Flibbertigibbet

Happy Birthday to Me!

My birthday is this Sunday.

Get ready!

Hey. How You Doin'?

Hey, y'all!

So, I haven't been blogging much and not for lack of things to blog about, really. I mean, I've been seeing someone special, Trey Givens is putting naked pictures of himself on the internets, I saw Snakes on a Plane (awesome), I saw part of a movie called Leeches!, which -- if you like to look at hot guys -- you might want to watch (but maybe with a margarita or two handy because it's awful). Anyway, the general excitement of my New York life is going on.

I've been busy.

But I'm writing today mostly cuz I have good news about my job, namely, my workload recently tripled over night.

As you know, I haven't been enamored with my job. It's been over five months now and it's been boring, frustrating, limited, and not really what I expected.

It sounds weird to be excited about tons of overtime, but the good thing about my workload going up is that it limits my boredom because now I have lots of new projects to work on. I also get to work with lots of new clients. (Previously, I had been limited to to a single account due to an arrangement with that particular client.)

What's more is that my job role is actually shifting to give me more contact with clients, which is something I love and had expected at the start.

When I told my boss that I was particularly excited about the change in responsibilities because it would give me more exposure to clients and contact with the sales process, he told me that they were working to create some new sales engineering positions for which I would be well-suited.

So! I'm excited about the potential for my job and even if it doesn't work out in the next six months, at least I won't be as bored at it as I have been.

Anyway, that's what's been going on.

I'm busy.

I Don't Care What You Say

I love bad movies.

That's not true. I don't actually love them, but I can't resist them.

Show me a trailer of a surefire bomb starring -- oh, I dunno -- Tara Ried and Christian Slater -- you know what movie I'm talking about -- and I can tell you MONTHS in advance that 1) the movie will most definitely suck and 2) I will see it opening weekend.

I'm like a big, gay moth (technically a butterfly, but let's stay with it for the sake of the metaphor) to their badly acted, haltingly plotted, implausibly staged flame of steaming... More like a big, gay dung beetle (still technically a butterfly) to.. well, you get it.

So, let's look at The Covenant.

If I went to the movie theater right this instant and had the option of seeing the widely lauded and acclaimed Little Miss Sunshine or The Convenant, I would drop $12 to see The Covenant.

I KNOW!

I KNOW!

I. KNOW.

I can't even believe it myself, but it happens all the time. It's like how I can't believe Tara Reid has a job outside of the porn industry (That was rude and unfair. Just because she's generically hot and can't seem to dress herself does not mean that she has sex for money in any way shape or form. My apologies to Miss Tara Reid.) but there it is.

I just needed to share it with you because I'm going to go see The Covenant and I don't want you telling me that I shouldn't go because it is going to be so bad. I am fully aware of how bad it's going to be. But I am still going.

And I don't care what you say.

Where Have I Been?

Well, I'm around. I keep thinking of things I need to blog about, but I always forget about them when I have my blog in front of me.

I just wanted to let you know.

Overheard at the Office

There's this guy I work with who is very smart, but very bitter and not reliable at all. He likes to be the guy who knows everything and is weighed down by all the idiots around him. He is just too busy and too smart to stick to silly things like project plans and deadlines.

Well, I got fed up with this and had to find someone else to help me on a project. He had a very simple, 15 minute request to fulfill -- something I would have done myself, but he has refused to train me on how to do it because he thinks I'm stupid -- but he said it would take him a "couple of days." That was four days ago, so I had to get someone else to help.

As soon as I wrote saying I was getting help elsewhere, he jumps in and starts responding quickly and completes the request.

So, in reference to this guy, this morning:

Flibby: Superman saves you all the time, not just when you threaten to go to Batman for help.

I guess that's funnier without the preceding rant about that asshole I work with.

Holy Production Interference, Batman!

Did you watch Project Runway tonight?

I got in late, so I had to watch it on my DVR.

