yet another blog

On a less pissed-off note...

2006-12-07T02:29:00.000-05:00

Since it's getting a bit cold to be dragging guitars around while hopping buses, this past weekend's jam in Hull was probably the last one this year.

It's been a blast doing this (mostly) bi-weekly if not weekly. Trying out different guitars, teaching each other riffs, and just plain messing around much louder than we could elsewhere.

Not to mention all the beer and poutine.

Anyhow, some heavily edited guitar goodness:

The Last Straw/Perfect Timing

2006-12-07T00:34:00.000-05:00

I get to work today, sit down at my desk and my (former) manager comes up to me

Him:"Oh, I got an e-mail from Operations, you have a shift change next week!"
Me: "Uhhh...to what?"
Him:"Starting Monday, you have 5pm-1am, Thursday and Friday off"
Me: "...Well, I can't do that....
Him:"Oh, you bus don't you?"
Me: "...yeah..."
Him:"Well, I'll pass on that concern to them, but you really should speak to your manager - Tom" <- not Tom's real name
Me: "Wait a minute - since when's Tom my manager?
Him:"A week and a half ago - you didn't know?"
Me: "No! No one told ME! That's why I've been sending YOU e-mails!"
(he hangs his head)
Him:"So he never came up and introduced himself as your...well, I'm sorry. And I don't mind dealing with the e-mails, but you need to talk to him about this issue"
Me: "Wait so you said my shift changes monday? Today's Wednesday. I should get a week's notice"
Him:"You're right, so it'll be Wednesday"
Me: "Wednesday..."(I smile)"...I'll be in Cuba Wednesday - for two weeks. Yeah, that's cool, my shift can change then" (we both laugh) "Thanks for the heads up, I'll talk to Tom when he comes in, if the shift change is non negotiable, I'll be giving my two weeks notice on Tuesday "

So I spoke to Tom, and he'll be speaking to Operations on my behalf, but it "doesn't look promising", though I "Shouldn't panic" - I'm not exactly panicking here, I'm just saying that 5pm-1am ain't gonna happen. But in any case, even if someone in Operations wakes up and realizes that someone without a car has no way of getting from Kanata to the West End after 1am, I've lost too much faith in my workplace. As soon as I come back from Cuba I'm job hunting.

Let me explain:

I had another position in the same company, where
I worked 8am-4:30pm, with weekends off - this shift was pretty much guaranteed as long as I stayed in this department as those roughly were the hours of operation.

I was asked to switch to another department with hours of operation between 9am-1am. I was assured that I would be among a group that would get first pick at shifts, and the fact that I bus would be taken into consideration. I accepted.

Well, I never got to pick a shift, but the first week I had 11am-6pm, weekends off. Pretty cool.

Halfway through that week, I found out my shift would be changing to 12pm-8pm. Weekends off. Not shabby, I didn't even complain about getting less than a weeks notice.

Two weeks later, I get 4 days notice that my shift will change to 3pm-11pm, weekends off. Well, I'm not a morning person, and I still have my weekends - I let it slide.

...But now this...yeah, this is the last straw...

...Or perfect timing, what better way to spend my last two weeks with the company than on a paid vacation in Cuba?

More Gretsch Goodness

2006-11-13T01:41:00.000-05:00

Been having a lot of fun with an overdrive pedal a friend lent me - going to have to get my own when I'm forced to give it back - I can't go back to playing Purple Haze without it.

That is all

New Obsession

2006-11-05T10:42:00.000-05:00

I've recently received a raise and a promotion at my current job, as well as a nice lump sum payment from a former job (long story, but it made my month of October :D ), so I went out yesterday and bought myself a little present to celebrate:

Gretsch G5245T Double Jet.

Time to start Rockin in The Free World :)

The No Redundancy and Sore Throat Blues

2006-10-14T13:34:00.000-04:00

This last week at work a new computer system was rolled out at work that was supposed to make our job simpler. It was supposed to consolidate about 5 different applications we use into one in order to make everything a lot more seamless - It looked great in theory, but in practice - it was DOA. Monday morning I signed on to my computer, and instead of simplicity, I'm greeted by a mess of javascript errors, and the realization that the 5 applications this new one was supposed to replace had been completely killed off - so for the short while I worked Monday (being a holiday I got the option to go home early and heartily took it) - my job mainly consisted of telling people I couldn't do my job.

