Here it is…

This is Barbaro, Kentucky Derby winner. You may have seen him in the news lately, especially if you’re a fan of the Triple Crown horse races. In case you’ve been living under a rock this past weekend, Barbaro was injured during the Preakness Stakeswhen his back right leg fractured. This caused many people at the race to start crying, and rightfully so; they probably lost a lot of money when Barbaro neither won, placed or showed. But, when watching the local news today (WNBC), I saw this picture (or something like it…)

Now if this isn’t the epitome of idiocy. “Thank you Barbaro”? Thank him for what, running fast? Good job, Barbaro, thank you for doing exactly what you were bred to do, and thank you for responding favorably to that 5 foot nothing, 95 pound man striking you with a leather whip, and thank you for the $500 you got me for my $2 trifecta a couple of weeks ago.

It’s like people look up to the horse, which is idiotic for many reasons. You don’t see kids say “when I grow up, I want to be a champion race horse.” (Granted, when I was a wee lad, I aspired to be hung like a horse [which I am now], but that’s neither here nor there.) Race horses can’t do public service announcements, they can’t drive a car, they can’t even vote, and they can’t speak English, which, of course, means they have no right to be in the country*.

If you’re sad that a horse broke his leg in a race, that’s fine. But, once you invest any amount of money or time in trying to make the horse (which you probably have absolutely no connection to except for those 2 times you saw him on TV) better, it’s time to reevaluate your priorities. I would suggest stopping global warming or maybe curing AIDS for starters.

* Standard footnote about knowing when and when not to take things I say seriously

… sucks.

Dumbest. Holiday. Ever. (Yes, I’m using the word “holiday” liberally.)

On one specific day, everyone has to go to CVS or Eckert or wherever and buy a heart of chocolates to show that you care for a very special woman or 3 (mothers, grandmothers, that sort of thing). What a crock of shit. If you really cared for someone you wouldn’t need to buy fucking chocolates on one day of the year; you could be doing that or OTHER things during the other 364 days. Why wait for one arbitrary day to be romantic or show appreciation for your significant other? If it’s because you need to be marketed to in order to remind you to be nice to someone then you must’ve been a fucking douchebag to being with.

The only exception to this is if February 14th is some kind of special anniversary or something unrelated to the Valentine’s Day stereotype (the best thing I can think of is a birthday.) In that case it’s ok, since the celebration of the event just-so-happens to fall on the same day as this fake holiday, excessive purchases and what-have-you are kinda expected, since you’d still have to do all that stuff even if that special day was a week or a month later.

But my point remains… “Let’s do something special for Valentine’s Day”… why? Because the Hallmark store said so? Bullshit. Hey, why not do something special on March 14? It’s pi day! We can celebrate 3.14 by drawing a whole lot of circles! I can buy you a compass (Wal Mart is having a pi day sale on them! Isn’t that convienent?!) so we can go on a circle-drawing FRENZY!

I was asked to update my blog, and update I shall.

So… I suppose I need something to update with… hmmm… I don’t lead a very interesting life, so updating my blog with something people will actually read will be somewhat of a challenge. I guess I’ll talk about my Black Friday experience.

Last Friday, I participated in the American neo-tradition of Black Friday. For those of you who reside under boulder-like objects, Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving which is named because that’s when most business go “into the black”, meaning they come out of debt due to the large amount of business they get on that day. Most people do as much of their Christmas shopping as possible on Black Friday because that’s when businesses offer the best deals.

On Thanksgiving Day, my mom and sister picked up the newspaper and searched the ads for the best deals. I watched the Cowboys beat up on the Lions. I’d say my time was better spent than theirs, but then again, some people are into that kind of thing (shopping and preparing for shopping.) Mom says that we’re getting an early start tomorrow to get to the following places for specific items.

1. Circuit City is selling laptop computers for $199 after rebates.
2. Best Buy is selling a digital camcorder for some “really-really” low price.
3. Staples is also having an early bird special of some kind.

With that game plan, mom wakes me up at 5:00 on the dot in some mighty cold weather in an attempt to make purchases. Now, normally, I get up at 7:00, hit the snooze twice (or 3 times in times of excessive laziness), roll out of bed at 7:30 and get ready for work at 9:00. Getting up 2 hours earlier than usual is not what I’d call “fun”, so you can imagine how thrilled I am to get up this early to go shopping (also not what I’d call “fun”, unless I was shopping for myself, in which case it’s fucking awesome.)

Stop #1 is Circuit City. It’s 5:30 in the am and the parking lot is PACKED. The lot usually can’t fill up during normal business hours when the store and the adjacent stores are normally open, but for some reason, because it’s BLACK FRIDAY, it’s not even light out and the store is packed. Mom beats us into the store (we took separate cars since we all had separate places to go after the shopping was done) and we turn back to our cars after finding out the store is out of laptops for $199. Again, I remind you it’s 5:30 in the morning.

