I'm sitting at a Home Depot store meeting. It's 6:20AM on a Sunday. It's only been nine hours since my last shift ended yesterday and I'm running on five hours' sleep.
One of our managers is droning on about departments making "plan," or their expected sales. Overall, it's stuff I personally don't care about.
I've decided that Home Depot feeds off the crushed hopes and dreams of its employees. Most of the people here aren't here by choice, I know of at least two in particular that graduated from college with cool degrees, ended up here, and got stuck. I'm desperate not to end up like that. There are also plenty of people here who should be, and some who were, retired. For the most part it's a dead-end-job kind of place but the management tries so hard to care and be enthusiastic about it.
When I started here I felt pretty good about the job, but lately I'm just full of loathing and spite for the place. Maybe it's the drive, maybe it's cause I'd rather be running an SEM, I don't know.
Now we're watching a video on FIRST, Home Depot's customer service concept. I just watched this in my initial training in August. No one here cares, they're watching the video but there's no interest in their eyes. The little scenes are poorly scripted and staged and don't reflect reality very well.
LET'S ALL DO THE WAGE-SLAVE DANCE!
03 March 2012
Unplanned Vacation
So last weekend a buddy of mine and I rode out to my alma mater to see our girlfriends. Mine had no idea I was coming till I got there. Work had made the mistake of giving me off on Friday and Sunday, so I made sure I came down with a wretched stomach bug for Saturday. Later on Saturday they called me back and cut 17 hours from my schedule, meaning no work again until this coming Saturday. This being the case I decided to stay in California, PA until Friday and take Amtrak's The Pennsylvanian from Pittsburgh to Paoli station. It takes longer than driving, but at $49.00 one-way I can't complain.
This only made my girl all the happier and I got to attend the fencing practice on Thursday that I helped start. I also got to play lots of Magic with my friends, including Shane over at Argyle State of Mind. I made several new card acquisitions as well such as Kiega, the Tide Star, Hivestone, Crosis, the Purger, Dromar the Banisher, Chandra Ablaze & Sorin Markov. Keiga, Crosis & Dromar work wonders in my Scion of the Ur-Dragon Commander deck, and I'm thinking Hivestone plus Karona, False God will make an awesome Commander combo as well.
Now anyone who knows me knows that trains are one of the many things I geek out over. Everything from trackside scenery to our own locomotive's horn just make me feel more like a kid than I already am. Rolling through the town of Altoona really had me sitting up and looking every which way. I don't think I've ever seen so many locomotives in one place. They even have a bunch of old Pennsy cars and a burgundy GG1 sitting near the station. I believe I mentioned GG1s in an earlier post after New Years. The Harrisburg station even had a green GG1 and Pennsy bobber caboose.
This only made my girl all the happier and I got to attend the fencing practice on Thursday that I helped start. I also got to play lots of Magic with my friends, including Shane over at Argyle State of Mind. I made several new card acquisitions as well such as Kiega, the Tide Star, Hivestone, Crosis, the Purger, Dromar the Banisher, Chandra Ablaze & Sorin Markov. Keiga, Crosis & Dromar work wonders in my Scion of the Ur-Dragon Commander deck, and I'm thinking Hivestone plus Karona, False God will make an awesome Commander combo as well.
Now anyone who knows me knows that trains are one of the many things I geek out over. Everything from trackside scenery to our own locomotive's horn just make me feel more like a kid than I already am. Rolling through the town of Altoona really had me sitting up and looking every which way. I don't think I've ever seen so many locomotives in one place. They even have a bunch of old Pennsy cars and a burgundy GG1 sitting near the station. I believe I mentioned GG1s in an earlier post after New Years. The Harrisburg station even had a green GG1 and Pennsy bobber caboose.
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| GG1 at Harrisburg |
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| The Pennsylvanian |
13 February 2012
Philly Auto Show 2012
So on Saturday I went to the Philly Autos Show. (I might get pics up later) Saw a lot of neat cars, as per usual, but saw a lot of practical cars. At the same I'm surprised at the number of gas guzzling SUVs still on the market.
