December 15, 2007
I know this is a parody, but it's really funny.
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10:02 AM
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Made by For Tax Reasons.
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09:59 AM
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I have the original comic book from when this first came out. Tonight I think I'm going to have to read it to Clone as a bed time story.
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09:51 AM
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December 14, 2007
So why did my meeting run two hours if I didn’t talk about anything? Well because we had to “dish about my people”. IE we had to gossip. Any of you that have met me know that I do not gossip. I don’t like it; I’ve severed friendships because of their gossipy behavior. Most of the meeting was me talking about how good of a team I had, all of their strengths, where I want to develop some of them and where our weakness as a team is.
From the serious fishing expedition that was going on, I knew she wanted the dirt. Since I donÂ’t gossip, I donÂ’t have any and on the couple of people I did have something I wouldnÂ’t share it with her. The couple of situations I have my people told me stuff in confidence and IÂ’m not about to sacrifice their trust just so I can win points with the new management. I know my peers did, because they gossip all of the time. In fact the one that was in the meeting right before me I could make out parts of her conversation while I waited outside, she was gossiping like an old woman at a quilting bee.
I figured after maintaining my integrity and dignity for two hours, I deserved a hot beverage of happiness. By the white cockade on my pretty blue bonnet, IÂ’m going to have it!
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Mine's store-bought though.December 13, 2007
... or I'll do what I'm planning on doing and not saying a damn thing. See if I actually go into detail I know the answer I'm going to get. In a previous position I had, I reported to this individual. Thus I am familiar with her management style. I know if I say anything, not only will I still not get any support, but I'll be expected to fix the problems that they created by putting me in this situation. Her answer to EVERYTHING is, "How would you change it." So the conversation would go like this:
I get done explaining in great detail my extra duties, finishing with, "I really need some relief and assistance."
Her: If you where in my position, how would you change it?
Me: Well, I'd distribute some of these extra duties to others and on the shared duties I'd make sure they were doing them as they are supposed to and not leaving it up to one person.
Her: So why don't you do that?
Me: Honestly? Because I'm not my peers manager. Thus I can't force them to do some of this stuff. Especially since upper management assigned everything to me.
Her: I'm sure if you talked with them they would be more then willing to help.
Me: I've spoken with them, and asked. They say they will help, but don't do it.
Her: Do you say something to them?
Me: Yes, I've asked why they didn't follow through and they state they forgot or didn't have time. And since it needs to be done today I end up having to do it all. Most of these projects and duties are time sensitive. I can't just leave them to not get done. Especially since it's ultimately my responsibility they get done.
Her: I think this is something you need to work out with your peers.
Me: Okay, I'll do that. (Desperately trying to hide the sarcasm.)
Her: Good, I'd like to see the final proposal on my desk by the end of next week, including any other documentation you might have. And can you please add a 100 page analysis on the efficiency of your proposal.
Me: ... Sure ... (Figuring I won't do it and she'll forget anyway)
The gist of this is that I know I will be wasting an hour of my life tomorrow being told that I need to do more.
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05:34 PM
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December 12, 2007
A very festively dressed 12 oz brown bottle is the delivery method. The label has a nice winter scene of a cabin with red flowers around it. The label just screams, “HAPPY HOLIDAYS!” The neck label, also very festive… has the year of the beer on it as well as a little story about making winter brews.
The beer has a nice copper and orange color to it. There isnÂ’t a hint of cloudiness to it at all. The only thing that obstructs the view is the carbonation bubbles. A thin off-white head is produced that fades quickly to a film on top of the beer. There is some lacing, but not much.
On the first scent the nose is assaulted with the scent of hops. A slight citrus and spice scent can also be detected. The combination almost gives the beer a pine scent. The taste is much like the smell. The bitterness of the hops overpowers the rest of the flavors. You can barely taste anything else. The aftertaste is much of that of pine. ItÂ’s so bitter itÂ’s difficult to drink.
It is a medium bodied beer with a normal carbonation level. There is a nice smoothness in the mouth. It coats the mouth and throat; unfortunately that coating helps the taste to linger.
I was really hoping for a nice somewhat spicy winter or Christmas ale, this however is more like a bitter IPA than anything else. The scent is overpowering and the taste is almost overwhelming. Over all I have to give this a 1.5 out of 10.
Now if you excuse me I'm going to go gargle with Jack Daniels to get the taste out of my mouth.
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07:10 PM
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December 11, 2007
So do any of you have any ideas?
