Last night while I was watching movies, our kitchen sink started dripping so I had to turn the water off and go down to the apartment office this morning. The repair people still aren’t here and I’d like to use the kitchen sink, if you know what I mean. I’m tempted to fix it myself, but… nah.

Jenn’s at work today, so I’m tooling around alone. I decided that I should go to Fred Meyer to get a look at the chairs and tables they had since (thank goodness) our dining room set sold at my parents’ garage sale. (For a while there I thought I was going to have to go the classified ad route and fight this thing out the door, but got lucky.)

I found that Fred’s had the chairs I want, but no matching table. Looking online, I found a nice set I liked, but for more than I am really willing to put out. So now I’m going to have to keep looking.

While at Fred’s, I picked up the SNL: Best of Will Ferrell DVD because, hey, it’s got Turd Ferguson on it and I can’t pass that up. My Turd Ferguson t-shirts may soon become a reality.

Decided then to go to The Wherehouse to look at the used CD selection. On the way there, saw that a video game shop had a giant inflatable Mario standing on top. I need one of those for my cubicle at work.

Anyway, picked up Opus III - Mind Fruit and Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Then decided to head over to my parents’ to see how the garage sale was going.

My dad, as usual, tried to pawn off all of his unsold stuff on me, which I, of course, denied because it was all junk. At the time, my table hadn’t sold yet and I was worried for a while that it wasn’t going to, but by the time I got home, Mom called to say that just as soon as I left, someone came along and bought it. Crisis averted.

Got home and found my tiny cat sleeping with her ear all wonky. That’s pretty typical for her. I wonder how she can think that’s comfortable. Then again, maybe she doesn’t even notice.

And while I’ve been typing this stuff up and surfing the web, Jenn’s sister - knowing that Jenn’s at work - has left two voicemails already. Ridiculous. She’s not home, so don’t call here for her. Sigh.

I’m liking the whole picture-taking-thing here. What do you all think? Are pictures really worth a thousand words?

Well, I’ve got training once again next week, this time for, uh… ASP.NET. Damn, I go to so many of these things that I can’t even remember which class I’m going to. I just sort of show up and learn stuff.

I got a statistics report from Marty to show me how many folks are visiting. According to the report, I average 83 visitors a day. Let’s assume that up to half could be either repeat visitors or search engines, that’s still like 40 people a day coming to read about how clever and funny I am. I can probably pick out maybe 10 folks I know show up… who are all the rest of you people?

This is an official APB for comments - if you read this bad boy, leave me a comment so I know you’re out there. It doesn’t even have to be anything special, just a “hey, I’m out here lurking” sort of thing. I’m really curious how many folks are coming in from out of town, so to speak.

I bought the Evanescence album Fallen today and I’m really digging it. I like the song “Bring Me To Life” from the Daredevil soundtrack, and the rest are just as cool. If you’re into the alternative rock scene, go get it. It’s sort of like Sarah McLachlan goes Linkin Park.

I took a couple of pictures over the last few days I thought might share with you folks. This being my first foray into photojournalism, don’t expect much.

First, I took a picture of the extraordinarily meager drink selection that they offered at the training facility I attended the last few days. There were a couple of cans of orange and grape flavored pop, too, but those went quick.

And second, I came home a couple of days ago and found that our 16-pound cat had decided to make herself at home in the middle of the coffee table. That cat may be a girl, but she’s got a solid set of balls on her. Here’s another angle so you can see how truly huge she is.

9:34a

Cankles.

The bitch has cankles.

Last night Jenn and I went to Fred Meyer to check out pricing on the dining room set that we’re going to get if we can offload this old one we’re using. Of course, when we got there we found that they still had the chairs we like but the table wasn’t there. I don’t know if they were just out of stock or if they no longer carry them. Bah.

We just did an hour’s worth of review, and now it’s time to get moving.

11:03a

Okay, she just asked me what I’ve been typing, so I told her - my blog stuff. Then she wanted to know where my web site was, so I told her. I don’t know if she’ll ever get here, but if she does, here’s my message to her:

I don’t necessarily think you’re a *bad person* per se, but you are exceptionally demanding and attempt to cover up your annoying habits with faux kindness. The world does not revolve around you, and saying you’re sorry about it doesn’t make it better, it makes you bitchy.

So. That’s that.

We’re skipping labs, so moving quickly. Maybe I can get out early.

12:43p

We’re out early! Yay, me!

10:17a

I’m back, and I’m still pissed off at this chick next to me, but she’s playing it low-key today so I’m not going to have to throw down, at least, not yet.

I continue to study for my next test, but the material is feeling more and more comfortable to me, and I think that’s a good thing.

I took our dining room table apart last night so it can be more readily transported to the garage sale. If you want a nice Ethan Allen table, come on by my parents’ place this weekend. It’s a $1500 table with six $250 chairs. Decent condition. I’m hoping to come out of this with enough for a table that’s more me.

I’ve gotten bored already this morning and decided to draw a picture of my pop can. Again, witness the skillz.

This class is coming pretty naturally to me. It’s amazing the parallels between the other database classes I’ve taken and this class (which teaches how to access databases from your programs). All of the terminology and everything is the same, so it’s a breeze to map this new stuff onto concepts I already understand.

Which means I’m done with the hour-long lab in like 20 minutes because it’s easy. Fine by me - it enables me to chat with you fine folk.

10:35

My keyboard just froze up for no reason so I had to reboot. Bah.

We’ve got until 11:00 to finish the lab. Guess I’ve got some time to kill.

11:49a

Lunchtime!

12:50p

I went to lunch at a place called Fat Albert’s Breakfast Cafe. I’d heard about it and driven past it a couple of times, but I’d never actually eaten there.

It’s pretty darn good.

I ended up having a “Spanish Omelette,” which basically means “cheese and jalapeños.” I liked it. It was a little spendy for a lunch (I’m cheap, so $7 for an omelette for lunch is spendy) but it was tasty and there was lots of it, so I’m not complaining.

1:38p

Finished the lab ahead of time again, but only due to my previously having taken the Windows Apps in C# course. They’re really throwing some advanced Windows apps concepts at folks who are just trying to learn a simple concept.

The bitch is piping up again, though. The teacher is trying to negotiate with us to determine how much time folks need to get the lab done, and while he’s trying to figure that out, she’s all, “I can’t work while you’re talking…” Does she work in a sensory deprivation chamber or something? It’s called fucking ignore it, lady. There are three of us in class, and she’s the only one not done with the damn lab. This is bullshit.

There are class prerequisites. She doesn’t meet them.

3:24p

Lab’s supposedly over at 4:00p, but we’ve got a lot to cover still today so I’m hoping the bitch can hurry her shit up. She wants us all to stay late (like, 5:30p or 6:00p) because she can’t figure her shit out.

I found out that the instructor lives in the same apartment complex as I do, just a couple of buildings down. Plus, he used to work with a bunch of the guys that work with me now. Small world!

Actually, he’s a really interesting guy. He’s from Cambodia and was there during the whole Khmer Rouge thing. He’s got stories about how he’s gone two or three weeks without eating anything but roots and bugs. Crazy shit, man.

4:25p

The bitch complains that she doesn’t get enough time to do the labs, then she leaves early. Irritating.

Well, I’ve finished with the last lab of the day, and thank goodness we’ve caught up to where we’re supposed to be. We pretty much flew through the last chapter, but it was a good pace because the teacher skipped all the “if you don’t meet course prerequisites…” crap. I like that. He’s a good guy.

Time for me to fly…