Store #2 is Best Buy, about 15 minutes from Circuit City. We make better progress than we did at Circuit City by actually entering the store, but we didn’t get very far beyond that. You see, upon entrance, we noticed the line for paying went around the perimeter of the store TWICE (it’s important to note that most Best Buys are the size of a warehouse, and this one was no different.) It was like a line that might be found at Disney World, except Disney World isn’t open at 6:00 in the morning, so this was actually worse than Disney World lines. We squeeze our way to the electronic cameras only to be massively disappointed as we are told the “door-buster” camcorder deal was sold out. I would’ve liked to stay at the store to browse, since I happen to like Best Buy and their selection (Movie / TV DVDs, video games, computer software and hardware, music), but time is of the essence, and we must be getting GREAT DEALS in other locations. Also, it was impossible to browse at that moment because browsing requires a certain amount of movement, and since you couldn’t get anywhere without shoving people out of your way, the amount of efforted needed to browse the store far exceeded the effort I was willing to exert at the time. So, off we go…

Last stop was Staples. You know you’re going to a smaller store when the store puts all the specials on a table in the front of the store. Well, as it turns out, we actually came out of the store with stuff (!!!), but sadly, it wasn’t anything groundbreaking. Here’s what we got…

1. 2 Surge Protectors (free with rebate)
2. 2 things of DVDs (rebate)
3. Keychain calculator (no rebate, but dirt cheap regardless)
4. 2 Wireless mice (possibly a rebate?)

We’re big spenders (da-da-daa-daaa). Our trip ended and we got stuff we could’ve got at any time. It was a true disappointment. I wanted to pick up a San 512MB Jump Drive, but I was told not to because it wasn’t on sale (the one that was on sale, the PYI (I think that’s the name) Jump Drive was, surprise-surprise, sold out.)

I returned home with my sister right at 7:00, which is when I would’ve got up if I haven’t partaken in this ridiculous ritual at all. At least I had extra time for breakfast… mmm… egg ham and cheese on a bagel… *drool*

Just when I thought I could be independent for a short time, I get roped into dependency.

My mom is on vacation this week. She’s visiting my grandmother in Florida for 7 days, and I assumed that I’d provide for myself until mom gets back on Saturday. I mean, you’d assume as I did that if you and your younger sibling were living in a house without any parents for a week that you’d have to get food yourself. Apparently, no one in my family wants me to try, since I’m being fed about 2/3 of my meals from others.

Grandparents offered dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow morning. Dad offered dinner tomorrow, and an aunt offered dinner Wednesday. And, of course, when someone offers, you HAVE to accept, else you look like a hermit or a douche or something that you don’t want to look like in front of family, so I essentially get roped into being dependent.

I hate being dependent. I was the first person in my family to really go away to college. My father went to a local college, mom went to community college. My experience in Binghamton has taught me how to provide for myself; I know how to buy food, prepare it and store it, and if I don’t, I know how to find out. College is all about being independent. That’s one of the main reasons why I look down on people who go to community college: there’s no independence. Community college might as well be called “extended high school”, because that’s all it really is. People who go to community college and don’t later go on to a school away from home are mentally stuck in real high school, depending the “glory days” grades 9-12 to carry over to the next 2 years of their lives.

At work, I deal with needy people all the time. They don’t know how to use a computer and they don’t want to learn how. These people are pathetic too. Not knowing how to do something is one thing; not wanting to keep learning places an unnecessary degree of dependence on others, and quite frankly, that’s weak. It’s a sign of laziness and stupidity to not do something yourself if it’s within your power. Of course, if someone calls me with a problem like “Outlook isn’t working” and it just so happens that the server is down, then it’s fair game. But, if someone want to know how to highlight text in Microsoft Word, and they don’t know enough to press F1 and look for the answer themselves, then it’s not fair game: that’s good enough to make me tell my co-workers how dumb they are.

The bottom line: I’m an independent person. Not being able to provide for myself is a frustrating situation to be in. I’ve often contemplated moving away just for the chance to be on my own and choose my own path. I live at home currently and work is a 10 minute drive away. If I had my way, I’d have the same job I have now somewhere else. Boston, Washington D.C., Chicago, it doesn’t matter. I’d do it just to move away and show everyone, family included, that I can and will do things my way.

So today at work, I was by myself. And here’s what happened:

Someone had monitor problems. I switched the monitor and the cables, but I’m convinced he just needed to restart his computer.

The administrative floor had new carpet installed over the weekend. The people who did the work forgot to mention that they unplugged everything on the floor and didn’t bother to plug anything back in. The result is mass confusion. Sure, the county executive staff can perform government work, but plug in a computer or a fax machine? Nope, we don’t know nothin’ ’bout no pluggin’ in stuff.

One of the senior members of the administration complained about his e-mail going slow. Upon further inspection, the computer’s speed quickened after I closed 15 of the 16 copies of Microsoft Outlook he had open.