Tuesday I come in, and am assured the new application is up and fully operational. I begin working on my first case, and for the first 5 minutes I'm thinking "wow... I think they actually got it right...." - and then I get a whole new mess of javascript errors. So Tuesday (a much busier day being right after a long weekend) was also spent mostly telling people that I couldn't do my job - and every 30 minutes management would come around with updates on the new tool "it's up - it's down, it's up - it's down..." Until the third time I finally blew up and told them "Fuck that, it's down, and if it just happens to be up, I know damn well it's going to go back down while I'm in the middle of something".

I just couldn't believe they would roll out something this crucial to our job, without making damn sure it worked before locking us out of the tools we had available earlier - even if they were a bit clumsy at least they worked - ok, not all the time but at least 4 days a week. Why did they not keep them as backups until the new system mproved it's worth? Was it because they were afraid we were just goint to stick to what we knew and wouldn't use it? But the whole point of it was to make our lives simpler!

Redundancy can be a very good thing, especially during an experimental stage!

Anyways, this actually went on until at least Thursday believe it or not - going to work mainly to tell people I could not do my job. I saw at least one person get up and walk out because they found it too stressful.

Friday morning, I wake up with an incredibly sore throat, which REALLY sucks since my stats are being monitored in anticipation of a new contract next week, but I simply couldn't work like that, so I called in. It's actually the second time I've been (legitimately) sick enough not to come in in a few months, and both were due to throat infections, maybe it's just me but I think it tells me something about the air quality at work.

Being sick and it being so cold outside, I also forewent my weekly Friday night binge/jam session in Hull, but I did find this amazing website http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/guitar_scales.phpAnd I spent the evening learning part of the Blues Scale in E - I then started messing around with it and actually came up with my first own guitar riff. I don't have anything to record it with, but I did tab it in Guitar Pro (one of the few reasons I still have Windows installed on my computer). But anyways, here is a screenshot of my first "masterpiece".

...I think it may be a sign...

2006-09-26T22:41:00.000-04:00

So I was pretty much unable to sleep Sunday night - you might think that three straight nights of partying would have tired me out - and tired I was, but I guess I was also wired because I tossed and turned till the early hours of the morning, and then had some very vivid dreams which made no sense 5 minutes after waking up and were pretty much forgotten within 15.

I'm not sure if 'waking up' is the right term when I had 2, maybe 3 hours of sleep, but my alarm goes off, and I stumble out of bed. I consider calling in sick, but decide I can't at this point without an obvious pattern emerging - 'Gee, he's always sick either Friday or Monday...' - so I head out, suck back a bus station coffee, and try to stay awake on the bus, figuring it'll only be worse for me if I have to 'wake up' again. I walk into the office thinking it will be the worst day yet...somehow I'm absolutely mistaken.

I'm totally not there the entire day, but by sheer nerves and willpower I manage to keep up a facade of wakefulness - moreover it seems I'm truly productive - I go home with the second highest number of sales in my team, and at one point a supervisor complements my performance in dealing with a case. I'm so out of it the day flies by...and I begin to understand why there is a secondary smoking area out of sight behind some bushes.

It all makes me think - now that I've had some time to recuperate and can actually think - It takes lowering my mental capacity to the point where I'm temporarily lobotomized to really shine at work - I really need to start getting my resume out there.

It's amazing what you can find on the internet

2006-09-11T22:04:00.000-04:00

So I've had a hell of a bad day, hardly any sleep the night before, called in sick to work so I could get my passports in order and instead got stonewalled by red tape and a certain embassy that is not open on monday - so I'm calling in sick again tomorrow - screw it, I haven't gotten so much as a verbal warning for absenteeism yet, and one way or another I'll be in Cuba for New Year's. My paycheque is going to suck - added with the fact that it will cost me close to $500 to get a Canadian passport and a Cuban passport - and I'm not even looking into airfare yet. But anyhow, enough complaining.

I guess that my conviction that this time I'm really going back, no matter what it takes, has made me more homesick than ever before, and I started remembering some TV shows I watched as a kid - and then - I wondered - is it possible that any of those may be found on the internet? Well, since I'm posting this entry the answer is obviously yes. On youtube, I found more than I could imagine - I figured maybe I'd find 2 minute clip at most, but instead I found a good number of full Elpidio Valdés episodes - my favourite Cuban cartoon!

