Autobahning it again. Something about blogging at high speeds I guess. The blackberry trackball has lost its click functionality which is annoying but doesn't entirely make the phone non-functional. Good thing too Google Maps has been keeping us on track this whoe damn time.
Just drove out of Salzburg where we will be returning to tomorrow to take the Sound of Music tour - Rick Steves says its quite delightful. We have arrived in Priem am Chiemsee which is a little town on a lake about a half hour outside of Salzburg where I believe we intend to stay. Hallstatt was quite picturesque and nice to walk around in. For some reason there were about a billion Japanese tourists in Hallstatt which was a welcome change of pace in the cultural homogenity which is the Bavarian/Austrian countryside.
At dinner last night Kia's grandparents accidentally ordered a souffle for dessert which was as big as my head. It was awesome and they ate every last bite.
The fall weather, note I am blaming the weather and not the beer consumption, has given me a bit of a headcold but I am going to Jaigermeister my way through it. Birthday on Friday and we should be headed toward Munich and Oktoberfest for the weekend. Grind hard.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
The Hills Are Alive...
OK, that was a little weak with the lyrics, but shit, I am in the middle of Bavaria and the closest thing to modern music I have heard was Forever Young this morning at breakfast.
I am flying down the autobahn in the backseat of a rented Peugot station wagon on my way to Hallstatt, which is actually in Austria, not Bavaria. The trip has been a lot of fun. We have seen a ton of stuff (3 castles, 2 lakes, 3 grand churches, 1 Hitler house, about 20 mountain villages and, at last count, 2,952,652 cows). Beer with lunch is quickly becoming my new favorite habit. Going to bed early and spending an hour eating breakfast are competing for second. I believe the wifey and I are the youngest people in most of the places we have gone which both makes me feel awesomely with-it and surprisingly spry. Well, we are off the autobahn and I am missing all the scenery.
Smell ya later.
I am flying down the autobahn in the backseat of a rented Peugot station wagon on my way to Hallstatt, which is actually in Austria, not Bavaria. The trip has been a lot of fun. We have seen a ton of stuff (3 castles, 2 lakes, 3 grand churches, 1 Hitler house, about 20 mountain villages and, at last count, 2,952,652 cows). Beer with lunch is quickly becoming my new favorite habit. Going to bed early and spending an hour eating breakfast are competing for second. I believe the wifey and I are the youngest people in most of the places we have gone which both makes me feel awesomely with-it and surprisingly spry. Well, we are off the autobahn and I am missing all the scenery.
Smell ya later.
Monday, September 15, 2008
You Tie My Hands, What Am I Supposed To Do?
On the shuttle. Now only most observant readers would realize that I shouldn't be on the shuttle right now but instead getting ready for a day of work in the SF office because of my flight in the early evening tonight to Munich. So why, pray tell, am I on the bus this fine morning? Well, I needed something to do with the car during my vacation so I drove it south, parked it at work and hopped the early morning shuttle from Mountain View to San Francisco. So I have spent the last two hours on the 101. Oh well.
Working from The City today and I have m day planned out already. Need to maximize my efforts to ensure that I get everything done that I have planned. Its going to be a bit tight.
In Fantasy news, I have made it to the finals of my baseball league. Finals in fantasy baseball, like most fantasy sports suffers from the fact that the playoffs are really at the end of the regular season, where many teams are benching their star players in anticipation of the playoffs. I'm hoping my teams are playing for playoff spots, most of them are out of contention though. Zoinks. Football was less successful this week. Carson Palmer is fast becoming a liability on my roster. Peterson had another bonkers game though.
Getting off the shuttle at Embarcadero. I may try to update the blog during my vacation, but it will be limited at best.
Grind hard.
Working from The City today and I have m day planned out already. Need to maximize my efforts to ensure that I get everything done that I have planned. Its going to be a bit tight.
In Fantasy news, I have made it to the finals of my baseball league. Finals in fantasy baseball, like most fantasy sports suffers from the fact that the playoffs are really at the end of the regular season, where many teams are benching their star players in anticipation of the playoffs. I'm hoping my teams are playing for playoff spots, most of them are out of contention though. Zoinks. Football was less successful this week. Carson Palmer is fast becoming a liability on my roster. Peterson had another bonkers game though.
Getting off the shuttle at Embarcadero. I may try to update the blog during my vacation, but it will be limited at best.
Grind hard.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Jump In the '64, Get Out, Cock the Hammer, Then Kick Down The Door
Man, had to post this little tidbit. (credit goes to Josi via the wifey for pointing me at this one *Updated with the actual Comedy Central video)
Uh, y'all got sizzerved. Oh, and Sarah (Palin this time, but happy birthday Wampler) if you have a kooshy cabinet position open for me, let me know girl. A to the motha fucking K homeboyyyyy.