Some of the cars I Checked out/sat in were the Subaru Impreza STI, Scion IQ (for gits and shiggles), the Ford Fiesta & Focus, aaaand....some other stuff. I sat in a Jaguar, it was nice. So is the Tanq & Tonic I'm working on.
(2 days later) Now where was I? Right, cars. The Subarus were nice, and didn't seem badly priced. An Impreza STI started in the mid 20,000s, and with auto loan rates what they, such a price doesn't seem so impossible for an underemployed graduate such as myself (but one must remember fuel, parts, & insurance in costs as well). Subaru also had their new rear-wheel drive BRZ on display. Certainly wouldn't mind test driving one of those someday.
I looked at some of the new VWs, like the redesigned Beetle, but didn't spend too much time on them. I eventually worked my way over to the Scion display. Of all the Scions, I hate the tC the least, but at 110hp I don't think I'd ever get one. A test drive isn't out of the question. They had a new car there, the iQ, which is strictly a compact people-mover. It's about the size of a SmartForTwo, maybe even smaller, at boasts it is the world's smallest 4 seater. Me and some awesome guys who happened to be there decided to test this and we did indeed get four humans in that car. Granted we were all under 6ft tall and agreed that no one would want to spend long periods of time in the vehicle.
I mosied through the Chevrolet area, checked out the Sonic, looked over the Camaros and surprised that the two Corvettes present had no special display. There was a brand new ZR-1 sitting on the floor covered in smudgey fingerprints (cause people just have to touch, right?). You couldn't get in the ZR-1, but it still got plenty of abuse.
Down at the Ford exhibit I sat in both the new Fiesta and Focus. I'm not a big guy, and the Fiesta was claustaphobic. So i certainly wouldn't buy one, even though Top Gear stormed the beaches of Normandy with one. The Focus was actually pretty nice, but I'd have to drive one and see how much pep it has. Cars should be as fun to drive as they are functional.
After Ford I proceeded to check out Audi, Porsche, Cadillac, Dodge, Jeep, Fiat & Mini. Audi's V10 R8 and Porsche's Cayman R triggered appropriate levels of drool. Cadillac was, well, Cadillac. Dodge is releasing a new Dart, though the letters on the trunk look like Dort.
Jeep's new Wranglers are nice yet simultaneously all wrong. I used to drive a '97 TJ, and something about the the Wranglers is wrong, from body style to gear setting.
Fiat has finally released an American 500 Abarth, which is nice to sit in, and might be worth looking at. At one point I was comparing hp/weight ratios between Fiats & Minis, but I forget what came out on top. On that note, I also sat in a new Mini S for the first time since I first saw them at the Philly Auto Show several years ago. I would totally get one for the right price.
One of the big sights at the Philly show comes not from any one maker, but a local dealership, F.C. Kerbeck. First, a disclaimer: I would NEVER buy a car from them. From annoying commercials screaming about Cadillacs to horror stories on the net, these guys are shady. Second: They're the only people at the show to bring Maserati, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Aston Martin, and Lamborghini.
Yes, Lamborghini. And this year they had both the brand new Aventador and a 25th Aniversary Countach. I was actually more surprised by, and spent more time looking at, the Countach. The Countach was Lambo's first super-wedge car with "scissor" doors. It succeeded the Miura (a drop dead gorgeous vehicle by the way), and was in turn succeeded by the Diablo. The Aventador is the first true re-design of Lambo's standard V12 engine since the Countach.
You could easily spend all day at the show if you wanted to sit in every car and talk to reps from each vendor, but being a broke college grad, new cars are just for looking at right now.
Some of the cars I Checked out/sat in were the Subaru Impreza STI, Scion IQ (for gits and shiggles), the Ford Fiesta & Focus, aaaand....some other stuff. I sat in a Jaguar, it was nice. So is the Tanq & Tonic I'm working on.
