Not too long ago, several people left my current company for positions at another company (the same one, mind you). It was kind of a bummer, especially since both my manager and one of my best teammates jumped ship. Happily, the teammate has decided to return to the fold, which is an indication of how well the new VP (who’d started only shortly before so many people called it quits) has turned the ship around, and the former manager is very happy with his new responsibilities. Suffice it to say that those who left, for the most part, were driven to leave as they were ground to dust by too many hours and unreasonable demands (many of these people had their marriages threatened by the amount of hours they put in at work).

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I achieved my goal of finding a place to live come July 1 during my past few days off from work. I settled on one of the mill apartments in the city; I chose the one with the stairs that go nowhere. That weirdness of that feature appealed to me (as those who know me might consider me weird anyway).

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Looming just on the edge of my brain is the fact that I’m going to need to find an apartment come summertime. Part of me loves to move to a new place; to re-arrange all my crap and try to fit myself into new surroundings. Another part of me loathes the hassle of uprooting said crap and trying to fit it all into a new place. (more…)

After six weeks of renting a crappy Ford Focus with an automatic transmission and Tennessee plates, I picked up my Sentra from the auto-body place yesterday. They did an excellent job; you would never know that this car had been in an accident. Their attention to detail was exceptional, as they even buffed out a bunch of scratches in the paint that were no where near the accident.

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My recent post about the Chips Ahoy Oi! commercial got me thinking about my days as a straight-edge guy (back before I discovered how much I enjoy beer). I also noticed that I’m experiencing a bit of a “generation gap” when I think about straight-edge back then and today. So I wrote a little about what I was into back then so the kids who are calling them straight-edge now know where it came from back when it was still coming out of the hardcore scene.

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I was having dinner and a few beers at a local pub (good eats!) that caters to a blue collar and biker crowd and was sitting near a group of guys who were apparently catching up with one another. They were talking about their work (union plumbers and pipefitters) and, the fact that I was sitting only a few feet away, I overheard most of their conversation.

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Every once in a while I’ll see something to remind just how old I am (and it’s not just the ever-expanding gut). Although a cliche sentiment, it’s very accurate. By way of a “for example”, just a few moments ago I caught a Chunky Chips Ahoy commercial that, of all things, referenced “Oi!” music. Yes. Oi.

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I’ve been known to be a somewhat “aggressive” driver and I don’t have a lot of patience for people who block the flow of traffic out of sheer idiocy. I’m something of a stickler for the rules of the road as well: if you’re in the left lane, pass or get out of the way; the right lane is for slower traffic, not passing; driving an SUV does not make you God. (more…)

So I got my W2 forms in the mail this past week and decided to go ahead and bang out my taxes immediately. I’d received the TaxCut software I usually use in the mail (part of their Direct Mail campaign to keep customers) and after researching to make sure I wasn’t going to miss out on too many rebates or special offers, I decided to go ahead and use the mailed CD instead of buying a copy from Staples, or someplace like that. My taxes ain’t complex, so it doesn’t take me long to do (this would seem like a benefit, but just means that I don’t have any good investments) and I banged them out in an hour or less. I’m even getting a decent refund (although I’d prefer not to have given the gub’mint 30% of my income, regardless of the refund amount).

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Oh yeah, I added a link on the right to my new Gallery 2 install. It’s at http://gallery.packingheat.com and is lightly populated with a mix of work and personal pictures. I’m trying to do something cool with the WordPress Gallery plugin, a la Kev’s site, but it’s not working so well (due to pathing issues, it seems, since my Gallery 2 install is on a different subdomain than my blog), so if ya wants to look, ya gots ta click.