Not only that, but it seems that some fellow Cubans have also been longing for the cartoons they grew up with, because I found a couple of other cartoons - these Russian - but with spanish descriptions. 'The musicians of Bremen" - Part one here and Part two here, and last but not least, an episode of the mighty Cheburashka - Part one here and Part two here

Wow, talk about blasts from the past - that stuff really brings me back. I began remembering all the Elpidio episodes as I began watching them - and the musicians of bremen - hell I'd forgotten all about that one until I heard the theme song. This definitely made my day a bit better. Now if I could only find (or remember the name of) the Cuban cartoon with that cat that used to yell "¡Guayába!" *edit* Haha! Found it!

P.S. wow - sweet, even found this old educational short on aerodynamics

Belated Guide to having a Great Weekend

2006-09-06T22:20:00.000-04:00

First, realize that the weekend - even the long variety - is never long enough. Every second away from the daily grind is precious, so economize your time. One suggestion I can make is, shave a few minutes from your morning routine by shaving your head. You will not need to worry about combs or hair gel, will experience a peculiar light-headed sensation without the assistance of any substance, and the reactions are priceless when you go from "getting a bit shaggy" to "just got back from chemo" (to maximise said reactions, wear a hat).

Secondly, use this recipe for an amazing party:

- 1 fine Friday evening
- 1 house in Hull with a Depaneur two doors down and a bar a block away
- 1 Large group of people, preferrably those who own and/or can play a musical instrument. Try to make this group of people grow during the week. Be as enticing as possible - mention the girl with the nice maracas. If they are still unsure, assure them that she will let them play with her maracas.
- 1 stereo system with good music to play along with - 'Lighning Crashes' is a prime example.

Raid the depaneur for beer, drink, play music - in the words of Bob Dylan, play fucking loud. Take a break at some point in the late night/early morning to grab some poutine or drop by the bar for a bit. Return to the house and drink and play some more until the sun comes up. Repeat this whole process every second friday if not every friday.

Thirdly, take Saturday to recuperate from the hangover, the guitar playing (finger picking) related blisters, and the insanely sore right knee ( how the hell did THAT happen?). Have a movie night with a few friends. Watch 'Harvey Birdman' Volume 1 and 'Waiting'. Do yourself a favour and skip watching 'Syriana' - you'll likely just end up slightly confused by story lines which never seem to converge, bored by cliches, and two hours older.

Fourthly, given that Saturday you took it easy, Sunday is once again a good time to have some drinks with friends, though definitely not in such a grand way as friday. Have a beer and pizza night. Watch some more Harvey Birdman, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and listen to some live George Thorogood. If the weekend if of the long variety, you'll have time tomorrow to clean and do laundry. If not, you always have that 'Slacker 101' shirt you can wear to the office until you get a writeup saying otherwise.

Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came - and he finally came in paperback

2006-08-27T17:34:00.000-04:00

So I'm at Wal-Mart today looking for printer ink so I can print some of my photos and decorate my desk wow -weird to think of it - took me 7 months and being shuffled around 3 different derpartments, but I am no longer a deskless vagrant - I ended up not buying any ink - turns out Wal-Mart is not always cheaper, I can actually get it at half their price elswhere... but alas, the trip was not a waste, because I finally spotted it. It - the book I've been wanting to get my hands on since last christmas, but have been unwilling to pay $35 for the hardcover edition. The book that ends the series I began reading back in 1997, when I first picked up The Gunslinger . The series that Stephen King began working on in 1970, when he wrote "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." on a sheet of green paper, inspired by Robert Browning's Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, who was in turn inspired by Shakespeare (so I guess that means I have to stop unequivocally hating old Bill as a glorified creator of what would someday become known as the soap opera). The series that somehow ties in almost every every other book Stephen King has written, and which he finally completed in 2003, with the book I spotted on the shelf at Wal-Mart today.