(2 days later) Now where was I? Right, cars. The Subarus were nice, and didn't seem badly priced. An Impreza STI started in the mid 20,000s, and with auto loan rates what they, such a price doesn't seem so impossible for an underemployed graduate such as myself (but one must remember fuel, parts, & insurance in costs as well). Subaru also had their new rear-wheel drive BRZ on display. Certainly wouldn't mind test driving one of those someday.
I looked at some of the new VWs, like the redesigned Beetle, but didn't spend too much time on them. I eventually worked my way over to the Scion display. Of all the Scions, I hate the tC the least, but at 110hp I don't think I'd ever get one. A test drive isn't out of the question. They had a new car there, the iQ, which is strictly a compact people-mover. It's about the size of a SmartForTwo, maybe even smaller, at boasts it is the world's smallest 4 seater. Me and some awesome guys who happened to be there decided to test this and we did indeed get four humans in that car. Granted we were all under 6ft tall and agreed that no one would want to spend long periods of time in the vehicle.
I mosied through the Chevrolet area, checked out the Sonic, looked over the Camaros and surprised that the two Corvettes present had no special display. There was a brand new ZR-1 sitting on the floor covered in smudgey fingerprints (cause people just have to touch, right?). You couldn't get in the ZR-1, but it still got plenty of abuse.
Down at the Ford exhibit I sat in both the new Fiesta and Focus. I'm not a big guy, and the Fiesta was claustaphobic. So i certainly wouldn't buy one, even though Top Gear stormed the beaches of Normandy with one. The Focus was actually pretty nice, but I'd have to drive one and see how much pep it has. Cars should be as fun to drive as they are functional.
After Ford I proceeded to check out Audi, Porsche, Cadillac, Dodge, Jeep, Fiat & Mini. Audi's V10 R8 and Porsche's Cayman R triggered appropriate levels of drool. Cadillac was, well, Cadillac. Dodge is releasing a new Dart, though the letters on the trunk look like Dort.
Jeep's new Wranglers are nice yet simultaneously all wrong. I used to drive a '97 TJ, and something about the the Wranglers is wrong, from body style to gear setting.
Fiat has finally released an American 500 Abarth, which is nice to sit in, and might be worth looking at. At one point I was comparing hp/weight ratios between Fiats & Minis, but I forget what came out on top. On that note, I also sat in a new Mini S for the first time since I first saw them at the Philly Auto Show several years ago. I would totally get one for the right price.
One of the big sights at the Philly show comes not from any one maker, but a local dealership, F.C. Kerbeck. First, a disclaimer: I would NEVER buy a car from them. From annoying commercials screaming about Cadillacs to horror stories on the net, these guys are shady. Second: They're the only people at the show to bring Maserati, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Aston Martin, and Lamborghini.
Yes, Lamborghini. And this year they had both the brand new Aventador and a 25th Aniversary Countach. I was actually more surprised by, and spent more time looking at, the Countach. The Countach was Lambo's first super-wedge car with "scissor" doors. It succeeded the Miura (a drop dead gorgeous vehicle by the way), and was in turn succeeded by the Diablo. The Aventador is the first true re-design of Lambo's standard V12 engine since the Countach.
You could easily spend all day at the show if you wanted to sit in every car and talk to reps from each vendor, but being a broke college grad, new cars are just for looking at right now.
16 January 2012
Wherever I May Roam
So life since New Year's hasn't been terribly exciting. My hours at work have been pretty dismal and I've heard nothing back about a potential job in California. My only injury of note is the removal of my right pinky fingerprint, pretty much all the skin got sheared off by some rusty metal.
Last week at the Bhakail fencing practice, a couple of Aethlmearc fencers stopped by. They hail from the the Barony of Endless Hills, up near Scranton, PA. Baron Gunnarr, Lord Po Silvertop, Gunnarr's son and one other were there.
For some history, at my first Queen's Rapier Championship in Aethlemearc, Po was my first opponent. Since I had only been fencing...less then a year(?) at that point, I did of course lose, but not before getting a double-kill on the first pass. Ever since then, I make a point of fighting him whenever I get the chance. A couple of my local group, Hartshorn-Dale, also made it to the practice, which I was glad to see. The HD group is pretty small and doesn't get out much, so seeing them fence people other than each other and me was nice.
