They are obsessed with the celtics

What is the big deal. The whole office. It's basketball for crying out loud. And I can't stand basketball. And it's not even good basketball. They won their division with a .500 record. Can you imagine? They were the best in their division because they only lost half of their games. A dominant team they are not.

AND NO ONE WILL SHUT UP ABOUT IT. Stupid coworkers. I can hardly stand them talking about the Red Sox, and I love baseball. I mean come on. Basketball hasn't been the same since Jordan left the game, and you people out there who were fans and now are just sitting around calling yourselves fans but really you're just waiting for the second coming of his Airness (wwMJd) are almost as bad as the people out there who actually like this sport. WHATS THE BIG DEAL?

It's not exciting. It's not a team sport. It's not a "team" league. It's an individual's league. It all started with MJ. I don't blame him though, how could you not get caught up in the greatest player to ever walk the face of the earth's game? I blame the league. It was their decision to start fueling and advertising the individual "superstar" (of which Jordan was the last, or only) and the "grudges" or "feuds" "Come see Shaq and Kobe battle for supremacy in the West." Um. Hello. Last time I checked they put five guys out on the floor. Yeah, that's right five. That's four more than one. Someone should maybe remind the league office. Guys, you should promote the TEAM. If you wanted grudge matches maybe you should start talking to the wwe or hell, you can maybe start promoting ten pin. BUT THERE ARE FOUR OTHER GUYS (who I'm pretty sure are payed well) OUT THERE TOO.

To sum up ADINA SKIM TO HERE the NBA has ruined basketball. Plus I'm not a fan anyway. And there's no way the Celtics get past the second round, because they're not very good. Stupid basketball.

-Tom
recommended download:
The Monkees, Last Train To Clarksville

Now and then I find my way

I am the opposite of awake: tired. That's not really the opposite, but it is a good illustration of how my mind is working right now: Slowly. I think a giant dunkin donuts latte is in order, but I think I will probably not get one, since car insurance is so expensive. That didn't seem closely related, did it? I'll explain: I would like to purchase a car, I need money. I am saving money. I just learned however exactly how expensive car insurance really is: very expensive. Therefore, I need to save money for the car and also for the insurance for the car. Therefore I am trying, with much difficulty, to will myself into a spending freeze. No more bought lunches. No more spur of themoment dvd purchases. No more compulsive transactions for, yet another, pair of sunglasses. I have, to this point, failed miserably. Why, just yesterday I logged on to amazon.com and bought the life aquatic and rushmore. It wasn't the one click purchase that got me either, I went through all the steps. I used to be good at saving money. Like in fuorth grade, when we got a quarter to buy milk at lunch, and I saved those quarters all year and at the end of the year I had like seventeen dollars in quarters. Which are still sitting in my piggie bank. Though, my boss did ask me to work late friday for some overtime pay. That's a good thing. Really, working late means I'll get out of here near maybe eight o'clock, that's the perfect time to head in to the city and eat dinner and then meet some people and go out. What a perfect way to blow the overtime pay I will have just earned. Spending freeze. Right.

-Tom
recommended download
Three Doors Down, Away From The Sun

I'm not dead either

This is a post to send messages to other people-

John: nobody thought you were dead. Though it would have been nice if you'd left a note or post or an away message up so people would know you were in chicago.

Kelly: congrats on being adult and the "watermelon pink" couch. also, congratulations on that other thing if you know what I mean

John and Kelly: listen, I know these people are your friends, from high school, and maybe that makes it a little more real for you, but STOP freaking out. it's a BABY. not the end of the world brought about by ATOMIC WAR. hooray for new life. If I were you I'd be crossing my fingers. the baby wouldn't freak me out so much as being asked to be god parents. I hope you're not that close to the parents ;)

Kat: how's Hermione?

Adina: how's passover? also, when you say you spent the day "passing over" was that just a flip sort of message, or did you mean it, because I think if you meant it you'd be likening yourself to the angel of death and I'd rather not think about you that way

Samantha: thanks for commenting on the blog these past few entries. it's nice to get comments.

Everyone who isn't samantha: Ahem. [points at previous message] Ahem.

Lindsay: Do you even read this? If so, you should update your journal. If it could talk I think it would say something like "ZZZzzzzzz..... ZZZZZzzzzz...."

Donny: I had a thought, how about an abstract representation of some statistical imagery for your next stained glass project? The bell curve, some important constants, or the formula from an important theorem. OR. you could do the Cheshire Cat.

Tom and Maureen: I don't think you guys are reading this, but if you are: did you see olando bloom or any other big stars over in morocco when they were filming Kingdom of Heaven? that would be pretty cool

Anonymous: to everybody out there I haven't mentioned leave me a comment :) I'll mention you next time.

-Tom
recommended download: Matt Nathanson, Answering Machine

Zzz...

I just fell asleep at my desk. Really. I was leaning on my hand, and the next thing I know, I gave a start and woke myself up. I don't know how long I was asleep, could have been only thirty seconds, but it's a first. I certainly wasn't asleep long enough for my arm to go dead and then tip over and whack my face off the keyboard (which I've seen happen, but it was a notebook not a keyboard, and it wasn't here it was in CS101). Also, not long enough for anyone to notice. I think.

-tom

x-I

Ah, young love

I was going to write about relationships, and how I'm not in one. I had intended on being serious, but my first few drafts were flip and off the cuff. Why would I want to be serious about love, or young love, or infatuation, or giant crushes that have almost no hope of reciprocation? That's the last thing I would be serious about (but seriously, when have I ever been serious about anything?)

I love the emotional turmoil associated with the begining of a relationship, that first period, when you don't know if the girl likes you, when her inadvertent smile can give you a heart attack you're so happy, when nothing makes sense and you realize you would keep it like that forever if you could. That's the stuff I love.. That's my favorite thing ever. Unfortunately (for me) the past few times that that situation has arisen the girl had no idea. When things start like that they almost never work out. All it takes is "wow, she's incredibly cool/ltalented/pretty/smart/cute, wouldn't it be great if...." and I'm off, a world of imagined happiness. My imagination is my fatal flaw. I create a world in my head where everything goes perfectly. I could script the first few dates. We're hopelessly enamored with (of?) each other. The problem, is this all happens in the few seconds after seeing the girl for the first time, before I've even had a chance to talk to her. I can count on one hand how many times it's worked out. Zero. Sometimes the girl doesn't want anything to do with me (kk) sometimes the girl likes me and would like to date me while continuing to like and date (and sleep with) all her other guy friends (km), sometimes the girl has a boyfriend (cb), and sometimes the girl never ever finds out (es). Tragic. (for me).

Anyway, spring is sprung. Love is in the air. For those of you lucky enough to have a crush, or other (significant or not) I wish you the best. For those of you out there without a crush or other, don't despair, I'm positive there's some guy you don't even know about crushing on you, whose heart stops when you glance his way and smile.

-tom
recommended download:
Matt Nathanson, Suspended
Howie Day, Collide

e-People

That's it. I'm swearing off electronic relationships. They're getting weirder and creepier everyday. This was prompted when I found way too many people I know on google. It started out innocently enough, I was thinking "wouldn't it be a hoot to find some obscure webpage someone put together in high school" but is that what I found? NO. I found instead online profile, online journals, online photo albums, all told, way too much information floating around online. Hey, I'm guilty too. I've got profiles on thefacebook on Friendster, I'm sitting here writing entries in an online journal, and they're all public, no limited access, I'm just as googleable. Before, when we all still lived in obscurity the only thing that google came up with was a photo of me juggling. (which was really cool, btw). Now though, it's out of hand. There is too much information available to anyone out there. I'm swearing off e-relations.

I'm now seeking out friendships with real, actual people. Friendships that depend on being in the same place, physically, to interact: Bars, resturants, libraries, shows, movies, coffee houses, dorms, apartments, and so on.

However. So not to exclude the other group, the-people-I've-met-but-never-in-person (deppy, c-dep, samantha, rosy, and so on) I'm going to maintain those connections. I'm talking about building more bridges, (real ones), but not tearing any down.

Oh, and, since I do love AIM so much, once we've met, in person, e-lations are totally acceptable. People move away, are busy, and so on. That's what AIM's for, and cell phones, and email, and online journals even.

Electronic communication is messing with me. Even this post is rambling and incoherent. Just an assortment of semi-related sentences. I'll try and clarify. What I'm saying is:

Get Real.

-Tom
recommended downloads:
bob schneider, king of the world, and I'm good now
green day, when I come around
and
from the Castlevania II soundtrack, Simon's Theme (Rock Remix)

This is the post that will get me fired.

Someone will read this over my shoulder, or accidentally discover the link, I may forget to lock my computer. This is the post that will get me fired.

First thoughts. I'm only going on initial impressions.

I do not enjoy coming in to work. Let's not say I hate it, but I'm no fan. I do enjoy people, I like working with them, solving problems, interacting. It's just the work.

The new senior started today, the "pretty face." Initial impressions. It's good for morale.

You won't hear me complaining about sexism or misconduct. I give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I do not suspect that she was given the job because she, to quote a coworker "has a nice ass," but rather because she can do the job.

But I'm writing here, (and will be fired because), I don't think it hurts. Why not have a pretty face in the group? Far be it from me to prohibit pleasant features from assailing my eyes. Far be it from anyone. Given a choice? I would undoubtedly choose the person who could do the job and be easy to look at. I like good looking women. Bring 'em on. Unless of course they're (favorite expression of its kind) as dumb as a bag of hammers. Then don't hire them. But if they're both good looking and competent? Well, that's just good for everybody concerned, isn't it? Yes. Unless you're the ugly one who got the boot. Tough.


I'm totally getting fired for this.

-Tom

Time away

The more time I spend away from work the more time I want to spend away from work. Work sucks. And I'll tell you why. Work doesn't mean anything. I spent three months interviewing for a job, I rejected offers from direct advertising groups, and poorly run start-up companies. I settled for this job because the benefits outweighed the detriments. The more time I spend away from this job the more I realize that the detriments are growing heavier.

