David's Tangled Thoughts

The Christmas tree has been up for a while. It's a little to cold to put out the outdoor directions. At least, that's the excuse Mom is giving. When my dad was in the service, we always used an artificial tree. After all, trying to track down a good conifer in the Florida Keys or the Philippines is way too much work. A while after moving to Michigan, Dad started to get real trees. It helped that my Uncle Art grows them. I like real trees--in other people's homes. Matt says that he likes the smell of them even though they are more work. I'd solve that problem with Pinesol. I'm curious, where do you stand, real or fake? h/t to kadoty86 for posting this vid on YouTube.

Lesson of the day: if you work hard and do a good job, your superiors are bound to give you more work. Another mini round of firings took place. One of the casualties was a girl who worked in "the cage" as "the filer." There are actually two of them. One on the day shift and then the main one who works during the night shift. The day shift girl primarily goes through the tons of boxes that hold the physical submissions of customers picking out files that need to be reviewed or putting them back. As the project has gone on, more and more files are coming up missing. And my supervisor is about to lose his top if he has to go round and round in circles for claims that seemingly don't exist in real life. I could get further into it, but I won't. Today I got pulled from what I normally do for the project to go and find original documents for resubmissions. Basically, I'm finding old stuff that customers sent in a while back to match up with new stuff t

Thanks to wonderful YouTube, I plan on embedding some Christmas television programs that I remember enjoying as a kid. Keep checking back for more throughout the season. First up with have a segment from the Claymation Christmas special. I used to have this on tape until my Dad taped over it! To start this series of posts, we have "We Three Kings." Enjoy. h/t to Ryrod over at YouTube for posting this clip.

Susan Sarandon that is. My sister and I went out to the movies in Niles last night where we watch " Enchanted. " It's the new Disney movie where an animated princess is transported to the real world. Of course, the storyline is predictable but you kinda expect that. I personally thought that this movie was a prefect cheese ball movie. I honestly thought it was great. I don't know why, but being packed into the theater with a bunch of kids, parents, and teens made it even better. There only thing that I would wish would be different would be to give Idina Menzel a singing role too.

Hey everybody, I hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving and that you still have some holiday time left to enjoy. This year we had the big family get together at my Aunt Julie’s house. It was decided since a lot of the family were going to see their in-laws, that we’d get together in the morning. It worked out pretty nicely. The only thing that was not fun was when I got stuck in the room with my Uncle Chris and his buddies. He’s got some uber rich friends because they were talking about getting together and going sailing. Of course, not now, but next summer. And they want to do sail boat racing! Yeah, my wallet only allows me to drive into town and see a movie and occasionally visit the bar. Clearly, I couldn’t insert myself into their conversation so I just sit back and listened to my music. When we got back home, the house was prepared for Thanksgiving dinner. From this morning, My Uncle Art and his family plus my Grandma and Uncle Kenny were going to visit. Our credit

Usually I’m not a big socializer at work considering I am constantly working to fulfill a quota. A special project has come along that doesn’t use any quotas. There’s just a deadline and no one has to worry if we will make it in time. The project itself is pretty brainless so to pass the time away, we were talking with people in two different departments. It was fun. * * * I didn’t participate in this one particular one. I just eavesdropped on a conversation that a woman was having with A. “My son’s almost forty-five and still hasn’t gotten married.” A. looks up at her as she goes on. “I think he’s too shy of women. There was this one time he had a girlfriend but it didn’t last too long. I guess she wasn’t good enough for him. I think he may be picky? Whadda you think?” A. shrugs and turns his face down to his work station to continue work. “I think his dad might have caused him to be more cautious. The divorce was hard on us and maybe he just doesn’t want to settle down

I am glad that OSU won last weekend against Michigan. I am also saddened to learn of Lloyd Carr's decision to leave. As much crap that I give Michigan and their football team, I do have a respect for them and their coach. That's all. Shoo.