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December 10, 2007
I should have known the night was going to go bad when we arrived. I had thought it started at 5:00 PM, but it didn’t start until 6:00PM. Fortunately at the hotel they were having the party, there is a decent bar. Ktreva and I spent the first hour and half sitting in the bar priming our livers. It didn’t take long before other people from work started showing up. That’s when I noticed I made my first faux pas. They were all dressed nicely, I was wearing work boots, jeans, a black “Guns don’t kill people, Zombies Kill people” t-shirt, an old flannel and a Packer hat. Not that I cared, I wear a shirt and tie every day; they can see how I normally dress for once.
After 6:00PM we headed into the room were the part was, luckily it was right across the hall from the bar. We quickly found a group of people we know, including Bruce, and sat down. Being the festive kind of guy that I am, I brought along a little cheer. After sitting I pulled out a thermos filled with Glogg. I poured myself a cup and shared some with the rest of the table. Needless to say fifteen minutes later no one was feeling anything. I also was sharing it with people as they passed by. ItÂ’s funny to watch their reaction to drinking it. Actually I received my first two negative reviews of my glogg. That kind of hurts, because I now only have a 99% approval rating.
They served dinner buffet style. After dinner was supposed to be some presentations and awards. Well to be honest IÂ’d had enough of the atmosphere as I could have taken. There were people I didnÂ’t want to talk to coming up and talking to me. So I slipped out the door and headed back to the bar. Only to find my people from work there doing the same thing. Mainly because drinks were cheaper in the bar than in the party room. I sat down with a couple of people that I knew and got along with and started drinking there.
Ktreva had disappeared long before I left. She was quite the social butterfly, probably because she was heavily socially lubricated. In fact I think in the 45 minutes I sat at the table she was there for only 15 minutes. Which was fine by me, as long as she was having fun than I didnÂ’t care. Well that and she didnÂ’t try to make me socialize with people I have no intention of dealing with outside of work. I figured sheÂ’d find me if she needed me.
After a while I decided it was time to leave. Not only was I starting to spout of angry comments at other management and my manager, but also I was starting to get the urge to throw things at them. Now you could say this was because I was socially lubricatedÂ… and I was, slightly, but it was mainly because I was in a very uncomfortable situation. Alcohol doesnÂ’t make you do things you donÂ’t want to do. It lowers your inhibitions to do things that you know are wrong. Thus there are people IÂ’ve wanted to hit in the head at work for a while; I just had a nice heavy beer glass to do it with this time.
Besides me hitting the uncomfortable/angry zone, Ktreva was getting overly flirty with other guys. I needed to save us before one of us did something really stupid.
We ended up leaving and heading down to FritzÂ’s. Why waste a perfectly good babysitter? Plus FritzÂ’s is a happy place where I can be comfortable and happy. We ended up leaving just before close. FritzÂ’s is better than any therapy session.
Today at work I caught an earful about Ktreva and my antics. First off, there were a lot of people that didn’t know I was even there. Since we sat by the door and left right after dinner was done, most of the people didn’t see me. Secondly, there was talk about the glogg. I think next year they are going to have a “don’t bring your own alcohol” rule” Lastly was some of the overheard comments I made to other management, including insinuating one of them was an idiot.
So in recap, going to the company holiday part is a bad idea.
I wont even tell you the reaction I had when other management suggested I help plan it next year.
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December 08, 2007
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12:22 PM
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Yea, after dealing with angry parents and kids, I really wanted to drop kick a couple of people... well okay give them a noogie.
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Posted by: Contagion at
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Anyway, before the movie they showed a National Guard Tribute by 3 Doors Down, Citizen Soldier. I thought it was a really cool video as it spans the history of the American fighting men and women. I wanted to share with those of you that may not have seen the video.
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December 06, 2007
Overall it was a great time. It did make me miss my grandparents. When I was younger my grandfather would go with Dad and I to this every year. It was an annual tradition. When Ktreva and I got together I started bringing Boopie with and Clone came every year since he was one. It's because I remember attending this function since I was younger than Boopie, most of those years with my grandfather, and my grandmother just dying that made me think about him even more and how much I miss Grandpa and how much I'm going to miss Grandma.
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December 05, 2007
The standard 12 oz brown bottle once again graces us with its presence. The label is black. In white lettering at the top is the name of the brewing company and at the bottom is the name of the beer. In the middle in a gray square is a green toy train car holding red Christmas ornaments. There is short description of the beer on the label as well. It brags a sturdy 7.5% Alcohol By Volume (ABV).
It has a nice dark copper color with a slight amber hue. The body is clear with no sign of cloudiness. A quarter inch off white head formed when poured into the glass. The head faded into a film on the top of the beer. It left some lacing on the side of the glass, but not a lot.
Cinnamon is the first scent you notice to this beer. There is a mixture of raisins, ginger and honey also noticeable. A touch of coffee malts can also be smelt. The taste starts off with a strong cinnamon flavor that is followed by ginger, honey and coffee malts. The flavor covers the higher 7.5% ABV. The combination leaves no doubt in your mind that this is a Christmas beer.