I don't want to be a plug-in employee. All I wanted was a job with a company that wanted me. That is not the job I have. I settled for a spot that could be filled by anyone. The company does not know me, does not need me. They need someone with a college degree - and really, from the work I do (from the lack of work there is for me to do) I can tell you the college degree is a luxury for the HR department, this could be done by anyone with two years of high school education. They don't care that I juggle. They don't care how I solve problems, or that I take the greatest pleasure in understanding problems and coming up with the how-to to fix them. They only care that I fit the mold, the minimum requirements, and that I haven't screwed up. There uncaring approach is wearisome. Very soon I am going to purchase a car. Soon after that I would like to find an apartment. What I would most like to find is a company that wants to find me. Some enterprise that is looking for something specific, specifically me.

It's nice to be wanted.

-Tom
recommended download:
The Who: Can't Explain
Bob Schneider: King Of The World

The Blue Room

We all have dreams, everyone of us, and I'm sure I get distracted at times, I'm sure I stop paying attention to my dreams. We have to, I think, to let them simmer. I know that mine get placed aside in the day-to-day, and they hold a special place, for me, because they're not always in the forefront. I like to be reminded of my dreams.
Some of you may have read my earlier post, about producing. I'd written that after thinking about a play that absolutely floored me. Tonight, I saw another play. It was good. It brought that dream back into the light. I'll think about that theater for the next few days, and about actors who transform ideas into real live people. There's a world there, it's a world I'd like to be part of, and haven't yet. In its own time, I think it will happen. That's what dreams are for: to come true. Right?

-Tom
tonight's recommended downloads:
Fleetwood Mac, Landslide
and
Stephen Kellogg, Anthem Of Our Discovery

Drunk Notebook

I had my notebook with me last night. I was writing in it. Here's the transcript:

4/14/05

We had the "April 14th party at Greatest Bar" tonight. I met Donna Laura and I finally asked Ashley out. And she said "I have a boyfriend now." First of all WTF I'll totally kick his ass. Second of all Abbey is cool, so is Donna. Third of all I won't finish this thought cuz the T's here. Damn. Alcohol rocks.

I called Adina, Beth, & John... & then I called Adina, I remember she laughed a lot. then I might have called Kelly (TX) maybe
Then I called Beth to say "hi" and I don't know what else
I think the end.
I love alcohol.

2nd drunk entry

I don't remember exactly what she said, but she said "timing sucks," or "timing is bad" or something similar with "timing" but she does "want to be friends" and I don't stop by her desk as often since the move.
I don't think I'll remember this much. Rely on Adina's memory, or Beth's voicemail.
met: Donna, Laura, Ashley, Lisa talked to Mike about resp. about more resp. Don't remember much else. love alcohol!

3rd entry

I am totally confused
I don't know which way I'm heading
I don't recognize the OLP songs on my playlist
Somewhere Out There, Innocent?
don't recognize

Don't. Recognize.

I love it
&
I am worried by it.

4th

"I love life more than life itself"
The people on the T are maybe wondering why every 30 seconds I am grabbing this notebook from my bag & scribbling notes between stops I don't care

I love life I love everyone that makes life life EVERYONE IN THE WORLD IS PERFECT

(listening to OLP: Gravity)

(Sullivan)

5th

I am Angry
&
I am Drunk

which one will win out?
we'll see in the morning,
I think.

I should not have consumed that much alcohol last night

I am begining to see things. I just saw a small black fly that wasn't there walk across my desk. (speaking of flies, are there any other things out there that are named because they possess a certain ability? you know, I've never heard of a "walk")

I thought I was hungover this morning when I woke up.
I think now, that I was still drunk.
Now I am hungover. It sucks.

I can remember the point that I should have stopped drinking last night. It's actually the last thing I remember about last night. Definitely should have stopped then. If I had, maybe I wouldn't feel as miserable as I do now. Physically I mean: nausea, hallucinations, headache, chills, vertigo and so on. Psychologically I'm in a pretty good place, as long as I don't think about what I did last night (or about what I suspect I did last night -see previous post for a hint-)

I hope to be able to get up from my desk and walk by lunchtime.

May or may not have happened

We had an office get together last night. At a bar. An open bar. The things I'm pretty sure happened are listed, the things that may or may not have happened are in bold.

«Began the night with Cindy and her sister and their two friends, all of them 4'5" and Vietnamese
«Had three managers comment on me being surrounded by tiny asian women, (not all of them office-appropriate comments)
«Watched the game on the big screen, go sox.
«Got asked by my managers if I was interviewing elsewhere
«Might have denied it
«Berated my senior manager and *demanded* more responsibility
«May have asked out the pretty girl
«She said no
«After asking and being denied, may have asked the pretty girl out again
«Had much too much to drink
«Learned the names of some more coworkers, names like Abbey Donna Laura Anne
«May have forgotten which names go with who
«May have asked the pretty girl out, again
«Got invited to Montreal on a trip a coworker is planning.
«May not remember which coworker is planning the trip
«May have acted like that drunk guy at the office party everybody laughs about the next day, or until someone else does something stupider.
«Called at least three people. Had four minute conversation with someone who may have been Adina
«May have left a message on Beth's phone. May have left a message on someone else's phone. May have talked to people I shouldn't have been talking to.


«May not remember all the things I don't remember doing.
You all should have been there.

-Tom
recommended download
Pushstars, Drunk is better than dead

Give to Ceasar

I paid my taxes last night. IRS telefile. Piece of cake. Call up, input the code they mailed me, and my social, and W2 info, done in three minutes. I accidentally hit 1 instead of 2 when asked if I wanted my refund mailed to me instead of directly deposited in my bank account, but whatever, the money's still coming.

And then, the Massachusetts telefile. Which is stupid. Because you need the amount of your 2003 refund to log into the system. Does anyone out there keep that handy? Does anyone out there believe for a second that I would go to the necessary lengths to save that bit of information from last year? Well, the answer is yes, shame on you doubters. I did keep the information. It just took me a while to find it.

The reason I kept it is the same thing happened last year, and I didn't have the previous year's return handy, actually I didn't have it at all. In any case, after struggling through filing last year I did save my return. Where? I couldn't remember.

But, let's think about this logically. Taxes should be filed before April 15th. I am not one to miss deadlines (well, if missing the deadline will cost me money). Therefore I must have filed last year while still at school. Therefore, if I saved anything it should be with my school files (My "files" being giant stacks of disorganized papers dating from May 2000 to May 2004 - including but not limited to college applications for schools I chose not to apply to or attend, every math test I ever took, approximately half of the philosophy tests I ever took, assorted flyers and advertisements for student group functions like the First Annual TerrierFest Juggling Convention -which only made it to the second annual convention, but that's a different post- and many, many receipts and bills for stuff I'm sure I paid for but probably lost). So, let's go check the files. Turns out, not as easy as it seems. The giant stacks of mostly useless paper products have been placed in a giant cardboard box that once housed my 17 inch monitor. The box has been placed in the crawl space in my brother's closet, behind a bureau which is bigger than the doorway. How they got the bureau in there I'll never know, maybe they built the walls around it, but there's no way it will fit out the door. Therefore, to get to the stacks I climb over the bureau.

The crawl space is shallow, and very short. I have about a foot and a half of clearance to get over and down behind to where the papers are. I make it, because I am nothing if not graceful and athletic. I manage to not break any bones or pieces of furniture in the process. Now, to actually find the tax return of yesteryear I need a light, cue the cell phone, my on-the-go flashlight. I spend ten minutes determining where the tax return should be and then start digging.

My files are stratified, like rock, it feels like an archeological dig searching for stuff in there. All you need to do is find something with a date on it, you know you're in the right area, old birthday cards, a freshman year transcript, a schedule from junior year, I could have been a geologist. About the only thing I didn't find in there was a wooly mammoth skeleton. Oh, the other thing I didn't find in there was my tax return.

So, I extricate myself from the crawl space, landing hard when I fall off of the bureau onto the floor, but sustaining only minor injuries, like a concussion. I resignedly begin toward the computer to print off a 1040a that will need to be filled out and mailed before friday, April 15th. AND THEN I REMEMBER WHERE MY TAX RETURN IS!

Well, no, but I remembered another place some old papers might be, and that's almost as good right? Right. So I go to the closet (my closet) and find the box my new hard drive came in (two years ago), and open it, and what do I find? My old hard drive - and below it: more papers! And right there on top, not my tax return, but a confirmation sheet, with confirmation number, and the amount of my state refund! BAM.

Fill out the MA telefile sheet, dial the numba, input and confirm. done done and done. Taxes filed. Refunds on the way. And then that Futurama episode where Bender is God, and then meets God.

happy fiscal year end.
-Tom

recommended downloads:
Our Lady Peace, Superman's Dead

The people in your neighborhood

Guess who I saw on the T this morning. Misty and Misty's friend! You may remember them from "A very good morning." They also had another friend with them today, a gravely-voiced gentleman in a navy blue jacket. Today's trip was nowhere near as exciting though, just your basic spring day train ride. It could have become an interesting trip, just as we were pulling out of the first station we stopped, then backed up, then sat at the station for five minutes. Nothing came of it, we just pulled out and continued on as usual.

"In your search for all things highlight worthy let the word "routine" serve as a warning sign." -Casey McCall

-Tom
recommended download
Fountains of Wayne, Radiation Vibe

This is not a good place for me.

When I left for lunch today I put on my jacket, as usual, and then, I picked up my bag, looked at my desk for a second, then slung it over my shoulder and headed for the door. I left with my bag because I was thinking about not coming back. This is not a place I usually get to, though I have been here before. This is not a good place for me.

