with my sister and the mysterious other person with us. We chat, drink and end up closing Quigly's. Everyone was planning on being in bed by 11ish. Instead, it was boozy passing out at 2 am.

For Paul: Tom was the guy who bought us the handel of Rum on the night you, Lynn and I drank in your dorm room freshman year. Yes, the night that caused me to be hungover for three and a half days.

Addendum for Paul: The ChiSox are currently projecting to a 162-0 record. By my count, we have 160 more wins to cheer in the regular season alone. Keep your water handy, for we will be racous!
- posted by Pat @ 11:56 AM

 
I've had my first box of cracker jack.

Its a cool, windy Monday here in Chicago and something is excellent. You can almost smell it on the wind. Something... something being grilled. A hamburger? No, a hotdog? No, a polish with onions. The onions are being made right next to the polish. Its a thing of a beauty. Tasty anyway. They taste best with the sun on your face, you butt in a blue plastic seat and that seat located at 35th and Shields.

Sadly, I am not heading to opening day this year. Even sadder, is that I will not be continuing my personal opening day tradition of faking it. I usually grab some friends, or just myself, schlep up to a friendly bar and watch the game. We cheer, moan and call our manager a moron. No, today I have to catch the game over that interweb thing, but with luck I will get the ChiSox radio announcers. Oh Farmer and Rooney, how I have missed you.

My building, in a surprising turn of events, decided to celebrate the start of the baseball season. They did this by handing out boxes of cracker jack to everyone walking in. I almost mugged the man handing them out. Mugged him and then hugged him.

Baseball starts today people, and I've had my first box of cracker jack. Have you?
- posted by Pat @ 2:13 PM