| Who throws a shoe? Honestly! |
[Dec. 14th, 2008|05:09 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  amused | ] |
I have to offer a hearty congratulations to the Iraqi journalist who threw not one but both of his shoes at president Bush during a news conference in Baghdad today. There's a funny aspect and a sad aspect to this story...
Funny: The journalist commented "This is a farewell kiss, you dog!" in Arabic before lobbing his size 10's at Bush.
Sad: Neither shoe that was thrown hit it's mark.
Why did the man have to be so good at dodging!!! |
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| Pool League |
[Aug. 19th, 2008|11:13 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | excited | ] |
Tonight was the first night of playoffs in my pool league. My team was in 8th place out of 9 teams. We had to play the 1st place team in the league. I had to play the top player in the league and I managed to beat him by one game. My win put my team into the top 4 teams which will be played next week. We have to play two rounds next week. If we lose the first match we have to play a second match for 3rd or 4th. Either way it's the furthest I've ever made it in a pool league. :) |
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| Back home |
[Aug. 18th, 2008|09:13 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | content | ] |
So I came back Sunday night from my vacation. The week was filled with mini-golf, go kart racing, swimming, theme parks, ice cream eating, and much much more. :) Pictures to come on facebook.
I was kind of glad to come back home. The feeling of missing work was a bit odd but I think it means I really like what I'm doing. Next big plan will be for Halloween! I'm still nailing down this year's theme but I know I'll be needing some help with the haunting. All are welcome to help. Crash space can be made available. |
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| Vacation tomorrow |
[Aug. 9th, 2008|08:50 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | excited | ] |
So Sunday morning I'll be getting up stupidly early to catch a plane to Florida with Kym, Justin, and Kristen. My plan is to spend the week trying to do most of the things in Orlando that are not related to the theme parks. At some point we'll spend a day at Disney. I decided that Medieval Times would make a good birthday dinner so I made sure to book tickets (I'm very excited about seeing the show). I packed on Friday but don't seem to have that much in my suitcase. Today I'm headed out to do last minute errands before we fly. So it's Angela's for a haircut, Coinstar to get some cash, Depot to pick up some parts for my rope chair, and back home to finish my leather helm. I'm bringing the camera to take tons of pics. I'll be putting them up on Facebook when I return. See you next Monday. : ) |
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| Tornado full of hippies! |
[Jul. 28th, 2008|11:45 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | thankful | ] |
That's right. I was outdoors during a freakin a storm that was classified as a tornado this past Sunday. I was with Kym at a folk festival called Falcon Ridge in Hillsdale, NY.
We arrived last Wednesday and it was raining heavily. We managed to get the one break in the storm to set up tents. I was working in the first-aid tent and Kym was next door in the merchandise tent. It cleared up Thursday and was sunny through to Sunday morning. Then we got word that there was a storm coming in. Bigger and windier than the one Wednesday. So it starts to pour heavily with gusting winds. We get told to bring the people in from the handicap tent just outside of the first-aid tent. At this point it starts to hail (nickel to quarter sized chunks). We herd all the people into the first-aid tent but there are still non-handicap people left on the hill where they were sitting in front of the main stage. We get told to leave them there to weather the storm. So we pack into first-aid and seal the canvas walls of the large tent. We then get told that the gusts of wind can damage the tent polls so we're all assigned to hold a tent pole. (tent pole = 2" x 3" x 8' piece of lumber) There's roughly 8 of these on each side of the tent. We then get told to stand on the canvas wall as not to let the wind gust under the wall and tear them down. After about a solid 1/2 hour of relentless wind and rain we're all standing in 3" of water. Fortunately the wind begins to die down and rain slows slightly and after about another 1/2 hour the storm ends.
During the storm there was a lull in which Kym and crew in the merchandise tent decide to abandon tent and find more secure grounds. She came to find me in the first-aid tent which was calming for me. Overall damage was two major tents the size of the first-aid tent or larger were ripped down. Several personal tents, including my own, were destroyed. Fortunately, I did not see a single harmed person from the storm. We were told after it was over that the weather station classified it as a tornado, and I survived it! |
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| When I grow up, I want to be different... |
[Jul. 1st, 2008|05:30 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  annoyed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Jack Johnson - Good People | ] |
I've been noticing more and more lately that some of the engineers I work with are more setting shining examples of what I shouldn't be like. I don't know why it is that people aren't willing to step up and help when others ask for their help. I also don't get why people think they're so smart that they don't need to listen to the opinions of their peers. I'm disappointed by the people that should be setting examples for me. |
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| Long weekend... |
[Jun. 30th, 2008|08:22 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | happy | ] |
At least it felt like a long weekend because I got to do a ton. Friday started eating Chinese food with Justin then leaving for Worcester. Went out with Kym and my friend Jay to see Wanted. Was very impressed with the cinematography. Also, the pace of the movie was done very smartly speeding up and slowing down as needed to set the mood.
Then Saturday Matt met me in Worcester to go to Mike's batchelor party. Tons of fun there chilling with people I don't get to see anywhere near enough. Got to learn a new game about throwing sticks at other sticks called Kubb (very fun!). Ate hamburgers, played poker, consumed rum soaked pineapple... Definitely need to do more gatherings along these lines.
