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Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Jackpot!

I was driving home this morning after working the overnight shift, which included two extra hours fixing something I was only partly responsible for breaking. The sun was just coming up, and even though it lit the mountains beautifully, I was tired and cranky.

Then a local radio station put out an urgent request for caller 10. Something inside me said, "Hey, I could be caller 10!" So I dialed the cell phone and was greeted immediately by a man who had no business being that cheerful at any time of day, much less at 6:30 a.m. I was, in fact, caller 10. My reward: two passes to the world-renowned San Diego Zoo.

This is the crown jewel of my radio winnings career, which includes tickets to a long-ago Opening Day to watch the Milwaukee Brewers lose, courtside tickets to an even-longer-ago Rockford Lightning game and the debut CD from Train.

Anyone else ever win anything decent? And if you say the heart of your significant other, you will be banned immediately. I don't cotton to such romanticizin' here.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Again with the pictures

Big thanks to our friend Michelle for serving as wedding photographer! More photos here.

The ring

Monday, August 20, 2007

Guiding principles of the American workplace

Apologies to the prudish readers of my site for the profanity, but in one simple flowchart, this guy has captured a perfect snapshot of the mind of the American worker.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Yep, we're married

The Wedding

My hard-partying bachelor days have come to an end.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Happy unbirthday to me!

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. Except, uh... it's not my birthday.

I was completely baffled as to why people were wishing me a happy birthday. Then my friend Lauren from Beloit wrote: "The My Beloit thingee is telling me today is your birthday ... for some reason I thought your birthday was March 7th." And she's right.

Seems that when I signed up for the My Beloit thingee, which is of the networking circle family of thingees, I mistakenly put my birthday in as August 7. Oops. Then, like all good circle thingees, the site e-mails out a reminder when one of your friends' birthdays hits. Ergo, the happy birthday e-mails. At least no one sent me a present; I would have felt really guilty when I didn't come clean and return it.

So to those of you who wished me a happy birthday, thanks! As a token of my gratitude, I will pick a random day next year to return the favor.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Lucky guess

About 3 weeks ago, I bought a ticket to the Giants-Padres game in San Diego, just in case Barry Bonds tied or broke the all-time home run record that night.

Well, he did, and I was lucky enough to be there.

I bought the ticket in the right-field bleachers because that's where most of Bonds' homers land. I figured if I was gonna go, I might as well put myself in the best position possible to catch the ball. But when I got to my seat, it was further up in the bleachers than I expected. No way could anyone hit a home run that far. Unless he was on steroids. Bonds hit it to left field anyway.

So now I revel in the fact that I saw history. At least until sometime next week when Bonds hits the record-breaking home run, and no one gives a crap about the tying one last night. I saved my ticket stub though and resisted the temptation of all the eBay freaks outside the gates after the game offering to buy them for $5 each.

No 755

Thursday, August 2, 2007

9:45 to 10 p.m.: Fell into black hole

"They're talking about Palm Springs on TV!" Debz yelled.

I walked into the living room and was immediately dismayed that the "they" in question was Kathy Griffin doing stand-up. Notice the use of "stand-up" instead of "stand-up comedy."

Her act recounted a recent trip to Palm Springs in which her two dogs shit all over her suite in the swankiest hotel in the valley. The audience laughed - hard - a phenomenon that can be attributed to only two possibilities: 1. They were paid handsomely to do so; or 2. Creative editing spliced in audiences attending shows of comedians who are actually funny.

Kathy Griffin, you owe me 15 minutes of my life back.

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