Anywho, my main two points for writing today are these; Awards, & Pennsic.
This past weekend in Aethlemearc was 12th Night. Most of my old group, Silva Vulcani went. My girlfriend, the current Seneschal of the group got inducted into the Order of the Keystone. You can read her story here. While I'm very happy for her, it got me wondering; as a founding member of that group, would I have gotten something similar by now if I hadn't moved home to eastern PA and the Kingdom of the East? I know my back-and-forth during school didn't help my fencing game, as people who started shortly after or about the same time as me advanced past me. Missing summer practices put a hurt on me as I couldn't track down the HD fencers at that time. Back in AE I'm fairly well known I think, between the huge amount of people at Silva Vulcani practices and the amount of events and traveling I did with them. Here in the East, only HD and Bhakail know anything about me. I hope to change that this weekend, at the Iron Bog Baronial Investiture. I'll be putting my best forward and making sure they all see the escarbuncle, Aethelmearc's symbol, on my drape. (Also, I've yet to make a drape for the East.)
Now for Pennsic. This year is Pennsic 41, and for the first time since Pennsic 1, the allies are getting mixed up. Traditionally it's East & Co. vs. Mid & Co. This year it's Aethelmearc & Antlantia vs East & Mid. This puts me in a hard place. Majority of friends will be fighting for AE, but I now have obligations to the East. Both sides have also promised to single me out on the field. This is of course assuming I can make it to Pennsic this year. It's not a cheap event. Have to take a week off of work as well as paying to get in, buying food, camp gear, etc. If I do go, I'll probably camp with Northern Cross, the household of both the current King and Queen & their successors. So if I choose to fight for the East, camp could get hysterically awkward.
Such are the woes of a trans-kingdom fencer in the SCA, now if you'll excuse me, I need to go work on point control with my left hand.
Last week at the Bhakail fencing practice, a couple of Aethlmearc fencers stopped by. They hail from the the Barony of Endless Hills, up near Scranton, PA. Baron Gunnarr, Lord Po Silvertop, Gunnarr's son and one other were there.
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| Lord Po is unsuspecting. |
For some history, at my first Queen's Rapier Championship in Aethlemearc, Po was my first opponent. Since I had only been fencing...less then a year(?) at that point, I did of course lose, but not before getting a double-kill on the first pass. Ever since then, I make a point of fighting him whenever I get the chance. A couple of my local group, Hartshorn-Dale, also made it to the practice, which I was glad to see. The HD group is pretty small and doesn't get out much, so seeing them fence people other than each other and me was nice.
Anywho, my main two points for writing today are these; Awards, & Pennsic.
This past weekend in Aethlemearc was 12th Night. Most of my old group, Silva Vulcani went. My girlfriend, the current Seneschal of the group got inducted into the Order of the Keystone. You can read her story here. While I'm very happy for her, it got me wondering; as a founding member of that group, would I have gotten something similar by now if I hadn't moved home to eastern PA and the Kingdom of the East? I know my back-and-forth during school didn't help my fencing game, as people who started shortly after or about the same time as me advanced past me. Missing summer practices put a hurt on me as I couldn't track down the HD fencers at that time. Back in AE I'm fairly well known I think, between the huge amount of people at Silva Vulcani practices and the amount of events and traveling I did with them. Here in the East, only HD and Bhakail know anything about me. I hope to change that this weekend, at the Iron Bog Baronial Investiture. I'll be putting my best forward and making sure they all see the escarbuncle, Aethelmearc's symbol, on my drape. (Also, I've yet to make a drape for the East.)
Now for Pennsic. This year is Pennsic 41, and for the first time since Pennsic 1, the allies are getting mixed up. Traditionally it's East & Co. vs. Mid & Co. This year it's Aethelmearc & Antlantia vs East & Mid. This puts me in a hard place. Majority of friends will be fighting for AE, but I now have obligations to the East. Both sides have also promised to single me out on the field. This is of course assuming I can make it to Pennsic this year. It's not a cheap event. Have to take a week off of work as well as paying to get in, buying food, camp gear, etc. If I do go, I'll probably camp with Northern Cross, the household of both the current King and Queen & their successors. So if I choose to fight for the East, camp could get hysterically awkward.
