deathmetalthunder dot com

I'm wiped out. I need to hire a servant or something to clean up my place or somebody to kick me in the ass. Maybe both. And the VCR ran out of tape so I missed The Office. At least my red pepper pesto tastes good on a BLT. Well, a BLT without tomatoes.

Oh, another boss' boss is coming tomorrow and another boss in December. So this will be number 5 and four, respectively, in less than 1 1/2 years. Oh, and the new boss in December is unknown. This place is great!

I'm not sure where to begin, but the fact I'm glad to be home is surely a place to start. Vegas is indeed a place where shit happens that should stay there.

And have I mentioned recently how I should have some sort of crew documenting my every move? Not only would they provide interesting, controversial, and thought provoking information back to you, but they might be able to offer me some level of protection. But the stories they could tell...

Instead you'll need to buy me some beers because it ain't coming out here.

Labels: travel

This is a wierd, wierd town. I'm not sure where to begin, but I do know I saw a small, mechanical monkey walking behind some dude and nobody thought that odd. Nobody but me and neolefty. And did I mention he was riding a little bike?

Labels: neolefty

Just heard the news from my brother about Mooch. Damn Matt Millen straight to Hell! He's f'd up the Lions and now the only help for salvation is gone. Friggin Ford family runs that team worse then their car company.

Labels: football, sports

At least not cheap. Eleven bucks for friggin a day of internet? I like this Bally's place, but that's a rip off.

On th Houston-Las Vegas leg, we flew over the Grand Canyon and Lake Mead. pretty darn desolate, almost like its a desert or something.

Labels: travel

On less than two hours sleep, but we can sleep when they're carrying me around after all the money I win.

I have put off the packing until now and need to get up around 4 am. Good times!

I picked me up some cheap DVDs and CDs from Best Buy. Yes, even I shopped on the day after Thanksgiving. Though hungover as all get out.

Need to get some shit done around here before leaving tomorrow. I'll have too much money to count to deal with things around here, that's for sure. See, me and neolefty have a system.

Labels: neolefty

A pretty boring night last night and now prepping the mashed taters for Thanksgiving over at Aces place. Rumor of a brined Turkey after, hopefully, a Lions victory!

Labels: aces, football, sports

I do not know why I am still here. I think everyone else has been gone three or four hours. Well, maybe with the big Vegas trip I'm trying to get caught up on work? Doubt it, though I am on conference calls tomorrow and Friday.

Looks like Disney got some damage control out in terms of their attendance numbers. Disney and their spin doctors...

Is it wrong that I love that we've got all the way to Gamma? I know people are getting killed, but I love it! Justnot the people dying part.

Holy shit, I barely woke up this morning. I shot out of bed and it was 8:30. I made the mistake of checking my work email late last night and there was some sort of fire drill going on. Most of the leadership for the group I work with was online dealing with something insignificant that got blown out of proportion. Well, not so insignificant as sad: a big company like this one ran out of memory on this production environment. Fortunately it wasn't client facing, but still not so good.

I must still be asleep because I'm actually detailing work f ups which nobody but a couple people will give a shit about.

This is my friggin only break today and I should be warming up some food. WTF?!

Well, I was wondering when that post was going to get taken down. It was only a matter of time. Fortunately I've been down this road before and new when I needed a screen capture.

Great link from neolefty; who would've thought you could get so much for tickets to see a Panda?

Labels: neolefty

This might be the smartest thing the Lions have done, but trying to get back $10 million from Charles Rogers ain't going to help in the locker room. Maybe they could just take that $10 mill from Matt Millen's salary?

Labels: football, sports

Finally home and never have I been so happy to be back home. Man, I'm beat. Long, long day. I'm going to sleep the sleep of the dead for sure.

One way to surely sober up is to kill three or four hours at assorted places. Though it delays the inevitable, it sure does delay inevitable.

Great weekend to be a fan of (the state of) Michigan sports. All the major teams lost (Lions, Red Wings, Pistons, Michigan and Michigan State Football). Hell, some of the minor teams probably lost, too. Shitty, shitty weekend. And that drubbing by the Pistons, Jebus!

