Filed under: Life — at 9:10 am by jim

10-4, good buddy!!!

Haha, that one never gets old.  Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, but I just haven’t thought of any good topics.  Hopefully that will change soon.

Filed under: Life — at 10:57 am by jim

Yes, it’s a rather arbitrary amount… but what would you do if you just happened to have an extra three grand lying around?  That’s the question I’ve been asking myself for the past week.

Every month, my printed bank statement arrives from Wachovia… it always shows my usual AT WORK REGULAR CKG account, with a balance anywhere between $10 and $4000.  That’s just the checking account into which my company auto-deposits my monthly paychecks.  I then withdraw all of the money and spend it on essential goods like alcohol and fast food.

But in addition to that account, my bank statement also shows a FREE STUDENT CKG account with the exact amount of $3194.09.  This account has been on there every single month, for well over a year.  I never really thought anything of it, because I couldn’t imagine having $3200 that I somehow misplaced.  That’s basically one month’s take-home income for me, and I would have realized that it wasn’t in the correct bank account when I tried to pay some of my bills.  So instead, I figured maybe this was a line item on my bank statement that actually represented my overdraft protection, or something weird like that.

Yet I still thought that I should check, just to be sure that I didn’t have a whole lot of extra money just sitting there.  Besides, it was kind of odd that the amount never changed.  So last week, I planned to go over to the bank to ask them about the account… I never got around to it until yesterday, so I spent a whole week thinking about what I would do if this was money that I could actually spend.

I could use the money to completely pay off my car loan on the Corolla… then I would have an extra $170 each month to spend however I wanted.  When I combine that with my recent annual raise, I would have an additional $500 a month in disposable income (used for alcohol and fast food).

Alternatively, I could test my investment skills on the stock market… that could be a fun hobby, and it would have the potential for financial gains too.

Or maybe I’d just use the money for a vacation.  With $3200, I could take an trip to pretty much anywhere for a couple of weeks.  I’d only have to choose a destination.

Well after all of that daydreaming, I finally went to the bank yesterday and asked about the account.  The teller looked a little confused, because the account number didn’t even show up under my name… in fact, she said the person wasn’t even the same nationality as me.  I’m not sure why she told me that, but it was kind of funny.

When she realized the situation, she started talking very quietly… I’m guessing that maybe she didn’t want other customers to hear what had happened.  So she had me speak with someone else in the bank… this person was also a bit surprised by the situation.  She took down the two account numbers and said she’d fix the problem.  Several hours later, I received a call to confirm that the account was not actually mine, and it was no longer linked to me.

Amusingly, I feel as if I lost $3200, even though I technically never had it.

Filed under: Life — at 9:11 am by jim

I woke up at 6:00am this morning because my right eye was very irritated. It was really pink, but I don’t know if it actually qualifies as “pink eye” (conjunctivitis). The redness has gone down quite a bit in the last few hours, so that’s promising.

As a perk, the left eye looks much whiter in comparison.

Filed under: Life — at 2:50 pm by jim

Yesterday I received something interesting in the mail:

A promotional packet of Gas-X Thin Strips.  No, this wasn’t a message from one of my friends… six months ago someone sent me a link to a Gas-X web site where you could register to receive a couple of the strips to try.  I filled out my information, submitted it, and then completely forgot about it.  Well, the strips finally arrived.

Just in time too… yesterday for lunch I had a bacon cheeseburger with some tater tots.  Then for dinner I had some hot wings and fries, washed down with a pitcher of beer.  That’s the sort of meal that a man should eat while watching the MLB All-Star game.

However, it’s also the sort of meal that’s going to give a man gas.  So at midnight, I broke open the package.

Two strips.  I opened one of the strip packages, and the actual Gas-X strip looks just like one of those Listerine breath strips, except with a “GX” on it:

So I took it… the peppermint flavor is actually pretty subtle when compared to a breath strip.  It definitely wasn’t enough to kill my bar-food breath.  I’m guessing that they added the peppermint in order to mask the flavor of whatever medicine they put in it.

Anyway, the thing definitely worked.  By the time that I went to sleep at 1:00am, I was feeling fine.  I’m not sure if these are available in stores yet, but they’ll definitely be a worthwhile investment.