Some thoughts:

- Wow! Kayne sassed Laura!
- Vincent is insane. He's stupid and insane.
- Rockstar designer guy is a snot.
- Good for Michael, although I didn't think his was all that.
- Rockstar designer guy has a bad case of sour grapes.
- THEY KICKED OFF ALLISON!

I can't believe it. Her dress wasn't THAT bad. Especially against Vincent's stupidity. I really think the production kept Vincent because he is so Woody Allen + Qualuuds - Lithium + Amphetamines * bad taste to the millionth power.

Anyway... it's past my bedtime.

Later!

My Heart is OK

But apparently my laptop is trying to kill me.

If it's not one thing, it's another, right?

Because You Care

My blood pressure this morning was 120/71.

Update: I just took it again and it was 114/64.

Woohoo!

It doesn't look like I'm going to suddenly go blind after all! yay!

Going to Extremes

A couple of weeks ago my cousin visited me here in NYC with a friend of hers. Both of them are nurses and I was telling them about my blood pressure problem. They both thought that it was very strange that I had such high blood pressure when the problem occurs so rarely in our family and usually only during pregnancy or old age.

So, I was showing them my blood pressure machine and how I take my blood pressure and it turns out that wasn't doing it right!

I wasn't really paying attention to how the cuff was lined up on my arm and the little air tube needs to be lined up with my brachial artery that passes through the inside of my elbow.

They also showed me how to rest my arm so that it isn't strained or anything.

Lo and behold when I took my blood pressure it was lots lower! This weekend, I took readings on Saturday and Sunday at sort of random times and both times my systolic was under 120 and my dystolic was around 70.

This morning, I took a reading after my work out (not immediately, but about 30 minutes after) and my blood pressure was 103/62!!! Crazy low! (Hopefully, I'm not going to have to worry about hypotension now!)

So, I am going to start trying to measure it again regularly and do it right this time and see what my real average blood pressure is.

All in all, this is pretty good news and I'm glad my worry was the result of a silly mistake on my part!

Daddy Needs a New... Job

So, my job is getting a little better. It's still not what I expected, though.

I had expected more face time with the client, more consulting, and less wading through the details.

The details can't be avoided. I accept that. But this job is nothing more than a redundant project management position. I say redundant because there are people with other jobs who are better situated to communicate client needs to technical teams. I'm a middle-guy and that's about it.

I rarely get to talk to the customer.

Although the money is good, this job is a big step back for me in my projected career. The best thing about it (and this isn't a small consideration at all) is that it does bring me closer to the industry (advertising/marketing) I'd like to be in.

Well, on a tip from a friend, I found a job listing at another company that look like it might be more in line with what I'd like to be doing.

The problem is that my 6 month anniversary of starting at this place is just a week away and I'm a little bit against leaving a job so soon.

On the other hand, this industry has high turn-over and this job is not exactly what I was looking for.

Back to the first, I could really burn some bridges by leaving too soon and I'd hate to do that on my first job in the city. This one guy started working here about two weeks before I did and he left about a month later. Six months is a short amount of time, but it's a lot longer than 6 weeks. Our GM was FURIOUS -- it costs a lot to hire someone and train them.

And again to the other side, I don't have a new job YET. I could just send in my resume and see what happens. It's not like I have to make a decision about it now.

I had been thinking I would give this place about a year before moving on.

One of my coworkers and friends here, though, sees nothing wrong with leaving after just 6 months. What do you guys think?

On the Road Again

After breaking the 2 hour barrier on the half marathon in Atlanta in November, I stopped running. The reason being that I find it very difficult to eat enough to both run and gain weight.

Well, I've started gaining weight. I think I'm at about 185 lbs right now. Standing at 6'2" that's still a little lighter than what I'd like to be (I'm aiming for 190.) and I don't care what the stupid BMI chart says.

Anyway, I've been weight training and trying to eat good, clean protien and all that stuff and I've gained a little wieght.

Now I want to tone up a bit, so on Thursday I went for a run in Central Park.