Uh, y'all got sizzerved. Oh, and Sarah (Palin this time, but happy birthday Wampler) if you have a kooshy cabinet position open for me, let me know girl. A to the motha fucking K homeboyyyyy.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
I Call These Rappers Baby Seals 'Cause They Club You To Death
Another late night in Mountain View tonight. Tomorrow will be a bit late too because of some video conferencing with another office. Today I was late because, frankly, I am going on vacation next week and I have a shit ton of work to do before I leave. 'Twill be a magical vacation though. I'm considering smashing my blackberry before I leave in order to ensure that I am not tempted to check my email. I am going to end up checking it anyway though. Isn't T-Mobile from Germany or something?
Man, the late night commute is something else though. Flying towards the city. About to get off the freeway and I left Mountain View roughly 35 minutes ago. For those of you not from and/or currently residing in the bay area, this is completely insane.
Ended up winning my fantasy football matchup this week. Adrian Peterson came through for me even if Carson Palmer was a big fat dud.
It turns out that I am going to miss the basketball final in our Google league. My prediction on this is that it has abolutely no bearing on the outcome of the game though I will be a little sad to miss the victory lap that I imagine Nate taking around the the court doing his characteristic old man shuffle jog. My coaching advice - pass David the ball in the paint and play Dougherty aka "The Human Highlight Reel" at least half the game because, damn, that is just some fine basketballing.
Tomorrow is Sara's birthday, happy early birthday Sara! On a related note, I was thinking that I may have to edit all of my blog entries about my friend Sara and change her name from "Sara" to "Sara, not Palin", but I am going to assume that my readers are advanced to pick up on the subtle presence of the silent 'h' on one of their names....
OK, grind hard.
Monday, September 08, 2008
You Rhyme Depressin', You Haven't Learned Your Lesson - The Issue I'm Stressin'
Monday down, four more days to go. Then one more day next week, then 14 days of vacation. Boo ya.
Work was OK today but I was there longer than I wanted to be. Headed back on the later shuttle this evening which is on track to put me back home only marginally later than the 5:30pm shuttle. Man, 101 traffic is painfully bad if you are on the road at 6pm. I keep talking about adjusting my schedule to account for this, but I probably never will.
Following the Minnesota/Green Bay game on the Yahoo! ticker right now and Adrian Peterson just scored on a 3 yard touchdown run. I picked Adrian first in our work fantasy draft this year which was a bit of a risk but so far I am feeling pretty good about that. Tom Brady (picked second) is potentially out for the season with a knee injury. I am playing against the guy who got a bargain on LT picking third this week and with Adrian Peterson already scoring me 17 pts this game, I am feeling pretty good about my chances - I was up 8 pts going into the evening where I have AP playing and he has Selvin Young and Minnesota defense.
Speaking of fantasy sports, I need to set my pitchers in my baseball league playoffs this week. OK done. Lincecum pitching against AZ tonight. Timmaaaay.
So, another "tribute" (read: mock-tastic) post along the lines of Sophia's affront to Alaskan sensibilities - Palin would be appalled - was posted by a coworker. OK, you have jokes, not bad.
Work was OK today but I was there longer than I wanted to be. Headed back on the later shuttle this evening which is on track to put me back home only marginally later than the 5:30pm shuttle. Man, 101 traffic is painfully bad if you are on the road at 6pm. I keep talking about adjusting my schedule to account for this, but I probably never will.
Following the Minnesota/Green Bay game on the Yahoo! ticker right now and Adrian Peterson just scored on a 3 yard touchdown run. I picked Adrian first in our work fantasy draft this year which was a bit of a risk but so far I am feeling pretty good about that. Tom Brady (picked second) is potentially out for the season with a knee injury. I am playing against the guy who got a bargain on LT picking third this week and with Adrian Peterson already scoring me 17 pts this game, I am feeling pretty good about my chances - I was up 8 pts going into the evening where I have AP playing and he has Selvin Young and Minnesota defense.
Speaking of fantasy sports, I need to set my pitchers in my baseball league playoffs this week. OK done. Lincecum pitching against AZ tonight. Timmaaaay.
So, another "tribute" (read: mock-tastic) post along the lines of Sophia's affront to Alaskan sensibilities - Palin would be appalled - was posted by a coworker. OK, you have jokes, not bad.
Caught up on a bunch of Sex and the City this weekend, the wifey and I are almost all the way through the series and I have to say the production value and the sriting of the show has gotten much better as it has progressed.
OK hopping off the shuttle. If you haven't checked out Mock, Paper, Scissors yet, do so, its pretty funny.
Make that money but don't let that money make you.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
I Bust With An Exuberant Lust For Life
Hurtling towards the city and its roughly 8:30pm. That puts my work hours committed today up to roughly 12. Boo ya.
So the topic of discussion at work the last few days - at least with me - has been Sarah Palin. Here are a few stats on Sarah.