Filed under: Life — at 9:46 am by jim

I hope everyone had a good Fourth of July.

A few people have asked how I did on the Peachtree Road Race… it went pretty well.  I ended up running with two of my friends that also had numbers.  They didn’t plan to run very hard, so I decided to run with them for only the first half of it.  This part is the downhill section of the course.  After that, I picked up the pace and ran the uphill half a bit faster.  At the end, my time was 1 hour, 5 minutes.  Not bad, given that I wasn’t really pushing for half of the race.

Afterwards, I took a nap for a couple of hours, and then headed to a pool party.  That was a lot of fun… plenty of Leinenkugel was consumed, and we played a few dumb pool games.  Good times.

Filed under: Life — at 11:14 pm by jim

The Peachtree Road Race is exactly one week from today… for anyone not from Atlanta, this is the 10K that happens every year on July 4th.  As of three days ago, I didn’t expect to run in it.  I didn’t register, so I didn’t receive a number for the race.

Everything changed on Monday though, because one of my friends knew someone that had an available number.  So I accepted it, even though I haven’t gone running in over a month.  So at that point, I had 9 days to train.  I figured that I could do 3-mile runs every other day, and that would at least give my body a warning of what was to come.

So on Monday I did a 2-mile run… I felt horrendous afterwards.  It took me 20 minutes (10 min/mi), which isn’t too bad for my first run in over a month.  But tonight when I went running again, I was able to run three miles in only 28 minutes.  I felt like I was going to die at the end of it, but it was a pretty big accomplishment.

Hopefully my runs on Friday and Sunday will go pretty well… if I can run them in 28 minutes again, I’ll be pleased with that.  Then after Sunday, I’ll give my muscles a break until race day on Wednesday.

Oh, and on a related note… this is what I drank BEFORE running tonight:

It gave me a much-needed energy boost… and then this is what I drank AFTER running tonight:

Mmmmmm…. Fruity Pebbles beer.  I mean, Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat beer.  I found it at the Capital City Liquor Store right down the street from my condo.  You might think that I shouldn’t drink beer while training for the race… but I burned almost 500 calories today while running, so I think I deserve a couple of brewskis.

Filed under: Life — at 3:34 pm by jim

July hasn’t even started, and I already know that all of my disposable income for that month is gone.

First is the $40 fee I’m paying for my Peachtree Road Race number.  I just found out yesterday that I’d be getting a number from a friend’s friend.  Then I’m also buying a Georgia Tech football season ticket, which will run me about $250.  At least I’m getting seven Saturdays of fun for that admission price.

Then I’ll be seeing three different doctors next month… don’t worry, it’s just annual check-ups.  Nonetheless, I’ll have to pay co-pays, plus I already know that I’ll be paying $300 for an annual supply of contact lenses.  And then the BMW is going to the car doctor to get some work done.

So that’s what’s in store for July… the money may be well-spent, but that doesn’t make me feel any better.

Filed under: Life — at 4:53 pm by jim

Generally I don’t care so much about the quality of my beers… any cheap beer works for me, as long as it doesn’t give me bitter beer face.  I’m fine drinking something as basic as Coors Light, Miller Light, or Bud Light.  When I feel like drinking something “classy”, maybe I’ll try a good pilsner or wheat beer.

This weekend though, I sampled one of the most interesting and memorable beers ever… Leinenkugel Sunset wheat beer.  What makes this so much more memorable than any other wheat beer I’ve had?  Well, it tastes just like Fruity Pebbles cereal.

Before you disregard this beer, hear me out… the Fruity Pebbles flavor is actually GOOD.  It’s a nice citrus undertone that goes really well with the yeasty flavor of the beer.  It’s essentially a substitute for the lemon slice that most bars would put in a wheat beer.

And let’s be clear, it’s not so overbearing that it produces a “girlie drink”.  It’s still a good masculine beer, the sort of thing you’d put down while washing a car or doing some yard work.

When I find a store that stocks this stuff, I’ll let you guys know.  It’s worth picking up a six-pack though.

Filed under: Life — at 3:05 pm by jim

Today is the Summer Solstice… we’ll have more sunlight available today than on any other day of the year.