I am talking of course, of The Dark Tower. Not The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three, or The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands, or The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla, or even The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah. I'm talking about the big one. The end of it all. Numero Siete. The Dark Tower. The books that had me hooked for roughly 5 years (at this point I think I was on Wizard and Glass) before I finally understood what the hell the Dark Tower really was (I made this discovery while reading the sequel to The Talisman - Black House - A book which technically is not part of The Dark Tower series, but like I said, Mr. King ties it all in).Before then, it was always fun guessing and theorizing with equally hooked college classmates during circuit analysis lectures as to what the Dark Tower was or represented (gimme a break, we would have been bigger geeks had we been paying attention in class).

Anyways, this promises to be a good one. Even before I jumped into the story, Mr King has impressed me twice in the opening pages. First, by printing the lyrics to Trent Reznor's Hurt (do yourself a favour and click on the link for the Johnny Cash cover right now). Second, with this particular piece of art:

I just love that depiction of the eye of the Crimson King. In fact, I scanned it and edited it a bit:

And am thinking about printing it off on some sort of sticker paper and putting it on my guitar (it is after all crimson).

Anyhow, before I go bury my nose in the forementioned book, while I'm whoring products I may as well mention that I've also bought the first CD in close to a year - Tool's '10000 Days'. It's got a great mix of songs - hard rock with strange and varying time signatures, and a few Pink-Floydesque soundscapes. The single, Vicarious, got me hooked with the time signatures. (and it has some pretty good fanmade videos to go with it, some much better than the one I linked to, but they may be considered offensive, so there's a Lord of War tie-in for ya).

Oh and the unconventional CD case with the stereoscopic lenses for the artwork - pure genious.

P.S. - Apologies again to the couple of people who I tentatively invited for pizza, beer, tunes and guitar jam - but I had my fill of intoxicating substances last night and decided to take it easy today:

(craptastic cell phone shot at last night's party @ Capt'n Nut Nut's - my camera is somehwere in the Ukraine at this point, but if it wasn't so low quality I wouldn't be posting pictures of anyone anyway, plus, it graphically describes very well the way I was feeling by the end of the night - of a girl building a tower of shot glasses)

Musically speaking

2006-08-13T12:16:00.000-04:00

First, let me start this post by saying that I wish all businesses treated their customers the way the two music stores I've dealt with have treated me. My experience with this began mid-June, when I decided I really could use a new hobby. On the way back home from the grocery store, I decided to take a look in Simply Guitars. I walked out about 20 minutes later, my wallet roughly $230 lighter, with a complimentary gig bag on my shoulder - carrying a brand new SX-20/WRS with a wicked-looking crimson-black sunburst finish:

Thereafter followed a month of much learning – such as “Ah crap, I've been reading tabs upside down this whole time!” (a week into my ownersip), and finding that until the callouses set in, you really regret having a job that requires a lot of typing after saying up playing the night before. You also gain new appreciation for the music you listen to – I began re-visiting my entire CD collection during my ride to work, and whenever I heard something that sounded good and simple enough, I'd look up the tab and try to learn in when I got home that night.

Eventually, in mid -July, I learned enough to suspect there may have been something wrong with the guitar – a loud buzzing that only happened on the 5th fret, 5th string. I took it back to Simply Guitars to get fixed (apparently an uneven 6th fret), and within half an hour of me dropping it off I got a call to pick it back up. So I head back to the store, and find that on top of the string buzz being gone, all the frets had been polished (not just the problematic 6th fret) – as had the entire guitar, and it had been restrung – all free of charge. It looked really shiny. So I asked what polish had been used on the guitar, bought a bottle of it, some cloths, and a strap.

Another great experience was yesterday, at Steve's music downtown. I went with a couple of friends (I needed strings and some picks, one needed picks also, and the other has his mind on buying a bass guitar by next friday). As I am paying for the strings and the 16 picks that my friend and I picked out, I notice I've only been charged for the strings. I mention this and the clerk replies “yeah, I threw those in, no worries”. Now that may seem like a small thing, but i'm just not used to getting $2 worth of picks free with the purchase of a $7 set of strings.

So that's all I have to say on the business aspect of this subject. That's some of the best customer experience I've ever had, and I've been working at customer service jobs for the past 6 years. Another thing I will says is that I now want an electric. Don't get me wrong – I love my acoustic, but I was mucking around with a late 1960's Kalamazoo in my buddy's basement last night, and I have to say, the intro to the Chilli Peppers's 'Otherside' sounds really cool with an echo effect cranked up. That and watching a Tragically Hip concert DVD, and being able to play along with the main riff of New Orleans is Sinking LOUD was a great feeling. Here's a cellphone picture of that particular jam session:

I even know which electric I want, and in a couple of months I can hopefully justify getting it. It's really shiny.