Such are the woes of a trans-kingdom fencer in the SCA, now if you'll excuse me, I need to go work on point control with my left hand.
03 January 2012
Vanilla Vodka and Orange Soda
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| The Nor'easter |
New Year's was far more exciting as my girlfriend and other friends came to visit. My girlfriend and other visitors are from Western PA, so we spent the week doing touristy things. Our first stop was Philadelphia to see the historic district. Unfortunately we couldn't get into Independence Hall or the Liberty Bell Pavilion (line wrapped around the building), but we still got to see some neat stuff. That night I took them to the Bhakail fencing practice so they could get a proper butt-kicking. =P After the practice we went to the diner with everyone and had a good time. Thursday we had planned on going to NYC, but we were too beat. Instead we went to Strasburg. Strasburg is located out in Lancaster and operates steam-driven passenger trains on a short branch-line. While we missed the last train of the day (see a trend here?) we did spend a healthy chunk of time in the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum. Me, my girl, our friend, and my dad and half-sister are all pretty big train fans, so it was a good time.
The next day I took the girls to Valley Forge National Historic Park, and our first stop there was General Washington's Headquarters. Both girls are history majors and loved every second of it. We drove around to the park's other major sites, as it was too chilly and time-consuming to walk. When we had made our loop of the park we had some time to kill before going to Longwood Gardens with my dad, stepmom, and half-sister, so we went to the King of Prussia Mall. It's the largest mall on the east coast and it was packed! The only store we really got to go into was the LEGO store, which took its toll on all our wallets.
We then met up with my dad and went to Longwood. So. Many. Lights. I can't imagine putting up the Christmas lights at that place, it was nuts. Gorgeous, but nuts. They also had a pretty awesome garden railroad display that was pretty cool.
Saturday we hung around waiting for the rest of our friends to arrive and when they did we spent New Year's Eve drinking and playing Magic. New Year's day we took our enlarged group to KoP for a more extensive shopping experience, though the LEGO store was still a hotspot.
12 December 2011
Favorite of the Season
It's that time of year to celebrate stuff that is all dependent on your beliefs. I was raised Catholic so we celebrate the birth of Jesus by slaughtering a tree and decorating it in a fashion reminiscent of ancient pagan traditions. Yaaayyyy.
Anywho...one of my favorite parts of this time of year is having an excuse to take over a small part of the living room to set up some of my model trains. For years I used HO scale trains. HO is one of the most popular sizes of train. While I still enjoy HO scale for its convenient size and wide range of possibilities, in recent years my favorite has been something a little bigger, something that isn't so easily derailed by curious cats.
And now for the back story...my mom's dad was a carpenter (after a coal mine fire got him yelled at by my grandmom). Every once in a while, to my grandmother's dismay, he would bring crap home. One day he brought home a box of trains. He had intended to fix them up but never got the chance. Some 30+ years later I came across the box of bruised and battered trains. At first I didn't realize what they were. I knew they had electric motors and such, but at first I would just set up the tracks and push the trains by hand. (On a side note, electric trains don't roll per se...more like slide) At some point my curiosity took hold and I took the two steam locomotives home. At some point I learned enough to know that they were S gauge A.C. Gilbert American Flyers and that they ran on AC power, same as Lionel's trains. I happened to have a Lionel power supply at my dad's and took the engines there to meet it and maybe have a spot of tea. When I hooked power supply to the engines, decades of dust gave out and they immediately came to life. I took them to a local train shop for some minor repairs. The shop owner repaired their wires and the bigger one's smoke tube as well as some other things. Unfortunately he passed away a few years later and his amazing little shop is gone. However the trains he fixed up are still running strong. I've since learned that the American Flyers grandpop brought home all those years ago were built in 1946. They're over 60 years old and work better than some of my new stuff. Here are some pictures for your eyes to feast upon:
The 4-6-4 NYC Hudson stays at my house, and the 4-4-2 Reading "Atlantic" stays at my grandmom's house. The past two years I've set that one up under my grandmom's Christmas tree. This year I might set up my Lionel Thomas the Tank Engine, I trust small children with Thomas more than the 1946 Flyer. =P
I think I've gone on long enough...or maybe it just feels like that 'cause photos take FOREVER to load. Anywho, please share any train related stories in the comments. Till next time!