However, I’ll probably get almost the exact same amount of sunlight that I get all other days of the year… roughly 10 minutes when I drive from home to work… 10 minutes when I drive from work to lunch… 10 minutes when I drive from lunch back to work… and then 10 minutes when I drive from work to home.  So given the 14.5 hours of sunlight that will be available today, I will be outside for 40 minutes of it.  The rest of the time, I will be hidden behind closed blinds.

So for me, the Summer Solstice is the day on which I miss the most amount of sunlight… almost 14 hours of sunlight that I don’t utilize.

Filed under: Life — at 2:55 pm by jim

I had a really late lunch today, around 1:30pm.  At that point, I wasn’t even sure where I wanted to eat, so I just started driving around.  I ended up at the Fellini’s on Ponce De Leon.  For anyone who cares, I had their italian sausage pizza, and it was really good.

But onto the actual story… when I left the restaurant around 2:15, there were a bunch of motorcycle cops blocking off intersections along the road.  There were probably about 10 motorcycle cops in all.  That’s not the odd part, because they do this whenever there’s a funeral procession for a significant person, or if there’s a campaigning politician or something.

So I was sitting in traffic, waiting for the big procession to go past.  Finally I see it inching along Ponce, probably going about 10mph.  When it finally got past me, I saw what it was… just some dude on a bicycle.  Additionally, he was being flanked by three cop cars and one of those fire department SUVs.

He wasn’t in good shape, so I know he’s not a professional cyclist… and he didn’t look familiar, so he must not be famous.  I’m not sure what to think of this.  I did a quick search on AJC.com, but nothing came up there either, so I’m stumped.

It’s got to be something special though, because I know I wouldn’t get a dozen police escorts if I decided to start riding a bike down Ponce.  I wouldn’t even get a dozen police showing up once I got shot near Ponce & Boulevard.

Anyway, really weird.

Filed under: Life — at 2:57 pm by jim

Don’t I already sound more intelligent, just by saying that I read The Economist?  Anyway, I came across this short article about the per-capita alcohol consumption in various countries:

http://economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9325487 

Fascinating… our average consumption is well below European countries, because of our higher minimum drinking age.  We Americans apparently guzzle down a lowly 8.6 liters per year.

Upon first reading this, I panicked… I figured that I’m drinking at least 20 beers each week, which is 7 liters of beer… and we’re not even looking at shots and mixed drinks.  So in one week, I drink almost as much as the average American drinks in a year.  How is that possible???

But then I realized that they’re talking about PURE alcohol.  AAAAAHHHH… well that’s cool, I never drink pure alcohol.  So that’s 0.

Oh, you mean that they want me to calculate how much alcohol is in each of my drinks?  OK.  As an example, if a 12oz beer is 4% alcohol by volume, then that one beer is equivalent to 0.48oz of PURE alcohol.  So from those 20 beers, I drink 9.6oz of pure alcohol each week.

Add to that six shots each week… shots are roughly 40% alcohol (80 proof), and each shot is 1.5oz.  So that’s 6 * 0.40 * 1.5, which comes to 3.6oz of pure alcohol as shots.

And finally, add mixed drinks to that.  I’m not much of a mixed drink guy, so I only have about four of those as well each week… but the bars usually make those pretty strong, so each one is probably equal to about 1.5 shots of alcohol.  So that’s (4 * 1.5) * 0.40 * 1.5 = 3.6oz of pure alcohol as mixed drinks.

Alright, so I drink (9.6 + 3.6 + 3.6) = 16.8oz of pure alcohol each week…. and I probably do that about 48 weeks a year.  So that’s 806oz, or 24 liters of pure alcohol each year.  Well, it’s good to know that I’m above average in something.

Filed under: Life — at 4:49 pm by jim

Almost every Sunday for the past couple of months, I’ve been getting together with a bunch of old college friends to play in a kickball league.  Our team, the Kickin’ Kids, finished the season with a 5-3 record.  That’s actually four more wins than we had during the fall season!  Our regular season play was also decent enough to get us seeded 6th out of the 16 teams for the post-season tournament.

We figured that we had a pretty good shot against our opponent in the first round of the tourney… we had played them in our 5th game of the regular season.  Although we lost to them that day, it was only by one run… plus we had a lot of momentum because of the three consecutive wins we had following that loss.