Last day Thank-yous

2006-08-06T22:05:00.000-04:00

First off, thanks go to my manager for giving me a lift to work today. Sleeping in and having breakfast are two luxuries which are normally incompatible for me (I normally choose sleep over breakfast).

Secondly, a thank you - and an apology - go to the absent cubicle dweller with the great window view. Thank you for not being in today man, and I apologize for loosening the back on your chair all the way - just the way I like it, which you certainly seem not to, since it was stiff as hell when I sat down - so I could lay way back all the way and close my eyes or stare at the ceiling as I worked (when I wasn't enjoying the great view out your window that is). I do apologize for making myself at home at your desk, which clearly has your name on it, and changing everything around to suit my preferences, but I can't say I'm truly sorry - I mean, it was my last day, and you have a great view. I will say, you are fiendishly clever - sabotaging your station the way you did so that any other day, when I wasn't half an hour early (after being able to sleep in and have breakfast) thanks to my manager - I would have moved on to another, but being as it was I had plenty of time to deal with the broken headset (cleverly disguised as fixed with white masking tape) and the insanely tangled phone cable. It was worth navigating your boobie traps - after all, you have a great view.

Thirdly, thanks to the dude with the corrupted user profile who needed my help in saving his 9 gig collection of ahem video game trailers (So is Prostitute Games the new title by Rockstar? Come to think of it it wouldn't surprize me). For letting me spend two hours at work laying back on my chair, talking about PC vs. Xbox for gaming, and the new Nintendo controller.

Lastly, thanks to the very cool lady with the iPod issue who turned out to be a recruiter for the U.S. Secret Service , and who halfway through the call tried to recruit me for their IT department (I am seriously not making this up - wonder if she would feel differently if she knew my online handle, but then again, though I covered my ass by telling her politics was a taboo topic, it became fairly obvious she was not a rabid Dubya supporter - any American who thinks her country should be more multicultural is A-Ok with me). Ah well, I don't have U.S. citizenship, so no dice, but it was a pleasure to spend another two hours discussing music, culture, and travel with someone who was born in Germany and raised in Hawaii. Like I told her, a perfect call to end my tenure.

PC load letter?! What the %&#$ does that mean??

2006-08-02T00:11:00.000-04:00

Roughly five months ago, a friend and I arrived to a job where we had both been working for three and a half weeks, three of that having been training. Just as we got there, we were given the opportunity to go home (slow day I guess). We agreed on the spot, turned around, hopped in the car and drove to the beer store. The rest of the day and evening was spent in general merrymaking with a very fun group of people.

As the party was winding down, we ended up watching Office Space on TV. At some point, we realized we were looking at our job. We had a hard time deciding if this realization was funny or depressing - it really is amazing how close that movie is, right down having half a dozen bosses, TPS reports (I guess in our case KPI's), and eventually of course - the layoffs.

About two or three weeks ago we were all pulled into meetings, and told us our contract would be terminated - "Maybe this Sunday, maybe in September". The strange thing is, no one seemed to take this news very hard - I actually saw a lot of smiles on people's faces coming out of that meeting, and in another parallel with Office Space, everything became a lot more relaxed.

Funny what happens when you realize your job really has no future. There is no longer any pressure to meet corporate goals, no critical metrics, you just need to show up, go through the motions, and not let your last remaining boss (that's right, only one for about a month now) catch you playing multiplayer web games
with your co-workers. I mean, it really takes the edge off - to the point that, just like in Office Space it may have saved me from the layoffs.

See, apparently I scored pretty damn well in a quality audit a week or so ago, and maybe this has nothing to do with anything or everything to do with everything, but yesterday my manager approached me with an offer to go to another contract before the floor falls out from the current one. It means a slight paycut, but looks like the hours are mainly weekday, 9-5, and less stress - sounds pretty sweet! I guess I'll start finding out for sure next week

Anyhow, once again, insomnia leads to photo editing.