It's not the work. There is a lot of it, but I could probably finish it all on time if I decided to do so, I have the ability. It's not the atmosphere, today has been nice, no one complaining, no bone-head managerial decisions, no obnoxious coworkers. I must have been the trip. No doubt I'm a little tired, catching up on sleep was never a goal. Exhaustion is a likely contributor to my current disposition. More than that, though, I blame the wonderfulness of the trip. I met some very great people down there in Texas. I've said before, I've never met a Texan I didn't like, and I stand by that. I blame the four wonderful days I spent in the central time zone. They made me realize, or maybe helped me to remember, that there are more important things, and most importantly, that I'm happiest experiencing those things.

Contributing to another's well-being, especially a friend's; Spending all day in the warm sunshine and light breeze of a spring day. Sitting and watching a baseball game without worrying about what's going on at work, or caring what your supervisor thinks; Meeting new people and understanding each other right away, and then laughing, because you all think the same things are funny. Enjoying life is more important. I find it very difficult to come back to work after a weekend of real happiness.

-T
recommended downloads:
Our Lady Peace, Happiness Is Not A Fish That You Can Catch and Life
Lucky Boys Confusion, Atari

Back in the saddle

In the middle of April I spent four gorgeous spring days in Dallas/Ft. Worth. When I landed in Boston on the 12th it was snowing. This is why I love New England.

Now I am back at my desk, working on funds and budgets, and trying to keep my brain off "sleep" mode. It is a difficult task (the last one, the first two are so boring they only make staying awake harder). I spent the morning deleting the 63 emails I'd missed while I was out Monday and Tuesday; none were relevant. I've also been asked three times how my trip was: once by the complainer Charlie, he was sincere; once by Anne, who was also sincere, but as she doesn't use more than six words per day she didn't have any follow-up questions; and once by hypermanager, who was not sincere, but rather waiting for a chance to ask "did you go to a mustang ranch, how about a dude ranch? were you at a chicken ranch?" Thanks buddy. I was in Dallas. I saw three cowboys hats, total.

I may or may not post highlights from the trip later on, right now I'm not in a very highlighty place. I'm much more in a close my eyes and go to sleep at my desk place. No, that's wrong. The place I'm really in is that place where you know there are things more important than funds, and cubicles, when you know that spending time with friends on warm spring days, meeting new exciting people, and travelling to places you haven't been before, and then enjoying coming back home are more important. Alas, I haven't established a way to generate cash flow without spending time here at work though. So I'm back in between "travel to new places" times, languishing in the "do boring repetative work" time.

-Tom
recommended downloads
Our Lady Peace, Are You Sad

The Last Stop

So Amazo is moving on to bigger and better things, eh? Well, not this guy. I'm staying right here on blogger. You know why? Because it's easy, that's why. They manager the servers, they store my archives, they worry about security, it's great.

I walk the fine line between lazy and efficient. Well, I don't so much walk the line as jump back and forth across it. The point is: Blogger doesn't cost me any money (without peppering me with ads ads ads). The point is: Blogger is better than lj. The point is, I've already spent so much time (ten mintues, total) coming up with aliases for the blogs in the links section. Come on "Escape from Suburbia"? That's great. It should come with an eyepatch. (hi Felecia P-) (that's a pirate, with an eyepatch).

This is where I am, and this is where I'll stay. (and that is a direct quote from The Princess Bride).

-Tom
recommended purchase:
Marcy Playground, MP3 (it's their third album. get it?) (that "get it?" question refers to the joke - not the album. if the "get it" refered to the album it would have been imperative and punctuated with a period.)

P-r arr.

Two bit

When I quit my job I'm going to let it all go. I will consciously disregard any and all technical aspects of what we do here. I will consciously allow my skills to fall away, unpracticed, unused, one by one. Leave it all behind.

It will happen quickly, one or two days after my resignation it will be complete. If asked to return soon after leaving I would need to be retrained for each part of the job. Trades, rates, funds, and holdings would no longer mean anything. I will forget phone extensions, I will for get email addresses, even my own, I will be unable to recognize former coworkers in a crowd.

When I leave, everything goes.

-Tom
recommended download:
Marcy Playground, No One's Boy

Tom does Texas

Well, Tom does Dallas and Arlington, the rest of Texas will have to wait until next time. I'm all excited. I get to (1)fly (2)go to texas (3)hang out with kelly (4)see a baseball game (5)eat lots of great texas food and do other fun texas things. Five great reasons to be excited, all packed into one weekend.

You'll be happy to know I've resolved my dilema, (you may not recall my dilema: wear a red sox hat at the rangers' home opener or get some ranger gear) I'm going with the sox hat, since after all I'm a sox fan, and I'd guess they'd be under represented in Arlington.

I have no resolved my footwear dilema, as I was going to get a new pair of running shoes but the store I frequent (infrequently) has apparently dissapeared. Right off the map. Nothing online, not even a defunct phone number. Just gone. This could be the start of the next Xfile movie. Shoe store: vanished.

The third dilema is that of the budgets. Normally not a big deal. They gave me one to finish for tomorrow, before I leave for the lone star state. Ok, I can handle that. Oh, wait, what's that? It's the GIANT FUND? the one with eighteen classes? That's going to take hours (normal budgets take at most hour singular) this one'll be three or four hours which sucks big time, cuz that means either skipping lunch today or tomorrow (or both?) and maybe staying late tomorrow. Worst idea ever. Who wants to stick around late on a friday before a long weekend trip to the central time zone? Not this cowboy.

Fourth (and final) dilema: Go out friday night or don't. This one has also been resolved. My original plan was to go party "I'm going to Texas!" "I'll drink to that!" sort of night. But. I am so tired. I've decided instead, to go home from work (at what I hope is the usual time) eat a small supper and then SLEEP. That way I'll be refreshed and ready to go for my grand texas adventure.

Til then,
-Tom

recommended download
Kenny Rogers, The Gambler
Del McCoury, All Aboard

Tell all your friends

I'm building an empire. An empire of blogger connections. You want in? deal. just leave me a comment and make sure your blog is worth reading.

aside to mightygirl: Hey mightygirl, I'm waiting one week for you to post a comment here, then I'm putting you in the "peopleiknow" section anyway.

tell all your friends. adina, I know you only have that one other friend besides me, you should tell her.

recommended download:
The Doors, People Are Strange (when you're a stranger)

Networking, creepy-stalkery style

Howdy, you may be here because you linked through a comment I left on your blog. Welcome. Thus begins my super blog networking extravaganza.

My name is Tom. I am envious of you, you bloggers out there with links to many other bloggers. Folks like defective yeti, whose sidebar of a thousand links actually has a thousand links (I counted). I too wish to be one of you.

But--

I would rather not just start linking arbitrary blogs, I would rather linking non-arbitrary blogs, blogs with whom I have established contact with the authors of. Right now, those people appear on my side bar under "peopleiknow" I want those numbers to grow.

So here I am. ready to network. to establish a collection of connections. ready to reach out and read something. Welcome to the sidebar.

-tom
recommended downloads:
Feeder, Insomnia

good idea, bad idea

So I stayed up last night to watch the Johnny Damon interview on Conan. Bad idea. It's not like I've been getting lots of sleep lately anyway. Last night, no exception. I went right to bed at the end of the interview, but that's only about six and a half hours of sleep.

And I'm the least extreme case. There are some people out there that don't have the luxury of sleeping until eight o'clock, they have to get up at six or something to get ready for work on time. Then there are the girls, who have like, hair and makeup and clothes to worry about too. How is everyone else supposed to function when I can't even make it with my few extra hours in bed?

Speaking of not getting enough sleep, someone who will remain nameless but you know who you are ;) didn't get much sleep either, but for entirely different reasons ;) ;) That reason, probably a good idea.

So this here's a shout out to the sleep deprived, the walking zombies, the too-tired-to-be-walking zombies, and everybody else out there feeling like you've got weights on your eyelids and sand in your brain. You're not alone, but knowing that won't help.

-Tom
recommended download:
Our Lady Peace, Lying Awake, Clumsy
Lucky Boys Confusion, Commitment
and
Avril Lavigne, Sk8er boi

ps. thanks to sam for reminding me to start listening to olp again
pps. shut up, I can like avril if you like maroon 5.

vote!

pick your favorite sub-header! or suggest your own! it's like a contest!

-tom
recommended download
Avril Lavigne, Let Go
Pushstars, Drunk Is Better Than Dead
The Darkness, Growing On Me
Marcy Playground, Hotter Than The Sun

Let's talk about totally freaking out

I lost my phone. This is a big deal. I spend about 0.00% of my day on the phone. Really, it's not a phone at all, it's a battery I charge up, and clip to my belt until it runs out, then charge again. But talk about freaking the hell out.

I lead a simple life. Leaving the house in the morning there are four things I bring with me, four things I know will get me through any situation that arises: my keys, my wallet, my chapstick, and my phone. That's it. I've got those things, I'm set. They're like, the pillars, the foundation my day is based on, so maybe you can imagine what happens when one of the pillars just goes missing. I start freaking the hell out.

I realized the phone was gone just as I stepped off the T. That is not a good situation to be in. Desperation hit me like an electric shock, turning and sprinting towards the train as it's leaving the station is something you've seen late commuters do, what you don't often see are those commuters trying to wedge their fingers in the doors of the train and pry them open as it is accelerating out of the station. Panic. The train was gone. My phone was on the train. My phone. Train. Freak the hell out.

My mind immediately tackles the problem, calculating how fast I can run, how far away the next station is, the chance that my phone has been pocketed by a less than upstanding commuter. Meanwhile my feet are on autopilot, and I end up in the office at my desk. Problem not solved. Where is my phone. My link to the outside world (sort of). My shiny silver walkie-talkie enabled cellular device. I miss it already.

Fire up the computer. mbta.com Track down the lost-and-found number. What do I tell them...um, it's on a train? No, I am detailed oriented. I am ready with the car number, with the time the train left with me off it and my phone on it, with the color, everything. Turns out, not necessary. Because while I'm firing up the computer, I call home. To say hey, I lost my phone on the T. But, please could you just sort of check that I didn't leave it on my bed because I forgot a pillar of my day-to-day life thanks.