The game was pretty intense… for the post-season, games are shortened from 7 innings down to 5 innings, in order to get all 5 tournament rounds played in one day.  This makes each scoring opportunity just a little bit more pressing.

My first at-bat of the game came during the third inning… there was one out, and no men on base.  I considered trying to get a solid kick past the outfielders… however, they had been playing some really strong defense that day, so it was more likely that it would be caught for an out.  Instead, I bunted the ball in order to get an easy base hit.

The kicker after me was a girl, so I knew she wasn’t going to do much with her at-bat.  Sure enough, she kicked a grounder right to the second baseman.  By the time that he had fielded it, I was already past him and to the base.  He went for an easy out at first, and this gave me a chance to go for third.  I made it in plenty of time, and they instead tossed the ball to home plate to prevent me from trying to get the run.

So at this point, there’s two outs with me on third base… the next kicker sent a bunt straight down the third base line.  The third baseman made a smart play by fielding it and holding it there, to prevent me from going for home.

So finally with two outs and men on first and third, one of our power kickers came to the plate.  He liked the look of the first pitch, so he took it and sent it deep to right field… however, their right fielder was in position and made an easy catch to end the inning.

The rest of the game flew by, and at the end of the fifth inning, the score was tied 3-3.  The game was now going into overtime, but we maintained our calm… we were holding our own, so we figured we could stop the other team’s offense one last time.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case.  The other team scored 5 runs in the top of the inning, so the pressure was suddenly on us to produce.

Our first two batters didn’t fare so well.  They both kicked into easy outs, leaving us with two outs, but still needing 6 runs to win the game.  Things picked up after that though… first one runner got on base… then another… and then another.  We had runners on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.  The next batter HAD to produce, or else this was the end of our entire kickball season.  Who was that next batter?

Me… talk about a lot of pressure all on one man’s shoulders.  For the first two pitches, I couldn’t get my timing right.  I was behind the ball both times, so I let them roll by for strikes.  Two outs and two strikes… I knew that even if the next pitch wasn’t quite right, I had to kick it, just to be sure that I wasn’t caught looking for the last out of the season.

So on that third pitch, I really jumped on it.  I made good solid contact, and the ball was headed down the left-field line with some good speed.  It flew just over the third baseman’s reach and landed just barely fair!  Two of our runners scored, and we still had runners on first and second base.  This game was getting close!

Unfortunately, the batter after me failed to produce again… she gave it a pretty good kick, but it was only a pop-up to the first baseman.  Game Over, 10-7.

So that’s the end of the Spring 2007 edition of the Kickin’ Kids… I’m not sure when the next season will begin, but I’m already looking forward to it.  Supposedly our current team is going to split up into two separate teams, because we already have a pretty big roster, and we have a few more people that want to join us for next time.  I’m not sure how we’ll decide to split up… maybe we’ll do it like in elementary school, where two captains each pick a player one-at-a-time.  I’d be cool with that, as long as I’m not picked last.

Filed under: Life — at 11:22 pm by jim

Contrary to what most people thought, I’ve survived to be 27 years of age. That’s 50% older than 18-year-olds. Not that it stops 18-year-old girls from flirting with me.

Given that though, being 27 isn’t too bad. I have an awesome BMW M3 with which I can woo said 18-year-old chicks… plus I like my job… plus I earn some pretty good money doing my job.

So what sucks about being 27? Well, nothing really… except that for every birthday, Georgia requires me to pay my Ad Valorem tax (”ad valorem” is Latin for “according to value”). Yes, Georgia charges its citizen every year for owning their cars. This year, Georgia charged me $125 for owning the Corolla, plus $165 for owning the M3. That comes to $290. Plus I’m required to get $25 emissions tests done on my vehicles. So for my birthday, Georgia was nice enough to charge me annually $340 for owning my two cars.

I was planning on spending that money on a Nintendo Wii and some Wii video games… but I guess Georgia thought it would be better for me to celebrate my birthday by paying Ad Valorem taxes on my cars. Next month, maybe I can celebrate the fact that my birthday is NOT in July.

Filed under: Life — at 1:25 am by jim

Last night I went to a sports bar with one of my friends to watch the Yankees-Red Sox game.  I’m a Yankees fan, and he’s a Red Sox fan… so one of us was going to leave happy.