Music for the aching mind

2006-07-30T11:24:00.000-04:00

I wake up this morning feeling the aftereffects of that BBQ that I blew off all my chores in order to attend - well, at least I got the dishes done - so what if the carpet needs vaccuming so bad it feels like walking on sand, and I have virtually no clean clothes left? I'm only human after all, and if I hear there will be porkchops and burgers off the grill, plus plenty of cold beer - I'm there.

The "sandy" carpet can remind me of home, and if I wear my 'Slacker 101' T-shirt to work, what are they going to do, lay me off sooner? It's been a very lousy weekend otherwise, so it was either share some beers with friends, or houseclean, all the while wishing I had a punching bag in my appartment. Easy choice.

But anyway, to explain the title of this post now - I wake up in that hazy, blurry, dry-mouth and aching head state - and all of a sudden I'm in the mood to hear some punk rock. Is that weird or what? my first instinct should be to grab a glass of water and some aspirin, but instead it is to load up pandora.com and tune in to my punk station and fill my morning with The Hollowpoints, Go Betty Go, NOFX, and The Riddlin' Kids. It's actually put me in a fairly good mood....that is, until I just realized it's time to catch the bus to work. Ah crap, here we go again.

Insomnia leads to photo editing

2006-07-26T01:26:00.000-04:00

my next 'fix it' project:

guitar shot:

new edit of an old favourite:

ditto:

The Good and The Bad (weekend in a nutshell)

2006-07-25T00:17:00.000-04:00

Good: Getting a voice mail offering me an interview for a sweet-sounding job.

Bad: The job is in Carp. May as well be in Vancouver. Hell, I wish it was, that may have been just the kick in the ass I would need to get out of Ottawa.

Good: Being known at a party.

Bad: Getting there partied-out, thus becoming known for spending a good part of the night comatose on a couch (and I hope not much else).

Good: Having a manager who, the day after I've taken my 20th or so sick day since January (due to said party) will come over to my desk with a grin on his face, pat me on the back, and joke about having heard all about my adventures at the fore mentioned party.

Bad: Great. NOW I'm paranoid.

Good: Clerks 2

Perfect: Randal Graves` impression of the Lord of The Rings trilogy. (Had to fit that in here)

Confused to making any sense for no keyboard

2006-07-22T16:26:00.000-04:00

Has anyone ever tried to use a computer without a keyboard? well, I did for a bit, since I killed my keyboard last night (cleaning attempt gone horribly wrong), and believe it or not I was not aware of the windows virtual keyboard. So what I did first of all is boot up Open Office, and use the Insert Character feature to change my msn nick from "Confused" (another story) to "Confused - no keyboard, don`t ask, i can`t answer" and left the computer on for the night (was booted to my MCE installation and I figured either my roomate or I may want to stream some of the shows on my hard drive to the living room TV).

As I get up this morning, I heard someone MSN'ing me, and an interesting conversation ensued. Unfortunately I did not have chat log turned on, but it went something like this:

Him: And since you can't answer - I'll ask> WTF is the reason you have no keyboard? Did some crack addict steal it? Did some mutant monster from Tokyo come to destroy it? did you Eat it for some reason?

At this point I figured, I may as well attempt to communicate the situation as best as I could, so I started copy-and-pasting an answer.

Me: no keyboard crack addict monster from Tokyo Eat it

Him: lol

Him: no seriously

Me: no seriously no keyboard

Him: yeah but why?

Me: destroy it

Him:How?

Now, you may notice, he's not exactly giving me a lot of material for me to copy and paste much of a coherent answer.

Me: no keyboard monster from Tokyo destroy it Eat it

Him: You're not making any sense

Me: Confused to making any sense for no keyboard (at this point I turn to my trusty Open Office again and in the help menu find the following words) copypasting

At which point the killjoy proceeded to inform me about windows virtual keyboard and I was able to explain the situation in a slightly more conventional manner. Afterwards, I went out and purchased a new keyboard

So I've made a blog

2006-07-22T16:03:00.000-04:00

It's a saturday, I'm feeling extreemely lazy, it's too early to start drinking, I've had my fill of TV, and I've tortured my fingers enough for now playing guitar (not to mention the ears of anyone nearby). So, I've decided what the heck, I'll give the blog thing a try. I may give this up in a week, or a month, or it may turn into something I stay faithful to, we'll see how it goes and what I feel like sharing.