Labels: basketball, football, hockey, sports

Friggin Michigan. Lloyd Carr couldn't coach his way out of a closet. Man, he's horrible. Losses to Notre Dame, Michigan State AND Ohio State in the same year? Anywhere else, he'd be gone but not at Michigan. What is it about that state and their football coaches? Well, I'll ponder that as I head up to Dallas (while I figure out how many cds of this Police box set I can listen to).

I've got some music picked out for the drive to Dallas: The Police Boxed Set and the Nirvana Boxed Set. Funny thing, them The Police, they really don't mind long song names. For example: When The World Is Running Down, You Make The..., Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, The Bed's Too Big Without You. Today, they'd cut that shit. It'd be World or Little Thing or Bed. But that was a simpler time. And longer song title time.

Played a little cards tonight (and won a bit for a change), but the key is getting to some shit together so I can head to Big D as soon as this Michigan-Ohio State game is over. And getting some big time sleep might be good, too, as I'll be staying at Seerwah's place and they're pushing maximum capacity. That and the new kid could mean little sleep for me.

Labels: gambling, seerwah

Oh, I'm glad to know that the Ohio State-Michigan game is at noon tomorrow and that Ohio State is still hated (great article, by the way).

And that gives me plenty of time to head up to Dallas, but I've decided not to attend the Pistons-Maverick's game tomorrow night. Though it could be Detroit basketball history; Detroit with a victory at Houston tonight and tomorrow in Dallas will be off to their best start ever. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Labels: basketball, sports

Fun day out with Aces down in Gruene and San Marcos. Well, the fun was really more for me as he was ill with something (or just sick of me). We had a weird detour in Kyle (because that town has no way around train tracks) where I got some samples for bathroom counter tops, San Marcos outlet to get my new Le Creuset pan, and Greune for great food at the Gristmill. Need to go to Gruene more often, nice little place.

Labels: aces, cooking, house

Busy morning already, I dropped my car off for an oil change and got my teeth cleaned (though the damn Cingular network seems to be down). Now I'm heading down to San Marcos outlet malls to check out some Le Creuset pans, but I'm going to check out counter tops for the bathrooms and get some lunch at the Gristmill in Greune on the way.

My Dad sent me this postcard from a trip I made to Europe when I was fifteen. Sounds like things haven't changed all that much. "Cooperative", huh?

To keep my AD posts going, neolefty sent me a great one about Arrested Development being offensive.

Labels: neolefty

Well, it was bound to happen, I f'd up on the lottery. The MegaMillions was up to 310 million and I had some tickets but was going to get another one last night. neolefty had reminded me of his lucky number and I scoffed at it because it was so common that I'd have to share the winnings with somebody. So I was at the HEB last night and was thinking about getting another ticket with his number, but a person was in front of the machine so I decided to not waste my money. Well, I checked this morning and #7 was the MegaBall. The numbers would've been random so I don't know what the other numbers would've been but I would've got at least a few bucks for getting the MB. Nice work! With that, I'll head to the mill where I'll be the rest of my life.

Labels: gambling, neolefty

I have an interesting and/or exciting new way of keeping my closet organized! What a way to finish off a Tuesday night.

Just got off the phone with Yo! and he just bought a house. And not just any house, the model home! A fully furnished model home, though I don't think this was a tribute to Arrested Development at all. But Yo! did things like only he could do, he bought it all: house, furniture, plates, air conditioner in the garage (so he doesn't get hot playing ping pong in the summer). I can see him walking in and just saying, "I'll take. I'll take it all. And keep the little girl's room as it is." Good work, actually, all he needs is a TV. Oh, and a ping pong table.

Labels: yo

I almost made it to the office by 9 am! If the parking lot counts, than I am a winner. Definitely would've made it if not for this old interview I heard on Stern between Stuttering John and Fred Gwynne. Gwynne is known most for his role as Herman Munster but was being interviewed at an art exhibit where Gwynne was featured. John had a funny question (well, most were funny, this was just the funniest) but the best one was asking if Vincent Van Gogh dressed up like Frankenstein when he painted.

Well, nothing much to go home to as Arrested Development will not be on (but maybe not cancelled?). Still better to get out of theo office while the getting is good. Maybe I'll do some more ironing tonight?

Oh, that darn Pepsi machine at HEB. I haven't mentioned it in a while, but the damn thing is out of Code Red again. And has been for weeks. I'm so pissed I'm going to do something I haven't done in a while, a rant.