Turns out, it was on my bed.
-Tom

wow. what a relief.

Are there people in your office that you couldn't survive without? Well, I'm sure you'd survive without them, but it would definitely take you a some time to adjust to an office without them. I don't mean the guy that orders your supplies, I mean the "beautiful people." These are the people that brighten up your day just by being there - and they don't necessarily have to be physically attractive to be beautiful.

Like, there's the complainer, he sits next to me. He took a few days off last week. I was beside myself with boredom and negative energy. Normally his complaining lets me see the nicer side of work. He's like a negative enegery black hole, sucking all the complaining, all the grumpiness, all of the bad elements of this environment into his cube, leaving the good ones exposed to be marvelled at. There's the Manager on the other side of the floor, she's just plain cute. Like a toddler or puppy would be cute. Dressed in spring colors all the time, smiling all the time. She makes people smile when they pass her in the aisles, spritely. Cute girl is one of the beautiful people. Anne, in our group is too, she's back from vacation.

Last week was tough, Anne and the sprite were both out for vacation. Last friday was tougher. Only Charlie the complainer was here. No other beautiful people. No outside reason to smile. Today I started to get worried, I knew Anne was supposed to come back, but what about cute girl, or the sprite, what if they'd quit! I was worried. Then, when I got back from my morning coffee run, I saw the sprite. Whew. I smiled without even thinking about it. And then, relief of reliefs, cute girl came back. She was training all morning. But now she's back. My day can go on. Thanks for coming back, beautiful people.

-Tom
recommended download
Green Day, St. Jimmy

PAY ATTENTION TO ME!

hey, has anybody noticed I changed the little thing that usually says "online journal" to something else? anyway, I did.

-Tom
recommended download:
Sister Hazel, Everybody

On ending relationships (with the opposite sex)

The West Campus Heartbreaker. That's a nickname Donny likes to kid me with. I picked it up last year. When I was breaking hearts, left and right, in west campus. Seriously, I could have had t-shirts made. It was never a goal, but it seemed to be an inevitable outcome. Why must I be so attractive to the opposite sex (females)? Sure I'm charming, handsome, funny, intelligent, modest, and some (very few) girls have wanted to date me - but why must it always end in heartbreak?

I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why because I think I've just figured it out. If you'd've asked me before, I would not have been able to tell you, now, I have a theory: I have problems. Mental ones. Psychological problems. I am driven to destroy relationships.

It's like this:
1. boy meets girl,
2. boy and girl find each other attractive,
3. girl thinks she wants to date boy,
4. boy (me) goes out of his way to be a jerk.
5. girl hates boy.
6. boy is vindicated.

See, because I've got it in my head that any relationship that is meant to be should hold up under strain. I therefore put undue strain on the relationship, and, if it survives, then clearly it was meant to be. (none have survived). It's very simple - if it was meant to be, then me acting like a jerk wouldn't be enough to stop it from happening.

But it gets better. I mean, hey, I'm sure a lot of guys have acted like jerks at some point, and they've still landed the steady girlfriend, here's where my biggest compulsion comes into play. I take the steps - I am compelled - to take the steps necessary to ensure that the relationship is so damaged, so overwhelmed by my ability to be a horrible human being that it can never, ever be salvaged. Like the time I thought I was being nice and sent a letter to this girl I liked, and it was so creepy she thought I was stalking her and almost called her three brothers to find me and beat me to death. (she didn't, but came very, very close). Or the time when just as this girl I was hanging out with was about to ask about "us" when I told her I really liked this other girl who wasn't her, or the topper, which many of you have heard about, when I told a girl I'd been seeing a couple weeks quote: "I feel nothing" That one got the entire staff turned against me, I didn't have a conversation with any of them for about four months.

I drive breakups into the ground. This is not an apology. This is an explanation. Sorry.

-Tom
recommended download:
Cowboy Mouth, How Do You Tell Someone


"Call me old fashioned, but I like a dump to be as memorable as it is devastating."
-Bender, Futurama

Ah, Productivity, my old friend, we meet again. How I loathe you. How have you been? Keeping busy, no doubt. And me? Well, I have tried famously to avoid you at all costs. I've even started an online journal to chronicle my attempts to thwart you and your buddy over there, Hard Work. Well, actually I don't so much chronicle as write something down whenever I can. It's a product really, of my inactive lifestyle. What was that? Why did I use the word "product?" Well, I... Oh, oh, I see. This online distraction is a "product" I've "produced" I have therefore been "productive." Why you crafty little devil. You haven't really been gone at all, have you. Just lurking aroud behind me where I can't see. No, that was my manager. Well, in any case, well-played you, well-played. I look forward to our next showdown. I'm sure that next time I shall be better prepared. Telephone with personal phone call against my ear, coffee in one hand, one foot out the door, sleeping on the job, and chatting away online. See ya, Productivity, old man, and tell your friend Results, I'll see her when I see her.

-Tom
recommended download:
Frank Sinatra, Luck Be A Lady

credit where credit is due

the way things work, the way things should work, and the way I want things to work are all different things. here's an example:

interest lines are due at the begining of the month. we have 30 days to clear them. after 30 days they are past due and that's a problem.

yesterday we got an email from hypermanager telling us (in bold caps) to clear the intrest lines on our funds before they're (dun dun dun) past due.

I only had one outstanding line, which I had already followed up on with the PA who followed up with the client, so it's out of my hands. and it was only 26 days old, so I'm ahead.

today victor didn't show up. they split up his funds, I'm covering an easy one. easy trades, nothing weird, so no problem. oh, wait, what's that? victor hasn't cleared any of his SIX interest lines? and THEY'RE ALL MORE THAN A WEEK PAST DUE? what the hell man!?

so that's my morning. where normally I'd be blogging or chatting online or just, you know, spacing out, I'm now doing real actual work that people in my position do. and, since there are a billion past due lines out there hypermanager and counterpart are helping. bam, bam, bam they make adjustments to funds, bam I find a missing rate, bam I find an incorrect accrual date, bam, bam, bam and we're all good. took maybe an hour of research and adustments. real, actual work. I'd feel accomplished. except for one thing. I took care of my responsibilities weeks ago. I was doing someone else's real, actual, work. and I'm letting you know now, that he won't hear one thing about it when he gets back, and next time pastdue lines roll around no one's going to say "hey Tom, good work on Victor's funds last time, thanks for the help." So really, it would make no difference if I'd slacked like crazy this month, not cleared up any lines, and waited until the last minute AND THEN CALLED IN. credit where credit is due, is all I'm saying.

-Tom
recommended downloads:
Oasis, Cigarettes & Alcohol

You're driving me insane! THIS IS HOW PEOPLE GO INSANE!

That's a quote from bobrauschenbergamerica, it's a really wonderful play. Anyway, things here at work are escalating. When I say "things" I mean "tension." Gail is out this week and now things are running less smoothly than normal. I don't know if this is a) because Gail is so good at what she does or that b) she's really an excellent buffer between us (the FAs) and management. I suspect it is reason b. For example: Our weekly yield checks generate an excel spreadsheet which we need to review for zeroes, (no zeroes = good). Hypermanager, however, insists on checking each and every field of the spreadsheet for possible errors. There are 18 fields for each stock owned for each fund. That's lots of checking for stuff that doesn't matter. Hey, manager, just check the last column for zeroes. But alas, as he checks the stuff that doesn't matter, he finds things that can be "more accurate" and tells us to fix them. Are there zeroes? No. Do we need to bother fixing stuff so that there are no rounding errors? Do we really need to update the date/time format so they all match? No. Get over yourself, hypermanager.

He also sent out an email today regarding interest payments on the funds. These payments are supposed to be made in the first week of the month, but have a grace period of 30 days. Anything over 30 days is pastdue and he freaks out. So now we have a list of 27 stocks to check because next tuesday they'll be "pastdue" which, of course, means the end of the world. Hey, hypermanager, how about you let the PAs worry about the interest payments, which is, after all, their job? (However, I did get a laugh out of the PA on one of my funds when I described hypermanager as "freaking out").

Anyway, I'm going insane. With the interest payment crackdown, yield check overwork, and the ever present AIM police attitudes the hypermanager is carrying around it's almost inevitable. I'm going to go insane or develop pogonophobia (fear of beards -thanks Tom).

-Tom
recommended download:
Green Day - When I Come Around
and
Oasis - Step Out

ps. adina, donny and I do not have very similar problems: his office has lots of work and everyone wants him doing it. my office has zero to do, almost no responsibility and a psycho manager who isn't content unless the entire office is stressed-out-to-the-max. but you are right, donny can handle the beautiful women, I def. can't

Gone to the dogs.

Ok folks, here's a cute picture.

This

is from ephemera, that photoblog in the links section
(right, like you haven't checked out that links section yet)
it's a good one.

-Tom

Loss

I don't have anything to write about, but I don't have anything to do either, so I'm writing.

Yesterday I wanted to cut my hair, all of it, off. Today I don't. I've been going back and forth on this for a little while now.

Yesterday I settled on the GMC Canyon compact pickup, 4x4 crew cab. 18.1mpg, $23K. The day before that I had decided on the volkswagen passat, awd, 17.2 mpg $24.5K. I've also decided on the Ford Explorer Sport Trac, the Audi A6 sedan, and the Chevy Tahoe.

I am now begining to wonder if my indecisiveness is a symptom of something. Is it the effect in some causal relationship? So far this effect has not affected me overmuch. I can deal with longer hair, I'll just need to buy some more of that hair stuff to control it, keep it out of my eyes. I don't have to decide on a car just now, I don't plan on purchasing one until the end of summer anyway.