From Wikipedia:
"Palin served two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska, city council from 1992 to 1996, then won two terms as mayor of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002. After an unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor of Alaska in 2002, she chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003 to 2004 while also serving as Ethics Supervisor of the commission."
"As of the 2000 census, (Wasilla's) population was 5,469, but the 2005 estimate gave a population of 8,471"
"In 1984, Palin won the Miss Wasilla beauty contest (playing the flute),[7][8] then finished second in the Miss Alaska pageant,[9] at which she won a college scholarship and the "Miss Congeniality" award.[6] Palin attended Hawaii Pacific College — now known as Hawaii Pacific University — in Honolulu for a semester in 1982, majoring in Business Administration. She transferred in 1983 to North Idaho College.[10] In 1987,[11] Palin received a Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho, where she also minored in political science.[12][13]"
Children's names: Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, Trig
Number of votes she received in 1999 Mayoral race in Wasilla: 909 (73.6%)
And of course:
"Governor Palin announced on September 1, 2008, that her daughter Bristol was five months pregnant and intended to keep the baby and marry the father of her child, 17-year-old Levi Johnston.[134][135] Bristol Palin is a senior at Wasilla High School.[136] According to Wasilla High School Principal Dwight Probasco, Levi Johnston plays on the school's hockey team but does not attend the school. Johnston is home-schooled through the Mat-Su Correspondence Study School in Wasilla, Alaska.[137]"
Seriously, do I have to explain why this person is a bad idea to be anywhere near the president's seat let alone one tossed blood clot (in a dude who looks like he is about to pop half the time) away from the presidency of America? Give her a job in the cabinet. Let her be press secretary, something with lots of air time.
I think Mrs. Palin actually took longer in college than I did. Joe Bidden will tear her to shreds if they do a VP debate but (according to my mother) this actually worked to Sarah's advantage in the Governer's race in AK because voters thought that she was getting "picked on" when the other candidates tried to get her to state a position.
OK, whew, rant over. Good luck Sarah.
Weekend was good. Relaxed a lot, watched Tropic Thunder, which was pretty funny, but not awesome. Finished the Watchmen which was awesome. The ending was good, I was pretty worried about how they were going to end it, and they did a good job. I hope they do a good job in the movie version of capturing the cultural climate in which it was set (80s Cold War). I heard that Alan Moore (the author) walked off the set and told the producers to take his name off the movie. Yikes.
Hopping off the bus.
So the topic of discussion at work the last few days - at least with me - has been Sarah Palin. Here are a few stats on Sarah.
From Wikipedia:
"Palin served two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska, city council from 1992 to 1996, then won two terms as mayor of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002. After an unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor of Alaska in 2002, she chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003 to 2004 while also serving as Ethics Supervisor of the commission."
"As of the 2000 census, (Wasilla's) population was 5,469, but the 2005 estimate gave a population of 8,471"
"In 1984, Palin won the Miss Wasilla beauty contest (playing the flute),[7][8] then finished second in the Miss Alaska pageant,[9] at which she won a college scholarship and the "Miss Congeniality" award.[6] Palin attended Hawaii Pacific College — now known as Hawaii Pacific University — in Honolulu for a semester in 1982, majoring in Business Administration. She transferred in 1983 to North Idaho College.[10] In 1987,[11] Palin received a Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho, where she also minored in political science.[12][13]"
Children's names: Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, Trig
Number of votes she received in 1999 Mayoral race in Wasilla: 909 (73.6%)
And of course:
"Governor Palin announced on September 1, 2008, that her daughter Bristol was five months pregnant and intended to keep the baby and marry the father of her child, 17-year-old Levi Johnston.[134][135] Bristol Palin is a senior at Wasilla High School.[136] According to Wasilla High School Principal Dwight Probasco, Levi Johnston plays on the school's hockey team but does not attend the school. Johnston is home-schooled through the Mat-Su Correspondence Study School in Wasilla, Alaska.[137]"
Seriously, do I have to explain why this person is a bad idea to be anywhere near the president's seat let alone one tossed blood clot (in a dude who looks like he is about to pop half the time) away from the presidency of America? Give her a job in the cabinet. Let her be press secretary, something with lots of air time.
I think Mrs. Palin actually took longer in college than I did. Joe Bidden will tear her to shreds if they do a VP debate but (according to my mother) this actually worked to Sarah's advantage in the Governer's race in AK because voters thought that she was getting "picked on" when the other candidates tried to get her to state a position.
OK, whew, rant over. Good luck Sarah.
Weekend was good. Relaxed a lot, watched Tropic Thunder, which was pretty funny, but not awesome. Finished the Watchmen which was awesome. The ending was good, I was pretty worried about how they were going to end it, and they did a good job. I hope they do a good job in the movie version of capturing the cultural climate in which it was set (80s Cold War). I heard that Alan Moore (the author) walked off the set and told the producers to take his name off the movie. Yikes.
Hopping off the bus.
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