I don't know what it is about my towels but they are a bit stank. Maybe they're from the bottom of the barrell. Literally. I've been trying to cycle through some other towels but maybe that isn't such a good idea. Do towels go bad?

So Jager just called me. The Red Wings just lost 4-1 in Vancouver, unfortunately, but he felt compelled to call and bitch at me because Todd Bertuzzi scored a hat trick (that is three goals in one game for you uninitiated hockey people out there). Just because I had him for a couple years on my fantasy hockey team doesn't mean his actions are initiated or condoned by me. Though I did authorize that attack on Steve Moore.

Labels: fantasysports, hockey, jager, sports

Lions win! Though beeting Arizona won't really make me feel much better. I'll know a bit more after next week's game in Dallas. Where I'll be!

Labels: football, sports

OK, they're trying to do it again. We can not let them cancel Arrested Development. More news later.

S. Money lent me this wacky book Platform. It is a story about boredom, sex, and sex tourism with a weird, weird ending.

Anyway, I finished off a bunch of Entertainment Weekly's laying around my house and wanted to have something to read before falling asleep. I remembered there were a couple older issues that I had uncovered so I went and grabbed one of them. It was an issue from July of 2003 (in case you didn't know, I rarely throw anything out). Well, I'm in my room last night and pick up Platform from the ground behind my end table then start thumbing through EW. I look down and there is a review of Platform.

Maybe only I find that peculiar.

And this EW is pretty decent one to flip through: there's an snippet about the prospect that Tarantino might split Kill Bill into two movies and a review of a new show called Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. It is like history in the making, only from the past.

Labels: movies, reading, s. money

I'm setting up some training sessions for multitudes of people and to make it easier, I thought, I put in buttons for folks to select their preferred date. Half of these idiots are just responding to the email. Damn them!

Something's wrong when it is at least 80° in my family room. And it was past 90 earlier today. I pray for the cold! And for some inspiration to put more than 300 words down on paper. Or laptop.

OK, I've managed to kill most of my off day with nothing to show for it, word wise. And this post ain't helping. At least the latte's are good at Mozart's.

Just over 3k words. I did the math and I need to average around 2100 a day to hit the 50k mark. It'll be a tough row to sow, that's for sure. Tomorrow I'll see about kicking out a bunch. Actually, today.

Well, that AirPort Express thing was a bit of a pain in the ass to set up, but I'll plain it on Windows. But it is now streaming to my stereo. About a week too late, but better late than never.

So I've given up on that Media Adapter and incognegro's hooked me up with this similar thing from Apple, the AirPort Express. It works as a network hub but connects to your stereo to allow streaming of anything played on iTunes. This will definitely put off the NaNoWriMo work, but hopefully not too much.

Rosco sent me this great thing detailing those Carolina Panther cheerleaders police blotter material. I don't care what the law says, but I love chicks who get pissed off and into fights after their bathroom sexual escapade gets interrupted.

I'm up well before 5:30 and I still got into the office after 9. So not only will I be exhausted around noon, but I won't be able to leave early. At least I have tomorrow off. And about eight bottles of wine laying around.

Arrested Development is the funniest show on TV. My God, tonight's episodes (yes, TWO) killed me. I need to never tape over those episodes. Never! Now I'm glad I had that Thai cooking class and couldn't see them first hand.

I'm just dragging today, but there was some news that almost woke me up: rumor of a one time bonus coming at the end of the week. That and the thought of this Thai cooking class tonight should keep me drowse land.

I felt like I was driving up north in Michigan with all the dead carcasses on the road. Invasion of the deer.

I've officially seen the strangest thing on ESPN; they had a simulated press conference with an actor playing the part of the Boston Red Sox manager. And they're doing one tomorrow for the Yankees. That's just weird.

Also weird, I'm heading into the office with an expectant arrival time before 9 am.

I don't know what the hell I was thinking.

The party was a moderate success, and I would've been best served to leave it at that. A few dozen folks screened the wines and made their choice known (though I have not tabulated them). But I had to tempt fate and head downtown. The samples I had were small enough or perhaps it was actually having some food around, but I was sober as a judge. I corrected that with The Saw with a few rounds of Jager bombs and assorted other birthday shots (one of the visiting people from Boston had their birth anniversary). Good thing we showed up at 1 or I would've done some serious damage (though I somehow ran up at $130 bar tab in that time which I think is pretty impressive for something so uneconomical after throwing a party).