Right now, it seems, it's just the car decision and the hair decision that elude me. Deciding on plans for the weekend, or what to have for breakfast happen easily. If this small bubble of indecisiveness grows, however, I will start some serious pondering.

-Tom
recommended download:
Bob Schneider, King Of The World

reading

I think this was supposed to be a joke, but seriously, how much does this sound like me?:

if we're talking about character strengths, mental strengths, then I'd say it has to be his concentration and multitasking abilities. While it may appear to you that he's browsing the Internet, or playing PS2 games in his office with his pants off, behind those sparkling eyes, his mind is working a mile a minute, perhaps juggling seventeen or eighteen different concepts: efficiency statistics, status reports, nonlinear algorithms, sales accounts, Portuguese poetry—


-Tom
recommended download:
AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long

the wall

That's it. I've hit the wall. I can no longer function. Please forgive any typing errors. My muscles just gave up, I think the only things that are still working are my heart and the six or seven necessary tendons and muscles that operate the index finger. Oh, and the diaphram, I'm still breathing.

But that's it. Nothing else is working. My eyes are closed because I can't open my eyelids. I can't lift my head, the muscles in my neck aren't working, my head is lolling back and forth on my chair. My left arm is swinging listlessly at my side, fingers dragging on the floor. I've hit the wall.

I don't think it's anything but being really really tired. I'm not taking any medication thatmay cause drowsiness, I'm not inebriated, nothing like that, just really, very, physically, tired.

ugh.

What are you supposed to do in a situation like this? I was thinking about leaving, taking off, going home, but I can't. Physically. I couldn't get out of this chair even if I wanted to, nevermind make it all the way to the T. I'd fall asleep if I sat down on the train and I'd be out. Like a light. I'd be riding back and forth on the Orange Line until they kicked me out at Forest Hills at 12:45 tonight. That's no good. I think I'm just going to have to wait it out. Zone out, zone back in, struggle through the workday. [yawwwn]. Come on adrenaline.

-tom
recommended download
adrenaline - gavin rossdale

Bloomberg's in Spanish

So the bloomberg terminal is now in spanish. the functions are all the same, everything's in the same place, but now all the menus and commands are in spanish. We can still use it, I, for one, understand a little spanish, and the group, as a whole, knows where the menu items we use all the time are located, so things haven't slowed down. They've just been in spanish.

It's sort of funny. Every couple hours I sit down over there and start poking around, looking for the command that controls what language the menus are in. I haven't found anything that looks like "settings" or "idioma" so it's still in spanish.

This episode has made me realize how valuable my three semesters of foreign language were not. It's also made me aware that my affinity for software is not limited by my native tongue, but my ability is. therefore, I am going to make a half-hearted effort to use computers in other languages. I'm sure that if I don't have to go out of my way to do so, it will still happen.

This reminds me of the time my sister changed my cell phone display to hebrew. That lasted two weeks.

-Tom

DEBT FREE!

I have student loans (I know, I know, who doesn't) a bunch through the federal government and a smaller bunch from BU.

I paid off the BU loans! woohoo!

now I'm debt free :-D (only BU debt.) The point is: I now no longer owe money to the school I graduated from. Way to go, me.

Still, with the federal loans, but whatever.

Embracing my new found financial freedom I am now contemplating getting a credit card (or two) and purchasing a car or truck (today I am thinking about a GMC Sierra even though it gets a dismal 13.1 mpg) or possible a Dodge Dakota or maybe a corvette. There's lots of stuff out there that costs money I don't have, and I'm thinking about buying the lot.

-Tom

recommended download:
Barenaked Ladies, If I Had A Million Dollars.

I've got another creepy stalker

So the first creepy stalker found me on the facebook. started IMing me, and hey, I'm a friendly guy, I appreciate the random IM every now and then. We chatted off and on through the summer, she was going to school in NC she thought my picture was "cute" and took it from there. I haven't heard from her in a while, I understand that, a year at school changes people, you make new friends, that you've seen face-to-face, you know.

But now, I've got a new creepy stalker (hi there c.s.) New creepy stalker found me through Blogger. There's a nifty little button on the top of these blogs ("Next Blog") that takes you to a random blog on the blogspot server. She hit next blog, my web log came up, she commented. Naturally curious, naive, and unsuspecting me sent an IM, just to be friendly (I'm a friendly guy).

we have a pleasant conversation (she's a comic book fan) and then she hits me with this:
ncs: I didn't know you were in boston!
me: um, it says that in my profile
ncs: where do you buy your comics? I work at the new england comics on harvard ave!
me: um
ncs: so, are you social?
me: social?
ncs: you know, do you live alone or with people? do you go out with friends?
ncs: because you seem like a semi-intelligent person, and I usually enjoy talking to people like that

I sort of missed having a stalker. Not.

-Tom
recommended downloads:
Reliant K, I'm Lion-o

Cornered?

So when pressured, when backed into a corner, what are your options?
1. give up
2. flee
3. fight
or
4. take another look at your resources, both personal and in the surrounding environment. We humans are tool-users, reevaluate the tools at your disposal.

In this particular instance, the manager sees an AIM window up on your screen. It appears your initial efforts at keeping it hidden (hide taskbar button when buddylist is minimized, hide windows while away) weren't good enough (also, it's entirley possible, and entirely likely the whole reason he saw an AIM window on your screen and not the black, powered-down, sleep-mode monitor is because he was trying to mess with your computer while you were at lunch, but that's a fight for another day). He tells you to get rid of AIM.

Resources.

Clearly AIM's own camoflauge isn't enough. So you look for more effective ways of keeping the program hidden. Since you've had a computer since freshman year of high school you're pretty familiar with the Window operating system, this leads you to explore your Start Menu and Taskbar options.
First, you didn't know this before, but you can choose which icons appear next to the clock, or how often they appear. Normally the little AIM buddy is chilling down there next to the time, but you switch his command to "always hide" and click, he's gone! Also, you alter a few of the other icons commands from "hide when inactive" to "always show" to keep the taskbar busy-looking with business related icons.
Second, you change the Taskbar setting from "always on top" (Adina I know what just ran through your mind) to "autohide the taskbar" thus keeping that out of sight as well.
Third, and I'm very pleased I thought of this, change the name of the folder that opens from the Start button from "AOL Instant Messenger" to something inoccuous and business sounding like "AlphaComm" or "SecCom (SM)" so that even people taking a quick look at your list of available programs won't see it.

Granted, none of this will keep someone determined to find AIM from finding AIM. If someone were to be hell bent on discovering the program, they would only need to be at the terminal and conduct a search, or look through the Program Files folder. So, manager, you'll have to either be very timely to catch me chatting online, or very at-my-desk-while-I'm-not so you can search my files to catch me with the program. But try doing that when I put my Ctrl+Alt+Del lock on the terminal. Ha.

Well, you'll be seeing me, maybe not as often
And I hope that spy-manager over there won't be seeing any more of you.
The end.

-Tom
recommended download:
Eve 6, There's A Face

happy fractional birthday!

There should be a better way to say that.
Today is March twenty-fourth, today I am twenty-one and eight-twelfths -- wait, no no, no, today I am twenty-two and eight-twelfths, (reduced to twenty-two and two-thirds). Congratulations to me on making it through sixty-six percent of another year. It seems like a good time to talk about some highlights.

since being twenty-two and zero-twelfths (highlights include):
-getting a job: this really was a highlight, it reaffirmed my belief that I am wholly employable, and led to the second highlight,
-starting a web log!: for without such a decision I wouldn't have anywhere to post highlights.
-going to Rome: this one was pretty recent, it's the first time I've ever travelled far enough away that they speak a different language, and it was the reason for,
-buying a digital camera!: a real beauty too, 4.0 megapixels, 10x optical zoom, all that good stuff
-seeing Venture Bros. for the first time: it's a fun show, I like it, just like
-watching Robot Chicken!: this one just started, I don't know if it will last, but the fact that the stop animation relies heavily on gi joe action figures puts it way up there in my book, and speaking of books,
-reading lots of books!: it's been a while since I've read as much as I have these past few weeks, and I enjoy reading tremendously. The reason I haven't been reading is because the next highlight is
-getting an iPod!: these things are great. music, whenever, wherever you want it.
-watching the first couple seasons of The Shield on dvd: it's a good show, now I can watch it in primetime on FX. go commish!
-getting a Nextel phone: I love that walkie talkie feature, everybody I know is getting them, just like when we were kids playing guns in the back yard. The only thing that could make this sweeter is laser-tag
-getting invited to the Texas Rangers' Home Opener!: I love baseball :-D

Well, those are just some of the highlights. There were others. This being my seven thousand nine-hundred fourteenth day (I'm estimating) it's also a good time to look forward. Here are some goals:

from being twenty-two and two-thirds (going forward)
-buy a car!: this is the biggest goal.
-finish the one-thousand five-hundred piece puzzle we started yesterday!: it's from Rome
-make it another one hundred twenty-two days: so I can make it to the rangers game, make to the fourth of july bash (in austin), and to my next birthday.

-Tom
recommended download
Jason Mraz, On Love In Sadness

Pissed

Is my work suffering? Are you dissapointed in the quality of my results? Am I missing deadlines? Did I forget to print something out? Did I not run a report I should have? Am I a below-average employee? AM I?! No. I'm a good employee. I know, because I'm a smart guy. Here's how I figured it out, two things: People have always told me I'm a good employee. -and- I haven't changed or altered the way I work.

So why the static? Look. I'm not walking in here demanding you make me happy. All I'm asking, asking, is that you stop going out of your way to make me unhappy. My work is being handed in on time, right? It's correct, right? I'm learning everyday, making less mistakes than when I started, right? I elevate problems when I know I can't deal with them, right? I'm a beacon of positive light and energy in this workplace and especially this group filled with nay-sayers and pessimists, right? RIGHT. SO WHY DON'T YOU JUST GET UP OFF MY BACK?