Sunday Kym and I cleaned her yard a bit and fixed a light fixture that wasn't working. I think I'm going to have to start my own handyman service. Then we went out for sushi and to see Wall-E. Very cute movie. I'm really impressed with how far CGI movies have come. |
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| Stupid o'clock and all's well |
[Jun. 20th, 2008|05:04 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
So at work I have to meet a deadline of shipping units to our customer by Friday. I know this early in the week so I lay out a game plan that shows the timeline for the rest of the week and how we can ship on time if all goes well. Turns out in reality all hardly ever goes well and you get to find that out when it's too late to change anything. Or so I thought...
My supervisor was repetitively asking me on Wednesday and Thursday what our new plan was to make sure we didn't miss our shipment to the customer by Friday. I told him the only way that would work was if someone came in late Thursday and stayed to complete all the testing. I got the expected response out of him saying, "I've had to pull late night shifts in order to get the customer what they needed too you know."
So I explained to him that what I meant by a late night shift was that the person would need to come in around 11pm on Thursday night and stay most of the night/morning to finish testing. He took this as my actual plan to get units built up and tested to ship on time. So being the nice guy I am, I told my technicians that I'd be the one to come in and get the work done. I relay this to my supervisor and tell him that I'll probably be here for at least 6 hours starting around 11pm Thrusday night. His response to me was, "Ok, so you think you'll be in by 10 or by noon on Friday?"
Some days I love my supervisor, other days... not so much.
p.s. I got to work at midnight and it looks like I'll not only get to watch the sunrise from my cubicle but I'll get to say hi to people as they come in to work this morning! |
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| Little bit of entertainment for my friends... |
[Jun. 18th, 2008|08:01 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
So I got a visit from a sales rep from Clearwater gutter protection tonight. By the end of the conversation with him I had been told that my opinion didn't matter to him. So here's the letter I sent to his parent company. Enjoy,
To whom it may concern,
I'm writing to inform you of an absolutely terrible sales experience that I just went through with one of your sales representatives (David Spinellt). During the initial presentation for Clearwater gutter guards I was very impressed with your product and the information that I received about your company. I loved the product demonstration showing me how reliable the Clearwater gutter guards were and the solid construction. I first became concerned when David was only interested in getting me to sign up for the installation that very moment. I explained to him that I wanted to take some time to read up on what was on reviews for Clearwater from the BBB and other web sites. He countered by saying, "So what you're saying is that you don't trust me?" I immediately felt like I was placed on the defensive for wanting to be an informed buyer, My response was, "To be honest, I really don't know you and this is the first time I've heard of your company so I want to do some research." He responded with, "BJ's has already spent over $20k to do this research for you." I said, "I understand that but I want to see if there's any other information available online." At this point he moved on to working out the price quote for the job. We talked about pricing options (1st call, BJ's discount price, my price after today). I proceeded to ask how long the quote was good for to which he responded that the 1st call price was only good for today. I told him that I didn't want to commit to anything today and that it would be worth more to me to have a day or two to think about it. He wanted me to sign up for a smaller amount for the job which would freeze the price for the remainder of the job. I again said that I didn't want to commit to any purchases today and would get back to him. He proceeded to tell me that there must be a reason why I don't trust Clearwater enough to make a purchase right now. I again said that I just wanted time to think about signing up for a $3000 dollar purchase. At this point he again noted that he must have done something wrong to make me not want to sign up tonight. He then called his supervisor. I don't know what the conversation on the other end of the phone was but I did note that at three different times during the conversation he noted to his supervisor how it must be his fault that I didn't trust Clearwater and how he must have done something wrong. I felt completely on the defensive having to justify why I didn't want to spend the money right away. When he got off of the phone he asked me why I didn't want to even put down a down-payment for a portion of the job. I said to him, "I want you to understand, it's not that I don't trust you or your company..." At this point he proceeded to try and talk over me. He told me to take his copy of the BBB magazine and handed it to me. I said, "Hang on, I'm trying to explain to you..." David cut me off saying, "Really, I'm not interested at all at what you have to say." At this point I was very offended so said, "If you don't want to hear me out then I think this is the point where you can leave my house." He quietly packed his things up. I said to him, "I don't think I want to hang onto this magazine." David became irritated with me at this point and responded with, "I don't want it back." I said, "I have no need for it if you're going to try and force this on me." His response before walking out the door was, "I don't care what you do with it. You can use it to cover the cat piss on your rug for all I care!" I was overwhelmingly offended at this point and responded to him saying, "I guess I should contact your company about this interaction." He felt the need to get the last word in by saying, "You can go do whatever you want."
Up until the point where David tried to force the sale upon me and then became accusatory, I was very interested in purchasing Clearwater gutter protection for my house. After I was told that my opinion didn't matter to him, I'm not sure I want to interact with your company. You can be assured that I will be telling everyone I know about my experience with Clearwater gutter protection and will be calling the company that referred me to you to inform them of this as well.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Bernard
Now tell me, would you want to buy what this guy was selling? |
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