There was an interesting article that I came across through the Drudge Report and then again today on Towleroad . Apparently, 20% of polled NYU students would give up their vote in next year's Presidential election for an iPod Touch. Wouldn't that be illegal--acase of vote buying? Sure, no one is asking a person to vote for a certain candidate, just not to vote. But if you target, let say Republicans, it still has the potential to affect the election. Let's just play with this for a second. If someone came up to me and offered me an iPod Touch in exchange for a pledge to not vote in the next election, would I take up the offer? I'm not gonna lie to you, I'd do it. In heartbeat. Why? Because am so disgusted with the choices presented. First, I'm pissed that Michigan is going to have their delegations to the Democratic and Republican conventions cut. All the Democrats and half of the Republicans will be prevented from voting. And even though it doesn&

I haven’t been in the mood to blog much for the past couple of days. I’ve been stressing over big and small things. Note to self: buy more Clearasil. I got an email from one of my best friends. I was part of some mass email where she announced to all her friends that she was engaged. ( See this post . ) I was upset on multiple levels. First, I’m not confident that she’s doing the right thing. I really want to sit her down and question her on why she is marrying a guy she has been dating for only a few months. Second, why am I learning about this by rumor and mass email? I really think her sister may be right—that she is trying to be the first to the altar. She’s probably feeling the pressure as her younger sister is planning for a wedding this summer. You think you know a person and they go right ahead and shock the hell outta you! I haven’t spoken to her since the email. I figure that I have a few more days to digest before she begins to realize that I really am avoiding

... is not 42 but this: And, I got the song too.

I'm so damn stupid. I knew it was wrong. I knew that I would regret it but I got it anyways. £200* down the hole in one day. [sigh] *It doesn't look as bad when I write it that way.

The time zone issue is being brought up again. See the WNDU article here . Supporters of Central Time won't let the hopes of hooking on to Chicago time die. Two St. Joseph County Commissioners wan the county to make the switch to the central time zone. St. Jospeh serves as the economic and media hub for the Michiana region so if it goes to Central, more than half of us are going to have to put on our thinking caps to figure out where we are and what time zone we are in. A few years ago, Indiana had fairly complicated issue with time. Most of the state was on Eastern Standard Time but did not use Eastern Daylight Time. So for half of the year it was on Eastern Time and the other half it was on Central. Then there were the counties that were exceptions that were always hooked to central or to eastern and used daylight savings. It looked like things had been settled when the clocks of Michiganders and most Hoosiers finally synched up. Now a couple idiots want to change it again. Just

Hey Doc, you might not want to read further unless your planning to skip the upcoming season of The Amazing Race when it airs in down under. The Amazing Race is pretty much the only reality show that I have any interest in watching. I did get involved with the Real World but that was only for Real World New Orleans. Other reality shows such as Survivor don't really hold my interest. Some such as The Bachelor and The Biggest Loser I actually detest. I think that with TAR, it really is about the traveling that captures my attention. You see, I would love to travel around the world. Perhaps ten times slower than they do on the show, though. Not to brag, but when compared to most other Americans, I'm pretty well traveled. I've me people who have never been outside of Michigan even though they live only 30 minutes from the border. Yet, I feel like I haven't seen enough--not nearly enough. This year is shaping up to be a bore. The teams aren't that interesting

I had an “interesting” time at Justin and Carrie’s Halloween Party. Actually, I felt like I had stepped in into the twilight zone. For the record I went to the party as a monk. So I get there and Carrie is there to greet me and take my money. Hey $5 is a deal since they provided everything . Seriously, when they throw a party they get enough booze, food, etc. to go around more than once. But I go downstairs into the “dungeon” where almost everyone is playing Kings. I waited for the next game to start. While I was sitting there watching and engaging in conversation, they start with the gay jokes. Whatever, I’ll play along. * * * After the game ended we broke up and I was in a little group conversation with Ed, Mandie, Karen and one of Karen’s friends whose name I’ve already forgotten. So we are talking about this and that when Ed pipes up. Ed says to Karen, “You know my buddy Dave here is single.” Karen looks at me, “Yeah, there’s just one little problem.” Karen knows I’m g

I stole this one from PJS who, incidentally, needs to stay on chat for more than one minute so I can respond! 1. Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed? I keep them open. The evil monkey is free to leave whenever he wants. 2. Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotel? No. My mom does that. 3. Have you ever 'done it' in a hotel room? Please. I haven’t “done it” period. 4. Have you ever stolen a street sign before? I was a good kid. Besides, they aren’t really decorative objects to me. 5. Do you like to use post-it notes? Yes. You should see my computer at work. 6. Do you cut out coupons but then never use them? Yes but it’s because the expiration dates come and go before I need to buy the product. $2.00 of Honey Nut Cheerios is great but I’m still working on the box that was purchased a month ago and probably won’t be done with it for another month. 7. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of bees? I’ll take the bees. I’m alle