So, manager guy, here's what you do. Pull me aside "Hey, can I see you a minute [awkward pause] Nothing bad." Walk to your office, out of ear shot, close the door. Say, "Listen, I saw an AOL Instant Messenger window on your screen while you were at lunch, I think the AVP might have seen it to. Instant Messenger isn't approved software, you know? I've had to talk to some other people about it. I'm telling you now, as like, you know.. I don't want to have to do something about it. If the AVP says something to me, then, you know... So just, get it off the computer. I don't want to him say something to me, before, you know..."

Gee, what a well delivered warning. I'm glad my boss can communicate at a level on par with high school freshman, like, you know? I'm glad his primary concern is the state of his group, the well-being of the employees directly under his supervision, and not, like, you know, company policies and procedures that, are (1) stupid and (2) not enforced by anyone anywhere except, aparently, my manager and the AVP.

So make your case. If it's not approved software, then get it the hell off the computers, it would take three seconds to add aim.com to the company firewall's restricted list. They've got control of all the computers on their network too, with a five line program they could sweep the nation wide network and have any instance of AIM on any terminal hooked up to the system uninstalled overnight. Don't give me this "not approved" line. If it weren't approved, it wouldn't be allowed. These are the same IT guys that have blocked hotmail, yahoomail, gmail, and every other online email site that exists. These are the guys that have blocked azlyrics.com (and what the hell is that about?).

What's the real issue? You want us concentrating on mutual funds and only mutual funds? Why not say that then? Because you don't have a leg to stand on, that's why. Because I'm doing my job, I'm not costing the funds any money, I'm efficient, I'm correct, I'm on time. What is your problem. When it becomes an issue, when I'm not completing work because I'm online, that's when you say something. Otherwise back the hell off.

-Tom
recommended download:
Flogging Molly, Screaming At The Wailing Wall

UVA/UVB

My eighth grade class took a week long trip to Washington D.C. The school provided a list of items that would be necessary or useful on the trip to our parents, so that they could send us off well-prepared. One item on the list was sunglasses. So, while we were out shopping for stuff I needed for the trip I found a really nice pair of shades. They cost something like $15. My mom refused to buy them based on the belief that they were being taken to the airport, on a plane, on a bus, to a hotel, to a strange city for a week, worn by a perhaps absent-minded eighth grader surrounded by his at least as, and probably slightly more, absent-minded classmates. $15 was too much money to waste on glasses that would be lost before I even got on the plane. I argued my case, mostly with "I won't lose them!" but in the end she purchased me a pair of $5 glasses. Metallic green, black lenses, small X-games logo on either earpiece of the plastic so called "sports" frames (and this is back when the x-games were just starting out). So they were a little big for my tiny eighth grade cranium, not yet filled with the knowledge high school would try to cram in there and college would let seep out. They made me look like a bug. Giant bug eyes. But whatever, always one to make the best of any situation I wore them the whole trip, and was glad I had them, because Washington D.C. is sunny in the spring - but, the whole time, every day, I would think to myself, "mom thought I was going to lose the fifteen dollar sunglasses, I'll show her, I won't lose these, proving I did, in fact, deserve the more expensive pair." (That's almost an exact excerpt from my eighth grade brain, back then I thought with many dependent clauses). I didn't lose the glasses. I had them with me safe and sound when we returned to Boston. I kept them and wore them the following summer. I threw them on a shelf or someplace for the winter, and still had them the following summer, and so on...

Since my eighth grade year, and especially since my freshman year of college I've purchased many more pairs of sunglasses. Through it all I've kept the five dollar bug glasses. I've still got 'em. For the first few years they were my "I'm going to know where these are every moment of every day to make sure I don't lose them to prove mom wrong" glasses, later, they became the "junk" pair, the one's I'd wear if I thought there would be a danger of scratching, bending, breaking, or losing. Mountain biking, camping, vacations at the beach. I saved my other, nicer glasses for looking good, going out, weddings, birthdays, and so on. I've gone through maybe twenty pairs of "nice" glasses. I've still got the bug glasses.

I think, that if it ever happens, I'm going to be really upset if I lose them.

-Tom B-)

recommended download
Bob Schneider, I'm Good Now

So I pushed lunch back today, to run a few programs on the system. Added benefit is that while the programs run I can't use excel, which means basically I get an hour or so to screw aroud online while I'm "working" After the programs finished I was going to just run out and grab something to eat. Too late I realized that by not being able to use excel I was unable to work on my budget (due today) so now I'm not getting food, because of the stupid budget. Come on. These things are supposed to be done in the second week of the month, why give this one to me?

-Tom
I recommend that somebody bring me a pizza.

Like a true nature's child...

So I don't know what's been going on lately. My head isn't in the game. And I like it - because it's not ponderously sluggish thinking or anything, my synapses are firing at top speed, it's an unfocusability, like my head's floating over there, just behind me to my right, thinkin it's own thoughts, chillin, wheels spinning.

That's not the best way to get a budget done, but who cares? I'm like superman on gold kryptonite, without the super powers. I'm like a dream. I'm all over the place. Is any of this making sense? It's ok if it's not, I doubt you've read this far anyway (ADINA)

Maybe I'll get a croissant or a danish, mabye some coffee will alter my state of mind (but push it into focus? no way). My computer is spooling very slowly to the printer today, Jonathan, the Opie&Anthony fan is out, I've got my iPod and I'm about to hook it up to the computer, I've got a budget to finish, I could really go for a nap right now, I'm heading to the pub tonight, my hair is looking ridiculous again (I've realized I have too much hair to wear it long. That's right, too much. I'm enjoying it.), and the only thing I have left to do is budgets, yield checks, and archiving, oh, and actually applying for the job that it was suggested I apply for, which is such a proccess I might not even do it. Shouldn't the internal application be easier than the external? I think so. Anyway, I'm going to go chat online. If you've made it this far (ADINA) you don't have to comment, but if you're looking for something interesting to read, try the posts from last week, there are a couple good ones - I think.

lookin for adventure, and whatever-comes-our-way!
-Tom

liek a true-nature's-child
I was born-born to be wild
gonna climb so high think I'm never gonna
d-i-e
born to be wi-i-ild

what can I say, it just popped into my head. get your motor runnin, head out on the highway!
somebody stop me, this could go on forever. I don't even remember what I was going to post, my brain's been taken over. music music everywhere and not a note to drink. the who, bob schneider, donna summer, bowling for soup, madonna, pearl jam, just bouncing around. it's like my mind is on shuffle and I'm too impatient to listen to a whole song.

so I guess I'm a U2 fan

I watched a little bit of U2's induction into the rock and roll hall of fame last night, mostly the springsteen intro, he was great. I guess I'm a fan. There was a time (high school) that I didn't like U2, and I can tell you exactly why: Sunday, Bloody Sunday. That song drove me crazy, it was the only lyric I knew, and it just repeated repeated repeated. So I didn't give them a chance. Even if I had I don't know if I would have appreciated them, or if I do even now. There were two camps in my high school, Dave Matthews fans, and U2 fans, and they were mutually exclusive, not one person liked both groups, it was either hate-love, or love-hate. As I grew older, and was exposed to more music I began to lose passion for dmb and at some point thought I would give U2 a try. It probably wasn't the best time, it was just after the release of the single Wild Honey which is not their best, or even close, but I was listening to them.

So here I am again, listening to U2, now maybe I'll make an effort and get some more songs from their early years, see what they have to offer.

-Tom
recommended download
U2, New Year's Day
and
Bruce Springsteen, Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (Live)

I believe you'd get your ass kicked saying something like that, man.

Hell of a way to start a week. Up til now Ihaven't really felt the urge to quote office space, but here I am, monday morning, that's all I can think about. These last few weeks have been like a kid rollercoaster, up and down, up and down, in a little circle - never to high up, never too far down, and you never go anywhere. today I'm thinking about quitting again. not because I dont like the work, not because my coworkers are giving me a hard time, just because I don't really feel like coming in. I'd rather not be in the office today, I'd rather be out, say, driving, or wandering around fanueil hall, just not doing anything. I had a couple problems early this morning, and rather than do some research and fix them, I just sat here, because I didn't want to. Fifteen minutes later I did the research, and they got fixed, but that's fifteen minutes I'd spent kinda "spacing out," you know where you're not actually doing any work, but it looks like you are. So to end this post, here's another office space quote:

Peter Gibbons: So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life.
Dr. Swanson: What about today? Is today the worst day of your life?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah.
Dr. Swanson: Wow, that's messed up.

Tom
recommended download
Jack Johnson, Sitting Waiting Wishing

so I guess I haven't told you

I haven't told you about how well my camera performed in Rome. It was awesome. Definitely a great purchase. I love the feature that diverts the view from the lcd screen on the back to the electronic viewfinder eyepiece, makes it feel like a "real" camera. plus the new memory card held 280 full 4.0 megapixel resolution photos, that's huge. and finally, and this is great, I bought eight rechargeable batteries and charged them all up before the trip, and the first batch of four lasted me the whole week! that's 280 photos, plus flash support, plus all the editing and viewing I did on the camera. they're still going strong. great purchases all around. to sum up, I love the charger and batteries, I love the memory card, and the fujifilm finepix series are a good line of cameras.

-tom
recommended download:
billy joel, only the good die young
and
fuel, last time

master of HTML

lo and behold, the brand new links section on the sidebar, containing links to blogs.

ok, but really I'm not a master of html, I didn't even write my own code this time, just copied and pasted, on the pyramid of html scribes I'm a lot closer to the office temp guy than the executive vp of writing html. but whatever - links section. now active.

-hTOMl

recommended download
pearl jam, ghost
incubus, drive
goldfinger, superman

friday, after work

fact: oreos are comfort food.