Although the Yankees were 13 games behind Boston in the AL East before the game, this game was still very important on a psychological level.  If the Red Sox won, it would be yet another reminder of their dominance this season… and if the Yankees won, it showed that they still have what it takes to beat the Red Sox… something of a momentum shift.

So me and my buddy showed up at the sports bar, each of us wearing our respective team’s hat.  The moment I walked in the door, people were groaning.  One guy said, “Man, how could you actually cheer for the damn Yankees?”  Hey, it’s my team.

Throughout the game, it became clear that EVERYONE sitting at the bar with us was cheering for the Red Sox.  It’s not because they’re Red Sox fans.  A few people disclosed who they actually cheer for… there was one Mets fan, an Astros fan, and a couple of Braves fans… but that doesn’t stop them from hating the Yankees.  That’s just how it is… you either love the Yankees, or you hate the Yankees.  And if you hate them, then it’s your duty to swear and get pissed off every time they score a run or get a hit or pitch a strikeout.

So the whole game, I had to listen to a half-dozen guys get pissed off every time one of the Yankees did anything good.  And whenever the Yankees did something bad, people cheered louder than if we had just discovered the cure for halitosis or something.

However, things worked out in the end… the Yankees won.  w00t.

Filed under: Life, Cars — at 1:36 pm by jim

I installed the new radio last night… unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures of the installation process.  It’s for the best though, because I ended up breaking the wiring harness while removing it from the old head unit.  It was actually only a little plastic retention clip that I broke, but I would have preferred if it stayed in one piece.

So far, I’m loving the new radio… it’s the best repair I’ve made on my car in a LONG time.  Not only is it nice to listen to music, but it’s also nice to NOT listen to the car’s various rattles.

Also, I think I somehow put it in European mode… AM stations increment in 8kHz intervals or something, rather than the usual 10kHz.  Fortunately, I never listen to AM radio.

Update: Here are the photos.

 

and without a flash… sorry it’s so blurry:

Filed under: Life, Cars — at 10:47 am by jim

After leaving Keasbey, NJ at 6:37am yesterday, my car’s CD player arrived in Kennesaw, GA at 11:49pm last night.  For those that are unfamiliar, Kennesaw is one of Atlanta’s suburbs.

I’m left wondering whether the FedEx package is travelling via air or ground transportation.  In 17 hours, the package travelled 880 miles (according to Google Maps).  That’s entirely possible, since the estimated trip time is just under 14 hours.

Additionally, FedEx packages that go through the airport will generally show a location south of Atlanta (by the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport).  Kennesaw is north of the city.  Hmmmm… not that it’s significant which way my package is delivered, but I’d be impressed if FedEx drove packages all the way from NJ to GA.  I’d also be impressed if FedEx bothered to drive the package almost 900 miles in one day.  I would have thought it would stop overnight at some other processing facility somewhere along the way.

However, I’m not complaining… this means that there’s a chance that I’ll have it by this weekend.  w00t.

Filed under: Life, Cars — at 9:53 am by jim

This past weekend, I finally bought something with some of the money from my tax refund.  After driving the BMW for the past six months with a broken radio, I finally purchased a new head unit.  I decided to go with a new BMW factory radio, rather than an aftermarket one.  There are several advantages to this:

1. The display on the BMW radio is the same color as all of the lights on my gauge cluster.  Most of the aftermarket ones use very bright blue lights.  This isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s just not what I wanted.
2. The BMW radio will just plug right into the stock radio harness.  With anything aftermarket, I would have had to get proper converter harnesses to connect it.
3. The BMW radio isn’t likely to be stolen out of my car.  With aftermarket, I’d have to make sure to remove the face plate every time that I leave the car.

The seller shipped it yesterday from New York, NY.  I was given a tracking number, so I’m now able to follow its movement online.  In 10 hours of travel yesterday, it went all the way from NY, NY to Keasbey, NJ.  It left Keasbey at 6:37am this morning, so I’m somewhat interested to see how far it goes today.  I’m pretty sure this is ground shipping, so I’ll be happy if the package gets all the way down to Maryland.