Anywho...one of my favorite parts of this time of year is having an excuse to take over a small part of the living room to set up some of my model trains. For years I used HO scale trains. HO is one of the most popular sizes of train. While I still enjoy HO scale for its convenient size and wide range of possibilities, in recent years my favorite has been something a little bigger, something that isn't so easily derailed by curious cats.
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| Not the clearest picture but Middle Left is Z scale. That boxcar could fit within the middle joint of your pointer finger. Top Left: N scale. Top Right: HO (it's probably about 7 inches long) Then it's S, O, and G scales. |
And now for the back story...my mom's dad was a carpenter (after a coal mine fire got him yelled at by my grandmom). Every once in a while, to my grandmother's dismay, he would bring crap home. One day he brought home a box of trains. He had intended to fix them up but never got the chance. Some 30+ years later I came across the box of bruised and battered trains. At first I didn't realize what they were. I knew they had electric motors and such, but at first I would just set up the tracks and push the trains by hand. (On a side note, electric trains don't roll per se...more like slide) At some point my curiosity took hold and I took the two steam locomotives home. At some point I learned enough to know that they were S gauge A.C. Gilbert American Flyers and that they ran on AC power, same as Lionel's trains. I happened to have a Lionel power supply at my dad's and took the engines there to meet it and maybe have a spot of tea. When I hooked power supply to the engines, decades of dust gave out and they immediately came to life. I took them to a local train shop for some minor repairs. The shop owner repaired their wires and the bigger one's smoke tube as well as some other things. Unfortunately he passed away a few years later and his amazing little shop is gone. However the trains he fixed up are still running strong. I've since learned that the American Flyers grandpop brought home all those years ago were built in 1946. They're over 60 years old and work better than some of my new stuff. Here are some pictures for your eyes to feast upon:
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| Kirby loves the trains. |
I think I've gone on long enough...or maybe it just feels like that 'cause photos take FOREVER to load. Anywho, please share any train related stories in the comments. Till next time!
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| Kirby has werk to do! |
05 November 2011
Thrift Store Pen-Pals! (Aren't Trying to Kill Me)
I arrived home to discover a small package sitting upon the pile of crap sitting upon my laptop in the kitchen. I looked at and flipped it over, analyzing all sides of it. The return address indicated it came from one Mr. Wood. Being too impatient to wait for my bomb squad and forensics team, I gave the box a small shake. To my relief it did not explode, however the rattling sound also confirmed the sad fact I did not receive a bunny. Not even an exploding bunny. But to be sure I let my cat check it out. |
| Going to apologize now for poor resolution and orientation. Some photos were done via iPod and can't be edited *mumblegrumblerootintootinvarmits |
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| Package breached! |
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| It contained two items. A tiny, disassembled torture device and a tiny colouring book with even tinier coloured pencils. I would need a special team to figure out these devices did. |
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| They immediately set about extracting the wooden torture device from its anaerobic containment unit. |
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| Upon closer inspection of its parts, the team decided it must a robot or mech-suit of some sort and began the assembly process. |
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| It took a few tries before it started making sense. They finally completed the terrifying war machine and set about testing it... |
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| It proved highly ineffective and the team decided it should go to the scrap heap |
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| The next item proved just as difficult for the team. The color-by-number system eluded them and they went all willy-nilly on it. |
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| Sarlaacs are no laughing matter. |
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| The team poses for a shot after confirming there was nothing hostile in the package. |
And so that's my long-delayed report on my Thrift-Store Pen Pals Package. Glad to see Woody isn't trying to kill me =D
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