I have no idea how far I ran on Thursday because I am of the mind that when starting to run it's best to just get out there and go before you start measuring things. If you try to start without a sense of your own limits, you'll try to set goals that are either too grand or too short. So, for me, I get started by just going out and doing it; I figure running a little ways is better than runnning no way at all.

So, I ran a lot and walked some. I was out there for about 45 minutes, which was about 15 minutes longer than I really wanted to spend. It wasn't a great run, but it was a run. After looking at a map of Central Park, I realized that I probably covered almost 5 miles worth of ground.

That seemed like a bit much to me since I hadn't run since November.

Tonight, I went for another run, but this time I planned a route for which the distance was known. From Columbus Circle around to the 72nd St. Transverse and back down to the Circle, it's a little more than 1.7 miles.

I did two laps in 29:45.

I am VERY impressed with myself.

Although my endurance is far short of what it was in November, that pace is faster than what my half marathon pace was. Back then, I ran 13.2 miles at about 9 minutes a mile. Today, I ran at an 8:45 mile pace.

I also managed to do it without stopping. (For some reason the two mile mark is a psychological barrier to me and I find that I always want to walk right then.)

So, I'm kind of tickled that I'm not as out of running shape as I thought. I have a long way to go before I could consider doing another half marathon, but I don't feel like I'm starting over from scratch.

Which reminds me: I need to get a new pair of running shoes.

A Series of Facts About Where I Work

It's hot in the office again today.

They bought us ice cream to fight the heat.

The remaining ice cream is melting.

The remaining ice cream is in the freezer.

Someone just shouted "Show me your bootyhole."

Every time our General Manager wants the Art Director to go smoke with him, he walks up and says, "Burn, baby, burn."

Sometimes he sings it, but other times he just says it.

He often yells "KID!" to one of the sales guys.

They bought us beer to fight the heat.

A bird was injured out on the deck.

The bird is now called "Mortimer."

Mortimer lives in a large Raisin Bran box on the cabinets over one of the sales guy's desk. It's the sales guy called KID!

Someone just opened a bottle of red wine, so I get to join in the business drinking now.

Our General Manager often yells, "WATCH OUT!"

One day he played that "Bad day" song over and over again for about two hours.

He stopped when one of our account managers went into his office and yelled at him telling him he can't do that to everyone else in the office.

Our Office Manager is an Italian lady with orange hair. We call her "Babs" but that's not her name.

She has the voice of a chain smoker and the accent of a Jersey resident.

She quit smoking a few weeks ago, but she does still live in Jersey.

She yells at our general manager a lot because he always tries to make her angry. She gets angry easily.

She gets especially angry when people make a mess and don't clean up after themselves.

This morning, she told the GM to go do things for himself if he didn't like how she did them. After several minutes of them yelling back and forth, she told him to shut up. He said she was being selfish.

Then, she went to the breakroom and saw that the delivery guy had delivered the ice-cream, but no one had put it in the freezer. Then she yelled about that to no one in particular. I heard because I sit right next to the break room.

Oh No He Di'n't!

Did you watch Project Runway last night? I know you did!

Wasn't that so dramatic when Keith got kicked off for cheating?! And isn't it just like him to deny that he used them to any unfair advantage and attempt to erode the fact that he broke the rules.

Did you listen to Tim's pod cast? You totally should. It's full of juicy details.

I didn't like Angela's bolero jacket thingamabob. The whole outfit reminded me of that catsuit Santino made last season in the designer make-over episode.

Team Bonnie really did stink up the joint. I love Nina Garcia and her bitchy "I hate those pants!"

Team Barbie guy was a disappointment. Usually his stuff is cool, but this time it wasn't.

So, anyway, I have it on my DVR if you want to come over and watch it again.

Sweating for Dollars

It is 89 degrees in my office today.

*pant*

Update: One of the thermometers in the office hit 91 degrees a little bit ago.

Update 2: They brought the thermometer to my desk and it is a chilly 86 degrees in my little cube.

Hot Time Summer in the City

It's supposed to be 100 degrees in Central Park today. They're predicting 101 for tomorrow and perhaps some terrific thunderstorms.

It's summer time, y'all!