-tom
recommended download
amy dalley, men don't change

there's a lot of college left in me

today I learned a little more about ky30, one of my funds. I was told two pieces of information, once part in the morning, the other this afternoon, when I heard the second bit, they clicked, to make sense of each other, and as a result I know a little more about my fund.

there's a lot of college left in me. you see it in the way I dress (hooded sweatshirt) the way I make decisions, the way I act on decisions, I'm the same guy I was in college, but now I'm not paying tuition. and it seems someone/something is trying to suck me into this next world, of apartments, of cars, of responsibility...and i'm not saying I don't want to join up, I'm just saying, quit pulling me. I'll get there eventually, and everyone there will enjoy themselves a little more once I get there, because I'm a cool guy. Until then though, I'm just going to stick with the status quo. sweatshirts, gatorade, AIM. not button-down, coffee, email. and hey, you girls out there, start asking guys out. don't wait for them. and also, when they do ask you out, say yes, and - I can't stress this enough - after you've said yes, go.

my head is all over the place today.
-Tom
recommended download:
Counting Crows, Another Horsedreamer's Blues

I'm done

That's it, I'm done proving myself. I'm done trying. So I'm out, I'm trying to impress you, it's how I am, it's what I do. I'm out, I'm on. Witty, clever, sarcastic, intelligent, whatever the situation calls for, that's what I am. All I need is for you to just for one second step back and notice, "hey, he's clever/witty/smart" and be impressed, or startled, or whatever, just enough that you reconsider, just enough that you say to yourself, maybe I should give this guy another chance, maybe he is "boyfriend material" maybe I was wrong to dismiss him outright. There's more there than I thought.

Fuck it. I'm done.

I'm not "on" anymore, I'm not proving myself, I'm not trying. I'm just going to be me, the me that doesn't care, and if you're not impressed, if you don't want to see what else is there, fine. it's you're decision. Because when it comes down to it I don't really need someone who's impressed when I'm trying, what I need, what we all need is someone impressed with who we are when we aren't trying, when we're just on standby. So now it's cruise control, and we'll see where it goes.

-Tom
recommended download:
Counting Crows, Have You Seen Me Lately

ahahahahaha

So here at work we have security doors, magnetic IDs allow you to pass through them.
To enter the building there are three of these revolving doors. Fully automatic. You swipe your id, step into the RIGHT HAND SIDE of the door, and it turns one quarter turn, allowing you inside. This is also how you exit the building.

So just went to get coffee. I came back, several people were exiting the building as I was entering. This happens a lot. You take turns, one goes in, one comes out, back and forth. So I step up, swipe my ID, step into the door, and, just as it is about to turn a woman jumps in from the other side! hoping to piggy-back my ID swipe and just scoot through the other side of the door to get out.

Well, the door is having none of that. It stops mid turn, trapping both the woman and myself. I look through the glass at her, she's embarassed and upset. I look at my own reflection, I am composed, good-looking, and holding a small coffee from Dunkin Donuts. Other people near the entrance are also looking at us. No doubt they can see my composure, and her lack of composure. She motions to me from the other side of our little glass apartment. "Push" she mouths and indicates the door. Duh, lady, I was going to push on the ground.

So she heaves at the door, I push a little too, the door moves. I enter the buidling, she scurries past security with her head down. Two other people who have entered with me laugh, good and long and hard. I laugh too.

Now I'm enjoying my coffee

happy st. patrick's day,
Tom

luck o' the irish

belushi isn't irish. but he's a funny guy.

"When I think of Ireland I think a lot of colorful Irish expressions like, "Top of the morning to ya," "Kiss the barney stone," "May the road rise to meet ya," "May you be in heaven an hour before the devil knows you're dead," "I'd like to smash you in the face with my shillelagh," "Danny-boy," "Begorra," "Wail of the banshee," and "Whiskey for the leprechauns, whisky for the leprechauns." But the expression I think most people identify with the Irish, is, of course, the luck of the Irish...Let's talk about the bad luck of the Irish, all right? How about this, POTATO FAMINE!! How about that? It scares them, doesn't it? Well, it should..."
-John Belushi

a penny saved

Funny how money saved is money earned, but time can only be well spent. You just can't save an hour of your day for later. I spent this morning reorganizing my daily reports for the last three months, order from disorder, but I'm not getting that time back. I can't sit back right now, decide to do nothing for a while because I want to "save this hour" for tonight, and it's a real shame it doesn't work like that, since I won't be doing anything anyway.

If I had more drive I would invest this time wisely, say in an anthopological study of the workplace.

"day one-ninety-seven, the natives seems to have accepted me into their community. recall that they are timid, but usually friendly with outsiders, it is often observed that most newcomers will be invited to the daily rituals "coffee" or "smokes." Now, however, I seem to have gained admittance to their upper echelon, I have begun to receive correspondence from some of the "cube-dwellers" through their electronic communitcations system. Normally a means for mass communication, this "email" can also be used to send individual messages. I was overjoyed to receive my first "forward" from a member of the local tribe, or "group." These "forwards" are apparently a type of communication meant to be humorous or satirical in nature, usually containing observations of the surrounding environment, or "office," which are often contradictory in nature. For example, this first forward I have received notes that the "manager" (a dominant member of the species) appears to demand that group members be responsible for their work, while acting in a contradictory manner and not taking responsibility for his own. It may take many more years of study to fully understand this culture and its practices, but I feel confident that the natives, desperate for contact with the outside world, will continue to aid and accept me. I must end my entry here, it is time for this morning's "coffee run" in which I have been invited to participate."

-Tom

Tied up in knots.

Celtic knots to be exact. Received a package today in the mail, book on constructing celtic knots, supposed to be very good. very not.

basically a book full of illustrations sans instructions or guidelines or hints. some "artist" decided to mimeograph his lecture slides and call them "directions." not so. however, there are a few panels that hint at an actual method. will be attempting this new method at work for the next few weeks. what else would I be doing, certainly not work. just knot work.

-tom

recommended download
flogging molly, factory girls

I am so bored that...

today I've actually read all of the blogs linked through john's blog
I never read all those

Miya-hee

So I've got that Romanian pop song stuck in my head. I don't mind really. It's not annoying. But I would like to say that if my likeness was as well known as this fellow's I'd be out there marketing the snot out of it. T-shirts with my face on it with a big "Miya-hee" written out underneath it. Come on kid, exploit the capitalist marketplace you call home, you don't know how long your fifteen minutes will really last, so might as well start cashing in now. Let me know if you get around to making those shirts, I'll buy one for all my friends.

-Tom
recommended:
watch the kid
read the lyrics
watch the music video

Stupid Americans.

Honestly, stupid fucking americans. If I were European I'd hate them on principle. Here we are, a group of about sixty parents and siblings, in Rome to see our sons or brothers sing for the Pope, for the Pope. And we get to like, tour Rome and see Pompei and stuff too, this should be a pretty happy group, right? Stupid. Fucking. Americans. I hate 'em.

Now here I am, just me, and I think a certain way. Something like "We're going to a different country on a different continent, I bet the culture and customs will not be the same as they are at home." Now, maybe that's obvious to you, but maybe that's because you're intelligent and open-minded. Not these parents though. Stupid Americans.

We had lunch in a resturant in Pompei, billed as a "traditional italian meal." It started with melted cheese and tomato sauce on flatbread, very similar to what we call pizza, then pasta, wide noodles stuffed with a meat and cheese mixture, then a salad of lettuce, tomato, and mozarella chese doused in oil, finished with a small dish of vanilla ice cream.
As soon as we got back on the bus they started bitching and complaining "Oh, that food was terrible, I couldn't even eat the pasta, what did they put in that?" while on the other side of the bus some pompous jackass was saying "Give me ten minutes in the kitchen I'll whip up something better than that, they'll lock the doors to keep me inside and keep cooking for them!"

What the hell? It seems that to you stupid Americans if something is different it's automatically bad. It occurs to me though, that they've beens serving food here in Italy for something like three thousand years, don't you think that if it was bad they would have changed it? Yeah.

Stupid parents in the group alternating between mocking the tour guide's accent and calling out italian phrases for no reason. Parents pestering the hotel staff with questions and not waiting for answers because they've already started asking the question again, louder and much more slowly. Hey, I'm not saying you have to be fluent in the native language of the country you're visiting, I'm saying remeber you're a visitor, a guest in that country. How about treating people with some respect and not your American "you're obviously here to make my stay easier and if everything isn't exactly as I expected it to be it's your fault" attitude. These are adults. We had dinner with the kids one night, it looked like they didn't like the food either (I half forgive them, kids are picky eaters anyway) but you know how they handled it? They pushed the food to the edge of their plate and waited for the next course. They said "please" and "thank you" to the waiters, in english. They were polite, quiet, courteous and respectful. I spent most of the time looking around trying to figure out how the hell these kids were raised by this obnoxious rude and disrespectful bunch of parents. Stupid Americans.

This entry would have been two pages longer if I'd written it last week. This is just the leftover frustration.

-Tom

Dublin

Well, I've wanted to go to Dublin for a while, sort of a "yeah it would be nice to go, I've heard it's a really nice place" want. But I've never wanted to go more than when I was in Rome. It may have been due to the fact that I was in Italy, oh so close to the rest of europe, it may have been that the only alcohol we drank over there was wine, and while it wasn't bad wine, it certainly wasn't guiness, or it may just have been that the music I had with me on the trip was Flogging Molly, who technically are an irish rock band from california, but it's irish rock, and everybody knows that's from either dublin or boston, and I've seen boston.

But man, I certainly wouldn't want a whirlwind sightseeing tourist trip to Dublin. That would be the worst thing ever. We were in Rome for a week and saw something like sixty of the 900 churches plus the ancient ruins plus the food plus bus trip to pompei, plus mass at st. peter's plus mass at st. susanna's etc etc etc etc. We were running around for the whole week. No, when I go to Dublin it should go something like this:
irish guy "welcome to dublin"
me "thanks, does dublin have 'sights'?"
irish guy "well, sure, I can show 'em to you if you like"
me "no sights, where's the nearest pub?"
irish guy, smiling "right this way"

That would be cool. Sit, relax, divide my time between resting and drinking at a pub. And that would be all, a real vacation. Ah, Dublin.