Well, flash back to the last the people from Boston had visited. See, I change lives with my stupidity though it rarely makes much of an impression on me, but I can dunked my head into a fountain on the way from the bar that last time and the Boston folks thought it novel. Well, on the way back this time we happened by that same fountain. I could see it in the distance and I could hear mumoring from the crowd, the mumoring of recognition. And then inspiration hit me square in the face.

I walked right into the fountain and laid down. On the way in, I could hear The Saw say something like "Give me your phone or your wallet or something" but that was only an afterthought. See, I was too busy changing lives. I got up to head off, but there was a mad rush behind me as assorted police and security officials wanted some official statement. I explained the situation (between statements like "do you know how many homeless people piss in that fountain?" and "are you that drunk or that done?") and I'm not sure I avoided jail because they were being nice or that they didn't want a totally drenched man-boy in the back of their squad car. I'll take either one as a night that I don't end up in jail is always a good one.

Needless to say if those people show up in this town again, I'll avoid that fountain.

Now if I could just find my wallet or shoes. Cell phone works.

Labels: drinking

Please don't drunk drive the tank!

The menu is getting cut as we speak, but I think the place will look halfway respectable. And if you don't mind swedish meatballs and cheese and crackers you'll do fine. Oh, and lots of wine.

This is going to be fun, I'm basically passed out on my couch and still have food to make, the house to clean, and myself to somehow prop up. Chilly's on the way over so hopefully I can get one of those three complete.

That Graham Central Station thing was crazy: limo ride there, three free rounds, dollar beers until 10 (oh, we got there before 9 PM), cage dancing, bar dancing, and lots of other stuff, though the most embarrassing is me dropping a microphone while at the karaoke bar and then having to do 25 pushups to offset my stupidity (yes, you heard that right). Rumor has it, there are pictures. Well, I think I saw them, so the rumors must be true. Oh, and did I mention the karaoke bar has a stage and backup singers/dancers? Weird, wacky stuff. At least there was the limo ride back to make me feel civilized again. Somewhat.

And then I get home to receive a text from one of my friends who just got engaged. So I had to call her up which postponed the sleep even more.

Now I must lay down; I am dead, dead to the world. Lots of stuff to do tomorrow and I can't be too hungover.

A day as momentous as V J Day has occurred, I have completed my entryway wall. Well, the texturing is complete, but I can deal without painting for a few months more.

But now I need to get ready for tonight; as a result of a bizarre evening out at Graham Central Station, The Saw has us being picked up by a limo. Us being some of his friends and theirs from out of town. Should be interesting to say the least.

I've pissed away a good majority of the evening, but I did manage to move the old TV cabinet from my family room to my office. Funny how The Saw coming over will motivate me to do some stuff; figure I might as well show him I've been doing something/anything prior to his arrival. He got there around 10:15 and we moved my new couch into my living room. The place is almost looking respectable. After some other slight moves, I started repatching my entryway wall. I think that's the biggest house thing I need/want to do before the party. I'd say I'm about forty percent done and now I'm heading to bed. More stuff tomorrow.

Crazy, somebody in Paris has a pair. Must be out of towners.

I had this dream that some credit card company called and I told them off. Real exciting stuff.

Labels: dreams

Patches came by to drop off this leaf cover for my pool (though I really think he wanted to see how the party preperations were going), but then suggested dinner with him and 420. We ended up hitting this great place Billy's on Burnet Road. Right near my old place at Chilly's. Man, it was great, just friggin great!

Labels: 420

Man, me and Bubba are like children. We were moving the furniture in and any slight distraction sent us giggling like school girls. At least the shit's in the house, though the current placement will need to change; I doubt anyone wants to climb over the arm of a couch to sit on it.

Labels: bubba

Tried out one of the new showers today and the verdict: I'm willing to take showers almost daily now!

I didn't really plan on it, but I got some new furniture tonight. Bubba said he'll help moving them in, so tomorrow night it'll be more of a mess in my place.

Labels: bubba

Well, I'm back from craziness down on sixth with nothing but stories to tell. And speaking of stories, I'm too beat to install Office on the PC for NaNoWriMo. That'll have to be a tomorrow activity.