After plugging a computer into a power outlet, the computer’s power supply goes bye-bye. Resolution is easy enough (switch it out with one that works, user takes minimum downtime while new part is shipped in), but the incident could’ve been avoided had I switched off the power strip before plugging the computer into it.

A user worked at someone else’s desk for the day, but she had no administrative rights and no email setup. This caused for some waiting, but I had to prioritize her (read: put her off till everyone was plugged in.)

Other issues on the administrative floor included printer issues everywhere.

What fun, what fun…

I’m not pleased right now.

I’ve been out of college for a full 2 weeks now. I’ve just completed my first week of my 10 week internship (the one I was doing last year) and all is well. The chief of staff has my resume, I went to a job fair last week, and everything seems to be progressing smoothly.

But, things are not progressing as quickly as some would like.

My father just signed me up for monster.com and submitted my resume to a confidential company in Garden City. While I’m not opposed to the idea of getting my resume out there (and having it searchable), I am SERIOUSLY opposed to someone other than myself electronically submitting my resume to single companies. In my mind, the act of resume submission is the first step in showing a specific interest in a company. Now, there’s a huge difference me handing my resume to someone I know and asking them to hand it to interested people, and someone SUBMITTING A RESUME ON MY BEHALF TO A COMPANY I DON’T EVEN KNOW WITHOUT INFORMING ME FIRST.

I am beyond pissed right now. I have been very wary of having others influence my future, and this is 2 steps forward, 5 steps backward.

Granted, I looked at the job description and it looks like something I would’ve applied to anyway, but the fact that someone acted for me without my knowledge is a huge breech of trust. In short, it’s a matter of principle.

Yankees suck.

I hate the Yankees. As a Mets fan and as a fan of the world of baseball as we know it, I hate the Yankees. I hate Derek Jeter and his Visa/American Express/whatever-the-fuck-credit-card-he’s-whoring-himself-out-for commercial (it’s not like he even NEEDS the money… $123M over 7 years plus the opportunity for more than that after the contract expires apparently ISN’T ENOUGH.) I hate Georgie Porgie and his deep wallet. I hate Roger Clemens and how he can get off throwing into guys and Pedro Martinez can’t without being called a pussy. If that’s the case, Clemens is just as much a pussy as Martinez.

Ok, now that I got that out of my system, lets see what’s new now…

SA Rep: Loads and loads of bureaucracy. You wouldn’t believe it. I can’t even remember some of the ridiculous motions and procedures there were in that meeting. We didn’t get done till 11PM. And we started at 7. I think the CIW council meeting got done before we did, and they start at 9:45! I mean, what goes on in there is important, but it’s draining. Physically and mentally. Mostly mentally though.

School: I’m behind. I’ll admit.

I have a mid-term to study for (mid-term is tomorrow), and I have 2 projects due Monday… one of which is a concrete deadline. So, in studying, I have to at least start the project (which I can do, since it’s the same class.) Maybe I should’ve drove home last week instead of taking the bus this week… meh. Nothing I can do now.

…

(Enter weird, cryptic paragraph that only I will understand… meant for someone else, but she’ll probably not understand it either… or even know it’s referring to her.)

Am I getting jealous over something I shouldn’t be, or something I have no control over? Is that just me, or am I seeing something that isn’t there? I think maybe I’m just angry at my past; angry at seeing opportunities that weren’t there… just ones that I wish were there. I want to talk to her, but being around her is also frustrating (but I’ll never let her know that)… just knowing that I might be wasting my time looking for something she already found and has no need of searching for. Same story, different girl. Years apart, yet it feels so familiar…. I love how history repeats itself in these weird, fucked up ways. I grow stronger, but the rest of the world grows an order stronger than I do. I fall behind the others, and it leaves me alone. Alone.

Yeah, so if you got that, then you either know me from High School, or you’re me. So… if you think you understood what I just said, mail me, or leave a comment of something, and tell me what you think I meant… I’d like to see how far off all of you really are. Like most people in my High School were.

*sigh*…

Have you ever entered a bad mood and you knew exactly what it was that pissed you off? I did today…

I was told that I’m “monotone” when it comes to talking to members (of the beach club I work at)… I was a bit confused and peeved at this, because I thought that I talk to members pretty well, and I think I do good enough. That put me into a bad mood for the rest of the day…

So, to make sure I’m not missing somethng, I looked on dictionary.com …

mon�o�tone ( P ) Pronunciation Key (mn-tn)
n.
A succession of sounds or words uttered in a single tone of voice.
Music.
A single tone repeated with different words or time values, especially in a rendering of a liturgical text.
A chant in a single tone.
Sameness or dull repetition in sound, style, manner, or color.

I’m sorry, but I just have trouble believing that I’m monotone… I mean really… in order to do well in my position, I have to be nice and friendly and monotone is definitely NOT a part of that. So WHAT THE FUCK did he mean by that… “monotone”…

I hope he meant to use another word because that guy is a fucking dunbass if that IS what he meant.

*sigh*… I think I have issues.