ItÂ’s a medium bodied beer. The carbonation gives a little bite to the tongue, but not much. With the higher ABV, one would think it would affect the drinkability of this beer, but it really doesnÂ’t.
ItÂ’s a little sweeter then I normally like, but itÂ’s not a bad beer. I donÂ’t know if I would go out of my way to buy it for anything other than maybe a Holiday party, but I definitely wouldnÂ’t turn one down if it were offered to me. IÂ’m going to rate this a 4.5 out of 10.
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December 04, 2007
We all know you don't get to plan a funeral months in advance. You have a short time in which all arrangements need to be made and to schedule everything. My grandmother already had a funeral plot, next to my grandfather that passed away 9 and a half years ago. My uncle took care of contacting the cemetery. Highland Garden of Memories in Belvedere, IL. He had originally scheduled the internment at 3:00 but because the manager of the cemetery told him it would conflict with another burial, they moved it back to 3:30. The manager told my uncle that wouldn't be a problem, we just wouldn't have a tent. That wasn't an issue.
The visitation and services were lovely and there were no problems. When we arrived at the cemetery instead of going to the grave they took us to a chapel on site. I was confused, so where the rest of my cousins and family. We figured they would have the graveside services... well graveside. No apparently they decided it was too dark for them to do the work so they were going to do it the next day. We ended up having to leave my grandmother in her casket inside this chapel overnight. We had family friends, relatives and others that wanted to pay their respects there to see my grandmother interred, and weren't able to. They had us over a barrel, it's not like we could take her and go someplace else.
I went back this morning at 10:30 AM for the interment because I felt someone should be there and say something. Fortunately My uncle that made the arrangements was able to take the extra time to drive two hours down to attend as well as an aunt that was able to come down from Milwaukee to join Ktreva and I. The funeral home even sent someone out to supervise the workers to make sure everything was done properly. My aunt and a friend of hers were the first to arrive, I arrived shortly after them. When the cemetery workers and manager showed up they asked if we were ready. My aunt told them we were going to wait for the my uncle and the funeral home representative. The funeral home representative arrived next and the manager wanted to get started. Again we had to tell him we were going to wait for my uncle.
While waiting the manager and my aunt had an exchange of words. My aunt, who is in seminary school studying to be a Lutheran minister, told the manager just how unhappy she was. She was very angry and upset, and she had ever right to be. Now you need to understand, my aunt is a very docile person. I've never seen her get angry, raise her voice or say a harsh word. When she laid into this guy, it kind of threw me off.
When my uncle arrived we moved Grandma from the chapel to the grave. This cemetery doesn't have standing headstones, it has grave markers flush to the ground. Thew workers put my grandmother's casket onto a trolley and rolled her across the grounds to the grave by rolling over other people's markers and graves. I escorted my grandmother on the trip because I was a pallbearer, and I wanted to make sure she was handled properly. My aunt walked with me and we both were kind of taken back by this non-caring attitude the employees had. I felt bad walking across other peoples graves. I tried to not, but with the snow on the ground and the markers being flush to the ground I had no idea where the graves were.
The whole situation really pissed me off. Last night after I got home and the more I thought about it, the more irrational I was in my anger. I wanted to go back out there and camp with my grandmother, to make sure she was okay. I also wanted to do many things that are even more irrational... and illegal. Fortunately I didn't do any of them.
Here's what really pissed me off about the whole thing. They never intended to inter her yesterday. They never dug the hole. When we arrived, they said that it was too late in the day. The workers wouldn't work that late. It was 3:30 on a Monday! Then they said it was too dark. They never made any of those statements to my uncle when he offered to push back the internment. They said everything would be fine and normal. Then the manager not only was smug about the whole thing, he was absolutely unremorseful. The guy didn't give a damn that he lied and/or mislead my family about what was going to happen. He didn't care that he denied many of them closure and caused them mental and emotional trauma.
People, and those of you that might stumble upon this post, if you need to bury a loved one heed this warning. Don't purchase plots at Highland Garden of Memories in Belvedere, IL. It's at the corner of IL route 76 and Squaw Prairie Rd. If I had a choice I wouldn't use them again, but my brother is buried there and my parents also have plots there wanting to be buried with my brother. I really don't have a choice. If you do have to deal with them, make sure you are real clear on the details and expect to be lied to.
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December 01, 2007
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04:21 PM
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12:20 PM
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I really would like to see this rule come back. Part of me would really love to see Ed Hochuli, my favorite ref, start calling this.
UPDATE: T1G pointed out that just last weekend a college ref made the same call which is why it was being talked about.
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11:51 AM
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