Filed under: Life — at 12:42 am by jim

So after a nice 11-hour work day, I’m here at home drinking some beers and watching the movie Torque. I’ve never heard of it, but it looks like it’s the motorcycle version of Fast and the Furious.

I missed the first minute or two, but it apparently starts with the main character Ford cruising through the desert on his motorcycle… he flies by a couple of guys that are driving some four-cylinder import tuner cars, and the guys get pissed that they’ve been beaten by a motorcycle. They eventually find him at a diner, where he mocks them for driving cars. Haha, those car owners, living with unnecessary luxuries like A/C and radios! Ford promptly busts out a can of whoop-ass on these two car-owning losers.

Next up, Ford and two other bikers are cruising along the desert highway… they do a couple of wheelies, just to show that they mean business. As they’re driving along, Ice Cube’s biker gang is chilling on the side of the highway, just relaxing and grilling up some food. You’d think I’m joking, but I’m not… they’re really using a grill along a highway in the middle of nowhere. Ice Cube’s gang chases down Ford and his two friends, and an argument starts about how Ford stole some of Ice Cube’s bikes. A fight almost breaks out, but it’s suddenly stopped when the cops show up.

After that narrow escape, Ford and his buddies drive into a biker town out in the middle of the desert. You’d expect the town to be populated by a bunch of grizzly, bearded, old biker guys on Harleys, but you’d be wrong. As any expert on motorcycles knows, these desert biker towns are filled with people in their 20s cruising around on crotch rockets. Additionally, the town has CHICKS IN BIKINIS!!! YES!!! BEST MOVIE EVER! The chicks in bikinis are just chilling in the town, earning money by washing people’s motorcycles. Just so you know, washing motorcycles requires lots of soapy water… also, the money from washing motorcycles goes towards boob jobs. Awesome.

Next up, the protagonist Ford walks up to a tent where some hot chick is selling motorcycle parts. As we learn from their conversation, Ford must have been dating this girl before he left for China because he was in trouble with the law. She’s pissed off that he left… and he’s unapologetic, because apologies are not part of biker culture. Just as they’re getting ready for a big argument, yet another biker gang shows up to start a fight with Ford. Much like with Ice Cube’s gang, the leader of this gang is pissed off that Ford stole some of this gang’s motorcycles too. Although he’s outnumbered, Ford survives based on his wit and charisma.

At this point, I’m only about fifteen minutes into the movie. It’s pretty late at night, but I may need to keep watching. This film may have no plot, but just give it a few years… Torque will have a cult following even bigger than the movie Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Filed under: Life — at 8:56 am by jim

I’m used to 40-hour work weeks.  It’s only on rare occasions that I ever have to put in late nights at work to meet a deadline… this week is going to be one of those occasions.

What makes this especially funny is that while I see this 60-hour week as a real test of my endurance, I have several friends who work that many hours almost every week… and then think of the people that hold down two jobs in order to make ends meet… I’m not sure how people can do that.

Regardless, I imagine I’ll be comatose by Friday.

Filed under: Life — at 3:49 pm by jim

Yesterday I took a Risk Management course that is being offered by my company.  This course is part of a curriculum to prepare employees for a future in project management.  Our instructor explained to us how we should identify, analyze, and monitor risks throughout a project’s life cycle in order to prevent them from derailing the entire project.

While talking about “identifying” risks, the instructor told us about a few different sources of risk, including personnel turnover, technology changes, and scope creep.  When we were on the subject of personnel turnover, I made one of my dumbest comments while on-the-job at GTRI.  It was effectively something like this:

“Well, let’s say that your project relies on the expertise of one specific person at GTRI… this individual is one of the only individuals in their field, like Computational Perception or something.  So what would happen if the person suddenly is unavailable mid-project, and they couldn’t complete the work?  Maybe the person becomes pregnant… how do you handle it?”

The instructor explained that prior to submitting a project bid, you can’t ask every female researcher whether she intends to become pregnant.  Everyone got a pretty good laugh out of it.

I quickly thought of a new example, and so I suggested that maybe it’s a researcher who had been talking about going back to school for a PhD soon, and you wanted to know how that would impact the researcher’s availability for this specific project… the instructor was able to give a more applicable answer, and we went on with the course.

However, whenever I become the manager of a project with a female researcher on it, I’ll remember the awkward example that I used in Risk Management class.