-Tom

A game of baseball...in texas.

I've never met a texan I didn't like. There's John, Rosa, Karen, Sylvia (who I just learned yesterday hailed from texas), Kelly, Liz, and a few more. I like 'em all. So it was with great excitement yesterday that I accepted an invitation to the Texas Ranger's home opener in Arlington, Texas on April 11th. Which means two things: first, I get to go to a baseball home opener, which I have never done before (also we'll be going in style and "rubbing elbows" with the "movers and shakers" to borrow a phrase); and second, I get to fly to texas, which is cool, because I've never been there before.

Baseball. In Texas. How exciting is that? I love baseball.

And for you readers who are fans of full disclosure, it didn't hurt that the extra ticket to the home opener was offered to me by a pretty good-looking texan, which didn't make my decision to skip work to see a baseball game in a state I haven't visited yet any harder ;)

Peace out, yo
-Tom

recommended download:
Take Me Out To The Ballgame

"Now"

So I'm a little jet-lagged, I think. Well, probably. I was on the other side of the globe for a week and adjusted to the local time, so now, back home, I don't know what time my body thinks it is, I only know it isn't "now."

Day one, Monday: We left the airport in the afternoon, five o'clock or thereabouts and flew for what seemed like a 38 hour day. For the rest of the week some of the other parents on the trip were referring to the first two days of our trip as "Moosday." Once in Rome we began a foot tour of the city on day two, I mean day three, we walked all over and visited many many churches. My favorite was St. John Lateran, the Pope's parish church. We also viewed acnient ruins and crumbling temples from the Roman empire's prime. I took lots of pictures with my digital camera (which was great).

The next day we took a bus trip to Pompei and explored the city. Vesuvius kicked its ass. Since the disaster that destroyed Pompei the volcano has erupted about once every fifty years, the next expected eruption is like, now.

The next day (Friday?) we took a bus tour of Rome, this was nice because we had a tour guide with us pointing out important things, like Mussolini's balcony and Sofia Loren's penthouse apartment. On this trip we got to go inside the Colusseum and the Sistine Chapel.

Finally on our last day we hit the few remaining spots we'd missed, took three taxis and the subway where I almost lost a leg and a grandparent in the quickly closing doors. Capped off with a view of Rome from the top of the dome on St. Peter's Basillica we finished our vacation with an even longer flight home.

So I still don't know what time it is, but I'm slowly adjusting, I'll get there.

-Tom

woohoo I got a raise

ok, so they announced our annual "merit increases" today. and they bumped up my salary! by a whopping 1.5% which, as two people have already pointed out, is just lower than inflation. As Erika put it "it doesn't even cover the increase in the cost of living...so we're actually poorer now than we were before" which is true. but hey, more money is more money.

The highlight of the merit increase one-on-one with my manager however was not more money, but a glimpse at some heretofor only suspected confidence in my ability. He hinted that I should apply for the senior fund accountant position that just opened up in our group, that I have what it takes because I'm "a pretty bright guy." Well there you go. He would like to have given me a bigger raise (I'm sure they always say that) but the company didn't allocate enough, instead though, you should apply for this better job, which comes with more money, so it'd be almost the same thing. cool.

-Tom
recommended download:
whatever you want, go ahead, download anything, really.

back.

So I'm back from Italy. It's nice to be home. There were a few posts I would have shared if I had had internet access while over there. As it is, I wrote one of them down longhand and jotted some notes on the other two or three. I may transcribe them, if I have time, or if people pester me with comments like "so what did you think of your trip?" or "share your thoughts on touring Rome, please please please" or something like that. Right now it's back to work. Like I never left. I didn't get the group hug I was hoping for, with my coworkers cheering simultaneously "We had such a hard time here without you! Welcome back!" but who are we kidding, I hardly ever get that sort of reception. ;)

ok, can't post much more, still got budgets to do. how bout leaving some comments about how your week has been without me keeping you entertained (or without me bugging you online)

-Tom

recommended download:
Flogging Molly, Tomorrow Comes Too Soon

When in Rome...

So I'm going to Rome. Fly there, take in the sights, take lots of digital photos, fly back. I hear the food is good, I'm very excited about the artwork. I'm looking forward to super jetlag when I get back. Look for the next post about the Tuesday after my return.

ciao,
Tom


until then, recommended purchase: Flogging Molly, Alive Behind The Green Door
:)

semicolon, hypen, end parenthesis

Smiley faces should not be used in company emails. :-)

But today, that's what I feel like doing. For quite a few reasons. But first, a little about my day.
Today on the train were the two cutest little girls to ever exist in the history of the world. Riding in on the orange line with their mother, three and a half, and two years old in little winter coats and little scarves and little boots with cute little dimples counting down stops. "twooo more!" and one girl's courdoroys had flowers on them and the other's jacket had flowers, and they had pictures that they drew with them with cute little handwriting. just adorable. also the littler one's name was Dora, and she had little gloves with her name on them in sparkles and she couuldn't get al her fingers into the gloves, she kept getting two stuck in one of the gloves fingers, a-dorable.

Then meeting at work 10AM sharp so I didn't even open excel or look at my funds, just threw up an away message and went to the meeting. Which was pretty good. Until right at the end when one of the manager's mentioned the hyper-six-coffee-a-day manager isn't in today, so it may seem less stressful, or some lighthearted comment like that. At which point Amy busted out laughing. Out loud. Which causes the rest of the group to start laughing too. I guess they all feel a little stressed with hyper coffee manager hovering over them all the time. busted out laughing because things "might be less stressful today"

And, to cap it all off. As we were coming back from the meeting the prettiest girl in the whole wide world called me over to her cubicle. Not for anything grand or important, just to ask about which of my group is handling which of her funds today (since we rotate the funds frequently). But, she did ask me. And not anyone else in the whole group, as we were all walking past her desk. She did call my name. There were just some adjustments to be made on the funds, and could I please email her when the adjustments were finished, thanks. No problem at all.

Smiley faces do not belong in company emails.
But man I felt like typing one in there. ;-)
They're just not really professional, you know? So I didn't. Ah well.
On the other hand, her "THANKS SO MUCH!" reply did seem a little, well, a little excited.

-Tom :-Þ

recommended download:
Flogging Molly, Whistles The Wind, Drunken Lullabies, and Every Dog Has His Day

well today sucked.

here's what I'm thinking, 10am thursday morning:

what the hell man. I'm going to Rome in like three days. It's the day after a fuckin awesome live show and almost no sleep. And what the hell.

So the Ireland fund didn't tie last night, which means big problems today. I've got a budget due friday which means every spare moment I have today has got to be budget related or I'll be staying late the friday before a week long vacation (and how does that make any sense). And I was supposed to get a ticket to the BU hockey game tonight (last home game of the season) but that ends up not happening.

And then Joe doesn't come in. He missed a train, or something, or whatever, so the manager is like "can you tie out Joe's funds?" and I'm like "yeah fine whatever" cuz it takes like two minutes and I have two minutes before I start my budget, so I can handle it. Except Joe sucks and his funds suck and it was the worst time to say "yeah fine whatever" ever. Two major problems with the funds took up my whole morning, plus figuring out the Ireland fund and totally ignoring the budget (say hello to a late friday). What the hell. And Joe doesn't come in at 11:30 when they said he would. Which means I've gotta get the rates for his funds too, which is a huge pain on thursdays cuz that's when all the manual rates update. Plus one of Joe's funds has like ten trades in the middle of the day (we usually get, um, zero). Argh.

He finally shows up, at three fifteen. What the hell man, why not just stay home all day? why not call in and be like, hey listen, why not just double Tom's work load today, cuz I know he's going on vacation and he might miss working on mutual funds. What the hell.

This could have been a post about the totally awesome Flogging Molly show last night.
But no. What a limgatoraidass day.

-t

recommended download
Flogging Molly, Light Of A Fading Star, and Whistles The Wind

they're beautiful songs.
or you could download some of their songs that really rock
like Black Friday Rule, Devil's Dance Floor, The Kilburn High Road, or Tobacco Island

holy crap I make a good jesus

hey 18a, this is from the freshman year "let's recreate works of art with live models" night, I had no idea this stuff was online anywhere, (thanks for the link adina) (thanks for uploading the pics c-koch)

pieta

-Tom

waiting for gouda

I am very sleepy. I would most like to take a 20 minute nap. Maybe on the T, let the swaying of the train lull me to sleep. that would be nice.

Jill gave her notice. She's gone next monday. Today they showed me how to run a few new programs, ones she used to run. Chuck is now complaining that I'll be gone all next week and he'll get stuck with all the bad funds. "You're the only reliable one here, he won't do it, she doesn't do anything, Skip is sort of reliable but he's always so late." he said, rolling his eyes to indicate who "he" and "she" were.

Tonight is the Flogging Molly concert, and I'm really excited. I may have mentioned before that I can't actually remember the last live show I went to, but I'm sure I will tomorrow. Joey's coming in for the show, driving down from school this afternoon.

My hair is getting in my eyes. A lot. My eyes are always bloodshot now. I think maybe in a few weeks it'll be where I want it to be, until then I'm just dealing with the pain and pokey-ness.

and here are some follow ups:
my stapler is working well
I still don't have caller ID
the archive boxes have not arrived to date
today's simpsons trivia calendar question is:
In "Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part One," while forcing Smithers to ride the exercise bike in the Executive Spa, what does Mr. Burns do?"
a) he counts his loose change
b) he exercises his "foreclosure finger"
c) he reads the paper and plays pinball
d) he eats condor eggs and caviar

this is tom, saying goodnight, and have a pleasant tomorrow.


recommended download:
The Shins, Caring Is Creepy
and
Flogging Molly, The Devil's Dance Floor, and Salty Dog